Sushi!

 Week 1 of being 18

My first week as a legal adult. [My mom says that you're not really an adult until you can provide for yourself. She kind of has a point.] The glorious day of my birth began with fog so thick I could barely see the other side of the high way on my way to school. It ended with gifts from my family, including my wondrous new Nook! I still haven't really used it yet, though, because I have some books that I bought a while back that I need to read. I finished The Once and Future King, over a month after I started it, and I'm not going to review it. Honestly, I don't have enough words to do it any justice. You should definitely read it, though. My WYSE team advanced to sectionals [yeah!]. Unfortunately, I didn't place in my subjects, English and math, but I don't really mind as much as I thought I would. My friends took me out to a sushi and steakhouse. It was delicoussssss! I hadn't eaten there since prom last year, and I had forgotten just how delicious it is. They [sort of] surprised me with cheesecake. And we ended the night by eating Blizzards from Dairy Queen and watching re-runs of Hey Arnold!

The only downside to this week is the illness I'm now fighting with Advil, Luden's Cough Drops, and cold medicine. I don't think I've ever had a birthday without getting sick at some point. But overall, a great start to my 19th year. And thanks to Lex, Anna, and Hazel for wishing me a happy birthday!

EXPLOSION

I've been a bad, bad blogger. It's been a week maybe that I haven't even logged into Blogger? I'm not sure. I could check but Christmas break has made me lazy. I had excellent, amazing things planned for this post. They were going to blow your mind. Fireworks! Explosions! Leonardo DiCaprio! I promise you, it was going to be something for the record books. However, I instead decided that it wouldn't be so nice to blow your mind and render it useless so close to Christmas. For your reading pleasure: a questionnaire stolen from Kathy.

 

1. What time did you get up this morning?

I sort of woke up at 9:30 am. But I fell asleep and woke up off and on until 11 am when I decided to grace the world with my presence. Hey, give me a break, I don't have to go back to school for two weeks.

2. How do you like your steak?

Are you offering? Medium.

3. What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

I went to see Immortals with my friends Kayla and Morgan. As I said before, it was all right. Not the greatest. The guys were hot, though. So that's always a plus!

4. What is your favorite TV show?

At the moment I am in love with New Girl. Zooey Deschanel is the greatest. I'm also obsessed with Sons of Anarchy. Because who doesn't love TV shows about motorcycle gangs?

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Pffffffffff. I don't even know at this point. I would love to live anywhere in Europe. But not permanently. I imagine I will end up settling somewhere in Illinois or Missouri because I'm too close with my family to be able to move away from them forever.

6. What did you have for breakfast?

I woke up too late for breakfast. I had mac 'n' cheese for lunch, though.

7. Do you wear glasses or contacts?  

Contacts, for sure. I absolutely hate wearing my glasses. They just feel too inhibiting.

8. What food do you despise?

I am always willing to try anything once. But I cannot stand tuna. Just the smell of it makes me feel sick.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?

Guadalajara. [Not the place in Mexico, the Mexican restaurant literally two minutes away from my house.]

 

10. Favorite dressing?

I can't stand dressing. But the pizza place Monical's has their own special French dressing that is divine with pizza. Sounds gross, but I promise you it's otherworldly.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?

A lovely, super fantastical 1996 white Jeep Cherokee. No frills and no cup holders.

 

We call him Mallow.

12. What are your favorite clothes?

I love to wear over-sized short t-shirts with a tank top or long-sleeved shirt underneath and jeans. I'm pretty simple. Oh, and  a scarf is nice as well.

13. Where would you visit, this weekend, if you had the chance?

Well this weekend is Christmas Eve and Day, so I really wouldn't want to leave because all my family will be in town. But the following weekend is New Year's so I'd like to go to NYC.

14. How many tattoos do you have? 

I'm not eighteen yet so I technically can't have any tattoos, not that that stops people if they really want one. I'm not sure if I'll even have one or not. I don't have plans to get any at this point in my life.

15. Where would you want to retire?

Colorado. I love it there.

16. What is your desktop photo?

Pictures like these can be found on my Tumblr, which is listed in the side bar. I suggest you czech it out.

17. Where were you born?

Somewhere in Central Illinois [actual town will remain undisclosed, although it may not be that hard to figure out if you're somewhat familiar with Illinois].

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?

Football. GO PACK GO!

19. How many siblings?

 One, my older brother Conor. He's twenty and I'm seventeen.

 

20. Favorite pastime/hobby?

Reading, Tumblring, Youtubing, hanging out with friends, video gaming, and a lot more fun stuff.

21. Coffee Drinker? 

I prefer frappuccino, but if I must I'll drink plain coffee with creamer.

22. Are you a morning person or a night person?

Night, for sure. I have the worst time waking up in the morning. It doesn't even matter if it's six in the morning or eleven. It seems as the day goes on I get more and more awake until I'm bright-eyed at one in the morning. That said, I never have any trouble going to sleep. I can pretty much force myself to fall asleep whenever, even if I'm not tired.

23. Do you have any pets?

Two dogs, Holly and Maggie.

Holly's the beagle, and Maggie's the black dog [half-bloodhound and half-Australian-shepherd].

24. What did you want to be when you were little?

An author. Before that? Bugs Bunny.

25.  What is your favorite color?

Blue.

26. Are you a cat or dog person?

Dog. I like kittens, but I can't really stand grown-up cats.

27. Are you married?

Nope!

28. Always wear your seat belt?

Yes, even if I'm moving my car from the driveway to the street. Safety first, children!

29. Been in a car accident?

Ugh, yes. If you really wanna read about it click here. Pictures are included.

30. Any pet peeves?

Believe it or not, I have many. To save some time I'll just tell you my top two. My first is when I'm eating with someone and I can hear them chewing and/or see their food. It annoys me to no end. My second is when people are late. If you say you are going to be somewhere at a specific time you should be there then. It's so rude to make the other person wait for you. This probably has to do with the fact that I'm early for everything so I have to wait around in the first place.

31. Favorite Pizza Toppings?

Bacon and shrimp. Whenever we go to pizza places that specialize their toppings for you, my dad and I always get this.

32. Favorite Flower?

Roses will always do with me.

33. Favorite ice cream?

I can't remember the brand or even the name of ice cream, but my friends and I always go out and buy this cake and icing ice cream whenever we have girl's night in. It's soooo delicious. It's vanilla ice cream with cake bits and icing.

34. Favorite fast food restaurant?

Taco Bell!

35. From whom did you get your last email?

It was actually a reply from Kathy to one of my comments on her blog.

 

And for good measure, here's some Leo for ya! [Does anyone get the title reference?]

 

Those darn kids these days just have no respect!

I have found a new hobby.

Step One: Check to see if brother is home.
Step Two: If brother is home, turn radio on to a pop station.
Step Three: Turn radio volume up loud enough for him to hear.
Step Four: Kick back and listen to brother complain about the morals of today's society.

*Note: My brother is only twenty years old. But I secretly believe that he is actually an eighty year old man controlling a twenty year old young man's body.

'Tis all!

Day 20

A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.

There are numerous places I'd love to travel: Spain, France, Germany. The list goes on. But the one place I can remember wanting to travel to the longest is definitely Ireland. My dad's family is from Ireland and really into the whole Irish heritage thing. I mean, my dad organizes the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in my hometown for crying out loud. [He didn't get this job for being Irish, though. Mainly because he's a member of the Knights of Columbus and willing to do the job.] Anywho, I remember when I was younger wanting to go to Ireland. I want to kiss the Blarney stone, go drinking in pubs in Dublin, go to Galway Bay [that song was my favorite when I was little], and go to Roscommon and Cork counties [that's where my family's from]. I mainly just think it'd be neat to see the place where the majority of my lineage is from [my mom's family is Scottish so Scotland is a close second]. I think it'd also be really cool to do all this with my dad. He's been there before when he was a bachelor and living in Holland. But I know he'd love to go back and see it all again with his family.

Are there any places you're just dieing to travel?

Day 19

A picture of you when you were little.

This is a picture of my big brother Conor and me! I believe this was taken on my second Christmas. I would have been 22 months and Conor would have been 4 years old. When I was little people used to tell my parents that they should enter me in beauty pageants. I think it was my big blue eyes and dimples.

I just love this picture, though. My parents say that when we were little Conor always used to want to play with me and hug me. After he got over the fact that they weren't going to be returning me to the hospital for good. We used to fight all the time when we were younger, and still do sometimes. We're just two very different types of people. He takes everything to heart and believes everyone has good intentions until they show him otherwise.. And I'm more selfish and can see people for exactly what they are. But he's my big brother and he would do anything for me. And I would do anything for him. Looking at this picture makes me realize how lucky I am to have such an awesome brother.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

You know those give away competitions companies have? The ones where you fill out a card with your information and put it in a box? I never enter them because I always feel like what are my chances anyway. Well the gas station that my family always goes to had a drawing for a Bud Light NFL mini-fridge. And my dad won it! So now that beauty of a mini-fridge is in our Packer corner in our family room. I don't think I've seen my dad that happy in a long time. Well, maybe except for when he got his new job a couple months ago... But still. I'm trying to convince him to let me take it to college next year. No luck yet, but if all else fails I'll just steal it from him.

And the weird thing is that my cousin Jarrod just got one, too. But not from a drawing. I'm not sure where he was but he saw one in a dumpster. It still had energy drinks and beer in it. So he took it home to see if it still worked, and it did! What kind of luck is that? [I figure it belonged to some guy and his girlfriend got tired of seeing it and threw it out.] He's so proud of that thing, he has it displayed front and center in he and his wife's living room.

What is a lobster, for 100.

As of right now, this is me.

Allow me to explain myself. This summer I managed to land myself a pretty sweet babysitting job.When I say land I mean my best friend Kayla got her license suspended for the whole summer and was forced to work at her mom's orthodontist office therefore giving me her babysitting job. Bad for her = good for me. The kid's name is Reese and in 13 days [he informed me this today] he will be 9. His mom, Daphne, works with Kayla's mom, so when Kayla had to give up the job Della, Kayla's mom, suggested me. Reese has two older brothers, one's 18 and the other's 15. I say it's sweet because he's such an awesome kid. He talks nonstop and is really easy going. I babysit Monday through Thursday, 9-5ish.

They have a pool membership to a private pool literally 2 minutes away from their house, so I go for free. We went Tuesday and Wednesday this week for the first time. I didn't do much swimming, mostly just read the newest Sarah Dessen book while on the layout chairs. I swear I put on sunscreen! I promise! But my skin is so fair that it really didn't matter. So I'm burnt all over and it hurts to move once I've been in one position for long enough. I woke up this morning and I guess I got up too fast. I started feeling light headed [I've never fainted but I can only guess that's what it's like], pukey, my lips and face were chalk white, and to top it all off my burn was killing me. Thankfully, it's gotten better. Which is fantastic because tomorrow afternoon my mom, dad, brother Conor, Aunt Patti, and I are leaving for Colorado until next Friday. Yep, I sure picked a good time to get burnt.

I realize I've taken a pretty long sabbatical from blogging as it is. But I promise to be a better blogger when I get back. I promisepromisepromise. While I'm at it, thank you to everyone who complimented me on my last blog!

One more little slice of life, I met with my guidance counselor last week. Know what this means? For the first time since the 5th grade I won't be in band. GASP! It feels weird, yet slightly liberating. And sad, so many of my friends are bandies, but I can't take it any more. Simply put, band has gotten out of control. There are so many underclassmen that the director is constantly trying to discipline them. But he's so laid back, he lets it go and lets it go until it's finally gone too far. Long story short we spend more time dealing with immature freshmen than we do playing. Band politics, I know, I know. So instead I'm taking Intro to Business. And I will most definitely spend my school year being stalked by the band director.

Hope your summers are going good so far!

Day 14

A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

I couldn't imagine not having my family in my life. For the obvious reason, I literally wouldn't be here if it weren't for my parents. Well, duh Kate. But, seriously, I couldn't imagine not having them in my life, not being close to them. My whole life we've been a super close family. Every summer for as long as I can remember we go on a family vacation. Last year we went to Tennessee, this year we're going to Colorado for the 3rd time. I guess it's because of all the things like this that we do together. As much as I fight with my mom she's an incredible woman and a huge support to me. She really is one of the strongest women I know and she's helped me through so much. And I've already dedicated a whole post about my dad.

My brother, Conor, and I haven't really been all that close growing up. I mean, obviously, we're pretty close considering we're only 3 years apart and have lived together our whole lives. But we're not like best friends. We fought an awful lot when we were younger. Sometimes it got so bad that while my parents were at work she'd call my gramma. My grandparents live like 4 streets away, so she'd just show up. That's when we knew we were in for it when our parents got home. But as we've gotten older we've gotten closer. We've realized that it's not worth it to be fighting all the time. Now we have actual conversations and make time to do stuff together. And I know that as my older brother he'll always be there for me when I need him.

It's just hard to imagine not having that support system I've grown up with. We've definitely been through some really tough times. It amazes me how we've managed to get through them together and still remain as close as ever. I'm so extremely grateful and thankful to have them. And I know how incredibly lucky I am. It really does make me sad that some people just don't have that. I hope that some day when I have a family of my own I can provide my children lives the way my parents have for my brother and me.

Hoppy Easter!

Happy Easter!

I really don't know how I'm still awake. I went to bed at 1 a.m. last night and got up at 6:30 a.m. Mass was at 8:30 but my dad was convinced we had to get there at least a half hour early. We did the usual church, Easter baskets, lunch at my mom's family's, and then dinner at my dad's family's. Going to my grandpa Jerry's house is still weird to me. It just feels so weird to go there and not have Gramma W there. I keep expecting her to come shuffling in offering sandwiches and pop. But I know she's there in spirit. And it's important to not let Grandpa feel lonely and sad all the time. All in all a good Easter, I got Just Dance 2 for my Wii! I'm sensing a dance party in the near future... And I got some adorable pastel pink Sperry Topsiders. They are so adorable, I love Sperrys.Not to mention I had Mt Dew for the first time in 6 weeks. I'm extremely content right now.

Little side note, my best friend's last name is Easter! Actually, I'm an Easter, too. It's my mom's mom's maiden name. So me and Jordin are not only best friends, but 2nd cousins. Hope you had a happy Easter!

Day 11

A picture of something you hate.

I absolutely hate it when people eat with their mouths open. It's so disgusting. And it's not really the whole chewed up food thing [My dad and brother would always chew their food up and show it to me when I was younger, so now I'm immune to it.] I think it's just the noise. Is it really that hard to chew with your mouth closed? I don't want to hear you chowing down on some chips or sandwich or whatever. The sound of someone's lips smacking or their teeth grinding down some food makes me want to puke. One of my friends eats like that, I can hear her crunching the food between her teeth. It's all I can do to keep from tearing my hair out. My brother does it too, even though he's constantly reminded not to. Thankfully, I rarely eat with him, so that's okay.

22 years of love, trial, and happiness

I just tried to blog from my Droid when I remembered that I'm technologically challenged. Needless to say, the attempt ended shortly thereafter.And no, I didn't forget about blogging until now...

I won't lie, BEDA has been somewhat of a challenge for me. I'm convinced that I suffer from short term memory loss. I'm extremely skilled at memorizing things, but when it comes to returning library books, calling a friend, BEDA, and things of the sort I'm terrible. My friends understand that when they want to text or call me they have to initiate it because I'm likely to forget. In an attempt to save myself, I place sticky notes everywhere. My mirror, desk, fridge, computer, steering wheel. Anywhere. Of course, that doesn't exactly help me in remembering why I left the sticky note... It's a vicious, endless cycle, and a life long battle.

I wanted to share this quick little story with you guys. I was out to dinner with my parents last night and for some reason we got to talking about when my parents were dating. You see, my parents only dated for 3 months before becoming engaged. And then another 3 months before tying the knot. [This is probably because my grandparents were afraid my dad was going to be a bachelor forever. He was 31 when he finally got married, and a pretty big partier during his whole 20s.] After their 3rd date my mom went on vacation with her parents. My dad went out to shoot pool with one of his brothers, Tom, and Tom's fiance, Connie. My dad told Tom and Connie that he was going to marry my mom. My aunt Connie told him to put it in writing. So she got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote, "I am going to marry the nicest girl in the world, Vicki F.  --James E. W."

Apparently Aunt Connie gave the paper to my mom at her wedding shower. While we were at the restaurant my mom gets her purse, pulls out a folded up piece of paper, and hands it to me. I unfold it and it's the note my dad wrote. She's been carrying it around in her purse for 22 years. I won't lie to you guys, I actually started crying. So, of course, they got all teared up, too. That is just the cutest thing I've ever heard. It really warms my heart to think that to this day my parents love each other as much, if not more, than the day they were married. I only hope that when I get married I'll be as happy and in love as they are.

Day 09

A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

Without a doubt, my lovely father. I'm not going to say I have a favorite parent, that's just not right. But I can say that I'm definitely closer to my dad. I think part of the reason is because we're so similar. It's actually kind of freaky. We both have this strong sense of right and wrong. And if we don't do what's "right" we feel intense guilt. He always knows if something's bothering me. He also knows me well enough to know when I want to talk about it and when I don't. Which I think is really important. When I don't want to talk about something I tend to become very obstinate and defensive. But whenever I go to him about anything he always know exactly what to say. When my gramma died this past winter it was hard for everyone, especially him. That's really the first time I've ever seen my dad get really upset. [I was too young to remember when my grandpa died.] I'd like to think we helped each other through it. By helping me through so many things in my past he's also shown me how to help others.

Oh BEDA.

I was all nice and comfy in my bed watching Chelsea Lately when I realized I hadn't blogged today. Sigh. Oh BEDA, ruining my sleep schedule. Just kidding, I do that pretty well on my own. Is it sad that I'm basing this weekend on when I can sleep? I think it's a sign that summer can't come fast enough.

I'm not really sure what reminded me of BEDA. My subconscious maybe? But I have noticed that I do my deepest thinking while lying in bed trying to fall asleep. Has this ever happened to you? Usually I reflect back on the day and think of the next day and some random topic pops into my mind. [This also happens while I'm in the shower, but we won't go there.] I guess it's because there's really nothing else I should be doing, besides BEDA, except sleeping. I don't have to sit there and think about all the things I need to get done. I can just let my mind wander.

This is usually when I think a lot about my future. All my plans for going to college, what I want to do with my life, where I want to go. Honestly, I think I've planned out my whole life whilst lying on my bed waiting for sleep to take over. I know now that I want to major in accouting [so dry! but I can't help it, it's in my DNA] and minor in foreign business. The one constant I've always known about my future career is traveling. I have always wanted to live in a foreign country, one where I have to learn a foreign language. And for some reason I always imagine myself in Germany. Don't really know why I picked a country with a hard language to learn... My dad lived in Holland for 3 years when he was in his 20s. He's told me numerous times that it was probably the most life changing thing he's ever done. It forces you to learn a whole new culture and language, suddenly you're just there and you have to make do and survive.

This isn't working, I can barely keep my eyes open. I promise that tomorrow I'll remember at a more decent time.

My Hectic Week

I know this might not technically be "very soon" according to regular time, but in Kate time I think I'm doing pretty good. Last Tuesday was the WYSE Sectionals at EIU. EIU's about an hour and fifteen minutes away, so we had to catch the bus before school at like 7:30. Not too bad, that's usually when I leave my house in the morning. We did terrible, everyone kind of expected that though. My friend Caleb finished 3rd in computer graphics, so he'll go to the state competition at the U of I. One plus was the guy sitting to my left. He was very good looking. (Maybe that's why I didn't do so good? I try to give myself more credit than that, it was hard. But still. I'm only human. Plus the guy on my right was annoying. He'd get done super early and just stare at us. I don't care if you're a genius, that's no excuse to be rude.)

We got done with testing around lunch time. So we went to the food court in the student union for lunch. I saw my cousin Kelsi there (she goes to college at EIU). I didn't get to talk to her for long, unfortunately, because the band members had to get on the bus to go back to the college in our town for the band festival. Which, I have to admit, sucked. We played last so, of course, everyone had left. My grandparents came, though, and my mom, too, since she works there.

Mass band

On Thursday we had the all county mass band. Basically what it is is 7 bands from the same county all get together at one of the high schools. In the morning the honor band (about 50 students) rehearses with the guest director. We eat lunch and then the rest of the bands come (about 250 including those from the morning) and rehearse all afternoon. We eat dinner, get changed into dress clothes, and have a concert at 7. The way our band director does it is he takes volunteers to do honor band. Except this year there weren't enough to picked people. I was picked. Yaaaay, not. Because of this I played for pretty much 12 hours straight. This is extremely tiring, more than you would think. The guest conductor was kind of a jerk. He kept throwing mini-tantrums. Of course, you know how they are, so at the actual concert he was Mr. Personality. The good thing was that the girl sitting next to me in honor band was hilarious. She was so sarcastic, we bonded over the fact that neither of us wanted to be there.

Now we get to the good part of my week. The St. Patrick's Day Parade! As you may or may not know St. Patty's day is March 17. Well our town, like most, has the celebration the Saturday before. My family is of Irish heritage and takes extreme pride in it. (We're not like recently descendant, our family's been here since the Civil War. But hey, we're still Irish!) My dad also belongs to the local KC Hall (he's one degree from being one of the head honchos) and so about 10 years ago they approached him about organizing the parade. And, of course, he jumped at the chance. My dad looooves St. Patty's Day. So the month before we spend our time contacting groups and sending out messages to papers about finding people to be in the parade. This year we had 55 groups enter (well over 900 people) and since the weather was so nice (it can get iffy) a lot more showed up unannounced.

A company downtown has a massive parking lot so they let us use that to organize all the people. We break it up into 6 sections. A bunch of my aunts, uncles, spouses, cousin, my brother, mom, and I all volunteer to help organize. The KC Hall pays for us to have breakfast, so we all have breakfast at the Downtown Cafe at 7:45 and get ready. It gets so chaotic when people start showing up. My mom and her friend Sue guard the entrance and tell people where to go. And then the various family members are split up between the sections and tell the people in what order they go. A local Verizon store loans us walkie-talkies and the park district loans us 4 golf cart. It's chaotic, but fun.

Bagpipers at the KC Hall

The fire engines and police cars always lead the parade. Well one of the firemen asked my dad if he had anyone who wanted to ride. That way we could tell them to slow down if there was too much of a gap. My dad told my aunt Mary and me that we could do it. (Originally he asked my cousin Michael and me, but Michael, Conor, and my cousin Aaron were taking a golf cart in the parade and throwing candy.) It was so much fun! We waved and I even got to make the siren go. Basically all my childhood dreams came true. (I sat up front with the driver, who was middle aged. My aunt sat in the back with others. The other young, hot firemen. Not fair Aunt Mary. Not fair.) Then when it was over we went down to the KC Hall for the big celebration. We ate lunch, there were carriage rides, and of course anyone over 21 got drunk. Typical St. Patrick's Day, but it's my dad's favorite day of the year.

Well that was nice and long. I promise the next one will be short, and soon. Soon in normal time, not Kate time. Have a good week!