tennis anyone?

so, tennis. so much tennis! thursday morning, thursday afternoon, friday morning and friday afternoon. you know, i didn't know my arm could ever be this sore from hitting. well, i shouldn't have a problem getting up for school next week, since i've been on the road by 6:30 these past two mornings in order to be there at 7. but, i don't mind. i mean, i enjoy getting up early and it just makes my day to start it off right. you know singing in the car to some awesome music and then getting to go hit balls...fantastic way to start a day! and we all get to do some team bonding on monday after practice. we're all going to go out for breakfast...should be fun.
totally loving life at the moment! :) (though i'm trying to love it all the time)

sweet sweet!

hope you all are doing as great as i am! love ya all!
:)

videos...really embarrassing

grace made me um...dance like the porcupine. why am i even posting this? well, hope it makes someone laugh...don't judge me! :)

this one is much less embarrassing, since it only contains my voice. :) spastic badger i'll tell ya!

where have i been you ask?

i've been gone in big bear these last few days. i went up on monday with some friends and we got back last night. here are some crazy pictures. :)















who said i can't fly?












































theodore the owl...i named him :)













these next few pics were from when we went hiking
































view of big bear lake














me in a rock cave
















me and august






























i like trees















oh yes! attitude!













i call this our mission impossible pose. :)










some videos to come later! :)

a wedding you do wear black to?

so, i don't know how many of you are familiar with The Rivers End Cafe, but my family and i had to go to a wedding there tonight. side note: about the black thing, i don't know why, but these people all wore black...humm curious? i always thought you weren't supposed to wear black to weddings. anywho, these people seriously had their wedding at the rivers end cafe. for you tennisers, they actually got married on the little wooden structure where we took a picture when we did that bike ride. i don't know that was just weird to me. anyway, this was so horribly boring! we don't really know the people at all. it's a family friends son that we haven't seen in like five years or so, and we didn't know his fiance (now wife) at all. they also have an eight month old daughter, so uh...well, at least they did get married i guess.
well, betsy and i used to be friends with the two sisters of the guy that got married (they are both our age), but honestly we really don't have anything in common anymore. especially with me, not that we were ever really close. i mean, we met them in first grade and well, a lot has changed since then. they both are just more into what's "cool" or "in", which i'm totally not. but whatever. since it was at the beach, i took katie down to the "shean" (her word for ocean) and enjoyed a nice little walk on the beach. it was awfully fun to watch her splash in the waves then dig her toes in the sand...very cute! oh, and i did get golden spoon afterwards to compensate for my suffering, so all is good now! :) that was my first gs in like a little over two weeks! crazy for me!

yep yep! life is good!

oh, and it did rain for like all of 5 min, but it was still cool to go outside in the rain for a bit! :)

ITS RAINING!!!

i'm going to go play in it while it lasts! :)

update

i can't think of a title, but oh well.
so, here is an update on what has been happening in my life...not too much.

the girls tennis team of 2007 has officially been made. we have 13 girls this year (only 13 tired out and no one got cut). we have all us nine returning players, who look like we will all be in the starting nine. sweet! in addition to three seniors and one sophomore. i don't know any of them very well, but maybe that'll change as the season begins...or maybe it won't. the three seniors seem a bit "clicky", but i shouldn't judge too soon.
practices have been awesome so far! minus laney getting some song stuck in my head yesterday. have any of you seen "Music and Lyrics" with hugh grant and drew barrymore? i haven't, but i've heard the song "pop goes my heart". it gets stuck in you head man! anyway, i guess i haven't really got much to say.

oh, i had my first cavity. yep yep. i got it filled yesterday, but it was small. he didn't even need to give me novocaine. it wasn't too bad. it only took like 10 min. and it was pretty much painless.

well, nothing much going on.

ta ta for now!

i feel like i live there already

school hasn't even started yet and i feel like i have been there a lot. today i was there from 8-10 playing tennis and then back at 4-6 high jumping...can you say tired? yeah!
i can't believe summer is ending so quickly...school will be here before we know it.
yikes! better get those US wars memorized! :)

hope all is well!

tennis tryouts went very well today. there are only 13 girls trying out, so only one will get cut. everyone from last year has returned (minus the 3 that graduated) so that will be fun. miss admiraal seems like she will be a good coach and a fun person to get to know, although, i will still miss mrs. fieldhouse. i'm curious to see how our line up is going to work out and how we'll do in league. one thing though that was so much easier than last year was that i pretty much knew everyone. it was nice walking in a totally feeling confident, rather that hesitant like last year. one weird thing though, i don't really remember the process of becoming friends with anyone last year. it was just like i didn't know anyone on the team and then i did. i don't know...i'm just strange. :)

also, i have managed to memorize the presidents! yippy! and it only took me a little over an hour! want to know my secret??? i found this song on the internet and played it over and over and over until i got it...quite sad, but at least i know them now. :)

yes, well, as you can see my life is quite uneventful at the moment. you know, unless you would like to hear all about every little detail of my day...but, i'm sure that might bore you.

adios! :)

ahhh tennis tryouts start tomorrow!

crazy! i can't believe it's here already. even thought i've been waiting for it since it ended last year, but still. i'm slightly nervous; i don't think (or at least hope) i have any reason to be...i don't know maybe it's just excitement more than nerves.

can you guys believe school is going to start two weeks from wednesday! come on, we just got out for the summer.

ah well, tennis makes going back to school bearable...it'll get me thorough the day knowing i get to go play immediately after school! :)

hope all is well with everyone!!!

5 reasons why i didn't want to go

okay, let me explain why i really really really didn't want to go to my sister's party. this might sound bad, but it's not her...just stuff we don't really agree on.

for example...

1. i hate dancing! i don't dance. sure i'll dance with a group of MY friends, but you know the good clean fun kind of dancing

2. i hate her music! i dislike her music very much and no i do NOT want to learn how to umm "pop, lock and drop it". does that sound dirty to anyone else?...i don't want to know

3. i don't know anyone, and if i do know them, chances are i don't like them. i mean i can get along with people, but that doesn't mean i particularly like them

4. boats...not my thing. yes we all know how much i love boats; the constant back and forth up and down. come on, that is enough to make anyone barf

5. language. she does go to a public school and even though she might not use it, some of her friends do, and although it isn't the worst possible thing it isn't pleasant...can't you find a more intelligent way to express your emotion?!



well, yeah that is pretty much why i didn't want to go. one entertaining thing (i suppose this shouldn't be funny, but...) a lot of the girls were wearing short dresses and high heals (now why you would wear high heals on a boat is beyond me). so, whenever the boat would rock they would scream and grab onto the nearest sturdy thing with one hand, while with the other they would grab the bottom of their dress to prevent it from flying up...so sad, but funny for me to watch. i on the other hand was very comfortable in pants and flats. :) i managed to amuse my self by sitting down stairs playing solitaire and talking to the few select people who didn't like to dance.
betsy and i are just VERY different people...like complete opposites.

but, it's all good!
that's all for now...sorry if that sounded like i was venting. i really don't like to use my blog for venting...

interesting...

you know how some people grunt when they hit a tennis ball? well, i have never been a 'grunting type' of player, instead i sing...weird. i'm sure it sounds really funny. my coach couldn't stop laughing at me each time i hit a hard ball. it is something i recently developed, so maybe it won't last...that could be embarrassing in a match. hummm? or maybe it could work to my advantage...you never know! :)

by the way, i'm now leaving to endure the pain and suffering of my sister's party...it just isn't my type of thing. but, maybe it'll be better than i'm thinking...i can only hope. just pray that i resist the urge to fling myself off the side of the boat.
if you are confused, i'll explain later.

wish me luck...i'll need it.

life is short

do you remember when you were little ever feeling like you would never grow up or get older and high school seemed so old?! maybe this was just me, but that's what i always though. just the other day i was talking to this little girl who was at the tennis courts where i play, she might have been five or six. well, she comes up to me and goes "how old are you?"
"16" i replied
"you're 16! that is so old! you don't look 16."
oh, yes you know i'm going to kick the bucket any day now. you know, 16 that is really getting up there. i mean i'm only like 10 years older than her...funny.
no, but seriously life is short. today my neighbor was telling me about a boy in her church who was only 15 and had cancer his entire life. i guess the doctors recently discovered another tumor in his brain, but the boy refused to go through the pain of kemo again. it is good that he is now in a better place, but how hard that must be on his family! i couldn't imagine!
we really don't know anything when you put it all in perspective. only God knows. we need to enjoy life to the fullest every second of the day, even when we have to do things we don't particularly like (such as summer home work, and your step sister's birthday party that is tomorrow, which includes activities such as dancing...blah).

well, i just wanted to share that.

carpe diem!

yay! i broke them! :)

not one string, but two! sweet stuff! :)

how exciting.

:)

the stars and the strings

so, lets go in order of events here.
last night i was informed by a friend's blog that there would be a meteor shower...pretty sweet stuff! so, from like 9:15 till 10:45 ish i just sat out in my backyard, talking to cristina and looking at the sky. weird to think we were looking at the same sky, but so many miles away. well, i didn't see a whole lot of meteors, about four i think, but it was still awesome! i haven't just laid down and looked up at the stars in a long time. the shooting stars i did see were pretty stinkin cool! i saw more last night than i have in my whole life! crazy cool! i didn't really expect to see anything here in CA with all the light pollution, so the first one i did see i started jumping up and down with joy! :) God is awesome!

on to the strings. so, this incredibly awesome day started out with tennis! what else? so i have this habit of playing with my strings whenever i'm not hitting (not in the middle of a point, just when i'm holding my racquet). as i was straighting them out i notice a spot where it was getting frayed on one of the strings. yes! i'm on the verge of breaking my first sting! how sweet! okay, this may not be a big deal to some, but i've never had the privilege of breaking one before...i always seem to get my racquet re-stung before. well, throughout the next two hours it progressively got thinner and thinner. but, today was not the day...definitely by the end of this week though it should have broken. :)

then what better way to finish off the day than by going to golden spoon! and i even got to ride my bike there, which was even more exciting! :)

now come the not so good part of the day...homework. i should go get some done.

but, overall i'm a pretty happy person! :)

pictures from montana!

i think montana is one of the most beautiful places i've been to. this was my second time there, but this time i think i was able to enjoy it more than when i was younger. it truly is a place where you can just feel God's presence around you...it is just awesome!

a mama horse and her baby....so cute! :)

we went horse back ridding up one of the mountains and this is what we saw....it was beautiful!

betsy, me and my mom on our horses at the top of the mountain we rode up. my horse's name was mike.

this is part of the Gallatin River (the river that we rafted). we didn't raft on this part because this was too shallow.

us in our rafting gear! katie didn't go; she just got in the picture. :) river rafting was pretty cool. the water was a nice 50 degrees! we have some pictures that the place takes of you when your in the boat (kinda like on splash mountain at disneyland) but we have to wait for the company to send them to us...maybe i'll post those pics when they come in the mail. but, back to the rafting part. aside from the temperature of the water, which wasn't horrible once you got in, it was a blast. we got caught in a rain storm with thunder and lighting...awesome! fun time!

me, katie and betsy hangin out by the river! :)

well, i was kinda bummed that we didn't make it to yellowstone...i would have really loved to see it again, probably because i could have appreciated it better now than when i was 12. we were planning to go, but due to the unexpected circumstances we didn't make it. one exciting thing about it though; my step dad is talking about going back in a couple of months to stay in yellowstone! and if not to yellowstone, we might go to zion...no complaints there! i love going to national parks! :) goodness i have traveled so much this year! absolutely love it!

that's all for now! maybe i'll post a video or two later.

back early

no, i did not get the date that we were to return to CA wrong. we did however get back a day before we should have. we were supposed to leave tomorrow at around 5:00 pm, but this morning we received a phone call from my aunt, who was watching Sandy (our dog). she told us that the dog wasn't doing so well; this wasn't a total shock. sudden, but not unexpected (well, if you have ever met my dog you'll know why). she is now approaching 16yrs. and her eyesight and memory have been slowly going for quite some time now....quite sad. well, to make a long story short, we came home and have made the difficult decision to put her down. it is sad indeed, but it is also life. and, death is a part of life, no matter how much we don't like it. it's all in God's perfect plan.
she lived a good long life and i hate to say it, but we all knew that her time was coming soon. :(

well, check back tomorrow for a happier post full of some pictures and fun videos i took in Montana! :)

good night all...i'm tired. long day of travel.

oh, on a side note: i have been in the seattle airport 4 times this summer! crazy! twice when i went to seattle and now two more times for connecting flights from long beach to bozeman, Montana. weird, weird.

big sky country here i come...

yes, that's right everyone. today i depart for montana. mucho excited! we were supposed to leave for the airport 6 min ago, but as usual i'm the only one ready. i highly doubt that there will be any internet access where i am, so you will all just have to be in suspense until i get back. i'm sure you can manage. :) not to sure what we will be doing in montana. some horseback ridding and river rafting, which should be fun. i'm also hoping we can make it to yellowstone one of the days.
well, we'll see.

until sunday then! :)

the accomplishments of the day

much accomplished, but none of it would probably be interesting to any of you. but, i'll tell you all anyway since i feel the need to post.

-i got up
-went on a 2 mile run
-took a shower
-had a delicious blueberry scone and iced chai from coffee bean
-did summer hw :(
-played with katie
-went to REI and bought a black fleece sweater (yes, i know it's summer, but it was on sale and i figured i needed one for winter. it feels like you are wearing a blanket :)
-went to jamba juice
-came home
-did more hw
-memorized the first 10 amendments
and now i'm typing this. so that was my day...if anyone cared

oh, and a few days ago i finished the 7th harry potter book! very good, very good. i'm kinda sad it was the last book though, but oh well. good ending! :)

i'm going to go learn more about john adams...stupid history reading assignment!

have a good night! :)

i have returned from the dreadful imprisonment...year book camp

crazy week! we were in class most of the day, which was totally lame. i don't think any of us got to sleep before 12:00 any of the nights and breakfast started at 7:00 each morning. i was sooooo tired, but i made up for it by sleeping in classes. i have never fallen asleep at school before, but if you were learning how to make a text box and put pictures on adobe indesign for 2 stinkin' hours straight, you would be asleep too. other than classes, it was a blast! we had an intense pillow fight that we actually had to take outside and one of us ended up 'mummified' on the floor...quite a sad story. the two other girls that were in our suit, pretty much probably thought we were all out of our minds. one of the nights allison and i started dancing and singing at the top of our lungs. we were yelling the breakfast song through the door to another girl in the shower when one of our roommates walks up, wanting to get in the bathroom door to brush her teeth. it was insane! :) enjoy the pics!

deer! :)

rachel, amy, august, chantal, me and allison.

i kept looking longingly for the tennis courts below, but couldn't play...i was jealous.

how attractive. :)

allison and i made a new friend: christopher columbus.

alright, well i'm going to go bury my nose back in the 7th harry potter book. i have been in suspense for a week! neeeeed to finish!

bye! :)