2012-2013 School Year

{{Not sure if this post is really a great example of blogging like I talk, but the words really just flowed out, so I guess it is?  Anyways, this is a more personal post, but something that was-and is-really important to me. :)}}

Random picture, but I needed something haha.  :)

  June 6th, 2013 was my last day of the 2012-2013 school year.  Of course, I was ready for summer {I mean, who wasn't?!}, but I was also definitely feeling sad.  And why was that?  The 2012-2013 school year was probably the best of my entire life.

  To say that is definitely saying a lot.  I've always been the type of person who enjoys school, has a pretty good group of friends that I look forward to seeing on a daily basis, I haven't ever had a particularly bad teacher, and my grades have always been pretty steady.  This year held true to all of those standards, but it also went above and beyond.

  This year, I made some really amazing friends.  Like I've said, I've always had people I've enjoyed spending time with, but as we all grow and change, friend groups change, too.  I had no idea, going into this school year, that I'd become close friends with people that I was friends with when I was really young, close friends with people I'd barely talked to before, and strengthened some of the friendships I'd already had.  Of course some friendships didn't remain as close as they were last year or the year before, but I can still consider those people friends.

  These "new" friends of mine are so different than me, but at the same time so similar.  They're the girl athletes of the grade, the girls whose lives revolve around basketball, volleyball, softball, and track {or any mixture of them, therefore}.  You look at them and automatically know that they're the athletes.

  Now, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that the school sports I'm involved in are cross country and track, but dance is my thing.  Who would've thought that I could be close to people so different?

  I don't know exactly how it works, but it definitely does.  There are so many people that I consider friends, both in this group of athletes and out, and I really appreciate that.  I definitely think that this year was a very good year for our entire grade, that we all kind of learned to respect each other, even if we don't agree with every person in the grade.  That was very important for all of us.

  This year wasn't drama-filled at all, and for that I am SO grateful!  I've had years that I look back to and think, "Drama, drama, drama."  I'm glad that this year wasn't one of those.  Of course there were little things that came up, but not enough to become anything serious.  I did have some doubts of where I fit in at times, but by the end of the year, I think I found my niche. :)

  Besides this school year being a good year for finding my friends, it was good in so many other ways.  All of my teachers were seriously amazing.  Every single one of them was so awesome, funny, and I could really talk to most of them about anything.

  My amazing math teacher knew just about everything about everyone's social lives, relationships, and everything in between, but it wasn't in a weird way.  She loved to hear about what we did over the weekend every Monday, and we all were excited to tell her.  My math class overall was actually extremely amazing.  We've all been together since around third grade {with the exception of a couple of people that have joined the class in the last few years}.  We're a family, and next year, some of us won't be together.  Obviously, I'm kind of {extremely} upset about that, because it won't be the same without them.  But the memories our math class made are memories I'll remember for a long, long, time.  :)

  Also, my homework/grades were both really great!  I actually maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout the entire year, and I'm hoping to keep that up for the years to come!  And actually, I didn't have an excessive amount of homework that I had to bring home on a daily basis, so that was really great, of course!

  I know this post was extremely long, but I definitely wanted to talk about my school year.  I've had an amazing summer so far, and it'll only get better from here, but that's a whole different post!  So, how was everyone's school year?  I'd love to know. :)

xoxo,
Carolyn

The Mason Jar - Summer 2013

  At the beginning of the summer, I decided that I should take an idea I've seen all over the internet {Pinterest, YouTube, Blogger, etc.} and make it my own!  And so, I found a mason jar and started writing.

  Everyone knows that feeling.  That feeling where you feel like summer just started when it's already the day before the school year starts.  Time flies, and-my goodness-June is already almost gone!  Knowing this, I want to relish every moment of this summer.  That seems pretty easy, but I also want to remember.  Obviously you have your own memory, but sometimes that fails you, so what do you do?  You write it down.

  The pointe of my mason jar is to take a sticky note {or any other piece of paper, therefore} and write about it every time something good happens to me.  It can be something little, or something huge.  The picture above was taken about a week ago, and I've continued adding to the mason jar since, so it's actually almost full now!  I'll soon need a new way to hold all of these happy little {or big!} memories, and I think that's pretty cool.  This summer has barely even started, but it's already probably the best summer I've ever had.

  This summer I really have just lived in the moment, done things very spur of the moment, become so much closer with friends, had some great dance experiences, and so much more.  I've had friends over to swim, gone to some bonfires, gone to the public pool with friends, gone out to eat with friends, made a music video with Makenna, and other things that are really, really, great.  I'll keep these recorded memories for as long as I can, and whenever I'm not having the best day, I'll have all these great things to reflect on.

  On the last day of summer, I'm going to read every single one of the pieces of paper that I have written out and put into my mason jar.  I'm sure I'll have a bunch of things to read about, to relive, and I'm sure I'll be smiling and laughing all the way through.

So, this summer, let's make it great.

If you want to use this idea, go ahead!  It's definitely not entirely mine, and I really recommend using it.  All pictures in this post belong to me, and were taken by me on my phone.  :)

On This Blog

  Ever since I've started this blog, I've wanted to show who I truly am.  It's probably pretty obvious that that's what I want to show, since the title is even Truly, Utterly, Carolyn.  I want to be me.

  You know, this probably doesn't seem too difficult.  You just have to write about whatever it is you want to, and you're still being yourself, right?  Well, yes and no.  Obviously, I can't talk about every aspect of my life on my blog, nor would I want to.  But the thing is, I tend to write differently than I talk {a great example would be right now!}, and I read my posts and notice that I probably come off a lot differently in real life.  This is obviously still me, though, just a different side of me than my friends see, I guess.

  But my pointe is, I don't want to conform to that.  I kind of wish that I was still the blogger I was when I first made a blog {that blog is long gone, sadly}, a girl who had no idea what blogging was really all about, who just wrote little posts about whatever, being as me as I possibly could be.  As I continuously grow as a writer and a person, though, of course I have-and will-become more mature.  Being more mature doesn't mean I have to be less of myself at all, and I think that's what I need to think when I write a post for however many people still read this little blog of mine.

  So, I'm going to try to write as I talk, less "professional"-esque and more . . . well . . . Carolyn.  Truly, Utterly, Carolyn.  :)  Who I am, who I was, and who I will always be.

I thought that this quote was really fitting

Via {found on Pinterest}

xoxo,
Carolyn

Dear Boys {{4}}

I really felt the need to write a Dear Boys post today.  And so I did.  The messages are kind of really long this time, but I guess I've got a lot to say . . . even though these people will probably never read these messages.  :)

Dear Big Macintosh,

So you're kind of one of my best friends.

And I really feel bad because I gave you bad advice . . . 

Well maybe the advice wasn't bad,

it just didn't work out.

But still, I feel pretty bad.

But I know you won't let me feel bad for long, cuz that's how you roll.

Bronies and Pegasisters 5-ever,

Rainbow Dash

Dear Guy-Whom-I-Don't-Know-What-To-Name,

Ask her out.  I don't know what she'll say.

But really, ask her out.

Please and thanks,

Carolyn

Dear Serth,

I always feel the need to include you in these posts,

but I never have anything to say.

OH!  I have an idea now!

They call you Hephaestus.

Still laughing,

Carolyn

Dear Ratatouille,

You're also kinda one of my best friends.

And even though other people got annoyed by you totally knowing every word to the movie, it really cracked me up.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I know you are, so maybe that's why we're friends!

And really, you should stop killing flies.

Your Home-Ec Buddy,

Carolyn

Dear Steak,

We're singing together on Thursday . . .

That's kinda cool!

I think you and my brother are kinda best friends . . . 

And that's kinda weird!

I guess we're a "thing" now . . . 

And I'm kinda excited.

In Which I Explain My Hiatus! {{A HUGE Update Post!}}

  Well . . . hi guys.  So, I haven't posted in about two months, and-trust me-I feel pretty darn bad about that!  But before you start asking questions about where I was, if I was/am okay, or if I'm giving up this blog entirely, let me explain myself!  And while I explain myself, please enjoy some photos of the my Red Bud tree and some other miscellaneous things from my phone!  :)

Warning: Lots of words ahead

Whenever I put on mascara, I feel the need to take
pictures like this.  :)

Dance

  The dance season is over for a month or so, and I'm sad and bored, as I always am at this time of year.  I was so busy with dance, as I had three recitals to perform in.  Being in three recitals means lots of practicing, so time on the computer was really cut out of my every day life.

Track

  I honestly can not remember if I ever told you guys about this, but I was in track this spring sports season!  I really enjoyed track, but I had so much going on, I only had the chance to go to two meets out of the eight that were scheduled.  On top of that, the last track meet we had-which was a home meet and also the conference meet-had to be cancelled when it was only half way over because of thunder storms.  To say the least, I was really upset!  I only got to run in one event,-the open 400-which I got first in my heat in, but seventh overall {aka one place away from getting a ribbon and actually "placing"}.  Although that really stunk, I'm definitely going to keep on running, and I hope to run a lot this summer, including some 5k's!

School

  School has definitely been a big part of my life recently!  School is beginning to wind down, and for that I am so thankful!  Our last day is the sixth of June, which could definitely be worse.  I really need to get to reading, {that's what I'll be doing after I hit publish on this post!} I have a lot of big projects going on, I need to get to practicing my French horn, and all kinds of other things are going on right now.  The school year's almost over, but school work definitely isn't.

Life in General

  And then, of course, I still have the little things of everyday life.  I still have to make time to be a regular human being, getting outside, hanging out with friends, just doing everything that I should be doing.  With summer coming, though, everything will be so much better!

  So that was kind of extremely long, but I hope you guys read through the whole thing and understand that I'm not trying to just give up on this blog.  If I have to take a break, {such as this one, even though it wasn't planned} I have to take a break.  Once summer comes I'll probably have more to post about, but who knows what summer holds for me!  I guess we'll find out soon enough.  :)

xoxo,
Carolyn

Happy Easter!

Picture taken on my phone!

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope that everyone has had a great Easter so far, I know I have!  We didn't do anything extremely out of the ordinary for Easter this year, but that's fine with me!  Easter's not about the extravagant things you do, it's about being oh so thankful for Jesus and knowing what love is.  It's about being with family and carrying on traditions that have been in your family for who-knows-how-long.

  So, since this post is rather short so far, I thought I might as well tell you about what I did today!  So, I woke up early to a large amount of candy and some new running clothes, and I was very thankful for that!  :)  Then I went to church with my family as we always do on Easter Sunday, but we had my aunt and uncle with us also, so that was a bit of a change, but a good one.  After church we headed out to go to my grandparent's house like we do every year, as well!  We basically ate way too much, talked a lot, took pictures, laughed, and had an overall very good time!  Oh, and my cousin painted my nails because she got new nail polish for Easter.  XD  Then we came home and now I've been catching up on blogs, videos, and the like while eating the aforementioned candy.

Turquoise and Caicos by Essie, if you were wondering!

  So, that was my Easter!  Very simple, but I really liked it nonetheless.  How was your Easter?

xoxo,

Carolyn

Hello Again!

  Well, this is seriously embarrassing.  I haven't posted in over a month.  And I feel so incredibly terrible.

  But I always say that I don't want to focus on the fact that I went missing.  I want to focus on the fact that I'm back!

  So, I still haven't figured out a good way to get my pictures from Bobert {that's the Canon Rebel T3's name, if you were wondering} on to my blog, but I have found a good way to post some pictures from my phone into my post and then write the post on my laptop, which is very much appreciated!  So, I will have pictures to show you guys, finally!

  If you're a competitive dancer, you would know that it's competition season!  If you guys have read my dance story, then you know that I compete with one dance, just starting this year.  That one dance is production.  Lots of studios have a production number, and it's basically a huge dance with girls of all ages in it.  It has a theme, and is usually made up of a bunch of different songs.  The production dances I've seen have been anywhere from five to fifteen minutes, and the length requirements are different at each competition.

  Anywhoozles, this year, our theme is Alice in Wonderland, and I'm a Mad Hatter!  We did very well for our first competition of the season, and ended up with High Gold, which is the second-highest "ranking".  We still have one more competition for this specific number, and that's in April, I do believe.

  In other news, our last day of school is officially June sixth, which completely stinks.  Most people will be on summer break by then, but no, we'll be stuck in hot, sticky, classrooms.  Yipee.

  I know I'm kind of jumping around from topic to topic, but I just wanted to say that my blog really needs a facelift.  For serious, guys, my blog is so boring to me.  I can do things like headers, but I want to do so much more with my blog and I just don't know how.  If you have any ideas that could possibly help me, they'd be appreciated.  ;)

  So, I am going to revamp the blog as much as I can and hopefully make it more exciting!  I promise you I have all kinds of things to post about, so those will be coming!

xoxo,

Carolyn