Merry Christmas!

I probably wont have time until the Big Day to wish you a Merry Christmas, so, Merry early Christmas!  I hope that you have a great Christmas with all your loved ones, and maybe some snow :-)

I've barely had time enough to pee in the last two weeks....  I haven't done schoolwork for a month.  Can you believe that?!?!?!  Good thing I'm home schooled, or I would be so screwed.  If it eases your worries, I started back up yesterday :-P  With all the shopping and random errands, we haven't really even baked yet, and Lord, please help us with that thing called cleaning....  By a stroke of luck, we managed to decorate in a timely fashion not too close to Christmas to be deemed absurd.  Thankfully, things are calming down!  Soccer is over for the holidays, as are piano lessons, theory classes, babysitting, and school once a week for my sister.

I found the magical site known as Etsy today.  My bank account cried, I heard it.  Luckily, I just WANT these things, and probably won't actually buy them.  Not having a job works for lazy/busy me, and I'd like to keep it that way.

I also found this gem - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fsfod891J0  And then I proceeded to YouTube more James Taylor stuff, and more and more and more.  Sorry Internet bill, I've found my new favourite artist!

                                                     Look how big my favourite boy is now!

Seventeen

I am now 17 :-D  My last year of legal childhood.....  I shall do my best to ensure it is filled with immaturity and impish behavior to the last, Muahahaha!  16 wasn't all it was cracked up to be, so I intend to make up for it this year.  I hope that God does incredible things with me and that my relationship with Him can grow.  Last year I was in kind of a ditch with God and I'm still crawling out of it, but I know now my course of action, and things are looking up :-)  I've had a fantastic week since my birthday.  My older sister got me the book that I wanted, the 'Encyclopedia of Immaturity' by Klutz....  Everyone will hate her for it very soon.

I am so excited for Christmas this year!!!!!  I don't really know why, but it's going to be wonderful.  When I was like, 14, I wasn't stoked AT ALL.  I was literally like 'BAH, humbug.....' for a whole 2 months around Christmas.  It was very odd of me, but this year I feel like the polar opposite of that.  STOKED :-D  And we just went through all of our Christmas stuff in the hopes of getting rid of a goodly amount of it.  It was a good thought with poor results, but it's the thought that counts, right?

I found a blog recently (5 minutes ago :-P ) that's really inspired me to add more of my photos to my blogs, so prepare yourself for that.  And your prayers and thoughts would be wonderful for a good friend of mine, Ardath.  Her husband died on Saturday from cancer.  They had been going to a clinic in Germany for years for treatments that hadn't been approved here in Canada yet and spent thousands of dollars, but Jim finally got to go home.  Ardath is a strong woman, but my heart breaks for her.  Keep her in your thoughts :-)

I went on an adventure with my two best friends in thw whole world a few weeks ago, and only just got around to editing the photos....  Click to see large!

I had other grand plans for this entry.... and I've forgotten ALL of them.  So I'll leave you with that!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R781LDKOVJE&feature=related
I LOVE YOU LIAM <3 ( :-P ) -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvfejaHz-o0&ob=av2e

Relief! This is a happy post :-)

I feel a lot better since I last posted.  You can breathe easy now (because I know that you were all totally up at night, having mega-stress attacks for me.  Right? RIGHT?!?!? :-P )

Since I last posted, I've been a busy girl! ......

I went to the International Gairdner Symposium here in Vancouver on the 24th of last month, and it was freaking awesome.  We heard two lectures on DNA molecular therapy from two FAMOUS scientists, Dr. Howard Cedar, 2011 Canada Gairdner International Laureate, Professor of Molecular Biology, Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, and Dr. Michael Hayden, 2011 Canada Gairdner Wightman Laureate, Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of British Columbia Child and Family Research Institute.  I was a very happy girl.  We went on a tour of the research labs in the Children and Family Research Institue after, and in one lab we got to EXTRACT OUR DNA :-D  So now I have a vile of white stuff in my room, which I treasure like a $100 bill :-P  Since I was downtown, I was definitely expecting to see a lot of Asian or East Indian people (that sounds awful.... but it's like expecting to see a lot of white people in Britain!!  It's gonna happen!!), but I was so amazed and caught of guard to see a buttload of white kids in there.  It was so weird.  

It's my birthday in 18 days!  I'll be 17, I can't wait :-)  AND, I get a party!!!  We were too busy last year, so my little sister and I both missed out on that.  But I'm feeling good about this birthday, like it will be freaking awesome.  

I saw the new Footloose! :-P  And got to see two of my favourite people, Angie and Meg <3  Not my type of movie, but it wasn't awful, and the guy was a great dancer.  And Willard was great, so funny :-P  And I had my best game EVER yesterday!!!!  (I'll be gloating about this for the next looong while probably, so to the readers who have to live with me in real life - might as well get used to it! :-P )  I usually play midfield or defense, but my team is bellyaching and wining for a goalie because no one wants to step up (even thought we have 3 pretty good goalies, but they don't like playing in net all the time).  So I told my dad that he could start training me on the side, and when I got awesome we would tell the team that I would give it a shot.  Yesterday we played against a team that we've never lost to so my dad decided to stick me in net then.  And, well... I FREAKING ROCKED IT :-D  I played second half and we had no subs, so all my teammates on the field were really tired, so the other team got a lot of breakaways and they must have had around 20 shots on me (which is way too many in soccer).  They got one past me 5 minutes in, but once I got my head into it there was no way they were getting any past me :-)  After the game, the complements were a'flowin'!  Their coach told me that if I ever move to Port Moody (where we played), to look them up and play for them, and the ref was like 'awesome job!!' and gave me a highfive, and my coach was gonna burst and was yelling 'YEAH BABY!!!!' as I walked over :-P  There were a few more;  I have NEVER felt that good after a game.  And them my sister and my nephew came over, and it made yesterday the best day ever.  *sigh*, I feel very contented, and as usual when I'm happy I feel like going for a run!  This, however, never happens, and I'll have to try and sit still and not wiggle around until I can get my energy out, LOL!

Note - this is a stress rant. Enjoy.

I am officially going to die before I turn eighteen due to stress and general inability to cope with vast changes and responsibility.

Everyone I know is having 'The best senior year ever!!!'  HOW DID I MISS THAT SIGN UP SHEET?!??!?!?  It's either 'I have so much free time!' or 'Do you have a grad dress yet?' or 'My courses are so easy!' or, my personal favourite... oh, wait, no, I HATE THEM ALL, because they give me nasty headaches and pangs of jealousy.  I am taking the least amount of academic courses I ever have this year at a grand total of 8 (I took nine, maybe 10, in grades 10 and 11, respectively), and my extra-curricular is only soccer twice a week and music twice a week, but go right on ahead and slot in babysitting twice a week, grocery shopping, volunteer hours, cleaning, family stuff, lifeguard training, friends, and bathing, and I AM SO BAFFLED AT HOW I'M ALIVE.  And to top that pie of wonderful off, I have to look into cars, jobs, and universities.  Is there a way to hire a trained monkey to do half of this for me?  That would be freaking epic.  If anyone wants to get me that for my birthday next month, I would be willing to marry you (unless you're a girl, in which case.... you can pick something else).  Or, if the monkey thing doesn't work out, a cloning machine would be thoroughly welcome.  I can handle everything other than university and all that it encompasses, including cars, jobs, bursaries, scholarships, etc.....  just so you can tell the monkey seller so that I get the right one :-P

I've never been a note writer, but I have piles and piles of them to organize my thoughts now....  Note to Self #1:

UNIVERSITY -
 - Look into scholarships and bursaries
 - Figure out what you want to do at uni
 - Choose 2-4 uni's you like
 - Make an appointment with a counselor at your top university RE: $$, courses, and high-school prerequisites
 - Universities must be close so I can live at home
 - I don't want to have to sell a limb to get into one (though seeing as TWU is my top, I might have to)
 - And most importantly...

TRY NOT TO DIE BEFORE YOUR EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY DUE TO STRESS AND GENERAL INABILITY TO COPE WITH VAST CHANGE AND RESPONSIBILITY!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have found some epic bursaries/scholarships (or any, really), pleasepleaseplease email them to me, even if you feel awkward doing so.  I will be eternally grateful, and you my prevent my premature death by helping me out here!!!

What happens in Fall.....

Hi.  My name is Caitlin, and I'm a Gleek.  Glee has started again, and I almost cried when I had to miss the second episode for my AED class (which I passed.)  That's what I call devotion (or having no life)!  But Glee is just one of the many things I LOVE about this time of year.  The leaves are turning, the light is so perfect for photography, piano lessons have started again, and I'm covered in bruises, as I should be in the soccer season.  Life is good.

I'm starting my second month of grade 12!!!?!  I'm impressed with myself that I managed to live this long....  I've done a lot of physically stupid things, been far too cheeky for my own good, and because of such things, I think I only lived because I ran away fast enough ;-)  And now in 9-ish months I'll be graduated and preparing for university.  I'll be only the second person on my mom's side of the family to ever have attended university (no pressure)!  University is stressing me out.  I'm too old to play Barbies and hide-and-seek, or make mudpies in my best dress (wait, I don't own a dress....), or go around believing that anything bad that happens can be fixed by my mom or dad.  I know that they're still there to support me, but I do miss the ol' safety net!

I'm taking History 1 this year!  We've only had 2 classes, but I'm really enjoying it so far.  The second class was the best....  mostly because two guys who could come last week showed up.  And they turned out to be extremely attractive.  (So much for being able to concentrate in THAT class....)  Naww, all it means is that I have to blow their doors off and get a way better score than them on the exam.  Because, you know, that's totally the way to win a guys affections.  None of that through his stomach crap :-P  And I almost fell out of my seat when one of them walked in... I've met him before, at recitals and stuff (same piano and theory teachers), but I've seriously seen him EVERYWHERE over the last month.  Walking through Wal-Mart, small out-of-the-way bookstores, and somewhere else I can't remember.  Crazy.  One major downside - My mom's in the class with me, which will make it hard to enjoy my classmates.  Urgh :-P

My nephew went home from the hospital two weeks ago!  The poor sweetheart's been in the hospital since his birth, exactly a month and a half.  He's doing really well in his own home, and he can already flip himself over onto his tummy!  'Atta boy...  So we went over right away to see him, and I finally got to hold him!  We had a solid 2 hours of cuddling to catch up on lost time.

So little in his big crib!

                                                   He was super awake after his very first bath at home :-)

I was messing around in Photoshop and Illustrator today after I finished my homework, and I found a kit online that pretty much lets you make your image look like film.  I downloaded it, and I knew after I opened it that I would be totally willing to marry the teen-aged guy who made it.  No hesitations whatsoever.  It was just that freaking awesome.  If you have Photoshop, download it! (but don't you dare take my man :-P )  http://coltonrabon.com/index.php?/resources/light-leak-kit/

I'm going to learn this piece, I fell in love with it as soon as I heard it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6s49OKp6aE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWAPnA5xvv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SwfwMxUVGI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOxE7IRizjI&feature=fvwp&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OczRpuGKTfY&feature=relmfu

180

Please please please watch this!!!!!!  It's a very powerful movie on abortion, I almost cried twice.

It just came out like, 4 days ago, and in my opinion should have way more views!!  Let's spread this movie, by word of mouth, facebook, email, twitter, myspace, youtube, texting, whatever.  It'll only take you a second.
http://heartchanger.com/getinvolved.php

COMEDY!!!! Raucous Laughter must ensue....

Found this from a school friend's tumblr....  I will never be able to sing this song the same again.

HECK YES!!!!!  I am so inexplicably in love with this......  It could be because I'm super tired, but hey.  

Dat's some good comedy right thur, muh peeps.   

OK, so, these alpacas mean some serious bizness.  The one in the front is all like, 'K, I'm walkin' now, and if you don't get out of the way, I'll eat you.  And then suddenly, THEY ALL HAVE THAT EXPRESSION!!!!!!!!  And you're all like, crap, this is what happens when you stand up to DA MAN.  Crazy. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gZ0x8AVaBI&feature=player_embedded

On a less hilarious note, yet not entirely serious and having absolutely no bumming-out qualities, my nephew Jackson is doing great!!!!  He weighs 7 pound as of today, and is officially one month old :-) 

Dis is my boi!!!!  He's still in the NICU, but he's doing well :-)  and I finally got to meet him!  A particularly awesome nurse let my little sister and I go to the back door and peek in to get a sniff and kiss from the little guy <3




Oh, and school started 2 weeks ago.....  but I'm not dreading it as much now because I'M GRADUATING, MUH PEEPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Watch out, real world.  HERE I COME, BEHBEH. Muahahaha


(so tired and hyper...... wow.)

BEST. MONDAY. EVER!!!!!

So, this week has been so amazing, and believe it or not, MONDAY was the best of all.  Monday!!!  Crazy right?!  Who in their right mind likes Mondays.....  Wanna know why?

It's because my nephew was born on Monday!!!!!! :-D

His name is Jackson Lucas (Last name will be left out for obvious privacy reasons :-P ), and he was born via emergency c-section at 7:29am Monday morning.  He's 43cm long (19"), and was 5lbs 3.3oz, and about 5 weeks premature.  If he'd gone full term, one doctor said that he would have been like, 9 pounds and 2 feet long!  My sister went into the hospital Sunday night because of her heart condition and some cramping and bleeding.  Naturally, they were like 'Hey, lets check out the baby while we're at it.'  So they hooked up monitors around her belly and such as well, and kept an eye on him.  At about 6am his heart rate dropped from 150 to just 50 :-S  So out he came!

We later realized that if my sister hadn't gone in on Sunday night for her heart condition, something totally unrelated to the baby, they wouldn't have caught Jackson's heart rate fluctuations, and we would have lost him.  There were tears over that one.  :-(

He's such a trooper already though; within his first day, he was breathing on his own, and by yesterday (his 2nd day) he was out of the incubator and in a little bassinet.  And by this morning he was already having full feedings.  He's still in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), but as soon as he's able to breast feed properly and learns to breathe without swallowing air, he can go home!  I reeeeeaaaaaally can't wait for him to get out of the NICU though, because I haven't even met him yet!  I've only seen pictures :-(  Kids 14+ are allowed into the NICU, but my little sister is only 11, so to be fair I cant go in if she can't go in.  I'm dying here, I just want to hold him and cuddle with the little guy! :-)

I'm going to call him My Sweet Babboo....  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z80P-zFJ2U

Here you are, I'd like you to meet little Jackson!  He's 2 days old here -

This has turned into the best summer :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MggNFU0_4Fs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGEe_zpddNI

AWSI....Sigh

Yes.  Yes that did rhyme.  It took me 5 whole minutes to come up with that too, so you'd better appreciate that :-P

I got back home from camp evergreen on Saturday, and man oh man...  in the nine years I've been there, this was the best week ever.  I am so on fire for God now!!!!  I've had such a dormant relationship with God this school year, and I'm so glad He uses evergreen to constantly regenerate me.  I'll write more all about it in another post, probably on Saturday...... because all I'll be doing this week is AWSI!!!!!!!!!

Assistant Water Safety Instructor.  People have told me its a walk in the park, especially for us homeschooled kids who rock at paperwork.  BUT I AM SO OVERWHELMED!!!!!  I think it depends on how your teacher presents it to you, because this is sounding to be pretty intense.  My teacher doesn't sugar-coat anything, so right off the bat she was like, "This is all you'll be doing for the next 5 days; eat, sleep, AWSI, AWSI homework.  You will be up all night sometimes trying to do this homework!"  I just finished day one, and I've already finished my two written assignments and gotten the things I needed to buy and gather together, but I still have seven chapters to read in the manual.  SEVEN.  CHAPTERS.  Facedesk/

And I'm the oldest in my class, which is definitely a first for me.  Everyone else is going into either grade 10 or 11, while little old me is already gearing up for grade 12!!  But that's for another post ;-)

I did meet a fellow sister in Christ though, I can't tell you how HAPPY I was!!!!!!!!  I noticed that she was wearing tons of wrist bands, and in reading them I found out that they were all from bands like Toby Mac and Skillet!  Turns out she was at Creation Fest too this year with her youth group.  Which happens to be a youth group I've been thinking of checking out for a while, but I've been to scared to go by myself!  God works in mysterious ways :-)  He opened a door in a way I could never have imagined, YESS!! :-)

So, AWSI has had it's benefits as well, but your prayers would still be welcome :-)

~ Caitlin

August, oh August.....

August is going to be so stressful!!!!!!!!!!  I've always looked forward to summer camp, but this year I have 3 girls that equal pain and torture in ten and eleven year old forms.  One is super slow and has a mind of her own like you wouldn't believe.  The other two tag-team and manipulate like they've been trained by the FBI or something, it's almost impressive.  I cant hate on them though, because one of them told me once that I'm her favourite counselor.... cue the 'awwww!!!'s.  This will take up my first week of August.  I'm counseling with a university student I don't know - I get to meet with her on Thursday.  I have to go through the devotions and 2 other guides we've been given.  I have to finish getting together things for my girls.  Gahh.

AWSI will take up my second week in August, and will be easy apparently.  Not much sweat there.

NLS, however, will be the death of me.  It's two weeks long, all day every day 10 - 4:30.  I've been training in preparation for the physical standards.  Well, actually....  I've been thinking about how I should be training.  Hey, it's the thought that counts right? :-P

All in all, I have 9 days off at the end of August to do what I was born to do in the summer - read :-D

I took standard first aid a few weekends ago, and it was probably the most fun I've ever had in a lifeguarding course.  The people were great, and we were pretty comfortable around each other after only 2 days!  We had a lot of fun :-)  but two days straight of simulations and classroom time were dreadful in their own respect.  It got boring, and tedious having to do the same rescue procedure over and over. and over. and over again.  But I'm a pro now :-P  If you're injury prone, keep me around I guess.

My awesome teacher from SFA got us all to volunteer at the upcoming lifeguarding competition in our city!  I'm so incredibly excited, I get to be an injured or drowning person in the pool for the competitors to save all day :-)  Plus, volunteering in such an event looks REALLY good on a resume :-D  It's one of August's perks :-)

I just got back from CREATION FEST on Sunday! :-D  It was so much fun, but it was definitely lacking something, obviously because it wasn't at the gorge.  Oh, well!  There were still amazing bands and speakers, and I had a lot of fun with the people that went.  For once in my life, I have a flip-flop tan.  I got to meet Toby Mac's drummer!!!!!!!!!  He came up to me and my two friends when we were walking to a concert and introduced himself, it was amazing :-D  And I went in a mosh pit for the first time in my life :-D (Yes, yes I KNOW it wasn't an actual mosh pit Keenan... 'It's not a mosh pit!!!!  Mosh pits are violent, that was just a group of people jumping up and down together!!!' )  I went in for Toby Mac and Skillet, which were the best performances I've seen from either group.  On the hottest day, my youth group started a water fight among ourselves, but it ended with 4 other sites involved.... and ended with what had been a pretty big mud puddle turning into a massive one that blocked the entire path.  Whoops.  But it was so worth it!!!  After we were done, we went around giving free hugs.  Because being soaked makes free hugs so much better to give :-P  And I touched a snake!!!!!  It was just a garter snake, but it was so cool.  It felt like jelly!!!  I'll add more stories and some photos tomorrow when I have more time :-)  My throat is killing me still from screaming my face off at the Skillet concert.... but it was so worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTZ7iX4vTQ&ob=av2n

Carwash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v8I5egzoMo

'Nuff said.

My youth group did a carwash today to raise funds for some kids to pay for CREATION FEST!!!!!

It was crazy fun, and I couldn't help but come home and blast this song immediately!  I'm probably really burnt but I cant tell yet, and my arms are tired from holing up signs and washing so many cars :-P  We raised $312!!!  And there are a lot of good looking guys here, I never realized it!  I found that wonderful thing out from looking into so many people's cars as they drove past :-)  There was of course the mandatory soaking with buckets and water hoses, and our youth pastor's wife brought us slurpees after.  Someone even payed us in like, 500 Japanese yen, we think.  Crazy stuff!

All in all - Epic Saturday :-D  Now, lunch time.  I'm starved.

Summa Time

DONE GRADE 11!!!  But I have been So. Bored.  Which started to make me worry about how I'm going to spend the next two months of my life!  So I made a list, here it is so far:

1.  Learn Spanish - I have this ten minutes a day book, an 'Usborne' and 'A Becka' book (it's a homeschooled thing :-P ), so I think I'm set to be able to somewhat speak Spanish by the end of the summer.  Deséame suerte!

2.  Re-visit all of my favourite movies from when I was little.  I'm so stoked for this, but I'm mostly excited to re-watch 'The Princess and the Goblin', 'The Troll In Central Park', and 'The Swan Princess' trilogy :-D  Like, so stoked.  So stoked I should be embarrassed, but am instead quite proud.

3.  Learn to Juggle.  This includes your traditional circus act of juggling, but also learning to juggle a soccer ball.  Having played soccer for 8 years, it concerns me that I cant do that for very long yet :-P

4.  Read.  And read and read and read and read....  I have a summer reading list in my room, and I'm quite proud of it!  It's got classics, from Homer to Dickens, but also some modern works that I thought looked interesting in Costco.  Can't wait :-)

5.  Take at least one noteworthy photograph every day this summer.  Or at least thoroughly document it through photos.

6.  Lifeguarding classes.  Standard first aid starts next Saturday, and I have AWSI and NLS in August.

7.  Camp Evergreen!  It's a camp run through my church and one of our sister churches, North Delta Evangelical Free Church.  It always runs in the first week of August, so this year it's the 1st - 6th.  I cannot wait, I'm FINALLY a junior counselor, and next year, I'll be senior staff!!!!  I can't believe I've come so far, I remember being 8 years old at camp, wondering if such a day would EVER come, it seemed like all of the counselors were so OLD!

8.  Wait.  And wait and wait and wait and wait.... for my niece or nephew, due on September 26th!  Pray for my older sister, she has to be pregnant through the summer :-S  Plus, she has a heart condition that was under control, but now that she's pregnant it's rearing it's lovely head again.  The doctor says all will be well, but your prayers would be comforting anyway :-)

9.  Creation Fest Northwest!!!  SO STOKED, the lineup this year is amazing - TobyMac, Switchfoot, Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Newsboys, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Francesca Battistelli, Hawk Nelson, Disciple, and so many more :-D  Not to mention the speakers! *sigh* :-D

10.  Clean my room.....  Yeah.  LOL no!  It's not actually that bad, I just never got a chance to really set it up and go through stuff after we moved in, so I've been sorting through old toys (yes, I still have my Barbies and Polly Pockets, DON'T JUDGE ME.  I'm saving them for future nieces. Yeah.  That's it.), books, clothes, and bags.  Purses, duffles, backpacks.... you know, most girls love shoes more than air, but for me, its bags.  /facedesk.

11.  Do nothing whenever possible (check :-P )

12.  Catch up with my friends....  I was beyond busy this year, my social life went down the toilet :-P  So I'm set to repair it this summer :-)

13.  Compose a Sonatina, Rondo, or Minuet.  I took Harmony II this year, and I'd like to put it to use (in the nerdiest way possible, obviously) :-P

14.  BUY MY BABY!!!!  (better known as a Nikon D7000)

Fine :-)  That's all I've got so far, but that sounds pretty good to me!  Oi vey, dont plan on seeing me in August.....  Camp 1-6, AWSI 8-13, NLS the 15th - 26th....  I will be so tired, on my days off between activities, I plan on sleeping like I'm hibernating :-P  Wish me luck in August!

Listen, these are amazing -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTKMI52GBcA&feature=BFa&list=AV4oVf-d_DwKDnB4ZjAzVbk8DQ-Nhc-mgV&index=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovbn2xBUGLM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g48C0CEL0dQ

Long time no see, chums!

I've done so much over the last weeks since I posted last...

I was in Kamloops for May long weekend, it was awesome!  I was there with my dad and sister for my soccer tournament over 2 days.  I love it there, and I've always loved the desert, but I'm the only one in my family who does!  My team sucked; we don't really know each other yet, so the passing and communication wasn't there. At all.  It was embarrassing :-P  But I had a lot of fun kicking the ball around anyway.  We stayed at the worst, cheapest motel my dad could find... It was disgusting, and I'm SO glad it was for only one night.  On the Sunday, my game wasn't until 5:30, so we drove up to Paul Lake and had a picnic lunch, and went on a 2 hour hike up Rock face Mountain - BAD IDEA, I was so tired for my game!  Oh well, lesson learned :-P  I havent played since then until yesterday (bad weather, other team issues, etc), and at my game yesterday I ROCKED it, it was awesome, and the rarest thing of all finally occurred - my dad said I did good :-D  Isnt it such a HUGE battle sometimes for your dad to compliment you?!?!  Maybe its just that way for me... Its not that he's hard on me and super mean or anything at all like that, its just that he was the jock in high school, and expects a lot from me.  So his compliments are never unfounded :-D  But seriously.... Best. Game. Ever. I did so well, I was so elated yesterday.

There's an add on YouTube songs right now for Fanta... I love it, the song is great and its so... happy :-) hahah, for once, I'm looking forward to their adds.

ONLY ONE WEEK UNTIL SCHOOL IS DONE!  Though I'll still have exams... But I am so happy, for the end is near!  I have until the 13th to hand in all assignments (18 to go... yikes  :-S ), and then I'll have 2 weeks to revise for my Socials 11 provincial, and one week after that to study for my math exam.  I've got a bit of a competition going down with my friend Rachel over our socials provincial... Who can get the higher mark?!  I'm aiming for about 90%, so now she's aiming for 91%.... bugger :-P  I love that Asian!!!! :-D

The battle to save money is beginning... I need money for university, a new camera, and I would love to have Photoshop CS5... (EDIT - Photoshop had been bought by a generous mom of mine!!! It's mine in 7- 10 business days :-P :-D )  Summer job, here I come!  I'm keeping a list of places I'd love to work in... Frostings Cupcakery, Chapters Bookstore, Moreno's (a small grocers by my house), Ralph's Farm Market, and Atmosphere (and outdoors store) are all highest on my list :-D  I'll never work in a food place except for certain grocery stores, so McDonald's and Starbucks will NEVER happen :-P

This warm summer weather is torture....  I found my sunglasses today (the ones that my sister's ex-boyfriend got for me, from Jake Hoggard the lead singer of Hedley!!), and that alone tipped me almost over the edge... I'm dying here, I crave to be outside in the sun!!!

My school's grad was last week, and It got me thinking that in exactly one year, that'll be me!  I can't believe grad and university are so close already.... wasn't I eating sand and playing mud-pies in my best dress just yesterday?  Is it too early to be having these first-day-of-university horror dreams?  So far, I've already been stalked, gotten lost going to my first class, forgotten my pants, and shown up to class without my books.  =SCARED=

LOL But i'm still such a child.... We have a HUGE box from something my Nanny bought, and my sister and I were playing in it the other day...  She crawled in and asked me to close it up for her, so I did, and then I pushed the opening end up against a wall so she would be stuck >:-)  (she ended up doing the same thing to me)  It was the funniest thing ever, because I made it sound like I ran away, but I snuck back and used my leg to hold the box in place in case she found a way to move it away from the wall....  She says the funniest things when she thinks she's alone...

Wanna know the best thing ever?  My sister changed some of her facebook info yesterday... her new and permanent relationship status says "Married", and her new and permanent name is Jessica Harder :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g48C0CEL0dQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKypqSL49Pg

"I've loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." - Galileo Galilei

I'll add some photos later... Its been a while since you've seen the world through my eyes!  Have a great Monday mi amigos

Affliction

My life is nuts.  If you haven't figured that out by now, I'd be.... surprised, for lack of a better word.  Let me explain in full....

9:30 am Harmony II exam on Saturday morning at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langley campus (Stress point #1).  I had to arrive at 20 minutes to exam time, about ten after 9.  We ended up LEAVING THE HOUSE at ten after nine (stress point #2)!!  This was an exam I just wanted to pass, nothing more.  Harmony is dreadful, and the most boring subject I've ever had to take.  And that's really saying something, seeing as I'm the bookworm kid who would totally take more classes if I had time for them (mega-dork comment of the day).  The exam was 3 hours long, and I spent one whole week doing pretty much nothing but studying to prepare for it.  I ended up finishing in 2 hours (HALLELUJAH), when I had thought that 3 hours would be nowhere near enough.  The rest of my day involved me being a vegetable, boo ya :-D  Now I get to study for my L... (IT NEVER ENDS!!!!!!)
I would have slept WAY IN after yesterdays stress, but I had a soccer game at 9am in Surrey, a half hour away.  And I had to be there at 8:30 for warm up.... second day in a row waking at 7, ugh.  (7 seems normal, even late to most of you, but 10am is normal for me, so humour me here :-P )  I got to play forward again, and for the one shift I was back in Midfield, I think I made a friend... in a really awkward way.  My check had the ball, so I was right on her back... she was right between me and the ball, but she wasn't distancing me from the ball very well so I jabbed between her legs to get it away from her.... and that would have been all fine and dandy if she hadn't stepped back a bit, basically causing me to knee her in the butt.  

To put it simply, if she were a boy that would have hurt.  A lot.  Honestly, how can we not be BFF's after that?
The magic of the game was preserved in a Tim Horton's run... Game day for my dad and I is complete when, and only when, we have our large hot chocolate and extra large coffee, half hot chocolate with one cream, and two doughnuts or bagels, depending on what we feel like.  It completes the mood, and any missed passes or bad shots are erased from my memory as the smooth hot chocolate soothingly trickles down my throat.

When I vegged out again with my mom (it was SUCH a bad idea to put a TV in the master bedroom.. what were we thinking...)  we watched Cupcake Wars.  I've always been seriously in love with cupcakes, they're food from the gods (move over, Ferrero Rocher :-P ).  The episode focused on a pageant in California, and the winner's cupcakes were featured in it.  Or something.  I was tired, so I don't remember much of it :-P  But they used some crazy ingredients in their cupcakes!!  There was a Lemon Parsley cupcake.... not sure how that would have tasted...
Moral of the story - it inspired to to make cupcakes.  So I did!  I found a recipe for Almond cupcakes, and I tweaked their vanilla butter cream icing recipe into a caramel macchiato icing. SO GOOD, I almost like the cake better than the icing, which is very rare.

I don't think I've mentioned this... I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!  My sister is about 4-5 months along, and they don't know if its a boy or a girl, they're keeping it a surprise.  I had a dream about the Big Day last night; in my dream it turned out to be a boy, and was the sweetest, most beautiful baby ever!  I cannot explain to you how STOKED my family is, we have already planned and bought so much :-)  I want this baby to come faster!  It seems odd... I'm only 16 and I'm going to be an aunt?? Its crazy, when the little lady or gentleman gets here, thats when everything will sink in.  I'm going to teach it to play the piano, and to play soccer and catch, and we'll make mudpies, and we'll play dress-ups or knights and dragons (depending on if its a boy or girl.)  And we have a book called classics to read to children... its got Shakespeare, and Plato, and all sorts of old stories in it to read to kids.... so we'll read that, too :-)  *sigh*  We are so excited :-)

Catch ya later!

Pearly Whites

I had the definite privilege of going to the dentist yesterday morning.  The dentists has always been a place of relaxation for me, believe it or not!

Except for that fact that my mother chooses the earliest time possible for us to go (9 am, what joy is mine :-P ), it's quite an enjoyable experience.  As I wait for my sister to go first, I flip through National Geographic magazines (including the kid's ones!), and the outdoor magazines too... they always have some great stuff in there.  When it's finally my turn, I get the pleasure of laying in a chair for what feels like a nap as the nicest hygienist cleans my teeth.  Her smooth voice quietly comments on how little work she has to do because my teeth are already so clean.  I fail to see how that could be so, I must just be lucky... I'm the queen of forgetting to floss or even brush!  She asks about school, what my plans are for university and what I want to do there, and how my older sister is doing.  The leisurely conversation between her, another hygienist, and the dentist includes chat of the Royal Wedding, how the dentist's son is doing on his choir trip, and some office gossip.  I particularly loved the wedding conversation :-P  After the hygienist is done the dentist himself comes in to check for more serious issues, of which he inevitably does not find.  

When my turn is done, I get to wait a full hour for my mom to have her turn.  Cue more magazine perusing.  The end of our visit is unfortunate, for now I have to go back to the real world.

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I have lately found myself addicted to BBC movies, set in the early 1800's.  I spent all of last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday watching most of the ones we own with my mom!  That was a crazy long weekend :-P  My favourites are Cranford, Wives and Daughters, and North and South.   I love old British movies for how proper everyone was.  No one was selfish outwardly, that would be rude; all of the men were complete gentlemen no matter their age (LOVED that!); their accents are to be envied; their use of language and the long conversations they had thanks to their social skills preventing a long, awkward silence.  I think I was born in the wrong century :-P

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I love this website - http://www.snorgtees.com/

Never have I read funnier t-shirts, I love those beard hats....

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Listen - 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mHnQHQEcWA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REo7VnlenOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oextk-If8HQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crBHtoRASqc

A bundle of awesome

So, this is going to be a random conglomerate of awesome things that I've heard or done this week.

I'm playing Spring Soccer for the first time!!! So in short, I am playing on a team of predominantly Silver and Gold lever players.... but I've played Bronze all my life :-S  I went to my first practice a few weeks ago dreading the worst, and fearing that I would no longer have to ability to hold myself up with my legs the next day.  I thanked God when I was wrong!!  It certainly was exhausting, and I think that I've been in a permanent state of pain since the season started (I can't tell anymore... I've gotten too used to it :-P ), but I'm enjoying the challenge of physically keeping up, and logically playing the game without panicking.  We've had two weeks off due to rain and stuff, and today was pure bliss for me.  Every time I haven't played in a while and then come back to it, I remember how much I LOVE this sport!!  I wouldn't know what to do if I couldn't play... It feels so natural, like I was made to be on the field.  When I was almost 8 I started to ask if I could play.... I don't remember why I wanted to play so badly, but my parents said no a handful of times to me.  Each time I would almost cry (but I never did.... even to this day I pretty much refuse to cry when people can see!).  When they FINALLY said yes, I flew to my room - flying is appropriate because I was about ten feet off the ground and SO STOKED - and screamed into my pillow, trying to let out how FREAKIN' EXCITED I was.  And the funny thing is, I got just as excited when my parents said I could play Spring Soccer this year, ha :-P

A few weeks ago my family went to the Bloedel Conservatory... It was so beautiful, I took close to 300 pictures :-P  It was a late birthday thing for me, because my dad and I didn't have time to go there around my actual birthday.  Beforehand we'd all gone to Science World, and afterwards we walked through Queen Elizabeth Park.  It was pretty much my dream day, I wish every weekend could be like that - just driving around downtown, going to cool places and photographing them.

I heard the best classical music joke ever... If you don't appreciate classical music like I do, you might just groan and die a little inside :-P  And if you just don't get it (*cue patronizing tongue clicking*) YouTube Beethoven's 5th symphony :-)

What was Beethoven's favourite fruit?
BA NA NA NA!!!!!!!

Apparently that joke is as old as the hills, but I chuckled for quite some time over that one :-P

Who watched the Royal Wedding?!  I didn't stay up from 2:30 - 5 am to watch it.... I'm not that crazy and I didn't care enough :-P  But I did watch the recording and highlights online.... It was SO GOOD!  I loved it, and it's made me realize that I LOVE WEDDINGS.  Which to some may seem rather uncharacteristic of me, but its the truth :-)  And because of it, I'm so excited for my sister's wedding next year!!  It will be beautiful, if I know my sister.

We bought a kit to make a Coke geyser.... STOKED.  I cannot wait for the perfect day  to blow up a coke bottle with Mentos :-D boo ya....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend :-D
PS.  I got a Photobucket account.... It's for my media arts course at school, but you can mozie on over there if ya feel like it anyway :-)   http://s1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc393/caitlinwiebe/

Canada Is Cold....

.... at the moment. It isn't always though, just so you ignorant people who think we live in igloos know.  My friend was telling me about something that happened to her when she went to Hawaii for Christmas (jealous).  She was speaking with some other people staying at her hotel, and when they learned that she was from BC, Canada, they honestly asked her if she lived in an igloo and had sled dogs.  I was incredulous, how could people be so uneducated about our weather?! Even people in Seattle have asked my dad the same thing when he was there... Hello, we happen to live only 3 hours north of you, and you in Seattle actually happen to have worse weather than we do..... But yeah, rant over :-P

Though its not unbearable here, I'd really love to go somewhere hot right now... I'm thinking the Caribbean :-)  Mmmmm, Barbados would be nice... maybe Antigua and Barbuda, or Puerto Rico... Or ITALY, where one of my best friends is right now for 2 weeks on vacation with her familia.... she also has family that lives there, but she is in no way Italian.  Lucky bum, I want to stare at Italian boys for 2 weeks while eating till I cant eat no more!  Ah, well... All of us stuck here will just have to try extra hard to get into some mischief while she's gone.

I actually really wanted to tell you guys about two amazing songs I found.  The first, and the one I've listened to almost a billion times already in the last 24 hours, is Enchanted by the beautifully talented Taylor Swift.  I can't get enough of this song, what a complement it must have been to have this song written about you Adam Young!
The second is indescribable, and altogether less elegant and ethereal sounding -  http://cristgaming.com/pirate.swf  This will be irreversibly stuck in your head for the next several hours of your newly enriched life!  Seriously, I'm SO happy I stumbled across this particular jewel :-P  Go ahead an wave your arms like the tiny men in the video.... (I did)  As a result of this anthem, I feel the need to direct your attentions to this vast, comprehensive list on how to become a proper Pirate.  http://owlcityblog.com/2011/03/07/how-to-become-a-pirate/  My personal favourite was Pirate Requirement 13.  Enjoy, and don't be afraid to put into practice a few of these requirements.  (I did that, too.)

Hmmmm, I lied... I just found a third song.  But I must tell you a story first.

As I was watching some slow motion videos on youtube, I noticed the banner at the bottom advertising a new JB song.... thats right ladies, the biebs has graced you all again with a new installment of his supposed awesomeness.  As for the rest of us normal people, time to duck and cover.... which is exactly what I though until I made the mistake of actually listening to the song.  It's JB featuring the Rascal Flatts, called That Should Be Me.  (please note, I'm still not a belieber, I just like the song)

Thats all I've got, good luck becoming a pirate :-)
YARRRRR