the end.

hello there everyone who bothers to read this,

today I have some sad news: this will be the end of my blog.

when I first started this, it was meant to be an outlet of sorts to focus on something else other than my dreadful summer. I hadn’t intended on making a website revolving around the different bucket lists in my life, and at the time I was thrilled! but now, I have lost my love of the sophomore bucket list, and I couldn’t even accomplish the summer one. I’m going to leave this blog up for a while, merely to let people look through it or get some bucket list ideas of their own.

here’s the great thing about this blog’s termination: I am creating a new one.

I kept having this feeling that blogging wasn’t quite living up to the expectations I thought it would. later I figured out it was because I wasn’t blogging about the right things. I intend for this new blog to be a lifestyle blog of sorts, one where I can post my poetry, daily happenings (well, not daily, because we all know how consistent I am), and about things that make me happy. I am still hoping to make summer bucket lists, but maybe not rely on them to keep my blog going.

lastly, I just want to thank all of you that liked my posts, or commented when you found something that intrigued you, and especially the people that followed me. you are all lovely people, and I hope to reconnect with all of you on my new blog (once it is set up of course)!

all my love,

emma jo

update

hello there, gorgeous human beings!

I am obviously not very good at posting consistently. I meant to post yesterday and say that I was changing my weekly updates to tuesdays, but I couldn’t even do that! don’t get me wrong, I am a capable and intelligent person, it’s just hard to keep up with everything being thrown at me in life. everyone deals with that.

so as you can see, this is not your average bucket list update. I am posting to update you all on everything. how the bucket list is going, how I’m doing mentally and physically, as well as the smaller things.

first off, the sophomore bucket list is going quite well. I think my mom is taking me to get my helix pierced this weekend (#6)!! and halloween is coming up, so I have some opportunities to cross off others as well. 😊 overall, I am happy with how this bucket list is going. the items aren’t getting crossed off too quickly or slowly, and I feel like I will have plenty of time to get everything done. **IMPORTANT UPDATE** I am going to remove #41 which was: (maybe) go to a haunted house. haunted houses and spookfests of the sort are not really up my alley, but I assure you it will be substituted for something just as entertaining… once I think of it. but don’t fret, I will definitely replace it since I am shooting for 50 items crossed off! also, I have been working on my new monthly series, and it is going excellently! I cannot wait for all of you to see this new piece I’m trying. 😁

second matter at hand, my mental and physical health. this is honestly the happiest I have been with my body in a long time. instead of hating on everything I have, and wishing for something else, I am loving myself. truly and completely and more than I ever have. my curves are something I revel in now, and I am taking notice of the way that they are comfortable and cute and attractive all at once. and instead of wishing my body was different, I am appreciating everything it does for me; it allows me to walk and feel and love. what more could I ask for? mentally, though I am in one of the best states when it comes to my body, I have been kind of down lately. I am going to start going to therapy again (a different therapist this time, and a totally new place). and I’m not seeing this as a setback at all. I’m really viewing it as a huge step toward a better mentality, because I was finally able to come forward and admit some of the things that were hard to say aloud. some of the things I’m not ready to share with the big, wide world that is the internet, but I am willing to tell you some so you get to know more. I have been really stressed lately. now don’t start rolling your eyes yet, I realize that many people get stressed, but let me finish. my stress is mostly from school; assignments that I don’t understand and teachers that can’t teach. but it has been taking over my mind, and I have been picking at my face (popping any zit I can find and scratching off scabs). it isn’t easy to control whatsoever. I’m also very doubtful of myself. lack of confidence is what it is for the most part. I am scared that I am not good enough, and I might as well ask my english teacher 4,112 questions to ensure that my topic sentence is perfect. one thing she, and some other students had said to me, built my confidence up a little bit, but I’m trying to make a tower. not overwhelming, but not non-existent. hopefully the therapy will help me in all of those areas, and give me some potential solutions to make everything run smoothly in this head of mine.

I believe that is all for now, but be on the lookout for a post coming on sunday or tuesday.

all my love,

emma jo

#45

(look! I took this super cute picture of my new book and I’m super impressed with myself. 😊)

hello!

don’t scold me, I know today is not sunday, but I was actually out of town all weekend (we had a four day weekend due to teacher shit). but I decided I wasn’t going to deprive you from a sophomore bucket list post created by yourself truly!

in case you didn’t know, I am a huge lover of poetry (see #19 on the sophomore bucket list), and I buy poetry books whenever I have the money to do so. rupi kaur just came out with a new book called the sun and her flowers, so I bought it for myself. let me just say, some of the best money I have ever spent was on that book. it was wonderful in all the best ways a poetry book can be. rupi kaur never leaves out anything; no matter how painful, how truthful, how heartbreaking. but she also has poems that are heartwarming, inspiring, and loving. there’s no in-between for rupi, she gives you every piece of her soul and leaves you aching for more. there’s a little something for everybody in the sun and her flowers, whether you just had your heart broken or you’re trying to start over. I’ll post a couple of pictures that she put on her instagram page so you can view them.

I don’t think anyone will ever understand how much healing and heartbreak her poems cause me.

all my love,

emma jo

(p.s. I have to take the PSATs tomorrow, and I’m not totally sure how to feel. I’m not nervous- well, maybe just a tad- but it’s so weird. this is a big step toward growing up and I don’t know if I’m ready for it quite yet.)

#1

homecoming, the night when the music is just a bit too loud, but you’re too happy to care.
so homecoming was absolutely wonderful! our football team won against a team we’ve never beat at our home field before, and the boy that made the winning touchdown in overtime has newspaper articles being written about him all over the place. he’s only a sophomore (so am I, and we’ve got a couple classes together), so it was pretty impressive.

I went to my best friend’s house to get ready, and boy, did we look good! I had a bright orange dress with flowers decorating it in splashes of dark purples and blues. it’s one of the prettiest dresses I own, I absolutely adore it. she wore a sparkly red dress (not the sequinned kind, just the small sparkles woven all throughout).

when we first got there, the cafeteria was practically empty, but that didn’t stop me from dancing to every song. she was a bit more shy, but we got into the groove eventually and danced like there was no tomorrow.

the boy I liked had another date, but that didn’t stop me from having the time of my life with all of my gorgeous friends (I would have put pictures in if I had stopped dancing long enough to take any, just know that they all looked FABULOUS).

though my night ended on sour note, the rest of the night was so good. our boys kicked ass at the football game, I danced the night away, and had a way better homecoming than last year.

all my love,

emma jo

(p.s. my monthly series isn’t going to start until the end of october for the sake of my sanity and organizational skills)

#18 & #28

hello again gorgeous readers!

I have finally figured out a good routine for my blog, and I am super excited to share with you!! as you know, one of the items on my bucket list is to post about more than just my bucket lists (pretty ironic, I know). but I have officially come up with some pretty cool ideas that I hope you all love:

1. I am going to start a monthly series (I know this is on the list, but I want to make sure that you all know that this is coming up soon). if you guys have any input, since I know many of you guys have monthly series of your own, I would be so grateful if you shared some tips!
2. I’m also going to start another series called “marvelous memoirs.” I have really been getting into memoirs ever since I finished “the glass castle” (a post coming on that soon!!), and another item on the list was to read some memoirs, I might as well share the ones I read with you!! I am very excited about this series, because I have always loved reading, and memoirs are a whole new thing for me, I wanted to share how I felt about them.
3. I am going to start posting every sunday (hence this post you are reading now). whether it be a monthly series or a memoir post, I will post EVERY sunday. establishing a routine will make me feel a lot more organized.
4. speaking of being organized, I am also going to start dividing my posts into their own sections, so you wonderful readers don’t get confused with all of the bucket list posts that I’ve posted versus the ones that I am going to post in the future.

there is the first matter of the list, but I’m not going to completely cross off #18 until I start getting into the routine of things.

#28 on my list was “go to the fair” and I came upon the cutest fair I’ve been to (and the only fair I’ve ever been to). it is the clay county fair held in spencer, iowa. it is actually rated the #1 county fair, the last time I checked, and I saw why when I went! so I made my way over to iowa to check it out, and I had a lot of fun! the food was definitely my favorite part…

this is poutine. french fries covered with gravy and warm cheese curds. my description doesn’t do the food justice. although my stepdad makes this better, poutine is a must try when you go to the fair.

remember all of those times your mom slapped your hand as you tried to sneak a spoonful of the cookie dough before it got baked? “you’ll get samonella poisoning!” well don’t fear, edible cookie dough is here!! this was absolutely fantastic, although it was seriously overwhelming. I couldn’t finish it and I went to bed with a stomach ache. but it was totally worth it. 😉

strawberry smoothie. I know what you’re thinking, I could make this at home, why would I spend $6 on a strawberry smoothie? my response: because it is worth every penny! strawberry smoothies are a savory treat that satisfies your parched mouth on a hot day at the fair. they mix these for the ideal amount of time; you get the crunch from the seeds and the cool, smooth strawberry all at once. 10/10 recommend!

there were also rides at the fair, but I’m not as big of a fan of those as I used to be when I was a kid. I guess I’m more of a rollercoaster fan, but some of them were still really fun!!

the thing I really loved about the fair was that there was something for everyone. food, rides, animals, and even commercial buildings. the buildings with animals were stinky (hey, they don’t have toilets, give them a break), but looking at the baby animals in the barn was the best part. especially the sweet baby pigs. they melted everyone’s hearts. the commercial buildings were also really cool. it had a lot of different things from around the region and local businesses selling things. a lot of jewelry and cooking utensils and many other things.

overall, the fair was the best time and I was so glad I was able to head to spencer for a little bit to check out the best county fair!

all my love,

emma jo

(p.s. you all are wonderful human beings and I thank each and every one of you that take the time out of your day to read my posts and even comment. more posts to come!!)

emma jo’s sophomore bucket list

it’s finally here… my sophomore bucket list!!

the end of the summer bucket list

 

hello there beautiful humans.

I have some really upsetting news, but please bare with me because good news is to come.

my first day of school was on wednesday, but the summer bucket list was not completed before then. therefore, this is the end of the summer bucket list. I have to tell you, though, having all of you guys read my blog and comment made my summer a million times better than it could have been. creating the summer bucket list was started because I was trying to survive the summer, and I couldn’t have done it without you. summer is normally a time where kids have fun and let loose, but for me it is more of a prison. here is all of my love being sent to you through this post. thank you so much.

alright, here’s for the happy news… I have decided to create a school year bucket list!! this might be a little different than the summer bucket list, because I realize that it will be a little difficult to work around homework and after school activities. I am really going to try to complete this list though. my summer list might have been a little more difficult to complete because I wasn’t as motivated, but now that I realize how much effort this is going to take, I really want to put my time into this one.

I should get the list posted sometime within the next week. also, I thought I would ask you guys for any suggestions you had. if you have ever wanted to do something over the span of a school year, but never had the courage to do it, comment. I will add that to my list (not guaranteed, but I will try) and attempt to inspire you to cross it off of your list!

thank you all for the love and support,

emma jo

22.

hello again.

I am writing this at 11:35 p.m. and I really can’t give you a good reason as to why. sometimes words just come to me at night, more often than during the day, and I have to get them out before I go to sleep.

well, let us get to the good part: I crossed another one off of the list! number 22 is to volunteer somewhere. I did this a while ago as well, but I still remember it so clearly. I actually ended up volunteering at a church for their summer program called “vbx”, which stands for vacation bible school x-treme. why they don’t have the letter s in there is beyond me, but it was a lot of fun. I had done it before in previous years, but this was probably the best time I had. the age group I helped with at the church were preschoolers or kids going into kindergarten. it was a really cool experience, because all of these little human beings were looking to me for help and guidance. it was on me and the other volunteers to ensure that they were soaking up all of the verses they were told, the love God has for them, and the stories they listened to. I am not a hard core catholic or christian, but I do believe in God and I pray almost every night before I go to sleep. it was sweet, how innocent these children were, and you could tell that many of them enjoyed how much they were being taught. I guarantee every one of those kids went home and talked to their mom or dad, grandma or grandpa about the love and compassion God has for us (even when they get put in timeout). they learned all of these new things (some of them had never been to church, much less a camp for a church), and I was lucky enough to witness it, and even teach some of it to their eager minds. you could see as they sang on the stage how much they had taken away from just three days spent there. it was a beautiful thing to watch.

my love always,

emma jo

p.s.

just so you know, I went and edited my summer bucket list a little bit. some of the things I found I didn’t have enough time or money for, but please don’t worry, I have plenty more items on the list to entertain you with!

9. & 24.

hello there lovely people!

I actually did these things back around the beginning of july (when I was in florida). life has been a little hectic lately, so I hadn’t gotten around to posting. anyway, the town we stayed in has a piece of my heart now that I don’t think I’m ever going to get back, but that is perfectly fine with me; it gives me all the more reason to go back! now let’s get the bucket list items crossed off officially!
9.) watch a sunset

I kind of forgot that I watched a sunset. that sounds a little bit crazy, but you’ll understand when you keep reading. we (my family and I) had gotten off the plane in orlando and waited the longest time for our luggage before hopping in our rental car to speed toward our destination. it was three more hours of travel time, we’d get there at about 10:30 p.m. we we’re a little over halfway into our drive when the sun had started to set and splashed these gorgeous colors across the sky.

I had snapped some pictures (obviously, you just looked at them), but when we got to the town, I just forgot about it. we had pizza waiting for us, and so much to talk about with our family members that we were visiting that it just slipped my mind. after looking through my pictures on my recent vacation to north carolina, I found these beauties and thought they were perfect for the summer bucket list!

24.) take a walk on the beach by myself.

we went down to a gorgeous little beach town in florida at the beginning of the month, that left such an impact on my soul. we went to this quiet beach, away from the main beach, and it was so peaceful and the water was a gorgeous blue. the kind of blue that artists would dip their fingers in and cry because it is such a lovely color.

I wanted some time to myself, so I walked away from where my family was sitting and toward some rocks (pictured below) with a book in my hand.

I found the best rock (one that didn’t make me slide off) and curled up into myself with a book. I was reading the problem with forever written by jennifer armentrout. it was a beautiful book and I ended up finishing it right there on that rock.

I ended up with a sunburn, but it was worth it. I got to look up in front of me, in the middle of a sentence, and the ocean was right there. completely tangible, and right then I didn’t ever want to leave.

you always hear that saying, “you don’t know what you got until it’s gone.” and that couldn’t be more true. my heart sank on our last night, because it was a new place. a new home away from home. and I didn’t want to go.

all my love,

emma jo

short update

hello again beautiful people!

as you can see, the title of this post is a short update instead of an item off of the bucket list. july is coming to a quick close and you can see by looking at the list, that I don’t have a lot crossed off. that is exactly why I am writing this post. don’t fret at all! life has just been a little hectic lately, so hopefully I’ll get back on track this week. I’m on vacation at the moment at a gorgeous beach, so I have PLENTY of opportunities to cross several off of the list. be looking out for a lot of new posts!

so long,

emma jo