BeTheSunshine☀️☀️

NEW CAR❤️

Happy Birthday

Today I will be talking to you about a beverage. Not just any beverage. My favorite beverage in the entire world. When you sip it, it just fills your mouth with joy till the very last drop. Coffee. That’s it, that's what I’m talking about. But not that overpriced $hit from Starbucks filled with so many unhealthy pumps of sweetener. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is where it's at. I order a medium caramel iced coffee with cream or if I’m feeling healthy that day I’ll order it with only cream. It is the best thing in the world and I’ll let you know how I figured this out.

One morning my mom and I decided to go shopping after 10:00 o’clock mass. I decided I was going to treat my mom to a coffee because like me, Dunkin’ is her favorite too. As we were waiting in the drive thru to over I was explaining to my mom how much I dislike the sugar at the bottom of my coffee. “It's just too much, it's a mouth full of sugar with a side of coffee in every sip,” I explained. (Sidenote… this was before I knew they had liquid sugar.) My dear mom told me I should just get an iced coffee with cream only, but I was feeling something sweet that day. So I thought to myself, “OMG, I’ll just get caramel instead of sugar.” We ordered our coffees and I nervously took my first sip. Instantly I was hooked. My mouth wasn’t filled with sugar or caramel, it was just the perfect amount of sweetness with my coffee. This happened about three years ago and I haven’t ordered my coffee any other way since. But let me warn you, it is addicting.

My Life as a Current Event

Well, we are continuing with E-Learning until May 22 and then that's all folks. The only hope I have now is to actually have something for us graduates in July or August. As of right now no prom or graduation...just a yard sign. We have gone to school for 12/13 years and all we get is a yard sign. This sucks to say the least. Before we received the email containing all this unwanted information I stayed positive and hopeful. “We will go back to school, even if it's a week or two, we will go,” I thought and said to myself a million times trying to make myself believe. It’s so hard to keep going when you have nothing to look forward to especially with E-Learning. I have no idea where my motivation went, but it's gone. I can’t afford to just stop doing my work because I won't let myself just stop and give up.

Now it's time to be positive! I am so happy that we even received a senior year. Imagine if the Coronavirus broke out in the beginning of the year, we probably wouldn’t have gotten a senior year or even a solid education. I believe the beginning of the year is the most important because that is when you meet your teachers, develop a schedule, and work ethic. I love school so I am just ecstatic that we even had some sort of a senior year.

My brain is fighting me… one part is looking at the bright side and the other part is looking at the bad side. Like come on, this is horrible. I want to finish up my senior year. I want a prom. I want a graduation. I want a proper goodbye. All I know is that this summer better be fun, because I am not sacrificing my senior year to have a boring summer let alone a boring life. Now I am trying to live everyday to the fullest, although it is hard to do when everything is pretty much closed. But this summer… this summer will be the greatest filled with friends, fun, memories, and no regrets. The Coronavirus taught me one thing and that is to never take a day for granted. You should live each day with a purpose because life truly isn’t just given to us, it's a privilege.

Be Strong and Stay Positive Throughout Life

Throughout my seventeen years of living I have gone through many ups and downs. These ups and downs have only made me stronger though; they have made me into the person I am today. It all started in grammar school, fifth grade to be exact. During that time I started going through puberty and started gaining weight faster than I ever had before. I never thought of my weight in a bad or negative way but I really started paying attention to it when my friend's mom said something about it. It was the summer going into sixth grade, we were all swimming at my friend’s house. Since lunch was going to be ready soon we were all drying off. When lunch was eventually we hung out wet towels on the railing and all when inside in our bikinis. All of my friends were twigs at the time so it was obvious I was heavier than them. My friend’s mom said, “Hey Bridget, go put your shirt over your suit… I don’t want you to get embarrassed because you know,” as she made a motion patting her stomach. My eyes filled with tears I wouldn’t let come out as I ran upstairs, changed, and decided to walk home. I called my mom on my walk home and told her what happened, she was furious. My head filled with so many negative things telling myself that “I’m too fat” “I’m ugly” and that “I’m not pretty.” After replaying the whole situation in my head over and over again I decided that this will not define who I am. I kept receiving similar comments from my so called friends and kids at school. Finally a year later I decided to make a change to better myself so I started running. Soon enough that became my daily thing to run three miles a day. It was my therapy. It cleared my head for twenty five minutes everyday. The weight began to slide off which showed my new matured figure. Now I am fully matured and feel not only beautiful but confident. Without my confidence I wouldn’t be myself, I wouldn’t be Bridget. I know I am strong mentally and physically, no one can tell me different. With all these comments came a strong mentality which has helped me throughout my life. The only opinion that matters to me is mine and mine only! So just stay strong, positive, and true to yourself - with this - you can get through anything that comes your way in life. Be you!

A Memory of my Grandma

In my years of living I was blessed to have my Grandma Kennedy. She was and always will be the sweetest person I have ever got the pleasure of being around. My mom’s mom, Grandma Reardon, died before I was born. After that my dad’s dad, Pop, died 10 days after I was born. My dad told me that he was really struggling, but pushed himself not to let go until he saw me. So once I was born my Grandma Kennedy rushed to the hospital to take a picture of me, then went to the hospital my Pop was at to show him. Then, my mom’s dad, Papa, died about a year after I was born. So the only grandparent I really got to know was my Grandma Kennedy. She only lived a couple blocks away from me so everyday my brothers and I would visit her. Never once did I take my Grandma or her PB & J sandwiches for granted. I was about seven or eight when my Grandma died and it truly hurt me. I was heartbroken, she was and still is my first best friend, role model, and Grandma. Looking back on it I had the best Grandma a kid could ever ask for. One of my favorite memories of my sweet Grandma was when Bill, Mick, my Grandma, and I went to the cemetery to say a couple prayers at my Pop’s grave. We washed all the dirt and branches off that fell onto it, since he was buried next to a tree. Well after that Bill climbed the tree to hang up this chyme my Grandma got. It looked and sounded beautiful. After that we decided to leave so we got in the car, Mick and I went into the backseat, Bill sat in the front. My Grandma got situated, then shockingly said to Bill, “Bill, get out of the car.” “What Grandma? What’s wrong?, Bill asked. My Grandma grabbed her church bulletin and walked towards Bill who was now standing outside of the car. Mick and I watched as my Grandma hit Bill on the shoulder which scared and shocked us since our Grandma was never violent. “Got it!”, she said all sweet. Bill, Mick, and I were dumbfounded and beyond confused until our Grandma explained that he had a humongous spider on his shoulder from being in the tree. We laughed it off as Bill exclaimed how he thought he was going to be left at the cemetery.

It's moments like this that I remember and am so grateful that phones and other electronics were not in the way. I think kids now are always so into their electronics that they miss funny moments in life like this. It is important to remember that your Grandparents and parents will not always be there so spend time with them without any distractions.

John Wayne Gacy

When I woke up today I saw a Tiktok about a famous serial killer in Illinois. So I decided to research him because my weird brain likes learning about these horrible people trying to see what triggered them to act in such ways. This famous serial killer is John Wayne Gacy. He was born on March 17, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. Gacy grew up in a home with two siblings, a mother, and an abusive alcoholic father. Gacy had a congenital heart condition so he wasn’t able to play which caused him to not have many or even any friends. Due to this, his father called him a failure and beat him horribly. Later on in his life he began to realize that he was a homosexual and during that time, it was accepted so he hid it from everyone. Gacy eventually joined a clown club called “Jolly Joker” where he dressed up in clown clothes and makeup for children’s parties. When John killed he would dress up as “Pogo the Clown” or “Patches the Clown.” He would lure his victims by promising work, then once he captured them he would sexually assault, tortured, and finish the job by strangling his victims with his bare hands or a rope. When detectives began putting him under surveillance he said, “Clowns get away with murder.” I don’t know about you guys, but that is super creepy. During his life Gacy raped, torture, and killed 33 known young men and boys. He buried some of his victims under his home as well.

John Wayne Gacy had a horrible abusive childhood, had no friends, and got divorced twice. His life was definitely not ideal by any means, but the real question I am pondering about is why he did this. With a lot of thought the things that happened in John’s life just led him down a sad lonely path. The murders were triggered with the divorce of his second wife. So did he just have a mental break? Was he sane? I think he did this to be known and popular. During his life, he was a nobody, so I believe he did this to become somebody. A theory I came up with is that he wanted people to fear him like he feared his father his entire life. Although this is sad, creepy, and eerie it makes me want to know why he did what he did.

Bath Time for Guinness

If you guys didn’t know I have a dog named Guinness. He is an eleven year old GoldenDoodle. Guinness has been my best friend since the day we got him. He is a sassy, energetic, rude old man. My family treats him like he is an actual person so he has been living in such a luxurious and luscious life. While being in quarantine, my parents have made a couple of bonfires to hangout around so of course Guinness is out there running around and playing fetch. After bonfires your hair and clothes smell gross, so what do you normally do? Shower. Even though Guinness is pretty much a human he doesn’t shower like the rest of us do, so he is very smelly. So after his haircut appointment got canceled due to COVID-19, I decided to take matters into my own hands by giving him a bath outside. After luring his fat butt outside I put his leash on him and began spraying him with the hose. I couldn’t hook his leash up to anything so I just dropped it, well once I did that he took off making me chase him around the whole yard. After finally dragging him back into his doggy pool I started massaging the shampoo into his thick fuzzy fur. The brat didn’t run away this time because he loves getting scratched. While shampooing his hair I thought to myself, “Wow Mayor Lightfoot can get her hair cut but my dog who cannot even get the coronavirus can’t get his hair washed and cut professionally.” My once furry, curly headed q-tip of a dog, looked like a fat rat after rinsing the shampoo of him. I unhooked his leash and he took off for the grass as I laughed watching him roll around on our freshly cut grass, he got up and what do you know… he got mud on the whole side of his leg. I knew he would just keep dirtier if I didn't take him for a walk quickly. After we walked the cute big rat let me brush him out, which is rare. He recently has hated his brush because of his matted hair. Since he was such a good boy I gave him a couple treats. Now, Guinness smells like wet dog and a little bit of Vanilla which is way more tolerable than built up dirt and fire. Once Guinny dries I know his wet dog smell will go away so that’ll be good. (Picture of my good boy from last week)

Well…I am going insane, you all probably are feeling the same way. Today after finishing my homework I decided to help my dad power wash our sidewalk because what else is there to do? I walk outside in my shorts and t-shirt since the weather is so beautiful. After yelling, “Dad, dad, dad, dadddddddd!!!!!,” he finally hears me and turns off the blaring power washer, then I proceed to make a comment, “Wow, you must be getting old you can’t hear for anything, it might be time to get those hearing aids oldie!.” My dad is 56 years old, so my brothers and I always chirp him about being an old man. Which frankly he isn’t that old considering my oldest brother is 24 years old, but then again most of my friend’s parents are in their 40’s, so he is sort of old. As I watched my dad show me how to do power wash the right way I began and holy moley it is so satisfying. After I did all the sidewalk in the yard, I decided to go out in front powerwashing any cement that came into my sight. My dad came to check on me and was shocked I was almost done with everything. I am my dad’s daughter because wow the sideway has never looked better, I have no idea why but it made me so happy.

Later on I decided to go to Walgreens to get some purple shampoo that can brighten my dull brassy blonde hair since I can’t go to the salon and get it professionally done. Five minutes later I finally picked out a purple shampoo, not because it was the cheapest, most expensive, or a name brand, but because I liked the packaging. I started to browse through the store looking for ways to keep me occupied once I go home. Then I came upon the hair dye aisle… “not again,” I thought to myself. Picked up another one day color by Colorista, but this time it was a lavender color. Then I proceeded to look at the nails since they were next to the hair dyeing and picked out these bedazzled pink and silver nails I can put on sometime this week. Whenever I go shopping it is so difficult for me to just get the thing I was looking for, I always end up picking up stuff as I go making myself believe that I “need” it.

Thirty minutes later I got home, even though Walgreens is right down the block from me, I suppose I lost track of time because I was having so much fun being out of the house. I put the 1 day dye on immediately on most of my hair not realizing I missed the whole back of my head since my hair is thick. I do like this light purple better than the vibrant pink, but again, crazy colored hair isn’t for me. I suggest any of you try the one day hair dye, it’s a fun little thing to do and even if you don’t like it, we are all in quarantine so it's not like anyone is going to really see it! (B. Kennedy 04/06/2020)

What is your version of a perfect Sunday? Do you sleep in, go to church, lay around, rush to do your homework, or spend time with your family? Well before quarantine, my perfect version was to sleep in till around 10 am because usually on Saturday I’m out with my friends late hanging out. Then I shower and go to 11 o’clock mass with my mom. After that we would go out to a late breakfast or lunch, normally to Bacon and Jam or the Breakfast Club. Once our stomachs are finally full we are ready to shop at TjMaxx or Marshalls - our favorite store. After we get home I usually do any left over homework I couldn’t bring myself to do on Friday. I’d then go and hangout with my boyfriend for a couple hours. My Sunday’s are always peaceful and relaxing which I took for granted.

Being in quarantine has made me realize how much I took my life for granted. Not being able to do the things that were actually a privilege like going to church, eating out, shopping, and hanging out with my friends. When I woke up this morning at 11:00 am I couldn’t remember what day it was as I jumped out of bed thinking it was Monday and I missed my morning classes. What even is life at this point? As I sit in my bed, typing this, I decided to look up on Google “Definition of life.” According to The School of Life “the meaning of life is to pursue human flourishing through communication, understanding and service. In order to have meaningful lives, we can also see that certain things will need to be in play.” Our lives aren’t in “play” we are all stuck in pause, doing the same things every single day, so is our lives “meaningful” anymore. To answer that question, yes our lives are “meaningful,” by putting our lives in pause we are saving lives and doing it for a cause - to save lives. For all of you looking for a purpose right now, here it is, you may be bored or losing your mind, but with all this comes a brighter future and a life that we will all cherish even more. One day when we tell our kids to not take their lives for granted we can tell them how our world turned upside down making each and everyone of us realize how much life and living really means.

So what did I decide to do Wednesday? I decided to use red Colorista one day color spray by L’Oreal. While applying I put a towel around my neck and shoulders so the spray didn’t get anywhere it wasn’t supposed to. Soon after I began to spray my hair became bigger and bigger and RED… I thought it was going to be super light, but nope it was bright red and my hair was filled with it. I brushed it out and it became manageable so I put it in a nice braid. After applying it everywhere I washed my pink hands and it wouldn’t come off, my hands were stained hot pink. I walk out of the bathroom with my new hair and my Dad’s mouth drops as he yelled, “WHAT DID YOU DO?,” I just said, “Dad it’s not a big deal, I dyed my hair red because I probably will never go back to school.” I swear his face turned as red as my hair, he was so angry I didn’t ask or consult him about it. “APRIL FOOLS!,” I yelled. My father then just laughed it off and told me I almost gave him a heart attack. When my mom got home from work I did the same thing except my mom loved it. After about two hours of having this fake dye in my hair I turned so many things red because the color kept rubbing off on anything I came in contact to, so I decided to wash it out. The shampoo was hot pink as I washed my hair making my shower turn pink. After the first wash, while still in the shower, I look at my hair and it is now hot pink. I washed it again and again, still by the third time it was still pink. I decided to get out of the shower because I already put my hair through too much today and I feared it would dry out my hair. Once my hair finally dried it was a light pink, which is a popular trend going on right now, it was cute but not my cup of tea. Today, two days later and five washes later my hair is still sort of pink but not too vibrant like before which I am happy about. It was fun having crazy hair colors, but nothing I could ever commit to. ❤️

The coronavirus is ruining and controlling our lives, but all we can do is stay in our homes. I don't know how you guys feel, but if I hear one more thing about COVID-19, I will indeed scream. So in this blog today I will not mention “it.”

On Sunday March 29, 2020 I decided I wanted to make a to-do list. On that list, I wanted to clean my room, closet, and drawers. I thought I can do a little bit each day over the week so that way I have something to do! Well as I turned on my bedroom light and came to the realization that I am a slob. I saw all these different kinds of shirts on the floor kicked around, I saw my clean laundry stacked on my dresser like it was going to put itself away, and I saw about four water bottles sitting on my nightstand. Immediately, I turned on Bates Motel which is the show I am currently binge watching. I grabbed a couple trash bags and went to work, after my room was clean I cleaned out my dresser drawers. While looking at all my clothes I realized that I barely wear some of this stuff because I grew out of it, it's out of style, or it just isn’t cute anymore - I made a Good Will bag. After one Good Will bag, came another, and another…three whole bags of clothes I will be donating instead of throwing out or even keeping. Well this for sure made me feel good so I thought, “Hmmmm… what else do I have to do today… oh right nothing!.” I opened up my closet and there came an avalanche. I found about five shirts I have been looking for all winter/spring, which was so shocking because I made myself believe they were lost for good. After taking everything out, reorganizing it, and hanging my clothes up I finally finished. My room feels new, and I am so proud of how I am managing time by doing productive things instead of just laying around every second of the day. I just wanted to share this story because in these hard times, just make the best out of it. Do the things you have been pushing off such as reading that book or cleaning your room. We have time, so might as well use it in a good way. (Kennedy March 31)

In today’s blog I want to talk about positivity and stress. I am currently stressed out due to COVID-19, E-Learning, and just life itself. Like I’ve discussed in my previous blogs, life is not the same as it was, and frankly we all took our normal lives for granted. The ways I have dealt with stress is by running, exercising, and some rituals.

These rituals make you relax and I will go through them with you on what I do. The way I have dealt with stress is normally by going outside and shooting my basketball in the alley. Well, yesterday the weather was not in my favor so I needed to think of something else to do that would take my mind off of things, which is yoga.

First, I started off by saying a prayer. Then I decided to play my favorite playlist, in this case rap would not be a good option because it hypes you up, you may want to just do this in silence or some chill, relaxing songs. I started to think about all my stressors and the ways I would normally deal with them. For example, a stressor of mine right now in this time is E-Learning. Although, I know I am ahead of everything or on time with all my assignments, my brain never relaxes, making me feel anxious. After thinking about all this, I went onto YouTube and selected a beginners yoga video to follow: https://youtu.be/v7AYKMP6rOE After following this twenty minute video I felt calm, relaxed, and at ease. I showered while still listening to my favorite tunes and decided to do my hair routine and skin care routine since I have neglected it this week since no one would really see me. While doing this I still felt at ease, my thoughts were quiet. I really aspire to do this twenty minutes of yoga a day to make my brain and body zen, and let me tell you this was not easy!

Yoga is a really good way to reduce stress. A few of the benefits yoga brings you are improving flexibility, building muscle strength, prevents joints you normally do not use from breaking down, increases blood flow, boosts immunity, and helps you focus.

I hope this blog helps you guys out in this time of need. Instead of binge watching that show, get up and get active. Thanks for shining your light in my life!

Today on this lovely day filled with sunshine I woke up late around 10:30 a.m. since we did not have E-Learning. I decided to change it up and make myself a homemade breakfast sandwich with cheese, egg, and sausage on wheat toast; it was delicious! After eating, I decided to try on my beautiful prom dresses, one for Marist, one for Carmel, and one for St. Rita prom. Due to COVID-19 I began to tear up thinking about how my senior year is coming to an end. Never have I ever thought I would end the months I have as a high school student at home. As I stare at myself in the mirror with my dress for Marist prom I started to reminisce on the amazing years I have had at Marist High School. Each important moment ran through my head, the first day of Freshman year, the fun friends I have made over the years, the changes I have gone through, and kairos. While thinking about these I decided not to think about it too much and just continue my day in hope that life will be back to the way it was before. So I started to crack down on my homework due next week so I split up my word and marked what day I would complete these assignments.

Although COVID-19 changed my normal life that I once took for granted, it has made me closer with my dad. My dad retired in October so he is home with me during these hard times all while my mom and brothers continue to work everyday. I have realized that not only did I take my normal life for granted, I took my daddio for granted as well. Throughout my spring break, we watched at least five movies and went on endless walks talking every single minute about life. During one of our walks I decided to bring up college and how it’s going to be a big change not being home. The only time I have seen my dad cry or tear up was when my Grandma died, but once I brought up college he began to tear up which completely and utterly broke my heart. Being the only girl and the baby of the family I know I have a soft spot for my dad and he has a soft spot for me, as we always have said I am wrapped around his pinky. My dad is my protector, role model, and best friend. Because of COVID-19 I realized how much my dad really means to me which I am so grateful for.

March 15th was my last day of freedom. Little did I know I wouldn’t be able to go out, hangout with friends, or see my classmates. Although I am sad, I am trying to stay positive by binge watching Criminal Minds, going for a walk, bothering my dog, or even drawing a picture. I also have learned that I can clear my anxious, bored mind by going outside to shoot some hoops, dribble, and imagine myself next year playing again. Right now, our world is insane but I am just trying to focus on the future, staying hopeful.

Normal “School” Day in Quarantine:

Step 1: Wake up to my alarm at 8:00, snooze it and eventually get up five minutes later.

Step 2: Make breakfast - which has been waffles, pancakes, banana peanut butter toast, or Cheerios.

Step 3: Go through emails and delete the unimportant ones such as clothing stores I have subscribed to.

Step 4: It is normally about 8:25 when I realize I have class starting in five minutes, therefore I check Canvas to see what I have to do today.

Step 5: Complete all the homework that was assigned during that class period, then check other classes to see if they had posted what we need to complete. If they so kindly did, I will complete those assignments as well.

Step 6: Eat lunch in between 12:25 and 12:45 which has usually been a turkey sandwich, chips, and a yellow apple.

Step 7: Now, I look through all my classes again to make sure I didn’t miss anything important.