1. When I drive down the street, my house is always the first one I notice. Not just because I have been living there all my life, but because the front garden has such vivid color and a variety of plants, its hard not to see it. My house is a pale yellow with brown roof. The windows are full of boxes with plants as well. But the plants are not the only thing that make my house stand out. In the winter, my dad puts up a sea of colorful lights, overtop the whole exterior of my house. You could probably see the lights from a mile away, and find every color bulb imaginable. All year round, my house is the most noticeable of our street, and I feel proud when I walk in the door. I wouldn’t call the house small, but cozy because it is just the right size.

2. If you live in Glenside, you probably love it, and if you don’t live in Glenside, you probably wish you did. The small town of Glenside has almost any type of store or building needed. We have a gazillion pizza shops along with other restaurants, offices, boutiques, banks, a library, a pool, schools, a theater, and even a firehouse! But the most important thing about Glenside is the warm environment the town provides. It seems like everyone in Glenside knows each other, and if you grew up in Glenside you probably still live there. Once you live in Glenside, it seems like there is no where better to live. I like to think of Glenside as a tree. When I was younger, the town seemed smaller, but as I got older and grew bigger, the town also seemed to grow larger by number of residents and also more developments opened. When I see building that I grew up with go on sale it reminds me of a dead leaf that falls off then starts a new beginning as a new leaf.

3. The Hawkins family consists of five kids, three boys and two girls, plus my parents. My older brothers are all off in college now, but still live close by, so we have to see the pretty much everyday. My siblings and I have a love/hate relationship. Whereas we hate each other when our parents aren’t around, but act like perfect children when they are. My mom is as busy as a bee since she went back to school while balancing her preschool class and us kids. While my dad on the other hand is like a squirrel, only prepares when he needs to, and only as much as needed.

4. My janny’s name (mom’s grandmom) was Elizabeth, so I got my middle name from her. I really like the name Elizabeth because it can be transformed into a bunch of shorter nicknames. I like how versatile it is. And I think my dad’s grandmom’s name was Alice, but my parents thought that was too old-fashioned. So they changed it to Allison. When I was younger I always dreamt about changing my name to something like Jessica or Brooke, and I don’t really know why. But I think those names are not so interesting. Allison is a name I will always love, knowing it honors my family members.

5. My hair is outrageously curly, and most of the time unmanageable. My sister says it reminds her of a lion mane when I wake up. I have had curly hair all my life, and when I was little I was nicknamed Shirley Temple. I had a short hair cut, like an afro almost, and blonde. After a while I grew my hair long, then cut it short again. I hated that because obviously only little girls can pull off short hair cuts. Even though I wish my hair would be longer, I am content with the length. My mom was always so mad because all of her kids got beautiful curls, and she was stuck with flat straight hair. I have tried to straighten my hair, but I am always unsuccessful and less than a half an hour later it is curly again. I would rather have curly hair than straight hair any day thought.