I Went Shopping!!!

So I had a lot of errands I needed to do yesterday.  I had to go to the post office, pick up some stuff from Trader Joes, and return some things at the library.  And even though it was 11:30am, it was so busy.  But since I was over by a Sally's, I figured I might as well just stop on by and see what they have on clearance.


Normally when I go to Sally's they always have nail polish deals like Buy 2 Get 1 Free.  I hadn't heard of any of those for a while and they didn't have any signs up when I went there, so I just decided to go in there and head directly for the clearance rack so I wouldn't spend too much money.


The only thing I don't like about the clearance section at Sally's is the fact that it makes me second guess myself.  For example, I find a polish that I think looks really cute and I think about getting it.  But then all of a sudden I start to wonder why it's on clearance.  I mean, did they put it on clearance because it was so ugly and nobody would pay full price for it?  That sounds plausible, right?


However, I have managed to convince myself that the only reason why those polishes are over there is because people bought the polish so quickly, that there was only one or two left.  And of course these polishes are just limited edition, so when they want to refill the section on the nail polish rack, there isn't any more of the color.  So they are forced to remove it and discount it so they can at least put it somewhere.  With that type of thinking, I buy my clearance polishes.

Comment below if you know what I am talking about!!!

Yesterday I managed to trick/convince myself into getting two polishes.  The one of the left is an Orly color.  Have I mentioned how much I love Orly nail polishes?  I really do.  Anyway, this is a taupy grey color. When I saw this I was really excited.  I wanted to get Stiletto from Julie G's collection, but never got around to it.  This one doesn't sparkle like Stiletto does, but the color is pretty close.  It was on sale for $2.69.


The little guy on the right is by Sally Girl and is called Coconut.  This was on sale because it was a featured scented polish that obviously will smell like coconut.  I tried it on real fast when I got home and it actually smells like coconut. They had some other colors, but I figured I'd just get one.  Also, this polish will be able to satisfy my pastel requirements for the 17 challenge (click here to read more about it).  This little thing was only 69 cents.  Yay for deals!


Overall, I got two new nail polishes, and I can't wait to test them out and see what designs I can make with them.

Until next time. . .

Shopping...ugh

I have never really been a shopper.  I just don't see the fun in it.  To me, when someone says, "hey, do you want to go shopping with me?" all hear is, "hey, do you want to walk around a store for an hour and try and clothes and then leave without buying anything?"

Now I know that's not really what should happen when a person goes shopping, but that's what happens when I do.  Today, my mother sent me to the store today with a giant gift card so that I could buy some new jeans and some shoes (I really do need some new ones, almost all pairs of both have a rip in them).  But all I could do is walk around, look at sale racks, grab things and try them on.  Either none of them fit, or they didn't have my size, or there was just something about them that I didn't like.  I went to THREE stores and didn't find not one thing.

Honestly, I need to get a personal shopper.  It's not like I don't like clothes or I don't have any fashion.  I just feel like it's a waste of time going to the store when there isn't a guarantee that I'll find something.  With a personal shopper, she could just buy everything for me, whatever is the latest style, and it would just appear in my closest, without me having to try it on.

See, that's another thing, I don't like trying to things on.  For example, on Sundays, I get up and put on my church clothes (skirt, blouse, stockings, etc.) and go to church.  But when I come home, I just leave whatever I have on on.  I don't like changing my clothes to get more comfortable unless I'm going to bed. So I'll find myself wearing the same outfit for an entire day just to avoid changing clothes.

I don't know where I got this perspective from.  My mother likes to shop, even my brother goes out to buy some new clothes and shoes.  I guess I spend too much time wondering about my upcoming test or something to actually enjoy the moments when I'm shopping.

But at least I don't have a problem shopping for nail polish, or else this blog would be non-existent.  And we don't want that, do we?

P.S.  If you have any tips on how to make my shopping experience better, please let me know. These jeans and shoes I'm wearing right now don't have but a few more weeks left...

"Funny When You're Dead..."

"...How people start listenin'"  This is part one of a two-part post.  

Comment if you know the song title and artist...because the next post might will spoil it for you.

Note: This is one of the more opinionated and personal posts of mine.  Feel free to disagree, but I feel like this is something I've been holding in for a while.  Sorry if this depresses anyone =[  If so, just focus on trying to guess the artist and song title, that's always fun to do!

I hope this doesn't make me seem like a terrible person, but I don't like the big deal that the public and the media make over celebrities passing away.  This most recently refers to Amy Winehouse.  I'm not saying that they should not be acknowledged, she really did have a great talent and it's sad to see her go, I just have a problem with the idea that somehow her death becomes worldwide news (as if people don't die everyday).

I suppose her death just reminds me of the whole "Son of John Travolta Death" story.  This was a couple years ago so I was still learning how the world works...but I remember thinking "Why is this important?"  I understood that his family would be really sad about his death, but what does this have to do with me?  I don't personally know his family and his son...what am I supposed to make of this?  I have lost someone close to me and I don't see them caring anything about it.  Even if this wasn't about me, parents all over the world are losing their children whether it's due to a disease, murder, or suicide and it's not like we're watching their entire burial process on prime time t.v.

When I heard about Amy Winehouse's death, I couldn't help but feel the same way.  It was unfortunate that she had to die so early in her life with so much talent, but I don't need to know everything about the matter just because she was famous.  I didn't know her personally and I don't really intend to know her now that she's gone.  I guess my big problem is that all types of focus are being put on celebrity deaths while average run of the mill deaths are nothing but expected.  It just makes me angry knowing that everyone feels for her family while my family along with various others' had to go through our losses alone.  Except, I don't wish that the whole world knew about the specifics of our family, it's not like they knew what kind of person the deceased was.  I guess the bottom line would be: the amount of attention the death of celebrities get overshadows that of an average person, and that's something I am ashamed about when it comes to the media.

My take on this problem might disagree with yours, but this really is how I feel.  It'll probably change as I get older, but for right now, this is it.

Why I Hate Sports...

...from a high school perspective!  Don't get me wrong, I love high school sports.  I also hate them...and here's why.

For fall sports, training camp starts one week before school starts.  So while the rest of the students are vacationing either at home or out of town, us fall athletes are conditioning.  They try and make it more convenient for the students by having them practice for two hours at 10 in the morning.  It's still hot but the clouds are making it a little more bearable.  But the way I see it, they're only really trying to cut us down even more.  Let's look at this example: 

You're at a water park.  They have the awesome slides and the wave pool, but then also the hot tub.  Going directly into the hot tub is not terrible at all.  There might be the initial hot feeling, but it's almost soothing and relaxing to know that the dead skin frees from your body.  Now picture going from the wave pool where the water is a nice cool refreshing temp to the hot tub.  It is basically like being laughed at by the temperature kings.  It hurts even more. 

This is what starting tennis season off at a cool 75 degree temperature and then shoving us out into 102 degree weather one week later feels like.  It hurts.  Your skin becomes detached from your body (and not just the dead parts).  The sweat drips down your face; not to cool you off, but to try and get out of the hot heat itself.  Your sweat is not use to the heat and neither are you.

Now this will be my third year doing tennis.  I understand that from the looks of this post, it may not seem expected for me to continue with this process of diving into the hot tub straight out of the wave pool, but I really do enjoy playing tennis and supporting all the other sports.  I just also hate it...


Fun Fact: This text color is the EXACT color of my nails featured during my last post, "Nails of the Week! (Coral)" just in case you needed a better visual =]

I Will Not Cave In!

The world has not yet accepted the left-handed race!  In fact, the government is out to eliminate it all together.  "How?" or "Why?" As a left-handed person myself, I have encountered many examples over the years.  Most recently this morning at the bank where the pen was attached to the desk on the right side of the teller window.  Let's take a gander at them to prove my point (and the fact that I am really serious about this).

Imagine seeing this Frisbee
at Walmart...

Example #1:  School Desks

Now this is one of the most common tactics the government has deployed into our school systems. See, they try and abolish left-handed writing at the age where humans just learn their abc's.  All the arm rests are right-handed.  They figure the student might just switch their pencil over to their right hand to have more support.  But some people (like myself) are up for the challenge and will not cave in to this nonsense.

Example #2: Sports

So now that the government realizes that some lefties slip through their first barrier, they now have the idea to change them outside of the classroom.  "If we can't change their scholastic behavior, then why not their athletics?" they think to themselves. They hire athletic coaches who teach children sports using their right hands.  And even if they do manage to hire a lefty, most likely accidentally, they too start to assume the athlete is right-handed.  It's happened to me many plenty of times before.

Example #3: Everyone Else (with the exception of a few lefties)

If you still haven't been forced out of being left-handed by paid professionals, the rest of the world might just do it for you.  The public just has it accepted that right handed people are the way it has to be.  "Rights are right!" my family always says (I'm the only lefty in my family). Even my mom blames things on my left hand.  "I would let you stir the noodles, but you and your left hand might mess things up."  People hand you pencils and pens as if their is no possibility that you can be a lefty; and you know what? half the time I fall for it.  

But now that I have found out the governments secret plan...

that's the end of that.  

Top Google Search #1

Another series that I'm going to be starting for this blog is the "Google Search of the Week" (but that's kind of a long name so I figured I shorten it to Top Google Search, which is just as sweet).  I just recently found out that Google keeps history of your past searches that you can look at and they also have the trends to say when you do your most searches and what you've searched the most.  This will be very exciting...me and Google are like this *crosses fingers*.  When I come across a problem, big or small, that will bother me till the end of time, I go to Google.  So for this weeks post, this was my biggest search:

"drinking milk with spicy foods"

(Understand I do realize the randomness of this search)

I love spicy foods. Hot wings, cheese, any type of food, tacos, and especially hot sauce.  But when it comes to salsa, I might as well take a shower whilst eating as the tears roll down my face.  Now I'm not talking about salsa as in the Spanish translation of any type of sauce.  I am talking about "Casa Mamacita" salsa with chips.  I'm pretty sure it's the raw taste.  I mean with hot wings, you have chicken to go along with it, but salsa is just...salsa.  So anyway, I still love eating chips and salsa even though I regret it afterword.  So I decided to search what I could drink/eat with salsa in order to counteract the spiciness.  Apparently milk goes well with spicy foods, and after what seemed like hours of finding confirmation websites, I will agree.  

So for anyone who loves a good serving of Kung Pao Chicken but can't take the heat...try a glass of milk and waste your time Google searching something more worthwhile.

"Hey, Don't Write Yourself Off Yet..."

"...it's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on."  I'm really happy that this song came up on Pandora, which song you ask?  You tell me, comment below!

This is one of those songs that I don't intentionally flip to just to jam out to, but one that might come up during shuffle, or in this case, as a recommendation on Pandora.  It's one of those songs that you can listen to whether you're happy or sad, feeling depressed or joyous.

Now I wouldn't say that I was particularly sad when this song comes on, but it's nice to remember that there's always something better waiting on the other side of this moment.  Before this song came on, I was literally thinking about how I need to hurry up and get ready for school.  There's so many things that I have yet to do, I still need to get my physical for tennis, read my book (and the critique) and prepare myself for a grueling semester of challenging courses for my junior year.  Just before that I was on my Facebook looking at this group of people from around the St. Louis area that attended this camp earlier this summer.  I was a part of the group, but for some reason I didn't feel like I belonged.   People were planning pool parties and karaoke parties before school started and I couldn't go to any of them because I'd be out of town. Until this song came on, I was thinking that these people were doing things with out me...I actually felt "left out." But it's not their fault that I'll be out of town on those days, I can't help that.  At this point, I'm just stuck in the middle *hint hint* of this situation.  So I tell myself now, "Kendra, you are not left out.  Stop trying to create judgments that aren't there."  You know what my problem is?  I get invited to things, and I turn them down.  And then I get upset when I hear about all the fun stories from that activity.  I may have a lot of things to do to prepare for this semester school wise, but my social life is trying to kill me from the inside out.  DO SOMETHING!!!  Say yes to something Kendra, you're eventually going to run out of no's when you need them the most.

The Rise and Fall of PB&J

The ONLY peanut
butter I eat.

This morning as I was preparing for tennis camp, I put a piece of toast in the microwave oven and reached into the cabinet for a giant sized jar of JIF peanut butter.  As I pulled a butter knife out of the silverware drawer, I thought about how I arrived at putting peanut butter on toast in the morning.  I thought about the fact how I took a peanut butter sandwich to school almost everyday for lunch, but how did that get started?

Let's take a big kangaroo hop back to my life where this all started...

2nd grade: I didn't want anything to do with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (I did watch PB&J Otter, remember that show?) The idea of them made absolutely zero sense to me.  How do people even come up with that type of sandwich?  Well, one of my classmates who lived down the street came over to my house one day after school.  My mother decided to fix us a snack and he wanted a peanut butter sandwich.  Now my brother and I haven't had a pb&j sandwich before so my mother was really surprised by this.  She went ahead and fixed one for him and asked me if I wanted one.  Of course I said no...but my friend asked if I've ever tried just grape jelly?  I never really had, so I went ahead and tried it...and it was delicious!  That jelly sandwich became a standard lunch item throughout the rest of elementary school.

Beginning of 6th grade: After eating plain grape jelly sandwiches, I figured it was time to "upgrade" to peanut butter AND jelly.  This most likely was the biggest challenge of my life.  I know that sounds really fake, but considering all that happens as a sixth grader, this was basically the climax of the year (and it was only about a month or two in).  I made the switch, and it was delicious.  This sandwich became my staple as I turned into the typical kid with the paper lunch sack and the pb&j sandwich.

Ending of 7th grade: As a seventh grade gets older, the idea that they are now the "head of the school" begins to crowd the mind.  I had the same ideas but also the idea that my staple sandwich was too "kiddy" for me.  I'm the head of the school, and I'm still eating pb&j sandwiches...how about just, peanut butter?  And so I just dropped the jelly off my sandwich.  In my mind, eating a sandwich with just sticky peanut butter is a challenge.  There's stickiness, a bunch of raw flavor, and a sense of maturity that comes with the sandwich.  However, I was the only one who thought that much about a sandwich.  Most of my friends just found it odd.  "Did you forget the jelly?" "Oh, did you not have any jelly on hand?"  Can I not just enjoy a peanut butter sandwich?  Okay, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

I still get questions from people when I tell them what I have for lunch or what I have for breakfast even though it's become a popular sandwich type. But compared to rice and sausage, peanut butter toast doesn't sound as unusual...that's a different post, though.

If I Hear This Song Again...

This song may already be past it's prime considering the fact that the song was released last winter.  But if I hear "Grenade" by Bruno Mars one more time, I will be the one throwing the grenade at him...I'd rather not say.  I need to correct the statement concerning my allergies.  Not only am I allergic to raw carrots, but I am also allergic to THIS song.

Now if you read my blog previously, you will notice that last week I posted about his song "Just the Way You Are" and how much I love it.  (Click here to read that one!)  However, the basis on which that song was written is more delicate...or understandable than that of "Grenade."  Bruno (I guess I can call him by his first name) is basically admitting that he will die for this girl that couldn't care less about him. What about that makes any sense?

Okay, I realize that there are some many girls out there who think this is just the sweetest gesture a guy could ever do for a girl---risk his life.  But to me, all I am getting out of this song is that Bruno's relationship with this girl is distorted to the point that he can't even think straight.  I picture this girl taking advantage of his undying love for her by drawing him in just so she can have her own personal superman at her side at times of trouble.  I don't know, maybe this is what Bruno wanted the song to do, well not the "make him look completely oblivious" part, but quite possibly he wanted this song to spark up conversation.  If this is true, it certainly produced conversations, but also pictures!

This is what happens when oxidation and reduction
equations in Chemistry class don't really appeal to sophomores.

Alright, so basically we drew the cartoon layout for the song.  We have Bruno's supposed love interest on  the right with a dog (reference to the show Word World, yes...I watch PBS occasionally).  On the left you can see a murderer/skier/assassin who has just thrown a grenade at said girlfriend.  Now, parachuting in to "save the day" is Bruno Mars, who literally "catches" the grenade.  And the crabs, yes, not only did the murderer/skier/assassin give the lover girl a grenade, but also an STD.  Honestly, crabs are the only thing I can really draw well, so I put them in the picture too!

Dumb Moment #1

This sounds like a great post series.  Expect several of these a week...seriously!

So I was watching So You Think You Can Dance and a Wendy's commercial came on. You've probably seen it, this guy writes to Wendy and is like "I'd really like to enjoy a frosty on the beach, but I live in Denver".  Now, with my mind going a million miles per hour all the time, I think to myself, "What, do they not have Wendy's in Denver, Colorado?  And do you really think that the company owners will go all the way down there just to build you one so you can get your precious frosty?"  And then the screen cut to a shot of some workers putting some sand in the middle of the street.  Then my face cuts to a look of complete stupidity.  That rationalizing part of my brain just shut off and was already recharging for tomorrow.  This happens to me during the summer, on weekends, and after 3:00 pm during the week.  I can't waste all my smarts while watching t.v.

Why Can't I Pull Through?

I turned 16 in February, I got my permit last year around this time, but still cannot master the skill of driving. Well, the driving part is okay...it's the parking.

I went to RacketMan today to try out another racket, and finally decided on one. Of course my mom wanted me to drive. Wait, let me explain to you my mother's thoughts on my driving.

Mother: You need to get your license. I can't drive you everywhere, I don't do anything for me anymore. We go here, and then Saturday mornings we go to bowling. I'm sick of "we".

So now I have to drive everywhere, which isn't even that much because I don't go to a lot of places. My mother still finds random places for me to drive to anyway.  So back to what this post was originally about: Parking. We pulled into the Goodwill parking lot (my mother just can't go to one store when we're out) and I see a perfectly fine parking spot about half way down an aisle, one that I could pull through. But NO!!! My mom doesn't want to walk that far in the hot heat, it was pretty hot, so I pull into a parking spot towards the front. I have no problem pulling into a spot, it's the backing out part that I fail at. 

What seems to be an hour later, my mother is finally ready to go. I get in the car, put on my seat belt (safety first) turn on the engine, and put the car in reverse. Now I'm pretty sure that I looked both ways before pulling out, but this black car started blowing his horn at me. I turn around and I'm about 3 inches from hitting the side of his car. You know when people say "he came out of nowhere"? This guy really did.
And I conclude with this question readers; Why can't I just pull through? Is it really going to hurt anyone?

"I Need Another Story..."

"...something to get off my chest"  Know the song and artist? Comment!


So as I was wasting time doing nothing, I decided to listen to Pandora (love Pandora, try it out if you haven't already) and this song came on.  These first lyrics from the song, made me think about my failed attempt to read a book FOR FUN.  *mentioned in Summer To Do List...Didn't, item #3.*


In the previous post I talked about how I am reading a mandatory book for my Honors American Literature class for my junior year of high school.  However, I wanted to do some more reading besides assigned.
And I'm not including, blogs, FaceBook, or even magazines <--- probably the issue in the first place


Current status on summer goal: FAILED!!!
I have two, no three "could be excuses" for why I have failed this goal.

1. I don't know what to read, and whenever I ask one of my friends for a recommendation for a book...they don't have one.
2. I owe about $10 in fines at my local library so I can't check anything out for fear that my picture is posted underneath a big WANTED! sign.
3. I don't like to buy books I will most likely only be reading once.

I would say comment if you've read any good books this summer, but honestly, I don't want to set myself up with another goal...which would most likely be FAILED as well.

But if you have a recommendation, go ahead and comment anyway.  Challenges are good, right?

What iz u tryna say?

This summer I have to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.  Let's just say this book is hard to read because of the dialect in which it was written.  Because of this, I have decided to investigate different dialects people use through text.  

Online chat language 101:

U kno wen u got dem ppl who type on da computer da way dey actually type in real life?  i just cant stand understand dem ppl. it dont make no sense whatchu even saying n u causing ppl to stress ova tyrna read ur posts.  I mean, what iz u tyrna say?

WHAT ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE WHO TALK IN ALL CAPS?  STOP!  IT'S LIKE YOU ARE YELLING AT US.  AND WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO DESERVE THAT.  EITHER YOUR CAPS LOCK BUTTON IS STUCK, OR YOU HAVE ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES.  I MEAN, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?

and then we have the people that dont use any punctuation at all id take the overly punctual people over these people any day of the week you dont know where to end a sentence you dont know where the sentence starts if its a question or if its an exclamation i already dont like reading a whole bunch of words in a row and your lack of punctuation just makes it difficult to understand i mean what are you trying to say

But Then There Are Those People Who Capitalize Every Single Word In The Sentence?  Where Were You During First Grade When We Learned About Grammar and Sentence Structure?  But I Have Arrived At A Sensible Conclusion, You All Are Just Really Punctual People.  You Know...Those People Who Over Pronounce Every Word and Every Letter of Every Word.  I Mean, At Least We Know What You Are Trying To Say.

Fellow beings, let's get our act together.  They say we need to communicate more, so let's.  But talk in a way so that people can understand what you mean without them feeling like an idiot when it takes them 10 minutes to read one sentence.

Comment if YOU know what I'm trying to say!!!

Summer To Do List....Didn't

Like I said, I like to make lists.  However, sometimes I don't always complete all the things on these lists.  Example, this summer I made a list to with the following:

1. Exercise
2. Complete a knitting and crochet project
3. Read books
4. Make some jewelry
5. Make a checklist 

*that last one didn't even make since*

So, #1: Exercise:  I was on top of this one...for the first week of summer.  I speed walked on the treadmill for the first five days and burned about 500 calories each day.  I watched the Price is Right (yes, I'm serious about that) and I walked and won prizes (figuratively speaking).  I was on a roll.  Well, the weekend came, and the Price is Right's not on on the weekends, so I didn't exercise. Well that brings me to today....about two months later not having done anything more.  I mean, I played a little tennis here and there, but I haven't truly exercised.  I really am disappointed with myself on this one.  But it's okay, because I still have time before tennis starts.  And if it makes myself feel any better, I am exercising my fingers =]

I'll get back to those other ones, I've just depressed myself and can't even bare to talk about the other ones that I failed to do even more so then this one.  Stay tuned for an update on my "Summer Didn't Do List"