Pfew!

THE GLEE PREMIERE IS ON!
And I'm updating you on the last two weeks in between reading chemistry, and commercials. :)
Ok it's a commercial!
These last two weeks have been crazy. Two weeks ago I toured a private school about an hour away from where I live, and I absolutely fell in love with it. And the choir teacher. She was so...nice. Definitely what I was looking for in a mentor. And the school is beautiful, it's really old, and it has an amazing view of the mountians! Well, after much praying and lots of discussing, my family and I have decided that I will be transferring there next semester! This means no more:
Mrs. Bowen!!
imature peers.
Disguisting bathrooms, classrooms, and auditorium.
Feeling of not belonging.
Did I mention imature peers?
Anyways, I'm so excited. I feel like I'm going to be so much happier there :)
Sorry, I'm feeling ADD. Another commercial break!
Let me think...what else have I done? Oh! My super September Saturday!
Ever year my parents take me on vacation for my birthday, and that's what we call it!
This year we rented a cabin up in the Smokey Mountians. The name of the cabin was "Heavenly View", and it sure lived up to it's name! The view was breathtaking. And we had an air hockey table, and a hot tub, and rocking chairs on the porch! And that night, I cuddled up on the couch with my family and watched Back to the Future, and you could see the full moon through the top window! It was amazing. I wish we could of stayed there for more than just one night. The beds were so comfortable! And I got up at 7 am, just to watch the sunrise over the mountians. It made me smile so much. That morning Dad made sausage and eggs in our cabin kitchen, and we had a family meal in the cabin! Then we had to leave. Sadness.
After we left, we drove to the outskirts of Gatlinburg, where there was an entire community of artists! There were stores after stores of paintings, jewelry, and these GORGEOUS copper sculptures! I really wanted to get one, but they were so stinkin expensive. A beautiful carved rose was ten dollars. Oh well. Anyways, we looked around for about an hour and then went on our merry way. After getting back on the road, we drove up to the National Park. Even though we live so close to Great Smokey Mountians National Park, we've never been before! So this new view of the mountians was absolutely incredible and breathtaking at every turn. And I mean turn literally, the drive was steep! But we finally made it to Clingman's Dome, where we hiked to to top of the mountian to get to the lookout tower. The climb was...intense. I've never walked a path that steep. And because of the thin air, I kept running out of breath, and we had to stop a lot. But once we got to the top, it was so worth it. I can't even describe the view to you. Let me just say, God is very creative. I've never known a better artist! After taking tons of pictures(to prove we made it to the top!) we headed back to the car, and drove for the Chimney's. We parked at this picnic spot Mom had been to before, and found a creek that was just telling us to play in it! I took off my shoes, Andrew put on his bathing suit, and Dad....he just jumped right in! After slipping a couple of times, taking a huge leap over some rapids, and discovering some cute crawfish, we were exausted!(and I was sore!) We were ready to go home. We said goodbye to the park, headed back to Pigeon Forge, stopped at Popeye's and Sonic for dinner(of course.) and made it home in time to study chemistry.(not by choice of course) It was an amazing weekend :)
Glee's offically been over for 45 minutes, and now I'm watching the results show on Dancing with the Stars.
Oh and another thing: Guess who's going to be 16 this Friday? Me! I'm pretty excited :) Though I really like being fifteen. Am I too young to say that I don't like getting older? I'm perfectly content being a youthful teenager who acts like an adult, can't I stay like this? Though to be honest, I say this every year. And I'll probably love being 16 as much as I LOVED being 15. *sigh* What am I going to say when I'm twenty? Thirty? FOURTY? AGH Life is going by so fast, I feel so old! haha
I better go, Mom's going to bang on my door at any moment and yell at for me for locking it. But hey, if I didn't lock it, I'd never have a chance to post!
Oh and another thing? It's going to be in the nineties on my birthday, I'm so excited! I've never had a summer birthday before. Thanks Mom, for having my birthday TWO days after the last day of summer! haha :)

Wow. I'm pathetic with entries :/

Sorry I haven't been on for a while. These first four weeks of school have been pretty intense. Oh, this Labor Day Weekend was AMAZING. Three words:Governor's School Reunion!!!! It was amazing. Here's a brief overview.

Riding with Mom and Dad to Tori's

Riding with Tori, Laura, and Tori's parents to Miranda's in Nashville

Getting smothered with hugs by everyone who was there!

Singing, eating, and watching the Opera Finale DVD. Can I just reemphasize how much I freakin' miss that class? You just have no idea. I cry every time I think about Governor's School. That subject will be saved for another post

Hair Straightening by the ever fabulous David Keck. Look him up on Youtube. He's a star.

Stargazing on the golf course. Favorite moment of the night.

Waking up three times in the middle of the night to hear tons of talking and spastic laughter. You'd just have to be there.

Doughnuts for breakfast! oh nom nom.

Watching the majority of people slowly leave :(

Zaxby's for lunch! I know we were being fatties. haha

Waiting for Laura's Mom to pick Laura, me and Tori up on the front porch.

Saying goodbye to Miranda and the Bostons.

Three hour car trip to Tori's

Saying goodbye to Tori :(

Hour trip home.

SLEEP.

That's pretty much a condensed telling of my trip and the reunion. I love them all so much. I'm not as sad now, because I feel pretty confident that we'll all see each other againn :)

Signing out now! Oh I almost forgot, I auditioned for White Christmas last night. Just thought I'd throw that out there :)

Goodnight!

Somebody hasn't been posting in a while. hehe Oops.

So....I've been pretty busy. A lot has happened since I last posted. Here's a list.(because you know how I LOVE lists.)

School has started. UGH. Though it's not too bad. Here's my schedule:

Chemistry. My teacher is crazy, and I haven't learned anything. She's alright as a person though.

U.S History. My teacher is pretty great. She loves "big letters and pretty colors" Yay!

Lunch with Mrs. Hall. Highlight of my day.

Algebra II. The teacher is actually making me enjoy that class. A little. haha Big accomplishement.

Choir. UGH. Don't get me started. I am grateful to have a class where I don't do anythign though..

My grandfather past away...

He was 97. You know, I think he's happier in heaven, where he doesn't have constant doctors appointments, and medicine to take, and he can be with my Grandmother and all of his family up there. So yes, I am very sad, but I think our loss will bring my family closer.

I started tap class again. No ballet though.

I've had a ton of homework. Oh joy.
Once again, I'm terrible at posting and writing on my blog. This is two weeks later, so I just thought I'd end it here. hehe Sorry :P

Why have I invested three years of friendship into a friend that's just going to forget about me when I'm gone?

That's how I feel. Not because she's moving, not because I tend to make myself the "third wheel", it's just because I've finally realized that our friendship is pretty much one sided. And I guess in her case I understand. She's moved around her whole life, so when she does make friends, she doesn't grow too attached to them because she's afraid of moving, leaving, and having to make a new set of friends. She's constantly uprooted, so it's impossible to have a real home. Except for her family. Her Mom is her best friend, and her family is her real home.
Bull. Sure I've never been in that situation before, but you can have best friends besides your Mom, they're in a totally different species of best friend! Maybe I'm being selfish, but why is everything that I do for her not returned? That's not exactly the best way of wording it, but that's kind of a general way of saying it. Why do I feel that the friendship is one sided? I mean, I constantly have to make an effort to get something out of her, and the more I look back, the more I realize that it's ME that's pushing through the hallway to get her attention so that I can stop and say something, never HER. You know what I mean?
IT'S SO FREAKIN' FRUSTRATING!!
I feel like she's played the game of best friend, just going along with it, but I'm having so much trouble believing her. She's never told me that I'm her best friend, so does that mean that she really doesn't care about me as much as I do her? I think of her as a stinkin' sister, I've always seen her as a sister I never had. And yet I feel like it's not returned.
Let me just say that I can so relate to Mr. Cellophane.
She talks to everyone else so easily, but why not me? I just feel like I'm this annoying fly that has buzzed around her for the past three years, and she's been trying to gently spray bug poison on me, but I just haven't seen it because I was too busy buzzing.
I really don't think she'll miss me when I'm gone. She'll just move, keep in contact with Abbie, and Preston, and James, and Mary(and Hannah), and maybe Ryan. But me? Nah. I'm not worth the effort. I'm not popular like everyone else. Sure, they like me, but they probably wouldn't want to be in a room alone with me.
It makes me sad. I wanted to finish high school with her. I've always wanted that "partner in crime". You know, the one you can always count on? The one that you share a lifetime of memories with? But I guess I've been fooled. How silly of me.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe...I'm just making this all up and my tendency to over analyze everything is getting the better of me? Maybe my low self esteem is getting to me.
Never mind. I don't have low self esteem.
I just wish I could get a sign from her that I'm NOT making this up.
But somehow I have the feeling that I'm not going to get it.
Oh well. "I guess I'll move on, find other friends just as good, and forget about it"
FAT. CHANCE.
I hope I'm not just imagining this. I hope I'm not trusting our friendship enough at the time because of our lack our contact since Governor's School.
I hope I'm wrong.

Long week, good week, frustrating week, second to last week.

It's been a long week. But what else is knew. Though for summer break, it is a little weird to feel this way. Because HEY, anything is better than school!

.....I just realized that I don't really feel like talking. I just went on an hour walk with Mom, and I'm sleepy. It was really neat, there was a huge heat lightening storm a couple miles off in the distance, so we had a light show the entire time we were walking. Mom was freaking out, but I loved it :)

Anyways, I'm going to go to bed. Tomorrow is the last day of the Kid's Choir Camp I've been teaching out. I'm one of the teachers for the 2nd-3rd grade class, and I love it. At first I really didn't want to do it, because I'm not teaching any of the music portion of the camp. But then I realized that deep down(really, really deep) I'm good with kids, and I love kids! Even though they can really be a pain, and extremely immature. But I guess they're kids, so I just have to lighten up a bit. Tomorrow night is their performance, and I'm so excited to see them be amazing. They're going to do great :)

Did you know that next week is my last week of summer break? I'm . Not. Happy. I'm quite miserable just thinking about it. And it doesn't help that my choir has been moved to fourth period, which means that we do not have any guys anymore, because they'd rather do weight training than sing! It ticks me off. I'm so sick of it. I'm sick of Mrs. Bowen, of the lack of discipline and professionalism . Governor's School definitely opened my eyes, and I'm not going back to my naive state of mind that I used to be in.

Ok, I really better go, seeing as I'm starting to rant, and it's past midnight.

Goodnight world :)

Plans for next week? Sleeping in, trying to make my best friend realize that she's being a jerk to me, order new music books, work on pieces for vocal competition in September, READ, practice piano and violin, shop for school supplies, SLEEP, and maybe go to Dollywood and Splash Country *crosses fingers*

So yeah, that's what the rest of my summer looks like. I'm not complaining. Though it would be amazing if I could go back to Governor's School :)

Whoo Summer. So what? Governor's School is over :*(

So...it's been three weeks to the day since we performed the opera. Can I just say that that was one of the best nights of my life? Definitely in my top five. It was magical. I felt so accomplished, I felt like I really was talented and that I had a future, and I felt this immense love that was smothering the room. Those three together make the best feeling in the world. You'd be crazy to think that I don't miss it! Sure, there will "be other opportunities", but not like this one! Sure, they'll be memorable, but this group? We were special. We were a family. And I miss that.
But anyways, whether I like or not, I'm home. And I've had a busy few weeks.
Two weeks ago: Cousins yearly visit! They're so different from me. Not in a bad way of course! They're just not insanely artsy like me. But not everyone is, so that's OK. AND they LOVE/play soccer. Which I do not. At all. If anything, I don't like soccer. But we're cousins, so it's all good :) The two highlights of their visit: Our yearly trip to see Grandpa! He's 97, and has a lot of health problems, so we only get to see him once a year :( I hate that, because I feel like I could form a really close relationship with him if I saw him more. And when I write him, my aunt is always the one who writes back. So I rarely get to really have a conversation with him. UGH! But I still love him :) Our visit this year went really well, we went to his apartment, talked for a little while, then went to Golden Corral to get the senior discount and eat all the food we wanted. We ate, went back to his apartment, and left. Same as we do every year. But it was fun! And I(reluctantly) sang in front of everyone.
I'm weird. I have a thing about singing in front of family. Not if they're in the audience or anything, just when it's only them Don't ask me why, I know it's weird..
Anyways!
Overall it was a great visit :)
Now for my second highlight of the cousin's visit: Gun shooting!
Ok, technically Abbie and Amy rode horses, while I shot guns with the men. I don't ride horses, I don't know why, so I don't know. Back to the guns. That was the first time I shot a gun. It's important to know how to shoot a gun, so that you're not clueless if you're in some sort of trouble and you have to use one. To put it in a nutshell I killed a lot of leaves!! The leaves weren't the target BTW. Basically I sucked at aiming. But I can pull the trigger! Guns are loud. I don't know where I'm going with this, but it was a fun morning.
And last week was my big Lousianna trip! I love Louisianna :)
Here's what I did(sorry if my vocabulary is slowly shrinking, I'm very sleepy.)
Tuesday: Fishing day! We fished out in the bayous from 6 am until 2 pm! We almost died from the heat. Andrew and Uncle Matt are such intense fishers that you have to beg them(mostly Uncle Matt, even Andrew fades after noon) to leave! But it was a ton of fun. And I caught a fish! haha
Wednesday: Plantation day! We went to Oak Alley Plantation and Laura Plantation on River Road between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Just in case you ever want to go :) It was amazing! They were simply beautiful. Oak Alley is gorgeous. They have 28 300 year old Live Oak trees, which are lined up along this walkway leading to the plantation. It's incredible.
Thursday: We left and drove to New Orleans that night. I love New Orleans, I love the history and culture. We at beignets at Cafe Du Mone, and walked around for about an hour before we left.
Friday: We woke up in Gulf Shores Alabama, and walked on the beach! I swam in the beach even though they advised for us not to get in the water. Though, there was no oil on the beach at all! Go figure. Overall we had a great time :)
Saturday: Home!
And now it's Tuesday, and tomorrow I'm going to this big leadership conference thingy with the family. Busy day!
Though I'd rather be singing and learning in class at Governor's School. I needed that kind of enviroment! I need the encouragement and the feeling of mutual understanding I got there! I have none of that at home....
But I can't let that keep me depressed!(even though it still is, and probably will for a long time.) So tomorrow will be fun, and hopefully I won't regret not going to be early!(since I have to be up at 4 am, Lovely.)
:)

Why is it that when you finally find your happy place, it gets taken away from you?

It's over.

We're all packing up, we've said our goodbyes, and we're about to go our seperate directions.

I HATE THIS!!

I've never felt so close to so many people in my life.

And never has the feeling been returned.

I'm going to miss them so much.

But as my Dad has been(constantly) reminding me, "all good things must come to an end, and you'll have more opportunities in the future".

Haha. Sounds like something a parent would say, doesn't it?

Anyways....

I'm feeling really distracted.

Thank you facebook. And packing. And my longing to stay here for years and years and years.

I think I'm going to sign off, but I want to devote an entire entry to how amazing and simply magical my opera night was. It was one of those nights that goes down in the Never Forget Best Time of You Life book.

Next time I write I will be home.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I guess we'll see when I get home, won't we?

Got to go, parents just showed up.

I'm going to miss it here so much!!!!

*sigh*

I really have to go now.

Goodby Governor's School, thank you for....everything.