I know you guys barely ever hear from me anymore. It sucks, and I wish I could be on here like I used to.

I owe people things and I want to get some personal stuff done. School's starting up on the 27th, and I have all art classes, so I don't know how busy I'll be.

CDandDVD, your commission has been done, but I'm drawing you a free picture for it taking so long. I'm planning on having that out sometime this week. I really do apologize for it taking this long

Natsume, I didn't forget about your commission. I do plan on doing it, and in fact, I need to go to the Dick Blicks to get my art supplies for school, and I'll pick up some clay materials as well. I'm not sure when that will be done, because it's a big project (for me XD) but I will let you know the progress, like I said!

I've had a lot of vacations this year. My boyfriend took me on two of his vacations, and I took him on two of mine. So, that's four big trips that took up my summer

The first one was at the end of his school year-in May, I think, if I remember correctly. His band took a trip to Washington D.C., and his parents wanted to go too, so they took me along to meet him there. It was really cool sightseeing everything! I never thought I would get the chance to go there! After the band left D.C., we took Zach and all of us left for New York. We stayed in New Jersey and took the ferry across the Hudson River to go take tours around the NYC and Manhattan and stuff. That was interesting. It was something else to walk down those streets with all the skyscrapers looming above us. I couldn't live there if I was paid to! It's way too busy and rude for me. After we left New York, there was a surprise stop at Hershey, Pennsylvania! We went in the factory and took that tour, then got custom made candy and hit the gift shop. Then I was home until the next vacation.

The next one was also with Zach and his family. This was around the 4th of July weekend. Every year, they take a trip down to Georgia and Tennessee to see some family. We saw his mom's aunt in Sparta, Tennessee, the first day we went down there. Then from Tennessee, we went to Peachtree City, Georgia to see his dad's niece and sister. I love going down there His niece's family is awesome. They have golf cart paths all over that city, and we go out on their golf cart and hit the stores and stuff. We saw the fireworks on the 4th, too. Zach's dad's sister is in an Alzheimer's home. It's kinda sad to see her because she doesn't know where she's at and stuff. She's his last relative, so he really likes to go down there to visit. That's about all for that vacation.

The third one was with my family, up to the AuSable River in Glennie, MI. What we do on the AuSable is we lounge on tubes down the river for hours. As boring as it sounds, it's actually pretty fun! But, it rained the whole time! It wasn't that great this year, but we still had some fun. My family hasn't been on a trip like that for years. That was just a 5-day trip in the middle of July.

Just got back from the big vacation yesterday. I was gone for two weeks camping up north. It was on Long Lake, if anyone knows where that is, in Alpena, MI. The first Saturday was a fishing tournament we entered. My boat brought in two 1st place winners! I got a 30" pike that won me $50, and my brother got a 24" walleye that he won $50 for. I don't think it was all chance that day, though. I was using my grandpa's fishing pole, and I hadn't been catching anything that entire week. Well, I'm a believer in the afterlife and that the loved ones that have passed on do have certain influences in this world, sometimes. I think he came through for me on Saturday. He loved that tournament and fished it every year that he could when he was alive. I think he had something to do with those winning fish. I mean, the odds of getting one big winner are slim enough, but two? And only me and my brother too; my boyfriend was fishing with us on the same boat and didn't catch anything. He was using a similar lure to my brother's as well. I don't know. It was really fun though

The rest of vacation was just...rain! Our campsites and tents got flooded at the end of the vacation because of a heavy storm. And a lot of days it was tough to play games and stuff because of the water on the ground. But we still managed to have fun. At night, we'd have board game tournaments and Hobo pizzas over the fire. We even went to Go-Karts/Putt-Putt Golf once. My only regret from this vacation was that we never really did enough. I always feel that way. There were times when everyone was sitting around and not doing anything. Some days were wasted and stuff. I hate leaving. Camping is really one of the best times of the year for me. I can't wait until next year. We're probably going to Black Lake, which is in Cheboygan, MI. We've been there before and it's been awesome, so hopefully nothing has happened to the campground that we usually stay at.

That's about all that's going on right now. Gonna try to live it up before school. Might hit a few local concerts and stay up real late; stuff like that. I want to get some drawings done, and if I have time, I want to open up a couple trades. I feel bad that I don't draw like I used to, so I have to get into the swing again. I'll let you guys know in the next journal, which is hopefully coming in a couple days.

Hope you guys are doing great!