day twenty three.

NEW BLOG POST.

(i'm so not funny)

day twenty two. POST NUMBA TWO.

WOW. Blogging is a little too fun for me to handle. I'm just having a blast. Somehow typing out stuff and putting it out there for other people to read feels so satisfying. Like someone out there is reading what I have to say, and it makes what I say feel meaningful. Not like any of it is horribly important, but it's still nice to have that idea that someone is listening.

So today was extremely strange. This summer, whether you're aware or not, I traveled to Poland with 14 other kids from my church and 2 fearless leaders. We went for 9 days to serve God and improve the lives of people there by painting, running camps, and making friends. We did a lot of other stuff too, but I feel like I probably blogged about that earlier. Go find said blog, then come back.

Anyways, Frank and Karen, our leaders, are good friends with some people who have a lot to do with the International Day of Peace. Well, apparently they were having some celebration of peace today and they wanted the Poland team to go. Here I am, thinking I'll be the cool kid who says "YUP I'M GOING" on the Facebook event, then everyone else will follow. Turns out no one else followed...so I was the only one who went. I was a bit concerned it would be awkward, but it was far from it.

We arrive at the venue, which was called the Banana Factory. It's a place for the community to come and enjoy art, theater, and the like. I've been told very little about this celebration that's going to proceed today, and I'm expecting to maybe talk for probably a minute about my trip. I get there and the lady running the whole thing starts calling me a panelist. Turns out I'm one of 3 kids who are sitting UP FRONT and giving speeches for the audience. The other two had some beautiful typed up works of art, and I've got nothing. Thank goodness Frank and Karen are amazing, and they had already planned out a fantastic PowerPoint. Needless to say, the two kids were tough acts to follow, but I did my best. We played the PowerPoint, Karen prompted me with some questions, and I tried to answer as honestly and naturally as I could. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I was mainly just caught off guard.

As if that wasn't enough stretching of the Heather for the day, I was then informed that the audience would be given time to ask the panelists questions. And of COURSE one was directed right at me. Again, I was fine, this was just the strangest situation that I've ever been in in my entire life. I am not used to public speaking, but somehow it worked out.

So the day was weird, the situation was strange, but it was good. I like Sundays.

day twenty two.

hey. i like lists. but not lists of things i HAVE to do. just lists.

25 Silly Things I've Done in My Life

1. walked around in a Hannah Montana wig.

2. attended 3 Jonas Brothers concerts.

3. learned how to play the ukulele.

4. sang a song about not doing drugs.

5. clipped my toenails in the car.

6. photo-documented my first trip to Sonic.

7. played checkers in a shopping center. avoided shopping.

8. purchased rainbow Converse.

9. worn said Converse outside of the home.

10. made my own cape.

11. know the name of Violet's voice-over in The Incredibles. her name's Sarah Vowell. she likes history.

12. giggled so much during class someone asked if I was high. the answer was hands-down, no. i'm straight-edge.

13. put stupid videos on Youtube.

14. started this blog.

15. somewhat kept up with this blog.

16. traveled to Nashville, Cedarville, and Lynchburg in just three days.

17. cried while eating pancakes.

18. gone to Chipotle 3 times in the span of 6 days.

19. watched all of the Harry Potter movies in one day.

20. eaten for 2 straight hours at 2 in the morning in a hotel room in Nashville.

21. sang a solo on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium and felt like a rock star.

22. worn my pj's from Friday night to Monday morning.

23. injested a "milkshake" that consisted of a solid cup of soft-serve, mixed up like a milkshake. it was gross.

24. obsessed over a life of fame. and then realized that was stupid.

25. just walking around and doing the stuff i do. i do very silly things.

day twenty one.

I was StumbleUpon-ing today, and came across a site that encourages you to write a list of 100 things. It can be a list about anything, and the idea is to help you tackle a situation or help you feel more at ease with your life. You can visit the website here.

Without further ado, my list.

100 Things I Love About My Life

1. Spending time with my fantastic friends.

2. Hanging out in parking lots at 10 o'clock at night.

3. Hitting up WaWa because World of Jenks isn't cutting it.

4. Crying while watching World of Jenks.

5. Listening to Justin Bieber.

6. Dreaming about going to the Justin Bieber concert on November 17th.

7. Wearing my Toms.

8. Pretending to be a Hipster.

9. Subscribing to catalogs like they're actual magazines.

10. Going to Chipotle.

11. Being recognized at Chipotle.

12. Having a Toy Story credit card.

13. Being able to play the ukulele.

14. Going to worship team practice.

15. Playing the piano.

16. Playing the piano like everyone in the world is dying to listen to me.

17. How Gravity by Sarah Bareilles just came on my Pandora.

18. Being able to spend an entire Saturday doing nothing.

19. Looking forward to Sundays.

20. Being genuinely excited to go to church.

21. HOW ELEMENT IS STARTING TOMORROW!!!!

22. Hanging out with my small group girls and being able to be 100% honest with them.

23. Not being scared of what other people will think of me.

24. Letting my crazy out, but still being able to listen to people like a normal human.

25. Romping around the Promenade with my best friend.

26. Writing my best friend's little sister notes.

27. Fawning over a boy we've met once with my best friend.

28. Meeting people who aren't really celebrities, but are in my own book.

29. Finding blogs online, reading them for three days, then moving on.

30. Becoming more and more okay with change every passing day.

31. Being inspired by people with so much less than I have, and yet they're completely satisfied.

32. Sketching. But I never do it. I like the idea of it.

33. Guessing what a commercial is going to be for before they show the logo.

34. Listening to Hannah Montana music and dancing in shady alleys.

35. Calming myself and listening to John Legend.

36. Creating a teen wall and priding myself on taking down my tween posters.

37. The idea of going to college.

38. Seeing my friends who have gone to college when they come back.

39. Receiving fantastic hugs.

40. Looking at the stars.

41. Funny jokes.

42. Being the one who tells the funny jokes.

43. Not caring about what anyone else thinks about me.

44. Being able to leave behind old friendships to make room for excellent new ones.

45. Spending nine days in Poland and wishing everyday that I could go back.

46. Dancing in the streets of Poland.

47. Wearing sunglasses and feeling like a celebrity.

48. The feeling of a great outfit.

49. Eating cake and drinking milk.

50. Feeling inspired and not needing to act upon said feeling.

51. Giving up on someone because they don't take confrontation. And being okay with it.

52. Landing a part in the school play and feeling victorious.

53. Learning how to deal with stress and moving on.

54. Not letting things get to me.

55. Building up a thick skin, but still being okay with crying during a sad movie.

56. Watching people vlog.

57. Feeling connected to said vloggers.

58. Playing music with other people.

59. Seeing other people enjoy said music.

60. Harmonica and ukulele duos on docks in the summer.

61. Being at the beach with the people I love most in life.

62. Looking forward to the two hours I get with these people all week long.

63. Driving a mini-van.

64. Being affectionately dubbed the "soccer mom."

65. Blasting rap in said van.

66. Playing chauffer to all of my friends and loving every second of it.

67. Laughing at people's stupid Facebook statuses.

68. Laughing at people's stupid spelling mistakes.

69. Laughing at people's stupidity in general, and then remembering I'm human too.

70. Going to school early just to sit in my van and read the Bible.

71. Drinking Carnation Instant Breakfast and feeling like I'm getting some sort of nutrition out of it.

72. Trying Indian food with Melissa and actually liking it.

73. Skipping out on Homecoming and going to see a Shakespeare play instead. With Melissa.

74. Being able to write blogs and have people follow them.

75. Being smart enough to not post the angst-y blogs that have been written.

76. Making mac and cheese.

77. Enjoying this newfound sense of calm in my life.

78. Watching tv in the man cave.

79. Finding out that my water bottle is covered in mold and not caring.

80. Eating lunch outside.

81. Making peanut butter and banana pizzas for lunch.

82. Editing dumb videos and shamelessly posting them on Youtube.

83. Writing mashups with my friends and singing like someone will actually watch them.

84. Hoping for the day when something amazing happens to me.

85. Knowing that something amazing probably won't happen to me, and not being the slightest bit hindered by that fact.

86. Receiving mix CDs.

87. Going to Perkins with my friends.

88. Eating pancakes.

89. Spending an hour at a music store and not buying anything.

90. Sitting on a median, sipping bubble tea, and thinking about life.

91. Living each day and knowing that it's just as important as the previous.

92. Believing that everything happens for a reason.

93. Having faith.

94. Knowing that the people I love most in the world love me back. And they're always there for me.

95. Spending time with people who actually make me feel good and cause me zero stress.

96. Being able to lay around Breanna's house all day and still have fun.

97. Making other people smile.

98. Laughing.

99. Using every moment I have to it's fullest potential.

100. Loving other people.

day twenty. (this blog was written eight days ago, but i'm posting it now)

While this blog has not retained itself to its original intentions at all, I do believe it’s gone in a positive direction. Needless to say, we’re not going to try and keep it along its beginning guidelines, but rather keep it as a place for me to just blog about life. Now that the elephant in the room has been cleared, I blog.

I’m typing in our minivan, ride of champions, as we drive from Mansfield to the undisclosed location where I live. My sister sits to my left, quietly listening to B.O.B. and Hayley Williams sing about Airplanes. My brother is in front of me, keeping himself occupied by catching ‘em all. For the culturally inept, she’s listening to rap, and he’s playing Pokemon. My father drives our victory van while my mother naps. The dog is just a nuisance.

We had a decent week, if you can call it that. April, Mom and I arrived on Monday night, and we’re leaving on Friday night. Hardly five days. But anyways, we kept ourselves busy, that’s for sure. You know about CMOG, but I’ll tell you, that wasn’t the only thing we did this week. On Wednesday, we day tripped it to Rochester for a fun-filled day of, well, fun. First, we had to run Philip oriented errands what with doctor’s visits and college enrollment sessions. However, after that, it was whatever we wanted to do. So of course, we went to KFC. Note to self, don’t get corn on the cob at a fast food restaurant. It just doesn’t belong there. After a refueling session, we headed to the National Museum of Play, a place of wonderment and awesome. We hung out with Brother and Sister Bear in their hometown, frolicked with 800 butterflies, challenged our minds in a mansion full of riddles, learned how to tie a half-windsor tie, stood in front of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s house, tried on silly dress up clothes and promenaded around in them, and took hundreds of pictures while doing all of the above. We even became members of the museum, and for those of you who know my parents (meaning my mom, who IS my only reader), that means we had a LOT of fun. It also means that they have intentions to return, and our six free carousel rides has me very excited for the day I step foot in that museum again.

Thursday was significantly less exciting. We stayed in the cabin and went to Wal Mart twice. Woo. Dinner was phenomenal, though. April made kebabs from raw chicken and four whole peppers. The little girl knows her way around a grill, that’s for sure. We then had the neighbors over for s’mores. I overindulged and don’t regret it a bit, of course. Wismer mantra. But anyways, today we went to this beach/pond/lake/park combination with a concession stand. Take that for what you want, but it was pretty fun. I also tried to get a Buzz Lightyear SillyBand tan. I was somewhat successful. April made another delicious dinner, some sort of cheesy rice chicken concoction with broccoli and pre-buttered biscuits. Now that I have you all (and by all, I mean my mother) starving, go eat something. I’m out of laptop battery.

day nineteen.

Day One in the torture chamber. It’s actually not as bad as it sounds, I just like being melodramatic. We started off the day late, not eating breakfast until 10:30 or so. I myself woke up at 10, so we were just taking things a bit slower than necessary. After stuffing ourselves with eggy bread (some call it French toast), we all sat around and wondered what the day held in store for us. Finally some brave man made the decision to listen to my advice and we all got in the van. CMOG was where we spent our day. For those not familiar with the Mansfield area and its surrounding attractions, that stands for Corning Museum of Glass. It sounds hideously boring, I know, but shockingly, we went per my request. Philip was less than enthused, but everyone else hid their boredom for my own sake. I forced them to sit through 4 live glass shows, in which we watched several groups of people create their own glass items. Things included: dinosaur figurine based off of an 8-year-old’s drawing, large bowl which was then cracked and recycled and a dragon goblet which retails for approximately $400. All of the above were made in less than 30 minutes, yet sold like they were the last White Rhino on earth. After boring them all to a comatose state, we ventured into the CMOG Café where we munched on room temperature pizza, a loaded baked potato with cold broccoli and unmelted cheese, and surprisingly delicious chicken fingers and fries (Insert snarky comment on Americans and fried food here). We scavenged the souvenir shop for a cool t-shirt, found nothing, and went back to the car to leave. We drove to Wal-Mart. We walked into Wal-Mart. We shopped at Wal-Mart. We checked out at Wal-Mart. We got in the car and left Wal-Mart. We arrived home. I’m now sitting in the cabin, with no internet, disillusioning myself into believing I have some sort of wifi connection by using a computer. Alas, there’s nothing, and I’m writing to who some would call NO ONE. Thanks for reading, Mom.

SIDE NOTE: Direct quote from Martha, “I’ve got lots to do here! I’ve got coupons to cut…” Only in the mountains would cutting coupons create some strange form of stress.

day eighteen.

Gosh, I'm terribly sorry. I completely failed at keeping up with this. Unfortunately enough for this blog, I'm going away this week, next week, and halfway through the week after that.

I really don't think I can keep up with writing blogs everyday while I'm away, but I do promise to take pictures. I'll post some highlights on here. One a day? Does that sound good?

Crap. I'm compromising with the internet. Whatever.

day seventeen.

This certainly feels like quite the whirlwind trip. We left yesterday morning, but it feels like we’ve been gone for a solid four days. Any who, we arrived in Nashville at 11pm. Well, really it was 12pm our time, but they’re on Central Time Zone (I’m questioning the accuracy of that statement) and we gained an hour. That was ridiculously lovely. We stayed in a gorgeous hotel, at my request of course. Breakfast was free with our stay, and also as enjoyable as the hotel. We then drove around Broadway and reminisced about our recent choir trip to Nashville. It was just as great as I remembered!

Then, we got to Belmont at 10:45, par their request. I will admit, I was extremely nervous. They had given us a card to fill out, about our information and intended majors and such. However, it asked us what our primary instrument or voice part was, and this is an extreme problem for me. I play the piano, cello, and saxophone, and am also an alto in choir, and I’m mediocre at all them. I don’t excel in any one instrument, but the wow factor is more that I can function on all of these instruments. Unfortunately, in the music major aspect of college, you have to pick one. I’ll be studying it, taking lessons on it, and basically living with it for eight semesters. This might even be a bigger decision than actually picking a college. Needless to say, it’s crazy intimidating sitting in a room of six other kids who know exactly what they’re doing, and you can’t even pick an instrument. Something I need to smooth out now, for sure.

Anyways, Belmont is a GORGEOUS campus. Legitimately, you walk on campus, and are smothered by flowers and lush green grass and fountains and statues and gazebos and columns and it’s just beautiful. And not in a gaudy, overzealous way either. Just classy. Then, you get inside the building, and you realize how nice the facilities are. It’s so open and pristine. You just want to stay! Our tour guide also told us how loving everyone is there. The “lunch ladies” (college equivalent of them?) learn everybody’s name and your teachers actually invest time in you. The student teacher ratio is something like thirteen to one. AND it’s three miles away from Broadway. Music Row is in its front yard. Needless to say, it left a significantly more impressive impression on me than Liberty. It’s definitely in my top if not my first choice. College is going to be awesome.

day sixteen.

Let’s start off by addressing how FUN it is to get up at five in the morning in the summer. Talk about feeling refreshed. Martha and I finished our packing (we’re really bad procrastinators) and jumped in the Crossover. We drove too many hours. I took the first nap, unaware of my mother’s inner battle to stay awake. I woke up, realized she was half asleep, and took over the wheel. Highways are terrifying, let me tell you. I became quite pass-happy, though. I also learned that truck drivers sometimes have beds in their cab, and actually sleep in their truck.

While learning all these fascinating things about American highways, we finally arrived at our destination, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Our tour consisted of about four hours of seeing the campus and learning about the different opportunities it held. I wasn’t overly impressed, but I didn’t hate it either. The campus as a whole seems very focused on athletics, which isn’t my scene. They have a football stadium that they’re renovating to seat 30,000 people, while their new theater will only hold 600. It’s also a really conservative school, coming with a curfew and a dress code. While these things are obviously minor, and don’t horribly affect the academic side of college, they’re an important part of becoming your own person. College is about becoming independent, and I feel like your RA shouldn’t be punishing you for wearing spaghetti straps. However, the academics seem amazing, and it’s obvious that the professors really care about the students. They take individual time out of their day to address any problems you might be having, and are there to help you learn, not just memorize. There’s also free tutoring offered, along with a slew of other resources.

Keeping all of this in mind, it just feels like Liberty isn’t the best fit for me. It’s not horrible, and I’ll certainly still keep it on my radar, but I intend to keep searching. Day one of the road trip? Successful, and almost complete. We’ve got two hours and twenty-three minutes left in our drive to Nashville, Tennessee, and I could not be more excited.

day fifteen.

Today was spent at Longwood Gardens. Many a memory was made among the greenery and general floral abundance. It was insanely hot, and contrary to its name, there were not long woods. The tree count was lacking and I found myself quite a sweaty mess. However, we had a great time! There were tree houses that you could climb up into, but they were way cooler than anyone and their dad could make on a Saturday. These were hardcore tree HOUSES. Potential living spaces for sure. There was also a children's garden in the greenhouse that was also a highlight. It was filled with all sorts of crazy fountains and hiding spots and little activities, obviously aimed at 3 year olds. But, me being me, I found myself having just as good of a time as all the other little ones. The fountains also allowed for a refreshing wet splash, which came nicely in the mid-day sun. We then ventured to the picnic area and wolfed down $5 Foot Longs. Never fear, they were cut up to share, so I maybe had a $2 section. If that.

That was the day, in about a minute's worth of reading. Tomorrow, I hit the road. With my mother at my side, we'll be driving the great American highways to college shop. I'll be blogging from the car, publishing posts when I get the chance. I'll definitely write every day, I just don't know if they'll get online. Talk to you soon, nonexistent one.

day fourteen.

Tie dye was attempted today. April and I ripped open a pack of Hanes Tagless V-Necks and got to work. We found that spiraling the tees, while resulting in the coolest design, is the hardest to do. I gave up on gloves about halfway through, and am now resembling Elphaba. The dye also made its way onto my legs, and it now looks like I've been shot and bleed fuschia. That was pretty much the excitement of the day. WHY? Because our family's too cool to have a 4th of July party actually on the 4th of July. We gotta keep the paparazzi on the hunt, so we like to screw with their minds a little bit. Instead, we ate at Outback and attempted to go see fireworks. However, the local country club decided not to do them this year, so we just ended up sitting out, looking like idiots. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

Tomorrow is a trip to Longwood Gardens with the family, which is a new experience. We'll see how it goes!

day thirteen.

Well, today was the big family picnic. Exactly what you would expect it to be: extended family getting together to catch up and await a dinner where the hot-ticket items are taco dip and deviled eggs. We actually derive (not the right word choice, but you get the idea) from Germany, though you'd never know from the crap we eat. In essence, we swam in 77 degree water, jumped around in a moonbounce, and spilled drinks. Because we're all klutzes, and that's just what happens.

There aren't any super hysterical stories from tonight, which is kind of a let down. I'm trying to sleep, but it's unsuccessful because of the pre-July 4th fireworks. If it's only the 3rd, I don't even want to be conscious for tomorrow night.

Changing subjects, my family's washer and dryer recently went kaputz. My father, the one desperately seeking a podiatrist, gave up and allowed my mother to get a new set. They're front loaders with clear doors. Instead of watching TV or some normal family activity, they install the washer and dryer, and sit in front of it, mesmerized by it's eco-friendly cycle patterns and front-loading wonder. I was, of course, unable to attend this fun fest, because of my sleepover. Which I am now paying the toll of lack of sleep. So, for lack of better things to write, I bid you adieu, interweb.

day twelve.

I did nothing worth blogging about today.

I'm on a string of sleepovers here, along with a summer sleeping schedule that gets screwed up by my babysitting times, so I'm in no mood to write witty things. Tomorrow is a giant Leber Family Picnic, so I'm sure I'll have thousands of stories to share then. Sorry for the lack of entertainment, nonexistent reader.

day eleven.

I do apologize that it's technically not Thursday, but in essence, I'm still functioning like it is. I spent the afternoon babysitting (SHOCK) and attempting a TSwift video with another one of my dearest, Ashley. We then had Chinese for dinner, against my will. Thanks, parentals. She took me to see Eclipse, although I do not characterize myself as a Twilight fan. Simply a Taylor Lautner fan.
We're now running on summer bedtimes, obviously why it's still Thursday to me. To keep ourselves entertained, we're analyzing Barney: LIVE at Radio City Music Hall. On VHS. It's surprisingly fun and bringing back too many memories of my childhood. The winkster? One creepy guy. Also, why did the 90s leave us? Their clothes are SO fun.
And I forgot! Ashley and I tried S'mores in a bag. Essentially Fluff, a crushed graham cracker, and chocolate chips. Sickeningly sweet, and that's coming from the kid who needs something sweet to cleanse her palate. Anyways, it's past your bedtime for sure, so I won't keep you up, nonexistent reader.

day ten.

Today was a little different. In fear of saying something stupid, as it is 11:30 and it hasn't been the best day ever, short and sweet seems to be the best solution here.

I lounged. I babysat. I lounged. I Sonic-ed. I cried. I TV-ed. I blogged. I finished.

Tomorrow will be better, it's simply a process.

day nine.

I spent the day with Hannah, the girl who came up with the name for this blog! Golf clap, everyone. She was a tad annoyed that I've strayed from the original intent of the blog in only eight days. I haven't exactly been telling my tales of ONE specific activity and the like, I've been just describing the day in detail. But it's much easier and simpler, and GOSH DARN IT AMERICANS ENJOY SIMPLICITY, like McDonalds and Red Box and Wal-Mart.
Anyways, Hannah came over to swim. So we swam. After getting cold and hungry, it only seemed logical to drive 20 minutes to our neighborhood Coldstone Creamery. Of course, that required us to get dressed, and since Hannah's such a stickler for following blog rules, our new thing was dressing up ridiculously. From my recent jet-setting trip to Africa, we donned some wrap skirts, t-shirts, and a nice bun atop our heads, finishing our look like a cherry on a sundae. We deemed ourselves respectable and hopped in the van. SIDENOTE: It's a Honda Odyssey, so I named it Homer. Get it? No? Go back to 7th grade english, kid. Anyways, we arrived at Coldstone with only minimal curb bumpage and directional challenges. While munching on our delicacies, and frugally buying them with a gift card, something was wrong with the machine and Swaja or Sanjaya or Mr. Manager Man needed to be called out. He ended up buying our gift card from me and giving me the remaining balance on my card in cash. A win for the day!
We ventured outside, decided against sitting on the grass and chose the curb, and ate away. I finished with a fury, and realized I was still starving. Chik-Fil-A beckoned me, and I simply couldn't resist. My first drive-thru experience was what anyone would expect it to be: average. I ordered a medium fry, $1.75. I drove around, handed the guy my money before he even said hi, and eagerly awaited my fries. The exchange was made, first a thank you, then a my pleasure, and I much too excitedly chowed down.
Our drive home consisted of developing a theory of hipsters. It goes a little something like this. Hipsters are really easy to make fun of, and everyone does it, including hipsters. This is because if a hipster called himself a hipster, that would defy the whole purpose of him being a hipster, and he'd obviously be a poser. Assuming said hipster is a man. Thus, the way being a hipster works.
Hannah leaves for Haiti tomorrow to make tarp shelters and give out SillyBandz and the like. Send her your prayers!

day eight.

So I'll admit it, I made no decent attempt to try something new today. I apologize, but not profusely. I woke up, ate some cereal, lounged, showered, babysat, ran a few errands, and got a call from who else but Melissa, our little celebrity! Before I tell you why she called, you have to know something really important. I am in love with Chipotle. It's a restaurant a lot like Subway, just with burritos and tacos. I've been there every weekend for the past five weeks, and I have no intention of stopping soon. So, she called, telling me that her and her mom were going to Chipotle for lunch, and asked if I wanted to go along. I accepted with a thousand yeses and before I knew it, I was munching on a burrito the size of a small baby.
We then got in the car, boiling on the inside from our Mexican, and the outside from the easily 90 degree weather, and traveled to Kohl's. Melissa got some pajama shorts for her trip to Europe, and I tried on some ridiculous outfits. There were some pants that had a newspaper print complete with suspenders. I paired them with a discotheque-ish shirt, one shouldered, and crazily printed. I looked hot. Then, I tried on this corset/striped/buttoned mess of a shirt with some Native American (is that politically correct?) booty shorts. They had patches and feathers. It was a look.
Then we came home. We swam. It rained. We ran inside. My dad walked on the roof. Unrelatedly, which is not a word, he peeled his toenail back. He complains constantly and is googling a podiatrist. I ate a SpongeBob Push-Up Pop. It was good.

day seven.

ONE WEEK-AVERSARY! Celebration aside, today was pretty great. I woke up bright and early to see my sister off to West Virginia. I'm lonely for a week now. More time to blog?
On the way there, on the way home, on the way to church, on the way to lunch, AND on the way home from lunch, I found myself reading! I was given a short stack of books from Melissa, who's now a celebrity because of this blog. Two of the three are galleys, extreme reader jargon for a book that's not yet been released for sale, but is available for reviews. You can see a huge convention where tons of these galleys are given out on this VlogBrothers video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M9-zU-Sx0k
Reading a book before it's hit makes you feel like an extreme insider. Even though it's from a friend who has a friend who gets the galleys. The book is by David Levithan and some other woman, and so far it's enticing. So enticing that I read it in the car, and have surprisingly gotten over my car sickness, which has plagued me my whole life long. Either that, or I'm just entranced by this "obvious teen fiction," a partial quote from this blog's own celebrity, Melissa.
I also made a checkerboard cake today. It got burnt and the icing was goopy. It was not one of my better moments. The day is now done, and it's time to go to bed.

day six.

Today will make up for the pathetic excuses I've been shooting out. I spent my Friday evening with my dearest bud, Melissa (SHOUT OUT!), venturing out to New Jersey to see The Taming of the Shrew. In lieu of the potential Jersey jokes I could too easily use here, I'll tell you how it went.
I was told to eat before I came, so I made a nice bagel, egg, and cheese sandwhich. We'll call it a cheggel, to borrow the name from another of my dearest friends. Melissa and parents picked me up, and we started on our GPS guided trip to New Jersey. Her father was occupied by a GameBoy, her mother was the expedition leader. We stopped in some quaint town for dinner. Why, you might ask? They had not eaten, and a logical solution was for me to have two dinners. So that's exactly what happened. A large piece of broccoli tried to alter the health benefits of my plate, but the chicken fingers and french fries overtook it by far. After a quick dinner, we continued to the theater, chock full of nerds. I could tell by the amount of glasses. Our seats, row D, were wonderful, and I couldn't have asked for better. The show was phenomenal! As one to not necessarily enjoy Shakespeare in text, a live show was definitely an easier way to understand what was going on. I'll admit, there were times when I found myself horridly befuddled by what was going on, and even considering the fact that it had to be another language, but the actors helped me focus. Steve Wilson, James Michael Reilly, Joel Rainwater and Victoria Mack are all actors to google and fawn over, and I don't feel like telling you how they each individually made my night. Overall, the production was wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Today, I made bread pudding with Melissa and a munchkin from North Carolina. We ate it. It was good. Then I went to a grad party and stuffed my face. The end.

day five.

UPDATE. Since I'm going to the Shakespeare play tonight, I'll post about it tomorrow. Therefore, this won't be a legitimate blog. Also, I decided to nix the idea of bringing the camera to the play.
In other exciting news, my paycheck for babysitting today was $40, for 6 and a half hours of painstaking child-watching. Anyways, I'm leaving in 2 minutes, so you'll hear from me tomorrow.

day four.

Today, I made a book. Not a real book, not a long book, not even a completed book. Just a cleverly folded piece of paper with some colored pencil scribbles inside. My dearest friend, who is currently traveling Europe with her touring choir at school, sent me a postcard, asking for a little journal. But before I can tell you about the journal, we have to go back a bit.
See, there was this show on TV last summer, a reality show that no one watched except for us, and we fell in LOVE with one of the contestants. We loved him so much, that I had him come to her 16th birthday party as a surprise. Long story short, we didn't really stay friends with him, so now we just stalk him on Facebook. Her request for the journal? A collection of his Facebook statuses while she's away. Creepy? Yes. Funny? For sure. But altogether, a harmless action.
And this was another lame blog post. Tomorrow I'm going to see some Shakespeare play with Melissa, and I think I'm taking the camera. So expect something much more exciting tomorrow.

For my nonexistent readers, if you'd like to make YOUR OWN magic book, here's the link.
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/magic-book-892804/

day three.

We're still going! Day three, and I haven't given up yet. This is good.
Today, while I babysat and enjoyed myself almost too much (sarcmark, google it), my experience of the day was attempting to learn some Polish. In late July, I'm going to Poland with a missions group from my church to work in a really impoverished town. In preparation for this, we're trying to learn more about Poland as a whole. One of those aspects? The language.
I'll begin by saying that the language is read horribly different from english. For example? Jak sie masz is pronounced "yak shay mash." If you're wondering, "jak sie masz" means "how are you." Other than that, the language seems to be consistent in pronunciation, but there certainly aren't many ties to english.
I'm sure it's not going to be highly pertinent that we're able to speak the language. We'll have translators and stuff, so we'll be fine. It's just kind of fun to learn a couple new words.
This was a rather boring post. I guess there's not much to say other than that I tried to learn some Polish, and it worked a little bit. I might make a YouTube video of some of the stuff I learned at one point in time. If you haven't already checked it out, go to http://www.youtube.com/enjoyingthesun for my first video of many. I'll write something more exciting tomorrow, I'm sure.

day two.

Here it is, day two, and I'm still going. That's not an intense accomplishment, but it counts. Anyways, today consisted of showering, getting dressed, doing nothing, babysitting, doing nothing, and visiting my wisdom teeth-less friend. Now I'm home, sucking on a Ring Pop, and feeling like I'm in Julie and Julia (fantastic movie for those who haven't seen it), blogging away.
So today's new adventure? Pretending to be a soccer mom. My babysitting job required me to drive and pick up the kid from VBS (Vacation Bible School for those of you who haven't grown up in Christian Suburbia). Needless to say, the car I drive is a minivan. I had to google the church's address and plug it in my GPS, which comes in handy more than I'd like to admit, and drive down streets I've never heard of to find the kid. I then had to install a car seat while waiting for VBS to let out. After doing so, I walked inside with the rest of the soccer moms and watched my kid and theirs enjoy a cheaply made video endorsing compassion and sharing. The children were then released, in which I proceeded to far too easily grab her and run. On the ride home I was given the honor of listening to the VBS endorsed CD, in which we both enthusiastically sang along.
When we got home, I cooked up some Arthur-O's, an organic version of Spaghetti-O's, and made myself a peanut butter sandwich. Reason being? I went through maybe four jars of expired or moldy jelly and decided that peanut butter seemed safer. I did the dishes while the kid annoyed me, and decided that it would be best to run off the extra energy outside. I got out the 3D Chalk (actually works, and really cool) and we kept ourselves amused for quite sometime. Eventually the mom came home, and I was relieved of my soccer mom duties.
Now, a question for my nonexistent readers. I get paid $7 an hour for babysitting, which to my knowledge, is low. Understandably, the mother is not rolling in money, and I know things are tight, so I tend to be more understanding. However, today I had to drive a total number of 40 extra minutes, and didn't receive any compensation. Is this something worth addressing?
But anyways, soccer mom-ing was somewhat enjoyable, and will be fun when they're my kids. However, monetary compensation and an overbearing mother make it not so fun.

day one.

Today is the first Monday of Summer Break, and in celebration, I'm blogging. My intention is to blog everyday for the rest of summer, and to keep the topics somewhat entertaining, I'll try something new each day. I'm not sure what this holds for me, but I do know that it's going to be interesting. So, without further ado, today's tale.
Exercising my new found freedoms in both driving and summer, I decided to try a car wash. My car was gross from a window marker massacre. Instead of being frugal and wiping it off, I drove to the car wash. First of all, let's just clarify that it might be one of the most intimidating experiences for a new driver. I tried to turn around when I realized there wasn't a machine to take my credit card. Unfortunately, the car wash seemed to be the hopping place to be, and a line began to form behind me, blocking me in and forcing me to go through with the car wash. I had to actually talk to the poor guy who worked there, give him my card, and allow him to pressure wash my car with a bizarre soap and water mixture. In what seemed like a strange driving test, I had to position my left tires into a track that would allow the car wash to control my car. Another bizarre sensation. With my car in neutral, no brakes allowed, I was completely at the mercy of the machine.
The experience continued to worsen as I "drove" through the car wash. The noodle-like sponges pounded my car, the soap and water continued to rain down, and I could only sit, helplessly. This carried on for a solid minute, giving me plenty of time to exercise my screaming capabilities. The minivan and I got to the end of the wash, experienced a thorough blow-out, and then had to travel through one more awkward situation. Two workers armed with towels were waiting eagerly for me and attacked my car like my dog attacks a Ritz cracker. They worked at my window, sending hopeful glances my way. I assumed this meant they wanted some sort of tip, but I didn't know if that was commonplace. Nevertheless, I tipped them quickly and got out of there.
Not such a fun experience, but at least my car's clean.