Look Who's Here!

It's the one and only....



......CRICKET! Ha, we just got her today, and we will be dog sitting her until next Monday, I think. So, we've got a week with her :) She is a really good dog, especially when Coco acts like a bully toward her. Coco really loves to steal Cricket's food.... But anyway, I'm looking forward to watching her this week!

But I guess I should go back in time and write about the weekend! Yes, it was the first weekend since school started, and it was well needed. I really needed to catch up on some sleep, and I did just that :)

Well, Friday night was the first Elder football game. So, I went up to the game with a lot of my friends, and we had fun even though we were all about to fall asleep - ha! I always associate fall with football games. I'm not a huge fan of football, but I love going to the games with my friends and just walking around talking and stuff.

And then Saturday was just a big old lazy day. I hardly did anything all day, but it was kind of nice. I slept in until 10:45, which is really late for me, but I was exhausted. Then most of the day was spent doing homework. Yes, on the 3rd day of school I had a LOT of homework. It's ridiculous. But in the afternoon I got out and went to Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Target with my Mom. I had a lot of art supplies to get, and I got some new pajamas for the Garage Getdown dance, which is next week already.

On Saturday night I just stayed home with my parents. I made a smoothie:



And I had to put it in our bling-bling glass (as we call it). We sat outside for a little while and talked to our neighbor. Then we watched some Dog the Bounty Hunter, which I surprisingly enjoyed - ha!

Today was another fairly lazy day. More homework, more homework, and more homework. But we did get out to go to LaRosa's for dinner :) And then Dad and I baked some pumpkin bread - which smells delicious right now! I also got around to trying out a new hair product tonight. I saw it in a magazine, and I've been wanting to try it. I finally found it at Target, and put it to the test today.



You have to keep it on your hair for 20 minutes, and then rinse it & put more stuff on it, and then style it normally. It's supposed to reduce frizz, and it seems to be working alright :) It's also supposed to last for 7 shampoos, so I'll have to see how my hair cooperates this week!

I'm definitely not looking to a full week of school this week. I seem to dread going to school this year - I think it's because it is so much harder already.

First Few Days of School

So I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday about my first day school, so this is going to be a recap of everything that happened the last 2 days!

I was actually a little nervous going into my first day, but not NEARLY as nervous as I was last year :) But everything ended up being absolutely fine. I think I'll just run through my classes & what's been going on. I'm obviously not going to do this for the rest of the school year, because that would just be really boring to write & to read! But here it is...

Chemistry - I really like my Chemistry teacher. (Actually I like all of my teachers, which is a really good thing!) We already have a quiz in that class tomorrow, and we've already started doing a candle lab too. Nothing like diving in head first right away!

Pre-Cal - Definitely my favorite class so far. I've always loved math, so I was going into excited already. Plus, I have a lot of my friends in that class, and my teacher reminds me of one of my favorite grade school math teachers :)

Spanish - We haven't done a whole lot in here except for work on vocabulary cards. The main thing I like in this class is that I have my friend Rachel in there with me!

Religion - So, for my religion class I have the weirdest seat in the entire classroom. The room is set up with all of the desks in a U shape. However, I sit at a table all by myself in the back corner. It's really kind of odd.

Lunch - Lunch is great because that is the only time I really get to see a lot of my friends. They changed our lunches this year, and it's all healthy stuff. I'm not totally against that, but they took away my good iced sugar cookies. that was seriously about the only thing I bought there. That and fruit snacks which are gone too. They brought back some cookies, but they still aren't as good, and it makes me sad :(

Art - I LOVE art class. However, I'm bummed that one of my good friends isn't in there with me. Art is one of those classes where you can socialize while you do your work, so I love having people I can talk to.

World Cultures - This class kind of scares me because it is an AP class, which means it's a college level class. However, our teacher is really nice & funny, and he said that we will probably get A's and B's in his class, which made me feel a whole lot better.

English - English is my last class of the day. And again, we've already got a vocabulary assignment. These teachers are going to kill me - ha! But today we did this book club thing, which was kind of boring, but it was great to have a change of scenery, and to be in air conditioning!

Other than that, nothing new and exciting has been going on in my life. Just back to school, which means I probably won't have as much to blog about and I won't have as much time to blog. It's not very interesting to give the low down on every little thing that goes on in class :)

Last Day of Summer

Today was the last day of summer, and I can't believe how fast this summer has gone! It feels like just yesterday that I was finishing up my exams and heading out of school with the best 3 months of the year ahead. Well, now those 3 months are gone, and I'm ready to start a new chapter of my life: my life as a Sophomore. Yes, I am already 1/4 of the way through high school, and that just seems crazy to me! I'm happy to not be nervous like I was this time last year. High school can be a scary thing, and I remember being SO nervous to start it. But, I had nothing to worry about - it's really not that bad :)

So, what did I do today? What did I do with this last day of freedom? What did I do on this perfect summer day? I went shopping (of course)!

Well, first I slept in. Which was great. I slept in, had a nice breakfast, and took my time getting ready this morning. I also got my school stuff together for tomorrow before we left the house. Mom and I decided to go up the Greene, which is the shopping place by Rita's! First we headed up to the Premium Outlets, which are on the way up there. We ate Subway when we got there for lunch, which totally hit the spot! I've also had my eye on this gorgeous Coach purse for awhile now, and I've had my money saved up for it all summer!



Isn't it just beautiful? I'm such a sucker for purses. I consider it an inherited disease because my Grandma was obsessed with purses too - ha!

Then we got back on the road and headed up the Greene. For as much as we've gone to the Rita's up there, we've never gone to the Greene, and we are trying to figure out why we haven't! It was such a fun place, and it reminded me of Easton, except for it was a lot smaller. They had a lot of fun stores like Forever 21, Francesca's, Charming Charlie, American Eagle, and a lot of others! I also found a pair of jeans that actually fit me! I ended up getting them at a store called Delias. I've never gone to that store before, but I really liked it, and I loved the fact that I had jeans in shorter sizes that worked for me!

After we were done shopping around, we went over to Rita's. If there is a better way to end your summer than eating Rita's, I haven't found it yet.



I got a Strawberry gelati, and it was AMAZING! I did end up trying the Mint Chocolate Chip ice, which is Nick Jonas's favorite flavor, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But I still think the Strawberry is better! Oh, and I also got a large one, just because it is the bomb.

This was seriously the BEST way to end the summer. I had a perfect day shopping around and eating with my mom! I was singing this song in my head throughout the day, and I think it just sums up the day:



I really did have the best day with my mom today!

Like I said before, I cannot believe how fast time is going, and I have no idea where this summer went! I can't wait to see all of my friends at school, but at the same time, I don't really want to go back! I know I'm going to have a hard time falling asleep tonight because I'm not used to going to bed so early!

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. - Romans 5:3-5

I'm entering this school year with a faith I didn't have last year. This verse is an inspiration for me even when I'm going into tough situations. I know this year is going to be difficult at times, but I can put all of my strength in God who will always be there for me. :)

The Last Few Days of Summer

So I have a couple of days to blog about/catch up on: the last few days of summer! It's a bittersweet time for me right now because I SO do not want to go back to school. So, here's a little recap from the past weekend:

On Friday we went to Red Lobster for lunch with the family (which is one of my absolute favorites!). Then, on Friday night I went to the mall with Rachel, Nicci, and Tina. We had fun shopping around for a little bit, and eating Yagoot and Auntie Anne's - ha! But I did end up buying 2 things - a sweater dress and a new robe. I've had the same robe for YEARS, and it's getting a little small. Plus, this new robe is very thick and soft so it will be great for the winter. Oh, and of course I had to get my picture taken with my new robe on.....



So, yeah. I'm kind of in LOVE with it :)

And then on Saturday I went out the mall (again) with my parents (but don't worry, it was a different mall). This was a more serious shopping trip, but all I ended up getting was a long white sleeved shirt. I was trying to find a good pair of jeans, but NOTHING was working for me. I mean, even the smallest size in a SHORT were still TOO LONG. I desperately need to grow, and fast! That night I went to Chick-Fil-A with my family & then went down to my friend Aly's house to hang out and watch a movie!

Sunday was kind of a boring day. The most exciting thing was that we went to Putz's, which is the best creamy whip in town. It was a nice little end to summer treat!

Today we met all of my family for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. Trust me, I am really going to miss these lunches. I just love getting to see everyone all the time, and during the school year I don't get to do that. Then we headed out to Kohl's and Walmart on our quest to find some jeans for me. It's really just starting to get annoying now that I can't find anything that isn't long on me....

And since it was really the last night to get out and do something with my friends, some of us met at Panera for dinner. Afterwards Nicci came back over to my house so we could bake a cake for her parent's 25th anniversary, which is tomorrow. She wanted to make it a surprise for them, and believe it or not, she had never baken a cake before. I couldn't believe it when she said that she never bakes cakes. That just seems so funny to me :) But anyway, it turned out really cute, especially for her first cake.



Have I mentioned the fact that I REALLY don't want to go back to school?

My First YOU: Create Post!

I've never participated in YOU:create before, but I decided to do it this week! I'm pretty new to blogging, and I've really just gotten into it the last couple of weeks. So if it looks like I'm new to this, that's because I am :)

I decided to make a collage of some of my pictures from this summer as my first YOU: create project. I used the month doodles in it as well!



Here is a little explanation about each of the pictures I selected:

In June, I went to the Jordin Sparks concert, and went to Florida. So, I included pictures of that.

In July, I went to Washington DC, and I added a picture of my dog & I on the 4th of July :)

And in August I took my little cousin to Build-A-Bear. I also went to the Jonas Brothers and Rascal Flatts concerts, so the last 2 pictures were taken at those concerts.

Like I said, I've never done anything like this before, so I just wanted to try it out! And with summer coming to a close, I thought making a nice, cute, summer collage would be appropriate!

Fun Day

Today was a really fun summer day. Mom and I went out to Crestview Hills Shopping Center. That was the first time I had ever been out there, and it was a lot of fun. They had some really cute and unique stores and I can't wait to get back there! We decided to eat at Five Guys (which is always such a great choice!). Then we walked around and did some shopping. Mom & I both bought some new shoes (which is an automatic sign of a successful shopping day). We also went to a new store out there called Charming Charlie. It was SUCH a cute store. They mainly sold accessories and jewelry, but they did sell some clothes as well. Everything in the store is color coordinated, so they have all of the red stuff in one part of the store, and all of the other colors had their own special place. Let me tell you, they had the CUTEST jewlery, and I didn't think their prices were bad at all. I ended up buying a necklace with matching earrings for $12! I really liked it there, and I can see us going back out there to shop around (especailly at Charming Charlie). It's summer days like these that I miss so much when I go back to school. There is just nothing better than spending a nice day shopping around with your mom :)

Then, tonight I had some of my friends over for a couple of hours. It ended up being 6 of us, which wasn't too bad considering an hour and half before they came I only knew of 2 that were coming for sure! But we had fun and listened to music and just talked :)



And I'm attempting to upload this video from YouTube, but I'm not sure it's going to work - ha! But it's a video that we watched tonight that was just so funny. People just crack me up sometimes :)

Last Concert of the Summer

On Saturday night I went to the Sugarland concert, which was my last concert of the summer :( It was a lot of fun, and they put on a really good show! I went with Mom, Dad, and Erin. Nicci and Tina got last minute tickets at a really good price, so they met us up there as well. It started raining right before we left, and I was worried that the concert would be a total washout, but it ended up stopping right before the concert started, so that was a really good thing!



This is all of us under the umbrella before it stopped raining.



Tina & I



Nicci & Me. I was excited that some more of my friends were able to go to the concert!



And last, but not least, Erin and I. This was Erin's first concert, and we had a lot of fun!



Sugarland! It wasn't very crowded when we got there, since it was still raining, so we got really good spots on the lawn. We were right on the railing! That was really nice because we didn't have people shoving us from every possible angle :)



The stage setup was pretty cool, and I liked how they projected a live feed of them on a giant screen behind the stage. We were right next to a jumbotron, so it was easy to see them on there, even though it was hard to see them in real life - ha!



I thought it was really cool that they signed a guitar on stage and went out into the audience and gave it away to a little girl. I've never seen a band do that, and I thought that was really neat!



They sang a lot of good songs, and they played my favorites - Baby Girl and Settlin' so I was happy. I wish they would have played Joey, but they had so many other good ones to play!



Overall I had a lot of fun, and it was a great show. Afterwards, Erin, Nicci, and Tina came back to my house to spend the night. I'm going to miss Riverbend because I've been there 3 times in the last 8 days, and I don't know when I am going to be back :/. Concerts are just SO much fun. (I've been to 5 so far this year!) I can't believe this summer is almost over already. It's CRAZY how fast time flies over the summer.

Slow Day and Jonas Video

Today was a pretty slow day, as in we mostly just chilled around the house. It was kind of nice though to have a day where I could just relax! We did get out this afternoon to run some errands, but nothing else exciting happened. I did get to watch the Hot in Cleveland episode with Joe Jonas today, and that was hilarious! Betty White + Joe Jonas = a really funny show :) The main reason I wanted to post today was so that I could upload the Jonas Brothers video I talked about in my last post. I took this video during the concert, and Nick is singing "Your Bigger Fan" from Jonas LA. The video isn't the best, but I love the part when Nick says, "you're my OHIO baby." The crowd went CRAZY when he sang this :)

Best Day of Summer :)

This is going to be a pretty long post on the best day of summer. Looking back on this past summer, this is the day that sticks out the most in my mind (granted this all happened yesterday, but still). It was such a crazy day, and I am going to do my best to remember it all....

August 10, 2010:

All morning I blasted my Jonas Brothers music. I got ready, and we headed out the door around 12:45. We picked up Abby and headed out to Riverbend. When we got there, we got in line at will call so Abby could get her soundcheck pass as soon as they opened it up. Here I am waiting, along with our massive stack of Allstar Weekend flyers:



They opened will call around 2ish and then we got in line to actually get into soundcheck. They ended up taking the soundcheck people back around 2:30 and they wouldn't let them back outside after soundcheck. I was pretty bummed, because for one, I didn't get to go to soundcheck, and for two, they went back a lot earlier than I was expecting. Kara and Tina weren't getting there till 5, so that was going to be a couple of hours by myself with nothing really to do. I got in a line to get in when the doors opened, but since I didn't have lawn seats, I didn't really need to scope out a good spot in line. I called Mom, and she came back up so I would have someone to walk around with. She got there around 3:30 and then we went and scoped out the tour buses, even though the Jonas Brothers were already there...



This is the Office Max Jonas bus thing.



This was the best picture I could get of the Road Dogs bus.

Mom and I just chilled and listened to soundcheck from outside the venue. Then around 5 Kara and Tina showed up, so Mom left. We waited outside for Kelley and Bri (who bought our extra tickets) and then headed inside at 5:30. We met up with Abby, and then we all kind of went our separate ways because Abby and I had to pass out those Allstar Weekend flyers.



We did have to stop and take a picture with the giant frosty though - ha!

We walked around a little bit, and then headed into the pavilion to find our seats and to continue to pass out our mass amounts of flyers. Passing them out was actually a lot of fun (except for when people just awkwardly stared at you when you were talking to them).



Kara took this picture of us while we were passing out the flyers. The awkward angle of my head kills me every time I see this :)

Time absolutely FLEW because before we knew it, it was 6:30 and I still hadn't gotten my merch yet. So, I went over and stood in a huge line, but finally got my tour book and an awesome tour shirt. Then I went back and found Abby and we got in our seats and were pumped for the show to start.



We took this picture right before the concert started. It was unbelievably hot, so I'm not quite looking my best :)



This is the cast of Camp Rock 2. They came out first and sang some CR1 and CR2 songs, and they really got the crowd pumped up and excited :)



This is Demi right as she came out. I don't know why, but I really like this picture :) Demi was really good as well! I was SO excited that she played Catch Me because that is definitely my favorite song of hers!





The JONAS BROTHERS as they came out too. They sang Feeling Alive as their first song. They really put on such a good show, and I was having so much fun during the entire concert. Not to mention the fact that they look SO much more attractive in real life :)



I took this picture during the beginning of Year 3000. I have a lot of pictures from that song because it was just so funny. They had these giant screens in the background that they had different things showing on during the songs. For some reason they had the most random stuff going on during Year 3000 and we got some good laughs out of it :) We start off with a kitchen scene...



...and then went on to the Jonas Brothers in a hovercraft with rainbows all around...



...and finally to the silliest one of all (also my favorite one): the random guy with his cat. I think it's supposed to be the "neighbor called Peter" but it is still just so funny!



This was when all of the CR2 cast and Demi came back out and sang a few songs around the campfire!



Nick also sang Who I Am from his side project, Nick Jonas and the Administration. The last time I had heard this live was 7 months ago in Chicago, and I was freezing my butt off! I think I have something with the Jonas Brothers and temperature extremes - ha!



I loved the way the picture I took during Who I Am turned out. The lighting must have been good or something because they all turned out great. I really like this one because it is him on the screen, and you can see his real head at the bottom :)



I love the song Lovebug, but it isn't my absolute favorite Jonas Brothers song. However, it might be now. Their performance of it was absolutely amazing. They came out in white tuxedos, and they had some dancers out there slow dancing. The stage looked amazing, they looked amazing, and they sounded amazing. It was great.



This picture was also taken during Lovebug. When the music starts to pick up, they released confetti. I think I will always remember this performance of Lovebug, because it was my absolute favorite :)



BRP! This was during Burnin' Up when Big Rob came out. His rap is definitely my favorite part of that song.



This was during their final bows. I always dread that because that always means that the concert is over, and I don't know when I am going to see them again :( It was really sad, but I have enough Jonas memories to last me a lifetime!



This was a picture of my seat. We were in section 500, row U, seats 501 and 502. It crazy to think that as I wrote this post, it was just 24 hours ago that I was acutally taking these pictures and experiencing these things. Time flies SO fast, and it's kind of depressing. I've now entered post concert depression :( Hahahaha! I just love the Jonas Brothers, and I especially love seeing them live. I'm also extremely proud to consider myself a fan of theirs. It's taken me about an hour to write this post, but I had fun remembering everything :) I'm going to try to upload my video of Nick singing "you're my Ohio baby" soon, but I'm too tired to do it now, and I've never done a video before. But overall, the concert was a blast. And it was truly the BEST DAY OF SUMMER.

Day 1: Best Week of Summer

Okay, so this is a little recap of yesterday. I'm calling this week the best week of summer because I'm going to 3 concerts this week! Yesterday was a VERY busy day, and it was also the Rascal Flatts concert. I've got a lot to blog about, so here it goes.....

On Friday, it had been 4 years since my Uncle Alan passed away. We went to a Mass for him in the morning, and then went to Price Hill Chili to eat afterwards. I made sure we were home by 12:30 because oceanUP was having a Jonas Brothers concert contest, where you could try and win really good tickets to the show.

We made it back in time, and right before the contest started, my friend Abby told me that she was going to have to try and enter from her phone, which would make everything a lot more difficult. That made me a little nervous, because she is usually better at this stuff than I am :) Round 1 came up, and I was close, but didn't get it. At this point I was shaking and refreshing the page obsessively. I don't deal well with that kind of stress - ha! Round 2 came up and I was disappointed that I didn't know one of the answers! But, I guess no one knew the answer so they decided to do a Redo Round 2. This made me nervous yet again. Redo Round 2 comes up and I knew all of the answers!



I was pumped and entered them in as fast as I could :) I refreshed the page and saw that there was 1 girl ahead of me with the correct answers. I was SO disappointed. I decided to refresh the page again, and saw that her comment was gone. I got nervous and excited, but then saw that oceanUP had announced her the winner.



I couldn't help look at the screen that looked like I should be the winner. I read on twitter that the winner had accidentally deleted her comment. I was pretty annoyed, but there was nothing I could do. Then I get a text message saying that I got a direct message from oceanUP. The message said that I should e-mail them with my name and twitter name and they would get back to me about ticket information. I was shocked. How could that be? Then I got a message from Abby saying that the winner had to give up her seats because she couldn't make the concert. I rushed to try to get that e-mail sent as quick as possible, but our internet went out (of course). I ran down to my friend Aly's house and had to send the e-mail from her computer. Once I got home and got our internet back, I had this e-mail response from them:



I called Abby right away, and we were freaking out. I WON FLOOR SEATS TO THE JONAS BROTHERS CONCERT! I am still having a hard time grasping that fact :) I can't wait till Tuesday, and I also can't wait till I GET the tickets - ha! It was obviously a very exciting afternoon, but I still have the Rascal Flatts concert to talk about :)



This is Katie, Nicci, Me, and Rachel before the concert.



Nicci & I at the concert.



Rachel & I at the concert.



Kellie Pickler!



Rascal Flatts :)



Rachel, Nicci, and Katie at the concert.



Rascal Flatts put on a really good show, and we all had a lot of fun!



Final Bows

The concert was a lot of fun, but REALLY crowded. Afterwards we went back to Nicci's house and had a sleepover. I slept about half of the day today :) Yesterday was a really good day!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

I have been SUPER busy the last couple of days - and I barely have time to write this post, but I know if I don't do it now, I will have a really hard time finding the time :)

Yesterday we met Maddie and Sydney out at the mall and we took Maddie to Build-A-Bear for her birthday.



We had a LOT of fun, and I think she really enjoyed it too.



Here I am with Maddie and Silly Guy/Gapper. She originally named it Silly Guy, but then was sometimes calling it Gapper - ha!



I think she liked pressing random buttons on the computer the most :)



She didn't want to smile for this picture, but instead said, "Aunt June, take a picture of me with my tongue out!". Hahaha



Maddie and Syndey just chatting away at the food court :)

Today we went and got our hair cut, and I've been brushing up on everything Jonas to get pumped for the concert! Tomorrow is the Rascal Flatts concert, so I made Strawberry Banana pizzas for our party at Nicci's afterwards.



They turned out really cute, and I had so much fun making them! I watched Camp Rock while I was doing it :) Well, I still have a bunch of stuff I want to do tonight, and I have to get up at 7:30 tomorrow - yikes!