It's Just About Time....

Wow.....I am suppose to be writing a five page essay on the Spiritual Journey of John Proctor in the play The Crucible....but I don't really want to....lol....

School has been crazy busy...but great! I was so stupid this summer. Everyone told me that Junior year was going to be really really tough...and in my ignorance, I didn't believe them. My thought process was, "Well....I am taking a ton of Junior classes this year....so next year will probably be a little smoother, probably not quite as busy." Haha...it's almost amusing...almost...but not quite. Oh well. I am still really enjoying school. Everyday I am filled with the realization that I am a weak vessel in need of God's help. =)

Advanced Biology is absolutely my favorite real class. (I don't think Piano counts as a class....) Mrs. Ellis is the most amazing teacher and my classmates are awesome! We have class at Starbucks.... today Mrs. Ellis treated us all to a drink of our choice. I will confess that the coloring pages get a little tedious, but they are the only homework that I can do while watching tv....so I like them.

My dad took Jesse and I to see Tower of Power on October 14th, and Grace and Janice came. They are simply the most amazing funk band around. (40 years together would probably do that!) Yeah, I can't really find the right words to express how I feel about T.O.P. Basically the song, "Soul with a Capital S" is the first music I ever remember hearing....listening to it with my dad is actually my first memory now that I think of it.

Buy tickets to see Signature in concert on December 16, 2007!!! http://www.purevolume.com/signaturemd
(You can find ticket details under, "Shows." And yes, there isn't any music up currently...but there will be very soon. So keep checking!)

Okay...time to write a paper.......then go on a vacation.....(ugh! I wish)

~J

~School is better than I thought.......

Ahh...the last day of summer. (Like what the calender would say.) I must say this school year has been awesome! I can't wait until it looks like this outside!!! Today after my piano lesson, Anna and I took a back path as we walked to her sister's house to meet up with her mom. Its our favorite to take the backpaths as when the leaves change it is absolutely lovely! Then in November when they are all laying around on the ground, we will get to hear the crisp cruching noises as we walk over them. My glasses will fog up when we reach Jessica's house and soon...her baby will be born!

Hm....I love most of my classes...and tolerate the others. Homework isn't terrible yet, so when I have a smallish amount of homework, I spend my afternoons singing. I have been working on some show tunes...which are hard because I am not skilled enough to accompany myself yet. So it's awkward to stand in front of the piano and have to pluck out the melody lines...and hope I am singing it in the proper time signature and such.....oh well, perhaps one day I'll be good enough at piano...but not yet.

I can't wait until it gets colder. Today I put on my winter coat and walked around outside for a bit. But then I realized it was way to warm to be wearing it. (Though I really, really wanted to.)

Well that's just about it.

~J

Am I Strange?

Photo Credit: Anna L.

So the other day, I was thinking about those getting to know you games where people make you write down something wierd about yourself, you place the paper in a hat or basket or something, pass the hat around....you know the drill. Anyways, so I was reflecting on how I didn't really like those games cause I could never think of anything to write down except, "I don't know how to start a car." And now that I do know how.....

So....I asked myself the question......am I strange? And here is what I came up with.

1. I can clean bathrooms, mop up throw up, scrub windowsills infested with dead flies and cob webs, scrub the bathtub with nothing but a toothbrush, and even enjoy doing it, but I simply cannot stand to wipe off the kitchen table. It’s not that I find it gross or anything. It’s just a pet peeve I think. From getting a paper towel or wash cloth wet with warm water, to emptying crumbs into the trash can…it just makes me feel sick. I do everything in my power to get out of cleaning the table. Sometimes it involves paying my little sister to do it, or offering to make my mom’s bed for a week. But I will do almost anything in order to stay clear of that chore.
2. I write the date and my name on every piece of paper that I use. And it really pays off. Recently I’ve started writing the time on documents that I know I won’t be turning into a teacher. Like journal entries, devotions, study material, class notes etc. It helps me remember the important things that were going on. It’s totally worth taking the extra 20 seconds to write Josie – and 9-12-07 and 3:00 pm…or whatever.
3. When sitting in a chair, on a sofa or in the car, I almost always have my right knee up…like with my right foot on the seat of the chair. (Unless I am at a class, with an employer, in a dress, or with people I don’t know very well.) This is absolutely the best way to sit when relaxing.
4. I have taken the trash out twice in my entire life. There is an easy reason for this. Because I have two older brothers. It’s not that I refuse to do it or don’t like to or anything….the reason is that it’s just something I have never had to think about. If I ever live by myself, someone will have to call me to remind me to take out the trash.
5. I started drinking coffee when I was nine. For a while it was just twice a week. Then when I was eleven it became a daily habit. Now, I am enslaved to it. If I don’t drink a cup before the first thirty minutes or so of being awake, I will be sick for the morning, or until I get coffee. One Wednesday, the coffee wasn’t made by the time that I had to leave, and I had a headache until 5:30 pm. Which was when I finally made another pot of coffee….so yeah.
6. I color coordinate my closet…and other peoples too. I like to look at my clothes all hung up, and see them all neatly organized. If I have colored hangers, I try to put them with clothing of the corresponding color. (Once like three years ago, I bought an orange shirt just because I didn’t have any orange in the orange section. I never wear it though.) Before Jen, Lizzy, and Katie had so many closets, I use to organize theirs too. I have also color coordinated some of the closets for ppl that I babysit for. (Don’t worry….I get permission to go in the closet first.)

That's all. Everyone watch the Really Rosie videos. They are movies from my past....=) I like the top one best.
~J

Tribute to Polka Girl

Well, today is a very special day! It's Lizzy's birthday!

Ahh yes....volleyball. Two years of hilarious memories...prob. some of our first "real" ones. "Be one with the floor." Spontaniously conbusting! "Josie, sit down." Practicing with face paint on the way to practice and not being able to get the paint off in time....=) Having our coaches confuse us...especially when we were #5 and #15, both with long brown hair and glasses. Boy.....we looked like nerds in 7th grade!

Baha! Science class! Comprehension Chicks, Tackle This, Bouency=happiness. Me getting out of doing the crayfish disection because I insisted I was allergic. ;) You always skipping class to do History homework....that drove me crazy. You and your mom lauging at me....for being....me. Learning how to knit and making all those ugly scarves for charity.....CPR on my birthday. "Don't laugh! Pay attention class!" Putting the fake body in the front seat of Mrs. Fortier's car and watching her reation. =)
Surprise parties! (I don't have any pics from yours.) Haha! You being so surprised that you slammed the door in everyones face and ran away. Me winning the "who knows liz the best?" game. (Haha, who else?) Me arriving at my surprise party and not realizing it was a party for me....and being in my pajamas....=)
Gettysburg!!! Me following you around the entire time cause I wasn't friends with any of those ppl yet. Leaving Anna at that place and loosing her. Crying in the car when Mr. Emelio and Mr. Hollandsworth were saying that, "We lost one in action."
Ah....Europe. Yes everyone, I am going to talk about it. Live with it. Working for what seemed like an eternity in a warehouse........"Dance is Red!" "Thank you for that helpful piece of information!" Writing all over thos orange slips of paper. Trips to 7eleven. Shooting bb guns and paint ball guns. "Now the point would be to hit the target..." Chocolate hour. "Smile, it builds self esteem." "Make your own elevator music." Sending crazy emails about how excited we were about Europe. "It's just around the corner....one day it will just jump up on us. Boo!" "I dare you to go around saying that to ppl." Waiting to Polka dance. =) Where your nickname originated....

Being on the airplane...."I had a dream that she jumped out of the window!" The terrible food. Blec. My dream about the stuadess being a serial killer. "Where is she!" "Beef or Pasta?" Seven trips to that CVS-like place that I swere didn't have a door. "What is squash? I don't see any squash!" Walking around the Brittish Library crying....because everything was so amazing. Les Mis! Ahhhh! Cosette's voice! "Josie, are you okay? Are you homesick?" "No! Her voice is soooo beautiful!...It's not fair!!!" The walk home........interesting.........

That wonderful night in France....the eyebrows in the mirror....our waitress who got mad at us for asking for more water.=) Me shocking Mr. and Mrs. Wyzga and not knowing why. "Josie why are you lauging?" "Because all of a sudden I had the funniest picture in my mind...." The one and only time I have ever almost gotten upset with you. "Don't worry, she told me." ;)

The wonderful day in sienna, when we did absolutely whatever we wanted. Getting lost. Eating vanilla gelato. Napping in the Del Campo. Listening to Yellowcard, Carole King, Keith Urban and I forget who else. The umbrellas! Sharing belts cause you forgot to bring one. Me not overpacking for once. The trian to Rome. "I think tomorrow I am going to...." "You didn't wake me up?" "Look its a prop! Now I am good, now I am bad." "Josie you look like a racoon!" Lily and I videotaping the police officers and thier super cool drug dog.

Baha! Florence! Listerene! Getting to know everyone much better than we ever thought we would. Seeing David. Spalding! Octopus and Calamari and that wierd fish. You ruining all of our "serious" pictures.
Like that one. You smiled! Anyways....The food....the beverages....throwing the pennies over our shoulders in Rome, writing Case funny letters at three am while drinking Orangina and eating good chocolate. "There's nothing in....here. BYE!" "What the heck are these?" Doing geometry at dinner... Being on the metro...and freaking out. The puppet show on the subway. My body gaurds...
Thinking we never ever wanted to go home! Matching on accident on the way home from Venice. Doing all of our gift shopping at the very last minute cause we forgot.
Leaving. =( Snife. (Sniff....snifee. I can't spell.)
Sharing a love for music. (Though we have different tastes.) Supporting eachother during I Cantori concerts....literally. ("I hope we don't fall off!") Going to concerts. Or concert I should say. Baha! "She's standing up! It's the music!" "Did you see that girl? All of a sudden she like, was healed because of the music."

Baha, our drumsticks....."I touched all of them!"
Frederick....sigh. Me not telling you guys that I knew....because I didn't want things to change. Talking for hours and hours about it. All the wonderful talks. ;) Going to your new house for the first time. Looking into the future. "Framily" New York!!! Tea with your Aunts...exploring, "I told u this wasn't our floor!" The elevator!" "Right by the police station?" Walking around for four hours and buying nothing but two bagels and two pepsis. =) Watching tv with your uncle...our wierd dreams. Getting breakfast and not knowing what to do with the dishes. "Do we leave them on the table?" "I don't know, lets just see what that guy does." (Of course we waited for like thirty minutes until he finnally left, and left the dishes!) Makeup, hair, nails, shopping, Beauty and the Beast!!!
Zebras! Penguins, Storks, Lizzards, Fish, Pelequins, Moose and all of our other funny animal memories. Our mouse, Alfred, "There it is!" Wham! Katie's bird. (Wanting to drown it) Movie nights, where I always would fall asleep. Long walks.
Cape Cod!!! Twice. "Whambombadoo!" "Liz, can you translate please?" "Puuuuuussssshhhhh." The Spider at the little house...."it's okay, I have everything under control! BAAAA!!!!" "Unclean!" "Where is baskin robins?"
Oh Lizzy, I hope you have a Happy Happy Birthday! Thanks for everything! I love you, (and will give you your real actual card later.)

~Josie

A Summer Picnic with Friends

One warm day in Summer, Kristin had Liv, Lidsey, and I over for a picnic! (And it's taken me this long to put a blog post up about it!) Kristin made us this super good chicken, served with salad, potatoes, iced tea and many more yummy things. (She is an amazing cook!) Anyways, after a hike out to the perfect picnic spot, which involved crossing a river with two picnic baskets, a huge towel, four purses, two cell phones, eight pairs of flip flops, and four lauging girls, and a lovely meal and LOTS of talking, we decided to do a short photoshoot with Liv's camera! Here are the pictures. We played this senario game, where each person takes a turn shouting out a senario right before the timer on the camera goes off. Here are the good ones.....
"You just got the part that you wanted really bad in the musical!"
......Haha, I don't remember this one! But I like Kristin's face the best. =)
"You just got proposed to!"
"A bird just pooped on your head!"

Well that's all. Have a good week everyone!
~J

The J.A.K.E. Photoshoot!!!

For a while now, we have been begging Jen to do a photoshoot, with the four of us and her mad camera skills. So in Cape Cod at sunset one afternon, she did!
This one is my favorite. (The above one.)
But then, the wind blew my hair into Katie's face.
So she got sad, and we were sad cause she was sad, so we sat.

But then something made us laugh. (.......Do I laugh like that?)
And Katie got over the fact that my hair had blown into her face and we took a picture together.
Then Anna wanted one with me.
And so did Polka!
And we wrapped it up. There are like a million more....I'll put them up sometime soon. Thanks Jenny for doing this! Vacationing with you guys was awesome! So many memories and good times. =)

~J

The Daily Puppy

I would like to introduce you all to Alfie the Jack Russell Terrier. (No...he doesn't belong to me...I wish!) The other day, Evan showed me this. It's called The Daily Puppy, and everyday you can read about him and look at adorable pictures. Alfie is my favorite one so far. You can check out more pics of him at: http://dailypuppy.com/index.php?itemid=1295.

Hope you all enjoy your last bit of summer....

~Josie