Something To Post About...

Yes, I know it's been two weeks. Turns out, I'm still as lazy as ever when it comes to posting...no surprise there.

Haven't been doing much, just starting to get ready for the school year and enjoying the last few weeks before we're back onto a regular schedule. This summer has passed by way too quickly, and I kinda hate that. I wish it was summer all the time, but then what would we get done with our lives, really? Not much, in my case.

Anyway, the real reason I actually decided to post was because Tuesday and Wednesday I went into the optometrist's office (eye doctor). It took two days of trying, but I now have contacts! Yay! Haha, anyway, the first day I could get them in, but not out (it ended up being because my nails were too long to allow my fingers to get a grip on the contact as I was trying to get it out), and then I spent the second day successfully taking them in and out and thereby proving to the woman who was helping me that I could do it so that I could officially take them home.

So, I got them yesterday, and am on a recommending-wearing-time schedule for the week. Four hours yesterday, six hours today, eight tomorrow, ten, twelve, and then by Monday, I'll be able to wear them all day and not bother with my glasses at all. I have to go back next Wednesday for a follow-up appointment, where they'll give me an eye exam to make sure I have the right prescription and that the lenses fit correctly and all that. So, here's what I look like with them in, since I know most of you haven't seen me without glasses since the beginning of sixth grade.

Also, please excuse the giant-head-syndrome. My mom calls it 'bobblehead syndrome', aka, having a giant head and a small body. Normally, we reserve the name-calling for actresses or people on the local news, but today, I think it applies to me. I need to work on finding a way to style my hair so that it hides my giant head. Lol.

Anyway, I think that's about it in terms of anything terribly important. I promise to post more soon, really, I do. I need to get back on a consistent posting schedule, because, really, I love blogging. :)

More Visitors...

Well, I'm behind on posting. Again. Haha, no surprise there, at least not anymore. I just can't seem to get back on the posting bandwagon. I am writing though, just not for the blog. I've got a bunch of little ficlets I'm working on, just for my benefit. I'm a lot better at creative writing than I am at recaps and essays and junk like that. Maybe I should be an author instead...haha, yeah right.

Anyway, I've been busy. Since my last post, my cousin Matt came into town this past Friday from Georgia, where he's in the Marines. My aunt, uncle, and cousins brought down his new car last week on their way to Florida, and so he made arrangements to come up and get it.

We ended up going out to lunch at The Loop on Saturday, then heading over to the mall. Quinn bought a video game, and I stopped at Clinique to get some foundation, which cost enough for me to qualify for the bonus, which was nice. And then, we went to Best Buy so Matt could get stuff for his iPhone, and then we went back to the house, got ready, and then went to my aunt & uncle's for a cookout.

We swam at the pool, and had dinner, and then ate dessert, and then Matt and I made a drink run without really alerting anyone as to where we were going. We just kind of snuck out, got in his car, and he drove over to our house to get the cream soda we had bought, and then to the grocery store for Yoohoo and Red Bull, which was fun. We came back, and ended up spending a few hours at the pool, chilling with everyone in the hot tub and swimming in the main pool.

On Sunday, we did our grocery shopping, and then went to the pool for the afternoon. We came back to the house, got ready, and then Matt picked me up, and we went to Walmart, Target, and Best Buy to price out cameras because Matt wants to buy one eventually. When we got back, my aunt and uncle had arrived, and we took some pictures of his car, and then had chicken fajitas for dinner, and cake and ice cream for dessert to celebrate Matt's birthday early. And then, we watched the closing ceremonies, which were...well, interesting is the only word I can think of.

Other than that, not much going on. Just chilling out, trying to get in my last few weeks of relaxation before school starts, and I have to deal with thinking about college and touring Forsyth Tech and applying to college and researching financial aid and all that grown-up stuff. I don't really want to be an adult. I just want to stay a kid forever. But, that's life.

Well, I think that's it for now. If I think of anything else, it'll give me an excuse to write up another post. Haha, like that's going to happen. :)

Today's Project...

Oh, my gosh, so today, I actually worked on a project that I've been meaning to get done for a while now. And it felt so good to be productive again...I need to do this more often because it's so fun. And the project itself was so cheap, I couldn't resist sharing.

So, today's project was to frame a few photos for my room. I bought three frames at Rose's - two 5x7's (one blue, one green...$2 each) and one green 4x6 ($1.50) a few days ago. Yesterday, I spent the day uploading, saving, cropping, editing, and otherwise digitally enhancing the photos I had decided to use, and today, I uploaded them to Snapfish and ordered them to be picked up at Walgreens (5 glossy 4x6 photos for $1.01). I think I ordered them at 1:05, and they were ready at 1:25, but I waited to pick them up after I dropped Mom off at work.

I updated the picture in one of my older frames, then did the new 4x6 frame. I used scrap paper from my mom's scrapbooking supplies to mat the other two 4x6 pictures to fit the 5x7 frames, and matted them in the opposite color of the frame to make them pop. The final products look like this:

Finally replaced the old photo of Aaron & I with something more current. (I think that's a glitter speck on the glass over my chin.)

The new 4x6 frame.

The new 5x7's with 4x6 photos and opposite matting.



So, I now have five frames instead of two, which is nice. And the whole project cost me just over $6.50 total, which was surprisingly cheap for as much as I got out of it. Also, remind me to do more projects in the future, because I forget how much I like working on these types of things.

Thinking Back...

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, and I've come to realize that a lot has changed in my life over the past year or so. A year ago, my parents had not yet announced they were divorcing. A year ago, Aaron was still in North Carolina. A year ago, my uncle was still alive. A year ago, I had (was just getting ready to start, really) my first job.
Needless to say, all of that has changed. My parents have separated, Aaron has moved away, my uncle has been gone almost a year now, and I don't have a job anymore.

I can't say that any of that hasn't sucked, because, let's face it, it has. I've gone through more this past year than I've ever really gone through in my life, and I can't say that it hasn't affected me, because it has. If I'm honest with myself, I'd say I'm not as happy-go-lucky anymore. I'm more closed-off, more introverted. I've always been a creature of habit, of routine, and the changes that have come from this past year have not always been welcome.

This past year has been filled with a lot of 'downs', and as much as I try to only focus on the 'ups', it's a hard thing to do. I mean, I can't even go back to Catered Affairs to work the football season this year, which would have made me between $700 and $900 dollars over a total of seven days of work. And as much as my mom tries to hold it off, my dad wants us to move out of the house so he can put it up for rent.

Honestly, I've never felt so conflicted about either of my parents in my entire life. I feel bad because we don't spend much time with my dad, and yet I'm angry at him for starting all this, because if it wasn't for him wanting a divorce, we would never be in this situation. I would still have a job, we wouldn't be practically living paycheck-to-paycheck, and I could have at least had some semblance of a normal life. I can't get past the fact that he says he has me and my brother's best interests at heart, and yet it feels like we're getting screwed over just because he doesn't want my mom to be happy. My mom's trying her hardest to keep things going, but at the same time, she can't 1) get past all this animosity she has toward my dad and 2) realize that I'm old enough and mature enough to have a say in decisions that involve me.

In all honesty, I can't say that I'm "okay." That seems to be my answer to everyone lately. "I'm okay." "I'm fine." "It's alright." I've just now started to realize that I can't keep lying to myself. I can't keep telling myself that I'm okay, because in reality, I'm not. Some days, I can stay busy enough and not think about any of it. But, there are days like today where things come up and I hate my life.

And then, I hate myself because of how childish I'm being over all this. There are people I know who have it far worse than I do, who are having family troubles of their own, and I hate myself for being so selfish about things that probably seem silly to other people, and will probably seem insignificant to me down the road. But, it's just hard to see past it right now.

I'm sorry to all of you who are reading this. I really didn't mean for this to become a rant about my family problems, but in all honesty, I do feel better when I can at least talk to someone, or in this case, write it out. I seem to be having a lot of mood swings lately, in terms of feeling good, and then feeling horrible. The good days feel really, well, good, but then the bad days (or in this case, a total of about an hour) feel that much worse. I'm not going to do anything stupid or drastic or dangerous, I promise, so if this whole thing has you concerned for my safety, don't worry. If I had bottled everything up and not written anything, maybe, but this makes me feel a whole lot better to have it out of my system now.

I think this week will prove to be a nice distraction from everything going on, though. My aunt, uncle and cousins are coming back into town for a night on their way from Florida to New York early in the week, and my Marine cousin, Matt, is coming up from Georgia for the weekend to visit with us and pick up his new car. So, it should be a fun time. And I promise the next post will be a lot less depressing.

I've Been Busy...

Holy crap, y'all. I haven't posted in a long time. Sorry. I've been busy, and then lazy, and then busy again, and now I'm just lazy. Anyway, quick recap of what I've been doing lately.

I went to Lane's house a couple Fridays ago for a party. Aaron loved the high-low dress I wore, and we ended up starting a fire in the fire pit and burning a bunch of Lane's papers. We had pizza for dinner, and then sat around the patio table chatting with a bunch of Lane and Aaron's friends, and ate cupcakes, and then we burned some more paper, and hid from Ryan, and made s'mores, and then I finally had to leave because I really needed to get home and get some sleep. So much fun.

I spent a week at my mom's co-worker's house, starting on Saturday, taking care of her animals and house-sitting while she and her family went on vacation. I basically woke up, took the dog out, fed the dog, opened the chicken coop, watered the plants, took the dog out at noon, took the dog out at 5:00, fed the dog, checked the mail, gathered eggs from the coop, took the dog out again at 9:00, and then went to bed at midnight.

It was a tiring week. I did absolutely nothing in terms of activity, other than going to the mall on Sunday, taking things to the consignment store on Monday, and Enchanted Cottage on Thursday, but I was so tired by the end of it all. But, I made $200 and had a bit of a mini-vacation, so it was fun.

And then, I had two days to recover before my aunt, uncle, and three cousins came into town Monday night. They were on their way to Florida for a family reunion. We had pizza for dinner at my aunt's house, and then the cousins came over to our house to spend the night, and then we had breakfast in the morning, and then the five of us kids went to the mall and had Panera for lunch, and then went to my aunt's pool for the afternoon before coming back to our house for taco soup for dinner. And then, they left at 8:00, so they could get four or five hours down the road and get a hotel.

Um, other than that, I've been watching a lot of the Olympics. Mom and Quinn came over to Jeannie's (where I was house-sitting) for the opening ceremonies, which were okay. Not terrible, but it was no Beijing. I thought it started well, with the agrarian landscape changing to the industrial landscape, but then it got kind of choppy and disjointed. There was a tribute to the NHS (National Health Service), and then a bunch of creepy literary villains came out, and a ton of Mary Poppins' defeated a giant, 100-foot Lord Voldemort, and that's where I said, "Okay, I'm done. This is weird."

I though they focused too much on individual people/things. Literary characters, NHS, some guy who invented the world wide web...it was a little too specific. If you didn't know anything about Britain when the ceremony started, you still wouldn't have known much about their history by the end of the evening. Or at least that's what I thought.

I've been watching a lot of beach volleyball, gymnastics, and swimming, which is what's being featured in primetime. But, I've been watching some of the live stuff during the day, and the whitewater course is pretty awesome. Rowing is pretty fun to watch as well. I love watching the features on London itself. Beefeaters, and the Tower Bridge, and Horse Guards Parade, and all that cool stuff. I totally wish I was there.

In terms of movies we've seen recently, Big Miracle was cute, The Debt was amazing, Cowboys & Aliens was really dumb (I kept telling my mom that, and she kept insisting we put it on our Netflix queue), and Mirror Mirror was actually really awesome. I loved it so much more than Snow White & the Huntsmen.

And I think that's about it. Nothing much else going on. Just chilling out, which is nice. I'm glad I don't have much to do this week. I really just want to sit here and watch the Olympics forever, because I'm actually really enjoying it.

A Fabulous Night On The Town...

Again, a thousand apologies for not posting...I'm just lazy this summer, apparently. Okay, lazy this year. But really, there's not much going on anyway.

However, last night was very much an exception. Yesterday afternoon, Aaron texted me, and we started talking about getting together to hang out and visit. My dumb-brain thought I had another week and a half to get together with Aaron, but no, I somehow failed to process the information that he was going to be in Virginia next week, and that the only free days he had were yesterday, part of today, and maybe Saturday. So, fearing that Saturday was too much of a gamble with starting my house-sitting that day, and the fact that we would need to get the truck for it to have worked for today, I decided to ask about last night.

Haha, on a side note, I am quickly becoming all impromptu on people. In the past, I'd usually try and set up something up (with anybody, not just Aaron) two weeks ahead. Then, it became a week, and now, it's just like, "Hey, wanna go do something tonight/tomorrow/in two days?" My mom must be so annoyed with me, cuz I'm all, "Hey, guess what? I just made plans with somebody for tonight, so can you call Aunt Lynne and ask if she can pick you up from work tonight? Thanks." Yet another reason I love my mom - she puts up with my impromptu plans.

Anyway, so I basically asked my mom when she got home, then printed out a bunch of directions, and then got ready, took my mom to work, and then drove up to Clemmons to pick Aaron up from Lane's house, and we basically spent the entire drive to the mall squealing because "oh my gosh, you're here!" and discussing Utah and how beautiful it is.

When we got to the mall, we poked around in a bunch of stores - Aldo (I think), H&M, American Eagle, Forever 21, Aeropostale, Delia's, Bath & Body Works, and then made a quick pit-stop at one of the photo booths near Sears, and got ourselves a strip of amazing photos, and then went to Express. Aaron tried on a bunch of stuff at Express, and I got goaded into trying on a dress at Delia's, which was absolutely the cutest piece of clothing ever, and if it wasn't for the $44.50 price tag and not having any coupons, I would have gotten it right then and there.

We left the mall, and headed down the road to downtown Winston-Salem, which was something I'd never done before. Okay, I've been downtown before...what I mean to say is that I'd never driven downtown without an adult present, or without an adult driving. So, it was a totally new experience for me. We parked on Spruce Street, just off of 4th, and poked around in the little park/water-feature/sitting area, before heading up to 4th Street. They had a block of the road blocked off, for some sort of children's night - there were hula-hoops, and paper airplanes, and balls everywhere, and we walked around, and took some pictures of the city, and then walked back to Mellow Mushroom for dinner.

Aaron had a BLT hoagie, and I had a chicken & cheese hoagie, and we both had cokes, and we talked about how different the people are here in NC, and Aaron showed me his architecture drawings, which are like the coolest things ever. We ended up really chowing down on our food - there was a long while where we didn't talk at all, just took (in my case) very large bites of our food. And then, Aaron said, "I have to tell you something," and my mind simultaneously went in about four thousand places - admittedly, my first thought was "does he like me?", which is totally appropriate for a girl like me who's never had a boyfriend (Aaron, I'm sure you're laughing right now), and then my thoughts went to "this can't be good, he's got to be like deathly ill or something", and a bunch of other ways in the span of about two seconds.

And then, he said, "I'm gay," and admittedly, I sat there in shock for about three seconds, because for the longest time, Aaron, I'd pictured you as straight, and it took me a moment for it to sink in. But, I can't tell you how proud I am of you, and how honored I am to have you as a friend. And we talked for a long while about how this was going to change absolutely nothing between us, and Aaron pulled out this awesome rainbow ring, and slipped it on his finger, and I thought that was about the coolest thing I'd ever been a part of.

I paid for dinner (call it a coming-out present, if you like), and then we started heading toward the car, but ended up taking a beautiful walk around the city, down to the BB&T building, and got some wonderful shots of the city and of us. And then, we headed back to 4th Street, and Aaron treated me to frozen custard at Wolfie's (he had chocolate chocolate-chip, and I opted for banana, which was really yummy), and we walked down to the little blocked-off area, grabbed a bench, and did some people-watching while we ate, which was really wonderful.

We walked around 4th Street a bit more, stopping for a moment to listen to the live string band that was performing these little country-sounding pieces, which really added to the southern atmosphere. We stopped one more time at the little park/water fountain area to take a few more pictures, and then crossed the street and hopped in the car. Aaron directed me to I-40 (thanks, Aaron, for helping me), and I drove us back to Clemmons, where we said goodbye with a wonderful hug, and Aaron invited me to Lane's homework-burning/Aaron's in NC party on Friday, and I've already cleared it with my mom to go.

I drove home, and my mom and I watched Big Miracle, which was a really cute, really touching story. And then, we went to bed around midnight, and I spent like an hour on the computer, and then it took seemingly forever to fall asleep.

Thank you, Aaron, for such a wonderful night. I love you, darling. :)

Fourth of July and Birthdays...

Holy crap, where did the last two weeks go? Um, so yeah, I kinda never got to that mid-vacation post...oops. But, in my defense, we ended up being way busier than I had expected, so I was barely on my laptop at all, other than to check my email at the start and end of each day. So, here's my recap.

So, I dropped my mom off at work Friday morning, which involved me waking up at 5:45 in the morning, throwing on some normal clothes so I wasn't driving around the ghetto in my pajamas, and getting in the car. Apparently, getting to my mom's work is a lot easier than I thought. So, anyway, I dropped her off, came home, and decided not to go back to sleep. I ended up taking a shower and getting ready, and then packing and stuff. My mom came home with the car at just before 1:00. They didn't have but two cars in the lot that were ready, so she ended up being upgraded to a luxury class vehicle for the same price they had quoted her for a mid-size or whatever. So, we got ourselves a Chrysler 300 that had 1800 miles on it...essentially, a brand-new luxury car. It was awesome.

We got on the road about 3:30, and stopped at the Shoney's in Summersville, WV, which is about three hours down the road. We got back in the car around 7:15, and the sky immediately darkened up. Then, the wind started blowing, and there were leaves flying everywhere, and the gusts coming from in between the mountains were insane. It felt a bit like the tornado from The Wizard of Oz, actually. And then, the wind died down, and the rain came down in buckets, and I think it finally stopped around 9:15, but we couldn't stop because all the exits we were passing had no power. We ended up at a Red Roof Inn just outside of Pittsburgh in a little town called Steubenville, which actually had a drive-in movie theater and this really creepily-lit church on a hill, complete with an old graveyard.

So, we set out the next morning at around 8:00, and we drove the last three and a half hours without really stopping for anything. We ended up eating lunch at my grandparent's house when we got into town, and then helped my grandmother do some cleaning, since her house has become a mess since we last saw it in late August. So, we cleaned out and organized the sunroom, since that's where we were planning on sleeping, and then had pizza for dinner and chatted for a while before bed.

On Sunday, we moved some furniture from the living room to the family room, and then, I ran some errands with my grandfather and cousin, and then I went to the movies with my mom and my aunt. We ended up seeing Snow White and the Huntsman, which was...decent. Not terribly entertaining plot-wise, but the special effects were pretty awesome. Kristen Stewart just cannot act at all...she just stands there with this blank face the whole time, just like she does in the Twilight movies. And then, we had dinner and visited with the family, and said goodbye to my cousins who were off to a two-week camp in Michigan the next morning.

We chilled out Monday morning, and then went for an early lunch at Frank's with my grandfather. My grandmother came down (she does the books there), and we had lunch with her (beef on weck...because it's awesome), and then we went over to my aunt's house and waited around for AJ (my cousin) to pick a couple of us up to go to the mall. So, it ended up being me, AJ, my cousin Brian, and AJ's friend Zak, and we basically walked the mall, went into, like, three stores, and then Zak dropped some clothes off at Plato's Closet, and we killed time by eating at Burger King, and then picked up his money at the consignment shop and then went back to my aunt's.for dinner.

On Tuesday, AJ took three of my cousins to Six Flags, and my mom, brother, and I ran errands with my grandfather, in the rain. We went to Walmart and Sam's Club, and then chilled out for the afternoon. My grandmother made tilapia for dinner, and then we met two of my aunts at the mall for a little shopping. And then, we drove over to Dairy Queen for some ice cream.

Wednesday was busy.My mom and grandmother did some cooking, and then we went over to my aunt's to help set up. We were over there for about five minutes, and then my brother ripped his pants jumping on the trampoline, and so we went back to my grandparent's house for him to get changed. And then, I went with my aunt, uncle, and cousin to Target and Kohl's so my aunt could look for a hat and a shirt, and then we went back to my aunt's and basically chilled out inside, and watched a bunch of Criminal Minds episodes, and then baseball, and then we ate, and I played Scat (our family card game tradition), and I ended up winning the game and getting eight bucks out of it (everyone puts in a dollar at the start of the game).

And then, we had cake and ice cream to celebrate the July birthdays - my grandfather on the 3rd, Quinn's on the 8th, and AJ's on the 17th - and they all opened their gifts, and then my aunt, mom, brother, and I headed out to get a spot for the fireworks. Which were a bit disappointing, actually. Not nearly as pretty as last year's, but they were fireworks just the same. We came back to my aunt's, said goodbye to my aunt, uncle, and cousins (since they were leaving in the morning to go back home), and went back to my grandparent's house.

On Thursday, we hung around the house for a while, and then ran a few errands to the grocery store and to Antoinette's, the local chocolate shop, which has the best chocolate anywhere, period. It's so good. Anyway, we dropped everything off at my grandparent's house, and then drove a couple towns over to visit with Karen, my late uncle's girlfriend, and her two daughters. It was really good to see her, and to meet her kids, and we all had quite a bit of fun, chatting and playing around and having lunch.

We came back to my grandparent's house in time for dinner, so we went out and picked up KFC, and my cousin AJ and I got burritos from Mighty Taco, because everytime I go up there, AJ says he swears by it, and that it's so much better than Taco Bell. It's only a Buffalo thing, though, so you can't get it anywhere else. And they really were pretty good. And then, we went over to my aunt's to say goodbye to them, and I stayed up a while with AJ, watching Amish: Out of Order, of all things, because there was nothing on.

We got up Friday morning, and packed all of our stuff, and my cousin Sarah came over to bring my grandmother some skirts she needed sewn, and we said goodbye to her, and then to my grandparent's and cousin, and then we headed out. We had Wendy's for lunch about three or four hours down the road, and then we didn't really stop after that. We got home, and ordered pizza for dinner, and really just chilled out.

We celebrated my brother's birthday on Sunday (which was his actual birthday anyway). We went out to IHOP for breakfast, and then picked up his cake, and then played a round of mini-golf, and then picked up a birthday balloon, and then picked up milkshakes from McDonald's, and then went home and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and then fixed dinner, and then my aunt and uncle came over, and we had lasagna for dinner and cake and ice cream for dessert, and my brother opened his gifts, and then my aunt and uncle left, and we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and then went to bed. Whew.

Not much else going on, though. We celebrated Quinn's birthday with my dad's family last night, which included having shrimp, crab cakes, and hush puppies with my dad and grandmother, and then cake and ice cream with the aunts and uncles, and opening gifts, which was nice.

On the agenda for the next few days - I need to do some reading (I borrowed those books from Sylvia, and am only forty pages into the first one), I have to go over to my mom's co-worker's house on Sunday so she can go over the house-sitting stuff with me for next weekend, and I also need to find time to get together with Aaron, because he's in town, and there is no way I'm missing out on seeing him while he's here. And possibly ask my mom to get me an appointment at the optometrist's office to see about trying out contacts.