I'm leaving on a jet plane

Exciting news friends!

Tomorrow, the daddio, the little bro, and I are headed off to California.
We are flyin' in to San Fran then headin over to Concord (my birth place) and I have forgotten the rest.
But it's sure to be a fun time (at least I hope).

I'm super pumped.

And not just about the Vacation!
I'm pumped about my new red Toms (a birthday gift from the mom).
I'm super pumped about my new Toms sunglasses (a birthday gift from the boyfriend).

How cute, right?! My guy is the best.

And I'm really super pumped about my new Asus Eee Transformer (a birthday gift from me).

It's like an iPad, but way cooler.
I've barely put it down since I got it. It's so much fun to play with.
It will be entertaining me on the plane ride!
It will also be my only way of keeping in touch with this here bloggity blog.
So I'll try my best to keep you posted on the vacay but I'm not sure how often I'll have wifi.

I hope you're day has been as good as mine!
See ya.



A letter to my mother

Dear Mom,

Can you believe I am 18 today?

Yeah, me either.

I feel so many things as I'm writing this to you.

I feel blessed that I am your daughter.

I feel nervous that I am leaving you soon.

But, mostly, I feel excited that you and I have made it this far.

I certainly would not be the person I am today without your guidance along the way.

Mommy, you are my best friend.

The one that's been by my side right from the start and will never fail to make me smile.

Thank you for teaching me to be independent, confident, and humble.

I have learned so many lessons from you, most of them by watching the way you carry yourself daily.

You are my hero.

The person that I look up to the most.

I'm so scared that in just a few weeks I'll be leaving your side.

Don't worry though, you raised me so well and I know that I'll be fine.

I know that today is one of those big milestones for me, but it's just as big for you.

We did it! Eighteen whole years.

It doesn't feel that long to me.

But I want you to know that were I given the choice, I would still choose you to be my mom.

I couldn't be more thankful that God gave me to you.

You are the strongest woman I know.

I'm so proud to call myself your daughter.

You are the best, Mom! Thanks for everything. Here's to many more birthday's and many more milestones together.

I love you.

- your always loving daughter

I mustache you a question

I'm keeping today's post short n' sweet, but first...

I mustache you a question. (Hah, get it?)

When's the last time you laughed 'till it hurt?

For me, it was today.

Don't ever take yourself too seriously.

Always have room for a little silliness.

Enjoy all the moments that make you laugh.

Today, Keegan and I went to Kroger to get a Redbox movie. We ended up spending a dollar fifty to get three of these awesome mustaches. 

We laughed harder than we have in a while over these silly little stick on mustaches. It reminded me that you don't have to spend a fortune to have a good time. It's the people your with and the moments you have that make life worth living.  Also, the looks on peoples faces when we drove past lookin' like this were absolutely priceless. I love making people laugh.

Enjoy and don't forget to leave room for some silly in your day.

- Natalie

Miscellany Monday

Hello, hello! Today I thought I would try something new. First of all, I'm bloggin' in the mornin'. Well sort of.. It is 2:00 so I guess that doesn't really count as morning. Oh well, I kinda like this change. The brain is more awake at this time. I'm linking up with lowercase letters (another fav blog o' mine). Basically this post is just a collection of random thoughts. Enjoy.

One

 I seriously have a problem with electronics. Anything and everything I ever own goes absolutely insane..

For example, my previous laptop would on occasion have the screen turn completely white and then lines in various colors would rain down creating a rainbow effect on the screen.

 Pretty? Yes. Frustrating? Beyond belief.

 I don't know what it is about me that causes electronic mayhem but it really needs to stop.

Maybe I generate some kind of electromagnetic wave that cause anything electronic in my reachs to become possesed.

Do other's have this problem or am I the only one?

Two

Tomorrow I must venture to the DMV.

 Du du duhhhhh.

 That was me attempting that music from movies when dreaded things happen.. I don't know, just roll with it.

It's time to renew the license. Ick. At least I'll finally get rid of this awful picture

I honestly don't know what went wrong in this picture. I swear that I did not look bad when I left my house.. Also I have no idea why I look so much like an elf. Overall, it was just a bad picture. Hopefully, tomorrow's will be much better.

Three

Now, this next thing is slightly out of charater for me but I just have to share my new love. Yesterday, in my haul of shoes I got the cutest pairs of heels! Being someone that despises shopping, I do not normally talk about cute purchases and such. Especially when it comes to shoes because I normally can't walk in heels. Like seriously,  I look like a duck combined with a girafe. Enjoy that mental image, but first take a look at the shoes

    

I can't wait to wear them. However, I'm pretty sure my mom is classifying them as birthday gifts so I can not actually call them mine until Wednesday.

Four

Tomorrow, the boyfriend and I are taking cute pictures with one of his friends who is an awesome photographer. I am so pumped. I've been wanting them for so long because I need cute pics for the dorm room. I didn't even know if they were really going to happen or not, but I bought a bunch of cute frames to match all my dorm stuff. Too excited? Oh yeah, but I don't even care!

 I can't wait! I'll be sure and share some of the pictures as soon as I get them.

Five

While eating my lunch today, I sat down and watched some tv. CSI Miami was on. It was actually that episode where they crossed over with CSI Vegas. It's a good episode, but while watching I realized how awkward they angles are that they show Horatio at. Poor Horatio.. They do not do him any justice with the camera.

Well, happy Monday folks! I hope you didn't mind me trying something new today. I think I'll keep this one going. I like doing it. Buh bye.

Busy as a bee

Oh, boy! These past four days have been crazy. Thursday was filled with babysitting and errands and a surprise.

A surprise, you say?! How intriguing. Well here it is:

Basically, back in October, I was not the best girlfriend in the world and I kind of screwed up Keegans birthday. To make it up to him, I surprised him with a cake, a balloon, and a present. He was very surprised considering his birthday was, you know, eight and a half months ago. It was a good night.

Thanks for always sticking around even though sometimes I mess up things like your birthday. I promise this years will be better! I love you.

Moving on. Friday, Keegan and I ran errands all day and saw Harry Potter.

Saturday, I ran all kinds of errands with my mom, most of which included shopping (my absolute least favorite thing in the world). We got a ton of stuff at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for college, though! So that was a definite plus. However, my day was not so great over all. I fell asleep and completely forgot to blog. My sincerest apologies to all of you.

This morning, I woke up early and since I could not fall back asleep I decided to check the blog world and see if anything intresting had occured on my accidental day off. I found this post over at Living in Yellow (her blog is my absolute favorite to read. She's hilarious! Check her out.) Erin's message was just what I needed to hear after my frustrations from yesterday. Be positive and you shall be happy. What a simple concept. It's everything I've been trying to accomplish for myself in one little statement. Pretty great. Thanks for posting, Erin!

After that, my mom and I continued our shopping. Bleh. Although, today's shopping was spent mostly at target which I do love, three hours was way too long. However, I got basically everything I need and more. Check out this awesome fridge:

It has a dry erase board on the front! How cool is that?! I can't wait to use it. Plus, I got some really cute clothes that I can't wait to wear. Isn't target the best? [Oh, sidenote, if you have an iPhone, you should really consider investing in a 6 or 10 foot charger because they make life so much more handy. I just got a new one since I managed to break the last one, but they are fabulous!] After target, we hit up DSW and due the super awesome clearance sale going on right now, this chick got herself 5 pairs of shoes for 150 dollars. I suppose technically my mom bought them, but either way it was a deal if you ask me.

The rest of my day was spent enjoying some strange but good movies and discovering I blew a speaker in my truck. Boo. I don't even know how I did it because I never blast music. Hm, a problem to be solved another day. Thanks for reading, leave me a comment! You're awesome. Toodaloo.

The end of an era

It's confesssion time. I have been holding back a secret and it's time that all of you lovelies get to be let in on it...

I am Harry Potter addict.

 I have been since age 7. It was in second grade that I got my tiny hands on the first book of the series. This book took me a while to read, but being naturally competitive I wanted to finish it before all my friends so I trudged through it. After the completion of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I was hooked for life. On my 11th birthday, when an owl did not arrive at my house informing me that I was, in fact, a wizard, I was slightly seriously crushed. Since then I have read every book at least 4 times. I watch the movie marathons on ABC Family. I went to all the midnight book releases and a few of the midnight movie premieres. I went so far as to try and create my own HP fan page. I once even halted my family vaction in Wyoming to get my hands on a newly released book. I made my parents drive me all over creation to find a book store with a copy in stock. Needless to say, they were not happy with me. But I eventually found my copy and spent the rest of the vacation huddled up with Harry. (We're talking SERIOUS Harry Potter problem here people)

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a huge dork, but I am so proud of it. Tonight, I saw the last Harry Potter movie. It was a night full of tears for me. The movie itself made me cry twice. However, the thing that really had me tearing up was the realization that this is the end of my childhood. In 5 short days, I will be 18. Not only is Harry over forever, my days of being sheltered by my parents are over too. I was bawling on the way home. It got a little ridiculous. I'm fine now, only feeling slightly embarassed by my breakdown over Harry Potter.

I guess that's it for now. Here's to the end of this bloggers childhood and the beginning of her great future. (In case your worried, Harry will never be over for me. I got all the books and DVD's. There's no stoppin' this addiction (; ) 

Things I'm Thankful For

Hi friends. I hope things are going as well for all of you as they are for me.

Today was an excellent day. Nothing extraordinary happened, but it was such a great day.

I am happy, carefree, and loving God right now.  

Here's something you don't know about me! I'm a junky for anything and everything that has to do with writing (i.e. pens, paper, journals, day planners, and sharpies.) Almost everynight before I go to sleep, I write in my little green moleskin notebook. I bought it on a whim one day at target, not knowing how much I would come to depend on it. I've never been one to keep a journal/diary. It just wasn't my thing. But this little green notebook has changed me. I know that's a silly thing to say, but it has! I write down everything in this book. It's full of to do lists, goals, and daily thoughts. I don't think I could function without it. Anyways, I almost always write a list of things that I am thankful for in it to put a positive note on the end of my day. I thought I would share last night's list of things with you. 

1. Birthdays: My birthday is Wednesday and today I recieved some gifts in the mail. One was a very pretty necklace from my aunt and uncle. The other was by far the best birthday gift I've ever gotten. When I opened the box, I was initially very confused. It was a box full of random odds and ends. And I do mean random..

Here's a peak:

 It has lego people, a bamboo squirt gun, bandaids, plates, a pirate suit, a wallet with a pickpocket warning on it, and many other items. I had no idea where this came from until I looked at the shipping information and saw this note:

This made me laugh so hard I was crying. I have the best friends in the world. It's not so much the gift itself that made it awesome, but the thought behind it.

This leads me to the next thing I'm thankful today

2. The awesome people in my life: Tansy (the awesome chick who sent the random box) and Keegan are by far my absolute best friends. They keep me sane and I love them to death. I definitely wouldn't be where I'm at today if it wasn't for them!

3. My hair cut: I know I've been going on and on about this hair cut and you're all probably so tired of reading about it, but I really am thankful I did it. Ever since I cut my hair, I've felt so much better than I have in a long time. It helped me let go of a lot of icky stuff I was holding on to and allowed me to feel much happier. That is something to be truly thankful for. I am my own person again. Yay me.

4. A day full of laughter: It's been a long time since I've had a day like the one I had today and I'm so grateful for it. It was productive and fun all wrapped up into one. Basically, it was marvelous.

I've got a great life and lots to be thankful for. Hope I didn't bore ya to death. Nighty night all!

Look who's back

Hello hello! This Red Raider is back from Lubbock and boy did she miss blogging. (It's only been a little over a week and I'm already hooked.)

Check it out! I'm official (:

The drive was long and the orientation was overwhelming. But let me tell you, I could not be more pumped about getting up to the LBK. I thought I'd share with you one of the things that we passed on our drive.

Gotta love Texas, right?

My mom made me pull over so she could take this picture. I'm glad she did though because now I can share the laughs with y'all. Upon returning from west Texas, I have a very, very long to do list. I haven't even started school yet and I already have two tests to study for. This college thing is work people. One of them is just an alcohol education seminar/test thing I am required to take. The other, however, is very daunting. It's the grammar, spelling, and punctuation test. Ahh. I don't want to take it. I'm already worried about it and I can't even take it for three weeks at the least. It basically is considered almost as important as my GPA. Oh, I'm majoring in Journalism in case I forgot to mention that. I'm very excited about it.

Registering for classes was kind of a nightmare but it eventually all worked out with minimal breakdowns on my part. I got the schedule I wanted. All morning classes with the exception of a history discussion on monday afternoons and a freshman seminar on tuesday afternoons. I am very excited to start school. I know thats super nerdy, but what can I say? I'm a big dork at heart.

I'm also very excited to get involved on campus. I plan on going through Rush and being in a sorority and I also want to get involved with the Catholic ministry on campus. I am also considering trying to be on the activities board. They are the people who plan all the fun, free stuff around campus. It seems fun, although I would have to go through recruitment for it and it would probably take up a lot of my time.

On another note, my 15 year old brother just informed me that I am at the age that I will begin to lose my hearing.. I was unaware that 18 is the new elderly. Thanks Conor for aging me about 40 years. Its so kind of you.

Bye friends! Thanks for reading.  

Roadtrippin'

Waddup?!

Tomorrow my mom and I are packing up the truck and heading to Lubbock. Get ready for a 9 hour drive, trucky. It's your first ever roadtrip. Get pumped.



Here's my truck! Don't you love it?! I sure do.  

The reason for the roadtrip? This little blogger is getting oriented. Yup, you heard me. It's college orientation time. Tech's orientation is three days long so it will be a while before you hear from me again. I'm sure gonna miss you awesome people. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret of mine. But don't tell anyone. I don't want it gettin' out. 

 I'm kinda... scared. Is that weird?

Maybe it's silly, but I'm scared everyone is gonna think I'm a freak (Really though.. I am a big goofball) and not want to talk to me. Hopefully, the awesome people at Tech prove me wrong and I'll make lots of friends. Otherwise this whole college thing is not gonna be much fun at all.

Today, in the midst of packing up some stuff and cleaning, Keegan and I took the time to make a super yummy dessert. I got the yummy idea here. Go check it out! It's a layer of chocolate chip cookies, a layer of oreos, and finally a layer of brownie. Super bad for you? Most definitely. Super deliciousness? MOST DEFINITELY!

I thought about taking a picture, but they tasted much better than they looked.

Anyways, in my feeble attempts to make Keegan's mom like me, I took her a plate. My past experiences with her have not been the most friendly considering their pretty much nonexisent. Aside from one nice conversation on the phone, she has never spoken to me. Every time I have ever been to their house, she finds all sorts of reasons to not speak to me or see me. It does wonders for my self esteem, let me tell you..  But today, she was super nice.  I was so thrilled. She gave me compliments and joked around with me. Oh man, it made my day!

I'll leave you puppies with this

It's a lion staring contest. Pretty freakin' cool.
Talk to you on Wednesday! Ta ta for now.

Random ramblings

Hello again. Happy Thursday to all.

Well I did absolutely nothing intresting today. I woke up, babysat, then had some yummy chipotle for dinner.

It tasted awesome. The only problem is because it tasted so yummy, I ate way too much. I now have a huge tummy ache. It just goes to show you that too much of anything is not a good thing.

The other day, I made an excellent discovery. I was Walgreens because I had to go and complain. I ordered 12 pictures and they only gave me 8 of them. Now, normally, I would have just gone online and placed another order and repaid for the pictures. I know that this seems unreasonable but I am the least confrontational person in the world. It was so out of character for me to walk up to the counter and tell the employee about his mix up. But in the spirit of being more outgoing I decided that this was a good way to start. I was very polite about it and he quickly fixed the error for me so all worked out. Anyways, while I was waiting for him to print the other four pictures I was wandering around. I wound up on the candy eisle. I looked up and sitting right there in front of me was this lovely sight:

Oh baby! Yep you're really seeing this. They now sell dark chocolate peanut M&M's at Walgreens! These really are an obsession of mine and not very many places sell them. I guess more people are discovering them though because today when I stopped by grocery store I saw that they now sell them too! If you haven't tried them, you really should. It's heaven in an M&M. 

Well, that's all I got for today. Time for me to snuggle up and watch a movie.  

A Calling

This post will be more serious in nature than the past few have been. I have some things in my heart that I really feel I must say right now. So here we go:

Lately, I've been feeling a calling. As I mentioned in my previous post, there have been so many changes in my life recently. This is a calling for a huge change. A completely different lifestyle than the one I've been living. This is a calling to come back to God. He has been pulling at me for a while and revealing this to me in all kinds of ways. I see blog posts that these incredible women of God post and talk about all the wonders that He works in their lives. One of my dear friends invited me to a girls group discussion tonight and it really opened my eyes to all the things that I've been missing. Which is what led me to writing this message.

Let's rewind a few years. The summer before I went into high school was the first time I truly met God. I knew about God and all the great things that He does but I had never gotten to know Him on a truly personal level. After having this experience with Him, I was left wanting more. For a few years, I was head over heels in love with Jesus and being Catholic. Then suffering really set in for me. My junior year of high school, I was hit with blow after blow. I was knocked down so hard that to this day I have not managed to completely stand back up. Now during this time when God would have been that friend and comfort that I so desperately needed, I turned away. I was angry with Him for all the things that were happening in my life. I wanted to do it alone. I worked hard to pick myself up. I thought I was doing an adequate job, until old feelings began seeping through. I have been knocked down again, not because of anything new, but because all of my old pain is too much for me to handle alone. Still, I did not immediately turn to God even though He was pulling so hard on my heart. I turned to the people who are closest to me. While I felt some relief, it was still hard to carry with me. The crosses I bear are too heavy to be carried alone. Today I am left in this broken, desolate place in need of my Heavenly Father more than ever.

I decided to share this here because I knew that if I put this on here I would be held accountable. I am not living the way that I want to. I do not know Christ. My relationship with him that used to consume me is now barely there. The focus of the girls group that I attended tonight was evangelization. All of these awesome girls were talking about how they want to share the love of Christ that they know with world. The whole time I was thinking to myself, how could I go into the world and share a love that I do not know myself? Doing so would make me a hypocrite. That is when I realized, today is your day. You shall no longer make excuses or rationalize your behavior. I want to feel God's love for me the way I did when I first encountered it. I want to really know Christ. I want the kind of joy that can only be found through knowing God. All of these feelings made me remember a wonderful verse from Song of Songs

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; you have ravished my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one bead of your necklace. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride ~ Song of Songs 4:9-10

If God feels this way about me, how can I not yearn to feel the same towards Him.

So I shall leave you with this: I challenge you to find the thing in your life that you are ashamed of and work towards changing it. Invite God into your lives and let Him show you all He is capable of. For without Him, we would be lost forever.

Things are changing round here

So lately, some big changes have been stirring up in my life. The most recent of these would be cutting off 10 inches of my hair and donating it to Locks of Love. Now, this was a HUGE change for me. In fact, the last time I had hair this short I was in fourth grade. Let's just say, at that time it was not a good look.. I was made fun of for years after. It was a look I swore I would never sport again but something had been pulling at me saying it was time for a change. And here is the new look:

Pretty different, right? (Please overlook the weird wallpaper behind me.. I dont know why it's on our walls.). I absolutely love it! I was so nervous when my hairdresser Anna put my hair in the pigtails and then chopped them off. I had immediate flashbacks of fourth grade and the awful memories.. But luckily, this is a much nicer look than when I was 9. At least I think so.

The next change is one I've stated before but since we are talking about changes it's definitely necessary to mention. I graduated from high school! Unlike some of my classmates this wasn't something I had anxiously been awaiting. I throughly enjoyed high school. It was fun for me and I lived up every minute of it. Ok, the last part may be an exaggeration. Most nights of my junior and senior years, were spent home with my mom or hanging out with my wonderful boyfriend, Keegan.



This is him and I on our recent trip to the zoo



 Basically aside from seeing this good lookin guy, I didn't have much of a social life. I kinda kept to myself especially this past year. My first two years of high school were great! I hung out with friends almost every weekend and I was on the dance team. I loved everything about it. My junior things weren't so hot for me and I slowly began distancing myself from the people in my life. I also made the decision to leave dance team and audition at a studio called Masters Upper Lever. Senior year was spent completely at the studio or with Keegan. It got a little lonely sometimes but it was a nice way to end high school. Speaking of ending high school, I never picked up my diploma.. Whoopsies. I should really find the time to go and pick it up.

Change number three hasn't actually happened yet, but there is talk of it contanstly. This change would be packing up my entire life and moving to Lubbock.



 This is sort of a bittersweet change for me. I am so stoked to go to Tech and be in college. However, I am not so stoked to leave my home of almost 18 years, my mom, or my Keegan. I will be COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone. Me and my mommy have a special relationship. I tell her everything and I wouldn't be the person I am today without her. As for Keegan, he is staying at home for two years and going to school at a college nearby. After two years, he will be transferring to Tech with me. I have no doubts that we will be just fine, but I am not looking forward to not being 5 minutes away from him anymore. It's scary because whenever I'm having a bad day or feeling a little down he is always there to set me straight again. Things will definitely be hard, but I have faith that we can do it. If you're reading this, I love you babes.

Now the next change I want to talk about is a little different from these last few. It's more about me. I can be shy and quiet, especially if I am uncomfortable in my surroundings. I am somewhat of an introvert. I internalize all of my feelings and I tend to keep things to myself. I can also be super awkard. Most of the time it's not on purpose. These are all qualities that I am not so fond of. I know that they are part of what makes me who I am but some days I wish they were different. So the change here is that I am working on become more outgoing and less awkward. I've actually gotten much better. I just know that once I move to Lubbock, I won't be surrounded by people who already know me. I'll have to make all new friends and in order to that I can't be shy and quiet all the time. Also, I've learned that internalizing your feelings leads to worse feelings down the road. My advice, let your feelings out when you feel them or risk major meltdowns later.

And that my friends is what we call some major life changes. Pretty crazy stuff.

Storytime

Why hello there!

Here's a super awesome story for you. Ok, maybe not super awesome but certainly exciting. Now.. Let me preface this story by saying that due to my being 17, I have not had much expierence with bar fights or things of that nature. That said, this story is probably way more exciting to people who do not have past history of being around when fights break out in resturants. Now on to the story.





Two weeks ago, my mom and I went to Vegas for my last national dance competition (I told you.. it was my whole life). We stayed at the Flamingo. 



And these are the flamingos. Pretty awesome, my friends.

Anyways, one morning we got up and went downstairs to get some breakfast. She got some cinnamon roll french toast also known as heaven in a breakfast food. I was boring and got potatoes.  We were sitting there chatting and enjoying our nice quiet breakfast, when a man (let's name him Mark) a few tables away begins drinking A1 steak sauce (Drugs? most definitely..). Well, apparently Mark finished off the steak sauce because he began shouting loudly at his waiter requesting another drink. Certainly what he needed most. He was yelling some awfully profane things that do not need to be repeated especially on this little blog. Now, the couple sitting at the table next to him were offended by Mark's language as were most people in the vicinity. The older man (we'll call him Richard) requested that Mark please contain himself. At this point, the drugs overcame him and Mark angrily sprang to his feet pushing all of the items on his table onto the floor, flipped over a table, and began shouting at the Richard. Now, the situation would most likely have been solved resonably had the Mark not escalated the conversation by spitting on poor Richard. Well, little did we know, Richard has a fighting streak in him. As Mark takes off out the resturant, not before throwing a metal coffee pot at an innocent waitress, Richard tears off after him. Three men at a table nearby spot all of the commotion and sprint out of the resturant after Richard and Mark. Richard and the three men tackle Mark to the ground, pinning him there until security can get there. This is where the excitment of the trip ends.

So, pretty awesome, right? My momma and I certainly thought so.

Other awesome events of the trip

Look LIONS! (they're in the background.. I am clearly not a lion)

Close up lions.

We found these lions by accident, while trying to figure out how to ride the monorail. It just so happened we arrived right when the lion trainer was giving his presentation. Awesome accidental timing on our part if you ask me.

M&M world. I got me some dark chocolate peanut!

I've never seen so much relating to M&M's in my life, but man was I in heaven. By the way, three floors of M&M related things is a lot of stuff. And when I say a lot.. I mean it. They even had a 3D M&M movie. Overkill? Maybe a little.

Petting a sting-ray. Super cool, yo.

We walked for probably a mile through Mandalay Bay to find this aquarium. It's hidden in the back corner if you're curious.. But anyways, I pet a sting-ray. I was feeling pretty cool.

And that plus 3 days of dancing was our trip to Vegas.
Awesome, dude.



And now introducing...

Well blogging world, here we go.
Let my introduce myself.

I'm Natalie.
I'm from a little place known as Sugar Land, Texas.
I have a 15 year old brother named Conor. My parents are divorced.
In the fall, I shall be moving up to Lubbock, Texas, and attending Texas Tech.
I lead a pretty average life. Nothing too extraordinary here.

{Here's a little background info to prove my point}

1. Birth: Concord, California. We moved to Sugar Land, TX, a mere six weeks later. I've been in the
          house ever since.

2. Age 3: First ever dance class. Soon to consume my entire life.

3. Age 4-17: Dance, dance, dance, and more dance. Here's the breakdown 

 Time spent with family: 20%
 Time spent with friends: 10%  

 Time spent sleeping: 20% 

 Time spent dancing: 50%

4. Age 17: Dance ends, blog begins.

So as we can see, dance is all I've ever known. Don't worry, I did have a few spare

moments in there to try other things such as swimming, soccer, and my personal favorite

tae kwan doe. However, my COMPLETE lack of hand-eye coordination always led me right back to dance.

Well, I guess that's it, my entire life in a nutshell. Kinda boring, huh?
I promise I'm slightly more intresting than my life has been up to this point. At least I would sure hope so. 

To prove it to ya here are few of my favorite things:

Making lists, peaches, reality tv (I know, I know.. It's super trashy, but it's so entertaining), sunflowers, dark chocolate peanut m&m's, getting pedicures, writing, being in the sun, laughing, spending time with my sweet mommy, swimming, chick-fil-a, traveling, bows, taking pictures, toms shoes, diet coke, reading books, awkward moments, playing fetch my doggy, Gilmore Girls, cooking, and baking. 

There ya have it, the things that make me happy. See, I'm not a complete loser (although, I'm sure my brother would disagree).

Now, you may be asking,"what's a sheltered little girl like you doing blogging with the big girls and boys?". This my friends is an excellent question and here is your answer:

I want a place to share with you all the things that make this life a little
brighter. I believe no matter how old we are we are still growing up. I'm
only a teenager but I have big thoughts and dreams. I'm far from being perfect,
but I think that makes things more fun. I hope that this blog will help
me share with you my journey in learning more about this crazy little thing
called living.

PS. I'm not the best speller in the world and there are bound to be mistakes. Please bear with me!