+ So this morning I woke up & my sister had driven my mom to work so that she could have the van for the day. HOW WEIRD IS THAT?! By that I mean my sister is almost 19 & just got her license yesterday. This is not normal yet.
+ Work was really really quiet. Left after 3.5 hours. I feel like my shifts are getting shorter & shorter.
+ Reworked the first chapter of The Conqueror. Mike's beta-reading/editing tonight, but anyone else who is willing to give it a look, leave me a comment please! I've redone this chapter a few times, so I want lots of feedback. It's YA adventure/drama, fyi.
+ Beta'd a chapter of her current novel for Jordyn. I love her characters, they're brilliant & she has such a fun style. I love reading anything by Jordyn. :D
+ Christina & Rachel brought me a signed (personalized!) poster & some buttons from the Glee meet & greet thing today. Christina also promised me her t-shirt, since it doesn't fit her at all. Yay! I love my friends! And I'm sharing the extra buttons with roryappletarts & possibly Jordyn.

Kayla leaves for school tomorrow, how weird is that? Also, she is currently half an hour late for curfew & is nowhere to be seen. This is why it was a bad idea to let her borrow the car. Thank God it wasn't mine though. She was out til 4 AM the other night. She thinks that just because she'll be gone tomorrow, she can get away with whatever. Well, she has an hour drive with mom tomorrow down to Olivet. So she should be careful what she's doing.

Okay, I gotta go get my 5.2 hours of sleep. It's laaaaaate.

Today was the last day of the semester!
+ Lit - "conference" took all of 2 seconds. I got a B. I wish she could have just told me that before so I could have slept in later.
+ Sold back books, forgot I still had my art book at home, oops. Guess I'll have to go back there to sell it back unless someone wants to buy it off of me for fall
+ Ran into Gino, he didn't have the grades yet, but he seems to think based off of what everyone said, that I got an A. I sure hope so! Also, Gino's son is adorable, he's probably about the same age as Nick.
+ First aid final went very well, I expect an A on it, which means an A for the class. Hurray!

I have horrible blisters on my feet from the shoes I was wearing earlier. I didn't even wear them all that long because they were killing me. I'd take them off any chance I got...even walking around outside without any shoes. I ended up leaving during break to go to Walgreen's to buy flip flops to wear. So worth the money. I also picked up a first aid kit for my car while I was at it because it was on sale. And then I used the band-aids from it on my blisters, so it came in handy!
I cleaned the front seat of my car, is all clear now. Back still remains a mess, but it's a step in the right direction at least.

So...no grades are in, and I'm only sure of one, but I'm thinking I'm going to end up with 2 As & 2 Bs, which would be amazing.

I'm going through my old icons now & picking some to use :D

+ Italian exam went really well! No idea what the grade is though, haha. I really like this lady much much more & she recommended authors to me too :)
+ Art exam went well too, a solid B. At first I couldn't get into it & was freaking out but I got Mrs C to unlock it again for me and it turned out okay. Only downside is you can't go back & change answers, even during the test, so that kind of screwed me up.

Jez & Chris Adventures
+ Decide to go to Hollywood, but Jez decides on a whim to go to the Promenade because it's awesome & Chris has never been.
+ Go to lots of clothing stores, complain about prices
+ Go to Bass Pro Shop, where Chris has also never been. Stare at fish. Buy fudge. Try to figure out age of cute flirty fudge cashier, decide he's like 16-17 and that's unfortunate for her, haha.
+ Go to Claire's, have fire alarm go off. Everyone else stands around like "Oh, hey look, that thing is flashing and making an extremely annoying sound" and I'm like "Hey you, employee! Get everyone out of here!" and she was all "*sigh* Fine. Get out." And some ladies refused to leave, because they're bad people. Anyway, the alarm was for some other store in the same strip, but still, if the alarm goes off, you get out. Duh.
+ Skip B&N visit because Jez is getting really dehydrated, promise to come back another day.
+ Check out times at Hollywood, find out discount doesn't count towards Transformers 2, decide to come back later & pick a different movie
+ Taco Bell. Again, Jez gets flirted with, minorly. He had weird hair too. Chris & Jez plot Hilary's demise...I mean punishment. Crazy video ideas. Crazier quotes.
+ Go across street to world's best toy store, find out they're closing in a few minutes. The guy's like "well, we're closing now, but we're not going to kick you out" (he actually did say that) so I show Chris around really quick & promise to bring her back some day. More promises, haha.
+ Try to get out of store, find out we're locked in! That was funny. We got right out, it was just a thumb latch to keep anyone else from coming in. We walked out & I said "Chris, we just got locked in a toy store" and she said "Dream come true!" and we high-fived.
+ Still have time before movie, so we go to other end of the strip to ToysRUs. Play with lots of toys. The power like surged or something, or maybe they were starting to turn off some stuff, but the lights went down in the back of the store and then there was this really creepy laugh from a toy or something in the next aisle. So obviously we were the target of a C-level supervillain attack.
+ Go to Hollywood, find out pretty much everything good is sold out. Decide that instead of watching a crap movie, to just go hang out at Chris's house.
+ Go to Kohl's to use bathroom, end up staying for an hour shopping & finding amazing deals. Chris is my shopping fairy, I swear she is. She suggested that we have a big shopping trip with a few friends in the future, and we claimed each other as shopping buddies because we are each other's good luck charms. Still no skirts or capris to wear to work, but I do have two new sundresses I can wear. And two tanktops for days I don't work.
+ At Chris's house we watch YouTube, spend a LOT of time on imdb...mostly Avatar & Ned's Declassified related. We're dorks like that. And we figured out the ages for most of those people, deciding which ones we could date. And uh, I don't care that Devon is a younger than me, I love him. Double for Nathan Kress. No, make that triple. :P

Oh! And I got stuff from Chris from her trip! Well, first off, I got paid for housesitting, which was awesome! And then she also got me a very pretty completely recycled photo album which I need to decide a theme for so I can start filling it up. And then her parents got me a thank you gift which was a very pretty jade necklace that I simply adore (that Chris, my shopping fairy, picked out) and wore around all day. I even have a bracelet here somewhere that would match it perfectly. As in, they should be sold together it is so close. Win!

+ Sleep in until about 11. Fantabulous. I mean, after 8 it wasn't deep, constant sleep, but whatevs, it was relaxing.
+ Load Footloose soundtrack onto iPod (thank you wedontsendit!)
+ Yell at sister many, MANY times to get a move on
+ Late picking up other sister, but she didn't care. Wait 5 minutes for her to stop talking to friends.
+ McDonald's drive-thru. Double cheeseburgers are my old weakness, rootbeer is my new one. Got them both, haha
+ Arrive at dad's house
+ Receive souvenirs from dad & Tanya's trip to California. I got some really pretty painted barrettes and a cool, silly looking hat. Yes, it is both cool & silly. I likes it.
+ Give gifts! I got dad a card & a dvd set of the MIB movies. He was very happy with them
+ Pool time! This was the first time I got to wear my new suit that I bought in, like, January. It fit very well! I like it a lot. Also first time I've been swimming in AGES, possibly since last summer, despite hotel stays. It was fun :)
+ Beach volleyball near the pool. We all suck. Actually, Tanya & I were okay, but not great. I will have bruises tomorrow, I assure you
+ Dinner back at the house, dad grilled out burgers & chicken. Yummy!
+ Watch a slideshow of all the pictures from the wedding & California
+ Dad took K & R driving, while Tanya, the munchkins, & I all watched the US series premiere of Merlin, which I already have seen the whole season of & love dearly. Tanya was freaked out by the snakes in ep 2, but overall they liked it. Joe likes it lots :D My dad came back in time to watch most of the second episode & really liked it & was disappointed to miss the first one. This is because Merlin is so awesome! Also, I think I'm starting to like Arthur more & more. It's just so hard to choose between those two boys!
+ Stayed too late because we wanted to finish Merlin, haha. Drove home.
+ Created flyer for presentation on Susan Glaspell tomorrow

Annnnd now you're all caught up! Yay! Happy Father's Day!

(song stuck in my head)

All the good stuff is at nerdsomewriters today. All the stuff about the Harry Potter exhibit & me getting my CPR/AED license (yes, I did!)

My allergies are KILLING me. I can't sleep, but I'm constantly falling asleep in class & at work & the like. My eyes hurt & itch. My entire BODY itches. I'm sneezing. I'm coughing. I'm nauseous. My airway feels really constricted and I sound freaking asthmatic. (which y'know, isn't out of the realm of possibilities). Overall I feel like crap. And because of this whole stupid housesitting thing, the earliest I can even try to get into a doctor is Monday. ARGH. I will be dead by then. Hm. Maybe I can get Cindy to let out Mugsy on Friday. I work from 11-5, so if they're open later than that, I can get in. And also I'm home Friday night, so is cool. I'll try that.

Oh, so get this: I go home today and change into my work clothes. I stop by again after work and decide to just wear my courds because I'll need them Thursday anyways & I was too lazy to change. I have a pair of jeans here at my dad's, so it wasn't a big deal. But I forgot my shoes there. I'm wearing my work shoes that are falling apart & have no ankle support. So...I'm stopping home after school tomorrow to get my shoes. Just my shoes. *fail*

I'm going to go die now. (which, btw, is how my family says "sleep")

+ Hanging out with the Triad of Dysfunction. Um, yes
+ Talking to Toni about X-Men, the 5NW, books, & the such. Also, I got like super-glomped.
+ MINTY PINEAPPLE WROTE THE 5NW A THEME SONG. OMG YES. This is & I quote (myself) "SUPER FANTASTICALLY EPIC"
+ Talking to Mike about Scooby Doo & Spider-Man shaped mac & cheese, why the prices are so high at A&F/J.Crew/the such, what to do with a giftcard you don't want, etc.
+ Anything out of Chris's mouth tonight. She is so tired & hilarious. I filmed some earlier, but I don't know if I got anything good. Or if you can hear it. We'll find out tomorrow. For now you can check out #tiredchris
+ Comics. THE YOUNG AVENGERS. THEY IS COMING BACK. OMG YES YES YES
+ Manga! Newest volume of Kitchen Princess
+ Remote so I don't have to get up to turn off the light. Haha *lazy*

I'M GOING TO HARRY POTTER EXHIBIT DOWNTOWN TOMORROW. OH YEAH.

Looking at this month is bugging me. All those blank boxes. Ugh, it makes me sick. (Apparently it also makes me xick, which is how I spelled it originally)

+ Intro to WW (not Women Writers anymore, we've changed it to Wonder Women) was fun today. We went to the honors lounge (which is very hidden & exclusive) and had class there. It's just a conference room with really comfortable desk chairs. We're now going to have class there every day because Juliet & I got to make the vote. Yay us! Also: I got to geek out over Anne Bradstreet and QE1, so that was cool.
+ Lupe was late, so I sat in on Gino's 110 class. He made me introduce myself and I did a bad job because I wasn't quite awake, but all the other kids stared at me like 'whooooaaaaaaaa she's good' it was crazy. I was like "Uh...Io mi chiamo Jez. Um. Io ho diciannove anni. Frequento quattro classe a JJC." It was amusing because I had a really thick (and totally accidental) accent when I said my school's name. Y'know, the only part in english. :P Lupe ended up showing up, and she sat with me for a bit, til we ran away to the cafeteria. We also tried to speak italian in a british accent and failed. But I managed an australian accent, so...half credit? At the end we were trying to speak italian in any accent other than italian (or american). We fail.
+ In First Aid we did all the infant stuff with these really freaky looking mannequins. They weren't even like the old ones that at least resemble and feel somewhat like babies. No, these were hard plastic, with unmovable limbs, had weird notches and holes, and were bluish gray. Uh...they're aliens. We're learning how to give CPR to infant aliens. Passed the skill tests for it though, so that's good I guess. I also found out I got a 94% on my written test on Tuesday over the first few chapters. Yay me!

+ Work was super slow. Like, I sat there for an hour doing nothing really. I'm glad I turned on my twitter updates again, haha. At the very end we ran out of paper. And when I say this, I mean there was no paper in the entire centre. Not good.
+ Shoe shopping after school. Found a really cute pair, but they didn't have my exact size, so I went up a size (7). I still need to find some to wear to work every day, and I think I'll go to Target or somewhere for that. I was going to after I went to Payless, but it as 9 and my art projects were due at 11...so...yeah I went home. Only now 9 seems so far away, and now it's 11. I finished my art stuff, btw. Except the chapter 3 test, which was locked. Not good. Gotta talk to my teach about that later.

I GET TO SLEEP UNTIL 11 TOMORROW. OH THANK GOD.
(also: this mash-up is amazing)

+ English: Faked my way through okay. Didn't fall asleep.
+ Italiano: Buone. Didn't fall asleep. Made it through without my book, thanks to Kris and Lupe.
+ Art: Interessante. Didn't fall asleep! Actually started waking up a teensy bit

+ CHRIS!!! I got to hang out with her after school :D
First we went to her eye doctor, because she had an appointment. She just had a check up and was fine, got her glasses tightened up a little. Her mom was there and we helped Mrs G pick out some new glasses. Haha, she had her own little entourage of fashion consultants. Also there was a little girl in the lobby who stared at me while I tried on new glasses myself (I need some, may as well get an idea while I was waiting), and then I complimented her on her reading choice of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (I want this book. So much.) and that made her really happy.
Taco Bell, yummy yummy
Rue 21. I got 2 really cute tops that fit me really well. One is blue, the other is a pink plaid-ish pattern. And some black beads that matched one of the shirts I picked out that didn't fit, but I wanted to get them anyway. All very cheap & all paid for using the cash my aunt gave me. I can wear all of it to work too, which is a bonus. :D
Chris got pretty much an entire outfit because everything she liked matched--even the super cool sneakers!
We saw Night at the Museum 2 which was pretty good. Not as strong a plot as the first one, and of course not as good, but still very entertaining. We laughed a lot. And then I laughed some more at Chris's laugh.

And now I has some homework to fake for women's lit, so I must be off. But first! For my women's lit semester project, I talked Murph into letting me use Chaucer's The Wife of Bath. I will likely--no, I'm pretty sure I will be--the only person presenting on a male writer. Because it's a women's lit class. But...The Wife of Bath!! It says soooooo much about women in that time, and it's even more interesting because it's written by "one of those dead white guys." I like how weird I am.

+ Finished Lucky Breaks late last night--stayed up to finish it. Ending was worth it. Lucky got on my nerves a bit in this one, and Paloma at points too, but there's always Lincoln! Gosh, I love that boy. And he was just outstanding in this book. The ending between Lucky & Lincoln was adorable, but I won't spoil it none. Still, I would have liked it better if Paloma minded her own business at that part.
I have a few things to pick at with this addition, but I'll leave that for a proper review later.

+ Work was blah and busy and yuck.

+ Kayla had prom tonight so mom & I drove her over to her friend's house to take pictures before they got in the limo & all. All the girls were lovely. Rachel's dress was amazing--and her mother made it all herself!! I was entirely impressed.
--> Allergies were absolutely killing me as we were taking pictures though. I think it was the magnolia? idk

+ Mom & I went to Cracker Barrell then to my school for the play. I had lost the tickets, but I just told the dude my last name & he printed me up new ones for the same seat & everything. We had great seats too, right in the middle towards the front.
Weirdest. Play. Ever. (Rimers of Eldritch) And my mom is like "why did you bring me to this?!" and I told her from the start I had no idea what it was about other than that it was PG13. And the story was very confusing too, but at the end I mostly got it. Soooooo weird. Another thing is that they used the fog machine far too much and made a lot of people in the audience cough.

( Cut for length )
TL; DR? It went very well, I had lots of fun, & I will post pictures when I can!

(Also, thanks to Gaby, Hilary, Toni, & Jenn for their compliments on my picture earlier!)

I wanted an alliteration.

+ School. School was fun, we talked about all different kinds of Italian foods. I can now say "I am allergic to..." many different things in Italian. Like "Io sono allergico a mento" is "I am allergic to mint."

+ Shopping. My mom got one of those scratch-off Kohl's coupons right? And hers was for 30%, so off to Kohl's we go! Kayla & I that is. I had to get a strapless bra for the wedding and then I decided to get a new swimsuit then too because I should really take advantage of the discount while it's around. I also got a really cute punk rock-esque vest. It is pinstriped & will match my fedora. I'm weird, I know, deal with it. Anyway, swimsuit shopping is a nightmare, as is bra shopping (when they're strapless anyway), and you can refer to my BEDA post here about the swimsuit part at least.

+ I talked to Hilary on the phone today! It was awesome. :D We share a brain, btw. And we both are thinking about buying Spectacular! on DVD sometime. I'm going to first try to convince my mother to buy it for me for Easter instead of razors & candy & whatever weird small stuff she finds this year. I'd much rather have Nolan Gerard Funk.
--> Also, I sent Gaby the link to Spectacular! online and she & her friend AJ are going to watch it together over break, so I look forward to welcoming her to our group of addicts. I mean fans....no, I really meant addicts.

+ FM Static's CD is amazing. I'm not sure yet, but I may like it better than Critically Ashamed. All of the songs are fabulous. I really like "Man Watcha Doin?" because it's so catchy. And the fact that Tricia Brock sings the female part on "The Voyage of Beliefs" is extra awesome. Also, it sounds amazing, she has such a nice voice & it lends itself to this song very well.


EDIT: I started making Spectacular! icons. This is the first of those, there will be more, don't worry.

So...I was being a good girl & being productive, even though it's Spring Break. I cleaned my closet up and reorganized my drawers. The sweaters are now hung up because they're so bulky, and that leaves room for all the jeans & t-shirts to fit now (plus more room). I went through and found the things that didn't fit me or that I didn't want any more and put them in a big bag to give to Juvenile Diabetes (full garbage bag too! Go me!).

And then I did 3 loads of laundry between last night and this afternoon (I was at Jessica's in between). Well, the third load wasn't full and I threw in a lot of towels too. But yeah, this was an awful lot of laundry.

I found a big ole patch of hives on my elbow earlier and my mom had me put some hydrocortizone cream on it. My chest has been really itchy all day, but I figured it was just dry because my skin is always real dry. Then I had my hands in my sleeves & the thumb through the opening under the button and the bottom of my palm starts really itching. And swelling up a little.

Turns out we got new laundry detergent yesterday. I was the first to use it...with my 3 loads. I'm allergic to it.
And now I have 3 loads worth of clothes that I cannot wear until they are re-washed with Tide (the kind we usually get). This is an awful lot of clothes and a huge percentage of my wardrobe!! Especially the stuff that is season appropriate. This...is not good. And I have to do 3 more loads of laundry now. I thought I was done. This sucks. I hate having allergies.

Not that I can remember. It's highly unlikely, considering I wear green practically every. single. day. I woke up this morning and was like "I HAVE TO WEAR GREEN TODAY...This will be easy" and it was not. Because I had about 30 green tops to choose from.

...currently wearing a green on green Chip & Dale shirt. Cuz I can.

And the first thing I did this morning after getting dressed was pinch my mother, who was wearing a grey sweatshirt. *laughs evilly*

I love TFK, but their songs get stuck in my head!

Why today is awesome:
+ Slept in. Kinda, not too late, but then again I did go to bed early last night. The internets were UBER BORING OMG WHERE WERE YOU GUYS?! and then my RLS kicked in, so I just gave up & went to sleep.
+ I made pancakes for breakfast
+ Met dad halfway to drop of sister units
+ Saw Jenny!
+ We went to the movies because she had free tix from Hollywood Blvd. We wanted to see He's Just Not That Into You but the passes weren't valid for opening weekends of movies, so we ended up seeing New in Town. I thought the movie would be total crap based on the previews, but it turns out that it has an actual plot the previews don't tell you about. It's not actually just a love story, it's a story about a factory that's about to be closed & people about to be layed off & they fight back! I like that kind of story, the gooey love stuff, not so much. Not a big fan of Renee Zellweger, but whatevs. The old ladies were kind of awesome.
+ Jen liked her "Happy 100th Birthday" card & the water bottle cozy I got her
+ We went to Rue 21 (we had an hour to waste before the movie) and I got a pretty striped brown sweater & matching scarf for only $3!
+ Oh, and earlier on we also watched Heart and Souls on my computer. Love that movie! When Penny takes over Thomas's body and gets all crazy lady I like to try to think of Iron Man (Thomas is played by RDJ) doing that. I usually crack myself up.
+ I stole Jen's ToD video and put it on my laptop & it is now uploaded. Only took ALL OF FOREVER.

Why today was not awesome:
+ No Chris
+ No 5NW post (tomorrow though!)

So, apparently I haven't posted in 2 days. That's not like me. I'm not sure why I didn't post Wednesday.

Wednesday - took me 2 FREAKING HOURS to drive to school in the blizzard. It should only take 35 minutes, less if traffic is clear on 80. We stopped moving entirely before Briggs...which is not very far at all. 2 miles from where I got on. It was stop & go. I completely missed my first class. When I finally got into Joliet I went to McDonald's for breakfast because I had an hour before theatre and I needed something to eat and I needed something to make me happy. I called my dad to let him know I was alive, because I had talked to him while in traffic (turns out he was in traffic too, on 1st Ave headed towards 75th, same kind of stop & go crap). I left my mom a voice mail telling her I was alive & what had happened. On my trip I tried calling Casye & Chris, neither of whom answered. I talked to Noel at McD's because he called me (go fig). When I got to school I had to park far away and in about 6 inches of snow. That's when Chris called. So, I guess she had good timing because it kept me from getting too angry about it all.
School got cancelled at 3 pm that day. Y'know, AFTER the blizzard when it was sunny out and the roads were clear. That's crap.
I still went to work though.
And also: it was mom's birthday. So after work we all went out to Chili's, which my grandmother paid for. So yummy! I got tortilla soup & a quesadilla. I forgot to ask for chicken on my quesadilla, but the cheese was good too!

Thursday - I went to work early, dressed in a black tanktop, one of my green sweaters over that, and my green fleece jacket over that. I had on my nice work pants...with my black leggings underneath. I was mostly comfy all day, but when I went to AF I got a little cold. Yeah, it was that cold out. Both jobs were relatively boring.
When I was about 7 minutes away from home, I called my mom and asked her to warm up the soup she'd made for dinner because I wanted it hot the second I walked in. And that's what I got :)

SPOILERS
Private Practice - Now that PrP is on Thursdays, I can watch it after work! Yaaay! It was a pretty good episode I guess. I'm glad that Violet decided to stop seeing both guys...but I'm not happy about who she was with at the end. I do think that Sheldon might be better for her in the long run, but I liked Pete better. And Pete's being a jerk about it...though he has a right.
What the heck is up with Addy? She's all angry at Kevin, who she WANTED to get back together with, and she's thinking about dating WYATT?!?! Where is the Addison we all know and love?
Old lesbian chick who cheated on her husband? Oh Private Practice I'm glad you & your controversy are back. I missed it last week.
YAY COOPER I LOVE YOU AND YOU DID THE RIGHT THING AND IT WAS WEIRD BUT SO GREAT.
Best line: "Why are you here Cooper, in the middle of my southern gothic tragedy?"
Haha Naomi was all cute & nervous about Sam's new girlfriend and using Mya as an excuse.
SO SAD about that dad & girl. What about the little kid!
This episode had like no Dell at all. I am disappointed. I love that guy! I want to know what happens with him and Heather!!


Grey's - Okay, so like, I love Mrs. Shepherd. I think she is awesome and a good mom. Moments I loved with her: her talk with Mark. Mark was all like "...GAH I can't lie to you! I slept with a 24 year old okay!" and then later she's like "You have the maturity of a horny 15 year old, you need young" (no, really, she said that. It was great). And then her *real* talk with Mer. And when she goes up to Lexie and drills her on "are you a good girl?" Her talks with Dr. Hunt are good too. But the best part was her talk with Derek at the end where she gives him the ring. Awwwwww.
Sloan telling Callie to "walk tall" was pretty neat.
YES YES YES IZZIE CHOSE ALEX THAT IS AWESOME. And also, Alex offering to take a road trip to Iowa and then Iz being all "...Isn't your mom in Iowa?" was really cute. He wants her to meet his mom!! AWWWWWWW. You done good, Alex, ya done good.
The ending was brutal and weird, but also kind of good, but still sort of gruesome. Good that he gets to save the kid's life though. Hope it works out this time.
Poor Crazy, Crazy Sadie. She needs some Callie to make her feel better.
Cristina & Dr. Hunt's date was so many different flavors of dysfunction...but was really sweet at the end. He was sooooo drunk when he showed up, but at least he brought flowers! And then she's like "take a shower" and he goes into her shower...fully clothed! haha! The whole "YANG YANG I KNOW MY ANSWER NOW" thing was kind of drunk, but still interesting. And his answer was so sad. It's crazy she got into that shower, also fully clothed, but it was so sweet and I love their messed up relationship.


I think that's all. Helping Sammmmmmmm with telling Casye relationship stuff. And helping her pick out clothes...and helping her talk to Sky...and lol she's so adorable.

I started out by sleeping in until 11:30. Then I got blown off by Jess, which was annoying, but expected. So instead I called up jenthepanda and we were going to go shopping. I also drove my sister to her friend's house, even though she was kind of in trouble, but mom had said okay (probably to get rid of her, haha) and Kayla did my chores for me, so it was all good I guess. So Jen & I are going to go into Orland for the Bargain Books New Year's sale (never made it there btw), Barnes & Noble, and Target, but chrischibigurl calls up & wants to go to Mitsuwa, which was our plan for later in the day. So I say I'll drive & we go get here, but I decided I was hungry so we went across the street from her house to Cici's first. I like Cici's, it's pretty good food, but even more so, it's a great deal. Where else can you get a buffet for $5? Is good *nods*

The drive to and from Mitsuwa? Not so great. We had crappy directions and the driver (being me) had never been there before (nor did she know it was way out in Arlington Heights, ew). Mitsuwa, btw, is a big supermarket of sorts of Japanese stuff. It was pretty cool, but way crowded and I'm not doing so well with noise or crowds this week. I'm just slipping lately, that's all, I'll be okay once I get back into a routine (school starts on the 12th). Jen & Chris had fun & got stuff, so it's all good. And I called my dad for directions on the way home & turned out that my idea to get home was good, but I like to check & have directions and stuff. We made it home safely, just late.

Chris had to spend some time with her family that was over, so Jen & I finally got to do our shopping. We were driving over to Lemont, cutting through the Bray when I thought of Noel, so we invited him along. I'm glad I got to see him, and that he's feeling better. It sucks to be sick over the holidays (and his birthday!). I got some socks, some over the door hooks for my hats (FINALLY I CAN HANG THEM SOMEWHERE), and a DVD of Audrey Hepburn movies. All with my gift card from Jenny Craig! I love my job :D

Back to get Chris! We did a lot of running around yesterday. After some time at her house we head into Joliet to go see Marley & Me, but we were too early so we went to Target again, since there was another one right there (and the Barnes & Noble closed early, sad day). I didn't get anything this time, but Jen found more cheap stuff & Chris found some stuff too. Finally we get to see the movie and OMG IT WAS SUPER SAD AND I CRIED AND I NEVER EVER CRY DURING MOVIES. IT WAS ONLY LIKE 3 TEARS BUT THAT'S LIKE 1000 FOR ME. OMG. But it was FREAKING AMAZING and I might go see it again with my siblings. SO GOOD.

Then I came home & realized I had forgotten to eat, but I was too tired to make anything at 0030 and I had to be at work in the morning, so I just went to sleep.

Soo....if we go by that, I will have a very fun year, with a few tears, and I will learn to not trust others with directions. :P Oh, and my shopping fairy will stay with me.


Tep is coming over in a little bit here & we'll probably watch movies or play wii or something. She wanted to hang out & I wanted to give Renee a break with watching the boys (since she watched them all morning while I worked & Kayla did whatever it is she does). It all works out. :D

Work yesterday wasn't bad at all. Turns out we didn't open until 11, so the 9:30-12 shift was easy :D Unfortunately though, I got there ten minutes late because the nice plows in our area decided to push all the snow onto people's driveways instead of into the middle of the circle...they're so nice *uber sarcasm*

Comic Book Joe gave me $25 gift certificate to Aurileo's! :D I have no idea how to go through that much there, haha

At dad's we watched A Year Without A Santa Claus and part of Rudolph's Shiny New Year and most of The Santa Clause. We were running around some, so we didn't get to watch all of everything. We went to church where I almost fell asleep. Something about that preacher's voice always puts me to sleep, srsly. Still better than Kayla texting in church though.

Back home we had dinner, then opened presents.

( What I've gotten so far & from whom )

EDIT: I just got back to the hotel from the big Swanson family gathering & it was a lot of fun. The best part I think was playing Catch Phrase with my sisters, Sara, Julia, & Ryan. The third round we played with Dan (Sara's brother), his girlfriend (I can't remember her name, honestly), & Graham (my uncle). It was pretty hilarious :D
Food of course, was AMAZING. As always. I love Swanson parties because we eat so well & there's always tons of left overs!!
The slideshow this year was strange. First off, my 19th birthday was included as a "milestone" and it said that I "turned 19 this year, goes to Joliet Junior College, and has her own blog!" and I was all "wtf?" That was the only one about me because I couldn't find any pictures of me doing "activities". Actually, the cool tree one of me, my sisters, Julia, & Sara had a thing about me saying that I "go to Joliet Junior College for communications" and I was all "...way to remember my major." Still, better than Sara getting the same present two years in a row, haha. But y'know, whatever, I had fun today. The other girls are all at Sara's house, but I'm still really sore, so I came back here so that later I can soak in the hot tub downstairs. And I don't really care too much, my fave cousin is here at the hotel. Btw, he did get Inkdeath, which his mom, my mom, & myself were really campaigning with Aunt Sally to buy for him. "It's all about them going around and spreading sunshine & rainbows!" it was pretty hilarious. I'm glad he got it because he was really hoping for it. Now I need to look up stuff on Eternal Midnight for him because we haven't heard anything on that at all. Stupid Barker doing other projects...

Fun will continue tomorrow, as most of the Swansons are staying the night in this hotel, at Sally's, or at Lorraine's. We're staying around here until about 2, then heading back home so that I can be at Crystal's party on time. Yay!

I don't feel like I can count yesterday because 1) I never have school on Thursday and 2) I worked.

+ Slept in late. It was great. I would have slept in later but we got hit with a major snow storm last night, so the kidlets were out of school & were noisy.
+ Goofed off all morning
+ Kayla & Renee had school though, it was only delayed. I bet if they didn't have exams, they would have gotten today off too. So I had to wait for Kayla to get home to watch the boys until I could go anywhere.
+ Picked up Jen & we went to Chris's house. Cattaneo was there too. We went to the mall (I drove, I'm "the responsible one"). It was lots of fun :D
+ After like 4 hours at the mall, we went to Goodwill to find stuff for Crystal's 80s party. I actually ended up finding a really cute denim dress, which I might actually wear for other stuff too. Gonna wear it with a turtleneck & leggings. Lots of silly jewelry that I'll borrow from Chris too. And then I found nice pants for work as well :D
+ Then Wal-Mart. OMG we are crazy shoppers. I got leggings & Play-Doh. Because those totally go together :P

Now I'm home. I'm going to bed fairly soon. I'm not tired, but I have work early, so I should get at least 6 hours sleep. I'm used to getting up that early now, but it still bothers me. I get really worn out as the day drags on & we slow down & I have nothing to do. Need to remember that my shoes & books are already at work from yesterday...

(which is unusual for a tumor)
+ Slept in. Gorgeous.
+ Mum & I dropped Granny off at the mall, then headed towards school
+ I made like 90 something dollars from book buyback. Fantastic. It was weird because I got more for my used PR book than I did for my brand new never-been-used (as in, I didn't even use it) religion book. I probably made back the majority of my speech book though. Will return English book at the end of the week, because I still need it for class. So Friday after school.
+ Mum & I went across the street to Cracker Barrel which was really nice. She got the meatloaf & I the chicken with rice. Normally I get grilled cheese, and I thought about doing that again with some soup. I also thought about pancakes because I'm a breakfast anytime sort of person. But I took a chance and I'm glad I did because it was all so very super delicious. I need to go there again sometime soon. Maybe Julia, Whit, or Joe would want to go with me next Monday after exams? Seriously though, it was great. I am about to go upstairs and warm up my left overs for dinner.
+ Next we went to the mall where mom got a really nice coat for herself at like 60% off, which was really good. It looks great on her too. I got Chicken Run for my dad, and a pretty ornament for Tanya. And while we were at Cracker Barrel I got a cute hamster toy for Nick. It runs around in its own little ball! So adorable!!
+ Mom is going to pick out something for me to give to her from the pile of stuff she bought herself for my aunt to give her (confusing?). So I might be getting her a griddle...yeah, it's weird, I know. But so is my mom. And myself for that matter. It all works out in the end. We decided the dvd of Nanny McPhee that I gave her early would be for her birthday, which is in January.
+ Now I need something little to send to Shelly, something for Sammmmm, and to decide what else I'm getting for Jen. Other than that, I think I'm done. :D Yaaaaaaay for shopping early!

Today was good :D

+ Slept in
+ Electrician came over, looked at stuff, then left. I didn't have to hide or anything
+ Made soup for lunch. Yummy.
+ Went to Kohl's with Jen because I had money to spend from my aunt to buy clothes for me for Christmas. Yeah, my aunt is crazy. Whatever. It had to be today because they need to be sent off to her so she can wrap them. My dad asked me this actually, because he facebook stalks me now. lol.
+ Went to Target too, to find some cute socks for Laura, who I have for the grab bag this year. Only, I'm keeping the socks because I guess she really really wants Twilight and that's $8 and there's a $10 limit. Tanya says it's okay if I don't get her the book, but I guess that's what she wants most. So I'll get it for her. Hope no one else does. Should be okay because Cindy was the one who told Tanya to suggest it to me. I like the socks for myself anyway, they're green ^^
+ Hung out with Jen at her house for a few hours. I'd never been inside her house before! We had some yummy chicken & dumplings for dinner. We played CLUE FX twice, she won the first time, I won the second time. It was odd, but fun. We also played Scrabble which I destroyed beat her in. My last word was "Zena" which was worth 26 points. I had already won by then, but I was excited to use it, haha.
+ We also watched World Trade Center with her mom & sister. Sad movie. Odd cinematography though. Just sayin.

+ Just finished my stupid book review. I don't know if I'll do book reviews after this semester, just because my editor annoys me & it's become such a pain to write these, even though I love the books & the reviews. I'd rather do them just for me now. Though I'm sure they'll still email me each time asking for articles, so I can always jump back in whenever I want. If Shawn asks me to write a review for them because they really need it, I'll do it. If James is all "do an article for us, kay?" I'll be all "uh, no."

+ I got Casye & Karina to get twitter accounts! WIN! Also, K made me two really cute icons to use :D
(speaking of icons, check out the cool Merlin one I snagged earlier)