The Westward Chronicles #5

Today is my last day. I will be packing tonight. I will be eating my last pieces of chocolate. I will be saying goodbye to Seattle. Yesterday, I saw Mount Rainier for the first time this trip. It was just as beautiful and majestic as always. I really hope that today, I can go to my old apartment and look around. That's one of the things that I pushed to the very last day, and thanks to that, I can only hope that I'll be able to do them before I leave. I'm excited to be home. To see my family again. And my house and my cats and my friends and my room and my tiny town. I'm excited for Halloween. I'm still making up my mind on what I'm going to be, but I would love to hear what you are going to be, so you can tell me in the comments if you see fit. I haven't had a lot of time to right on my book. And I didn't get to hike in the Cascades. The next time I come visiting, I will definitely make a schedule. So I know what I'm doing, and when I'm doing it, and so I don't end up not doing anything I want to do. I am almost done with Insurgent, and Mom just finished Divergent a few days ago. I hear Allegiant isn't as good, but when you start, you can't stop, so I'll be reading that soon.  I'll keep you posted on getting back home. See you soon, Ohio.

The Westward Chronicles #4

Over the seven days since my last post, I've gotten very good at Mario Kart. I like to play Peach on the Mach Bike, Standard Bike S, or Sugerscoot, for those who know what I'm talking about. two days ago, I went out to dinner with the super amazing Allie!!!!!! We went to Picolinos for dinner and then went to Fred Meyer. I ended up getting some cool Halloween LED skull lights for my room, a rainbow wig that doesn't fit, but I gave it to SweetShadesUnicorn, who loves it. I got a book for Ani (I have not forgotten about you, dear sis!), a small, soft Halloween cat stuffed animal for said awesome sister and I, an Avengers 2015-2016 calendar, and a supersoft fall shirt that says, "Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Taken". Before Allie came over, QueenUnicorn, FartMasterUnicorn, SweetShadesUnicorn, and I went to Archee Mcphee's and I got some Skull and cross bones hand warmers, some stuff for my Special People back home, and Pop Rocks, some of which we poured down the toilet as they exploded. Seriously, you should try this! I also got these cute little skull key "toppers" to put on the handle of your keys to tell them apart, and make them look nice. Have you picked up on my weird skull obsession? I just found out about it two days ago. I am really attracted to skulls! Cool!
I miss you, family!!! Hugs and kisses and don't forget about the cats!
xoxoxo

The Westward Chronicles #3

Hi from the basement of the Sparkle Pants Kingdom of Unicorns. This basement room is like a whole apartment. I have a huge bean bag and a couch and a TV and a desk top. (not to brag or anything) I've gotten into the routine here and it's really nice. It's super great to see these unicorns again. Oh, hey! I almost forgot! My TARDIS backpack got here!!!!!!!!!! I will be posting a picture of it soon, for you eager Whovians out there. Today, I will finally meet up with the amazing Bubbi and Helvi and maybe even Nils! Bubbi and I are going to surprise Helvi when Bubbi goes to pick her up. CAN'T WAIT! I hope she remembers me. I haven't seen their new house from the inside yet, so that will be cool. They have a tree house in their yard and I can't wait to crawl up there with Helvi. And I really hope that Bubbi and Helvi will want to go the market with me again this year. THEY THROW SALMON. They actually toss the fish to each other. And the food is amazing. I also want to see Uncle Johann and Sarah and Theo and Ilsa!
Here are a few links to the local Derby teams: http://ratcityrollergirls.com/, http://www.seattlederbybrats.com/.
Mom, have a wonderful time at the Women's Herbal Conference. Dad, have fun in rehearsal for Penelope. Ani, have a great time with Mormor. I MISS YOU ALL AND HOPE YOU'RE WELL.

The Westward Chronicles #2

Hey from the beautiful Seattle Washington. And yes, I did survive the flight. SweetShadesUnicorn sat next to me and we wrote a short story going back and forth together. On my left was a silent dude with earbuds who only spoke to us when we asked him how to spell Illinois. The airport was crowded and big and lots of people from all around the world were there (DUH). Mom, Dad, Ani, I miss you all and am having a GREAT time. SergeantUnicorn  taught me a really cool way of memorizing certain times tables I had a hard time mastering. It's super fun. I already have a whole week's worth of chores planned and written down, just so you know, Mom. And I ordered a TARDIS backpack that will get here Thurs. 1 of OCT. I got it because it wasn't much, I loved it, and the backpack that I brought split when we got home! Actually split down the side! So soon I will have another backpack crowding up my closet.  Can't wait to hear from you all. More from my end soon.

The Westward Chronicles #1

Good morning! Right now, it's about 8:43 (central time) on Sunday the 27th of September 2015(DUH). At 10:00, we will drive from Madison Wisconsin, to Black River Falls. There we will meet my buddy and his family of wonderful and fabulous and amazing and so, so funny space unicorns. (I'm talking to you, Levine family). At about 12:00 or 12:30, we will do the hand off, transferring moi from the clutches of my also super fantastic Aunt Lissy, Uncle Spoons, and Lucy The Amazing and into the grasp of said unicorns. I will also say goodbye to my dear little sister.ANI THE BOO, I LOVE YOU!!! I said goodbye to my totally-cool-and-not-at-all-embarrassing-however-hard-she-might-try Mom, yesterday. And my thrillingly-awesome-and-wicked-cool Dad, last Sunday. I LOVE YOU GUYS TOO!!!!

Things to bring on an adventure

1. A camera. However crappy it may be, this item of still motion is essential to the capture and recollection of small moments.
2. A tiny jar. "Why?", you ask? It is optional, but a very nice reminder of the certain place. Find a tiny jar, and fill it with something that has to do or will remind you of the place you are at. For instance, dirt, crystals, sand, confetti....you know, if you go to a carnival...
3. Postal stamps. You need to let your friends know what's going on at your end, and getting letters and postcards is always nice. It makes you feel good to know your friends and family are thinking of you. 
4. An item that reminds you of home. Be it a photograph, your mom's old sweatshirt, a baseball cap, or whatever! It's always a great comfort to have an item that can ground you and hold you in one place when your head is flying everywhere. And there's always that middle-of-the-trip-crisis, and you want to be prepared. 
5. A journal. You need to write down all your thoughts and what you had for dinner, and who you sat next to on the bus, and if the flight attendant was crabby, and what big monument you saw, etcetera. It's also nice to get out your emotions of homesickness, see rule 4. 
6. Your iPod. Get rid of that old music you don't listen to anymore and put some other albums on. Have you heard the new one of your favorite band yet? And audiobooks are always awesome! Get at least three new ones, and re listen to them all the time, if you like them.
7. A sketchbook. This is totally optional, you don't have to follow any of this, but a sketchbook is one of my personal favorites. I'm an artist anyway, and when I'm on a trip, I usually get all this stuff crammed up inside me, so I have to take time to sit down and draw or write about it. 
8. Books. DUH. If you know me, you know that this is a no-brain-er. Get new books you've never read to try them out. And, of course, bring old favorites. 

My thoughts on getting ready for a trip

So, let's face it, you've never really been on a trip by yourself. Well, there was that one time when you were ten and went with a friend, but that was only for a week. This one is for three weeks. THREE WHOLE WEEKS. Without your family. And your mom is already having separation anxiety, even though you don't leave her for a week and a half. And it has basically been planned six months previous. And it's not like your heading into a war zone or anything. You were born there and you have friends. And you won't have to navigate the airports alone, either. But then you start thinking about not seeing your mom and dad and sister. Jeez, you see them EVERY DAY, this will be a change. And for dad, it will be four weeks, not three. Which is a freaking month for Pete's sake. And of course you'll email and videochat and send postcards and stuff. You've even updated your address book. You have a pile of things you're bringing in the middle of your room, but there is the problem of finding a suitcase. Of course the one you usually use is broken.(You broke it last year) And when you look at thrift stores, you only find ones that are even more broken than your old one. And when you resign yourself to suck it up and go to the mall to look for one, and you find the perfect one, and you look at the price tag and.... it's a freaking $100.00 or more suitcase. And you just say, "nope." and walk out, and your trip to the mall is wasted until you find a cute flannel jacket, but you didn't want to go to the mall anyway. And now, you have only, like, four days to pack and you're scrambling for everything you need, and you don't even have a suitcase yet and your mom is making you clean your room "as a gift to your future self" but it's just adding more things you don't want to do before you leave in.... oh my god, five days?! WHAT THE FUDGE?! You don't really care what your room looks like, you're a messy person as it is and you can't concentrate when things are superclean. You will definitely not end up dating an OCD. You are a clutterhead! And it's not like when friends come over who are not your best friend and know you better than you know yourself, and you totally don't feel self conscious about your pigsty room with pictures of Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Jennifer Lawrence taped to the wall. And you definitely don't feel judged when you show them your gorilla art that is.... EVERYWHERE. Anyway, you still have dance classes, and homeschool, and writing group's first meeting is tomorrow and you're not sure you even want to share your writing with strangers, even though the whole writing group was your idea in the first place. Sigh. And, like, 50% of why you're going is to film a movie with your buddy, who wrote a fabulous script and asked you be the star and of course you said yes because you love acting and you love your buddy, but it will totally demand all your acting skills and you don't even know if you're that good. But of course you'll give it your all. But you don't know how big your "all" will end up being. And you don't know if the three weeks will fly by, or seem like forever. And your little sister is driving you CRAZY but you know you will miss her terribly. And no matter how hard you try to be nice to everyone, you end up going full out Snapdragon Princess. And maybe there are other conflicting emotions with something that has nothing to do with the whole trip, but is NOT HELPING AT ALL. And you just want to climb into bed and watch the last episode of the 8th season of Doctor Who, Death In Heaven, because you are loyal to the show and have never skipped an episode in your life and can't wait to find out what happens to Mr. Pink and Clara and everybody. And you just have to calm down and breathe, and take a moment to think about all these things and then let them go for now.