Movie Review: Definitely, Maybe

Title: Definitely, Maybe
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Drama
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin
I give this movie definitely... maybe four out of ten stars.

Will Hayes's daughter Maya wants him to tell her the real story about how he met her mother. He caves in finally but won't tell her which character is her mother and she is quite determined to figure it out.

So Will delves into his past and tells his daughter about these three women he was in love with at different points in his life. Every time he would think he found the one, something would happen and things would be ruined and he'd have to move on and try and find somebody else.

The movie didn't hold my attention very well and I got bored. While it wasn't completely predictable, it seemed to really have no point. It was kind of disappointing.

guilty pleasure

I've been slacking off in the blogosphere lately. Especially my photography blog because facebook is just so much easier for photos. But anyways... We've kind of been busy but not like uber busy or anything. Nothing too exciting has happened. But in five days I am going to go to the Vans Warped Tour and I'm really really extremely excited! I got my ticket yesterday and I was trying to prepare myself for the disapointment when I heard they were sold out. However that was not necessary :D and I am going.

Warped Tour is a HUGE music festival type thing where tons of bands come and perform, and hang out at their tents and meet their fans and stuff. It goes on all day, obviously and they have several stages set up at the same time and tents and stuff all over the place. Did I mention I'm excited??

A few of the bands I'm really looking forward to seeing are The Academy Is..., Cobra Starship, Anberlin, Relient K, We The Kings, and Story of the Year. A while ago I posted about a song called Emily, by From First To Last and they're gonna be there too. :)

I also really want to talk to Jack the Camera Guy. No chickening out this time ;D
AND maybe my mom will be nice enough to lend her favorite oldest daughter her camera ;) Since mine is too big and will probably be banned for being awesome. lol.

I have several movies to review x3 I just havent gotten around to it. But i will.

Movie Review: Atonement

Title: Atonement
Genre: Drama/Romance
Rating: R
Starring: Kiera Knightley, James McAvoy
I give this movie eight out of ten stars

Thirteen year old Briony Tallis keeps seeing things she shouldn't. To make it worse, she thinks she knows whats going on but she really doesn't, eventually leading to her testifying against her sister's love, Robbie Turner. Thanks to her, he goes to prison for a crime he does not commit. In prison he has a choice to join the army or stay in prison so he picks the army and goes off to fight.

At first this movie was a little confusing but everything was revealed in the end. The story ends up being told from the viewpoint of an older Briony, years later and still regretful of the mistakes she made.

I thought it was a rather creative way of telling the story. In the special features they explain how it was difficult to get across the important points in the book. There were some gory war scenes but nothing too terribly disturbing. Its not the typical "happily ever after" kind of story, and the ending is actually kind of sad but it was still really good.

Movie Review: Becoming Jane

Title: Becoming Jane
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Rating: PG
Starring: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy
I give this movie 10 out of 10 stars

Jane Austen, an independant, head strong woman, living in a time when marrying for love wasn't a common thing. If you were a poor girl, you married into a rich family if you could, in order to do what was best for your family. However, despite pressure from her family to marry a rich young man, Jane insists she cannot marry without affection and turns down her suitors.

Then she meets Mr. Tom Lefroy. He is a lawyer but mostly depends on his uncle for everything. Nevertheless he goes to all the parties, gambles and just has fun. One day he meets Jane, the avid writer. His arrogance and the way he knows how to annoy her get on Jane's nerves and she's almost constantly bickering with him. And then she starts to realize they're head over heels for each other. But Tom can't support her and everyone wants Jane to marry some rich man instead. So they have to figure out which is more important to them, family and reputation or love.

This movie was the kind of movie that leaves you disappointed that its over, yet content and satisfied. I definitely recommend this movie, it was really good and made me want to know more about Jane Austen. Plus there was the ever present torment over the huge decision Jane would have to make.

James McAvoy is amazing, he is one of my new favorite actors. He's very talented and extremely good at choosing roles. I can't wait to see him in a more modern movie. :P Wanted is near the top of my movies to see list, lol. But he's failed to disappoint so far. Maybe I can't make a valid opinion since i've only seen three movies with him in them but they were three completely different roles. So in my opinion, he's awesome. :)

To purchase the movie, click on the picture

Lost in a February Song

Okay so I'm going through a Josh Groban phase. How can you resist him though? His voice is amazing, he sings in like five different languages and his music is perfect for listening to and relaxing to in the evening when you just want to unwind and get ready to go to sleep. If you couldn't tell, I got some Josh Groban cds from the library x3 I also got Franz Ferdinand, Ryan Cabrera, Pink Floyd, Ashley Parker Angel, Vanessa Hudgins, Red Hot Chili Peppers AND, Ready for this? Bob Dylan. lol. I was just curious to hear some of his other stuff. I was tempted to grab a Beatles cd just to see what the big deal was but I didnt, lol. Maybe next time.

ANYWAYS. Moving on...
I was all excited about getting this spiffy Elvis fabric for some curtains. It had bright colors and little Elvis silhouettes. It was cool...of course now that I have a use for it I can't find any anywhere. So my mom got a better idea. We're gonna tie-dye my curtains :P It kind of sort of goes with the theme... lol. We have the flowers on the one wall and some Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe art on the other one... NO I AM NOT A HIPPIE.
I think I just need a huge black and white Bob Dylan poster now or something xD Or Elvis maybe. Sarah would actually tolerate Elvis... lol. But yeeaah. We were going to do curtains today but its freaking raining AGAIN.

Speaking of rain... Saturday we went to Homestead LA's house for an annual picnic/party thing. And we had a water gun fight. Usually I avoid these but I joined in this year. And my checkered Vans that have miraculously lasted for two and a half years got soaking wet. So I left them outside. Aaaand then it started raining this week. A lot.. and now they smell. :( So they're in the drier. Hopefully they'll stop smelling. Because that would be very obnoxious. The other thing though, is that the white checkers are all muddy brown now and nasty looking. -.-

In other news, I have a big decision to make.
I'm tired of OHDELA for a couple reasons. There isnt good communication between teachers to students or advisors to students. There are no clubs and no regular get-togethers. There are usually 80-some kids in the class, and I rarely ever get to meet kids in my class. And if I do, how am I supposed to know what they look like? For some reasons, on field trips and whatever, they never think to introduce us so... everyone just walks around awkwardly, avoiding everyone they dont think they know. But the good thing about OHDELA is I would be able to get $400 towards educational stuff this year. It would pay for ski club, a couple books I want AND ballet or some riding lessons. But we found this other school called OHVA. They have more classes, smaller classes, tons of clubs, and everyone seems to love it. But they don't offer money for lessons. The only thing they offer is internet reimbursement.

So its the lessons and the money or the clubs and wider variety of classes to choose from.
And I really can't make up my mind. =/

I have a ton of movies to write about so I'm gonna start that today...
Im pretty sure there was something else i wanted to say but i cant remember what it was. oh well...

Amen, Scranton Pennsylvania 2008

June 21st-28th

I spent the past week in Scranton, PA with another girl from my church and our "youth group" leader, Liz. We left early Tuesday morning and got to Scranton University by two in the evening. The conference was four days long and every day they had two plenary sessions that were mandatory (but they only had one session on the first and last days). Then we had one breakaway session and one in-depth session each day. In between we had free time and meal time of course. :P
Tuesday was a bit stressful. Our driver missed the speed limit sign and was going too fast so we got pulled over and then when we finally got there, we split up. Our leader had a meeting and so my friend and I got some lunch and sat outside. By that time we missed the church service and our leader had been freaking out because she thought we were going to be there. THEN we had to switch buildings and THEN we thought we lost our new room keys. So we tore apart our luggage trying to find them. It turned out that the lady never even gave them to us. But after that everything was pretty good. I'm on an email list for Lutheran teens, called Mouth House, and so I met a lot of people from the list. That was really super awesome. I know I've mentioned before my lack of friends near me. So I dont usually even get to see other kids. But at this conference i was SURROUNDED by kids. It was pretty much heaven. In case you haven't noticed... I have this thing about being around other kids my age... Like a complex or whatever they call that.


There were three services a day, and a divine service on Thursday. I loved all the services, they were really nice. Our church is big and mostly empty... so it was great to be in a medium-sized packed church. Theres something moving about the power of all those voices together saying The Lord's Prayer or singing a beautiful hymn. And the choir was amazing. Our choir is small and not the greatest but the conference choir was really good. So that was also nice. For divine service, they even had trumpets and drums and stuff which was neat. I miss having instruments. Another thing I thought was neat was that for the evening services (vespers was in the afternoon so i dont know what to call the evening services) they used incense which I understood as soon as I saw the incense on the altar. What with the "let my prayers rise before you as incense" and all that. :) So that was really cool. For divine service there were about ten pastors there and I really liked seeing them all process down the aisle and stand in front for the first couple of minutes.



Most of the classes were great. The plenaries were given by Reverend Borghardt and Reverend Buetow. (sp) They were both really cool guys, and very funny. They kept it interesting and I think I learned a lot from them.

Some of the breakaway sessions I took were "Don't Rob God's Job" which was about how people think their good works are their own and not God's. "What Do I Say Now?" was about what to say to people when they ask questions like "Well if God exists, why are there hurricanes that kill thousands of people?" and stuff like that. It was pretty fascinating but unfortunately he only had time to go over one scenario. I also went to "Romans Rhetoric" which was supposed to help understand the way Paul was taught and how he wrote. Unfortunately the topic was so massive, it didnt fit in the small time slot he had. And I was incredibly confused the whole entire time. =/ the last Breakaway was Christ On Campus: Surviving College, and it was about a few things to expect from college and habits to get into and avoid. Christ on Campus is a program that provide good churches to go to while kids go away to college.

The in-depth session I chose was "Would the Real Gospel Please Stand Up?" and it was about the different things that other Christians believe, such as the Calvinists and Arminians. Or "calves and arms" as the pastor called them. :P It was a bit confusing... partly because the pastor was rushing through parts and also partly because - unlike Rev. Borghardt and Rev. Buetow - I didn't think the pastor was teaching as if he were teaching teenagers. He was teaching adults. Which I can understand but it got boring and he was kind of hard to follow sometimes. But I did find it interesting to learn about what those other kinds of people believe.

In between all that, we had some delicious on-campus cafeteria food. And we also played "volley ball" which i never got around to taking pictures of - because believe it or not, I was actually playing too. ;)

One day they arranged for all the people in the conference to go the nearby (ten blocks or so) park. They had a pool and slides and a walking trail and some nice scenery... We walked the mile there and went for a walk after lunch. Then we got lost and walked back. By that time they had mysteriously closed the pool and so we walked back. All in all it was probably about four or five miles all crammed together which was kind of a pain. but after that we went and found the Scranton sign from The Office. They put it in a mall and got a new sign. Can you believe it?



Thursday they had karaoke after church and that was pretty fun. Then a couple of us just sat outside talking together by the water fountain which was cool....



The last day was pretty tough. Because leaving and going back home is always the hardest part for me. Back to having no friends to hang out with whenever, back to having no where to be, back to being always just slightly, vaguely suspicious of the people who walk down the street.




The great thing about the conference was that everyone was so nice. Everybody there was a Lutheran and I was never intimidated by anyone or felt like they'd start a fight or mug me if I looked at them the wrong way or something. I just felt safe and very comfortable. And, I know no one will ever believe me, but I introduced myself to people :P I was a bit more outgoing than normal... It was really cool. I went up and talked to this guy I didnt even know, because my mom said his mom said to tell her to tell me to tell him HI. So I actually engaged in conversation instead of just saying hi. Which is like, amazing for me. Considering I didnt really even know him and I'm usually the shyest person on the planet. But you'd never be able to tell if you saw me at Scranton, except for the first day we were there. But it felt good to just relax and talk to people. I kind of wish it could always be the way it was at the conference. Different people who were nice, all around me, places to go, new exciting things to learn. Church to go to every day, friends to hang out with. I felt good, constantly. And not crabby like I do when I get stuck at home with my four younger siblings. Don't get me wrong, I love my family but when I'm stuck with my siblings twenty four seven, they get really uber annoying. When I get to see other people I'm in a better mood and they dont have to be around me all the time, and they're in a better mood...

There's always next year. Until then, I have email and facebook. :/ The theme next year is Sola, meaning Alone.

By Grace Alone By Faith Alone By Scripture Alone


Soli Deo gloria

sweet escape

The evening of Friday the sixth, my dad came home about an hour early and we piled in the van and left for North Carolina. After I got some corks. I'll explain later.
We drove for a few hours, until we got into Pennsylvania. For a while we were taking the same route my school took when we went to D.C. which was kind of cool... I actually knew where we were for once. ;)
We spent the night in Breezewood, PA and in the morning, after a brief detour, we started on our way again. We got to the Outer Banks at about dinner time... It was pretty cool. I love the cute little towns that we saw... and then the fancier parts with with multi-million dollar beach mansions. We hadn't even gotten to our cottage yet and I already saw a t-shirt I had to have in the window of a store called Wings.



We got to our little motel and found out our cottage was right on the beach... well if you dont count the dune that seperated us from the beach but still. We all got out and headed to the beach first to see it. We had to climb up these steps, go past the shower and bench and walk down some other steps and there it was. The beach. Yay!
Josh immediately ripped off his clothes and ran to the water but it scared him when he finally got there so he didnt like that.



We had dinner at Arby's and went back to our little cottage thingy. we went chasing ghost crabs around for a while. I had the great idea to pick one up and i grabbed this huge one from behind thinking it couldnt get me but it reached around and grabbed onto my finger, lol. it was bleeding a little, then i had another genius idea to pick up this long slimy fish... so i had slime and blood all over my hands, lol. then we went to bed.
Monday we went to Jockey Ridge State Park to fly kites...
Only it was about a hundred degrees and the sand was a million and one degrees so with our second degree burns, we hobbled back to the cottage and went SWIMMING. yay.



that evening we took a drive to see a light house that was closed by the time we actually got there x3 and then we went out to the beach and flew kites. Well some of us did. I took pictures.
Tuesday I wore a sweater. Yes, a sweater, but i rolled the sleeves up :P jeeze, lol
And i took some cool foggy pictures.
Then we went to the Aquarium on Roanoke island. It was pretty interesting... and I found a shot glass for $3 with a frog on it so i was happy :P considering Id spent most of my money the day before. lol.

THEN we went swimming. lol.
Wednesday w e were a little lazy, lol, and then we went to Kid's Day at Kitty Hawk Kites. that was kind of a disaster. but i think my siblings had fun. i just took pictures of this guy like the whole time. lol.




After that we went to the Wright Brothers' Memorial. And that was pretty cool. But it was very hot and i got sunburn on my feet o.o and by the time we got down to the car i was soaked in sweat which was kinda nasty. But thats okay because after that we stopped at Ben Franklin's then we went SWIMMING ^_^ That evening we went back to the dunes and flew kites.




Thursday my dad and I got up at 5:30 to watch the sun rise. I still havent decided if it was worth it or not, lol. It was really really cloudy but I think it was worth it. My first sunrise :P





then I enjoyed a peaceful couple of hours with the tv all to myself for once ;) I watched Full House which i havent seen in ages, and some Saved By the Bell which I've never actually seen before. lol... but it was nice. until my siblings woke up and whined at me to change the channel.

then we went to Cape Hatteras to see (and climb) the lighthouse. 257 steps! whoo.
that was cool... Josh was upset because he wasnt big enough to go in it though so he had to stay outside. Then we went to The Froggy Dog for lunch. I was starving... I inhaled this huge bacon cheeseburger AND the french fries.



Then we took the ferry (took me a minute to figure out which one was right xD) to Ocracoke Island. Ocracoke is kind of small but I thought it was cute. Everything was kind of close and people were just all over the place. We stopped to pick up some shells on this semi-deserted beach and saw that lighthouse too... and the "wild ponies". they didnt really live up to my expectations but okay :P They basically fenced in like six horses. There were two fences around the whole thing just in case something happened i guess... and they didnt LOOK wild. we couldnt even go that close or anything...



then we took the ferry BACK. Since I had gotten up at 5:30, by that time I was froggy-dog-tired x3 yes i did just say that. i should get a job there.

We made the very difficult decision of leaving our beautiful beach a day early.
-cue dramatic sad music- we spent the morning out on the beach but we left at lunch time to meet some friends we know from online. We spent the rest of the day - and night - there and left bright and early saturday. :( to go home...




It was a lot of fun and Im glad we did that as opposed to staying home paying bills. :P which was the alternative if you can remember, lol. On our way home we stopped at a rest stop and this cute little old dog came up to our van and tried to come home with us.



The beach was great,I loved the town... everyone just seemed so nice there... and beachy. lol... Volcom was coming out of our ears and it was just really great. All the houses were cool because they were up ten feet on stilts in case of a flood. Except for our cottage which was just some cement brick thing xD but thats beside the point. Hopefully we can go back sometime... it was nice. the week went by way too quickly...

But I'm going on a trip this week with a small group from church to Pennsylvania and still crossing my fingers for warped tour. ;)


I will most likely be posting more pictures on my photography blog later so you should check that out.

Feel the rush of the ocean...

Well I'm back from vacation. I cant believe its been a week already! it went by way too quickly!!! Not fair. lol. The beach was amazing... I havent been there since i was four or so and it was a lot better than I remembered.

This was my check list

spending at least two sunrises on the beach,
taking a million and one pictures,
getting a tan so I dont look like i live in a cave,
go jogging on the sand because i heard on tv thats good for your feet :P
and go SWIMMING
and go see some stuff. Lol.
Fly a kite and what not.

I saw one sunrise, but it was cloudy so we didnt see much. It was still kind of cool though
I didnt take quite a million pictures but pretty close
I HAVE A TAN. It occured to me how weird we people are. We want our skin to change colors. lol.
anyways, i did run in the sand a little bit but i didnt actually "go jogging" It was way too hot x3 if i was jogging it was because my feet were bare and the sand was scalding :P
I swam every single day.
Saw a ton of stuff
and flew a kite at least twice.

awesome possum.
i gotta stop saying that.

i also spent $35 xD Remember way back when when I mentioned spending five bucks? Yeah. it didnt happen obviously.

anyways I'll post pictures and stuff later, its almost ten and josh fell asleep next to me on my bed so i gotta do something about that.
i also have to take a shower
I CANT BELIEVE ITS SATURDAY.
okay.
pics later like tommorow or something
im almost done loading them all onto facebook so xD after i get that accomplished......

All sorts of excitement...

Well turns out we aren't going to South Carolina. bummer huh? Yeah, I was confused, we're really going to North Carolina xD Which was where I wanted to go in the first place, of the two Carolinas so its all good.


Friday there was a HUGE fire. Not at our house, down the street. My mom was taking Jake to a doctors appointment and saw the huge pillar of smoke and we all went outside to see it. They took my camera and drove down to where it was before the cops blocked off the road. They were RIGHT there.... I listened to the police on my dad's ham radio which was kind of cool. conveniently enough it was already set or else i would have had no idea how to work it xD



Then later that day there was a guy the cops were chasing right by our street, there were cars zooming all over the place. Cop cars, i mean. :P They caught him though. So thats good.


Saturday i painted a statue and some pillars to raise money for the trip Im going on later this month and we had a bake sale sunday...

Then my mom found a turtle next to our house o.o and we got a new garage door.

But best of all, we went to Target today and I found the most amazing thing ever for ten dollars.


I had my heart set on it before I even showed my mom. It was ten bucks and exactly what I was looking for, for my room. I didnt ever think I would actually find a poster like this, but i did and I was SO happy. so i showed my mom and was all like "Dont you think this would look awesome on my wall!?!?!?" and Sarah immediately decided she hates it. The poster is ugly and dumb and stupid and she hates it and wouldnt let me buy it or put it on the wall.

Well I reminded her that I didnt want her to put flowers on the wall but I let her anyways, and so now it was my turn to put something on the wall. She didnt understand my unexplicable need to have this poster xD I might have compromised if this wasnt exactly what I was looking for...

But I bought it anyways and she cried for about an hour total and whined about it for even longer. I think she'll get over it. eventually.

It Just Feels So Good

Well I have several things to blog about. Lets start with OGT results! Yay! I took the OGTs at the beginning of March. I was uncharacteristically calm about them :P And they were rather easy in my opinion. I got my results back today finally. My mom walks into my room and goes "This paper says you're smart." Pshaw. A surprise, I know. The real surprise is that I passed science in the advanced level. I did better in science than any of my other subjects. Zomg. o.o The average at my school was a 402, average in the state is 419, I got a 457. Next in line from highest to lowest was reading. State average was 425, school average was 417. My score was a 446. I got a 438 in Math and Writing. History was the only one I was concerned about but I still passed with a 421, just four points below the state average and 14 points above the school average. This means I can graduate now. Yayness.

Second on my list of things to blog about is this amazing book I got from Borders. Its called Twilight and its about this seventeen year old girl who moves to Washington and falls in love with a vampire. I know what you're thinking, "oh emily's one of those vampire people" no :P
its not what you think, lol. Its actually pretty cool. Its not creepy like Anne Rice's books, its a romantic kind of fantasy type adventure. Does that make sense? Its fast paced and pulls you in and never lets you go. I read 300 pages in a day if that means anything :P And I finished it the next day. Its part of a series that only has two other books out so far. I need to get the other ones... like soon >.< But yeah, its Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Amazon calls it the best book of the decade so far, Publishers Weekly said best book of the year, and its really really good, so.

I spent the rest of my money I got from school. The DS games counted so thats good. I got $60 in books the other day too. w00t. I got this HUGE horse book that was on sale half off. It was $20. I also got a photography book, Twilight, a Maximum Ride book, a book called What If everyone knew your name (its like a chose your own adventure book) and a book called The Mysterious Benedict Society. I also got this really good drink at the cafe there, it was called Izze. It was a natural fruit drink with sparkling water so it was like soda only healthy :D it was black berry flavored and it was deeeelicious.

We are officially going on vacation. My dad booked a little cottage right on the beach and I am excited. ^_^ A few things I look forward to doing are spending at least two sunrises on the beach, taking a million and one pictures, getting a tan so I dont look like i live in a cave, go jogging on the sand because i heard on tv thats good for your feet :P and go SWIMMING and go see some stuff. Lol. Fly a kite and what not. But first I need a bathing suit and some flip flops. I found a suit that I really like but you can only order it online >.< which sucks. I dont know what we're gonna do yet though. I only have a few simple requirements for bathing suits x3
1. It has to be black or have black on it.
2. It has to have two pieces
3. It has to have shorts
4. 95% of my stomach has to be covered, if not all of it :P

See? Simple. lol.

What else?
I think I might have poison ivy or something between my fingers on my left hand. o.o it was itching like crazy this morning and i looked at it and noticed the little bumps I've seen before I was like -.- are you freaking kidding me? so ive been putting calamine lotion on it all day and that makes it feel better.

My trip to Scranton is also coming up, and in July the vans warped tour is stopping in Cleveland. My cousin is trying to get a group of friends to go and she invited me. Tickets are $40 but thats not bad considering its like ALL day and there are 78 freaking bands that are gonna be there. I HAVE to see The Academy Is, Relient K and Cobra Starship. And Anberlin. There are others I want to see but as long as i see those first three I'll be content. I still have to listen to all the bands on myspace and organize the ones i want to see from the ones i dont :P Im a nerd. sorry.
Which means I need a job x3 I figure if I spend five bucks in south carolina on a shot glass and five bucks in scranton, then ten dollars on a movie this saturday thats only twenty bucks and if I save up every penny until july 17th and if my parents let me go, i will have enough to buy some stuff at the warped tour. dundundun

So i think thats it, lol

Can I Lay In Your Bed All Day

We have a bunk bed now. Its nice and dark and... woody or something. And yesterday I was wearing clothes that didn't match. Sue me.

I get to sleep on the bottom. Because I chose to. Despite what my siblings say. They like to insist I'm afraid of heights, which I'm not, really. I just prefer the idea of having my own little cave thing than to climbing up a ladder, banging my head on the cieling and then having to climb back down. I hung a sheet from the side so it was like my own little room sort of. The only thing is I cant stretch out and hang my feet over the bed like I usually do because theres a rail there now. I'm trying to figure out what I want to put on my beautiful clean blue walls. Both by my bed and on the opposite wall.

Oreo seems to approve.
My pillow just happens to match my wall and my sheets almost perfectly. imagine that.


we put some stickers on the wall by sarah's bed so that I can get out of putting princess boarder on my walls. it sort of kind of ish goes with the whole retro-y idea. flower power and all that xD
I guess that isnt retro, along with Queen and Pink Floyd. I have no idea what to call it. Um... older? x3 Im not sure. PEACE, LOVE AND ROCK & ROLL, MAN. ;)

Thats what I'll call it. lol. I'll get some tie-dye sheets and stuff. I'll get a "peace love and rock & roll" sign and hang it on my door :) get some lava lamps up in hurr. I'll be pimpin, yo. :D


Unfortunately for someone like me who has this issue with having my own space, everyone else seems to think they can come in here and do whatever they want, whenever they want. Having all four of my siblings running around my room screaming and making lots of noise really makes me mad. So since my desk is right by the door I yell at them whenever they try to come in :P

And Sarah has gotten the idea in her head that she is so awesome, the room belongs to her and she's just nice enough to let me sleep in it. Pshh.

You Look So Good In Blue

Sunday my mom said that since we were officially getting a bunk bed (tonight sometime) it might be a good idea to paint. My room has been this pale pink color for forever. Probably more than five years. More like eight maybe? I dont remember but I was more than glad to get rid of the dull pink color. The wallpaper (before i tore it down) had horses in a field with pink border.
We went to the store to pick out paint and I saw a page in an idea book for a retro style room, and the walls were blue. If you remember, a while ago I mentioned wanting to turn my room retro style and so I really liked the idea of blue. So i found a shade I liked. The only problem was, now that it would be Sarah's room too, and now that Sarah was a stubborn six year old, she absolutely hated the blue. she wanted it to be... well, pink. I explained that it was already pink and change was good. :P So we tortured ourselves in the paint department at Home Depot for a long time and finally gave up. We took several paint samples and booklets and then went home. I taped the samples on my wall and went to bed.

In the morning Sarah came in and we narrowed it down. I'd picked out purples, yellows, oranges greens, blues and even a few pinks. The pinks were some of the first to go. Finally Sarah points to the color I had showed her the day before and goes "I think we should paint it this color!" And I could've smacked her. She decided she liked the blue and the pale yellow and left the decision up to me. After thinking about it for a while, I picked the blue. So Monday I cleaned out my room. Tuesday my mom had surgery and later that afternoon we went and got paint. Wednesday we did the painting and I was surprised we finished it in only a day.

This was my room. Sort of. There was more crap on the walls and more stuff spewed everywhere but I didn't think to take a picture BEFORE i started so. This is as close as it gets.

I started moving things around to make room and started taking things down stairs.


stuuuuuuffff
Tuesday I slept on my bed in the middle of my room and it was freaking cold.



Then we started working on the cieling. Those white patches on the wall are places where nails had left holes and we patched them up.



we got a lot of help from Timmy, Sarah and Jacob. My dad showed them how to use the rollers and stuff.



Almost finished! I did the trims (with a short break to watch the Jonas Brothers on American Idol :P) and finished about 9:15 or so.


It was called Nevada Sky :) So I liked the name and the color, lol



Everyone thinks its so fun to run around and yell and make noise now because it echoes.
But we get the bunk bed tonight and eventually we have to figure out HOW THE HECK to fit my huge honkin elephant of a dresser in here again.

I was looking at retro posters. I saw one for gay tooth brushes xD that was pretty awesome, lol. I also found a route 66 one I would love to have. Not to mention several awesome retro band posters of bands I've either never heard of or never heard before x3 The posters were sweet but it might be weird, considering I dont even listen to those bands xD But oh well. Pink Floyd and Queen had some cool posters but I liked some of the other ones too. And Bob Dylan, who for the record, I don't really like. :P I liked the lyrics to the ONE and only song I've heard from him but I don't like his voice t all. He reminded me of a duck being strangled. He was just cute about a million years ago :P He's pretty scary looking now though, I looked him up and it made me sad for a while.



Anyways, my mom pointed out that the bunk bed is going to take up a lot of space and she wanted to get shelves for something, and my freaking dresser is gonna take up like the whole rest of the room. so Im a little nervous. Or a lot. We'll see how it goes. In the mean time I have no idea what to do with my old posters... o.o I had a couple Lord of the Rings posters up and a Jack Sparrow one too. Dont get me wrong, I love Jack and Aragorn and all them buuuut everything else changed you know? And i think it would be totally sweet to have some retro posters up in huuurr :P So yeah.

We'll see.

Rub it in my face why dontcha...

As you know, The International Society of Photographers recently held our annual convention in Las Vegas. We informed you that you and your artistic accomplishments could have been honored. Unfortunately, you were unable to join us this year. We are so pleased with your artistic vision that we would really like to present your photo, Solitary at our next convention. Of course, we hope you will be able to attend and present your work personally next year. Unfortunately, you could not attend this time, so we're trying to do the next best thing.Emily Has Been Selected To Receive Two Free Airline Tickets!Due to the success of our convention this year, our Travel Partner is providing airline vouchers good for two free tickets to a select group of photographers who become members of our society and agree to let us present their work at our next event. There is more! We will also send you the following as recognition of your artistic achievement in photography: Outstanding Achievement in Photography Crystal Award Trophy>Commemorative ISP
Award Medallion

Your Outstanding Achievement in Photography Crystal Award Trophy
(a $300 value)

Your Bronze Commemorative Award Medallion (a $40 value)

Full Basic Membership (1 year) into the ISP ($60 value)

A personalized membership card entitling you to $100's
worth of discounts

Free entry to a special members-only photo contest

All that's required for us to immediately send you all of these awards, including the free airline travel voucher for two, is for you to give us permission to present your photograph at a future convention. Additionally, we must also ask you for the necessary funds ($169.00 plus p&h) to cover the cost of the time and effort required to present your photography before the convention attendees, and to cover the costs incurred in insuring and shipping to you these extremely large and heavy awards.

Emily, we are ultimately most interested in meeting you and having you personally present your artistry in front of the thousands of other photographers who attend these live events. Unfortunately, you could not attend this time, so we're trying to do the next best thing. We sincerely hope to personally present you with your most deserved awards in the future. As an added bonus, I am going to send you a $100 gift certificate off the registration of a future ISP convention.

Go Here To Have Your Photograph Displayed At A Future Convention!

Sincerely, Craig Foster Convention Awards Chairperson

Where THE HECK am I gonna get $170 to pay them for things they want to GIVE to me? just draw my name when the contest time comes, jeeze.

All Shook Up

Yesterday I volunteered at the nature center for Home and Garden Day. I helped little kids make scare crows. It was a nice idea, but we didnt have the right stuff for scare crows. I mean, we had straw and clothes but the poles for the frames were too thick and all we had to hold everything together was staples and rope. So yeah, it was interesting. I got straw in my eye and it was bothering me for the rest of the day, that was fun. So that was from 10:30 to 2 when I had to leave and go to my Aunt S's to meet up with my Aunt R because I was volunteering at some charity even she was helping out at.

It was for the Akron Symphony Fanfare or something? Basically lots of rich people came, ate food, bought stuff and then went to see the Ultimate Elvis experience. So I got to wear a spiffy red jacket and stand in the parking garage of The Radisson, telling people to go to the elevator for an hour. Then we went upstairs and the volunteers got free food in the little restaraunt. We had salad, stuffed chicken, asparagus and baked potatoe. Mmm. After that my cousin and I went outside and helped people onto shuttles to take them to the Civic. VIPs got to ride in the Cadillac Escalades. My cousin asked if they could pick us up and the driver said sure. Then my cousin asked if he could drive :P I thought he was just playing around but the guy said it was okay so he got to drive! lol. The Escalade was awesome. I've never been even up close to one before and I probably won't ever get to ride in one again so ;)

The Elvis thing was pretty cool, if you like that sort of thing :P I happen to have an unexplicable fascination with Elvis and this guy was supposed to be the best impersonator in the world. So. Yeah, no pressure. All the fangirls old ladies were cracking me up. I thought the lady in front of us was going to pass out. or something. We werent that close but we had good seats. Considering everyone in the audience was probably a little old lady, no tall dudes were sitting in front of me for once and I had a good view. The Imperials opened for Shawn Klush (the elvis dude) and then Shawn performed with them. He was pretty funny, he was joking around and stuff. I was thinking, and I realized it was just like acting only he only played one person. Then for some reason I was thinking about his wife, if he's married, and I was trying to imagine being married to an Elvis impersonator. It would either be the biggest joke and I couldnt imagine taking a guy like that seriously or, based on the chic, it could be somebody's dream come true, lol. Anyways, that was pretty cool. He kept giving out his neck scarves to girls who came up to the stage, it was funny. He must've given out like 30 of them.

Then we went to drive home at about 10:30. My aunt's car was acting up and eventually just died. My other aunt had been driving right in front of us and she tried to help us out. Eventually after a couple frustrating hours, we left the car at a hospital, got in my other aunt's car and went to her house where my OTHER aunt's neighbor picked us up and took us to their house again and then my cousin drove me home. I ended up getting in at about one o clock. definitely a long day, lol. Interesting to say the least, and most of it was kind of fun so... I guess thats it for today, :P

Run With Me Through Rows of Speeding Cars

this is the most amazing thing ever. <3

Its called the Molly Pop mustang, all specially for Steve Saleen's daughter. And as you can tell by the SALEEN across the top of the window, he was the founder of Saleen cars, including the mustang :P
The color is customized for his daughter, its called Molly Pop x3 Steve's wife also has a custom color. Its called Lizstick Red.

Did you know? According to Wikipedia, Tim Allen drove cars for Steve with some race car driver. So they called it Saleen/Allen "RRR" Speedlab thus leading to Tim Allen's trade mark "arr arr arr" grunt. I thought that was funny.

This Is The World Coming Down On Your Head

Saturday night I had a dream that aliens were taking over the world. Humans were being shipped off in rockets to other planets so the human race didn't die out. Aaaand. Shaun White was there. It was an interesting dream to say the least. xD Did I mention I had to read War of the Worlds this year? It amazes me that dreams seem to last about ten minutes but they really last several hours... Like... time runs differently or something. Its weird. And that probably made no sense. And thats the only reason I picked my title because I like the song and wanted to use it as a title. So there.



Yesterday I went to the store with my mom because with school, we have some money to spend on educational stuff and I had this great idea to buy the educational games for the Nintendo DS. I didn't own a DS but the games were $20 each and I bought three of them for starters. AND THEN i saw the hot pink nerf armor and I decided to go for it and bought the DS. I had the money in the bank for it so I thought about it for a while and then just got it. Oh and the pink armor of course. I WANTED the fashion designer game and the horse game, and they had some pretty awesome looking other games BUT i was looking for educational ones since the ones I got might not even end up counting (AND I DON'T HAVE $64 ANYMORE) thanks to some confused teachers. The list said educational games. Meh. hopefully it counts. <3 My Academic advisor said to take photography classes instead. Its a great idea but I only have three weeks left, you know? So...




Yesterday i went to a friend's picnic with their youth group. It was fun. I didn't actually meet any new people but it was fun to be around the other people and hang out with the two girls I already knew. We had a lot of fun. We messed around and went for an impromptu walk and me, being the forest geek, wanted to go exploring so we did and found a little creek and everything, lol.



AND my dad sent me a website about selling photos to microstock companies. Some die-hards are making $20,000 a MONTH selling stock photos. I was thinking of all the things I could do with $20,000 a month. The list was pretty amazing. I KNOW I KNOW I'm not gonna make $20,000 xD at least not right away, I was just thinking about it.

Last but not least, we're going on vacation this year. My dad was looking at some beaches so it should be fun. I havent been to the beach since I was REALLY little. When he said beach I was thinking Florida and California but then he said east coast and not below a certain point x3 But thats fine... I was interested in Chincoteague, VA because on neighboring Assateague is where the wild ponies are. Or North Carolina because theres more history and stuff there. And we all love history. So I have an excuse to get a decent swim suit this year because I hate mine with a passion. Its too big in some places and too small in other. We got it on sale in like November or something xD