Semi Parking Made Easy

A couple months ago I got a baby tooth pulled and when the adult tooth grew in the orthodontist said it would be like parallel parking a semi truck. Well, it has finally gotten into its correct position. It is no longer behind another tooth or too far back so that my bottom teeth prevent it from moving forward. That was pretty easy, so parellel parking a semi must not be that hard xD it only took six months (almost exactly, i got the tooth pulled feb. 21st) but its finally there. Which means NOW i can get my stupid bite guard off the back of my front tooth (one of them fell off xD) and I can finally get my expander off! yay. next month the orthodontist is going to put a real band on that tooth and take the button off that he's been using to attach some kind of string to, to pull the tooth in the right direction.

Paper Chase

Yesterday my mom took me to Target to get The Academy Is...'s new cd, Fast Times at Barrington High. On our way to the music section, we passed the boys clothing section and there was Shaun White's head blown up to fifty times bigger than life size. I couldn't resist, I bought a Shaun White hoodie. I've been wanting a new hoodie for forever and it was only $18 so I went for it. its awesomee

This my Pete Wentz style hoodie shot xD


This CD is AWESOME. They called it a celebration of youth.


This little ticket is also awesome. Because it says if I join their fan club I get $5 off :D Their fan club is called Santi's Little Helpers (their second cd was titled Santi,) and its $30. You get a t-shirt and some stuff and pre-sale access to tickets and you get chances to meet the band. Which would pwn. Speaking of which, they're coming to Cleveland sometime this fall ;) After they get back from Australia and the UK. pfft. Cobra Starship is also coming to Cleveland, in two months. So I'm saving my pennies x3

Spam, Spam, Spammity Spam!

A while ago I entered that photography contest with my snowy tracks picture.
Well. I've eventually come to realize that it was a bunch of spam.
They send me a bunch of spam mail about how they want to congratulate me on being awesome so if i spend $300 they'll gladly send me my plaque of awesomeness.
And they want to send me to some retreat in California and they want me to join their club.
All of which consists of spending ridiculous amounts of money.
On the website you can vote for winners and they get like a $25 gift card or something but
its just spam

these are the fast times

One of my favorite bands, The Academy Is, is releasing their third album this Tuesday. However, I was on myspace one day and I saw a bulletin that said "It has leaked!" So, confused, I went to read it. Basically they said the album was going to get leaked anyways so they might as well do it themselves. So they posted all the songs from their new album on their myspace.

They're awesome, like always. These songs seem more Summer-y to me, they're pretty cool. Mr. Quipper thinks they sound like The Cure but I havent heard enough of them to actually know what they sound like. So if you want to listen to the new album you can click on the picture. Because thats how I roll ;D This fall they're touring with We The Kings, so hopefully tickets wont be too terribly expensive x3 Cobra Starship is touring with some smaller bands and tickets are only $15.50 so thats pretty sweet.

Back To School

School starts next week. That means its back to school picnic time. Last year it was a dud and I was especially crabby because I had pretty good chances (or so i thought) of getting My Chemical Romance/Linkin Park tickets and instead of entering the drawing I had to go to the stupid school picnic. but i didnt know anybody and nobody talked to me so I was miserable. Like the whole time.

This year it was starting out the same. We had to talk to all the kindergarten and third grade teachers first and their job is to talk to little kids, so, they always seem so happy and talk in squeaky voices. And they talk to everyone like that. All the time. I found one of my favorite teachers from last year. He was a substitute but I really liked him. He communicated more than the other teachers and he was funny and really nice. And the class was small, so I thought he would remember me. I walked over to him and introduced myself. He didnt even let me finish my sentence he's just like "OH HI ITS SO NICE TO MEET YOU" and he said something about my camera or whatever. Then he goes "So are you excited about high school?" And I was really confused and I'm like "yeah...?" and he was busy showing some little kid how to make shapes with tooth picks so I walked away, and it hit me. He teaches eighth grade science. He thought I was an eighth grader. So, after that I was really disappointed and expected that no one would remember me. Fortunately the only teacher there that I had who didn't recognize me was my math teacher, who I hated.

I was surprised when people actually remembered me, obviously. I talked to my ex-Biology teacher who is really cool. He grew a mustache and a beard and I didnt even recognize him. But he looks like some kind of evil genius it was pretty awesome xD He was all excited I went to talk to him because none of his other students were there . While I was talking to him my ex-English teacher came up and started talking about Journalism class she wanted to start. Thats when I told her I wasn't in OHDELA anymore x3

So I talked to my Biology teacher for a little longer before I went to find my mom. Then I ran into one of the teachers from the D.C. trip and he was all excited to see me. He's a pretty cool guy. So we were talking about photography and stuff and my Academic Advisor came over to talk to me too. So the other teacher said something about classes and I said I was going to a different school now. He said "Its a good thing I'm wearing these sunglasses because I have tears!" x3 It was kind of funny. My mom explained it was between PSEA money and photography class and I had to go with photography class. Thats when they said they always wanted to start photography classes and have more electives. Well thats a great idea. I suggested a photography club last year and my academic advisor never said anything. But I only have two more years of school left, I can't sit around and wait for them to get their act together so I had to find something better. The teacher from the D.C. trip said maybe they'd get some stuff together and next year I could go back to them. I just kind of laughed.

So we ate food and then I went to play softball with our friends. We didnt have enough people to actually play soft ball but we hit the ball around and chased after it. It was pretty fun. I actually did hit the ball most of the time xD Which was a surprise since I havent played since I was like 10.

After that we played Apples to Apples with some of the teachers and then went to the "beach" part of the park. I didnt feel like swimming so I played some putt-putt with my friend for a while. That was... interesting xD we pretty much failed at putt-putt but it was fun anyways. Then we sat around for a while, waiting for my siblings to finally get out of the water. By the end of the day I was really tired and a little crabby but not nearly as disapointed as last year.

Movie Review: Penelope

Title: Penelope
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Rating: PG
Starring: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy
I give this movie eleven out of ten stars ;)

Penelope Wilhern is born into a family with a horrible curse. Their first born child was to born with the face of a pig! All her life her famous parents have hid her away from the world, not wanting anyone to know about their hideous daughter.

The only thing that can break the curse is if someone of her own kind can love her for who she is. So when she's old enough, her parents start introducing men to Penelope. At first she speaks to them through a one-way mirror. She can see them but they cannot see her face. When they show promising signs, Penelope reveals herself to them, only to have them run away screaming.

Penelope is frustrated with always being screamed at and being treated like an animal. Just when she is about to give up on ever finding anyone who can love her for who she is, she meets Max. He inspires her to run off and see the world for herself.

The movie is about accepting yourself for who you are, pig faced or not. The acting was great and the movie had a magical charm about it that made it believable as a modern day fairy tale. It's definitely one of those good family movies.

The Wall

Not THE WALL, but my wall.
i was thinking of getting another poster, until I had the genius idea to put stuff on my wall instead :D I have a lot of stuff from places I've gone and I like to put them on cork boards and stuff but I always run out of space.
So my mom got me some sticky tack and I started putting stuff up there.

I've got my signed Daughtry picture up there, pictures from Sleeping With Giants tour, my signed Cobra Starship poster (that will eventually, hopefully hold four other signatures x3) tickets from SWG and Honda Civic, a newspaper article with an interview with Joe Trohman - guitarist for Fall Out Boy when they played in Cleveland. I also have the paper that they put on shirts at merch tents so you know the sizes and the price. I got the last shirt I guess and so i got the paper too :P I also have some postcards from DC.


Then I have my signed Chris Richardson poster, Elvis, tickets from the Grand Canyon movie, and Warped tour, the Mid Ohio race, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and snowboarding. Then some post cards from the Grand Canyon and Nebraska. I also have my nametag from the conference I went to and a pick someone gave me from Warped tour.
In the giant empty space in the middle I'm going to add some pics from warped tour when I met Danny Stevens, The Butcher and Family Force 5, and hopefully some Vegas and beach pics. :)

His Girl Friday

The Academy Is is coming out with a new cd August 19th called Fast Times at Barrington High. They've released two songs online and they're awesome.
I just heard this one today, and I really like it.

So Fast Times is one of the two things Im looking forward to in August. The other one is the fourth Twilight book called Breaking Dawn and its also going to be amazing ;D
I just need to find some money now... >_< But Im 78th on the waiting list at the library just in case.

i'll do what i can so you can do what you have to

I finally made my decision about school. I decided to switch to OHVA and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm taking digital photography and editing, psychology, French, American lit, earth science, and a couple more that I can't remember off the top of my head. x3 My electives are both one semester long so one comes after the other one. I'm especially excited about the photography class. They teach us how to edit our pictures on gimp and stuff. I also found out that one of the only people from Ohdela in my class that I knew (he switched to public school last year) has also switched to OHVA so he might be in some of my classes which is cool.

Of course I have become very much aware this means no lessons. Timmy's talking about football, Sarah's talking about dance class... But that was the only good thing about Ohdela. The money for lessons. But in OHVA I'll be able to join clubs and go on field trips. Hopefully that'll balance it out, I just have to deal with the fact that I won't be taking dance lessons or riding lessons or anything like that, anytime soon. If ever, at this point. lol.

Speaking of riding, I dont think I like my blog name anymore. A while back I mentioned this and somebody asked me what kind of die-hard equestrian gave up. But I don't see horses in my future anymore. Horses involve lots and lots of money. Which I don't have. I used to know people who could let me do volunteer work in exchange for riding time but they dont have horses anymore, most likely from financial problems. Its a sport for rich people. I used to know a family who had a daughter who raises Dutch Warmbloods, but not only have I not had any contact with that family for over a year, I also was never allowed to really do anything there anyways, since the horses were giant and young. So yeah... some kind of die-hard I am. I still love horses and if somebody offered me a job or I happened to find a barn I could go to, I would do it. But I dont have money for horse stuff. But you know what I do have? A camera. And photography is my best bet. It's what I want to do. I know I'm not the greatest at this point but with that class from school, I could learn a lot and get better.

So yeah, I ended up rambling there but I've been thinking about changing my blog name and link (again, lol) I just can't think of anything good enough. >_<

We're Getting Down Till The Sun's Coming Up

Yesterday was Warped Tour. I was really excited and couldn't stop talking about it x3 I'm sure I annoyed a few people. lol.
I packed a bag x3 I had a jacket, sunscreen, food, water, gatorade, stuff to sign, a phone, a camera... by the time I was ready to go that bag was kind of heavy x3 My mom dropped me off at my cousin's house and she drove me to her friend's house and she drove us downtown to the Time Warner Cable Amphitheater. We parked a couple blocks away and walked. it wasn't too terribly far.

We got there and I kind of expected the bag-checker people to actually look through my stuff but they just openned it up and didnt even touch anything and they said I was good. Soo... I could have stuck my camera under all my crap, and brought it anyways xD or something. lol. But I'm not complaining x3

We got there and we missed one of The Academy Is songs but we got to see the rest. Unfortunately they played into Cobra Starship time and I didnt get to see them. =[
TAI was great like always. I love them ^_^
We saw a band called The Audition. I'd only heard one song from them before but they were really good, i liked them. They had a smaller stage and a smaller crowd so we could get pretty close.

I also got to meet the lead singer, Danny, he was pretty cool.
And I got to meet Family Force 5. They were funny.


We also saw, in no particular order, Anberlin, We The Kings, Katy Perry, some of Reel Big Fish, The Bronx, I sat down and just listened to Jack's Mannequin. There might have been more but I cant remember x3 Long day. lol. I did get to meet the drummer from The Academy Is -- The Butcher. He didnt look too thrilled that I had spotted him but in case you couldnt tell by my stupid grin, I was kind of excited to meet him.



I *saw* Jack the Camera Guy TWICE but either he was busy or I was busy and I didnt get to talk to him. But I stared at him xD




Anberlin was awesome, I was a little surprised. We the Kings was also really good but the crowd surfing got a little crazy. It was kind of scary to all of a sudden have this giant person on top of you... so I had to watch out for crowd surfers xD Katy Perry was kind of boring. by then we were all ready to go and her lyrics were kind of stupid. Reel Big Fish was hilarious. I loved them xD All of a sudden they started singing Metallica and the guy was like "I just made that up!" x3 The Bronx was boring and stupid. We couldnt understand a single thing the guy said and they all looked like they were stoned or something xD Maybe they were, who knows? Jack's Mannequin was also good.



It was HOT outside! Luckily I came prepared ;D I must've had like 90 ounces of liquid between the giant water bottle, the giant bottle of gatorade, and then i *refilled* my water bottle. Then I sweated it all out again x3 gross. lol. Everyone was pretty smelly and gross by the end of the day though, obviously.

I got two shirts. A Cobra Starship T-shirt with their gang sign on the front of it and on the back it says "Fangs Up Cobra Starship" its cool. C:
I also got a Vans Warped Tour shirt, its black and kind of like half tank top kind of thing.
Then I got a cd for $5. Its actually two cds with a song from 50 of the bands from warped tour.




Sooo yeah. It was pretty cool. I wish I would've had the energy to go see all the other bands I wanted to see d: and I missed the signing of some bands I wanted to meet too but there was four other people who went with me and so I just followed them around xD

But yeah, it was a lot of fun. Next year I need to figure out a different bag strategy. I might just take a back pack or something. Some people did... But yeah. Now Im tired because i was out in the sun all day yesterday (but was smart enough to wear sunscreen so im not red as a tomato ;D) and i couldnt sleep very well. But i had a lot of fun. OH AND I got Gabe Saporta's cell phone number because i took them food x3 But unfortunately I didnt get to meet Gabe.

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.