Really Boring Life

School is going pretty well so far. I just have to say: "that's what she said" jokes are getting kind of old.
This year I am going to try and be nicer. In the past I have been kind of a jerk. So this year I am going to be nice to everyone.
My friends do not think I can accomplish this. Oh ye of little faith....
I have to take a writing test in language arts, less than a week into the school year. It pretty much sucks.
You know what I realized? I have a really boring life.

All the News

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. Our computer is having issues, so I am posting from my iPod. I meant to post all of my embracing summer things, but now summer is over.
School is going great-I think. My Science teacher is insane, like in the bad scientist way, and my U.S. History teacher is 6 months pregnant. I'm pretty sure my Health/Gym teacher is too, although she hasn't said anything. She left class all of th sudden really fast, probably to go puke, and she eats a lot. Plus she has that bump on her tummy that newly pregnant women have.
My boyfriend fell off his motorcycle! He missed the first two days of school, and he is on crutches. His knee was all swelled up really huge, and he fractured his femur. It wasn't super bad, though; they couldn't see it with the x-ray so he had to get an MRI. He will be at school tomorrow.

Embrace Summer #5

Embrace summer #5: Watch your favorite movie from when you were a little kid. You have to do this before everything starts again and you don't have 2 and a half hours to just sit around.
Some excellent suggestions, in case you can't remember tht far back: Horton Hears a Who, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Toy Story, or, if you don't want to go that childish, The Parent Trap is wonderful.
I advise you to have some popcorn while you do this. Unless you have braces. Then it will just add to the stress of going back to school.

Have Style, Will Travel

Please take a moment to look at my brand new style blog: Have Style, Will Travel at havestylewilltravel.blogspot.com. Inspired by Cafe Fashionista. You should check it out.
I'm serious.

Embrace Summer #4

I am so sorry for not posting yesterday, however, I will post today. :)
Embrace summer #4: Go shopping. School is about to start, and even if you've already got your new fall wardrobe, it's always fun to go again. Check out the end-of-summer sales and find some hot stuff. Did you know that most of your summer clothes can be incorporated into fall? For instance, you can pair your favorite summer tank with a cute cardigan. Right now I'm really into an open button-up over a tank.
You can also pair your favorite summery capris with some long socks for a chic-preppy look. That's another thing that I really love right now.
One more idea: Save all your favorite but worn out tees for gym class! Who knew you could look so wonderful while you're running laps?

Embrace Summer #3

Embrace summer #3: Have a pool party. If you don't have a pool, get out your little brother's kiddie pool and turn on your sprinklers. Get some food and invite over all your friends. Have fun!
It is a warm night, and your friends would all greatly appreciate it if you would throw a pool party. Heck, they are so bored, they would come over if you were having a contest to see who could keep their head in a bucket of water the longest. The last days of summer are exhaustively boring.
So....tell me, who is excited for school to start? I am only excited because of my friends, and the fact that I am really bored of summer.
Or, if you have already started school, how is that going for you? Did you finish off your summer well?

Embrace Summer #2

Embrace summer #2: courtesy of Cafe Fashionista.
Today you should take your friends/boyfriend/girlfriend/kids/etc. and have a picnic in the park. Take a blanket and sit under a shady tree with sandwiches and good old chocolate chip cookies. Today is not a day to worry about calories and looking fat. Just have fun with someone you love. Summer is almost over! Make sure you have fun while it's here.
Also, you should take a look at my brand new style blog, Have Style, Will Travel, at havestylewilltravel.blogspot.com.

Embrace Summer: #1

School starts in 8 days.
Since summer is almost over, here is the first thing we will do in our countdown to school, which I have decided to start today.
Here it is: Run around the neighborhood barefott with your best friend today. Knock on random doors and suprise your neighbors with homeade brownies. Make friends with little four-year-olds and puppy dogs in the park. Embrace your youth while you still have it. Get all that energy out before you have to hit the books.
Trust me-running around barefoot is fun. I have done this many times and it is extremely satisfying. I'm not kidding. You should try it.
If you have any ideas for my 7 other "embracing summer" ideas, please comment and I will take them all into consideration.

School Starts in 9 Days

School starts in 9 days. I am so excited. It has been so rainy and cold that it doesn't feel like summer. And I am SO BORED!! I am going to go insane. I miss my routine, and my friends, and my boyfriend! I mean, I still see people sometimes but not every day.
This blog is going to get a heck of a lot more interesting once school starts and I have things to talk about, once things start happening in my life. That will be way better.
I cannot believe the weather. It is rainy and cold. It is supposed to warm up later this week, but, knowing Oregon, I doubt it.

WalMart

I am so sorry for my lack of posting recently. The weeks before school starts are very busy.
They finally built a WalMart here in our little town. Up until now the closest one was an hour away. The city didn't want to build one because of money or something (it was really stupid, whatever it was), but eventually we got one.
It's a WalMart Supercenter, and the first day it was open it was so crowded it was overflowing. We went back just the next day, and it wasn't nearly as bad.
My mom is so excited. Instead of drving 30 minutes for groceries, we can drive 5. And we don't have to drive all the way out to Target anymore. We can go to WalMart.
Me, I think it will be a great place to hang out with my friends. We all do. What better place is there for hanging out than WalMart?
If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Hagg Lake

Today I am going to Hagg Lake.
Our church is taking our youth group there. There is more than usual this time, and there will be 75 of us. A whole bunch of teenagers, a stack of hot dogs, 3+ boats (with inner tubes), and a lot of noise.
I am excited!
It is going to be so much fun! I love inner tubing. I have only been once, and it is amazing.
Yay!

Poll

If you would all look to the bottom of this web page, you would notice a poll. If you could all vote, that would be great. I will change them frequently, every week or so. Thank you!

My Fear of Snakes

The other day I made a list of my fears. Here it is:
Being by myself in the dark
Bees/Wasps
Snakes
Small, confined spaces
Drowning
Suffocating
Freezing to death
Being burned alive
Being strangled to death
Crashing in an airplane
Some of these are very stupid fears, for instance, bees. I have never been stung by a bee and have no reason to be afraid of them, but I am. If somebody can talk me out of this, you are more than welcome to.
Some of these are very rational. I have a very good reason for being afraid of snakes. Once, in the 7th grade, a fat guy with a beard and a bunch of reptiles came to our school. He had a king cobra, and he was bringing it around. He put it ON MY HEAD!!!! I was freaking out, but he said if I moved it would bite me, so I just sort of talked really fast and really loud to the people around me. It was terrifying.
And now you know why I don't like snakes.

A Cold

I hate colds. They really get in the way of my life. I am constantly blowing my nose, I can't sleep, my head hurts, and I look like crap.
I look like crap because my eyes get heavy and I am too lazy to do simple things like fix my hair. A cold really takes the energy out of you.
This bites. At the beginning of the summer I had bronchitis, then we went on vacation. We came back and all my siblings got sick, and then I went to camp. Now I am sick again. And school starts on September 9th.
Where in the universe has my summer gone?

I'm Back!

I am back from camp. It was amazing!
We went on the hardest hike in the world. It was only about 5 miles, but it was rocky and uphill and NOT fun.
I am thrilled to be back. I get to sleep in my own bed and shower in a shower that is not filled with bugs.
We had a mouse in our cabin. A real live mouse. This one girl kept leaving candy out and it kept coming back. But it was okay because we had to switch cabins because of a fictitional bat reported by the health department. Don't even get me started on that story.
The graffiti on the walls of our cabin was very amusing. Carl was here, Victor was murdered by his girlfriend in this cabin, and if you tap three times on a certain wall a ghost will get you.
We made some more graffiti of our own, including "Your mom goes to college" from Napolean Dynamite. We wrote it really huge on the wall.
It was pretty great.

YAY!

I am leaving for Girls' Camp in...3 hours! Scream for joy!
I am so excited. Except it's a lot more "rugged" than last year. We are still in cabins, but we can't drink the tap water, because it's lake water, and the showers are the kind that you have to pull the cord for the water to come out. There is also zero electricity. Last year there was at least lights in the cabins.
On the bright side, this year we have...wait for it...A POOL! Our very own pool to use whenever we want!
This is going to be a long week of sleep deprivation. We go to bed at 11pm, but no one is asleep until midnight. Breakfast is at 7:30am. And my friends and I get up early to go runnning every morning at 6:30, so we can get an award at the end of the week.
And you become litterally exhausted. Last year we slept at meals, slept during free time, and slept on the lawn during flag ceremony.
Woo-hoo!

Glasses

Going against my better judgment, I decided to get the red glasses. There is not enough color in the black, and the pink kind of take over my face. The red looks black in some lights, and they are really nice.
i guess it's not really against my better judgment, because I really do like them. And I think I would get tired of the pink really fast. Everyone else likes the red the best. I am excited, really.
We ordered them, and they are coming about a week from Monday.
I won't even have to sit around and wait for them, because I will be at camp next week (see previous entry about girl's camp, a few days ago)!

Contacts

I just got my contacts!
I have to say, they are pretty amazing. Right now I just have a trial pair, to see if I like them, and if I do, we will order more.
It is so wonderful to be able to see without glasses on my face. And it's really easy to get them in and out. For some reason I thought it would be a lot harder.
I'm getting new glasses, too, just in case, you know? They are all pretty much the same style, the three pairs I'm trying to choose from, but different colors. What do you think: black, pink, or red?
The black matches all of my clothes, but I like having more color around my face. The red looks black in some lights, but doesn't look good with very many of my outfits. The pink matches almost everything, except for red, but even then it still looks okay. My mom likes the red best, but I like the pink best. Let me know what you think.

Parental Units

I think it's funny how parents have the right to punish us.
Last night my dad disconnected the internet from my iPod touch, so I cannot check my email or play my games or anything. I am so bored. I can't text either!
It has always bothered me that they are allowed to tell me what to do, but if I tell them what to do, I get the "ask don't tell" lecture. Why don't they ask? "Sweetheart, will you please go up to your room?" "Honey, can we disconnect your iPod from the internet?"
I hate it. I really do hate it. And why can't I punish them? "Mom, since you won't let me go to that party, you can't use the computer for a week."
I think that sounds about right. After all, they are providing for me, giving me food, clothes, and a roof over my head, but I help clean, the house, right? I mean, I vacuum and do the dishes and stuff.
That should count as my room and board...right?

Before School Starts

I have an eye doctor appointment on Friday. I'm getting contacts! I hate my ugly glasses. I am so excited!
I am also getting my own room! We are going to move my little sister out of the room she has (all to herself) and move me into it! It's amazing!
Later this month I have to go shopping for school clothes and supplies, and I have a hair appointment, dentist appointment, and orthodontist appointment. Today I had a doctor's appointment. There are so many things to do before school starts. It drives me crazy.
They have this stupid idea this year that they are going to start school half an hour later on Wednesdays. This might sound good on the surface (more sleep!), but it will wreck my whole schedule. I am extremely disappointed.

Sunday School

We went to church today. I really like going to sunday school, partly because all my friends are there, and partly because I like to argue with my teacher. He doesn't like me very much, because I talk a lot, and it is really fun to prove him wrong. I do it a lot, and I am pretty sure it is going to hurt his self-esteem in the long run.
Nobody really listens to our teacher, we just talk amongst ourselves and catch some snippets of, "Why will we be happy if we follow the example of the Lord?" and "Will somebody please read 1 Corinthians 4:12?" Usually nobody volunteers to read, and the teacher has to call someone.
The teacher says he is tired of our talking, and next week he is going to give us assigned seating. But I told him that it won't work because everyone will just yell across the room at each other.
Today we talked about bad attitudes, and it made me realize that I should really change my attitude.
Of course, that doesn't mean I will.

My Boyfriend

I have this amazing boyfriend who I love so much. He is always telling me how beautiful I am, and how nice I am, and how amazing I am. He is way nicer to me than I deserve. And then I disagree with him, and he tells me that he doesn't like to argue with me. I don't like arguing with him either, so I just drop it and let him win.
My friends always say he is so nice to me. My bestest friend in the whole world is jealous that I found a guy who is so perfect for me. Her boyfriend just dumped her, and it's been rough. She is afraid that she will never find a guy who loves her again. But she will. She is a very loveable person.

Girl's Camp

I am going away to Girl's Camp, August 9th-13th. It is a church camp for girls ages 12-17, and it is really fun. We talk about spiritual things, as well as doing stuff like cannonballs in the pool and tye-dyeing socks. (I have no idea who came up with the sock idea.)
Most of our meals are provided for us, but we have to cook one big dinner (incuding dessert). It is always fun to cook over a fire. I just love burning myself on hot coals, don't you?
We got our cabin lists, and I did not get put in a cabin with my bestest friend. She was first on my preference list, too, and I was first on hers.
it was very disappointing. But that is okay. We will have fun anyway.
This year I get to learn to use a knife, and sharpen it and do stuff like that. Stuff I will only do at camp. I will let you know how many times my clumsy being cuts herself.
I am so excited!

Super Spending

I love name brand clothes, but they are SO FREAKIN' EXPENSIVE!!!!!!! A pair of name brand jeans can cost $60 on sale. I hate it.
Anyway, I was fortunate enough to come across a garage sale where absolutely everything was name brand. And all of the jeans were $1. And the tops were 50 cents. We bought me a ton of stuff for $7. SEVEN DOLLARS!
I, myself, could hardly believe it. and it all fit perfectly. Imagine that.
So, next time the girl who always has name brand clothes walks by, remind yourself that she may have bought those jeans for a couple bucks at a thrift store.
You gotta love thrift stores. Somehow they always have exactly what you need.

Heat Exhaustion

It is so hot. I am dying. It is so hot that everything a block away looks like it's moving, you know, how it looks all liquidized and wavy. I swear, I have never sweat so much in my entire life. I did not know it was possible to sweat this much. I am sweating in places I did not know you could sweat. (TMI!!!!!!!)
On a happier note, some new people moved in across the street, and they have a girl my age. I didn't get to meet her, she wasn't home when we went over, but she will be going to the same school and we will ride the bus together. I think I will even let her sit with me and my friends at lunch. That would be nice, don't you think?

Old Friends

Just when you think everything is going to be fine, life throws you a curveball.
I had lists made out for everything I would need for this coming school year, clothes, supplies, and ALL. I was thinking that maybe first period gym wouldn't be so bad, and then I checked my texts.
Of everyone that replied, I have one class with one friend. Band. Great, huh? I mean, there is still a couple of people left to reply, but still...
I hate having classes that none of my friends are in. I have no one to talk to. No one to sit next to. I feel like such a loser.
It sucks.
Everyone always goes around telling you to make friends, but by the time you hit middle school, you have your friends and everyone else has theirs. It's not like third grade when you can walk up to someone and say, "Can I play with you?"
Apart from the fact that we don't have recess anymore, it's just not like that anymore. Stick with your old friends. :)

Little Kids

Today my two sisters were playing. They each had a restaraunt, and neither of them were allowed to go to each other's restaraunt. each of them were coming to me and wanting me to eat their "food". But they wouldn't even let each other try "food". They wanted someone to play with but neither would play with the other. It was extremely weird.
I know I was never like that as a kid. At least, I hope not. :)

Jeans

Today I was looking at jeans online, at JC Penny. There was a huge amount of skinny jeans and hardly any bootcut. Especially ones that didn't have holes. We are not allowed to have holes in our jeans at school. And I HATE skinny jeans.
I have got to be one of the only teenage girls on the entire planet who despises skinny jeans. And I really hate it how people wear Vans with skinny jeans. It drives me insane.
I hate the holes too. I mean, seriously, make the dang holes yourself! What kind of an idiot buys jeans with holes already in them. Who's gonna know the difference, whether you did it yourself or whether some kid in Vietnam did it?
Come on!

Un-Perfect

I wish everyone would realize the strain it puts on me to expect me to be perfect.
My teachers at school always expect good grades and valuable input, my friends think I am the most confident person in the world, and I still get sent to my room for yelling at my parents. Imagine that.
The truth is, sometimes I want to be the girl who sits in the back and never talks during class. The one with the B/C average. The one who has a few good friends but not a bunch. And I am not confident. Every time someone looks at me in the hall I think, "Is my hair frizzy? Is my makeup smeared? Why is that person looking at me? What's wrong with me?" I am just as insecure as the next person.
The trick is pretending not to be. if you walk down the halls acting like they belong to you, everyone will think they really do.
That is the secret.

Unwelcome Schedule

It's driving me crazy.
I found out my schedule for the new school year today, and I hate it! I didn't get the gym teacher I wanted (plus I have gym first period), I have the worst algebra teacher in the whole school, and I did not get into the Speech and Debate class I was going to take in the second trimester. I have to take Art instead. I have zero artistic talent. The only thing I can think of is that the class was cancelled, because I was one of the first people to sign up for classes.
Hopefully I have some friends in my classes. I am going to die. The whole thing just ruined my summer. Absolutely ruined it.
Here's what I've got:
Period 1: P.E./Health
Period 2: Introduction to Law
Period 3: Honors Language Arts
Period 4: Algebra 2
Period 5: Science
Period 6: Band
Period 7: U.S. History
Ugh. I won't even burden you with the details of second or third trimester. Talk about ruining my life.

Hiding

I figured out how to blog. I've sounded pretty stupid up until now, but I am going to get better. And once school starts again, there will be more interesting things to talk about.
Anyway, tonight I hid in the bathroom (again). I will do almost anything to get out of doing the dishes. I hate cleaning the kitchen. So I grab one of my magazines and hide until it is over. It is very nice to listen to my mom looking for me while my dad does the dishes. I love it. particularly because I am hiding.
I am an excellent hider.

Home At Last

We are finally back from vacation. We got back on Saturday. I love sleeping in my own bed. I love being with my friends. The whole thing is so amazing!
Me and a couple of my friends are going to the pool in a couple of hours. I love swimming. Gosh, I love everything about being home!
Today my mom and my brother are sick, so I am stuck doing all the work. I cleaned the kitchen this morning and made lunch for my sisters. I am glad to be going swimming and getting out of this house!
My mom is giving me a budget of money for school clothes, and she wanted to know what I needed. I made a big long list. She looked at it and told me that the only things I really needed were jeans. So much for that.

My Vacation-Part Two

I am finally at my grandparents house. They have an unlocked wi-fi network, so I can do anything I want on my iPod touch. I am totally free.
I miss my friends, though. Texting them is not the same as really being with them. They are doing fun things without me! They all say they miss me, though. So I am okay with their having fun. And it's not that I'm not having fun. Bt there's only a certain level of fun you can have with your family.
Two of my very bestest friends just went through very bad break-ups. One of them had his girlfriend break up with him for her ex, and the other had her boyfriend break up with her because he thinks he will meet new people when he starts high school. It is really hard to tell exactly how she is feeling when I can't actually talk to her.
I can't believe I am missing all this important stuff while on vacation.
We had a cherry pit spitting contest. I suck. I think my record was about five feet. We have to take family pictures tomorrow. I am so not looking forward to that.

My Vacation-Part One

We are in a Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana. This is a place you have never heard of. But there's wi-fi, at least. It's deathly slow, and I'm having a really hard time emailing my friends, but at least I got to take a shower. I have been camping for 3 days and my hair was so greasy and disgusting. But I'm good now. We get to have pizza for dinner and go swimming.
In Glacier National Park we went on a hike in the snow. It was snowing in July. How messed up is that?
We also swam in the coldest lake I have ever encountered in my short life. It was made of melted ice water. But it was still frozen.
I tried to upload my pics of the mountains and the lake, but the stupid Internet is too slow. I will upload them when I get home. Or maybe I'll be able to do it when we get to my grandma's on Monday.
I can't wait to be home.
I would say more, but I'm blogging on my iPod, and it takes a while with just your thumbs.

Beastly Unicorn Pinatas

Today was my little sister's birthday. She turned 5. If you have never smashed a unicorn pinata to shreds, I highly recommend it. It is one of the more delightful things you will do in your life.
I'm not kidding. It was totally amazing.
You know what I've noticed? It is really hard to avoid using the slang that I always use when I'm posting on this blog. I live in the northwest, and there is a lot of stuff I say that nobody else in the country would understand. Like the word "beast" or "beastly". Both of those are basically the same thing, they mean something along the lines of "awesome" or "totally cool".
Now you know what they mean. So I can totally use them now. Right?

Packing Dilemma

I love antibiotics. They are amazing.
I have a huge packing dilemma when it comes to vacation. We are going camping and then to my grandma's house, so I need nice clothes and not-nice clothes. If it were up to me, I would just bring two bags. But no, my mom says that me and my 11-year-old brother have to be "packing buddies", so we pack all of our camping stuff in one bag and all of our other stuff in another bag. My brother is really ticked off about me bringing a hair dryer.

Who Would've Guessed?

Hey all you bloggers out there. Sorry for going AWOL. Sometimes, when a teenager does something wrong, their privelige to use the computer is revoked.
Anyway, I went to the doctor today, to discover that I had bronchitis! Not only that, but we went to a different doctor today, and he said I have asthma. My pediatrician never thought anything, even though I suspected it for years. On the bright side, the antibiotics are got are working great, and the inhaler is a gift from God. I am not coughing anymore and I don't get short of breath just running up the stairs. I can't wait for track season!
The pills I am taking (the antibiotic) are the biggest pills I have ever taken. But I only have to take three of them. They are not only for the bronchitis, but also for the inflamed tissue of my lungs. Now I know why the deep breaths hurt so bad.

Family Vacations

For our family vacation this summer we are going to Glacier National Park in Montana. I hate family vacations. They are long car rides of people whining about being hungry or how they have to pee. Then we will get to where we are camping and realize that somebody forgot a rain jacket. This will not matter until it starts to pour down rain.
This year our cousins and a family that is friends with our family are coming with us. My mom says this will be fun because I will have somebody to hang out with. Ha. Ha. Ha. Right.
After this, we are going to stay in a Holiday Inn Express for a couple of nights. The highlight of my little siblings trip is the "free complimentary breakfast". I mean, how can you go wrong with sugar ceral and cinnamon rolls?
Then we're going to my grandparents' house in Wyoming. Every year, they host a "Popsicle Pigout", where we try to see who can eat the most twin pops. My cousin wins every year. He eats a million!
It's gonna be a family reunion! I am the oldest cousin, though, and all my cousins are little kids. There are a couple that are just a year or two younger, but they are both boys. Lame! I'm afraid I'll get stuck babysitting.
So you can see why family vacations suck. But, then again, other than all the bad stuff, they're great.

Dysfunctional Weather

This is the coldest summer in the history of my life. It actually has record low temperatures, too. We recently had the wettest day of June since 1854. I mean, it rains a lot in Oregon, but, seriously? It's almost July and it's barely hitting 75 degrees. Does that just tick you off or what?
I go swimming every day during the summer-usually. But when it's not even 70 degrees outside, I'm just not feelin' it.
All I ever do is sit inside and text my friends. How boring! I wish we could go to the park. I wish we could go shopping. I wish I wish I wish...but who wants to do any of that in the rain?
Oregon is super green, but it's 'cause it's always raining? I've lived here for 4 1/2 years and I still haven't decided whether this is a good thing or not.......

The Age Decievers

"Looking 50 is great-if you're 60."-Joan Rivers
I find it hilarious that adults are always trying to look younger. Don't they remember their teenage years,when they wanted to look older? "No, sir, I'm 18, I promise. Please let me into the movie!"
I've seen 13-year-olds try and pass for 16, so they could go into the hot tub at the pool, or even a couple that tried to drive their dad's car. This is not a smart idea. You are only going to get into trouble. What kind of a 13-year-old can pass for 16?
And then there are the people that lie about their age on Facebook. That kid is not fourteen, he barely looks ten!Don't you think that Facebook should be a little smarter than that?

Obsessive Guys

Being a teenager is awesome. Let me just throw that out there. I gotta tell ya, there's an enormous amount of adults out there griping and groaning about how they should have spent their teenage years, and all the things they should and shouldn't have done. And being a teenage girl is even better. I mean, sure, they throw some curveballs at you, like acne and over-obsessive guys, but for the most part, life is pretty sweet.
Just the other day, for instance, I was complaining to a couple of my guy friends about how fat I looked in my swimsuit. One of them was all like, "You are just like my girlfriend. Girls are always complaining about this and that and the other thing. why can they see that they are the only one that cares?"
This wasn't too comforting. He's got a hot girlfriend, and I was pretty sure he was only saying that to make me feel better.
"So what do you do?" I said, trying to catch him.
He thought for a moment, then said, "I don't worry about those kinds of things. I am good-looking enough for me and the girl, I think."
His best buddy just looked at him. I did too.
So maybe there are more obsessive guys than I thought-at least, with themselves!