Julianne Helene is Here!!!!!!

Julianne Helene is here!
Wonder and Joy surround us.
Radiant sun streams from her smile;
Glorious Happiness squeezes out
from between Her tight shut eyes.
---
Julianne Helene is here,
unknowlingly the center of attention.
Endless, unbroken love winds around her.
Such a tiny infant,
Already so strong in her family.
---
Julianne Helene is here!
Excitement is at it's peak.
The precious girl is held in all our thoughts
As she's held in the arms of her parents.
Pure joy is the only emotion.
---
Julianne Helene is here!

7:28 am, 8bs, 11/2/11

Saving My Face

Horror of Horrors! The last time I posted was exactly a month ago. SHOCKING! So, even though I have nothing to write on, I'm writing this post to save face as a writer.
Many of you will not remember, and that's why I'm going to tell you, but Nanowrimo is almost hear as November rears it's head. (I can't say ugly head 'cause my brother was born during the month.) Anyway, with the approach of such a huge thing in my young life, I've started seriously hacking out my plot for my 30,000 word book I'm going to try and finish. Yes, I did say 30,00 and for those of you who didn't raise your eyebrows in surprise, 30,000 is a very large number of words to write in a month. For Nov. it's 300 words a day. However, this is manageable since I've written well over a thousand words in a day. Yes, I'm very excited for this book since it will be the 9th in my total of completions. Also, it will be the biggest book to be completed. Plus, the story is intriguing for me. Who knewthat a plot could stem out of a title that was thought up, trying to help a fellow writer name his book. :)
However, I should really stay on what's happened in October, since that's the stuff I've bypassed. I've been heavily preparing for the next audition in the Region process I explained before. I passed through the District level and on this Saturday, I'll enter the next audition hoping to pass as well. The outcome of it will definitely be put on facebook, so you needn't worry. ;)
Kathryn had a birthday in this month as well. Yes, she turned twenty which was very strange, let me tell you. Being the only teenager in the house, as well as having to remember to say that she's twenty, will be somewhat of an adjustment. For her birthday, we celebrated by going out to dinner at P.F. Chang's where I got the best Orange Chicken ever!!! So good! Also, we hit the movie theatres to see Real Steel.
Let me take a moment of this post to inform you of how good that movie was. Oh, my goodness! I was so impressed. I expected to like it, but not nearly that much and not for all those reasons. It had a good story, believability, and great acting. Hugh Jackman was perfect for the role, and I actually got mad at him a couple times 'cause I thought he was being too mean.
I've also been sick lately. For almost two full weeks I've been sick. Not fun. It's just a cold, but waking up day after day with a full head, clogged nose, and no voice gets REALLY old, REALLY fast. I'm just hoping that my voice will clear by Sat.
Well, that's about all I got. Hope that filled you in a bit. Hopefully, I'll have more and better stories next time!

A Dream Fufilled

Dreams are pretty amazing things. I'm not talking about the kind when you go to sleep at night, though those can be amazing as well...or not. I mean the dreams when you sit around with nothing to do and think over the little things in life. Those daydreams are exciting, yet they're even more exciting when they're attained and accomplished.
Let me fill you in a bit on a certain dream of mine. For several years, I've wanted a red coat. For some reason, a red coat seems to be about the epitome of winter fashion to me. Because of this view, I wanted one. However, I knew that if I was going to get one, it had to be perfect. 'Cause it's not like you just amass coats of the same color, right? The criteria was that it had to be lower than my hips, had to have a belt, was made out of the "not scratchy sounding" fabric, and had to be the right shade of red. These 4, mostly the last one, proved very difficult to find all together. Mom kept looking in stores, yet none were quite right. Still, I was not discouraged. My red coat was laying or more likely hanging manufactured somewhere.
Well, the day finally arrived. Mom found a coat online that would hang below my hips, had a belt, was made out of the "not scratchy sounding" fabric, was the right shade of red, AND even had epaulets!
A few days later the coat arrived in the mail. I tried it on and....

Well, what do you think? I like it immensely and can't wait for the weather to get cool so I can wear it out and feel like I'm wearing the epitome of all winter fashion. :D

Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Prom Dresses

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my heavy days in school. I go to the community college by our house for Government 2 and History 1. After coming home and a few hours more, my live SAT prep class goes for two hours, ending at 6. Now, aside from those I have all of my regular "home" classes. Well, yesterday, I finished all of my "home" class work before I had to leave for school. This was unheard of!
On the way to the college, Mom and I discussed dinner. I realized, because of the late end of my SAT class, dinner would have to be able to make ahead of time. Or, it would need to be assembled very quickly. I settled on a new dinner salad recipe that Mom found in a magazine.
Fast forwarding 3 hours, and Mom picked me up from school. Then, she told me that there was a possibility of me babysitting that night. (Well, then I won't be able to make dinner.) So, we waited to see how things played out.
I ended up babysitting, so Mom and Kathryn fended for themselves with dinner. I went to sit for my 8 year old neighbor, Sophie.
She finished her homework for the day, and we decided to eat dinner. She jumped up and announced that she wanted to make both of our sandwiches. She wanted to make them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too!
(Pausing here, I must insert a small statement for the next part of this story to make sense. I don't really like peanut butter. Yes, it's true. You can gasp all you want. I've never really cared for it. So, peanut butter and jelly was never something I really enjoyed eating when I younger. Because of this, I haven't had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich since I was probably 7 or 8.)
Naturally, I was not thrilled about the idea of eating PB&J, but Sophie was so excited to make it for me that I knew I couldn't say no.
She asks me to get down the plates and glasses while she gets the bread, peanut butter, and the SQUEEZABLE jelly. Squeezable jelly is Bama grape jelly in a sqeeze tube, but Sophie seemed to think it was this specially made thing. After a few minutes of me being in the kitchen, she asked me if I wanted to use the jelly first. That's when I figured out she wasn't going to make my sandwich.
Sitting down to eat, I prepared myself to take a bite of this sandwich. "Who knows?" I thought. "It might have changed it's flavor over the years." I took a bite. It was as if I was trying to remember a dream, and the plot of it slowly came back. The taste was like that. The taste hit my tongue, and the rememberance of eating them so long ago cam back. Very interesting. I wouldn't say I liked it, but I definitely was gagging while I ate it. Later on in the night, Sophie and I played some games and then danced around to Elton John music. :)
________

Today was my "Day after my Day of Jubilee." (That reference is not supposed to make sense to anyone but fellow West Wing watchers. So many things went excellent!
First, I got my school done very early. Then, it was time for my voice lesson with my choir conductor on my Region music. (Region is a competition for high schoolers to get into the Texas State choir. You're given music. You learn it with a CD, and then you audition it. There are multiple auditions and the first is this Saturday and is called District.) Well, my lesson went beyond well! I'm so ready for District! Coming off this high note, Mom took me to Skcubrats for a treat. Skcubrats is our nickname for a certain coffee place. (Hint: It's spelled backwards.) After going there, we stopped in at Marshalls where we looked all around.
Now, I was almost ready to go to the fitting rooms, but then I spied this dress. This dress was a floor length, strapless, cream colored with black polka dots prom dress. It was gorgeous! Fitted on the top with this really puffy and cool fabric layering on the bottom, oh, it was just gorgeous. I knew I would never wear it 'cause I don't go to prom, but I still couldn't resist trying it on. It. Looked. FABULOUS! Oh man, I just loved it. It was so cool, unique, and just really, really neat. Mom didn't really like it that much though. :) So, I stopped playing dress up, and we went home.
At home, Mom asked if Kathryn and I wanted to go to Chick-fil-a? You see, I didn't want salad which is what I was going to make from last night's planned dinner.
Yeah, it was a really great day! I hope tomorrow is just as good!

Journey Through the Kitchen with Meaghan Kelly, episode 1

Menu item? Crockpot Chicken
Sides? brown rice and vegetable medley

You know, I use to want to have a show on Food network. I'm not sad ot lose that wish. I much rather prefer to dabble in the kitchen and experiment here and there.
Anyway, you guys probably remember that in August, I was the chef for a week. I planned the menu, went shopping for the groceries, and cooked everything. That was during the summer, though. Now, I've got a crazy schedule going on, so it's not been as easy to shop and plan or even be home to make stuff. Thus, I decided to do some family recipes that were quicker to make.
Mondays, as a lot of you know, is choir for me. I usually get home at 5. Well, that doesn't leave much time for dinner. Foreseeing this problem, Mom encouraged me to make something in the crockpot.

I settled on the classic recipe for our house, Crockpot Chicken. So good!!! So, I put the chicken in, mixed the soups, sprinkled all the spices on top, and put on the lid. Then, you just let it sit for about 7 hours.

Because we were getting home especially late from yesterday, Kathryn was gracious enough to get the rice done for me. Then, I got the vegetables ready, and dinner was ready. A picture of my plate is below. Yum!

"Are you crying?"

Why, yes I am, thank you very much. Oh, it's an old story, and I thought one you might like to hear. Kathryn always says that I cry too much in movies. It's true, too. I mean, I readily admit it. The slightest thing will make me tear up, and then, look out. It doesn't even have to be REALLY sad. Even if it's like a kind of sad
moment, there I go. So, I felt like posting all the movies that I remember crying in. And, this is not all of them, I'm sure of it.

(One other thing. Don't judge me.)

Little Women
Star Trek
The Last Samurai
Anne of Avonlea
Finding Neverland
The Patriot
A Walk to Remember
MI3
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
A Journey to the Center of the Earth
Spider Man 3
Valkyrie
The Last Song
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Cheaper by the Dozen (The old one, not the new one.)
Remember the Titans
Pearl Harbor
Toy Story 3
The Ultimate Gift

Yes, I'm a very emotional person. Oh well. :D It makes me feel more attached to a movie, if it can make me cry.
Leaving you with a quote that's appropriate, and it stems from the title of the post.
"Are you crying? There's no CRYING in baseball!!!"

Cupcakes and Rock 'n Roll

I woke up at 6:30 in order to have enough to time to knock out 2 thirty minute classes, eat breakfast, and get ready to leave all before 8:45. You see, my first class, Hist. (Sorry, I use shortened forms of class names), was at 9:30. However, they were doing a special at the college because of classes starting so there were some freebies to get. Thus, I wished to leave early in order to collect. :) Well, I did my Eng, then got ready, then ate, and then did my Lit, which did in fact allow me to be ready when it was time to go. I got to the school, and picked up my free t-shirt and goodie bag. The bag held stuff like pencils and pens and notepads and such. And, even if I don't use it, it's still always nice to get free stuff right?

"I say am I right?!"- A Charlie Brown Christmas (had to sneak in a quote somewhere.)

Now, on to Hist, where I met up with my friend Jesse, who is also taking the class. We filed into the classroom and sat down. We were not prepared for the hour and twenty minutes of monotone (and pathetic jokes) that were about to assail us as our teacher, Dr. Hayward, introduced us to the syllabus. I'm glad this lady gives a lot of notes, 'cause I'll need something to do to keep my mind awake!
My next class was Gov. Now, I'd already taken part 1 of the class last semester with Dr. Bob Eubanks, or Brother Bob as he likes to be called. And, I was taking him again this semester. So, I was pretty sure as to what I could expect from him. Of course, any of you who know him, will know that you CAN'T expect anything because he's all about the unexpected. Anyway, his opening class was the usual "history of Rock and Roll." It very funny, and perked me up from the dismal plodding I'd just sat through. When Gov finished, I went down to the Commons for something that I was very excited about.
Cupcake Wars!!! Well, not exactly. Have you seen the show on Food Network? Well, if not, here's a very brief summary. 4 contestants must compete by baking and decorating cupcakes to get to the final round where they must make a 1,000 cupcake display. (They have help! Don't worry.) The college was doing a mini version of that. 4 contestants got 2 minutes to decorate their cupcake with any color icing provided (but only 2 colors of fondant). Then, the cupcakes would be judged, and the winner got a giftcard.
I come up to the challenge thinking, "2 minutes is a ton of time. It's doesn't take that long to put the bag in your hand and squeeze." Well, I decide I was going to make a dinosaur.
My fondant colors are orange and red, and of course, green is my frosting. 2 minutes...and START!!! I start piping, and then I start to make the dinosaur. As I look at the cupcake, I think, "Man, I really want a thinner tip, maybe some black icing to make some outlines. I'd like a spatula to smooth things out, too." Then, I hear that there's only 30 seconds left! AHHHH! Quickly, I start rolling out my fondant to make the teeth and tongue, and they're counting down. I did finish before the buzzer, but it went a WHOLE lot faster than I expected!
We all presented our creations to the judges. The first girl did abstract art, the guy did "Fire and Rain" (and that should be in quotation marks for more than one reason), the second girl did a rubber duckie which was really cute, and then of course was my dinosaur. The judges deliberated, and the winner was......The Dinosaur!!! Yay! I won a giftcard to Pappa John's too, which was really cool! (The picture's below.)

Well, then I ate one of the cupcakes they provided, chocolate with really good icing and coconut on top. I didn't eat my dinosaur 'cause it had A LOT of icing on it. :D Then, I called Mom, got picked up and went home to finish up all my other schoolwork and things.
So, yes. Now, here I sit, writing a blog post with my math work pending. Oh well, math doesn't take THAT long. ;) Besides, my public needs to hear about all of the exciting news that's circling around me! Talk to you guys later!