A brother, a webcam, and a day home alone!

Today is turning out to be a perfect day for me. I woke up early, to go to a student led confrence. Which are just stupid, cause you are sitting there telling your parents all of this stuff that they already know. Like what your grades are, how you are doing, what is hard, what is easy, what you want to do with your life, and how you have changed in the past year. Shesh.... But my dad took me to Starbucks so it was all good.

I then came home and my dad left. Thomas was on the couch, Mom at work, Emily at a friends house, and Dad at work. So it was just Thomas and I chillin' at home. Which means... music, dancing, singing really loud, laughing, Top Ramen, and web cam photos.

We were sitting at the table eatting Top Ramen at 9:30. ( Yes it sounds weird, but we both thought it sounded good so we decided we would have Top Ramen for breakfast.) And then we started talking about songs that we like. Which then led us to iTunes so we could download some new songs. And that led us to rocking out to the new songs. Which then in some way led us to the webcam. I am not sure how we got from rocking out to the webcam, but it happened. 

Thomas and I both agree that our new favorite song is "Hello Seattle" by Owl City. It is worth a dollar from iTunes.... go buy it.

I LOVE THOMAS!

Kaisha

Well, this morning I was chatting with my cousin Kaisha on-line. We were talking about what we were going to do throughout the day and I said that I would blog about something. She told me to blog about her. So here ya go Kaisha!

Kaisha- One of the most amazing people I know. Someone that I could hangout with forever and never got bored of. Somebody that I could do absolutely nothing with and wouldn't really mind. Someone that I can tell a secret to. Someone who is just simply... awesome!

In case you didn't know, Kaisha one of my 5 amazing Thomas cousins. She lives up in Bellingham. She is the manager of a coffee shop and can make a killer good mocha milk shake. I would say my favorite memory with Kaisha was when we went to down town Fairhaven and we just walked around for a few hours. We went to this cute cup cake shop, went to get coffee, and sat on the rocky beach and talked about random stuff that doesnt really matter. Or, when we stayed up and watched 24 until 4:00 am. Actually, now that I think of it, I dont have one memory that is my favorite... they are all my favorite.

Anyway... I could go on and on about how great and amazing Kaisha is.

If you want to visit Kaisha's blog just click here!

So to sum it all up... I LOVE KAISHA!

GOLF

Well.... yesterday was my second golf match. We played in Centralia. And guess what... I got the golf ball in the hole once! Now that is one more time than the last match. So I am happy. And... just for the record, I didnt hit anybody on the foot, or head, or any other body part.  Then, after the match our coach bought us all tacos and we bought fries for the way home. It was such a beautiful day outside and I absolutley loved it! Thanks North Thurston Girls Golf for making this Spring so much fun! :o)

Happy Spring!

Ahhh... the first day of SPRING! Good bye winter! I am so ready for the warmer days and everything coming back to life. I love winter until about.... January. And then all I want is spring to come. It seems to take forever to get here. BUT TODAY IT FINALLY CAME! It was 70 degrees outside today. :)

What does the Arend clan do on the first day of Spring?...

YARD WORK.

There is my dad pulling weeds, Emily working up a big fire, and my mom is out of the picture pulling weeds. I always manage to find a way out of doing yard work. My excuse is usually... "Hmmm... I think I will go brush Annie."

Annie always needs a brushing so my method never fails me.

All of that white stuff on the ground, is hair. Dog hair. Lots and lots of dog hair.

That. Is. A lot. Of. Hair.

Well, at least she is cute!

So, please welcome spring with me by listening to this snazzy little Elvis song about Spring.

Winter has left the building....

My first match....

Well, today was my first golf match. Oh yes... my first. I was so nervous. What if i hit somebody? What if I am too slow? What if I cant hit it? What if we are done at 7:00?

Those were the questions that were running through my head. We played against River Ridge High School. They were just as nervous and unexperienced as we were.

Honestly, I did horrible. Well, except for the last hole. But I had a BLAST! The girls that I played were so nice and fun to be around. And sense I didnt sign up for golf to be competitive, this was perfect.

Oh, and just for the record, I did hit someone. In the foot, at least it was my best friend Madison. My one and only hit that went straight and far hit her in the foot. Whoops!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day... a holiday that keeps me busy. From the beginning of March till the day of St. Patricks day we (my Irish Dance school) is filled with shows that we get to perform at. I will soon blog about some of these shows... Anyway, St. Patrick was a missionary. So please, take some time to pray and thank God for all of the missionaries he has sent out over the year and the ones that are out now. To keep them safe and protected!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Clock wise from me... Me, Lauren, Emily, Linnea, and Megan... All of my dance buddies that I absolutley love!

A new blog on the block...

Well, my good friend Alex has made a blog of his own. If you want to go visit his blog then click here.

This is the only picture that I could find that any Alex in it... well at least one where he isnt wearing a really curly wig and a cookie monster shirt!

Fears

This made me laugh. And I dont care if you dont read it. But the main point of my blog is for me to be able to read back over it and enjoy it. So... here is something that I will like reading back sometime! And all I have to say is... people are weird.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - the fear of long words---... shesh.

Ablutophobia- Fear of washing or bathing. ---EWWWW!!!!!

Anablephobia- Fear of looking up. ---Goodness gracious... people are weird.

Anthrophobia or Anthophobia- Fear of flowers. ---Who the heck is afraid of flowers?

Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.--- WHAT A FREAK!

Barophobia- Fear of gravity. ---Sucks to have that... cause you're stuck with it.

Bogyphobia- Fear of bogeys or the bogeyman---...... okay?....

Didaskaleinophobia- Fear of going to school --- I am pretty sure that every kid has this.

Geumaphobia or Geumophobia- Fear of taste--- This would be horrible.

Hedonophobia- Fear of feeling pleasure--- wow..... I dont even know what to say about that....

Leukophobia- Fear of the color white--- What would you do if you were afraid of the color white? Wear all
black? Hey! Maybe those people who wear all black and look scary arent depressed or just plain creepy... maybe they are just afraid of white. That has got to be it!

Ranidaphobia- Fear of frogs--- aka... not Beth.

Oh gosh... why are people so weird...

A Great... with a capital "G", weekend

This has been a GREAT weekend. 2 amazing accomplishments... passing the written part of my drivers ed test and getting a 1st in my Reel.

Lets start with the drivers ed. Drivers Ed started on February 2 and ended March 6. I went every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 6:15-8:35 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 3:15-5:30 on Saturday. That takes up a lot of your time. The people that I met at drivers ed are probably people I will remember forever. The people I would hang out with could always make me laugh. We would have about 20 min. breaks and we always went to Walgreens... I now have MANY great memories at Walgreens. One I will never forget is my friend Andy singing a love song to the cashier. My friend Tyler and I were outside laughing so hard at him we were crying. Anyway, on the last test we had to take the DOL test (Department of Licensing). There were 50 questions... all multiple choice. I studied for many weeks... AND I PASSED! I was so nervous! I would highly suggest doing driving school through 911. They were a great! And try to get instructor Craig Metcalf... he was amazing. He made the class so much fun. Now, I just have to wait till December when I can take my driving test, and then wait till January 29, 2011 and THEN I can get my license!

Now... onto the dancing stuff. This part will have pictures... don't worry! So, for the past 3 years I have been working my butt off to try and get my Reel into Prizewinner. Now for all of those dancer people... let me explain.

When you start dancing you are in level "First Feis" (You pronounce it Fesh). Then you move up to Beginner 1. And if you want to move up to Beginner 2 you have to get a 1, 2, or 3rd place in the dance. If you don't get a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, then that dance stays in that level. Once in Beginner 2, you have to get a 1st or a 2nd to move up to Novice. And once in Novice, you have to get a 1st to move up to Prizewinner.

I had all of my dances in Prizewinner. All but one... my reel. I would always get 2nd. And 2nd is just not good enough to move it up to Prizewinner. It became like a mental wall. I had convinced myself that I could not get a 1st in my reel. It was almost impossible in my mind. At the beginning of this fall, I made a goal for myself. It was not to get a first the reel, but to enjoy dancing again. I had hit a wall where I didn't like dancing anymore. I wanted to quit. But I knew that if I had quit, I would miss it a lot and wouldn't know what to do with myself. So, I kept dancing, not competivitivley, but just to enjoy it. My teachers did an amazing job bringing me back to enjoying dancing. And so just to get back into the swing of things, I (with the strong suggestions from Lauren, Patti and my mom) decided to try Feis. And I would just do my reel. So, I was enrolled into a Feis called the Northwest Championships. And what were the results....

FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, after all that hard work I FINALLY am in Prizewinner. It feels so good to get past that mental block and move on. Now I get to learn new steps with trickier moves in them... WAY EXCITING!

This is the face of relief

This is Patti, my amazing dance teacher. She has helped me so much! Thanks Patti!

And I believe that Lauren deserves a shout out too! THANKS LAUREN FOR HELPING ME WITH EVERYTHING! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!

This is a really old picture. But I ran across it and thought that it was cute. This is Emily, Thomas, Lauren, and I at Laurens wedding. We got the be the flower girls and Thomas was the ring bearer. We are doing our victory pose.

A feis is a strange place. Lots of girls are bouncing around practicing for their dances in their curly wigs. Yes, in case you were wondering... my curly hair is a wig. And there is music... accordion music. So if you can not stand accordion music... DONT COME TO A FEIS! I am not even joking. Ask anyone who has come to a feis. When you come, the music is stuck in your head for WEEKS! Dont get me wrong, I love Irish music. I think it is beautiful. But when you hear it played all day long... sometimes you wish to never hear it again.

Oh Accordion...

Like I was saying, a feis is a weird place. I mean... where else can you find.....

a TUB of wigs. Yes a tub. Those are all wigs. You go and find your hair color, then try it on. People fuss with your head and pull and yank on your hair to find a perfect wig.

make up that is THAT bright... You should have seen it. They were CRAZY colors!

Socks with sequins in them

Oh the things one can see at a feis. It is quite amazing. And if you are looking for a good people watching place... a feis beats all. I promise you!

So, you might be asking yourself.... "What does somebody do after a feis?" Well let me tell you....

Ben & Jerry's Ice cream of course!

I had never had Ben and Jerry's Ice cream before! So here is a picture (not a good one) of me taking my first bite (yes I bite my ice cream... I dont lick it) of Ben &Jerry's Ice cream!

AND... it was just a girls trip. So that makes it even more fun... sorry boys.

Yup... this has been a GRRRRREAT weekend! Lets hope that the following week is just as amazing!

Sibblings...

You just can't live without sibblings. Well, at least that is the case for me. Now dont get me wrong, sometimes they are annoying, but most of the time they are completley amazing and I love them to death. Emily and Thomas are the 2 people who can make me laugh at anything. Especially Emily. She can say just a few words (that arent even funny) and I will be laughing so hard I am crying! Thomas has taught me how to love a lot of boy stuff. Like nerf guns, baseball, playing catch, wrestling... all that sort of stuff. They are honestly my 2 best friends that I have; hopefully, it will always be that way.

Sometimes they will surprise me with nice little things that they do for me. Like this is the note that I found on my bed when I got home from golf....

Is that not the sweetest thing EVER?

And then Emily. MY BEST FRIEND! Emily can make me laugh about anything. I never get tired hanging out with Emily. There have been countless times when our parents have told us to stop talking cause it is 11:00 at night on a school night. How can somebody NOT talk to Emily? Okay, the only thing that Emily does that REALLY drives me crazy... is when she scares me. She will jump around any corner and scream. It will make me jump out of my skin. I always try to act like I am mad at her for scaring me... but I dont get mad easily. So it is hard for me to pretend that I am mad. She gets a kick out of it.

Amazing icecream, amazing sister, amazing vacation!

This was after doing a ton of yard work. Thats the reason for all of the dirt on our faces!

Shes also my dancing buddy

And then Thomas.... my little brother. He is 7 years younger than me. He is such a boy and I love that about him. He is a sweet boy who is very caring thinking of others. He is the only person that I will sing REALLY loud around. I dont know why, but when Thomas and I are just sitting up in his room and he has his music on, we always end up dancing around and singing loud. I LOVE YOU THOMAS!

Isnt he cute?

So, Emily and Thomas, thanks for being the best friends I could ever ask for! I love you guys so much!

GOLF

Well.... it started today! And it was so much fun! There were 8 girls. 5 of us have never played in our lives. The team is so laid back and the coach is super nice. I have 2 friends on the team.... yup, this should be a blast. I am so looking forawrd to the rest of the season and improving my golfing skills.

Again, thanks Jake for teaching me the basics before hand... it helped a lot!