Christmas in July!!

Hey guys! Recently, I had a Christmas in July "half- birthday" party. My birthday is on Christmas Day, so it's rather difficult to have a party during that time of the year. So my aunt came up with the idea of having a "half-birthday" party in July, with a Christmas theme! Here's what we did:

Invitations
My aunt found some old Christmas cards at her house. On the front, there was a drawing of Santa and his reindeer on an airplane. The flight attendant was dressed in red and green and was holding a plate of hay. We printed out what we needed them to say on red cardstock, and glued this inside the card. Here's what they said:
"Santa and his reindeer are taking a well-deserved vacation.

Even the elves have left the North Pole for some rest and relaxation.

The holiday season is still months away,

 But let’s be holly and jolly like it’s Christmas today!

Please join us for a Christmas in July Birthday Party to celebrate Savannah’s “half” birthday!"

And then we put the date, time, place, and RSVP information at the bottom. I placed Christmas themed stickers inside the invitations and on the envelopes. 

Decorations
We rented a shelter at a local park and on the day of the party, we decorated it in Christmas attire. I made paper snowflakes (we put glitter on them for effect) to hang from the rafters of the shelter. I also made some red and green paper garland, which we hung between posts in the shelter.  My aunt had some lighted greenery also. We hung this at the entrance of the shelter, along with a Santa flag. We bought red and green table cloths and alternated them. Wrapped, empty boxes were used as centerpieces for the tables. We also put some traditional Christmas decorations around the shelter. The shelter was rather large, and we didn't want to decorate the whole thing... We needed a way to divide it off. Using a tri-fold poster board, we created a "photo-booth!" We covered the board with polyester pillow filling using adhesive spray. Next, we placed a few paper snowflakes on it, and then sprinkled glitter over the whole thing, especially targeting the snowflakes. We covered a table that we turned sideways with a white tablecloth, and  we put the board, two, small, decorated, silver Christmas trees, and a wooden snowman. There were a few Santa hats and a pair of reindeer antlers for the guests to use in the photos. My favorite decoration was actually a disguise! There were two very tacky grills at the front of the shelter and we wanted to hide them. My aunt put her crafty genius to work and made the grill into a giant present!  We wrapped one of those giant gift bags around the grill, put tissue paper on top, and then tied a silver balloon to it! Viola! Grill gone incognito!

Food
When the guests arrived, we presented them with a yummy Cheerwine float. There were also some sugar cookies with red and green sprinkles for anyone that wanted some. There was an activity that involved food also... Later, we had some raw vegetables and a cheese ball for snacks. And finally, for the meal, we had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and mixed fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, and grapes). The dessert was, of course, a birthday cake. Everything was delicious!

Activities
After eating our floats, we decorated Rice Krispies while listening to Christmas music. Right before the party, we mixed up so of the treats and cut them out in Christmas tree shapes. We also molded them into a house. The guests had fun with this, and enjoyed eating their artwork! Another activity was a trivia game. My aunt, sister, and I brainstormed the questions and found some online as well. There were twenty questions plus some harder bonus questions in case of a tie.We had gift card prizes for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. The final activity was one that not everyone was able to stay for, but was the most fun! We wanted to have a snowball fight, but with a twist, water balloons! The problem was, we couldn't find white water balloons anywhere! So instead, we bought colored water balloons and had an "ornament fight." I know, pretty cheesy, but it was the best we could do. It was really entertaining though!

Favors
Oriental Trading is a great place to get party favors and supplies. We ordered Christmas Tree Sunglasses for our guests. They were adorable, and everyone loved them! We'd planned to give them white chocolate covered pretzel sticks with festive sprinkles as well, but some of the guests left before we got the chance.

Review

I had a great time, and I think that all of the guests did as well! It truly felt like Christmas, and now I can't wait for the actual holidays to arrive! 

My Awful Day, Part 2 | Featuring Friedrich the Spider

Hey guys! So I wanted to finish my story about the awful day I had last Wednesday! So, if you'll remember, I had just escaped the wrath of the evil, shiny, blue wasp...
So I finished washing dishes and had a pretty normal day... That is, until after I-Daddy (that's what I call my Grandfather) got home. So he got home, and then went outside to mow the lawn. I went to my room and was aimlessly browsing online, when I decided to check on Friedrich.
Freidrich is my pet spider... Well, not really... He made a humongous web on my bedroom window, and I'm too much of a wimp to go get it down. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Friedrich is HUGE. He's a very large brown spider, and he looks absolutely terrifying! So anyways, I got used to him and I began to pretend that he was a "guard spider." I mean, c'mon, what burglar would break in with a giant spider on the window?? So anyways, I was going to check on him. I moved the curtain to the side, and looked in the corner where he always is. I jumped back! He had grown! He'd been huge the day before, but now he was absolutely GIANT!! Oh wait... Suddenly I noticed that Friedrich wasn't alone... He was in the corner, and this giant spider was an impostor! I realized what was going on, and I decided that I would have none of that going on in my window! Nope! So I made up my mind to convince I-Daddy to kill them.
Later on in the evening, I told I-Daddy what was going on and he said he would take care of it. He went outside and got the spider poison. I watched from my room as he sprayed the web where the spiders were with the insecticide. The large spider quickly scurried away when the poison touched it, but Freidrich didn't move... I realized then that he was already dead! I did some research... Female spiders are always bigger and smarter that their male counterparts... And so once they mate, the female murders the male!! Isn't that absolutely awful?!?!
So let me sum it up... Basically, Freidrich is in his web, minding his own business, eating bugs, guarding my window, when suddenly, a giant female of his species barges in on him! She proceeds to rape him and then  murder him! She leaves his dead body there and takes over his home. Then she got sprayed with poison and ran away, and most likely died. RIP Friedrich...
After note: Friedrich's web and dead body are still in my window... Here's a photo...

Look in the left corner...Those long things are his massive legs... His body had kinda already mostly rotted away by the time I took this. And as you can see, he obviously didn't have to worry about running out of food...

My Awful Day, Part 1

Hey guys! So last Wednesday, I had a terrible day! It started out alright: I decided to stay home by myself rather than go to the Beauty Shop with Granny. I was making pancakes and suddenly I burnt my left ring finger, right above the knuckle. It hurt, but I finished the pancakes, ate them, and began to wash the dishes. About that time, Granny called. We have a big garden where we grow many vegetables, and some fruits. It's planting season, but there are several things that haven't been planted yet and are in the greenhouse. Anyways, when Granny called, she told me she had forgotten to water the baby tomato plants in the greenhouse and asked me if I would go do it. I agreed. Let me just tell you, however, I didn't want to water those tomatoes. The green house is terrifying. I am always so afraid that there's going to be a snake, spider, or other scary varmint in there. But I went anyways. I got out the sprayer and began watering the plants. Then I noticed a lizard in a bucket. It startled me a bit, but I continued watering, trying to hurry so I could leave. That's when I dropped the sprayer in the bucket. I recovered it, put it on a table, shut and latched the door, and ran as fast as I could back to the safety of my house. Well, I expected my house to be safe, but little did I know that sometime when I had opened the door, an evil monster had crept inside...
Of course, it wasn't really a monster... it was worse. As I went to the sink to return to washing the dishes, I discovered that I wasn't alone. A humongous, shiny, blue wasp flew straight towards my head! I screamed and ran outside, slamming the door behind me. My dog, Jake, gave me an inquisitive stare. I knew that I couldn't stay outside the rest of the day, so I gathered up my courage and went back inside. The first thing that I did was search for the flyswatter. But I couldn't find it anywhere! Suddenly, I heard that terrifying buzzing again and saw the hideous creature flying towards me again! I screamed again and ran back outside. I noticed the flyswatter was on the porch. I grabbed it, and ran back inside. I couldn't find the wasp anywhere though! Don't worry, it found me.... Back outside I went... Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm such a scaredy cat, but it was terrifying! Anyways, I was standing in the garage, when I heard that familiar buzzing again! I looked up and there were two wasps. a blue one and a regular one. I began to think that maybe the impostor wasp had flown outside when I ran out. So I hurried back inside, but discovered that the wasp was still there. I went back outside, but this time, I had a plan. I opened the screen to the kitchen window, went back inside and opened the window, hoping the wasp would fly out. I searched for it. It had flown to the living room... It was behind a curtain on one of the windows in there. I decided to kill it, but at the last minute, it flew out, and went to the den and then to the window on the door leading to the porch. Next, it flew into the kitchen and I thought it was finally going to go out of the window, but instead it flew towards me! I quickly opened to door to the garage, and it flew out! I was safe at last!

Ten Things That Annoy Me

10. Mosquitoes- They bite me and then I have an itch for a week... And sometimes, when I can't stop scratching it, it bleeds and then leaves a scar! I especially hate it when a mosquito gets in your bedroom, and in the middle of the night, you wake up with it whining in your ear, and the next morning, you have bites all over you...
9. Interrupters- When I'm talking, you shouldn't say anything more than a few words to show your agreement/support for what I'm saying, until I'm finished talking. It's just a common rule! You may have something you want to add, but you can wait until I'm finished with what I have to say.
8. Mumblers- I hate it when I'm talking to someone and I can't even understand them! I'll ask them "what?" several times, but eventually, I just have to give up and nod, pretending like I know what they're talking about.
7. Crying Babies- It's not really the babies that annoy me, but it's when the baby is crying or making constant, loud noises, and their parent doesn't even take them out or try to control them. This happens a lot in church. There are two small children that sit diagonally behind me. The girl is maybe about 2 years old and the boy is maybe about  3.5 or 4. They play, scream, and cry the whole time in church, and their parents just egg them on! The least they could do would be to try and shush them, but no! And this is every Sunday! Ridiculous!
6. Stepping in Gum- You know the feeling, you're walking along, when suddenly, your left foot is sticking to the ground... I HATE THIS! A perfectly good pair of shoes, now sticky and gross for the rest of the day... And it seems that every time it happens to me, I step in gum and I'll be not two feet away from a trash can. C'mon people! Really?
5. Bossy and Rude People- You know the ones... There is always someone that must always be the boss. I mean, I know there has to be a leader in some situations, but there is no need to boss everyone around all the time. And then there are the rude people. Why do they think it's ok to be so rude? I'll never understand...
4. Attention Seekers- There are some people that think the spotlight must always be on them. They will do whatever it takes to get attention. Make up lies to seem more interesting, complain of a sickness every day, etc. And don't forget about they people that upload photos and comment "Ugh, I look so ugly!" Just so other people will tell them that they are beautiful. Why do people do this?
3.Coughing/Sneezing Without Covering- Have they not been taught any manners? Don't they understand that their mucus/saliva is getting everywhere? It's disgusting! Last semester, a boy sat behind me in History, and when he was at school (he skipped a lot) he would sneeze and cough almost constantly. He never covered his nose/mouth and I could just imagine his germs getting all over my back. GROSS. There are also those people that cover their nose/mouth with their hand and then continue to use that hand without even wiping it off or anything. Ewww.
2. Slow Walkers- There is no reason why they can't pick up the pace. And usually, the people that are walking slow are those people that wear their pants at their knees. I'm like "C'mon, if you would just pull up your pants, you could walk a little faster." And I always get stuck behind these people when I am in a rush! Oh! And I have to mention the people that just stop in the middle of the path to talk to their friends. Umm excuse me, could you please take your conversation to a place where people aren't trying to walk?
1. Eating/Drinking/Chewing Gum Loudly- That sound drives me insane! Just close your mouth please! In Pre-Cal, there was a boy who chewed his gum loudly every day. I couldn't concentrate at all, and it was so frustrating! I can't even begin to describe how much this annoys me...

So I didn't mean to go an a rant, but that's kinda what happened... Sorry, but sometimes I think it's good to let your anger out.

People I Secretly Wish Were My Friend

So, we all have those people in our life that we wish we could be friends with. More often than not, the people we secretly wish to be friends with are celebrities, fictional characters, dead people. or maybe even semi-famous people. Anyways, here are the people that I wish were my friend:

1. Jennifer Lawrence- How could anyone in their right mind not want to be her friend? She's hilarious! Not to mention beautiful, a great actress, and she plays Katniss. The fact that she plays Katniss is enough for me. I would love to hang out with her! I feel like we would get along together fantastically! I mean hey, she would at least keep me laughing the whole day, right? There are so many things that she does that I feel like I would do, given the situation, and we seem to agree on many things. Like eating. (Check out this link on Buzzfeed, where J Law teaches us everything we need to know about eating.) But seriously, it would be a perfect friendship! Side Note: I would also like to be friends with Katniss Everdeen because that would be simply awesome. Enough said.

2. Princess Ariel- She's a mermaid princess! How could I not want to be her friend. Of course, I'd want to be her friend before she turns into a human because I've always wanted to be a mermaid.  I think it would be so much fun to help her explore, swim around in her castle, admire her collection, and spy on humans. I'd be like Flounder, except I would be another mermaid instead. It would be incredible!

3. Pocahontas- She is so free! It would be amazing to dive off cliffs and climb into Grandmother Willow's limbs with her! We could "run the hidden pine trails of the forest" and "taste the sun-sweet berries of the earth" and it would be great.

4. Thomas Jefferson- It seems that Thomas Jefferson had a very full mind. He was a very complex man. He had strange habits and strange thoughts and I am so curious to learn about him personally. I know that he kept many things to himself, and I would love to just sit and talk to him, asking him all of my questions.

5. Mark Twain- I love his adventure stories like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. They're great! I'd like to sit with him and ask him questions and get him to tell me stories.

6. C.S. Lewis- He wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, and to have such an imagination as that, he must have a curious mind. It would be so interesting to talk to him about his ideas, and how he came up with such fantasies.

7. Raven-Symoné- Every movie that she's in is absolutely hilarious. She would keep me laughing all day. She says the funniest things, and she can be so sarcastic. Just the tone of voice she uses is hilarious! To even spend a few hours with her would be amazing, let alone to be her friend!

So there you have it folks, those are some of the people that I want to be friends with. It'll probably definitely never happen, but hey, a girl can hope!

Annoying Things I Do

This entry was inspired by MarcusButlerTV's YouTube video, Things We Shouldn't Do. Sometimes we all do things that we know we shouldn't really do. They aren't really bad things, just things that we know we shouldn't do. I really annoy myself when I do these things. Of course, I don't think of the outcome while I'm doing these things, and if I do, then I ignore those thoughts. Here are a few things I do to annoy myself:

1. In the summer, or on a Saturday, when I don't really have anything important to do, I'll wake up, but decide I'm still tired and go back to sleep. WHY? I won't even really be tired! So I end up sleeping until after lunch time when I could have gotten up and been productive. There are some times when I genuinely need the sleep, but usually, there is no reason for me to continue to sleep... And also, sometimes I'll wake up and decide to get up, but instead of getting up, I'll just lay there, doing nothing, which makes no sense at all.
2. Sometimes I'll eat several helpings of whatever we're having for supper. I know I'm not hungry still, but I'll get up and put more food on my plate anyways, just because it's really good. I don't know why. And afterwards, I'll be SO full, like, I can't even move. And I'm also pretty sure that that isn't very healthy...
3. Speaking of food, sometimes I'll eat a snack when I know I'm getting ready to eat supper an hour (more or less). So when supper is finally ready, and we're having something really good, I'm not even that hungry. Why do I do this?? I know that I'll be having  supper soon, but yet, I continue to eat a snack and usually  I'm not even very hungry to begin with; I just eat out of boredom. It doesn't make any sense, and it is so frustrating!!
4. Whenever I know I should be studying, but I continue to spend my time online. Doing this causes me to regret it SO much the next day. I'll be taking my test and say to myself, "See, Savannah, if you wouldn't have spent all of that time on the internet, you might know this answer!" It's pretty bad... And it isn't just once in a while, I do this every time I have a test the next day, loads of homework, or something important I should be doing instead... I just don't get it!
5. Another annoying thing I do is say things like "I'm hungry," "I'm tired," or "I'm cold," when I won't really be. I apparently just say these things to have something to say. Once I even said I was hungry right after I had just eaten lunch. I was literally walking back to class after lunch and I told my best friend I was hungry.What?? Why would I do that? I have no idea why I do this or what I'm thinking when I do it. I know that I'm not cold when I say it, but I guess I just want something to say. Maybe I like to hear myself talk....

There seems to be no end to the amount of things I do to annoy myself. Like I said, I can't explain why I do these things, but I continually do them. It frustrates me so much. Am I the only one that does this? Comment below with things that you do to annoy yourself and tell me if you do any of the things I listed.

That Awkward Moment When...

....somebody says it and the moment isn't even awkward...
I have noticed that people use the phrase "That awkward moment when..." very frequently, and it has begun to annoy me greatly. Most of the time when someone says this, the situation that follows isn't even awkward... That's like saying a joke is funny when everyone in the room knows that it wasn't a bit funny. Do the people that use that expression incorrectly not know what the word awkward means?? Sure, the situation might cause a teeny, tiny bit of discomfort, but more than likely, not awkwardness. And sometimes people won't even say "that awkward moment when..." they'll just declare something to be awkward when it isn't. Is it just me or do people way overuse certain words sometimes?? Awkward is definitely one of these overused words...
Here are a few example off of Pinterest of things that really aren't awkward:

This is definitely not awkward... It happens to everyone. It's just an everyday occurrence, not awkward at all.

This situation isn't awkward either... unless someone else is around. But if suddenly bursting out in tears without cause is something that happens often for you, you should probably see a doctor, because you may have some problems...

And then there's this... How could anyone even think this is awkward?? Yes, it may happen, and when you think about it, you may find it weird, but it's definitely not awkward!! C'mon, really?

Crazy Town...

          So my Granny owns her own beauty shop in town (she's the only employee), and today I decided to go with her since school is out, and I have nothing to do. As the day began, I was pretty bored. But then I decided to walk down the street a few blocks to the library in Downtown Salisbury (it's not very far and I like to go down there a lot in the summer). So I embarked on my journey. There were plenty of those incredibly awkward moments where I was standing there trying to cross the road (there weren't "walk/don't walk" signs at every crossing) and I had to wait for some idiot to decide if he wanted to let me go or not... But anyways, I finally made it to the library. I headed straight to the Young Adult section where I discovered a large black man, two young girls, and a boy. The young girls and boy glanced up once, but did the large black man do so? Absolutely not! He looked up from his newspaper and proceeded to stare at me the whole time I was in that section. So, there was that...
             Next I went over to the adult section to find a book I had heard about in AP US History, and I wanted to read it. I found the book almost immediately, but rather than checking out like a normal person, I continued to aimlessly browse (mainly because I didn't want to go back outside into the hot, humid day). So as I was browsing, I stopped to enjoy the cool air I was getting by standing under the air vent. Apparently, I didn't realize that I had stopped amid a popular section... So, I was standing there, enjoying the cool air, when suddenly, a middle-aged man, several older ladies, and a young woman came over one-by-one. They didn't say anything to me, but I could tell I was in their way. I politely stepped to the side, and pretended to look at a book about cooking. I couldn't tell what any of the women were looking at, but the man, who was closest to me, was looking at a romance novel... Let's just hope he was picking up something for his wife.
            I checked out my books and headed back out into that awful humid air. As I began my trek, however, I realized that I wasn't alone... There was a man behind me. I didn't think much of it at first, but decided to go the long way back anyways. He continued to follow me, but eventually got on his bike and went a different way. That wasn't the last I saw of him though. As I diverted back to my normal route, I saw him again, and he crossed the street over to the sidewalk I was walking on... I picked up the pace, but he was still there. I was almost in panic mode. Suddenly, I heard "Hey! Stop!" I turned around, and he motioned for me to come over. With my heart beating a million miles an hour, I walked slowly over and.... He handed me a business card and pedaled away... I looked down at the business card. It was a business card for the police station!! WOW. I laughed and laughed. Do I look so naive that I could be an easy target for criminals, or does he think that I need to turn myself in for something? Maybe he was an undercover agent and found me suspicious? I don't know, but I found it very amusing. I soon returned from my expedition. That was enough adventure for one day.

A Brief Introduction and Explanation of My Blog

          Hey! So this is the first blog I've ever done and I have no idea where to begin. I'll try not to be too awkward... Anyways, I've decided to begin a blog for several reasons. First of all, I received an email the other day from the CollegeBoard website. The email suggested ways to stay mentally active throughout the summer. First on the list was Start a Blog. Another thing that led me here was the fact that I have been watching tons of youtube videos lately (more than I'd like to admit). I'd watched a lot of Alfie Deyes (or PointlessBlog)'s  videos (Click here) They really inspired me to want to become a youtuber myself. It seems like a ton of fun. However, I decided to begin small to see if I enjoyed it the whole aspect. And here we are! Me writing a blog... you reading it... Yep. There's that awkwardness I was warning you about. Oops.
         I don't really have a plan yet as to what I'll include, but it'll most likely just be a bunch of random stuff where I'll try to entertain you and maybe make you laugh. I hope you'll enjoy it!