Randy!

Today was one of the best days.  My bestest friend in the entire world, besides my siblings, is Randy Kwon.  He is like the older brother I never had but always wanted.  Sadly he and I, despite the amount that we talked, had never actually met in person.

Well this week I'm up in Pennsylvania staying with my friend Kate who lives about 20 minutes away from Randy.  Last night we asked him if he'd like to go out to lunch with us today, and he said he would.  So today at around noon I finally got to meet him.

We all went to Noodles and Company for lunch and then we made him go shopping with us.  I can't even begin to describe how much fun it was.

We dragged him into Ulta because Kate needed new make-up.  We were in there for who knows how long, but it was by no means a short amount of time.  We dragged him through that entire store, and made him help us pick out eye shadow colors.  That poor boy.

Then we went and played dress up in Express.  I think we probably spent over an hour in there, with Kate and I picking out all of these outfits for him to try on.  It was beyond fun.  And I must say that I enjoy playing dress up with a boy, because all of those outfits that I wish boys my age actually wore, well I got to put him in those.  I'm so lucky he's such a good sport.

And after being patient with us and letting us pick out whatever outfits we wanted to dress him up in, it was his turn.  You know, for a straight guy, he has an amazing sense of style.  I was actually really surprised at the outfits he picked out for us, they were all really cute, complete with accessories.

 

After playing dress up for a good hour and a half we went to target to get some make-up brushes.  And then we headed back home.

 

The best part of today was that Randy was so cool about it all.  We want to go spend over an hour in a make-up store, sure he's game.  He is seriously the best person ever, and I am honored to be able to call him my best friend.

Family Adventures

So it's been a little while since I last wrote and there's been a lot to write about, so here is a little catch up for you.

My sister Jessica came into town the day before I got home from France, and so we have gone on many "adventures."  In my family we like to just get in the car and drive.  We call these little excursions Adventures, because we go and explore new things and just go to have a good time as a family.

Last week we decided to go up to Harrisonburg, Va for the weekend.  On the first day that we got there we went to explore the Lauray Caverns.  Omigoodness, it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  It's amazing to see what nature can create, these beautiful caverns, with lakes and stalactites and stalagmites, were such a wonderful example of the beauty that cannot be created or copied and can only be found in nature.

Besides the sheer beauty of it all, it was so much fun to be there with my family.  I can honestly say that we all laughed the whole way through, from the faces and the jokes and the stories that we all told each other, it was so much fun.

We also got "caves kisses," when the water drips off the ceiling of the caverns and if it hits you it's a year of good luck.  I can say if I ever needed a year of good luck, it would be my senior year.

That night for dinner no one could think of anything they wanted except for me, so we decided to go with my suggestion, barbecue.   Now it had been a long while since any of us had had real barbecue, and for me it was the first time I'd ever had REAL southern barbecue.  Nothing can beat a meal like the one we had that night.  We stopped at this little diner, and it felt more like coming home to a meal than to a restaurant.

My favorite part of that day though was after dinner.  I had suggested that we drive up the mountain a little more and to park the car and go star gazing.  I couldn't get enough of that sight, the stars sparkling like a million diamonds above our heads.  You could hear a little babbling brook off to the side of where we were.  All in all, with the clearest night sky I've ever seen, and the sounds of the night all around us, I couldn't have dreamed up a more perfect moment.

The next day while we were in Harrisonburg we decided to go hiking. We found some fun little trails.  When I was really little we used to go hiking all the time as a family, I wish we still did because every time we do we always have so much fun.  One of the trails we took brought us up to the edge of one of the mountains, and the view from that point was absolutely breathtaking.  You could see for miles and miles.

We spent our last day in Harrisonburg exploring the little town as well as the area around the campus of JMU.  And of course we took many photos.  Sometimes I wonder what people do with their cameras if they don't go out to explore like my family does.  And I know that few families are like mine, and I can honestly say I am forever grateful for the bond my family has.  Ours goes beyond blood, because we're also friends, and I don't think anyone could ask for more than that.

We also decided to spend a day at the beach as a family.  Down by the boardwalk they have those four person bikes that you can rent.  They always looked like such great fun, and a nice leisurely way to go down along the beach.  Well I was wrong.  People don't bike slowly on those things by choice, it's because they don't go any faster than a slow walk, I swear.  However after our hard work, we all went to get ice cream, and on a day as hot as that one was, that ice cream was well earned.

 After grabbing our ice cream, Tanner had been asking for quite some time to go putt-putt golfing, so we went to one of the courses there by the beach.  We decided to try the Jungle Golf because we have passed it an innumerable amount of times but have never gone.  Well, I can honestly say that I suck at putt-putt golf.  As you can see I was very clearly third place, and I only lost to the five year old... haha.  But it was a lot of fun, I can honestly say I have never had that much fun at golfing before.

My mom has been making this dress for Jessica and she finally go it finished while she was here.  It is a Pride and Prejudice style of a dress and was it beautiful.  We decided to go up to the Westover Plantaion on Turkey Island to take photos of Jessica in the dress.  I mean, she's already one of the prettiest people I know, but my sister looked stunning.  And I just couldn't help but share, I mean, have you ever seen prettier eyes?  And her hair, I wont even get started on how perfect her hair is.

 Horses.  My family loves horses.  Especially my sister.  Since these last few weeks have been our "Jessie Time,"  we decided we needed to go take her horse back riding while she was here.  Well we have some friends who own a farm and so went for a day and rented a couple of their horses to ride.  I was so amazing.  I think that people who have never had the chance to ride a horse need to.  There is no feeling that can compare to the feeling that you have when you ride a horse.  And ever the smell is amazing.  Now you may be thinking, "who likes the smell of horse?"  Well the answer to that would be me.  The smell of horse, and nature and wind and even sweat, all together they're more than the individual smells.  To me it smells like freedom and no perfume or any other scent can compare to the smell of freedom.


And that brings us up to yesterday.  Shopping, lunch out, it was a total girl's day.  Even though we literally shopped until we dropped it was so much fun.  I can never say it enough, I love getting to spend time with my family.  The best part of yesterday though was getting to have a little photo shoot at sunset.  We went down to Norfolk and took photos on the docks.  Sitting there watching the sunset with my family was perfect.  And then getting to go home and all snuggle up with blankets and watch a movie together? Perfect.

That's the one word I think I would have to describe families as.  Perfect.  No matter what's going on, or even if we're mad at each other, family always comes through, and that is perfectiton.

Disney

So I was listening to music on Youtube yesterday, and as I'm sure just like everyone else, I started with one song and ended up hopping to a completely different genre than where I started.  Well I ended up coming across this song.

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

It's the "Circle of Life" sung by a bunch of the old Disney stars including Raven Symone and Hilary Duff.  It just made me think how sad it is that Disney Channel went form that to "TTYLXOX" by Bella Thorne and "Swag it Out."  Need I say more?

Am I the only who misses the old Disney Channel TV shows?  Lizzie McGuire, Phil of the Future, That's So Raven, Kim Possible, and Even Stevens.  And then Nickelodean, with Rugrats, Drake and Josh, Hey Arnold, Rocket Power, Danny Phantom, even Zoey 101.  It's just kinda sad that all those shows that were worth watching have been replaced by things like Adventure Time, Shake It Up, Jessie, and Dog With a Blog.

What I wish we could do is start a new channel with all the old shows, the GOOD ones, TV shows that were worth watching.  Even if I'm not the one watching it, doesn't it concern anyone else that our future children will be watching garbage as television continues to digress?

Just food for thought.