No One Needs to Know Right Now

Now, contrary to popular belief of the title of this blog, this is actually a pretty cool one! It's going to encompass: college desicions, Easter events, the SPCA March for the Animals, my excitedness about Run Amuck, spring break things, AP test freakouts, and much more. All in all, it's going to be a pretty good one so you better stick around :)
**Commercial Break: Get a snuggie if you don't already have one, and Dr. Pepper is really good.**

Back to the show! First on the list, college desicions. I feel like such an unprepared Junior because I have really no idea what colleges I want to apply to... I know I'm probably going to go to Anne Arundel Community College for 2 years to get all my pre-reqs done and my freshman classes over with. Then I'll transfer to a 4 year and get a degree from there. I'm honestly not sure what I want to do either. I know in the last blog I had said I want to be a doctor, and I still like the idea of medicine but I think I thought about the possibility too much and now I'm not so excited for it. I'm thinking about Delaware Valley College because it's an all science school and I'm looking to get involved in the sciences. PLUS, after I finish an undergrad program I could get into pre-med if I decide that's what I want to pursue. So there's that.

Next, Easter events. Well first of all, I made FOUR pies for both my Easter parties. I made a lemon meringue, a key lime, a coconut cream, and an apple. Personally I think they turned out really well. The merigue was perfectly browned on the lemon and it was beautious! Everyone said they were delicious but I don't like to eat my own things (I know, weird right?!) so I'll just have to take their word for it. In the morning when I woke up, I got a really nice basket from my Mom and Glenn. It was full of Jelly Belly jellybeans, and chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies; I had specifically asked for those 2 things and nothing else :) I really love chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies, so Mom bought me a couple chocolate covered marshmallow Hershey eggs and some Resees' bunnies too. I went to my Aunt Sharon's in the morning (well, around 1 PM) and had lunch there. The ham wasn't completely disgusting, but the one I had for dinner was much better...Anyways, it was great to spend time with family and such. When I got home from my step-sisters house, my mother and Glenn had set up an EASTER EGG HUNT! All around the first floor of our house! It was SO EXCITING! I had hinted that I wanted one, but I didn't think they'd actually do it! They hid little tiny things in all the eggs, and I believe there was...60 eggs in total hidden! I only missed one, which we found the next day in Mom's coffee cup. The things inside the Easter eggs are as follows: a wooden ball with a face on it, a little clay dog, a bolt, a table leaf fastener, a book of matches, a hairtie, a hairpin, a Sweet&Low packet, a Halls throat losenge, a fake flower, a diaper pin, a plastic kazoo, a real flower, a metal horse, an eyeglasses cleaning cloth, a rubber band, an eyeshadow pencil sharpener, a wooden peg, Aspirin from 1999, a tagamet pill, a 2GB photo memory card, a spring, a peace sign ring, a mood ring, 4 colored rocks, a plastic stopper, a faucet filter, a bead with a "y" on it, a cow bead, 2 pants buttons, a moist towelette, a caramel candy, a Euro, a bracelet, 2 turtles, a Nerf dart, a green tire plug, 2 random keys (which then became the Keys to the Universe and Knowledge), an inspirational piece of paper, a leaf, a small chick, some staples, a plastic King Kong pencil topper, a St. Patty's Day pin, 2 shells, a cherry tomatoe, a European power adapter, a phone line adapter, some chain, a heart keychain, a carrot ornament, an egg ornament, a plasma TV adapter, and a Mamma Mia! pin. Now, all of these things sound pretty random don't they?! That's because they went around the house and just found little things, HALF of which were ALREADY mine!

The SPCA March for the Animals went really well. We were a bit short on funds because one girl quit and refused to pay her money, but that's a story for another time. Most everything else went perfectly and it was a lot of fun hanging out with a bunch of my friends. That same day, my Aunt Teresa's birthday in fact! we went out to dinner with my Aunt Teresa and Uncle Roger at Stoney River Steakhouse, which is the BEST place to get steak in Annapolis that is not TERRIBLY expensive. It's expensive, but not break the bank expensive in my opinion. My parents may have a different idea. FUN FACT: My uncle Roger has the same "timber" as our waiter's (Steven) father. I have a feeling that Steven was a little intimidated.

I'm SO EXCITED FOR RUN AMUCK! That's just about it for that subject until Saturday when I write about actually doing it!

Spring break was really fun. We kicked it off with the SPCA March and ended with Easter. Everything in between was super fun! I went to the zoo on the first Monday off with my best friend Emily. It was AMAZING! We video-ed the whole thing and I'm still debating on whether to put it on Facebook or not. Hmm...desicions desicions.

I'm so scared for my AP Calc AP exam. It's on May 4th which means I have exactly a WEEK left to cram my brain full of calculus knowledge. The review has been going well and I got a tutor but I can't help myself from being totally terrified for the test. I mean, what if the ONE thing that I don't go over is most of the test?! That probably won't happen in all likelihood because there's bound to be a couple things that I won't know, but still...I'm FREAKING OUT. I'm not really worried about the AP Language one, but I bought a book for it. I'm going to be reading that book for a week after my May 4th Calc exam to get ready for my May 11th Lang exam. The one thing that I'm looking forward to is NOT having to take the final exams in those classes because most of the time the finals are harder than the actual AP exam. So, my advice to those of you out there debating on whether to take AP test either this year or next, TAKE THEM! The final is going to be much harder and what's the use of taking an AP class if you're not even going to try and get the college credit for it?!

Well, I think that's about it for now. That, or I just don't want to type anymore...maybe the latter.

Hugs and Cake,
Emily

Penny for your thoughts but a dollar for your insight.

Hello everyone! So I'm just not going to apologize for not blogging recently. I've just been super busy and you're going to have to accept it. It's not like I blog for a living! Speaking of making a living, I decided on what I want to do for a living. Drumroll please?! I am going to be....a doctor. Here's my reasoning: culinary arts is a passion of mine, but not something I want to do for the rest of my life. Now, I'm really into sciences, but I don't want to be a scientist because there's not really any HUGE like theory-shattering discoveries to be made (that I know of.) Then, I thought "Hey, I like people, AND science" and thus, MEDICINE was born. So yep, I'm gonna do kickass in med school and be the best doctor ever. I haven't given much thought to a field, partially because I just stepped onto the medical path 2 days ago. But one thing I do know is that I don't want to be a surgeon...I don't know why. I'm just thinking that I don't want to be all up in people's insides any more than I would have to be being a doctor. So after my long rambling life story there, we can get into some recent events. So...wow! I left off in January. Oops! Well I guess nothing much happened because I didn't bother to blog about it...OH! I took the qualifying test to be on Teen Jeopardy! but I'm not sure if I'm on yet because they said they'd get back to me within the year...so yeah; quite a time to wait. And besides that I've basically been doing a lot of school work and regular work. I've been freaking out recently because the AP Exams are coming up. I'm not at all worried about the AP Lang one but the AP Calc one I'm...well TERRIFIED doesn't even begin to cut it. We've been reviewing since the middle of March, and everyday all we do is graded activities. I've got a B in the class (just barely) and most of the review stuff...well I'm not doing too well. I'm arranging for a tutor to get me up to the exam so I don't completely fail it. Oh yeah! I took the SATs in March. They weren't too bad. I loved the essay because it was on reality TV and so I got to go on a giant rant. I remembered a lot of the stuff that I learned in my SAT Prep class so I thought I did pretty well. Anyways, flashforward from there, and scores came out today. I did pretty much average, though it's not anything like where I would want it to be so I'll probably take them again. I got a 1710 which isn't necessarily bad, but ya know; I'm such an overachiever that I want it to be a lot higher, plus I need to get into a great college to get into a great med school, to become a great doctor. For AP Lang we're reading nonfiction books again, like when I read In Cold Blood; remember that? Well, I'm reading The Grand Design by Steven Hawking, and it's BLOWING MY MIND. I love it! It's so entertaining and I'm beginning to understand the world of quantum physics without having to go through a single equation. However, a bunch of people who are reading it in my class either read it because they're my friend and figured that I would explain it to them, or they just saw that it was really thin. Needless to say, most people aren't doing too well with it. Just the other day, a kid turned to me and was like "Do you understand this at all? Like, is this making sense to you??" and I was like "...yeah?" Honestly, I didn't want to seem condescending or anything, but it just makes sense to me. I don't know; perhaps it's because I'm taking the time to make sure I understand the topic before moving on. I would tell you something else interesting, but on the slight chance that the person I'd be talking about reads this, I'm not going to. Tomorrow I will be dining in style! My dad won a $100 gift card to Charthouse (this really nice restaurant in Annapolis) and we shall be going! It's going to be so much fun to act like the snooty people who eat there every night. I think I shall a cranberry juice-club soda mix with a lime just to get the night started off right. It just seems like the right thing to do. Only thing is...I'm not sure what to wear. I don't really have snooty dining clothes and the ones I do have aren't too flattering anymore so I think I'll have to wear leggings under the dress. HOWEVER, no fear! I shall wear black pumps and curl my hair as to have the appearance of snooty-ness. Perhaps I shall call things "quaint" and "..."well other snooty things. Hehe. Well...I think that might be it for now. Give me a second to reflect on my last couple posts to make sure I covered everything important. **INTERMISSION** I thought of a couple things. First of all, I got a pet mouse and he is the best thing ever. He was a feeder mouse and I saved him from PETCO. I got him with my friend Kelly and we named him Nathanial George Ringenbach. Be careful though, his name is pronounced NAY-THAN-YELL instead of NAH-THAN-YELL. But he's got this little orange ball and he loves to run and play and crawl all over the house. Greta doesn't mind him much, but Oreo goes insane whenever he's rolling around downstairs; I think it's just a bit much for him. Well, here's a funny story. I had Nathanial for a couple days and one day I came home to find him like...inflated. Well knowing me, I went right to the internet and researched his "symptoms." It came up that he/she was preggers. Well I guess he just had gas or something because we didn't get any babies out of it, and he's fine now. We've decided that he's a guy, although he might not be. Who knows?! The last thing is my charitable acts coming up! I've got three things to tell you about! First, I did the Polar Bear Plunge again in January 2011. It was SO cold! But after I plunged (alone I might add) I went with a friend of mine that came with me and we saw PAULIE D! Yeah yeah I know, the Jersey Shore sucks. But he was spinning some mad tracks man! I know I know....I'm so white I can't even fake it. Anyways the second thing is the Maryland SPCA March for the Animals that I do every year. I'm doing that again and I've got a decent sized group coming. It's on April 17th and that should be pretty fun. THEN, on April 30th, it's something that I've been looking forward to since Elora showed me the website. It's called Run-Amuck. Ready for this?! It's a 3 mile run, through an obstacle course....of MUD. How fun does that sound?! I'm so pumped. We have to duct-tape our shoes, socks, and pants on so we don't loose them in the MUD PITS! It's gonna be INSANE. There is going to be mud in places there should never be mud, but I'm okay with that. So yeah, it's going be a pretty great April. That's it for now! I'll come back with details about the snooty dinner! Hugs and Cake, Emily

Like the brightest star, you shine through: Ashley baby!

I bet you're wondering what the title to this means....well I'll tell you. My friend Ashely started a club at school called Cranes for Cancer. We make BUNCHES, no really, THOUSANDS of cranes for cancer patients. We're working with one specific patient at a time, and the girl we're working with now is fighting her second round of lukemia I believe, and her name is Ashley also! We've had some meetings so far and we've got a LOT of cranes and other goodies to bring to Ashely. I just wanted to make a mention of this because Ashley (the one who started the club) is such an inspiration to all of us in the club because she has devoted all this time and energy to organize a bunch of teenagers for one common cause. So here you go Ashley: I admire you. No really, I do; and I've told you this before.

Well now, let's get on to the other stuff. Not a lot has happened over the past week or so. I just finished taking exams for the most part...I still have one part of calculus left. I'm kinda scared because everyone says it's horrible, but (and I don't know about you) but I always feel a lot better with a calculator in hand.

OH! The other day I saw Tangled with a bunch of friends after a Cranes for Cancer meeting. It was pretty much the best thing ever. It reminded me just how good of a weapon frying pans are. The character of Eugene AKA Flynn Rider was also pretty good. All in all, definetly a movie that I'd recommend to people looking for a fun story.
Another thing about the movies. Around here I've been noticing something. All of the movies that are coming out now have something to do with the whole "friends with benefits" concept. I just feel like I'm losing a little bit of faith in Hollywood because it's no longer "true love" it's just "casual." So, [Dear Hollywood, true love exists, no matter what you say. it's not casual and I'm going to break up with you soon. Love,Emily] that's all I have to say about that.

So today pretty much made my life. I was looking around on stumbleupon [pretty much the best website ever. check it out: stumbleupon.com] and I found ALL of the google websites. There is like 30 different kinds of google! There's like Dinoogle [dino google], ninjagoogle, blackle [energy conserving] and more! Go check them out! I'll wait.....you back yet? good. moving on!

Have you heard my cupcake theory? Well here it is: cupcakes are the most satisfying, yet frustrating dessert EVER. I mean think about it. Visualize a really good cupcake in your hand, you wanna take a bit of it right? But you want both icing AND cake, and you can't get to that without getting icing ALL OVER your face! It's so maddening!

I think that's all for todayy....yup that's it.

Hugs and Cake,
Emily

We'll watch the world from above, as it turns to the rhythm of love.

Hello everyone...yeah yeah I'm sorry. Truthfully, I know that only 3-5 people read this (that I know of) and so I just stopped writing for a while. Yesterday, Glenn reminded me that I should write again, so I'm gonna try one more time.

WOW, the last time I wrote was November 28th. Well a lot has gone on since then, obviously. After the minor [not] concussion, I continued to make pies and cakes for Thanksgiving the next day. That fact was met with surprise by my family, but I guess in the long run it shows my dedication to cooking.

WAIT! I didn't tell you about the amazing dinner party I had! That was really cool. Emily and I made some chickens, mashed potatoes, and various Christmasy sides. We invited a bunch of friends over and we all dressed really formal, and it was great!

So, the last thing I wrote about was Christmas decorating. That went really well, and we finished the whole house in one day! The next few weeks after that were just agonizing because of the anticipation for Christmas! Finally, Christmas Eve. I made a really nice cake for my uncle's house (I make dessert every year) and it turned out as one of my best. I was really happy with it, and that's a long shot. It was square and white with a huge red fondant bow on the corner, and ribbons stretched over the sides (like a present!) The "wrapping paper" was some holly berries that I piped on. Very nicely if I do say so myself.

Then came Christmas! It was the best! We all woke up around 6:30, courteousy of ME! After agonizing minutes of everyone getting up and getting warm clothes on, we went downstairs. There was such a plethera of gifts! It was pretty great. We spent 2 hours opening and everyone loved their presents. I can't list everything, partly because it was so long ago but here's some of the highlights.
-A gigantic beanbag chair
-Jeopardy! for the Wii
-Food trivia board games
-AN EXTENDABLE FORK!
-A Bakers rack, so now I don't have to walk downstairs to get all my baking supplies.
-Last but not least, I got.....PAULA DEEN YA'LL. Haha Mom bought me Paula Deen measuring cups, and a Paula Deen pieboard. Me? I'm not a huge fan of Paula, but I do a mean impression.

So after Christmas morning, Brianna and Vinnie (Glenn's daughter and her husband) came over for breakfast and that was SOO GOOD. My dad makes these really good potatoes...they're kind of ridiculous. Mom saved a whole bowl just for herself.

The next few days was just cleaning, playing with all of our toys, various dinner parties with family. I also went on a trip to Luray Caverns (VA) with my Dad. We just went for the night and then spent the day in the Caverns. That was really fun! We usually have a little get away within the Winter school break. Then came New Year's Eve, AKA Mom's Birthday. Uncle Roger and Aunt Teresa came over (as they usually do) and we went out to dinner at The Wild Orchid. I cannot even express how good dinner was. They had a set menu so you just picked from certain dishes, but everything was delicious. I ate every last bit of everything on my plate...even the orchid flower that came with my cheesecake. SO GOOD. I could definitely tell they had a pastry chef working there.

2011 is here! After going back to school, I began to get back into the swing of things. I've been working hard in all my classes, and oh, by the way... I GOT MY DRIVER'S LICENSE! It was so amazing! I got done with all my driver's education just in time to sign up for an appointment at the MVA. I passed with flying colors, and now I want to drive everywhere! It's the best!

I'm taking finals this week, and after an "ice/snow" day on Tuesday, we had to shift the exams back one day. Today I took part two (I would've taken part one on Tuesday, which is now shifted to Monday next week) of the AP calculus exam, and MY GOD. It actually wasn't too bad, but 2 hours of calculus kinda makes you wanna jump out the window. My first exam today was my culinary one, and that was easy as pie (Haha, a food pun.) Anyways, tomorrow I've got my honors physics and my SAT Prep exams so I guess I better go study. See you later!


Hugs and Cake,
Emily

P.S.- Glenn and I won the gingerbread contest...AGAIN!
P.P.S.- I'm addicted to folding paper cranes. Just thought you should know, whoever you are.
P.P.P.S.- I can't wait for Pirates of the Caribbean 4 to come out in theatres! It's in 3D!!!