Summer Girl

the amethyst and the candles

2012-02-12T10:18:00.001-05:00

***

emma's gifts

1. A beautiful necklace with an amethyst, my birthstone, in the center, given to me for my fifteenth by my grandparents. Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? :)

2. A whole set of seven candles from my mother, for a spa day, to remind me of the beach. I lit them in the bathroom while taking a bath -- I plan on doing that again very soon.

PS -- new design, isn't it lovely? Thank Hannah! I highly recommend her if you need a design -- she's so easy to work with and puts up with all my crap because I'm lazy. :)

also, I very much enjoy this cartoon. Don't ask me why. I just find it hysterically funny.

emma hates metal

2012-02-08T20:53:00.000-05:00

Picture this:

1. Orthodontist appointment. 6 months till braces off. What?! Yippee! Imagine your brand-new, sparkling white, metal-free mouth. 6 months away!

2. Dentist appointment. "hmm, it's going to be at least a year before they come off. You've got some serious cross-bite in your back left molars, and that needs to be fixed. Yep, about a year."
....
all dreams of sparkling white teeth gone.
Gone.

3. Still at dentist: "Oh, and did I mention that your gums are growing up in between your brackets? Yep, that's not a good thing. So here's another really expensive dentist machine that will massage your gums, and you need to buy it because you certainly don't want to look like a freak."
(I'm paraphrasing, but that's basically the gist of what she said.)

4. Finally convinced to spend way too much for that stupid little gadget called a WaterPik. No, not pick... "PIK". No "c". It makes it special and fancy-sounding.

5. Get home, try it out.

6. Spew water all over the mirror.

7. Watch your dad laugh at you (actually on the floor) while you attempt for the eightieth time. And make really, really odd faces while trying to hold the water in your mouth.

8. Swear on all you care about that you will make your gums pay for this suffering.

Oh, and your dentist and orthodontist, for building up and then totally crushing your dreams.

Thanks, guys. One more year of metal. Oh how I hate it.

emma

recently, life has gone a little like this

2012-02-05T12:40:00.000-05:00

Finally, some snow/ice. It's melted by now, but today it's cold, so we'll see where that takes us!

***

Chicken noodle soup while writing essays. Chicken noodle soup = amazing, essays = not so much....

I always get a can of this when I run an errand with my dad. It's kind of a working tradition. It's just so good....

***

The best chocolate chip cookies ever. The trick is to painstakingly (until you want to murder the chocolate) shave off little curls of bittersweet chocolate and thread it through the dough, so when you get the cookies there is chocolate in every bite. It's like a slice of heaven, trust me.

If there is a request for the recipe, I will gladly give it.

***

self-explanatory:

***

Perfect hair on the weekends. ONLY on the weekends...

***

I'm just a girl who likes to spend her time doing puzzles...

***

best bagels you've ever eaten.

that's my life recently... how's yours?

emma

get out your rainbow colors

2012-02-03T16:54:00.000-05:00

Twelve years ago today, I rushed into my parents' room at 7:00 AM to look in their mirror. I saw myself staring back and sighed, relieved. "Thank goodness," I said. "I thought being three would make me look different."

fifteen. 15. viisitoista. quindecim. quinze. vijtien. quince.

Fifteen years ago today, I was a pink mass, held tenderly by my mother and father, the first child of two. Did they know? How I'd turn out to be, playing piano, taking photographs, still loving soccer, making hard decisions, starting high school.

Did they say "I hope she turns out good." or "I know she'll be the greatest."?

Did they say, "Will she be goofy?" or "Whatever she becomes, we will be proud of her. Even if she is extremely odd."?

my new fake hipster sweater (early birthday present this morning): Urban Outfitters shirt: J Jill leggings: Hue awkward staged laugh: yup, I went there.

Did they say, "I want her to be just like me." or "I can't wait to see the new person she becomes."?

Did they know they would make me my great grandmother's biscuits every morning of my birthday? Wake up at 5:30 to make my day special?

Did they know that one day blueberries would be my favorite fruit, and that they'd top off the biscuits with said blueberries?

Did they know that the amount of love they could give me, more than I can express, would be much more than enough to raise me the way I am? And did they know that they'd love me and support me, whatever I might become?

Because they have.

And I am so grateful.

Happy birthday, me.

emma

(a now fifteen-year-old who can't wait to get that learner's permit.)

around the house

2012-02-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

First off, let me apologize for my lack of posting... homework has been nuts recently and I went to a ski retreat last weekend, providing no time for posting... or homework. Whaddyaknow?

It's been 60 degrees out here. 60 degrees. Okay, um...? It's the beginning of February. We haven't had more than an inch of snow yet.

But that does lead to a nice picture of a crocus that's growing in our yard. AT THE BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY.

So, my folks, a little post about my daily life seems in order. I actually just went around taking pictures of things for your (and my) enjoyment, so you are kind of obligated to enjoy. Got it?

Hehe.

Obviously, since I am in my third quarter of high school, the college letters start rolling in. Blah, blah, blah... This one actually said that there was an online test "designed specially for you!" Who wouldn't want to go there if they design special tests for you -- and ONLY you -- online?
Can you see the letters dripping with sarcasm?

Interruption... Grr. I'm in a bad mood. It probably started today in English... We were all looking at the characteristics of epic poems, and began to read the Odyssey and suddenly this girl goes "Wait, is the Odyssey an epic poem?!"
....
Are you really that stupid?!

Anyway, this should cheer me up. If you've ever seen Doctor Who, you know that episode with Donna and the Adipose? Well, for Christmas our family got three little Adipose stress toys. They're adorable, yo. I just want to squeeze their little fat cheeks!
(Haha. Punny.)

I mean, come on, they probably even rival my little Jem and Scout soap dolls.

Hold up, this 60 degree weather is like... it's like strawberry-eating weather.

Excuse me, I believe Groundhog Day is tomorrow. We're not even supposed to know whether spring will come early yet. EXCUSE ME.

Here are two pictures that I very much like. I don't know why. I just do. Don't you?

And here are some more pictures that I like. From the fall. I walked home alone that day and I luckily brought my camera, giving me some pretty great fall pictures.

And to add on to that, when I was walking home one day last week with my friends, we saw a couple police cars go by and a helicopter overhead, topped off by reaching a stretch of houses to find three K9 units of police parked outside a certain house. Woo! Scary. I don't live in a really ghetto neighborhood. So of course, little white girl taking a cell phone picture of something she'll probably never see again. Hehe.

My friend, the same one who took white girl pictures with me, also bought me this shirt for Christmas. I love her to death. Because tacos, after all, are the most versatile fruit. (don't clicky the linky unless you are alone and are okay with mild swearing...)

yes, I know you're bored with this post, but.... PUZZLE! Puzzle = done. My grandparents got my dad this puzzle of the front page of the New York Times the date of his birth (pretty cool, eh?) and we finally finished it. That thing was hard, lemme tell you.

okay, last thing, i promise. because i need to finish my homework. oops. i forgot capital letters. eh.
oops, i also forgot what i was going to say. lazy and tired = not a good post. so i hope you all enjoy your fabulous wednesday (don't forget -- new jenna marbles video is up today folks!) also don't clicky the linky if you are not prepared, as aforementioned. ooh! a big word.

peace to all and to all a good night!
emma

the traveling womb

2012-01-23T14:44:00.000-05:00

Last spring, my mother came to the hospital in severe pain and ended up having a hysterectomy, or having her uterus removed. It was a pretty rough road of recovery but she has been up and running for a long time now.

So for Christmas, my aunt got her this pink plush uterus from iheartguts as a joke:

Obviously, my mother loves the womb and enjoys throwing it at me and my friends when we're least expecting it. (last week, she caught us on the way to school and chucked it at us and screamed "WOMB SERVICE!")

Before that, though, she liked to hide it in various places around the house for us to find. The womb now travels and I have no idea where it is currently...

(christmas tree)

(linen closet)

(my pillow....)

This one and the next were actually my getting back at her; this is in her pre-planned teaching outfit and the one below is in her sock basket.

There you go.
Isn't my mother just hilarious? *rolls eyes...*

enjoy your womb service!

emma

because this was my finest moment...

2012-01-21T16:44:00.000-05:00

...i wanted to post it.

2008 halloween costume.

that's right people, i was a glue bottle.

where did all my creativity go?!

emma

why i hate being a femina

2012-01-17T20:26:00.000-05:00

I hate morons. I hate Mondays (technically it was one today). I hate being a woman. I hate midterm exams. I hate my english teacher.

I wish, I really wish, that this had happened to me today, that some guy had yelled at me so that I could scream at him and get out everything that has been bottled up in one good loud rant.

I hate being a woman. Men, don't you dare think that you have it off worse. You do not. Trust me. It's not even just the pain. It's the one-thing-your-brother-says that sets you off and then you don't know what the heck is happening as you sit upstairs sobbing, eating chocolate and wrapped in a blanket.

At least there was something good today. I found out how to write my name with butterflies!

Yeah. Skill.

I'm off to finish studying my rear end off for this bio exam. I am so doomed. Wish me luck.

emma

if you didn't catch it, "femina" = "woman" in latin. just if you're not cool enough to take it.

so this...is my life.

2012-01-13T18:38:00.001-05:00

not mine

Hey-lo all Internets folk! I'm proud to say I've been on the computer for two hours and counting. Lalala. I'm feeling the hype from Jenna Marbles and the drunkenness from Hannah Hart... plus the midterm and schedule stress and this is me:

My face was supposed to be in this, honestly, but I didn't feel the energy needed to lift my head up and stare blankly into that little green dot at the top of the computer. My cellular respiration must be down. Make more ATP, cells!

I mean seriously, how do they expect us to write a whole English essay, do seven exams, worry about scheduling and study for the Geometry quiz that my teacher smartly decided to give us next Friday?

That's when I come home and eat cookies, like this one that my friend gave me for the sucky Monday we all had. She's wonderful. And vegan, did I mention that? Now, normally I eat vegan food with shaky fingers, but these mint chocolate chip cookies are delicious. Absolutely positively freaking awesome.

So beyond the art of perfect cookies, I'd like to talk about a couple things here.

One is the very rough, insightful, deep topic of belts.

yeah heck no that is not me. i ain't that skinny, fools. i got some meat on mah bones. source

Belts are kind of essential to my lifestyle. This is why: large sweatshirt + jeans + converse = emma. And without a belt, I can't function in jeans. Even if they fit perfectly well. It's kind of a problem.

If I don't have a belt, I find myself paranoid that my pants will fall down and I will be forever shamed and shunned by everyone in the world, so I walk like this:

And then, after asking to go to the bathroom and finding a space in the hallway near the lockers so no one in the classrooms can see me, I do this....

to pull them up. This is actually quite painful, so I suggest you don't do it.

The other way I successfully pull my pants up is dance three beats: "hup, hup, oooohhhhh...." like at the beginning of the Black Eyed Peas song "Pump It" (commonly found on Just Dance 3, which I am totally beast at).
The technique is called the Hop. Preferably called the Emma Hop, but you know, whatever floats your boat.

Two notes: 1) my feet are legitimately a good deal off the ground here -- that's how serious I am about the Hop. Unfortunately the bottom was cut off. and 2) I don't actually wear blah sweatshirts, but it has my school name on it and I'd rather not disclose that information. Teehee.

And the Hop is continued until you are sure your pants will stay up for the amount of time it takes to get to the bathroom (approx. 30 seconds) to do it again. Usually, this is still painful as your jeans might ride up in the back end and hurt like a son of a.

And the amount of times I repeat it to get my jeans high enough usually results in a blur of awesomeness that can only be accomplished by me.

***

Um.. so actually, I just kind of ran out of things to say. Except for this:

Guys, I can now officially back-braid my hair! As in not needing to pull it to the side to braid from the front. Do you know how happy this makes me? Now on to learning to French braid my own hair and I'll be a braiding champ. Fishtail, French braid (on others), and regular braids front and back are accomplished. I deserve some sort of award.

And for your enjoyment, here are two pictures that I very much like. I had, uh, just discovered the Aperture Priority setting on my camera. Oops.

Happy happy happy Friday! Even if it is the 13th. Unluck to you all and a good night!
emma

how to score in a photoshoot using an ice cream cup and photobooth

2012-01-09T18:31:00.000-05:00

I know you've all probably been waiting for a post to help you better your fashion photoshoots. Well, I'm here to help you with a prop: the ice cream cup. It's pretty prestigious, so I suggest you keep up. Ahem.

1. Arch your eyebrows very high and widen your eyes while sucking exhaustingly on the straw. Make sure your eyes are red and watery from walking home in the cold outdoors for the full effect.

2. Switch to b&w to mix it up. Then, stick the straw painfully up the bottom of your lip and make you're making a surprised expression. Maybe... if your brother came home announcing he was pregnant. Yeah, use that.

3. The trick here is to pretend the cup is your best friend. Make sure you've set Photobooth on "Color Pencil" so that the full focus is on your face and your new BFFL.

4. Again, drink your milkshake (or whatever be the contents of your cup) and act like someone just came up to you and proposed. Also you might need to put that creepy glow effect to continue surprising your viewers.

5. Act like you're selling this wonderful, splendid, non-biodegradable and earth-killing cup on TV and pose as such. Then make a face like all you want is that cup. A "sexy" face would be good.

6. After you're exhausted from that terribly taxing photoshoot in your chair that probably took five minutes, sprawl back and protrude your stomach to show how much you've eaten. (I.ate.a.lot.no.joke.SO.MUCH.)

7. Since you're bored from the milkshake, eat a sausage.

You're welcome.

emma

twenty twelve realizations

2012-01-03T15:40:00.002-05:00

So, the world is going to end this year.

Yep, it is. Totally. Most definitely.

*rolls eyes*

But anyway, it's 2012. (Literally just wrote 2011 and had to backspace.) I ended the year with a fabulous trip to South Carolina, a celebration of everything with my cousins and family -- also an outstanding loss in Bananagrams tournament (it was 13-10 at the end of two days) with my aunt. Then, my friends and I gathered for just a small, fun New Year's Eve, cooking gourmet vegan meals (complete with turning the blender full of tomato sauce on without the top secured) and watching Lady Gaga fail at her Times Square performance. To top it off, a friend's mom came in at 12:01, January first with a vuvuzela to scare us out of our pants. Fun, right?

Here's what I've discovered as the new year rolls in.

I'm hopelessly uncool. Like seriously, seriously uncool. I'll give you a list of why that is.

I can beat every one of you at Just Dance 3, only if it's Party Rock Anthem or Pump It (by Black Eyed Peas). No joke. I am beast and you just can't stop me.
Currently I'm sadly watching a pile of ice in my postage stamp of a backyard wishing it was a ginormous, door-blocking snow fort. Apparently my Jedi powers don't extend to frigid precipitation.
...and that's another blatant reason for my uncoolness.
OHMYGOSHYOUGUYSTHEREAREFLURRIES! NOT KIDDING! Take that, weather!
I take sweatshirts from my mother so that I don't always wear the same sweatshirt to school. I like to mix it up a little, you know? Since winter seems to be just adding flubber to my stomach, I feel that if I don't have the heart to try for a tank top and jacket then I can at least switch up my sweatshirts. Yeah, okay, we'll pretend that's a logical explanation. Ahem.
I don't have Uggs. There, I said it. I've got Fuggs. (Fake-Uggs, in case you didn't know.) *gasp!* I just really don't feel like spending five billion bucks on a pair of boots. I'm sure they're fabulous and warm, but whatever.
My blog isn't on Tumblr.

My hair isn't long and luscious. It's somewhat frizzy, somewhat static-y. (does anyone else hate the static? it's always stuck to my neck!) I don't have layers. My hair isn't blond.
I'm pretty sure I got a grand total of about seven things Doctor Who-related for Christmas. An Adipose stress toy, two "don't blink" shirts, and an emergency bowtie are some of them. Any Whovians out there seen the Christmas special? Was it not just wonderful?
I've still got braces.
I am so-o-o-o-o bad before the wonderful feminine week of the month. So bad. For all I care, people could just all die that week.
I have had a navy pair of Converse for a year and they're already falling apart. My last pair I had to Duct tape.
I'm not vegetarian or vegan. Love me some steak and bacon.

What I post isn't beautiful, it isn't deep or really every thoughtful. (Although I can say, a lot of thought goes into what I write, and I spend at least an hour on each post. Granted, that's when I should be doing homework. And sometimes I churn out absolute crap. But whatever.) It's not a loving-each-minute-of-my-life kind of blog. It's more of a hating-Mondays-and-all-things-not-summer-related kind of blog. It's an Emma-blog. Totally and completely me. This is me at school, at home, with friends. I'm armed with a 300-dollar point-and-shoot Canon and know how to use it.

I wear Latin sweatshirts and I rock it. I still have a pair of hospital pants from a year-ago trip to X-ray my knee and I got an oboe for Christmas. These are the reasons I'm uncool.

And those are the reasons why I'm me.

emma

best of

2011-12-31T10:16:00.000-05:00

Hmm. Yes, so it's New Year's Eve.... big partay tonight, yada-yada-yada. And to add onto the traditions, I'm going to carry on a blogger tradition and post my favorite pictures from 2011.

(The alternate title to this was "looking back". If I had written that on paper, I would have colored in some googly eyes inside of the o's, because I can never - I mean never - write the word "look" without googly eyes.)

In no particular order, here are my favorites. Many of them were taken at the beach, but a lot were from different settings. Enjoy, because apparently this is the last full year we all have to live, is that right? :)

happy new year everyone! i love y'all to death.
emma

the christmas break post

2011-12-24T10:20:00.001-05:00

Well, folks, it's finally winter break for me!

I think I might sue everyone who decided that we should go to school the day before Christmas Eve (a day I like to call Christmas Adam). I wore my flaming red fleece pajama pants as a protest.

And under the strain of so many people saying "I got you a present yesterday!" and me saying "oohh I don't have anything for you", I reluctantly made tons of cookies to give out in little baggies.

Curse the Christmas spirit.

I don't like people.

It's why I blog.

So here's why I'm posting. I'm going to show you proof of my genius and professional fashion photo shoots. Feel free to laugh at me. I'm actually kind of making fun of myself here.

LAUGH DARN IT LAUGH!

Yeah. That's usually what happens when I try to show you all my outfits. Oops....

And there are some very quick Christmas carols for you in my helium voice. We finally got rid of the balloons from my dad's birthday a month ago... Teehee.

Happy, happy Christmas Eve everyone! I'll post again as soon as I can. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas morning, afternoon and evening, and if you're not Christian, enjoy your own winter holiday or just rejoice in the break.

(notice the "happy Christmas"? I'm trying to be British. I've actually kind of convinced myself, oddly enough..)

Happy holidays!
emma

toilet paper and other important things

2011-12-17T12:42:00.000-05:00

I'm suffering from PWBS.

It stand for Pre-Winter-Break Syndrome.

Yes, I still have a week of school to go.

So in the midst of my depression, I made a vlog. You can see the PWBS reflected in my anger.

Enjoy.

As I'm technology slow, I can't figure out how to make that dumb movie box bigger, so y'all gon have to click the link to watch it fully.

Ta-ta for now!

emma

thumb jamprints, jum thambprints, and my interior decorating skills

2011-12-14T21:41:00.000-05:00

Alternately titled various points of excitement, christmas edition.

***

My father... is wonderful. Seriously. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Aww, so sweet, right?

Wrong.

No, I couldn't live without his jam thumbprints. They're... let's see, you've heard the expression "it's like biting into heaven" or something of the sort? They're better than that. And they only come out at Christmastime, so it's an even better experience.
Let's count how many times I said "better" in that sentence, shall we?

We like to call them thumb jamprints. Sometimes jum thambprints. It makes us laugh.
Yeah, I know we're cool. You didn't have to tell me.

***

Now, let's get to it: I have interior decorating skills. Maybe it's my calling. Emma, the interior decorator!

...no.

But this is what I transformed the coat corner of my living room into. From this:

To this:

Lovely. lovely, lovely lovely. I'm pretty proud of myself. I could open my own business. Someone make me a business card for The Lovely Interior Decorating Business Started By the Famous Emma From Summer Girl.

again, ..... no.

And I didn't do this display (I know, I know, I can't believe they look good without me!), but I like tickling those ivories with the police box and Santas and such on the top of the piano.

***

And finally, something big happened today.

Very big.

...

They re-did a square on my sidewalk! It was all wet when my friend and I found it on the walk back from school this afternoon, and who finds a wet cement square in perfect condition? No one, or very rarely. So we put our initials. But that's not all! Oh-ho no.

Someone had stepped in it when we found it, which sparked our interest. We decided we had to cover it.

And then... initials.

And, well, some art. We got a bit carried away. But who knows? Wouldn't it be awesome to be walking along and see a beach on your sidewalk?

I know my mind would be blown.

And, for closure, here's a lovely picture I took of our Christmas tree. I'm starting to like my flash. We'll see where such business takes me.

11 Days until Christmas! How are you spending yours? Decorating sidewalks? Or nothing as cool as that? :)

emma

this post isn't actually about me!

2011-12-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

Well... sort of.
Okay, it's like... half about me. Which is crazy, since I'm always so un-self-centered (?), and I know you're going to be in shock for a couple days.

...

So here is my predicament. I have currently much money in my closet, saved up for a camera. Except for I need 300 more. And I would love to have that camera by Christmas.

This is what I'm looking at. Any suggestions?

The situation: my relatives want to donate money for the camera as my Christmas present. But I don't know if I want the money. I want my camera by Christmas, yes, but I'd feel better if I saved it myself. There haven't been a lot of babysitting opportunities that have shown up this school year (last year I had a regular job), so the saving has been slow. It's been hard... (look! Forever 21! Let's go in, you don't have to buy anything, but we'll see what they have. .... that shirt.. so cute... can't buy... i'm going to go die.)

This is where I need your help, my special follower friends... I need to decide pronto if I would like the donations. See, my aunt and uncle always send a truckload of books my way (alright, about 2 or 3) on December 25th, and I don't want to miss out on that. Plus, if the donations don't add up to the 300 dollars (which I think they won't), what will I do on the car ride to South Carolina? I won't have any books!
Any help/advice today would be greatly appreciated. :)

Oh, and here's a bit of your normal Emma-Post:
This morning, I went to get the crunchy peanut butter for my apples (who knew such crunch could be so delightful when paired with juicy apples?) and I found myself with the bowl of apples and peanut butter on the side at the table. Then I realized I had the whole jar of peanut butter there also. Whaaa... How did that get here?
You know those times where you do that stuff? Like, you're getting cereal and you put the cereal box in the fridge and the milk gallon in the cereal cabinet. (happens to me a lot.) Or if you go upstairs and then get interested in something and then totally forget why you came upstairs. (also happens to me a lot.)

Hmm. Maybe this is the effect of the salmonella poisoning. I'm getting early memory loss. This is supposed to happen when I'm like 80! Nooooo!

Happy weekend! I, for one, just woke up. :)
emma

nom. nom nom nom.

2011-12-07T19:27:00.000-05:00

Yes. A post with many repeating "nom"s for a title. That just happened.

So here's the deal, people. I love food. It's actually not a good thing. I've had many food babies. (The most recent one was named Carla.) But you know, what would happen if you didn't like food? What would you do? Where would you go with life?

I can't believe you would even think about thinking about not liking food.

Ahem, I'm ranting. Except for it's okay because this post really has no point. Right now, I'm typing whatever comes to mind. Oh look, a sentence directly from my idiotic brain cells. And another. And another. Pretty soon you'll be dead on the floor from direct exposure to Emma's brain. It's a pretty scary topic, I know. I'm a genius.

(tell me you caught that sarcasm.)

(awesome-est mobile upload in history.) this was the beginning of my NaNoWriMo cake. it looks like alien snot here because the icing was too darn thin and it kept sliding.

Do you like how I'm kind of just separating these mini-rambles with food pictures? I really just did it so I'd have a title for the post. I hate post titles. So many bloggers have really insightful, song-lyric titles (I actually really like that I just find myself too dumb for such maturity), but I don't ever end up having a real point to my posts so I can never find a single topic that interests me enough to make it to the post title box.

I should prioritize more.

Hmm, bananas. Did you know there's a game about bananas? It's called Bananagrams. It's wonderful. It's my life.
Almost literally.

So mostly, what I like are sweets. Yes, good food is wonderful also, but things like M&Ms and Snickers and Oreos and Cheese Puffs are what keep me going. Sure, I'm gonna get fat. But people, when it's been a bad day and it's my time of the month, I will have my gosh-darn candy and you can go shove it somewhere.
Man, I am really in a bad mood now. Sorry!

Have a wondrous, food-filled day. I'm too tired to type more direct Emma-brain radiation. I do hope you'll all forgive me. :)

emma

it's 5 and dark

2011-12-05T20:52:00.001-05:00

applause for a creative title please? *bow* thank you, thank you.

this post, there will be no pictures from me, no interesting camera angles or any watermarks. there will be no capital letters or anything really exciting. because today, as all mondays do, was pretty awful.

this weekend, my youth group with some church members went to pikeville, kentucky to hand out food boxes and hold a clothes giveaway for the homeless and under-priveleged. it was exhausting (and rewarding), so i was absolutely positively wiped when I got home. top it off with waking up early today, and well, you can imagine what happened. i was falling asleep. the only class that really held me was bio. my art teacher began to drone about what i missed on thursday and friday and i almost nodded off, and then i closed my eyes for a good ten minutes in government. (have i mentioned how much i hate that class?!)

then, i had way too many with a girl i honestly dislike with all my soul. oh, and let's not forget the broken heart that i got in period two. that was fun.

if at all possible, i also had to deal with a mother in the hospital for the second time this year. prayers would be greatly appreciated. it's not as bad as before, and certainly not life-threatening... she had surgery today, and she's feeling a whole lot better, but i would love some good thoughts this way. my aunt is up with us to watch after her. that's the good thing: i get to see her in 21 days anyway, so even if the hospital bill my mom's racking up is pretty high, another visit with my aunt is wonderful.

so, all in all, today was a bad day, and not just because it's a monday. (which is usually the case. have you noticed how many times i mentioned hating mondays? it's probably every other post. i'm starting to loathe the word itself.)
here are some pictures i've found for you all. i hope your day wasn't as crappy as mine. :)

emma

my life as of november 28, twenty eleven.

2011-11-28T16:07:00.000-05:00

Mondays.
are.
terrible.

So here's just a kind of... mash of all my photos and thoughts this weekend. What? I know, it's a surprise to have a jumbled post from Emma, isn't it? It doesn't happen very often. Normally I'm quite organized with my thoughts and in no way do my fingers type things that I don't even process. Ahem.

important fact about my life today number one.
IT'S 67 DEGREES OUTSIDE. Okay, people who control the weather, you've had your fun now. I'm ready for the COLD. I mean cold. I welcome below-freezing days, okay? Please send some this way. I want to have hot chocolate and not flinch away from the heat of the cup.

I mean, I could make a case for wearing sunglasses. We all know how good I look in sunglasses.

important fact about my life today number two.
Books make me happy.

unfortunately, i had to limit this stack to four books, but it was wonderful anyway.

I mean extremely happy.

I could spend hours on end in a bookstore. (in fact, one time I actually did -- I used it like a library and read a whole 300-page book there.)

Pair a book with hot chocolate and a pumpkin scone and I believe I just died and went to heaven.

important fact about my life today number three.
I like Girl Scout cookies. Except for my dad neglected to think about my need and didn't get Tag-a-longs. Who does that?!

Who gets Thin Mints and some other obscure lemon cookie and FORGETS ABOUT TAG-A-LONGS?! yaaaaaaaarrr!! Pops, I love you but sometimes I think I might strangle you. There is no need to deny a growing teenage girl her chocolate and peanut butter.

important fact about my life today number four.
Here are some miscellaneous pictures that I took this weekend. No stealing please. Whenever I run my photos through PSE they get all grainy, so I can't put a watermark.

important fact about my life today number five.
Have I mentioned that I enjoy baggy sweatshirts?

important fact about my life today number six.
This is my friend Marcus, the Roman sock puppet.

important fact about my life today number seven.
I really need to start my homework.

important fact about my life today number eight.
Now I'm just wasting your time. And my time.

important fact about my life today number nine.
Okay, one more thing. My family and I, we're pumpkin killers. That's right. Fear me!

The site of destruction. It's a yearly thing. Pumpkins shrink away from our existence.

Have a wonderful rest-of-your-Monday!

emma

who needs anemones

2011-11-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

For all my pals who live in the oceans and the seas,

With fronds like these, well, who needs anemones?

The Bird and the Worm, Owl City

Today was a day where not much went well. A girl from my youth group made me so mad I wanted to punch her, being ripping-my-hair-out stubborn over the lunch bill for ten people and being a major hypocrite. Another friend put me down multiple times after school. The iDVD won't accept the discs I put in to burn a movie I made and the pumpkin purée I'm making for pumpkin spice bars is way too liquid-y.

I want to scream.

And then I look at these pictures, and I laugh. And it feels so good.

My mother organizing giveaway clothes for a missions trip, finding things we weren't going to donate and putting them on. Let's see... a little girl dress around her chest, a ridiculous gold belt around her mid-torso, a girl's bathing suit around her waist.

Yummy, yummy, yummy shrimp salad stuff. (uhhh yeah don't really know what to call that.)

My tongue is sexy. :P

Two wonderful, cute, beautiful best friends.

Another find at the preparation for the missions trip... Ain't she cute?

It was me and my friend Lara's dads' 50th birthdays last Tuesday -- yes, they were born on the same EXACT day! Woo. Anyway, we surprised them both with two cookie cakes at the church last Saturday. They're so old.

The two cuties with my other best friend, Liv. Her expression is one of.. "NOMYGODEMMADON'TTAKEPICTUREIDON'TLIKEPICTURESOFMEEEEE". She's the one in the left picture on the left side.

Today was pretty rotten, but when I find pictures like these, it reminds me of good days and pushes me through the frustration of not-so-good pumpkin bars. (I have been working on those dumb things for the past TWO HOURS and they're still not done. yaarrrrghhhhhh PUNCH.)

Also frustration at the fact that my pictures look so good after editing in PSE, and when I upload them here they look so digitally and grainy, and I SWEAR they looked awesome. Better pictures of people than I have ever taken, thank you, newly-found Aperture-Priority switch. Grr. My life.

I hope you all had a better day and that at least one of the pictures made you smile. I'm so glad I like to photograph, because where would I be without it? There's nothing like a good picture to remind you of smiling moments, am I right?

Happy early Thanksgiving! I won't be here for the next four days, I'll be curled up on a couch under multiple blankets come Friday night, reading through the stack of books I've just bought. Sounds good, doesn't it?

emma

pulsing with heat and life

2011-11-20T13:09:00.000-05:00

" ' I get to looking and I can't stop. Don't you ever feel like fire is a friendly thing? That it's signaling to you with its flames, offering something?' ...

... Ani watched not the fire but the play of its light on Enna's face and felt comfort that there were others who listened for a language in what was supposed to be mute and who sought out meaning in what was only beautiful."

"She opened her eyes and the world seemed different, the colors brighter, everything pulsing with heat and life.

'Fire,' she said.

The tip of her tongue warmed. Beside her, a stalk of downed wheat smoked in the rain."

emma

all quotes from Shannon Hales books, the Goose Girl and Enna Burning.

ain't i authentic?

2011-11-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all. I actually have a reason for not posting this weekend. *gasp* what's that you say? You're shocked? That wasn't very kind.

I'll come back later with a video and photos from that trip, but for now I'm going to join up with Abigail's Authentic People blog party. I immediately knew this was a party for me because after all, I'm pretty dern authentic. In case you are not very bright (like me) that was sarcasm. I'm not that full of it.

So, let's all take a deep breath and begin, shall we? I already knocked off a bit of my homework so I'm ready to post it up.

ready? BEGIN!

My name is Emma. My middle name is a boy's name and I have one brother who, unfortunately, is taller than me. I have somewhat bushy hair if I want it to be bushy and I like wearing oversized sweatshirts. I prefer days without any homework so I can sit down and eat chocolate and watch Psych. I'm an oddball and quite goofy and I am learning a lot about photography and what I can do with the camera I own.

Let's see. I blog because... hmm. I blog because I enjoy sharing my oddball-ness with the world. Actually, I like blogging, because to me, it feels so real. I'm pretty sure my blog isn't fake, as in the-world-is-so-beautiful-and-all-i-post-about-is-love kind of blog (i promise i am NOT pointing any fingers here). I hope you guys see it that way too, because if not, I'd like to change that. :)

Now for a couple questions.

What's the nerdiest thing about you? Gee whiz, I can't even count them on my fingers. I'll narrow it down to five or six for you. I love Doctor Who and am currently suffering withdrawal from it. I also watch Syfy's Eureka and love Psych. I work hard at school and the last movie I saw in theaters was Transformers 3, which a lot of my guy friends haven't even seen.

^^ look, I even made a cake for the opening of this year's season.^^

If you could live in a fictional universe from any book, movie, or television show, what would it be? Eureka. Definitely. More nerdiness for shoo.

Do you like animated movies? If so, what is your favorite? Do I -- um, yes. I absolutely love animated movies. I'll name my top four in no order (well, they're all pretty much tied). Tangled, Kung Fu Panda, Up, Despicable Me. And I can pretty much recite all of them.

Waffles or pancakes. Waffles. Any day. Gotta agree with Abigail here. Breakfast, lunch, dinner; waffles are my life.

Do you like to play games? If so, what's your favorite? Bananagrams. I have a huge rivalry with an aunt in South Carolina. If you try to talk to me while I'm trying to beat her, I will possibly punch you.

What was the last thing that made you laugh? My friend Olivia. Everything she does makes me laugh. For instance, we were Skyping the other day when her brother came on the screen. I had made some obscene gesture (i apologize) and she said, "Emma! My little brother is seven years old!" Erik, her brother, followed up with, "I'M ELEVEN YOU BLOCKHEAD." That was possibly the hardest I've laughed in a while... She honest-to-God thought he was seven.

Think fast.... what's the first song that pops into your head? Um... Samson by Regina Spektor. Followed by Arms by Christina Perri and then Eet and Two Birds, both again by the lovely Mrs. Spektor.

Well... that's all for me. I think I'll go link up for a chance at those fantabuicious prizes. They sound amazing. Ooh, I'm already anticipating that winner announcement!

I'll be back tomorrow and/or the next day with some pictures of this weekend. Have a wonderful Monday, if that's even humanly possible!

emma

dumb things that i should be doing.

2011-11-08T16:56:00.000-05:00

posting more frequently. umm... enough said. i've been really bad at this lately and i really apologize. i hate seeing daily blogs that don't post in forever. hypocriiiiite, right?

not using double letters. i'm such a teenage girl. let's just get that out. bleh. i use words like "meh" "bleh" "freaking" you know. and i also frequently double up on my letters per word. it's a sad story for a writer like me.
wait, no, that was... five i's in a row (see hypocriiiiite above). quintuple letters. is that a word?

doing nanowrimo. i was so excited for this on halloween and look where i am now! only 1,500 words. oh, my. that sounds even worse on paper. wow. can someone smack me... hard? that'd be nice. i need to get with it. i said i was going to do it and now i haven't written in literally a week. man... oh man. that sounds reeeally bad. i need a pep talk. pweez? (wow, another two instances of my teenage-girlness. oh, and i'll eventually work my way back up to capital letters again, someday.)

practicing my Reverie piece. debussy is a fantastic composer. really. but it's november, and i kind of spend a lot of my time doing christmas piano pieces... gah! i need to focus. i'm not in a very good mood right now and... see? i'm not even focusing on the topic of the post. heck, i'm not even focusing on the topic of one of the subtopics of the post. and by saying i'm not focusing i'm just getting more and more off-track. blah.

texting my friend back. do you guys have that friend who never says anything interesting and eventually you just forget to text them back? i do. i just don't know what to say. if she'd give me something to feed off of i could suck her into a conversation.

a picture of milk for you. there you go. your daily wish has been answered.

and finally...
doing my homework.
that would be really useful. and then i could get some serious writing done. hmm, homework sounds like a really good option right now. yeah i'm gonna go.

love you all! i hope you thoroughly enjoyed this pointless post. and i have two more pointless off-topic things to say, so i shall add them in with two little "PS"s.

emma

PS. did you know the faeriecon was last weekend? faerie convention. darn, i missed it. it comes complete with costumes and snacks and all faerie-related things. gosh, doesn't that sound fun?

PS 2. (no, not playstation 2.) oh, man, i actually was going to say something worthwhile here... oh! i'm going to seneca rocks in west virginia this weekend for my dad's birthday. we're spending our weekend in a cabin in the mountains. i'm so excited! agh! plus, i get to miss art, government and gym on friday. it's like a package deal.

hatin' on those mondays. (a post you want to see)

2011-11-01T21:32:00.001-04:00

i've got some more cartoons for you all. i hope you enjoy.

yesterday's monday was halloween, which was not actually all that bad, even though i found that i absolutely hate trick-or-treating now and that i can't find my old pooh costume that i loved. :( sad face. school was interesting, as it consisted of boys in skin-tight costumes with their entire -- i mean entire -- bodies covered. like, even their faces. it was actually pretty scary. plus it was cold. i think it was colder in the school than it was outside. SO COLD. ahhhhhh.

oh, and on saturday it snowed. umm...?

on that day i think i ran down all of my dad's laptop's battery watching charlie mcdonnell. that is one crazy dude. plus he likes doctor who. (he got to go on set at christmas and get erryone a gift, including MATT SMITH the doctor. um, unfair? i think so.)

for your enjoyment, here's a video for you of pretty great british animal voiceovers. i swear, why can't i be british? it's so unfair. i think my parents gave birth to me in america just to spite me.

and finally, my brother's great idea for a pumpkin. be sure you've digested your dinner.

have a loverly loverly week,

emma

PS i hope you noticed that i didn't use any capitals. strike against capitals! no correct punctuation! yaarrrrr!

once upon a time, i read.

2011-10-28T17:10:00.001-04:00

When I was younger, I used to read. All the time.

Sometimes, I can remind myself that I need a book, and for that short amount of time I am totally immersed in it. I can focus in the cafeteria and plow through a couple chapters in the short time I get to read, and I can focus in art class when we have a substitute and we don't know what we're supposed to be doing.

But most of the time I waste my brain cells trying to come up with a post or fiddling around on Facebook, doing entirely nothing for myself. I have to admit, I don't read as much as I used to. Sometimes, I only get through about a book a month. And while I'm chastising others for saying they hate reading, I can't help but think that I haven't read myself in quite a while.
I hate that.

I wish for young times when I didn't have so much to worry about. When I had guy friends, when I had five minutes of homework a night, when I didn't have dumb projects and when school didn't take up three-quarters of my life. When I could sit down and read and not think about how I wasn't doing the work that I should be doing. I miss reading.

It's just such a great escape. I find that it's so easy to slip away into the fantasy world and not think about anything else. (My dad will sometimes talk to me and have to say my name around seven times before I look up.) Maybe that's why I like science fiction so much: it's entirely different, not at all like the world that I live in, so when reading I don't have to think about anything remotely related to my life.
Like on a Monday.
I
Hate
Mondays.
But that's another post for a different time. :)

Ooh... that's not as good a photo as I thought it was going to be. Sorry.

Finally I'm getting back into the swing of things. I hope next Thursday to go to the library after school and get a whole stack of novels to work my way through. It's wintertime finally (um, but that doesn't mean I'm ready for snow, so please go away you little flakes of white) and I'll be needing those wonderful books in a pile on my bed as I plow through one with a hot cocoa in the other hand.

It'll be nice to remember what it was like to always have a nose in a book.

Do you have any book suggestions for me?

emma

spontaneous dance party, no big deal.

2011-10-22T10:18:00.000-04:00

It all started one day when I was alone on the second floor.

I was bored out of my mind. It was my day off and my friends had left my house at 2 o'clock. I had watched TV and surfed the web and done nothing productive. So I decided to put on some music and cook snickerdoodles.

Plus I was in sweats and my daddy's Wolverine Brass plumbing sweatshirt. It was comfy.

Put on some Christina Perri.

Tied up my hair.

Began to cook...

But then, on came "Brighter Than the Sun" by Colbie Caillat. That song has a rhythm and it's so lovely that I just broke out in crazy dance.

And one thing led to another and pretty soon the Cupid Shuffle was playing... and who can resist that?

So you know that saying "Dance like nobody's watching?"

Well I did.

Because nobody was watching.

emma

PS. And the snickerdoodles were amazing.

just a professional doodler over here...

2011-10-15T10:08:00.002-04:00

The following images may make you weep in awe of how good my art skills are. I apologize in advance.

UPDATE: yay! better quality pictures!

Ahem. Government class makes me want to sleep.

So I doodle.

A lot.

This is what class is like each day. I walk in, take a seat, talk to my friends a bit. Bell rings. Teacher comes in and says, "Alright, alright, take a seat, take a seat, take a seat, take a seat." (No joke, he says it around four or five times.) We all take a seat but some people still carry on their conversations. "Alright, listen up, listen up, listen up, listen up." (I kid you not.)

Then, he passes out papers, and the doodling ensues. I would honestly fall asleep if I didn't doodle. Except for I only have about four doodles that look good, so sometimes I fall back on making bubble letters. It's a pretty rough life.

And these next pictures are... well, you can see them.

1. Emma walks in to brother's speech therapy building.
2. Emma sees large chalkboard.
3. Emma checks to see if no chiddlers are playing.
4. Emma knows that the board was obviously meant for her to draw on.
5. Emma enjoys herself.

Oh, and have I mentioned my soap dolls yet? My teacher assigned them after we finished To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. (Side note: read it. I'm not kidding. If you haven't read it, you are missing out on the best book possibly ever written. It's just.... oh my. It's just so good.) For those that have read the book, do you remember when Jem and Scout find the soap dolls of themselves in the tree? We had to make them.
I'm pretty proud of mine. Who knew soap could be so cute?

Gosh. They're just adorable.

emma

make like a lizard

2011-10-11T21:14:00.000-04:00

Honestly, why do we ever read advice columns or get into deep discussions with friends about things that are troubling us and what we should do about them? The real answer is...

look at your pets.

For instance, my cat knows how to deal with stressful days.

So does my brother's lizard. Hard time with relationships or a mountain of homework that just got finished? Find your own branch and completely let go.

Or spend your time with a relaxed person. I'm sure there are plenty of people who will let you crash on top of their comfy chair while they read.

But let's think about the happy things, shall we? What to do when you need to get energy out? I bet you don't lie on the couch. No no no. Here's what you do: find a laser, and chase the Red Dot.

Everyone needs to stretch after an exhausting run or sports practice. Here's the best way:

And the last bit of advice: Ever feel like the world is so big. Go take a nap in a laundry hamper.

emma

paint me blue

2011-10-08T21:49:00.000-04:00

The sky has been so gorgeous lately. Pure blue, no clouds or gray to threaten its beauty and perfection. It's almost like looking up and staring into those Caribbean waters, but without any ripples or ocean life. It's these beautiful October days that I want to just sit outside and stare to my heart's content -- the air is cool, but not Arctic; the tips of the leaves are beginning to turn; people are beginning to take out pumpkins; the crickets have their constant symphony playing; the grass is still green and luscious, not yet dead and brown.

October reminds me of life. It seems like everything is so teeming and joyous. It's not December, when the cold air gives new meaning to hot chocolate and folks are starting to gather for the celebration of New Year and religion. It's October. Slippers are coming out of the attic, sweatshirts begin to be seen, pumpkin recipes are cooking in the ovens (and I've collected a large amount of treats and such from blogs I follow). Jeans that have been sitting in your closets are finally feeling the air again and the sun is starting to set earlier.

Today my mother and I are cooking. We've got the pumpkin recipes, apple pie, Starbucks around the corner, cinnamon rolls. Slippers are donned, tank tops are on (and will probably stretch considerably by the time we're done), and we look forward to some hard-core baking. Our stack of cookbooks for today is quite big, and we had about eight recipes to make before we figured out something for dinner. It's going to be exciting, so look out for some posts of my favorite recipes from today.

Next month is NaNoWriMo. I've been outlining, thinking, sketching, and working on my descriptive writing -- this girl is psyched! Last year, I only got about halfway finished by the time November was over. This year, I'm starting with a clean slate on the same novel, and hopefully I'll get a lot farther in it than I have been. I've been working on this for around five years and none of my drafts have had endings!

I'm not a good poet. I like poetry, but I find it extremely hard to write. So I've been practicing, and my first one in a while was thought of in an extremely boring American Government class. (You'd think that with my teacher's LOUD voice I'd be less inclined to fall asleep...)

Paint Me Blue
© emma, 2011

The stuff is sticky.
It clings to the edges of the pan,
sucked up now and then
by the roller.
The stuff has always envied that sky
so it mimics the color --
and in turn, my wall mimics the color.
Sky paint sloshes the pan
as the roller comes back for more.
Streaks of it are written on the wall
but unlike that wonderful sky
it has no imperfections.
No occasional clouds or gray patches
to anger it
hurt it
ruin it.
The paint is beautiful that way.
Soon, the sky will always envy that stuff.
And eventually I will fall asleep to my sky room,
silently wondering whether someday
it will be possible
to be just like my walls:
no anger
hurt
or ruin.
Someday, I will be
Painted Blue.
But for now, I will be okay with
dreaming about that moment
when someone will be able to
Paint Me Blue.

Enjoy October.

emma

casually frumpy

2011-10-03T19:15:00.000-04:00

Brace yourselves: it's a sort-of fashion post. Aah! Yeah, I know, I just scared myself... Anyway, suffer through this if you love me.

sweater: umm... my grandmother's closet. skirt: american eagle. leggings: nordstrom's.

Church outfit for last Sunday. What I love about my church is that you don't have to get all dressy, so it's fun to sort of dress up a cashmere sweater with a denim skirt -- and even that's not too prissy.

So... hey, that wasn't too bad! But I've got a second part to the post.. one that directly relates to the title. I apologize for causing you any pain you might henceforth feel.
I don't even think I used "henceforth" correctly. I just think it sounds really cool and henceforth (see?) I will be using it to my liking.

Here's what I came to school in today, since it was around forty degrees and I was freezing. Seriously, by the start of first period I couldn't feel my toes.
Whoever invented Converse obviously didn't think about how insulated the rubber is.

jacket: my dad's closet (hence the overwhelming largeness). shirt: kohl's. sweats: target. shoes: converse.

And I went without a drop of makeup. (Well, I used a bit of foundation for my bags but nothing else.) I got some weird looks -- many of them from myself looking in the mirror -- but in the end I just threw caution to the wind and went for it.
I was comfy, okay? And warm.
Except for my toes.

Dear Period 1 teacher,
PLEASE TURN ON YOUR HEATER.
Love,
Everyone who was living in your Arctic fridge.

emma

i like cookie dough.

2011-10-01T14:32:00.000-04:00

Sequence of events:

1. Emma makes cookie dough.

2. Emma makes one batch of cookies.

3. Emma puts rest of cookie dough in fridge.

4. Emma opens fridge door occasionally.

5. Emma sees cookie dough.
6. Emma opens cookie dough.

7. Emma enjoys cookie dough.

Along with Secret Life of the American Teenager, cookie dough is a guilty pleasure of mine... So yes, I probably will get salmonella poisoning sometime in my life.
As long as I get my dough, though, (heehee that rhymes) I will fight off salmonella!

Hey, maybe if I have enough dough I'll become immune. That could work, right?

***

In other news... You know I can't stay on topic. Bring on the slippers!

It's cold up in here. Ooh, and it's going to stay that way! Isn't that great? As much as I love my summer, the transitions between seasons are just magnificent... I'm anticipating the leaves falling and breaking out all my sweaters and wearing out my slippers that I got last Christmas with much excitement.

I'm also anticipating the purchase of a new DSLR before January... But I don't really know which camera is the best. I'm a Canon girl, but any suggestions would be wonderful... (can you see my doe eyes?)

***

See these black-as-night paws? These are the paws of death.

It's exhausting around here lately. There have been crickets in the basement. The Paws of Death have been busy -- so busy, in fact, that they are flopped in the living room, aching from killing so many crickets.

***

My friend killed my eye. She killed it. She almost gave me a black one. And she knocked out my contact.

She's a murderer. Of eyes.

Just thought I'd make that clear.

***

Okay, don't go just yet... one more thing. Wish me luck! My band is going to a competition today. We've only played at one football game because they've all been cancelled, so... we're going to be amazing. I've got to go get ready, but wish us luck. :)

emma

PS. ~~I hope this hasn't been too much of a brain-dump.~~ No, scratch that... it has been a brain dump. I apologize. I'm a bit giddy.

Is that a side effect of salmonella poisoning?

direction

2011-09-29T09:32:00.000-04:00

I've been to school a grand total of one day this week, yesterday being my first. Today is Rosh hashanah, but I'm not Jewish, so it's just a wonderful day off...

I've spent a long time doing makeup work and being a champ at killing mosquitos. All the rain has made those little suckers fast and many, and more and more I'm QUESTIONING THEIR EXISTENCE. I don't care what people say, there is no purpose for them at ALL.

Ahem.

****

Lately, school isn't just school anymore. I'm starting to realize that high school isn't just about learning, it's also about building you a career and letting you pick and choose what you want to get into in life. Many people find the SAT courses we take occasionally in English boring, but I actually find them interesting -- I like preparing myself for the big things in life.

My cousin is the valedictorian at her school. She's smart and she's very studious and she's a senior. She's got colleges asking her to come to their schools and she knows what college she wants to get into. She gets me thinking... is that what I want to be?

And the answer is yes. Yes, I want to be smart. I'd like to shoot for valedictorian, but really I would just like to have a lot of opportunities. I want colleges asking for me and I want to be able to say no because I found the perfect one.

Maybe it's a bit young to start thinking like this, because after all, I am just a little freshie. But maybe the way to start is by getting good grades on the first quarter, and if that's what it takes, I'm going to shoot for the stars.

Maybe I'm not playing any sports currently, and maybe I'm not practicing my clarinet enough. But I really think that the direction I want to go is music or anything with the arts. And there's always biology -- the chemistry in that fascinates me, and I want to learn and eat up that material.

The point in this post is that it's never to young to start thinking, right? I already started to think when I checked off art way back at the end of eighth grade so that I could do photo in my sophomore year. And who knows? When I'm old enough, I'd like to maybe do some photo shoots and make some money that way as I get more advanced.

My interests are changing. I love soccer, but I had to change myself a bit to make room for the budding interests for music and photography. My music teacher at school keeps telling me that he thinks I should have done GT band instead of art, and it makes me happy to know that he thinks I'm good at what I play.

I will continue to shoot for the best when it comes to grades, and I will continue to think about my future with my various hobbies. After all, action is the real measure of intelligence. -Napoleon Hill

My life is still in the works -- it's only 9:30 AM on a Thursday morning in September of the year 2011.

And I can't wait to see where my life will take me.

emma

emma is a dying frog

2011-09-27T11:46:00.001-04:00

Sickness is wonderful. I just love the feeling of waking up to a pounding head, dizziness, throat ache, and heat. I also love being able to miss Picture Day.

...

If you thought I was serious, get some lessons in sarcasm.

I made a beautiful vlog for you yesterday when I was only slightly sick. You are so very welcome. (I would recommend clicking the "watch on YouTube" button, because since I'm pretty technology-stupid I don't know how to get the video big on my blog.)

What? You all know I have a really hard time staying on topic. Teehee.

Let me get something straight: The vlog was on Sunday, the upper part of the post was on Monday, and this part was on today, Tuesday. I'm just a leetle bit behind schedule.

emma

a couple of big things and my new toy

2011-09-24T15:29:00.000-04:00

When I said "big things"... I literally meant
BIG
things. (and not necessarily great pictures of such big things.)

My mother is a crocheting freak, and she's a sucker for yarn... When I used to knit and crochet -- and I need to get back into that -- I was too. These things are by far the coolest things she's gotten, though.

That yarn is made out of jeans. Yes, the jean pant-wear. Isn't that cool? And the crochet hook is HUGE. I don't know how she's going to fit her hand around that, but she needed it to crochet the jean-yarn into bowls.

Hey, my mother's popping into this post again.... She bought a bajillion of these humongous pencils for her classroom (she's a high school teacher) so that whenever a student asks to borrow a pencil she will give them one of these. That way, no pencils ever walk out of the classroom with the thief!
She keeps them in a metal trash basket, so it's just a huge version of a pencil mug.

So I've enjoyed sharing these big things with you, and now on to my life: I HAVE A NEW TOY.

Mother: "Oh, Emma, look what I found at the store."
Me: "What.. OH MY GOSH!"
"Take it to the fall retreat and you all can make bracelets for Operation Joy." (Operation Joy is an activity my church does where we all gather everything people have donated for the homeless and we put them in bags for their Christmas presents.)
"... orrr I can make them for myself."
*sigh* "Yes I suppose."

Not that I have anything against homeless people. I'll be making a bunch for Operation Joy but I just love me some friendship bracelets!

*****
In other news, my organ lessons are probably going to start next month. I'm excited as who-knows-what. I get my very own organ shoes and I think six biweekly lessons with a professional! Woot.

That's my tirade for today... Right now I'm off at my fall retreat by a lake and the woods (and a cornfield that is extremely freaky at 4 in the morning). This was a scheduled post... I'll be back for real on Monday, because I'm sleeping on Sunday when we get back.

Farewell, chaps!

emma

this girl is happy.

2011-09-22T19:52:00.000-04:00

That's right:

I'm happy.

Wow, isn't that great? I'm so happy that I'm happy. Which is a bit redundant please tell me if i used that word right but I really, really am.

Here's a couple reasons.

I'm really liking my classes. Alright, so maybe geometry isn't amazing, but Biology is by far my favorite and Latin and English follow close behind. Art is pretty fun too. Thank you to all of you who helped me through the first-three-weeks slumps. It really meant a lot.

We're also reading To Kill a Mockingbird and it's amazing. It's one of the books that I would read for leisure, as in, one of the rare school books that I want to read. Definitely on my favorites list and I'm not even halfway through!

****

^^awkward tendrils of hair curling from the right side of my face... curse them. I always look like I have dog-ears^^

My hair turned somewhat curly after I took it out of its French braid the other day. I've braided it in little braids before I went to sleep occasionally, but after a full day of Francois it turned curly.

I've never had curly hair.

It was amazing. My hair doesn't curl with the curling iron but I found my way into curliness!

****

I am now a runner.

My friend and I run about four times a week if we can, and I'm absolutely loving it. It's great fun. Before, when I've ran, (grammar?) I always stopped after a mile or so, when my stitch got bad and my legs hurt. But we go beyond that and eventually the feeling just ebbs away and it's kind of relaxing. Of course, my muscles still hurt. However, the stitch goes away quickly and it's great to have a partner.

Today, after running, we walked around and talked about life and such deep things, and then we sat on the hammock and talked some more. We were gone for about a half hour.

I honestly think our best conversations come when we run. It's great. It makes me happy.

But I come home looking like this...

****

I'm happy because high school is looking up. I'm really starting to think that school isn't just school anymore, it's about building you a career. It's about learning what's acceptable and what's not acceptable, it's about college, it's about developing friendships and getting involved. My english class signed up for the CollegeBoard website and we're taking the PSAT in October, and I was probably the only one who found learning about the SAT interesting. (Yes, I know, I'm a freak and I'm proud!)

This girl is happy. She's happy and she's excited for her youth group fall retreat this weekend. She's happy that school is working out and she's happy that people like her blog. (Thank you!) She's happy that there are sweet comments and she's happy that she's getting into shape.

I'm so happy..

that I'm happy.

****

What makes you happy?

emma

typical monday afternoon:

2011-09-20T21:02:00.000-04:00

Let's face it.
Mondays suck.

I drag my feet along the half-hour walk back to my house, step past the threshold, and then... there's no stopping the transformation from sleep-deprived-and-lethargic-teenager to crazy-hungry-teenager-who-refuses-to-be-healthy.

*bows* Thank you, thank you. I know you all wish you had graphic design skills such as that which is above.

emma
In case you were wondering, this was meant for yesterday. But being the lethargic person I am, I didn't get it done. Yippee!

how to rock your hospital shorts

2011-09-18T14:40:00.000-04:00

Are you bored with your outfits? Do you feel constantly put down and hide in baggy pajama pants and oversize t-shirts?

It's time to break out those blue, shapeless, long hospital shorts! They're guaranteed to turn your frown upside down.

Here's how to put together a great outfit using the shorts as your staple.

Add a tank top tucked in to the shorts. I would modify them to make them high-waisted (read: pull them up) and it should look spiffy.

Then, it's time to get real. With the temperature outside slowly declining, take my advice and add some leggings.

Don't forget your bling. I chose one that shows an obsession of mine; don't be afraid to let your inner greatness show!

Add a button-down that you leave open.

Put it all together...

...and girl, you've got total confidence. With leggings, bling, a tank, and a button-down, boys will be drooling in your wake like never before. Trust me.

emma

PS: I'm going to get better at balancing my schoolwork and my blog, I promise.

a thousand words:

2011-09-11T16:44:00.001-04:00

via Google and WeHeartIt

Today, I remember.

transition

2011-09-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

I don't have a way to begin this post. Everything I try sounds depressing and wrong.

Why do people laugh at others' interests?

Girl at the lunch table: Yes, I did join marching band. And guess what? It's fun. And guess what else? You're putting a stupid stereotype on something that doesn't deserve it. So maybe you are on the soccer team. I chose not to join. And that doesn't mean that you get to bash whatever I like and I won't say anything. So yes, when I got mad at you today, I had a reason. It's not for geeks. You don't get to make fun of it and the people in it.

Why is high school such a bad transition for me?

I had no trouble switching from elementary to middle.

I've always been the girl who can take things, always been the quiet girl who doesn't speak her feelings. So why do I feel like I'm going to explode at the first person who says something that rubs me the wrong way?

High school was supposed to be great. It was supposed to be the time where I could step out of my shell and talk to people who weren't my friends. It was supposed to be the time of my life, the thing that I would remember.

But already I recede into my quiet, stuffing things inside and not participating more than I have to in class. Sure, I talk to my friends. Sure, I'm goofy with my family -- but in school, where it counts, I don't speak. I will literally go through all my academic classes without talking except when I have to. I wanted to change that. I like my quiet time, I like my own time to think. I guess I just wanted to be accepted this year.

And I like quiet. But I feel like if I'm always "that quiet girl in my bio class", then nobody will see me for who I am. It's not like I can say, "oh, I'm really like this, but I stuff it all inside in school because I hate being in crowds".

Even crowds that are filled with buddies of mine. Even at my youth group. I can be myself when I'm early and there are about 6 people there, but once it comes up to more than that, I'm done. I don't say things I want to say and I'm not hyper and upbeat like everyone else.

Already I feel like "my friends aren't cool." What is this? I love my friends. Why do I think like that? I look over at the other tables at lunch, see the mixed-gender ones with the "cool" people, and then I see mine, filled with odds and ends and all girls. All freshmen. I like my friends.

Already high school is making me break out, ruining my good complexion from over the summer. It's forcing me to wake up at dawn 6 days of the week. It's now 7:45 and I want to go to sleep. It will rain all day every day this week, and it makes me wish for the times when I was at home and watching the droplets race each other down the panes. I can't do that in a classroom.

I want my summer back.

I'm hating this transition.

{photos from WeHeartIt}

inspiration for photos: http://ofhorsefeathers.com

emma

the "whistler"

2011-09-06T18:53:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, my mother was invited to a party for her department at school. My brother and I had to watch the kids, and although there were only three, they were quite entertaining..

This is Amandine. (I really don't think I spelled that right, but it's French.) She was absolutely amazing. If I could be anyone, I would be her. I can't wait to see what she turns out to be.

She talked for five minutes straight while swinging. The other boy, Henry, did his guy-thing (backwards swinging, twisting, lying-on-your-stomach swinging) while she talked to me. And I proudly got crappy pictures. But that's okay.

I wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley.

And that scary dude that was dressed as Batman? He can "whistle."

Really. Really. Loudly.

I think my ears exploded. I'm not joking.

You don't have to watch the whole thing. (In fact, don't... the best part is in the first ten seconds or so, then he does it again, but I'm lazy and don't feel like editing out the parts that don't matter.)

Amazing right?

emma

PS... gray one.

PPS.... this is my mask. I bet you all just peed yourselves. That's some scary crap right there.

PPPS (lot of p's)... entry for a photo contest. Ignore this.

Alright.. now I'm done. Good day to you!

best of summer

2011-09-05T14:32:00.000-04:00

Yes, summer is officially dead. I'm weeping on its grave.

But right now, I'm going to savor what I can and give the best of summer in pictures. These are unedited and not watermarked, so don't steal please. I will keel you.

{captions at the bottom of each photo.}

South Carolina 2011: going to the tide pool

South Carolina 2011: The Kenya Swing. My grandfather made this swing so that all the eight grandkids could sit on it together.

South Carolina 2011: Glitchells -- homemade donuts that are positively amazing... and really ,really fattening.

Fourth of July weekend. Reunited with my best friend Saunders! She moved away when we were seven. Her birthday is one day away from mine. Below is us when we were little. We thought it would be funny to recreate this moment.

Band camp 2011: pretty fun, after all then newbies get past "Rookie Day." That was absolutely the worst experience of my life...

"Antiquing" with my other bestie, Killian.

North Carolina 2011: on the way down. Amazing sunset.

Yes. My horses have feet. (and that's a terrible picture.)

Cousin visit, 2011. Margaret came up to stay while her sister was doing an internship near us. Great time!

This and the next four are all from camping. I never showed pics of that, did I? Well, I really like all of these. Enjoy.

Doctor Who, season 6 part 2 premiere! Go Jammie Dodgers!

Hurricane Irene destruction... dun dun dunnnn....

It's been a great summer and I'm already looking forward to winter break... It's going to be a long year.

Which photo is your favorite?

emma

PS... More photos from yesterday to come. Whenever this godforsaken PHOTO UPLOADER will work for me.... sometime in the next thousand years would be nice. Thanks.

because i'm brain-dead and have no life

2011-09-01T20:34:00.002-04:00

I'm brain-dead. I'm not even joking. I think my mind totally emptied out everything that it learned last year, because I have no idea what I'm doing.

This is me. Right now.

I am so tired. And since I'm kind of senseless right now, and possibly losing brain tissue from getting slammed in the head with a door earlier today, I'm going to ramble.

(I know what you're thinking. Oh, yay! I never hear ramble-posts from Emma. This is a nice surprise and certainly something she doesn't do extremely often.)

Last week, my friend and I went to a Selena Gomez concert -- kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing -- and she was shining. Literally.

We got pretty good pictures considering how far back we were. I actually snapped some where you could see her face.

I'm not a huge Disney-actresses-who-all-turn-out-to-be-singers fan, but she give a much better concert than her recordings. And that's rare.

I adore my English teacher. She got me excited about reading Shakespeare. Which is also rare. We had this poem today, Ex-Basketball Player by John Updike, and it would have been one of those that I would have thrown out because I thought it was boring (word choice credit: my friend), but it turned out there were so many metaphors connecting to other metaphors and archetypes and so much interesting stuff. I actually don't know how he fit so much stuff into just a five-stanza poem.

I have no life. Which is why I play solitaire alone in my room. Which is why I get extremely excited about things like winning solitaire. And which is also why I get depressed after losing a game of clock solitaire when I only had one card left. And (don't worry, it's almost over) which is why I like to take pictures of myself doing funny poses.

Selena Gomez song. At the concert, she flipped her hair every time she sang the words "whiplash, whiplash, whiplash," so whenever I listen to it I will always flip my own hair. Oh, if only I were as cool as Disney people.

Technology hates me again. The photo uploader isn't working. So, for the record, this post was written at 7:14 PM on Thursday, September first. When it gets published is a whole different matter...

My brother HAS NO SCHOOL TOMORROW. He didn't have any today either! What is this?! Some sort of Terrible Awful done to high schoolers? He's coming into the house right now, and if he mentions it, I might possibly explode. Verbally. Possibly cuss him out, maybe punch him, or the computer, or I'll drive up to the Board of Education and punch the people in charge myself. I'm just going to say that they better make the middle schools who are out this week stay in school till the middle of August.
"Yes, I'm calling to tell all of my school county that all the schools who were off on September 1st and 2nd have to stay in school two days past the other kids who were in school over the summer." It would make my day to hear that message come over the phone.
I think there might be smoke coming out of my ears.

My friends are insane. I love them, but they're insane. I think that probably classifies myself as insane too. Mwahaha. Look out, friends.

She's not suicidal, I promise. She was cutting an apple on her bed and.... well, this. It's the flat of the knife, don't worry.

I'm having a bad day. Yesterday, too. For example: On my first day of school (yesterday), I left at 7AM and got back at 8PM. Why? Marching band, and then a stupid meeting. And to top it all off, I woke up at 6:30 today instead of 6 because I fell back asleep, and tomorrow I get to stay at school until 4. And the next day, I get to be at school at 9, and stay until 4. On a Saturday. Oh my salt.
Wow, I'm a complainer.
Don't hate.

So how bad have your past few days been?

emma

I just realized how many photos were in that post. I hope your brains can process them.

dear summer

2011-08-30T20:58:00.000-04:00

Dear summer, will you find your way back home?

I miss your golden kiss, how you warm my skin

Where did you go?

Dream Life, Life by Colbie Caillat

I'm starting high school tomorrow.

High school.

Oh my God. I am so scared. I'm not even joking. I'm shaking.

I've got my first day outfit but my first day is 10 hours because of a 3 hour band practice after school.

I. Am. So. Depressed.

^^ For now I'll try to make silly faces and not think about what I'm going to step into tomorrow.

Oh, and I got my eyebrows waxed today. All it felt like was having the top layer of my skin ripped off. No biggie.

dear summer, i want you to stay.

love, emma.

no, i am not typing this from a school desk.

2011-08-29T09:03:00.001-04:00

Want to know why?

Because our first day was cancelled.

Yes. Yes, 65 of our county's schools don't have power, so the first day was cancelled.

It's like a snow day.

At the very beginning of the year.

Minus the snow.

And the cold.

And the coats.

But still amazing.

*** update 5:10 PM -- no school tomorrow as well! ***

This is when I thank natural disasters. This is when I thank the Mayan calendar (I think it's Mayan....) for ending the world. (I mean come on guys, obviously that's what's happening now. A hurricane and an earthquake. What other signs do we need? *rolls eyes*)

It actually did look like the end of the world yesterday morning though. After a night of listening to the wind pound the rain at my windows and smash my window frame against the ledge (I think nature wants to give me insomnia), the streets outside yesterday were crazy. There were leaves all over the place and a couple trees fell.
I came out in my glasses and gross un-showered hair to take pictures of the destruction just because I love you guys. Feel lucky because I wouldn't have otherwise.

Here is the tree that fell. Luckily, it hit no cars or houses. There were cars parked on either side of it and when it geronimo-ed it landed right in the space between them.

Ew. There's me in my grossness. Just to show you that the tree itself was half my size in width.

And good news, folks. The power stayed on past 9 o'clock last night. So Emma did not explode. It's a miracle! Let me hear you say Amen!

The rain was loud as... well, loud rain. I didn't really go to sleep on Saturday (as mentioned above) because the wind was so intense. This is what it was like before I went to sleep, and I'm sure it was even worse at like 3 in the morning.

I'm going to enjoy my last day of summer now. I'll probably be depressed by around 7:00 tonight, but I won't burden you all with that.

emma

as i listen to irene

2011-08-27T20:25:00.001-04:00

Today I tried my first self-fashion shoot and I found out something not so surprising.

I am not a fashion blogger.

I'm so bad. I'm going to share a couple pictures with you, but I don't even think I like the outfit. I just wanted to show off my groovy (yes, groovy) socks and boots and shorts. So... I'm not actually going to go out like this. I'll probably pair the boots and shorts with a white cami and a button-down.

I'm allowing you to laugh at my expense. Go on. I won't feel the pain.

Shirt: f21. Shorts: f21. Socks: Delia*s. Boots: Target.

I am such a cheapie.

I blinked! Gah!

... and that is why I never do things like this. I'm sorry if your eyes are melting.

****

So as I can't seem to keep a steady topic on any of my posts, I'm going to ramble a bit. Enjoy.

Hurricane Irene is pounding at my windows and the wind is blowing some very nice mist on me as I type. My hair hates rain. My head looks like a frizz-ball of brown. That does not make for a very happy Emma.
And guys, I honestly think that those roller coasters made me some kind of junkie, because I am extremely excited for the oncoming storm. I even enjoyed the earthquake. (You know, in hindsight. I nearly peed myself when it was happening.) Is that bad?

The only thing I'm worried about is losing power. It's not the fact that I won't be able to finish this post or that I won't be able to cook anything, because I'll just rewrite this later and we have a wonderful Chambers gas stove. And I have cookie dough made and in the fridge, just so I can gain a couple pounds right as school starts. *sigh* Whatever. I'm eating my cookies and no one can stop me.

But I'm already witnessing some withdrawal symptoms from my lack of new Doctor Who episodes, and if I go another week without one I think I might explode.

So, if the power goes off at 9 o'clock tonight (the premiere of the second half of the new season), expect to see little Emma-bits all over the place.

... Ew. That was gross.

Speaking of British things, I'm feeling very British right now. For a catsitting payment while the owners were in England, they brought me back some Jammie Dodgers. And people, those are some seriously British cookies. (and doctor who related. so it's like a double-score.) Just look at the caption:

If that's not British then I don't know what is. I'm in love with the "-our" and the word "splodged". There's a dotted red line under that word when I type it.

To add on to the amazing British-ness, I'm listening to the Beatles and can proudly say that I know every word to most of the songs.

Can I just say I think I was born in the wrong country?

Let me repeat: I want to be British. Life is just so unfair.

Happy hurricane day!

emma

various points of excitement

2011-08-25T17:25:00.001-04:00

Hello there! I, author of Summer Girl, has successfully survived an earthquake and am awaiting survival of upcoming Hurricane Irene. I could be a Wilderness Explorer.

the wilderness must be explored!

That brings me to my first point of excitement.

I have a kind of obsession with Pixar. And animation. Naturally when I saw this I might have woken the neighbors with my scream.

I'm considering moving to Utah. Forget David Tennant (I'm sorry David, but you know how we must move on) and forget any dreams of living in Greece. I'm living in this here house in Utah... as soon as, you know, I stop splurging ridiculously on things like socks.

Second point of excitement: Guys, I could be a model. Just look.

Attractive, right? I had to rush to the mall today so I didn't spend any time on my hair. What? You say I never spend any time on my hair? Liars...

That might possibly be one thing I need to fix, but my hair air-dries straight anyway so who gives an excrement?

Third point of excitement: Remember my big audition? I tried out for 6 biweekly organ lessons with my state's chapter of the Organists Guild, organ shoes and a performance opportunity.
I GOT IN!
I'm so happy. The people were really nice and made me feel at ease. Maybe they saw something in how I totally screwed up the hymn sightreading and how I probably failed the theory test, but who cares? I'm learning another instrument!

Fourth point of excitement: Today was my first time trying the cat-eye makeup look.

That turned out pretty well. Now I just have to replace my year-and-a-half-old eyeliner stick from Sephora and I'm all set.

Fifth point of excitement:

More on this tomorrow. Who knew that Forever 21's holding time was one hour?! I found possibly the best pair of paper bag shorts and I had to put them on hold, and now I must pray to God that when I go back there tonight they won't be gone.
So tomorrow or Saturday, I will be doing a... dun dun dunnn. Fashion post. If it works out okay. We'll see. I'm by no means a fashion blogger at all. This is possibly a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Be prepared.

And now, a point of unexcitement: *shut up, it's a word.* Can someone tell me why technology hates me?

Usually Emma likes swirly things. But this loading symbol is driving.me.crazy. I want to edit my header and it's too slow!

Technology is ruining my life.

Hope you all have a fantastic day! And here are some words of wisdom by Russell, a Wilderness Explorer from Tribe 54, sweat lodge 12. Quoted from memory, for your enjoyment.

I'm tired and my knee hurts.
-Which knee?
..... My elbow hurts and I have to go to the bathroom.
-I asked you about that five minutes ago!
Well I didn't have to go then.

I could go on and on...

emma

craziness

2011-08-23T14:54:00.000-04:00

Let me walk you through this scene:

I'm alone at my house, because my brother and father are still coming back from camping (we took two cars) and my mother is at work. I'm working on a hard Debussy piece on the piano when I feel the piano bench vibrate.

Weirded out, I stand up. The whole house is shaking. I don't know what's going on, and when I look outside people walking are just going about their business, so I figure it's something with the washing machine downstairs. Then I remember the washing machine isn't on.

Earthquake!

It lasted a good thirty seconds and it was powerful. My cats were wide-eyed with fear and my guess is that I was no better. Never having experienced an earthquake before, and knowing that a lot of earthquakes end up going unnoticed, I half-expected the street outside to split open, and I stood there like an idiot until it was over. I didn't know if I should hide under the bench or not, because it didn't seem very powerful and nothing was falling.

Five minutes later my brother and dad come home. I expected them to come running in, but they were in the middle of a conversation when I rushed out and told them what happened. I could tell they didn't believe me and they thought I was overreacting. They had been in the car when it happened and missed it all. However, soon our neighbors came out to verify that there was indeed an earthquake and found that their house had shifted a little compared to ours.

It turns out we didn't get the bulk of it. The center was in Virginia, and there its magnitude was a 5.9. Even though we just got tremors, we live pretty close to VA, and they were pretty intense tremors. No one around us was injured I'm pretty sure, but a half hour afterwards we began to hear a symphony of fire trucks and ambulances, so I don't know what to think of the damage it caused.

I know I sound scared, but I was. And right now, I'm scared for the people who got the most powerful spots, because if I was scared to death then I know they must be terrified. We never get earthquakes, and we just did. So those folks are in my thoughts while they rebuild.

It's nothing like Japan, but it was quite the experience and I hope I never have to go through that again.

Pure craziness.

emma

love denim

2011-08-20T13:04:00.000-04:00

There comes a time in a girl's life when she finds she has a sudden craving for denim pieces. Particularly ones that come in pant form, or skirt form. When this happens, this girl is lucky when it is tax-free week, and especially lucky to find deals on every single pair of jeans that she loves. Then, this girl finds her craving for denim subdued, and she is able to go about 6 more months without getting more denim.

What? That's just me?

Oh.

shirt: Old Navy. cardigan: Target. flare jeans: Kohl's.

boot cut jeans: Levi's, at Kohl's.

I AM SO HAPPY I FOUND LEVI'S.

flare jeans: Abercrombie and Fitch, 10 years ago. (hand-me-down)

shirt: H&M. boot cut jeans: Old Navy.

^^Favorite buy.^^

Shirt: H&M. denim skirt: hand-me-down. shoes: Buckle.

boot cut jeans: Kohl's.

I bought a total of 4 pairs of jeans, equalling 80 dollars. That's an average of 20 bucks a pair. Awesome, right?

emma

P.S. I kind of look like a cheapo, but although Kohl's is a bit trashy to me, they've got some great deals. And not all my shirts are from H&M, I promise. :) But I do love that store.

the perks of being a babysitter

2011-08-18T10:21:00.001-04:00

Or should I say: The perks of being a babysitter and having a camera handy to catch brilliant faces and those tiny hands that are so adorable and chubby.

But I didn't think that would fit.

Here, my friends, is Gretchen.

And that is the best thing about babysitting. Isn't she a cutie?

emma

Some of my photos look very odd, all grainy and digitally. I don't know why. They look fine when I edit them, but when I load them onto the web a lot of them turn out this way.

these cupcakes are pure art.

2011-08-16T12:54:00.000-04:00

Madeleines from Starbucks

plus

Altoids

plus

black icing

plus

homemade cupcakes

plus

homemade icing

equals

art.

Minion cupcakes. (If I need to explain what minions are, you have been sadly prohibited from living.)

Fine. They're from the movie Despicable Me.

After I saw the photo online, I was determined to make them. There were a couple glitches, though: I don't like Twinkies, so we used Madeleines instead; They were too tall to stand up in the icing, and it was too late when I realized we could have cut holes in the cupcakes; the eyes should have been Smarties, but we went to three stores and couldn't find a single Smarties package. Do they only sell them at Halloween? How hard is it to find Smarties?!

We had some leftover cupcakes because we only had 9 Madeleines, so I wrote some greetings and used excessive amounts of sprinkles. It's because I have nothing else to do and no life whatsoever. Don't make fun.

My works of art. It's almost painful to eat them.

But who knew that little yellow minions were so good?

emma

i'd like to add that to the dictionary, please.

2011-08-15T12:48:00.000-04:00

And what is "that", you may ask? Well, "that", my friends, is a word I like to call "Flubnugget". And now it is part of my daily vocabulary. (It's much better than a couple alternative choice words I could be saying. I'm proud of myself for practicing abstinence against those words.)

For instance, as I was making the world's best cupcakes the other day (more to follow), I opened the icing tube with my scissors, thus getting black icing all over them. So as I was rubbing them off in the sink, I very stupidly rubbed the sharp part and cut myself. Not only is it fairly large, it's also fairly deep because I was rubbing pretty hard.
I now understand what it's like for my cats. No opposable thumbs. Do you know how hard it is to open a water bottle without your thumb?
"Ahhhh... Flubnugget."

Stubbed my toe as I was walking down to my neighbor's house to take care of their cats. (My old teacher saw me and called me a barefooted hillbilly.)
"FLUBNUGGET."

Watched a good wine glass tumble to the floor as I was putting away clean dishes.
"flubnuggets..."

After watching Inception for the third time, glass shatters and it still scares the living flapdoodle out of me. So class, what did Emma say to that? Oh yes...
"F-L-U-B-N-U-G-G-E-T!!"

And while I'm giving you a list of complaints (which I totally did not realize was happening), I'll give you a little peek at my messy life as of 12:14 PM, August 15th.

Currently I'm sitting in a denim skirt quite undaintily (we'll pretend that's a word), and considering I'm at the window where everyone, meaning possibly the latest satellite in space, can see me, it's probably not the best idea.
My hair is one hot frizzy bushy mess. All the rain we've had the past two days is nice, but afterwards... UGH. The banister on my stairs is sticky it's so humid up here.
I don't think I'll be eating for oh, a week. I ate like excrement this week because we've had guests and this morning we ate at the local restaurant "Ms. Shirley's". I ate 4 cinnamon danish pancakes. Need I say more? I feel like poop.
My brain is in full denial that school is around the corner. I don't want to talk about it.
And so to top this wonderful list off, I think I'll go and potato myself on the couch and watch various episodes of Psych, Eureka and Doctor Who. Have fun with your lives. I know they can't be as terrifically exciting as mine is right now.

emma

P.S. For those of you who still remember reading the old Summer Girl, here's what my dictionary looks like. Remember this? (Makes me smile to think about it.)

the sky is an artist

2011-08-12T11:37:00.000-04:00

We've had absolutely gorgeous days recently. The sunlight hits off of the leaves to make them glow, and the skies are spectacularly blue, peppered here and there with heaps of clouds. It looks like the sky itself is an artist.

All above: SOOC

And then it seems the artist gets unhappy, so he repaints his universal canvas in angry colors.

Summer skies where I live are often like this. Beautiful days, then storms at night. Just like I like it. There's nothing better than falling asleep hearing the rain pound at your windows and the occasional lit-up room as lightning flashes.

How has your bit of the canvas been lately?

emma

"Okay, how much?" "That'll be 46 dollars." ?!?!?!

2011-08-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

So my brother, my cousin and I are at the bowling alley. While she is here we want to show her all the neighborhood attractions -- the alley, the ice cream shop, the square, the willow tree -- so we figured we could kill two birds with one stone by starting at the alley and going for ice cream afterwards.

Bowling is always fun. It's fun for the photographer especially, when you can catch faces of the aftermath like this:

*note: the pictures here aren't very good... I'm still working on pictures in motion, so bear with me.

And there's always the fun off-balance pictures you get during the throw.

Here I am with my denim skirt... I have no idea why I wore it to bowl, but it worked out alright. (Other than the fact that I felt so girly in the lane next to the one senior girl who wore all black and was plugged in to her earphones the whole time. My friends say I should have kicked up my leg after I bowled and pranced back to the score sheet.)

And not to mention that we scored the right way only on our last game. Who knew that in duckpins you get three balls per turn? --I probably did, you know, way back when. (Irony? We all finished with better scores the other two games, when we only had two balls per turn.)

You can see how talented we are at the bowling art below.

That's all well and good. We finished up, smiling from all our gutter balls and sliding in our bowling shoes, and went to turn the shoes in. I pulled out the wad of cash my mother gave me: 40 dollars, covering the ice cream trip and the bowling cost.

"How much?"
"46 dollars."

?!?!?!?! I tried to keep it cool as I borrowed money from my cousin (my brother and I brought 5 bucks, and she brought ten). I narrowed my eyes and asked, "Is that for time or the amount of games?" I figured if it was for the games it would be less ridiculous.

"Time."
"Oh."

Let me just make this clear: an hour and a half of bowling for FORTY-SIX DOLLARS. I know where I'm NOT going again, don't you?

emma

late-night reflections

2011-08-10T11:12:00.000-04:00

As I was "falling asleep" last night, there were many thoughts running through my head. Too many thoughts. They crashed against each other so loudly that I couldn't get a break from myself: I rolled over probably five times; my fingers kept tapping along to whatever piano song was playing in my head; my cat was at my feet, limiting the amount of movement I was allowed.

Anyway, to spare you of my insomnia stories, here are a few things that I thought about.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. If I want to save up to eventually get my own laptop/SLR camera, I'm going to need new ways of making money. (I am open to suggestions -- I repeat: I need help!) I've got a short babysitting job lined up for tomorrow. Currently I am cat-sitting two different families, each for 2 weeks. I'm taking care of my friend's hermit crabs while she's in Canada (a very grueling job I might add -- it's extremely difficult to pour in more water once a day and change the food every other day). Difficult jobs around the house also earn me cha-ching.
So those are all well and good, but I need to keep it up. I need to get the word out that I can babysit in my neighborhood (teeming with littles).
And I've been thinking... what if I opened up an Etsy? Do you all think I could?

be a studious girl. Lately, too much "I'm bored" time has been taken up on the computer. Log on to Facebook, stalk people (Oh, hush, you do it too), blog-hop... it melts the brain. I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo this year, which I WILL FINISH and not get halfway through and then decide I've done enough. What does gearing up mean? Character sketches, chapter outlines, sketches of buildings, etc. I'm actually pretty excited, because I've been working on this story for the past 4 years and I think I've finally got it.
And I need to up my reading. I haven't read that many books this summer, and that's extremely odd for me. I hope I can get in at least 3 more before the start of *shudders* school. Currently I am reading The Help, which is part of my summer reading but I would have read it anyway. It's spectacular and I'm only on the third chapter; I totally recommend this book to all of you.

only three more weeks. I've only got 3 more weeks of my dear summer, and this means I've got to step up my work-out game! I'm going to eat healthier, work out every day but Sundays and go to bed earlier. I know that sleep and healthy foods actually help prevent breakouts, and I've been known to get that huge zit right before something big... So operation No-Zit-For-School! :)
This means that you guys get to read a little workout and food log at the end of each post. It really is encouraging to write down what I've done the past two days, so you all don't have to even respond to it... It's just for me and my persistence at getting in shape.

snap that shutter! I will now be reading up on my photography. Learning a bit about those words "shutter speed" and "aperture". Whether y'all know it or not, hopefully I'll be showcasing a bit of that knowledge by giving you improved photos. Check back occasionally for photo posts.

Thanks for listening to my last-minute summer goals... What are yours? I'd love to hear!

emma

ode to a shoe

2011-08-08T18:24:00.003-04:00

I really thought this shoe and I had a chance.

It really is quite a sad story. Ideeli (possibly the most amazing site ever which I happened upon by a friend) had this sale today, and I click, and I scroll, and I fall in love... and then have my dreams crushed (that's right, crushed) by the letters "S-O-L-D-O-U-T". (not to mention that the other amazing shoes there that I would have enjoyed were also sporting those letters.)

I'm dearly sorry, old shoe. I thought we were meant for each other, but our love was proved wrong. Possibly I shall find another fabric hiking shoe, though I want to let you know you were my first love. I'm so sorry it had to be this way. I really am.

emma

i'm emma and

2011-08-07T11:13:00.002-04:00

I'm Emma and I can't really cross my eyes. {ignore awkward expressions. i was concentrating.}

I'm Emma and Berger cookies are my downfall.

{source}

I'm Emma and when I happen to be bored and turn the camera on myself, I can't go three photos without making a face.

I'm Emma and I am now a full-fledged roller coaster junkie. Yes, I rode my first yesterday at the splendiferous Hershey Park, and I was instantly hooked. The best was a coaster that went from 0-72 mph in two seconds. Insane, right? And then it went up to a nauseating height and.... Well, it was worth the 45-minute wait for 40 seconds of that amazing ride.

{source}

I'm Emma and I have just discovered the wonders of the TCBY self-serve shop in my neighborhood. Do I need to go into detail?

{source}

I'm Emma and I wash my face with blue stuff.

I'm Emma and I can't stand being on the computer for longer than a half hour.... so this is when I sign off. I hope you enjoyed my GetToKnowMePost -- I liked writing it. And now, I'm tired from my cat waking me up too early this morning, so I think I'll go take a nap.

Happy Sunday!

emma

intricate.

2011-08-04T17:11:00.000-04:00

emma

it's august.

2011-08-01T09:16:00.002-04:00

Dear school,

Burn down so that I don't have to think about losing my summer for you.

Thanks,
Emma

favorite thing about coming home

2011-07-30T09:41:00.000-04:00

Is not just the rest I get, not just the complete meals, not just seeing my family for the first time in a while.

It's really this girl.

This cat.

Four years ago, we managed to bring her and another rescue home, and we call her Minerva and him Albus. And I swear, if cats could love, she loves.

She loves me.

There's nothing better than walking in the door to find her right there, waiting for me to come home so that she can climb up onto my bed at night and curl up at my feet.

This cutie is what really makes coming home so worth it and so special.

[my uncle took this picture two years ago when Minerva sat with me when I was sick with swine flu.]

emma

PS thank you to our wonderful guest posters!

Three steps to living in the moment. (a guest post by näna)

2011-07-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

Looking back I remember wonderful times...the birth of a sibling, a special event, an exciting vacation, and I long to be back in that moment. To again feel the joy and wonder of it.

At the beginning of July my little sister was born. We have been looking forward to her and anticipating her arrival for so long, especially since last July when we lost a little one. Carmella is my sixth youngest sibling so, obviously, the whole pregnancy/birth/newborn experience isn't something new to me. But this time I have really been able to experience and be a part of everything like never before. Now that she is born we are soaking up every precious moment with our baby. Because she is only going to be this little for so long. Only once will she be this small newborn in my arms. Which makes living every moment so vital.

Why vital? Because I want to look back and be able to say that every moment was thoroughly enjoyed. Be able to look back with no regrets of lost time. So those thoughts in mind I have been thinking a lot on what living in the moment actually is. Where does your mind and heart need to be to experience every aspect of that time that needs to be experienced. And I think I have come up with three main steps. I am by no means an expert. This area is probably where I stumble the most. But I am learning and would like to share with you the practical ways I have found to enjoy every second to it fullest.

01. Negative on the clouds. My mind works something like this: eight thoughts stampede through vying for my attention. Very rarely do these thoughts have anything to do with what I am doing. When focused on something I am still thinking seven other things. And usually there is a song bouncing around in there as well. This makes for a very clouded atmosphere. Even when I sleep it's the same way. It's hard to enjoy something, totally focus on something, live in the moment, shall we say, with your to-do list, planning out what to do next, thinking about what happened before now, and I Think I Love You all taking up room in the gray stuff. The solution? Lay them to rest. This is so much harder then it sounds. Write it down. Push it aside. Sometimes I have to take it to Jesus and ask Him to remove those extra thoughts and just help me to focus. But they need to go so step two can take place.

02. Fill 'er up! Now that your mind is empty it is time to fill it up again. But forget that one line to that song you only heard once and couldn't stand. Let's fill it with the moment. The moment? Yes, the moment. My eyes are absolutely awful. I can see hardly anything clearly without my glasses. Last month I got an updated prescription on my lenses. And when I put them on I was shocked. It made me dizzy at first all the things I could see (especially how many gray hairs my pa has). That's how it is when you clear your mind. All of the sudden you see so much than before. Take note of the faces around you. Actually listen to what they are saying. Feel that newborn baby you are cuddling. Notice all those little things you could not see before. Try it one time. It is one of the greatest feelings ever.

03. The camera of my mind. This is almost the same as the last point but I think it's different enough to get it's own step. Your mind is empty of the distractions and now you are grasping the little details. Now what? Remember it. Details, details, details. I kinda think of it as what dirt would I need for a blog post on this? What pictures would someone who wasn't here want to see? And then purposely look at that scene and imprint it on your mind. When you go to bed at night replay the day in your head. Remember, remember, remember. As great as it would be, you can't be in that moment forever. So your gray cells will have to keep that tucked away in a special place ready to be lived again on a moments notice.

Those are just my ideas. I'd love to hear your's too! How is it that you live in the moment?

Do Something, Yes I Mean You (Guest post by iGirl/Dani)

2011-07-24T14:17:00.008-04:00

When Emma asked me if I wanted to guest post, I was very thrilled about it, but I didn't know that I was doing it today. At first, I thought she had said August 25th, sorry Emma. But Emma didn't give me a topic about which to write, she let me choose. I know that a lot of people might not like that, but I loved it! I think it's great that she's letting me pick and I'll be more creative that way. Thanks Emma.

Holy cow. How did it get to be that there's hardly a month left in summer? Five weeks at the most, for me only about three! What have we been doing all this time? Twiddling our thumbs, playing with friends, looking at a book that you don't really want to read? If so, I think I have an idea for you.

I know that everyone wants to make their summers memorable, we don't want to just be watching TV all day. Summer is usually filled with stress-free and fun activities. We usually don't have the pressure to do something productive. But now that summer's days are are slowly ticking away, it might seem like a good idea. But how? We don't have time to do something big, right? Will it cost money? What if summer already ended for you?

Easy. No. Probably not. Keep this for next vacation.

It doesn't take a long to do something, or to finish something hanging over your head. But, I have to tell you, there's a very important step to this.

Step 1. Get Excited about it

Without this step, there is no hope doing anything else in this post so you might as well exit the blog and return to your dashboard. Without getting excited about what you're going to do, it becomes a chore and that's not fun.

There are a lot of ways to get excited, you could listen to music.

Or you could look at inspiring pictures that might make you want to do something.

Not my picture

Step 2. Plan it

I know that some people aren't planners, but I am and to me planning also gets me excited about things. I just love it. I've planned a lot of things and most of the time all I need is some paper, pencils, Microsoft Word or Excel and the Internet.

A. Open your document and make a table of how many days you have to accomplish what you want to do, leave space for the title of what you're doing and the days of the week.

B. Fill in what you want to do every day.

C. Cross it out once you're done with it.

Step 3. Do it

Now here comes the real thing. Actually doing what you were planning on doing. It's really simple if you just get started and follow you're plan. That's all there is to it.

Now, I'm guessing you might also want some ideas if you don't have any.

Step 4. Help

There are so many things that you could be doing that it's hard to pick one to actually do. Sometimes, there's something that you have to do, then it's an easy decision. But other times you might be bored and have nothing to do. Here are some ideas.

1. Make a music video. I've done this with my sister a lot and they're always so much fun to work on. It only takes about a day, but I would allow yourself three or four if you're new at this or want a really good one.

Supplies: Camera, music
Cost: If you have a camera, nothing.

2. Redecorate your room. I haven't done this all too many times, but there are great inexpensive ideas to redecorate your room. You could change around the furniture, pillowcase some pillows, get a new lamp shade, organize your desk and hang up a picture.

Supplies: Your creativity
Cost: Nothing

3. Plan a party. This is so much fun, no kidding. You could set up a party (if your parents are okay with it) for a certain day, then plan out what you'll do and what type of party it'll be, make invitations, decorate and plan out how long it will be. It's a lot of fun.

Supplies: Whatever you want
Cost: about 20 dollars

There are loads more, you could go on a photo walk, make a scrapbook, decorate a t-shirt, learn how to sew a bag, get a cork-board and pin up pictures of your favorite things, secretly help someone everyday, and loads more.

See, you still have time for summer fun!

________________________________________________________________________________________

iGirl/Dani of iDream

I dance. I love. I write. I sing (not well). I love God. I read. I want to live in a city. I have health issues. I play with play-dough. I listen to music. I write emails. I like surprises. I hope. I love peace signs. I smile. I laugh. I don't like my voice. I rant. I'm not perfect. I blog. I act. I doodle. I cook. I sew. I desperately need a savior no matter what and I'm living to glorify Him

the heat wave.

2011-07-23T17:46:00.000-04:00

That's right. We gots ourselves a heat wave over on the East Coast where I live. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so muggy and thick outside, but it's like we're walking through a world full of syrup. Syrup that's been heated on the stove till it was about a gajillion degrees.

It was a time like this when my grandparents finally decided to give us an air conditioner. My brother had just been born and it was, well, syrupy outside, just like these past couple days.

It was about 2:00 yesterday when our thermostat read this. And that's in the shade.

I usually don't step a foot outside on these days and do my exercising with a workout tape. (Classy, right?)

But what makes me the happiest on these days?

BOOKS.

Lots and lots of books.

As you all know, Emma is a science fiction geek. I only found one good scifi/dystopian society book, but the other three should be good.

See any that look familiar? Do you have any reviews?

And not to mention my other stack that I have on my bookshelf in my room, consisting of at least four more.

What can I say? Books make this girl happy.

***

New look for my Internet abode. Do you like it? I switched from orange to blue, and hopefully I'll get that post title font changed soon... but I need to know how to do it. Do any of you graphic designers have any tutorials?

***

As I said before, camp is next week for me. I'm ready for a tan, a lot of marching and a lot of clarinet-playing. Oh, and possibly starvation is a key factor in there. If I come back a pile of skin and bones, you all are my witnesses: it wasn't my fault.

Be ready for two (hopefully three) wonderful guest posters!

emma

pocket-sized personality

2011-07-21T21:50:00.003-04:00

I love little things that add spunk to a person. Recently, I found a couple things that I can do that give me a little personality boost, and I absolutely adore them. I've been wanting to post about them for a while, and I finally found time to do it. Here they are:

girl with the feather in her hair: I've wanted a feather since the beginning of summer, and I got my wish early in July!

^^ Photobooth picture.

Honestly, I feel like Rogue from X-Men. I love the feathers, and although I wish they were a bit bigger I am getting warmed up to the skinny kind. The orange and white really stand out against my hair, and when you can see them -- you can see them.

***

"personality that I otherwise lack": These sunglasses, according to my own mother, give me "personality that I otherwise lack". Kind, right?
If you knew my mother you wouldn't take that seriously! :)

But not only do they fold like regular sunglasses..

... they also fold into...

I love them. When I was tinkering around yesterday with some selective coloring, I came up with this:

Which pretty much explains all that I am with that facial expression.

Do you have any pieces that exhibit your personality that you love? I always like hearing stories, and they might give me some ideas!

***

Since I figure you all would like some more substance to this post, I'll go off on a ramble and talk about the heat up here... It's insane, really. I guess it's not as bad as some southern places, but for where I live it's really hot. Tomorrow, 100 degrees. Friday, 103. What's even better is that I get to go outside and march tomorrow during my all-day mini camp (a reason why I haven't been posting).

About that. I apologize, everyone... I don't like not being here when I'm home for more than two days, but I haven't exactly had any inspiration lately and it's been pretty hectic music-wise (marching band and a big audition coming up). I like sentimental posts, or humorous posts, but I haven't really had any big experiences that showcase those kind of posts recently. If you all would like more posts like the last one about North Carolina (day-to-day posts) then I can do that, but I'm still kind of a rookie after my break so we'll see where this goes...

Thanks for listening, as always.

~emma

PS. Also, is there something wrong with my follower box? Not because I'm expecting more, but just because there are times when it won't load for me... Is this happening to any of you?

of splashes and caffeine

2011-07-18T23:04:00.001-04:00

subtitle: hurried and jumbled words written through stress of music auditions and wrist injuries and wishing that North Carolina somehow moved closer to where I live.

But all that would've been a mouthful upon reading the title of the post, so I had to settle for creating a subtitle...

Well, I'm back from my six-day stay. Can I tell you how short that was? I like to think my extended family holds a special place in my chest, and when I'm not with them, it's like a constant subconscious ache. We share so many special things that are only us. We call our grandparents Gangi and Papa, we play Bananagrams 24/7, we always go to Calabash for seafood and go tubing. It's only two days after we left, and I am already excited for when my cousin comes up to stay for a week.

I'm starting to figure out that this is going to be a kind of jumbled post with much rambling. I'm writing this throughout the day, and currently it is 11 PM on the day before my all-day rehearsal for my marching band season. I'm kind of freaking out. I just got 2 new music pieces today, and I have two lines of a song memorized. I don't know exactly what they're expecting, but it better not be too much, because I've been away and haven't had time to practice.

Anyway. I'll spare you of more rambles. Here are some scenes of my week with my cousins. Pictures courtesy of my dear auntie. We all had a blast going tubing:

Down the river, there is this beautiful waterfall that is always empty every time we drift by. How could you not stop to admire it, or climb it? It's mind-boggling to me. Sitting under the downpour is absolutely freezing, but refreshing -- once you get past the shock of that much water pouring down on you.

Then, whitewater rafting. We took a guide down the river, and his name was Captain Ron, a seventy-year-old volunteer who was just amazing. He let us play around, risking falling out of the raft, but it was totally worth it. I'm so glad we got him. Here we are before we went down the river:

And, as you all know, on July 14 we started getting ready at about 9 for the Harry Potter premiere. It was an amazing movie, and an even more amazing experience. My cousin and I made homemade shirts, "Team S.P.E.W." branded on the front and jerseys on the back. Mine said WINKY 01, her's said DOBBY 06. We were pretty amazing.

Oh, and we tried curling my hair.

It doesn't really work.

Turns out, the movie opened on my eldest cousin's birthday. She's on the far left. Amazing, right? And what's even more amazing is that my cousin Baker (in the center) is so tall he can fit his arms around five people. Insane.

It took a lot of caffeine for my aunt to stay awake, but it worked, and all in all, the whole week was simply amazing. I loved every second and cannot wait to be back there next year.

How is July treating you folks?

~emma

PS Wow, I just realized how many times I used the word "AMAZING" in one post. Sorry...