I Am the Voice - I Will Remain

Pure Relaxation

2011-06-25T15:14:00.001-05:00

Oh how I missed having summer vacation. As of right now, I am at my camper just relxing. A tiny adventure we had yesterday was a tire blew on our boat trailer. A very kind lady stopped and helped. Some fun! As hh okay. Noat ride later then cookin/grillin dinner! Ribeye.steaks, yumm!

As fter the the fourth of july weekend, I start my job search. Wish me luck!

A Day At The State Theatre 4/23/11

2011-04-25T03:06:00.000-05:00

Friday night, I had a friend over for a while to hang out with and help make some decadent treats for Easter. Unfortunately, She did not leave until 11PM (although, I did not mind, because A.) I don’t get to see her too often, and B.) I usually don’t go to bed until 1-2AM due to sleep insomnia. I packed my bags the most I could for the morning and then texted Sarah (SarahBurkeFan!)
   I woke up at 8AM and slowly got myself ready and packed the rest for my fabulous day ahead of me. I was headed over to Sarah’s house to hang out before the show. Destiny (Celtic Fiddle Chick from the Máiréad Forum) was to arrive a little after me. We hung out for a while, snacked and talked in the kitchen, then Destiny played some CW songs for us on her fiddle. That was a treat! For teaching herself, gosh, she’s awesome!
   Got ready and headed out the door. We were on our way to the first CW concert of the second day in MPLS! Destiny was not too sure how to get to the State Theatre, and luckily I go to school right next to it, so I knew where parking was and how to get there from which parking ramps. We ended up parking at the LaSalle parking ramp next to the main part of my school, The Art Institutes International, Minnesota. It was just a hop skip and a jump through the skyway to get to the State Theatre!!! We got in the door, twenty minutes to show time. I wanted to see what they had for merch… yeah, not much. No hats, just small sweatshirts. I got one anyways. It’s going to stay a non-zip up sweatshirt until I slim down…. (reward to a set goal). The zip-up is so fuzzy and warm! With the purchase of a piece of apparel, we you get a poster. I like the poster. Wish I could get it laminated…
   There were two girls sitting ahead of me. One appeared to be in her early/mid twenties and the other looked to be a teen. I watched their reactions a lot.
   David’s famous recording came over the speakers. Oh, 15 minutes until show time! Never fails

Act I

   Oh, how I missed their voices. I just reflected back to the Clemson, SC show. Kind of made me want to cry but I held back and sang the whole time. I did not care what the people around me thought… Honestly, they say for us to have fun clap and sing along! I love to.
   I cannot say this enough. Orinoco Flow… The new way David arranged this is simply incredible!!! During the De-de and oooh’s from the choir Lisa Kelly improvises a little showing off her voice, then Chloë, then Lisa Lambe, and then all of them harmonize together. Oh, it gives me chills just thinking about it! I think they really need to record these new versions of the songs, seriously, just saying!!!
In Goodnight My Angel, the thing that got me most about this or, both performances, really, was that when Chloë was singing the last few versus before the, “Of Me,” Lisa gets closer to Chloë looks her in the eyes, and grabs her hand. My heart melted! I l-o-o-o-o-o-v-e Lisa so much….
   Mo Ghile Mear came. I was so sad. First act of the first show was almost to an end! I’ve got to say, I was the ONLY one who gave them all a standing ovation on this one…. COME ON! It’s the last song before intermission! Show some respect , although, not everyone knows it is that on the set list…

Intermission

   I waited for about three minutes and Sarah came up the aisle. I talked to her for a few, and then kindly asked the people to let me out of the row. Talked to her for a few more minutes and then I headed down to the pit to talk to Destiny.
   The pit was really close to the stage. I mean, really close! Maybe two or three feet from the stage (Since this, the choir stayed on stage during Mo Ghile Mear). Someone got a high five from Lisa Kelly and got in trouble for it later, yet, Lisa was first to initiate it in the first place! So I don’t see what is wrong, they love that type interaction... don’t they?!?
Unfortunately this time, I was unable to get an ISU…. Oh well I shall not complain because I am attending two in the same day! Still a great seat because I was in the middle of the floor, towards the front a little… I walked back up to my seat when I ran into Sarah again. We talked until there was 5 minutes left of the intermission. I was having trouble trying to find my seat.

Act II

   Anthony came down the middle aisle of the theatre for both shows, under the balcony. When I looked back, a lot of the people did not look at him as he was walking down!
Chloë was so funny. She kicked her leg up in the air after finishing When You Believe, and shouted out, “WHHOOOOOOOOO!” Walked back a few feet turned around and sat on the ground. I love that Chloe She did it at both shows.
   YRMU, after Máiréad's solo at the beginning, the lights just shut off! Technical difficulties. Lol they got them working a second before they begun singing. It was epic, epic fail and win at the same time. Ha! Luckily it did not happen during the second show.
   Unfortunately the only thing that got me this show wasn’t with the show itself, it was the ushers of the State Theatre. They were guiding people down to their seat during the middle of songs! REALLY? Be polite! Don’t let people leave during the middle of song either! I saw nearly ten people move about during this show.
As we left the Theater and walked into the foyer, Anthony had a crowd around him as he was playing his bagpipes. There were a few women holding and selling his new CD! Oh, if I had not already bought it on iTunes, I would have so bought a hard copy CD…
   A gentleman walked up and started talking to us. His name is Mike. Nice man. We invited him to dinner with us if he wanted to, and he gladly accepted.
   While the others were talking I got another picture with Anthony As Destiny and I were waiting for Sarah, who was taking a picture with Anthony, Destiny quietly says, “Sarah, piano player!” I was confused, and she said, “Piano player!” I looked up and he was standing right behind her, talking to a woman. I wanted to get a picture. I gave Destiny my camera and walked over to Brian. I asked him politely if I could get a photo with him. He agreed. I was excited. (If you would like to see the full sized image, just click on them).

Anthony Byrne and I!

Brian Connor and I!

   We headed to the Hard Rock Café, where we said to meet for dinner. We were going to meet Mike there, and we were expecting Jennifer, her mother and grandmother. We were there for some time. A lot of fun though. Destiny, Sarah and I were contemplating on getting a drink or not. We all decided against it. We sat and talked for a few and tweeted to the girls some questions for the webisode Q&A. Oh, I’m so excited! They are doing a webisode in MINNEAPOLIS Once we were done with dinner, it was about 7PM. As we walked back to the State, I wanted to check and see if my old security officer friend was in the school or not, so I said loudly to everyone, HOLD ON, LET ME SEE IF MY OLD SECURITY OFFICER FRIEND IS IN TONIGHT!” And yet, all the youngins’ followed me to the door of my school. It made me laugh. “Sarah, are you lost? You should know your way around here!!!” Har har har, it’s right across the street.
We had to wait about ten-fifteen minutes until the doors opened. At this venue, they open the doors a half hour before show time. Jen, her mum and grandma went off in their own direction, as I waited for my girls to come through the door. We went up the stairs to the balcony. It was really gorgeous.
   I was in the right seat but it turns out Sarah and Destiny were in the wrong seats! A couple came walking up and said it was their seats, and we all looked at our ticket stubs and they were in CC instead of BB… ha! Oh, mix-ups. It made us all laugh. We switched spots with this girl, Leslie, who was from ND. This was her first show, and she was excited, yet did not know what to expect. We told her stories, told her how many times we each saw CW (Des – 11; Me -7; Sarah - 4), and chatted a lot with her. She seemed quite interested!

Act I

   One thing that surprised me about this show, they started early! They began the music for Nil Se’n La at 8:05! I was shocked!
   Unfortunately, Sarah, Destiny and I were falling asleep in the first act. I feel quite ashamed of it, but I was soooooo pooped! My naptime is usually around 3-5PM, if I do happen to have a nap for the day. Trying to keep awake, listening to them perform, I closed my eyes for a moment. It was so soothing. I was determined to stay awake! I think it was the balcony... I am not used to it. It feels so unusual to what type of seats I am used to! I like it because it shows a different perspective of the show, but I like the more intimate feeling being on the main floor near them. I was not a huge fan of the balcony.
   Nil Se'n La, started. Destiny got my attention and she whispered to me, “Chloë, look at Chloë!” Chloë put her arm on Lisa Kelly’s shoulder, like three times during the song. It was so funny and adorable!
As Chloë was giving intro speech to Galway Bay, a guy shouted "I LOVE YOU CHLOE!" and she giggles and responds back right away, "Aww I love you too!" and giggles again. I love her laugh. It is so contagious, I love it!

Intermission

   As the intermission came, Sarah told me that she saw a few empty seats. We all got talking and decided to go talk to people from the theatre to see if we can get an ISU. Destiny decided to stay back. Leslie came with us. We walked down the quick exit route to the main floor. I hate steps. I am horrible with them. Fortunately, there was a ramp like thing at the end of the steps. But was a disadvantage for me. I was wearing dress shoes that made me slide down the carpeted ramp. My legs started spreading apart and I am surprised I did not fall flat on my face. There was a man at the bottom of the ramp that happened to be staring right at me and Sarah was just laughing at me. We talked to the security guard that Sarah talked many a time. She is a very nice woman. We asked her and she said we should ask an usher. We talked to the usher near the doorway and he said no then told us to talk to Sheryl who was wearing all black. She is in charge of like, everything. Sorry buddy, but there are so many people wearing all black! We ask another usher, and the woman said she was up near the pit. We talked to Sheryl and she said no, but then asked how many people we had and we said 5. She said it was okay then. I got so excited I ran off without saying thank you. I looked up at the balcony. Destiny was sitting on her seat just waiting. I give her a thumbs up sign. Then signal about seven times to come down. She finally got what I was saying. I had to get back over to that side. Had to find an open row of seats to scoot through. By the time I got over to her, the announcement came on saying, 5 minutes. We all found a seat. Leslie, Jennifer, and Sarah sat in row E and Destiny and myself sat in row D. Leslie received a Lisa Lambe fan forum button from Jennifer, and she was quite happy about getting to move up. She was talking to me about how she was having troubles seeing and making out who was who from the balcony. I feel her pain… Ahh, six rows from the stage (There are two pit rows that start before row A)! Those were amazing seats. Can’t get much better than that for an ISU for five!

Act II

   When Lisa Lambe was introducing Dúlaman, she kept saying the word seaweed in the most dramatic and humorous way. The crowd loved it! The crowd was yippin and screamin’ along when Lisa played the spoons. She did some fun tricks with them, even played off of Ray’s arm!
   Chloë said at one point, Minnesota made them feel like they were at home, back in Ireland. Cool and rainy, haha!!!! Made everyone laugh.
   Lisa Kelly and Máiréad were Lisa Kelly and Máiréad, huge grins all around. Máiréad saw destiny and I. She knows destiny and I am sure she remembered me from Clemson. She had the hugest open-mouthed grin on her face to us and kept looking back at us while playing. I loved it!
   Lisa had seen me and the other girls many a time, and gave many winks and smiles, BUT, the one thing is, at the very end, as she was waving and smiling to people, she double took me, and did a open-mouthed Lisa Kelly smile and did a quick finger point towards me. Not just once, but three times! (Jennifer can even back me up on that one )It was like she was saying, “I remember you I remember you, I remember you!” I gave her a final wave goodbye for the twins.
   Chloë mentioned at the very end, "I don't say this often, but out of the three shows this weekend, this audience is the most '_______'. " Destiny, Sarah, Jennifer, and I are all stuck on what word she had used! It was a funny word ‘cuz everyone laughed. But, to tell you, this audience was loud, active and shocked me! I have never heard Minneapolis like that ever before, so loud and energetic, screaming and yippin’ along. I want to say lively, but I know it is not that word! It bugged us all night, literally!
   After the show, we talked to Leslie, asking her how she liked the show, mentioned to her that she should join the forums if she as interested, and I shook her hand, and mentioned that we need to do it again, someday!

   We all went out into the foyer and talked for some time, and before leaving separate ways, took a group picture. We took the stairs up to the skyway. Jen and her family took the long way over to the escalators. Surprise! We met up again! Haha!
   We were on our way out of the parking ramp, got across the street to a stoplight. I heard a loud truck behind us. As we turn the corner, I look back and it was one of the Songs from the Heart semi trucks!!!
    It was such a great day! Two shows in one day, ISU in the second show, Máiréad giving a lot of attention to Destiny and I, Lisa Kelly, eeek!!! Lisa Kelly, LISA KELLY remembered me!!! Too good to be true!
Thanks again to Lisa Kelly, Máiréad Nesbitt, Chloë Agnew, Lisa Lambe, the band, Aontas Choir, and to everyone I got to experience this day with, would not have turned out this way without you all!

A Trip Never To Forget! Feb. 25th-28th, 2011

2011-03-12T02:25:00.014-06:00

     I honestly don't know where to begin talking about my trip! I am in total contemplation if I want to either bore you with tons of details, or post of a jist of the weekend. I may do more detail for my memory :) So, bear with me!
   I finally had a chance to go down to South Carolina to meet my fav. twinnies in person, hang with them for approx. four days, and attend a Celtic Woman concert together!!!! EEEEEK!
     I had gone to bed around 11:30pm. I was pooped! Frantically packed all night after I got home from class. Oh that was joyous. I had to wake up at 3:30am to gather my things and get out the door. When my mum and I arrived at the air port, we were slightly confused. It's been years since both of us had stepped foot into that place. We asked these people where the baggage drop was and they did not have a slightest idea like we did. We eventually found it, dropped off my luggage. 32 pounds when I left. It was time to stand in line for security. The line was so long it wrapped around two poles beyond the end of the gated off area, Mum was standing in line with me until I got further in. The family that my mum asked about the baggage, was in front of me! I could so tell by their accents that they were from Georgia, low and behold, i saw the grandmother's license and it read, "Georgia" at the top! Win!
     I get up to the security guy checking my boarding pass. He asked how my morning was and hoped that weather was going to be nice on my trip. I said that it was alright and thanked him, then headed over to the security check area. Unloaded my pockets, shoes on the belt, purse and camera too. walked through security point and *Beeeeeeeep!* oops. I forgot to take my belt off. Put my belt in a doggie bowl, and had to also take my laptop out of my purse, forgot about that one. Saw someone else do that and failed to do so myself.
   I got through the check point after. No problem! grabbed my stuff, waved bye to mum, and put everything back on. Time to find my gate. I forgot how cool inside the main airport area. Nice shops and lots of them! Never had a chance to actually go into any though.
I found my gate, waiting at the terminal. Boarded the plane. My seat was the only one that did not have a freakin window! he one in front of me did, and as did the one behind me! the one on the other side eveen had one, I think!
Plane ride to Atlanta was decent. Took many many many many many pictures of clouds. Got a water and a bag of mini pretzels. Wasn't hungry, so I took a picture of them and put them in my purse. haha! I'm cool :) The women next to me. They were not nice to me. I was feeling retarded. Before the actual flight took off, I asked the woman next to me how to use the seat belt!! I hadn't a clue, it's been 9 years since I last was on a plane! She sarcastically replies to me, "Use the other end." Wow, okay, I wont talk to you again...

ATL Airport Train Stop Setup...

We arrive in Atlanta a little late. Probably about 11:25. Oh gosh, I started to panic. I walk one way down the terminals. Ask a person who worked at the airport where the train entrance was and they told me to go back the way i came. Shoot! I quickly text the twins. Freaking out more and more. I hop on the train. it headed one way and I wanted to go the other! It was so confusing! I was at A, had to go to C. We went to T... Oh made me more nervous! Need I mention that I recently learned through the twins and through Good Morning, America, that the Atlanta, GA airport happens to be the largest airport in the US?! Makes it seem even more intimiidating!! I then was walking behind some slow business people who were chatting away. I text the twins again. I eventually found my gate. Got on the plane and tried to relax. I was greeted by the new passenger who was sitting next to me. She was a lovely person, asking me if I had been down to Greenville before and mentioning to me about some places I'd eventually needed to see. Nice, nice woman :)
Pilot announces it will be only a half hour flight. Oh my gosh, I am almost to my destination! Half hour until I finally get to meet face to face with two amazing people!

As we were flying, we circled around and around and we banked really hard to the left, but we were turned to the right, my right side of my face was practically smooshed to the window. I knew we were closing in on landing! Oh my heart started racing!
     I wasn't paying too much attention to the flight attendant. Waited for some luggage that was not there. :D.   Was walking down with the group of people. Followed the signs down to the first floor. As I was standing on the last escalator going down, I saw two young people on some bench near the wall. I was contemplating if it was them or not. I could not tell. I was honestly worried about having my luggage, I needed clothes for this trip ;). I headed over to the first baggage claim, and did not see my bag. Supposedly Katharine was callin for me, but I honestly did not hear. I was in my own little world.
     After I hear my name, I whip around and low and behold, there they were walking right up to me! Big hugs to both of them at the same time! Hahah I love group hugs :)
     We head on to the car with all my luggage. It was gorgeous out! Nearly 76º outside! There was Lisa (their car - I told them they should name their car, could potentially last longer in life :)), pretty, pretty Lisa! She looked so beautiful even with the duct tape and trash bags attached to the sunroof ;) (Hope that gets fixed next time! :( ).
     I could not believe it! I was in South Carolina, with my fav twinnies!!! I handed my camera to Katharine and she looked at all of my cloud piccies. I took a LOT! I texted my aunt that I had made it safely, and then quickly called my mum to tell her as well. Oh I was so pumped! We listened to The Greatest Journey - Celtic Woman during the car ride to their apartment in Clemson. As we got to the apartment, I got a nice glimpse around a portion of Clemson. It was beautiful! Orange everywhere :D We reached their apt. and I set my stuff in Katharine's room. Both their rooms were so cute :) We eventually went to McDonald's for a late lunch. Got me a McDouble and a small fry. Boy, that samich was greasy!! But, tasted good nonetheless. Took me nearly ten minutes to eat the whole thing hahah!   Before heading back, we did a quick driving tour around campus. Boy, it was huge! So neat :D We went back to the apt and sat with our lappies in front of us. We sat there reading tweets for a few, and then moved onto MLIA. We told each other funny posts off that site for nearly 4.5 hours!!!! Around 7:50PM, we watched Chloë Agnew of Celtic Woman chat on the Weather Channel. It was hilarious! It probably helped that the twins were cracking up the whole time! If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it. It's so funny.

It was getting a bit late, so, we had decided to watch a movie that I had brought along. Despicable Me. Hilarious movie, if I do say so myself! :D"It's so fluffy, I'm goona die!" I love Agnes, she's so adorable!!! "Unicorns are loved, oh unicorns are loved. Uni-uni-unicorns, I wan-nt one!" Hahaha okay. I watched it many times before. I was obsessed :). After the movie, we talked for a good while in Katharine's room. Their roommate, April came back from a Deana Martin show and was showin off her cool merch she had got signed! It was so neat! April got her graduation gown on to show her mum and grandma, and then the twins got theirs on too. Oh, it made my night! After April left the room, we sat around and were talkin for a while longer. Around 2AM, we set some blankets and pillows on Katharine's floor, and talked a tiny bit longer before Kristine went to her room. They were all worried about me sleepin on the floor. I did not mind at all, it was actually quite comfortable! Oh the conversation Katharine and I had that night. Too funny. it lasted an hour, before we called it quits and decided that we must get some sleep.
In the morning, I woke up around 9AM and just laid there until Katharine got up. I felt mighty lazy. I remember waking up at one point during the night, and thought to myself, "I am not at home. This is so cool! :D" Katharine came back into her room with her daily morning cup of tea and we were watchin' some random shows on the tele. She was tryin to tell me about Teen Mom. Never watched it before. But supposedly there was a girl who had twins that were had a few tiny problems. Poor things. April came into Katharine's room and asked if I would like some breakfast that she had got from Hardee's. I guess she put in a wrong order and they just kept that in their bag still. So, I graciously accepted. It has been years since I had Hardee's anything! Tasted perdy good. I remember tellin myself to eat it slow so I could get full faster. It sure worked.

This was the first picture of us taken together!

     The twins and I decided to get dressed and take a extensive tour around campus. I made sure my camera was fully charged for this trip. Oh It was perfect tour weather! 65º and slight breeze that made it feel so god! I would say, we walked around for three or four hours? We took a lot of piccies. I did of many things, they did of a few things and we finally got a piccie together! Many piccies!!! I love them all!! Some are hilarious. I wont show any more of us, cept at the end (last picture taken to together), but I can show some of mine I had taken while down there. I'll upload them when I get done talking about the day :) Anyways, after we were done touring, we were getting hungry, well, I was really thirsty more than hungry. We were heading to the place they've been taunting me for a long time. Chick-Fil-A! I was so excited! I had gotten an 8 pc. nugget with Polynesian sauce. Oh it tasted so delish! Katharine was talkin' to their mum and all I knew was that I wanted to get a refill on my pop. The line kept forming longer and longer!! Gahh! Finally, it died down and I ran up and asked for a refill on Sprite. I know i should not have downed it, but it tasted so good.
    We all forgot about the main shoppes. We stopped on over to Tiger Graphics and I was overwhelmed by all of the pride and orange and purple!!! It was so neat :) I got two shirts, one size too big on each (I am going to try to shrink them :D. I got one orange shirt, cuz I HAD to get one to show some Clemson Tiger spirit and I exchanged a long sleeve they got me for Christmas that was a wee bit too small for me. I unfortunately did not realize that I had gotten a shirt in exchange for the long sleeve. Oh well, I wear both anyways. I love them both :). We stopped down the street at this other place. Found a nice dark blue sweatshirt that has Clemson and a tiger paw on the front. I wanted to buy the whole store. The twins and I went to the fun items, and were having a great time! I found two cups that I really wanted. They are on display on my TV stand until I find a good use for each :D. As I was checking out, they were tryin to show me some little sock booties for babies that were in1 a glass cabinet. I paid for my items and I went over for a closer look. Oh, they were so adorable! My response to seeing them up close? "I want them!" "Maybe one day, Sarah. Hopefully not anytime soon!" hahahah!!!
   We went back to the apt. and put our piccies on the lappies. We looked at each others piccies, and then we were seriously pooped. NAPTIME!! I went onto the couch in the living room. I drew a few little drawings and wrote some notes down. Then I just laid there with my eyes closed. Blanket over my face. It felt nice. I did not actually sleep though, but it felt nice to just relax. I talked to Katharine for a while, as Kristine was in the shower. Sat on Katharine's bed holding Bun Bun; I was holding 'em all nicely and I was moving my hand, which flipped him across the room! I gasped and shot up out of the bed quick as I could and picked him up. Katharine gasped and told me to give him a hug. I looked at him, held him close t me, and gave him a big hug and said I was sorry. Kristine came into the room and saw that I was holding Bun Bun. I then told her what had happened. Katharine's turn, so I went to hang out with Kristine. After we were all in our pjs, We were sorting out meet and greet photos for out concert the next night! I could not believe it! It was almost here! Yet, saddened because my weekend was going by so fast! I was most prepared for Lisa and Máiréad. The other two, I just felt iffy about! I did not like one of the piccies I had printed out, and the other, I only had two things for her to sign... But we determined which we all were going to use, and so we packed them up for the next day.   At the same time as we were prepping ourselves for the meet and greet, we were also listening/somewhat watching the Songs from the Heart DVD. Oh that DVD is so amazing! We were going to say goodnight to April, but ended up talking to her for probably a half hour. That was so much fun, hearin' impersonations from older shows. :D That night they pulled out the couch. I told them I did not need them to do so, I gladly could have slept on the couch as it originally was. They did not listen to me :P. There was a dip right in the middle that I sank in. It was comfy hahaha!! I did not get to bed until 3:30AM. Unfortunately, they had very annoying disrespectful and inconsiderate neighbors above them. They like to blare their music up loud, yelling, wooing, stomp across the floor, and first time hearing jumping. That night they came back from some where around 2 and were blasting the music, singing along, someone fell on their knees above me, and then a half hour after that, around 3:20, it sounded as if someone had fallen full bodied on the floor. That crash scared the crap out of me. Oh, I do believe that same night April was going to kick their butts!!! She did call some noise disturbance thing from campus. But they never shown up. Oh that was an event I will never forget. Lovely little hole in the ceiling, poundin and screamin on their door to shut up! Oh April was my hero hahah!

Sunday... It was already Sunday... I woke up at 9AM. Laid there for a while. It felt nice. Got up when Kris was in the kitchen, making her tea. I cleaned up part of the couch - mainly the blankets, and waited for Katharine to open her door, so I could get my clothes. I decided to get dressed. Why not? Elizabeth was going to stop on by so I wanted to get myself ready. Straightened my hair - was okay, mu mum does a much better job than me hahah! We meet Elizabeth, and go inside. Little did the twins know, Elizabeth and I had a surprise in store for them! As we were taking in Katharine's room, I get a text from Dayna - Back before tickets went on sale, Dayna and I were talking about her coming down to surprise the twins, and to attend the concert with us. While hanging out in Katharine's room, I get a text from Dayna to get the twins to open the door. I glance at Elizabeth and we both slightly hint that someone is at the door. We tired saying so a few times, and finally after saying, "um, I really think there maybe someone at the door..." the room grew quiet and we all heard a faint knocking on the door. Surprise! It was Dayna! Oh boy, the twins were so shocked!!! Surprise was successful! :D Oh the excitement in the room just got higher! We congregated back towards Katharine's room (We seemed to be there mostly!) and chatted. I got my camera ready for the day. Decided to change my clothes as well as the twins did too. Had many hours until we had to go anyways, so hey, dressed comfy until then :)   Quickly said goodbye to April and went to go find the trailers and buses!
    We found the buses and trailers, got a bit excited :D Took many pictures then and on the way back to the apt.   Before heading back we had stopped in front of the stadium. Beautiful football field!!! We hung around there for some time, just chillin and zoning out a little. Found out that the ladies were not exactly at Clemson yet, but I guess there are a few ways of interpreting Chloë's tweet. We decided to head back to the apartment. I was getting pooped! It was fairly warm that day too, upper 70's to about 80º out. Uffdah! (How Minnesotan of me, hahah!) I'd love that to be the weather in MN! We hunkered down on the couches in their living room and was talking. I curled up with my blanket in hand and had their couch pillow on my lap. Oh I could have fallen asleep! One highlight we had during this talk was that we've noticed that we say, "Like" a lot. When mentioning a comment said to another, we'd say, "...and she was like..." It went on and on and we could not stop laughing! It was abut 4:30. We needed to get ready!!! We also had to go meet up with Joe for dinner. We were going to go to an pasta type place but ended up going to a little Mexican place called Moe's. What did I want to eat? I had to eat something, but I was not hungry at all. I got a soft shell taco and it came with chips. Yupp, forced myself to eat it.   None of us could eat our food, except Joe! I ate the taco and tried to eat a few of the chips. Not happening.   I was getting way too nervous!   We busted our trays and headed for the venue. I was so nervous at this point. I wanted to know who'd be at the meet and greet, yet, did not want to wish the night away!
     We were to meet Joe outside the North-West part of the venue, closest to the football stadium. I called up Mike (MrPeabody) from the forum, to ask where he was, so I could give his ticket to go inside. Elizabeth called Joe up, and low and behold, Joe found MrPeabody on the way! We headed inside the venue. Got in line to buy our merch! Oh, I was excited. I happened to be first. I asked the person behind the table if I could see a size Large. Perfect fit. Got myself the gray shirt, the black shirt, and the program. I headed over to a small clearance where Kris followed. We waited for our gang to finish buying their merch as well! Time to find our seats!!! Headed down some ways through the stadium foyer. Stairs. My worst enemy! The twins walk down no problem. I was walking down slowly, Dayna close behind laughing at me. :P Finally to the bottom I thank the Lord. Walked to the right and tot the second row. We ended up on the far right side of the stage. Last four seats. I did not wanna complain, I was in the second row, SECOND row for crying out loud!!! The twins and I were talked amongst ourselves for a while until Joe walked over to us. Joe asked me if I would like to go up into the front row next to Dayna for the first half. I thought about it long and hard. So many things running through my mind. First of all, I did not want to leave the twins back there! I came with them. We planned this for a long time! I did not wanna be like, "Hey! okay! Bye guys!!!" Rude. Just, rude!!! I looked at the twins and then Joe, Dayna and Elizabeth and then.... I started bawling my eyes out. Everything was hitting me. I was at a CW concert with my twinnies, second row, just got asked to move up to the first row... CW... CELTIC WOMAN! I looked back at the twins bawling my eyes out still, and they told me to go. So, I did. Left my bag under that seat and excused myself from the row. Still bawling my eyes out, I talk to Dayna. Oh the guilt started to build. Thought about it more and more, oh I felt so bad! Dayna told me she would be right back and I see her go back by the twins. Elizabeth came in front of me and gave me the hugest pep talk int the world. :) She told me, "Sarah. You deserve this. Have you ever had front row before?" I said no, the closest I have been was 4th row. She replied, "Well, This is your time to be selfish. You need to be selfish sometime!" Oh, I hate, hate, hate being selfish! She continues the pep talk for a while longer and then she finishes it off by saying, "Come on, Sarah! I want to see your squinty-eyed smile!" That made me laugh. :) Dayna came back and she had told me she had talked to the twins about how I felt. She said that they were fine with it, but I did not want to believe her. I wanted to get my phone from my bag, but I said to Dayna I wanted to get my bag, but did not want to get up.   Dayna offered to grab my bag but I did not want her to. She did it anyways... Dayna also started talking about Jersey Shore. I will NOT watch that one. No Sir-ree! I play slapped her on her back. I would never slap hard. She kept sayin' so I slightly slapped. A few minutes later, I hear the twins callin' my name. I turn and they are mouthing something to me. I am not good at all with reading lips. Kath is staring off and pointing slightly in the direction to my left. They were like, "IT'S BUBBA!" in whispering voices. I was like, "Bubba?... *turned head to the left* Bubba!!!" Oh my gosh, it was THE Bubba Dixon, from the Songs from the Heart behind the scenes!!! I could NOT believe my eyes! I looked back at them and squealed! Oh that lightened my mood up a whole lot! The announcement came over the sound system, the one all of us CW fans are knowledgeable of. That announcement means that it will be about fifteen minutes until the show actually starts! I felt so giddy. The show was about to begin! I am like five feet from the stage! Oh boy! Soon, the lights began to go dark.
      So I won’t go into detail of every song, but I will mention about the ones that stood out to me – may be a lot of them, so bear with me! Oh I should mention that I practically bawled during every song during Act I… but anyways:

The lights grow dim after a few moments, and the Aontas choir slowly walks onto the stage with their candles. I hear the voice of Chloë. Shivers run up and down my spine. I once again started bawling, tears of joy! It’s been nearly a year since I have heard them live, so it was so great to finally hear them again! My first glances at the girls. All I know it was so hard to see. My eyes were covered in tears, glasses smudged; I quickly tried to wipe them off. Then the choir blew the candles out. More chills and more tears.

I hear a familiar “Ooo-ing” start to ascend through the speakers. Lisa. I absolutely LOVE her singing this song. I of course being my emotional self that night start bawling like a baby! Front row, with Lisa singing Fields of Gold right in front of me! I do remember when my vision cleared up, I had seen her glace over in my direction. She looked towards me! :) I sang along through the entire song, even though I was choking on my tears a little. It’s Celtic Woman. I had to sing along!

The Coast of Galiçia - Oh how free Máiréad flows through the air! Máiréad was everywhere! Jumping, twirling, swaying! She’s quite amazing! She stopped right in front of me and the other girls and she flipped her hair, head tilted back at us, oh she looked so fierce!!!! I love it! It reminded me of the image that was posted in the gallery on the Celtic Woman website from Powerscourt taping.

*Crash!* *Boom!* “Sail away, sail away, sail away!” Gets me every time! Watching the ladies walking down the stage so elegantly, but so fiercely, I start to shake. Singing along, I ever so subtly do the hand movements to the song. I recall closing my eyes for a moment, taking everything in.

After hearing the performance of Chloë and Lisa on QVC, I heard the first piano keys being played and I instantly knew. The new arrangement of Goodnight My Angel is absolutely gorgeous! It’s a faster tempo than the original arrangement, but it really works still. It made me smile. I’ve always viewed Lisa as a mother (because she is!) and Chloë as the baby of Celtic Woman. Mother singing with her child, so precious! Both of the ladies looked so beautiful on that stage!

Last year, when they performed at the Xcel Energy Center, in St. Paul, MN, and there was an elder couple sit to my left. When the ladies sung Danny Boy, all I could remember hearing was the husband singing loud and proud to his wife. When I heard it live this night, I just started bawling! I had remembered that couple and it made me smile knowing that this that gentleman had sung so proudly that day.

I always anticipate the big boom from the drums when Mo Ghile Mear begins. I love watching and listening to the reactions of the other audience around me, who do not know that it was coming. There is one woman that was sitting behind me that flat out said, “Oh, wow! That scared me!” Then the second drumbeat goes off, and she squealed a little and laughed to her friend. The choir comes down during the song and stands in front of the front row. I believe it was Niall McGrath who stood right in front of me. I could hear him loud and clear. Oh he has a gorgeous voice :)

During the intermission, Joe had gotten up. There were two seats to my right that were not being used! So he invited the twins and MrPeabody up to the first row with us! Elizabeth was on the left, the twins, Dayna, myself, and then Joe and Mike on the right. I cried one final time then told myself this is no way to watch a concert! Well, if I could even see at all! Stood up, and I felt so much better. The show was about to start back up. Oh, the excitement was rising once more!
During The Call, I sung along and did the waving of my hands. I may possibly hit Joe? I'm not sure hahah! :(

When Lisa Lambe came on the stage to talk about Dúlaman, she was the cutest thing ever! She really got the audience interested with the back-story about what the song is about. It made me giggle when others were surprised about what Dúlaman really means in Gaelic. Lisa Lambe was absolutely stunning in this song. She interacted so much with Ray and Andy! At one point she sat down and pondered to herself trying to choose which one she wanted. At anther point, she surprises the whole audience with her own little instrumental interlude, playing the spoons!!! I was in awe - never saw that one coming!

I notice myself getting into Lisa’s next song, The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress. Singing loud ad proud right with Lisa, hoping Dayna didn’t mind me singing along to everything like that. I found myself mimicking her moves she had done in Powerscourt, and it made me grin so big.

“There can be miracles, when you believe.” Oh so many smiles from Chloë during that song. Once she hit that magical high note, I had so many chills running through my body. The woman behind me was gasped in amazement. Everyone was dead silent; oh that moment is always breathtaking for me. Absolutely beautiful! After she was finished singing, she let out a big sigh, and held her stomach, turned around walked a little ways, and turned to face us and sat down with another big sigh. Chloë is such a card. I love her!

The first few notes of At the Céili Started playing and my heart started racing! This song always makes me want to dance along. It is so upbeat! I love it (as to every other song they sing… ha ha!) I was so curious to which dress Lisa Lambe would be wearing. Not surprising to me that she looked absolutely gorgeous in the one they had her in. They ALL looked fantastic in them! Watching each lady interact with the fellows was such a cute sighting! Definitely makes the song more fun!

I knew it was nearing the end. I could not believe it! They were already singing You Raise Me Up! I heard a few people singing along with the ladies. This time, I really wanted to let out a cry, but of course I had held it back and kept my composure. Lisa happened to be on the far right side, which she tends to be a lot during the show. As they were bowing, Lisa glances our way a few times. Chloë, Máiréad, and Lisa Lambe all follow.

After the Finale/Mo Ghile Mear, the ladies came back to do their famous encore performance, Spanish Lady. Oh how I love this song! I promised myself that if I ever get great seats, and the ladies could see me, I would do the “Shoulder Shrug” with them! I managed to do it every single time! Lisa glanced over at us five girls, and she had laughed when she saw us doing it with them!

After the song was over, they were waving their goodbyes and bowing, and Lisa turned to us five girls and blew a kiss to each one of us! It really made my day! Then the concert was over. Felt like the concert went by way too fast to be over so soon! I loved the show. Many smiles from all the girls, I think I have seen a wink from Máiréad and Lisa Lambe.

The lights turned on, and I started to get nervous, really nervous. The twins handed over the Meet and Greet passes to me and I had given the other over to MrPeabody and he thanked me. Dustin finally checked us on the list, and took us up the stadium stairs. The levels kept going! When we hit level ground, I was at row P. I don’t know how we managed it, but we somehow ended in the middle front of the line. We lined up outside of the auditorium, like in the foyer of the place. I thought that was odd only because of hearing other stories about them bringing the people to a room, where the ladies would enter. Oh well, I wasn’t going to complain! I was too nervous thinking of all the possibilities, like: Who will be at this M&G? What will I say to them? Will I faint? Oh I hope not! What are they going to say to me? What if I forget to ask to take a picture with them?! And the questions kept rolling. I took a few pictures of the group just waiting around. Dustin walked in front of the group and explained the ropes of the M&G. I just wanted him to tell me who was going to be the ones signing that night! All of a sudden, I hear him say, “And tonight, your Meet & Greet will be with…. Máiréad and Lisa… K.” I thought I did not hear him right. I quickly asked again to the group and they said it was Lisa Kelly! Oh my gosh! I could not believe it! I started to shake horribly, and I was holding on to the concessions stand ledge, where the line was. I quickly get out my Lisa and Máiréad Merch that I would love to be signed. I was having trouble breathing, breathing heavily. Told myself to relax, and breath in and out slowly. That helped a bit. I was finally going to meet my idol, Lisa Kelly, THE Lisa Kelly!

As Lisa and Máiréad came out, I got my Nikon DSLR camera ready. First, I just wanted a shot of them at the table but I was quite short, took the camera strap off my head and raised it up in the air. Perfect! As the line grows closer, I took more and more snapshots of Lisa and Máiréad (Need I remind you, I was shaking really bad, and trying to keep myself breathing throughout the Meet and Greet..). I also promised Elizabeth that If I got her a shot of herself with Máiréad, that she would use my camera to get a shot of me with both the ladies. It was the twins’ turn. Kristine was up first. I got a few of Lisa talking with Kristine, while she was signing a few items. One item happened to be for Hayley and Miranda, the twins from Cali :) (Oh to look at all of those pictures are priceless!). Lisa mentioned to Bubba that Kristine and Katharine are “the Smiley ones.” Oh to hear that live about them, made my heart melt! Katharine’s turn! I, being very shutter-camera happy, had to quit taking pictures. Bubba was starting to talk to me, so I tried to get Elizabeth’s attention to grab my camera. That took a little bit. He asked me what my name was and how to spell it, and said that can only get a limited number of items signed.

I had an assignment for class, which was to create a book on someone who inspires you. My first thought, I would write about Lisa! Things just fell into place and I had many forum members from the main Celtic Woman forum and the Lisa Kelly Fan Forum submit entries for this book. It turned out stunningly, and I made a few extra copies. Mainly one for myself, and one to give to the twins, Dayna, and in the hopes to give to Lisa Kelly herself, as a gift from me! I proudly gave a copy to Lisa, and she had signed my copy and handed it back to me. Oh I was so ecstatic about it! She looked at me, greeted each other, shook hands, and I mentioned about the book. She said to me that she thought it looked like I really enjoyed the show. She also mentioned that she had seen me crying during Danny Boy! How embarrassing! I was feeling a little faint at the time and I said to her, “Wow, I may be the first one to faint in front of you” (Also referring to one of the questions I had asked her in a newsletter Rich Ropes had created)! She replied to me jokingly while laughing, “Oh, stop it!” It made me laugh. I asked for a picture with her, and she agreed. I got a picture with Lisa!!! I felt so giddy after that moment! Trying to stand on my own two feet, I move on to Máiréad! Since I was paying so much attention to Lisa, I did not even see Máiréad sign any of my items! I shook hands with her and introduced myself. I told her that it was very nice to meet her, and that she did a phenomenal job that night. She always does! Felt a little rushed with Máiréad, so I kindly asked for a picture with her too, and she kindly agreed. Two Pictures with two of the Celtic Woman! I was absolutely giddy about the whole thing :).

Lisa Kelly and I

I moved off to the side of the foyer with the other girls, and I took a few more shot of the ladies, as we waited for Joe. After we left the M&G area, Kristine asked a person who worked there if we could grab a poster someone was going to give her. After talking to a few people we all head over and view the poster. It was huge! Gorgeous. Took a few pictures of it, and then we headed out to the vehicles. I had to call my mum out of pure happiness, and of course in the middle of telling her who was at the M&G, I started bawling all over again. Plus, my pants were falling down... Stupid pants with no belt loops!!! Katharine graciously offered to hold my items while I tried to walk, talk on the phone and prevent my pants from falling to the ground. That would have been a sight to see... How embarrassing! Mahahahaha!

Máiréad Nesbitt and I

Oh that was such an epic day. 1200+ miles away from home, was with two amazing friends, met up with a few other forum friends (who are pretty amazing in person as well!), enjoyed a Celtic Woman concert together, and met Lisa Kelly and Máiréad Nesbitt together! I would not have wanted this day to end up in any other way! We decided to walk out by the trailers and trucks just to look at them one final time. As we walked by, we saw the Tiger's promotional !truck that had Celtic woman on it - "Get Amped," mahaha!!! On the way over to that truck, we see Chloe on the bus! We try to act normal :D On the way back, we are still tryin' to act normal and then we see someone else, it appeared to be Dermot! Oh I was so zoning out at this time. We head back to the car. I am walking really extremely slow at this point. I was tired - bawling takes it out of ya!!! I was also trying to keep myself breathing haha. it was bad. We got back tot he apartment. I just wanted to get out of my clothes and into something comfy as soon as possible! I ran into Katharine's room and got my Snoopy pink capri's, changed, grabbed my lappie, memory card, and meet and greet items and went and sat on Kristine's bed. Everyone else was sitting on her floor. Everyone was posting on Facebook and Twitter. It took me nearly ten minutes to think of what I wanted to post! I just sat there, staring at my computer. Zoning out and exhausted. I finally post my FB status and then my Twitter updates. I decided to upload all my pictures from the day. While I was waiting for them to upload, I looked at my merch I had signed. Oh the joyous signatures of each!!! Bubba signed my name on each, except Máiréad's insert to her CD. She signed my name on it so elegantly!!! I got four items signed by each lady! :D :D :D I had received a poster that displayed the promotion of the show at LittleJohn, so I wanted to get it signed. Glad I did. I now wish i could put it up on the wall :) They are all so precious to me!! I have included everything I had gotten signed :)

We were going through piccies at this point. I periodically turned my computer to the gang and shown them amazing shots I had gotten of Lisa, or the twins taking to Lisa, Elizabeth talking to Máiréad, Dayna and Lisa, and was editing a few on the spot. They looked so amazing I could not wait to sit down and fully edit them!! I knew that would take me a long time!!!

April cane into the room and started talking for a while. That was fun. We were all tellin' her about what happened at the concert, who we met, etc. We then decided, before it got too late that we would all take a picture with each other (We had talked about it a little earlier that we were all going to wear out gray shirts and pose for a picture). April gladly took piccies on our cameras. We took so many. A few in Katharine's room and a few in the living room where we had a little more space. Only bad thing is we had to be quiet. Their other roommate, Whitney was sleeping.

It was nearing one thirty or so, and we were getting a bit tired. Oh I know I was pooped at least. Elizabeth and Dayna had a hour and a half drive left to make to get back to Elizabeth's place... I felt bad for them! We all stood out on the deck for like five-ten minutes just chatting away. Did many hugs goodbye, and chatted a little longer. It's so hard to say goodbye lol!! The twins and I stood out on the deck watching them walk away. I giggle and Dayna looks back at us. I wave peace :). They get into the car and start driving towards us, and we got a little confused but realized they wanted to say one final goodbye!

The twins and I went inside. Packed up a few of my things, checked myself into the flights, printed my boarding passes, and was talking to them a little more. We were all standing between their two rooms when suddenly it came to me! We FORGOT to go to STARBUCKS to get a LKS (Lisa Kelly Special - Non fat no whip White Chocolate Mocha - but I usually get mine the org. way)!!! How DARE us!?!?! I kinda wanted to slap myself for not remembering sooner!!! Oh well... The twins set out the couch again... even though they did not have to... grabbed two pillows, a few blankets, and I grabbed my blankie. Said our goodnight's and tried to go to bed. Tried was the keyword...

I had Galway Bay stuck in my head all night!!! I laid there for nearly thirty minutes with that song in my head, when I finally forced myself to sleep. I mean, I had to... We were getting up around 8AM or so to pack my things! :( I did not want to think about going home. It was way too soon!!!

8AM came around too soon. I woke up around 6 or so when Whitney was getting ready to go. I fell back asleep until 7:45 and just laid there. I heard Kris's alarm go off. I still did not want to move. Someone came into the kitchen to get their daily dose of tea. I put my glasses on, and it was Kris! "Good morning!" It was a fantastic morning, I wanted to tell myself. Sigh, I was heading home that day! I folded up the blankets (cept' the huge one I could not manage by myself) and put them away in the crate beside the couch, as I waited for Katharine to open her door (I am polite and wait :), although I did go into her room one night a half hour after we said good nigh, because I failed to remember to take my pill... ha! Prolly was that night!!!).

Anyways... I get myself ready for the day, and pull my hair up. It looked like crap fro crying into it all the last night! Started to pack my things. I told Katharine, I don't think this is going to fit in my bag (referring to the merch I had bought on the main shopping street). As I pushed and shoved my stuff neatly in my bag, Katharine went to Kristine's room to shoot their teacher and classmates an email. I quickly took that time to jot down in a card I bought from Target at home, a thank you note for all they had done for me that weekend. I had so much fun with them! And wish I did not have to go. Put it in the side of my purse and shoved a few last things into the luggage bag. Zipped that baby up and wow, it felt so heavy! Katharine offered to carry my small bag (my purse - not that small, had my lappie and everything else in there!). I quickly grabbed the card out from the pocket and put it behind my back as I was handing my purse to her, saying, "Sure!" She left the room, which I was a bit surprised. Back home, usually when someone leaves the room, they are the last one out of the room and shuts the door. Both of them were in the living room. As I put my shoes on, I was contemplating on where to put the card. On Katharine's TV? No, they prolly wont see it right away. On her desk? Maybe... On her blanket, next to Bunny? Bingo! That is one place they'd see right away when walking into her room. I set it down quickly and scooted out of there. We headed to the car, Ms. Lisa. Put my bags in the trunk, and off we were to the airport. Katharine was driving this time. :( I could not believe it. My time with them was over!!!

My thoughts before this whole trip was will I talk much or will I be my awkward self and be quiet? I definitely surprised myself. I talked so much, as did they when we were with each other. So many great times together over that weekend. Lots of piccies and videos that I will never forget!

As we drove through Anderson we saw the huge promotional billboard for the concert. We both took piccies of it. I wish it was legal to take that down and put it on the side of my house... but, no. Hahaha!!!

We had Songs from the Heart playing the whole time while on the way there. Half singing along and half reminiscing about the weekend's outcome. Oh it was so much fun!

This was in Anderson, SC!

About 10AM we reached the airport, parked and slowly got out of the car. It was a little windy there. Prolly was, I'd say, around 65º out, but felt cooler with the wind. We gave each other some goodbye hugs, took piccies of the goodbyes, and I wanted to get a few piccies for my phone. With my phone, I have a quick favorites list that pulls up pictures of the 9 selected contacts I would like to text, call or, change info on. I needed better piccies to put on there, ones of my own. Took one of Kristine, then one of Katharine. Then, I realized, I wished to have some of all three of us together on my phone! Kris was the pro at taking group shots, so I handed my phone to her. She took two shots, both semi failures, but kept them on my phone anyways. Then, a nice gentleman came walking by, and offered to take our picture for us. Took a few moments to figure out my phone (haha) and then he got it. It was a nice piccie. I love it!

The very last piccie of us together :(.

We head to the departure gate of the building. Hug a few times, look around for where I had to go to drop my luggage off. I was looking for a "Bag Drop" like we had at home, but did not see anything. I saw a fun weighing machine next to the wall. I scooted my luggage bag over. The machine said, "Please do not stand on scale" hahah!!! I am sure little kids have done it... I set my luggage bag on there. 33lbs?! Really? I only added one pound to my bag from when I got to South Carolina?! The twins walked over to me, and I told them what my bag weighed. I asked Katharine if it felt much heavier than I had arrived (cuz she happened to be the one who brought my luggage into the apt. the first time). She said it felt so much heavier than before! It was so beyond me. I could not explain it! I walked up to the counter and the woman there scanned my boarding pass and took care of my luggage for me. I had to get my license out of my pocket to verify myself, and I dropped my sunglasses. After checking my luggage in, I walked back to the girls. I dropped my sunglasses again... Wow, I am a klutz. We ended up talking about 5 minutes more (but felt like ten) and hugged one last time, said our goodbyes, and all three of us walked our separate ways. I got to say, those goodbyes were the hardest thing I have ever done in forever! I really wanted to cry! I did end up crying a little while on the way over to the security checkpoint. I decided to keep myself hydrated and bought myself a bottle of water. Drank it all and then headed off to the security checkpoint. I decided to text the twins and say that I already miss them. Kristine was driving so I knew it'd be a while until she'd respond to hers, but Katharine, Katharine had the same idea as me! She was literally texting me at the same time trying to say the same thing! Oh, it put a smile on my face, and a tear to my eye.

I got up to the officer who was checking boarding passes. Gave him both my boarding pass and License, ad he said to me, "Goin' back home to the cold, huh?" I replied, "Yupp, unfortunately...:" and he laughed at me as he gave me my items back. I took my belt off ad this little girl, I'd say about six years old, looked at me like, "why are you taking your clothes off!!?!?!' It made me laugh inside :). Got to the conveyor belt, put my shoes on it, lappie separately, camera, purse, and then jacket and other things into a bucket. I learned from the last time ;) No beeps!!! Took about five minutes to put my belt on and got my bags situated, and headed up towards the terminals. I found a seat near the gate, and texted Katharine for that time I was waiting. It was supposed to rain that day. I did not see a drop until I walked out and onto the plane. It was only sprinkling. Prolly for only ten minutes at most. Then, I had to turn my phone off.

I just stared out the window the whole time, as we went to ATL airport. This time I felt less rushed. I knew what I was doing, where I was going. So, I took my time. I turned my phone on when we got to the airport, and I got two texts from the twins. They were yellin' at me for putting moneys in the card. Ha! Gas is getting expensive. I wanted to pay my part! Well, anyways, I walked passed a convenience store and bought me two decks of cards that said Atlanta, and one of just a picture ;). Two more decks of cards added to my collection! I headed off to my terminal. Had plenty of time still. The plane still has not arrived yet. I was getting a little hungry at this time. There was a restaurant across the way. I did not want to spend the money there. Nope. I sucked it up and waited. When getting on the plane, the line was so backed up... The cabinets were so packed up. I found room, tiny room for my camera case, like five rows ahead of me. I was supposed to be on a window seat but I got an aisle instead. Oh well. During the flight, the lady on the far side, near the window closed it, so I had nothing to stare at. So did the man on the far far end. I felt little claustrophobic. At one point, we had hit turbulence. Bad turbulence, hit some bad weather. It felt like a roller coaster. I am BAD with those!! I get high anxiety and have troubles getting myself to breathe. I held so tightly to the armrest in the aisle. So tightly, closed my eyes and tried to breath. I am feelin dizzy just thinking about it! Lasted maybe about five minutes and then things got better. Only an hour longer to get home. I wanted to just be home and off the plane!!!

When we got to the Minneapolis airport, I turned my phone on and texted my mum that I have arrived. It was about 3:30PM. I texted the twins saying I was back safe and sound, and had a bit of an anxiety attack on the plane. As I was leaving the plane, I got a cool breeze from outside. I needed my gloves! It was freezing out! I walked down to baggage claim 6 to find my mum. There she was walkin' towards me in her bright red coat. Hugged, said hi and explained more about the meet and greet. I waited about fifteen minutes and finally my luggage bag came. Phewfta!!! I was getting worried! On the drive home, I was talking about my trip to my mum, and then stopped through McDonald's. Should have stuck to something small, but nope. I ate the fries in the car, and then had a large burger when I got home (around 5:05PM) and got myself a stomachache. I was home! Went into my room and unpacked some of my things. Did not take a nap like I wanted to because it took over an hour to show my mum all the piccies!!! That night I was trying to show my mum some merch I purchased, and the stuff I had gotten signed. She was not paying attention to me (she was helpin' my brother write internship letters), so I decided to go to bed. Twas a long day, and a long but short trip. Very overwhelming, if I do say so myself!!! First trip taken by myself, check! I feel more adult like :). I'd say it took about a week to feel back to normal-ish. i still feel sad it is over but nothin' I can do abut it. Unfortunately, I don't own a time machine. I wish I did though, I'd so start over from day one! :D

Well, I hope you enjoyed my long rant of a story, and hope you did not get too bored readin'.... If you did get through all of it, congratulations and thanks for readin'!

Pearle Vision Is A DIssappointment

2011-02-22T15:32:00.001-06:00

    So, yet again, it has been a while since I last posted. Too much going on. Classes. Oh, classes. I am graduating in a quarter. June 2011. Wow.

   I recently, over the past weekend, hurt my neck and shoulder (left side). Oh joys. Wont get into that story.

     This weekend, I am going down to South Carolina. Clemson, SC. I am so excited. Going to see two friends, meet new people, and then also, see Celtic Woman!!! I am so excited. I will hopefully find time to post about everything later when I get back home.

I am also going to try not txting for a week or so. See how I can do.

Well, I got some stuff to get done. Hope everyone is doing well.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie...

2010-10-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

Thanks Hulu for the Embedding function :)

     I LOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEE this CD DVD!!!!! Just sayin.

    This is making me so impatient for next years tour! I want to go! Oy! Just the thought of it puts a smile on my face!!!!!!!

    Okay, this weekend. I am so excited. Friday I am makin' my chili :) Saturday, bringing Robert to see my whole family for my cousin's 16th birthday party. He is siked. He loves... I mean LOVES my chili. I love my chili too :) NO beans :)

    Anywho...

    I took two photos last night. One i love but not the background. My friend has my seamless white paper right now, so it looks semi odd, but the other, I like.

   My critique is today. I cant wait to get it over with. Both of them... one for my piccies and one for my second draft of my fake grant.

   I do not think I will be able to nap tonight. On my way home, around 5:30ish, I gotta stop and get the ingredients for my chili. When we get home, mum and I are going to get up to date on Grey's. We missed the season finale of last years season. It is a key part to these first few episodes from this season. Bones hopefully will be on this week (we'll see). Then this week's ep. of Geey's.

    Maybe carving pumpkins tonight. we'll see how I feel lol.

    I know Rob would like to play wii tonight. Maybe I will hook it up downstairs so we have more room to move than sitting on my bed HAHA....

    Pictures. What other pictures can I post? I will search around on my lappie. This may be the end of my post today. I have class in a half hour. Okay, some are out of order......

Cheese store in Wisconsin :)

Thought that was perdy.

Lol...

My new deck of cards I can add to my collection!

Campers like mine in Siren, WI

Visited the same guy who sold us outs 6 yrs ago.

Outside of the Golf club clubhouse.

Played Canasta throughout the weekend. I was loosing every time!

Kept mind occupied when rainy and no one wanted to do anything...

The view from my aunt's cabin window. right on a golf course :)

Uhh yeah. Dark rainy gloomy all weekend.

Surprised my cousin, Dyl by bringing matt and Rob along to go out to eat for lunch.

Tuesday. Windy icky day. Horrible!

While ago, Rob brought me to a park by his house, and we found this vine.. We both swung on it. I felt like Tarzan :)

This is what my chili looks like. But with more Special juice :)


In my Project Management class, we had to write our names down for the teacher so eh could memorize... Okay, this is my best handwriting ever. I was so proud.

The sound of music:)

Crazy rays of sun!

I still have hulu running. Sfth is over. It switched movies. Now A Christmas Celebration is playing now lol!

I am going to head out. The people next to me in the student lounge are annoying me. This one chick is talking with her mouth full. SO disgusting!

Wisconsin

2010-10-19T10:27:00.000-05:00

     Oh boy, i fail. What else is new? :D I have totally failed to keep a little update. Now for my specialization class, I need to keep a blog updated with at least three random entries a week... Oy vey!   I have a dedicated blog for that, if you would like to read - Finding Inspiration.

     I am going to Wisconsin this weekend for girls weekend. I am quite excited. I haven't gone there in a few years. I would say like two or three years ago? Last time I was there, I remember sitting on the floor in the living room area of my aunts cabin, and we were watching a Disney channel movie - The little Vampire. I was always so puzzled by that movie.

     Well, tonight, tonight is a special night :)   The Sound of Music - sing - a - long is in theaters for two days only. For the theater by my house, it is of course tonight. the other is showing on next tuesday, Oct. 26th. I can finally say after it is over, that I have seen the Sound of Music in theaters :D
There is this person from the western states... Allie Broch. She is hilarious. You need to check our her stuff -Hyperbole Anda Half, Her posts are quite entertaining.

   There is one photographer I really like, who has traveled to Ireland. his name is Josh McMurtrie.
     Oy! Sorry for all the links... I have nothin else to really say! I guess keep tuned for the next blog post...?

MN State Fair

2010-08-29T19:44:00.005-05:00

I know, I know. It has been forever! Too much has been going on. Location class and my other class I have no idea what it is called right off hand. In location, we are thinking about final projects. I can do this. We are making our second book in the other class. - A book on someone who is inspirational. Umm... how about that Lisa Kelly!?!?! My teacher said yes :) This will be a good one, if it turns out. I would love to have her sign it too! :) THAT WOULD MAKE MY LIFE AMAZING :D
I have some special pictures in store for this book, from somewhere special :) I cannot wait to see the final result of this book!!!!!

So, State fair today! Finally! There are a few things I need to get/do. It is a must. I need to buy a $10 BLUE K102 t-shirt, or if they don't have one, I will go elsewhere, as long as I get a blue shirt :). I also need to buy a Pronto-Pup - Yumm.... German Root beer - Amazing, and, maybe some Mini Donuts. Then do some shopping, entering contests, and see the Miracle of Life barn :) Then. walk and talk and w/e. I will be satisfied :).

So, I just got back a while ago. Locked out of house so sat there. Now I am of course online. Well, not all according to plan. I had a slice of Cincinnati Pizza Pie. Umm delicious. We went to the Colosseum thing, and watched the Miniature horse show and a amateur horse riding competition. Jay got a cup of fries - "Best in america!". I got my German root beer. So delicious!!!!!!! As we waited outside the grandstand shop area, we were trying to finish the fries. There was an elder couple with a service dog. I found it funny. The dog was getting more attention than the surrounding vendors :P - Pictures to come after. We walked through the Shop area under the grandstand. I found a neat Bumper magnet for my car :) Hmmm... we went a walkin. K102 did not have a good selection of Shirts, so i skipped that. Jamie got a pretzel with cheese. She gave me a little. It was good. Oh man. yeah, we did not do too much. We walked to the front of the fair. Looked around in the merchandise mart. She bought shaped rubber bands for her sisters. We met up with her dad around 1:50. We waked around the Miracle of Birth barn. I wished to see more, but it was hot in there, and I knew they wanted to leave. I never got my pronto pup, but at that time, my tummy was full. So, we left. I kind of regret not buying the pronto pup... but, w/e. I guess next yr. Left the fair around 2. Yeah, somewhat wimpy! we stayed there for about 2 and a half hours... Maybe I can get someone to go with me again before it is over. I WANT MY PRONTO PUP!

Anyways. right now, in school, we are going onto week 8 of 11!!!! ALMOST DONE!!! :D ;D :D :D I have to print off some photos for my portfolio review soon. I better get on that. It is due in two Fridays. I need this break.... I would love to have December to be here..... Three Weeks off after the 18th!!!! Eww.... I have a Saturday class. Really? Sigh.... Yeah, I will be needing distractions then...

I am quite excited. This next weekend is Labor day weekend. :) This coming Sunday, is the Annual Chili Cook off!!! Two years ago, my chili has gotten 8th place, and last year, my chili had gotten 4th place! :D Maybe this year, I may do better? That would be cool :) Just saying...

Well.. I should probably go. Got some being lazy and avoiding homework to do :P

But, before I do go, I will post some pictures of some stuff... Some may be random, since I havent posted for a few months!

MN State Fair - Third Largest in Country. Known for food on a stick. HA....

Miniature Horse show :)

The Best

Black Russian Terrier ;)

Best Root Beer Ever!

For Rob.


My New Bumper Sticker

My tiger, Abbs :

I made two shirts that were shipped across the sates :)

Attended Twins Game :) Funn!!!

Mighty Mississippi River

Now, isn't that perdy? :)

Okay, Have a fantastic night! I am not sure when I will get a chance to post again... we'll see :)

P.S. Prinney is getting a rabies shot and hair cut tomorrow, so postponing the Mohawk until her hair grows out again :) I kinda wanna make her int a dinosaur :P

Bonding Time

2010-05-23T14:27:00.003-05:00

Wow...

So, I apologize for not keeping up. It has been quite a while since I last posted.

Busy, busy, busy. It is now a week past midterms. It's Sunday. I have four weeks to go. My print production class is going to do some screen printing on t-shirts and whatever else that is cotton. I think I may do something with Lisa or CW, like Lisa Kelly is my hero or some sort of thing like that.

For Print Production, I just finished a simple travel poster for the Everglades National Park, in Florida. By no means is it going to be sent to them, but ya know... school projects.

It is the start of Graduation Season. Hahaha... Saturday, my brother and I went to my dear friend, Jamie's house for she had just graduated from Hamline University. Great fun. Got there when it started. Usually in the first hour or so of any party, the relatives arrive first. Saw some old relatives of hers. Nice to see them after like. ten years. Food was good. Sushi, veges wow, omg amazing tortilla rolls...mmm....

Thus starts the brother/sister bonding day....

We went to Guitar Center after Jamie's party. He is trying to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a DJ. No lie. He just bought two turn tables, a mixer, and we are going to go to a vinyl record store, so he can buy some vinyls to practice on. He is so excited. Hahah. Oh and I saw an old neighborhood friend at the Guitar Center :) Made me happy. I haven't seen her since her graduation party from our high school. Fantastic :)

We had to travel to the Maplewood Guitar Center because they did not have the turntables in stock in the Maple Grove store. That was some trip. Hahaha. Got back around seven something and he started setting up his equipment.

Matt (my brother's friend) came over for a tiny bit and went home to eat before they left for a show at Honey, in MPLS. I was gettin ready for bed, well,.. not gonna sleep yet but was gettin a movie t watch, and I cam back to a voicemail on my phone. I checked it, and It was my brother. I called him back and he asked me if I wanted to go to see Culture Cry Wolf because Matt wasn't feeling well. I agreed. I got myself ready and we headed off to MPLS. It was midnight.

What a nice brother, he got me into the show for free :).

I guess I talked to three performers as before I even sat down. Crazy. Now, for if that could happen with Celtic Woman, I'd be a happy camper :)

The show was great. I probably lost a lot of hearing, but it made my brother smile haha... He also made me try some of his Nordeast Beer. Named in honor of North East Minneapolis. Horrible taste at first but the aftertaste wasn't too bad. I could not put my finger on what it tasted like.

After he talked to a few performer, brother grabbed me a free Culture Cry Wolf CD, we were on our way home around two AM, He was really confused on how we went around in a circle It made me laugh.

We were passing Taco Bell, and he started salivating. And pretends to cry a little since now he is on a budget cuz he bought those DJ equipment. I said I would pay for his food. He perked up and we headed to the Bell.... we got home ate and I started getting ready for bed. We watched an episode of How it's Made. I went to bed. It was 3:30. I was dying.

I woke up at noon today to my princess whining at me. I forced myself up and did our daily routine. Matt left a note on my mum's bed for me sayin that he has to mow, and I should clean the kitchen before we head out to the record store, and before our parents get home. He is still mowing.

I am really excited for Matt. I hope he gets good, because if push comes to shove, DJ-ing is not a bad career, especially for weddings. Supposedly they get paid A LOT. hahah!

Well, that is it for now. No homework to worry about for this weekend. I should give prinney a bath. She needs one bad :)

bye my friends. I love you.

Addison's Benefit

2010-04-18T21:01:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my 2nd cousin's benefit.

Addison was diagnosed with what is called, Failure to Thrive. She is about 11 months old, and she now weighs approx. 11lbs. She has a feeding tube that goes to her intestines to try to help her grow.

The benefit started at 3 and went till 8. There was also a silent auction. that ran about the same time. After the silent auction, there was a beer bust going to happen (we did not stay for this).

My mum and I had gotten there around 3ish and talked to my gramps for a little while, looked at what they had there, and talked to my cousin holding the benefit. We hung out at a table my Gramps had claimed. Son my cousin, Crissy, her room mate, my Aunt and Uncle and my other Aunt came in and joined us at the table. That was a lot of fun.

Spaghetti dinner. mmmmmmmmm :) Salad with some type of vinaigrette thing, Angel hair noodles, they had like warm Ragu sauce, garlic bread, Parmesan cheese, and some other bun if you didn't want garlic bread. Oh man, my mouth is watering! It was so delicious!!! We ate at like, 4:45 lol!

So the silent auction. There was SO much stuff there! Unbelievable! There were tons of blankets. On sold over $100! It was adorable Colorful squares on the outside, and Disney Character squares all around the inside. There was a sweatshirt to the Prior Lake Lakers, Tons of country cds and shirts to K102 (country), and hats, bake sale, tickets to the new Twins game, gift cards, movie tickets, autographed things... wow! soo much mahahah! I saw a signed piccie of the Wizard of Oz, Donald Trump, Toy Story 2, Adrien Peterson, some Race car drivers, and Betty white! I WON THE PICCIE SIGNED BY BETTY WHITE! (the actual photo is not de-colored... my phone just decided to make it magenta :P).

Around 3:30-4:00, maybe?, about 15 or so biker dudes came in! made my day! I sadly did not get a photo of them with Addison, but I am sure I could ask my Gramps for the photos :)

That was a very fun night at the benefit. I aside from winning the autographed Betty White piccie, I won two other things. I am not going to state one, but if you would like to know, just ask me, and I bid on a Neil McCoy autographed piccie. I didn't really want it too much, but hey, I still was supporting my cousin with $5 more! :)

After we got all of our goodies together, and twenty-million hugs, my cousin, Breezy, my mum and I headed to Breezy and my aunts apartment. We were headed to a fun night of game night! We were just waiting around for maybe a half hour, the three of us were getting tired. Then Jamie, Joe, and Auntie Mary came in. The party has started :P Half hour later, Kaydee got in. We sat for a while, ppl talkin, Breezy was txting, and I was txtin my twinnies a little bit after they finished their movie, while I was struggling to get one side done on the rubix cube. Joe stole it away from me... Then it was Game time!

We started playin Yahtzee :) I was the first one to get a Yahtzee!!! It was all twos hahahahahaha.... I was haing fun cloring my sheet. I did that a lot when I was younger too... Always used a red utensil to color. Click on the photo if you cannot see it that well... and look at my score! I won! Kaydee was in second with 5 under my score :P
After one game of Yahtzee, we started to play uhh... Scattergories. I have never played that game before and I was quite confused for a while. Oh man, what a game that was. I was not the best of player :P But it was fun. Many many laughs! We played about 6 rounds. Then we sat down for a while and talked and played a little Outburst. We are sooo horrible at that game :D

Kaydee left, and party started to die down a bit... it was around 1:15am. I went to Beezy's room to lay down. She has a queen size bed. Very roomy. She talked on the phone for a bit with her boyfriend, and then some other dude. I finally got to bed at 2. I kept waking up throughout the night though. Breezy never takes her phone off vibrate, and she has one of those one minute reminders for if you don't check your messages, so I woke up at 5ish to her phone vibrating every single minute. I exited the txt, and fell back asleep. Woke up at 9 to the same thing. I thought about turning her phone on silent, but then i exited her txt and fell asleep for a little while longer.

Got out of the room at like 11 something. Sat and finished a side of the rubix cube. I felt quite accomplished. Mum and Jamie went to Caribou to get coffee for pppl. She got me a hot chocolate :) They also stopped at Bruegger's Bagels and I had me a plain bagel with cream cheese :P YUMM!

Time to pack up. We left. I got home around 2. I was seriously dying. I needed a nap.... I napped off and on through the day :P

Random fluff of stuff :)
We went to Dehn's Country Manor for dinner. Perdy good. I am full and very sleepy! Contemplating if i should pack my stuff in the morning or do it now? hmmm....

I now have a nickname for Kristine and Dayna, but my task is to figure out what Katharine's should be! I am finding this to be quite hard! (Ahem, my Dear Katharine, this is a reminder that you need to help think :D)

I may be going to the Como Zoo with Sarah on Thursday! I hope it works out :D I LOVE ZOOS!!!

I am so ready for bed :P It is about 9. wow. I am watching Life on Discovery. I love watching these types of shows....

I hope AY has a fab time in SC :)

Alright. enough ranting. Good night my loves!

Second Day

2010-04-07T13:34:00.006-05:00

Today is the second day of class. Class starts at 5PM. Goes till 8.

My dad brought me to his work again for breakfast. I love free breakfasts! well, free meals in general!

I got to the school, went to the basement and sold two books back to them. Puttin that in my bank account for further adventures i may have :)

I went to the student lounge in the hopes of getting my normal seat in the morning. Some chick stole my seat! I wanna put a sign saying it is my chair :D YEAH RIGHT, like anyone would pay attention to that!

Okay, the person's group of friends are all around me now... seriously, it's like a crowd in the corner! They are loud. I turned up the volume on my computer to hear my music and watch, but I can hear them over this!!! and one is watching Anime... Japanese Anime or something.

The person closest to me, she is eating a taco from Taco Bell. She is one of the loudest in the group.   After finishing her Taco, she was jumping up and down on the bench I am sitting on. Seriously? Are you a 8 yr old kid with ADHD?....

Another chick who just pulled up a chair is eating an Erbert and Gerbert's samich. She dropped food on the ground (looks like a good chunk of the "guts" - the inside of the samich scooped out to let the toppings lay neatly in the samich) and didn't pick it up. Seriously? Sigh... She is now eating some soup from E&G's. This same chick brought a mettle bottle filled with booze... I heard the other chick say "I can taste the Vodka" Seriously? come on!

This student lounge gets really busy around 11-2! WOW!!! Insane....

Well, have been sitting here since about like... 8:15? My bum hurts lol.

I did get up to talk to Stephanie, she is in the photography program like me. She was lazy and so I brought the laptop she had checked out and brought it back to the Equipment Cage.   Went back downstairs to the basement. and then sat down to start officially on my Celtic Woman Marathon :D

ONTO A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION! YES, I did say Christmas! :D It is April! I love Christmas time! At the camper, we have Christmas in July! or is it August? well, one of the two :) And Santa comes and goes on a tractor ride lol!!!

I cannot do a blog right now without mentioning the twinnies!

I made a stupid mistake this morning. Well, down in the student lounge here, I have been having BAD reception lately. I was txtin the twinnies and then they stopped, or so I thought they did. Well, service failed. I got txts from them about an hour later. The ones they sent an hour earlier. lol! so I read Katharine's and I was going to respond, but it then scrolled over to Kristine's, and I pushed reply. I thought I was replying to Katharine's txt , and so I said "Bahh Katharine! I just got your txt now!" and sent it off to dear sweet ol' Kristine. I knew something was wrong instantly. I went back to txt Kristine again in less than 10 seconds, and said "I so meant KRISTINE!" I felt soo bad!!! seriously. That was one of my fears! And it happened!! I did apologize and i got worried, as usual.... things raced through my mind. Bad case scenarios lol... My brain always looks at the bad case scenarios.
I then txted Katharine for real. *wipes brow*

I really need a nap.   My eyes are starting to go cross-eyed. Not cool.

I was watching a video posted on AOL's homepage, that Dayna had posted on FB, It's awesome! Watch it :)

ooh, since i am posting stuff up, i want you to see my new phone cover that should be here by tomorrow or friday! (credit: This photo was found on eforcity.com - a nice place to find many accessories and electronic devices.)

Well, I am going to wrap it up. My head hurts and class starts in 3 and a half hours. Going to watch Sfth soon :)

HUGS GO OUT TO MY LOVES :)

UPDATED: WATCH THIS VIDEO PLEASE...

All About Me

2010-03-30T13:50:00.018-05:00

So... I have always wanted to make a list... don't know why...
I prolly will add more as my days progress, so keep checking back... the new ones will be RED

A bit about me- my likes, my wants, just me...

I was adopted.
I arrived here, in MN, June 16, 1989.
I was just turning one three days later :)
I graduated from High School in 2007.
I am a senior at the Art Institutes International Minneapolis, MN
I amd legally blind in my left eye

I can still see - If I turn my head to the left.
Never stopped me from doing stuff I love!

I am short - 5'2" 1/2"

I have FINALLY come to accept it :D

I think WAY too much
I think i have a form of sleep insomnia...
I have FOUR best friends - You know who you are :D <3
I LOVE CELTIC WOMAN! It's merely an obsessed :P

Lisa Kelly is my role model/idol <3

I want to meet her

I am very random. I live on it.
I am an indecisive person
I am a worry wart...
I am a S-L-O-W reader :)
I am not a morning person
I need my naps
I do not get things as some others would.

I need things to be done differently to get it right through my brain

I have trouble trusting people now-a-days since a certain someone changed me.

It is different with K&K though, for some reason, and I love them dearly! <3

I wanna go down and hang with them for a while!
Fill some of my aspirations of life with them :P

My best friends and family mean the most to me.
I love going on walks
I am obsessed with the color blue.
I miss my old dog, Rowdy.
I love my new dog!

I have so much respect for her.
She used to belong to my friend

I do complain a lot, and I am sorry.. hahah... seriously.
I like to sit around and chat

When with friends, we don't ALWAYS have to go out and do things

I like to be quite.

Being quiet for me, doesn't mean that I am not enjoying myself. I love to listen to what is going on around me. If I was not having fun, I would say so.

I love to listen....

Depending on the subject matter... - I will listen to people rant about things, life, boys or girls, and w/e...

I LOVE SPAGHETTI!!!
I am not a fan of Mushrooms or many kinds of beans

People say I am a sweet person. That makes me happy!
I try to be the best person I can be, seeing as though maybe others may treat me the same way?
I love looking through photo albums of people's trips, and hearing about adventures.
I love getting mail or emails (Although, no one ever sends me mail anymore...)
I want to travel through all of the states and through UK & Europe.

Maybe some parts of Asia and Australia too.

One day, before my eyes fail on me, I would like to visit Ireland for a while.

Visit some places Lisa had recommended, in her view, that are "must-see" places.

Meet and trust more fantastic friends...

I cannot stand it when...

People chew with their mouths open
People talk with their mouths full.

If someone talks to me, and my mouth is full, I need to finish before talking. I hold my pointer finger up :P

People cough with out covering up their mouth.
People sneeze into their hands.

ISHHHH.

People act like they are better than other people.

Just makes you appear snobbish and then you'll have no friends...

People need to one - up someone else

Seriously, this is not a game...

PEOPLE LIE TO MY FACE!

I don't like lying or lairs.
I am a honest person

When people try to push me to do things I dont want to do.

People don't turn their blinker on in the car...

Or turn it on and turn it off before or in the middle of the lane change.

Anyways, My brother's friend took my car for the week, got it Sunday night, i think?. I was sad to see my baby, Abbs go. (I hope he is treatin her with respect :P) Anyways, he just asked me if he could use it for next week too. Well, I guess I will get something back from this. My car washed! (she needs it :D) and fill her up with gas.

And yes, I did name my car, because I am just cool like that :P...

Celtic Woman March 24th Review!

2010-03-27T01:27:00.006-05:00

I know this is a late review, but I really needed the time to get it all through my mind to try to produce the best review, in my own words. I know this is long, bear with me. I like to include as much detail as I can remember...

I had my tickets for a while before the show. I was unsure on who I would go with, and facebook was like a last resort. So, I had asked one friend I knew from high school. I knew she liked CW, but she has never gone to their show before! Plans were being made months ahead. I was getting so excited! I was informed by Scott, that this one person from the Máiréad forum will be attending. I talked to her for a while and even more plans were being made!

Tuesday was going by so slow, and I had told Kris and Kath that I wanted Wednesday to go slow too! Surely it was not the case… I woke up at 7:00am to a cold breeze flowing in through my window. I looked at my phone and turned over to try to go back to sleep. NOPE… 7:30 came around and I was having HUGE conversations with K&K about if I was ready for the show. I was siked, but I did not want to waste any energy! Before I knew it… about two and a half hours had flown by! I had to get my lazy butt out of bed.

I do have to say I am a cheat. I cannot resist from reading other reviews and spoilers. I printed the set list for my convenience and told K&K that I wanted to find Anthony Byrne after the show!... I told them, if I do get a photo with him, I would tell him that they said hello!

   Time flew by even faster. No doubt about it! Soon enough it was about 10 minutes before my friend, Emilee would arrive. I was chatting with Sarah about where we were going to meet up, and if I should call Destiny, to tell her that another person would be joining us for dinner (her mum was going to the concert). Emily had arrived and we went out the door.

We were about 4 minutes away from the house and came upon a stopped vehicle. Two teen guys were in it, blasting their radio… Uhh.. They stuck their heads and arms out the window, pumpin their arms. It was very interesting. We had a good laugh.

I had forgotten to text Kris that we were on the way to the venue! I felt bad. But, I told her. Sarah had called me telling me that they would be late, so they will just join up with us and Destiny at the Liffey Pub. Nothin wrong with that. I took many random photos on the way, while Em was looking at the set list.. I was entertained.

Em and I joined up with Destiny and her friend, Tyler. They are great people! Looked through the menu while waiting for Sarah. Once Sarah and her mum had arrived, we had a little introduction to each other, and then ate. Sarah’s mum had left early to go to the box office to see if she could get a ticket at the door. Destiny and Sarah had ordered a nice lookin desert. Cheesecake.

After dinner, we headed across the street to the Xcel. BOY WAS IT COLD OUT! Everyone had jackets ‘cept for me. I was in a dress and a brown button up half short sleeved shirt thinger. Yeah, my teeth were chattering bad. Haha. it was great fun!

We got inside, Destiny and Tyler ran off. Sarah, Em, and I went the other way, and got lost Oh me and directions… hahahah! I was looking for the merchandise stand! We went back to the entrance area, and I had bought a program there. FANTASTIC LOOKING THING! It was simply beautiful, if I do say so myself. Finally found the stand. I got a tour tee and the tote

Off to our seats. Center Floor, row 19. Seats 9 and 10. Fairly decent seats! Four seats from the left side of the center aisle (Keep that in mind). The lovely older couple started talking to us. They were really nice people! The woman said that she would take Em and my photo together. (don’t worry, I did not take any photos during the show. I know better then that!). One shot she did from the side. The 5 min. later, asked if we wanted of the stage. I did not have enough time to turn my flash off, so it was quite dark. I don’t care though. And then she did not like it, so she made her husband go behind our seats (it was an open walking area) and take the photo of us. Such kind people, I tell ya! And slowly, time was creepin up. 7:00ish… K&K dropped a txt, to an extent, they said, “it is almost time!” Oh I love them. All excited for me, haha! <3 (I am sure they had fun doing homework… mahaha)

Anyways, we all heard that familiar voice, “Ladies and Gentleman…” Excitement ran through my body I was pumped! The lights dimmed down, and I was seriously shaking! This was my 4th show, and I still shake!

   Níl Sé’n Lá… (I know what you are thinking, “It’s about time she got to the show!”) holy bananas! I FREAKED! I could not help but sing along. The new arrangement – the beginning was so beautiful and so different. I LOVED IT!

   Fields of Gold started. I knew I was going to cry during it, and sure enough, I did!

   Then the little pixie comes onto the stage I love that Máiréad I stopped counting the twirls she had done. I was getting dizzy. Hahah!

   Chloë then comes onto the stage and introduced Anthony to the crowd. Galway Bay started. I got the chills. At the end, Chloë had giggled. Her laugh is so infectious. I could not help, but giggle back!

   *Crash! – lights flicker* I look at Em, and freak! And then I hear this oh so-familiar sound, “SAIL AWAY, SAIL AWAY, SAIL AWAY!” OMG… The thing that popped into my head was Dayna, K&K. I could not help but sing along. I just HAD to! It was for them

   My Lagan Love came next. This stupid… yes… I said stupid… chick in font of me to the right, took out her phone and very noticeably took a photo of Lynn. I was mad! Not only is that not welcome, but very distracting to my vision!

   The New Ground/Isle of hope, Isle of tears started playing. I hear some singing to the left of me. The older couple, they were singing to each other! It was so adorable! (Hey, as Chloë had said, they want to hear people sing, dance and clap along!)

   My Heart Was Home Again. – Can this one be a single? PLEASE!?!?!? So lovely!

   Máiréad comes out again and performs Granuaile's Dance. She flies! I love it! I saw some of the hairs of her bow go flyin’

   Goodnight My Angel was so beautiful live! Unbelievable! I almost started tearing up again!
   The infamous Danny Boy. I loved it! I seriously have no words. The lovely couple next to Em, sang again! It made me giggle, and I lip synced along. So beautiful…

   Mo Ghile Mear - So happy it was still apart of the show! The fist time I heard it live, my mum got scared of the big percussion bangs at the beginning. This time, the lady in front of me, she jumped a little. It made me laugh. I was totally expecting it. I started to freak out when the choir went off the stage and went around the center row aisles! I freaked out because of the fact one of the choir guys were about 6 feet away from me, and… he was perdy darn cute (I could not tell you his name for the life of me though).

   The twenty minute intermission begun. Em and I went down to the first row seats, to go talk to Destiny, Taylor, and Sarah. Then, it soon ended. It made me excited! I knew what was coming.

   I apologized to Em and said that I need to sing along with this first song. And boy, I did. The Call. So beautiful, as always.

   The next song stated, or at least I hear some bagpipe behind me! I turn around to my left and see Anthony! Chills went down my back. He slowly walked around the left floor seats, to the middle aisle next to me! I freaked out a bit.. just a bit… Three feet away from me, a piper who had played for the pope of all people! So beautiful, seriously. Way to go Anthony! The girls harmony is so stunning in this song! It is so hard for me to hear this song any other way now! I absolutely adore it.

   Lynn came onto the stage to tell about Dúlaman. Sadly, she did not tell any of those jokes that were on the video diaries. But it was still funny. She said, "Do we have any Irish speakers in the audience?" Then after, she was like "It's okay.. most people who live in Ireland don't speak much Irish either:D" She goes on about the meaning of Dúlaman, and that Ray and Nicky were like the guys she was choosing between, they were the seaweed! She was adorable. Definitely had come out of her shell! Oh Nicky, getting into the music I love him haha! Lynn was great. This song brings me back to freshman year of college… walking through the skyway listening to this version of Méav’s.

   You’ll Be In My Heart I HAD to sing along to too. I am addicted to Disney Movies, and I had watched Tarzan about 3 days prior to the concert… So amazing. Alex is astonishing in this song. I kept visualizing the movie in my head. Lol.

   Songs from the Heart… umm AMAZING!!!!!! Lynn and Alex, Walking The Night, they are so cute! And like… slow steady song, combined with the faster pace of Tabhair Dom Do Lamh (Give Me Your Hand). Seriously, perfect mixture! Lisa and Chloë held hands practically through the entire portion, until Lynn, Máiréad, and Alex joining up with them. They sounded so beautiful. Like the one other song that Alex sung, My Heart was Home Again, can these combined songs be a single as well?!

   Lisa then stayed on stage and told us the names of the songs they had just sung (oh gosh, Lisa, I love your voice!). Then she introduced her next song, which was The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress. Such a powerful voice, it brings so much emotion to this song!

   Chloë came back out afterwards and sung When You Believe. Chloë, you are an amazing singer! Seriously, Never stop, please! That darn chick in front of me took two photos during this song. I really wanted to just grab her phone away. One was a portrait style, and one was landscape.

   At the Céili!!!!! I was bouncing off my chair during this song! I simply adore Lisa in this song!   Alex sat next to the piano player, and Lisa stood next to the piano, while Lynn was singing her solo. Lots of twirling around, and towards the end, Lisa sings to Tommy, Alex sings to the Piano player, and Lynn sings to the choir members Lisa made my day there. Go Tommy!

   Last Rose Fantasia/The Mason's Apron. Wow. More flyin strings from the bow. She was going at it! I love Máiréad! She has so much energy! Must be those Pixie Styx!

   Time for Non C’è Più!! So sweet, so soft, so slow (not in a bad way), and it always puts me I a good mood! The ladies looked so beautiful on the stage…. (don’t they always!)

   Máiréad walks to the front of the stage. Talks into her fiddle. She introduced You Raise Me Up. (I just got Goosebumps hah!) As always, I needed to sing along. I am so glad to hear it at every concert. It is truly their song. There is so much meaning to it. I love it! Just like the DVD, Lisa speaks up and thanks us for coming and hoped we enjoyed the show!!! I was so happy!

   The Finale came. I got saddened, but I was still oh so happy! Máiréad was flying ‘round the stage. And the ladies then came out. I don’t think I have ever cheered so loud!!

   Instead of leaving the stage for a few minutes before the encore, they said they had one more song to sing. Spanish Lady!!!!! OMG! I DANCED to this song! And clapped… and I could not feel my hands after… They were so warm. Back row was standing the whole song! (My row) and like yeah! I waved the last like 2 minutes! My arm was tired! But, I think, maybe? I got a wave! Hahahha!

   This was such an amazing show, but my eyes were failing me. I could not see their faces that well. The stye in my good eye was bothering me (which I tried to avoid the pain – this would never stop me from enjoying the most amazing Irish singing group! <3), Also, being in college for photography has its downfalls… I was sitting there enjoying the show, and then out of nowhere, I thought in my head, “This would be an amazing photo!”… and one little side note, I thought it was unique that they used hand held microphones for some solo songs, while they still had their headset on I also forgot all my forum pins!! Oh well, next time!

   After the show, I had to txt K&K. then Em and I were off to figure out where Anthony was playing! I found Sarah’s mum, then found Sarah shortly after. It was funny, she was facing away from us, and I was like, “turn around.” She screamed, “Hi!” hahah, oh, Sarah. At this point, Anthony was playing a few yards away from us. I happened to get him playing, since this was out of the concert area. The Mason’s Apron… This was taken with my phone. Turn the volume down. It is kinda loud, and don’t mind my voice… I sound dumb. Click here for second video This one was taken with my point and shoot.

   After he was finished with the two songs, he started walking but stopped to talk to some people. I took thee tries to talk to him, and I waited. He looked at me as I waited patiently. I started shaking! I was like, “Hi Anthony, Can I get a picture with you?” he said, “Sure!” haha I was so excited! As I was giving the camera to Em, I told him one thing I had promised I would try to do. I said, “ Anthony, I have some friends who live in SC, who went to the show in Greenville, and they say, ‘Hi’” and he replied, “That is great, thanks for telling me!” in his amazing Irish accent! *dies a little* Lol… it took over 20 min. for me to stop shaking (to think about me meeting one of the girls, how would I be?? Haha!)!

Sarah, Em and I waited for 45 min after the show (in the lobby) for Destiny and Tyler to arrive back from the M&G. Lyn and Chloë. We talked for a few min. about it all, and then took some group photos. That was a lot of fun!

On the car ride home, my brother put is hip-hop music on. I did not listen, so I talked to Em. My brother’s friend looked at me and showed me my Songs from the Heart CD and he put it in. He told me he found a new rap he is going to do from some lyrics from one of the songs on the CD. He turned it to Níl Sé’n Lá! I sang the entire song. When it got to the “Fill the glasses one more time and never heed the empty bottle. Turn the water into wine and turn the party up full throttle!” – he pointed in the air and said these lyrics, and bobs his head. Made my night even more hahaha!

Hope you liked my EXTREMELY long review

Finals Week

2010-03-21T18:02:00.006-05:00

Sooo fantastic!!!!! seriously. Yes, I said it, FANTASTIC!

My weeekend started out amazing.. and i am sure it is going to end amazingly too!
I really don't remember much of my weekend.. but last night and today is amazing so far.
Last night i was working on my Career Development portfolio, and made a sweet business card :).

Tarzan was on last night. I was a tiny bit distracted, by singing a long :D. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was on next, and then MULAN! i had to watch Mulan!... my plan got interrupted by dinner and finished a marketing/networking plan. sigh... luckily, after I was finished, I watched a little of SNL and headed back to my room at watched the portion I had missed (Gotta love Directv for having east coast and west coast airings ;D)

THE VOICE! OMG THE VOICE JUST CAME ON! *listens*

Back on to the Mulan subject... Katharine and I were saying quotes to each other for a while :) I LOVE quotes :D

Kristine, oh Kristine, I gotta mention her too :D <3 I LOVE YOU! :P (as to you Kath)

I finished my 5 page paper for Ethics! Hello, 5% well needed Extra Credit!!!

See the photos up there? Yeah, that is right, I took the photo of the horses, and my dear friend, Alexa had gotten a photo of Ireland from her friend, and photoshopped away, and these were a few outcomes! I love them! [you can click on them to get a larger view :)]

Tomorrow will be a boring day. First class- present book then watch a movie. second class. review... What am I reviewing for, if i am not taking the test!?!?!

Wed... CONCERT... Skips school.. Shhh...

Friday, Group presentation for my first class, and looking at creative projects for my second (surely wont take all 4 hours...)

This will be a breeze... so I think...

The CW show is on Wednesday! I cannot wait! This is going to be my 4th show since I found out about them! I realized something, and Kath already knows this. I was thinking about it... it was clear as mud :) I have known about CW since 2005, reason being, I put my age i first started to like them, in my password way back when for their website a year later. 17 years old. I registered, i think in 2006! wow... my mind of mine :)

Anyways I am excited! It is all planned out. I wait for my friend to get home from school, and she changes and drives over to my house. We leave around hopefully 3:45. Mum drops us off in front of the Xcel, so we can meet up with Sarah. Walk over to Liffey Pub to have a bite to eat before the show, and then head over to the Xcel when the doors open, and I can buy my merch early, so later, I don't have to worry! Concert at like 7:30. Intermission, if Destiny finds empty seats, she said she will call me and so we can grab them :) (only thing I need before then, is to find something to wear... like all of the people I am going with are going to wear black...) bahh...

OOMGGGGGGGG I wanna know if there is a summer concert in NC or SC! If there is.... and nothin big collides with K&K's schedule, I want to find someone to split a M&G with me first... I SO CAN GO DOWN... SEE MY FAVORITE TWINNIES, CW CONCERT, M&G, FRONT ROW (Maybe mahah) AND AHHHHH!... *Crosses fingers* I have been dying already thinking about it...

Okay, I need a nap lol... Very productive weekend. I have a few more things to get done tonight, but then, i shall be fine. :) SMOOTH SAILING THE REST OF THE WEEK! Sail away, sail away, sail away!... mahahah... I had to... - Okay, bye :)

It All Began With A Free Horse

2010-03-14T20:53:00.008-05:00

Hey guys!

First of all, I wanna give a little shout out.. THE "OLD FAT GUY" IS FOLLOWING MY BLOG!!! YAY! (Hi! haha :D)

So, I am quite surprised I am not sleeping yet...

For those of you who do not know...

I was working on my book for my Essay class last night. I have been choosing photos to put in the book, and so last night, I had started placing them in, and working on layouts.

(Fantastic photo, huh? lol).
I started working on the book again around 10PM. and then I looked at the time.... Daylight savings time creeped up on me! IT WAS 6AM!!! I had decided to quit. I had almost all of it finished, and I was quite dizzy. I put away my laptop and hit the hay at like... 6:20AM. I woke up at 11AM. I was actually wide awake. I felt fine throughout the day Then, at dinner (an early one for us - 5PM) it got to me. I was feeling so sluggish.

Now... it is 8:30, and I am actually wide awake again. I really don't know what is the matter with me lol! BUT all I can say is that I AM DONE!!!!! The site I go through to have it printed, lets people see a preview of the book, if you set the book publicly. It All Began With A Free Horse

Other photos that weren't put into the book can be found on a thread I had made on the
Celtic Woman Forum

The last day of shooting, which was yesterday, I had a good laugh. There was like.. NO SNOW on the ground! Here are the three of four I had shot. It has been raining the last week, and I am surprised that it did not rain yesterday! Due to this rain we have been getting, Tristan, the white horse was not white anymore... He almost blended in with the dirt on the snow-free ground (he and Trouble like to roll in the dirt)!

Tristan was playing with the grain bucket...

Nudging it with his nose, and staring at it.

It was quite entertaining :D

I know this blog is actually really short, but I probably should it the hay... or try. Leave some comments about what you think of my work. I do believe this is one of the most successful projects I have accomplished at my college! I am quite proud :)

Baby It's Cold Outside

2010-03-11T19:20:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone. I feel like this will be a short one.

It is cold outside. 45º. Good breeze that flows from time to time. And yes, I am sitting outside in the middle of winterish spring. haha... I am wearing capris and no socks or shoes and I bet my neighbors think i am crazy!

I am sitting here, playing my full CW playlist on iTunes :D Orinoco Flow is playing now!! Lovely song... I really need to find my old artwork I did on this song for school! It was just all type, no actual photos made. It was neat :)

Funny story... txting my fav. twinnies and long story short they wrote on each others instructions sheets, and Kath sent photos... i had a good ol' laugh :D Lets just say there were smileys, left-handed writing, "hi!" and a quote... made my day... seriously! mahhaha...

Well, few hrs later, here I am lol..I had gone in after like a half hour and just fiddled around through some photos for my final essay project :)

Right now, I am making some CDs with CW songs on it, for my car!!! onto CD 02!!!! CD 01 has 102 songs on it, and this one has about 70. Yeah, TRIP ANYONE!?!?!?!? :D

Uhh... not much else to say. I have been working on my final for essay... and it is lookin quite nice so far! I have to submit it in by saturday afternoon for print in order to get it hopefully before the day it is due (Monday, March 22). That is it. So... uhh yeah... stay in tune for my next blog thinger :)

Game Night!

2010-03-06T16:36:00.007-06:00

No more going out to dinner for me! *Pats belly*... except for CW show night :)... I will get a salad.. sigh ha...

Whenever I get a napkin, and a waiter puts a drink on it, I always pick up the salt shaker, pick of my glass, and sprinkle some salt onto the napkin and set my glass back down on it. I do this, because it makes the glass not stick to the napkin and make the napkin wet or tear :)

Anyways,.. I went to Broadway Pizza (a MN Based restaurant) on Thursday, and tried their spaghetti. Not the best, but at least, it was spaghetti :D... Funny story about why I had spaghetti :)

Earlier that day, I had gotten a txt from my friend, Steph, and she said she went to this place called Taste of Italy, in Brooklyn Park. My mouth started watering. I thought of spaghetti... then later on in the afternoon, i get a txt from Kris, saying that they were making Spaghetti for dinner! Good gracious! I wanted spaghetti so bad! I went downstairs to talk to my dad, and he told me to switch it to the previous channel he was watching... i don't remember why. I turned it, and he left... hahah.. so i watched for a second and they showed someone making chili... yumm... then a second later, no lie, they were showing some person scooping spaghetti onto a plate!! I wanted to have it... my mouth was on the verge of droolin... My mom knew about how much I was craving it... so we went out and got some... i was satisfied :) But... not with service.. .Our service was terrible. Our waiter seriously disappeared after we ordered our food. We were supposed to get a side salad before our main meal, and my mom had to ask a different waitress to get ours for us. Then, my mom had ordered a glass of wine, she didn't get that until almost after her meal... My dad got the chef's special... and he didn't like it at all. the waiter took it off the bill... the yeah, the waiter came back literally after our meal, and took our plates away.. hmm.. meh... and then we left. I got home and finished my reflection paper for class due the next day.

So let me tell you about the last two days... We're almost done with putting some poly stuff on the new cork flooring downstairs. Now, we are trying to find new furniture for the downstairs... we went to Becker Furniture world yesterday, and looked around. My parents had three in mind. the first one, I really wanted... As you can see... these are the ones that I like.. I was on a rocker recliner :) OH gosh, that was the most comfy one there!... or EVER! Haahaha... I almost fell asleep on that recliner.. I was tired... :) ... If you see the photo to the right, I love my shoes!!!! :D The smaller pic to under this, is the chair/recliner i was sittin on :)

The next couch, I didn't take a photo with my phone because it was ugly.. mahaha... But I didn't like it. It was really firm. I hate firm beds or couches... My butt hurts when I have to sit on them for a long time.. The third piece of furniture We looked at in Becker Furniture World, was a northern type camp feel.. It had bears and whatever on it... They had a rocker, couch, and then a "Cuddle" Seat. I sat on the cuddle seat. I HAVE NEVER FELT ANY MORE FIRM THAN THAT! omg... You can see the photo below..... I just hope my parents don't choose a up north theme. We already have a model home up north.... That is enough for me.. I love the Fish Trap Campground :)

We went out to eat at this one Mexican restaurant in Monticello... It was good food, but that is the reason why I decided no more going out to dinner.. except on March 24th.. hahah! But on our way home, I was falling asleep. My dad told my mum and I to sleep on it (about the couches) and yet, My mind was sure set! Hahah... No doubt about it.

Today, I got a call from the person who I am taking photos of for my Essay project, and she had rescheduled our shoot for tomorow. So, today, my brother called and my mum asked which sounded better.. She said one, or three. My brother said one, my brother said one!!!! hahah... Then, since we had time, we just stopped at HOM furniture. I didn't like anything they had there, except this small couch, I wish I had in my room hah! It was cute, and squishy :) So, I am ust going to post some photos from HOM to show you some fun... :D.. Explainations will be first.. then you can see the photos :)

There was a really awesome rug! I was intrigued with it :)
Umm... chair.. ALL I can say is, "Seriously?"
They had the Smurfs on!!! (near the kid area). I grabbed a cookie, and some "Pink lemonade" which.. umm... was just water... hahaha!, and watched a little bit of the show :D
Before heading out, I saw a table... not no ordinary one... Let's just say that the time was one thirty...
Then we looked at some rugs...
The last one, is actually at home :) the ice and snow is melting and I see green grass!!

Oh wow... I had a fab day so far :)
After we found nothing in HOM, we stopped at the grocery store to get a couple ingredients for Cowboy Caviar... My mum and I are going to her sister's newly remodeled house in Prior Lake, for GAME NIGHT! :) I cannot wait. It is my Auntie Debbie(since it is her house), my mum and I, and then Breezy, my Auntie Mary, Jamie and Joe :) Party snacks, games, and... family!! WOOO! I love paying games! :D
She has a Wii set up in another room, and then there are tons of board games and card games :) I love them all!

Tomorrow is the last day of shooting for my essay project, I am saddened and yet, excited! I love her horses :) For those of you... who haven't seen some work of that yet, Click Here.
After this book is finished, It will be sent to Blurb where people can check it out, and possibly buy it... for if they wanted too... haha (only if I set it to sell). But, I am sure you can look at it on there. We were looking at past examples on there, of other students from our school. It is perdy cool. But, you don't get to see everything on it.

It's 4:35, I should get ready.. we are heading out in 30 min or so... YAY!
BYE loves!

Technology, how I despise thee...

2010-03-03T00:26:00.005-06:00

Fantastic... simply fantastic!....

So... My original phone i had gotten a year ago, April, was stolen October 30th, 2009. I had a 4GB card that I had bought for my previous phone, the LG Chocolate, two years earlier. I was really upset. I was in class when I had found out that my phone was missing. I knew i had been sitting in an open lab before class, so i checked there. Not there at all. I asked everyone. Nothing... It had been raining out that day. I thought about it. If I had dropped it outside, I would have heard a thud - wouldn't you think?

Well, while in class (before I knew I had lost my phone), I was on a photoshoot for class.. Editorial class. We were walking all around MPLS, literally... If I would have dropped it.. sigh.. I dono... sigh.

Click Here That is my Flickr account photos :) I don't have much on there... but yeah. I had to make that for my Editorial class, and will need to use it again for Location class in the summer quarter.

..I walked into the Verizon store with my dad, and they said I had to order through their insurance company. Anyways. Asurian or something like that... I could not order it until the weekend (for some reason) and so I had to wait for my phone to come in through the mail. It worked fine for a while, and one day, I was waiting in my classroom, well, studio, and I was texting my friend, Jenny. Out of no where, my phone said, "No service" or something, and like, I could not txt, call or anything! I was so confused! I borrowed my friend, Mugs' phone and tried calling my phone - it went straight to voicemail. I called my mum up and told her that we needed to go to the Verizon Wireless store and told her what was going on. That night, I had gone to Verizon, and the guy was so confused too! He said that my phone's GPS thing shut off for some reason and that is why I could not use it. So, the guy went into the back room and grabbed a new one for me (this was back in December). I had ordered a case for my phone since I did not have one anymore.

My old one was a hard plastic one that clasped together. I loved that thing. There were no more covers for the LG Dare available at the store, so I had them order me one off their site. $2.99. Not bad, but I still like my old one better... I like to take this one off a lot.. It is a silicone case... I HATE IT... in class, I like to fiddle with it... tee hee hee.. i said fiddle... but in all seriousness... mahahaha... Okay,... back to my story! I also had bought a Micro SD card again for my phone, since I take a lot of photos with my phone! (nice quality, but not great - 3.2 Mega Pixels) I've been using that card for a while and had gotten frustrated from it. I would take a photo, and try to save it. Usually it would say, "Saved to Card" but a lot of times it says some error thing.... After the error message, it would exit the photo function and I would loose that photo, and I would go to my photos and see a bunch of white boxes where my photos would be, and saw tons and tons of picture frames with question marks. I knew something was wrong when I could not take a video at the largest possible size video capture. I would open it up, and press record, well, the camera button to start the recording, and the screen turned pink! PINK!!! Seriously? I would save the video to see what would happen, and I would go to My Videos and see a white box with a film reel and a question mark... GAHH!

Well, today, while txting Kath, I had a brilliant idea! I should find my vCast Rhapsody disc so I can put some of my CW songs on my phone! I found my CD in my drawer and installed it on my Mac.. I could do absolutely nothing. I looked at the CD and it said something about if you want to put music on your phone use a pc blah blah blah. So, I uninstalled that application from my laptop, and i headed into the room of death (my old room I had been in my 15 of 16 years of my life here in MN :) )... The reason why I call it the Room of Death is because you cannot get in there... everything has been pushed into there, no lie! Anyways, my old PC that got for Christmas when I was like 13 or 14, is in that room. I remembered I had installed one vCast thing on there before and so I had updated it. I took a long time to rip SftH onto my PC - ten minutes into the ripping, it only got half of the songs imported (sigh)! Then I had everything completed, went into the vCast application and selected a group of songs - like all of the CW songs I own - about 185 or so... hahah! and was going to transfer them to my Phone. I hooked my phone up through the USB cord i got (which actually plugs into my charger to put into the wall) and tried transferring the music. NOPE... Error, error, error! Each song showed an error. I looked into my phone at my memory card usage and it said, and I quote, "0kb" used and"0.0kb" available. What the heck? It is supposed to say around 3.7 or 3.8GB!!! I was so frustrated then.. and I am sure Kris and Kath knew haha... So, I gave up, turned off the PC and headed back to my room.

Side note, When I entered the RoD, I had brought my laptop in so I could listen to Music.. which happened to be watching movies and videos. I watched a lot of SftH clips, behind the scenes, and the PS22 videos with CW.... and I watched all of Bolt... so.. that means I was in that room for a few hours.

I called my dad, he was in a meeting. He called me back later on, and I had mentioned that I wanted to go to the Verizon Wireless store. He agreed to take me (he had taken my car to work.. sigh) even though he had no idea what in the world I was talking about. We got to the store and had to wait about 5 minutes. Then a lady called my name and I had explained everything that was wrong with my phone the best that I could. She started futzing with my phone, walking back and forth to the back room. My dad goes off to chat with a person he knows from the bus. I am just standing there hoping that I didn't get a txt from any friends. She comes back 10 min later and said, "It has to be the memory card. I tried reformatting it on your phone and on our computer system and it looks like it is corrupt." She asked me a few questions and then finally said, "Yeah, the company sent you out a corrupt card. There was no way of you or them knowing it was that way." So, she said I could get a new one since it was still under warranty. She went through her files and pulled grabbed me a new card for free! :) I is a happy girl :D Oh, I should check if she had gotten the right size... Okay, we are in business!

On the way home, I was trying to set back all of my functions and sounds and what not. Luckily all my cool ringers and txts and all that were still on my phone! I am so glad they didn't give me a new phone... I love saving my phones... even ask my friend, Steph! There is just stuff on each one, that I dont wanna loose! Okay, yes, I am weird... but it is who I am!

So I think I found out where I say "Jerk" from. I was watching Homeward Bound today, and there was a scene with Chance playing with a porcupine. After Chance got needles lodged into his muzzle, he says in a low voice, "Jerk.." as the porcupine walks away. Mahaha... wow...

That was my exciting day... mahaha... I am about to hit the hay. It is 12:16. Phineas and Ferb is on, and my other nightly routined shows, so I must go! Hopefully I will fall asleep before two :)

Tomorrow, I am going to have a Tinkerbell Marathon and then Go to target (to find a friend a Birthday gift and card) and then Class from 2-5pm, and then 6-8pm. LONG days.. sigh...

Okay, night my loves!!!

O.C.C.W.D.

2010-03-01T09:55:00.002-06:00

Hey...

It has been a while, literally! My dear friend, Kath had mentioned to me (amongst our conversations today), that i haven't posted on here for a while. I feel like i am just as bad.. I mean, as GOOD as Lisa Kelly :D OH Lisa, How I love her so :) I actually don't blame her... She is a busy woman! Tour and family!!!! Me, I have college classes, homework and sleep...

For those who don't know who she is, she one of the lead singers of Celtic Woman! (That is her, in this photo :P)

Lisa Kelly... my newest (started almost 4 years ago) idol... so Magnificent.. Stunning really! She and the other girls, they are so down to earth.
So, i have been texting my dear friend, Kris, and I had told her the title of this blog...our convo:
Kris: "But Lisa is the only one who can truly be the voice!!"
Me: "Oh, I know! She definitely will be the only or main voice! :)"
Kris: "Always! Gah! Forever!"
Me: "For ETERNITY!"

She will definitely be the voice for eternity...

I know I mentioned Celtic Woman in an earlier blog, but I am not sure if you know about them at all.

Let me start at the beginning... Celtic Woman was supposed to be a one time show that was shown on PBS back in 2004. The reviews and people loved them so much, that they were asked if they wanted to continue. They did :) The released the Celtic Woman DVD and CD in 2005 and started touring the United States each year since!

They have made 4 DVD and CDs, and one compilation of their hit songs onto a DVD and CD, called The Greatest Journey. What a journey that has been for them, seriously! On January 26th, 2010, they had released their newest (number 4) DVD and CD in the states. Songs from the Heart. They have chosen some amazing songs to be in this set! (the CD doesn't have all of the songs as the DVD and vice versa) - go to youtube to listen to these magnificent songs! No I am not going to state everyone but...

If you know Sting's version of Fields Of Gold, you haven't heard anything compared to Lisa Kelly's version... Simply outstanding. I cannot do anything but... tear up!
Amazing Grace. I can only say... it is truly amazing. the Vocals.. Harmonies, my goodness! The bagpipers!! i got chills!!!! (I happen to be listening to it right now! How... ironic? :P)
Níl Sé’n Lá Unbelievable song.. Very Catchy, Makes me wanna get up and dance!
The Coast of Galiçia - Máiréad Nesbitt is like... a magical pixie.. she can get a crowd moving! This is an amazing song!!! Played on a fiddle :
Non C’è Più - sounds like the tune of Going Home. They say Mountain Dew in it :) (No, they are not singing about the pop... and i dont lke that pop haha..)
You'll Be In My Heart is not on the DVD but is on the CD - Phil Collins' version was great, but Alex's version... unbelievable!
True Colours - i honestly haven't heard that song before until the Isle Of Hope Tour of 2009. I was so curious after the concert, and i youtubed it. i love it. It is a wonderful song! This one is found on the DVD only.
Last one, I promise! - You Raise Me Up. Josh Groban has a wonderful rendition of this song. It is very popular. Celtic Woman took it on way back at the beginning for their first CD/DVD. impeccable harmonies. Seriously stunning...

OH, I love the new Songs from the Heart CD and DVD!!!
(so do my dear friends, Kris and Kath!!! - they have watched so many times in one weekend... ) We have what a lot of people call, Obsessive Compulsive Celtic Woman Disorder. O.C.C.W.D.

I could seriously go on and on and on about them!!.. I may a little more... shh :D
These ladies well... a few of the original... have come so far...
At the Beginning, CW consisted of : Lisa Kelly, Chloë Agnew, Máiréad Nesbitt, Órlagh Fallon, and Méav Ní Mhaolchatha. On early tour, Méav left for a while because she had a baby, so Deirdre Shannon stepped in for a while. Méav came back, and continued the tour. Hayley Westenra was new to the plate. She had joined CW for a while for the A New Journey DVD CD. She was a great addition. But she had decided to leave. Méav also decided to leave, and continue on a solo career. It gets a little bit messy after that. Lynn Hilary came into the scene to fill in. Órlag had decided to go solo Lisa left for her third child in 2008. Alex Sharpe Stepped in to fill her shoes for the time being. Lisa came back. (Which is fantastic, in my opinion :P) and
Now.... they switched up songs and roles :) We are now left with Lisa Kelly, Chloë Agnew, Máiréad Nesbitt, Lynn Hilary and Alex Sharpe.

Oh rants.. how I love thee :)

These girls are hilarious :) watch this behind the scenes footage! :D
Behind The Scenes Footage

Okay, my rant about CW is done... for now... hahaha :)

What have I been up to lately since my last post? Let me see. I have been busy with college as usual, homework, a really neat final project for an essay class - View some random photos ->http://www.celticwomanforum.com/index.php?topic=11890.0 , CW Forum, Kris, Kath, Steph, and family! Wow... what a life :)

I am getting prepared for the CW Concert at the Xcel Energy Center, in St. Paul, MN! I am siked! this is my 4th concert I will be attending!! One day.. one day I will get to go to a concert with my dear friends, Kris and Kath! and one day, I will get a cheap M&G and hopefully meet Lisa Kelly. My life will be almost fulfilled!

Oh i cannot wait!!

Anyways, this is my updated blog :P

I have an hour and 15 min before class. This sounds exciting...

OH before i forget! I would like to share something with my readers :P

Yeah that is right... My dog ate partial portion of my homework.. well. my study guide for ethics class... I think she is trying to say something to me... like... i dono hahah!!!!

So anyways... hope you liked my random rant... i am not sure when my next blog will be but I am sure it wont be more than a year! hahahh...

Love you all and have a great month of March!!!!!!!

Horrible Year

2009-11-22T18:06:00.001-06:00

Sigh, what a horrible year.

Bad:
Princess fell off my bed, became paralyzed in her back legs
Good:
She got better; she can walk now :)

Bad:
I am over worked - school is taking it out of me.
Good:
I am almost done for the quarter and the year :)

Bad:
My old laptop finally gave up on me - I can't use the keyboard or mouse anymore, so I have to use a plug in mouse and keyboard.
Good:
I got a new laptop because It would be about the same amount to get the old one fixed.

Bad:
My portable hard drive died out of no where, and all my quarters work of stuff is on there. EVERYTHING!!!
Good:
I got nothing good to say about it...

Good:
I got to see Celtic Woman in concert this year twice! once in center, fourth row. Second time, right side, 11th row. Not too bad of seats.

The premier of their PBS Special, "Songs from the Heart" goes on air on TPT, channel 2 (minnesota) on November, 29, 2009. I am siked about that. Here is a spoiler trailer of what to expect!!! It is going to be amazing. Their live performances get better and better each and every year! <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0alvwkc6ak

A few days from now, it is Thanksgiving, so, Happy early Thanksgiving to whomever reads my blog.

I got not much else to say, but I will tell more stories one day when I return...

Bam!

2009-07-27T23:33:00.000-05:00

Oh Emril...

Tomorrow is my day off. I have to study a bit, but I can wait for that until the good portion of the afternoon. It is 11:35 PM and I am having trouble typing tonight for some reason... I am not tired yet. Princess has settled down next to my bed, and I am sitting here on my bed, watching Emril Live! with a low battery (5% left on my beat up laptop)...

My mother brought my film in for my Digi Darkroom class this morning to get developed. I was so nervous that they weren't going to turn out. It has been a few quarters since I used a Hasselblad. When my mother returned home from work, she said to me, "I saw pictures." I was happy. Most of them had turned out. Out of two rolls of 12 fames, I had only about 4 unerexposed frames, which is quite exelent.

Well, I am going to wrap this up. I just wanted to give a little catch-up. Not sure when I will be on again. We'll see... We'll see...

16 Things #10

2009-07-17T22:52:00.000-05:00

More Flicker Fun :)

sharing photos can have advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that you can get your photo or artwork out to the public. A disadvantage is that people may take it without your consent and wont give propper credit to the photo or art.

16 Things #9

2009-07-17T22:01:00.001-05:00

Ai MN 16 Things
Originally uploaded by Sarah Veverka

This is actually a photo taken by the one and only, me. It is actually called "Falling Water". I follow Maple Grove Crimson Marching Band (Maple Grove, MN) every summer. I help keep track of the honor guard (I used to be one myself) and I take photos for their season dvd.

I used my Flickr account to post my photo. To navigate around their site is pretty easy. Once I clicked on my photo, i was able to press another button that said post blog or something like that.

Flickr is a nice way to sort and show some of your work,and give out exceptable credit to photographers or creaters.

I don't have any concerns of having my photos viewable to the public. I just want to know, as i can say as well as others, that I want to be notified if someone wants to use one of them and to let me have propper credit for the picture(s).

I use photobucket more than Flickr, but I know some of my later classes, I will start needing to use Flickr. Just from using photobucket longer, I just like it better, since I don't undertand Flicker as much.

16 Things #8

2009-07-17T21:22:00.000-05:00

The Wikis...

I have never liked Wikipedia or any type of wiki since my senior high years. Knowing the main pages of wikipedia are editable by the public, it is uncertain to know if it is a reliable source or not.

One day, someone may go onto Wikipedia and go to a random page and rant about something totally different and save the document. I really don't like that idea at all.

With the wiki thing that was with the video seen on youtube, "Wikis in Plain English", I think the concept is really neat. No more worries about trying to get a hold of everyone and mixing lists and bringing the same thing over and over. You can invite the people you wnt for the list and then just keep the list amongst yourselves to edit. Simple. So I think.

When I search for information on the internet as I said before, I look elsewhere for information. I just don't think Wiki is a good enough reliable source for me. I look for organizations and government websites. Durring the fall through spring, I head back to my high school to help out some teachers grade papers and what not. From them, I have learned to love the MLA Format of writing and to not trust Wiki.

16 Things #7

2009-07-17T20:24:00.000-05:00

Oh, I wish I could skip over a couple of these.

Google docs is, what I believe, easier to use. It is much like microsoft works and word. Actually, come to think about it, it looks fairly simular to word and works minus the side mar for tools. It os very easy to use. The navigation bar is very useful too. You can put links into the doc, align the doc, color the text and background, bold, italisize, etc.

Zoho writer appears to look almost the same. This place has more tools to use, but not exactly necissary.

This is definitely an advancement. Instead of buying a word processer if you didn't recieve one with your computer/laptop, you can always know that you can just sign up to google.com's email and use their google doc and share files easier. Or, do the same with Zoho.

16 Things #6

2009-07-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

To tell you the truth, I have no clue what Digg, Newsvine, Mixx, or Reddit, or Stumbleupon are... and honestly, I could care less, really.

I am very bad to keep up with daily news and what is happening in the world. I mean, they could be a very helpful tool for other people, but I just cant follow.

Mixx looks so cluttered for my taste. There are so many columns

Digg doesn't seem too bad. It seems a bit more organized. They have a nice navigation bar and selection areas. This search engine can also be found on facebook as other search engines.

Newsvine looks fairly decent. The columns and rows are very organized. The navigation looks easy. The site contains complimentary colors in it. It flows well. Kind of crowded But it works.

Reddit looks so plain, barely any color in it. It is not very organized on the home page. The navigation bar is vague. I think they have a lot of work to improve the site.

Honestly, I dont trust many sites credibility unless it is a government website or organization.

Yeah, I think I am done with this post... I think I might go insane... ha...

16 Things #5

2009-07-17T18:31:00.000-05:00

Twitter... So much fuss about how great twitter is! My opinion: I think that twitter is a stalker site really. You type in what you are doing at the moment. The thing that pops into my head that would be disturbing to find out is that someone would put "is on the toilet"... What the crap? Who wants to know about that! I surely don't.
I actually created a twitter account a while ago to see how it worked early on. I don't post any status updates about myself. All I post is a great song lyric that I have in my head when I am on it. I dont have much of any friends on there, just a few bands I enjoy; Celtic Woman, the Irish group I talked about earlier and Rascal Flatts, a well known country singing group. Why don't I delete my account? I ask the same question. Usually when I think about deleting it, I am usually on my way to falling asleep and then don't remember that I was going to do so in the morning. ha... well that is all I got about twitter and this post because I have no idea about Plurk, whatever that is...

16 Things #4

2009-07-17T18:09:00.000-05:00

Wow, I am going through these 16 things quite fast... haha... *knocks on wood three times*

Well... I have been on the Myspace network for many years of my life. I created an account back in 2003 or 2004 haha... but I deleted my account like two years ago? Then people were yelling at me because they could not get a hold of me, so I created a new account. - I rarely go on it really now that Faceboo k is here. I rarely go on that either haha.

As I said in an earlier post of mine, all I really do on these sites is go online, check messages if I have any, check maybe one or two photos, then get off shortly after. I am not one of those people who stay on the webpage for many hours commenting everything in sight. I will say, that is the way I sure started. Then it got old.

As I meet people, they ask for my facebook account, and i just write down my name for them to look me up. Vise versa for myspace. I guess my name is out on the internet a little bit, but my profile is hidden to see to people who are not my friend. The information that I put into my accounts are nothing bad for an employer to see. I put my artwork and photographs that I take for class or photographs that I take on my freetime that I think is acceptable. I am an honest person, everything I put into my sites are true to my word.

Once I meet professional people who have a facebook, I would definitely get their account name to add them as a friend. It will help me to stay in touch with them if they have any freelancing jobs to offer, or for them to look at my work.

Professional networking is much different than social networking because you mainly put things other professionals want to see. You keep your personal life out of work life. Social networking has a lot of space for you to say what you want to say, not saying you should say bad things, whereas professional networking you have to stay somewhat propper, you should not swear, so on and so forth.

I used to be addicted to networking sites, but not much anymore. If I would have to choose one over the other, I would choose facebook, hands down. I am starting to get to the point of hating computers. ha... Oh what a lovely world :).

16 Things #3

2009-07-17T17:29:00.000-05:00

myaicampus.com is a very nice, well put- together website. It has a easy navigation system put into it. There, you are able to go to the links to check your email, register for classes when registration begins on week 6 of every school quarter, a link to check your grades, a link to pay your school bills, and so much more useful tools. This is the main way you are able to check your school email. Start using it now, Teachers are now wanting students to use their student ai email addresses if they need to get a hold of them. C heck it out for yourself. It will help you in some way or another!

16 Things #2

2009-07-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

I added some RSS feed links to the right side of my page. The main people who have a blog: Lisa Kelly, Máiréad Nesbitt, and Chloë Agnew, are a part of the Irish group, Celtic Woman. They are becoming very well known now in the United States, as well as other places around the world, like Tokyo. You can learn more about them by going to their group website: www.celticwoman.com I will put more feeds in later when I find more that are interesting.

16 Things #1

2009-07-17T14:22:00.001-05:00

I am not much for blogging, but Brett, my teacher, had recommended for all of us students to start a blog with the 16 Things to make us feel better about ourselves and there was a reward. He said it the reward was to get the satisfaction of getting something done.

I have caved in and I feel like I should write something each day, but I know that highly wouldn't happen as I wish to. Usually for me, these type of sites, I come on look at one thing and then leave shortly after. So bear with me.

Anyways, today, I would like to tell about my little Princess.

Princess, Prinnie for short, is a Bichon Frise/poodle mix. Poochon is another name they go by. She used to belong to a dear friend of mine, and her family, so, she means the world to me. They were running through some trouble, so my family kindly accepted to take care of Prinnie, knowing that it would probably be a part of my family for her lifetime. - When my dog, Rowdy, passed away two years ago, I knew it was hard to let him go. - I know it was really hard for my friend and her family to give her up so quickly, but I know, they made a right choice. Giving ger to a family that they know ensures them that she will be well taken care of, and that they can come see her anytime they please.

My mother and I went over to my friends house on June 25th, mid-afternoon. My friend didn't want to be home during this occasion because she knew it would be totally hard for her to stand. As we were just about to leave their house, I had put Prinnie's leash on (she gets super excited about her belongings) and she rushed out the door knowing that she was going somewhere - this time, she thought she was going on a walk. She was running down the driveway and I quickly followed. We got halfawy down the culd-de-sac and then I turned around and we walked back towards the car. We had everything packed of her's in the car.
When we got to our house, we brought her inside the door. In the entry way of our house, you can either go upstairs or downstairs (or into the garage). Prinnie had no idea of where to go, and she was skeptical about the steps. It wasn't until last week, July 9th, that she finally conquered her fear of those steps.

One thing that she used to love when she used to be my friend's dog, was her kennel. Usually every night around 10 o'clock, she would nudge her nose against her kennel door, opening and close it, until you would come behind her and she would walk in and wait until you would lock it up behind her. Since she arrived at our house, she seems to not like her kennel at all anymore and seems to love MY bed. MY BED... One thing that she loves even more is my tiny pillow wich means a lot to me, but I wont go into that story. haha... We are going to try weening her off of sleeping in her kennel, and try letting her sleep in a flat dog bed. She might like that more because they feel like my bed; squishy and comfy. From time to time, she would jump into her oval bed (which I believe that it may be too small for her). Either her hed wont fit, or her butt/tail wont fit.

I believe she is very relaxed now. She is now understanding how we do things around our house.

One of her favorite spots to look outside is in our dining room. We used to have a deck out there, but we re-sided the house a couple of years back, and tore it down. She like s to sit near the window, and look around our large backyard. - There was supposed to be a house between our neighbor and us, but there was some type of gas line or something running right through where they were going to dig. So. they gave the land to this house I live in :).

We brought her up to our camper on Fish Trap Lake Campground and RV Resort, in Cushing, MN. She is still trying to get used to that place, but in no time, she will learn to like it as a home away from home. Up there, I have been letting her get to know other dogs. She has only met one other dog before she came home with us.

One special even actually happened about ten minutes ago. My friend had texted me that she and her brother were going to stop by to drop off a chair that my mother recently bought from them. They came in and visited Prinnie and I for about 7 minutes and then they had to go. I know it probably was a bit hard for my friend, but I know she was glad to see her. Prinnie was also extremely excited to. She literally jumped up on both of them in excitement. It was definitely hard for them to leave and for Prinnie to see that they were leaving without her. It hurt me a little, but it makes everyone stronger.

I know this was a first long post, but I just wanted to tell about one of the most important things that stepped into my life. So, if you got this far, thanks for tuning into my very first blog :)