I get by with (a lot more than) a little help from my friends

I have the best friends.  Ever.  You probably can't top mine. 
Nope.
So for my best friend's 16th birthday, she secretly asked people to bring money to help pay for my China trip. 
Pretty freaking selfless, huh?
Awwwww I <3 my friends
so sweet
So I'm not totally sure, but I think I might have almost enough to send in my application!!!!
So, thank you so much.  I can't believe you did something so unexpected and sweet!
Tee hee hee
:)

It's just life, so keep dancing through...

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  We had family and friends over, which was kinda fun.  The food was SO good.  My stepmother made everything and did a fantastic job.
Today was pretty awesome.  My mom's friend had this craft sale today.  I didn't have a lot of bracelets to sell, but I sold them all!  I am now closer to my goal.  Right now, my application is all ready to go, except for the $900 application down payment.  I'm not totally sure, but I think I now have about half.  So I did pretty well today, but I still need to earn more.  I am taking orders.  Just comment on a blog post about what colors you want.  I make most of my paper, so I can do whatever colors you want.  These are great stocking stuffers!  I've also decided not to make more of the star earrings.  I'm just gonna stick with the star bracelets and the origami crane earrings.  Yup.  Please order stuff soon!  I have exams coming up, and I'd like to get the orders done before my finals.
I'm gonna make some new stuff and take some pictures sometime next week.
Happy Holidays!!!!

p.s. thanks so much to everyone who has ordered from me or helped me raise money in some way.  I really appreciate it, plus is means a lot.

<3

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly, I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky

Hola!
So I'm really excited.
Last weekend, I submitted my application for a scholarship.  *Fingers crossed*  I really hope that I get it (it's a full scholarship).  It would make my life SO much easier.  The annoying thing is that I don't find out till March or April, and I have to make a big part of the payment in May, so I don't really have time in between those.  I don't want to raise all that money if I don't have to, but I don't want to be broke, and have to raise like $8000 in a month.  So my plan is to keep making jewelry, so if you could buy some, it would really be nice :)
I set up this awesome gadget (see right) that lets you directly pay me if you buy something (or if you are feeling really generous, and just feel like helping me...).  It keeps track of how much I need.  My goal right now is $5000.  I am almost done with my actual AFS application, but I don't think it's due till maybe January or February (I can't find the date on the website).  So I'm really trying to find ways to earn money.  Anyone need a babysitter?  I am really good at a lot of things.  I can organize stuff.
I'm also really excited because I got to see a teacher today that I haven't seen in a while, which made my day (seriously).  I also found out that sometime, another one of my teachers is going to help me learn some Chinese because she's almost fluent!  Yay for teachers!!
Please let me know if you have anything that I could do to earn a little money.
Love, Jaede

I should tell you...

I should tell you lots of things.
I could tell you that I love cats, gumball machines, rainbows, or thousands of other things.
But that's not really why I'm writing this.
I'm writing this because I should tell you that Grace F. is AMAZING!
She is helping me make the jewelry to sell.  She is fantastic!!!
She also keeps a jar at home of spare change for me.
How sweet is she?
Yeah.
Pretty awesome.
So, thank you so much, Grace!
I couldn't do this without you
<3

No one can find the rewind button, girl. So cradle your head in your hands, and breathe... just breathe, oh breathe, just breathe...

Sorry I haven't written in a while!  I have been crazy busy and stressed.  I had lots of tests, an essay, and a chemistry research paper due.  No school tomorrow, so tonight I made new stuff!  Yay!  The AFS website told me that I should answer some questions on my blog.  I don't like directly answering questions like that- it's too much like school.  I want this blog to be fun.  So I'll basically answer the questions with what I think you need to know.  

Yeah, I'm 15 and I live in Saint Louis.  I am in 10th grade, and next year (junior year) I am going to study abroad in China with AFS for a school year (August to June (I think)).  I like school most of the time (seriously, I'm that much of a nerd :] ).  I'm in drama club, art club, and I played volleyball (the season ended- my jv team and I were district champions!).  I volunteer at the Saint Louis Zoo, which is pretty fun.  I get to work at various events during the year, but my favorite is the summer camp, Camp Kangazoo.  It's totally awesome.  I went there for 10 straight years.  Send your kids there!  They even get to spend the night at the zoo.

I want to go to China because I was adopted from Huazhou (Guangdong Province) when I was four months old.  Since then, I have always wondered what life would be like if I still lived in China.  Now is my chance to experience this for real.  I decided not to wait until college because at this age, it will be a lot easier for me to pick up Chinese (I absolutely love learning languages, I take Spanish at my school, and I would like to take French, but I don't have enough time) while I'm still a "kid".  I also think it will be really cool because if I go out with friends in China, I probably won't get as many weird looks as let's say, a blonde kid.  I will still have lots of differences from my peers, but those who don't know me probably won't stare as much.

I definitely plan on going to college (that was a question, so I'll just answer it).  I go to a college prep school!  I don't for sure know where I want to go (I'm only a sophomore, so it's okay), but as of right now, New York University looks like a really good fit for me.  I want to be a doctor when I grow up, and they have a really nice medical school.  It's also really close to Broadway, which would be totally AMAZING!  Yup.  That'll be me in college; I'll be the one who skips parties to go see stuff on Broadway. :] 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate ask! (Now I sound like a commercial or my teacher...)

But seriously, if you wanna know something, just ask me.  If I don't feel comfortable answering, I won't!

Pertaining to the jewelry:

PLEASE ORDER STUFF!

It's cheap.  I don't like it when people sell expensive stuff, and I wanna get it, but I'm broke.

So I made is cheap for people who don't wanna pay a lot.

I can take special orders.  I won't even charge extra (unless you make it realllyyyyy complicated).

I can do pictures, colors, and maybe even names (which I will attempt tomorrow- I have no idea how this will go).

If you do want me to use a picture, make it simple- I'm talking clip art and simple stuff like that.  It also will not be perfect, as in the image will be in different places (refer to the peace sign bracelet below (I made the paper)).

I'm really tired, so I'm gonna go to bed now.  晚安 (goodnight)

The stars gleam, the poets dream, the eagles fly, without you.

Hey people!

Today I worked on a new variation of the stars.  I used my chemistry conversion skills and my geometry similar figure skills to make a 7cm X 182cm rectangle that I made a huge star with (see picture)

Yup.  Pretty awesome.

You look like a star, a vision in blue

 The other earring is around somewhere...

Hey!  So I'm sorry I didn't put pictures up yesterday.  I had a volleyball game and was really tired after I finally finished my homework.  However, putting the pictures up today gave me time to make more.  So if you want to buy a bracelet or earrings, let me know!  The earrings are $3, and the bracelets are $5, but if you get them together, it's $7.  You can pick one of the ones I have already made, or you can choose your own combination!  I'm gonna try to figure out how to post pictures with this now...
Yay!!! I figured it out!!!!

Here goes...

Hey!  My name is Jaede.  I live in Saint Louis and I'm 15 years old. I am planning to study abroad in China next year (my junior year of high school).  I am trying to raise money to pay for my tuition by making jewelry with paper stars (lucky stars).  I'll post some pictures tomorrow!  I'm also going to try to add a gadget that will let people donate through paypal to help fund my AFS trip.  I should get back to my homework.


Later!
-Jaede