SPRING!!!!!

Spring is here. No more snow. The trees are all pretty and everything is born again.:)

Ok so I couldn't think of a good idea for this free topic blog because I was distracted by thoughts of summer. So I decided to talk about Washington Island, a place I go every summer for a few weeks. It's an island in the middle of Lake Michigan...so consequently middle of nowhere. Population: 200 year-round, 1000 during the summer. There's many interesting things to do on the Island: fishing (where if you catch a fish, everyone on the incoming ferry comes to the railing and cheers), hiking (where you will meet with the friendly wildlife), horseback riding (where you will find me...as well as the owner...be ready for verbal abuse, a long wait, and a beautiful view), swimming on the beaches (Sand Dunes Beach is basically overgrown now, but Schoolhouse is always insanely busy. You will most likely freeze. Also, the rocks that make up the beach are famous. $50 fine or higher for taking a rock.), eating (It's all fish. If you don't like fish, then you're gonna starve in a hurry), baseball games (the Islanders vs. someone from the mainland...this is always interesting. You will hear the announcer blatantly insult the opposing team, until someone takes his mic away.), bar hopping (this isn't just for the adults!! Bring the kids too!! I've been playing pool and darts in the bars since I was 11. There are like FOUR bars and only one grocery store. That amuses me :), the many museums (which are NOT family friendly, as your children may die of boredom or you kill them because they're whining or both. Some are interesting, but kids have the attention span of a gnat.), and boating (there's many beautiful inlets and coves around the Island. At the 2 major marinas, Detroit and Jackson Harbors, there's motor boat and jet ski rental.) My favorite thing to do on the Island besides riding is taking pictures. Some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world are here because there's absolutely no pollution or city lights (that would require people). The sunsets there rival the ones I saw in Cancun. I also love to go to the many restaurants there. The people know you by name if you go up there enough and they'll most likely stop and talk to you for a while. The people up there just seem to be different. I've had many interesting things happen up there. For example, I had my first near death experience when my horse took off on me into the woods and I got scraped off by a tree. Also, I almost ran over a baby grey fox on my bike. He slipped away, but that's how close you are to nature. I also got dive-bombed by the bats that were in our cabin. The main event on the Island is the Island Fair in August. We're usually up there for this. It's small in comparison to Peoria festivals, but all 200 residents and many tourists turn out for it. There are many interesting floats. The most interesting was the Red Hat Society. This is for older women. Their float was a hot tub on wheels and there was white and blue balloons filling it like they were water. Then the ladies were wearing tube tops, but hiding by the balloons, so people would think they were topless!! It scared me because I thought they WERE topless. Some of the ladies were in their 80's and 90's, but that apparently didn't make them any less fun. They whistled at the men in the crowd and got everyone's attention. The main attraction for the men (besides the topless seniors) is the beautiful shiny truck. But instead of raffling it off, the men wait in line to take a swing at it with a baseball bat. The more damage you cause, the more manly you are. It's really fun to watch all these men go at a pickup with bats. But that just goes to show you what kind of people live on the Island. They're all characters up there, every single one of them is memorable or odd or crazy in some way. They're basically all different sorts of people inhabiting a tiny beautiful island in the middle of nowhere and perfectly happy. To most teenagers, it would seem boring. And I understand that. Who doesn't like Chicago or NYC or California?? And my parents were sure that once I turned 16, I would freak at the idea of going to a small island in Wisconsin. But I know I'll never get bored of the Island.

Service Project

I worked at the Y for my service hours the summer of my freshman year. I worked with the little toddlers at the summer camp program. The kids were monsters sometimes and liked to ambush me with squirt guns/water balloons/hoses. They also got into fights with each other that resulted in tears, bruises, and bloody noses. The girls most of the time were very good. They liked to put my hair in styles that I would be embarrassed to wear around my own house. The girls made up the most elaborate games that usually had a central theme: Miss Libby would be tackled and pinned to the ground. I'm not very big on harsh discipline, but I did keep the kids in line when need be. I didn't like the methods that my co-workers employed. After all this WAS summer camp and it's no fun to play the "quiet game" all day because your counselor is in need of advil. My methods ultimately resulted in the kids loving me best, my fellow counselors leaving the kids with me to take breaks because I was low-person on the totem pole, and getting a offer for an actual real paying job this coming summer.

My Spring Break Plans

Actually, I'm writing this in the middle of break, so this rather late, but my spring break is pretty uneventful so far. I've hung out with my friends a lot, but those sorts of things are never planned. It's all mostly spur-of-the-moment.:) I've been to my friend, Meredith Lohr's house for a party and yesterday, I went shopping with my other friend, Carrie Toner. That was fun. We basically ran to Steak and Shake, frightened all the wait staff and other costumers, and shopped for prom dresses. (neither of us are going, but she seems to think I'm going to be asked, so I need to start looking for a dress.:p she's insane.) Today, I might have her and this guy we know over to play soccer or we might just hang out. Tomorrow, I'm traveling up to Ohio to see my grandpa and spend Easter up there. That's pretty much my spring break. I wish I was going somewhere exotic and WAAARRRM...*sigh* but I'm here. I'm still trying to sleep in and stay up late like I can't do during the school week. So that's good.

My Invention

The invention I would want to create is a chocolate that makes you lose weight. There are lots of false claims out there saying that some people's chocolate is "slimming" when actually all it has is vitamins in it that help weight loss. Even worse, the chocolate sometimes has harmful substances inside designed to flush things out of the body. That's just bad for you and wouldn't be at all helpful in the long run. My chocolate would safely rev up your metabolism instantly, making you lose weight visibly and instantaneously. If that was a hit, then I'd introduce other instant weight loss foods such as pizza and ice cream. This would not only solve a lot of problems, such as obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and many other horrible maladies associated with being too overweight, it would also be valuable to many aspects of the consumer market. Dieting women would line up in the streets for it and moms would use it as a healthy but delicious alternative to other desserts. I don't think it really should take the place of food, but it would certainly help people lose weight...and I would probably eat it all the time.

How My Lenten Season Is Going So Far

My Lenten season is going okay so far. I was SUPPOSED to be giving up sweets, but that kind of failed...so when I confessed that in Confession, Father suggested that I give up gossiping instead because gossiping is a problem at Peoria Notre Dame High School and I shouldn't contribute. This has been going better, but it's rather difficult to discern what is gossip and what isn't. However, I am trying very hard and putting in the effort. I am also trying to be more patient and controling my temper better so I don't lash out at unsuspecting people. This also is working out quite well and I feel much better. To add to all this, I also attempted to go to bed earlier and not stay up 'till 12 am texting...but that turned out to be more than I could handle so I just stuck with what I had before.:) Overall, Lent has been a challenge for me, but I'm determined to be better.

My Irish History

I was glad to see that the blog topic was something Irish because that's a topic that is pretty close to me. My dad was adopted from Ireland when he was two years old. My family's true last name is "Leonard". That doesn't sound very Irish, I know, but it's one of the oldest Irish family names. It means "lion-bold" which I thought was pretty neat. "Brost" is my dad's adopted last name. It's German, but I'm not German at all. I am 100% Irish and as you maybe can tell, I'm more proud of that than anything. St. Patrick's Day is my favorite holiday because I grew up as part of the Peoria Irish community and I just love the amazing people. They have such fascinating stories about their families. I've walked in the parade since I was a toddler and I always enjoyed it because all the older Irish generation would see me and call me things like "Wild Irish Rose" which made me feel special. It's a really close "family" there. I love Irish music and have many of the old traditonal songs on my ipod, but also newer music like "Flogging Molly". The food is amazing as well. My best friend, Caroline Toner, is also like 100% Irish. She's the stereotypical Irish with the red hair and the blue eyes, while I'm "dark Irish" like my dad. Carrie and I joke that we're racist against anyone who's not Irish...we're joking, of course, but we are both incredibly proud of our heritage. I met my dad's family two years ago in a little town of Tullamore in County Tipperary, I believe. It was amazing to learn about them and get to know them. My dad's real mom and dad have since died, but there was a sister still. It was all very interesting because apparently, my dad was born of a "scandal" between his dad and mom, which was the talk of the little town for years. It was like a soap opera. For this reason, the older generation of the town was resentful of us at first and standoffish. Finally, they came around when they realized that all me and my family wanted was to meet them and learn about our history, not to bring up bad memories or demand some sort of inheiritance. It was an amazing trip and I learned many things, like that one of my ancestors was the King of Connaught, a rugged and wild and to the west of Ireland. I was amazed by my family history. I am more proud of being Irish than I am of ANYTHING and I am excited for St. Patrick's Day to come.