School in July

Ok, so since I just finished my first full week of school, I thought I would enlighten you on what it's like to go to school in the summer--how its different than the fall.

First, its a little lighter outside when you go to sleep.

Second, its a little hotter and there's a little more humidity at cross country practice--or any other time you choose to venture outdoors (like for fire drills, dual enrollment, etc.)

Now, for the similarities..

First, the bright and eager students are just as bright and eager July 8th as they are August 8th.

Second, the food tastes just as scrumptous (right spelling?)

Third, it's just as hard to wake up in the mornings.

Last, chemistry, spanish, french, and english are just as easy--or hard--to learn.

Ok, so, admittedly, there's not too much difference between the two. But let's be honest....where would the fun in this post be without a couple of oddities?

Catchup

So, ill admit, i have completely forgotten about my blog. But--in my defense--i have been sort of busy. I mean we just got out of track season, i've been to our nation's capital, been to my cousin's graduation, and gone to the beach (ok, so those last two go hand in hand) so i have been a little busy!! So, i'm only going to post a few things up here picture/video wise right now.

Track Season:

Our track season turned out so great this year! The girl's team won Sub-Sectionals and the boy's won Sectionals. 8 of us went to the state competition. David won the open 800, the boys 4x800 came in second, and the girl's 4x800 came in third. If you click on the link below, you can watch us run. I'm the second leg of this race. Stephanie is the first, Landry the third and Leah the last. We are University School of Johnson City and are in the Dark Blue bottoms and top. Come on, you know you wanna watch it, what else do you have to do?

http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/235044/180832

Washington, D.C.:

Me and Terry went to our nation's capital for a quick two-day trip. A word to the wise: memorize the maps BEFORE you make it to the city, watch out for Massachusetts Avenue, and don't even bother looking for a place to eat lunch in the city unless it's Burger King, Starbucks, a goat cheese pizza store, or a hot dog vendor (although, those probably aren't too bad and the one outside the American History Museum even claimed to have served Leonardo DiCaprio --we didn't stop, but if it had been DaVinci it would have been a done deal). As it turns out, nothing opens in the city until after 2:00. Our hotel was actually pretty neat, though. We were about three blocks away from the white house--and no, the Obama's didn't invite us over for tea....the nerve, i know! We went sightseeing in the morning--including the whitehouse where we tried to find the new First Dog to set up a playdate with Stump, but had no Bo sightings. We also checked all the memorials.....Lincoln, World War 2, Vietnam, and Washington. I wonder why there is no World War 1? Or if there is and we just missed it, why it is so understated? We then checked out the Museum of American History. Honestly, we spent about 3 hours in there and had only gone through about 1/2 to 2/3 of the third floor. That is what i most recommend you to go see if you happen to be visiting the area soon. Pretty neat place.

It was then time to go to the hotel where the tryouts would be. It lasted about 3 hours with another 50 question written test (like the first one we tried out with on the computer), a mock game, and an interview. I think they thought i was a little crazy when i wanted to join the CIA. haha. Anyway, we won't know anything until mid-August and then taping is at the end of August. It will be aired the middle of September. But whether i make it or not i'm pretty excited i got this far. 70,000 people took the online test, 10,000 passed it, and 300 were then asked to do these interviews around the country. From this 300 they will pick 15--3 from each of the 5 interviewing spots. so, technically i have a 1/20 shot of getting on it, ha

I'll have to put other pictures on here later, because now i'm a little tired. Hola!

running around before the season began

Dan Crowe relays--we came in second 10:18

From left to right....Leah, Landry, me, Steph

Time's News Relays....we came in third 10:02

Sectionals....in Chattanooga, Tennessee....we ate at the Mellow Mushroom before hand

the rest of the pics are from state.....

Watching the wolverine movie before we ran

watching Liz throw before we ran. She got 5th in discus.

after we ran. we ran a 9:55 overall, and i ran a 2:29.

The next day, the girl's went shopping. Then we went to watch the boy's run. As you can tell, we made matching t-shirts.

the last day on the way home....

that's it! i'll get washington pics up here later....

Prom '09

these are only some, ill post the others later

new house!!

be sure to view it from the bottom to the top, i put them on here backwards....

View from my room

My Closet

my closet

2nd bedrooms closet--with a window!

2nd bedroom

my bathroom

my bathroom

my bathroom

3rd bedroom

3rd bedroom

my bedroom

my bedroom from the hall

upstairs

den upstairs

stairs

downstairs 1/2 bath

master bedroom closet

master bathroom

master bathroom

master bedroom

kitchen

kitchen/living room thing

first room thing

first room thing

outside

mailbox!!

the house

North Carolina

These past three weeks have been our spring break--i know, aren't year-round schedules great. So, one of our trips was down to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit my Uncle Milburn, Aunt Denise, Buttercup the dog, and cousins Tyler and Lindsey--as it was Lindsey's birthday. Oh, and we took Mammaw with us.

repost of commercials.

so if you know me really well--which you should by now if you are regularly checking this thing--then you should already know that i love commercials. now i know that most people can't stand their favorite show being interrupted constantly every 5-15 minutes. and i know that there are those few who despise the previews at movie theatres (because those are sort of like long, specialized commercials that show upcoming titles rather than useful--or useless--items.) But i happen to love these and i happen to think that they are seriously underappreciated. when is the last time you've been to the grocery store where you have bought something because you saw it on the tv screen. ok, so maybe not that often, but i do think that it is hard to think up commercials and even harder to think up funny commercials and these writers deserve some credit, so i have searched and probed my brain (probare: to probe) and the following are my top ten favorite commercials. if for some crazy reason you aren't as crazy about commercials as me and you don't memorize them, then click on the link to watch and refresh your memory. sorry if i left one of yours out!! oh and they are in specific order, too. honorable mentions--these following 4 are great, but just not great enough.

1. Visa Elephant commercial--this is one of the few that i have on here that is not really funny. but i like it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNXwor69-U

2. one of the many sonic commercials. they are all actually pretty funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD6d4TZgOPw this is the weather man one and the reason it merits a spot is because of the guy's facial expressions; trust me.

3. sonic again, keep watching the facial expressions; they are absolutely hilarious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR-yLzxt6gg

4. this is a wendy's commercial, and i didn't really think that the skit was really great (hence the reason it's in honorable mention) but listen to the chanting at the end of it; i think that's worth an honorable mention. you really have to listen, though, because that girl announcing the sandwich is really loud. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi5_jNv3MoM

the real thing:

10. remember those old visa commercials. not the priceless ones, but the life takes ones. where they had stuff like: life takes determination, life takes spontanaity, and at the end the guy does this back flip off the tree (which is really cool in itself). i couldn't find it, so i hope you remember it, but they are pretty neat.

9. the planter's peanut commercial--i think this one aired during the last superbowl. where the girl uses the planter's perfume. the best part is when the bicyclist hits the taxi. although that would hurt.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NVbFoj3aTQ

8. this is the last sentimental one, ok; those olympic visa adds were all really great, but the very best one was the one about everyone being human. at least i thought so. it always gives me goose bumps, because of everyone's facial expressions: both joy and agony. or maybe it's because i'm human. either way, it takes spot 8, of this much sought after prize. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7QbKGgsm8

7. the many peyton manning commercials. they are all equally funny, and since they're all pretty much the same thing, how could you choose?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSCALpmxnLE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G0loI0Jn5M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwDAfdmNMVw

6. the mr. bill commercial. i had honestly never seen mr. bill before, and isn't he cute? especially his laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxMqDxtjw1U

5. the ever popular hillshire beef commercials. while they are all great, this one is the best--i believe anyway..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r2fjUYKdl4

4. the talking stain commercials of course. i especially love how they manage to sound like they have a British accent even while talking gibberish.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_oGKceD-j0

3. getting close to the number one spot, right? number three, however, goes to the absolutely funniest taco bell commercial ever. the taco bell rap. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmnDtL83cvA

2. the techno twins slad and veder--from at&t. although they don't call him a funny name like the pool table one (dillweed) this does have the funniest music. and it has a robot person with a boombox. and the main guy has the best facial expressions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUfONVpMn4Q

1. the wendy's ranch tooth commercials. remember them? if you watch any of these commercials, watch these two. as a sidenote, this is even better because the guy off of the show chuck--which is also something you should watch--is on this, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFqDPRS_Vaw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNsqVNqIGj4 the second is of course much funnier.

so, i hope you enjoyed my top ten (plus honorable mentions) of commercials. i certainly enjoyed looking them up. sorry if i left yours out....then again you may not have favorite commercials like me....unlikely, i know....but just maybe.

Leaving and returning.

so, you know that feeling whenever you have returned to a place that you havent been to in a while? well, its a mixture of feelings actually. A little nerve-wracking at first (butterflies, anyone), awkwardness (though only with the people you havent talked to), and from there, it differs with each person.

With some--after these two emotions--you feel relief. You have worried and fretted over whether they will still like you or not, and when everything goes normal, you're happy. You get along like nothing ever happened....only now you both have numerous stories to tell. This is where the majority fall.

Sometimes, you never get out of the awkward feeling. You talk, but--with such a short visit--there's just not enough time to feel normal again. Of course you're still friends, its just a little....awkward. There aren't too many here, though.

Then, there are the times where the emotion is sadness. When you have realized just how much they have changed--and you yourself mostly--and that things just arent the same anymore. They have moved on entirely with their life, and that life most definately does not include you for some reason. Happily, though, there are very few people in this category.

But, it is fun to categorize the emotions you feel. I suggest you try it sometime. :) i loved seeing everyone!