On Updates, Ramblings, and Dinosaurs

I just wanted to give you guys a quick (please emphasize this word in your brains because I mean it) update on what's about to happen...

If you've been following my blog for a while, as most of you have (and by the way, thank you and I love you for still being here even though I'm clearly a terrible and neglectful blogger), you'll probably remember my mini-series last year where I told you all about my family reunion, complete with pictures and all.

Well, that's happening again.

The reunion, not the mini-series. We'll see about any reunion-related material when I get back. Currently I don't technically have a camera so I would have to just write the whole thing and come on, guys - I'm not that entertaining.

So yeah, anyways. I'll be indisposed for the next few days because I'll be gallivanting around the forest and the mountains and having a wonderful time.

Consequently, I will not be writing, and consequently, I will not be posting here.

Which is nothing new.

But now I have an excuse.

So yeah! In case you think of little old me at all over the next week, just know that I really do miss writing stuff here, but I don't want to write all kinds of junk that you don't want to read (*cough* like this post *cough*) so I'm waiting to find my muse. Hopefully it will come at some point soon.

I hope that maybe you'll have some sort of thrilling adventure this week like I expect to! As always, thoughts and prayers are appreciated, especially for safety since even though climbing out to the very edge of a very steep and dangerous mountain precipice is probably not a very good idea, I'm probably going to do it anyway because I am very dumb. And then I will probably do it a few more times for good measure.

And also we have to drive a long way.

Anyways. This got long and rambling.

I hope to be back at the end of my vacation refreshed and renewed and ready to stop letting you guys down all the time, and in the meantime I hope things are lovely and ducky in your corner of the world.

Get it? It's funny because the world is round.

It's a SPECIAL DAY!!!!

You're so special, I got Jane Austen herself just for you. 

Happy birthday Sarah! You know which Sarah you are, and despite the fact that I'm sure some other Sarah has a birthday today, this is a birthday wish special for oh-so-special YOU from yours truly! I have so enjoyed getting to know you and be your friend! I love your humor and encouragement and competition and craziness and weirdness and scariness and gangstaness. :) I hope your day was wonderful!! <3

On running

So guys, I've started running lately. I had kind of started in January (cuz after I volunteered at a half marathon...well let's say I was sort of inspired)
While I certainly haven't become an elite runner or anything, I have improved incredibly! I have run a mile straight through now and I'm gradually building up my endurance. My goal is to do this 5K in May that looks like soo much fun! I know I probably won't be able to run the whole thing straight through but at least I hope to run some of it. And even though most of you guys who read my blog don't need tips from me about running, I would like to share some things that have helped me!

1. FIRST AND FOREMOST: I have had amazing friends (two in particular) who have encouraged and motivated me SO much! Without them I know I would have stopped a long time ago.
2. Get good music to run to. ;) Part of what has helped me is getting Christian songs with lyrics about how God will give you strength, or how He's always with you. When I really want to stop, I think about the words and talk to God and it helps me keep going!
3. Warm-up walk.
4. Stretch afterwards. It'll help keep your muscles from cramping up.
5. Don't push it. All good things come with time and effort. It took me about three months to do a mile. If you overdo it then it'll hinder your progress.
6. When I'm running and my muscles are working so hard and I just think I can't, I remember that God made my body so that it CAN. Even if it's only a little bit longer/faster, that thought always encourages me to do better.
7. Cool-down walk.
8. Don't think about it. When you get that itch and you just wanna run, go put on your shoes right away and get outside before you can talk yourself out of it. Seriously.

And yeah! I'm hoping to stick with this for a long time yet! 

The End

This blog was started in July of 2011, which means I've had it for nearly two years.

And it's been fun, let me tell you! Besides getting to tell you all about the fun things I've done over that short time, I've also been able to share some of my thoughts on more serious things. My blog has been a big part of my life for these couple of years. 

However, all good things must come to an end. I have the SAT coming up in a month, and piano, and all the other things of life that just keep one busy.

And so I must discontinue my blogging. 

Nearly 15,000 pageviews and 338 posts from that first one in July, I bid you all goodbye.

Hopefully someday I can pick it back up again, but until then, I will miss you all. Thanks for making this such a great experience for me!

For Ruth

Happy birthday Ruth! I hope your day is wonderful, special, beautiful, fun, bubbly, colorful, and all those other appropriate adjectives! I'm so thankful that we became friends and you are such a blessing and encouragement to me! <3

Public pianos for Pensacola

So guys, there's this thing happening around town and I'm sooo excited!
It's a new project started by a lady who teaches piano (and harpsichord and a whole truckload of other things) at the University of West Florida and I'm not sure all of the technical details of the whole thing but let me say this, I am so jitterigimously ticklefied! I absolutely cannot wait!!
This lovely thing is that there are going to be pianos all around Pensacola!
PUBLIC pianos!
As in, ANYBODY can play them!
And I played one of them today! As far as I know there are only two thus far and they aren't at their final locations as of yet, but I think this is just the coolest thing! This is something that I've heard about before that I think was done in New York and I was so jealous but now it's happening here! I think I may just hog the piano from the world so nobody else can play and only me.
Anywho, these are like old pianos that have been somewhat restored and painted up really cool! Here's the one that I played today!

 Okay, Geoffrey played too...but that's the cool thing: anybody can do it! Even if you've never had a lesson in your life (which honestly could be somewhat painful in some cases...but I digress)

See the lovely Spanish man photobombing my picture? ;)
It's a gorgeous piece of art, although I can't say it's a particularly lovely piano musically speaking...
This is just getting started but I'm really excited! So keep an eye out for these pianos around the town!
I think this one is going in the Maritime Stadium and there's another one destined for the airport.
Also I played Pirates on this piano today.

A birthday story

Once upon a time there were two girls. They were very good friends, and they liked to laugh and tease each other and talk. The girls were together with their friends for classes one day. The church where they met was surrounded by mysterious woods which begged to be explored. The girls knew that it would be a very bad idea to go in the woods, and they never did. But one day, the girls were tired of not being able to talk just the two of them. Wherever they went, people would follow them. They needed to be off by themselves so they could talk. The first little girl suggested that they go into the woods. The second little girl agreed. And so, despite their better judgment, the two girls started into the woods. They discovered what looked to be a rotted out old chair, probably devoured long ago by termites and raccoons. They continued on through the woods, stepping barefoot over moss and leaves. The girls avoided broken glass and thorns, wasps and spider webs, simply being happy of their opportunity to talk without worry of disruption. Unfortunately, the girls forgot that the adults in charge of them would be very worried that they could not be found. The two girls ventured back around to where the other children were playing in the sunshine. They spotted a very worried mother advancing towards them and walked as a pair condemned. The mother lectured them briefly and put the two girls in timeout together to think about what they'd done. The two girls are very sorry today for what they did, although they don't regret the memory that they made together.

Happy birthday, Bria! Thank you for sticking with me in timeout, and everything else! <3

On my birthday

So today I turn fifteen. That marks a very special occasion. Cuz I'm fifteen. You know what happens when you turn fifteen?
You're old enough to get your driver's permit!! x)
You're the same age as Lizbeth, Jesse, Joel, and who all knows who else! For now...
The song "Fifteen" by Taylor Swift finally applies to you.
So yeah! Also my mommy made me a cake which looks delicious...I think we may have to test it just to make sure though. It is chocolate with chocolate ganache filling, chocolate buttercream, and various chocolate bars all over the top...diabetes in cake form, in other words. But it looks yummy.
So instead of being all selfish and such like I normally would be on my birthday, instead I'm going to post sixteen things I'm thankful for, one for each year and one to grow on! :)
1. My God, my salvation, and the Bible - without these things I would be nothing, doomed to hell. But thank goodness I'm not!
2. My parents - I really don't know where I'd be without them. (Get it?? Cuz I wouldn't BE without them!! LOLOLOLOL)
3. My friends - you all are amazing and I love you so much!
4. Specifically my best friend Allie - she's such a blessing to me!! <3
5. Musicals
6. Chocolate
7. Frisbee
8. Facebook, texting, Skype, blogging - anything that keeps me in touch with everyone I love!
9. Linus - more on him later... <3
10. Jokes, pranks, humor, laughter - it makes my life soo much better!!
11. My grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, random people who I'm not sure are related to me but they always show up at the family reunions, so what can I say - you all keep my life interesting and are so supportive!! You're always there with a hug, or support, or a lame pickup line...
12. My camera
13. Sparkly zebra print socks
14. Squash
15. MUSIC - ANY KIND - it makes me so happy!!
16. ALL OF MY FOLLOWERS!! I LOVE YOU GUYS SOO MUCH!! <3 Thank you all!!

I go spazzo

HAAIII GUIIZZEE!!!
I don't really feel like saying anything deep or meaningful, because I'm just soo excited! This week is gonna be fuunn!! x)
Today I am going bowling...which I have a feeling could warrant a good self-ridicule post at a later date.
Tonight my little sister has a spelling bee...she's nervous...
Wednesday is nothing special...except maybe one teeny little thing...
Thursday we have PE...
Friday we have co-op...and that night we get to go to Fine Arts at PCC to hear the Jaffe family! I'm suuuuper pumped for that, like soo much it's kind of insane...it's just gonna be one boss concert. Legit.
Saturday is gonna be boring as boring goes. And by boring I mean SO TOTES NOT BORING.
So yeah! I'm in a good, crazy mood today, and thusly I pity anyone who has to come in contact with me!
I hope your Monday is going as great as mine is, and that your week will be fun too!
I'm going to shut up and go eat breakfast now.

In which I do a funny

Okay guys, once again I have been gone for a while. I have really meant to be on here more and I've actually thought of some wonderful ideas for blog posts...but I forgot them all. So here we are, and I'm writing about nothing in particular. So I suppose I'll get you caught up on my life and what I've been doing that's keeping me away from you all!
First and foremost is school. I've found high school to be kind of a wake-up call for me. For the first ten years of my schooling, I was used to being able to breeze through my classes, and now that I'm in high school I finally have discovered something : school is hard.
Yeah, big surprise, right?
But I have been very busy with school, mainly my math and literature classes. I'm currently finishing up Algebra I so I can continue with geometry, my main math course this semester. The plan is to get algebra finished so I can take the SAT/PSAT in the near future. I'm also hoping to take the PERT so I can dual enroll at Pensacola State this fall, and possibly summer. (Me doing school over the summer - yeah, right.)
Literature is really fun! I'm seriously enjoying this class, but there's a lot of work. Currently I'm studying for the midterm, which we take tomorrow...kinda nervous, but mostly excited!! I love tests...
Literature is also quite a load because I inherited my dad's procrastination, so it is not a rare occurrence for me to have quite a lot of catch-up reading to do the day before co-op.
Secondly, marshmallows and sugar have been keeping me away from here.
In other words, my peeps. (like the candy...get it???) xD
I just did a funny.
But yes, I've been quite busy doing stuff with my friends! Not complaining here, just explaining! ;) Most of you reading this I've seen recently anywho, so it's unlikely that you missed my blogging presence much!
Thirdly, music has been keeping me away.
Last and least, really...I just needed three excuses because...well, three is a magic number!
I really haven't been kept away from blogging by music, I just wanted to catch y'all up on me!
I won two awards this winter. Yay.
I have a performance coming up in February where I am privileged to accompany my friend and amazing musician Tyler, and then I have a scholarship competition, and then I have a sonata competition, and then another scholarship competition, and then a concerto competition, and then another scholarship competition. And then I think I'm done. Mebbe...
Also I'm performing this Saturday, which I just remembered...so I should probably practice for that.
If I was being honest, I think playing Modern Warfare has kept me away from blogging more than music has, but hey, I have a reputation to uphold, don't I?
So that's been my life as of late!
In other news, twenty days until my birthday! Which also means twenty days until I can drive (legally)!!!
Just wanted to scare you all a little. ;)

Announcement

Hello, my loyal followers whom I love dearly!

Today marks the start of a new chapter for my blog, for today I made a Facebook page for my darling baby!

*sniffle*
My little baby blog is growing up! <3

ATTENTION PEEPS

I REALLY SERIOUSLY AM TRYING TO POST MORE OFTEN.

LIKE LEGIT. 

I think I should be able to soon.

This first week of the year has been crazy, and then I got sick (I'm now getting over it) 

BUT

I'm getting better and things are calming down somewhat now, therefore I should be able to talk to you all more.

I've missed you. Really.