This is my first year in Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I have the sweetest little. Her name is Brenda, and she loves to play, play, play. Her favorite thing to do is play tetherball, which she beats me at EVERY TIME. She's in the 3rd grade. Today all the Elementary kids ran at the track in an event called "Mighty Milers." A few weeks ago Brenda told me she could make it the whole mile! I was like, "Yeah... I don't think I could do that." Well today she felt like walking. Which was fine with me because I got to do it with her! I had a lot of fun, and she made it the whole way!
I'm leaving for Austin on Monday at 6:30 a.m. for State Spelling. Wish us luck!
Love Always,
Hannah
Makin' changes.
Summer is just around the corner, and my anticipation levels are through the roof! I'm getting tired of school, and extremely tired of spelling. I can't wait for the trip because I'm ready to throw my spelling list away... I've already told you about my travel plans for the summer, so I won't tell you about those again. But I'm soooo ready for them!
This week I've made a change in my life. Rachel and I have started a "36 day challenge." The challenge gives us something to do everyday, like squats, push ups, sit ups, and supermen. The farther we go, the harder it will get and the more exercises the challenge adds. We've also been riding bikes every day, and doing yoga. We've decided that it's definitely a perk that Gruver has flat streets. And we have sympathy for the bikers in San Francisco!
I haven't exactly been "active" in the past two years, so hopefully we'll stick to this routine, and get satisfying results!
Not a lot of exciting things have happened this week, besides being $1200 short on ads for the football book. So the cheerleaders are out selling again! Yaaay! Can't you tell the sarcasm?
Maybe I'll have something more interesting next Friday!
Love Always,
Hannah
This week I've made a change in my life. Rachel and I have started a "36 day challenge." The challenge gives us something to do everyday, like squats, push ups, sit ups, and supermen. The farther we go, the harder it will get and the more exercises the challenge adds. We've also been riding bikes every day, and doing yoga. We've decided that it's definitely a perk that Gruver has flat streets. And we have sympathy for the bikers in San Francisco!
I haven't exactly been "active" in the past two years, so hopefully we'll stick to this routine, and get satisfying results!
Not a lot of exciting things have happened this week, besides being $1200 short on ads for the football book. So the cheerleaders are out selling again! Yaaay! Can't you tell the sarcasm?
Maybe I'll have something more interesting next Friday!
Love Always,
Hannah
Just another week.
This week has been a littttttle bit less crazy than the past few. At school on Monday we had the academic awards program. Students with the top averages in classes, and students that are in NHS and/or UIL are invited to attend. Awards are given for each class, as well as medals and certificates for UIL participants. The NHS induction ceremony also takes place. I received the award for Anatomy & Physiology, the English III award, and the Adv. U.S. History award. Our spelling team finally got our medals from district and regionals, and Ms. Clark let evvvveryone know that we are going to State in a few weeks. So if you're unsure of whether or not we're headed to Austin...go talk to her! Tuesday night was the spring band concert. It didn't last three hours like the Christmas concert, which was good. The fifth and sixth grade band played first, followed by the seventh grade, high school choir, and then the high school band. Members from each band, except the high school, received awards for outstanding woodwind, brass, and percussion. High school awards will be handed out at the Band/Choir banquet on the 13th. The high school played some cool songs! The first two were two out of the three songs we played at concert contest, "Pinnacle" and "They Led My Lord Away." The next two were John Williams pieces from movies. One was "Highlights from Harry Potter," which my friend the Team Neville blogger thorougly enjoyed. The other was "John Williams: Movie Adventures"... I think that's what it was called. It contained songs from three popular movies. The first two movements were the main theme from Star Wars, and "Dual of the Fates." The last two were the theme from Jurassic Park, and the theme from E.T.
I think the audience liked it. After that we played a "sneak peak" of our marching show for next year titled, "Trail of Tears." I'm not sure how fun it will be, but hopefully it will take us to state! A perk of the Gruver Spring Concert was that the seventh graders, or should I say upcoming eighth graders, got to play with the high school. It was very exciting for them, and I hope that a lot of them choose to stay in band! Supposedly we'll have around fifty members next year! The most we've had in a very, very long time! The Lady Hound Golfers are teeing off in an hour and fourty-five minutes from now at state, so gooood luck to them! Have a great weekend.
Love Always,
Hannah
I think the audience liked it. After that we played a "sneak peak" of our marching show for next year titled, "Trail of Tears." I'm not sure how fun it will be, but hopefully it will take us to state! A perk of the Gruver Spring Concert was that the seventh graders, or should I say upcoming eighth graders, got to play with the high school. It was very exciting for them, and I hope that a lot of them choose to stay in band! Supposedly we'll have around fifty members next year! The most we've had in a very, very long time! The Lady Hound Golfers are teeing off in an hour and fourty-five minutes from now at state, so gooood luck to them! Have a great weekend.
Love Always,
Hannah
State bound!
Turns out we're going to state in Spelling again this year! We got first place as a team with 217 points. Nikki placed 2nd with a 90 and I got 6th with a 75. I think we're third or fourth in the state right now. So we're having to study, study, study! It isn't for another month, so we have plenty of time to get to where we need to be! I'm excited that our alternate, Kennedy, gets to travel with us to Austin. There's a slight possibility that the trip will not be as fun as last year because two of my favorite blonde teachers will not be going again. Just Ms. Clark and Coach Seagler. Partyyyy! The state bound signs are already up in our yards, along with the ones for the golf girls! Congrats to them too! I would definitely say that going to State is a perk of living in Gruver! Wish us luck!
Love Always,
Hannah
Love Always,
Hannah
More events of the busy Spring.
This week has been packed full with stuff for me to do. Since it's the busiest time of year, of course I have ten million things on my agenda. We're starting our Super Fan and business advertisement selling for the Top of Texas Football magazine. It's my third year to do this, so I'm pretty much a pro. I'm in a group with Bailey and Caty, the two new cheerleaders, and we sell ads to Gruver and Morse businesses. Each cheerleader has about 25 "Gruverites" to sell Super Fan ads to as well. We have to sell, sell, sell in order to pay for our new uniforms and camp. Alsoooooo.. Our youth group from the Methodist church is selling brisket. So I've gotta get on that. Today's the Area track meet in Panhandle, and I'm sad to be missing that. I've watched Rachel pole vault all year so I'm wishing her luck from Gruver today! Saturday I have to go to Borger to take the ACT at Frank Phillips College at 8:00 a.m., and Saturday night I'm going to a quinceanera in Perryton. My sister on the other hand, has a softball game Saturday morning at 10:00, and prom in Spearman the same night. Our FFA judgers traveled to Levelland yesterday for Area judging. Travis was going to take the ACT with me tomorrow, but he forgot he had that. He signed up for it already and everything! Now I have to go alone... Anyways, I'm just enduring the busy times and waiting anxiously for summer.
Love Always,
Hannah
Love Always,
Hannah
just a few things about my week.
I guess today I'll just post another boring blog about how my week has been going.. Sunday was Easter so we got all dressed up for that, took pictures, etc. etc. But no Easter egg hunting for the Speck family.. I've been practicing my spelling every day, getting ready for Regionals. Yesterday we had a cheer meeting, and my FAVORITE time of the year has arrived. Top of Texas Football Magazine ad selling... I hope you could sense the sarcasm there. It's a lot of work, and takes time, but it will all be worth it when paying for uniforms and camp comes around. On a completely different note, Rachel and I watched The Notebook last night. It was around 10:30 and we were in my bed bawling like babies by the end of the movie. Which is completely normal for us, considering sad movies are kind of our thing. We're also some of the only two people that think the movie, Nacho Libre, is roll-on-the-floor-laughing hilarious. Hopefully my blog will be more interesting next week!
Love Always,
Hannah
Love Always,
Hannah
I'm looking forward to...
So there's about 130 days until I leave for Greece and Italy. It's getting closer and closer to takeoff and I'm STOKED. I'm especially ready for REAL gelato and pizza! We're going on a 3-day Greek Island Cruise at the end of our trip too. I've never been on a cruise before, let alone out of the country... So you can imagine how exciting it is for me!
Talk more next week.Love Always,
Hannah
Early Spring Happenings
I don't have much to blog about this week except for the fact that there is sooo muuuuuch going on! From One Act Play to UIL and spring sports, everyone is up to their ears in stuff to do. It's the busiest time of the year for involved students at GHS. Fortunately for me, I'm only in UIL. My events include Editorial Writing, Mathematics, and Spelling and Vocabulary. This is the first year of my high school career that I've been in other events besides spelling. Last year, our spelling team went to the state contest and got third! We are planning to improve our scores this year, and take the state championship. Tomorrow is the district contest, which is crazy because it seems like our trip to Austin was just a few months ago. I know of some other schools that don't really care about academic UIL, and I'm very glad that our school gets so into it(another perk). We have fifty students going tomorrow, which is impressive. We're hoping to win the whole thing!
Love Always,
Hannah
Love Always,
Hannah
Weekly accomplishments.
So this week has been pretty eventful. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the Gruver Band was going to have Concert/Sightreading contest on a Wednesday. Well that got moved because of the blizzard to the day before yesterday. Our band traveled to Panhandle to compete in this contest. Actually it's not really a competition since everyone gets an individual score. Anyways... We arrived to Panhandle, got off the bus (already in uniform), and went straight to our warm up room. After our reeds were wet, and tuning taken care of, we moved to the auditorium for our performance for the judges. We were about to show three men what we've worked for since before Christmas. (I've gotten extremely tired of playing the same three songs for this long). We played our songs very well, I thought, and transferred over to the sightreading room. Three more judges waited for us there. They handed out our music, and told Mrs. Nusz, our band director, she could begin her three minute lookover of the score. When her time was up, she told us to turn over our music, and she began her seven minute time of explaining the piece. When that was up, she had three minutes to count rhythms for us and go into more detail of what the song contained. When that time was up.. Sigh.... We played "Magestic Spirit" the best we could. None of us had ever seen the music before, and the judges said we were the most confident band they had seen all morning. That made us feel good! We anxiously waited on the bus for about twenty minutes, hoping Mrs. Nusz would return with a trophy. Of course, she did, and we left Panhandle with our 4th Sweepstakes Title!!! We received 1's from all 6 judges! Or 9, counting the three from marching season. Sweepstakes is a great accomplishment for any band, and we are so proud.
Off the band topic, cheer tryouts were this week. Tuesday were tryouts in front of judges, and Thursday were student body tryouts. This was my last year to tryout, so it was kind of sad. I wasn't as nervous as past years, but still a little shaky for the judges. I made it, along with five other girls. Just another accomplishment this week, I guess.
Last night, I had to work the concession stand for the junior high track meet. It was STRESSFUL. I thought basketball games were busy, try a million junior high kids demanding for food when there's clearly none left. I almost had a panic attack. Everyone else working thought it gave them "such a rush" though.. Not for me. I was only there for two hours, and hated it. I'm adding that as a weekly accomplishment as well. Just because I survived.
Love Always,
Hannah
Off the band topic, cheer tryouts were this week. Tuesday were tryouts in front of judges, and Thursday were student body tryouts. This was my last year to tryout, so it was kind of sad. I wasn't as nervous as past years, but still a little shaky for the judges. I made it, along with five other girls. Just another accomplishment this week, I guess.
Last night, I had to work the concession stand for the junior high track meet. It was STRESSFUL. I thought basketball games were busy, try a million junior high kids demanding for food when there's clearly none left. I almost had a panic attack. Everyone else working thought it gave them "such a rush" though.. Not for me. I was only there for two hours, and hated it. I'm adding that as a weekly accomplishment as well. Just because I survived.
Love Always,
Hannah
Shakin' in the snow.
Happy March!
So this week has been interesting. Mass amounts of snow from the blizzard caused us not to have school Monday OR Tuesday! Gotta say, this adds to the list of perks. Another thing that makes an addition to this "list" is the caring people we have in this town. There's people that don't even work for the city that have gone out on their tractors to take care of the streets. I also know of a person that cleared the snow drifts and ice from someone else's driveway just to be nice. So sweet!
The first day of practically being snowed in was sooo boring. Well when I was at home. I never realized that staying home instead of going to school could be so bland. The second day happened to be tons more fun! I got a text from a friend Tuesday morning that she wanted to make a Harlem Shake video in the snow. We got a bunch of people together and actually did it! People were flipping, doing snow angels, and dancing around in the craziest manner. After the snow video, we moved to Allsup's and did another video in one of the aisles. Now that one was great...just great. I guess you would have to watch it to see how awesome it was. We posted them on Facebook, with high hopes of getting more "likes" than another Harlem Shake video that people in Spearman made. Well, mission accomplished. Both videos surpassed Spearman's in likes. Another cool thing was that the guy that drives the Doritos truck to Allsup's saw our video, and offered to send it in to Frito Lay! So look out for a bunch of brightly-dressed high school kids in a Frito Lay commercial.. We could be famous.
Love always,
Hannah
So this week has been interesting. Mass amounts of snow from the blizzard caused us not to have school Monday OR Tuesday! Gotta say, this adds to the list of perks. Another thing that makes an addition to this "list" is the caring people we have in this town. There's people that don't even work for the city that have gone out on their tractors to take care of the streets. I also know of a person that cleared the snow drifts and ice from someone else's driveway just to be nice. So sweet!
The first day of practically being snowed in was sooo boring. Well when I was at home. I never realized that staying home instead of going to school could be so bland. The second day happened to be tons more fun! I got a text from a friend Tuesday morning that she wanted to make a Harlem Shake video in the snow. We got a bunch of people together and actually did it! People were flipping, doing snow angels, and dancing around in the craziest manner. After the snow video, we moved to Allsup's and did another video in one of the aisles. Now that one was great...just great. I guess you would have to watch it to see how awesome it was. We posted them on Facebook, with high hopes of getting more "likes" than another Harlem Shake video that people in Spearman made. Well, mission accomplished. Both videos surpassed Spearman's in likes. Another cool thing was that the guy that drives the Doritos truck to Allsup's saw our video, and offered to send it in to Frito Lay! So look out for a bunch of brightly-dressed high school kids in a Frito Lay commercial.. We could be famous.
Love always,
Hannah
Oh the weather outside is frightful...
As you can probably tell from my title, this post is mostly going to be about this crazy weather we've been having up here. Let's start with the beginning of the week.. Well Monday we had cheer practice, and I was perfectly content with going outside in shorts and a t-shirt. I never thought the week would end with about seven inches of snow! Yesterday we had to come to school at regular time, while all other schools around Gruver had a late start. The snow hadn't really started to hit though. During the morning classes, if you looked outside, all you could see was white. We were thinking, "WHY are we at school right now?!" A few out of town kids got to leave during second period, but by the time some of the other students that live in the country found out they could leave, they couldn't because the roads were too bad! This made them VERY angry. A certain tall and lanky boy in my grade vented during fifth period about his opinion on the whole thing... So we got out at 11:50 for lunch, told to be back at 1:05. But around 12:15, we got a text from Greyhound News that said they were cancelling the rest of the school day. I was super excited, but upset that I had to go baaack to the school to get my car. My mom sent me with a broom, and I swept off my car, along with two others. It was great fun. The snow stopped falling at around 4:00. So I guess it would have been fine to go the whole day. Oh well! When I got home, I had nothing to do. So I watched two episodes of the Bachelor, and one of Pretty Little Liars. While doing so, I sat in our massage chair for FOUR HOURS. (It wasn't on the whole time). This morning, we got to have a late start, just like all the other schools! Yay! There's still a ton of snow on the ground, and my little low-to-the-ground car is perservering through the giant mounds in the street. Maybe next week our area won't have such bipolar weather.
Love Always,
Hannah
Love Always,
Hannah
Rock Revival.
So listen up... I have this girl that sits next to me in my Web Tech class. Shes real blonde, like me. We're on the same cheer squad and everything. Ya know, the works. Well... Her name's Alex. And there's just something that keeps us tighter than ever. OUR JEANS. We have the EXACT same pair of Rock Revivals. But there's a perk to these jeans. We wear them on the same day, every single time!!! It's insanity. If you're wondering, we're wearing them today. Imagine that!Let me tell you a little more about this class. There's something new everday, but really, it's all the same. So far today we've talked about away games at Booker, helmets, and the Bachelor.
Wait, what's that I hear? The Office theme song? Coming from Korbin's computer? Surprise, surprise...
There's a lot of people gone today for the Ft. Worth stock show, and the One Act Play festival in Wellington. I miss Rachel already. She keeps me entertained all day long with her hilarious comments and often complaints about her day. I'm terribly sorry you have to miss her Harry Potter blog for the week.
Love Always,
Hannah
Busy, busy bee.
These past two weeks have been SUPER busy! I guess it should be expected in the spring. There's a lot of things happening around Gruver High School. Such as getting ready for UIL, solo/ensemble and UIL concert and sightreading contests for band, moving on with basketball, and other spring sports. Along the lines of classes this week, I had a rough draft for a paper about McCarthyism due on Thursday, and... Well let's just say I chose the procrastination path. I stayed up verrry late Wednesday night trying to get it all done, and ended up with a five page paper! I think the sleep deprivation is finally hitting me today. This is definitely not considered a "perk" around here. Although it's for college preparation, Gruver teachers doesn't cease to give you homework :) I'm just glad this school week is over! This weekend will be my second band-free weekend in a row! (Extremely exciting I know)
Moving on from my "current events," I have cheer tryouts coming up on March 5th. I STILL haven't been released from my surgery that was LAST MAY. So I need to get that done (in Dallas), along with getting myself in shape to jump again before tryouts.
Talking about everything that has to take place before the last day of school makes me really wish that summer was way closer than it actually is. My 2013 summer is going to be...how can I say it? AWESOME. I've got lots of things on my agenda, and I'm determined to make everything well worth it. Probably the most exciting thing on my to-do list is going to GREECE and ITALY. I'm going with one of the teacher's from our school on an educational tour. I already know it will be the best travel experience of this small town girl's life. Considering that I've never left the country...and only been to 12 out of the 50 states, not counting Texas. I'm pumped.
Well I guess I'll stop typing now. Have a wonderful week.
Love Always,
Hannah
Moving on from my "current events," I have cheer tryouts coming up on March 5th. I STILL haven't been released from my surgery that was LAST MAY. So I need to get that done (in Dallas), along with getting myself in shape to jump again before tryouts.
Talking about everything that has to take place before the last day of school makes me really wish that summer was way closer than it actually is. My 2013 summer is going to be...how can I say it? AWESOME. I've got lots of things on my agenda, and I'm determined to make everything well worth it. Probably the most exciting thing on my to-do list is going to GREECE and ITALY. I'm going with one of the teacher's from our school on an educational tour. I already know it will be the best travel experience of this small town girl's life. Considering that I've never left the country...and only been to 12 out of the 50 states, not counting Texas. I'm pumped.
Well I guess I'll stop typing now. Have a wonderful week.
Love Always,
Hannah
Band again, band again jiggity jig.
Alright so last weekend were the All-State tryouts... I didn't make it, but I'm not too upset. This weekend is the All-Region clinic and concert, and we are shipping out tomorrow at 6:15 a.m. Bright and early!! We will rehearse alllll day tomorrow, and again Saturday morning. There are four separate bands performing Saturday evening. Both middle school concert and symphonic bands, along with high school concert and symphonic. I am in the symphonic band and will be going on at 5:00 p.m. It's a long and tedious process, but the concert is definitely worth it. The music is absolutely amazing. There are a lot of students from Gruver going tomorrow, and I think it's great. I'm especially proud of the younger kids that have worked so hard because this is an astounding accomplishment. These last two weeks have been slam packed with band, and in a few weeks I will be at it again with solo and ensemble contest. I will be participating in a trio with Rachel Teal and Lizbeth Trejo, and playing a song called, "Legend of the Unicorn." Interesting name, I know. We're also getting closer and closer to UIL Concert and Sight-reading contest, and will be trying for our fourth consecutive sweepstakes! My junior year of band has flown by, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it.
Love Always,
Hannah
Love Always,
Hannah
Lubbock Bound!
Alright so today I'm taking a trip to Lubbock, Texas to compete in the All-State Band tryouts. I am going with another girl, Emilynn. I've been in band since I was in 4th grade, and have been involved in many contests. Tomorrow are the All-State tryouts, and I'm pretty nervous. I have two different pieces that I have to perform and a set of scales. To get to this point, I had to try out for the All-Region Band, and make one of the top chairs. I was placed 5th chair B flat clarinet, and was allowed to move on to Area contest. If I do well tomorrow, and make the All-State Band, I get to travel to San Antonio and try out AGAIN for chair placement in the band. (It's intense stuff, let me tell you). There is a send-off today for us "super-banders" and I think this is something to add to the list of Gruver "perks." I am so glad to have the support of our school as I go on to participate in this contest.
Love Always,
Hannah
First Post
Well it's the start of the new year and the Christmas lights are still up in this tiny town! The streets are still a little icy, and the weather still requires you to wear a Winter coat. As far as happenings at school, district games are about to start for basketball, and UIL is just around the corner! This is the busiest time of year for Gruver High School students, so things are about to get CRAZY. I'm not sure that this busy season has any "perks" to it, but surely something will come up.
Love Always,
Hannah
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