The Royal Wedding and Job Interview

This is going to be a really random post, but I wanted to write about the Royal Wedding and the job interview I had last night. But first off, the Royal Wedding!

My mom and I got up at 5:15 this morning to watch the wedding. I'm so glad we did because it was so much fun to watch! We made cinnamon rolls too. We turned it on at just the right time - we got to see Prince William and Harry arrive at the Abbey. Then we got to see the entire ceremony before I had to leave for school. I know pictures are being posted all over the Internet, but I wanted to post a few of my favorite Royal Wedding pictures!

I found all of these pictures on a Tumblr that is dedicated to Will and Kate. I've been looking at the pictures all morning!

Now onto my interview last night! This was my first ever job interview. Although I don't expect to get the job (due to my age), I think I learned a lot from the experience.

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The interview was with Coldstone and it was SO weird. They made us introduce ourselves, which was fine. Then we had to go around and dance individually. The worst part came next: we had to sing. By ourselves. As in, a solo. It was so weird especially since I'm definitely not a singer. Then, we split up into groups and had to come up with a song about ice cream. It was awesome because one of the girls in my group had a great song already!

My favorite part of the interview? Everyone got to order some free ice cream at the end. I think it was worth it just for that. The guy mentioned that he doesn't usually hire 16-year olds because there are a lot of laws that restrict some of the things they can do. And anyway, it was my first interview ever and if they judged based on your singing voice (which I don't think was the point) I would never get a job - ha!

But anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Music's In My Soul: Inspirational



Today's music is all about my favorite inspirational/faith-based songs. I don't always listen to these songs, but when I'm having a bad day, I love having a playlist on my iPod I can turn to.

1. MercyMe

I've seen the quote "and I know there'll be days when this life brings me pain. But if that's what it takes to praise You, Jesus, bring the rain." I loved the quote, but I just recently found out it's a song called "Bring the Rain."

2. Christa Black

I know that I've talked about Christa Black on here before, but I wanted to mention her music again! She is super inspirational, and that shines through her music. My favorite songs of hers are "Peace," "The View," and "Drift Away." I couldn't find any of these songs on YouTube, so I thought I'd post some of the lyrics instead. These lyrics are from "The View":

"And I have to say

the view looks fine from here

everything seems nice this time of year

and even though the future is unclear

I might just stick around a while."

3. Chris Tomlin

I love the song "Our God is Greater." It's such a great song!

4. Josh Groban

Josh Groban's song "You Raise Me Up" is just classic.

5. Jessica Andrews

I used to love to listen to Jessica Andrews when I was little, and "Who I Am" is my favorite song of hers!

6. Point of Grace

Point of Grace is another one of my favorites. I have one of their albums and it is just fantastic. My favorite song is "How You Live."

I also like their song, "He Believes in You." I couldn't find this one on YouTube, so here's some of the lyrics from the song:

"Your faith is crumbling

Your feet are stumbling

It's so hard to believe in Him

But He believes in you

When you're at your weakest

And hope's still burning through the night

But you can't see it

You know in you heart He loves you

But at those moments when you can't believe it's true

He believes in you."

7. Rascal Flatts

I know I posted about Rascal Flatts in my country category, but I wanted to mention one of their songs in particular that I think really fits into this theme. That song is "My Wish." It always makes me think of where I'm heading in my life.

Do you have any favorite inspirational songs?

And a side note. I'll probably post again later on today or tomorrow about my first job interview ever. I was super nervous, but it went fine and it was actually really funny. I think it requires it's own post because I don't expect any future interviews to be so funny/weird/crazy. :)

Art Project

I take Art at my school, and a little while ago we had a project that I loved. I wanted to share it today because like I said, I really enjoyed the project and I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Normally my Art teacher gives us a specific project or prompt that we have to work from. This time though, she let us do anything we wanted! I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

My dad gets a photography magazine, and I had seen an article on a really neat photography idea I'd been wanting to try out. The artist's name is Ben Heine, and his idea was super creative, and I wanted to give it a shot.

Here are some of his shots:

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I looked around for a good picture to use, and I ended up choosing a picture that I took in Disney World.

I sketched out a piece of it, took a picture of me holding it, and then photo shopped it all together.

I love the way it turned out! I'm obviously no professional, but I don't think it's too bad for my first attempt. I'm hoping I can do some more of them in the future. The project didn't take too long, and I think it's really different and creative!

Remember When: Birthday Shopping



I unfortunately don't have any pictures to go along with this post, so it's just going to be a wordy one!

With my birthday coming up on May 3, I thought I'd do this week's Remember When Wednesday on a birthday memory! Next week's post is going to be a birthday one too :)

When I was little my Grandma and Grandpa (and then just my Grandpa when my Grandma passed away) would take the grandkids out "birthday shopping." It was so much fun and I looked forward to it every year!

They would pick us up, and take us to whatever store or stores we wanted. We got to spend around $100 (which is a lot, especially when you're a little kid!). After we finished our shopping, we would stop at the candy store and pick out whatever candy we wanted. Then we would end the outing by going to dinner at whatever restaurant we chose.

Birthday shopping memories are some of my favorites that I have with my grandparents!

It's funny to think back on how things changed over the years. When I was real little, I would love to go to Target and Toys'R'Us to buy some toys, clothes, and lipgloss. When I got a little bit older, I loved stocking up on CDs and DVDs. Then there was one year where I only bought one thing: a Vera Bradley backpack purse. The last year I went we went out to the mall and I only bought clothes.

Isn't it crazy how you tend to buy different things as you get older?

I no longer go birthday shopping anymore, now my Grandpa gives me money to go shopping on my own. That isn't quite as fun, but it was just too hard since I like to go to a lot of different places and stores now a-days.

Overall, birthday shopping is something I'll always remember when it comes to my birthday. There was just something about the whole trip that reminds me of my childhood. Looking back on it, I now realize how blessed I am to have such a loving family! As a kid, you don't tend to think about the blessings you have, but I've learned to appreciate them more the older I get.

This was kind of a rambling post, but I hope you got the gist of what I was saying.

I love the added freedoms that come along with each passing year, but sometimes I still wish I was little.

That way I could still go birthday shopping for Polly Pockets and Avril Lavigne CDs.

:)

Easter Weekend

I want to start off by saying that I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! I've been super busy the last few days, so I thought I'd do a little rundown of my Easter weekend before I forget it all :)

On Friday night I went over my friend Melanie's house. It was a crazy night (which I don't know why considering we didn't eat any sugar at all). It involved:

my mouth being duct taped shut

wearing moon shoes

and being tied to a chair

(and I can't believe I actually posted that picture because it is terrible of me, but I thought I had to prove my case, or you might not believe me)

On Saturday night I went to my friend Nicci's house. It was so much fun! Almost all of my friends were there, and some of my friends who I don't normally see were there too!

[I love these pictures because you tell how much we were laughing. That's perfect because laughter pretty much sums up our friendship :) ]

We did a lot of reminiscing on our grade school days. It's always fun to take a little trip down memory lane.

[My friend Nicci and I]

Now I've got to share the traumatic story of my weekend. So, when I was at Nicci's on Saturday, we decided to go outside on her deck. Some of my friends were sticking their feet in the hot tub, but I was just standing around on the deck. Then all of a sudden, my leg started really hurting. I pulled up my jeans, and right by my ankle, my skin was burning. I was wondering what the heck was causing the pain, and a few minutes later I noticed a small red spot on my ankle. I figured I had gotten bit by something, but it wasn't really the end of the world. I tugged on my jeans a little bit more, and that's when I saw it. A giant wasp was inside my pants. I screamed. Actually it was more like I screamed bloody murder. I was running around the deck screaming and crying and shouting that there was a bug up my pants. All of my friends were staring at me and screaming too.

Let me put this into perspective. I have a fear of bugs. I can't kill a bug. If I see a bug inside of my house, I start screaming. Heck, if there is a small dead bug in my house, I can't pick it up and throw it away without freaking out. So, I really flipped out when a wasp was inside of my pants with no way of coming out. I was so close to just ripping my pants off. I'm glad I didn't though because all of my friends, and my friend Nicci's family would have seen me in my underwear, and that would have been mortifying. So, thankfully, I shook my leg a little bit and the wasp fell out. But not before it stung me a second time.

That's right. I went from never being stung by a wasp before to being stung twice and it getting stuck in my jeans. It hurt. I was crying and I was utterly embarrassed.

But I have to admit, I wish someone would have gotten it on video because I'm sure it was absolutely hilarious.

On a lighter note, Easter was on Sunday! I love pretty much any holiday that calls for an excuse to get together with my family.

[I made some more bunny cupcakes for Easter!]

[My Easter basket. The best thing I got were season tickets to the Aronoff for next year. The plays are awesome. I'm super excited to see Beauty and the Beast, West Side Story, Wicked, and Mama Mia, along with some others!]

[My family]

[Coco and I]

We went to brunch with my mom's side of the family. We always go out to eat, and we usually go to a golf course. Their buffet is always good.

[Maddie and I]

[My aunts, my mom, and my grandpa]

[I really like this one!]

[Running around, having fun!]

After we were done with brunch, we went home for a little bit, and then we went over my aunt's to celebrate Easter with my dad's side of the family. Usually we go to my grandma's house, but this year we switched it up, and it worked out great! I have 2 little cousins, so we hid eggs for an Easter Egg Hunt. I think I came up with one of the best hiding spots - but we had to help them find this one :)

[My cousin Hannah]

[Searching for eggs]

After the Easter Egg Hunt, we ate some dinner, and then I played some games with my cousins.

Overall, I'd label this yet another successful Easter!

Today was my last day off :( I headed out to the mall with my mom to do some shopping.

My birthday is coming up, and I've had my eye on this purse for a little while now. My Grandpa gives me money every year, but since we had a coupon, I thought I would get it today and pay my mom back when my birthday is actually here :)

To make a long story short, the computer system said the purse was in stock, but we couldn't find it anywhere. I ended up ordering it to be sent to my house. But the sales associates waved the shipping fees and gave me a 25% discount! I can't wait to get it now.

[This is the one I ended up ordering!]

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I'll post some more pictures when I actually get it!

I also got to get some Yagoot at the mall. It's been awhile since I've had it.

When I got home, a package was waiting for me in the mail.

It was the.......

OPI black shatter nail polish!

I've been looking for this all over, so my mom ended up ordering it online because I couldn't find it anywhere!

I tested it out, and I love the way it looks.

That's it for my weekend! I'm so going to hate facing reality tomorrow.......

Happy Easter!

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I hope everyone has a good and blessed Easter! I'm heading to church this morning, and then I'm off to spend the rest of the day with my family! Hoping all of you are sharing Easter with your family today also!

I'm trying to keep in mind the reason behind Easter today. I saw this video, and I had to share it. Carrie Underwood is such a great singer, and her rendition of "How Great Thou Art" is fantastic!

Have a great day!

The Zoo

Yesterday I went to the zoo again. I got a lot of good pictures that I wanted to share!

 [This is one of my favorites!]

[I loved seeing the new baby giraffe!]

[The tulips were gorgeous!]

[How sweet is this picture of my 2 cousins?] 

[Cookie the penguin. I loved getting to pet this little thing!] 

[The merry-go-round]

[I love this picture of my little cousin!]

Overall, it was a successful day at the zoo. I love all of the flowers and beautiful pictures I got! I am SO obsessed with photography all of a sudden. My mom and I are heading to a conservatory today, so I'll probably post another good picture post soon!

I'm loving these days off!