End of Summer League, Birthday and All-State Choir Camp!

To say that this past week was hectic (but amazing!) would be an understatement. For starters, the end of summer league swimming crept up on me sooner than I would have liked it to, but I have to admit that this season was the best by far; I beat my own PR in breaststroke and even went to all-stars for the first time in the event (technically I also went last year in breaststroke, but I was an alternate who didn't get to actually swim).

Incase anyone is slightly confused on how the whole swim all-stars thing works, there are 2 meets you have to swim at and place high enough to move on to the all-star meet. I had preliminaries on Thursday, finals on Saturday and all-stars on Tuesday. I made it in every event I swam in prelims and made it in both of my team's relays and breaststroke in finals to advance to all-stars. (They take the top relay and the top 2 swimmers from each division in each individual event and I was an alternate in freestyle and the individual medley [Fly, Back, Breast, Free]). Unfortunately, I didn't place well at All-Stars (15th in breast with a total of 16 swimmers and 8th with a total of 8 relays in the medley and free relays) but that didn't matter to me (ok, maybe a little bit). I swam my best and because the majority of the girls I swam against are on their school's varsity swim team, I didn't beat myself up over it. (At the moment I only swim in the summer but I'll be starting high school swimming in the fall)

Me and my medals from Finals (ignore the messy hair... stupid humidity)

From Monday thru Thursday, I spent most of my day at a local All-State Choir Camp (with the exception of Tuesday since I had to leave early to make it to All-Stars). Basically during the camp, you get a crash course in the 8-10 pieces you'll have to sing in District, Region, Pre-Area and Area auditions for the All-State process. I have to say that this year's music is so beautiful, although some of the rhythms and the words were hard for me to catch onto. (I cannot sing in Czech or German to save me life...) Surprisingly, I was able to stay plantstrong at camp without packing my lunch everyday since I was afraid that all that would be available were burgers and grease-laden pizza, but thankfully there was a salad bar line that even had beans (This actually shocked me, don't know why though) and oil-free dressing options (soy sauce and red wine vinegar). Additionally, there was a seasonal fruit bar and grab and go fruits such as apples, bananas and oranges.

On Wednesday I turned 17 but I didn't do anything special to celebrate (unless you call singing all day, working out and eating a delicious vegan cookie from Vegeria "special"). [by the way, the cookie was DELICIOUS, but ridiculiously sweet. It might just be that I very seldomly eat sweets since fruit is sweet enough for me on its own]

(p.s. I actually bought the cookie back in June at Vegeria's booth at Vegfest Houston, but stuck it in the freezer when I got home. Also, I'm not 100% sure what kind of cookie it was, but it was some kind of chocolate chip hemp cookie made with garbanzo flour.)

Tomorrow marks the day where I leave for Vancouver, Whistler, Maui and Kauai for 2 and 1/2 weeks on vacation. I'm not sure if I'll be able to blog as I go (meaning that I might be blogging when I get back or at least blog about the Canada part of my trip while I'm in Hawaii). I've got a carry-on filled with plantstrong meals and snacks just incase my parents decide to be super cheap and eat fast food the majority of our trip. (pictured below)