Aquarium Obsession

So, as none of you know, I have an aquarium obsession! Yup, it's pretty intense. So here's a story.
When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with anything that was in the water, plus cats. One day I won three lil common goldfish that I kept for a few hours, as they all passed away one by one. I know now it's because I had no freaking idea what I was doing. Even though it was discouraging, a couple of years later I got a lil 5 gallon aquarium. And I made an awful beginner mistake by placing a few feeder goldfish and tropical fish in the same unheated, unmaintained aquarium.

Fast-forward a few years. Last June I bought a betta, and I named him Yoko. After months of yearning for an aquarium, I also bought a 10 gallon kit which was the cherry on top. A betta sorority, a few nano aquariums I shouldn't have purchased, many other things I shouldn't have purchased, and several aquarium diseases later, I'm still a beginner. But, I'm a well learned beginner.

So yeah, alllllllll of that was just to tell you that I bought a 29 gallon aquarium last week, and it arrived at my front door yesterday. WHICH IS AMAZING. I slept on the couch last night curled around that giant hunk of glass... more or less. And I'm not kidding. This time I know what I'm doing, and I've got some great ideas!

Current Ideas:

• Aquascaped tank (I'm not sure of which style yet.)
• Substrate: white pool filter sand.
• Moss: riccia fluitans.
• Carpeting Plants: dwarf hairgrass, dwarf baby tears, glossostigma elatinoides.
• Foreground Plants: rotala macranda sp. mini butterfly, alteranthera reinckii mini.
• Possible Middle/Background Plants: tall hairgrass, ludwigia repens 'super red'.
• Shrimp: Sky Blue Velvet Shrimp, Dream Blue Velvet Shrimp, Neon Yellow Shrimp, multiple grades of Cherry Shrimp, Golden Bee Shrimp, Ghost Shrimp, annnnnnd muliple varieties of Rili and Crystal Shrimp.
• Community Fish: So undecided, making a list of fish isn't worth it at the moment. 

So far the tank is still on my living room floor. But after I get a proper stand for it, I can start cycling. Overall I plan for the aquarium to be aquascaped, with moderate/high light and liquid CO2 dosings. And I'll be keeping the list updated with any changes I make.

So, wish me luck!

(Also, just wanted to keep anyone out there who's reading in the loop, as Prom Part 2 will be coming up soon! Saturday 04-28 will be prom, and I'm so excited!!!)

Rainy Days

My ideal place to live, if only for a few years, would be Washington state. The beautiful trees, mountains, chilly ocean water, and of course the rain all appeal to me. As a girl living in the valleys of Kentucky, we don’t get too much of that here. Living in the valley might sound nice, but unfortunately it results in pollution hanging in the air, temperamental weather (you can literally experience almost all four seasons of the year here in February), and our “mountains” are little more than hills. With all of that being said, I still love it here. It’s home. But here’s to the first rainy days of Spring, and a nod to my slightly improving photography skills.

I can find almost anything to be beautiful, in some way shape or form. Give me a pile of rocks in some nice lighting and I’ll like something about it. One thing I tried unsuccessfully to capture in low lighting was how many colors there were in the grass, leaves, clovers, blossoming flowers, and dying vegetation. I had several photos I loved when I was outside, but thirty minutes later inside of my home - still cold - I realized how shaky a few shots were, and how unfocused one of my favorites were. Some of these aren’t my best works and I’m sure any photographers out there who read this will look at these photos the way one may view art. That is, perfectly flawed and wouldn’t change a thing or as an unfinished piece that needs a few extra things. (yeahhh these kinda suck, but oh well). In any case, let me know what you guys think in the comments!! All tips are appreciated and readily accepted, so feel free so chat.

xoxo, Alexis

Prom Part One

You read books and watch movies as a kid and high school seems like either a fairly nice dream or a nightmare come true, but in reality it’s just another day. A day with less freedom and in some cases less responsibility than what you experience in the adult world, sure, but it’s another day. Dances usually suck, but unless your high school experience was awful, it’s nothing to really complain about either. And then there’s prom. Up until the other day, I thought prom would be kinda… boring. That is, until my boyfriend asked me in the most perfect way.

So let me give you a little backstory. Since I was seven, I’ve been a reader and an avid fan of the literary world. Since my boyfriend, Kyle, was in middle school, he’s been a huge reader too, similar to how I am. We dated a few years ago for six months, and split up because to me it just felt like a friendship again. Fast forward to today, and we’ve been dating for a little over a year, and up until yesterday we’ve never been to the library together. And that’s HUGE, considering our amazing public library is like a safe haven for me as Books-A-Million is one for him.

It was all SO elaborately planned!! As my mom is more of a magazine person than a book gal, I was a little curious as to why on earth she wanted to go to the library on Friday, but I didn’t question it. As I was under the notion he was working that night and his aunt is a big reader too, it didn’t surprise me at all when I ran into aunt and his cousins there. While I was looking for a few specific Orson Scott Card and C.C. Hunter books, (a couple of my favorite authors for a long time!) I knew something was up when I saw his sister and she gave me a note, which was the first part of a poem with the location of a book. And so our search began.

It was like smaller scale geo-cache hunting, and I loved it. Nestled between a couple of books was the second note. In a nutshell, it was myself, his sister and his cousins running from floor to floor in the library looking for notes of the poem and searching for book locations. And for the longest time the second to last note confused the hell out of me, as the last line was “seek the place where you can get something that grows like our love”. My first thought was the garden and park on library grounds, until his aunt gently reminded me of the old library catalog.

Years ago when they digitized the library’s system, rather than throw away the old card catalog case the librarians filled the catalog with seed packets. They rotate the flowers, herbs, fruits and veggie packets based on the season, and you’re allowed to get five packets per month for free. Also, although I’ve never truly tried my hand at herbs and the like, Kyle has just wedged his foot in the door of gardening and has started to grow herbs. Me on the other hand? I’m also really interested in growing things, but the closest I’ve come is propagating cacti and succulents for the past couple of years.

So, it was absolutely perfect when I found him by the catalog case, beautiful purple flowers in hand, in the library with the last note sticking out of his jacket.

I know how much I’ve been saying it in this post, but seriously. IT WAS PERFECT. The books, the plants, and although it’s not the favorite color either of us have, the purple flowers for valentine’s day, our one year anniversary, when he asked me to prom, and the notes all written in purple ink. By happy chance, even our clothes were color coordinated in red and pink. Afterwards our families had dinner at the Olive Garden, which was teeming with people, but the food was delicious and as a vegetarian it’s so nice being able to go out to eat to a place which actually has meat free options. Literally a perfect night.

Stick around for part Two, which will occur after prom!! xoxo

Changes on the Horizon for A Reflecting Girl

Inspired by other bloggers and YouTubers, I created A Reflecting Girl. Which probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, considering I’m terrified of putting myself out there online, I have no internet, no laptop of my own, poor photography skills, and only a Windows Nokia phone to experiment with said photography skills. That being said, I like writing, and I’m an introvert who’s in a digital generation and I need to put myself out there, in some way shape or form. I like a challenge.

Although I do have an interest in maybe, just maybe, getting into YouTube, I’m taking this one step at a time. And the reason I’m afraid to put my picture out there online is because as a kiddo, I was told by someone that if I ever put a picture of myself out there perverts would get ahold of it and yeahhh let’s not get into that. Which is true to an extent. But I feel so damn silly for not having a profile photo and for being so scared of something that could literally happen to anyone.

With all of that being placed into perspective, I’ll be deleting several old posts and starting anew. I’m still a little undecided on posting several things I’m interested in, only because this blog is a fresh little baby on the internet and I’ll need some metaphorically tougher skin before posting things that I’m sensitive about.

I can’t give you guys set days on when I’ll be posting. Likely I'll post once or twice a week, before nine in the morning on weekdays, and I’ll rarely post on weekends. Since it’s my only social media account I can either access or keep up with, I’ll also post on Twitter on @Reflecting_Girl when a new post is up, and over on Bloglovin'. So, if you guys want to see an amateur in both photography and blogging flail about in open waters, stick around, see if I make it. While I attempt to put myself out there and work on this little blog, let me know what you guys think in the comments, or shoot me an email or comment on Twitter and I’ll get back to you guys.

xoxo Alexis