Make Tea, Not War

"Where there's tea, there's hope."- Arthur Wing Pinero

"You can't get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."- C.S. Lewis

"Doing nothing is respectable at tea."

When you think about tea you probably either think about little girls at a pink, butterfly tea party or England,which eventually might make you think of Benedict Cumberbatch which might make you think of...wait...I guess that last parts just me. Well...anyway...my friends and I decided that tea parties were not just for little girls and the English, and it would be perfectly respectable for us to throw a tea party of our own. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the 10 adorable, hand-made(by yours truly) invitations that all said, "You're invited to a tea party" on the cover. However, I can fill you in that there was a tea cup on everyone either holding a cat or a rabbit, or clad with a mustache and a spectacle, or lookin' really creepy, or just being adorable.
Although, I don't remember who's idea it was to throw a tea party, I do know all of my friends automatically went, "YAH, LET'S HAVE A TEA PARTY!" and I was once again reminded why my friends and I get along so well. Right away, my darling friend Kaely, offered the use of her Grandma's (beautiful and very neat) house and a pristine China set. Megan brought scones and her record player, Christina and Anya brought macaroons, and I made invitations and cupcakes, we set a date and time(4 o'clock sharp obviously), and picked out our formal attire and hats.
Before tea we took a jaunt through the garden while Megan finished the scones; she wanted them to be fresh and warm for everybody. We then did some swing dancing, our favorite kind actually.

Megan putting the finishing touches on the tea.

Some good ole' swing dancing to our Crosley record player...

We then sat down to hot tea and mysteriously developed, terrible but hilarious, Southern accents.

Our pristine table...

Anyay, just so dang excite for tea time!

Golden puffs of heaven...definitely worth the wait!

A fellow blogger has been spotted! Megan Evans, whom is just getting her blog started(I'll let you'll know when it's up)

All my friends are looking so sweet...ANYAY...must you ruin every pictures?

Beautiful darlings', work those hats.

"Ha,ha,ha: love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea."-Henry Fielding
As soon as we sat down, we began to embody our 1950's inner Southern ladies... and their scandalous pasts! Feeling as if we were a part of Clue, we each established our stories and new profiles as Southern gentlewomen. Read on to discover the sordid pasts of these young ladies below...

Suzy 'Homemaker' Rowling

Pictured above as the perfect Mormon girl, in love and happily married at 22 to her high school sweetheart and the previous football star. However, underneath lies a truth a shade darker then her goody two-shoes exterior. 13th in her high school class and on the track to Harvard and a respectable marriage she went to meet with one her professors and...low and behold...they fell in love! After a number of secretive meetings; the two decided to seperate but Suzy knew she could not face her secret love in a classroom setting and opted for the path of motherhood. Congratulations Suzy! However, there's one problem, will her baby resemble her brunette, chocolate-eyed husband or her toe-headed, sapphire eyed professor?

Sue Ellen

The beautiful and classy plantation wife(yah it's the 1950's...); sporting a wide-brimmed hat and a beautiful set of pearls, this Southern Belle practically breathes money. Literally. She only married one of the richest men in the South, and yes, it was very much on purpose. A keen eye for fancy things, she betrothed 'Sir Lancelot, with the hopes of fleeing her stifling mother and ended up falling in love. But wait! The scandal grows! Sue Ellen did find love on her plantation, but not with her somewhat older husband but Wesley, the stable boy! Let's just say her favorite scent is alfalfa...

"Aunt" Jemimah 

This is where are story slows down a little bit...we've come to a character who is as kind-hearted as she looks! 18, unmarried, and the sole owner of a small farm bought with her deceased parents money, her main companion is the young girl she adopted when she was abandoned by an unidentified father and a deadbeat mother. You'll read more about her adoptive 'daughter' Mary Ann up next. Jemimah is a darling girl and grows everything from pumpkins to dragon-fruits on her profitable farm in rural North Carolina.

Mary Ann

Oh goodness. What to say about Mary Ann...words cannot be found to explain this unusual child. 16 and lacking anything close to manners. She slurps her tea, she stirs her tea with the honey spoon and puts it back in the pot, and makes numerous vulgar remarks when entirely unnecessary! The child is continuously giving poor Jemimah a heart attack and running off to Atlanta to opium dens and trying to get Jemimah to plant the 'whack-whack' plants, claiming they'll be ridiculously profitable! Abandoned at age 3 and raised in an orphange until rescued by Jemimah, everyone in the community and the church has urged her to seek help but she'll listen to know one, not even her darling aunt!

Grandma Virginia

Unfortunately, I'm lacking a picture of Grandma Virginia(because it's me and I didn't take one) but I can tell you her life story... I mean scandal as well. At the ripe old age of 28, Virginia is a very unloving grandma, and for that matter, mother as well. Pregnant at 15 by an unknown father, she was the Mary Ann of her day. As soon as she felt her daughter could be married (so basically after facing 12 agonizing years as a shunned single mother)her daughter was married. She was nice enough to marry him off to a relatively young, good-looking man with plenty of money that could take care of her daughter, and her granddaughter, much better than she ever could. Now she's happily single and ready to jump back into the scandalous scene...to be honest the only reason she attended this tea party was to find out the gossip and then become a part of it. 

So there we are, a bunch of scandalous Southern ladies from Northern California! After telling our stories and laughing an insane amount, we took another stroll in the garden...mostly to take pictures!

Honestly, one of my favorite pictures of the day...their faces are perfection!

Pshhhh...no this wasn't posed, most definitely Kodak!

What pretty little potatoes you all are!

She's basically a painting!

This is my dragon fruit tree...isn't it be-u-tiful?

Of course we had to pose are head wear, to make an adorable picture!

 These hats are either celebrating the graduation of our first tea party or their just jumping for joy!

                                          

Maybe having a tea party is pretty ridiculous to most people but I haven't had this much fun in forever and I'm so happy I could share it with all of my beautiful, and scandalous, friends! I don't know about them, but I'm already planning our next tea party, I'm thinking winter-themed! Here's to Suzy, Sue Ellen, Jemimah, Mary Ann, and Grandma Virginia and all the other people who will be enlightened to celebrate their own tea party with their own version of 'The Pretty Little Liars of the 1950's". Jewel. 

* Note: All of the characters in this blog are completely fictional, from everything to their love affairs, their terrible characteristics, their drug habits, and their property choices.

Four Days=Countless Amounts of Fun!

Due to the fact my teachers needed not one, but two 'teacher work days', that took up yesterday and today, my fellow students and I received a four day weekend! After school on Friday I went to lunch with my madre at the 'Joe Caribe Bistro and Cafe'. They specialize in 'fresh, ethnic and Caribbean flavors' according to their website and I would certainly that their food is not only fresh but amazing! My personal favorite is the Vegetarian burrito which not only has your average burrito ingredients but whipped sweet potato, which might not sound good but it definitely is! Anyway, after a late lunch and some car shopping for my sister I headed home exhausted after a long week at school.
The next morning, I joined my school's Key Club to take part in cleaning up the Bear River, my school's namesake actually. Donning elastic gloves and grabbing trash and recycle bags, we set to work combing the river banks for any trash that inconsiderate and laze people left over the summer. Although we mostly found cigarettes, glass shards, and bottle caps; we did find a surplus of butane gas, a suspicious head of a genie sculpture, a goat skull with a feather wired to it(I suspect homeless voo-doo), and a food-saver. I hope our Key Club and the other groups who were taking part in river clean-ups across Nevada County and elsewhere made a difference for the environment and our community.

Beautiful Morning cleaning at the Bear River.

After I headed home, I went to the 28th annual Draft Horse Classic hosted every year at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. We arrived mid-day, the perfect time since this is when the barns are primarily open, and set to going through each barn.

This big guy wasn't very happy to be getting a bath!

You can't tell in the picture, but these horses are nowhere near regular size!

Some random mules mid-Draft Horse

After eating a baked potato(they're the best around) and getting a 'Nevada City Cappucino' which is actually a lot like a frappucino...just better, I went home and got ready for a Comic-Con Dance, hosted by a Mormon Church in Nevada City. Of course when I heard the words 'Comic-Con' I at first held back the tears that I didn't attend San Diego Comic-Con and meet the beautiful Benedict Cumberbatch and of course the numerous other beloved actors and then I realized I could be Benedict...or Sherlock actually. So, acquiring my mother's purple shirt, my great-grandmother's coat, and my father's magnifying glass; I transformed myself into Miss Sherlock Holmes, or as my Dad put it 'She-lock Holmes'.

Yah I did spend 10 min. taking selfies of myself with this magnifying glass. No shame...

Complete Sherlock Outfit

Megan, Kaely, and I(I'm that white flash in the corner) 'sherlocking' while Anya looks really excited for some reason...

I ended up having tons of fun at the dance with Megan, Kaely, Anya, Andrea, and numerous other people all dressed up as everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Avengers. Megan and I both went as Sherlock, while Kaely was John Watson(both Megan and I's "best 'friend'-'man') and Anya went as the Tenth Doctor, which she nailed especially since she had gotten a pixie cut earlier that day.(which looks adorable by the way).
The rest of my weekend was spent taking my first Driver's lesson(since I'm permitted and all that!),  facing the smoke from the King Fire to take a short trip to Nevada City on Monday, and doing homework(since the Teacher's had to give us tons!). If you take a closer look at my Draft Horse Classic pictures you'll see a haze in the background similar to the haze in this picture...

This isn't a Delta fog setting in this is smoke from the King Fire, that has burned thousands of acres and made a cloud of smoke big enough to see from space. I hope everyone affected by the fire is safe and I want to thank all the firefighters for trying their best to keep this basically uncontrollable fire under control! I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend(four days or not)! Jewel.

A Football Game, Friends, and Funnel Cake

Hey Guys! Sorry I haven't been blogging for a little over a week, my computer wasn't working very well so I took it to Doctor PC to have it fixed and lucky for me, they did a great job and I'm back up and blogging! Anyway, moving on to what this post is really about...my high school kicking butt in football! As fall creeps ever closer and football seasons starts I can't help but anticipate hot coco, sweaters, boots, and innumerable memories with my friends and family! Personally, Fall is one of my favorite seasons(pshhh not just because my birthday is in October),but because it's perfect movie watching/book reading/sleeping weather! It's also wonderful because of high school football games! Depending that I only have a solid 710ish students at my school, everything is very homey. This includes football games...complete with parent made funnel cakes(for band!), the best hot chocolate ever, and tri-tip sandwiches!
So last friday night, decked out with innumerable Bruin shirts and face paintings, courtesy of the before-hand Pump-Up Party, my friends and I headed to one of the first home football games against Union Mine. We had tons of fun yelling school chants(WE ARE BR! WE ARE BR!),cheering for our amazing football time, and just overall goofiness!

Although this has been thought of as the 'pirate face', I like to think of it as a 'Bruin Growl'

Megan, don't look so scared...it's only a wild Anyay!

Anya...your wink is scaring off Megan, so that may be a sign that it isn't gonna help ya get the boys...;)

I'm very proud to announce that we kicked Union Mine's butt with a score of 29-6! Although it was looking worrisome the first quarter, they showed what Bruin blood is made of!

Poor quality...a.k.a iPhone picture...

Although I do not  have evidence of Isabella licking powdered sugar off of funnel cake plates, it did happen and I really don't blame her depending the funnel cakes are totally worth $5. But do not fear there are more pictures of my friends and I in our general crazy style.

I caught the bubble on camera! Kudos to myself...

Personal, new, favorite picture of my friends and I! 

Even though your high school football games may not be as overall incredible as mine; I still encourage everyone to attend a football game this season and have a splendid time with friends, show your school spirit, and eat whatever wonderful food your school offers! GO BRUINS! I hope we have a spectacular season! Jewel. 

Thank You to My Sister

"In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips." As everyone who takes the time to read this blog knows, I have an older sister named Kenna. She's 20 years old(almost 21-so fancy) and is easily one of my best friends. She recently studied abroad in Florence, Italy and then preceded to travel Europe; you can read all about her adventures at her blog: Yours, Kenna.
The funny story behind our friendship was that, well, it wasn't always a friendship... actually it was more of a I-wish-my-little-sister-would-leave-me-alone-ship paired with a Why-doesn't-my-older-sister-like-me-ship. After a solid 11 years(give or take) of endless fighting my madre put her foot down. Thus commenced the paid-to-hang-out hanging out of Kenna and Jewel. Every other week for about a year-year and half my sister and I were given money by my mother to hang out and therefore to learn to like each other. Somehow, someway, my sister and I became friends. I personally like to think it really broke the ice when I had spilled the beans that I had a crush and she offered me sisterly advice but the tuning point between acquaintances and best friends is unclear.
Sisters are basically live in friends, counselors, and fashion designers and I'm lucky enough most of my sisters extensive closet fits me. Through thick and thin, Kenna has been there for me. Even, when she was around the world in Italia, she listened to my worries and my doubts and every random story I had to tell. So I suppose this blog is just to say thank you. We had a great summer together, finishing the last season of Doctor Who, going to Oregon, learning to wake-board when we had no idea how, dealing with family problems. and drinking extensive amounts of coffee.
Kenna left for college last Wednesday, saying good-bye before I went to school is always a hassle since it's no fun riding the bus with tears still glistening in your eyes. Kenna then traveled to visit two of our Grandma's and our other sister, Ashley. In the final stretch of her journey back to San Diego she hit a large bump on the 405(a freeway) and her low-profile Volkswagen Bug lost control and spun across three lanes of  Friday traffic, miraculously not hitting anyone and instead only wrecking the tires, rims, and axles of her car. Thankfully, she was perfectly fine,okay she was in hysterics, but physically fine.
Getting in the car Friday after school and hearing my mom say, "Kenna got in an accident on the 405," was really scary for me. I instantly thought, "What would I do without my sister and best friend?" After being consoled that she was alright, I was flooded with relief and realization of how important my sister is too me. So:
Dear Kenna,
               Thank you for being an awesome sister and for putting up with my weirdness all the time. Thanks for stepping up and being awesome and responsible this summer although I know it was hard. Thank you for showing me the wonders of Doctor Who and Sherlock and persevering through an innumerable amount of scratches and bites from my demon cat, Allons-y. Thanks for supporting me and reminding me not to give up on my crazy dreams. Thank you for being a great big sister. And because I don't know if I say it enough, I love you and I'm so happy you're alright.
                                Love,
                                       Jewel
I hope everyone out there realizes how important their siblings and just family in general is to them. The world is ever-changing and although it may seem it's only changing around our personal little bubbles, any moment those bubbles could be popped and your whole life could change. "Sisters are different flowers from the same garden"-Anonymous. Jewel

My 12th 'First' Day of School

A nervous excitement buzzes in the air and the sweet smell of textbooks and white board marker wafts over you from a (very) early morning breeze...it must be the first day of the school! A new schedule, new teachers, and new friends await in the halls alongside creaky old lockers filled with long forgotten papers, pictures, and magnets.

Personally, as a Junior in high school, I kind of thought I must be over the whole "OHMYGOD It's the first day of school...this is CRAZY!" thing, however, my sister and I soon realized that I wasn't over it at all when low and behold at 8 o'clock last night I was in a mean frenzy to paint nails, and pick out dresses, and write everything and anything possibly important in my brand new powder blue planner.

Isn't it kind of silly that everyone gets a little nervous and giddy for the first day back when realistically you've grown up with all these people and none of them really care whether you look different then you did two months before...or at any other point in your life for that matter? The answer in my opinion, is yes. Maybe the reason people like to dress up for that first day back is not for everybody else, or for their crush, or their friends...maybe it's for themselves. 

How many people looked at you in the same way you felt about yourself in the outfit you picked out? How many people thought, "Wow, that girl(boy) must be going places if their wearing that outfit on the first day of school?" Chances are it wasn't a lot, but it made you feel good. It made you feel new, and good, and capable of doing the impossible. Ok, you caught me, this is how I felt. But hopefully someone reading this blog feels the same way about the first day of school and I am not alone in the thought that looking good on the first day is to remind yourself,not others, that you can catch anything that year throws your way.

I'm also one of those obnoxious people that don't want to take high school as a joke, but instead want to love every second of it and try to put out of`mind that I'm not going to talk with anymore then 10(at the most) of these people after graduating. Today, my sister and I took a path down reminiscing road and pulled out old yearbooks. My sister, an alumni of my very own Bear River, looked inside and named the 10 people she still talked too, that she still laughed with, and made memories with and it got me thinking, that maybe that's what the social aspect of high school is about. Not who's on top and who's on the bottom or who's the class clown and who's the nerd, maybe it's about finding those 10 people(numbers may vary) and finding a few people to reminisce on the 'good old days' with. So you won't be alone in the future and more importantly you won't be alone in the past. 

Meanwhile, on a less deeper thought, I had a pretty wonderful 'first' day(even if it was my 12th one) and even got all the classes I wanted; right alongside my pal Megan;due to the fact we have matching schedules(class for class)! I hope everyone has a wonderful 'first' day back or at least has a nice time reminiscing on previous 'first' day backs. Jewel.

Bright Lights, Small Town

Once a year, Butler Amusements rolls into my town for the Nevada County Fair. Maybe it's the bright lights, the laughter, the spinning rides, or the end-of-Grease feel that makes me love the fair so much or maybe because it's also the time when my eldest sister, Ashley, visits from SoCal. Either way it's a week filled with fun right before school starts the next week.

After Ashley,my niece Emma, and Ashley's sister Sierra arrived on Tuesday; I ditched them Wednesday for a solid 13 hour day at the fair. Joined by my friends: Maddie, Isabella, Sam, Megan, Anya , Kaely, and Chris we enjoyed amazing food and plenty of stomach-flipping rides.

Matching shoes because we're cooler than all ya'll

The 'Footloose'...almost as amazing as the movie(the original one obviously)

Chris excited about the ferris wheel, then again who isn't?

The Zipper...my personal favorite

Refueling with cotton candy at about 10:30...

Although the fair was chock-full of fun, I had to say ta-ta to my friends until school to spend the rest of the week with my family. Although a majority of the week was spent undocumented (bad Jewel), we had tons of fun going to the river, the lake, Lake Tahoe, downtown Grass Valley and Nevada City, and the fair(one last time).
While we were on the lake my sisters and I took a shot at wake-boarding, which is actually a lot harder then it looks. Although Kenna was by far the winner going a good 1/4 a mile down the lake, Ashley and I gave it a good shot.

Sunning my toesies

Emma modeling the windswept hair 

Mi familia bella

Rafting is fun at any age...from 5 to 29

Kenna and I went on a slightly wilder ride, gliding over the water at terrifyingly fun speeds

A few days later at the fair...again looking fabulous!

What's cuter then a Sierra and an Emma carrot?

 Overall, it was a great week with family and friends and I cant' wait until next year when the bright lights of the fair and the bright light that is my sister rolls back into town. Jewel.