Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving 2009

There are so many reasons to love Thanksgiving! Obviously there is the delicious food, and of course the Black Friday shopping, and the chance to reflect on the past year and everything that I have to be thankful for in my life.

Thanksgiving Day: Every year we have Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. My grandma, Aunt and Uncle and their family all come over to our house from Tennessee. Grandma and Mom usually begin all of the prepping for dinner. The smells of turkey, ham, and potatoes begin around 10 am! We usually eat between 3 and 4, and man my family can seriously EAT. You should see the plates. Turkey, ham, sweet potatoes (with mandarin oranges and mini marshmallows), mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, rolls, fruit salad, corn, peas, and stuffing! DeLiCioUs!! Usually, Grandma and mom clean the kitchen, too, which is a major bonus!

Black Friday: Do not joke about Black Friday. In my house, it is serious business. Thanksgiving day, the first thing we do is run to WaWa and retrieve 5 newspapers with all of the local ads--for my 2 sisters, my mom, my aunt, and myself. This particular morning, mom woke up early and went to go get the papers. She brought them home, and we looked through them and started picking out all the ads. However, 4 out of the 5 were missing almost half of the ads, so my aunt and I ran back up to WaWa and exchanged them. We counted the number of ads in the store to make sure we had them all! We come home and look through them all, writing down what is most important to get and begin planning our early shopping trip on Friday. In the wee hours of the morning, we wake up and head out to all the stores! Now, we are not Crazy-we don't arrive at the first store until about 4:45 or 5. We usually go to Target, Wal-Mart, Kohls, Five Below, and anywhere else we need to. So much fun, and only girls. After the fun shopping, Grandma treats everyone to breakfast/lunch at Ryan's buffet.

Thankful: This year I am so thankful, and I have so many blessings. I have a loving family and loving parents. I am thankful for the high education I am able to receive, and how it will bless me in the future. For so many powerful leaders and adults that help guide us youth. For the gospel and the temples we have. For my health and my brains. For opportunities to earn money so I have what I need. For always having enough provided to me. For awesome parents who love me despite my mistakes. For others' examples. For service. For everything.

D&C 78:19-And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more

Psalms 100: 1-5- Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Copy Cat

My new goal is to write on this blog at least once a week. It is very hard to keep up with, but I'm going to try (again). Today I am just stealing an idea from another blog, because I thought it was way cute, and a good way to fill in the gaps since I last posted.

Current Books: The school year is now back up and in full swing, a quarter of the way done. Therefore, I really don't have much time to be reading for pleasure. I wish I could, but there is no time. Right now the focus is on English books.

Current Songs: I like music, but I'm not a huge avid fan of it. Lately, the newest additions to my playlist are the soundtrack from "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog", Fireflies (which is a completely random song, and makes no sense to me at all, but I still like it), and Paparazzi. Nothing big, just a few.

Current Drink: It is fall. Therefore, it is getting colder. And soon it will be winter. Thus, hot chocolate is the drink for me. I love it, and I can drink it all year round. Mmm... thank you Sister Joy Phelps, who makes hot chocolate for us on those freezing cold seminary mornings. Yum.

Current Food: There are these super delicious drop cookies that I love called spiders. You just melt butterscotch and semi-sweet chocolate chips together, and then mix in chow mien noodles... delicious. They taste so good. I love them. Oh, I also love Brach's Cinnamon Hard Candies. Simply Delicious.

Current Favorite Show(s): The Biggest Loser. Duh. I love Tracey, even though she is crazy and I was so sad when she went home. I don't really like Liz. Daniel was annoying me when he wasn't loosing any weight, but he just lost 11 pounds! And I don't really like Amanda. I hope Ruddee wins. He is a beast. Also, I was the happiest person because Cake Boss and The Little Couple just came back on! Season 2! I love Cake Boss, and I wish I could make awesome cakes that light up and move like he does, but lets face it--that would NEVER happen.

Biggest Current Wish: Right now I really am wishing for two things. One, I want to redo my room, but I do not have the time. Two, I wish high school was over, and I wish I was in the college of my dreams on a full ride scholarship.

Current Triumphs: AP Music Theory. For someone who has basically no musical talent/training, except for the few years of forced piano as a youngster, music theory is not the easiest class. Especially when it comes to interval ear training, sight singing, inversions, etc. But, I have a 100% average in that class, I am proud to say. Go me.

Current Bane of My Existence: Procrastination. Without any shadow of a doubt, it is procrastination. I am the worst procrastinator anyone could probably ever meet in their entire life. But hey, I work really really well under lots of pressure. I think I get that quality from my pops.

Current Outfit: Bright neon orange guy's gym shorts and a white and blue EFY 2009 t-shirt. Yep, I've got great fashion sense. Super cute.

Current Blessings: My family and my education. Not having a boyfriend I consider a huge, wonderful blessing. I am so sorry to those high school girls who feel they need to have a boyfriend or else their whole entire world and social status is ruined.

Current Excitement: Tomorrow is Friday. There is a temple trip on Saturday morning. Next Saturday is the youth dance. And soon Thanksgiving will be here, which also mean BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING. I'm saving my money :)

Current Goals and Desires: So many. Right now I want to make it through high school, keeping my class rank in the top 5. Right now I am number four, and hopefully by the end of this year it will increase. Who knows. Be accepted into the college of my dreams (which I am not really sure of right now) and study what I am most passionate about, most likely the medical field. I'd like to go on an LDS mission. Someplace foreign would be super I think, but anywhere is good. I want to be able to take great pictures. I want to eventually have a caring and loving husband and many, many wonderful kids. But not soon... don't worry. Education first.

Current Favorite Online Thing: Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. It's on HULU.COM. Go check it out. It's basically awesome.