I got the chance to interview @deepfriedfit for a school project, but it ended up as an article for the Dallas Observer.
Mai Lyn Ngo, with over 12.3K followers on Instagram, blogs for a living. Here is my article about her!
The Woman Behind Deep Fried Fit
Also, click here for her food and fitness blog!
Due to my compulsion to document everything (I’m a journalism major, give me a break!), the much-anticipated (mostly by Elaine who knew she would beat me) sister vs. best friend trivia challenge ensued.
Elaine has been my sister’s best friend for over 10 years now, and along with her weirdly good memory and my weirdly bad one, we truly had no idea how this challenge would play out.
I spent about a day editing this, mostly because I insert random vines and memes that don’t make much sense, but I think it turned out pretty entertaining. Enjoy!!
I did it! I compiled a list of my favorite coffee shops I discovered in 2017.
Here I have 14 places to get your cup of joe.
Please keep in mind that I am not a coffee expert. At all. A coffee shop expert? Possibly. But mainly I’m a coffee addict.
Ever thought about how coffee is kinda just weird bean soup? Think about it.
Mckinney, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Snug on the Square is a two-parter. Next door to the coffee shop is the restaurant, though the two flow into each other easily. It gets pretty busy on the weekends, so try to go during a weird time. They do offer milk substitutes. On Sunday nights they host a worship service!
Dallas, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥
The baristas here really know their stuff. It’s a great place to try different roasts with different tasting notes. It’s a camp-out-with-your-laptop-because-you’re-cool environment.
https://www.houndstoothcoffee.com
Allen, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥
Great for both working and socializing. Sad for people (like me) who can’t eat crepes, but hey! Coffee is gluten free! (Also, they have omelets!)
SUCRÉ CAFE | Absolute Asian HeavenHustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
https://www.yelp.com/biz/sucre-cafe-plano
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥
Great place to get work done (except the occasional possibly distracting jam sessions, though those are random and not usually too disruptive), but also offers board games. Located at Mckinney square, so again, great places to explore in the area.
Frisco, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Amazing coffee. Sometimes crowded (which makes sense because it’s great), but it’s super cute and has a great atmosphere.
http://woodfiredcoffee.com/frisco
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
I applied for a job before it even opened, and was hired as the very first employee. When it started out, it was just me, the manager and the owner. The owner had me not only make drinks, but run the social media, paint artwork for the walls and make a full mural, as well as take photos for advertisements. It’s a great place for a quiet place to work, and the manager is super nice! I don’t work there anymore but I’ve stopped by to grab coffee a couple times.
http://www.salubriousjuiceandmore.com
Frisco, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
It’s a favorite for sure. Great for getting stuff done, or getting brunch with friends and family. Super friendly staff as well!
Dallas, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥
Plano, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥
I was very pleased to find that they serve incredible tacos. But it’s a super cute spot in adorable downtown Plano. Bring a sweater, I feel like I’m always so cold there. But it’s nice and bright with cute decor!
MUDSMITH | The Hipster Go-ToDallas, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥
It was a little dark for my liking when it came to studying, but I suppose if you were there for either meeting with friends or working on your laptop, it’s great! Super hipster. Great coffee, kombucha, and juice!
ROYAL BLUE GROCERY | Coolest Spot for Coffee and Food in DallasDallas, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
https://www.royalbluegrocery.com
ODDFELLOWS | Super Cool Restaurant I Treated Like a Coffee ShopDallas, Texas
Hustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥
Only been there once, but I stayed pretty much all day. Got a bunch of stuff done, had good coffee, and met with a good friend!
http://www.oddfellowsdallas.com
BIRD BAKERY | Cupcakes That Make Me Love LifeHustle Rating: ♥♥♥♥
Social Butterfly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Instagram-ability Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Healthy-friendly Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Amazing pastries, super good coffee and kombucha, and great food! Located right by Royal Blue so spending the day in the area is a really good idea.
(The following review is absolutely spoiler-free!!!)
My grandma, mom and I went to see “Finding Dory” to finish off the celebration of my 18th birthday. We almost didn’t go, because we hadn’t heard much about it besides the fact that it was existing. But I wanted to see it no matter how good it may turn out to be. I mean, we’ve waited 13 years for this!
“Finding Dory” did not disappoint. I loved it! It was everything I needed it to be, having grown up with the last movie. It gave us everything we loved about “Finding Nemo,” with new surprises. Made us feel happy, sad, stressed, excited, and happy again. As can be expected from a movie about Dory, there were plenty of laughs. I was also impressed with the love-able new characters, the animation that seemed advanced yet consistent with the previous installment, and the story line that always kept you guessing.
Pixar did it again!
Below is an entry into my little notebook of movie reviews. I wrote it late at night so hopefully you can read my handwriting!
I’ve been homeschooled most of my life. And I love it. It’s taught me a lot about having a solid work ethic when it comes to school.
I am now a senior in high school, but I’m taking dual credit classes at my community college. I was really nervous about it at first, but surprisingly the jump from homeschool to college wasn’t so bad. Plus, I got a system down.
Here are my top 5 tips on studying.
Let’s just – as a generation – face the truth. Phones are distracting. Unless you have super-ultra-crazy self-control powers, one little “ding” or “bleep” (or in my case, “medieval horn noise”) and all of a sudden you’re out of your studying zone and into the consuming world of technology. There’s always a new app to look at, a new social media platform to check. So will we ever get things done?
The best way to stop yourself from using your phone is by using your phone. Hear me out on this.
There’s this app called “Forest”. Really modern and simple, which I love. You “plant a tree”, and it sets a 25 minute timer. During that time span, you can’t leave the app or your tree will die. You can also set it to more than 25 minutes by planting multiple trees, and soon you’ll have a “forest”. It’s a great way to stop myself from doing anything on my phone for a while so I can concentrate on whatever it is I’m doing. There are also a lot of other apps similar to this one, but this is my favorite.
2. Mynoise.net
I know a lot of us love to study with music in the background. It’s just more fun that way. But sadly, science says it’s not the best way to study. It’s distracting. You can’t retain as much information while listening to music.
But with no music, my mind tends to wander off. So what do I do? There’s this website called mynoise.net, and it is a life-saver. It contains a whole bunch of different background sounds that are great substitutes for regular music.
The noises are stimulating but not too distracting. There’s so many fun ones to choose from. You can hear the sound of rain, the ocean, a waterfall, even things like a cat purring or a cafe restaurant. You can even adjust each sound to your preference. It’s just awesome. Click on the picture above for the link!
3. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
Repetition is probably the best way to study. Writing out something over and over again is a good way to remember things. Also, recording yourself reading your notes aloud and listening to them over and over does wonders. I just use my voice memos app.
4. Make Your Notes Good
You probably know, I’m an artist. I like things that look nice. I like to try and make my notes look decent. In a way, it kind of motivates me to look at my notes. Is that weird? Oh well.
Anyway, I like to write my notes like I’m writing a textbook. I write as if I have a friend who is taking a test and all he has to study with is my notebook. I also go crazy with sticky notes and color code my highlighting 😉
Things you can do in your notes that help:
5. Plan and Strategize
I. Love. My. Student. Planner. I think it’s just so important to stay organized. To stay on top of deadlines and everything.
I am really forgetful, so writing down all my deadlines and things I need to read is super important. That way every time I have time to study, I know exactly what I need to do for each subject.
Oh, and here’s a picture of my backpack. I like to think it’s secretly cow-printed.
That’s all for now, folks! Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment or share… you know….
Watch out, awkward silences.
P.S. I made these up all by myself 😉 you’re welcome
That’s all for now, folks! Let me know if you’d like more, there’s a lot where that came from! Thanks for reading!
This is my pinterest account. I have 5.2K pins and counting. It’s kind of a problem.
I don’t know why, I just can’t stay away from this website. It’s so cool! Right now I have a lot of boards dedicated to fashion and all that jazz, but if you scroll down you’ll see my extremely nerdy boards. Oh, and if you want a laugh, check out my “laughs” board, because I think it’s hilarious. Just my opinion, though.
I guess I’m just really visual, so a website full of pretty pictures is the perfect Isabel trap.
Anyway, click the above picture to go check it out! Just wanted to share so anyone who also has a Pinterest addiction can know that they’re not alone.
The day we got to the camp, the Hope Youth Corps leader told us that we had 5 days until we had to actually run a church camp. There were 30 kids from 2nd to 10th grade coming to stay with us for 3 days, and we were totally in charge. (Obviously, there was adult supervision, don’t worry, but we called the shots.) 22 teenagers were supposed to be the counselors, lead lessons and activities, feed the kids, and we had to plan all of this on our own while doing the 8-hour-a-day blue-collar labor. This was our big second task. Kids.
We thought it was impossible. At least, I did. I was shocked that they were giving all these responsibilities to us. We had just gotten to know each other, now we were expected to run a camp? We were just teenagers!
But we had no choice. We had to pull off this camp for the kids. We each thought of our experiences with church camp and wanted to give someone else that great experience. I was so surprised at what we were capable of. I think the world has such low expectations of teenagers sometimes, and things like this reminded me of how much of an impact we can make with God and each other.
We had a blast those three days. It was great. It felt like one big play date. We got to know each kid and spend time with them, play with them, teach them, talk to them. It felt like a big family at the end of it.
Yes, there were smores. What else would we do in the woods in Alaska?
On one of the weekends when we drove down to Anchorage, we got to climb Flat Top. Being from mountain-less Texas, I had never climbed a mountain before. (The picture above was taken probably when we were a third of the way up. ) I’m not going to lie, it was super hard. But I’m glad I did it. I’ll spare you a cheesy mountain analogy.
What’s a mountain adventure without a motivational speech? This is my friend, Nathan, giving the best mountain speech I’ve ever heard. Yes, he was very intense.
Here’s my friend Lizzy doing one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.
And here’s Peter wearing my backpack. Real men carry Vera Bradley.
Here’s a few of my favorite random pictures from my amazing trip. (Click to view full image)
Thanks for being great, Alaska. ‘Till next time.
Recently, I participated in a mission trip with my church called “Hope Youth Corps”, specifically the Alaska chapter. I flew to the largest state in the US with two of my close friends.
We were trying to take a selfie on the plane, and someone decided to join. I don’t know him. We called him Jorge. Guess he couldn’t stay away from the camera. Anyway…
One thing is for sure, Alaska didn’t disappoint when it came to scenery. Pictures will never do it justice. That didn’t stop me from snapping away, though.
I had no idea what Alaska had in store. I didn’t know it was going to be two of the best weeks ever.
These are some of the 22 volunteers (aged 15-21) that became my family for two weeks. We lived together in cabins two hours away from Anchorage and all civilization pretty much.
No showers, no electricity, no running water, no heaters or air conditioning. We only saw bathrooms on the weekends when we drove down to Anchorage. You know it’s true friendship when they still love you after you haven’t taken a shower in a week. 
We worked hard. The first week, we served with manual labor, building and improving a camp for kids. Blood, sweat and tears was an accurate way to describe my experience. But it felt good. I didn’t realize what I was capable of until I was pushed to my limits, lifting wood and shoveling rocks from 9 to 6. I ached all over but loved it. 
It felt good to do something had for a good cause. We built beds and tables, dug 7-foot-deep outhouse holes, maintained gardens and cleared trails in the woods, built a shed, moved rocks and gravel, and more. And that was only the first week.
The camp we worked on became very dear to my heart. It was a privilege to contribute to it during that first week.
Posting about the second week soon! Stay tuned, thanks for reading!!!!
I wasn’t the only blogger on the trip. Check out my good friends Hannah and Lorena’s blogs! They put up some killer stuff!
Lorena (blogger) : Le Unexpected Traveler
Hannah (vlogger): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUVEShNYzk6aS-aJMQ3QPRQ
isabel notes 
