College

Picking what college to go to is a really big choice and can influence the rest of your life. I lately have been on the search for more colleges because at first I though I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do but slowly I have been changing my mind. People put so much pressure on you trying to decided where to go and what to do for school. The one thing I have always been interested in is fashion and shopping. So off of that I was looking into jobs that had to do with that. Ever since then I found out what a buyer is. A buyer for a company is someone who picks out everything and decides where it comes from and what the price is and when it goes in the store and for how long and you have to keep updated fashion and make sure you know what people like and what they are looking for. I was super excited when I found out this is actually a thing and I am really interested in it. So after that the next time someone asked me what I want to do I told them I want to be a buyer for a clothing or department store. You should have seen there faces. Most people of the people I have told have said "you know it is different then just shopping right?"  and "you can't shop as a job". Almost everyone I have told has not been very positive about it and seems rather disappointed in me. I continue to get the same reaction every time I tell people so I am so torn on what to do. The end of high school is coming up fast and I still don't know what I want to do with my life. I have little ideas in my head and little plans I make but I know how much it can change it a heartbeat. Parents always when first talking to you ask you the question. What do you want to do with your life after school. Normally I make up some BS answer and try to talk about maybe following my dads footsteps and going into business. I never really put much thought into what I want to do with my life after school. Now it is all coming at me so fast and there is so much to think about. I found this website which was a very helpful way to help me organize colleges to help me pick which ones to look at. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/ It helps specifically pick what colleges are best for you.  

Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey has a voice that I could listen to all day long. Her music has so much meaning and passion in it. All the songs have this certain vibe to it that is a little more on the sad side but still so beautiful. Her album Born to Die came out January 27th 2012 and was on iTunes on January 31st. The Album got number one in 2012 and 2013 for Top Digital Albums, Top Rock and Top modern rock/Alternative Albums. It also made it as number two on The Billboard top 200 in 2012.
In interviews she says that a lot of her are music is inspired by her life and what has happened in her life. They are from the love and lost in her life. She went to boarding school growing up to get over her alcohol addiction. Then moved back to New York City to start her life over. She feels she has walked her own path her whole life. She started singing in her high school choir and making videos when she was 17. She originally was collecting just vintage clips of places she liked for her music videos. She put it to classical music before she put it to her own music. Then she started putting herself in the videos and putting it to her own music. The fact that her videos were made by herself partially got her a lot of attention.
Her song Young and Beautiful was put into the movie The Great Gatsby. It was used for the main theme of the movie. She worked with Baz Luhrmann to make it go with the scenes in the movie and have the songs emotions and feelings work so well into it. She is very famous now and is well known around the world. Check out her website, music, music videos and more at www.lanadelrey.com if you want to join the newest crave about Lana Del Rey.

Her music is just so good when you listen to it and so real. It is kind of "dark" for some people and some people think its sad but I honestly just think its good because its truly about life and the struggles of life. She is so real in her music and its really inspiring. If you have never listened to her before I really do recommend listening to her. Hope you enjoy!

My outfit

I would like to point out it wasn't bothering anyone is class at all. I actually got multiple compliments on it to be honest. And we were all sitting and reading the whole class time. It isn't like I was throwing my hands in the air and leaning all around and trying to show more skin. My outfit today was khakis shorts which aren't tight at all and a good length for school and then the big deal was my shirt. For a shirt I had on a light pink bandeau that is lacey and covers a good chunk of skin longer then your middle finger, about half your hand all the way around Then my shirt has open sides that tie at the bottom. It is NOT a crop top or extremely short at all. You can literally only see 3 inches or less of my side. MY SIDE. Less skin is showing then the bandeau is covering. I literally got called to the office because my side is showing folks. My side is too scandalous for school apparently. Not to mention the shirt isn't like low cut or anything its high all around and goes up past my collar bone and has a top of like a t-shirt and its floral print. I have watched a girl everyday at school since it is warm out either one, wear shorts so small her ass hangs out and like a small tank top or wear a crop top with low rise jeans. Now I would like someone to please explain to me why that is okay that someone at school can have there whole butt hanging out of there shorts and have there whole entire stomach showing but I can not show my sides. It isn't like I am just wearing a bra either. It is a bandeau that covers like 5 inches all the way around. I also know a ton of other girls who show so much cleavage. If my side bone is more distracting then cleavage in school then I don't even know what to say anymore. I would also like to explain that this week and past weeks I have not worn anything inappropriate. One day I had jeans and a full shirt one and another I had shorts and a sweatshirt on so if someone wants to tell me what's wrong with that because I would love an explanation.
If anyone can explain to me why what I am wearing isn't okay and what the half the girls at are schools wear then I wouldn't make a big deal of it. School policies are being ridiculous and I am furious. I am a naturally small person and if can't show my side at school while I am constantly seeing other girls bottoms, cleavage and stomach everyday and they aren't getting in trouble, something obviously needs to change. I would understand if schools called me out about my shirt if they were also targeting everyone else who is wearing worse stuff then me, but until they change that I will put of my guard about this and not be targeted when there is worse going on. It really just depends on the teachers you have and they are the ones who report your outfits which isn't fair because some teachers don't care at all while others are super strict. Now I have learned though, what class to wear a jacket in so I don't get nailed. I wish schools could understand that there is worse out there at school and the ones who get in trouble for the small stuff is sad because they aren't solving the real problem.

School Dress Code

Today for the first time in high school history I had to go to the principal's office because I was in trouble. My teacher told me after my first hour that the assistant principle wanted to talk to me and I had to report to the office. My first thought was that I was getting in trouble because I am usually a few minutes late to her class so I assumed it was about my attendance issues or something like that. I had seen him walking into my class earlier that day and my teacher then left the room with him to talk to him but then came back so I thought nothing of it just a question. It turns out my teacher had called him down to talk about my outfit and how it was inappropriate. I was not aware of this though until I had to go to his office after class. I think that this is absolutely ridiculous and it makes me so mad.
First off my teacher at the end of class told me that she needed to talk to me and so I waited to see what she had to say and then she just hesitated and told me to go to the assistant principles office before my next class. Confused and worried, because I am not one who likes getting in trouble at all, it makes me want to cry, I went to his office. As I walked in he asked me if I was who I was and asked me if my teacher had talked to me about what this was about, she had not so then he told me to sit down in this office and wait for him. So all alone I sat there scared of what I had done and waited for him for what felt like several minutes. Finally came in a shut the door and sat down. His first words were "We have been concerned about you Leah" of course I was like "about what...." because I was still very confused. Then he proceeded to tell me about how my dress code has been very inappropriate lately and I am not following dress code. Very annoyed that this is why they were "so concerned about me" with as little sass as I could give I offered to go put a jacket on and hold myself back from fighting it. They said they would just give me a t-shirt but I was not about to just wear some random shirt from the school so I insisted that I would go and my jacket from the car and not wear a t-shirt from school. I angrily left after that and was sent to my car to go get a jacket and then was late to my next class. I do not feel that what I am wearing is inappropriate but I will get to that. Even if what I was wearing was not to my teachers liking she should have told me herself that she didn't find my shirt ok and to please put a jacket on. It is absolutely ridiculous that she had to call the assistant principle down first and then talk to him in the hall during class to just tell him that she thinks my shirt isn't okay. She had the guts to have someone else tell me what I was wearing isn't appropriate but she wouldn't say it to my face. The fact that they made a big deal out of it and couldn't just nicely tell me makes me upset.

Girl Model Continued

When Nadia finally gets a contract set up another girl comes on camara and talks about how all the the contracts just scam girls and take over half there money because the girls are so young and don't know any better of how much they should be getting or how much the companies are taking, Nadia is rejected many places and her friend who helped her pay for things is sent home because she gained a few pounds from eating too much. Nadia is very confused and even has to use the film makers phone to call her parents because she doesn't know how to any way else. When she finally has a few photos shoots only one of her photo ends up in a magazine and it's only like part of her face. When she comes home she is actually in debt and lost money because of Tokyo. She didn't get the jobs they told her and she just lost more money. This just keeps happening with girls send over there yet the scouts just keep sending them. 

Ashley is the modeling Scott they follow around. After the process of picking girls, it takes it back to show you where she lives in the US. You find out that she lives alone in this big house. She is a really strange girl and the modeling really messed her up because she was an actually model before she actually quit. It was driving her insane being a model and how horrible it was. She talks about how much she cares about all the girl models yet she never sees them and has no idea what happens to them once they go to Tokyo. She is a little crazy too because she wants kids so she has these two dolls that she just takes everywhere in her house to pretend they are her kids. She also creepyily takes pictures of models just feet and legs or hands in there lap. She tries to take them without them noticing. She also takes the whole body shots And cuts them in half and then try's to math them up. She has boxes full of these pictures. She is a little insane. She has past video clips of her talking when she was a model and she is crazy and it drove her crazy. 

The documentary is really eye opening about issues I had no idea even existed. It's crazy how they can just send these girls on there own to suffer and hopefully make it. 

Girl Model

I recently watched a a documentary on Netflix about models and the career of a model in Siberia and Tokyo. Throughout the documentary you follow around two girls in the video mainly. One is a girl named Ashley who is a former model and she is now a modeling scout. She recruits girls from Siberia and then sends them over to Tokyo to hopefully have more luck over there. They also follow around Nadia who is a thirteen year old girl who is chosen by Ashley to be sent to Tokyo to start a modeling career. The movies shows all the struggles and how extreme and messed up the system really is. They are shoving in to girls into Tokyo and just hoping there model career might take off if they are lucky. It makes you realize how horrible it is and yet still no one is making a change or even trying.
It starts off by showing the girls in the modeling process and thousands of girls going though the process and trying to be chosen to be sent to Tokyo and hopefully start a career.

When you first follow around Nadia you see how bad her home life is. Living in Siberia her home life is really bad and they have very little money and are barely getting by. When they find out that Nadia is being selected to go to Tokyo her family gets extremely excited and has a celebratitory dinner. With the money the company told her she is gonna make with the jobs she is garanteed she can send home and help her family. They send her over a plane by herself to Toyko to start her career she is guaranteed to make money on. She gets lost in the airport because she doesn't understand what anyone is saying at all and she has no way to translate it. The people filming her actually end up having to help her because she is so lost and confused. When she finally gets to Where she is staying you see how small and horrible the living conditions are. She the next day is picked up by a guy who takes her from place to place to see what people want her to model for her. You find out that they lied and there isn't jobs for them right away and so they have nothing. She also didn't have any extra money so another girl model is paying for her to eat while she is there. She doesn't understand like what anyone is saying and is really confused. 

Habitat For Humanity

Last week I went with my friend to get fitted for a fashion show for charity. When I was there they invited me to join to cause they could use extra girls they said! I was super excited to join because ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to walk on stage and have all eyes on me but my problem is I am also very shy so I can't do anything like sing alone or dance or speak in front of people. So that dream went down the drain but doing this fashion show sounded really fun! It was like professional but not super strict or anything which was good for my first time walking.
We got fitted at this second hand store because the idea of the fashion show was for Habitat for Humanity and they wanted to show that recycling and second hand clothing is good and still stylish. Both my friend I got to find things around the store that fit us well and were cute. My friend, Jill, found a cute black dress that was from BCBG and then she accesorized it with jewelry and purple heels for some color pop.  I went for the more casual look and wore skinny jeans and I found a really cute black grey and coral cardigan which I wore with a black tank and then accented it with a big statement necklace that just had a it of coral to match the cardigan. I wore it with black pumps I have that are Steven madden. You have to wear heels no matter the outfit on stage. Especially  I had to because I am short compared to all of them. I am 5'7 myself and all the rest of them are like 5'9 at least. They all also have flawless skin and no acne which made me feel a little insecure because of my acne which isn't even that bad but compared to them it seemed that way. They are all extremely skinny too. Every single girl was pretty tiny and there hips and waist and bust is all so small. When it came to the skinny factor I was fine because I am a naturally small person and I always have been.
After the fitting the next day we had a run through of all the orders we walked in and practiced in our heels and with our music. When the girl was half way done in front of us you had to stand back left and stand and look sassy then when the person got back and stood next to you, you could walk. You walked down the runway and then to the right side of the stage and then to the left and then back and stood and waited for the next person to walk and you get off and you are done. We ran through this with the order to make sure we were all ready and knew what to do especially for Jill and I since it was our first time walking ever.
At the place this girl said that she couldn't come and do it anymore and she was younger which means she was shorter. They were struggling cause the dress they were trying to get the girls to wear it was too short on them because they were all so tall! This is where I came in handy because I am "short"! I was then put into the finally with a a dress which I was supper excited about! The dress I wore was part of the contest where companies made costumes and they had to be out of recycled material completely! My dress was more a computer company and I wore a dress that was black and sparkly and then covered in CD's! It sounds crazy I know but everyones was! The girl in front of me had a dress that was completely made out of coffee things and were all dyed. It was actually a beautiful dress and it won the contest! The person bethink be was a giant flower pot and had a flower head. One girl even  had giant wings that she had to walk with! It was so much fun and I had a super fun time and It was a really good experience! The lady even asked Jill and I to model again for explain senior pictures for a company that does them near by! I am super excited and I wish I could do the fashion show again! I can't wait for more fun experiences with my best friend!

Easter

Easter is wonderful time to see all your family and catch up on the time you have missed or barely seen them since Christmas. For my family we switch on and off of what side of the family my brother and I go to. This year I am at my moms side which is just an hour away from my house so its nice and I'm closer to this side but I am also the youngest on this side so all traditions and games have kind of went down hill. Growing up kind of sucks for that reason! 
It used to be that when we woke up in the morning we would get up and the Easter Bunny hid all the eggs in our house on our main floor and we would run around and find them all. We also got gifts in our baskets and we would get to run down the stairs and get all excited about it but growing up means you don't get to do that anymore.  I remember growing up how fun it would be and how you couldn't really sleep the night before cause of the excitement. I wish I still was that excited but it just isn't the same. Also when we used to go to my grandmas after and find the eggs and lots more candy and this year no eggs were hidden. I think part of it is because she just moved but also because we are all above the age of 15 year so there really isn't a point. Though I kind of wish we still did because I still think it would be a lot of fun. It was one of my favorite things to do on Easter. We luckily still brought all the egg dying stuff and a few of my older cousins did it with me for a little bit but about 15 minutes into it everyone had left me and I ended up painting the eggs all alone.
Though I shouldn't be complaining because that's not what Easter is about. I have a great family and we had good food on the table and enjoyed each others company which is all the mattered! I just wish  sometimes that holidays seemed as fun as they used to be when you were little that's all! I hope you all had a great Easter and are enjoying time with your family that you have.

Passover Continued

Kadesh (Sanctification) is when you all fill your glasses with either wine or grape juice and then whoever there who spoke Hebrew would recite something and then once they were finished we could take the first sip of our drink. Urchatz (Washing the hands) and his little brother brought around a dish of water and he brings it around for you to dip your fingers in it and then drying them. Karpas (Green Vegetables) is used and you dip it into salt water and then eat it. The salt water was represented by the tears of the slaves. Yachats (Breaking the Matzah) is when they take this big looking cracker looking thing and they break it in half and then they put one half back from in between the two other Matzahs where it came from. The other half is used as a Afikoman which is a tradition to have someone hide it in the house and then later in the dinner it is a competition for the kids to go see who can find it first in the house and bring it back to the table so you can "officially" finish dinner. Maggid (Story recital) is when we went around the table and all took turns reading the stories out loud from the packet that was on my chair and everyone had one.
Matzah is then broken up and passed out after that to everyone at the table. If you don't know what one it is like, think of a very dry cracker with like no flavoring at all but they are made in a very special way.  Maror is when they pass horse radish out and you eat it on the Matzah, it is not a good taste at all but it isn't supposed to be because it is supposed to remind you of the horrible times that happened. After that they passed around this sweet sauce thing made of apples and nuts to put on your Matzah which made them taste much better. I cant find what it is called but at one point there is this thing where they say a whole bunch of small sayings and you stick your pinky finger in your glass every time they say it and put it on your napkin and you do it about ten times and you can not lick your finger at the end because it is disrespectful. Schulchan Orech then happens which is the rest of dinner which we ate things like Matzah ball soup which I thought was really good and green beans and some over weird traditional foods that were new to me but a lot of them were different but still good! Tzafan is when the kids go search for the Afikoman and who ever finds it gets a prize. At his house the winner got $20 and all the rest of us got $5 for trying still! Hallel (Songs) were sung in Hebrew and there family sung them while we just enjoyed listen to them! Nirtzah (conclusion) is the ending where you say your final prayers and then dinner is officially over.
All of this took about two hours or maybe a little more and we even did the shortened tradition at his house so I cant imagine what the long version is but I do know that we skipped some parts to make it shorter and less boring for us. Over all it was a great time and I learned a lot! Sorry If any of my terms are wrong  I used http://www.happypassover.net/passover-customs/index.html to help me reminder the terms and specifics that I didn't remember exactly. If you ever get a chance to learn about a new culture I would for sure do it cause it was a really good learning experience!

Passover

This past Tuesday I learned a lot about a new culture that I wasn't very familiar with. I was invited over by my boyfriends family to come and celebrate Passover with them! Going into it I thought that I was just going to have to sit around the table and make awkward conversation with them and maybe eat some new food I didn't know about and things like that and I excepted some Jewish traditions but not to the extreme it was! Not that it was bad in any way but it was just way more than I excepted it to be! There are so many traditional songs, stories, and foods to learn about. I celebrate Easter and I have never really experienced anything like this. Because just me going to a Seder once I will be referencing to a website which is linked at the end to help me explain things better that I may not know the correct term too or exactly what it means.
"The most important holiday in the calendar of the Jews is the one that marks the Passover. This day falls on the 15th day of 'Nisan' month and is celebrated with grandeur and a lavish display of food. Perhaps, the most important Passover tradition is the feast known as 'Seder'. The Seder is performed by Jews all over the world marking the end of bad times and celebrating their freedom from Egypt. A traditional feast consisting". When I first got there I saw that there was a giant packet on my chair that was about 40 pages and I was really confused. I think his dad could tell I was confused about it, so he explained to me that it was to help lead me through the dinner and it tells stories in there and we go around the table and read them out loud. There is a plate in the middle of the table which is the Seder plate and is a very important part of the dinner. It contains "Maror and Chazaret - two bitter herbs, Charoset - a grainy mixture of fruits and nuts, Karpas - A vegetable preparation other than bitter herbs, Zeroa - A roasted piece of lamb bone, Beitzah - A boiled egg. Along with all the five components, it is necessary to consume brackish water to remind them of the tears wasted and shed by the Jews during times of strife."


http://www.happypassover.net/passover-customs/index.html

Future

The end of high school is coming up fast and I still don't know what I want to do with my life. I have little ideas in my head and little plans I make but I know how much it can change it a heartbeat. Parents always when first talking to you ask you the question. What do you want to do with your life after school. Normally I make up some BS answer and try to talk about maybe following my dads footsteps and going into business. I never really put much thought into what I want to do with my life after school. Now I am going out to dinner on Tuesday night with my boyfriends parents for the first time and I realized I actually have to act like I know what I am talking about and have a plan. My parents are pretty laid back people. They know I push deadlines and can get off task but I get done what I need and they trust me, but I really want his parents to like me. My boyfriend and his whole family is extremely smart, which is super intimidating and which also means they have super high expectations. I am already back at talking to a adults and now adding to the pressure of needing to impress them too. So anyways I decided made I should  consider what I am going to say when I talk about school and what I want to do with my life and not just BS it like I normally do.
The one thing I have always been interested in is fashion and shopping. So off of that I was looking into jobs that had to do with that. Ever since then I found out what a buyer is. A buyer for a company is someone who picks out everything and decides where it comes from and what the price is and when it goes in the store and for how long and you have to keep updated fashion and make sure you know what people like and what they are looking for. I was super excited when I found out this is actually a thing and I am really interested in it. So after that the next time someone asked me what I want to do I told them I want to be a buyer for a clothing or department store. You should have seen there faces. 90% of the people I have told have said "you know it is different then just shopping right?"  and "you can't shop as a job". Almost everyone I have told has not been very positive about it and seems rather disappointed in me. I continue to get the same reaction every time I tell people so I am so torn on what to do.
I also have been thinking about going to ASU after high school and as well only got mostly negative feedback from people.  First off people hate that I would be going far away from Iowa. Also everyone says "you only want to go there to party" or "every girl who goes there is a whore" and "that's the top party school which is obviously why you would go there". And yes I do realize that it is known for partying people also don't look at the good sides of it. Like for me wanted to be a buyer it has a very, very good business school and the housing there, they place you with people of your major so that you can help and work together on things. They also have a very nice fitness center which is good because I am a bit health crazy sometimes, depending on the day but still. I also kind of want to live in Arizona for the rest of my life so I would like to go to college there and get used to things down there and hopefully find a job there too.
Overall I am overwhelmed because I don't know what to tell his parents when my future comes up. If I should truly tell them what I am considering and have them judge me or make up something like I always do so they will love me and don't even have to question the fact that I wanna have a job and fashion and I might attend a school that parties all the time. Either way I hope it goes well with them.

Summer

Ah, soon the school year will be over and I will only have one more year left  of high school which is such a relief but at the same time so stressful. So much planning to be done but for now I am not gonna worry about it because I am so excited for summer. School is getting to that stressful point where its a lot of breakdowns and late nights and overload of homework. Summer is much needed and I can not wait. This summer I am actually gonna have three jobs which is weird for me because I normally don't have a job at all or a very little job but because I am such a shopper i decided I probably should get a job.
My first job and most important to me is being a nanny. I did this last summer too, and it was really fun. I love kids in general and the two girls I babysit are great! My best friend Emily takes them in the morning and then I get them before lunch and until like 3. It is a great job. I only work 4 days a week and still get like $130 bucks a week. I love the girls so much and they are so fun. I get to take them to the country club that we both go too and its just so fun. I couldn't ask for a better job.
I also work at a tanning and spa place. I just recently started working there and honestly it was really weird for me cause I had never ever tanned before. It works out fine though because I am just the little receptionist girl at the front table who takes peoples names and sends them back. Its super easy and I usually just work once a week.
My last job is a new job that I am gonna start this summer. It is for a local baseball team in my town. I love dancing and so do my two close friends so tried out and made it on to the dance team for the games. We get to host and like play games with kids and we also get to interact with the crowd and dance on top of the dugouts. I am a little nervous for this but at the same time I am super excited! I love to dance so I am sure that it will be a good time.
These are just a few of my summer things that I am looking forward too, especially since I am getting paid. This means more shopping for me! Hope you all find a wonderful summer job so you can go shopping too!:)

Filters

Now a days people don't put a single selfie up without editing it first. It is almost a little crazy how insane it is that people feel the need to edit it first before posting it or sending it to someone. I say this yet I am one of those people. I have an unreal of editing apps on my phone though I usually only use one of my two favorite ones which is Afterlight or the well know VSCOcam, but are we truly showing who we really are when we put photos up that are completely edited. Girls especially, you can't deny it that you have all spend a long time before posting a selfie trying to make it look the best it can. When you are social media though is this changing the way people look at us in real life.
Since now its no secret that people edit there photos, I barely even think about it when looking at instagram or twitter, but its when I see them in person that I notice what they actually look like. There is different kinds of people who edit photos. There are the extreme people who take it all the way and you can tell they edited out every imperfection and whitened there teeth to bright and there filter is super unnatural. As people get older then tend to get better at that but there is still a few people out there who are questionable if they realize how bad they are editing there photos. Then there is the next kind of people who just edit there picture with filters that look good and sometimes edit out a zit or two but overall it looks pretty natural. When you say natural with a filter it means it still looks like it could maybe be really but you know that they still edited to make it look better but its no shame because everyone does it. This is the most common thing people do because it honestly gets you the most likes and your picture looks the best it can. The last kind of people are the people who don't edit their photos at all. This seems good but and good for them but personally  I just don't think they look as quality. They photos usually have crappy lighting or just bad quality in general. There is also the people who take selfies in front of a window so there face is whited out a lot and write #nofilter but its no secret, we all know that trick so don't try that one anymore. When you see them in person though you know that they actually look like that in there photos to which is brave of them. When you see people in there photos compared to person it is a lot different. It makes me sad for our generation that we don't feel comfortable enough to post a picture of ourselves with out editing them first. I am one of those people and I wish I wasn't but I for sure am. I wish there was something we could do but I don't think it will ever change.
Anyways some tips I have for you is even if they cost money, get the good editing apps. Afterlight is only 99 cents and works really well.  On this app there are at least 50 filters under three different categories that you can choose from! It also has the usual setting like changing the brightness, clarity, exposure, contrast, etc. that most editing apps have. It also has this cool settings where you can add like fade and things like that to the picture to make it look like it is an old photo or tinted a certain way. My favorite part about this app though is frames. All the frames are meant so you can put it perfectly on Instagram. You can choose the frames shape and it can be white or black. My personal favorite though is VSCOcam and this one is free which is nice. When you  get it you have to sign up which is nice though because then it saves all your photos in there when you edit them unless you delete them out. This one does not have as many filters to put on but still a lot of filters that I like a lot. This app has probably the best exposure settings to make photos look the best when using it. It also comes with other settings like the other apps to and work just as well. Over all these easily stores the photos you edited and makes them look more professional.

Geocaching

If you are like me, you probably haven't heard of Geocaching. I didn't know what it was until just a few weeks ago. And if it weren't so cold I would do it more! But anyways. You can get the app on your phone. It is Just Geocaching, one word. You can get the free version to test it and make sure you like it before you actually buy it for sure! When you first make one you do have to sign up and so it can know where your current location is. Then it give you locations within about 3 miles away where there are things you can find! I think it is the coolest thing!
There are actually a lot more then you think and fun! Some are easier then others and some you really have to search for! At everyone there is a thing for you to sign your name so make sure you have a pencil with you in case the geocatch is small and doesn't have one with it! Sometimes there are even prizes in then so have something that you can switch if you wanna take sometime! There are literally everywhere you go! I have been to multiple states and checked and found them everywhere!
At first I got it and used it and then I was questioning if I was ever gonna use it at all because I didn't know when to cause we live in Iowa and the weather is so crappy! But since it has warmed up Here it has gotten more and more fun! I have used as a date idea which was extremely fun! We went to find things together and it was a cute little adventure date! Also we double dated once and raced to see who could find things first which made it even more competitive and adventurous. If you wanted you could see how many you could find in an hour or just race to find the same one. Also I plan to take the kids I nanny all summer to run around with them and have them find some. Because they are ranked to show you difficulty. Depending on the age of the kids you can decide which ones to find! You can also just do it with your friends if you are bored cause who wouldn't like to do that, especially if there is nothing else to do and you are just sitting at home, might as well go and explore the outdoors and have some fun while getting fresh air!
You can buy a version if you really love it too! Which gives you access to even more things to do with it. I don't have the version that is the paid version so I can't say much about it but everyone who has it, I have only heard positive things about it and no negative. If you didn't know this was a thing like me I would for sure check it out cause its something supper fun you can do whenever! I really enjoy  it and hope you do too! Here is there website for more info! http://www.geocaching.com

Happiness, I love you all.

Over the weekend I went to Nashville Tennessee and Honestly I couldn't have asked for anything more. We got 4th place which is amazing for nationals and I am so extremely excited. We have worked so hard all year for this and each and every person on the team deserved it. We were all so proud. We also all sent in letters and our director would most outstanding director. It was so great and we had some much and we are such a close family, I don't know what I'm gonna do without them. 
This season we have had a lot of ups and downs. There has been fights and anger and we all don't always get along the best. But then I realized how close we actually are! We may fight sometimes but we are a family. I love all the people in our showchoir. We had a practice where we took the time to sit down and just talk before nationals. We sat in a big circle and honestly I hadn't cried that much in a long time. Almost everyone was crying, even the boys, yes even the boys. I am not one to say much  so I didn't say anything out loud but a lot of people did. We had worked so hard all year to try to be the best we could be and when we failed we would get back up and try again. But how we really felt came out when people talked and how much we cared more than jus to win. We had shared to us how much the show meant to us and others. Because our show was Military themed, it was a tribute to all soldiers and anyone who fought for our country. So many people were touched by our show it was unreal. People loved what we were doing and understand that it was more than just winning. We were a family and we did it together and not for any reason but the goodness of our hearts.
Another thing that came up a lot in our circle was a lot to do with our director. Mr. Ziegler is honestly the best. A lot of people brought up the fact of how good he is compared to other coaches and its so true. I have never had such a good and understanding teacher.  A lot of my other coaches or teachers weren't as, as flexible as I assumed they would be so I was super concerned. Before the showchoir season started  he sat down with every single person and had an individual talked with them about any questions and concerns. When I started talking to Mr. Ziegler he was completely understanding about all my activities and made sure that everything will work out even with my busy schedule, which took a lot of stress off my shoulders. He is so extremely understand and if you ever have any problems you can go to him and you know he will always be there and be as realistic and understanding as possible. I know most of the people in showchoir, including myself all feel this way. He won best director at nationals he deserves it 500% he is the best and I can't imagine how I would be different without the experience of Happiness this year. The people were great and I had an amazing year. It will be so hard to let the seniors go this year, there will be many tears. 

Here are just some things that people have said that make you just realize what we are like. These are just a few of the things that people wrote on our happiness Facebook page but there were even more said out loud. 

"Words cannot express my thoughts and feelings about the last 4 days with all of you. Every time I try to express them I cry. You are all a true inspiration and an amazing bunch of kids. I love you all. You worked SO hard to get here and although results weren't always what you would have hoped, there couldn't have been a better outcome in Nashville. To all the parents behind the scenes, you are too special for words. Thank you for being so awesome to our kids. And Storm, I am so blessed to have known you for as long as I have. You are an absolute gift from God. Oh my, going out will be rough!! See you back in CR." -Chea R.

"You are all rad." -Jordan L.

"I just want to say that I am still in awe of last night, and I love you each of you so incredibly much♥ Each and every one of you is such an important part of our show! Without any of you, our show just wouldn't feel the same to me. Thank you for making my last year of show choir the best one I've ever had. Time to go out with a bang!" -Melissa F.

 "can't even explain to you how happy I was all day yesterday, last night, and it carried over into today! I have so much fun performing with you all and finals round last night was amazing. I've only had a couple of performances in my life where you get a feeling that the whole group is truly unified. THANK YOU HAPPINESS!" -Emily P.

"Okay so we got 6th yesterday, WHATEVER. You guys brought me to tears, definitely our best shows yet. All of our hard work really is noticeable. And on top of that I just wanna say thank you so much to all of you for being so kind and making this whole sprained foot/crutches thing a little bit more bearable. I wouldn't trade this team for the world, and I can't wait to be back on stage with you guys next weekend!" -Abby H.

Farrell's

I am starting Farrell's next week and I am honestly so super excited! I am already and really good shape but I just want to make sure that I am even more toned and look super great all summer! I also have a lot of friends in it too so I will be super motivated and we will help each other out to stay with the program! I am actually a little scared too cause I have never done such an intense work out program before besides doing swimming!
You first have to do testing before your sessions even start! This is to see where you are at so they can see your improvement over the course of the program and documenting it. They have a half point check and a end celebration too to show how much progress was made! They seem very supportive and super nice. You each get assigned a personal trainer and they make sure to keep you updating with things to do and how to stay healthy and if you have any questions you can always go to them! My goal is not to lose any weight but to gain muscle because I am so small and wimpy right now. I want to be able to see like being toned. It will make wearing bikinis in the summer even better!
They want you to go 6 days a week though so it is a a big commitment!
My first Class is tomorrow and I am very nervous! It is kick boxing class which is more of a high intense kind of workout. While on other days you do bands, this is more up and ready to go kind of thing. Anyways this is all I know for now so I don't want to give out false information but maybe Ill write a blog at a later date to update you on more info and progress! Everyone I have talked to would definitely recommend it though and says its a fun good work out!

Lulus

I am not usually a huge online shopper because I am the kind of person who wants to try on in the store but I am constantly looking for new things to wear and things that I know people don't already have! This may seem kinda dumb then that I'm showing you guys this but this is my link to one of my favorite stores for online shopping! I kept it to myself for a while but I think its time to share now! Here are just a few of the cute dresses I got from there! But there are so many more its never ending! Love them all!! http://www.lulus.com

Happy shopping xoxo

A little bit of history

There were many experiences in World War 2 that were bad and led to a horrible outcome such as victims of genocide during the war and what became of Germany after the war was all done.

During World War 2 Adolf Hitler who lead the Nazi Party hated mainly the jews but also gypsies,disabled, and homosexuals. He thought that they were not needed and caused way more harm than they did do anything good for the world. He wanted all these people gone. He had people going around to find and kill them. This he realized wasn't a fast enough way to kill them all so he decided he wanted them all in concentration camps to make them work until death. They made the jews and other live in horrible conditions, filled with disease white killed many people. The rough and horrible conditions cause many deaths for them. They started killing them by putting them in rooms and filling it with gas. The experience was horrible for those people who were in the camps but also for the people that worked and forced to kill the people like the jews or possibly be killed themselves.

Germany started the war thinking that it would be a quick win and had no worries. As the war kept going and the U.S. joined and they still kept up hope and continued fighting. The Battle of the Bulge was the final defense from germany before giving in. D-Day was the battle that the allies finally beat germany for good. When germany surrendered their army had become very weak and they had little supplies and lots of people killed. After the war they had a huge decrease in money. Expenses from the war had cost them lots of money. Many cities were ruined from all the fighting that went on during World War 2.

The causes of the World war one had to do with an assassination while world war two happened because of world war one and the outcome of world war one, also the technology from one war to the next got better and made countries way more powerful.

World War one long term causes were things likes Nationalism which is like pride for your own country and wanting your country to be the best. Also nationalism which is strong pride for your country and thinking your should always be the best and be on top. The official start was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and then after that Austria declared war.  Long term for World war two started with the Treaty of Versailles which was supposed to bring peace but ended up not bringing peace at all. Also because of appeasement and the rise of totalitarian. Germany invaded poland when he promised not to take more the Sudetenland but broke the treaty which had already been changed for Hitler. World war one was on of the reason World war two actually started. They both though had to do with Countries wanting other people's land and trying to take it over.

The technology in World war one first was propaganda which was posters and ways of getting information out to everyone in a way they would understand. The developed tanks to use in war. They used boats a lot too to help attack but mostly still tanks to help them bomb. World war two they used the atomic bomb which was the most powerful weapon in the war. This bomb killed millions of people when dropped in a area. They also used radar Eunigma to decode language being sent between people. The Germany used the blitzkrieg method to attack fast and hard on other places. Both wars used planes, planes and tanks to fight in the wars. These were the common things to use for fighting in the war.

World War two was really a continuation of World War one because the same conflicts from the previous war were never solved so when they tried to make peace it didn't work and the problems continued on.

The Treaty of Versailles after world war one was supposed to be to try to stop the wars and bring peace to the countries. It ended up not helping at all because the earlier problems had not been solved. The treaty was only made because of world war one.  The treaty ended up letting hitler make a huge army which was very strong. They also agreed to let him take over Sudetenland.  Chamberlain was the one letting hitler get away with all this stuff. He thought that appeasement would make them happy and content if they get what they want.   Eventually Britain said no when Hitler wanted to take over Poland. Hitler even though promised to take no other land took over he invaded poland and that when world war two started. The war most likely would have happened eventually without the Treaty but because of the way it happened World War one was the main reason World War two happened.

Essie

Essie had an ad for their new no chip nail polish in the magazine Glamour October 2013 issue. It is an add that is trying to get you to buy their nail polish which prevents your nails from chipping. The ads goal is to grab the readers attention and make them want to buy the product when they are done looking at the ad.

The first thing you notice when flipping to this ad is the picture of the ad. The bright colored blue chips with liquid being poured onto it. The fact that the chips are sitting on a round nail polish bottle makes you question how they are balancing there. The bright blue chips really stand out the most when you first look at the page because the rest of the page is mostly white or has neutral colors. Also if you were to use the fact that it is a nail polish ad, you would notice that the liquid is the no chip nail polish being poured over the poker chips. In all their other ads they do this with whatever color the nail polish is and have nail polish pouring out to show the color.

Written in bold three times on the ad is the words “No chips ahead” saying this comparing chips or marks on nails. The nails are not supposed to chip at all for up to ten days because the point of the nail polish is to help make sure that they don’t. It is bolded because these three words are very important and they should be one of the first few things you should notice if you are to look at the page.

The writer of the ad uses words like winning and winner again comparing it to like winning poker. If you use this new nail polish it is like having a winning hand. Winning as in how you can win a game of poker and hand as in fancy or good looking nails. The next sentence says in smaller print that “I’m a nail expert, not a gambler”, implying that they know this nail polish is a good product and that you should buy it. After that it talks about how good the new nail polish is and how long it will last if you use it. If you were interested in this product there is a likely chance you will read that and want to buy it more because it says it works well.

The only other things in color on the page is four like “e” symbols for Essie, which is the name of the brand, which say, in orange- everyday, in pink- strong, in teal- grow, and in brown- anit-aging. This is describing the details of a lot of their products and it is on every single one of the Essie ads. The name Essie in big letters is also just randomly in different directions and shades of grey are on the page multiple times to make sure that you remember the name of the brand when you are going to the store to pick it out or if you see it then hopefully you will remember the brand from the ad.

This ad targets women and mostly teens to make them want to buy the nail polish. The fact that it is in Glamour magazine makes it seem like if you are to use this product that you are more glamorous or high fashion when using what the magazine suggests. I think that this ad is kind of a metaphor in a way because it compares the fact that a winning hand of poker and that you will have a winning hand if you use this nail polish because you will always have the best hand with your winning top coat nail polish.

Pajamas

I'd like to bring up a pet peeve of mine because I think or hope I'm not the only one who feels this way about this problem. I just can not take a person when they are wearing there pajamas to school. I honestly wish we could make it a rule that you are not aloud to do that. I understand that you are tired in the morning and no one wants to get out of there comfy pajamas in the morning, but if somehow everyone else seemed to change before they came to school so I am slightly confused on why people still can't seem to figure out that they are one of the few people who still wear that. I don't know but it just makes me really uncomfortable to think that you wore those clothes all last nigh and didn't change into something new for school. Or even if you did change why did you have to put on those spider man pants? I am sorry I just can't take you serious if you are wearing those. You need to make you make herself look somewhat presentable. Please at least wear sweat pants to school. I know it seems like it can be hard but i promise you will even feel better about yourself if you do! So try to take the time and see how much better it makes your day because I promise you will feel better about yourself!

Mr. Zielger

Going into happiness this year I had a mix emotions of being supper and excited and nervous! I was very scared that because I am involved in multiple activities that it would be a problem. A lots of my other coaches or teachers weren't as, as flexible as I assumed they would be so I was super concerned. Before the showchoir season started  he sat down with every single person and had an individual talked with them about any questions and concerns. When I started talking to Mr. Ziegler he was completely understanding about all my activties and made sure that everything will work out even with my busy schedule, which took a lot of stress off my shoulders. He is so extremely understand and if you ever have any problems you can go to him and you know he will always be there and be as realistic and understanding as possible. I know most of the people in showchoir, including myself all feel this way. I have grown so much as a person being in happiness. Not only have I learned so many things about singing and dancing because of him but also how to make the team as a family. It is way more important to him to have us be a good team for each other over how well we preform and what we place. Never has his first priority been winning which I think is the best thing because so many coaches don't understand that when you have that mind set, that it brings the team down. Trying to put into words how much support and love he gives the group isn't even possible for me but he works so hard and deserves this award more than anyone I know and I really want him to realize how much we care about and respect him. 

It isn't summer yet...

Call me a hypocrite all you want but I think that people really need to figure out how to dress appropriately for school. Yes I have got the comment every once in while from my friends about my dress being to short and sometimes my stomach shows to much with my crop top even though I am wearing high waited shorts and some times my shorts are to short too. Yes we all have those outfits everyone in a while that are questionable and I wont deny it, I for sure do that sometimes and it is bad but it is the people who everyday wear things they shouldn't to get attention for the wrong reasons. So please don't call me a hypocrite if you have seen/ see me do this SOMETIME because I know you all know the girls I am talking about when I talk about the people who do this all the time.
My first problem is girls with there tank tops. There are multiple things that people do to make them slutty. Girls is your cleavage is hanging out of the take top so much that everyone is uncomfortable there is a problem here. No one wants to look at that all day everyday so please put a full shirt on sometimes so we don't have to see that. Also with tank tops girls feel the need a lot of time to buy them really short? I have done this but I see the same girl almost everyday make sure she has a about a inch of her stomach showing between her very low rise pants and where the tank top actually starts. Is that really needed everyday to show off your midriff to the world and all the teachers and adults at school?
Another problem that girls have is crops tops...if it is 10 degrease in the middle of winter I don't even know what in your right mind makes you think you should put a crop top on. The only exception is if you have very high wasted shorts so you can't see very much skin or a high wasted skirt but still only on the nicest days on winter please not when it is negative outside. Girls come in to school all winter with there low rise jeans and leggings with a crop top on and literally half their stomach showing. The first time I saw this I think I was in shock of why you would want that kind of attention at school. A girl in one of my classes wore leggings and folded them over to make them even smaller with a very short crop top to show off her belly ring, why, please tell me why you would think that is okay? Also another girl who wore the lowest rise jeans I have ever seen that her underwear was almost hanging out and such a short crop top that I don't even know if I would wear it in the summer. Please oh please girls wait until summer if you are going to wear your crop tops with something to high rise. I am sure your boyfriends love to see it but not everyone else does.
Pencil skirts, oh pencil skirts are just my favorite thing. (complete sarcasm.. ) The typical winter girl look with her pencil skirt and very low V-neck with Ugg boots, SO CUTE, not. Girls wear the shortest and tightest skirts I have ever seen with no tights and it is unreal. Maybe it its like about 40 degrease at least you can wear it without tights but really no one wants to see your underwear when you even just bend down the slightest or even some girls just walking down the hall you can see their bottom hanging out and I just wonder how that doesn't drive them insane.
Overall the point  I am trying to get across is yes we all have our occasionally slutty and scandalous outfits but if everyday you are doing one of these things, there is a problem. Please wait for summer when we don't have to see you everyday and all the horrible things you wear. There is a difference between fashion and trying to show what you are wearing because you think it is cute and wearing it to get inappropriate attention. There is a time and a place and school is not one of them.

Post Dance Marathon

This is the last blog for the trimester and over the weekend I had dance marathon! It was a blast and I recommend everyone does it cause it is a life chaining experience! It can we difficult at times but it was so worth it! Here are some pictures and videos of some of the things here! Find a dance marathon you can be in next year near you and join in! Its worth it for the kids. FTK!

Cell Phones in School

When pondering the question if cell phones should be aloud in school or not I was completely torn between the two sides. I can see why people feel both ways about the this situation in our school but its a problem that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. A lot of students feel that because they own the cell phone it is their right to have it and use it when you want. As a lot of teachers see it as it is there time when the student is in their classroom and they should have to pay attention to what happening without the distraction of their phone. While debating this issue I decided to think more of the future for the kids. They are gonna have to be able to make there own choices the rest of their life at their jobs with their cell phones in hand the same at school. Though I do think that phones are a huge distraction still so I think we need to come up with a new universal policy form cell phones in every class that is different from what we have. 

Our school has been struggling now for a while with cell phones issues in a lot of classrooms. I note that this is a problem but I think that it should be up to the student choice when they use it or not. I understand that the for some students just have their phone sitting out on their desk that it is actually less tempting than having to sneakily check it over and over during the period to see if anything is on it. The students should be about to hold there our responsibility within reason during class time. After high school, college and onto jobs they are going to have make there own choices.  You could be on your phone on the job if you really wanted to but if you were constantly on it on inappropriate times you obviously would not succeed in that job you are doing. Whether you were to get fired or just get in trouble for getting no work done at all. They are going to have to make there own choices in the future on things like that so we might as well start now. If the student wants to learn and pay attention then they will know when is the right and wrong time to be on there phone and when the cell phone is getting in the way of their learning or if it is that they can catch up easily enough that it doesn't matter. Each student is different in learning speed and ways and they should be able to figure that out sooner than later. The only exception to this would be when they are taking quizzes and tests. Because we would be so lenient on having cell phones out at any other times if a student were to have their phone out at this time, test or quizzes, then they would have an automatic punishment no questions asked.  We can decide on the punishment whether it detention or time after school but I think it needs to be a policy that is reinforced throughout the school and can all mostly agree is a reasonable consequence.

I realize that yes this could impact our school in a negative way. That they are still young and a lot of them are not evening thinking or worried about their futures yet. This could make a lot of grades go down and our school reputation of excellent students and intelligence. Thats why we're should only use this as a trial and if it is effecting us a huge amount negatively then we will go back to our original plan until we think of something else. There are lots of recent studies out there right now talking about how you can not actually multitask but can just switch back and worth extremely fast which means if students are on their phone then it will be harder for them to focus on both what they are learning and what's on their phone. So we will have to trust them with their own responsibilities which is a risk but I am willing to take it and hopefully make the student more pleased. 

In conclusion to this idea if it doesn't work then we will have to think of a new idea but I am hoping that we can trust our students enough that they will see that their future is in their hands and it is now their choice like it is the rest of their life. I believe in this school and the kids at it enough to take this new step. I hope that you can see both sides of the argument but understand why I think that this is our best choice right now with all the technology out there. I also hope both students and teachers see the fairness in the new step that I think we should take. 

Over my head

It is the best thing when you have a song that matches exactly how you are feeling. Having that songs makes you feel like you maybe aren't so crazy and that there is actually someone who feels the same way you do! For me this songs changes a lot with the moods I am in of the week or even the day. When I find this song I listen to it usually nonstop on repeat! Ill probably tweet some lyrics of it if I am really liking it a lot too. The songs aren't always sad either. They can be happy too! IT really just depends on your mood. And don't pretend that you don't know what I am talking about cause I know most of you do. When you find that one song that fits your situation perfectly and you just want to listen to it over and over. Anyways right now that song for me is Over my Head (Cable Car) by The Fray. I knew it a while ago and then recently rediscovered it and now that it actually means something to me I can listen to it and truly appreciate it. To me the song is talking about How sometimes your life seems like your life is falling apart and you seem to have to talk to. Then talking about how in over your head you are and then talks about how "she is on your mind" which I think of missing the people that used to be my best friend that I could talk to about anything and loosing them. The person that drove you crazy but you love them and they are gone now and you miss them. They are now just part of your past now and you are loosing them and there is nothing you can do even if you wanted too. Life is crazy and you are in over your head and you don't know what to do. I know we can all feel like this sometime and if you feel this way sometime too, it is a great song to listen to! Here is a link to the song on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ENUW1iOA-Y
And here are the lyrics to the song. You could interpret the lyrics differently then me and see it differently which is fine for whatever situation is a good for and helps.
"I never knew
I never knew that everything was falling through
That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue
To turn and run when all I needed was the truth
But that's how it's got to be
It's coming down to nothing more than apathy
I'd rather run the other way than stay and see
The smoke and who's still standing when it clears
Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind
She's on your mind
Let's rearrange
I wish you were a stranger I could disengage
Just say that we agree and then never change
Soften a bit until we all just get along
But that's disregard
Find another friend and you discard
As you lose the argument in a cable car
Hanging above as the canyon comes between
Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind
She's on your mind
Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind
She's on your ...
And suddenly I become a part of your past
I'm becoming the part that don't last
I'm losing you and it's effortless
Without a sound we lose sight of the ground
In the throw around
Never thought that you wanted to bring it down
I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves
And everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind
She's on your mind
Everyone knows
She's on your mind
Everyone knows I'm in over my head
I'm in over my head
I'm over my...
Everyone knows I'm in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She's on your mind
She's on your mind"
Lyrics from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/fray/overmyheadcablecar.html 

Fashion ideas

I really love Pinterest and one of my favorite things about it is that I can get great fashion ideas from it. There are so many cute outfits out there being pinned. You cant always buy all that stuff like you want to though because we would all be broke if we did that. I do use it for ideas though! I like to look at them as ideas for what to wear everyday. I base the looks i find on there to decide what to wear! If you really want something that bad also a lot of the pins have links to them that way you can find where its from and can purchase it if you really wanted it
I also find really great things for hair and makeup on there too. I first found out how to do a sock bun from Pinterest which is now my go to hairstyle when I'm having a bad hair day. They have many step and pictures showing you how to do theses things. I find this extremely helpful when trying to learn a new hairstyle. There are so many things out there to do with your hair that I had never even heard about until I had a Pinterest. When it comes to makeup they also have some step by step pictures but usually there is a lot of links going to videos on youtube. I use these all the time to make my makeup look better. Overall this is just a phew of the reasons why I like Pinterest so much, there are so many great ideas and things to use on there. I have a link on the side if you want to check out my Pinterest.

Pinterest Quotes

Here are so more inspiring quotes/words I like on Pinterest! 

"I want your fears and your hopes the whole kaleido scope with you"

"Heels and red lipstick will put the fear of god into people." -Dita von Teese "Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction break the habit. talk about your joys."

"No matter what they take from me they cant take my dignity."

"As we grow older together, As we continue to change with age, There is one thing that will never change. . . I will always keep falling in love with you." - Karen Clodfelder.

"In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person." - Margaret Anderson."There is no remedy for love but to love more." - Henry David Thoreau."Love is a dream that comes alive when we meet." - Anonymous."I don't believe in love because I still don't have you!" - Anonymous."I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox." - Woody Allen."Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat." - Ben Hecht."A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous." - Ingrid Bergman."When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: either the car is new or the wife is." - Anonymous."Love is like any other luxury. You have no right to it unless you can afford it." - Anthony Trollope.

 ”Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” - Albert Einstein

 ”Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” - Benjamin Franklin

”Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” - William Shakespeare

”That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

”The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.” - Will Rogers

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude.” - Denis Waitley

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” – Bill Cosby

 “Go where you are celebrated – not tolerated. If they can’t see the real value of you, it’s time for a new start.” – Unknown

 "Dont be afraid to stand for what you believe in, even if that means standing alone.." - Unknown

 “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra

 “Forget all the reasons it won’t work and believe the one reason that it will.” - Unknown

”It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” - Aristotle

”It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” - Howard Ruff

”It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” - Vince Lombardi

”Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” - Sun-Tzu

The half way point

In high school right now were are about half way through the year which means everyone starts to get lazy. Even though yes we all get lazy about school work at this point. We all get lazy with our looks and how we dress too. Being from Iowa, or other places cold, I know that it makes it even harder. When you are trying to get out of bed and its so cold and you are so tired. All you wanna do is keep your pajamas on and cuddle up. Then you realize that it isn't social acceptable to do that, or I hope you do at least.

So then usually the next step in sweat pants and a sweatshirt. Something almost as cozy as your pajamas and is next warmest and comfy. I know at this point it is really hard to change from those sweats because they are so soft and cozy. And a lot of people still wear that to school. Don't worry I first put the sweats on every morning too. But next what I do is I look in the mirror and ask myself is this really what I want everyone to see me looking like. If your answer is yes and you don't care then go for it, but if you are like me you know deep down you really don't wanna look like that. There are many easy solutions to this I promise! First of all find an inspiration for looking nice. Mine is usually myself because looking nice always makes me feel better about myself and I am more confident and much more likely to have a better day! Maybe you dress nice to get your crush to notice you or something like. There are really more things then you would think that can inspire you dress better. I am not saying that you have to wear a dress everyday either! I am just suggesting maybe next time instead of those sweats even just a step up to leggings would be better, maybe even jeans if you are really feeling it that day. And I know its hard but try not to wear a sweatshirt with the leggings! Find cute warm sweaters you can wear! Or just regular shirts with like jean jackets are cute too!  

Hair and makeup is usually the next struggle for me at least. I have naturally very frizzy crazy hair so I cant just wear it natural! This can make the morning a struggle. I just wanna throw it in a giant bun usally or just climb back into bed and stay there. I have learned that an easy one is to twist back the two sides and just put it into a low bun! It looks classy and nice.The sock bun; I am sure you have all heard of this great new item for when you are having a bad hair day. It is quick and easy and it looks way better then a messy bun any day. If you don't know how to do them you can find them on Pinterest everywhere! Don't have time to straighten all your hair? No problem just put it up in a pony tail and just straighten the ponytail and then wrap a chuck of hair (or you can braid the hair too) around the hair tie and bobby pin to make it look better then a boring old ponytail. Two words that have saved my hair many days; dry shampoo. It is a girls best friend. If you don't have time to shower and your hair is all greasy use it because it does miracles! One of the oldest tricks in the book but shower at night and put it in braids before you go to bed. Take it out in the morning and then naturally curly hair in the morning no heat needed. These are all great things to do in the morning.

Silence is louder than words

High schoolers have a social media problem. Writing this I am not saying that I do not have the same problems because I know I do some of the things I am going to talk about as well. I really don't think there is any way you can put a stop to things on social media no matter how hard you tried. Almost everyone puts too much out on the internet for the world to see, including me. This has become a major problem in society today. It is ruining so many things for us today and pulls people apart rather then bring them closer together. Now we can tweet and show our emotion and what we are doing instead of directly telling someone.

 Being the over emotional teenagers we are, we feel the need for everyone to know our emotion and feel for us or relate to us because no one wants to be alone. People tweet things so the can show other people a lot of time that they hurt them or have made them upset that way they can try to make them feel guilty and apologize to you. A lot of people also most pictures of them being happy and doing fun things to one up other people and show people that they are other another person and they can do whatever and it doesn't bother them. Then there are the people who just party and want to show that they party and brag to the world that they have alcohol and they are having a good time. People feel the need to show the whole world everything they are doing at all times of the day. Showing everyone all the things that.
My point in trying to get across is it is so sad to watch our society on social media. We are constantly complaining and one upping another trying to see who cause post the best thing and who can get the most favorites and likes. Its so sad that we have to put all our thoughts out there for everyone to see because then when we individually tell people it just isn't as special anymore! I am not saying that social media is totally bad cause its not and it can be fun and enjoyable. Next time before you post though just remember how powerful silence is sometimes.

The new Pandora

I was very skeptical when the new download came out for the iPhones a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure if I was going to like all the changes and I didn't know how different things would be with the new one. There are things I like and don't like but I think one of my favorite things about it and something that I am getting a lot of use out of is iTunes Radio!
If you haven't used ITunes radio yet I recommended trying it as soon as you get a chance or next time you get a chance! I was just going to ignore its presence in my music until my friend convinced me and told me all the great things about it! It is a lot like Pandora but right in your music app. You can type in a song, artist or genre to choose from what kind of songs you like. If you don't want to type in something certain there are categories of stations you can pick from that they think you would like. When you have found a station it starts on a setting of Hits. This means you are listening to more common music that you hear more. You can go to the info button on the top middle and change that though! You have the options on a scale from Hits to Variety to Discovery. Discovery are usually not very well know songs but things that it thinks you will like! Variety is in the middle of those two so you get some hits and some not common songs. When there is a song playing you can pick the star to click that you like the song and to play more songs like that but there is also an X so you can click to never play the song again. You can skip songs but be careful because there is a limited amount of skips. You can also use the + button to add it to an iTunes wish list of songs you want to buy or you can even buy them right on the spot. There is also a button to change if you want to allow explicit tracks or not that way you can choose that depending on what kind of crowd you are in. If you are really enjoying a song you can make a new station from that song you are listening to which is always handy to have more then one station depending on your mood.
You can make as many stations as you want and can change at anytime. I love iTunes radio and I am so glad this is a new things in the music app. I am currently listening to the Lana Del Rey station as I type, which by the way I recommend! I love finding new songs so I always have it on discovery and I have found new songs already that I want to buy and now I cant stop listening to! I hope that you try it and can find some good songs you love too!

Good Style?

Everyone wants to fit in somehow but do you really want to become a part of something that you are just normal and like everyone else. I am not saying there is anything wrong with the people themselves, I personally have very good friends who are part of the "in crowd" but I just think that everyone seems to dress and look the same. They all have the same typical outfits everyday. It isn't really style its just wearing the same thing everyone else is everyday to fit in with everyone else and not feel left out. There are some clothes I don't wear to school because I know I would be judged. No matter how much we say we all don't care if people judge us we all do at least a little.
The most common outfit for the winter that I see everyday drives me a little insane. Everyone wears buckle jeans with a Victoria secret pink sweatshirt and UGG boots. Yes I do own all of those items of clothing and I am sure I have even worn them together once or twice but so many people wear them everyday. That's all that people will wear because it all they buy but that isn't style, to me its just the normal trying to fit in. I used to be against Buckle Miss me jeans and other brands like that until I tried them on and I actually really like them. I am not saying that you shouldn't ever wear it, just everyday. Another thing that I notice is whenever they dress up then they always just wear UGGS with there tights and tight skirts and v necks. Yet again I own all these things but that doesn't mean every time I dress up that I have to wear them all together. Especially the UGGS with the skirt, you can buy other shoes that match and look better with it too!
The point of this blog was not to insult anyone but just to point out the things that people are wearing around us everyday at school. Do you want to fit in or do you want to stand out and be your own person? Be your own person and make your style. Don't follow the norm like everyone else. Dress how you want and don't let anyone judge you because you can do what you want.

Skinny Love

One of my favorite songs ever is Skinny love. I originally heard it by Bon Iver and I couldn't stop listening to it for weeks. Then I found another version by Birdy and I honestly can not decide which one is better. Here are the lyrics to the song and I want you to listen to both and decide which one you like better.

Bon Iver

Birdy

Come on skinny love, just last the year
Pour a little salt, we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my

Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer

I told my love to wreck it all
Cut off all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my,
my, my, my,
my, my, my, my,
Right at the moment this order's tall

And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind

And in the morning, I'll be with you
But it will be a different kind
'Cause I'll be holding all the tickets
And you'll be owning all the fines

Come on skinny love, what happened here?
Suckle on the hope in light brassiere
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Sullen load is full, so slow on the split

And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind

And now all your love is wasted
Then who the hell was I?
'Cause now I'm breaking at the bridges
And at the end of all your lines

Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall,
Fall far behind?

Come on skinny love
My, my, my,my, my, my, my, my, my, my,

My, my, my, my, my, my ,my, my, my, my.

 Lyrics from metrolyrics.com