Lily's favorite things of 2009

Hello my lovely blog readers!

I said back in September that I was going to do a blog a few days before New Years Eve listing my favorite things of 2009. It is the day after Christmas, so I have some good stuff to do. I am going to present my favorite things of 2009 for my blog-verse.

Lily's favorite movie of 2009:
I saw a lot of good movies this year, but the one that I think was the best was 500 Days of Summer. The movie, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, was very well written, acted and it was just REALLY sweet. A close runner-up is The Twilight Saga: New Moon. I love Twilight books and movies, and this movie was SO good.

Lily's favorite SCRIPTED TV show of 2009:
I don't watch very many scripted TV shows (I love reality shows though), but the one that is definitely my favorite is Grey's Anatomy. I started watching this show mid-way through the 3rd season, kind of fell out of touch with it the 4th season but have gotten back into it. And I own the first 2 seasons on DVD and want to get the rest. It's just so good, has likeable characters, and realistic situations.

Lily's favorite REALITY TV show of 2009:
Like I said, I watch a ton of reality shows, of all different varieties. But the one that I have stuck with the longest, which is therefore my favorite, is American Idol. I have watched this show since 2003 and have enjoyed every season. This past season did not end in a victory for Adam Lambert, my favorite since the semi-finals round, but it was still one of the best seasons in recent years. And next year, Ellen DeGeneres is the new judge, replacing Paula Abdul, so I can't wait to see what she has in store for us.

Lily's favorite NEW TV show of 2009 (scripted or reality):
I love watching new TV shows that debut, whether they are scripted or reality. The winner of this category is a reality show, and it is The Sing-Off. This show is an acapella singing group competition, where 8 of the best acapella singing groups from around the country (and one outside the country) compete for a Sony recording contract and $100,000. Like American Idol, this show did not end in a victory for my favorite group, the Beelzebubs, but it was still really fun to watch. I hope they bring this back next year.

Lily's favorite song of 2009:
I love music. Lots of it. I will listen to anything that is not classical, techno or death metal. I liked a lot of different songs this year, but the one that was my absolute favorite is "Raining Sunshine" by Miranda Cosgrove. This song was one of the main songs in the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". I first heard this song on Nickelodeon, the network that made Miranda a star, and I just thought it had this vibe to make you feel good. This song has gotten me through hard situations (bad days, the time my brother had to go to the ER, and just really upsetting nights), and it always makes me feel so much better. And I indirectly told Miranda that one night her music made me stop crying (I had tweeted someone else and mentioned her by her Twitter name in the tweet), and she tweeted me saying that she was glad that she could help me. A very close runner up is a song by one of Miranda's co-stars, "So Close" by Jennette McCurdy. This song was basically the story of my life this year. It's a song that every girl can relate to.

Lily's favorite album of 2009:
I have a lot of albums that I got this year. I haven't listened to all of them in full, but the best one I DID hear in full I am going to call a tie between Kris Allen by Kris Allen and Just Like You by Allison Iraheta. Both of these individuals were finalists on American Idol this year. Kris's album has the vibe to make you feel good, with songs like "Live Like We're Dying", "Written All Over My Face", "The Truth" and "Red Guitar", while Allison's makes you want to get up and jam out, with songs like "Friday I'll Be Over U", "Robot Love", "D Is For Dangerous", "Don't Waste the Pretty" and "Holiday".

Lily's favorite new friend of 2009:
I made a lot of new friends this year, but the best ones were all awesome in different ways. I'm gonna call this a tie between Wallace, Denise, Jason, Chrissy, Clarissa and Wendy. I met all of these individuals on idolforums.com, and now keep in touch with them either through that website, Twitter or AOL Instant Messanger. It's just great to talk to these individuals.

Lily's favorite group of friends of 2009:
There is really no contest for this award, and it goes to Theresa, Kathleen, Melanie, Sarah, Mackenzy and Brianna, also known as the Single Ladies. We met on archuletafans.com and we just basically have girl talk every day in our one specific topic thread on that website. We help each other through the good times and the bad, talk about our boy crushes and celeb crushes, and are just always there for each other. True blue friends to the end!

Lily's favorite celebrity that she became close to because of Twitter of 2009:
This is a relatively new award, because Twitter is the hottest thing around. My friends say I have Twitter powers because I get all sorts of celebrities to Tweet me. There are a few I talk to pretty regularly, but the 3 I talk to the most are Alex Wagner-Trugman, Stephen Fishbach and Brett Clouser. All 3 of these guys are famous for being on reality shows (Alex on American Idol and Stephen and Brett on Survivor, but different seasons). They're all SO nice and sweet and I always enjoy talking about various things with them. An honorable mention goes to Ashley Trainer. She is also from "Survivor" and we love talking about our favorite TV shows together (we like a lot of the same ones).

Lily's favorite best friend of 2009:
This award goes to Jenny. She and I met a little over a year ago on archuletafans.com and now we talk all the time on either Twitter or AOL Instant Messanger about everything. She's like my honorary sister because we share a lot of the same interests and talk about everything. I love her. Everyone needs a Jenny in their life to talk to.

So there you have it! My favorite things of 2009. Feel free to comment if you want to.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

The last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger.

Since tonight was the final episode of the "Survivor" season, my blog title seems fitting for what I'm about to post. My final commentary for the season.

There are 5 members left in the Aiga tribe. Four of them are members of the former Foa Foa, and the last remaining Galu member is Brett. Russell wants to get rid of him because he's a threat for both jury votes and physicality.

The second-to-last Immunity Challenge is won by Brett for the 3rd consecutive time, forcing the Foa Foa four to vote out one of their own. Russell wants to keep Natalie around because he thinks she is easy to beat, so he tells Mick to vote Jaison and vice versa, leaving the vote up to Natalie, Russell and Brett. At Tribal Council, Jaison is sent home by a vote of 4-1. I liked Jaison. He was on the verge of quitting a few times, but he stuck it out and I applaud him for that. Peace out Jaison, and congrats on never being a quitter.

Before the castaways head to their final Immunity Challenge, they pay tribute to their fallen soldiers as traditionally done in the final episode. I did that as well tonight, through a video which I will post when I am done. The final Immunity Challenge was a nailbiter. Natalie and Mick went out early, leaving only Brett and Russell. After awhile, Brett is out of the challenge, meaning Russell wins Immunity for the first time. The Foa Foa 3 then go with their original plan to vote out the final Galu member, but Russell has some second thoughts because Brett is deserving of the million dollar prize, so he talks to Brett about it. At Tribal Council, Russell goes against his word and Brett is sent home by a vote of 3-1. I have a little story that I'm gonna tell about Brett, and to do so, I am going to start a new paragraph.

I first decided to keep my eye on Brett at the beginning of the season because he was good-looking, and he seemed like a cool guy based on his pre-show videos. I found him on Twitter and let him know that I was going to keep my eye on him this season. He tweeted me back saying "Just bring some grace when you watch me do silly, stupid things. lol." I didn't see it at first because at the time my computer charger was dead and so I couldn't get on the internet anywhere besides school, so I just happened to check my Twitter one day at school and there his Tweet was in my replies. I added something on Twitter where his updates are sent to my cell phone. So whenever he tweets something to me, someone that I follow, or the whole world, it will show up on my phone. He is the founder of this clothing company that is advocating for healthy body image. I have struggled with that for a long time, so some of his Tweets were really inspiring and uplifiting for me. And then the following Monday I was having a bad day, so I was on the bus home, my crying eyes hidden behind sunglasses, and I sent him a tweet text (or as I say, twext) saying I could really use one of his inspirational Tweets because I was having a really bad day. That Thursday I felt my phone buzz and there was a tweet to me from him saying that he hoped my week had turned out well. I was really surprised and touched that he remembered something. Since then we have kept in close contact on Twitter talking about everything. He is SO sweet and caring and inspiring and always there to make me smile when I need to. So Brett, peace out, you're amazing, and I hope to keep talking to you on Twitter even though this season is over.

Okay, now back to the game. Mick, Natalie and Russell are the final 3, so they get a chance to plead their case for a million dollars to the jury. 9 people that they had a hand in voting out now hold their fate. The final Tribal Council was really fun. Brett gets the award for most awesome and funny question. And no I'm not biased when I say that, it was really awesome and funny. You gotta admit that. At the live reunion show in Los Angeles, it is revealed that Natalie is the Sole Survivor by a vote of 7-2-0 with Mick recieving no votes. I liked Natalie from the beginning of the season til now. She was sort of underestimated. It was her and Jaison's move to vote Erik off that started the demise of Galu, and then she made strong alliances with Russell, Mick, and Brett to stay in the game, and she played it to the end and is now a million dollars richer. Congratulations to Natalie and the remaining castaways. This has been one crazy season of Survivor.

To close out the night, here is a video I made for the season. I made it a few days ago and made some changes based on the order. To close out "Survivor: Samoa", please enjoy this video.



The next season, "Survivor: Heroes vs Villains" begins on February 11th, 2010. I will recap that season and continue to share random thoughts. I hope you continue to read this!

One final thing. I must give a shoutout to another great Survivor commentator, Stephen Fishbach. He was the runner-up of "Survivor: Tocantins" and my favorite contestant of that season. I talk to him on Twitter as well and he has read this blog. He's very nice and has enjoyed reading this blog, and I enjoy reading his as well.

Okay, that's really it for the night! Peace out y'all, I'll talk to you soon.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Remember all the things we wanted, now all our memories, they're haunted, we were always meant to say goodbye.

Only two episodes left for this season of "Survivor". One of them was tonight, the finale is this Sunday. Since one episode was tonight, I have some recapping to do.

There are now 6 finalists left, and only two of them are made up of the former Galu. Only one has been a "true" Galu, since Shambo aligned with the Foa Foa four. Brett points out that he's the last true Galu member in a confessional.

Natalie forms an alliance with Brett, who states that the two of them come from similar backgrounds, so that's grounds for a good alliance. Russell sees Brett as a threat to win over the jury since they are made up of members of the former Galu.

The reward challenge is won by the team of Jaison, Shambo and Russell, and while on their reward, they discuss Natalie, Mick and Brett possibly being in an alliance that they'd have to split apart. Russell would like to vote out Brett, but in case he won immunity, they would have to vote for Mick.

Back at the Aiga camp, Mick, Brett and Natalie make the best of their day and spend some time together. Natalie, who has been aligned with Russell since the beginning, states that it is hard to balance her head and her heart.

The Immunity Challenge is won by Brett for the second time in a row, collapsing Russell's plan to vote him out. Jaison states that they have to vote out Shambo since she's the only remaining member of the former Galu that is vulnerable. Russell and Jaison talk about voting out Shambo, and Shambo and Russell talk about voting out Mick. Russell is undecided on who he is going to vote for.

At Tribal Council, Russell follows the majority to vote out Shambo 5-1, therefore splitting the Foa Foa alliance back down to the 4 original members. As for Shambo being voted out, all I can say is peace out and good riddance.

This Sunday, December 20th, is the final episode of "Survivor: Samoa". I will try to post a blog before that time because I have a video I made that I want to share. And then after the finale I will post another one that I made but have not uploaded to youtube yet. I hope that you will enjoy them.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Your true colors are beautiful, like a rainbow.

Two days in a row, school has been cancelled. And one of those days was Thursday. And Thursday means Survivor, and Survivor means I blog about the episode.

After John's vote-out, Shambo is stunned. Russell lies to her about why he voted for him, and she believes him and doesn't get mad.

At the challenge, Jeff announces that the tribe will be playing for immunity. Jaison wins the challenge for the second consecutive time, and is safe from the Tribal Council vote.

At camp, Shambo is absolutely sure that she wants Dave out. Monica talks with Russell about the possibility of voting for Shambo, and he flirts with the idea a little. He talks to Dave about voting her out.

At the first Tribal Council of the night, Dave is voted out 7-1. I never really liked Dave. He just seemed sort of standoffish and stupid. So peace out Dave. For someone with an IQ as high as yours, you made some kind of dumb moves. And I also must give a little shoutout to Laura Morett for telling Brett Clouser to "stay strong". I just thought that was sweet.

The next day, Russell decides that the biggest threat left in the game is Brett, which left me sort of stunned. I understand where he's coming from, but I don't think he'll be gone quite yet.

The second Immunity Challenge of the night was basically a neck-and-neck competition between Brett and Mick, with Brett emerging victorious. When that happened I was like "yeah baby!" even tho my mom was behind me. I told her that I have liked him since the beginning of the season, and she didn't say anything back. And with Brett's win, Russell's plan to vote him out fell flat.

Monica tries to scramble to get people to vote against Russell, and she confesses to Russell that she knows what he does for a living and knows that he doesn't need the prize money. Russell tries to figure out who told her and then learns that Jaison had told her. He talks to him about it, and Jaison feels a little worried that there now may be a target on his back.

At Tribal Council, Russell openly wears the Hidden Immunity Idol, and Monica's scrambling for votes is discussed. After the vote, it is revealed that Monica's scrambling proved ineffective as she is voted out 5-2. Monica impressed me. I thought that she would be voted out really early in the game for being weak physically, but she managed to make it to the final 7. So I gotta give it to her for making it out that long. Peace out Monica. Stay beautiful.

There's my recap for the week. I'm gonna try to get warmed up (it was in the teens today, temperature wise, and I had to shovel the end of the driveway, which was very hard). I'll try to post some more later this week.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

I'll stand by you, take me in, into your darkest hour, and I'll never desert you, I'll stand by you.

So, after 2 weeks of craziness, including Thanksgiving, my birthday, and getting another new charger for my laptop, it's finally Thursday, with a non-recap episode of Survivor (Thanksgiving Day's episode was the recap, which I watched, but felt no need to blog about).

After the previous Tribal Council, Shambo is very pleased with the vote-out of Laura. They had been rivals since the beginning. Personally, I like Laura. I've talked to her on Twitter before, she's read this blog, and she's very nice and enjoyed reading this blog.

Instead of a Reward Challenge, it's the annual Survivor Auction. I always like watching these episodes. It's always interesting. For one of the items up for bid, it's a mystery item that will give the winning bidder an advantage in the Immunity Challenge. Jaison spends all his money on the item and wins.

At camp, Shambo is upset by the fact that the chickens they own had to be cooked up. That night, she has a dream that the tribe voted Dave out of the game. Score one for her remembering her dreams, I rarely remember mine. I can remember bits and pieces of mine, but never the whole dream.

The Immunity Challenge is won by Jaison, who used his advantage to help him win. Shambo talks with Russell about voting for Dave, and then Russell talks to John. He realizes that John is a threat in the game, so he turns to Dave and Mick about voting for John. The two of them relay to the rest of the tribe except John and Shambo.

At Tribal Council, another shocked castaway is sent home when John is voted out 7-1-1. I was always sort of neutral on John, but he eventually rubbed me the wrong way. Changing his vote in the last Tribal Council didn't help him at all. It eventually sort of screwed him over. Peace out John.

Shambo was the sole member of the tribe that didn't vote against John, so will she stay loyal to the former Foa Foa? Will Russell try to stay loyal to her when he didn't this time? Tune in next week to find out!

So there's my recap for this week. I may write an entry tomorrow about what I did for Thanksgiving/my 20th birthday, but we'll see.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

I can't wait for the day to end, so I can finally see your face again, we'll find a way if this wish comes true tonight.

So, it's Thursday night, I have my coffee, just finished off some chocolate ice cream, and now I'm gonna recap Survivor.

I didn't remember much about the beginning of the episode because I was talking to my mom about something. But everyone is still stunned about the move that Russell pulled at the last Tribal Council. That was a very good move.

At the Reward Challenge, Jeff announces that the winning tribe will get a Sprint Palm Prix to take pictures on the reward. The Reward Challenge is won by the purple team of Natalie, Russell, Brett, Dave and Laura. Natalie did a very good job in the challenge despite nearly falling out of the cradle that held her in.

While on their reward Russell looks at the phone and sees a clue for the newly hidden immunity idol, and finds the location where it is. When the castaways returned to their camp, they scrambled to find the idol. Dave tags along with Russell, and then Russell throws him off course and finds the idol. Russell really knows how to find idols.

The Immunity Challenge is done in 2 stages. Mick, Jaison, Monica and Brett (who impressed me in this challenge by knocking out 2 tiles with one shot) move on to the final round, which is won by Mick.

At camp before Tribal Council, Shambo thinks that this is the perfect opportunity to vote out her biggest rival, Laura. Laura talks with some of the former Galu members about voting out a Foa Foa member, and she decides to vote out Natalie, knowing that she is the least likely to have the immunity idol. And John realizes there is the opportunity for a tie, which potentially worries him. If after a re-vote, there is still a tie, the two tied castaways would stay in the game and everyone else draws rocks, and the one person with the oddly colored rock gets voted out.

At Tribal Council, they talk about potentially having a tie and how the tribes are aligned. The vote comes down to a 5-5 tie between Natalie and Laura. Jeff explains how the re-vote works. Laura and Natalie don't vote, everyone else votes for Laura or Natalie. After the re-vote, it is revealed that Laura is the 9th person voted out and the 3rd member of the jury. I have actually gotten the opportunity to talk to Laura a couple of times on Twitter, and she has read this blog. She really enjoyed reading this blog and is very nice. I hope she enjoys reading this one. Peace out Laura, you will be missed.

That's my recap this week. I'm going out of town for the weekend, so I'll try to update as much as I can this weekend.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

My life will never be the same, cause boy, you came and changed the way I walk, the way I talk, I cannot explain

So, tonight, it's Thursday night. That means it's time for Lily to recap this week's episode of Survivor.

The majority of the Aiga tribe except for Shambo voted out Erik, so things are a little stirred. Laura thinks that Russell made a dumb move by playing the Hidden Immunity Idol when no votes were cast against him. I actually kind of agree with her, but still, you never know.

At the Reward Challenge, the tribe is split into two teams of five, with Natalie choosing a side. The purple tribe of Dave, John, Monica, Kelly and Shambo prevail over the yellow team of Russell, Mick, Brett, Jaison and Laura. They win a trip to a rock slide and a picnic. While on their reward, Monica discovers a note that indicates that the immunity idol has been re-hidden at camp. They agree to share the info with the former Galu tribe, but not to tell any of the members of the former Foa Foa.

Back at camp, Russell is determined to find the immunity idol, without any clues or knowledge of there being an idol. And sure enough, he finds it again. I gotta give it to Russell: as much as I dislike him, he IS playing a very good game. He shows the idol to Shambo, who conspires with him to vote out Laura.

The Immunity challenge is won by Laura for the second consecutive time, which once again ruins Shambo's plans to vote her out. Russell talks to the former Foa Foa members about voting for Kelly, seeing her as one of the strongest players in the game. Dave talks to the former Galu about voting out Russell for being a strategic threat.

I didn't hear much of the Tribal Council discussion because I was arguing with my brother (who wasn't being very nice to me). But the vote proceeds. Before the vote, Jeff announces that if anyone has the hidden immunity idol, and they wanted to play it, to do so now. Russell announces that "he ain't done playing yet", and plays the idol again. This time, it works. The seven votes cast against Russell by the former Galu didn't count, leaving only the votes cast by the four Foa Foa members for Kelly to count, and she is blindsided by a vote of 4-0. I didn't have much of an impression on Kelly. She seemed cool. Kinda laid low, but sometimes that works. So peace out Kelly. Looking forward to seeing what you have to say on the jury. Jeff announces that the idol will be re-hidden again. And judging by the preview for next week, the former Galu will do anything to see that Russell doesn't get it this time around. We'll see.

So there's my recap. Comment or whatever. I'll see what else I'll have to blog about during the week. My 20th birthday is coming up, so I'll definitely do a recount of the events of my 19th year too.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Down by the river in the full moonlight, we'll be falling in love in the middle of the night.

Hello my lovely blog readers!

As you know, I'm a reality show lover. I watch The Amazing Race, Dancing With the Stars, Survivor, The Hills, and American Idol. I do Survivor commentary right here on this blog. I give my thoughts on music (and I always quote a song in my title).

Tonight, we're gonna do something a little different. I'm going to show you two different dances: the same style of dance, to the same song, but done in VERY different ways.

We will go in order of their season. First, we have Season 5 competitor Sabrina Bryan:




As you can see, she got a perfect score of 30 out of 30 points.

Next, we have season 9 competitor Donny Osmond:




You don't see it in the video, but he got 24 points out of a possible 30, the lowest score of that round.

I personally prefer Sabrina's dance. The technique was flawless, she danced beautifully and it was just amazing. Donny's was a little too over-the-top. And I was kind of upset that they used that song because Sabrina did it so well and he didn't do so well. Even Sabrina herself said that she wasn't happy they used that song.

Speaking of Sabrina, she returns to the ballroom tonight to perform in the Design-a-Dance selected by viewers. Another Paso Doble, to the song "Eye of the Tiger". Her professional partner will be revealed tonight, but I just have a funny feeling that it is Mark Ballas, because he was her original partner on the show.

Now, before I go watch the show, I want to share one more fabulous dance from last night, my favorite one of the night:




Joanna Krupa's Futuristic Paso Doble. I've re-watched this many times today alone. Her partner Derek Hough is a genius when it comes to choreography. And he's a good teacher, a lot of fun, and gorgeous as heck too (even in futuristic makeup).

So now I'm gonna sign off and watch DWTS for real! I'll be back on Thursday for sure, maybe tomorrow as well.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

You're gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn it to the wick, ooh, barracuda

Another Thursday, another pretty much uneventful day, another episode of Survivor for me to recap.

After Liz's departure, Foa Foa is outnumbered 4 to Galu's 8. They try to stick together because they anticipate a merge coming.

When the tribes recieve Tree Mail, they're not sure what to expect. They arrive at their anticiapted challenge site and find a treasure chest with a feast and a note saying they have merged. The Foa Foa members try to align with the Galu members. Brett of Galu (who I have talked to on Twitter before, he's SUPER sweet) proposes the name Aiga for the tribe, which is Samoan for "extended family". I have some family that have Samoan heritige so they'd be proud to know that.

Russell aligns with Shambo and shows his hidden immunity idol to Laura, Monica and John. He conspires with Shambo to vote out Laura, who Shambo has had a long-going rivalry with.

At the Individual Immunity challenge, Jeff announces that 2 castaways will be winning immunity. John and Laura go on to win immunity, which spoils Shambo and Russell's plans. Erik then decides he wants to vote out Jaison for being useless around camp, but tells the tribe to vote for Monica. Natalie then talks to fellow ex-Foa Foa members Jaison and Mick about voting out Erik for excessive scheming. They agree and manage to talk to the others about voting for Erik.

At tribal council, Russell and Erik argue about the outnumbered tribe. Before the votes are read, Russell plays his hidden immunity idol, but for naught because nobody voted for him. Erik recieves every vote of the tribe except Shambo's. Erik seemed like a nice guy. He had the other immunity idol, and now I'm not sure what that will mean. Peace out Erik. You were a good guy.

And now that Russell is without the idol, what will happen to him? The teaser for next week shows that the tribe turns on him. We'll see how it turns out next week.

There's my recap for this week. I'll be sure to update you on anything else in my life. So far there's nothing else for me to update yet. Will let you know!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Cuz you're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no, you're in then you're out, you're up then you're down.

Like I promised last night, I had a very cute interview to show you guys.




This interview is of the most recent "Dancing With the Stars" castoffs, Melissa Joan Hart and Louie Vito, two of my favorites since week 1. Melissa Joan Hart is famous for starring as the title roles in "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch". I grew up watching both of those TV shows, so she has become one of my favorite actresses. Louie Vito is a professional snowboarder. I don't follow snowboarding so I had no clue who he was until I watched the show. When I first saw him dance, I thought he was really cute. He was the ultimate underdog: not only had he never danced a step in his life, he had never even watched "Dancing With the Stars" before he went on. He was a pretty good dancer, and so was Melissa. They weren't the best and they knew they weren't the best, but they still worked hard.

After the two of them were eliminated from the most recent episode of "Dancing With the Stars", they appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. My new friend Wallace told me about them being featured on it, so I decided to stay up and watch them. And I just thought the interview was SO cute. My crush on Louie Vito has grown significantly after that interview. And he replied to me on Twitter last night thanking me for voting for him every week. I thought that was just so nice and sweet.

So if you're a Dancing With the Stars fan, feel free to comment on my current thoughts on it. And you DO NOT have to be a blogger member to comment!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Once upon a time I was falling in love, but now I'm only falling apart.

So, it's finally Thursday. And you know what that means! It's time for Lily's Survivor recap.

At Galu, Erik proposes having Shambo be the new leader after Russell S.'s departure, and the other guys agree to it. The next day the tribe does a vote and the majority chooses Shambo to be the leader. This decision does not sit well with Monica.

The Reward Challenge is closely contested, but ultimately Galu ends up victorious. New leader Shambo selects Laura to observe Foa Foa. She easily gets along with Natalie and Russell H., and that doesn't sit well with Liz. Russell forms a secret alliance with Laura to go to the end and Laura agrees.

At the Immunity Challenge, Foa Foa gains a lead, but during the puzzle assembly stage Jaison gets frustrated and then Galu once again ends up victorius, which means that once again, Foa Foa will be heading to Tribal Council.

At Foa Foa, Russell contemplates voting out Jaison due to his lack of willpower in the challenge. At Tribal, Jeff points out that their losing streak is one of the worst losing streaks in the history of Survivor. After tonight they'll be down 4 members to Galu's 8. After the vote, Liz is on the recieving end of a 4-1 blindside. I was very neutral on Liz. She seemed like an ok player and her vote against Jaison tonight, she said, was strictly strategical. So peace out Liz. I wish I could think of something witty to say to you.

Next week they merge. Will Foa Foa be able to hold themselves together? Could they pull a Jalapao from "Tocantins" and decimate the former Galu one-by-one? We'll see what happens next week.

And remind me tomorrow, I have a REALLY cute interview I'd like to show you. And then of course I'll blog on Halloween as well.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

It's not always easy being this far apart, but don't you get the feeling we're connected at the heart?

Another crazy day, another episode of Survivor for me to recap.

The rain in Samoa didn't let up the night of Foa Foa's tribal council. Similar to what was going on in my hometown today: it was raining and cold and windy. Liz is still worried about being voted out.

On day 15, the rain finally lets up and a rainbow appears. Galu is intrigued by it, and who wouldn't be!? I have always loved rainbows and seeing them.

Before the challenge begins, Jeff Probst announces that both tribes will be going to Tribal Council. The winning tribe will sit in on the losing tribe's TC and eat pizza.

The tribes were neck-and-neck in the challenge, with Foa Foa having a slight lead. During the puzzle assembly stage, Russell S., the leader of Galu, gets weaker and eventually blacks out. Jeff calls for the Medical Team and stops the challenge. Russell's blood pressure drops and Jeff declares the challenge done and that neither tribe wins the reward, but that there will still be Tribal Council.

With Russell, his blood pressure is now stable, but his heart rate drops dramatically and he blacks out again. Jeff tells him that there is no way he will be able to continue, and from his tone of voice, he seems heartbroken. Russell tries to protest but Jeff won't back down. Russell eventually stops.

At Tribal Council, all 13 castaways sit together and talk about the day's events. Everyone expresses remorse for Russell going and talks about the challenge. Russell H. and Mick think that Foa Foa had a moral win, but Erik thinks that Galu's spirit will live on even without their leader. Jeff then states that because this is the first time in the history of the show that a challenge was not completed, nobody would be voted out of either tribe.

It's always sad to see someone be evacuated because of medical reasons, but this one was especially hard. His heart rate dropped dramatically and it was scary to watch. Jeff Probst himself said it was the scariest thing that has happened in 19 seasons of Survivor. It was sad to see Russell go, but he knew it was the right thing to do and went out in good spirits despite the scare. I really liked Russell, even though he was a little annoying with his power trips.

And now that Galu is without a leader, Jeff gave them the assignment of picking a new one. I guess we'll find out who it is in the next episode.

Any comments that you care to leave, feel free to do so. And you DO NOT have to be a blogger member to comment!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Read my body language, I do what you like, like, come into my spotlight

So I decided to blog today about something other than Survivor. Even tho there's really not much in my life to blog about.

School has been going okay. I can't believe it's midterm already. Some bad things have happened too: fights, heartbreak, stress, and people I care about getting sick. But things have slowly come back to normal. And I got my laptop fixed, so I'll be able to blog a bit more.

Lately, I've been confiding a lot in my friend Jason. We met online through a mutual love for Kris Allen. We mostly discuss episodes of reality shows on CBS, like Survivor and The Amazing Race, and other things too.

Jason's one of those people I can share anything with and he'll listen and give advice. And he relates to my situations pretty well too. He always has good things to say. We always have deep discussions on various reality shows, such as American Idol, Survivor, and The Amazing Race. Sometimes we agree on things, sometimes we disagree.

And he's just a good listener. He listens to whatever venting I have to say, and he listens and gives advice. And he's just always there. I like that.

Ok, I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, so I'm gonna stop for the night.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Oh baby, when you talk like that you make a woman go mad. So be wise and keep on reading the signs of my body.

So today was a little crazy. In between talking with my friends, getting feedback on an essay that I spent an hour working on (and it was surprisingly good feedback), and having a routine dermatology check-up, I barely had time to catch my breath.

But, of course, I managed to catch "Survivor" and my memory is still pretty fresh about what happened.

At Galu, Shambo continues to feel alienated from her tribe, especially since she was the only person who didn't vote against Yasmin. Shambo has always bugged me from the start, so I hope Galu pulls together and eliminates her.

At the Reward Challenge, each person from the tribe has to drink a smoothie filled with disgusting seafood. I personally already hate seafood, but some of the stuff that was blended was just repulsive. I am VERY surprised I didn't throw up during it (altho the only thing I'd throw up would be decaf coffee with chocolate-caramel creamer).. I guess my friend Cheryl put it best: I'm strong and beautiful. Even tho I look like a teenager straight out of the late 90's (I'm thinking Neve Campbell during the Party of Five era?).

Anyhow, Galu ends up victorious after Ashley of Foa Foa is unable to hold hers down. Jeff tells Russell S. to send one person from his tribe over to Foa Foa, he chooses Shambo for the second consecutive time, which doesn't sit well with Shambo.

When she arrives at Foa Foa, she shares the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol with everyone and searches for it, not knowing that Russell H. has already found it. Liz talks to Russell about how she doesn't trust him, and of course, Russell being Russell, he targets her for elimination.

The Immunity Challenge is won by Galu after both Russell and Liz put up a good fight. The 6 of them huddle close together in their shelter to avoid the rain, so there isn't much strategizing going on.

At Tribal Council, everyone talks about how hard it is to play the game, and trust issues. In the end, Ashley is unanimously voted out 5-1. I liked Ashley. She was a ray of sunshine in my lonely world, never stopped smiling, even when she got voted out. Peace out Ashley, and never stop smiling.

There's my recap for this week. Another great person who does Survivor recaps is Stephen Fishbach, runner-up of last season. He talks about the more stategic moves of the game and his posts are very witty. You can read his latest entry here.

And before I officially sign off for the night, I want to give a shoutout to one of my favorite contestants this season. His name is Brett Clouser and he's a t-shirt designer from LA. I've talked to him on his Twitter and he's an absolute sweetheart. And he's always got nice things to say.

Now I'm gonna sign off for now and watch Private Practice. One of those shows I fell out of touch with but am getting back into.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

She's the kind of girl that every man wants, she's got the look, she got it from her mom

This past Tuesday, singer Steve Means did a concert at my college. He does college tours. My college is a community college and occasionally we get some musical guests. Steve has been to my school before and he was requested to come back.
So Tuesday he was there, and before his set started, I looked at his merchandise table. I forgot to ask my mom to put money in my checking account so I couldn't buy anything. But I signed up for his email list and when I was done, he asked my name and I told him and we shook hands. And I told him that I wished I could buy a CD but my mom hadn't put any money in my checking account for me to withdraw. He said "aww, I know what that's like. Being a broke musician's kinda like being a broke college student." He told me to check out his music on iTunes and I said I definitely would. And then I gave him a hug and he hugged me back.

During his set he talked with us, joked with us, told him to check out his music on myspace, add him on facebook, and follow him on twitter. When he said he had a twitter (my main social networking site), I called up to him and asked him what it was, and so he told us. And then I called back "I will follow you as soon as I get my laptop fixed." And he said "you better follow me and you better get your laptop fixed." During his set I snuck away for a minute so I could go to the computer lab to follow him on Twitter.

When he was done with his set he stuck around for a bit to sign autographs and take pictures. I had a test to take so I had to do my stuff sooner rather than later, but I was willing. I keep a stationary set in my purse and I tore one of the sheets out for him to sign. Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera so I didn't think I'd get a picture with him, but he told Jon, the guy in charge of running the show "Hey, Jon, she forgot her camera at home, do you mind getting a picture of us on a school camera?" And I was spazzing on the inside. The picture turned out really cute. Then I had to go take my test, so I gave Steve another hug and ran off.

Lucky for me the test was pretty easy and as soon as students are done with their tests, they can leave. So I went back down and Steve was still there, so I chatted him up a bit, and told him my Twitter in case he ever wanted to tweet me back, and told him the meaning behind it. And we talked a little more before he had to leave, and when he did I told him to come back to my hometown. He said he would, that it was nice to meet me, and to take care. Then I gave Jon my email address so he could email me Steve and I's picture together and then went to catch the bus. Steve drove past me in his car and we waved at each other.

Tuesday was one of the best days of my life, thanks to Steve Means. He was just SO nice and fun and talented and I really hope he comes back here someday and that I can go be in the front row.

How am I supposed to breathe with no air?

It's 9:30 pm my time in my crazy little house, and since my computer charger died I have to borrow a laptop to do my Survivor recap. I'll do my best to recap it, but I couldn't get to a computer til just now so my memory may be a little vague.

At Foa Foa, Jaison can't stand the way things are going. I don't blame him. I don't think I'd be able to handle being out in the wilderness.

At Galu, Erik manages to find the Hidden Immunity Idol using the clues that Yasmin and Shambo had recieved. This could help him in the long run.

The Reward Challenge is a more individual challenge: The leaders select two people, one man and one woman, to accompany them to a challenge. Russell S. chooses Dave and Shambo and Mick chooses Russell H. and Natalie. The challenge is similar to Bochi Balls where Foa Foa is in the lead until a final toss by Dave secures their victory. Galu wins chickens to have for their tribe.

Back at Foa Foa, Russell talks to Natalie about taking her all the way to the final two. Natalie agrees to it and states in a confessional that she could possibly beat Russell since nobody likes him.

At the Immunity Challenge, Galu had a strong lead, but during the rope bridge stage Ashley and Russell made up a lot of ground and manage to secure their first Immunity win, which means someone from Galu will be voted out tonight.

Back at Galu, Russell talks with Erik about voting out Monica due to her weakness in the Immunity Challenge, while Monica talks with the others about voting out Yasmin because she doesn't pull her weight at camp.

At Tribal Council, life at camp and the challenge are discussed. Yasmin tries to state her case but ends up being voted out 8-2. Yasmin didn't have much of an impression on me, but her argument with Ben when she came to visit Foa Foa made me like her because Ben insulted her and I felt bad for her. So peace out Yasmin. And try not to kill yourself in the heels you wore into the game.

So there's Lily's Survivor recap for this week. Will try to update as much as I can next week but we'll see how things work out.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Waitin' for love, waitin' for the same old dreamer on the other side, hopin' no matter how far I'm gonna find my way to you, followin' a rainbow.

Today, I'm gonna make it official: a few days before New Year's Eve this year (I'm thinking December 28th?), I'm gonna start making a list of my favorite things of 2009. I used to do something similar on an older blog, listing my top 10 favorite songs of the year, but I'm gonna make it different on this blog and do my favorite things of 2009 this year.

I have already picked some of the winners, but I am going to post the nominees for things I haven't picked yet. Nominees are subject to change.

Favorite song of 2009:
"So Close" Jennette McCurdy
"You Belong With Me" Taylor Swift
"Raining Sunshine" Miranda Cosgrove
"Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don't)" All Time Low
"Rainbow" Colbie Caillat

Favorite movie of 2009:
"My Sister's Keeper"
"The Ugly Truth"
"500 Days of Summer"

Favorite new TV show of 2009 (scripted or reality):
"16 and Pregnant"
"Three Rivers"

And there may even be further nominees that haven't been listed yet. I have already picked the winners for other categories, you will see them on December 28th. And I think I will make this a yearly tradition. I like how things change for me over the years.

Like I listed in my nominees for favorite new TV show, I am officially hooked on the new show "Three Rivers". This is a CBS drama that airs Sunday nights after The Amazing Race. It takes place at Three Rivers Hospital in Pittsburgh, and it talks about the different aspects of the hospital: the doctors, patients and donors. I don't know what it is with me and primetime dramas that take place in hospitals (one of my favorite shows is Grey's Anatomy and I also like Private Practice), but I just like them.

Tonight kicks off my TV show week. I will now list the shows I watch on particular nights of the week, starting with Monday and ending on Sunday:

Monday: "Dancing With the Stars"
Tuesday: "Dancing With the Stars" results, "The Hills"
Wednesday: "Glee" (I REALLY need to start watching it)
Thursday: "Survivor", "Grey's Anatomy", "Private Practice"
Friday: nothing
Saturday: "iCarly"
Sunday: "The Amazing Race", "Three Rivers"
Daily: "The Daily 10", "iCarly" reruns, "SpongeBob SquarePants" reruns

When you're single like me, you watch a lot of TV. And all of these shows are awesome in their own way.

And I also watch "At the Movies" online, because where I am it airs at 5:30 am on Sundays, and I don't want to get up that early on a Sunday, so I just watch selected reviews online. I have watched the show since late 2005, and have always enjoyed it. I watched when Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper were the hosts, when Roeper had guest hosts, when Ben Lyons (eeeeee!) and Ben Mankiewicz were the hosts, and now I watch with current hosts A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips. I had seen both of them with Roeper and they were cool guys. And I like the way they interact with each other. When one doesn't like a movie, the other asks why not and they discuss it.

Now I'm gonna go get something to eat, so I will sign off for now. If you have any comments you want to leave, feel free. And you DO NOT have to be a Blogger member to comment!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine.

Yesterday I went to go see the movie "500 Days of Summer" in theaters. It came to my hometown a few weeks after it was released and I just haven't gotten around to seeing it til now. And since the other movie I want to see was only playing at the theater in the next town over and I didn't want to make the trip out there on a Saturday (I think a Friday would be better to see a movie out there), I went to see this one instead.

"500 Days of Summer" tells the story of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel), two friends who are not sure where they stand in their relationship. The movie jumps around the different days of their relationship, beginning at day 1 and ending at day 500. They really like each other and do some romantic things, but Summer isn't sure that they should be boyfriend and girlfriend, as she doesn't really believe in true love.

The two leads are both very likeable (and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is adorable) and they made a sweet couple. The movie itself was very sweet and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. Some of my favorite scenes took place in a karaoke bar, which reminds me of great summer nights that I spent singing karaoke with friends or family.

This movie is definitely one of my favorites of 2009 and I will definitely be buying it on DVD. This movie definitely earns **** out of ****.

I hope I continue to have good movie going experiences when I see "Love Happens", "Fame" and "Whip It". All of these movies are on my list of 5 movies to see this fall, and I hope I can get to see them.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Here we go, way too fast, don't slow down, you're gonna crash

Thursday means that two great TV shows are on. "Grey's Anatomy" is my nighttime soap opera/hospital drama that I'm gonna get back into. And, of course, the show I recap every week for you lovely folks: "Survivor".

So tonight on Survivor, at Foa Foa, Russell H. is still running the show. He's REALLY getting on my last nerve, as is Ben. His comments to Yasmin when she came to visit the tribe really annoyed me.

So Russell spreads lies that Ashley brought up Ben's name before the previous Tribal Council, when it was really Betsy. So Ben wants Ashley voted out. I don't have much of an opinion on Ashley yet, but I don't get why everyone is hating on her when she did nothing wrong.

At Galu, the castaways are becoming more mentally refocused by doing yoga. This does not sit well with Shambo. I have mixed feelings on her which I will explain in a bit.

So the Reward/Immunity Challenge is won by Galu. They win Immunity and comfort. Russell S, the leader, is given the option to get what they originally won, or some pots and pans. Russell immediately takes the comfort. He also chooses Shambo to be sent over to Foa Foa to observe the tribe. Shambo gets along well with the women of Foa Foa. I like that she gets along with them, but her attitude on Galu just bugs me.

Mick, the leader of Foa Foa, talks with Russell H., about forming an alliance and he agrees. Jaison talks with Ashley and Mick about Ben's comments and says that he needs to go.

At Tribal Council, Jaison and Ben argue a lot about Ben's attitude. I gotta give props to Jaison for defending himself. The vote goes unanimously to Ben and he is the 3rd castaway voted off of "Survivor: Samoa". His comments last week and this week really irritated me. So peace out and good riddance Ben!

So that's this week's recap of Survivor! I will try to update often. And there's some movies I want to see, and if I get to see any of them I will give my reviews.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

You're like an Indian summer in the middle of winter, like a hard candy with a surprise center

Since today was really a do-nothing day as I am sick, I decided to blog.

Inspired by one of the blogs I follow, Dan Barbour (http://bydan.blogspot.com), I wanted to make a list of 5 movies I want to see this fall. There will probably be others I want to see that I can't think of, but here are 5 that I know of. They will go in order of how badly I want to see them.

5. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" 11/25/09
I had read the book when I was younger (more like one of my friends read it to me), and I enjoyed it. It is also a stop-motion animated film, one of my favorite types of animated films (with Corpse Bride, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run and Coraline some of the best I've seen).

4. "Whip It" 10/2/09
Drew Barrymore's directorial debut film. I have always liked Drew Barrymore as an actress, so I want to see how her directing skills are. Plus I have heard good things about Ellen Page as an actress (I have yet to see "Juno", but I want to see that).

3. "Love Happens" already in theaters
Jennifer Aniston is one of my favorite actresses, so any movie she's in I'm down for seeing. Plus I'm always up for a good romantic movie. And I liked Aaron Eckhart in "The Dark Knight", so we'll see how he does here.

2. "Fame" already in theaters.
A reinvention of the 1980 film of the same title, this film follows performing arts students at a performing arts school in New York. Having never seen the original, I want to go in this one with an open mind. Plus I am a big fan of musicals, having sung my share of show tunes in either choir, shows, voice lessons or just on my own time.

1. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" 11/20/09
Sequel to the ever-popular "Twilight", based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer, this film follows Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) after her vampire boyfriend (Robert Pattinson) leaves unexpectedly, and her friendship with werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). The book of this upcoming film was a bit boring, but I hope the movie does it justice.

So there are 5 movies I would like to see this fall. Honorable mentions go to "The Princess and the Frog", "Where The Wild Things Are" and "A Christmas Carol". I will most likely see those too.

So there you go. Will give reviews of any movies that I see this fall!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Coming down from up above, cloudy with a chance of love.

Today I saw the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" in theaters. The movie, based on the 1978 book of the same title, tells about an island in the Atlantic where the weather comes 3 times a day: at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The movie serves as a backstory of how that came to be.

The animated movie is about Flint Lockwood (voice of Bill Hader), a young inventor on the island of Swallow Falls whose inventions are not so good. His father (voice of James Caan) wants him to work in the bait and tackle shop on the island, but Flint wants to keep inventing. He finally decides to invent something to solve the problem of the only food on the island being sardines: a machine that converts water vapor into food.

At the unveiling of a new segment of the island, Flint sneaks away with his invention to plug into a higher source of electricity and in the process destroys the entire attraction and launches his machine into the sky. Eventually it starts raining cheeseburgers, and the town is pleased.

Soon there are lots of requests for different food to rain from the sky, so Flint builds a communication device. The Mayor (voice of Bruce Campbell) renames the town ChewAndSwallow and decides to make it a tourist attraction. Flint also finds love with weather girl Sam Sparks (voice of Anna Faris), a perky girl who hides her intelligence. But problems arise and the machine that converts water into food goes haywire and rains huge food, so it's up to Flint and Sam to stop it.

The movie had a beautiful look to it, and all the voice actors were first rate. I particularly enjoyed Mr. T as a police officer who is very athletic. He had some very good lines. Plus Hader and Faris made a cute animated couple and they were just so sweet with each other.

My one problem with the movie is that the plot was a little rushed and things jumped from one thing to the next rather quickly. That said, it was still very good, and during the end credits I just started singing along to Miranda Cosgrove's song for the movie, "Raining Sunshine", which I posted in an earlier post. Overall, I will give "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" ***1/2 out of ****.

Some other movies I would like to see this fall:

1. "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
2. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
3. "Love Happens"
4. "Fame"

And I will let you know of any others!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Take it or leave it, make it or break it, boy we only got tonight.

Before I do my Survivor commentary tonight, I want to do two things: first, apologize for the lack of updates, things have been crazy around here plus something's up with my laptop charger so I didn't get to blog much, and second, tell everyone to go buy Kris Allen's debut single "Live Like We're Dying" on iTunes. He won "American Idol" season 8 and is a brilliant artist.

Now, on to what I came here to do. Recap tonight's episode of Survivor.

So things at Foa Foa are a little different with Marisa gone. Russell H. teams up with Jaison to form an alliance. Jaison agrees to this.

The combined Reward/Immunity challenge is a physical challenge that involves a lot of wrestling and pushing people away. Two goals into it Jeff warns the tribe that if another physical harm is done, whoever did it will be pulled out of the challenge. Ben on Foa Foa goes a little too far and is the first person ever in the history of Survivor to be pulled out of a challenge for being too rough. Galu goes on to win the challenge and wins Immunity and fishing gear.

After the challenge Jeff tells Russell S., the leader of Galu, to select one member of his tribe to go over to Foa Foa to observe them and sit in on their next Tribal Council; Russell chooses Yasmin. She recieves a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, which Russell H. already found. He also tells Foa Foa to stick around because he wanted the Medical Team to take a look at Mike, who was low on oxygen during the challenge and wasn't feeling well. The doctor diagnosed that his blood pressure was too low and that he be removed from the game due to medical reasons. I am always sad when a player is eliminated for medical reasons, whether I liked the player or not. Like last season with Joe. I liked him a lot, he reminded me a bit of this barista who works at the Starbucks I always go to (coincidentally also named Joe), and he had to be pulled from the game because something was wrong with his leg. I was really sad.

So at Foa Foa Yasmin decides to stir things up. This does not settle well with Ben, and his comments about Yasmin do not settle well with Betsy. Russell, being the Puppet Master that he is (that term reminds me of this really wtf-worthy dance that I saw on TV and ended up teaching at my school for this acting thing. I felt like a cheerleader hyped up on sugar), targets Betsy for elimination because she doesn't trust him, and he rallies everyone together to vote for her.

At Tribal Council, Yasmin sits in and observes while the tribemates talk about what she did while she was with their tribe. Before the vote, Yasmin is sent back to her tribe. Betsy quietly sings the "Cops" theme song as she casts her vote for Ben. And Ben said that he thought she was a good cop, but ended up being a bad cop, then fired an imaginary gun at her as he cast his vote. Betsy ends up being unanimously voted out 7-1. I didn't have much of an opinion on Betsy because it's so early on in the game, but I was like "you go girl!" when she said she didn't trust Russell. My mom's friend asked me if I hated him and of course I did. So peace out Betsy. You rock for not liking Russell.

And before I sign off, I'll say it again: GO BUY KRIS ALLEN'S SINGLE ON iTUNES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S FLIPPING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Love y'all
***-Lily-***

You wanna be tough, better do what you can, so beat it.

I decided, that in addition to posting my thoughts about life, I will make a point to update this blog every Thursday night to give my commentary on "Survivor: Samoa". Also, last season's runner-up, Stephen Fishbach, will keep commentary on people.com with his thoughts on strategic moves. Stephen was my favorite from last season, and I have talked to him on his Twitter, he's very nice. To read his blog on people.com, go here.
So tonight kicked off with 20 castaways. Host Jeff Probst told the each tribe to vote for their designated leader. Foa Foa (wearing yellow) voted for Mick, and Galu (wearing purple) voted for Russell S. (there are two Russells this season). Then each tribe leader picked castaways participate in a challenge. Foa Foa won the challenge and won flint to light a fire.

When the challenge was over, each tribe went to their respecitive campsites. On Foa Foa, Russell H. made two alliances: his dumb girls alliance and a partnership with fellow castaway Betsy. That night he lied about being a part of Hurricane Katrina, dumped out all the castaways' canteens of water, and burned a castaway's socks. Stephen mentioned on his blog that Jeff Probst said that Russell was "the closest thing to evil we've ever had on Survivor". And so far, he's proving to be pretty bad.

At the Immunity Challenge, Foa Foa fell behind in the beginning, caught up in the final stage, but ultimately fell short to Galu. Before Galu went back to their campsite, Jeff gave them flint. Before their tribal council, castaway Marisa told Russell that she was worried about him, which made Russell feel he could not trust her, and he convinced everyone to vote her out.

At Tribal Council, Jeff asked Betsy who he thought the weakest player was so far, and she said Ashley. Ashley stuck up for herself, but Betsy still voted for her. Ultimately it was Marisa who went home with a vote of 7-3. Since it was just the first episode, I didn't have much of an impression on Marisa besides the fact that she was quick on her feet (her tribe's leader, Mick, designated her the "most agile" for her team) and very pretty. So peace out Marisa. I'm sorry I didn't see much of you.

So there's my rant of the night. Keep checking back each week for my Survivor commentaries, and my other posts featuring movie reviews, my thoughts on life, and occasionally some videos/random posts.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Life is more than just how many breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.

A few days ago, a contestant from the American Idol semi-finals this past season, who has become a good friend of mine, Alex Wagner-Trugman, posted the following on Twitter:

"you ever have those albums that remind you of a certain time in life? evolver by john legend is bringing back sophomore year memories."

I thought about that for awhile, and came to the conclusion that yeah, I have not particular albums, but more like particular songs that remind me of a certain time in life. Since I didn't have anything better to blog about today, I'm gonna list all the songs that I can think of that bring back memories of a particular time in my life. We're gonna go in chronological order, starting with the summer of 2006.

1. "Gold Digger" by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx. The cast of "Glee" recently released a version of it. There's no cursing in this version and is more family friendly, and when I listened to it, I was transported back to the summer of 2006. I was at my summer camp in Amherst, MA, and we had a talent show on the first Saturday I was there. The very first act was the head of the theater part of the camp, Paul, reciting the song "Gold Digger" as if it were a dramatic piece. And he had a guy next to him replacing all the swear words with more family-friendly words that meant the same thing. It was REALLY hilarious and I ended up adapting that for a performing group at my school. My friend Jon did the reciting and I replaced all the swear words with the family-friendly words. The kids got a kick out of it too.

2. "My Destiny" Katharine McPhee. Katharine was runner-up of "American Idol" season 5, and she was my favorite female contestant of that season. "My Destiny" was her first single. I sang it in the camp talent show in 2006, and then the first 2 verses of it on the final night of camp in 2007. Normally I don't like repeating songs more than once for a crowd, but I felt "My Destiny" was an exception. The lyrics pretty much summed up the summer of 2007 for me into 3 minutes and 48 seconds (idk how long the first 2 verses are, but yeah). I was a counselor that summer at that same camp, and it was stressful and hard, but through all the mistakes I had made, I still managed to have an amazing summer, plus I had my best friend Brian by my side. When I mentioned I was gonna sing something, my division leader said that it wasn't really a singing thing, but I'm the type of person who breaks the mold and shakes things up (usually). So I sang the song for Brian, then he came down with this big smile on his face and gave me a hug, while the entire camp cheered. It was just incredible.

3. "U Can't Touch This" MC Hammer. This song was my friend Josh and I's jam. He had burned it onto a CD mix and brought it with him on one of the dress rehearsal nights for one of the plays we did together, I can't remember which one. And then I had written a skit based on a conversation with my friends Jon and Rica, titled "Actual, Real-Life, Not Fake Conversation Between 3 People". And then I was visiting my stepgrandparents over Thanksgiving break in 2006, I was listening to the song "U Can't Touch This" and I decided it'd be a funny addition to the skit. I had originally planned on performing it with Jon and Rica but neither of them were able to attend that night, so I picked my friend Josh to do it because I knew he knew the song, and I picked my friend Faith just because she's awesome. And I actually have the skit recorded on youtube:




I'm the one in the hat, Faith is the one in the white dress and Josh is the guy. I showed this to my clique of friends and they all loved it. My friend Mackenzy said it was epic, and my friend Melanie commented that I really knew how to let loose and that she didn't think she could ever do that. And then they played that song at prom in 2008. Josh arrived shortly after they played it and I ran up to him and told him they played it.

4. "Summer of '69" Bryan Adams. This song is my best friend Brian and I's song. At the end of the summer of 2007, I dedicated this song to him on the Delilah show and wrote a song for him to the tune of it. That's all I'll say about this one.

5. "The Rainbow Connection" Kermit the Frog. My senior year of high school I started to become obsessed with the Muppets. I wrote a monolouge about one of the Sesame Street Muppets and rented The Muppet Movie over and over and over again. And I got my sister to watch it with me too. And I also had to explain to my friend Davis what Muppets were. She was covering this performing group I was participating in for the school yearbook, and when I mentioned to her that my piece was about a Muppet, she asked what a Muppet was. I was like "What's a Muppet!? Child, you have been deprived." I did my best to explain it to her. Muppets are hard to explain haha. And then I ended up learning that song in my voice lessons in college and singing it for my vocal jury.

6. "What Hurts the Most" Rascal Flatts. It's a really sad song, but I shared a dance with one of my best friends, Michael, to that song at my senior prom. That's what my memory of that song is.

7. "Don't Stop Believin'" Journey. Wow, oh my word, where do I begin with this song? I'll start with homecoming my senior year. I requested that the DJ play this song, and when they did, I mentioned to my crush at the time, Luke, that I liked it. He hadn't heard it before. Then when we were both in the gym, I said "C'mon Luke, let's dance," and he said "Okay," so we just slow danced to the final chorus of that song and sort of lip-synced the words while we were dancing. And when we were done, the only thing I can think of to say was "thank you," so I did. My second good memory of the song is that I made a video for Adam Lambert set to this song, and it is now my most-viewed video on my current youtube account (over 140,000 views). If you want to see it:




And my 3rd memory of this song dates back to this past summer. One night at the end of June, I went out for karaoke with my aunt Debby, cousin Bonny and my grandma. I was looking through one of the song books to see if they had Don't Stop Believin', and they did. When I told Bonny that I was gonna go sing it, she mentioned that Journey was going to be at the Iowa State Fair. I went up to give the guy programming the song codes in my song number, and I mentioned that they were gonna be at the fair and he said yeah they were. Then I mentioned that I loved the song, and he said he loved it too and then offered to sing it with me. I said sure. So we had a nice little duet. He can't sing at all, but it was still fun. And after all that I gave him a big hug, held him kinda tight. Hey, he was cute!

8. "Eventually" The Naked Brothers Band. In the summer of 2008, my home state of Iowa was hit by a lot of rainfalls/tornadoes, which then resulted in flooding. I didn't live near any rivers, but my old work was near one, and twice we had to move people to the back of the store because of a tornado scare. It was annoying and stupid, but we got paid for doing it. This song is about hope, and the lyrics just felt so suited for what my state was going through: "the sun will find us all eventually, eventually".

And my current song jam is "Super Freak" by Rick James. I first heard it in this commercial:




and I thought it was hilarious. I want to make a video of me and a friend jamming out to this song. But first I need a camcorder and a friend to do it with me. I want to make it kind of a cross between "iCarly" and this fanfiction I'm writing right now.

So there's my long list of songs that remind me of high school/summer fun. Any comments/songs you want to list off, feel free to leave them! And you DO NOT have to be a blogger member to comment!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

I don't mind spending some time just hanging here with you, cuz I don't find too many guys that treat me like you do.

It's been eons since I last updated, but I've just been SO busy with school and exhausted by the end of the day.

Not very much has gone on with me besides talking to my usual group of girlfriends. Three new girls have joined my group since I last mentioned. Now there are 7 of us: Lily (me), Theresa, Kathleen, Melanie, Mackenzy, Sarah and Brianna. We talk about everything: boys, school, music, movies, TV shows, and life in general. We always talk about encounters with the boys we like (there are two at my school I currently like, and one that's in my life and dear to me but I just haven't talked to in awhile), what we think of current entertainment news (e.g. Ellen DeGeneres was announced as Paula Abdul's replacement on "American Idol", we all think it will be interesting because she's very funny but we're not sure if she's musically able to judge them), and we always have a shoulder to lean on whenever we have problems. I always share my video song covers and video blogs with them and get their feedback (they always love them).

I love those girls because I know I can always talk to them about anything in my life that I want to talk about. They're just amazing and I know I will keep them with me my whole life. And we all agreed to meet up at my wedding to whomever. We're gonna go to IHOP on the morning of it and I think they'll all be my bridesmaids. I love them so much!

That's my story of the night. I'm gonna get some rest now. I only have one class tomorrow, so that's a plus. I'll try to update this more often next week, but I don't make any promises.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

It's not just in your mind, it's raining sunshine

Once again, I apologize for the lack of blog updates. I've been very busy. This week was my first week of school and it's been crazy.

The first thing I want to do is share the song that will be the center of this blog entry.




This song is called "Raining Sunshine" and it's by Nickelodeon star Miranda Cosgrove, best known for her roles on "Drake and Josh" and "iCarly". The song is going to be featured on the soundtrack for the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs", which hits theaters on September 18th. I heard a snippit of the song on Nickelodeon, which I watch frequently because I have siblings aged 8-and-a-half and 6. I loved it, and the music video debuted last night and it fit well to the theme of the song and the movie. Miranda confirmed on her Twitter that the music video will be on her youtube page tomorrow. Will share when I can.

This song has helped me through this week very well. On Thursday night my brother had to go to the ER because he stabbed the inside of his ear with a tiny plastic toy sword. My sister cried even harder than he did, so I went downstairs, got my laptop, and since my main iTunes library has whatever song I pick to play on repeat, I put this song on and we listened to it a few times before she calmed down.

On Friday, while I was watching "The Daily 10" on E! News, they interrupted the show to break the news that popular New York DJ Adam Goldstein, best known as DJ AM, died at 5:20 pm EST. Drug paraphenilia was found in his apartment so they're trying to determine if he overdosed. The following day I recorded a version of this song on youtube for both him and a contestant from the American Idol top 36 that I talk to regularly on Twitter. Will share that with you another time.

And today I've just been really depressed. I've been thinking a lot that I will never find a Mr. Right. I was in a bad relationship when I was 15, never was asked to prom, never asked out on a date unless it was a dare (I always turned the guy down because I didn't like whoever it was), and my mom doesn't think I'll find someone either. She told me I can't live at home forever (which I wasn't planning on: I'm hoping to move to Boston next year for college, but need to get out of the house sooner than that because my stepdad and I DO NOT get along at all and I've had enough of it). I protested that someday I'll get married (to some guy that I meet in the future, who knows who that'll be), and she exasperatedly replied "TO WHO!?". Which really hurt me. I've never really been told I'm pretty (in fact I've been told quite the opposite on youtube, which is now why on all my personal videos comments either have to be approved if they're not friends with me, or disabled altogether, and comments on my channel page have to be approved as well), and I'm just coming to the conclusion that no guy will ever want me.

That song, "Raining Sunshine" always makes me feel better when I'm sad, angry, nervous, etc. So thank you Miranda Cosgrove for helping me feel better when I'm down.

That's my rant of the day. Comment if you want. You DO NOT have to be a blogger member to comment!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Just dance, gonna be okay, just dance, spin that record babe.

I'm writing this blog from my grandma's house in Des Moines, IA, listening to the Delilah show and just trying to wind down from the crazy day.

I was up at 6:15 getting the rest of my things together to hit the road. My Uncle Barry came with us. We got here around 10:00 and I charged up my iPod. I had left my charger here and while I was at home my iPod had died. so it was nice to get it all charged up again. Plus I had added some new songs to my library, so it was nice to finally have them for my iPod.

I'm listening to Delilah right now. Some of my favorite songs have been played tonight, each bringing back another good memory of my life, or reminding me of someone special in my life.

I was talking with my friends Katie and Kayla today about everything. They are my closest vices, along with my best friend Jenny. We talk about everything and anything that there is to talk about. Be it about music, school, life, romance, etc, we talk about it. They're just SO easy to talk to. And we share a lot of the same interests. So it's nice to have friends like that.

Well, I'm just rambling now, so I'll sign off this blog and try to relax and wind down a bit more.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Now she's got a boyfriend, I've got a rock band, cuz nothing really ever goes the way it's planned.

I'm sorry for the lack of updates.........I've just been REALLY busy and exhausted by the end of the day.

But boy do I have some stories for you!

A couple of nights ago on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, I was transported back in time a few years, and I will tell you why. They have a new lifeline called "Ask the Expert", where famed authors, TV hosts and other people get to help out the contestant. You obtain this lifeline after you reach $1000.

Well, a couple of nights ago, the expert on Millionaire was Ken Jennings. He is the ultimate trivia nerd (we'd get along well, because my friend Steff picked me as "most likely to win at trivia on facebook). He won "Jeopardy!" 74 times in a row (I am not kidding. Just look him up on wikipedia if you don't believe me).

So, a couple of nights ago, I was transported back 5 years to the summmer of 2004. I was 14 years old, turning 15 the day before the episode he lost aired. I was about to enter my freshman year of high school, working as a volunteer at the public library on Fridays, seeing a movie in theaters practically every week.

I don't remember exactly how I found out about Ken, but something drew me in to watching Jeopardy! every week to see if he was gonna win. And on days I went to movies, or on Fridays when I was at the library, I made my mom watch it to see if he won (and of course he did).

And I had this unusal crush on him. I have always been known to fall for the nerdy boys, and I guess I did even when I was 14. But he's a lot older than I am and married. So I have no chance haha. I don't care tho.

Early on during his big run, I made this vow that if he lost, I would paint my nails black. And he lost on the day after my 15th birthday, so I had to rub off my favorite color of nail polish (Psychadelic Pop, which is a hot pink) and paint my nails black. I got irritated because that was my favorite color that I was wearing in honor of it being my birthday week. But a vow is a vow, so I had to follow through.

So when Regis announced he was the expert for the night, I seriously had a spaz attack. Ken Jennings was always really cool, good-looking, and knew a lot about trivia. It'd be cool to meet him!

So that's my story of the night. I'm going up to Des Moines one last time tomorrow, just for the weekend. Then I start school on Monday. Will be sure to tell you of any exciting things that happen at school!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Forgive me my weakness but I don't know why, without you it's hard to survive.

Another Tuesday done!

Today I woke up at like 6:15 am, which is early for me. I'm used to sleeping in, but then again, I have to get back in the "school" routine since school starts for me on the 24th. My siblings start this Thursday.

Big events of the day were that I went to school to figure out my schedule, only to learn that Walk-In Advising ended JUST as I got there, so I have to go back tomorrow. I need to figure out a class to take the place of Spanish. Per the suggestion of my mom I dropped it, but I need to meet with an adviser to figure out a class to take in its place because I'll drop below full-time if I don't. Plus my siblings had their back-to-school ice cream social, but I didn't go. I stayed home to watch The Daily 10 and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. My friend Kayla and I kept our commentary going via Twitter, just like we did for I Survived a Japanese Game Show. The celebrity guest tonight was Wynonna Judd, who Kayla loves. I haven't heard too many of her songs, but I will have to give some a listen.

Also, I learned that Shania Twain is going to be a guest judge during the American Idol auditions. I grew up listening to her and have 2 of her CDs. I remember at my 11th birthday party, we rented a limo and drove around town, and during the trip we listened to Shania and sang along. She's an amazing artist, one of my favorite country singers. I re-uploaded one of her CDs to my iPod and plan on re-uploading the other one soon.

So that's the story of my life on August 18th, so I will sign off for now and just relax to the sounds of this playlist I started making a few days ago.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Sometimes I am frightened but I'm ready to learn about the power of love.

Since Twitter is currently down, I'm gonna take a minute to write in my blog.

Today wasn't really all that exciting. The biggest event of today was that I had a doctor appointment. Not like a physical or anything, but I take a lot of medication, two of which being anti-depressants, so I had to check in with that doctor today. I always look forward to those appointments, even though they're only every 3-6 months. The doctor who handles my meds is a good guy. We always manage to talk about some other things besides the routine questions he asks me. Like the last time I was there, I was wearing my "Twilight" t-shirt, and before he asked me the routine questions we talked about the Twilight series. And when he was done asking all the questions, he asked if I had a boyfriend. I said, "not quite. There IS a guy," (referring to my almost-boyfriend, Billy, who I've mentioned before), and we talked a bit about him, and I said "we're not, like 'official' but we're getting somewhere". And then my doctor asked if my guy was a vampire. And I laughed and said he wasn't.

Today we talked a little bit about movies we've seen. And I mentioned to him that the longest movie I will sit through in one sitting has to be 2 and a half hours at max, like the Harry Potter movies. He mentioned that he hadn't seen them yet and I told them he should. I've seen all the movies in the series except for the 5th one, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", because I was at camp at the time it was released and couldn't get to a theater.

Speaking of movies, there's a lot of movies coming out this fall that look interesting. Like the writer of one of the blogs I read, Dan Barbour (http://bydan.blogspot.com), when I know of 5 movies I want to see this fall, I will make a list. I'm single, and don't really do anything on the weekends, plus I'll have some money from my student loan, so I'll be sure to let you know of any movies I see and will give my review.

I don't have a list of 5 (yet), but I do have one big movie I really want to see.

I have been a fan of the Twilight books since last fall. I love to read (and have a LOT of books I want to read). I am currently reading the 3rd book in the Twilight series, "Eclipse". The first movie in the series, "Twilight" was released last November, and I saw it on the opening day. I only had one class that day in the morning, so before my class I stopped at the theater (it's across the street from my school) to buy my ticket. And fortunately there really wasn't much of a line. So I saw it, enjoyed it, and now own it on DVD.

Well, the sequel to the movie, "New Moon", comes out on November 20th. Depending on what my schedule is like this semester, I am going to see it on the opening day or the day after. And I will get in line when the box office opens, like I always do when there's a huge movie coming out that day that I want to see. The huge movie I didn't see on the opening day, that I can think of, is "The Dark Knight". I waited a week to see it, because 1) it was going to be a zoo, and 2) there was another movie opening that same day that I wanted to see, so I saw that instead.

So I'm looking forward to New Moon this November. And if I can think of 4 other movies I want to see, I will make a list of them and why I want to see them.

Now that's wraps up my rant of the day, so I will sign off this blog, and write in 3 real journals. I'm almost done writing in one of them, so I have to start a new one soon.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

I can't make you love me if you don't, and you can't make your heart feel something it won't.

Wow, I am SO SORRY for the lack of updates, I've been so busy that I neglected to blog. Please forgive me.

Well this weekend has been exciting. My sister and her friend Sarah have been hanging out together all weekend. So I had 3 little kids to keep my eye on this weekend. They start school on Thursday, their ice cream social is Tuesday. I start school the 24th. I can't believe summer is almost over.

This summer I got to spend lots of time with my family, listen to some great music, watch some amazing TV shows, make some videos showing my musical talent, and talk to some of the most amazing people in the world. Be it over Twitter, facebook, myspace, idolforums.com or archuletafans.com, I managed to meet and talk to some amazing people. They're all so easy to talk to and I can trust them with anything.

I just thought of something I could do on this blog: give reviews of some new CDs that I like. My first one will be Colbie Caillait's CD "Breakthrough", which comes out next Tuesday. I'm gonna get an iTunes card sometime this week when I go out, because the pop cans need to be taken back. I love the first single off that CD, "Fallin' For You" because it describes my life right now. I like some guys but I am not sure if I should tell them I'm falling for them. It's just a pretty song and fun to sing. I actually used that song in one of my fanfics, and it was a nice addition and a hit with my readers.

Well, my lovely readers, I am gonna sign off for now and try to catch some z's...........I have a doctor appointment tomorrow. Hoping it goes well.

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

I could spend my life in this sweet surrender, I could lost in this moment forever

Today I learned I have a new talent: graphics! My friend Rachael posted 2 tutorials on how to make pictures more........what's a good word......altered. My favorite pics that I've made are posted above. I did pics of Kristen Stewart, Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale, Spencer Pratt and Casey Carlson. I'll be posting more as time goes on, if you want to see them!

Love y'all,

***-Lily-***

I'll be there for you when the rain starts to pour, I'll be there for you cuz you're there for me too.

Another Wednesday passed, another middle-of-the-week come and gone, another boring, ordinary day in my life.

Tonight I started watching what will be my new addiction, "The Daily 10" on E! News, then another night of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" on ABC, then I watched a movie (like I do every night), and then I re-watched the series finale of "Friends", which I own on DVD. The series finale aired in May 2004, when I was in 8th grade. I remember watching it with my mom, and my stepdad and sister watched it in another room. Then when I was visiting my grandma for my cousin David's graduation, my now-late Uncle Brian and I ran to Wal-Mart and I bought it on DVD. I re-watched it tonight cuz I had nothing better to watch.

I remember that the ending was satisfying to fans of the show, and it was really good. I was a casual fan of the series because it ran its original run when I was younger and I'd sometimes watch it with my mom.

And the theme song, "I'll Be There For You" by the Rembrandts, is the perfect anthem for friendship. I am actually listening to it as we speak, and am thinking about singing it on youtube in the future and dedicating it to all my friends, both online and in real life. First I need to learn it a little better. It's just a really happy song and it's a good song to sing to your friends when they're feeling down. It even says so in the lyrics:

I'll be there for you when the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you like I've been there before
I'll be there for you, because you're there for me too.

Just remember that song when you or someone else is feeling down. It just has a nice message. Just saying that you'll always be there for someone because someone is there for you too. It's just got an amazing theme to it and if you give it a closer listen, it's just an amazing song.

So now I'm gonna stop preaching to the Bloggerverse about friendship and write in my real journals, but keep this in the back of your mind. Will check in tomorrow!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

Pretty baby, don't you leave me, I have been saving smiles for you.

Today was a slightly better day than yesterday was, but still kinda boring as I didn't really leave the house. Just watched TV, played some addicting facebook games, talked to Emily and my other girlfriends, and updated two fanfictions. And re-read them over and over again.

Tonight when I was talking with my friend Theresa, she shared some tips about how to kiss a boy, because my friends Melanie, Sarah and I were wondering how to kiss, since none of us have ever been kissed. I've only been kissed on the cheek by guys I didn't really like. And Theresa being the expert she is, she shared the tips that she found in "Seventeen" magazine (which I read sometimes), and me being the dork I am, I saved them to my computer. Melanie did the same too. We may be dorks, but we're each other's dorks.

And also, I forgot to mention this yesterday, but it's something I wanted to share.

I have been an avid watcher of the TV show "At the Movies" since 2005. Since it's always on at 5:30 am where I am, I just watch my selected reviews online. I have watched it when Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper hosted it, when Roeper had guest hosts (when Ebert had thyroid surgery and lost his voice), when Michael Phillips became Roeper's permanent guest host, and when Ben Lyons (my main man in the world of movies) and Ben Mankiewicz became the hosts.

I just recently read online that beginning September 5th, Lyons and Mankiewicz will no longer host the show (after barely a year), and will instead be replaced by Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott. I personally have seen both of these guys host with Richard Roeper and I like both of them, but I am just very attached to Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz because I usually agreed with what they had to say. And even if they didn't like a movie I wanted to see, sometimes I saw it anyway. Plus, I've had a crush on Ben Lyons since October 2008. I told him this via Twitter (in the sense that I thought he was amazing and have loved him since October), and he replied back saying thanks and that his birthday is in October (October 8th, to be specific). When I heard the news that he and Mank were no longer hosting, I sent him another Tweet saying that I was bummed out. He tweeted me again saying that he appreciated the kind words. And I know that it's really him Tweeting me because his account is verified. Judging from those two Tweets he sent me, he seems like a very nice person that I'd enjoy meeting someday.

So that's my big rant of the night. Any comments? Feel free to leave them. You DO NOT have to use blogger to comment!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***

I was trying to fly but couldn't find wings, then you came along and changed everything.

Today was a mixture of amazing and horrible: got into bad fights with my parents (still don't know how I live with them! It's horrible!), but I figured out financial aid for school, got an iced coffee, re-connected with one of my closest friends, and watched the Teen Choice Awards.

I mentioned in an earlier blog about my friend Emily. She managed to re-connect with me and now we've been talking about everything. Our future, what's going on right now, and everything in between.

And I'm also getting re-hooked on this facebook game called "The Heist". You collect characters from TV shows, cartoons, movies, and even the lists of the sexiest people alive. My friend Max introduced me to it and I got permanently stuck on it, then kinda drifted away from it, and now I'm getting re-hooked.

And I also wrapped up chapter one of a fanfiction trilogy I am writing. The series is my David Archuleta "songfiction" series, and there are 3 stories. "I Drove All Night" is part one, and told the story of 3 best friends: Vanessa Keller, Devonne Hart, and Casey Jayne Cabot (played by Casey Carlson, Demi Lovato, and my friend Casey Jayne, respectively), who take a road trip from Minnesota to New York City so that Casey Jayne and, eventually, Vanessa can audition for a record deal. They pick up David Archuleta on the way, and have all sorts of adventures, plus Vanessa and David find time to fall in love.

Part 2, "Shut Up and Drive" will start soon. I have one other story I am going to update. And with this series, I try to include the song that inspired the title in the story. For example, "I Drove All Night", originally by Cyndi Lauper but covered by Celine Dion, is the song that Vanessa sings for her audition for the record deal. And then "Shut Up and Drive", a song by Rihanna, the characters will say that phrase to cab drivers who talk too much, and I'm considering having the characters rock out to that song at the end.

I always base my stories in trilogies. I have no idea why, but I just do. My first big trilogy was a series of stories I wrote with my great-aunt, then I have my David Archuleta songfiction trilogy, in which the first story is complete. My other David Archuleta trilogy is the Abby Gomez trilogy, which will be based on the first two "Scream" movies and the TV show "Harper's Island". So it's a horror/thriller/murder-mystery series. I am currently writing the first story, which is based on "Scream". I mentioned the story in an earlier blog and described the characters that survived the whole series. And my other trilogy I am working on is my Adam Lambert songfiction series. The first story is "So Close", and I'm working out the details of the second story, "If My Heard Had Wings". With this series, I use the song and the original artist. "So Close" is by Jennette McCurdy, and I cast her as the main character's best friend. So she'll be a main character in all 3 stories. And "If My Heart Had Wings" is by Faith Hill, and I cast her as the main character's mom. And then I figured since I'm using Faith Hill, I may as well use Tim McGraw, so I made him the main character's dad. This series is the love story of Jessica Wagner (Taylor Swift) and Adam Lambert (himself). And Jessica's best friend is Shelley Middleton (Jennette McCurdy), and they always stick together.

So that's my story about trilogies. Feel free to comment/elaborate/do whatever. And you DO NOT have to be a Blogger member to comment!

Love y'all,
***-Lily-***