Thanksgiving and things.....

this is from his video 'malk'.....it is also very hilarious! 

Why must thanksgiving be so far away?? I can't wait till my whole family and I get together. We go to this hunting lodge in Mississippi and we all just stay in our pajamas all day, and pig out for four days. Its great! So tonight, instead of attempting my science homework, I spent about thirty minutes immersing myself with Julian Smith videos.....he is an Internet genius! I recommend the videos with his grandma in them, they are VERY funny!

I'm not sure what to call this post...

I realized today that a girl is never to old to giggle when talking about a cute boy.  My friend and I were in class (not listening to the teacher of course) and talked about the cute celebrities, zac efron and shia labeouf, while mourning over the fact that our school is lacking in the cute boy department.  

Hipsters fill the Halways

My school, Chattanooga Christian School, is a VERY unique school.  We're not good at football, we're pretty descent at all the other sports, and we like to express ourselves through artsy ways.  Since I'm a sophomore this year I have the pleasure to have a locker in the sophomore hallway.  Let's just say, it's a really good way to get to know a person, and share breathing space.

Halloween is coming up soon, but I'm not going to trick-or-treating for the first time in a long time because its Monday night!  I can't believe we've only had about two and half months of school.....I'm already for it to be over.      Yesterday was probably the WORST day, I've ever had (school wise).  Geometry just makes me want to cry!  Well, one thing I do have to look forward to is Thanksgiving, but that's four weeks from now.  The reason I'm looking forward to it is because I can't wait to spend four days with my whole family!

Fall Break

Dancing, friends, and alcohol makes for a good night (I of course didn't have any).  I went to a wedding on Saturday at five thirty and didn't get home till twelve.  I had so much fun dancing with my friends.  Although, there were QUITE a lot of drunk people. I was exhausted, and then I realized I had to go to church at nine o' clock in the morning! I was very tired.

Today I hung out with my friend Maya, and we had a great day! Tonight is my last night of fall break, so I plan to sleep in a LONG time in the morning. (:  

This square dance just turned into a HOEdown!

When does one feel the need that it's acceptable to grind at a high school dance in front of everyone?? It makes you look trashy, and just GROSS! Our highschool was having a squaredance, but as soon as someone turns on hip-hop music.....hmmm. The squaredancing was FUN actually (plus they had kit kats so that helped to :) 

Well, today was PSAT time....yay! XP We arrived at school at normal time, but had to sit inside the freezing auditorium, and we had to take five sections each taking about thirty minutes.  To top it off I had to take a physical science test today so I was mostly freaking out about that because Jipping, my teacher, is one of my hardest. The science test took me about seventy minutes, and I was shaking the whole time because I was just trying to get all the information I had studied, down on the test.

School, school......AND more school!

Well, school has become love/hate for me. I LOVE seeing my friends,....but the other time I have to sit in a class like geometry, and that's where you see the hate side in it.  This week is homecoming week, and as much as I love celebrating school spirit as much as the next person....but we JUST DON'T COME UP WITH CREATIVE DAYS!!!!!! Today was favorite team day ~like no one's ever done THAT before~ and then tomorrow is tye-die day, when nobody actually owns any tye-die because we aren't allowed to wear it to school! Anyway, right now my two small doggies (my chocolate lab puppy, tank, is getting bigger by the second so, not small for long!) are snoring next to me asleep on the couch. :)

Puppy Breath

My long time buddy(dog), Chester, died last Thursday and I was very sad because I picked him out in the first grade. :( so after a couple of days, my family and I decided to find another dog.  We looked high and low all over the Internet, but couldn't find a puppy. My mom said that she wanted......a golden doodle, but I firmly put my foot down (well, more like gently) and asked for a Labrador retriever because we have always had Labradors, including Chester, and they have ALWAYS been the most loyal dogs. So after a week or so, we went to the Blowing springs Kennel, home to Roddy dogs, and looked at some puppies.

The owner, Roddy, is a world-class trainer of dogs, and he was able to tell one dog to go get the ball, and the other to stay put. So we decided that that was where we were gonna get our puppy. We got an eleven week old chocolate lab, and his name is Tank (because he was the biggest of his litter mates:)

School wise.....I'm having a mental breakdown!! Sophomore year is tough stuff! Whoever invented geometry wanted students to suffer....I do have to say that spark notes really helped me out today because I would've had to read Beowulf (the old English version!!), but instead I read the whole book within five minutes. :)

Rain, Rain...

As my friend had said, we need rain with a name, and that's what we got! On labor day, at 12 P.M., we were greeted with a bombardment of rain that didn't stop till the evening of Tuesday! The trees and plants look like they are more happier than ever, and my horses are very happy for the cooler weather. Rain is my favorite type of weather; the key to having the best rainy day ever, is to be as lazy as possible. you can either do one of five things: sit inside (that is if you don't have school) and read a book or watch a movie, sit by the fire, or just be all cozy in your bed, if you are not lazy on a rainy day then you can not possibly enjoy it at all and you will be miserable! 

Today was a very sad day because we had to put the dog, that I picked out as a puppy when I was in first grade down, down. We buried him at our old house because that is where he grew up, and we also have buried past pets there, so we thought it was appropriate. I will miss that big grizzly bear! 

A Week without Mom

well my mom left me at home to take care of the house by myself.....my dad's here too,  but he doesn't get home from work till like 6 or 7, so.. i've only been in school for what, TWO weeks??? and i already want summer to be here! :P i've already had about four quizzes, and i think i did pretty well on them. my physical science teacher makes me feel like i'm always wrong....but he makes up for it by his funniness. my geometry teacher is the same way, except he is such a confusing teacher!!

while my mom is going away, i hope to move the furniture in my room around with the help of my dad, and i ordered a new duvet comforter for my bed so i'm pretty excited! :D i'm also happy to say that i'm getting into running on the trails near my house, and is getting a move on my quilt :) 

First Day of School

so first two days of school went as expected.  a bunch of syllabuses were read, and we were off with a great start of a couple of papers to write, and geometry problems to answer. since we only have four classes a day, we really had two first days of school because they were completely different. my favorite teacher is my history teacher, so far. he made me realize that i guess i need to start watching the news....heh heh heh...

anyway, i have started to run on the trails near my house, and while i went running a few nights ago it was getting dark, and it was just a little creepy. i kept thinking somebody was behind me.....NOT to mention all the spider webs i ran into!

The End of Another Summer

oh wow! i haven't written a post in a while. well, anyway, it is time for the end of yet, another, summer. i've laughed, i've cried (mostly the cause of my horse bucking me off XP...), i've done just about everything. i'm very proud of myself that i didn't have to spend the last week of summer, reading! :) i finished those books in July.. 

today was an excellent, almost last, day of summer. i started it off by riding my horse, and she did PERFECT! i was so proud of Genie :) i then continued the day by goofin off and doing nothing. at 6, i went on a run and rewarded myself with frozen yogurt! and to finish off this day, i am now watching "Hillbilly Handfishin", which is where two....hillbillies show people from the city how to catch 70 pound catfish with your bare hands! (a couple people lost chunks of flesh from their FINGERS) so that's what my summer days have basically looked like, and now, on Wednesday, i will start my school year as a sophmore, heyo!

Girls Night Out

since school starts in seven days, the girls and i (the five of us) decided it was high time we met up together after haven't seen each other since my birthday party at the beginning of June, so we met at a stir fry place and stuffed ourselves; while sharing gossip, and talking about our summers.

we then were driven by my friends mom to Coldstone, and stuffed ourselves even MORE with ice cream! :) since i was the only one that had brought a camera, we used it to take multiple shots of us posing together happily. 

Backflip Blobbing

my sister and i, without my parents, joined my cousins up at Camp Vesper Point for family camp, where we were really "rough-in it" in an air conditioned cabin. we ate delicious food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and swam most of the day. the great thing about CVP is that it is a Christian camp, and at family camp, my family and i got to worship and hear testimonies together. 

one fun thing you can do, is jump onto a big inflatable thing on the lake called "the blob". it's about thirty feet long, and jump onto it from about five feet above it. you jump onto it, scoot to the middle of it, and then let another person jump onto the blob and try to bounce you off. and then if you still survive, you scoot to the very back of it (with a person a few feet in front of you) and then usually a really big person jumps onto the blob and you go twenty feet in the air and fall into the water. 

well, i was on the back and then a really big person blobbed me, and then i did a backflip off of it, and i almost broke my neck. but...i still blobbed.

Life continues

instead of making at least five more post about the last days of my trip, i will sum it up for you in a few sentences. we left Williamsburg, and had a 30 minute tour of Yorktown. we soon drove another two hours until we reached D.C!! the next few days were filled with more art than i think i have ever seen, more walking (including the walking we did in Williamsburg; which about killed my knees) than i have ever done, and not enough time at my favorite store in the whole.wide.WORLD!!! (aka...urban outfitters). but....i did get to spend those few days with my brother and his wife. :) it took us 11 hours to get home, and  we arrived all in one piece! i was sooooooooooooooooooooo glad to get out of that car, and sooooooooooooooo glad to not have to use a public restroom! XP

since school is starting in a couple of weeks, i should probably finish my (possibly) last summer reading book! but....i'll save that for tomorrow! :) the highlight of today was when my horse put his head on my shoulder, and left it there for a while... :)

I Feel Sick...

Day 5 was BUSH GARDENS DAY!!! we arrived right when they opened (10:00 a.m.), and the parking lot was already half full! we, my dad and i, started with the "easiest" roller coaster, which went up to where you could basically see everything, and did an almost straight drop, but not quite.

we then made our way to a couple of water rides (which, by the way, NEVER where jeans or jean shorts for that matter because they will stay damp ALL day and give you a rash), and then ventured to Germany, France, and Ireland, where the roller coasters where your feet dangled were. we viewed the small animal park, where they had wolves and other animals, and then ended bush gardens with a jerky ride where you don't go upside down or anything, you just get tilted forward/backward/side to side. that made us all sick, especially my mom.

we went back to the hotel and just relaxed till it was time for bed.

Served on a Silver Platter

Day 4: we drove to the Jamestown Settlement and started off at the hands-on experience, where we went aboard some replicas of the boats used to get to "The New World", visited an indian village, saw a wooden canoe being made (that will be actually used in the river), and saw the ruins of the Jamestown. we also went to the bank of the James River and we saw two Bald Eagles!

when we arrived back at the hotel, i had realized that i had left my purse, with my permit and phone, at the cafe where we ate lunch, so we drove as fast as we could back to the place and it was waiting for me in the lost and found (thankfully!). i had prayed that i would find it, and i did! :) the pool was once again HOT, so after five minutes i went back to the room, and watched t.v. my parents soon came home, so after we had finished off some of our pizza, my father let me order a chocolate cream pie from room service!! it was pretty good for like 20 dollars! but it was served with a single rose, a glass of water, and on a silver platter.

"I just got drafted for THREE YEARS??"

Day 3 of our trip was our first day of experiencing colonial Williamsburg. but before heading out to town we found a couple of (what we think) very sweet quarter horses in a pasture next to our hotel....makes me miss my horses....we then headed out into the town, realizing how humid it was, and joined a march through town with some other strangers, a drummer boy/two flute players, and three "soldiers". i was then painfully pulled to every thirty minute tour you could think of until finally it was lunch time! 

so we ate at a seafood place, where we then preceeded to the art gallery, where my father and i took a shortened version of my mother's, read every single thing so you won't get back to your hotel till the next morning, tour. they had some really pretty china, and neat folk art, and i also discovered that you really SHOULD NOT touch anything unless you are told other wise because i found this thing where you could touch different materials (velvet, marble, wood, etc.), and the part that you couldn't touch was covered by plastic, so it compared what untouched/touched materials look like.....so NEVER touch anything! my dad and i went back to our hotel room to swim cause we were drenched in sweat, only to find that the pool was almost hotter than the air! there was a lap pool, but it was way to cold. when it was around dinner time, and we had met up with my mother, it started to storm, and we went to one of those japanese stir fry places, which made me very bloated. so...today was good. :) oh! and i also finally convinced my parents to let me call room service, but i didn't like what the pie of the day was so i will try again tomorrow!

On the road again

*these trip entries are gonna be a couple of days behind*
Day 2: so we woke up, packed our things, and got back on the road again (with ME behind the wheel!). i drove for about an hour and a half and had to let my dad take over so he could get us to the appomatox court house....*sigh*. it was hot....ugh, a lot of buildings, and...did i mention that it was very hot?
i then drove us partly on the way to Montichello, Thomas Jefferson's house(for people who don't that), and then once again my dad took over. i have already seen Montichello before, so i didn't hear anything that i hadn't heard before. i did, however, find out how Jefferson kept ice: they had to cut giant blocks of ice out of the river then store it in a huge round cellar-type thing.

we then drove ALL the way to UVA and walked around some, and then we headed out for the two-hour drive to Williamsburg. it was very dark by the time we got to colonial Willimsburg, and the streets weren't very well lit, so we almost had to sleep in the car, but THANKFULLY we were able to find the main check-in building of the hotel, and found our way to the room with help from a very nice man. 

Toto, i don't believe we are in Kansas anymore...

day 1 of traveling has so far been very unexciting. i started off the trip feeling like i was gonna throw up, and then have been taking off and on naps. i have not gotten to drive yet, however, because the roads are apparently busy….go figure….
 i watched the movie Beastly, and thought it was good, but not as exciting as the book. i think i finally understand the phrase, “beauty is only skin deep”. Beastly is basically summed up in that phrase.  it’s about this high school boy who is very into himself, and thinks that ugly isn’t good. well, after being morphed into something that is not what you would call “fine-looking” by a witch, he has only a year to get someone to say “I love you” and break the spell. he soon realizes what it’s like to be “ugly” and in a way, kidnaps a girl that he knows has a kind heart, so that they can get to know each other, and she can maybe break the spell.

we ended the day, very tired, by staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. i soon found out that you shouldn't drink the bottles of water they have laid out so conveniently for you because they cost THREE whole dollars!!.....rip off.....(don't worry; i didn't drink any of them)

here is my deep thought for the day: what would it be like to know that you might not ever find someone to love you? i think we all have an insecurity that if we don’t live up to society’s expectations(thinking “outside the box” or maybe not doing what is considered the “normal” thing to do), we may not be loved by the thing in which we are trying to impress, or we may just live alone for the rest of our lives….the way i see it is that God has a plan for us, and he created us each a different masterpiece. of course we’re not going to do exactly what “society” wants us to, or all do the same things, because we are all different. we all have different quirks about us that make us unique, and maybe we were created equal, but that doesn’t mean we have to all act the same.

this would be my parents.

Dream a Little Dream of Me

summer thus far has had no faults and no excitment, so as you can tell i am ready for school, but tomorrow morning my father, mother, and i will be venturing our way over to Williamsburg, VA in the hopes of seeing the town, Jamestown(i think), and Montichello......ugh, gag me with a spoon! :P (as my friend would say). now dont judge me for saying that because you would say that too if you had already had a wonderful  tour of those places with your entire 8th grade class, all while wearing ridiculous red hats so that we would not look like tourists but simply stay together. 

after Williamsburg, we will drive up to Washington, D.C.(hopefully i can drive, because i have my permit, although my mother will be in the same car as me soo....i don't think i will be driving) and visit my brother and his wife, whom i both love dearly, and visit more historical landmarks.....which i have already seen!! hopefully i will get to shop in H&M and Urban Outfitters because they don't have those stores, here in Chattanooga.

i have decided to start learning ASL (American Sign Language) because i think it would be good for me to challenge myself or maybe i might want to go into a profession that deals with teaching ASL one day....the summer project i am going to accomplish is: making a floral quilt. little did i know before asking my grandmother for instructions, that it would be a year long (if not longer) project, not just summer. the quilt that i am working on is in the works, just a bunch of 4 x 4 in. floral squares, so maybe soon i will post a picture of a semi-worked on quilt! 

The Game....Monopoly

yesterday, i decided it was high time to chase my fears of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, so i put my swim suit on, grabbed my lime green sunglasses, and pulled a lawn chair out into the sun (so i could kill two birds with one stone: get more tan & read a few chapters of the book). the thing that kept me reading, was reading aloud, and then during the dialouge, speak in a british accent, because the book's setting is in London.

today, i am home alone, so i went to my neighbor's house and played a supposed "friendly" game of monopoly. what happened was: i was crushed into the dust with NO sympathy. discouraged, i left for home so i could clean my room (i have to say it's pretty clean! :)

It All Ends.....

last night my friend, hannah, and i went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. our adrenaline was off the charts, and because hannah had read all the books at least three times each, her adrenaline was pumping more than me. 

so at about nine, we lined up outside in the rain (it was only sprinkling) for two hours waiting for the transformers movie to end so that we could enter that particular theatre. when it had finally ended, we got to enter the RAVE and wait another hour in the long hallway to actually enter the theatre! :D while we were waiting, some of the RAVE staff were handing out posters to anyone who could answer some harry potter trivia, so my friend went and answered a trivia question and won a poster!.......i would have answered a question, but because I haven't read ANY of the books except for the first one, i knew i would embaress myself. 

finally, at about 11:30 we were able to quickly run and catch some really good seats before they were all taken. then, at 12:00 a.m., with clapping and hollering,......music started with a black screen. then, FINALLY at 12:15 it started with NO previews. :) during the entire movie, hannah was crying because it was the 'end'. with eyes burning we went back to her house and collapsed onto her bed at about 3:30 and was greeted by about ten minutes of an adrenaline high that wouldn't let us sleep! at 11:30 i awoke and we slumped onto the couch looking like zombies.

Summer Nights

in june, i read Lord of the Flies, within a few days, with ease, so a couple of days ago, i decided to approach the book, The Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, full of pep and readiness to read through it. and as another one of my summer reading books, i knew one of these days it would be time to pick it up, and go through the chapters. what i didn't realize however was that i was going to be introduced to a book that doesn't exactly....draw you in for more! so after two pages, and a bunch of intellectual words in my head that i didn't understand, i decided to take a break for a while and maybe i would read it before the first day of school.  the next day (well, really night) my friends and i decided to set off some bottle rockets and roman candles as part of a late, fourth of july celebration. even though my dad had explained to us to be extremely careful and not shoot them at each other, one of my friends decided to set of multiple bottle rockets at the same time almost lighting some trees on fire, luckily, everything stayed not on fire. to finish the nights activities, we ventured over to another one of my friends house and stayed up till 12 p.m. to watch the re-run of the womens' Brazil/USA soccer game, and didn't go to sleep till 3 a.m. and at 11, we rolled out of bed and drowsily ate our breakfast.