The Best Acapella Group Ever...

Since I'm stupid and STILL forgot to get on my acount at school and post my word docs, here's something festive for everyone's liking! This is a men's acappella group orginating from Indiana University. They used to do a lot of performaces when they were in college together. They all graduated and went their separate ways, until one of the guys posted their "12 Days of Christmas" on YouTube a couple years ago on Christmas to share with the other guys. Well, they got 6 or 7 MILLION hits, including the head honcho from Atlantic Records who called up his assistant ON Christmas morning and said, "Look these guys up." And they were signed! They have A TON of amazing videos on YouTube and here they are for everyone's enjoyment!
I came across them while in the car with my father on the way to work the other day. We were amazed (and humored) by "12 Days of Christmas." My dad went home and looked them wp. When I listened to it, I heard it and thought there were probably about six or eight guys. My dad thought there were about four, like The Nylons. Well I was closer! (Haha Dad...just kidding!) Something that doesn't cease to amaze me and my father is how these guys will go from one song to another in a slipt second, in the same key or not. Basically, they are MUSIC GENUISES! They didn't even have a teacher or instructor. They did this all on there own (music AND chorography!)
I thought I'd upload so videos for everyone's enjoyment! If you like 12 Days of Christmas you'll LOVE the rest of their stuff (holiday and not!) P.S. they guy who sings "Draddle" actually is Jewish for all the non-Christians out there! :)

12 Days of Christmas (Never gets old...)



Christmas Can-Can (This one never gets old either...ahahaha...)



Teen Sensation Medley (For all those who can remember this...)



Staright No Chaser (They're own theme song...haha)



Hi-De-Ho (This song is just amazing...the one guy practically sings as high as me...and I'm a soprano 1)



The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Does anyone agree with me that that guy's a musical freak?)



NBA Game (This one's just a short funny little commercial)


I'm Yours (This one's pretty cool...)


Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours (I LOVE this one!)

KITTENS INSPIRED BY KITTENS!

I love this video!

Chase, My Life Savor (for my tummy)

Chase Sullivan is the coolest person in the whole entire world. I was sitting here thinking of what I could possibly blog about when my stomach starting growling. I was like “Holy cow! I’m famished!” (Not starving kids, it’s famished. Little kids in Africa are starving.) So I turned to Miranda and Chase and said, “Do either of you guys have food? I’m hungry.” Chase did and asked what I’d do if he gave me some. I told him I’d write a blog about how awesome he was. So here we are.
He has a very good sense of style. He likes Bob Marley, (but then again, who doesn’t?) He has the coolest house (and pool house) I’ve ever been too…or snuck in:) He has the yummiest Mike and Ikes I’ve ever eaten. He also has the cutest picture of a cat I’ve ever seen! He’s basically the coolest guy I’ve ever met:)

Only For Your Awkwardness...

Soooo...we had our fulfillment of Wal-Mart? How about some awkward family photos for everyones enjoyment?

For everyone's Christmas enjoyment: the favorite onesie!

"Now we know how he plans to get down the chimney"


And then there's the Easter Bunny...
"What do you get when you cross an Olympic speed skater with the Easter Bunny and throw in a stripper for the hell of it?"


I know it's legal to drink with parent supervision, but I still think weed's illegal...
"You can only eat so much dip."


Just tilt your head a little further...
"This is jsut what people had to do before they discovered the 'headpile.'"


Let me just adjust myself...

"Marriage can be an adjustment for some people."


I don't even know what to say about this picture...hahahahaha?

"What family reunion wouldn't be complete without Lester, Dick, Gene, Thelma, Ida, Mary and Roberta? And yes, those are their real names."

Gotta Love That Wal-Mart!

I just recently got on peopleofwalmart.com and awkwardfamilyphotos.com again, and here are photos for everyone's enjoyment (or horror)

People of Wal-Mart!

Numero Uno: My personal question is: Is that a man or woman?
"Pull them up, pull it down, wrap it around. There are several different options for your stomach not to play peek-a-boo with my lunch as you are standing in line."

Numero Dos: I honestly thought the picture was horrid, but what I really loved was the quote:"Alright buddy, we are going to look past the hair, but let me give this to you straight. Not only are you going to wear all denim, but you are going to wear women’s denim that Stevie Wonder could see is too tight on you?"

Numero Trois: (Yes I switched to French...I don't know how to spell "three" in Espanol) This one's here because it's from Iowa (we should be so proud...)"For the sake of all men in the world I’m just going to assume that you forgot to put on the other 90% of your Chewbacca costume."

Numero Quatre: Here's another horrible picture with a hilarious quote:"I hope you are picking out some nice underwear for us to look at since its pretty obvious you like wearing your skirt high enough to let us study what you got going on back there."

Numero Cinq: I changed my mind...I'm getting my hair cut JUST like this:"Oh snap, it’s like Rupaul and the Grinch came together for a seriously crazy night"

Numero Six: Why did the chicken go to Walmart?

"I’m not sure why a chicken would buy a microwave. It actually seems quite counterproductive if his main goal is to avoid being eaten."

So You Think You Can Dance (Season 6...so far)

Just as a note with some of the videos: The longer ones (from 4-7 minutes) if you don't care about the extra information and just want to watch the dances you may have to fastforward about a minute into the videos to get to the dancing!:)

This is Jakob, who I've kind of predicted to win...he's basically AMAZING! You'll see why:


Here's Ellenore and Ryan, doing a dance corographed by the AMAZING Travis Wall (my all-time favorite dancer on SYTYCD!)


MOLLEE AND JAKOB! I love, love, LOVED this dance! They were soooooo great together! But Mollee got kicked off:( I really loved Mollee she was AMZAING (but who's not on this show?)


Here's the other dance they did together which was (am I repeating myself repeating my self?) AMAZING! I LOVED this dance and TOTALLY agree with Nigel that Mollee should DEFINATELY go into Broadway!


This is my favorite dancer RUSSELL! I love him. He's a krumper!!!! And amazingly great at everything! He's done almost everyy single style on the show and has KICKED BUTT at them all. He looks like he's trained in all of those styles and here's a video of my favorite contemporary dance with him!


Mollee and Nathan! This dance was amazing! I've been thinking about his dance since they've done it! I'm so sad both of them are gone now, but I think this was their best dance together!


I think this dance was adorable! And Legacy has never had formal dance training, he looks a little awkward sometimes, but they looked AMAZING together! He made me teary afterwards when he started crying! I so sad Legacy's gone now! We love you! He's such an insperation!!!


Here they are AGAIN doing the pasodoble! AMAZING!


This dance was done by Ryan and Kathryn...it was the BEST cha cha I've ever seen! (I feel bad for Ryan's wife Ashleigh who's in the show tho...)


Here's another really good dance with Nathan and Mollee. All I can say about Bollywood is that it looks hardcore. I think this was their second best dance together as a couple!


Tied with their bollywood dance is this disco dance that Mollee and Nathan did. I really enjoyed it! I think the last lifted turn was ridiculous (you'll see why!) :)


This is my favorite dance with Kathryn and Legacy! This was probably one of my favorite dances from the whole season!


Here's the first group dance which was totally different and I LOVED it! So awesome!


Here's probably the best hip hop dance I've ever seen with the three hip hop boys from season 6: Kevin, Legacy, and Russell. I LOVE IT!!!! (This dance is soooo dangerous!)


AMAZING routine chorographed by Travis Wall with Legacy and Elleinore! Seriously the most dangerous dance I've ever witnessed! Anyone agree with Nigel (and me) that this is definately Emmey (sp?) worthy??


One of my favorite dances from this season with Mollee and Russell! Doin' the jive:)


This is Jakob and Jeanine (who won SYTYCD season 5). They've danced together and are really good friends too:)

Dieting

Dieting. It’s one of those subjects you either love or hate to talk about. Me? I’m pretty indifferent as long as you’re one of those people who talks about it rationally. If you’re one of those 98 pound girls who want to loose five pounds, I say I want to tape you a chair and feed you a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s. Then I tell you to shut your face, because obviously you know you’re not fat. DUH! You have two perfectly good eyes and a mirror.

But the real subject I want to talk about is good, healthy dieting. You know, where you eat three balanced meals a day and exercise AT LEAST one or two times a week (three to four is better)? Yeah THAT kind of dieting! Or maybe we should call it “being healthy”?! As Americans, we are the unhealthiest country in the world in so many ways than one! We’ve got high schoolers (and even MIDDLE schoolers) who starve themselves and throw up ever calorie they consume! (What the HECK has the world come to?)

About a month ago, the gym I work at hired a nutritionist for people to meet with. As employees, my mom and I could meet with her for free, so we decided it couldn’t hurt any. She asked us how active we were and what types of things we ate and how many servings of each food groups we ate daily. Because I’m a teenager and active with dance and show choir four days a week, she told me that it’s pretty average for me to consume 2,000 calories a day. Then she gave me healthy snack ideas for home, because I already eat my fulfillment of unhealthy snacks at lunch (yay for Swiss Cake Rolls!) It was really eye-opening for me, because I really thought I did a good job of eating healthy, but she showed me how to take it to the next level. I was extremely happy I went because my family has a history of cancer, diabetes, and other heart-related problems.

Because of these obvious reasons, I think we should have programs like these at schools, because I really don’t think pre-teens and teenagers area aware of how many delicious and healthy choices are out there. I’m NOT saying that we can’t eat some unhealthy snacks (I love them just like the next guy) but teen obesity is a scary issue with Americans nowadays. I heard one in THREE kids under the age of 18 are obese. That is a CRAZY stastistic! I think it’s time for American schools to take charge. You can’t just change the lunch menu and what’s in the vending machine. Two meals kids eat a day are at home. We need to educate them on these topics now. Even starting with fifth graders! Start young, so they have the right ideas and have practice what they think is healthy and should be eaten daily. Even monitor what children are eating, and sit them down to talk to them one-on-one. It’s like drugs or drinking underage. It’s unhealthy and bad for people!

We just had three snow days in a row. I ate junk food the whole three days. Everyone’s guilty of it! You can eat unhealthy foods, as long as it’s not a huge percentage of your intake everyday. I think it’s time for schools to take an active part in making the younger generation of America healthier!

War

War: a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air. (Source: Dictonary.com)

So war, it’s a tough subject. It’s different for every person. For someone like me, it’s more real. Like I stated in a previous blog, “A Day and Two Years to Remember” my dad was in the Army Reserves and fought in Iraq in the war against terrorism. He was there for six months, and every 159 days he was gone I woke up in a panic of worry. Every morning the first thought that went through my mind was: Is he alright? Did something happen while I was asleep? Did experience something horrible while I was sleeping soundlessly without a care or worry in another dimension? Every morning I would sigh with relief as the phone rang for my dad’s daily call. He would call before Crystal and I went to school and before he went to bed.
One morning I awoke with same thoughts as I’d always awoken to, but by the time I left for school I had not sighed in relief to hear the phone ring. He hadn’t called. My anxiety mounted all day. I watched the clock the entire day worry about whether the attendance office would call me down to find my mother in tears with terrible news. By the time school was out, I ran to my mother’s car to find that Dad had called an hour late. But then it happened again the next day, and the next, and the next. Finally my mom asked him why he was calling an hour late, and it turned out that Iraq had daylight saving a week before we did. That was the only big scare, for me, and I’m glad that he came home safely in mid-September. The transition from no dad to a full-time one was a little awkward, but it was a big weight off everyone’s shoulders, especially my mom’s.
So, I guess the reason I think the way I do about the whole war idea is that I experienced it first-hand. Many kids my age, and younger and older don’t know what it’s like to go through what I went through. I know there’s a lot of them out there, just not that many around me. Some kids have an uncle, or a cousin, or a brother (or aunt and sister!) who have done what my dad did, but it’s not as REAL when they leave YOUR home and don’t call YOUR phone in the morning. I know what it’s like to go through not having my father there for Christmas or my birthday. My mom didn’t even celebrate her anniversary with my dad for ten or so years (because each year he’d have drill that weekend).
So I say bring our men and women home where they belong. I think we’ve stuck our foot in foreign affairs for eight years too long. They are big boys and girls over there, and they don’t want us there as much as those of us here don’t want our men and women there fighting. It’s not our war to fight, it never has been. You can fight the War on Terror, if you don’t know who the terrorist is. YOU CAN’T IDENTIFY A TERRORIST BY LOOKING AT HIM!!! Animal right’s activists (like the ones that have happened here in my own town) who set animals free from testing plants and trash their computers are considered “terrorist” for doing I think is completely rational.
But, that is beside the point. America, I think it is time to bring our men and women home. Iraq can live without us; my dad WORKED with training their men one-on-one and says that all the need is the right training and knowledge. WE’VE BEEN THERE FOR EIGHT YEARS NOW! I think they’re good. And all the nonsense with Afghanistan (that I honestly have no clue why it’s going on, I haven’t stayed updated in the current events lately) is probably just a COMPLETE overreaction.
It pains me to know there’s hundred’s of kids out there right now, dealing with what I went through. It’s practically a form of torture! So, America, let’s bring our men and women home safely.