Retiring a part of my past..

A lot of things have been changing for me lately.  I've gone through and cleaned out a ton of my old clothes (I've done this in the past, just not to the extent I did this time!), I changed my outward appearance (more on that soon), and I've retired a part of my past.  For the past 5 years, I've been driving my little Grand Am around as OMG MALP.  For those of you who don't know, for the past 8+ years, I have been very good friends with another Mallory!  During high school, we became known as Mal P and Mal M.  We were pretty much always together (a lot of the same classes!), so our friends had to have some way to make it known who they were talking to!  To this day, when I see some friends from high school, they still call me Mal P!  When trying to come up with a license plate idea for my car, the MALP part was easy, and I still cannot remember why I decided to put the OMG in front of it, haha.  Wouldn't just MALP have been fine? haha, who knows! 

Also, if you know me, you know my favorite athlete/swimmer is Michael Phelps.  To only say he is my favorite is an understatement.  You're talking to someone who has all three of his books, every newspaper clipping of an article about him, pictures from the newspapers, all the cereal boxes he's on, a Rice Krispie Treat box he's on, and the Sports Illustrated magazine he's on the cover of.  And not to forget the Michael Phelps collage I made, framed and hung up in my room, the framed calendar I have hanging up, my "Don't wake me I'm dreaming of Michael Phelps" pillowcase, my senior picture with all of my Michael Phelps stuff, and the personalized license plate my parents got me for Christmas one year: FLPS GRL.  So, it was only fitting that I had this license plate frame to show my support for my favorite athlete.  Yes, I got tired of people ragging on him during the 2012 Olympics, but he did not disappoint me one bit.  [Side note: I actually have an unfinished blog post about that topic, haha]  So, since my favorite athlete has retired, it was only fitting to retire this license plate frame, as well.  It is quite sad to change something that's been the same for so many years (why am I acting like this is so sad?! It's just a license plate & frame!! haha), but it was time for a change.

New Kent High School Homecoming!

Ever since we were little, my sister and I, along with our cousins Gabrielle and Alison have been super close! It's pretty funny because our names are similar in ways: You have Abby and Gabrielle (Gabby), and Alison and Mallory (Mal).  So, we're the Abs and the Als! haha.
We're "the four cousins" and we've always supported in each other in everything!  This past Friday was no different!

The youngest of us four, (and there's only 5 years between the oldest, me, and the youngest) Alison, was on the Homecoming Court for New Kent High School.  She's been on the Homecoming Court for the past three years, but this year was a little bit more special: she was on the SENIOR Homecoming Court!  Even though no one in my family went to New Kent schools, we still went out to the Homecoming football game to see the Homecoming Parade and the Court!  I'm so glad we went because Alison was crowned Homecoming Queen!!!! YAY!!!! I got a few good shots; it was very hard to get super pictures because of how far away in the stands I was and the fact that it was dark outside.  I really wish I had a clear shot of Alison's reaction when they called her name, but of course, it came out blurry :( Just my luck! But I kept on taking pictures hoping and praying that I would get some good ones!!

And talk about some dedication...right after she was crowned queen, Alison came up to the stands, I got a quick picture with her down below), went to go change her clothes, and was out on the field with her best friend, Kennedy, completing her Water Girl duties!!

More Good Reads

I'm back to share more of my recent good reads! I didn't get through these books quite as quickly as I did the previous five (and this time I only read four), although, I read Miles to Go in less than 24 hours.  Speaking of the book titles, here were this week's:

• Here's the Deal Don't Touch Me (Howie Mandel's autobiography)
• George Washington Carver (biography)
• Harriet Tubman (biography)
• Miles to Go (Miley Cyrus' autobiography)

 

As I mentioned, I did have five books I brought home from the library, but only four were read.  I started reading the fifth book, but I just could NOT get into it! It was another war autobiography, so I figured since I liked the Jessica Lynch book I read last time, I'd like this one too. Um, no.  No offense to whoever that guy was that I was trying to read about (I think his name was Ryan?), but if you can't grab my attention in the first twenty pages, I'm not reading the rest of your book.  Sorry 'bout it.

 

So here's a few facts from these four books!

Workout Wednesday: 5K Training

So, after 2 weeks of not having my computer with all of my blogging stuff, and then another week of me being sick and not wanting to make a video with a stuffed nose, here's another Workout Wednesday video! This week's topic: running! Oh, joy. haha.  Hope you enjoy! And, as always, if you have any suggestions for these videos, feel free to leave a comment and let me know! :)

 

Oktoberfest 2012: Spirit Leaders & Klowns

Another fantastic Longwood tradition on Oktoberfest weekend is the Parade to kick off Saturday's events! The Parade consists of the Spirit Leaders, Klowns, Honorary Spirit Leaders, Longwood Cheerleaders, Elwood, and  I believe some others (yeah...I should probably know this..).  Last year, Matt got to be one of the Green Class Klowns and did a wonderful job performing.  I know he had a blast going out all out dressing in green and dancing for everyone.

 

This year, Abby was chosen as a Spirit Leader--so she got to wear the fancy Leiderhosen that I wore last year as a Mortar Board member.  What was even cooler, is that Abby was selected to be the Mittenmeister for the sophomore class, which, in non-Longwood terms, is basically like homecoming court.  So cool! From where Mom and I were standing, it seemed like Abby was ALWAYS on the other side of the circle, so it difficult to get good pictures of her.  You may have to do a little "Where's Waldo Abby" searching!

Oktoberfest 2012: Color Wars

This weekend I was at Longwood for one of the best traditions ever:

 

COLOR WARS

 

Color Wars is held the Friday night of Oktoberfest and is seriously one of the most fun things to ever participate in! How many chances do you get to get on the field with hundreds and hundreds of other people and throw paint on each other?! It's a blast!

 

While I certainly did miss participating in the event this year, I was very excited to get to take pictures! It's something I've always wanted to take pictures of, but unfortunately, I haven't mastered being in two places at once, so this year was my chance!  I LOVE seeing all of the red, green, and occasionally blue paint flying through the air right at the beginning.  This is the point when everyone has their paint and just runs for it!  Then, later on (not much later, it only lasts maybe 5 minutes or so!) you get the occasional paint splatters everywhere, which I think still makes for good and fun pictures!

Workout Wednesday : Motivation

Yes, I know I just missed two weeks of making a Workout Wednesday video, but trust me, you don't want me to make a video this week!!  I'm so stuffed up from allergies that I'd probably just laugh at myself talking.  I also have a sty, so my eye is pretty sore and depending on the time of day, kinda gross looking, ha.  So I thought for this week, I would share some exercise motivational quotes with you!

 

Good Reads

I've been on a big reading kick lately. And, of all things, reading biographies! It all started one day I was at work with mom--she works in a high school library--and I was just looking on the shelves and saw a biography on Joan of Arc. If you go to/went to Longwood, you'll know that I had to pick it up and least skim through it. Well, I read about twenty pages and I just could not keep going.  No offense, to Longwood's patron saint, but those first twenty pages were so boring and I just could not get through it! I took it back to the shelf and saw a John F. Kennedy biography.  I wrote about that book here, but after finishing it, I went to the county library and picked up five new biographies.  I finished them all in a about a week and a half.  They were so good!  As soon as I finished those (and took pictures for this post...), I went back to the library and picked up five different ones, which I'm currently in the middle of reading. 

 

I have no idea why there's the sudden interest in reading biographies.  I remember in middle school I had to read a biography about Abraham Lincoln for summer reading, and I didn't like it one bit.  It probably mostly had to do with the fact that it was REQUIRED reading and not just something I wanted to do for fun.

 

So, the first five biographies/autobiographies I picked up were:

• Madam C. J. Walker
• Michael J. Fox
• Tina Fey
• Betty White
• Jessica Lynch

BACK!

I haven't blogged in TWO WEEKS and it's been driving me crazy!!  No, I didn't forget about it or "not have time" to sit down and write.  I didn't have my computer for the past two weeks!! I thought I was losing my mind without it.  Yeah, that's sad.  During the middle of the summer, one of the hinges on my computer broke to the point where I could barely move the screen, let alone even close it.  I literally have no idea how it broke.  It had been fine and then I was working at the kitchen table, went to close it, and realized it wouldn't move! Weird.  On top of that, my computer had been going really really slowly, so two weeks again, my dad's good friend -who might as well be a computer genius- took my computer to fix the hinge and run some updates.  The hinge took about a week to come in.