PSAT, Fiddler, Florida

Today has been an exciting sort of day.

I started it off with the PSAT. I wasn't nervous going into the test, and I didn't need to be because honestly, it was pretty easy.... I felt really really good about the reading and writing parts especially and the math was easier than anticipated. YAY.

The really exciting thing that happened today was that they posted what the musical is going to be for this year along with the cast list. Last year was Les Mis which was simply incredible and this year it's time for....

*drumroll*

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF!

I'm really excited. Fiddler is a great musical and I really like it so this should be a lot of fun. Bring on the pit rehearsals!

Another really cool thing that's been happening that I don't think I've told you yet is that I'm going to Florida over February vacation - with the band! We get to do some performances and workshops at Disney, and spend time at all the theme parks there, plus spend a day at Universal at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. SO EXCITED. It's going to be an amazing trip, and I've been feverishly fundraising for it. I made my first payment today, so it's now official. Florida, here I come!

Only bad thing today is that I've felt awful and sick. Of course this has to come up when I have tests tomorrow auditions for All-State and districts on Friday and Tuesday respectively and a show on Saturday. This better clear up, NOW.

A Brief Return

Hey everybody! It's me, Sally....remember?

I know, I know I've only been gone a week....

First off, let's have a round of applause for our guest posters this past week. *Claps* You guys all did a wonderful job, thanks so much, I really enjoyed reading your posts. And if you loved these guest posts, then you're in luck because we start another, longer, round of them next Saturday when I head off to band camp.

As for me, I had quite the awesome week at Pilgrim Lodge. I did a lot of music, and I actually led a workshop in more classical instrumental music with my arrangement of Bring Him Home. It was a LOT of hard work and I was glad to have a counselor to help me out a bit too because we really needed someone to conduct and I needed to play. Plus I know virtually nothing about stings, and he was a violin player so that helped a lot for the string players in my group. It was really really pretty at the performance, soft guitar chords, light eighth-noted piano with chords underneath, classical high trumpet melody (played wonderfully by yours truly), haunting harmony in the second trumpet, dark cello bass line, and sweeping violin and viola descant. It was really really amazing and a LOT of fun.
I also did a bunch of other stuff, like chapel services, some art projects, walk the labyrinth, eat ice cream, swim, and go out in the big yellow dory. I added a new instrument to my ever growing repertoire too. I learned how to play the mandolin! It was really fun, and it's really cute. Hmm...I wonder what will be on my Christmas list this year...

All in all it was a really great week. Yesterday though, was WAY too much driving. My mom picked me up at camp, we drove home which was a little over an hour, I had an hour at home then my mom and I had to drive another 45 minutes to my brother's All-Star baseball game which they won 14-4. Yay. Then we got in the car again and drove four hours up to a campground on Mount Desert Island where my grandparents are staying at a campground which Is where I am now.
It's windy and cold up here right now, so we're just sitting in the camper. Later though, my parents, my brother, my aunt, her boyfriend, and I are going to hike up Acadia Mountain which should be fun and hopefully warmer than it is here.

How have your weeks been?

in which i recount five days of awesomeness

First I'd like to say THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU to Olivia @ Horsefeathers for this amazing new design. It's beautiful, although the button is still the old one. Oh well :)

Anyways, this post is going to be in pictures recounting my awesome Saddleback trip. We brought my friend Lucy, and our other friend Anna met us up there yesterday, and XanFan who I'll just refer to as X, met his friends Seb and Finn up there as well. 

So firstly, I'll show you the screen shots of my facebook statuses that I was able to post using my mom's iPhone and then get ready for lots of pics :)

This is Larry....he's Lucy and X's jazz band mascot.

Larry in my ski helmet :)

Walter, Lucy's amazing penguin hat. 

Choosing what chairlift to go up.

The view from Red Devil

Another view. 

Lucy on Red Devil.

At the top of the mountain, from left to right, me, Lucy, X, Finn, and Seb.

In the Intimidator glades.

Glades are so pretty!

And so much fun to ski too!

This was another great glade that we skied.

Looking back at the pass before heading into the woods.

The boys would like me to stop taking pictures now and start skiing.

But I had to take just one more....

That's me, master of the double diamonds!

Larry at the top of the mountain.

Because Lucy and I are SO totally expert.... 

Lucy and my mom work their way down the top of Tight Line. 

And we decide to sit down and rest.

What can I say? The views are stunning!

Lucy has the best pajamas...

At the very very very top. 

Again, STUNNING.

It was an awesome week :)

so happy right now

You honestly have no idea how happy I am right now,

because it's vacation,

and it's gonna be AWESOME.


also, please enjoy this little video i made quickly. i do understand that i said 'it's pretty awesome' WAYYYY too much, and please please please excuse the horrid off-key singing at the end.

Now, I Long For Summer

It's that time of year again. The time of year when I'm sick of being cold, I'm tired of school, and would just like winter to hurry up and end already.

Of course, I'd like the snow to stick around (at least up north) for another week for our annual skiing trip to Saddleback, (YAY!!!), and it would be nice if it was snowy on my birthday, the 28th, but after that? 

The snow can go and leave, and time needs to skip to April vacation, so there's not a lot of school left.

And it's warm for once.

Another thing that's made me wish for summer is that yesterday, Pilgrim Lodge signups opened, and naturally I pestered my parents into signing me up last night. 

This makes me long for summer even more.

So basically, I want to be here next week:

(not my images)

And then immediately after....I'd like to be here:

(Also not my images)

Oh Please...

Goodness gracious I need a break. No, not from blogger, I just got off that break, but a break from the regular, tiring, day to day work. 

Thankfully, February vacation is fast approaching.

Unfortunately, Friday at 1:50pm can NOT come soon enough.

I need a break from getting up at five-thirty.

I need some just easy relaxing time- my last three weekends can't even be considered weekends.

I need a week without bio homework.

A week without getting yelled at in band.

A week without taking notes in history.

A week without gym torture.

A week without the english class that makes me want to rip my hair out.

A week without passé composé in french.

A week without tedious geometry proofs.

Yes, I could really use a week off.

I need a week filled with skiing up at Saddleback,

spending the day, carving up the slopes,

taking stunning pictures from the top,

drinking hot chocolate by a huge fireplace,

conquering the awesome terrain park,

doing moguls with XanFan and his friend.

And the nights, spent in comfy sweatpants and cozy shirts,

eating hot pasta and pizza at a local restaurant,

doing some arranging on my laptop,

playing board games with the family.

And the weekends filled with friends,

and no homework to be done,

maybe hanging with Hannah Marie and our friend Serena this weekend,

before heading up north, and when we return,

a couple of fun-filled days before we return to school,

on my 15th birthday.

Oh, how I wish it was Friday, instead of only Tuesday!

Oh how I long for vacation!

Oh Dreaded Tomorrow

Of course, every vacation must end. Every slice of freedom much come to it's finale. Every relaxing moment must come to its conclusion.
Thus, after every break we go back to school.
Do I hate school? I must admit, the answer is usually no. I like seeing my friends every day and laughing around the lunch table. I like having Isabella and Hannah Marie in most of my classes and being able to hang out and make class more enjoyable.
My classes themselves, well, most of them are ok, I guess. I like bio, band is usually good, I have fun in history, and geometry is starting to grow on me.
I like only having each class every other day.
I love working in the pit band for the musical, being part of a very small, and vital group of musicians.
I like jazz band  after school, though I miss those early jazz band practices of middle school.

School itself...it's not all bad.

But those were the pros, here are the cons.
Some of my classes are just awful. My English teacher thinks we're 3rd graders and treats us as such.
Gym is torture- apparently my gym teacher doesn't realize how rough freshman boys are.
And French- previously a favorite class of mine- is drop-dead boring.
And at home there are the many long nights SLAVING over my books. Typing lab reports. Researching ancient civilizations. Proof after proof after proof in geometry. Grammar worksheets for English and French. Frantically practicing trumpet for several things. (Though...I rather enjoy that last task)
Homework. The thing every student loathes. (And add on study time for our upcoming midterms too!) You've got a lot of homework and late nights on your hands.

So really? Why do I dread tomorrow? It's not the school day itself. That shouldn't be too bad. It's that daily task of working late into the night on extra schoolwork.

Homework. That's the reason I dread the end of vacation.

Philly Fun

I am sitting typing away this latest post in a small hotel room in New Jersey that smells funky. Now how's THAT for a starting sentence? Today we drove up to Philly to see historic sites!  We started with the liberty bell which was really cool. I loved all the quotes about it and was able to capture some of them (and the bell itself) on camera. My mom remarked in her facebook status 'Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof ~ inscribed on the Liberty Bell ~ I will disregard the fact that I had to go through security and have my bag checked prior to seeing this fabulous symbol of Liberty.' This is actually pretty funny....we're seeing a bell of Liberty and we still have to go through security. LOL.
Second, we headed over to a portrait gallery. (Pictures of the Founding Fathers and about two women) It wasn't the most interesting or entertaining thing, but I must say that it was quite fun to laugh and all the rediculous wigs that people wore in that era. And the highlight of the experience? XanFan's crazy comment while looking at a particular painting: "Oh. My. Gosh. Martha Washington is a freak."

We popped over to Congress Hall and Independece Hall which were both interesting, greak landmarks, and EXCELLENT photo ops of course. :) Tomorrow we'll drive two hours south again to Cape May and it'll be hitting the beach for the next few days. Wa-hoo!

And finally.........next April vacation......we're going to try to exchange our timeshare for a week in France!!!!! That would be SO AWESOME.

Arrival @ Destination Uno

After an eleven hour drive (with one stop at a hotel in New Jersey to sleep) we finally arrived at our first destination- Our grandparents place in Maryland. The drive was very long and tiring, especially in the3 backseat where I get very carsick, but we did have some interesting moments. Such as...

While driving through Massachusetts, (After about three hours of driving) my dad heard a funny little noise. Suddenly a grasshopper jumps out of nowhere and onto the dashboard, staring my mother in the face......while she's driving 75mph on the highway. Naturally, we go crazy, but my dad finally catches in and throws the grasshopper out the window. And that was all the excitement we had.

And now, a couple movie reviews from XanFan, on the two movies that we watched during the drive:

YEAH GO ME!!!!!!!!!..........ok

Night at The Mueseum:
Good movie and it's good because I like it. OK, but seriously, it's pretty awesome because evrything in the New York Museum of Natural History comes 2 life and the dude almost gets fired twice and then these dudes try 2 stael the thing that makes the museum come 2 life.SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! watch it.

Fantastic Mr. Fox
so its different from the book in a lot of ways but its still cool. so Mr. fox buys a tree nd his wife says he has 2 stop stealing birds but then 2 years later he starts staeling them again and then its the same as the book pretty much so ya bye seeya IM AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Cornet Crazie back here. I appologize for all of the awful grammar in the above. Like I said, that's not me typing. Off to the pool later, and D.C. tomorrow!)

Packing, Packing.......Laundry.

So tomorrow we leave on our trip. And today, I've spent the day doing *drumroll* laundry! Fun, fun! You know it's really not THAT bad. I'd much rather be doing laundry than say, cleaning. (shudders) But there's still A LOT to do before we leave, especially for me because I'm packing for two weeks instead of just the one. Why? 'Cause week-after-next I'm at PL again! (This summer is flying by waaaaay to fast. September first is looming just around the corner) But never fear, you don't have to go without me for two whole weeks, only the second one, because my mom is bringing her laptop on the trip. (Phew!) Wow, this is random. The laundry must be getting to me ;)

A Contest Entry

Hello everyone! Not much to report- just another lazy summer day! My mom and I rode our bikes down to the beach for a little while but it was REALLY hot so we came back pretty quickly :) Anyway.....

Hannah @ My Nutty Life is having a photography contest with the theme of Summer Fun! The grand prize is a blog makeover by Olive Tree, and I'd just love it if I was able to win and have a fall look on the way for September. (Please vote on the new poll!) Here's my picture:

This picture really sums up summer fun for me. First of all, it's water and that IS where I seem to spend a whole lot of my time during the summer. What can I say? I love the beach, I love the sting of the salt, I love waves crashing on me and the sand, I love splashing my friends (even if it means getting splashed back), boogie boarding and bodysurfing. But this picture, while it isn't calm water, it doesn't show roaring waves either. It's simply a ripple splashing on the shore. To me this is playful and free- just like summer. A time where you can kick back, relax, and just have some time to be yourself. There's no school, there's nothing to worry about, you can just let go. 

Go on.

Have some fun and be free.

Be YOU.

So that's it for that! Did I tell you that my family is going on a trip next week? It's not much (and I'll have the laptop- yay!) but we're going to Maryland to see family, D.C. to see family and sight-see, Delaware to see family, Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, and finishing up the week with some time down in Cape May! (to see family) We're going to leave after XanFan's camp gets out on Friday and the worst part of it will be the first drive from here to Maryland- 12 hours. (or thereabouts) Ouch....

An ingenious idea

Even though I'll be away for all of next week without a computer.....YOU CAN'T GET RID OF ME!!! :) Why? Because I, Cornet Crazie, have created a post for every single day next week for you to read while I'm away. You will not have to be deprived of my writings which could lead you to great distress until my return. So I say thank you THANK YOU to the wonder of scheduled posts from saving us from this tragedy.

(Wow that was a strange post)

3...2...1...Randomness Blastoff!

I will open the dictionary to a random page and pick a random word. We shall see where this post goes from there...

The word is:

GRUMBLE.

Well, I will start by saying that I certainly am doing a whole lot of grumbling about going back to school tomorrow.

I'm sure that my schoolmates Bella, Elrania, and Ripplestar are grumbling along with me.

Let's face it.

No one wants vacation to end!

But I don't want to waste this random post by talking about school, so I'm making an executive decision and changing the topic to:

BUNNIES!!!

Yes, this seems like a happier topic, does it not?

Unfortunately, I can grumble about bunnies too.

It wasn't really the bunnies that did anything. It was band camp two years ago.

You see, we were in our sectional, and the trumpet instructor was very..erm..odd.

Anyway, we were working on a piece that was called 'Portrait of a Clown' and we got to a section that was supposed to be light and bouncy.

Any reasonable band director would stop right there.

But no, he goes in this really high pitched voice, scrunches up his face and says-

"Like a bunny!"

And THAT sad tale is why I grumble about bunnies.

Except not the chocolate kind.

Anyhoo, this is turning into quite the rant, isn't it? I think we need *one* more topic.

What's that?

OK.

The last topic word is....

BAT.

Yes! Finally something I don't have to grumble about because I like both kind of bats.

First, the sports kind.

You need a bat to go and hit a home run.

There I go again, stating the obvious.

So anyway. 

I grumble about wooden bats but I quite like the metal ones.

In fact I need a new bat...

For softball and beating up poor, defenseless, little bunnies. (jk)

Now the animal the bat is even cooler.

We're even going to get a bat house this year!!!

Isn't that sooo cool?

OK. That was fun.

Adios!

Au Revoir!

Chao!

Aloha!

GOOD-BYE!!!!!!!!

It CANNOT be!

The picture above pretty much captures the feeling at the end of vacation. Hence, the title of this post. Because 'NOOOOOO IT CANNOT BE!!!' Is pretty much how I'm feeling about going back to school. (even though we *do* have tomorrow off as well) Sigh...I was just getting used to sleeping in and not getting up at 5:30 every morning-- lol. However, I'm on the home stretch now! In fact, 3 people in my family are. My mom, bwk, will be graduating from massage therapy school at the end of May, my brother, XanFan, is graduating 5th grade (moving out of elementary school, into junior high/middle school) on June 15 and I of course will be graduating 8th grade on June 14 and moving on to high school next year. Which ultimately means a lot of things (probably for all of us) 1. We don't have much new material to cover 2. We have lots of review 3. WE'LL PROBABLY BE HAVING GIANT TESTS AT THE BEGINNING ON JUNE. I don't mind the first two, but I could do without the third :) Anyhoo, that's where I'll be in these next two months or so: Studying, doing fun 8th grade stuff (like 8th grade dance, class trip to the lake, outdoor classes, section leaders for Memorial Day Parade, etc) and of course, feverishly preparing for the final concert- on June 9. It's going to be a great concert; I can just feel it. I'll be playing trumpet, cornet, trombone, mallets, singing in the chorus, and conducting a piece, so I've got LOTS to prepare for! Of course, I love it all so it's more pleasure and less work really :)

One of the good 'ole days

Haha. Today has been pretty good- and what makes it even better is that there's still a bit more to come! This is going to be a kinda random post, but that's ok, right? Anyway.....

After breakfast me and XanFan and the cousins countinued our game 'War' (the card game) for a while and we brought the laptop out and listened to my playlist too. They love the Owl City, and so do I! Afterwards we went outside and XanFan and I threw the softball/baseball around and then all four of us went into a neighboring field for some whiffle ball. It was so nice out that when we were done, we ran back to the house exclaiming that we should have a picnic lunch over in the field! We did just that. It was very fun :) After lunch some storm clouds were rolling in but XanFan and I stayed outside and whipped the baseball back and forth for some more- even when it started to pour! Soon after, the clouds cleared up and we went on a two mile hike along the 'Shore Path'. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera! Sadness. It was very pretty! We came home after that and watched the movie 'Old Dogs'. It was funny! LOL. Anyway, that's where we are now. We're about to have dinner- Everyone else is having meatloaf with bacon, but I've got myself a nice stuffed portebella mushroom! After supper is our evening ritual game of.....Apples to Apples! Best game on the planet if you ask me. Only other new news is that get ready for A new profile pic coming soon- I've been working on one these past few days with Xanfan. See ya!

25 reasons why i loooooove vacation

Let's see if I can actually get to 25, LOL.

1. I can actually relax
2. I can get through lots and lots of books
3. I can be somewhere that's not my house
4. I get to see other family members
5. I get to hang with my buddy Olive Tree
6. I get to stay up later
7. I get to sleep in
8. I don't have any homework
9. There are very few responsibilities throughout the day
10. There's so much more time for practicing instruments
11. I actually have time to think
12. I can go for walks and not worry that I should be doing something else
13. I don't have to listen to my science teacher
14. I don't have to lug my own weight in stuff around every day
15. I can do crafts
16. I have time to do quality writing
17. I can go back and read previous blog posts that I've totally forgotten about
18. I don't have to worry about that 'other side' of my life
19. There's no chance on my SS/LA teacher getting mad at me
20. I don't have to stare out the window- I can just go outside!
21. I can take a million pictures
22. I don't have to read books for LA- I can read whatever I choose
23. I can really just get away
24. I can be alone and just resting
25. I can feel a whole lot free-er

Sigh......reeeeelaaaaaxiiiiiiing.................no homework.......... for now- I AM FREE!

Hola from 3 hours northward

Well, we're here! The car drive seemed long and XanFan tormented me the whole way but oh well. Not much to report from out here, except that the weather sure has been funky! Anywhoo, it's good to relax and chill without the parents around.

Here's the bad thing though- For some reason this computer has a trouble with some links. Like I can't change sidebar gadgets. :P So unfortunately the Prayer Requests, Announcements, and The Cornet Crazie Is:, gadgets will bot be updated again until THURSDAY.

Hoping to get some pics over the next few days :)

Winner, Leaving, etc.....

First of all.....we have a winner! I had so much fun reading all of your answers (they were ALL hilarious) but my decision is.......OBOE.CHICK!!!!!!! Congrats Oboe.Chick, email me at trebleclefblog@gmail.com so we can figure out what you want for your header :)

Now about the leaving. I'm headed up to the grandparents tomorrow with XanFan, but I should be able to post (See posts from last year's adventures up there HERE- Post titles: Vacation: Fun or Boring?, Hip Hip Hooray!, Porcupines, It's Raining......., just plain old STUFF, my story, deer and polls, Home Today!!!. Wow I was NOT a very good writer last year.)

Anyway. My band folder has reached an astounding record. It weighs 8 pounds. Wheeeee. Another heavy thing to drag around. :P

Well this is just GREAT.

I just heard the news today. We're not allowed to bring our laptops home over February vacation. :'( So sad. I had high hopes too, of

1. Taking some great pics from Saddleback Mountain and Rangely in general, (maybe even have my dad try and take some of me doing tricks on the terrain park) and then when we got back to the hotel being able to upload them here to blogger

2. Being able to access Blogger, Facebook and Gmail while away from home

3. Getting a couple chapters done on TS

4. etc, etc, etc

Grrrrr, Boooo :P