My Awesome Family :-)

Hey everyone,

Nothing much has really been happening today, so I figured it'd be a good day to blog about my family, who I've been meaning to blog about for a while. So here I go:

My Dad

 My dad's name is Jeramie, but he goes by "Jay" most of the time. He's 33 years old, (34 in July), and he's one of the strongest (physically and emotionally) people I know. He's the one who always told me that I could be anything I want and could achieve anything I tried for as long as I did well in school, and stayed true to the person I am. Everyone talks about how I don't get into trouble- and my dad is one of the main reasons why. He loves to play video games, and watches the news every night. Less than a year ago, he didn't even know how to turn on a laptop, but now he loves his iPod touch, and can navigate it like a pro :-). He also loves to listen to Country, Rock, and basically all music between the span of 1980-1999. He also loves a lot of classic rock. I inherited a lot of his music interests. My dad is a plumbing supervisor, and has been very successful with his work, even in this economic housing slump. He loves bringing the family together, and often takes us all out camping, ATV riding, or to amusement parks. He's been married to my mom since they were 17, nearly 18, and says that marrying her was the best decision in his life. He also loves Ford Mustangs, and owns two. He takes pride in his car Yelenor, which was featured on the cover of the December 2006 issue of Mustang Enthusiast. More than anything, I love the times when my dad and I can just talk about anything around the campfire-life, friends, school, anything. <3

My Mom

 My mom's name is Tina, and even though for some stupid reason people always seem to think that's short for something, it's not. Her name isn't Christina or any other name with the ending -tina. It's really just Tina. Anyhoo, my mom is basically everything I want to be. She's been happily married to my dad for almost 16 years, and has been in a relationship with my dad for 20 years. Yes, that means they've been together since they were 13. My mom is 33 (34 in May). She is very successful in her job as an accounting supervisor (not a job I want, but I still want to be successful like her). She is myopic (nearsighted) just like me, and usually wears contacts. She always has advice for any problems I have. My mom and I are very open with each other. I hear about all these teens who have problems with the parents, but I don't. My parents treat me like a young adult (except for the letting me go wherever part- which I completely understand), and I try my hardest to not make them regret that. She, just like my dad, has always told me that I can be anything I want to be. I love to shop with my mom, and watch cheesy chick flicks with her. I got her hooked on reading in 2008, and she's been a bookworm just like me ever since. She has a lot of the same music interests as I do, and clothing interests, too. Sometimes we'll even borrow each others tops. I'm okay with that, because we wear the same size, and my mom has a great taste in clothing :-) <3



One of the "embarrassing" photos I have of my brother

 Where do I even begin when talking about my baby brother? Well, how about with saying his name is Bowen, and he's now 10 years old. My baby isn't quite a baby anymore :-( He's grown so big, so fast. Anyhoo, there's a lot to be said about my brother. First, he hates the picture I posted to the left, because he thinks it's embarrassing. For the record, the blanket is mine, and it was the only thing he had to cover up with and he was cold. Or so he claims ;-) He loves Pokemon, Bakugan, Beyblade, yu-gi-oh and many other anime cartoons. He's tried out a football, basketball, and baseball, and has been playing football since he was six. He loves to ride his four wheeler and loves the mud. He complains a lot at chore time, and I often have to get on his case about not messing around, but hey, a kid will be a kid. He's in love with fruity pebbles cereal, and bagel bites. He's in the fourth grade, and is doing pretty well. His handwriting is awful, but it's slowly improving. He loves to irritate me, especially by shooting Nerf sponge bullets at my head, but at the end of the day, he always tells me he loves me before we go to bed. I love telling him about the challenges I faced in elementary school to help show how he can do anything. I think my baby brother has a lot of potential, and I can't wait to see what successful future awaits him. <3



My Dog

 My dog's name is Cobra, and she's a black lab/ mutt. Her birthday is actually on Monday, and she'll be five years old. I've had her since she was a puppy. I got her for Easter when I was in fifth grade. She was a puppy of my uncle's dog. Originally, my cousin had called her Pepper, but my little brother wanted to name her Cobra. So we decided to call her Cobra. I hated the name at first- what kind of a name is Cobra for a dog?- but then it started growing on me. It's actually kind of amusing, her name. It's like the exact opposite of her personality. A Cobra is a ferocious snake, while our dog is the biggest chicken you'll ever meet. She doesn't like loud noises, or new surroundings. For the most part, I'm her favorite. When I'm not around, she likes to follow around my mom. When I am home, however, she likes to follow me up to my bedroom and sleep on my floor (as shown in the picture of her). But earlier this year, I redid my room in blue and green, and now my pink rug (her favorite), is no longer on my floor. Did I mention she doesn't like new or changed surroundings? She eventually got used to it, and now likes to sleep literally right at my feet or pressed up against my closet doors. As I'm posting this right now, she's sleeping against my closet doors looking exactly like that picture except she's lying on her other side. Love you, Cobe <3

Now you know a bit more about my amazing family! :-)

Renaissance Breakfast At School (It's an Incentive Thingy)

Hey everyone,

Today during second period, there was the Renaissance Breakfast that occurs at the beginning of each new semester to reward students who did well the previous semester. There are three levels of cards: Gold being the highest, Black the middle, and White being the lowest. (Our school colors are Gold and Black- white just goes with everything). In order to get a Gold card, you have to have at least a 3.8 GPA ,1 or less absences/tardies and no discipline issues. In order to get a Black card, you have to have at least a 3.5 GPA, 2 or less absences/tardies, and no discipline issues. In order to get a White card, you have to have at least a 3.0 GPA, 3 or less absences/tardies, and no discipline issues.

I got a Gold Card, which means I get some pretty cool rewards. I get a free parking pass for the 2011-2012 school year (yay, because I'll finally be driving! :-), free admission to Quest Games (Fall) (which I get into for free anyways because I'm on the Yearbook Staff), free admission to home games (again, which I get into for free anyways because I'm on the Yearbook Staff), discount on dance ticket (this one is cool- I only get discounts sometimes), discount on the yearbook (since I'm on the Yearbook Staff, I get my yearbook for half off anyways), and 10% off any spirit items in the school store (which is the coolest thing besides the free parking pass- which is normally like $50).

At the breakfast, all of us Renaissance students got free donuts and our choice of drink (orange juice, chocolate milk, or regular milk), and got to sit around and talk for the hour in a social-type deal. It's fun, and we all love the donuts :-)

I Got My New Glasses! :D

Me wearing my new glasses

Hey everyone,

I finally got my new glasses! :-) I actually got them yesterday, but I was too busy to blog about it. Like I said in my post Little Ol' Blind Me ;-) (http://brandi-lovinglife.blogspot.com/2011/02/little-ol-blind-me.html), I have to wear my glasses all the time. In other words, these glasses are now a permanent part of my face. When I put them on for the first time, I said "Wow, I haven't seen this clearly in years...literally." I had a slight headache while my eyes tried to adjust, but it's better today. My mom was there when I picked them out, but my dad wasn't. So the first thing my dad said when he saw my glasses for the first time, go figure, was "What's up with the flower power?" ;-) My friends all liked them, and my yearbook teacher, Mrs.Mann, thought they were adorable.

Here is a side picture of my glasses

So anyhoo, I have obviously posted some pictures of myself with my new glasses. "I can see clearly now...." and the music keeps playing, lol.

My glasses are Vogue brand, but that doesn't mean I have any particular ties to Vogue. Quiet the opposite, really. In general, I don't care much for the "fashion" found in the pages of the magazines. Most of it's just weird. (Like crazy out of control paisley print *shudder*) I liked the frames though, so I went ahead and got them. I had a hard time deciding between the black ones and the gold ones, but my mom suggested the black because the gold just blended in with my highlights. The black frames stood out more. I also think the little glittery flower things on the side are cute. The glasses are pretty comfortable, but I still need to get them fitted. (The eye doctor wasn't open for me to be able to get them fitted. My mom just had to go pick them up.) My glasses also came in a neat little zip-up case with a black silky little cleaning cloth.

Well, I'm off to see the world with brand new eyes (or glasses, I suppose). Bye!

Winter Homecoming 2011 :D

Hey everyone,

Saturday night was the FHHS Winter Homecoming 2011. The dance was formal (obviously) and held at Performance Dodge. It lasted from 7-10pm. I went with a bunch of my friends, and I also reported on it for yearbook. The music sucked, like always (I HATE basically all rap, hip-hop and R&B and a lot of Pop), but for the first time ever I decided to say whatever and danced around like a dork with my friends (far, far away from the freaks grinding on the dance floor lol). For the most part we all danced around in our small little circle of friends. Here are some pictures I took at the dance:

Courtney, Breanna, and Alanna

Dei and Shayne

Chrissy and Alanna Dancing

Ari and her boyfriend Ben

Kacie posing for a funny picture

Me in my dress

Michael and Mikaila

Danielle dancing with friends

Stephanie and Chris (who were also the Junior Homecoming Court Representatives)

Breanna, Courtney and Alanna dancing

SaBrina and Jason

Happy Valentine's Day :D

Hey everyone,

Happy Valentine's Day! XD Anyhoo, as a high school student, I have seen my fair share of PDA and other not-so mentionable things in the halls that I would to have preferred avoiding. But today there was quite a sight in the halls: Valentine's Day gifts galore. Helium filled balloons proclaiming "I Love You" and "Happy Valentine's Day" bobbed in the air as students walked down the halls. Many people carried flowers, most commonly roses, around in bright, beautiful bouquets. Chocolates were constantly being pulled out of those classically shaped heart boxes, and if as many real dogs were adopted as stuff dogs were given, there would be many empty pounds. Jewelry also seemed to be a somewhat common gift.

My friend Desiree got a beautiful heart shaped necklace and a white rose from her boyfriend. Her necklace is of two silver snakes, intertwining to form a heart. That's right up Desiree's alley. It was adorable! Desiree, Breanna, SaBrina and I also got our friend Morgan a Valentine's Day gift. We got her a can of Arizona Watermellon juice, which she loves. It's nothing big, but we all signed the can and made her a card and wrote "We love you" in German, French, Russian, Romanian, Irish, Swedish, and we wrote "Will you be our Valentine?" In Spanish. We wrote in captions for the Spanish part, and just told her what the rest of it meant. She really liked it, which was cool :-)

Anyhoo, on most holidays I post awesome Jeff Dunham Holiday E-Cards. So here are a couple of my favorites: (fair warning: the first one has a swear word in it if that bothers you)

Jeff Dunham Happy Valentine's Day #3:



Jeff Dunham Happy Valentine's Day #4:



Hope everyone enjoys them! <3 And Happy Valentine's Day!

Out and About Selling Yearbook Ads

Today Mrs. Mann, my yearbook advisor, and I went out to local businesses to try and sell yearbook ad space. Each page is 7" by 10" and we separate ad space into three groups: Full Pages, Half Pages and Quarter Pages. A Full Page is $100, Half Pages are $50, and Quarter Pages are $25. This is the same for businesses and senior ads.

Mrs. Mann and I went to Old World Bakery first, then D&E-Z-O's Pizza, then the hair and nail salon beside it, then the Breakfast Barn next to that, then Schumann's Meats, then Star Cinema, Video Games Express and W.G. Grinder's. We left information with all of the people, but were only able to have a secured ad from one business. Video Games Express is owned by a good friend of my dad's, so Mrs. Mann and I went in and I did all of the talking. The owner, Bert, is going to buy a $100 Full Page Ad from us! Mrs. Mann was joking around about how it pays to know someone. We're going to pick up the ad and the money next week.

After we went to the businesses, we ended up at W.G. Grinder's where Mrs. Mann and I ate lunch. We both had subs (though mine only had turkey and provolone cheese). We also talked a lot about the past. It just so happens that Mrs. Mann and my mom lived all of two blocks from each other growing up. (Though they didn't really know each other- Mrs. Mann went to a private Catholic school and my mom went to public school). 

All in all, I'd say Mrs. Mann and I had a rather productive day :-)

Little Ol' Blind Me ;-)



Here's a picture of the weird eye-tester thing
that the Eye Doctor used to test my vision



Hey everyone,

This is totally random, but today I had an eye doctors appointment at 8:30 in the morning. The eye doctor told me my vision has gotten even worse than it was last year (no big surprise there). For anyone who doesn't know, I'm Myopic, meaning I'm nearsighted (not able to see things far away...a lot of people get the two types- nearsighted and farsighted- confused). Myopic sounds more serious though. Anyhoo, my right eye is a bit worse than my left eye, but I can't remember the exact numbers the doc gave me. I didn't hear any fractions though, like 20/20, even though I meant to ask for that (I forgot).



The first time I got glasses was in the 8th grade, when I was 13 years old. At the time I only needed a very weak perscription, and I didn't need to wear my glasses all the time. Last year, when I went in for my yearly vision screening, I was told my vision was worse, and instead of a new pair of glasses, I asked for contacts. Unfortunately, I must have been allergic to my contacts or something because they made my eyes red and watery and uncomfortable. The weird thing is they didn't bother me until about two months of wearing them. After that I just said forget it, I use my glasses. Now I have to try and use my glasses anytime I want to see anything at all in class, and it hurts my eyes to have to squint through them (those are the glasses from 8th grade). In one week, however, I'll get my new glasses and be able to see XD



The eye doctor also said that now I have to wear my glasses all the time. This is the first time I've been told this. Well, I guess he didn't say that I had to exactly. His exact words were "You have to wear your glasses anytime you want to see further away than 10 feet." Seeing as I would always like to be able to see further away than 10 feet, I just went with the assumption that I'll have to wear my glasses all the time.

I'll be sure to post pictures of me in my new glasses next week when I get them! :-)

Lament By Maggie Stiefvater- Great So Far!



One Cover of Lament By
Maggie Steifvater

Last night I started the novel Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater. I have read two other novels by Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver and Linger, and loved them. I thought this novel sounded really good- I first paid attention to it when I saw a post on Maggie Stiefavter's blog, and the post was http://maggiestiefvater.blogspot.com/2011/01/italians-lingering-and-whispering.html. This novel so far (I'm only on page 126 so far) is about a girl named Deirdre who can see the fae. Deirdre is also an amazingly talented musician, and the Faerie Queen fears that Deirdre's music might outshine her own, so she sends an assassin after Deirdre. The Problem? Luke, the assassin, seems interested in Deirdre (or is he simply playing with her mind???). Deirdre is interested in Luke. James, Deirdre's best friend, wants to make sure Deirdre is safe no matter what. And the rest of the fae want to steal Deirdre away.

The back of the book description:

Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand- one who can see faeries.

Unexpectedly, Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowgass- a soulless faerie assassin- and his interest in her might be something darker than summer romance. A sinister faerie named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. They both carry the same assignment from the Faerie Queen, one that forces Dee right into the midst of Faerie. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend.

Deirdre had been wishing her summer wasn't so dull, but taking on a centuries-old Faerie Queen isn't exactly what she had in mind.


Another Cover of Lament by
Maggie Stiefvater


Praise for Lament:

"Full of the fierce and the fey, Lament is musical, magical, and radiating romance."
-Cynthia Leitich Smith, Author of Tantalize

"With her lyrical writing, Maggie Steifvater reimagines myths and legends to bring the world of Faerie to our own."
-Richelle Mead, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Vampire Academy Series

Maggie Stiefvater's Website: http://www.maggiestiefvater.com/
To Order Lament From Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Lament/Maggie-Stiefvater/e/9780738713700/?itm=2&USRI=lament+by+maggie+steifvater
To Order Ballad, The Sequel To Lament From Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ballad/Maggie-Stiefvater/e/9780738714844/pwb=1

Egypt Crisis

This is a picture of protesters in Egypt

On the news for the past week or so, there have been many reports about a crisis going on in Egypt and in several other Middle East countries. Many people in these countries live in poverty, while a small percentage of the citizens live in wealth. That gap that is clearly visible to all people is one of the major sparks of the revolts now occurring. Many protesters in Egypt are demanding that their president leave immediately. They say that there has been years of corruption, and they want the man responsible out now. There have been many bizarre incidents surrounding the revolts including the Internet access to Egyptian citizens being cut off. Within the last few days there were words about how peaceful these protests were. Now, however, there has been a violent out lash of pro-government supports against the anti-government protesters. There has also been an out lash of Anti-American feelings in many protesters in the Middle East. Public opinion has mostly turned Anti-American.

Honestly, as far as the Anti-American feelings in the Middle East are concerned, our government can thank themselves for that. Our government always has to stick its nose it's not wanted. What ever happened to the idea of keeping our government our government. So thank you, all the nosy Republicans and Democrats, for largely contributing to the Anti-American feelings all over the world.

Another Snow Day!

Hey everyone,

Today was our second snow day of the school year (yay!). It was fantastic being able to go back to bed to the news that there was no school. I was very tired when I woke up this morning, and being able to crash down back into my bed was incredible. There's not really a lot more to say about it, but I do hope we don't run out of days (we only have three this year, we've used two, and tomorrow is supposed to be bad also). I hope everyone enjoys their day! :-)