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.

Day Four; Separation Anxiety.

Assumptions were correct; school was canceled today, and it's going to be canceled again tomorrow. Sitting around the house today was uneventful besides the fact that everyone seemed to be yelling at each other. I, on the other hand, found peace in lounging in my bed all day reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, bundled up in blankets and cuddled up to the bee that you see above.

That bee is extremely special to me. It was given to me by my boyfriend and best friend, Brandon Buchanan. Today, I found myself squeezing that bee just a little tighter and staring at my promise ring just a little longer than usual. I'm missing him quite a bit. He's grounded, too, so I'm not going to get to see him this weekend. I don't really know how to explain how much that has made my stomach hurt today. That's why I have chosen to write about him.

As I mentioned yesterday, he had a bad day. The truth of the matter is, he's had a bad week. Every time I have talked to him this week, he's sounded so sad. I just wish I could do something to make him happier, and I know the only thing that would is if I magically showed up on his doorstep, something that is impossible with him being grounded. When he's sad, I'm sad. When he's happy, I'm happy. That's what happens when someone is your everything. And that's what he is to me. I don't care if you think that I'm just some high school girl who "thinks" she's in love. I am. And I will be for...well, ever. No one has to believe me on that except him. And he does.

Brandon is different from anyone I know. He's hilarious; anyone will tell you that. But the side of him that I know best is his sweet, loving, spoiling, caring side. He loves to see me happy. He never forgets to tell me he loves me, and he does small things all the time to let me know he loves me. The hour between us makes things hard. We only get to see each other on weekends, but we did get to spend most of Winter Break together; that was simply amazing.

This post is really just my way of expressing my hope that Brandon's days get better. I'm feeling really crappy that there is absolutely nothing I can do from 74.79 miles away to make him happy like I can when I'm right next to him. I hope he will read this post and smile just a little smile for me. I love you, Brandon. More than anything.

And that, my friend, is what my day has centered around: my feelings for that boy. The way I miss him, love him, and need him to be happier. Tonight, I will fall asleep cuddling with my bee like I always do, and I will be thinking of him. That's the way my life works.

Day Three; Hair Catastrophe.

I was totally and completely looking forward to making a post dedicated to my wonderful boyfriend whom I have been waiting to talk about. That post will have to come a different day, however. Something else just happened in the past couple of hours that made me completely refocus.

I have dyed my hair... I don't know how many times. Each time has been pretty successful (except once when I was in the eighth grade and turned my hair a nasty color). Today, I decided to take my nearly black hair and dye it a lighter shade of brown, a chocolate color. I was also going to put some red highlights in it. Before I did the highlights, I did the base color. Actually, I didn't do anything. My best friend, Cassi McGillvray was doing my hair for me. That's right. She dealt with my hair disaster today. On January 6th. Her BIRTHDAY. And this was AFTER she had cooked me a lovely dinner on her BIRTHDAY! Well anyway, little did we know, a disaster was on the way.

I rinsed out my hair and used the "after-color conditioner" like I was supposed to. When I got out, I stared in the mirror in horror. My roots had taken the color much more than the rest of my hair had. My roots were a light brown, orangish color, and the rest of my head was still covered in nearly black hair.

Throwing on some decent clothes, I forced Cassi back out in the freezing cold to head back to Wal-Mart for more dye. I ran in, got the dye, and ran back out to the car. Being the amazing friend that she is, she re-dyed my hair for me. The picture above is us while waiting for the new black dye to settle in my hair. Yeah, we're pretty funny. Thankfully, my hair ended up back to normal. The red highlights will wait a few days.

Other than that, I had school and work today. The reason I was going to choose today to make a post about my boyfriend was because he had a really bad day today, and I was thinking about him more than usual, hoping that his day would get just a little bit better 74.79 miles away from me. I don't think it did. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for the most important person in my life. I love you.

Well, it's snowing outside (in case you wanted a weather update). I'm hoping it will either snow or sleet enough to get school canceled. Most people assume it will. But you know what they say about assumptions...

Day Two; practically frostbitten to death!

Whoever was looking out for our little town's students yesterday wasn't doing the same today. We woke up to the ground still being covered in frost but without our school listed on the closings list. It really wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't a dedicated choir student. Our choir building is sadly separated from the rest of our school, and we have to walk our little butts down there each day during fourth period, even in the bitter cold. Today was no different. I walked, looking at the snow that covered our practice field. That's what you can see in my picture. I felt like my toes were about to fall off because, for some absurd reason, I decided to wear ballet flats today. I need to invest in more sturdy footwear for times like these.

Things got worse, though. When I got to choir, the heat was out in that building. Shivering, we made our way to the home-ec room and sat there doing nothing. My freezing cold quest to the choir room had been for absolutely nothing. Oh, the irony.

The freezing cold temperatures are supposed to continue this week. In fact, most people figure we won't have school AGAIN on Thursday: snow is predicted for the entire state. Friday, well...that's questionable.

I can't believe I've already resorted to talking about the weather. It's the only thing on my mind right now, though. Besides the usual stuff...my boyfriend and how much I miss him, Harry Potter, and all the other stuff that goes around with high school life. Speaking of high school, guess what I think is hilarious? High school girls, myself excluded. That's all I have to say on that subject.

I had a couple of people today tell me that they read my blog. Here's an idea. Make an account on the handy website you're reading this on. Comment on it. I'd like to know what people have to say about my life. Is that creepy?

Project 365 begins; January 4th, 2010.

I have never really written a blog before, but the idea has always appealed to me. I couldn't resist it anymore when I saw my friend Sarah's post on Facebook about doing a Project 365. For anyone not in the loop, this is when someone takes a picture for every day of the year. It can be anything, but it's supposed to be something that goes on in your day. The purpose is to be able to look back on a year in your life. I'm hoping that by the end of this year, I'll see some personal growth within myself. I should see that anyway. I am a high school senior, college-bound in the fall as a Journalism major. This will be a year of change for me, and I'm greatly looking forward to it.

Starting with today, though. Today is January 4th, 2010. It should have been my first day back to school after our blissful winter break. Someone was looking out for us, however; the first day back was canceled due to snow! What better way to elongate Christmas break than a snow day? I spent the day reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I have decided to reread the series for the bajillionth time. I honestly have no clue how many times I have read those wonderful books at this point, but I do know that I get something new out of them every single time. That explains the picture that will go with this post. That was, by far, the most important thing I did today.

Other than that, I cleaned a little, did some laundry, took care of my turtles (Gandhi and McGurt) and my dogs (Oliver and Zoe). I had a delicious spaghetti dinner thanks to my wonderful mother.

Here's the thing: I really don't think anyone will read this, but I also really don't care. I'm doing this for myself. Sarah has the right idea. Documenting a year is something productive. I'm ready to see how much I grow and change, develop and learn. Project 365 starts now, with day one.