Halloween Hallo-don'ts

"I really enjoy seeing pictures of girls in scandalous Halloween costumes. Oh wait... no I don't. I totally understand the idea of slutty Halloween costumes and I'll be honest, if I would have gone to Halloween parties instead of the Wiz Khalifa concert, I would have chosen a less "childish" costume. Some girls, however, really took this idea too far.

As I was scrolling through my Instagram feed on Friday night, I came across a very disturbing Halloween costume. By far the sluttiest and trashiest costume I can remember seeing in my 15 years of existence. Without posting the picture, I'll try to let you see the costume. Imagine a white, 16 year old female. Blonde curly hair. She's wearing fishnets, black underwear, maybe a swim suit bottom, and two strips of tape acting like suspenders just thick enough to cover her nipples. You have GOT to be kidding me! I'm not going to try to hide the fact that this young lady is beautiful. She has a pretty face and a nice body but her lack of self respect is astounding.

On the less slutty side of the spectrum, but still inappropriate, were the oh so unoriginal firefighters, referees, native american princesses, cops, etc. I can't even count on both hands and feet the number of costumes I saw this year that were repeats from last year. The same costumes, however, seemed to look even sluttier. This may have been due to growing in height, making them shorter, or boobs getting bigger making costumes smaller. Whatever it is, it's annoying. Get the right size.

I do give props to the girls who maintained their self respect. The beanie baby dresses, skittles made out of duct tape, peacocks, things of those sorts that actually covered up "the goods" of the one wearing the costume. Halloween parties are an entirely different scene than trick-or-treating so I can only hope that when Wednesday trick-or-treating comes along, the ladies that weren't so classy over the weekend make better costume decisions if they choose to trick-or-treat.

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All Pumpkin Errythang

I'll be the first to admit I love pumpkin. I get overly excited when the Pumpkin Spice Latte comes back to Starbucks. I scarf down my grandma's pumpkin pie as soon as it's ready. Pumpkin pancakes are my favorite thing at Perkin's during the fall. Carving pumpkins is so much fun and I love that I can make my whole house smell like pumpkin just by lighting a candle. There is nothing pumpkin that I don't like.  This is probably why when I scroll down Pinterest, I drool. 

I never knew how many different ways one could bake with pumpkin. Some examples of this would be pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin rice krispie treats, pumpkin custard, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin parfaits, pumpkin soup, pumpkin dip, pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin fudge. Just to name a few. I have yet to attempt any of these recipes but I sure do like what I see as a finished project. 

Pumpkin is not only an ingredient to use while baking but also a wonderful fragrance to use during the fall season. Yankee Candle sells "Apple Pumpkin," "Pumpkin Pie," "Super Sweet Pumpkin," "Pumpkin Buttercream," and "Spiced Pumpkin" scented candles. If you ask me, all of these fragrances are wonderful because they all smell like pumpkin. I couldn't name a favorite if someone asked. 

Another pumpkin related thing I love is carving them. It's so fun to sit on the kitchen floor with my family, decide what design to carve, and then have at it. My favorite part of carving pumpkins is taking the "pumpkin guts" out. After the pumpkin guts are sitting on the newspaper we lay down, I separate the slimy part from the seeds. I do this because we salt the seeds and bake them so I can have them for a snack. Then the carving begins. Dad usually does something sports related. Mom does the original Jack-O-Lantern face. My brother, Jake, and I do something different every year. 

Overall, pumpkin is my favorite part of fall. It tastes good, smells good, and makes memories with family. I know many people that don't like pumpkin and I don't understand why. Maybe one day, I'll get tired of pumpkin but I don't see that day coming anytime soon. 

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The Cat Story

When my parents agreed to fostering a mother cat and her six new born kittens, they had no idea we would end up adopting 3 of the kittens as soon as they were available. Emerald, the mother, had 6 kittens. Three were yellow, one black, and one tortie, just like her mommy. It was fun for my family to watch the kittens grow up. We witnessed them open their eyes for the first time, watched them stumble across the floor trying to walk, saw them grow into cute little cats right before our eyes.

When we returned the kittens to the animal shelter, they were taken back to be prepared for neutering and spaying. The next day, they were available for adoption. We adopted two of them; Squirt, a yellow one, and Reeses, the tortie. We had just the two kittens for a few months before my mom realized one of their brothers hadn't been adopted yet. He had gotten sick and was put in the "Sick Bay" with other ill animals so they didn't infect the healthy animals. When we found this out, we went out to the animal shelter and adopted him. He was another yellow one that we named Simon.

At first, Squirt and Reeses didn't like having Simon around. They avoided him, hissed at him, and swiped their claws at him when he passed them. We were really worried that we wouldn't be able to keep Simon so we called the animal shelter and asked them about the situation. They told us that it was normal for our original pets to be uncomfortable with the new one. The first two had grown so used to just each other, they weren't sure if they should be okay with the one they saw as an "intruder" of their territory. The animal shelter was right because eventually all three cats got along and were acting as family.

Now, a little over a year later, my cats are getting big. With the exception of Squirt, they're fat and look like grown cats. They like to sleep on the kitchen table because the sun shines directly on it but they'll sleep anywhere. We call Squirt our homeless cat because his fur ends up in knots and he enjoys sleeping in boxes. Simon doesn't like people very much. If someone new comes to my house, he runs away instantly and hides. He truly only likes my mom. I'm not sure why he's like this but it makes me sad that he won't let the rest of us pet him.

I'm very happy my parents let us adopt our kittens. They are so cute, they always cheer me up when I'm upset, I'm never lonely, and they're fun to play with. I understand I sound like a cat lady and honestly, I am. I love my dog also, but my cats are my favorite part of my house. I feel sorry for people that are allergic to cats because they can't experience the wonderful companionship between cats and their owners.

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Baby Lovins'

I love kids of all ages. Newborns, toddlers, even elementary schoolers. My love for kids would contribute to why I'm babysitting right now for free for a teen mom I know.  She had her son on July 1, 2012 after getting pregnant in the middle of her junior year. Jeremy is now 3 months old and he's so freaking cute. He is such a good baby. He only cries when he needs food, needs to sleep, or needs his diaper changed. The rest of the time, he lays on his blanket, squirming, smiling, and laughing. 

My love for kids also contributes to wanting to be a neonatologist. A neonatologist works with infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Reasons a child would be in the NICU could be heart problems, under developed organs, respiratory issues, or severe illnesses. I always knew I wanted to be a pediatrician. It wasn't until I was 9 years old that I decided on neonatology. I entered an essay writing contest about what I wanted to be when I grew up. My essay scored in the top 9 so I got to job shadow with someone in my profession choice. I shadowed Dr. Scott Nau, a well known local pediatrician. He is the one that works the NICU. He showed me an incubator and how they work as well as how small the diapers and pacifiers of newborns and premature babies are. Although this part of the day kind of scared me, it made me want to be a pediatrician even more because I liked the thought of helping innocent babies and their families. I haven't changed anything about what I want to be when I get older since I shadowed a doctor in the NICU. 

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Favorite Meal

Last year, I was introduced to a meal that has become my favorite thing to eat. It doesn't take much time, work, ingredients, or money. All you need is a box or 2 of macaroni depending on how many people you choose to make this for, 2 or 3 green peppers, a red, orange, and yellow pepper (to make it colorful), and some sort of meat. I found it's best to use kielbasa or polish sausage. When I say this is easy, I'm not lying.

First, slice your meat of choice and peppers. Put the meat in a pan and cook it until its not quite done. Add the peppers at that time. By the time the meat is done, the peppers should be tender and done as well. Keep the mixture on low heat. Make the macaroni as the box instructs you too. When the macaroni is done, you're done making the meal. Serve the macaroni and the pepper/meat mixture side by side. If those eating want to mix them, so be it, but it's better to serve it separately.

This meal has become really popular in my house because all of my family members are very busy most nights. Anyone can make this, including my brother, so if someone knows dinner is going to be rushed that night, they just make this right away. I recommend this for anyone who is involved in a lot of things or is just not in the mood to make a gourmet meal. There's no going wrong here.

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Pinterest Hair

Yesterday, while I sat on my computer scrolling through Pinterest, I came across a "pin" on how to curl your hair without using heat. If you're unaware, Pinterest is a website where people "pin" pictures onto "boards" and these pictures link to websites. Pinterest is full of recipes, crafts, DIY's, clothes, jewelry, hair, nail, and so much more. Although it may take a while to get the hang of, Pinterest is addicting. It has transformed me into someone who loves to cook, try new crafts, do crazy things with my nails, and risk my hair looking bad just to try something I saw on a friends board.

This time, I took a shot at the curling without any heat. I had heard of this before but not using this particular method. Many of my friends use the method of twisting strands of hair and pinning them to their head when they get out of the shower. I've tried that and it doesn't work on my hair so I was iffy about trying this style. However, since I don't know how to curl my hair with a curling iron, I had no choice.  Here's how to do it.

Take a shower before you go to bed and brush your hair after you get out. Make sure you part your hair where you want it parted the next day. Add some sort of shaping gel or product. Let your hair dry until it is wetter than damp but not dripping water. Place a soft headband around your head as a hippy would do. Make sure it's soft and goes around you're entire head. I used a Goody brand headband that came in a pack from Walmart. I chose not to curl my bangs so I pulled them out of the headband. Take a section of your hair, starting from the front on one side, and twist it over the headband. (Pull the band out from your head and put the hair over the headband and pull it through.)  Repeat this along the side of your head until you get close to the middle of the back of your head. Do the same to the hair on the other side of your head until you get close to the middle of the back of your head. When you get to the last section of hair, you won't be able to twist it around the head band. Take this part of your hair, twist it, and pin it to the back of your head. Now go to bed!

When you wake up in the morning, unpin the section of hair from the back of your head and remove the headband. Voila! You have curls. Hairspray these curls and finish getting ready for the day. You can also style your hair however you like whether that be pinning your bangs back, pinning half of your hair back, or even pulling all of the curls back. Unfortunately for me, I ignored the "make sure your hair is wetter than damp" instruction and tried doing this by misting my hair with a spray bottle then proceeding to doing the head band and hair twisting. Some parts of my hair were much wetter than other parts when I did this so the curls didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I ended up showering again, pinning my bangs and half of my hair back, and just leaving the rest natural. I would like to try this hair method again, paying more attention to the directions.

From the result I got when it didn't work, I would recommend it for girls who don't know how to curl their hair or maybe just don't want to take the time in the morning to curl it. Either way, it didn't end horrible for me and I did it wrong so if I do it right, I'm sure it'll be great. I'll attempt again tonight. If you do want to try this, here is the link to the video I watched. (Click the word "here") I'd be interested to hear from those brave enough to try something they found on the internet so please, if you attempt this, let me know how it turns out, if you like it, and if you would recommend it to others.

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Friday Friday Friday

I try to spend as much time with my friends as possible. On Thursday, there was a choir concert. Friday at school, we had choir as a class. Our teachers were kind enough to let us turn in our music and leave. Choir is fourth hour which is also the class period that lunch interrupts. Luckily, I got to go on a lunch date with one of my best friends Melissa. After a long debate over where to go for our lunch date, we settled on Casa Las Glorias, a local Mexican restaurant. Although Melissa and I haven’t hung out outside of school recently, we had a great time talking about boys, life, and anything new we could think of.

Another example of spending time with friends is every Friday night at football games. I go over to Sabrina’s house and get read with her, Megan, and usually Morgan and we go to the game around 4:45 so we can get good seats in the student section. This past Friday, Marcie came with us instead of Morgan. The Cougars were winning 41 to 0 at half time so we left and met our friends Chase and Robert at Perkins for a late night dinner. We were entirely too loud, rowdy, and spent more time laughing than eating or talking. I couldn’t have asked for a better Friday night. 

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Pitch Perfect

When I see a trailer for an upcoming movie, I expect the movie to reflect the trailer. Today I went to the movie “Pitch Perfect” with my parents. I had seen numerous trailers for this movie recently since it just came out and each trailer made the movie out to be a comedy so a comedy is what I expected. A comedy is also what I got.

The movie is about a college student, Beca, who wants to be in Los Angeles producing music instead of getting a college education because her dad works at Barden University and she is taking classes for free. When Chloe, a member of Barden’s all girl acapella group, The Bellas, hears Beca sing, she insists Beca try out for the group.  Beca becomes a Bella with ease. After practicing for a while with the group and realizing how the group hasn’t changed for numerous years, she wants to change the way they do things.  Aubrey, the leader of the group, has a huge problem with that because she believes in tradition. Aubrey also doesn’t see how the audience is bored with hear the same set of 3 songs each year. At one competition, Beca is spontaneous and ad-libs a modern song while Aubrey sings the worn out set. Although the audience loves it, the group doesn’t make it to finals and Beca leaves the group because the rest of the members are mad she messed them up. SPOILER ALERT: The group that beat Beca’s group is disqualified because the members must be in college and one member is in high school. Beca’s group gets a call saying they are next in line so they get to go to the championships. The ending is predictable. The group wants Beca back because of what she brings to the group. Aubrey lets Beca choose the set list and they win against their rivals from their school. It shouldn’t be a surprise to you that throughout the entire movie, Beca has a romance with Jesse, a member of the rival group. They of course suffer heartbreak and of course end up kissing and making up at the end of the movie.

The movie stars Brittany Snow as redheaded Chloe, Anna Camp as Aubrey, the controlling leader of The Bellas, Skylar Astin as Beca’s romance, Jesse, and Anna Kendrick as Beca. My favorite character in the movie is “Fat Amy.” The plus size actor is absolutely hilarious. Rebel Wilson, known for her part as Brynn in “Bridesmaids,” Wilson brings a certain “spunk” and unique sense of humor to the movie. She calls herself “Fat Amy” so “twig girls” won’t do it behind her back, she doesn’t seem to think before she speaks, and she has no problem embracing her weight and poking fun at herself.  Overall, the movie is absolutely hilarious and I would recommend it to each and every person that might ask if they should see it. Beside the point of humor and a decent plot line, it features great covers of modern music as well as some older stuff. Definitely one of my new favorite movies and I would pay to go see it again if someone asked me to go with them. 

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There are more than 5 songs in the world.

I can’t stand when a horrible song comes on my radio and I go to change the station and either the same song or an even shittier song is on the new station. There are more than 5 songs in the world so why the hell do DJs choose the worst ones to play over and over again? Another thing I hate about the radio is how they over play songs. Songs being over played attributes to the overall shittiness of the radio. An example of an over played song would be “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” by P!nk. When the song first came out, it was nice to hear every once in a while. It’s a typical song about heart break. Anyone, especially teenage girls, can relate to the lyrics “ think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much. I think this might be it for us. Blow me one last kiss” and the catchy and upbeat rock tempo.

P!nk’s song isn’t the only one to be corrupted by the radio. Other examples of overplayed songs are “Some Nights” and “We Are Young” both by Fun., an indie band that is growing rapidly in popularity, “Somebody I Used To Know” by Gotye, “Home” by Phillip Phillips… the list goes on. It would be interesting to see how the sales of a single are affected by how much the song is played on local radio stations. Do single’s sell better because they’re played once every two hours or do listeners get enough of a song on the radio that they don’t need to buy it? I would venture to guess sales aren’t negatively affected by a lot because many people, especially the younger generation, including myself, don’t listen to the radio often. Instead, we use our iPod’s, MP3 players, or phones and an auxiliary cord to play our own choice of music.

I love being able to plug my phone in to my stereo because my selection of music varies a lot. I like country music as well as rap, pop, some rock, and what people might call alternative or indie music. The music on my phone is obviously there because I like it so it doesn’t make sense that I would ever get annoyed with a song which is nice. I also like listening to music on my phone because I have a lot of music that the majority of people I know haven’t even discovered yet so they haven’t been ruined by the radio.

I wish DJs could realize how horrible it is for the listener to hear the same song over and over again. If they understood this, then songs wouldn’t be ruined and it would be nice to hear them only every once in a while instead of the same song being on each local station at least 4 times a day. 

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Insulin Drip

I'm finally in my hospital room. I'm hooked up to two bags of fluids. One is saline, one is an insulin drip. I also have heart monitor patches on my chest and an oxygen monitor hooked up to my finger. My nurse, Jodee, comes in every hour to take my vitals. This includes my pulse, my blood pressure, my temperature, and my blood sugar.

My doctor is Dr. Machnowski. He has a really cool accent but I can't figure out where it's from. He's the one that won't let me eat or drink anything. He's the one I want to punch because of my throbbing headache since I haven't had food in over 2 days. I'm begging him to let me eat breakfast in the morning.

I'm waiting for Jake to get off work and come spend the night with me. I'm super tired and I feel really weak. I hope these things go away tomorrow when I eat. If they let me eat... I'm just watching Teen Mom in my room because there's nothing to do at this time in the hospital. Eventually, my nurse will come in and take my vitals. I just want to not be sick anymore. My thing is beeping at me so I'm going to call my nurse and then go to bed.

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SO. HUNGRY.

When you have been sick since Tuesday and you haven't had anything good to eat in the past 2 or even 3 days, a list builds of things that sound good. My list has come to this:

• Buffalo Wild Wings
• A pepperoni flat bread, 8 boneless wings with sweet barbecue sauce. I want them wet. Like drowning in sauce, and a ton of ranch.
• Pizza
• Happy Joe's Taco Supreme with no black olive. Pan crust. 2 taco sauce packets for each slice of pizza.
• McDonald's
• The daily double meal. Small fry. Large Diet Coke with half the ice. 
• Mom's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
• She made soup this morning for dinner tonight. I tried to eat some and threw up but it still sounds so good.
• Arby's
• Number 19, Chicken Bacon Swiss with curly fries. Cheese to dip my curly fries in.
• Hospital Tater Tots
• Ranch and Ketchup, please!
• Mexican Food
• I love enchiladas. Cheese or beef with sour cream on them. Refried beans and queso with chips.
• Starbucks
• Pumpkin Spice steamer with an extra shot of pumpkin...
• Fajitas
• Chicken, green, red, and yellow peppers, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes
• Perkins or IHOP
• Pumpkin spice pancakes, butter pecan syrup, eggs sunny side up, wheat toast with grape jelly, crispy hash browns
• Perkins Apple Cinnamon Muffin heated up, with butter on it
• Macaroni and Cheese
• With Kielbasa and peppers sauteed, ketchup on my mac and cheese
• Stuffed green peppers
• I just saw this on Pinterest and it looks sooo good
• Zoey's
• Cheesy garlic bread with marinara sauce and a zookie

The list seriously goes on and on. This is what I get for being in the hospital and these jerks won't let me eat. Someone help :(

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Hi from St. Lukes Hosptial!

Sunday Funday could not be a more inappropriate term for today. I had a fantastic time with my good friend Chet last night. That fantastic time was ruined this morning when I woke up to vomit. I've been sick since Tuesday of last week and as soon as I thought I was finally getting better today came along.

Being diabetic makes any sort of illness about ten times worse. My blood sugar is all out of wack, my ketones are large, and I can't stop shaking. Ketones are produced when my body doesn't have enough insulin so it burns fat for energy. In a normal person, ketones are the body's natural response to starvation. Unfortunately, for a diabetic, ketones can be life threatening. When I tested my ketones and they were high, that was my indication to come to the emergency room.

When I got into a hospital room, nurses bombarded me right away. One to take my blood sugar, one to start an IV, one to take my vitals, the list goes on. When a doctor actually came to see me, Melinda, she told me I'm more than likely going to have to stay the night. I actually don't mind staying in the hospital because the food is good, if I can keep it down, someone waits on me the entire time I'm here, and who doesn't like a hot over night nurse!? Hollla at Vance!

The worst part about coming to the hospital tonight was that my brother, Jake, whom is also my best friend, is at work until 12:30 am. I don't actually know how long I'm going to stay at the St. Lukes Inn but if it makes me feel better and gets everything under control, I'll stay as long as I need too.

My doctor just came in and told me about all the tests they did on my blood. Everything is out of wack which is why they're admitting me into the hospital. They put a pump on my IV bag so it can be done faster and I can get into a real room as soon as possible.

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So Sick...

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with Ne-Yo and his music. Sorry if that disappoints you. 

Today is Thursday. That means I have been gone from school for two and a half days. I wish I could say these are the only two and a half days of school I've missed, but unfortunately the beetus has been a big problem this year. As of right now, at 8:28 pm on Thursday, October 4,2012, I have 37 absences and have been late to my early bird class 3 times. Don't get me wrong, I don't like missing school. It causes more stress to me than necessary but right now, I am more sick than I have been in a while. I don't remember the last time I got so sick I couldn't eat more than one bite of anything without vomiting. Sorry if that was too much information.

I wish I knew why I got so sick all of a sudden. These things are unexplained to me. The only thing I do know is I'm stressed which is making my sickness worse. AP Chem, AP Lang, Advanced Pre Calculus, Spanish 3 and US History is a whole lot to have on my plate. Now add missing two and a half days in a row to that and you've got a hot mess. Me. I have been frantically trying to keep my dinner down while working on school work my friend's informed me of and watching an abundance of NCIS, Law and Order: SVU, and sleeping. No matter how crappy I feel tonight, I will find myself awake at 5:20 am straightening my hair and doing my makeup because high school is a judgmental place, and I'm stressed enough. I don't need the bitchy comments on how my hair looks bad in a ponytail, I should really put some makeup on, and sweat pants aren't flattering for someone like me.

I'll see you all tomorrow and although I guarantee I WILL feel like shit, I WILL look fantastic because that's my job as a teenage girl. To look good when I feel like death, too many drinks last night, and food poisoning have all hit me at once. I expect each and every one of you to be ecstatic to see me tomorrow. I'm excited to see all of you. <3

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