Spring Fring

(Trisha called it that in homeroom and it cracked me up.)
The "Decade Dance" was really fun. I did indeed dress up as someone from the seventies. Baggy-ish jeans, my "Earth Shoes," flowy floral top, silver hoops, lots of necklaces and rings and my purple poncho to wear before I went in.

It was a bit of a time-crunch getting ready and getting over to Kate's but mom and I managed. Once over at Kate's, we took pictures and her mom drove us over.

Kate was supposed to be fifties. Then we started to find our friends.

Clare decked out in 80's garb and Joey wearing something. Chetna went as a flapper. All of the other boys (i.e. Eric, Kyle, Michael, and Zack) were wearing white shirts and jeans. Michael won though, he had his hair slicked back and a leather jacket. Jude (in the background) was seventies in high platform boots, and a striped shirt that made him look skinnier than usual. Faye came later as a hippie (no good pictures of her costume) and Alli looked really cute in a vintage dress.
But this was the biggie, Mrs. D (aka D-Fils), Mrs. L and her student teacher came in their awesome 80's costumes. Check it out:

These are the people that teach me.
Mrs. L claims people actually wore things like that. Of course, Mr. B had no spirit at all and was wearing a polo and jeans. We tried to force a hat on to him and I got a (very blurry and dark) picture of him wearing it but he only had it on for a minute.
The songs were not the best (lots of rap, multiple songs from Grease, a song from HSM) but some good songs came on ("The Cha Cha Slide," "Girlfriend," "Fergalicious," and of course, the YMCA) but the dance was really fun overall and almost drama-free (no drama at all would be impossible). We danced our classic YMCA on the risers and had a lot of fun doing that. I even got Hannah (Zack's sister) to take a picture.

Not the most flattering thing. Adios!

Parrot Trees

Not much going on this week, except for crew of course, that's what's been keeping me so busy. It's been great getting back in to the cycle though. Plus, I never actually wrote about this when it happened because at that time, I was immersed in London but in the fall season of crew, I won the "Nathan Smith Award" for performance. Since I was away when they announced it, I only just received it this week!
It's so nice.

Plus, we've been playing water-polo at the high-school on Tuesdays and I've discovered that I'm really good at it! Who knew that I had such un-tapped skills?!
Kate just made me a pretty awesome mix of songs by Death Cab For Cutie, and the theme-song from "Friends." So far, I like "Your Heart in an Empty Room," "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," and "Crooked Teeth."

And of course, I've been knitting. The Seaberry Shell is really coming along. I'll be starting the shoulder shaping soon!

The bobbles are a little bigger than I thought they would be but I think that it will be great anyway.

The spring fling is tonight. The theme is "Decade Dance," we're supposed to dress up from any decade of our choosing. I'm going 70's. I'll post about it after it actually happens, even though there's some drama surrounding it already! Pictures too I hope. Adios!

p.s. As to the title of this post, it's a long story involving mi hermanito, Nina, dad and I on the way home from crew yesterday and gardens on the side of the road.

Melting

The snow is melting. I took pictures of the melting snow this morning, intending to post them here but to be honest, hey were all really gross looking, as snow melting in to the mud usually is. Oh well, I have pictures any way. Today was rather uneventfull but honestly, there was more happening today than yesterday. Saturday, I did nothing and was bored. Today, I did a lot of knitting. I did my swatching for the shell I'm knitting (which, unfortunately, isn't online) and then got through a bit of it.

I was worried when I swatched it, because I'm using four strands, it seemed so dense but I think it will be fine. It's really nice and stretchy. Plus it has bobbles! That's a new experience.

I know that's kind of weird, but I think it will all come together. Plus, there aren't as many stitches as there would be for a normal shell because it's so thick so, in theory, it will be a relatively quick knit. Adios!

Finally Calming Down

I was doing so well. I was posting regularly and everything but this week has been a little busy. I just started crew again. This probably means less frequent postings but know that when you check my blog and there isn't anything new up, that I'm working hard at crew. I'll summarize what I've been doing.
Elizabeth's birthday/St. Patrick's day was fun. I went out to get my free ice cream at Stewarts (they give you a free small cone on St. Patrick's day if you wear green) with Aunt Amy and Elizabeth. That was pretty fun. Then later, everyone went out to dinner at the Golden Phoenix Buffet. Afterwards, we went to Elizabeth's house for cake. I wish I had brought my camera with me. That cake was something. Apparently, Jessica and Elizabeth planned it on paper before they decorated it so maybe that's why it was so cool. Our presents to her were very pink.

Perfect.

Crew started on Monday. It's been fun so far. On Tuesdays (and maybe Fridays) we get to go to the pool and play water polo! It was fun on Tuesday but now that I know how to play I think it will be better. It's always hard work and I've had a little muscle pain but I'm getting through it like I've done before.

The chorus festival was on Wednesday and it was actually pretty fun. The rehearsal with all of the choirs together (all 900 of us) was not fun at ALL. The middle school choirs had to be there at seven in the morning and we didn't get to leave until eleven! That was pretty painful. The real thing was really nice though. When all of the choirs sang together, it was really cool and powerful. I especially loved seeing Concert Chorale and Bel Canto. I kept thinking that I would be there next year. Notable performances were Studio Singers singing "I'll Be There For You" from Friends, Concert Chorale singing "Magnificat" aka the never ending song and the elementary school choirs stamping and whistling in their first song. Almost everyone I talked to after the concert said they could hear me singing even though I was in the back. That was really nice.
Not much else to report now. Adios!

Color

I've been in a very icon-ish mood lately and I have a lot of them to share with all of you. I made thirteen yesterday and 14 today. They're all of friends and I. I was mostly just having fun with color, either selective or all over. I like some better than others (in general, the ones I made yesterday are better in my opinion). Here they are in the order I made them:
Yesterday's

Today's






Which ones do you guys like the best? Adios!

White

I had originally thought of calling this post "Green" because of what day it is but when I checked ut the weather situastion, I reevaluated that idea. Even though when I was walkign home yesterday at 12 o'clock, there was no snow. By three, we had this:

And now (post-shoveling) we have this.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

but more importantly..

HAPPY SIXTH BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!

Not Much

Not much is up. No knitting, standardized testing yesterday, half-day today. Of course, I stayed home and did nothing. :) In fact, I can hardly justify posting aside from explaining the fire alarm going off at school. Apparently, the alarms in the cafeteria malfunctioned (which would explain the smell... I'll refrain from further comments on that) which caused the alarms to go off. What that doesn't explain is the huge lack of communication and the confusion that day. I don't really mind though, what's done is done I guess.

As long as it never happens again, I'm cool.

But one more thing, I have a feeling that none of you watched the video I linked to yesterday because that should have gotten some comments. GO BACK AND WATCH IT PEOPLE! IT'S A PIANO PLAYING CAT AND IT'S AWESOME!

One other thing too. I'd just like to note that even though my Locks of Love pictures have been up for less than a week, they are my most viewed pictures up on Flickr by far. I just thought tha was kind of funny.

That is all. Adios!

Hair and Fire

As most everyone now knows, I donated my hair to Locks of Love. There's not much of a story behind it. We were talking about how my mother neglected to take me to get my hair cut for about six months and someone casually mentioned that my hair was long enough to be donated. (That first picture was my before picture but here's a picture to show the length of my ponytail.)

Anyway, I thought about it and decided to do it. I guess it was a pretty hasty decision! I had a hair appointment scheduled for Tuesday night so we went and told Gina (my hairdresser) that I was going to cut my hair. She kind of gasped but she went with it. She practically had to saw through my ponytail with her scissors to get it off but after four minutes of hard work (I checked from the times the photos were taken), my ponytail was gone and I had short hair. I think I was crying a little bit when she cut it. I was at least hiding my eyes because I didn't want to watch but mom and hermanito stood there laughing and taking pictures the whole time.
Then she washed it and then worked her styling magic (cutting it even shorter). Now I have this fabulous new do...

(Mom would like you to note mi hermanito engrossed in his game in the background.) ...and this ponytail.

I keep running my hands through my hair because it's so different and so short. Almost everyone commented on my hair at school today (including teachers and surprisingly enough, some of my male friends who I thought were blind to all things hair).
School was actually pretty interesting today. We had standardized testing (this was not the interesting part obviously) and long classes. The true action came later. At dismissal, the fire alarm went off and it wasn't a drill! Everyone started cramming their stuff in to their bags and trying to leave. The lucky ones got away but a lot of us (including me and almost all of my friends) got rushed outside because Mrs. P and Mrs. H were screaming at us to get out. (On our way out, we saw Mr. B running to his car as fast as he could.) Of course, it was raining. Some people had their coats on (the lucky ones) and their backpacks. Most had just the random things that were in their hands (I had my drama club script, Niki had his calculator, etc.) but some had nothing. It kind of stunk because we were all cold and wet and I couldn't see through my glasses but it was sort of fun when the rain slowed down and a teacher grabbed three umbrellas from her car (btw, why would anyone have three umbrellas in one car?).
After twenty minutes (more?) of waiting we went through the building to get to the front of the school (a crazed janitor screamed at us to get out, it was pretty hysterical). Somehow, I ended up standing with Kate, Ethan, Niki and Peter and talking about what we'd left inside (an iPod, a trumpet and "a $100 calculator!") and the crazy janitor. Then, we were allowed to get all of the stuff we'd left inside or go to drama club.
I later found out that there was a fire. Probably in the cafeteria because someone had thought that beforehand, the room was closed off once we were let inside and Kate and I smelled smoke in that area. Kind of scary but at least no idiot pulled it like I had thought.
It was really cool. Adios!
p.s.This video that mt mom sent me, it's very cute and very funny. Check it out.

W-R-I-S-T-L-E-T-S

Last night was the big event, the Capital Region Spelling Bee. Kate invited me to go with her to see her spell up the place. (I could do so many puns with this) It was actually really fun. Her parents, hermanito, and grandparents were there to see her as well. There were funny moments, sad, heart-wrenching moments (when the pronouncer word say the word wrong and you knew the kid was going to spell it wrong), annoying moments ("Language of origin?" "French" "I thought so!") and triumphant moments (when a girl spelled muumuu right and the fourth grader who spelled this crazy word correctly). Kate spelled three words (stucco, tentacle, and macrame) before getting out in the fourth round with "peccadillo." What kind of a word is that?
I just looked it up and it means "a slight offense."
But anyway, I was knitting the whole time. What I got (with a little finishing work today)?

YAY! WRISTLETS! They are so incredibly soft and warm. I didn't really need them today though because in true March fashion, it was really warm. Adios!

Mini-Posts Return

I haven't done mini-posts in a while but I think it's the best way to organize what's been going on the past few days sense none of the events are really related. I think the easiest way to go is by days:
Friday

The Learning Fair was on Friday! I had a blast there, as usual. Alena, Alli, Clare, Jill, Joey (Alli's brother), Kate, Maura (for a while), Michael Nick, Ted, and I volunteered this year. At first, we helped people find their exhibits but after about 45 minutes, there wasn't much for us to do. Every year, someone makes two cakes for the Learning Fair and this year was no exception.

Us, being the fabulous volunteers we are, got to try it first (but as I had to remind everyone we only got one piece). It was great!
Then Michael had an idea. Because the hill behind Hillside was covered in ice, we could slide down it with our coats. By this time, Maura had left for a dance and Jill had gone to ballet so Michael led Chris G. (a seventh grader who we all know that was there for his brother's project) Clare, Kate, Nick, Ted and I out to the hill (Alli and Joey stayed inside and Alena came out later). I don't have any good pictures of us, which is to bad because we all had so much fun! Some of us went on our fronts headfirst like penguins, on our backs so we wouldn't get a concussion or sitting on our coats. Ted enjoyed standing at the bottom of the hill so he would get knocked over and I perfected a landing technique that allowed me to stand without having stopped.
It was awesome.
Then, we went inside to help clean up. It mostly involved taking the white paper off of all of the tables. This is the paper

and this is Michael being weird

It was a good day.

Saturday
My first wristlet on Saturday morning

Just getting that out there.
On Saturday, I went with my Mother-Daughter book-group to see a talk by Jodi Picoult about our book (and our "One County, One Book" choice for this year) My Sister's Keeper. We all really enjoyed it. For a writer the writes about such solemn issues, she had a surprisingly kind voice and motherly appearance. She talked about how she writes a book. I had no idea that she researched so much to get information for her books. I wish I could do some of the things she's done. (lived with fire fighters, hunted ghosts etc. ) I was knitting the entire time.
Then we went back to Libby's house to eat and have our own discussion (I was still knitting).
Finally, mom and I went home to chill. We watched a movie called "Lost Horizon." It was directed by Frank Capra and was about travelers getting stranded in the Himalayas and finding the utopia Shangri La. It was weird at times but I enjoyed it. Plus, look at what I had by the end of the night.


Yup, the first wristlet is done. I haven't done much on the second yet but I think I'll finish it soon. I hope I do, the first one is very soft and very warm.

Adios!

Almost Done!

Now that my headings are all in working order, of course, another problem has to arise. I can't type the letter "y". After I finish this post, I'm going to have to find a bunch of "y"s somewhere and copy them in to every word that should have a "y" in it (so please excuse me if some "y"s are missing). It's really annoying.
The Learning Fair is drawing closer. It's today! Mi hermanito just finished putting his project together yesterday afternoon. I guess it was lucky for him that I was home yesterday because of the half-day I had (which, by the way, took me totally by surprise). As I've written before, it's called "Noah's Other Ark" and it's about mythical creatures. He ended up drawing some of his favorites and putting them on his display board. He drew a hydra, a cockatrice (or a basilisk) and a phoenix. We had to take a picture of the phoenix and print it out smaller though because it wouldn't fit on the board at its full size. I think that the phoenix is mi hermanito's favorite drawing.

Once I was done helping him, I got in to knitting my wristlets. Even though I was really far on the first one, I stopped and un-did the whole thing. Why you ask? A new issue of Knitty is out and I've found the perfect pattern! Dashing. It's great! The gauge is just right, I already own the correct needles and the pattern is absolutely free.
Adios!

Headings in Progress

I'm working on some more header images to work in to the cycle. Hang with me if the header is blank or if ther image doesn't fill the box because I'm trying to work it out. Adios!

p.s. Longer post later. Tgis week has been very very hectic so far. It shold calm down after the Learning Fair though. Adios again!

It's a Purim Party!

(I warned you Kate.)
On Sunday, it was Purim. After church, Kate came over to my house to help me with the math I missed on Friday while I was at the doctors. Upon her discovery that I had a songbook of selections from the movie RENT, she decided to go home and grab her keyboard from her house. While we were there (I came with her) she picked up the Purim gift-bag that her grandparents made her. Apparently, they make one for her and su hermanito every year on Halloween and Purim. When we got back to my house, mom made us some hot beverages (it's cold outside!) and we unpacked the gift-bag. We discovered lots of Hamentashen (they're cookies, modeled to look like the evil King Hamen's three-pointed hat and they're filled with jellies or chocolate, I love them), twizzlers, chocolate (much to Kate's dismay), and finally, the most fabulous thing ever.
We found bright-pink star-shaped glasses.

Aren't they great? This is just a normal photo but she and I took really funny one's with Photobooth!





There are lots more than that if anyone wants to see them.
Anyway, then we started to play some songs from RENT, her on the piano, me on the guitar. We were sounding pretty good. We must have been playing for at least half an hour. That's basically all for Sunday and not much happened on Monday. Adios!

p.s. Here is a better photo of my gloves (thankfully without me looking dumb in the background).

Raynaud's

Raynaud's
Apparently, I am not a zombie. I just have Raynaud's. If you were too lazy to read the Wikipedia article, Raynauds is a disease that makes your extremities (the hands and feet for those not in the know) get cold and go very pale. It's characterized by its very patriotic color-scheme. First your hands turn white, than blue, then finally, red. That would explain my feet last Saturday and my very white hands. In most cases (thankfully in mine) it's isolated and not very serious. Actually, scratch that, we think it's isolated but after my doctors appoinment on Friday when I got diagnosed, I got some bloodwork done (for the millionth time) just to make sure.
The only to treat normal Raynaud's is to wear gloves and heavy socks at all times (as long as it's cold of course). I do know someone with Raynaud's Syndrome though who has to wear gloves 24/7 all year round That probably stinks but I guess you'd get used to it. I'm currently wearing a very old pair of wristlets. I knitted them a few years ago and the knitting is not very good. There are lots of mistakes and they're all stretched out.

(Please ignore me looking very bad in the background.)
I do love the yarn though so I will be keeping them. But, I do have an idea of what I'll be knitting with the Debbie Bliss I got from WEBS now. A new pair of wristlets will be a nice project.
In other news, last night I saw the high school musical at the high school (duh) with Kate's family. Kate, Kate's dad, Kate's hermanito and I went to see Beauty and the Beast.It was great. It started about twenty minutes late (maybe thirty) but it was great once it started. Belle was great as was her father. The village set was great too. Gaston and Lefou were hysterical as well! And when the set changed to the castle. Wow. The set was AWESOME! Lumiere was fabulous (Kate's dad thought he was the best in the play, and he was a freshman!) as were Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth.
The only bad member of the cast was the Beast himself. He couldn't act for his life and he was only a so-so singer. Another downside, was the set broke during the first act. Between set changes, the curtain would close and the orchestra would play. After they played the same (very annoying) few measures over and over for a few minutes. The conductor announced they were having technical difficulties. It was very funny and incredibly annoying at the same time!

But other than that, it was great! Adios!

Zombie-Hands

My hands are currently incredibly white, almost yellowish (and they have ben for a while). This coupled with the fact that last week, in a room heated by a fire, my feet were blue (no joke). It was a little scary. My supreme white-ness has prompted mom (usually the whitest of the white) to think that I am undead.
I'll admit though, it makes me a little nervous. So we called Kate's mom, our neighborhood medical expert (she's a nurse practitioner). She said that it's not a problem and there's no real way to solve it other than wearing heavy socks or slippers and gloves or wristlets at all times. It kind might be weird to do that at school but I don't want to look like I have anemia so I'm going with it. And about school, people are saying there will be another snow-day tomorrow. I wouldn't say no t a snow day, but we're getting kind of behind where we should be in our lessons. It kind of stinks. Plus, if the snow is to heavy, I might not be able to go to the high school play with Kate's family tomorrow. (BTW, they're putting on "Beauty and the Beast") I'll be fine either way I guess. Adios and happy first day of March!

p.s. I uploaded more photo's taken from Arthur Spiderwicks Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You here on Flickr. I decided to upload some more because I like them so much. (You also may want to click on the above link to see the longest tag ever named.)