New York City

So as many of you know, I went to New York City is weekend with my show choir to sing in Carnegie Hall....WoW....It was amazing! Let me give you a play by play of what went on!

Wednesday:
At 3:45, we left the school with a nice little send away by some of the gymnastic girls and a few of the teachers. Driving to Denver was difficult due to the crazy snowfall, but we got there in good time.

Thursday:
We got up at 9:00ish and headed to the air port in three groups. Checked our luggage and got on the plane. It was about a three hour flight, but with the time change, it was like one hour, not. We head to the Grand Hyatt in New York, and are faced with culture shock with signs like 'if bell rings, call 911' and 'Prostitutes not permitted beyond this point' and, ya, many more. Also, we saw how New Yorker's drive first hand!

We arrived at the hotel and unpacked. Then we went to dinner, a fun little place called Ellen's Stardust Diner.

Let me tell you a little bit about this place. As you eat, you are presented with pop music pieces performed by Broadway singers. Also, the diner is actually on Broadway! So we started to eat, and to our table it was Donovan, James, Angelica, and me. As I am gone, talking to other people, the others on my table start talking to our waiter, and how they want me to sing. Naturally I declined, but she insisted on talking with her manager about me singing. So... To make a long story short, they got me up singing Unchained Melody. It was pretty fun, even though I wasn't to good! haha. After that we walked all over:to time square, Carnegie hall, central park, and then back to the hotel.....WALKING!! For those who don't know, that is a lot to walk!

Friday:
That morning, James, Mark and myself went downstairs to explore Grand Central Station...yes you read it right, we could get to Grand Central Station through our hotel! Anyway, we found some GOOD food, ate it (most of it, i gave some of mine to a hobo :) and went back to our floor where we had a meeting. Then we had choral practice, and the rest of the time was ours. So a few of us went shopping, and a few of us stayed at the hotel. THEN....That night, we went to Lion King. AMAZING!! WoW, it was sooooo good! That was probably the funnest part of the trip.

Saturday:
The morning we had to our self; some stayed, others went. Lindsay Sowards and I went to the New York City temple to do church stuff there. After that, we had choral practice till five. At that point, a group of us went to go get ready to go to Hairspray! That too was funny. It was so different from the movie, that I can't compare them. After that, we went and got ice cream, Kitchens' treat.

Sunday:
We arrive at Carnegie Hall for a dress rehearsal of our concert. During the dress rehearsal, I found a hole in one of the banisters on stage. In it was dust, and, amazingly enough, gold from the paintings of the stage. So obviously I grabbed a hand full, and now I have Carnegie Hall dust/gold/hair! haha. Then we had lunch off, so we went to Dr. Jeckles restaurant, which was pretty fun. It was like a haunted house diner. At two o'clock we performed. It was amazing singing at Carnegie Hall!! I recorded a video of the standing ovation....oppps. After the performance, we went on a harbor tour, which was amazing! It was really fun. We circled the statue of Liberty, then had a party downstairs! It was pretty bomb! After the cruise, we went back to the hotel to change clothes. Then James, Donovan, Angelica, and I went to the Empire State Building, where people learned to hate Alamosa kids. We created an atmosphere that was both awkward and funny! We would obstruct the view of people trying to look at the city by drawing attention to our selfs; some thought it was funny, and some didn't. After having mass amounts of fun there, haha, we were asked if we wanted to ride in a Limo....yes, thats right, we did. It was awesome!! We rode a Limo in New York City, it was shazz! Then we went back to the hotel for a night of fun! We decided to pull an all nighter for the things we were going to do the next day....

Monday:
At three thirty in the morning five of us leave to wait in line for the today show. Little did we know that Alicia Keys was performing there...ya....it was amazing. There were about 10 people in front of us, so we were pretty close to the line. As the morning came, more people came, filling up two blocks! At 7 they let us in. We got pretty close to the stage. And the best part of that was that Alicia waved, TO ME! haha, as she was getting ready to perform 'no one' for us as a warm up, the people started to calm down. James turns to me and says "Jump up and down screaming 'I love you, Alicia" so, ya, I did, and everybody thought it was funny, even Alicia, she looked up and saw me, and gave me a wave! That was the coolest thing ever! After that, we went to the hotel and slept, until we left for the World Trade Center area. We started off with an audio/walking tour of the twin towers, which was amazing. Then we went to SoHo, Little Italy, and China Town! haha, talk about bargains! WoW!! After spending money I partially didn't have, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the final Broadway performance: The Phantom of the Opera! wow, it was amazing. although Emily and I sat next to each other, and we were laughing through the performance, I still thought it was cool. After that, we went to bed, and got ready to come home the next day.

This trip was possible the best trip I've taken, and I've been on a few so far. I'll try to add more later. Thanks for looking!

Long Time

So I obviously have a lot of catching up to do, seeing that the last time I was on was over a month ago. ok....here we go!

February-

I didn't do much other than school and home life. Well... I went to disneyland for one and a half days, which was the highlight of my life! Me and my dad have started a tradition of going to disneyland every year for presidents day weekend....its loads of fun ridding the Amtrak train with him, but next year, I'm going to take some friends with me...its kind of awkward standing in line by yourself, while everybody else is there with someone. I felt like a weirdy! haha. The end of February was exciting because I was reaching the prime old age of 17, wow, I'm old! As March 1 came closer and closer, and the cards and birthday wishes started rolling in, I really started to feel my age....I didn't want to be this old. But I accepted it, somehow.

March-

As I said, I started this month out celebrating my birthday. This was an especially good birthday because I just came out of the hospital after completing my first trial of open heart surgery. But not really, of course. My birthday this year was an average boring one, creating a feeling of being loved by all. Just kidding, I really did have fun, guys!

The next week was spring break. My mother and I spend this break together bonding together in our illness throughout the week. I had stayed healthy all winter, and in march we both got sick. Ya, it sucked to say the least. We went to Pueblo and I discovered the wonders of the store Ross. After that week, we had a week of school, which was a dread, obviously! The week after that was the week scheduled for CSAP, but due to the salmonella outbreak in our water, school was shut down for a whole week, giving us students time to sit back, be lazy, and/or volunteer with the red cross. Thats what we did on that wednesday with the church. So from 3 to 6, we filled up hundreds of gallons of water jugs, and had to be anti-personable, do the the national guard personnel that were there....lol, just kidding, they were cool! This brings me to April

April-

This month is PACKED!! Started the month off with CSAP all week, uhhh, dread of my life! But I am done with it for ever! Hallelujah! In the middle of the week, acually Tuesday, I got my left toenail removed, partially. I had an ingrown toenail since I went to disneyland, and I figured I ought to get it tooken care of....and ya, its gross. So, ya. I'm participating in fiddler on the roof, and because of the salmonella, we had to post-pone it a week. So that week, that same week, we had 6-9 rehearsals, running through everything, but it will be good, I hope. Now to the present time...

As I ready for this week, I see that I have much going on....haha. I have dress rehearsals form 6-? everynight, contest on Thursday, Fiddler on the Roof Sat and Sun, then sing in church on Sunday. Its not done; Then I go back to school for three days, leave wednesday night to colorado springs, fly out of denver thursday morning, arive in NYC thursday afternoon, and am busy ever minute we are there. Let me take a step back for some of you. Our show choir of 24 was invited last year to sing in Carnegie Hall, we, realizing the wonderful opportunity, accepted. We have been busy all year trying to raise $50,000, thinking that we would only raise half of that amount, expecting to pay the other half. But thanks to grants and amazing people who donated money, we have surpassed that amound, letting us extend our trip another day. Anyway, we perform in Carnegie Hall, the most prestigious music hall, on sunday...I'm stoked to say the least! I'll miss a couple days of school, but its something I'm willing to do...haha. Then, things calm down, and I'm on the normal schedual. I'll try to remember to put photos up here of my trip!

So, I believe that about sums it up for about two months!