Back To Normal Life...

Well, I can honestly say that I have been busy, and haven't had time to post.

I did a ton of errand-running on Wednesday. I dropped my mom off at work, went home, got ready, took the car to Shattalon Tire, where I waited 45 minutes for them to tell me that they couldn't find a problem with the car, then went to the eye doctor to pick up my contacts, then went to Walmart to look at cassette adapters, then to Target to do the same, then to Best Buy to do the same, and then to the Walmart on the other side of town (also to do the same). I found one there for $10 (the cheapest I could find elsewhere was $20), and then went to pick up my mom from work.

Anyway, the other important thing of the past week, the beach trip, was awesome. I don't really feel like going into much detail, so I think I'll just give you a quick rundown of what we did each day with little stories about some of the more memorable moments. We left on Thursday afternoon, and I drove the entire way down, and my cassette adapter worked great. I ended up using it the entire trip, and so far, there haven't been any problems with it. We checked into our hotel, and went out to dinner at a place called Bimini's, and then played mini-golf at Prof. Hacker's Lost Treasure, and then came back to the hotel and walked on the beach.

On Friday, we got ready, left the hotel, and went to Captain Hook's Adventure Golf, which has always been a favorite of mine. Then, we drove down to Broadway at the Beach, walked around a bit, had lunch at Key West Grill (I had a cup of she-crab soup and a shrimp parmesan sandwich), and then walked around a bit more before heading into Wonderworks. It's a bit like a big Sci-works, but better, because they have, like, over 100 exhibits, and all kinds of stuff to do. And it's awesome because the building is upside down.

So, we spent a couple of hours wandering around, putting our hands in 28-degree water to feel what the water felt like the night the Titanic sank, playing virtual air-hockey, running around on a giant piano, playing mind-ball, and then doing their indoor ropes course, which was quite possibly the scariest thing I have ever done, because you're literally walking across four-inch-wide beams, or clinging onto ropes or cargo nets, and I swear, my legs were like jelly afterwards.

Then, we went back to the hotel, rested up a bit, and went out to dinner at Chesapeake House. While we were waiting in the lobby for a table, the man next to us asked if we knew who Natalie Portman was. We said yes, and he responded that I favored her a little bit. Which was nice, but totally untrue, because I don't even see the slightest resemblance. Anyway, we had dinner, and then basically went back to the hotel, took a walk on the beach, and then went to bed.

On Saturday, we got ready, left the hotel, and then went to Jurassic Golf, then to Broadway at the Beach, where we all did the zipline across the lake, which was awesome, and then took a ride in the speedboat, which was also awesome. Then, we went over to the movie theater to see Finding Nemo in 3D, which was really cool, and then we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. We played a round of mini-golf at Dragon's Lair, watched the fireworks, and then ate a nutella and banana crepe before heading back to the hotel for our walk on the beach before bed.

On Sunday, we got up, got ready, checked out, and then had breakfast at a Spring House or something. We got on the road, and I drove the entire way back. When we got in, we unloaded the car, and then ordered and picked up dinner from Frank's, came home, ate, and then watched Downton Abbey. I cleaned Ella's cage, and then we went to bed.

Oh! I forgot! Guess who has a job now? Haha, yes, I do. I just didn't want to tell anyone until a) I was absolutely sure I had the job, and b) I had told my family. So, I had turned in my application at Chick-Fil-A in late August or early September, and had two interviews, and I thought that maybe they didn't want me, because I hadn't heard from them ten days after the second interview, but they called, like, the next day to offer me the job, and then set up a date for me to come in and do my paperwork.

So, that's what I was doing Monday morning. I went into Chick-Fil-A, met one of their marketing people, filled out my tax forms, ordered my uniform (shoes, pants, belt, and burgundy shirt), and then went over the handbook, had my picture taken for the new-employee board, and received my name badge. Right now, I'm just waiting for my uniform to come in, and then I can start training, and maybe in a couple of weeks, I'll be working on the front line. So, please come in and see me once I get on the schedule. I may even be the one to take your order!

We went out for dinner with my dad tonight. So much fun. We got Coppola's and ate at my grandmother's with my aunt and uncle, and talked and laughed and watched Little House on the Prairie. All in all, a fun time, as usual.

Okay, I think I've covered everything that needs to be covered. I promise I won't wait until the very last minute to post again...this week has just been really busy! :)

It Feels Like Fall...

So, here we are again...I'm a day early, which is quite surprising, considering my penchant for procrastination. Ooh, I like the way that sounds...penchant for procrastination. Haha.

Anyway, the weather right now is lovely. I was just telling you how much I couldn't wait for fall, and now, it seems (for the moment, at least) that fall is upon us. It is barely reaching 75 degrees in the afternoons, and there have been a few days now (especially over the weekend when we were out running errands in the early part of the day) that I put on my jeans, which made it feel all the more like autumn.

My brother and I went to my dad's for an overnight on Friday, which was fun. We had dinner, came back to my grandmother's, watched tv, went to bed, and then had breakfast, ran errands, and visited with my aunt on Saturday. A lot of fun. On Saturday night, we were back with my mom, and we ended up getting pizza for dinner and relaxing for the evening.

We finished marathon-watching Downton Abbey on Sunday, after running errands in the morning, and going out to Panera for lunch. We made dinner, ate, watched some old episodes of MASH, and then went downstairs, and I managed to pull up the new Downton Abbey episode that had premiered in the UK a couple of hours prior. Tor was the problem the entire time. I downloaded a different program, Expat Shield, and it worked wonderfully, so we are now able to watch them the same day they air in the UK, and not have to wait until January for them to run on PBS in the US. The first episode was so good...I cannot wait for next Sunday.

Today, we basically hung around all day, which was nice, and then my mom came home and we chilled for a bit before taking her to her shift at Chick-Fil-A. Then, Quinn and I came home and got all dressed up (pics below) and headed out to Kingswood Preschool for our photo sculpture appointment. Okay, so we basically scrambled because Quinn decided to lose track of time (as he always does) and started getting ready about five minutes before we were supposed to leave.

Quinn in his outfit.

My outfit.

Together. :)

Anyway, we got there, got our pictures taken, went home, changed out of our clothes, and now, I'm just sitting downstairs, watching the news, and letting Ella out. I'll go pick up Mom at 8:00, and then we'll probably just have dinner and chill out.

Tomorrow, I have to take her into work in the morning, then go over to Shattalon Tire to get the car checked, and then go pick up my packs of contacts from the eye doctor, and then go pick Mom up from work in the afternoon. And then, Quinn and I will go to dinner with my dad, and then I think I probably should do some packing for the beach, since we'll be leaving Thursday afternoon. Ugh, so much to do.

I Don't Know What To Post About...

Ah, crap. Another week gone by and I still have yet to post in accordance with my weekly posting pact. Well, here goes nothing.

I am literally doing nothing right now, which feels insanely good. I think we're waiting to start school until after we get back from our mini beach trip next week, since we've got a lot on our plates before we leave. Mom's working most evenings, and we have just not been able to get ourselves organized in the little down-time we have. Basically, we just want to sit and have dinner and watch tv with each other, and maybe work on a puzzle or watch a movie or just sleep. Lol, we're so fun.

Anyway, so we also have to prep for getting our picture taken for our yearly photo sculptures. We thought we were going to get ahead of it this year, and have the outfits picked out and everything ready before October, which is when they normally do them. But, the woman called and said they're doing them early this year, and that Kingswood (where Quinn and I went to preschool and where we've been getting them done practically every year) is doing theirs next Tuesday, the 18th.

So, it's working out just like it always does with us. I get to wear whatever I have in my closet that I like, and then we buy an outfit for Quinn to match it. So, I'm planning on wearing my new light blue lace dress from Delia's, with a pair of tan/nude wedges, and I don't know if I'm going to do a jacket or not. Or maybe no jacket and some cute jewelry or something. (Sylvia, you need to help me! Lol.) And I think we're going to put Quinn in a white button-down, black pants, black shoes, and either a blue tie to match my dress or some other pastel to contrast it. Pics to come afterwards. Probably.

Other random news... Our most recent Netflix rental, Dream House (with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz), was pretty cool. I just finished And Then There Were None, which was awesomely cool. I really had no idea right up until the very end. I don't know if it's meant to be like that or if I'm just that clueless, but it was pretty cool just the same. I love my contacts...it's funny because I'm able to put the left one in quicker/easier than the right, but I'm able to take the right one out quicker/easier than the left. Must be the angle or something.

My mom and I are marathon-watching the second season of Downton Abbey, since the third season premieres in the UK this Sunday. It premieres in the US in January, but I am not waiting that long. I'm currently working on finding a way to watch them, either by finding a website that has uploaded them for others to download, or by watching it on the official UK website, which means I have to find a way to trick their servers into thinking I'm residing in the UK, because you can only watch their videos if you live in the UK. So, I'm working on configuring this anonymity program called Tor to work with Flash without giving away my real IP address. If that doesn't work...well, we can watch the first episode on Tunnelbear for free, and then, I'll have to find an alternative method.

Not much else going on. Just trying to get organized. I cannot wait for the fall. There was something I read on Tumblr somewhere about "I want fall to be here now. I hate feeling like hot, sticky, sweaty, gross death all the time. I want pumpkin spice lattes, and cashmere sweaters, and chilly days" or something to that effect, which I thought was a pretty accurate description of my feelings. I cannot wait to stop feeling icky everytime I go outside for even a few minutes. I want to wear jeans and sweaters. I want to watch the leaves change colors.

Alright, I think I've rambled on long enough for one day, don't you think? Anyway, hopefully, I'll find something better to write about for my next post, which hopefully, will come before the one-week mark.

Posting Pact...

Alright, so I have officially (okay, maybe not officially, but whatever) made a pact with Sylvia, regarding both of our posting habits. Basically, we're holding each other accountable for one post a week on our respective blogs, and that means good news and bad news for you guys. Good news is that you'll get at least one new post a week. Bad news is that they may be pretty boring.

Anyway, I'm cutting this one close. I posted last Thursday, so I'm six days into my week and finally posting something. Yay for me for not failing on my first week! There's really not much to tell you about, honestly. We ran errands and then went to Mac & Nelli's for dinner on Saturday, went over to my aunt & uncle's for a Labor Day cookout on Sunday, and ran a few errands on Monday.

We did get over to Edward McKay on Saturday, and my mom and I picked up a calculus textbook and a statistics textbook for me, and a electricity/science textbook for Quinn, and she got a book. I ended up combing through the shelves and bought And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie, because I'd heard it was pretty good. Haven't started it yet, but I will soon. We took a box of my brother's old books to trade in, and ended up getting $40 in trade credit for them, so it basically covered the cost of everything we bought.

I went to the optometrist again today, for a follow-up appointment, and apparently, I have 20/20 vision with the contacts and they fit well and everything. They get blurry every once in a while, and I can't tell if that's because they just shooed me through and didn't really check to see if my prescription needed changing or if it's because my vision really has gotten better, and I'm just so used to the higher power lenses in my glasses. But, anyway, I ordered my six-month supply, and they said they'll call when they come in.

Other than that, I'm just trying to enjoy the last week of summer vacation before we get back into the school stuff. I've just been hanging around, kind of chilling out, which is really nice, actually. We've got a ginormous puzzle that we're working on, but we've gotten all the easy, fun stuff done (St. Basil's Cathedral and the street in front of it) and now, all we have left is the sky, which is really hard, so no one really wants to do it. Lol.

Also, I'm angry at my tv. No, I'm angry at the DVR. It didn't record the second-to-last episode of Pretty Little Liars for whatever reason, so now, I'm stuck, because I need to find somewhere online or whatever to watch it before I watch the finale, which is really hard because ABC Family only posts the most recent episode on their website, and I would really rather not spend $2.99 or whatever it is to buy it on iTunes.

Um, there's really not anything else to talk about. Except movies, because you know we watch a lot of them. The Iron Lady was very good, and Eragon was pretty interesting. Too bad there won't be any other movie versions of the books, because I probably would have eventually gotten around to seeing them.

Okay, I think that's it. But, I'll be back within the next week, because Sylvia's going to hold me to it. Hopefully, I'll have something more interesting to write about for my next post.

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.