21 Reasons Why I Love My Best friend.

 In honor of my best friend and nearly normal counter part here is just some of the many reasons why I love my best friend Hannah Christine Renken.

21. Her favorite movie is Harriet the Spy ( mine is Matilda BOTH childhood classics.)

20. She has a contagious laugh.

19. She wears Tie-Dye.

18. We love to do " Do It Yourself Projects."

17. Her favorite animal is a giraffe.

16.  We like to make friendship bracelets for each other.

15. She loves salt as much as me.

14. We share the fever of the Bieber.

13. We can both rap Super Bass.

12. We love word games. (words with friends & scrabble.)

11. She knits me things.

10.We both agree that coffee is necessary for survival. (a cup a day keeps the doctor away.)

9. She can sing every word of Taking Chances.

8.She Plays the ukulele.

7.  She likes a good road trip.

6.She knows who Kathleen Kelly is.

5. We both love anything vintage.

4. We are both on a nickname basis with Ross a Tron, Gal Pal Rachel Green, Baby Kangaroo Tribibani , Harmonica, Ms. Chanadler Bong, & Regina Phalange

3. That we have known each other half our lives.

2. We are 2/3  of best trio on the planet -HANKIMSUS LOVE YOU SUE.

1. She is my person --> She accepts me for who I am and loves me anyways. and I wuv her too.

HAPPY ALMOST BIRTHDAY HANSTA!
oxox
-Kimmy

Happy Birthday Hermione !

 

www..googleimages/hermione

Just a little birthday shout-out to one of the smartest and bravest characters I have ever encountered.

It seems like just yesterday when I met you for the first time on the Hogwarts Express.I still remember the first words you said to me.

"Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good is it? I've tried a few simple spells myself and they've all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, it's the best school of witchcraft there is I've heard - I've learned all the course books by heart of course. I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"  ( ThePhilosopher's Stone,J.K. Rowling)

Thank you Miss Granger for being a loyal friend to me all these years. Thank you for always encouraging me to face my fears and to be proud of my intelligence. I am so lucky to have grown up with you.

Love,
Kimmy

Local Birthday Freebies!

As I mentioned, I am turning 21 this month. Last year, I was not very excited for my birthday. Turning 20 is no landmark. I didn't plan anything great, so I needed a little something to get me pumped up. So, I set up a birthday email that I would use to subscribe to all sorts of rewards programs that offer birthday freebies. I ended up with some pretty awesome stuff, and all for free!! This year I'm doing it right. I have saved my favorites from last year and I will be adding a few new ones too. I created this fantastic map and signed my friend Susie on to help me retrieve and consume delicious freebies. Go ahead and take a gander at the link that to my Google map below. Feel free to mimic it on your birthday, but don't forget your ID!

Ann Arbor Birthday Map

Birthday wishes to you all!

--Hannah

PS- I found most of my freebie info at this blog entry through Google!

My Last Week Being Twenty

One week from today I will be turning 21! I feel like it has been a long time coming, as most of my friends have already broken the threshold to the grown-up age. I am excited for it, don't get me wrong, but I do feel I'll have a certain responsibility to step up and become an adult. Regardless to the fact that I will never actually grow up (just like I will never actually be a "normal girl"), I feel like I should spend the last week of my twentieth year of life enjoying my youth. Below are a selection of things I pledge to partake in my last moments as a "little girl":

• I will wear my hair in pigtails
• I will thoroughly enjoy all  sorts of sweets - particularly, lollipops and cupcakes
• I will spend quality time skipping to and fro with my Nearly Normal counterpart, Kimmy
• I will spend time trying on my mother's make-up (I would say her high heels too, but her feet are tiny compared to the water skis I walk around on)
• I will have a tea party with my favorite stuffed animals (but the tea will really be sugar water, the crumpets will be graham crackers and I won't really share with the animals)
• I will jump rope and sing silly rhyming songs
• I will create secret handshakes
• I will swing so high that I feel like I'm flying

11 year olds perspective on 9/11

"Today something horrible happened in New York, and Washington DC. Some tourist high jacked America's planes and ran them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The World Trade Center collasped and turned to dust. A lot of peopled died. A plane also crashed in Pittsburgh. It was suppose to hit the White House but the people fought the hijackers to try and stop them. and they did. I don't know why this happening but I am scared :( God Bless America."

This quote is my from childhood diary. I was 11 years old on September 11th 2001. I was sitting in my 6th grade geography class working on a project when one of my teachers knocked on the door. My geography teacher opened the door and was greeted by a language arts teacher who always had a grin on his face, however on this particular Tuesday morning he wasn't smiling. He had a grim look on his face. My teachers smile shifted to a frown, she nodded her head at our language arts teacher and walked over to the TV. She turned the TV on and said "Students, something historical is happening in our nation." All of my classmates and myself turned our bodies towards the TV. "The World Trade Center has been hit a plane."said the news reporter. everyone in my classroom began to whisper. One student asked "what does this me--?" but before he could finish his sentence everyone went silent. "OH MY GOD ANOTHER PLANE JUST HIT THE SOUTH TOWER." the news reporter yelled. "This was not an accident, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK." under attack I thought to myself? What does that mean? Who is attacking us? Why are they attacking us? are they going to attack Ann Arbor? All these thoughts were racing my through my head. I couldn't make sense of anything. All my life I had felt safe. I lived in a safe town, and in a SAFE nation. We are under attack? this news reporters voice kept replaying in my mind. I had never really felt unsafe before. and now I didn't know what was going on. The next moment I remember was watching the towers fall, and turn into dust. I felt like I was watching a sci fi movie. In a matter of seconds 1000s, of people died. As a child it was hard to fathom how many people that was and what happening. It didn't take me long to realize that all dust was human remains. I began to feel sick and scared. As a kid you don't realize that adults get scared, I had never seen so many adults scared. Parents were pouring in picking up their kids, teachers were leaving to find their love ones. I realized on this day, that things would never be the same and I wasn't even sure if I would ever feel safe again.

Looking back now, 10 years later. I realized just how proud of this country I am. Ordinary people became heroes and did something extraordinary on that day,more than 6,294lives were saved , by average people. I have never been more proud to be an american than I was on this day.

God Bless America.

oxox
Kimmy

Ps- I saw rainbow while writing this. a sign a peace and hope? I most certainly think so.

Labor Day Fall Festive Picnic!

Labor Day this year was rather chilly in Ann Arbor, so HanKimSus (Nearly Normal Girls + Susie) decided a fall festive picnic was in order. We grabbed thick blanket, our cozy fall clothes, and tasty picnic treats to enjoy in University of Michigan's Arboretum. 

Once we found a relatively flat area Kimmy and Susie lay the blanket out. We packed a two baskets. Our savory basket was filled with french baguettes, walnut & cherry cheese spread, veggies, and hummus. The tasty dessert basket (pictured above) satisfied the sweet tooth with glazed pumpkin donuts, apples with caramel dip, and a sparkling grape juice.

Everything was delicious! We were a bit disappointed that it was too early in the season to find cider at the grocery store, but the compromise ended up working out. We especially love sipping our sparkling Welsch's out of adorable mason jars. We brought the lids to protect from the bugs, and keep the rest of our goods from getting sticky after we packed up. Mason jars were also used as storage for our Fuji and Golden Delicious apple slices. Can you tell we can't get enough? Useful and pretty! Our favorite combination.

From left to right & top to bottom: Hannah, Susie, Kimmy and the beautiful boots

Our picnic was phenomenal! So many aspects brought smiles to our faces. The food, the conversation, and the crisp fall air. It was so much fun people watching the park-goers, including the man who stopped to do some push-ups uncomfortably close to us consuming donuts. That's awkward...

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your fall festivities :)

PS - If you want more pics check out our Facebook page for the PICNIC Day album. And like us while you're at it :)

Pumpkin Spice Latte!

On September 6 the pumpkin spice latte returned to Starbucks! Of course the Nearly Normal Girls took a lovely field trip to indulge in a couple of these delightful fall favorites. We encourage all to take a taste & feel free to customize! Hannah got half the syrup and soy milk :) As You've Got Mail points out, "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self." As  indecisive young women of today we are advocates for such a phenomenon!

A-Z Movies: (500) Days of Summer

Last week, I watched one of my absolute favorite films of all time, (500) Days of Summer. Little did I know I was embarking on a journey that would give me a front seat to the lives of complete strangers in all sorts of places. I love movies so much, so I have decided to share my collection from A to Z and let you know why each film has earned a position on my ikea book shelf.

Image from here

(500) Days of Summer, for those who are unaware, is "not a love story, but it is a story about love." This may sound confusing, but the movie illustrates this phenomenon so beautifully. The story is about Tom, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel. Their characters are so well developed that I truly believe they have been derived from real people, with whom I hope to befriend in some alternate universe. The movie time travels, in a sense, through the 500 days of Tom and Summer's interactions with each other. The way the story is told is innovative and pulls the audience into the movie so much that it feels almost as if it is not a story, but a recollection of past moments and relationships in the viewer's real life.

Most can relate to one of the two main characters more than the other. Summer is portrayed at the start as someone who lives, and loves for that matter, in the moment. The narrator says that Summer loved two things, "The first was her long brown hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not mean a thing." Summer believes that relationships always end in hardship for both parties.

Unlike Summer's belief about relationships, Tom has always believed that contentment is found in the perfect woman. He lives his life looking for "the one," and won't be happy until he is with her. When he meets Summer, he thinks this happiness will finally be achieved. I can't go on to spoil anything, though I desperately want to.

The movie sends me on an emotional ride every time I watch it. I simply become so involved in the lives of Summer and Tom, that empathy for the two of them pours out of my pores. The cinematography, the story, the acting and the writing are so phenomenally breathtaking. I could go on for days and give away every stitch of this story, but I wouldn't be doing it justice. This is not a movie that can be explained, or even watched. It has to be experienced. ADD IT TO THE NETFLIX QUEUE THIS VERY MINUTE. (I feel very strongly about it)

Thanks for reading.
More to come,

Hannah