Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve!

Today is New Year's Eve, so me and my friend Alyson thought it would be a good idea to see the movie New Year's Eve. (: It was about the lives of different people and what they wanted to do to bring in the new year and it was a pretty good movie. After the movie was over, I went home and my mom was preparing a big dinner for us to eat tomorrow. It looked and smelled really good! Now, we are all watching "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest", as we do every year. My favorite part about it is watching all the musical performances, seeing the crowd's excitement, and counting down the last 10 seconds until the new year comes in. Right at the one minute countdown, my mom gave me and my sister a glass of sparkling apple cider and now we're counting down. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1. HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D

Friday, December 30, 2011

New Year, New Look

I decided to give my blog a complete makeover today. Since the new year is coming in, I decided to give my blog a new look to represent change. Out with the old and in with the new! I definitely like the new design a lot better. It's more edgy and distinct, as opposed to my old, overly girly background. It took me a while to decide what the theme of my blog would be but I decided to use warmer colors and use pictures from the city for a more urban feel. Tell me what you think. (:


Before...




After! :D


Thursday, December 29, 2011

Happy Birthday Tasha!

Today, I went to my friend's sister's birthday party. Tasha, the birthday girl, turned 5 today! As she does every birthday, she was dressed in a princess outfit and a tiara.  It is absolutely adorable! With her friends and family are around she is very outgoing and social but when all eyes are on her to sing happy birthday, she becomes very timid. We are very close family friends and it's always fun to be around everyone and I had a great time. :)

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Check Up

Today, I had an appointment with my dermatologist for a check up to see how my skin is doing and making sure it stays clear. She says there has been much improvement since my first visit but I still have some work to do before it is perfect. Whenever I mention the word perfect to her she gets a little nervous because everyone's skin is different and perfection is hard to achieve but I'm sure I can get my skin looking close enough to it. I especially need my skin to look good before fashion week castings, which are in the third week of January. I'm so excited for them. After leaving my appointment it started snowing kind of hard, which was a surprise, but very cool. :)

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Against All Odds

Today I went to the eye doctor like I do every two years to make sure everything is okay with my sight. Ever since I was a kid, I had been going to an eye specialist because it was suspected that I might have glaucoma. In case you didn't know, glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve suffers damage that damages the vision and progresses to complete blindness. Pretty scary stuff, hm? Well after years of running tests, the results have come back normal year after year and the doctor says that I don't have it! Thank god. I feel so blessed. The odds have been against me since birth and I have overcome many illnesses. From being born premature at one pound 12 ounces, getting 10 blood transfusions, and being extremely sick as a child, I survived it all. Now that I am older, it seems like I rarely get sick at all and I feel so fortunate that I developed normally and didn't experience the setbacks or disabilities I was predicted to have. God is good. :)

Monday, December 26, 2011

Work and Shop

Today I went to work and it was another hectic day but luckily I treated myself to a pair of sneakers from Aldo that I had my eye on for about a week. I don't really wear sneakers that often but I loved the way these ones looked. I also went to one of my favorite stores, DeLia's, and got a really cool shirt. I can't wait to spend the rest of my Christmas money later on in the week. :)

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!
I'm so happy. My sister woke me up around 7am so we could open our presents. My parents were already waiting because they always watch us open our presents and see our reactions. The cruise we went on was already a Christmas gift in itself so for my parents to spend even more money and give us presents was greatly appreciated. I got a hat and gloves, along with a set of pajamas, a jewelry set, Just Dance 3, a hundred dollars from my grandparents, and a $40 gift card to Macy's from my aunt and uncle. After opening our presents, my dad cooked Christmas breakfast, another tradition we have, of french toast and bacon. Later on in the day, my cousin Renee came over to spend the holiday with us. She brought over some delicious brownies and cookies. I couldn't help but to have a cookie before dinner was ready, they were so good! For dinner, my mom made lasagna, spinach, and garlic bread. After dinner,  Renee, my mom, sister, and I all played Just Dance 3, which was hilarious! My mom was getting more competitive than we were! Overall, I had a really great Christmas and glad I spent it with my family. :)

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve

Yay, it's Christmas Eve! Unfortunately, I had to work today but just from 9am to 1pm so at least I got it over with early. With it being Christmas tomorrow, everyone was getting there last minute shopping done and the mall and my store were packed. Especially since everything in the store was 50% off! I even bought a shirt for my sister. When I got home I took a nap and then when I woke up, I read The Hunger Games until I fell asleep at 1am. I love this book!!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Winter Break Has Begun

Today was the last day of school and now it's officially winter break! Woo hoo! :D
It was a very easy going day, in art class very few people showed up. In fact, there were only 5 people, including myself. We just watched art related videos and finished up our street art piece. Afterwards, I went to English class and Mr. Taylor actually gave us two plays to read over the break! Way to ruin things! Luckily, that was the only work I was given to do over the break. Then in AVID class, we just played games, which is a surprise. Dona didn't even do a reaping! Of course, my head was buried in 'The Hunger Games' during the whole class, even when we went to lunch. It's just that good! Then in my photography class, I was the only person that showed up so I worked on my film joiner. It was a very fun day and I'm glad I went to school instead of staying home like many people did because it was the day before Christmas Eve.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Hunger Games

Tomorrow is the last day of school before winter break, I can't wait! I haven't been able to put down this book we're about to read in AVID called 'The Hunger Games' it's an amazing and addictive book. I even like it more than Twilight! It's about the United States after a natural disaster that split the country up into several districts and in response to a rebel by the people, The Capitol created the Hunger Games. These 'games' force children from the ages of 12-18 to fight for their lives by killing eachother off until only one person remains and that winner basically gets to live a perfect life afterwards. Even better, there is a movie coming on the book which will be released on March 23, 2012. I can't wait to see it! It looks so good! Take a look at this awesome trailer :D

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

TABB

Today we had a guest speaker named Lindsey from Howard University to give us information about her college. Although I'm not interested in attending an HBCU the information she gave us about college in general was very useful. She talked about how college is very different from high school, what kind of classes you should take, dorm life, and social groups. Her story about her crazy roommate was very amusing as well. [x So Dona told us to TABB for todays blog. T stands for the thing we took away from what Lindsey told us, A is for the action we plan to take, the first B is for the barrier that could cause the action to end and the second B is for the benefit of seeing it through. The thing that I took away from this was that even during the summer you have to prepare yourself for the shift from high school to college, work-wise. The action I plan to take it to attend a pre college if my school offers one. The barrier that could get in the way of this is the temptation to not follow through and just relax the whole summer. But the benefit of following through is to not be so far behind and stressed out my first week of college when the work starts coming in.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Just Another Day

Today I slept in a  little longer than usual and woke up to a call from one of the girls at my job asking me if I could replace her shift that was from 3pm to 9pm. Seeing as today was the one day of the week I had off, I was hesitant to accept but after thinking it through and considering Christmas was only a few days away, why not get all the extra hours I could get. While I was at work, the time actually flew by but I was really tired when I got home, ate dinner, and now I'm going to bed. Zzzzzz.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Back from Vacation

Today was my first day back from the Bahamas but I still felt like I was in vacation mode. I gave all my classes my best effort even though I didn't feel like doing much. In art class, we started working on our own personal street art piece that we would be putting up in school. Mr Hammer gave me a pass to walk around the school to get some inspiration on what I wanted to draw and where I would put it. Looking at the water fountain made me think about how we are lucky to have clean water when other kids in less developed countries do not have easy access to clean water and even have to walk miles for it when we, on the other hand, can simply take a few steps down the hallway, to our kitchen sink, or refrigerator. After getting my inspiration, I decided to draw the earth and then water pouring into it to symbolize clean water for everybody. After finding the images on google, I put them up on the projector and traced it on a big poster board. Here are a few pictures of what I've done so far.


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Bittersweet Sunday

Sunday's can be so bittersweet. It's still a part of the weekend but you know in the back of your mind that you have to go to school the next day! I'm dreading having to catch up on three days worth of work but my friend told me I didn't miss much and it'll be easy coming back into school tomorrow. Thank god! I bet this week won't be very hectic either since it's the last week before winter break. I hope we get to take it easy and watch holiday movies or have a class party but that's not very realistic!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Missing You

I was thinking about my time on the cruise and looking over the pictures I took and it really makes me miss the island and all the friendly people I met that were native to it, along with the friends I made on the ship. Luckily, we all traded contact information and I text them often and talk to them on facebook.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Still In Vacation Mode

Today I was supposed to go to school but I kept pressing snooze on my alarm clock and overslept! x_x
Coincidentally, so did the rest of my family! Even though we had been on vacation for the last day, the ride back was exhausting and we were all getting used to being home again. At least I tried to wake up this morning! I mostly spent the day relaxing and tomorrow I don't have school so I can sleep in without feeling guilty!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Going Home

Today we got up early to have one last breakfast on the ship and then after that, it was time to go through with the debarkation process, which is when we unload from the ship, recover our luggage, and go through security. While doing this, I saw two of my friends from the cruise. They both looked very sad to be leaving, and I was too. When this was over, my family and I found our car and started heading back home. Surprisingly, the drive back seemed much quicker than it did to get here, and I didn't even sleep that much. I was halfway glad to be home and halfway still wanting to be on the cruise. It felt a bit weird to be on solid ground again and I still felt wobbly and off balance as if I was on the ship while it was rocking. :P

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Getting Closer to the End

So today we will be at sea all day to go back to Charleston, it's actually getting to me that we will be leaving in the morning and that it's the last day I'll get to spend with the amazing friends I've made on this cruise. We might not ever see eachother again :( The whole day was bittersweet as we did our favorite activities for the last time and had one last dance party. Srdjan gave all of us shirts for eachother to sign and I wrote 'Barbie was here' on everyones shirt and we all thought it was funny and the perfect thing to write. We also exchanged numbers and facebooks. Before leaving everyone jumped in for a big group hug and some people cried. :(

Monday, December 12, 2011

Nassau Here We Come

Today we stopped in Nassau, Bahamas which I was even more excited about than Freeport because we actually planned to do one of the excursions other than visit the beach. We went to the Atlantis resort to visit the aquarium and sight see. The aquarium was amazing, we saw a myriad of fish, sharks, jellyfish, and many other sea creatures; I even got to touch a star fish! After visiting the aquarium, we stopped for something to eat at a shack on the resort. The prices are so expensive! But I can understand why when the country makes a majority of it's money through tourism. After lunch, we went to one of the resort's private beaches. It was so beautiful but the waves were so rough that we weren't allowed to go in the water! At least we got some good picture out of it. After the beach, we went to another spot on the resort where we rented a water tricycle for my sister and I to ride on and it was really fun. After the end of the day, we took a ferry back to the dock for a few more minutes of sight seeing and eventually went back on the ship. :)




Me and my family just outside of the Atlantis Resort


On the resort, riding on the water bike :)


Queen of Atlantis :D


Winning!



The lovely beach :)






At the aquarium :)


Leaving on the ferry :)

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Finally in Freeport

Yay! We made it to Freeport, Bahamas. I was so excited because this was my first time traveling outside of the U.S. and I was just happy to be somewhere warm compared to how cold it is back home! When we got off the ship we took a lot of pictures and then headed to another island to go to the beach.  The houses and buildings are very colorful and bright in the Bahamas, you wouldn't normally see bright pink, orange, lime green, or bright blue houses everywhere you go. :) When we got to the beach, it was breathtakingly beautiful. The weather was perfect and the waves were just right for getting in the water. I saw a few friends from the ship there too but I spent most of my time with my family. My dad and sister enjoyed swimming in the water and playing in the sand while me and my mom mostly wanted to take pictures. Of course, we still got in the water and had fun too. To my surprise, the water was cold so I didn't go in that deep! After spending time on the beach we headed back to where we docked on the ship to get souvenirs and then eventually get back on the boat. We had a very fun day. :)

Me and my sister posing :)

The Bahamian Flag. Blue, black, and yellow. 



The beautiful beach and palm trees. :)


Me on the rocks :)


Me and my sister.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Fun Day at Sea

Today marks another day at sea until we get to our first stop in Freeport, Bahamas. I started off my day at 8am to have breakfast with my friend Emily and her family since mine was still sleeping. [x The food on the cruise is delicious. After having breakfast we went off to look for the others in our club  and met up for a race at the waterslide on top of the ship. My team, aka Team Swag, won. We always win everything (; After the waterslide race we had a picture scavenger hunt. We had to hurry and run around the ship to take pictures of people and things that were on the list we got before the other team and we won that too! At 6pm everyday, my family and I go to the Jubilee dining hall on the ship for a fancy, gourmet dinner. It's great and my mom, sister, and I are all hooked on the warm chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream desert! After dinner I went back to my club for karaoke. We also joined with the club my sister was in for the younger kids, Circle C. It was very fun to watch and I also sang with my friend Katherine, we sung "Pocket Full of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield. :)

Friday, December 9, 2011

Cruisin'

We left late last night to get on the road to Charleston, South Carolina. It was an 11 hour drive all together but we stopped in a hotel to sleep at around 5am and then got back on the road and made it to Charleston around 10am. By the time we arrived, we were in a hurry to get through the boarding procedure since that closed at 12. I almost thought we weren't going to make it on the ship but we did in the nick of time. :) The cruise ship was huge and I was just overwhelmed trying to decide what to do first. Lucky for me there was a club just for teens (15-17) called Club O2 where I met plenty of cool people and we did a lot of fun activities around the ship. Since we would be at sea all day today and tomorrow, we had a lot of time to get to know each other and have fun. Another really interesting thing I noticed was that all of the staff was so diverse and from many different countries. Our club counselor, Srdjan, was from Serbia. :) Through out the day I mostly hung out with my new friends Emily, Jenna, and Katherine. We layed out on the deck to get some sun, played 'Apples to Apples',  made our own custom pizzas, had a picture scavenger hunt, and had a dance party until 1 in the morning just to name a few things. :]


Just sailing by :)


My dad and sister playing air hockey.


One of the beds with a towel froggy :)


Thursday, December 8, 2011

On The Road Again

Tonight we are leaving for the long 8 hour drive to Charleston, SC which is where we will be boarding to get on the ship. I don't really like long car rides because sitting in the same position for hours and hours makes my legs cramp so in order to be as comfortable as possible, I'm bringing my covers and my pillow in the car with me. It may seem like too much but it's better than being cold and even more uncomfortable. Well time to go!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Lazy Day

Today I didn't put as much effort into my schoolwork as I usually do  because I was so ready for the day to be over since it was my last day until leaving for the cruise. I was so happy when the day was over that I felt like running home (especially since it was cold) but if I did, that would just look weird so I walked. Everyone was wondering why I was so excited and when I told them about my early vacation they all wished they could go too. While they're in school, I'll be relaxing in the beautiful, warm, sunny Bahamas. (:

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Anticipation

I am so excited to go on my family cruise, it seems like the days can not fly by fast enough! My bags have been packed for days now, thats how anxious I am! I'm just glad we will be going some place warm so I can get away from boring, cold, wintery Maryland! I'm also really excited to go to the beach, which is one of my favorite places. It's so relaxing and at the same time, very fun. One of the first beaches I can recall visiting is the beach on Coney Island in New York. It's a wonderful place and has so many memories from my childhood. I still love visiting it whenever I can. :) But anyway,  I love the beach and I'm ready to go on vacation!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Carving and Prints

Today in art class we finished our block carvings and created prints. This was a very different project than I was used to and it was a bit challenging at first but I got the hang of it. First we take a carving block and draw the design we want to do, then we start carving the outline of it. After that we take a square of cardboard, squeeze on a bit of paint, and use a roller to cover it in paint and then transfer it to our block carving and onto a piece of paper. I decided to carve out the Chanel symbol and it came out pretty good. What do you think? :)


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Holiday Beauty Photshoot

Today I shot with one of my favorite photographers, Tony V. It was really nice to be shooting with him again. The last time I saw him, I was 15! He always works fast and produces great work. I also worked with make up artist extraordinaire Leiloni C. and hair stylist Jamal C., both of whom I had never worked with before but I put my trust in them and the end result was amazing. Everybody synergized together brilliantly. Leiloni's make up is flawless and her florescent charisma and sense of humor kept me laughing and in good spirits through out the entire shoot. Jamal's presence was just as touching and his versatility in his skills with hair were mind-blowing. Also on set was nail artist, Nia C. She did a killer manicure and brought in the coolest nail polishes. The shoot had a Christmas/holiday theme so all the looks were very cheerful and festive. The shoot went by fast and I had so much fun, I would love to work with everyone again in the future. The pictures should be edited and complete by Christmas so look forward to the pictures! Until then, here are a few behind the scenes shots. (:

Me and Leiloni posing while she applies my make up. :)





The crazy make up artist Jamal, posing with a wig! xD



Getting my hair, nails, and make up done!

Loving the purple and silver nails :)




Another look! :)


Posing :D