Finally Back

Long post coming, but then you will be updated and I won't be posting anymore this big since I'll update more consistently. Because I am finally back from my trips. Back in Maryland to stay.
I think I'll start with a few things unrelated to my trips and more blogger/book related.

On Friday the 29Th I (well, Christa, her idea, her blog) will be starting a monthly feature "Christa Talks to the Teen" with my wonderful friend Christa! It gives YA writers the chance to ask a teen reader (Me!) questions. Pretty cool, right? Be sure to check out her blog, she's really entertaining!

I came home to books! I won The Billionaire's Unexpected Heir by Kathie DeNosky from Ashley at The Blogging Book.
I won The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker from, again, Christa.
I won Fourteen by C. M. Smith from LibraryThing Early Reviewers, although, it's an ebook, so I didn't come home to it.
Yani was really sweet and sent me an ARC of Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz! You can find Yani at The Secret Life of an Avid Reader.

 Now to talk about my trips. I was with my family in Pennsylvania, off of Lake Erie, for about 5 weeks, came home for three days, and then went to the beach in Delaware for 9 days.

We had family in Pennsylvania from Vermont, New York, New York City, another place in Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Every night was like a big party with so many people and great food! On the 25Th was my great-aunt Karen's b-day. On the 26Th was Karen and Gary's anniversary, my aunt and uncle Amy and Michael's anniversary and my Mom's b-day. The 27Th was my Nana's b-day. The 28Th was my aunt and uncle Dina and Brian's anniversary. Long weekend. My Dad's b-day was on the 4Th of July.

New tile
And my sister

We put tile in my Grandparents kitchen and dining room. I played with all my little cousins for hours and hours. Babysat a lot, too. We played in the lake, in the pool, in an epic river with a rock face. We drove the mule (it's similar to a little Jeep). I got my 37yo second cousin to drive for the first time in 20 years. My sister drove a real car for the very first time.
I can't even remember everything we did. It was crazy...

I painted this on the wall!

Sadly, I had to say goodbye to everyone. I had stayed there for a long time (like I always do), and it was especially hard to leave Amy and Ruby since I had lived with them for so long. Ruby is such a fun 3yo.




So I came home for three days. I saw some friends and got a few things done before I left to the beach in Delaware. Oh, I love the beach. I love sitting on the balcony at any hour of the day and reading. I always watch anyone who walks under my balcony (it's a busy place) and I see the funniest things. One guy freaked out and threw a chair at a fence after midnight. I enjoy reading on the beach more than playing in the ocean. Although, I do get it in the water and love to play Frisbee and paddle ball. I had ice cream almost every night.

Yeah, me and my
sisters were those dorks

A lot of people I know happened to be there at the same time as my family. My violin teacher of 11 years. My friends I've known since birth (although, we planned our trip to the beach together, as usual). A friend from my neighborhood. I got to see everyone! I saw my neighbor when we went to see Harry Potter. Okay, did you see it? Did you love it? I did! Ahh, so good! I'm glad my Dad is as into them as me. Oh, oh! Does anyone watch soccer? The World Cup? It was amazing! I watched as many games as possible (which was a lot). The USA was AMAZING! And so was Japan! And my violin teacher is Japanese, so we watched the Japan vs. Sweden game with her and her husband.

I came home from the beach this morning in time to see the USA vs. Japan game. It was going to start later than we initially thought, so we went out and got me an iPhone! It's nice. *smiles happily* Then we watched the game. Japan won! I'm happy for them, but I wanted USA to win. It was so intense. o.o I was shaky afterwards from all the adrenaline. Just so you know, I watch a lot of live action Japanese TV. With the subtitles. Their comedy is way better than America's comedy. And I want to speak Japanese. I like Japan. I am happy they won, but very sad my girls lost. I know the girls now, I've seen them live. Oh well, there's always next time.

Many, many pictures. I've shared some with you, but there are so many more. I better stop now. Ahh, back to my life. I'll blog a bunch about books soon. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my books.

Toodles!