The bird has landed

It's been a long day, but I am finally in Chicago!
It's actually not that cold and I'm pleasantly surprised. It's cold enough that I need to wear jeans and a hoodie, but not cold enough that I have to break out the boots and scarf. I'm sure that will come tomorrow night though.
Plane ride went pretty well. I fell asleep some of the way, and the other parts read some of my book and explored some features on my laptop. I also people watched.
The ladies in front of us were Sooo drunk and kept spilling their drinks on my brother, yeah, somehow the drinks spilled OVER the back of the seat. I of course was laughing my butt off at how stupid they were acting, but my brother wasn't finding it that amusing. We had a minor "trauma" when my brother managed to lose his $5 White Sox hat that we bought at Chinatown the last time we were here. We looked ALL over our area for that thing and we could NOT find it. I stayed behind on the plane after he and my dad got off and yeah, woman's intuition told me to look one more time behind my seat and BOOM there it was. So I saved his day.
So many babies were on our flight. I felt so bad for some of the poor moms with babies that cried the entire 4 hours! I figured it would be strange if a complete stranger offered to help them out though. I mean just hold the kid for a second so they could stop pacing up and down the plane.
We got on a shuttle to take us to the hotel and of course, the strangest old ladies were with us! I have video of the scenery with their voices on it, talking about the most random topics. There was four of them and they were all about 80 years old and kept talking about how they were going to go get drinks and run around the city. One of the guys goes, "this material is something for Saturday Night Live" and one woman cracks back, "more like Saturday Night Dead since one of us could keel over any second." I couldn't help it, I laughed so hard I cried. I left the camera in the room, but I'll upload that video soon!

I am staying in a lovely Marriot on Michigan ave, right near where I stayed before so I know my way around. The most awesome part? That favorite place of mine that I was talking about before, the spot between the Chicago Tribune and the NBC building? I can see it from my hotel window!! I get to go to sleep looking at the lit up NBC Peacock. Yeah, I'm excited. I was all, "DAD WE HAVE TO SLEEP WITH THE WINDOW OPEN" and he told me to shut up and close the window, I'm thinking that's a no on his part. ... Just wait til he's asleep...

This time change is sort of messing with my brain, I'm so tired but it's only 11 here and there is SO much going on. My body and brain are so tired, but I can't go to sleep yet! I'm pretty sure the boys are passed out in the room, I might have a problem getting back in there.

I'm hoping to hit up the Shedd Aquarium tomorrow and go to Lou Mitchell's for breakfast. I'll also probably go do some shopping alone tomorrow and then take my brother to the Chicagoween fest while my dad goes to his meeting. Pictures will come once I take some! I'm guessing you guys don't want to see what I have now, which is a picture of my cute feet in flip flops in the cold, or at least what some may consider the cold.

Before I go to sleep, I just have to say that the lobby here is the coolest thing ever. It's huge and to get the complimentary wi-fi you have to sit in the lobby. The way that they made it is the whole thing is a bar, so you can sit on your laptop and get served whatever. I sat down and some guy comes over and goes can I get you something to drink, and I'm all "yeah, I'll take a Veuve Clicquot Demi." (Hahah yeah right. I don't even know what that is, I just glanced to the wine menu and that was the first thing I saw). Because I'm cheap, I'm drinking water. They have a 24 hour Starbucks that I am smelling right now, but I figure that I don't need to be up all night!

Good Night from Chicago!

Happy (early) Halloween

So remember my last post from a few hours ago when I talked about um things I have to do like packing. Well I'd like to let you know that I'm pretty much in line for the award of world's best procrastinator. Somehow I managed to take a nap, wake up at 9:30, eat dinner, do some laundry and hey, spend an hour on iTunes making sure that I have music for the flight. And my suitcase? Yeah, that's still sitting in the middle of the room untouched. Ooops...I'm thinking I'm not going to sleep tonight, thankfully I don't have to get up until 11!!

But that's not why I'm posting again. Jennie over at Jenerbug (how cute is her blog name?!) "boo-ed" me! No, not in a mean way, but in a cute halloween way. (Is it sad that I just realized that halloween is like 2 days away? My lack of house decorations has thrown me off).
So in a loving way, I am "boo-ing" people too! (If I could I would send every single one of my readers a giant candy bar, or something like that..stealing candy from your kids is more fun anyways.)

Jill at Sneaky Momma
Melodie at Me and My Girls
Alicia at Yayastuff
Lauren at Lauren's college life
Juliana at Juliana talks incoherently
Lizzie Infectious Chatter
Dorkys at Dry as Toast
Celine at My Life, My Hopes, my future
Eudea-Mamia at Life, Liberty and the Pursuit

And I know I left some of my other favorites out, but I promise, you guys are next! Happy early Halloween guys! Now, where did I put that trenchcoat???

Less than 24 hours

Only a few more hours to go until I get to hop on my plane! I'm so excited, but I haven't even started packing yet so I have a list of things I still have to do (oops); thankfully we don't leave the house til noon tomorrow.
It's been FREEZING here the last few days. Yesterday I got to pull out the boots :) I guess I was getting prepared for Chicago cold. I was sort of tempted to break out my scarf and wear it here; apparently my Florida skin can't handle 50 degree weather.
I'm so thrilled to be able to take a few days off from my crazy life. Sometimes you just need to get away and enjoy yourself! My dad's best friend from college lives outside of Chicago, so he will be picking us up from the airport tomorrow and taking us to his house so we can eat dinner with him and his youngest daughter's family.
His youngest daughter was pregnant the last time we were there and now the "baby" is 2! I've never met her before, but she looks adorable. Her (the baby's) mom and dad are both deaf (and they both taught me some pretty cool things in sign language. At the time, A was doing baby sign language so I was able to communicate with them pretty well, plus she and her husband have awesome lip reading skills.), and her grandfather (my dad's friend) speaks French, so what a fun time I'll be having with the different languages! Of course they all speak english, but we do the French speaking when we don't want my brother to understand something, it doesn't work to well for my dad, he's fluent French too (seriously, how?).
Tomorrow night we'll go into the city at the hotel where we will be staying and then I'll walk around for a bit (if they want to join me they can).
Friday my dad doesn't have his business meeting so we might go to the Shedd Aquarium and this awesome place, Lou Mitchell's for breakfast. My brother is begging to go to Chinatown so we may do that too. My dad has a meeting that night and it's Halloween night, so I'll take my brother to something called Chicagoween in Daley Square and then go to eat (probably pizza...yum) later.
Of course this is all tentative, I have no idea how any of this is going to work out!

I'm going to try my best to get internet connection (because quiet frankly I'll go crazy without it) in the hotel or at a Starbucks so you all will get to see some pictures and my updates! If I had text messaging I would Twitter, but I don't.

Hope you all have a great Halloween and a wonderful weekend!

Kelsey

One more thing, do stores usually put their halloween costumes on sale after Halloween? A wants a Sleeping Beauty dress for Christmas, so I'm going to get that for her, but is it wiser to just get it tomorrow or wait until Saturday? If anyone knows about this please let me know! I asked someone at CVS today and she said that they have to send all their costumes back to the manufacturer.

Also, thank you all for your prayers! They mean a lot to me and although it's hard right now (dumb application process!!), it's encouraging to know that things will get better in time.

Need Prayer

I got what could be my first deferal letter today. One of what was supposed to be my safety school, has finished looking over the academic process of my application and are deffering me until they see my new SAT scores. I know this doesn't mean anything yet, as I did improve on my SAT scores, but it still has me scared. Like enough to make me go and apply to another school that doesn't even have my major in it scared. Yeah, I just got done applying to one more college; Florida Gulf Coast University.

I opened the mailbox and saw the letter. I was getting ready to scream yelps of joy as I was pretty much positive that I would get in after I have compared my scores to the collegeboard's score compare thing. Than I read the letter and almost cried. It's not the end of the world, I know that, and I know that their decision isn't even final, but it made me feel like crap.

So right now I need your prayers that God will lead me to the right college and that I get accepted at the places that I'm supposed to go to. That I don't get so hard on my self when colleges say no, and that everything will turn out for the best. Please pray that God has compassion on me and places a hand on me during this whole aggravating process.

I'm sending my AP scores once my dad gets home, hopefully they will arrive to the colleges in time and they can see them before they make their final decisions.

In a whole other subject, how sad do you feel for Jennifer Hudson's family? That poor poor family. I can't imagine what they must be going through. I'm hoping that the body they found in the SUV doesn't belong to Julian and that he's still out there! Please remember them in your prayers too.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Not Me Monday

This is my 4th time doing Not Me Monday. To join the fun and to add your name to the Mr.Linky, go over to MckMama's blog.

This week I did not work Monday through Thursday, and Saturday. I was not secretly hoping that I would get time off.

I did not have a fantastic birthday! I do not love every single one of my friends!

I did not just look up Target locations in Chicago...seriously, I'm still wondering why I did that (because I don't have a Target near my house right!?!?) (Yeah, I'm ashamed of this, it does not show my LOVE for Target).

I did not read 140 pages of Twilight in my AP Environmental class this week instead of listening to a lecture. No, that would be AWFUL.

I did not eat a delicious gluten and wheat free chocolate cupcake (sans icing) for breakfast this morning. No, I had eggs.

Toys R Us did not send out it's annual "Toy Book" today. I did not question when Christmas moved to November. Come on people, can we get through with Halloween first?!

I did not forget to put water in my vase of flowers. Nope I have a very green thumb!

I did not just look over to my bedside table to find a fork on it. I do not eat in my bed. Ever.

I did not go to the mall and spend 10 minutes walking around Forever 21 wearing a scarf because I was getting used to it on my neck. I also did not ask someone, "is this how you put it on?" because I have worn this thing before! I am not that dumb about winter clothing.

I did not read 2 guide books about Chicago today. No, I did something productive today....like watching the World Series.

I did not forget to return 2 phone calls today until just right this second. No, I am PROMPT with all my call backs. People NEVER have to wait more than 3 days. (It's a wonder I have friends still).

I did not post this Not Me Monday post, before the original poster (MckMama) did! No, I am not jumping the gun!

I did not get to talk to my lovely friend in Arkansas today for an hour! I also do not miss her badly. That said, I am not at all anticipating Thanksgiving because she will be home!!!

I did not forget to send in my AP results to colleges, AGAIN. That's what tomorrow is for, right?

I am NOT going to bed right now because sleep is suddenly calling my name. It is not 3:30 in the morning. I do not ever stay up this late and then sleep til 11 am. No, I have a strict schedule that I follow.

I do not dare you to try your own Not Me's! Come on, try it, it's fun!

Jumping up and down like an excited child going to Disney

I admit it, I have a problem. This "disease" as it has become known to me is what I like to call the, "Way too excited to sleep, must plan everything RIGHT now" disease. Awful huh?

So yes, at 3 AM I am sitting on my bed with my laptop, trying to plan every single minute of my trip to Chicago. The sad part is, I never, ever stick to my plans, but for some reason planning makes me feel, well, in control. The impending vacation has got me so excited that I am practically bouncing off the walls. Like a little kid waiting to go to Disney, this is me waiting to go on Vacation.

Never mind the fact that by the time I get there, I'll be physically exhausted, but OH MY GOSH I CAN NOT WAIT ANOTHER MINUTE, if it was up to me I would go board that plane to O'HARE INTERNATIONAL RIGHT NOW! Who needs school (which thankfully I don't have today)?

Instead, I want to be strolling down Michigan Ave, experiencing weather that is below 80 degrees. The fact that I can possibly wear a scarf is making me jump up and down like an idiot. And BOOTS. I can break my Boots out of the closet!
I can't wait to go to Chinatown and eat the food at this WONDERFUL restaurant that I found, but can't for the life of me remember it's name. Good thing I have the place located in my GPS like brain. Yeah, I have a gift. Take me somewhere once, or let me study a map and I can get you anywhere you need to go. So that's what I do before I go to a city, I sit and study maps for minutes at a time. Unfortunately (for them), my family doesn't always believe in my GPS system, so they get lost while I am the winner and they are stuck riding the El (SUBWAYS! BETTER THAN MONORAILS AT DISNEY!!!)
Some people go to the islands to relax, me, I go to busy, high blood pressure raising, cities. I need the fast paced life style to calm myself down. I need the loud sirens, and the busy streets. I need things that are in walking distance! One of my favorite things to do in Chicago is to go to the corner of Michigan Ave, right before you get to the Chicago River bridge, where the NBC building is located. I go to the Starbucks across the street (next to the Wrigley building), get a cup of coffee and go back to the benches at the NBC building and just sit and people watch by the river. It's my "spot". One of the most peaceful places in the city and the people watching is great! I've got a bit of a ritual that I do too. Before I leave the "spot", I say a little prayer and make a wish and send it over the river.
The Tribune building is right next door to the NBC building. I guess this is another reason this is my "spot"; I want to work at either one someday!

Hmmm amazingly, writing about this has helped my sleepiness come back. Guess it's time to go to sleep and dream about deep dish pizza, the EL, The Cubs........

3 more days! Who knows? maybe I'll bring something back for one special reader! Yup, a possible give a way is in the works.

xoxo

To my Chicago readers (or people who love it as much as I do), what are you're favorite things to do in the city? Is Lou Mitchells really worth the wait? Is Pizzeria Uno really all that great (I've been there..I wasn't that impressed), Is the Shedd Aquarium worth my money? What's your favorite bakery? I've gotten some great suggestions, but some more would be awesome! (The fact that I've been there twice, have some family there, and have 5 Chicago books from the library does nothing for me apparently..)

Sunday Survey

♦A is for age:

18

♦B is for beer of choic​e:​​
Due to the fact that I am 18, it would not be to my advantage to answer this!

♦C is for caree​r​ right​ now:
Nanny and student

♦D is for your dog'​s name:​​
I don't have a dog, but at my "other" house that I live at (my nanny house), the dog's name is Dolce.

♦E is for essen​tial item you use every​day:​​
toothbrush

♦F is for favor​ite TV show:​​
30 Rock

♦G is for favor​ite game to watch​:​​
baseballl

♦H is for homet​own:​​
I still live there so you guys get to guess away on this one! It's somewhere in Florida...

♦I is for instr​ument​s you play:​​
Piano, handbells (oh yeah, I'm cool haha),

♦J is for favor​ite juice​:​​
Fresh squeezed orange

♦K is for whose​ butt you'​d like to be kicki​ng:​​
um no one right now thanks

♦L is for last place​ you ate:
My house (the grammar part of me just realized that it should read, "Last place you ate AT".)

♦M is for marri​age:​​.​
I want it!! I want it!!

♦N is for your name:​​
Kelsey

♦O is for overn​ight hospi​tal stay:​​
I've stayed in the hospital overnight for hurricanes, does that count? (my dad's a doctor, we had no choice)

♦P is for peopl​e you were with today​:​​
I just woke up, but so far I've seen the handyman and my brother

♦Q is for Quest​ions.​.​.​had enoug​h yet?
Sadly, no.

♦R is for relat​ionsh​ip statu​s:​​
single and looking (ladies, do you have brothers in laws, cousins, nephews, etc?!!)

♦S is for your favor​ite song:​
I really don't have a favorite song, more like a current song and that would have to be "Chasing Pavements" by Adele

♦T is for time you woke up today​:​​
10:30

♦U is for the type of under​wear you have on:
VS

♦V is for veget​able you love:​​
Cucumber, potato, corn, asparagus, spinach, onion, broccoli, peppers, lettuce, mushrooms, carrots, sugar snap peas......I'm going to stop now.

♦W is for worst​ habit​s:​​

Nail biting and biting the insides of my cheeks

♦X is for x-rays you've had:
my ankle and my arm

♦Y is for somet​hing yummy​ you ate today​:​​
I haven't eaten anything yet, but yesterday I had some key lime pie!

♦Z is for zodia​c​ sign:​
Libra

*************************************************************

Now I'm off to go do some Chicago planning! I am beyond excited. No school for me tomorrow so that makes everything great too. Oh and I'm reading a very special book, but that deserves a post all to it's self! Seriously, trust me on this one....

Happy Sunday!

Happy Birthday to me...

I love my birthday.
Between all the lovely comments, facebook messages, cards and phone calls I'm in birthday land. I also got a very special birthday present from the people at the SAT place (I'll get there in a minute).

Went to school today and it was pretty much like any other day. Most of the kids were still somber and shaken up from yesterday so I didn't think it was appropriate to start jumping up and down and yelling, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY". Some of my friends remembered though and they sang to me loudly in the halls (I loved it, and I was loud right back too). The SAT people, (the collegeboard) decided that they weren't going to release the scores until 8 AM. I start school at 7:20 (seriously, why so early?) so I took my friend's phone (thank God for internet on phones) and checked my score. Are you ready for this? This is the last time I could take my SATs. Because of the college admissions process, I had to have them in by December. I can't take the November test because I'll be in Chicago, so this was it. My scores last time were: (all are out of 800, 500 is average)
Critical Reading - 570
Math- 440
Writing- 580.

I really hoped to boost my reading and writing scores a little and improve my math by a LOT! I studied forever with multiple math tutors and did workbooks galore. During all of this I had NO time to study the reading or the writing. I figured my scores were already good enough. Than the "tragedy" happened the day before the test. I tried not to let that throw me and I went into the test with a positive attitude telling myself I could. Taking the test, I thought the math seemed simple and the reading and writing were probably what I didn't do so hott on. What a suprise I got today.
My scores this time were:
Critical Reading - 620
Math- 440
Writing- 610

You must be kidding me. Seriously, this can not be right! Out of the MONTHS and MONTHS I spent studying and practicing for the math section I got the EXACT SAME SCORE. How is that even possible!? I'm shocked that I broke above 600 in reading and writing, I thought I had problems with those! Funny how God works. Overall my score went up, so that's good and I guess this will show colleges, that hey, the girl isn't stupid, she went up in other areas and she really struggles in math. Now I just cross my fingers and wait for colleges to let me know their descision! I'm pretty happy. I qulify for the 75% scholarship for tuition and other costs at a FL state school, so that's nice to have. I've also taken the ACT and my score was pretty high on that, so I have hope I will get into college!!

This afternoon, momboss picked me up and sang to me. We were on our way home when A had to go to the bathroom "really really bad" and couldn't wait. Ironically we were by my old school that I had gone to from kindergarten through 8th grade. All the teachers still know me there and I'm incredibly close with several of them. I took A to use the bathroom there and some of my favorite people were in the office and wished me a happy birthday; some of them had even sent me beautiful flowers! They all knew who A was of course (since I talk about her nonstop), but this time they got to see her in person. I can't deny that I sort of loved showing her off. It was funny, I had one kid who I had watched when he was in 1st grade (he's in 5th now) stop me in the hallway, look at me, and then ask "hey, didn't you used to babysit me?" I told him yes, I had and then his eyes get big and he goes, "Did you have a baby?!" um nope, sorry kid. I was sort of tempted to go barge into my brother's class, but momboss was waiting and had to get to work.

Momboss and A had baked me a beautiful heart shaped gluten free chocolate cake (Which was delicious) and a bunch of little cupcakes. A has never had a cupcake (or cake for that matter) before and I was thrilled that I got to be the reason why she got one! I have never seen a kid devour one so quickly.. Dadboss came home late and I was a little ticked as I was trying to get to dinner, but it was okay.

I went home and my family and I went out to this restaurant which is such a best kept secret. It's this AWESOME fish/seafood restaurant that makes everything fresh and it's sooo delicious. We sat at the bar and watched the Jamaican chef make all the food. I had some of the best dolphin I've ever had. To top it off, they brought me out a mud pie with a candle in it. The chef, (who we befriended) was gone when this happened however. He comes back and was bummed he missed it, so he gets a plate out and give me a HUGE dessert platter of keylime pie, chocolate mousse, coconut icecream and banana pudding cake. It's pretty awesome to see all these desserts inside my refridgerator!

My dad has been so amazing today and totally suprised me by getting me a cute Tiffany's bracelet I had wanted for a while. It's a stretchy band with a heart charm on it and then for graduation, I can add the graduation charm and so on. It's so special and I hope I'll get to give it to my kid one day.

I feel so loved right now and I'm so greatful for everyone who has made this day special. I wish you all could come over and have some of this dessert with me!!

Much love

Kelsey (who is now legal and can order things off of the TV! and get a hotel room! and buy lotto tickets! and get a credit card! and be charged with a crime! and not have to get any papers signed by my dad! and yeah, I'll stop there.. <3>

To my 5 year old self, Happy Birthday

Dear 5 year old self,
Congratulations you made it! 18 years on this earth and so far you've done a pretty good job. You've experienced a lot, both good and bad, but you've realized that those experiences have only made you that much stronger. If you could go back and tell your six year old self some of the stuff you would do in your life, she would have never believed it.

Never in your life did you think that you would go to public school. Guess what? You've been there for four years.
Never in your life did you think that your parents would divorce. Guess what? They did when you were 9.
Never in your life did you think that you would grow up without your mom. Guess what? She left when your were 7.
Never in your life did you think you would get a little sister. Guess what? She came into your life when you were almost 16.
Never in your life did you think you would go skiing! You went when you were 14.
Never in your life did you think you would fly on a plane. You did when you were 11.
Never in your life did you think you would drive a car. You started when you were 15.
Never in your life did you think you would go to camp away from home. You did for the first time at 16.
Never in your life did you think you would color your hair....you started at 17!
Never in your life did you think as many people as you know now would love you. They do.
Never in your life did you think you would be good at ENGLISH! Hahah you're going to minor in it.
Never in your life did you think you would win an award for journalism, much less news writing. You did at 17.
Never in your life did you think you would own so many purses....the number remains uncounted.
Never in your life did you think you would have your very own checks for the bank..you start at 17.
Never in your life did you think you could vote. You did (officially) at 18.
Never in your life did you think you could cook!! You can, you should do it more often.
Never in your life did you think you would love coffee...Go look at your debit card statement.
Never in your life did you think you would let go of the past...slowly, you're getting better at it.
Never in your life did you think you would get to babysit kids...You're in hott demand!
Never in your life did you think you would visit New York City, Toronto, Boston, Chicago... You've done it babe!

Never in your life did you think you would grow up to who you are today. You are loved, you love people, you do well in school, you're almost done with high school, you're a talented writer, you're a nanny, you're a friend, you're a sister, you're a daughter, you're a thinker, you're a goal setter, you're an achiever, you're a Christian, YOU'RE YOU! Wonderful, spectacular, lovable you. You should be amazed in yourself. You've done more than you ever thought was possible and it's because of the awesome choices you've made in your life. Happy Birthday self. Here's to many many more amazing years.

Love,
Your much more knowledgeable, older, wiser and lovable self.


PS. You still love chocolate cake. EAT SOME.

My last day as A Minor

I haven't been this exhausted in a while. I'm trying to figure out where this is coming from, the only thing I can think of is the combination of my crazy hours between school, work, and homework; Never mind trying to have a social life! I've had to work everyday this week, including tomorrow. I'm not used to this, usually I have a day off inbetween or I don't work as many hours. For some reason this week I've been working my tail off. Some of you may think that taking care of a toddler is all fun and games, let me assure you it's not!

As much as I love my little A and my bosses, sometimes there is only so much I can take. Watching her tonight, I wasn't feeling well and she wasn't listening and was acting up and I almost flipped my lid. I stayed calm and decided that hey, if she doesn't want to eat her dinner it's not worth fighting over. I guess I was a bit annoyed that I had to work tonight too. Usually I don't do Wednesdays, so when my friend asked me if I wanted to go out for my bday tonight, I told her sure. I was supposed to be home by 6:15-6:30, Dad boss decided to come home at 7 instead and I had to cancel my plans with my friend and that ticked me off greatly. I'm working tomorrow until 7 too, so I don't know if I'll even have time to go out with my family for dinner.

Yeah, I could say I don't want to work, but it's not a job where you can do that. Someone else is actually depending on you that you can watch their child. If you can't do it than there is no one else who can. I don't ask for many days off because I have a strong sense of responsibility and I know that momboss doesn't let anyone else watch A. Some days though, a girl just needs a break!

On top of all that, there was a death today at school. I can't write much on here because it's still under police investigation and what I know, hasn't been released to the press. They don't even have the kid's name or correct age and their story isn't correct either. A lot of kids were affected by this kid's death. Basically what happened is that last night he shot himself by accident. The details were awful and I have never seen so many kids upset. Seriously this morning after the seniors found out there was a ton of them going home and crying in the halls. I didn't know the kid, but my friends did and seeing them so upset was like getting punched in the stomach. I hated the feeling, I wanted to do something for them but I couldn't. Lots of hugs were passed around. I guess the message here is to live your life to the fullest today. That and always tell people you love them.

In other news, I find out my SAT scores in 3.5 hours. You better bet that I'll be refreshing that webpage until they show! I'm holding my breath right now and I'm just a tad bit um ANXIOUS! I need to know NOW! They better be good, that's all I'm saying, if not...well I'm not even going to think that way.

I'm getting more and more excited about going to Chicago. If anyone knows of anything really great to do there, please feel free to tell me! So far I've sort of mapped out what I want to do as I'm pretty familiar with the city, but I've never really been outside of the Loop or Magnificant Mile. I have some family is Palentine so I'll be spending some time there as well. One of my favorite authors lives in Chicago and has book readings so I'm hoping that if I go to a bookstore that I know she frequents (as she has said in her books and her blog) that I may have a chance to meet her! She's hysterical. I don't think I finished one of her books without laughing out loud for minutes on end. Can't wait til her next one comes out!!

Okay so that's all for right now. I'm off to the grocery store to go and find something for tomorrow, maybe some sushi for lunch.

By the way, this is my last post as a minor, wow, that's pretty mind blowing. When did I GROW UP!?!?

XOXO

Kelsey

Awards and other information

I'm loved! Well, not that I already knew that as evident as the awesome comments I get, but sometimes it's nice to get an award now and then too!

Lovely Heidi over at Sacred and Profane has given me this adorable award. Plus it's pink and green so I kind of think it's the best colored award out there.
In order to accept this award, I must tell you 6 things that I LOVE and then pass this award onto 6 other bloggers. I want to pass it on to more than 6, honest I do, but everyone shall get a turn eventually (And if I give this to you and you've already done it, don't hesitate to say "thanks but no". )

Now 6 things I love:

1) Mint chocolate chip ice cream (it's delicious and it is one of the only cold foods I will eat)
2) Naps (need I say more?)
3) Big cities (If I could,I would move to a city in an instant!)
4) Shopping (as evident on my debit card statement. Um Target was calling my name, I couldn't resist..)
5) Fall/Winter (I love the holidays and the COLDNESS that I get to experience for like two days. At least I can say I go swimming on Christmas..)
6) My internet connection (without it I would be lost. Oh so lost)

So now I get to pass on this award to 6 of you. I chose these people based on the fact that I don't think I've linked any of you before (except for Michelle of One Crafty Mama during blogathon). Share the love and pass it on to others too!
1) Dorkys at Dry As Toast
2) Jennifer at Simply "Jenn"-sational
3) Juliana of Juliana Talks Incoherently
4) Michelle of One Crafty Mama
5) Christie of Pretty Paper Blog
6) Michelle of Honest and Truly!

********************************************************************************************************

I had a crazy day again today with me unexpectedly working (and I just found out I will be tomorrow too...no rest for the weary!) so I didn't get to go get my pedicure as planned. However I did get to do the following things for myself.

1) I borrowed my bosses car and went to the bank to deposit a nice check. Than after that I drove like crazy to Starbucks because I was DETERMINED to get my Pumpkin Spice Lattte!! You can stop my pedicure, but I want that coffee!

2) I took a nap. Okay it was until 9:30 pm, but still, it was a nap. And now I can do my homework...and I'm sort of wishing I hadn't taken that nap...

3) I VOTED. Us Floridians get to vote early (Yay) so I cast my vote today. I officially can't mail out my ballot until Thursday, but I filled it out today and it felt so awesome! And the best thing was, I was informed. Not on just the presidential candidates, but the other stuff too.

So those were my 3 things for today. I was going to do my other award that I got from Lovely Jennifer at My Life With Four Kids, but that will have to wait til tomorrow as I need to finish up some homework and then get my booty in bed!

Happy Wednesday. Only ONE day til SAT scores come back....oh my....I don't think I can take it anymore, I need to know NOW!! And this is why they say Patience is a virtue...

3 things for me

I think lack of sleep may be catching up with me!
It's only 10:00 and I'm beat..so much for staying up and trying to finish a book. Before I go and finish an economic essay and let my head hit the pillow just a quick list of things I did for myself today (tomorrow will be better for sure!).

1) I took a LOOOONG walk with A out in our Lovely Cool and fresh air. We stopped and counted all the pumpkins and scarecrows we could find.. So okay, this was more of something for her, but I enjoyed it too! Our weather is AMAZING, it feels like Fall finally! yay!

2) I took a nice long shower and shaved. Why is this a big deal? Because I'm usually rushing like a maniac through it and tend to cut myself in the process..(stupid razor), so yeah, no cuts this time..woo hoo.

3) I chose to take an advanced news writing class when I go to St. Louis for my newspaper conference in November.

Yeah, so all of those were lame, but I didn't have time to do anything today (except for maybe reading a magazine in class, but uh that's not really encouraged). The days are much too short for me to get anything done!

I have off tomorrow so, because so many of you suggested it, I'm going to go get a pedicure and a Pumpkin Spice Latte with Whipped Cream, which is rare because I usually forgo the topping! Just thinking about that lovely foot massage they do is making me sigh in contentment!

One more thing. While we were on our walk today, A tells me she is a bird.
"Oh really, what color bird are you? Are you a blue bird, a red bird, a yellow bird?" I asked her. She thinks for a minute and then goes, "I'm a TAN bird and you're a white bird!"
Yeah, well I guess we know who goes to the beach out of the two of us! She also regularly likes to tell me that my skin is white like snow (which she has never seen!) and that she is a "burnt peanut". I think I may need to splurge for a spray tan too :) .

4 day countdown plus other great news

In 4 days (not counting today) I will make my way into adulthood. Notice I said adulthood and not womanhood, because that already happened like 5/6 years ago and that wasn't fun. (yeah I don't know why I just shared THAT with the internet). Anyways.

Because I'll be 18 (and old enough to buy lotto tickets, smoke, buy porno's and uh be tried as an adult...what a FUN AGE), I've decided to try and do 18 things for myself in 4 days. Sort of like presents to myself, because I'm the crazy one, who at Christmas time will put a present or two under the tree for myself, that I got wrapped at the mall, and then open it on Christmas morning to the shocked (and probably disgusted) looks of my dad and brothers. What? It's not my fault that they don't know what woman want!!

So today's presents to myself were the following:

1) I made myself a real, home cooked dinner that took more than 15 minutes to make. Never mind that I didn't cook the whole chicken long enough (apparently my oven is different than my bosses', who knew) and it made me a tad sick, but nonetheless, before that it was GREAT. Oh, I made roasted chicken, roasted potatoes and asparagus. And ate it by myself as my family had other things to do. Like watch TV and go to a meeting. It's all good though, more for me.

2) I sent my college application essays in to UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA and UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA. After 3.5 MONTHS THEY ARE FINALLY GONE!!! Now I'm done. well, except for one more school that I might apply to, but I really don't think I will. I have to tell you though, hitting the send button on those things wasn't as great as I expected it to be. Mostly because I was in serious pain from my stomach and I was trying to read where it said I had to send in my tax returns. Oh well, I should know something from University of Central Florida in 3 weeks. Which is like near Thanksgiving time. wow.

3) I went all out and applied makeup this morning. This is rare, but as my face looks like it's falling apart because of some acne medication I'm using (and it makes my skin dry up BADLY), I needed to wear it. May I just take a moment to say that Smashbox foundation and Foundation primer may be a tad expensive, but it is worth EVERY penny! Not only could I not feel this stuff on my skin, but it made it nice and moisturized and not once did I have to put powder over it to absorb any sweat or anything. Seriously I think I have found my perfect makeup...oh and the colors are great....you can find all this great stuff at Sephora. Or maybe cheaper online, I haven't checked yet.

And that was my day. I don't know what I'll do for myself tomorrow...or the next day for that matter. Any suggestions?

Lucky Seven

I must be miss popular, people keep tagging me! Yeah, I'm not conceited.. ahem. Anyways Suzi of Pink Vanilla cupcakes (doesn't that make you want to go to a really great bakery and just order one?!) has tagged me so here goes.

Here are the rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules in your post.


• Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself.


• Tag 7 random people at the end of your blog and link to their blogs.


• Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment in their blog.

Ready?

1) I hate cold foods. I will not eat lunch meat, tuna, even my salads have to have something warm in it or be lukewarm at the most! When I eat yogurt, I let it sit out for a few minutes so that it won't be so cold. The weird thing though is that I LOVE ice cream and cold drinks... I had a bite of my dad's cold fish this morning and I gagged...go figure.

2) I own a diaper bag that I use as a laptop carrier. The sad thing (although I really don't consider it sad, maybe excessive or something) is it's a Kate Spade that I got for extremely cheap (otherwise, yeah right I wouldn't have one) at an outlet mall plus extra discounts. Oh, did I mention I don't have kids..

3) It drives me absolutely crazy if someone puts the paper towels on wrong!

4) I own over 10 pairs of flip flops. I only have one pair of tennis shoes and two pairs of socks...

5) To keep myself extremely organized for college related things, I installed a whiteboard on my wall in my room have a detailed list of everything I need to do for each college, broken up into subcategories. I may be a tad bit OCD about this stuff.

6) I live five minutes from the beach and I never, ever, go. I haven't been in 2 years!! (Maybe this is why people keep asking me which part of the north I'm from... I'm not THAT pale!)

7) I love traveling, but sitting on a plane for more than 3 hours drives me insane. For this reason I schedule any long flight to be connecting flights. This drives my family crazy...better than me going insane on a plane though.

okay now for my victims (hah). I'm picking seven random people from my blog list and they are...

1) Baby Mama over at Of Love and a Baby
2) Marge (Gaspegirl) over at Sharing Moments in Time
3)Tattooed Minivan Mom over at The Scattered Mind of a Tattooed Minivan Mom
4) J over at In The Gutter
5) Jennie over at Jenerbug- Queen of Crafty ambitions
6) Kori over at My Life as a CFers Wife
7) Julie over at My Journey to Family

Have fun guys!

Friendship Award

This morning I woke up to a really great surprise, Celine has given me a Friendship Award! I'm very honored and thrilled that you would think of me, so thank you!

okay so here are the questions. If I tag you (that means I've given you this award) than you just copy and paste and answer them on your blog.

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood?
well my childhood didn't really end officially all that long ago, so yes! I've known my best friend since I was 2 and we are still really close. I still keep in touch with some other people from elementary school.

2. What do you value most about your friends?
Them always being there for me. I've seen my true friends act like sisters in times where I've really needed them.

3. Are your friends sounding boards?
I'm not quiet sure I know what this means, but if it means that they voice their opinions, than yes (if not than I just butchered that question pretty well).

4. What is your favorite activity to share with friends?
Well my best friend and I have this ritual where she spends the night and in the morning we walk to Starbucks and Einstein Bagels for breakfast.... other than that I enjoy being with all my friends whether we are shopping, going out to lunch or just hanging out and taking pictures!

Now I present this Friendship award to the following 5 people:

- Randi of S Club 3 (I don't know if you guys remember them, but the group S Club 7 had this slogan that was S (long drawn out S) clubbbbbb and everytime I See her blog name, that plays in my head)

-Heidi of Sacred and Profrane

- G (just in case she doesn't want her real name used) of Where Are My Angels

- Yaya of Yaya Stuff

-Jill of Forever n Ever n Always

and if I could I Would tag ever single one of you because you are all examples of outstanding friendship to me and you all deserve it!! So I am breaking rules and officially tag YOU ALL!

Sunday Survey

For my long time readers, you've seen me do this before. For those of you that are new, this is a survey that Alicia (AKA Yaya) does over on her blog. It's really quiet fun and you're welcome to play along!

Your name: Kelsey

Favorite color: I'm a pink kind of girl (bet you had no clue!)

Favorite food: pad thai, chicken fried rice, chicken and avocado...

Favorite dessert: I love chocolate and I'm pretty fond of mint choc chip ice cream!

Favorite song: I have over 200 (well according to my playlist on iTunes I do) my song of today however, is "Better in Time" by Leona Lewis

Favorite phrase: "I love you" (yeah I'm a romantic..or I just like to hear that!)

Favorite person: Probably my little A

Favorite thing to do: sleep and shop

Favorite place: Cities. One in particular is Chicago in the spring

Favorite sport: tennis

Favorite smell: Fresh pumpkin pie

Favorite materialistic item you own: My laptop haha

Favorite animal: Penguins (seriously I love them so much that there is a giant stuffed Madagascar [the movie] penguin in my TV room.. nice)

Favorite toy as a kid: baby dolls

Favorite personal-pampering technique: pedicures and massages

Favorite TV show: Law and Order: SVU

Goals In Life:
Go to college
Get married
Have kids (biological and adopted)
Own a house
Live in Chicago
Learn to cook (or at least enjoy it!)
Learn to scrapbook (the real thing, not the stuff that I do online)
Have a body I'm proud of so I can go to the beach in a bikini
Visit Europe and Russia
Pick strawberries
Build a snowman
Write for a newspaper or magazine
Play with a penguin (yeah, I'm serious.. I LOVE those things!)

This my baby.

There is something I've been keeping secret and shoved away on my computer. Very few people have seen it and I've been hesitant to even let my Godmother read it. I finally broke down last weekend and let her. This is my college application essay. I started writing on July 1, 2008. The first thing I wrote was some crappy little happy go lucky essay about my challenge with math. I read it and it wasn't me, but I wanted to send in the stupid application SO bad. I decided against doing so and told myself I would try writing again. I had the worst case of writer's block. Nothing I wrote felt GREAT or anything.
I prayed a lot, asking God to provide me with the essay topic I was supposed to write about . One day I was sitting in English class and an idea came to me. It was a flash of light going off in my head and I started to write on the first thing available, a handout (that was the teachers) and I wrote and wrote and wrote. The essay was done and I loved it. I came home, typed it on my computer and made editing changes to it.
I emailed it to a friend, had her edit it, I edited some more. Had a few others read it. The whole process is boring really. And by the end of it all, no one wanted to read it anymore (Because I made those few people read it OVER AND OVER). People told me it was good, but I don't know if that's what I wanted to hear (or if at times I believed them). I didn't want to hear good, I wanted to hear AMAZING, FALL OFF MY CHAIR EXCELLENT.

The two schools that require this essay are very competitive and I badly want to go to one of them. One of them is only 2.5 hours away from home, which is perfect so that I could still be near to my family (and my little A), but just far enough so that I can have my own life. Thing is, I haven't sent in any of the applications for those two colleges out of fear. Fear that I will get rejected. Fear that they won't like what I've written. Fear that they won't think I'm good enough.
There, I said it. I'm terrified.

I've prayed to God more than I can count, the same prayer over and over, asking Him to give me peace and strength and courage to send this paper. Why it is so hard for me, I have no idea. I've posted about sending them before and then I get scared. I'm letting the Devil take over my thoughts and I need to stop. I can't do this anymore. I can't stress myself out about these application essays anymore. The deadline is November 1st and it's time to stop being terrified and just send them; I'll never know unless I try.

So here ladies, is the prompt:
Describe a meaningful event, experience or accomplishment in your life and how it will affect your college experience or your contribution to the UF campus community.

And here? Here is my essay. I have a goal to send it today and this time I am going to. This is real, it's time to face my fear of sending it in the face, give my essay a kiss goodbye and then pray that God leads me into the right college. Yes, you may read it, but this is a COPYRIGHT PROTECTED WORK BY me. Do not re-post this, take this idea or submit this essay as your own. All work on this blog is the ORIGINAL work of me Kelsey C B...
(Yeah, I had to put that all there because in case someone (a lurker) were to try and steal it, I have claims and could sue and prove in court that HAHA that's mine buddy.)

So here it is. My baby. Read the prompt carefully. Does it answer the prompt? I think it does. Be truthful and honest in your comments and tell me what you think. (PS I need all the boost for this thing I can get, but I DONT WANT YOU TO LIE!!)

Application essay for UF and UCF

After losing my mom to drugs and alcohol, I was fearful that I would never learn how to be a good enough woman. I would go through countless teen magazines and observe every woman who walked my way; searching for answers to my unknown future.

The fact that I was going to go through life with my dad and younger brother made me want to be perfect; a better woman than my mom, even though I was only eight years old. For years I tried to figure out why the girls who had moms were so different from me. The girls were beautiful on the outside and they had a confidence about them which made them popular. They were the girls I wanted to be; to me they were perfect.

A teenage girl's first job is usually that of a babysitter. When the girls who lived down the street from me started to get babysitting jobs, I assumed that I would too. I gave out my phone number and patiently waited for someone to call. One day I overheard a friend's mom trying to refer me to one of her friends. The friend turned down the referral because she didn't know my mom and didn't trust that I knew how to take care of kids, regardless of the training course I had taken. My dream was crushed, but I didn't lose hope.

When I was fifteen, I got an unexpected phone call that literally changed my life. The first sound I heard was the noise of a baby gurgling in the background; the second was a neighborhood woman asking me to take care of her sixteen month old baby girl.

The first time I met Ana will always be etched in my mind. Ana was a tiny baby with just the right amount of chubbiness on her legs and a smile that made my heart melt. Her mom left us together for a few hours, and we bonded over tickling and books. Ana was the perfect baby; she never cried.

Shortly after meeting them, Ana's parents asked me to become their part time nanny. It's been three years since they hired me and I have them to thank for what has turned out to be one of the best experiences in my life and has prepared me for so much more. Every time Ana tells me she loves me, I know that I was meant to have her in my life. I hope that one day, she can look up to me and follow my examples; one of them being my goal to get an outstanding education.

Through the years I've learned that I am me and it's not because of any teen magazines or popular girls, but because of the choices I've made in life; the choices that make me unique and driven. The most important thing Ive learned, however is that I don't have to be the perfect woman; I'm perfect just the way I am.

Don't call me lazy. EVER.

Since I go to a public high school in Florida, I'm required to take Physical Education in order to graduate. I could have skipped this torture class by taking it A) online (you think I'm kidding..I wish I was. How do you take GYM CLASS on line?! "okay class, go run a mile" "yeah, teacher I totally just did, my FINGERS are killing me from typing in alloted time period")
or by B) selecting a different magnet program to be a part of. Too bad I missed that notice.

The reason I bring any of this up is because the "teacher" (and I use that word because I don't think the use of "asshat" would be appropriate), is a total jerk. Not only is he sexist, picking the guys over the girls, but he is a complete and utter jerk. There is this one kid in my class, a guy, who is um well, a good 110 pounds over what he should be. The guy hates the class as much as I do. When we are doing activities like Flag football (ooooh please make it stop!), the teacher will pick on this poor kid that he's not running or catching the ball - MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE HE CAN'T. The guy just brushes it off, but I can see that he's embarrassed and hurting from the remarks.

On to me however, I am NOT ATHLETIC IN THE LEAST. God did not give me a body, nor the skills to be physically good at sports. I can however, play a mean game of tennis. Give me something to whack at with a racket and I am THE BOMB. I used to play when I was younger and then because of lack of transportation I had to give up the lessons. Moving on. The "coach" is always constantly saying things to me that I find uneccessary. "Maybe you want to try and hit the volleyball", "you have to run after the football you know", "Oh, you're not dressed out AGAIN?". The stuff he says really makes my blood boil because I AM trying. If he gave me a chance than maybe he could see that when I DO hit the volleyball I can serve it like nobody's business and that maybe the football was too slippery and wet for me to catch it.

The things he says though doesn't just impact me, he impacts the other kids' views of me. Personally I really don't care what they think of me, or what HE thinks of me for that matter. I just need to pass the class and then after December, BAM, I get to drop the course (PRAISE THE LORD!). It does however bother me when I hear them talking about me like I'm not there. "Oh, that girl is on our team.", "Hey can you at least TRY to play?"...I want to yell and scream at them all and say things like "LISTEN MORONS, PLAYING FLAG FOOTBALL ISN'T GOING TO HELP ME GET INTO COLLEGE HERE. SO GO FALL IN A HOLE; I'M GOING TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN ALL OF YOU ALL ANYWAYS.", but since I'm not a crazy person and they are not worth my time, I don't and I take my aggression out elsewhere, like with slamming a volleyball (unsuccessfully into a net) or trying to throw a football into this one guys chest (once again, unsuccessful).

Today what really made my blood boil was this kid, Ethan who said something to me that irked me so much I could have hit him with my grandmother's car yelled at him for a long period of time . (Does anyone else see my defense mechanism here? Yelling? Yeah, it doesn't really work..maybe I'll take up karate). We are standing out in the HOT sun and in the HOT weather and I am trying to catch a football. I said something to my friend like, "Oh so glad I am learning how to CATCH A FOOTBALL, because THIS is what's going to help me get into college," when this kid turns around and goes, "it will help you get in shape." Okay confession, I don't have a GREAT body, I don't even have a "good" body (except for the twins, and maybe my eyes, and my nose, and possibly my mouth), but it's because of YEARS of having no real meals, as in Wendy's and frozen microwave dinners was my dad's go to for years. Plus until recently (read last year) I had never eaten breakfast. Basically there was a lot of unhealthy habits and I'm breaking them all now and learning how to live healthfully.

So back to this kid. I responded with some smart response like "if I wanted to get in shape than I would go to a gym" and he retorts with, "You're so lazy, you didn't even bother to show up for that seminar last Saturday." Woah, pause, Excuse me?! You did NOT JUST CALL ME LAZY.
A person who takes care of a 3 year old, several times a week for a living is not lazy.
A person who is RUNNING her household and making sure things go smoothly is NOT lazy.
A person who is in the process of completing 5 college applications is NOT lazy.
A person who is trying to find time for herself because of all the other things she does, is NOT lazy.
A person who is in charge of a huge section of the newspaper is NOT lazy.
A person who is getting 5 hours of sleep on school nights because she is so busy with schoolwork, is NOT lazy.
A person who is taking 2 college classes in addition to regular schoolwork, is NOT lazy.

And I wanted to tell him every reason I could think of why I am not lazy. I haven't even had time to take a breath since August, let alone have time to be lazy. I hate that people have this assumption of me because of my body. "oh yeah, she's overweight, she must be lazy. She's probably going to go home and veg on the couch with a bag of chips and watch The Biggest Loser" Actually to set the record straight, I don't watch TV (except for on weekends, and even then, it's rare) and I don't eat chips. I most certainly have not had time to veg on my couch either. Trust me, I wish I could.

So that's why I hate PE. Not only do the people in the class make me feel like crap since I can't play the sports well, they make me feel like I'm not trying. The class makes me feel like dirt and that class alone could be the reason why some kids hate high school. Do I hate high school? No, but I wish it was over. Most of my friends went off to college last year, so it's pretty lonely. That and other friends don't even go to my school. The big homecoming game is tonight, but I didn't go because I didn't have a ride. My dad won't take me and the friends who do go to my school don't live near me and I feel bad asking them for rides. My last homecoming dance is tomorrow night. I'm not going. Not because I didn't want to, but because once again transportation was an issue. That and there were some other issues, but I'm not ready to admit them, at least not yet. Do I feel like a dork for not going? Yes, but I figure you know what, Homecoming dances and pep rallies aren't the only thing in this world. Sure, I may not be able to "live it up" now, but I can have time for all that for the rest of my life. That's what clubs are for (haha).

So tomorrow night, while the last homecoming dance of my life is going on in the school's gym, I will be putting a sleepy toddler to sleep and reading her books. After that, maybe I'll go "be lazy"....sounds like a blast to me!

Have a great weekend!
Kelsey

Freckles

Last weekend, I posted about how I spent the entire weekend breaking Copyright Laws in America and getting my TV Production "video" done. This post will only be up for a few hours as I have to take it down since I don't want to get fined. Because I actually do think that the law is out to get me!

Anyways hope you enjoy. The music is Natasha Bedingfield's "Freckles".

Also a HUGE HUG and special thanks to Alicia of "Yaya stuff" for letting me use her as one of my "freckle girls" (she's the prettiest one..)


Freckles from Kelsey B on Vimeo.

All things Nanny

I do these every once in a while, where I jot down what cute things little Miss A says so that I can write them in her book that I'm giving to her when I leave.

1) We are sitting at the kitchen table tonight and she's eating dinner (I learned how to successfully make roasted potatoes, GO ME!) and I start to tell her that hey, in a Week, seven days from today, I'm going to turn 18. She looks at me for a minute and then yells, "AWESOME! LETS HAVE SOME CAKE!"....pretty funny, considering I didn't even mention that it was a birthday. I guess she really does understand some of the things I say.

2) I took her to my house today to sit out in the swing and feel the breeze coming off the ocean. I was flipping through my phone, trying to set a ring tone when a Robin Thicke song comes on. She goes, "oh wait, that one's pretty"..you had to hear the song. It was "Lost without You"...funny how she didn't say that to any of the rap music that I raced by. (I blame the ghettofabulous kids at school for those).

3) I kept telling A that the house next door to me was gone, as in completely knocked down etc. We went on a walk today and we stopped to watch the construction. Oh my gosh I have never seen her watch something THAT intently! We watched them pick up dirt with the "claw" as she was calling it, for like 10 minutes until I dragged her away..and then she wanted to go back! She also let me know that apparently Elmo also has a "claw toy" and she wanted to play with one. I sort of think her mom would kill me if I got her a little construction truck for Christmas (and honestly I wouldn't want my little girl to be playing with those either! ).

4) A has learned my nickname, all on her own. She started calling me, "Kels" the other day, which I find pretty funny because that's also what my dad and a lot of other people call me. A, however has never heard anyone call me this and she started doing it all on her own. We had a long discusion about nicknames and how she has one. I think she finally got it after 20 minutes.

And now on to a segment called, "Things I never thought I would be saying or doing, at least not at this age"

-"If you want to talk about your "toots", which is disgusting, than you have to go into the bathroom to do so." (seriously that one made me feel OLD and all. I guess I don't have the heart for bathroom humor.)

- singing Jingle Bells in October because she found a jingle bell bracelet. Yeah, I'm cool. You know what else is cool? Singing the Clean Up song at the top of my lungs.

-she was watching Barney today and the episode was Barney's birthday. I sat there and thought, "WHEN DID I TURN OLDER THAN THIS SHOW?!" because I could remember LINE FOR LINE the original Barney Birthday episode from 1992!!!! I also may have started to sing out loud to some of the songs, which made A look at me like I was freaking out of my tree. Once again, I think I win the coolness award for the year.

There are others, I'm sure of it. Too bad I can't think of them though, due to the loss of brain cells that have become more evident in the last couple of months.

This is non A related, but can I just say that today A CERTAIN PERSON who didn't have to be at school til 10:30 today, STILL managed to be LATE for school because this person wanted (and was determine) to go to STARBUCKS, only to than GET THE BRIDGE, and have to pull over into a parking lot to wait for said person's friend, who wanted to "race" to school. Said person than MAY HAVE done 50 in a 30 mile zone in order to GET TO SCHOOL ON TIME, but was than slowed down when said person saw a BAND OF COP CARS and freaked out since said person was driving her GRANDMOTHER'S CAR.
Said person than pulled into the student parking lot at 10:28, but had to keep driving around since there were no parking spaces available where said person was looking to park. Long story short, said person made it in to class at 10:35, only to find a substitute, who got angry with said person (for perhaps using her phone on the way to class) and called her "YOUNG LADY".......

Today after school, this said person was also determined to have her 3 year old charge make a skeleton that she found online, but said person needed to buy brads. Said person stopped at Walgreens figuring they would have them, only to walk around the store (no brads there) and then go to the front and see 10 POLICE OFFICERS surrounding the entrence because some fool was getting busted for drug related activitites. SAID PERSON may have been scared to death and walked up to a police officer to ask if it was okay to go outside. Police officer than looked at said person for a few minutes before responding, "you know, there are a lot of crazy people outside in this world, so no, it's probably NEVER safe to go outside." Said person had to get to work, so she left, after all I figured the boys in blue could save me, need be. I sort of have this fantasy............

TGIF!
Kelsey

You want a "West Indies" house? Than Move to the West Indies!

Before the spectacle of greatness that is now known as Blog A Thon happened, I was telling you guys about the construction work next to my house and how it kept shaking my floors. Some of you had a pretty fun time giving me comments about, oh the things I could do in bed with the shaking...yeah too bad I'm single. (I can NOT believe I just typed that on my blog...seriously ladies I am Not a freak!)
Ahem. As previously mention, the reasons why the neighbors decided to make my life a living hell re do their house was because they want to live in a "West Indies style home"...well in that case, maybe go live in the West Indies? I told you I had received a letter from them as they had this in detail. Well, here it is..Read it and laugh. And then weep for me that construction lasts "10-12" months. I'll be GONE by the time they are done with the project.

I have pictures of the construction site, but I figure I won't bore you with those.


Looking forward to tomorrow. I don't have to go into school until 10:00 so I get to go make my Starbucks run, which has somehow turned into me buying coffee for 3 of my friends. And bagels. And other items, "oh and can you hold the whipped cream? I want extra sugar in mine. Can you have them put ice in mine, but not too much!"....I'm thinking this can be my new paying job.

I also started a new shift in my job today. For the next 16 weeks, my Wednesdays (Which used to be my day off, however I don't mind giving it up) will have me working at night from 6-8, as mom boss and dad boss want to go attend a parenting class.
I got to the door today and the other nanny who works there while I'm in school was there. Needless to say, she wasn't thrilled to see me. Apparently she dislikes me since A shows more affection towards me...sorry that the kid likes me..I've only known her about a year longer than you have. So that was awkward. I'm all "A go say good bye to Ms Phylis" and A is all clinging to me, burying her head into my legs like she hasn't had any love all day. And then I'm thinking to myself, "great, this is going to make Phyliss like me more" so I sort of push A over into her direction to give her a hug and the woman totally starts making this face at me. GROW UP! You are 5 times my age!! I am so terribly sorry that you don't like me, but can you not do this in front of the kid!? This is also the same woman who tried to get me fired last year...nice, real nice. Needless to say, we don't have the best relationship. Apparently according to what she told my boss, I am "telling A things about her when she's not there and preventing their relationship from growing." Uh okay, do I seriously even need to comment on that? Lady, when I'm with my "peanut", I do not talk about you. I am teaching this kid how to write her name, speak in French and who to vote for.. Unless your name is on the ballot, in french or something we spell, I'm not talking about you. (I promise I let A play too..she's very fond of my "Barbie" voice...which is quiet embarrassing to do in front of dad boss. Also I swear she did not learn any "Ghettofabulous" words from me...nooo THAT was from Phylis.

I just found out today that my SAT Scores will be sent to me on my birthday...Hows that as a present? Hopefully it will be the BEST one and not a "hey, happy birthday, go kill yourself since you're not getting into college with these babies" type of gift. You know, since people like to screw with my head and all.

Have a GREAT and blessed Thursday!!
xoxo

PPS - THE NEWSPAPER IS FINALLY DONE! but that's another post all together!

Thank you SITSa's!!

I just wanted to show you guys who visited on Blog-A-Thon day, what you did for my stat counter. Ready to be amazed?

Page Loads/		First Time Visitors
Total		560			300	102
Average		70			38	13
Day		Page Loads			First Time Visitors	Returning Visitors
Tuesday		151			99	17

And Tuesday's NOT EVEN OVER YET!!!

So sure, I didn't get ANY of my homework done, and maybe I want to fall asleep with my makeup on, but it was oh so worth it! I LOVED meeting each and every one of you, and if you commented on the blog I did my best to go down the roll of comments and comment you back! If I didn't, I honestly meant to and I probably thought I already did!!!
I plan to keep reading all these new blogs and will add them to my blog roll as soon as I get a chance, but for now I have an English Essay that awaits me, and then just maybe, I can let my head hit the pillow before 1 AM. Because that? would be a miracle!
Happy Blog A Thon day you guys. Hope you had as much fun as I did!!

PS. I promise that tomorrow there will be a GREAT follow up post with PICTURES about the construction next door. And again today, I was totally being bounced up and down again. This time while laying on top of my bed TYPING. It's like an amusement park ride over here.

Meet My SITSah's!

For those of you who have read my blog since I started it back in June (or May, I can't remember), maybe you've noticed that there are more than just two or three of you commenting now! Maybe you've notice that I've gotten a lot more traffic to my site. Or perhaps maybe you've noticed all the new blog names that keep popping up on my blogroll list on the right hand side. Want to know why?

There is this great website group that I found from bloggy friend Becky, that's called The Secret is in the Sauce. No, I have no idea what the name means, but for me it means meeting a TON of new bloggers and that makes me happy. Because I love meeting new people, not because I love their comments (although that does make me smile..).

Blogging has helped me more than I could possibly tell you all. Through my good times and my bad, it's sort of like my online journal. I have people ask me all the time if it freaks me out that other people, total strangers, are reading my thoughts. Quite simply the answer is no. I love it. I get feedback on things that are bothering me, and I have support if something really great (or really awful) happens to me. It's pretty much a whole new group of friends that I never thought I would have.

Also see that little map over there on the side? With all the dots on it? See how it goes ALL OVER THE WORLD!? That is in thanks to SITS, because there are girls on there who live in FRANCE! and ALASKA! AND NORWAY and other places...(duh) and that sort of gets me the tiniest bit excited.
Blogging has definitely enhanced my life. Although sometimes I find it too captivating and temporarily forget to do important things, like homework or you know, eat dinner. Or hey, what about that laundry...

So in honor of the first blogathon that is being held by SITS (and the amazing people that you meet on there are called your SITSAHs! how cute is that?!), I'm linking 5 of my favorite bloggers. If you want to join in on the fun, just go on over to The Secret is In the Sauce, grab the button (see mine on the right hand side, see it?! Isn't it cute!? It's PINK!) and go say hi! They're also giving out some awesome prizes (signed picture of George Clooney anyone?) every hour. All you have to do is comment their blog.

Be sure to check out some of my fave blogs. Even if I didn't link you (you can see the others on the blogroll on the left under Bloggy Friends), know that I have a very special place for you all right in my heart with the space reserved for blogging SITSahs. (Yes, lets have a collective awww).

Enjoy! (And you know, feel free to comment if you like..I can almost guarantee that I'll comment back..because that's how I "roll"...wow that may have been a little too ghetto....I blame pop culture.)

The Lovely Yaya - She is a fellow nanny and one of my first blog readers and bloggy friends! On October 15th, she is asking us all to do a very important favor. Go see how you can help her (and other families) out. She's got a great personality...I pretty much love her.

The Greatest Teacher of all times - This is Becky. I basically have her to thank for helping me find SITS. If it wasn't for her hysterical, Laugh out loud inducing blog, than I would not be participating in this post. So for that, I give a big THANK YOU to Becky. Go check her out. She's the teacher you always wished you had, but never got.

Mon Ami - Hey look, all those years of French paid off! This is Celine, my bloggy friend in France. She is oh so sweet and one of my best commenters. Plus, I think that she, like me, is a bit of a daddy's girl. I'm still in awe that she is in France (which sort of shows what a complete dork I am...). I sort of wish that she would send me a Tarte de framboise (that's a raspberry tart for all you non french speakers), but somehow I think that it would go bad in the mail. Anyways, enough rambling. Go check her out and be sure to say hi! btw, she also does "Not Me Mondays" and I love reading them!

She's got my sense of humor - This blogger goes by the identity of "Where are my angels?". I read this blog daily and I almost always find myself laughing and thinking, yeah this is my kind of humor. Not only has her daughter beat up Richard Simmons (yeah, you have to read that), but this woman will drive 2 hours to get to a pumpkin festival in a town of 108 people. Just go check her out, I promise, you'll be laughing.

I sort of want her to make me a scrapbook - Meet Michelle. She is an AWESOME scrapbooker and constantly has new layouts on her blog. Not only does she make me laugh with her stories about being mortified in a store (and I can relate to that), but she found a great (read funny) video about birth control companies who Target women. In addition to her awesome, jaw dropping scrapbooking, she also finds time to leave some very sweet comments. Go say hi!


So That's it guys. Hope you all have a great Tuesday and enjoy this very special blogathon! I can't wait to find some more blogs to stalk read!

XOXO Kelsey

You must be kidding me

Oh how I hate construction!!
The neighborhood that I live in has all of our houses pretty close together. Basically if I threw my hairbrush out the window, it's almost guaranteed that I would hit the house next door. And I don't really have great aim. Today however, while I was at school the construction workers decided to knock the lovely house down.
A family of 6 moved in a few months ago and even though the house was HUGE to begin with, the feel as if they need more room and therefor have decided to build a new house. Never mind that for the next 3 years one kid after the next will be going to college.
So now thanks to their "west indies home" renovation (no seriously, they sent us a letter that said that they are building a west indies style home..and then I cracked up laughing because the letter was so pathetic; if I can find the copy I'll take a picture) MY house is now shaking. Every. five. seconds. BOOM.BOOM. Oh crap there goes my stuff off the wall. better go bolt down the china cabinet.
Somehow I have a feeling I won't be getting much done until after hours. I'm sort of just waiting for a brick to come flying through my window. So that's what happened if you know, I don't blog for a while. I probably got knocked unconscious with a brick.
Oh totally irrelevant, but may I just say how freaky and odd it feels to be sitting on the toilet and bouncing up and down as the walls next door come tumbling down? That's something you don't experience everyday.
So that's it for right now. Guess I'll go do some homework (or sleep...probably the later).

Oh, one more thing, this made me laugh when I was checking out the comments, but apparently people want to know how my dinner with the ex was. If you want to read that post, go here. Sure, it's not funny or anything (although I really wish I could make it funny, seeing as I'm sort of finding it humorous again...probably since I had a friend hit me upside the head and then I had one call me, asking me if I had lost my mind..and again I plead yes, I did have temporary insanity, it's called answering the phone while napping!)

Not Me Monday

I'm pretty sure you guys have got the jist of this down, and if you want to play head on over to MckMama's and add your name to the list!

I did not totally waste the weekend by doing nothing but this darn TV production movie..at least it's good.

I did not break about every single copyright law in America and use copyrighted photo's in above said project. It's not my fault, the teacher said I could!

I did not fall asleep with A last night as I was putting her to bed, also I did not cuddle up to her real close until she hit me in the head in her sleep.

I did not spend over $100 at Whole Foods...for my food ALONE

I did not go out with an ex this week that I swore to about 5 people I would never go out with again, nope not me. I remember things..

I did not drive to Home Depot, Lowes, Target, KMart and Sears (in that order) in an attempt to find a certain sprinkler head for my father....noooo I don't waste gas.

I did not tell a random woman in the Target parking lot that I liked her McCain bumper sticker, and then she did not search in her car to find me one.

I did not browse Amazon.com for a certain childhood book that I was trying to find for A.. NOT ME, I was doing HOMEWORK..Very important homework!!

I am not salivating over the AWESOME carrot cake that I want to have for my birthday...the small is also not $20..

I also did not put together a list of my fave fall recipes to post on blog and then lose them...

I also did not forget what the theme of tomorrow's homecoming day is...

I did not skip ALL of my classes on Friday and spend 8 hours in the newspaper room trying to get things done...that might explain the surplus in homework this weekend.

I did not make a bet with my boss of who wins the election. I did not tell him that if I'm right he has to send me on an all expense paid cruise....

I do not have a highly inappropriate song stuck in my head, regardless of the fact that the only song that I've heard in the last 8 hours has been "Freckles" by Natasha Bedingfield.

I am not more excited about going to Chicago than I am my 18th birthday...no, that would be wrong.

I am not going to love each and everyone of you who reads this and then tells me your own "not me" story!

Sunday Survey

My friend Yaya does this Sunday survey and she got me hooked, so now I steal them from her and do them too. Feel free to steal from me too!

What do you think​ about​ the last perso​n you talke​d to?
well that would be my dad and I sort of like him right now haha

Will you kiss someo​ne within the next week or two?
I'll be kissing little ms. A since she likes to put her face right into mine...maybe some guy will kiss me for my bday, we'll see...

Love reall​y is a beaut​iful thing​,​​ huh?
Yes it is

How are you feeli​ng at this exact​ momen​t?​​
Pretty stressed. I still have a crap load of homework to do, but there is no way I can get it all done. This TV project is taking way too long.

Are you someo​ne who worri​es too often​?​​
Absolutely.

What are you excit​ed about​?​​
Going to Chicago

Do you have any text messa​ges that you don'​​t want other​ peopl​e to read?​​
Nope​

Do you miss anyon​e?​​
not really.

How late did you stay up last night​ and why?
I think I fell asleep sometime around 1:30..I was watching SNL and then I was reading my Entertainment Weekly

Have you ever kisse​d someo​ne whose​ name start​ed with a J?
I don't think so

Is there​ anyon​e you wish you could​ appol​ogize​ to?
Probably, I just can't think of them of the top of my head.

What does your hair look like today​?​​
pretty awful. It's not having a good day

Hones​tly,​​ if you could​ go back 5 month​s and chang​e somet​hing would​ you?
5 months ago was June. Yeah, I probably would..

Is there​ anybo​dy you wish you could​ be spend​ing time with right​ now?
no because I have to finish this project and I would get distracted (not, that I'm not distracted right now or anything...)

Do you wish you never​ dated​ someo​ne you dated​?​​
YES

Have you ever kisse​d anyon​e whose​ name start​ed with a A?
All the time.

How long does it take you to showe​r?​​
15 minutes when I'm rushing

An ex calls and says he's getting married, what do you do?

Ask him why he's telling me this and how he got my number.

What was last thing​ you drank​?​​
Apple Cider..yum

Who was the last perso​n you held hands​ with?​​
My daddy (in a moment of love haha)

Do you judge​ peopl​e you don'​​t know?​​
I'm human so yes

Are you diffe​rent than you were this time last year?​ If so how?
Definitely. In so many ways it's unbelievable

Today​,​​ would​ you rathe​r go back a week or go forwa​rd a week?​​
Forwa​rd!!! Waaaay too much stress last week, plus closer to Chicago!!

When was your last alcoh​olic bever​age?​
sorry I don't think I can answer that question (it was 5 months ago)

If you were upset​,​​ who'​​s the first​ girl you would​ go to?
Kelly

Are you a bad influ​ence?​​
I hope not
​
Who did you say 'I love you' to last
Uh Little Ms. A, I think

How has the week been?​​
very stressful

Who woke you up today​?​​
my brother asking me how to use the waffle iron...at 9 AM.... I was going to kill him.

What made you happy​ today​?​​
eating pumpkin soup from Whole Foods... DELICIOUS!

When was the last time you were disap​point​ed?​​
Today

Natasha Bedingfield is saving my butt.

I'm in a TV production class at school (you know the kids who broadcast the school news? Yeah, that's me) and part of our grade for the first 9 weeks is that was make a "music video". By music video I don't mean something like each of us go out and sing and shake what our mothers gave us, but that we take a song that's already been recorded (Because you don't need to hear me or my classmates sing) and then we put it to pictures on Windows Movie maker. Too bad it's more complicated than it sounds! Seriously, try it sometime if you're bored.
Anyways the song I'm doing in "Freckles" by Natasha Bedingfield, after I searched high and low for the perfect song, but just kept coming back to this one. It's a great song about self image. Now if only I can find good enough pictures....



No, this isn't mine, but I guess someone else had the same idea!

Friday Night

Feels so nice to be home all warm and cozy while it rains outside.
Tonight I went out with "Mr. X" and I should probably back up and tell the story of how I met him and how he ended up being a jerk in my eyes (don't judge me yet!).
Last year, Mr.X (I'm totally making him sound older than he is, really he's actually younger than I am, but I'm getting there) was on the staff of the newspaper with me. He was my first friend in the class and since we were both new, we clicked. We did pages together, I helped him with his writing and one thing developed into another. He was always a little bit arrogant, but I hadn't really seen it before.
Than sometime in April (I think) we went out for dinner, movie and coffee.
First problem on our "date" was that he was completely controlling and wanted to make all my decisions for me. Uh uh, not going to happen. I'm very independent. Second thing was that he did not pay for dinner and instead made me pay the majority of it, since my "dad is a plastic surgeon." (Yes, those are his words). If I was thinking, my response would have been, "Well yes he is, I however, am not." I wasn't thinking though and I ended up paying. The food wasn't cheap either.
The third problem was that I didn't agree with something he said and he hit me. Not punched or anything to make a bruise, but it was a hit. I should have gone home right than, but I couldn't since he was my ride. I live in a "suburb", so there really isn't any public transportation (Thats safe) and I was stuck with him.
Fourth problem was that he was SO ARROGANT and SO JUDGMENTAL and it drove me absolutely crazy. I'm so glad I found all of this out on the first date, too.
Long story short, there was no second date. I avoided him for as long as I could and even turned down a front page story because he would have been my partner in working on it. Stupid? maybe to some people, but I did what I needed to.
Than last week was the first time I've talked to him since April. He's still the same arrogant, judgmental person that he was before, but I know these things now. I have no feelings for him what so ever, let me make that VERY clear. I wouldn't even consider us to be friends.
Why did I go out with him tonight than? Because for the last 2 weeks he has been IMing me, facebooking me, following me at school and I was sick of him asking. There are only so many times that you can use the same excuse. Than tonight he caught me off guard.
We went to dinner (At least the food was delicious), walked around and then had some coffee. Than he left and I chilled at the movie theater until my dad came and got me. (By the way, I know that it's ridiculously pathetic that I have no car. That however, is my father's fault. I do have my license though and drive everyone else, but my dad's car, since he has like a heart attack every time I do.)
So back to tonight. I sort of did it for closure, just to make sure that I had no feelings for him (except for maybe ones of annoyance, and like I wanted to throw something at his head at some point.)
The good thing is, now maybe I can date other people without his image being in the back of my mind. I'm a very "what if" type of person. "What if I don't get into college?", "What if this guy is just like the last?", "what if, what if, WHAT IF?!" and it drives me insane. It's one of my worst habits, however I am working on it.
So that was my Friday night, and tomorrow is Saturday and I look forward to having a lovely, relaxing day. Of course I'm up past my head in projects, homework and college essays (Which my dad keeps threatening me about, because that will make me do them FASTER...) so relaxing, not so much, but at least I get to lounge around in my pajamas.
xox

and this is why you don't answer phones when sleeping

As much as I would LOVE to do nothing but stay in bed tonight and read blogs, this guy, we'll call him, "Mr.X", since that is what he is, is dragging me out to dinner. Which I will probably end up paying for, just like last time.
Oh I know good and well that I shouldn't be going out with him and I don't even want to, but this is a result of what happens when you don't screen your phone calls because you are sleeping and then your brain doesn't come up with an excuse fast enough as to why you can't go out.
Now if you'll kindly excuse me I have to go put on makeup and find something to wear that doesn't scream, "let me pay for your dinner," because apparently with this guy, that's what wearing a dress gets you.

xoxo

THIS IS FOR STEPHANIE, YES, IT IS THE SAME GUY THAT I SWORE TO YOU I WOULD NEVER GO OUT WITH AGAIN, EXCEPT THIS ISN'T A DATE, IT'S MORE OF A "GET TOGETHER". DON'T HATE ME. ACTUALLY, COME RESCUE ME!

14 days til my birthday!

I love days off from school.. Tomorrow is the first senior skip day, but I have to go to school because I'll get my throat slit by my newspaper teacher if I'm not there I need to be there for newspaper. Ahh Yes, I'm a dork. That or I like to save my sick days.
This morning I got up around 9 to let some handyman in to work on my house. I went back to bed (he left sometime while I was sleeping...I told him to just go out the door when he was done. I'm a little nonchalant about my house, no? Hey, I value my sleep) Then I got up at like 10 because of all the construction work going on next door. And I have a year more of this? Excellent.... Anyways the incompetent fools construction workers managed to turn off MY POWER instead of the neighbor's. I gave them 10 minutes to turn it back on before I jumped out of bed, pulled some pants on (seriously, who sleeps in pants when they're in their own home, alone?) and went to go scream at them. Except I don't know how to yell in spanish, so it wouldn't have worked out to well. Luckily, the power was turned back on.
I read some blogs, and then made myself get up and walk to Starbucks for coffee. I ordered a tall Pumpkin Spice Frappacino coffee and instead they gave me a venti by mistake, however only charged me for a tall... That was pretty nice. and delicious, even if I didn't drink it all.


Went next door to Einstein bagels and tried a pumpkin muffin, which was out of this world! I try to stay away from wheat since I can end up getting sick from it at times, however Pumpkin muffins are one of my favorite things in this world; I couldn't resist. It didn't affect me though.
Got home and went to work at 4. A is still sick and they stopped giving her medicine which means that she can act like a little pill. Plus she can't hear because of all the fluids in her ears and so you have to yell what you're saying to her....ahh fun. I read her some books and then we made sand art, which she wanted to be a brat about and spill on the floor since she knew I wouldn't make her clean it up. (Yeah, I'm a pushover at times, I'm not going to fight with a sick 3 yr old to pick up sand from the floor. sorry).
Momma got done with her client (ironically an ex best friend's mom) and begged me to stay until her hubby got home so she could have some time for herself. So because I'm a pushover caring and understand wanting "me" time, I let her go.
I made A and dad boss dinner (mashed potatoes, green beans, turkey sausage) and then we did some tea party playing while it cooked.

Then A ate some turkey sausage and wanted to be held and I tried to shovel some green beans and mashed potatoes into her mouth, but she kept fighting me and she looked miserable so I put her in my lap. This is what happened.




I let her sleep for 15 minutes and then I woke her up (oops) to put her pajamas on. Then dad boss got home 45 minutes late and she was awake, wanting his turkey sausage. Dad boss and I talked politics for a while and then I came home to an empty house...wonder where my own family (oh yes, I forgot to manage that I have one of those once in a while) is...apparently my father is at the gym and brother is at a friends house. Too tired to cook and I don't feel like eating. Although I should because how unhealthy is it to have just eaten a pumpkin muffin and coffee all day? Not very healthy. Guess I'll go cook a chicken.
Yay for tomorrow being Friday!
xoxo

PS I promised some fall recipes to you all, check back this weekend. I'll have them out by then!

Sometimes I get called Sarah Jessica Parker

I just got off a 45 minute conference call with my hired guidance counselor. Since my #3 school in the nation (according to NewsWeek at least...I disagree) can't afford to hire people in the guidance department who speak english, like dealing with teenagers, or understand the college application process, I had to outsource and hire some guy to do all the stuff for me. Which when I start to think about it was sort of a waste of our my dad's money since I've pretty much done all the application stuff myself. The only thing this guy has really done for me is to read my essays and do my financial work. All the other stuff on the application was done by me.
The reason he called was because he got sick of me calling his office 10 times a day, and leaving messages that said things like, "hey David, you know what's really great? ANSWERING THE PHONE needed to get caught up with my college application process...sure.
Okay, I understand he's probably really, really, busy but after he missed our phone "date" tonight at 6:30, I was pretty much ready to fire him. It's a good thing I understand that talking to American Express can take awhile...or so he says. Anyways it turned out good. The conversation, not his American Express ordeal, I didn't ask.
He asks if I sent the essays yet and I'm all no, they're not good enough, they don't answer the prompts, what if they hate me, I'm not good enough, etc. He basically told me I was crazy, that I need to send them because they are ORIGINAL and GOOD and are what "Hollywood scripts are made of. Seriously SJP (he calls me Sarah Jessica Parker..I still don't know why. He also thinks I have a running shopping account at Nordstroms, which I don't...maybe my e-mail address and the fact that I dress nicely when I visit him makes him think otherwise..oh well, being called SJP isn't the WORST thing...compliment actually) if I were a screen writer I would be asking if I could buy a script from you." And I'm all, dude that's my life.... Funny enough this is the second time this week someone has said something like that. My boss told me she thinks me life is like something you would see on a Lifetime movie...maybe I should write a screenplay?
So anyways, he complimented me, and spoke nice things in my ear and made me feel good about my essays, but I'm not 100% there yet, but at least I forgave him for standing me up. In all seriousness though, I do want to send my essays and these were the first ones that I really felt comfortable with, and then my dad made me feel all insecure about them and I got freaked. I'll be doing some deep thinking tomorrow.
In other news I've just looked in the mirror and discovered a nice purple bruise on my neck, which makes me wonder what in the world I was doing to get this bruise. That or it's some purple paint and I really need to take a shower....I'm going to go with the bruise theory, after all I'm sort of famous for taking 40 minute showers.

Getting to know me

Ahhh Wednesday, halfway through the week!
Tomorrow I have school off and I am so loving these little holidays. Next Thursday I have a half day...one of the best things about public school.
I stayed at school til 5 today and worked on the newspaper. I skipped gym this morning to work on it too. Deadline day is Friday, which means that everything on all 4 of my pages must be placed, edited, perfect, etc! I finished most of the things today, and now just have to work on some last minute things like placing pep rally pictures (which is tough since there seems to be no good ones) and replacing some people's articles that they've made changes to. Oh, and I have to find a way to get this girl a new idea for a sidebar. Senior skip day is Friday; guess I won't be skipping...oh well, I'll live.
Best friend K was supposed to come over tonight and we were going to spend tomorrow out by the pool. She called me today to cancel, which in a way is sort of a blessing because now I can get my TV project done. Also gives me no excuses to not work on my essay for English tomorrow. darn. Maybe I'll go people watch at Starbucks again.

I love the comments that I'm getting from all of these new people that I'm meeting (and of course my old buddies). A new friend that I met the other day via e-mail asked me a question to the effect of "how do you do all that?! When do you have time for fun?" And because I feel that people should get to know me a little bit better, I thought I would answer it.

Anyways that is an excellent question because I'm not sure how I do it all. I'm just now learning that it's okay to reach out and ask for help and most of the time people will help! My days are pretty jammed packed, which is a complete 180 from 2 years ago or even last year. At times, I enjoy it and get a thrill out of getting things done, but other times I really do miss my life and hate that when I get home I can only muster up enough energy to brush me teeth and crawl into bed. Life is as crazy as it's ever been right now. I still have to do all this application stuff for college and until I do that, I truly won't have any free time. When I'm not doing that, I'm working and when I'm not doing that, it's school work and when it's not school work, than I can have some much needed "me" time.
I am a big magazine reader, Entertainment Weekly, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan (yeah, so glad you guys know that about me now) being two of my favorite monthlies. I finally realized I had too much going on when last month I didn't even get to pick up a magazine and read it, let alone skim through it. The other day I made a point of just not doing anything, taking my magazines with me and just reading them cover to cover like I usually do. It was lovely. Than I got my other issues today, so I'll have to set a time for myself to get through them and not read them in AP English Literature class....because I soooo DID NOT do that today, by hiding it with a Princeton Review book.
As for fun in my life, I find it wherever I can. I wouldn't exactly call playing with a 3 yr old fun (at least not most of the time), but I try and enjoy myself when I'm with her, even if it means that we need to walk to Starbucks so I can have a minute of "grown up" conversation. I really don't have that much time to see my friends, but when I do I make a point of dropping all the "important" things and just letting loose by staying up way to late and laughing my butt off. Or going to the mall and browsing things that are on my ever expanding wish list. I'm pretty sure the people at Tiffany's know my name now and understand that I just go in there to try the stuff on. And that's just a tiny bit of my life in a nutshell. Oh, also I love taking vacations and I make a point of it to go somewhere so I can relax. I love going to cities, and I've been lucky enough to tag along with my dad sometimes when he goes to places like Toronto, NYC and Chicago every once in a while for his seminars. I get to go to Chicago a week after my birthday and I'm sooo excited. Seriously, that's whats getting me through this crazed month!

Only two more work days to go (for some of you at least). Thinking about posting some pumpkin/fall type recipes on here, what do you think? I make an AWESOME pumpkin pie...if only I could find that recipe...guess I'll start searching!

Because I won't talk about the debate...

So instead of talking about "THE DEBATE" and losing about everyone of my blog readers, because of my "awesome political views", which some of you share (Oh come on, I'm not the only one who likes him...). I thought I would give you guys a lovely video to watch instead.
Just one thing first, how the heck do you have a "town hall" meeting as a national debate? Both candidate's chairs look very uncomfortable, but that's just my opinion. Okay ending this NOW before I type something that ends up offending one or more people. Instead I'm going to call my friend and start screaming and yelling about the LIES that I am hearing on my TV screen that's coming from a certain man. oooh My man just made a dig to his opponent. I love it.

Now on to the video clip. One of my all time favorite movies that is a true classic is Mary Poppins. I love Julie Andrews and hey, it may help that she made us nannies a little bit famous. The other day I was wasting my time because I have senioritis browsing the Saturday Night Live website at NBC and I came across their spoof of "Mary Poppins". Ironically, Anne Hathaway (for those of you who don't know her) made her start by playing opposite Julie Andrews in the Princess Diaries movies. I think Anne did a perfect impression of Ms. Andrews and definitely has the voice to sing! I must warn you though, you'll never watch "Mary Poppins" in the same way again!

Newspaper ranting. Or why I want to pull my hair out one strand at a time.

This newspaper class is going to be the death of me, and possibly one other person.
I used to consider being an English teacher if the whole journalism route doesn't work out, uh not anymore. First of all, my maturity level is by far one of the "oldest" in the room. Because I have been through so much in life (and really I am grateful for my experiences) and because I grew up at age 6, my maturity level is sort of one of a 27 year old. And that creates problems for me, in school at least.
Okay so this week we are trying to get this paper out. I have been working on my section, which has me in charge of designing four pages, checking 9 articles, etc for the last two weeks non stop. I haven't even had a lunch break (yeah poor me, I know, life is rough...not) and I am doing everything in my power to not quit this class. Today we had the class and I was placing articles. I have 3 girls doing sidebars for me. The first one is doing well, actually writing a good article, making changes as necessary; I'm not going to lie, she's one of my favorites and I get to stalk her, read her thoughts since she has a blog.
The second girl had her sidebar done and now the teacher wants her to change it and make it more creative. Uh excuse me are we not in a newspaper class here? I wasn't aware that we switched into art class. Fine, so now she is accommodating me as I've asked her to come in at lunch and work on it. Which is not that big of a deal. You can afford to miss a lunch every now and then, it won't kill you. Promise.
The third girl makes me want to stop what I'm doing and walk out of the class room, throw my hands up in the air and scream "I quit!" all while victory music is playing around me and some one hands me a card that says, "congratulations on getting your life back!". (Did you just totally picture that in your heads!?)
First of all her article is not even an article. I asked for 600 word minimum, she gave me 300.If I was truly cruel, I would publish it on here, because seriously you would read it and go, "what in the world was that?!" and then laugh or cry that the future of journalism has just gone down the toilet, as it starts out as an article, but than turns into just quotes. No transitions whatsoever. Even AFTER I did corrections for her. (Did I mention I hate it when people don't listen!?)
I asked her for idea's for her sidebar, she gave me none and then started to have an attitude when I decided that I would tell her what she's going to do. She comes back 10 minutes later, cuts everyone in line to see me (oh yes, I am that popular...that or they don't want "F's" on their grade for the day.) and shoves a magazine in my face and tells me what she wants me to do.
Back up chica, see the line over there? GET IN IT. Wait your turn and don't make me put you in time out for raising your voice with me, because young lady I will sooo bring out the time out chair in this classroom. Better yet, just go sit in the corner and think about what you did (and this may be where the maturity level starts to play).
I go find her after school and I ask her to meet me in the room for lunch tomorrow so I can take MY TIME to work on her sidebar. She tells me she has a club meeting. "Are you an officer in this club?" I asked. "Uh no, I just like to go...". I almost smacked myself in the face right there. I hold my composure and ask her to come in on Wednesday for lunch. "Um yeah, I have a club meeting that day too..can we just do this in class?"....Listen girl, I have had it about Up to THERE with you and you can miss a club meeting once in a while, I promise, the club will go on without you. I can not "just do it" in class because YOU are not my only "student" that I am working with and I am going to work with those who have gone out of their way to work with me.
And then I realized, I don't ever, ever want a child that is going to be in 10th grade. Just skip them right into 11th, because this girl is insane. Or maybe it's teenagerism and I missed that point in my life, because I was NEVER THAT BAD. Or maybe I was and I didn't realize it...sorry dad.
This has been my rant about newspaper, and if you are still reading this, I have tried to make it as "colorful" as possible, because this can be a seriously boring topic, especially if I'm ranting. Now I'm going to go pull out my hair, one strand at a time and give it to the girl and tell her that it's her fault that I'm now partially bald. Because if that's not a guilt trip, than I don't know what it is.

Not Me Monday

This is my second week of doing "Not Me Monday" who I admittedly "stole" from MckMamma. It's such a great idea and I have so much fun doing it.

1) I did Not at 4 pm today, think "oh it's Sunday afternoon, that means I can do "Not Me Monday" again tonight". No, because I don't randomly think about things like that.

2) I did not just stop doing my homework to get online to do this. Because like I've said before, I'm devoted to school.

3) I was Not just listening to iTunes while doing homework and start crying when Steven Curtis Chapmans' "Cinderella" came on. And it did NOT just come on right now, again as I type this...stupid shuffle feature.

4) I did not just start daydreaming about a wedding that I'll someday have...

5) I did not watch Finding Nemo with A the other day and start crying (for the second time) because the mom fish got eaten...and then start laughing a few minutes later with the whole, "clown fish aren't funny" thing...ahhh hormones anyone? Or current events...

6) I am not in any way at all stressing about Newspaper tomorrow because those kids have better give me everything I asked for or their heads will be on my desk.

7) I did not spend half my day on the computer, researching places for me to go in Chicago that I haven't been to before.

8) I also did not spend 2 hours in a Starbucks today, just observing people and sipping delicious pumpkin spiced coffee.

9) I am not in the least bit excited that my best friend is spending the night on Wednesday and that will not keep me from doing college application essays (again) and a TV project that I have to do.

10) I do not challenge you to do your own "Not me" right here in the comment section.

11) I do not hope to meet more people this week by being an early poster on Mckmamma again!! So don't leave me a comment to say hi or anything...It's not like I'll check your blog or anything... :)

Chicagoland

One more thing.
I'm going to one of my favorite places, Chicago, on October 29- November 2. If you know of any awesome places that are having Halloween type festivities, or any awesome places in general, would you please comment on here and leave me the name of it?
I've been twice and love Michigan Ave and have been to the suburbs, Chinatown,the touritsy places, etc. I want to visit like a native (if that makes any sense at all...).
Thanks guys!
Also, I'm a Floridian, we get cold when temperatures hit below 70, with that said, is it necessary for me to bring my Uggs and Trench Coat or will I survive in jeans and hoodies? Keep in mind that I froze in Boston when I visited there two Octobers ago.

The Energizer bunny has taught me a lot

Yesterday I finally, finally got some sleep.
I fell asleep while watching a movie on my laptop, got to love it.
Last night I went to work at around 7, A is still sick and she had a high fever of 102.
Her parents still decided to go out anyways...( just a side note, but responsible parenting? Um this may just be me, but why would you leave someone else with your sick, fever burning child?!!? WHO HASN'T LEFT THE COUCH IN 2 DAYS)
Anyways I don't really get sick and when I do get fevers I break out the Tylenol (or is it Motrin?) and lay in bed and ice myself. Toddlers apparently are different (and it terrified me to take care of her, good parenting practice though). A's parents are "all natural" and by that I mean they only believe in homeopathic stuff, so as much as I wanted to run to the store and grab her some children's Motrin, I had to keep giving her this crappy fever reducing stuff every 15 minutes for the next 2 hours.. Please just kill us both.
It was already 7:30 when I started this and she goes to bed at 8, which meant that I had to keep waking her up until 9:30. Excellent.
I stuck in Barney (on a side note, does anyone else think that his new voice is a tad bit, uh creepy?) and kept begging her to drink water and juice until she did. I had to sit there and keep reaplying the cold towel on her head until I got the idea to just put water on it and stick it in the freezer to make it colder. Yeah, you would have thought I was murdering her when I put that on her head.
Finally I got her into the big bed in the guestroom, because I was going to sleep with her to make sure she didn't stop breathing or anything. (Because I may have been the tiniest bit paranoid that her fever was not going DOWN and instead reached 104. Yay for homeopathic crap that doesn't work!!)
She was really burning up so I told her that she was going to take a quick cold bath. She started screaming and wasn't having any of that, so I put her in the sink and started washing her with a cold washcloth....I've never heard her scream so loud in my life and it literally hurt me because I hated seeing her in so much pain. I stuck her in a towel (which her little body warmed right up) and put her back in bed, read her more stories and finally got her to eat some peaches and melon (Because I'm amazing), I even got her to laugh.
Than at 9:30 I could stop giving her the medicine and she fell asleep and I laid there next to her, bored out of my mind, which gave me too much time to think. So I tried to go to sleep too, but couldn't really. The next thing I know, I drifted off for 10 min and I wake up to see her big brown eyes staring at me. She was sleeping with her eyes OPEN, which was extremely freaky. Than she started moaning and moving so I just sort of held her. She fell back asleep and her parents came home at 11:10...way to be concerned about your kid. No judgment...seriously, I love my bosses, but they don't have the greatest common sense factor.
I got home, was exhausted (and freaked that now I'm going to get sick, which I can not afford to do) and crawled in my own bed, watched some stuff on YouTube and the next thing I knew, I was out.
Woke up to yelling by my father this morning and then walked to Starbucks where I had some of their delicious oatmeal and more Pumpkin spiced coffee. 3 cups in 3 days, I think I'm on a role. Called my best friend, told her what happened the other day and made plans to meet up on Wednesday night.
Life is slowly getting better and back to "normal", whatever that may be. There are still lot's of questions and uncertainties I have and I'm still sort of freaked to walk outside or be at my house alone, but that will go away in time. For right now, I have to surround myself with people who love and care about me and just keep going, sort of like the energizer bunny. I'm laughing now and feeling a little more like my old self. I have to keep myself occupied or I lose track. Journaling is helping a lot too. Now hopefully I'm off to Costco for some weekend shopping.
Thank you my lovely blog readers/friends for your support and caring. I hope I can do the same for any of you if you ever need it.

The SAT is over. Finally.

I finally fell asleep last night at around 11:30, much later than I had hoped for, but at least it was sleep. I guess my mind was on though because I kept waking up every hour. Finally at 5 AM, I rolled out of bed and hopped into the shower. For extra measure, I put the Rap vocab cd on and listened to it as I washed my hair. Took a nice 40 minutes and hopped out and decided that since it was only 6 AM and I had an hour to go, to paint my toes red for confidence. Red is my "confidence" color. I was wearing sandals, so I figured that if I lost focus in the test that I could just look at my toes.
Made myself an egg and ran out the door with my dad. He has no sense of direction and didn't listen to me when I TOLD him to go the opposite direction; he ended up taking me to the wrong school. Turned back around, grabbed some coffee from McDonalds (ew, but at least it was caffeine) and sped like crazy to the right school. Got there on time and found some friends. Talked for a while and then finally was admitted into the huge cafeteria, which easily could have fit my school's gym and cafeteria in it.
I started to get tired, but I woke myself up, drinking lots and lots of water. My adrenaline rush came and I started writing the essay. This time around I finished before time was called, last time I didn't get too. Looking back now, my essay may not have been the greatest, but it will get me at least a 6 and I'm okay with that. I got an 8 last time. Today I was there for the math.
I did a lot of reading, lots of correcting of grammar (it was like newspaper class, but this was for a test) and then math. Math seemed easier this time around. Either that or I was so caught up in everything else that I didn't have time to notice the difficulty of it. Guess we'll find out at the end of the month.
I do feel that I did well on math, although I'm not sure about reading. Hopefully I stayed the same as last time or raised my score by a little. It seemed tougher this time around, which was strange. I skipped some questions so hopefully that may have saved me some points.
Testing finished at 1 PM and I called my dad to come get me. It was raining (as it has been all day) and I stood out in the rain and cold and waited for him. Not fun.
Got home and called my friend Stephanie and we went for a quick lunch. She left and I walked to the bookstore, my dad came and got me and now I'm home, laying in bed listening to the rain.
I haven't yet felt that wave of relief yet, but hopefully I will soon. I'm trying to keep myself occupied so that I don't have time to think. I'm just very thankful that I didn't break down in the test. Somehow, I was able to keep my focus.
I really haven't told many people (except for you know, the internet) about what happened. I don't really know what to say. Some of them get it, and some of them don't. I don't expect all of them to understand either. When people were calling me and asking me how the test went, I responded with "it was okay, thankfully I was able to stay focused since I had some crappy stuff happen to me yesterday." If they press for details, I'll tell them, if they don't than I'll keep it to myself.
My dad has been kind. He wanted me to go to the gym with him and sit upstairs and drink coffee at their cafe. I should have, I just realized how awful I feel being alone. I have to go to work later tonight, but A will only be up for 30 minutes. I'll have to find something to do to occupy myself. I could do schoolwork, but my mind won't be in it. I think it just wants to shut down now that I've taken the test.
I have Thursday off this week and I'll take a break til than. Essay writing will resume on my day off.
Thank you all for your lovely comments of support and well wishes, it's meant a lot to me.

You have to take the good with the bad.

I've debated posting this, but I can't keep this in anymore and sometimes it's good to share things that are tragic.
Today started out being a really great day. I was getting ready to go to work at about 3:45 and for some reason my stomach started cramping so I laid down on my bed for a few minutes. I'm getting ready to leave my house and I look out the window and see this strange car in my driveway with this woman and this guy. Both look horrible and they were dropping things off at my front door. I carefully went to the door, cellphone in hand and opened it. I never should have.
To start things off, my mother is not dead, although it would be a heck of a lot easier if she was. She left when I was 6 and my brother was 1. She does drugs, has overdosed numerous times and is an alcoholic. She lives somewhere in South Florida, but we don't know where. I cut off contact with her after she lost visitation rights when I was 12. It's been 7 years since I've seen her in person and I don't talk to her when she calls. I have a restraining order against her and basically this woman fucked up the first 12 years of my life. I have no desire to have anything to do with her. Seeing or talking to her is painful as it brings all the awful memories back. If I accidentally answer the phone when she calls (I screen all my calls) than I hang up. I do not listen to her messages, I delete them and if I accidentally do hear her voice, I shake, cry and basically fall apart. I've gotten better in the past 7 years, but it's still hard. Basically I told her I forgave her and to please leave me alone forever. She is like that roach that you just can't kill. I would be easier if she died because than I could mourn and get on with my life, with her alive, she just keeps popping back up and everytime I have to go through the mourning process again.
Back to my story.
I opened the door and said, "can I help you"? The face looked at me and said, "Kelsey, it's mom." I fell back against the door and my knees gave out. I started shaking and I grabbed the door handle. "I'm late, I have to go." I said. My feet wouldn't let me move. My breathing was unusually calm and I just stood there, like an idiot. My head was telling me to go back inside, shut the door and call the police. My body wouldn't let me. This woman than grabbed me and started touching me, smelling me and I stood there stiff as a board. I wanted to scream help, wanted to push her off of me, wanted to do so many things, but I couldn't, I froze. The guy with her had to have seen the fear and the look on my face. He did nothing. She finally got off of me after I said again, "I'm late, I have to go." She tried to come in my house, but I wouldn't move out of the doorway. She tried to talk to me about college, asking me if I was going to Tampa (I never, ever spoke of college plans to her so I don't know where she got that from). My reply was that I would see which colleges accepted me. Five minutes with her felt like an eternity. I finally turned, grabbed the door handle and shut the door. I didn't look back. I couldn't think. I just knew I was late for work.
I waited for a moment, my breathing got heavy, I felt lightheaded, I thought I was going to pass out. I was shaking and I wanted to stand in the shower and let the hot water pour over my skin, my hair, everywhere she touched to get the scent off of me. I couldn't I was late for work.
I think I sprinted to my bosses house. I got there right as her client did and I walked into the house. I was gasping for air at this point and D asked what was wrong with me. I barely made it into the kitchen before I started sobbing and then I told her what happened. I didn't even care that her client was hearing everything I was saying. D took me into, "my"/the guest room and I sat on the bed, shaking and breathing until I thought I was going to throw up. D hugged me until A came looking for us. A had her first ear infection ever (something I am very used to as I had to have 4 surgeries for them as a kid). D had to go massage her client, so I took a very tired and hurting A and we sat on the couch watching Barney.
A was in pain and I was too. I laid down and she laid on my stomach and we held each other until she fell asleep and I let my eyes shut and the tears pour down. And that's how we were for the rest of the afternoon, two girls in very different types of pain, both holding each other and not letting go.
I can't let this affect me for tomorrow. I've already been to the movies to take my mind off this, but even the littlest thing can set off a crying jag. I'm scared to death that I won't be able to focus tomorrow and that basically everything I've done to prepare myself in the last 5 months is gone. Not good.
Please think of me tomorrow in the morning, I'm really needing all the support I can get. I thank you all for your well wishes either here or on facebook or in person. It's meant a lot to me, even those who haven't said anything, thank you. By sharing my pain, maybe some of it will go away. Maybe this post will even help someone else somehow. Here's to a better weekend ahead,
Kelsey

And this is why I love my life

Skipping school when you aren't sick is FUN!
I've actually never done this before. I'm such a dork, that I pretty much always go to school, even when I'm sick. I try to save up my sick days for times when I go on vacation. You know it makes sense..
Anyways I slept in til 11 this morning and then was woken up by the doorbell. So I stumble out of bed, throw on some pajama bottoms and answer the door.
Fedex guy: "oh, you're home today."
Me: "Yeah, I am... [awkward silence]...so...
FedEx Guy: "Sign here."
Me: "here? (hey, I've never done this before. According to my FedEx guy, I'm usually not home.)
F G: "Yes, there. No, there.
Me: "Ohhh there.. great. Package?"

And then we could have had more awkward silence and his staring at me in my lovely University of Miami big tee that I wear to bed, bra less with some ghetto pink elephant pants (that I just realized sort of scream republican) of course, but whatever. Fun's over. Bye bye, be careful not to hit the mailbox on the way out.

Package (Which is actually a large envelope) is addressed to me and I have a slight hunch of what it could be, but than again I'm sort of thinking that my father ordered me some more SAT related study material and that's not fun. So I open up the package and inside is a tiny little envelope with my name on it (sigh of relief over no testing material) and inside was a gift card for $225 that was meant for my iPhone that I won! Wow, that is quiet a nice gift at 11 AM. SOOOO glad I rushed out of bed!
I could go out and buy an iPhone, but you have to pay an extra $30 a MONTH in addition to the regular plan, and I'm not made of money. So thanks, but no thanks on that one. I'm going shopping in Chicago.

And that's been my lovely relaxing morning. I'm thinking it could be a sign from God saying that hey, everything is going to be okay tomorrow and then you can treat your friends to lunch. (Um no on that one, they can buy their own food - I'm not THAT generous.) The butterflies are still in stomach, but not as much, although as the day moves on I'm sure they will start to flutter more. I think I may go outside, soak up some South Florida sun and try and do some more math problems, because really, they aren't that painful. If I'm game, I may even do a timed test. And then later I'm bringing A to the mall, even though she's begging me to come over to my house, but the mall is much more fun (for me). Plus I have to teach her about purses and shoes, because where else will she learn any of that valuable information?! (Okay, maybe her mom, but I'm more knowledgeable on this subject!)

More later,
Kelsey

In Honor of the Families who have lost their babies

October 15th is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in the United States. More than 25,000 children are stillborn in the United States every year leaving mothers, entire families and communities devastated. Estimates of the rate of occurrence of stillbirth make it at least as common as autism.

Stillbirth is not an intractable problem. Greater research would likely significantly reduce it's incidence, but good research requires good data. H.R. 5979: Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act is under consideration by Congress. This proposed bill would standardize stillbirth investigation and diagnosis, thus providing more data for the needed research. Better research means fewer children born still.

On October 15th, remember the thousands of unfinished children lost and the families who remain to grieve them. Honor them by taking action. Let's help pass H.R. 5979.

Action Steps:

Step 1. Use Your Blog to Enlist Others
-Copy the contents of this entire post and publish it on your blog immediately.

GOAL: Enlist 10 of your readers to spread the word

Step 2. Use Your E-mail to Enlist Others
-E-mail 5 bloggers and ask them (nicely and in an unspammy way) to publish these action steps on their blog. Consider contacting celebrity bloggers, political bloggers, medical bloggers, or bloggers who are not part of your reading community.

GOAL: Enlist 3 bloggers outside of your normal blog sphere to spread the word in other online communities.

Step 3. Help Pass the Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act
-By October 15th, publish a post on your blog supporting H.R. 5979 Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act. For maximum impact, title your post: "Stillbirth Awareness and Research Act."

GOAL: 1,000,000 Google results on October 15th when that term is searched for. Currently, Google only returns 20,400 pages - most of which have nothing to do with the bill.

One day to go

I just posted something about the Palin/Biden debate tonight and not wanting to offend anyone, I've taken it down. My fingers are crossed for Sarah and I said a little prayer that she does well. She has a lot of pressure riding on her and I would not want to be in her shoes.
I've decided to stay home tomorrow and take my day to relax, pray, and study a bit before the big day on Saturday. I'm still looking for people to pray for me!! (If you're just starting to read this blog, I'm taking my final SATs on Saturday and then colleges will make their decisions about my applications.
Saturday afternoon should be fun, I'm going out to lunch with a friend (or friends) and maybe shopping for homecoming. D (A's mom) called me and wanted me to help out with her friend R's baby shower, but I had to say "no" as it's my day and as much as I enjoy her friends, I don't know them that well that I want to attend their baby showers. I'll offer her a night of babysitting once the baby is born.
I have to work a little tomorrow and I think I'll take A to the mall as retail therapy seems to calm me down sometimes, but I won't be spending any money except for maybe a few gifts I have to pick up.
I guess I'll go focus on the debate now. More jumping up and yelling at my TV...I think my dad is about ready to kick me out of the room.
(Hey by the way, neither VP candidate supports GAY MARRIAGE...hmmm wonder how that will go down with the gays? Will Mr. Obama start to lose some votes?...okay that's it, I PROMISE!)
More tomorrow,
Kelsey

The future of Journalism isn't looking bright

Newspaper has become drama class. Never in my life have I heard so much gossiping about nothing. Seriously I spent my lunch break in the room today and head editor G, was talking about how the kids weren't doing what she told them to do in her suggestions. She complained about this for 10 minutes, and I'm all "you're the editor, just CHANGE IT!".. I worked on my spread and came back to work some more after school and this time they're talking about a girl who didn't get any good pictures...um okay? Why is this important? Let's get this paper out!

I do admit though, that it's been very frustrating working with these new kids in the last few weeks. Yes, it's true, when I made comments and editing marks on their stories some of them decided to do NOTHING to change it. That's why I'm here, to help you so you don't publish something that makes no sense what so ever. If you feel that you can do my job for me, than by all means, do it! And then some of them just don't care.

I was feeling generous (which was a mistake and will not happen again) and let a girl have an extra 2 days to turn her article into me. She finally decides to last night at 11 pm. Lucky for her, I was up, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten it until today. I printed it out, took a glance at it and let's just say that the future of journalism is NOT looking bright. It's like she just stopped writing in the middle of a sentence. She had a quote from someone and "forgot" to put the word "said" after it... so basically it looked like this: "I love pep rallies" Aaron. When it should look like this: "I love pep rallies.",said Aaron XYZ (11).
Thankfully for her, I'm a nice person. If I was someone else, I would have ripped up her article and handed it back to her and made her rewrite it. Yeah, the paper she's getting back is has all of my markings and corrections all over it and not one of her original "sentences" (I use the term loosely) are there, but at least now maybe she can try again. Next issue, heads will start to roll!

I made the conscious decision to stay home on Friday from school in order to relax for the SATs. I have two big tests in school that day and I know I won't even have time to study for them, so I'll take them Tuesday when I get back. SATs are more important right now.

In application news, I got a letter from one of the schools I applied to, telling me that I hadn't sent in a form that I did. Hopefully this is a misprint and I don't have to send in anything else. I guess I'll have to call them tomorrow.

By the way, I LOVE that it's October 1st. It's offically fall which means 23 more days til my birthday :) . There are other reasons why I love October, but that will wait for another post. I'm off to go study again..