Senior Year

Senior year... it's full of crazy times and busy schedules. 

College applications, scholarships, picking a college, it all comes so fast. I mean, it's already January and as of today there are only 96 days until graduation. This year is flying by for all of us, but there have of course been some great times along the way!

Homecoming was as fun as it always is... EXCEPT for Powderpuff being cancelled. That really sucks, but seniors still came out on top anyways.

And if you didn't know, I even had my senior pictures taken at Magic Kingdom in Florida! Obviously this was perfect for me since most of you know how much I love Disney. Also planning my senior trip to Disney with Sidny after we graduate in May! 

In December, I turned 18. I'm finally legal!


Now in February, local scholarships, dance, school, and work are all taking over my life. With dance recital right around the corner, cramming has begun for the Senior dance team! This is my last year and I teach a 4th/5th grade hip hop class, so that means I get a solo! Tap is my favorite genre, so my solo is going to be a tap routine. Miss Janet said this is the first time anyone has ever done a tap for their solo, so that's pretty cool.


Honestly, I am so ready for college. Most people here at MHS are just staying in state and going to colleges a few hours away or the state next door. Me on the other hand, loving Florida like I do, have decided to go to the University of Tampa... in Tampa. It is an absolutely GORGEOUS school and I think it will be perfect for me. I really can't wait! And hey, it gives my friends and family a reason to come to Florida!







And if you didn't know, I already have my roommate and her name is Mercedes! We're practically twins. I went and stayed with her over Christmas break and now we might be going to Disney together over spring break. She's awesome and I love her and I can't wait for our many adventures together next year!

There's just a little summary on how this year has been going so far! Senior year has been good and I can't wait to graduate and see what else is in store for me!

Peace out,
Mariah

Summer Reading List

As a lot of you know, I love to read! It's one of my favorite things to do.. so I thought I'd share my summer reading list! And definitely feel free to add anything to my list PLEASE :)

1. The Fault in Our Stars (John Green); check!
2. The Host (Stephenie Meyer)
3. 13 Reasons Why (Jay Asher); check!
4. Kingdom Keepers series (Ridley Pearson); 1,2,3,4 out of 7 check!
5. Frozen Fire (Tim Bowler)
6. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
7. Heaven is For Real (Todd Burpo)
8. City of Ember (Jeanne DuPrau)
9. Gone series (Michael Grant)
10. Found series (Margaret Peterson Haddix)
11. If I Stay (Gayle Forman)
12. The Maze Runner (James Dashner)

So yeah, there it is! If you have any other suggestions, please comment them! :)

Disney Numbers

People are always complaining about Walt Disney World being so expensive and I'll say, they are pretty expensive, but does anyone ever think about all of the things they have to pay for? For instance, the Main Street Electrical Parade uses over 530,000 light bulbs. That is just one parade alone, think about all of the other things the Walt Disney company has to pay for as well, such as, hot dogs, water, and even toilet paper. 

27,258 acres of land were purchased for WDW

$5,018, 770 was the cost of the 27,258 acres

4 colors make up the official colors of WDW, lagoon blue, mint green, pumpkin orange, lavender.

600 tons of steel helps make up Cinderella’s Castle, and not a single stone.

2 times a month the horse shaped hitching posts on Main Street, USA are scraped and painted.

70,000 fingerling bass were originally stocked in Bay lake when WDW first opened.

11,000 firework shows per year makes WDW the largest consumer of fireworks in North America.

7 million hamburgers are sold in the park each year

58,000 employees are employed by Walt Disney world as of 2006, spending more than $1.1 billion on payroll and $478 million in benefits each year

$100 million is spent each year to maintain the Magic Kingdom.

150 truckloads of holiday decorations adorn the Walt Disney World Resort and 300,000 yards of ribbon and bows drape over 1,500 Christmas trees during the yuletide season.

2,500 different Cast Member costume designs make up a working wardrobe of about 1.8 million pieces. Approximately 13,000 costume pieces are manufactured each year at Walt Disney World.

15 million miles are driven by the Walt Disney World bus fleet each year.

3,421,399 (approximately) famous “Mouse Ear” hats sold each year at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando to cover the head of every man, woman and child in Portland, Oregon.

392,040 square feet of space under the Magic Kingdom creates the Utilidors and are bustling with action. Beside navigation information the walls are covered with motivational information, such as the 7 rules of a Cast Member.

750 watercraft makes Walt Disney World the 5th largest fleet of watercraft in the world.

2.5 million garments (pieces) exist in Walt Disney World costuming department.

150,000 gallons of paint were purchased in 2004 enough to cover 7,500 average size homes.

263 buses are in service at Walt Disney World.

50 million soft drinks are sold annually at WDW.

9 million pounds of French Fries are sold annually at WDW.

194,871 miles of toilet tissue are used annually at WDW.

24,409 miles of paper towels are used annually at WDW.

319,353 lbs. of chocolate are used annually at WDW.

1.2 million pounds of watermelon are used annually at WDW.

741,150 pounds of sugar are used annually at WDW.

1.8 million pounds of flour are used annually at WDW.

245,000 pounds of fruit filling are used annually at WDW.

38,000 pounds of white icing glaze are used annually at WDW.

2.9 million pounds of eggs are used annually at WDW.

606,000 pounds of bananas are used annually at WDW.

510,000 of grapes are used annually at WDW.

1.5 million soft pretzels are served annually at WDW.

639,000 pounds of macaroni and cheese are served at WDW.

337,000 pencils are purchased annually to use at WDW.

148 million sheets of recycled copier paper are used annually at WDW.

730,102 gallons of bleach are used annually at WDW.

214,000 bandages were provided to guests during the year 2004 at WDW.

20,000 different colors of paint used in Walt Disney World.

175 different outfits are in Mickey’s wardrobe closet, including a scuba suit and a tuxedo.

200 different outfits are in Minnie’s wardrobe closet, including a cheerleader costume and various evening gowns.

15 million gallons of water are used each day at WDW.

5,000 plus performers, (not counting the 500 doves that were released),  joined in the Grand Opening Celebration of Walt Disney World at the Magic Kingdom on October 25, 1971.

51,000 employees work at WDW, this number changes with the seasons and peak park seasons.

11 miles of garland, 3,000 wreaths and 1,500 Christmas trees are spread around during the holiday season. The tallest is a 70-foot tree in Disney's Contemporary Resort. In addition, trees, which range in height from 45 to 70 feet, are placed in prominent positions in the theme parks.

500,000 character watches are sold annually mainly Mickey watches, are slipped onto wrists from Walt Disney World gift shops each year. At any given time, there are more than 200 different varieties of character watches. The most popular timepiece: a gold-tone relief of Mickey Mouse.

6,000 different types of food are served at WDW.

350 or more chefs are employed at WDW

150 semi trucks of decorations are used to decorate WDW during the Christmas season.

15 miles of garland are to decorate at WDW during Christmas season.

300,000 yards of ribbon are used for decorating at Christmas.

1,500 Christmas trees are used all around the WDW property for decorating.

8 million lights are used to decorate the 4 parks for Christmas.2 times the size of Manhattan Island is the property of Walt Disney World.

200 feet is the maximum building height in Florida, so the building does not have a red light installed for aircraft.

250,000 Guests at the Walt Disney World Resort ride the Various forms of “mass transit” every day, which include monorails, ferryboats, bus services and water taxis.

100,000 to 200,000 photos of guests are taken each day by Disney’s PhotoPass photographers

4 % percent of all amateur photography is estimated to be taken at Walt Disney World and Disneyland

72,000 individual AudioAnimatronic functions per second are controlled by the Digital Animation Control System (DACS)

800 different variety of trees had been acquired, moved and acclimated and transplanted at WDW as it was reported in 1970



So as you see really, WDW isn't all "that expensive" when you figure up all of the costs they have to pay. And everyone knows that my family and I are obsessed, so yeah I'm going defend WDW ;)

(Facts from: 

http://www.disneybythenumbers.com/wdw/wdw.html)

Cold

Snow and ice. I really hate all things cold with a passion, especially winter.

I'm always cold and I hate being cold. I always prefer summer over winter. And then when the school calls off school for today and there is no reason to, it really makes me mad. Cause I don't want to still have school in June. 

Summer is just sunny and warm and nice. That's probably why I like Florida so much.. And you just do things outside in the summer! Like go swimming or have bonfires or even just lay out on the porch. SUMMER > WINTER

There's my rant on the cold and how I really hate it.

Stay classy and come back,
Mariah

Dance

Jazz (2013)

Dance has always been a HUGE part of my life! I have been dancing since I was about 2 years old at Janet's and I'm coming down to my last years which is of course sad. Ever since I was little I always looked up to the older girls and couldn't wait to be in the company and do the guy/girl dance and do a solo my senior year and get all the cool costumes! Well now I'm here and it's awesome, except for the part of next year being my last year...

Guy/girl dance with Colin (2013)

Dance has made me learn so many things and I've also made A TON of new friends through dance. They're all great and my dance family is the best. I believe every year since I was in 5th grade, I have been demonstrating and assistant teaching with a class. I remember the first class I ever helped with still and now some of those girls are in the Junior company and I'm dancing with them and it's really weird.

I've always told myself that if I'm teaching next year (which I hope to God I am), that I'm going to do a solo to a Disney song and NOT a lyrical dance. I'm tired of seeing all of the seniors do lyrical... I HATE lyrical, I want to do something fun and energetic and I'm really excited!

Not only do I dance though, I also tumble and I LOVE to tumble. I love being able to flip all over the place and try new things and just roll around. My goal for this year is to make my aerial better!

Mackenzie and me on the Disney World trip!

5th grade was my first year on a company team (pre-team) and we went to Disney World and danced.. so you probably know how exciting that was for me! It was awesome because I got to do a thing that I love AT a place that I love. And not only is it my dream to be Ariel at Disney World, my dream is also to be a dancer in a parade or a show somewhere at Disney World, preferably the Festival of the Lion King because that's my favorite show there! Or the Beauty and the Beast one, I don't know.. any of them would be AWESOME! My mom actually showed me this link down here....

http://disneyauditions.com/audition-calendar/?aud_id=5724

And it's like the perfect thing for me and I just wish I was 18 so that I could go and audition for a spot! Mackenzie and I have also been not only dance best friends, but best friends for a long time! She's awesome and I love dancing with my girl Kenzie.

Lyrical (2013)

Dancing is my get away though. Whenever I'm having a rough or long day, I love getting to go to the studio and just being able to put all those troubles aside and just dance it out and not even worry about it. Even in the mornings when I'm getting ready or in the car or in the shower or when I'm just chillin', I'm always dancing. ALWAYS.

All in all, dance is a huge part of my life and to continue with it in some way when I get to college would be really, really, really awesome.

Stay classy and come back,
Mariah

Junior year

So this year has been an awesome year so far! 

I've been getting good grades, doing new things, being more outgoing, and even making some new friends. 

Homecoming week...
That's always a fun week at MHS. TPing, spirit days, floats, door decorations, powderpuff, it's pretty awesome and I don't think anyone does a homecoming week like MHS. First of all, us juniors won powderpuff (I played), so that's been like one of the big highlights of my year because that was just really awesome to beat the seniors! And I really love making the floats with my class. We're all pretty artistic and creative, so we always come up with something good! And TPing... who doesn't love that? Really around this area, we're the only town I ever hear of that TPs. That's awesome. But some people get too out of hand, but whatever. (obvious photo creds to David Pickering)



Christmas break...
I normally don't do very much, but it's really great to just be with my family and spend some good time together! I love being in the house with the Christmas tree and the other decorations, it just makes me feel so happy. And who doesn't like it when Santa Claus comes? :) And we got two extra days off because of snow.. so that's always awesome. 

Coming up for the rest of the year...

Winter Warming week is also coming up, which is also exciting! Not as crazy as homecoming week, but still fun. The Mr. Bulldog contests are also fun to watch at the assembly so I can't wait for that (and to see who the candidates are!) Our class theme is the Wizard of Oz and I'm really excited to be working with that!

The Polar Bear Plunge! This is an event for people to come together in February and raise money for Special Olympics by jumping in a freezing cold lake.. I know, crazy.. but this will be my third year doing it and I'm really excited because this is a great organization to be raising money for. These kids and people are so special and unique and when you see those smiles on their faces when you do something for them it's awesome, so I'll gladly jump in a freezing cold lake for them.. If you would like to donate money, just message or text me! :)

Soccer season starts the first week of March! It's like my favorite time of the year because I LOVE soccer and I LOVE my team. It's such a fun sport and teaches so much and you learn so many teamwork skills, which is super important! We put in SO much off season training for our actual season, IT'S CRAZY. But it's so worth it because it just makes us better as a team!

Prom! Since I'm a junior this year, we're planning prom and I'm so excited for it! Although I can't reveal the theme because it's a secret.. I will say it's pretty awesome and it's going to look so great. We're all pumped for it.. so be ready prom goers.

Graduation........ don't even get me started on this one. Half of my best friends, including my boyfriend, are seniors this year, obviously meaning that they will be graduating this year. Which really sucks. They're all going to be going off to college and I know Sadie Fraz is just as upset as me about this.. What we're going to do without all of them here, we don't know.

I guess that's all for now.. It's been a good year so far and there's more exciting stuff coming up!

Stay classy and come back,
Mariah

Disnerd

First thing.. if you have a problem with Disney or my Disney obsession, don't even bother reading this post :)

So like I said in my first post.. my family and I are some of the biggest Disney freaks you will ever meet. So I'll get my Disney spiel out of the way.


The Little Mermaid is definitely my favorite princess, I mean she's a freaking mermaid so obviously. She goes for her dreams and she's got red hair and I'm half redhead. I've probably watched the movie way too many time to count (I can quote every line), but it never gets old. I have tons of Ariel things in my room and bathroom.. including a lamp, pillow, Max stuffed animal, rug, trash can, figurines.... need I go on? And like said before, I dream of being Ariel at Disney World. It would obviously be the coolest job in the world. 


Peter Pan. He's my favorite dude and that's my second favorite Disney movie. I wish Neverland was real.. I mean mermaids, pirates, Indians, fairies, the Lost Boys, and I could fly? Yeah, that'd be pretty awesome. And once again.. Peter has red hair. 


And my new obsession would be: FROZEN. It is one of the best Disney movies made in a long time! Anna is my favorite.. she's quirky, awkward, and loud, like me! And Elsa is just Elsa, she has freaking ice powers. How much cooler could you get? And I LOVE Idina Menzel (voice of Elsa and is Elphaba in Wicked if you don't know who she is), but I don't think I would have picked her for for the voice of Elsa. I love her voice and think she's amazing, but she has a very distinct voice and I also only see Elphaba. And I didn't know Kristin Bell could sing like that, but it's awesome. I really love how his movie also teaches kids that they don't need a Prince Charming and that all you need is your sister. So I really loved how the "act of true love" in the movie was between the sisters, it was really cool. Just an awesome movie and soundtrack. I'm kind of obsessed with it. Let It Go is always my song when I get ready in the mornings. 


The first time I went to Disney World I was 13 months old, but I've been there 14 other times since then... I know, it's a lot.. but that's the only place my family vacations, but I don't mind because it's like my home away from home. I could go back every day and never get tired of it. It's really hard to choose a favorite park, but I REALLY love Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom. Hollywood Studios has my favorite ride Tower of Terror and all of the amazing shows. It's pretty cool. And Magic Kingdom brings out my more kid side, it does for everyone. I always go see Ariel in her Grotto, the other princesses, classic characters, and the not so classic characters. My favorite ride here is probably Space Mountain and the Journey of the Little Mermaid ride (shocker, I know). But all of the rides are amazing and I love them all! The castle is my favorite part of all of Disney World, it just makes me so happy! Epcot is pretty cool too because of the World Showcase and you can learn about all of the different cultures and countries around the world. And the food there is AMAZING. Animal Kingdom is pretty awesome too.. with all the animals and some fast paced rides like Expedition Everest and Dinosaur... I love all of Disney World. 


Last part.. 
Once I get to college, I would really LOVE to do the DCP (Disney College Program). It gives college students an opportunity to get college credit and have an internship at DISNEY WORLD. Exactly, sounds like the perfect thing for Ben and me. My dream job would obviously be to be the character face for Ariel, but if that doesn't work I would love to work at Tower of Terror because it's my favorite ride and I could be all creepy and weird.. which I already am, so it works. So I can't wait until I get the opportunity to do the DCP!

Sorry for the crazy Disney post, but it's kind of a big part of my life. 

Stay classy and come back,
Mariah