Mayer of the city called my heart.

Okay, I'm weird. I'm going to just start out by saying this statement. (Come on, it's not like you didn't know this about me)

I have a new obsession...and his name is Mayer Hawthorne



Yeah, okay, you're probably like, WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT.

Guys. When he sings, it is definitely not what you'd think. I first heard his song "The Walk" on Cities97 and got his CD from a friend today and I'm definitely hooked! He's got that bluesy/R&B sound and it's just pure pleasure to the ears.

Here's a link to my favorite song. :)

Enjoy :)

Much love,

Annie

Love my speech family :)

We had our team's second meet today - and it went super well! A lot of us on the team placed, and I made finals for informative! I was super super happy, and wasn't expecting it. The best part about it was that I had straight ones in my regular rounds! It was definitely a huge pick me up from the night I had last night.

Needless to say, it was what I needed to happen to pick up my spirits. It was just a really great day today spent with really great people :) And a crazy freaking night!

As for now, I'm heading to just RELAX before a concert at church tomorrow afternoon! TENTH. AVENUE. NORTH. OH MY GOSH I'M SO EXCITED!!!

I'll catch you up on how Concordia went later!!

Much love,

Annie

A Couple Things

Hey everyone, sorry it's been awhile since you've heard from me. I've been really busy. BUT. here are a few noteworthy things:

-I have live auditions at Concordia Moorhead this weekend and am REALLY excited! It's gonna be crazy!

-I GOT CALLED FOR A LIVE AUDITION AT ST OLAF!!! aka my dream school :) so that's another thing I'm really excited about

-We had our first speech meet last weekend. I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but hey, it's only the first meet! Only room to grow from here :)

So that's about it for now. I'll post sometime later!

Much love,

Annie

Busiest weekend ever turned into CRAZIEST weekend ever.

Hey guys,

So I PROMISEEEEEEEEEE that I will post about what happened to me this weekend...it is seriously the craziest story and journey I have ever been on...seriously. Straight out of a horror flick.

I am swamped tonight with things going on, so I will get the post up soon!

Much love,

Annie

Busiest weekend EVER!

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while. Once again, I've been really really REALLY busy with everything. Here's a quick update:

-I heard back from Concordia Moorhead about music scholarships anddddd....drumroll....I GOT CALLED BACK FOR A LIVE AUDITION! :) :) :) I'm super happy! It's going to be a blast. (and hey, I get to miss two days of school. Can't beat that!)

-Speech competitions start next weekend! OH MY GOSH. I seriously cannot wait. It's going to be a really tough meet, but I'm the only one on the team double entering in varsity, so it's really exciting. All I have to do is put together my boards for informative and memorize my informative speech, and we're good to go! I can't wait! :)

-Tonight, I'm staying at St. Olaf with a current student who I had as a camp counselor this past summer when I went for Music Camp! She's a total blast to be with, and I'm really excited to stay with her and meet her roomies and stuff! It'll be a total blast. I just know it. And pictures will be taken, so don't even think there wouldn't be. ;)

-Then, get this. Tomorrow night, I'm staying overnight at Luther. I know, college overload right? But hey, I don't mind! I'll be doing this J-Term experience thing on Monday and then Monday, I have my live audition at Luther. I'm worried I'll get super nervous and my hands will start to shake, and I'll mess up. I'm trying to stay positive and hope that things will go well. :)

Oh, and get this, when I went to get my clarinet fixed for my audition (Plays beautifully!), I saw my clarinet teacher and he got me a discount on reeds. Nothing says happiness like a new clarinet reed. :)

Alright, that was a MOUTHFULL! I'll post once I get back on Monday, since I'm pretty much not home up till then!

Much love,

Annie :)

Blech.

Staying home sick is definitely not my favorite thing...okay, I'll admit it. I'm feeling the best I've felt over the course of the last three days, but I'd rather not go to school and get anyone sick or have it get worse. So that's why I stayed home, despite the fact my dad thinks I'm faking (which is totally not true).

I had some freaky dreams last night though, man. One of my teachers drove me home in my car from Newport Elementary and then Mr. Harper, the principal came and helped fix my car because my teacher blew all the tires on my car...it was weird....

Then I had another dream that my Concordia stuff came, so I'm hoping that one comes true because I AM SO SICK OF WAITING!

So it looks like I'll spend my day in bed, reading, maybe watching a movie and taking care of my stuffy nose. That's all for now!

Much love,

Annie

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth quite yet...

Hey guys, sorry I haven't blogged in a day or so. I've been really busy and now I have a bad cold, and things just aren't so hot.
I went to Applebees last night with a couple of friends, which was a lot of fun, but then I got sick off the food. /: Stupid appetizer sampler...
And then today, I wanted to attempt actually starting to read my independent reading book, which was long overdue, and fell asleep doing that and slept for 3 hours or so. Therefore, I haven't started any of my homework. And then I have small group and SEC rehearsal tomorrow. Needless to say, it's been an uneventful weekend thus far.
I got in kind of an argument with my parents about the idea of the New York trip, and they're against it one day and for it the next. I just really want to go and explore and fulfill one of my life dreams by going there. I want this to work out so badly...
Then honestly, all I want to do right now is work on memorizing my speech, because our first meet is two weeks from today and I want to be ready to go DOUBLE ENTERED. AWWWW YEAH. :)
That's my ranting for today, talk with y'all soon :)

Much love,

Annie

Inky Dink

The title of the post is actually the title my speech coach gave my piece, but that's not what I'll be talking about here. :)

The main point of this post is:

I want to get my tattoo.

Everyone always talks about taking a senior trip to make it special, and I had a revelation tonight and have decided what I want to do! Yay!

I want to go to New York. Not only to go shop, sightsee and everything else, but I really want to go and get my tattoo at the same shop that is shown on NY Ink. I've been waiting to get my tattoo for FOREVER. Originally, I was gong to do it on my 18th birthday, but that fell through. My mom doesn't want me to get it, and my dad is okay with it. Soooooooo it's kind of awkward in that sense. Getting a tattoo is something I want to do, to not only prove to myself that I can do it, but...it's personal for me...

(If i cry while typing this, do NOT be surprised, okay? Okay.)

Music has been a huge part of my life. I've been playing an instrument since I was five years old, and have acquired many others since I started on piano. Music has gotten me through more than you'd think. When I struggled with some personal obstacles, I would plug my iPod in and blast the music as loud as I could to block things out and calm myself down. I still do that today, and it has proven itself to be a constant friend when I needed it. Music is my passion, and I would never change any decision I made regarding music. I love it.

And to show that appreciation, this is what I want to get on my foot:


It means a lot to me, and I really really want to do this, to prove to myself that I can.

So yeah, that's my random thought for today. Hope you enjoyed it :)

Much love,

Annie

Never Have I Ever...

...had a tougher day at school! SERIOUSLY. I was dozing through classes (but didn't nod off! thank goodness!) and it made everything difficult. Even at work today, I was sorta 'meh' and working super slow. But oh well. I'm topping off my day with a glass of dark chocolate hot cocoa made by my lovely Keurig coffee maker. :)

Okay, guys. I seriously cannot handle this anymore, and just need to get it out into the open.....

I

AM

SO

EXCITED

FOR


SPEECH SEASON!!!!!!!!


Oh. My. Gosh. I can't wait. I'm most excited to just get back into competition mode, don the suit and get TALKIN'!!! :)

Sorry my post for today, is once again, kinda blah. I PROMISE that I'll get something put up soon that will have you just on the edge of your seats!

I'll post soon!

Much love,

Annie

Kinda great to be back.

Hello world! :)

Today was the day that most of us have dreaded for the last week and a half...coming back to school from winter break...yeah, definitely not what I was looking forward to. But hey, it was bound to happen sooner or later, right? I actually made progress for once on my giraffe painting I am doing in 1st hour and it's looking awesome! It's a perspective piece, so I'm doing like, the head, the neck, and the body. It's going to be legit, I can already tell (if i could actually finish it and be happy with it, that would be lovely, considering I am the biggest perfectionist to ever walk this Earth!

I'm actually writing this from East Ridge right now, seeing as I have speech practice in a couple of minutes, then I shoot off to my clarinet lesson at 7 and then I go to pep band until about nine or so. So, needless to say, I won't be home until about 9:15-9:30 tonight. Just when I thought I could take a break from things after BEING ON BREAK, I guess I was completely wrong. Haha.

I will say though that what made my day complete today was talking to my old english teacher, Mrs. Tschida. I had her as a teacher two years ago, and she is literally the greatest person I've ever met. She's kind, a delight to be around, and just plain old wonderful. She just...she makes coming to school worth it for me most of the time. I can literally talk to her about anything, and she's so fun to just go and chat with after a long, tiring, stressful day. Other East Ridge kids can DEFINITELY agree with me on that one, am I right? :)

Alright, that's all from me, folks! I will be on the go again tomorrow, so hopefully I can squeeze in a post or two during the evening when working on homework.

See y'all then!

Much love,

Annie

The Meaning Behind the Name

"Life's a happy song when there's someone by your side to sing along"

Around Thanksgiving time, I went with my friend Nicole and we saw The Muppets. The movie was very nostalgic for me, since I grew up watching The Muppets as a young kid and I have a very soft spot in my heart for musicals. It was that perfect, feel good movie and it really hit home for me seeing it. I instantly went and saw the movie again about a week later and have been listening to songs from the sountrack since. I'm not kidding, each time I hear the intro to the Muppets theme, I squeal like a little girl. It's just...these Muppets provide me with fun memories from when I was a young child, and I've loved these little guys ever since. I have a whole new level of respect for Jason Segel now, since he helped to bring these guys back. :) Plus, he was a breath of fresh air as an actor in the movie! Never knew he could sing!

I have been through a lot in my life...more than people really realize. I have struggled with finding myself as a person and I've been through personal struggles that I could have numerous posts on here. It's definitely not something I am proud of, but I think of the lyric in "Life's a Happy Song" from the movie

"I've got everything that I need right in front of me, nothing's stopping me, nothing that I can't be when you're right here next to me"

and I just can't help but smile and belt out the lyrics. I look back at where I was at in my life three years ago and am entirely thankful to still be here today. There are many challenges that life will throw our way, and I am so thankful that I am still here today.

So yeah, deep thought for the day, but hey, 'life's a happy song when there's someone by your side to sing along', right?

Much love,

Annie

Winter Classic! Yay!

Okay, something some of you might not know about me is that I am OBSESSED with hockey! What's sad is that I haven't been able to go to a Wild game in forever, because I've been so busy with school. Makes me super sad, but it's just the way it goes. While the Wild have been doing really well this season under new coaching (which makes me SO happy), the 2012 NHL Winter Classic is here!

This year, it's the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers, and normally, you would be like, "Wait a minute, Annie. You're a Wild fan. WHY WOULD YOU BE ROOTING FOR EITHER OF THESE TEAMS?!" But here's the thing. There was a show that they had on HBO:

It was literally the coolest show ever. It brought you inside into the personal lives of the players, inside the mind of both coaches, and it gave you a true behind the scenes look into the road to the winter classic!

So I will leave you with this:

I'm rooting for the Rangers.

After watching this series and admiring the attractiveness of some of the players on the team (I'm a girl, okay? I can't help myself), I'm digging the Rangers. Coach Tortorella is a super cool guy, and the team has some amazing players on it. We used to have Marian Gaborik, so of course, they have a special place in my heart.

For what it's worth, though, Giroux, of the Flyers, is freaking AMAZING. He's practically the Crosby of this year. I don't know, I'm actually pretty torn between the two teams after watching this series.

So, with that I say, go Rangers, and I'll report back later :)

Much love and tune in to NBC to watch,

Annie :)

A Few Tidbits

2011 WAS NUTS. plain and simple.

with college applications/audition materials, marching band (it was stressful, okay? being in charge has its ups and downs...) the fall musical, 1st trimester kicking my ass because of AP Lit, all of my other homework, work, and family things. I guess I'm just really relieved that all of it is over and that graduation is only 6 months away, because honestly, I'm ready for a change.

Spring is going to bring a lot of opportunities my way. I'll be hearing back from St. Olaf (fingers crossed, since it's my top choice!) and other colleges about music scholarships. It's crazy to think that these scholarships will help determine my future at these colleges and in a sense, it will determine my path. I want to go into music education, and for colleges like Olaf, the prescreenings and the live auditions determine if you get the music major or not. So it's crazy to think that this is just around the corner, and I'll be hearing from Concordia and St. Olaf about those within the next couple of weeks! AAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I have speech, the spring play, prom and graduation to look forward to as well! That's exciting, right? Double entering in speech was something I thought was going to be COMPLETELY INSANE, but it has actually proven to not be too terrible so far! My informative piece is almost done being written and my poetry piece is about halfway memorized, so I'm on the right track with it. Hell, by this time last year, I hadn't even decided my TOPIC yet for info and now I have my piece practically written! Life is good when it comes to speech. :) And not to mention, being a team captain is going to be amazing and I can't wait for the meets. It's to the point I'm getting super excited for it and I cannot wait!

Oh, I have a quick question for everyone....so during 2012, I'll be taking a picture a day, as said on my last post. Would you like me to post them on here as well, or keep it in the Facebook album(s)?
Comment with your opinion :)

Have a wonderful first day of 2012! :)

Much love,

Annie