Me and Ash sitting on a huge rock on the trail

Ash has conquered the rock! Lol

Again the picture quality is horrible!! Sorry but when you are in a rush and the only camera you can find is your phone you make it work the best that you can….

Shadow decided to join me for this shot

So this is what I wore to church this morning, although I came home and changed into sweats and a sweater because it is a bit chilly today. My outfit is mainly from Marshalls, except for the cardigan which is from Kohls. My necklace was given to me by my grandfather after my grandmother past away; it was originally hers. The shoes are Jessica Simpson, which I absolutely LOVE!! I think they are my favorite pair of heels!

Sorry about the bad quality of the photos, it was my phone’s camera. Next time I will use a real camera. Oh and the photos were taken by my talented sister, Ashleigh.

Day one: We left Massachusetts and headed to Ohio. This was a 10 hour drive

Day two: Left Ohio and headed to Onalaska, WI. This would be one of the longest drives totaling about 11 hours.

Day three: Left Onalaska, WI and headed to Rapid City, SD. This day started out the same, but when we hit South Dakota we hit serious storms (and I mean serious storms!!!). As we are driving we see the sky just goes dark with storm clouds and once we actually hit the storm we cant see anything. Then the hail started coming down too which made it scarier, plus we are in a tornado watch area. So needless to say I had a mental break down….We did however make it to our hotel but we all agreed we were probably not going back to South Dakota.

Day four: We spent the day exploring Rapid City. We went to Bear Country USA which is like a wild animal park that you could drive through with the animals walking around free. It was really crazy when it came to the bears! After that we saw Mt. Rushmore, which to be honest was a bit smaller than I thought it would be. Mt. Rushmore is however something I would suggest to see because it represents something amazing and our nation’s founding fathers.

Day five: Left Rapid City, SD and headed to Cody, CO. This was a beautiful drive going through the Rocky Mountains.

Day six: Left Cody, CO and headed to Tusayan, AZ.

Day seven: We spent that day at the Grand Canyon which was sooooooooo beautiful!!! This was probably my favorite part of the trip. I absolutely loved seeing the sunset and watching it change the rocks different colors.

Day eight: Our last day of driving. We left Tusayan, Az and made it safely to Poway, CA. We then spent a week in California with family and visiting old places. While in California we went to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, La Jolla Shores, and spent a lot of time in my unlce and aunt’s pool!

So that was our trip!!! It was so fun and something I think everyone should try to do sometime in their life. And now for some pics…

This is a pic from one of the storms we hit while driving in South Dakota

This was Bear Country USA…The bears were just roaming around

Mt. Rushmore from below

This was soo beautiful! This was the sunset at the Grand Canyon!

From left to right: Jason, me, duckie, and Ashleigh at the Grand Canyon

Next for me is more school….I will be transfer to Liberty University in Fall 2011, and until then I will be taking online course through Liberty Online. I can’t wait to go to Liberty and be around so many awesome Christian people!

This is me at the induction ceremony for Phi Theta Kappa

My graduation gown with my Phi Theta Kappa stole

So my favorite flavors of coffee are:

• Iced Blueberry Coffee (from dunkin donuts)
• Iced Coconut Hazelnut (from both dunkin donuts and the local coffee shop)
• Iced French Vanilla (this one is only from the local coffee shop)

I love trying new flavors to see which one I like and don’t like.

So not too long ago I was able to go and see Dear John with a close friend and I loved it! I was such a beautiful story! I want to see it again. I thought I would try my hand at a review of the movie, but I’m not sure how it will turn out?

The movie Dear John is based off the the book (same name) by Nicholas Sparks. Nicholas Sparks has also written books such as The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and the latest (about to be a movie too) The Last Song. I personally haven’t read the book Dear John, but after seeing the movie I think it will be the next book I am getting. The story revolves around John (played by Channing Tatum) and Savannah (played by Amanda Seyfried) and their romance. It starts when they meet during John’s leave from the military and evolves over the next two weeks till John has to go back. They both agree to keep in contact through letters for a year till John is relieved of his duty to the military. However, after the year 9/11 happens and John feels the need to reinlist. The rest of the movie shows whether or not John and Savannah’s romance can survive and how it will affect each other. Dear John is rate PG-13 for some sensuality and violence.

Some of the big issues would be (this may contain spoilers):

Violence:
The reason violence is included in in the rating is because one John (played by Channing Tatum) is a soldier and part of movie shows him overseas whether in Africa or the Middle East.

Two the movie opens with John getting shot by two bullets. Blood is shown is a slow motion way as John is hit.

Three about a fourth through the movie John gets in a fight with some of Savannah’s (played by Amanda Seyfried) friends, who are drunk. While trying to stop the fight another friend of Savannah, Tim, is elbowed in the face by John. We later see Tim’s swollen black eye from the hit (John does apologize for it saying that he didn’t know it was Tim who came behind him).

Sensuality Part:
Nicholas Sparks claims that he doesn’t put premarital sex in his books, however, the movies seem to have them. Though if compared to other movies that have come out Dear John is minor. Dear John contains several kisses, some more passionate, between John and Savannah.  One of the first kisses is shared between John and Savannah as she sits on his lap under a shelter as it is raining.

The interesting thing is that leading up to that kiss Savannah tells John that she “doesn’t sleep around,” yet about halfway through the movie she gives herself to John before he leaves for overseas. This moment takes place in a barn where it is dark. We see John’s bare chest and glimpses of Savannah’s undergarments. Other sensitive parts are covered for view by arms or hair. They kiss passionately but we never actually see them have sex, the scene closes before anything else is shown.

There is also a scene that shows John and Savannah tickling and wrestling with each other while in John’s room.

Language:
From what I remember there was several uses of the sh**, d*mn, h*ll. There were also several misuses of God’s name and Jesus’ name.

Age group I would recommend this for: 17+
Because this movie does contain some sexuality I would recommend it for an older teen audience and up. Teens need to see love that can be true and happy without having sex. So many movies today show that if your “in love” you should have sex. I couldn’t disagree more being what the world says is “being in love” really means “lusting after.” However, Dear John does do a good job at showing a self-sacrificing love (more John’s than Savannah’s). Being a 19 year old girl I of course love romance movies and it is hard to find them nowadays without a ton of sex, but I think that Dear John is a movie that can be shared between mother and daughter or between your friends.

Overall:
Overall I think that this was a great movie that showcased John’s selflessness and love that he had for Savannah. At the same time it shows John’s relationship with his father and how it evolves of the film and John’s feeling of duty that he has to his nation after the 9/11 attack. I think I cried more over what John went through and how he acted during the trying times.  The movie definitely has tons of moments that will make you cry! I would recommend this movie to anyone who one loves romantic dramas, loves Nicholas Sparks’ books/movies, and who needs a little cry. This is a movie with love, sacrifice, pain, happiness, and lessons that could be learned from John, but I don’t want to ruin it for you. So go see it!

Examples of their improvs include:

• Where’s Rob? (one of the members gets “lost” at a knicks game and the whole section at the game is trying to get his attention)
• Cell phone symphony (was able to get a ton of cell phones to go off at the same time in a bookstore)
• Frozen Grand Central Station (had a ton of people all freeze at the same time and stay frozen for I think 5 minutes)

This was sooo cool! I definetly recommend checking it out…it made me laugh!

Over the summer I had my best friend, Sarah, visit us for a month which was awesome! Sarah’s older sister, Amanda (also a best friend), got married to her long time boyfriend…about time too . It was sooo crazy seeing one of my friends get married! I really realized how old I’m getting. And yes I got a little teary-eyed during the ceremony.

Here is a pic of the wedding party…doesn’t the bride and groom look adorable!

After the summer I went back to school. It was my third semester at the local community college and almost my last semester. I think this one was one of the harder semesters just because I was trying to adjust to getting up earlier and having a job while going to school. It was a big change but defintely a good change. I still need to work on my time management skills, but having to juggle school and work has given me more of a “hey this is the real world” thinking. With only one more semester left till I get my Associate’s Degree Im a little nervous about moving out and to a university (which I still don’t know where I’m going to go). I have applied to two different universities but I’m still not sure which one I’m going to yet. It is harder than I thought to not only pick a school but decide on what you want to do.

So that’s that I guess for now. I hope that you have all had a great year! Happy New Year everyone!! <3