WPA

WPA. For those of you who don't know what it stands for, WPA means Women Pay All. It's a dance that our school hosts each year during the month of March and it's a little less formal than Homecoming. High school dances have always been fun for me. I love getting all dressed up. I love wearing dresses. I love getting my hair done. I love being tan. I love going out to eat with a huge group. I love wearing a corsage. I love pictures. I love dancing all night long. Everything about a dance makes me happy and WPA is just another one of those dances that I love. This year, I'm taking my neighbor Cody and I'm pretty pumped about it because we're just friends. You see, the past couple years I always took someone I was talking to, or a boy that I liked but this year I decided to take my neighbor for two reasons. One, because he has never been to a school dance and as much as he hates to admit it, I think he regrets not going to any dances and he really wants to go to one. Second, because we're neighbors and JUST friends and so I know there's no pressure for us about becoming something more after the dance. Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you when I first asked Cody I maybe had a teeny crush on him but I've realized that I do truly just want our friendship to stay the way it is. In the future, maybe there's potential but for right now my life is solid with just his friendship. I feel kind of bad though, because I think he misinterpretated me asking him as a sign of me liking him. But, after talking to his friends and what not I think he got the picture that being just friends was what I wanted, and eventually now I think he's okay with it. I'm really excited though because my dress is super gorgeous. Now, usually my dresses are super gorgeous anyways but this one is in top three for sure! It's white and has sparkly sequins at the top, a satin strip of white in the middle, and ruffles all the way down to my knees in white. There's a picture of it above, but that one is the black version. Anyways, I have super tall high heels, cus Cody towers over me, and some cute earrings, bracelet, and ring! I think I'm getting my hair done at Cost Cutters and just wearing it curled and down. We're getting pictures and eating dinner at Elmcrest Country Club, in a big group of people that both Cody and I are friends with. I'm excited to see the other girls dresses and even more excited for pictures. I already told you about my spray tan, and I have to either get a french manicure or just paint them silver. I don't know yet. I'm super excited!! And now I'm rambling and I ought to get my other work done so I'll talk to you all later :)

Spray Tan

Normally, I'm pretty pro-tanning. I don't think it's too harmful to occasionally step inside a tanning bed and touch up the pasty skin. I don't think I'm going to die from it, develop skin cancer, or get a disease. I think it's not only a self-confidence booster but it makes me feel a hell of a lot prettier. I hate how fakely tan some girls can get, so that's why I only use it on occasion. Plus, as I'm sure you know it costs money for minutes and with my skin type, I usually have to use alot of minutes anyways to get any results so hence, I use the time I do buy wisely. That being said, WPA is just around the corner. Okay, now literally it's two days away but a week or so ago when I began stressing about the issue that my dress is white and body being white matching that just wouldn't do, I didn't think a week would be enough time to get to the ungodly tan I wanted to be for the dance. Normally, I go tanning for about three weeks before a dance that way I have a solid base tan, and then the week before I go almost everyday to get a nice, good color that looks awesome for dances. This year, I just honestly wasn't thinking ahead and did nothing about it. Knowing that I was leaving for Florida, however, I didn't think much of it and decided the tan I got in Florida would probably be sufficient enough. However, I seemed to have missed the fact that Florida isn't ALWAYS sunny, despite it's preconcieved notions of being the sunniest place on Earth. So, it rained nearly 2/3 of the time I spent down there, and needless to say I came back with little, if any, added color to my skin. Now, it was time for panic mode as the day for WPA doomed closer and closer, and still my body was not the color I wanted it to be. As the saying goes,

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."

I was thinking my only options were to go in to my tanning place, buy a shit ton of minutes, and go tanning every single day for the next four days that I had until the dance. However, I knew that not only would this cost me probably $40 (tanning minute prices are crazy these days, I tell ya), but it still wouldn't get me to the color I wanted to be. So what's a girl to do? I needed a quick fix tan and fast. So, I ended up coming to the conclusion of getting a spray tan. A spray tan is exactly how it sounds. You stand in a tanning bed and let this bronzer-looking substance spray all over your body for about five minutes and VOILA you have beautifully tan skin in a matter of minutes that lasts 7-10 days. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical to get one just because my first one I got freshman year was a disaster. The tanning place didn't know how to work the machine and I ended up being sprayed with water a couple times before I got the orange, nasty look that it gave me. I wasn't impressed nor pleased with the results, and that's why until now I had completely banned them from my tanning scene. But as the saying goes, I needed it to be done. So, I took a chance. I went to a place called TanWorld, known for there great tanning beds and lotions and got a spray tan there. Not only am I satisfied with my color, but I smell good (thanks to adding drops of coconut lime scent to the mixture), and look good too! The color turned out fantastically. No streaks, no anything. Just beautiful and bronze. Now, I can't WAIT for WPA to be here already. I'm super excited! So for girls out there having issues with tanning, try a spray tan out. I'd recommend TanWorld.

Make Up Work=DEATH

I HATE MAKE UP WORK! It's death to my entire life. No joke. Not only am I drowning in homework that has to be made up from the three and a half days I was gone from school, but the teachers decide to work at a rapid pace to get us to some point they'd like us to get to before Spring Break, and they're piling on the tests and work all together. Now usually, I'm a pretty good student. I told my teachers well in advance and got most of my make up work for when I was going to be gone and I thought I'd get a majority of it done on the nationals bus. Unfortunately, I underestimated the fact that the bus is super uncomfortable and bumpy, hard to see in it, and the noise level was obviously at an all time high except for at night time. So, I didn't get as much as I had planned on done on the buses not a big deal because I thought I was going to be staying home from school tuesday. Keyword: thought. You see last year when I got back from Nationals, around 8 PM, I was completely exhausted and wanted nothing but sleep. My parents let me sleep in and when I woke up I got to spend the day recovering and doing the homework I didn't get done. So I assumed this year would be the exact same, obviously I was wrong. This year, we got home at about 730 PM. I got home, still exhausted, and went to bed after a little time chit chatting with the family. I went to sleep without setting my alarm because I assumed I'd be sleeping the day away. Anyways, my mom came in at about 630 AM to see what time I wanted to wake up for school. I laughed because I thought it was a complete joke. I thought she knew I was sleeping in for a while and then I'd eventually get up and do all my homework. But she thought it was just absurd that I was going to be staying home so she preceeded to get my father to come in and yell at me for being irresponsible and not going to school. So, despite the fact that I had close to none of my make up work done, I went to school at 11 am and attended all but two of my classes. Then, I got the pleasure of working all night and coming home and staying up until 1230 am trying to get just half of the work done, most of which failed and was very unsuccessful. So anyways, now I'm desperately scrambling, two nights before spring break, to get myself caught up in all my classes and thus far, it's going shitty. I thought I'd take a break and get my mind off school for a while by writing this blog but instead it's taunting me, telling me to go get my homework done!! So, I'm going to go study for some tests and quizzes that I hopefully don't completely bomb tomorrow.

PEACE.


P.s....................................................................................
Listening to music helps me get in focus when I do my hw.
Go to www.youtube.com and type in any song you want to hear. I guarantee you'll be happy.

POP CENTURY-Remember When....

So, Nationals 2010 is officially over. Yep, that's right. finished. Home from Florida. Back to hell. Yeah, i'm sure you all get it. Wanna know how we did? Well, let's see. Ask the judges what they prefer: slutty shimmies, wild hair flips, or embarrasssing sweeping the floor motions? They'll apparently answer all of the above AND MORE. So basically, Iowa Elite Senior Coed was undefeated all season right? Right. We never once got anything less than first place and we rocked the shit out of every competition, getting grand champs at all but two. I'm blesssed to be on such an awesome cheerleading team. Now I know I wasn't expecting to get first at nationals (okay maybe I was), but I was expecting to get better than 8th out of 12. But guess what? We didn't sell our routine enough for the judges apparently, because the teams ahead of us, while lacking in skill didn't lack in the area of cockiness but it was more than just that it was downright, absurd, we run this shit routines. It was horrifying watching other teams being placed in front of us, especially when we've worked our aces off to get here. Not saying that any of the other cheer teams there didn't work just as hard as we did, but I felt like we really deserved more than what we got. This year we took down the most tumbling we ever have. That's the amount of flips in the routine. Then, we have the largest team we've ever had going down there too. Well, tied with last years but this year with much more talent. And we also brought down what I thought was the absolute best routine I have ever seen in a very long time from us. It's little to say that I'm bummed, I'm pissed off, yeah I'll admit it. But not because we got eighth. Well okay yes because of that but because I don't understand it. If I thought the other teams that beat us deserved the spots they got, I'd be okay with it. If I knew our routine difficulty level and skill was nowhere near the others I'd get it then too but what upsets me the most is that our routine was just as difficult and more often than not, more difficult than the other teams in our division. We had over seven flyers in the air at the same time hitting the same skills. We had a killer pyramid, awesome dismounts, and super flexibility with our flyers. We had so many flips you couldn't count 'em all. The first place team had ten all together. But what we didn't have enough of, I guess, was cockiness. We knew this the first day we competed as the judges pre-ranked us. So, we took the advice, added the stuff that made us look like the other teams (the shimmies, the hair flips, the sweeping the floor motions: all ridiculous I'm well aware), and we STILL placed eighth. Our routines were perfection. We had one minor flaw the first day and a bigger than minor flaw the second day so I knew enough not to expect first but eighth, come on 8th!??!?! Might as well just hand back the trophy and say goodbye to the judges. We all decided to let our emotions run wild Sunday night after competing, we cried as a team, we talked as a team, and for the first time ever I finally felt like we all truly were a team. It was the best. At those moments in time, nothing mattered anymore but being together. We ended up trashing our trophy on the bus ride home. We covered it in silly string, put garbage all over it, wrote our names on it, made it look like crap and you wanna know what? We had the funnest time doing it! We didn't care anymore about getting eighth place, we knew, no matter what the judges said, that we deserved ALOT more than what we got. But oh well I guess, there's always next year. Then again though, that's my last year to win one of those ugly national champion black jackets I've wanted for sooooooo long!!!! WE MUST WIN :)

Here's a link to watch our routine down at Nationals. While looking, take a quick peak at the other large senior coed level 3 teams, and see how you'd rank them, and let me know!!! Maybe you'll choose the way we did and put Iowa Elite in top three:)

www.varsity.com

In Preparation

Countdown: 2 DAYS!!!!!!!! That's right. Just two. Forty eight hours. I'm so excited! And in case you absent-mindedly forgot what is in two days (It's okay, I'll forgive you just this once), I'm leaving for Orlando, Florida for cheerleading nationals. We had our last practice yesterday and it went really well and it makes me even more pumped because we nailed all of our run-throughs. I felt bad though because all of our seniors were crying at the end. Our very last routine was the best out of all of them and even though it was the last time we would ever perform in our own home gym with this AMAZING team, things for me weren't as sad as I expected them. You should probably know first off that I'm a pretty emotional person (inherited from my mother) and I cry at almost everything so I assumed I would be waterworks also. But, I just couldn't cry and that's a good thing. I was so happy, there wasn't room for tears because when I think about the season this team has had, I can't help but smile. We've gotten first at every single competition we've been too and grand champs at all but two. We've rocked the score sheets, we've acquired some screaming fans, and we've grown closer as a family and a team. I would give anything for anyone of my teammates, I love them all and even though the season is coming to an end alot of the friendships I have made will last a lifetime. But enough with all the gooey crap, it's time for me to tell you all about preparing for my second trip to the sunniest place on Earth.

Last year, was my first year there and I had no idea what to expect so I packed practically my entire wardrobe, and then some. This year, I know that I'm probably not going to need more than a good solid five outfits, most of which consist of t-shirts, soffee shorts, sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a pair of jean shorts. But I'm also going to be bringing more: hairspray, bobby pins, hair ties, make up, socks, underwear, etc. I also have to have an extensive collection of food for the 23 hour bus ride (yuckk!) and for my roomies. I am blessed to have an awesome group of roommates: Chelsea, Kassiani, and Laura all of whom I'm really close friends with both in and outside of cheerleading. I guess it makes me even more happy about going up there! Anyways, for food I plan on bringing: peanut butter M&M's, Chips Ahoy chewy cookies, Granola bars, strawberries, juicy juice juice boxes, goldfish, fruit snacks, Vitamin water, chips, pretzels, and money for fast food on the way up and back. I plan on packing everything in my closet that's black, orange, and green and Iowa Elite related. I have to bring lots of money for food there and for nationals clothing!! That's probably the best part of it all is getting to go shopping at the clothing store for cheerleading nationals because there's soo much stuff it's impossible not to find a million things and more that you want! Plus, I have $50 of my own secret stash that my rents don't know about that I plan on taking with me to spend on clothing since last year I was conservative and didn't spend alot on clothes, but now I'm gonna!!

Anyways, I'm doing alot of rambling with this blog. Most of which, needs to stop because I'm going to be leaving class in about five minutes. So I guess I'll conclude with our team quote which is also placed on our nationals t-shirts, which has stayed true our entire season. Oh, and please wish us GOOD LUCK!:)

"A dream is a wish your heart makes...it takes the strength of a team to accomplish a dream."

PERIOD.

I hate maturity. I hate the female menstrual cycle. OK, I'll be blunt I HATE PERIODS. I dread the day of the month my period arrives and cannot wait until the day it will end. Then, it's a month of bliss and in another month I get the distress of having to go through it all over again. It's times like these that I wish I was a boy. I know that with my period, comes many things and I'm sure other girls can relate to how I feel too. Anyways, today as you may have guessed it I started my period. I crave everything. I love chocolate when I have my period, so I usually have to find it anywhere in my house. Today, I found a granola bar in my room. I don't want to know where it came from or how long it's been there but hey it was fudge dipped and I snarfed it down. Other things I crave are weird. Today at lunch I craved cake. I usually HATE cake but it looked so good I just had to eat it. It's weird because all my cravings tend to be higher calorie foods, alright they're usually sweets. I don't know how to get rid of it either, but it always happens and I end up wasting money on this kind of stuff. Next with my period, comes the bloated feelings. I know that I'm supposed to feel bloated but when I'm on my period I feel downright fat. Suddenly, every curve of my body is an ounce of gross fat. I don't like wearing tight shirts or tight pants because they just expose what doesn't need to be seen. When I'm down about this, it doesn't make anything better coming home and eating more. Anyways, the next thing with my period is my mood. I'm always angry and in a really bad mood when I'm on my period and it sucks. I feel bad because I make a big deal out of nothing and usually end up taking stuff out on the people around me like my family and friends. I freaked on my mom today for making me go get the groceries out of the car, how dumb am I? My hormones feel so out of whack cus then I'll apologize and then, I started crying because of a test I took today. I don't even understand if this is normal. I get that my symptoms are pretty normal, but sometimes they feel to the extreme! I think I'm going to see my doctor the next time I start acting up due to my period. But can somebody please offer me some advice? Am I just exaggerating the symptoms and making a big deal out of nothing? Or is there something wrong with my menstrual cycle?! Help me Please!!


Wanna watch some chick freak out about her period?!? It'lll give you some chuckles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga21RAQop8U

College Relationships

I'm not an expert on relationships. I don't have the best advice, can't tell you what to do during certain situations, or even tell you about the best date I've had. I don't have the experience, first off. And second off, I've been in like one serious relationship my entire life and I swore I was in love and that's about it. You know those first true high school relationships, yeah that's exactly what mine was. But; like all high school relationships those things come to an end and they're definitely not your happily ever after. I've heard better things about what's to come for my future relationships in college. They're more laid back, they're more fun, and they're longer lasting, or so I've heard. It's good to know that there are better results in future relationships, which is why I've chosen to write about them. One of my best friends my sophomore year of high school was a senior at our school last year. His name was Tyler Auman and it just so happens that we had somewhat of a relationship to our friendship. We both liked each other and we both knew it but we never acted on our feelings. As a result, I allowed Tyler to go off to college without experiencing what a relationship could be like with him and now that he's gone, I regret everyday I didn't stand up for the way I felt and just went for it because we really could have been something. I went to prom with Tyler last year and I had a blast. Over the summer, we somewhat drifted apart but we texted alot and stayed in touch. I visited him one last time before he left for college during the month of August. I brought him a framed picture of us from prom and wrote him a note too. I told him how much I loved him and how much I already missed him and that I promised, no matter the distance, we would stay close friends. When Ty and I began to say our goodbyes, there wasn't words to describe how sad the atmosphere was. We both knew how one another felt. We've talked about it several times and he knows that I have liked him and likewise, I knew the same. What hurt the most though, was that we did nothing about it. While we could have enjoyed the summer together, we wasted it on ourselves. While we could have been growing even closer, we allowed ourselves to drift apart. And while we knew we loved eachother, we didn't act upon it. So, that day of saying goodbye was extremely hurtful for both of us, especially when I was finally able to tell him how I felt. And when I did, it felt even worse because he told me how he felt too and practically matched. I know I should've been happy, but at the same time Icouldn't help but to cry. So, I did. After I left Tyler's house that day, I came home and cried. I cried because of what I had missed out on, I cried because of how I felt, and I cried because I didn't want to let go. Tyler had been my best friend, he was the one I always looked to for advice or just someone to talk to. And I never realized what he meant to me. I guess as the saying goes:

"You don't know what you got, til it's gone."

Fits my situation perfectly. I guess I really didn't know what I had, but now that he's away, I do. Anyways, me and Tyler still talk all the time. We're still as close as ever and we're more mature then we were. We both know that our feelings haven't changed. That I still love him, and that he still loves me but for the time being it just won't work out. He lives in Iowa City, that's thirty minutes away and when you think about it feels like forever away. I know that it wouldn't work out for the time being, and I don't want to risk what hopefully will be on trying to make it work on what could be right now so that's why we've decided to put off having a relationship until I enter college too. Because I want to go the University of Iowa like he does, it'll be alot easier to just wait until then. Because it's in two years maybe things will have changed. Either way, I know that being in college and having a relationship is going to be different than having a high school relationship. In high school, you spend your time at eachother's houses, in your basements, watching movies with your parents upstairs, maybe kissing, juvenile stuff really. You talk on the phone like you're five years old, you text alot because you know you couldn't say it in person, and you take pictures with each other to show off your relationship on facebook, and at school you flirt in the halls, talk occasionally, and go to each other's sporting events. It's all a never ending cycle. One that I haven't experience in quite some time. But, college relationships on the other hand are much different. You don't have to worry about your parents coming in or walking down, you get to be by yourselves. It's an actual independent relationship, more grown up, and less like high school. You can help each other with class work, but most of all you can help each other live and learn. I know that being in college, there will be several pathways I can take. Being in a committed relationship then, I know that I will choose a pathway in my best interest to where I see myself ten years from then. If I can honestly see myself with the same person, then I'll choose the path most closely related to them. I guess I've just realized that I know there's a rare chance I'll be together with somebody I've met in high school. There's a better chance, however, that I'll end up with the person I date in college. Because college relationships are one step closer to marriage. You're older, more experienced, better at having relationships then than I am now. I'm excited to see what the college life has in store for me, but even more excited for what the college atmosphere has in store for my relationship status. Maybe Tyler and I will end up together. I know how I feel now about him but what if it changes? It hasn't in a year, but what about another year or two. Maybe we'll still talk, be friends, or maybe, just maybe, we will be in a relationship. A committed one and in many many years to come maybe he'll be awaiting me at the end of the aisle, as my father lets go, and as he takes my hands, he says I do. And then we live, happily ever after in love.