VIVA!

Well, it may be a month late, but since I got my Coldplay cd for my birthday I have been revelling in Coldplay glory and remembering all the fun of the concert. So, I will share!!! This is what I stared at every day as I stood at the crosswalk waiting to go to the school. It would tell me the date of the concert and I would get excited every time. I couldn't get up the guts to just pay for the ticket though because of how expensive it was. I have learned best friends are really good at getting you to spend your money.

Megan wanted go just as bad, so she got online and ordered. No backing out now. She rode the bus down from Idaho Falls and came for the weekend just to see me and go to the concert together. This picture we took while we were not so patiently waiting for the concert to begin.

The funny part of this picture is that I told Megan to pull a funny face. We took the shot not knowing the other person's funny face, and surprise! We pulled the same face. Yep, you can tell we spend a lot of time together.

This is me waiting even less patiently and showing off my cool t-shirt that I bought!

They finally came after two openers and it was AMAZING!!! They had awesome backdrops that changed a ton and some of the time it was live video of them performing only up close, it looked like a music video it was done so well!

And finally, the crazy awesome CHRIS MARTIN!!! Most of the amazingness of the night was watching his performing. Him and the band really knew how to play to a crowd!
But after of two straight hours of performing and dancing and running everywhere, Chris got a little tired. haha

It's not the greatest shot, but yeah, it was a massive stage with two catwalks and lights from behind the band, above the band, in front of the band, just about everywhere. I can only imagine how much money was put into the show! There were 7 GIANT globes floating over the audience with projectors inside, sometimes it would show the same thing as the backdrop sometimes it was trippy colors and visualzations swirling. Then at the end there were cannons on the batons(theatre term) over the audience and they shot metallic butterflies that filled the arena.

There's lots more stories I could tell, but this will get too long if I tell them all. But they are definitely an epic band and I would pay it again to see them again.

You Could Have Fooled Me

Ok, so I just made a very frustrating discovery. The $300 left on my account for use at the Cafe will be absorbed by the school at the end of the semester unless I eat like crazy. Even though I have been assured by many "experienced" students that the school does full refunds on money deposited for the Cafe. So I got on the school's website and it told me there was a way to apply online for refunds on any money paid to the school. It gave me instructions and links to follow. Well, I followed the convoluted chain of links and got to the last step and the link to apply for refunds is gone. Odd. So I did some looking around and found nothing. I then clicked the help key and got this.

Really? REALLY, REALLY? I would have never guessed. I think this should be the school's new motto.

Gloaming

Okay, so I was checking my email this morning. I got a super hot picture of Alec. :) Anyway so I was about to leave the window when I looked up at the Word Of The Day that my google toolbar does in my gmail account. Well, it speaks for itself.

If you can't see it, it says "gloaming: twilight, dusk." What if Steph Meyer had named her first book Gloaming??? It would have gotten a lot less of a following, I mean we all saw the reaction to "Renesmee" I can only imagine how people would have felt about "Gloaming."

I am Chuck Bass

Well, it's time for confessional. I have succumbed to the ways of young girls and I am addicted to the show Gossip Girl. Really its just a teen soap opera, but for some reason I just can't stop watching it. Megan and I are constantly watching it. We spent all evening in the commons with our separate laptops (because she got an episode ahead) because we get a better signal in there than in our room. When the RA came to kick guys out at midnight, just us two lonely girls watching tv on our laptops...we need social lives, and bad. hahaha

While watching today I had a sudden inspiration and shared it with the girls on the floor and it is unanimous. Rob Pattison was not meant to play Edward in Twilight. Meet Chuck Bass.

His name in reall life is Ed Westwick. And I have to say, he was definitely meant to be and Edward. Even his parents knew it when they named him. Watching the show proves he could play a perfect Edward, he already has the super pale skin and chiseled features and his hair always looks just right.... need I say more?!?!

This?

OR

THIS!?!

(click on it, it's much better bigger)

You probably don't think there is that big of a difference between these two guys, but REALLY? Ed Westwick is so much better looking, a much better actor. And did I mention he is British? So he can pull off the 100 year old English pretty darn well.

Dane Cook's Dream Come True

Well, a few of you have heard my story, but I thought I would post it on here for all to read.

Yesterday I went to Jana's house. The trax have become my best friend otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to make this journey often as I do. Well, I was rushed to get out to the stop in front of the Plaza because the train would be arriving in two minutes. I ran to the crosswalk, I had just stuffed in my headphones and was pulling out my phone to text/call someone (I can't quite remember). I looked up and saw that it said I could walk so I started out into the crosswalk not even thinking to check for traffic. Well, I suddenly heard something so I looked up just in time to see a large white SUV coming. It is a good thing I saw it coming. It was going way too fast to stop in time for the very red light. It blew right throught the light. I was lucky I had looked. If I had kept walking I would have stepped right in front of that car and there is no way they could have possibly stopped in time. It was quite the experience to nearly be hit by a car. I don't reccommend it.
Everyone told me there would be lost of new exciting adventures at college... well it was something... maybe not exciting, but it was new and an adventure.

p.s. the Dane Cook reference is to one of his acts where he talks about him finally getting to see someone get hit by a car.

The Secret Life of the American College Student

So what's up? I finally have time to blog again! I thought I would tell you all a little more about my college escapades. This last week was good. I am definitely glad it is over though! The first week of school always stinks. My classes are ok. One of my professors is a little....strange and of course I have her for two of my MWF classes and she is the head of my department. Great. And my Keyboarding teacher seems a little incompetent I don't think he knows how to use a computer really. So class with him ought to be interesting. My speech class is definitely going to be good though...can we say lots of older cute guys? And one of them sat by me Thursday and was whispering to me almost the entire class. We met in the bookstore that morning while we were in line waiting to check out and then we had our first class together. His name is Steve Cannon and he is from Rexburg. He is 24 and an RM. He is really nice and funny and super strong spiritually. He also has offered to take me home anytime he goes home and he goes home almost every weekend. So I just might be taking a lot of trips home... :)



Saturday night we went dancing. There is really nice dance club on 600 South with a strict dress and dance code. It was a ton of fun. We ended up not getting back to our dorm until 1:30 though. My roommate and I decided to leave early and left at 12:30 and went to the nearest Trax station to wait for a train. The schedule says it runs until 130 on Saturday nights... it doesn't. We sat and wait for about 30 minutes when we realized it wasn't coming. So Megan(my roommate) called one of the guys she knew that had a car to come get me and her. Luckily this guy is super sweet and got up and came and got us. We finally got back to the hotel at 130. And we had to be up bright and early to go to regional conference Sunday morning. lucky us.



There are two girls on my floor from Katy, Texas and are really nice girls. One of them has a brother that is going here right now too and is renting a house with a group of guys. So yesterday for Sunday dinner Emily, Kylie, and I went over and made dinner for them. We made spaghetti, and garlic bread, and salad. Oh yeah, and chocolate chip cookies. It was really fun cooking with friends and hanging out with the guys. They were hilarious. We are thinking that we might do this every week and switch of between us and them every Sunday. And there is a cute guy there too but he has a girlfriend. Of course. Darn it all. So yeah.

The Dorm

My life in the the dorm is turning out to be like one giant episode of The Office. I am really starting to like it here. It took some time but I am liking it. In some ways it is more Mean Girls than The Office. We already have a clique. My roommate is the prettiest most popular freshman at the school... and the list goes on. Oh well, it'll be good.

So here is my room. This is the half that has all of my stuff. The bed is so high I have to jump to get up on it.

Here is the other half of my half. Thats my desk in the bottom right corner. The door is to the left and down a mini-hallway.

This is our bathroom. It's pretty small but I like it. There is no storage space under the sink so most of our stuff is on the counter. My roommate brought a little drawer unit to fit under there so luckily we have somewhere for medicine and blow dryers and such.

This is our coat closet. No we do not hang coats in it like you would thing. We hang shoes. (And my sweaters will end up in there as well when it gets cold here.

Thanks for coming over! I had a fun time giving you a tour of my new home away from home.

Ode to Buses

My tales of the travel bus deserved a post of their own. It all began Wednesday night when John Holst came and told Sister Passey and I that four of our bus drivers were sick and two of the buses weren't working. This was at 9 o'clock. We were supposed to be leave on trek nine hours from then. He said the bus people claimed the situation was "under control." I should have known better.

Thursday morning. At 6 am when we were supposed to be loading our buses only 4 of the six were there. Brother Holst made a phone call to be told the other two were in Firth and being worked on. A different bus was sent. We loaded that bus and were then told there was not going to be a sixth bus. So we now had to fit six buses worth of people into five. Thinking it couldn't get much worse I trenched in for a long bus ride. Then my bus driver introduced himself.

"Hi everyone, my name is Vance and I will be your bus driver for the trip. I have never driven a stick bus before so bear with me. Shifting might be a little bumpy at first."

Well boys and girls, Vance looked my age. And he wasn't lying. He nearly destroyed the transmission shifting into first to pull out of the parking lot. And things got much worse. He couldn't shift past that. I must explain though that manual buses are different. There are 13 gears and no clutch. You have to power shift. 3500 rpms and the right speed before you can shift to the next gear. When you hit 3500 you have to let of the gas and hurry and shift. Also known as power shifting. Poor Vance didn't really get it. The only reason I do is because John Holst's daughter Mandy was a ma om my bus and explained it all to me. Her husband spent the entire trip doing all the shifting while the driver basically just steered. At one point Brian just took over and drove to save us. When we were an hour away from our destination the engine died. We are already an hour and a half late and running out of daylight for us to trek in to our campsite. After some work from Brian who has spent his life around 18 wheelers and a prayer we were on our way again.

Saturday afternoon. We are loaded and Vance is still our driver with the same scary bus. The air conditioner is working in the back of the bus and I am beginning to really sweat. Then I realize Brian and Mandy aren't on our bus. I ask where they are and am told they switched buses for the ride home. My stomach drops and jaw hits the floor. Who is going to do the shifting now? Vance nearly drove us backward into a tree and over a poor old missionary. He then peeled out as much as a bus can and we are all crying and writing our last will and testaments. Twenty minutes later the engine dies and Vance has to get out and work on it for a while. Thirty minutes later it dies again. All this time the temperature has been rapidly rising and we are all drenched in sweat and running out of water. They ask us to unload the bus and get outside where it is slightly cooler, meaning its not 110 degrees. As I get off they open the doors to the reefer and tell us that they are loading us into the back since it is 36 degrees in there. After we are climbed into the back of the semi someone looks around and says "we look like Mexicans crossing the border." Can the day get any worse? For us it didn't. The bus started again but never did cool off until after dark. Then it was freezing. Vance was only slightly better at shifting. We arrived home at 1230. But the story doesn't end here. That was my story. There were three more buses behind mine. Two of them died and stayed dead for a while. Finally the truck driver said "That's it, get your people back on the bus and we are trying something different." Different meant hooking the bus up to the truck and towing it up the hill, full of people. Miranda tells me listening to the radio conversation between the truck driver and the bus driver was very scary and that the bus driver at one point said "I can't do it, I am not risking these people's lives" when the truck driver asked him to shift gears while being towed. He was afraid of shifting up and then not being able to shift down and hitting the semi. At 9 pm they called in two new buses from rock springs to get these people home. at 33o the last 3 buses arrived at the stake center. To say the least it is a good thing we are Mormon or the man in the stake who supposedly got us good buses may have been lynched today.

I plan to stay away from travel buses for as long as possible. And poor Vance might be feeling the same right now. The guy was a trooper and took a lot of abuse from his bus and some of the adults even though it wasn't his fault he got put in the situation he did. He also should be commended for driving a bus that should be destroyed by a hazmat team with as bad as it stunk because of all of us sweating in a bus with no a/c and no windows to open.

Be Prepared

Well, as you all know I went to Martin's Cove for trek this last weekend. It was an unforgettable experience and when I have time to talk to each of you I will tell you. Something like that isn't meant to be blogged. But there are some funny parts which can be blogged and now will be.

Ponchos
These were listed on our packing list. I faithfully packed mine. Every time it rained, which it did often my poncho was inaccessible and I got wet. It stayed dry the entire trip.

Tarp
This was on our packing list to "wrap our sleeping bag in." I planned to do this on Friday while I was gone in case it rained and our tent flooded. While I was at the stake leader's fire ring my "sisters" faithfully dropped our tent and put large heavy objects on it so it wouldn't blow away during the day with all the wind we were having. It rained heavily, we all know the physics of rain and tents flattened. Under my sleeping pad was about 3 gallons of water and the rest was soaked into my sleeping pad, sleeping bag, pillow, and pajamas. My "sisters" stuff was left untouched. Yay for that tarp that stayed dry packed in my duffel. And yes it is cold to sleep in wet clothes in a wet sleeping bag. I don't recommend it.

Sunscreen
I packed it and used it Friday. Saturday I forgot and because of many different mishaps I spent most of the day in the sun even though I should have only spent a couple hours. I now have a red ring around my neck where my bonnet didn't go low enough and shirt didn't go high enough. I now have a red donut around my neck.


Well, that was my fun. The scout motto of "be prepared" was fulfilled. I was always prepared, it just never worked out.

Can I get an Amen?!?!

So, yesterday Shellie and Landon and I were driving back from Bend. We were about 20 minutes from their house and we were passing through some little town. One of my favorite things to do is read the marquees in front of the churches of other religions. They get pretty creative sometimes. We passed some church that was shaped like one of those old fashioned tents. The marquee said "The Kingdom of God is near." I was disappointed in this pastor for his lack of originality until I saw the next building after it. It was an LDS church. Yep, the kingdom of God was very near. At least that pastor knew where the party really is. hahaha I laughed pretty hard after that.

hey you guys!

so it is 11:45 pacific time and what am I doing? Sitting on my sisters bed and I'm a little bored so I thought I would blog.
I have to say this new freedom I've gained since graduation is quite nice. No ap english projects for the summer. It makes me happy. I actually can just sit down and do nothing and not feel bad. I've already read two books, and they were thick books. I have been spending some quality time with shellie and landon and we have had some good times let me tell you. What can I say? Summer is treatin me goooood. Now I've just got to get a tan.... hahaha that'll never happen. I promise to post a bunch of pictures soon.

WOW-O!

Some of you might wonder if I'm still writing what's-his-name. Well, I am. And I've got good news. First of all, it's been a year!!! Woot! I've actually survived a whole year. This next year will be a piece of cake... I hope. Anyway, the really good news. I got an email today and it was transfers last night. Well, he's not getting transferred but he is getting a new comp and the guy is a greenie from the MTC. He is finally a trainer and senior companion. Woot Woot! And the other good news. He might be the new district leader. He was supposed to find out sometime today, but he hadn't heard yet when he emailed me. I am super-proud and had to brag a little.

will the real ella kay please stand up

Well I haven't been good about keeping you updated on my blogging. But to tide you over here is a funny picture.

Ella has discovered my docking station for my mp3 player and wanted to listen to music. She then proceeded to convince grandma to dance with her. Its pretty darn cute watching the two of them dance. Especially since mom is in a walking boot. ha ha Anyway that is my funny experience for today. And yes Shellie, those are her jammies. It's Sunday, that what we do around here on Sundays. Good luck deprogramming. yay for aunt tino.

Peter Pan

So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never Never Land!

I've decided I don't want to grow up. Its no fun. I've cried a few times now that I'm realizing high school is over. It is so crazy that I am having to move up in life. I'm not ready to be the one making all the decisions in life. I have gotten so used to having everything planned for me that now that I have to move on and start planning it for myself it's a little scary. I mentioned it to Mr Dresen that I didn't want to grow up and he said "okay peter pan, stay young forever." So yeah. Thats where my new obsession with peter pan has come from. I have decided I will always be as young as i want to be and i'm just not going to let myself grow up in spirit. It's no fun to be a boring adult. Want to join me and be the lost boys?

Where'd You Go?

I haven't been on in...oh a month. oops. But what can I say? They've invented this dumb thing called senior year and it comes with ap tests, final plays, and final projects. It is surely some mean administrator's way of ruining the last month of a girl's senior year. All I can say is that after the next two days I will post everything that I haven't yet like Disneyland, my last two plays, my prom, and some other not really important stuff. Hahaha anyway I love you all and thank you for all your support in helping me survive my senior year. I wouldn't be able to do it without my three amazing sisters and one hot cousin. love you!

Parable of the Pleurisies and the Tetanies

Well, I have pleurisy. Yay for me. After a long and scary visit to the hospital with the prospects of a collapsed lung or a blood clot in my lungs it turns out I have good old pleurisy. Thing is, I should have been sick before this happened. I guess I'm just finishing off the route dad should have taken at the end of his pneumonia. This isn't the most fun I've had in my life. It definitely does not compare to Disneyland. Hum bug. But as a reference for the future, do not go get your blood drawn in the hospital lab. They try to kill you. Kidding....sort of. I passed out after I saw my blood in a vial instead of the normal after you get stuck with a needle. I then went into tetany. Basically its like right after your leg goes to sleep and it tingles when it wakes up. Only this tingling was not nice and got so out of control it crippled my arms, hands, and legs, for about an hour. It was painful and terrifying. The pathologist told me it could have been from hyperventilating after passing out, but I'm pretty sure I didn't start hyperventilating until after the tetany hit. So who knows, it may have been I hadn't drank enough milk and my calcium levels were low. I'll never refuse milk again. Moral of the story, if you have a weird pain, ignore it. If you go to a doctor, they'll make it worse. hahaha good luck getting me to ever come see you as a doctor tory.

I AM A MAN!!!...not really, but pretend for the effect

I want you all to know that your baby sister has a backbone and is not all talk. Some of you know that I was intending to resign as club president after spring break. Well, I decided that I wouldn't and I would just ride it out. Well, a few things happened this week and I realized that I couldn't take the abuse any longer without killing someone or killing myself. Neither was a good option so I sent Ms Dunn this email yesterday morning.

"Circumstances require that I resign from my position as club president effective immediately. I have taken the time to evaluate my current goals and have chosen to pursue new opportunities in Bonneville.
I wish the Thespian Club success in their endeavors to share each other's love for the theatre.
Regretfully,
Christine McCracken"

And that was it. I'm proud to say that I was civil and diplomatic. So I'll have you know, I'm not going to let someone like her ever run me over again. I know better now.

Tagged I'm it!

10 Years ago: I was a nerdy elementary kid watching all of my sisters have fun while I got to learn about Idaho! whoopidee-freaking-do! hahaha

5 Things on my "To Do" list today: Well I'll go from the morning. Read Antigone. Go to school. Talk to my teacher about my meth article (for the newspaper). Go home and chill. Go earn money by babysitting.

What I would do if I were suddenly a BILLIONAIRE: Buy a new car. Buy my new house. Pay for my college. Set aside all the money I need for an amazing wedding and get and new wardrobe that fits my weirdo style. And spend the rest to help who i need when I need cause I have billions fool!

Places I have lived: ucon...ucon...and ucon. I have spent summers in WAshington DC and a few months here and there in Oregon but never anywhere on my own.

Things most people don't know about me: I am Allie for Ask Allie in the school's newspaper. I love creepy scifi movies. I am almist everyone's go to when my friends need advice. They all think I have a huge mouth but don't know how many people's secrets I actually have. And my secret dream has always been to get married and a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Spain.

So I have to tag some people: but you all have already done it so oh well.

READ NOW!

ok. There was a comment on my blog about Valentine's Day. I have figured out how to delete it and I hope it doesn't happen again. I didn't know this person and the link was to a pornographic page filled with spyware and other viruses. I am doing my best to stop this from happening again. sorry. I recommend that if you were too relaxed like me and turned off some the security settings to turn them back on. One option is comment moderation which means that you have to approve the comments before anyone else can see them. It might help poor innocent Elizabeth before she opens a link to another bad page and fills her computer with viruses again. hahaha love y'all.

When a stranger calls

Well, hey there! There's no pictures for me to do with this post but I had to tell you how my Valentine's Day went. After I finished doing my hair for the day I wen in my room and found a big box of chocolates and the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice from mom and dad. YAY!!! Love that movie! Well, the rest of the day was about the same as any other. One of my girlfriends decided to be the "boyfriend" of our group and brought all the girls small boxes of chocolate kisses. Yummy. I didn't have practice after school so I got to come straight home. Since I didn't have a date for Valentine's (I wonder why...) I was babysitting. (The funny thing was, so were most of my friends. we're pretty pathetic) So the evening was going good with the two boys I was watching. I got to play Rock Band for a while which is pretty rad. I had just finished changing diapers and was wrestling around when my phone started to ring. I looked and the number was 215-877-1780. I had no idea what number that was and decided just to answer. A lady asked for Christine (she had a weird accent) I thought "great now telelmarketers have my cell number" I said yeah thats me. She then said "I have a message for you (my mind begins to race) from Elder Bingham (oh great he's been in an accident, this is the mission president's wife telling me he's been in an accident) He wants to tell you happy Valentine's Day and that he loves you." i just froze for a second and then was like oh my goodness. This is somebody in his ward. I told her "Thank you so much, oh my goodness, thank you." "Is there anything you'd like me to tell him?" "Tell him I love him too and Happy Valentine's back." It got an awkward pause (while the one year old i was watching rolled across my head) Then she said ok, I said thank you and we hung up. I don't know who it was, and probably won't ever talk to her again. Who knows if that is some kind of infraction on mission rules. It was 10 their time so I'm pretty sure he wasn't there. But who cares. It was the best Valentine's present ever, and from a stranger. There's a story for you to tell your friends and the YW in your ward about your crazy sister and her missionary.

Love

Well, in one of my creative moods I put together this graphic. And I think its fitting for Valentine's Day. I don't have a cute kids to put up pictures up and I definitely haven't been married for five years. This is the best I have for now. The quote is from James Barrie (remember the peter pan guy :) ). Happy Valentine's Day!

Not quite a princess

Well, the dreaded dance is over. Yes the big event has come and gone and it didn't even change the future of the universe. I'm happy to announce that I can finally eat again. I had to limit my diet so that I could fit into such a beautiful dress. Limiting my diet meant doing such things as not having a milkshake every nigh before bed and eating any candy I can get my hands on. It was a rough life.

I was a silly girl and completely forgot to take pictures of the transformation process like I had promised. But you all know how scary I look before make-up so we didn't really need pictures to remind us all. Because we had no day date I had all the time in the world to do my hair and make-up. Yet I still ended up with a very simple hairstyle and light make-up. I'm such a silly like that.

I obviously had a fun time playing with the camera after I was done though. It took mom about 15 minutes to get me all laced into this crazy dress but the end product was definitely worth it.

We had a really fun evening. We ate dinner here at the house and then went to the dance. Of course the dance wasn't that great since we spent most of the time in line waiting to take pictures and then when we could dance no of it was any music you could really dance to. So we ditched that lame joint and went to Chalet's house and played guitar hero. We're just that cool. ha ha

Left to right: Austin, Emily, Casey, Chalet, Gabe, ME

P.S. My skirt and petticoat had 11 layers. I counted. You should have seen me trying to drive!

Break out the snowshoes

Well hello again. Today school was cancelled because of drifting and deep snow. I didn't believe them until i went outside. Mom was shoveling the driveway while I was writing a letter to Kade(what's his name if you're confused) and mom said to come take pictures. I had to hurtle a drift in our driveway just to take some of these. it's insane out there. I'm glad that I'm sick so Mom isn't making me help her. Sometimes being sick has its benefits.

The sad part about having this huge drift, there aren't any children at our house to take advantage of it. This is the perfect sled hill, but sadly none of your children live close enough to come play on it. They'd probably sink in and get lost in it anyway. And the kicker to this whole snowstorm. The prediction for tonight is rain. Gotta love Idaho.

Hey Everyone

Well I'm eating my words and commencing into the life of blogging. I'll try to keep everyone updated on my exciting life as a senior. I'm not sure that it will be very exciting seeming how I have no life, but oh well. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon. Watch for upcoming posts though, pictures of me as a princess getting ready for sweetheart dance will be coming this weekend.

cloverfield