School of the Art Instutute of Chicago

I'M IN ART SCHOOL! :D
the portfolio day yesterday was so intense, so much different from the other one. this one, the students of the Huntington school of something had all their work set up and the reps came to you, not the other way. it was still a lot of waiting, but it was better than Philadelphia by a long shot. i was judged left and right from the fancy art students who have the money to pay $8k per year to send their kid to this fancy school. i sat in the corner in my ripped jeans and cut shirt with my ipod and phone. whatever, it was a good day.
but so this school, the school of the art institute of chicago, i was standing there with my paperwork waiting for the rep to come back and this asian kid was talking to me. keep in mind, i haven't talked to anyone but reps from 10:30-5ish. he told me that saic is his top school because it's super hard to get into and if you get in, you're super good. and you'll get a better education. and guess what, my portfolio was approved. and so was his. HOLLLAAAAAAAAA

Lesley Ann

my sister, my big sister. seven years apart but only in age. i love you so much! you moved to Florida today and as much as i didn't show it, i'm going to miss you a lot. we fight a LOT like, lol you know how much we fight, but even with all the bad times, we have the good times. we laugh about the dumbest stuff and anything under the sun, including our traditional family dinner conversations. good luck in florida, i love you so much! have fun, get tan, don't cry, and stay in touch. miss you <3

strabismus

for as long as i can remember, i've seen double.
barely seeing one thing of anything ever at any point of the day. doctors look at me, check me out for years. nothing is working out. and on top of that, my eyesight sucks anyways. "she'll never be able to drive" hi, i may be little but i can still see you, understand you, process what you're saying.
then one doctor my mom's talking to finds a prescription for me that doesn't cure the double sight, but it gives me a clear 20-20 vision in both eyes.
that was the first time i saw a doctor cry.
years later i start driving, and the same doctor cries when he finds out i passed my road test, remembering the first day i came into his office. all through this he's saying that my eyes are getting more and more straight, he'll see me in six months. well, before the next appointment i start complaining that i can't see straight. i mean, i've never seen straight but it was so bad that i had to say something.
dr. brian campolattaro, 30 E 40th St, New York, NY. 8 April 2010 we're in his office for literally hours, waiting to see the man with the crazy success stories. it took him ten minutes to win over me and my mom's hearts enough to schedule the third, and hopefully final, surgery.
it's operating day, we're back in the city at the ear and eye clinic on the seventh floor pediatric surgical waiting room. there are four other kids in there, we're all in scrubs waiting for the same man to do the same thing to all of us.
so on the third of june, two-thousand-ten, i think i'm finally strabismus free. for the time at least. eye deviation went from 30 degrees in the right and 23 in the left to less than 1 degree in both eyes. my eyes are swelled, bloody as hell, and straight as a pin.


God's the man, i really can't say it any better than that.

Mr. and Mrs. Larry Luna

date: 20 May 2010 location: SP Preserve, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40 18-55mm



congratulations guys, i wish you the best for your futures. love you both so much, welcome to the family, Joan :)

fadjowehg

well blogger, you suck and i hate you. bye.

9 May 2010

i don't care what people say the rush is worth the price i pay i get so high when you're with me but crash and crave you when you leave HAAAAAAAAY so i have a question - do you wanna have a slumber party in my basement? do i make your heart beat like a native drum? is my love your drug?*
*i've had this sick obsession with this song since seeing her <3

okay cool so i haven't been here in a year and a half, and i really shouldn't be on here right now either. gotta do my mccleaning and finish Mark 3 by seventhirty, danggg homes. whatever.

so mothers day, haaaaaay. that was yesterday. and i was really genuinely happy, even though by the end of the day i was cashless with less than an 1/8 of a tank left in my babygirl. saturday i went to levittown to see @meaganlinzer and oops - forgot it was mothers day the next day. and i had work. so i passed out at like 3am to wake up at quarter to 8 so i had time to get back to portwashington, buy bagels, eat, and leave before 945am. COOOL PIAAA YOU SUCK. but guess what, i win.
so yeah okay i'm at work after giving momma her customized cutting board (shedding tears) i was thinking about the other mommas in my life, my best friends moms. so the mother's day fairy was born. i made a list of moms i wanted to see and after i came home to shower, i was off. bought a bouquet of green flowers (later getting another one of blue because i ran out) and started my voyage. by the end of the day, i had delivered twelve women flowers, two being my grandma/great grandma and one being my own mother.
even though i was down $16 and the better part of a 1/4 of a tank, the fact that i made all of their days by appreciating them for everything they do for my best friends was so worth it. i'm really happy that i spent my sunday doing that. i feel like i need another holiday to come before i can do that, but my goal is to do that unsolicited one day, because everyone loves to be praised.

uhh not much more work on my concentration - lazy, but i'll get on that. xoxo

God ftw, for reals

date: 27 April 2010 location: Town Docks, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm


das ist meine schwester. das ist de Brina.
God wins hahaha, legit. last night i was thinking/we were talking about how we (grace, mariapaz and i) don't spend much time with our sisters and how we're afraid that they're not taking God's rather, rather their own instead. i got to thinking about how brina and i don't hang out and aren't really that close and all that bad stuff and i got really upset over it. like c'mon she's been my best friend forever and we aren't even that close anymore. we prayed last night, me jen mariapaz and grace, over our sisters and i haven't thought about it since. then, today she called me to see if i wanted to go to the gym with her, which i thought was actually her just asking for a ride. then, when i came home, i asked her if she wanted to come with me to the docks to do my photoshoot and she helped me alot and we had fun :) i miss her, and i hope this happens more :D

ps - i know she's cute and i know we look like strangers but yeah, we're sisters...

happy birthday julianne :)

date: 28 Feb 2010 location: CRC, Manhasset camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

so these picture have been around forever - took this shoot so long ago. but i really like them for my concentration, i'm excited. for right now this is what i have but who knows what this can evolve into. i already wrote about these pictures - and this girl's name is LAURA not LISA as previously stated. but i really have to study so i can go see julie for her birthday later :D

Marvelous Light - Chris Tomlin
line in the song - i once was fatherless...

sheryl crow partaaaay

woohoo, all by myself on a friday night having a sheryl crow party. ftw? i think so

date: 27 Feb 2010 location: Knolls Cemetery, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm.

yeah, that day was a good shooting day as you can tell. james and i chilled all day that day. this was actually a specific picture i wanted and i think i like enough to keep it. we drove through Knolls that day because i needed a cemetery picture and being mostly a catholic place, there were many crosses. this picture, i hope you can't tell, is super photoshopped ( :( ) but all that white wasn't there, the cross was in a monument that i erased, lol. but i think i did pretty okay with that. looks better this way anyways. but how cool is that - i was able to erase a wall, crazy things you can do with a computer. i don't know if i like this picture specifically but i really like the idea of it and how it's set up. maybe i'll reshoot this one, not sure yet. hmm i'm bored but i really don't have anything to elaborate on this about.

Marvelous Light - Chris Tomlin
line in the song - from the grave You've risen victoriously!

don't come back, don't even try

just take it back baby, take it back back baby tonight. lalalalallalala

date: 27 Feb 2010 location: James' school, not sure camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

sorry james, i tried to retouch your eyebrows and it just made me more mad. plus it looks more natural this way? sorry you have to be portrayed like this. and yes, i did photoshop the "eyeliner" onto his face. but everything else is as was.
hmm, okay so this is also from the same concentration day, we went on an adventure to see his school which, proven, is actually a trailer with windows. we were shooting for this and i was inspired by his oh so beautiful eyes and intense eyebrows (lawl, sorry). there's not much of a background story to this so ... yeah.
it's lesley's 24th. horray.

LOL CRAP i just realized i shot this in the intention of another song when i was still deciding .. oh man this blows. but i can make it work i think.
Marvelous Light - Chris Tomlin
line in the song - and take this life, take your life

and the concentrations begin

so i was just looking for something to post here since i haven't in a while and i realized, i didn't put up any of my pictures from my concentration shoot with james. werd, i'll do all of them over the course of the next few days --

date: 27 Feb 2010 location: Sousa Elementary, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

so you see that ugly pinkish color of the wall around james? yeah, that was the color of half the wall. if you look carefully, i had to stamp the top half of the wall to the bottom because it was the real old red brickey color. photoshop helped make it brighter and more contrasted, but that's what it's there for. not gonna deny that this wasn't photoshopped, because that would be lying. if you look carefully, the bricks aren't lined up, they're copied and posted so the lines got messed. it works though, right? i like it at least, i think. i've got a year until the test, gotta start working on that.

Marvelous Light - Chris Tomlin
line in the song - ... with no hope ...

happy easter :)

today is easter sunday. it's not only a day to chill with your family, find hard-boiled eggs, and eat a lot of candy. we celebrate the rising of our glorious King from the dead after three days. friday was Good Friday, the day that Jesus was hung on the cross and three days later, today, He came back to life. i mean, spending time with your family is super important, but don't conform this holy day into a holiday. the Lord Jesus Christ who loves you so much came to this earth, died on the cross for your sins, and rose again. so happy easter everybody :) just another reminder that the King of the universe is in love with you.


date: 4 April 2010 location: Grandma's, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

i can't sleep

date: 1 April 2010 location: Leeds Pond, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

i can't sleep.
we went to africa.
this one is contrasted.
the raw ones are better.
there are over 400 pictures from today, well technically yesterday.
i miss work camp.

let the beat control your body

date: 24 Oct 2009 location: Point Lookout, NY camera: nikon d40, 55-200mm

so our assignment in class is to take a digital picture from any point in the year and make a film print of it. it's actually really cool, i'm super excited. we had to choose a picture then put it in black and white because we only have b&w chemicals. then on the computer, rather than the darkroom, we do all of our coloring and burning and dodging and editing whatnot. then, when the picture is perfected, we put it in the inverse and print it out on transparent film paper. then we go into the darkroom with our picture, lay it on top of the picture paper, and make the printout. its so sick, this is the picture i want to use for it. right now i'm using a picture of my dog Daisy but it's not really working. i like this picture better anyways.

babbiessss

i'm mccleaning till i die - i just can't deal with how cute these twins are. I'M IN LOVE WITH THEM ♥ they're almost two - so precious, i loooove them

date: 28 Feb 2010 location: CRC, Manhasset camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

date: 28 Feb 2010 location: CRC, Manhasset camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

and she will be loved

tap on my window, knock on my door i wanna make you feel beautiful

i picked my concentration! incase anyone that actually reads this didn't get the memo yet. well, that's a lie. i've narrowed it down. my concentration project is on a worship song - expressing what the song means to me through pictures. i've got at least fourteen picture ideas for my two top choices, i just can't decide between the two. they're Marvelous Light - Charlie Hall and Beautiful One - Chris Tomlin hmm, i don't know i don't know! but the test is in over a year so i've got some time. it'll come to me, i know it. God spoke to me and told me to do this, about a day and a half after i asked Him to speak to me. crazy, i've never had a prayer answered so quickly and directly before that i've noticed. now, all you skeptics might be wondering how i knew it was God who told me to. well first of all, He's been hinting at it for a while already - i knew i wanted to represent Him in my concentration no matter what but i wasn't sure how. we were in class the day the first contact sheet for this was due (oops) and discussing what to do (i wasn't the only slacker). i was reading Jamie's list of ideas and the one that stood out was "a phrase or something". my inital take on that was a chapter in the Bible but unfortunately, i'm not that familiar with the Word, but i'm very good with worship songs. immediately, Marvelous Light stood out in my mind, and i couldn't get my ideas down fast enough. then i was thinking about Beautiful One since it's my favorite. i haven't been so excited for something in such a long time, this is going to be epic, i cannot wait to get started.
anyways, we had an assignment to shoot a random object in many different angles. this is what i came up with --


date: 23 Feb 2010 location: Jenna's house, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

i was at Jenna's house waiting for her to get home so i can tend to every need that girl has (she has a lot - trust me) and get paid by the hour for it. i remembered about the assignment, which was naturally due the next day (you know how i do). this bench is right outside of her house (hideously painted, as you can tell) and i took about 50 pictures of it. i don't know why but this was one of three that caught my eye (i have two other edited ones) the fact that the tiles on the ground are straight and nothing else is i guess is why i like it. the bench is weirdly portrayed with an unusual background (i hate the plastic rain thing so much). hm, i don't know. i was just kinda shooting so Mrs. Murphy had nothing to bitch to me about, this wasn't the object i was planning on, but it came out a lot better than anticipated. okay i'm done xoxo

double snow days

so the unthinkable happened - Long Island schools were canceled for two consecutive days due to snow. the first day, i think we can all agree, was completely worth it. second day was such a stupid excuse for a snow day, but i'm not complaining :) the first day i was a total greaser, only left my house to shovel out Eva then migrate to Emily's house and do nothing there. yesterday was alot nicer so i drove around Port Washington taking pictures of the beautiful, evil, snow. the cousins came into town for sledding but there was a little accident before i made it to the golf course. Jessica and i went around for a second time taking more pictures deeper into Sans Point and whatnot.

date: 12 Feb 2010 location: Manorhaven, Pt.Wash camera: Nikon d40, 18-55mm

the untouched snow was UNBELIEVABLE! so gorgeous, unreal. and down at the beach? awesome. this was before meeting up with my cousins, i went down to Manorhaven Beach and took mad pictures. but, i'm tacky and whatnot so i had to set up this picture obviously, those footprints weren't there. i can't decide if i like this picture or not, but this is the one that stood out on the thumbnails while i was choosing one to post here. hm, let me know.

3 Feb 2010

today is the seventeenth anniversary of my birth. a day that i get to pick what's for dinner, i get showered with gifts, and basically get a "get out of jail free" card. but what for? seventeen years ago to the day, what did i do? without being graphic, i'll keep it simple - i made the life of my parents harder than it was. the fact that they kept me around and provided for me is miraculous to me. so why am i the one being praised today? and in fact, being told "happy birthday" is kind of weird when you think about it - it was the day of my birth, but my MOM'S birth day. so really, i should be celebrating my mother today, thanking her for doing everything in her power to make my life as easy as i could. she was my personal cabby for the first sixteen years and three-hundred-sixty-four days of my existence. so here's to you momma, thankyou for being amazing and such an important role in my life. i owe you. happy birth day to you.

What About Peace?

http://www.whataboutpeace.org/
so this was the contest i entered about a year ago with the help of Ms. DeMarco ( ♥ ) and although i didn't place, it was an awesome process that made me start thining, so what is it about peace? how i can i show the world my interpretation of peace? last years entry was kind of a last minute i didn't put a lot of effort into it. i mean, i did, i advertised around the school to recruit models because i wanted to make a human peace sign, but that didn't work out. so, instead i made a triptych, all tied together with the quote "be the change you wish to see in the world" - ghandi. this is last years submission -

all different information for each picture

thisss year, the submission is next friday (5/2/2010) and i wasn't really planning on entering. i was talking to my friend Evan, who showed me this contest last year, and i decided i should at least see if i can pull something outta my butt that i can hand in. i was going through all my albums on my computer from january 2008 until january 2010 and thought, what better for a peace contest than a hippie concert on earth day (20/4/2009) at the National Mall? i picked two pictures and got them all dolled up enough for submission but there was open space so i got a quote for each picture. so, i have the two pictures ready for submission, just which to pick? i still understand that no one reads this but it's worth a try.

date: 20/4/2009 location: National Mall, Washington DC camera: Olympus Stylus 850sw

date: 20/4/2009 location: National Mall, Washington DC camera: Olympus Stylus 850sw

food for thought

all this bolded stuff doesn't pertain here

probably the single handed weirdest assignment of all time - to take a picture of a flower/place, yourself, and an animal and create a xerox collage out of them. like wtf mrs. murphy, are you serious? this took me soo long, along with the other one i made. so obscure and so awkward. but this one, the original picture was of me in disney (yes with my leash) hugging pinocchio, which i found completely appropriate because he was my favorite. i replaced his body with a city skyline picture i took from the top of the empire state building (i'm not a tourist i swear). it didn't really look right so i cut out pinocchio's eyes, nose and eyebrows to put in it so you knew what the figure behind me was. one of his eyebrows fell off but laila fell in love with it lolololol.
this could be really deep, like the city i live in is comforting me, hugging me, holding me. and especially at such a young age. i don't know, it's not what i was intending for but take it as you see it - that's the beauty of art.

this is the second one i made --
this stuff doesn't apply to this picture

this one is a little harder to see. the main picture is of me, Brina, Lea and Jan in the bathtub ( ;) ) when we were little. from left to right it's lea, brina, me, jan. i had cropped the original picture because it just wasn't going with the rest of it. in place of lea, i put the same picture of the NYC skyline which i found appropriate because she was here visiting over the summer and she is definitely a city girl. in place of brina, i put a picture of the dictionary definition of "crust" LOL which is... just obvious why i put that there :) i couldn't disconnect me and jan because it would have come out awkward, so in place of the two of us is a picture of the train tracks that i took not too long ago. i didn't think about this until just now but the tracks could represent me in the way that i aspire to travel when i'm older, and as for jan, he recently took a train from Vienna to Amsterdam to go to a huge techno rave show. maybe i thought it subconsciously? or maybe it was because i only came to class equipped with about seven pictures to pick, choose, and crop.

so uh, hey

i know no one is reading this anyway but i'm apologizing to myself for not being on top of this. i got bored with the theme i was doing so i kinda stopped and forgot about it.
i don't have new pictures yet but i'm working on itt. a lot more creative things will come after my birthday/license day (: uhh for right now, i'm studying honors precalculus for my midterm tomorrow afternoon that i'm going to fail.
good luck during midterm week everyone, xoxo

Avalanche 2008

finally, moving away from Summer Escape :)

date: 7/1/2010 location: Schreiber HS, Pt.Wash camera: still don't know

The joy of the Lord is your strength. - Nehemiah 8:10

probably the coldest campus life trip ever, and greasiest :| for february break, we went snowboarding for a week at Smugglers Notch, VT. unlike any other trip, we stayed in three condos - boys, girls, and split. i was in the girl house with Haley, Julie, Grace, Tana, Kori, Mama Kate, Jen and Heather. Haley and i roomed downstairs in the room next to jen and heather's while everyone else was upstairs. our new friends, Amber, Kaitie and Karen were in the split house with their leader cause they're from a different group. the first night, all of the girls in our house hung out in Mama Kate's room and we were all just talking and laughing. i think that's the night that Rocket Power started, but i'm not quite sure. we each got the name of a character on the old tv show Rocket Power and had different things we would do for each person, (i don't remember most of that). the next day was the first time i saw a snowboard in person, let alone ride one. we spent the day on the bunny slope but i couldn't get it. the following days went about the same as i progressively got better. eventually, i could go down the hill but only backwards, which killed my calves like whoa. every night we did different things. the first night we went to the fun zone that had all sorts of thigns we can do and just hang out, then the teen center with video games and computers. another night we went tubing halfway down the mountain, it was so much fun :) then, after our activities we had "cabin time" kind of where we all met in the basement of this library on the campus and did group games, watched movies, and had discussions about God. it was such a crazy week, of course i'm missing a lot of details, but i forgot to write them down :(

date: 18/2/2008 location: Smuggler's Notch, VT camera: sony DSC-W55 (blue)

Summer Escape 2007

okay, i skipped 2007 Winter Retreat because honestly, i don't remember it at all.

date: 7/1/2010 location: Schreiber HS, Pt.Wash camera: still not sure

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. - Joel 2:32

the last year as a student at Summer Escape. oh my gosh did i cry. the week started off different than the rest of the times i've been there because james met a friend during the year, Eric, who was from Metro Pittsburgh. when we got to camp, james and i met up with eric and chilled. instantaneously, i had a new friend. during the week, we hung out with eric and austyn a lot, then we met Danielle and Amanda and they were our new friends. we had new students with us that summer so it was new within the Long Island group as well as the fact that we had branched out. specifics i don't really remember, besides when Yeon like broke her foot. lol so i wanted to get a jumping picture of a bunch of kids off of this ledge in the gym, so i got the shot, they're all holding hands jumping, then yeon landed weird and twisted her ankle :( sorrryy lady ahahah. and Mike and Mike (other one) were there, new best friends? kind of haha. ended up naming other Mike Depressica for some unknown reason. Cara came too ahah, that was interesting. i HATEEEEEEDDDDD her, can't remember why, and james and i made up code names for her and Sara ( ♥ ) because we didn't want them knowing. by the end of the week i fell in love with cara. also by the end of the week we had a lot of new friends. that was the first time i saw Danielle, as stated before, and a few months later she flew out here to see us. crazyness. i think this was the most emotional goodbye, everyone was crying because we had become so close. last year as students also, that was the hardest part for me. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL ANNNNNDDDD it was Jen's first time at camp and she vows to never go back as a leader because of james and i that week. we made it miserable for her HAHA i'm sorry mom, we love you.

date: 10/8/2007 location: South Gibson, PA camera: sony DSC-W55 (blue)

Summer Escape 2006

date: 7/1/2010 location: Schreiber HS, Pt.Wash camera: forgot to look

Our competence comes from God. - 2 Corinthians 3:5

summer going into eighth grade - almost done with middle school, the worst three years of my life. oh my gosh, this was probably the funniest week of my life. first of all, we got the same cabin for the third consecutive year, so that was a lot of fun, seeing what we wrote and our recorded heights from the year before. ann threw up the first night in front of my bed -bleh- but then she was good for the rest of the week. this year Sara came with us :) our baby Dominique was celebrating her birthday that week so we tp'd her bed and she cried! it was so cute. the day that sticks out the most was the fifth day. we had gotten our shirts (the green pictured) and were wearing them around the camp. ann, toniann and i were all wearing jeans also and decided to go kayaking/canoeing. after toniann and ann tipping their canoe, they decided to hop onto my kayak (from the same direction) to get pulled back to shore. since all the weight was coming from one side, my boat flipped also. it sunk to the bottom of the lake along with james's flip flops i was wearing, never to be seen again. we had to go back, shower, and wear something that wasn't covered in disgusting lake water in the group pictures. oh my gosh how did i almost forget?! the day before that was like any other, playing "who can go the longest without laughing" at lunch (ann, toniann and i losing) when it turned into "who can laugh without smiling" courtesy of brina. we went outside to the field to play noucum and ended up rolling down the hill, holding each other in a link and screaming, laughing. that was probably the funniest day of my entire life. that week, james and i actually conversed with austyn for the first time. i can remember that being the highlight of my life at that point - i had no idea what was to come.

date: 9/8/2006 location: South Gibson, PA camera: hp photoshot r507

Summer Escape 2005

i have sucked at updating this recently, cause i couldn't find pictures. but then i remembered i have my whole in class photo shoot just chillen on my hard drive. so i'll be like, uploading one a day i guess till i run out.

our assignment was that we needed 3 self portrait pictures handed in - one out of school, one in school digitally, and one in school via film (out of school was posted on 16/12/2009). to portray myself, i decided to show myself as my devotion to God. most of you won't see much past the Bible verses that are in all the pictures but if you notice, each picture has a different shirt. these shirts are from Campus Life events, different days/weeks of my life that God has touched my heart (that i got a shirt from).

date: 7/1/2010 location: Schreiber HS, Pt.Wash camera: i'll find out

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. - 2 Timothy 4:22

this shirt is from Summer Escape 2005 - my second year as a camper at Rock Mountain Bible Camp. yes, i said second. the first year i lost the shirt for but it wasn't very memorable or fun, sadly to say. but, this was the first year for all my friends so it was an awesome week. there's only a few parts that i remember, like we shared a bunk with the Team iThemba lady, she was so sweet. also, i remember meeting Christopher for the first time, on that back staircase. i also remember seeing Austyn (not going to go into that fiasco) and who can forget that last day, the bus was so late and the whole shindig with Yeon and Eric went down, oh my lanta. what else do i remember? oh gosh, sitting on the field after everyone in the camp already left, with Eric in a tree with a few of the crazy boys we had with us pretending to kill the "tree monster". that was also the first time we met ToniAnn and Leahmai.

date: 5/8/2005 location: South Gibson, PA camera: Genovese Throwaway

every day i see my dream

LMFAO was sooo illl last night!

emily, daniella and i went to see LMFAO at Irving Plaza, NYC last night. we took a train at about 6ish, then went directly to American Apparel from Penn Station. i can promise you i have never been so cold in my life. i was wearing ballet slipper things, leggings, two tank tops, a hoodie, and a windbreaker. it was absolutely miserable. we went to get emily a bra thing because otherwise we would have had some problems. after the purchase, it was already 7pm - the concert had just started and we're nowhere near the venu. we walked to Herald Square from American Apparel and took the W subway to Union Square. we got out of the station and headed the wrong direction down 14th. upon realizing that, we went the right way and got to the show - except there was a monster line outside of it that was moving very slowly. the drunks were everywhere, and so was Schreiber HS. eventually we got inside and past the coat check and headed into the show.
it was soo much fun - mega dance party '10? i think so. we saw a lot of dancefloorsex going on everywhere. it was really sweaty and hot and everyone was just moving to the music. every time that we relocated, we ended up back behind these three very tall (VERY cute) guys, and of course the whole time i ended up with my back forcefully pressed up against one of them. after the show, i apologized to the kid and he kissed me on the cheek, and walked away xoxo. after the show, we decided to go to Max Brenner's for dinner/dessert. soo so good. after that was a lot of walking, rushing, and cold. we missed the 12:39am home by about 48 seconds and had to wait for the 1:19am.
worth it? completely. do it again? absolutely.

Peter's Township, PA

(this is going to be a long post, so i'll entertain you with pictures)

have you ever met someone and just instantly knew that this person was put in your life by God's will? well, that's kind of how my relationship with sir Austyn began. it helped a lot that we met at Rock Mountain Bible Camp in the summer of 2004 for the very first time. we saw each other for a week every summer until we actually talked in 2007. that summer was the kick off of a lot of God given friendships. even then, if you told me that i would spend four days at his house in Pennsylvania, i would have laughed in your face at the impossibility of it, even after the other encounters we've had since then.

well you know what, it happened. and it was awesome.

as mentioned previously, Julie and i returned to Pittsburgh to visit our camp friends, but this time, instead of spending the majority of our time with Danielle, we stayed with Raffi at the Nixon's house. i couldn't believe it was happening, up until the first night we spent there.

on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 the three of us boarded an airplane leaving JFK International Airport destined to land in Pittsburgh, PA. ordinarily, Aaron would be there with Danielle to pick us up, but instead, it was Don and Austyn. we drove back to their house when we landed around 10:30am. after settling in and getting our bags into the house, the four of us walked up to Eric's house, who at this point still had no idea that we were visiting. his reaction was priceless, right before he went to get dressed to join us. our little group walked to Farmhouse Coffee (best place on earth) and chilled in there for a while, seeing various people we've met on different Campus Life trips. upon returning to our home for the week, the other members of We Are Merely Moving Shadows showed up for a band practice. Raffi joined them, so Julie, Eric and i walked down to Arby's (we walked everywhere) and just hung out for a while. we got a phone call saying to meet up with the boys on the hill, Eric will know what they're talking about. we finished up and walked to the most spectacular place i've been to in a long time. it's this open hill that overlooks the city of Pittsburgh. they're turning it into a residental area so apparently it was a lot nicer than it was. in the freezing cold, we all voyaged back to Austyn's house for the night.
... and Julie and i thought this would be the highlight of our trip.

as expected, Julie woke me up at 9 on the dot on Monday, December 28th, 2009 to get ready for our first full day in Pittsburgh. not only that, but we were going to see Danielle for the first time since arriving 24 hours previously. we got ready, and went down to see if Raffi and Austyn were awake, which they were. after we're all ready, the four of us walked to Bob Evans, a diner restaurant thing that Austyn works in. Eric met up with us for breakfast and we chilled there for a little while. i think those were the best eggs i've ever had in my whole life, and the potato things were awesome. when Eric got picked up to ditch us, we walked back to Austyn's house where Julie and i were waiting for Danielle to come get us. while waiting, Justin and Sam of In The Wake Of Giants came with their tour bus to fix a few things before getting ready to go on mini-tour. eventually, Danielle and her sister Brittany came to get us, and we were off to spend some time with her. after settling into her house, where we've spent two trips at, we went to the mall with the intention of going into Pittsburgh, but it got too rainy and cold. plus, Danielle was getting sick. so instead, we went back to her house and chilled for the night, put on PS I Love You, and fell asleep in her living room.

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 was the battle of the bands that we were dying to see. as always, Julie was already awake and just sitting there, waiting for someone to wake up. we were both awake for about 15 minutes before Danielle came to find us. for breakfast, we had the SuperPretzel SoftStix which we've been DYING for since... last January. it was a really chill afternoon, we just hung out, went with Brittany to the mall again for a little while, then when 6 o'clock came around, we were out the door, heading to the Bethel Park Community Center to see the Campus Life Battle of the Bands Finals. we said our goodbyes to Aaron and Shelly Horney (go ahead and laugh, i know you want to) and headed inside. we met up with Raffi as soon as we got inside and chilled around the band's table until it was their turn to play. i made a friend named Jessica over my camera (go figure) and we walked around a bit until it was time. we saw quite a few people we know, such as my friend Gage that i haven't seen since July. then, Dave went on stage to announce the next band - We Are Merely Moving Shadows, Austyn, Matty, Jordan, and Bobby's band. their show couldn't get better if it wanted to. their performance and music was phenominal, a lot better than i expected. since it was a battle, after everyone was done playing, the audience got to vote. we stood in anticipation as the fifth, fourth, and third place winners were called. the boys' band still wasn't called so we were all nervously waiting for Dave to announced what we already knew - first place was We Are Merely Moving Shadows. personally, i wasn't surprised - they earned it and deserved it. after the show, a fairly large group of us went to EatnPark to get food, but we showed up about 20 minutes before closing. the woman let us stay and eat our food and even though i didn't get anything, it smelled so good haha. then we all went back to our homes, and for Julie, Raffi and i, that was Austyn's house. the four of us got to hang out and talk for a while before going to sleep at 1am. this week was by far the most restless week i can remember.

although our plane wasn't until the day after, Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 was our last day there, so with that, we decided to wake up at 8am. Austyn, Raffi, Julie and i walked to Farmhouse and met up with Danny and Eric. we took over this little room and were just talking and laughing in there. eventually, Becca, Liz, Jordan and Jason came to chill with us, all in pieces.we were there for a little while haha (: and this girl Hannah who works there came up also, i got to talk to her for a while it was really cool. we decided to go somewhere, so most of us split up but the three of us, Austyn, Danny and Eric went walking in the freezing cold on this trail away from the Nixon house, trying to figure out what to do. we ended at this community center where we warmed up for alittle then got picked up by Mr. Briggs and brought back to Austyn's house. Bobby was there when we arrived so he stayed and chilled with us. we played Super Smash Bros for the N64 (which apparently i'm beast at?) for a while until we got hungry again. we walked to a Subway/Dairy Queen place and got food. on the way there, Eric left us to go home for a while so it was just Raffi, Julie, Austyn, Bobby, Danny and i going there. i promise, i've never heard such insightful things come out of a teenager's mouth before in my life. Bobby was just throwing all these deep, metaphorical life things at us left and right. no wonder he's graduating high school at the end of next week. i also noticed i've never met people more modest than those who i got to know this week. we returned to Austyn's house to go to Don's home church. some older people came but a bunch of students came too. Bobby stayed with us then Scott, Cathy, Michael, Jordan, Brad and Matty showed up also. "I will separate your sins as far as the east is from the west" sums up the church service that night, which was such a good way to bring in the new year. after church, we all chilled, playing Super Smash Bros (surprise) while Austyn discovered the beauty of a Nikon d40. people started leaving, so we said our goodbyes, since we were leaving in the morning. in the end, it was Austyn, Bobby, Jordan and Matty still staying awake to wait for us to leave at 4 in the morning. "how good would it be if your flight was canceled?!" at 3:30am, the delta website had posted that our flight wasn't flying. i think my heart skipped three beats out of excitement for a longer stay. turned out the flight was in fact canceled, but rescheduled for ten minutes later. we said our goodbyes to Bobby, Matty and Jordan and headed for the airport. when we got there, tears were almost shed when leaving Austyn and Don to head back to New York. the five hardest goodbyes i've ever had to experience. the plane ride home took my mind off of it for a while, you know, flying first class to Atlanta, GA then back here.


so i'll say this once, and probably a zillion and sixty-three more times, but to Austyn, Jordan, Matthew, Bobby, Julie and Raffi, thankyou for the most amazing week that i can remember. i love you all sooo so much.

happy new years (:

so although i haven't been blogging here, i have been journaling in my trip notebook. its this generic book covered in duct tape with entries from every day of almost every trip i've been on since the summer of 2006. it has everything from Summer Escape to Wildwood to Pittsburgh to Austria. its awesome because i have all my Campus Life trips with thoughts and events in it. on the plane from Pittsburgh, PA to Atlanta, GA (will elaborate) i was reading through entries of things that i completely forgot about, like one of the first times i met Austyn, which is weird because i was reading over that entry when flying home from sleeping over his house for 4 days. if you told me i would be staying at his house, i would have bugged on you for reals.
i want to do a blog about the week but my pictures are on my computer which is currently infected with a virus. hopefully the pictures are safe and Sunday, i can get back on my PC. i miss her
so it's 2010, how's this year going to be referred to as: 20-10? 0'10? 10? 2,010? yo no se but i'm nervous. this is the year i get my full license, the year before graduation... it's going to be interesting.
i pray everyone's new year is going to be happy, healthy and safe. next time i'll post about Pittsburgh, with pictures and all. xoxo