Sunday, January 30, 2011

I LIKE CHOCOLATE

Hi girls it's sunday!! I was just about to go to sleep when I remembered BLOG. This weeks theme is desserts. Since I'm tired I shall just write one of my favorite cookie recipes. this is for my famous chocolate chip cookies that causes my bio teacher and several of my classmates to worship me when I make them. I don't normally give out my recipes so GET EXCITED
INGREDIENTS
  • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup whole almonds, toasted and chopped
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Finely chop the oats in a food processor. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs and almond extract. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts and stir just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped almonds.
Roll them and put them on the sheet.Cook in oven for about 11-13 minutes. 
VOILA! You haz Katie Zellner Cookies!!!
Less than three,
Katie Z
Listening to: YOU MAKE MY DREAMS Hall & Oates
Watching: Worst Cooks in America
Thinking: SLEEEEPY
Quote: "WHERED THE CAT GO"

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Hunting for internet and a lot music

Hey girls, can you believe it’s already Saturday again? Time is passing by so fast lately, it’s almost February! 1/12 of 2011 is already over! Crazy!
On Tuesday I had my last exam until July, I can’t really realize it so far. I guess I will be so bored most of the time, I will need some new projects to work on. I’ve thought about starting a Nerdfighter meeting website (that sounds crappy), which would be something like all those pen pal websites: you fill out a profile, write what you are looking for (Nerdfighterlike, pen pals, email pals, whatever) and a little bit about yourself and then other Nerdfighters can contact you. I’m not a big fan of the Ning, because I think it’s too messy and too general, so I think something like my idea would be nice. At least I would use it. What do you think about it?

I’m now in a hotel in Germany, because I’m at the ski jumping, and the internet sucks here, I can’t even open Facebook and also not our blog. And I’m sitting in the lobby, because in the room it doesn’t work at all. Great, really. I’m writing this in Word now, I hope I can post it later or latest tomorrow.

So, music. I listen to music all the time. My iPod touch is my best friend and I never leave the house without him (his name is Achilles and he even has his own email address: mynameisachilles@gmail.com - in case you ever want to talk to my iPod :D)

Sorry that I can’t give you any Youtube links, but it’s just not possible with this internet.
Let’s check my iTunes…

- Kevin Rudolf – especially “Let It Rock”
- Rise Against – especially “Drones”
- The 69 Eyes – a Finnish band, I especially like “Next Stop Paradise”
- Agnes – a Swedish singer, her most famous song was “Release Me”, but also her other stuff is really great
- Røyksopp – a Norwegian band, my favorite song of them is “The Girl and the Robot”
- Sunrise Avenue – I don’t know if they are also known in the US, they are Finnish. I like “Fairytale Gone Bad”, “Wonderland”, “Bad” and “The Whole Story”
- Apocalyptica – again Finnish, they are playing something like modern cello music, it’s hard to describe, but you should listen to “Ruska”, “Farewell” and “Bittersweet”
- Eddplant – I love his music, I even bought his CD Confidence Tricks and I can only recommend it, because it’s really great
- Alan Lastufka/Luke Conard – I bought Erase This and it’s one of the best albums I know
- Little Boots – she had one hit (“Remedy”), but her album Hand is so good
- Jon Lajoie – okay, he is totally sick and the songs are stupid, but they are just so catchy
- 3OH!3 – I downloaded their album lately and I really like it, especially “We Are Young”
- The Baseballs – they play normal music on Rock ‘n Roll style, it’s really cool, check “Umbrella” or “Let’s Get Loud”

Other random songs I love:

- Weezer ft. Lil Wayne: “Can’t Stop Partying”
- The Cure: “A Letter To Elise”
- Pet Shop Boys: “Love etc”
- David Guetta: “Stay”
- Oasis: “The Masterplan”
- Gym Class Heroes ft. Fallout Boy: “Cupid’s Chokehold”
- Bunny Lake: “Swallow The Darkess” (they’re Austrian)
- Mando Diao: “Down In The Past” (Swedish)
- Lavive: “No Sleep” (German)

Okay that’s been already a lot and I could continue, I have 3390 songs in my iTunes and there is a lot I could recommend (as well as a lot of shit), but I think I better stop now.
Oh, but I have to add some soundtracks, I listen a lot to soundtracks and I can recommend:

- Lord of the Rings
- Harry Potter
- Twilight (not a fan of the movies or books, but the soundtracks are great)
- Alice in Wonderland (it’s called Almost Alice and it’s not really a soundtrack, but a compilation of songs about Alice)
- Corpse Bride (OMG I love it so much!!!)
- pretty much all Disney songs
- Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs
- A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Les Choristes (French – check “Vois Sur Ton Chemin”, you will probably recognize it from Christina Aguilera’s song “Mother”, she stole it)
- Shrek

Okay, now I really stop.

Really.

DFTBA, girls.

Sarah

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Hi, it's Thursday, and I am here to give you your dose of Haley for the week.

I've realized that my music selection is very thin, and I basically just listen to the same stuff repeatedly.  

Here is my (short) list:

  • Mike Lombardo.  I really like his music, and I can illega- I mean listen to it for free on his bandcamp page. Also, how could I not love a person who has written such profound lyrics as, "Your mother's a whore, and I hope you get herpes?"
  • A few more generic ones- ALL CAPS, Hank, Alex, Tom, Charlie, Starkid, Darren Criss, Lauren Fairweather, 
  • Debbie Reynolds. My heart flipping dies whenever I see 'Singing in the Rain.'
  • Five for Fighting. I don't really know why I like them, because I find their music sort of dumb.
  • Darren Criss
  • Starkid
  • Glee covers
  • Hannah Montana.  No, I do not think that it is good, but I can sing all of the songs. 
  • Jimmy Eat World. 
  • Lemon Demon
  • Pomplamoose
  • Natasha Bedingfield. I've got a pocket full of flipping sunshine, and I don't care who knows.
  • Train
  • Wrock bands- Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, The Parselmouths, RiddleTM, Let's Lumos!, The Whomping Willows, The Moaning Myrtles
I realize that I listen to a lot of soundtracks. I listen to a lot of soundtracks.

I have to go do homework, ONLINE. That is always the worst kind because I can never seem to be able to keep  my head in the game.

DFTBA,
Haley

Currently Reading: Fight Club
Currently Listening: to Mike Lombardo
Currently stressing: about the research on Hitler that I should be doing.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Emily Loves Alternative

Hey girls, it's thursday now, but my life is busy...
I had 4 hours of debate practice tonight which actually turned into a lot of funny video watching and cuddling... not a joke. I love the canterbury LD debate team. Also, I have to learn a new type of debate for this weekend. Shit. Also I have an AP US quiz tomorrow, a newspaper article due friday (talking to teacher about extention) and you know how I said I had to learn a new form of debate? I'm learning policy. I assume you don't know the types of high school debate, so let me explain:
-Congress:
What I usually do. We discuss bills. I'm pretty good
-LD (Lincoln-Douglas)
What I just learned how to do. Consensus of the other people on the team? I'm going to be good at it.
-Policy
What I have to learned how to o. No one on the team does it, but we need a policy team at districts hence... Oh, yeah did you hear that? Districts. Life is shit.
Also: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

So music. Definitely my thing. But I have shit to do so this is going to be quick. In no particular order:
CAKE: (I'm going to be honest, I haven't had time to read other blogs... katie might have mentioned them) Amazing. Strong base line. YAY. Right now I'm stuck on comfort eagle, symphony in C, and Love you madly... that said they have tons of excellent stuff and my fav. changes daily
Radiohead: My favorite band. AH. Amazing. Can't use words.
Nirvana- astounding. amazing. i love them. <3 Kurt Cobain
Arcade Fire: Woah. Neon Bible is playing now. It's fantastic. everything is fantastic. yes.
Spring Awakening: Not a band, but a show. WANT TO SEE. Favorites? Bitch of Living, Totally Fucked, Don't Do Sadness, And then there were none (a it too much dialogue, but still amazing), all that's known. (angsty. amazing. love.)
Ben Folds: I love him. Bastard is among my fav. songs
Franz Ferdinand: 'nough said
The Killers: def. check out the abby road version of Sam's Town. Then everything else. LOVE
MGMT: weird vid.s, great songs. Lots of drugs... within the band I mean...
Modest Mouse: Float On, Dashboard, more...
The Mountain goats: amazing
Mumford and Sons: fantastic
Neutral Milk Hotel: makes you rethink the way you listen to music
Regina Spektor: fantastic
Guster: demons, airport song, keep it together, amsterdam, more
American idiot versions of greenday songs (fantastic)
Spoon: check out japanese cigarette case
Third Eye Bling- non dairy creamer
THOM YORKE: YES
Vampire Weekend: mhm
Weezer: buddy holly
Belle and Sebastian.

So, that's a start. Music I love by band. Lots of different stuff. If you want to check it out I recomend this website (http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/) where you can search by song or band and listen freely in a legal way on your computer.

Stuff to do: IAOIPUNRUNBU
What I'm reading: irpiubnngrvu
What I'm watching: nothing

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tenley listens to cheesy Korean pop music

Hello, it's Tuesday... in case you didn't know. Allow me to start off with an open letter to Blogger:

Blogger,
Why do you insist on offering surveys to me when all I want to do is write my blog? Furthermore, should you really call it an "offer" if you don't give an option to skip the survey. Seriously, wtf? I just spent ten minutes filling out the survey you said would take thirty seconds. Why did I do this? Because its the only way you would let me get to the blog.
Best Wishes,
Tenley

Now that that's done, hey girls, how are you? Are you ready to here some awesome music? I hope you said yes.

1. Amanda Palmer. My favorite song by her (at the moment) is "Ampersand". However, if you ever find yourself in a bad mood you should listen to "Oasis" and try not to smile.

2. The Carpenters... are quite possibly my favorite band. I'm particularly fond of "Hurting Each Other" and on a more upbeat note, "Please Mr Postman". Also, I feel like this would be a good time to point out that sometimes I change the words to "Please Mr Postman" and turn it into "Please Mr Youtube".

3. Sara Bareilles. Right now my favorite song by her is "King of Anything" (as a bonus the music video is really awesome and extremely well done).

4. Mia Rose. My favorites right now are: "Let Go" and "What Would Christmas Be Like".

5. The last one is kind of weird since I the song is in Korean and I don't even know what the words are or for that matter the title. A few months ago I found a Korean soap opera on Hulu and because I was bored I started watching it (with subtitles) and it was very entertaining. But more entertaining than the show itself was the song which they played at all the major cheesy moments in the show and is really catchy. Its like a get up and dance around your room kind of song. Here's the link. Also, the show's theme song is really catchy as well. Oh and for the record, the show is called "Personal Taste".

Okay, I think that's it. Actually I was going to include Ben Folds as well but since Katie already mentioned him I figured I'd leave him out.
Emily I'll read you tomorrow.
DFTBA
Tenley

Currently reading: "Boy meets Boy" by David Levithan.
Currently listening to: I've had the Personal Taste theme song on repeat since I wrote that part of the blog.   

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Katie Dances to Music

Hi!!! So last week was super busy for me even though we had no school on Monday. I was in a play called "The Silver Whistle" (you wouldn't have heard of it, I've had doubts about it's previous existence) and apparently I "stole the show" and was "super awesome" and "completely unrecognizable"...? I mean, I've acted before (I've been an old person in plays for the last three years), but I was never good or anything. So... yay? I think the title of the play should have been "SEE!!! Katie CAN Act!!" ... it would have made more sense than the actual title anyways. So yeah, I play practice a lot and we had performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
For French class we had to write a composition about our life twenty years from now and I said that I'll be a famous doctor/ photographer living in Boston with my husband (who plays the Doctor) and 3 children who I named Thaddeus, David, and Rose. I'm pretty darn excited about my future now.
Since there isn't a theme yet I declare it to be SHARE THY MUSIC WEEK! We're going to share our favorite songs and artists with each other. I will share with you 10 Bands/Artists/Songs in no particular order.

1. Dragonette. I just found them today when I was searching itunes' top 40 in France. I'm a big fan of them now. They're a Canadian "electropop" group and they're super cool. (the fact that their Canadian makes them cool) My favorite songs by them right now are "Hello" and "I Get Around"

2. Barry Mannilow. I must confess, I only listen to one of his songs and it's because of watching Hellboy 2 in SciFi club. I highly recommend watching that movie. I CAN'T SMILE WITHOUT YOU is one of my favorite songs EVAR. It's basically me singing to fictional characters who have died.

3. Edith Piaff. She's pretty darn amazing. She's an old french singer, but if you've seen Inception, you've heard one of her most famous songs. My favorite by her is Je Ne Regrette Rien (which was in Inception). But really, all of her songs are amazing. There's a movie about her called "La Vie En Rose" that I will watch eventually, but I haven't yet, because it's super sad and I couldn't get through it by myself. (I also recommend Jacques Brel)

4. Ben Folds. If you don't know Ben Folds, we have a problem. My favorite by him is probly Gone

5. Julia Nunes. I Heart Her. I think she's my favorite artist (besides maybe Chameleon Circuit) featured on DFTBA. My favorites of hers are "I Think You Know" and  "Short and Sweet"


6. CAKE! Cake is basically amazing. I love Cake. I think one of the best things ever is to be eating Cake while listening to Cake. My favorites are "Sheep Go to Heaven" and their cover of "I will Survive"

7. The Killers. They're pretty cool, at one point last year my older brother and I listened to one of their albums over and over again in the car for about a month. I know that album pretty well. There are too many amazing songs, but two good ones are "Why Do I Keep Counting?" and "Sam's Town"

8.  Andrew Lloyd Webber. He writes brilliant musicals such as "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Evita". My favorite song from Phantom is "Music of The Night"

9. Metric. Another super awesome Canadian band. Some of their songs were in Scott Pilgrim (best movie of 2010). Favorite song by them is "Black Sheep" (this is actually the clip from scott pilgrim)

10. DISNEY!!!!! Must I say more? "I'll Make a Man Out of You"  and "Part of Your World"  (the last one is sung by Darren Criss <3)


C'est fini! Aurevoir mes amis!

Love,
Katie Z

Listening to: (see above)
Watching: Buffy
Reading: Ursula LeGuin
Eating: Leftover brownies
Drinking: milk
Quote: "wait... you thought I was evil because I took a group of girls camping and didn't touch them?" -Giles

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Sarah can blog from her iPod now

Hey girls, it's Saturday!

Finally I found some app for my iPod to use Blogger, I was searching for some good app for ages. I actually was really surprised Google doesn't even support a mobile version of Blogspot blogs, not to mention some app to blog. Anyway, it's called Blog Booster and even supports bold and underline and stuff. I'm amazed.

I'm watching alpine skiing right now, that means downhill, it's one of the biggest sport events in Austria and in general of the winter sports world. I know the US is in general not interested in winter sports, but here it's a big deal and I love it. Funny is that my favorite skier is American - Bode Miller. And my favorite female skier is also American - Lindsay Vonn. I'm not sure why I am so americatized on that and I just made up this word.

What do I expect from 2011? - A random list

1. I want to pass my next big exam in July without any problems; the last time I had an exam of this kind I failed three times and passed at the fourth and last try and lost a year, so I'm pretty nervous about it.

2. I hope to work in a hospital in the summer holidays and I want to do that outside Austria.

3. I still want to be with my boyfriend at the end of the year, but I'm pretty sure about that - if we already made it two and a half year we will also make it another year.

4. I want to take more pictures and start uploading them somewhere again, I used to be on DeviantArt and I have a Flickr account, but I should decide for something.

5. I would really like to film more and I will probably buy a camcorder if I have some spare money which brings me to

6. earn money.

7. Start looking for apartments and move out if I find something perfect.

8. Travel to some countries I haven't been to - maybe finally outside Europe.

9. Continue with my project to read all seven Harry Potter books. One down, six to go.

10. Spend more time with my boyfriend, because it's never enough.

11. Start to write again - either a story or blogs or something - doesn't matter as long as I write regularly.

12. Finally find something I want to collect from all the cities/countries I go to.

So today I blogged really early, but I don't think something else will happen today, I need to study histology which I hate and that's pretty much it.

Katie, I'll read you tomorrow. BlogBooster-The most productive way for mobile blogging. BlogBooster is a multi-service blog editor for iPhone, Android, WebOs and your desktop

Friday, January 21, 2011

2011?

Hey Girls! It's Friday!

So I just had a mini heart attack because I couldn't get my internet to work and I not sure if I was going to be able to get this blog up in time. Also tonight I went to Bingo night at my country club and my brother won the final prize which was a giant bag of m&ms. It was really exciting because at the beginning of the night he was loosing really badly and he was crying which was sad. But then in the last game we played last to fill and we ended up with 8 kids winning that so we had a play off of bingo to see who got the m&ms. Luke was the first one to get a T on his board so he one them. Now we all get m&ms because he isn't allowed to eat them all by himself. After all he is only 7 and all that sugar can't be good for the kid. I blogged about the Bingo in general so if you want to watch that you can see my youtube channel alwaysthepurplest. It will probably be up by tomorrow. Oh and my sister is having a sleepover outside my room and it is really annoying. And I can't watch Buffy because she is using Netflix.

Now on to the theme.

I don't really have that many expectations for 2011.
Other than the typical expectations of any 15 year old about to be 16 year old in the US.
I know that I'm going to get my permit in the next couple of days and then I'm going to get my license in about October even though my birthday is in August. This is because in Illinois you have to wait 9 months after you get your permit or until your 16th birthday, whichever is longer. For me the 9 months is longer. I also expect to visit Fort Wayne like crazy over the summer and become a Junior in the Fall. I also expect for Emily and Katie to continue to yell at me for being too pretty even though it's not true because they are just a beautiful if not more than me. And I expect to watch a LOT of Dr. Who.

I would like to raise $1500 for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life. I would also like to go on some college visits this summer and possibly on spring break. Maybe some other stuff. I would really like a boyfriend.

Sarah I'll read you tomorrow.

-Hannah

Watching: CSI NY
Reading: Matched
Listening: All Time Low

Thursday, January 20, 2011

"I'm sick." "Boo you whore."

Mean Girls reference aside... I'm sick, and therefore I'm in that bitching/moaning mood.

I actually sound like I am a twelve year old boy going through puberty (no kidding.)

Now to the theme:

What do I expect from 2011?

What I expect from myself:

In 2011 I except to choose how to refer to 2011 because I am still unsure how to reference it.  ('11? 20-11? 2011?) I HAVE NO IDEA.

I also assume that I will start high school.  This is actually a definite (unless I die, but that I hope that won't happen) because apparently even if you have an F in every class all year, YOU STILL PASS!

I was just having a little writer's block so I asked my friend Katie.  This was our conversation.

Me:  What do you except to happen in 2011?

Her: poop

Me: Do you mean that I will poop or that poop will happen in general?

Her: EVERYTHING POOP

As you can see she is a very helpful friend.

I'll turn 14.  BORING.

What I expect from other people:

Darren Criss is going to effing take over the world. :)  Has anyone else seen him on the cover of EW (worst abbreviation ever?)  He is now one step closer to world domination.

I am getting dizzy, so I'm going to go take another nap.  Even though it is already six.

Hannah, I will read you tomorrow.

DFTBA,
Haley

Listening to: Glee
Quote: *on phone*
Me: Hey mom
Mom: You sound like a fucking twelve year old pubescent boy!
Reading: Just Don't Fall by Josh Sundquist
Stressed about: Going to school tomorrow/ having pneumonia (because I always think I have pneumonia when I'm sick.)
Addicted to: tumblr

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

No More Bad Stuff. Ever.

Hey girls. it was wednesday here and now it's not and I'm sorry.

So, I had a really good few days and now a bad day, which sucks. Why:
a) got chem. quiz that I expected to be bad and, get this, was bad back
b) lots and lots of sick people
c) in class essay in english. SURPRISE!!!! ugh.
d) (which is the really bad thing) a bad thing happened to the mother of one of my teachers (and friends... same person) and now she's in the hospital

Good Things:
- Saturday I went to debate and I was in varsity for the 1st time and I got 3rd which I feel like was based on bad judging, but i'll take what I can get.
     -(bad things within that): I got sexually harassed (which has become a fun story to tell), Scotty did poorly
- Sunday I went to a friend's birthday party and we played a dance game and rock band 2 and that was fun. we also watched inception and blink and made cookies and other stuff happened and it was overall a very good thing. yes.
- Monday I had play practice all day which was actually kind of fun
- Tuesday ... I remember as good
- Today we had a two hour delay...

I'm in a psychology class now and it's both really cool and really easy.

What I expect from this year: niceness, stress, debate, stress, writing, stress, college research, stress, turning 17, stress, going into junior year, stress, doing a david foster wallace project, stress, independent project start, stress, other stuff, stress, nice stuff, stress, hugs.

I guess it would also be good if I got my drivers license this year... or at least my permit... I'll make that a goal

I'm really tired. So tired it's like "I know we're standing up, but you're giving me a hug and it's nice and warm and I might just fall asleep now" so I'm going to go...

What I'm watcing: buffy
What I'm reading: David Foster Wallace stuff... i'm tired...
What I'm listening to: Bitch of Living, Totally Fucked, Nirvana (I really want to see spring awakening)
What I'm looking at: Deviant Art- serach: ash and misty (it's adorable and i'm tiiiiiiiiiiiiired... [I hate it when people elongate their words in spelling... I think i fell asleep with my finger on the "iiiiiiiiiiii" key])
Quote: there's a moment you know you're fucked, not an inch more room to self destruct.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I expect to eat more bread bowls

Hello, it's Tuesday... in case you didn't know. Today's been pretty uneventful aside from me eating a gigantic bread bowl full or soup for dinner. It was delicious, but also huge. But the delicious part must be outweighing the rest because I'll probably have another bread bowl soon, not like tomorrow, but in 2011. Hey, that was interesting and totally pre-planned way of moving into the theme. So, because I love lists as much as I do (a lot, in case you didn't know) I'm going to tell you what I expect from 2011 in a list.

Things I expect to happen in 2011: 
1. Write everyday and get a little better at it. The first part of this is my resolution which I've already told you about. The second part is basically me expectation for my resolution. I don't intend to become the best writer ever, or anything close, but I do expect to get a little better at it then I am now. Also, I expect to make writing a daily habit, mostly because I'd really love to be at that point.

2. Work a lot, or as much as humanly possible around my class schedule, and continue setting aside part of my paycheck everytime I get paid. There's no real reason for this, I'm just one of those people that feel better when I have money in my savings account and it's definitely a good thing so... why not?

3. Get a new car. The car I have now is a Pontiac Sunfire Convertible 1996 that I've had since I was sixteen (my first and only car). Its a good car, it runs and everything, but it's starting to have a considerable number of problems. I've already been told by my parents that they are willing to chip in to this "Tenley needs a car" fund. Which is nice, because that means I'll be able to get a decent car.

Things I'd like to happen in 2011: 
1. Ace all my classes this year. I generally do okay (A's and B's with an occasional C) but it would be really freaking awesome if I could ace all of my classes.

2. Attend a Nerdfighter/Youtube gathering. The big one's are Vidcon and Leakycon but due to money and the location of those gatherings neither is very likely. But, maybe a local gathering? Driftless Pony Club is going on Tour soon and Lauren Fairweather is pretty much touring full time. So, maybe?

3. Find some kind of volunteer program I like and become a part of it. I partly want this to happen because it will look good on applications to grad school when I get to that point and partly because I've always wanted to be seriously involved in some kind of volunteer/charity organization.

And... I think that's it. Well, at least, that's the bulk of what I expect/want to happen this year. 2011 has started off pretty well and hopefully it will just keep getting better.

Emily, I can't wait to hear the news that Katie says you have for us, tomorrow.
DFTBA
Tenley

Currently reading: "Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging" by Louise Rennison. I like it so far, not great in terms of plot, but its absolutely hysterical if you just want something funny to read.
Currently listening to: Um... the noise that Skype makes when people message you.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Christmas tree spins round and round and round...

i'm watching the christmas invasion with my brother right now and it was the part where the christmas tree was spinning and trying to kill everyone... yeah. so i just got back from my friend's birthday party which was fun. EMILY HAS SOMETHING TO TELL YOU ON HER DAY.yeah...
so this week's theme is 'what you expect from 2011". i expect to turn 16, i expect to become a junior, i expect to go to summer camp at brown, i expect to see my cousin get married, i expect to worry about colleges more, i expect to start applying for a thing in france, i expect to FINALLY QUIT JAPANESE!, i expect to see the final installment of harry potter, i expect to take my first AP classes (math, chem, physics, euro), and i expect to start watching doctor who again!
I will now say what might happen in 2011. i might start dating a half-chinese freshman soon, i might get all A's *fingers crossed*, i might actually get an award at the end of the school year, i might quit bowling, i might do well in speech, i might go to harry potter land, i might not die in a car crash and i might get my driver's license, i might stop david tennant's wedding (jk... maybe).
So yeah... I blogged! Also, since Jasmine hasn't blogged in four months, should someone try to contact her and?or find a replacement? yeah?
OK
less than three,
katie z

watching: Doctor who
reading: gifts
listenting to: je ne regrette rien
quote:
Gary: i may have lost, but i get 2000 sexy points.
joanna: yes... but you lost half of them
Gary; WHY
joanna; because you quit half way through!!
Gary: BUT I TRANSFORMED INTO A GIRL HALFWAY THROUGH! that has to count for something,...

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Short on time and no luck

Hello girls, it's Saturday! I don't have much time, so I will make that short. I'm now in Germany with my boyfriend, we went to some big aquapark with saunas and some thermal stuff and it was really nice. Actually is, because we maybe will go again tomorrow.

In the last few days I have been SO unlucky. First my appointment at the optician was cancelled (I came there and they told me somebdy called and cancelled it - and it was not me, so that sucked). Then the same evening I broke my glasses and that's a disaster. I have -7.5 dioptries and even if I have my lenses I really need my glasses and they couldn't fix it so I'm without glasses until Monday :/
Yesterday I spilled red wine in the hotel room all over the bed and I was really scared to tell the hotel people, but actually they were really nice and changed the sheets without any problems.
That's it so far, and I hope it stays like that.

My christmas was quite nice, here is a list of what I got:
- Magic Mouse – it’s so awesome, because it has no buttons and no scrollball, and it’s soo nice to use!
- clock shaped like a cat – unfortunately it’s ticking and I hate that, so I will probably take out the batteries (I can’t read the normal clock anyway)
- “1000 Places To See Before You Die”
- “Let It Snow” by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle – so now I have all John Green books
- “Das Evangelium des Fliegenden Spaghetti Monsters”
- Moomin plate with the Snork maiden on it
- Rubik’s cube
- and some small stuff like lipgloss, Bodyshop lip butter, money
- and of course the Xbox my sister and I bought ourselves, which was - to be honest - the best present

I have to go and my battery is almost empty too. In the next days I will put clocks in the sidebar so that we can see what's the time for the others and then we can maybe also think about the group chat thing :)

DFTBA,
Sarah

Friday, January 14, 2011

Christmas

Hey Girls. It's friday.

It seems we have all survived another school week. Next week is finals for me so I only have school tuesday thru thursday. Then on friday I might be going to Fort Wayne to see their winter play which Katie is in and Emily helped student direct or something along those lines. I can't wait to see them again. But on the the theme. I usually love Christmas but this year it was just slightly off. We had the grandparents from my mom's side at our house this year and there was a really big fight between my mom and my grandmother. It was kind of REALLY not good. The rest of vacation after that until I went to Fort Wayne was really awkward and just blah. But I still got some really cool presents.
- Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
- Matched by ?(I'm not sure)
- Hand spun yarn to knit with
- a watch(it's purple)
- two turtlenecks, one purple and one black
- two sweaters
- lots of barns and noble gift cards
- lots of iTunes gift cards
- A necklace from greece with my name in greek on it
- an evil eye necklace/bracelet
- new make-up since I was running out
- and ear ring holder thing
- peppermint lotion, body gel, and lip gloss
- reusable hand warmers
- AWESOME snow boots

I wanted a stand mixer but unfortunately I didn't get one. :(

Finally before I go I wanted to give you guys the url to an event I'm doing called Relay for Life. It's really fun and we raise money for cancer research. I'm not asking you guys to donate I just want you to read about the event so that I don't have to try and explain it. Also I think it would be really cool if everyone who read this could leave a fundraising idea for me in the comments. I need ideas for me to do on my own as well as ideas for me to do with my team. Thanks.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?sid=1030&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=30514

Oh and NO ONE commented on my blog so shame.

Sarah I'll read you tomorrow!

-Hannah

Currently Reading: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Currently Listening to: The sound of my clock ticking

Thursday, January 13, 2011

I am not a freaking Taurus. I am still a Gemini.

Hi girls.  It's Thursday.

-A break from our regularly scheduled theme so that I can rant-
I don't know if you have all heard of the new "advancements" in astrology, but they have added a new sign.  I used to be a Gemini, but I am now a Taurus.

This is a list of Taurus traits:

Taurus Strength Keywords:

- Dependable
- Persistent
- Loyal
- Patient
- Generous

Taurus Weakness Keywords:

- Stubborn
- Laziness
- Possessive
- Materialistic
- Self-indulging

This is a Gemini trait list:

Gemini Strength Keywords:

- Energetic
- Clever
- Imaginative
- Witty
- Adaptable

Gemini Weakness Keywords:

- Superficial
- Impulsive
- Restless
- Devious
- Indecisive

Let's go through some things that are wrong with this... 

A) I am one of the wittiest bastards I know, and therefore feel like I am a Gemini.

B) If you look at A, you will notice that I am SUPERFICIAL (which is a Gemini weakness.)

C) I do not fit any of the Taurus personality traits, good or bad.

D) In a recent survey, 100% people said that I was not a Taurus, (granted only one person took part in the survey.)

E)How do they figure that from yesterday to today my personality changed? 

-Now back to your regularly scheduled programming-

Christmas!

I love Christmas, and begin to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving when I blast Christmas songs (I would begin sooner, but in my family we have a no tolerance rule of singing Christmas songs before the day after Thanksgiving.)

Because I am now a Taurus I am going to materialistic and talk about the gifts that I got. The largest present (not in size, but in price) that I got was the Kindle by Amazon.  Before Christmas I had never even thought about asking for a Kindle because I was sort of unsure of the whole concept.  Now that I have one though, I think that is is a good idea.  Reading is still the same, even when you read it using a different platform.  

 I had a very good Christmas, but I did miss one Christmas party due to planning issues.  That was too bad because I didn't get to see some family that I hadn't seen in a few months (since last Christmas.)  

Things I was kind of disappointed about:
  • My mom did not write 'From Santa' on any presents.  Santa did bring us stockings though.
  • We had no cookies or milk to put out of Santa because we had eaten them all (and my mom was full.)
  • It didn't snow at all (it never snows here anyway, but I was still sad.)

Overall my Christmas was fun, and I had a very good time. 

DFTBA,
Haley

Book: The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear
Listening: to the bathroom fan
Stressed about: NOTHING!  I am actually calm right now.





Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Ain't I A Woman?

That was a joke... I would bet none of you get it... it's a thing from my AP US Class...

Technically it's thursday, but:
a) I haven't been able to get my computer to turn on for the last hour
b) blogger still thinks it's wednesday...

So... the holidays... it's been a while... longer than it's been for you guys... I tried listening to the this american life (show on npr. free podcast on itunes. it's really fantastic) christmas episode to get in the spirit again, but... well, I'm not so holiday spirited anyhow... this is going to try to be a list of what I recieved, but... sometimes I forget... this tends to mean I got a tshirt or a book, i just cant remember which.
The First Night: My family got a nice new TV. I've used it once and it was great. My brothers use it all the time.
The Second Night: my brothers got gaming systems/ games. I think that was the night I got the dvds and cds I bought myself on black friday (my brother and I traditionally hit best buy... I get dvds and cds and he gets games... I had a good year and got a lot I wanted... otherwise we're not big black friday people, but I jump at cheap CDs and DVDs)
The Third Night: A Terry's Chocolate Orange and two magazine subscriptions... I haven't finished deciding which ones... I'm thinking the New Yorker and the Economist, but I mean to research the price for DWM.
The Fourth Night: Itunes gift card... some mixup that never got sorted occured, but I;m not going to re-hash it because it makes me sound unappreciative and bitter which is not how I mean to come off at all. I'm very happy with how it turned out- I GOT MUSIC I WANTED (HOORAY!!!)*
The Fifth Night: New Ski Goggles
The Sixth Night: Money from grandparents
The Seventh Night: books I think...
The Eighth Night: NETFLIX (!!!!!!!!!!)

I have to sleep... I'm sorry this sucks... but it's late and I'm tired and I have to do my scholastic art submission. I suggest you discuss music in the comments... or anything else...  I want to show you pictures next week...

Listening To: "One Man Wrecking Machine" by guster... now "I'm a Cuckoo" by belle and sebastian
Reading: "Up, Simba" and lots of other things
Watchig: Buffy season 5
Quote: "The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling." 
 David Foster Wallace*Nevermind by Nirvana, Skip Divided (single song), Oracular Spectacular by MGMT, Rest In Peace (single song), A- Punk (single song), and I Stand Corrected (single song)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Christmas in a List (actually three lists)

Hey girls, it's Tuesday. My room is really hot, hold on. *turns on fan* Ah, that's better. Anyways, I'm really glad were going to start posting regularly on here again, I've missed it. I'm also excited for the group chat we're planning on Facebook. I don't even know when its gonna happen and I'm excited.

So, how were the holidays you ask. Well, they were awesome! Okay, I actually didn't do a whole lot for the holidays but they were still fun.

As far as presents go, my family decided that this year no one could spend over twenty dollars a person (my Dad totally broke this rule by buying my Mom like seven different presents). Here's the list of presents I gave to my family:

To my Mom: A pair of slippers because she's always saying her feet are cold.
To my Dad: A Chess set because he absolutely loves chess and as always wanted a really nice wooden board.
To Daniel (brother): Two Doctor Who comic books and the first comic in the Justice League series. Also, a monopoly card game.
To Kristina (sister): A necklace and earrings (black).
To Rachel (other sister): A necklace and earrings (silver) (not the same one's I got for Kristina but admittedly they were on the same rack in the store).

I also bought Kristina and Rachel a painting set (one a picture of a horse and one a teddy bear), but I forgot to send it to them (their both in Michigan). So... yeah, maybe I'll get around to that at some point.

As far as my presents go, here's another list:

From Daniel: A picture (he's into photography) of a horse which he then turned into a unicorn using some digital magic. Also, he added in a rainbow... John Green would love it. As do I.
From Rachel: One of those bath set things. Which I love, although I'm always a little concerned when someone gets me a bath set, does that mean they want me to take more showers?
From Kristina: It hasn't come in the mail yet because she's broke and was waiting for the rates to go down and now its January and she hasn't sent it because she's either busy or forgot or has been lazy. Either way, I don't know what it is.
From my parents: A basketball thing that hooks on to a door. Which I love because it combines to of my favorite things, not leaving the house and balls (twss). Also, as a stocking stuffer they got me a yo-yo, a maze game thing, a kaleidescope, and a candy cane.

Aside from presents here's a list of things I love about the holidays:
1. I love that my parents still put things like "from Santa" or "From Comet" on our presents even though we all discovered the Santa lie a long time ago.
2. Pumpkin pie.
3. I like that even though I'm in Virginia and it usually doesn't snow like ever, it snowed just in time for Christmas.
4. I like that its perfectly acceptable to do nothing.
5. And on a cheesy note, I like that it brings the family together no matter what the circumstances surrounding Christmas are.

As far as New Years goes, let's just say I hate a lot of chips. Emily I'll read you tomorrow.
DFTBA
Tenley

Currently reading: "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Nation". I couldn't decide which one to read first, so I'm reading them both until I get so into one of them that I can't put it down.
Currently listening to: "Crushed and Created" by Caitlyn Smith
Comment question for those of us who are terrible at coming up with things to comment on: What's your favorite kind of chips? Mine is definitely Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles. They have to be Ruffles though, any other kind are just not as good.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Back to Blogging

Hiya girls, It's Sunday! Well, for those who have been reading the Facebook messages, we're getting back on track with the blogging thing! We're going to have preselected themes so it will be easier to write and there shall be punishments for a lack of blogging! I don't think we're going to count this past fall where no one blogged though, that'd be too difficult to punish people for...
Okay! This week's theme is the Holidays!
I've already written about what I got for Christmas and what Christmas means to me, but there is one Holiday topic I have not covered yet and that is the most depressing day of the year...
THE DAY ONE TAKES DOWN THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
Yes, I know that it must happen eventually, but it's really sad when it does happen. You have to take all the pretty ornaments off the tree, throw the tree in the woods, vacuum the pine-y stuff, put the villages in the boxes, super glue broken village pieces, take off the stockings, put away the carolers, taken down the awesome pictures of your older brother sitting on santa's lap, throw away the advent calander you never finished, put all of your pet's christmas themed toys away for next year... Really, it's all a bit depressing. Christmas is all about joy, family, friends, and love and when you have to take all of the stuff that represents the season... it's really sad. I think I cried when they took away the tree. My cat was upset too because she really enjoyed climbing that tree.
On the subject of sad things I would like to mention that my life is now pointless... David Tennant is engaged. NO! Okay, okay, I'm just kidding. I'm happy for him. He's engaged to Georgia Moffet, who is the actress that played Jenny in the Doctor's Daugter and Lady Viviane in Merlin. Congrats, but David, if it doesn't work out, I think I'm gonna be available for a while *wink*.
Jasmine I will read you tomorrow!
Less than Three,
Katie Z

Listening to: I CAN"T SMILE WITHOUT YOU
Watching: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 7!!!!!!!!!!!
Eating: Mac and Cheese o_O
Quote: "I thought you were going to have me tortured and killed, but instead you went all Dumbledore on me!" -Willow
Playing: Pokemon Red
Hoping: for life to be simpler

Saturday, January 8, 2011

One week - two posts

Hallo Mädchen, es ist Samstag!
Which translates to: hello girls, it's Saturday! As you might have guessed...

I have no idea what I should write about, since we have no theme yet and I already wrote about my new years eve on Wednesday and nothing really happened since then.

Nothing?

Nothing.

My life is absolutely boring, especially when I have vacations. Well, actually, it's always quite boring. I don't even have anything nerdy to tell... I finished watching all my TV series, so now I need something new, although I should finally continue with Doctor Who. I'm at epidsode six or seven of the Ninth Doctor, so way to go!

I am still thinking if I should buy a calender for 2011 or not. There are many options here and I can't decide what I want.
a) Use computer and iPod.
b) Buy a calender.
c) Buy a plain notebook and make my own calender.
d) Print a calender on a sheet for every week (I already started that, but I'm pretty sure I will be too lazy to always print it and it might get messy soon).

Do you have a calendar for 2011?

And I have another question for you: you can't think of a cool Twitter name for me? I want something new, but I just can't think of anything... I wanted iSarah, but that's of course taken... stupid people with the same name!

Katie, I'll read you tomorrow!

Sarah

Listening to: something German, I'll skip: Rihanna ft. Eminem - Love The Way You Lie Part II (yes, I still like that song even though you hear it ten times a day on the radio)
Currently reading: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Quote: I never have quotes so I'll just post the last thing from my Tumblr: 9 Deadly Words Used By A Woman

Friday, January 7, 2011

It's Friday and I'm SUPER tired

Hey Girls, it's Friday. I just got up again today. I just spent the entire evening babysitting my younger siblings plus their annoying friends who are staying with us for the weekend and I'm now really tired. Those kids are heavy to carry and very whiney. We all fell asleep watching their movie which means I had to carry them upstairs and get them into pjs. I also had to make dinner and clean up dinner. And when I say make dinner I'm not talking making frozen chicken fingers but I'm also not talking michelin star cuisine. I made them spaghetti, big meat raviolis, and three cheese raviolis that weren't raviolis but I can't think of what they are really called at the moment. And I had to cook sausage to add to the spaghetti sauce to make it  into meat sauce. I also made a caesar salad which was very delicious if I do say so myself. It was all really good, and that's a lot coming from me seeing as I usually can't stand pasta of any kind. In other news I'm addicted to Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I'm on season three and it rocks. I'm gonna fall asleep but one last thing, on the topic of themes starting up again, I think next week before we get to far away we should talk about our Christmas/ Chanukah presents.


Sarah I'll read you tomorrow.


Love you all.


-Hannah

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hey girls, it's thursday AND EMILY'S BLOGGING!

Hi, so yeah... do you ever forget what day it is? I do... and I did yesterday... which is particularly bad because wednesday is uniform day at my school, so that should be a reminder...

How are things with you? Things are cool here... busy... I'm working on editing one of my short stories to be submitted to the scholastic art and writing awards and I have play practice after school everyday and this weekend I was supposed to go to North Carolina for a debate tournament, but it didn't work out, so I'm judging at my school's speech meet intead and then next week I officially go varsity in debate... and then I have districts for debate and then there's stat and then I'm planning to go to Harvard for my first national debate tournament... feeling pretty psyched. I also have this author project for english. I chose David Foster Wallace as my author and I'm probably going to be reading thousands of pages... so that's going to kick my ass.

I also applied for an exchange program to Australia...

So yeah, a lot is going on and things are good, but stressful. Agreeing with Sarah:
-We need themes.
-We need to blog more.

We also need to comment more.
Also, I suggest giving the other girls something to react to in their blogs or commenting on what another girl says in her blog in you blog? We need more conversation. Okayz.

What I'm reading: Lots of David Foster Wallace.
What I'm watching: way too much buffy... not saying anything more in case of giving it away.
What I'm listening to: I've had Baba O'Reilly by the Who and Skip Divided by Thom Yorke stuck in my head for days... they're both fantastic songs, but...
Quote: "your oppression reeks of your greed and disgrace/ so one man has and another has not/ how can you love what it is you have got/ when you took it all from the week hands of the poor?" -Dustbowl Dance, Mumford and Sons

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Sarah has something to say and can't wait until Saturday

Hey girls, it's most definitely not Saturday and I can't even pretend it is, so I hope you'll excuse that I write now - one of my new years resolutions is to write regularly and I don't want to skip already the first Saturday of the year (literally, since it was 1.1.2011). Okay, technically I did, but if I catch up now it's okay?

I think that we should set some new rules for our blog, so that we write more regularly. I'm not sure yet what those rules will be, but I'm certain we can think of something together. I also think that we should return to having themes. The problem was that we lost track of who has to set the new theme and in the end we didn't have any at all - so we could already agree on the themes for the next seven weeks (that sounds long) if each of us thinks of a theme now and thus we already know what the theme is. What do you think?

Can you think of something more to keep us motivated? And just to be clear - if nobody comments here I will write you on Facebook, be warned!

My new years eve was pretty... okay. I don't remember too much of it :D As Hannah already wrote, the legal drinking age here is 16/18 (16 for beer and wine and 18 for everything), so I can drink whatever I want and believe me, that ended quite badly this new years (why is new years eve called Silvester in every language except English?). Girls, don't drink! It's bad! You will end up with pictures of thermometers on your camera and have no idea why.

I still have vacation until Monday and I really enjoy doing N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Except playing Xbox, my sister and I bought Xbox with Kinect for Christmas and it's great. GREAT.

Sarah over and out.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tenley in 2011

Hey girls, it's Tuesday. Welcome to 2011! Things have started off pretty well for me. My resolutions for the year are to write everyday and read 100 books. The writing challenge is going well, I haven't missed day, and I haven't gotten to that point where its a chore, so that's good. As far as reading goes, I finished "Stargirl" and now I'm working on "Underground". So... yeah.

In New Years party news... I hung out with a few friends, I guess you could call it a party. But we're all huge nerds so it was mostly a night filled with video games and pizza. Is that party? I don't know... but it was fun.

Other than that, school starts up again next Monday. I'm mostly looking forward to the Psychology class I'm taking. I haven't had a Psych class since high school, but back then it was a cool class so I'm expecting it to be about the same. But, we'll see I guess.

That's about it though, so I'm gonna go read because I'm kind of at a good part right now.
Emily, I'll read you tomorrow.
DFTBA
Tenley

Currently reading: "Underground" by Jean Ferris
Currently listening to: "Mirror Song" (the Erase This version). Also, you know that moment during Mirror Song where... uhh... how does a non-musical person describe this? The vocals stop and its just like ding, ding, ding... kind of... Do you know what I'm getting at? Well, I've determined that its impossible to be anything but happy during that part of the song. Seriously.