Day Forty-Seven; Disaster?

Today started off fairly normally. After that late night of working on my paper last night, I went to school in a pretty tired manner. Then I remembered that first period, we were only doing a video for participation points. Score! That went by quickly. College Algebra was spent in Mrs. King's office (that dreaded place with that dreaded woman) doing some finalizations on a scholarship that was due today that she JUST gave the information to me for YESTERDAY. Aaaanyway, third period consisted of me and Eli reading our papers aloud to the class. Fourth period was Choir. Mrs. Pace's kids visited us, and they were adorable, even though they have bronchitis. Fifth period was JAG. We took a test, I went to Mrs. King's office again, and we played this pretty cool leader game. Lunch was hilarious, of course. How could it not be?

After school, I decided to come home and take a much needed nap. I slept until I had to go get Macie from school. When I got back home from that, I went to sleep again. Finally, around 6:00, I woke up. I was just going about my business, eating, taking a bath, etc., when I got a frantic phone call from my mother. I'm not going to go into details, but Jason had gotten hurt. One side of his face is pretty messed up: the bones around his eyes are totally crushed. They took him to Little Rock for a surgery. They expect him to be fine, but keep him in your thoughts all the same.

I'm watching Nathan now. Macie is at a friend's house. Brent will watch the kids tomorrow and Sunday so that I can go see Jill before her deployment. I just hope everything works out for the best.

The picture above? I sent it to my mom while she was driving to Little Rock with Jason's mom to cheer her up. The caption said: Smile. This face has always and will always love you. Everything is gonna be alright.

Day Forty-Six; Sarah's pictures and a game.

Thursday, yesterday, was quite more eventful than Wednesday. At school, I quickly realized that I had a Western Civ paper due that night at 11:30 and an English paper due today, Friday. I skipped Choir to do my Western Civ paper because I knew I wouldn't be home in time to do it. I had an outing to go to...back to that in a minute, though.

Directly after school, I met up with Sarah and Cassi at my house to assist in taking Sarah's pregnancy pictures, something I was totally stoked about. I literally became an assistant, carrying around Cassi's camera bag and Sarah's purse. I even had to "shirt" her. Wow. It was a lot of fun, though, and Cassi got some really good pictures. Weirdly enough, the one that I happened to take a picture of looks a whole lot like her profile picture on Facebook. Twilight Zone?

After this, I headed home and got Nathan. From the school, we started a long trip to Sheridan to watch Brandon's third soccer game of the season. I was really glad I brought him along. He enjoyed the game most of the way through, and he definitely enjoyed going to Brandon's house afterward and exploring his bedroom. We got home around 10:30, and I was glad I had submitted that Western Civ paper in fourth period.

I got straight to work on my English paper, wrote that, and went to bed. Long, long day.

Day Forty-Five; Gift ideas.

Okay, I know this is SUPER late. But I've been busy. Sue me.

Wednesday's actual school/work day was pretty boring. School until 12:10. Lunch from 12:10 to 12:40 with insanely awesome people. Work from 12:45 to 5:00. Easy stuff. That's not what was so awesome about Wednesday.

Jason, my mom's FIANCE (as she revealed to me Wednesday night), has some cousins who have a karaoke-type setup at their house. They can also do song recordings. I was very excited when I found this out, and this prompted me to venture out there with my mom, Jason, Macie, and Nathan that night.

I recorded a song for Jill since she deploys Sunday. I'm not saying which song it is, but there's the disk that it's on. I can't wait for her to hear it, even though I'm kinda nervous. People don't usually get to hear me sing.

After I finished recording, we stayed out and did karaoke for quite a while. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad we went out there.

Day Forty-Four; Deliveries.

Today was the day that I got to FINALLY deliver my baby items to the mother I selected for Project Unprepared. I was SO excited. It felt amazing to just give a deserving mother stuff to help her out. I couldn't have imagined how much I was going to enjoy giving back to someone else. The mother I selected seemed genuinely thankful. She told me I was wonderful. She thanked me over and over.

The picture above is Glenda, the woman I work with, and the baby that I am helping out as my first project. If you're interested in helping out, please contact me on my Facebook. The link is shown very clearly on this page.

Besides that, I gathered some things today to donate to Sarah Lucheck's Cystic Fibrosis Jeans for Genes Rummage Sale that will happen on March 13. I encourage everyone to help in any way possible. Jeans are not the only items Sarah is taking. She will take virtually ANYTHING. All proceeds will go toward Team Angel Buckner and their goals. Contact Sarah Lucheck for more information. (See: Saving Sarah on my subscribed blogs).

I have had a rather nice day filled with helping others, something that I'm new at but truly liking, and I'm dead tired. I'm so tired, in fact, that I dozed off during American Idol, something I never do. I spent a great deal of this evening being sad that I couldn't make it to Brandon's game tonight. He did AMAZING from what I've heard. Gah.

I'm going to go read now. I didn't read any Harry Potter last night, despite how much I wanted to. I did other stuff, like edited grillz pictures of me and my boyfriend. Ah, we're so silly.

Day Forty-Three; The charity prospers.

I went and laid down with Brandon very early today, around 5:15. He was extra cuddly and sweet. This made my entire day perfect. He usually doesn't like cuddling while he's sleeping. This morning was quite different. It was perrrrfect.

We spent the morning together, and I drove him to soccer practice, but then I had to head home to get Macie from school, which I skipped. I hated saying goodbye, but that's okay. This weekend was so perfect that it made up for it.

Macie and I went to the laundromat. It was my first trip there, and I won't be going back any time soon. We have had washer issues lately, and I needed to wash my huge comforter. I think next time I'll send someone instead.

Jill had given me a substantial donation for Project Unprepared, and Macie and I headed to Walmart after the laundromat to spent that funding. We got tons of stuff. Add that to the things that had already been donated, and you get the picture above. It's a start, right? Tomorrow, I will take information to certain teachers at the school and the daycare. I am hoping for a great response from them!

Today, all-in-all, was a good day, and it's not quite over yet. I am going to finish Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire once and for all. I have been dillydallying on it. This just in: I'm really excited for Thursday. I get to see Sarah Lucheck! Finally!

Day Forty-Two; Best Valentine's Day EVER.

Subject says it all, and it's true: hands down. Brandon and I exchanged gifts at 3:00 in the morning. It's random, and it's so us. He loved everything I got him. I put together a huge basket of delights for him. I made him a Build-a-Bear in Star Wars PJs with frames named Stranger Danger Buchanan. I got him a shirt and bracelet cuff from the Buckle. I got him some grillz and a watch from this fake gangster kiosk. I wrote him a sonnet. I put a card in there, a singing one. I put an actual valentine in there. Then I included his favorite food stuffs: beef jerky, sunflower seeds, Reese's cups, Reese's Pieces, 5 gum, cotton candy, Ferrer Roche, Hershey's Kisses, and more stuff that I'm not thinking of. He seriously loved it, and that made me feel awesome. He gave me some of my favorite candy, and this really cute stuffed tiger (tigers are my favorite animal), but my main gift is stuck in the mail. I absolutely CANNOT wait to see what it is next weekend.

We spent the day eating takeout Chinese food and watching movies. We cuddled A LOT. He made this day the best day ever. Sigh. Love is just...wonderful.

Day Forty-One; Going away party.

Time to make up for days of missed blogging. Saturday. Saturday was a very good day in my opinion. Tiring, but good. We woke up relatively early and headed out for a day of shopping for various things, mainly finalizing a bunch of the Buchanans' Valentine's gifts. Mommy Jill bought me a lovely navy blue wrap that I love and can't wait to wear. Thank you!

That night, we headed to the Moons' house. Our story was that we were having a normal old family game night. Little did Jill know, we were having a surprise send-off for her. She leaves Sunday, and I'm in no way ready for her to go. None of us are. The party was filled with all of her favorite people, a banner signed by tons of Sheridan students, slideshows with tons of pictures, and great conversation. It was a really fun night, and I'm glad I was invited to attend.

Day Forty; Brandon time.

I got to go to Brandon's today, so of course it was a good day. Before I left, I mailed off the crazy amount of scholarship stuff I completed yesterday. That felt extremely nice. We also began writing sonnets in English today. Love, love, love.

Brandon had a soccer game tonight. They lost, but Brandon did great. It was my first time seeing him play. He looked wonderful on the field. It was freeeezing though.

I'm lying down watching TV with him now. Our six month anniversary is tomorrow. Yay. 

Day Thirty-Nine; Mania.

Today consisted of school (joy!) and working my butt off on scholarship things. The picture you see above is my mom's computer, where I have spent the majority of my day. My back is killing me, and I don't care if I sound whiny.

I got four scholarships ready to mail in, and I applied to ten or more online. I would say that's pretty productive, right? Right.

While doing this, I also babysat. I put two sick kids to bed. I think I might be on the verge of being a superhero.

I also had to worry about the stupid weather. I hope it doesn't prevent me going to Brandon's tomorrow. No one thinks it will, but knowing my luck...bleh. I'm also in a bad mood because I just deleted the entirety of Brandon any my conversation off of my iPhone, a conversation I haven't deleted since I got the phone...on October 18, 2009. You know what that is? Sad.

Day Thirty-Eight; Being a good girlfriend.

To be honest, most things I did today can't yet be posted online. Cassi and I hung out, spent some time in Little Rock, and dropped by Brandon's to tell him goodnight. He seemed so happy. I hope I get to see him tomorrow. If not, I can't wait until Friday.

Those are the Valentines I bought for myself. Reminds me of the musical. 

Day Thirty-Seven; Snow day part four million, three hundred and sixty-six thousand, four-hundred and twelve.

I am STILL very sick of the snow. Nothing happened today to change my opinion on that. Even worse? Our plumbing has been backed up since yesterday. That is NO good when you're snowed in. I spent my day sleeping because my allergies were killing me. My eyes keep watering every five minutes, and my nose and ears are pure hell. When I wasn't asleep, I was reading Harry Potter. I downloaded a few ringtones for my phone, and that's about it. We are going back to school tomorrow, thank goodness. That's right. I'm HAPPY we're going. Forecast still predicts snow Thursday night. I'm still hoping that Mommy Dearest lets me head to Brandon's Thursday after school. I can't miss this weekend. It's Jill's going away party, Brandon and my six month anniversary, AND Valentine's Day. I CAN'T and WON'T miss all that. I am now going to go read Harry Potter some more and then go to bed.

Oh yeah, I also watched the first day of American Idol's Hollywood Week. Yay!

Day Thirty-Six; Snow day part one million and seventy-six.

I'm going to say this one time, so listen (or read) carefully: I AM SICK OF THE SNOW! No seriously. I was hoping and hoping for no snow. What do we get? Snow. That's what. Brandon's game today? Canceled. I was really looking forward to that, too. And guess what? No school AGAIN tomorrow. Our school is considering making us come for Saturday schools because we have missed so many days. It's so frustrating. AND it's supposed to snow again Thursday night. Hopefully my mom will let me go to Brandon's Thursday, and if it doesn't snow, I'll leave early Friday morning and go to school.

I spent all day today wishing I had just stayed at Brandon's last night. I missed him, to say the least. I read a lot of Harry Potter, something I have neglected for a few days on accident. Cassi came over. I put on my Winterfest dress (February 27), and she did a few different hairstyles until she found the one she is going to do for me that day. Thank goodness for her. I don't feel like paying for it to be quite honest.

As for now, I'm just about to go lie down in Macie's room. She's spending the night at her friend's house tonight, and her room is much warmer than mine. I'll probably read some more, watch some TV, eat a little snack, call Brandon to say goodnight, and hit the hay. My allergies are being terrible today.

The picture above? My mommy made me pancakes this morning, and outside you can see the blizzard. Seriously, the most snow we've gotten in forever. Lame.

Day Thirty-Five; Who loves random dates? Me.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, let me explain.

Okay, the day started with Brandon waking me up and telling me to come lay down with him. He always does this in the mornings. We aren't allowed to sleep in the same room, of course, but we're allowed to nap together in the mornings once other people are awake in the house. We quickly realized we couldn't fall back to sleep, something that doesn't usually happen. Jill and Caitlin were going to be out and about that morning. Jill came in Erin's room where we were lying down, and gave Brandon her card, telling him to go to the mall and look for shoes, which he needs.

A few hours later, we finally got up and about and got ready to go to the mall. We first went to Park Plaza and had fun walking around. Brandon got a jacket in Forever 21, but he didn't find any shoes he liked. He DID make a request that I buy him a grill for Valentine's Day. We shall see. Baha.

After the mall and some scrumdiddlyumptious Dippin' Dots Ice Cream, we went to Sports Authority, a place that I had already assumed to be quite boring. Boy, was I mistaken? We played ping pong there for like an hour. Seriously. When we FINALLY left, Brandon bought some athletic gloves to keep his widdo fingers warm during his games, the first of which is tomorrow. For once, I'm really hoping it doesn't snow so that I will be able to go to his game. I'm not crossing my fingers, though. Every time I do that, bad stuff happens.

After Sports Authority, we went to lunch/dinner at McAlister's. We shared a huge bacon spud, which Brandon was quick to point out was only two regular sized potatoes put together. I had broccoli cheese soup, and he had some panini thing that he kept trying to convince me had poop in it. What a weirdo.

We then went to Wal-Mart very quickly and then headed home to watch the Superbowl. We were BOTH very happy with the outcome. Go Saints!

I hate leaving. I'm home now, though. It's so hard to say bye to him. Good news is, as long as it doesn't snow and ice and all that crap, I'll see him tomorrow for his game. I can't wait to see him play. I bet he is going to be amazing!

What did I realize this weekend? Something that I, of course, already knew. It was just strengthened; reinforced, if you will. I have a best friend and a boyfriend all molded into one person. With this person, I can play ping pong even though I suck, and he will look like he is having the time of his life, which is exactly the way I feel. I can be laughed at for eating my ice cream too slowly or discuss whether or not that is one potato or two. I can cuddle up and watch football with him and actually give a damn, something that is amazing. I have a person that I can be myself with 100%. I have a person that I love, unconditionally, a person that I will continue loving until...well, forever.

Hi, sorry for the mushyness, but that's what my day was. Oh, and the picture was Brandon singing to me. Bahaha.

Day Thirty-Four; Reminders.

This post is, again, late. I think one post a week will have to be late for me, unfortunately. Saturday? I went to see Dear John with Brandon, Caitlin, and Sierra. Jill, Mr. and Mrs. Moon, and Devin went to see a different movie, The Book of Eli. They said it was amazing. Dear John was, of course, sad. I didn't expect anything less coming from Nicholas Sparks. The ending was questionable.

Brandon and I spent a great deal of the day fighting, coming to a bang when we went to get pizza for the family. I hate fighting with him, and we do so extremely rarely. By the end of the night, however, we had made up. I stared at my promise ring and realized that nothing was ever going to come between us, no matter how big or small. He promised, and so do I.

That is, by far, the most important thing that happened to me Saturday. Our bond became even stronger, something I am always amazed is even possible. I love him very much, if you can't already tell.

Day Thirty-Three; Here in your arms.

I left school today at 10:30 only to come home and find that my car was going to be ready for me to drive tonight. I hadn't driven it since September. That felt good, believe me.

I came to Brandon's today, of course. It's Friday. I went with him, Caitlin, and Cymber to see Hellogoodbye. It was awesome. That is the picture you see above. 

As of now, I'm lying next to a sleeping Brandon until I get tired enough to sleep, at which point I'll go in the other room. He has the ACT in the morning. I know he will do brilliantly. 

Cassi and I received several emails today from people wanting to help with Project Unprepared. If you would like to help as well, contact me immediately. The smallest help would be amazing.

I'm going to go watch TV now. Today was pretty awesome.

Day Thirty-Two; An idea of charity.

Two key points of today: I got insurance for my car and I came up with this idea. Please read.



Project Unprepared

Did you know that, based on the results of a survey done nationwide in the year 2000, Arkansas is the tenth highest state for teenage pregnancy, with ninety-three teenage pregnancies for every one-thousand teenage girls? This survey went on to say that Arkansas was the FOURTH highest state as far as women who actually end up giving birth to these babies, which means we are the fourth highest state as far as teenage motherhood goes. From what I have heard, these statistics have only gone up since 2000, despite the increase in emphasis on contraceptives. That is just going by ear; that part might be inaccurate, but from what I’ve seen as an Arkansan and as a high school student, it’s pretty accurate.

There are many different routes for sexually active teenage men and women. One route is to protect yourself the best you can. Birth control is available, condoms are always ready to be purchased, and, if you have failed contraceptives, the morning-after pill is always an option. Even women who go to these measures to protect themselves, and then the ones who choose not to, sometimes end up pregnant at a very young age.

There are also many routes after a teenager finds out she is pregnant. Adoption, abortion, the abortion pill, or the old standby…keeping the baby and raising him/her the best way that a mother can provide. I personally think that teenage mothers who keep their babies are very brave, especially if they choose to remain in school and care for their child at the same time, something my mother chose to do. Some financial situations, however, prevent teen mothers from having everything their child needs: clothing, blankets, diapers, wipes, bottles, etc. So I came up with an idea; first, though, it is necessary for me to explain the inspiration behind this.

I have a friend who recently had a child. She was brave enough to keep her, something I admire. Her baby is an absolute doll, and the new mother is an extremely nice person. I don’t know her all too well, but I know her enough to know that she has a creative mind and a kind, mothering heart. Her financial situation is preventing her from getting the things her daughter needs. She lives with her father, and he doesn’t have a sufficient income to provide everything that my friend would love to give to her daughter. I was immediately stricken with the want and need to help this friend of mine, but I couldn’t figure out how.

Then it hit me. Facebook. Networking. Talking to friends, students, teachers, this girl’s fellow parents. I talked to one friend today, Raelynn King, who offered to talk to her mom about donating some of her little sister’s used clothes and baby items. I was thrilled. Here I am now, on Facebook. Many of us have family members who recently had children that have already grown out of their clothes or have been weaned from bottles and such things. Many of us, also, have a few spare dollars, that we could donate to a just cause. I understand if a monetary donation isn’t a good idea in your eyes. Some people might say that just doesn’t feel secure, and I understand that. But please, if you have any used baby stuff, and you’re interested in donating this to this friend of mine, Project Unprepared’s first “project,” please let me know. Contact me via Facebook, email, or cell phone. Feel free to approach me at school as well. My contact information is posted below. Thank you so much for reading this, and I hope to hear from many of you in any of the contact means listed.

-Breana Steele

Email: breanasteele@hotmail.com
Cell phone: (501) 593-7005

Day Thirty-One; Stress, Stress, Re-Stress.

Today at school was fine. Most of my classes finally actually got back to work after the weather disaster. Mr. Skaggs, our distance learning teacher, recited "Pants on the Ground" for us. What a hoot.

Work was interesting. We had a new lady. She is the mother of one of my friend's boyfriend's. In fact, said boyfriend is Drew Williams, boyfriend of Tess Kee. It's a small world after all.

When I got home, I browsed the Internet, played Bookworm, watched Idol, and started something I was totally dreading. My FAFSA. I nearly did it on a website that was going to charge me $80. Thankfully, lovely Faceboogers like Sarah Lucheck and Lyndsey Shea fixed it and put me on the right path. Thank goodness for people like them.

That tax return folder of my mother's is the devil. I hate trying to decode what those forms say. I hate it, I tell you. And I'm not looking forward to paying for college. Yay debt.

I DID do something else really productive today. I purchased part of Brandon's Valentine's Day gift... I must say, I'm really excited. I think he will really like it. I can't wait to find out. The rest of it will be finished next week. I have a feeling he has something up his sleeve, even though he says that he won't be able to do much. My evidence? He came on the phone with this smug sounding voice after he "went to talk to his mom." Who knows?

Day Thirty; It's about freaking time.

Today was my first day back at school. I must say, I was glad to see all my best friends. Oh, how I love them. Props to Dakota; he let me borrow a pen and saved my life by doing so! Yay! My actual classes were pretty normal today. Nothing special. The boys kinda grossed me and Shannon out at lunch. That's not all that easy to do. We listen to a lot of their guy talk without flinching, but today was yuck. We survived, though.

Work was a breeze. I hardly did anything. I ate popcorn with Glenda and talked about her family. She has great stories to tell. Seriously. I could talk to her all day long and be alright.

When I got home, I played some more Bookworm. It's addicting, I tell you. I put it down, however, for another addiction: American Idol. I watched the Denver prospects and was pleased. I'm ready for next week: Hollywood Week!

I then started a near-impossible task. I began cleaning my room. That's what that picture is above: the finished product. It's still not perfect, but it looks amazing next to what it was before. I looked through a school memories book that I have had since kindergarten and filled in some of the stuff about senior year. The best friends I listed? Brandon, Cassi, Shannon, Tyler, Bryce, Chance, Dakota, Raelynn, and Caitlin. They are all very special to me. I love you guys.

While I was cleaning my room, I was dancing around to a shuffle list on Limewire, texting Tyler and Dannatt, and singing. Tyler, being the best friend that he is, listened to a crazy essay I wrote a while back out of sheer boredom. How awesome is he?

Anyway, now I'm gonna go fill in a little bit in my senior book and listen to a little music before I head to bed. It's been an okay day. I miss Brandon though. Good news! We are going to see Hellogoodbye on Friday. I'm stoked! My second concert, and this one's with him, too. Yay for awesome boyfriends. Also...yay for actual blog posts today instead of just little snippets of my life.

Day Twenty-Nine; My Apologies.

I'm in a terrible mood right now, so this blog is going to be terrible and short. I'm trying to study some more for a test I have tomorrow. I had to leave Brandon's today. I'm becoming more frustrated with...life. I'm ready for a change.

This game, Bookworm, has kept me semi-sane today. Thank goodness. 

Day Twenty-Eight; More Laze.

Today was still very cold. There was some mild drama, and I ended up having to spend another night at Brandon's because Jill can't take me home until tomorrow. That's okay. I'm not complaining. Baha.

We went to lunch with Caitlin and her boyfriend Toby for Mexican food. It was yummy. We then came home and watched movies. Well. Movie. We watched Angels and Demons. I kinda sorta fell asleep on Brandon in that chair you see above. He kept trying to wake me up. He failed.

After that, we had a lovely steak dinner and watched some of the Grammys. Brandon is asleep since he has school tomorrow. I'm about to go take a shower while Caity does her homework. It's been a nice day. Goodnight.

Day Twenty-Seven; Relieving Cabin Fever.

Okay. Don't shoot me or mail me anything explosive. I know this is a day late, and I'm sorry. Better late than never. Truth be told, yesterday was one of those days that many might call boring. I, however, happened to find a lot of joy in it.

I believe that Brandon, Caitlin, and I were experiencing a bit of cabin fever. The proof? We got overly excited when Jill suggested we go to the movie store and to Subway. We hurriedly got dressed and drove in the van (after de-icing it) to the local movie rental place. We had to pay off some Buchanan debt to that place since they seem unable to return movies. We rented a bunch of movies.

Then, we went to Subway. I got a chicken teriyaki sub. Yum. We went back to the house, ate, watched movies, and good stuff like that. All-in-all, it was nice to get out, even if just for a few minutes in the freezing cold. It was a good day with the Buchanans. 

Day Twenty-six; Snow/Ice Day.

Mr. Landers is so smart. My school was canceled today! The surprising part? So was Brandon and Caitlin's. I spent a great deal of my day today sitting on that couch above and talking to Caitlin. I allllways enjoy conversations with her.

I can't believe it's only 9:30. Brandon is already asleep, and I keep falling asleep. I think I'm gonna head to bed. Nighty night. Sorry for the short post. 

Day Twenty-five; Unexpected Visit.

There were a few key points of today. I found out which part I'll be in the musical. It's not what I wanted, but it'll be fun all the same. I am very proud of Bryce for getting what he wanted. All-in-all, it'll be a fun musical. 

Mr. Landers told me that he figured he was 80% sure we wouldn't have school tomorrow, so I decided it'd be smart to head to Brandon's tonight, before we got iced in. So here I am, lying next to him while he sleeps. He's most likely still gonna have school tomorrow.

Well. I think I'm going to get up and move so I can go to bed. Hopefully school gets canceled. Bring on the ice for BK. I won't be there either way, though. Haaaa. 

Day Twenty-Four; Auditions and Bed.

I would have loved to put a picture from auditions here today instead, but I couldn't for two reasons. These reasons are as follows:
1) I think Mrs. Pace would have a conniption if I just took my phone out and started taking pictures for no apparent reason in auditions.
2) I was honestly just having too much fun and was far too busy to even try to sneak one.

I hope you all understand, whoever even reads this. I noticed yesterday that I'm getting less comments than before, but I also remembered what I said to begin with: this is a project to do with ME. I am learning about myself and developing as an individual. It's all good.

Auditions went very well. I felt like I did great, and people said I did. What a relief. Now, all I have to do is see which part Mrs. Pace thinks suits me best. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Besides that, I laid in bed and watched two programs, one that annoyed me much more than the other. The two programs I watched were American Idol and the State of the Union Address. Guess which one annoyed me more? Hint: It doesn't come on every Tuesday and Wednesday on Fox and the main speaker was NOT Ryan Seacrest or Simon Cowell. That's right. Obama really got on my nerves. I am starting to feel like every word he says is a lie; add that on top of the fact that I already don't agree with the way he has been running his administration, and I'm thoroughly annoyed with the man.

The best part of his speech? He said something along the lines of, "We are ending this war and all of our troops are coming home." Alright, he says he plans to have every single troop out of the Middle East by July of 2011. His words, not mine. Jill's deployment orders? From February 21st, 2010 to SEPTEMBER of 2011. Wow, looks like some stories are conflicting here, huh?

Bryce and I had some political conversation after that, as did Brandon and I. The address just really got on my nerves. For the first time in my life, I was on the same page as the conservatives in that room who weren't clapping with every other sentence the man said. Sometimes that's annoying in itself. Half of the damn program is the audience clapping. Let's all just sit down and hear what he has to say. Then again, I wasn't really interested in that. I'm all for a healthier environment, even though I don't believe our climate is in any immediate danger. It's still important to prepare for the future. But honestly? With our economy in the state it's in? How can we be worrying so much about clean energy? Wait until we're back on track. THAT is the smarter thing to do. Meh.

Away from politics, I just had a nice hour-long chat with Cassi, and I also just sent Brandon off to bed. I'm going to check my Facebook and lie down myself. I am exhausted, and I feel horrid. Goodnight everyone.

Day Twenty-Three; Hilarious Lunch, Technical Problems, and Practice, Practice, PRACTICE!

School was pretty uneventful today until lunchtime. It. Was. Hilarious. Everyone was overly-hyper; well, more so than usual. By the end of lunch, Chance was singing "The sun'll come out TOMORROW, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow..." with hand motions and tons of exuberance. Bryce and I were singing Seuss songs. Dakota was motorboating Tyler's arm, and Tyler and Shannon were red in the face from laughing. We also joined in our tradition of singing happy birthday to Kevin on random days. We love Kevin, our deity. HAHA.

Last night, a transformer blew up in town, and our server at work ended up crashing because of it. So I got literally NOTHING done today. I did enjoy many hours of talking with Glenda and a trip to Sonic with the same woman. I really, really like working with her. She's just nice to talk to.

Once I got home, I lounged in bed for a while. I was really wanting a nap, but I didn't take one. I watched American Idol, talked to Brandon, and PRACTICED. My musical tryout is TOMORROW. I have been practicing so much. In fact, it's midnight, and I'm just now getting in the shower.

The picture above? I laid in bed between songs and practicing to watch Teen Mom. The flag you see is from Fan Day back during the spirit competition. I was Brandon Buchanan's biggest fan. The painting? One of my several birthday gifts from my boyfriend. Teen Mom brought tears to my eyes, btw. Call me a softy. I don't care.

Day Twenty-Two; Nathan's Seventh Birthday.

Slow and sluggish; that's how my day started. I didn't want to wake up. I absolutely loathe Mondays. As I was getting ready, however, I spied my little brother, his hair tussled and his eyes nearly closed. I wished him a happy birthday. The little booger is seven now.

School was pretty uneventful. Lunch was great, as always. We are planning a surprise birthday party for Mrs. Pace on Friday in Choir. I'm so excited. Work was busier than usual. I actually had stuff to do for the majority of the time that I was there, and when I didn't, Glenda and I had stuff to talk about. That's always fun.

When I got home, I really wanted a nap, but I was denied that particular privilege. My mom and Jason were preparing dinner for Nathan's birthday and our family that would be over because of the occasion. Steak. Yum. It was delicious, as was the cake. Above, you see Nathan with his new starter guitar and his...yes, phone. I think it's ridiculous, too. But my mom says it will be good for him to be able to keep in touch with his dad in California much easier. I still think it's ridiculous.

Anyway, I have just been talking with my mom and Jason and practicing for the musical since everyone went home. I'm going to go read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire now. I'm really, really tired, but my day will feel empty if I don't read at least a couple of chapters. Plus, it's only 11:10 now. Not too late for some Harry. Baha.

Day Twenty-One; Posting, then reading HP & finding food!

I woke up relatively early today. Brandon and I had been pushed to the floor to sleep (still separately, Mommy Jill's orders), and my back was killing me. I kid you not. I curled up to Brandon's side while he played some more video games, enjoying that half-asleep, half-awake sensation for a few hours. I had some cereal later in the day. We helped clean up around the house, and then we laid down on the couch and took a nap, even though we had been intending to watch the game. Or at least, I had.

After we had been asleep for a little bit on the couch, Jill told us to move to Erin's room if we still wanted to sleep because people were about to come over to watch the game. We gladly obliged, and we cuddled up in there until Caitlin's best friend Cymber came and told us that Brandon's dad was just about ready to take me home.

Frowning slightly, I got up and put all of my things back into my bag. Leaving is always the worst part of my weekends. Brandon, his dad, and I embarked on a journey to Searcy, where we met my mommy at Wal-Mart. I was glad to see her, but I absolutely hated saying bye to Brandon. I miss him already.

Once I got home, I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But listen, I hate jelly. The only reason this was good was because it was the kind of PB&J where the jelly comes in little stripes already mixed in the peanut butter. THAT kind is good! Wow, I sound like such a nerd.

Anyway, then I enjoyed a lovely shower. That helped some of the pain in my back. I then BEGAN cleaning my room (that's right, it's still not finished), and practicing for the musical try-outs (WEDNESDAY! YIKES!) while I was doing so. Right now? I'm about to lie down and read some Harry Potter after I find a nice bedtime snack. I'm in no way ready to go to school tomorrow, but that's life when you suffer terribly from a little disease I like to call senioritis. Bleh.

PS: That picture is my little brother, Nathan, reading me Green Eggs and Ham. His birthday (along with Ms. Sarah Lucheck's) is tomorrow. He will be seven. :)

Day Twenty; Lazy.

Today was an extremely lazy day. Brandon woke up much earlier than I did. I spent a great deal of my day looking up from the pages of Harry Potter to see how Brandon was progressing in his video games. The only thing we actually DID today was go to the store. Talk about lazy.

We just got finished watching Star Wars. Now we are watching The History Channel. This sounds seriously nerdy. I am going to enjoy this lazy night now.

And believe it or not, being lazy with someone you love can be pretty perfect. 

Day Nineteen; Mommy Jill's birthday.

Today was rather nice. Right after a wonderful lunch with five super awesome people, my mom and her boyfriend took me to Brandon's. I hung out with Jill since Brandon was still at school. We decided just to meet Brandon and other friends, including Caitlin, the Moons, and the Belknaps, at the movies. We saw Avatar for a second time, this time in 3D. It was stunning.

We went to Olive Garden after. Dinner was good. All of those people just crack me up. Time spent with them is always fun.

We are just on the way home now, so I thought I'd do a very quick blog. Jill liked her birthday celebrations. I'm going to go cuddle with my sleepy boyfriend until bed time now. I hope all of your days were as great as mine. 

Day Eighteen; Lunchtime & Musical Talk.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Okay, before you get all judgmental of me, let me just say: IT WASN'T ME! It was Shannon. Judge Shannon. Okay, I'm kidding. Don't judge her or I'll be upset. There's a perfectly good story, though. That will come in just a moment. (Don't you just love suspense?)

I seriously didn't wanna wake up today. My mom kept me up until almost three am because we got in this really emotional conversation about me going to college. Bleh. Too much crying for my liking. Anyway, I got up and went to school. Lo and behold, my first period teacher wasn't there! Score! We did absolutely nothing. The next period was followed by some stupid exercise set. English was pretty cool, as it always is. I was pretty flattered that, when I told Mr. Bill I was seriously considering teaching English, he told me he thinks I would definitely excel at that.

Choir was nice as well. We didn't do very much, but that's okay. Djuana and I had a nice talk while Desiree hid behind some...board thing. What a weirdo. Ha, that just made me snort!

JAG...was JAG. And boring as crap.

Then came lunch. This post is dedicated to Bryce Crabb, Chance Cash, and Dakota Weatherley. Why? Because this picture above was designed to a) be funny in a very juvenile way, and b) show them what they missed at lunch today. They were gone to some DUMB FBLA convention. They missed Shannon's new knack for food art. Like I said, it was NOT me. But admit it. It's kinda funny. Those are peaches, corn, and carrots. She's crafty. HAHAHAHA.

Cassi and I took pictures earlier with her new camera. And let me tell you... her camera is AWESOME. $800 well spent on the part of her aunt and uncle. That's insane, though. I was cold...again. But nowhere near as cold as I was when we took those winter pictures. It was just a little windy today.

Since I got home, though, I have been practicing for this musical. I wrote a Western Civ paper in the midst of this, but I am trying to perfect the little tryout pieces. Tryouts are Wednesday, and I'm excited. Very nervous, yes. But excited.

Anyway, I'm going to go fix my hair. Tomorrow? I get to go to Brandon's and go see Avatar for the second time for his mommy's birthday. I love spending time with them, and I'm sorry that my blog lacks when I'm there. It's hard to take time out from your everything, you know?

Sarah, I don't care if that makes you sick. You still make me...not-sick.

Day Seventeen; A Woman Obsessed.

Today started off slowly. Rainy days make it even harder to return to school after a four-day weekend, elongated by my sickly state. I did a small presentation first period. It wasn't too bad, but it was embarrassing because I looked like total crap all day long today. But anyway, the rest of the day went by without much incident. I did get some time to talk to Mrs. McKinney, and that's always wonderful. I miss her class so much; it's impossible to explain.

I think I also figured out what I want to do with my college education. I had considered this idea last year while in Mrs. McKinney's class; she sort of inspired me. So here it is: I had been thinking about double-majoring, but I wasn't sure what to make the second major. Journalism and English Education. Suddenly, this much was obvious. Mrs. McKinney showed me how beautiful it could be to educate high school students on the everlasting wonder of literature. I think that's what I'll stick with. I think it's good to have a stable back-up plan with a major like Journalism. It can be difficult to find a good, stable job with acceptable pay and benefits.

The rest of my day was spent at work and running to Searcy with Raelynn to help her pick out an outfit for an FBLA function tomorrow that I will NOT be attending. She bought me Taco Bell and a candy bar at Wal-Mart. What a sweetie.

When I got home, I really felt like going to sleep, but guess what I did instead? Searched for about four hours for scholarship stuff. I am quickly becoming obsessed. My favorite one I found today was the one you see above. It ties in PERFECTLY with our musical this year. Speaking of which, tryouts are next Wednesday. I am... petrified. But a good friend of mine, Dakota, informed me that I can sing today. Isn't he nice?

Now, I am going to go brainstorm over this scholarship, since I really am obsessed. I will then call my boyfriend, tell him goodnight, and go to sleep. I'm SO tired.

Day Sixteen; Disappointment and Determination.

Today was not a good day, to be quite honest. I was up all night with stomach issues that I will NOT disclose on this blog for the sole purpose of keeping everyone from vomiting. Anyway, I stayed home from school because I was still nauseous and, to be quite frank, I was dead tired. Brandon called me this morning and told me he was also staying home because he felt terrible, too. Poor baby.

I slept until 2:00 this afternoon. I was simply sitting around reading Harry Potter when Caitlin texted me and asked if I had gotten my scholarship stuff from the University of Arkansas. I nearly had a heart attack as I ran to the mail. I was quickly disappointed, though. I am only being offered $2000 a year from them. I cried and cried. I was VERY proud, however, of Caitlin. She's getting $8000 a year. Way to go, sweetie.

Once I was over my cryfest (thanks in GREAT part to Brandon who told me I needed to just figure out a new game plan), I became quite determined to get other scholarships. I started work on my Alumni Scholarships, my Fulbright Scholarships, and registering for Arkansas State-Sponsored Scholarships. I quickly became a woman obsessed. Guess who else was obsessed? Mr. Zach Marchbank. We had a looong Facebook IM about how to get more money after Zach sighed and said we were going to have to start selling drugs. By the end of the conversation, I had declared that, no matter what other scholarships we got, we were going to have to throw an "I'm gonna have to take out student loans" party. Bleh.

I'm trying to relax now. One way or another, I will get through college. For now, I'm just going to read Harry Potter in my bed and dread going back to school tomorrow. Today has been thoroughly unpleasant, and I hope tomorrow is much better. All I know is, I'm ready for Friday.

Day Fifteen; Back home.

As you might have gathered from the title, today is the day that I was forced to leave my lovely boyfriend and return home to the stupidest town I have ever been in. Well, on the bright side, I didn't have to come home till much later than usual, and I had plenty of time to have a fun day with my second family.

The day started with waking up and eating Sierra's lovely breakfast consisting of pancakes and eggs. Seriously, it was gooood. Anyway, we all sat around and didn't do much for a couple of hours besides helping Jill (Brandon's mommy) clean the house and rearrange some furniture. Suddenly, we decided it would definitely be a productive activity to make Caitlin look like some kind of Hindu/Islamic type person. She totally pulled it off. This came back to haunt me. We decided to have me try on some of Erin's (Brandon's older-older sister) old formal dresses. See, I have three formal events in the month of April: my prom, Brandon's prom, and Brandon's Military Ball for ROTC. I don't need to spend the money on two or three dresses, so I was going to recycle some of Erin's. I found my dress for MY prom and Brandon's prom. Score! The only thing left is the Military Ball. Way to go!

Toby came over next. He's Caitlin's boyfriend. Once he was there, we busted out the board games and played Pictionary. Toby and Caitlin couldn't be on the same team; they're both awesome artists. Brandon and Caitlin couldn't either; they have this weird telepathic thing going on. Therefore the teams stood thus: Brandon and Sierra, Jill and Caitlin, and Toby and myself. Thank goodness Toby is both a superb artist and guesser. My renditions of pretzels and theaters were too terrible for even him, a pre-med student, to decode. But he did marvelously. (The picture above shows Sierra drawing for her teammate Brandon and Caitlin admiring that gorgeous work of art.)

Toby and I won one game, and the other teams each won one as well. Feeling very even, Sierra had to go home, and Toby did as well. Jill, Brandon, and I then said goodbye to the beautiful Caitlin and departed on the hour-long trip back to my house. The ride was nice. I held Brandon's hand and listened to his awesome taste in music. I told Jill about bad dreams, and I enjoyed talking to her, as I always do.

I just played a game of Rummy (and lost) with my mom's boyfriend. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Not the losing, the boyfriend. He's nice; he really is. I'm always just pretty skeptical of this particular department.

Anyway, I'm going to write/read/watch TV for a bit before I hit the hay. This has been an amazing weekend, and I can't wait until next weekend. It's Jill's birthday, and we're going to go see Avatar. Sure, I've already seen it, but it's amazing, and I'm super excited to see it again. Plus, any time at the Buchanans' is time well spent.

Day Fourteen; Better late than never.

I think everyone should definitely understand why this blog is late and also understand that I'm sorry. Sometimes, you're just having too much fun to stop and make a blog, and you know, if I would have stopped to make the blog, I wouldn't have all of this fun stuff to tell you. Get ready; brace yourselves.

The day started with a "Right to Life" march in front of our capitol building. It really got on my nerves that all of the speakers focused their views around religion, but that should be fairly obvious. I just think that if religion is the only basis for life, maybe that isn't the right choice to go with, especially for ME. I know there are plenty of other sides of the Pro-Life Movement, and I would have been really interested in hearing them. I don't have a set opinion on this topic yet, and that had the potential to change my views. Quite the opposite, it just got on my nerves.

That's okay, though. We went to Quizno's after, had wonderful food, then slipped next door to Coldstone's and ate delicious ice cream. Sierra, one of Caitlin's (Brandon's sister) best friends, ended up asking her mom if she could spend the night, and we were all seeming pretty hyper as we rode home in what we dubbed "The Party Van."

When we got home, we had a little girly gossip with Brandon doing something else. We watched a few minutes of the Golden Globes, played Bop-It, and then decided on the best idea I think anyone has ever had. We decided to play Truth or Dare Sierra Style. What you do is this: write different truths and dares on paper, deposit them in a box, and pick. This way, you have no choice as to whether or not you got a truth or dare. The consequence if you don't do one of your truths or dares? Sit with kitty litter on your tongue for a full minute.

The whole time, I was deathly afraid that some kind of karma was going to bite me right in the ass. It didn't happen. I made all these mean food dares (drink a raw egg, eat three tablespoons of ketchup, eat a tablespoon of salt, etc.). The only bad one I got was eating a tablespoon of horseradish. I don't recommend that to ANYONE. We also prank called people for an hour, something that is, although very juvenile, still extremely entertaining. All in all, I don't think I will be forgetting this day very soon.

The picture above? That was Caitlin's doing. Brandon was forced to allow her to draw on a mustache and uni-brow with eyeliner, and he had to keep it on for the remainder of the game. I personally think he still looks attractive, but I might be just a LITTLE biased.

Day Thirteen; Getting out of the house.

Today started with me sleeping in quite late and Brandon watching TV as he allowed me to do so. Once I woke up, we laid around some more, not expecting to do much. However, Brandon decided he was craving Chinese food. Yum. So we went and ate some of that delicious stuff and headed home to give his dad his food.

Once we got there, Brandon asked his dad if we could go to the mall. His dad said yes. We really had nothing to do at the mall. We just walked around and Brandon did silly things, something I have always loved about him. The above picture is a perfect example of his silly antics. That's a children's tie. We went to Barnes and Noble and got some Starbucks; that's always good.

Right now, we are about to watch Star Wars which was, believe it or not, my idea. I hope everyone else had as pleasant of a day as I did. 

Day Twelve; Boyfrienddd. :)

My post for tonight won't be long, and most people won't find it remotely exciting. After a day at school in which my friend Raelynn went to the hospital (feel better soon, doll), Brandon's mom, Jill, picked me up from my house. I bonded with her on the drive to Brandon's school, where we picked up his sister, Caitlin, and said goodbye to Brandon as he went to soccer practice. I gossiped with Caitlin for a while as we waited for Brandon to get home. Oh, how I love my second family.

Once Brandon got home, we watched movies and cuddled. He's sitting next to me reading right now, and I'm writing this out on my phone in PJs. I'm feeling very content and, as always, in love.

Why do Fridays have to be so freaking awesome?

Day Eleven; I need to eat more apples to keep the doctor away.

I stayed home from school today because I woke up and could hardly breathe due to throat congestion. Last week, I woke up several times with nosebleeds. My ears have been draining like mad, so I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor. Sinus infection. Joy of my life.

Besides that, I caught up on The Young and the Restless. It's so good right now, seriously. Sometimes it frustrates me SO badly, though. I just want things to happen, and they take AGES to. Grr. Suspense sucks.

I caught up with Cassi today. She came over and returned a bunch of my clothes. I read her the rough draft of the essay for English I'm working on now. I wrote a paper for my Western Civ class as well, one that was due two minutes ago via Web CT. All of this was done while babysitting. Multitasking MUST be my forte because that's awesome. Right now? I'm just writing the final draft of this English essay and talking to Lyndsey Shea and Sarah Lou online. What nice girls.

Anyway, I'm going to get back to work on this paper, the rough draft of which is pictured above. The prompt is asking us what poetry means to us. This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, so I am writing my soul onto this paper. Mr. Bill better appreciate it. Not many people get my WHOLE soul.

Why is it that I always end up smirking by the end of these posts?

Day Ten; Chris Drew is awesome, but my boyfriend's better.

So, the show was awesome. Proper post coming soon. :)






So that little tidbit was done from Brandon's house right after that awesome concert. I listened to a boy with an amazing voice sing all night; what's better? Afterward, I even got his autograph, thanks to my boyfriend. Chris Drew seems like the coolest, most down to earth artist everrr. He hasn't an ounce of diva in him from what I've seen. All-in-all, this was an AMAZING five month anniversary date.

I was really proud of myself because I paid for everything in this date: the tickets AND Brandon's souvenirs after the concert. Brandon ALWAYS pays for our stuff, so I was really, really proud, seriously. Butttttt. When I got to his house, he had a lovely anniversary gift for me: the cute purple plaid flats you see above. Seriously? He's the best boyfriend ever.

Chris Drew can really put on a show. He has so much personality. But the best part was honestly being there with Brandon, leaning on him the entire time. You can call me corny and whatever, but that's the truth. Something perfect also happened, you see. The song that Brandon and I have dubbed "ours" is Dare4Distance by NeverShoutNever! This is because it talks about how weekends make up for the lost time that the couple has, and how they work through the distance because they love each other. This fits Brandon and I perfectly. Well, all night, I waited for it, but Mr. Drew did not play it. As he exited the stage, many people began chanting, "ONE MORE SONG!" He came back out, and lo and behold, he performed Dare4Distance. I held onto Brandon and swayed to Chris Drew's voice. It was a completely perfect moment in my book.

I also enjoyed directly after the concert when I drove Brandon home and went inside for about 45 minutes. We cuddled, and that's my very favorite thing.

Besides that, I just wanted to take a minute to talk about how lucky I am to have spent five months alongside the best guy I have ever met. He is everything I have ever hoped for, and I realize more and more each day just how securely he is woven into my future. He is it for me, whether or not anyone believes that. I know he does. I know that he knows that I love him more than anything; more than Harry Potter, chocolate, Facebook, P365, my puppies, and sunflowers combined. He is all I need in life to get by. And it will remain that way. Happy five months, my love.

I'm going to go to bed in blissful contentedness now. I am going to call my boyfriend to make sure he knows I made it home safely. I am going to snuggle up to my bee that he gave me, and I'm going to get through tomorrow at school. Friday? I'll be in his arms again... and I will breathe.

PS: The hands picture is Brandon's X on his hand to show he got in, and the other wrist is the NeverShoutNever! bracelet that I bought him and he got autographed. The other autograph one is mine; there were people going around with a petition to stop the slaughtering of baby seals in Canada, and I used their pamphlet. Brandon told me the majority of seal slaughtering happens in Norway anyway. When I asked him why he knew that, he shrugged and said, "My mom loves seals." The other one is the best picture Brandon could manage on his phone of Chris Drew, since my phone doesn't have zoom OR flash. Only downfall to the otherwise-perfect iPhone.

Day Nine; American Idol & Stupid Counselors.

Just for the record, I started this post before midnight! I started it at 11:56. Blame American Idol on the DVR. Okay, I'm going to save this now and finish the rest of the post; I just want to make sure some of it gets saved on January 12.



Alright, I shall now resume blogging. I just wanted to make sure this post was dated as the 12th. Anyway, today started out pretty normal. I was super tired this morning, though. Do you ever have those dreams that you're about to go to sleep only to be woken up by someone? Yeah, I had a dream that I was about to settle in for a nice nap when I was rudely awakened by my mother telling me to get ready for school. That made me so much more tired.

Anyway, I went to school and had a pretty normal day until...well, until the incident with Mrs. King, our school counselor. I'm not gonna explain the whole story, but to make a long story short, she really needs to learn how to do her job. She has screwed up some college credit for me, something that is a big no-no in my book.

Work was boring, to be honest. I read Harry Potter a little bit. I do enjoy talking to Glenda, a woman I work with. She's a real sweetheart. Gabe likes to act like she's incompetent, but I thoroughly disagree.

I got home and did some housework. It took quite a while, and I didn't get to start the two papers I meant to start tonight, one that is due Thursday, the other due Friday. What a bummer. On the plus side, I got the housework done that I needed to do, so I am all set to go to NeverShoutNever! tomorrow with Brandon. I even have a full tank of gas so I can go pick him up from soccer practice like a good girlfriend, take him home, let him get ready, and head there for our five month date. It's officially after midnight now, and that means that I have officially spent five wonderful months with the best guy I know. Yup, I'm swooning.

I'm really excited about the musical; just thought I'd throw that in randomly.

As you can see, my picture for today is the TV while on American Idol. It came on while I was cleaning, so I DVRed it. That's why I was so late getting to the blog; it's still on. It has ten minutes left, but I paused it. Then, my Internet wouldn't work, etc. I have terrible, terrible luck. But the good news is, I got here in time. Go me.

I am going to go watch the last ten minutes of that now, then I'm going to hop in bed. I have a long, wonderful day ahead of me tomorrow with my amazing boyfriend. Wow, I'm being real lovey-dovey tonight. Please forgive me, readers.

I just smirked.

Day Eight; Back to School & More Hair Stuff.

Today was Monday, and this meant returning to school for our first full week after three days being canceled last week. The return wasn't actually that bad. First period, I took a bunch of notes, but thanks to the ever-lovely Raelynn, I had a giant Kit-Kat bar to go along with the Pop-Tart I had brought. She also shared her red and orange bag of Sour Patch Kids with me, along with her Mountain Dew. I personally think that Raelynn should be inducted as a saint, along with Mr. Harry Potter. Paha.

I have quickly found out that second period with Mr. Slayton is one big joke. He talks to us like we're two. I mean, come on. I have been graphing equations since eighth grade. We know that y= mx + b. Seriously? Yeah, that will be a sleeping period.

Third period with Mr. Bill has been a nice surprise this semester. By the end of last semester, I had begun to hate his unstructured, open-ended assignments. He is actually following a schedule this semester, and he is teaching much more thoroughly. This, I hear, is because he received a lot of student complaints. Poor old guy. He really is quite sweet, but he tends to preach, something that is bound to annoy me eventually. Bleh. Butttt. He's doing better, on the bright side.

Fourth period was Choir. We listened to the CD of the musical we are going to do. It's called Seussical Musical. I DO hope that Sarah Lou will find it in her heart to come help us out sometime since she is going to be at home. I would be absolutely thrilled. Anyway, the musical is just the cutest thing I have ever heard of. It's one big story composed of a bunch of different characters and stories from Seuss books. Jolly.

Fifth was JAG. It's such a joke that I don't know why I'm mentioning it. We watched The Apprentice after our joke-of-a-test, though. That's always fun. This really slutty looking girl got voted off. Thank goodness.

Lunch is always a great event for me. My group of friends, composed of six wonderful people (including myself), never fails to crack me up. We have the weirdest, most awkward conversations, but they aren't awkward for us. Today, I explained to the table the true meaning of a "douche bag." Yuuuuck. I, myself, was only clued in last night by none other than...my mother.

Work was really boring. I typed up a bunch of stuff, edited a bunch of pictures, then doodled for the rest of the four and a half hours I have to stay there. Eh, it's easy money, but it's not enough. I'm about to have to get a second job. Any ideas?

Great news! Brandon's mom texted me while I was at work and invited me to come over this weekend. Even better, she gave Brandon permission to go see NeverShoutNever! so I bought our tickets online; the date is set. This is going to be the best anniversary thing ever...five months on Wednesday. Call me a total dweeb for smiling at that. I don't care.

I had a productive day. I did all my English reading from our textbooks, and I decided to go ahead and try to put the red in my hair that I wanted to do the other night when I had the hair catastrophe. No disaster this time, but the red hardly showed up. Still, I looked really funny with all that foil on my head (I couldn't find the hook for the cap). I think the red shows up a wee bit in the light, but that could just be wishful thinking.

Anyway, I'm going to go comment on a few noteworthy blogs, read Harry Potter, and head to bed. Goodnight all. Today's been...well, okay for a Monday.

PS: I changed the layout to something more mellow. And my little banner thing has nothing on Sarah's. Go check out her AMAZING skills. I think I would pay her to fix mine up the way she fixed hers.

Day Seven; Ridiculously Lazy.

I'll admit it: I almost forgot to blog today because I just about fell asleep. My eyes were closed, my light was off, and suddenly, I remembered about my dear Project 365. I'm really, really glad I did, but the post is going to be pretty darn short, and reading the blogs I follow will have to wait until tomorrow after school and work.

At midnight last night, I was on Facebook catching up with an old friend, Sam. He asked me to mention him, so there you go Sam. I hope you feel special. :P

Anyway, today was super lazy. I spent the day reading the second Harry Potter book, as you can tell by my picture. The day really wasn't that great, in all honesty. I had some amazing pancakes from IHOP that my mom brought me. I cuddled with Zoe, our puppy, quite a bit, and that always calms my soul. Talking to Brandon was nice as well. I miss him so very much, but I have some good news: his mom said she would think about letting us go see NeverShoutNever! on Wednesday, which happens to be our five month anniversary. The very thought makes me smile. He's been mine for five months already? Mm, I'm lucky.

Anyway, I'm dead tired. I'm heading to bed watching Roseanne, one of my favorite old sitcoms. Goodness gracious, it's cold. And...it's back to school tomorrow. Joy. of. my. life.

I just groaned.

Day Six; Started at midnight.

Starting this blog over from the poorly and quickly written rough draft, I will explain my day. At midnight last night, I was spending time with my best friend, Cassi McGillvray. We decided around three a.m. to randomly make a trip to IHOP. I enjoyed delicious chocolate chip pancakes, but the picture you see above is of our yummy mugs of hot chocolate.

I didn't end up getting into bed until around six a.m., after a lovely call to Brandon in which we discussed...um, gas. You'd just have to be there. Anyway, I woke up around two p.m. and got ready to take pictures with Cassi. The sunglasses picture was just my way of being crafty in Cassi's car. The other one is obviously a product of Cassi's awesome photography skills. Let me tell you, I thought I was going to freeze to death in those THIN tights. As it was, I felt like a human icicle. Brr. That is the LAST winter photoshoot I will EVER partake in.

After that, Cassi and I treated ourselves to a meal at Taco Bell. I tried the new 5-Layer Burrito on the 89 cent menu. It was to die for. Since then, though, I have just been sitting at home really, really bored doing nothing. I DID just get to talk to Brandon for about an hour. That is always nice. Wow, I literally just smiled. I'm lame.

I really wish I was going to be able to go see him tomorrow and return home with a picture of us and a blog about him, but I'm not. And that, my friend, is sending me to bed sad. The only thing making me happy is that I know his voice will be the first one I hear tomorrow, calling me and telling me hello. Lucky, lucky me.

Day Five; Dinner and a Movie.

I thought today was going to be yet another lazy day filled with lying in bed and reading Harry Potter. However, I actually spent the first part of my day (after I woke up around 1:30 in the afternoon) watching this weird special on E! called "Women Who Kill." Why do I watch these things? They really just freak me out.

At around four, my dear friend Raelynn (I follow her blog, called Recognizing Raelynn. Check it out!) came and got me and took me to get my check. She really only did this because she missed my face so much, or that's what I told myself. She had her adorable little sister Jaiden Aubree with her, and Jaiden thoroughly enjoyed meeting my family's new puppy, Zoe.

After that, I came home and got ready for a real hot date. Okay, the jig is up. I didn't get to see my boyfriend, but I had a date with my best friend, Cassi McGillvray, instead. We went to the movies and saw Leap Year. It was worth the $8.50 that a ticket costs in our local theater. I loved it from start to finish. Then again, I'm a big Amy Adams fan lately. Julie and Julia? Awesome as well.

After that, we went to dinner at a new Italian restaurant called Luigi's. Cassi had already eaten there with her friend Holly, but I had yet to sample their food. I was pleased. I had the fettuccine alfredo. Yum. For dessert, we had a yummy piece of chocolate cheesecake, but I was too full to eat very much of it. Cassi, being the sweetheart that she is, bought me a gumball after dinner, seen in the picture above. I blew a much more impressive bubble in her yellow Volkswagen bug, but it was too dark in there to take a picture on my iPhone, which is where all of my pictures so far have come from.

All in all, it was a very fun night. I just spent the last hour or so talking to Brandon on the phone. Poor thing. He usually just listens to me jabber on and on. I tend to monopolize a conversation. I don't think he minded too much, though; he seemed really, really tired from soccer practice today. In fact, he had already fallen asleep when I called him. Being the amazing boyfriend that he is, though, he stayed on the phone with me no matter how tired he was. Aw.

Anyway, I'm just waiting to see now if Cassi is going to come back over. I do hope so. I'm not the least bit tired. Tomorrow, we're going to go to the flea market, which I've never been to, and then take pictures later in the day. I can't wait! It's been waaay too long since we did that. Cassi is an AWESOME photographer, and I love being her model. It's the only time I get to pretend to be one. Baha.

I think that's all for tonight. What have I learned today? That every day can be a surprise. What I thought was going to be yet another lazy day where I don't even get dressed actually turned into a fun girl's night with my bestie. Good times.