Oops... (And Storytime!)

Sooooo sorry I have been absent for over a month! My, how the time flys by. I have a few things that I need to talk about to any readers out there! I'll start off in chronological order...

SO- I got to experience an amazing and wonderful trip to both London and Paris! It was an amazing trip, and nothing could ever replace in this special place in my heart. Of course, there were ups and downs, but that is life. SO! On we go...

The day we arrived in London, we got to meet our tour guide for the next ten days (His name is John!). John went and got our coach and we rode to our hotel, and literally dumped our bags in our hotel rooms and walked down the street to ride the tube. (London equivalent of the subway. But better, because it's in London.) We rode the Piccadily line to Piccadily, and rose out of the ground and stepped our first steps in London in West End! Directly in front of us was a Ripley's Believe it or not Museum, Across the road was a theatre (The one we would be seeing a show in the very next day!) and this beautiful statue, and behind us was one of the big screen advertisement boards. It was truly a remarkable site on our first day! We walked through West End and ended up at Trafalgars square, which has beautiful statues and a big statue in the center with four statues of lions surrounding it. (There are MANY statues in London!) We saw the big countdown tower for the 2012 Olympics, and then walked to Covent Garden and did a little looking around. There was a street performer who would pull his pants down and chase people down the sidewalks. What people will do for laughs... Anyways, we then walked back to West End and were allowed to branch off and do some shopping. Me and my friends got our red phonebooth pictures, and went to this souvenier shop called Cool Britannia, and got a lot of stuff there! Bought some stuff from a couple street vendors, and went inside the (THREE STORY) M&M World Store! You could even meet the red M&M (Does he have a name?). After we met up, we rode to the tube to go find dinner- Fish and Chips are AMAZING. I don't know if it was just the pub we ate at, but the fish batter was almost like funnel cake batter, but not sweet. Just delicious! We then rode the tube back to our hotel and took showers and went to bed. Side note.... The showers don't have curtains doors. There is this glass panel that covers half of the shower. Hope no one barges in on you...

Day 2! We went to Windsor Castle. My oh My, is it BEAUTIFUL! Here's a picture of the (used to be) moat and one of the towers. We had a glorious time seeing all of the rooms in the castle,  STANDING on floors that ancient kings and queens, princes and princesses, and other royalty have stood on! We also got to go into the church where people like King Henry the 8th and other royalty are buried. Annnd we got to see the changing of the guard! It's a big procession. After that we ate cornish pastys in Windsor, and then went to Oxford street, for some GREAT shopping! That night, we went back to West End to see our first West End show- The 39 Steps! It is absolutely HYSTERICAL. Like there's times I was crying I was laughing so hard. It's a play that has a cast of four people, who play 139 different characters. It's about a man who is accused of murder, and is on the run to clear his name. It had few props and nothing very advanced at all, which provided for many hilarious acting opportunities! It's my favorite play now!

Day Three: We got to go see Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, which was great! We did lots of walking this day as well, so it was a pretty chilled out sort of day. We got to go to the Globe Theatre, and take a tour and do an interactive workshop. My friend was chosen to play Juliet! We then got to walk a lot more, and rode the London Eye in the afternoon. That night, we got to go see Sweeney Todd. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Let me tell you a little bit about the cast. First off, the man who played Sweeney was Michael Ball! (For those who don't know, his most previous role was as Tracy's mother in Hairspray!) He was FABULOUS, and is a beautiful singer. Now. Mrs. Lovett was played by a lovely woman named Imelda Staunton. If you don't know who this is, let me give you a clue: 1. ANother character of her's is extremely fond of pink. Got it? No? Well, here's clue number 2: Her most recent character was also not very fond of a certain teenage wizard. Got it? Oh fine, I'll just tell you:  She also plays UMBRIDGE in the Harry Potter movies!!! I about died, she was so wonderful. She's a great singer, and absolutely hysterical! The theatre we were in had those little binoculars that they have in the movies, but in real life! So just about every time she was on stage I was zoomed in on her! I mean, I was in the same room as Umbridge! What a dream.

Anyways, this is an extraordinarily long post, so I'm going to wait to post more about the trip. Next up is the British Museum, Platform 9 3/4, and my experience at the London Disney store!

ACT 123....

Wow, first week of summer vacation and I have done practically NOTHING except study for the ACT. Let's hope that all of it pays off!

Anyways, I have unfortunately been fairly absent from my blog for the past few weeks due to business. It's been so unfortunate! However, I wanted to get a quick post in before leaving to visit my grandparents for the weekend.

Next Monday (June 11th), I will be embarking on the biggest adventure of them all: London and Paris! I get to spend ten whole days abroad and visit some pretty fantastic places. I'm so grateful for this opportunity! Some of the major highlights of the trip are that we are going to get to see TWO West End shows: 39 Steps (I think this is some kind of murder mystery...) and Sweeney Todd! We'll also get to do an interactive workshop at the Globe Theatre, which will be pretty amazing. I'm also preeeety sure that we will get to go to King's Cross Station and visit Platform 9 3/4!!!! Time to find out if my Hogwarts letter was hijacked and I just didn't receive it. (How come Ravenclaw is so much better than all of the other houses? This question is actually rhetorical, I just wanted to draw attention to the fact.) We'll also get to go the Hard Rock Cafe, the London Eye, the Eiffel Tower, and more. It's truly going to be the trip of a lifetime :)

In Disney news, If you haven't seen this yet.... Watch it. It's just about the funniest thing I've seen in a while.

Just goes to show that you can be entertained even when things don't go as you had originally planned!

Time to go finish packing, so it's time for me to go!

Have a Magical Day! :)

The last days are always the shortest...

Well, today was the last dance concert that or school's seniors will ever get to perform in. It was so sad! There were many tears, and I had to look away to keep from crying. Sheesh, it was sad. I went straight from that performance to a dress rehearsal for Aladdin, and while debating on ballets for next year, I realized.... I am almost an adult. It's so scary! In a few short days I will be a senior. I still remember being in second grade, playing at recess, and thinking about how long the days were. Now, I get up, do my stuff, come home, and fall asleep before my head hits the pillow. Where did all of the time go?

I think that I'm not ready to grow up. Literally. I wish Peter Pan would come and take me away while there's still a chance! I just can't believe I'm almost an adult; I certainly don't feel like one. I just want to play, have fun, and love life. I suppose that's why I'm majoring in musical theatre, and also why I'm going to work in Disney World; I really am a child at heart!

One thing that drives me crazy, is that I'm in super advanced classes, pretty much like college. So, when people ask me what I'm going to major in, they expect to hear microbiology, physics, philosophy, etc. I hate the looks that people give me when I reply, "Musical theatre!" They look at me like I'm an idiot first of all, for going into something that doesn't have "sure footing" as far as jobs go, and then they look at me as if saying, "Why on earth would you go into a profession that is of 'average intelligence?' That is such a waste of your potential." Well, OKAY, if you say so. However, just because I'm intelligent, that doesn't mean I want to go thousands of dollars into debt paying for college 'expanding my knowledge' for a career that I don't enjoy, or working in an office or laboratory, or doing something else entirely boring.

The thing is, I enjoy life. I want to have fun. I'm a firm believer that whatever you do in life, you had BETTER enjoy it, because in my opinion, anything else is a waste. I want to do something I love, and that I can help other people with. Something I can be sure that I will always enjoy and will always want to do.  That doesn't make me an idiot for wanting to be a performer; I'm smart enough to know that doing higher level courses and making good grades gets you a LOT of scholarship money. And besides, who wants to be an idiot?

Anyways, I guess the point of this little spiel is that you shouldn't judge someone because they have dreams. You're more likely to be successful in something that you really want that you are for something that you have to do.

Do what you love; it's as simple as that. :)

Ouch...

So, I have to leave for dance in ten minutes, so this will be fast. But this past week was pretty fun! Friday was Prom, so All of the Seniors and some of the juniors were out (We have a seniors only prom because our class sizes average about 500), so the school was really empty with our few juniors! It was awesome, because it was such a slacking day! Then yesterday, I had dance from 10-6. When I came home, I decided to try a work-out plan that my gymnast friend had posted on Instagram. Granted, I am a very active person, but its more anaerobic activities. After the work-out, (which I didn't even finish) I was pretty exhausted. When I woke up this morning, OH MY GOODNESS my abs and legs are sore! Even driving hurt because surprisingly, you use your abs a lot when you make turns. Anyways, time for me to leave, but just wanted to add in another post! For any readers out there, have a great week!

Fun Weekend!

A bit of a quickie post, but here we go!

This weekend I had the state speech tournament, and Our school's Word's and Music took 1st place! YAYYYYY! That was really exciting.

That night, my ballet company hosted this party and all of the dancers wore their costumes to show them off. I ended up wearing another characters costume (Peacock) because my jewel costume wasn't ready. Well, this made me realize that all of the jewel costumes have bare stomachs.... So Hannah is in a diet mode, because she would really like to have a flat stomach if it's going to be shown off. :)

Yesterday at church, my friend told me he had a present for me. So, after eating lunch at Panera, and after an Ultimate Frisbee game, he brought out of his car an ORIGINAL TITANIC MOVIE POSTER!!!!! He had been yard sale shopping the previous day, and a lady had like 20 of them! Such a good friend. I also decided last night that If I have a son, I am going to name him Caspian. I realized that I just really, really like that name.

Anyways, time to go to dance rehearsal, so Adios Amigos!

Chubby Bunny, Zapping, and Rehearsals Galore

HOLY GUACAMOLE I'm tired.

I just had such a crazy week! I had 7 am rehearsals every day but one Monday-Friday, and rehearsals until 9 pm Monday-Thursday, throw in three tests and homework in the mix, and then Friday I had to get checked out of school a little bit early to rush to church to leave with my improv team to perform at this 'girls self-esteem boosting' conference! (That's not the actual name, but I didn't know if I should share it or not!) A three hour bus ride later, we were there and IMMEDIATELY had to run (literally) to get our mic checks and then performed an improv game. All that last part in the space of 15 minutes.
So, come to find out, this camp has a record book. My improv team director had us all attempt to set the 'chubby bunny' record, in fronth of the whole conference of girls. Now, the previous time I had played this 'game,'  my record was about five marshmallows. So I was not sure how well I was going to do. However, I then found out that the three boys who were allowed to come with us (One was the director, two were in one of the skits), had each put money on one of us, and I later found out that two had their money on me, and one had their money on my friend. Of the four of us girls, there were only me and my friend left after the fourth set of marshmallows. So, then came the fifth. And the sixth. And the seventh. And the eighth. And the ninth. Aaand the tenth. By this point, we are pretty darn hysterical looking, with this white foam in our mouths and our failed attempts to say chubby bunny (more like uh-ee nuh-neee). Being a really competitive girl, I was not backing down. We were both shoving these marshmallows into the sides of our mouth like nobodys business. So finally, the fateful eleventh marshmallow. My friend tried a few times to say it, but finally, she just shook her head and spit them into the trash can. Then, my director held the microphone to my mouth, and I managed to say it! So, to see if I could go further, I then was given a twelth marshmallow. I said it with that one too! They gave me a thirteenth marshmallow as well, but by this point my airway was completely blocked off, and no matter how much I pushed them aside, I couldn't get the thirteenth in. Ahh well. I spit them out, and then did NOT have any roasted marshmallows at the camp fire that night. But hey, I set a record.

Then, later that night I discovered this game called Gaga ball. It's incredible. I have no idea how to explain it to you, but if you've played it, you would understand it's amazing-ness.

Later that night in our cabin after my shower, I attempted to plug in my hair dryer, and was shocked by the electrical outlet! That has never happened to me before, and let me tell you, it HURTS! I was ok, but I am now very timid about plugging things in.

 In the end, I didn't end up getting to fall asleep until one am. Wake-up call was at 6:30, and off for more performances and singing making fools of myself in various ways. At the end of the conference, my group got to go eat at Red Robin (Yum), and then a three hour car ride later, we arrived home at 11. Went to my friend's house to spend the night, and then up for church at 8:30. Church until 12. Run straight to my dance studio for rehearsal until four. Now, I am back in my humble abode, with my limbs weak and weary from a long, yet exciting week.

I like to think of this past week as preparation for working at Disney World someday, because I have a feeling that it's going to be very hectic, quite like these past few days have been. Except with days off from work.

In other news, last night was the 100 year anniversary for the sinking of the Titanic. I was sad I didn't get to watch a documentary, or even the movie. Ahh well.

I'm going to go watch a movie or something involving laying in bed now.
Have a Magical Day!

Hello All! Wow, this has been an exciting day. I found out I'm on Senior Cabinet! I got the registration forms for the best camp on this entire earth! And I got to perform with my improv team on a travel trip!!! ^this was especially fun, because I love my improv family :) my picture on here is actually my headshot from our team. We play lots of fun acting improv games, one of which that is the most interesting is called mousetraps: where you perform an improv scene on a stage covered in mousetraps. The catch? You are barefoot and blind folded. Always a fun one. :) I got to play three different games tonight, so it was great! In other news, I now have two followers! Wow, that's amazing!! I've only had a blog for what, four days? Haha well one of them is my dear friend Molly, who is my friend from Disboards! We are one and the same. It's crazy. Hopefully we will find ourselves in the Disney College program together in a few years :) Future roomies bro! Anyways, I have to be at school an hour and a half early tomorrow, so I think I'll get to sleep. Dance troupe in the A.m!