Decisions, decisions

I'm not sure what stage you are in your life, but I am currently a sophomore coming upon her junior year. Now, the time for enrollment for junior year has come about, and it is stressing me out way more than it should.

I am absolutely BLESSED to go to a school where my biggest problem is that I have too many classes to take. There are so many opportunities that I have been presented with, and I'm almost glad that that is my issue.

But not really enough.

So far, my entire life I've really had it all planned out. But now I'm not so sure. Also planned out for me where my core classes. I always just took the next level up that I was supposed to. But now the time has come for me to pick my own core classes, and decide how they fit into the rest of my life.

Some days, I like to tell myself that what I do in high school doesn't matter at all. I'll start over my life in college, and figure out things there.  Sometimes, I really actually believe it. But then I consider that that's probably a dangerous assumption.

Some days, I want to throw my hands up in the air and sigh "Do I really have to have a career? How about I just do nothing for the rest of my life? I can sit on my couch with some sweet tea and watch American Idol all day in my adult life."

I'm being serious when I think these things. In fact, I thought them this morning.

To spare you from all the options that I'm thinking about, which I actually wrote out for you, but deleted because it was mind numbingly boring, I'll end with this:

No matter where I go, I know the Lord is with me. And He knows that this time in my life is a difficult one, because not only does he take care of the sparrows and their needs, He takes care of all teenagers, who all tend to be dramatic during the decision making portions of high school. And there are A LOT of them.... A LOT.

Nevertheless, my life is wonderful and exciting and I'm so anxious (in a good way) to see where everything goes. I have a lot of things going for me, and I don't plan on wasting it. :)

Whatever decisions that you may be making in your life right now, I hope that you find strength.




For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 

The post where I ramble about fire and stuff.

So today we were back at school. Something told me it was a good thing, though. Last night, I couldn't sleep because my mind was racing...and my teeth hurt like the dickens and I kept praying, please, God let it be a snow day. And I asked myself...why is that so important? That I veg out the entire day. How is that productive. I thought about how God has a plan for everything. Maybe there was a reason we went to school today. A reason not for me, but for someone else? I don't know. Anyway.

All of my friends are pining for summer. It's ironic, but I've never really done that. My birthday and all my favorite things are in the summer. But I've never looked out the window and sighed, wishing it were summer. There are some pretty great things about summer. Youthfront camp, swimming, CYT camp, family vacations, my fourth of July birthday, and fireworks.

I think I like things that blow up more than the average girl should. But the fact of the matter is, I don't get to do it very often, so when my birthday rolls around I'm all, "Can we just, like, set everything on fire...now?"

Summer means long days under the fireworks tent in my church's parking lot. I love walking around the tent looking at all the fireworks, large to small. I like to hold them in my hand and think about how if you simply near a match towards this little (or large) box, it becomes something completely different. A butterfly, bursting from a cardboard cocoon.

Its life is brief. But its memory is lasting.

Everyone remembers a good firework show.

Especially when you do it with people you love. I can't tell you how bonding it was when an artillery shell burst early when it was still in the tube, and my dad was walking up the driveway. We call that instance "The Peacock"

Or when we set off this firework called "The Titanic" which was almost freaky realistic as the boat shaped firework broke in two, and sunk into the ground. We all just stood in awe, watching it really quiet as it when down.

Or when a rogue firework shot off toward Kathy's neighbor's shed. We weren't really sure where that one was going to go...but it worked out ok.

And when fifteen minutes later, when we were shifting through the explosive pile, and a kid asked me "Hey, which ones are the ones that, you know, shoot off towards you?" I bet you HE remembers that fourth of July.

One day, I will convince my parents that we should buy the 300 dollar "King of the Block" firework set. But until then, I shall settle for Happinesses, Ground Flowers, Artillery shells, and Garden Showers. The memories that come with them are priceless.

Crazy Delayed "Goodbye 2010" video

Whoa super late, I get it. But every time I tried to post it, it wouldn't let me, so there you. In all honesty, you can watch this video year round and it's still got some goodies in it.

Day 5 in the Dome.

Ok, remember my pink ponies happy sky post that I put out there about snow days? Scratch it.

This is the fifth snow day that we've had in 2 weeks, not to mention MLK day and the day off we had for random teacher planning.

Not to mention the temperature is still dropping like a brick. The 7-10 inches we just got ain't going away annny time soon.

Don't worry, I'm not complaining. I've just been stuck at home the last few days doing nothing. Which is nice everyone once in a while. But i'm ready to change out of my pjs.

Actually...just kidding. I'm ready to do SOMETHING, while remaining in my pjs.

Well, I have surprisingly have a pretty full plate today that I had planned before the snow day. Mouth surgery in about an hour in a half (yeah, not excited), hopefully hanging with the bestie Jessie Hicks (totes excited. you should check out her blog at dwellingsofthebrain.blogspot.com ;) ), and then a vocal lesson. Which should be interesting after the mouth surgery. Then CYT, if it's not cancelled.  Now all these things run together, so I suppose I got my wish about doing something today, if I'm not going to get a happy medium between couch potatoing and scrambling like a chicken with no head.

Should be a crazy day..

In case you're not going insane today like I am, here's some things to do on your snow day:)

Music: Check out Florence and the Machine - Specifically "Cosmic Love" and "Heavy In Your Arms"
                          The Addams Family Musical - "Pulled" and "When Your an Addams"
                          The Last Five Years Musical - "Still Hurting" and "Moving Too Fast"
                          Shrek the Musical- "Who'd I Be" and "This is Our Story"
                          Scott Pilgrim Soundtrack - "Black Sheep"
                          Big Time Rush- "Till I Forget About You" and "Nothing Even Matters"


Oh, in case your worried- my surgery isn't a big deal. I'm just lasering off a gum. It won't be fun, but it'll speed up my braces..and that's really the important thing.

Happy Snow Day!

These are two of my best friends Jessie and Maddie. They are two of the people who inspire me most. They are creative, beautiful, smart, and are go-getters. They have a way of making me look forward to the rest of my life. 

We decided we should be kind of stupid for the day and went down to down town Lee's Summit. It was freezing, snow was on the ground, and we were in short dresses. We got some weird looks, but we got some even better pictures. Here's our adventure! 

Finally!

FINALLY! A Snow Day! This year has been considerably bare when it comes to things white and fluffy, (in the midwest, at least) so people have been buzzing for nearly a week when we heard we were supposed to get snow this weekend.

 And apparently the snow gods are apologizing for such a lame December.

 But they made up for it by hitting us- hard. It started snowing in the middle of the night and it hasn't stopped since. It's almost midday now and it just keeps on coming.

So here I sit, with my wonderful cup of lemon tea, and contemplating how to spend my snow day. I'm a little bit bored, actually. Really I just wanted a snow day for the sake of having a snow day. And I'm sure if I sat here long enough, I could come up with some ideas.

Maybe we'll go with mom's idea and have a John Cusack marathon. Or maybe my idea and have a John Hughes marathon. Maybe listen to music, write in my journal, read, practice my guitar, or maybe even attempt the snow blower.

Maybe I'll look at the snow blower.

Going sledding perhaps?

I always really wanted my snow days to be filled like the one in the movie "Snow Day" -where you spend you r snow days with life changing adventures, getting the girl (or boy in my case),  and managing to steal a snow plow to ensure the rest of the week off.

Now that I'm older, I know that ridiculous, but it's always a fun thought.

All the while, I'm grateful for this snow day. It's always relaxing when my dad comes in to wake me up and I'm all prepared and he goes, "Hey, it's a snow day. Go back to sleep and I'll see you later"

I know that my time for snow days is slowly coming to an end. I mean, only 2 more years of school before I'm off to college, and then the work force. It took my dad two hours to get to work today. I'm sure he's wishing he had the luxury of a snow day like me and my brother.

Well, this suburban winter wonderland is gorgeous. I might just be spending the day reading a book by the window where I can just watch God's creation.

Brides and Balance

Wahoo! I'm so excited. First rehearsal for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers occurred tonight. I would just like to say that I am extremely excited. 

A lot of my close friends are not doing the show, so this is definitely going to be a different experience. Not only that, but there's a large mix of kids from other CYT areas who haven't gotten to know yet. I'm really eager to get to know these people, especially the older ones, because I think that I can learn a lot from them because a lot of them are seasoned CYTers.

That being said, I think that an immense amount of talent will be going into this show, not only from the performers, but the artistic team as well. I think it's an all around solid group. 

I'm crossing my fingers that all goes well, but I'm not sure I need to even do that. :) I'll keep you updated. 

In other news, apparently my dog's irrational fear of storms is happening because she's unbalanced. Thus our family is unbalanced. Thus we all need therapy together. Definitely more to come, I'm sure. 

Marathons and Making the Grade

Hello all.

Remember how I said that I would stop procrastinating? Well I'm off to a wonderful start. This morning I made myself a to-do list and attacked it. I woke up at ten and almost 3 hours into the day I'm half way done! I won't bother you with mundane details on what remains on it, but I will talk about my victories.

Today, on the last day of winter break, I did what a promised I would do on break about a month ago. Yes people, it's that bad.

I finally started on my Tisch High School Summer program application.
Big smile.

The program is spending 6 weeks in New York City participating in coursework for NYU students. It's a chance for high school students to earn some college credits and get on the radar for college. The dramatic writing program only accepts 24 applicants. I'm getting my start before the deadline gets here. I may or may not being watch the Pretty Little Liars marathon at the same time, but that's completely besides the point.

I don't want to curse myself, so this is the absolute last time I will be talking about this until I receive word in April.
We'll see, right?

Why Hello 2011

Welcome, welcome. You are reading my first blog of 2011. Or my first blog ever, really. I'm really excited about this new project.

This is one of my new year's resolutions, and it's one I'm going to keep.

My resolution is to journal, blog, make videos, and chronicle my life as I see it now.
I already keep a written journal, adding other medias was part of the resolution. Another one of my resolutions ties into this. STOP PROCRASTINATING.

I know. Easier said than done, right?


But I would like to point out the difference between procrastinating and quitter. I am not a quitter. Do I procrastinate so much that I eventually run out of time and thus leave things unfinished? Absolutely! But I never want to intentionally up and stop something that I believe that I have the ability to do. A blog? Psssshhh. Piece of cake. I can't promise this will be the most awesome blog you will ever see, the funniest, wittiest, or even the most interesting. But it will be a blog. 


Simple. 


So if you're interested in seeing the thoughts of a teenage girl who lives in suburban Kansas City, who gets inspired easily, who thinks she's smarter than she probably is, and loves hot tea, then this is the blog for you. Stick around!