Practice?

So I had a great weekend. Fantastic! Amazing. Brilliant. Spectacular. And not just because of all the things my Mom bought for me. Which was quite a bit, some required but all desired. I got a haircut! And new shoes! And new...unmentionables! And new clothes! New art supplies! New kitchen stuff! Basically my mom loves me. A lot. And she has the receipts to prove it. We both got facials done at the Bon Losee Academy (where i got my haircut as well). It was quite lush. And the girl there said I had beautiful hands (my nails are really long right now, which does NOT make typing easy but they're great for back scratches. And sometimes you just have to prioritize. I mean let's be honest. How often do I REALLY type, compared to scratch someone's (or my own) back? Come on!). It was her birthday that day, too. She was way cute. But sitting there with no makeup on and crap hair (this was right before I got my haircut) being surrounded by skinny, thickly made up, gorgeous peroxided giggly 19-yr-olds, that was rough. DON'T... FIT... IN... BUT... AT... LEAST... I... HAVE... A... SWEET... SPIRIT... RIGHT? I always have a hard time telling if I like my haircut, too, if I'm not wearing any makeup. Is that weird? So anyway, the second I hit the car I busted out the makeup and put some on. WHEW. Cute haircut after all. Thank goodness!
I got new contacts, too. Still trying to get used to them. I keep sitting closer to the computer than I need do, out of habit, which is a great recipe for a headache.
Because my little cousin Kaylee is getting baptized in a couple of weeks, and my aunt's 50th birthday is the week after that, my mom decided to lengthen her stay. by another three weeks. She's crazy! But this is exciting because now (besides you of course Rachel. I'd say Janay, too, but she has new friends and doesn't need me any more. Yeah, I see how it is!) I have someone to hang out with during the week when Shawn ditches me for greener pastures. To make them brown. At least for three weeks. ALSO, Gabe is coming to visit tomorrow! Holy CRAP he is the CUTEST GUY EVER!!! Rex is close, FREAKISHLY CLOSE, but still. Gabe is cuter. Because he's mine. MINE. But I plan to take him and Shawn bowling. Gabe is the cutest bowler! He's just cute. i'm going into convulsions right now just thinking about itdsjkflasjdfa
Moving on, it was great to spend time with the family. I hadn't seen my mommy since Christmas (and MAN that went fast!) so it was good to catch up in person. And for her to spend more time with Shawn. and to hang out with my little cousin Kaylee! She's so funny. I got a new digital camera, too (my mom is such a push over. It's my early birthday present. Yeah. My birthday isn't until August.), so I was able to take loads of pictures of everyone. Well, Grandma refused, despite being a beauty, and I didn't get any of Yu hua or Rick (aunt and uncle), because they were usually upstairs. Grandma insisted on going shopping with Mom and me (even at my age, I found all of the shopping really draining. It wears me out like nothing, so you can imagine what a spry trooper she is!) and she said I needed to wear makeup (which I do, but apparently not bright or thick enough. She said I needed more color. And that Shawn needed new shoes.). And they refused to buy me anything brown. Except one shirt, but that had white polka dots, so it hardly counted.
My uncle got married! He looked so happy! And Shawn looked freaking hot. Seriously. I wish I had gotten a picture. But the batteries on my camera died. Yeah. I don't want to hear it. He was wearing this dark teal shirt with a matching hot tie, with a black jacket and slacks. And shoes and socks. I had a hard time controlling myself. Apparently one of my cousins told my mom (grandma?) that he was hot, too. And when it's not to your face you can guarantee it's true. When it's to your face, it depends. Obviously.
DANG IT. I just broke a nail. Past the quick. Well, it got caught. It's not completely off, but that means I have to cut it short. And cut the rest short. Argh. O THE HUMANITY. Now they're going to hurt and feel weird for the next two days. And take a month to grow back. No backscratches for anyone. So I guess it's a good thing my dad's not coming, because he loves my backscratches.
Anyway, it was great to see everyone! We went for a hike yesterday--my uncle literally lives at the base of these mountains in Alpine--but Kaylee insisted we take the tamer route which led AWAY from the mountains and TOWARDS this poor excuse for a playground. And I realized I've lost any and all ability to do pull-ups. I tried. Shawn did two pull-ups. Show off. I guess I've lost all my upper body strength. So yeah. Kaylee is just as cute as ever. Especially with Shawn. He insists she doesn't like him, but I think she's warming up to him great. It just takes time.

And we played piano together. And then Kaylee showed us up big time by playing Beauty and the Beast. Yeah, have I mentioned she's barely eight?

And my mom so obligingly told Shawn that I was held back in kindergarten (which I think he already knew) because I wasn't emotionally prepared enough to move on to the first grade (basically I cried all day everyday over everything), and that I had to be in speech therapy for a year or two in elementary school. Which he didn't know. Apparently this was because (I didn't know THIS part) Gabe had severe speech impediments and we played with him so much, and my mom rarely talked to us, that we picked up his speech patterns more than my folks. She said it was because it was so freaking boring talking to little kids, so she rarely did. Thanks mom. At least she did read to us a lot. Fond memories connected with that.

Anyway, if I remember, pictures will be included as of tomorrow. So stay tuned!