January 31

Let's get one thing out of the way...it's January 31...this month has completely flown by! I must be getting old or something ;)

Ok.

Guess who went to her first Bixby sporting event tonight! That's right. This girl! I'm glad that Toni got me to come with her to tonight's blackout game because it was a lot more fun than I had worked high school games up in my head. We sat in the student section (wow...Bixby students are very good at cheering and chanting and clapping) (that stupid sounding...but I went with the parallel structure with all words starting with C just for the heck of it) (again...my nerdy and quirky-ness showing through) (wow...that was an excessive amount of side noted parentheses)

ANYWAY

We sat in the student section directly under the vent so we had no trouble with the room getting too hot as it continued to fill with more and more avid Bixby fans. There was a great turnout for tonight's blackout game against Jenks (our rival school) and it was a really good game. I actually followed most of the game and only had to ask a few questions. I even got into cheering with everyone and participating in the student section hand gestures (it was a triangle-like sign that would swoosh up and open every time a basket was made) for every time we had a foul shot (is that right? a foul shot?). AND we won!!!! Go Bixby!!!

I brought my camera with me and even went over to the upper side area of the stands to get a good picture of the day but alas, I went with my phone picture to capture the essence that is the Bixby student section. A little side note...I also effectively mastered the art of taking a panorama picture with my phone at this very moment!

January 30

It's the little things in life that can accent the positivity in every moment. Things like awesome long texts from one of your best friends (which I saw after my AP physics class and that totally made my morning!) or after school treats for no reason from your awesome mom (she got home and brought me a fountain drink from Kum & Go which was a fun surprise to have after school) or captured moments in time of your little kid strange-ness (I bet this is why Throwback Thursday has become such a viral thing!)...(HEY it's Thursday!...so the out of focus background of today's picture actually goes with the whole Throwback Thursday trend!)

January 29

J'adore ma classe de français! J'aime ma prof de français et les élèves de ma classe. C'est le meilleur moment de mon jour à l'école presque tous les jours.

The past couple of weeks (I'm pretty sure this is what we've been doing for the entire semester so far...so like 3 or 4 weeks) we have been on my teachers' newly created lesson on Martinique. Let me just say....Martinique is beautiful! We discuss this often while we look at pictures of everything there is to see on this French Caribbean island. Let's take a class trip to Martinique!

We have our test tomorrow and so I (being the studious student I am) decided it would be a good idea to rewrite EVERYTHING we have on Martinique to study. But I color coded it so it's interesting to study from. Today in class to study we played charades. CHARADES! We were divided into teams and I actually benefited from the game in more ways than I thought I would. I will now remember many of the vocabulary words from the actions that certain people would use to act out the words and I will definitely remember the word that I got when I had to go up to the front of the room and FROZE. (I know...you're thinking "What? Emma? Freeze in front of a classroom? No!" But yes...) However my team was able to guess what I was trying to act out even though the exact definition had completely escaped my mind at that exact moment in time. (GOSH EMMA GET OVER YOU'RE STRANGE FRONT OF CLASSROOM FEAR!)

Have I mentioned how much j'adore this class? I mean...rewriting all of my vocabulary and the key points from my notes didn't even seem like studying/difficult homework. I know. I'm a nerd...but at least I can admit it freely.

January 28

Today was a pretty normal day. I have nothing interesting that I could write about to describe the events of my day. I can try...lets see...it's still cold here but no snow (like the snow in other parts of the country that I see pictures of on Facebook)...I went to school...yep...that's it...

So I wanted to have a picture other than say...my pillow when I realized that I had not taken a picture.

Mom and I went out looking for a picture but we got gas instead...which was good because I needed gas in my car or else I would have a sad evening stranded on the side of the road. Not that I would ever let that happen!

This is what I came up with for today. I have found that it is starting to stay lighter longer! (not much longer but it is no longer pitch black at 5!) 

I finally caught up with my postings! Time to breathe...and maybe start my homework... ;)

January 27

The air today was one thing. Cold. As I stepped out of the science building this afternoon to walk across the campus to go to my 7th hour it was like being smacked in the face with a very cold smacking object. ;) Then after 7th hour I again had to brave the cold and walk to the car out by the football stadium (how dare I have to go outside again!...she said sarcastically)

ANYWAY

I found that hot chocolate was the answer to my frozen limbs.

After all...it is January and thus the winter weather should not be a surprise or a problem...
#Oklahomaproblems
:)

January 26

Day 2 of the weekend of BEAUTIFUL weather.

And you will be happy to hear that I did, in fact, go outside today!!! We took a family hike around Turkey Mountain this afternoon in the 70 degree Tulsa air. It was mine and Bess's first time to Turkey Mountain and it was packed full of people who all had the same idea as us, that today was a good day to get some fresh air and enjoy the outdoors on this warm January day. But we found a parking spot and ventured out into the trail through the mountain. It was really beautiful out there. Hey you people that don't live here! You should come visit me and we can go do fun touristy stuff around Tulsa and enjoy the view of our mid-sized city from the top of the only mountain in the entire state. (that may or may not be an exaggeration)

We got fresh air and exercise. Enough exercise for me to be able to say with no regrets that it was okay to eat Chipolte for lunch and Chinese takeout for dinner. (not that that would have bothered me anyway...)

January 25

Today was truly a beautiful day.
However...
I am a hermit.
So I managed to not take a single step outside.
GO HERMIT-NESS!!! ;)

But instead I managed to be very productive on my handy dandy laptop (which I love very much).

I also watched the video about selfies and the true beauty that makes everyone special that a friend shared on Facebook today. Click on link for video here.

It somehow sparked a decision to try to take a selfie in a different way than the typical "white-girl with a duck face" selfie that fills the everyday Instagram feed.

*disclaimer: I have never posted a typical solo selfie on Instagram before. If it is a self taken picture...it always has another person in it or is creatively positioned so the focal point of the picture is something else other than myself. ;)

January 24

It's FRIDAY!!!

Not only that...but it's GIRLS NIGHT!!!

So what do my sister and I do on our night to ourselves?

Pizza, singing in the car, Beauty and the Beast, and then fall asleep in the chair downstairs way earlier than a normal teenager on a Friday night. Yes. We had a blast together but somehow the Trew AND the Griffith in me told me that it was time to go to sleep in the chair in the middle of one of my FAVORITE Disney movies ever. Because that makes sense. I woke up and found Bess "watching" the Hunchback of Notre Dame but she had fallen asleep on the couch.

We're such party animals. You wish you were as cool as us.

It's a good thing I was able to wake up and force myself to wake my brain up so that I could take my picture of the day. ;) I got a sudden burst of determine-itity and decided to take a picture of the chair that likes to put people to sleep early on a Friday night. It's like it was working against our sister night...but it's so comfortable! I'm conflicted with you Chair! ;)

January 23

You know when you have something awesome planned but it just doesn't seem real because it's so far away and just doesn't seem like something that could every actually happen to you?

No...that's just me...okay...

Well I got some very fun (?) mail today! I can now officially leave the country with my very own and very new United States Passport!!!

Say it isn't so!

I'm going to Italy with the one and only Megan Barnard!!!
and the Severna Park High School Latin club

Today's picture is brought to you via my Instagram post from this afternoon. I know for this blog I have to physically take every picture every day but I seriously could not post a legit selfie on my 365. So instead I have a picstitch with the assistance of my "assistant photographer for the day" Miss Megan. Double the selfie. Double the Passports. Double the states. Double the excitement for this summer.
Thanks Megan for sharing your beautiful selfie taking skills with my 365 for today!

WE'RE GOING TO ITALY!!!

January 22

The elective fair...or is it the activities fair (?)...I don't really know...

Anyway...

The club/elective/activity fair was today at school in the multipurpose building. It was an all day event where the 8th graders were bused over every hour to walk around and look at what the high school has to offer as far as electives to take during the day and clubs to join after school. I was working at the Junior Optimist Club table. Not the most popular club among 14 year olds...but I had a good time with the girl I was working with! I learned a lot while I was out at the fair for 3.5 hours too, such as:

8th graders are awkward.
Was I that awkward? (of course...and I'm still fairly awkward in situations such as this today...at 17 years old)
Ummmmm.....
That's all I can think of really....
But I got to miss two of my classes this morning so that was a plus!

During the 10ish minute breaks between buses of 8th graders (every hour there would be a break) I hung out with my fellow French club friends who were having an equally awkward experience with these 8th graders. It was a really great experience though and I'm glad I was able to help out and spread the word about this new club at Bixby.

January 21

Taking a picture every single day for 21 days has really inspired me to try harder to get a super cool or beautiful picture of the day. It has helped to improve my eye to find something noteworthy to find each and every day. It helps when a certain sister of mine is in need of audition pictures for the ballet scene. It also helps when a photographer has a beautiful subject. I took her audition pictures but then I noticed the awesome mirror along the back wall of the stage that we were on. Let me bring some more light to this. We were taking pictures on the Tulsa Ballet STAGE. The stage. There is something truly awesome about being on a stage that is home to a professional company and school. I haven't been on a stage in any shape or form in over a year. (a YEAR!!!) It was really cool to be taking pictures on the stage! Cool and different and her audition pictures will have a different background than the typical barre pictures. So here's what we came up with for the artistic photo of the day:

January 20

Days off from school are the best. They're even better when its absolutely gorgeous outside! (in January!) It was the perfect (ok...maybe not PERFECT but it was nice) day to wash "my" car (the one that I drive) and get all of the gross salt and dirt off the BLACK car from the snow we had two weeks ago. I really like clean cars but I don't like putting in the effort to have a clean car. Don't get me wrong...the inside of the car stays nice and tidy all the time because I do not want it to get cluttered but it's the outside and the carpet that I have issues with. So Daddy and I took the opportunity of this beautiful day to wash the gunk off the car. It was not as bad as I like to make physical labor out to be in my mind. In fact, it was nice to get to sit outside and put in a little elbow grease to have a nice clean car to drive to school.

Here's the shiny side of the vehicle. Go ahead and admire the shiny handle. ;) (*she said in a sarcastic tone) It is nice and shiny though, and is no longer covered in gross snow leftovers. AND it smells good! The end.

January 19

Who knew one could have so much fun watching a British historical drama?

Bess and I spent the afternoon preparing our Mexican "feast" while singing to our Disney Pandora station at the very top of our lungs. It was awesome.

Then the wonderful Miss Lee (our great teacher turned fabulous friend) came over for dinner and it was, again, so awesome. I don't think I have laughed that hard and that genuine in a while. Thanks Miss Lee!!!

We proceeded to partake in the years of old dance pictures because we were kind of on a roll with all of the little Emma and little Bess pictures we have around the house. 

Downton Abbey. The historical drama that we have become so attached to was even better watching it with another avid Downton girl. It was fun to see how things would make us laugh or gasp or exclaim with annoyance together. Before the episode started I prepared Bess and Miss Lee to take today's picture of the day with this background. The title came up onto the screen and then we let loose with our miniature photo shoot in our movie room.

Thank you Miss Lee for such a fantastic evening!!

January 18

I absolutely love little laughter ringing throughout a house. I got to spend the evening playing with two incredibly adorable kids and they totally made my night! We pulled out our gigantic dress up box and our Barbie box from the attic and put both boxes (and all the stuff inside of them) to good use. Annika (age 3) and I put on lots of different costumes and we played with the Barbies together. We also had a couple of weddings...but apparently I was doing it wrong so we would change the game and play something else. Bess and Hank (age 6) dressed up as a lion and a Gryffindor student and played chess. We danced around the upstairs multipurpose room and Bess and I sung all of the Annie songs that were playing. I had a blast with them!

This is what the room looked like while we were playing. It was craziness and happiness all mixed together. The amazing part was, they helped clean it all up when they were told that it was time to go. It was CRAZY!!! I loved it! They are seriously some of the sweetest kids!

January 17

You know when you see something truly amazing that it just HAS to be your picture of the day?

No..that's just me...oh well...

So this evening on my way home from picking up Bess from dance the blackness of the night was parted by the everyday sighting of the moon. But this wan't an everyday sighting of the moon. No. This evenings' moon was so huge and orange and beautiful that I just knew...this was going to be my picture of the day. Like the good photoblogger that I am, I did not have my nice DSLR camera with me in my car, nor did I feel the need to stop by the house and get it. I decided to settle with taking a picture with the good and user-friendly iPhone camera. That was the first mistake. I mean, have you ever seen a good picture of the moon taken with a phone? Second mistake...I was the one driving. So how was I planning of getting a picture of the moon without using my phone while driving? Good question. I decided it would be a good idea to drive down to the park to put the car in park to get a picture. Third mistake. Don't do that at 7:20 at night on a Friday night. Nothing bad happened! But there was a cop parked in said parking lot (to watch out for the local Bixby hooligans) so I couldn't stop there...that was probably a good thing now that I think about it. Not to mention that the moon had disappeared behind the trees by that street so it wouldn't have worked anyway.

Then the lovely and talented Bess mentioned how cool the road looked engulfed in darkness with only our headlights to part the black night.

Cue the actual picture that I ended up taking:

This photo was a group effort. Bess picked up my phone. Bess opened the camera. Bess placed the camera on top of the wheel. I pushed the big red button. Bess checked it to make sure it wasn't horrible.

To give Bess the credit that she deserves for her assistance I will add her quote that she recommended I use:

"The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone and I must follow if I can." ~JRR Tolkien

January 16

Storm Chasers. Twister. Tornado Chasers.
(there are probably a whole lot more but I honestly can't think of anymore or find anymore at the moment...)

These are all shows or movies that popularize literally chasing down storms to collect data, video footage, and pictures of the latest natural disaster in this country. I am in no way saying that what they do is wrong...it's just pretty crazy... ;)

However, this evening my mom and I took on our own version of these disaster chasers by grabbing our "gear" and running out to the car to go and chase down a good ol' Oklahoma sunset. The sky looked as if it was on fire and I knew that I needed a picture of the day so we drove down the street to get a better picture setting for capturing the sun. We pulled over on the side of the road and I proceeded to roll down the window and sit, hanging out of the car to get this:

Disclaimer:

                This photo came up on this post looking very strange and not at all what it looks like in iPhoto... I can't figure out what happened or how to get it to post correctly. (this isn't even what an unedited version of the photo looked like...) ...so... I guess I have to stick with what my lovely little devious computer has given me. 

January 15

You know you're in an AP Statistics class when your teacher starts off class saying that a virus has broken out within the class and the cure for it is Starbursts. Then the activity begins and we all have calculators with a special program on them to talk with other calculators. Some of the calculators have the "eboli" virus and then we proceeded to connect calculators to each other and see if you lived to continue connecting calculators with others in the class or if you were sent to the morgue. I died on my first round, and I wasn't even concerned about it. As a matter of fact, the majority of the class (or at least the people around me) wanted to die right away so that they could sit at their desk and eat Starbursts without doing anything. I could make a philosophical connection with this reaction to real life...but I can't think of any that don't sound ridiculously made up (or strange or stupid sounding). So I'll leave it with the fact that a class full of 17 and 18 year olds would obviously opt for the way to get through an assignment as quickly as possible. Yeah...that sounds about right.

It was a surprisingly interesting and unique way to experiment with survival rates in a classroom environment. And while it greatly resembled an experiment consisting of passing HIV to everyone in the classroom...it was interesting.

I found it humorous that this was what popped up on my screen to inform me that I had been infected and had died. I don't know why I found this funny...but I did...so of course I took a picture of it...

January 14

Sometimes, it's the little things in life that can brighten any day. For example, this corner of my desk space just makes me happy. I can be sitting here mulling in the frustration that is AP classes when I happen to look up and see my little bulletin board of happiness. It is covered in memories and inside jokes to heart felt quotes and Christmas notes and reminders of things I have to look forward to this year.  

Thank you for the encouragement that I can fill this board with to power through the evening.

January 13

Pain hurts.

That's why it's not called Peace or Happiness or Joy or Pleasure.

I don't know why it is, but I have always been a super stressed out person. I mean, I was a stressed out toddler. (and I have pictures to prove how worried I was when I was 2) Lately though, I have not been as stressed out as I have found myself in the past. I would say that's a good thing. However every so often something unknown will trigger the mother of all headaches. It's the truth, I get migraines sometimes, but that doesn't make them less annoying or any more enjoyable. I tried very hard to find something this afternoon/evening to take a picture of that was something positive or more relatable to the good that could have been found during the day. But alas, I let the blood vessels in my skull take over my afternoon/evening. So here is the only thing I could find to take a picture of that made any sense with the events of my day.

Thanks to this neck-wrap for attempting to take away my migraine. It was worth a shot...

But something to actually be thankful for was that I didn't have any homework that was due tomorrow! Let's take control of this annoyance and kick it out of the house! Go away migraine, and don't come back!

January 12

I am an Apple person. This can be solely and completely blamed on my Apple junkie father. But I enjoy being a part of an Apple family. It has helped bring out one of my favorite things to do, which is to work on super secret projects. The technology that is available today is amazing. I personally can't imagine life without things like MacBooks, FaceTime, or super secret project software but that is because I only know of life with these advancements. My AP Language (English) class was talking last week about the importance of technology versus the importance of nature. We were asked which one we thought was more important and came to a consensus that we need a balance of both nature and technology to thrive in today's world. It makes me think about the giant ball in Epcot. The future that that ride projects consists of people being able to see each other while they are on the phone (or at least that's how it ended the last time I was at Disney World) and this is no longer something that can be imagined in the future. (speaking of Disney World....)

Today I am thankful for living in the future with the technological advancements that we have available at our fingertips. Even though technology can drive people (including myself) crazy...

January 11

Things I love:
1. Weekends
2. Sister Days
3. Disney anything
4. Belting Disney songs in the car with my really cool sister

You get the point.

Today marks 22 years from the day that my parents got married. To celebrate, they spent the day driving and exploring historical Route 66 and left us to have a fabulous Sister Day together. After Bess's ballet class ended we tried to rush home...but got stuck in massive traffic that came out of nowhere. Due to that...we had to literally scramble and run around the house to get ready and get our stuff to go to the movie theater. We managed to change and make ourselves presentable in a matter of 6 minutes. We pulled into the driveway at 2:14 and pulled back out of the driveway at 2:22 to make it to a 2:30 movie on time. It was amazing the speed that two girls can move at when trying to get the the movies to see a Disney movie. (it's crazy fast!) We saw Frozen. OHMYGOSH IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!! AND ADORABLE!!! AND CUTE!!! AND ORIGINAL!!!! AND OHMYGOSH I STILL CAN'T GET OVER IT!!!! In the 3ish minutes it took us to get back out the car we were already talking about when it would come out on DVD and once we were in the car we were finding the songs on YouTube. In less than an hour and a half we managed to pretty much learn all the lyrics to most of the songs from this movie. In fact, I'm still singing them all over the house. These may be the shower songs for the next couple of weeks in our house. ;) We got pizzas and ice cream for dinner and watched Tangled while we ate. What an awesome Disney girl day it was! It was so fantabulous I don't think I can truly get that across to you unless you've seen the movie. Go, get up right now and drive to the theater and go watch Frozen. You'll thank me later.

Do you want to build a snowman?

I don't have a skull!!! ~ Olaf

January 10

Pizza and Psych night. It's really one of the best things about the end of the week that we do. Pizza and movie nights are also fun but it's been so long waiting for the new season of Psych that this was a great way to celebrate the start to our weekend. Disclaimer...Psych comes on on Wednesday nights but who has time to sit and watch an hour long show at 8 or 9 in the middle of the week. Friday's are much more relaxing. Thanks Fridays! We also are big Psych fans and were very much looking forward to the premiere of season 8 this week. Let me just say, it did not disappoint. This particular episode took place in England and Gus was constantly making Harry Potter references and it was nice to actually understand some of their witty references. It was great...you gotta love Shawn and Gus undercover and representing Harry Potter!

"I thought it was Rupert Grint, but it was just dumb old Prince Harry." ~ Gus  

January 9

Every Tuesday and Thursday (weather permitting most of the time) my dad and I walk 2 miles around the neighborhood in the morning before school. It's a great way to start the morning getting to have daddy-daughter time and exercise. Get the blood pumping before heading to school. The past month and a half it has been getting darker and darker at 6:50 in the morning and colder and colder. In case anyone has been living under a rock (a very tight, warm, secluded rock) the entire country is under a deep freeze...but that didn't stop us from going on our walk this morning. No sir! We are warriors! And I believe it was 34 degrees when we left so it wasn't even below freezing! It was practically a heat wave...until we realized that the majority of the sidewalks were covered in ice. Cue iPhone picture from 7:13 this morning:

The ice created a challenge that made something so routine appear different and put me at a slower pace than usual...but not by much and I made up my time in un-icy areas and walking in the grass. ;)

I was hesitant at first to go for our walk this morning because I thought it was raining and cold and apparently icy but I'm glad that I did because, like my Daddy always says, exercising really does put you in a better mood. I tend to show up at school in a better mood on Tuesdays and Thursdays because of that time. So, thanks Daddy for walking with me this morning! 

January 8

The drive to pick Bess up from dance is always one of my favorite parts of the day because I get to spend 15-20 minutes by myself belting the (wrong) lyrics to the country music station that Bess and I listen to after her class. (I have to get warmed up before she gets in the car ;) ) After she comes out of her class we always have super sister time talking about funny things that might have happened at school or dance that day interspersed with rocking out to 106.1 The Twister. Riverside Drive has become a very familiar journey every evening and it looks very different when I am in the passenger seat instead of the drivers seat after driving the route so routinely for a while. It was sort of "freezing raining" this evening (but mostly just drizzling but it was fine) so Mom wanted to come with me to pick up Bess. I let her drive (so that she would be more comfortable). I decided to bring my camera to try to get a picture of the day...because after a week of taking pictures, this was the latest I had let it get before taking a picture and I was in need of a picture of the day. So this is what I came up with:

I'm not completely sure of what the blurred lights represent...

Maybe they represent the blur that is life,

Maybe they represent the speed that is taken down that road every night to Tulsa Ballet,

Maybe they represent the Christmas spirit that this neighborhood is obviously still feeling due to the lights that are still out...

Who knows...

Well I guess I'm supposed to know...

But I don't.

Oh well.

January 7

On January 7, 2013 Bixby Public Schools started back to school for their second semester. Bess and I could not be registered to become students until the office was open, which was the day the schools were back in session. So that morning my mom drove out to Bixby to register her two daughters into this new school. I had completely convinced myself that I would be starting school on the 8th because I figured that no way would they make us go to school halfway through the day the same day that we were introduced to the system and enrolled as students. But no...there's always a curveball. Mom returned to the hotel so much sooner than I had been expecting her to. Apparently enrollment did not take as long as I had imagined. Both Mom and Dad walked us out to the car and said that we had to talk with the counselors to create our schedules. Can I panic now? No? Okay then. So we had to each meet with a different counselor because our official one wasn't in that day and suddenly we each had a Bixby High School schedule in our hands. I was freaking out on the inside but for some reason still held onto some hope that we would go back out to the car and drive right back to the hotel to prepare to begin classes the next day. But no. The counselor asked if we would like to begin that day and my wonderfully sneaky mom said "sure". Is now a good time to panic? Still no? Just hang on one minute. A student aide was brought in and told to take us on a tour around the school and show me and Bess where our classes were. Full blown panic mode as we were handed our schedules and sent out of the office into the empty hallways of this unknown building. It's a good thing I can't panic outwardly in public because I can guarantee that I was freaking out on the inside. The tour was haphazard and random and apparently this school has coded locks on all outside doors...which sent me for a loop. But I have gotten very used to them by now. Bess and I were dropped off at our 4th hour (Personal Financial Literacy) the only class that we had together and was a required Freshman class. It was very good that we had that hour together and that it happened to be 4th hour right then. We had to walk in late and it was awkward and as I'm writing this I'm feeling those awful feelings again...so I'll move this rambling story on a little faster. Here are the highlights of the rest of my first day at Bixby 365 days ago:

• Bess and I had lunch together. 
• I made it to 5th hour (French III/IV) successfully.
• I met an extremely sweet girl in my French class who looked at my schedule and volunteered to walk me to my last class because she was going to the same building. (PS...she's still super sweet and is probably one of the reasons that I took to that class so quickly...plus I had a really cool teacher!)
• I made it to my 6th hour (Chemistry) and managed to be very awkward and out of place in that already over-crowded class. 

Today was our first day of the second semester marking to the day and the event, my one year anniversary with Bixby High School. It's a weird feeling knowing that all of that was an entire YEAR ago because it feels like it was last week. I can feel those emotions like they just happened. Oh but what a year it has been!

January 6

What better way to calm the strange 2nd semester jitters than to extend the break by another day!?!? Yay for Christmas Break 2.0!!! I had heard that it was possible for the school district to close schools if the temperatures were too low but I never believed that it would actually happen. Then low and behold, Bixby Public Schools were closed today due to snow/ice and extreme cold. People were encouraged to stay indoors to prevent hypothermia. (Yes the phone call did mention hypothermia, so I guess it was supposed to be freakish cold!) We took the stay indoors very seriously and kept our butts inside, in front of the fire watching Psych: The Musical and FaceTiming cutie patootie Camille and her cool mom in Kentucky. I must say that Psych: The Musical put me in a big musical mood, so of course...Mom and I took the stage to Wicked as we drove down Riverside this afternoon after dropping Bess off at dance. (The more you know) And Bess and I tried to teach ourselves one of the dances from the musical. (a tango if I might add...and it was awesome!)

So thank you snow/ice and freezing temperatures (I think it was like 3 degrees this morning with a real feel of -2 or something like that) (I know it was much colder in other parts of the midwest...but I think single digits is cold enough to get a mention...) for extending our Christmas Break one more day! The break has been absolutely wonderful...but, believe it or not, I'm actually ready to get back into a normal routine of life. So bring it on! Bring it on Real Life! Bring it on!

January 5

Downton Abbey. America's obsession with the British drama continues strong despite the continuous heartaches throughout all seven episodes of each season (or series as the British say). The Trew girls were slightly behind the times with jumping on the Downton bandwagon, we were introduced to the series Christmas 2012 (the New Years we spent in the hotel). We received seasons 1 and 2 for Christmas and were very excited to get started so that we could possibly catch up with season 3 as it was about to start here in America. Long story short, we couldn't start the show until we moved into our house due to Blu-ray issues in the hotel but once we started we couldn't stop. It was like crack for us. (a strange expression, but we became very dependent on it) School had already started so that made it difficult to get an acceptable Downton fix throughout the day but we watched at least one episode a day after school (if not more). We immediately ordered season 3 before we had even finished season 2 so that our addiction could continue to be fulfilled. The ironic thing is, Bess was very, VERY hesitant to give in to the addiction. She would be the one that would start to wander if the episode began to drag a little to long or would make up an excuse to go do something else. By season 3, she was a totally different person. She is a complete Downton-aholic. The past couple of weeks have consisted of Downton Abbey playing in the room next to me and listening to the soundtrack as we traveled to Kentucky and Tennessee over Christmas. It's an addiction that I think every girl wants to splurge on every once and awhile.

So, today's picture is celebrating three things.
Yay for SNOW, Yay for Bess's Downton Abbey addiction, and Yay for Downton Abbey season (series) 4 premiere TONIGHT!!!

PS...Bess would like me to share her giant fondness for Tom Branson/Allen Leech. That is all. :)

January 4

The most productive thing that was accomplished today was managing to get ourselves all the way out to 71st street and tackling the Barnes and Noble in Broken Arrow. Us and 5,000,000 of our closest friends decided that today would be the perfect day to spend the afternoon in a bookstore spending Christmas money that was apparently burning a hole in our pockets (even though Christmas was exactly 10 days ago) ... But who am I to judge the way people live their lives? Bess and I each had a gift card to spend and we were determined to get something awesomely noteworthy and representative of the fabulous lady who gave us this Christmas present. (PS if you're reading this...YOU'RE AWESOME!!!) Well bookstores are the sacred grounds of the bookworms, the nerds, and the introverts, not really the place to have packed with tons of people, all crowding the aisles deciding on which cat calendar would look best in their living rooms. (Well, I don't know...they could have all been bookworms, nerds, and introverts but I guess I can't assume that they were ALL there to get a dog yoga calendar or not) I was starting to get frustrated because I couldn't find the perfect book to take home with me and then I happened to look up and made magical eye-contact with this little beauty:

Full disclosure:

1.) I probably should have bought a thought provoking or enticing novel, but none of them were doing it for me today.
2.) Mindy Kaling is awesome.
3.) This book is like having a "real talk" awesomely hilarious conversation with a really close friend.
4.) (I know there should really only be three examples but I need this fourth one too...) This was a great pick because it's a feel good, make you happy kind of book. A good book for anyone in my opinion. (Unless you prefer classic romanic era novels, then I would recommend you stick to those if you would like)


PS) Can you tell I don't like crowds ;)

January 3

I seriously love the first Friday of every month.

Why?

Because I get to hang out with one of my best friends in the whole world, that's why!

I am thankful for our dance company teacher (coach?) Ms. Richards who decided in 2011 (Freshman year...gross ;) ) that our dance company fundraiser would be to have three Chick-Fil-A nights to raise money for our Kings Dominion trip that spring (I think...) and so, like the good little freshmen we were, we attended all three fundraiser nights together on the first Friday of October, November, and December 2011. After three months of spending the first Friday of said month with Megan at Chick-Fil-A we felt that it was only necessary to go again in January (2012) and from then on it just stuck with us and became our "thing". Every first Friday of 2012 we went to Chick-Fil-A together and it became even more sacred after we found out that my family was moving to Oklahoma. On the first Friday of January 2013, it was like there had been a death in our familyfriendshipthing because we kind of danced around the subject and didn't text that day at all. My mom took me to Chick-Fil-A but it wasn't the same. After that I realized that something had to be done to keep the first Friday of every month from feeling so empty...so I did. I texted her sometime during the month and decided to set up a FaceTime/Chick-Fil-A best-friend date for the first Friday of February. From then on, on the first Friday of every month (give or take a couple of days...depending on our schedules) we FaceTime and eat Chick-Fil-A together for an average of 4 hours. It's the perfect way to eat together, share what's going on in our lives, and laugh at the ridiculousness of our friendship that continues to grow stronger despite the 1,241 miles separating us.

So...

Thank you Ms. Richards,
Thank you S. Truett Cathy (founder of Chick-Fil-A),
Thank you Steve Jobs (Apple...MacBook...FaceTime),
Thank you Barnard family (for sharing your daughter every first Friday and for talking with me too!),
Thank you family for allowing me to disappear into my room for hours on the first Friday of every month to each my Chick-Fil-A and talk with my awesome friend all evening long.

Love,
     emma

P.S. Thank you Anne Arundel school system for closing schools in Severna Park today due to snow so that we could have First Friday this afternoon for lunch and talk for 5 hours, celebrating Christmas, New Years, and our friendship (filling each other in on our Winter Breaks) all afternoon long.

Happy First Friday of 2014!!!

January 2

Oh what a difference a year makes. This time last year I was living in a hotel room with my family (week 3 in a hotel mind you) in a tiny town without the familiarity of a single soul except for the 3 other Trew's living in the same room. I had convinced myself that this place could quite possibly be the worst place on the entire planet. (dramatic? NEVER! ;) ) The thought of starting over literally made me sick and there was nothing more that I wanted than to turn around and head right back east to Severna Park. On December 28, 2012 we drove into Oklahoma for the very first time. I was in our seriously awesome (?) minivan with my mom and a cranky cat and held no positivity whatsoever in my heart as I was dragged into the middle of nowhere. This sign meant that my life was really going to change. No more pretending. We were here...no going back...

But today (2014!!!) this sign does not drain the joy out of my heart nor does it make me sick to my stomach. This doesn't represent change and the unknown newness of my inevitable future, but it represents only 2 more hours of our drive left. (after 11 hours in the car up until this point, this is a good thing) 

In the words of Rogers and Hammerstein:

We're only saying "You're doin' fine Oklahoma"

Oklahoma O-K!

January 1

Today introduces a new year, a new day, new minute, new second. Today is the beginning of a new beginning.

Newness is important. It may not be fun in some instances but sometimes it is good for us to be clean and new and stop for a minute to breathe. The world moves incredibly fast and I have noticed that it is more than easy enough to get pulled along with the current and miss important things that may be right in front of you (me...you...whichever is most relevant...)

2013 was a year of newness for me and I was not the most accepting of it for a very long time. (I am a big introvert so me and newness...we're not very good friends)

New state. New house. New time zone. New school. New neighbors. New every day challenges.

But it also brought new good things too:

New cousin. New travels. New friends. New interests. New adventures. New opportunities.

But bring on 2014! I will no longer be a "new kid" at school. I've officially been here for a year so I shouldn't freak out on the first day back... (right?)

Bring on 2014! The good, the bad, "character building", it's all important.

Bring on 2014! I know that this year will bring some awesome adventures and family gatherings that I am greatly looking forward to.

Bring on 2014! I'm ready for you and I'm setting a "resolution" to be more thankful and find positives in every day that I am given.

Bring on 2014!

Today I am very thankful for my sister. I don't know what I would be without her. We are complementary opposites and we balance each other out pretty well. I am thankful for the awesome cousin time we got at the farm and how much she loves being at the farm...even if that means that we might get covered in dirt from time to time. 

Happy New Year!