I GOT IN!!!!

BYU! It's happening! Officially! I got in! Yay! lol, don't you just love exclamation pts? Needless to say, I'm ridiculously excited. :)

Dance Update...sorry, still playing catch-up!

So, I'm still in catching-up mode, and I apologize. But as we all know, life is crazy, and we all just do the best we can, right? I figure I'll give a dance update, since I sorta skipped over Homecoming last semester, not to mention my Winter Formal experience...

First off...
HOMECOMING!!!

Date: Branton Barney, or "Branton Date", as I called him all evening...I didn't know him that well before the date, but it was so fun to get to know him! He's a cool kid, and I can't wait until our Hawaiian scuba diving day activity...we're just awaiting my parents' stamp of approval...

*Dinner: California Pizza Kitchen, Holy AMAZING FOOD.

Favorite quotes of the night:
Branton: "You're pizza had babies!!!" (Why is it that both of the Homecoming dinners I've had in this lifetime have involved a discussion about making babies???)
Abby: "I don't like asexual pizza."
Aaron: "Abby, will you please stop being sexual with your pizza!?!"
Anonymous: "We're drinking Nak`d in your car..." (the juice, that is).

And NOW...WINTER FORMAL!

*Date: Joshua Lindblom.
I honestly love this boy. I can't think of any other male in my life who would actually want to join me in my quest for accessories--let alone make good, legitimate suggestions and comments about everything I looked at. And we're not just talking regular unisex stores either...we're talking Blossom, Forever21, and the panty hose section at Dillards. Luckily, we eventually decided the black tights with the seam were unecessary, otherwise I would've been trapped in that terrifyingly awkward situation for longer than the 20 minutes we spent in that department discussing the most effective forms of panty hose with the ridiculously patient saleswoman. I couldn't help but blush the whole time, though Josh was surprisingly cool with all of it. It was a strange experience. Anyway, we literally planned every inch of our outfits together, and we had the coolest corsage/boutenneires I've ever seen. It was SO fun!

Oh, and I was named Winter Formal Queen! It was kind of random, but an honor nonetheless. So, I guess...thanks to everyone who nominated me--it really meant a lot to me! :)

Cash On Delivery!!!

Okay, it's been a while...so I'm gonna hafta catch up one event at a time...

Event numero uno: "Cash On Delivery" Nov. 1, 4-8 @ MHS.

This was an INCREDIBLE experience for me, and I'm so glad I got to be apart of it! And, I'll take this opportunity to thank anyone and everyone who came and saw the show. If you weren't able to make it, we're putting the show up again the first week in February...so you have no excuse! It's a pee-your-pants-funny show, and everyone needs to see it! I'd also just like to give a huge thank you to one my best friends, Maddi, for making me audition, and for talking me through all the crazy stupid insecurities I had throughout the show. That girl is so flipping amazing, and I love her!

Oh, and we won state! How could I forget to mention that!? We got to perform as THE mainstage at the Arizona Thespian Conference, and we're being very seriously considered for nationals (we find out the results in January!). Cool, huh? I never realized there was a competition for plays, but apparently Mesa High dominates every year. Yeah, that's just how we roll...

Anyway, here's a slideshow of some fun pics taken before/after/during the show...I got to know some crazy-amazing people, and again, I'm so glad I got this opportunity

http://widget-c8.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=bb&il=1&channel=3026418949594889416&site=widget-c8.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:320px" name="flashticker" align="middle">

"Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice..."

He will never disappoint you. General Conference was INCREDIBLE. I went in seeking answers, I prepared myself, and I was just...ready...to change and be changed...And, I did and was.


All my silly little "senior stresses", and boy crud, and friend issues (just high school silliness, basically)...it's been weighing down on me (if this hasn't been obvious by the past 2 rants that I've posted). And, I've been really struggling to find that overall happiness and peace in life. I'm happy, but I keep putting off "true happiness" until after New Global Citizens has chosen its project...or after the play's over...or after I've made my church assignments...or after this big project is due...or AFTER HIGH SCHOOL...or better yet, after COLLEGE...after I'm MARRIED...after I have all of my kids...then, THEN, peace and happiness will be mine. LIFE ISN'T ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS...IT'S LEARNING HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN...Now, seeing as I've never had issues with dancing in rain (or dancing in general, for that matter), I've never really applied this little mantra to my life. But, oh my hannah--How it applies! My life is INCREDIBLE. WHY am I not DANCING???

The Break-Up

"Future"...I have come to hate that word. HATE. PASSION. HATE WITH PASSION. I hate that word with a passion that surpasses the passion of the passionfruit frozen yogurt at Mesa Froyo (For those of you who don't know, Mesa Froyo is my most recent addiction. I literally went there 4 times last week.) Right now, you may be asking yourself, "Why? Why does she hate this one little word with such fervent passion?" It's a little surprising, right? I mean, I was all about the future last year. I think it was because it had a little more integrity then. The word fulfilled its purpose--it was reflective of its true definition. Back then, the future was...the FUTURE. Far away. Distant. A long time from now. But now...well, now...it has lost its integrity, and therefore it has lost my trust. Future and I...we are no longer friends. That's right--we're over. Through. No more. I have bid him farewell. Unfortunately, the time has past when goodbyes were an option. 'Cause now, I'm in the middle of it. The future is all up in my grill now.

That's right: The FUTURE is HERE. I didn't see it. I didn't know it was happening until it had already happened. Suddenly, all those things I talked about in association with the "future" are being thrown in my face.

College visits, scholarship applications, ACT retake(s), college applications, financial aid, housing...and the sudden realization that, in less than a year, I will be there. Oh yeah, and did I mention that I don't know where "there" is yet? I don't even have a definite list of colleges to apply to. All these things must be decided like...yesterday. These are kinda huge decisions, too. Decisions I am not prepared to make. Heck, I can't even decide what kind of sandwich to buy--let alone where to go to college. Anyway, needless to say, October of Senior year is not my favorite month. And Future and I...yeah, we're done.

Anyway, don't think I'm suicidal or anything, because senior year has been awesome. Really, it has. I've had some really amazing experiences, and I'm loving it. And this whole "future-planning" process has been...almost fun. It's kinda cool to see what my options are, and to imagine a million different future lives for myself. So, yeah--sorry about my bitter rant above...It's just been a little stressful.

Back to School, and loving it! ...ha, right...

Just kidding. It's really been okay. I'm a senior now, so I get all the corresponding powers and jazz--like the shirt, the special senior section at assemblies, the bbq, etc--and all the corresponding responsibilities. Like, ACT prep stuff, scholarship applications, etc. I haven't really decided if I like being a Senior yet. We'll sorta see as the year goes on. So far, it's just been a lot of crazy business...everyone's busy with different things and I haven't really seen a lot of my friends. But, I'm hoping things'll calm down soon so I can form an accurate opinion about my new senior status.

Anyway, NEWS:

*I'm President of New Global Citizens at MHS--which I LOVE, and am so excited for! In fact, I just went to Y Fest today, which is basically this giant youth festival/outdoor concert thing celebrating youth empowerment, and all that jazz. Mesa High was very well-represented there, and I was once again more than proud to be jackrabbit! I encourage all of you to check NGC out, btw.
www. newglobalcitizens.org

*I'm on the EXECOMM (executive committee/communism) for the GYC now. I'm the Substance Abuse Prevention Committee Chair, and one of the Central Teamleads. So, that's been pretty cool. Basically, it's just lots of conference calls and meetings. But, I do get to work with some pretty amazing people. Oh, and I just went to this Leadership Conference in Nashville about Underage Drinking Prevention. My friend, Andrew, and I presented a workshop about a research project we recently conducted called the ARMPY grant. Silly name. Awesome project. Ask me about it sometime. lol. Anyway, that a really neat experience. Um, I totally just used the word "neat". I usually only use that word when I'm talking to adults, and I very often place it in front of the words "project" and "experience". Sorry, just an interesting fact about me that I'm sure you all wanted to know.

*Oh, and the most EXCITING thing this year...I'm in the fall play! Yay! It's called "Cash On Delivery", and I get to play Sally, the ditzy-but-loving social worker. Anyway, the play's HILARIOUS, and the cast is even funnier. It'll show the 1st 2 weekends in November--so COME!
*Oh yeah, and along the same lines...(hence the lack of double spacing between this asterisk and the last...) I'm also in Spotlight Drama! So far, it's been extremely intimidating (the kids in there are SO TALENTED)--but I'm so excited to learn more about acting, and I'm so excited to work with all of the amazing people in there.

Anyway, I'm still figuring how to make the most of my schedule, but it's going to be a good year. I know that much. Yay, class of '09!

Rewind: Summer Overview

Yeah, I knew I'd be good at this whole blogging thing. How long has it been? Like...2 months?

I keep feeling like I should go backwards and catch everyone up...but, I'm just too lazy to write a blog that long. Sorry, guys. We'll just do a quick overview of the summer, shall we?

Let's see...This Summer, there was...

Girl's State: which was AMAZING. I met some really awesome people, and made a lot of really good friends. I was in the city of Saguaro, which pretty much dominated overall. The Governor, both Girl's Nation Senators, Speaker of the House, Attornery General, and the chair of Kaibab County (which won, btw) all came from my city, which just-so-happens to be the smallest city. And we all got really close, of course. Amazing Amazing people.

Crystal, the Secretary of State, and I...Me, Cassandra, Diamond (one of my 2 favorite JC's!), and Christen...me, giving my campaign speech for Governor! The hat won it for me, btw...and my ruffled high heels.

The Week of July 4th...the cabin in Pine...Good times...I love my family!

So, the first 2 are of all of us at Fossil Creek...My nieces and nephews are all adorable, as you can see. Oh, and there's a pic of my b-day in there too...It was seriously one of the best birthdays I've ever had, btw. I couldn't love my family more.

Then...later in July, the Governor's Youth Commission had their annual meeting in Flagstaff, AZ.

Vicki, me, Smitha, after doing makeovers that resulted in a slightly hooker-like Smitha...And, the last one is Vicki, Patrick, me, Diarra, Smitha, and Matt...just chillin'. There are some AMAZING kids on the GYC with me, btw. Truly...just...AMAZING. Surprisingly fun and down-to-earth, too. I've made some really good friends!

Anyway, that's sorta what went down this summer...There was a lot more, too, but I can't seem to think that far back right now. So...yeah...hope you enjoyed it! I'll try to be a better blogger, I swear! I love you guys!