The Art of Thank You Notes

As a child raised in the South, my mother instilled in me the principles of writing thank you notes in a timely matter. As a child, they were the bane of christmases and birthdays. Now, I do enjoy writing them and supporting the U.S. Postal Service. There really is nothing quite like receiving a handwritten note. Despite years (17 to be exact) of practice in the art of writing thank you notes, at times I find myself at a lost on how to approach writing a thank you for certain gifts. It is easy to thank someone for a watch or earrings, or even a gift card, but I often find it hard to write a thank you for cash or check.

I sometimes believe that it is tacky to just bluntly thank some for sending you cash. This might be a personal dilemma, but some others might feel the same way. I find it is easier to thank someone for money when I format it in something similar to this:
     Dear Aunt Jane,
        Thank you so much for the check/gift! I am using it in addition to other gifts to buy an Anne Klein watch (or other gift.) I have been saving for a while and this is exactly what I needed to get it. Thanks again for the gift.
     Love,
         Alexis

I find that as long as you mention what you are doing with the money, it lessons the tackiness of writing about money.

Welcome Back

Today we are officially four weeks into my summer vacation. I hope I can now start to blog and YouTube more often. I know I really have let this blog slide, but one of my summer goals is to really get into it. Hopefully, I will have time to accomplish this. Yet, I still have an unbelievably busy summer:

Take SAT Subject Tests

Palmetto Girls State

Internship with law firm

Lifeguard work

SC Business Week

Tennis

Plan next year's tennis team activities

Plan Homecoming week

Cook more

Work out more

 Scholarship apps

Begin common app

In addition I need to:

Finish (and start) my AP Chem summer assignment

Study SAT

Study ACT

Read: (for IB English HL)

  -One Hundred Years of Solitude 

  -The Joy Luck Club

  -The Invisible Man

  -The Sound and the Fury

  -The Turn of the Screw

  -Othello 

  -Daisy Miller

Hopefully I can post again tomorrow. Looking forward to this summer. Almost a senior! 

Manners Matter

After having sat through a very long family dinner, and having an etiquette class last Saturday, I am slowly realizing that manners do matter. 

I am probably the last person that should be preaching the merit of manners. I am a horrible messy person, and on most occasions you will find me as the least-lady-like person in the room. Yet, when the occasion calls for it, I can be extremely lady like. I will not talk about politics, mention how much something costs, nor will I put my elbows on the table.  I will also put my knife on the plate, with the sharp side pointing towards me. 

And this leads me to my next point; a simple list of my biggest manner pet peeves:

       1. When people talk about how much money something cost.

                This is my number one for a reason. I cannot stress how absolute tacky it is to brag about how much you spend on something. The only reason it is ever done is to show off how much you have, when it does the opposite. It reveals what a shallow person you are that you let materialistic items define your worth to other people. 

         Example: "Don't you love this couch? I spent $1600 on it. A little pricy, but so worth it."

                         "Tell you're father that I have a tool he can borrow! It's a $200 dollar tool."

      2. Chewing with your mouth open. 

                I'm sorry, but if I wanted to see how food looked mashed up, I'd give it to my one year old cousin. I have no interest in how the turkey looks in your mouth, or waving around on your fork while you loudly yell about something. 

        Example: "And then *chewchewchew* he did that! *points with piece of food on fork*

      3. When people talk about politics or other controversial subjects and don't let the other person have an opinion. 

           I think this one is really self-explanatory. It's quite annoying when some tries to shove their views down your throat and refuse to listen to any other opinions. It's rude and boastful. 

Moments.

As a member of society of the female teen demographic, I am excepted to play into the hands of romantic movies and end up crying about the lack of good men and how "I'll never find anyone like him!" Only, my "him" is Rhett Butler. There is no reason to deny that we have ALL had this moment, regardless of how many "I don't need a man to complete me!" moments we have had. I happened to have one of those moments on Saturday.

I was sitting in a Papa's and Beer booth, waiting for my food to arrive, surrounded by three of my friends. Hali, Laudan, and Tiffany. Hali and Laudan were sitting discussing their boyfriends and the dates they had been on recently and all that jazz. Tiffany was sitting there, nodding along in agreement with their shared stories. I simply stirred my straw in my 27 ounce margarita, desperately trying to avoid the question that was bound to come next. "So, Alexis....what about you?"

The dreaded question. Since I am now 16 and a junior, it is becoming expected that I shall have some type of romantic interest in my life. Yet, this is not the case.
 "Well, I've never had a real* boyfriend, and I've never been on a date." I quietly sipped on my water.
"Oh, yeah..." They picked up back on their conversation.

Moments like this make me think back on my life and question how I am seemingly the only girl in the entire planet without a boyfriend. Then, I realize, I have set myself up for this. I have way to many friends of the male persuasion and I would rather wear sweats than a dress and heels at almost any given moment. Does this make me an unappealing tomboy?

Of course not! I like to wear mascara. I like to watch The Notebook and gush about how hot male actors are. I like to pretend that I am Scarlett O'Hara and that Rhett is coming to save me from a swarm of Yankees at any minute. I even used to do a bit of modeling.

Do I mean to brag about all this? No. My entire point is this-there will be moments when you feel like you desperatly need a man to make you feel whole. It's a lie. Look around at your friends in relationships, and I can garenttee you at least one is unhappy 50% of the time because of their siginificant other. Besides, if you're in a relationship, how are you going to unabshadly flirt with your cute Mexican waiter?


*real as in longer than two weeks- and middle school "boyfriends" don't really count.

Slacker

It's labor day weekend and I have accomplished NOTHING. And by nothing, I mean I have watched the first series of The Inbetweeners and am watching a documentary on Absinthe. I may have also watched part of a Jersey Shore marathon.

I'm still in my pajamas, and its past noon. In three hours, I'll be at my last day of work.


I still haven't done my homework.

I. Am. A. Slacker.