Beach Update

In case y'all were wondering how I was handling the beach...

See y'all in four days
Allie

Spring Fever

I SURVIVED.

It's finally SPRING! If the 82 degree temperature reading doesn't confirm it, then the pollen that has dusted the entire southeast certainly does. And I'm as happy as a clam about it for several reasons, mainly because that means I don't have to be cold anymore, and also because everything is significantly better in spring and I dare you to tell me otherwise.

This was a good couple weeks. Ready for the highlight reel?

I went shopping in Hotlanta last weekend with my mom and literally bought out LOFT, J Crew and Anthro. But the by far best part of the entire trip was breakfast in bed on Saturday morning. One of the greatest aspects of when it's just me and my mom traveling is, well, that my brother and dad aren't there. Not that I don't love them and everything, but they have a tendency to always be in a rush and not want to enjoy a big breakfast, refuse to spend the money for a big breakfast, and are usually complaining about how they didn't sleep perfectly in the "uncomfortably" small beds that they "have" to share with my mom and I. So Marilyn and I did it right this weekend and had them wheel it up right next to our bed and relished every bite.

Finished the 3rd Nine Weeks! Not to toot my own horn or anything but I made A's in English, Cheerleading, Marine, and office aid. Okay so only English actually counts as a real subject. Annnnnnnd I made low B's in Math and French. Typical. And we can just ignore that 77 in Econ. Give me a break! It was my first C ever and Econ is just not my area. I even spent many a nights/early mornings in the Mountain Brook Village Starbucks pouring over the books with my much more economically capable friends as they put these theories and concepts in my mind through the only terms I can understand. Cupcakes. For example, what is the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility? The first cupcake is great; the second is just as good, if not better; the third is meh; the fourth is pointless; and you throw up the fifth. Economic genius right here.

That reminds me! As the most ballin' and risk-taking second semester senior I am, I've spent three different school nights this week baking at 11:30 for no reason whatsoever. True Life: I live on the edge.

Last night, 7 of my best friends spent the night at my house. 4 of which had research papers due the next day. 1 of my parents actually knew they were coming in advance. 0 knew there was 7 total.

Also, for English we read Pride and Prejudice.

I died.

I didn't even put that sucker down for a week. The movie showdown will be taking place in the near future.

In less than 48 hours I leave for SB12. Location? My heaven on earth, Seagrove. Companions to said heaven? These kids...

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Excited is an understatement.

Today was my "sun exposure warm up". We went to family friends' pool (they're on their vacation right now) and laid out all day. From 12-2:30 we searched for a way to get someone to bring us all smoothies and we eventually went to get them ourselves, ultimately because Hannah wanted a baconator. We will do great things someday. Oh wait, it gets better. I had to work to close the store today for an hour. I wore my bathing suit, greasy, sun screened skin, no make up, and a t shirt. There is not a doubt in my mind I scared many of the children who came in. But you do what you have to do...all is fair in love and tanned skin.

Finally, to finish out this wonderous post, here's my top five of March so far...

1) Ben Rector. Addiction.

2) Going on walks in this unbelievably GLORIOUS weather.

3) Whole Foods bakery. There's nothing like getting in the car with a all natural dark chocolate skim latte with a whole grain blueberry muffin and an Ingrid Michelson song comes on. Talk about hiptser. Thennnn you realize you're arguing with your mom on the phone about parties and prom dresses.

4) My new denim button down and colored jeans. Oh and my seasonally acceptable hot pink shorts. They're baaaaaaack.

5) Baseball. You think after my friend/high school pitcher drilled me with a baseball last spring that I would have some resentment. Nah, I'm as dedicated as it gets! Unless you count my dad, who, I swear goes to all the games just to brag about how the pitcher hit his daugher and she didn't shed a tear. I'm pretty much a rocktar.

Enjoy the break blogstars! I know I will.

Allie

"Love willnot betray, dismay, or enslave you. It will set you free."

-Mumford and Sons

 

40 Photo-Illustrated Questions (#5)

Wait until you see what I stumbled upon on Pinterest today...

It's this blog called www.marcandangel.com and they have some pretty encouraging, but thought provoking trickets all over the place. I found one that was called 40 Photo-Illustrated Questions and I thought I would give some a shot.

Joy.

It's started to hit me that you have to choose joy. And that's so hard to do when there's days you just want to back under the covers. Maybe you're in a fight with your best friend, or you have a hard test at school ahead of you, or you simply want to go ahead and fast forward through this day. I just realized that I've been living those days over and over again, and I'm starting to let those days live me. I know that makes ZERO sense to those not inside the mass chaos that is my mind but stay with me here! Joy is a consious decision you have to make before your feet even hit the floor. It doesn't just plop on your front porch like a newspaper. It must be pursued. It has to be fought for. It has to be purposefully selected. And I am finally making this connection. And here's the best part...

it's working.

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." -E.E. Cummings



Allison Ingram: [Insert Recognizing Title Here]

Yesterday was the first major "senior last" of the year...not including all the ridiculous things I overreact to.

The cheer banquet. 

The final cheer banquet.

For those of you know me, you know that I adore cheerleading. Like I look forward to going to practice everyday, wearing my cheerleading uniform around town, being in front of a crowd, having an excuse to go to any athletic event, etc. You get the point. I'm such a dork.

So this night was a long time coming. It was one of those things I knew was going to happen someday, but I didn't realize how quickly it would come. And I also didn't realize how many tears would come; probably my payback for not crying at the last football game. We had the usual, recognition of all the squad members, squad member awards, senior memories, senior roasting, and coach's gifts. Let's just say I couldn't keep it together from recognition of the squad members on. Slightly embarrassing. 

I just kept looking to all the seniors and thinking about how much we had been through together. Countless tryouts, uniform fittings, cheer camps, homecomings, endless basketball seasons, sign paintings...6 years worth! I know that some of us would not have had any interaction throughout high school if it hadn't been for cheerleading. And now that it's over, I'm scared that we could separate. But that's the joy out of this event: once a Spartan, always a Spartan. When everything else divides us, we can join together on the fact that we were cheerleaders together. (Yes, I know that last paragraph was ridiculously sappy. Forgive me.)

And then I look at the juniors. Those stinkin' juniors who I am absolutely obsessed with. I can't imagine what I am going to do next year without seeing them everyday. It's only been a week since basketball season is over and every time I see one of them in the halls, it feels like it's been 3 months. I sincerely can't wait to see them be seniors themselves and to come back and literally attack them with hugs. 

The JV is freaking out right now, with their first varsity tryouts just around the corner. And even though I didn't get to know them as well as the juniors, I still absolutely adore every single one of them. I've loved being the senior that they watched all year and taught them how to tape run through signs, organize pep rallies, and showed them the right way to cut up in practice without getting in trouble. Not that I even know they noticed me that much, this might just be my arrogance in assuming they liked me as much as I loved them. 

I even am slightly jealous of the girl I teach cheerleading to. At first, I was worried about how to fill a whole hour weekly with a girl going into 6th grade, but I grew to look forward to every wednesday afternoon. Her spirit truly inspires me to jump around more, work harder, and look at life more simply. I can see all the years she has ahead of her and all she has to offer to those around her. And I'm probably freaking out just as much as she is (she is trying out RIGHT NOW. Because of weather concerns, the tryouts are at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and as I sit at work and show moms different children's clothes, I am worrying myself sick about what's going on just down the road at the junior high). So say a prayer for my sweet girl and that whatever the results of this morning, she handles it with the grace and optimism that I have grown so accustomed to seeing every week.

As I drove home from the BCC on Thursday night, in between my sobbing tears, I thought back to a night about four years ago when I made 9th grade cheerleading. My parents were outside grilling (typical), my cousins and aunt were back in my mom's room doing something, and my brother, neighbor and I were sitting in silence in the kitchen, waiting to call the hotline. But then the phone rang. Wayne answered. It was my friend, Libby, calling saying congratulations for making cheerleading for the first time. 

Eruption followed.

That whole night was a happy blur, and one that I can honestly say changed my life forever. That sounds super overdramatic, but I promise I wouldn't be saying that if I wasn't completely serious about it.

I've learned so much from cheerleading and as I drove back I thanked God for giving me the a gift that these last four years have been. And also, what I have taken from cheerleading that I can carry over into the next chapter of my life. School spirit isn't as stupid as people think, and it's unrealistic to expect it from your school and to compare it to other, more active schools. That only sets you up for disappointment. But if you enjoy what your school gives you, that day will come when randomly you'll walk into school one day and everyone will have on matching spartan swag neon t-shirts, or you'll show up to a game and see 75% of the school filling the student section two hours before game time. Then, you really appreciate it. People will have different opinions than you, and being a captain is not having an overriding say over everyone but being the one to manage all the opinions into a consensus that works for everyone. Sometimes, stunts fall but you have to be able to shove it back up there with a smile on your face. Complaining only makes everything worse. You can never excessively celebrate at a sporting event. No one, except you and your parents and the occasional friend, cares about you're half time routine that you worked your butt off for 3 weeks for. Get over it. And appreciate every single busy Friday night you get, because the day will come when you would give anything to do it all again.

The hardest part though, is the loss of the title. Not the stupid "I'm a bubbly excited cheerleader and I love Mountain Brook and my life y'all! BOW DOWN NOW." title. But the identifying title, like a sense of place and security in saying "I'm Allison Ingram and I'm a cheerleader." Now it's just, "I'm Allison Ingram and...ahhh...ehhh...I'm going to Alabama next year?" This whole going to college thing really isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially since high school is so freaking fun.

Once again, I apologize for the sappiness of this post, and I know I've had a ton of "gag" posts recently...that's what senior year does for you. But I promise I will return to my usual sarcastic and rambling self before you know it! I just had to get this sentimental retort out of my system. 

To the moon and back,
Allie

"You are far too smart to be the only thing standing in your way." -Jennifer Goodwin