Sometimes, Nature is Wonderful

http://loiter.co/v/watch-a-leopard-reaction-when-it-finds-out-that-hi/

HO!

http://vod.io/N6Qc5/

NYC!

Just got back from a trip to New York City with my fabulous roommate, Jordan!

We won tickets through Millersville University and got to go to NYC for the day and see Phantom of the Opera...AND WE ONLY HAD TO PAY $20. It was amazing! And the seats we had for the show? Middle mezzanine. Typically $85. WOOT!

I'd write a longer post, but...I HAVE TO GO TO BED. Tomorrow I'm driving to West Chester to see a bunch of my friends from Bucs and then I'm going to David's to practice for Crown's audition camp which is NEXT WEEKEND. KINDA FREAKING OUT.

Night! Will post some sort of other update later!

Marching Band Memes

WHAT A DAY

Woke up this morning to register for classes...couldn't register for one of them so I had to call the help hotline and wait for 30 minutes on hold before they told me that there's just a bug in the system and I'd have to wait it out until they fixed it. GAH.

Theeeeennnn...Jordan lost her ID card! She had it in her back pocket the night before and this morning we just could not find it...so that was a big hulabaloo.

Then KAITLIN forgot her ID card when she went to breakfast!

At work I spent roughly TWO HOURS revising/editing/totally changing my thesis and pretty much my whole interpretive poetry paper that's due tomorrow.

I got back home around 6:30PM, opened up the email I had sent to myself from work containing the updated document, AND IT WAS THE WRONG VERSION. I SENT MYSELF THE ORIGINAL ROUGH DRAFT OF THE PAPER.

Aaaaaannnndddd...I had deleted the file from the Provost's computer, so it's not like I could have gone back early in the morning to retrieve it.

So I had to do the WHOLE THING. ALL. OVER. AGAIN. I was about ready to cry and/or yell at some people. It would not have been pretty.

But I pulled myself together...ate some wonderful homemade dinner my daddy sent back with me...ate some Skittles...and got to work...LESS THAN TWO HOURS LATER AND I'M DONE.

BOOM BABY.

Time for some relaxation and gluten-free, lactose-free cupcakes!!!

I feel it in my bones...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh-72yBP7sw

'X'

On Monday in my Educational Foundations class the topic of the day was bullying. But instead of just discussing how bullying impacts students, we watched a documentary about a boy who was bullied and tormented all through middle school and high school for being gay, his experiences, and how he successfully sued the school for failing to protect him. It was incredibly powerful and emotional to watch. After it ended, our class of 40 was absolutely silent for a few moments. Then our professor put up a collage of teenagers' pictures on the board, telling us that although some students have a happy ending to their story, others see no way out and commit suicide.

This led to the discussion of what causes someone so young to take their own life. We had to do an exercise where we wrote down the top five things in life that are most important to us. Then our professor told us to imagine that something tragic had happened, so now we had to cross out one...which do you choose? We kept going through this process until it got down to only having one item on the list left. It may sound like a simple task, but in the moment with all the emotions it was incredibly intense. Trying to comprehend what I would do with my life if I ONLY had my family...I crossed out my education, my home, my friends, David...just family left. And then we were forced to cross out the last one...it was so hard putting an 'X' through 'My Family.' I was completely emotionally drained.

We connected the activity to what happens to students who feel like they're losing control of everything in life and like they have nothing important left to live for...how they end up deciding that suicide is the best option.

It was not a fun class at all. But it was completely necessary and incredibly moving. I think, and hope, that when I'm a teacher (and even now as a student) I'll be able to recognize bullying and reach out to those involved, be a friend and provide a reason to stay alive.

THE WALKING DEAD (Float Photos)

Yay parade!

We had some people get really intense with their costumes/makeup!

My absolute favorite picture I took. I was standing on a table and all the 'walkers' surrounded me. I love how the hand is the only thing in focus and everything else is a freakish blur!

Paul as Rick!

My wonderful fantastic roommate, Jordan, getting her zombie makeup done!

L to R: Dead Lori (ME!!!), Beth, Pregnant Lori, Rick (MY BFF PAUL!!!), Andrea, Shane, Merle, The Governor, Daryl, Clementine (from the video game)

Homecoming Parade!

THE HOMECOMING PARADE WAS SO MUCH FUN.

As the HCSA Special Events Chair, I was completely responsible for organizing the Honors College float for the Homecoming Parade. Which meant coming up with a theme...creating a float...finding a trailer...finding a van...finding someone to drive it...keeping track of parade attendance...buying candy...buying makeup...SO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY AND STRESS. BLEGH.

So up to today, the whole parade thing was just this big ball of stress that had to be dealt with. But doing the actual parade was AWESOME.

The theme was The Walking Dead, and so about 10 people were actual characters from the show (I WAS DEAD LORI!) and everyone else (maybe 20 or more people?) was a zombie! And we went all out with the ripped up clothing...fake blood...gore...skin peeling off...dark circles...detached limbs...livers...hearts...brains..guts...it was beautifully hideous.

And the whole time we're doing the parade, we had the creepy soundtrack of The Walking Dead blasting from the van! And there'd be fight sequences and screaming and zombies moaning and growling...oh my word it was awesome.

PICTURES TO BE POSTED SHORTLY!

Yay Monday!

I may possibly have just had the best Monday of my life.

David slept over Sunday night, so I got to fall asleep and wake up with him.
I made delicious veggies omelettes for us for breakfast.
We got to chill most of the morning and have just us time.
Then we went to PF Chang's and had A PHENOMENAL LUNCH.
Then to the movies! We saw "Gravity." Oh my word. Amazing experience.
After that I drove to my dad's house (and avoided traffic by taking the back roads!).
Had a yummy dinner of gluten free burritos and homemade guacamole.
Watched TV and bonded as a family.
Ate delicious lactose-free ice cream with raspberries and dark chocolate.
Played video games with my brother.
And now I get to go to bed with the knowledge that I have another day off of school tomorrow!
Fantastic Monday!

BOO BOSTON!

So I'm kinda totally bummed out.

After my amazing experience last season with the Reading Buccaneers, I was so pumped to go audition for a DCI corps. I loved Bucs, but I was ready to take it to the next level.

I had my heart set on auditioning with the Boston Crusaders, but when I emailed them to ask if they'd be able to provide for my gluten/lactose-free dietary needs, they said no. Which means they're just not an option anymore.

BLEGH.

So now it's decision time...go back to Bucs for another year to get more experience? Audition somewhere else? Cadets? Bluecoats? Such turmoil! Can't figure out what I want to do...but in the meantime I'll just keep practicing. No matter what, I'll be marching somewhere this summer.

"Standard Time"

This year, I am the Special Events Chair of the Honors College Student Association at Millersville University (wow that's a mouthful!). One of the events I planned for this month was a trip to the Fulton Theater (an opera house) in Lancaster to see the dance musical "Standard Time." IT WAS PHENOMENAL.

The production is all of these professional dancers and singers (who have incredible Broadway experience) coming together for a show choreographed by Mark Stuart. There's no lines in it at all...it's just dance and music, but it was so incredibly moving.

The first movement was set in the 1938s and focused on a guy who shined shoes for a living and followed his experiences of trying to get a job, working in a hotel, and falling for one of the rich heiresses living there. The music was GREAT cause it was all stuff taken from that era, and the dancing was really old-fashioned as well. It was entertaining, comedic, and also thought-provoking with the issue of class difference being examined. Another cool aspect of it was the two main characters, the guy shining shoes and the heiress he falls far, were the only ones wearing red. All the other dancers/singers involved were in some variation of black. So those two really stood.

The next movement took place in the 1968 and followed the story of an interracial couple trying to be together though their friends tore them apart. It took place in a jazz club (THE MUSIC WAS ROCKING!) and was very West Side Story-esque. Two groups...one a mix of African-American/Latino/Asian (representing different races) and the other all Caucasians. They had dance-offs, singers competed to show off who was better, and then it all led up to this ballad where the lights dimmed, and the only focus was on a white girl and a black guy (both dressed in red...see the trend?) who had been noticing each other all night. They danced together, BUT WITHOUT TOUCHING. It was absolutely beautiful to watch, really emotionally effective choreography. After a few minutes, they finally held hands...something so incredibly simple but holding so much meaning after dancing for so long with no physical contact, but then the music went nuts and the lights went nuts and the friends from each side started fighting each other and pulling hair and throwing punches and one of the white guys got out a knife and through all the ruckus, the featured girl got stabbed. And then the curtain went down. That was the end. We were all sitting there with our jaws dropped. So much emotional build up and such an abrupt ending...ridiculously powerful.

The third movement took place in 2008, and it was my absolute favorite one. The music was all modern (there were songs by Adele, One Republic, Sara Bareilles, etc.) but all done in new styles...ah! So good! It opened with a guy in a red tank top surrounded by the rest of the cast, all in black hoodies and black pants, and it was just madness and chaos. And at the end of his feature, another guy in a red tank top walked across the stage...which piqued everyone's curiosity because in each movement, the ones in red always ended up as being the couple. Then there was a transition and a girl in a red dress came on stage and she danced a BEAUTIFUL solo with a man dressed in black to the song "Gravity" (Sara Bareilles)...but at the end of it, the girl was alone and you got the message that her love had passed away. The next scene was at a bar and a big dance scene with all sorts of couples...lesbians...interracial...and then the girl in red showed up but she was with a different man. Their dance was all about being in an abusive relationship...it was so moving and powerful. Ridiculously fast choreography...her being tugged and thrown all across the stage...it ended with the man throwing her down on the ground and leaving her. The music stopped and all you could hear was her sobbing. Then the man from the beginning with the red tank top helped pick her up, showed her a new way to dance/be in a relationship, and they got married. After the next transition, he was still in his red tank top but she had changed into black shorts, a black sports bra, and a cardigan and the scene was them living together at home. We saw their daily routine of going to bed together, waking up and brushing teeth, eating breakfast, then going to work. It went through that pattern three or four times, and each time you could tell the man wasn't as happy as he was before. At one point, the second man in the red tank (from the first scene) came into the house and the two of them danced and the wife came in and saw them, then she ran out crying. Then it was all this craziness of the stage being split and the two men dancing together and figuring out their relationship while the girl worked through her pain...but by the end, they all found peace. She accepted her husband's sexual orientation and let him go be with the other man, and the husband finally was in a fulfilling relationship. I cried so hard, because that's pretty much the storyline of my parents. And I absolutely LOVED how they conveyed the story...neither of them was a bad guy. It was clear the man wasn't happy and not with who he was supposed to be with. But it was also clear the woman was torn up and struggled to be okay, but she eventually found acceptance. I was sobbing. Thinking of my mom...my dad...the struggle for both of them and the amazing resolution that now my family is completely at peace with everything that happened and I couldn't imagine life any other way.

The dance musical ended with an awesome feel good song with joyful dancing (there's no other way to describe it) and celebration, and then a short feature at the end with all the three couples that had been the focus from the different time periods. It was amazing. When it came to the curtain call, I stood up the fastest I ever have for any performance.

What the choreographer and those dancers/singers did was astounding. It was so thought-provoking and emotionally powerful...without one word ever being spoken.

Short clip from one of the musical's workshops: http://www.thefulton.org/standard-time/

Big Lips?

Saturday night, David and I were lounging in my dorm room on my couch (IT IS THE BEST COLLEGE COUCH EVA! Hideous, compact, and comfy!) just talking about random stuff and he was looking at me at one point and offhandedly commented, "You have a really small mouth." Immediately, I was offended. I told him that's a terrible thing to say to a girl, it's like telling a guy his junk is really small. He couldn't comprehend what I meant, saying he thought he was complementing me. So then this started this whole discussion of the "idealness" of women with big lips...

I think females with big lips are super attractive. And using the ridiculous illogical logic that society has taught me, my brain goes like this: She's really hot. She has big lips. My lips are small. That must mean I'm not pretty.

Boom. Irrational. Terrible. Nonsense. But it's totally the way my mind works.

I showed David pictures of Penelope Cruz, Emily Ratajkowski...and he just shook his head and said their lips look silly and fake and he doesn't find it appealing at all. I told him he was nuts.

But then he made a point that I had never thought of before: "If your lips were as big as theirs, it wouldn't go right with the rest of your face. Your proportions are perfect the way they are."

Woah. That sort of makes sense. I kind of hate my lips a little less now...

The whole conversation got me thinking about how crazy it is that we all compare ourselves to celebrities, models, our friends, etc. and use their facial features to judge our own. We watch tutorials on youtube to try to copy the way Nina Dobrev does her makeup...how riannstar does her hair...how Lauren Conrad shapes her eyebrows...but they're doing what's best for THEIR faces. Who's to say that I would look so much better copying celebrities? What if, instead, I focused on my best features and owned them as being my own?

Food for thought.

Drum corps has spoiled me.

I expect all of my friendships to be deep, meaningful, and awesome. I expect to be thoroughly understood and accepted. I expect social interactions to be effortless, with no thought. I expect to be happy all of the time.

And it just doesn't work that way in the real world.

David's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!

My man returned to me last Monday night!!! DCI finals were Saturday and the Bluecoats got FIFTH! One better placement than last year AND they beat Phantom Regiment! Woot woot!

Monday night I went over to his place to chill with his family and eat Chinese food...well, they had Chinese food, I had to bring along my own gluten-free salad and eat that instead. Sigh. It was really nice just to relax, lounge on a couch and talk to him. You end up really missing those little moments when someone's gone for three months.

And then on Tuesday it was ADVENTURE TIME!! About a month ago we decided we wanted to take a little mini-vacation together when he got home, and we chose to go to Washington, DC. So we left Tuesday morning around 8:30, and hit MAJOR traffic...but it was no biggie, we didn't have specifically timed plans so it didn't matter if we got to the city two hours later than planned.

Our first stop was the Smithsonian Zoo!!! We saw pandas, elephants playing with tire swings, flamingos, a baby monkey nursing, an orangutan, an ape, a bunch of other cute little mammals, tons of reptiles, a ridiculous amount of awesome-looking birds, and a statue of a hippopotamus in a pond that I totally thought was real at first...OOPS.

After two hours at the zoo, we drove the hour to the hotel, checked in (I felt like such an adult!!), dropped our stuff off, and then went off to dinner! We went to Outback Steakhouse and it was FANTASTIC. It seriously had the best gluten-free menu I've ever seen at a restaurant. I got Alice Springs Chicken and tried some of David's crab...turns out that even though I don't like seafood, I like crab! A really nice night. :) David wore his Bluecoats polo shirt that day and one of our servers knew what the Bluecoats are! Apparently he marches some indoor circuit and knows a girl who marched this Bluecoats season with David. It was pretty awesome that he got recognition for something most people don't even know exists.

Tuesday morning we got breakfast at the hotel, and they actually had some food out I could eat! Success! Then we checked out, and drove to the Metro station closest to us. We figured out how to work the Metro card pass thingers and then we were off!

We got off at the Smithsonian stop cause the thought was we would do a museum first, but the time we got there it was 11AM and we knew we'd be hungry soon so we decided to hike the 45 minutes to Union Station to get some food. Then after a yummy, but expensive, lunch we hiked back to the National Mall area and toured the Air & Space Museum for about two hours. Instead of doing another museum next, we went to go to see the monuments. ALL the monuments. We walked THE ENTIRE MONUMENT LOOP. So much walking!!!!!!!

I think seeing the monuments was my favorite part of the trip. The architecture and structure themselves are so amazing and then the quotes inside and around all of them are BEAUTFIUL. I was totally English-major geeking out at the word choice and vocabulary and syntax and use of parallelism and and AND! The Franklin Roosevelt one was my absolute favorite. But they were all really impressive and emotional and moving.

After we completed walking the loop, we walked AGAIN to Union Station...we could have taken the metro, but that required transfers and money and it was a nice day and we've done harder things *cough drum corps cough* so we just kept on walking. For dinner I got a salad from Subway, which I didn't know you could do! You just pick your ingredients like you do for a sandwich but they turn it into a salad instead...pretty sweet.

Then we took the metro back to our original metro station, got in the car, and had an awesome drive home. It is so much fun spending hours in a car with someone when you just keep finding things to talk about even though you spent the past 48 hours with them.

Excellent trip. Excellent boyfriend. Excellent to have him back. :)

Reasons why...

...my mellophone section is the best section eva.

1. We all love each other. Seriously. No one dislikes/has any issues with anyone else in the section.
2. We all slap each other's butts regularly to communicate hype, encouragement, and love.
3. During rehearsal we each carry around a small water gun to spray each other and other hornline members (as well as unexpecting staff...muah ha ha!).
4. We whoop and holler during run throughs to keep the energy going.
5. We are easily the most attractive section of the corps.
6. We are the only section that has every single member climb a ladder during the show.
7. We have amazing techs.
8. We have neon orange hats.
9. We had a "superhero boxer" hype day. We all wore superhero boxers over our shorts.
10. Our section leader made us all mellophone superhero capes when we had our superhero hype.

:D!

I am so freakin' happy right now!

Bucs is wonderful and amazing. I've met so many new friends and love them all so insanely much.

My job is AWESOME. I'll have to make a separate post about it sometime later but seriously, most rewarding job in the world. I'm gonna miss it.

School is coming up soon and I'm starting to get excited! New people to meet...old people to reconnect with...(shout out to Paul!!!)...new classes...ANOTHER JOB! It's gonna be great. :)

Family life is pretty dang good.

I'm TAN (for once in my life).

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnndddddddd...David comes home in less than a month!!!!!

Life is good. :)

BAND

Drum corps is hard. Here are the stats to prove it.

Scott (a member of Bucs mello line with me) wore a heart rate monitor for our final run through yesterday afternoon. The results? His max heart rate was 189 bpm and his average was 172 bpm throughout the show. To put this in perspective, Scott frequently runs marathons and 5K's. His average heart rate for a 22 minute 5K run is 172 bpm. We reach that average in a 12 minute show.

I'm just gonna say it...holy shit.

Speaking of drum corps being difficult, we also put in a choreography section in the ballad during which I'm lifted and then do a sommersault in the air and roll onto the ground. Pretty sweet and pretty freaky. Here's some pictures from the weekend (first ones of the new visual...others are just awesome):

First Day of Summer

I think I would consider today to be my first official day of summer...I'm not at work today. But that's only because I was in the hospital yesterday.

This weekend was the first really hot weekend of Bucs. Everyone got naked (yay working on my tan!) and smelled nasty within 15 minutes of practice. On Saturday after lunch, I started feeling really sick. Light-headed...dizzy...terrible stomach pain...but I pushed through the day. It was miserable but at the end of it all I was proud of myself that I didn't sit out.

Then yesterday morning I woke up with the same stomach pain. Tried to eat some eggs for breakfast, had two bites and felt like I was gonna be sick, and so just settled on having a banana. Got to practice and within half an hour I was feeling super sick again. But I pushed through and at 12:30 we had a quick snack break (only about 20 minutes). I tried to eat some apple slices but my stomach didn't want any of it...it hurt to eat, it hurt to drink. So by the time 2:00 came around, I was incredibly malnourished and dehydrated but still pushing through rehearsal cause I didn't wanna sit out.

WELL...then we started working on Part 4. The mellos have this awesome feature and we stand on ladders and play it (which is kinda freaky but I'm sure will look fantastic). On the first rep I climbed up, got situated, started playing the feature, and then everything started going black. I stopped playing and just kinda stood until the rep was finished. When it was over, I looked over at Liz and told her I thought I was gonna faint. She yelled for one of the techs to grab my horn from me and as I was on my way climbing down I blacked out. When I woke up I was on the ground hyperventilating with techs all around me putting ice cold washcloths all over my body to calm me down.

After about 15 minutes I still felt sick and my body was completely numb so they took me to the hospital. I was wheelchaired inside, hooked up to a bunch of machines (my blood pressure was super low), and then had a bunch of tests performed on my body. I got an IV and some drugs to help my stomach and my head and I was feeling better for a bit. Then someone came in to check my blood pressure. They took the numbers when I was sitting up, lying down, and standing up and apparently my numbers were still bad. After that I got super nauseous and had to get a second IV that was double the dose of the first one.

Finally, after 5 hours of being in the hospital, I was able to go home. I wanted to go into work today but mom thought it was best that I stay home and get some rest, which is probably the smartest thing to do.

So here I am...posting for the first time in weeks because it's been so long since I've had any free time. Drum corps is still totally awesome and I love it...I'm just really hoping I don't get weird stomach pain (they could never figure out what it was exactly) every single weekend.

One positive that came out of the trip to the hospital though is that I found out I'm in FANTASTIC shape! As in my resting heart rate is lower than average because of all the intense exercise I've been doing with drum corps. My heart is incredibly efficient. Yay participating in an activity that's pretty much like running for 12 hours a day!

Drum Corps Update

I FOUND MYSELF IN A BLUECOATS VIDEO!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uKIpVAl7Aak#!


I'm at 2:39...the one in the neon shirt playing the mellophone WHO IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE FRAME AT THAT SECOND! Woooooooooooooooooo!!!

Speaking of drum corps, Reading Buccaneers is now and forever in full speed ahead practice mode! Practices every Friday night, all day Saturday, and most of the day Sunday for the rest of the summer. I'm PUMPED! We had Spring Preview this past Saturday (ON MY BIRTHDAY!) and it was fantastic. We practiced all day outside in the rain, got to the high school, ate dinner, showered, put on our uniforms, did a warm up, and then went and blew the socks off of everyone! Or, as Paul (our brass caption head) would say: "Mellophones, I want this part to sound like SATAN'S PANTIES." No joke. When he wants us to play like crazy, he looks at us and says, "SP."

It was fantastic playing for a huge audience. AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS FANTASTIC?? I have a dance duet with another mellophone in Part 3 of the show! We were learning drill and Chris and I were a couple yardlines away from the rest of the mellophone section and we were super confused...but then we found out we were picked to do a dance together! A dance that includes a LIFT. As in I will be off the ground completely depending on Chris' brute strength to keep me alive. It will be interesting...BUT I'M SUPER EXCITED TO HAVE A SPECIAL PART IN THE SHOW!!!!!!!

I have decided that drum corps is one of the best things to ever happen to me. It is also the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life...by far. But it is so worth it. :)

Me in the Bucs uniform at Spring Preview!

Lack of posts=crazy life

My life is getting crazy busy...but for all the right reasons!

The semester's winding down so that means finishing up papers and testing and all that.

Reading Buccaneers practice is every single weekend now (and soon to be every single Friday + weekend).

I had a job interview a couple weeks ago for a summer position at Altec, a company that works with mentally disabled adults, and I got the job! So my summer schedule will look like this: Monday-Friday work 8:30AM-3:30PM, Friday night rehearsal at Bucs, Saturday-Sunday all day rehearsal at Bucs, and BEGIN AGAIN!

And it's good that I'll be busy...BECAUSE MY MAN LEAVES IN TWO WEEKS FOR BLUECOATS... :(

THIS week has been busy too because I had an interview for an on-campus job working at food services for next semester. Got that job too, so that'll be some nice extra money.

ANNNNNNDDDD I have another interview NEXT week to work as a secretary in the Provost office! If everything works out, I'll have both jobs next semester...which seems slightly daunting but I've always worked well under pressure.

So I think that wraps up my life for now...back to life!

Movies that have the same plot if described in one sentence

A cowboy must deal with an unwelcome alien. (Toy Story and Cowboys & Aliens)

The hero's life is tested when their alternate personality gets a little too overwhelming. (Hannah Montana and Fight Club)

An orphan discovers he has magic powers and saves the world. (Star Wars and Harry Potter)

A street rat steals a loaf of bread and stuff goes down. (Aladdin and Les Mis)

The hero has to go to a different world for the opportunity to walk, and they risk being ostracized if they decide to stay. (The Little Mermaid and Avatar)

"Our Song"

David and I officially have "a song."

Real Beauty

Dear Straight People...

http://www.upworthy.com/dear-straight-people-we-have-to-talk?c=bl1

Experiment #1

People (excluding Paul...he's considered a third roommate) hang out in Jordan and my's room ALL THE TIME and it's getting to the point that we're both pretty sick of it. It's a tough situation to deal with though because it's hard to tactfully tell everyone to just get out, especially when you have no reason you want them to leave except for you want your space and they're crowding it.

The other really weird thing is that people only ever sit on Jordan's bed, and it irks her quite a bit cause it's her personal space and there's bunches of people there all the time. So today we're doing an experiment to see if we can coax people onto my bed. Her bed is covered with mountains of blankets so there's no obvious place to sit, and my bed has pillows propped up by the walls for back rests and Jordan's comfy husband pillow on it.

We shall see what happens!

Marching band isn't a sport...but what about drum corps?

This is amazing to see...explains why David is so freaking in shape at the end of the summer!

No Diggity/Thrift Shop

I LOVE this! Both their voices together is just so wonderful...and sexy... ;D

ALL of the equal signs! ALL of the equality!

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grendel

THERE IS A THEORY (a rather good one) THAT DR. SEUSS' CHARACTER THE GRINCH IS INSPIRED BY GRENDEL FROM BEOWULF. Mind blown in a totally awesome I LOVE LITERATURE AND MAKING CONNECTIONS way!!!

I was helping Paul (yo Paul, this is like the second shout out to you in a week...WOT WOT!) with coming up with texts/movies/art inspired by Beowulf and I found this site that lists a bunch of modern adaptations. One of the children's books listed was How the Grinch Stole Christmas and I was like WHAT??? So I did some research (aka google) and found that there is in fact a whole SLEW of connections between them!

• Direct quote from Beowulf: "...there lived a monster in a cave. He was a hideous beast with green fur and yellow teeth. The townspeople feared him and would never approach his cave, he in turn would never venture out to the town for he knew he was not wanted and didn't like the people much anyhow. There was one particular day of the year that he couldn't stand, and on this day he vowed to ruin the townsfolk's fun, for if he could not have any, why should they." (http://johnmanders.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/youre-a-mean-one-mr-grendel/)
• Both stories focus on a small community that is terrorized by a monster who lives in the surrounding wilderness. (http://vocamus.net/jlh/2010/12/13/grendel-and-the-grinch/)
• Neither Grendel or the Grinch attacked their villages because of greed, revenge, instinct, or hunger...both were motivated only by anger at the sounds of happiness they heard coming from the communities. Grendel can't stand the revelry in Heorot and the Grinch can't tolerate singing in Whoville.
• Both monsters are miserable and wreak their havoc on society in the middle of night.

I bet your mind is exploding with happiness and amazement right now, just like mine.

I love literature. Especially classic literature. And connecting it to other literature. It is so genius.

Facebook Status

Just finished unpacking all my luggage from Spring Break...went on Facebook and I saw this:

My dad's status: Enjoyed a string quartet by Haydn on the radio as I drove to work this morning. Then stopped by Starbucks to support a company that supports equality.

Then there was the comments section...

Martha: sounds like a good morning.
Anthony: I rather believe in the Bible.
Dad: Anthony, that hasn't changed one bit! But my understanding of it has.
Anthony: My friend, what do you mean by that?
Dad: Simply put, I no longer align with Pentecostal or conservative viewpoints of scripture but have moved more towards an Anabaptist theology.
Anthony: I no longer align with Pentecostal viewpoints either, but yes, conservative. What authoritative source do you go by?
Anthony: I mean, I go by what's Biblical. If something isn't I can't stand for it.

What an asshole. Having your own believes/morals...yes, that I can understand. But making snide, sarcastic comments? Ridiculous. And yeah, I'm probably being just as rude calling him names but it makes me so angry. Get off your high horse. Being overly judgmental of others does not make you the better person.

"Same Love"

Awesome song/video my friend Paul showed me.

Question #4

4. What gets you excited about life?

LOTS OF STUFF. I think I'm a very excitable person, haha.

• Editing research papers/essays
• Reading a fantastic book
• Spending quality bonding time with my mommy
• Crazy dinner conversations with my family
• Anything that involves my boyfriend
• Game nights
• Planning out tattoos I want
• Going to the gym and exercising until I look like a hot mess...minus the hot part
• Wearing jeans that make my butt look good
• Finding out a restaurant has wonderful gluten-free/lactose-free options 
• Chilling with my close group of friends at college
• Broadway shows
• Listening to music
• Watching DCI
• Marching with the Reading Buccaneers
• Laughing
• Thrift store shopping!
• Hot n' heavy time with my man ;D
• The Walking Dead
• Wearing mismatched socks
• Wearing an outfit I love
• Thinking about marrying David
• A solid snow storm
• Visiting best friends I haven't seen in a long time
• New York City
• Getting all dressed up for a concert, date, or special night out

There's plenty more, but these were all the ones that first popped into my head. :)

Wisdom Teeth!

Chubby chubby chipmunk!

I successfully got my wisdom teeth out! The whole process (from my side of things) was really simple and quick...but then again I don't really remember much. :P

Once I was situated in the big comfy chair, they hooked me up to all sorts of gadgets to keep track of my heart beat, breathing, blood pressure, and oxygen intake. I had to get an IV and when they saw my left arm (I got blood taken yesterday) they were like, "They BUTCHERED you!" and I confessed that no, they did a wonderful job...I just bruise a ridiculous amount.

After that, I got this oxygen mask thing which quickly stopped giving me oxygen and instead switched to laughing gas. And I was OUT in like two seconds. I remember the surgeon telling me the gas was starting and they were gonna put something in my mouth for me to bite down on before I fell asleep. WELL. I think I fell asleep before they were able to do that cause I don't remember it AT ALL.

When I woke up I felt WEIRD.

I remember trying to go back to sleep and the nurse telling me to stay away...struggling walking to the recovery room...seeing my mom...walking to the car...and then waking up at home. BUT, according to my mom a BUNCH of stuff happened in between!

Apparently, I almost started crying because I thought the surgeon was mad at me that I fell asleep so quickly. And then I had a laughing attack which caused all the machines I was hooked up to go berserk. And in the car I tripped out on my socks...saying they were the best socks EVER and pretty much crying because I love them so much. I told my mom I thought this sun artwork hanging outside someone's home looked angry and I chided them for having an angry sun. I drummed on my numbed cheeks in rhythm with a song on the radio. I geeked out about my socks again. And THEN I fell asleep. I only remember the waking up part...but that's okay, because mom had so much fun retelling me all the crazy stories.

Recovery has gone really well for me so far. I've been icing my cheeks throughout the day and I have no swelling whatsoever. I'm not even in pain! There's a slight discomfort, but no pain, which is wonderful. I've been eating pudding and white chicken chili soup and protein shakes all day...yum! Can't eat any solid food yet...tried a banana and was NOT successful. But that's okay. Baby steps. :)

Good for you if you get this reference. :)

Great photo and reminder that the number doesn't always matter.

I love tattoos

When done artfully, I really think they're something special. I've been on Pinterest for like half an hour just looking at pictures of different tattoos, and getting so inspired!

I've known for a couple months now that I really want a tattoo of an equal sign on my right ring finger to represent equal rights for gay people. I got the idea from Miley Cyrus, she has the same tattoo and when I saw it the first time I knew I needed to get it. Gay rights is really important to me because my dad is gay. The tattoo would represent my support and show how proud I am of who my dad is.

I also want a Margaret Atwood tattoo sometime in the future. She is my absolute favorite author and so getting a tattoo done of some quote (dunno what I want yet) from her would be perfect. And it's even more perfect cause I'm obsessed with books in general and I want to be an English teacher. :)

Recently I've been thinking about getting a tattoo for my mom too. My mom and I are SUPER close. Like she knows more about my life than some of my best girl friends. I love her and she loves me and life is wonderful when we're together. :) Thinking through ideas, I remembered how she always used to sing "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..." to me when I was little. And now I can't get it out of my head how perfect of a tattoo that would be! I might even suggest her and I get matching tattoos (cause she's cool with the whole tattoo thing, she wants one herself)...like maybe she gets "You are my sunshine..." and I'd get "...my only sunshine." Something like that. :)

Ooh! I'm also really into white-ink tattoos. I think they look SO AWESOME. So maybe something done with white-ink...

Yeah. I'm definitely obsessed. And I don't even have one yet!

GLUTEN SPLURGE!!!

Went to the doctor's today (migraines are back with a vengeance) and I have to get blood work done tomorrow to test for celiac disease. But in order for them to observe how my blood responds to gluten, gluten has to be in my system...and my wonderful mommy told me I could have WHATEVER I WANTED.

WE WENT TO OLIVE GARDEN. I ATE ALL THE BREADSTICKS. ALL THE PASTA. ALL THE SAUCES.

It was a beautiful thing.

But the real reason I'm writing this post is not to share my excitement. It's so I can remember it was all worth it after the headache and stomachache sets in...

My version

Cute quote:



Now here's my version:

Dear David,
Our love is the kind that I don't even have to think about. Loving every aspect of your quirky, talented, intellectual, adorable self comes naturally. Our love is the kind that is quiet on the outside (we both passionately hate PDA)...but SUPER loud on the inside (we both passionately love each other). Our love can't be likened to any metaphor or simile...it's too complex and awesome for that. We sometimes have to be apart for long periods of time, but that's okay because when we do come back together, everything is just like it was before. You complete me and I love you.
-Rachel

My man is off to Italy!

David just left my house after a fun night of Killer Bunnies and the Walking Dead (violent night...haha) and tomorrow morning he leaves for Italy! He's part of the jazz band at Kutztown and they are PHENOMENAL. So phenomenal in fact that they're touring Italy this week and playing three shows!

I'm kinda sad I don't get to spend Spring Break with him, but seeing that I get my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday this probably wouldn't be such a fun week for us. :P

But while I'm suffering through my chipmunk cheeks, he'll be off eating ALL the wonderful food and having a blast...I'm excited for him. :)

ENGLISH TEACHER TOMS

Aha!

It makes sense now! I've known for awhile that even though I'm lactose intolerant, I can eat yogurt and cheddar cheese. And telling people that, they always ask why...and I always tell them I have no clue. WELL I HAVE A CLUE NOW!

Yogurt has intestine-friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus. Some of the lactose is digested by the bacteria's enzymes, leaving less lactose to be digested by the stomach.

 For cheese, the older it is the less lactose it has. It has the same bacteria as yogurt (Lactobacillus), which turns the lactose into lactic acid, which is easily digested by humans (even us who are lactose intolerant!). So the longer a cheese ages, the more of its lactose is consumed by the bacteria. Processed cheese has the most lactose, but sharp cheddar is considered an aged cheese...which is why I can eat it!

Basically, yogurt and cheddar cheese have low amounts of lactose so they're easier for me to digest. Cool to find out the science behind the exceptions. :)

Amen to that!!! This morning I went to the gym at 7:30 like I usually do, but since Paul and I skipped gym time yesterday (it was pouring rain outside...we did a legit muscle workout in our room instead) I decided that in addition to doing my 30 minutes of weights, I would also do my 30 minutes of cardio. WOO BABY I AM SORE! But it's that wonderful sore where you feel accomplished and every time something hurts it kinda puts a smile on your face...kinda. ;D

Question #3

3. What's the most sensible thing you've ever heard someone say?

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

I heard this really recently actually, when I was watching "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (WHICH IS A WONDERFUL MOVIE AND EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH IT). I absolutely love it, because it is so utterly true. When I see people in terrible relationships, I have such a hard time wrapping my head around why they would stay with someone who makes them so unhappy or doesn't treat them right. Essentially it comes back to the individual...they don't think they're good enough to demand more out of a partner.

And it doesn't even have to be about romantic love. It applies to self-love too. If I have some sort of flaw and convince myself that flaw means I'm less of a person, I won't be able to fully love myself and who I am.

Great quote.

Question #2

2. Who do you sometimes compare yourself to?

EVERYONE. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration...but there's truth in it. I am a girl and I have been manipulated by the world to feel the need to compare myself to every other girl on this planet. Whether it's someone with better skin than me, skinnier than me, better outfit...or the other way around where I boost my ego by being happy I'm thinner than someone else or that my hair looks better than theirs. It's sick. It's twisted. It's messed up. I know I shouldn't do it, but it's instinct.

Beauty and the Beat

I recently discovered this song/video and I hereby declare that it is genius and wonderful. Every time I listen to it I pick up on something new. It's pretty sweet. :)

Tee hee

ALL the happy feels!

For Reading Buccaneers, we practice at a high school (Twin Valley) and today they were hosting an indoor percussion show. Because of the convenience of us already being there for rehearsal they asked us to do a little preview of our show and some of our warm-up chorales. And guess what? MY HIGH SCHOOL'S INDOOR PERCUSSION WAS THERE!

I came in all serious...walking in line with the hornline. And then I heard people screaming my name and I saw them in the stands all waving and jumping up and down. It was an AMAZING feeling...having so many people so psyched to see you. I think we were supposed to be serious, but I was grinning from ear to ear. :)

We set up the horn arc, and the first thing Paul (our brass caption-head) said to the audience was that all the kids got to come down to the gym floor and sit in the arc. So of course all the kids from my high school sit like TWO FEET AWAY FROM ME. I seriously had a clump of people around me...not gonna complain though! I was feeling the love. :) Then we started playing and I glance down at one point and noticed some of them were filming me...haha! They're so cute. :)

Then the band parents started screaming my name when they noticed me (AND MY RED SHOES!) in the hornline...haha. The whole thing just made me feel amazing. Knowing they all care so much and are excited to see me in Bucs. And I know this post is me kinda tootin' my own horn, but I have ALL the happy feels right now and I wanna remember this. :)

365 Thought-Provoking Questions

I stumbled upon this site titled "365 Though-Provoking Questions." Skimming through the questions, I really like a lot of them so I figured I'd try to make it a regular thing to answer a couple of them a week on my blog. I doubt I'll keep up with doing one every day, but that's okay. My blog, my rules. :) Oh and I promised myself I'd answer them in order so I can't skip around and avoid ones I don't wanna answer...so here we go! Question 1!

1. When was the last time you tried something new?

Two days ago at the Upper Deck (our main dining hall on campus) I tried lemon-baked cod for the first time. I'm not a huge seafood person, but with my new gluten-free/lactose-free diet I'm trying to be more open to healthy options...and fish is definitely wonderful for you. So I tried it, and I actually really liked it, which surprised me.

Let's see...what else is new in my life (cause that wasn't an overly exciting answer)...I have a new work-out routine I'm trying! Going to the gym 4/5 times a week instead of 3 times and I started doing weight training. I'm also trying this new thing called interval training for my cardio. Instead of just running straight for fifteen minutes or whatever, I walk a quarter mile, sprint my butt off for a quarter mile, then walk a quarter mile, then sprint my butt off for a quarter mile...and so on. It is EXHAUSTING but wonderful at the same time. It's really good for you too because you burn more calories that way and it helps you keep burning calories even after you're done working out. So I am thoroughly enjoying that newness in my life. :)

OOH! OOH! I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING ELSE! I wore COLORED jeans for the first time yesterday! I got them at Old Navy for $8 (WOOT WOOT) and I absolutely love them. They made me so happy. :)

Ta da! My roommate says they're the color of an awkward crayon...the one where you think it'll be orange but then it's slightly red, haha!

New Diet, New Perspective

Living gluten-free and lactose-free is extremely difficult.

It means saying no to bread. To english muffins. To donuts. Muffins. Cookies. Pasta. Cheese. Milk. Anything made with wheat. Anything made with milk chocolate. It's rough.

But I feel amazing. :) Changing my diet was a burden at first, but a necessity, and now I feel wonderful---full of energy, happy, healthy. David helped me change my negative mental attitude of "I can't have..." to "I can try something new" and my family has been so incredibly supportive: exploring new recipes, ingredients, and helping me find snack options for college.

Living gluten-free and lactose-free has become an adventure, and I love it. I feel good being able to walk by sugar cookies, pancakes, and pasta dishes without having a pity-party for myself. Instead, I have a new perspective on healthy eating...and it's a lot of fun. Especially when your mom helps you make gluten-free lactose-free pizza. :)

I love Ellen!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2iq83h/www.upworthy.com/most-celebrities-promote-products-they-like-ellen-degeneres-is-not-most-celebrit?c=ufb1/

I have problems

Hello. My name is Rachel. I have problems.

After visiting the doctor several times regarding my gastrointestinal issues, I was finally diagnosed as being lactose intolerant AS WELL AS having an allergy to gluten and needing to switch to a gluten-free lifestyle. It is incredibly frustrating. No pasta. No dairy. No cheese. No bread. But it is what it is...moving on to problem #2!

My eyes are annoying. For the past couple weeks they'll love my contacts one day and then practically scream at me to get them out the next day. I noticed a couple days ago my left eye was really red and it hurt a lot, and the skin around my eye was sensitive. So I went to Health Services today (I think I'm their most regular customer :P) and they told me I have some sort of infection that starts with an 'L' and has a really long name. Long story short, I have new eye drops and I have to take an antibiotic for the next couple of days.

PROBLEM #3. Walking to one of my classes today, I had to walk up stairs. Well THAT didn't happen...I fell up the stairs. And not like carpeted stairs. Outside stone stairs. I bruised my knee, hit my head, scraped my arm, and bloodied up the side of my hand. Lovely.

I have issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMW6wYmRKjo

Go to 6:04. Pause it. See that guy all the way to the right who's glancing at the other trumpet players? THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all.

Judgement on Literature

I'm reading "Angels & Demons" right now, the popular book by Dan Brown. So far I'm loving the story, really intriguing and suspenseful. And one passage I just read really caught my attention.

One of the main characters, Vittoria, just asked Langdon (a professor of art history) if he believes in God. He responds that he WANTS to believe but sometimes it's hard to take leaps of faith and keep everything straight with the Bible, the Koran, Buddhist scripture...

Vittoria replies: "Mr. Langdon, I did not ask if you believe what man says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories...legends and history of man's quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgement on literature. I am asking if you believe in God. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staring up at the work of God's hand?"

LOVE. THIS.

Personally, I struggle sometimes with accepting EVERYTHING in the Bible. And why sometimes we acknowledge it's okay not to follow certain rules anymore, but other rules are still steadfast and concrete. That confuses me. And then I feel guilty...like I'm not firm/steady in my faith. But I believe. I believe in God. I talk to God. I trust Him. I'm upset with Him sometimes. But I love Him and I know He's there for me. :)

Sucky Day

Well today wasn't so great...

Classes were fine....love my professors, excited for the classes...

HOWEVER. Got the news that I don't even have the interview for the secretary position tomorrow because they reviewed the hours I'd be able to work around my classes and I'd only get in four hours a week, so I can't work there...blegh. I was really excited about it.

And I've been sick since being back...last semester I had weird stomach problems and migraines and throwing up a lot and over break we thought we figured it out, that I had developed a lactose intolerance. So  at home I cut dairy out of my diet and started getting Lactaid milk and I have pills that help me digest lactose better when I can't avoid eating it (like at restaurants or at David's for dinner). I stopped getting sick frequently too...like there were a few times, but it was definitely less and not a daily thing.

Well ever since I've been back at school I've had SOME sort of stomach issue after every meal I eat. Usually it's not major and I just take medicine and it eventually subsides but tonight it SUCKED. I felt really bad right after eating dinner and then I had a three hour class and felt sick the entire time...now I'm back in my room and it's less but I'm still very blegh and very annoyed about it.

Gonna try to get an appointment tomorrow to figure out what the heck is wrong with my body and why I get sick every time I eat...

Back to School!

After a very wonderful 6 week winter break, I'm back at Millersville for Spring semester!

I was kind of iffy about coming back at first...my break was awesome and I wouldn't mind another week where I get to spend every day with my boyfriend. BUT. Once I was back in my room and saw all my friends again, I was so happy to be back. It's funny, cause it feels like almost no time has passed since the last time I was here...everything just falls back into routine.

I'm really excited for my new classes too. Yesterday went well, I only had two classes and they were both pretty easy. Today's my hectic day, four classes...with my last class being from 6-9PM. FUN. It's a Philosophy in Film course...so hopefully we just watch a lot of movies for those three hours, haha. :)

Oh! And I already had a job interview on campus tomorrow for a secretary position! I hope I get it...it'd be so much better than working for dining services and I'd make at least $70 a week which would be FANTASTIC.

Well, that's it for my little update. TTFN! Ta ta for now!

Time for another post about a trip I took into a city!

Last Saturday, I met up with Jeanmarie, her mom, and their friend from church, Jeanie. I've been out with them before...to see the Nutcracker twice in Philly and another ballet performance. This time we went to Philly to see Spamalot, a hilarious musical version of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

BUT FIRST. Before I tell you about ANY of that! I must describe the restaurant we went to and the wonderful dinner we had.

We got to the city around 5:45 and went to this place called Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. VERY fancy place. We walked in and after giving our names they asked if we wanted to check out coats in. They took our coats and came back with little numbers for each of us to reclaim them after our dinner.

Sitting down at the table, we immediately got one of our glasses filled with water and our waitress quickly came around to take orders for what other beverage we wanted (Shirley Temple for me!). Our waitress was AMAZING. Her name was Jessica and she was incredibly sweet and personable, striking up random conversations with us whenever she was around, saying, "Thank you ladies...it's a pleasure...I'd love to..." The best service I've ever gotten anywhere. She was wonderful.

NEXT CAME THE FOOD. We ordered everything all at once...and it was a LOT of food! We each got an appetizer, the three of them got salads, then we each had an entree of steak, and a side to go with it. I started with scallops, which also had red peppers, onions, and bok choy on the side. Then even though I didn't order a salad, Jeanmarie's appetizer (shrimp cocktail) had a salad with it that she ended up not eating so I got that. But she didn't hand her plate to me...oh no. The waitress took the plate with her salad, got a new plate for me, arranged the salad all fancy like, and added a vinaigrette dressing. SO SPIFFY. Speaking of spiffy...our entrees came next. I got a petite filet, my first REAL steak ever. My dad's made steak for dinner before and I've never particularly enjoyed it...always too chewy for me. So I've never ordered steak when out at restaurants. BUT seeing as this was a steakhouse...of course I had to get steak. AND IT WAS SO GOOD.

The steak came on plates that were 500 degrees Fahrenheit. FIVE FREAKING HUNDRED. I did not touch the plate once to verify that fact. I believed the waitress when she told us and my sizzling hot steak (THAT REMAINED HOT FOR THE 20 MINUTES IT TOOK ME TO EAT IT) was proof enough.

I had a side of sweet potatoes...best sweet potatoes I've ever had. And did I mention best steak I've ever had? It was beautiful. AND I WAS SO FULL AT THE END OF THE MEAL. So much food...and so much to drink!

I had two Shirley Temples (with extra cherries, thank you Jessica!) and like...seven refills of water. AAAAAAAAAANNNNNDDDDDDD...don't hate me, but I tried a Cosmo. Not like LEGIT tried, like the babiest sip in the entire world tried. Jeanmarie's mom and Jeanie both ordered them and they wanted to see our reactions to what they were like so we each took a sip. It was NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTY! Like...cough syrup. That's what it tasted like. And then we each tried some of Jeanie's wine later. That was disgusting too. BLEGH.

So that was dinner...I think I summed up how ridiculously lavish and wonderful it was. And the bill? Over $400. YEAH. YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

Well, this post is getting long so I'll write more about the show and dessert (we went back to Ruth's Chris after the show to get MORE food!) later! :)

Amusing and Very True

Songs That Sound Dirty But Really Aren't

Inspired by our Period Playlist, my mom and I created a new "Songs That Sound Dirty But Really Aren't" playlist. It's amazing what happens when you put your mind in the gutter and run through your iTunes Library...and fantastically hilarious. :)

1. Rolling In the Deep (ADELE)
2. Ooh Aah (GRITS)
3. You Have What I Need (Hawk Nelson)
4. Take Me (Hawk Nelson)
5. You Raise Me Up (Josh Groban)
6. Under Your Skin (Kingsfoil)
7. Tight (Stacie Orrico)
8. Give It Up Now (Kingsfoil)
9. Norwegian Wood (Kutztown University Jazz Band)
10. I Want More (Linda Eder)
11. It Had Better Be Tonight (Michael Buble)
12. Lay 'Em Down (NEEDTOBREATHE)
13. I Got Rhythm (Nikki Yanofsky)
14. All of Me (The Piano Guys)
15. Give Until There's Nothing Left (Relient K)
16. Up and Up (Relient K)
17. When I Go Down (Relient K)
18. We've Only Just Begun (Run Kid Run)

Period Playlist

Yesterday, my mom and I had to take down the Christmas tree and all the ornaments so we decided to put a movie on while we worked. We chose "No Strings Attached," a funny movie about two 'sex buddies' who end up falling for each other. Silly and ridiculous but awesome because I can watch that sort of stuff with my mom and it's not weird at all.

ANYWHO. At one point in the movie, the guy gives the girl a "Period Playlist"...with songs like "Bleedin' Love" and "I've Got The World On A String." It was HYSTERICAL. So of course, my mom and I decided we had to make our own Period Playlist. We went through my entire iTunes library and came up with the best songs...and now here is our Period Playlist (have fun figuring out why some of them were included, hehe):

1. Heartstrings (Find Vienna)
2. U Can't Touch This (Glee Project)
3. What Is This Feeling? (Wicked)
4. I've Got The World On A String (Michael Buble)
5. Cats and Kittens (Kutztown University Jazz Band)
6. Days of Wine and Roses (Kutztown University Jazz Band)
7. Trickle Trickle (The Manhattan Transfer)
8. Misery (Maroon 5)
9. Hurtful (Erik Hassle)
10. Let It All Out (Relient K)
11. One Day More! (Les Mis)
12. Hurt (Christina Aguilera)
13. Gives You Hell (Glee)
14. A Beautiful Mess (Jason Mraz)
15. Bad Day (Daniel Powter)

Comment Response

Hey there fantastic website! Does running a blog similar to this take a massive amount of work? I have virtually no knowledge of programming however I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyhow, should you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject but I just needed to ask. Thank you!

Hey there fantastic reader! Running a blog like this one takes virtually NO work. It's very simple. The format blogspot.com provides pretty much does everything for you. When you create your own login and site, there will be a "Design" button at the top. If you click on that, it takes you through all sorts of options to personalize what your blog looks like. You can customize your template, change your default font for when you make a post, change the font of your title, figure out the color scheme of your blog...a lot of it is self-explanatory.

I have no knowledge of programming either! So no worries. :) The site is set up so that anyone can make a blog for themselves.

Hmmm...ideas or tips for new bloggers...

1. Figure out all your settings, layout, and template first. If you don't love the way your blog looks you'll constantly be distracted by that when you go to post, instead of thinking about how/what you want to write.
2. Don't worry about needing to write every day or every other day. The blog is there for YOU, when you're in the mood to share thoughts, remember a funny story, express your feelings, etc. If you worry about consistently writing the blog will become a stressful thing instead of something fun. There's been times I haven't posted for WEEKS. Other times I'm in the mood to write four blog posts in one day! It's all up to you.
3. It doesn't matter how many followers you have/don't have. It's your blog, made for the purpose of you and your thoughts. If other people want to read what you write, great! If not, well that's fine too. Write for yourself, not anyone else.
4. Do NOT share your identity! I try never to mention last names on my blog or places like my hometown. I just wrote a post about New York City, but that's fine cause millions of people go to New York...and I write about my time at Millersville, but there are thousands of people at Millersville, so if a creepy stalker wanted to find me they wouldn't be able to. Always better to be on the safer side of things.
5. Have fun with it! :)

I think that's all I have! Best of luck and enjoy!

Birdland Part II

Friday at around 1:00PM, me and my dad and David all headed down to NYC for a fantastic day in the city. We made really good time, getting there a little before 3:00PM, and ran straight to Ollie's (an authentic Chinese restaurant). After a delicious lunch that only cost around $25 for the three of us (which is INSANE, especially in New York City!) we hurried ourselves over to Birdland.

After standing in line for a few minutes, we got to the front where a man was checking people in. I gave him my name, and POOF! We were in! It's a pretty awesome feeling when your name gets you and two other people into a jazz club. ;D

The club was fairly small, but that was nice cause it gave it a really comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. Our seats were front and center, pretty much directly in front of the band. There was a row of tables between us and the band but you could see everything fine, and there was NO problem hearing any of the players!

As we waited, some of the musicians came out and were warming up and chatting...just really chill, which I think is one of my favorite parts of watching pros; they're just always so easy-going. AND THEY'RE ALL SO PHENOMENAL. Which I guess is a given if you're playing in one of the most well-known jazz clubs of all time, but still...WOO! So good!

They played a variety of charts, some Latin, some swing, some blues...all good stuff! And it was SO much fun watching them! At the beginning of the first chart, the lead trumpet player was having a conversation with the piano player at one point. And the drummer would make faces at some of the players at times, and there was whoops and hollers coming from the saxes when there was a really groovin' section of a song...it was great.

I think the drummer was my favorite to watch because while other people were soloing, he would watch them and match his playing to whatever they were doing and he could predict where their solos were going and set up really great hits perfectly.

And the soloists THEMSELVES! Oh my word...the trumpets? All of them soloed at some time. All of them were fantastic. Doing ridiculous trills and shakes and high notes and low notes and runs and MIND BLOWN. The trombones? HILARIOUS. They all had such personality through the horn when they played. The saxes? Jaw-dropped to the basement floor all the time. Brilliant licks...and their dexterity was just out of this world! When the bari sax guy soloed he was like moving and dancing all over the place too, it was a hoot to watch. I remember one time when he had a solo I just kept looking at David and saying, "He's ridiculous! This is insane!" It's just so good you can only sit there and think, "How in the world is this possible? What the HECK am I listening to? No one's this good!" 

It was SUCH a fun night out in the city! Oh and on top of all the great music we had yummy desserts as well. :)

Me and Daddy outside Birdland!

Me and David! :)

Birdland Part 1

BIRDLAND WAS AMAZING.

I promise to write a detail-filled post gushing about how freaking awesome they were, but right now I have to go shower and get ready to go into Philly for dinner and a show!

Loving my life. :)

My life is just a little bit amazing

Last Sunday, I went to Philly and saw Les Mis at the Academy of Music.
This Friday, I'm going to NYC with my dad and David to go to Birdland (THE jazz club in NYC!).
This Saturday, I'm going to Philly to eat a wonderful dinner and see the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Three city trips in ONE week! I'm lovin' it. :)

Boyfriend + Guy Best Friend + Mom=Crazy Times

Last night, I had a game/movie night with David, Sean (best friend from way back in 7th grade), and my mom. A slightly eclectic group no doubt: boyfriend, guy best friend, and mom, but we had a great time. :)

Me, David, and Sean all helped put dinner together (burritos! YUM!) and then most of the dinner conversation was spent with my mom telling stories of her 1st grade students but then turned into me telling stories of bad things I did when I was that age. For example:

When I was in first grade, there was this one morning where NOTHING went right for me. I don't remember what happened, but I was really upset when I got to school and then found out I had a substitute teacher and that was like the last straw...I just couldn't handle anything else. So I broke down crying in the middle of class but then I was totally embarrassed for crying in front of everyone so when the substitute asked what I was wrong, I decided to say that my Dziedzi (grandpa on my dad's side) had died. HE HADN'T THOUGH. Well...that got me out of doing class activities but then the principal called my dad (who worked at as a pastor at the Christian school I went to) and asked why he was in for work when his father had passed away. After much confusion, he explained that his dad was NOT dead...and I got in BIG BIG BIG trouble! I was an interesting child, to say the least... :P

After dinner, we all played Ticket to Ride (Europe Version) and Sean won...I think I like the American Version of the game better...I usually win that one. :P Then we played Pick-Two (like Bananagrams) and each of us won once, which was cool.

THEN. It was movie time...my mom picked the movie: "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil." YEAH. It's classified as a horror comedy. And it was RIDICULOUSLY hysterical! But I also screamed at several times and covered my head with a blanket. Oh my word...it was insane! Here's the trailer for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQOZHEYhVtU

The whole premise is that these two hillbillies are in the woods to fix up a cabin they just bought as a vacation home at the same time a bunch of college students are out in the woods too. The college kids of course assume they're murderers and try to save their friend Ally (whose in the cabin because she fell and hit her head and they saved her and took care of her) but while trying to kill the hillbillies, they all accidentally kill themselves. Getting impaled on sticks...jumping into a woodcutter...shooting themselves in the head cause they don't know how a gun works...IT IS SO FUNNY. But gory and suspenseful as well. :P

After it was over, mom went up to bed and the three of us sat downstairs and talked for awhile. It was a lot of fun for me. :) My boyfriend and one of my best guy friend's chilling and hanging out together. And they both approve of the other! So that's the best part, haha. :)

David-isms of the day

David has this ridiculously amazing sense of humor. And he's really smart too so he comes up with some pretty witty stuff. Take today for example...

Sitting in the theater watching Les Mis, I turned to David and said, "I think Marius is Asian!" and he replied, "I think he's French." HA. Took me like five seconds to get... :P

And then later we were walking back to the car and kept seeing all these signs for "Female Gaze" (some art thing, I think) and he quips, "In other words, lesbians." THAT one took me like fifteen seconds to understand...

There was something else too but I can't remember now...ah well. You get the idea of his goofiness. ;D

Les Mis!

Today I went to Philly and saw Les Mis at the Academy of Music. It was PHENOMENAL. Every time I see this show I love it even more...and cry a little harder. :P

David and I got all dressed up (I voted us best-looking couple of the day, haha) and drove down to Philly to get to the theater around 12:15. As soon as we got off the highway and onto Broad Street we parked in the first parking garage we saw cause last time we were in the city finding parking was a bit of a hassle. So we got $5 parking (WOOT WOOT) and then walked to get to the theater. When we got out of the car, I mentioned to David that he has a GPS on his phone so we could use that to navigate our way, but he was sure we could find our way on our own. AND HE WAS RIGHT! I feel so proud of us that we found our way around Philly...aka read street signs. :P

We got to the theater at EXACTLY 12:15 and then waited for everybody else to show up. We planned this trip with a group back in September, but they decided to ride the train in. WELL. Apparently the train doesn't run on the weekends, which they found out once they waited 30 minutes at the train station, so they had to quick drive into Philly and find us before the show started at 1:00. It worked out pretty well though. They got there around 12:45 and we got to our seats just in time. Speaking of our seats...we were on the very top balcony and the view is RIDICULOUS. Like...it is such a steep drop. I'm not the type of person afraid of heights but it is REALLY freaky climbing down those stairs.

Then the show started! First of all, gotta say, LOVE the live orchestra. I probably miss some stuff on stage cause of the amount of time I spend watching the musicians. :P Second, the cast for this production was SO great.

Jean Valjean: Flawless. Crazy range. Super talented.
Javert: Classic Javert. Powerhouse. Commanded the attention of the stage.
Fantine: Fantastic voice. My favorite Fantine I've ever seen on stage.
Marius: PURE VOICE. Really really great. Also my favorite Marius I've ever seen.
Cosette: Good voice. I just dislike her character.
Enjolras: Wonderful. Emotional.
Gavroche: Adorable. Perfect.
Eponine: LOVED her voice and how she played the character.

It was all just so good...and the staging and sets are amazing and the transitions are PERFECT and and AND! For this production, they also upped the tempo a bit for some of the songs, and I really liked how they turned out.

This show is SO good. The story is incredibly powerful and moving. It had a good transition to screen but there is NOTHING like sitting in a theater hearing actors pour their hearts out on stage in a live performance.

Adorable!

Totally adorable. I'd say yes if this was how David proposed! Then again, I'd say yes no matter how he proposed. :P

Speaking of me and David and proposed...this holiday season both our families and close friends kept making "engaged" jokes about us. Which we really don't mind but it got funny after awhile because EVERYONE kept making side comments.

We called his grandma (on his dad's side) to see if she wanted to go out to eat with us. She immediately asked if it was for a *cough cough* special occasion...

We went to visit Mr. O and the jazz band and as we were leaving, Mr. O said "Goodbye David Kile! Goodbye Rachel Kile!"

And then one Sunday my mom came home from church and told me David's mom had approached her after church and told her, "I think we're going to be in-laws soon!"

According to my mom, everyone's realized that he went to college...didn't "stray"...now I'm at college...didn't "stray"...so it's like, guess they're gonna end up together! :)

The things I stumble upon...

Adventure of the Day

I cut my own hair!!!

I got six inches off last month and I asked them to angle the front...well, they didn't. It's been really bugging me for awhile so today I decided to do what any Internet-savvy person who's not loving their hair would do...google how to cut your own hair.

And voila! After showering, combing out my hair, and spending ten minutes cutting it (sounds like a long time but only cause I went slowly to make sure I didn't mess up) I have the haircut I want! It actually turned out really well and I'm a little bit proud of myself... :)

Whale? Or mermaid?

A while back, at the entrance of a gym, there was a picture of a very thin and beautiful woman. The caption was "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

The story goes, a woman (of clothing size unknown) answered the following way: 

"Dear people, whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, seals, curious humans), they are sexually active and raise their children with great tenderness.
They entertain like crazy with dolphins and eat lots of prawns. They swim all day and travel to fantastic places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea or the coral reefs of Polynesia.
They sing incredibly well and sometimes even are on cds. They are impressive and dearly loved animals, which everyone defend and admires.

Mermaids do not exist.

But if they existed, they would line up to see a psychologist because of a problem of split personality: woman or fish?
They would have no sex life and could not bear children.
Yes, they would be lovely, but lonely and sad.
And, who wants a girl that smells like fish by his side?

Without a doubt, I'd rather be a whale.

At a time when the media tells us that only thin is beautiful, I prefer to eat ice cream with my kids, to have dinner with my husband, to eat and drink and have fun with my friends.

Reading Buccaneers Weekend

This past weekend I was at the Reading Buccaneers. It's the third camp I've been to and every time I go I fall more in love with the music, the staff, and the organization as a whole. It's such an amazing organization and a great experience. But I have to admit...I am POOPED. Exhausted and sore...it was a rough weekend.

Saturday practice starts at 9:00AM and goes until 6:00PM, slightly longer than the average band camp day and SO much more intense! We started in brass ensemble with stretching, breathing exercises, singing, buzzing, and then playing through our warm up repertoire. Then it was on to sub sectionals, so all the mellophones were in one classroom (we rehearse at a high school) and we broke down show music. Saturday we also had evaluations. Kind of like auditions, but MUCH less formal. For my evaluation, I went into this room with one of the staff members, we talked for a couple of minutes about my musical background, I shared that I've only been playing for six months and he asked me more about that...good conversation. Then I played GABC for him...then played that again. Then CDEF...then again. And then I played through Exercise #1 from our Bucs book and I was done. I then went on to my marching evaluation: marched forward, marched backward, did a front slide, did a back slide. Easy peasy stuff. My visual part went great and my music evaluation was just average...didn't do my best but I didn't suck.

Then lunch time! Yum. :) Afterwards was visual block. This was where the day really sucked for me. We started back up technique this camp and the way they back up at Bucs is SO COMPLTELY OPPOSITE of everything I've ever been taught. It was incredibly frustrating for me. Typically, when I march backing up, your first step you leave most of your weight on the front foot and then you follow through with the natural pendulum motion of your other leg...keeping your weight mostly forward and you're up on your platforms. OH NO. That's called the 'old' way at Bucs. Instead, we're supposed to march with all of our weight on our BACK foot, with our heels BARELY off the ground and our front ankle needs to be completely extended. It's bizarre. Like...I just could not get the feel of it Saturday. So I was getting really frustrated with the technique and myself and then on TOP of that I got called out for being too high on my platforms. Well DER that's what I was taught and now all of a sudden in two minutes I have to change everything. BLEGH. It was rough. Though what's funny is on Sunday I got complimented for having the best back up technique...so confusing.

The rest of the day was spent in brass ensemble, which is SO MUCH FUN. It's all the brass standing in a huge arch in the cafeteria and we just work through the show music. It's fantastic hearing the other parts and other sections, and then we put it all together and you can't help but feeling like a complete badass. ;D

Sunday we had practice 9:00AM to 4:15PM. Same day essentially, just broken down differently. We started with visual block in the gym and we were there for two hours, then went to sectionals for an hour, then lunch, then more sectional time, then brass ensemble, then FULL ENSEMBLE. Full ensemble is the shiz. The entire hornline wrapped around the perimeter of the auditorium behind the pit, with the battery on-stage. YEAH BUDDY. Oh my word...oh my word oh my word OH. MY. WORD. It's heaven. A very loud in your face ready to conquer the world heaven. Ahhh...I love drum corps so much. :)

The stressful thing about this weekend (other than the stupid back up technique...grrrr!) was Paul (the brass caption head) talking to the mellophones about the reality of getting a spot to march. They're allowed to march 12 mellophones. There are 21 mellophones going for those spots. And 10 of them are vets. YIKES. But...I know a little birdy who's a five year vet and gets all the inside info and she told me I got a spot and even beat out some of the vets...WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I'm just a little excited... :)