July and... Summer?

I've decided that I'm going to make July "get better at photography" month. It's also going to be "finish sophomore year" month and "run your heart out" month, but I'm pretty sure taking pictures will be the most fun out of the three.

I have seen some pretty neat "picture-a-day" lists, but I thought it would be fun to make my own for the month of July. Note, I'm totally making this list up as I type. 

July

One: Plant life

Two: Something blue

Three: Colorful things

Four: Fireworks

Five: Sunshine

Six: Music

Seven: Flowers

Eight: Baked goods

Nine: Art

Ten: Abstract 

Eleven: Soccer

Twelve: Beauty

Thirteen: Unnoticed

Fourteen: Ocean

Fifteen: City life

Sixteen: In progress

Seventeen: Friends

Eighteen: Shoes

Nineteen: Black and white

Twenty: Water

Twenty One: Orange

Twenty Two: Frisbee

Twenty Three: Hair

Twenty Four: Words

Twenty Five: Animals 

Twenty Six: Lunch

Twenty Seven: Old

Twenty Eight: Bible

Twenty Nine: Handmade

Thirty: Summer

Thirty One: Myself

As you can tell the topics of the photos are pretty open to interpretation, which I'm sure I will appreciate later! The rules are I can do the list in any order; but can only do each thing once, and at least once.  I'll make it a goal to post a weeks worth of pictures every... week. 

On a different note; it just slammed me in the face today that summer is zooming right past me. Summer is my all time favorite season, and last summer pretty much rocked. Well, I think it rocked... I actually don't have many memories from last year; but when I think of summer '11, good thoughts come... So yeah.

As much as I would like to spend the whole summer chillin' at the beach or camping with my friends, there is still normal school year type stuff to do. 

#1 being actually doing school (btw I finished Chemistry today... :D). 

#2 being making some cash; there are so many things I could be doing... If I could just find some summer work. I'm also aware that if I had a job I wouldn't have so much time... It's a win/lose situation. 

I guess the only thing to do is enjoy every single moment, beach or no beach. 

^that was deep.

GO!

May 20th-26th  I attended TeenPact National Convention in Dayton, TN. It was a week full of long car rides, praising God, fellowship with friends, and growing in Christ. By now that was a while ago, I wrote most of this post a few weeks ago and then I just got distracted.

I have had quite a few people ask me how it was, and every time I have answered with "awesome". Because to really tell somebody how the convention was it would take a whole lot longer then the couple minutes they have to listen to me.  

With the help of my mom and Mrs. Field I organized a group of Mainers to take a road trip to NC, in the end there were 11 of us packed into a 12 passenger van. There was peoples purses, sleeping bags, duffle bags, pillows, and food piled on top of us, leg room was a foreign concept, and personal space unheard of. 

After 3 days of driving (8 hours a day) we arrived in Dayton at Fort Bluff Campground. I'm pretty sure we were all relieved to not have to drive one more minute :P.

The 6-7 days we spent in TN were packed to the max. Starting with Breakfast at 8 and ending with lights out at 11, it was exhausting and strangely relaxing at the same time. 

Every morning and evening there was worship led by various people. This was definitely one of my favourite parts of each day, singing with 400 other TeenPacters is not something you easily forget. 

After every meal was a session; the speakers included a lot of former TeenPacters that have gone on to do amazing things. My favorite speaker was a man named Matt Chambers, he spoke on the day when the theme was "Go Somewhere". It was very fitting since he is a missionary. One of the things he said really stuck out to me, and I'm sure to everybody that was there. He was speaking on Ephesians 2:8-10, specifically the line that says "For we are His workmanship...".
"But in the end, your whole life is a magnificent, beautiful, piece of poetry. 
Written by the same hand that formed every star, every planet, that traced every river, 
that formed every mountain. And it's read throughout the universe 
by the voice that created everything."

Throughout the week there were elections being held for 1 presidential ticket, 4 senators, and 9 representatives. I ran for rep with the perseverance party, but didn't make it very far. I had fun though, and am glad I did it! 

A Mainer ran for vice president with his running mate Danny Sullivan, and they pulled off a victory! It was pretty much fantastic. 

Of course a major part of NC is laughter. Below is a picture of the Harry and Larry Show; pretty much the most hilarious part of each day. The picture below that is No Directions singing there #1, Elect Me Maybe. Enough said :D.

All 500ish of us organized in what fields we want to pursue. 

There is so much more I could say about the experience; so if you care, ask me about it sometime!

Most photos credit http://www.teenpactnc2012.marvelousthingsphotography.com/