Daschund Races

Just as the family does every summer, we took Dexter to the Daschund Races today. I just love seeing all the dogs there, and it's pretty entertaining to see 10 weiner dogs running down the horse track. Don't worry, animal activists, it's only 20 yards, and just for fun. :) Dexter, or Mr. Snuggles as we call him, is really fast, but not well trained. As a result, he lost his lead about halfway through the race and was disqualified because he got distracted by another dog and went into the neighboring lane. Oh well, we still had fun. It's also always fun to run into people you know. We ran into one of my brother's classmates as well as my French teacher. The latter was sufficiently uncomfortable, considering that I had to explain that my t-shirt was a joke. It looks like this:

So yeah, slightly awkward. But all in all, it was a fun day. :)

Have any of you been to the Daschund Races before, or had an awkward run-in with a previous teacher? Share in the comments below.

Peace & Love,

Natalie

Baby Pictures

I'm not sure why, but I love to look through old photo albums every once in a while. As I was looking through baby pictures today, I realized that I really haven't changed a bit. First of all, in most of my baby pictures, I'm making some sort of goofy face. Also found was a journal of all my firsts and whatnot:

First sentence - "I find poop."

First smile - "...might have been gas"

"Does not share belongings well with her brother"

"Loves to sing and dance"

First dentist visit - "Thought we were ready, but you threw a cowgirl fit. We had to hold you down."

Second dentist visit - "Almost as bad as the first. Held you down again."

Yep, that's me. Some things never change.

Senior Pictures

I finally got around to it & did my senior pictures! Despite the heat, it was a lot of fun and Loren got some awesome shots! Thanks, Jack, for letting us use your fancy camera, and thanks, Loren, for taking my senior pictures for me! :)

I haven't gotten around to editing all of them yet, but here are some of my favorites:

Nom Nom Nom

Noodles, veggies, and chicken covered in cheese - check. Easy to cook at 1am - check. Berry Punch & Grape punch - check.

Feed three people for less than $10 - check.

This is why I love midnight Walmart-ing. And girls' nights.

Nom nom nom.

The Chronicles of My Summer: Teaching

I was very lucky to land a job teaching at my studio this summer. Unfortunately, only one student signed up out of the thirty spots available. I was disappointed at first, because one of the classes was cancelled, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise!

I ended up teaching a private lesson once a week for an hour. Rose*, the girl that I teach, is 7 years old and claims to have never danced before. She is absolutely amazing, and I cannot believe that this is her first time dancing! In our first hour-long lesson, I got all the way to time steps in tap with her, and if you're a dancer, you know that that usually isn't covered until you've been dancing for a few years.

Not only is she an amazing dancer, but she has the most amazing love for dance that I have ever seen. She has her ballet book, and tells me everything that she practices at home. That's what is truly inspiring to me.

Rose* is going to go far in the dance world, because with her God-given talents combined with her passion for dance, she is unstoppable. And I am so thankful to have gotten to work with her.

* = name has been changed

The Chronicles of My Summer: Dance Team

I never truly realized how much I missed my StUD girls until I saw them again. We started out our season hosting a dance camp for 5th-8th grade girls who are interested in joining the dance team if they choose to attend SUA for high school. And despite the fact that I left my house before 8am each morning, it was so fun.

One word: snort. If you haven't played this game before, you have yet to fully live. However, it may be necessary to play with a few people under the age of 12 in order to justify yourselves. The rules are simple: keep your mouth open, and don't show teeth. Sit in a circle, and take turns passing the snort around, and yes I mean literally snort in your neighbor's face, like a pig. You can pass it either way, which may get you into some pretty epic snort battles if you ask me. You need to be extremely comfortable with yourself to play this game, but it is so worth it.

At the camp, we split up into small groups, and I was very lucky to be the small group leader for what came to be known as the Angry Unicorns. My girls were awesome, learned the dance we taught them better than I did, and even practiced without me saying anything. I was so proud! I may be biased, but our team cheer was pretty awesome. We ended it by screaming "get angry!" and charging forwards with our right index fingers serving as symbolic facial horns. I have a feeling I'm never going to live that one down.

Practices are going great as well. We've started learning a jazz routine for Varsity and a hip-hop routine for All Stars. They're going to be epic. Songs include I Will Survive, I'm Every Woman, Ring The Alarm, Move If You Wanna, and Church. Long story short, I'm Batman, and my freshman (now sophomore) is hopefully the Joker. So.Pumped.

The Chronicles of My Summer: Summer Reading & Online Government

I really should not be complaining about summer reading, considering that our book is 50 pages long (The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka). However, I'm going to feel free to express my confusion about it.

Who, in his or her right mind, would even come up with the idea to write a book about a salesman who turns into an insect? And who, in his or her right mind, thinks that it's a good idea to make rising seniors at an all-girls' high school read said book? It's not a hard book to read, but I can't even bring myself to voluntarily read more than a few pages at a time. I mean I'm sure there's a boatload of relevant symbolism hiding between the lines of text that I need a magnifying glass to see, but still.

And a word of advice to anyone considering taking an online class over the summer: don't. That is, unless you have an uncanny amount of motivation and work ethic. We just get the worksheets emailed to us, and only go into school to take the midterm and final exams, so it is entirely up to us to do the work. Yes, I do my work, and yes, I get it done by the deadlines. But I also end up doing the work at 1 or 2 in the morning because I'm so busy during the hours of the day when it's partially sane to be awake. It would probably be different if I was like Jack, who enjoys history, but instead I'm Natalie, who enjoys conversing with strangers and drawing pretty pictures.

At least there's only one set of assignments left. Wish me luck.

The Chronicles of My Summer: Introduction

Welcome to a world where sleep is for the weak, and relaxing is insignificant. Yep, you're in the world of my summer.

- Summer Reading & Online Government

- Dance Team

- Teaching

- The College Search Process

- New York City

- Chicago

- My Friends

This is insanity.

Cincinnati Weather

I know, it's so cliché to talk about the weather. But I'm doing it anyways.

I'm not sure if it's this way all over, but I'm pretty sure that Mother Nature is bipolar. Living in Cincinnati, there have been days when it was sunny and pouring down rain simultaneously, no joke. There have also been days when it was completely sunny and cloudless one minute, and it stormed and down-poured the next. And then five minutes later it's sunny and beautiful, as if nothing happened. There have also been times where it's 40 degrees and rainy one day, and 70 and sunny the next. It's insanity.

But the last few days, this weather has been disgusting. There have been temperatures in the triple digits, and ridiculous humidity after the all-too-common rain and thunderstorms we've been getting. It's even too hot out to go swimming, which is my favorite summer activity, because even the pool water is hot. Gross. I'm also pretty sure our storm sirens have gone off at least three times in the last week, and I'll be surprised if the Ohio River doesn't flood within the next few days. In fact, I'm writing this blog in my basement and saving it so that once the latest storm blows over and I can return upstairs to connect my computer to the web via Ethernet cable because this crazy weather made my WiFi freak out. Thanks also, Mother Nature, for nearly giving my daschund a heart attack with a strike of thunder that sounded like someone was bombing my neighborhood. Solid.

Has there been weather like this all over, or is it just Cincinnati that Mother Nature is letting out all her anger on? Because I'm pretty sure Mother Nature is PMSing. Someone get her some chocolate...

My Random Thoughts On Advertising

Why do companies attempt to advertise their products by putting commercials in the middle of online television shows or before YouTube videos? As a consumer, I can honestly tell you that it's simply annoying. Seeing these commercials tempts me to not buy whatever is being advertised, just to spite the company as some form of revenge for interrupting my online stream of So You Think You Can Dance.

When it comes to mascara commercials or print ads in general, let's be realistic here. I do not believe that your product will cause my eyelashes to suddenly become long enough to touch my forehead. And even if it could do that, I'd probably end up cutting my eyelashes because that would just get annoying. It's extremely obvious that those models with the photo-shopped faces are also wearing fake eyelashes. Although my favorite mascara advertisement had to be the print ad in a teen magazine that will remain nameless. The model sported drawn on lashes, obviously done with photo editing software. If anyone's lashes naturally look like that, he or she should seriously consider seeing a doctor.

All in all, don't claim that your product can do something that isn't physically possible. It simply puts the idea into women's heads that they need eyelashes that look like spider legs in order to be remotely attractive. It's ridiculous and unrealistic. What's wrong with a commercial that shows real women, instead of the creations of photo editing software and a universal lack of self-esteem?

Harry Potter From An Outsider's Perspective

Tonight, I went to see the new Harry Potter movie with some lovely friends of mine. I will be the first to admit that I am not a huge Harry Potter fan. I tried to read the first book, but got confused and gave up after 2 pages. I suppose the whole "wizarding world" deal just doesn't appeal to me as much as it does to others. That's fine; to each his/her own. But anyways, my friends are pretty into Harry Potter, and I figured I'd see the movie, because the last movie is supposed to explain everything, and I was a bit curious about what all the hype is about.

Maybe it's because I never got into the entire story, but I simply couldn't take this movie seriously. Yes, I'm sure that it's a good story and teaches valuable life lessons about friendship and sacrifice and whatnot. However, some people don't realize that this is fiction. Voldemort (yes, I said his name) is not going to kill you, and if he happens to be real and does kill you, it's probably because he's jealous of the fact that you have a nose. Literally every time he came on camera, that YouTube video "I'm a Snake" just popped into my head. Cue more inappropriate laughter on my part...oops.

All in all, I'd like to apologize to the other people in the theater. I do genuinely feel bad for laughing at the wrong moments. In fact, I don't think there was a single moment in the movie where laughter would have possibly been appropriate. I just find humor in the oddest places, and I suppose that I also laugh as a defense mechanism when I'm confused. It wasn't a bad movie, and I'm not bashing on the books either. It was actually a very well-done movie in my opinion. I just have trouble bringing myself to take something seriously when the main villain doesn't even have a nose.
I'm a snake.

The Little Things Count

I've noticed lately that it's truly the little insignificant happenings in life that can truly make or break having a good day. Yes, "in the grand scheme of things," as my mom always says, they don't matter. However, there are some "little things" in life that can instantly put you in a good mood.

For example, I was driving home from dance practice today, and somehow miraculously made every green light - without speeding, mind you - and never had to stop until I pulled into my driveway. I'm not sure why, but this minuscule feat of mine had me in a good mood for the next 4 or 5 hours.

Here are some other "little things" that always make me happy:

- hearing my favorite song come on the radio

- hearing an old favorite song on the radio, and realizing that I still remember all of the lyrics

- chocolate cake and a cold glass of milk

- running into an old friend and chatting so much that it's like it's only been a few days, instead of a few years, since we last saw each other

- striking up a random conversation with a friendly stranger

- saying the exact same thing at the exact same time as one of my friends, thus realizing that we practically have the same mind

What "little things" make you happy? I'd love to hear back! :)

"There is no such thing as strangers; strangers are simply friends that we haven't met yet."

Welcome!

Hey you! Thanks for visiting my blog, and I hope I can say that you're in for a treat! I can't really tell you what you're going to be reading about if you choose to follow along, because I honestly don't know yet. I simply enjoy talking to new people and sharing my random thoughts. I've always thought that the Internet was such a cool invention, because it enables us to connect to people from the opposite side of the world that we might not have had the opportunity to connect with otherwise. That's why I decided to start this blog. I simply want to share my thoughts and start some conversations with people that I might not get to interact with every day. So join me on this little adventure, and I hope you enjoy!