*Vacation*

The best part of the summer for I think all of us is vacation (if we have one). Every year, my family goes on a trip to Ocean City, for anywhere from 7 to 14 days. This year we are going for ten days, and I have to say I am stoked! So I figured in all of my excitement for vacation, I would write a post about it, because it's that important to me.
Even though I love vacation, there's some things I want to complain about.
1.) I never feel like I pack the right stuff. Every time we go, I figure out about ten things I should have brought by the time we leave. When I think of vacation I think of warm summer days, with the sweltering heat. The way that the sun wraps itself around you and you are so hot you feel like you cannot breathe! So while I am picking out all of my outfits, I pack shorts, shorts, shorts, shorts, tank top, tank top, tank top, short sleeved shirt, etc...I just always seem to forget about jeans and sweatpants and sweatshirts. It's a common mistake, I guess... Also, I never pack the right shoes. I always forget to choose comfort over style. I always pack cute but uncomfortable flip flops. I always forget little things like deodorant too.
2.) I look at the pictures on all of my friends' digital cameras and I get to the pictures of their vacations and they always have girls their same age in the picture with them.
"Oh, is that your friend?"
"No, that's my cousin, Stephanie."
WHAT THE HECK!? Man, I feel like the only person I know without cousins my age and gender. For me, it is so hard because we are odd number because of me. Everyone has a 'group/partner' , I guess you could say.
Dad&Mom&Kris, Mommy&Jim, Brian&Ryan&Rachel, Will&Jordan, Abby&Grace, and then ME. The oldest young person is Will, who is 8. Then the youngest older person is Ryan, who is 27. Where do I fit in? With Will and Jordan? Where I would talk about video games, and candy, and rides, and play with action figures? With Ryan and Rachel where I would vomit? My only conclusion is that I belong with the girls. And Kristen and Mom. But I will have to walk away once the "MOM" discussions come up. You know it will be a mom discussion when you hear:
"Did you see that 30% off coupon for Huggies Pull Ups in the newspaper this week?"
or "Abby is just seeming very feverish, and I have tried just about everything but she has had dirty diapers about five times today!"
or "I was thinking of making spaghetti tomorrow night, but then I thought that fancy sandwiches would be a lot easier. What were you thinking?"
And 3.) I get very sick of the beach. I know that may sound crazy, but I really do. I mean, everyday I go to the beach, get sand in every nook and cranny in my body, and sit there uncomfortably until someone decides to leave. Taking a shower outside, where I have a very strange phobia of someone opening the door while I am taking one in the outside shower, every single day is not fun. It gets old. But that is usually after about five days. So maybe this year I will appreciate it more since the girls are there.
Finally, to get past all the bad stuff, here are my favorite parts about vacation!
1.) For a week or two, you get to call a gorgeous, amazing beach house home. You get to ask when you are going home but you really mean the beach house. When you say 'I am going to be in my room' you mean the beachy comfy room that is down the hallway.
2.) When you open up the cabinets, there are snacks that you would never ever find in your house! I see three cans of Pringles, cookies, popcorn, a general calorie carnival, to quote Kristen.
3.) It is the one time of the year when all of us are together in one house, and get to wake up to each other and go to bed to each other.
4.) When my Pop-Pop takes me to the boardwalk and insists on buying me things I really don't need but that I want a lot.
5.) Sitting on the porch with Ryan. It is the closest to him I feel all year.

Vaction is amazing <3

New Readers

Hello to all of my readers (It's me, Kristen) who are finding their way over here. Hope you enjoy. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the fact that there is at least one bright, quick witted, driven teenage girl who is more concerned with where she is going than how she looks. The crazy part is she manages to look great while doing it.

Hope you all enjoy!

Nervous? Excited?

September 7th. I have no idea whether I should be totally ecstatic or very scared. High School is a whole new world. I remember walking into my middle school three very short years ago and having my heart drop into my stomach. The hallways seemed like they were endless, and the lockers were twice my size. There was a map on the back of my assignment book, which was pretty much useless considering all it said were room numbers and I didn't know the room numbers of every class.
I did get a little confused finding my tech class but I showed up on time so all was good. So what seemed like a colossal kingdom was really just a small school with a couple hundred kids. So then, I was required to go into the high school once in order to go to the bathroom at a football game. I was amazed at how large the school really was. I started to get very nervous because I knew that I was going to have to learn my way around this humongous place in months.
I have come to the conclusion that there is absolutely no point in being scared of an inanimate object-the walls of my school. If I am positive and think optimistically, then it can't be that bad. All of the freshman are in the same boat. The only thing that still worries me is not knowing anyone in my lunch, and walking into that cafeteria all by myself. But I am going to try to make friends throughout the day, just to assure myself that I will not be all by myself. Also a very large perk of going to high school is meeting all new people. I am still nervous, not going to lie. But I am probably 60% excited and 40% nervous. Any tips for first days of high school, let me know.

Book Thief?

For required summer reading at my high school, I must read "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. Yet again, another depressing book about the Holocaust I am sure. My mother read it before me, and she loved it. Of course as an estimate I am on page......one? I am not excited to read this book but I have to because we are going to get graded and tested on it. Here is what the back cover says:

"By her brother's graveside, Liesel Meminger's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Grave Digger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begin's a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time."

I will admit it sounds kind of interesting, but I don't care how interesting it is, I just really don't want to read in the summer at all. If any body has read this book, tell me how it is! I really want to hear some reviews.