A report on the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. :)

One of my parents (the fogginess of my just-awakened brain didn't register which one) woke me up around 3 am this morning. I thought, "Why are they waking me up?" and promptly fell back asleep...my brain basically just does NOT work in the first few minutes after I wake up...and the reason didn't register until my mom woke me up again almost an hour later.

"Oh! Right! It's the wedding!"

That thought immediately jolted me out of bed and downstairs to join the rest of my family, where they had been watching the coverage since 3 am. I am very much an Anglophile, as perhaps you've gathered, and I've been looking forward to the wedding ever since I heard about the proposal. A royal wedding is such an exciting thing to have happen in your lifetime! Of course, it would be better if I were actually from England, but I'll make do with remembering that a quarter of my lineage originated there and feel national pride in such a great event :)

Okay, to avoid this post being completely random and rambling and impossible to follow, I will write this in an orderly manner.

The gown - Ahhh...it was beautiful! Very simple, very classy, and very stunning. I loved it. The veil, too, was beautiful...so simple, but so exquistely flowing. And isn't she just absolutely beautiful? She looks like a princess...which is, of course, exactly what she is. :) I also really like the fact that she decided to wear her hair down, the way she normally wears it.

The ceremony - The ceremony was so, so beautiful. It was totally worth getting up at 4 am to experience it. It was completely traditional, the music was incredible (I absolutely LOVE choral music, so I'd been pretty excited just about the music, and it was a happy moment when they started singing "Jerusalem"!), and the sermon by the Anglican Bishop of London, beginning with a quote from St. Catherine of Siena - "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire," - whose feast it is today, was one of the best wedding sermons I've ever heard. If you'd like to read it (I really recommend it...it's also nice and short!), click here. I also thought that Catherine's brother James did an absolutely marvelous job reading...nice and slow, and very natural sounding.
The hats - Oh, those hats! I must say, I did not care for Princess Eugenie's (that really odd beige one with all the curlicues), but one of my favorites was worn by Sophie Winkleman. Lovely, is it not? It was so much fun seeing so many hats and classy, posh outfits.

The family - I just can't believe that Queen Elizabeth is 85 and Prince Philip is 90. They both looked so good! Prince Charles and Camilla also made a fine-looking couple, Camilla's dress was very festively spring-like, and I loved her hat. And Catherine's family looked absolutely wonderful! Very classy, very polished, very sure of themselves.

And, last but certainly not least...

William and Catherine - It's been said many, many times, but what a lovely couple they are! They both seemed so happy, and relaxed, and genuine, and I loved the way they looked at each other during the ceremony, especially the smiles they exchanged during the vows. It was really a privilege to be able to witness it. I'm so happy for them, and I wish them all the best and hope and pray that they will continue to know much happiness together!

Day 17.

Day 17: An art piece.

Hmmm. I've always liked art, even though at the moment I'm only mediocre at drawing. That could change someday...I just don't really feel like putting in the effort right now. But anyways. I have tons of favorite artists...I've always especially liked the Impressionists. However, this is a painting by someone with a very different style, which I've also always loved.

"Nighthawks", by Edward Hopper

This has been one of my favorite paintings since I saw it for the first time when I was...7? 8? I just love his stark realism and use of light. Often we'll be driving in the early morning and I'll see light hitting a brick building, casting sharp shadows, and think, "That looks like an Edward Hopper painting."

* * *

So...today was the day! I am now sans all four wisdom teeth, my last baby tooth, and have an odd assortment of rubber bands and chains attaching my impacted tooth to my braces in the hopes that one day (about six months all together, so we hope) it will pop from the roof of my mouth to the place it should be. My face is now square-shaped instead of heart-shaped, and I don't exactly look like myself. Plus, I'm having this agonizing craving for PIZZA. Not more pudding and Yo-J...gah...

My appointment this morning was for 9:45, so I slept in until about 9:15 am. Less time to get nervous! Thankfully my mom saw me starting to take a drink of water right before we left the house and was able to stop me, so my agony didn't have to be postponed (you can't eat or drink anything at all for six hours before the operation). We arrived, I drummed my fingers on the arms of the waiting room chair and obsessively slumped down and sat up again in nervousness for the five minutes we had to wait, and then I was ushered into the torture chamber... *cough* I mean the operating room. The part that really made me most nervous was the thought of the IV...I have this horrific fear of needles (actually, I've been getting it under control lately...getting stitches helped me overcome it!) that stems from my first experience with them. I was eight years old, I got blood drawn, and they hit a nerve. PAIN.

Anyway...back to the present. The nurse, of course, reassured me that it really wasn't that bad, and I, of course, was not convinced. She stuck heart monitors on me and I was entertained for a while by watching my heart rate go up and down...it usually stayed in the 80s, but if I was perfectly still it went down to 64 and if I moved around a lot it started pushing 100. When the time for the IV to be inserted, it went up to 106. haha So I closed my eyes, extended my arm, she tied a tourniquet around it, I started squirming in discomfort, she told me to just relax because the needle would go in much more easily, and then she suddenly remembered the skin-numbing spray she'd told me about earlier and sprayed so much on my arm that it ran down the sides. Then she stuck in the needle.

"Does it hurt?"

"Um...yes!" In lieu of going stiff as a board and gritting my teeth, I was writhing around and groaning. I've also started to actually be honest when the doctors ask me questions. :P "It hurts! It stings! Ahhhh!" I started giggling hysterically...that's my usual odd nervous reaction.

"Oh, it's okay. Ha, I laugh when I'm nervous too!" This, naturally, made me laugh even harder. She pulled out the needle, making me contract into a ball with another hollow groan, and the oral surgeon, who was walking by and glanced in the room right then, do a double take.

After about five or ten more minutes, the oral surgeon came into the room, loudly exclaiming, "So, are you ready? DUN DUN DUN." My mom informed him that was not the atmosphere we were going for. ;) Then we said our farewells, the surgeon patted me on the head and said they'd take good care of me, two more nurses entered the room, and one of them stuck this plastic thing with prongs into my nose without any preamble. I inhaled the cold air, thought it felt like laughing gas and therefore instantly wanted to start hyperventilating, but forced myself to stay calm.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, fine...just what is this thing in my nose?"

"That's just oxygen."

"Mmmm...I see." I closed my eyes, settled back in the chair, she jammed a huge piece of plastic in my mouth to prop open my jaws, and next thing I knew I was opening my eyes, hearing Cee-Lo sing, "And I thought, forget you...OOH OOH OOOOOH!", and the first nurse say, "Okay, you're all done!"

I blearily sat up, and then my mom came in. My memory is a bit foggy, but I remember the nurse replacing the gauze between my jaws and handing me my teeth in a little paper cup contained in a plastic bag that said "Biohazard". After that she handed me some paper and a pen to write on, since I couldn't talk, and I asked and answered some questions for a while. The operation took about an hour and a half...longer than expected...the surgeon said my teeth did not want to leave me. Then the nurse tied ice packs around my face and I sat up.

"Just wait a second...I'll get the wheelchair."

"Wheelchair? What the heck?" I started to stand up. Oh.

So they wheeled me out the car, my mouth started hurting worse and worse, and eventually I started crying and felt absolutely, utterly miserable and in pain for about half an hour. Only being able to communicate by paper didn't help any. Oh, and neither did the fact that it was about 1:30 pm and I hadn't eaten or drank anything all day! But then I got situated at home, ate and drank, and then had an absolutely wonderful iced coffee my wonderful mother had bought for me, and my good spirits were restored. I was also cheered by the fact that the space where the incisor on the right side of my mouth should be didn't look quite as horrible as I'd expected, and it will be gone in a few months!

So there, my friends, is a pretty much blow-by-blow account of my oral surgery. Wellllll, maybe not exactly...I wasn't awake for that part. ;) I'm happy it's gone so well so far, and hopefully the pain and swelling will go down and I'll be able to go to work on Friday!

* * *

And wow, I feel dumb. I totally forgot to wish you all a very happy and blessed Easter! Even though I had to work from 9 to 5, my Easter was wonderful, and the Easter Vigil Mass the previous night was absolutely gorgeous.

HAPPY EASTER!

O happy fault, that merited for us so great a Redeemer!

Day 16.

Day 16: A song that always makes you cry.

There actually isn't a song that always, without fail, makes me cry. Sure, plenty of songs have made me tear up or cry for various reasons, but there aren't any that always have that effect. Sorry...that was a boring day. ;)

* * *

This is actually pretty old news, but I got my hair cut last Friday and I really like how it turned out. The stylist did exactly what I've always wished a stylist would do...really seemed to know what she was doing, checked my face shape, had lots of suggestions, and then just dove in fearlessly with a pair of scissors and made my hair look awesome. Et voila... Yay! So yes, I'm liking my hair at the moment.

*

I can't believe it's already Holy Week. This Lent hasn't been the best ever, to be honest. I actually keep forgetting that it's Lent, partly because I can't go to Stations on Fridays anymore because of work, I've not been doing a good job of keeping my resolutions, and...yeah. These past few months have been pretty stressful for many different reasons, and I guess I've been distracted. But I think everyone goes through times like this at some point, and I'm going to try to make the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) count as much as possible...even though I have to work Good Friday (I'll be able to go to Stations in the morning, though, and part of the afternoon service) and Easter. :( Oh well. I will try.

Day 15.

Day 15: Something you've always wanted to do.

There are so, so, SO many things that I could mention for this, but I just randomly pick something and say: dance a solo at the recital. I was going to this year but ran out of time because of being in POTO (which was of course totally worth it!), but I really, really want to next year. The song I was planning to do is Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, and next year, if my finances allow me to do two, I'd love to do that and Jump by Madonna. Jump is sort of the theme song of my sister and me, plus, if you listen to the words, isn't it the absolute perfect song for a senior solo? I think doing a solo would be such a wonderful experience...just that sensation of being the only one on the stage, and feeling one with the music.

Day 14.

Day 14: A vacation you would like to take.

Okay, there are literally (well...maybe not exactly literally...) about ten zillion places I'd love to visit, but I'll just pick one and say the British Isles.

You have the Chalk Cliffs of Dover...

...and the quintessential beautiful English countryside...

...and the breath-taking Lake District...

...gah, it's so gorgeous...it looks like New Zealand or something...

...and London...

...and Yorkshire...

...I'd also like to visit Wales...

...as well as Scotland...

...and while I'm over there, even though it isn't technically a British Isle, I guess, I would love to visit Ireland...

...especially this - the Giant's Causeway.

All of those places also have the added bonus of being some of my "ancestral homelands"!

Of course, there are many, many other places I hope to go someday... among others, Italy and France and Greece and, most especially, Australia and New Zealand. The way those two countries are so different from the rest of the world fascinates me. I've always thought that it would be absolutely awesome to do archeology work there. Maybe after my mid-life crisis. ;)

Day 13.

Day 13: A guilty pleasure.

And why should I share this with you all? o.O Just kidding... Hm. I have a few, and it kind of depends on who I'm talking to whether or not it seems guilty. Well, one is that I've gotten kinda addicted to Glee. To some this would be a capital sin, to others an induction into a club of awesomeness. What can I say...it's often almost painfully cheesy, the morals aren't the greatest, and while sometimes the singing and dancing is pure awesomeness, there are also times it misses the mark...but it's so addicting. I'm not really a fan exactly, but I like watching it. Another is rap and hip hop music. I can't help it...I like it! Again, this is something that would seem normal to some and shocking to others...so I guess my guilty pleasures are sort of relative. If the words are totally nasty I don't listen to it, but often I can't understand what they're saying anyway. :P I have found that a little bit goes a long way, though. Other than that...nah.

* * *

I'm auditioning for Footloose tomorrow! And of course I have a cold...right on cue. Well, at least it's not a sinus infection like I had when I auditioned for POTO! I'm singing "I Dreamed a Dream", and unfortunately I have to do a monologue... *headdesk* I hate those...I'm not really sure why though. Oh well...it'll be fine!

Dance tonight wasn't the greatest ever, thanks to my cold making me feel like my brain was wrapped in gauze and my legs had lead weights tied to them. And then...Intelligent Ivy Moment of the Day. Even though I'd been feeling weak and out of it during all of my classes, I came home and tried to do fouette turns in our rather small living room...that ended with me in a heap on the floor. haha At least stitches weren't involved this time!

Oh, I've found two new favorite artists - Adele and Owl City! I absolutely love Adele's Rolling in the Deep, and even though I still honestly can't stand Vanilla Twilight, I've always loved Fireflies and I've found that I like a lot more of his music, especially Rainbow Veins and Hello Seattle. I'm happy, because I've always loved the name Owl City. :D

Yesterday my sister and I walked over the theater downtown to watch the dance competition. Some of our friends from our studio competed, and they all looked amazing! I was proud to be from that studio. :) Then we walked around downtown because it was such an incredibly warm, sunny, beautiful day, and ran into a Phantom person (meaning, a person we know from POTO ;) ). It was an awesome foretaste-of-summer day.

However, all good things must come to an end, and our sudden summer weather ended in a tornado, as I mentioned yesterday. It actually didn't hit my town (we didn't even get any rain! :D ), but a town north of us that my best friend lives in was hit pretty bad, and the house of a couple from our church had the roof ripped off. Please keep them all in your prayers!

Day 12.

I'm finally doing this post...I've been putting it off for forever because I didn't know how to answer it. :P

Day 12: A song you want played at your wedding.

Well, there's a ton of songs I'd like played at the reception just because I like them and they're good songs to dance to, there's a few hymns I would like at the actual ceremony, but for a first-dance type song...that's going to be whatever is me and my future husband's song. Soooo...check back in five or ten years or so, okay? ;)

* * *

IT FINALLY FEELS LIKE SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It actually feels almost more like summer...I think it's the humidity. But I am SO incredible happy! Warm weather took far too long to come this year! I'm also super excited because...remember that blog party I mentioned last week at horsefeathers? The winners were picked yesterday and I was one of them! :D I have never won anything in a drawing before, so I'm super excited...especially because it's a $25 gift certificate to this Etsy store! *dances with excitement to think that she can actually buy one of those gorgeous headbands* Thank you so much, Olivia! Now we have tornado warnings, and the guy on the radio made me laugh so hard I just about cried by saying, "If you're driving, get off the road and into some permanent structure, or just get in a ditch, put your face down, and cover your important body parts with your arms." ...yeah, last I checked they were all pretty important. And apparently arms don't make the cut...

Day 11.

Day 11: A photo of you taken recently.

This picture was taken last weekend when I spent a very fun day with a friend of mine walking around downtown, taking pictures, and doing some shopping. We found this amazing chair at a consignment shop...I want it! So does my sister! So does my friend! It was funny, because the lady working there saw us taking pictures of the chair and said, "That is a pretty cool chair, isn't it?" My friend and I both agreed. "A little girl was sitting in it the other day," she continued, "and I told her that if she wasn't careful, she was going to turn into a huge foot. She got up pretty fast...I think I might have scared her!"

* * *

And a very happy birthday to my absolutely wonderful mom! :)

Day 10.

Day 10: A picture of you taken more than 10 years ago.

This is me at the age of 5 (about 12 years ago), at one of THE coolest parks EVER. I loved it! As perhaps you can see, there are all these awesome hidey-holes and crawlspaces and hidden spots (like those tires), and even a rocket ship - that white thing in the background. I think the only reason I'm not smiling is that I'm trying to do the cool and sophisticated look (yeah...not sure if that's happening, considering my clothes ;) ), or else I just didn't want my picture taken at the moment. Knowing me, either one is about equally possible. haha

Day 9.

Day 9: A photo you took.

That was taking coming home from my awesome visit to Christendom College! Seeing the clouds from an airplane for the first time is an experience like no other.

* * *

I did most of my summer clothes shopping at Nice as New this past weekend, and I found some really cute things! Such as...

...these shoes! They're soooo pretty...and they were only $7!

And they go perfectly with this skirt...I just need to find a top and I'll have an outfit for Easter!

I finally found a nice black skirt.

I LOVE this sweatshirt. It's one of those things that looked sort of terrible hanging on the rack but really nice after I was actually wearing it, and it's so so comfortable.

Then I found two sweatshirts, right next to each other on the rack, that both warranted a happy dance!

I have always wanted a "Nightmare Before Christmas" sweatshirt!

Then I found this...a sweatshirt from that performance of "Les Mis" that made me fall in love with theater 6 years ago.

EPIC WIN.

Day 8.

Day 8: A photo of something you ate today.

Um...why??? That's so boring... But if "they" insist...

Behold, some of today's sustenance. We had to sing for a funeral at church and stayed for the lunch, and they served ham!

* * *

I've had this black bag for my dance stuff for a while now. While I really like it (I especially appreciate all the compartments!), the plain blackness of it just begged for a little teeny bit of sprucing up.

I also have had an owl iron-on decoration thingy hanging around for years which I bought because I LOVE OWLS. And that was the perfect place for it to find a home!

Hopefully the zipper pull will hold up, because I really love how it turned out! The original pull has actually been missing since sometime in January (I only got around to replacing it now...), and I just hope that this one doesn't fall off or fall apart. It was pretty fun to make, although I was holding my breath almost the entire time. I always find making things like that to be rather stressful, which probably explains why I almost never do it. A little British flag charm has been floating around my house and purses for months ever since it fell off my messenger bag, and of course now that I have a place to put it, it's nowhere to be found. I really hope it turns up soon, because it would add the finishing touch!

I just really hope it doesn't start shedding rhinestones...that would make me very sad.

*

And I just had to share this awesomely bizarre little statue with you all. I don't even know where I found it, but itsn't adorable and whimiscal and just a little creepy?

Day 7 / blog party!

Day 7: Five things you couldn't possibly live without.

Uh oh. This is always a super hard list to make. I'm never sure whether to make them profound...or superficial...or material things...or spiritual things...or what. So I shall just try to not overthink it and just write what comes to mind.

1. God. That's kind of a given, because quite literally we can't live without Him!

2. Music. There's just NO WAY on earth I could survive without it!

3. Dancing, singing, writing, and performing. There isn't any way I could stop...if I did, a huge part of me would be gone. (Was that cheating, listing four things under one number? Oh well...)

4. My family.

5. Earrings. I love earrings, and it feels freakishly weird if I'm not wearing any.

* * *

So, there is this completely awesome blog called horsefeathers, and Olivia is throwing a giveaway/blog party in honor of having 500 followers! Here is my participation in the party...

Favorite season, and why? That would be a toss-up between spring and fall, with fall a little bit in the lead. Much as I love spring...the world feels new, like spring has never happened before...it just doens't last too long where I live. Fall, on the other hand, is long and breathtaking and blood-quickening and beautiful.

How would you describe your personal style? Hmmm...my personal style has been evolving a lot lately, and currently it's a little bit vintage, a little bit sporty, a lot comfortable, and very me, since I primarily shop at thrift stores.

What's one weird thing you can do? (The stranger the better!) I can do a pretty sweet imitation of Gollum's "gollum" noise. I can also pop my shoulder blades out, and I'm really flexible, which seems normal to me since I dance, but it sometimes freaks people out!

Rain or shine? I gotta say shine. The rain is beautiful, but there is not much in this world that can make me happier than sunlight.

Favorite music? I listen to everything from Faure to the Black-Eyed Peas, including, but not limited to, Simon and Garfunkel, Adele, Coldplay, Journey, Vanessa Carlton, Rene Aubry, The Fray, Feist, Blue October, Keane, Linkin Park, Nelly Furtado, and basically anything musical theater.

Classical music: love it or hate it? LOVE! I've always enjoyed it, but only lately have I become more open about it and started listening to it more again, especially while I'm doing schoolwork. Some of my favorite composers are Debussy, Faure, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Chopin, and I also absolutely love all sorts of choral music.

Phobias? I used to have a zillion phobias, but they've been fading away. Now I'm mainly just afraid of needles...still. heheh. But you know what's worse than needles? IVs. Oh my goodness. *shudders* That's why I'm not having complete anesthetic when I get my teeth pulled...but I'll need to get shots nonetheless, of course. Time for my macho man act! *flexes muscles* Regular needles make me kinda nervous too, ever since my friend told me the story of a needle, laying on a bed...and her climbing into bed, completely unsuspecting...and the needle burrowing under her skin. Ugh. You're welcome...now you're probably scared of them too!

Hop on a plane and go live somewhere for a year...where is it, and why? Somewhere in England because I am an Anglophile (plus, I already speak the language!).

Are you an extrovert or an introvert? I'm definitely an extrovert. I used to think I was introverted, but...I'm not.

Would you/do you perform on stage? Heck yes! Whenever I possibly can...I can't live without it.

Day 6.

Day 6: A moment you wish you could relive.

Actually, I have a lot of those. Not all of them are captured on film, either. But this moment is definitely up there in places in my own life I would return to if I had a time machine.

"Masquerade" in our production of Phantom of the Opera! I'm in the red dress in the front (my favorite costume ever.)

That was definitely my favorite scene. Being in it was a sort of dream of mine ever since I watched Phantom of the Opera for the first time, and it was one that I never though would be fulfilled so soon! It was just so, so much fun to be in (even though the first sopranos - which I am - had some ridiculously high notes)...I love the music, it was absolutely full of dancing, and the entire scene was so exciting and full of energy, since everyone in the entire show was in it. The end of Masquerade in our very last show was such a sad moment for me!