Thankfulness Days

Day #9: I'm thankful for such a small campus. From where I live, it's a 4 minute walk to the bus stop and a 12 minute walk to the dance studio on a bad day.

I'm lazy. I know it could be a lot longer of a walk, but as the weather is getting colder, I'm very thankful for the short distance between everything!

Day #10: I'm thankful for snow!

Even though it leaves you wet and cold, I can't help but be happy about the first snow fall today! It made my day so wonderful and it put me in such a great mood!

Day #8

Day #8: I am thankful for snail mail.

There is something so special about having mail when you open your mailbox. I can't really explain it, but if you get mail from people you love and miss, you understand exactly what I mean.

Happy Tuesday!

ps. I might start posting what I'm thankful for every couple of days. Just a heads-up :)

Day #7 ....

#7: Today I am thankful for J.K. Rowling and her wonderfully magical books along with Warner Bros Studios for making such amazing movies out of them.

This one is pretty self explanatory. I love all things Harry Potter and that is all thanks to J.K. Rowling. Thanks to her, many think in other ways and see things differently than they originally appear. Because of 'Jo' I try to find the magic in most situations and I relate almost everything that happens to me to something that happened in one of the HP books/movies.

If you haven't read the books, you're seriously missing out. They're all on my favorites list and I would recommend them to anyone.

Thank you J.K. Rowling.

The UK versions of the covers are so much prettier :)

(I copied this picture from google images)

#4, #5, #6

Day # 4: I'm thankful that I see a familiar face from home nearly everyday while I'm away.

I cannot explain how thankful I am to not feel completely alone. Three of my best friends went to completely knew states for college and I can't imagine what it would be like to not know anyone that was going to the same school you were about to head off to.

Day #5: I'm thankful for laaaaazy Saturdays.

There is nothing better than sitting in sweatpants and a hoodie, watching tv, and staying home all day to hang out and do absolutely nothing.

Day #6: I'm thankful for the technology that keeps me connected to my friends and family.

The longer I'm away, the more thankful I am for technology that keeps me connected to my family that lives in another city, state and sometimes a different country as I do. Being able to email, call, text, Skype, or Facetime with the people I used to see every day makes not seeing them anymore ten times easier.

el número tres

Day #3: I'm thankful for an RA that cares.

It's a very rare occasion that my RA doesn't say hi to me and ask me how my day has been. Sometimes it's a little much and I just don't want to talk to anyone but she's always really helpful and I know that she means a lot to some girls in my hall. She always has cute little boards or posters or fun things for us to do!

Today I came back to my room and this was hanging on my door :)

Almost every week we get giant coloring sheets (topic upon request) hung upon the hall board to color, this one was a definite favorite!

Numéro Deux

Day #2: I'm thankful for a beautiful fall day

and not having to wear a coat and gloves today!

Such a nice change up for GV, barely windy, sunny, and kiiiiind of warm!

A glimpse at GV's beautiful campus and one of their strange

students and oddly enough, one of my good friends, Shelbs.

Starting Something New../#3

For the next month, I'm going to post a picture of something I'm thankful for everyday. Being realistic, it will probably not end up being every single day, but I'm going to shoot for it!

So, let's get started!

Day #1: I'm thankful for my small group.

Throughout middle school and high school I avoided any small group/youth group setting. I'm not sure what it was about it but I never felt like I fit with the ones I found available to me. (This is also #3 on the "Things That Have Changed..." list) When I came to college I decided that I was going to throw myself into my faith, really learn as much as I could and get involved in the church and that's exactly what I feel like I'm doing! After the first church service I signed up for a small group with Shay and I've loved every minute of our small group. I leave feeling so connected to God and I feel ready to take on the rest of the week until we meet again. Most of this is thanks to the greatest small group leader, Rae, sometimes we don't stay on topic, but having someone like her around campus has been a very comforting feeling. Going to small group makes me want to be a better Christian and really pursue my faith. The people I meet with every Tuesday at 6:30 have been helping me out with this. Some of us seem to be more of, what I like to call, a 'laid-back-Christian', that's me and then there are others in my small group that are the Christians I want to be. I can tell just from seeing them once a week that they're constantly putting God first, they're reading their Bible for pleasure, not because they just want to get ahead on what we're talking about in small group, and they do exactly what my dad has reminded me to do everyday of my life; let people see God through you.

So, what am I thankful for?

Specifically, my small group- but more because they're encouraging me to be the Christian I want to be and helping me understand what that is, exactly.

Small Group <3

A Weekend Full of Activities

At GV I've made two really good girl friends and this weekend we made our first "family trip" together. It was my high school's homecoming this weekend so Shay and I got home just in time for the football game, sat and froze our butts off, got some hot chocolate and then left. Thankfully in-between the hot chocolate and leaving, Igot to see two of the best people to have ever worked at Jackson High. My newspaper advisor, LC and my AP english teacher, La-a.

I can definitely say that their advice and encouragement have really shaped me into the person I'm becoming or am (I never know if I'm supposed to be finding myself in college, or if I should already know...). I always vented to LC about whatever was going on in my life and she always had a way of either showing me what I wasn't realizing about the situation, fixing it all, or she would side with me and take me to get hot cocoa to make it all better. Those moments are ones that I will always appreciate because without her knowing it, it helped me look at things from other views other than just my own. La-a was the best way to end the day. I had AP english as my 5th hour every day of my senior year and I loved it. Ending my day with the Yiddish Word of the Day, class discussions, having class outside, or the giraffe dance, always made it a good day. When I saw these two lovely women I was ecstatic! You know how they say you don't realize how much you missed someone until you see them? That's exactly how it was with LC and La-a! I feel like I'm starting to sound like a little teachers-pet, but I just really clicked with them and they were people I could open up to and felt totally comfortable with, LC was like my mom at school and La-a always made me feel welcomed in whatever was happening and both of them were always incredibly supportive of my dancing and school work.

Friday night Shay and I left the game and went back to my house to do what we do best, we sat on our computers all night then went to bed. Saturday morning I got to see my little man play, and might I add that this year, he actually plays soccer. I've surprised him at two of his games and both times he'll see me, you'll see the excitement in his face, then seconds later he remembers that he has to look cool in front of his team and tries so hard to play it off like it's no big deal that I'm there to watch him... But I know it does, because of the tight hugs I get when he comes to the sidelines during his games.

(Their team is called The Jedis, Jack-Attack likes to force the ball to the goal)

Saturday afternoon Shay and I picked up Delores and the three of us helped Keegs and her friends get ready for their last homecoming dance. It was fun getting the girls ready and listening to the drama going on with her and all of her friends and relieving because I wasn't having to deal with the drama of when and where pictures were, where everyone was getting ready at, where everyone was hanging out after the dance... Don't miss that. But helping them get ready made me miss my friends and reminded me of last year when we were getting ready for our last homecoming and how we were late getting ready, as always, and that pictures were taken at the same place they were our freshmen year. The weirdest parts? Doing one of my best friends' little sister's hair and taking their group pictures. Sooooooo weird.

After everyone was off to the dance my mom too Delores, Shay and I to see Footloose. It was amazing. Perfectly remade! We ended our weekend with a trip to Walmart to get a couple piercings. We all got two each and boy, was that fun! The earring lady didn't seem to believe that the 3 of us really were 18 until we showed her our IDs and even then she didn't seem too happy to be piercing our ears until Delores got her first hole done and it definitely lightened the mood! I swear, if we were a sitcom we'd have the highest ratings. We were laughing so hard we were crying, but on my end, crying and snorting. There were plenty of pictures taken to document the faces made as the gun pierced our ears and as we reacted to the slight shock of pain.

The weekend was nice and relaxing but filled with activities. I'd say the 3 of us had a very successful first family vacation together and I'm sure it will be happening again some time soon... But definitely not before Thanksgiving. We're all ready for some Laker Weekends ;)

Ten Things: #2

#2: I don't dance with my family any more.

Thinking about it right now, this is probably the hardest change I've experienced yet...

Let me explain this-

'My family' = The Jackson Ballet Company/The Academy of the Arts. These people are all my family. I don't care who tells me differently, every single one of them is included in my family. We've all grown up together, I've known some of the girls since they were little babies in pre-ballet! We've all gone through ups and downs, competitions, recitals, and pretty much everything under the sun, together! These people, are my family.

'I don't dance with....' = My family is based in Jackson, a good 2 hour drive from where I am now. I don't dance with them because I don't want to, it's because I physically cannot. I would if I could get myself there!... and get it to count as college credit :)

We had a saying at my old studio (old studio.... I don't like saying that, it's still my studio) that we ended up putting on a shirt one year for competition. On the front of the shirt it said, "Academy of the Arts Est. 1995" and on the back, "Our home away from home." The quote on the back could not be more accurate. I lived at the studio. Starting around 7th grade I was there +12 hours every week and that number continued to grow as I grew older. I never dreaded going to the studio, sometimes to classes, but never the building in Spring Arbor.

I love dancing with all of my heart, it's become a part of who I am. But, I can't say that the movements of dance alone was what got me to love this art form so much. One of the main reasons why I've always stuck with dance is because of the friends I've made there. It's true when I say we've known each other nearly our whole lives. Most of us started dancing at 3-5 years old, so I've known most of these girls, that I consider my family, for roughly 13 years. These girls, and Dustin, know more about me than I bet most of my best friends know. When I think about it, it might not have been on purpose that they know so much, I think it's just because of the fact that we've spent so much time together over the years that you pick up on things about people that you didn't have to be told. You just know.

Number 2 sprung on me when I was in ballet class this morning. Some times I'll walk into the studio, expect to see JBC warming up at the barres, and then I'm taken back for a minute realizing that this isn't what I'm used to. I'm not at The Academy, I'm not late and running into class, I'm not taking my usual spot at the center barre in the middle of the classroom... I'm at GV in the Performing Arts Center watching all of the majors and minors warming up before class. Sounds weird that this happens sometimes, but when you're so used to something then it changes all of the sudden it throws you off every once in a while.

Last night my best friend, Rel and I were talking about how much we missed taking dance classes together. Rel is minoring in dance at college so I know she's feeling my pain here with #9. I know that when some of you are reading this you have to be thinking, "Wow, this girl is seriously complaining about this?? I don't get it." Well that's okay because it's not meant for everyone to "get".

All I know is that it kills me when I think about how much I miss my girls and Dustin and how much I feel like I'm missing out on their lives while I'm away... Whats the best part about all of this though? I'll be back. I'll get to dance with my family again and feel the connection I have with all of those wonderful people soon. As soon as I'm on a holiday break, I'll be there dancing with them again, smiling and laughing and loving on my family.

I can't find a picture of the whole family, but these will do!

I'm missing you, JBC :)

Ten Things: #1

Lately I've realized some things that are new or different in my life and how much they're really impacting my life. I've decided to make an ongoing list. Top 10 things that have changed in my life, things that I'm okay with and things that I'm just not feeling. The list will go on and be updated every so often... We'll start with number 1.

1. I have to travel more than 5 minutes to see my boyfriend/best friends.

Big change. The people that I have depend on the most have always been within at least a 5 minute drive. Now, one of them is about 4.5 hours, one is about 2.5 hours, and a couple others are about 1.5 hours... That's not okay. Yes, I'm loving Skype, but that's not the same as sitting in the same room as someone and just venting to them.

Luckily, I've made some great friends that I feel I can confide in. They're awesome. I feel like I've known them for years. But as I just said, it's not the same.

My best friend and I have been (with the exception of the beginning of junior year and last summer) a 15 minute drive, a walking distance, or a 7 minute drive to each other our whole lives. She is now living in Chicago, CHICAGO. Ever since I can remember Rel has always said she wanted to live in Chicago. I should have assumed she would've ended up there, she's been dreaming of it her whole life, but the fact that she's already there and establishing her new life seems so surreal to me.

Last summer I confided a lot in Ty, because Rel was out of reach. From my dad's house, 4 minutes. From my mom's house, 7 minutes. I could get there until 5-10 minutes either way. If I needed anything he could get to me easily, also. But when one person lives by Lake Michigan and the other lives by Detroit, it makes it harder to get to each other. Although, we have been making it work... it's just different (key word here).

I have a group of 9 girlfriends who have been around since 5th grade on. There's really no point in saying that we're really close. We all know things about each other that others don't and we're always there for each other. Each of these people were always within a 15 minute drive from either of my houses, now I have to drive to Lansing, Florida, Illinois, Ann Arbor, Mt. Pleasant, or Saginaw Valley to see any of them!

I know this whole post was just complaining about how I miss people that used to live closer by, but I do understand that times change and that it was bound to happen eventually, I just don't care for it that much right now. I miss my friends and I can't wait until the first holiday break when we will all be reunited.

Pottermore... or Potterless?

As of Sunday, I started feeling a pretty crappy cold coming on, and boy is it crappy or what!!? On Sunday night I went to bed around 8:30pm to try to get some extra sleep before my day of dance starting at 9am.. I got in bed with my computer to listen to my white noise (I'm obsessed with listening to the thunderstorm reel), a box of tissues, a water bottle, and Herman, my frog pillow pet. I was all snuggled up and about to fall asleep but then the sneezing and coughing and running nose came along... It was 1:30am by the time I fell asleep and I was not a happy camper.

Yesterday I got my 'welcome email' from J.K. Rowling's website, Pottermore. As you can probably guess, I was beyond excited! I was texting in all caps, ending each sentence with one or more explanation points, and Pottermore was literally all I could talk about. I went to sign in and it said the site was busy, I assumed that would happen because everyone I knew had received their email the same day I did, imagine how many other people got theres? Of course it would be busy. But it's been over 24 hours and I've probably only been on it for an hour tops because of the busy server... It's a total buzz-kill when you type in the website and wait for it to load, then it gets there and you can't do anything but look at the purple screen and appreciate the fact that they use 'whilst' instead of 'while'. I can't wait to get in and finish my questionnaire to find out what wand chooses me!

Tomorrow I get a semi-easy day. I don't have to dance in my ensemble class, so I'm looking forward to sitting on Pottermore after I finish some math homework.

A message to J.K.?

- I love Pottermore, as much annoying as it is having the server stops randomly, I

love it. Thank you for what you are doing. You are amaaaaaaaazing :)

"Love actually is all around.."

I started off my weekend with a 3 hour pointe rehearsal.. But thanks to my amazingboyfriend I ended the rehearsal with a text from him saying he was waiting in the parking lot to take me out on a date for our one year anniversary. We rushed back to my room so I could change. We got on the bus... but I got us on the wrong bus. So, we rode around campus for a half hour then finally the bus turned into the bus we should've gotten on. On the way there we started searching where to eat, instead of sitting in a dark, loud sports bar- we found a TGIF and ate. Ty paid for dinner and we had dessert!! :) We spent the night laughing at the people around us, laughing at each other, and talking about how weird we were a couple years back. Ty and I have been friends since I was 14 and he's been my 'best guy-friend' ever since. He deals with my dorky-ness, especially when I put us on the wrong bus... I've done it twice now. The fact that he just laughs it off, means something. (eros...)

Today my mom, aunt, and J-Man came up to visit me. When they arrived at my place J-Man gave what he was carrying to AunT and ran into my arms. Cutest thing ever, right? We got up to my room and he was so excited to see my fort bed! To his surprise I had two birthday presents for him, a blue triceratops pillow-pet and literally the coolest StarWars poster I've ever seen. When he opened it looked like Christmas morning on his face. He's been eyeing my frog pillow-pet all summer. A few times I even had to stop him from bringing it home with him! Ending with the StarWars poster was probably one of the best ideas I've had with J because as soon as I told him to open his eyes he started naming off all of the characters in the poster and almost didn't want to leave for dinner. I took them to the best food place on campus so J-Man could get a feel for what his Nanny McMaddie does for meals every day! He loved eating with us, but had a lot of energy so we decided to show him around campus. When we got back to my dorm it was time for goodbyes... Definitely not a favorite time of mine. I said goodbye to my mom and my AunT and had Ty pack everything my mom brought for me in his arms so I could leave my arms free for hugs. Right as they were settling back into the car and as I was walking back to my dorm, I hear my name being yelled by a little voice and as I turn around my little man running over for one last hug. Am I making your heart melt yet? I said I would see him in 2 weeks, for Keegy's birthday and he looked at my with his runny nose, smiled, and ran back to his side of the car. (phileo...)

Tonight was a night for a movie-night. My Ty-Bear left a little after my family left, all of my roommates were gone for the weekend and I was feeling a little lonely. Thankfully, my girl Kit-Kat got back just a little after posting a tweet about missing my Cope-Fam. I walked with her, Gordo, and Kye across campus that way they could use up their meals for the week before it hit midnight. As I'm sitting there talking to them about all of the creepiest things that have ever have happened to us, I find myself thinking again about how lucky I am to have found such good friends already, we've all clicked and how much fun we all have together. We're perfect fits! (storge...)

I got to pick the movie tonight for movie-might with the Cope-Fam so naturally, I picked 'Love Actually'. It is my all-time favorite movie and I decided that they needed to see it. So watching the movie I can't help but think of the different types of love I have in my life. I love my boyfriend, I love my family, and I love my college-family. Life is good!

Dancing Through Life...

I've been dancing since I can remember... but more specifically, 16 going on 17 years. Thankfully, there hasn't been a time in my life when I thought to myself, 'I hate this, why am I doing this?'. Which I think is pretty amazing because, also since I can remember, I've been scheduling my life around dance classes, rehearsals, recitals, competitions and so on... Whenever I am invited somewhere and can't go, the response is always, "I can't, I have dance." I have missed out on things like family dinners with my best friends, open houses, girls nights, school functions.... But when I think back on it, as much as I wanted to be there and still wish I could've been there for some of them, they don't seem like major things that I missed out on, the biggest ones were probably 3 of my best friends' open houses this spring. But they understand, they always have.

I can't imagine my life without dance. When I'm tired and don't want to go, as soon as I get there everything changes. My day does a complete 360. I know it's a cliche and as a dancer I hate using this saying, but it's so true! When I'm dancing, I dance my emotions. If I'm in a bad mood, I dance my feelings. There it is. That's it. I dance my feelings. When I'm in a good mood I swear my dancing is better, when I'm having a terrible day, I dance better because I'm getting out the frustration of the day.

When I dance I can see it happening my whole life, in a company, as a teacher, but more than all of that, at Disney. My most recent dream, as of 3 or 4 years, is to dance at Disney World in FL. I want to be a performer. Every time I perform, I'm living! There is nothing better than performing. When you're standing on that dark stage waiting for the hot lights to hit your face the anxious feeling you get right as it's supposed to start is the best. Then, the lights hit you, you vaguely see the faces in the audience starring back at you, the music begins and you start dancing.

I love dancing, I'll do it for as long as I live. That's a promise.

Labor Day Weekend.

I came home for the weekend and being home made me realize something. I realized what I miss. What I miss from home, from school, from the past, from my room... I didn't think I was missing anything, but man, was I wrong.

Now, I'm definitely not homesick. I love being away from home and beginning a life of my own. But, when I came home this weekend (remember, I've only been away for about two weeks, but bear with me) all of the sudden random things popped up and I couldn't believe how much I missed them. Here is my list- No specific order.. At all.

1. Family: Mom, Dad, Sister, Aunts,

Uncles, cousins, Momma, & Eric.

2. Recorded television shows.

3. Pictures. (I forgot to bring all of

my pictures to school..)

4. My bed at my dad's house.

5. Listening to music through

speakers, not headphones.

6. My dog, Tarzan.

7. Driving.

8. Friends: Boyfriend, Best Friends,

Close Friends, all types of friends!

9. Culligan Water.

10. Hugs from my mom & dad.

11. Hot shower with no line & water pressure.

12. My friends at GV.

13. My new home at GV.

Wow, that sounds like I'm missing so much, but it's not that bad. Missing these things are good because when I get back to them, it's that much better! There's that famous quote- 'absence makes the heart grow stronger', which is true! I've missed my bed so much these last two weeks and when I saw it today, I dove right into it! :)

Other than a long list of things that I tend to miss while away from them, how about the things I've done since I've been home??

1. Ate Chinese with my mom, sister, aunt, uncle and cousin.

2. Drove a lot.

3. Saw one of my best friends.

4. Saw some family.

5. Did arts & crafts.

6. Went grocery shopping with my dad & Kathy.

7. Played my guitar.

8. Watched recored tv.

9. Ate White's Chicken Little.

10. DID MY MATH HOMEWORK!!!

11. Watched 300....

12. Went clothes shopping with dad, Kathy & sister.

13. Sorted laundry for my mom.

14. Slept past noon.

15. Stayed up past 3:30am.

16. Stretched my tendinitis ankle..

I still have all of Monday & some of Tuesday to add to the list of things done this weekend. I can't wait to head back to GV, but I'm so glad that I'm close enough to home to come home pretty much whenever. I won't be missing things that often!

The arts & crafts I did this weekend! They will soon be attached to headbands :)

Serendipity?

Serendipity (noun)-

an aptitude for making desirable discoveries

by accident; good fortune; luck.

Tonight my friends and I had our first movie night. We started our soon-to-be tradition on a good note by watching non other than 'Serendipity'. A story about finding your soul mate by chance and searching for them after being separated.

As I was watching the movie tonight I realized how serendipitous my friendship is with my new friends. How could we all be so alike? How could 7 complete strangers get along so well and have so much in common? Or, how could it feel like I've known them all for years? True, we have spent every minute of every day together for the past 10 days so you do get to know a person when spending so much time together!

It was the simultaneous meeting of each other. Steak and Gordo walked into my dorm one night when my roommate, KT and I were hanging out and we found out we all knew people from our hometowns- we clicked. Shay and I met one night because I was discussing how I spent 14 hours waiting in line for Harry Potter & the Deathly Hollows pt.2 and she overheard so she decided to join the conversation because of her HP obsession. Linda came along with Shay and Yan came along with Steak and Gordo!

Thinking about college I never imagined making friends that I know will be around for years within the first week. This weekend we're all leaving to go "home" for Labor Day weekend and not seeing them for nearly a week sounds insane right now! We're like a little family! We plan lunch and dinner dates, we all meet in Gordo, Steak, and Yan's room every night to watch whatever is on TV that night, and every time I laugh I laugh until I cry, until my sides are sore, until I'm snorting so loud that I'm trying to STOP laughing! This is what I hoped for in college, I love it and I love my friends.

Here's to a year 'full of activities'! :)

It's Official!

'The College Life: At the Barre' is officially at college! I got all moved in Monday with the help from my mom, dad, sister, step-mom & step-sister and I'm all ready to go!

Going into this I was pretty nervous because I was placed in "temporary housing", which we thought meant that I would have to move somewhere else as places opened up. The other obvious reason to be nervous would be the fact that I hadn't really talked to any of my roommates. Turns out... They're awesome! We all get along really well and we all pretty much like the same thing. Our rooming situation was confusing to all of us so we brought our RA in to talk to her about telling our housing guy that we did NOT want to move from our oversized traditional room.. As we told her this she looked surprised but that doesn't matter because we're staying and we're all happy.

My little section of our room is all set up and everything has a place, which I love! I have a desk with two shelves and three drawers, a 3 drawer dresser with two shelves, my bed is lofted on top of that and then I have a double door armoire with two at the bottom. SO MUCH SPACE! I have empty drawers because I don't know what else to put in them! The only problem with my little set up is that the bed has a railing that drops below the end of the bed... When I'm sitting at my desk under my bed, about 50% of the time I wack my head on the thing and sit there trying to pretend like it never happened!

This whole experience is so new and exciting! Right now it just feels like I'm at a summer camp hosted by a college. I can't explain how excited I am for my dance classes to start! I get to dance 3 days a week from 9am-4:30pm!! Wooo!

Thats all for now! Here's what my roomies and I did today at Rec-Fest :)

I blinked...

A few days ago my soon-to-be-senior little sister asked me to take her senior pictures for her. This was a complete shock to me because the last I had heard about her senior pictures was that she and my dad were going to fly to Florida to have my cousin take them.

When she asked I was floored! I didn't think she really meant it until she started talking about her reasoning for not going to FL, it would be rushed, my mom and I wouldn't be able to go, she had ideas in mind of places here that she liked around town (the list went on..), and I couldn't help but give a little smirk and agree.

We got to our destination around 5:30pm, just as the sun was starting to set, which was perfect lighting for where we were. When I got out of the car and Keegs started pointing out the different places she wanted pictures taken at, it hit me. My little sister is a senior, she's graduating in May, she'll be going to college in a year from now!!! You know how parents always seem to say "Can you stay this size forever?" almost every year to you? Well that's how I feel about my little sister right now! In just two weeks she'll be walking into high school with a senior lanyard around her neck and will be the "older kids" at school! I want to freeze her right here and keep her as her 16-almost-17 year old self forever! But as I think about it I get excited too because I can't wait to see how our lives will change in these next few years.

We spent about 2 hours walking around downtown taking pictures and getting eaten alive by mosquitos, but the pictures are amazing. My sister is gorgeous and SO photogenic it's crazy. Here's a little sneak peek at some of her pictures :)

Another weird realization this week? Summer is over. I leave for college tomorrow afternoon. How weird is that?!? How I realized this, you ask? My best friend came home from her summer in New York City. After spending every summer together since I can remember it's become kind of a habit, so it's safe to say I was not ready her to be gone all summer. Although, since I visited her over a month ago all I've been looking forward to is her coming home at the end of the summer but I guess I didn't really put together that when she got here it would really be the END of summer. So yesterday when my mom and I went to pick her up I started thinking.. 'Today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday... Then it's Monday.. That is when I leave for college'... (Bare with me, I know the days of the week. Days just feel longer during the summer so you forget what day it is)

Thinking of this made me realize how fast this summer went by. I instantly thought of that first week I started babysitting Jack, then I thought of the random trips I took and thought how could it have passed by so quickly! If feels like just yesterday was May 27 and my friends and I were parading our way across the stage at graduation! As I babbled all of this to my mom she replied with a short answer, "Did you blink?". And I guess I did, I definitely didn't want to, but this summer is coming to an end quickly and as I try to squeeze in every last thing I want to do before I go I'm not going to let it just pass me by that fast again.

(Me, Rel, & Keegs at summer camp in 2004)

(The three of us dancing our last recital together- Spring 2011)

Summer of the Jedis!

Instead of getting a "real job" this summer I decided to babysit. It sounds like the perfect set up, right? No one is taking money from your checks, from what my friends say about their work schedule- it's WAY easier to set up my schedule, and I get to spend everyday from 9am to about 2:30pm with the coolest 6 year old (who is actually 6 and 3/4 & would hound me for just saying he's 6) ever! Another plus, he's my cousin!

I knew going into this that it was going to be an adventure. An adventure full of nick-names, cartoons, french bread pizzas, and all types of Star Wars.

I've always seemed to like 'boy' movies. I like the Fantastic Four movies, the Transformers movies, the Spiderman movies (but the 3rd is my favorite), Superman, the X-Men movies, and most sport related movies. Odd enough, I've never gotten around to the Star Wars movies until my little J-Man introduced me to them! J-Man's obsessedwith Star Wars, I'm talking action figures, books, movies, games for the Wii, costumes, statues, and 3 lightsabers, red, blue, and green. It's safe to say I'm well educated now in the subject of Star Wars. I know the difference between a Jedi and a Padawan, I know who gets killed in which movie and who it is that kills them, and last but definitely not least, I know who has what color lightsaber and why! It's some pretty important stuff to know when hanging out with a Star Wars-obsessed 6 year old.

One thing I really had to get over this summer was watching 'Phineas and Ferb'. My 16 year old sister is obsessed with the show and I never saw why, I used to think it was pretty annoying. But my Jack-Attack LOVES it. We watch at least 3 episodes of P&F everyday. For the past 3 days I've watched P&F: The Movie, it's actually pretty cute!

I leave for college in 4 days but I only have one more day of hanging out with my little man. It's sad because Jack knows that I'm going away to college, but he doesn't understand that he'll still be able to see me when I come home for breaks or when he comes to visit, which makes it kind of sweet. My aunt (his mom) told me the other day that he asked why I have to leave for 4 years and when she tried to explain to him that he'll see me pretty often he just shook his head in disbelief.

At the beginning of the summer when I was looking for my babysitting gig, I had a couple candidates. Luckily, I was telling Aunt Terri about how I couldn't decide what to do because that's when she asked me to babysit Jack everyday. I can't explain how happy I am that I got to spend almost everyday day with him. He's my little man and I'm going tomiss him SO much this year. It's a good thing Aunt Terri has a Mac now that way I can skype with him.

So, thanks AunT & Uncle R for paying me to hang out with the coolest kid ever this summer, he's 'da bomb'. And Jack-Attack, Maddie McNanny loves you a whole lot!

P.S. I would've done it without the pay :)

(My sister Keegan, Jack & I at Disney for spring break)

So, is anyone out there?

My name is Madelyn, but I go by Maddie. I've been dancing since the age of 2 and since then it's always been a dream of mine to dance professionally. So that's what I'm doing, I'm dancing through college to hopefully continue on and become a professional dancer!

So why not start blogging? It's the perfect time to start since it's the beginning of the next big milestone in my life. I'm excited! Strap in, you're officially in for the ride :)