New Blog

Here you go everybody! My new blog's address: http://lauryngjournal.blogspot.com/

Just a heads up, I won't be posting on here anymore, but this blog will remain public.

Learning a new language

Hi there! I started teaching myself German three years ago, because I wanted to become a flight attendant for a German airline (Lufthansa). I started losing interest in being a flight attendant, but I absolutely loved studying German and I continued even though I didn't want to be a flight attendant anymore.

I never bought a crazy expensive language learning program or anything. I used free websites, free Youtube videos, and I bought some grammar books at a good price.

I thought I'd share some tips about learning a language, so I hope this will help you in your language learning journey!


Don't:

1. Use Busuu.com or Livemocha. They kept messing up a lot of the grammar and words. Or, at least, in the German lessons I took.

Solution: Use Babbel or Duolingo. (There are still some minor issues with those too, but they are better). If you are learning German, you can also use this website  or this one too.

2. Use book dictionaries. This may only be a German dictionary problem, but I've come across a lot of problems and even had some French in my German dictionary! The word I needed was "airplane" and in German it's "Flugzeug," but what my dictionary said was this really long French word.

Solution: Find a good online dictionary. I use this one and it's awesome. I had a German pen-pal who told me that German people use it all of the time. Also, it's not just for German. You can use it for most languages.

3. Use the English phonetic that is under the language that you are learning. The English phonetic is not trustworthy because most languages have sounds that English doesn't have, so the English phonetic is often wrong. Recently I was looking at a chart that showed you how to say "I love you" in ten languages and I saw the German one. Omg. In German you say/write "I love you," like this, "Ich liebe dich." The English phonetic, "ISH lay-bah dish." Ugggggghhhhh. No. That's not even close to how you pronounce that.

Solution: Learn the alphabet the second you decide to learn a new language and watch Youtube videos or find websites that teach you how to pronounce each word.

4. Put grammar off. You cannot put grammar off until you know "enough" vocabulary. Because the truth is, there is always going to be more vocabulary to learn.

Solution: Buy a grammar book and get to work. Oh, and don't flip through the whole book when you first get it because it can get a little daunting to a beginner. :)

5. Get frustrated when you can't understand something. Yes, there will be times when you get very, very discouraged and frustrated, but don't let your frustration make you lose interest in learning the language.

Solution #1: When you feel yourself getting frustrated, take a break. I don't mean an hour break, or even a day break. I mean a long break. I've taken a three month long break before. Heck, I pretty much took the whole year of 2014 off.

Solution #2: You can stop whatever your working on, say a chapter in your grammar book, and go back to something you already know and something that is easy. Like, the alphabet. I've gone back to the alphabet a million times and I've gone back to beginner stuff multiple times. I don't know why this helps, but it helped me.

And last but not least:

• Don't think you are too old for anything. And by this I mean, it's totally okay for a teenager or an adult to pretend like they are a toddler learning how to read and write by using kindergarten resources. I've used a bunch of flashcards and worksheets that were for kids. I've also suffered through watching terrible toddler movies in German. You don't have to do this, but keep an open mind. It helped me. ;) 

Other tips:

Any "Demystified" grammar books are awesome. (French Demystified, German Demystified, Japanese Demystified, etc.)

The "Practice Makes Perfect" books are also really cool. At least, the German ones were awesome.
They have Practice Makes Perfect Spanish, French, German, English, Italian, Japanese, and more.

Find Vloggers, Bloggers, or Instagrammers that vlog, blog, or Instragram in the foreign language that you are studying. That way you can read or listen to the language regularly and learn colloquial talking and also learn everyday slang and idioms used in the language.
Remember, the language you are learning probably won't have the same idioms or slang used in English.

Evaluate what kind of learner you are here, and study according to whatever way works best for your "learning type."

Think in whatever language you are learning! It may take a while, but eventually you will get to a point where you can switch what language you think in without having to translate each word in your head.

Final note:

Have a purpose to why you are learning the language.

Ask yourself, "Why do I want to learn (insert language)?"

Are you wanting to travel to a foreign country?

Are you wanting a job that requires you to speak a foreign language?

Do you know someone that speaks a foreign language and you want to talk to them?

Or do you just really enjoy learning languages?

Whatever the reason is, let that be your inspiration to study the language.


I just want to understand what people are saying in their language. To me, not being able to understand people that speak a different language is kind of frustrating. I don't want to be one of those, "I'm sorry, I don't speak (insert language)." I want to be able to understand and help other people that don't speak English.
It kind of feels like a big barrier between me and people if I can't understand them.


That's the end for all of the tips I have for this blog post, but if you have anymore questions on language learning, comment in the section below and hopefully I'll be able to answer them!


I also thought I'd share where I am in my language learning process:

I am training myself to read things in German without automatically translating them to English in my brain and so far it's working. I am understanding things I read in German a lot better because I'm not trying to translate them into English. Like, even words that I have never looked up make sense to me. However, I still need to look them up so I know how and when to use them.

My grammar is good, I just need to write more and talk more to practice my grammar more.

Something I am struggling with is when I read a blog post (or anything) that's in German, and the sentences and all are really long,  I can't figure out the right tone I should do with each sentence. Like, on some words you need to stress or make them sound higher or deeper, some sentences are sarcastic, some are funny, and so on. So, I'm just needing to listen to and speak more German to figure all of that out.


Thanks for reading!

Lauryn G.

February Favorites

Hey everyone! Today is the last day of February, so I'm going to tell you what my February Favorites are!


1. Movies.

The three best movies we've watched this February:

Bridge of Spies . I really liked this movie! I probably wouldn't have liked it if Tom Hanks wasn't the main actor, 'cause he's an awesome actor. :)

A Knight's Tale. Okay, so, I grew up watching this movie, but I never understood how funny it was until the other day when we watched it.

The Book Thief. We watched this in 2014 and I really loved it then, and I love it now. :) Also, all the actors/actresses that aren't German, they did good German accents.


2. Music.

"October: Written in the Stars" by Tim Meyers.

"Home" by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros.

"Turn Away" by Beck.

"You're Not Coming Home Tonight" by First Aid Kit.


3. Instagram accounts.

Travel. Run. Play.  She is my travel inspiration.

David Powell.  His art is so simple and so pretty!

Carlotta Cisternas. I love her blog and all of her Instagram photos.


4. Youtube channels.

K Werner Design. Gah, her designs are so pretty!

Joy Womack. She's a daily vlogger, who vlogs about her life as a ballerina in Russia.


5. Memories.

• My friend, Callah, and I spent one Saturday designing our new blogs together, and then we goofed off and I played The Last of Us for her. :)
• Going out to lunch with some friends and spending the rest of the day playing video games the whole day with one of my friends. 
• We filmed a movie the other day with our friends, and that was fun! 

 
February has been a good, but hard month. There were some really fun, good memories, but I'm glad it's over. I've never been a fan of Februaries.

Here's to March 2016! (Omigosh, it's already March, guys!)


Lauryn G.

In which I have teddy bear bros

I thought it would be fun to write a Then vs. Now post about my old rooms vs. my new room.

So, this photo was taken in 2012 when I shared a room with Yuliya.

Back then I had so much clutter on my walls, on my window, on my bed and on my floor...yeah, I was a messy little thing. 

I had stuffed animals crammed in all the nooks and crannies of the room, and I had clothes everywhere! 

I don't know how Yuliya put up with my junk, because she likes things to always be clean. 

This clean of a room was a rare sight. 

Uggggghhhh, all that clutter on the walls! *Screams internally* 

Back then I loved cutting pictures out of my horse magazines and tacking them to my wall. 

I also crammed things under my bed, however in this photo you can't really see anything. 

In 2014, before we moved to WA, I moved down to the basement and I threw a lot of my posters and junk away. I put all of my stuffed animals except two or three into a bag and threw them into the "yard sale" pile. 

However, I still hung stuff on my walls, but not even close to how much I have hanging on my wall in the picture above. 

basement room and a messy bed.

A week or two before moving to WA.

Other than my bed being messy, I always kept my basement room clean. If I ever put junk on my floor, it was cleaned up ASAP. 

A week before we moved to WA, we cleaned our basement and I cleared out my room. I filled up three full trash bags. Of papers and drawings. Yikes. 

I crammed all my clothes and everything into three normal sized boxes and then put my small trinkets into two tiny boxes. 

When we moved, I unpacked one box (which was all my clothes) and left the other two boxed up. I still have those boxes boxed up. :) 

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of my WA room when we first moved here, but I have two of when it was the Christmas season in 2014. 

See, less and less stuff.

My Christmas lights Christmas tree. Lol, and my pants hanging on my footboard.  

My room has been rearranged multiple times since we moved here, and I actually switched rooms with Yuliya last summer, then we switched back.  

When we switched back, I was really lazy and didn't want to hang my stuff on the walls, so I only hung my calendar and a poster or two up. 

I realized that I really liked having less stuff on my walls, so I left it like that. Then I wanted less, so I moved my dresser into my closet, which made my room a lot opener. 

And my family was like, "Your room looks a little bare, but if you like it...." 

The other day, I was getting really bored with my room and decided to rearrange it in a way I hadn't done yet, so I opened my Pandora app to get my tunes playing, then I got to work. I cleared the stuff off my walls, cleaned my floor, moved my bed, washed my sheets, got rid of my lamp that I've always hated (I dunno even know how I ended up with it in the first place), and got rid of of the stand that my fish tank was sitting on and used my mini bookshelf to put his tank on, then I started on "decorating" my walls. 

After Christmas, Walmart had all of their long, white Christmas lights on sale (I bought three packs for a dollar!), so I used them for my room. 

I am not quite finished with my room yet. Or maybe I am. It depends on whether or not I want to add more in my room. I like it empty.

*Sigh* my comforter is not covering my box spring. Ugh. 

The Christmas lights go around my entire room, and other than my calendar, there is nothing on my walls. 

Yesterday Matt said, "I like your room...It's empty, but I like it." 

So, I guess you can say I have become a bit of a minimalist. ;)

I wish I had more new pictures of my room, because it looks SUPER pretty when the sun is shining through the window, but my room is messy. I haven't been able to clean it recently because I have a fever and sinus nonsense going on right now. Ugh. 

So, my friends, that was the transformation of my room(s), I hope you enjoyed reading! :)


Oh! I two more things to add, but not about room stuff.


1. I was on Spotify a few days ago and wanted to see if Rachel Platten's new album was up yet, and it was. So, the first song I listened to, was called "Beating me up."

via

Even though I can't really relate to this song, I really like it because for some reason it gives me the nostalgic feeling of 2012 and 2013 summer. There were some really, really good memories during both of those summers. :)

Here's the link to it if you would like to listen to it.


2. Valentine's Day is in three days!
I kind of keep forgetting that it's almost here because it seems less of a big deal this year. Like, I haven't heard any talk about it, haven't gotten ANY Valentine's Day ads online, nobody's been pinning Valentine's stuff on Pinterest, and I haven't seen a lot of decor in stores either...except for Target. Target has a big corner of the store that is for Valentine's decorations. Or decoration for what ever holiday it is during the year.

Target has some really "nice" bears that "invite" people to sit with them!

The real story:

 

There were two teddy bears on the ground and two on the shelf, and the two on the shelf had a perfect gap between them. So, while Morgan was taking her time admiring something, I chilled with the bears. ;)

Morgan turned around to what you see in the picture, and started laughing. "Lauryn!"

One of our friends couldn't believe I did that in public, when we told him.

And I shrugged and was like, "Who cares? I was having fun!"

January is already over!

Hi everyone! I am sorry I did not post during January, but here is a type of a review of January for you! 

Enjoy!


Good movies I watched this January:

I've watched a bunch of Ghibli movies this month. :)

Note: These movies are not in a particular order, 'cause I don't have a favorite between these "good movies."

I really enjoyed The Secret World of Arrietty because it took me back to when I was younger and had fairy friends that I took care of and I imagined them really small and creative like in Arrietty. It was just a really cute movie, full of color, and nature. It was really pretty.

 

I loved Spirited Away. It was a little odd, but it was really good. It had a good main character that had development. The characters were just really good and I think Chihiro (the main character) was admirable because she always remained kind, even to her enemies. And I don't mean in a Cinderella way. Yuck. No. 

I have a lot of thoughts about Spirited Away, but I won't write them all because I could go on forever. :)

All I'll say is that it was a really good movie. 

The Cat Returns was really weird, but I really liked it. The main character was just okay, but the Baron (The cat on her shoulder) was awesome. 

There wasn't much of a big story or anything, but it was a really entertaining movie and it was fun.

From up on Poppy Hill. This movie was the most "normal" Ghibli movie. Well, "The Secret World of Arrietty" was pretty "normal" too. See, most Ghibli movies are a little odd and they target younger viewers, but Poppy Hill wasn't odd to me. It was fun to watch and the style was interesting. They mixed Japanese and French culture together. 

This movie was a roller coster of "This is a sweet story," "Okay, wait, that is weird," "Ummmm, hm, how do I feel about this?" "Wait, so...blah blah blah (I don't want to spoil it if you watch it)," "Yay!" "Hahaha!" Yeah, it was interesting. 

The Wind Rises was a really good movie. It didn't have a big story or anything, it was just an inspirational life story. It was really good, and sad. This movie is really long, but I thought it was good and it wasn't a cheesy romance. It was actually kind of sad/depressing. 

The movie takes place during World War II, and the creators did a good job of making you experience how it would feel to be a normal person who isn't actually in the war. So that's unique.

This movie was really interesting because it was the first "space" movie that I liked. This may sound weird, but whenever I use to watch "space movies" they kind of creeped me out. I have no idea why. I am still trying to figure that out. 

This movie was funny, and really entertaining. 

I really like all of the science in this movie, and appreciated that this movie didn't make it sound like a bunch o' mambo-jumbo science stuff. :) 

Ok, so I saw this in December and I really wanted to like it, I was just SO CONFUSED with the story. 

Yesterday Morgan and I watched it again, but I paused the movie to read an analysis about the story and the whole movie made WAY more sense to me! I actually liked Howl (the male character) a lot better since I understood that he understood way more than I thought. 

The first time I watched the movie, I thought that Howl was a really selfish and kinda dumb character.  I thought when he was being "romantic" it was REALLY cheesy and eye roll worthy. But! Yesterday, after reading the analysis, I actually appreciated him being "sweet" to Sophie (main character) even though it was a little cheesy. 

Howl is still selfish, but not as much as I thought. In fact, Sophie is the most selfish character in the movie! I didn't understand that until, again, I read that analysis! 

Thank you, random internet dude, for writing that analysis!! :) :) 

If you have watched the movie, or are going to watch it, here is the article: 

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.arts.anime.misc/2005-08/msg02424.html

OK movies I watched this month: 

I thought this movie was cool, but I found it really repetitive and it kind of got boring to me because of that reason. There wasn't really any character development or anything. It was purely an action movie. Don't get me wrong, I love a good action movie, but I kind of wanted there to be more story. I was confused in this movie. 

Okay, this movie had some really funny moments and I really liked the boy character (The boy with the yellow hat), but the main character (the girl) was ugggghhhh. I think the movie would have been great if she wasn't in it! Or if they had just changed her character. She was a really boring character. She was really wimpy and her voice had that whiney, wimpy girl voice that irks my nerves. 

Other than the main character, it was alright! :) 

I liked this movie for the funny parts and the funny quotes, but this movie was really long and the characters didn't have any development, really. 

The movie was entertaining though. 

Man, this movie was really pretty! At first I didn't know if I could stand watching a movie with that type of art style, but I did and I really enjoyed it. 

The movie is really long, and the ending is not at all what you think it is going to be. Actually, the ending was not very good and it was depressing.

I found this video that explained a scene to me and I really liked it: http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.arts.anime.misc/2005-08/msg02424.html

Conclusion: a good, but sort of depressing movie. I love the art in it and I really liked when Kaguya was younger and was playing in the outdoors.

"Bad" movies I watched this month:

Omg. I couldn't stand this movie. I walked out of the room to make my lunch because it was so boring. The blonde chick in the picture, yeah, that's Marnie. Her voice drove me insane and I thought she was super annoying. 

I don't remember the main character's name, but she was weird too.

While the movie was playing, I was imagining up my own versions of the story to make it more interesting and creepy. I wanted Marnie to be a bad "guy" and, like, threaten to kill the main character. There was a scene when they were in the forest picking mushrooms...that would have been a great scene for an epic fight to happen. lol. 

Whisper of the Heart. Okay, I honestly wanted to like this movie. I did. And if I was into cheesy, cute-ish, lighthearted romances, this is the movie I would watch. But I'm not usually in the mood to watch romance-like movie. Sometimes though. 

There were some scenes in this movie that I really enjoyed, but overall it wasn't my favorite. 

The family were not very nice to each other at all and I don't think the message of the movie was that good. The main character wasn't the greatest either. It's like, the movie had potential, and the movie was going to have a good message, but the creators of the movie didn't follow through with the good idea. I might watch it again one day just to give it another chance because I seriously wanted to like it. 

In conclusion, I did like some parts because there were some really humorous things in it, but other than that, meh. 

Okay, so my sisters were watching this and I happened to be in the room at the time watching my own TV show on my iPad, so I didn't see every single part of it, but I watch most of it and I heard all of it even with my headphones on. 

Ok. It was entertaining, but **siiiggghhh** American Girl has a way of making every single thing go right for the main character and everything is all sunshine in rainbows. 

They make super duper excited and happy characters and "perfect" characters, and the "bad guy" always becomes the main character's best friend in the end. 

Everything goes just right for the character, and that is annoying. 

The good thing about American Girl movies though, is that they make a story and stick to it. They don't have unnecessary parts or get off track and confuse the viewer. 

January songs: 

Good songs I have heard:

I'll list the Japanese songs I've been listening to first:

Kazi Ni Naru

Arrietty's Song (I like the Spotify version better)

Laputa credit song

Sayonara no natsu

Asagohan no Uta

One Summer's day

Instrumental song I really like: 

Arrietty's song

English songs: 

Keeping Your Head Up

Soldier, Poet, King

Dear Wormwood

Love Someone

Walk Unafraid

German/English song I heard last year, but love it because it's from "my" TV show:

So ist es immer

There is another song I heard recently that I am ashamed to say that I love. It's by P!nk, but that's all I'm going to say. ;) 

Books of the month: 

Okay, I admit, I haven't read hardly anything this year. :( 

But the one and only book that I have started reading this year so far is:

So far it's really good and interesting, and I can't say much else about it because I'm not that far in it. 

January news: 

I have been studying some about vlogging, experimenting with my camera, and I've been working really hard on my German. 

Soon I will be making a Youtube channel of weekly or daily (not sure yet) Vlogs and they will be in German. But so that my English speaking friends can understand I will put English subtitles in the video. :D 

I'm really excited to be working on this project, and have already made a practice Vlog in public, and I've learned some things from that. Yay! 

The first Vlog will be coming soon, as well as my new blog, so keep an eye out! :) 

Lauryn G.

Blog moving

Hey there! So, I've been working on a new blog since November. I wanted to launch a new blog because I have felt really stuck with "Capture this moment" for a while and the way I usually get unstuck is by starting fresh.
So, my new blog is going to be slightly different, but I'm hoping to start posting more regularly.

I'm not sure on what day I'll be launching the new blog, but it will be soon! However, until that day, I will be posting here. :)


Anyway, so, how has 2016 been for everyone so far?!

Have you done or gone anywhere new?
Do you have new favorite songs?
Seen any new movies?
Have you had anything weird, funny, or interesting happen?


2016 for me so far has been a "laid-back busy" year. Like, it feels like I haven't done a lot this year, but my calendar says otherwise.

My family took a "long" road trip up to Squim and Port Angeles, Washington and that was interesting. However, it was an incredibly cold and cloudy day, so we spent 95% of the time in the car.
The other 5% was in a pizza restaurant and walking on a dock.

I've seen a bunch of new movies (mostly Ghibli films) and I have heard quite a few new songs. :)

I also took my learners test Wednesday...I failed. But that's okay, it's really comedic now, however that means I got to go back and take it again. Ugh.
Tip: Washington's learners test asks questions that are never even mentioned in the manual, so if you take your test, keep that in mind. ;)

I feel like I haven't seen our friends a lot this month, but I have seen them every week (sometimes multiple times a week), so I dunno why I feel that way.

Hm, what else?

Um. Well. I had a dream last night that it was my wedding day.
Everyone was setting up the whole vendor and everything, and my brother in-law was making the reception food, which is hilarious because his cooking skills are ordering pizza, anyway, so everyone was getting everything ready and I was just, like, playing outside. Splashing in the puddles. In my wedding dress.

After I finished playing outside, I went inside, and my brother in-law was, like, "You need to get completely ready! The ceremony starts it a few minutes!"

And I was like, "lol, okay. So, who am I marrying anyway?" !! What in the world? XD

I woke up before I got to the ceremony, but I never found out. However, I think it might have been one of the dudes from a TV show I watch, but I'm not sure.


Um, so yeah! XD

Peace out, 2015.

2015. I cannot believe it's already over! **Insert squeal**
How? I feel like just yesterday we started working on our LCC entry!

2015 has been an awesome year, filled with awesome times and fun adventures! Definitely a year of change and learning.

I am thankful for all the times family from GA got to visit us this year and that we were able to fly to GA and visit!
I am thankful for all the things the Lord has been showing me throughout the entire year.
And I am thankful for all the awesome, funny, crazy memories from the summer with our friends.

I am really excited to see what 2016 has in store for me and my family!

Here is a little video I made of 2015 according to my Instagram account. Unfortunately it doesn't have any pictures of our adventures with friends, but that's okay! :)

Click this link to view the video. :)

Well, my friends, this is my last blog post of this year, but I will be back next year! :D :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

PS- Random fact: 2015 filled up about 500 pages in my journals. :)

Last day in GA

Today is our last full day in GA. We'll be waking up at 3AM tomorrow morning, and heading to the airport.

This whole time since we got here, we have been going, going, going. From visiting people we use to know, to buying and decorating Christmas trees, to having Christmas dinners, to visiting old places we loved...including our old house. 

The person who owns our old house is a really nice lady, and she let us walk around the property and then she showed us all the work they have done inside the house and the little cabin we owned. 

The house is really different inside. They've repainted all the walls upstairs, replaced bathroom sinks and light fixtures, they fixed the broken window in the room Yul and I use to share, and they changed the closet up, and so on. 

The basement looked the same, except that is was empty and clean and they added one shelf on one wall and a new water heater. 

When we got to the basement I immediately went to the back to my room. (The one I only lived in for two months before moving to WA.) 

It was exactly the same. I was so glad they didn't change it. I actually teared up when I walked in because I have missed that room so much. I walked up to the middle of the room and tons of memories went through my mind; Harry Potter marathon with Callah, nights when I sat on my bed playing guitar and writing songs, me eating crackers while watching movies at night, and so on. 

I put a lot of work in that room. It was a stinky room that had mold and rat poison in it, and a ton of boxes full of costumes and fabric were there too, before I turned it into a clean and cozy room. 

It wasn't the same seeing where we use to live, and all the other places. It didn't have the "home-sweet-home" feeling, like I thought being in GA might have.
Actually, I kept thinking about WA, and all the people I know in it.

I'm just going to say this; the trip has been fun, but I want WA.

Washington is home. 💜💚

Busy, busy, busy

I thought I could do it. I thought that I could write a blog post everyday about my life in GA, but Thanksgiving happened and then yesterday we were making snowflakes and decorating the house and the trees for Christmas, and I wasn't able to do one.

Our remaining days in WA will be really busy with packing and whatnot, so I don't think I'll be able to sit down for long periods of time to write long blog posts then either.

I don't know if I'll be able to blog any this week, but I'll see what I can do.  :)

Days until Ga: 5

hey everyone, today I won't be doing a story because IT'S THANKSGIVING!! Yay!

So, happy thanksgiving everyone! Have an awesome day! 

Days until GA: 6

Today I thought I'd go with a story from when I was 6 years old, but first a quick history "lesson.":

My sister and I were going to a gymnastics in Dahlonega at the time, and we met the Davidsons there. 

Hannah and Abby Davidson both took gymnastics classes, but Abby was Morgan's age, and in the same class as her, and Hannah was two years younger than me and was not in the same class as me. 

But Hannah and I became buddies pretty much instantly, and eventually we ended up in the same class together. 

Hannah and I were very competitive with each other in class, but we never let that stop us from being the goofballs that occasionally got in trouble with our gym teacher. Unfortunately for our gymnastics teacher, who had to get onto us, we were the best in her class. :) 

Outside of class, though, we weren't competitive and we played Polly Pockets or annoyed the boy who ran the concession stand (my brother and Hannah's brothers were friends with the boy), and so on.

We, uh, also got in trouble a few times. And thus begins the story:

We were in girls bathroom (which was also the locker room) because it was the only place that had air conditioner and we were playing a game. Not with toys though. 

And in the game I was pretending I had a beard and was shaving it off. I was at the sink putting water on my face, pretending it was my beard, and was "shaving" it off with a paper towel. 

Then Hannah wanted to join in, and then things got a little messy with the water. 

Actually, really messy. 

Then we decided, "hey, there's water already on the floor, let's pour some more on the floor." 

At first we soaked paper towels and squeezed the water out of them on the floor. I don't mean we squeezed it in one spot, I mean we squeezed it over the entire floor.     

Eventually soaking paper towels became "too much work," so we cupped our hands and filled them with water and threw it on the floor. 

We did that until the entire floor was one giant puddle, and we added a finishing touch: Soap.

Then the real fun began. 

We started running and sliding across the floor, slamming into the walls, and pretending we were ice skating.

A girl (actually, one of Morgan's teammates) walked into the bathroom, but Hannah and I didn't even care. We just continued sliding across the floor, but then the girl left without using the bathroom, and I figured it was because she didn't like all the water everywhere.
But a few minutes later she came up and said, "Mrs. Shannon wants to see y'all." Mrs. Shannon was the owner of the gym and she was also Morgan and Abby's gymnastics coach.

We walked down the stairs, and Mrs. Shannon said, "I don't know what you guys were doing--" Hannah immediately pointed at me as if I was the only one who made the mess. But then Shannon continued, "--And I don't really care who did it, but you both are going to get the mop and clean it up."

And that, my friends, was the day I learned how to mop. ;)


P.S- Mrs. Shannon liked both our families, though, so she didn't hold our naughtiness against us, and she continued to allow us and our siblings to be the only kids that were allowed on the equipment even though we weren't in class. :)  

P.P.S-I didn't think about it until years later, but they probably sent that girl up there because water was dripping down to the downstairs area. Oops. ;)

Days until GA: 7

March 2014. (Two weeks before my family moved to Washington)


Harry Potter.

The Johnson girls came over for a spend the night, because we wanted to spend as much time with them as we could before we moved.

That night, Callah and I prepared ourselves for a long Harry Potter marathon by making frozen yogurt cookie dough. :) No spend the night or movie marathon is complete without having something to eat that is terrible for your health, right? ;) :P

We started the first Harry Potter at 7pm, finished it, decided the cookie dough was making us sick, so we put it back in the freezer, then we started the second Harry Potter.
When the second Harry Potter ended, our tailbones were hurting from sitting for so long, and it was already midnight.
But no matter, who needs sleep when there are still movies to watch?  ;) Plus there was the cookie dough to give us energy. :)

But what about our tailbones? Well, after the second movie, I randomly jumped up and started running in place like the football players do, and urged Callah to join me.

During the third movie, our tailbones were hurting again, so we had to pause the movie multiple times to run in place. :)

When we finished the fourth movie, it was, like, 4 AM, so we decided to turn the movies off.
Then we "went to bed" which actually means we stayed up until 5 AM talking, then went to bed.

We made a lot of fun of the fourth Harry Potter, even though it was, like, our favorite one, and we have a lot of inside jokes about it. ;)

When we woke up at 9 or 10 AM, we ate breakfast and were going to start the fifth Harry Potter, but Callah had to go.

I made her promise not to watch anymore Harry Potter without me, and she kept her promise, even after I moved to WA.
Then a year later, her family moved up here to WA and her family decided to have a Harry Potter marathon and she broke her promise. ;) No worries, Callah, I forgive you! ;) :P

I guess it was better to watch it with people who don't constantly say, "That didn't happen in the book, what actually happened was..." or "Ugh, it was better in the book," and so on. :) ;)


                                                                              ***

So, I'm getting pretty excited about our trip to GA! I finally have an idea of what our itinerary will be while we're there, so yay! :)





 

Days until GA: 8

The next memory I have is a short one because it happened so many times I can't tell one from the other.


2013 summer:

Morgan's car, Bessy, was an older car and had no AC, and that is the worst thing ever in GA because summers are evil there.
And it always seemed like Morgan and I would make our library/Starbucks/grocery runs on, like, the hottest days of the year, which was not cool because we always took her car.
However, our "jam out sessions" made me usually forget that the heat was melting my skin. Which, by the way, I've had this conversation with a friend before and we decided skin would not melt. Just thought I'd share that bit of info there. ;) :P

What our jam out sessions were:

Turning Morgan's Taylor Swift CDs on and turning the volume almost all the way up and dancing to the songs...As much dancing as one can when they are strapped to the seat of a car. :)
We would sing (more like scream) at the top of our lungs too.
I feel bad for all the people that had to witness/hear our singing and the music blaring. Hehehe! :)

This is a tame version of what we looked like.  Haha! 

We have videos of our dancing/singing adventures, and I tried to find them for this blog post but I couldn't find them anywhere. :(

Can any of you guys relate to this story? :)



PS- I made a packing list for GA today!!

Days until GA: 9

In 9 days my family will be leaving for Georgia and I thought I'd do a post everyday until then.

What will I be posting about?

I'll be posting random memories I have of living in Georgia! Some will be short, and some might be long posts! :)

The memory I chose to write today is *drum roll, please* THE TWO DAY SLEEPOVER WITH OUR BESTIES. :)

So, in 2012 my uncle got married and the Johnson girls came the day before the wedding.
Why? Because Morgan, Sarah, and Anna wanted to dye their hair before the wedding (they were going to be the camera crew at the wedding) and all, so we invited all 3 Johnson girls to spend the night!
When the Johnson girls piled into our van we immediately were chatting away and laughing. :)

No idea what I'm doing with my face. hahahaha! :) Callah's looking at me like, "Ehhhhhkay." 

When we got home Callah threw her bags in my room and Sarah and Anna dumped their bags in Morgan's room. Then Morgan, Sarah, and Anna asked Mom to start dyeing their hair. Callah and I watched and laughed the whole time during the dyeing process. We were laughing because all three girls were, like, squealing and really nervous every time mom applied the dye. It was pretty entertaining. ;)

After their hair was dyed, Mom, Morgan, Sarah, Anna, and Yuliya left to go help set up the wedding. Callah and I stayed home. I don't remember exactly what we did. We probably swam in our pool, ran around the yard like horses, played dress up in the basement, and all that jazz.

That night Callah and I were on Netflix searching for a movie to watch. That took forever. We finally chose Heartland because we couldn't decide what to watch and because we'd never seen the show.
So we did. We watched many, many episodes while eating chocolate chips and cookies, and drinking coke. :) A healthy diet, right? ;) :P

The next day, Callah and I ate "pre-breakfast" (AKA chocolate chips and cookies), then we ate actual breakfast (waffles). Callah and I spent the morning running up and down the stairs to Morgan's room for various things and to watch the girls apply their makeup, then we took our showers, we put our dresses on, and did our hair.

At the wedding (before the ceremony), Callah and I helped a little bit, but there wasn't much we could really do, so we walked around the place, watched the bride get her makeup applied, did  a quick photo-shoot of each other, drank a good bit of punch, then seated ourselves in the chairs outside.
Then the wedding began, and it was really hot (It was an outdoor wedding, in the middle of summer, and there was no shade) but it was pretty.

Callah took this picture of me. 

Once the ceremony was over, it was time to eat, watch the cake cutting, and the speeches.

Callah and I left about an hour after the lunch, while the other girls stayed until late to help clean up and all. We thought that the Johnson girls were going to leave after the wedding, but by time the girls finished helping at the wedding it was too late to drive to the girls' house, so they spent another night!

When Callah and I got home, we immediately ditched the dresses and put our jammies on. Then we watched more episodes of Heartland. :) Mom called and asked if we wanted to go to the 10:30 showing of "Brave" with her and the other girls, but Callah and I decided we didn't want to be at a movie theater until midnight, so we continued eating cookies and watching Heartland. :)

The next morning I helped Callah pack up all of her stuff, then we drove them home. :(


I had a lot of fun that weekend! :) :)

Cold weather and Georgia

 

I wanted to write something poetic about the cold weather and November, but no. I'm not going to. Why? Because I'm blunt and I like getting to the point ASAP instead of making everything sound "magical." And because in reality, cold weather isn't always "magical." It actually kinda sucks. Well, sometimes.
While I do like having the fireplace on and wearing warm clothes and all, I hate the constant struggle of a runny nose, stiff hands, and honestly, jeans don't offer much protection from the cold, which results in a cold bum down to cold feet.
Like I said, I'm blunt. ;)

With November almost being over, Walmart has so graciously put up a sign that says "Christmas: 37 days" right when you enter the building. (*Insert Luke Skywalker, "Nooooooooooo!"*).
Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and Christmas-y stuff, but can we at least get to Thanksgiving first? :)

So, on December 2nd my family will be flying to Georgia and we'll be there for 10 days. I look forward to the flying part because I love airplanes and flying, and I also look forward to seeing our family. It will be my first time in Georgia since moving here to Washington. (We've been here for a year and eight months.) Actually it will be everyone, except for Morgan and Mom's, first time going to Georgia since our move!

I'm not quite sure what our "official" itinerary is while we're in GA, but we plan on going to some of the restaurants that WA doesn't have and to some of the "classic" places. Like our favorite little park that is by our previous house.

We're going to try to visit our librarians, our old coworkers, etc. I know that may sound strange, but in Georgia your librarians, coworkers, etc. become your friends. Heck, the gas station dude might even be your friend! ;)  ;)

It's kind of funny getting on Google maps and going into street mode and seeing all the places I use to go to and all the memories that come to my mind when I "passed" by them.

I saw one house on Google maps and I remember that there was an elderly lady in GA that was always mowing her lawn in the middle of summer and dad was driving by one day and wanted to help her, so he pulled his car over and asked her if he could help. She wouldn't let him because she had to do it for her health, but she really appreciated the offer.
I remember seeing her a few times.

I remember at the gas stations while you were pumping your gas you would have a conversation with another person pumping their gas and in a matter 5 minutes you could know a good bit about the person's life.

Georgia's like that. :)

The more I think about it, the more excited I am to go back. :)

What's your Thanksgiving/Christmas plans? 

PS- the pictures above were taken in our yard. I love all the bright reds!

October memories and November so far

Every October 1st I get really excited and I think, "This. This is the year I'm going to make lots of fall decorations, carve pumpkins, buy autumn clothes, and bake fall-y stuff!"
But like all the other years, I didn't make a single fall decoration, I didn't carve a stinkin' pumpkin, I am too attached to my money to spend it on expensive fall clothes, and I didn't bake anything even remotely fall-y....unless buying a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice (iced) latte counts? No? Yeah, I didn't think so. But whatevs. :)

I may not have done those things, but the memories I made with my friends and family are way more fun to me than making fall decor.

October 1st- We helped some friends paint and clean their new house. I stayed for a few hours, but I had to leave because I was running a fever and I felt like a zombie.

Okay, not quite like that ^^ but you get the idea. ;)

When I got home from helping out with the new house, Callah and I messaged each other pretty much the rest of the evening because Callah was also sick in bed. :(


October 2nd--

I spent the whole day in bed messaging Callah, begging Morgan to go to the store and buy me some hot soup for my sore throat, and reading most of my 7th journal (it's 400 pages long).

Callah was also trying to convince Daniel to get her some soup and I was trying to get Morgan to get me some soup. XD. We both succeeded. :D

That night was "Reading Night" with our friends, but I stayed in my bed and almost watched an entire season of my TV show. (That's a lot of episodes....but oh, well!)

October 3rd- I was still sick, but it was the day of the LCC judging! I couldn't miss it!

During the morning, before going to the Polings' house to watch the live judging, Callah and I were messaging each other (again), but this time we were "competing" over who'd gone through the most rolls of toilet paper from blowing our noses, and who had blown their nose the most.
I sent her a picture of my overflowing trash can and of my bedroom floor which was covered in used tissues. I think I may have won. ;)

I'm there. The wall is just covering my entire body. 

The judging went really well and we got compliments on our entry. The judges just preferred other entries' choreography. We got 4th place, though! I was happy with 4th because all I cared about were the memories and fun I had with our friends during the whole filming process.

October 4th-

Everyone except for me and mom were busy and out of the house. So we (mom and I) decided to go get some groceries (I got a to-go salad) and a Starbucks coffee.
If you read this blog post, then you will understand why I wrote "Only the LCC crew will understand."

October 12th-
The Johnsons came over and we decided on what we were/are going to do with our zombie movie. :)
I'm not going to say anything else about the meeting. ;)

October 15th-

Callah and I worked on our story that we just started working on.
Callah and I are having weekly meetings to work on creating a book. We haven't come up with a story idea yet, we've just been building the world. :)

October 17th-

Maris Farms.

My family and all of our friends spent pretty much the whole day at Maris Farms. :)

Corn maze.

The slides....were wet. :)

The "Jumping Pillow." It was super slippery and I was barefoot. That was kind of gross. ;) 

Callah, me, Anna, and Yuliya. 

After we did the daytime activities at Maris, everybody came back to our house to eat pizza and chill. :)

This is a beautiful image to me. ;) In case ya didn't know, I ♥ pizza.♥

After we all ate, all of us (except the parents) went back to Maris Farms to go through the Haunted Woods.
We waited in line for two and a half hours. I know some of us didn't enjoy the long wait, but I did.
The Haunted Forest was disappointing this year, but it was still fun/entertaining.

After going through the Haunted Woods 

October 18th-

We went to Micah's race for the day. Max and Micah gave us a ride on Micah's dirt-bike. That was pretty awesome. I want a dirt bike. :D

521

My mom took a good bit of pictures from that day, buuuuuuuut in every single picture someone is making a weird face or chewing their food, or putting food in their mouths, and I don't know if everyone would like those pictures posted so, sorry!

October 25th-

I was P.A for Josiah's short film he made. I made a "Day on Set" video, but I don't know if I'll post it. It still needs a lot of work.

I'm under the white thingy. ;)

October 26-30th I was exhausted. I was having to wake up at 6 every morning to take care of Sydnee. (Sydnee is a 7 year old who lives in the neighborhood and I babysit her sometimes.) And I had to get her ready to get on the school bus, which comes at 8:30 every morning.

I also wasn't getting much sleep during the night...There was one night during that week I woke up at 2 in the morning and didn't get back to sleep, then I had to take care of Sydnee.

There was one night (I'm still surprised I did this) that I went to bed at 7:30pm. I didn't get to sleep until 8 or 9 of course, but still, I was in bed at 7:30.

That was really weird because I'm always up until 12:30-1:30 almost every night.

Anyway, enough about sleep.

October 26-

We went to Maris Farms with Callah and Anna (we had free tickets, so we decided to go again. Plus, the 11yr old boy Morgan was nannying wanted to go).


Before going to Maris, Callah and I decided to play chess, but we never got to finish.

Me and Callah on the toddler pedal carts. Ouch.

Me and Callah...and the creepy pumpkin.

While we were at Maris Farms, we wanted to go through the Haunted Woods (it's not open during the day and we knew that, we just wanted to see what it looked like during the day), so Yuliya got permission. (She worked at Maris this October. And so did Morgan). :)

I think it was sort of creepy to go through the Haunted Woods during the day because Yuliya's boss told us to be really quiet so other people that didn't work there wouldn't be trying to go through it.

One of the "rooms" that you go through that has creepy stuff in it :)

So, Callah and I kept running ahead of Morgan, CJ, and Anna. So there was one room that Callah and I hid in so we could scare the others. Actually, Callah hid behind the nightstand and I stood near the door by a blood covered couch acting like a dummy. And there was a real dummy in the far corner in a rocking chair.

Morgan entered the almost completely black room...let's just say I scared her pretty good.

October 28th-

I turned 16 years old.

Mom and I went to Starbucks and were there for almost two hours. Then we went to Target and were there for about an hour. I got a new pair of jeans and a new shirt.

At Target. 

When we came home from Target, we ate cake (I made a Reeses cake this year), and opened my birthday cards and presents!
We chilled for a while, then we got ready to go out to dinner (I wanted Subway).
After we ate, we went to the skating rink and skated for 2 hours! :)

Me and Faith.

The skating rink had some games that you could play, so that's why everyone is lined up.

I had a really good day! :)

So far the sixteen year old lie is treating me well. ;) :P :P


October 30th--
Yuilya's birthday.

Yuliya had to go to work in the morning. When she got back from work, she went out with mom for most of the day, so the rest of us just chilled.
Actually, Matt and I went to Starbucks because I got 2 Starbucks gift cards for my birthday.. :)
Pretty much since my birthday I've had a Starbucks coffee every other day. :)

Anyway, when mom and Yuliya got back, we all went to Wally's for dinner with the Marshalls and then all of us (except mom and Cynthia) went to the Fright Factory...which was really fun.
Haunted houses/woods don't scare me or make me really jump, but I still really enjoy going through them. The Fright Factory had some great actors, too! :D

My eyes are terrifying.

October 31st-

We went to the Polings' Halloween party! :) It wasn't a costume party, it was just a "hat party."

Well, I didn't have a hat, but I had a "better" idea (thanks to Morgan!). I present to you my "hat." ;)

Anna didn't have a hat, so I she did what I did. :) 

I didn't use any hair gel, hair spray, or anything else. I just stuck a big coke cup on my head and flipped my hair over it and boom! My "hat." 

There was a lot of candy and food, and lots of talking with everybody. :) 

I had a really good time! 

So that's what we did during October! 

Time to share some random pictures from October: 

My first attempts for my Halloween "hat" were not so successful... 

So the picture below is my conversation with Callah about my Halloween "hat." 

When I wrote "broke people" I mean, "I have money but I'm not going to spend $20 on a real Pophead." ;)   

"Only Lauryn, only Lauryn." That's my "trademark". ;) 

Frankie, Frankie, Frankieeeeeeee. :) The neighbor's dog.

He's so sweet!

Before I decided to do my Halloween "hat," I was going to do this one. A steampunk hat with a black wig. 

November...so far:

Coffee is important to me. ;)  BTW, the "Y" is short for "YMCA." ;)

The next day Callah messages me and said, "I sneezed and now I'm sick. So I won't be coming to Writing Class tonight. :'("
I was like, "I'm sorry! Dat sucks. ;( :("  Then I wrote:

What are friends for, right? ;)

That night the Marshalls came over and we ate pizza and watched some of the new Cinderella until 7, which was Writing Class.
I have found some entertaining selfies from a particular person on my iPad recently which I assume were taken when I went to the bathroom during "class."

Thank you for the entertaining selfies, they are most appreciated. :)


That night, when everyone left our house, Ashley and Matt arrived. They came to M.INT this weekend and today (Monday) they left. They were at M.INT 90% of the time, so we didn't really get to see them much, except on Thursday (the first day). Morgan, Ashley, and I went to Target and to Starbucks.

Baby Tall, Mama Grande, and Daddy Venti. (Daddy Venti is mine. Hehehe)  

This is pretty much what my November has looked like so far:

• Starbucks.
• Studying about traveling and trying to pick my German back up.
• Playing The Last of Us for Callah. 
• Ashley and Matt.
• Being Morgan's "personal assistant" on one of her photoshoots. (I really enjoyed meeting the couple that Morgan was taking a photoshoot of. They were really cool and nice.)
• And deciding what other language to learn. I'm thinking I'm going to start learning Norwegian because I really want to go to Norway. :)

Oh yeah, and Callah and I have been planning a date to finally do something we've been planning to do since August. And tomorrow (November 10th) is the day we are going to finally do what we've been planning. 

I'm not going to tell you what we're going to do yet, because we're going to make a Vlog about it and I'll probably post it the 11th or 12th, depending on how fast I can edit the Vlog. :)

Last note before I close up this post:

I've been thing a lot about traveling, and I decided two places I want to go first are 

Norway (I want to explore most of Norway, but currently Tromsø is the place that comes to my mind) and England.

 

That's all for now! 

Thanks for reading! 

Lauryn G.