Christmas..*

The morning the 22nd of December Patty, Dennis, Nikki, Ryan, Kayla and I sat in the Tahoe for a6 hour drive to Nikkis grandparents in Colorado. Kayla had tons of food with her that we ate. No-bake cookies, chocolate chip cookies, pretzels dipped in white chocolate etc. It was long ride, but with a comfy pillow and my mp3 player (actually my swedish cellphone) it was not that bad at all. I actually like riding cars.

Theur grandparents house was HUGE. It was so pretty, I totally fell in love with it and want to built a copy of it. It was newly built, and I dont know how many spare bedrooms they had, just for occasions like this when the whole family came together. The first night we were the only ones there so we socializedwith her grandparents, and then went to bed. The next morning me and Nikki dressed up in our dress/shirts that we bought together at TJ Max's, they're the same, but different colors (I have teal, Nikki like a redpinkish ) and our Ugg boots. We were going to Allison's bridal shower! For that we had to go another 2 hours by car to Colorado springs.

At the bridal shower e ate chips&salsa, chocolate dipped strawberries (my favourite) and lots of other things. We played a couple of games where we had to use christas songs and rewrite the lyrics, and one where we were in teams and had to make weddingdresses out of newspaper. I was the model for our team. Our dress was awesome and we won! The bridal shower was nice, but got boring after a while, so it was kinda a relief when we got to leave many hours later. The house we had it in was big and up on a hill, so when we got out it was dark, and so pretty with all the lights of the city below us. That night I got to meet all of Nikki's cousins. They were really nice all of them, except for Rebecca who whined all the time. We played hide&seek many times that night and ate the caramels that their aunt had made. I have never ever tasted caramels like those. I HAVE to get the recipe for those.

Christmas eve we went to Loveland for shopping. That was the first time I've ever been to Macy's and now I love it. I bought a cute tanktop and a dress at Zumies, and two pairs of earrings at Charlotte Russe. I found a green dress that I fell in love with at Bebe, but it was like 1600 swedish crowns so I decided not to. When would I use it anyways? Anyone who knows me know that I just like having 'em :)

That evening we had a huge christmas dinner (Chicken Noodle soup is y new favourite!) and then, for the first time EVER since I've been here, we went to church. Mostly to meet the priest who is going to wed David and Allison this summer. It was pretty boring, but at least there was lots of music.

On Christmas day we left to go home to Nebraska again after lunch. We arrived around 12 o'clock and started to open presents. I got Underwear, a ring, some make-up etc (Olivia), VeckoRevyn prenumeration (my aunts), starbucks card, tanning minutes, a Betsey Johnson perfume, chocolate, a robe (Patty&Dennis) money for my Camera (Mom&Dad + grandma) a Desperate Houswives game and a tanktop (Nikki) a shirt (joe&Karyne) and some other things aI have probably forgotten :) nice Christmas anyways, thank you everyone!

November/December

Update:

*Basketball started. Usually we didn't do that well, I usually I didn't really getto play that much.

*Went to EF's Christmasparty. Many people. Many Germans.

*Nikki and I went up to the attic to find stuff for our "dormproject" for interior Design. We found tons of small toys to use, and we also found some of Nikki's babyclothes; so cute! We each wore a ballerina skirt from when she was probably like 2 years old, and took tons of pictures :D

*I had to memorize the whole "To be or not to be" Hamlet quote.

*We made Christmas door decorations for all the teachers's doors in the school, and had a competition of who's was nicest. I got second.

* Patty and I picked up Kelsey from a ditch on our way to the school one morning. Apparently her Mustang don't go very well on ice...

*I lost my cellphone....

*I had the weirdes dream. I think I'm gonna start to write a dreamdiary, just becasue they're so retarded! In my dream, me and Mac (a girl in my school) got accepted to a play about drugs. I'm pretty sure we were supposed to be chickens, and there were some really weird trees in it too. Then, suddenly I'm on a raft with all the Cheerleaders at my school, and then we jump in to push it. Sabrina is there also, she's a foreign exchangestudent too.

*I got a package from my family with christmaspresents, saffron, a recipe, a magazine and a book.

*I celebrated (=not celebrated) Lucia. Vanessa, Ida, Fredrik and I were supposedto dress up and have a Lucia procession at Wal*Mart, but we couldn't fix it :(

*We went to Ryan's Graduation in Lincoln.

*Nikki and I baked tons of cookies, and frosted them in totally creative ways!

*We had a Christmasconcert in school (I messed up a bit..)

*Stacey Burnett had her baby!

* The two last days of school before Christmas we had our final tests. It was not as bad as I thought it would be, at least my grades stayed well after them too.

*The night of the last day of school before Christmas we went to a party in Hastings. Renee came too, in her scrubs! Funny!

Love and all that

Thanksgiving!

Now, for the first time ever, I get to celebrate Thanksgiving! Just as I thought it's all about food. Even thought you took the smallest you could imagine of everything, I got so stuffed! Turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie (ew) and cherry cheesecake are only a small part of it! After eating so much, Nikki, Patty and got really impulsive, ran into town and bought a playstation two and DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). We danced probably for 5 hours hopefully worked off all that food we had eaten! It was very nice to meet Nikki's half brother David and his fiancée. She's a real nature child, all about organic products, very very little make-up etc. She's realy skinny but eats like a horse. She also rocked at DDR.

Black Friday!

Black Friday is the biggest sales dayof the year in America , and always occur the fiday after Thanksgiving. Nikki, Kayla (Nikki's brother Ryan's girlfriend) and I went up at about 3 o'clock in the morning (remember that we had stayed up for long playing DDR the night before) and we drove to the mall in our Pyjamas's. Some stores opened at 4 o'clock allready. At first we went to JC Penney's. We found cute shoes for Patty fot Christmas. Then, waiting for Kohl's to open, we went to Starbucks. I officially love Starbucks, and it makes me mad that we don't have ANY of those in Sweden. I hade a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocca. Heaven honestly. At Kohl's a found the cutest Vera Wang dress, and had to stand in a line going through the whole store forever before I could buy it. Actually.. Nikki and I sat down :) At TJ Max a found a pink knitted shirt and a black/grey/purple wonderful dress. After our shopping trip we went to Kayla's housefora while before we drove back. At night Brittany came and colored my hair. Kaleb came too ( her boyfriend).

Nikki's Birthday!

For a long long time, me and Patty had planned a surprise birthdayparty for Nikki. Patty felt bad for her since she had to celebrate her birthday at her Grandparents's house last year, so now we were going al out. As most people here know, Nikki is obsessed about Zebra-print stuff. We decided to have Zebra and black/white theme. Everyone were supposed to wear black and white, and in my manipulative manner I was going to get her into wearing hot pink so that she would stand out at her party and be the center of attention. At the day of her birthday she was freaking out and didn't know what to wear, so we went to Rue 21. I, proudly to say it myself, persuaded her into hot pink tank top with gold straps. After that we took her to Applebee's. I was the one who kept track of time, andI got nervous because we had to come to the party atthe exact perfect time, so I had to make sure we got the bill in time, and started driving in time. We told her that we were going to Hastings, but that Tarryn had to stop at the Town Hall to get money from her mom who was at a meeting there. She told Nikki that she should come in too, cuz her mom wanted to say Happy Birthday. When the light ot turned on, Nikki got so surprised that she turned around and walked out before coming in again. The party was really fun. We had hired DJ's, I had invited Nikki's friends Cameron and Tyler from Kansas, she got a Zebraprint cake, and I had made a big poster with facts about Zebras. I was really proud that everything turned out the ay we wanted it, that everyone had fun, and that she actuallyhad no clue about it!

Before Nikki could attend the party for real she had to go out and repark her car; she had parked in a handicapped spot.

The day after, Sunday, the whole family went t Witches bridge to take family pictures bfore David and Allison went home to Colorado. We wore the colors brown and creme.

Homecoming forward!

Once again, yes, I'm sorry. I'm going to give you all the updates (since last - a long tie ago!) But fortunatelyI have my calender which helps me remember. I'm going to sum uo my months since Homecoming.

*I've had my nameday, which apparently is VERY faschinating to Americans.

*I've collected bugs (I had to kill them by putting them in a jar with nailpolishremover and slowly watch them die.. inda satisfying in away - for people like me who hates insects - kinda scary at the same time) I got some help with my leave collection (Thanks Amy D!)

*I cut my hair - bangs again! And after that me, Nikki and Nik went to Hastings to take our senior pictures, Nikki is a good photographer!

* We went on a "scare-ride" to Witches bridge (where a man was found dead only a couple of weeks afterI arrived here!) I was freaking out, but Nikki is not easily scared so to make her satisfied we also had to go to the cemetary.

*I got my learners permit! yay

*Joe&Karyne came on a surprise visit. We went shopping and went to dinner at Whiskeys creek. I tried Prime Rib for the first time, I think dad would be proud of me, atleast that is what Joe said. I got out of school, and my shopping tour reaulted in my new wintershoes - a pair of uggs - that are so comfortable I never want to take them off!

*Had a Choir Lou-Platte conference Choral Clinic at Kearney Catholic. I spent the day with my wonderful friend Anna. Did we take it seriously? Nah, not really, but we had fun!

*Basketball conditioning started.... Do I have to say more?

* We took our senior class photo at the gunfield. Everyone wore blue jeans and white shirts and we had a paintfight! My handprint was on people's butts was my signature! Also hearts on foreheads :)

*Went to a couple of Psychologylessons only because the Psychology teacher hypnotized the students. Awesome experience, I loved it, even though I was not totally under it. Some people were really funny.

*Me and Brittany had a meeting with a deer Doctor and a creepy guy!

* I've been to Stacey's babyshower.

*Observed people at the Mall.

* Went to a not so popular Glow in the Dark dance. At least we made it fun!

* Saw the One Act play; a play that pur school sets uo and compete against other schools in. It was seriously awesome, but probably a bit confusing for people who didn'tknow anything about it before. Nikki was the funniest ever, I laughed util I cried! (sure, I do tend to do that often...)

Your dearest

Antonia

THE Homecoming Dance.

I started the day by waking up at 7.00 am, getting ready, and by eight Tarryn came and Picked me up. Time for All-state choir auditions! The auditions we're held at Adam's central high school in Grad Island, and all all-state people (both band and choir) drove together from the school. THAT DAY we got the parts that we were supposed to sing (bad, since we barely had anytime to practise) and all the way there we sat and sang. They didn't take any from the German song that I knew so well, and pretty much the hardest parts of all the other songs! My audition was at 10.05, so I had the least time to practise. A time that got way less after talking to all of Tarryn's friends that she knew from everywhere! I tried to convince myself that I didn't care, that I just have to go in there and have fun, but of course, as always, I cannot take failing, making mistakes or not being able to do something. So I get nervous. And ruin it. I stood outside the audition room listening to the girl inside ( OH NO, I reaized. PEOPLE ARE GONNA HEAR ME!) The girl in there was amazing, and that did not help my nerves. When she got out it was... Anna! She was one of the girls Tarryn introduced me to before.

The judge in the room gave me some directions (even though she was not supposed to) put the tape on, and I sang! I had to know everything exactly, what part I was singing, what pitch etc. I just got the tempo, and then I had to know everything else by myself. Not the easiest I'll tell you. Some parts that I thought were gonna go good went bad, and some parts I thought were gonna go bad went well, but afterwards I still knew I didn't make it. My nerves messed it up again... I sat down and talked to Anna waiting for Patty, and by the end of the conversation when we were going toget coffee, we had already planned how she was gonna come to Sweden and live with me for a year, and go to IB, and learn swedish and everyhting. Let's just say we got along well.

Patty came and we went to meet up in Hastings with Nikki to buy last minute things for the dance. I bought a red clutch, a couple of earrings, and oher necessities for the evening. We ate subway, and when we got home we pretty muh started getty ready for the dance even though it was like 2 pm only.

Before the dance we went to pick up Shae (that was barely ready at all) and Nik in the white Tahoe that was ours for the night. Took some pictures at Nik's house and went to the dance. It was fun when the guys felt unmasculine sitting in the backseat haha. the first half hour was all about pictures at different places, with different people etc. Then the ACTUAL dance started. I got in my dancing mood, the mood where I just let go of everything else, and I love it! I had so much fun it was crazy. Daniing with all different people, talking to all different people. I can honestly say that I haven't had that much fun in a looong time.

When it all ended at 11pm we went to Grandma Max'x (It's a tradition going out eating breakfast after the Homecoming Dance every year). Everone was there. After that, even though we didn't have curfew until 1am, we didn't have time to do anything. My feet hurt after all the dancing, and after some texting I fell asleep. Sleeping Beauty as someone once said.

SPIRIT WEEK continuation..

Late, again, but at least I'm here!

COLOR WAR

The point of this day was that every grade had their own color that they were supposed to dress up in, and one grade would win (how they judged that I don't know). Anyways, Seniors (for example.. me) were supposed to wear green, juniors pink, sophomores orange, freshmen yellow etc. In Interior design we had a substitute, plus that we barely had anything to do (a usual interior design class for that matter) so Nikki acted hairdresser and poofed everyone's hair doing big awesome hairdos for us. It was fun, and people sure did notice us. Nikki was probably the cutest with her pink wings, extremely poofed hair and pink flowers on her face.

CARDINAL DAY

The most boring day, but it's tradition and we didn't have a choise. Since it was the day of the Homecoming game people were supposed to dress up in the school colors; Red, Black and White. I thought it was boring, but as always I follow my rule, "Life is what you make it" and I did wear Red, Black and White, but in afun way! I did my makeup extreme with red eyeshadow, patterns with liquid eyeliner and dots on my eyelids with glitter eyeliner. Even guys complimented it during the day and told me I should be a make-up artist haha. it was fun.. We had a peprally to highen the school spirit during the day where all these games were held for different sports groups. The senior Volleyball girls got to eat "poop" (chocolate and nuts) out of diapers, the Footballguys had to blow flour and find sugar cubes, and Cross country guys got their faces covered in whipped cream and got cheeseballs thrown at them by the X-country girls.

Our Homecoming game was not what it could have been. I would have been so much more fun if we would have won the game, but the guys were not as bad as they usually are after losses. We went to McDonalds after, but some of us thought it was too crowded, so me, DJ, Butters, Shawn, Nik and Jordan got into a car and drove to Wendy's (there's something about the "Baconater"...) but is was closed, so we went to Sonic. I had s much fun! I love haninging out with different people all the time, and sometimes guys are so much easier hanging out with than girls! Anyways, we had fun. And on the way home, Nikki and I forgot Tarryn...

SPIRIT WEEK

SPRIRIT WEEK = week before Homecoming, using dress-up-themes everyday for School just for fun. Also I'm getting way excited for this weekend. Need t go shpooing for shoes and all this other fun stuff for the dance!

Monday: PAJAMA DAY
Probably the most boring day. There are girls atour school that walk around in pajamas on regular days, so I wasn't really expecting any huge differences, and there weren't. I hate though people who don't even try, or want to do something. I mean, how many times a year do you have the oppertunity to freak out clothes'wise in school? There you go. Me and Nikki were wearing robes to school, and Nikki got the female costume award for that day, congrats hunny!
Today we also got to vote for Homecoming Queen and King. I voted for Kmart and F-Nik (= Foreign Nik, I LOVE HIM! He's the funniest guy)

Tuesday: DUCK-TAPE DAY
I admit I was sceptic, but it ended up being so much fun. People were going crazy, wearing tape all over their clothes, different colors, shapes, everything. You really got the chance to be creative. Many classes during this day were spent to decorate clothes, and make clothes out of tape. Britny stayed up until 3o'clockin the morning making her jacket. Respect. Satsigt huh? :D
I made a skirt for myself during study hall, just by wrapping my butt in tape. Next period I had to go to the bathroom...

Wednesday: COSTUME DAY
I dressed up as Barbie, I even had a blond wig that I took off before first period. Remind me NEVER to go blond, omg retarded. I used the excuse that it was itching and that Kim messedit up (wich is partially true) but mostly it was because I looked like a freak, we do have a picture onit on the fridge though, haha. Nikki was a pirate, it was very cute. That was a fun day too. During the day I saw princesses, ninjas, batman, batgirl, Teenage Ninja Turtle, superman, cheerleaders, snow white, a banana etc.

updates of rest of week is to come! Håll utkik vettja