Duke

Duke is my Golden Retriever. He is very important to me. You can't help but love him. All of my friends love him even though sometimes he gets a little "too excited". Every day I tell him to thank the lord he isn't a human. If he wasn't so darn adorable, he probably wouldn't be alive right now. Gotta love dogs!

Red Ribbon

I will get straight to the point. I think everyone can make a difference. You can't do anything Drunk or "High". I don't like calling it high because people say that but there are so many more ways to get "high" in life. Without hurting yourself or anyone else. Allot of people don't know that you can get "high" from running. You can. They even have a name for it: Runner's High. The only difference is that you can actually live and have a life through this kind of high. Next week in school is Red Ribbon Week. In my school we take an oath at the beginning of each year to be in Youth Power. Youth power is for kids that want to stay drug, alcohol, and smoke free. For certain dances you have to be in Youth Power to go. The sad thing is that this is motivation to be in Youth Power but not to actually quit whatever harmful thing you are doing. Just a couple of days ago I saw two kids in my grade, whom I knew were both in Youth Power, smoking at the Dairy Queen just across the street from school. I almost feel worse about smoking than I do about drugs or drinking. My uncle died of cancer. He got it from second hand smoke. He was a great man and he did not deserve any second of pain that he was in. While he had cancer he was trying to pass a law to make Colorado publicly smoke free. He died before it could be passed but some of his friends saw to that last wish. He had made such a difference to them that they thought they owed him as much. Finally Colorado was a smoke free state and some people took it upon themselves to nickname that law the Charlie Oriez Bill or Law or something. Haha. I think it gives that law the perfect amount of respect. All the other laws should be jealous that they weren't named after my uncle. At Charlie's funeral so many people wanted to get up and talk about him, telling how he changed their lives. One of the saddest parts of him leavings was seeing my aunt. She was going to be all alone. Charlie was in a better place and she was very happy about that but one day he was alive and with her, the next she was a widow. That was extremely overwhelming for all of us. No warning, other than having four years of cancer, and he was gone. Back to Aunt Gloria. If you were with my uncle, sick or not, you wouldn't feel close to alone. Then she was. My family was extremely disappointed to see Gloria in so much pain. She is a great woman and she had made my uncle happy. Drinking has also effected my family though not quite as heavily. One of my other uncles is and alcoholic. He was in rehab and had gone without a single drink for something like 6 or 9 months. He wasn't connected to the family very well because of his drinking. Then my grandma died and he used his inheritance for rehab because my mom, being the oldest, took it upon herself to take care of her little brother, now that he was closer than he had been in a few years. I got to know him visiting him in rehab and I learned that being fascinating runs in my family. He wasn't quite as interesting to me before because he was always drunk. He was even somewhat scary. He really did want to quit but alcohol is very addicting and I can't blame him for that but I really wish he would try harder. I know that if he tried with all of his heart he could do it. He was doing so well before and I was practically beaming with pride. I had thought about if anyone else I loved had the same problem I could tell them the story of my uncle. When he got out of rehab he was on top of the world. He really is a very smart man. It got very hard for him because every store you go into there is alcohol. Unless you are in Toys R Us. Finally it defeated him. Last my mom talked to him he said he was getting better. I know that if he were sober he would be calling and talking to the family. I would call him and talk to him because I miss him very much. The problem is that I grew to love my non-drunk uncle not the alcoholic one. I don't want to talk to a practically unknown drunk that is whats left of my uncle. He wouldn't be the same man I know. All I have to say is that if you are reading this you probably happen to be someone I love. Do me a favor and just stay away from smoking and drugs and alcohol. It has torn up too much of my family. My mom has a little brother and a big brother that are painfully torn by them. If you every feel temptation think of you're family. And think of me because I love you.

Running, Running, and more Running

Anybody that knew me in the least bit about, a month ago knew that I wasn't so fond of running. Well ... Pigs can FLY, Cows can TALK, Dogs can TAP DANCE, and Catie is a RUNNER! (Not a fast runner, but getting faster every minute.) If you read my last post, you know that I was bribed. With a cell phone. Well, it was MORE than worth it! I love runnin and I love my new cell phone. How about that? If you just go out and go on a nice and easy jog you would find how relaxing running is. Don't think of how much you really don't want to do it or how somehow I talked you into it. (And just over a blog too. Amazing. haha) Some people say that they are too stressed, have better things to do, or don't have enough time for running. Make running one of you'r better things. It relieves stress, is so healthy that it should be on you'r better things list, and if you practice at it for a while, you won't need to have as much spare time. My times have improved every meet! 1st: 25 minutes 11 seconds. 2nd: 23 minutes 46 seconds. 3rd: 22 minutes 20 seconds. My best time was even sloshing through mud! (It was fun after I gave up trying to look good. hehe. When you'r felling blue go on a run through a huge, ankle deep, puddle.

Running

My parents have lately talked me into doing cross country. Ok so they bribed me with a cell phone. I have actually found out that I enjoy running alot. I'm not good at it but I like it. I will write lots more about running soon. It will be my next post but there is a point to this one. If you don't like running try it anyway. There are lot's of rewards (other than getting a cell phone I mean) I hav only gone on three runs with easier workouts in between and I'm already seeing myself improve alot. It's because The first official workout I did I really wanted to do good on because I know myself and if I did bad I just wouldn't try and then I would just look stupid when the cross country season came. I have allready improved by seven and a half minutes! Within three runs! I know what you are thinking. "I can't even run one whole mile." Well, that's the good thing about cross country! You just try to work you'r way up and theres really no preassure to run the whole thing. In my first work out what I did was; when I felt tired I just thought "Okay, now if I just finish this lap instead of stopping right now I will be that much happier with myself." Then I did finnish the lap and I realized that it really wasn't that bad so I said "Well I can even run another lap!" and I did. Then I did it again. Before I knew it I had finnished jogging my first whole mile! Then after that I rotated walking and some jogging for another mile. All I had done was jog/walk on a treadmile for about 33 and 1/2 minutes and I stepped off the treadmile with loads more confidence and determination than when I had gotten on! Yesterday I chose to run outside for the first time. I ended in 25 min. and 57 seconds! Two miles! Running is alot less complicated than it would seem. Just give it a try.

Carly

Carly is my buddy! She is going to be an aunt to Aiden! That is my favorite name! She defines sarcasm. She is like the second person to look at my blog horay! Two people know my blog exists! Carly is Cool. That's all that I wanted to get through. Even though she can be a buttface sometimes. LOL! That's just how our friendship works!

More friends!

If you read Meeting Sydney then you would know that I said I made a mistake because now I can never really talk to them again. Well the day after that I found out that I had made a much worse mistake! I dicided I would try out the loft which is where teenagers (13 - 17) can go to "hang out", play games, or just meet other teenagers. By huge mistake I hadn't gone there the first week because I had thought that only the anoying teenagers would go there. I had nothing to loose because all of my friends had gotten off the boat. I went there for the first "activity" of the day because I had nothing better to do but It ended up that not very many people got up in time for the first activity of the day so I just ended up playing MAD GAB with "Mom"/Beth who is in charge of the stuff that they do at the loft. I have never played a more humerous game of MAD GAB and that game always ends up to be hilarious. I liked Beth so I stayed to try out the Scavenger Hunt at 2 o'clock. I just sat in the loft and read magazines until then. Maddi and Claira got there early and I started talking to them. Beth had put on a movie for us but Claira couldn't hold still for her life. I started talking more with Maddi and we got along right away. Don't get me wrong, Claira is awesome but she wouldn't hold still long enough for me to talk to her. haha! When two came around I was kind of nervous but alot of people there had been there the week before like I had, they had just gone to the loft unlike me. Josh, Alex, Danny, and Katy were so relaxed that it wasn't possible for there to be tention in the room. Josh walked in liked he owned the place and plopped down on the couch right next to me. At first he came off a little rough but now he's like a brother to me. Alex was a little more subtle but once he started talking ..... good luck getting him to stop and usually you didn't want him to. He is extremely entertaining. The minute Katy walked in I knew she was "interesting" and at first I didn't think we would get along. I was wrong wrong wrong. Katy was like my own little ball of fun that whole week. Something fun is always going on around her. I can hear her now! "Oh Look! A Bunny!" (Inside Joke). Talitha is awesome too. We call her Bridge to Talitha. Really her name is pronounced TALEETA. The "Bridge" thing is so much more fun though. Jessica her sister is cool too. Don't get on the wrong side of Jessica! Then there is Bread Boy: Erik. He smell a little funky and he always has bread with him. Don't be alarmed if you see a boy pull bread out of his pocket! It's just Erik. If you'r girlfriend/boyfriend's grandmother says to you "You guys are through!" then you have something in common with Bread Boy/Erik. Tobin is awesome! You have to love Dr.Zoiburg! (They are the same person.) Tobin looks exactly like Dr.Zoiburg off of Futerama! He gave Maddi her nickname too! (Which I am not going to say right now.) Julia is really fun, even though she doesn't know the Electric Slide. Just Joking. She doesn't know it because she is from Germany. That's not her fault. LOL. I could go on forever about all of my friends that I met but then you would probably get tired of hearing about them.

Coming Soon!

When I can I am going to write a bunch of new articles about myself. Including some about my pets, my hobbies, my interests, and all of my friends! One that is really a very interesting story is about my friends that I met on my second week of the cruise. Love you all and please keep reading and give me some comments!

Meeting Sydney

I went on a cruise to Alaska. It was a two week cruise and we stopped at a bunch of the most beautiful little towns/cities I have ever been lucky enough to see. We got on the ship at Vancouver on July 6th 2008. We had one day at sea which is well, a day at sea where you have no stops you just get to have fun on the boat. I met my friend Sydney on that first day at sea. There were lots of waves in the pool and I had already explored the ship. I went into the pool because I saw a girl that looked like she was having so much fun. I got in and the next thing I know, there is a girl with long blonde hair and a huge smile saying "Hi my name is Sydney what's yours?" "Catie. Where are you from?" "California. You?" "A little town in Illinois about 45 minutes from Springfield." She was my best friend for a week after that. In that same day I met her brother Zac. I grew to be good friends with him too. The next day I met Erin. She looked like she was 14 but she was only 12! She was really cool but she seemed to gossip alot but that didn't stop me from looking forward to seeing her every day. In the days that followed I met Bailey and Holly who were both 11 and from Canada. On the last day I met two really good friends that had to leave the next day. It sucked but I am still glad I met them. Emily also looked 14 but was 12. I just went right up to her and started talking to her. Later she said she was really shy. Her words were. "Usually I'm really shy but I guess not with you. You are really nice Catie." I try to be nice but no one has given me credit for it. Emily has a 6 year old brother who is adorable and I also bonded with him right away. Later that day I met Anisha and she was also 12. For some reason all of the people I met were younger than me except for Zac. He was 14. Anisha is from Michigan and she is really kind and later when I went to meet up with my other friends she came with and got along with them right away. I miss all of my friends from that first week very much. I had every intention of getting their e-mails or phone numbers or something but I made the mistake of forgetting to do that and I regret it very much. Sydney, Zac, Erin, Baily, Holly, Emily, Howie, and Anisha; I miss you very much.

My New Blog!

Hey friends! I have been inspired to have my own blog! I am going to try to have at least one new post every week! For friends that I have met at camp or on any vacation, this is my attempt to keep you updated because I love you so much!