I am updating. My birthday was so fun. I was so touched that everyone came, thank you guys so much for surprising me! Lately I've been busy doing StuCo Secretartyish things like helping with enrollment and making lists of things that need to be done. I've decided that StuCo would fall apart without my wonderful lists.

I'm finally going to go to church at Emmaus. I've been at Berean 6 years now, and I've never been to church there.

Volleyball starts Monday. I'm super excited.

Life is good right about now.

I did something muy importante today. I registered to vote. Now if any of you have to ask if I'm now officially a Republican or Democrat, I will be horribly sadden. Come on people, it's the only party worth joining!

My new favorite song:

 I ain't never had a problem with California
There's a lot of good women Sacramento to Corona
But them Hollywood types after awhile wear on ya
Struttin' around in their size zeros
Skinny little girls no meat on their bones
Never even heard of George Jones

Chorus:
Ain't you glad we ain't all California girls
Ain't you glad there's still a few of us left
That know how to rock your world
Ain't afraid to eat fried chicken and dirty dance to Merle
Ain't you glad we ain't all California girls

There ain't nothing wrong with plastic surgery
Well Dolly Parton never looked so good to me
Everybody ought to be exactly who they want to be
But that Paris Hilton gets under my skin
With her big fake smile and her painted on tan
She'll never have a chance at a real man

Sing it, Gretchen

New layout! I like it. And no, there's no boy that the header is aimed at. Whenever I see hear that song I think of a dear dear friend of mine. She probably won't even figure out that it's her.

Friday is my last day at Famous Dave's BBQ. A few days ago I got to change the marquee outside, so if you happen to drive by, what you see is my wonderful spellmanship. They are hiring, if any of you are interested. But it'll take a pretty amazing person to take my place.

So that's all for today. Stay tuned.

See my background? That's pretty much what I get to see every morning while driving from Wichita to Elbing. And I love it. I love Kansas, and I hate it when people complain about it. This is where my heart is, and I wouldn't mind living here for the rest of my life (with some nice vacations, of course).

I cannot wait for school. I'm super excited to see everyone again and to be a senior. I can't believe that I'm going to be 18 in a few weeks. I always wanted to be 18 when I was little because I was convinced that I could do whatever I wanted. Yeah right.

Yes, xanga is dead. But I will continue to write because I like it. Nothing funny this time, sorry. Go read a comic book.

My mom is test driving a Mini Copper. How unfair is that. She can't seem to make her mind up between that and a VW Bug. Poor woman. Life gets so much harder when we grow up.

Anyway, we celebrated our 4th of July last night. Dad got some illegal fireworks in Missouri and we shot them off at my Uncle's. It was a pretty good time until the little cousins decided to go frog hunting and wanted to show me what they found. It went something like this...

Lydia (she's four): "MELISSAAA!! Look at what I found!"

Me: "Hey Lyd! What cha got there?"

Lydia: "It's a froggy. He's big too! Look at how big he is! Wanna hold him?"

Me: "AHHH! OH MY GOSH, GET THAT AWAY FROM ME!"

...then she dropped him. I guess I scared her. I went into the house after that for a bit until my wonderful little cousins decided to stop trying to see who could make me scream the loudest. Yeah...it was great.