Its Gonna Be a Happy New Year

Well, 2011 is drawing to a close. And all I can say is thank god! This year has been an emotional roller coaster. Life has pitched a couple of curve balls, and although there are a whole lot of things I would have changed, whats done is done and I can not wait to move on. I'm not going to make a whole list of resolutions that I will never be able to keep, like exercise daily or get a 4.0. Because as great as those two things would be I can't even begin to promise to keep them.

So I am setting two goals for myself this year. Don't drink any soda and try to be happy. Not be happy, because that isn't something I can control. I can't mentally force myself to always be happy and anyway how can one realize the good with out living through the bad. I refuse to waste my life any more. I will not live to please everyone, but I will try my hardest not to offend them. My choices are my own, and although I'd like to be friends with everyone I will not change who I am just to please you.

I hope you all have a happy new years eve and a happy new year! Stay safe tonight y'all!

Lets Explore Diabetes with Owls

As you guys read earlier, my dad and I went to a David Sedaris book signing. We decided to get his newest book Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk signed for my grandfather, who's sense of humor is something else. And since Christmas was still a few weeks away, my family decided to capitalize on having the book in the house by all reading it. And before anyone gets up in arms, its something my entire extend family does.


So after the book signing that night, I settled in with Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk and started to read. It is a collection of stories. Animals have been personified and it is assumed that they live like we do. And that instead of animals being different species they are somewhat like different races and can communicate with one another. It seems that only humans can not speak with the other animals. Each story is a few pages, with cleverly drawn, although somewhat gruesome, illustrations. All of the stories have a moral, and they really are like a modern funny version of Aesop's fables.

Love and War: Books I always seem to read?

Sometimes I just have this overwhelming urge to go to the library. Sometimes I slowly go through books and don't realize that I have nothing left to read. This happened a while ago when I had finished all my work early and wanted to settle in and take a long bath and read. But I had no books. So I bugged my mom to drive me to the library to get something good to read. And then I got there and saw that the upstairs was closed for some reason. And the first floor was all picture books. Luckily there are a few carts of books that need to be re shelved after being checked in. Sometimes I look through those to find something to read that I normally wouldn't have found. So that's what I did. And I found a few gems.

Next to Love by Ellen Feldman was one of those books. It drew me in and I could not pull myself away from it. It takes place in a pretty normal town somewhere in the US. I'm sure the name is told but really its unimportant. The plot line revolves around three friends, Babe, Millie, and Grace. Millie and Grace are pretty well to do, although Millie's mother and father both died when she was young. Babe however lives on the "wrong side of town" and although Graces mother did not want them to be friends, a bond was formed. The three of them all have husbands that go off to war, and the book switches perspectives between the three friends, their husbands, their children, and other people in their lives to create a full painting of their lives slightly before, during, and after the second world war. Feldman's writing is captivating and her plot lines excellent. The way they weave together truly mirror the way life works. However in life you normally don't get the privilege of seeing other peoples perspectives.

Quilting and War: an Interesting Combo

Handicrafts are great. Sadly they are becoming lost arts and people move to things like digital design. But I am one of the people keeping them alive by practicing them. Another way that they are being kept alive is by the serge of popular novels that center around knitting clubs and quilters. We've all spotted them in book stores and at libraries and I've been reading a few that have been catching my eye. Most of them are light and fluffy, like Harlequin but if you trade sex for needlework. And normally the plot lines are a little less generic and predictable.

But one handicraft novel that I have particularly enjoyed is The Union Quilters by Jennifer Chaverini. It takes a few things that I love, multi perspective books, historical fiction, strong independent female characters, and quilting and put them into one handy dandy novel. The Union Quilters switches its narrator between a few women in a quilting club and their spouses and lovers. It is just at the beginning of the civil war and many of the men are enlisting. And to help their troops, the women make quilts to donate and also sell them for profit and then use the money to buy supplies for the soldiers. Something pretty new in those days.

The Union Quilters also isn't all happiness and cool patterns. Not all of the women that we grow to love through the course of the book have a happy ending. There is racism, unrequited love, hate, and pain. Just like the real world. Yes there are some cliches but then again there are lots of cliches out there. It seems like my life is full of them.

After I finished The Union Quilters I discovered that it was part of a series. So I am going to read all of them, because it was so enjoyable.

In Which I Discover My Love of Hospitals

Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while knows I want to be a doctor. If your new, quick recap. I've wanted to be a doctor since the age of nine when my mom and dad took away most of the "kid channels" aka Disney and Nickelodeon because I had developed an attitude. The only good channels were TLC, Discovery Health, and Discover Kids and so I watched a bunch of doctor shows.

So about two summers ago when I heard that the local children's hospital was offering a summer volunteer program for kids my age, I obviously applied. I filled out all of the forms, got the required teacher recommendations, mailed everything in, and waited. After a while some of my friends started to get their acceptance letters and I started to become nervous that I hadn't made the cut. But a few days later I got the letter saying I had been accepted for the summer program and that I would be working in urology and physicians billing.

After a brief orientation and TB test I had gotten my work clothes and was all ready to go. I loved spending time at the hospital. The hustle and bustle of people doing things that really made a difference put a pep in my step and I especially loved my time in physicians billing, creating charts with different prices to make things go smoothly. Urology was great but it was a lot of filing and weeding through papers. But in both places my work was really appreciated and in doing it I freed up everyone else to do more important things.

In the middle of the day I ate lunch with my friends who we in different departments and just sat around chatting. For an almost high schooler like my self it was very empowering and freeing. And I found out how much I love to be in a hospital. As long as I am not sick that is.

Oh and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Winter Solstice, Etc.

Sometimes the Road Less Followed is the Best

I don't know if you guys know this but I am home schooled. I wasn't when I started this blog, and it was an interesting transition. I know I have hinted to it in the past, but since the transition was so odd I don't think that I ever came out and said it.

Regardless I am home schooled. And it's been absolutely wonderful for me. I haven't been this happy and rested in years, and I am doing wonderfully in my classes even though I started mid year. It has also helped me get more organized. When I was in a brick and mortar school I use to forget to write down assignments and even if I did I'd leave my assignment pad at home. I was always forgetting to do things or that I had a quiz the next day. But when you are home schooled, there is no room for that. The teachers are not on your back as much about work and it is really up to you to get things done and turned in in a timely mater.

So I came up with this post it note system:

It might be hard to see, but on the calendar are all the classes for that day. On the poster board on the chair are all of my over due assignments since I started mid semester and am still catching up. Each post it note is a different color according to class and the post it note colors and binder colors are the same except in math because they do not make black post it notes to my knowledge. On the panes of glass are the key to the post it not colors, what I need to do for that day, my goals, my meetings and class connect sessions, notes if I need to email a teacher, and what I have done for that day. If I finish something I move it to the what I have done that day pane of glass. I've found that having this system has really improved my grades and organizational skills in home schooling.

Oh and let me clear something up. I am not in one of those home schooling programs where my mother sits and teaches me everything every day. I am enrolled in George Washington Universities Online High School and have teachers for all of my classes and an advisor. It is like a distance learning course more then home schooling. And if you are incredibly stressed in a brick and mortar school, I would really recommend it. Switching made my very happy. 

It May Not Be on the Top of Mine but It's On It Now

I don't know if you guys have ever heard of Post Secret. If you have hold on a second shall I explain what it is. If you haven't go check it out right after this! Basically Post Secret was started by Frank Warren as a place for people to send in their secrets on post cards as a way to release them and share them with the world, completely anonymously. Some of the best secrets are then compiled into books.

It was a post secret book, given to me by my amazing brick and mortar school big sister, that opened me up to the wonderful Post Secret community. And a few weeks ago, an app came out for it. No longer would I have to wait all week for Sundays Secrets and feel so empty when they were over. Now I could have a bunch of secrets at the touch of my finger tips when ever I wanted or needed to read them. Sure there are some duds, and a whole lot of odd pictures, but there are also a lot of amazing ones.

Such as this:

And it gave me the idea to add this to my bucket list. To take water from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. I'm sure a lot of people have done this, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't. So on the list it goes!

This City Can Kick Your Booty

I think its really ironic that I read Lost on Treasure Island by Steve Friedman on the way to New York for Thanksgiving weekend. I'd started reading it a few weeks before, and then of course put it down to read something that was due earlier. Because really how many times in the course of this blog has this not happened? I get a good book, start reading and then have to put it down for one reason or another. But I digress.

So by the time I was finishing Lost on Treasure Island I was on an incredibly bumpy plane ride to the big apple. At first I tried to read through it, but the turbulence was so bad that eventually I had to put my book down and pray the plane down. That's how freaked out I was. But eventually we landed, and I got to finish my book.

Lost on Treasure Island was a lot better then I expected. From the looks of it when I grabbed it at the library, it was one of those somewhat random books that drew me too it. And I love New York, so I figured why not. And although Lost on Treasure Island was confusing at points, it was also incredibly good. It follows a young man, who moves to New York and gets a job at GQ. It shows his struggles, his triumphs, but more likely his failures. It isn't always a happy feel good story, but it is real and inspiring. To keep going even if you don't like what you are doing. Because doing something is much better then doing nothing at all.

David Sedaris Gave Me a Bar of Chocolate

I think everyone has read or heard David Sedaris. Maybe not knowingly but it is safe to assume that the majority of today's society has. And about 50% of them have been offended by him. Luckily my family is the other 50% and we all love his works. So when my mom saw he was going to be signing at our local book store she was like YES! and got some tickets. Sadly someone had to stay home with my baby sister, so one rainy December night about a week ago my dad and I stopped our test taking and test grading and went of to see America's Funny Man.

I have never seen the place so packed for an author talk in my life. Finding a seat was difficult, there must have been at least 200 people in there. But it was totally worth it. From the get go David had my father and I rocking back and forth in our seats laughing. His humor isn't for everyone. He had a bit about "making business" in ones hand, but it wasn't said so politically correct. I'd love to share more about it here but my blog is rated G and I don't want to be responsible for taking someones innocence.

After about an hour of crying and almost peeing ourselves with laughter, it was time for the book signing. Pretty much everyone stayed for it, and after one totally failed attempt in which the line went the wrong way, everyone got in a nice orderly singleish file line to wait. And wait we did. David likes to chat with his fans, and although it was pretty annoying, well everyone did have a book in their hand to pass the time.

After a good twenty minuets in line my father and I finally reached Mr. Sedaris. My dad went first, to get a book signed for my 84 year old grandfather, who we like to call Captain Dagger. He also showed a picture to Mr. Sedaris, which I promised I would not put on my blog how ever much I think y'all might enjoy it.

Then it was my turn. Earlier in the show, David had said that his book signing table was an "awesome free zone" and anyone that said it had to pay him a dollar. So naturally I thought to myself, challenge accepted and promptly borrowed a dollar from my father. So when he started to sign my book, I said "Your show was awesome" and handed him a dollar to which he replied "sweet" and stuck it in his pocket. Then he asked "How old are you?" I answered with my age, probably the youngest person there. He grabs his bag and starts rummaging through, saying how he likes to give things to the younger people that come out to his talks. If it hadn't been David Sedaris I would have been totally freaked out, but it was and I was honored. He offered me a choice between chocolate and a bottle of shampoo and like any self respecting woman I chose chocolate.

After handing me the chocolate he turned to my book and started to sign it. As he was I asked him what his advice was for young bloggers, seeing the candy cane pen laying besides him. His advice for young writers was to "always write with a candy cane pencil, because they are the hardest things to write with." Well obviously I can't really blog with a candy cane pencil. His sage words to me were to read and write every day. Then in my book he drew a caricature of me, as a snail, slowly inching towards the carrot of literary success.

A night like this isn't something I could have planned or put on my list. Had someone told me that tonight I would have received a bar of chocolate from David Sedaris, I would have asked them what they were smoking. But its funny how some of the little things we don't plan end up being the most memorable. And I got a bar of chocolate out of the deal. So it was a win win.

Chelsea Can be Such a Bitch Sometimes

Chelsea Handler is quite a conundrum. I love her show, in fact I get the little opening monologue as a podcast on my iPod. Not gonna lie, she's funny. But really, if I knew Chelsea in real life I'd probably hate her. Her antics are funny on TV, and I'm sure she's a nice person sometimes but she can just be a bitch sometimes. Although then sometimes I feel like she would be a blast to be around.

The first time I saw one of Chelsea Handlers books was when I was in the 8th grade. There was a Boarders a few blocks down the street from my school at the time, and sometimes after school my friends and I would walk down and browse the books. One day when my friend and I were looking around, we saw My Horizontal Life by well Chelsea Handler of course. The name shocked and intrigued my friend and me and we started flipping through it. Eventually it was time to leave, and I really never read another Handler book until I saw The Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me on the new books shelf at my local library.

So I checked it out and started reading. And it made me laugh so much. No it wasn't really written by her, although she has some notes at the end of each chapter written by her. But it was so funny to read up on her antics. But to be frank it all seemed surreal. Like everything was made up. I guess I'll have to meet Chelsea Handler and ask her myself.

Regarding the Duggars

I don't know how many of you follow the Duggars in the news, but a while back I posted that Michelle Duggar, the matriarch of the family, was expecting her twentieth child to be born in April. Sadly the baby passed away recently. This was not Michelle's first miscarriage, she had one after Josh was born. In fact it was that miscarriage that made her and Jim Bob decide to leave how many children they had up to God, as she was on oral contraceptives at the time.

The babies name was chosen to be Jubilee Shalom at the funeral, and it breaks my heart to see how many people are complaining about them online. No one deserves to go through the pain of miscarriage, even if they have 19 children. The Duggars are not on well fare and therefore what they do with their lives is absolutely none of our business. Although it does make for a good TV show.

I am a huge Duggar fan. Hence the Dress Like a Duggar for a Year challenge. And no I am not an Evangelical Christian. I am in fact a Reformed Jew. I think that using oral contraceptives is just fine, but what I do agree with in the Duggars is that they have good principles and their children are being raised to be productive members of society.

Many of the older children have gone on mission trips all over the world to provide for people in need and are also first responders. Which in a town as small as they live in is very important. They are genuinely well behaved, it isn't just for the cameras. They have strong family values and are very tight knit. I don't always agree with their choices but I do believe that they are a wonderful family. And I know they will be strong and support each other in this sad time.

Girls Just Wanna Run

When I used to go to a brick and mortar school sometimes I would see a gaggle of lower schoolers running around the perimeter of the school. I'd be leaving and suddenly they would whoosh by. My mom became intrigued seeing them when she picked me up one day and found out that they were part of this thing called Girls On the Run.

The next year rolls around and my mom tries to sign my baby sister up for Girls on the Run, only to find out that the school team is full, but she could go in for the coach training and set up a second team at the school. So naturally my mom jumped on it and did the training so that my baby sister could have some way to spin out her energy. Because she has a lot of it!

So my mom starts coaching Girls on the Run and telling me about it, and I start to realize what an amazing program it is. For anyone out there that doesn't know, Girls on the Run is a program from 3rd to 5th and 6th to 8th graders although currently in my city we only have the 3rd to 5th grade program. It incorporates running and healthy living with discussions about important things like drug awareness, Internet safely, and positive body image. There are about 22 lessons, one of them being a community service project, and in the end everyone runs a 5k together. That's what the girls are training for, and all of the teams in one city get together and do it as a group. And afterwards there is a party and everyone feels very happy and accomplished.

One night a while back I went with my mom to a coaches meeting to look into Junior Coaching. The website officially says that a JC has to be 16 and shush don't tell but I am about six-ten months shy of that. But I am mature for my age and the head of Girls on the Run in my city said it was fine. So I started JCing at a school a few blocks from my house. Not my old school where my mom coaches and my baby sister runs, but a different one.

And it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. I got to really make a positive difference in young girls lives, and I made friends with the other coaches. All of the girls on my team where always happy to see us and they really looked forward to our biweekly sessions. Even though I started mid season the team welcomed me in with open arms. And having something like that to do twice a week really helped me have a sense of purpose.

This weekend was our end of season 5k. My family and I had to get up super early. Ok around 7 but that is super early for me. All of the girls were tired and grumbly when we warmed up but after a while they started to get excited for the run ahead. Most of the girls had their parents or older siblings as their running buddies, but I ran with one of the girls on my team that didn't have anyone to run with. It was a challenge but we finished the 5k together and all of the girls got water bottles and goodie bags. There was a finish line set up with a group of people cheering as we crossed. My dad was standing by it when I ran through and yelled out "Go Duggar!" in reference to the fact that I was running in a long skirt.

I can't wait to coach next season, which starts in February so hopefully things will start defrosting by then. So far I have volunteered about 3.75 days. So I have a long way still to go!

My Goodness

I've always had unruly hair. Its my dads, and I always said he was lucky that his was always so short. When I was little my friend cut off all my hair after my fourth birthday party. It was boy short, in fact I looked like a splitting image of my cousin Andy (not the same person as my bestie) who is one year younger then me. It was so much easier to handle, and as it grew out I had the most adorable ringlets. But for some reason I have always, baring that, had long tangled hair. It gets in my way, gets in the worst snarls and tangles and is generally just a pain. But there are people out there that have lost their hair because of chemo. From what I've read chemo is a long process of poisoning your body to kill the fast growing cancer cells. It can save your life. But the downside is horrible nausea, loss of appetite, and loss of hair. Many people going through chemo chose to get wigs for various reasons. Problem is human hair is pretty hard to come by. The only way to get it is through donation.

I've thought about donating my hair hundreds of times. Hell I almost went through with it once. But for some reason I never could. I'd give the clothes off my back to someone that needed them but there was something about cutting off my hair that I just couldn't do. I've always had long hair it's part of who I am. Every time one of my friends cut their hair and donated it, I felt this pang of shame that I never could. But that all changed since I started this blog. I've realized how lucky I am to have such long hair, and that its time to give back to people who aren't lucky enough to have long hair like I do.

So here is the before

You can't really see all of it, but you get the idea

It's such a pain to take care of

And here is the after

Its really different, and it feels like my head is a few pounds lighter. If you don't believe me check out how much hair was cut off

John (the man that cuts my father and my hair) says that it is perfect hair for a wig because it hasn't been colored at all. Later on I filled out the forms for Locks of Love and I figured I'd put my blog address in the comments section. Its a total long shot but if anyone from Locks of Love is reading this: hi! Welcome to my blog. I hope you like it. 

So after I filled out the form there wasn't time to stamp it, and I didn't get home till late. Like 11 o'clock late. But I weighed it, and stamped it, and put it out on our mail.

I figured it would get sent out the next day. Wrong I was because there is no post on Sunday's. One of the many ways Harry Potter has enriched my life. Thank you J.K. Rowling for everything! 

And He Said We Would Cry

Last year in history, we studied the second half of world history. From the Enlightenment to Gandhi. And so of course after we studied Gandhi we had to watch the Academy Award winning movie about his life. Appropriately titled Gandhi. And I loved it. The historical accuracy and amazing film combination is something so rare. Most films struggle to maintain that kind of a balance, but Gandhi hit the sweet spot. It was touching and wonderfully shot. My history teacher last year swore that I would cry out of everyone in the class, and although the movie was touching and sad I didn't cry. Nor did anyone else in my class. But that might have been because he warned us about it. So if your going to watch Gandhi I'd bring a box of tissues just in case.

Every Baby Should Have a Home Made Blanket

I know a lot of people say that babies are a blessing no matter what. And I agree with that. But sometimes little blessings are sent to people who aren't quite ready to receive them. That wasn't the case for me. My mom and dad tried for years to have kids before I was born, and when I was my Grandma made me a home made blanket. I will always have that, to remember my baby days by.

But some babies don't have loving grandma's to crochet them blankets that they will have for the rest of their lives. And that is something I'd like to change. I think that every baby should have a homemade blanket. So that's what I am doing.

I'm going to crochet and donate 1,000 baby blankets to babies that don't have them. No, I'm not a 50 year old woman, although when I took my crocheting onto the bus to conclave a few weeks ago about 10 people asked me if I was. In reality, crocheting is really relaxing. As soon as I finish a blanket, I'll post pictures of it. And I'd really recommend you try crocheting, I'm really loving it.

Accidents on the Crazy Road Called Life

I think that everyone loves Jane Lynch. Well everyone that's watched anything she is in that is. But really its hard not to know who Jane Lynch is these days. It seems like she is in almost everything these days. I first saw Jane Lynch with out having any idea who she was in Talladega Knights: The Balled of Ricky Bobby. My mom absolutely loves that movie and I always thought the mom in it (played by Jane Lynch) was a great character. I also loved her character in Julie and Julia, which incidentally I am watching right now. But the first time I saw Jane was in Glee. I was a gleek from the start, and although I don't really watch it now, sometimes I will just watch Jane's scenes. She does such a wonderful job with Sue, making the character hilariously hateful but just when I can't stand her, the tides turn and a plot line tugs at my heart strings.

In Happy Accidents Jane Lynch does just that. There are moments of it where you think that she can be such a bitchy drama queen. Yea that's right I said it. There are moments in Happy Accidents where I just thought that if I had to work with Jane on something it would drive me crazy. But for about 90% of the memoir, I was the biggest Jane Lynch fan girl. Her exploration of what it was that she was feeling as a lesbian when being a lesbian wasn't something in the main stream vocabulary is very commendable, and the story of her falling in love at first sight made me grin. Not only does Jane Lynch have great comedic timing but she also is an incredibly funny writer. If you loved Bossy pants by Tina Fey (and really who didn't) then you'll love Happy Accidents.

It's Your Fault if You Get Stepped On!

Well this is my Thanksgiving post. Yea yea yea its way late, but ah well. Anyway every year my family goes up to New York to visit with family for Thanksgiving, and this year two of my cousins were in the parade. So naturally most of the family schlepped their booties out to the parade rout at 6:30 in the morning to witness it. Now I know, why would anyone ever go to a parade where they don't through things? Well folks I have absolutely no idea, especially because you have to be there UBER early and it is freezing out. Its one of the great mysteries of New York.

So, trying to dress warmly and yet in a skirt presented a sort of challenge. Its not hard to dress warmly in pants, I've been doing it to go skiing for years. But to not look totally foolish, well that's somewhat of a harder task in a skirt. In the end, as you can see in the picture below, I just decided to look totally crazy. I also wore a bright pink hat, pink pashmina, and purple coat. My mom said I looked very bohemian. And I have to say, I agree.

Its like a bohemian and a Duggar dressed as one

When we got to the parade route, it was so crazy. Police men directing people every which way, screaming, confusion, pushing, and caffeine. It was like Mardi Gras day but more organized. Finally the group of 5 I was in got through all the lines and sat down on the grand stand. Well the madness didn't stop there. Soon we were being yelled at to scoot over. My aunt would have none of it, she had kids in the parade and did not want to take the chance of being stuck behind a tree and missing them. And the people on the bench in front of us did not want to move either for some reason. The Macy's employee was very annoyed at us, and at one point I heard the man in front of me say "Occupy Grand Stand"

Eventually the man directing things gave up, and said "Alright its your fault if you get stepped on." After all of that was finished, he was actually quite nice and we shared a few laughs. And yes we did see my cousins and uncle marching. And the Subway ride home...well that's a different story.

Belated Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!