Stormy day

It's so rainy today! I LOVE it! I'm curled up on my window seat watching the storm and it gives me this sense of calm. :) Not that I wouldn't prefer to be riding Whisper at Briar Creek right now, but she needed a day off anyway.

We've been working really, really hard every day with only the weekends off. Kim has been teaching Brielle, Ana, and me in a separate class which is the coolest thing ever. In return, we agreed to help her run Briar Creek's summer riding camp next week. It's a week long camp for kids who have little or no experience with horses. Kim said we're going to teach the basics about riding, play lots of games on horseback, and then take a trail ride at the end of the week. I'm really excited to be one of the camp leaders! Brielle and Ana are psyched too. The trail ride is going to be so much fun--we're going to take the kids down this easy trail that B, A, and I already mapped out. It winds through the woods and ends at the lake at the farthest edge of Kim's property. We're planning to eat packed lunches by the lake and go swimming!

I really want to see if Whisper will wade into the water. I MIGHT end up getting dunked head first, LOL, but it's worth a try. :) Zane's a total water horse. He *loves* swimming and Brielle can ride him into the middle of the lake. She let me try it with him last summer because the stable horse I rode that day was terrified of water.

Any of you guys ever go swimming with your horses? What about horse camp?

Tell me what you're up to!

xx,

~LT

Saturday--yay!

Happy Saturday!

I took the day off from riding and decided to hit Briar Creek tomorrow. Whisper could prob use a break, anyway, because I've been going almost every day. Dad's been awesome about driving me. I wanted to do him a favor for taking me to BC every day, so I found him a coffee mug online that says CAREFUL OR YOU'LL END UP IN MY NOVEL.

LOL. It's perfect for him.

Briar Creek's been a little . . . weird. I'm still settling in and it's so different having Kim as my instructor again. Plus, there's the Bri thing. But you haven't gotten that far in my story written in the Canterwood books, so I can't say anything yet! :/

While I was shopping for Dad, I got on IM with Khloe and we did some back to school shopping together. We both love this Website, Sock Dreams. It has the BEST socks ever! Not like the boring white ones that I used to wear all of the time. I got some for Becca and Charlotte.

Charlotte comes home at the end of next week. She went straight from college to Italy for a school program. But she'll be back and here for the rest of the summer. Teensy bit nervous about Char being home. Our relationship HAS been better, though, so fingers crossed.

Becs is calling--gotta run! We're going to catch a movie at Union Circle Theater. What're you all doing this weekend?

Talk soon!

xoxo,

LT

Back to school shopping

I can't believe I'm leaving Union on Saturday! This Saturday. For Canterwoood. OMD!

I still have a million things to do!! Right now, I'm doing last minute school supply shopping online at Staples. They have a very cool offer--a $15 gift card for $8! Here's the link, in case you want it. The offer expires in seven hours, so hurry. :) I forgot to order notebook paper--hello, a main staple for school.

Anyone else like back to school shopping? I love it. It's fun to get new supplies for the year! Most of my supplies are black, sky blue and silver. I tried to color-coordinate everything. I found awesome stuff at Target, PBT, Office Max and, now, Staples. I might have gone a teensy bit overboard . . . Mom said I didn't need 50 number #2 pencils, but what if they break? Or some get lost? I bet I'll be taking lots of tests at Canterwood, so I feel much better having extra pencils, LOL.

Besides school shopping, I have to bathe Whisper, double check that she has all of her supplies, finish packing and find a way to have one last sleepover with Ana and Brielle. Plus, I want to say 'bye to Tay. Thinking about it makes me kind of sad. Okay, really sad. I know it's a mutual break up, but he was my first boyfriend. I miss him and we still live in the same town. I can't imagine what it'll feel like to live in separate towns. Ahhh . . . can't even go there right now.

Back to shopping! What're you buying for school? I want to know!

Japenese candy!

Mom surprised Becca and me with a trip to NYC yesterday! We dropped Becca off at her friend's house in Park Slope, where we used to live, and Mom and I took the train into Manhattan. Mom let me shop for back to school clothes and we had Red Mango. It was fun to be back in NYC!

I stopped at the PINK store in SoHo and got some cute PJs and, bonus, the store was giving away PINK stuffed dogs. I had two already and now, I've got the cutest purple one. It's standing next to my laptop. :)

I hit up Forever 21, H&M and Macy's. I heart Macy's because there's a Starbucks inside so I can get my tea fix and shop at the same time. Plus, Macy's has it's original escalators--they're wooden and tres chic. I love riding them.

After I got my clothes, we met Becca and shopped for her. Becca got to stop at her fave candy store and she stocked up on her obsession--Japanese candy. Becs got me addicted to it last summer, so I bought some, too. Have you ever had any? It's so good!

Gotta run for Sunday night dinner! We're eating late tonight because Dad was on a deadline for his next book.

How was everyone's weekend?

OMD!

I can't believe that I'm starting school in 3 weeks! THREE WEEKS!

Oh, mon dieu!

Becca's been the only one keeping me sane. Her BF is away with this family on vacay, so we've been spending lots of sister time together. Charlotte's home, too, but only for a couple of weeks until she goes back to college.

Today, I've got a one-on-one lesson with Kim. Whisper's been acting up in class. Sometimes, when Kim calls out a command, Whisper does it before I ask. Like, at our last lesson, Kim called, "Trot!" and we were at a walk. Before I asked Whisper to trot, she started trotting. I pulled her back to a walk and let the other horses trot past her before I asked her to trot. Whisper cannot respond to voice commands, so I've got to work that out of her before we get to Canterwood. Any helpful suggestions, fellow riders?

Off to watch THE GLEE PROJECT! :)

xx

LT

NYC!

(My old park in Brooklyn)

Becca and I had the most day yesterday! Mom took us to Brooklyn and Manhattan as a surprise! Only the most awesome surprise ever! Becca had been missing her friends from our old neighborhood, Park Slope, and Mom woke us up, told us to get dressed and to meet her downstairs.

Over breakfast, Mom told us that she was driving us to BK and then into Manhattan for back-to-school shopping.

Becs almost did back flips. :) She hugged Mom and texted all of her friends.

I'd been missing Brooklyn even though I hadn't left friends behind. I did miss the park and running trails. It was the strangest thing...in the middle of a giant city there was a park with ponds and geese and ducks. Squirrels ran everywhere and in the early morning fog, I sometimes had seen deer.

Mom drove us to Kiersten's house (Becca's BFF) and dropped her off. Mom and I left the car at Kiersten's and took the F train into the city. Mom wanted Becs to have time with her friends, so she decided we'd shop for my clothes first, have lunch and then come back for Becca.

I hit all of my fave stores, picking up a few pieces of clothing in each, until we got to my ultimate fave: Macy's. Mom and I hit Starbuck, grabbing iced teas, and I used the old wooden escalator to go up and down each floor. Finally, I was exhausted and couldn't carry all of the clothes in my arms. Mom and I found a bench and weeded through the pile sorting the clothes into "must haves" and "impulse grabs."

We got lunch from C-4--one of my fave restaurants in Rock Center.

We took a taxi back to Kiersten's, picked up Becca and went back into the city. By the end of the trip, I was soooo tired. I fell asleep on the way home listening to Becca chatter about all of the news her friends had to share.

xx

~LT

"Meeting" Khloe

I can't believe it's August already! Summer is flying by. I've been superbusy with summer work for Canterwood, riding, shopping for dorm supplies and meeting my new roommate, Khloe Kinsella, via e-mail.

Khloe seems cool, but very busy. We've only emailed a couple of times and her e-mails are brief, but nice. The Canterwood guidance counselor, Ms. Utz, gave us each other's e-mail addresses so we could coordinate who was going to bring what for our dorm. I CANNOT wait to decorate! It's going to be so fun. Hopefully, our tastes won't clash. But I'm open to anything--I just really want Khloe to like me.

I'm doing most of my shopping at Target and Pottery Barn Teen. They've got some of the cutest dorm room stuff! I'm also shopping a ton at State Line Tack for Whisper. I ordered a tack trunk, winter blanket, saddle pads, leg wraps and a few (okay, LOTS) of other things she'll need. Shopping for her is more fun than shopping for me! I spent hours trying to decide on what color saddle pads to get for practices before finally getting purple, light blue, pink and hunter green--on of the school's colors.

I wanted to get Canterwood gear, too, so I bought this hoodie!


Phone's ringing! Bye for now!

~LT

Homework in the *summer*?

Canterwood Crest is serious about academics. I haven't been able to blog because I've been swamped with homework! I'm used to summer reading assignments from Yates, but Canterwood teachers give pre-class homework in almost every subject. The second I signed up for classes, I got e-mails with assignments to complete (with due dates!) all summer.

And I thought Yates' summer reading had been time consuming . . .

Anyone else have school work over break?

New Lauren vs. Old Lauren

Woke up way too early this morning. My brain wouldn't let me sleep. Ever since I got my acceptance letter to Canterwood, if the thought of school enters my brain even for a second, I get so excited slash nervous that I can barely stand it. I had to get up and go for a run.

When I got back, I changed into my swim suit and floated around in the pool for a while just thinking. What if I made a mistake by applying to Canterwood now? Maybe I needed another year at Briar Creek. It hadn't been long since my . . . accident. Not long since Kim had started working with me. I wasn't sure if I was ready for the pressure of the show circuit again or if I could even handle it. I wasn't that Lauren Towers anymore.

And that's what terrifies me about Canterwood. What if, by some ridiculous chance, someone there recognizes my name? What if they know about my past? Canterwood's supposed to be my fresh start and the last thing I want is for people to know me as the Old Lauren before they get to know me. It feels good to say, well, type this so it's not just rattling around in my brain.

I wasn't even going to start a blog, but Dad thought it was a good idea. He said I could lock it if I was afraid to be honest and write what I was thinking and feeling. I thought about it and finally decided that there was no way anyone at Canterwood would ever find my little blog. No one there is going to read it and find out that Lauren from Union is coming to Canterwood.

Hmmm . . . I wonder if I should even mention that I'm from Union. That's where Sasha's from. Not as if she needs her last name mentioned, but Sasha Silver is a former Briar Creek rider. Kim trained Sasha until she was accepted to Canterwood. Sasha is Canterwood royalty and Briar Creek legend. She and her horse, Charm, are on the Youth Equestrian National Team, and competing for Canterwood Crest. I've got a lot of work to do to follow in her footsteps.

~LT

No riding today

Dad started to take me to the stable this afternoon for my lesson, but it was cancelled. :( We're having severe thunderstorms and Kim decided it was too dangerous for us to be at the stable.

Le sigh.

I really wanted to work with Whisper today. I've had her only a few weeks and we're still getting to know each other. She's the SWEETEST horse ever! Not that I'm prejudiced or anything, LOL. But she really does listen to me and tries hard at lessons.

Mom's at work--she's got a big case going to trial soon--and Dad's in his office writing. Charlotte's off with some of her friends and Becca's on Skype with one of her friends from Brooklyn. Becca still has friends from when we used to live there and Mom promised to drive her back to visit sometime this summer.

So, even though I don't get to ride today, I am going to do my other favorite thing--make tea and curl up in my window seat to watch the storm. I'll look at the Canterwood course catalog, too. The thing is heavy enough to be a doorstop! There are so many classes that I could take. I don't even know how I'll choose.

French for sure. And I'll audition for glee club. Plus, riding. But no clue aside from those.

Off to make tea--I'm in the mood for green tea with lemon--caffeine with a refreshing zing. Tres parfait!

Au Revoir!

xx

Yay, first post!

I'm kind of nervous to start my first blog, but I thought it would be something cathartic to do over summer break.

I was just chosen to be accepted into Canterwood Crest Academy. THE Canterwood Crest! I'm starting 7th grade there in the fall. I'm really, really nervous, but there won't be much time this summer to think about it.

I want to spend every minute with my BFFs, Brielle and Ana, and my sis, Becca.

Plus, there's the whole "we have to figure out how to be friends" thing with Tay. Tres complicated.

I'll post when I can and thanks to anyone who's reading my blog!

~LT