Change.

As many of you know, my house burned up at approx. 1:30 am, March 30th.
A spark must have blown out the chimney and landed on our cedar roof, which quickly started burning. There was no smoke or hint of fire inside the house, what woke my mom up was the wall of flames outside her sliding glass door. Our small balcony was engulfed. Both of our bedrooms were upstairs, so was the bathroom. My brother had a "man cave" outside of the house. Dayton was at his dads, I was at a friends house.
My mom called me completely hysterical, all I heard was "FIRE!" "BURNING" "HOUSE". I hung up the phone and ran outside, Jamie drove me to the house...we made it there in under 2 minutes. As soon as we turned onto Lakeshore, I could see the flames and I lost it. I was so scared for my dog, Sophie, I knew my mom was okay, but what about my dog? It was the feeling of helplessness. I couldn't change the fact my house was burning right in front of me. I couldn't stop that one spark from igniting my life as I knew it on fire. I couldn't do anything but watch it burn.
Once there, I found my mom, we were both in tears, and asked where the dogs were. They were all safe, Sophie and Diva ran to the car as soon as Mom opened the door, Duke took a little more convincing, he had no clue what was going on. And Sawyer ran back into the house...3 times. My mom went in after him, she loves that pup more than anything, there was no way she was going to leave him in that house.

The support we have received from everyone is moving and inspiring. Thank you all, so much. This has been a life changing experience, and I'm so thankful we all walked away from this. Afterall, stuff, is just stuff. Clothes and things can be replaced, lives can't. And thankfully, we all have ours.

Page Turning

I have loved reading and writing ever since I was very little. I made up extravagant stories about jungles full of animals, how my life was going to turn out, who I was going to marry, I could have a story carrying on for weeks. My grandpa had a long-haul trucking company, I would go sometimes on short trips with my grandparents, and the whole time I would keep myself occupied by telling them tall tales about my adventures through my imagination.
I started reading at a very young age and I still enjoy it to the same extent I did as a small child.
Like music, I enjoy almost every genre of book, though my favorites are thrillers/suspense, horse related topics (classics like "the Black Stallion", Seabiscuit, Ruffian, etc.), adventure, history based, etc. As long as the book is good, I'll read it. Simply picking up a random and reading into the first few chapters usually gives me enough insight into the book and I generally get lost in the words and keep reading.
I can't pick "favorite" books, authors, genres, etc. It's all by chance. Maybe the cover grabs my attention, perhaps it's something in the title? Whatever it is, when I find a good book, I don't stop reading until I've got from cover to cover.

This Is Who I am

This is my first blog post so I'll start by introducing myself and telling you a bit about who I am.
My full name is Dakota Jayde Mitchener, 17 years old, 5'5, Blonde hair, blue eyes. I was born in San Bernadino, California and moved to Canada with my mom when I was only 3 months old. I have lived in Osoyoos off and on throughout my life. I have been to 10 different schools, elementary and high schools included. I started off here in Otown in Kindergarten, kinda funny how I ended up here for my grad year.
My biggest passion are animals. Horses in particular, I got my first horse for my third birthday. His name was Choco, he was as old as time, dark brown with a big heart and had nothing but love for a tiny little blonde girl. Even as a little girl, I didn't like riding with a saddle, I preferred to ride Choco bareback, with only a bridle. I used to barrel race, but had to stop because my horse had to be retired. Though I was a complete rookie, my mare was not and took me all the way to the top on many occasions.Apart from the big horses, I have two miniature horses with a little one on the way; three fat goats; 3 orphan cats and finally 5 dogs (4 at my moms, 1 at my grandparents).
I also love photography, taking pictures of animals and landscapes are my favorite. I also really enjoy reading, I love murder/horror genre books, but I will read literally anything. My favorite movies are horror flicks, I crave the adrenaline rush, being scared is definitely a thrill.

After I graduate, I am planning on taking next year to work full time and get my feet on the ground and hopefully find out what I want to pursue as a career.