I Am So Bored Right Now...

So, this weekend isn't really busy at all for me, which kinda sucks...so yeah, I'm super-bored right now, so to kill time, I'm blogging...

Um, not much to talk about regarding my week. Wednesday was normal. We had dinner with my grandmother as we do most Wednesday evenings, and then came home and watched tv and such. Thursday was the same...just chilling at home. On Friday, Mom came home after her half-day at work, and we went out to the bank to deposit some of my birthday money into my savings account. And then we went to the grocery store for a couple of things for dinner. So, like I said, not much going on.

Today's been pretty chill, too. We ordered pizza and picked up a salad for lunch, while we watched The A-Team, which was a pretty funny movie. My favorite part is where they're "flying" the tank, but there were quite a few other parts that had me laughing, too. Then, we hung around, and Mom covered my desk chair, so instead of the cushion being white, now it's dark blue. And we had some coffee and watched a little Phineas and Ferb, and Dad left to go to Deacon Tower to help out with an event. So, Mom worked on the laundry, and I washed the dishes.

And now, I'm just hanging around in my room. I still have to clean Ella's cage later tonight, but that's pretty much it for the day.

Ooh, interesting story...forever ago (it's probably been three or four months, at least), I ordered a freebie as part of a Seventeen magazine giveaway. They were giving out a couple thousand bracelets, and all you had to do was go to the website, makemechic.com, and enter in your info, and they'd send you one. Well, I did it, and waited and waited and waited some more, and this week, I got an envelope in the mail. Wouldn't you know, it finally arrived.

Not the best picture, but whatever. It's bright blue, if you can't tell from the pic. So, it's my new favorite thing...

And I guess while I'm on this picture kick, I might as well add in this...

This is the beautiful flower bouquet my family gave me on my birthday...

Oh, and these...Aaron and Robyn from our get-together.

Sorry, the camera on my phone is not at all the best, but I make do. :) And I think I'll end it here; this post is getting pretty long.

Licensed to Drive!!!

So, today was...interesting. Lemme put it that way...

I got up this morning, somewhat nervous from the moment I slid out of bed, and showered, dressed, put on my makeup, and had breakfast. And then Mom and I got in the car and headed out. First stop was the bank so Mom could cash a check, and then we drove down Silas Creek Parkway to the DMV. And this is where the fun began...

So, we got there, and there was only one person sitting the waiting area, so my number got called almost immediately, station seven, to be exact. I got back there, and answered a few questions...had I received any warnings or violations in the last six months (no), had I lived in NC less than a year (no), stuff like that, then the guy took me out to the parking lot to start my driver's test.

Well, wouldn't you know, they perform an mini-inspection of the car before you can get on the road. And guess what? The left turn and left brake lights in the rear of the car didn't work. And the horn didn't work, but we knew that. (It wouldn't turn off one day, so Mom unplugged it.) So, bottom line was I couldn't get on the road. Mom came out, and we went down the road to Midas Car Care, and got the lightbulbs replaced and plugged in the horn, and then headed back to the DMV.

So, we only had to wait a couple of minutes in the waiting area, and then I got called back again. And thankfully, I got a different DMV worker, because the guy I had originally was kinda grumpy and mean. So, the woman finished up with the paperwork, and then we went out to the car, did the inspection again, and then went out on the road. I was terribly nervous, but nevertheless, I passed, with only a couple of mishaps, one being that I wasn't really thinking and didn't check to see if anyone was turning left into the building next door, and I had to put on the brakes because a guy came across as I was turning right. But, that was minor.

By the way, if anyone cares, or wants to know...we took a right out of the DMV, turned right onto Irving, went through the residential area, where I did a three-point turn and some straight-line backing, and then came out (I don't remember the street name, but I just looked it up and it's probably Lockland), and turned right at the light back onto Silas Creek and then right into the DMV.

I almost thought I wouldn't pass. I got out of the car, and the woman didn't say anything, just told me to go back in and come back to the station, this time I was at eight. And when she told me about that little mishap, I thought for sure I wasn't going to pass. But, she asked me for the license fee, and then I had my picture taken, and I had to spend a couple of seconds in the parking lot calming down after we left.

So, anyway, that having been completed, we went to the mall so I could get a bottle of foundation, and then Mom bought a couple of shirts. And then we went to the fabric store, because my desk chair needs to be recovered. So, we bought a yard of dark blue fabric, and Mom's going to cover it for me. And then we stopped at the gas station, and then the grocery store to play lottery, and then headed home.

We ended up chilling for the afternoon. We had lunch, then hung around, and watched Oprah, and watched the news and all that. After dinner, I washed the dishes, and now I'm just chilling until Parenthood comes on at 10:00. And that's all I got for now...

Sweet Sixteen!!!

Hey everyone! So, I'm sixteen today...just so you know. Haha. Well, I've officially been a year older since 8:08 this morning, but still...

So, today, I woke up at 8:00, and officially got to see the clock turn to 8:08...at which point Mom promptly texted me a "Happy Birth-Minute" message. And so I kinda chilled until 8:15 and then took a shower and got ready for the day. Dad had a "Happy Birthday" note on a post-it on the bathroom mirror, along with a "Happy Not Your Birthday" post-it for Quinn.

Once I had gotten myself all dressed (my skinny jeans and lavender/grey striped top), and my makeup on, I went downstairs and watched The Shopworn Angel, which was pretty good, but I think I'm bias because I love anything James Stewart is in...but anyway. So, after that, I came up and had lunch (taco soup and cornbread leftovers...because we had a ton left over). And then I washed the tiny pile of dishes.

Next was homework...I finished my world history book last week, so that's done. And I'll finish with A Tale of Two Cities by the end of this week, so that's cool. And then Mom came home, with the mail in hand...three more birthday cards. So, I opened and read all of them, and then promptly wrote out the 'thank you' cards for them, so they could go in the mail on Tuesday.

So, we ended up just chilling for the afternoon. Mom and Dad had a flower arrangement delivered to the house this afternoon as a gift, which was amazingly sweet. And it's super-pretty. Then we chilled some more, and when Dad got home at 6:00, we all piled into the car and headed to Village Tavern for a birthday dinner, which was awesomely good.

Then, we came home, and Mom popped in our latest Netflix rental, The Last Airbender, which I sorta watched. I was kinda working on the crossword for the first half and then reading over my driver's handbook for the other half. When it ended, I went downstairs and let Ella run around while I watched Pretty Little Liars, which was pretty cool. My favorite part this week was Ezra picking Aria up in the limo...so cute!

Random thing...but I think I wrote 'thanks' and 'thank you' about a bazillion times today. Between the cards and the wall-posts on Facebook, some from people I haven't talked to in forever, I swear could now write/type 'thanks' and 'thank you' in my sleep. Just so you know...

Anyway, so that was pretty much it for the day. Tomorrow, I go to the DMV to try for my license...fingers crossed! Right now, I'm not nervous, but I'm sure once I wake up, I'll feel it...no idea why though. Nothing much else going on for the rest of the week, but that's alright with me. :)

Figure Skating, Basketball, and A Little Bit of Partying...

So, I'm going to post this as being written on Sunday, even though most of it is being written in the early hours of Monday morning. What counts is that it's 11:50 as I'm typing this sentence, so it's still technically Sunday...but whatever.

The past few days have been amazing. Friday was pretty normal. I was able to finish my homework and all that good stuff and then just hung out for the day.

On Saturday, we got up, ate breakfast, and then the four of us headed to Greensboro. Dad had tickets from Komen for the morning pairs session, so we got to the Greensboro Coliseum at 11:00, and watched the pairs free skate (I think the long program) and the pairs ice dancing competition. The routines were pretty good; I'm not very technical with the terminology and what's higher difficulty and all that, but it was neat to see. The costumes were gorgeous, and the music was really pretty - one of the pairs did a routine to "All That Jazz" and "Hot Honey Rag" from the movie "Chicago", which was really cool.

So, then we hopped back in the car, and headed home. We just chilled for a few hours, had lunch, and then Dad and I went to the Wake/Virginia game. And guess what? Wake actually won! Their first ACC win...which honestly, I don't think many people expected, with how bad the team has been playing. But, cool, anyway. When we got home, we ordered dinner from Frank's, picked it up, and ended up watching Phineas and Ferb: Rollercoater, The Musical, which was cute. And I cleaned Ella's cage,

Today was pretty amazing. Mom and I went to the grocery store this morning, and came back, had lunch, and then started the prep work on the taco soup, a new recipe she was testing out on us. So, we put it all together, and turned on the slow cooker, and let it go. Then, we cleaned the house, and Dad went and picked up my cake. And he came back with not only the cake, but a balloon bouquet from Party City, which was so cool.

And then, Mom finished up the cooking, and all the family started arriving. Lynne and Herb, Bob and Carol, Tweetie and David, and Granny, were all there, and we all had taco soup and cornbread, which was delicious, and chatted and laughed and had a great time. Then, everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and we had cake and ice cream and talked some more.

I opened my gifts next...I got money from the aunts & uncles and my grandmother. Mom, Dad, and Quinn gave me an American Girl "Breakfast in Bed" set, which I had seen in the magazine and thought it looked absolutely adorable (yes, I'm still a little girl at heart...buying doll clothes and accessories). They also gave me the Letters to Juliet DVD, a movie which I really love, and a stand-up make-up mirror, which not only lights up, but the base is touch-sensitive, so when you tap it, it changes the light setting. I was so not expecting that, and it was awesome. And Mom got me again with the bags of coconut. She used them yet again to weigh down the box containing the DVD, so I got a good chuckle out of that.

And then, we sat and talked for a while longer, and then everyone started to leave. After we said goodbye to everyone, and the last car pulled away, Mom washed the dished while I dried them, and then I went downstairs to let Ella out while I wrote out some 'thank you' cards, because I'm trying not to procrastinate on my cards this year (this past Christmas included). And then, we all said goodnight, and went to bed.

Okay, so enough with the recap. (And I'll probably post the pics of this evening's festivities to Facebook within the next few days, just so you know.) One thing I have to mention is that I have discovered the most amazing singer/songwriter, Emma Wallace. Her music is pretty amazing. She has a really cute sound to her songs, and the lyrics are really pretty. So, check her out online if you can...I love her.

So, on the agenda for the next few days...tomorrow (well, today, since it's technically Monday now) should be pretty normal during the day. The four of us are going to Village Tavern in the evening for dinner, but that's pretty much it. And then on Tuesday, I'll be going to the DMV to try for my license, unless it's raining super hard or something, which hopefully, it won't.

Busy Few Days...

So, I guess I'll just summarize the busy days...or day, really.

Wednesday was actually pretty busy for me. Mom was home, so we ran errands most of the day. We stopped at the post office, the bank, and then I drove to Lewisville/Clemmons for an appointment with our insurance agent, and I got added onto our insurance plan and all that good stuff. Then, we drove to the mall, and I went into Forever 21 looking for a black lace shirt to wear with my black strapless dress (also known as my LBD, little black dress).

So, I tried a couple of options on, and found one I liked, and then we paid and headed for Rack Room shoes. I needed a pair of black heels to go with said dress, but guess what? I have freaking kid's feet! I can't even fit into a women's size 6! So, all the pretty shoes wouldn't fit, and the only ones that would fit were the babyish ones in the kid's section. Needless to say, I did not get any shoes... :(

And then we went to Casanova's, and as we were driving, the snow started to fall! And so I drove in blowing snow for a little while, which was pretty cool. So, we got to Casanova's, and picked up some coffee beans (their "Romeo & Juliet" blend, which I used today and loved). And we ordered some hot drinks to sip when we got home.

Then, we chilled for a while at the house, and watched Oprah, and then Mom, Quinn, and I went to my grandmother's house. We picked up McDonald's to take over for dinner, and we ate and watched some tv, and then Dad came over. And we watched a little more tv and then headed home and watched some more tv...haha.

So, today, I woke up later than I wanted to, and went straight to working on my laptop, because the night before, the battery light was blinking even though it was charged and plugged in. I ended up trying a couple of things, and it ended up going away kinda on its own. I had lunch, and then washed the dishes, and then, of course, did not feel like doing my homework. But I did, except I almost fell asleep reading...not because the book was boring or anything, I was just tired.

When I finally got my homework done, I waited around until Mom got home, and we ended up making coffee. I went back into my room while Mom watched a movie downstairs and Quinn worked on his homework. And then, we made dinner, and ate, and watched the news. Dad is coming home pretty late tonight; he's at the Greensboro Coliseum manning the Komen booth at the Figure Skating competition and won't be home until ten or eleven.

So, right now, I'm downstairs, letting Ella run around. I'll be back upstairs in a little while to watch The Office, Community, and 30 Rock, and then that's pretty much it. The next few days are going to be busy...not so much Friday, but Saturday we're going to Greensboro to watch some of the figure skating, and then Dad and I are going to the Wake/Virginia game. And on Sunday, the family is getting together to celebrate my birthday, and then on Monday (my official birthday), the four of us are going to go out to eat to celebrate. And then, hopefully, I'll be able to go try for my license on Tuesday. Unless it rains, which there's a chance of...because I'm not taking my driving test in the rain.

Lots of Things to Talk About

Okee-dokee, here I am, finally. I am totally exhausted right now...I did a ton of stuff this weekend, so now I'm super tired... But anyway, here's what I've been doing,

So, I finished my homework Friday morning and just chilled for the afternoon. Just after five, I drove my mom and brother over to Elizabeth's Pizza, and we met up with Robyn and Aaron and Robyn's mother and baby sister. We had dinner, and chatted for a while, about books and movies and Harry Potter and things of that nature, and then my dad drove us over to Marketplace Cinema.

Robyn, Aaron, and I saw Megamind, which was pretty cool. I didn't think I was going to like it, but I actually did. It was quite cute and funny. So, we watched that, and then Robyn's mother picked us up, and we went back to Robyn's for a little while. We ended up reminiscing over the Hanes yearbooks Aaron had brought, and looking at all the photos and notes people had written and sharing memories.

Robyn and Aaron, both master pianists, played some beautiful pieces, and then we played a couple of rounds of Bananagrams, which was really cool. And at 10:30, Aaron left, so Robyn and I retired back to her room for a few minutes, discussing and listening to Sinatra and Astaire songs, until my mom showed up.

Then, on Saturday, I woke up super-late, as in 11:00, and Mom and I went over to Walgreens for a few things that afternoon. When we got back, I chilled for an hour, and then Dad and I went to the Wake/Duke basketball game. Wake lost, as we expected, but not as badly as we had thought. So, it was okay. And after we got home, we made dinner, and watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which was pretty awesome. "Secrets" by OneRepublic was one of the main songs in the movie, so I kept jamming along with that the whole time.

Today was cool. I got up early, and Mom and I went to Target, Barnes & Nobles, and the grocery store. We picked up James Blunt's new CD, Some Kind of Trouble, which I can't wait to listen to this evening. "Stay the Night" is the only one I've heard, and I liked it, so hopefully, I'll like the rest of the CD. I already loaded the disc onto Mom's iPod, so mine will be the next one to get loaded.

And we basically chilled for the afternoon. Mom and I watched The Missing, which starred Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. It was definitely pretty cool...the plot's kinda hard to describe, but it's basically about them finding Cate's daughter, who's been taken by Indians to be sold into Mexico...set during the 1880"s, which was kinda cool, too,

So, right now, I'm just sitting here. We had dinner - Mom made this chicken tortilla bake thing, which was awesome - and Mom and I played rummy (card game) for a little bit. I'll probably go down and let Ella out soon, and then maybe come back up for a cup of coffee and something sweet.

Oh, cool thing. Sony Vegas lets me upload videos directly to YouTube, which is so awesome. I've got some experience with the program now...I just uploaded my first video today, actually. I like the program - it's a lot more customizable than Movie Maker, and it has a ton more effects options and transitions, which I love.

So, anyway, nothing much on the agenda for the next couple of days. Mom's home on Wednesday, so we're going to meet with our insurance agent to get the "proof of insurance" form for when I get my license, and I'll get the "New Drivers" speech from our agent. Mom and I are planning on doing some shopping and running some errands afterward, which should be fun. But, nothing much else until the weekend.

I Love This Commercial...

So, I was watching tv tonight...and on comes this commercial...




Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor...superimposed from this video, which I happened to have seen prior to viewing the commercial...




I love life...just saying. :)