LES MISERABLES

 20 years ago my parents went and saw Les Miserables on stage. I was in the womb at the time. Ever since then it has been my dream to see it performed live and on stage. TONIGHT MY DREAM CAME TRUE. 

I started crying as soon as I heard the first notes. 

 I've read the book twice and listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count. One of my earliest musical memories is of sitting on my bed at about age 4 listening to mom vacuum to "The Work Song."

It was every bit as wonderful as I dreamed it would be ♥

Mom and I held hands the entire time. :)

weekend that was wonderful :)

My wonderful family came down to visit me and to come to conference and see some other various family members. It was lovely :) 

We had a few extra tickets so my roommates joined us for a session.

This was our view

Clearly sitting next to my brother in the Conference Center was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. And yes we are aware of the myspace-style-ness of the second picture. That was on purpose :)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood :)

Today is a beautifully sunny day! Amazing what that does for my mood :) I grew up in one of the rainiest places in America, so I like the rain and it doesn't get me down. But today was the most wonderful spring day and it just put me in the happiest mood ever! I love the sun and not wearing a jacket and finally getting my capris out of storage and the lovely little breeze that keeps me from getting too hot. It's just a beautiful beautiful day. Like Utah is saying, "Stay a little longer, you'll like it here." :) Sorry... I prefer a Washington summer. But today Utah, you are just perfect :)

it was so lovely i wore my favorite yellow shoes :)

In other awesome news, my family is going to be here with me tomorrow. I'm so excited to see them! They are my best best friends :) :) aaaaaand we're going to conference! Which is going to be fabulous.

look at how pretty my school is today :)

Also, April Fool's Day is tomorrow, a holiday that ranks somewhere between Christmas and my birthday on my list of all-time favorite days :) And my lovely family will be here for that wonderful celebration. How exciting :)

And I finished my paper last night. My personal narrative. Even though I had no idea what to write about until approximately 2:45am. I wrote it, and it actually doesn't suck. It's not the best ever, but I'm kinda sorta proud of it. Just a little. :) Also I got an 'A' on my research paper. So I'm kind of feeling like a rock star today :)

Andddd it's the end of my school week, which means I have survived yet another week of school and am that much closer to being home for the summer. Even though I'm really starting to enjoy it here... still. It'll be good. Because life is so good :) and today I feel like a classy confident and capable college student who can do anything and is not a loser, but a winner. And you are a winner as well. You look great today, btw. :)

awkward walking-and-taking-a-picture-of-
yourself-with-a-cell-phone picture hahaha :)

And I actually did the hair and makeup thing today, so I don't look like a scrub and I kind of like myself :)

And I'm listening to music that I like. :) 

And I'm about to go to my favorite class ever.

And I just really like my life today :) :)

Aaaaaaand that's all I guess. It's just a beautiful wonderful day in the neighborhood. I hope you have a lov-e-ly day! :) :)

this picture is really awkward hahaha

personal narrative // i have to write this for school // this is a rough draft

                I had always thought it was cliché when people said the weather matched their mood, but today it matched mine. The afternoon sky was gray, and it was raining intermittently so that as soon as you pulled out your umbrella it stopped and as soon as you put it away it picked back up again. Summers in western Washington are lovely, but this day in early June was convinced we were back in gray and gloomy winter. Walking to my car in the student parking lot after school, I was alone and unhappy, mulling over all of the problems that were plaguing me that day. My best friend wasn’t talking to me, and I didn’t know why. My senior year of high school was drawing to a close and I was tired of school, yet at the same time afraid of the changes that were coming all-too-soon and also not-soon-enough. I was tired of fighting with my parents about stupid things that didn’t really matter but were ruining my last few weeks at home. And I was worried about having the money to pay for college. My aunt had offered me a job with her -- but she lived in Colorado, literally a thousand miles away from my home and my friends. But would that even matter if my friends weren't talking to me and my parents were always mad at me? I sighed as I reached my car, dubbed “Nicely-Nicely” by a friend, and unlocked the passenger door so that I could reach across the seats and unlock the driver’s side door from the inside.

family love :)

these are my parents

i think this yearbook photo/caption is hilariously awkward :)

they've been together since high school...

this is my baby brother nathan.

The Story of Cece and the Bully

Once upon a time, when I was in kindergarten, there was a bully. He was in third grade. He told me once that he was going to punch me so hard I would "fart out my mouth and talk out my butt." I said "...okay" and walked away.

But anyways, I told my mom about this, and we read the Friend magazine and talked about what Jesus would do and how the bully probably didn't have any friends so maybe I should ask if he wanted to be friends. 

So I did. I climbed up on the playset {which was third-grader territory} and asked the bully if he wanted to be friends. He looked at me funny, said he already had friends, and then I think he called me a mean name and pushed me off the slide. So I walked back to my friends and played hopscotch. 

And then he brought a knife to school and got expelled or suspended or something.

And I went on to become successful and brilliant and beautiful.

The end :) 

California, I love you.

Come back to me.