Leaving on a jet plane bright and early tomorrow morning.  I've managed to accomplish all that I wanted to, including finishing a painting for the IV house, doing interviews with Sight and Sound for an internship, packing AND staying under the weight limits, and seeing almost all of my friends for a last goodbye.

Even managed a beach trip with Danelle this week, which was great!

I'm sad to go, I'll definitely miss my family and friends here, but I'm really excited to see everyone in MT!

Goodbye, wisdom teeth!  All four were removed on Monday morning.  I woke up pleasingly giggly... unfortunately the feeling faded quickly, leaving me pretty much miserable AND useless until about now.  I was hoping to avoid having to work again this summer--I'm well and truly sick of it--but I suppose I can get a few more days in before going back to school.

Summer has flown by-  I started off with an excellent trip to Colorado with my friends from InterVarsity, and then spent a really relaxing week with my gradparents before coming home.

Only a week or two after that our youth group (me included), left for a two week trip to Brazil!  I cleaned tiles and bricks, met some Brazilian friends, had one or two semi-unpleasant encounters with fire ants and tarantulas, one very unpleasant encounter with a nasty caterpillar who decided he needed to live on my bath towel, ate lots of coconuts, spent far too much money, and got my first sunburn of  the summer.  And traveled atrociously- the trip there took 30 hours, the trip home wasn't much shorter- and my TV was broken on the way back.

Work work work.

I haven't gotten to see too much of my friends, since we all have different work schedules and increasingly different interests.  Danelle and I have had a great time though- I'm going to miss her a whole lot when we go our separate ways.

Our family vacation was our first-ever resort stay in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  I  think my favorite part of that week was renting waverunners.  At first I was pertrified, but I turned into a Speed Demon (as my mother put it) by the end of our hour.  We also got to take a sail on the Stars and Stripes, the world-famous yacht that won the Americas Cup in 1987 :D  Kayaking was good, as was the beach (though it was sadly free of attractive male types of the appropriate age).  The wildlife was AWESOME, even though I stepped on/sliced my foot open on a conch on the first day.  We also found a sand dollar and a starfish, and we saw turtles, alligators, and dolphins!

Only 10 days left in PA, so much to do.

Well, it's finals week, which means that I managed to go a whole semester without writing :D

I have an excuse, though- with 18 credits on my plate (and two more added towards the end of April) I've had quite enough to do to keep me busy.

This was my first semester as a drama major- studying design/tech.  I really enjoyed my classes- drafting (which took 7 or 8 hours per week!), stagecraft, and scene schop.  I pretty much lived in the theater building, which I didn't mind too much...  I also had math and Italian, which covered a few gen ed requirements.  Glad to be done with those, interesting as they were.

IV has been great this semester- I was asked to be a small group leader for next year, which I'm really excited for!  I've made a lot of good friends in the group and I'll really miss everyone over the summer.

I've had to neglect almost all of my friends these past few weeks, because I took on the position of sound board operator for the drama department's last show of the season, Big Love.  I saw 18 times, and I can say that I recommend it after that because I never really got sick of it!  It did mean that I had to work every single night for three weeks.  It's close was welcomed readily- after that I went to my first college cast party, which was an interesting experience...

I presented my portfolio to the drama faculty and staff last week because I'm applying for a place in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, which in my head almost counts as a double major, since I have to do 72 credits of drama coursework instead of the regular 39!  That went well, anyway, and I'm glad to have it over with.

One final down and two to go- and our final drafting project (a classical facade of our own design) is due tomorrow.  I spent 8 1/2 hours finishing that yesterday.  I go to G&G's on Friday for a day, and then I'm off to Colorado for chapter camp with Intervarsity, and after that a few more days in Hamilton and then I'm home (May 26th).  I CAN'T WAIT!

So California was wonderful!

I got to visit everyone except Grandma Glo and Sarah, which was a shame, but I had a great time anyway!  My aunts and uncles spoiled me royally (art exhibit openings, sightseeing, Ben & Jerry's and the Titanic exhibit!)  I was not excited to return to good old Montana after such a good vacation!

I spent 5 more days at G&G's then, milking my relax time for all it was worth.  On the Thursday before school started, I invited my friend Krista down for a sleepover and to go skiing, which was great.  I survived driving up the mountain and back, and I managed to go faster than ever!  (I also discovered that it might be a good idea to master stopping before speeding up.  Had a near accident, which was not too cool!)

Wasn't ready in the least to come back, but here I am, having survived my first week of classes, and I'm really having a good time!  My friends and I are hanging out as usual.  The nice thing about my schedule is that though I have about 25 hours of class per week, not a lot of those hours come with too much homework involved!  I had a surprisingly relaxing weekend, lots of sleeping and novel-reading.

I miss everyone!

Sorry for the long silence!

My break is going wonderfully, if not a little faster than I would like :D

I got to leave school on the Tuesday of finals week, because my only final was on Monday, luckily.  I spent 10 lovely days sleeping and reading and watching TV (and getting ready for Christmas- tree, presents, and cookie-baking).  I really enjoyed having some time to myself!  (I also taught G&G how to play Rummikub, which they love, and we're having an ongoing tournament now.)

Mom and Dad and Billy got here on the Saturday before Christmas- I actually got a hug out of my brother, who is quite a bit taller than I am, twice as thin, and has enough on his head for about 4 people!  I don't really remember what we did on Christmas Eve, except that we went to a church full of old people in fancy old-person clothing, and I laughed until I cried at nothing in particular.

I was VERY excited on Christmas morning, so I woke everyone up at 6:30 (half an hour later than I usually do on Christmas) and all the presents were opened by 9:00.  I drew pictures for everyone, which they really liked, and I got some cool stuff, including pajamas, Pirates II, jewelery, and a full set of ski clothes and long underwear!

I was so tired/overexcited/sad that it was over after that, I slept/ cried for the rest of the day.  The neighbors came over for our slightly overdone rib roast dinner, but the custard was excellent!

We've spent the last 4 days skiing at Lost Trail!  Dad and Billy pretty much ignored Mom and me and did their own thing (tree skiing.  More power to them.)  I went from balwing my way halfway down the mountain, which took 2 hours, to doing 6 runs from top to bottom in one day, including an intermediate trail!  I discovered that I really enjoy skiing and I'm all set up to do more, except for the lack of skis, boots, and poles of my own.  Plus money.  Lift tickets are NOT cheap.

Last night we took G&G out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town- they'd NEVER had it before, and didn't know what tortillas were!  They liked it, anyway.

M&D&B left today, and I didn't cry :D  though I felt like it!!

Planning on a quiet New Years with G&G, and I'm leaving for California for two weeks on Monday!  Very exciting...