Brittany's Senior 365

Tonight at Young Life we had a crazy, hairy event called "Mustache Bash"! Pretty much everything that happened had to do in some way, shape, or form with mustaches. Whether it was singing songs about them, playing games involving them, or simply just putting one on, mustaches were the talk of the night! Everyone put on their silliest 'staches, either grown out by the boys, or stickers or drawn on by the girls. Due to his incredible lack of facial hair whatsoever, we all decided to play. "Pin the Mustache on the Bieber". It was a silly sight, and I'm pretty sure when Justin Bieber finally grows a mustache one day, he'll laugh at us all for making fun of his babyface looks! His baby face doesn't bother me too much though, I still think he's a stinkin cutie! Although, I'm not sure he'd feel the same way if I was a woman with more facial hair than him!

Today is Palm Sunday, a really big day in the Catholic church. Everybody gets a strand of dried palm leaf, and usually they make it into little shapes, just like this tiny cross I made! Today we read the story of how Jesus was accused, crucified, and died for our sins. It's a pretty big deal, it's one of if not the biggest story told in the Catholic faith. Jesus is our savior, and he should be praised! One of my favorite songs we sing at church during Holy Week is:

This morning was an abnormal morning... I woke up at 6:30 A.M.! Now I usually don't enjoy waking up early, sleeping in is one of my favorite things to do - that's why I took first and second period off! Today however I was waking up to do something else I enjoy, babysitting! Mary Elizabeth and her family were going to Tennessee for the weekend, but they weren't going to bring her youngest brother, Cameron. He was going to stay the weekend with a friend, but for the couple hours in between when his family left for the airport and when he needed to be picked up, it was my job to babysit! He was still sleeping when I got there, but it didn't take him long to wake up and get the party started! We watched some crazy wipeout episodes, played on the iPad, and attempted to take out his bunny, Ralph. I say attempted because it really never worked out. Ralph did NOT want to come out of his cage, and he sure did not want to be put in his harness and go on a walk outside! When he got out of the cage, he hid behind chairs, under beds, and in between couches so we couldn't get him! Ralph was a little stinker, but Cameron and I had a blast trying to catch the little rascal!

Ladies,
Just now I while looking around at all of our pictures, I realized that almost all of us has our profile picture of a pretty senior picture. SENIOR picture, we're seniors! Well, I know we have been for a while, but it's almost over. As amazing as college is going to be, I know that we're all going to miss each other, I know I'm going to miss all of you! Every single one of these pictures that we've all taken are BEAUTIFUL, because you guys are all beautiful girls. I love you all, and I honestly am so sad that senior year is about to end with all of you! We're making our senior legacies, and I know pretty much all of my pictures consist of you guys. Summer hangouts, Football games, halloween, parties, homecoming, and soon to be... PROM! Prom, seriously? It's such a huge event in our lives and it's almost here! Without you all, I'm not sure high school would have been fun at all. I'm so glad that after all of these years, we are all such a solid group of girls, I honestly couldn't ask for better friends! Throughout this year, I feel like we have all stuck together and I can't wait for us all to graduate together! We may be moving on with our lives, but you guys will always be my girls, and I LOVE YOU ALL!

Today I finally got to pick up my pictures for my senior legacy! Okay, so I know it sounds a little too much... but I printed out 293 pictures! It's likely that I won't have a page for them all to fit on, so I've just decided to make a zillions pages designated for pictures with friends because I honestly have way too many! Senior year isn't even over and I still feel like there is so much to be recorded down! All the memories throughout high school are just too numerous to be able to put down in one measly scrapbook. I think I'm probably going to wind up making a super book with all of the pictures I got printed! Sometimes, I wish I could just turn in this blog as my senior legacy, I mean come on, it's all about senior year! Alas, that's not what my english teacher Mrs. Field would accept. I'm honestly not that bummed though, scrapbooking and being creative with photos is one of my favorite things to do. I swear, when I get older, my house is going to be FILLED with picture frames! I just can't help but to be surrounded by loving memories :)

My favorite class during senior year has probably been broadcast journalism. The team of kids who are otherwise known as, "Dawg Pause 16" have been some of the funniest, goofiest, craziest kids that I've ever met, and I would've never been able to meet them had it not been for this class. Mr. Gardner (a.k.a. my dad... jk) is one of the most laid back, chill teachers ever. He knows how to tell us when to get our videos done, but he knows that when it comes to schoolwork, seniors aren't going to put in much of an effort. When we do well, he even rewards us with sandwiches (some of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten, might I add)! This entire year with Dawg Pause has been a breeze, and I'm sad that we're soon coming to a close. It's time for the new kids of next year to join the team, and for the seniors to pass on the torch. Courtney and I had to announce to the school today that we're taking new member registration, and it made me sad to know that we're soon going to no longer be part of this amazing team!

Life isn't about keeping score. It's not about how many people call you and it's not about who you've dated, are dating, or haven't dated at all. It isn't about who you've kissed, what sport you play, or which guy or girl likes you. It's not about your shoes or your hair or the color of your skin or where you live or go to school. In fact, it's not about grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn't about if you have lots of friends, or if you are alone, and it's not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. Life just isn't about that. But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It's about how you feel about yourself. It's about trust, happiness, and compassion. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance, and building confidence. It's about what you say and what you mean. It’s about seeing people for who they are and not what they have. Most of all, it is about choosing to use your life to touch someone else's in a way that could never have been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life's about.

Today was a pretty productive Sunday, a day usually spent being lazy! Well, I still got my usual 3-hour nap in... but I finally got up and did stuff afterwards! I picked out ALMOST all the rest of the pages for me senior legacy... finally! My senior legacy is going to kick some major butt, and I really mean it. Scrap booking is one of my favorite ways to be creative, I just can't get enough of it. I am determined to show my kids one day just exactly what my high school career was like, I know I'd be so interested to see what my parents did! I mean, let's be honest, it probably won't be my glory years (there's so much more time for those!), but high school has really been an absolute blast for me, especially senior year. Throughout high school, my well known quote has been "bonding!" I think that high school is the prime time for everyone to just get along and be friends, and honestly senior year has been that to a T. I always say that bonding is one of my favorite things to do, and I'm not gonna lie... it has made my senior year the best year so far of my life. Mrs. Field, you better be ready for my senior legacy, 'cause you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Today was finally the day... Senior Serve! The girls and I woke up early to go to setup at 10 A.M.! We thought we were pretty smart, getting there as soon as setup started so we could get it out of the way, but we were sadly mistaken. Arriving early wasn't as genius as we thought... the tables wound up being two hours late. From 10 to 12... the only thing we got done was decorating the chairs. All of our stuff we were setting up was for the tables... which only wound up taking thirty minutes! We were there for two hours too long, but thank goodness we got bulldog bucks for it! After our setup, we all parted ways to rest, shower, and get ready for the night!

Today was one of my favorite days of the year... field trip day! Missing school is great, you don't have to go to any of your boring classes AND you're not counted absent, I think that's a pretty sweet deal. Today the Broadcasting kids and I all got dressed up in our best clothes and headed out to visit Channel 2, one of our Houston news stations. One of my favorite movies of all time is Anchorman, so being able to go behind the scenes and really see what being on the news is all about was so interesting! We got to look inside the control room, the news floor (where all the cubicle workers are writing the magic), the sound room, the editing rooms, and even got to go on set! We got lucky, just as we walked onto the news floor, breaking news had just come out that there was a car chase going on! Everyone was working hard, making sure that the news came out, it was pretty wild to see. After walking on set, we got to sit and watch the 11 o'clock news - LIVE! I mean, it's not Saturday Night Live, but being in a live studio audience for the first time was an experience that I was so excited about! I'm not sure about getting a career in journalism, but I'm always down for skipping some school! I couldn't help but put up all these pictures of Mary Elizabeth and I doing the weather, they're just too cute!

After school today, I had an appointment with Jackie Maples to see all of my senior pictures, not just the ones she posted on her website! Right after school, I headed over to her office in Greatwood to check 'em out. Her office was filled with amazing pictures, it made me so excited, I love pretty pictures of people! I know that sounds silly, but I love how photographers can capture a picture of someone being truly happy, it's so awesome! I'm so glad that Jackie allowed me to come over and look at the rest of the pictures, there were some seriously cute ones that she didn't think to put up! With all the ones I have to choose from, I know I'm going to wind up with pictures that really capture the crazy, silly, & happy person I really am!

Tonight was the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship, otherwise known as the end to March Madness. Every year, my family has a competition who can create the best bracket. I'm pretty sure out of all the years we've done it, this year was the worst out of them all. Nobody in my family got anyone they predicted into the final four... and that's never happened! Our high hopes for teams like Ohio State, Kansas, Penn State, and Florida were shot down when they were all upset by teams like Butler, VCU, UConn, and Kentucky! The Championship game was UConn vs. Butler, and we had a Young Life club so that we could play a couple quick games, then watch the actual game on the big screens at Parkway! UConn wound up winning, but let's be real... who's a fan of them? Due to my absolute failure of a bracket, I wound up only winning $60 dollars this year, a real downer! March Madness was pretty lame this year... if only Ohio State could've won me the big bucks!

Most of my day today consisted of napping. Not the usual way I spend my Saturday afternoons... but I was still feeling a little woozy from my blood donation yesterday! I finally got myself up and doing something when it came time for Jamie's senior pictures in the afternoon. The same people who took erin's pictures took Jamie's so i'll post pictures from both days! A few girls got together with white shirts and jeans shorts to take some pretty group pictures in the park again... hopefully they turned out cute! If they don't... c'est la vie. I'll get everyone together and get Albert to snap a few pics of us with our Nikon! After dinner, all the girls besides Jamie (she had to finish up with her pictures!) went in our matching outfits out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. I've been trying to save my money lately, and ordering a kid's meal there was the best deal ever. $4.64 for the whole thing, a bargain! After a bit of shopping, I decided to go home and chill out for the rest of the night. I watched some movies that were on tv, hung out with Mark for a bit, and hit the hay early. I swear this whole blood donating thing threw my whole day off, it made me much more relaxed than usual. Sometimes you just need to take life slowly, and stop and smell the buffalo wings!

Today Austin High School hosted its second blood drive of the year with MD Anderson! Last time we had a blood drive, I was out of town. This time since I'm here, I was determined to make a difference! Ever since I heard that the Blood Drive was going to happen, I've been pretty anxious about it. The entire week I never signed up because I wanted to be able to decided the day of (I'm 18, I can do that now!), so I couldn't back out! I was seriously terrified all day long. I'm a baby when it comes to blood and needles, I can't stand them! I even get nervous when I have to get a flu shot for goodness sakes, how was I supposed to deal with finger pricks and IVs? Well, it was difficult. As soon as I sat in the nurse's seat, she picked up my pale, sweaty hands and she asked, "oh you've never done this before, have you?" I finally laughed and admitted that it was my first time, and finally just took a breather. I had to calm down a little bit, she pricked my finger, and after a few quick questions, I was off to get my blood taken. As soon as I got close, I saw that my best friend Anam was sitting in the bed right behind me! I was pretty excited, until I saw her screaming when the nurse was putting her IV in. I literally froze and almost started crying. I was already nervous, how the heck was I supposed to give blood after seeing that?! I laid down on the bed and seriously considered getting up and running out. I couldn't sit still, and all the nurses knew how nervous I was. When they came to put my IV in, I had to call my dad and have him talk me through it so that I wouldn't freak out so badly. After the IV was in, it wasn't so bad, but I still cried a little bit though because I was so freaked out. On top of it all, I was really lightheaded for the rest of the day because of the blood loss, I was definitely acting a little loopy! I saved three lives, but I almost lost my own due to a heart attack. Don't get me wrong, giving blood is such a great thing, but I'm just not sure it was good for my own heath!