June 25, 2010

dramatic haircut


i finally got the trendy bangs and the layers and short hair i have wanted for forever. im ecstatic! thanks so much to my hairdresser jennifer for the cut, and my mom for taking me to get. thats the after pic, but i forgot to take a before. sorry!

June 21, 2010

guard camp

the colorguard academy (a southeastern program for all high school and middle school guards) hosted another colorguard camp 2 weekends ago. it has taken a while because of the hectic life of a swimmer. lol i had a blast and learned a lot and this is how my story goes: lol

umm i had to wake up super early on thursday to prepare for the hectic weekend ahead of me, but it was worth it. friday was another early morning because i had to be at the high school the academy was hosting it at starting at 8 AM!! (i know, an ungoshly hour). of the 15 girls on my high school guard, 4 decided to show up, and a graduated senior (and just my luck, the one i dislike the most!) was allowed to come.

three out of my four instructors were dudes. the woman i had wasnt my favorite instructor and i didnt really learn anything new... but i definitely learned some new stuff in my flag, rifle, and dance classes! (ironically each one taught by a dude... coincedence,  I THINK SO!!) lol all the classes were fun and very enjoyable.

friday night the camp does a spinfest, wherein all the classes (ranging from beginnner, intermediate, to advanced) from each piece of equipment (saber, rifle, and flag) spun together, last man standing style. i unfortunately got fourth place on the intermediate flag, which is one place lower than they give out prizes for. aurgh... the graduated senior picked us up some points on one of the intermediate spins, earning us some points. (the school with the most points by the end of the night Saturday, was rewarded a certificate). i only participated in the flag spins, cuz those were the only ones i knew i had a chance of winning.

saturday was fun, about the same ideal, except we learned and finalized the routines that we had been doing friday. that night we had another spinfest, but instead of grouping off by class, we did it by equipment piece, all classes against each other. it was a lot of fun, but the only thing i tried at was flag again. (did i mention i can hardly spin a rifle and saber..) i didnt get as nearly as far this time because of the advanced students i was going against... :( we then performed all of our routines for the parents and the other classes. i really enjoyed doing the rifle, flag, and dance routines. not so much the saber. it was just too much of a joke. they being routines we did them to songs:

flag- bad romance, by of course GLEE!
rifle- disturbia, rihanna
saber- hey soul sister, train
dance- just for now, imogen heap

we almost did the flag one to airplanes by b.o.b. ft. hayley williams... but we decided to go for glee instead. :)

June 17, 2010

swim meet numbero uno of season

tuesday we had our first swim meet of the season and needless to say we did pretty well for only being in practice for a little over two weeks. the visting team beat us by only about 30 points: 320-349. it was a close meet and i congratulate both teams for their well deserved awesomeness.

for those who don't know, i work with the little kids, basically all the eight and unders, on the swim team, to help them learn and better the strokes. i was very proud of a particular little boy i work with, who did a 25 of butterfly (argueably the hardest stroke) using the petty memory he has of ever doing it, and did amazing. i have not gone over the stroke with those kids so for him to go and do the 25 in a relay, was amazing. i am soo proud of all the kids. some got over their fear of jumping in the water and swimming in front of such a massive crowd, others jumped of the brand new blocks having never done a swim meet in their entire life.

my pride could not be any higher, and i showed them that by awarding each and every one of the kids i work with a piece of candy for finishing the race and doing their best. i was soo proud and i cant wait to help them learn butterfly and properly learn breaststroke, seeing how i kind of crash coursed it on monday. (we didnt have an 8 and under boy breaststroker, so i had to crash course it to a swimmer who did the team last year, a new arrival who seemed to have the hang of it, and a boy who had learned the strokes a couple years back and has never applied them to anything). to all the girls and boys i work with: WELL DONE! i love you all and i wake up each morning so early just for you!!

June 14, 2010

flag day


i know lots of people dont realize that today is flag day, but it is! haha watch the video linked to this post and you will see why we celebrate it :)

and yesterday's beetle bailey was pretty amazing:



just thought i would share some thoughts

June 4, 2010

swim team

the swim team has started back up and the first week has been brutal. im mean absolutely and completely exhausting. i have walked home every day with a sense of extreme exhaustion and the need for a nap. today was the only day that i got a nap, but it wasnt until late into the afternoon. the first day of practice was tuesday and to tell you the honest truth, it was the hardest first day ever. we did a pyramid that was (looking back now) easy, but on the first day, HARD! haha on wednesday, i played water polo with some friends, and it was fun, but yesterday i woke up feeling sore and weak. i only hope that this year i actually work up some muscle, and find a way to maintain that muscle, not completely lose it in the fall, and have to work it back up the first three weeks of practice. haha but enough of me complaining. it was a lot of fun, and im really looking forward to this season. we have a lot of new kids, but they are all doing sooo well, so by our first meet, we should be doing really really well.

this year i also get a new experience: helping with the littler kids. i am helping four little kids better their stroke and get better at swimming the length of the pool. they are all doing soo well, and im looking forward to seeing them really really improve over the season. haha good luck!

memorial day

Happy Late Memorial Day!
So we celebrated the holiday meant to commemorate the Veterans of the many, many wars that this glorious country has been apart of, by going to a Community Pancake Breakfast. We recognized those Veterans in attendance, and then one of the Aldermen spoke, as well as one of the Veterans. One of my friends' dad played Taps while the Scout Troop retired the Colors and my mom teared up. (Both of her Grandfathers served in World War II, one as a B28 belly bomber, the other as a part of the Navy serving the Pacific). Later on, we went to a friends, and had a BBQ and chatted.

Once it got dark, we decided that we would do a couple of fireworks. 3 bottle rockets, sparklers, 2-16 shot fireworks, and then 1-44 shot were the fireworks we shot. the first big firework we set off, tipped over and hit the backyard of two of the conjoining neighbors. the middle one, the most exciting on my part, was by far the most dangerous. what happened last year with the giacalone's and fourth of july, happened again this year. the box exploded out of the side, and exploded in front of one of the neighbors who was unloading the back of his car, and right in front of the tent we had set out earlier. we scared the little kids and they all started running inside, and then the neighbor's one blew up almost right next to him. needless to say, the neighbor was a little upset that we had almost hit him with a firework. after a little bit of discussion, the man allowed us to do one more firework, the largest yet. too bad that it was the largest disappointment. the shots were short and small, NOT FUN!! (i like the ones that explode in the sky and are completely gorgeous).

come to find out that the fireworks when they come out, are shot in rows, not random. so the problem becomes that the box becomes side heavy. and the side of the box gets hot and the fireworks shoot out of the side. therefore tipping it on its side and causing the firework to shoot out into people's faces, people's houses, and of course, people's yards. luckily no one was seriously injured, just a couple of scratches. haha over-all it was a lot of fun.