2016: Year in Review

What in the World Happened in 2016?

Well folks, the time has come to review my past year! So very much has happened and it has been such a weird year. At times it feels as if 2016 flew by and some other times it feels as if the year just kept dragging on and on. The biggest thing I have to say is that I am looking forward to a new year and hopefully the crappy parts of 2016 will be left behind. Also, this is my 45th blog post! My blog is almost one year old and I am so excited about that! I know I could have posted so much more but I am really proud of myself for maintaining this blog. As you guys know I'm pretty bad about saying I'm going to post more and then you don't hear from for a month or so. I can't promise that I'm going to be any better than that in the upcoming year but I certainly will try to do better! Like I mentioned in my last blog post I'm going to be doing a Bloggin' New Year and post every day in the month of January and I have lots of great posts lined up for you guys! I am hoping that it will make me more excited to blog more often and get me into a better habit of posting! Without further ado, I'm going to leave you guys with some pictures and blurbs of recap from my past year! P.S. Sorry the pics are all out of order! 

Christmas 2016 with T, A, and V

Atlanta Vacation

Most of you know that my dad's side of the family does themed Christmas. This year's theme was Around the World. This is our sibling album cover representing Ireland, Spain, Russia, and Canada

Florida Spring Break 2016 with AA

Grayton Beach

More Spring Break!

My 2nd time seeing Panic! at the Disco

Panic! at the Disco and Weezer concert

Coca-Cola World in Atlanta

A and I at the Panic! and Weezer concert

Meeting Dr. Jane Chu with my SAI sisters

My 2nd Tattoo!

Rafting in Atlanta

Rafting with the Rolling Thunder Rafting Company

Tiger Serve Day with my SAI sisters

Debutante Ball 2016

Made this Gingerbread Dog House that my boss gave me

Selfie with my mom after Tiger Tunes

First time seeing TwentyOne Pilots!

Seeing Knox Hamilton at a small music festival

My mom still rocks me when I need it 

SAI Squad Goals

It was my 3rd year working in the snowcone stand!

Dressed as my girl Tina Belcher for Halloween

Got my 3rd and 4th tattoos of Winnie's paw prints on my feet 

So many more things that I didn't capture in pictures happened this year because honestly I just stink at remembering to take pictures when I do fun things. However to close out this post, I'm going to highlight the my favorite things that happened this year!

Best Things That Happened in 2016

1. Seeing some of my favorite bands in concert, including X Ambassadors, Panic! at the Disco, and TwentyOne Pilots, and also discovering new amazing bands at concerts, Judah and the Lion and Knox Hamilton.
2. Going on a Paranormal Tour in Branson
3. Getting my job as a telecounselor in the Admissions Office
4. Finding awesome new shows to watch with AA including Barbie Life in the Dream House (don't judge me, it's really funny) and The 100. 
5. Being asked to potentially go on a trip to the Pacific Sociological Association Conference in Oregon this Spring and a research trip to California this summer

I'm so blessed with being able to have so many awesome opportunities and I am thankful for the life that God has given me and the things he is doing in my life. He is helping me grow so much as an individual and I am looking forward to growing more in the year to come. Tomorrow on New Year's Day I will post about my New Year's Resolutions and what I hope to see come from this year. I hope everyone rings in the New Year safely tonight and makes smart decisions. I will be sitting on my butt at home, watching Ghost Adventures and drinking sparkling grape juice. Enjoy your last few hours of 2016! ~Em 

End of Semester Update!

End of Semester Update on Life! 

Here I am again, apologizing for my terrible consistency with my blog. I think when the new year rolls around, I am going to do a blog challenge and do a post a day for the month of January. I'm hoping that it will start my year of blogging off right and that it will actually help me to be inspired to write more often. Actually a ton of stuff has happened since my last post and I just haven't had time/haven't had the motivation to write. 

The end of this semester was surprisingly difficult for a lot of reasons. The first thing that made the end of the semester really hard was my step-grandma passing away. This was my step-mom's mom. She had been sick for a few months and passed pretty suddenly. It was really difficult to see my step-sisters so sad over the loss of their grandma. V had to fly home from her study abroad program in Spain really quickly and ended up having to do a lot of her finals here at home. A and T missed quite a bit of school as well. It was a pretty emotional weekend for us because none of us sisters had been to a funeral of someone who was so close to us. The next thing that made the end of the semester hard was just generally the difficulty of my finals. I only had one actual test during finals week that I had to take which was for Western Civ. I had a take-home test for Race, Class, and Gender which wasn't too bad, but the other assignments were the difficult parts. I had to write one 8-10 page paper for for social justice on the topic of "What is social justice?" Social justice was one of my favorite classes this semester and I truly learned so much useful knowledge, however this paper was hard because I had to define what social justice means to me, using the different texts we read throughout the semester to help give that definition. It took a lot of soul-searching and thinking about what my values were to write that paper. I also had to write an 8-10 page research paper for Crime and Deviance. This one we got to research any of the topics that we discussed in our class so I chose body modification. It was a really interesting paper to write but I got sucked into the research so it took me forever to actual get my research onto the paper. However, I ended up with all A's this semester so I was super pumped about that! The last thing that made the semester really difficult was going through a breakup. This was an incredibly unexpected end to my relationship. Even though this relationship was only a little over three months long, the break up hurt a lot. Some of the hurt was just from how unexpected it was but a lot of the pain was that he used words that hit me where it hurts the most. When I get into a relationship, I aim for it to be a long-lasting relationship. I don't like the dating scene and I especially don't get into relationships just for the fun of it. After he called things off, I just realized how much effort I had put into the relationship and how little I had gotten in return. I think everyone has blinders on when they are in a relationship, and with this one I just chose not to see the signs that things weren't what I wanted or expected out of the relationship. As much as it hurt for this relationship to end, I grew a lot during the process. In previous relationships, I had let problems go unspoken and I would just let them eat at me until I couldn't take it anymore. This time I made sure to address the problems that came up and it me feel confident and comfortable in the relationship. 

So many people that I know who I graduated high school with or are around my age are getting engaged, married, and pregnant and it reveals the pressures society puts on us to get married and start our lives so quickly. I just have to remind myself that God has a plan for my future and I do not need to rush into a relationship. Even though I am growing up quickly with graduating early, I have to remember that only when I stop looking for a relationship is God going to bring the right person for me. 

On a lighter note, with Christmas coming up in two days, I am getting really excited about gift giving! I love giving presents way more than I love receiving them! Each year at my mom's house, all four of us siblings buy presents for each of the other for $25 or less. Those are some of my favorite gifts to watch each other open because we get to see how well we know each other. I also really love buying presents for my parents because they do so much for us and I love to make sure they have something in return. 

There is probably so much more I could write about but I'm just gonna leave it like it is. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas or whatever you celebrate and a happy New Year! I don't know if I will write again before my Bloggin' New Year challenge start so enjoy this post! ~Em

The Things That Make Me Happy

3 Posts In One Week?

I know that this is crazy compared to how often I normally blog, but I found myself quite bored this evening. My creative juices needed an outlet to flow and so here I am, turning to my blog, which just so happens to be my favorite creative outlet. For the last few days I have been sick. Not as horribly awful as my sickness from last spring when I thought at any given moment my lungs would come out of my chest and onto the floor, but some yucky chest congestion junk is giving me a pretty gross cough and making me sound like I've been a smoker for my entire 19 years of existence. I haven't felt "bad" per say, but it has made me be in a relatively bad mood and I hate that. For those of you who don't know me that well, I am a worry wart. My entire brain is consumed by "what if's" and it can really put my world in a tizzy. For the last two years or so I have aimed at being more optimistic about life and that really helps me to not worry about the "what if's" as much, but still I find myself troubled over hypothetical situations that are highly unlikely to happen. Whenever I get into a funk, my level of worriedness increases dramatically and makes my life that much harder. So needless to say, being sick had me in a fairly bad mood the last couple of days and it made me worry about ten thousand and one things that I didn't need to worry about. So tonight I decided that I need to remind myself of what makes me happy and to focus on that, rather than what brings me down or causes me to worry. Without further ado, I present to you a list of both big and small things that make me happy! 

• My pets
• Family time
• Seeing friends I haven't seen/talked to in a long time
• Connecting with people over a mutual like in a show, music, etc. 
• Music that has thoughtful lyrics
• Bass singers/Deep voices
• Music in general
• Scrolling through Pinterest
• When AA and I watch our shows together
• Tattoos with special meanings
• Naps
• Playing my trumpet
• Teaching myself piano
• Compliments on my outfit
• Feeling confident about my body
• Reading
• Talking about my favorite books 
• My fandoms (Supernatural, Bob's Burgers, Adventure Time, Harry Potter, RuPaul's Drag Race)
• Finding dairy-free recipes/substitutes that taste really good
• Back scratches 
• Forehead kisses
• Dancing
• Concerts
• When my makeup looks really good
• Scrapbooking/crafting
• Understanding new concepts
• Yoga
• Being organized
• Completing tasks on my to-do list
• Making other people laugh
• Disney World
• Looking at pictures of German Shepherds and dreaming about when I can finally get one
• Helping others 

There are so many other things that make me happy, I just didn't want this list to be too drastically long. If any of you are feeling bummed out or down in the dumps, just compile a list of things that make you happy, it really puts into perspective how easily you can find happiness, despite a frustrating, difficult, or crappy situation. Thanks again so much for reading my blog posts, it means the world to me that I have people who care about what goes on in my life. You all are the best! ~ Em

Latest Music Loves!

The Tunes I've Been Feelin' Lately

I really enjoy sharing my musical interests with my readers! It gives me a way to talk about the music I've been listening to lately and lets people discover new music and potentially allows them to fall in love with some of my favorite bands! It's been a little while since my last list of music that I'm digging so I thought it would be a great time to do a new list! I hope you check out these bands/songs because they are all wonderful! I've been listening to a lot of CD's in my car from start to finish and don't remember what the songs are called so these are songs from XM radio or my Spotify that I've been listening to! 

10. Hollow Life by Coast Modern

"Running, running, running, from my problems." 

9. Work It Out by Knox Hamilton

"I know that you're fuming at a thousand degrees."

8. Rebel Heart by The Shelters

"You see it in her painted eyes."

7. Critical Mistakes by 888

"I'd let the tide wash away all my critical mistakes."

6. Don't Feel Quite Right by Palaye Royale

"There's something in the air tonight, must be the way she's looking at me."

5. Pork Soda by Glass Animals 

"Pineapples are in my head, got nobody 'cause I'm brain dead." 

4. Boss by Bear Hands

"Oh child you give good advice."

3. A Case of You by James Blake

"Oh I could drink a case of you darling, still I'd be on my feet."

2. Talk Too Much by COIN

"Stay cool it's just a kiss so why you gotta be so talkative?" 

1. Season 2 Episode 3 by Glass Animals 

"Leftover breakfast, cereal for lunch. She's broken but she's fun." 

Well there you have it guys! I know that there are two Glass Animals songs on there but I love the whole entire album! There is so much good music in the world and not enough time to listen to it. I hope you guys find something to listen to out of this list! ~ Em

So Many Things!

UGH!

This never fails to happen. I always say that I'm going to blog more, even if it is just silly posts and then I never end up doing it. I absolutely love writing but lately I just have not felt inspired by much. It has been over a month since my last post but actually a lot has gone on/a lot is about to be happening! 

DH came home with me earlier this month and we went to a little music festival and heard Knox Hamilton and they were great! He got to meet my fam and Winnie, who surprisingly was really nice to him so I think that's a good sign! We ate at Umami's because how can you not when you come to Russ-Vegas? 

For most of you who know me, you know that Halloween is my favorite holiday so this month has been full of fall-inspired outfits, dark lipsticks, and planning for Halloween! This is actually the fist year that I'm not going trick-or-treating, which is kind of a bummer, but I am going to three different Halloween parties! DH's social club is having a Monster Mash and we are going dressed as Tina and Jimmy Pesto Jr. from Bob's Burgers! We are also having two events for SAI. A few of my SAI sisters weren't allowed to go trick-or-treating when they were younger so we decided to give them a mini trick-or-treat experience at our President's apartment. We are also having an info meeting on Halloween with a costume contest, crafts, games, and food! 

Class has been going well, even though it seems like the work load is increasing and more and more is piling up. For my social justice class we got to partner with the Ebola 100 project and do some transcribing of interviews which was really neat. It's interesting for all my classes to be overlapping with their topics, since I am involved in so many sociology classes this semester. I'm still on track to graduate in three years so that's also really exciting for me! 

We only have two marching events for the rest of the semester and then it will be about time to start Christmas band. Our concert for Wind Ensemble is next week and then we will have our run-out tour the next week I believe, so lots of music playing is going on this semester! 

Homecoming Week was a couple weeks ago and that is one of the most hectic weeks at Ouachita. My SAI sisters nominated me to represent them on Homecoming court, though I didn't get chosen for the Top 20, it was really neat to be presented as one of the nominees prior to that. We have a football game, Tiger Tunes, and a plethora of other events. Tiger Tunes is our school's biggest fundraiser and it's where our social clubs and campus groups make mashups to popular songs with a theme. So this year DH's social group's theme was Olympics and they remixed songs to have lyrics about the Olympics and did dance moves to it. Our show for band was space themed like our half-time show. It is an insanely exhausting week so I am super thankful that it is over. 

Last week we had Fall Break and we had a yard sale. I thought it would be a ton of fun, like I always remembered from my childhood but boy was I wrong. It killed my back and feet, it was exhausting, and we didn't even sell a fraction of the stuff we wanted to. With that being said, we are donating a lot of the stuff we had left over which makes me feel pretty good! I think I've mentioned this on my blog before but I was especially devastated that Hastings went out of business because it was my favorite place to hang out in Russellville and I practically grew up there. On the last day that they were open, i got an email about some surprise deal that they were going to have, so my mom and I went and let me just tell you how awesome this deal was. They gave us a 40 gallon trash bag and told us that we could fill it up with anything in the store except books and it would be $30 and then they gave us a different trash bag and said that we could fill it with books and it would be $5. So of course we took advantage of that and ended up with over $800 of merchandise for only $38! I got 11 new CDs for my car, 12 books, and 13 movies, plus some other miscellaneous things like a tshirt with a cute llama on it. 

In other exciting news, I have lost about 10 pounds since I quit eating dairy! I wasn't really even trying to lose weight when I decided to do this. I feel really great about my body after having dealt with a lot of body conscious issues throughout my past. I hadn't weighed myself since about March and DH and AA finally convinced me to weigh. I was afraid to put a number to my weight because I was feeling so good about the way I looked, but it turned out to be a great number and I was pleasantly surprised! I am also near my one year anniversary of not drinking soda and I can hardly believe it! 

I guess that's all I really want to update everyone on! Thanks so much for reading my blog! It means a ton to me :) ~ Em

DH and I before the Knox Hamilton concert

Tiger Tunes! 

My mommy and I after Tiger Tunes

College Update

Update on Life!

Wow it's been quite some time since I wrote a blog post! I'm sorry about that but things have just been pretty standard. There hasn't been a whole lot going on that's been worth writing about really. I'm really really enjoying my job in the Admissions office. It fits easily in with my schedule and it's been pretty easy to jump into. In my Intro to Social Justice class, we've been reading some awesome books that are on topics that I'm really passionate about such as the Deaf community, racial inequality, and human rights. I've learned so much in the last month of school that is relevant to my major and it makes me so much more excited to be pursuing this career path. Statistics actually hasn't been as scary as I thought it was going to be. So far it's just been a review from my AP Statistics class in high school and my professor does a really great job at keeping things slow. 

In exciting news, I have a boyfriend! We'll call him DH on the blog. We met last semester in Wind Ensemble but didn't really talk much and then we got into a Group Message with some of the other people in our section and sort of started talking more. Starting at the beginning of this semester, we just hit it off and began talking more and more regularly. We have a lot in common, including the fact that we are both big nerds, we both play trumpet, we love Spongebob, and we have just really clicked. I'm super excited to see where it goes. 

AA finally finished our room decorations so I can finally show you all pictures! It looks so good and I'm really proud of her creative talents. 

I guess that's all I have to fill you all in on! I'm going to try to write more often, even if it's just silly posts that aren't about college and life and whatnot. ~Em 

My bed with paintings/pictures/etc

Inspiration Board

Whimsical Fairy Reading Nook

Tapestry

Fairy Lights 

My Thoughts on My Classes and Such.

Well folks, I made it through my first week of junior year! It's been slightly more hectic than I thought it was going to be, but with that being said I am super excited! I did have to make a change in my schedule because being in both Marching Band and Wind Ensemble was conflicting with a lab I was in. I dropped Scientific Inquiries which I will take next semester instead and then added Intro to Social Justice. I'm a little bit nervous for this class because there is a TON of reading and writing involved, but the concepts and ideas for the class are going to be excellent to help further my thinking and expand my margin of understanding for social issues. I know for sure that I'm going to enjoy my Race, Class, and Gender class, as well as Crime and Deviance. These are two Sociology classes that I've wanted to take since I decided on that major. The professors for these two classes are also two of my favorites so I'm excited to see what they bring to the table. I was pretty nervous about taking Statistics for Sociology but my professor, who also teaches my Crime and Deviance class, reassured us that it wasn't going to be extremely difficult math, because it is designed more for helping sociologists to understand how to analyze statistical data. Western Civ is just going to be one of those classes that you don't really want to take but are required to for me. I think it's going to be like my high school World History class but it only goes from the Ancient period to the end of  World War II. So far I haven't had an over-bearing amount of homework but I know that will change soon. My handy-dandy planner is ready and I know that I will be able to stay on top of everything though!

The most exciting news I got this week is that I was chosen to be one of the telecounselors here in the Admissions office at Ouachita! This opportunity is so exciting because it gets me one step closer to being an Admissions Counselor at Ouachita when I graduate. For those of you who don't know, a telecounselor is someone who calls prospective students to try to get them interested in the school or answer any questions that they have about coming to Ouachita. I'm so blessed to be given this job opportunity as well, because I'm going to be able to be involved in my club and with band still while having this job, unlike if I were to have to get a job off campus. I start training on Tuesday and then after that I will be starting work and making progress toward my dream!

Stay tuned for more updates on my school year and various crazy things that happen to me! ~Em

What Will My Sophomore/Junior Year Bring To The Table?

Well I have officially been back at Ouachita for a whole week now and it has been great! Last Sunday, my dad and stepmom helped me move back to the Dirty Delph for band camp, which is like our pre-season rehearsal time to learn our new show music and go over the stand tunes. We only had two hours to get all of my stuff moved in and then it was time for auditions. Each year we have to re-audition for chair placement and this year, my trumpet professor convinced me to be in both Marching Band and Wind Ensemble during the fall semester where I am second chair in both. It's going to be a lot of work, but I know that I'll enjoy playing my trumpet everyday. Band camp was pretty exhausting, considering we had rehearsals from 9-12 then a two hour lunch break and rehearsal again from 2-6. Thankfully, we had a lot of sectionals and the rest of the members of the trumpet section and I really got to get comfortable around one another and make some great memories early on. This year our show is space themed so we have songs from Star Wars, Star Trek, and ET, as well as many other space songs. I've definitely come to appreciate the friendships I had last semester way more, because with all of my friends going home for the summer, I didn't get to see them. Being back together with them has been so much fun though. The local churches provided lunch and dinner for us during band camp so I got to hang out with all my band friends during that, I'm going to hang out with some of my SAI sisters soon, and being back with my roommate is such a great feeling. One of the members of the trumpet section has a birthday coming up, so last night I planned him a surprise party. Our section had already planned to have a movie night last night and so I brought a cake and a card that all of us signed. Our friend that we surprised was so shocked and said that he had never had a surprise party thrown for him so it went successfully! We watched the first two Austin Powers movies and are planning to watch the third sometime soon.
I think most of my readers know, but for those of you who don't, I'm starting my junior year of college! Technically, it will be my sophomore year but I took summer classes so that I will have enough hours to be considered a junior. I'm headed on the right path to graduating early! I'm taking mostly major-related classes, including Statistics for Sociology, Race Class and Gender, and Crime and Deviance. My other two classes are Western Civ and Scientific Inquiries. We start classes on Tuesday and it's my favorite part of the school year, Syllabus Week! I know that sounds super lame, but if you know anything about me, you know that I love to organize stuff! I absolutely love writing all the dates in my planner. It at least makes me FEEL like I have my life together, and ultimately does help me keep my life organized. I will certainly be writing after classes get kicked off and let all of you know what my feelings toward them are, plus share pictures of our room once it is completely decorated! Ta-ta for now! ~Em

Tips for College Freshmen

It's that time of year where freshmen are getting ready to move into the dorms of their college for the first time. It's pretty much a guarantee that you are feeling a lot of different emotions as you prepare to leave home and start this new adventure. It can overwhelming, nerve-wracking, and scary. However, it doesn't have to be. Here's my post to leave you incoming freshmen with some tips that might ease your stress.

1. Don't overfill your room. When I moved in to Frances-Crawford last year, I had about 4 large totes, boxes upon boxes of random junk, all of the clothes from my closet at home (except winter clothes), and so much more. My parents ended up taking home so much of my stuff and I just felt even more overwhelmed by deciding to leave stuff behind once I got to school. Only bring what is necessary. Sure you need to decorate your room so you feel motivated and productive, but don't bring an abundance of games, movies, and knick-knacks. There simply isn't room for them and there isn't time for you to use them. At Christmas I brought home even more stuff that I thought I would use that I didn't even touch during the first semester.
2. Communicate with your roommate. If you've read my post about my bad roommate experience my first semester of college, then you know that it was pretty rough. I think that part of what caused the situation to get so bad is that my roommate never talked to me about being upset or didn't confront me about things that she didn't like that I did. It just all built up for her and then she exploded with anger and frustration. That being said, it is vital to a happy roommate relationship for you to set some ground rules between the two of you and for you to communicate your differences. 
3. Go to Freshmen Orientation events! Something that I wish would have been more possible for me is to have been able to attend more orientation events. Freshmen Orientation at Ouachita is called WOW a.k.a. Welcome to Ouachita's World. We are separated into groups with your roommate and several other freshmen and you have two upper classmen leading you in group activities and telling you about some of the traditions at OBU and what campus life is like, etc. Last year however, band camp, which is our band practices before school starts, and WOW were at the same time. So, I didn't get to go to all of the WOW events, because I was at band. I felt like I missed out on so many opportunities and making more friends during the important first week before school starts. Some of the stuff may feel lame but those are the establishing memories that you will have about your school and they are so so important. 
4. Use a planner. College professors expect a lot more responsibility from you than your high school teachers did. On Syllabus Day for your classes, I highly recommend that you take all of your dates from the syllabuses you get and write them in a planner. Most professors will not accept late work so you MUST keep yourself organized and on top of things. 

Those are my top tips to go by. Try your best not to get too deep into the party scene. It's so common for college students to use their college years to drag out their childish years and make stupid decisions that haunt them forever. Just get through your college years by staying focused, making great friends that last you a life time, and earning your degree. Find a good balance for your social life, school work, and physical, emotional, and spiritual sanity. ~Em 

MY LIFE IS MADE!

The Concert of a Lifetime!

Y'all. I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that I got to go to a TwentyOne Pilots concert on Wednesday! My heart is overflowing with joy and disbelief and so much love for this amazing band. I already loved them so much before the concert but being there and seeing Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun in person just expanded that love by about a million times. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have been down in the pit and be so close to one of my favorite bands, like I almost can't even put it into words. So first, a HUGE shoutout to my mom for getting those incredible tickets for me and my sister and then a GIGANTIC thank you to my sister, A, for letting me fangirl all night, show her TOP memes, and live my dream. 

The concert overall was fantastic, including the opening bands, Chef's Special and Mutemath. Chef's Special is a really fun band from Holland who I will definitely be listening to more of their music and Mutemath is an equally fun band from New Orleans, who I had heard a little bit from before but will check out the rest of their music as well. 

I was so full of excitement and anticipation because I had no idea what to expect. I guess for those of you who have never heard of/listened to TOP I should probably tell you a little about them/their music style. TwentyOne Pilots is a two-man band from Columbus, Ohio. The two members are Tyler Joseph, who is the lead singer, and Josh Dun, who plays the drums and the trumpet in a few songs. There is a lot of conflict on what exact genre TOP fits into and that's understandable because they don't just fit into one genre. They do a little bit of everything and most fans like to categorize their music as "ukulele screamo" or "schizophrenic pop" so if that tells you anything then it is just awesome. These guys are adorable and funny and amazing to watch. Their music is deep and realistic and helps people to describe feelings that they don't understand. The greatest thing about TOP to me is how humble Tyler and Josh are. You will not find another artist that does what they do that reacts in the way they do. They don't have songs about fame and how fantastic they are, they write songs about handling depression, anxiety, and fear and that it's okay to because you're not alone when you are facing your demons. They want to help their fans and they never make it about themselves. The fans of TOP are called "The Skeleton Clique" and as one lyric says we are "the few, the proud, the emotional." Tyler frequently says "We're TwentyOne Pilots and so are you" and that is such a touching thing to think about. They want to incorporate us into their music and into their lives, which makes them the most incredible guys I have ever been a fan of. 

Within The Skeleton Clique, there is a little bit of a division into what we call "eras." The first one is the "Vessel era" and these are the fans who have been with TOP from the get-go. Vessel is their second album and before that was their self-titled album. The Vessel era fans are those that know every word to the popular songs Migraine, Car Radio, Ode to Sleep, and Holding on to You. I fall into the other category which is the "Blurryface era." Blurryface is TOP's most recent album that includes the radio hits Tear in my Heart, Stressed Out, and Ride. The first TOP song I ever heard was Tear in my Heart when I got XM radio the summer after I graduated. I immediately bought the Blurryface album and fell in love. I eventually bought Vessel and the self-titled album, but it is without a doubt that I know the Blurryface songs better. My personal favorites on Blurryface are The Judge, Lane Boy, and We Don't Believe What's On TV. Their show that I attended Wednesday, The Emotional Roadshow, was a combination of songs off of all of their albums which was phenomenal. 

I could keep talking about my experiences at the concert forever, but let me just highlight some of my favorite moments. 

1. Josh Dun. Honestly, Josh is so attractive and funny and I got to see him in person and now my life is made forever, what more do I have to say?
2. The people standing around us were all really friendly and fun to be around.
3. Tyler got in human hamster ball and ran around on top of us in the pit and I TOUCHED HIS FOOT! 
4. Tyler and Josh both stood on platforms that were placed out on the pit (held up by fans) and banged on drums and then a bazillion pieces of confetti flew every where and everyone was just having a fantastic time. 
5. During Lane Boy, we all crouched down on the ground and then Tyler counted us off and yelled at us to jump and so we went crazy and had a blast. 
6. Just being a part of The Skeleton Clique is so inviting, heartwarming, and mind-blowing. It is truly an event that I will cherish forever. 

Seriously, if you're struggling with anything, going through something challenging, or just need some new music to listen to, turn to TwentyOne Pilots. Their music is absolutely life changing. 

The Beautiful Josh Dun :)

DJ Spooky Jim (aka Josh)

Josh and Tyler Bowing 

TOP symbol

Tyler doing his piano thing

Surprise! Tyler in the middle of The Amp

Latest Music Likes

Music to my Ears

I made a post a while back letting you guys know my favorite alternative songs at the time and I just wanted to make another one! I still love all of the songs from my other post but I've discovered new (and not so new) songs that I also love and want to share with you guys! They are in no particular order, just an equal liking of all of them :) 

10. "Death of a Bachelor" by Panic! at the Disco

"The lace in your dress, tingles my neck. How do I live?"

9. "Work Song" by Hozier

"Cause my baby's sweet as can be, she gives me toothaches just from kissin' me."

8. "Figuring It Out" by SWMRS

"Thirsty Thursday, I drink away my demons."

7. "2AM" by Bear Hands

"Can't turn back it's too late, I saw you drink the Kool-Aid."

6. "If I Believe You" by The 1975

"If I'm lost then how can I find myself?"

5. "Life Itself" by Glass Animals

"She said I look fat but I look fantastic."

4. "Heathens" by TwentyOne Pilots

"You're lovin' on the psychopath sitting next to you. You're lovin' on the murderer sitting next to you."

3. "Ammonia and Bleach" by Emily's Army

"We go together like ammonia and bleach at the end of the day we got a secret to keep." 

2. "Good Grief" by Bastille

"What's gonna be left of the world if you're not in it?"

1. "Water" by Judah and the Lion

"You feel the water rising up. Come on, come on down." 

Week from Hell

Y'all I have had what feels like the roughest week in a long time. I tweeted yesterday about how it felt like everything that could possibly go wrong had and I'm pretty sure I can affirm that. Let me just give you a run down of all of the random weird problems that have come in my life this week.
First, I came home on Monday from Northwest Arkansas and noticed some strange bumps on my stomach. At first we thought it was heat rash from being outside for the concert and A's senior pictures, but over the next few days, the bumps spread to my chest, neck, and back. We still really aren't sure what they are but they're mildly itchy and just a pain in the butt to deal with. I also have ringworm on my shoulder and don't really know where that came from either. Then on Wednesday, I went to watch some of my cheer babies at practice and on the way there the cold air in my car went out. Why it went out on the hottest week of this summer I really couldn't tell you but it did. The kicker with that is that they shop can't get my car in to look at it until tomorrow so I have been without A/C for almost 5 days. Then on Friday, I had to take my dog, Winnie, to the vet because her cough has been getting worse and the medicine she had been prescribed wasn't working anymore. The vet gave me the sad news that her heart murmur is worsening and he prescribed her some hydros to hopefully help the cough get better. While I was at the vet, I think I picked Winnie up in a weird way and pulled a muscle in my back. I haven't been having back pain since I retired from cheerleading and now it is hurting really bad once again. My work schedule has been packed this week, with me on schedule from this past Thursday every day until Tuesday. Sitting in the snowcone stand has been hard the last couple days with my back hurting has been miserable and today I'm working a seven hour shift so please say a prayer for me. Also, just to have something else to complain about, my favorite store where I'm from, Hastings, is going out of business so I don't know what I'm going to do with my life.

Everything happens for a reason I suppose but it just seems like a lot of bad has happened this week. I'm looking for something good and bright to come my way, hopefully soon. I guess I'll stop complaining and bothering my readers with my problems! ~Em

Vacation and Concerting

Vacation and Concerting!

I just wanted to touch base and talk about my dad's family's recent vacation to Atlanta and how the Panic! at the Disco and Weezer concert went! Plus, lots and lots of pictures! 

Hot-lanta Vacation! 

Day 1: The drive to Atlanta was 8 and a half hours and so with stops for going potty and getting food, we probably spent 10 hours. Needless to say, we were exhausted. So when we got to our Air B&B house, we all just settled in to our rooms, and fell asleep for a while. Eventually we woke up to get dinner and then came back and went to bed again. 

Day 2: This was probably my favorite day! We went white water rafting with a company called Rolling Thunder River Company. We drove an hour and a half or two outside of Atlanta for the rafting trip to the Ocoee River. We floated a 6 hour float trip with a stop 5 miles in for a bbq taco lunch. The Ocoee River has a 1/4 mile section that was used during the Olympics for the kayaking and floating portions. The river had class 3 and class 4 rapids and it was such an awesome float. It was only my second time rafting but I want to continue rafting on more rivers! Within the first 30 seconds of our float trip, my stepsister T fell in to the river. It was pretty hilarious when it happened because we weren't even on a rapid. Also, I accidentally busted her lip by hitting her with my paddle. She got pretty beat up on the float. After the trip, we came back and ate a huge drive-in called Varsity that is a popular spot to eat on Georgia Tech game days.

Day 3: We are huge fans of amusement parks and so Six Flags was a must for us. Everyone except A is a roller coaster junkie. Six Flags Over Georgia has some really great roller coasters and so it was awesome for us! They have roller coasters that were a lot different from any I had ever been on. The Georgia Scorcher was a roller coaster that you stand up on, which was I weird experience. It made my legs feel really funny. We also rode the first Virtual Reality coaster which was kind of mind-blowing. The headset prevents you from watching the roller coaster in front of you so you have no idea what's coming up next. Another cool roller coaster that we rode was Superman: Ultimate Flight. This was where you get in a seat sort of thing and get your shins and ankles strapped in and then you get tilted forward to where you were laying on your stomach while you ride the ride. It was basically like you were flying! That was definitely one of my favorite rides there! We ended up leaving a little early because there were some scary looking storms rolling in, but then we went and had some really awesome food at a steakhouse and sushi bar. 

Day 4: On the fourth day, we went to the Coca-Cola World museum and the aquarium. Since Coca-Cola was founded in Atlanta they have a big museum dedicated to the history of the coke. There was a tasting room with 100 different Coca-Cola brand drinks from around the world. Since I don't drink soda anymore, I didn't try any, but I had tried some in Disney World at their coke sampling station when I was there last year. We go an aquarium on every vacation that we take because my sister A is obsessed. We watched a really cute dolphin show and we watched the sea lion show as well. They had a lot of themed rooms and a 4D Happy Feet ride. 

Day 5: Every teenage girl loves to go shopping and we have a 4 girls between the ages of 15-20 so of course we had to go to the mall. The Atlanta mall is gigantic. We were sort of overwhelmed at first but once we figured it out, we went crazy with the shopping and had a blast in all the stores. After we finished up at the mall, we went to Fox Bros Barbecue, which is apparently a hotspot for celebs but we didn't see any. This pretty much wrapped up the trip and we went home to pack and get ready to head back home. 

Panic! at the Disco and Weezer

The time finally came for the 2nd concert of the season for me. My sister A and I went up to Northwest Arkansas on Saturday after I got off work and my aunt and uncle took some of her senior pictures (holy cow, I can't believe she's already a senior!) On Sunday, we got up early to finish up the rest of A's senior pictures and then it was time to head back to my aunt and uncle's house, take a nap, and then get ready for the concert! We got ready and then went to my nana's house to have dinner (and she made us pickle pops!!!) and then it was off to the concert! The line was soooo long when we got there and they told us that they were going to let everyone on the right side of the stadium in first because they had been waiting the longest but they ended up letting us switch back and forth on sides so A and I got in fairly quickly. We got some waters so A wouldn't pass out again, like at RiverFest and then we went to find our seats. Our spots were incredible! We were super close to the stage and under the awning so it wasn't incredibly hot. We went and got our concert merch while we waiting for the first band to start. The opening band was Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness, who I saw last year at the Big Summer Show in St. Louis. They were really good! I enjoy watching and listening to their music. Then it came time for Panic! This was also my second time seeing them because they were at the Big Summer Show as well. I LOVE Panic! at the Disco. Like a lot. I knew some of their music before I saw them last summer but not a whole lot. After I saw them last summer though, I was hooked. This concert was especially great because they released new music relatively recently and so they played a lot of songs from the new album that I hadn't heard before! And of course, who wouldn't swoon over Brendon Urie. Or really any members of the band honestly. We went and got more water after Panic! played and then it was time for Weezer. I wasn't sure how I would feel about them, but I really enjoyed them too. I knew more songs than I thought I would and had a great time singing along and listening to new ones from their new-ish album. Overall it was a really awesome concert and now I am super super pumped for the TwentyOne Pilots concert next month!

Atlanta Trip!

Brendon Urie Singing at the Concert

Brendon Playing Piano

Coca-Cola World

Me and A 

Me and A at the Concert

Met up with an SAI sister at the concert

Coca-Cola World free cokes

Rafting with Rolling Thunder

My Dad "Riding the Bull"

T's Turn to "Ride the Bull"

Rivers Cuomo singing King of the World

Pickle Background at Weezer Concert