Cousin Craziness!

Hey people,

as you know I haven't been blogging as much as before, but I can explain... again. I have met two awesome cousins that live here on the Island and they have been sleeping over since Saturday. I have never had cousins so close to my age before, so it's really nice to be able to stay up late and talk nonstop about random teenage things, like how I do with close friends. Anyhow, yeah, so I have not been a frequent blogger due to the fact that I have been spending time getting to know them better and all sorts of things, but I will try my hardest to set aside time, even for one post, while they are here.

Now that that's out of the way, just wanted to say THANK GOD CHRISTMAS IS OVER! (Check out my "Ugh, It's Christmas" post).

And finally,

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

Are We Seriously In The Middle Of A Cane Field?

So on Sunday, after my mom had come home from doing some work at her job, my parents decided to have us take a drive down the country side of the island. So we drove and looked at the beautiful scenery on the East coast, took a drive down to the beach and everything. Great. Now, on our way home, we used this GPS app that my dad downloaded on his iPhone. So we're following it and suddenly, we are in the middle of a cane field. Sugar cane to be exact.

I was reading a book on a book reader, so I didn't really notice what was going on until my mom said, "oh my god." When I looked up, we were on a small trail surrounded by cane (which looks like overgrown corn stalks, by the way). I was in the middle of a horror novel as well, so that didn't help. I just kept remembering those horror scenes when people break down in the middle of nowhere and this guy that looks like a haunted scarecrow or something runs at you with a chainsaw; not very good thoughts at a time like that. So my mom is freaking out, saying she has to pee or that she's gonna puke, my dad is slowly driving the car, focusing on the road, my little brother is crying (I know, right?), and I'm laughing my head off. I don't know if it was a mixture of nervousness and how funny everyone else in the car was acting, but I was hysterical. My mom, then, started getting mad at me for laughing so hard in such a serious situation, mad at my brother for being so dramatic, and mad at my dad for (1) downloading the app, and (2) driving so slow. What happened next was so funny that I started to choke on air, I kid you not. My dad goes "wind down your window and pull in the side mirror." Now, it is night time in the middle on a cane field and my dad was worried about side mirrors getting damaged. My mom obviously refused, but then my dad started rolling down the window for her. My mom lost it. She goes, "You seriously want me to put my arm out of this car for someone or something to drag me through this window and attack me?" My dad and I laughed so hard. My poor mom was slowly going crazy.

We finally made it to a residential area and we all settled down, except for my mom. She said that her heart still wouldn't settle down. Wow...

Now, she is supposed to be blogging these funny stories as well, but hasn't gotten around to it, so I'll try to get her to blog her experience in this situation so that you can see it from her perspective. I'm sure it'll be hilarious...

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

YAY; I've Got Viewers!

I wrote this out of complete happiness. I mean, I've got so many other things that I need to write, but this is just really important.

So, every morning before I blog, I check my e-mail, possibly change my status, and then sign on to my website. Then, I go straight to my stats to see what posts have been read and by who. This morning I was surprised to see that I had about 17 views yesterday and 6 view already for the morning. Not only that, but I've got views in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Germany, Italy, Russia, Barbados, and France. That is AMAZING! I mean, all of you guys are reading my words every day. It just inspires me to keep writing, even if I'm dirt tired or just very lazy.

I still remember the first week or so that my blog was up. Nobody (and I mean nobody) read my blog. I kept posting every day, hoping that at least one person would show up in that stats page. Finally I saw that someone in Russia had read my blog about three times and I was ecstatic. From then I got views in Indonesia,  Turkey, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Brazil and so on. What gets me, even more than the fact that my blog has become so popular, is that my words have reached each and every one of you.

When I write every day, I don't know who I'm writing to. I don't know who is going to read what I'm saying, who's gonna understand it, laugh at it, laugh with it, think about it, take it to heart. All of these things are what I hope to achieve through this blog. What started off as a small little midnight idea has blossomed into this big thing, it's remarkable.

Now, what I also see is that while all of you read my blog, possibly even on a regular basis, you don't click that "Join This Site" button under "Lowell's Fans" on the right side of the page. Become a member using your Google, Twitter, Yahoo!, AIM, Net log, or Open ID account. If you don't have one, there is a link at the bottom of the pop-up screen that will direct you to where you can create a Google account. That way you can connect with other fans and get immediate updates whenever I post something new and what not.

Besides that, I have only gotten one comment from a friend of mine. Don't be afraid to click on the "comments" button underneath a post and share how you felt about the post. This could mean that you hated it, loved it, laughed at it, you cried when you read it, or maybe you have your own story to share or your own opinion in relation to the topic. Share it! I would love to see what you guys have to say. I know also that there are so many different nationalities reading my blog, so maybe the fact that your comment would be in a different language keeps you from commenting, but don't worry about it. I would love to hear from you guys in any language; and besides, I can just copy and paste it into Google Translate. No problem...

Something else that would make my day is for you guys to click on that envelope next to the comments button and send the post to some of your friends, family, etc. My blog is for sharing with your peers, for reading with them, for discussing with them. That's why I made this blog; so that you guys will be able to show your friends and talk about it.

Last but not least, vote on my poll. Every month I will have a poll at the top of the right side of the screen. It could be random or relative to what I've posted. Either way, it is another way for you to share your opinion. At the end of the month, the winning vote will be displayed.

I just want to thank you guys, really. I may not know you, but you are all my friends in a way. I write as if writing to someone that I know, that I care about; a friend. You guys encourage me every time you read and that's why I want you guys to become more involved in my website, to feel like you can fully be yourself here. Just remember, you are always welcome!

Love Always,
Katrina Lowell

11.17.11- Rihanna "We Found Love"

Okay, First of all I HATE THIS SONG!!! Now, I don't know if you guys like it or not, but all I know is that this song is just...just an epic (and I do mean EPIC) fail.

Rihanna's new song is just like the others... bare rubbish. I mean, there are a few good ones, but when we go back in time to her first and second albums, the songs were so good. In fact, I own her first three, but the new ones, I don't even spit on. I think my favorite song of all of her new ones is "What's My Name." It all ended with "Rude Boy," to be honest. It just really disappoints me because I love Ri Ri, but gosh.

Anyhow, yeah, the song is one of the typical dance ones, but they tried to make a love song out of it. The first line throws me off though. "Yellow diamonds in the light."...okay? Anyhow, I've heard it SO many times that I just want it to get bombed, for real.

Besides that, the harmonies and vocals in this are so boring. Why? Because they went and ruined this with that cheesy, anime theme song backing track. Therefore, you can't really do a lot with your vocals because then it would sound busy and annoying. Ugh...

I think that her best recent vocal have been on "California King Bed," possibly the worst song of all time. I mean, really? Whoever is writing these songs needs to get fired, QUICKLY!

And "tisk tisk," Rihanna. You are now able to pick some, if not most, of the songs you sing. You agreed to sing these songs. STOP IT PLEASE! I miss your old ones, like "P.S. I'm still not over you" and "A Million Miles Away," so please...

Okay, well I'm done now. Just so glad to finally get that out :)

(Couldn't show the video 'cuz I just saw it and it is... bad. Don't watch it either, okay? Trust me...)

Love Always <3,

Katrina Lowell

11.16.11- Elle Varner ft. J. Cole "Only Wanna Give It To You"

Okay, no, this song isn't on my bad list AT ALL; it is just so good that I had to blog it right now.

So yeah, I've heard this song a couple times on the radio and I thought that it should come right after "Domino" by Jessie J just to show you guys what I mean by bringing your story back around using the relative topic and some lyrics. Elle Varner, a new artist, has this song (of which I don't know if she wrote or not) that talks about liking this guy more than her shoes. Now, this girl (as you will see in the music video) loves shoes, so this topic was just right for her. She describes how she wished she had bought this guy instead of these amazing new shoes and how (in my favorite line) he's more special than her Adidas. I don't know why that line made me "click my heels " (pun obviously intended) so much. This song is funny while lyrically fulfilling and smart. I just love it all around.

Her voice reminds me a lot of Jazmine Sullivan, known famously for "Bust Your Windows," another one of my favorites. I actually thought that she sang this song, just to find out that it is this other talented star. She was accompanied by J. Cole, a recently popular rapper. I think he's okay, but I do question his placement in his song. I think that it could have done well without him, but his rap part is cool, so I guess it works.

What I like especially is the way the music video was made. It's just really nice. First of all, The colors are just very bright and make so many things just pop off the screen (to me at least). Besides that, it gave you such a great idea of how bubbly Elle Varner seems. It, to me, is the best "new artist" video that I've seen in a while.

Now, something that really upsets me is that people are already hating on her. I understand that everyone has haters, but I seriously don't know how someone could look at her, hear her voice and make negative comments. In fact, these people are so stupid, right, that on YouTube, in the comments, they couldn't find anything to say to rip her apart, so they said that she had a large, ugly forehead. Really? That's the best that you jerk faces could come up with? I mean, if you're gonna hate on someone, you best find an extraordinary reason that's at least factual. Her forehead is no larger or uglier than anyone elses. In fact, I've never seen an ugly forehead before. Anyhow, I know that it is very unlikely for famous people to read my blog, but Elle (if you're reading, hi... new fan :)), don't let these people change who you are. It would really be a pity because you seem to be such a nice person with an amazing voice, so to see people just put you down like that is terrible. Keep your head up, and haters, don't hate!

Enjoy (and I know you will)!

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

We Even Set It On Fire!...

So, judging by the title, you could be thinking a few things:

1) I destroyed something and then set it on fire,
2) I was so amazing at some sort of party that I "set the place on fire," so to speak,
3) or you could just be completely confused.

At any rate, what I'm talking about is a centipede. That's right, a centipede. Now, what most people don't realize is that a centipede is more dangerous than it's made out to be.

First of all, they are incredibly fast. They remind me of small snakes, the way they seem to slither so swiftly. This makes them so hard to catch, especially if you have to run and get a weapon to kill them with because by the time you're back, it's gone.

Second of all, these suckers have stingers! They are in their two front legs and they've got venom in them. From what I gather, it's extremely painful and causes massive swelling to the affected area. My dad told me that it's so painful that many people faint, want to get the limb amputated all together, and some even die. I'm pretty scared.

Last, but definitely not least, they are very hard to kill. They've got a hard, protective shell, so spraying them doesn't really work, banging them with something doesn't really work, and, as you will see in this story, setting them on fire doesn't work either.

Recently we have seen two centipedes in our house. The first time, we were caught off guard and extremely unprepared. Therefore, we found ourselves spending quite a long time using different methods, such as spraying him and hitting him repeatedly with a shoe. We eventually took him onto our patio and my dad hit him over, and over, and over, and over... and finally just chucked him off the edge. That shook all of us up, to where we weren't even comfortable sleeping in our beds, afraid that this evil centipede, or maybe his friends, will come back for revenge.

After a couple days of not seeing any, we started getting back into the groove, but then I heard my mom scream. I knew exactly what it was, so I grabbed a shoe and ran upstairs. It was in my parents' shower this time and had crept through one of the bathroom windows. My mom was in the middle of flat ironing her hair, so she just yelled directions to my dad. My dad was beating the living daylights out of it with a tub scrubber, but when I saw the centipede, he was still scurrying along like nothing was going on. Then I heard my mom say to light him on fire, so I ran downstairs and got the lighter. My dad took it and put the flame DIRECTLY on him for about ten minutes. You know the dude was still flopping around? Finally his stinger was burnt to a crisp, so he started to drag it about, still trying to escape (this was one of the most disturbing scenes that I have ever seen, by the way). What was worse is that my dad banged his head off with the scrubber, and his body was still wiggling. EWWWWWWW... My dad just flung him out the window afterwords.

Now what scares me the most is the fact that these guys seem immune to dying. No matter what you do, they still live on. I mean, after setting it on fire and cutting off the head, it was still ready for more. They're worse than zombies because at least, for them, these two methods seem to work.

I've already explained to you guys about the wildlife here on the island, but I have got to say that centipedes are the scariest of all.

(I just had to show you guys this one. She OBVIOUSLY doesn't know how much pain she could be in for in a few seconds :S)

(Not that friendly, huh? Check out those stingers!!!)

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

12.15.11- Jessie J "Domino"

Another painful revelation has been made; Jessie J has written a pretty bad song.

Now, as you might have seen in one of my first posts about one of her songs, I love her. I mean, she just inspires me to be super crazy sometimes. She's just so daring and confident that it's amazing. And, in honesty, I love most of her songs, but this new one has really disappointed me.

What I gather is that the song is about this guy that takes her breath away, sweeps her off of her feet, and (apparently) takes her down like a domino effect. Okay, great concept, but can you round it out just a little with some lyrics? I mean, sure, her vocals are her typical "goose bump worthy" ones, but the lyrical content is just... not placed correctly. Look, I'm a song writer (I've told ya'll that plenty of times) and lyrics are what I focus on most when writing a song. I write songs pretty weird, though. First of all, I can't play any instrument besides a recorder, and I obviously can't do much with that. Therefore I've downloaded a music program that allows me to make a backing track by piecing together some samples or whatever. Anyhow, I might start off with that and build up, or I might just write a title and work like that. However I get it done, I make sure that the lyrics work with whatever my topic is. For instance, If my song is about a love that has "Put A Spell On Me" (One of my songs), then I use words like "curse" if it is a bad type of "magic", or maybe "set me free", just a lot of magical terms. Why? Because that is what I chose to use as my relative topic. Now, tell me why Jessie, after relating how she feels to dominoes, she fails to use one example or phrase to bring it back around.

Now, because this is so disappointing to me, I've decided to show you guys what I mean by providing you with the lyrics:

I'm feeling sexy and free
Like glitter's raining on me
You're like a shot of pure gold                                    
I think I'm 'bout to explode
( Okay, Verse 1 and no relation to dominoes...)
 
I can taste the tension like a cloud of smoke in the air
Now I'm breathing like I'm running cause you're taking me there    
Don't you know...you spin me out of control
(Couldn't this (/\/\) be:  "Don't you know... you knock me down with your soul" or some other characteristic that she likes? And I don't think that a domino spins...Seriously J...) 

Ooh ooh ooh

[Chorus]
We can do this all night
Turn this club, skin tight
Baby come on
Pull me like a bass drum     
Sparkin' up a rhythm
Baby, come on!
(This could work when talking about falling in love with the DJ or something, but dominoes? Not really.)

Ooh ooh ooh ooh

Rock my world into the sunlight
Make this dream the best I've ever known
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
(...Okay, one note taken after so many other unrelated lines)


Every second is a highlight
When we touch don't ever let me go
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino
(The same thing over again? Okay, that doesn't count. Let's move on...)

You got me loosing my mind
My heart beats out of time
I'm seeing Hollywood stars
You stroke me like a guitar
(A famous DJ maybe?)

I can taste the tension like a cloud of smoke in the air
Now I'm breathing like I'm running cause you're taking me there
Don't you know...you spin me out of control
(Or maybe this song should be about setting your soul on fire; something that creates clouds of smoke and makes you run... LOL, a "Rebecca Black" songwriting suggestion... She would write something like that. Love ya, Becca!)


Ooh ooh ooh

[Chorus]
We can do this all night
Turn this club, skin tight
Baby come on
Pull me like a bass drum
Sparkin' up a rhythm
Baby, come on!

Ooh ooh ooh ooh

Rock my world into the sunlight
Make this dream the best I've ever known
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino

Every second is a highlight
When we touch don't ever let me go
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino

[Bridge]
Ooh baby baby got me feeling so right
Ooh baby baby dancing in the moonlight
Ooh baby baby got me feeling so right
Ooh baby baby dancing in the moonlight
Ooh baby baby got me feeling so right
Ooh baby baby dancing in the moonlight
(Not even in the bridge? Come on...)
[Outro]
Rock my world into the sunlight
Make this dream the best I've ever known
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino

Every second is a highlight
When we touch don't ever let me go
Dirty dancing in the moonlight
Take me down like I'm a domino


I think my point has been made. I mean, seriously. Okay, well that's it, I guess...

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

OMG, BREY!

Okay, now I know that a lot of you have read "Beautiful- Chapter 6" that was finally posted yesterday. I also know that the confession made by Brey is a very surprising one, but don't be alarmed.

Look, while I would love to explain this to you now, I can't; I'm holding it off for a mass character/author "interview" post that will come up at the end of the story, but what I can tell you is that this story is not... it's not fully in it's right mind.

I had Writer's Block for quite a while before getting around to writing this, so many parts of this chapter were spur of the moment thoughts and whatnot. However, everything that had to do with Brey and his situation were not; they were very well thought out and placed in this chapter at that given time...for a reason of which I can't explain until later.

Well I just hopped on the computer and wrote this out because I saw how many of you had read the post and I just wanted to make what might have seemed like a blur slightly clearer; but yeah, don't be concerned. Just stay tuned :)

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

Beautiful- Chapter 6

"Why would you get yourself in trouble like that" I said to Brey, laughing.
"Just to make my life a little more interesting, I guess."
We were now in the Admin. Office waiting for Margret to finish talking with Jenny's crew. My hair was dripping wet since I had to shower in the locker room to get all the different lunch items out of my hair and other nooks and crannies it got into. There was a full on food fight in the cafeteria. Brey and I threw noodles, sandwiches, juice, crackers, cookies, you name it. If you ask me, we defeated all of them. Now, Jenny was crying because she broke a few nails and I had made sure that I destroyed her bleached and permed hair with some grape juice and mustard. Her boyfriend and Brey had a fight of their own, of which Brey incurred some of the "war wounds", if you will. He, also had to shower. I don't know, but in the midst of that fight, when we were covered in chocolate and mystery meat, we looked into each others eyes and I felt something. But who am I kidding; I'm a bad girl, and we NEVER get the guy in these sort of stories. Anyhow, Jenny's crew started to lead out of the office and Margret came to the door with a look worse than anything I've ever seen before. She was so upset that she just ushered us in with a stiff pull of her index finger; we got up and ran in.
"Hey Maggie. What's up?" I said in as casual a tone as I could manage. She closed back the door and walked around the desk to her chair, scraping her red-painted fingernail on the desk on the way there. When she finally sat down, she gave us both a stern look. That's when I remembered about Brey. How bad would that be for him to get detention on his first day?
"Margret, before we start, I want you to know that Brey had nothing to do with it." He looked over at me, shrugging in silence. I just shook my head to let him know that it was okay, that I was gonna handle it myself.
Margret, on the other hand, was just sitting there, no emotion on her face. Then she slowly brought out a dry erase board from her desk. She erased the remainder of what was on it and started to jot something down. Then she turned it around and showed us. It said "explain." I opened my mouth to start, but then Brey started talking.
"Yeah, Mrs., umm, I started it, actually. Well, not really. After Jenny and her Boyfriend threw food on Katrina, I got up and threw water on him. Katrina only joined in because I told her to, but it definitely wasn't her fault."
Margret got up from the behind her desk and opened the door.
"Since I don't know exactly who did what, you guys will be cleaning the cafeteria after school. Now leave my office."
"But-" I started.
"Katrina; I hope to see you at six."
"But school ends at 4," Brey said, looking at his watch.
"Yeah, but I don't think that these two groups can responsibly clean at the same time. Jenny's side will go first and then you guys." We walked out of the office and while I didn't really get in that much trouble, I was really bummed. Besides that, I was going to have to be in a lunchroom for two hours. By myself. With Brey. So many things could go wrong with him spending that much time with me. In fact, I could guarantee that after today, he would never talk to me again. I guess my thoughts were showing on my face because as we walked outside for our open period, he stopped me.
"You okay? I mean, I didn't mean to get you involved like that." He put down his bag on the school steps and we sat down.
"No, trust me, if it wasn't this, I would have done some other type of foolishness today to get myself in trouble, so don't sweat it." We laughed, but then Van started to walk towards me. Just then, I remembered that I had been so involved with the food fight that I never went out to hang with her. She will definitely be suspicious now.
"Hey, Brey. I'll catch you after school, okay?" When I got up to join Van, it was too late. She was right next to me, giving me that look like "So this is Brey..." She glanced over at him and said "hi" in an uneasy tone. I slapped her in her shoulder so she knew to stop it. He waved and after that moment of awkward silence, Van and I walked away. "Katrina... is there something I should kn-"
"No there isn't. I don't even know the guy."
"Yeah? Well you've already gotten in trouble with him. That used to be me up in the office with you, but today it's Brey?" She gave me a funny look. I brushed it off and switched the topic.
"So how's your trouble; oops, I mean Tony. It's all in the same, really," I said, laughing. She shot me a nasty look.
"Katrina, stop. You don't even know him and you're always being negative; just...don't." She seemed really frustrated all of a sudden.
"Now is there something I should know?" She, then, started to cry.
"I think Tony's gonna break up with me." I didn't know what to say, so I just hugged her and told her a bunch of lies, like that he was a great guy and stuff, to console her. Speak about an altogether weird afternoon...

***

After school, Brey came back up behind me when I was in my locker. "Hey, I'm gonna stay here and play some basketball 'til six. You?"
"Nah; I've gotta walk home with Van, but I should be back soon after. So we'll meet up in the gym?" He smiled. "Yupperoo." I gave him a look like "you are so goofy, dude." He ran off around the corner and I walked outside to meet Van who was in the grasps of Tony. Great. While keeping my distance in the interim of Van and Tony's P.D.A, Lucas came up to me. "Hey Kat." He was once again looking uneasy, so I decided to try talking to him again. "Lucas, is there something bothering you?" He seemed uncomfortable, so I  left it alone. "I just came to make sure you weren't walking home alone."
"Why would I be walking alo-" When I turned around to find Van, I saw her heading out of the gates hand in hand with Tony. Boy that guy rubs me the wrong way, but he sure does love her, I've got to say. I just don't get why she feels that he would ever leave her, though. Anyhow, Lucas was still there, but I guess I would have to end up staying until Margret was ready for us, so I let him know and he went on his way. I went into the gym and sat in the bleachers, watching the scrimmage going on between the guys. Brey, surprisingly, was really good; he was dunking and making half-court shots and everything. He saw me watching him and gave me a quick thumbs up. I shot some thumbs up right back to him. Just then, my phone rang. When I answered, I saw that it was Tony. "How did you get my phone number?"
"Vanessa. Anyhow, we need to talk." I was extremely confused but peeved at the same time.
"Look, I don't want anything to do with you, so you've got two seconds to explain. Go."
"I, uh, wan't to ask Van out to the dance, but I don't know how to do it or where to do it, so I wanted us to get together and figure it out."
"Tony. First of all, you two have been together for two months now; you don't need to ask her to ANYTHING; she is permanently your date to things, and besides that, it's your job as her boyfriend to figure this out by yourself. Goodbye now." I hung up on him before he could respond. Why were those two acting so weird, and why was Tony calling me over nothing. Very suspicious, those guys. Anyhow, the scrimmage had ended and the boys had all left for home. Brey came up the bleachers and sat down next to me. I moved my bag from by my feet so that he could put down his basketball.
"You're really good. You should join." He shrugged.
"I've gotta choose between this, soccer, and football for next term."
"You play all of that; wow." He laughed. "Yeah. I'm sorta a huge sports dude." I smiled. There's something about this guy...

***

Six came around a lot quicker than I thought it would. I never thought I'd ever see Jenny doing any manual labor, but she was there, her hair up in a tight pony tail, some baggy sweatpants, a dark blue Victoria Secret tank top, and some yellow gloves. Brey and I had changed, too. I was wearing some jean shorts and a white tank top with a long sleeve, grey plaid shirt jack on top; looking very tom-boyish. Brey was wearing some b-ball shorts and a Lakers t-shirt. Margret lead them out of the cafeteria after what seemed like another lecture. We walked in, picked up sponges and mops and started cleaning. Margret came by our side of the room. "Katrina, you should know better than to get into these sorts of things; and Brey, we both know about what happened at your old school. Let's work on not making that happen again, okay?" I looked over at Brey. Something happened at his old school? That Margret knows about? That's interesting. We scrubbed in silence for about half hour when I decided to go help Brey out with the walls. I brought over my bucket and hand towel and started working. He then, playfully, started blocking my strokes; we chuckled. Then I remembered something. "Hey, I meant to say thanks earlier today for covering me in the office. You know you didn't have to." 

"And let you get in trouble after being so nice to me? No way. Besides, I was in the wrong, so I deserved some of the punishment, too."

"What happened in Michigan?" I just had to know. The smile on his face sort of disappeared. I didn't talk anymore, just in case that was a sore spot of his. After a few minutes, he responded. "Yeah, um. I got myself into a lot of trouble over there for a lot of things. That's why I moved here. In fact... I nearly died because of my actions." I looked up at him. "What happened." We walked towards a clean table and sat down. "My dad left my mom and I three years ago. It broke her up pretty bad, but it didn't hurt anyone as much as it hurt me. I mean, he was my best friend." I looked up at him. His eyes were focused on his water bottle that he was twisting in his hand. "I... I chose to hang out with a really bad crowd that introduced me into drugs and a lot of bad things." I couldn't believe what he was telling me. "...and those bad decisions lead me to nearly overdosing a couple months back."

"You're okay now, right?" He looked up at me and smiled.

"Yeah, my mom helped me out a lot, getting me into some sports like basketball, and taking me to group sessions. I feel a lot better about things now, but I just wanted to start over, ya know." I nodded, but I was really disturbed by what he had told me. How could someone like him do all of that? But it goes to show because I hadn't even known him for an entire day yet. Somehow, in what he told me, I felt like I could trust him. It's not every day that people are willing to open up to me like that, so maybe he had put his trust in me also. Anyhow, we got up and finished off the cafeteria a little later than expected. The janitor came, inspected, and closed up after us. I hung my backpack over my shoulder and prepared to walk home when Brey stopped me. "You going home?" 

"Yeah. Why?"

" I was thinking that maybe we could go to that park down the street. I know they sell some late night ice cream." I thought about it. I mean, nobody was home, anyways, and I definitely didn't want to walk home alone. 

"Come on. It'll be my treat." I reluctantly walked over by the gate and placed my bag on the ground. "Let's go."

STAY TUNED FOR MORE CHAPTERS BEING POSTED!

Love Always <3,

Katrina Lowell

12.14.11- Tay Zonday "Chocolate Rain"

I hope many of you know who and what I'm talking about, but if you don't you'll soon know, don't worry. "Chocolate Rain", a song written and performed by Tay Zonday, a popular YouTube star, has to be one of the worst songs that I have EVER heard.

First of all, it makes no sense. Chocolate rain? Seriously? Now, I'm not against chocolate or anything; it's great, but I have never even thought of chocolate raining over everything. I mean, how messy and disgusting would that be?; no thanks. Besides that, because there's only so much you could say about chocolate rain, his lyrics (that are already pretty awful) start to get more and more painful as the song progresses, and the song is over four minutes long. FOUR MINUTES of his chocolate precipitation song... Wow...

Second of all, this guy sounds TERRIBLE. No vocal talent whatsoever. So on top of the horrid song, I've got Darth Vader over here going "chocolate rain" after ever phrase. I just don't understand why he would put it on YouTube in the first place. Now, I can understand people that sound bad and don't know that they sound bad (kinda, because you have two ears of your own. It should not come as a shock when people tell you that you sound bad; you should know), but when you go ahead and write this song, sing it, and record it, there's no excuse for you to put it on YouTube and iTunes. None at all...

What I don't respect, though, is when people get popular off of doing foolishness. This guy has made so much money off of this song; so much that he's gone and made more. YIPPY, more punishment for my ears. Where do I sign up? NO! while I'm all for this guy making a living, this is unacceptable. People need to find some proper entertainment. Even AFV is a nice show to watch if you want comedy. I didn't even find the song entertaining in any way. It's just sad, very sad.

Anyhow, before I get this song stuck in my head, I'm gonna go ahead and post this up for you guys and go do some studying...fun.

Oh, and before I forget, I have started on Chapter 6 of Beautiful and will be done with it by Friday (I hope), so you guys need to stay tuned. The story has only just begun, I can tell you that...

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

Fan Fiction- A Katrina Lowell PSA

So I was talking to Tracy yesterday for quite a while and somehow the topic of Fan Fiction came up. Now, not only did it come up, but she had wanted me to start writing Fan fiction. I don't know my fans, and I don't know if you guys write or read Fan Fiction yourselves, so don't take this post personally. But yeah, it will never happen. Fan Fiction is a growing problem in our generation. I mean, it is one of those things that I will be ashamed to have to explain to my children when I'm older.

Fan Fiction, to me, is just a forum for these desperate, obsessive-compulsive people (especially teen girls) to share their fantasies of being with their favorite celebrities or in a Twilight movie. NO, NO, NO... I mean, come on people! Are we seriously, as a group of educated, amazing teens, stooping to these sad, sad levels? Have some more pride in yourself. Now, me, I've read fan fiction on YouTube, and it's pretty much all the same. Oh yeah, your mom got you and your friends a backstage pass to a JB concert and you got to meet him and ya'll fell in love, blah blah blah. I find it extremely inefficient to fixate on things that have just as much a probability of happening as being able to rapidly morph into a large, Arachnid eating rhino-horse hybrid (for those of you that don't understand what I just said, it pretty much means that the likelihood of your crush (any of them, especially the famous ones) falling in love with you is very unlikely).

Besides that, I feel that writing has lost it's touch nowadays and it hurts. Once upon a time you could go online and find some really great material to read, but now most of it is Fan Fiction that is just... disturbing. Why is it that you have to fall in love with these people via a story? Isn't there anyone in your real life that makes you feel special? That gives you the same feeling that you get when you watch this person on the television? At the end of the day, I live with this one philosophy; the people that I see on the TV or the internet do NOT exist. Why? Because by thinking that these people are real, that they are so close to me yet so far makes me feel weird. So, It's sort of my way of distancing myself from what's reality and what's logical. Now, if more people nowadays would do that, they'd see that not everything is what it seems, and with that, not be too distraught when they find out some of the craziness that happens in these people's daily lives. I learned this the hard way when I was about nine. I was IN LOVE with the Cheetah Girls. I never missed the play times on Disney Channel, learned all of their songs, did all the dances, learned all the names, and I swear, at one point I knew scenes word for word. They were so special to me; they practically raised me, in a sense. What was especially bad was that I felt that these characters that they played were who they really were, but of course all of that went down the drain when the last movie was to come out. I knew that there was something wrong from the second movie when Galleria (or Raven Symone) wasn't in it because she was really off to collage. By the third movie, I heard that the Cheetah Girls were done. I literally found myself crying (and I dare not tell my mom). They were all I ever looked forward to seeing and hearing. I lived vicariously through them and I felt like their world was mine. A world where conflict was always resolved with friendship, a song, and true love, but it was all just gonna end. Anyhow, since then I've obviously got over it and learned a little bit more about the fame biz, making the decision to end the Cheetah Girls so much clearer. But, as I was saying, you can't place your personal life so close to this fantasy one to where you blur the lines and everything becomes fake. Fan Fiction is just a start of that. Not only that, what may have started off as a nice little idea has turned into an obsession littered with anger.

We all know that part of being famous means that you will have your fans, but also your haters. What you may not know is that nowadays, celeb decisions have started to lead to violence, on and offline. I think the most... outrageous thing that I have heard is that after Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez started going out, Selena Gomez was threatened on Twitter by people saying that they would kill her and that she's a this and a that for taking "their man". Besides that, she even got a few girls saying that if they couldn't have Justin, that they would kill themselves and that they couldn't live with the fact that he found Selena and not them. OH MY GOSH... what is happening to our generation of teenage girls? That's why my parents are always making these crazy, way-off statements about teen girls; because these wild girls nowadays are making these statements true. I mean, why would you ever even contemplate taking your life because you can't get this boy of your dreams? Sometimes it makes me feel like maybe I'm the weird one, that thinking rationally has been boycotted from our generation. I mean, think about it; Justin Bieber, the best example because he has the craziest fan base that I've ever seen, is a 17 year old boy, I mean, gosh. And at the end of the day, when he gets older, he's gonna marry one girl (maybe two or three, ya never know), and with so many girls out there that want his love, only one is gonna be the one. They are going to have to learn that from early because that's with any guy. You know how many guys I've liked that haven't even said hi to me? Just because he says hello to another girl, I should kill myself because I'm Katrina and not Jennifer? Seriously people...

You may feel that I'm way off topic, but I'm not. These same fans are the ones writing Fan Fiction everyday, just sitting and thinking about their life with this person that is completely unrealistic. Fan Fiction is, to me, a terrible idea. Why don't you write stories about your real life, I mean, there has to be something that makes your life special. Even the smallest of things from a unique tree in your backyard to even a special talent that you have. I wrote this to remind you guys that everyone is special being who they are, living their own life. It is a Public Service Announcement that needed to be said because it is an epidemic, it really is. Now, if I was "Ms. Internet" and had control over everything, I would just ban it for good. Get rid of it, start from there and work our way up. Now, don't get me wrong, some Fan Fiction is very good, but do we really need it? I don't even think that Fan Fiction makes you feel good when you are done because for that split second you're living your dream and then you're violently ripped from it, right? I don't know and that's also why I need you guy's help. If you are a Fan Fiction writer or reader, or maybe even someone who agrees with me, leave a comment. You don't have to put your name or anything, but just to share how you feel in relation to my post would make this blog even better. Well, I hope all of you took this to heart and share it with your friends, too. Love ya!

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

12.13.12- Mindless Behavior "My Girl"

I am close to tears right now, but I had to sit down and acknowledge the fact that "My Girl" by Mindless Behavior is... garbage.

So, you know, I had another "groupie" moment just now, so I went on YouTube and watched some Mindless Behavior music videos. When I actually took time to listen to the lyrics instead of singing along to it (I know all the words, mind you) and watching for every moment that Roc Royal comes up on the screen, I noticed that the lyrics are really, really bad. I actually felt ashamed of myself. I am always here, telling people to listen to good songs and about how much words mean in a song while I'm over here, singing "I hit you with a QUESTION MARK..." Wow, Katrina.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, I've gotta get back to the point. Now, while I love Roc Royal to death (If you are reading, (which would be sort of weird since this is a girl blog, so I wouldn't tell anyone if I were you) don't take this next thing personally. You're still my favorite ;)), his rap part was one of the worst parts of the song. It is just a little too mushy gushy, ya know. I think it just all collapsed when he said "we're just two lovebirds, that's why we're always tweetin'" Ummm, okay. But at the end of the day, he doesn't write his own raps (or at least I hope not), so it's all good. Another thing that bothers me is probably my biased opinion, but Prodigy needed to wear better clothes. This is not necessarily about the song, but the music video which is also very important when you are a boy group with a limited amount of songs. Anyhow, yeah, he's always wearing these v-necks that do not (and I repeat, DO NOT) flatter him. Okay, lets move on. The only part that I enjoyed was the dancing part because they are amazing dancers (especially Roc, just FYI). So, anyhow, yeah. The song is lyrically disappointing, but I guess it has that hip hop flavor in it that makes you just love it anyway (besides the fact that it's MB). Okay, well, as always, the video is going to be below for you guys to check out for yourself. This has been... Music Daily! (How'd ya like that?)

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

Bad Songs/ 12.12.11- Rebecca Black "Person Of Interest"

The month of December is waning, but I want to pick right back where I started with Music Daily, so I have decided to dedicate this month to bad songs. Those songs that make you hate the music industry, and that's huge because I LOVE music; music is my life, but my gosh, sometimes these songs make me want to shoot myself.

To start this wonderful month back on the right foot, I'd like to introduce you guys to a new song from our lovely Rebecca Black. And yes, I did say "new song"; she's back. I have promised myself not to hate, but I am just bursting at the seams with this one. The song is called "Person Of Interest" and the concept, while creative, was as lyrically fulfilling as "Old Mr. Finnegan"; It's really bad. It's pretty much about this guy that likes her and she's saying that she is sorta liking the guy, which I don't get. You either like the guy or not; this does not give an option c- all of the above. Anyhow, the music video is very confusing in and of itself. It starts with Rebecca talking to a cop in what looks like a crime scene about this guy that she's looking for. The cop, by the way, is drawing a cartoon sketch of the boy that she's describing, making it very cheesy from the beginning. Now, what I must say is that the dude is VERY good looking (:]), but that was about it; I didn't enjoy watching the video or listening to the song at all. Therefore it made it to my "bad songs" list. I don't understand it anymore; once upon a time, every song that came out had meaning, had great lyrics, and made listening to the radio enjoyable. Nowadays I cringe when I turn on the radio, expecting something that makes no sense to be played over and over again. We need songwriters to get together and work on revolutionizing our music today, seriously. So any songwriter that reads me blog (hello!), please help me out. Anyhow, enjoy the video, I guess. Let me know how you feel about any song that I post in the comment area just below \/\/. I would love to hear from my fans!

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

Bad Boys >:|

As you can see, I have been sort of stalling you guys until I get an idea of what to write for "Beautiful", but a new chapter WILL be out this week, I promise. Anyhow, thinking about "Beautiful" got me thinking about Brey and Tony, two of the main guys in my story. So far they seem to be the stereo typical bad boy characters, but why? I mean, I HATE bad boys in real life and I'll tell you why.

Numero Uno (throwing in a little spanish for ya), they are so... arrogant. If you are someone that hopes to disgust me, be arrogant. That whole "I'm so much better than the average population, so what they say doesn't entertain my ego" sort of thinking drives me crazy. Now, don't confuse my love for Justin Bieber and Mindless Behavior as an exception to the rule. They have what you call "swag" or a modern type of class that just seems to bead off of them like water droplets on a newly waxed car (you like that description, right?).

If my dad were to read this, he'd go "well, Katrina, you are very self- absorbed yourself." How I respond to that; absolutely not. Look, at the end of the day, I am a TEENAGE GIRL, meaning I take long showers, I tend to spend hours on my hair, my nails get "did" every Sunday, I am constantly checking myself in the mirror, and I can't leave the house without my shades; case closED. But yeah, back on topic, these typical bad boys walk around in their black shades and obviously more expensive clothes acting like they rule the world. That reminds me; one time, I was in my school hallway, doing something in my locker when suddenly all the hustle and bustle stopped and the hall was cleared. I found it a little strange, but not strange enough for me to care. So yeah, I finish up and close my locker. Then, on my way to my next class, I heard this "uh uhm" (clearing throat noise), so I turned around and saw Jake. Now Jake and I went way back, and not in a good way. In fact, just a year before, we got into this whole situation because I rejected his invite out to a school dance. So anyhow, this over-confident Jerk Face has the nerve to look at me and say, "did you not see me walking down this hall. You do know that you need to keep out of my way when I'm walking somewhere; you know that phrase, clear the halls? This is one of those times where it needs to be applied."...(the three dots giving you the visual of me taking a moment for that comment to sink in). After fully understanding what he had just said, I just gave him that "dude, are you talking to me? Like, are you seriously even going there? with ME of all people!" and continued on my way; I didn't even want to waste my breath on him by responding at that point. That is what I mean by disgusting. It just gives you the same feeling that you get when you smell spoiled milk (or the bathroom in my new place, but that's a story I don't even want to get into right now). Nasty.

Second of all, bad boys do NOT seem attractive to me. In fact, half of the boys from the Island remind me of my cousin, and Islander himself. My cousin has the bad boy thing DOWN PACKED, especially in the arrogance department, but besides that, their aura just makes them look hideous to me. Even the way they ask you out is upsetting;

"Hey babe." -Let's break this into parts in MY head. I'm who's what? Did you just call me "babe"?
"What do you say I pick you up and we go to this party on Saturday?" - You best not come by my home on any day of the week trying to get me to go anywhere, especially when my dad's home because I will do NO SORT of holding back my dad when you step on his property.
**Holds your hand**- Why are you touching me? Better yet, who fooled you in telling you that I even liked you and that you could hold my hand. We are not friends, buddy...
...and those are just a few examples that come to mind.

So, as I was saying, bad boys don't attract me in any way. They just seem extremely obnoxious. Now my girl, Tracy, is crushing on this guy that is constantly being a tyrant and giving people a hard time. Now while he may be good looking, I wouldn't know because all that I can see is the way he acts. It is a HUGE turn off and I don't know how my fellow girls can stand to deal with them, seriously (BTW, if you are a girl that likes bad boys, leave me a comment explaining why, just to see if I can make sense of this ;))

I just don't know, but bad boys just crawl my skin, really. You can even see that in the way Katrina (in "Beautiful") reacts to Tony. She's so irritated the way he behaves to where she refrains from even talking to him. Brey, though, doesn't seem to be as bad boyish. He's coming out of his shell more and more and seems more like a shameless, fun-loving, teenage boy with a liking for Katrina (hint, hint for you "Beautiful" fans). So, as you can see, I try to keep my characters as far from that bad boy personality as I can unless they play a role like Tony's that is very insignificant (for now... another hint).

Okay, well that is my post for the day. 143 all... (I just learned this from Mindless Behavior; 143= ILY, or I love you).

Love always <3,
Katrina Lowell

Ugh, It's Christmas...

Okay, so many of you will be like, "how on Earth can you put 'ugh' and 'christmas' in the same phrase?," but I have  something to tell you guys; I am a Jehovah's Witness. For those of you who don't know who those are, we are a group of Christians that are known for 1) not participating in ANY holidays, 2) not celebrating birthdays, 3) knocking on doors, preaching; and 4) believing in a paradise Earth after Armageddon. Now, I know that there will be a few responses to this. I know a lot of people that find it cool for me to be of this different religion while others just seem to respond with disgust. For one, we are not pests; I get that a lot in school, where people say that we are annoying and stupid, walking around "handing out bibles," but we aren't. Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion, so while I could be offended by a comment like that, I know that our intentions are not to pester people. In fact, we are usually very respectful in your space and everything (I find), so I don't know. Another thing that I get is that we are probably boring since we don't celebrate everything that the other religions celebrate, but we aren't. I do find that sometimes I'd like to be able to go to a Christmas party that all of my friends are going to, or maybe a huge birthday bash or something, but after a while you get used to it. I wasn't a witness when I was born. In fact, I dressed up for Halloween as a Telly Tubby and everything when I was really small, but as far as I can remember, I've been a JW. It's not even like we can't have parties or anything, so I will go to get-togethers and have some of my own that aren't holiday or birthday related and that are properly supervised (meaning not just a bunch of teens at a house party with alcohol and drugs and all of that sort of stuff that typically makes teen parties so crazy and dangerous). I've found that since I've gotten older, I've had the urge to dress up like how they do during Halloween time, so I will probably have costume parties sometime during the earlier part of the year so that I can dress up without it having to be for the holiday, if that makes sense. Now, another thing that I hear is that we are just altogether crazy people who made up this whole "Paradise Earth" talk and whatever. We are pretty much classified in that group of religions like Latter day saints and the Amish; the ones that people look at as creepy and altogether out of the ordinary, but I feel that that is just another thing about humans. Once you are not doing what most of the population does, you're weird. I don't get it, but if that is what it is, then yes, I am as weird as they come, LOL. But anyhow, that's my little explanation of my religion.

Now, how that (/\) relates to my post is that it is Christmas time and, as I just explained, I don't celebrate it. My basic understanding of why is 1) we don't think that this is the time of Christ's birth. All that I really remember is them saying an example that makes so much sense to me; The Virgin Mary was poor and lived in a place that got very cold during the Winter. Therefore, she could not have possibly been able to provide Jesus enough warmth as a baby and so Jehovah (our name for God) would not have had Mary have Jesus in those winter months. 2) that we don't celebrate birthdays period, so even if we believed that this was a legitimate holiday, we wouldn't celebrate it. This is also another long description that I don't care to get into right now, LOL. So anyhow, imagine that you are in my shoes. Christmas spirit is EVERYWHERE, but you don't participate in it, so you are constantly sitting out of all of the class holiday things and you are constantly reminded of Christmas on the radio, and the smell of pine that makes you sick. In fact, Christmas is my LEAST favorite holiday to have to work through. Why? Because it is just so long and festive. Anyhow, so at my school, Christmas has gone all out, to the constant playing of holiday songs, to the decking the classroom, to the Christmas cards and activities, so on and so forth. I'm finally on break, so I don't have to be as exposed to it, but sometimes it makes you really sad. I feel like, "gosh, they are so happy and excited to be doing this thing, I wish I could join in." I can see that that's the youth in me, wanting to follow pattern like "normal people", but like everything else that you really believe in, you stand strong to them. So I'm going along through December, the Xmas month, with a new appreciation for this blog, actually. Writing in this blog has helped me to think through things better, to analyze every aspect of a situation, to make better decisions and so I have found that it has made it easier for me to say no to things, even the most tempting things. I wanted to write this, not only to explain to you guys my religion and what it's like, especially in the heights of a major holiday, but to remind me of why being a Jehovah's Witness is something that I need to be proud of, something else that makes me special, something that's important to me :) Anyhow, I got to go, but I will be back either later today or tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell

I'M BACK!!!!

Hey ya'll! Okay, so great information; I am off of school until January 4th. So not will I only get a break from the craziness that is a new school, but I can focus my time on you guys again. I know you must be ENRAGED since I've made so many empty promises to you guys, but school work has swallowed me whole and I had no choice but to blog over the weekends, but then I would find myself sleeping in and doing more homework during the weekend, so yeah. But I swear on my LIFE (and I do like living) that I will make sure to be current on my posts during my school break. Can I guarantee you guys that I will be as current when I get back; No (for the very reasons I just gave you), but I can try harder for you guys, how's that?

Anyhoo, let me update you guys. For one, I just moved into my place and I am so happy to be in a house and not a hotel room. I think the fact that I've got more privacy has me more than anything else. I've got a little brother that likes to be in my space and parents that I'm trying to hide stuff from (LOL, I'm kidding of course. Mom, I can see you now, ready to tear me a new one, but it is merely a joke; I promise :)) so I need a room of my own to where I can just lock myself in with my stereo blaring Adele and my laptop on my lap while I melt over Roc Royal of Mindless Behavior or be here, as I am now, blogging. So yeah, I've been in it all day, actually. My mp3 player has been working since seven this morning, no joke.

I know that you guys must know that I love music since I've dedicated a section of my blog to it, but I don't know if you guys know that I sing, too. Jazz; the one word that I have come to love. I've adopted the style of Estelle, Adele, and Amy Winehouse in my voice, so yeah. This is relevant, of course, because on Wednesday I was pretty much singing all day. Since this was our last week before break we didn't do ANY work in class whatsoever. In fact, my friend Tracy asked our teacher if we could have a singing competition. Now Tracy is... boss at singing. We are usually a duo at school, harmonizing wherever we go since her R&B vibe just blends perfectly with my Jazzy one. Anyhow, so myself, Tracy, Alise(the annoying student captain I told you guys about), Tony (the infamous "you does know how to wukk up" guy), and John (this quiet kid in my class, but he's SUPER sweet, I swear) were the contestants of this thing. I went first and I was an epic fail, if you ask me. So first of all, I was trying to perform properly, so as I sang "Waiting on the World to Change" I walked around the room and accidentally stepped on a bag of cans. The class burst out laughing and I was SO embarrassed, but as a true artist does, I didn't flinch, not one bit. So I carried on and in walks in my Science/Math teacher, Mrs. Finn, talking. "Escous me" (she's from Ghana, so that's how "excuse me" sounds) she goes, interrupting me to tell the class something. So my turn was over and I was destroyed beyond belief. So Alise came next, singing this original song that, while I really don't like her, sounds amazing. Now don't get me wrong, the song does not make ANY sense whatsoever, but I love how it just rolls off her tongue. Plus, it's very jazzy, so yeah. Next came Tony, singing this song about 6:30-ing and fruit loops (stuff about wukking up, of course). Tracy came next, singing "Doesn't Mean Anything" by Alicia Keys. Now I personally wouldn't have picked this song for her because I wouldn't ever touch Alicia Keys; you know there are certain artists and songs that you don't ever dare to cover, but Tracy likes doing that stuff. Anyhow, it was good, I enjoyed it. Finally was John. John has an amazing voice, actually. Who would have thought that such a shy guy would have it in him. He's one of those male sopranos (higher voice register) that has that soft feeling to it. He started off singing "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson, but when Mrs. Finn came back in AGAIN with her "escous"-ing, he just went to "We are The World", also by Michael Jackson. He was very quiet and reserved while he was singing, so you couldn't hear him properly, but the parts that you did hear were pretty good. I gave him an "A" for effort. It was, as I said, okay. So voting came in and I didn't get ANY 10's, but 8's and 9's. I totaled 77. Next, Alise got a bunch of 10's, so I was sure I had lost, but she ALSO totaled 77. My confidence was back, at least. Tracy got some 10's, too, but totaled 75. Tony got a bunch of 2's and  I gave him a -39 (LOL, he knows I love him), totaling 56. Finally, John was scored, getting SO many 10's. He ended up beating all of us, getting 86. Although I lost, I was happy because 1) John is such a nice person overall and he tried his best, so he deserved it more than all of us and 2) I thought I was going to be beaten by Tony, so 2nd place was fine with me.

Okay, well It's getting late and I need to go to bed, but I'm by no means done filling you in, so stay tuned for a post from me tomorrow. You guys mean the world to me, and I hope you know that :)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXXXXXXXX (since X's are so much better than O's)

Love Always <3,
Katrina Lowell