Day Before Thanksgiving Traditions

Have you ever started a tradition one year and by the next you treat it as if it's been in place for your whole life? Soon enough, you start saying "No, wait. We have to go to the same place for lunch...c'mon we do it EVERY year!" Well, case in point for me is our (Lineth, Sarah, Lily, Bex, and my) half day before Thanksgiving festivities. I don't know what it is about our semi newly created pre-Thanksgiving rituals, but it truly feels like a long standing tradition (and hopefully it will continue to be!)

Last year entailed...attempts to create "band photos" (or at least what our CD cover would look like if we had one!),

running up trees,
dashing across crosswalks,
individual portraits in front of white brick walls outside of our library,
candid laughing "you never know when she's gonna take it!" shots,

Salvation Army bell ringers,

confusion at non specific directions on restaurant signs,

witnessing the chaos that is the supermarket lines the day before Thanksgiving,

seeing the first Twilight, permanent eye damage from an unbelievably bright flash,

and getting the best seats in the movie theater. As our friend Ginger said when she saw us today in our (traditional!) middle middle middle five-seater "Aw, it's like it was made for you guys!" Which is a wonderfully nice (albeit a teensy bit vain....) thing to believe.

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SO, good news: our adventures today lived up to every bit of the fabulousness from last year. I'm going to try and get the disposable cameras developed ASAP, and I can't wait to see the results. (Ah the simultaneous frustration/excitement of disposables!) But for now, we are (finally!) onto THANKSGIVING ITSELF! Sarah and her family are coming over along with my grandparents, my dad's best friend from his old town and her dog. Lil's mom very very sadly has pneumonia and will most likely not be able to come (which is quadruply disappointing as she has come every year since we first invited her,) but yet she STILL made us a sweet potato souffle. Can you say dedication? The good news though is that Lil's still going to drive herself over (that little licensed girl, can you believe it?) and spend the night. An evening of amazing food, intensely competitive board games, and plenty of laughter will surely ensue.

Well, I must rest before I get up bright and early to see our team's (last!) football game of the season. Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

P.S Oh my word. Just read this over, and whoops...in my last two paragraphs alone I used 7 parenthese-ridden interjections. (Um, forgive me?)

She Defied the Laws of Physics

On Saturday, Chris, Jess, Matt, Emily, and I all piled into Emily's car and trekked over to Hartford for a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. Jess and I got stuck with sitting in the way back with about a foot of leg space, but I guess compared to Matt's Voldemort-like limbs, it was probably a fair deal. When we finally got to the XL Center, we waited out in the rain for a while, keeping ourselves entertained by the amazing trumpet player outside. I almost died of happiness when he started playing some Sound of Music tunes, (as it is basically my most beloved, most watched movie of all time.) Liesl=my dream part if there ever was one!
Anyway, after being ushered inside to get our seats relocated "at the relocation desk with the relocation lady!" (although we weren't really sure why) we grabbed some WAY overpriced rip-off imitations of food, (Chris's corn dog was about the size and thickness of the average person's index finger...c'mon now...lame, lame, lame) we got our new and improved seats! We were so high up (in section 228) and were almost directly across from the stage, so I was happy with them! TSO is perhaps most known for their rendition of Carol of the Bells, which they changed to make a little political this year. We agreed that they didn't get as far as actually making a point about their opinions on politics, and that it functioned more to get some ideas out there. Nevertheless, the effect of the different country flags flashing on stage looked really cool.

However, the two most spectacular parts were undoubtedly 1) the ongoing light shows (really, the crew who designed/worked on all those light stunts deserves a standing ovation of their own) and 2) the electric violinist.

Now this lady defied the laws of physics. She literally spent the entire concert whipping her hair up and down, around and around, and NOT ONCE did it get caught in the violin. As Chris pointed out, that's just not possible.

The finale involved a surprise jet-like platform and lots more hair swinging. It was awesome.

(All photos taken by me)

P.S It should be noted that when we got out, (nearly three hours later when the "light" rain had turned into more of a pouring one), the trumpet player was still at it! I gave him a dollar for his admirable stamina.

I wore this to school yesterday. This plaidenomenon has swept the nation and left behind no survivors; in fact, flannel Friday seems to be an unspoken grand ol' tradition here at the high school now. I must say, I have proudly participated. Yesterday in my literature class, we counted and I believe eight people in total were wearing some sort of plaid. I think it just looks universally awesome.
(Forever 21 plaid, gifted button earrings, Secret Treasures leggings, mom's belt)

I think I'm going to get a haircut soon. I'm planning on getting bangs at some point, but I always seem to find a new excuse not to do it...for example...it's summer! Bangs will just be annoying and get in the way...oh no...school pictures are coming up! What if the cut looks hideous?! I don't want that to be remembered...wait, the fall show is next weekend; Bonnie would slay us if we all start getting haircuts now! Oh shoot...I've just been cast in the underclassmen show...I can't change it now! So, yeah. In conclusion, I need to suck it up, stop making excuses, and get to it! (So, around January 24th...as soon as the underclassmen show is over...then I'll do it! I "promise.")
My dad and I just spent the last twenty minutes cracking up at Whose Line is it Anyway? videos. I love that show. In the words of Colin "It all started with a badly timed bald joke!"

I'll be doing a blog catch-up (yay!) with all of your lovely blogs later, but for now, good night! And sleep tight.

If Wishes Were Fishes

I need about a week in this bed to recover from the past week. I wish it was mine.

(Photo cred: Ian Aleksander Adams)
I wish Lily and I had gone on our annual apple picking before it got too late.
I wish it still looked like this at my bus stop...
...instead of like this.
Yet I think I would rather take this...
over this. I'm just all jumbled up inside!
I wish I had been waiting for a certain someone to come in the door...
...except instead of that luncheonette I wish I'd been waiting in Les Deux Magots...
(Photo cred: Zeny Cieslikowski)

...and perhaps wearing this instead.

(Vintage dress, mom's lace camisole, TJMaxx tights)

And if wishes were fishes, I know where I'd be

Casting my net in the dark rolling sea

And if my net's empty when it comes back to shore

I'll throw it away and go fishing no more

My mom’s started playing Eric Bogle again, so I know it’s getting close to the holidays. It’s just one of those things!

P.S This blows my mind. I can’t wait to find out more.

October's Yin & Yang

Yang

Business meetings via email
The clacky sound boots make on tile and cement
Photoshoot Monday Traditions

The thrift store
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Edemame soy beans
Black leggings
Getting ready in the dressing rooms before a performance....

Ginger straightening her hair
Annie applying make-up
...and then the performances themselves Our Professor Willard at a dress rehearsal
Checking out books at the library
Understanding logs
People asking me recently if I do ballet
(I don't; I just really used to like wearing that tutu!)
Top Chef on Wednesdays
Google celebrations
Coordinating/comparing outfits with my history teacher
Disposable cameras

Annie with a car outside the thrift store that totally matched her outfit that day

Everything pumpkin flavored
Taking pictures of costumed people against brick walls

Wendy as Tigger, Kobi as Doc JD, and Katherine as Pooh

Herman Melville
Waitressing
Death Cab’s ‘Soul Meets Body’
Getting a Halloween themed sticker for getting 100%s on business law tests
Big breakfasts with friends

Before our plates were loaded with delicious bacon, eggs, and toast at Jess's house, we drank coffee and tried to figure out the crossword (Annie grabbed the cool Shakespeare mug first)

Brothers & Sisters on Sunday nights
Home football games
Marching band
Road signs
The feeling on Saturday morning of still having two more shows left of Our Town

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Yin
The sound my alarm clock makes on my cell phone
Not understanding labs in human bio
The feeling on Saturday morning of having only two more shows left of Our Town

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There’s always a little good in the bad and a little bad in the good.

Mom's black boots; Hillary Clinton white heels

A lot less Yin than Yang for me at the moment though, so I suppose that's an acheivement! Today was the last production of Our Town. I don't think I've gone a dress rehearsal or performance without crying, even a little. It's been my favorite play to do so far, and although I do realize I say this almost every time I finish a show...I'm pretty sure I really mean it for this one.

But, enough about me! Go on, tell it: what is your Yin & Yang for the month?

If Only Grandma Was Here

Apple trees, ladders, picking teacups from the teacup tree, friends hats, Tobey, three different cameras, funky berries, inherited teapots, and books with pretty covers were the themes of today’s photoshoot.

Carrying thirteen books in one hand? Mm...let me tell you, it's harder than it looks.
And I'd be lying if I said that they didn't slip once or twice...or six times. (What kind of a waitress am I?)

I couldn't resist reading a couple of pages from this particular classic!

Tobey wanted in too, of course.

Coldwater Creek sweater, Forever 21 leotard, Secret Treasures leggings, Gap skort, mom's boots and ring, borrowed hats and dog from Jess

It was around this point that Jess got the idea to start stacking the teacups. She said, "If only grandma was here..." when a particularly fragile looking one started wobbling precariously at the top of the teacup tower. However, I can now safely (and happily) put out this disclaimer that no teacups were harmed in the making of this photograph.

It's teacup season! They seem to be the ripest this time of year...

...uh, we had a lot of fun.

All photographs credited to the lovely and talented Jess!

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In other news, the show opens tomorrow! I have come to absolutely adore Our Town. Besides having a wonderful cast (and probably the funniest, most loony director who tonight while trying to read her notes said "Barf? Wha...OH. brad! Who's brad? Ohh. Right. Brandon! Sorry, it was dark,") it is a truly remarkably written play full of the most beautiful monologues and quotations one can hope to find. I'll be posting a couple of photos from our production of it at some point, but for now wish Annie and I good luck!