Watermelon Nails, Before-the-Party Ramblings, and the (Hopefully) End of the Vehicular Drama Saga

Hey lovelies!

So things have been pretty quiet here at Love, Glitter Girl HQ (AKA home). I babysat my two sisters last night, which was good (normally they fight like crazy, but were nice just for me), I have a cast party tomorrow night for the play I was in this spring, Little Shop of Horrors. And yeah.

I might've watched somewhere around six episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation this afternoon (I have no life in the summer). And while I was watching an obscene amount of Star Trek, I decided to paint my nails and do some nail art.

Summery watermelon nails!

I did watermelons, which was a lot more challenging than some of the other nail art I've done because I've never actually painted French tips before. But it went well, so I'm pretty proud of it. (Apologies for the sloppy paint job in the picture, my aim with the brush isn't always the best and I hadn't had time to scour the skin around my nails yet, I promise a better look soon.)

Also, as you know on Monday, the car broke down. The alternator and the battery both blew (which was icky) and we finally got the car back Wednesday, and we haven't had a problem with it since (but now I've probably jinxed it). Hopefully this is the end, but the car is almost 10 years old, so I doubt it. Our last car blew around 10 or 11 as well.

In addition to all the vehicular drama and nail art, as I said above, I am going to a party tomorrow. It's the cast party for Little Shop of Horrors, which was the play I was in this spring, and I have to make a pasta salad for it but that's okay because I make the best pasta salad. A bunch of us are all going to just go to the park and be weird theatre nerds. It's awesome. Also, some of these people I haven't seen since mid-April when the show closed, so that's going to be double awesome.

Other things that happened; I started wearing my retainer after not wearing it for two weeks (I can't figure out which was the bigger mistake), my sisters fought some more today, and I went to the grocery store. Boring, mundane stuff.

School starts soon, so I might get more interesting as the year progresses. I have auditions for a show called Zombie Prom in December, so that's going to be a thing, and I'm actually remembering to blog so that's good. Good job, me.

Some folks are lighting off fireworks for some strange reason, and I can hear the fweeeee of them launching outside my bedroom window.

That's all for tonight, sorry for the weird posting time.

Love,

Glitter Girl

Car Troubles, Hair Dye, and Day to Day Mundane Stuff

Hey lovelies!

Sorry for not posting lately. I tend to not write when my life is doing normal things, and it's been doing a lot of very normal things recently. So yeah.

So what have I been up to lately?

Well, on Friday night (the 8th, for anyone who's wondering), I went to see a bunch of my amazing theatre friends perform in a show called Godspell. And oh my gosh it was like the greatest thing ever. Now, for some reason, act 1 of a show is always "Sunshine! Rainbows! Happiness! Love!" and then act 2 is always "Blood! Death! Destruction!" and let me just say that Godspell was VERY MUCH like this. I cried at the end, and I have never cried watching a musical before so it was incredibly well written and also incredibly well performed. And no, I'm not just saying that because I love those weirdos (even though I do).

Also, on Monday, I was going out for lunch with my family when the car started having some issues (the alternator broke and took the battery with it). We made it about halfway to lunch before we had to pull into a parking lot and reevaluate. We ended up leaving the car in the parking lot and walking to lunch (which would've been cool, as it's only a short walk from where we ended up, but it was like 90°F out and humid as all heck because this is Georgia), and then by some stroke of magic, my best friend's mom was in the area and she offered to drive us home. So that was good. And then we had to negotiate getting the car towed, and all sorts of lovely stuff, and we should get it back today but who knows.

So that was fun.

In addition, I've been thinking about dyeing my hair. I'm not a hundred percent certain, and I've asked at least two of my best friends to talk me either into it or out of it because I really don't know if I should, but I'm thinking of dyeing it bubblegum pink. I'm a little concerned about it because I am originally a redhead and I don't really want to lose that shade (also because touching up roots is going to be a pain because my hair grows fast), but hopefully I will stop wiffle-waffling (yes, that is a legit word) about it soon and just do it.

Going to be babysitting my sisters for my parents' anniversary (and getting paid). Probably going to sit around and write essays because I'm homeschooled and not done with last year (bad decision on my part). So yeah.

Mundane stuff.

But maybe something interesting will happen soon.

Love,
Glitter Girl

Summer Camp Shenanigans, Part 7: The End of the Week

Hey lovelies!

Welcome to the very last part of Summer Camp Shenanigans! Well, we finally made it here and I guess this is where it all ends. So it's going to be a bit of a short post.

On Saturday morning, we had muffins and then packed up our stuff onto the trailers and went down to the dining hall to await our parents. We all exchanged numbers and emails and stuff, and then we all went outside to sit by the flag and do our awards ceremony.

Now, hold it hold it hold it, you're probably saying. Your camp has an awards ceremony?

Yes. Yes it does.

See the thing is, on the last day, every camper gets recognized for something that they did this week that was pretty cool. We didn't do it my first year of camp, but my second year, I got an award for "Most Resilient"—translation: I fell off a horse and got back on said horse.

So this year, I ended up with basically an award for conquering my fears of horses (mostly). The actual award had a much longer name that I can't remember off the top of my head.

And then I gave my mum and my little sister a tour of literally the ENTIRE camp. Yeah, I do that every year, but it was a good time and I showed them my unit and stuff, and then we went home.

And that's the end of Summer Camp Shenanigans! I hope you all enjoyed, and I may do another Summer Camp Shenanigans when I next go to summer camp (hopefully next summer! :D), but that's going to be all for now.

Love, Glitter Girl

Summer Camp Shenanigans, Part 6: In Which Glitter Girl Cries a Lot and Tries To Remember Everything Else That Happened That Day

Hello lovelies!

Welcome to Part 6 (finally) of Summer Camp Shenanigans! When we last left off, it was Thursday and good things had happened.

Now time for Friday.

So on Friday morning, I managed to swim (decided Thursday morning was too sucky to go through again) and then we went canoeing. My canoe team argued a lot, but we went pretty fast, although one of the counselors had to pull our canoe onto the beach at the end because we kind of sucked at steering. So good times with water sports.

And also lunch, which was good.

And then there was turtle time, and that's when stuff went down.

Before I go any further, here's some background: every session, we have a closing campfire. Basically, we all go down to the campfire and we sing rather sad camp songs that we don't sing any other time, and we say nice things about our units and the camp director makes nice speeches and we do a bunch of rather odd end-of-camp rituals and you'd think it would be fun and exciting but it's actually really sad for quite a few of us. Myself included.

So anyway, my unit leader was teaching us the song we were going to sing. It was a rather sad and mildly strange song called "One Tin Soldier" (Google it if you don't know what it is, it's actually pretty good). I got it pretty quickly, but then all of a sudden, I realized that this was the last night. This was my last taste of camp for another year. And I felt pretty rubbish about that.

And what does Glitter Girl do when she feels things?

That's right; she cries.

So I started crying, and then Raina realized I was crying, and we ended up hugging in the middle of the room and I felt kind of sucky and stuff. I managed to recompose myself afterward, and then we went to riding.

And I cried again.

Whoop-dee-do.

We rode, and we went on another trail ride (very unusual, but good) and I thought on horseback, and figured out that I'm generally the most clear-headed when I'm not in the ring; things seem smaller, less difficult, on the trail. And then we took our unit picture, which was also good.

Then came candlelight dinner.

More background: every session, on the last night of camp, all the camp gets fancied up (well, all the counselors do, and some of the campers, but most of them didn't bring any nice clothes so there's usually a bunch of us in t-shirts) and we eat various foods and sing a lot of noisy camp songs. And then, all dressed up and fancy, we go down to the closing campfire.

So candlelight dinner was a good time. The closing campfire was sad.

We got down there, and I might've lasted, like, five minutes before I started crying (again). We sang our song, and then we did that thing where we all say nice things, and the topic of this year was "Who do you want to be like when you grow up?"

I said it was my counselors, because they'd been so patient with me throughout my mess.

And then Fiona got up.

Fiona said that she wanted to be like me, because I was open and honest about whatever I was feeling.

I have never been so flattered in all my life.

After the campfire and the weird camp rituals, we went back up to the unit, and I must've thanked every single counselor there for putting up with all of my drama, and they said it really was no big deal, and I felt kind of better about it but kind of not.

And then we all went to bed again, and that was the end of Friday.

Maybe I Shouldn't Take Year-Long Breaks? Time for Catch-Up

Hello lovelies!

I am so-so-so-so sorry I haven't posted in almost a year. School started back up and my life has been a mad dash ever since (school tends to eat up a lot of my time), so I kind of spaced it (which I often do) and the next thing I know, it's July.

I need to, like, not do that.

Anyway...

So, I went to Switzerland on the 20th (at least, I think it was the 20th) of June, and we ran around and got jet-lagged as heckity heck and came back on the 5th of July and I might've gotten into the habit of thanking people in German and French instead of English, which really doesn't work when you live in the US. We climbed mountains and didn't die and good stuff like that. :)

Also, I did a theatre thing from February to April. The rehearsal schedule was a little crazy (5 nights a week) and tech week was a nightmare because drama both at home and at rehearsal, but we didn't totally mess up and we did good, so that was a thing. I actually made a few friends and talked to the friends and went out with one of the friends for coffee, which was good.

So that's basically been my life.

I know I haven't finished Summer Camp Shenanigans yet, and I'm going to try to, but the truth is I really don't remember most of what happened on the Friday as it's been, like, a year since we did summer camp.

Also, bad news; not going this year. I wish I was, summer camp is kind of my life, but I went to Switzerland instead. You win some, you lose some.

I may post like, three posts today. Or I may do the thing with the scheduling where I say "Hey blogger, post this post at this time". I dunno

So that's where I'm at.

Love,
Glitter Girl

10 Summer Fashion Things I Can't Live Without

I'm not usually the kind of girl who talks about clothes all the time (there are plenty of people out there like that if you want to read a blog by someone who does). In fact, I like to consider myself a tomboy. But once in a while, I do enjoy a little bit of glitz, glamour, and fabric talk, because I do care very much about whether or not the fabric I'm wearing is soft.

Now, I know everyone on the internet has done a list like the one I'm about to do. I know they've been doing them since the internet first became available to the general population (slight exaggeration? Maybe). But I still want to make my own list of 10 summer fashion things that I, personally, can't live without.

So, without further ado, here is my list.

I love this pair of flip flops!

1. My favorite pair of flip flops. These shoes (see the above picture) have serviced me for a good four or five years now and while they're starting to get a bit worn out, they're insanely comfy and I wouldn't trade them for the world. 
2. Denim shorts. For me, having at least one pair of denim shorts is essential to my summer wardrobe. They're comfy, they go with everything, and I can dress them up or down for just about any occasion.
3. All of my summer camp T-shirts. I have five of them now, most of them from the same camp, and they're my go-to shirts when I want to wear something comfy and awesome-looking.
4. Bandanas as headbands. When I got a pixie cut in the spring, I didn't like the way I looked when I wore anything but a T-shirt and jeans. So I started wearing bandana headbands, which look really good with t-shirts and shorts.
5. Brightly colored nail polish and nail art. I'm not good at drawing at all, so my nail art isn't exactly on the same level as Picasso, but I still do it. I did a flamingo and a cupcake last summer and they were pretty cool!
6. Bright colors in general. If it's bright, I will probably wear it. Well, aside from anything with ruffles, which I can't stand, but I adore neons and they just seem to go with summer.
7. Striped shirts. And when I say stripes, I mean horizontal stripes. Maybe it's just the nautical-ness of navy and white, but something about them just screams summer, the beach, and warm weather.
8. Friendship bracelets. Like the kind you made at summer camp. I have three of them that I've made myself, and I think the fact that they're the kind of thing you make at summer camp makes them so endearing to me.
9. Peasant tops. I grew out of my favorite one, but I adore peasant tops, especially in the summer time. Why? No idea. They're just fabulous.
10. Graphic shirts with fruit on them. I love any shirt that has a pineapple, a watermelon, or a strawberry on it. They're very summery, make me think of picnics, and every time I look at them, I think to myself, "Man, I could use a pineapple/watermelon/strawberry right now." I am very food-oriented. :)

Did I ever tell you how much I suck at top ten lists? I start out thinking that I've totally got ten ideas, but then by about #5, I forget everything I wanted to write. But I made this one! So yay!

Happy summer!

Love,

Glitter Girl

Happy Canada Day, Summer Camp Packing, and Other Random Stuff

Happy Canada Day! The 1st of July is the day when all the lovely Canadians celebrate their country. Canada became a country on July 1st, 1867, when the British North America Act (better known today as the Constitution Act, 1867) united three colonies (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada, now Ontario and Quebec) into one country. And, since my parents were born in Canada, we kinda-sorta celebrate Canada Day. Well, we ate about 4/9 of a really big cookie cake thing, but we do celebrate it.

In 18 days, I will be leaving for summer camp. And believe me, every day that passes makes me more and more excited about it. I only go once a year, so it's kind of a big deal to me. And when things are a big deal to me, I tend to go WAY WAY WAY overboard in terms of planning them.

Which is why I now present to you the ultimate guide/my top five tips for packing for summer camp!

1. If they give you a packing list, try to follow it. There's usually a reason of sorts for everything on the list, so always at least pay attention to it. They may also have special equipment for what you'll be doing that they expect you to bring, so having some foreknowledge about this stuff is useful.
2. Don't be afraid to pack extra clothes. Unless you're going to an absolutely indoors-only summer camp, which I highly doubt, you are going to get dirty. Likely very dirty. Possibly even extremely dirty. That, when combined with the chance of rain, means that you may need to change clothes. I also ended up in a cabin where when I changed into a camp t-shirt for our unit photo, when I changed back into the clothes I'd worn that day, they told me specifically to put on fresh clothes. So yeah.
3. Bring practical shoes. Don't bring your best pair of high heels. Summer camp usually involves mud, gravel, uneven terrain, and a lot (I mean a lot) of walking. You can sacrifice fashion for a little while if it means your feet won't be killing you by the end of a morning.
4. Try to make your stuff take up as little space as possible. Now, if you have the most enormous suitcase/duffle bag/trunk/backpack in the history of the universe, this suggestion doesn't apply to you. But if you're like the rest of us and don't have that much space, you're going to have to make all the stuff you're packing take up as little room as possible so you can fit all of it. Pack it in Ziploc bags. Roll it up and elastic band it together. Fold it REALLY REALLY tightly. Cram insanely. Whatever works for you.
5. Dress for the weather. I cannot stress this enough. If you pack for 90°F weather and it's only 50°F where you're going, your camp trip is going to majorly suck. It's the same the other way around. Try to find out what the weather's going to be like before you go, and if possible, bring at least one outfit for cooler temperatures if you're going somewhere hot, and at least one outfit for warmer temperatures if you're going somewhere warm.

Well, Happy Canada Day, happy travels to all of you who are traveling this summer, and happy winter to all of you in the Southern Hemisphere where the seasons seem backwards to us Northerners!

Love,

Glitter Girl