The Weekly Review

Yet another week has gone by, and there are a few details to share! As we get further into the school year, things are starting to drag on a little more, yet speed by at the same time. It's quite complicated, if you ask me. Anyway, it was a good week filled with new Taylor Swift music and appearances, a new car and a few things in between, so here's the weekly review!

Monday:
I spent most of my morning cramming math homework in, nearly pulling my hair out or throwing something across the room, until I decided I couldn't take it anymore, and got ready for the day. I painted my nails with red polish, in honor of Taylor Swift's new CD, and added a few other red items to my wardrobe that day. My mom came home from her doctor's appointment, and after only a few minutes, we were out the door to buy Red. We arrived at Target, and it was the moment I had been waiting for. We rushed to the entertainment department, and at first glance, it looked like they didn't have it, because that store is notorious for not having things that we're looking for. I glanced down a couple rows, and there it was shining in all of its glory. I picked up my copy, payed for it, and we were on our way, rocking out to it, as we headed to the grocery store.
The rest of the afternoon was less than glamorous. In fact, it included several meltdowns and a few shrieks into a pillow. The more problems of math I started working out, it became more about how my life was flashing before my eyes, and I felt like I would be stuck in school forever. I cried on my mom's shoulder, and felt a little better after that. I felt stupid for making it such a big deal, but to me, when this is what I'm dealing with right now, it is a big deal. I decided to give homework a rest after that to catch my breath, then FINALLY listened to Taylor's new album and started editing a video that my friend and I had worked on.

Tuesday:
My friend, Michele, usually picks me up at 9:00, but she was still in a meeting, so she picked me up a bit later. I was dreading going to school, and still wasn't feeling well, so I was not wanting to go at all. I passed the time by watching some of the Pretty Little Liar marathon on ABC Family, anticipating the Halloween episode that night. AH!

Michele picked me up, and we drove to school, and somehow ended up on the topic of school and feeling stuck. Once again, I'm not the only who is trying to figure everything out with the future, wondering what it holds and whether I'm on the right track or not. We talked about losing hope and doubting God, trying to handle things on our own, and how it's time to believe that big things are going to happen again. God knows the very thing that we need and when we need it. It was everything that my heart needed to express. I hate feel hopeless and not putting my trust in God that He's going to change things around. That stirred some ideas in me, which was something I hadn't felt in awhile.
Class was okay, but nothing out of the ordinary, which I'm craving right now. I just want a little excitement. Nothing bad or for anyone around me to experience pain or a devastating time in their life, but I want an adventure. I want to get lost in a city I've never been to and talk to strangers. I do not, however, want to sit in a room full of creative writing students talking about a bunch of wacky stories and poems for the 18,000th time.
I came home, finished homework, and just relaxed. Then, I had to submit a story or poem for my last critique in creative writing. I tore up my room looking for something I'd already written and searched just about every file on my computer for something in the works. I finally threw something together, but  I'm sure it isn't my best work. I'm sure they'll let me know, though ;). Luckily, I was feeling a bit better after the previous dealings the day before. And I dedicated the rest of my night to watching the Pretty Little Liars Halloween episode, while eating Twizzlers and Starbursts on my bed. It was glorious!

I love how much of a "fan girl" Sophia is for PLL

This episode was crazy.

Wednesday:
Ah, Wednesday, how I love thee. This is usually my catch up/relax day. I woke up, watched TV, did some homework, stayed in my pj's, went for a bike ride, and did nothing some more. It was nice!
That night, I went with my parents out to our Toyota car dealership just to look at cars, and of course, we listened to the new Taylor Swift CD on the way out there.
We made our way through the parking lot of cars, joking and laughing with one another, and shivering because it was SO COLD! Winter is definitely right around the corner. I'm liking it. I was just glad I was finally able to wear one of my favorite sweaters.

Thursday:
Once again, I carpooled with Michele to Taft for class. I went to the library to kill time, after we made it to school, and caught up with my friend, Amanda. We talked about our creative writing class, as always, and our majors; what we hope to do with them. We got a little work done, but a majority was spent talking. I was totally okay with that, though.
Class was the same, and I think I probably tuned out most of the time, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
My mom had text me to eat without her once I got home, so I did. She was at Toyota, dealing with car stuff, so I was on my own for the rest of the afternoon. I did some homework, watched a lot of TV, and even started working on my story that Rebecca and I are working on. It was a pretty productive afternoon, and then I just started getting downright bored. My mom was texting me updates of how things were going down at the dealership, so that was keeping me entertained for awhile.

Haha my mom is the white bubble. She's awesome!  And that is the name of our car now :)

My mom finally came home around 7:30 or so, with a brand new car! We touched up our makeup, got ready, then met my dad back at the car dealership. After that was taken care of, we had dinner at Chipotle. I don't think it has ever tasted so good. Just kidding, it totally has, but I was hungry.
I came home, got ready for bed, and watched The Vampire Diaries. I think I was mainly so excited about this episode in order to get to next week's, because there is supposed to be a lot of magic between Damon and Elena. ;) I'm all for that!

I WANT TO GOOOO!

Friday:
My mom and I had planned to wake up early, go to breakfast and run some errands before 1:00. Well, there ended up being a lot of things my mom had to take care of before then, so we didn't leave until 11, which messed things up a bit. I, instead spent my morning scrapbooking some things from my favorite fashion magazines. Yup, I'm a nerd! We ran our errands and decided to have lunch at Panera since it was close by. I had broccoli cheese soup and half a Turkey sandwich, which was delicious. I'm so glad it's finally fall, and I can order hot meals like that, and not look crazy.
Someone came by our house around 1, to look at a couch we were selling, and they ended up wanting it, which was great. I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on recorded Taylor Swift appearances, drinking hot tea, and getting on Tumblr/WeHeartIt.
Later on that night, we met my dad for dinner at Chic-Fil-A, where we talked about making arrangements for a day trip with my grandparents on Saturday and of course, the ever present topic, Taylor Swift. I am in the family, after all. A five minute conversation with me? She's bound to come  up somehow; it's inevitable.
I had wanted to go to bed possibly a little earlier, but that didn't happen. I watched Gossip Girl, a few minutes of Don't Look Under The Bed, and fell asleep around 2 or so a.m.

I decided to have a photoshoot with the pumpkins because I was bored....

What a week! All good stuff. That's all for now,
Shelby :)

The Weekly Review

Wow! Where to begin with this week? There were so many incredible highlights, but I also feel pretty exhausted from everything. I guess I will just start with Monday, as usual.

Monday:
I went to the grocery store with my mom, since it's the typical Monday routine. As soon as we got home, we heard that President Obama had just landed. I'm not an Obama fan, but the President is the President, so my mom and I drove out to the airport to see the plane. Well, we couldn't see the plane, so we were about to turn to head to the old terminal, when the cops put up orange cones, so we couldn't move. He didn't tell us anything, just kept walking. We were really confused at what was going on, so we asked the guy across the way from us, who said it would be twenty minutes before we could leave, because the motorcade would be passing that way. Why they couldn't let just one more car go, I don't know...But, I'm glad they did stop us, because that's something I've always wanted to say that I was able to do. I couldn't believe how fast they were going; it was insane. We stopped at WalGreen's on the way home, because they are now selling a ton of Taylor Swift school supplies. Luckily, they did have a few things and I was SO happy. The rest of the day was pretty normal from there.

                                           

Tuesday:
I had my creative writing class, so I carpooled with my friend, Michele, again. She filled me in all about her new internship that she's doing with the city, so that was cool to hear her stories. When we got to Taft, I went to the library, as I've been doing the past couple weeks to kill time before my class starts. My friend, Amanda, from class was there, so we talked all about critiques and how interesting the class is.
Class finally started, and I was so nervous after submitting my next assignment. I had decided to do a narrative, non-fiction type thing, and I was just waiting for everyone to hate it. I was really surprised at how many people liked it, except for one of the same girls who said it wasn't her "cup of tea," but oh well. You can't please everyone, and this class is definitely helping me realize not to take everything to heart. Even our teacher really expressed how much he liked it, and that I should continue with it, so I remember more details and things like that.
I had a horrible sore throat that day, so I didn't feel good at all. I wanted to just lay down on the couch and sleep, but my best friend was supposed to come over, and I was really looking forward to that.

We were going to just postpone it, but I took some DayQuil and was okay for the time being, so she still came over. We had so much fun! She's one of those people that we can just spend hours talking, and not run out of things to say. Good thing too, because that's exactly what we did. We sat on my bed and gabbed about anything and everything that came to mind. They were quite eventful conversations, let me just say. "I cannot..." was a big topic of discussion, and just how annoying it is. But, it became our thing, and it was hilarious.

I got this in the mail, and I don't even really remember sending it.

Wednesday:

I woke up at 3:30 a.m extremely sick...Once again, that's a normal occurrence, so I'm used to it. I was throwing up, feeling miserable; took some medicine and tried to get comfortable. I watched a little TV, and fell asleep close to 5, waking up again a little after 9. I stayed in my pj's all day, watching One Tree Hill and whatever else I could find. I wanted to get better before all of the family came in for my grandpa's birthday. It was a really nice fall day to just be at home.

Thursday:
There were a lot of preparations for the family still left to be done. I felt really blah still, and debated on going to class, but since a new project was being introduced, I decided to go. I spent the morning relaxing on the couch, watching the KTLA morning news, and drinking coffee. There was really no better way to start the day. Luckily, my friend didn't have to pick me up until 10, so I got to sleep in a little too, which was awesome.

My creative writing class was a little low in attendance, so it felt more laid back. He talked to us about submitting our work to a magazine. I had no idea there were so many places in publication or how much really goes into the process of submitting. That's a big assignment that is due, so I'll have to do some research in how I want to do it.
The drive home from Taft was beautiful; the sky was dark and gray, looking close to rain and thunderstorms. You can definitely tell that fall is in the air.

I came home and was pooped out. My grandma was there when I got back, because they were waiting on my grandpa to bring the car over so my aunt and uncle would be able to use it while they're here. I had thought about going, but I had no energy, so the three of them went without me. I decided to make lunch, and while they were gone, there was a phone call from Burbank. I almost didn't answer it because I figured it was something with politics, but then I thought, "What if it's Ellen?" My mom and I had been writing in for about a month, as soon as I found out that Taylor Swift would be on the show. The lady asked for my mom, and I told her she wasn't there, so I took a message and told her I'd have her call back as soon as she got home. I was freaking out on the inside, and immediately text my mom. I really didn't feel like eating lunch or finishing homework after that. But, I did it. It was so hard focusing and not getting anxious the rest of the night.
Around 7, or possibly a little before, we got another phone call from Burbank. This time it was for me. She explained that I had been selected for Taylor Swift's performance on the Ellen show, and that she would perform about five songs. I was SO excited! I couldn't believe that it had actually worked! So, I booked the tickets and was posting it on Facebook/Twitter, and calling my dad. Things could not be more perfect. I also don't understand why certain people can't just be happy for others, and feel the need to belittle their experiences just because they're jealous. GET OVER IT AND YOURSELF. Alright, I'm done.
That night, we ate dinner and hung around for a bit, because we had to pick my aunt and uncle up at the airport around 10. I was so excited to see them, even though it had only been two weeks since the last time. I blasted Taylor in the car, in honor of all the excitement with her, and I was pumped. We sat in the lobby of the airport, while I rambled quotes from One Tree Hill and texted my friend, Sarah about The Vampire Diaries. I couldn't wait to get home to watch.

My aunt and uncle came in, and my dad started doing jumping jacks in the middle of the airport to greet them; it was awesome and I love him for it. He's never afraid to just have fun; doesn't matter where we are. We came home after that, because my other aunt and uncle would be meeting us there too. It was a big family gathering, as we all stood in the kitchen, catching up with one another. If you haven't caught on already, I really love being with family and all the togetherness. It gives me warm and fuzzies inside.
After everyone started getting ready for bed, I was finally able to watch The Vampire Diaries and I was SO excited. That deserves its own post alone, so stay tuned.

This time around, I'm going to include Friday in my "weekend" post, so be on the lookout for that as well.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend :)

~Shelby

The Weekend

Its been a really good weekend! I was able to sleep in quite a bit yesterday and just hang around the house for a bit, which was nice. As I was finishing getting ready, my friend, Steph text me about a Nick Jonas tweet. Well, the rumors are true about him possibly being a judge on American Idol...We couldn't be more thrilled. I think he's PERFECT for it; he's so talented, and will draw in more of the age group that they're probably aiming for. Then, I went with my parents to LA. We had lunch at Lucille's in Valencia, which is on the way, and I think it's possible it just might be my new favorite restaurant. I tried the BBQ chicken salad this time, which was really good. But, I would've been just fine with the rolls and sweet tea. YUM! There's also a really neat store right around the corner from the restaurant, that has some adorable clothes! The two times we've been in there, I've found a ton of stuff.

We made it to LA, but then came the million dollar question of...What now? You'd think for as many times as we've been down there, we'd come up with more exciting things to do, but ...Ya know, routines are hard to break. We ended up in Toluca Lake, drove around the area, then ended up at a few stores on the main street that we'd never been in. We went into the Discovery shop for a few minutes, and another boutique across the street. I knew it was a good sign when we walked in and they were playing the One Tree Hill soundtrack! AH! Then, it was time to head to the Dodger game.

This is the perfect fairy tale looking house!!

We got to Dodger stadium, and decided to go to the lower level, hoping to see whoever was singing the National Anthem up close or see if we could spot any celebrities before the game started. Well, they had a Karate type thing set up in honor of Japan. It was really cool! But, unfortunately no one we'd heard of sang the national anthem. Eric Stonestreet threw out the first pitch, but we've seen him before...So, pretty soon after, we went up to our seats. The game was pretty good! For awhile there, I thought they were going to tie it up, but the Dodgers pulled it off! They're coming on strong again.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I'm so okay with this.

Quote of the night:

"Somebody start the wave, I'm getting bored here!" (boy a couple rows behind us at the game...He had a lot of great lines).

We headed home after the game. It took a little longer getting out of the parking lot, because of traffic, but once we hit the freeway, things cleared up a bit. I always love the car rides home. I do a lot of thinking in general, no matter where I am, but I feel like when I'm in the car, I can just listen to music, and to some degree tune out the rest of the world for a little while. We stopped at Del Taco for dinner, and only had about 45 minutes-hour drive home from there.

An idea struck me for a story, so I started writing in my notes!

I'm always wide awake when I get home, no matter how tired I was previously. I took a shower, then decided to do some writing, which turned into listening to music, which turned into looking up American Idol interviews on YouTube. Finally around 3 I got to bed and watched Full House for awhile, and off to sleep I went.

This morning rolled around, and of course I didn't hear the two alarms I'd set, so my dad had to wake me up! HAHA. I got ready, then we went to church. It feels like the most normal Sunday I've had in awhile.

My Elise Testone inspired outfit for the day!

I feel like the series we're starting at church is seriously meant for this season of my life that I'm in right now. Last week, we had a guest speaker who talked about God moments, or E-moments that happen in our daily lives. This week, our senior pastor spoke on "Divine Coincidences", which is something I've been thinking about. I've been wondering about the life that God has planned for me, and whether the things I do can stray me off course from the life God has planned. I got the word that I needed to hear on that.  "You cannot miss the will of God if you are open to the leading of the Spirit." That really changed my perspective on the way I've been holding on so tightly to some things, but when I'm open to God's plans and ideas, I'll get there no matter what. There really are no coincidences, and I've always believed that, it was just a matter of being reminded as I figure out what this next phase of my life is. I'm getting some things going, and I know that all these little moments and things are starting to be put together piece by piece for the greater good. Little by little, I do see some things working out, and I'm excited to see where they lead. For now, I'm trusting God that He knows best and everything will fall into place from there.
After church, we had lunch at Chili's. I filled my parents in on the crazy night I had last night of watching American Idol videos, and some of the things I learned from them. I also gave my dad a rundown of One Tree Hill, trying to prepare him for the episodes I want him to see before Wilmington. My mom wanted to go to Michael's, so we ended up going there. I always forget just how much I love it! They have so many things that get my creative juices flowing. My mom and I are going to start making bracelets again. I also got some really cheap scrapbook paper-lots of great deals they had going on.

Bracelet I made with a couple things from Michael's! "With God, your problems are always light as a feather."

I want one of these backpacks for school!!! 

We came home; I listened to music, wrote some, uploaded pictures to get developed, then ran to Sam's Club with my parents. We came home for a little while, then ended up having dinner/dessert with some family friends at a local ice cream shop! Its been around for years. It's nothing fancy or spectacular, but it's a fun place, and they have great ice cream. I love hanging out with them; lots of great stories to share and reminisce on. They filled us in on some travels, an anniversary party coming up, and other things...and of course, it wouldn't be complete without a few laughs. We even made plans to hang out again Saturday! Can't wait :)

Now, I shall sit and write...and make plans for the rest of this week. I'm tired of dilly dallying, wondering why things aren't happening for me...Because I'm not MAKING them happen. I have plenty to keep me busy, so we shall see what this week holds.

That's all for now,
Shelby