Reunited in Kentucky

     From my post before, I mentioned that my cousin's came out to go to the Country Fest.  What I didn't mention is that I went back with my cousin, Kayla, to her house in Kentucky to have a week of fun!  Don't forget that this also means me not being able to see my mom for another whole week.

     The 3rd week of craziness in June began with a much needed reunion with one of my best friends, Anna.  Kayla and I met Anna around five year's ago at a camp in Wisconsin.  The first year of camp, I was actually kind of scared of her.  She looked like this strong intimidating teenager (I was only 11) and I avoided her as much as possible through the entire camp.  However, the very next year when Kayla and I went back to camp, we ended up being roomed together with Anna.  After one conversation, I knew Anna and I were going to be great friends and I found out that she wasn't that "frightening" of a person that I thought she was the year before.  She was a girl who was actually younger than me and just had a strong-willed personality with a fun, crazy side.  By the time our 2nd year of camp ended, we've already exchanged emails and phone numbers.  We stayed in contact with each other and once again, the very next year at camp, we were roommates and our friendship only became stronger.  Just this last year, we somehow, miraculously, both went to Catholic Family Land in Ohio at the same time without planning it, as well.  So this year, Kayla, Anna, and I did not want to break the routine of seeing each other once every year.  Kayla and Anna created a plan of having Anna fly up from her home state, Georgia, and land in Kentucky where we'd all be reunited again!

     Through this week together in late June, we tried to have as much fun as possible.  We swam a lot.  We even had the chance to go night swimming with glow sticks!  We watched scary movies, went shopping, bought candy at a candy store, ate frozen yogurt, went to the Walking Bridge in Louisville, played tennis, and watched fireworks over the 4th of July.

Don't worry, we're not naked.

The Walking Bridge

Fourth of July

     I'm still trying to get in the habit of taking pictures of everything but that's not going to happen until I get a new phone or iPod.  Anyways, we had a blast and were very sad to say goodbye.  We have actually already began our plans of being together again next year.  Oh, and, proudly, Kayla and I have accomplished our goal of persuading Anna to join the "dark side": loving One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer.  Success!

P.S.  If you need proof that she's now a Directioner...I received a Snapchat the next week from Anna...

xoxo,                              

Sarah                          

Two Weeks of Being Mom-less

     It turns out I've decided to stay home tonight and not be social.  Mostly because my ride to the party became suddenly busy... and I'm too lazy to go get my own driver's license.  But who needs people when you've got books and wifi, right?

     Back on the 16th of June, my mom left for a two week vacation with some of her lady-friends to go to Germany, Rome, and Switzerland.  Trust me, you appreciate your mother a lot more once you have to be "mom" for two weeks.  Even though I only had to take care of my dad and little brother (who's 14), my everyday routine consisted of laundry, meals, dishes, cleaning, and I barely had any alone time for myself.  However, my genius father created the idea of taking our own little vacation to New York (to be exact, Niagara Falls) over the first week of not having mom around.  So on that first Tuesday morning, we left Ohio and made our way to New York.

(Pictures are not high quality because my mother took the big nice camera so we were left with my little brother's iPod.)

We stopped by Lake Erie along the way.

We also saw the largest covered bridge in the US.

      After some sight seeing in northern Ohio, we continued to our destination.

At night vs. the day

      Niagara Falls was beautiful but if you ever have the chance to go, I suggest getting a passport and viewing it from the Canadian side.  From the American side, you can only see the Falls from weird angles.  It was still amazing though! 

     After staying a night in New York, we went back to hike through the state park of Pennsylvania. 

Not the most flattering picture but Dad and I decided to show off our acting "skills".

     By the time we arrived back to Ohio, it was Thursday evening.  I was absolutely exhausted.  The next morning, I had to wake up very early to babysit three little crazy boys.  By the end of Friday, I was a walking zombie.  It didn't get any better because on Saturday morning I had to, once again, have my bags packed and ready to drive 3 hours to Indiana for my cousin's graduation party and last dance recital.  It just so happened to be a blast!

     My cousins and I stayed in tents and campers in our aunt's backyard on Saturday night.  My cousin Kayla (the one in the blue skirt above) and I made the mistake of sharing a bed in one of the campers.  We were up till 5am fangirling about everything: books, movies, TV shows, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, etc. We somehow woke up 3 hours later and continued on with our day without being somewhat drowsy. The weekend was a lot of fun!

    Our 2nd week without mom was boring and busy with chores and such.  On the coming weekend though, I saw all of my cousins again at the Country Fest.  The Country Fest is a huge picnic that's a huge deal where I live.  People actually call it God's Picnic because it's so much fun!  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from the fest.   

     My next post will be up soon! 

xoxo,                              

Sarah                          

It's-Never-Too-Late Update!

     I remember thinking on my last day of high school as a freshman that I was going to blog throughout the entire summer.  I was going to make a large fun summer bucket list, do adventurous activities everyday, and share it all on my blog along the way.  As you may have noticed, this "goal" of mine has not been accomplished.  Now, with only a few weeks left of summer, I am very much regretting my failed attempts to blog this summer.  BUT after several months of a break from blogging, my mind is finally in the mood to be creative!  In these last few weeks leading back to school, I will be sharing with you some of the "adventures" I've been able to have this summer and art projects I've been working on.  At the beginning of the summer, I wanted to do a Q & A and perhaps a room tour?  Honestly, I'm not going to let school get in the way of letting me blog so I'm still going to achieve all of the goals I made back in May.  With that said, you now have some posts to look forward to (at least I hope you're looking forward to them)!  I should have one of my posts up tonight unless I decide to venture out of my room and actually socialize with people at a party... See ya later!

xoxo,                    

Sarah                

The Wedding Bells Have Rung

A month ago from today, Mackenzie Buscher became Mackenzie Bertke.  The wedding was beautiful and beyond perfection.  

The Mass.

The Bride and Groom

The Whole Wedding Party

The Bridesmaids!

We're so happy to be sisters!

The Groomsmen!

Flawless <3

The Bouquet Toss

It's time to party!

The Reception

The Wedding Cake

     I still can't believe it's over after nearly 2 years of preparation for The Big Day.  Today, Andrew and Mackenzie are happily living in a big farm house with their three dogs and one sassy kitten.  They are approximately only fifteen minutes away and neighbors to my best friend so we see each other often (thank goodness!).

     With the amount of pictures I have received from the wedding, I have only showed you a small amount of what I have but I did post most of them on Google+.  I will leave the link down below if you want to view all of them... you really should because some of them are very funny and beautiful and there are also pictures of the decorations from the wedding reception.

Link

I Don't Dance

"I'll never settle down

That's what I always thought

I was that kind of man 

Just ask anyone

I don't dance"

+++++++++++

I have been listening to this song non-stop for the last two days.  Makes you want to fall in love and get married, doesn't it?

xoxo,                            

Sarah                        

The Sunshine Award

Thank you so much, Madeline for nominating me in the Sunshine Award!

Rules:

* Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.

* Answer the questions they asked you.

* Nominate other bloggers.

* Give them a list of questions.

* Let them know that they have been nominated.

* The Sunshine Award button must be on your blog post.

Madeline's Questions:

What story are you currently writing?

Answer:  I consider it to be more than just a story because I've always had the same vision of it in my head.  My dream is to turn it into a published series one day.  As to the actual story, I'm not ready to reveal it to the world yet so you'll have to wait a little longer ;) But I will tell you that it's about a seventeen year old girl named Alexandra. 

Favorite music at the moment?

Answer:  Well, One Direction of course!  No, but actually I've been really into deep emotional music, lately.  I find it very inspirational.

Type of tea?

Answer:  I've always disliked tea but recently, my mom found a peppermint tea and it's not too bad.  I'm kind of addicted to it to be honest.

If somebody offered to buy you a plane ticket to wherever you wanted to go, where would you choose?

Answer:  Since there are far too many places I want to visit in the world, I pick Hogwarts.  I mean it's possible, right?

Are you a neat and tidy or messy and disorganized person?

Answer:  I'm messy but organized.  Ya, I'm strange. ;)

Favorite Disney Princess?

Answer:  Ever since I was a little girl, I've always loved Belle. <3

If you could bring back a dead fictional character, who would it be?

Answer:  NO! I was hoping this question would never come! *goes into deep thought for several minutes*

(For those who have not read TFIOS and Divergent, move on.  For those who have, drag your mouse over the black "box".)

Augustus or Tris? AH, THIS IS KILLING ME!  *ten minutes later*  I'm going to have to choose Tris just because I still don't understand why she had to die.  I think I can somewhat accept Augustus's death just because Hazal, most likely, died from her cancer shortly after Augustus so I'm sure they're both happily together in heaven.

The One or City of Heavenly Fire?

Answer:  City of Heavenly Fire!!!  The end of the month can't get here fast enough!  Who will survive?

  I haven't gotten around to reading The Selection YET...  : P 

You have to destroy all your books but one.  Which one is it?

Answer:  I'm going to be honest here.  Madeline, you sure do know how to torture a reading-addict.  I would save...TFIOS! I love it too much.  Destroying it would be the death of me.

Which book would you want to live in? 

Answer:  I could see myself in any of The Mortal Instruments books.  I mean ya, it would be creepy with all the demons but if I grew up with training as a Shadowhunter, it wouldn't be all that bad.  I mean, Idris sounds pretty awesome.

I Nominate:

Lila from Creative Thinking

Mackenzie from think. eat. write. read.

Neeli from A World of Randomness

Lizzie from Castle in the Air

And to make it fun, the first person to comment "I volunteer as tribute!" on this post.

My Questions:

Do you have a role model? If so, who? 

When you get married someday, would you want a small or large family?

Are you going to make a summer bucket list this year?

Earth or the story world you've written and created in your head?

What do you want to do and achieve in your life?

Fair or an amusement park?

Are you adventurous?

How tall are you?

Favorite store to shop at?

Tobias Eaton,  Jace Wayland,  Edward Cullen, Peeta Mellark, or Augustus Waters?  You must marry one, cliff (kill) one, kiss one, one must be your child, and one must be your best friend.  Now choose!  (And if you haven't heard of these characters, 'Do you wear makeup?  If so, what kind?')

     Well those were kind of random, Sarah.  Yes, I know.

     Thank you again, Madeline for tagging me!  I really enjoyed answering your question (even though some of them I really struggled with...it's okay.  I forgive you!) 

  xoxo,                          

                     Sarah