Saturday, July 21

Some things I learned at camp

This was my first time at camp, and there were a couple of things I learned that I want to tell you guys about. Maybe it'll help you get a little taste of the mistakes I made at camp...

1. Don't sit by yourself at lunch and get mad if nobody sits with you.
2. Talk to people. They're nicer than you might think, and never EVER judge someone until you get to know them a little.
3. Always bring cookies.
4. Make sure you can take pictures and videos somehow, cuz you're never gonna want to forget the memories you'll make.
5. Don't forget your ID card or you can't get in for lunch.
6. If you want people to sign a shirt for you, buy one right away or they'll be all gone.
7. GO TO BED AT A DECENT TIME. No matter how much coffee you drink, you can't make up for four missed hours of sleep.
8. If you ask a guy to smile for a picture, unless you're in it with him, he will not smile.
9. Bring tissues and waterproof eye makeup because you WILL cry on the last night.

This is all I thought of right off the top of my head. Maybe I'll think of more and post them!

Music Academy

Even though this is going to be a super-mega long post, I don't care because this was probably the highlight of my summer, if not my whole year.
Went to camp, made friends, fell in love...
Well, maybe not that last part. But still, it was fun!
 Our team was called the Staff Infections. We were awesome. Here we are in our team meeting, working on our assignments for music mania. First we had to do a poster for our team, which is pictured below. Artwork on the poster by Raymond. Concept by Gabe. Then we had to do a cheer, which was definitely interesting! Sidney was the best though, and she came up with an AWESOME cheer! <3
We also had to do something called community instrument. That meant that we had to have more than one person playing on one instrument, and we had to play a certain song. The song was Amazing Grace. I was a pedal pusher on the piano, in case you were wondering. One guy was strumming a guitar and blowing a trumpet at the same time, and it was really cool!
 Our team color was green, and since we were the Staff Infections, and somehow there was a medical tie-in, we all wore surgeon masks and gloves. We also had green face paint, which some people were a little more liberal with than others. Michael just slathered it all over. :)
 Playing Ninja in the day room! xD

 Me and my awesome roommate Jessica!! She was the one who made me get out of bed in the mornings and was cheerful to me even when I was the one who kept her up until one in the morning! <3
 The lovely and talented Miss Rachel!
 Nicole, who read me to sleep on Lord of the Rings several nights. She also tried to kill me when we were playing Mafia, but anyway...
 There's a big tree right near the campanile on campus and it was so gorgeous that I had to take a picture of it!
 I do believe this is a crepe myrtle tree in bloom...
 Technically, Bradley Tower was my home on campus, but if you go off of where I spent the most time, this place would be it. Whenever I wasn't at meals or chapel or sleeping, I was hanging in here. And practicing, of course.
 I accompanied my beautiful roommate Sarah for her recital and she was GORGEOUS!!! xD
 Me and Jessica and Sarah...and Audrey...and cookies. The guys we were sitting with got very helpful all of a sudden when the cookies showed up...
"That box looks really heavy - do you need help with it?"
 Wacky Tacky Tuesday at the Sports Center! The music campers got together and decided to go tacky at the Sports Center and scare the other camps to death. Funnest time at the Sports Center EVER!!!







 Me and some of my fellow choir members. :)
 Geoffrey getting his shirt signed.
 The gala concert was amazing. The choir songs were wonderful and the orchestra was stupendous. The choir even got to help out a little on the orchestra part of the performance! ;)
 After the concert was terrible for me...I was crying like all of my friends were leaving me. :P
Me and Pixie!!! ;D
 I totally got a picture with our future President! This will be worth millions some day.
 Me and Charlie!! He cracks me up - particularly when I'm trying to sing in choir.

 Our counselors were really quite serious and solemn.
I think this is most of the music camp people, I know some had already left but lots were still there. It was a really emotional night for me! You really get close to people after spending two weeks with nobody but them and then all of a sudden everybody leaves. But I made so many good friends and I made some good decisions as a result of the messages I heard preached and I was inspired to broaden my horizons musically, so all in all, I say...EPIC WIN!
CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!!!!!

Monday, July 9

As most of you know, I'm leaving for music camp today, which means that I won't be able to blog for two weeks!
I love you all, I'll miss you, and I hope you have a nice break from me!
Also, a VERY happy birthday to Allie!! I hope you have a great day and I'll be praying that you feel better soon!

Thursday, July 5

I had a great time at the beach today! We were there by ourselves (along with many, many strangers) for a while, and then some of our friends showed up and it was a blast!
I'm kind of sad right now though cuz it looks like I won't have time to bake cookies for songs in the park tonight! :(

Tuesday, July 3

Enjoying the movie Emma over ice cream on a rainy night. :)

Unexpected laughs are my favorite kind. :D