success! and lots of :)s

first period: calculus: yikes, so much trig review, but I'm sure it will be fine. :)
second period: english: finley was cracking me up. she wasn't what I expected, and I think I'm going to love her. :)
third period: a cappella: hello, duh, choir is awesome. :)
fourth period: madrigals: double duh, this is MADRIGALS. :)
fifth period: economics: I might be teacher's pet already... thanks Mr Duez for telling your wife about me. :)

and that was the end of the day. :) tutoring starts next Tuesday.

and for our picture of the day: lunch! schlotzskys! yum!

this is SEN10R year

Tomorrow begins the last year of high school.

What do we think about that?

I think it is going to be great. I don't want to waste a single second of my senior year. I want to enjoy it. I want to do well. I want to succeed. I want to figure out where I'm going, but I don't want to worry about where I'm going. I want to make a plan, but I don't want to force myself to stick to it when things begin to change. I don't want to dread going to class; I want to learn from my teachers and appreciate them. I don't want to deal with anybody's drama. I want choir to be nothing but enjoyable. I want dancing to be thrilling. I want to push myself to be a better person in every way possible. I want to learn, grow, experience, love, laugh, teach, smile, sing, dance, play, read and write. I want to have picnics. I want to go on adventures with my friends. I want to spend time with my family. I want to keep in touch with friends who've started college. I want to take beautiful pictures; I want to see the beauty in the world, every single day. I want to work hard. I want to earn what I get. I want to be surprised. I want to be inspired. I want to inspire. I want to make someone's day. I want this to be my best year yet.

Help me make it happen?

I'm betting on a great year. I love y'all. Let's do this.

late, again

I wasn't home at all yesterday, so here's a picture of the sky from my cousins' house.



Heading back over there now. :)

rain, rain, don't go away

There was a nice shower as I drove home from school this afternoon. I stayed outside and played and danced for a few minutes before coming into the house. :)

laundry day

My clothes that were in the drier didn't finish before I had to go to ballet, so my parents laid them out for me so they wouldn't wrinkle. Isn't that sweet?

it's still early, so pretend it's still yesterday

I was really busy yesterday. Two different babysitting jobs with a wal-mart run, baking a cake, laundry, and dance class in the middle.



my cousins :)

stay with us, for quickly falls the evening

The region choir music this year is very pretty. Naturally, the English songs are the hardest ones for me, hahaha, but I don't have to worry about those for the first round of auditions, so that's okay.

I've decided I'm going to try to take and post at least one picture every day. Sometimes it will have to do with whatever I'm doing that day. Sometimes it will just be something I like. Sometimes it might be completely random.

Happy Tuesday!

my goal for senior year

I want to make the little I can do just as meaningful as the much I used to do.

Things I <3 Thursday

I love: Happy Hour at Sonic where you can get a Route 44 lemonberry slush and a Route 44 vanilla DP for $1.99.

I love: Dancing in the rain. I got to do this yesterday during modern class.

I love: Showtunes.

I love: When people randomly do really sweet/cute things. Like yesterday morning, Dana brought me breakfast: a banana and a granola bar in a bag that read "Good Morning Kinsey! <3 Dana :)" So made my day.

I love: The thunder I am hearing right now. And the rain that is suddenly pouring outside my window. Texas weather is so great. Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic. I love it.

Kinsey is a licensed driver now!

As of yesterday, August 10, 2009, I can legally drive a car without my padre. :) It was really a blessing and a miracle that I got my license yesterday. We had to go to the bank first to get something notorized, and we figured we may as well try to get to the DPS; we got there 10 minutes before closing time and they gave me my license. Talk about shocked. I have yet to drive anywhere, hahahah, but I think I'm taking myself to work in half an hour. I'm excited! Almost 18, finally driving, haha, I'm a late bloomer, what can I say? ;)

Flight school today was long and boring. Took me almost 2 hours to get through everything, then stayed around to work in the choir room although there wasn't much to do... it will be busier the rest of the week probably though since there will be more new kids than there were senior day.

I have a couple of classes to teach this afternoon, and then my first ballet class of the year. :) Oh, I'm going to hurt tonight. Also, I'm wondering how my foot is going to feel... the plantar fasciitis hasn't been bothering me, but I've been wearing my pumas practically all summer, so I don't know what to expect. I think it will be alright. We'll see. :)

my weekend

I spent my weekend with a very good friend, one I haven't seen all summer, though we talk almost every day. But before I got to see her, I had work to do; fall classes started this week at the studio and I have preschoolers to turn into ballerinas! I taught three great classes Saturday morning, then enjoyed lunch with my family, finished my driver's education (yay! going to get my license later this week or next at the latest), and then got to spend the night with my dear friend. When I came home yesterday afternoon I got my room more organized; after orientation this week at school it will be time to figure out what kind of school supplies I still need to get.

This week I have to be up at school early every day to work in the choir room during orientation; today we got everything organized, set up, and ready. School starts in only two weeks! I can't believe how quickly this summer went by, or that I'm about to start my senior year of high school. Exciting! :)

continued NC overview

Monday was dedicated to Asheville. My aunt and unlce, mom, and I visited the Biltmore estate, this incredibly large, beautiful home of the Vanderbilt family. In my own words, they were disgustingly rich. The audio guide kept saying things like, "Most people did not have a toilet in their homes; the Vanderbilt's had 43," and, "Most people did not have electric lights in their homes; the Vanderbilt's had them underwater in their indoor pool in the basement." They also had two walk in refridgerators; most people used iceboxes. They had a two lane bowling alley, multiple kitchens, a beautiful library, and too many bedrooms to count, plus an electric dumb waiter and a call box in the pool room. Oh, and they're clocks were all wired to be exactly synchronized. After the Biltmore we met Tyler, Conner, and their friend Spencer at Moe's (delicious quesadillas, better than Mission Burrito, in my opinion). Even though I'd seen them just a week before at camp, it was a fun treat to see them in their new home. We also visited the Asheville Target store since Boone doesn't have one. Mom and I can't go long without Target. ;)

Tuesday was mostly spent in front of the Kodak Picture Maker in the Boone WalMart. Mom had some old photographs her brother wanted copies of, but all 25 had to be scanned in and then edited and cropped to make 4x6 prints (they were little square photos). The machine couldn't seem to figure out how to do a couple of the pictures; instead of doing them right (like all the others) it kept spitting out copies that were all red or all yellow. It knew it was doing them wrong though, so it kept trying, mostly unsuccessfully. Finally all the pictures were printed, but the stack of misprints outweighed the stack of good ones. We met my cousin's girlfriend and her daughter at dinner; they were super sweet.

Wednesday was our last day in Boone, so we went to Tweetsie Railroad to see the dog show--K9s in Flight. They were talented puppies, catching frisbies and jumping 25 feet into a pool of water. We rode the train and saw the cute, cheesy kids show that goes along with that before leaving. On the way to Lincolnton we stopped at Cone Manor and Blowing Rock for some more ice cream. It poured for the hour it took to get to Lincolnton. My aunt made delicious tacos and then we drove out to our old friends' house nearby. It had been six years or so since we'd seen them, and it was a nice reunion.

Today we just drove around Lincolnton, my aunt made homemade pizza, and then we headed to Charlotte to fly back to home sweet home. :)

North Carolina overview--so far

North Carolina has been absolutely beautiful, despite the rather large amount of rain we have received; it has been nice rain, not torrentous thunderstorms. I don't want to share pictures until I'm home (it is so much easier to resize on my computer than on Mom's laptop) so today is just a brief description of all the stuff we've done. It has been my kind of vacation; I have gotten to sleep in somewhat, and we have done so much fun stuff.

Tuesday we arrived in Charlotte. My aunt and uncle (on my dad's side of the family) picked us up and drove us to their house in Lincolnton, then loaned us their extra car so we could drive the rest of the way to Boone. We used a map that my cousin, Adam, drew us about ten years ago and made it to my aunt and uncle's (on my mom's side) house.

Wednesday we picked up Chic-fil-a and took it to my aunts office at Tweetsie (the kids' amusement park she works at here). Then we drove around town with my cousin, Amy. We ate barbeque at a place called Bandanas and then got Kilwins ice cream in Blowing Rock.

Thursday my uncle arranged for me to be part of a tour at Appalachion State University, where he works. Amy is a student there, so we had a mini tour with her--we ate lunch at one of the cafes on campus, then did the official tour. The school is really nice; I like it a lot. Though, like my dad told me later on the phone, I'm going to like everywhere. I got a hoodie on clearance at their bookstore (that is the way I shop, haha). My uncle took us to hike at a beautiful place called the cascades while my aunt made a yummy dinner.

Friday we had quiznos before driving to Ashe county to visit the Church of the Frescoes, a really neat craft store, and the Ashe County Cheese Factory (where we got not only really good cheese, but all kinds of delicious snack food and coke in a glass bottle). We got to see my cousin, Justin's, cabin on our way back; he met us in Valle Crucis for a picnic of KFC in the park.

Saturday we got up earlier and went to the Watauga County Farmer's Market where my uncle got me a scrumptious whole wheat cinnimon roll. Then we drove up to Grandfather Mountain where they have sort of a zoo and a swinging bridge that's a mile above sea level and hiking trails. I fed bears (they can catch the food in their mouths if you throw it right). :) My cousin, Sara, and her boyfriend came up from Asheville and we went to a mexican restaurant that I was super impressed with.

Today we celebrated Amy's birthday, even though it was a while back (she was out of town). There were about 14 people here for lunch. This evening we walked around Bass Lake which was very nice. Amy, her boyfriend, my mom, and I played several games of Yahtzee. I did pretty badly until the last game which I managed to win. I also got to talk to my cousin, Adam. He's the only one of the five cousins on this side of the family that we don't get to see, because he lives all the way out in California instead of good old North Carolina now.

See? Fun. :)