when in irvine…

…Come visit me this fall at UC Irvine, seeing as how it is now officially true. :)

(Also, MyPhotoalbum updated!)

“you are where you’re supposed to be”

Retreat was simply amazing. I was nervous about being silent and keeping custody of the eyes, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. It was nice to be off alone.

Highlights for me: Walking the Labyrinth, Spiritual Direction meetings, “personal time”, and Thursday night’s liturgy that I can barely even talk about because it was so moving. The whole experience was well worth the silence and I’m so glad I went on Retreat.

(Pictures to come on MyPhotoAlbum in the near-ish future.)

In other news…It was nice to come home from Retreat, log online, and discover that I have been admitted into UC Santa Barbara. It was a shock for me, because I wasn’t expecting to be admitted. I fell out of my chair.

No news from Irvine until Saturday (yesterday) when I decided, “Okay, fine. I’ll check again but I doubt anything will be posted.” And ta-da! “You’re admitted!”

I’m over the moon excited. Three college applications sent out last fall, three acceptances returned this spring. Time to start making those lists of what to pack…

speak the words on your lips

“With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice.”

~Oprah Winfrey

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Senior Retreat = March 14th – 16th :)

legal smeagol

I’ve decided that 18th Birthdays are fun. Granted, you only get one of those in your life.

Friday night Japanese dinner with the grandparents, Saturday (my birthday!) lunch with my aunt, Target shopping, and then California Pizza Kitchen for dinner with my friends followed by Music and Lyrics. Ah, Hugh Grant–the perfect ending to the day!

It was a blast and a half but unfortunately I’m a lazy third term Senior bum who hasn’t uploaded pictures…But thanks to everyone for their wishes/messages/gifts/hugs/etcetera! :)

reality bytes

After an exhausting night of America’s Next Top Model, American Idol, and Lost, I’ve decided that I like my life quite alright.

Okay, so Lost doesn’t really fit into the category of reality shows (wouldn’t that be strange?) but I do have to express some disappointment at their blatant rip-off of Little Miss Sunshine’s VW blunders.

In another world of ridiculous, cycle 8 of ANTM kicked off tonight. By now, I’ve gotten used to the shrieking and the bitching, but is it just me or has it gotten worse this cycle? Remember the good old days when hopefuls would be in awe of Tyra and be too intimidated to speak? Well, those days are gone and instead we’re left with contestants like Kathleen (who thankfully got the boot in the second hour) who express their excitement through lots and lots of screaming. Lots. Other than that, I’ve got my favorites in my mind so we’ll just see how it all goes. Hopefully next week’s photo shoot will go a lot better than tonight’s, although having Nigel shoot the first photos must have been pretty intimidating. I’m surprised Kathleen wasn’t screaming more.

As for American Idol…Originally, I thought that the boys would outperform the girls, but after last Tuesday’s horrifying performances, that opinion switched. This week was better, thankfully, but Antonella needs to go. She butchered Aerosmith last week and was at it again, this time destroying a Celine Dion song. Following the performance after Simon criticized her, she managed to do the unthinkable: She compared herself with Jennifer Hudson.

Jaw-dropping? Yes. She claims that she doesn’t care what Simon thinks because he was wrong about Jennifer Hudson. Which proves what for Antonella? That her horrible performances will lead her to stardom? Jennifer Hudson is a star, and unfortunately for America we are forced to listen to Antonella attempt to reach that level. Fingers crossed that no one voted for her…

Oh, reality television, look at the mess you have our minds in…Maybe I should go back to ranting about the latest death to hit Veronica Mars. (Another post for another time.) Until then, don’t go driving around anymore broken VW buses–that means you, you island castaways!