Why I Strongly Dislike My Grandmother

I strongly dislike my grandmother. I really, really, strongly dislike my grandmother. I could never hate her because she is my grandmother and she did give birth to the person (no matter how terrible of a person he is) that is half responsible for my existence, but I dislike her. A lot.
When I was really young, like five, my parents got divorced. I only visited my dad and his side of the family until I was about eight. It came to a point where it was kind of like that whole family just dropped off the face of the earth one day. I didn’t really mind though. My dad and I never had the greatest relationship, mostly due to his heavy addiction to drugs and alcohol, but this isn’t about him. It’s about my grandmother. My loving, kind, caring, sweet grandma. Oh, wait. She’s none of those things. After my dad stopped coming around, I at least thought my grandparents would still visit my sisters and I. I mean, they always seemed so loving and nice. I was wrong. But that’s still not the thing that I’m really upset about.
Last weekend, my sister went down with my grandma on my mom’s side to our family’s camper. My grandparents from my dad’s side happen to have a camper in the same campground, but are never down there when we are, so we’ve never had an interaction with them. Until last weekend. My sister was on the golf cart and came face-to-face with our grandparents for the first time in over ten years. Someone pointed out to them that my sister was their granddaughter, and my grandma said that she needed to leave because she didn’t “associate with those people”. I’m sorry, what? Your own granddaughter, who you haven’t seen in ten years, and you refuse to talk to her? It may just be me, but I think that’s a little ridiculous. What infuriates me is that she made it sound like we had somehow wronged her. That when we were young children, at the ages of five and eight, we had done something to make her despise us. And she couldn’t even refer to us as her family, who share the same blood, but as “those people”. Like “those people who I can't even refer to by name because the thought of saying and accepting that they are my granddaughters may make me physically ill”. We were kids that got stuck in the middle of an ugly divorce, and somehow, we have to suffer? We have to be blamed for things we can’t be held responsible for because we had no decision in the matter? We're the ones who had to grow up without our dad and grandparents because they decided they didn't want us anymore, but somehow that's our fault and we should feel bad for you? I never thought it was possible for someone to hate their own grandchildren, but I guess you learn something new every day.  

The Butterfly Incident

I felt like sharing a random story from my childhood and decided to go with one so traumatic, it is now referred to (really only by me) as "The Butterfly Incident".
I’ve always had this really strange fear of butterflies, and I don’t really know why I’m afraid of them, but they just really creep me out and always have. I think my fear stems from an incident in my childhood. When I was in kindergarten, my class took a field trip to the Franklin Park Conservatory, where there’s a huge walk-through butterfly exhibit. My classmates and I were all casually enjoying the exhibit and having a grand old time. Until, all of a sudden, a butterfly landed on the girl next to me and, for some strange reason that I am still unaware of, I started FREAKING OUT. I was hysterically crying and refusing to walk any further into the butterfly death-trap. I think that I may have thought that the butterfly was attacking my classmate or something and was going to move on to me once it killed her. Since I was so stricken with fear that I was unable to move, my mother was forced to pick me up and carry me out of the exhibit (and still frequently refers to the situation). Needless to say, this was a very memorable event for both of us. To this day, I am still terribly afraid of butterflies and I still am not quite sure why.

Gummy Bear Popsicles

This is going to be a rather short post, but one that I thought I should share anyway. One of my favorite things about summer is popsicles. And, one of the things on my summer bucket list is to make popsicles (this doesn't count though because I made these a while ago and am just now posting about it). I decided a while ago that I would try and make gummy bear popsicles after having seen a picture of them on Pinterest. Gummy bear popsicles are not only super simple to make, but they look cool and actually taste good. Here's how to make them:
1. Take a popsicle mold and fill each compartment about 3/4 of the way with gummy bears
2. Fill the rest of each compartment with Sprite or 7-Up
3. Put the mold in the freezer
And in a few hours, you can enjoy some awesome gummy bear popsicles!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Camper

One of my favorite places to go for any weekend in the summer, especially holiday weekends, is my grandma's camper. My family has had campers down there since my mom was a child, so my siblings, cousins, and I spent a ton of time down there as kids. But the older we got, the less we went down because our summers were packed with sports, youth group activities, work, and everything else in between. This past weekend, five of the six of us were able to go down, which hasn't happened in at least 5 years. It would've been even better if all six of us had been able to go, but my grandma probably would've gone completely crazy (she was almost that way with just five of us).
It's so peaceful not having to deal with having internet and cell service and we got to do a lot of stuff we normally only get to do down there, like playing tennis at eight in the morning. I also got four things knocked off my summer bucket list - camping, playing with sparklers, mini golf (there's a course on the campgrounds), and s'mores. My family does s'mores a little differently though. Instead of using graham crackers and chocolate, we use fudge stripe cookies. It's much more convenient and I think it tastes better.
Aside from eating s'mores, we had a lot of fun and spent a lot of time laughing, and a little bit of time causing trouble. Overall, it was a great weekend and I'm so grateful I got to spend it with my siblings and cousin.

The Life of a Video Major

Being a Journalism and Media Production major has a lot of perks. One of those perks is that instead of doing calculus or biology homework, we get to make videos. Being in a rather creative major, we’re quite the interesting bunch, which makes our videos just that much better. And having friends in the major means that we all get to help with the filmmaking process for each other’s projects. One of my friends made an “MVNU Cribs” video, of which I was the star, but it also featured some of our other friends. And another one of my friends made a video depicting the love story between a girl and her giant stuffed teddy bear. I was in this video, but barely seen, as I was the one who got the job of propping up the bear whenever it was supposed to be standing or moving. But this was still a learning experience, as I discovered just how heavy huge stuffed animals can be.

My video probably took the longest to make out of my friend group’s projects. This is most likely due to the fact that after 4-5 hours of editing and having almost my entire video completed, there was a saving error and I had to completely re-edit the entire thing. Despite the frustration that caused, I’m still really happy with how my video turned out. For my project, I chose to make a music video to the Nsync song, Tearin’ Up My Heart. The first 17.5 seconds of the video is a shot-for-shot remake of the original, but then it develops into a story about a creepy guy and all his weird shenanigans. Thankfully, I have friends who were nice enough to help me out and act in it. It was really cool to watch my storyboard come to life during the filmmaking process. I’m really proud of how the video turned out and I had a lot of fun making it.

If you want to watch my video, here's the link
:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81fOT0zu5dM

One Year Down, Three To Go

I'm officially done with my freshman year of college! It's crazy to think that this past year has gone by so quickly, which only means the next three are going to go by even faster. Move-out day was two days ago and it was bittersweet. For my first couple days at MVNU, I thought about transferring probably a hundred times. I didn't know a single person on campus, and I normally have to wait a few days to feel accepted by a group before I can comfortably become my crazy, outgoing self. And all of my friends could verify that statement. But once I started making friends, I knew I was supposed to be there.
This past year was so much fun and I am so thankful for all the friends and memories I've made so far. I've probably definitely eaten way more Taco Bell in the past 8 months than I have in my entire life. I've gone on so many late-night spontaneous trips to random places, with random people. My friends helped me campaign for class council (which included us making two awesome campaign videos) and then helped me celebrate my triumphant victory (the only way we know how to celebrate-with Taco Bell). I got to serve on class council as the Freshman Events Director and plan some sweet events for my class, including one where I got to run a non-alcoholic bar. I've laughed more this past year than I ever have, at things that I'll remember for a really long time. I've had some of the most awkward experiences with some of the most awkward people. One of my friends and I were cast members for the spring Friday Night Live (they obviously only let the funniest people in). I've done some of the weirdest and most random stuff, from hiding in the strangest places to filling a pool full of bean bag filling.
I've stayed up countless times having deep discussions with my friends in the laundry room. I've had some of the strangest conversations that don't even make sense with people who understood exactly what I was trying to say. I've wasted so much time doing nothing, but I've done it with some of the coolest people. I've ran around in circles for half an hour being crazy with my friends. I've started traditions with my friends that we'll hopefully continue the next three years. I've eaten soooooo much junk food and fast food, I'm surprised I'm not overweight. I've climbed onto the roof with one of my friends and just stargazed and talked. I got to be a part of the campus radio station (which is also where I'll be working this summer), which has already had a huge impact on me after only having been a part of it this past semester. I've made so many friends who I've gotten extremely close to in such a short period of time, and I've really enjoyed watching our friendships grow and I can't wait to see what God does in those relationships during my next three years at MVNU.
While I am excited to have three months of not doing schoolwork, I'm going to miss all of my friends. A lot. Luckily, some of us all live within 15 minutes of each other, so we'll hopefully get to hang out this summer. And even more luckily, one of my best friends and I are working together at the campus radio station this summer a few days a week, which means we'll have about an hour and a half of bonding time in the car every day that we work.
I've had such an amazing first year at college and I am so thankful for all the friends and memories I've made so far, and I can't wait for the new ones I make in the next three years.

Summer 2014 Bucket List

Move-out day (which I'll post all about later) was two days ago, which means summer break has officially started! The only things that I really have planned for the summer are 1) Working a few days a week at the on-campus radio station, 2) Driving to Nashville in August to see One Direction (go ahead and judge me), and 3) Taking as many trips to Kings Island as I can. So I decided to go ahead and make a summer bucket list of everything I want to try and do before I go back to school in the fall. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish most of, if not the entire list. Some of the things on the list are really cliché, but I tried to make some a little more creative. One of my personal favorites is number eight. I'll be sure to post updates on what I get accomplished.
1.Camping
2.Make a summer playlist/CD
3.Drive-in movie
4.Tie messages to balloons and let them go
5.Make a memory box/time capsule
6.Finish an entire coloring book
7.Water Balloon fight
8.Smash a watermelon
9.Go to the zoo
10.Play with sparklers
11.Burn dandelions
12.Build a blanket fort
13.All day movie marathon
14.Go to a concert
15.Catch fireflies
16.Bowling
17.Ice skating
18.Tie-dye something
19.Road trip
20.Leave a note in a library book
21.Play murder in the dark
22.Picnic
23.Make ice cream
24.Make popsicles
25.Glowing bubbles
26.Start a journal
27.Have a party at the camper
28.Read TFIOS
29.Read Looking For Alaska
30.Eyebombing
31.Make a 1000-square hopscotch
32.Write a letter to my future self
33.S’mores
34.Water gun fight
35.Stargaze
36.Make jolly rancher suckers
37.Roller Skating
38.Play in the rain
39.Homemade pizza
40.Water park
41.Shoot a gun
42.Watch a sunrise
43.Buy ice cream from an ice cream truck
44.Throw darts at paint-filled balloons
45.Glow stick swimming
46.Slip n’ slide
47.Geocaching
48.Mini golf
49.Ride Banshee 25 times (3 so far)
50.Ride Diamondback 100 times (6 so far)