Try Something New!

Last week, I went to this amazing grocery store that I'm lucky enough to have nearby with my aunt, and I found something really interesting that I've never heard of before- cactus pear. For only 69¢ my aunt and I decided to just get it. When we got home, my aunt skinned the pear (with much difficulty) and sliced the fruit into mushy strips. We tried some of the magenta seedy substance and then realized that maybe we should do some homework on it before we ate anymore because they were SO many seeds we weren't sure if we could eat them or not and she wanted to know the proper way to cut it because she basically butchered the thing! Wikihow was very helpful in explaining the proper way to eat a prickly pear cactus and we learned a lot about the exotic southern fruit. The prickly cactus pear is grown in parts of South America and Mexico. It grows on a big cactus called napoles and the fruit and the cactus can be used for many different things. The (edible) seeds of the prickly pear cactus can be used for flour or soup, the skin can be used for jams, jellys, and candies and the actual fruit has many uses (the most common seemed to be the sorbet which I can't wait to try!). I definitely think if you have 69¢ to spare you should try the prickly pear cactus! It tasted like a strawberry and watermelon combined and while you might find the seeds annoying to eat, at least you can eat them! Because I learned the hard way that trying to eat prickly pear cactus while spitting out the seeds proves to be extremely difficult!

I'm dying to try prickly pear cactus sorbet but they only seem to sell it in faraway places near Phoenix!

After having fun trying the prickly pear cactus, my aunt and I decided to try a different fruit every week together. So this week (since I picked last week) I had my sister, Kayla, pick the fruit. She never had mango so that's what we settled on. But the store's selection of mangoes weren't ripe enough to eat right away and we were really looking for something we could eat right when we got home. With a little help from a kind employee we discovered the champagne mango. I was really excited of our new discovery because my aunt and I had both had mango but not champagne mango so now everyone was trying something new! We got home and with our knowledge from the prickly pear cactus experience, decided to Google the champagne mango eating instructions first. It turns out they have their own website! Simply and easy: champagnemango.com. I believe from what I read, the champagne mango resulted of a random cross breed between other types of mangoes. The champagne mango tasted good, but not as sweet as I expected it to be after reading about it online. It reminded me of the canned peaches, the ones I used to eat when I was younger... I think they were the Dole jarred peaches...

This is how you're supposed to cut a champagne mango, but it's much harder than it looks!

I really like our new tradition of trying a new fruit each week, it's really fun and you can learn a lot of new things! If you're not the type of person to try things a lot, I really hope you change your mindset! You never know until you try. :)

By the way- thanks to Blogger's new feature you can know simply check off what you thought of my post! Was it cool? Pointless? Or inpsiring?! Just scroll down to the bottom of the post and click the little check box of whatever your feelings were! Hopefully you readers will take a liking to that because I've noticed a lack of commenting and I really love your feedback! Thanks to the mystery reader who checked off 'inspiring' for my "A Look In The Mirror Helps The Medicine Go Down" post! It made me smile.

Song stuck in my head today: "Untouchable" by Taylor Swift

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison

Back To Basics: A Flower List Update

Have you ever traveled out of your country?

25% said Yup

0% said No

75% said I wish!

0% said I've never even been out of my own state!

and...

0% said A few times!!

Recently, as you may or may not know, I traveled to Iceland for a week to visit my best friend. It was my first time traveling out of my country alone and I was very anxious for that reason. If I hadn't been on plenty of plane rides before going alone to Iceland, I think my traveling wouldn't have gone as smoothly as it did. Going on the plane alone was fine! I was proud of myself, but at the same time wondered why I should be proud, I mean it's just a plane ride!! Who cares? But in the months leading up to my trip I was really nervous and wondered if I'd go through with it.

I love Iceland. It's gorgeous and everything about it just seems so wonderful. I don't think I could survive the long winters though, but the spring, summer, and early fall are amazing. My best friend and I had tons of fun while we were together and I got to snap quite a few nice pictures without spending all my time behind a camera. Here's some pictures from my visit I thought I'd share with you!

My best friend, Svana petting one of the horses at a nearby farm

Svana and I jumping in front of a waterfall :P

Svana and I at a beach! My first visit to a black sand beach :)

Moi!

An abandoned house we found (the spot of red/orange is me!)

I have to confess, at one point I started crying because the whole landscape of Iceland was so beautiful. I guess I'm just that kind of person.

I hope all of you will get to experience something like I had in your lifetime, wheter it be miles and miles away from where you are now or just down the block.

Wow! I can't believe it's been EIGHT DAYS since I last posted.... crazy. Well I guess that just shows how much I love my family! (: My cousin Emily just came up to visit for a while, and I've been so busy with her. But thank you for reading this (someone has to be!) even though I've been horrid this past month especially.

Song stuck in my head today: ....

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison

A Look In The Mirror Helps The Medicine Go Down

It's really hard to take your own advice. You can throw around insightful tips and hints to your friends like there's no tomorrow, but how many of those things do you actually do yourself? When I think of the helpful adive I've given to people, I feel gross because I know I've never done half of those things. I can't tell you how many times I've told my friends to just get it over with and tell the person they like how they feel because if they reject you, they're just not good enough for you anyways, so you should move on. Have I done that? Rarely. Life would be a heck of a lot easier if we just listened to ourselves - in my case anyways. I think I'm lazy. That must be it, I'm always saying that I need to get up and DO SOMETHING. Why just sit around when I could be doing something great?! And what are my excuses? I'm too tired, I'm can't think of anything to do, I can't do that, I'm too old or too young to even try that.... I could write a novel. I really hope I'll learn my own lesson, get a taste of my own medicine. I'd be a much better person. Well, I'm working on it somewhat. I'm trying. I know that's not good enough, but I'm not sure if I'll ever reach my expectations. I know I can, but I don't know if I will. I hope I do!

So what have you been telling others or yourself? What's that one thing you wish you could change, or start? Think about it.

Feel free to comment with your thoughts on any of my posts, there's been a lack of them! :)

Song stuck in my head today: "Tell Me Why" by Taylor Swift

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison

Crazy Crazy Chocolate

So, as most of you know I went to Hershey, PA at the end of June for a few days. I thought I'd tell you all about my trip- maybe some of you guys will want to go there now!


My family and I didn't stay at any of the Hershey hotels because their rates were a little too high and most of their rooms were booked. We ended up staying at a nearby hotel, and the drive to the park wasn't too long. We went there the night we arrived in Lancaster county to visit the Chocolate World and get a good price on the tickets, because if you purchase them a couple hours before the park closes, they're good for the next day! The Chocolate World was fun, they have a free tour that takes you through the process of making chocolate which I really liked because I thought it was going to being some boring walk through thing but the tour was actually a mini ride-plus you get a free mini Hershey's bar at the end! There's lots of things to do at the Chocolate World- if you've got cash. There's a really cool create your own candy bar experience, a 3-D show, trolley tours, and of course an extensive food court and gift shop. I didn't do anything except buy some things at the gift shop because we had to make our way over to the amusement park!


If you love roller coasters, Hershey Park is going to be amazing for you. But the thing is, I don't. What I do love though, is water rides. And I was surprised to see that the Hershey Park had quite a few of those in their "Boardwalk". The rides I went on were great and you can't beat greasy amusement park food. ;) Of course the park was dotted with gift shops, just to make sure you didn't leave with anything in your wallet! And while some prices are expected for tourist shops, my sister and I managed to find some good prices on certain candy. Hershey Park also offers shows at their small theater in the center of all the rides. My mom and I watched a good part of a tap show (cleverly titled Tap!), which was a good way to keep yourself entertained for a half hour, but definitely not any longer.


After spending a good day and a half at Hershey, we visited some of the tourist stops throughout the Dutch country. We stopped at a Farmer's market, Antique stores, and drove around looking at the farmland and covered bridges. It's truly gorgeous up there, and I asked my sister if she could picture me as a farmer because I was dying to own acres of rolling hills and live in a barn, and she just laughed.

My sister and I coming off of one of the water rides at Hershey

Overall it was an awesome little trip, and hopefully I'll get the chance to visit there again! It still amazes me though how such a huge establishment filled with stadiums, theme parks, and gardens is centered over chocolate!



Song stuck in my head today: "The Best Day" by Taylor Swift


Keep on keepin' on,


Madison

Back to Basics: A Flower List Update

Have you been watching The World Cup?

16% said Yes! I love it!
66% said A little bit
16% said No, I listen to the news recaps...
16% said What's that?
50% said No way!
33% said Hahaha no.
16% said No, I want to though.
and...
16% said I play soccer, but I don't follow it... wierd I know

As you might know, I play soccer myself. But I have to relate with the last poll choice. Soccer is super fun for me but I definitely am not as in love with it as much as some of my MLS crazed friends. This World Cup though, I've been trying my best to keep up to date with the games. I've watched a good part of a couple games and listened to the sports recaps during the morning news. My friends and relatives have surely tried to get me more hooked.

Watching a major league soccer game is thrilling. I'm constantly awed with the athletic skills these players have. A lot of people find it boring, and say that the whole game is just passes back and forth, and back and forth; but that makes the rarity of an amazing goal even better! It shows how talented these athletes are. Those of you who watch the games (especially year round, not just when the whole world feels obligated): KUDOS! For my readers who've been trying to keep up, much like myself: hopefully we'll get there one day and will be watching the games all in the know. For the one voter out there who didn't know what The World Cup even was: you have some homework! And, I hope those of you who don't watch it at all will soon gain a liking for the most popular and viewed game in the world, but if not keep enjoying and pursuing your own pastimes and passions!

Today- I hope you are all very proud! -I watched all 122 minutes of The World Cup final game!!! And after nearly a dozen cards, and free kicks later, CONGRATULATIONS SPAIN! It was so much fun to watch with my friends and I hope you all got to see some of it (:



Sorry for all the messed up postings! I'm getting back in the groove of blogging, so after I add a couple delayed posts from my vacation things will be back to normal!

Song stuck in my head today: "Life Is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts

Keep on keepin' on,

Madison

The Fun Never Ends

From the pre-game warm ups to the last play on the court, I find basketball games to be nothing but fun. Though I've only been to two games, both of them have been a shockingly fun experience. I'm not an avid basketball fan. It's unlikely for me to be flipping through the channels and stop when I see the latest game on ESPN. But there's something completely different when you go to an actual basketball game, and you're sitting there cheering on your team and seeing all the three pointers up close and personal. Now, people can say that for a lot of things I guess; that it's better when you're experiencing something in reality rather than on T.V. But I can watch a whole Yankee game, and not a whole Knicks game (not because one of them is a lot better!) which I find really wierd! So even if you don't like watching basketball, or playing it, if you have the oppurtunity to go to a game, GO. You never know until you try.

I went to my first basketball game when I was nine or ten. It was a Knicks Vs. Nuggets game and I couldn't believe the thrill I got from going! Everything kept me entertained, from the cheesy half time dance routines to the way the crowd distracted the visiting team. And years later, going to my first Liberty game, the thrill hasn't left! I had an amazing time, and I was maybe seven rows away from the court. The thing that suprised me though were the hundreds of empty seats that were never filled during the game. I understand the lack of crowd when I watch a Yankee game- because the prices are so ridiculous! But here at a Liberty game, I don't know why seats that were up for maybe $10 a pop, were left empty! New York may not be huge on b-ball but how could they miss out on a such a simple form of entertainment! I try not to think that the reasons there were so many vacant seats, was the fact that it was a women's basketball game. If that's the deciding factor, WAKE UP NEW YORK.

Thanks again for reading and putting up with the wait! **Sorry for the lack of photo! Blogger isn't cooperating this early**

Song stuck in my head today: "Cooler Than Me" by Michael Posner

Keep on keepin' on,


Madison