Birthday!

My dad had his birthday this past Thursday, and I wanted to just make a quick post in honor of it! We had a small family celebration for him on Friday once everyone was home. :) As the year is coming to a close - or beginning to - I'm starting to realize how soon I will be gone yet again!

Lighting the cake!

A bit of craziness...

Yum!

xoxo
mary beth

This High School Stuff

Good news! I will be attending college in the fall! After too much time, I finally made my decision. :) If you want to know the specifics, feel free to contact me. However, I am not about to list them all for the entire world and its subjects to lap up. There are still plenty of details to work out, which you will surely hear about at one time or another. In the mean time, I have to finish out the school year. Which I am not so enthusiastic about at this point... summer, feel free to come now!

Prom is a thing that happened. I think that it is pretty self-explanatory; it's your high school staple. I took the day off from school (as is the custom for all, even the guys, who need all of fifteen minutes to get ready) and got ready with friends. We got our hair done, ate lunch, dressed, slathered goo on our faces, and took part in staring at little boxes with our faces stretched until twitching made it impossible to continue the hope that the beauty of youth could be preserved. Which led to these:

And then we actually WENT to prom, and good times were had by all! You know, dancing and such.
Driving test - after much delay- this Friday. Wish me luck!

xoxo,
mary beth

And the point of this is...

It's been some time since I last wrote, so here are a few pictures to sum some of it up:

We flew to Chicago for my final audition, where I did not take pictures of the area itself but of something involving food, as to be expected. :) 

We also stopped at the Boring Store, which had this amusing display in the entrance...

Jumping ahead, I had Irish coffee in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

New glasses! A bit different, but they're really starting to grow on me.

The Hobbit came out on DVD, and I now own it. ;) Big day in my life...

Went prom dress shopping and stopped for dinner, where I found this HUGE curly fry! I thought it was extreme, till I came home and searched online to see if it was a big deal. Not as much as I thought, really. Still. Prom dress pictures will [hopefully] come in a few weeks, with me in it, of course!

In conclusion, food and purchases. What you don't see are the actual things I spend the majority of my time doing...

all the best,

mary beth

Heading Out

It would probably be a good idea to write about this past weekend before the next one starts! My weekend, by the way, begins today. Orchestra rehearsal beckons. ;)

Setting out (last) Friday morning, my mom and I took a plane to Atlanta, where we arrived after dealing with the first round of ,"Yes, I bought a seat for my instrument." Picking out our rental car, we drove north and pulled off the highway to stop for a late lunch when a sign promised Chick-fil-A was at that exit. To our surprise, we found it was actually the original Dwarf House, complete with a dwarf door!

After I actually went in, the man sitting at a  table across from the  door was staring at me with a mixture of disgust and confusion...  

The ride continued...

And we stopped to visit family for dinner! Another hour in the car and we finally came to our hotel. The following morning we left early for my audition - the purpose of the trip - where I performed, talked to professors and students, toured the campus, and took a theory test; pretty much the standard. It was rather cold, and began snowing while we were there - with thunder! Quite odd, as I had never experienced such before.

To celebrate, we stopped at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (which we do not have where I live). YUM!

After a short time back at the hotel, we got back in the car and headed north to meet my grandparents for dinner. At this point we were in North Carolina, and I was glad to see mountains again, even if they were in the distance!

Sunday we drove back to the airport, stopping at several places, including the Jockey Lot, on the way. In case you don't already know what it is, this is your classic American flea market. :) It was absolutely freezing when we arrived, and there were still some vendors setting up as we walked through. I did get (yet another) pair of sunglasses... who can beat $5?!

xoxo,
mary beth

Logically...

The majority of my postings are a conglomeration  of highlights; I wish I could say that this was not one of them. Alas, it is, so perhaps I should make it a goal for the next to focus on a particular experience. Almost a month has passed, and how do I pick the best bits of it all? Why, with what few pictures I have to [loosely] link them together.

Mid-month, we finished up the first semester of school, which meant midterms were over for my full-year classes! Not only were we left without homework, but were gifted with a five day weekend. To what end, I really don't know. School board logic is typically logic-defying. I'm not complaining, though. I spent the days visiting with old friends, drinking too many hot beverages, reading, playing music, listening to music, watching films, enjoying family time... what else does one do as a teenager? Out of all this, one of the few pictures I have is this picture of my milkshake from a '50s style diner. And I questioned the school board's logic.

(So I suppose I had cold drinks, too...)

Next important time frame was this past weekend, which I have to admit was more stressful than the last. After switching classes upon our return to school, I went south to terrify a few judges. No, really. I had my first college audition. Admittedly, it was not as intimidating as I feared, but I have also heard that this school's auditions are pretty "chill."

Leaving Friday afternoon in good spirits... we left earlier than planned with the threat of snow. And it did! Thankfully, it was just enough to be pretty and not slick the roads. 

Upon arrival at our hotel, I asked where I could practice and was told the business or fitness center. That is where the exercise-machine-turned-music-stand comes in... 

Post-audition! I didn't think to take a picture until after my viola was back in its case, but at least it's there. (You'll have to use your imagination.) My instincts are telling me it went reasonably well - knock on wood. Let's not jinx it, for those of you who put faith in such rituals. One down, two to go! They also gave me a muffin as I left the room. That's a good sign, right?

cheers!

mary beth

Happy New Year!

Not to worry - I won't make you suffer through endless resolutions or a recap of my entire year. It'll be enough to cover my winter break! It's kind of like a last hurrah before school starts back tomorrow. Prep for Christmas at my house looked something like this:

{Cookie baking!}

{My brother being himself!}

{Lights and a dusting of snow!}

{Present wrapping!}

Christmas Eve, we all went to church (I in my dirndl) and came home with a surprise guest. He had shown up to the service soaked through, in need of a dry (warm) place to spend the night. In the morning, we all woke and opened gifts, ate my mom's sweet bread, and my mom and I worked on dinner. Afterwards, our guest departed, courtesy of my dad's taxi service. (In case you were wondering, he doesn't really have one. A taxi service, that is.)

{All of the stockings!}

{Thanks, Mom!}

I went with my mom and a friend to see Les Mis (and I had gone with other friends to see The Hobbit a second time...), which we all found fantastic. My hair was cut, as you know, and my family and I went to Philadelphia for a day.

{Visiting Independence Hall}

New Year's Eve, I headed out to play for a local wedding and returned home for the countdown to midnight! We ate well, loudly rang in the new year, and my brother and I each decorated gingerbread:

{My house}

{My brother's caveman!}

Happy New Year!
mary beth

P.S. The minion and I also watched Despicable Me at one point :)

Look, Ma, No Hair!

If you have spoken to me at length, you know that I have been planning this for a while. If I was accepted  to go to Austria, I said I would wait until I got back. If I wasn't, I would do it that summer. I was accepted, as you very well know, and have finally gotten up the nerve. Today, I had my hair cut to donate to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer. (After about 6 months of being back...)

Here I am this morning, for my "before" shot:

There is no great story here; I was a bit nervous to have it cut after so long, but was ready today to have it done with!

 When it was all over, I am proud to say that about 13 in/33 cm were cut off to mail in.

My hair hasn't been this short since... 7th grade? It will not stay in a bun, I doubt it will braid well, and I won't even attempt a French-braid. But maybe I can curl it in under three hours?

AHHHH!!! MY HAIR IS SO TINY!

Ok. Well. Happy New Year.
xoxo
mary beth

Showtime!

Hallo, liebe Leute! I trust you're all doing well this abnormally warm week before Christmas. The pictures I have for you today are rather scarce in number, but it has been manageably busy time since I last wrote. (Yes, I consider blog-writing to be like writing a letter, but it saves time because I write to everyone at once!)

This seems to be my time to catch up on shows and movies, which I am not about to complain about. The list begins: a friend and I went to see a local production of "Annie" last Friday, which I am slightly embarrassed to say was the first time I had seen it all the way through! Another friend of mine was one of the performers and did a stunning job, of course :). The show itself was held in a small theater with Victorian design, which created a rather intimate environment.

I had my own performance this past Thursday, just the second of the season - late winter/spring will be much crazier! (I relish the challenge; let's hope I actually manage to make it through.) The school winter concert went well enough, us being a small orchestra.

Friday was the premier of The Hobbit, which I was eagerly anticipating. If I had been allowed, I would have gone to the midnight showing... ah, parents. You have to love them. But that's fine, because I saw it FRIDAY night instead! If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend doing so - it was just what you  could have asked for, if not more. Oh, but the music - during the Misty Mountains song (not sure of the proper title), I could have wept; it was beautifully developed.

This coming week, I will be seeing the new Lincoln movie and Les Miserables as well, and will be sure to share my opinion with you! And a second showing of The Hobbit may be in order...

Last tidbit: we (finally) got our Christmas tree yesterday! It has lights, the star, and tinsel, but no ornaments as of yet. Soon!

Until then, merry Christmas!
mary beth

An American Thanksgiving

Good afternoon, ladies and gents! (Even if it's not afternoon right now where you are, it it somewhere.) If you are American, I hope your Thanksgiving was filling and sleep-inducing. I went down to visit family, and must say that it was a good time. We did the usual - ate, took pictures, went Black Friday shopping... since we were not in the city, there were very few people out before dawn (as well as fewer stores).

The kids' table (minus yours truly)

The MAIN food table before it was ambushed... pies not included :)

When you're waiting in line at 6AM, things like this tend to happen...

Friday afternoon, we all split up at the theater to see movies. It was, for me, a clear choice: I saw the new James Bond movie. Now, I had never seen a James Bond film before (how shocking!), but my uncle told me afterwards that this one was a bit more intense than the previous ones. I still enjoyed it, but be prepared if violence is not your thing :)

Where am I today? Home from school, in bed, sick. How typical - we are off for three days, THEN I am sick. Hope to be going back in tomorrow! At least the Monday night concert (who schedules a concert on a Monday?!) went well, and I heard yesterday that I was accepted to play for All-State! If you are interested in coming to the performance, contact me and I will let you know the date and location.

Cheers!
mary beth

Eat More Bananas

Hello, hello! I just realized that I seem to have fallen into writing about once a month, which seems to be a pretty good schedule for me right now. Why didn't anyone tell me my senior year would be this crazy? And yet it seems as if I have little to tell the world about where I've been and who I have seen.

I have been actively visiting schools and narrowed down which ones I will be applying to. Looking back now, I realize that I do indeed have some pictures to share with you from these short trips! My most recent was to northwestern Pennsylvania, which is lovely this time of year. Actually, I think everywhere is rather lovely this time of year, so perhaps it's just my preference for fall. :)

Just a friendly reminder?

Now that I look back at these, though, they don't really look very fall-like...

In rather sad news, some of you may know that I had a rabbit named Muffin - yes, you did read that correctly, had. He passed a week ago and I just wanted to mention him.

Last but not least, I auditioned for All-State Orchestra today! Hopefully I will be accepted; I have no clue when I will be told.

stay warm!
-mary beth

P.S. Oh, and the hurricane happened since I last wrote! We are fine, just lost power for a couple of days. Here is a picture of what happened in our area... rain and lots of fallen leaves!

Books, Dancing, and One Book in Particular

Hello to all! I must say I am really loving this fall weather we are having lately... as long as it stays crisp like this, I will be happy. Halloween, how I eagerly await your arrival! (Provided we actually decide to do something for it.)

I had hoped to attend the National Book Festival, and failing that, went to Baltimore's instead. I didn't get to see the author that was at the National, but had a lovely time exploring nonetheless :)

Photo-bombers to each side of me, and I thought the church looked rather European

What I brought home...

The weekend before last was one of those high school-highlights - my senior homecoming. All of this cliche stuff is beginning to really hit me... I was looking forward to it, started to dread the event the day of, but ended up having a fabulous time, of course! Below are a few highlights, all of which were taken beforehand. Thanks, Mom & Dad! Naturally, homecoming week I did not take any pictures, but just so you know, I did dress up for mis-match day, toga day (seniors only), decades day, and school colors day and went to the game. We won ;)

(Back to book news...) You may know that J.K. Rowling came out with a new book recently - her first adult novel, entitled "The Casual Vacancy." I was afraid that it would be quite some time before I got my hands on a copy, but reserved it at the library the day it came out. Just a few days later, I got the notification that it was available! I finished it today, and I have to say that it is (overall) enjoyable. However, what everyone else is saying is very much true: if she did not have her reputation, it would most likely not end up a best seller. On the other hand, if people did not have such high expectations, maybe it would have been better received... read it for yourself and find out! (But do realize that this is an adult novel - not Harry Potter in any way whatsoever!)

Last order of business: you can now find me on Twitter and Goodreads!

Hope you're doing well!
mary beth