The Superbowl is a Time...

....to enjoy.

... for eating massive amounts of food. (If by food, you're thinking cookies, chips, and Persian potato salad, yes. In mass quantities.)

... to finish studying for AP Biology exams. (And then thanking yourself when you [hopefully] ace them the next day.)

... for making obscene faces that you didn't realize were unattractive until you saw them in your camera's viewer.

... for lazing around. Because it's fun and a Sunday and no one cares.

... to discover the amazingness that is Haagan-Dazs baby cartons of coffee ice cream. So you don't have to feel like a pig for eating it clean!

... to truly appreciate the genius of the Rubix Cube. And then beat it and laugh that you have greater brainpower than an inanimate object.

... to appreciate friends.
(And rooting for the winning team.
GO SAINTS!)

Remembering France Pt.1

Shakespeare & Company Bookstore

Notre Dame Cathedral

Tomatoes from a farmer's market

Sunflower field

Cafe in Paris

Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles

You Know You're Jealous

I am positive there are some of you readers who love The Office (even though I know there are also a few Office haters...*cough* Jake and Calvin *cough*) -

so I can at least have SOMEONE who will appreciate this:

That's right.

The Office mechanical pencils.

I'm pretty sure you're jealous now.
I mean, I'm jealous just looking at them- and I own them! (just kidding...)

I'm pretty much in love with these beauties.
It doesn't matter that they'll probably break within 2 hours of me using them.
Or that they only have the faces of Micheal, Dwight, and Pam- and not Jim. (Seriously- who designed these? Do they not know that John Krasinski's smirk-y face sells?)
Or that they were on sale so practically everyone owns them.

They're beautiful.

Bike-ur Helmet!

Since my last hilarity with Darian and the "caterpill-ur" story, nothing much has happened...

until now.

I know this picture doesn't look like much, but if you look closely- you'll notice that Darian is wearing a bag under his beat-up and dirty helmet.
Hmmm...

----flashback----

Me: Darian, are you FINALLY ready to bike?
D: Yes.
Me: You sure? You don't have to go to your locker? To the bathroom?
D: YES, Allison.
Me: Okay. Finally.
D: Geez, what am I, five? I don't take that long.
Me: Whatever you say, Darian.
D: (across the bike racks) Um.. Allison?
Me: Yes, Darian?
D: I sorta kinda forgot my helmet...
Me: Where? In Karina's car?
D: .... at home....
Me: Oh my goodness, Darian. You know you can't bike without a helmet on.
D: I know- I totally thought I had it!
Me: Okay, well, I really want you to bike with me.
D: What does that mean?
Me: It means that we're gonna find you a helmet to wear! Ughh.. can't you just BUY one?
D: Yes, I'll just stop at our school's bike shop-
Me: Dude. We should have one. OH MY GOODNESS. Okay, don't tell anyone about this.
We're gonna look for a helmet.
D: (pointing to a helmet on someone's bike) How about this one?
Me: Darian, don't be dumb. We can't just STEAL someone's helmet right off their bike! We have to look for one on the ground!
D: Um...
Me: (pointing to an abandoned corner of the bike rack) THERE! (picks up the ugliest helmet known to man- seriously- covered in dirt and cracked)
D: Ew, I don't want to wear it!
Me: Well, get over it, buddy! You need to bike home, and you need a helmet to do it! And I refuse to steal one off someone's bike.
Anne: (walking over to Darian and me) Whatcha guys doing?
Me: (dying of laughter) Oh, Darian's gonna put on that helmet...
Anne: EW! He's gonna get lice or something! Here- (pulling a bag out of her backpack) take this!
Me: Yup, just stick it over your head and put the helmet on top of it!
Anne: Oh, and by the way- my butt's been on that bag- I sit on it when it's raining!
Me: (laughter) Oh- My- Goodness...

----flashback ends----

So.. there. Darian is wearing Anne's butt bag on his head, and a dirty "borrowed" helmet on top of that (I made him promise to return it to its corner tomorrow).

Oh, and his mom made him wash his hair for lice after he got home. Lucky guy.

Aaanndd.. More Piano!

I know I post constantly about piano- and if music isn't your thing, I apologize profusely.
But for me? Music is my everything.
That's not to say that music is the only thing that I do- but music gives me something to channel my emotions, is something to pump me up (or just lose myself in), and is a great form of expression (Sorry for that lame cliché- it's true!).

Well, thanks to the urgings of Christina and Alex,
I've decided to post a little video of last year's Spring Recital:

I realize it isn't perfect- yes, I have that nightmare-to-any-performer, stage fright!

Oh, and-while I would love feedback or constructive criticism- I'm not a professional! I do make mistakes, and I definitely have feelings (that are quite easily hurt)- remember that I'm only 16!

I hope you enjoy!

PS- the songs are Chopin's Etude Op.10 No.12 (0:00), and Sviridov's Little Rain (3:37).

Sushi Partayy!!

So, my best friend Anne turned 17 this past December, yet we never quite got around to having a party for her!

(And believe me, we tried- every week it was "Anne, how 'bout this Saturday" and she would always answer "Oh... after this test, after this essay..."
You can see how that would take a while!)

ANYWAYS- since we all adore sushi, we decided to have a little sushi-making party to celebrate her MUCH belated birthday.

I was extremely proud of my sushi.

Being the neat freak I am, I had to perfectly align my rice, cucumber, and egg on my seaweed. I may or may not have been the butt of some jokes at the table.

But, in the end, I got the last laugh- my sushi(s) turned out beautifully!

We also made fun of Anne for her unwillingness to just PICK UP the sushi and eat it. She didn't want to ruin it (or maybe get her hands dirty?) so she used the saran-wrap (that we used to roll the sushi) to serve as a fork of sorts... Silly Anne.

Group picture!!

Oh, and another one... yes. LOONG explanation- in short- Avatar Makeup Tutorial. That's all I'm gonna say! ;D

Avatarize Yourself

It's pretty sad, I haven't even seen the movie yet... but if I WERE a Na'vi...

...this is what I would look like!
(Pretty creepy, huh?)

Here Comes the Sun!

Dear Sun,
After two weeks of horrid downpour that involved me coming home completely soaked through EVERY SINGLE LAYER I was wearing- and I hadn't even biked-
you finally decided to come out and grace us with your beautiful presence.
Thank you.

Love,
Allison.

P.S. I'm really happy you're back and all, but can you please talk to whoever's controlling the temperature and ask him to turn the knob up a couple of notches? I'm freezing!

Photobooth Fun and Humiliation.

So, those of you with a webcam (and an Apple?) out there know just how addicting this Photobooth business is.

It's seriously crazy.

Karina brought her laptop to school today (to finish up a bit of homework!) and we played with Photobooth all of lunch. Literally...

We played around with the PopArt Effect.

Yeah, I know I have the same face in EVERY single picture. I'm sorry.
I can't help but laugh because it's FUN!

We made puppy dog eyes with the effect that I forget the name of.. that makes your face look ugly.

We made ourselves look like we were sketched!

And-
(I'm putting myself up for PUBLIC HUMILIATION with this next picture. Please love me through it.)

- we played with the "mirror" effect so that our faces were disproportionate and gross. It was hilarious- and at the same time, I hope I NEVER look like that. Ever.

Photobooth is FUN.

Edited to add:
WOW. I am dumb. For the past 16 or whatever hours, I had every "Photobooth" as "Photobucket". YES- I know the difference. I had just been playing around on both, and obviously didn't realize that I had biffed.
Thank you, Darian, for showing me my mistake!

Insert Adjective Here.

Adjectives that would work: AMAZING. COOL. THOUGHTFUL. LOVING. LOVABLE.

ABSOLUTELYAWESOMEINEVERYWAY.

Karina wanted me to name this post "Shieva is amazing for having an open 5th period and baking her boyfriend Kevin brownies and letting us eat some"... but I thought it was a tad too long.

But OH- they were such good brownies.
Perfectly crisp on the outside, hot and soft on the inside with gooey chocolate chips...

They were delicious.

Thank you, Shieva.