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