Holden Beach

Things got kind of busy last week with school, starting a nannying job and then this past weekend I went on a retreat with InterVarsity to Camp Rudolph and it was amazing!! So now that I am back in reality, I realized I needed to do a blog post! Good thing I found a bunch of pictures that I want to show and edited them a couple weeks ago for situations like this.

This summer, as a graduation gift, my family and I went to our favorite vacation spot in the world, Holden Beach, North Carolina. We got a nice house with pool and I was even able to bring along my best friend, Carissa! Our last day I even got up to take pictures of the sunrise but my camera decided to fog up and not be clear until after we left. But I at least got to watch the sunrise which was really cool, very different from the one I shot last year. Anyways, here are some of my favorites! 

My Wish List

My Wish List by gariley featuring short western boots

20 Questions

One of my favorite actresses is Bethany Joy Galeotti and she has a great blog that I follow. One of consistent posts is called 20 Questions and she asks other celebrities a set of questions. Whenever I read these, I always think to myself "what would my answer be to these?" So, I have copied the questions from her latest post and I am going to answer them! I've always liked personal surveys so this is much more for my own entertainment than for yours :) Also, since this is my second post this week, I might use it as an excuse to get football game pictures up. Hopefully I won't need to but you never know :)

1. Were you named after anyone? Yes, my grandfather and great-grandfather. Their middle name is Garrett

2. Do you like your own handwriting? Sometimes, when it's neat. And that can be rare. I do like my handwriting when I'm writing on a whiteboard though; somehow it changes.

3. What would your superpower be if you could choose one? I don't know if I could pick just one! My sister came up with a super power that I would love to have: to be able to harmonize with yourself. I know, music nerds :) but if I couldn't have that it would probably be Invisibility. 

4. Are you and optimist or a pessimist? I try to be optimistic but I'm probably more pessimistic than I think.

5. What do you collect? Snowglobes! I love them so much :)I know it might be a little clichè but I think it is so cool to be able to bring back something from a place that has exactly where you were inside of it! And I love that a lot of them play music :)

6. What movie would your friends be surprised that you like? I'm not sure there are any movies my friends would be surprised that I like. However there might be some they are surprised I don't like.

7. What are your favorite smells? The Harvest scented candle by Yankee Candle is the most heavenly smell ever. I also love the smell of the ocean, sunscreen, chlorine (as you can tell I like being in the water), anything beachy or tropical like coconut, pineapple, bananas. I know there are other smells but I can't think of them!

8. Coffee or Tea? Water

9. Wine or Beer? Water

10. What is the best thing you've ever eaten? (Where?)Two dishes: first is filet mignon and a baked potato cooked by my mom. She is one of the best cooks. Second would have to be (don't laugh!) my favorite dish from my favorite restaurant (that unfortunately doesn't exist anymore) Rock-O-La Cafe. The dish is a grilled cheese sitting inside a large taco shell with a side of croutons and ranch dressing. It's weird but my favorite.

11. Mac or PC? Mac

12. What are you listening to right now? Book of Mormon soundtrack, Bo Burnham, Aaron Carter, Backstreet Boys, Owl City, Karmin, Eric Whitacre and a little classical. I always have playlists full of the most random music.

13. What career would you pursue in another life? Well I don't actually have a career yet but if I could choose something other than photography or media, my first choice would be a Psychologist or Psychiatrist. I would love to help people with mental disabilities, anything from autism to depression.

14. What sound or noise do you love? Waves of the ocean, crunching of leaves, and silence

15. What sound or noise do you hate? The buzzing of insects, nails on a chalkboard, when someone is wearing jeans and scratches their leg, metal against metal or pottery

16. Mountains or Beach? Beach, but I do like the mountains

17. Cook or Bake? Bake

18. Do you go to restaurants and movies by yourself? I never have but I might try going to a movie by myself

19. What is your favorite fairy tale or childhood story? Cinderella! I was always a disney girl and Cinderella is my princess! Even though I look nothing like her, I just always loved her.

20. What would you tell the 13 year old you? You think middle school is cool and awesome; It's not. Work harder and make better choices because in the end it will be worth it, even if you can't see it now. Also, high school will be so much better than you could ever imagine, make the most of it.

Let's Go Tar Heels!

As I promised in an earlier post, I have finally gone through all my pictures from the UNC and JMU football game from September 3rd and now they are ready to show to you! After eliminating tons, then editing the tons that were left and then eliminating from those I have picked the best from my set. Well, what I think was the best from my set. To me, shooting football, or any sport for that, is all about perspective, where you are in the stands or on the field. For me, these seats were AMAZING for watching the game. Not so much for taking pictures but I managed as best as I could and this is what I got! Now next week, I will have pictures from the JMU vs. Central Connecticut football game and there is a huge difference in perspective with those pictures. Instead of being right at the field, we are about as high up as you can get, but their new stadium is beautiful! Even if you do have a heart attack after climbing all the stairs :) Anyways, enjoy the pictures!

Just having some fun with Photoshop :)

They didn't quite make it to the JMU section...

9/11 Never Forget

Every day I listen to the radio on my way to school. Unlike most people my age, I don't listen to Q94 but instead I listen to KLR Richmond's Classic Rock station. The morning show that they have is very enjoyable if you like southern republican rednecks. Luckily, I do!! The show is called Jon Boy and Billy in the Morning and I love it! They are so great to listen to (if you share their political views) and they are also Christian and very patriotic. Monday morning, September 12, I was listening to them and they could not stop talking about all the pro football games that had happened, but especially the Chicago Bears game and the national anthem at the game. I watched it and at first when the crowd started cheering as he started singing, I felt that was disrespectful. But by the end, when the crowd was still cheering, I knew they weren't being disrespectful. They were celebrating the fact that we are still America and even though these terrible attacks happened 10 years ago, they cannot break our spirits and our patriotism.

I was young when it happened and even though I remember exactly what happened that day, it had nothing to do with the attacks. I was in third grade and every day, I stayed after school through the YMCA program we had. That day, the bell rang, and I went down to the cafeteria like always and everyone seemed very flustered. A lot more parents were there than usual, including my mom. Confused, but happy to see her, she told me how they had cancelled the program for the day and she was taking me home. But first, we stopped by Dairy Queen and got ice cream :) we even got a cookie dough blizzard to take home for my sister so she would have something when she got home from school.  I vaguely remember watching the news (I hated doing that when I was younger) but I remember my parents watching it and all anyone could talk about was a plane crash. I was too young to fully understand but I knew it was bad. I can't even imagine how anyone closer to the attacks or knew people in those cities must have felt, but my heart goes out to them.

I know this post is a little late but I just thought I should share the video of them National Anthem from the Bears-Falcons game on September 11. Hope you enjoy it.