Curiosity didn't Kill the Cat, Grace did.

Thoughts of the Fall season, pumpkins, apple slushies, and scarecrows keep crossing my mind, day in and day out. It is getting closer and closer to being the most wonderful time of the year and WHY do I think about it so much? It isn't even August yet. You would think that since I turn 20 in August I would be excited about that month, but honestly August might be my least favorite time of year. It is so HOT, school starts back up, and people get mad at me for saying things like "Is it Christmas yet?" I'll probably like August more next year when I turn the big 21 and officially run out of birthdays to look forward to. 20 is just blah and nothing changes for me besides not being a teenager anymore.

Let's flash back though and take a long look at my summer break. Movies, Netflix, Laying out and babysitting. There ya have it, folks, Summer 2016 is a blast. Really though I am so lazy and have probably gained 3 pounds from my lack of dancing and just LEAVING MY HOUSE. I did, however, take a small look into my responsible side and have discovered I am not yet ready to own a *Pause for dramatic effect* CAT.

It all started when the other student worker at my job brings her 6-week old kitten into work. This leading me to fall in love and ask my parents if I can PLEASE get a kitten. Well, long story short, they said yes! After a short one day of searching for a kitten to call mine, I find one from a girl who had 15! It was so hard to choose from all of them, they had orange, black, striped, gray, white, basically every cat color ever. Finally, though I chose a gray kitten, to which I named Phoebe. Smelly cat, Smelly cat, what are they feeding you?

She was completely adorable and I was in love for about 4 hours. I am only joking. Maybe. The thing pooped everywhere and it was the most disgusting poop ever. I wasn't allowed to have her inside full time and trying to potty train a cat to go outside is super hard. She was Oh so cute and cuddly though as long as she didn't just eat. The stress of having my dad yell at me over a cat/poop in the house and that thing screaming and crying when you locked her in a cage actually made me hate my life and lose 3 pounds for the first 4 days of having her. 

I made this contraption outside and after her escaping out of it twice I finally figured out the key to keeping her locked in this pretty large cage I will say and in the GRASS where she can fertilize the soil instead of the carpet in my living room (sorry mom). She whined in that thing for about 3 days when finally I couldn't take the stress of it anymore. I let the tiny kitten roam free outside on her own and if I lost her then whatever, I mean it's a stray cat I helped her all I could. At night she slept in her tiny kennel as pictured above so that something didn't eat her because she sounded like an animal in distress crying at my back door. 

The outside during the day and in the kennel at night worked well for awhile except for the fact that I was bathing her every day because she pooped all over herself every night. Swear the poor thing had worms. Finally to our last living situation, Phoebe roams free outside on her own 24/7, but she doesn't leave the porch and poops all over the beach towels. When she got to be the perfect kitty is where everything goes downhill. 

She has her own bed on the porch, sleeps there every night. Only occasionally poops on the porch, plays with Susie, we got rid of her worms after her doctor visit and she weighs a whopping 1.7 pounds. Cutest, most playful, happy kitty ever. Phoebe is also quite the model if I do say so myself. 

After taking a shower to get ready for my Saturday night plans, my older brother Charlie comes to me mortified to tell me the bad news. "Grace your cat's dead." I play the evening over and over in my head constantly to think about if there was anything I could have done, but there wasn't. Precious Phoebe had somehow fallen in the pool and ended up drowning in the skimmer. I wish my dad would have been there to fish her out and bury her, but I ended up doing it myself. I managed to not cry about it although I could have because I was finally starting to like the darn thing. 

Not sure if I'll ever own a kitten again, but it was fun while it lasted... Sort of. 

...Until next time... 

 Have a Great Summer.  

Not A Book Person

Most days I aspire to be someone that I am not. Not in a bad way, I try and change the things that I don't like about myself, but it always seems to end up as me failing to try new things and be a different me. Things that I constantly try and change include all of the following:

First Thing: I want to LOVE to read. I really enjoy going to Barnes and Noble and feeling like an intelligent person for the short time that I am there. The feels and smells of a new book are really satisfying and when purchasing I feel like I am becoming a better me, a smarter me. How many times might I open the book you ask? Never. Reading makes me want to curl up with my blanket and take a long nap (and I hate naps). I find myself falling asleep, re-reading pages, and just staring off into the distance thinking about dance or what I'm going to eat later. I have enjoyed books before though. Here's a short list of the books I have read and enjoyed. All were required to read throughout my years of high school and middle school.

1. The Fault in Our Stars
2. The Great Gatsby
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns
4. The Kite Runner
5. The Face on the Milk Carton

There you have it, the five books that are super easy reads that I actually enjoyed reading. I was supposed to read lots of other books while in high school, but I skipped out on those fun assignments. Reading is a tried and failed hobby every single time.

Second Thing: I want to LOVE to eat healthy food. Don't we all, though? I like all fruits and some veggies, but taking the time to get that food together is also the time that I don't have. Healthier foods are also more expensive usually and I don't want to eat salads all the time. I am a sort of picky eater. Unless I am in the Johnson household, to them I eat outside of the box, but to my parents, I need to step outside of the box with my food. Drinking soda is my major issue. I love to wake up every morning to a nice Dr. Pepper paired with a Hardee's chicken biscuit. If you have had this combination of breakfast items you know exactly what I'm talking about. Every day is a constant battle of DRINK MORE WATER and avoid eating french fries if at all possible. (which it usually is not possible)

Third Thing: I want to be a HARD worker. Geez, I hope no one who is supposed to hire me for a job someday reads this post. Ask most people who know me, I am lazy. If I have to complete a job, don't worry, I will get it completed and I don't procrastinate things, but you will never see me trying to go above and beyond when trying to complete something. I have different work levels for different things. If I enjoy doing something, like dancing or some sort of new DIY project to create, I do give my hardest work in those projects. But something like doing work without being asked, or getting more done than I was asked to do, you probably won't find me doing that. Knowing that the minimum I need to work a week is 20 hours, but if I want to make more money I can stay longer. Like sorry! I'm out at 20 hours. I don't want to be like this, though. I want to LOVE my job and for my hard work to show for it. I have to love something in order for me to really try hard at it. I have gotten ten times better since high school. With high school, I did all the work I needed to do to make the grades that would please my father and I didn't do a second more. This aspect of myself that I constantly try and change is the most successful in my opinion. Ask Austin though, he might have a different one.

Those are my three big things that I constantly try and better myself at and usually fail. Some other small stuff may include. Wanting to love coffee, running, blogging, learning, doing laundry, taking pictures and/or being photographed and lots of other small things that would make me a better person all around.

To be an even BETTER me I could stop: 

1. Being so selfish all of the time, sorry everyone.
2. Wanting to be the center of attention. (again back to selfish)
3. Being just a tiny bit bossy and using phrases like "My way or the highway". (man selfish)
4. Being a baby hog. (I just can't resist them)
5. Eating Coke, Drinking French Fries. Scratch that. Drinking Coke, Eating French Fries.
6. Feeling the need to capitalize French Fries (french fries)
7. Avoiding filing at work by blogging about my selfish, bookless, greasy food-filled life.

Next time I'll try to discuss something more interesting. 

XOXO Grace Kirby  

The Life of Grace Kelli

  

The Spring semester here at WKU is coming to a close and I am more than excited about it. After this week I will have just ONE MORE week of class and then finals week. Hallelujah! While I don't hate school I would really enjoy some time worrying about my tan lines instead of test scores.

Speaking of tan lines. Our swimming pool has said it's goodbyes to us and decided to rust out and be unusable. Although when first hearing of this I was super excited because my father has always said "If anything ever happens to our above ground pool, we're getting an in ground pool." Unfortunately an in ground pool is not in our budget this year and instead we must settle for another above ground. Real Problems here right? Of course I am thankful no matter what for us even having a pool at all. When Cole and I were younger we spent our summer days begging to go to our Aunt Lori's house and swim in her glorious pool and/or running through the garden sprinkler. Thankfully we now get our own new pool in our back yard on this wonderful Hump Day in April.

The next item on our discussion topic for the day is motorcycles. Don't you love them so much? Yeah, Me neither. Once when I was younger my Grandpa John informed me that he had bought a motorcycle, but I couldn't tell Nana and do you know what I did? I TOLD NANA. Motorcycles didn't exactly scare me then, but now that I'm older I see so much danger in them that the mother (that I am not) comes out in me and bans anyone I know for trying to ride one. Which brings me to this.

NO. It is not his thank goodness. But, Austins dad has decided to get himself a motorcycle making Austin think he wants one too. No way Jose. Someone I know has trouble abiding by the speed limit in their own truck, so we'll just pass on the whole motorcycle idea. Maybe (never) in the future. 

Well, there's my latest in my Grace and Austin adventures. I know you want to hear so much more about my fun filled detailed life. I'll try to post more soon. 

Until Next Time! 

Not Even A Blogger

Well, it's very safe to say that I have FAILED at being a blogger. There are so many stories of people becoming somewhat famous from blogging and I want to be one of those people. Who doesn't right? Also, who really wants to hear about the life of a 19 year old sophomore in college anyways?

Away from that point. Yes, it has been since January 10th that I ever posted on here and before that was November! I don't do that many things and my inner most thoughts and feelings aren't so interesting either. Sad right?

If you really want to know what's happening in my life at this very moment in time. I'll give you the low down.

I am terrible about taking pictures with people or even of myself. I just forget to document things way too often. Plus, I know it will take about 54654 tries of taking a photo for me to like the picture and sorry Apple, you don't make enough room on my IPhone for that. So typically I just avoid the process in all.

Most people know that I teach dance at Skydc 3 days a week and that i'm sort of obsessed. It's actually my 15th year this year! I kind of have to be forced to leave the place because I love being there so much. I love the people, I love to dance, and I definitely need the exercise because the gym? No way am I going there. What better way to get the exercise I need by doing what I love.

Getting into new projects and making new things I've seen on Pinterest is another obsession of mine. I had been slacking on doing this, but lately that is all I have been doing (besides dance of course). I have redecorated a wall in my house with photos I took with my camera, made some small sporty things for a babies room, monogrammed some cars, and made a super cute sign for Mallory.

With the last one I finally got up the nerve to use a saw. Austin cut most pieces because those things scare me, but I cut the last two. Now that I have faced my fears of that I can't wait to make more things this summer! 

School is also a big part of my life unfortunately. Now with that being said I only don't like it because of getting up early and now that the weather is pretty I just want to be outside all day! I would like to announce that I have officially declared a major here at WKU and it is...Dun dah dah dun... Elementary Education.

The thought of sitting behind a desk all day kills me and the fun hard work and even some drama of a K-5 classroom excites me. Children are wonderful, they are the future of this world and if I can make a difference in just one child's life (even though I would hope for more) I will be a happy camper! I teach children dance already and can't get enough of it, so why not school? I don't care about money or having to deal with crazy kids or whatever else people try and put down on teachers, I just want to be happy and love my job and teaching is really the only thing I see fit!

Happy Spring to Everyone!

Talk to you in several months? Maybe I'll remember to post more often. 

It's FRIDAY!  

     

It's Been Awhile

Where has the time gone? I have been super slacking on my blog posts. It has been over a month! It was the most wonderful time of the year and I spent my time enjoying every second of it with my family. I am extremely blessed and thankful for all things I received for Christmas, but one thing affects my blog tremendously. I got a camera! Super excited about capturing all the details of my crazy, crafty, joyous filled life and sharing it with all of you. Up close and personal with my Christmas Eve and Christmas day we can start with me getting to babysit Hazel. She is the Sterling's (Austin's sister's) new puppy! You know I had to add a picture of Susie in there too because she loves getting to meet new puppy friends.

Besides playing with a 7 week old labradoodle I also had to test out the quality of my new camera by taking pictures of the Christmas tree!

 Santa Clause really came to town in the Kirby house and our day celebrating the birth of Jesus could not be simply captured in a photo. Boy do I wish I could spend time with my family like this all the time. One thing we didn't do this year was take a family photo. Which is crazy because that is usually the most interesting part of our day. We all held out though, no one seemed to crash in the middle of all the presents and nothing was too stressful for anyone to handle. What everyone was in most awe of was baby Amelia. Baby's first Christmas and being the only baby in the family will sure get you a lot of attention (and presents). You guys know I got plenty pictures of her.

Every Christmas I have to get crafty with a few of my presents. I only have a picture of two of them, but I actually made several things. For my father and Monie I made both of them pillows out of my Papa's old shirts and they turned out great thanks to the sewing machine I got in August. For Austin's mom, Regina,  I made her a weekly calendar out of an old window. Beth loves to read so I made her a pillow that has pockets in it that will hold a book, headphones, etc. Last, but not least for Emily I quoted her favorite bible verse also on an old window!

It was a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I am extremely blessed to have Austin by my side through everything and can't wait to see what 2016 has in store for us.

Happy New Year everyone!  

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Oh what fun the Johnson/Sterling clan had in Pigeon Forge this weekend! We stayed in a cabin Friday and Saturday night together and no one was pushed down the mountain, so the trip was a success.

Our fun Friday was filled with some great shopping prices at Tanger Outlet stores and lots and lots of go cart racing. Did I mention that I don't like go carts? The fact that my own safety is in my hands just kills me, although I was not a fan of just watching either. So I participated and had a lot of fun! I didn't always come in last place either. We ended our Friday night with carryout pizza and a LONG trip up the mountain to find our cabin (scary). Not to mention we participated in some good almost clean family fun night in playing Tapple (thank you Bobby Bones). Although a few punches might have been thrown no one was killed, so there's a plus. 

Our Saturday was even more fun filled! We had pancakes for breakfast made by Ben and thanksgiving lunch prepared by Heath and Regina and Mallory and maybe Ben too I don't exactly know. Ham, Turkey, dressing, noodles, macaroni and summer sausage all make for a great lunch. 

 We got to have a wonderful photo shoot out on our balcony which the boys just loved! Regina had us coordinate and all wear our Ivory Ella shirts that help save elephants! These comfort colored shirts are cute and go to a great cause.

Up next on our Saturday Agenda included this awesome Alpine coaster all through the mountains. you control the breaks yourself so watch out bumping other people! Austin and I just happened to have a woman and her child in front of us so we didn't get to go as fast as we would have liked. But it is still a super fun and beautiful ride through the mountains!

After some arcade games in Gatlinburg and the hilarious moments of Heath, Macey, and Mallory taking an old time photo, which i'm not allowed to post on here because of their embarrassment, we set off on a tour around Gatlinburg to see some... Drum roll here... CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. 

I didn't get any great photos, this was the best I could do! To busy trying to pay attention to everything, also my phone is terrible. After I get to go to Opryland hotel I can officially mark "see Christmas lights" off of my holiday bucket list! When our Saturday night fun was over we were all pretty pooped and just wanted some sleep! This weekend was was one for the books and I absolutely love starting new traditions! 

Thanks for reading about my family fun filled weekend! 

Yay for almost Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays! 

"It Isn't Even Thanksgiving Yet"

Christmas is my absolute FAVORITE time of year. It's actually all I can think about lately. I'm obsessed with decorating and putting up lights, watching movie classics, listening to Christmas music, and all the wonderful holiday food! Therefore, with it being November 18th I have officially created my Christmas 2015 Bucket List. Here's a picture:

I don't have the prettiest handwriting and I tend to get a little fast with writing and misspell words, but that is beside the point. With all things I enjoy doing around Christmas time, most importantly Jesus is the reason for the season. Everyone needs to remember why we are doing all this in the first place. To celebrate the birth of Jesus! Why can't Jesus have a birthday every month? This weekend I get to go to Gatlinburg, TN with all of the Johnson/Sterling clan and I am so excited to cross "look at Christmas lights" off of my list! Also side note, I'm thinking of sharing one of my persuasive speeches from senior year on why Santa Claus is real, That should be interesting. 

Thanks for reading all of my before Thanksgiving Holiday Cheer.