FIFA

My last Forensics tournament has come and gone;
bringing a great end to quite a rewarding experience.
I tried out for Forensics early in the Fall semester,
(at the request of my Speech teacher)
hoping to make new friends and earn a full ride scholarship.
 After taking one of the 10 spots on the team I realized
Forensics was not as easy as it seemed!
I learned a lot, gained tons of confidence, met really awesome people,
memorized over an hour worth of speeches,
got recognized/recruited by some of the best Universities in the East,
and kicked butt at tournaments winning medals and trophies!!

FIFA was the Florida State Tournament
(in Pensacola, again)
and it was not easy!!
But I managed to place overall 2nd place in Duo Interpretation
and overall 3rd place in Dramatic Interpretation
and overall 4th place in Readers Theater.

Everyone who wore purple!

The Girls.

The Florida State Forensics Team

Readers Theater

The team with our coaches, Chad & Mindy

I was pleased with my results,
but most of all...
pleased to have tried something new & challenging,
and sticking it out all the way through.

Valentine's Day & Reader's Theater

Valentine's Day came and went-

I got beautiful flowers, chocolates and new Marc Jacobs laptop case!

Edward took me out to BB's in San Marco, 

it was delicious and really fun!

In the Forensics world, 

Coach Chad put together a new event with a selected few from the team.

It's called Reader's Theater!

It is hilarious, and we will be competing in this even at the state competition this weekend.

To practice, we had two performances last weekend in front of the school.

Aunt Patty and Uncle Joshua came to watch... 

The audience seemed to enjoy it and it was a lot of fun.

Because I give speeches for FUN

The month of February is completely PACKED with Forensics tournaments.

I went to Pensacola the first weekend,

then Gainesville last weekend.. 

This weekend the Team is going to Tallahassee..

But I am going to Utah!

I did really well at both tournaments..

Here are some Pictures:

oops!

 Things keep happening and I keep putting off updating my blog!!
So I'll quickly go over what I've been up to:

First, Mack took me to a Gator Game! We had a really fun time in Gainesville. He gave me a tour of the campus, we ate pizza and enjoyed the game. Then we had BBQ for dinner and watched the Food Network when we got back home.

 Then it was Mom's Birthday!! I went to dinner at Eleventh South with her and Mack. The food was amazing and I am blessed to have such an awesome family.

 Then I had yet another Forensics Tournament, here in Jacksonville! I broke to finals in both events I competed in and could not have been happier with the results! I love my team, and the opportunity I have to compete in Forensics. It is challenging and very rewarding (not just because its a full ride scholarship. Bragging? Maybe.).

The Highlight of my month?? PREMIERE OF BREAKING DAWN!!!

I got to see the movie with Eddie, Sarah, Jeff and Aunt Patricia. We went to the midnight show and it was so worth it! I cant believe I have to wait another year to watch part two.. 

In the meantime, I will look forward to The Hunger Games!!

Forensicators

This weekend was (for lack of a better adjective) crazy.

Team lunch at some burger joint in Tallahassee.

I drove with my team to my very first forensics tournament in Alabama.

The 8 hours in the van went by fast, 

and the campus was beautiful!! The weather was perfect and Alabama is a really awesome school. The sorority and fraternity houses are huge!

I arrived confident; with 3 prepared events (Prose, Impromptu Speaking and Duo)

Little did I know... 

This National Competition known as the Alabama Crimson Classic;

has adopted the nickname "The Alabama Blood Bath."

Which, by the way, was exactly that.

Competitors were fierce, it was really intimidating!

With the FSU team 

I managed to have tons of fun, and make a lot of new friends!!

I have really smart and talented teammates who made for great company this weekend.

The Team (half of us anyways..)

But I did not travel all that way to lose!!

In my very first competition, I "broke" into semi-finals in my Prose.
And took 3rd place in Impromptu Speaking semi-finals!!

Thats me, 2nd Place!!

 It was an incredible experience and I was relieved I didn't come home empty handed.

My next competition is only 3 weeks away!

 It feels good to be home, the weekend was exhausting. 

Eddie took me out to the Cheesecake Factory tonight, 

and now were in the library studying and catching up on homework!