Thanks! Giving.

Well folks, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Barry Manilow woke me up this year. At 7:45 to be exact. He tends to wake me up with his beautiful singing now-a-days. Mom and Dad get up early and exercise in the morning in the garage. Guess whose room is right above it? Yeah. It's mine. But it's okay, who doesn't like to wake up to Barry anyway?

I headed downstairs to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Turns out the parade doesn't actually start until 9, but I found a channel that was showing it live and stayed there. I didn't really realize this until AFTER Daniel Radcliff performed. That's fine. A little upset about that though. The day progressed. We prepared food, took chairs and tables and dishes and decorations to Julie's to have Thanksgiving over there. Basically 6 hours of preparation for 1 hour of eating. I guess it's worth it though. It was really nice to be surrounded by loving family members. I love after everyone's done eating and you all just sit there and talk for 3 hours.

I got numerous mass texts from my friends this year. Here's my dilemma. If we were really friends, can't we just assume that we're thankful for each other? I mean I appreciated the whole...2...personal messages that I received. Those ones were really nice. And I even enjoyed the "Happy Hanukkah" message I got. But really, if you have to send a mass text to me to tell me that you're thankful for me..that's just rough. Tacky maybe? Don't think you're a bad person if you did it, just you know...don't fill up my inbox next year okay? I think we love each other enough :)

After we left Julie's, Ashlee, Keri, and I stayed up until midnight to do some door busting at Macy's. That was pretty awesome. I didn't have any money so I didn't get anything but it was fun just to be there. Sort of. But really, who doesn't love seeing 50 women flock over a table of boots, sending boxes flying, hitting each other. It's pretty fun. Ashlee and Keri went back out at 4, but I decided to stay and get some sleep. Good choice for me.

Today Mom and I put up Christmas. I love Christmas. I'm so happy that I can finally celebrate it without being persecuted.

So my Thanksgiving was pretty good. Minus some rough patches.

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas...All that jazz.

Take This Survey!!!

So...this is for my government class. Take it so I can get 50 extra credit points okay??

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L76YG37

This cool kid.

So...you've met this kid before. His name is Andy. Andrew Christopher Olsen. You see, normally I just tell you about the crazy fun times that I have with him (they usually involve Haley and Rian as well) but today this post is all about him. Today Andrew became a man! This day officially marks the day of his birth 18 years ago. Woohoo!

Andy is basically the coolest person I know. He's the only guy I know who can ride a motorbike on public streets in Shakespeare period clothing, and not look gay. He's really fun to be around and he's super intelligent. Ask him any question and he'll answer it. I swear he has an answer for everything. Plus he's super good at explaining things. If you don't get it, he'll break it down nice and simple for you. He's really good at being a friend. He knows what that means. He shares his greek yogurt with you and his neosporin. He knows 13 million songs and has all of their lyrics memorized. He's a fantastic dancer (captain of the ballroom team) and is a good sport even when he has to be paired with me during the 'Master of the House' dance in Les Mis. All in all, he's just a good kid. He's a great friend...even when we have super awkward times in our lives....But I'm glad to know him and just want to say Happy Birthday Andy!

Santa..Awkward..Redbeard

So yesterday I was at Robert's with Ashlee and Keri. You'd think that we'd learn to be civilized in public by now....but we're just not. Especially when two of us really need to use the restroom. Finally we were finished in Robert's. We were waiting in line at the cash register and there were two very sweet looking old ladies in front of us. It was at that moment in time that I forgot my manners (which I usually do. I'm beginning to wonder if I have any.) and burped. Loud. SO EMBARRASSING. The sweet old ladies WERE NOT amused and promptly left. Sorry! So then we turned around to look at one of the store's many Christmas displays and found this.

I'm on the naughty list!! I'm sorry Santa! This is rough. It's a good thing that Santa checks his list twice, because I'm positive he's got it wrong. Or not. Maybe I like being on the naughty list. It makes me feel like a cool rebel or something. Either way, awkward times.

Speaking of awkward times....my life is just one big huge awkward experience. But seriously. Nothing I want to say EVER comes out right and it usually comes out as something super not okay. Rough. Even more awkward though, I started this blog a few years ago right? But only recently started updating it. Well, it seems I've started a trend among my friends. It started with Andrew Olsen. He got bit by the blogging bug. Then Christian Wawro thought he would be funny and copy and paste Andy's blog into his own. Then one day Haley Wawro was like "Hey Emily. Help me make a blog." So we made one for her too.

So now for the embarrassing part. It seems that Andrew thinks that I'm "copying his blog" or something. The real problem is, he doesn't know that he's actually copying mine. I know. Super embarrassing. Here's the thing. I was about to make a post about how I went through my box of letters that people had written me, and it turns out, just before I posted about it, I saw that Andy already had! Awkward. So instead I decided to post my favorite song and explain that I was having writers block. What do you think Andy's next posts were? 1. His favorite song lyrics 2. 3 of his favorite songs and an apology that he was having writers block.

So who is at fault here??? Clearly it isn't me. Then he wrote a whole post about accusing me when I've already accused him! And then he calls me 'Erdface'. What kind of name is that?? Whatever Redbeard. Whatever.

So a blogging war has begun. I'm not sure what these battles will consist of exactly....but I'm going to win. So there.

Natalie Weiss "Quiet" at OFFLINE

Today I really don't know if life is good or bad. It happens. I go to school, I go to rehearsal, I come home, I facebook stalk, eat food, do homework, read my scriptures, go to bed, wake up, and start all over again.

Have you ever heard this song? It's kind of describing my life right now. But not. It's not describing my life NOT in a romantic way, but with people in general.

Listen to it. It's beautiful.

I wish that my creative juices were flowing. But they're just not. I think they're all gone. Non-existent. I wish more was going on in my life that i could tell you about, but it's not. Really, I'm just learning a lot. Sunday was such a good day for me. Everything I learned on Sunday is continually running through my head and I'm adding things on it and thinking of new things. It's really great, but a bit energy consuming.

Speaking of energy consuming, this weather is really sucking the life out of me. I NEED it to snow. Right now. It's fine, just one more week and I'll be feasting on turkey and potatoes. Thank heavens! I am so so thankful for Thanksgiving and the time off of school that it blesses me with.

Well...that's all for now. Farewell!

11/11/11

On 11/11/11 at 11:11, I was in the 11th grade. In choir. We stopped class to party.

At 11:11 pm, I slept.

The end.

Life is Beautiful

Life is beautiful. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have a calling in this church that involves me going to "special needs mutual". Basically every Thursday night I go and work with a group of awesome kids who have special needs. Some weeks it's tough. I get tired and frustrated, but then I have a night like tonight and it's worth it. Tonight we had a talent show. Each youth prepared a small talent to share with the group. I have never been so touched. Hearing a young man sing clearly "I am a Child of God" when you've never heard one word come out of his mouth, or learning of a girl who put a 1000 piece puzzle together in a few hours, upside down, or watching an elderly couple struggle to take care of their son who has special needs, or watching your best friend with cerebral palsy run a race. Life is beautiful. There are so many things I take for granted. I am healthy and alert and have so many talents. I am so blessed. I have a wonderful family a home, food, clothing. I'm getting a great education. Who am I to complain?

Life is beautiful.

I am a Child of God and he has sent me here. Has given me an earthly home, with parents, kind and dear. Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do, to live with him someday.