A Saturday Night to Remember

Alright, I know it's been awhile, and I really do have some deep and thought provoking topics to talk about...but not tonight. Tonight's blog definitely has to be spent talking about the past eight hours because I've laughing nonstop. We'll keep the profound aphorisms and life lessons for another day. Pinky promise.

So, today started off like any other. Saturday morning = swim practice. But after, I was relieved that I had absolutely no plans for the rest of my day. I didn't have to rush to get ready to go out to lunch, or pick up something on my way home for a school project, or even make a to do list which for me, is out of the ordinary. Instead I had lunch with my parents at home and had a little time to myself until I met up with Ash, Ethan, and Ty (virtually) at Tommy's to attempt to plan our senior trip. And let me tell you, this is when my day went from relaxing to hysterical, ridiculous, and just plain weird.

First off, let me just say that this whole senior trip process is incredibly stressful. You search houses, one after another, trying to determine how close they are to the beach, how expensive they are, whether or not there may be dead bodies hidden in the walls, and then, if a house passes based upon that criteria, its very unlikely that it is still available for the week of June 16-23. Thank you Ty for only being available one week.... so needless to say, after at least two hours of searching and searching, we all became frustrated and a tad bit delirious. There were reenactments of A Thousand Splendid Suns scenes (complete with burqas), fake shootings via the iGun Pro App, and a reading of the book Father to Son....

We then calmed down a little bit when Jared came and decided to work on Mrs. Forse's fortune cookie puzzle before leaving for the indoor game. The boys played well, but once the game was over the night became all the more crazy and hilarious. Unfortunately Schweins's wallet got stolen, cough cough, I mean lost, which made him think that he had the right to run stop signs and speed on the highway. I believe the quote was, "Come get me cops, I lost my f****** wallet!" Classic.

Before the night was over, we stopped at Mickey D's for a snack. While there, Ethan flashed some lady three times and Tommy pretended like he was blind. Spilling his drink, tasting every fountain drink there in order to find Dr. Pepper, and making a scene: he went the whole nine yards. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my whole life, and I wish that I had the security tape to relive the scene. It's hard to explain it, but trust me, it was one of those "had to be there moments" that I'll remember for days to come.

Pretty much what I'm trying to say here is I absolutely love my friends. We aren't your typical group of high school seniors. We can do absolutely nothing and still have the best time. No alcohol, drugs, or partying necessary. I truly cannot wait to spend a week with them in Hilton Head and a full 24 hours with them in the car to and from South Carolina. It's going to be one of the best weeks of my life, hands down. So, if you guys are reading this, thank you. Thank you for being your crazy selves and for being such a big part of my life. I feel really lucky to have you and know that I love you all.

xoxoxoxox....Amanda

:) Sister Week and Some Sentimental Thoughts

I am so incredibly excited about this week! Why you might ask? Because my parents are in the Grand Cayman Islands which means I've been adopted by my second family, the Nizniks!

I started staying with Ash on Saturday night after going out to eat with our best friends and we've been having so much fun already. When we got home from dinner last night, we watched the movie The Help, which was definitely as good as everyone made it out to be. I highly recommend watching it if you haven't already. It really made me think about how prevalent discrimination was not just decades ago, but still in today's society. I could go on and on, but I'll save these thoughts for another time.

As for Sister Week, today my "sis-tor" and I decided to do something out of the ordinary and make it a special Sunday. After debating back and forth on what to do, we settled on some shopping down at the South Side Works in Pittsburgh. The day started off really well, I mean, successfully parallel parking and all by yours truly (thank you, thank you very much) but as we went to some of our favorite stores and ended up with nothing, we started to feel a little discouraged. Then we came to the conclusion that we are just cheap and want to save our money for more important things like senior trip, summer concerts, and soon to be college life.

This then led the conversation to college, what life after high school will be like, and what we ultimately want out of our future. I love talks like these with those who are close to me because I always see the person I'm talking to still being in my life years and years down the road. It is so scary to think about how much will change though. Ash is obviously one of my closest friends and I know that we will stay in touch, but our talk made me question who else I still will be connected with and talk to after graduation. I say all the time how I can't wait to go to college, start the next chapter of my life, and meet new people, but after taking time to reflect with some delicious Black Out Cake from the Cheesecake Factory, I realized how amazing the people already in my life now are. I have two core groups of friends that I can't imagine my life without and as much as I want to get out of West A and push myself outside of my comfort zone, I always want those nine friends to stay in touch and be a part of my personality. Truly, I don't know what I'm going to do without seeing their faces and listening to their (mostly racist) jokes everyday next year guys. Cue the tears.....

Well, enough thinking of the future for one day. It's time to live in the present, enjoy the time we have left, and make the best of senior year! And most importantly, live every day to its fullest.

"Don't wait for someone to tell you it's too late, 'cause these are the best days...."