Crocs!

Those funky little shoes that are rubber and have cute little holes in them. Crocs! It's spring time, and it's time to bring them out. They're cute, funky little sandals that are perfect to wear to the beach, to school, anywhere, really! You can even wear them as slippers- yes, they make slipper Crocs with the fluffy, furry stuffing inside. How wonderful is that? If you want to search them up for more information, just go to www.crocs.com and search 'mammoth'. Apparantly, that's what they call them. The Mammoth Crocs are also perfect for wearing in the winter- these shoes aren't just for the warm weather. So it's a cold morning, you have your 'mammoth' slippers on. You take a step outside- no problem! No worries about ruining your slippers or getting your toes cold. You have plenty of warmth in the fuzzyness fluff. :-)

Don't like the style? Don't worry. Crocs come in many different looks. Are you a flip-flop fan? (I'm not. My first pair of flip-flops gave me a big rash in the middle of my big toe and little toe. Now that's painful.) Crocs have made their own little flip flop version. Click here to see a picture of flip flop Crocs. Crocs also come in boots, slippers (mammoth), and also, a new Crocs shoe called Trailbreak has bungi cords holding the rubber- these shoes won't fall of for sure! They'll hold on tight. So what Crocs shoe are you going to get? The fuzzy, warm Mammoth kind, the classical clog with the strap (Shown in the picture above), boots, or are you going to get the flip flop Crocs? The choice is yours.

I remember when the Crocs style spread about 3 years ago. I was in second grade, and literly everybody in my class of about 23 kids had Crocs. The classic clogs were very popular. Especially the hot pink ones- I loved pink back then. It was my #1 favorite color- no question. I remember back then, it was my dream to paint my room hot pink. Right away, I got a 'no' from both parents. Bummer. I knew it wasn't going to happen. Anyway, I badly wanted Crocs. They were like- the most popular shoe in the entire school. (One day in music class, our teacher said, 'Why is everybody wearing those funny little rubber sandals?') Finally, one warm Thursday afternoon, I walked into The Paper Store, and the first thing I saw was the glorious rainbow of clean, shiny, brand-new Crocs just waiting for someone to take them home. I ran straight to them, gazing at all the wonderful colors. Even though I knew I was getting hot pink, I was hypnotized by the huge wall of Crocs. I bought my shoes, and in the car, I remember yanking off the little black thing that holds them together, and tearing of my sneakers and socks. Bearfoot, I stepped into the cold rubber of the shoes- it seemed magical. A magical moment. Pretty exciting. My second pair of Crocs was also pink, but not hot pink. Now, I was in about 4th grade, and had grown out of my love for pink. Even so, I loved the peachy pink look, even though I was dying for blue Crocs. That was the next most famous color, especially sinse they made three shades of it: navy, royal, and sky blue. I really wanted sky blue, but the other half of me wanted peachy pink Crocs. I was once again standing in front of at least 50 pairs of Crocs- all different colors. I don't know why, but I just fell in love with the peachy pink ones. Now I'm in fifth grade, going sixth, and I have no idea where my Crocs are. Poor me. So much for a 'happily ever after'. Now I really want light green Crocs- no pink anything. Not even a pink Jibbitz. I'm through with pink. If my parents said 'yes' to when I wanted hot pink walls in my room, I don't know what I'd do now. Actually, I do. I'd run to the paint store, buy a couple of cans of soft, lime green paint, run back home, get the roller and mixer stick out, and start painting.

Here's my favorite part of the Crocs that really make these shoes unlike any other. The holes in the classical clogs and the Mammoth shoes aren't just for a unique, bubbly look. Stick little gems and plastic buttons through the holes to show your style. Don't worry- they have a huge variety on these little nick-nacks for your shoes. They're called Jibbitz. Customize your shoe to have a watermelon and a smiley face on it, or maybe you want to have Spongebob Squarepants dancing on one hole, and your initials spelled out on the other shoe. Show yourself. Show the world who you are, with the cute, adorable, stylish, and very unique one of a kind Crocs.

Go Green On Earth Day 2009!

It's that time of year again- Earth Day. So why don't you show your planet your love. All the love. Go Eco, Go Green, Go! Go and run to your friends house up the block rather than driving there. Go on and flip the light switch off for as long as you can. And you know what? To help out even more, try to be as green and earth-friendly as possible every day. That's right. You know what I said. Every single day of the year. Treat every day like earth day, and you'll make a difference. If you gather up a group of people to do the same, you'll make an even bigger difference. It matters. Tons of trees are being cut down every day for new homes. The earth needs trees to survive- it's like you need you're fruits and veggies for you to survive. It's like the earth has been smoking a lot, or has been eating way to many sweets. It's time we gave it some nutrients. So gather up all your good friends, all of you out there, and make every day earth day. Here are some ideas below on how you can make a difference:

-Turn of all of your lights in your house for as long as possible. Try not to use any night lights or hall way lights at night time, and if you need to use a light, go out in the sun. (If it's not raining.) If it's in the night, try using a candle instead.

-Use the least electricity you can. Unplug things like radios, lava lamps, and other things that you know you won't use. Go on, unplug your clock, too. Put on your watch instead.

-Time yourself in the shower. Set a kitchen timer for 3 to 5 minutes. Get in the shower, and when you hear it go off, that's it. No more shower for you. If you still need to rinse something out of your hair or need to rinse something off, you'll have to time yourself 15 more seconds before you need to be out of that shower. Save water. Be green. Don't take 30 minutes in the shower. Even 10 minutes is a little too much. 6 or 7 minutes is the maximum.

-Here's a common one: RECYCLE. Go through your house and find old mail, magazines, newspapers, and other papers you know your family doesn't need. If you're not sure, ask your parents. We don't want to throw away their favorite magazine or throw out the newspaper! Ask first. Then recycle.

-Here's a fun one: don't drive! Try to get everywhere on Earth Day by biking, skate boarding, walking, something that doesn't pollute like a car or train. If your parents, or you, need to get somewhere that you know you couldn't walk to, think. Do you really need to go? Or do you just want to go? If it's something like a doctors appointment or work, sure. I suppose. But don't drive just to get some coffee. That's a 'want'. Drive for needs only.

So come on! Try and be green and go eco. Everyday, all year long. Help the earth! If you've been following my website for a while now, you'll see that I published earlier about the earth and earth day. Click here to go to it! :-D (I used several of the same things you can do to help, but that's ok.) We try to make a difference- together.

Maximum Ride

I finally finished the first book! The first book of this incredible series, Maximum Ride. James Patterson's books are very addicting. I finished Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment in about 5 days. I spent several hours every night reading, and I just couldn't put the book down.

This outstanding book is about 6 kids: Maximum, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and 'The Gasman'. They are only 98% human. What is that other two percent, you ask? Bird. Yes, bird. These six inocent kids where made at a lab which is commonly nick named 'The School', by horrible scientists. Someone named Jeb stole them from the school, and escaped when they where very young. He was the closest thing they had to parents. He taught them how to control their wings, to read, and all the other basics. (Except for the wing things, of course.)

So what's the big deal? They're out, and California, where 'the school' is, is like a 2-day flight. They're safe. But there was one other school experiment that was part human, and part wolf. They are called Erasers. (No, not like the little pink erasers you use in school to make those horrible pencile marks go away.) One second, you see a normal human just standing there. The next thing you know, you're running for dear life from hungry wolves that want to kill you. Pretty insane. That's what it was like for these kids. The eraser's jobs was to capture the kids and yet again cage them up in the school. The school was awful. Everywhere people where taking notes, taking blood samples from you, and all around you are cages where all the kids stay. And you're in one. Wouldn't that be terrifying? Like a nightmare? Well let's pretend this nightmare came true. It came true for these kids.

I don't recomend this book for anyone under 9. Too violent, too scary, to bloody. If you think you can't handle that, I wouldn't get this book. But I'm fine with it. They are making a movie, too, in 2010! I'm almost possitive it will be rated PG-13, considering the trailer seems kind of.. scary.... not PG like... bloody.... scary.... violent. But I can't wait for it to come out!!

Don't miss the second: School's Out- Forever, third: Saving The World And Other Extreme Sports, fourth: The Final Warning, and now, a fifth has come out! MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel. Hope you like them!! :-)

My Homemade Hat

If you read my earlier post called 'The Joy Of Needle Crafts', then you know that I absolutely love crocheting (crow-shay-ing) and knitting. (And don't forget sewing!) If you haven't read it, I'd recommend doing that before you read this post. Click here to go to 'The Joy Of Needle Crafts'.

This project was my 2nd project. Technically, it's 3rd, considering I finished it third, but I started it second so I call it second. My first knitting project wasn't very good. It was all ragged on the edges, and some places it was wide, some places it wasn't, and the worst part I hate, it has this enormous knot on one side of it. I accidentally got the yarn tangled and ended up with a big fat knot. It's so poofy! But that's ok. It's not supposed to be perfect! Just a first project so I can get the hang of it.

Before I get to talking about the hat, let me tell you some previous projects I've done. Trust me, they're not bad at all. In fact, I'm very proud of myself. :-) It's a good feeling to say that you made the scarf that you're wearing, and the hat.

My third project was a red fluffy scarf for my dad, Erik Heels. (He has his own blog, www.erikjheels.com) I made it for him for Christmas! Red is his favorite color, and like I said, it is very poofy. Just take some poofy yarn, knit it together into tight stitches- now you've got ultimate fluffiness! Perfect for those cold winter days.

I just finished a blue scarf for my mother, and she says she's going to wear it to my brother, Sam, his band concerts. Well, not really concerts, they're often parades. Once more, I made it pretty long, so you can wear it multiple different ways. Unlike my first scarf, I ran out of yarn.. yeah. Bummer. Note for future reference: Always buy more yarn than you think you need so you don't run out!

Back to the hat. This hat was extremely hard to make. First, I had to cast on approx. 70 stitches onto these needles that have a cord that connect them together, so when you knit, it will form a circular shape. If I wanted to make a headband or an ear warmer, I'd just cast of after several rows. But this is a hat, so that means I need to decrease my stitches. Decreasing means to take away stitches, and when you get down to about 10, the stitches are very hard to work with. That's where the 3 double-sided needles come in. What I would do was put a couple on each needle, except for one. That would be my free needle so I can knit. I would keep decreasing until there is no more! Which was very hard, because the needles I was using were very thin, and the stitches were very tight. But I managed. It took a little while to make.. but I like knitting! It's fun, relaxing, and you can talk and socialize while you do it, that is, if you can knit with out looking, or with your eyes closed. Take a look at the picture at the top of this post! :-)

If you ever want to knit, go for it! It's a great skill to have, and once you get the hang of it, they make great gifts, or keep them for yourself! When someone asks who made it, you'll feel proud to say that you did. Knit away! :-) Be on the lookout for my latest project- a book bag! Coming soon, in June!

Big Mac And Little Mac

Before we got a 24 inch wide monitor iMac, we had a Dell that was very old, and wasn't very fast at all. Along with that, we had a very similar iMac to the one in the picture. The only difference is the screen size. This one was 20 inches wide. Just a few weeks ago, we decided we needed a replacement for the old PC. Apple, creator of the iPods, made this stunning computer that has an incredibly large screen. Now you can view more windows at once, for those who need to during work. Now you don't need to buy a double-monitor computer, when you can just get this large screen.

One of my friends asked me, 'What can't you do on a mac?' I'm afraid I don't quite know the answer to that one. You can see all your family's photos with iPhoto- that is, if you have a digital camera. But then again you don't really need one- you could just scan all your pictures on rather than upload them. Uh.. you actually can play interments on the iMac with a little thing called Garage Band, where you make your own music. You can play games, have little virtual sticky notes on your screen for reminders (You can actually do that! It's so cool!!), um... you can't make a cake on a mac! Yeah I know that's pretty lame. You can make a virtual cake, but not a real cake! Any more things that you know you can't do on a mac, just comment below.

Lookout, Dell! Here comes the new iMac! Now we have Big Mac and Little Mac. Teehee! They're brothers. It's pretty funny because earlier, it would either be, 'I call Dell!' or 'I call Mac!' or 'I call laptop!' I haven't even told you about the laptop yet- I'll get to that. Anyway, now that we have 2 macs in the same room, it doesn't work if you call, 'I call iMac!' Because there's two. We nicknamed the two 'brothers' big mac, and little mac. Aww... they look so cute next to each other.

Now for the laptop. It was my dad's, then he gave it to my oldest brother, Sam, who you've heard of in the Niagara Falls post, in the swimming scene. He's actually turning 15 today! (April 3rd) :-) I got him an iTunes gift card. Anyway, Sam just leaves the Macbook (the laptop) plugged in in the Family Room, so everyone can use it. After all, it IS the Family Room. So it's basically just another family computer, but technically, it's his.

In my opinion, iMacs and everything that starts with 'i' is awesome. (iPhoto, iTunes, iCal, iChat, iCarly, iMac, iMovie, etc.) So enjoy the world of endless things you can do on an iMac! :-)

The iPod Family

What's better than a portable C.D. player? An iPod! That way, you don't need to carry around a bunch of C.D.'s, or have to worry about getting it dirty. All the ipod's are nice and small, which make them very convenient when it comes to listening to music on-the-go.


First, let's start with the iPod Classic, the white one in the photo. This iPod is very classical, which is why it's name makes sense. You can watch videos on it with a nice large screen, listen to music, and have games on it. You can even sink your photo's from iPhoto on to your iPod Classic, and look at them to brighten your day, every day. The photos will look great on the large screen, which like I said, is also convenient for watching videos. The iPod Classic is now available at www.apple.com in black or white, and with a capacity of 120gb. With that much storage space, you can hold more than 30,000 songs! That's a lot of music. Along with that, you can have over 40 full length movies!! Plenty of storage. I recommend Monopoly for a game. It is very addicting, and it's just like real life! This time, it's on-the-go!

Next, we're going to look at my favorite one, the iPod nano, the little green one in the photo. Do you know why it's my favorite? Because I have it! Let me tell you, this thing is awesome! The new iPod Nano comes in 9 colors. Black, white, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and pink. Now available at www.apple.com, for either 8gb of storage, or 16gb of storage. I have a green refurbished 8gb, but honestly, that's all I need. I have a few videos, about 40 songs, and 4 games. And yet there's still like 5gb left! Plenty for me. But for those of you who have lots of favorite music, and lots of different kinds of playlists, and more movies and TV shows you might want to put on it, I'd recommend the 16gb nano-chromatic. Here are some cool things about the 4th generation nano: Ok, so you're listening to a song, and you want to hear other songs on your iPod that go great with it. The new iPod Nano has something called Genius. Just hold the center button, and a menu will come down. Click 'Start Genius', and it will automatically make a genius playlist for you! If you like it, just press 'Save Playlist', or you can click the 'refresh' button to make a new genius playlist. How cool is that?? Another thing I love about the nano is the
'Shake to shuffle' feature. Just shake it a little, and it'll switch to a random song in your library! Just to give things a little extra twist. It's not too sensitive, though, in case you're worried about it always changing songs while you're exercising or something. Nope. It's not very sensitive, and doesn't work in lock mode. So you don't need to worry about it changing when you don't want to! Here's my favorite feature of all. The cover flow. This is amazing technology- if you turn your nano to the left or right, so it's sideways, it'll show all your album covers. You can scroll through them, click on them, and find the song you want in that album. Now, finding your music is easier than ever! (This feature is also built in to the new iPod Touch) Also, if you hold down the center button, scroll down, you can browse songs by the same artist your listening to, or you can browse the album. That, my friend, is the ipod nano 4th generation.

The iPod Touch, or as some people seem to call it, the iTouch. According to the poll question of March 22nd, many of you seem to want this fantastic iPod. Now we're looking at the black one in the photo. This iPod is a touch screen, and unlike the iPod Classic and Nano, it doesn't have the cute little white wheel. If you're a gaming person, and you like to have fun with the ipod as appose to just listening to music, this ipod is definitely for you. Unfortunately, the touch only comes in one color: black. Maybe Apple will come out with more colors, but now it's just black. But- you can get skins and cases that are different colors though. Ah! The brilliancy in Apple. On the iPod Touch, you have these little squares called Apps. (Apps stands for Applications.) You can get free apps from iTunes, but some of them require payment. But each of them is different! One might be Super Monkey Ball, and another could be Sudoku. It's up to you! If you're a little bit of a gamer and a music person, it's got it all. You can also hold tons of songs on the ipod Touch, so you have more than just games. It also holds videos, perfect for the outstanding large display. Perfect for games, movies, or just browsing through your music. Check this out: with WiFi connection, you can access the internet with Safari on the go! It's like a laptop, only better. It also includes the Youtube application, so you can go directly to it, and start the fun. Hundreds of games are available for the ipod Touch, and many are free. Just go to the app store, located on your ipod, and download some! It's that simple, along with the online music store. Just tap it, search for a song you want to buy, and buy it with a simple click! It'll be added to your iTunes library the next time you charge it. Have some favorite photo's you want to have on there? Once again, thanks to the large display and full color, you can look at your photos on the ipod Touch. If you get the iPod Touch, and experience it, you'll know for sure it's the most fun you've ever had on an ipod. It's like a Gameboy, mp3 player, laptop, and TV all in one! So have fun.

Last but not least, the iPod Shuffle. In the photo, you'll see a blue iPod shuffle. That one is from the last generation. This one's the new one- just imagine an AAA battery. Flatten it, and paint it either black or white. There you go. The new iPod shuffle is the perfect thing for those of you who like to listen to music on the go- just music. No videos, pictures, games, just music. What I like about Apple is that they make an iPod for everyone. This one is for the music lovers. It even has a convenient little clip on the back of it, so you can attach it to your shirt, pants, or you can stick it in your pocket. But with the clip, you'll be sure not to lose it- it's so tiny! The new iPod Shuffle is better than ever- and smaller than ever! Now, it's even smaller than an AA battery! This ipod is the very first one that talks to you, and it comes in black and white. But just because it's small, doesn't mean it doesn't hold a lot. Now, you can hold up to 1000 songs! Impressive for a little ipod. Now that it's so tiny, they've moved the controls to an easy-to-get-to spot on the head phones, so you don't have to do digging in your pocket and fiddling with it all- just tap the center button to play a song. Tap it again, and it'll pause. Hold it down, and a voice will say the name of the song that's playing, and the album it's in. Now, you can organize your songs in playlists. Just hold the center button, and you'll here the same voice telling you the song that's playing, and the album it's in. Keep holding until you here a little short sound. Then, the voice will tell you the playlist playing, and then read all of your playlists. To select a playlist, just click the center button when the voice says it, and the music begins. With it's increddibly small size, and it's easy navigation, the new iPod shuffle is the perfect thing for listening to music while jogging, taking a ride, exersizing, or just relaxing.

So which iPod are you?