I will probably start posting again on here more once school is out and once the Mountain Lions season is over….SO time consuming it’s unreal.

Love,

Amanda

Probably one of the most exciting things going on in my life right now is being a part of the Sacramento Mountain Lions cheerleading team!  We recently had our final audition and completed our team of 32 beautiful and talented ladies =) We’ve been practicing like crazy – learning choreo and working out constantly – I can’t wait for the season to start so we can show Sacramento what we’re made of!  So exciting to be cheering on the new pro football team in my hometown =) It’s going to be so great seeing family and friends in the stands come game time; I seriously cannot wait!

{I’d give photo credit but I really don’t even know who this came from?? It’s been floating around facebook}

Peter is currently in Romania and I’m missing him like crazy.  He’s been gone since Tuesday and won’t be home until the 24th – the longest we’ve been apart in our 5 years together.  He sent me an e-mail yesterday that was seriously the sweetest thing he’s written me before.  It made me smile and miss him even more. Like some friends have been telling me though, when he comes home we will appreciate each other on a whole new level =)

Jack {my brother} moved to LA recently and sent us a video of his new place which was pretty cool.  It’s super weird not having him around the house and seeing his room empty, but it had to happen sometime, right?  We can’t be 30 year olds still living at home =)  As for me, I’ll probably be here for a couple more years haha.  Jack’s actually coming home tonight after a show in San Jose, so he should be here in a couple of hours, which is exciting since I wasn’t able to say bye to him when he left a couple weeks ago.  Can’t wait!

School starts back up in a couple of weeks which I’m having mixed emotions about.  I’m excited for it because I will actually be able to sleep in twice a week since my classes don’t start until noon (as opposed to waking up at the crack of dawn for work every day).  Also, now that I’m taking classes for my major, I actually enjoy going to class and learning (gasp) unlike with general ed.  What I’m NOT looking forward to is pulling all-nighters due to my inevitable procrastination habits, and not having much time to read anything but school books.  I’ve been trying to cram in reading as many books as possible over the summer but still feel like there’s a million more I want to get through.

That’s all for now – I’m sure I’m forgetting things to update you on but that’s okay.  I’ll try my best to write more often =)

xoxo

Today is my last day of finals and then I’m finally done with the spring semester!  These last few months of school were by far the most challenging yet at Sac State , so you can imagine how excited I am to be out of school for a few months!  No more papers to write, endless chapters to read, and pulling all-nighters studying…..wahoo!  Not to mention summer is my absolute favorite season {flip flops-lake days-bikinis-tanning-bbqs-etc}.

I’ll be working full time over the summer, but will have a lot more free time also (especially since cheer will be over after next month).  I already have a list of ‘to-dos’ started for the summer…

Write more often…

Even if it’s just in my journal.  The plan though is to write 2-3 hours every day on my book so I can get it done already!  It was so hard to find consistent time to write this past semester with all the essay writing and reading I was always having to do.  I’m super excited to get all my ideas on paper & even more excited to share it once its done =)

Vacation somewhere….anywhere…

Even if it’s just to Tahoe, I’d be okay with that. I haven’t been on an actual vacation since last August when I went to Mexico with Peter’s family, and it’s definitely time for another.  I even took the first week of June off of work because I’ve felt so drained lately with school finishing up and non-stop cheer stuff.  Even if I do nothing but relax, I’ll be fine with that – a break is needed & I can’t wait.

Get some rays…

I loooove summertime lake days.  Laying out on the beach, taking out Peter’s jet skiis, being with friends…perfect day!

One word: Vampires…

Already bought my midnight ticket to Eclipse ;) I was even at Nordstrom Rack the other day with Peter and stumbled across a “Team Edward” shirt and just had to get it. Everyone switched teams after they saw Taylor Lautner’s body, but I’m staying loyal to my vampires! {wow that sounds so dorky haha}

Read anything & everything…

The goal is to read at least 1 book a week.  I really want to take advantage of my free time and get as much reading in as possible before its back to journalism books next semester. If you have a favorite book you’d recommend, let me know!  I have a loooong list going of books to buy for the summer & would love to add to it.

Work it out…

My work out regimen has definitely been slipping this past month, but I’m determined to get back into the groove.  Three times a week, no excuses.  I always feel so much more confident about myself and have a lot more energy when I’ve been working out consistently.  Plus now that school’s out, I have no excuse!

Do you have anything exciting planned for the summer?

xoxo

As I’ve blogged about before, my dream job is to write novels and to not have to continue working an 8-5 office job for the rest of my life (yawn). I’ve always loved writing and consider myself to be pretty good at it.  I have such a broad range of interests (one of the reasons picking a major took me forever), and I’ve gone through quite a few different job aspirations since junior high {veterinarian, photographer, back-up dancer for a pop star (which I still think would be pretty awesome but definitely wouldn’t pay the bills), broadcast news reporter, mortician (morbid, I know, but death has always intrigued me – I’d love to have Dexter’s job), criminal justice, owner of my own dance studio, etc.}.  In the end, being a writer is what I’ve always come back to because it comes naturally and easy to me and most of all because I’m passionate about it. I started writing my first novel last year but definitely haven’t been devoting enough time to it.  A lack of inspiration has definitely contributed and so I’ve been reading a lot over the past few months to get excited about writing again.

When I get into an author, I tend to become borderline obsessive. If I read a book and love it, I immediately check out the author’s website and learn everything I can about them – how they got into the business, obstacles they overcame, where they went to college and what their major was, inspiration behind their books – but most of all, they usually give great advice to aspiring writers. Besides the fact that he’s my absolute favorite author, Nicholas Sparks has the best advice section on his website.  From suggesting books to help your writing skills – to researching and finding a good agent – to writing a good query letter, his website is by far the most helpful author’s page that I’ve come across so far.
There’s also quite a few other good ones worth looking into ~~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling (her site is just fun), Stephanie Meyer, Janet Evanovich, etc. etc.  Definitely worth checking out!

I really think that if you want to make something your career, you should take it seriously and work as hard as you can to perfect your craft.  I know that I have the drive and talent to be a great writer, but I could definitely learn a lot more about the business side of the book industry, especially in order to be prepared once I’m actually ready to look for an agent and publisher.  That being said, I went and bought all of the books Nicholas Sparks recommended on learning the ins and outs of the business…..just about to finish Stephen King’s On Writing and it’s SO entertaining and insightful.  If you want to have a career as a writer, I definitely recommend it!  If not, it’s still a great read =)

<3

◊ I turned twenty-two

◊ Trip to Cabo with Peter & his family

◊ Castro Street Fair in SF with the cheer team

◊ The formal cheer party we had in the summer

◊Halloween

◊ & just some great random nights with amazing friends

I definitely do have some goals | hopes| plans for the upcoming year…

♥ Finish my novel: My #1 top priority for 2010 is to finish my book!  I really want to be an accomplished writer someday and to be able to have my first book published at 23 would be amazing.  I’ve written my whole life ~ poems, short stories, songs, essay after essay ~ but to complete this book would be my biggest writing accomplishment to date.

♥ Get out of the country: Due to my bad spending habits this year, I wasn’t able to travel as much as I would have liked.  In 2010, I want to at least make it to Italy. I’ve done the whole Mexico vacation a couple of times, but my #1 travel destination is to get to Europe.

♥  Go to more concerts: I didn’t see nearly enough live music this year.  Of course Britney live at Arco was a dream come true concert to see, but I wish I’d gone to more.  These folks better be touring in 2010, because I’m set on buying tickets: John Mayer, Muse, Adele, Britney (round 2?) and maybe even Justin Timberlake (wishful thinking?).  At least I’ll be starting the year off right by seeing Tin Can Notes live on Jan 30th at Blue Lamp in Sacramento (you better be there too) =]

♥ Reconnect with old friends: There’s a few people from my past that I dearly miss – whether we just naturally grew apart over time or something silly caused us to not talk anymore – I’d like to get past old drama and reconnect with some people I used to be really close with.

♥ Spend more time with family: It seems like the older we get, the busier we are and the less time we spend with our family.  I really miss the summer camping trips we used to take to Ice House and the days of lounging on the boat at Folsom Lake.

♥ Learn better time management: This one might be wishful thinking, but I’d love to be able to get everything done during the day that I need to and still get 8+ hours of sleep.  I’ve found that changing sleep patterns can be quite the challenge though, but it’s a good change to strive for. Time management when it comes to school could also use some serious improvement.  Not waiting to start an essay until the morning it’s due would be beneficial hah (although I’d like to point out that I got an “A” on that one)!

There’s definitely more I’d like to do in 2010:  Move to midtown (nowhere else – no exceptions); audition for a professional dance team; learn to cook (Peter will love that one); work out more (isn’t that on everyone’s list?); get more use out of my mountain bike; be more spontaneous; get my back-handspring/back-tuck unassisted; & oh so much more.

Can’t wait to see what 2010 has to offer =]

Be safe tonight friends & happy new year!

xoxo

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