the next few weeks
so i have no idea what to write in this blog, i guess i'll just talk about what i'm going to do in the next few weeks.
so today is tuesday, i was off of work today, thank goodness!
tomorrow i'm not doing anything either, except i'm on call for work from 5-9:30.
thursday is going to be my favorite day of this week!!!
i'm going to daysprings, a camp/convention center place about an hour away (i have to drive over the very tall, very spooky sunshine skyway bridge) to band camp! my old high school has band camp there, where i used to go for band camp, winter retreat for band and choir, and my senior retreat. i'm sooo excited! it's all this week, so all my old friends are already there, and thursday is alumni night, but all of us seniors from 2 years ago (who are desperately missed i hear) are drivin' up for the whole day, to be fun distractions for everyone haha. i'm definitely taking the camera! i miss everyone so much and i miss marching band!
after that, i'm paying for missing work on thursday, cuz i'm working from 4-10 on friday night! haha during no tax week so its gonna be a nightmare!
saturday, work, then babysitting my wonderful baby cousin evan!!!
saturday is also my parents 27th wedding anniversary i think (i know the date's right, i just can't remember how many years, either 27 or 28). praise the lord that my parents are still married, after i hear everyday about divorced people, separated people, single parents, children born out of wedlock, awful stuff!
i'm not working sunday! praise the lord! i hate to admit this (kinda) but i went to work this sunday (from 11-4), so i got there at 10:50, after i watched the rest of my family leave for church without me cuz i had freaking WORK! i get there, and they changed the schedule on me, so i didn't have to come in til 3, and i was closing that night until 7:30, which turned out to be 8. so i go back to my car, crying like a baby (yes, i am a crier), and bawl in my car for about 10 minutes, then collect myself enough to drive, and drive home, still sobbing because i missed church. the whole thing hit me about where are my priorities and what should i be doing? and that got to me, but somehow i turned out to be ok, because i had a little moment with God in the car on the way home that shows me it didn't take me going to church to have a spiritual moment, even if i would have loved to go to church instead.
from august 12-14, i'm going to minneapolis with my cousins timmy and evie and evan, to see timmy race (in some city south of there). i'm gonna get a taste of what being a motocross wife is like, haha, for a weekend. i'll take care of evan so evie can run around and i can sorta tag along behind her at all the pit events, race events, dinners, and whatever else comes along with this weekend, including going to the MALL OF AMERICA!!! yay!!!
then comes going to samford on august 24th, that's right, i'll be coming to samford on thursday the 24th i think it is, 2 days before move-in day, so dad can go to his work convention in florida that weekend. so i can see people already at samford (rick) and in birmingham (jeremy, kelly, joseph, jessica etc.) before move-in day!!! yay!
that's all the news for now!
birthday!!!
so june 26 (monday) was my birthday, and i basically did NOTHING all day, then had a party with family and my 2 best girlfriends melissa and kim! my mom baked me a checkerboard cake, which when u cut it open, it really is checkered inside! it was amazing.
then i got tickets to go see the musical chicago the night after on june 27 (last night), so i went with my aunt, 2 cousins, mom, sister, and great aunt (a fun pastime of the family girls going out to see broadway shows at tampa bay performing arts center)! and i decided that that day i would FINALLY get my hair cut cuz i was soooo annoyed with the longness of my hair, so here is a picture of what i wore to "chicago" and my new short hair (it will be shorter than that in real life, cuz i straightened it, which made it longer, so when it curls up, it'll be shorter than that).
so this morning i drove my car to the mercedes dealership to have it checked, then my dad's gonna sell it, so i've officially switched over to my mom's newer mercedes as of today (tear tear!)
tonight i'm driving to brooksville, FL with dad (1 1/2 hours there) to deliver a truck, then driving back, so i won't be home til late (JOY JOY!) o lord it's been a heck of a day, but i don't wanna recount all of the bad events that have happened this morning so far, cuz i hate talking about bad stuff!
VBS adventures
me in my sombrero (kim's mom had 2 real sombreros from mexico in her closet and kim and i got to wear them!)
so this year, as every year except for 1 (last year) my best friend kimmy and i helped lead the music on the preschool side for vacation bible school. the theme this year was fiesta!
we had so many adventures and good times, as we always do, so i'll share.
monday was hectic, as always, getting the kids familiar with the theme song (we got to cha cha! yay!)
me, kim, and miss jan leading the kids in their morning warm ups, which included massage, chop, and "butterfly tickle!"
me and fiesta elmo
tuesday, kim couldn't be there cuz of a doctor's appointment, so i was on my own to introduce the chadder video and snack to all the kids and entertain them with the point of the day during that time.
wednesday was fun; i don't really remember anything that sticks out there. o except that chadder is not as funny this year. i remember years where he was really funny, but this year it was kinda boring and predictable. so sometimes the preschoolers didn't get the jokes, so i would very loudly go HA HA! and they'd just all kinda stare back and me, and kim would chuckle at my idiot-ness.
me and kim under the fiesta hut i guess it was called, or maybe it was a casita, haha
thursday was cool as well! in chadder's fiesta adventure theater book it told us to have a live goldfish to do a demenstration of how jesus is our life. well, we didn't have that, so kim and i went to the nursery and they gave us a little orange plastic fish, which we then put in a bowl, and named him "fiesta phil." we totally ad-libbed this whole thing and the kids were like, "is it real?" and we were like "ya, of course!" we had to take out cups of water from the bowl, saying that everytime we did something bad, it was like taking life away from the fish. then we added them back if we did something good, saying that would make the fish live. it was quite funny.
friday was definitely the funnest! it was the last day and the kids finally got to see what happened to chadder in the end. in chadder's fiesta adventure theater book it told us to have a blanket for each crew member and their kids to sit under. well we didn't have those either. so again, with our genius, we decided to improv and use towels to cover only kim in. we covered her and she laid on the floor for like 10 minutes while the kids walked in and sat down. i told them i didn't know what was under the towel, and they told me many different answers like "it's a camel!" "it's chadder!" "it's JESUS!" was my favorite! then we played dumb and kim yelled and i was like o my goodness it is miss kim! and they all laughed and then i had to ask her why she didnt like it under the towels, cuz it was hot and dark and she was scared. then i took off the towels and she said she felt better cuz she was not hot anymore and she could see, and somehow i hope that demonstrated that jesus is our savior! haha the 5th bible point of the week!
then me and kim and zach (with his broken leg) went across the street to the elementary side to get these huge balloons that spelled FIESTA to bring them to the preschool side since all the kids (elem. and preschool) were coming to the preschool side to sing all the songs together. and as kim and i were carrying all the balloons, it was my job to watch the f, i, and e. AND THE I FLEW AWAY!!!! omg we about died! it wasn't even attached to the string! so kim and i took them across the street and rearranged them into the word "FEAST." and miss jan walked in and stood there for like 30 seconds reading them and said, 'is something wrong with the A?' and we were about to burst out laughing and we were like, "no, we lost the I!" so miss debbie got mad and said i have an extra I balloon, go blow it up and fix it. dang. i really wanted to leave it FEAST. none of the kids woulda noticed! i guess not everyone appreciates our genius.
so on sunday, as is tradition, the kids get up on national television when st. paul united methodist church is broadcast via sky angel satellite across america at 11:00 am. and sing the vbs theme song. so i led the kids up on stage, then came down in front of them and did the motions with them and they sang on nat'l tv! so kewl!
we tivoed it, and i haven't watched it yet, but i will soon so i can see myself arranging 100 or so kids on the church stage haha. praise god for another wonderful year of vacation bible school!
and look out st. paul, because miss kim and miss sadie are going to be the MUSIC LEADERS for the preschool side next year, miss jan's movin' to the elementary side! go us!
it's tradition that we always go to my favorite mexican restaurant, los mariachis, after my birthday, which every year has been during vbs, except this one, so we made an exception and went thursday. and we always take a traditional picture of me, kim and stella there. here's to future VBS's and more wonderful memories!
happy birthday to me! so far...
so today is my 19th birthday! i was born at 5:47 pm and its an interesting story cuz i was born 2 weeks early in ATLANTA GEORGIA (that was for u, rick), but i'm not gonna write about it here. i don't know; maybe i'll change my mind and write about it since my mom tells me that story ever year.
so my dad tells me last night while i'm on the phone (having an intelligent conversation MIND YOU) when my dad walks in and is like "u have to get up in the morning and go run cars with me." GREEEEAT. on my birthday, spend 2-3 hours picking him up, following him to different dealers and body shops (i could drive to the toyota dealership on US HWY 19 blindfolded now). i didn't eat breakfast, and it was rainy and humid and semi-nasty outside.
well, as soon as i pull out of my neighborhood, my car fishtails! i freak out, but it's happened before. on the way home from step sing practice at like 9 or 10 at night in a dark, hilly neighborhood in birmingham, lydia and kelly and i were listening to music in my car. i stopped at the stop sign in this neighborhood, and there were a million other cars behind me since all of us 70 independent ladies were going back to samford. and i turned left and hit on the gas to get up this hill, when my back end swerves and my motor revs and i head for these trees. i heard lydia scream behind me, then kelly next to me, so i just completed the chain, even though i wasn't scared because my dad had taught me to let off the gas, don't hit the brakes, and just steer, without jerking the wheel. well, it was no big deal, cuz that worked, but we were all kind of frazzled.
so this morning i thought okay that was just a one time freaky thing, because i had to turn out of my neighborhood and i guess i just hit the gas too hard coming out. but it happened again when i took off at a light going straight and it fishtailed again, and that time it scared me. i started crying and called daddy, who was driving a truck in front of me. we pulled over and he called this guy that's checking up my mom's mercedes. my dad found out that her '98 mercedes has newer traction protection, so now i'm definitely taking her car instead of mine. so i feel better, but not the best way to start off my birthday.
so here i am, sitting at home. my party starts at 6, so i'm just chillin' till then. maybe i'll go kick some butts at super smash brothers before i have to do anything.
i've had 24 people post on my wall so far today saying happy birthday! so that makes me feel good, and joseph macon has said happy birthday to me like 10 times so far. rick sang to me at midnight last night, so he beat everyone, then my family came in and sang to me after midnight. can't wait til tonight! i got yellow cake with chocolate icing (my favorite!) waiting for me later and my whole wonderful family and a few close girlfriends comin' on over to party!
random entry in between china entries
okay, since i'm being soooo slow at writing stuff about china, basically cuz i don't feel like tackling the 600 PICTURES in iphoto and deciding which ones go where, i'm gonna write about what's actually been worth mentioning in my life lately.
i'm listening to nick lachey's new song "what's left of me." i guess i could say this song is my new obssession, thanks stella! there's nothing like an awesome, passionate song sung by some guy with a gorgeous voice! when josh groban's closer album came out 3 years ago (he's LONG OVERDUE for another album in my opinion) i had oceano on repeat like 50 times.
so i woke up at 6 this morning. so much for getting back to sleeping normally. today is the first day that i haven't taken a nap since i've gotten back from china, and i've been told by well-travelled family members that you have to force yourself not to take naps, and to stay up until your normal bed time at night, then your body will wake up at a normal time, and you'll be back on a good sleep schedule. but NO. went to bed at maybe 12, 12:30, and i expected to wake up at 8:30 maybe, but not 6!!!
O well! so i woke up and watched Annie, since i haven't seen that in like a year or more. i remember going to disney MGM studios and auditioning for the part of annie in the new disney movie musical. ugh. my mom sat with me in the lobby waiting room on the carpet floor with 100's of other 11-13 year old girls with sticker numbers on our chests and waited to be called into this HUGE room in front of some disney talent guys and sang for them. i sang happy birthday first and then tomorrow. o crap and when i introduced myself, they said, "where are you from?" and i was like, "florida, seminole," lol! instead of seminole, florida. STUPID SADIE! i remember they told me that my voice was too advanced and not a children's voice and therefore i couldn't do it! haha well i'd rather have heard that then played a red-head with freckles anyway! so we had a fun rest of the day at disney world doing whatever!
i'm about to go figure out how to tivo a movie on turner classic movies, so let's hope that either i figure it out before 11, or that my sister wakes up before 11 haha to do it for me.
wow i feel like going on a random walk in my neighborhood right now. i think one of the last times i blogged i put that i randomly felt like walking my dog. but this time i wanna take my ipod for a walk hehe. my bike is in storage sadly. i miss my bike.
my best friend EVER's graduation is tomorrow night. she's the beautiful valedictorian of canterbury high school! go kimmy! so i'll be there to support and laugh and cry with my bff kimmy!
praise God for a beautiful day! praise him for breath in my body and a wonderful circle of family and friends to share it with! now i'm gonna go out and enjoy it!
China: Chapter 1
well i figure it's about time to conquer the monumental task of talking about china and sharing pictures. so...HERE I GO!
chapter 1 will consist of what i did when i got there. chapter 2 will consist of the first real adventure, THE GREAT WALL.
so in case u didn't know, the call time was 1 AM on sunday morning, may 21 to be in the LSW parking lot with all of our stuff to load up the bus to drive to atlanta. our flight left at 8 from atlanta, and we lost an hour. at least i got some sleep on the bus on matt's shoulder, though my efforts to sit by some guy that i'm friends with on the plane did not work, therefore i didn't get really any sleep on the plane rides.
me and matt on the bus to atlanta
checking our bags was hell and i never want to fly out of atlanta airport again! EVER! i will drive to birmingham to fly! i would much rather sit it out in b'ham or the burg. my bag weighed 49.42 pounds, right under the weight limit, because me and dad drove to the ups store in b'ham to weigh it before we left and repacked it in the store, took some things out, whatever, so we wouldn't have to pay the over fee.
we got to san francisco and had about 5 hours to do whatever, so most of us went to this mexican restaurant. they had a full size coach store in the san francisco airport, which excited me, but i was too tired and knew that they didn't have anything that i hadn't seen before, since i'm ALWAYS up to date (i'm on their mailing and e-mailing list) on coach merchandise.
me, matt, kenny and lydia in the mexican restaurant in the san francisco airport
so on the plane, i sat next to ejo, with lydia and robert behind me. whew! what an interesting 12 hour flight that was! me and elizabeth were cracking up laughing, and we watched 4 movies on the way to china. my hips started killing me when we had 4 hours left on the flight, so i asked robert to move so i could sit by lydia and we talked about *boys* haha!
when we got to china, we went straight to the hotel. we stayed at the 4 star Yu Yang Hotel in Beijing. we ate breakfast every morning in the green garden cafe, the continental breakfast place in the hotel.
the yu yang hotel
me holding up a chinese coke that was in our fridge in our room (me and lydia were roommates)
me and lydia at the first of many breakfasts in the green garden cafe
the next day was a free day; we did some shopping but mostly resting, since beijing is exactly 12 hours ahead of eastern time.
then the next day begins the journey to the great wall of china!!! to be continued...
back from china!
so i got back from china 2 nights ago. i have NO IDEA where to start describing the trip, so i'm not going to for this blog lol. but i will enclose some random photos, but so i don't get carried away, i'll only show you pictures that don't have any amazing backgrounds that i will have to explain.
me and matt being stupid in the san francisco airport before we boarded the plane for china.
me, ragan and kenny on the bus going somewhere; i think it was on the way to the great wall.
me and matt exhausted after we climbed the great wall.
me, kenny and adam after our forbidden city concert
me and lydia walking in the rain in tiananmen square.
me, adam and jeremy scroggs singing in the rain before we entered the forbidden city.
me and drew in the forbidden city in front of the place that held the emperor's throne
me, matt and ragan being stupid in the forbidden city
this is my 2nd full day home and i'm excited! today has started off kinda rough though. i went to bed at 1 am, then woke up at 4:30 after i had a bad dream. i watched some episodes of the nanny, then ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill in 32 minutes. after that i felt like walking mabel around the neighborhood, so i did.
in 30 minutes i'm gonna do some car errands with my dad. we're gonna drive around and take some cars to his shop and different body shops and what not, then i'll be doing whatever, probably eating something and watching movies. and my mom and i want to read through the miss universe beauty book that i've been dying to steal ever since i got it for my sister for her birthday.
speaking of birthdays, my birthday is coming up soon! my mom told me yesterday while we were sitting out by the pool OMG WAIT TIL U C WHAT UR GETTING FOR UR BDAY!!! so i'm excited about that!
me and mom are looking through old photos of the family now. i was SOOOO born in the wrong era. all of these awesome old black and white photos of my grandma and my namesake great grandma sadie in these cool old bathing suits standing by all these old cars with their hair done like bette davis makes me wanna live in that time. AT LEAST the 1950s. or maybe the gone with the wind era, probably somewhere in between. whatever.
so i went to my old high school yesterday because they were having a meeting about the band and choir going to austria in summer of 2008 to get cultural experiences and sing, play, and such. alumni are allowed to go, so i went to the meeting with melissa and we saw some kids in band that we missed and such, but mostly band parents that love us and miss us. i took pictures of me at the great wall to show them and pictures of me and rick cuz everybody's asking to see pictures! mrs. martell who always asks me which one of her boys i'm going to marry said that rick looks european, and mr. martell said he thinks he saw him on america's most wanted last night lol! they crack me up! i love their family!
so i'm gonna go eat something else cuz after an apple and a banana, i'm still hungry. GO FIGURE. then i'm going to run errands with dad, and i'll be back around.
lonely day
except for the fact that i spent some of this morning with rick, it's been a very lonely day.
so when i walked to the caf this morning, found the doors closed and saw that all the tables were up off the floor, i realized that it's shut down for this semester and i'm gonna have to rely on my car for meals until my dad gets here on saturday, but no WAIT, i'll still have to do that since my dad won't be renting a car, of course.
so i called rick, since he was planning on meeting me in the caf, and we went to waffle house.
then i came back to the room and watched seven brides for seven brothers (musical). then kelly came to the room and we said goodbye as she took the last of her stuff (SAD!!!) but i'll see her in a month or so cuz WE'RE GOIN' TO DISNEY WORLD!!! (and lydia is too i'm soooo excited!)
then i went to moe's and got some lunch, and i honestly could not understand what the little mexican dude was saying for a second (he was saying for here or to go?) and i had to have him repeat it like 3 times, i felt so bad! i didn't know moe's gave student discounts.
so after getting my moe's i decided it was movie time AGAIN. so this time i went all out. i pulled out yet another 4-hour movie that i own besides gone with the wind and watched it. i watched ben-hur, starring the amazing charlton heston (he's also in another biblical 4-hour movie, the ten commandments, which i also own, but it's at home in florida). and since i bought the 2-disc soundtrack to ben-hur about 2 weeks ago, i've been wanting to watch it, and i had time today.
after ben-hur, i went to the mall and got some chinese chicken (yum!), then sat here and watched the OC. i've never watched a full episode before b/c i turned it off last season b/c it was SOOO DUMB. so since there was NOTHING on tonight, i was like, o lord, i'm gonna watch the OC. and it was pretty stupid still, but i had not the patience nor the desire to put down my fork and flip through other channels a million times until i found something else.
so i chose the season finale one to watch i guess, and it was very tense. yikes, this creepy guy like chased after the main character girl, and got her into a car wreck, and she died in her best friend's arms. so the main character got killed off. but the guy that was driving the car with her in it was stupid. the angry jealous ex-boyfriend dude was drunk and was ramming their car with his and trying to run them off the road, which he eventually did. why would u not slam on the brakes and let him speed past you like an idiot? whatever; it's a dumb show, and it's all unrealistic.
anyways, i'm gonna go to bed early tonight so that i can not worry about getting up tomorrow. i need more time to pack for china tomorrow morning because i have choir rehearsal from 1-2:30. then i have to pick up my dress for china at the alterations place, then be back for baccalaureate soon after. then who knows? maybe i'll finally get a chance to talk to lydia, since we really haven't been as good of friends since the west virginia trip because of, let's see: secret garden and boys. boys take up so much time, sheesh! jk! we love it!
anyway, i'm going to go to bed really soon, like in the next 20 minutes, so i have to clear all the crap off my bed from packing for china. then tomorrow it's nothing until 1 thank goodness! I GET TO SEE MY DADDY ON SATURDAY!!! YAY!!!
this week's schedule
it's so great that i actually have time to blog!
i planned on waking up at 8:30 to have just enough time to get ready, eat breakfast, then go see jeremy's senior presentation, but i couldn't sleep past 7:30. o well.
so today that's the routine for the morning, then a meeting with dr. paul at 10:30 to discuss voice this year and next year. then lunch out with jeremy, rick, and maybe others, but not kenny, cuz he's a loser and can't go. but i have reserved him as the person i will be sitting by on the plane from atlanta to san francisco on sunday! then i've reserved matt andrews for the plane to china. it's so funny that everyone's started picking who they're gonna sit by on all these plane trips in the next week, but u know i don't wanna be stuck by *some people.*
so after lunch, i can go to Wesley and pick up my DO baseball shirt (pink and gray, of course!), so i'm excited about that.
tomorrow i'm packing and watching movies. friday, have nothing until choir at 1, which will go on until 2:30, then baccalaureate's at 5, so i'll be busy for most of friday.
then i have to go to the airport at 7:30 on saturday morning to pick up my daddy! then we'll do breakfast, pack, go to los compadres for lunch, pack some more, then go to brio for dinner! we've got it all planned out. then i leave for china at 1:30 AM sunday morning on a bus with AC!
i can't wait to go to china! daddy gave me an american express gold business card with my name on it from his business. yay!
well, it is time for me to go get ready, as i listen to the gorgeous pipes of michael buble!
