Restaurant Review- The Counter

Last week, I went out to dinner at a restaurant called The Counter. They mainly serve burgers. The idea of The Counter is to build your burger. I settled on a beef burger, with American cheese, and Russian dressing. However, the burgers took too long to arrive to the table. I was quite hungry when my burger arrived. I took my first bite, and it wasn't as mouth watering and tasty as I was craving. The burger definitely could have used more flavor. I continued to eat my burger and I was getting close to the end of finishing it, when I found a hair on the bun of my burger. I was not impressed at all. In fact, I lost my appetite. I didn't even finish the last few bites. That was my first and last time at The Counter for sure. Overall, my meal was fine. In fact, I give the restaurant a three-star rating only because of their parmesan fries. The parmesan fries were just ordinary fries with parmesan and chives. According to Natalie Lam, they were " mmh..mmh.. GOOD!" If you go to The Counter, ordering parmesan fries is a must. If I had to go back to The Counter, I would only order the Parmesan fries. In any case, the waiters were very nice, and the restaurant was very clean and nice.  If you ever do go to The Counter, make sure you order the right things, or even better, choose a healthier restaurant choice.

5 reasons why I should be allowed to have sleepovers

1. I should be able to have sleepovers  while I'm young. When you are older, you aren't going to want to sleepover. Imagine being 40 years old and actually wanting to sleepover with your friends.

2. You need to enjoy life and have fun! Yolo! ( you only live once!) 

3. You will become closer with your friends! And that's a good thing so they never leave your side. To add on, if they never leave your side, you will never be lonely or sad because your friendship is so strong!

4. Sometimes you and your friend have something you want to do that morning or that night. Then you should just have a sleepover! 

5. I am responsible enough to sleepover at my friends house:)

As you can see, sleepovers are actually very important! Hopefully you realized that too and will be willing to change your mind. 

Why dogs should be allowed on the carpet.

1. Dogs deserve to be apart of the family! Let them be with you while doing homework, let them be with you while you are sleeping! You won't feel as lonely in your room. 

2. They won't harm your things if you train them right. Give them a chance and teach them that it's not ok to chew on sheets, or pillows. After you see they can handle being on the carpet, you will then realize that it's ok for them to be in your room, or on the carpet. 

3. My 3rd and final reason is just have them there to show them you love them. They may feel abandoned or sad if they aren't on the carpet with you.🐶 In order to have a good relationship with your dog, you must be show them you love them. Don't leave them out in big things like being on the carpet with you. I believe you and your dog will have a stronger bond, and a better relationship if you just let them do little things like go on the carpet with you.

My Experience on Day 2 at USAV

In the morning, my alarm clock went off at 7:00 am. I got dressed in my white training shirt. I walked over to breakfast at 7:45 am. I purposely left earlier than other campers in order to get the good food at the cafeteria. That morning, I ate hash browns, fruit, and eggs. After breakfast, I walked over to the gym and we started to do warm ups. After a tough warm up, we jogged over to get some water. Our session continued with passing, serving, and a lot of hitting. We split up by position and did other positional drills. As soon as I knew it, the session was over. After the session, I walked back to my dorm. We were supposed to get lunch sometime in between now and our next training session. The problem was that you had to have a buddy to walk over with. I hadn't realized pretty much everyone went straight to lunch after our first session. I didn't want to get in trouble, so I didn't go to lunch. I ate a granola bar, which I brought, and then I made sure I drank a lot of water. As soon as I knew it,  it was time for my second training session. I just finished locking my door, when this girl tapped me on the shoulder. She asked me if I wanted to walk over with her. I said yes because I didn't have a buddy either! When we arrived at the gym, I put my knee pads on and tightened my ponytail because training session number two would be intense. And it was. We ran lines, we did planks, and we also did push ups, sit ups, and mountain climbers. That was the hardest strength and conditioning I have ever done! After we were tired and out of breath, we started our first drill. We passed to the setters and we ran out to hit. I was proud as I completed the drill successfully. The afternoon session was always shorter because we had one more session still. We only had 45 minutes left. The coaches decided to do a 6 on 6 drill. We did a scrimmage to end the practice. I walked back to the dorms with a few girls I knew from last year's camp. I went back to the dorm, and didn't eat dinner for the same reason. I just ate my granola bars and drank a lot of water. I told myself I will not do this again tomorrow. It was about 5 o'clock and everyone was at dinner and my session started at seven. That meant I would have to leave at 6:40. I thought that was enough time to watch a movie on my iPad. After I finished watching Freaky Friday, I headed over to the gym with my roommate and one of her friends. We warmed up with silent stretching and ran tough drills thoughout the hours. For the last 20 minutes of practice, we did a stretching cool down. We stretched across the gym and cooled down our bodies. When I got back to the dorm, I took a warm shower and went straight to bed. I was very tired, so I feel asleep like a baby.

My experience in Oklahoma for USAV HP Camp

Day 1- When I arrived in Oklahoma, one of the coaches came to pick me up from the airport as well as four other girls. We took a shuttle to the dorms, then rushed over to check in. We had missed the camp meetings giving us all the information about where to go, when to go, or what to eat!  The woman who was checking the five of us in told us to go back to our dorms and ask our roommates' for all the information. Right when I walked into my dorm, my roommate ran up to me and shook my hand. I laughed and introduced myself. Her name was Sarah. Sarah had long blond hair, big brown eyes, and a very noticeable Texas accent. I looked at her pink clock she had next to her bed. The clock read 5:22 pm. Sarah saw me glance over at the clock, and she told me that dinner was at 5:30 pm. I thanked her as she continued to tell me more about where to go, where to eat, and what times we should be everywhere. Together, we walked over to dinner. I didn't sit with her. I sat with girls named Isis, Taylor, and Amelia. We were already good friends from last year's camp. I ate a salad, some grilled chicken, fruit, and a cookie. Twenty minutes later, we walked over to the gym in our red training shirts where we were  separated  into two groups. I was in group B. That meant tonight's practice would be at 8pm to 10pm. I thought that was so late! Before we started the session, we stretched. Then, we separated by position.  I went with all  the outside hitters. We worked on form and transitioning to hit. When the session ended at 10pm, I walked back to the dorm and showered. At 11pm, I was done showering, and unpacking. I headed to bed. I feel asleep very easily because I was so tired!

What are some heathy foods volleyball players can eat before matches?

        Most volleyball players have their tournaments at big sports centers. At those sports centers, all they sell is junk like candy, soda, pretzels, and sugary sports drinks. A solution for higher performance is to pack healthy, energizing snacks.  To maximize your performance, you need protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats, and some natural sugar. Some good protein-filled foods to eat are beans, meat, fish, nuts, eggs, and seeds. Each one of these products has a good amount of protein to help you perform better.  Some good carbohydrates to eat are pasta, bread, bagels, and oatmeal. According to Colorado University, carbohydrates are very important.  "Athletes benefit the most from the amount of carbohydrates stored in the body. In early stages of moderate exercise, carbohydrates provide 40 to 50 percent of the energy requirement." Another important factor in maximizing performance is eating healthy fats. Healthy fats provide a good amount of energy and make you stay full during your matches. Avocados, olives, olive oil, sun flower oil, peanut oil, canola oil, nuts, and peanut butter are important healthy fats to eat. Natural sugar gives you a lot of energy. Energy is what you need for  higher performance. Natural sugar comes from a lot of fruits like apples, bananas, watermelon, peaches, plums, lemons, grapes, melons, strawberries, acai, blueberries and blackberries. Those fruits can lead you to an awesome game or even a win! In conclusion, protein, carbohydrates, heathy fats, and natural sugar are all very important to a good game. It is your choice whether or not you want to take care of your body and improve your performance. 

If I could change 3 things in the world I would change...

1. Global warming because it has been a HUGE problem over the years.

2. Garbage in the ocean because people need to realize they are hurting sea life 

and themselves.

3. Violence because people are being hurt and killed due to violent acts such as bombings and shootings.

Thank you and I hope you can help make  a change!