Finals Forts

Finals forts are forts that you make in your apartment to take finals in because a fort is magical and nothing bad happens in a fort. Therefore, if you take a final in a finals fort you will get an A because everything inside the fort is magical. I made a sort of finals fort this year, more of a finals nest. I think it worked mostly well. Basically there's no make-up allowed, though you are encouraged to shower before nesting, you have to be distracted with some kind of boy problem, and you have to be mostly "productive" while updating Facebook statii, cursing various problems in your life at random intervals, ask every passing roommate to fill up your glass of water, and you also have to wear some kind of loungewear, buttons are sooo not allowed.

No faces are allowed in this picture because of the no make-up rule. 

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten

So. My old elementary school is going to be demolished and the kids are all moving to this new location. But let me tell you, the old location is AWESOME. Imagine waking from a dreamy sleep, getting ready for school, the driving down the windey canyon road while you try to spot the horses and cows grazing on the hills. Emerge into a small opening and take a turn up the hill onto Lilac Lane (what a name right?), then jump out of the car with the backpack over one shoulder as you race the bell to class. This quaint school gives the only pocket of small town feel left in Orange County. Today I went back and visited my teachers and took pictures at the school. They all marveled at how much we'd grown (It's been like 8 years. . . do they really expect me to still look like a 6th grader?). But wow, what a beautiful school. This elementary school is the foundation for so much of my life; it's here that I heard my first Harry Potter book, perfected my 2'n'boot skills, and learned what being kind to everyone means. I can walk through that school and recall experiences that I still draw from today. Whatever. It's always going to be a dream from my past, never tainted by overcrowding, portable classrooms over my dodgeball court, or the alarmingly smaller size I witnessed today. Bless my miniature self that saw a bigger world. 

Forgive the wind blown hair. It was like a tornado out there. Now my hair smells like wind. CAN YOU IMAGINE GOING TO SCHOOL HERE? It's literally something from a dream.

Ironic Names

So my family got two new dogs. Their names are Shyla and Bella. Josiah was introducing them to me and he was like, "This is Shyla, she's the darker one. This is Bella, she's the helpless one." Oh how perfect. It reminds me of another Bella I've heard of. Josiah said they threw a treat to her and she just let it hit her face. Even Princess Brookie calls Bella a diva. We were all petting Shyla and ignoring Bella on purpose and Bella got all crazy and was licking our legs and putting her head all over us and was jumping on us and was super jell that we weren't giving her any attention LOL love it when dogs have personality. We once had two dogs named Cooper and Maverick named after the father and son pair in the movie Maverick. Those dogs were quite the pair. Cooper turned out to be quite the daredevil and Maverick was just the prettiest dog and was the biggest tease and the easiest to love. This is his crazy picture: 

I love my puppies. 

My dog Chip

This is my dog, Chip. 

He recently left us and went to what my mom called the happy lizard hunting grounds in the heavens above. Bless him.

This dog was talented. He could hold up to 3 tennis balls in his mouth and still let out an intimidating bark. He could carry a wide range of long stick like things from small saplings to palm fronds or banana tree leaves.

It was difficult to find a picture of him standing up because every time someone gets close to him he lays down and waits for you to scratch his stomach. Then when you rub his tummy his leg starts kick and he could literally dig a hole in the ground if you rubbed long enough.

One of his favorite pastimes was trying to catch lizards that crawled into little holes in the dirt. He would dig with his paws and then bite the dirt with his mouth and would stick his nose down inside and get all dusty.

Bless Chip.