« huji app review/pictures »

heyo folks! :D i hope school has been going alright lately. it’s been a little weird for me lately but i’m keeping up with everything so i’m stress free at the end of each day.

i’m here with another app review! i really enjoyed doing my last one and decided to do another one with one of my favorite apps :)

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huji is an app that turns your pictures into 1990’s film like a disposable camera, and even adds cute effects like a small date in the corner and light effects.

i saw people posting pictures from huji all over instagram and wasn’t sure what app it was until one of my friends told me when i was at a camp retreat. i really enojoyed using it that weekend with my friends and having super cute pictures come out for results :)

i’m going to go through the pros and cons of this app and then post some pictures from my gallery.

+
– huji always has some SUPER cute results and gives your pictures a little something extra
– you can thankfully save the pictures to your camera role so you don’t have you go into the app for them every time
– the app is layed out well and easy to navigate
– the light effects added to the pictures makes them very pretty and unique

–
– huji kills your battery FAST. staying on the app for even a short amount of time will drop your percentage very fast. this is unfortunate in situations where you’re away from home or traveling without a way to charge your phone but still wanting to take pictures
– you can’t touch the screen to use color correction on huji. it’s hard to focus the camera on very bright things
– the light effects are completely random and can sometimes cover up your photos. also color filters vary depending on the lighting
– it’s very hard to edit pictures taken on huji anymore than they already are. trying to change them after using this app makes them look very over-edited very easily

pictures:

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i feel like my pros and cons made this app look kinda bad, but overall i really do enjoy using it! i tend to use my regular camera more often due to the fact i can edit them easier without them looking crazy edited, but huji does add some super cool effects and filters to pictures. you never know how huji will make something look until you try it out :)

do you have huji? what do you think of the app? what apps would you like to see me do reviews on in the future?

off topic from this post, today was 9/11 and i want to make it known my heart goes out to everyone who was personally effected by the devastating event over the past years, especially today and every day.

i hope you all have an amazing rest of the week. remember the God you serve and the One within you is greater than anything you experience.

☾☼

mckenna

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« ultimately »

ultimately i don’t understand a thing. i try to do the best i can, i know you try to do the same.

we’re just so bound to make mistakes. you could call it deposition.

i apologize for all your tears, i wish i could be different.

but i’m still growing up into the one you can call your love.

i don’t know if i’ll ever be enough. i’m throwing in my chips, i guess i tend to push my luck.

and ultimately i believe we’ll be okay. it’s so cliché to say these things, but repetition is key.

i think i’m better when i’m with you, but i worry when you’re gone. i think i need to learn to love myself; i must learn to be strong.

so for now…we’ll say goodbye although it pains me in my heart. your words they come to me in memories. they sing to me like songs.

it won’t be long until i’m here. soon i’ll make my arrival under shady trees, a quiet street. the roads that i have traveled.

ultimately it’s a beautiful thing. like flowers blooming in a lonely field, the petals drift through crossing winds.

they find their way to river streams. that scent the water beautifully.

it takes me back to you.

khai dreams

« motivation + tips to get you through the new school year »

and so…summer has ended. but i have returned! my posting schedule got out of whack just as i expected. but that’s alright. now that the pool is closing and i’ll have more time at home, hopefully i can start posting more often now.

before i get into this post, i’m going to start with a couple life updates:

1. musical just started three weeks ago and i’m so excited! the comedy we’re doing is so amazing and it’s gonna be lots of fun. we had auditions this last saturday and the cast list was sent out that night at 11:00 and…..I GOT THE LEAD ROLE I WANTED!! i didn’t think i had any chance at all, and i flipped out when i saw my name! we’re doing double casting like we did last year so there’s another girl playing my part with me on alternating nights, but i’m so excited!

2. WHILE I WAS THINKING OF UPDATES I DECIDED TO CHECK MY FOLLOWER COUNT AND I JUST REALIZED WE PASSED 200!?!??!?!?!??! oh my goodness, thank you all so much!! it means the world to me you have no idea! (now i’ve gotta write a 200 follwer post…)

that’s actually all the updates i can think about right now, so i’m just gonna get into the post ;)

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we dread school. all of us. after the high and freedom of summer, we get stuck in the same building every day, with the same people. the only up is our friends, but even then there’s drama and negative energy no matter where you go. homework and stress pile up, and it’s hard to stay motivated for the long nine to ten months.

we all need help getting through the school year one way or another. i’m here with some motivation and tips that can hopefully help even in small ways to kick off the year.

grades: after tests and quizzes, when grades and report cards come back, it’s SO easy to let our grades define us. our intelligence, our worth. you. can’t. do. this.
it’s very important to remember that everyone has different IQ’s. along with that, everyone has different talents. one bad grade doesn’t mean you’re stupid. it means that’s not your strongest subject. don’t let bad grades get you down this year, help them motivate you to work even harder and try your best in everything you do.

friends: going into school, whether you’re a freshman or even a senior, it can be very hard to fit in going into a new school year. finding friends and friend groups can be very challenging and you can end up feeling very lonely.
what you need to think about is the fact that it’s nothing about you making it difficult if it is. people change too. maybe your best friend from second grade suddenly starts hanging out with new people. it’s not your fault, it’s them changing and making their own decisions. now is your time to be yourself too and reach out to new people. be patient too. looking for friends desperately can get you mixed up with the wrong people. wait for God to bring the right friends to you, and then you’ll know they’re right for you ;)

you: there’s so many different styles and trends every year that everyone involves themselves with. everyone starts to believe you need to get into these to be “cool.” to be completely honest, this is the world’s ideas of cool, and getting involved in them can lead to trouble.
going into the school year, remember you’re unique from everyone else, and you don’t need to dress or act a certain way to fit in. be yourself and show everyone your definition of cool. that way you’ll fit in in all the right ways. and if you don’t, then you’ll stand out in all the right ways :)

schedules and routines: going into the school year, it’s insanely important to develop a schedule and routine and STICK TO IT. repetitiveness will help you stay calm and keep your stress levels down throughout the year. it’ll bring familiarity when things start to get crazy. it can be as easy as a daily list of things to do before and after school. example:

6:00: brush teeth
6:10: makeup
6:45: breakfast/devotionals
7:25: school
etc…

   lists like this will help you stay on track with what needs to get done every morning and evening without getting distracted. it’ll also help stress levels stay low.

HOMEWORK: many times when you get home from school, the main thing everyone wants to do is curl up in bed on their phone until dinner and get to their homework “when they get the chance” or “later.” this can lead to staying up very late to get last minute assignments in and projects done. the lack of sleep then received can lead to difficulty concentrating the following days and more built up stress throughout the week.
my tip would be: when you get home from school, power down your phone and work hard on all your homework BEFORE DINNER. once dinner is finished, if all your homework is done for the next day, then you have plenty of time to be on your phone or play video games or whatever else.

preparation: homework goes along with this, but after dinner is finished and homework is completed, before being lazy for the rest of the night, a really good thing to do is prepare for the next day. this can mean picking out an outfit or repacking your backpack. getting everything done for that day and also the next day will make you feel put together and relaxed. then you have no stress or worry when you go into free time.

sleep: this has got to be one of the single most important tips to a successful school year. REST IS SO VERY IMPORTANT. it also prepares you for the next day! staying up late doing homework or on your phone means very few hours of sleep considering the time you need to wake up in the morning as well.
one very key thing to do is put your phone away by 9:00. i’ve been trying to do this for weeks and i still can’t! but your body and grades will thank you for putting it away early. after it’s powered down, try reading a book or doing devotionals before you sleep. try and be done by around 10:00, 11:00 at the latest. you’ll notice big changes in not only your work, but also your attitude going into school everyday.

weekends: after the week has FINALLY ended, everyone wants a break from school and work and they wanna have fun with friends. that’s totally fine to do, AND ALSO IMPORTANT. having breaks from work is very important when it comes to preforming well in school.
BUT. before dropping everything to be with friends, make sure you have EVERYTHING done for the next week. this goes back to the homework. don’t put it off to go bowling and tell yourself you’ll do it sunday night. next thing you know, you’ll be watching netflix or on your phone telling yourself it’s still the weekend or you’ll be up until 3 am trying to pull everything together.
challenge yourself to get everything for the next week done before sunday and before you do anything with friends. if getting it done in one day isn’t possible, then use sunday too. and if getting certain things done takes even longer, don’t hang out with friends until your caught up with everything. this will challenge you to work harder and concentrate more, which leads to better grades. you’ll also be able to enjoy yourself more when you’re with friends when you’re not worrying about everything that needs to be done at home.

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that’s all i have for now! hopefully these tips were helpful to you all even in small ways!

for me personally, i have a very short attention span and i also hate school with a passion. procrastination comes very easily for me, so it’s very easy for me to neglect my work and get behind on everything and i get extremely stressed out.
i’m going to challenge myself beyond my limits this year to work my hardest the entire year even when i want to quit, and i encourage you all to do the same.

we can do this :) stay happy, stay brilliant. i love you all.

☾☼

mckenna

« europe travel diary (pt 2) »

i’m back! surprise surprise, i’ve been super busy just as i expected.

this last weekend, i went camping with my family and some friends, thursday through sunday. while relaxing and having a great time, i realized those four days were the first days since we got back from europe that i haven’t been at our pool.

so yes, i realized that since the beginning of the summer, i’ve been to the pool every. single. day. for one reason or another. i’m back home now though, and the weather is kind of gross, so i have at least today off to catch up on posting :)

as you can tell from the title, i’m here for the part two of my trip to europe! i have more pictures than the first post i believe. at least a lot from our second day in paris. i did go through and delete a lot a little while back though to save space on my phone. but i hope you all enjoy seeing what i still have :D

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may 20/ PARIS DAY 2: we woke up fairly early again this morning and headed straight into the city. thankfully today we had a somewhat easier time finding subway stations so we did less walking than we would have.

my sister brought her friend’s polaroid camera with her on the trip and got some really good pictures. this is one she took me me on one of the trains :)

our first stop that morning was notre dame, and can i just say…wow. this church was absolutely huge and gorgeous. the architecture blew me away.

pictures can’t do it justice. (this picture was taken near the end of the day when we went back. the sun had been behind it and it was difficult to take pictures. i’m glad i could get this one though :D )

it took a hot minute to find a bathroom around this place with all the tourists. i think we ended up just going to a starbucks (not sponsored) or something. then we walked past lots of street market carts as we went around the building.

(still notre dame)

we walked ages and ages after this to see THE LOUVRE. other than the eiffel tower, the louvre was one of the main things in paris i was looking forward to. sadly, we didn’t go on a tour inside, but the outside was just as stunning.

it’s a little hard to explain the layout of the building, but i’ll try my best. first, we entered into the HUGE courtyard. the building was all around us in a square shape with a fountain in the middle. we looked around for a while and took some pictures.

thankfully, we went the the front pretty fast. i could see the pyramid through the archway at the other end of the courtyard and couldn’t wait to get out there.

through the archway, the pyramid was right in front of us with little pyramids surrounding it. the building came out on either side of it, but there was no far wall if that makes sense. i have pictures now so hopefully that’ll help it make more sense XD

(i walked too far for this picture).

my sister and i did the super cool splits right in front of the pyramids. i was gonna add in the picture, but i don’t have a way to put an emoji over her face right now. that’s alright though.

the louvre didn’t disappoint me one bit, and i can’t wait to go back someday.

at this point, i remember we all had to pee and pay for a bathroom, and our feet were reeeeally starting to hurt. yet we had one more stop that day that included even more walking and LOTS of stairs.

that’s riiiight we headed up to sacre coeur. once our legs were at the point of falling off from exhaustion, we made it to the top, and i can’t say it was a waste of energy. the view was absolutely breath taking, and the church itself was stunning.

it was pretty hot in the sun, and there was barely any shade, but we found a decent spot to rest for a while and eat some snacks while looking over paris. definitely a moment i won’t forget easily.

on the way back down, there was lots of cool graffiti and art on walls and the ground.

i like this picture, but at this point and time looking at it, it makes me laugh because WOW I’M SO PALE HAHAHA. i’ve gotten MUUUUCH darker. anyways…

once we got back to the bottom, we walked the streets for some time. on one side were little shops and restaurants, and lining the other were tons of painters and artists with their pieces hanging and sitting everywhere. it was incredible looking at them and watching them make art.

i felt the need to add this picture in because GUYS THIS IS A PAINTING. TAKE A MOMENT JUST TO STARE AT THIS AND BASK IN ITS GLORY LIKE WOW.

we walked more and more until we finally found a place to eat. walking through the streets past all the restaurants was pretty funny. the owners were all very competitive for business and were all throwing deals and free things at you to try and get you to come to their place.

once we finally decided on one, we had a neighboring owner pouting very obviously for quite a bit. my sister was very excited once we got our meals, because she met the drinking age in europe and was able to have wine with her meal.

we FINALLY made it back to the hotel after taking a train. i have never been more relieved to wash my feet and put on pajamas in my entire life. i joined a live stream with one of my friends back home and hit the hay.

i will share this screenshot from our second day though:

and this wasn’t including the trains we took.

may 21: we left paris this morning and headed to belgium without our cousins. we rented a small but very nice apartment/house thing for one night and rode around on the bikes provided for two days. the first day i didn’t really take pictures, but we went shopping a lot.

the first day there was a huge concert type celebration for the belgium football team that had just won a game and made it into the world cup i think? it was loud and there were lots of drunk people, but it was fun to watch everyone being so happy. the team ended up driving through the streets on a big bus, so that was really fun. sadly, they got beat in the world cup, but it was cool to see them.

that night i stayed up late watching one of my friends live stream, and i remember hearing a very friendly cat outside my window on the roof somewhere meowing at me for quite sometime.

may 22: we got up early and headed into town for some breakfast. we bought legitimate belgium waffles and wow.

i’ve tried to describe to my friends how good these actually were, but i haven’t been able to. they were actually the best tasting thing i’ve ever had in my life, and that’s saying something.

we went on a boat tour that day as well, and that was pretty fun. here’s the single picture i have from that:

we did a lot more shopping that day…it was pretty boring and i was ready to go back to the house. that afternoon, we drove back to holland for our last few days in europe.

we went to the amusement park efteling at some point. i can’t figure out which day exactly because i didn’t take any pictures.

may 23-25: these days were spent back in holland. we had a huge family reunion with my mom’s side of the family. most everyone only spoke dutch, so it was interesting, but not impossible to get to know everyone.

may 26: my cousins youth group was going to a concert while we were in europe, so me and my brother got to tag along. it was several american christian artists and we were super excited for it.

other than one band that sang in both dutch and english, the other artists there were matt redman, britt nicole, and for king and country. the concert wasn’t as hype as other ones i’ve been to, but mainly because nobody really knew the songs in english.

at one point, for king and country mentioned being from america, and several people throughout the crowd cheered really loud. it was really cool thinking that there were other people from the US in the crowd somewhere.

overall, it was an amazing night of worship, and we had a lot of fun :)

may 27/28: i’m not sure what we did these days. i have no pictures in my phone, which means we probably just hung out some more in holland.

may 29: we didn’t get to go to amsterdam sadly, but our family did get to go to harlem for the day. while we were there, we went on a tour in corrie ten boom’s house.

most people don’t know who she is, so i’m going to take a brief moment to explain, because this woman lived a truly incredible life.

corrie worked with the underground railroad during the Holocaust, meaning she and her family hid jews in their house from the nazis so they wouldn’t be taken to concentration camps. they had a secret hiding place in their house, and an alarm system in order to keep the families staying with them safe.

upstairs in corrie’s room was a small cabinet. in the bottom was a small secret door that led to a small area behind the wall. when soldiers would come to their house, they could sound an alarm for the family to rush upstairs and hide in the secret room.

my siblings and a few other kids on the tour did a test to see if we could make it from downstairs and into the room in the amount of time the family would have been required to. we made it, but that didn’t include hiding evidence and picking up like they would have needed to.

the space behind the wall was incredibly small and cramped.

at one point, soldiers did come to corrie and her family’s house, and the jews staying with them had to rush into the hiding place. corrie at the time was sick in bed and sat watching the family rush into her room and into the small hiding place.

the nazis searched their house, found nothing, and in the end took corrie and her family away to concentration camps. her sister and other family ended up dying in the camps. because of a small mistake, corrie ended up being released from the concentration camps, and living on to tell her story.

she wrote several books, one of them being ‘the hiding place.’ i highly suggest reading this book. it’s an amazing story written by an amazing woman.

the reason this woman is so amazing and special to me is because my grandma actually worked for her. she became one of her secretaries years ago and even still worked for her when my mom was born. corrie ended up marrying my grandparents, and was very  close friends with my grandmother before she died.

it was amazing learning about her story more in harlem.

may 29-30: these days were spent back in holland relaxing.

may 31: this was the day we finally went home. after lots of crying from my mom and cousin, we headed to the airport, and flew home.

seeing my dog again was pretty nice even though she’s a turd, and my cat missed me like crazy and vice versa. the jet lag was insane for the next few days, but soon enough we started swim team, and got into the flow of summer.

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that concludes my trip to europe! i hope you guys enjoyed reading this! (if you even read it all. sorry it was so long). i was gonna fill you all in on some life updates, but i think this post has been long enough.

i will say though, my sister’s wrist ended up not being broken, and my mom is out of her sling and almost completely better :) also musical is starting for me again and i couldn’t be more excited.

that’s all i have for now! summer is getting closer to ending, so hopefully i’ll be able to get back into a good flow for posting here.

i hope you all have a lovely week. keep being amazing!

☾☼

mckenna

« europe travel diary (pt 1) »

WOW. here i am, like, a million years after renew has ended. (just kidding it’s been five days or so), but i’m finally NOT procrastinating posting. yay me.

well hello everyone. um, i feel really bad for being gone so long to be honest. all of you left really sweet comments on my last temporary post about how glad you were i was back from europe and how much you were looking forward to reading my travel diary post, so putting it off for so long has been driving me nuts.

i’m not gonna waste time telling you all a sad story of why i couldn’t post for so long, but i will fill you in on a couple life updates that honestly have made posting a little difficult.

summer is BUSY for me. i have a couple close friends that i text everyday that have commented on the fact that i’m at our pool almost 24/7 and it’s true. working three jobs here has been very difficult (i say here cause i’m currently writing this post in the lifeguard break room while waiting until i have to coach).

– coaching is every day of the week, whether it’s at night or in the morning
– i have to practice myself every day of the week, whether at night or in the morning
– i lifeguard about three to four times a week, hours varying
– and finally, i’ve been teaching swim lessons most mornings for my sister, and i haven’t even gotten to my own yet

just so everyone knows, i’m not teaching my sister how to swim, i’m teaching the kids she’s supposed to be teaching how to swim how to swim. i hope that was confusing. anyways, now for the reason she can’t teach them herself.

my sister might have fractured her wrist. yayyy (please don’t take that yay seriously, you’ll understand why i’m sarcastically saying it’s LOVELY in a second). one night for renew we went roller skating, and she fell on her wrist. it just started hurting recently, so she went to the doctors and now has a temporary cast and sling until they figure out if it’s actually broken.

now THIS is why it’s a “lovely” situation for our family (sarcasm). my mother broke her elbow while we were in europe……yayyyy. she is also in a temporary cast and sling………on the same arm. and okay i obviously don’t find the broken bones part funny, but to be completely honest, when laurianna walked through the door with her sling i kinda maybe sorta started cracking up.

wow this is turning into an updates post. go mckenna. anyways, while all of this is going on, my brothers have been at a boyscout camp and my dad is on a trip in indiana, so i’ve had A LOT of stuff to do both around the house and for my sister. i’ve been stressed lately, not going to lie.

that was more explaining than i wanted to do, so sorry for that, but now i’m actually going to get into the travel diary so YAYY. (congrats if you actually read through all that to get to this part).

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may 14: our flight left fairly late in the evening, so thankfully i had a lot of time during the day to pack everything last minute ;) customs and security actually took very little time to get through surprisingly, and we were on the plane before we knew it.

BUT, when we finally got on the runway and we were ready to take off, a HUGE storm decided to roll in and our flight was delayed by over an hour. it was pretty freaky sitting in the plane with the wind blowing it like crazy, but the after effect and view above the clouds was totally worth it in the end.

on the way to our cousins house from he airport, i mostly slept. once we finally got there, my parents wouldn’t let me sleep anymore so i could try and adjust to the time zone, but lemme tell ya, it was killing all of us. for the next few days we also had to be woken up so further our efforts.

may 15/16: we didn’t do much these two days. we drove to germany a couple times to go shopping at big super markets (pretty much walmart), but otherwise we just rested a lot and hung out with the family. we also rode bikes a lot which was actually lots of fun.

talking to friends the whole time we were here with the time change was seriously whack. we were six hours ahead where we were staying from eastern time. pretty much when it was lunch time in holland, it was 6:00 am at home. when i was going to sleep at nine, my friends were just getting out of school at home.

may 17: this day we went to visit some more of our family. they had an adorable dog and we ate some bomb food.

his name was hudson :)

after lunch, we went to a swamp nearby that had a super small boardwalk that went one for several miles in different directions i think. we also crossed into and out of germany several times while we walked around.

after all this, we drove to a super cute downtown area and went to a tiny little coffee shop. i got a cappuccino which was pretty good. it was a little too strong for me though. i don’t know why i didn’t just order soda like my brothers, but it’s alright.

may 18: i was going to stay home with my brothers and cousin to play fortnite all day, but i decided to be a good daughter and go with my mom, sister, and mom’s cousin to a cute shopping area in germany for the day. it was fun, but i didn’t by anything and it was A LOT of walking to it wiped me out. we had some really good fries for lunch though that we ate with mayonnaise and curry.

that night we went for a walk around a lake, and went to mcdonald’s for ice cream afterwards.

may 19/PARIS DAY 1: fairly early in the morning, we headed off to paris, france :)) the car ride was somewhere close to six hours i believe. that wasn’t super great, but man was i excited when we finally got there.

we checked into the room (with lots of difficulties), settled in, and then headed off for the arc de triomphe.

(yes, i’m aware this isn’t the arc, but i took this on the way and i just added it in cause i liked it).

it sucks that pictures can never truly capture the beauty of architecture like this. the arc was absolutely massive in person, even from where these pictures were taken.  we also went under and across the street and stood almost under it, and i can’t even describe the vast size of it. most of my trip in paris, i was just in awe of anything and everything i saw around me.

from what i had heard from other people, i wasn’t sure what to expect coming to this city. i had been told the whole city smelled like pee, it was incredibly dirty, and there wasn’t actually that much to see. of course it had some areas that smelled like urine, and it was just as messy as any large city, but i personally was happy with everything i saw everywhere we went.

we were going to see the eiffel tower the next day, but we had plenty of time and decided to walk there after the arc :D

there were even more crazy buildings on the way. i only had my phone with my the whole time we were here which kind of sucked, but i was honestly so caught in every moment that i eve forgot to take pictures a lot of the time XD

finally, after a crap ton of walking, we made it to the tower, and can i just say, wow. i was blown away by it. it was SO BIG AND OH MY GOSH GORGEOUS LIKE WOW WHAT. i’m just going to add the pictures.

now looking back at it i feel like our first day was kind of short, but the more i think about it, we actually did a lot. and it involved A LOT of walking. considering none of us could speak french, we also couldn’t find anywhere cheap enough to eat that night, and our feet were all hurting so bad we could barely walk.

not to mention we couldn’t find the subway station the whole night, so we actually couldn’t avoid walking at all. this was only a half day or so. the next day we woke up bright and early and stayed in the city until almost dark.

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this post has been long enough. i’ll have a part two eventually, i promise.

there is the problem with how busy i have been so far this summer and will be. i won’t be able to post every satrurday like i hoped i would. i’ll try my absolute best to post as often as i can, but as of now, i’ve got a lot on my plate. i won’t have a specific schedule this summer, so expect scattered posts, but i most definitely won’t be leaving the blogisphere, i can promise that.

i hope you all enjoyed this post and you’re summer has been fabulous so far. see you all soon!

☾☼

mckenna