Wedding of Bliss...The Inspiration?

*Random Thought of the Day: "Thou Shalt not judge others". I've taken to heart these words lately. It's actually more like "Thou shalt not judge your family". I've decided that ya know, my family can make whatever decisions they want to. What matters is their happiness right?

I used to be really judgemental and a little self-righteous. 2 things I regret to this day. I learned not to judge so quickly when an incident, and beggining of many trials, happened to one of my family members. I realize that judging others can lead to wrong assumptions and accusations. Sorry, but where's the fun in feeling like an idiot? And where's the fun in arguing with your family members all the time? So, I decided that I'm going to try and relax a little bit more(in general as well), and let things happen how they should. I suggest the same for anyone who feels this way. In Matthew, Christ taught of righteous judging. "Judge not that ye be not judged....For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measure to you again." Pretty self explanatory I'd say! The End.*

Ok. 2 weeks of school left. 2 BLASTED WEEKS! I can't wait to be done! College life is so rough sometimes. (I know, understatement of the day right?) Anywho, I think I'm going to make it through though. I'm still trying to have some fun and enjoy time with my friends, especially those that will be leaving and not returning, in just a few weeks. Sad Sad day! I'm trying to adjust to those changes! I'm usually ok with change. When high school was over, I could almost care less about who I stayed in contact with. I did with a few close friends but, I was so ready to move on with my life and make new friends, which is what I did. But now it seems that I'm closer to my college friends and some of them are now moving on even further. Its weird. Yet, life goes on still right?

I did get to take a trip to Las Vegas this past weekend. My older brother Brandon got married to his fiance Jen! Woot! I went with my dad, Anne and Mitchell. It was a nice ceremony, just in a hotel suite with family and a couple friends. You can see pics of the different sights and such. The one of the flowers...well-i think I found a new hobby! Flower arranging! I got to help with that and it was pretty neat! It was great to see everyone and Vegas is pretty dang sweet! I also got to see Hoover Dam for the first time! yay! And to explain the shirt I found that says"I'm too pretty to do math" Well-I had a "tramatic" math issue this week that involved alot of tears so I think i'm going to have this shirt made for me because it just works!

Other than that cool little trip, I'm countin down the days and trying SO hard not to lose my motivation. I already lost it a little bit while playing raquetball with some friends for almost 2 hours the other night and then running through the EAC campus sprinklers.....haha(: anyway.....

Starting tomorrow is our annual SPRING SING! Woot! I will post about that later.

Once that is all done, all I have to worry about is Finals. And finding a job for the summer....more to come about that soon as well!

I hope all is well for everyone! Have a nice [insert word here]!

Laugh...even when you want to cry.

*Random thought of the Day: I have two random thoughts today. 1-I'm madly in love with.....James Marsden. Haha-sorry Jason, now is not the time(;
I think I've proclaimed my love for James before, but I'm watching 27 Dresses as I write this blog and I just love him. Sadly, he's probably married and he's like 30 or something.


2nd Random Thought: “We work in the dark, We do what we can, We give what we have, Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task, The rest is the madness of art.” ~Henry James~

Life is art. I am seeing that lately. The quote speaks for itself yet, I challenge those reading this to think considerably about it and what it means to each of you in your own way. Send me some comments-tell me what you think!

Ok. I figured it was time to blog again. Nothing thrilling has happened recently...unless you count the fact that my stress level has gone up and down a few times[Don't act UNsurprised folks-its the first time this semester that I've about lost it! I'm doing much better than I used to!]and I had A headache for over a week. Bla bla bla....done complaining for the day! It does me none good.

Well, things are winding down. Approximatly 20 days of school left! [This doesn't count finals week...whats the point?] I prefer to see it in days than weeks at this point. I'm keeping up with all my homework and music events-master class, voice recital, choir concerts-gonna be a crazy time! I have truly been enjoying this semester, this whole year infact, but its definantly time for a summer break! Sadly, I will be taking a class online this summer but its well needed. And, I think it will be a self discovery in a way, taking an online class. I know what your thinking-thats random for Rachelle to say.
I've recently had a lot of self discovery for myself. Allow me to point a few things out:

*1: Focus. I need to be more focused. The reason I don't make connections or completely understand things in my classes, is lack of enough focus. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fix that. Any advice??? I know its something only I can do but its taken me this long to figure out so I need to do something about it to help me pass my finals.

*2: Ok Cassidi. This one's for you(: I thought about how you once said you felt like you are so self-obsorbed or way into yourself too much haha. Something along those lines. Well, speaking of trading personalities, I've been that way a little bit lately. Ridiculous I know! Well, I realize it can push people away or make me ungrateful or [insert phrase or word here]. So: New goal-think about others. Not to say I'm always like this, I just sometimes think of myself too much!



*3: I want to accomplish something big. With my music. I look around at some of my peers, especially the ones that are music majors, and I feel slightly intimidated. There's so much I can be doing with my music writing and I'm going to do it! I want to see something of mine published. So, maybe you're thinking thats contradicting the whole self-obsorbed thing, but its not! This is for me. A sense of accomplishment is something I seek for. [I am a Warrior Princess after all(:]



Ok so, thats me venting. I have goals to be better. Maybe its because I had a very very wonderful Master Class yesterday, helping my voice to become better and helping me to have motivation in my music life.

And, General Conference was this weekend. I love hearing from the brethren and the prophet. They are so amazing! I learned a lot from their stories and wisdom! It was a great refresher.















Life goes on and I'm gonna work on laughing, even when I want to cry(:
Have a fantastic week everyone! Don't do anything I wouldn't help you with!
Shazam!

Quicky!

So.....back in January, I did my first experience of singing Kareoke! I sang with Simon and we did one of the duets from High School Musical 1! Haha-it was awesome! We even sang harmony haha! So....here is a short clip from it a friend of mine filmed(:

Other than my cool video and stuff.......its been a busy week! I accomplished quite a bit and actually hopefully even passed my anthropology test yesterday!

Today, I went to a stake relief society activity. It was way awesome! I learned a lot about resource management, health, and keeping the spirit and such! And we got free lunch(:

Anywho, tomorrow I not only teach relief society but i'm singing with my friend Tiffany in sacrament meeting. We're just singing Where Can I Turn For Peace with some harmony and a little a capella. Should be good I hope!

I can't believe that this year is already getting close to an end. I already got my schedule scheduled for the fall. Yep-I plan on returning to good ol EAC for another year.

Things are winding down but speeding up at the same time. Its very strange. Especially since its been 2 years already since I graduated.

Story of my life!

Have a great week everyone!

7 Weeks, I may literally be on fire!

*Random Thought of the Day: Someone once said, 'If you're working really hard towards something don't take a break till you've achieved your goal' enough said. I'm taking this quote to the extreme...well just taking it into consideration as I get through the last part of the semester! You should take it into consideration too...and I mean YOU! The End.*

Spring Break came and went. Figures! Plans changed a bit this week. Due to some random reasons, my roommates bailed on our camping trip which we were supposed to do at the end of the week...this changed plans for all of us involved which was supposed to be several friends...oh well.
So, after staying in Show Low until Tuesday, I went back to Thatcher and hung out here til Friday.

Emily and I did a bit of shopping and of course hit up Olive Garden on friday.
Yesterday we went to the awesome Renaisance Festival! We had a lot of fun!

I was very happy to get my main reason accomplished at the festival..that is..chocolate covered strawberries! Yes. It's my favorite dessert. All should know that if I'm ever upset or having a bad day, give me chocolate covered strawberries and you'll be my new best friend! PS...I was also told randomly and told to the public by some guy at the fair that I would be lit on fire while he juggled in a straightjacket. Um..ok...!

I also decided that I am a warrior princess! and no...NOT Xena the warrior princess! Rachelle: The Mormon Warrior Princess! I seek and fight for supernatural powers such as faith, divine nature, individual worth....haha jk. I seek for many things in life but I'm not going to list them here!

So yeah, Emiy and I bought tiaras cuz we felt like it! We got to hang out with Adri and Sterling and some of their friends! They went all crazy and dressed up haha! FUN!

Then of course there was the Wyldeman show which is my favorite haha! It's way hilarious!

Anyway, it was a great day!

In other good news......5 girls that I know got engaged over Spring Break. 3 of which are in choir, 2 of which are pretty much my best friends! So, a shout out of CONGRATS to Tiffany and Spencer, and Jenn and Dace! I love you guys and I'm SOOO excited for you and wish you the best! This pic is me Tiffany and Jenn several months ago! I will miss you girls but I love you both tons!

Well, nothing too exciting otherwise is going on. Well, I do only have 7 WEEKS OF SCHOOL LEFT! AH! I'm not even sure what my plans for the summer are. I hope to have that figured out very soon! But for now, I'm getting lots of things done and trying to keep my grades up, while at the same time working on some personal music projects. Yes, I got motivated to compose again. I'm hoping the motivation will stay up, as well as time to write my songs. I'm currently working on some piano solo arrangements. All I can say is that they are "in the works!"

Things are getting hectic but yet I still manage to try and enjoy myself to the best!

I have nothing more to say....so farewell until next time my fellow readers!

Personality Change: With Thoughts of Cassidi

*Random Thought of The Day: Rule #1 when Shopping with other people-DON'T shop with boys-EVER! Either they are pickier than girls are, or they just make fun of you for being "such a girl", and wonder why you have to take so long trying "stuff" on! I apologize to all girls for not knowing this rule. I'd never shopped with guys until Thursday when let lose into a mall for 4 1/2 hours! The End.*

TOUR: The Sequal

This week was my 2nd choir tour of the semester. [Band too] Well, I wasn't very excited about going. Most of us weren't. The whole [surprising but true] thought that we didnt' want to miss another 3 days of school, was really weighing down on our minds and lives as we knew them! (K that was dramatic...but seriously...) So, I decided it was ok because I got completely ahead in my classes so that I wouldn't miss so much. And I figured hey-after this is Spring Break, and I might as well make the best of it, hangin out with all my best friends!

And, tour turned out pretty good! We went to several small towns; Benson, St. David, Vail(East side of Tuscon), and a couple other places. All performances at high schools but it was pretty fun. I kept myself entertained by flirting with all the boys(: Hey what can I say? Cassidi is rubbing off on me! It's awesome!

Funny Story to go with the picture of the "dead" manican(:

So, Ren, me and Meagan were chillin at Old Navy. Meagan and I are standing there looking at swim trunks with Ren(most likely arguing about it because again-girls should NEVER shop with boys). So as we stand there discussing, we suddenly here and feel this CRASH right behind us. The manican had fallen and no one else was around, but there was a plastic football at its feet. "Hmmm..." we thought. We couldn't figure out if we had accidently knocked it over or if someone had really thrown this very light football at it. So we looked at it and asked each other, "Should we pick it up?" We decided not to and just walked away(: Oh and as shown, Meagan put the football in its hand. Sometimes people, or manicans, just have bad falls while playing football! It made for a good story(:

So, we did 7 performances and as said above, spent a little too much time at the mall in Tuscon haha. Ah...oh well, I bought a new dress for my mom's wedding and hung out with my crazy choir friends!

And now, I'm on Spring Break!!! I think I've gotten my mind to actually relax too, which is a miracle! Relax is not in my vocabulary normally...as most people know.

I went to Mesa this weekend and met up with my family. We went to the Phoenix Zoo with a bunch of Duane's family. It was pretty fun! We did the zoo thing and then had a barbeque. Anna, Duane's niece has a cute little daughter and it was her birthday so thats what the party was for! Great food-I ate a lot! We got home late Saturday night.

Today, after a lovely church, I hung out with the beautiful Cassidi hee hee! We did what we do best...take pictures. Ok well, our best is drinking daquiris, but still! It was fun to catch up with her and chill!

The rest of this week will be super I hope. I'll be here in Show Low til Tuesday and then I'm going back to Thatcher...bleh. Long story, but I gotta go back with Emily and hang out while she works. Yay! Guess I'll do homework and watch movies the whole time..I'm down with that(:

Then her and I are going to Mesa to do some shopping and on Saturday hit up the Renaisance Festival! Yay! I will post pictures from that next weekend!

Anywho, I hope you all have a grand week. Don't do anything I wouldn't help you with..any of you!

Mood Swings and the Story of my Life

*Random thought of the Day: I'm sorry but I can't take Facebook anymore...and I don't even have one.

REASONS NOT to have a Facebook:
1. The Whole "Relationship Status" thing...just confuses people! People seriously FREAK OUT if someone suddenly puts 'It's complicated' as their status, or just put that they are suddenly 'single'. It makes small towns really look like a small town. Get over it people and quit gossiping!

2. People are starting to make facebook accounts...for their rubber chickens. Really? I mean-REALLY?! It's like-GET A HOBBY for goodness sake!

3. Everyone is majorly addicted to Facebook. And I quote, some new famous sayings,

"Do you have a facebook?"

"Of course I do! So does my Mom!"

"Sweet! Let's be facebook friends. I'll add you!"

Seriously...people spend hours into the night chatting with friends and changing their status or whatever. Again...get a new hobby!

4. Back to the obsession thing...people like Christy Dobbs are trying to collect a thousand friends on Facebook. You can only have so many friends.

5. If you really want to try to find old friends, well, get their email or their phone number. I avoid contact with most people from years ago. Once again, you can only have so many friends and unless your still stuck in Show Low for whatever reason, you've probably made new friends elsewhere(:

6. Get a Blog.

THE END. PS-If you are reading this and currently have a Facebook account, my apologies..sorta...you should know that I'm opinionated and the Facebook thing was getting on my nerves so move on and keep all obnoxious comments to yourself. Social networking is over rated....Thanks!

So, I went over 2 weeks without blogging..big deal! Nothing exciting happened til this week haha!
Well, I've also been trying to still catch up from being on tour....not to mention, I ended up being sick for an extra week or so. Sinus Infection...bleh! I started running a fever last week so I went to an urgent care place and got put on perscriptions...which had terrible side effects of giving me major mood swings...RIDICULOUS and ANNOYING. I mean, I was crying over things that I usually blow off...arrggg....But I had to keep taking the pills til they were gone. And life goes on....

Valentine's Day this year was well...ok. I mean, being Single and all is GRRR......Great! Haha..no really-it was alright. Saturday morning, was the wonderful groundbreaking for the Gila Valley Temple, soon to start construction! My a capella choir sang a special number so we got to sit right up front. Neil A. Anderson was the main speaker. He was great! It was a nice ceremony...but....COLD. And not to mention, I was still very sick and sleep deprived. So sadly, I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. Oh well. I went home and took a 2 hour nap! That night, Emily and I who(she was sick as well with a cough), went and saw the movie "He's Just Not That Into You" Holy moly....It was HILARIOUS! Pretty much one of those movies that guys and girls can take notes from about relationships. It was so great! Plus it had several of my favorite actors in it...Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck....they were great! After we saw that movie, we went back to Emily's while I ate Ice Cream and some goodies my mom sent, and we watched "10 Things I hate about you". It was fantastic! I was mainly happy because I had a whole bag (plus 2 boxes) of conversation hearts! Seriously-they are my favorite part of Valentine's day every year! (Of course..there was the time I got Josh Groban concert tickets, but thats besides the point!) Anyway........and life continues being single(:

Well, I'm done with The Music Man. Its great because I made some awesome friends with the other assistants! They are so cool! And I grew attatched to a couple of the kids as well(: Music Man was fun, but now I have some extra time back! I'm sure I will fill it up with more studying and such...The Pictures below are Me with the other assistants and some of the kids,including my adorable redhead girls!

On Saturday, my family came! I was SOOOO happy! I missed my mom! Her and Duane and Dallas and Andrea came for the day! So, we took a drive up to Mount Grahm. and had lunch and took some pictures. Emily came with us too.

After that we just hung out at my apartment til I had to be at the play. Then my family came to the play and it was awesome!

*Thanks again Mom for the box of food! You rock my world. Yes I just said that.

*PS-Dallas is officially as tall as me. I don't like it.

Well, other than all that jazz, nothing TOO terribly exciting is going on. I go on YET another choir tour next week, followed by a hoped to be amazing Spring Break! I'm not quite looking forward to tour...mainly because I JUST got caught up in math from the last tour. Yay-another 3 days of school to be missed. Oh well. I have to go and I'll make myself have fun!

Now...I have to go do homework. Have a wonderful rest of the week everyone!
Peace Out.

I'm A Muskrat!

*Random thought of the Day: "Music kisses back the key to the heart, washes away the everyday dust from the soul, drives away the prowling demons".

In the past week, I've learned much about the heart and soul of music. I really don't know where I'd be without my talent of singing and the music I have learned and grown from. Especially here at college. Music is part of my heart and soul and does wash away the fears and hard things in my life. Here's to Eastern Arizona College Tour: February 2009!*

I'm returned....as of 3 Am this morning..bleh! First we leave at 2 in the morning, and then return at 3 AM! So yes, I'm in lack of sleep for the last 5 days from late nights, early mornings and uncomfortable rides on the bus! Yay for me.

Ok, enough complaining. It was SO worth the little sleep! Oh my gosh..Tour was AMAZING, TERRIFIC, AWESOME, FUN, and seriously, Life Changing in a few ways! Not only did our choir become an even closer family, but there were SO many neat experiences that took place. Allow me to give a rundown(;

We left at 2 Wed morning. I got to ride in one of the vans with some buddies, which turned out to be quite entertaining! Kaleb and Ren gave me a hard time the whole way. Punks! Ok, so I gave teased them right back, plus it was EARLY in the morning, and, we all have become great friends now! Derek was in the van with us too, as well as a couple other people. PS-Choir boys have too much love for each other sometimes(:, hence the photo of Derek and Kaleb "cuddling" But we just hung out and talked and laughed and slept the whole way! It was awesome! We arrived in Ephraim, UT late afternoon and prepared to go to Snow College to do an exchange with their choir, and perform that evening for the community. It was great-they had an awesome choir! Unfortunantly, I still had my cough (still have it as I write in fact), so I was dead by the end of the concert. Not feeling well at all. Thanks to Kaleb and Ren, and their wonderful priesthood, I got a blessing and was feeling much better the next day!

Thursday, we headed to Spanish Fork to the American Leadership Academy, which was basically a performing arts high school-very good kids! We did an exchange with them and then headed to the Utah Valley University in Orem. There we did another awesome exchange! Then we went to our hotel in Provo and prepared for our evening performance at the old Provo Tabernacle....which was AWESOME!

Not only were the accoustics absolutely incredible, but we could truly feel the spirit in this performance. Way Way amazing! I also had the chance to see my friend Tommy Montoya who I knew in high school. He is attending BYU and came to the performance. My friend David McCleve also came. It was great to see old friends!

Friday, we went to Lehi High School for another exchange. Pretty cool!

When we arrived back in Provo again, we then had 5 hours of free time. Yup! It was way fun! About 10 of us went over in one of the vans to hang out on BYU campus. It was really great! It was raining, but I had fun hangin out with my friend Josh. And-I got to meet up with my amazing and beautiful cousin Andrea! Ah! I was so excited! I miss her so much! She is also attending BYU and so we met up for a little bit at the bookstore. Yay!

Friday night, we had a really neat exchange with the Brigham Young University Singers. They were really great singers! It was cool to exchange music and meet alot of them. Me, Jenn and Will(the cool redheads) met another cool redhead from their choir and took a picture with him! What can we say-Redheads rule!

After the exchange, we went back to the hotel and I went on a date! Derek had this friend from high school who goes to the Y, and we had met the night before when he came to hang out with Derek. So-the next night (Fri), we doubled with Derek and another girl from choir and went to a nickle arcade! It was pretty fun. And I got to play DDR which made me happy! Then, Robert and I hung out and talked back at the hotel. It was great! I like going on dates!

Saturday, we met up for yet another exchange with the BYU Young Ambassadors. Ok, if you have ever seen them do a show, you know what I'm talking about when I say-FLIPPIN AWESOME! They are SO good. Our show choir within A cappella exchanged with them and then we all went and enjoyed a show they were putting on. It was so good! They are extremely talented! Very good show!
After that, we went to a nearby LDS church building to do our final concert for Simon's ward.(He is a member of the choir and is from Provo). They fed us dinner and then we put on one amazing show. Unfortunantly we were all very drained emotionally and probably physically! Before the concert, we had a really nice talk with Dr. Bishop our director and were able to share feelings about our choir and such. Lots of tears(: Why you may ask? Well, again I say, our choir is like a family.
We have grown SO close this year and even more so on this tour we did. I made friends with people I didn't really talk to as much before. I even made up with someone who I was really upset with before this tour. It was really amazing to feel so close. It scares me to think of NOT being in the A capella choir. It's another home for me when I go to choir each day, and to be around some of my best friends. Truly, through Dr. Bishop, my friends, the music, and the words and meaning behind our songs, we have grown to love each other so much and I know this will be an experience I won't forget.

Sunday morning, we got up early and headed to Salt Lake City to our final, and most wonderful experience of tour. We went to Temple Square and had special permission to go in and watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse and then watch their live performance of "Music and the Spoken Word". It was incredible to hear MoTab sing LIVE! It got even better after the program. We were able to up into the choir loft where MoTab sings, and sing for Mack Wilberg, the director! By the way-this never happens. They don't usually let "random choirs" go up to sing there(: So what an experience that was!!!! Truly incredible! It was a great end to the tour!

Finally, it was time to say goodbye! We headed out of Salt Lake for our long 16 hour drive. I was able to get a little bit of sleep, but not as much as I wanted:( Oh well, I enjoyed hanging out with friends and relaxing.

I'm trying to get back in the hang of things here at school. I'm very tired today and will probably be heading to bed early this fine night.

The Music Man is being performed next week (already!) and so rehearsals are taking place every day this week! Ah-crazy! I think it will be a great show though. It's been kinda fun working with the kids and re-experiencing my favorite musical! I'm sure they will do well!

Anyway, its very late and I'm in dire need of sleep! Have a wonderful week everyone!