"Cleaning Day"

Remember how I said I wanted every day of summer to have like a theme or like an activity or something? Well today is "Cleaning Day"...and to tell you the truth, I'm actually enjoying it. I'm cleaning on my own time...not cause mom asked me to or anything, it's just cause I want everything to be all organized and everything for the entire summer.

So far today I've cleaned the kitchen (that was a chore asked for by mom, but it's still cleaning so...yupp), and cleaned my room...and that's it. Haha! But I've been working for about three hours now...I'm doing the INTENSE room cleaning, not just the clean up the floor. I'm digging through old boxes and into the scary parts of my closet and finding some pretty cool stuff that I totally forgot about it.

After the room's ALL done (still going at it) I'm gonna start laundry and then start the sideroom...oh boy.

I gotta say I'm kinda proud of myself...instead of letting myself get into the lazy mode of summer, I'm actually doing things and working hard. Well it's only been one day so far...but I hope most of my summer's like this...relaxed work...it's not so bad. :]

Free time!!!

So since I have some chill/relax time right now I figured I'd take some time to do something I really enjoy...which is finding quotes and all that stuff. :] I've also discovered that I really like pictures too...pictures with quotes on them or just pictures. I love when I can find meaning in a picture or make a connection to it or if it's just plain pretty. So here's my collection of quotes/pictures for today!

Fragment-Sentence Updates

Elected vice president of the band!
Chosen as woodwind section leader!
Excited about marching band!

Didn't go to school Monday!
Went to doctors!
Got medicine!
Feeling better!

Last full day of school!
Skipped English!
Went to Band 2nd period!
AMAZING trumpet player visited!
Ate food in German!
Group hug in hallway (without Cassie...hehe)!
Took science final!
So easy!

Band final tomorrow!
Easy!
Math final tomorrow!
SCARED!

Updating iTunes!
Deleted old songs!
Bought "Waiting on the World to Change", "Hallelujah", and "Smile"!
Burning Jess's CD now!
Getting artist and album info!

Watching Cadets later!
With Mrs. K.!

Question of the Night

Me: I wonder when/if life will get any easier...have you ever thought about it? Will it ever get easier or do I just keep adjusting to whatever's thrown my way and it becomes the 'norm'?

Cara: Um...I'm not sure. I think it'll get easier in some respects but harder in others. We'll have less work in respect to homework eventually, but other stresses of life. And now that we're at dating age/you are dating, haha...that always brings stresses. But stuff gets easier as other stuff gets harder. That's my philosophy. So kinda what you said I guess. It's hard but we get used to it and it becomes "normal"

New YAWK!!! (spoken in that amazing Brooklyn accent)

So I was kind of moping around the house cause I hate homework and I hate feeling sick and I drudged past the sideroom and glanced in...now my computer's screensaver is basically a random slideshow of all the pictures we have saved in our files. So I look in and I see this picture:

I got this big goofy grin...and then I was like, you know what? I never posted about my birthday! I'm gonna go do that!! So here I am!

Ok...for those of you who don't know, I didn't choose to have a big 'Sweet 16' party. Instead, I went to New York City with my daddy and my man.

Start of the day...we picked up David and were off! Haha, pretty simple, huh? And then we drove...and drove...and DROVE...usually it only takes like 2 hours or a little more to get up to the city but I think it was about 3 hours that day cause the traffic was HORRIBLE (but not hArrible... ;D). Eventually we got to the parking garage, got all our stuff together, and embarked on our adventure!!! Haha...so I just used "embark" to sound all cool but looking at it...it's just kinda silly. ;D

First thing we did was walk. And after that we walked. And after that? Bet you can guess! Ok...take TWO seconds to make a guess real quick...go ahead...GUESS! ............did you guess walking? WRONG! Next we crossed crazy traffic. Haha! Gotcha!! :D

Quick sidenote: David was ADORABLE with the whole crossing the street thing...dad and I have been to NYC a lot before and so the traffic is just kind of annoying, but we're used to it. Well...David wasn't quite used to it. So we'd be crossing and just kinda strolling along...and then David would grab my hand and start half-sprinting to get to the sidewalk. It was kinda funny for me cause it made me laugh but at the same time I liked it cause it's that whole "being protected" feeling. (Quick comment...in the last sentence where it says "being protected" I orginally had "having protection"...then I reread it and realized that wasn't exactly the two words I wanted there in that sentence... ;D) So yeah. That was adorable. :]

We got to Times Square pretty quickly...oh my word I LOVE that place! I think it's one of the incredibly busy places in the city where I don't mind the overcrowding. There's SO much to look at and it's just so COOL. When we got there we got in line for a big half-off ticket booth, like HUGE booth! I don't think "booth" is the word then...oh well. It was a pretty long line but it moved really fast, which was great. Standing in lines we decided that Phantom was our first choice, but if the only seats we could get were back row then we were gonna try and see what they had for West Side Story. Luckily, we got our Phantom tickets!!

Ok quick sidenote-ish...I gotta put up a picture from standing in that line cause it is ABSOLUTLEY hysterical!!!

...I guess I should explain why it's so funny to me...well after dad took the picture he decided to name it "Sight Seeing"...because I'm looking at the buildings and the signs and David's looking at me...HAHA!!! ;D

After we got the tickets we decided to head to lunch...which was kind of a surprise cause dad got to choose where we were going. We walked AWHILE and then got to this little Chinese restaurant...to put it simply, it was AMAZING. It was like...REAL CHINESE FOOD. It wasn't American Chinese food...and if you don't know the difference shame on you...haha. ;D But yeah...it was LEGIT (hehe...). Our waitress had one of those adorable Chinese accents too!

We sat down at a table and was offered tea...like REAL Chinese tea in little white tea cups...I thought it was quite cute but I decided to get a soda instead...haha. So here's proof of just how authentic it was...look at the menu...

Yupp! Pretty awesome, huh?

For my lunch, I ordered Sweet & Sour Chicken and Wonton soup cause those are two of my favorites. Wonton soup was UNBELIEVABLE. And even though I loved it so much...I cut a wonton in half and gave it to David cause I love him more and I knew he HAD to try it!! ;D The chicken was great too! And there was pineapple with it too, which was DELICIOUS. Oh yum...now I'm hungry...hah, it's 7:01 and I haven't had dinner...

Once we left there, very full and very happy, we decided to make our way over to the show so we could get inside early. But on the way we got to walk through this open market place that was pretty cool and also got to see some quieter parts of the city...that is until everything got louder and crowdeder (word?) again. ;D

Then the show!!! Cannot describe it...this blog post would get to be way too long! I LOVE the music...LOVE the transitions...LOVED the actors that were there...it was such a great birthday present. :] My FAVORITE was the last scene...oh my goodness...

After it was over we all got out of our seats and went down to look into where the orchestra was playing. They play under the stage, but there's a little space that you can look down into to see all of them and it was pretty cool to see how it was all set up. There were screens and stands for every player (the screens to see the conductor) and in the back a little panel was open so we could SLIGHTLY see into some of the stuff that goes on down there...it was SO COOL. But then we got kicked out cause they had to prepare for the next show...haha.

Then it was Cold Stone time!!! David had his FIRST Cold Stone experience!!! I was so happy we got to go there, it's like a tradition for me, after every show I've seen (except my first one when I was five) I've gotten Cold Stone ice cream cause it's just that awesome.

Our last plan of the day was to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had to walk...walk...take a subway...walk...walk...sit on a bench...walk...walk...haha. The sitting on a bench wasn't part of getting there...it was me feeling very sick so we had to sit down and rest for awhile. It was a break I needed...and it was nice cause I got a short back rub from David. :]

Then it was off to the museum!!!!

O.M.W. I LOVE MUSEUMS!!! I could stay in one for HOURS...haha, that's actually exactly what we did. We were there for three hours...and I could have stayed even longer!!

First part we went to was Picasso...which uh, featured a lot of paintings of naked women. :P I gotta say it was pretty awkward at first...the three of us would walk into a room and see THOSE paintings and purposely avoid them and go to the uh...non-naked ones...but after awhile, we all just kinda got used to it and started walking up to them and laughing at some stuff and making fun of it. I gotta say...it was a LOT of fun. Haha! How many people can say they've analyzed naked paintings and it's been one of the funniest things they've done?? ;D

Oh man...so first there was the naked pictures, THEN CAME THE BEHEADINGS. There were pictures EVERYWHERE of chopped off heads and being in the act of chopping off a head and holding a chopped head or a body without a head and it kinda freaked me out...so of course David made a point of every one we saw just so he could see my squeamish reaction...haha, that was funny. :]

Later on we got to a part of the museum with statues and parts would be missing, like a hand or a leg or a foot so we got in the habit of saying, "He's behanded!" or "He's befooted!" and all that...haha we'd say it every time we saw a statue missing something. So then we got to the Greek gods area and we walk up to a statue and David says, "He's beclothed!" IT WAS THE MOST HILARIOUS THING. Oh my...that had me laughing for awhile. :]

We took a lot of pictures with the paintings and statues and pottery and stuff...acting out what the people were doing and all that, it was a lot of fun. :] Here's some of my favorites:

Ahhh...it was such a good day...mmm...great memories...I love that David was able to come with us cause two days later he had to leave, but since he was there we got tons of pictures and tons of memories. :D

Ugh...

Ugh...so I haven't posted in awhile...

Ugh...my day today was not good...

Ugh...my first post back is not such a positive one...

Ugh...oh well...

So my day started out GREAT...I got to text David and that always makes me SO happy, but that was by far the best thing today.

Band is aggravating, English is POOP (though our group did have a really funny conversation today...I forgot about that...so that was one other good thing :P), German is WORSE POOP, lunch was boring, Human was boring, math was aggravating, science was boring, and gym was not fun at all...we played volleyball and I touched the ball twice. The first time was me hitting it. The second time was me passing it to the person who was gonna serve...UGH.

And throughout the entire day I had a really bad headache, a sore throat, a sore neck (thinking I slept wrong? Or I know there's glands there that swell when you get sick or something...), and an earache. And yes...I'm complaining and I know it and I don't like it but I gotta get it out...

Mmm...slightly funny story time...told in a slightly different way... (it's from yesterday, but I thought of it and it made me laugh so yeah)

I was blindfolded. I jumped off a stage.

The rest of the story is up to you to figure out. :]

WARNING

Warning: this post may contain little spurts of joy and times of gleeful boasts. May all readers take note that I hereby declare that I am not responsible for these moments that may (and definitely will) come up in this following post. They are the fault of one person and one person only---a man by the name of My Man.

David left on May 17th...which means the last time I had seen him was May 16th...notice the PAST tense...I SAW HIM ON SUNDAY!!!!!!!

He (meaning The Cadets) had a concert in New Jersey Sunday night and I was able to hitch a ride with some stranger who dropped me off a couple miles from where it was taking place. KIDDING. Whew can't believe half of you fell for that...haha. ;D Nah, I went up with his family, which was great cause I haven't seen his mom in awhile and I love her to death and so it was nice to see her again too. :]

So on the ride up (...I guess technically we rode OVER to New Jersey? Not up? I dunno...I always say "up" or "down" when I'm travelling somewhere...never "over"...oh well? I digress...) I brought a book to read but I ended up sleeping...YUP. I took a two hour nap in the SMACK DAB MIDDLE of the afternoon! I must have been exhausted...haha...

When I woke up we were driving through this little town and his parents were talking about where they need to go to get to the school to see him. And me still being in my "waking up daze" start babbling about how we could only see him after the performance and all this stuff and they both look at me and they're like, "Uh...Rachel? He called? He said we can go see him now while he's eating?" My first reaction was immense confusion...trying to figure out how that worked with the schedule I knew he had and all that but then my brain shut itself down and my heart went WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!

We pulled in to some parking lot and I see the huge coach buses and then we turn a corner and I see a big group of people getting food and sitting down and eating and all that good stuff. So I groggily get out of the car with my sunglasses on...doing a horrible job adjusting to the daylight, haha...and next thing I know I turn and I see someone SPRINTING for me...now my sleepy mind couldn't register that this was a GOOD thing. So as David reaches me and picks me up and spins me around in the most AWESOME hug...I'm screaming my head off cause my brain isn't working as fast as it should. :P The scared scream eventually turned into a happy scream (not that you'd know the difference... ;D) but I was FREAKED OUT for a second...or two...haha!

So after THE SCREAM (I feel like I'm some million dollar piece of artwork...hmm... ;D) I stepped back and really got a good look at my man...MMM MMM MMM! In those two weeks he had gotten an amazingly attractive tan, lost some weight, and put on some muscle...so uh, I'm kind of ok with him being gone for summer now, seeing as he's only been there TWO WEEKS. I think I'm getting the better end of this deal...he tours around the country during the summer, working incredibly hard every single day, gets very little sleep...and I get a very in-shape and very attractive boyfriend at the end of it all. :] WOOT. You know I am in a tough spot though...you're really attracted to a guy and then he goes and gets muscles that make you giggle every time you touch them??? Uh...how am I supposed to have room for all my "OoooOOOooOOooh...AaaaAAAaaAAaah..." feelings? ;D

So YEAH. I'm ok with him doing Cadets this summer...mhm. Definitely. :D

Oh my...ok, now I'm starting to zone...I gotta get this post back on track...FOCUS.

After seeing him for about 20 minutes the family and I went out to Friendly's, which was aight. Aight food...aight place...but I kinda wanted to get back to see David. :]

We were REALLY tight on time but it worked out, we got back to the high school, we bought our tickets, and got inside and found standing room in time to hear The Cadets start to "warm-up".

OH. MY. WORD. No way possible can I explain that sound...uh...it was AMAZING. And it was SO COOL for me cause it's like...I'm sitting there (we got seats eventually), just totally enjoying the music and the INTENSE SOUND and then I think to myself...I am in an auditorium with THE CADETS. They're right in front of me!!! First time I saw them was on an huge movie screen as a little baby freshmen (oh my goodness tonight I was a "junior"...WOW) and it's like...you can't touch them. They're so above you and so...not real in a way? It's just incredible and you can't imagine being THAT CLOSE TO THEM.

So I'm sitting in my seat...thinking all this stuff and then I'm like...DER RACHEL. HELLO??? Not only are you in an auditorium with THE CADETS...your boyfriend IS A CADET.

GREATEST feeling in the world!!!!! Haha, I was sitting there listening and I just broke out into the BIGGEST smile and starting like bouncing up and down in my seat. It was AWESOME. I think because of that night I've decided that I may enjoy the feeling of being incredibly proud of someone I love more than I enjoy the feeling of being proud of something I've done...THAT'S YOU DAVID!

After the concert was done and after he finished changing (we won't go into how long I had to wait for him to get off the bus... :P) I got another 30 minutes with him, which was really REALLY nice. He got some food and we just sat on a curb and talked and caught up and I giggled as I felt his arms and he laughed at my reactions and even though it was slightly embarrassing I didn't mind too much cause...well YEAH, I was enjoying myself. :]

But...of course he had to get back on the bus to go back to Spring Training and I had to get back in the van to go back home...

It was a BEYAWESOM night...and what made leaving a little easier is the fact that I get to see him again this Sunday cause he has to come home for a college visit. Yaaaaay...COLLEGE!!! ;D

Hmm...I think I'm gonna go call my man right now...