High School

I have been in school for a month now. (UGH) I like high school so far-it's actually pretty fun. I'm in Beauty and the Beast, not as a townsperson or obscure fork, but Mrs. Potts, the teapot. (PARTY!!!) I was pretty much shocked to hear about it, but it's been fun so far. I am in percussion ensemble, which is really fun but kind of hard for someone of my limited coordination. Our JV volleyball team is undefeated. I am actually acing Algebra I. (For now) I have all three of my sections said for Bible Quiz. I have made new friends. I have completed Rumplestiltskin and am in the the last stages of revision. I have everything I need for our homecoming banquet.
In short, life is good.

Ode to Summer

I start school on Monday. (Loud groaning noise in background) Yeah, I'm going to high school. No, I'm not nervous. I am looking forward to taking creative writing, being involved in the school play, Beauty and the Beast, seeing my friends every day, and playing volleyball.
It's the stuff in between I'm not looking forward to. Algebra 1, Physical Science, English (we're reading Great Expectations, yippee-doo), that stuff. And the getting up at six thirty is rather unappealing too. I value my sanity and sleep, and those are two things I will most definitely be lacking in once school really starts.
However, I have had a pretty eventful summer.
Highlights include but are not limited to:
-Visiting my cousins in Greenville-did you know that lightning bug guts glow in the dark???
-Going shopping with my friends. (You can fit four teenage girls on the Big Bird kiddie ride at the mall. It's just really uncomfortable.)
-Going to Mount Olympus with my friends and going down the insanely scary drop slide-FIVE SECONDS LONG!!! SO FREAKY!!!
-Working on my four writing projects. (3 Princess Tales, still not finished with Rumplestiltskin, ugh, as well as Shackles, my novel and pet project)
-Walking around town (mostly to the library)
-Which contributed to the 90+ books I have read since the beginning of summer.
-Spending 3 weeks in NY with my grandparents and seeing my cousins and going tubing and learning to ski. (Sort of. I'm not very good yet.)
-Getting a bloody nose on my final tube run as well as a swollen lip that earned me several stares and the nickname "Duck."
-Starting volleyball preseason (I have to get up for it now though and it's been seriously messing with my biological clock...can't sleep past 6:30 anymore...so sad.)

So, I guess that's about it. High school, here I come!!! (Ready or not. Preferably not.)

Taking a break

Rachel is offline for the next couple of weeks while on vacation in upstate NY.
This post was not authorized by the Mad Poet.

Funny Cat Picture

I do not understand this picture, but I still think it's hilarious.

Revision

Revision, as I have learned, is the art of taking something that's already perfectly fine in the first place and completely destroying it in the hopes that doing so will somehow make it better.

For example:
As I have said about 15,000 times before, I am in the process of writing a series of fairy-tale stories. The first one was finished in November of 2008, and I just started my ninth. The problem is, however, that I went back and re-read the four original stories. And since then, all I've been doing is going back to rewrite those. I started my rewrite of Snow White this week. My original Snow White I did in about two weeks, and I wrote the whole ending in about five minutes.

Let's just say if I had to pick a "Worst Story I Have Ever Written", that would be it.

This week, I also finished my rough draft of Rumplestiltskin, which I started work on in November. (NOVEMBER!!! NOVEMBER!!! NOVEMBER!!!) Admittedly, there was an incident in which I accidentally deleted all nine pages of my original draft, and then I took about a two-month hiatus to finish Rapunzel, but still!!! I've been working on this one story for nearly six months, and I still have to go back and revise!!! What's worse, I don't even really even like this story!!!

So, hopefully, Rumplestiltskin will be ready for reading by the time I leave for vacation July 24th. And if not, well, maybe I should take up a new hobby. Like knitting.

For Those of You Who Love Writing

I was going through my emails the other day when I found a website link that my mom had sent me. I decided to click on it.
The website link was to a site called "Fifteen Minutes of Fiction."
About an hour later, I had created a profile. This afternoon I spent about an hour and a half creating posts on said site. And now, I would like to post a link so that all my fellow logophiles can waste their time in a semi-creative manner.
If you'd like to look up what I've done on the site, my username is Ari James.
Enjoy!!!
Update: Sorry, the stupid thing won't let me post a link, so I'll do this the old fashioned way.
Go to your little browser thingie. Type in fifteenminutesoffiction.com. Be happy.

I Did the Stupidest Thing the Other Day

As I've said in previous posts, I have problems with my life. Stuff just happens to me, stuff I can't explain. (Or, when I do explain it, gets me a lot of laughs and weird looks.)
Another one of those types of things happened to me the other day.
My brother needed new body wash. So we went to Walmart and got him some. When we got home and I went to put the body wash away, I decided I wanted to see what it smelled like.
Somehow (and I still haven't been able to figure out how) I managed to get the body wash up my nose, and then somehow it kind of got down into my mouth so I not only got to smell it; I got to taste it too!!!
The picture below has become my new life motto. Click on it, and you shall see why.

Splitting Hairs

For almost my entire life, my hair has been short. No real reason; I was just lazy. Last year, I decided to grow my hair out. My friends and family had been pressuring me to do it, and I wanted to try something new, so I did.
90% of the time, it looked awful. I was in a play that year, and I couldn't cut my hair, even though I really wanted layers, so I ended up with a style that looked like I'd gotten up and gone to school without doing anything to my hair at all, even though I always washed and brushed and dried it before I left. After the play, I got layers, but my hair was still the same way: the ends flipped out and completely disguised all my layers, and I still hadn't figured out how to do things with it. (and it was barely long enough for me to put it in a ponytail)
Finally, last June, I snapped. I had just about had it with my stupid hair.
So I chopped it all off. Half an hour in the barber's chair, and I was left with a supershort pixie and the nagging thought, "What on earth did I just do to myself?"
And now, a year later, I can honestly say I don't regret going shorter. My pixie has grown out (obviously), and I've found a relatively low-maintenance style that really works for me.
Here are five reasons I love my short hair:

1. It's super easy to take care of; all I do to mine is mousse and dry and I'm done.
2. I have a smaller face, so short hair doesn't make my face look like it's being eaten alive.
3. I don't have all those long snarly hairs in my brush all the time.
4. It fits my personality better.
5. Have you ever tried to go through an 80 degree summer with long hair? Let me tell you, it's not fun.

My friends (same ones who told me to grow it out in the first place) think I should grow it back out. And who knows, maybe someday I will.
But for now, I think I'll enjoy my short hair.

Updates on Life

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted!!! Since my last update, I've graduated (with a 90% in math, might I add), gone on vacation, and had my high school interview. (We're doing Beauty and the Beast:The Musical for the play this year!!! I AM TOTALLY TRYING OUT!!!)
Here are a few pictures of what I've been doing lately. The first few are in Greenville, South Carolina. We went there to visit my mom's brother and his family. While there, we played with makeup-my aunt's got loads-dismembered a GI Joe and a Barbie car at the same time, watched The Lion King (I'd actually never seen it before then. But it's pretty good.), and had some family members there for Memorial Day. The next few (which are actually chronologically before the South Carolina ones but this method of uploading pictures has major issues) are in West Virginia, where we were visiting my mom's parents. We went on a sightseeing trip to Hawk's Nest State Park and Cathedral Falls, this really pretty waterfall about 35 minutes away from their house. We also went out on the Kanawha River, which is like five minutes away from my grandparents' house. It was kind of fun, even if the water did reek. The next three are from graduation.
Picture #1-My mom, cousins, aunt, great aunt, and me.
#2-My cousin and me being weird. We do that a lot.
#3-post-makeup application.
#4-My grandma and me!!!
#5-My brothers and me right before we went out on the river.
#6-Me at Cathedral Falls...I did have a picture of the whole thing but I can't find it and I'm too lazy to go through the whole thing again.
#7-This random pretty butterfly. I won't even tell you what it's resting on.
#8-Six of the original members of my kindergarten class (the 2 on the left just came for the graduation; they don't still go to my school) and our teacher.
#9-My 3 best friends ever and our 8th grade teacher and me.
#10-Me with my board. (And my dad's hand.)

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Graduation Approaches!!!

I am graduating from 8th grade in 19 days!!! Hallelujah!!! Two weeks ago, our class went to high school for a day. I'm really looking forward to the Literature class, but DEFINITELY not Algebra 1.
I finally got my dress. :D My mom says I had better wear it for at least the next two years.
We've started working on a choir song for the graduation ceremony thingie. It's called "Always By Our Side" and it's really really really pretty. The lyrics are wonderful too.
But I still have a lot of stuff to do in preparation for graduation. I have to
-Pick out which jacket to wear with my dress. (Brown or pink???)
-Find a necklace to wear. (Which will involve going shopping. Again.)
-Purchase shoes. (I found a pair that might work...I think.)
-Do my graduation board. (Fun fun fun.)
-Take pictures for said board. (Which actually probably will be fun.)
-Decide what else I'm going to display along with my board. (Trophies, medals, ribbons, other random junk that has some obscure meaning to me.)
-Print out and file a bunch of poetry to put on my table thingie. (More revising-bleck.)
-Figure out what on earth to do with my hair. (I only have so many options here, people.)
And last, but not least-
-Pass Algebra 1/2. (I have actually managed to keep my grade in the 90s this year. Yay!!!)
Anyway, if I don't drop dead of exhaustion/embarrassment at my old pictures first, I'll post more later!!!

Libraries Are Wonderful

I love libraries. I try to go to the library at least once a week. My printed list of what I have checked out is nearly as tall as me. I have three piles of library books stacked in my room. Just looking at them makes me happy. I've always loved books, even when I was little. I got my library card when I was about seven or eight. (It disappeared mysteriously and reappeared about 2 years later.)
Here are 7 reasons why I love libraries:
1. They're free!!! (Unless, of course, you forget to return stuff, in which case they can be quite expensive.)
2. If you don't like the book, you don't have to feel bad because you didn't spend any money on it.
3. Librarians. If you can't find something, chances are they can. Although I bet the ones at our library probably think I'm incredibly annoying because I'm always putting stuff on hold and asking to renew stuff and asking if they can give me a list of everything out on my card. But they're always sweet about it.
4. The gigantic beanbag chair by the teen section. It's so comfy, and you can fit like four or five people on it at once.
5. The silence. (Although that is rapidly disappearing.)
6. Where else can you go that has movies, reference books, fiction, and magazines all in the same place??? Not even Barnes&Noble has movies!!!
7. BOOKS!!! BOOKS!!! MORE BOOKS!!! BOOKS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!!! BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS!!!
And yes, I am a spaz.
I like to blame it on all the reading.

Ode to the Cookies

I went to a Swim&Gym youth activity at our church last night. 41 kids from our youth group loaded up onto the bus to go down to the place where the pool and gym were, in a town about 45 minutes away. As we were going down the highway, we stopped at the railroad tracks and opened the bus doors like you're supposed to. (I still don't know why) By some strange act of inertia, the cookies the youth leaders had brought tumbled down the stairs and out the door. Everyone just kind of stared for a few seconds, until our youth pastor stood and said, "All right, now let's all come up with an ode to the cookies."
Never one to turn down a challenge to write, I whipped out a pen and a piece of paper, and in five minutes I had scrawled these words(My handwriting is normally messy, but when I write on a bus, it's completely illegible):

Ode to the Cookies

The cookies are gone.
The cookies have died.
The whole youth group could drink
Of the tears we have cried.

The cookies are gone.
The cookies are dead.
I'll have nightmares of this
When I go to bed.

The cookies are gone,
Gone to heaven's bright shores.
We have lost these dear cookies.
Thank goodness there's more.

Then, another girl on the bus rapped it, which was completely hilarious to listen to and watch. On the way back, we saw the little cookie tray on the side of the road. Hope the animals will enjoy the cookies in our stead!!!

I Have Problems With My Life

Those of you who know me know how klutzy I am. I have an unusual talent for doing stupid stuff, such as shutting my own head in a door (if you don't know, don't ask) and giving myself a papercut on my own binder, and a lot of other stuff like that.

Like last Thursday. Our class went outside to have an Easter egg hunt. There was gum inside some of the eggs, and our teacher told us we were allowed to chew it. I found an egg with gum inside, so naturally, I starting chewing it and blowing bubbles and stuff.

Unfortunately for me, it was very windy that day, and, when I blew a bubble, the wind blew my hair into it, coating the tips of my hair on both sides.

I spent the rest of my recess (by then we'd found all the eggs) trying to get the gum out of my hair. When we got inside, I headed straight for the bathroom, got some soap and water, and worked some more on my hair. I'd gotten a bit of the gum out, but not very much. AND I was going to a friend's house that night, so I couldn't go home and shampoo it or anything AND I had to go to my older brother's concert that night. So there I was, with wet, gummy hair, contemplating the rest of my options. I went to one of my friends and asked her what she thought I should do. She came to the conclusion that if it didn't wash out, I'd have to cut it out. I asked her if trying to brush it out would work, but she advised me not to, saying it would mess up the brush.

So, school ended, and I went home with my friend and into the bathroom. My friend's mom had read somewhere that ice was really good for getting gum out of things, so I grabbed a couple of ice cubes. Despite the advice I'd been given, I really didn't want to have to wash my hair or cut it, so we decided to use the brush and hope for the best.

A few minutes and several yowls of pain later, the gum was out of my hair, leaving me with wet strands of hair and another pathetically funny story to tell.

Rumplestiltskin

The next Princess Tale is in the works!!! Rumplestiltskin, based on one of the Grimm Brothers' many fairy tales, centers on Gilda Aurelius, a shopkeeper's daughter, and a mysterious little man named Jack. I am going to try to have it finished by the end of April, but it may take longer than that. Here's an excerpt from Rumplestiltskin.

I slid off the stool and onto the floor. I'd been working for what felt like forever, and I'd made no progress at all. "This is impossible," I complained to the empty room. "No one can spin straw into gold."

"No one, says you?"

I jerked my head around. There, leaning casually against the wall, was a tiny man of some sort. Had he been standing next to me, I doubted he'd have come any higher than my waist. He had flame-red hair, and wore an elegantly tailored emerald green suit and top hat that matched his mischievously sparkling eyes perfectly.

"Who are you?" I shrieked.

He swept his top hat off and bowed extravagantly. "Jack Ryker, at your service. And you?"

"Gilda Aurelius," I told him...

"Well, Miss Aurelius, what was it you were saying about spinning straw into gold being impossible?" Jack asked.

"It is impossible!" I said. "I've been trying for the past three hours!"

"Nonsense!" Jack said. "You've just been using the wrong method, that's all." He grabbed a hank of hay, sauntered up to the spinning wheel, and sat down on the now-vacated stool. "Now," he said, "watch and learn." He did the same thing I had, but the strands that now twisted around the spool were made of solid gold.

Shopping: A Curse and a Blessing

Like most members of the female sex, I enjoy shopping. I love just taking a whole afternoon and going out with my mom to browse racks and try on clothes and have a lot of fun spending money and cooing over cute clothes and making fun of ugly ones. And then we go out for fast food afterwards (usually Arby's) and have shakes and share fries and tell dorky stories about what happened at school. Then we go home, listening to a Disney CD and singing along occasionally. (Well, mostly my mom.)

I also hate shopping though. The store never has my size. The size I'm supposed to be isn't what I can fit in. The thing I really like is expensive. I can't find what I'm looking for. My mom thinks a completely hideous outfit is "adorable." The salespeople mob me, smiling plastically and asking if I'm looking for anything, to which I always reply with a slightly annoyed, "Just looking, thank you." If I actually need a salesperson, one will never be around. While I show Mom how a shirt fits, someone will steal my dressing room, with my purse and street clothes still in it. My hair will get messed up. I'll never find what I'm looking for.

Case in Point: Last Friday, Mom and I went shopping for a shirt for me to wear to our fine arts meet we had yesterday and a dress for me to wear for graduation, as the black dress in the picture on my blog needs a jacket and since it's vintage we're having a hard time finding a wrap to go with it. (And it's ripped.)

I was very excited, because one of my best friends had told me she'd found her graduation dress at Dress Barn (why they named it that I will never understand; who wants to go shopping for a formal dress in a place with a name evocative of cows?) and they had just restocked the day before and they had some great stuff.

So we went, leaving right after school. We hit Dress Barn, where I tried on a cute sheath the color of a mushroom. (Nixed: sheaths aren't supposed to be worn with a jacket, and it didn't look that great on me anyway.) Mom found a completely adorable brown dress on the clearance rack. (Also nixed: while it was exceptionally cute and a gorgeous brown color and great fabric and a cool hem, it had a VERY low back.) I tried on a fancy red velvet shirt. (Rejected: too tight and it shed sparkles all over my black pants.) A white ruffly blouse. (Denied: I came out to show Mom and she started laughing hysterically; I still don't know why.) The rest of the dresses were weird colors, or not checkable, or in ridiculously large sizes, so we left.

Then, after dinner, we went to Kohl's. I tried on clothes for forty-five minutes. I tried on a cute brown sundress that I just ADORED. It was even on sale!!! But it was a few inches too short, and my mom's sharp eyes found poorly-done seams, so back to the rack it went. Blouse after blouse was rejected: too tight, too loose, too low, unflattering, weirdly colored. FINALLY, I found a black shirt that would work for the fine arts meet. It was on sale, so we bought it for a reasonably good price and left at around nine.

I'm still looking for that graduation dress. If you have any places to recommend where I could find a stylish, modest dress, I'd appreciate if you'd leave it in the comments.

I Love Weather!!! (Hehe, not.)

In about March, the weather around here starts getting exceptionally weird. Sometimes it's amazingly awesome and summery, sometimes it feels like the middle of January, and yet other times it's rainy and wet.

We have had all three this week. On Monday, all our snow started melting; by Wednesday, it was all gone. It was so nice out. I wore shorts and a t-shirt and felt completely awesome.

And then I heard there was supposed to be snow Friday. I laughed.

Friday dawned nice and sunny. By about seven, it was raining; sometime around nine, it started snowing, and when I woke up this morning, we had about an inch or two of snow.

It's mostly gone now; my little brother went outside and played in our yard, serving the dual purpose of getting rid of the snow and ruining the view at the same time.

What will the weather be like next week when I'm on spring break??? Stay tuned...

Love Quotes

More quotes!!!

People who are sensible about love are incapable of it.-Douglas Yates

Forget love-I'd rather fall in chocolate!-Sandra J. Dykes

A baby is born with a need to be loved and never outgrows it.-Frank A. Clark

You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.-Dr. Seuss

Love is a game two people can play and both win.-Eva Gabor

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.-Unknown

If love is the answer, then can you repeat the question?-Unknown

Love is being stupid together.-Paul Valery

At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.-Plato

It's so easy to fall in love but hard to find someone who will catch you.-Unknown

My knight in shining armor turned out to be a loser in tinfoil.-Unknown

Love isn't blind, it's retarded.-Don Foster

Romance is dead-it was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold off piece by piece.-Lisa Simpson

Love is like war-easy to begin, hard to end.-Proverb

And then there's my favorite...

Love is a snowmobile, racing across the tundra, and then suddenly flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.-Matt Groening

I don't know why I love that one so much...maybe it's the ice weasels.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has rolled around once again. It's a pretty pointless holiday if you ask me...another way for Hallmark and jewelers to make money.

But I did find the time to make a few valentines for my friends and teacher, which I will now post pictures of.

Anyway...I hope you have a great Valentine's Day, whatever you end up doing. :)

Read Books!!!

If you're a young-adult fiction consumer like me, you've probably already realized that not all of the books floating around your local Barnes&Noble are quality literature. Here's a guide, compiled by me, to help you in your search for good books.

Books:
Pictures of Hollis Woods, Patricia Reilly Giff. This might make you cry...I'm not sure.
Scarlett and Indigo Blue, Cathy Cassidy. Bonus: British people.
Holes, Louis Sachar. This is an amazing book and the movie adaptation is also good.
Airman, Eoin Colfer. Adventure, romance, wit-this book has it all!!!
Wildwood Dancing and Cybele's Secret, Juliet Marillier. LOVE THESE!!!
Princess Nevermore, Dian Curtis Regan. Don't bother reading the sequel.
The Teashop Girls, Laura Schaffer. Bonus: tea-related quotes at the start of every chapter.
Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance, Marthe Jocelyn. Bonus: funny poetry.
Daughters of the Sea: Hannah, Kathryn Lasky. This book about a girl who turns into a mermaid manages to be interesting and well-written without being like a bad Barbie movie.
Love Among the Walnuts, Jean Ferris. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it's a great book. (She also wrote Once Upon a Marigold and Twice Upon a Marigold. While you're at it, read them too.)
Undercover, Beth Kepler. Bonus: amazing words for all you logophiles.
Princess Ben, Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Princess learns magic, and falls in love with a prince in the process.
Authors:
Lisa Klein. Writes historical fiction and retellings of classic Shakespearean plays. (Ophelia, Two Girls of Gettysburg, Lady Macbeth's Daughter.)
Scott Westerfield. Writes gripping, creative sci-fi. (Uglies, Pretties, Specials.) Bonus: his wife is also a writer.
Ted Dekker. One of the most amazing thriller-writers ever. (Circle Series, Blink, Obsessed, Bone Man's Daughters, the list goes on and on and on.)
Gail Carson Levine. Retellings of classic fairy tales. She is my hero. (Ella Enchanted, Fairest, Ever, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, and, for those of you who are aspiring writers, Writing Magic. I swear by that book.)
Shannon Hale. Princess fiction. (Princess Academy, Books of Bayern, Book of a Thousand Days.)
Jessica Day-George. Really good fantasy fiction. (Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, Princess of the Midnight Ball, Dragon Slippers, Dragon Flight, Dragon Spear.)
Margaret Peterson Haddix. Thrillers. Princesses. Historical fiction. She does it all, and it's all good. (Escape from Memory, Shadow Children series, Just Ella, Uprising, Double Identity, Leaving Fishers, and more.)
N. e. Bode. She writes like Lemony Snicket. Therefore, I love her. (The Anybodies, The Nobodies, The Somebodies.)
Jeanne Birdsall. Four sisters, a dog, and a Latin-loving dad. (The Penderwicks, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street.)
Andrew Clements. School stories featuring precocious students and the teachers who push them to succeed. (The Landry News, Extra Credit, A Week in the Woods, Frindle, Lunch Money, Lost and Found, The Janitor's Boy, and more books that I can't remember right now.)
Frewin Jones. Fairy fiction that seamlessly blends our world and theirs, with minimal bad Barbie movie associations. (The Faerie Path, The Lost Queen, The Sorcerer King.)
Series:
Secret Series, Pseudonymous Bosch. It's a five book series, but so far only three are out. (The Name of This Book is Secret, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, This Book is Not Good For You. I'm doing the second one for my book report.)
Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer. Fairies, technology, a teenaged crime lord, and some majorly cool bodyguards. (Artemis Fowl, The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception, The Lost Colony, the Time Paradox.)
Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket. These books are hilarious in a depressing way. I'm not going to list them all because there are thirteen. But the first one is The Bad Beginning.)
Sierra Jenson series, Robin Jones Gunn. Christian fiction featuring a spunky teen and her relationships with God, her family, her friends, and a mysterious young man name Paul Mackenzie. (There are four volumes, twelve books in all.)
The Looking Glass Wars series, Frank Beddor. Alice in Wonderland meets Call of Duty. (The Looking Glass Wars, Seeing Redd, ArchEnemy.)
Peter and the Starcatchers series, Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. A prequel to Peter Pan. Written by Dave Barry. How awesome can you get??? (Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, Peter and the Sword of Mercy.)
The Sisters Grimm series, Michael Buckley. Guess what??? The Brothers Grimm weren't just fairy-tale writers. They were historians. (There are going to be 9 books, and so far there are seven. First one is The Fairy Tale Detectives.)
So, I hope that this is helpful. Happy reading!!!

A New Year

It's 2010! I can't believe I'm writing that. It seems like yesterday it was 2005 and now we're in a new decade.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions; instead, I do reviews of the past year. So here's 2009 in review.

Ten Awesome Things That Happened in 2009

1. Our WACS tournament went well and my quartet got first in state for small vocal ensemble.

2. Our out-west vacation in June.

3. I started 8th grade. (Not awesome that I'm in school, but awesome that I'll be in high school next year.

4. I got contacts.

5. We got our living room remodeled and it looks amazing.

6. I went to volleyball camp with one of my best friends and had a great time.

7. We got a Mac computer which I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

8. Being in The Music Man with one of my best friends.

9. I traded my boring long hair for a cute pixie. (And I don't think I'm going to grow it back out.)

10. Going laser tagging with our youth group.

Have a great 2010!

Luck and Losing Things

I am one of those people who loses things a lot, particularly jewelry. I have lost innumerable earrings, several necklaces (all ones I really liked), and parts of jewelry (stones, earring backs, etc.). And, until recently, everything I lost was never seen again, at least by me.

My mom gave me a pair of turquoise earrings this summer. They had been a present to her, but she'd never worn them, so she decided to let me have them. A few weeks after I received the earrings, we went to Colorado, where I was given a turquoise necklace and a turquoise ring. Then, for Christmas, I got a turquoise necklace, bracelet, and another pair of earrings from my parents.

The first piece of turquoise jewelry I lost was my ring, which was an early birthday present from my great-aunt. I took it off in the school bathroom one morning to wash my hands, and, when I got home that night, I realized that I wasn't wearing my ring.

I looked everywhere for it. When I couldn't find it in my house, I decided that I must have left it at school. Since it was the weekend, however, I couldn't get it until Monday. By that point, I was freaking out because I thought that the ring might have been lost or stolen or mangled or something equally horrible. (Okay, so I was overreacting.) However, when I got to school that Monday and went to the office and asked if a ring had been found, there it was. So, I still have my ring and have learned not to take a ring off in a public bathroom.

The second piece I lost was the bracelet. I have really small wrists, and it's really hard to find any bracelets that fit me. We were at Walmart, and I turned to go to the bathroom. Unnoticed by me, the bracelet slipped off my wrist. Luckily, my little brother saw it and told me. I picked it up and put it in my purse, and I am going to see if I can shorten the chain any so I don't lose it for good next time.

The same night I lost the bracelet, I got home and was taking off my jewelry when I realized that one of my earrings (my favorite pair and the one from my mom) was missing. I completely freaked out. I searched my entire house, the ground outside my house, and my purse thoroughly, but didn't find it. I was almost at the point of calling Walmart and asking them if they'd found a turquoise earring until my mom suggested that I check our van. And, there it was, lying on the floor, unharmed.

Lucky me.