what a busy, busy day

Mondays are absolutely nuuuuts. Here's how my day went...

> Wake up at 6:45 am, get dressed, get to school around 7:30 am. (Happily wearing short-sleeves.)
> Human Biology lecture, food + disappointing adventure to the library, Physics lecture, English...something. I'm not really sure what happened in English today?
> Talk to Ms. Berotti re: River Review during activity, work on the website with Johanna Kibble for ~20 minutes before realizing all our work has been in vain. (Fail.)
> Forensics! I love that class.
> Study hall, therapy on Frazier, then back to GPS for Hairspray rehearsal!
> Boogieing (what a weird word) around and getting gross and disgusting + singing, + more singing.
> Jump in the car, eat a Nutri-Grain bar, put on deodorant, drive to McCallie for choir.
> Choir! (May or may not have shamelessly flirted with a few of the better-looking basses...)
> Home, dinner. Yum. Blog post!

What an exciting day. It's been go-go-go since I woke up this morning, and I'm finally getting a few minutes to relax and reflect. I've started using Tumblr again, and today this image just about sums up my frame of mind:



Yes, my life is crazy and full of things to get done...but life is still good. And I'm happy that I'm happy.

On a similar note, here's Song #1 from Anna's playlist #1:

Happiness, by The Weepies
Instructions: Listen to this song when you need to remember how it feels to be lighthearted and happy, without a care in the world.

Peace and love, you guys.

I've got one hand in my pocket, and the other one's giving a high-five

I've been listening to one of the CDs Anna burned me as part of her "Survival Guide" - I wasn't sure about it at first, but I really really love it :) I don't know why I pulled out the survival guide, I think I've just been lacking motivation lately, and it's been helping me get back to things. 

The talent show last night was wonderful. Emily was a gorgeous host, and I'm so so SO proud of Sarah Douglas! I knew she had a beautiful voice, and now the rest of the world knows it too! All these dancers who can sing, geesh. Impressive.

Okay, back to Anna's bit - here's playlist #1. I'll post the song significances some other time, when I'm not posting from my iTouch.

1. Happiness - The Weepies
2. Kilimanjaro - Johnny Clegg & Juluka
3. Swim - Jack's Mannequin
4. True Colors - Glee
5. Breathe - Alexi Murdoch
6. With a Little Help From My Friends - Beatles
7. What I've Done - Enter the Haggis
8. Smile - Glee
9. Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World - Johnny Clegg & Saruka
10. I Wish I Were The Rain - SHEDAISY
11. Heart of Life - John Mayer (looooove)
12. Dear Prudence - Beatles
13. Hang On - Guster
14. Today - Jesse Clegg
15. Hand in My Pocket - Alanis Morissette

ashes & wine

One of the doctors in my dad's firm lives up the street from us - his daughter was a senior when I was in eighth grade. Dr. Cherry was divorced and married Amy a few years ago, and we all loooove Amy. She's always out running in our neighborhood, sometimes dragging their super-fat rescue dog Penny along for a lap or two. Penny and Molly are buds :)

Anyways, my dad told us a few weeks ago that Amy moved out, and she took Penny :( Nothing's final yet, but it's still really sad. Both of Dr. Cherry's kids (Katherine and George) are in college, and now he's all alone by himself in that big house.

Exceeeept, Katherine and George got him a puppy for Christmas! Or, a puppy IOU. Little Bonnie was only old enough to come home with him this past Tuesday. Dr. Cherry is absolutely transformed - he told my dad that it's the happiest he's been in a long time. And that just makes me smile. Dr. Cherry's the sweetest guy.

He brought Bonnie over to visit today! And she is the CUTEST THING, you guys. She's an English lab, meaning that she won't get as big as regular labs do. She has the sweet puppy breath and those big paws and the loose skin and super-soft fur, and she just ruuuuuns around everywhere, tripping over things and rolling around and just being absolutely adorable. Love her to pieces.

This is what Bonnie looks like...



Love. Love love love love love.

Anyways, I took my English exam at 7:45 this morning. Not fun. But I felt incredibly accomplished afterwards. I love mornings - definitely a morning person, and just that time of the day is absolutely lovely. I'd get up early every day if I didn't like to sleep so much.

Also, Emma had a date last night! Sort of. His name is Derek (he's Lauren's little bro), and he and Emma have been hanging out like crazy recently. They go to church together, play tennis together, go to social events/dances together...all that fun stuff. So she invited him over to hang out last night. They played ping-pong and he played piano (points for the dude) for a while, and then they came up to make pizza...and Derek and I played Lego Harry Potter on the PS3. Oh yeah. I asked him if he wanted to come join me, and he jumped on it, haha. So much fun!

Derek's a fab kid, I want he and Emma to just go out already. He's really good for her - really calm and laid back (which she needs), but they're interested in all the same things. He's actually kind of a mix of the two of us: Emma's tennis, churchiness, and excited humor + my laid-back personality, love of music, and general chillness. It's a match made in heaven. :)

nothing to see here

Short post tonight, my darlings -- I have to get up early and go take my English exam tomorrow morning. Eww.

Since I don't have a lot to say, I'm going to make a list of people that have made me happy today (in no particular order):
-Teddie
-SD
-Rachel Hadden (freshie in the musical)
-S-Cobble
-Robert Dann (because his Edna is AMAZING. lol-worthy.)
-Nisha
-Kelsey Worsham (best Girls' State friend - I'm going to get to see her over Winterim!)
-Ali (because you wanted me to mention you (;]
-Amber
-Derek (Emma's almost-boyfriend. Love him to death.)

Bought my May Day dress (yuss), went to rehearsal for three hours, came home and played Lego Harry Potter, ate dinner, played piano, crashed. Another successful day. And let the weekend begin!

you can't stop the beat

Mkay, rehearsal is SO much fun...but I'm absolutely exhaaaaausted. But I have an idea.

So I want to be a star one day, right? And musical theater is one of my favorite things in the world. But dreams take a little more than wishing.

SO, starting tomorrow, I am going to put myself into what I've started calling "The Hairspray Routine." Healthy eating, stretching before rehearsal, all that exciting stuff. I know it's small, but I'm determined. Small things build up over time. Plus, hey, if the Terpsies can do it...it's not impossible. Though I'm not saying I'm anywhere near you guys, haha. Not at alllll.

BUT, anyways. Lesson in self-improvement.

P.S. I think this is like my 32nd blog post. Scooore. They say it takes 30 days to build a habit...I think it's safe to say I'm in the habit of blogging by now ;) Peace out, lovelies, hope you're doing well.

i don't wanna fall another moment into your gravity

Ex used to say sometimes that he "couldn't take universal priorities." I always thought that was kind of stupid -- actually, I realize now that a lot of what he said was -- but today I kind of realized what he meant.

Ex always told me that senior year is one when everything changes. Again, I thought he was being overdramatic (and again, he was a good percentage of the time), but...well, it's true. In a good way, I think. Maybe it's senior year, and maybe it's just me learning how to love myself, but I feel like I've gotten braver. Not like "let's go skydiving" brave, but standing up for myself. Hanging out who I want to hang out with. Not letting people walk all over me.

I mean, I'm not a total wimp, but I'm definitely more of a passive personality. Conflict makes me cringe. But it was today that I really realized how I've grown, and strengthened, I guess.

Mkay, so I just typed three or four very angry paragraphs where this is now, but they're not worth keeping. Backspace.

Anyways, I realized that I'd changed when I almost confronted Mrs. B in River Review today. I almost stood up during that club meeting and said look, we're not going to be able to do this. But then I realized it probably wasn't the best venue -- trust me though, I'm going back to talk to her tomorrow or something.

Anyways. On to the positive of the day :)

I have a voice lesson with Mrs. Riddle this afternoon, which is always fun. We're picking some pieces to work on, just for fun or whatever, to help me grow in my voice and experiment with range and tone and stuff. Basically playing around, having a good time. I'm super psyched.

So, when she asked me a song suggestion (here's another place where I got brave), I suggested "Out Tonight," from Rent. And holy cow you guys, that is a heck of a song. But I absolutely love it, and I absolutely love Rent, so I threw it out there. And she got really excited! She thinks it's a perfect song to draw me out of my comfort zone, haha.

So we're doing Rent, and we're also going to be doing Sara Bareillis' "Gravity." This is a positively beautiful song, and I'm so happy to be singing it. Mrs. Riddle also wants me to learn to play it on the piano - I have the sheet music for it, it'll just take a little time to practice it. She has this idea of me being this piano-playing-song-singing double threat. Hah. This'll be interesting.

there's no need to complicate, our time is short

Sooo, just got the Hairspray cast list, approximately six minutes ago?

I'm totally fine with my part - Mrs. Bolden explanied it to me this morning. I kind of wasn't expecting a lead after I didn't get called back (but I thought I nailed the singing? Apparently not.) Apparently there's this group called the "Character Squad" that consists of me, an uncast girl, and a few guys -- we rotate around, basically constantly on stage, and fill in roles like teachers and parents and stuff...yeah, still don't really know, but Mrs. Bolden said we'll be doing plenty of singing and dancing.

But the LEADS? Holy frijoles you guys. Do. Not. Like.

Katy Beth has a heck of a star complex anyways - putting a SOPHOMORE in THE LEAD is not a good idea (unless it's someone like Natalie Pittman or Sarah Thomas or Emily Dake, who's positively brilliant). I mean, I guess she's good and all - honestly, I didn't really watch auditions, I was too busy trying not to freak out - but she's SO OBNOXIOUS. Like, it's absolutely ridiculous.

I'm about ready to rip my hair out. And then Mary Margaret as Penny? I mean, I love her to death, but she can't sing! She can't hold pitch!

I'm a little hesitant about blogging my thoughts on this matter, because I don't want to be a hater and I want to support my theater team. But I know if I don't get this out there now, I'm going to be angry and bitter and spread negativitiy. God knows I'll have to deal with enough of that once I get to practice this afternoon.

I've still felt awful today, I think I have a bug or something. I'm going to call my mom and see if I can skip rehearsal today - I know all the stuff we're learning, and I'd really really like to steer clear for at least a day and let all the drama die down. It was baaad this year, and it's not going to fade right away.

Mrrg. Thankfully I have piano this afternoon. My perfect stress reliever.

I go through these little spurts when I'm obsessed with certain musical - lately I've been listening to Rocky Horror like nobody's business. Legally Blonde is my longest-enduring obsession - after seeing the show I literally had the CD playing nonstop for almost two months. But, it's Rocky Horror now (the Glee version), and I've been rocking out to the Time Warp and "Damn It, Janet" on my way in to school in the mornings. Score. Laura would be proud.

I am so, so tired of theater drama. It makes me so uncomfortable and angry and antsy, and all I really want to do is rip my hair out or bite someone or something. Graaaaaah. I can't wait until stupid auditions are over -- LITERALLY GOING INSANE. Not happy.

I didn't realize we were going to be rehearsing some dance stuff today (no one did? no one had their shoes or anything), and the first forty-five minutes of rehearsal ended up being cram session for the routine we learned during the summer Hairspray camp. I got pretty sick - I think I was just super dehydrated or something. I ended up lying on the floor of the dressing room (ew) for upwards of ten minutes just to make sure I wasn't going to go back out there and pass out or throw up or something...anyways, I'm feeling better now. Amber and I went for Starbucks before choral union at 6:30, and just sitting and resting and drinking was wonderful.

Currently listening to: You and I Both, by Jason Mraz. Okay, maybe Rocky Horror isn't the only thing I'm listening to ;)

My mom had to go to Bristol for a funeral today, so she give us each a little list of things to do. My job was to let the bunnies out to run around and get some exercise - they are faaaaaat darlings, and they need all the exercise they can get. I brought a book and curled up on the wooden chaise my mom picked out for her birthday and let Belle out first. Belle's a sweet-tempered little Dutch bunny. She let me hold her for a while before she hopped around the deck. I wasn't too keen on the whole sitting outside thing at first, but by the time Belle hopped back in her cage I was really enjoying it.

So I let bunny number two out (Thistle, aka Fatso) and soaked up even more of the lovely outdoors. I always thought 'weak winter sunlight' was just a poetic cliche, but that's totally not the case. It's really soothing, almost - gentle and delicate while still letting you know that hello, I'm the sun and am a huge part of your day.

I stayed out until my fingers were too frozen to turn the pages of my book, and then I retreated inside. But it was a lovely afternoon all the same.

you're toxic, I'm slippin under

I love weekends.
I hate drama. Especially theater drama.
I love dances.
I love Amber.
(and Sadie)
(and Laura L)
I also love this symbol --> €
I love my sister...sometimes. Definitely today though.

I'm supposed to hear from UNC today and the website is not workinggggg. Mrr. This makes me frustrated.

Another thing that makes me frustrated? The darn musical. I'm so incredibly tired of musical drama, and we're not even past auditions. Thankfully, the only way we can go from here is up! Things always get better once the drama drama has settled a little.

Speaking of drama...my home life is rapidly spiraling. My family is terrifyingly volatile - it's like, c'mon life, cut me a break, ok? Last night was a total explosion of yelling and door-slamming and crying, and it started up again this morning at 6:45 am sharp. Courtesy of Emma.

I'm not even kidding you guys, I'm this close to breaking away and going to stay with someone else. Emma's just turned into such a petty, selfish, inflexible brat who turns every little discussion into a massive confrontation, hysterics and all. It makes life exhausting around here.

I don't really want to go into the drama this time -- basically it was StuCo related. Anyways.

Archer and Valerie and our dates are going to Southern Star for dinner tonight, then we're off to the dahnce. How exciting :)

who died and made you king of anything?

I'm doing an early blog post this evening. We have a paper to write for Wells for tomorrow, and in a rare burst of pure motivation I'm going to crank it out before the evening gets too old.

Had yoga again this afternoon - the teacher is a lady named Jessica, and she is one of the sweetest souls I have ever met. She remembered me from when I did yoga with her last year, and when I saw her at Fairyland on Christmas Eve she recognized me and came over to give me a giant hug. She's just the nicest lady, so much fun to have teaching us.

I'm nibbling on the most delicious peanut butter cookies that my grandfather's housekeeper made us today. They're perfect, all soft and chewy and tender, and they're only 87 calories apiece. Score.

So I'm a pretty chill person, right? At least most of the time. But there is one person that has always had the ability to absolutely infuriate me. (actually...there are more than one, but I'll focus on this person for now) The lovely Miss Shelby DeWeese.

Shelby and I have a bit of a "history," we'll call it. We were best friends (totally inseparable - like I went and stayed with her family in Kentucky for a week) during sixth and seventh grade. Around eighth grade, Shelby started hanging out with Lucy and Blair more and shoving me off. But at the end of eighth grade when I got into Chamber Singers and she didn't, she decided our friendship was no more.

Actually, I'm not really sure when exactly she started deciding that she hated me. It wasn't overnight, it was kind of one of those eventual drifting apart things. But it wasn't just that we weren't friends anymore - she hated me, like straight up hate. Told me to my face once or twice. She told me I was too boring and cowardly and predictable and arrogant (how do those even go together?), and she didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. Ouch.

Anyways, long story short, up until about mid-junior year she waged a constant war against me, attacking or bringing me down every chance she could get. She kind of has a sarcastic personality to begin with, so it didn't look like she was being vicious, but she knew me well enough that she could take me down in one hit. When she started spending more time with Emily Dilbeck and Laura Laughlin (she thought they were cool), we hit a sort of truce. I've been close with Emily and Laura since sixth grade. Wasn't one of those things she could convince them out of.

During the fall play though, Shelby was actually nice to me. It was like we were young and besties all over again - we said hello in the hallways, hung out amiably at school and practice, joked and had a great time. Needless to say, I was kind of suspicious. Why on earth would she be so nice to me?

So it was kind of a relief when we came back from Christmas break and we resumed our no-talking thing. Well, she decided we weren't talking any longer.

Shelby just...drives me crazy. She hates me because we've always done the same things, been in the same classes, and for a lot of the time I've been half a step ahead of her. You should have heard how she taunted me when she beat me for a lead in The Miracle Worker last fall. But I wouldn't be so bothered by this cold shoulder if it weren't for the fact that no one else sees it.

I told Claire about it one time, and she was totally shocked. She said she could see it, but it wasn't something she would have expected or noticed. Teddie found out about it the other day and had a similar reaction.

Shelbs doesn't really hang out with seniors anymore - she's always with Emily Werner and Mary Margaret - so I haven't seen as much of her this year, but occasionally our paths do cross. Not that she acknowledges it or anything, though.

All riiiiight, got that out of my system. I'm usually pretty okay with our lack-of-relationship, but today she was just getting under my skin for some reason. Phew.

--

Song to look up: Still Love, by Holly Brook. Yes, that's totally her name.

and I won't hesitate no more, no more

I am absolutely exhaaaausted. But in a good way. But it's starting to look doubtful that I'll make it through the rest of the week.

Let's see, today started with one of the classic Wellsian lectures - this morning it was about modernism. Love Wells, love what he has to say, but I tend to come out of his class in a funk. Next, Jaya and I spend the first five or ten minutes of calculus talking ourselves back into the real world, and the day goes on. This morning was much like that, haha.

May Court shenanigans were super exciting, but I am one tired chick. It was a pretty good day, though - there were a lot of sweet little moments that positively warm my heart.

Poor Elizabeth started crying when Mary Anna brought up her dad in her chapel talk, so I entertwined our fingers until the talk was over and she had calmed down a little bit. I absolutely love Elizabeth, she's one of those people that perks me up on the most dreary days. I was worried that with Laura L leaving for college I would lose my sunshine -- I guess I forgot how many wonderful people are in our grade.

Seriously, let me stop and make a note of this for a second. I was panicking at the end of last year because I thought that when the 2010ers graduated, all the people I loved and respected and wanted to be around would be gone. And I did feel lost and lonely for the first little bit of school, which got even worse with The Epic Fail of A Break-Up. But something changed. I'm not entirely sure what - I think it has something to do with SD, with Eller, with Teddie, with Liz. Finding people I loved being around sort of came around the same time I started loving myself again - it's like I finally believed I was worth a good relationship.

Anyways, stepping off my soapbox now. What I'm trying to say is that I really, truly love the people in my life right now. I know some marvelously beautiful people that I'm going to be heartbroken to let go of. But they've been around right when I needed them, and I'll take their lessons with me as we go off in our different directions.

Anyways. Actually stepping off the soapbox now. I had a voice lesson this afternoon - Mrs. Riddle's teaching me how to belt, haha. My throat is soooore. That plus emotional exhaustion plus dance auditions (Teds and Liz and I rocked our audition group) has culminated into an extreme lack of academic motivation. Unfortunately I have two tests tomorrow. Hmm. Interested to see how this works out.

... :) I love you guys <3 So, so much.

edit: things of note:
1. Called the Ex about May Court...yeah. There's a reason we're not together anymore. 'Nuff said.
2. Eller's back! :) And that makes me a happy person.

every rain makes its way into somebody's soul

Today was a pretty good day as well - not gonna lie, I'm liking this positivity. I could get used to it.

Morning - dissected cats, found out ours is pregnant. This reminds me of the time in Florida we dissected dog sharks - Maja and I found out that ours had babies! Fully-formed baby sharklets, as long as my forearm. Our instructor said they would have been born in another couple of days, which was kind of sad, but pretty awesome all at the same time.

Afternoon - forgot I had study hall and went to Forensics double-period...I figured it out pretty quickly though, haha. Mrs. Durham laughed at me.

After school - musical auditions! I was shocked with how well they went. Laura was right - being a senior is soooo much easier. I didn't feel like everyone was judging me and looking down their noses at me. That was probably the best singing audition I've had since High School Musical, and I got a lovely part in that show. It was nice to be successful for once.

Tonight's been nothing too interesting, just homeworking it up. A book I ordered last week finally came from Amazon, which is exciting.

Poor Eller's sickly - I texted her after she wasn't around in math this morning, and she said she was staying home so she won't get worse. I wouldn't be half as worried if I hadn't read so much into her texts - I'm a notorious tone over-analyzer, and texts are awful for that. I'm worried about her, I hope she's okay.

One day I'm going to have something interesting to say in these posts. And one day I'll actually keep up with the Challenges. Well, there's always tomorrow...

(can you tell I'm distracted?)

Guess what guys? I totally feel like a ninja today. Love days like this.

So you know how I always tell you songs or artists to look up? I'm for serious this time - I have stumbled upon a GENIUS. Her name is Christina Grimmie, and she is one of those YouTube singers who just managed to get picked up by a recording artist. I've posted a couple of her videos here for your convenience. :)







Today was an exciting day, but I'm pretty exhausted. I had school (which is exhausting in itself - human bio and physics quizzes), then therapy, then yoga (totally sore, but it was so much fun), and then choral union! I haven't sung with Mr. Cisto since sophomore year - I was in Chamber and Candlelight for 9th and 10th grade, but then theater started conflicting so I had to drop out. But now I'm a second-semester senior, meaning that I have more time and fewer obligations! Or maybe just less motivation. Anyways, I'm back :) I missed it so much, I haven't been doing any singing since GPS Singers ended last year. And Wednesday I start voice lessons, so...yeah. I be singin'.


I am in a really, really good mood. Really. :)

mrrrr.

Not much to say, just posting so I will have done it :)

Watching the Golden Globes. Yusss. Confession: I love celebrities. Well, just celebrities I'm familiar with. But I may have a bit of an unhealthy obsession.

Mom's angry with me again. Dislike. I guess I'll just avoid her for the rest of the evening?

Song to check out: Mumford & Sons' "White Blank Page".

gotta love saturdays

I can't ever come up with post titles. This is a problem.




Hey guys, guess what? I went SPEED-DATING tonight! It was actually a lot of fun. I was prepared for it to be a disaster and totally awkward, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I knew a lot of the guys, like Addison and Carter from the plays and good-friend Grant and people like that, so it was good. Looking forward to choral union next week to see some of those lads again. Plus...I need a StuCo date. Sam totally blew me off the last time we saw each other, so I'm ready to chase down someone else in case I have to, haha.




What did I do to prepare myself for speed-dating? I watched House...the speed-dating scene. I've taken the liberty to look it up for you guys, no knowledge of the TV show required :)


Basically what happened before this: House, Wilson (the oncologist), and Chase (the hot guy) go speed-dating. House is annoyed that hot Aussie Chase is there - "you're supposed to bring your ugly friends to these things" - and makes a bet with him. Chase is going to present himself as unemployed, a little stupid, and he has to drop his accent...House bets him $100 that he'll still get a dozen dates by the end of the night.


(Spoiler: he's right)







I wrote this entire post in HTML. I think I might keep this up from now on - it's easier to navigate and play with. Go web design! Except sometimes I forget break tags, so my text gets all jumbled without paragraph breaks. My apologies.



Harry Potter Challenge Day 04: What is your patronus?



Well, I kind of answered this yesterday with the porpoise. I guess if I wasn't a porpoise, my animal representation would be some sort of cat, like a margay or something (look 'em up, they're lovely).




Metaphor Challenge Day 02: If I were a color, I would be gray.

Gray's actually a lovely color - it can be soft and attractive or bold and striking...I mean, I'm not saying I'm much of either, but I like to think I complement people well, like gray. It goes with everything. I'm not quite as versatile as gray (I mean, you can even spell it two ways), but I can be adaptable when I feel like it...well, actually I just like gray, okay? (:

because friday, I'm in love

Today was largely useless. I mean, we needed to have school today, but I was there like five hours, haha. I'm just ready for things to get back to normal again.

Talked religion with the lovely SD at lunch today, like I did with Emily a few days ago. I'm really liking what they've had to say -- nothing I can make a coherent blog post about yet, but I'm thinking. The wheels are a'turning.

Day 03: Who is your favorite HP professor?

I always loved McGonagall, though like many people I have a super soft spot for Lupin. McGonagall has this no-nonsense demeanor that just evaporates every once and a while, and it was good to see someone who was kind to Harry at the beginning. Plus a) her name is Minerva, b) she can transform into a cat, and c) she teaches my favorite subject.

I love Lupin because I love the Marauders, and I used to read and write and absorb Marauder fics like crazy. Having the crazy teenage boys running around Hogwarts in the good ol'days is just too good to resist, plus Lupin was always the cautious bookworm. Plus he's a werewolf, aaaaaand he marries Tonks! Sorry if that's a spoiler, but I'm pretty sure you know that, if you read HP ;)

I'm also starting another challenge, the Seven Day Metaphor Challenge. Because my Interwebs ADD is exactly what you want to read posts about.

Day 01: If I were an animal, I would be a porpoise, because my personality's a match. I go with the flow, I like to scope things out before rushing into them (sonar), I'm calm and under the radar, and I'm not solitary but don't like massive groups of people. I used to do this in my spare time, matching personalities to animals, haha. That's what the forum I met Anna was based on. Story for another time, haha.

Later lassies, have a fabulous weekend. :)

And the world begins to thaw...

We got our mail today, for the first time in like five days -- that means things are finally going back to normal! I mean, I love snow just as much as the next Southerner, but I'm ready to go back to routine. I actually kind of like school a lot :)

Today was another one of those fun, lazy days -- I can tell because I can't remember what I've even done today, haha. Uploaded some FB pictures this morning, read some, worked on that scholarship essay, finished Glee Season 1, etc., etc.

Amber came over a little before 4 and just left a few minutes ago. We talked for a while, worked on the talent show number (Sara Bareilles' King of Anything), and then she played around with some sheet music while I tried to neaten up the area around my piano. Which was a fail. My sheet music is in stacks all over the place, it's a mess. Not even an organized mess either. But I can generally find what I'm looking for, give or take a page or two.

Anyways, it's always fun to hear her talk about her life. She's almost exactly six years older than I am, and she got married in June to a guy named Scott that she'd been dating for a while. We talked about her family, her future, if she wants kids (yes, but later, and only one or two), and fun stuff like that. She's fabulous, I'm so lucky to have her. And she lives sort of nearby, so I know if I can't take it over here I can flee to her house and she wouldn't care.

I'm so looking forward to school, if only so I have stuff to talk about here, haha. Lame. Let's go back to the Harry Potter challenge I meant to do yesterday as well --

Day 02: What is your favorite class?

I always really loved Transfiguration. Just the idea of transforming things is so typical magic, and it's always fun to see them having trouble changing a teapot into a tortoise ("mine had a willow-patterned shell") and goofy stuff like that that you'd probably never use ever. But Transfiguration was one of those neat classes that I think Rowling could have written a separate book on.

Baby, it's cold outside

Hello my lassies, I hope you're loving this no school extravaganza. I'm kind of super happy that they saved no exams and a freaking blizzard until our senior year...pretty awesome :)

this post is gonna be short because I'm on my iTouch again, and I'm not really in a pensive mood. Had a massive fight with the parents last night, like the typical yelling, crying, panic attacks, all that lovely stuff. I ended up crash-burning on my whole don't-talk-to-your-ex thing, because I'm so used to having someone to look to when my world is unravelling around me. But things are okay now, or better. It was bad enough that I was seriously considering staying somewhere else for tonight, if I could crash somewhere, but I didn't get my car back until a few hours ago, and the restless anger has mostly left my system. But it wad bad, guys. Next time this happens, I'm out of here. I'll go stay with Amber or Nisha or someone, I can make it work. But I'm moving on.

I did yoga at the sports barn this morning, which was a fantastic mood-changer, and afterwards I ran by Smoothie King. Food of the GODS. love it.

In other news, I am having a weird allergic reaction to some food? It happens randomly, like this summer at camp all of a sudden my lips swelled up and stuff. Nothing life-threatening, but I am covered in an obnoxious patchwork of hives, haha. Here's hoping my week gets better. Amber's coming over tomorrow to rehearse our talent show piece, and I have to write a scholarship essay for U Richmond and catch up on calculus. All that exciting stuff :)

I did finish an awesome book today - the demon king by cinda williams chima. It was great - I found it in books a million and love her stuff, and I was super happy with the find. Don't be discouraged by the title - it's a fabulous book, def worth reading.

This post is worthless.

Mmm, I'm more than happy to have another snow day ;) Thanks RT, love you lots.

Today hasn't been too exciting (I mean, it's been awesome, but not much has happened), so I'm going to go with another short list of Things that Make Me Happy:

41. Snow
42. Cold weather in general
43. Dancing like a crazy person
44. Chapstick
45. Fruit snacks
46. Warm showers
47. The Office
48. Folding clothes
49. Sunsets
50. Sunrises
51. Good dreams
52. Writing
53. Sequins

Hah, these lists make me look so shallow. They're really more just lists of things I like or things that make me smile. I like positive things :)

I wish I had actual stuff to say. So, let's see - I'm going to start one of those neat little challenges that I found the other day. Without further ado, let's go for the Harry Potter Mini-Challenge:

Day 01: What is your House?

I'm definitely a Ravenclaw :3 I'm not saying I'm a genius or anything, but I'm more intellectual than brave, ambitious, or...whatever Hufflepuffs are, haha. I wrote like four different college essays on intellectual curiosity - they were actually kind of fun. I'm most definitely a nerd :)

Also, NO SCHOOL TOMORROW YEAAAAAAAAAHH. Gotta love this snow.

Today's been super boring. All I did was paint my nails.

...are you kidding me, today was AWESOME!~ (so awesome I had to throw in the little squiggle that Claire hates. Take that, Claire.) Waking up to not five, not six, but SEVEN inches of snow was one of the most wonderful things ever. I bounced around the house looking out all the different windows and dragging my dad with me. He'd been up for like two hours already and had seen everything, but he humored me and we had a great time laughing at the poor squirrels trying to fight their way through the snow drifts. Except I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the squirrels, because they chewed through the wires in my engine, and my care is still in the shop :(

Anyways, so we had breakfast (French toast and scrambled eggs!) and called our neighbors the Heins to see when they were going to go out and enjoy the snow. Trey and Mary Ann are from Kentucky and have three little girls: Mallory (8th grade), Keely (6th grade), and Lily (4th grade). They also have two dogs, a lovable lab/retriever mix named Maggie and a nutso Boston Terrier rescue named Annie Lou.

So at 10:30 we joined the Heins in our other neighbor's yard (they have a massive hill that we always go sledding on) and sledded and all sorts of shenanigans until a little after noon. By then we were freezing our butts off and I swore I was getting frostbite on my back, so we went back inside and warmed up with showers and grilled cheeses for lunch. Totes delish. Then I finished my puzzle (FINALLY - I will be posting pictures) and played my lovely Playstation 3 until Emma came in and decided she wanted to watch Eclipse, so I got kicked off. But I couldn't sulk for long, so I brought a book into the TV room and curled up on the floor in front of the fire while Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner made Eyes at each other. Mmmm.

After a little bit, the Heins called us again and asked if we wanted to go back out, so mom and dad trudged out to the road to see if it was safe for driving. Apparently it wasn't that big of a deal, so they called up Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin and everyone but me carted off to White Oak Park to go sledding again. I stayed by the fire (tended the fire, thankyouverymuch), danced around in my room, and finished my reading for the day (have to finish a book for Wells by Wednesday) and generally lounged around until my frozen family returned.

Apparently down at White Oak Park there were all these college grads with beer and canoes going down the hills. Yes, you read that right. They were going down the hills in canoes and kayaks and kiddie pools and inner tubes. They had a four-wheeler to take their canoes back up the hill, but then someone else (we don't know if they were with their group) sledding into the four-wheeler and broke a leg, so the ambulance and the police arrived and police took the beer and all that fun stuff. I'm almost kind of sorry I missed the drunken dramatics, but Glee and hot chocolate kept me company well enough.

Well, we just finished watching Pretty Little Liars (super dramatic, ridiculous show, but it's good) and are chilling out in separate parts of the house. I think we're going to play Bananagrams in a second :)

I've had a lot of music floating around in my head, but a band that I've been listening recently that you all should check out is Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes. Crazy name, I know, haha. Actress Olivia Wilde posted about them on her Twitter forever ago, and I looked them up and really liked them.

So excited about not having school tomorrow, yusssss. Though I'm not really looking forward to going out in the snow again. Snow's totally gorgeous, but I get a little tired of rolling around in it after a while, especially since my mom is totally obsessed. Like, if it snowed for a year she would have us out for hours every single day.

Hope you guys are staying warm and loving this snow :) Enjoy your second day off!

Again with the iTouch, and again with the HTMLing. Mrrr.

Went to Sunday school this morning, but after that my day slowed down considerably. A Ms Butterworth kind of day, as Em calls it. Totally stealing that expression, btw. Anyways, I've been slowly working away at homework (very slowly - I still have calculus) because I was all but sure they were calling off school...which they did, whoooo :D

Family's watching The Sting while I've been working on my puzzle (almost finished!) and lazing by the fire. I'm not a huge movie person, but I'm not about to go be antisocial, again, haha. Mom gets worried about me then.

nmh not much to say tonight. Till tomorrow, dears!

'Ello lovely blog-buddies, so nice of you to drop by again. Imma try something new today - this blog post is going to be a collection of random thoughts illustrating my day and mindset. So, GO.

This computer freezes every time I try to use caps lock. That's a fail. What if I want to yell something?

I have poison ivy on my forearm from hauling firewood today, but it was WORTH IT (for the record, I manually held down shift there) because it was hovering around thirty degrees all day.

On a similar note, curling up by the fire with a book (even if it's for English) is pretty hard to beat.

I had that interview this morning -- it actually went really well, I thought. I felt like I communicated my ideas well and didn't freeze up (except for when they asked me what I thought of the wars...awkwaaaaaard.)

Mark Taylor was also there, which was also awkwaaaaaaaard because we don't ever acknowlege each other ever for some reason, and we ended up sort of greeting each other. And then at the one acts tonight he was all "ummm why are you talking to me? we don't talk." Except he really didn't say that, but I could read his tone. I'm psychic.

The one acts were pretty fab. I laughed, a lot, and I'm proud to call Alvaz my friend :) He totally stole the show.

Mom and Emma are watching Salt since Em missed it last night. I had half of a warmed-up Moon Pie, which was actually pretty delicious.

Whenever I'm communicating with texting or blog posts or something, I aaaaalways elongate vowels for emphasis (see?). Ms. Amber makes fun of me sometimes.

Ms. Amber is my piano teacher, and also one of my best friends. We're doing a piece for the talent show together, or at least we're auditioning. Imma sing, she's going to play the piano...which is what she is pretty freakin' awesome at.

I really, really hope it snows.

I'm so tired of giving myself to people and not getting anything in return. So, so tired. Like, freaking story of my life. I don't have an endless supply of sanity, people. Help me out here.

I miss taking French. Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly lonely I listen to French radio. It always makes me feel better. French is a beautiful language.

It is 10:14 at night and I don't really have anything to say. After I got back from the one acts I sat in my car for like twenty minutes (freezing my butt off, I must add), listening to the remainder of the Mumford & Sons CD. May or may not have cried.

My cousin Spencer was at the one acts tonight watching his sister (and my other cousin) Becky. I love Spencer with all of my heart :) He's like 6'5", and tonight he picked me up and spun me around. I was not expecting that.

Mmm, I'm totally running out of things to say. I'm sorry if this post was super boring, I'll try to be more interesting next time ;) Peace out, lovelies, sleep well.

I'm making this post from my touch...so forgive brevity and typos. I'm too lazy to go find a computter. Also, I have to enter all this using HTML - also a fail, but thank goodness for web design.

Family's watching Salt (Angelina Jolie) while I was working on my puzzle in the den. Tomorrow I have a massive interview for UVA's Jefferson scholarship at 9:30 tomorrow morning, and I'm trying not to think about it and freak out, but I'm realizing now that it's getting late and I'll have to turn in for the night. Not looking forward to this :|

and break tag! Look at my HTML skills. Anyways. Today was fun, I love how peppy everyone is on Fridays, especially E period calculus. SD and Eller definitely get me through that class, haha. Sat next to SD in assembly when we were told by mr. policeman how not to get raped - had the beeeeeest time, I love her. Best locker buddy-turned-friend ever.

Guys. I really, really do not want to do this interview tomorrow. I hate interviews. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh.

I love guys who can sing.

Also, faiiiil, didn't post this last night. But I wrote it! This totally counts.
--
Guys, I went to see Boyd's a cappella group The Spizzwinks at McCallie tonight...OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. LITERALLY. If you have never been to an a capella concert, you are missing out, my friend! My family and I went to see Straight No Chaser a few months ago (go look them up, right now), which is most definitely the most fun concert I've ever been to in my entire life.

And so thennnn I go to McCallie tonight all hyped up about seeing Boyd (he was obsessed with me sophomore year - basically I was on this team that kept Godspell from falling apart, except I was a sophomore with a bunch of seniors, and they loved me) and his group (because hello, I love a cappella), and I was TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY.

There are not even words to describe the phenomenon of a cappella unless you've seen it yourself. Like, literally you guys, I am so excited I am having difficulty composing my thoughts enough to make a coherent blog post. asdfawoifsd;hglzxjcv.

(also, I'm sure Emily will talk about how she totally got SERENADED...you should go stalk her blog after you finish reading this)

Anyways. Fun night. Every time I see some awesome performance, I'm torn between THIS IS WHY I WANT TO BE A STAR and oh-my-god-i-could-never-do-that-:(. Tonight's was different because obviously I'm never going to be in Yale's all-male a cappella group (a girl can dream), but I can still feel that frenetic energy that I get when I remember why I love to perform.

Yes, I want to be star. If I had a backbone I would go to an arts school and major in musical theater and BE a star, making my living as an actress (preferably on some tour of a musical or something - after I saw Legally Blonde in September I have been completely and irrevocably obsessed with the idea). Buuuuut, well, it's not practical. And I come from a family where practicality is the norm, perfection is expected.

Take my first cousins on my dad's side. The oldest son works for Kevin Spacey in LA. Yes, The Kevin Spacey. He drives him around in his Ferrari sometimes. Also, this cousin looks like Prince William. The oldest daughter graduated from Harvard with a major in Arabic and some other obscure something, and now she's looking for jobs with the United Nations. And finally, their younger brother is a junior at Duke, where he is a total star in the musical theater department and everyone loves him (he's the only one besides me who has the theater gene). Their dad? He went to Duke, and he's a computer programmer for some awesome company that's made him rich. Yeah. And they're not unusual.

Anyways, back to my point (did I have one?) -- I want to be a star. I want to make my living doing what I love. I want to be an actress if it kills me. When I'm in my more determined moods I say I WILL be an actress if it kills me. But, again, it's not practical, and I'm not a star...not yet, anyways. Therefore, my parents won't pay for my college education if I major in theater, and they're sure as hell not going to support me traipsing off to NYC and trying to Make It Big (um, like I could?).

Anyways, I'm not trying to rant here, haha. Basically I'm going to double-major in theater and biology in college, because I do love biology, and it's a guarantee that I won't literally be a starving artist.

SO YES. The Spizzwinks were amazing. I want to be a star, and so help me I will.

And now for something completely different...

Not gonna lie, I get a little self-conscious after posts like yesterday's angst-fest, haha. I mean, I know it's my blog and I know we're supposed to go into the personal and bloody stuff, but, well...I don't know if I feel quite comfortable with that yet. I mean, I love you guys to death, but I'm still paranoid and terrified that I'm going to say something that'll make you all of a sudden hate me or give up on me as a person or something like that, haha.

Soooooo, I have something much more positive for this post! :) Get ready for this guys, it's exciting.

I was really active on an internet forum for about two years, ending sometime around this past summer. I met some of the sweetest people there - it was so freeing, having people to judge me only on my personality, not by my awkwardness or physical presence or whatever. They actually loved me, haha. I was "the sweet one," and I was a bit of a celebrity around the forum. Anyways, I don't go on the forum anymore, but I still keep in touch with some of my best friends that I met there. They're marvelous people, and they've gotten me through some of my roughest times.

One of my best forum-friends is Anna, who lives in Wisconsin. Anna and I keep in touch via texting, mainly, and while we often don't talk for weeks at a time, we always know that we can reach out to the other and be met with open arms.

Around April of junior year, I had been going through a lot of mental crap, and I was at a massive low point. One day Anna texted me asking for my address, she told me she had something to send me. A few days later, a package arrived at my house.

It's a little journal-type thing -- since I can't get pictures to work on my blog yet, I'll copy the opening page for you guys:

"Hello, my dear. Surprise! Welcome to "Anna's Survival Guide." The name is completely pretentious, I know, but I couldn't come up with anything better, so bear with me. The thing is, I know you've been having a rough time lately, and I wanted to try to find a way to help you out. So I came up with the idea of making you a book of things to turn to whenever you need it. I'll be filling up the first portion with song lyrics, quotes, photos, drawings, magazine clippings, bits of advice, etc. The rest of the book will be a space for you to add your own personal bits of cheer, so you can really make this book yours. I sort of stole the idea from the movie "Elizabethtown" where Kirstin Dunst plans a roadtrip for Orlando Bloom, complete with a scrapbook full of maps, photographs, instructions, and travel music timed out for the whole trip. I've always loved the idea of doing something like that, so think of this as your guidebook on the roadtrip of life, as corny as it sounds. In truth, the purpose of this book is twofold. The first is to give you little things to smile about, to remind you of happiness and light when times get dark. The second is to remind you of all the good within yourself, to help you learn to see your own beauty even when you're feeling at the lowest of the low. If I can give you even a sliver of that, just a glimmer of hope when things are looking their darkest, then I will have done my job well. In the timeless words of Emily Dickinson:

'If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.'

And if I have to choose one person, one heart to focus my efforts on, then I'm choosing you. I'm not trying to claim that depression can be cured by a mere cheering up, not by any means. But optimism and positivity can be a marvelous fortification against low spells, and sometimes we all need a little help on that front. So enjoy! I hope it helps."

--

So Anna created this whole book for me - I haven't even begun to read it all. I was so overwhelmed when I got it, so overcome by the idea that someone had done something like that for me, that I just put it on my bookshelf and kind of forgot about it. But I recently have dug it out again, and I'm starting to read through it for the first time. It's marvelous, it has everything from Youtube links to song lyrics to recipes to cute magazine cutouts to poems to advice...and much more. She even burned CDs of the songs listed inside and send them in the package as well. Needless to say, I'm still kind of overwhelmed -- I called her once I received it and thanked her for like ten minutes straight, and I still thank her for it every once and a while. Like, right now I'm wearing the necklace she enclosed in it, and I have stickers on my phone that she sent as well. She said it was great for her to make it, like art therapy, but I still can never convey to her how truly grateful I am for this.

Anyways, this book is absolutely wonderful. I keep it in my car now and pull it out and turn to a random page whenever I need to smile, and it's really the sweetest thing. So, in the spirit of paying it forward, every once and a while I'm going to copy some of Anna's tips or advice into a blog post, and once I get this picture thing working I'll post some pictures of the pages. I do want you two to see it in person as well -- it's something I think anyone can benefit from, and it's not just me that it can help out.

Cheers, my lovelies. Enjoy this rain - I know I am :)

-L

Sorry about the angst, ladies...

I didn't mean to make your eyes bleed, haha

I'll try to keep that stuff to a minimum :) I did have a pretty hood first day back - it's lovely to see you all again, and like I said, I love the life gps has flowing through it.

sleep tight,

Louise :)

Back to Reality

I've been doing this thing recently where massive changes make me absolutely shut down for a day or so (in which I curl up and avoid reality and pretend that I don't feel like my life is crumbling around me). But after my little hibernation-transformation, I come out of my cocoon of self-misery and adapt like it was never a big deal in the first place. Hopefully this time around I'll be able to cut the funk to a minimum.

Anyways, so today marks one of those Big Changes: going back to school and the chaos of that routine, and leaving my lazy break days behind. Not gonna pretend I haven't been a bit overwhelmed all day - however, I did miss the routine of GPS. I love its energy and flow - the school and community have this pulse that you can read if you pay attention to it. Plus, my sister and I were about to murder each other at home, haha.

So the change isn't all bad - I mean, I knew I had to go back eventually, and it's not like I was dreading it. But I do not deal well with change, at least not at first.

So, today I dragged myself through the day (high point: forensics. I'm totally psyched for that class) and came home when I was finished at 2:45. Archer somehow had invited herself over (haha) and hung out and did physics homework with me until she had to go back to school for One Acts at 4:00. After Archer left, I kind of fell into a mini-coma. Well, my version of a mini-coma. I curled up on the floor in my room with my current favorite playlist piping through my speakers and just stayed there for a little while; once my mom left to go pick up Emma from tennis I migrated to the TV room and finished a Glee episode I started on Sunday.

Then came calculus homework and forensic homework and all that fun jazz that I'm sure you guys have been working through as well, haha. Thankfully I didn't have a lot of work tonight - I mean, I'm finished and it's only eight. I plan to chill out the rest of the evening and regain my composure so I can hit tomorrow like I was made for it.

Hmmr, what else was I going to talk about? Oh yes - MUSIC.

I am a huuuuuge music junkie, like it is kind of ridiculous. I'm the only one in my family that has this obsession, so I keep my headphones where I can reach them and surf through Pandora every once and a while. My neighbor Lisa burned me a copy of the soundtrack from the TV show The Vampire Diaries - I don't watch Vampire Diaries, but the music is phenomenal! A bunch of the songs are on your playlist, Emily.

So, my dearies, here are some mellow songs for you to check out when you're in a melancholy mood and don't feel like snapping out if it just yet (sorry for repeats, Em):

Down - Jason Walker
Bloodstream (Vampire Diaries Remix) - Stateless
Walter Reed - Michael Penn
Lay My Head Down - Indigo Girls
Sugarcane - Missy Higgins
Ten Days - Missy Higgins
All For Believing - Missy Higgins (she's an Australian singer with some fantastic stuff)
Stolen - Dashboard Confessional
After the Storm - Mumford & Sons
I Need to Know - Kris Allen
I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

That's actually not a playlist I have on my iPod (I try not to encourage my melancholy moods), but it's just some songs I pulled off the top of my head. Hope you guys find one or two that you like :)

Cheers, my lovelies - see you tomorrow!

Bonsoir, chickadees, ready for school tomorrow? I kind of am - I mean, I do better when I have something to live for, and school gives me a goal and a reason to keep on keepin' on :) Plus, um, SECOND SEMESTER SENIORS, WHAAAAAAAT.

My day wasn't super interesting today (I measured tablecloths at my grandfather's house for over two hours, but at least I got twenty bucks out of it), so I figured I'd just pick something and talk about it.

On one of my old blogs I started doing this thing where I wrote a little personality point or habit at the end of each entry. It was fun, but I totally ran out of stuff to say at the end of it. Because I started this entry with one of my favorite salutations of lately ("chickadee"), you guys get to hear (see?) me ramble on about something near and dear to my heart: nicknames.

Actually, they're not all that important, but they're kind of special to me. My family's called me Bug or Weeze or Weezy-Bug as long as I can remember, and my best friend in elementary school called me Louie. Cute, I know :) Only my family really call me by any anymore (I miss it), but I'm a definite queen of nicknames and terms of endearment.

I'm a fan of the common ones - love, dear, darling, lady, etc., etc. I do not like hun and honey - they were overused by my middle school friend group - and sweetheart's okay if the person using it is reaaaaaaaaally really southern, haha. Every once and a while I'll even throw in a foreign one - chica, mon amie, mademoiselle, cherie, liebchen, fraulein, etc.

Anyways, I have little mental nicknames that I call people, just for fun. I'm a nickname person. :)

Haha, that post was a load of waffle, but at least it's there. See you guys tomorrow!

Things that make me happy (part 1)

(I was about to call it 'My Favorite Things,' but I immediately get the song stuck in my head. Don't you? Ten to one it's in your head now.)

Part one because I'm determined to expand this list as many times as I can.

The list, in no particular order:
1. Pandora
2. reading cheesy fanfiction
3. writing cheesy fanfiction
4. reading old things I've written
5. reading old diaries
6. paperclips
7. Glee
8. untangling my headphones
9. the smell of evergreen
10. poinsettias
11. ribbons
12. windchimes
13. pears
14. the color purple
15. family game nights
16. hot chocolate
17. curling up by the fire
18. curling up by the fire with a book
19. snuggling with my cat
20. snuggling with my bunnies
21. going to the pet store and snuggling with the bunnies
22. bunnies in general
23. French radio
24. French music
25. crepes
26. French toast
27. food in general (usually)
28. baking
29. decorating things that I've baked
30. grocery stores
31. burning CDs
32. making playlists
33. the smell of new books
34. holly
35. blankets (preferably soft or fuzzy)
36. getting emails
37. new Facebook notifications
38. Twitter mentions
39. cleaning my fishtank (usually)
40. making lists

:) This is fun. Sorry for clogging up your dashboard, hahahaha.

Also, my loves - guess what I found? A fabulous website for Tumblr challenges, which can also be applied to Blogger. Basically when you pick a challenge, you post in response to the question or prompt that it gives you for each day. There are some really cute ones on there - emoticon one, anyone?

1-1-11!

Honestly, I was worried that I'd forget to post today, thereby BLOWING the whole 365 thing. But I remembered! I'm so proud of myself.

It's been one of those rainy, dreary, curl-up-and-read days over here, so (of course) I gave into my inherent laziness :) My dad was in the den installing a wall mount for our TV, and I hung out in there for a massive part of the day. One of my puzzles is in there, and I brought a book or two in there and chilled out between the times he needed me to lift things or fetch him red Sharpies or whatever. My kinda day.

I finished one of my Christmas books today, a little nonfiction bit called The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. Let's see what Amazon has to say about this little beauty:

At age 34, Bailey was stricken with a mysterious virus while on a trip to Europe. Her healthy life had been full of activity, and now just the thought of getting up to get something was exhaustive. When a friend found some violets and brought her one in a pot, she also added a live snail below the violet’s leaves.

Bailey wondered why she needed a snail, but after square holes began to appear in a letter propped on the violet’s pot, it occurred to Bailey that the snail needed food. She put a withered flower in the saucer below, and when the snail began to eat, Bailey realized that she could hear it eating—it was the sound of someone very small munching on celery.

Soon the author realized she was attached, the snail providing an oasis of calm for her frantic and frustrated thoughts. She worried that the snail’s world was too artificial, so her caregiver created a woodland terrarium. Not only did the snail have a new home but Bailey had a new game: hide-and-seek with a snail.

She began to read about snails, learning from scientists, early naturalists, poets, and writers, and found herself beginning to understand a snail’s world. And when her snail began to lay eggs, Bailey discovered that she might be the first person to record observations of a snail tending its eggs.

This beautiful little book will not only make snail lovers of its readers, it will make them appreciate the small things in life.

Not the most well-written review, but it's better than anything I could have come up with. The book's so sweet, and I really loved Bailey's little insights into things we can learn from a snail. If either of you would like to borrow it, I'd be more than happy to pass it on :)

Anyways, so I finished that book, made some headway on my puzzle, messed around with my new Christmas iTouch a little bit (I'm still figuring everything out, but I looooove it.) Around 6:30 we picked up my grandfather and swung by a friend's house to visit their little New Year's/football party, then we met Aunt and Cousin for sushi downtown. My adventure of the evening - trying octopus, which definitely still had little suckers and everything. It was actually pretty good - super chewy, but it tasted a bit like calamari. Which would make sense, I guess, haha.

You've probably noticed by now how much time I spend with my family, at least how much time I've spent with them over break. Our little dinner/outing group usually consists of the four of my immediate family (Mom, Dad, Sister, Me), my dad's brother's family (Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin), and my dad's father (Grandfather, believe it or not. It's just easier to refer to them by titles so you don't have to keep track of who's who.) Uncle is hunting in Texas, so he's been missing out on our little holiday shenanigans, and Grandfather missed NYE bowling because he was eating out with "people his own age," but normally we're all together. My grandmother was also an integral part of the group, but she passed away in early September. We definitely miss her.

Anyways, I'm just chilling out now, finishing burning Em's CD (yusss) and Eller's copy of the Tron soundtrack that I promised her. But I hear some peppermint ice cream calling me from the kitchen, so I may be running off to do something else shortly ;)

Quick note: I'm not going to go into super-detail right now (peppermint ice cream calls loudly), but I had a little self-victory tonight at sushi-dinner. My family tends to get me more anxious than anyone else, especially when we're all eating out, but tonight I didn't let it get to me when I felt tension building. I took a deep breath and accepted the fact that I was frustrated and ticked off and anxious...and it actually worked. I mean, I was still f/t/a, but I didn't feel like I was about to claw my skin off. Score for Louise :)