tree!

so, i don't know if anyone remembers me mentioning that i was working on a project a while back. i did this a few weeks ago, but i had just forgotten about it.
i got this tree last year at ikea with some friends and i just now did something with it...pretty cool. i just put random fun pictures on some construction paper that i cut out in the shape of leaves and voila! the part i love is that i can change out the pictures whenever i want! pretty sweet! i have a bunch of random pictures that make me think of fun times on it at the moment. i think it'll have these on it for a while...

i hope everyone enjoyed their weekends! :)

flashbacks at 16 whoa!

so, julie came over tonight and we went to dinner on second street with my mom, betsy and one of her friends. we tried to go to open sesame, but the wait was an hour long! we decided to walk over to BJ's and i'm glad we did because we ran into mrs. fieldhouse, who was also having dinner there with a group of people. it was fun to see her again.
after dinner julie and i were totally stoked about nsync's "dirty pop" because it came on in BJ's and we were all singing to it...i think that could be considered a flashback. :) we have now, for the last couple of hours, been trying to learn the dance moves to it...not working out so well. we did come across some pretty funny renditions of it on youtube. i was rolling on the floor dying during one of them. good times! :)

i think it still needs some work, but when (if ever) we get it down, i'll be sure to post it for you all to make fun of. :)

i like fortune cookies

this was my fortune i got in a my fortune cookie from dinner tonight

"remember there are people who care deeply about you."


hummm? interesting...

:) enjoy the weekend everyone!

i know what you're all thinking...

another post about tennis!? does she have a life? at the moment, not really. my life is school and tennis, but i don't mind too much about the second part. :) let me just say this now though, sorry to those who are getting tired and bored about hearing of every little detail that goes on in tennis, but my life isn't really very interesting other than that and it's exciting for me, so either deal with it or don't read it. :)
we played winward today and still hold our undefeated record in league! laney and i won our first match and lost our other two. the third i wasn't too upset about, but the second was frustrating for me. oh well though...you win some, you lose some. and i still had fun, which is the main purpose, right?
oh, side note: these girls really need some new uniform shirts. they were falling out of them in all areas...dis-gus-ting! and i'm not sure they were too upset about it either...even worse! i think i'm going to have nightmares...bright happy thoughts, bright happy thoughts!
any way, mrs. fieldhouse stopped by, with tessa, to watch, which was a treat! thanks for coming!

that's about it for now.
practice tomorrow! only for doubles though...should be fun. hey, at least it's something to look forward to during a full day of school.

have a fantastic night everyone!

why do i have an issue with hitting girls from whittier?

well well, today was crazy i must say. my two tests i think went pretty well. my chem quiz, i don't want to talk about...i totally bombed it! and history was no big deal. but, i won't bore you any longer with such nonsense when i know you are just perched on the edge of you seat waiting to hear if the girls tennis team is still undefeated in league.

there is bad news and good news. the good first, i think. we ARE still undefeated in league and now whitter has lost one. the bad news is we only beat them 10-8 (intensely close) and their #1 singles girl was out sick...doesn't lift our spirits for the next time we play them, because i highly doubt that we will get lucky twice.

so, this place brought back some memories for me of last year. some good, and others not so good. i don't know if any of you remember me telling any of you about hitting like three people, particularly a girl on the top of the head with a super hard volley and the ball totally flying 30ft in the other direction, but this was the same team. tell me how sad is this? laney and i were in our second set, after losing our first 5-7 in tie break, all because of this stupid shot that i should have put away. anyway, needless to say i wasn't in the best mood. so, i'm at net and we had just lost the last point because of what we thought to be a bad line call. the ball comes to me; perfect overhead material, so what do i do? set up, aim and bam! right at the girl at net. i hit her squarely in the stomach, pretty hard too. i felt kinda bad, but we did win the point, so... i immediately apologize, but then do a double take. oh, no that cannot be true...alas, it was. the very same poor girl i hit on the top of the head last year. i honestly hope she didn't have the same connection that i did at that moment, because if she did she probably hates me. how ironic is that?!?! something like that would happen to me...but whatever. laney and i beat the #3's 6-4 and the #1's 6-3...i was happy about that since we needed every possible game. i really just wish we had beaten the 2's! well, there is always next time... :)

adios mi amigas! :)

just another manic monday

what a day! this week is another a busy one. i have two quizzes and two tests tomorrow alone. then another test on wednesday! ahhh! i hate junior year! actually i'm having fun though. :)


other than my homework load, today was great. tennis practice today was awesome, but i seriously think we were all on something. we totally spent the entire two hours laughing at pretty much nothing except each other, admiraal included. we played sky ball for a good hour and just yelled at each other, fell down and then laughed. then we would collect ourselves and do it all over again...don't ask, i don't even know. it was great team bonding!

tomorrow we have one of the most intense matches that we will have had so far. we play whitter, who are also undefeated in league. when we played marshall we beat them 12-6 and when they played them they beat them 17-1. so, it should be a pretty good match...hope it doesn't break our record though.

well, i'm beat and i'm going to bed early tonight...gotta get my rest, ya know? :)

"million pieces" by the newsboys

i've been totally loving this song lately so i decided to post the lyrics...good song if you don't know it.

They all fall
Like a million raindrops
Falling from a blue sky
Kissing your cares goodbye
They all fall
Like a million pieces
A tickertape parade high
And now you're free to fly

Carryin' a millstone malaise
It's been pulling down your gaze
You pound the pavement
It don't give or care
This weight ain't yours to bear

Why you holdin' grudges in old jars?
Why you wanna show off all your scars?
What's it gonna take to lay a few burdens down?
It's a beautiful sound

When they all fall
Like a million raindrops
Falling from a blue sky
Kissing your cares goodbye
They all fall
Like a million pieces
A ticker tape parade high
And now you're free to fly

When that muffled sigh
Says you're barely getting by
Cut your burdens loose and just simplify
Simplify

This is not your floor
You're going higher than before
Drop the weight now
Wait for the lookout guide
Look outside

As they all fall
Like a million raindrops
Falling from a blue sky
Kissing your cares goodbye
They all fall
Like a million pieces
A ticker tape parade high
Now you're free to fly

You've gotta lay that burden down
You're gonna lay that burden down
It's time to leave your burdens in a pyre
Set a bonfire

'Cause when you lay your burdens down
When you lay your burdens down
When you drop them burdens
What a free-fall
What a thrill
Bury them all
In a landfill

hope all of you had a fantastic weekend! :)

decked out!

i'll start with a brief overview of yesterday's match. we played connelly yesterday and totally killed! laney and i went 3-0 again! awesome! and the bus ride was another fun one. we have found a new song to annoy coach admiraal with: "bye bye bye" by NSYNC! how cool are we? :)

anyway, today was one of the most memorable times in tennis i think i will ever have. today we almost got rained out, but luckily no rain. not that i don't love rain, i just wanted to finish playing. so, today, being our last non-league match of the season, we decided to have some fun with our attire! :)

observe:

can you say intimidation!?!? well, it's the last non-league match of the season and from here on out it's totally serious, so what do you do? well, spice it up with some random crazy accessories, of course! yup yup. complete with knee-highs, sweat bands, head bands and black face paint! :) sweet!!! oh, and we won, so that helps too.

as you can see, laney, jane and i are modeling it for you.

i did get some pretty good pictures of the team playing for yearbook like i was supposed to, but i'll mostly just post the fun ones! :) here are some other crazy pictures from the day...there are many. enjoy!

peace out, julie!

good cookie, jane?

smack it over! very intense, julie.

yeah, we kept trying to get ms. admiraal to take a picture with us, but she refused.

this one pretty much sums up our relationship as coach and player: me being crazy and her just ignoring it and pretending not to know me. hey, that sounds like my relationships with most people...humm? :)

jane intently focused on hitting.

peace yo! why is laney on my shoulder...uh, that's awkward. :)

ha ha! in the end we had our way...well, actually no, ms. admiraal still looks like she kinda wants to kill us, but at least she was looking at the camera that time :) ha ha! she loves us.

AWESOME DAY!!!! it was just SO MUCH FUN! :)

well, hope the expected rain comes soon and that you all have a fantastic weekend! :)

edit: AHHHHHH!!!!! it's RANING!!!!

do you know you have a "g" on your forehead?

that is probably the most asked question i got today. so, for apush we did an imitation of a puritan trial where we had to dress up and have "judges" the whole sha-bang. so, for my group i was the accused. my crime: gossiping. i was found guilty and my punishment was the letter "G" drawn on my forehead. oh, and did i mention that i was also banished to live with the indians, therefore to represent that i had to put on this little indian costume thing and dance around a tree in some little tribal rain dance thing...well, at least the class had a laugh today. mr. bras said i could go wash my forehead off, but i decided to leave in on just for fun. he told me to tell him the strangest comment i get. i didn't really get any strange comments. just "do you know you have a "g" on your forehead?" or "what does it stand for and why do you have it?". stuff like that. i think laney's was the best. i wave to her from across the quad and she points, laughs and yells "loser!", wow! thanks laney...way to build up my self esteem. it was fun though.

so, another league match tomorrow! yay! vs. connelly. yup yup!

adios mi amigos! :)

tennis is brutal

often, in life, if you really want something you have to fight for it and not give up. the same is true for tennis, even when the score is 2-5, you can't give up. well, fight for it we did. our second set laney and i had a miraculous comeback from 2-5 winning it 7-5. intense!
the team is now 3-0 in league, laney (line up switched up a bit today) and i went 3-0 today, and we have all made headline news in the paper twice so far this season! not just the scores either; we got a whole little article on our wins and such. overall i'm a pretty happy girl, except that i am exhausted, ache all over and have a bruised toe from slamming my foot into the front of my shoe. how did i do that you ask?
well, here is a story about one of our matches today. it will be funny for you if you can get a mental picture, but you just had to be there i think. so, this was during our second set (the one that ended up 7-5). 7-5 is already a long match, but when you have a 25min long game of deuces at 5-5 that just makes everything even better. so, here is the scenario: we have been at deuce/add for a good 15 minutes already and we were just so over it. the girl hits a shot pretty deep, but laney returns it (i'm at net) the next shot comes back fast from the net girl and is more towards laney (more behind me), but laney is still recovering from the other ball. i decide to go. i run, get the ball completely behind me, but i had to totally lunge. in a split second i realize that my face is getting closer to eating the ground. i try to recover fully, but no such luck. i stick my left leg out in a strange angle to catch my balance and somehow tweaked my muscle...sad i know. i didn't totally eat it, but i did kinda fall over after that. got up pretty quick though cause the point was still going on. such a long game though! i'm glad we won it. we went 6-1, 7-5 and 6-1. this was against Village Christian.
well, we are at the top of our league tied with Whitter! so exciting! hope we can keep up the good record!

i'm exhausted, so i'm going to go try and get some sleep. i haven't been sleeping too well lately. but, hopefully i'm beat enough tonight! :)

another busy week to come

this weekend was a pretty good one, but not the most relaxing. yesterday i went to august and saw the kittens her grandparents have. they are giving away two of them and they are sooooo cute! so tiny too. i don't know though if i can handle a cat right now on top of everything that is going on. it's just crazy! but, still so much fun.

this week we have three matches, so it will be another busy week...love it!
at least i'm staying sane though, unlike some people i know *cough cristina *cough rebekah! ha ha! :)

well, i better get back to homework. no, i'm not being a procrastinator for once either. i'll have you all know that i am actually doing my chapter four history analysis that isn't due until friday! i'm quite proud at my patience.

oh, and i started a fun project tonight...it isn't finished yet, but maybe i'll post a picture of it when it finally is. i must say it is quite fun to do!
that's all for now!

are you crying or laughing?

we played paramount today and won overall. it was yet another fun day, however my voice was a little hoarse from all that beautiful singing yesterday. so, no singing on the bus today...i've decided to save it for long bus rides.
so, let me explain my title. the courts at paramount are set up kinda strange. on one side you have a wall and on the three other sides there is an opaque green tarp. the kind that is supposed to block the wind, but this one also blocks your vision. so, what have they done so that you can watch? put small square boxes in it of course. anyway, now that you have somewhat of a mental picture, i'll go on with my story. julie and i played two sets today. we won our first 6-4, but lost our second 0-6. ouch! these girls that we played second didn't play at net. they both stayed at the baseline, which we aren't used to (i can't use that as an excuse though for my awful playing). so, we are down 0-5 and i seriously am on the verge of tears out of pure frustration at myself. we switch sides and i see miss admiraal standing at the fence, but all i can see is her face because of the little boxes. you kinda had to be there, but right there that just wanted to make me laugh if i hadn't been so mad. we walk over to her and she goes "feeling a little frustrated?"
my reply "i am so upset with my playing right now"
she goes "just remember, God loves you and so does your coach...sometimes"
i don't know what i was, but i just started laughing, but laughing while you are one the verge of tears just results in getting all teary-eyed at the same time. i wasn't sure if i wanted to laugh or cry. then my emotion changes again as we go back to being focused on the game. and you know, we actually had some pretty good points and it was a close game for the last one. although, we lost 0-6 i wasn't feeling too bad. after it was over i just started laughing while still trying to get my frustration out. it was odd and i'm not sure how else to explain it...it was just a mixture of emotions all in the span of less than 10 minutes. strange feeling let me tell you.
after the match the team went out to dinner. so, as i'm walking out with julie and laney to julie's car. i think to myself "i should turn my phone on". then i realized that my phone is in my tennis bag that i had just put in my tennis locker. i run back to the locker room, pass alicia and ava on the way, ask them if miss admiraal is still in there, they told me she was, i keep running, get there and the door is locked. i knock. i knock again. and again. i start knocking and calling "miss admiraal" over and over. after about 6-7 min. of this, i was like humm? this doesn't seem to be working. i walk back out and julie and laney are like "what were you doing". miss admiraal drove by like five minutes ago. she had gone out the other door and i totally had just missed her. oh, the irony. i did get my phone after dinner though. i went back to school with her and she opened the locker room for me. good times!
we all ate at Red Robin, where we ran into mr. bras...pretty cool.

over all, AWESOME DAY!!! :)
i'm totally loving tennis season! three more matches next week!

that was a long one; sorry...i just had a lot to say

later alligators!

we got our excercise yesterday!

alright so, we didn't bagel them, but we did win! 2-0 in league!!! :) and what a fun day it was.

so, the bus driver calls and tells miss admiraal that she is on some street with a "z" in in (very helpful). then she tells us to just walk west and then north...um well, someone got their direction wrong. we walked probably about a mile down to a dead end street. then we turned right and see a street sign up ahead. is it one with a "z"??? yes, indeed it was. we get up to the street and look both ways. turn to the right, turn to the left. "i see it" admiraal yells. we all look at this small yellow speck in the distance. right back the way we had just come. so, we walk another mile and half back. it was fun...i enjoyed the walk. :)

the bus ride...that's a whole other story. 2hrs of enjoyment and bonding! no, i'm being serious. that was one of the funnest parts of the day. laney, jane and i serenaded miss admiraal with songs like "i want it that way" by the backstreet boys and "party like a rock star". then it came to our song! yes indeed "pop goes my heart" the minute it started playing on laney's ipod miss admiraal was begging us to stop, having seen our video. well, she got the live version...even better! ha ha! it was a fun day!

well, gotta go! i'll keep you all posted on today's match!

blessings on you day! :)

bagel baptist!

that was our cheer to end practice today, since we play them tomorrow and i couldn't think of a title.

so, i started off having a pretty bad day, but it picked up around 3:00. i mean i had tennis practice! what couldn't be good about that?

we got practice shirts today. they aren't as bright as last year's, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your preference, and they are simpler, i guess. i like both they are just different.
different just like this tennis season is really different from last years. i loved last year and i'm loving this year too, but there are just so many differences between the two. coaches for one, and that is going well. i absolutely love miss admiraal. i really miss mrs. fieldhouse, but they are both fantastic! another thing is that overall the team just doesn't feel the same as last year either. (not a bad feeling though). you know, since i got a new doubles partner and stuff. but, the one thing that has stayed the same (and will continue to stay the same, i hope) is the fact that it just never gets old. tennis, for me, never gets redundant or monotonous or boring. i love it. love being around all the people on the team. love to just go and hit after a long day of school. love that i've met so many awesome people that i wouldn't have, if i hadn't come back and tried out my sophomore year after i didn't make it freshmen. it's just fun!
:)

well, second league match tomorrow against L.A. Baptist! exciting stuff! i will keep you all posted on the outcome...just in case you want to know. :)

so, i know you are all just DYING to hear about tennis...

so, i won't keep you in suspense any longer. we'll go in order, shall we?
yesterday:
umm...didn't go so hot. we lost...big time. did i mention that they had two amazing singles girls that were ranked 5th and 2nd in the state? yeah, well it was expected; at least it wasn't league.

anywho, lets move on to today...it's better! :)
so, since i didn't get the memo that the time we got out of class had been changed from 2:30 to 2:15 i was slightly rushed, but no worries...i got some warm up time. did line up, did our cheer before the other team, since everyone has the same one and went out to play #2 doubles with julie. our first set went pretty well; we won 6-4. second: made me want to cry...we got bageled against the #1's who had terrible ground strokes, but one girl was super tall and all over the net. i quickly got over it though and went back out to play the 3s, who were pretty good. we ended up beating them 7-5. they were soooo mad, as was i, for part of the match. we had one discrepancy over a line call. they hit it, i called it out at the baseline, but hit it after i had called it. then they watch it and call "out". i was like "yes, i just called your ball out"
"are you sure?"
"yes."
"are you serious!" this girl shouts
absolutely not. i just like to yell out for the fun of it "yes" i replied again
"can we redo it?"
julie and i exchange a glance "no, i called it. i can call it louder next time if you'd like"
"are you kidding me!!!"
am i speaking english or does she just not understand me? "no, i'm not kidding you"
"ahhh! fine! that's game then!"
goodness, no need to get mad.
so, about me being mad, there aren't many things really make me angry. the only thing is when people cheer on your miss...it totally gets to me for some reason. not like it gets me down, just really frustrated. after this whole line thing, some of the other team's girls were all along the fence cheering on every ball julie or i would hit out or in the net! if it had been parents or someone who didn't really know any better, i would have cut them some slack. i was seriously so tired of it. so, the girl hits a decent overhead, that i hit, but went into the net. they all started cheering "nice shot!" or "way to go!". i turned around and go "shut up". yeah, i totally shocked myself on that. i don't know where it came from and i'm not proud of it, but it's slightly hard for me to feel too incredibly guilty...they were just being plain rude, but that doesn't mean i should have been rude back. i didn't say it particularly loud and whether they heard me or could just tell i was mad by the look on my face, i'm not sure. all i know is that, after that, they didn't cheer so much.
well, overall we won our first league match!!!!! ahhh!!!!! excitement overload. undefeated in league! ha ha! next match: thursday! and then another friday! 4 in one week; so many! so fun! :)

hope you all had a fantastic day!

after 16 years i've finally created a masterpiece!

umm...yeah, you wish you were skilled with play doh like me. :)

first week is over

made it through the first week...no major problems! yay!
so, i'm un-school spirited as usual and didn't attend the first home football game. we did have our first pep assembly today, which was pretty fun except for the fact i had to feel stupid crouching down and taking pictures for yearbook while everyone was cheering and what not.

also, i was assigned to help pass out yearbooks, which wasn't bad...just slightly stressful. cool to see the year book though.

well, not much to say to make a longer post. plus i'm sleepy and have a good amount of homework this weekend. oh, not to mention i was really bummed that our match got canceled today. :( that leaves 4 for next week! 4! geez! lots of class to be missed.

good bye till later

and so begins another year

today was probably the craziest first day of school i've ever had! i didn't even go to 7th period because we had our first tennis match of the season, which was a blast...it really was fun to play in match situation again. but, i'll tell you about that in a min.
so, school: at the beginning of every school year i always tell myself that i'll be a better student this year, that i won't procrastinate and that i'll work harder than ever to get the grades i want. yeah, ask me how that's going a couple months into the year...i assure you it won't be such an optimistic view. sometimes i feel like life can get so repetitive. you know, you wake up, go to school, get lots of homework, go to tennis practice or tennis match (only part i love), go home and do all your homework that keeps you up late, go to bed then get up and do it all over again. but, in reality no day is the same. just like mr. tamminga said today with his infamous carpe diem speech, we really do need to seize the day because there won't ever be another one like it. anyway i guess that is why this year my goals aren't what's listed above. the only goals i'm going to have for myself is to do my best and have a good attitude doing it.
well, sorry if that got a little too sentimental...it's more of a reminder to me than for any one else. anyway, back to the first day of school (i do get off subject don't i?). overall it wasn't too bad. tennis got out at 1:45 instead of 2:15 like we were supposed to, but i'm not complaining. it was actually a really fun day. got to see all my friends and people i hadn't seen all summer. oh, and being a junior and upperclassmen is sooooooo much better! it just feels older, i dunno. it was kinda fun to see all the little freshmen look scared and lost. just kidding, i'm not that mean that i'd take joy in their insecurity. but seriously they are getting smaller and smaller. i was not that small or lost looking on my first day of high school (at least that i remember :)
well, here is the fun part of the post, since i know you are all just dying to here about our tennis match. i won't deprive you any longer. it was just a scrimmage today. you know, to get back into the swing of things. everyone got to play at least one set; most played two. my first set i played with julie and we lost. it really stunk; we were up 5-2 then lost in tie break!!! ahhh! so frustrating, but i'm over it. my second set i played with laney where we won 6-4, even with my insane serves that were at her. i totally smacked her in the back with one of my first serves (a pretty hard one too)...i felt bad, but i don't think there were any lasting injuries. :)
all in all it was a pretty good way to start off the school year! oh, except i totally look like a fried tomato! i put sun screen on too! SPF 50! 50! who burns with 50 on? so, i think that farmers tan from the beginning of the summer is gone now...i'm sooo burned!
good bye farmers and flip flop tans, hello racer back and sock tans! oh yeah! :) gotta love em'!

pop goes my heart rendition...so embarrassing!

so, after practice this morning the team went out for breakfast. then laney and julie came over and umm....it resulted in this. julie refused to be on camera for fear i would post it on the internet so she filmed it. it wouldn't work through blogger, so i had to use youtube. i think it was too long.

enjoy our embarrassment! :)

by the way laney is supposed to be playing the piano, but the best we could do was a pillow.

crazy busy!

why does family always come to visit at the wort times? end of the summer, homework to finish, busy schedule and a house full of cousins= no time to hang out. we did get to go to dinner and see a movie tonight. we saw Balls of Fury. it was about ping pong...justin picked it so i have no idea. overall it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, but i wouldn't see it again...it had some interesting parts to it. jenna and i also invented a pretty awesome sport too: pool base ball! it pretty much rocks. you just use a kick board for a bat and a water proof ball and you're set! fun times!

anywho, tennis tomorrow bright and early 7 am! sweet! and tomorrow our 7-9 practice is followed by some team bonding over breakfast! fun stuff.

well, bedy bye time! night night! :)