...ShEs CoLd AnD ShEs CrUeL bUt ShE KnOwS WhAt ShEs dOiN...

Okay so I'm home. Plane ride was...well, interesting to say the least. But also the scariest plane ride EVER because we took off in the rain and then flew through the storm clouds. Real cool mother nature. Whatever.
And Keila is leaving today for PineCove without me :( :( :( That kinda sucks.
But on a good note...ELIZABETH LEE SPRING IS HOME SWEET HOME! So I'm going to spend the whole day with her! Gosh I cant wait, she's amazing!
I miss Heather Davis a LOT.

School starts in 11 days. I'm not ready. Physically, mentally, and especially emotionally. I might have to stab my self with pencils, or sit in those big nasty trashcans until they take them to the dump, or suffocate myself with pom poms.

Really. I'm not ready.

The Club Strikes Back...

Well I'm here. The plane did not crash and I did not die and all is well.
It's really nice to see my grandparents but I feel extremely out of place every time I come. Not only is this place an "assisted living complex," meaning its all elderly people, but its extremely formal.
For example: I was not met at the airport by my grandma, she doesn't really like to drive far, but instead by my extremely well-off uncle, Mitch. You know, the one that lives in an actual Georgia mansion, with three cars, a personal pond/lake, and all the horses. Yeah.
When we got here we did not hug and hang-out like my mom's side of the family would. Instead we shook hands and sat in her sitting area to catch up. We did not lean back in the chairs and put our feet up, but we sat on the edge of the seats with our ankles crossed. Seriously.
This is a very napkin-in-the-lap sort of place.
At dinner we had more silverware than food options and I just felt really awkward.
I dont really "do" the whole polite, formal, manners-oriented thing well.
But I'm surviving. Last night I played scrabble with my grandma and two of her friends, and today we took a tour of Atlanta, including both the downtown area as well as the "beverly hills of Georgia." We saw areas that were inhabited only by the homeless, and not 20 minutes later we were touring through 30,000 sq. foot homes. Kind of ironic if you ask me.
But it was really interesting. It reminded me a lot of Houston in that it seemed like the government used more money on building stadiums and a new aquarium (expected to be the largest in the country,) than they did on shelters for the homeless.
Americans really have our priorities screwed up.
Nonetheless it's nice to be here. My dad, brother, and I are all out of town at the same time so I think everyone is enjoying their break away from eachother. My brother is doing hard labor with my grandpa on the other side for a week and a half - that should be interesting, my dad's in California until tonight, and I'm here. Awkwardly trying to fit in with the wealthy georgia culture. I'll let you know how that goes.

Funny story:
Our tour today included a stop for lunch at the Pleasant Peasant. There were many options, none of which sounded good to me so I stuck with my usual Club Sandwich. Now I was doing fine until I actually got my food. I was drinking tea out of a glass, I hadn't dropped it, my napkin was in my lap and my legs were crossed. Which is actually saying a lot for me. But then they delivered my sandwich and it all went down hill. First, and this will be funny for only Brent and Nathan, I started to eat, trying to be as lady-like as possible, and forgot to take those stupid little toothpicks out again. So as I took a bite the stupid thing stabbed me right in the nose and I definently started bleeding. I mean, it was barely noticable but there was definently blood and people definently saw. After that as I was standing up to use the restroom I knocked over my water glass, dropped my napkin, and hit the lady behind me with my chair. And all at the same time. I must admit, that takes skill.

...AnD aLL i WaNt iS NoT To NeEd yOu NoW...

Okay even though all of you SUCK with comments these days, I thought I'd have the decency to tell you that I am leaving to go out of town tomorow. I'll be in Atlanta, Georgia until Saturday, enjoying the greatness that is my grandparents. Actually I'll probably be extremely bored but I'm taking my summer reading project (why??) and some other good reads, plus my journal (which i havent written in in FOREVER) so I'll stay busy. Hopefully I'll have access to a computer there so I can update even though you punks wont comment because you're all DUMB.
They should be fairly interesting posts as well due to the strange state of mind that I've been in as of late. I'm not sure I like it. I pray that its not the start of one of the infamous "funks" people talk about, but I'm not sure what else it could be. I just feel as if I'm more insane now that I ever have been before. Almost to the point that I'm not even sure what I mean anymore.
I dont know.
Hopefully this trip will help me get away from all the crap that is surrounding me. Namely my brother. Just to go five days without hearing him screaming at people or my parents bitching about him will be fantastic.
I dont know. Like I recognize that I joke around about hating my life and wishing I was dead and such, but today I was just thinking about it and my life is really like amazing. I mean, I have a family who, grant it, has their issues but they love me, my friends (the ones that actually care about me) are fantastic, I live in an awesome neighborhood, I go to a church with amazing people who really embrace the concept of being a church "family," and I really don't have much to complain about. Now I'm not saying that I'll stop complaining, but I think you should all know that I really don't hate my life.
I'm making no sense, ugh, I'm just gonna go.
Don't forget me while I'm gone!

Oh and if I die in a plane crash tomorow, (because I'm flying ALONE and i hate flying,) please remember that the fact that you never comment on my xanga doesn't mean that I don't love you. But it should mean that you'll feel that much worse when I'm dead.
Just saying.

CoMe BaCk To TeXaS!

Last night was Music Camp performance. Keila and I got to watch our four girls performance the dance/rountine thing that we made and it was AWESOME. My little sister did really good and enjoyed watching herself later on the video camera. It was really fun to see all my super cool, little kid friends having so much fun on stage. Talk about awesome.
Then Keila, Alex, Bethany and I headed down to the MS camp out. We creamed them with water balloons which is always fun, and until Nathan decided to announce over the megaphone that I needed to be hit, I stayed virtually untouched. But then I had about three boys kill me with balloons and Daniel Riskey popped one over my head. So basically I was soaking wet, but it was still fun. Then we headed back to the site, claimed tents, worshipped, and just hung out for a while. I was in a tent with three girls, two sixth graders and an eight grader. They were super cool. We definently skipped out on the "girls party" that Keila's tent threw and had our own. Complete with chewy Chips Ahoy cookies and everything. I definently loved every second of it. It was so weird though because I do not feel like im old enough to be a "leader." I mean I was JUST in middle school it seems. It felt really weird. But it was still an absolute blast.
Then this morning I woke up at 6:15 and walked down to the lake/pond/fountain with Alex and Keila. Later on Shelby, Lauren, Bethany, and Kelsey joined. We had fun.
And on top of everything I helped take down TWO WHOLE TENTS. I did a good job, too. I'm proud.
Right so now I'm basically just hanging out with my mom and sister because my dad's out of town and my brother decided that he doesnt live here anymore. Isn't he a sweety? So we're going to thrift world and I'm excited!
Keila left for two weeks. :( I should be going to Pine Cove week 10 with her, but oh yeah, brandon ruined that one too.
Oh well. I leave Tuesday for Atlanta. I'm flying. By myself. And its gonna suck. But whatever.
I'll at least get to work on my book, I really have to finish it. Right, well I'm gonna go take a shower because I'm so gross from camping.

SeMi-ChArMeD KiNd Of LiFe

Music camp is amazing. I really love being there. But today was a little harder than monday and tuesday. I was up kind of late last night due to my insane brother so I didn't get much sleep. Plus we ran late on the way to the church this morning and I had to miss out on my coffee fix. That and six hours of screaming kids...
I'm utterly exhausted.
And I'm sure most of the other volunteers feel the same.
But I dont' know. It's worth it. Yesterday a little girl that is being raised in a Jewish home accepted Christ. I don't really know her but it's that kind of thing that really makes helping out easier.
On a different note, PineCove called to let me know that if I choose to spend a week there this summer, I get a pretty nice discount because of some contest I entered. I would absolutely love to go but I'm not sure if it's all that responsible to spend my money on one week of summer.
I don't know.
I hate decisions.
But I love coffee, so I'm gonna go get some.
Oh and by the way everyone should come see the music camp show this friday night at 7:00. It's gonna be super fun!

Eeeeverybody Loves Liz...

This is my tribute to my absolute FAVORITE person in the whole wide world...Elizabeth Lee Spring.

For those of you who dont know, liz spring is currently at camp in Ingram, Tx. She will not be returning until the 3rd of August.

I'm sure you all miss her, of course not nearly as much as I do, but everyone misses Liz when she is gone.

So...if you would like to truly show her how much you care about her and how much you love and adore her, you could write her a letter.

Her adress is...
LiZ SpRiNg
Vista Camps
175 Rio Vista Rd.
Ingram,TX 78025

If you write her...she will absolutely love you forever...because Liz Loves Letters. They make her very happy... If you do not write her, she'll probably hate you and wish death upon you. But it's your choice.

Think it over...

i sWeAr ThAt i CaN gO oN FoReVeR, AgAiN...

Mmm summer...
We all love it. No school, homework, gay teachers, or studying. More sleep, less responsibilities, more time to spend with friends and family. Vacations and road trips and time to rest. Sunshine, tanning, swimming, boating. It's great. We look forward to it all year. And those are the things we remember about it. The good times. And the memories.
But what I seem to always forget about are the moments that really bring me down. When temptations surround me and I find myself extremely weak and vulnerable. Now I realize that temptations are just as prevalent during the school year as they are in June and July, but the point is that there seem to be more oppertunities to screw up, and to be quite honest, not get caught.
Now I'm not implying that I've been commiting any terrible crimes recently, but it just seems extremely important, for me at least, to be especially careful with the situations I put myself in.
My fear is that last summer will repeat itself.
I mean, I'm a bitter person as it is, but last summer I was literaly the queen of anger. And selfishness. And the "i really just dont give a shit" attitude.
Don't believe me? Just ask Nathan, or Keila for that matter.
I hurt a lot of people, as well as myself. I lost friendships that I cherish now and relationships with my family. I hated it.
I really wasn't planning on going into all that, but my point is summer is a time to really work on staying foccused on whats important. Sorting out priorities and all that. And its really hard.
Which makes it that much cooler to me that God understands all that and wants to carry us through it.

I dont know, thats just whats on my mind this week.

That, and how amazing some of my friends are.

Destin: Part Two

as if part one wasnt long enough...
but i really want to get to the fun part of the trip.

So lets see...I see the shark. I get out of the water. Then my mom, because she talks to everyone in the whole world even if she doesn't know them, started talking to this lady. Then the lady informed us that the hotel/condo thing we were staying in was suggesting that everyone pack up and leave due to the storm that was destined to hit 48 hours LATER. Gay. So my dad went to the front office to find out what was going on and the told him that if we could get out of our room by 1:00 they would refund us for one night. One night. Gay. They proceeded to tell him that they were going to shut the power off at 9 o'clock the next morning. So basically it was, "you dont have to leave, but if you dont, you'll have no power, and we'll make your stay miserable until you do." Well my dad decided that we didn't really have a choice, so we left the beach at 11:30am, packed, showered, and left by 1:08pm. Aparently, the rest of Florida had the same idea, and we sat in traffic for 2 hours waiting to just get out of destin, much less Florida. Well needless to say we were not happy people, our vacation was cut short, and we were sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. And may I just say, if you have not been around my dad when he's in a bad mood, then you have no idea the hell that it really is. I love him, but really, he's ridiculous sometimes.
Anyway, so we drove for the rest of the day, stopping for gas and food only until we reached Mobile, Alabama. My sister and I were both born there, we moved 6 months after she was born but its pretty much where I grew up. We took a small detour to our old house. It was much smaller than I remembered, but just as cute. It's a 3 bedroom, yellow house with a huge back yard. Well huge on Highland Village standards, for Alabama its decent sized. We stopped by our neighbors to see if they remembered us, and of course they did. I was 7 when we moved away, Brandon was 10, and like I said, Bridget was just a baby, so it was definently weird to see them now that we're so much older. I grew up with their kids. We played in our back yard mostly, and the empty lot next door to us which now has a house on it. They of course are grown up now too, and it was crazy to see them. But we had fun. We were there for about 30 minutes which my Dad wasn't too happy about but I didnt care. It was a really great experience.

We heard rumors along the road that there were no vacancies in any hotels through Louisianna. Well they weren't lying. We drove, and drove, and drove. For 15 hours actually. We stopped and asked at hotels everywhere, and no one had a room. I mean NO ONE. Then, at four in the morning, we found a crappy Motel 6 in Monroe, Louisianna with one room left. Two twin beds. Nothing else. And there are 5 people in my family. Four of which are adult sized. But we took it. And we slept. You have to understand that my car, with all of our luggage and our bodies, has absolutely no room whatsoever for movement of any sort. I sat indian style, leaning over completely sideways onto the cooler. The whole time. So any way of stretching out to rest was magnificent, regardless of lack of space and breathable air. 3 hours late, 7 am to be exact, my dad woke us up to head back out on the road. He's INSANE. But he's also bigger than us so we complied. Back in the car for what should have been a 5 ish hour drive. But no. It took 9.
We reached Terrell, Texas which is really only about 60 miles out of Dallas, and hit more bumper to bumper traffic. According to the lady in the Suburban in front of us there was a 6 hour delay on highway 80 due to a multiple-fatality/18-wheeler accident.

Well my parents weren't about to sit in our car for 6 more hours so we made our own way. We ended up driving way north of Dallas and then back down, or something like that, I dont really know. But what I do know is that we drove through a lovely, scenic part of Texas. Complete with tiny, southern towns that I didn't even know existed in Texas. I spend way too much time in the Flowerplex.

We finally pulled into our driveway at 4:30 pm. We unpacked the car and slept. In our own beds. Stretched out. And it was great.

So as a whole, the trip kinda blew. But at least I came out of it with some pretty good stories. Sun burn and Marinara sauce burn. Bad service and bad weather. But it was cool. And we accomplished our goal of spending family time together. 24 hours in a car, and a day at the beach.

I guess it's good to be home though. We'll See.

Destin: Part One

Well. I'm home. I'm sure you all missed me TONS.

This could get boring...but I want to get all my trip "stuff" and stories out, so here goes...

We left for Destin at about 9 am from Sylacauga, Alabama after saying goodbye to my grandparents. The drive took about 6 hours with traffic and weather conditions, we went straight through a tropical storm. It wasn't too bad, I like driving through the rain, and as soon as we arrived the storm passed and the sun came out. We unloaded everything into our AMAZING condo, complete with two bedrooms, a living room, a pretty big kitchen, and a beach-front balcony. Then changed and went down to the beach. The storm had ruined two of the three stairways down to the sand and tossed TONS of brown, nasty seaweed onto the beach, along with a pretty good amount of debris. My personal favorites were three steps from the above-noted destroyed stairway, and a super old, blackened coconut. It was a pretty ugly site, but that didnt stop us from getting completely covered in sand and salt. I got in the water about knee deep and then right back out. I was pretty proud.

After than we went back to the room, showered, changed and had dinner at a Captain Dave's, a nice resteraunt located right on the beach, with good food and terrible service. Our waiter was a total loser and really made us mad, he got two of our orders wrong, forgot my drink, and spilled water all over my dad. It was kinda funny, but extremely irritating. I ordered the chicken parmasean (sp?) which was pretty good until I flung the sauce all over myself, burning my arm. I still have a mark.

We went back to the room and my parents and sister left for the grocery store. Brandon and I rocked out to Aaron's Party and Elton John, and then went down to the beach. And may I just say that there is NOTHING in the whole, wide world that is more amazing than the beach at night. I loved it, except my brother threw me in the water and I was SO scared I though I might die. AND the ocean ate my FAVORITE beach shorts so I'm extremely depressed.

Anyway, we went back to the room and fell asleep. We were all pretty tired from the drive and such. But that didn't stop my parents from waking us up at 7 o'clock the next morning to head down to the beach. Brandon and I went straight to the water and were only in there for about 5 minutes when a "lifeguard" - really just a person with a red shirt who sits around and tans all day - told us that we had to get out. So we of course asked why, and he said, "well because of the storm the under-toe is really strong today so we are flying a double red flag which means if you are caught in the water you will recieve a $200 fine." Normally, we would say OK and get out, but no more than 50 feet down the beach there were tons of people in the water. So naturally we were extremely confused, and I wasnt about to let some "im-so-hott", fake blonde, tounge ring boy ruin my trip. So I was like "well why can all of them be in the water, but we cant." And he sound all irriated and was like "Well THEY dont have a lifguard like YOU are lucky to have so no one is telling them to get out." I hate people like him. And he really made me mad. So I said "Well then what is stopping us from walking away from my "lifeguard" (and i did the little quote fingers) and swim down there with them?" That really ticked him off...so he said "well nothing, but if you get sucked under and drowned that's you're own fault" and he walked away. It was really funny, and I'm not usually the person who makes a big deal out of things but he caught me at a bad time, I mean it was 7:30 in the morning afterall, so I was a little snappy. I thought my parents would be pissed but they thought it was funny too.

So I spent the first half of the day building sand castles with my sister and laying out, and then we moved down the beach and enjoyed ourselves in the water. I went waist-deep. It was intense, but I didnt die.

We left the beach around 6, had dinner, played this amazing charades game, and went to sleep.

The next day, which was friday, my dad woke me up at 7 and told me to run outside to the balcony. I was still half asleep, but I went anyway and sure enough there was a family of 6 dolphins swimming and jumping right infront of our condo. I love dolphins. They are my second favorite animal, following baby hippos. It was a really cool site, but I went back to sleep about 10 minutes later. When we all woke up we went down to the beach for our last full day there. They were flying the yellow flag that day which meant you could swim but to be carefull. Stupid flags. We noticed that the complimentary beach chairs were not out, which irritated my parents, but we didnt think too much of it. We all got in the water and I was really brave. I went so far out that at one point my feet couldnt even touch the ground. It was really intense.

I saw a fin in the water. I freaked out. I mean I REALLY freaked out. I told my dad about it, and he saw it too. Then it dissapeared and about 15 seconds later a dolphin jumped out of the water in the same area that we saw the fin. He thinks the fin was the dolphin. I think it was a shark chasing the dolphin that jumped. I could have died. So I got out of the water.

Ugh ... So tired ...

To Be Continued...

When We've Only Got 100 Years To Live...

Well turns out I can post afterall. I didnt really think about using my grandparents computer until I got here.

Anyway, I'm not feeling any more patriotic today than most other days. I wore red, black, and silver today, not red, white, and blue. I didn't hear any patriotic songs on the radio. I never said the pledge. So I'm not much of a Fourth of July kind of girl. My grandpa said we might be able to see fireworks from the roof of the barn tonight so maybe that will help, but other than that, I'm not really celebrating. Now don't get me wrong, I understand how lucky we are to live in America. I'm just saying that I dont feel any different today than I will tomorow, or the next day. Days like September 11th...thats when I feel patriotic. But the fourth of July doesn't really hit me that much. And to be honest, I think these days it's more about the fireworks and family get togethers than patriotism anyway, so its not just me. But I still feel guilty about it.

I hope you all are enjoying your day, though. I woke up extra early to go to the 100th anniversary of the Bolton family reunion. It was just like I predicted it. But much prettier. It was out in the country on a mountain with a lake. It was beautiful. But extremely boring. Lots of old people that couldn't understand my name. I said every time, I'm Bailey, Glenda's granddaughter. And they'd say "Oh Billy! How is your grandma." or "Daily...what a beautiful name." I corrected the first few, then just smiled and let it go. I really don't care. It's not like they will remember me or my name in a few weeks. Or even tomorow. But also like I predicted, the food was wonderful. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn and green beans, fresh fruit from my grandpa's land, biscuits and gravy, plus plenty of homemade brownies, cakes, and pies. You just can't beat southern cooking.

So tomorow we'll hang out here for the last day. I think we're gonna go fishing and spend the day on the farm. I know you people think I'm this stupid, girly cheerleader that hates the outdoors and can't take down a tent (cough Nathan and Bethany cough,) but I cast a mean line. Those bass better watch their backs.

Then Wednesday it's beach time baby. We'll drive down to Destin to check in by 3, and then we're beaching it up for the rest of the week. I'm so excited.

My brother is taking his laptop but I dont know if I'll be able to get online in the condo. If so I will definently update you on whats going on in Florida, but if not I'll do it when I get home on Saturday.

This trip is definently what the doctor ordered.

Happy fourth.