Happy Heart

December 15, 2011

    Today I had lunch with a favorite relative of mine, Aunt Peggy. Now technically she isn't my aunt, a second cousin and if you want to get even more technical she's not related- by blood- to me, but by marriage. In my eyes she is my Aunt Peggy plain and simple, from day one I've always called her Aunt Peggy and can't imagine calling her anything else. It's like that saying goes, "Friends are the family you choose". Aunt Peggy has forever been so much more than just a friend though. 

   I hadn't seen her in three years, almost to the day actually. The last time I saw her was back in 2008 around Christmas when I would come home for a week in December to see family before Christmas. Seeing her again today was just delightful! I had emailed Aunt Peggy a couple times prior, telling her that I had arrived home for good and giving her quick updates. Then last week she wrote back and asked if I wanted to grab lunch with her sometime. Of course I did! I called her on Tuesday and we scheduled our lunch date for Thursday. On Thursday morning I was up earlier than usual, at 7:30 and was too excited to go back to sleep. I called Aunt Peggy just to make sure we were still on for lunch as she suggested, at 8:30. She works at the one college that is only a few blocks from here. Her work phone rang and rang, I ended up leaving a message and told her I wasn't sure if she was  either not in yet or in a meeting and I'd call back in an hour. While I waited for that hour to pass, fear started to creep into my heart. I began to worry that she was going to cancel our lunch and then I worried that I had jinxed everything by informing my sister and brother-in-law that I was getting together with Aunt Peggy. Kept telling myself that all was fine and that there are no such thing as jinxes or superstitions. An hour later I rang her back and she answered. Breathed a sigh of relief and she asked if we were still on for lunch? Of course we were was my reply. Aunt Peggy said she'd pick me up at noon or a few minutes past and asked me to remind her of my address. 

     After we hung up I danced around happily and then got in the shower and got dressed. While I waited for her to pick me up I worked on the origiami cranes I had been making. After it got to be about ten past noon, I figured it would be a good idea to go wait on the porch for Aunt Peggy. Since our mailbox is by the front door, the house number can be hard to see I didn't want her to get lost. The weather was lovely and warm enough that I didn't even need my green pea coat. Soon a little Honda pulled up to the curb and I could see that it was my Aunt Peggy. My heart leapt with joy, I scooped up my coat and purse and jumped in the passenger side. 

    Three years and she still looks the same! She's still as tall and thin as ever, same bright and happy eyes, everything the way I always remembered. We were going over to Bravo Pizza and when she told me this on the phone I automatically assumed she meant the one we used to go to in Wayne- where we both lived years ago. Turns out there is one here, just up the block by the post office. Aunt Peggy asked me if I missed Texas and I admitted that I did. "See, you did like it there!" she teased. When we were moving away from Pennsylvania about eight years ago, I had refused to go and my parents let me stay behind and live with my grandparents for a little while. I ended up coming to Texas about six weeks after they got there. And for the first couple of years I had a hard time adjusting, as I always seem to when I move. 

    We went in, ordered our pizza and I swear my Aunt Peggy knows the owner because he saw her and started chatting up with her like he'd known her for years. "Why don't you come in anymore?" he joked. He wouldn't let her pay, told her it was on the house. We went and sat down, talking and chatting while we waited for our pizza. It felt so nice to sit across that booth from her, laughing and talking like the years between us visiting had melted away. Each of us caught the other up on our lives and how our extended family was doing. She asked about "Aunt Marguerite", my Mommom (grandma) and the rest of my huge family. 

    Once our pizza was eaten, we talked some more and then she had to head back to work. With it being so close to the holiday break, the students aren't around as much so she has more time to work and wanted to take advantage of that. Aunt Peggy wanted to see if the pizza owner would let her pay for lunch. He wrapped up the rest of the pizza I didn't finish and teased me that I was quiet and Aunt Peggy agreed with a grin. He asked if she was my boss- Aunt Peggy laughed- and I told him, "No! She's my aunt!" We all laughed and then said good-bye; he never did let her pay for lunch.

   We walked back to the car and she told me how dirty her husband's car is. I commented how I didn't think that it was hers. She said they had carpooled to work this morning, they were running late and took his, then she ran into traffic and was late to work. That was why she didn't answer when I called earlier this morning! 

    I showed her which street was ours and she parked on the curb again. She reminded me to call her later next week and we would do lunch again, or in the New Year if she wasn't available. I gave her a big hug, told her I loved her hair then gathered my stuff and got out of the car. Waved bye and then let Shilah- my sister's chocolate lab- out into the yard to do her business. Then I heard my name and it was Aunt Peggy. I had forgotten the book she wanted to give me. Jogging up to meet her, Shilah ran ahead of me. Aunt Peggy petted her and commented that it has been a while since someone had a chocolate lab. We said goodbye again and I promised I'd call next week. 

January 4, 2012 Life of course has been crazy and I haven't had the chance to have lunch with my Aunt Peggy again yet. Now that I'm nannying full time I'm worried my time is going to be severely limited. There's always the weekends I suppose. 

Aunt Peggy and me way back in 2004 at her son's high school graduation party. Back when I used to wear glasses, before I got that Lasik surgery. Love how my hair is so dark in this photo that it blends into the background of the night sky. 

I love this and added it because the first time I can really remember meeting Aunt Peggy (I'd seen her at family gatherings when I was real young and then again when I was 8 or 9, but don't remember that much) this was pretty much the reaction I had. :) <3

Way Behind!

January 4, 2012
     Life has been crazy hectic lately and I have not had the chance to update my blog in some time! Finally got my Mac back from my dad, he had taken it with him to Colorado because he needed a computer out there. I had wanted him to mail it to me once their PC got out to CO but he had a hard time setting up the internet and was going to need someone to come out and hook up the ethernet and all this complicated stuff that he couldn't deal with while working full time. So once my mom got out to CO and helped get it all set up, she mailed it to me. So now it's just a matter of carving out the time to sit down and update it! The posts to follow are about Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and other things. Enjoy!
~ Danielle

Thanksgiving Pennsylvania Style

November 24, 2011


     This year was my first Pennsylvania Thanksgiving. It was a bit different since both my dad and brother weren't here. Felt odd not having them here, Jordan went to his friend's back in Keller and my dad was alone in Colorado sadly. But we made the most of it. My sister, Janine and brother-in-law, Stefano had breakfast with his brother Rey and his wife Hilary. Then we all got to work cooking the turkey and all the sides. In years past I have always tried to get the wishbone out of the turkey, but was never able to. Mostly because it was rather hard to get to. Luckily this year Stefano was up to the task! He was happy to dissect that bird for me. Unfortunately he was unable to find the wishbone, somehow it either broke or was thrown out. After dinner we lounged around and watched movies. Good times were had by all. :) 

Mom carving the bird. 

Stefano's favorite- cranberry in a can. It's unsettling to me that once you open the can, the cranberry is basically like Jell-O and has the indentations from the lines of the can on it! He is the only one that eats it and it doesn't bother him. Though that's not shocking, he will eat anything. Literally.

Stefano, the master carver. And yes, that is the meat thermometer in his mouth.

Biscuits and stuffing in the oven, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes on the stove.

Janine and Stefano

Lounging after dinner. All that tryptophan coursing through our veins made us tired!

Moving House

     Anyone who has ever moved anywhere, whether it's out of your parent's house and into an apartment, into a college dorm, or across the country, you know how much of an ordeal moving is! Even though growing up we seemed to move about every 4-5 years, I was never really involved in much of the packing, etc. because I was always at school and the movers did all of that. Not this go-round! UGH! Next time I think it will be so worth it to shell out the extra $300-400 to have the movers pack up everything! Talk about insanity! 
   I can be messy and a slob, but in certain aspects I can be totally organized! This was one of those times! During the weeks when the house was on the market, my room was spotless. And I cannot tell you how much of a pain that it was to keep my room looking like that! My dad kept complimenting me on my room, everyday, to the point where I just kind of brushed him off. "Yeah okay, dad thanks." But once the house was pretty much sold and we stopped having showings, I let loose a little. And then we had to start packing. With my dad already being in Colorado, it was all up to my mom and me. All of her belongings as well as my dad's things, were being packed by the movers to take it all to Colorado. Everything I owned and all that was going on my moving truck to PA, we were packing. If you are moving and you are packing all of your belongings yourself, might I suggest doing it like a month in advance!
   To add to all of that insanity, we had different things going to PA at different times. For example, my car was going on the car carrier to PA a week or so before we left so that my car would get to PA before we did and I'd have my own car available to drive around. This was crucial because my sister and brother-in-law both work at separate hospitals in completely different areas so they both needed their own vehicles. So I was able to put 100 lbs of items in the back of my car, I filled the trunk space with heavy coats and pants, boots, and a big box of toiletries, and other stuff. Then I had to figure out what was going on the moving truck- which might not get to PA for 7-14 days after they left our house in Texas. And then I had to decide what to pack on my suitcases to bring on the plane with me. See, chaos. Looking back, making a list of what I wanted to go where and when might have been helpful, but hindsight is always 20/20. 
    Everything in my room was going to PA, my bed, bookcases, everything in the bookcases, my big honking desk from IKEA, all of my clothes, etc., and then random miscellaneous stuff that I was bringing to my sister, stuff from our childhood- Beanie Babies and stuffed animals from when we were little, a box of stuff she had kept from her middle school days, a patio table and chairs, rockers that were for her front porch, doll furniture for when either of us eventually have daughters. I didn't want certain things to go all the way to Colorado with my parents because I didn't know when I was going to need it and then to get it to PA was going to be hard. So I went through everything from the attic that was brought down into the garage and set all that I wanted aside. 
    I will admit that my mom did a majority of the packing. I was still working everyday, either nannying for the boys or at my church. So I did what I could when I could squeeze in the time. And then once I was done at church, my Tuesdays and Thursdays became packing days. Then when I said good-bye to the boys, I was packing full time. My mom became Speedy Packing Woman, while she did it all in an organized fashion- she was an old pro at packing a box of anything. I was pretty much a green newbie and took things slower. ;) Apparently it took me 3 hours to pack one box of craft supplies. In my defense, I don't have a lot of separate boxes for my craft items and I didn't want to throw everything into a box and be done. So I organized everything in that box, multiple times mind you, until it was all the way I wanted it. All the papers went at the bottom, then I had other items on top of that, with stickers and misc. loose things in envelopes I had made out of old scrapbook paper. It all made for one heavy box. Packing my stories and writings was another tedious task as I would read through "just a couple of pages" of something I had written and an entire half hour had passed where nothing got done. 
    Finally everything was done and packed. I think we were right up to the deadline of when the people packing my parent's things came and I was still not finished! So I spent that day tying up loose ends and that is when I just started to throw random stuff into boxes without really caring anymore. I had gotten to the point where I was burnt out and sick of packing. Once everything in the entire house was packed up, our house looked like a maze, literally. To get to anything, the sink, the toilet, the shower, you had to walk through a maze of boxes. 
    All of my boxes were labeled "GREELEY PA" and my mom's were labeled by the people packing, a man and his niece, and English was not either of their first language so she had labeled all of my parent's boxes: "GREEYLEY PA" and her uncle had labeled them with our last name spelled correctly. I noticed her spelling error, but I didn't have the heart to tell her she did every box wrong. But I had a little laugh, because people have always misspelled our last name, but usually without the third E at the end, or Greenley instead. I don't think anyone had ever put that extra Y in there!
    The movers came on Wednesday, both set of movers with both of their different moving trucks to go to two totally separate destinations! So on our street there were 2 enormous 18 wheeler moving trucks, they must have blocked at least 3 driveways! Luckily, everyone was at work and my mom's car was the only one of ours left and she parked her down the street a bit. The movers taking my stuff to PA were done in about 3 hours. Everyone arrived at about 8 and they were done at around 11. My mom's set of movers were done by 3. And then we had an empty house. Which felt so weird. The only things in the house that weren't packed were the fridge, the kitchen table, my brother's bed frame up in his room, a patio table out back and random stuff in the garage. That was all the stuff that the couple that bought our house were taking. Thank goodness we still had that kitchen table! It gave us something to sit on! 
    We flew out to Pennsylvania the next morning and my sister came and picked us up at the airport, in my car. I had packed a lot less of sweaters and heavy clothes like that than I realized once we got to her house and began to unpack our suitcases. Originally I had a ton of clothes, but my mom needed to use some of my suitcase space so I had to take out about half of what I packed in my check on bag and in essence was without sweaters and sweatshirts for a week. Luckily it wasn't too cold and I used whatever was packed in the trunk of my car till the movers arrived from Texas. And what crazy, insane, chaos that was!
     My sister and her husband live on a one-way street and there are people- college kids mostly- that park their cars on the opposite side of the street where the meters are. Which makes the road even more narrow, getting out of the driveway can be a challenge at times. The movers knew that we lived on a narrow road going into this, the driver said that he would unpack all my boxes, etc. and put them onto a shuttle- a smaller truck, like a van I guess, and bring them here on that. Friday morning rolls around and I am awake, getting prepared for the movers. I think I was checking email or eating breakfast. I hear the moving truck and sure enough there it is outside the house. The big 18 wheeler one, not this little shuttle thing. "Mom! The movers are here, in their huge truck!" I call up to her. They got here an hour earlier than they originally told us. 
    Apparently, the driver's boss told him that using the big rig wouldn't be a problem on our street and not to bother with the shuttle. It took some careful maneuvering but I think it all worked out ok. But people here drive like maniacs on our street! The speed limit is 20 MPH, people go like 40 and then half of the people go faster! So the big rig had to move around and they ended up pulling up some, luckily Janine and Stefano's house is on an area of the street where the movers were able to do that without much trouble. Because up the street, past the bridge, there is parking on both sides of the street. Where we are there is parking on one side, across the street. Most of the morning, it was crazy for people to get around the huge truck, because some broad parked her little white Nissan too far up and people had to move their cars so as to not hit her vehicle. People were idiots though, and they still came flying up the street- even though we aren't that far off the main drag of the city and you can CLEARLY see this HUGE moving truck! They only slowed down a few feet before they had to work their way around the truck. 
      Then when they were leaving, the driver had about 2 inches of room to fit his truck under the bridge that is right up from our house- the train goes over the bridge and you hear it all day long. We were concerned he wasn't going to fit! He was all like, "Hey, if I don't fit, I can just let some air outta the tires!" Luckily he fit, just barely, but he made it through!

Packed up computer room

The dining room chairs all wrapped up

View of downstairs from the stairway outside my room

Packed up kitchen, note my mom in the back. 

Master closet full of wardrobe boxes

Box of craft supplies, went a bit overboard with the masking tape.... Note: This was not the box that took me 3 hours to pack up though! :) 

The two moving trucks back to back. 

Bye old house!

The truck in the background is the moving truck, the one in the foreground is a beer truck,  the beer truck had to maneuver it's way around the moving truck and held up some people behind him. I was worried he wasn't going to make it. 

He fit! Whew!!

Life In Pennsylvania

November 22, 2011

I've been living in the Philadelphia area, out in the 'burbs, of PA for exactly 3 weeks. Well, three weeks yesterday if you want to get technical about it. For those of you that either were unaware that I moved, or you live under a rock (:D), here's a quick update: I moved. Ha! My dad got a job offer in Colorado and moved out there the last week of September. Our house was on the market for about 3 weeks and then a newlywed couple bought it. I really didn't have any desire to move out to Colorado and start all over out there knowing no one. I could have stayed in Texas, but although I had a job (2 actually) and friends and went to a phenomenal church (Gateway Church: www.gatewaypeople.com), I decided that living there without any family would be too hard. So I decided to move back home to PA. All my family lives up here- well excluding my parents and my brother, he's still at TSU in San Marcus. I'm living with my sister and brother-in-law (temporarily, till I get a job and my own place) here on the Main Line. 

Life here in PA is really different that down south in Texas. For one thing, the weather is a lot COLDER here! More on that in a bit. The roads. Yes, let's talk about the roads of PA. For the most part they are two lanes. As in one lane going one direction and the other lane going to opposite direction. Yes, you read that correctly. Those are the back roads, the "main" roads have another lane in each direction, but most don't have that nice turning lane. So usually I get stuck behind someone that's turning left to get into a parking lot or onto another street and then that backs up traffic. It's a bit of a nightmare really. So, all my friends back in Texas, be thankful for your lovely 1709/Keller Parkway/Southlake Blvd! 

The scenery and landscape is simply breathtaking. I will have to see if my iPhone will work with me and load some pictures up here. I'm borrowing my sister's Mac as mine is currently being used in Colorado... which reminds me that I have to light a fire under my dad to send me mine. The leaves had already changed when I got here and I was just in awe. I was so glad that the insane blizzard very-early-before-Halloween snowfall that much of the Northeast experienced did not cause all the leaves to die or fall off! I have taken countless photos of the trees and lush wooded areas around here. Which brings me to another thing that Texas doesn't have much of- at all- woods/forest/mountains/hills. Yeah, for those of you not familiar with Texas, it's pretty much FLAT. Every now and then you get a "hill" but other than that flat as a table top. Not here in PA my friends! Hills and mountains and trees and woods for as far as the eye can see! 

And now to the cold. When I first got here I was mentally prepared for chillier weather. I mean, this is the North. But I was taken aback at how cold it can get- yes, I did live here before, but the last time was 8 years ago! My sister and brother-in-law's house is over 100 years old! It was built way back in like 1860's or something. For some reason- and call me crazy- but I don't think they ever really insulated it properly, like by modern standards. My first night here, I froze. Literally. Well, not literally, but you get the idea. My mom had the futon that folded out into a bed- which she didn't realize was a futon- and I took the blow up mattress. All my heavy bedding and heating blanket were on the moving truck, and the truck wasn't due for another week. So I had a quilt and another blanket on top of that and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night to put on a sweater over my pajamas, then leggings on under my pajamas, another pair of socks and my mom gave me a blanket off her bed- I was STILL COLD! I think it is because my bed is right next to the wall, under a window.... Needless to say, I did not sleep well that night. Now that all my things have arrived from Texas- and are taking up half of a room down in the basement- my heating blanket is on my mattress (no more air mattress that squeaks every time I move/breathe!) and the foam cover is on top and I sleep a lot better! 

So the day after I arrived, I went down to West Chester to interview for a job I applied to online prior to getting here. It was at the Goddard School- which is basically another Primrose. For those of you unfamiliar with Primrose Schools, it's a daycare/preschool/pre-kindergarten/private kindergarten/after school child care facility. Turns out up here, you need ECE (early childhood education) credits in order to get paid decently. I have no ECE credits so if I took the job I would make about $1.25 more than minimum wage. That is not enough to live on and be able to keep up with rent and all of life's expenses. So my sister told me about SitterCity.com- a website for baby-sitting/nanny jobs. I made a profile that night after my interview and applied to 4 jobs. Took a few days but soon people were contacting me and calling me and I set up interviews with a bunch of families. Score! So far I have interviewed with 4 families, and I will meet with another one on Monday! 

Families out here- especially on the Main Line- are ridiculously wealthy. Well, not all, but most are. There are a bunch of private schools around us that cost like $28k a year to send your kid to, no joke. Now, I don't know if that's just the Upper School (what private schools refer to as high school) or not, but still that is like college tuition! Two of the families I interviewed with, their kids go to private schools. They have all boy private schools and all girl private schools. I don't have anything against private schools, I'm just not used to it I guess. I went to public school my whole life. You should see some of the gorgeous, enormous houses they have up here. Insanely beautiful! Again, if my phone behaves I will load some tonight. 

Tomorrow my sister, mom and I are going to the Flower & Craft Warehouse out in Blue Ball- near Lancaster- to look at Christmas decorations and such. It's a yearly thing that my Mommom goes with her daughters and this will be the first year we get to join! 

This is a gorgeous house on the Main Line near my sister's. Most houses around here are grand and very large and typically country-like as this one. 

I love this house, it's actually right down the road from my sister's and not too far from the park where I take her dog for long walks and throw the tennis ball around.

These are the roads that I'm talking about. Predominantly they are all like this, unless you get on the highways or the Turn Pike.

Another beautiful stone house

The breathtakingly beautiful fall trees of PA!

I'm Addicted to Pinterest!

     It was bound to happen. I'm addicted. To Pinterest that is. No, it's not some new drug or alcoholic drink or something. It's a website, app and it's awesome! I blame my friend Angela for this. LOL! She had posted a photo of this cool bracelet she had made, she found the instructions on Pinterest. I had never heard of this Pinterest and Googled it. Yes, Google is your friend. Google and I are pretty tight, seeing as how whenever I don't know something, I Google it. Which is becoming more and more frequent it seems... Anyhow I have digressed. So I found the website: www.pinterest.com and thought it looked pretty cool. The basic idea is this:
     It's pretty much a virtual bulletin board that you can "pin" pictures of things you like and find on the internet onto these "boards" you name.I have a ton of boards. Ones called "For When I am a Teacher", "Places I Want to Visit Someday", "Quotes and Thoughts", "Wedding Ideas", and so on. And each photo on your board has a website that it is attached to so you can click on the photo and be taken to the website from where it was "pinned". I have the app on my iPhone and can lose track of an entire afternoon quite quickly.
    So one day I decided to make a few of the crafts I found from websites posted on Pinterest. I'm quite proud of them actually. The sailor knot bracelets turned out awesome. I will have to figure out a way to add the links to where I found the crafts onto my blog so I can give credit to the people that deserve it, because I did not come up with these awesome ideas myself! Oh no, someone else did and I can't take credit for their creative genius!
    Need to try and also try and figure out how to post photos on here. Rather new to the whole blogging thing and posted photos for my first blog post but haven't blogged in over a month so I need to refresh myself! :)

 Here are the 3 Sailor Knot Bracelets I made.

The one on the left is made with ribbon, two pieces of 

silk/satin ribbon in an aquamarine, Tiffany blue type color and pink.

The one in the middle is made with yellow ribbon and the one on 

the right is the first one I made, with three strips of fabric.

 The colors here look darker than they actually are,

that's because I used Hipstamatic camera app on my iPhone.

 The braided necklaces I made

Sailor Knot Bracelet
Here is where I found the awesome sailor knot bracelet idea!! She gives you step by step directions on how to make them with fabric braided into the bracelets to join them together. I used fabric for my first bracelet and then decided to use the ton of ribbon I have. I also had a hard time just weaving the fabric/ribbon into the bracelet and used some little things to help get the fabric/ribbon into the bracelet. I used a chopstick for the fabric and then a small flat head screwdriver for the ribbon. 
Recycled Scraps Necklace
this is where I found the awesome necklaces I made from scraps of fabric and wore when I was working at my church's nursery this past weekend. I need to make them longer though and sew the braided parts to a piece of ribbon because I just knotted it and it looks sloppy to me. Added bonus is that the babies can chew on my necklaces now and I don't have to worry about them breaking my necklaces or pulling off the beads! Plus, it's great on their teeth and gums! Score!
Sailor Knots on Etsy
And here is where I got my sailor knot bracelets, Target was selling them for $1 in their dollar bin section at one point, but I found the blog like in early July and the lady posted the craft in early May so I was unable to find them at the Target I went to. And some kind person posted a link to this Etsy shop where I ultimately got a set of 10 sailor knot bracelets for about $20. The guy I bought my sailor bracelets was really nice and I got my package in the mail sooner than I had anticipated so that was nice! I love Etsy as well. Find all kinds of cool things on there!
Happy Crafting!

<3 Danielle

Who Says?

     So as I was getting ready to work at my church yesterday evening, a commercial came on the TV for Selena Gomez's new summer movie Monte Carlo. The background song was ever-so-catchy, and I figured since it's a Selena Gomez movie it's probably her music as well. Let me point out that you know you've either been working with children far too long, or you have young daughters of your own, when you actually know who Selena Gomez is. I looked her up on iTunes on my iPhone and found the song that had been playing, Who Says? Needless to say, I bought the song. Yes, I did buy a Selena Gomez song. And I listened to it on repeat on my way to Gateway and on the way home as well. I must say that the message the song is trying to get across to the listener is that we are all different and to be ok with who you are as an individual.
     I think that this is a problem more young girls have than boys, just my opinion though. But girls are more likely to try and be like everyone else and follow fads and the like. Boys, to me could care less, but it may be more true now than when I was growing up. When I was growing up the "in" or "cool" places to buy your clothes was Limited Too. Of course they are no longer in business, but Justice is the same type of place that Limited Too was when I was in middle school. Growing up in Fort Myers, Florida I don't think we even had a Limited Too. So it wasn't until I was in the eighth grade and living in Winter Springs, FL- outside Orlando- that I learned what a Limited Too even was. Then I graduated from Limited Too and onto American Eagle when I was in high school.
     It's hard enough being a teenager but to try and keep up with the ever changing fashions, fads and what's cool and what's not, well it's confusing! I was never really in a clique as a kid or as a teenager, try as I might I just did not seem to fit in with the popular crowd. I most certainly was not a tom-boy, or a jock, I wanted desperately to be a cheerleader my freshman year of high school. I didn't make the squad- which, looking back is an excellent thing. Not that I'm putting down people who were cheerleaders or whose daughters are, it's just the girls I knew on the squad were cut-throat and mean-spirited. No, I was a bit of a geek really. In middle school I had braces and wore glasses and was not really into make-up or boys, or anything along those lines. In high school I wasn't really itching to get my driver's license, I didn't go to prom or Homecoming or any of the high school dances. I went to my high school's home football games, along more often than not, sometimes with a friend. If I did go out on the weekends, it was to my church's youth group that I was involved in or to babysit. I was never a "mall rat".
     I had little self-esteem, I certainly was no social butterfly like my younger sister and somewhat kept to myself. I think I had the most friends when I lived in Winter Springs, and just about all of them were from our church, Northland Community Church. I was teased growing up, not a ton; I wasn't bullied like kids you hear about in the news these days. But I was picked on. I think a majority of kids are, sadly. So this song struck a chord with me.
     I'm glad there are songs like this one teaching girls and boys alike that it's OK to be different and you don't have to try to live up to anyone else's standards. And that no matter what anyone tells you, be it a teacher, fellow student, a coach, parent, whomever- you are important, you matter, you are worth it!

 Who Says

Selena Gomez

I wouldn't want to be anybody else


You made me insecure
Told me I wasn't good enough
But who are you to judge
When you're a diamond in the rough
I'm sure you got some things
You'd like to change about yourself
But when it comes to me
I wouldn't want to be anybody else


Na na na na na
Na na na na na na
I'm no beauty queen
I'm just beautiful me


La na na na na na na na na!
La na na na na na na na na!


You've got every right
To a beautiful life


Who says
Who says you're not perfect
Who says you're not worth it
Who says you're the only one that's hurting
Trust me
That's the price of beauty
Who says you're not pretty
Who says you're not beautiful
Who says


It's such a funny thing
How nothing's funny when it's you
You tell 'em what you mean
But they keep whiting out the truth


It's like a work of art
That never gets to see the light
Keep you beneath the stars
Won't let you touch the sky


La na na na na na na na na!
La na na na na na na na na!


I'm no beauty queen
I'm just beautiful me


La na na na na na na na na!
La na na na na na na na na!




You've got every right
To a beautiful life
C'mon


Who says
Who says you're not perfect
Who says you're not worth it
Who says you're the only one that's hurting
Trust me
That's the price of beauty
Who says you're not pretty
Who says you're not beautiful


Who says
Who says you're not star potential
Who says you're not presidential
Who says you can't be in movies
Listen to me, listen to me
Who says you don't pass the test
Who says you can't be the best
Who said, who said
Won't you tell me who said that




Who says
Who says you're not perfect
Who says you're not worth it
Who says you're the only one that's hurting
Trust me
That's the price of beauty
Who says you're not pretty
Who says you're not beautiful
Who says