Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!

Short post because I feel obligated to post about Halloween.  My best friends and I went as crayons.  My mom made the costumes and they are seriously killing it.  We looked cute and didn't freeze our butts off!
Halloween was fun, and I can't wait til next year!

#tbt

A little throwback for my return to blogging.  College has been crazy, and I am getting so stressed.  I have actually started working out #wut, just to help with my stress levels.  Its a lot of work to have the Marching Illini, classes, homework, clubs and other activities to do.  It really gets to be a lot.

Sometimes, I wish we could all just go back to kindergarten...or middle school when we all got along, and I wish I could bake a cake made out of rainbows and butterflies...sorry guys I just have a lot of feelings!

But actually, I wish I could go back to Kindergarten.  Where I'd wake up and eat some cereal with my family, then sit on my mommy's lap while I continued to wake up.  Then, once I was awake, I would work at my own desk in Mommy's office.  I would cut shapes out of paper, I would color, or I would find some craft or activity to keep me (hopefully quietly) occupied.  After lunch, I would get on the little yellow school bus for afternoon kindergarten, where the toughest part of my day was whether or not I would get to play at a certain station.  When I got home,  I got to play with my dolls, eat dinner, "get married" (a nightly ritual involving my whole family), then go to bed.

I didn't have to worry about what grades I was getting.  I didn't have to worry about making sure I got enough sleep.  I didn't have to stress about relationships.  I didn't have to worry about when I should do my laundry. Life was simple.

AUSTIN MAHONEEEEEEE

OH EMMMM GEE!  A week ago from tomorrow, I won tickets to see Austin Mahone in September. That was literally the highlight of my summer.  Well, maybe not, but it was a pretty awesome experience!

When my friend Lexie (shout out to her for introducing me to this God of an artist) told me there was a contest on 103.5 KISSFM, I figured there was no way we could win.  Nooooo way.   A big Chicago radio station? We were just going to be one in a million (well maybe not a million), and we would never be the call that got answered.

But, I still held on to hope, and listened to the Top 5 iHeart radio countdown, and when Eric said to call in, I had my dad start dialing his phone, and I started dialing my phone and my mom's phone.  All of sudden, my dad goes "Emily! Emily!"...Eric had answered his call!

"Hello there! Who is this?"
"This is Emily"
"Well, hey Emily! Now, lets play a little word association, I said AUSTIN MAHONE, you say?"
"YAYYYYYY!!!!!" (I literally scream this...)
"Okay..."yayyy"....Hahahahaha.  Alright, well it sounds like you might have some idea of whats going on here.  I am going to pick a random number from the countdown tonight, and all you have to do is tell me what song it was, and you get two tickets to see AUSTIN MAHONE!"
"Okay! I am so ready" (I am also shaking!)
"Alright how about...hmmm...number 3?"
"That was Break Free by Ariana Grande!"
"And....."
"And Zedd!"
"Emily, you just won two tickets to see Austin Mahone on September 14!" (I actually didn't remember what he said, I was too much in a daze.  Luckily I was on speakerphone and my dad was able to fill me in.)
"YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY" (I imagine my entire neighborhood heard me yell this time.)

I was then put on hold so that they could get my information in a minute, and I began skipping around my house in circles.  Then, my dad started to receive another phone call.  And the call dropped! I immediately began tweeting the DJ and calling them back.  Luckily Eric remembered me and took down my information.

I mean this was such an exciting experience, and I am so excited for the concert this September!

Also, if you haven't heard of Austin Mahone, here is a link to his Youtube Channel.  My personal favorite songs are "Banga! Banga!" and "Shadow", but all his music is really great!

https://www.youtube.com/user/AustinMVEVO

Attention! Attention! ATTENTION!

My college plans are panning out perfectly.

First of all, I received notice on December 13 (Friday the thirteenth...oooo scary), that i was accepted to both Purdue University and the University of Illinois.  I of course, had to make my dad sweat a little, and considered my options.  But only for about a week.  I accepted my offer from the University of Illinois as a business unassigned major on December 20.  It was pretty exciting.
I then received an invitation to interview for the Business Honors program! It was pretty exciting.  My interview is this Saturday, so keep your fingers crossed.
On February 1, I auditioned for the Marching Illini.  The following Wednesday,  I received an email from Professor Barry Houser inviting me to join the band for pre-season camp in August.
College is only 6 months away, and although I'm nervous, I'm glad all this is happening and that I am getting so many incredible opportunities.

Easy, breezy, beautiful...Florida

I am currently riding a boat...wait no...I'm sitting in my office at home. I just feel like I'm on a boat, or a roller coaster, or a simulator.  The world is spinning around me.  I can probably blame this on the fact that I spent around 20 hours on a bus driving home around Florida.  The band (and me!!!!) took a trip to Disney World to perform in a parade down Main Street USA, and to participate in a clinic.  The trip was so much fun.  I managed to fulfill a life-long dream of mine (at least since I was a little girl), of meeting Sleeping Beauty.  It was so great.  I finally like roller coasters and simulators, and so I rode every ride possible, and I had so much fun.  My only issue is the sleeping on the bus part - definitely not my cup of tea.
Another the reason the trip was sooo much fun is the people I was with.  They were my neighbors for the trip.  We were seat partners, roommates in the hotel, and just people to spend time with.

This is my bus partner. He was my cuddle buddy, ride buddy, and my pillow for a lot of the trip.  He stood in line for forty five minutes with me waiting to meet Sleeping Beauty.  He hugged me, he let me sleep on him on the bus while he stayed up all night, and helped me to have the best trip possible.

This is my best friend, bus neighbor, and sleeping buddy on the trip.  She and I never stopped.  We were there to ride the rides, even if we weren't always tall enough.  We experienced some awkward moments sleeping together...but hey, we made it through.

Here some of my other pictures, from the beach, from Magic Kingdom, and of course, meeting Sleeping Beauty.  Spending six days with these people was great, and I'm so glad that they were my neighbors.

Anxiety

This past weekend, I auditioned for the Marching Illini. It was nerve-wracking and I am so anxious waiting for the results of my audition.  My audition went really well, and my brother made a point of saying it was better than his.  He’s one of the two marching section leaders for the trombone section, and will hopefully be my section leader.  He has a good connection with the Marching Illini director, Barry Houser, and I want him to ask Proffesor Houser about my audition.  In my head the conversation would go like this:
Aaron: Hey Professor Houser!
Professor Houser: Hey there Aaron! How ya doin’?
Aaron: I’m good-except for that awful loss last night.  That game was just plain bad.  This team seriously needs to improve.   Have you sent any emails this week?
Prof. Houser: I know they need to step up their game or we’re definitely not going to the Tournament this year.  Emily is pretty anxious isn’t she?
Aaron:  Ya, she’s just sitting around waiting for your email.
Prof. Houser: Well I’m sure she doesn’t have anything to worry about

My BFFL

So I have the awesomest friend ever and her name is Kelli.  She listens to my endless number of rants about everything from band to food to people.  She is the best and I don't know what I would do without her. My life would be completely over.

Wrap-Up

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Wait...what? My break was ridiculously crazy- even though I spent a lot of time sitting on the couch.
It started with a quick trip to my grandma's, which was fun.  This was the day of the Mizzou-Illini "Braggin' Rights" game, so my brother was going crazy.  We managed to pull out the win - much to my cousin's sadness.  They all lovedddd watching Aaron go a little crazy as the game was on the line towards the last seconds.
After we got home, we did some INTENSE cleaning of our house to make it nice and pretty for Santa Claus! After church on Christmas Eve, we had a delicious meal for Baby Jesus' birthday.  It consisted of prime rib (yum yum my fav), twice baked potatoes, crusty bread, salad and chocolate mousse for dinner!!! Oh my gosh it was so good, my mom did an excellent job cooking all that food. We then watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, while we fell asleep on the couch.
The next morning my brother woke me up, clearly he was excited to see what Santa brought him.  We opened our presents - excluding our family to family gifts - and thought we were all done.  Then my dad surprisingly finds two small boxes under the tree, one for me, and one for Aaron.  We opened them up, and they were new IPHONES!!!! My brother and I are finally out of the dark ages - we joined the Smart revolution. I seriously love my new phone, its like hot pink, which is pretty awesome.  AND I got an Illini Otterbox for it, so its protected against my clumsiness.
We then sat around at home for a few days, and I saw the occasional friend.  The following weekend we spent with my other grandparent's.  It was fun, and I got to see my sister and talk about wedding plans.
After that we came home, I celebrated a simple New Years with my friends, and chilled at the house.  My sister and new fiancee came up to visit with us and celebrate Christmas since they both had to work on actual Christmas. It was a lot of fun, and I got to write their wedding website - which was tonsss of fun.  Its at http://www.theknot.com/wedding/Rhoades-and-Skief.
Since then, school has started back with its usual craziness.  I'm back to preparing for auditions (MARCHING ILLINI AUDITION IS IN T-18 DAYS!!), and doing my schoolwork.

Random Thoughts

1. First off, shout~out to my devoted #Turttles.  Ya'll are the bomb dot com!!
2. Moes is life.  If you disagree, We ain't friends
3. Moes is my favorite food.  I had it six times in the last seven days.  Whether that is chips and salsa or an actual burrito.
4. I am extremely exhausted.  I am done with school and yet I cannot go home yet. Because  I have rehearsal.  And I just want to go home.
5. Thanksgiving is this week.  And that makes me happy.  I love Thanksgiving.  The food is the bomb dot com.
6. My phone is broken.  I don't really know why though.  But it is super bogus. I cant make the screen work and I just want to cry.
7. I want a Mountain Dew Code Red.  Like that sounds so good.  But I don't want to go to the gas station and get one, and the vending machine doesn't sell Code Red til after three.

D.C.

Washington D.C. is my favorite place.  If given the choice to live anywhere, I would live there.  The energy and excitement that come with being in our nation's capital entice and captivate me.  The fact that you are in the seat of power and the home of one of the most powerful people in the world is just so cool.

The monuments are some of the prettiest things in D.C.  They get all lit up at night, and look really pretty.  I loved walking the mall- no matter how bad it made my feet hurt- and seeing the monuments that represent our great nation.

While I was in D.C., the fillibuster or whatever it is called was going on.  So, Obama was going to the Capital.  We managed to catch a glimpse of his motorcade one day.  Last time I had been in Washington D.C., Bush had been in office, and we got to see his motorcade. When we saw him, he smiled and waved at all of the people lining the streets.  This time however, there was hardly anybody out on the street - it was like no one noticed that the amount of police had increased and there were guys with machine guns out.  And, when Obama rolled by, he didn't smile or wave at the people who were there.  It was kind of lame.

I got to do something super cool while in Washington D.C.  I joined a protest.  Well, sort of.  I stood in with a protest to take a picture, so that is basically the same thing, right? I have no idea what these people were protesting.  

Some of the other people outside the White House were pretty interesting too.  There are all sorts of crazies that end up out there.  One guy was singing about Allah, which wouldn't be weird, except he was doing it in front of the White House, with a big suitcase.  He wast an interesting fellow.  There was also a protest about Chernobyl that is the longest protest ever.  Its a little tarp tent with hippies protesting something with nuclear power.  There was also a guy who just pulled down his pants and mooned the White House.  It was pretty hilarious.

One of the two tours of the Capital that we got was from our representative, Aaron Shock.  I was extremely disappointed because I did not get to meet him.  We did get to go in his office, and I got to take this picture above.  He had a pretty cool office. But I am still pretty disappointed I didn't get to meet him.

I'M OBNOXIOUS

You know when you watch a movie or see an animal, and you just go, yeah that is so me? I definitely have those moments nearly every time I watch a Pixar or Disney or...just children's movie.
Take Agnes for example.  The first time I saw Despicable Me, I thought she was this extremely adorable child.  Which is completely true.  No denying that. And when Gru tells the girls not be annoying, she pulls a move like I would. She hits her cheeks to make noise and asks if it is considered annoying.  I spent the rest of the time watching the movie...actually the rest of the evening pulling this same move.

Then, in Finding Nemo, I can easily identify with one of the fish Nemo meets on his first day of school.  While introducing themselves, one says "I'm H2O intolerant" and sure it is funny, and more people remember that line.  But the next one to introduce himself is my spirit animal.  Or spirit twin.  Or something really awesome like that.  I don't know what.  But, this quote became the quote for me and my best friend last year.

Band Dismissed! U-High Pride!

We had senior night and our very last marching band competition this past weekend.  It is so bittersweet.  I am proud of us seniors and how we've managed to maintain a tight knit family through the band.  I'm also so proud of how we performed both Friday night and Saturday.   But, I am so sad that my time with the Marching Pioneers is over. I am going to miss my section but I know I made some very good friends through my role as drum major, within my section and the band.

My grandparents came to senior night and the competition.  It was really great to have more than just my parents there to cheer me on and support me.  While I was doing my salute at the beginning of the show, I saw my parents and grandparents smiling at me and giving me thumbs up.  It was really exciting and encouraging.  We had a GREAT last show. I started to tear up from the podium, as it was my last time being drum major for the marching pioneers (at least for field show performances, we still have a few parades left), and it was just such a good performance end on.

The best part of a competition, or worst part if we don't win any, is the awards ceremony.  The drum majors stand in a line and accept awards on behalf of our band.  We got to accept five awards for our band that night.  That is the most trophies we've won so far this season.  We won best drum majors, best auxiliary (which is the flags), and best percussion.  We also won the award for best percussion of the whole competition and second place in our class. We also had the highest auxiliary and drum major scores of the day, although there were no awards for those.  It was a little disappointing to get only second place in our class since we swept our caption awards, but the captions don't add into the class placement awards.

Senior night was great too.  As seniors we decided to dedicate our band performances to Mrs. Sulzberger, our assistant band director's wife who is struggling with breast cancer. The whole band wore pink gloves, and all the seniors wore pink bandannas in lieu of our hats.  At the end of our halftime performance, all the seniors peeled off and made a ribbon for breast cancer awareness.  It was really great.  Here is a video of our performance

http://new.livestream.com/uhigh/events/2481457/videos/32559253

IMEA

On Columbus Day, I completed my last ever IMEA auditions.  And let me just tell you, boy am I glad.  IMEA auditions are basically a bunch of geeky band boys standing around waiting to audition.  None of them are very good at small talk, and are just incredibly awkward.
IMEA is a lot like that too.  Luckily I have managed to form some strong friendships with a couple boy trombonists.  They are all from in town and I have played in numerous groups with them, and take lessons from the same teacher.  Out of the three closest, two still have the geeky band guy vibe, but they're okay.  The other one...well let’s just say he's sort of a stud.
But, at IMEA, I have only had the opportunity to sit by one these friends once.  Last year.  Every other year I've been stuck in between two geeky guys.  Usually I can get along with one of two fairly well, so long as they’re not too pompous and arrogant.  Almost every year, this guy asks for my number.  And it's always in the most awkward way possible.
Regardless, I had a great audition.  And I found out that I made both concert band and jazz band.  I'm super excited for the Jazz festival in a few weeks!
 

Why I Should Be at Home

Today is a horrible, no good, very bad day.   I feel terrible.  All I want to do is go home and sleep.  I have a triple threat of crappy feelings. My throat hurts, my stomach hurts, and my head hurts. Seriously.  After a stress filled week last week, I think I should just go home.  My three hardest classes are my first three classes; err, well more like my two hardest classes are at 9 and 10.  So at 11 when I have free, I should just go home.  My last classes are band and AP Spanish.  My teacher won't be here for Spanish, so there isn't much I will miss. And missing band would just be a one day thing. But my mom won't let me go home.  And she wouldn't let me stay home this morning.  So I am stuck at school all day.

Desert Island

If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 movies would you bring to watch?  These are the only 5 movies you will ever watch again in your life.  Here is my list:

1.     Mean Girls.  I know its a typical chick flick that every teenage girl has a hate/love relationship with, but it’s just so dang quotable.  "She doesn't even go here" can be quoted every day for sooo many reasons.  Plus, who can't relate to Karin...

2.     Pitch Perfect. Another chick flick, but the music is so good.  You get a great combination of hot guys, singing, good music and typical girl drama.  

3.     Mulan.  "Let's get down to business!" Need I say more?

4.     Hitch. Will Smith being super smooth, teaching the most awkward guy how to get the girl.  It has humor and love, and it’s an overall great flick.  

5.     Hercules.  Another Disney movie, but its fine. It is my second favorite Disney film (second only to Mulan), and it has great music and a heartwarming story of a hero.

HOCO

I'm about to be that typical girl and make a post about how great my homecoming was and how it was the best night ever...except maybe not to that degree.

My date/boyfriend came and picked me up from my house, and we did the flower thing, ya know, like exchanging the corsage and boutonniere. Then my mom had to take like an obnoxious amount of pictures, which is fine but like we were about to go to a park to take more pictures. Once we got to the park, we took a bunch of pictures, in a lot of different combinations.  I took a picture with my boyfriend's twin and almost everyone else who was in our group.  My smile got worse and worse due to the pain from holding my face in the same position for so long.

We then went back to my house where my mom had made this amazing dinner for me and my friends.  She made a ridiculous amount of food...we'll be eating it for the rest of the week. It was so good. We had chicken Parmesan with pasta with a homemade Alfredo sauce, bruschetta and toasted ravioli as appetizers, a salad course, and a chocolate mousse, cherry cheesecake, and lemon mousse shooter.   It was beyond amazing.

Then the dance was a lot of fun.  The most fun I've had at any dance.  Probably because I actually really like my date for once. He got sickly during the dance because he had eaten so much (all he'd had to eat was a bowl of lucky charms and a piece of cake - so he was a little hungry), so we sat out for a little while, but sitting with him was better than dancing with some of my past dates (no offense to past dates).

Overall, probably my best homecoming ever.

Snag

Apparently I am known as a dramatic person.  When the hall of fame inductee asked Mrs. Markert for the name of two theatrical people, she listed mine and Sullivan.  I am not a theatrical person.  I am energetic and have confidence, but have never once been in a play or musical or theatrical production.  At least I got to play the zebra.  I was a fantastic zebra too.  I needed no acting lessons, unlike the gnarly, ugly nasty tree that Sullivan was supposed to portray.  He started as a nice tree, with his arms up like tree.  Mr. Ros Hill did not approve, and made him fix himself before we continued.

The most awkward part of this whole thing was when the distinguished alum was putting my stripes on.  He just told me to put my arms up.  When a strange man tells you to put your arm straight up, while you're on stage in front of the entire school, you feel a little uncomfortable.  For Pete's sake, what if my shirt had gone up and exposed my stomach? That would have been a major wardrobe malfunction.  Then he told me to get down and crawl.  Zebras do no crawl.  They gallop like a horse.  I could have galloped ten times better than I could have crawled.  Plus, I have a big cut on my knee.   So putting my knee down was extra painful.  So at first, I did a stupid looking bear crawl, then he made me stop and I put my knee down.  It hurt. But, it was a little less embarrassing than looking stupid.

For the rest of that day, people asked me if the skit was planned, and why two of the three drum majors were chosen.  So to set the record straight: The skit was not planned.  Sully and I were picked by Markert for our confidence in front of an audience.  It had nothing to do with being drum major, but just our ability to be in front of a group of people.

Illinois vs. Iowa

Obviously Iowa is far superior than Illinois for the following reasons:

- Iowa has more corn

- University of Illinois >>> University Iowa

- Iowa is closer to Canada, eh?

- Sometimes, Iowa literally turns into an ocean because of flooding (MERMAIDS ARE REAL!!!!)

- Iowa is flatter than Illinois so running is easier

- Iowa has no corrupt governors

- Sports fans in Iowa get to decide which team they like without being discriminated (or shot) for not liking the Cubs or White Sox.

- Chicago is way overpopulated

Posted by: Keweeh

Just kidding.  Illinois wins purely for the fact that the University of Illinois is in Illinois.

Edits by me :)

Sundays

I hate Sundays. Sundays are the end of the weekend.  I'm usually exhausted from going to a football game the previous day, but I still have to wake up at a reasonable hour so that I can sleep later that night for school.  Sunday's are also homework days.  There is absolutely nothing I'd rather do than spend a full day on homework.  Friday nights are busy with football games, Saturday all day is busy with football or marching band, so I can't even spread out my homework and do a little each night.  Today I've spent the last two hours working on my Western Civilization class. The homework is a little ridiculous.  Usually in history classes, you get to have a discussion board post and discuss the topics you read and reflect on them.  In this class it is read this primary source and answer questions on it.  The primary source has been typed into a text book, and has several typos.  So it gets really hard to read. Then you have to write two short essays regurgitating what you read in the textbook.  Next, I have to figure out my AP Lang homework, and I can already foresee that being a problem.  Any ideas as to make a stress ball connect to myself and create a humanity connection? Me either.