…but the good news is...

This, my 200th post, is also my last one.

I have a new blog. Click here for the new website.

I've tailored it so that it fits my needs more appropriately. I hope you enjoy it!

Xoxo and see you on my new site!
Hannah Renea

Retirement

This blog, though only a year old, needs to be put to rest.

I've outgrown it, plain and simple.

Thanks to all who've read for over the year I've had it.

Farewell
Hannah Renea

Murmur murmur

I was discussing my general annoyance of homecoming drama with my mom and I exclaimed, "Why is it impossible to go to a high school dance without any drama involved?"

To which my mom replied, "Hannah, it's high school. High school is synonymous with drama."

The homecoming murmur is picking up volume. Suspicions. Arguments. Gossip. No one is safe.

Good grief I ought to write a drama for ABC Family based on the unnecessary conundrums everyone ends up involved in. If this is how bad a football game and social gathering can get, I wonder what prom will be like next year.

Can't wait for homecoming itself!
Hannah Renea

Then someone murmured, "homecoming?"

First there was nothing but a thought in the back of our minds.

Now that thought has been expressed aloud...but only in a small murmur amongst student body.

Are you going to homecoming? Who are you taking to homecoming?

Soon, that murmur will escalate into a roar of Texas Homecoming Mums, dresses, dates, and drama.

Last year, I was in the middle of that roar.

But this year, I don't really intend on asking anybody, and so far nobody's asked me, so I'm sitting back and enjoying the chaotic view.

Homecoming is upon us.

Hannah Renea

The Pearl

There's a common saying: the world is our oyster, we need to find the pearl. Corny as it sounds, I think I've found my pearl.

For years, I've been questioning myself: who am I? What will I do with my life? Where am I supposed to be? I've been circling around with opportunities and future careers and colleges and it just made my head spin.

But Monday night, I had a revelation: I'm going to do big things with my life. The world's pretty messed up if you think about it. Somebody's gotta fix it.

And I read something once, a protestor holding up a sign that said, I used to always say that somebody should do something to fix things, but then I realized I am somebody.

And that sign has been given meaning in my eyes. I think we are so often struck by the paralysis of enormity, that there are seven billion people in this world, what difference can one person make?

Well, I think that can't let us down.

Gandhi was one person.

Albert Einstein was one person.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one person.

Beethoven was one person.

Marie Curie was one person.

Mother Teresa was one person.

If you say that none of those six individuals made a difference in the world, either you know nothing about world history or you're simply not right.

I had a revelation that night: I'm going to do big things.

Hannah Renea

Gecko!

If you've been reading my blog for more than a month you know that I went to Cambodia in July. While there we learned many new things.

One of which involved geckos.

For about a week during the trip we stayed in the rural island community of Koh Preah. We stayed with our friendly homestay family, they were all so kind to us.

My roommate, Jackie, and I stayed in a homestay that had an extra bedroom for us to share. We would get home from work and dinner very late at night so it was always very dark. We used my headlamp for a light for the room because mine was very bright.

Of course, every night we needed to turn off the headlamp to go to bed. Once we did this, we were tuned in to the noises of the outside world around us.

The first couple of nights, we heard a really weird sound. It was unlike anything we'd ever heard. It frightened us, especially being in a new environment in a foreign country.

We told the others the next morning about this strange noise. A couple of them looked at us funny, like we were speaking Japanese. A couple of them said they heard the same thing. Only Jim, one of the group leaders, knew what it was.

"It's just a gecko. That's the sound they make, 'gecko'. It's why they're called that."

That night, when were turned off the light, we listened carefully, and sure enough:

"ge-cko!"

That was the exact noise they made! Jackie was still a bit apprehensive because they were kinda loud and ominous, so I came up with a solution.

When something seems scary, give it a name. I came up with the idea when I was little and afraid of the monster under my bed. I named her Lucy and she became my imaginary friend instead.

So we named all the geckos Earl. It quickly caught on around our group, and anytime someone heard a gecko they would say something like, "oh, quiet, Earl!" Or "no worries, Earl's just checking in on us."

Nobody was afraid anymore. And that concludes my Cambodian gecko story.

Hannah Renea

Side note for nerds: geckos say their name so that makes them real life Pokémon, right?

Yay Me.

You know how, when you get your braces, they give you a retainer/retainers so your teeth stay in place?

And you know how they tell you not to fold it up in a napkin because you'll forget it somewhere?

Oops?

And the biggest idiot of 2013 goes to:

Hannah Renea

Seriously guys, do not fold your retainer in a napkin. Keep the case with you at all times.

Wowwww I feel like a moron.

Our New Obsession

My family and I've recently got a new
obsession: puzzles.

We just finished this 550 piece puzzle today.

It features a zoo, but instead of animals there are people on display. The animals are visiting to see the people!

In the past 24 hours we completed a total of three puzzles. One with 200 pieces, this one with 550, and one with only 24.

We are about to embark on the greatest puzzle yet: a classic Disney puzzle. It has 1000 pieces. Wish us luck!

How very puzzling indeed!

Hannah Renea

I love my new phone!

Hello, hello! How art thou? I am making this post using 100% Siri voice activation!

So, for the past several years I have had the pleasure of using my iPhone 3GS. Man, I loved that 3GS. It had a Steamboat Willie case it was personalized so it was my own. It worked just for me. It was my phone, and I was its owner. We had some good times together.

But alas, it's time to come. It wasn't working as well as it had back when it was a spring chicken. It was slow, had a tough time responding, the case was cracked in multiple places, and it was just time for a change. I think we both knew this and I hope we both accepted it, because I certainly know that I did.

In the past, I had stubbornly refused ever trade in my beloved 3GS for anything more. That being said, I had an upgrade available. I had had this upgrade available for a very long time.

So yesterday my family and I took a trip to target where we got…an iPhone 4S!

I absolutely adore this new phone. I can't wait to use it for years to come.

See ya later, Siri

Hannah Renea

Run, Hannah, Run!

If my name were Forest, that title would make a lot more sense.

Cross country season has started up! I'm really excited about it. My goal is to run two miles in less than fifteen minutes. I think if I pursue this to the best of my ability, I can do it.

This year, I'm going to start dual-workouts. Running in the morning to get the miles in, then running with the team in the afternoon when I have to brace the elements.

Texas summers are not fit for runners. Think of a glorious, sunny day. Yeah, that's death to a runner. Now picture a dreary, rainy day. Paradise. Our perception of weather is the exact opposite of every other sane human being.

That being said, living in Texas with dangerous heat advisory warnings and triple digit degrees (Fahrenheit, obviously. Otherwise we'd literally die) can be...oh, I don't know...challenging. I don't know what the temperature was like that first day, I didn't check, but on the second day, it was 108º.

I'm not exaggerating even the slightest.

I remember being in Cambodia with my group members, many of which were from the northern parts of the USA. They were so surprised at how hot it got. 103º?! Is that even possible?! Then you'd have us Texans just laughing, saying, "get used to it, that's not that bad".

Yeah, it's bearable...if you're not running in it.

Oh well, I know it's good for me. It certainly gives us an advantage over other schools that practice early in the morning. We'll be used to the heat, they won't. So. There.

Well that's all I have to say about that,

Hannah Renea

We Are Sherlocked

There are a total of 6 episodes of the wildly popular BBC show, Sherlock. Each one is about an hour and a half long. I've watched two episodes.

And I love it. Extremely fascinating stuff, I highly recommend.

Well, I knew my family would love it as much as I do, so I tried to get them to watch it with me. Gracee's only six, so she's out of the question seeing as it is not fit for a first grader. Mackenzee watched it with me and loved it as much as I do.

Our parents were harder to convince. There was never enough time or they just weren't interested. I knew they'd love it, we're all really into crime shows, especially my mom. My dad's read the original Sherlock Holmes books and he finds deduction as fascinating as I do.

Last night, my parents and I were just hanging out in the family room. My mom was on Pinterest, my dad was reading, and I was trying to find something to do. I knew if I asked, they'd say "no", so I just didn't ask. I picked up the remote and turned on the first episode on Netflix.

At first, my parents weren't all too thrilled with me for turning it on without asking. I got an earful on how they were both doing something already and how I should've thought that through.

I was about to just turn it off when my dad told me to keep it on because we might as well, it was already playing.

Within five minutes, my dad was intrigued. I love when my dad gets into things because he's just so animated about it.

And then, even my mom put away Pinterest and admitted that she was into it.

We finished A Study In Pink, the first episode, in one sitting last night. Tonight, we'll be watching the second episode because thanks to me, my entire family is Sherlocked.

221B or not 221B, that's the question

Hannah Renea

Update: we have finished all six episodes of Sherlock. Can't wait for season three! (August 13, 2013)

Toes

Do I like country music?

It's funny, when people say they "like all types of music", they usually add the phrase "except country and screamo" to the end of that statement. While I'm not particularly fond of screamo (though there are one or two songs I actually enjoy that are screamo), I do have a confession to make.

I absolutely adore country music.

Yeah, I really do. Now, normally you'll hear me humming Green Day over Alan Jackson, but nonetheless, I still am really quite fond of country music. A lot of my extended family listens to bluegrass, country, and southern rock (which all sound the same to the untrained ear), and I'll never stray from that part of my roots.

I remember listening to my iPod in class once (we were allowed to while we studied, don't worry) and sharing with my friend Jacob. It was on shuffle and it seemed like the Dixie Chicks came up every other song. Jacob would laugh and tell me, "Hannah, your Georgia is showing."

And you know what? I'm proud of that. While I listen to a plethora of genres and artist, I'm a firm believer in you are what you listen to (John Lennon). I won't deny that my iPod has my Georgian roots hidden here and there, because I'm the same way.

So, do I like country music? Hun, I love country music.

Hannah Renea

Well I was raised underneath the shade of a Georgia pine

And that's home, you know

Sweet tea, peacan pie, and homemade wine

Where the peaches grow

If that verse from Zac Brown Band's "Chicken Fried" doesn't describe where I'm from, I don't know what does. By the way, Zac Brown Band is Southern Rock, thankyouverymuch!

Fingers

Do I play a musical instrument?

I play the cello. Though I don't play very often, I love it. I gave my love for my cello to one of my characters in Assignment, and he is way better and way more dedicated to his cello than I am with mine. I did try to portray my love of music through his eyes, although it's tricky, since (despite my love of words) I don't think I could ever fully put my love for music into petty little statements.

I hope I do my cello justice in my novel.

Hannah Renea

Hands

Are you an artist/writer?

I wouldn't consider myself an artist, but I'd definitely call myself a writer. Which reminds me, I need to get back to Assignment. It needs a major editing job!

I'm in love with words and names and sounds. I'm fascinated by the fact that (in English, at least) you can take a combination of 26 letters and suddenly be whisked away to a different world. I hope to be on shelves someday and have people read my combination of those 26 letters, with their characters, places, and plotlines.

That'd be just peachy,

Hannah Renea

Nose

What is my favorite scent/fragrance?

I love the smell of spearmint or a freshly mowed lawn. I love the smell of a campfire on a cool summer night or just the general smell of shampoo. I love the smell of lipstick or aftershave. I love the smell of ice cream. I love the smell of rain or my mom's fresh baked brownies out of the oven.

As for my favorite fragrances, I like the Twilight Woods scent and the Dark Kiss scent fragrances from Bath & Body Works. They're both just pretty and girly and I like them.

Smells, scents, fragrances are beautiful things. They're like colors for your tastebuds. They engulf you in a symphony of flavors. You sense of smell is the sense most linked with memory, so you could smell a fresh baked pie at a bakery and are whisked to a time when you were seven at your grandparents' house.

I often wonder what the love potion from Harry Potter would smell like to me, since it would be the perfect smell, tailored to my liking.

Hannah Renea

Crazy Busy Scheduling

The past month has been one of the craziest I've ever endured...and it's summer vacation!

First of all, I was in/got home from Cambodia. It truly was a wonderful experience and I loved every single day I was there. Getting home hit a few snags (which deserves a post of its own) but long story short I finally touched down in DFW an entire day later than I should have. Then there was the jet lag for a few days. Adjusting was weird.

Then, only a couple days later, I began volunteering at the Camp Community Storehouse Summer Reading Program. It had been my fourth year working with them, and my job was to keep the kitchen from falling apart. I took two days off in the middle of the program and when I returned it was a complete wreck. I ran a tight ship that sunk without me there.

Monday through Thursday after camp, I went to Driver's Ed, which was boring, horrifying (why did they feel the need to show us graphic accident pictures?! agh!), and very long. I think my teacher liked me though, I would always participate in the classwork, even though I got the discussion questions wrong 85% of the time. Still, at the end she said it was a pleasure to have me, and she didn't say that to anyone else. What can I say? I'm a natural teacher's pet.

Cross country starts up (drumroll, please) tomorrow! I've finished camp already, and Driver's Ed, this weekend's been really lazy because it's the only lazy days I've actually been able to have. Then cross country! Woohoo! I'm wicked excited to be with my team.

This year, Thayer, Andrés, and Jacob will be on the team. It'll be fun having my friends there. Last year, Thayer ran conditioning, but she was busy with volleyball so she wasn't actually on the team and was only able to come a few times. I'm so excited to run with them!

All in all, my summer's been go-go-go-go-go and I've barely had a break. Time to get on to reading, running, and before I know it, school!

Hannah Renea

Summer Reading?!

I'm going to be a (gasp) sophomore this year, and like every summer my school assigns summer reading books that we're required to read. We usually have an assessment of these books the first or second English class of the year.

Yeah, I'm not kidding and I'm not exaggerating. Literally one of the first English classes, we get a test.

And this summer, the in-coming sophomores have to read not one...not two...but three books!

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

and The Elements of Style (illustrated) by Strunk, White, and Kalman

The issue I have is that it's already August (yikes! where'd summer go?) and I've only gotten about a third of the way through In the Time of the Butterflies. I need to get to reading.

My problem is that I'm pretty much the world's slowest reader. Add annotations on top of that, and it takes me half an our to get through ten pages. I know people who have two chapters finished in half an hour. Maybe more than that.

Needless to say, my busy summer just got busier.

Hannah Renea

Dear Guys

Recently, a friend has asked me what girls look for in a guy.

Well, I believe I found a typo-graph that explains exactly how to get a girl.

Basically, to a girl, the gentlemen is the KING of boyfriends/husbands/partners in general. And every queen deserves a king, am I right?

I hope this answers your question, friend.

Hannah Renea

My Shiny New Toy

A couple of days ago, I got (drumroll please) a new keyboard!

That's right! It may not seem like a big deal to some but I am so excited about this. I do pretty much everything important to me on my iPad: my writing, spreadsheets, blogging, you name it. Of course, I like to keep my precious safe so I always have it in some sort of case.

I've never really been a fan of the touchscreen keyboard. In fact, they really annoy me. A couple years ago, I got a case with a keyboard for Christmas. Man, I loved that keyboard, and I used it till the day the qwerty row stopped working because I used it so often.

This was a few months ago, and believe it or not, my writing suffered the loss of my keyboard. Using that touchscreen to edit Assignment was just plain annoying. I still used the case to protect the iPad, but it was looking a little sad from use.

My sister let me using her bluetooth keyboard a couple weeks ago and it's fine, but it was missing the O key. Do you know how many times I use the letter o? A lot.

Then, my saving grace. My parents told me that since we were reusing a lot of our school supplies from last year, we had enough money to buy a new keyboard case. And ta-dah! We have a new keyboard!

I absolutely love it! I'm excited to be writing and blogging more often. Blogging especially because HTML is extremely annoying on a touchscreen. It likes to autocorrect things. Yes, I know href isn't a word.

So you'll be hearing from me a little more I suppose.

Hannah Renea

Windpipe

ENJOLRAS! AT NOTRE DAME SECTIONS ARE PREPARED!

Sorry, we (Thayer and I) do that to Andrés all the time because somewhere along the line we figured out that "Enjolras" and "Andrés" are remarkably similar in pronunciation. FYI that quote above is from Les Mis if you don't recognize it. Love the live version, the movie was okay.

And it's fitting since Andrés requested windpipe with the question "Do you sing"?

Do I sing?

Do I sing?

I sing a lot. I sing more than I do really any other activity, including writing. I once wrote a This I Believe speech on how much I value music in my life. I might've actually blogged about it back when this was a little fetus blog and I really had no idea what I was doing.

Anyway, I often use music and singing as an escape. I'm able to relax when I'm upset to the point of meltdown. I'm able to enhance my joy when I'm happy. I sing everywhere and all the time. Showers, my bedroom, school, the park, with friends, with family, alone. The world is my stage and life is a musical.

Maybe I'll gush about it on my music blog (link's up top), but for now I gotta get to driver's ed. I'm going to get my license in October! :D

Swiggity swing I love to sing,

Hannah Renea

Wrists

Another one from Andrés (if that even is your real name): wrists. Have I ever broken a bone?

I have not. Never ever. Nearly sixteen years and no bones broken. I drink a lot of milk.

The closest I ever got to breaking a bone was slamming my hand in a car door. It hurt sooo bad. I went to urgent care and was there until like three a.m. and all for what? Ripped tissue between my ring finger and my pinky. That's it. I mean, come on, at least give me something to show for it.

I think another reason why I haven't ever broken a bone is because I'm too dang cautious. I'm not adventurous enough to break my arm or something. I'm okay with that though. I like my arms the way they are, thankyouverymuch.

DFTBA,

Hannah Renea

Cheeks

This was requested by Andrés under the name "Anonymous" so it really could be anyone. Pretty suspicious if you ask me....

I kid, I kid. This post is for Cheeks! Do I blush easily?

I think I blush pretty easily. I don't go all bright red all the time (only sometimes), but I do blush often. When I'm frustrated, embarrassed, or flattered is usually the reasons.

I get frustrated when people don't listen to me or don't take me seriously. That seems to have been happening to me a lot lately and quite frankly I just get really tired of it. This usually makes me flush red.

I tend to embarrass myself more than I lead others to believe. I've gotten pretty good at concealing my own embarrassment, but I still tend to get hot in the cheeks.

Then when I'm flattered. Of course, this is my favorite blush because I just feel really rosy for a moment. So I appreciate that.

Keep calm and carry on,

Hannah Renea

Mouth

Do I feel like kissing anyone right now?

...do fictional characters count? If so, then yes, if not, then yeah, sure. Why not?

Am I allowed to kiss like, voices or songs? I know that's impossible, but have you heard "Northern Lights" by Cider Sky? Or "High Hopes" by Kodaline? Or "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws? If those songs had faces, I'd kiss them. I'm not just talking about singers either, I mean like personfication of the whole songs, instrumentals and all.

So yeah, to answer the question: kind of?

Green grass and hiiiiiiigh tides foreverrrrrrrr

Hannah Renea

Feet

Thayer, Thayer, Thayer! Thanks again, my lovely Thayer! I would link to you blog but my HTML on my iPad is acting up, and for that I apologize!

Feet: do you ever wear heels just for the heck of it?

Unfortunately, I don't own many pairs of heels to just throw on, but yes, I occasionally put on my sparkly straps and strut around my house like the fabulous diva I am. Besides, for anyone reading this who doesn't know me, I'm not the tallest person around...so I like the extra height. It's fun. :)

But...with great height comes great responsibility, so unfortunately when I wear heels I forget this and end up ramming my head into things that are shorter than they should be! Whoops!

Heels are just fabulous though so of course I wear them for the heck of it. Why wait for a specific set heel-wearing date?

Hannah Renea

Hips

Thank you, Thayer! I was beginning to wonder if anyone had noticed my little challenge. So by request, hips! Do I like to dance?

CUE HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL:

I don't dance

I say you can!

Not a chance, no!

If I can do this then you can do tha–

But I. Don't. Dance!

So the question is do I like to dance? I love to dance. Am I good at dancing? Not really.

At school dances, I'm the crazy one jumping around all over the place because I just really love to get into music and just kind of lose myself for a couple of minutes. That's a ton of fun, and I'm not worried about embarrassing myself because recently I've learned to stop worrying what other people think of me. They're going to judge anyway, why bother?

In Cambodia we learned some traditional Cambodian dances. Those are a lot of fun in big groups. I also got a break dance lesson, so prepare to see me bust a move. (Just kidding, of course! I'm no master break dancer...yet)

I tried to take up ballet at one point but my schedule got really busy (which happens often actually) so I had to stop. I enjoyed it though.

So to answer the original question: yes, I like to dance, but don't expect to see me on Dancing With the Stars anytime soon! :)

Don't forget to let your hair down,

Hannah Renea

I Need To Challenge Myself!

Hello, viewers! (If there are still any)

I haven't posted in a while, yikes!

To help me get back on track, I found a little challenge I had saved a while back as I was cleaning up old files on my tablet.

I would love to write about pretty much anything on this list. Multiples are definitely allowed! Do as many as you like! I might pick out a few for the heck of it. If you have trouble reading any of them, let me know in the comments.

Thanks guys,

Hannah Renea

Time to Dust Off Some Cobwebs!

Whoa, I haven't blogged in over a month! Yikes! I meant to do a post before I left for Cambodia around the time of my one-year-blog-anniversary.

Better late than never, I suppose!

Cambodia was fantastic! I don't think I could sum up the entire experience in one post, so I'll shorten the summary. As corny as it sounds, the trip changed my life and opened my eyes to what actually matters. We learned so much about the culture of Cambodia, the history of Cambodia, and the daily lives of Cambodians living in both urban and rural conditions. I loved so many things about my trip. To name a few:

• Getting to work with the kids in the rural island community in Koh Preah. Our main service project was building and installing a bunch of concrete fenceposts from scratch for a fence around the school to keep the water buffalo out. The students at the primary school helped us, and they've got better work ethic than some adults I've seen. They worked for hours, smiling and refusing to take a break (except maybe when we shared dragonfruit. Yum!).
• Riding in the tuk tuks through the chaotic streets of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. I've never seen traffic like that in my life. The bumpy roads sprung us around the motor-cyclists zipping in all directions at all times. Street signs were more of a suggestion than a rule. And the tuk tuks! For anyone who doesn't know, a tuk tuk is a buggy pulled by a motorbike. The ones in Cambodia look like this (photo doesn't belong to me). They were so much better than buses. Wind beats air conditioning, and they were surprisingly very roomy, even when we packed four to six people in one tuk tuk alone.
• Learning about both Buddhism and Hinduism through everyday life and visiting the incredible temples at Angkor Wat. In Koh Preah, we were blessed by Buddhist monks! They wish us long life and happiness. The blessing consisted of a practiced monk chanting and pouring water on us. No, not sprinkling, pouring. We were soaked. It was very refreshing after weeks in the Cambodian sun. And then there was Angkor Wat. There's a reason it's the eighth wonder of the world. It was absolutely stunning. It was quite peaceful if you found a nook where there were less tourists around, like I'm one to talk.
• We got to ride elephants. 'Nuff said.
• My friends that came with me from America became my brothers and sisters very quickly. They helped me overcome my fears, stay positive through painful homesickness, and cheered me on regardless if I needed cheering up or not. We did so many crazy things together. We sang Queen's "We Will Rock You" to over 300 audience members. We ate a nasty tasting fruit called durian. We fell asleep on the very edge of a boat on the Mekong River (luckily nobody fell in, but we did score a couple of wicked sunburns). Our group was so dynamic, even our leaders were surprised. We clicked from the beginning and I think we all grew up together a bit. I'll never forget them.
• I met so many amazing people, including Tola, our awesome guide; a kid named Kuate, who works harder than other other human being and is extremely photogenic; our home stay mamas, who were outstandingly patient and kind; and through meeting these incredible people the experience was made even better.

Worst Part About the Trip:
Durian. That stuff's nasty. Probably being homesick. I felt the distance of being an ocean away pretty early on, but I was okay because my friends helped me tremendously.

Best Part About the Trip:
The people. My group, our friends, our families, even the strangers. They're what made the trip for me. Everyone, and I mean everyone was so friendly. Walking down the road in Koh Preah, I would say "hello" and "goodbye" to every person I passed at least five times. The Cambodian people brought an admirable quality of kindness to my life, and I am tremendously grateful for that.

I would honestly revisit Cambodia, skip all the tourist-y stuff I did, and head straight to Koh Preah. Sure, I'm not used to the living conditions of a rural community, but they're definitely worth getting used to.

And that's a bit of the reason I haven't been blogging! But I'm back now! Great to be here!

Soor Sideye! (Goodbye in Khmer, official language of Cambodia)
Hannah Renea

SUMMER 2013 IS HERE!

It's finally summer! I'm so excited for this summer, and here's why (yes, my big secret):

I'm taking a trip to Cambodia in about a week.

Yes, you read that right. Cambodia. As in, on literally the other side of the planet. I'm going with an organization called Students Shoulder to Shoulder and we'll be learning about the cultural aspects of the nation as well as helping do volunteer work to help out in rural areas.

So that's definitely something to look forward to. I cannot wait!

Then I'll be volunteering with Camp Community Storehouse and their summer reading program. I volunteer there every year, and I am really looking forward to that.

Other than that, my summer is chilling out and keeping calm. I'm really looking forward to this summer. It still hasn't quite hit me that I'm on break. The finals we took today were overwhelming. Not necessarily hard, just that they took a long time to finish. I didn't even finish the math final, but I don't think anyone did really well on that. Don't ask my friend James though, he's a human calculator and pretty much the only person who finished.

Onward, summer vacation!

Hannah Renea

So Close to Summer

For anyone who was wondering, I received one of the six All-Star Cast awards in my theatre arts class! I'm very proud of myself for that.

Right now, I'm in a two hour long study hall. Yesterday, we took our English and Biology exams. I was a bit nervous about the Biology one, but I think I actually did fairly well. After this study hall, we'll take the Spanish exam. I went over to Jake's house yesterday and we studied, and I think we'll both do fine on it. Tomorrow, (the last day of ninth grade) we will take the Geography and Geometry test. I didn't notice until typing that just now that it's Geo-Geo! I crack myself up.

And then it's summer break! My blog is almost a whole year old. I feel like I was just in Speech class for summer school, publishing the first post. Time really does fly.

I apologize for not updating my music blog. It takes a lot of work to configured the HTML for those, and I just don't have enough time. Once school let's out, then maybe I'll post. I will take requests for songs, that's for sure.

So there's the current scoop on my life. Another hint about my exciting news: I'm going far far away!

Hannah Renea

The Last Week of 9th Grade?!

Alright, when did this happen? I'm nearly finished with my freshmen year in high school! This isn't happening, back to school night was only yesterday, wasn't it?

So I'm almost completely done with my freshmen year and I'm about to be a sophomore. I just have to get through the dreaded finals. Ugh. Oh well, they're necessary for college preparation.

Speaking of college, over the weekend I went to our senior's graduation ceremony. We're sending off the class of 2013, who were my first book buddies back in primary school. My first grade book buddy, one of the first people I befriended at Westlake, was our valedictorian this year. I am so proud of her, and I really look up to her. The entire class was fantastic, everyone loved the class of 2013. It included Thayer's older sister, who is pretty much my sister too. I'm going to miss them all very much, I can't wait to hear of their adventures out there in the world!

As for us soon-to-be-sophomores, we're in study mode. Er, most of us. There's always that one group of people who think they're fine and spend all their study time on their phones or watching movies. I'm serious about studying; the only reason I'm blogging right now is because I seriously need a break from the books.

Today's our last school day. The next will be finals days. Today we'll be having an awards ceremony in Theatre Arts and I really hope I get recognized for something. Everyone's been so supportive of me this semester, even the people I wasn't expecting to be, and I'm very thankful for that. I'm excited to support my classmates during the ceremony/party later.

Well, I'll update later with more details of the day. For now, I think I'll jam out to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and review Biology or English or something.

Later, skater!

Hannah Renea

Also, quick note: I'll be revealing my secret international excitement soon!

International

Alright, in my last post I mentioned that I have some exciting news to share. Here's a hint: it's something international!

Speaking of international, I stumbled upon my monthly page view statistics and

Wow. Welcome to my blog everyone! I hope you all enjoy it!
Hannah Renea

Busy Bee, That's Me!

Sorry for not posting in a while, everyone! I've been extremely busy.

It's been completely mind blowing, thinking that I'm already almost done with a whole year of high school. And now finals are coming up and teachers are cramming projects in last second and then there's the everyday routine stuff to tackle as well. It gets exhausting, let me tell you.

Thankfully, we're finished with what's called the Worst Thing Ever The Fitness Gramm, which is basically a state-run Phys Ed final. They make you run the mile and push ups and stuff. The only part I actually enjoy is the mile run (I finally broke eight minutes, yay me!) and we did that first, so I got to do the rest with complete agony. Oh well, at least now that it's over we'll get to play games or something for the last two Phys Ed classes of the year. ☺

The rest of my classes are basically preparing for the finals. I do have to write a theatre critique on a play I say (Oliver! The Musical, which the fabulous Thayer did fantastic in) and read a chapter of our English summer reading. Other than that, it's studyguides, studyguides, and even more studyguides.

Am I nervous for finals? Not really. I mean, I'm a bit apprehensive of the Biology final, but thankfully the wonderful Jacob is in my class and he helps me. I'm a bit concerned over Spanish, but the incredible Enjorlas Andrés is a fluent speaker, so if I come across anything too bad I'll consult him.

Other than that, not much is going on. I do have something excited I'm going to share with you in due time, however too many subjects makes a post claustrophobic. Just wanted to write about life.

Happy trails,

Hannah Renea

Rapunzel

Thank you thank you lovely Kailey for suggesting this post! Rapunzel says to detail five things on my bucket list. Here are a couple:

5. Go skydiving.
4. Live in Boston, Massachusetts.
3. Be famous.
2. Publish my novel. It's high time I get to doing that.
1. Visit another country, since I've been in America my entire life. I want to see the world.

The end,
Hannah Renea

Boo!

Thanks Zombie Slayer Megan for requesting adorable little Boo! Boo's challenge is to talk about a childhood hero.

When I was little, I was the girl that was obsessed with horses and cowgirls and hay bales. All the like. When I was really little, I remember wanting to be a horse when I grew up. I soon realized that this probably wouldn't ever happened so I turned to other dreams and ambitions.

One of which was growing up to become a cowgirl and sing onstage with a band called The Dixie Chicks.

I know they've had some criticism here and there and the band isn't one single person, but still. I didn't want to sing with Natalie or Emily or Martie, I wanted to sing with The Dixie Chicks. I didn't even really pay attention to who the band was or what their music was really even about. All I know is that little five-year-old Hannah wanted nothing more than to sing with The Dixie Chicks. I just wanted to have the opportunity to sing their amazing music with them.

And quite honestly, if I were given that opportunity today, I'd take it in a heartbeat. Deep down, nothing's really changed. I still listen to their music all the time.

I'm still a little cowgirl at heart. And hey, the band's still touring. Maybe I'll get the chance to fulfill my childhood dream.
Hannah Renea

Mother's Day!

Yesterday was Mother's Day and since my mom is the Fabulous Queen of all Queens, we felt the need to completely pamper her. I helped Mackenzee and my dad make breakfast (and ask anyone: I don't cook often) and we gave her a cookbook by Ree Drummond, better known as The Pioneer Woman on Food Network. Then we spent the day at the zoo.

My mom is awesome. I can talk to her about anything. I'm very close to her, I have a lot of respect for her. I always want to make her proud of me and I think I do a good job. She and my dad are both so supportive of me and my dreams and my goals. I'm so blessed to have such a good relationship with my parents.

I hope my mom had a great Mother's Day, and I wish every other mother on the planet a very Happy Mother's Day!
Hannah Renea

Also: I'm working on those Disney questions. I have two left, I will get to them!

Dory

An anonymous poster requested this because they liked swim, swim, swimming in the sea! Dory's question: write two good things you can't forget and one bad.

I'll start with the bad so this post ends on a good note. Once in fourth grade this kid told me that nobody would ever love me, not even Jesus. It no longer bothers me, no need to worry. I know that kid was just being a jerk and it was a lie anyway. I still remember it though.

Now that that unfortunate thing's out of the way: two good things!

Someone in particular said my eyes were beautiful. That was great because I've always considered my eyes kind of ordinary. They're just brown, they're not special or anything. This certain person has these stunning blue eyes with golden rings around the middle of the irises. Basically really awesome eyes. And they said my eyes were beautiful. That was definitely a highlight.

And anytime Mac (my awesome sister/best friend in the whole world sorrynotsorry) is proud of me for properly reciting or remembering something Lord of the Rings related. We're avid LOtR fanatics, she more than I. This being said, I just feel all sorts of pride when my best friend is proud of me. ☺

So that's that I suppose ♪
Hannah Renea

Belle

Thayer's requested that I do Belle as well. Belle's question is if I've ever liked something that nobody else liked.

And I honestly can't really think of anyone. Sorry for the lame answer, but I've honestly been trying to think up and answer and can't. It's the reason this post has taken me a while to upload.

Sorry about that guys!
Hannah Renea

Mulan

Another request from the lovely this fabulous chikorita, Mulan! Do you trust your feelings? What happened?

I'm guessing the "what happened" part is asking about what caused me to trust or distrust my feelings. The answer to this is yes, I trust my feelings. I think I've got pretty good common sense. I think I have an idea of what's right and what's wrong.

The only thing I'd say that holds me back from completely trusting myself is worry that I'll take things too far or unintentionally push people away. I'm a very weird person. I'm loud and obnoxious and a bit crazy. I like being that way, but I'm worried that other people will shy away from me. I'm worried I'll come on too strong.

So for the most part, I trust my feelings, but in some cases I don't.
Hannah Renea

Cruella

Shout-out to Thayer for selecting one of my favorite Disney characters: Cruella deVille! Cruella's question is: what is something you really want but aren't allowed to have?

If you'd have asked me this question two months ago, I would've said a boyfriend because I thought I had to wait until I was sixteen to date (let alone the boyfriend part), but after a deep conversation with my parents, I am now allowed to date and have had a boyfriend for about three weeks now. (Shout-out to Jacob! And also Thayer again, who ships us! ☺)

So that option is out. In all honesty, I'm pretty happy with what I've got.

I guess I've always wanted my own YouTube channel where I'd review music, but I'm not allowed to get one. Instead, I recently created a blog for reviewing music, so I'm content with that.

So that's that. Thanks again, Thayer! I'll get to your others on separate posts.
Hannah Renea

Oh, one last thing: that comment box is still open! I'll write about every character that you guys post to it, so keep 'em coming! ☺

Ariel

This post was requested by James! Ariel's question is Where do you think you belong, and why?

There are actually a few of places I think I belong.

I think I belong where I am right now: studying at Westlake Academy. Being a student is an occupation. We're payed in knowledge and a better understanding of the world around us. I belong where I am because I require skills to move forward.

I also think I belong on a beach. A warm, sunny beach with cool, clear waters. I love the beach, I always have.

I think I belong in Boston. I miss it so much. I'm looking into MIT. Turns out they have an outstanding English program, one of the top five in the country. I love the area, I love Cambridge, I love everything about Boston. I will live there someday.

I belong in Madison, Georgia. I love it there too. The farmlands give me a sense of just being home, despite the fact I barely lived there as an infant. I have family there, I suppose that's why.

That's where I belong.
Hannah Renea

Ask me questions

Alright so I've been getting complaints about not blogging in a while. I was going to go on this long rant and list excuses but I'd rather not because there really aren't any. I just haven't blogged.

To make it up to you guys, I'm posting a question deal done at the bottom of this post. Each question is assigned a Disney character. Comment below a name of a character and I'll write done the answer. Yes, I did get it from tumblr, no I do not have a tumblr. I do have a twitter.

I'm hoping to answer at least a few of these questions, so ask away!
Hannah Renea

Arbor Day

On Saturday, the town of Westlake hosted its annual Arbor Day. It's a pretty fun festival, with music, food, games, videogames (four of my favorite things!), and just an all around good time. I saw my friend Rahul there. He was volunteering for NJHS. I was supposed to volunteer, but I was also suppose to be out of town this weekend.

I got the overall high score of three at the ring toss booth and my boyfriend, Jacob, and I hung out in the video game truck. Mackenzee came also, and we found out that Mackenzee and I are mediocre at best when it comes to anything Xbox related.

Overall, I had a great time. I can't wait until the next big event: Bandana Bonanza! Details pending....
Hannah Renea

A Pretty Good Idea

I realized that I write a lot about music and songs I like. I'm thinking of starting a blog that centers around songs and artists I like. Don't worry, I won't just post lyrics because you could just go on a lyrics site and what fun would that be?

Music reviews. That's what the new blog will have. The more I think about it, the more I want to start one. Two things I love are music and writing. Why not combine them?
Hannah Renea

A Letter To Kailey

I just finished my letter to Thayer below, so now I'll write abut Kailey.

Kailey also has a blog where she's almost as adorable as she is in real life.

She turned fifteen exactly eight days ago. Eight is her favorite number, it always has been. She has really pretty blue/green/grey(?) eyes (her eyes have an identity crisis when it comes to color, I love it). Kailey's gorgeous and stuff.

If you like chick-flicks, love songs, or really anything romantic-related, then Kailey's your girl. Someday in like ten years, if I need help planning a wedding, I'll probably consult her, since she's been dreaming about hers since she was little. I can tell you first hand that this is true since I've known her since we were five.

Kailey is probably going to own her own designer boutique someday. She makes dresses in her free time. They turn out really nice too.

In conclusion, Kailey is an adorable, romantic, creative kid whose birthday was a week and a day ago. I love her as much as I love Thayer.
Hannah Renea

A Letter To Thayer

Thayer, I know you'll read this at some point, so can I just say that you are awesome?

To all other lovely readers: Thayer is one of my best friends. She makes art and has a blog and is amazing. I'm just going to dedicate this post to her because I can.

Recently, Thayer posted this gem to her blog. I'm just going to review it for a bit. The concept of this drawing comes from her and my friend Jacob, who put buckets on their heads in Theatre Arts class (I'm not really sure why, but nearly anything goes in Theatre). Now Jacob is in her drawing, but the girl is me.

I don't know where I was going with that story. I just really appreciate that drawing.

Another thing: Thayer's been fifteen for exactly a week now. I should've posted about that, but I've been neglecting my blog recently (I know, I'm sorry). Thayer throws awesome parties. We went to a museum and then we discovered that mixing root beer and Coke Zero makes your taste buds travel straight to cloud nine.

We also had sushi. It was my first time trying sushi. I was surprised that I actually really enjoyed it. We played a variation of tag called Yuck-Yum, which was loads of fun. Then we all went to the creek (the same one I mentioned ages ago here) and just hung out, which was awesome.

Another thing about Thayer: she has awesome taste in music and also food.

So in conclusion: Thayer is an artist, she throws awesome parties, her birthday was last week, and she's one of my favorite people.

Love ya, girl
Hannah

Reading Night

Alright, so apparently if I don't click the "publish" button, my blog posts don't get published. What a shocker.

You see, I wrote a post a few days ago and it vanished from existence because I neither published nor saved it. The thing I wrote about is no longer topical. Darn.

Maybe I should talk more about school. This blog is focused on the life of a high school student. The problem is that it's hard to write about school without boring people.

We recently finished Night by Elie Wiesel in English. It's a very short book, only about a hundred pages depending on which copy you got. But man, those hundred pages have so much emotion in them.

This shouldn't be much of a shock, but I loved this book. As an avid reader, it's very rare to find a book I was required to read that I truly didn't like. I would recommend Night, however I feel that I must put a disclaimer: this book is very very sad. It's a memoir about Wiesel's adolescent years going through the Holocaust. This book might make you cry. It made me cry.

It was very well written. He used a lot of fragmented sentences where just a single word grabbed hold of you and made you think. I circled the word "night" every time I could. Very appropriately named. The themes were so powerful: losing faith, holding on despite everything, the bond between father and son. It gripped my attention.

Like I said, it made me cry. There are many publications and translation variations of Night. Most of my peers owned the most recent one which had certain parts and paragraphs omitted. My copy, however, was published in the 1980s (I think) and on the copyright page, it literally says that not a single thing was taken out of the book. It was the raw emotion version of Night.

I remember one night while reading I actually had to place my bookmark in the book, set it down, and take a break. It had a very deep affect on me. You can research facts and statistics about the Holocaust, but nothing will touch you the way first-hand knowledge does.

Again, I would definitely recommend it because it was incredible, but be warned: it was very, very sad. I'd like to meet Elie Wiesel. I'd also like to get my hands on Dawn, the sequel.

Hannah Renea

Europe!

I recently got an app for blogspot so I haven't looked at my demographics recently. Hello, Italians! Hello, Polish people(?)! Hello Germans!

It's weird that people are consistently reading this. Not to mention that these people aren't just friends and family.

Well, I hope you guys enjoy my awkward.
Hannah Renea

Feeling Sentimental at the Moment

I never really realized how much I love The Zac Brown Band until my iPod shuffled to "Jolene".

I really love Southern Rock, Bluegrass, and Country. It reminds me of Georgia. Anytime I listen to those genres or this band, I feel as though I'm back on my grandparent's farm in Madison, Georgia.

I guess I've got country in my blood. It bothers me that so many people despise the genre. I suppose it bothers me because it's a really big part of me.

The Zac Brown Band really emphasizes a big part of where I come from, I big part of home. Though I play the cello, my favorite instrument is the fiddle. The chords energize me.

Sorry if this post seems dumb, but I'm just feeling sentimental at the moment.
Hannah Renea

Sleepy

We took Texas's standardized English tests yesterday. I'm not allowed to talk about the content about the test but I will say this: they wore me out.

Now I'm in study hall with nothing to do. I finished all of my homework. Since we had testing, we've had a week to do it, and one can only procrastinate so much. It's bittersweet: on one hand, I have nothing to do. On the other hand, I have nothing to do.

Might as well talk about school.

In English, we started a novel by Elie Wiesel called Night. It's about the Jewish concentration camps in WWII. By page 6 I was already saddened by it. So far it's a really sad book. I expect it'll be good though.

I'm also sending in an application for a mentoring program. I'll need to cut this post short for that.

Have a wonderful week,
Hannah Renea

Pinterest

So I recently wrote about my Figment addiction, well I've got a new one to accompany it: Pinterest.

It all started when I wanted a Tumblr. I asked my parents if I could get one (yes, I still ask for my parents' permission. Don't judge me). They didn't let me have one. They'd heard bad things about the site. Oh well.

Then, my friend Sarah sent me a Facebook invitation to Pinterest. I don't know if it's still like this, but Pinterest used to be very exclusive: you could get one unless you were invited.

So I was allowed in to this lovely little website, wrapped in pretty white paper and tied off with a red satin bow. And believe me, it's a heckuva lot nicer than tumblr.

For one thing, Pinterest allows you to give credit where credit is due. On tumblr, you can find a single picture in thousands of places before even giving the artist a second though. You can pin pictures from many sites, including (but not limited to) Tumblr, deviantART, Blogspot, and Wikipedia.

Another point is that Pinterest is highly organized. You don't need to sort through a bunch of threads before finding what you want. Everything is laid out in pretty little rectangles, and I really do like rectangles.

Pinterest is much more organized than Tumblr. Instead of searching through thousands of likes or reposts in the archives, everything is personally placed into your own separate filing cabinet. If I found a recipe a couple months ago that I'd like to try, I'll just look at my "Foods to Try" board.

You can pin from anywhere at any website. If there's a picture of some cute owl earrings on Etsy, you can pin it to Pinterst. Unfortunately, Tumblr does not have that option everywhere you go.

No smut! This is basically the "bad" stuff that I really never ever ever want to see ever creepy we don't post that. Not on Pinterest.

So there are my reasons to love Pinterest. Don't get me wrong, I still follow other Tumblr's and I'm not judging people who have them, this is just my preference.

Over and out,
Hannah Renea

Yet Another Song

Today I'm going to distract myself from the sadness that is Sarabeth's leaving. My blog posts have not done her justice, she truly has become a part of the family. You'd think she was our long lost sister or something. No really, she's exactly like us. She flies out today, and that's really upsetting. We're crossing our fingers that Mercersburg (where she's from) hosts Symposium next year. Otherwise, I'm going to riot or something.

Alright, back on topic: my distraction today shall be music. I'm going to state a few songs I've recently come to like, so you should all check them out.

• Shake, Shake, Shake by Bronze Radio Return.


• Kings and Queen by 30 Seconds To Mars.


• I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz.


• Stay by Sugarland.


• In Between by Linkin Park.

There. I tried to provide a variety of genres because I listen to pretty much everything. Also, there was a dance for the Symposium, and they played a ton of club music (no surprise there). They did, however, play Ho Hey by The Lumineers and Some Nights by fun., which are both good even if they're overplayed.

There you have it, music to check out. All of those songs are songs I like, so don't worry: they're quality material.

Also, suddenly everyone I know is getting blogs? I think I started a trend. Weird.
Hannah Renea

International Day

Today our school threw a festival for International Day, which was a lot of fun. It was for the Symposium. which is going great by the way; our family's guest is Sarabeth and she fits right in!)

Thayer and participated in the festival. We painted our faces a lot and acted as moving statues (like you'd see in Barcelona) or as mischievous mimes. There was great food from all over the world (my favorite was the German stew) and everybody had a great time.

When I say Thayer and I painted our faces, I mean we covered our faces in color. She had a white background with red, yellow, and orange on her eyes. I was completely blue with a green swoop on half of my face and purple dots. We also sprayed our hair, hers being red and mine black.

Boy, my shower was colorful afterwards.

We spent the fair mostly not talking, messing with people (good-natured-ly), and mirroring each other. I even saw my friend Sarah from Scribblers. She was at the Ireland booth because it's pretty much her favorite place in the whole world.

Sarah and her sister (also the school librarian) Cassie dubbed me an ambassador of Ireland because I snagged them some apple pie from the Romanian booth. What can I say? That apple pie was pretty good.

There was this one kid who kept trying to make Thayer and I talk, but we wouldn't crack. Now, I couldn't hold a straight face to save my life, but not-talking isn't all that hard.

Also, our friend Harrison was a traditionally Parisian mime. We all shared the same plot space at the festival. For some reason everyone including Thayer and I messed with him, but nobody messed with the two who were literally black and blue all over. Weird.

People also took lots of pictures with us Street Performers. That was lots of fun.

International Day was a blast. I hope we throw another festival next year. It wouldn't be as fun without the guests from the Symposium though...maybe we should just host the Symposium every year!

I'd definitely be okay with that, especially if we were to host someone as awesome as Sarabeth!
Hannah Renea

Back to School

School's officially back in and I am sitting in study hall and I have nothing to do.

Boy, that was a run-on sentence.

I'm actually very excited to be back in school. After school I'm doing a presentation on the world's greatest cartoon character: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Alright, best. Project. Ever.

I did a prezi on it, which is basically a cool little tool to use in presentations with a lot of animation and stuff. Check it out, it's a lot of fun to use.

Since I have nothing to do in study hall (I got all my work done over the break), this is an excellent opportunity to work on editing Assignment.

Woo-hoo, school!
Hannah Renea

To Anyone Who May Be Intimidated By Me....

I'm the fifteen year old who squealed and did a happy dance when she walked downstairs on Christmas morning to find that Santa left her an Oswald plushie doll in her stocking and then rushed upstairs to grab her Mickey plushie and introduce them.

So seriously folks.

I'm not intimidating. I'm a genius five year old in an awkward fifteen year old's body.
Hannah Renea

P.S. for anyone who wants to know: Oswald and Mickey get along with little-to-no sibling rivalry.

St. Patrick's Day

Beannachtaí na Féile Páraic oraibh!

That's Irish for "Happy St. Patrick's Day"! I hope nobody got pinched today.

Today was a good day overall. We mostly relaxed, I went on a few walks with sisters, we all wore plenty of green, we munched on shamrock shaped sugar cookies.

My family's Irish and while my household doesn't celebrate very much, my relatives do. Typically there are parades and festivities to go to. Most of this year's parades were held yesterday because if people are busy at the parade, then how will they go to church on Sunday?

Yesterday, my uncle and his girlfriend took a trip down to Savannah, Georgia. It's a really nice town that celebrates St. Paddy's day with much gusto (I love that word...gusto). They went to their parade yesterday and today my uncle surprised his girlfriend...or should I say fiancé.

They got engaged! I'm very excited, my aunt-to-be is really sweet and I can't wait to start calling her "Aunt"! So within about a year I'll be attending their wedding.

Now, I'm not as wedding-obsessed as my good friend Kailey, however I do find proposals to be absolutely adorable. All in all, a really good St. Patrick's day. I hope yours was good too!
Hannah Renea

Figment

I'm addicted to a website called Figment. Figment is a site that revolves around young adult stories, young adult readers, and young adult writers. It's kind of like a social network site for writing. I have a feeling if you mashed Goodreads and Pinterest together, you'd wind up with Figment.

Of course, this means it's my perfect procrastination site. If you follow Thayer's blog, and you know that her new obsession is her deviantART, then you've got a good idea as to how much I love Figment.

In case you're wondering: yes, I have my own page and yes, you can view what writing I've published from there. I appreciate feedback.

As of now, I've only submitted a couple of my flash fictions, one of which was posted on this blog a while back. The other flash fiction is something I recently wrote in Scribblers. Like I said, feedback is accepted. I'd prefer if the feedback were more centered around the content rather than organization and grammar/syntax cough, cough, Thayer.

So tell me what you think of my new obsession.
Hannah Renea

2013

Well, 2012 is over. I gotta say, it was a pretty good year overall. I'm going to go over highlights and resolutions for 2013.

• I got to take a trip to Boston, Massachusetts. Seriously, these residential trips get better every year. In May 2012, my grade went up North. It was a ton of fun, every minute of it. I got the priviledge of rooming with three of my best friends (including Thayer and Kailey), we went on adventures everyday, and sometimes we were able to explore places on our own (using the buddy sytem, of course), such as The Quincy Market and John F. Kennedy's museum. My friends helped me concur fears when we were atop skyscrapers, they urged me to try new things at the restaurants, and overall I felt much closer to them. Someday, I will live in Boston. Hopefully my friends will visit me.
• I started a blog. Not much to elaborate on this one. In June 2012, I started my first blog where I just ramble on and on and I somehow get viewers. So, awesome!
• I went to Orlando, Florida in July 2012. If you've been reading my posts a while, you'd know awesome it was. Universal was awesome, and Walt Disney World is possibly my favorite place to go in the world. If Walt Disney World were in Boston, I'm positive that I would spend an eternity there.
• I met someone really awesome. Guys, I'm a teenage girl, I try not to bog this blog with girly gawking over boys. I'll just go ahead and say that in September of 2012, I met this guy. I can't say much about him though because I don't know if he reads this blog or not. Maybe I'll work up the nerve to tell him how I feel...if it goes well I might talk about it.
• I finished a novel. Well, I finished the first draft of a novel. I still need to do the editing...which means I'll be looking at stuff that's been collecting dust since 2011. Don't judge me....
• I started the sequel to said novel. I actually like the sequel more. It has more action, more character development characters in general. I'm excited to finish the prequel and move back towards the prequel.

So those are the key things I've done thus far in 2012. Now, onto the *drumroll please* NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS!

1. Finish editing my first novel, Assignment. I'd like to get a manuscript completed so I can get it published and move onto to finishing the next. Although I like the sequel more, I already know that I'll absolutely hate editing it because it's written out of order and that'll just be a pain. Oh well, one step at a time I suppose.
2. Make up my mind. I told my friend about this one and drove him completely nuts because I wouldn't tell him what I'm making up my mind about. Truth is, I can't decide on something and I can't decide on whether or not I'd like to tell people of that something yet. Does that make sense?
3. Go to another college fair. Seriously, that college fair that was held at our school a while back was tons of fun for me. I really hope I'll get an opportunity to attend another soon. Who knows? Maybe a representative from a university in Boston would come? You never know....

So that's it so far. I've told you all about some key points from last year, now it's your turn. Tell me, viewers: what were some interesting things that happened to you in 2012? What are you looking forward to in 2013? What are some New Years Resolutions you have? I'd love to hear from people who actually read this blog, that'd be interesting.

For now, live long and prosper,
Hannah Renea