I went to a bacon festival today. Need I say more?

I know what you’re thinking (especially you Katy). THERE’S A BACON FESTIVAL? Absolutely. Only in America do we have an entire shebang dedicated to that wonderful heart disease-inducing deliciousness. ‘Murica.

In my blogging absence, I have found myself another human being who is willing to room with me for at least my first year of college. This is Emily and she’s pretty cool. We met on the Facebook page for my college, and within less than a day of talking, we decided to room together. I was beyond happy at how easy everything worked out. As much as I would have liked to have just gotten a random roommate, knowing me, I would have gotten a total psycho and then had to find a way to ask her to leave. It wouldn’t be pretty. Luckily, she’s exactly like me and just as awkward. She kind of runs like a penguin.

We went to the bacon festival today and it was quite wonderful. Incredibly packed, but wonderful. There was a 100 pound log of bacon that was being cooked all day. I guess it was going to be served tonight and we weren’t willing to wait around for it because we had places to go and people to see. Also known as she had to go to her horrible minimum-wage job at the McDonald’s drive thru from 7 to midnight and I had to go dye Easter eggs with my family. The bacon log was 50 feet long and it was made up of various pork products wrapped in bacon. How does that not sound delicious?

(Side note: What you’re looking at above is downtown made out of bacon with a dead pig in front of it and a guy in the background with a classy mohawk and pony tail. Just wanted to clarify) On the way from the parking lot to the event, we were at a stop light waiting to cross when a woman comes up to me, gets in my face and exclaims “OH MY GOODNESS, I LOVE YOUR SHOES.” I was wearing a pair of Beatles Converses that my aunt got me. In her defense, they are one of my favorite pairs of shoes, but even I wasn’t as excited as she was when I first got them. I then had to explain to the woman that I got the shoes off of Etsy… and then I had to explain what Etsy was while we were crossing the street. Luckily I was able to shake her off, because she was seriously creeping me out and wouldn’t stop talking. While we were waiting in line for something bacon-related (the lines were so long we couldn’t see the booths and had no clue what we were in line to eat), I heard this older couple behind us. The woman said “Hey, she has the Beatles on her shoes. But I can only see two of the guys.” and then man went “I see that. I’m going to go around to see if the other two are on her other shoe.” Then he nonchalantly walked around, looked at my shoe, and nodded to her. Moral of the story is always wear Converses. No one checked out the Livestrong Nike shoes Emily’s friend Wyatt was wearing. After waiting in line for about 20 minutes, we finally were able to see the sign that said we were going to either buy bacon covered shrimp on a stick for $2 or deep fried crab and bacon with green chilies and grits for $5. Of course we opted for the crab. It was quite possibly the most delicious thing I’ve had in a while, and I eat my cooking all the time. I didn’t even know it was possible to top the biscuits I totally burned the other day.

Comic Con is also downtown this weekend so we got to see a few Comic Con people. Oh my word. Where do these people come from. I didn’t know the Joker enjoyed bacon. Stan Lee was there and apparently it cost $400 just to meet him. I – being the incredibly naive non-dork that I am – had no idea who this guy was. I asked my dad if he had ever heard of him and he basically grounded me for life for not knowing about the creator of the most amazing comics ever. Okay, he didn’t. But I know he was thinking it. Emily wanted to go to Comic Con with me, but tickets were $50 just to get in and we actually only wanted to go to meet Tom Felton. I have no idea how the bad guy from Harry Potter is in any way affiliated with comic books. I’m guessing he’s out of work. But when you really weigh it, five bucks spent on delicious bacon and crab definitely trumps at least fifty bucks just to gawk at a 20-something British guy who’s already balding. We chose the bacon, because it’s okay to gnaw on it, but we might get arrested for gnawing on Mr. Felton.

Emily is going to try to be a vegetarian in college and I offered to attempt to try with her, but after today, there’s absolutely no way I’ll make it. Speaking of college, we met up with a group of girls yesterday who are also going to the college we are. It was so awkward. We knew it would be, but we were just so different from every other girl there. When we were going around saying our favorite movies, almost everyone said super girly movies, and Emily goes “Pulp Fiction.” It got rrreeeaaallllyyy quiet and some girls were doing their best to be like heehee that’s… cool… She was really going for shock value with everything she said, and it definitely worked. As nice as the girls were, I doubt we’d actually be friends with any of them. They are cheerleaders, Emily plays the ukulele and, well, runs like a penguin. Sort of different.

Also, I really, really love bacon. Today was a good day.

Spoiler alert: I got into nursing school

Ok kids, it’s story time with Grandma Picco, which is awkward since I’m pretty sure I’m younger than a majority of you. No matter. Here’s a story of how yesterday was one of the best days of my life. I remember it like it was yesterday…

Things were going pretty dandily around here. I was home with Sister Celiac and Spiderbaby while my mom was out with the other 4 Italiana children at swimming lessons. I was taking a break from science because my cranium about exploded from writing about the Medulla oblongata. See what I did there? Anyway. I picked up my phone and started looking through my emails. My train of thought went a bit like this: “Hmmm, Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest, Mara… ooo… I haven’t read this post. Ugh, she has such amazing clothes. I’ll come back to that. More Pinterest. Maybe I should set it up so I don’t get emails from them every 30 seconds? Nah, it makes me feel popular. Uhhh, Pinterest. Nursing school from the college that I got accepted into. Wait. Nursing school from the college that I got accepted into? What does this say. Dear Picco… so many words… I GOT ACCEPTED.”

Yes, folks, I got accepted into nursing school. Can we please take a moment for a quick round of applause? It still hasn’t really sunk in yet. I never really doubted that I wouldn’t get in because, heh heh, I wrote killer essays for both the college and the nursing school, but I was still a bit nervous. I was so relieved yesterday, though. Remember how I reacted when I got into the college? Yeah, multiply that by about a bazillion. After I read the email about 5 times, I ran downstairs and almost totally wiped out because my happy dance was so spastic. Then, I read/shouted the email to Sister Celiac and shoved the phone in her face and made her read it. Her face was similar to that of a squirrel in the middle of the road that just sort of stands there until you get close, and then it runs back the way it came from. Squirrels are scary creatures.

Speaking of iPhones (we were talking about them, right?), I’ve been pushing for one lately since the battery of my current phone lasts barely longer than Kim Kardashian’s marriage. Basically it dies in 4 hours. I’ve also worked out a nice speech every time I bring up me wanting one. Today I presented it to my mom and said, “So, when I leave, I still want to blog and take pictures. If I get an iPhone, I can take great pictures and you won’t have to buy me a digital camera!” She was unfazed. The problem is that I also need a new laptop since the bottom of mine is currently being attached to the computer by pink Hello Kitty duct tape. Another problem is I’m a die hard Mac lover and need a MacBook. I’m such a loving, hard working daughter who would be eternally grateful if I got a new computer as a graduation present… Was that subtle enough?

And I shall end with a random story. I’m all about stories today, huh? I requested that we get sushi tonight as a celebratory yay-the-last-14-years-of-schooling-have-not-been-all-for-naught-since-you-got-into-college dinner. I was eating it and I don’t even remember what I was saying because I was focusing too much on how I haven’t had sushi in forever and really loved it, and apparently I just kept talking. At the end of my rambling, Sister Celiac turned to me and bluntly said, “Ergo, shut up.” I would have been annoyed, but how many other 13 year olds can use the word ergo correctly? I come from an awesome family.

I am absolutely exhausted right now from all the sushi and from reading my acceptance letter too many times (today I got a hard copy in the mail. YAY!). I think I’m going to go read over the list of dorms again even though I submitted the housing application less than an hour after I received it. Can you tell I’m excited? So here’s the recipe. Sorry I’m not typing it up…

Chicken Gyros from Annie’s Eats. I love that woman.

Also, these are 100% gluten free, minus the pita part obviously. Sister Celiac should stop making snarky comments if she wants me to ever make these for her again.

December photo challenge day 7: Bright. As in smart. As in GUESS WHO’S GOING TO COLLEGE?

What comes to mind first when you hear the word “bright?” The sun? Christmas lights? My face when I watch Newsies? …ok, well my face would more light up than be bright, but you understand what I was getting at. I was going to take a picture of a light or something for today’s bright picture, but instead I decided to interpret bright as being smart. And who’s smart? Well, me. At least colleges think so.

I GOT ACCEPTED! LOOK AT MY ACCEPTANCE LETTER THAT I MADE SURE TO NOT INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE COLLEGE ON SO YOU CAN’T STALK ME! ASDLFHASDFLKJSHDFL. If my excitement could be expressed in a word, that would be it. Also, don’t be a stalker. Unless said stalkee is Joseph Gordon-Levitt or anyone from the St. Louis Cardinals team. Then it’s perfectly acceptable.

I might have made a dumb mistake when I was applying to colleges. I… uhhh… only applied to one. In my defense, there weren’t many colleges that were exactly what I was looking for in a school. I wanted to be within driving distance from home, it had to have a nursing school, and not cost a billion dollars, since my parents have quite a few more kids after me to put through college. There were a few that I was looking into and my friend Emily visited all of the ones I was considering, but none of them sounded too appealing. But I got in, so I don’t need to freak out and frantically submit applications to other colleges. Actually I’m going to the same college Emily’s going to. Sorry, darling. You can’t get rid of me.

You all have no idea how relieved I am right now. I was jumping and doing some weird interpretive dance in the front hall before I opened the packet. It was mighty attractive.

Mid-week Crisis: A post about amazing college visits and the fact that I apparently don’t know my opposites.

1. At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Didn’t think that I could…uhhh…pass midterms. I’m pretty sure that’s how the song goes. Right? I had midterms last week and was absolutely drained studying/cramming for them. Now that I’m not stressed out anymore, I’ll be back to cooking for sure. For the history midterm I memorized 127 note cards worth of information on the War of 1812 and the French and Indian War. Test me on anything. Battle of Long Island? Got it. Burr vs. Hamilton? In the bag. How to spell broccoli? *silence* I have such a hard time with that word.

2. I visited a college this past weekend and I loved it. LOVED. It’s my top choice and after visiting there’s no reason to look at any other ones since it’s exactly what I want. I’m a bit of a free spirit and really have a hard time fitting in anywhere, but everyone there is exactly like I am. Of course there were were a few jocks and icky girls, but a majority of them were, well, geeks. My tour guide said that he rides his unicycle across campus. Ok maybe I’m not that weird, but he’s definitely someone I’d be friends with. You have no idea how happy I was to finally be in a place where I just felt normal. If I don’t get accepted I’m going to curl up into a ball and die. Also known as I’m going to go eat all the Halloween candy we got this year. It’s so nice having my family be one of the 3 families with kids in the neighborhood. I’m sending in my college application by Friday and hopefully the application to the nursing school by next week. Wish me luck, guys.

3. I think I need to buy this shirt. And by think I mean need. I need I need to buy this shirt? Well, that’s almost correct grammar.

4. My best friend is having surgery on Friday. She and I have hands-down the weirdest friendship ever (there’s a lot of talking and then not talking for a year and then doing that all over again until we’re finally friends again), but I love her to pieces. From what she’s told me, the surgery she’s having is pretty dangerous and she’ll be in the hospital for a while. Most of the support she’s getting involves people telling her how dangerous it is or how their cousin’s friend died while having a similar surgery. Because of that, I invited her over for a You’re Not Going to Die party. We made cookie dough and wrote letters to the baseball players David Freese and Joe Kelly. I threatened Joe that I’d slap him upside the head with a dead fish if he said he was a Cubs fan. And we wonder why I don’t have a boyfriend… Ignore that bowl with the crumbs. We inhaled the toasted raviolis that were in it and I was too lazy to take it out of the picture. Anyway, If you could all pray for her or send her good thoughts, that would be fantastic. How exactly does one go about sending good thoughts? Do you go “leprechaunssunshinedaisiesheathledger75%offcouponswarmchocolatechipcookies ok, I’m done. Those were some good thoughts.”? Just wondering.

5. Last week I invited a friend that I never see *coughMARIEcough* over so we could make Halloween food. I took pictures with my mom’s camera, but I’m too lazy to upload them right now. It’s the middle of the week, people. I’ll do it tomorrow. But here’s a picture from my phone of the cakeball eyeballs I made. I made these last year too, but these turned out much better this time, aside from the fact that they’re a bit wonky looking in this picture. That red icing was a huge mess and your fingers were absolutely covered with it by the time you had your 4th one. Not that I know anything about that…

6. Fringe season 3 finale. Can we just talk about this for a moment? All of you need to start watching it so we can have like a Fringe club meaning. Kind of like a book club, but more Fringe-y and less booky. So Peter never existed. And Olivia dies, but not yet, because Peter just saw her die when he got electrocuted by that machine and went 20 years into the future. Then he came back proclaimed “I have seen doomsday!” and then just disappears and everyone’s totally cool with it. Or maybe they just ignored him like you ignore a 9 year old telling a pointless story that won’t end. Hey, I have 6 siblings. I’m allowed to make fun of kids.

7. If you’re anything like me, you still struggle with learning your opposites. Luckily Sesame Street has a helpful video to watch. You’re welcome.

10 things I hate about you, 12th grade

There’s no amusing introduction to this post. I’m getting straight to the point.

1. No naps. And I don’t mean I wish I could go back in time and take all the naps I refused to take when I was little. I mean more along the lines of why do little kids get naps and we don’t? It’s like “Golly gee am I tired from playing with all those blocks for 20 minutes straight. And don’t even get me started about how exhausted I am from all the hand-eye coordination I had to do when I was finger painting.” So toddlers get naps after doing absolutely nothing and we’re expected to go, “Well, I don’t know about you, but all that trigonometry and AP French and filling out college applications has sure rejuvenated me! Oh and luckily I love every single person in my class, so I get to have fun classes AND be around fun people! Who needs naps?” Um, seniors need naps. We also need to have a pass that allows us to punch one person in the face every day and not get in trouble. Figuratively punch? And maybe literally too. Oh and speaking of not taking naps, when I was in Kindergarden at “real school” (not homeschool), I didn’t take one nap. Ever. Why? Because I had convinced myself that if all the kids fell asleep, the teachers would set the building on fire and we’d all die. Yeah, those were the things 5 year old me thought about. Dear everyone in my Kindergarden class, I deprived myself from sleep just to save your life. You’re welcome.

2. Speaking of college applications, well, college applications. Especially the essay part. “Write about a topic of your choice.” Well, that’s not vague.

3. Senioritis. The worst part is I’ve only been doing school for a week. This is going to be a long year.

4. Being homeschooled as a senior. Because now the “Wait, are you gonna like homeschool for college and stuff?” questions are in full force. NO. NO ONE DOES. Now stop asking.

5. Having this be my daily schedule: Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, do 1 1/2-2 hours of anatomy, 1 hour of history, eat lunch, 1 1/2 hours of advanced math, 1 hour of logic, 1 hour of an introduction to college writing course, 1 hour of Latin, 45 minutes of piano, dinner, take a breather, read, fall asleep/pass out. Rinse and repeat every day. I like to shake things up a bit sometimes, just to keep it interesting. For example, I volunteer at a daycare Monday nights and last week a 4 year old spit in my face. Then yesterday my little brother decided that potty doesn’t always need to go IN the potty, and I got to scrub the bathroom floor with Mr. Clean within an inch of its life. Ugh.

6. Having my best friends be either at college far away, or at college close by but super busy with work, or close by and doing an online college but being super busy with life and thinking about rum cake 24/7. You know who you are. Or they’re online friends that I’ve never actually met and they live in Florida or Arizona. So I’m just sitting here like, Crap. This is kinda lonely.

7. Realizing that since I’m homeschooled and I don’t have a “set” reading list, I really haven’t read most of the books other highschoolers have read. So I’m kind of frantically reading right now. I’m currently working on Cancer Ward, Woman in White, and Lord of the Flies. Only problem with reading so many books at the same time is sometimes I’m confusing the plots and characters. No really, yesterday I was replacing Pavel with Piggy when I was reading Cancer Ward. I need a nap. See #1.

8. Not having time to cook and blog. I know once I get in the swing of things with school my life will settle down and I’ll have more free time. At the moment I’m just too unorganized to think about cooking AND THEN writing a blog post that won’t bore people to tears. But tonight I forced myself to make snickerdoodles. Mainly because they’re my favorite cookie ever (next to white chocolate macadamia nut cookies) and I needed to unwind a bit. This recipe is so good too.

9. Having to decide on a major. I know I don’t need to pick one out right away, and I can always switch, but I’d like to commit to one. Do I go straight to nursing school, or do I major in Philosophy or Classics and then take a 1 year nursing course? Decisions, decisions. Yay?

10. Growing up. Don’t get me wrong, growing up is awesome. (I now don’t feel guilty about watching Y-7 tv shows like I did when I was little. I remember being 6 years old and watching Pokemon at my friend’s house and thinking I was such a rebel for watching it and not being 7 yet. I was the kind of kid your parents didn’t want you hanging around with. I can’t be tamed.) But growing up is not nearly as magical as it was when I was in 2nd grade and all highschool seniors seemed like gods. Really tall, gorgeous, popular gods. Funny how your perception of things as a kid is totally different than how things really are, huh? Now the “real world” is in the back of my mind. Where do I want to move after college? Where do I want to work? What about having kids? Why are all my celebrity future husbands so much older than me and and why are most of them are married? STUPID CHRISTIAN BALE. I hate you.

Aside from all the things I hate, I know this last year of highschool will be awesome. I really love all the classes I’m taking, I’m keeping in touch with all my friends, and I’m eating snickerdoodles. Um, delicious.

And yes, I kind of got bored while I was waiting for the last batch to be done. I got up to stacking 7 cookies on top of each other before the tower fell. You wish we were friends in real life.

Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (leave out if you’re using salted butter)

2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.

Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.

Chill dough and an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge. Yes, stick a cookie sheet in the fridge. Cooking is so weird sometimes.

Meanwhile, mix 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

Form dough into 1-inch balls (about the size of a little bouncy ball. That’s the only thing I can think of…), place into the sugar/cinnamon mixture, and roll it around until it’s completely coated.

Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.

Remove from pan immediately.

Attempt to enjoy them while you cry over the fact Christian Bale is only 6 years younger than your dad…awkward.