My Two New Years Resolutions

I have two resolutions for the year of 2008. The first one I had also made last year, it only lasted until the middle of March. The second one is something I've been striving to achieve for several months now, and I've decided to make it a New Years Resolution (cause that just makes it seem more important, don't it now).

Number Uno: To run at least One mile everday. And if for some reason (say I'm sick, injured, etc.) that I can't get in my mile, the back up resolution is to run the same amount of miles in the month. (Does it work to have a back up resloution? Doesn't matter, cause I'm changing the rules.)

Number Dose: To just be happy. I've decided that all I want to be as I go through life is happy. For some people it seems so simple, but I have a somewhat melancholy personality that shoots me down, and it shoots me down far. So resolution number two is to be happy. I've taken to drawing a smiley face on my wrist, and since he such wonky eyes he makes me laugh, which makes me happy. Hopefully I won't need my dude one day (who's name, by the way, is Lomly, cause he reminds me of Larry, Mo, and Curly).

So those are my resolutions, what are yours?

Christmas

What a good, and different, Christmas we had in the Smith household this year. Instead of getting nice, big, expensive presents from our parents we are going on trips (next Thursday we're going Sking and Snowboarding) and only had stocking stuffers, which are some of my favorite presents. Like the pair of hand made slippers I got! I'd seen them in Terressentials several weeks ago and kept going back to them, but didn't buy them. I guess Mom noticed because they were in my stocking today. Yay me!
Aren't the gorgeous? I love the colors, and they're sooo comfortable.

Let's see....Cece bought me these amazingly cool gold, sparkly tights that are Rocky Horror Picture Show-esk. They're fantastic, and I love 'em. Sadly, they're in the wash so I show any pictures.

My Grandmother, God bless her, bought me a new digital camera. Mine was abused by me and I'd been talking about getting one for several months. Thanks to her, I don't have to spend my money. It's a nice camera, a Nikon, and it has so much more extra stuff then my old camera.

By far one of my favorite presents was from my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle David. It had a tag on it that said "For Olivia, and her unique sense of humor", well that piqued my interest and I opened the first box to find......Cookie cutters in the shape of gingerbread men. And not just any gingerbread me, ABC* gingerbread men. The picture isn't very good, but if you can see one has a leg missing, one has an arm missing, and one has it's head missing. I laughed for a good long while, let me tell you, and I would still laugh when I looked at the box hours later. I also proceeded to bake some sugar cookies with the lovely new design of ABC* cookies.

These are what the finished products looked like, not the best picture, but it'll do. They also tasted really good, which please me cause this was the first time that I'd ever made sugar cookies.

The next package contained a package of sticky notes that wasn't your normal bright colors, it has check boxes saying funny stuff like "I want you to....shut up, go away, like me, and of course your normal call me/e-mail me. It also had a notepad that says stuff along the same lines. All in all, they made me laugh.

And last but not least, I got a moose ornament. See, I have this obsessions with Moose that started about a year and a half ago and I thought it was awesome that Mom and Dad found a Moose ornament.

I'd say it was a pretty good year. I got the stuff I wanted, had a marvelous time, and spent time with family. What's not to love?

Now I want to hear about you and yours!

*Already Been Chewed
(Don't you just love that companys sense of humor? :P)

Seven Of My Favorite Things

1. Stargate SG-1
I absolutely adore this show. It's reduced me to tears, made me laugh 'til I cried, kept me on a string, and given me my desire to write (Stargate FanFictions where my first bits of writing). Sadly, SG-1 ended this July, after a fabulous 10 year run that put them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

This is the cast of SG-1, from Seasons 1-10. Some of the characters from past seasons have moved on to higher ranking jobs in the military, and some are dead.


2. Stargate Atlantis
The spin off of SG-1 that was very easy to fall deeply in love with. As with SG-1, it's reduced me to tears, made me laugh 'til I cried, kept me on a string, and given me a desire to write. I've learned so much from both of these shows in the way of random facts, it's common for me to sprout off a random fact and for my Mom to go "Did 'ya learn that on Stargate?". At least half the time my answer is yes.














Season 4 Cast: Does the blond look familiar? She came from Stargate SG-1 to take over command of Atlantis since the brunette in the other picture (the former leader) is missing, presumed dead. Though we all know that may not be true.








Season 3 Cast: See the pretty lady in the front? We don't know if she's dead or alive, though we all hope she's living. And the handsome man in the green? They killed him, much to the horror of fans all around the world.


3. Soccer
Is a huge passion of mine. I've been playing for five years, and though I dropped my outdoor team in April and have yet to find a new team, it is still a big part of my life. Soccer's been a major player in shaping me into the person I am today. Learning to accept defeat graciously, learning to win graciously, perseverance, and accepting things for what they are. I have a feeling it will always be a part of my life in some form or another.

How can you not love this sport? I'm not even sure where the ball is in this picture, but my guess would be the keeper cleared it.

4.Movies
'Tis true, movies are one of my favorite things. And it's not just certain movies, it's all movies. I mean sure, I do have my preferences on actors and genres, but I will hardly ever say no to going to the movies. I love the art of movie making, and the result of all that work. I believe every movie and character should be savored. I love the stories that can be told through movies. The villains are particular favorites of mine, because I don't actually view anyone as a completely evil. I look through their eyes and see why they are how they are, I mean, they're definitely bad people and deserve to be classified as villains, but they have intriguing pasts. Like Sweeney Todd, man have I fallen in love with that movie. But let's not go there.

5. Unschooling
I love the fact that I am unschooled. Every time I sit back and think about it I thank my lucky stars. My life would be so different if I wasn't. So many amazing people wouldn't be in my life, I wouldn't have the amazing relationships that I have with my siblings and parents, and I would be getting in so much trouble at school. Not because I'm bad, but because I just don't agree with most everything that the school system does and am not afraid to speak my mind. Needless to say, I'd be good friends with the principal and detention would be my homie.

6. Burts Bees
My Mother brought home some Burt's Bees sometime ago and told us we were to try it as a chapstick because it was better for out bodies. It didn't take too long to fall in love with this stuff. Now I always have one on hand. I love the peppermint one (my mother and two of my sisters have moved on to the Honey) and can go through a stick pretty quickly during the winter season.

7. My Family
Nothing can be said to express how much these people mean to me. They're there through thick and thin. Every single on of them has been victim to my sharp, cold, vindictive tongue and they all still have my back when I need them. Words can't describe my pride in them.
It may be an old picture (by about a year), but it's one of the best and comes with some of the happiest memories I have.

I Think Everyone Should Have This On A Shirt

"You better brace yourself for a whole lot of ugly coming at you from a never ending parade of stupid." Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray.

Isn't that the truth for anyone who's just too out there? Or too different? This is my next project, I just have to figure out how to screen print. xD

Our Government At It's Best

Wow. My Mom had sent me a link a couple of weeks back saying to watch this, that it was long, but to watch it. Today I finally did. It is incredible. It's about twenty minutes long and it talks about the consuming that U.S. citizens do and how it's effecting our society. I'd known it was bad, and I'd kinda, sorta, pitched in. But the numbers she gave were astounding. And the information was actually quite scary. I didn't know it was THAT bad. I suggest you watch it. It's an eye opener, and for those whose eyes are already opened, maybe you'd like to hear what she has to say about it.

The Story of Stuff

This is our government at it's best. God save us all.

How To Be A Gangster

These guys make me laugh everytime I watch this video. I was in tears and couldn't breath the first time I watched it, that's how hard I was laughing. Hope you'll like it. :D Though I can understand if you don't.

10 Facts About Yours Truly

He he, I saw this on Diana's blog and had to do it. It looked like so much fun!

The rules: Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog of ten weird or random facts about you, your habits, or your goals. At the end, choose ten people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. Don't forget to leave each a comment (such as, "You're IT!") with instructions to read your blog. You can't tag the person who tagged you, but you should let her know when you've posted to your blog so she can see your answers.

1. I'm an amazing bullshitter. And I don't mean in only the game. I can make just about anyone believe just about anything.

2. Sometimes I wish I was someone else. Someone glamorous and famous, then I resolve to become glamorous and famous. Then I realize I'm already pretty glamorous (if I do say so myself) and I question my want to be famous. Talk about any idenity crisis.

3. I have a horrid habit of stopping in the middle of my sentence and changing to a completely different subject. Why? Several reasons, one, I usually am just talking to talk. Two, something I said reminded me of something I'd said in a previous conversation that I then want to tell the current person I'm talking to about (if that makes any sense), and three, that's just how I am. I've learned to accept it.

4. I have this obsession with Mulan and Tarzan, as in, the Disney movies that are not at all historically accurate (I go on a rant everytime I watch Hercules, yet I still love that movie, strange how Disney can do that to ya). But what's a girl to do, when she has an obsession, she has an obsession. It'll end soon....maybe.

5. Though I complain 24/7 that I'm in some sort of pain, in reality it doesn't bother me. I just want to have something to complain about. My own logic says it doesn't make any sense, but it gives me so much satisfaction.

6. Despite all my outgoingness, I can actually get very stage fright, though I hide it well it's there. My heart is pounding, I talk to fast, and everythings all jumbled in my brain. But I love being on stage so I work through it and relax as things go on, hopefully I'll one day have no stage fright at all. Aside from a few butterfly's maybe.

7. I can't stay serious about anything for a long period of time. If I were in school I'd constantly be getting in trouble for being the class clown. I love to laugh and have a good time, even if it means getting me in trouble. It makes people really mad, but I don't understand why we can't all laugh and have a good time while still learning.

8. My disgust for certain traits in people make it really hard to admire and listen to the pople who are "above" me. From my perspective, I know more then them, or know a better way to do it, but since I'm only a kid and most of them don't want my opinion it causes problems, to say the least.

9. My only true goal in Life is to be happy, and to make the people around me laugh. I love getting even the most serious person to laugh, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

10. Four of my greatest heros are my siblings. Though I only look up to one, they each have a trait about them that I would love to have myself and look up too and admire them for. Who says your heros have to be "big people"?

Whoever wants to do this must do it and send me the link so I know they did it. :P

Happy Birthday to my Mommy!

Imma Monkey

So I finally got around to looking up enough Monkey Zodiac information to actually post a little something about it. Or maybe a lot something, but either way, it's something.

Playful, even obliging at times, the Monkey hides the poor opinion he has of others beneath his apparent friendliness. He distrusts people born under any other sign and considers himself to be superior to all of them. He has plenty of intelligence and a fantastic ability to pull the wool over people's eyes. He is so artful that he can even fool the Dragon -- who is strong, stubborn, and no fool himself -- and resist the magnetism of the Tiger, whom he teases unmercifully.

He he, well Diana it seems that you pulling the boy's tail is completely and totally justifiable, just show him this when he starts glaring at you. :P

The first part of the Monkey's life will be happy. The second will be upset and confused and his plans will often miscarry. Once attaining a ripe old age, the Monkey will increasingly enjoy a simple, everyday life.

Hmm.....I'm not sure I like the sound of the second part of my life. I rather like that most of my plans work. At least I'll be happy when I'm old.

Most Monkeys have one fetish - FOOD. They are not pigs, they don't stuff themselves with food, instead, they just have this habit of eating snacks whenever they like, and wherever they like. And one last truth about monkey people is, they adore bananas. Go visit your monkey friend's kitchen, I bet you will find some bananas there.

:o I LOVE banana's!! Actually, I love food in general. I don't understand people who don't love food, it seems....archaic to me.

Monkeys have flexible principles and serene self-confidence so they are completely content; but they usually manage to complicate the lives of others. After yet another plan or project has gone wrong, they are seldom there to help clean up the disorder and confusion that they leave in their wake. Monkeys can handle that too; with their charm and persuasiveness they can make people believe that just knowing them is a privilege.

He he, I laugh everytime I read the last sentence. Isn't it true though?

Positive Traits
Inventive, versatile, humorous, generous, intelligent, witty, lively, independent, strong-willed

Negative Traits
Manipulative, opinionated, conceited, egotistical, capricious, superficial, meddling, careless

Most Compatibility
Rat, Dragon, Rooster

Well that's good, at least I know I'm compatible with Nic and Abi.

Semi-Compatibility
Pig, Goat, Horse, Monkey

Incompatibility
Tiger, Ox, Rabbit, Dog, Snake

Well how much does that suck? BOTH of my parents are Dogs, as is Audrey, my aunt is a Snake, my cousin is a Tiger, and several of my friends are born under those signs.

So that's my Monkey info. I do have to say that I think we're one of the better sounding signs out there. Of course, that's a trait that is attributed to us Monkey's, so that could be the only reason. xP I love doing this kind of stuff, it makes me happy to learn about just about anything, but this is the bug that's bitten me so this is what I'm looking at every day. Next time I dive in to google I will look up Monkey-Gemini and just hope that my computer doesn't explode from all of the energy. :x

Ooo, interesting side note. I saw The Golden Compass last night. I am absolutely in love with that movie now. I'm not quite sure why it struck me so deep, but I loved Nicole Kidman (she nailed the part), the girl who played Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards, who is a new actress) did a very good job for having no movie experience, and Daniel Craig was as charming as ever. Actually, everyone was well cast in that movie, and aced their parts. I can't wait for the second movie to come out, and they haven't even started filming yet! I don't even know when it'll be released! AH!! I can read the books, I will read the books, but I want to see Nicole Kidman in action (can you tell she was my most favorite part of the whole movie? :P). So now I will have to wait and cross my fingers that it's released sometime early 2009. God, I'll be 17 (or close to it), how scary is that?

<3
Olivia

Booyah!

I received an early Christmas present last night! My Granddaddy payed for me to get my cartilage pierced! I'm so physced! I've beeng gunnin' to get it done for a while now, and I've been putting it off because of the money, but when Granddaddy said that he had no idea what to get me for Christmas I suggested that he pay for my cartilage piercing. And what d'ya know, he agreed. Actually, it didn't surprise me, he's the Grandfather that has both of his hears pierced and will agree to get or do anything for me. Within reason anyway.

So last night we went down to Snakemans and got it pierced. It wasn't as expensive as I thought it'd be, and it only hurt a little. To top it off, I learned something new. The part of the ear that he pierced is called the outer helix, instead of piercing the cartilage. You don't pierce the actual cartilage because of the ever lovely possibility of cauliflower ear, which involves fluid building up in the ear and giving you a funky lookin' ear because of all the fluid that is built up. It can also cause permanent damage to your ear drum because of the pressure becomes to much on the ear the ear drum will rupture. How grody is that? Ooo, and it's called cauliflower ear because of a)the cauliflowery look it gets and b)because the color in the ear will start to fade to white, hence giving it a more cauliflower look. Go look up a picture, it's pretty grody and I refuse to post a picture of it on my blog. It will taint it, and the only person aloud to taint my blog is me. :P

Here is me tainting my blog with crazy duck lips, but ignore them and look at the earring! Ha ha, or look at the crazy duck lips.

You gotta love it.

<3

Olivia

Great Wolf Lodge

Wowza, what a fun three days, and an awesome Christmas present. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge. It's an indoor water park in several places across the states (and one is in Niagara Falls). A homeschooler posted it on one of my Mom's homeschool boards, and she proposed that it be the first half of a two parter Christmas present. We all agreed and she signed us up. And come to find out Danielle, the girls, and Sam were going, as well as a family that holds friends for all of us. That made my day, three days with people I love to hang out with, and to top it off, at a water park. What's not to love?

Then I found out about these wands that you could be and go on Magi quests. I had to have one! Actually, Abbi, Cece, and I all had to have one, so we settled on one and figured we could share. But Kailee and I got it first 'cause we were the ones picking it up. It was hilarious great fun! We ran around the hotel (all three stories of it) and zapped stuff. Then we'd giggle like little kids. That went on for several hours. But that wasn't all that went on during our questing. Danielle, Julia, Emily, and Sam had wands too, and I saw 'em as I was coming up the stairs. Well one of my favorite things to do is to try and sneak up on Danielle, and I succeeded. Then I gently rubbed it in her face. She said it was because she couldn't focus on more than one thing (when normally she has eyes everywhere, or so she says) because she had had two beers. I know, lame excuse. :P And then I realized she didn't have a wand, and I asked Danielle why she didn't have a stick (yes, I was calling our wand a stick :D) and she replied that she had a stick, she'd just left it at home. We all laughed uproariously (I've always wanted an excuse to use that word) while Julia, Emily, and Sam didn't get it. But that little conversation right there started a game of Attack Danielle (or in her case Attack Olivia). The rest of the night was filled with screeching, hollering, and laughing until you fell over. I love nights like those. They're the best out there.

Sadly, it was only a three day trip and very shortly it was time to go home. So we all got out tired butts into the car Wednesday evening and started the three hour drive home. I was silently pouting that Danielle and the kids get to go see Amy Steinberg and unschooling buddies while I'm stuck working, but enough about my self centeredness. xP We had found out that morning that it was snowing at home, and that by that evening there were about two inches on the ground. We were all very pleased with the thought of snow, even if it is only two inches. Nic and I were kinda hoping for six. Or a foot. Eithers good with us. When I look outside it's pretty, no matter what the amount of snow. I love the whiteness of snow and the look it gives the outside.

So that was the beginning of my week. It was a pretty snazzy beginning. I'm hopein' to finish out the week just as good.

<3
Olivia