&ohyeah

Here's a Christmas picture for you :)

I Almost Died...

....jumping off of a chair...

I'm a dare devil, I tell ya.

The story behind that escapade is...I was baking and I needed something out of an upper cabinet, on the very top shelf. I couldn't quite reach it so I grabbed a chair and proceeded to get what I needed. I turned around and went to get down...except it didn't exactly work. When I went to jump down, my foot got stuck in the other leg of my too-long pants and I almost fell. In the process of trying to preserve my face, I twisted weird in order to avoid falling and messed my back up.

As in, if I even sneeze, my back locks/spazzes/hurts...etc.

So now I've been ordered to sit. I'm bored. I decided to blog. And listen to Scotty McCreery.

Can we just pause and discuss how flawless he is? Like, really now.

Also, you'll be glad to know I've made it through my short spasm of O(bsessive)J(onas)D(disorder)...sorry about that last post but not really ;)

How was everyone's Christmas? I hope they were all wonderful! Mine certainly was.

I was able to spend time with my family, eat yummy Christmas food, play Just Dance with my cousin (ha..ha..ha) and see the second Sherlock Holmes. It was a pretty successful day :)

Well...I can't think of much more to write about.

I have a chocolate orange. Mmm.

I'm obsessed with my new Smash Book. 

I have three packages coming to me soon.

I love getting mail.

I'm going to go bug my sister to take me driving.

That's still sitting, isn't it?

Okay, bye.

:)

asljdfl;kj...no words.

So.
It's late.
I should be asleep.
Three hours ago.
But I'm not...instead I was on a teen-celebrity site that I haven't been on in a few months.
I'm so glad I went on there.
Because I found this song. 

See...I don't think anyone can really understand the capacity of how happy this song makes me. My JoBro obsesh was cut off when they decided to take a break or whatever it was...and it kind of subsided when they all went off to do their own things because I don't really like them individually.

But together? Dynamite.

I missed the fans. I was a huge part of the fan base for like two years. I forgot how enthusiastic they could be.

We've been waiting for a new Jonas Brothers' song for about...two years.

And to quote Kevin Jonas, “I think the tides are perfectly lining up for the future of the Jonas Brothers again."

And Joe Jonas is growing his hair out again, so obviouslyyyy...

It seems like the days of OJD, OMJ, and TJ are back ;)

oija;slkjdf;oiaujfr;kahf

Peace out, Justin Beaver, the real JB is back. 

Okay, I'm done my teeny-bopper rant now.

I'm going to go do something intellectual like sip herbal tea while reading fine literature.

I need to salvage my maturity.

Falalalala...Random.

High guise!

So! Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. But in my defense, it is Christmas time and I'm a busy, busy girl. I have important things to do! Such as:

• Painting my nails
• Watching YouTube videos
• Petting my cat 
• Staring at the ceiling 
• Staring at the posters on my wall 
• Painting my nails again  

Anddd lather, rinse, and repeat!

Kidding. I really have been busy! But the house is quiet right now (weird...) and I figured I'd write a quick post.

So, the ten things that make me smile/happy...Christmas Edition! Because who didn't see that coming, right?

1) Christmas decorations! In all honesty, we haven't decorated our tree yet. But I put it up yesterday. By myself. All three pieces. *flexes nonexistent muscles*

2) Coffee...Gingerbread Lattes...etc (please refer to 1:01 of this video to hear how I say "etc" in my head.)

3) Wrapping presents! I really like wrapping presents on Christmas Eve. Not really I just procrastinate the heck out of everything.  I actually spent like an hour wrapping presents for a stranger the other night and got paid for it...so...

4) Giving gifts! I.Love.Giving.People.Presents. I told somebody that today and they looked at me like, "Yeah, right," but it's the truth!

5) Christmas movies. Need I expand?

6) Christmas music! I listen to Christmas music about two months out of the entire year. I don't really know what else to say about that....

7) Being with my family (awwww). But really. It's pretty rare that we're all together.

8) The rush. Okay, so seriously. I love the hustle and bustle of the season. A lot of people hate it. But it's one of those things...I don't really know how to explain it I guess.

This is one of those moments where I say a bunch of random things to distract you from my lack of thought.

Cheesecake.
Rabbit.
Bottle.
Orange.
Letter.
Cinderella.
Television.

Distracted yet?

9) Traditions. I can't think of any right now. I told you I'm horrible at this blogging thing today. Refer to the above list for ample distraction.

10) Christmas break!!!!!!!!!!! Two and a half weeks of bliss. Which has now started. Which will technically start after Christmas since we're having Christmas dinner here and the next 3 days (WHAT?) are going to be pure chaos. Butohwell!

And that is my completely lame list. I'm really not sure if I'll have a chance to blog again before Christmas, so if I don't, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Operation Christmas

Agent Weigand is currently braving the terrains of a Holiday decoration-less landscape.


The forests are completely plucked of Christmas trees.

The population of snowmen, gingerbread families, and other yuletide species seem to have gone into protective hiding.

The food supply of cookies and peppermints has either been confiscated or failed to be produced yet.

Further, the well is depleted of eggnog, hot chocolate, and the like.

The only vague sign of Christmas that the agent can find is the faint sound of Christmas music in the background. She is supposing that if she draws nearer to the sound, she will find the Christmas spirit! Or the despicable culprit behind this lack of Christmas-ness!

Over and out.

Sparks Fly

"God's timing is not ours to command. 

If we do not start the fire with the first strike 

of our match, we must try again.

God does hear our prayer, 

but He may not answer it at the precise time

we have appointed it in our own minds. 

Instead, He will reveal Himself to our seeking hearts, 

though not necessarily when and where we may expect. 

Therefore we have a need for perseverance 

and steadfast determination in our life of prayer...

May we, therefore, never despair. 

God's time for mercy will come - 

in fact, it has already come, 

if our time for believing has arrived. 

Ask in faith without wavering, 

but never cease to petition the King 

simply because He has delayed His reply.

Strike the match again and make the sparks fly. 

Yet be sure to have your tinder ready,

for you will get a fire before long."

~ Charles Spurgeon, 

Streams In the Desert

And So It Has Begun

Guessssssssss what? I have found my Christmas spirit.
Would you like to know how?
No?
Oh, too bad...
Hehe.
Um, anyways.
Every year, I always have like 482947 presents for my older sister, Erin. Because we like a lot of the same things and I know her probably better than anyone else on this earth, so I never have trouble finding her gifts.
This year has been so different.
I could not figure out what to get her!
And I couldn't figure out what to get anyone else, and then my Christmas spirit was just. Not there.
But yesterday I found her the perfect present. Like, perfect. As if it were made for her personally.
And now I have figured out what I'm getting everyone else.
And I've found my Christmas spirit.

So that brings me to my next point...the Taylor Swift Holiday station on Pandora is one of the weirdest things I've ever encountered. So far, I've heard Taylor Swift (obviously...and my little sister says "Taylor Swift? Psh, she doesn't really know how to do carols" okay, Bethany, okay), Casting Crowns (dear CC, we don't really want to hear about how awful the world is at Christmastime, just FYI), Reggae Christmas (I wish I could un-hear it), Rap (coolest thing ever...I wish I was paying attention and saw the artist name), Justin Beiber (skipped and thumbs-downed. Boy seriously needs to learn to sing from his diaphragm! That's basic choir-geek knowledge...duh.), Hawaiian Christmas ("Mr. Stinky Feet's Christmas" Ummm...), Glee (I'm not gonna lie, I love almost all of the Glee Christmas songs. Did I ever mention this one?), Relient K (What's a partridge? What's a pear tree? I don't know, so please don't ask me), Red White and You (Help.Me.), and to end this little list, Mariah Carey (Please watch this video. It makes me laugh inexplicably. I would so date him. I mean, who needs masculinity right?)

And so concludes my...totally irelevant post. Oh well. Expect a lot of these in the next two weeks. I'm kicking into high gear for Christmas. And I resent my mother for not letting us put up the tree yet. I mean, so what if my thirteen pound cat wants to sit in the branches? This is America, after all. Freedom and what not, ya know?

Haaa, okay...I'm done now, I promise. I hope ya'll have found your Christmas spirit and are not bah humbug-ing around. (Did I ever mention that the animated Christmas Carol made me scream? That's another story for another day...)

Oh! One last thing. I'm considering doing twelve days of Holiday nail tuts on my nail blog. So...keep your eyes peeled for that :)

I'm Such A Girl...

Hi.

If you ever wondered what I do in my free time.


This is it. 

And, um. If you watch that and you don't cry at least a little bit...

Chances are, you have no heart. Or you're an insensitive boy. 

If you don't feel like watching all fifteen minutes (but, like...why wouldn't you?) skip to around the ten minute mark.

You're welcome.

the lame post

Hiya!

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I've been busy...watching Hallmark Christmas movies with my mom...because I'm a sappy person the story lines are just mind blowing.

But in all seriousness. I cannot, for the life of me, get into the Christmas spirit this year.

Have I watched Christmas movies? Yes.

Have I been listening to Christmas music? Yes.

Have I made a list, checked it twice, and pulled my hair out when realizing I'm on the budget of a jobless sixteen year old? Yes, yes, and is that even a question?

And still...nothing. It stinks because I feel like Christmas is going to come and be over and that will be it. Bleh.

On the bright side!

I just finished editing my book! Which I still hate! Ahhhhh...

And that is all for now...I'm sorry my life is lame.
;)

NaNo Summary

Hey ya'll...so, this is just going to be my post all about my NaNoWriMo experience. If, somehow, you missed all of my random updates on it throughout the month and have no idea what I'm even talking about, here is the original post, and you can see all of my updates on past posts from this month.

So. I ended with 53,544 words, two days early.
I honestly never thought in a million years that I would even finish at all, let alone finish early. On November 16th, the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, I was at fifteen thousand words. If you do the math, that is almost thirty thousand words in less than two weeks. Which is why I never thought I would finish.
And yet, I did. And I must say that I was pretty dang proud of myself. It's actually the first time I've fully finished a novel, and the greatest thing was that the story was ready to end exactly around when I reached 50,000.
This was by far one of the most back and forth experiences ever. There were a lot of good things, such as the fact that I really pushed myself and saw what I was capable of and that I was forced to kind of "throw caution to the wind" and just write. Usually, I'm stopping every few paragraphs and revising, which is probably why I've never finished anything else!
There were, however, a few downsides, including the fact that all month I was unable to focus any creative energy into anything else, and I am now way behind on Christmas presents...and that due to the time constraint, etc, I'm pretty sure the story is utter crap. But that was part of the fun...I was able to justify writing a cliche romance novel, soooo....
Oh, another thing that is kind of negative is that I really learned how to stretch my sentences out to use up a lot of words. And now I can't seem to stop doing it... (Like that sentence could have been "Another negative thing is that I learned how to stretch sentences out and now I can't stop").
Anyways! Another plus side to participating in NaNo was & is access to the forums. There are a lot of weird people on there, don't get me wrong, but there are also tons of people who think just like I do. One of the best threads on there was "Literary Pick Up Lines" and by far, my two favorite were:

"If you were a novel, you’d be Fahrenheit 451 because you’re so hot" 

and 

"My MC needs a love interest and I think you fit the description. Did I mention it's an autobiography?"


Hahahha. So.Great. 

Umm...I don't think there is really much else. Except that my characters ended up taking over the entire story...I'm pretty sure they were just using me to type for them. Such as, Judd was supposed to be a cynical jerk and he ended up being a total sweetheart. And Maddie was supposed to be girly and named "Madeline", but she wanted to be a bit more relaxed and be named "Madison". They were really bossy characters to work with....
Do you think I'm crazy yet? ;)

I'm currently working on editing it right now, because some parts are really rough (such as the parts that I wrote at four in the morning, half asleep, and the next day when I saw them I didn't remember writing them...) but after I'm finished, I'm thinking about putting it online, so keep your eyes out for that! Obviously, I'll post the link here if I do end up putting it online.

One other thing, I finally got my nail blog up! If you're interested, follow it, share it, etc....I'm thinking that there is going to be a new tutorial every Thursday :)

And lastly, be on the lookout for a new Christmas layout! I finally broke out the Christmas music and I'm starting to get in the spirit! Beware, because I will spread Christmas cheer to anyone who reads this blog.

I'm Baaaack! (Victory Post!)

So I know I said that I wouldn't be back until December.
But.
I'm back now.
Because.
I finished my novel!
WHOOOOOOOOOO.
Look at that pretty widget over there -->
And look at this pitcha!

BUAHAHAHA.
Sorry. I'm a little bit insane right now because I've been writing for like five hours straight...but yeah. Just thought I would...share my victory.

And I will be posting again maybe...Wednesday evening. I've been taking little notes here and there of things I need to post, but if I tried to post right now it would be like:

Lancelot eats oatmeal in the breaking dawn.

Yerp.

Brain =fried.

Goodnight.

Hiatus, etc.

Hello, my dear blog (and followers)...I have peace, quiet, and about a half an hour of time to dedicate to you.

I figure that I'm way overdue for a "What makes me smile" post, so that's what this will be. But first, a short update on NaNo. For those of you who care. For everyone who doesn't (everybody...) defer below for things that may or may not be more interesting.

Anyways. NaNoWriMo. I don't think I've even said on here what the book is about. I will in this post, I promise. At the very end. And it will be awesome because only one other person on the face of this earth knows what this book is about! But anyway, I'm writing every other chapter from the FMC (female main character...I've picked up on some writer's slang...how official I feel. Not really. I am so gifted at rambling though...) and the MMC (can you guess what that is?!?! I couldn't...) and I'm getting sick of writing from the guy's perspective because honestly, that's not where all of the turmoil is. So I sort of have to figure out a way to give him a story. And I'm so behind. But that's to be expected. And like I said in my last post, ya'll  can keep track by looking at that word counter over there on the sidebar! :)

Alright! Now onto things that actually make me happy. And don't make me want to pull all of my hair out.

1) I saw my two best friends within the span of three days. I don't think that's happened for like...four years. And one of them I haven't seen in eight months!

2) Breaking Dawn. I just...loved it. A lot.
I'm pausing here so that you can roll your eyes like I know you will.
But get ready to do a double eye roll for the next one....

3) Seeing Breaking Dawn three times in the span of five days...super fan right here. Or I'm just the only person that anybody could think of to see the movie with....

4) Remember a few weeks ago I posted about Landon Austin? Welp, I got a letter in the mail from him. Yep. That actually pretty much made my month, so....

5) I've decided to start a nail blog/tumblr! I'm pretty excited for that because I have tons and tons of ideas for it. I probably won't get it up until after NaNo, but it's comin'!

6) Smash Books. They're pretty much the coolest thing ever.

7) THIS SONG. Yes, capitals were necessary. So necessary. I don't even want to be listening to Christmas music yet, but...but. Yeah. Just. No words. If only I could see his face...(ha, don't you guys just love it when I go fangirl on here?)

8) It's a Monday. And I didn't have school. And I don't have school Wednesday. Woop Woop!

9) Candy Cane Lane tea. It's soooo good. I've gone through like half a box so far this month. Get some. You seriously won't  regret it!

10) A quiet house. Oh my gosh. Everyone is leaving right now. I can blast music. And sing. And do whatever the heck I want. Ah Ah Ah! It's been so long since I was home alone...

11) And you get a bonus one! So, I was really depressed about all of the Borders closing. But! Where one of them used to be is now a huge Books a Million and it's like...even better than Borders was. I was so happy. I can't even talk about it...

12) Another bonus!!! The Hunger Games full trailer!!! I just had to refrain so badly from using capitals, italics, bold, and underline. My gosh. I literally cried during the trailer (speaking of which, I want to see The Vow) and it looks so true to the books! Oh, AND my friend Jesse is reading the books, so I will have somebody else to talk to about them!

Okay, so there's my list. It was pretty long because I haven't posted in a while, but...If you can tell, besides the fact that NaNoWriMo is eating me alive, I'm a pretty happy person right now. Oh, also except for the fact that I haven't been able to read at all. Blech. Been too busy writing! And seeing Breaking Dawn three times because Edward's face is so daggone gorgeous.

So, now the sad part. I won't be on again until December (which in reality isn't that far away). I just really need to focus on finishing this novel and, believe it or not, this blog distracts the crap out of me!

To tide you over until then, here is the synopsis for my book. And excerpts...because I feel bad that I'm going MIA for a while. Enjoy!

Title: Along the Way (tentatively)

Maddie "Mads" Samuels is in love with her best friend. She's planning on telling him before high school graduation.
Judd Westerlee is coasting through college life with no worries. His best friend is his roommate and he's only one year away from graduation.
Then tragedy strikes.
Both Maddie and Judd take to the open road, one searching for answers, the other embarking for home, both looking for closure.
Can hardship bring these two very different people together? And could they possibly teach each other how to regain a sense of hope, love, and even life?

Excerpt: (Maddie, then Judd)

I punch in my voice mail password, not sure what to expect, and am met with several messages from Kierra, each telling me to call her ASAP and each sounding increasingly panicked. I finally get to the last message, when she can no longer withhold the information from me.
I listen to the entire message, letting the words pour into my ear, twist around my heart, then drop with a thud into the pit of my stomach. I feel my phone slip from my hand before I fall numbly to the floor and willingly allow the darkness to engulf me.  

~~~ 

Is this what a hangover feels like?
    Of course everyone warned me against drinking an excessive amount; the result most likely to be a killer headache, possibly accompanied by nausea and an extreme sensitivity to light and sound. I had thought two beers wouldn’t induce such a reaction, but as the bright lights shine in through my closed eyelids, I begin to reconsider.
    It isn’t until I hear the quiet sobs that I realize something isn’t right. I force my eyelids open, which feel like they weight a hundred pounds each. Everything I see when my eyes open confuses me. I take in the white washed, chart covered walls and the beeping monitors that surround me. Am I in the hospital?


So that is it! I sort of hate it! A lot! My hate even warrants an excessive amount of exclamation points! AH!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, spending time with family and eating to your heart's content!

See you next month! :)

You Don't Get A Title...

...because my creativity is shot.
NaNo is going to be the death of me.
See that word counter over there --> ?
Yeah, it's really short.
And I'm currently watching videos on YouTube of cute boys singing. And they're not even singing that well.
I need to write.
asldkfj;lajnc;oeuiaht;gij

Competent post coming tomorrow evening, I promise!

I Rock At:

Procrastinating. But you already knew that, right?

But this is like...a special edition procrastination session! Because this time I'm procrastinating writing my novel. Because I hate it. And I yeah...
The ways I can procrastinate are endless.
To name a few...

1) Checking and refreshing my twitter on my phone every five seconds. For no other reason than to hear the "click" it makes when it refreshes.

2) Pinterest on my phone. There's a reason I use it on my phone too. Because if I used it on the computer...I'd be on there for hours.

3) Looking up random songs that are in my head on YouTube.

4) Bunny trailing on YouTube.

5) Reading the posts on the forum on the NaNoWriMo site. There are lotsssss.

6) Reading every single reply in the post on Merlin on the NaNo forums.

7) Finding videos such as this one from the aforementioned forums. Ha, probably nobody else cares about that...oh welllll.

8) Checking Facebook. Always a viable excuse.

9) Searching for random things online and validating it as "research" for my book.

10) Staring at the ceiling. You'd be surprised how much time you can pass doing that. Like...4 seconds...

And that is all. From this session. Last night was another story. Tomorrow night will be another story. The summation of Thanksgiving break...eesh. We won't get into that yet. And I am off to bed. That's another way to procrastinate ;)

P.S.- Sorry for the Debbie Downer post last time, ha. But ya know. People make me crazy. Which leads to spiteful posts about them, hoping that somehow they'll see it. But really.

Done.

You're not who I thought you were.
In fact, you're the complete opposite of who you told me you were.
I believed every word you said to me.
I believed you completely when you told me this friendship was one that you would fight for.
I believed you when you told me the things you did to keep this friendship intact.
I believed you when you told me you were only befriending those people to keep an eye on them.
I believed that you were different.
Turns out, you're exactly like them.
You're everything I despise in a person.
And on top of that, you're a liar.
I contemplated for so long whether or not this friendship was even worth holding onto anymore.
A person can only try for so long.
And it's been three months.
Time's up.

Currently...

Currently, I am...

Painting my nails/waiting for them to dry (keyboards are the enemy of tacky nails. I be a pro.)

Listening to music on YouTube.

Hating NaNoWriMo.

Wishing I had never embarked on the journey  of NaNoWriMo.

Being determined to finish NaNoWriMo.

Contemplating whether or not I should fix my nails because they are now completely messed up due to the fact that my cat was meowing at me and I looked at him and he had blood on his face.

Trying not to kick the other cat who scratched my kitty's face.

Contesting my mother that we should get rid of said cat.

Feeding my cat an unimaginable amount of treats.

Realizing that ya'll now know how obsessed I am with my cat. Maybe you'll get that story one day.

Teetering in between not wanting to hear Christmas music yet and wanting to listen to nothing but Christmas music.

Trying to decide what I want to do next weekend.

Getting ready to drink some peppermint tea.

Contemplating whether or not I want to read a book, write, or watch A Walk to Remember whilst drinking my peppermint tea.

Looking back at my cat every ten seconds to make sure he's alright. He's staring at a bug that's crawling on my lamp.

Trying to decide whether or not I should get up and kill said bug. Or wait for the cats to get it.

Noticing that I've probably written the word "cat" too many times in this post. Sorry.

Fixing my nails.

Ending this post because I lied at the beginning when I said I could type with wet nails.

10 Things I Hate About...

You 

Contemporary YA fiction, namely romance.

1) Two dimensional characters. OH my. An insecure girl who has hidden strength. A bad boy who is secretly a softie.


2) Countless pages of "He looked straight at me and I blushed crimson, ducking my head and letting my hair fall between us" and then the last twenty pages of the book containing the rise, climax, and fall.

3) Love triangles. These should be outlawed. Nevermind the fact that they're really fun to write...

4) Heroines. My gosh. People complain that chivalry is dead. Um, that would be because guys are never given the chance to offer chivalry anymore. Girls have to be the "strong, empowered" ones. Sorry, but I don't find a guy who needs to be rescued by a girl entertaining to read about.

5) Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Fallen Angels, Wizards, Warlocks, Witches, Shapes-shifters, and the like. Is it weird that I just really want to read about a human being?

6) Betrayal. Okay, so...I think writers should be able to find another way to put a twist in the book than making one of the characters betray the other. Or rather, the character thinks the other one betrayed them, which is usually the case. Come on now...

7) Substance abuse. Almost every teen book has this. Now I understand that it's common, but seriously? Not every single book has to have it.

8) Insecure girl characters. Okay, so I know this contradicts with #4...but it seems like it's always one extreme or the other, never a good balance. Either the girl is downtrodden with self hate and pity, or she's like this in-your-face I'm gonna save the day type.

9) Single parents. The last...3456754 YA books I read...the main character only had one parent...why?

10) Current media references. Dear authors, in two years, all these references will make your books way outdated. Plus, I don't really want to read about the Biebs.

So, there is my list. And for the record, I'm not calling out any particular authors- just the entire genre in general. I respect everyone's individual work...I mean, I wouldn't want to write a book, work my butt off on it, and get hate for it. So I avoid doing that. Unless the book is super horrible. Like this one I just read...

Also! Twilight hate will not be tolerated. Even though they hold many of the annoying cliches earlier mentioned, I love those books. And I teared up when I saw a promo for the movie today. And I'm counting down the days. And I kind of loathe the movies because I feel like they exploited the books, but that's beside the point.

I'm going to go read some more YA fiction now...(ha, kidding, I'm going to sleep. Plus, I'm #15 in line for the book I want to read at the library, so...)

Random...

Hi.
First off, I'm exhausted. To the max.
Also, I have no writing abilities right now.
Additionally, I don't want to write on here at all, but I'm going to be really busy and I don't know when I'm going to be able to post again. So I decided to take this time between my burst of energy and my crashing period to write you a short list.

1) Today was alotta fun. I love my family. I'll maybe post about it. Later. When I can write better sentences than "Today was alotta fun." I might have to take a grammar class first.

2) NaNoWriMo is rough, yo. I had a notebook full of ideas, but when I stare at the computer, nothing comes to mind. But I'm determined to finish it in time. So we'll see how that goes...

3) It's funny how that one person said we were best friends, then all the sudden disappeared from my life. That just makes me super happy.

4) My keyboard is being an idiot.

5) I wish I could have gone to the Tenth Avenue North concert.

6) This list is rather negative. Refer back to number one for a reminder that my life is not all doom and gloom.

Andddd...I will leave you with two things. First, a two sentence preview of my book.
And second, a picture from the concert that I forgot to post in the other entry- my favorite picture I've taken. Evar.


I listen to the entire message, letting the worlds pour into my ears, twist around my heart, then drop with a thud into the pit of my stomach. I feel my phone slip from my hands before I fall numbly to the floor and willingly allow the darkness to engulf me.

Too Many Titles...Couldn't Choose One. So You Get This Indecisive Junk of a Title.

Hi.
So.
I went to a concert last night.
It was the best concert ever.
I would post about it but I feel like nobody would really care.
Just because I don't really care to read about other people's concert experiences for bands that I've never heard of or listened to.
And I'm fairly sure that the majority of the people that read this blog haven't heard of or listened to Family Force 5 (unless it was through me...and this blog...)
But that's okay.
Enjoy these two pictures.
Taken with no zoom.
I touched the stage.

And please take note of the gold 3 wheeler.

Kbye...I'm off to drink coffee so that perhaps I can form  some coherent sentences.

12:00

November 1, 2011.

And so it begins.

No More Naomi?

I just thought I would let ya'll know...
You may never see me on this blog again.
Because, you see, the closest date I could take my driving test is like...December 28th.
My permit expires on December 27th.
And, so help me, if I have to wait another nine months until I can get my permit...
I may do some things that may or may not land me somewhere....that I won't necessarily be able to use a computer.


But then again, there's always longhand writing, right? 



Hahahahaha....nevermind. My permit expires December 27th...2012. My b.

Carry on.

NaNoWriMo

AKA

National Novel Writing Month

AKA

November

AKA

This is going down in 2.5 days.

Basically, yours truly will be writing (or, trying to write) a 50,000 word novel in thirty days.

AKA

Approximately 1,700 words a day.

Which means late nights, extra coffee, and no time for writer's block.

Sounds fun, right?

It also means, though, that you will be seeing less of me in the coming month, although I'll probably still try to post weekly, and possibly snippets of my story...but no promises.

For now, here is something that I wrote today for the writing program I'm in.

I peek around the corner, curious about what in the world is going on in room 203. I hear hushed voices and feet scuffling, but nothing more. I’m about to walk away but I hear one clear word. My name. I shuffle closer to the door, hoping to hear more, but I realize that they weren't just saying my name. They were calling me.

            I slowly walk into the room. I survey the large space, which is filled with tables, which are covered with intricate layouts of the building. What is going on in here?  I think to myself. As if he could read my thoughts, the boy nearest to me clears his throat and says, “I’m sure you’re wondering what we’re doing in here.”

            I nod, and as I do so, I catch sight of my best friend, Kim, her cheeks flushed red. I send her a questioning look that says what are you hiding from me? She only looks towards the floor, with the slightest shake of her head. Now I’m more than curious. I feel betrayed. Betrayed that my best friend, of all people, would keep a secret from me.

            I turn to leave, as the boy has yet to give me an answer, when I hear Kim’s soft voice. “Wait.”

            I consider walking out, but turn around anyway.

            The same boy from before steps forward again. “You really have no clue what this is?”

            I shake my head.

            The boy sighs and pulls something out of his pocket. He hands it to me, and I recognize it as  a brochure for the school. Exasperated, I prepare to walk out again, but I realize something different about it. Instead of saying “school for the gifted”, it reads “school for spies”. I look up, confused, and see a slow grin spread across every face in the room.

The End! 

 I like writing about spies, by the way, just in case you hadn't caught on to that yet...

Reminiscing

You get three posts in one day whattt?

Erm, anyways.
Yesterday, my sister Erin and I went yard saling...sailing...sale-ing...in Annapolis.
I printed off a list of sales and we were on our merry way. There was one that was a give-away at a church, so we decided to go see if they had anything good. We're driving along, I'm navigating super well, as I always do (just don't ask Erin because she's a compulsive liar when it comes to that subject... ;)) and I realized that the address was on Ridgely Rd.
AKA where I went to Elementary school. And there it was.
We pulled into the parking lot, and as soon as I saw the playground, tons of memories came rushing back.
Such as when I was in fifth grade, I was sitting on the swing talking to one of my friends (I use that term very lightly) about a problem she was having with another one of her friends.
Or when my best friends (I use that term even more than very lightly) would sit on top of the play set and talk all recess.
Or when we played four-square in the parking lot and I put one foot outside of the cones to grab the ball and the teacher made me sit the rest of recess out and told the other girls to play three-square. She wasn't the brightest of the bunch. 
Or in third grade when a girl ate dirt and tried to make me eat some too.
Or playing helicopter and almost getting my head chopped off by that jump rope thirty times a day.
And the list continues! And that was only when I was still in the car!
So, I will admit, I was dragging my feet. But Erin made me get out of the car and go in. As soon as I was in the door, even more memories hit. The place even smelled exactly the same as always.
I remembered...
The excitement of having the book fair and getting to bring money to school and take a break from class to go shop...
Running an errand in third grade with another boy from my class, and as we were going down the steps I realized he had light-up shoes. I asked him about them because technically, we weren't allowed to have them. He just sort of shrugged, like "Whatever". I thought he was so cool.
Where my classroom was and a bunch of memories related to it.
Being so happy because I was part of "Service Patrol" in fifth grade. I got to wear a vest.
Going into the second stall on the left in the bathroom just to read my friend's birthday invitation because I was the only one in the class invited.
Exactly where I stood in the gym...all the way on the far right side because it was alphabetical and my name started with "W".
Playing Concentration 64 in the mornings before class.

And there are so many other ones...but if I list them all, you will be reading this for about ten years...it's funny, though, because as I was walking through the halls, they were so tiny and I remembered them being so huge.

I have no way to end this post and ya'll (I'm just going to write that all the time to spite the people who don't think I should say it) know I'm awful at that anyways.

So! That's all. Ha :)

Smile Sunday

Hiya!
So, you get pictures this week. Yay!
Also, this post is going to seem muy materialistic. I promise other things have made me smile this week besides just "things" :)

1) So...I've been waiting for this CD for.....a long, long time. And it came out on Tuesday. We received it in the mail on Friday. Buttt...I suppose it was worth it :) 

 

2) I hope this is self-explanatory...if not...well...

 

3)IF you actually know me, then you most likely know how in love I am with all things vintage. Typewriters, suit cases, bottles. I found these at a yard sale yesterday and they were dirt cheap. And dug up from the beach in Annapolis. And I'm going to do something productive with them....eventually. 

4) I found this at a yard sale as well. It's pretty much the best thing in the world. It's a pencil sharpener. And when you crank the handle to sharpen the pencil, the record turns!

And...I am going to spare you the rest of the pictures. So onto my usual listing...

5) All is well in Friend Land once again. I guess my friends and I are just like that...we're back and forth. A lot.

6) I have been writing, or rather pre-writing, like crazy. I've taken to carrying my notebook in my purse so that I can just write whatever whenever. I have a feeling this book is gonna be it...the one I finally finish and am happy with! But more on in another post...

7) My sister Erin. I think I've mentioned her on here before. She's pretty great. Sometimes. When she feels like it. She's responsible for taking me driving. She's a trooper. And by the way, driving does not make me smile!


8) I just found and read my notebook from driver's ed. Full of notes between my friend & I. on...driving...stuff.

9) Nine days. Buahaha. I'll leave you to wonder what's in nine days...(for the record, the last time I wrote that it was for the CD...)

10) This song! And no, this is not the usual type of music I listen to, thankyouverymuch. ;)

Sooooooo, yeah! I hope ya'll have smiled lots this week! :)

P.S.- I said "ya'll" in school and everyone freaked out? Like whaaa? "Ya'll" flows better than "you all" or "you guys".


And ya'll know it!

Okaybye...

Zetus Lapetus!

Does anyone want to help me figure out why I have to wake up in less than five hours and yet I've gotten less than twenty minutes of sleep and now can't sleep at all?
At least I found good TV...
That is, if you consider Zenon the Zequel good TV ;)

Now to make this post have a point...well, I can't really...but! I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully!) with a (maybe two!) new post(s).

P.S. Zetus Lapetus- an exclamation, such as "Oh my gosh!"

Zum out.

Procrastination

Is what I'm best at.
Kidding. But not really.
Procrastination is a nasty cycle of procrastinating, panicking, then alleviating that panic by procrastinating even further!

Um, so today in my procrastination I came across something...that I thought I'd share. It's a wonder the crazy things you can find when procrastinating!

So here it is...it's better with headphones!

And I'm off to procrastinate some more do a lot of work.

First Person, Third Person

Ohhai.

So, I realize that I was supposed to do my "Ten things that make me smile" post yesterday, but I never got around to it. And I just sat down to do it, and I couldn't think of anything...because my life is boring and uneventful.

Kidding. Actually, I just don't really have anything new this week! I honestly don't know where the week went. Most of it was spent sitting in my room doing schoolwork...so, ya know...it's not really like that...made...me...smile...?

Anywho.

I have to get a flu shot tomorrow.

Naomi hates needles.

I scheduled my first driving lesson with an instructor.

Naomi hates strangers.

I'm excited for tomorrow!

Naomi...is excited for tomorrow.

I feel as if this post is going to spiral into even more randomness, so I will leave it how it is.

Naomi will be back later this week with some more relevant posts!

P.S...

AT. 

Yep, today, I ventured out into the world of public school, like a bird jumping out of the nest for the first time...

I went to take the PSATs at ze local public school today. Here is a list of experiences. Enjoy.

Number of times I got lost: 3

Number of times I acted like I wasn't lost: 3

Number of times I was referenced to as "the homeschool kid": Lost count.

Number of times I cringed at being referenced to as "the homeschool kid": To infinity and beyond.

Number of times I rolled my eyes at the teacher administering the test: Confidential.

Number of times I tried to tell said teacher that the homeschool group I'm with is accreditied: 6+

Number of times he didn't understand: 6+

Number of times I wished I would've gone to public school: Lots.

Number of times I was glad I didn't: 2 (ish)

Number of problems that made me want to pull my hair out in the math sections: Almost all of them.

Number of people who asked me if I liked being homeschooled: 1. But only because I ran out of there so fast you would've thought I was being chased down by rabid dogs.

Number of times I thanked the Lord that daggone test was over: 234588876543356+

Number of hours I slept after I got home: 2

Number of hours I will be up in the middle of the night due to that untimely nap: Undetermined.

Melancholia

"A mental condition characterized by great depression of spirits and gloomy forebodings."

I seem to have lost track of two of my very best friends.

One is trying to move on and make changes in their life.

The other...well, to be honest, I'm not sure what's going on with them since they barely talk to me anymore.

With that one, I wonder if our friendship was ever even real, or just something to fill the time.

It's weird...I'm not really sad. Just...melancholy. About both situations.

The worst part is that they are two of the people I can (or could) tell absolutely anything to.

I kind of need them back in my life.

Because I hear therapy can get expensive. 

Come back guys?

So.

Whoaaa. It's been exactly a week since my last post! I didn't plan that. And I'm doing the what makes me smile post. Which I need a better name for...

1) Yesterday! Yesterday was a lot of fun. I got to go hang out with one of my bestttt friends who I don't get to see very often. There's not much to say about it...because it wasn't as crazy as some of our hangouts. Because they can get pretty crazy sometimes. Like sometimes we see PG-13 movies. Yeah.

2) Yesterday! Again...ha. After I hung out with Elizalee, as my phone calls her, I went to the Renn Fest with my sisters. 'Twas fun. I haven't been there in a few years and I think it was my younger sister's first time.

3) Anthropologie. I'm in love with that store. I went in there yesterday...and I wish I was a millionaire so that I could shop there all the time.

4) Something that I got at Anthropologie...book plates! They're super cute. I would post a picture, but I'm too lazy busy to get up and find them right now. But if you borrow a book from me, you'd definitely see them! ;)

5) Speaking of which, I got back five of my books from Elizabeth yesterday. That's a lame one but it's true.

6) This. But I really only care about Cameron & Damian. Haha, what the heck, I don't even care about being nice to the other two people right now...I really only care about Cameron & Damian. There is about...one...person who knows the severity of my love for them. But I don't think they read my blog...so I'm safe. Because they tend to...yeah, nevermind!

7) Landon Austin! So ya'll know that I go through obsessive phases...this is my latest one. I give it two weeks, ha. But I'll enjoy those two weeks!

8)  Bracelets. Yes I know this one is lame...but seriously! I love bracelets. I'm wearing eight different ones right now...maybe it's more of an obsession than something that makes me smile...

9) Nine days! (And yes I purposefully made this number nine...) You will find out why that makes me smile in...nine days! It'll be a Tuesday and I usually don't have time to post on Tuesdays, but I'll make sure to write a short post :)

10) The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Actually, this book makes me cry my eyes out, but same difference...it's debatable that it's better than the Twilight series. And no sassing me about those books. Just...nope. Don't get me started...Anyways I re-read The Host this week and I had forgotten just how much I loved it! Which is a lot a lot.

And...I think thatisall for now...I might be back later this week with pictures of our mutilated turkey leg from the Renn Fest...but it might scare everyone away, sooooo...............


P.S.- I just read over this and it sounds really choppy..ha. Sorry 'bout that. For some reason, I get really hyper around this time at night right before I crash...so remind me in the future not to blog between the hours of nine and eleven ;)

Strike Through & Smiles

Hai.
So.
I was going to post about how I'm really upset and feel helpless because a ton of my friends are falling apart in front of my eyes.
I was going to write something...but then I've decided my blog has seen enough doom and gloom in recent days and it needed some sunshine and smiles.
Therefore, I am reinstating my weekly "What Makes Me Smile" posts. Not only do I hope that it will give ya'll a little something extra to smile about, buttt I figured it would be good for me to have to sit down and think about the things I'm happy about.
So here goes :)

Uno- Did I mention I got a book in the mail that hasn't even been  released yet? I think I did. That made me super happy. And the book was really good too!

Dos- One of my favorite, favorite authors is releasing a new book about a character that kind of just fell out of her book series. I'z excited.

Tres- I stole was given the code for a free ten dollar iTunes card out of the package of batteries anddd the email with the code finally came through andddd I got to download some music I've been wanting since, like...May...

Cuatro- I have a whole bunch of fun stuff coming up this month and into the beginning of November! You can expect lotsa blog posts around that time :)

Cinco- Cold weather!! I was almost...ecstatic yesterday when I realized I could wear a long sleeve shirt and a jacket. Because that meant it was cold. And I love the cold.

Seis- This video. Because how could you not smile?

Siete- Pinterest! Heh. I posted about Pinterest like last week I think...but I'm kind of in love with it. I've gotten tons of ideas for crafts, etc!

Ocho- Speaking of which, i found a tutorial on there for wrap bracelets, which I've wanted forever but been too stubborn to pay money for. Soooo I bought all the stuff and made them and I love them and I will forever and ever and ever and ever till the end. ;)

Nueve- We got our new coffee machine yesterday! Yessss. I'm addicted to coffee and it's bad.

Diez- I honestly just sat here for like ten (ha, that's funny cuz this is number ten...) minutes trying to think of something, and this is all  I could come up with. It makes my ears smile...(that should have been strike-through text, but seeing as I've used that so much already, I figured I'd just write this note, but maybe not...)


And since I can never seem to find a way to end these posts well, I will simply leave you with a quote. And a test to see if you really watch the videos that I link here.

"3 Asian dudes, yes we love to eat rice."

My Life...

Sorry I haven't posted anything recently. There hasn't been much interesting going on to post about. But then I decided, what the heck, I'll just post the truth.

So...lately, my life has been...

Long days sitting in my room doing schoolwork.

Deprived of coffee due to the stupid coffee machine that decided to stop working. I think it hates me.

Me stressing about college and my glaring lack of community service hours.

Me stressing about the PSAT's and then me telling myself to stop stressing because they can't hurt me at all. And then going back to stressing five minutes later when I start thinking about the math section.

Full of speeches. I don't like speeches. I don't like speeches like the coffee machine doesn't like me. Yeah, that bad.

Uh...that's all I can think of. School, basically, has been taking up my time a lot. But, on the bright side, I got a book in the mail today that doesn't even come out until Tuesday!

Okay I'm done.

Get Pinterest......ed..........

Pinterest...I heard about it through the blog of one of my favorite authors a few weeks ago. Basically, she said it was just like a virtual bulletin board...I was just kind of like "Eh, I'll check it out later," and then never got around to it. So today when I was procrastinating doing really important things and taking a break, I finally decided to go onto the website.
It was pretty daggone cool.
But I was called by my mother and had to scurry downstairs, leaving my computer and my interest in Pinterest (haha...oh...) for a later time.
About an hour later, my sister came home and I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Signing up for Pinterest."
I kind of looked at her like [O.o] and said "Me too!"
Twas weird, I tell you!
Um, so basically, we're both pretty addicted.
I could waste an entire day on there, no lie. I know from experience.

Sooooooo...here is the link to mine!
If you happen to be ultra-rad and already have an account, follow me and I'll follow back! And if not, you're banished from this blog unless and until you go make one.
Okayit'sreallylatesoI'mgoingtobednow.
;)

P.S- If you do sign up, it says you have to be added to a waiting list and receive an invitation, but I got mine within a few hours, so keep checkin' for it :)

Ha...ha...ha....HA.

Okay, I just had to share these...
I logged into my Photobucket to edit something to add to my blog, and I haven't been on there in a long time.
I found these two pictures on there...
But you have to keep in mind that they're from when I was like...twelve.
And I can no longer be held responsible for them.
I know better now.
No judgement.
Just laugh with me ;)

Hahaha....so I feel like I'm going to eventually regret putting these on here. But it made me laugh, so I figured why not.
These are both from when I was part of Team Jonas and on the message boards, everyone had cool pictures in their signature. I think the "Fluxie" one was part of some club that was formed...not 100% sure, but you can rest assured that I was pretty dang cool for being included in that group.
And everybody who was anybody loved the "My only sunshine" one! I got complimented on that a lot a lot.

Weird Good times....

Boo, Hiss.

Boo, hiss....that's something that my friend Elizabeth often always says. As in, "Boo, hiss, I have too much homework" or "Boo, hiss, we haven't hung out in a long time" or "Boo, hiss, I'm all out of peanut butter cups".

So I'm sure you can infer what this post will be about...
That's right. All the things that bother me.
You get to read allllll of my complaints with the world at this point in time.
But hey, my last post was really positive, so I'm just keeping my blog in balance! ;)

Oookay...

The sun never came out today! Not even once. And yet, it was really muggy and warm out, thus ruining the nice fall weather streak we were having. Boo, hiss.

I was planning on pre-ordering a CD (nobody says that anymore....) for $10 that would be signed by the band, but I had no money in my account so I was waiting to deposit some. And I did! So at like midnight that night, I was going to bed and realized that I hadn't ordered it yet, but figured I would just do it in the morning. The pre-order was gone. Boooooooo....hiss.

I was also going to order Lady Antebellum's new record (people do say that....) for $8 on Amazon, which was the cheapest I've seen it anywhere. But again, I had no money in my account. And by the time I deposited money, then realized I wouldn't be pre-ordering the other CD, the price had gone up! Boo, hiss.

It's September 21. And guess what? The stores have not yet been decent enough to put out the Pumpkin Pie Spice coffee creamer. Which means I have to resort to paying $3.50 for a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.

*From this point on I will no longer be adding "Boo, hiss" to the end of each of my statements as I have looked at the words so many times that they are beginning to look weird to me. I appreciate your understanding on this matter.

I'm taking this class...and it's apparently going to be near impossible to get an A in it. And I've worked my butt off to have straight A's for five years in a row. So...we'll see how this goes.

I can't find any good Fall clothing! All the good stuff is sold out and all that's left is the stupid stuff. I mean, how hard could it be to find a copper color-undertone, burnt orange, lightweight crocheted sweater with ruching on the bottom? (I'm not that that particular....not....really...)

I need a job...and I put in an application...and they were supposed to get back to me within a few days....and nothing yet...and mhmm...

I think that's it! For now...I may be back with "Boo, Hiss The Sequel" soon enough....heh.

But! On the bright side I have a pretty, pretty Fall layout :) 

One, Zero, Zero!

Yep, that's right, this is my one hundredth post. If you've been with this blog since the beginning and read every one of my insanely random, pointless, and sometimes emotional posts, then give yourself a round of applause because I don't even know if I would read one hundred scatter brained posts ;)

I've been thinking about what I wanted to do for my one hundredth post for a few months, because I think I hit my ninetieth post quite a while ago. I was considering writing a post with one hundred facts about myself, but then realized that would not only be tiresome to read, but to write as well. I mulled it over a little bit more and then decided that maybe I would write a post giving a glimpse into my life, into the deeper things, but then decided against it. Because, honestly, this blog is the place where I can be ambiguous about anything I want to be, and I don't want to change that now.

So I have now, finally decided on what to do for my hundredth post.
It's going to be just like all of my other ones. Because what's a better way to celebrate coming this far than continuing with my usual posts?

Now that I've gotten that ridiculously long intro out of the way (I promise think you'll never have to read one of those again) here is a list of all the things that I have been loving lately!

The He is We station on Pandora...I can't really describe just how much I love this station. He is We is a pretty amazing band to begin with, so having their songs mixed in makes it pretty lovable already. But add in a mix of artists such as Adele, Relient K, Mat Kearney, Tenth Avenue North, Parachute, Taylor Swift, and a mix of my favorite unsigned Youtube artists, and you have gold.  It's a mix of artists that would never usually go together, but somehow they do. And I can't get enough of it.

Having amazing friends. There's not much to say about this (jk, I could write a novel and a sequel on how much I love my friends) except that there's nothing better than having friends who you can talk about serious things one minute and be laughing the next.

Fall. I love Fall. My goodness. All of the scents and colors and...I don't know. There's just a different feeling in the air. And it's closer to Winter, so who wouldn't love it?

The fact that in this month and next month, there are about three or four CDs coming out by some of my favorite artists and three or four books coming out by my favorite authors. You can't beat that :)

School. I'm so pumped for school. I can already tell it's going to be a crazy, chaotic, and hectic year, but I love being busy and having an endless amount of things to do. It just makes downtime so much more enjoyable.

Lady Antebellum's new album! I think they get increasingly better with the release of each of their records.

Being more comfortable behind the wheel. I never thought I would be able to drive somewhere ten plus minutes away from my house without being given instruction. Now if only I could get up the nerve to call the instructor and schedule a drive time...

My hair color. Ha, so I really did sort of dislike it at first. But now I really like it. Except that I think I killed the ends of my hair by doing it. Um.

Reading & Writing. I've finally been reading (a lot!) and writing more. Inspiration is everywhere.

Sweaters. I guess this should've gone right after the Fall thing...oh well. Anywho, I love me a nice, warm, comfy sweater.

"By Your Side" by Tenth Avenue North. I've actually been loving this song for a few months, but it just came on Pandora (Did I mention how much I love this station) and it reminded me that I have been meaning to post it for a while! My personal favorite snippet of lyrics from the song are
"Why are you looking for love? Why are you still searching, as if I'm not enough? To where will you go, child, tell me where will you run, to where will you run?"
I feel like when I first started listening to this song, these lyrics applied so well to my life. I have a tendency to love the feeling of feeling in love (make sense?) and it's probably gotten me in trouble more than once. I think I also have, or had, a tendency to go to God last. And I think I've improved upon a lot of those things, especially over the summer. Honestly, this song had a part of that.


Mmm, okay, I can't really think of anything else at the moment...plus I was talking to someone on Gmail & said "Brb gotta log out for a minute" and that was like...half an hour ago. Because for whatever reason I can't be logged into both my blog and Gmail at the same time.
So, I shall see you all later this week! Hope everyone's doing well :)

School. . .

Yep. It's that time again.
You know, I had been planning on posting the night before school started, but I ended up being really busy and then going to bed early.
And then I decided that I would post yesterday after school, but clearly, that didn't happen either.
So here I am!
With nothing really to write.
I guess just that sometimes, some things never change (like my procrastinating skillz). And that could be a good thing or a bad thing.
On the other hand, some things do change, which could also be good or bad.
I feel like my knack for writing has gone down hill this summer anddddd I need to get it back. But I may not be posting a lot on here? I don't know yet. I've said that before and been on the next day.

Agh!

This is a stupid post. But, you see, I'm having a hard time focusing because there's a part of me that is so mad I can't even see straight. It really stinks when you have a friend but you feel like they're slowly slipping away. I saw it happening months ago, but didn't admit it to myself. And over the summer, things seemed like they were going to be okay, like they were falling back into place, but now I'm not so sure. All I know is that I'm tired of working for the friendship. It's not as easy as it used to be. And as much as I care about the person, I can't work at something headed for an end.

Hair Die

I may as well have been saying that to my poor head of hair last night. Except more like, "Hair, die!!!"

That picture right there is what happens when you refuse to pay sixty dollars to have highlights put in and instead trust your 27 year old sister to do it. Who says "Ooh, it'll be like an art project!" Erm...

So a little back story...I've been wanting to do something different with my hair for a while, but I'm growing it out, so cutting it short was out of the question. I decided that dying/highlighting it would be the best way to go.
And I also decided that I wanted to try doing the ombre technique- where the highlights start mid-way down your hair, so that your natural color fades into a lighter color.

But there was no way I was going to pay to get this done.

My older sister, Erin, dyes her hair on a regular basis, so I figured she would be the best candidate to do my hair.

I showed her a video (two, actually...precautionary measures and such) on how to do the technique, etc.

I also bought the product, which wasn't a dye (since my hair's so dark, dye wouldn't do much) but instead would lighten my hair and then tone it. So, basically, if left on too long it could dye my hair blonde. Remember that fact. It's important.

It was about...10:30 at night when we finally started. We did a strand test on a piece of hair in the back and the color looked okay, so we went ahead and started. The product had to stay on my hair for ten minutes. Also, the technique involved using a brush to apply the product, kind of feathering it onto the hair and  wrapping the hair in foil and folding the foil, kind of into a sandwich shape. Remember those facts too. They're really important.

So, she started on the first strand, and let me tell you, it's kind of scary when your art-degree holding, paint-loving, straight line-loathing sister is holding a strand of your hair and saying, "Ooh! Just like painting!"

And then, "Oh, remember that feathering technique? I threw that out the window a while ago."

And then, "Ha, are you supposed to wrap this foil like a sandwich? This looks more like a burrito."

And then, "Oh, nevermind, they look like dumplings now!"

Add in a countless number of "Oops" and "Uh-oh"s and you've got a pretty stressed out Naomi.

And then there was the fact that the hair had to be teased, and instead of combing it up two times, it was more like....eight times. Pretty, right?

She finished all of the hair, though, and we were ready to sit and wait for all of the product to process.

Except we realized that on the first half of my head, the product had been on for half an hour. Remember what I said about it only needing to stay on for ten minutes? And that it could potentially turn my hair blonde? Good.

We ended up rinsing one half of my head while the other was still in the foil. It was...interesting, to say the least. It seemed as if my reaction was increased each time I unwrapped one of the little hair-burritos (Chipotle should add that to their menu...). There's a video of that, and maybe someday it will make an appearance on this blog, but...not today ;)

Anyways, in the end, the color ended up being okay. It looks a little more like I had highlights growing out as opposed to a gradient effect, but that's okay too.

Anddddd I'd post a picture of it, but there's still a bunch of people who I'd rather see it in person first, so that will just have to wait :)

Oh, and the moral of the story?

If you're going to have your sister dye your hair, be knocked out for it.

;)