Fun Day!

Yesterday was pretty entertaining to say the least. A friend from high school, Katie, came over and she, Sam and I paraded around Spokane, being awesome as usual. The mall was our first challenge; walking amongst millions of sales, with no money in our pockets and hardly any in the bank, and somehow finding the self control to not purchase a single thing! (It's a lot harder than it seems!)

Our original plan was to go from there to the Panda Express for delicious orange chicken, and then to the Garland Theater to see "How To Train Your Dragon". Sam and I had already seen it, and we adored the movie, but Katie had yet to experience the immense measures of cute that this movie provided, and since the tickets are only $3.50 we figured it was a good expense. Things changed once we hit the Panda however. One minute we were happily singing along to the soundtrack of Anastasia (yes, we are THAT cool!) on our way to indulge ourselves on scrumptious orange chicken, and the next minute we had our food but discovered that we were now locked out of the car!

Thankfully we had taken Katie's car and she had free roadside service on her insurance so it didn't cost anything to get a locksmith, but we ended up missing the movie. Katie fortunately had two free tickets to see a movie at the Village Center Cinemas however that she needed to use before she left for college, so with an agreement between me and Sam to split the cost of the 3rd ticket we decided to see Toy Story 3 instead since we all hadn't seen it yet.

Toy Story 1 was of course awesome, but #2 had only been adequate in my mind so I hadn't expected much from this one. But I'd heard a lot of good things about it, so I decided that it was at least worth the price of half a ticket. Holy heck was I in for a surprise! It was amazing! Definitely my favorite one out of the trilogy. I nearly cried twice (yes, I almost cried over toys, but if you've seen the movie then you'll understand why!) and once the movie was over I had a desperate urge to speed home, open up my bag of old stuffed animals, and give every one of them a great big hug! If you're a fan of the previous Toy Story movies, and have enough funds in the bank, I would definitely recommend seeing this one, you won't be disappointed!

From there we went home were the rest of the night was filled with insane filming of various things from dancing, to random skits made up on the spot, to simply making strange faces at the camera! I don't think we finally crawled our way to bed till about 3 in the morning!

Cooking Fail

I tried to make ham and mushroom croquettes today. This is what they're supposed to look like:
Mine:
Anyone up for seconds? No?

Utter Fail. And to think that I once contemplated being a chef. XD

Lost phone.

I lost my phone today. Wish me luck in the discovery of where the little bugger ran off to. Until then, sorry if any of you call me and don't get an answer. It's not cuz I don't wanna talk to you; I swear!

Random Updates

Just waiting for the parents to arrive so we can leave for Port Townsend and Briana's wedding. Surprisingly I'm actually looking forward to this! I usually don't like social situations, but I'm excited to see Briana, Scott, and Aunt Chris and Uncle Jeff again (that was definitely a pleasant surprise to find out they'd be coming too!). I'm really looking forward to visiting La Push (I'll be sure to keep an eye out for Jasper, Shawna) on my b-day as well, as I've never really been to the ocean before. Hopefully the weather will be nice for a walk on the beach! :)

In other news, the Broadway productions of "Wicked" and "Stomp" are coming to Spokane!! I can't wait to see them, as Sam and I definitely enjoyed seeing "The Lion King". I showed Sam the video Stomp Out Loud last night, that way she'd know what she was getting into, and she certainly seemed to enjoy it, which is a good thing because now I won't have to see it by myself (not that it would keep me from going anyway!).

And now it's time for me to be a typical female sibling in this family, and spam you all with pictures of my kitties! (These creatures are seriously the most exciting thing in my life, which is why they're in my blog posts so much!)
Pip tried to stow away in my backpack a few weeks back! I didn't notice until my bag started moving by itself, and it was just too cute not to take a picture!


Sophisticated cat is sophisticated! I love how she always crosses her paws when she lounges.
Belle always meows like she's jealous when I take pictures of Pip, so I decided to get a snap of her in a sunbeam, that way she wouldn't feel left out. She's such a diva!
And this is Pip's way of telling me that I'm spending too much time on the internet, and not enough time rubbing her tummy, so I'll end this post here. Have a great weekend everyone! Wish us a safe trip!

Phone charger

Found my phone charger! Yay!

Our cat is plotting to kill us.

I'm going to have to invest in some more sticky-tack soon, as we're no longer able to use thumb-tacks to hold up the posters in our apartment anymore. Pippa, or "Pip" as we call her is the newest member of our family, and she is the most adorable, most loving little terrorist you'll ever meet. She somehow finds a way to climb up to the posters, pulls out the tacks and prompty leaves them out on the floor for us to step on. I once found one inside my shoe! She constantly keeps us on our toes with surprise attacks, and has made us more conscientious about food placement on the counters. Meals are no longer left out for extended periods of time unattended, otherwise you'll find it nibbled on. After countless failed attempts to teach her that counters are "off limits", including yelling, spray bottles, and spanking, we've pretty much come to the realization that no counter is safe in this house. She's also a very reliable alarm clock, what with all the running around/meowing/sniffing your face/loud purring she does every night.

Why would we keep such a troublesome thing around you ask? Well, just take a look at her.
How can you not fall in love with something as adorable as that? She does have her sweet moments, and she absolutely adores attention, but she's still a kitten, and full of never ending energy, so sometimes it's a bit annoying putting up with the things she does.
Pip and Belle's favorite way to pass the time, birdwatching! If you look closely you'll see 4 of the little guys through the window. I haven't filled the feeder in a while, so we haven't had many visitors, but the minute it gets filled, those guys flock to our landing, and the kitties love it!
Here's a pic, just to see the size comparison between the two. This was taken a few months ago, so Pip's grown a bit, but she's still pretty dwarfed by Belle! That certainly doesn't keep her from picking fights (they're only play fights of course!) with Belle every chance she gets though. I don't know how it's happening, since she's constantly running around, but Pip's already got a mini potbelly, so once she grows up we'll have two fat fluffy things living with us!
This is the last picture I'll spam you with. I just couldn't help snapping a photo of her on the couch the other night! She lays in the strangest positions!
I lied, here's one more picture. I came home from work one day and Sam left this surprise on my computer as the desktop background! Kinda looks like something from a horror movie huh?

What's Been Happening...

So I know it's been ages since my last post. Some of you probably think I've died, or perhaps I've broken all my fingers and am unable to type, but the truth of the matter is, I've just been too lazy to wrote a post! I have a bad tendency of procrastinating my blogging until I eventually forget what's even happened that should be blogged about. I think I should be able to scrounge up a few things to entertain you guys though.

First off, last month Sam and I saw the Broadway production of The Lion King while it toured in Spokane, and it was amazing! I have wanted to see this show since I was 9 years old, and finally 10 years later, I was able to live my dream! Our seats were spectacular, considering they were the cheaper seats. We were right in the middle, nearer to the back, but still close enough that we never missed any of the action. The whole evening was perfect, we arrived a few hours early in order to be able to eat and ensure the fact that we would be able to get to our seats before the opening number. We ate at The Olive Garden, and I tried my first ever sample of their soups, and I'm glad I did! They had a Chicken Gnocchi stew that tasted just like a pot pie filling. It was delicious, and I would love to try making it myself one day. Supposedly Sam found a dumpling in her bowl, but mine was devoid of such delicacies. Next came the main course which consisted of Mushroom Ravioli for Sam and a Grilled Chicken Alfredo dish for me. Both were superb, but I barely had room for any of my alfredo (especially after a bowl of soup and 3 helpings of breadsticks between us!) so I ended up bagging most of my meal. Our server was really sweet as well, and I think he was giving us both the eye, which was understandable since we were both pretty dressed up.

After dinner it was time to head for the show. It was pretty cold outside, but the theatre wasn't too far away, and Downtown Spokane really is beautiful at night, especially walking past the carousel, and seeing the clock tower lit up. Reaching the theatre, posters teased us of the show to come. Nala, Rafiki, and people in gazelle costumes greeted us on the glass doors as we waited for the lobby to open. My dinner ended up leaking out of the box a bit, and soaking one corner of our bag, but not even that could ruin the anticipation of what lay ahead. (Don't worry, I still had plenty of leftovers to eat later!) Once the lobby opened we still had about 15 minutes before they would let people take their seats, so we decided to check out the shop in the meantime. There wasn't much there. The ornaments were tacky, the shirts were ugly, and the mugs weren't appealing either, but I did end up purchasing a program to the show which I don't regret for a minute. It was full of pictures from the show, and background information, and came with a separate sheet describing the actors who were to be in the show that night. They did have miniature ornaments of the African masks that Simba and Scar wore, which were pretty dang cool, but I didn't end up getting one, as they were $20 a piece.

Finally after about 10 more minutes they let us get seated. A large curtain hung across the stage, with African symbols marking it, and lit softly in warm yellows and oranges. The orchestra was tuning, and every now and then soft drumming could be heard. Tension was in the air as everyone waited for the show to begin. Finally, after what felt like an hour the lights fell, and the curtain rose. The silhouette of the woman playing Rafiki could be seen entering the stage. All at once a beautiful representation of an African sunrise lit the stage as Rafiki belted out "Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!"
It was incredible. Sam and I sat stunned in our seats as Rafiki's beautiful voice permeated the air, and soon the animals began to enter down the isles. Actors operated the puppets with incredible ease. Giraffes (men on four stilts), cheetas, leaping gazelles, birds with wings that flapped as the actors raised and lowered their arms, rhinos, and an elephant with four operators (one in each leg) were among the crowd gathering for the Circle of Life.
The only way I can think of to describe how amazing this show was, is to show pictures. Rafiki and Zazu completely stole the show, and were without a doubt my favorite characters (which is odd, considering I didn't really like those characters in the movie).
It was over before I was ready. I'd love to see it again, but I'm afraid it'd have to wait until I travel to New York someday, as the tickets will be cheaper there. My favorite scenes include the moment right after Mufasa's death, as the lionesses are mourning, when Rafiki and young Nala perform a duet. That song was so beautiful. Another favorite would be the scene when Simba sees his father in the clouds. The imagery during that scene was so beautiful! Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of that scene online.

After the show I got to ride my first cab home! The fare wasn't too bad, although much more expensive than the bus. After getting home, I decided to look on ebay for a copy of the soundtrack, since the ones at the show were $20. I found one for $10 and upon getting it, I got a rather pleasant surprise. There was a ticket inside the jacket from the original owner's show back in 1998, so now I have two ticket souvenirs. I liked the singers at our show better than the ones on the cd, but that's usually how it goes isn't it? Anyway, ever since then I've had songs from the show stuck in my head, which isn't such a bad thing as long as I don't try to repeat any of the African words!

In other words, I've made a new friend! Jesse is the fry/grill cook at SFCC and we'd seen each other multiple times, but one day a similar taste in music brought us into a conversation, and ever since that day our friendship has bloomed. He's a great guy, and it's nice to have made a new friend. We saw Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day a week ago and it was amazing! It was incredibly funny, and even though the brothers both got 10 years older and a little fatter, they're both still hot! I missed seeing Willem Dafoe, as he was one of my favorite characters, but the woman they brought in to replace his role was fantastic. Her one-liners were part of what made the movie so memorable! I honestly can't decide whether I liked the 1st one or the 2nd one better. I'm looking forward to maybe seeing it again, since Sam hasn't yet seen it.

Thanksgiving was fun. Miya and Roy's new tv is awesome and huge! Watching Star Trek and Up was so incredible, everything was so sharp and defined! After playing video games on that large of a screen, no other tv will do! Miya made a delicious meal and seeing Roy's parents is always entertaining to say the least.

I just arrived in Chewelah yesterday, and am looking forward to Christmas, and dinner! I was hoping for a ham, but mom informed me that we would be having turkey. This will be the 3rd time in two months I've had turkey. It's a good thing I like turkey, ha ha! Oh well, I'm sure Sam will bring home leftovers from her ham Christmas dinner. I hope everyone else has a great Christmas, and gets where they're going safely. Merry Christmas everyone!