Pitter Pat

Ah, Spring. How I was in such a need of you. I was getting weary of the freezing days and layers and layers of clothes that never seemed to keep my warm enough. I was exhausted by the short days and endless dragging dark nights. Yes, Spring. You couldn't have gotten here fast enough. But no matter you are here now, so let the basking begin.
"Basking?" you ask. Yes, basking. That moment when you walk by an open window and revel in the glorious warm breeze and the streaming sunlight. You arch your back, like a cat stretching after a long nap. That is essentially what winter is for me. A long, deep sleep. It's alright for a time, but too much sleep essentially makes you MORE tired.

Spring is waking up. It's putting the scarves and coats back in their corner of the closet and bringing forth the shorts, the tank tops and the sandals. It's playing in the warm "pitter pat" of springtime rainfall. I love the spring saying "april showers bring may flowers". It's basically all a buildup to beauty. Spring is eating sunday dinners on the backporch and going for drives with the windows down. It's falling in like with someone (yes, like, not love. I'm 18 for goodness sake.) Spring is goofing off with your freinds. It's daydreaming in classes when you're supposed to be doing schoolwork.

I love Arizona. It's springtimes are probably one of the most beautiful in the world. I can't imagine living anywhere else (no matter how much I may voice otherwise). And well, basically, I LOVE SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Heart Day

So i know it's a bit late, but HAPPY FRIKEN VALENTINES DAY! Ok, so i havent always been the biggest WOOHOO fan about Valentines Day, but this year, I was actually kinda excited about it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact I actually had a Valentine, but hey, whatever gets ya going.

J had been keeping our date plans a secret from me, which of course made me even more curious about what we were doing but he assured me I would be sad if I forced him to tell me. He's good like that. He knows that sometimes even when I say I want something, he knows that I really dont. He knows what I want better then I do. Well... most of the time.

So I got all dolled up and J came and picked me up around 6. We went and watched Back To The Future (i'd never seen it) and then went to Charlstons (never eaten there before) then went to Cold Stone and got a flavor i'd never tried. So it was a complete night of firsts. First Valentines date, first back to the future, first expensive meal and first cone.

All in all it was a good night. J's so good to me, I have really appreciated having him in my life. Ever since 8th grade when we met, he's always been there for me. He's such an amazing person and I adore everything about him.

There you go. Short and sweet. Ok, i'm done.

BOO! I'm Despicable!

Um ok. This is ridiculous and so not acceptable. "Last post, Feb 12, 2012" Holy WHAT?! Apparently this is my style: suck epicly at blogging, then try desperately to catch up.... So in honor of it being a new year, I plan and getting my act together and getting this dusty blog brushed off and gleaming with life again. There's a lot to update, and i'm going to try to do it kinda quickly, so bear with me.

Well since my last post was last FEBRUARY (goshdarnmeandmyinabilitytokeepupwithmyblog) I shall give you an update about summer. As soon as Junior year was over, my family took a trip, as is tradition, to Roosevelt Lake over Memorial Day. So much fun in the sun, and I loved being with the whole fandamily. Did I get sunburned? Well, I am like ultra-mega white. So the answer is yes. Badly.  But it couldn't dampen my feeling of freedom that summer break brings. Then I got my wisdom teeth out. No big deal, i just had my TEETH RIPPED OUT OF MY FACE! Actually it really wasn't that bad. I never really hurt and the swelling went away pretty quickly. Plus, my bestfwiend Kim Vu brought me my favorite ice cream (coconut pineapple in case you were curious) and my favorite boy came over to watch Scary movies with me. Then I had 3 weeks of summer school to get Government and Economics out of the way. Had fun people in my classes, which helped get me through 7:30 to 5 every day. 4th of july was rainy and cool (first time in AZ history since, like, EVER). We had the McHardy clan over for a barbeque and we all talked and laughed. It was great to get everyone together.  The summer also meant a a visit from cousins. Makayla and Ryan came down for a few days in July. We went bowling, got ice cream (shout out to Paleta's Betty!) and saw a D-Backs game. Me and Kayla also went on a date with some friends of mine. We had a snowball fight and a giant slip n slide. Summer Arizona Style BABY! Before school started up again, I had the enormous pleasure of getting to go to California with my favorite boy (mentioned above). J had been planning this trip since forever and I finally got permission to go. So we drove to california early one morning. We got season passes to 6 flags and spent the next few days riding rides and enjoying the beach for the last few days of freedom.

AUG. 8th! SENIOR YEAR HAD BEGUN!! Taking a full day of classes, but yet only needing one credit left. My 1st semester was filled with Mythology, Symphony, Yearbook, Seminary, Chorale and Stained Glass. Such a fun semester. I thoroughly enjoyed my Myth. class. My teacher was amazing and I loved the people in my class. Joining Yearbook was something of a last minute decision. I wasn't sure if  I wanted to do it, but I decided it would be a good thing for me to be involved in. Turns out I LOVE IT! I like being a part of a staff that really wants the same thing, for the book to be amazing. Interviews make me hate EVERYONE but thats ok. We're all a little cynical in yearbook. Stained glass was probably the best class i've ever taken. I made so much cool stuff, the people in my class were new and interesting and my teacher was such a sweet lady, bless her. Most of the projects I made went to other people as gifts, but that's alright.  I'm glad they can enjoy it. Who knows, it may even become a hobby of mine. GASP! What? Abby might actually do something crafty with her life?! Yeah i know, it's crazy, but I really really enjoy it.  Went to Homecoming with my friend Lucas, and went to Winter Formal with my friend Michael. They were great dances and turned out better than I thought they were going to (because i'm a worry wart who hates people, remember). So that was fantastic.

Holidays! Thanksgiving was spent in Utah! So fun to see all the cousins! Christmas was spent in MAUI! WOOOOOOOT! I love tropical christmases. BEST. EVER. Learned how to surf, ate delicious food and shave ice. Saw the sun rise and the full moon set on the top of a Haleakala (a volcano). Played at the beach and got really TAN! :) :) Then I came home, spent New Years with some of my best friends and shot off fireworks. Then on New Years Day, I left for Disneyland with J (who I am now dating BTW). It was so fun to be there when it was all decorated for Christmas time. Aaaaand J kissed me for the first time in Disneyland. It was super adorable. 

And now school has started again, so I guess I've caught you up on the major MAJOR important stuff. Since I am now taking English 101, I have my laptop with me more and I have access to the interwebz... you know what that means. NOT DOING SCHOOL WORK AND ACTUALLY GETTING TIME TO BLOG OTHER STUFFZ! :) Hooray for procrastination.

Holidays!

So basically Christmas was so nice here at home. I haven't been at home for Christmas for a few years, so it was nice to be in my own bed Christmas Eve. This is also the first Christmas Eve where I actually got to relax because all of my shopping and preparations were done days before.

I'll back up a bit, though, and give details, because i'm sick and therefore have nothing better to do than sit in my bed listening to disney music, typing all the events of my Christmas Break (yes CHRISTMAS, not holiday break. Screw being politically correct).

After school got out, i hung out with J and Austin and watched School of Rock. Its a great movie, if you haven't seen it, then you must be living under a rock and you must immediately stop reading this and go rent it. You will laugh your face off. Basically they are such great guys. Best thing is that neither has trued anything with me, which is refreshing. Also, they are both absolutely hilarious, so thats good too.

Wednesday I was a start sister-in-law, and  I went and got Alex cough drops because he was a very sick puppy and had work. My success was two-fold because i managed to stuff the big bag of coughdrops into the drivethru container and i did a good deed, so  i felt like i fulfilled my good citizen points for the week. Then i went on a date with a kid from Highland that i met through my soul-sister Alyssa. The boy i went with is such a sweet guy. I had such a blast getting lost on our way to Fountain Hills. We had a picnic and played at the park and spun in the tire swing. All of the people we were with were so cool. I only knew 3 of them but they all were really accepting and made sure i was a part of the conversation, which i was grateful for.  Then after the date, I went to see New Year's Eve with Alyssa and then we went back to her house and watched Breaking Dawn. Pretty much most relaxing, fun day i've had in a while.

Thursday was chill. i didn't really do anything until later that night when austin and J had me come play video games with them. Haha note to self: boys will not go easy on you when playing Modern Warfare just because you're a girl. I am determined to practice and then demand a rematch and WHOOP butt! Oh yeah baby! Then we played a game called Splosion Man, which i also recomend as your next purchase. Pretty fantastic. Then we watched Super 8. I love hanging with my boys.

December 23rd was Christmas Adam (because Adam came before Eve, duh!), and my good friend Bryson had a date night at his house and we all drank hot cocoa and watched It's a Beautiful Life and ate delicious homemade cinnamon rolls. And although i went stag, i still had a blast watching other couples be sickening as they kept each other warm (please, we ALL know that winter is just an excuse for girls to complain how "cold" their hands are, so boys will take pity on us pathetic creatures).... can we tell i miss my boy? I digress... but i really did have a good time. I feel like high school is the time to plan parties like that with great friends, and good food. :)

Christmas Eve was relaxing, as i said before. The Fam went to brunch at IHOP then met up with Allie and Alex and went and saw Sherlock Holmes 2. Then we went back to the house to have our traditional homemade Clam Chowder and played games, and watched christmas movies and listened to Christmas music. Then around 11 we all went to bed to wait...

...CHRISTMAS DAY! Hooray! Ya know, it may not be the same as it was when i was younger, but it the magic and wonder has changed as i have grown. It's special to me for different reasons. When i was younger, it was about Santa coming and leaving me all the presents on my very long list. Now, although i still do enjoy the presents from my friends and family, I find Christmas isnt about the gifts on my list so much as it is about being with the people i love, which i think is why this christmas was also tha hardest one i've had because the one person i really would have loved to be around during the holidays, is back in his home country for who knows how long. I really missed him this Christmas. (i'm now going to have to do a post all about this mysterious foreigner i keep mentioning... DANG IT!) But it really was such a nice Christmas. I got some new clothes and shoes and candy and fun stuff like that, but my big gift this year was my very own SKIS AND BOOTS! AWH YEAH! So excited. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE skiing. Best thing ever (and no i have never been snow boarding, and i never plan on it. Having both feet strapped to the same board as you go side ways down the mountain.... yaaaaa no. Not happening). It was also really nice to have Christmas on a sunday, because it kept the real meaning of Christmas in the forefront of my mind.

Ha my house was like a commercial on Christmas day because my crazy Father got my Mother a new CAR for christmas! She had absolutely no clue. It was so fantastic. She opened the last box which happened to be the keys to the car. She started crying and freaking out and when we went outside, there was her brand new Ford Explorer Limited in the driveway with a big red bow on the hood. It was so fun. Our family was also giving the gift of a summer vacation from my grandma. She booked our whole Smith Family a 3-Day Stay in any Resort and.... A CRUISE! Eeegads! The trip was planned so perfectly because me and my cousin will have just graduated and my other cousin will have just gotten back from his mission.  So basically thats grandma's birthday/christmas/valentines/any-holiday-that-involves-presents present for everyone for the next, like, 2 years.

After that we flew up to Utah to spend some time with the cousins. We went to a baptism of Dad's friend Mick's baptism. It was so exciting that after 40 years he's decided to join the church. We were all so proud. We also went up and spent time with grandma betty and hung out with Richmans and Bench's which was nice. We all haven't hung out together since the summer so we had a lot of catching up to do. I also got to meet some of Kayla's friends at a New Years Eve party, so that was chill. The rest of New Years was spent with Jake and Dawson and we lit off fireworks, ate homemade strawberry ice cream and played video games. Then i went back to Kayla's and hung out with Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Derrik who we never get to see. I love them. They are so silly and quirky and so loving.

Weeeeeeellll..... this blog post kinda ended up turning into a journal entry, so if your even still reading this mindless dribble, you must not have anything better to do and im sorry. A foreign post is to come....aaaaaaaand i'm out. Gotta go take my antibiotics. Hey look at that, i killed 2 hours writing this post. I can now go to bed and heal. YAY.... 

...wow fail.

Well i am a despicable human being.  I sort of forgot/avoided writing because i'm too busy (or so i like to convince myself). This is my thought process

"I don't need to blog, i just barely blogged."

"It's been a while, buuuuuuut i just don't have time"

"I'm so ashamed.... i can't blog. it's been months since my last post..."

"ok.... This is ridiculous I gotta blog!"


It's a vicious cycle.

So there's a lot to update ya'll on. Ok.... gotta stretch out...... aaaaaaand ready. set. go.

HOMECOMING!!!
So the homecoming game was stupendous! Mountain View won (i'm pretty sure we bribed the other team to loose cuz we suck) and it was the first game i'd been to (cuz i suck). It was a just such a blast! My friend Nathan asked me to the homecoming dance and we had a paint war for our day activity. Haha what a mess. But sometimes it's good to get messy.  However, i recommend wearing some sort of face mask because paint in eyes, ears, and mouth is just plain dross (kid history quote!!!) And dinner was amazing, the dance was super fun and everything was just awesome!

 

 

NEXT! 

So Halloween was pretty bomb diggity... (yes i bomb diggidied... get over it). Saturday the crazy people who i occasionally spent time with AKA my friends, had a party! I was awesome and dressed up as minnie mouse. We had a pillow fight at the park and then went to my friends haunted house. NBD. Then on monday i dressed , I went trick or treating for a few hours with my friend and her little sisters, and then i  picked up my friend Erin and we went to my friend J's. It was such a party!

ONWARD!
So at the end of October, i got it into my head that i wanted to do something crazy. Something outrageous. Something totally out of the blue. I decided I wanted to cut my hair. Many sane bystanders tried to convince me not to chop my luscious locks... others were the devil's advocate and told me to go for it. Told me "it's your hair. Do what you want with it." So i decided to donate it. On Monday, Nov. 7th, I cut off 11 and a half inches of hair. It was so extremely liberating! And i love it short! Now as if that's not enough, I'm thinking about going even SHORTER. Yes for individuality!

Length Before

Length After

FORWARD
Give thanks! Thanksgiving weekend was very nice. Me and mi familia went to Utah to see the rest of the fam. It was ridiculously cold but lovely. For Thanksgiving day we went up the canyon to my uncle's cabin. Surprisingly i did almost all of my homework that afternoon. HOORAY for not procrastinating!!!! Then we went that night to see our good friends the Richman's. Love them to death! It was a god day. Then the rest of the weekend involved going to the movies with cousins and chilling with the family. All in all, a very resting weekend.


NEXT
WINTER FORMAL!!! ahaha so basically i wasnt originally planning on attending a silly school dance but my sister convinced me to ask my friend Austin. He is pretty cool so i decided to ask him. We had such a good time! Well on the day of the dance it was pouring rain and our day activity was out in Fountain Hills. Soooo.... we were cold and wet but we had a really fun time playing croquet and launching bottle rockets and having our little picnic. Then we went home, got ready, and everyone came to my house for pictures and dinner, which was delish! At the dance we ran around like idiots and took pictures and laughed and sang as loud as humanly possible. Only complaint i had was they played NO slow songs. So basically i payed 25 dollars to jump up and down (because that's my generations idea of dancing). So that was stupid, so we went back to my house and played some slow songs on my stereo and danced in our entry way. Then we went and made gingerbread houses. It was a fun and quirky was to end the night.

The repercussions of the dance were not so fun.... but that's for an "angry hate-the-world" post which this is not.

Whew! Ok. I'm all caught up now. I promise to blog more. Ok? ok. Peace Off.

I was nominted, therefore i am.

I love my sister so stinkin much, but i think she's crazy. She has nomintaed me for an award i TOTALLY don't deserve (the versatile blogger award, in case anyone was wondering). First of all, i never have time to blig, so my posts are few and far between and second, when i do post, its never very interesting.... but none the less, my dear sister took pity on my and my pathetic little blog and nominated me (probably hoping to motivate me) But i do have to say, it is nice to be recognized.

The "Versatile Blogger Award" rules:

No. 1 Thank the person who nominated you: Allora, i thank you. Truely. But I think you're crazy. ;)
No. 2 Share 8 facts about yourself

Strap on your seat belts, and here we go.

{uno} I'm a music junkie. I play the cello, piano, guitar (ish) and sing. No matter what i'm doing, i HAVE to be listening to something. It's really the only thing that motivates me and puts me in a good mood. I love the spanish station on the radio but i also love me some hip hop music. Basically if it's good, i'll listen to it.

 {dos} I'm pretty sure im the luckiest girl on the planet Earth. Here's why. My family is amazing and i have parents who are still as in love as they were as teenagers. I have a boyfriend who loves and cares for me and is my best friend. I have more than enough in life to make me happy and I Lived in spain and traveled most of Europe all before i was 8 years old.

{tres}Scary movies? Can't stand them! I'm not usually a chicken, but i cant even watch trailers for horror films. Just ask Boyfriend. He begsme  all the time to see scary movies with him ( i just think he wants to cuddle). PSH! If he made me go see a scary movie with him, i wouldn't cuddle! I'd be P.O that he made me go in the first place... So ya. Hate Scary movies.

{cuatro} I used to speak fluent spanish. When i lived in Spain, i was 5, so i absorbed the language like a sponge. My and Little Brother even would have conversations in Spanish just because we were so used to speaking it all day long.We had an awesome tutor Moni, who basically became one of the family. But since it's been many years since I lived there and have therefore forgotten much of the language.

{cinco} I LOVE SOUP! I don't know why, but for as long as i can remember i have always loved soup. Any kind, any day i would eat it. We'd go to a restaurant and all i wanted was a bowl of some soup. Birthday? soup please! Seriously, i think it's a side-effect of me being sick all the time, because all i eat when i'm sick is soup.... and now all i eat when i'm not sick is soup. But ya.... i love soup. ;)

{seis} Books are my best friends. I can sit down for an hour and devour the book i got that morning. It's great. Books are my way of escaping stress and school and drama. Just open a book, and you're in a whole new world (cue Aladdin's "A Whole New World" song.... it will now be stuck in your head. You're welcome).

{Siete} I have a thing for heels. So what that i'm 5 foot 10 WITHOUT added inches of shoe? The higher the heel the better. I have only a few pairs thanks to my lack of cash and time to shop, but when i have money and the chance, i buy the brightest and the highest heels i can find. I love to shop for them, i love to compliment other girls high heels, and i love wearing them. They just make me feel so gosh darn sexy.

{ocho} My guilty pleasure is french fries. Forget girlie figures and salads. Nope not for this female. I would choose french fries any day of the week. Best fries in my opinion are at Wendy's. Sometimes, i just gotta make a Wendy's run for a chocolate frosty and a LARGE fry. Mmmmm.

Now i believe it is time to pass this award on to a few others.
Peace Love and Cupcakes
Something For The Summer 2011
Sincerely, Alice

In need of a blogging break

So... not exactly sure what i'm gonna write, but i just REALLY needed to blog and i finished my homework early (holla!) so here i am. :)

School has started. Aw nuts. I can already tell this year is going to be really interesting. Junior year=MADNESS! especially when the school decides to add 900 more students to our already full campus. School population is now like 3,300! Talk about insane. It's seriously wall to wall students ALL DAY! I feel so bad for the little freshman (little brother is one of the poor little things). Seriously i would've changed schools if i was being forced to go to Mountain View at their age. Plus they are just so tiny! I feel like they shrink every year. I swear we were never that small.... oh well. Also, i'm a glutton for punishment and am taking AP english. First of all, I have never really liked english so i'm not really sure why i'm trying to be all "advanced" and such cool things for i class that i really do not appreciate at all. Plus my teacher is one of those people that scare you, and you're totally afraid for your life, but you learn so friggen much that you don't want to drop the stupid class. Gah! Mega frustration! But I love all my other classes. Human anatomy is BOMB! Who knew studying pictures of naked people was academic? :)  But seriously it is gonna be my favorite ever. Plus my teacher is hilarious. She has great stories.

I have new favorite songs! "Moves Like Jagger" is amazing! "Miles" by Christina Perri basically describes my life for the next year. Like for serious. "Party Rockers" by LMFAO is just fun to dance to. "Boots and Boys" by Ke$ha is great to sing to in your car really loudly and out of key (it has to be that way, otherwise it just isn't as fun). basically i just freakin love music. Like anything! For real.

Haha Saturday night i seriously thought my friend was possessed. She was sleep talking and i was laying in bed and i hear her say "oh yeah? BRING IT ON!" then a thump. So me and my friend alexis turn on a flashlight and see Dani in the middle of the floor with her head limp on her shoulders and doing freaky arm movements. Seriously looked like the exorcist. I freaked out. THEN she decided in her sleep, to open her eyes and and stare glassy-eyed right at the light we were shining at her. We didn't know weather to turn the light off so she couldn't see the light anymore, or to keep the light on so we could keep an eye on her. She also decided to chase us around the room because she thought that when we ran away from her when she came at the light, that we were playing tag and that she was it. Freakin scared the heck out of me!

So my dear miss Hope left to work at Disneyland for 5 months today... I miss her already. I hate people for leaving me. My 2 best friends Val and Katie both ditched me. One is home schooled and the other transferred schools. So i miss lots of people right now. I'm determined to keep my blog updated for Miss Hope so she can keep up on my boring little life. :)

I love you Hopey!

Basically I've been saying "I love you" to people a LOT lately. I think it's a side effect of people leaving me. I just realize i say it to ALL of my friends at least 47 times a day. I hope I am allowed to do that. I mean, i'm 16. I don't even really know what true love is, but i do  know i love my friends... so i guess that makes me qualified to say it. Oh well, even if i'm not, who's going to stop me? no one thats who. I think it's good to say i love you. It makes me feel better, so i figure if it makes me feel better to say it, it should make people feel better to hear it.


Ok. Blogging breaks must become a therapeutic routine of mine because i feel SO much better.