Update

This week, as usual, has been a tangle of activities, schoolwork, and all else that goes on in the typical American high school girl's crazy life. Added into the mix was all the preparation for the PSAT I'm taking tomorrow morning and the big party of 35 (or more?) people my family will be hosting later in the day. And then there was the drama surrounding my friend's decision to (temporarily) dye her hair red.

Yet, amid the all-in-a-day chaos that, in a word, describes my life, I know I need to update the blogworld on- well, all the chaos!

Yesterday morning, as I checked my e-mail before dashing off to school, I noticed that I got a reply from Seventeen magazine regarding the story I want to share. They said I needed to submit a query along with the promise that I read six back issues of "My Life" articles, to assure them that my story fits that category. I plan to go to the library on Sunday, photocopy six "My Life" articles, and send them right away along with my typed query. I'll let you know how that goes.

Also, there is a "Reflections" contest at my school for the arts. Students, from grades 4 through 12, can submit their entries to the given prompt in the form of photography, painting, drawing, musical composition, and creative writing. The contest is currently on a town level; winners go on to the regional level; state level; and national level. I plan to submit an entry in the creative writing section. This year's prompt is "My Favorite Place." Naturally I'm choosing Africa- but had we not been adopting from there, I'm sure I still would have marked it off as the place I long to be and love to be in. Just like certain objects, people, food, music, even smells can remind one of home or a very familiar place, things like the mosquito net canopy hanging over the bed of the little girl I babysit for makes me long to go back to the wild and natural beauty of Africa. How a Scandinavian-born American teenager can feel this strong tie to a place she has no formal connection to, I don't know; though I do realize that Africa can have that heart-grabbing effect on anyone, regardless of background. That a small child from that country will soon be my younger sibling only adds fuel to the fire. This, too, I plan to work on on Sunday; and likewise, I will post an update.

That's a peek into the life of the Big Sis for this week. Have a nice weekend!