My Amazing Dramatic Camp

I've had a crazy week. 

So, this week, I was gone at camp for six days, with no wifi, no family, and no idea of what I was getting myself into. It was a totally new camp I'd never heard of. I was only there because my friend Claire had wanted some people she knew to be there with her. 

So I signed up. 

It was an overnight drama camp held at a school about an hour outside of the city. Like I said, acting has been a big part of my life lately, and this camp seemed like a great opportunity to enhance my talents and try something new at the same time. 

But on the first day...I was really nervous. 

I didn't know if Claire had been accepted, and since I'm a freshman I was probably going to be the youngest one there, and what if everybody was super cliquish and didn't really include me?

I was super, super, super nervous. 

But this really nice guy named Jon snapped me out of it and helped me emerge from my silly, fragile shell. And from then on, it was all fun and games. Quite literally. 

We played a bunch of ice breakers and theater games, and we all introduced ourselves to each other, and I had a really awesome time. There were a couple people that stood out in my book, but you'll hear more on them later. 

On the first day, we had to audition for what part we were going to play. And I was fourth on the list. 

I was also super nervous about that, even though I figured I'd get a small role. A freshman, brand new to a camp and everyone but one person in it? Yeah, I was definitely gonna get a leading role!

But anyway. 

I got the part of Kate, a girl with only one spoken line and two sung ones. But that was okay, because I didn't want a big part anyway. Too much pressure. 

And the rest of the week went by, with games at 9am until 9:30, and then vocal warmups, song practice, and then a run through of the play, with input from our directors (we had an artistic director and a music director) whenever it was needed. 

The people who played the main roles were super talented, for the most part. And the people who played Laurey and Curly were absolutely spectacular. 

It was a ton of fun, and I met a bunch of über-nice people who liked to make me laugh. You would expect the people who played the leads to be sort of stuck-up and have an I'm-too-cool-for-you-peasant kind of attitude, but there were actually no "mean kids" at this camp. Which was nice. 

And Clayton, the guy who played Curly, was always really funny and open and welcoming. He never frowned once and he always made sure I was having fun. 

Friday was our dress rehearsal, and we all got into our costumes, donned mascara and eyeliner and blush and lipstick, slipped on our cowboy boots, and jumped right in. 

It went really well, and we were all totally psyched for Saturday night, when we would put on the play for all our friends and family. 

Saturday was our cast party. We watched Le Mis, which I'd never seen, and then The Phantom of the Opera, the one with Gerard Butler. Which I love to pieces. Everyone was forbidden to sing during Le Mis, but no one cared if everyone belted their hearts out to The Phantom of the Opera. And a girl named Ella brought cupcakes. They were really good. 

We had one last run through of the show before we went to dinner, and then rushed to the dressing rooms before the 8pm show. 

I put on my blue, floral costume, knowing it was the last time I'd ever wear that ridiculous dress, pulled my hair back in the assigned hairstyle, and pinned my bangs back so I could put on the makeup I'd bought on Friday.

Red lipstick went on over Chapstick. My naked blue eyes were outlined in black and my eyelashes darkened and fanned out. My cheeks became artificially rosy, even though I knew they'd get pink as soon as I started dancing. 

Even though I'd been really nervous about coming on the first day, I found I wasn't nervous at all before the show. No butterflies. Not even little ones. 

As a final touch, I unpinned my bangs, slipped on my boots, and settled my hat on my head. And then I skipped out into the world of Oklahoma!, arm in arm with Claire. 

The play went perfectly. My family brought me flowers and I got a bunch of contact information for a bunch of different people. I've already texted/ emailed most of them, and I'm going to get in touch with the rest of them today. 

Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to head back next year. The directors both said I was amazing, and the acting director said he had plans for me for next year, so I'm super excited! 

I think I'll relax a little today, because I have VBS tomorrow! Yay! 

I'll post on Friday this week, so....

Keep Calm and Endeavor On! 

~Adalyn

An Update On My Stressful Misery.

Hello, all you beautiful people who read my blog! And hello all you gorgeous new people who have never seen me before and are just browsing blogger/ the Internet/ NaNo, and just happened to stumble across my blog or my profile. You are beautiful too. 

Everyone is beautiful today. 

I don't know why I'm in such a good mood right now, considering I'm having a crazy, aw-screw-it kind of day. 

First of all, I've told you guys I'm helping out with VBS again this year. It's Athens, like I said, and I have to be this Grecian girl named Thalia who is learning from St. Paul. 

It's stressful because my parents had an opportunity to go on this amazing vacation for a couple weeks, and they took it, and so...they're gone for VBS. My parents and our family play a big role--the only role, really--in making and setting up all the decorations and sets for our week-long Vacation Bible School. 

And since they're gone, all we have is a list of directions and a few good luck wishes from our parents, instead of a guiding hand as far as setting everything up. 

And I have to memorize six skits and work them out with my friend Marge on top of other lines and choreography which you will hear more about in just a moment. 

Another thing is the fact that I'm currently the only wannabe maternal figure in our house. And also the only one who doesn't have to work full-time who possesses the knowledge of how to operate the washing machine properly. 

My brothers kind of fail. 

But, then again, they're better and more willing cooks than I. And I only have to do two loads of laundry every day. They have to slave over the stove for hours. 

Or something like that. 

The third thing that's stressing me out is that I'm going to be gone at a camp this week, and we have six days to perfect the play Oklahoma! before we have to preform. I've never seen the full play/ movie, so needless to say, I'm a little nervous. 

Plus, it's an overnight theater camp, which means my family will be without any maternal figure whatsoever for six days. 

Keep in mind, none of them know how to do laundry. 

I've never been in a musical like this before, though I've been in plenty of plays. I'm still nervous though, because I was never much of a dancer. Hence why I dropped out of ballet, jazz, and tap when I was seven. 

Also, we've gotten a lot of rain here the past week. The streets are sodden. 

I went to run lines with my friend Marge, who lives across the neighborhood.

Our neighborhood is about two miles all the way around. 

And so, in it, I would not recommend scootering in the rain, through large puddles there is no possible way you can avoid. You get mud all over the back of whatever pant leg is not pushing, and you don't even realize it until there's this freezing feeling on the back of your calf. Also, your favorite flats get soaked, and you're just really thankful you brought socks in your bag. Oh, and your script is soggy. 

What? Haha. No. Pshhhh...No, no, I've never done anything like that. Haha, I'm so much more clever and practical than that! I'm not an idiot. That would be stupid. Pshhhhhhhhhhhh. 

Anyhoo, running lines went fine. Margie gave me a towel to wipe the mud off my jeans, ((shut up.)) and we had fun tossing lines back and forth. 

And then...I started to scooter home. 

Just kidding. I had learned my lesson. 

And with a humble and contrite heart that had no desire to get more mud on it, I walked. 

And I had a book idea on the way, inspired by the soaked hems of my favorite pair of jeans. So that was okay. 

Anyway, I'm gonna go take a nap and eat some candy. Not in that order. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and I wish you an absolutely fantabulous start to the summer! I hope your first week or two was awesome. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

Today Was The Craziest Day...

I sing in the choir at my church. I think I've told you that before. 

Today was the beginning of a Catholic homeschooling conference here in my state, and there was going to be a graduation mass for the class of 2013. 

It was my mom's idea and so she had to set it up, which meant finding a pair of priests, altar servers, a Eucharistic minister, and a choir, as well as transporting an altar, crucifix, vestments, and various other things necessary for a Mass. 

So, I had to sing for this mass with my choir, and since our choir director is sick, we had to draft someone from another parish to accompany us. 

Which meant that I had to copy, print, staple, and deliver a dozen copies of the songs we were going to sing, AND help my mom set up the altar, crucifix, hymn books and pamphlets. 

It was a total hassle, but the mass was celebrated by the bishop that confirmed my brothers and I, and it was an absolutely beautiful mass. 

Afterword, we had cake and lemonade at a reception for the graduates. 

My brother is severely allergic to nuts. And you'll never guess what. 

There was almond extract in the cake icing. 

So on the way home, he started swelling up, and he was having trouble breathing, and he had hives all over his body. 

Needless to say, my dad took him to the emergency room. 

So I had to babysit my little siblings until my parents got home. 

(That would have been my Friday post, but I fell asleep while putting my youngest sibling to bed, so I didn't post. This would have been the post from Saturday.) 

My dad woke me up at 12:30am and told me to head up to my own bed, where I promptly collapsed. 

And, because my body likes to torture me, I woke up a little before 6am. For some stupid reason, whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, my body decides I need less than eight hours of sleep to function. Genius, right?

My brother was fine. He'd had an IV in and they'd pumped Benadryl into his bloodstream, so he was out of there relatively quickly. I found him sleeping on the couch in the Living Room that morning. 

So I got my chores out of the way and got dressed, and then waited around for a couple hours until we left for the second day of the conference. 

It was actually pretty good. They had a speaker talk about what to expect in and about college, and then after a half-hour break, they had several religious of varying stages come in and talk about vocations. 

Then we had pizza for lunch and after that, I had a gig watching the elementary school-age kids for three hours. 

So I basically calmed down a few rowdy kids, watched Veggie Tales, helped a few kids tracing and coloring their hands, watched more Veggie Tales, and got paid $15 for it! :D

And then...after the day was done I bought some jewelry and headed home to freshen up a bit for my very first high school dance! 

It was held at a dance hall a little ways out of my city, and I went with my older brothers and a few friends. 

We were taught a bunch of line dances, and then we basically just did whatever to a specific playlist until the last song. 

It was really fun, and I can't wait for next month when there will be another one! 

I went swimming at a friend's house today, and we spent an hour and a half in the pool before drying off and getting dressed for mass. 

And that was basically my day. 

Oh, and I had three chocolate-chip cookies. 

Now that you've caught up...yay! 

I'm sorry if it's ridiculously long. And I'm sorry I posted two days late. But, you know, my brother was kind of in the hospital, so...

I promise next Friday, you'll have a post. As long as nobody I know is mauled by a monkey or run over by a trigonometry book, I swear on my favorite hat, I'll post on Friday. 

Keep Calm and Endeaovr On, 

~Adalyn

Haircuts, Boy Scouts, and Family, Oh My!

I got my hair cut today! :O *le gasp.*

Before it was down to my waist when straight, and now it's above my shoulders! 

So it's kind of a big deal. 

I haven't gotten a "real haircut" since I was about seven, just a trim to keep it even here and there. 

The lady cut off a lot of my hair. 

But I like it. 

It's a lot easier to handle and put up and it dries a lot faster. So overall? Good hair experience! Yayyy! 

NOW! For the Boy Scouts...*shudders.* All you Boy Scouts and family members of Boy Scouts, you know what I'm talking about. They can be downright scary and stinky, all at the same time!

Buuuuuut...my brother is becoming an Eagle Scout! We're having a big double ceremony with one of his good BSofA friends, and then a party afterwords. Exciting, exciting stuff! 

And that leads me to the family part of my post title. My Grandma and my uncle and aunt and cousins are all heading down to be here for my brother. So my Granny is staying with us and my uncle and aunt are staying at a hotel about ten minutes away from my house. 

We always play Ma Jong with my Granny when she comes down. It's an unofficial tradition. We have yet to play, but probably Sunday night, well have a big game night. And I absolutely love my aunt and uncle and sort of my cousins. They're kind of the "wild and free" sort of kids. I mean, of course I love them, but they're like siblings. 

They get on your nerves a little too much sometimes. You know how it is. ;)

So anyways, thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this little excerpt of my life! And I promise it'll be more interesting next Friday! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! MLP FTW!

Anyway, Keep Calm and Endeavor On, 

~Adalyn

...Summer!

Summer! It's finally here for me! 

I'm done with school!

So...basically, I get a few weeks of downtime before Vacation Bible School, which is Athens this year! There's gonna be colemns and Romans and robes all over the place! 

I love helping out every year, because the little kids love it and its always really fun, because I'm a part of Sing and Play, which is the part where we sing and dance and act out little skits to teach the kids lessons about God. 

There's this adorable little girl named Elizabeth with very tight, medium brown ringlets and big chocolatey eyes and caramel skin. She's the sweetest little girl ever, and whenever I see her, she gives me a huge hug. 

She's probably one of the best little kids in VBS. She's always cheerful and happy and enthusiastic. She's a good dancer, too. Knows all the motions. 

To emphasize the beginning of summer, my daddy is taking me and my little sister Faith out for a daddy-daughter date night. To Red Robin's. Yummmm. 

And last night was my friend Marie's thirteenth birthday party. It was fun. We went out to a fancy dinner downtown and had cake and ice cream at home later. 

And I wore lip gloss. 

The last time I wore lip gloss, I was probably seven. I eventually threw all the lip gloss I had away because it got nasty after a while. 

But this is real lip gloss. Not that stuff they sell to little kids to make them feel like big kids. 

And I wore it. 

I'm not a big makeup girl. It's not like I'm denying my femininity or act like I'm too pretty for it to do anything or too ugly for it to help. 

I've just never really worn makeup. It's never been that important to my life because there was never any pressure to wear any. Perks of homeschooling, eh? ;)

But I'll be a regular at all those chemicals we stick all over our faces for some reason by the end of the summer. My mom is forcing me to learn. 

Still, makeup comes in handy, so I'm willing to give it a whirl. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my last couple weeks of chemical-less cheeks/ eyes/ eyebrows/ everything else. Yayyyy. 

Anyway, I gots to go! I've got my date tonight! ~<3

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn 

The End of School, and the Beginning of...

So, I am currently rejoicing about a couple things. 

As of today, I am finished with most of my school subjects! *happy dance.*

I did my last tests in science, english, and reading, and I finished spelling and vocabulary and art last week. So basically, I have only two more subjects and then...

I'm done for the entire summer!

Until...you know, fall! I'm soooo happy!

Did you notice? I used italics and bold in that last sentence. Crazy right? But I'm feeling adventurous today. 

So, math is gonna be the last thing I finish because there's, you know, a lot of it. And then, get this. 

When I finish that. When I finish that last equation in my orange and blue algebra book...

I'll be officially going into... *dramatic and sinister music.* ...High School! *le gasp.*

But, being a real-life, actual, official Freshman-to-be has its privileges. 

For instance, the ability to attend these homeschool dances my brothers and friends go to every month, where you learn different dances and practice and then have, like, actual dances with decorations and themes and stuff. 

And high school youth group at my amazing church. 

And more outings with friends I don't see a whole lot. 

And better clothes! So that I actually look like a female of this species! Yayyy!

Last year, I was scared of turning thirteen. You know, the whole, "Oh my gosh! I'm gonna be an official teenager! And I'll start being influenced by society's idea of fashion and having bad friends and spending all my time on the Internet because I can legally have a Facebook and stuff like that, whereas before I just lied about my age!" (Oh, come on. You guys did it too. Get off your high pony.)

But then, I realized that thirteen ain't that bad. 

I mean, you're still just an unfortunate middle schooler who takes selfies and is obsessed with 1D. And if you're not like that, I congratulate you on being one of the few who has succeeded in life. You win. Congrats for being one of the only sane middle schoolers left on our lonely planet Earth. 

But anyway. 

Fourteen, to me, it seems, is the Rite of Passage into the real world. 

The real world is also known as High School. 

The first step into High School is simply a birthday. 

But not only a birthday. 

The birthday. 

The Rite of Passage birthday. 

High School is a big step in life. You meet more people who are even bigger jerks than they were in middle school, and your social status plummets until you can build a little castle around yourself to both make you look good and sheild you from the blows of the aforementioned jerks. 

What a great metaphor. I'm very proud of that metaphor. Or is it an analogy? 

Like I said, I'm finished with Vocabulary. 

But, to stay on topic, fourteen, somehow, seems much larger than thirteen did. 

Maybe it's just that thirteen is only one step above twelve, which is, like the most immature time for boys, and also not the best time for girls. Thirteen is just a year after that. You can't have matured that much, right?

But fourteen...Well, fourteen is just one year before fifteen, which is only a number away from sixteen!

And then, well, you have seventeen coming up fast, and before you know it...

You're a flippin' adult! *scariness.*

So, although I'm actually looking foreword to this birthday of mine, it doesn't seem nearly as intimidating as thirteen did. 

And that's probably a good thing. 

So anyway, by the next time I post, I'll be done with school! And all you lovely people out there will be done with school! Or almost done! Or kind of almost done!

And then, when we all have the weight of those boring final tests off our heavily-laden shoulders, we can do summery things!

Like talk about beaches and pools and sodas and sleepovers and sleeping in and hamburgers and parties in the middle of the week and all that summer stuff we've missed so much since that stupid month called September decided to start torturing us again last year. 

And so, as the heat begins to roll in, lets roll out our towels and do some tanning!

Let's get this summer started and live it up with friends and ice cream and sleep deprivation and music and camps and everything amazing about this time of year. 

Hang up your backpacks, kids, and let's forget about those silly summer reading assignments. You can do that in August. 

For now, finish as quick as possible,and let's make Summer 2013 absolutely unforgettable. 

Happy summer, and I'll see you guys next week! :D

Keep Calm and Endeavor On,

~Adalyn

Hey Dudes.

Again, I was going to post yesterday, and I even reminded myself on Thursday. You know, the whole, "Oh, Ads, you've gotta remember to post tomorrow or no one will read your lonely blog!" type deal. 

But, alas, my morning quickly spiraled into afternoon and then early evening, and before I knew it, I was in the car driving to Marian group, and about to stay there for a sleepover with my friend Marie. 

And so, having just gotten back from said sleepover, I shall endeavor (Ohhh, reference to the name of my blog! Ohhh...) to explain my complicated life once again. 

Starting with Marian Group. 

We've started a new session, 'The Importance of Knowing Yourself' in order to know who you are and what you were made for. 

I was expecting something totally different from what I got. Basically what we did is talk about what we think is the biggest thing about ourselves that we keep hidden.

And you know that when seven females get together to talk about their innermost beings, six of them being teenagers, dang is it gonna be deep! 

So we talked about that and ate scones and apple pie and I'll tell you, there was lots of smeared mascara and runny noses. 

It was really good. And the. I slept over. 

Also, one of my close friends, Hannah, who I've known for a few years, is moving to Nevada with her Air Force family. My dad was in the Air Force for 25 years, so I know what it's like moving around a lot. 

She's leaving on Monday. Bye, Hannah, we love you! <3

Of course,we'll still keep in contact, so it'll all be good. ^__^

She was at the sleepover, too. It was sort of her last sha-bang before she left. Their bags and boxes are all packed. 

In other news, my fiends are jerks sometimes.  

So my friend Xavier? I've mentioned him a couple times. We're sort of...semi-in a...you know a...relationship.

Not officially or anything, but I like him and he likes me and everything is hilarious and amazing and the best ever whenever I'm with him, and everyone introduces us as boyfriend and girlfriend and stuff like that. 

And today? My friends made him angry. 

My friend Lizzie, Marie's older sister, was teasing me about him and telling me what I should respond over text because "I'm a matchmaker! I help everyone with stuff like this! Just listen to me!"

And I wasn't listening. I like to be myself in a conversation, I don't like to be Lizzie.

And so, as she said she was looking up a poem to write on a bookmark for her mom for Mother's Day? She was actually texting him and telling him a bunch of embarrassing stuff about stuff about me.  

I was ready to kill her. 

And then, when I finally got it away from her? My friend Marie did exactly the same thing! Except she was a little nicer. 

A little. 

Anyway, they won't get angry with me when they read this because we already worked it out between ourselves and Xavier, so it's all good!

And now I'm safe at home and ready for some lunch. Because I'm starving and my stomach is protesting its emptiness. 

I've been talking with Xavier and he's okay now. He just got angry because I was angry. Which is good, I guess. Because we're all Zen, all connected and crap. 

But anyway, I changed my password and now they can't get in! MWAHAHA!

I'll post on Friday next week if it kills me, okay, dudes?

Ima go have some lunch and then play piano for an hour. 

Keep Calm and Endeavor On!

~Adalyn