Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. I had a great christmas with my family today. I hope everyone had a great day with your fMILY too. I love my family and all the things I got from them. My brother got me Chanel number 5 and a book all about Chanel called The Gospel According to COCO Chanel. It looks like a great book. I can not wait to start reading it. From my fantastic sister I got theese really cool paintings of dresses made by someone she works with in Alaska. They are so cool. She also gave me her old mac labtop that she got fixed for me. I am using it right now. From my mom she gave me matching Juicy pants that match my jacket that I got in Chicago. She also gave me a Marc by Marc Jacobs bag the is huge and so cool. I love is it so much. My family is amzing. I have had a great day and hope you did too. Thanks for reading my blog.

The Iowa Honor flight Trip

The Central Iowa Honor Flight of November 4, 2009 was the experience of a lifetime. I am so glad that I got an opportunity to go on this trip because it has changed my life for ever. Most of these veterans would not have had the opportunity to visit the World War II Memorial dedicated in their honor. The greatest part ever is that it not only had an impact on me, but one on the veterans as well.

On Tuesday November 3rd, my American History class went to the Holiday Inn where the WWII veterans were registering for The Honor Flight. While we were there, my class interviewed the vets about their war experiences. While my class was doing interviews, I was checking the vets in and telling them about the things in there goody bag such as a gold shirt, gold jacket, fanny pack, and a disposable camera as well as the dinner that night and about the trip on Wednesday. At registration I meet some of the WWII vets that would be on my bus for Wednesday and it was nice to meet them ahead of time.

I also had the opportunity to interview the vets with my class. The first man I interviewed was an African American man and his story which was different than all the other stories I heard. He was a truck driver and also paved roads during the war. It sounded like he did mainly manual work, which I thought was banned after the Civil War, but I guess not. I then interviewed a man who got shot in the neck and did not know it was a big deal until he had surgery a couple of years ago. When the doctor went in to repair his neck they found left over shrapnel from the bullet! It was so interesting to hear about when he got shot because he acted like it was no big deal to be shot; he just put a band aid on the wound. It is hard to comprehend how someone could forget that they got shot in the neck during the war. I also talked to a man that was a cook for the Coast Guard. When I first heard that I wondered how could he be a veteran if he was only a cook, but then I got thinking well the men have to eat and I now have a new understanding of the veterans and the different ways they served our country.

When we had dinner with the vets that night, there were people lined up out side of the dinner cheering the vets on while they walked off the buses. When the vets got off of the buses they could not stop smiling. Most of them said this was the best welcome home they could ever ask for. One of the vets was talking to his buddy next to him and was looking at me so I was thinking maybe he saw me at registration earlier today so I went over to say thank you and he said we were just talking about your red hair. He then said “If anyone ever insults you about your red hair just tell them they may catch on fire.” The man I sat next to was a very humble man and did not say much about what he did in the war. The dinner was amazing and was a great way to start a fantastic trip.

The next morning we got up at four o’clock to get to the airport. When I got there I meet my teacher and my best friend. Mrs. Engstrand, Haley and I got to Washington DC an hour before the vets did and decided to walk around the WWII Memorial, Korean Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial to take pictures since we knew that when the vets arrived we would not have time to take a lot of pictures . I never thought that these memorials could be so breath taking.

When the eleven buses with 350 vets arrived to see the WWII Memorial, Governor Culver was there to great them. I took pictures of vets in front of the Pacific and Atlantic signs along with the wall of stars that represents how many people that died, and the water fountains. It was cool because the vets all had there own disposal cameras that they got in there goody bags at registration. The first veteran that I took his picture of was named Ronald, a navigator in the Atlantic Ocean. I kept running into Ronald the whole time I was at the memorial and would keep asking him if he wanted his picture taken only to have him tell me that I already took his picture. I also ran into the vets that I sat by for dinner and asked them if they wanted there picture taken. At first they did not, but I told them that their wives would want a picture, so I took there picture in front of the Wall of stars.

After about an hour all the vets got back on to the buses to have lunch and head to the next memorials and as I was getting back onto the bus one of the veterans named James told me that he had saved a spot for me, which I thought was very sweet . I sat down next to him and we got talking. I asked him about the war and what he did in the war. He told me that he was drafted into the war and did not want to go and leave his family, and that he was also very scared. James fought at Battle of the Bulge on Christmas Eve in 1944, he told me how it was very cold and that he slept in snow banks or a barn if he could find one. It was very interesting talking to him and listening to him talk about the war and his feelings about the war. I am so glad that James saved me a spot because I learned so much from him.

Following lunch, the veterans unloaded from the buses to see the Iwo Jima Memorial. I took more pictures of the veterans at this memorial and I was very surprised to see the size of it, it was huge! The veterans taught me a lot about this memorial and how there is an extra hand that is holding up the flag. One of the men told me that the extra hand was God’s hand, and when we were heading back to the buses I ran into Haley who was talking to a survivor from D-Day. He was on Omaha Beach and only 2% of the people that fought at Omaha Beach survived. He thought that more people should hear his story and when he was talking to us I got butterflies in my stomach. I feel so honored that I had a chance to meet him and hear his war story.

On the bus ride to the Korean and Vietnam Memorial I talked to another veteran named Glen. Glen was very humble and not very willing to talk about his experiences in the war. I asked him what his war story was and he asked if he could tell his brother’s story but I wanted to hear his story. After telling me about his brother, he finally told me his story and the first thing he said was that he did not do much in the war and that his brother did much more. In the war Glen was on a ship that was protecting the ships that were taking the soldiers into combat. Glen got emotional when talking about his brother because he had died six weeks before the honor flight left. Glen’s brother was in combat and when one of his friends got shot in the leg and had to get his legs chopped off which caused him to bleed to death his brother had to go back to the states to tell the parents how he died. I did ask Glen if his brother had to go and tell the family and Glen said yes it was his duty. I could never go back home and tell the parents of my friend that their son had died. It must have been hard for Glen’s brother to be in combat and to tell a family that their son died. I think that every soldier that went to war was important. I felt bad Glen did not feel his job was important.

This experience was unbelievable because I had fun hearing the stories, talking to the veterans and seeing the memorials. The veterans taught me more than I could ever learn in a textbook. A book does not describe the emotions, commitment to our country or the sacrifices they made for our freedom. A comment frequently made by the men was that they had fought for our freedom and we need to try hard to keep the freedom. This reminds me one of the monument walls at one of the memorials. “Freedom is not Free.”

I never thought that I would get to experience such a great and fantastic day. Now I realize what an impact these veterans have made on my life and how humble their generation is regarding their service to our country. I only hope that I too can learn to be more humble in my life and how important it is to serve other people.

Fun Fashion Fact #3

Turquoise Is the Color of 2010

fun Fashion Fact #2

46 Percent of Those Who Buy a Counterfeit Handbag End Up Purchasing the Real Thing

Read more: 46 Percent of Those Who Buy a Counterfeit Handbag End Up Purchasing the Real Thing -- The Cut http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/12/46_percent_of_those_who_buy_a.html?mid=fashion-alert--20091208#ixzz0Z9nXx9uO

I have been so busy

I am so sorry I have not updated my blog in a long time but I have been so busy with swimming. I had a lot of fun at Homecoming.

I a sorry I will update my blog this weekend

Homecoming Dress

Last weekend I got my Homecoming dress. I got it at White House Black Market. This picture is not very good but it will do for now. I had to have them order it for me because they did not have my size but when I get it I will be sure to take a picture of me in ti and I will post it. I think that the dress is very cute and I can wear it to a lot of different things not just Homecoming. This dress is very classic. I hope you like it because I know I do. Thanks