Catching Up

Hi, after ages of not blogging!

Claire and I started swimming for our high school team last week! Our coach is kind of hard, and it is a bit more intense than our club team. But Claire and I both made the Varsity team! Our first meet is in two weeks, so our practices have been pretty hard leading up to that.

I'm so excited to be swimming for an actual team now! :) Like, swimming for my club was fun, but we barely ever went to meets. In the almost three years I have been doing it, I've been to two meets. I honestly love swimming so much. It feels so amazing to be able to get in the pool after a long day at school, and let everything else into the back of my mind and just focus on the sets. It's really relaxing for me, but I'm also working out and tired out afterwards, I'm a really competitive person. Claire and I both are. And being able to compete in competitions for swim every week is going to be so amazing. XD XD XD
And, plus, we have a really amazing coach who really makes us work.

Our birthday is on Sunday! We decided not to have a party this year, and instead we are going to go shopping at a really nice mall and going to dinner afterwards. But, yay! 14!

Rosie is acting in her first play! It's a Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's really cute to see her and her little friends practicing their lines together and go to rehearsals. XD It reminds me of when I did dance for a long time, and would act the same way, tired out by rehearsals, but really excited for the performances.

School is also going great! I am doing pretty well, and I can't believe that third quarter is almost over and then only one more quarter to go before the end of freshman year!! This school year is seriously going by so fast! I just got 1st Honors Award for having a 3.5 GPA or above first quarter. The transition from homeschooling to going to school is going much better than I thought it would. I expected to have to adjust way more. Like, yes, I'm not going to lie, the homework load is driving me a bit crazy, but all in all, I'm really happy with where I am in school right now.

I hope to be able to blog more often, but seriously, I've been so busy. I really miss blogging, and I promise I'll try to keep it up!! <3

Jo

Rain! XD

Do you know what's AMAZING?!?!

When it rains so much that water starts to flood into your classrooms so we get out of school after just one class!!!!!!!!

Yup. That happened. :)

We had a HUGE thunder storm this morning/afternoon and our campus just isn't built that well for rain. All the courts slightly dip towards the middle and drain into classrooms. Not good.
Anyway. So, this morning after first period, we were all huddled together during break and it was pouring rain. Like, it was legit raining, not kinda raining like it usually does. In some places there was more than 6 inches of water, so we couldn't really get to our classes with out trudging through a lot of water and getting sopping wet from the rain. Over the loud speaker, our principal told us to get in the nearest classroom and wait for it to stop raining so heavily. Some people said there was hail too. So, we all went into different classrooms and hung out. After about 45 minutes, it was STILL pouring, so my teacher turned on a movie, and we all just hung out for awhile.

After we were in the classrooms for almost 2 hours, it was like 11:45, the rain started to die down. Then the principal said that it was going to rain really hard even more later today so he said that school was dismissed! You should have heard the screams from all over the school! XD

Time for homework!
~Jo

God Bless Us, Everyone!

(By the way, the quote in the title is by Tiny Tim and is like my all time favorite quote :D)

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE!

So, where to begin? The vigil last night was just beautiful, as always. After mass, Bella, Addy, Rosie, Mo, Claire, Lu, and I chatted in the courtyard. It was really funny; we all talked in really high-pitched excited voices, chatting a bit, mostly saying, "Oh my gosh tomorrow's Christmas, can you believe it??!"

This morning, me and my sisters talked in hushed voices in our beds until Baby Zee woke up. We all thumped downstairs and Mom and Dad were in the kitchen. We all hugged Mom and Dad, and then waiting behind the door in the kitchen while Mom and Dad went into the dining room where the stockings are, and Dad made a fire and put on Christmas music. After everyone had torn through the stockings, there was a mad dash towards the tree.

Ahh, the presents. This year was a good one. Claire got me a Taylor Swift calendar and Lucie got me Taylor Swift's 1989 album. Can you detect a theme? They know me well. Rosie, she's so sweet, got me my favorite chips. And the best one was from Frani; she was so excited when I was opening it. She got me a purple hippo pillow pet. XD Mom said that when she took Frani Christmas shopping, Frani saw the pillow pets and immediately knew that's what she wanted to get me.

Along with other gifts, I got a jean jacket from Mom because I'm always stealing hers, Uggs from my grandparents, five pairs of pants (I was in desperate need), yoga pants, mascara, caramels (YUM!), converse, lots more clothes, earrings, a card game called coup, and best of all........ drum roll please!.... An iPhone! I've been asking for one for awhile, and my parents are amazing. :) Since iPhones are mega expensive, Claire and Lu and I are sharing one for now, but STILL.

Okay, so now, what I got other people! Me and Lu got Claire a Captain America zipper pull, Captain America earrings, and a Captain America pillow. And me and Claire got Lu Ant-man!!!! I think we are going to watch it this afternoon. :) Remember for Mimi's birthday when she was going to get her ears pierced? Well, she decided then that she actually wanted to wait until she was older. Earlier this month, though, she started oh, so casually, hinting around that she wanted to get her ears pierced now, so that was my gift to her. I got Frani and Zee both candy and pillow pets.

Today is mostly going to consist of me listening to T Swift, playing coup, relaxing, eating, and watching Ant-man. What are you all doing? I might post some pictures of our crazy Christmas morning later on, I just have to figure out how to get the pictures off Mom's camera to be able to post.

Oh, I realized that yesterday I posted our 100th post... Oops, I was going to do a special post for that. Oh, well. :P Me and Claire will do a post together for 105, okay?

Oh, also, sorry that my "About Jo" page is off right now. I took it off to update it, but I haven't finished yet. I'll do that eventually. XD

I hope you all have a great Christmas and eat a lot of good food!

Xoxo,
Jo

Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas Eve is one of the best days of the year. There's this amazing sense of happiness and waiting, and every once in a while one of the kids will scream, "OH MY GOSH TOMORROW'S CHRISTMASSS!"

So far our Christmas Eve has consisted of me sleeping in till noon (I honestly have no idea what the rest of my family was doing), a little bit of cleaning, me and Claire re-learning our old favorite board games and teaching them to Rosie and Frani, and now we are about to do our annual Christmas Eve drive-around-the-town-and-drop-off-goodies-and-Christmas-cards.

Later tonight we will go to the Christmas vigil mass that we go to every year. On our way home from Christmas mass (it's like a 15min drive), each person takes a turn picking their favorite Christmas carol and we all sing together. Then my mom and dad, who both have really beautiful voices, sing "Oh Holy Night" together, and it is so beautiful.

After we get home, we each open one present, or a present addressed to all the kids, to "if possible, get us even more excited than we already are" as my mom says.

Time to drop off the cards and goodies!

Merry Christmas!

~Jo

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN!

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

AHHHH! I SAW STAR WARS! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE THESE MOVIES!!

Whew. *Deep breath*

Back story.

So I knew that this movie was going to come out, and I was excited because GUYS IT'S STAR WARS AND I FREAKING LOVE STAR WARS.

AHHH! 

Anyway, Rosie wanted to see it too, but she's seven and doesn't remember when Dad and us kids went on a Star Wars marathon. So, Dad, who loves Star Wars, got Rosie really excited about these movies and watched the old ones with her to get her super stoked for this new movie. Last night they watched episode five, my absolute favorite one, which I hadn't seen for years. It brought back so many memories of being super little and sitting on Dad's lap watching these movies. It was our special thing that we did with Dad, and it was then that I got really in to those movies. Claire and I planned our future when we were little: Claire was to marry Luke and I was to marry Han. Guys, I was so in love with Han Solo, you have no idea. I think he was my first crush.

Ahh....

I was such a weird little seven year old. Like, yes, I loved my Disney princess, dressing up, and being girly, but I also had this weird obsession with Star Wars, Han Solo, and light sabers. All my friends liked Leia and Padmé I would rant on and on about how much I loved Han Solo.

I remember when I was like eight, I met the first person I knew who didn't like Star Wars (Hi Bella. You know who you are) I was like "Whaaaat?" I think I went a little crazy. I was like, "Hoooooooow can you not like Star Wars????? Are you CRAZY?" I tried to lecture it into her, but after that didn't work. :) I actually brought the matter to my mom. She was doing dishes and I barged in and was like, "MOM. Isabel says that she doesn't like Star Wars! TELL her that it is goooood."

Oh gosh, I was insane. I think I didn't quite know how to deal with my fangirlingishness.

He was such a hero :P

Here he is, thirty years later, as handsome as ever :P

Okay, back to the story. So, last night while watching The Empire Strikes Back, I got super excited about the new movie. And then I get a text from one of my best friends, Joie, who moved away over the summer, saying that she was in town and was wondering if we wanted to go see Star Wars tomorrow! I freaked out! I was so excited. Joie is a Star Wars geek like me, and she was the perfect person to see it with. We went to a suuuper nice theater and oh my gosh I can't express how much I love this. Like, these movies where made THIRTY YEARS AGO. Thirty. And they are making new ones and I am just so so happy. Like, I am grinning as I'm typing this cause of all the excitementness. I have no words. 

When the theme music first played, the DUH DUH DUH DUUUUUUUH DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH. DUH DUH DUH DUUUUUUUH DUHHHHH. DUH DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUH DUH. DUH DUH DUH DUH, everyone in the theater went crazy cheering. It's so cool to know that there are so many other Star Wars geeks out there appreciating these movies with me. :) :) :)

Okay, for the movie itself, it went passed my expectations. Yes, I did cry, and I will probably be depressed for a while, but ohmygosh I don't care if you don't like Star Wars (BELLA) go watch it for gosh sakes. It's a good movie, it'll do you some good. The characters were so so so great. I want to talk about this more, but I don't want to ruin it for y'all.

Me and Dad have succeeded in getting Rosie obsessed with Star Wars. No, she isn't quite old enough to fully understand the awesomeness of it all, but she loves it just the same.

I think I'm going to watch it again with Dad sometime this week, because he is the one who raised me to love these movies, and I owe it to him. Plus I freaking love this movie and I can't wait to see it again!

For all you sad, sad, lonely people out there who don't like Star Wars, sorry about this long overwhelming post. 

May The Force Be With You,

Jo

I have finished my first semester of school and I made it out alive!

Hey guys!
So, I am done with finals and everything and now on Christmas Break!! GUYS I'M SO HAPPY!!
Not that I don't like school. I actually really like my school. It just feels sooooooooo nice to be home, and homework and stress free.

So, a little update on life is due I think.
Finals went pretty well, I think. Biology was definitely difficult, but overall I think it was good. And now.... I don't really feel like talking about school anymore so moving on. :P

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS AND I'M SO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN SAY! Guys I love all the Christmas music, and the Christmas lights, and the Christmas decorations, and the Christmas feeling, and the Christmas everything!!!!
One thing I really love about Christmas that we do every year with my AHG friends, is the Secret Santa party. Everyone picks someone else's name out of a hat and for that person they buy a Christmas gift. It's all a secret to the person they are getting a gift for. Then at the party the presents are exchanged, one by one. I love this tradition because it really gets everyone in the spirit for Christmas and it's super fun! Tonight is the party and I'm really excited. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmaaaaas!"

Laters!

~ Claire

Finals

Hey everyone!
Lu, Claire, and I are about to take our first two final today, and I'm pretty stressed out. If you guys can say a quick prayer for us, that would be totally amazing. I'll be praying for all you out there who are taking finals!

~Jo

A little Inspiration!

For all you who are worrying about upcoming tests, or just need a bit of inspiration!

If this made you feel good, I would love it if you would post this on your own blog and tell others to do the same! <3
Love you guys!

Claire

Quick Thanksgiving Picture

Happy Thanksgiving!

~ Claire and Jo

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving guys!

I'm going to do the cliche thing and talk about what I'm thankful for. Bear with me.

First of all, I'm extremely thankful for my wonderful family. My family is crazy and fun and weird and awesome, and they are always there for me.
There's Lu, who seems quiet, but is like the best person to watch movies and fangirl with. She's just a year older than me, and is crazy fun.
Then there's Claire who, being my twin sister, I can count on to be with me all the time. She loves the things I love and hates the things I hate, and she's the perfect person to have late night conversations with.
Mimi is six years younger than me, and is pretty much a mini-me. I don't always get along with her because we are so similar, but she's also really fun to chat with because she cracks me up. :P She recently started swim team with me and Claire, and she feels really grown up. It's so cute.
Annie is a little goofball and is just the funniest kid ever. I love her so much.
Zelie is a little bundle of joy, and crazy as heck. She, Mimi, and Annie have memorized every possible Disney song and all the theme songs of their favorite TV shows. It's uncanny.
Then of course, my parents who are unbelievably amazing. They go through so much to make us happy, and I'm so, so, so thankful for them.

I'm thankful for my AMAZING friends. They are always there to have crazy conversations with, and always make me so happy. Just to name a few, there is Abby, who I have known forever and have some... let's just say insane.... experiences with. I'll just let you read this post from her blog, and leave it at that. I love her, she's the best.
There's Monica, who I have known forever and ever and is crazy and awesome. She does swim team with me and is just so, so, so, awesome. She gives me book recommendations and I give her movie recommendations so it works out great. :P

Me and Moni. 

The Beauty herself

Then, of course, there's Bella. She is just amazing in every way. She's so fun and crazy and we do the craziest and funnest things together. She's always there when I want to give her a sob story talk to her, and she's just the best.

She's going to kill me for posting this, but I just had to

There you go. We are just a bit insane

The dorks at their greatest

Bella's little sister Addy is a ton of fun too. She is wacky and crazy and brightens up my day. :P

Then there's Gabby who is soooooo much fun. :P She is the drama queen of them all, and she is so fun to be weird with.

Okay, so there's just a few of my besties and I can't say how thankful I am for them. I love them all to death. <3

Okay, moving on. I'm thankful for the wonderful school I go too. It's a great Catholic school, and I love going there. I'm thankful that I was homeschooled too, and got to have the wonderful experience of being homeschooled. 

I'm so so so so thankful for being Catholic and being raised in such a beautiful Catholic environment. I'm thankful that my parents raised me to be a strong Catholic. I'm thankful for God, that he can forgive me so easily, and that he wants me to grow closer to him every day.

I'm thankful to my readers of S&S and for reading these posts. It really means a lot.

Okay, there you go. If you read this all... wow. Good job. XD

I'm going to go be a social person and spend time with my family.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving and eat your hearts out because I know I will.

Lots of love,

Jo

 

Would You Rather!

Hey! Time for another series of Would You Rather!

1. Would You Rather.... go shopping at the mall or get your nails done?
2. Would You Rather.... go to the beach when it is freezing or have a 90 degrees Christmas?
3. Would You Rather.... draw/sketch or watercolor?
4. Would You Rather.... ice skate or go bowling?
5. Would You Rather.... eat cake or pie?
6. Would You Rather.... eat cranberry sauce or a roll with butter?
7. Would You Rather.... eat apple pie or pumpkin pie?
8. Would You Rather.... eat stuffing or not eat stuffing?

.... And I'm out of ideas! This one is kind of Thanksgiving themed towards the end. :)

Leave a comment with your answers!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow guys!!!!!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving! <3

~ Claire

Hey everybody!!!!!!!

How are you all doing? It's been awhile. :)

School's going pretty well. Well, except for the butt load of English homework for this weekend. That's awesome. : /

I was kind of thinking that I would do another Would You Rather, but I'm not sure.... Leave me
a comment if you want me to. 

Here are some pins just for your pleasure. I saw Abby doing this so I thought it would be a good idea! Thanks Abs! (click her name to check out her awesome blog if you haven't already done so!)

This is what I need!!!

GREAT MOVIE!!!! I suggest you watch it!

Isn't this just so beautiful? It really made my day looking at this. 

Write a comment if you found it!!!!!

Who's up for doing this with me next year???!! It's a Snape pumpkin!!!!

We love you guys so much!

Peace,
Claire

My Happy Week

Hey you!
So, like the title suggests, yes, I'm pretty happy at the moment. :)
I'm going to go through the thing that made me happy this week.

Sunday: I got to hang out with some friends that I hadn't seen in awhile. We got ice cream and went swimming.

Monday: I had a pretty good day at school and then came home and when to an American Heritage Girl meeting. I hadn't been able to go to any of the meetings yet this year, because of golf, but the golf season is over now so I got to go to that.

Tuesday: I had the day off of school, which was soooo dreamy. I hung out with some other friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

Wednesday: Yesterday was the end-of-the-year Girls Varsity Golf Banquet. I got there and we had a really nice dinner with all the girls on the team, our coach, and the parents. The presentations started and I got a Varsity certificate, a school award for having a GPA of 3.0 or better, and an Athletic All-League for having a GPA of 3.5 or better. Then my coach announced that Lucie and I are going to be co-captains of the Varsity Girls Golf team for the next three years! This is a really big deal for me and that totally made my day. I'm really happy that my coach thinks that, as a Freshman, I'm capable of being a team captain. :) :) :) Basically what the captain(s) does is recruit girls that they think would make a really good team, be really encouraging to the team mates, be organized, and be a good leader. Coach says that Lucie and I combined make the perfect Captain. I totally did not see this coming, and I'm still really excited about this!!

Thursday: Today at school I received my beautiful Varsity letter that I can hang on my wall.
Also today, my Biology teacher came back after being gone for three weeks to get surgery. The substitute was not a very great teacher, so it was sooooo nice to have my teacher back. I also had two tests today, both of which I think I did really well on.

So that's been my week so far, and right now I'm so happy. :) Do you ever just feel happy and you don't know quite why, you just feel happy? Cuz, that's what I'm feeling right now.

AND, Halloween is in TWO DAYS! Guys, I love Halloween. Yes, I'm still going to go trick-or-treating. XD I'm going as Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's. I'll take pictures and post them if I can.

27 days until Thanksgiving and Christmas is in 57 days!!!!!
The countdown has begun.
~Jo

Just needed to share this.....

Me right now.

~ Claire

Jo, Bella, Moni, and Claire: The Tale of the Foosball Tournament

Hi!!

Life has been crazy and I'm really sorry I haven't posted in a month. 
 BUT, I'm posting now so lets do this!

My golf season is almost over except for the league individuals which is on Monday. I'm kind of stressed out about that (go figure!).

Okay, so remember that post I did a while ago about that game of Foosball? So, the same group of friends went over to Ro's house (yes, the one with the Foosball table).

When we were driving to the party Bella was like, "Oh my gosh they better not have soda, I'm gonna drive everybody crazy."

So we get there and, like normal people, we hang out with the group and chat and eat, and then Ro's like, "You all can go do whatever you want if you want to...". Bella jumps up and looks at me and she's like, "Wait. Can we go to the game room??" The second Ro said yeah, me and Bella jump up and run like crazy people to the game room. We get to the Foosball table and Bella's all, "Bring. It. On."

After every goal one of us would scream and victory dance all over the room. Everyone else was playing Apples to Apples, and multiple times people would come over to the Foosball and be like, "Quiet down we're trying to play a game". We'd be like "Oh, sorry" and then end up screaming over the next goal.

One time Addy, Bella's sister, came over to the us and was like, "Isabel. You have to stop screaming. It's just a stupid Foosball game, you don't have to scream about it." And Bella says something along the lines of, "Adelaide. This is not a game. I can't loose. If I loose, I'm loosing to Jo. I can't calm down." XD Okay, let me tell you, you have never seen intensity like me and Bella playing Foosball.

After a long game with blood, sweat, and tears, Bella won. She probably cheated or something, cuz everyone knows that I'm better at Foosball than Bella. No, I'm not bitter.

Claire and Moni played to see who would face Bella in the Finals. The SSTC. Shakespeare Stadium Tournament Championship. Me and Bella amused ourselves by being the commentators for Moni and Claire's game. Basically we just ended up fighting about whether Bella cheated or not. She did cheat. She was just lying. So now she's a cheater and a lier so I win.

Claire ended up beating Moni, so she played Bella in the Finals. I was in the other room when Claire beat Bella in the Finals, but I could tell by Claire screaming, "OHHHH! TAKE THAT!"
I walked in and Bella was on the floor like, "NOOO! IT'S NOT FAIR!" She took it really seriously. LOL XD

After the Foosball games I overheard Bella talking to Ro. She was like, "Sorry for screaming. But it's your fault, you shouldn't have given me soda." XD

I have to go read To Kill a Mockingbird for school now.

~Jo

P.S. I have a three day weekend!!!!!!

Ugh I Hate Being Sick

Yes. I've had an awful cold for a week and a half, and a fever for three days. And on top of that, I just got a palate expander in my mouth, so my mouth hurts. And I have an awful headache. Goshdarnit I'm kind of a mess right now.

Bleghk.

One a happier note, I get to read one of my favorite books for school!! To Kill a Mockingbird is a fantastic book, for all you who haven't read it. My English teacher loves this book, and gets really excited when we read literature that she loves, so this should be fun. XD

I'm almost done with my first big paper that I'm going to turn in for English this year. I wrote it on The Scarlet Ibis, a very sad short story. The paper is going pretty well, and I'm on the editing stage if it. This paper was one of the main reasons why I haven't been posting lately. My teacher wanted us to spend a lot of time on it, and along with all my other homework and being sick, I didn't really have time for much else.

We are half way through our golf season, and so far we have been doing pretty well. I've gotten sooooo much better than when I started! I've had to miss the last three because of being sick, but hopefully I'll be able to play on Tuesday. When we play the hardest team in the league. Yay, that will be fun.

Sorry about this lame post, but there hasn't been too much going on since I'm sick.

See you all soon,
Jo

Biology is devouring my soul :l Oh, and the rest of this post is a ramble of nothing in particular.

Yay. Bio test tomorrow. Prayers? You guys are the best!

How's it going? I've been trying to stay more on top of posting, but it's been a little tough. But hey, I'm here now (though it is pretty late. :P).

So, I had this terrible cold that is sticking to me like a leech. I have been sick with it for about two weeks and it still hasn't gone away. Like, I feel fine for the most part, but I'm just coughing a ton and I have a stuffed up nose. Yay. Talk about fun stuff.

Guess what? It's raining! I just looked out the window and it's raining. The thing is though, it has been super hot lately (think high 80s) and I don't think tomorrow will be any different. Like today at school I walked out of my Spanish class and it was raining. But then about an hour later the weather was like, "JK, totally tricked you guys. LOL" And it was super hot for the rest of the day. What is with this weather?

Ooooh, I went to the beach on Saturday. That was fun. I really like the beach. Then I got In n Out.
Can you tell I'm tired? I'm sorry for such a random post, I just felt like I should do a quick check in with S&S today.

Guess what?!?!?! Christmas is in 101 days!!!! So excited! :DDDDD
I should probably go to bed now, so peace out folks!

- Claire <3

Hey, it's been awhile....

What's up?

Sorry it has been so long since we last posted.
Anyway, we are now in the middle of our fourth week of school. But moving on because I do not want to spend this whole post talking about school. :)

I was thinking I could do another Would You Rather game....
Okay let's do this.

1. Would you rather.... eat pie or cake? 
2. Would you rather.... do seven push ups (girl push ups count) or five pull ups/chin ups? 
3. Would you rather.... go back in time to the Regency Era (Jane Austen era) or the 1920s? 
4. Would you rather.... have a dog as your favorite animal or a cat? 
5. Would you rather.... do math or science as the only subject you do for one whole school day? 
6. Would you rather.... be pushed into a freezing cold pool or not be able to go swimming on a really hot day? 
7. Would you rather.... spend a day at the beach or at a pool? 
8. Would you rather.... type out a 400 word essay with mittens on or type it with your toes?  
9. Would you rather.... have to eat a meal sized portion of your least favorite food or not be able to eat your favorite food while you watch everyone else eat it? 
10. Would you rather.... eat green beans or brussels sprouts?

Thanks for reading, and I would love to see your answers to these questions, and maybe why you chose those answers, in the comments! You can add more questions in the comments if you like. And also, you can do a Would You Rather post on your blog and we can see how long we can keep the streak alive! :P

Talk to ya'll later!

Claire

Review of my hectic week.

*Huge sigh of relief*

It's the weekend.

Yes. After multiple nervous breakdowns, lots of emotions, stress, and work, it's the weekend.

Like my Mom says, it's the first weekend I have ever properly enjoyed. Being homeschooled before, I have never been so relieved that it is finally the weekend. I went to a party last night and didn't get home until 11ish, and then slept for 12 hours. And I'm still tired. I guess it's from the major stress I've been experiencing. Like, I don't think I've ever been this overwhelmed. It's exhausting.

On that happy note, let me tell you some of the happy notes of this first week.

1. Okay, so I made friends with my favorite teacher. She's my English teacher and she's amazing. And she's also going to be my swim coach. So I think that's it's good that we got off on the right foot. :)
2. I made lots of friends. ;) Friends are good.
3. I CAN OPEN MY LOCKER!! Yes I can. Like a boss.
4. I can speak a couple sentences of Spanish. Ahem. "Me llamo Josephine." Translation: "My name is Josephine." I know I know!!!! I'm so proud.
5. I organized my back pack and now I know exactly where everything is.

Good, right??

I'm a happy chicken.

If you all would pray that I survive this coming week with less emotional break downs than this last week, I would be very grateful. This is a really big change for me and I'm having a bit of a time adjusting to it. 

You guys are the best! I got some very uplifting emails, conversations, and phone calls from you guys this week from you all, and honestly, those made my week. I don't know what I would do without you. Thank you thank you thank you!

I love you all!!

Jo, who is extremely grateful that she has such amazing friends.