My weekend was PACKED with stuff! Mostly hanging out with friends, and shopping, duh! lol. I went on a shopping binge and finally bought myself a new purse after having the old one for over 4 years, ack. Well needed. I also finally bought myself a pair of black boots with a really high heel, a pair of skinny jeans and a black sweater to match. I'm gonna wear the outfit on Monday and feel sexy hehe.

Hanging out with friends like Susie, Elly and Margie was well worth it and well needed. I miss them terribly sometimes, I get teary just thinking about it. It also seems like things are really starting to change again with friends growing up...Margie graduated beauty school and has her first "real" job, Elly is knee high in school work that I'm sure she loves doing, and Susie has her new b/f John to keep her mind occupied.

Sitting down with Margie and Elly this weekend several times the plans for the future came up. Margie is wanting to get married to her significant other and has her career in order, and I am graduating in a year and a half and already making plans for marriage, and Elly feels like she is stuck and making no progress. She is, she just has to fast forward in time a little bit and look back and see her progress.

It got me thinking about the past. And one of the reasons I still do journals to this day...I took a glance at the past at my earliest journal, dated back to November 2001, which was 8 years ago, I was 12 years old. My first page of my diary was telling myself my deepest wishes that would come true in 10 years. Well, I didn't know much, but I had to smile a bit of how close 10 years almost has past since then. And not to go too in depth, but remember back to those times it was very rough. I had mentioned several times in there how Mom and I had no money, no friends, how I felt I was ugly, and a lot of anger and boredom. (Not to mention my spelling was horrible).

It really made me think of how things have really changed, I've grown up and gained everything I never had back then. I could write books on the reasons why, but the point is success can't be measured in a day, and sometimes change can't be seen until it's happened already. Somewhere from then till now things shifted, and something inside of me especially during those bad times had to keep telling myself to keep moving forward, look forward to a brighter future.

Well, that's that folks. My future's only as bright as my past is dark. Sometimes I wish my friends would see that there is a light too, especially since they were part of my solution to happiness. <3 

Who only knows where I go from here, right?

This is going to be a photo dump blog about the Coronado Performing Arts Center in Rockford, IL which my arts management class and I took a field trip today to go and visit. We had the exective director there explaining the special tasks that he's given to run this historical theatre. AND OMG! This is the most beautiful place I've ever been to!! The architecture there is soo amazing, it's a style that I love! I felt inspired by many of the artwork crafted on the walls and took many pictures, as you will see. Some are more blurry than others. Enjoy!

The stage from the balcony seats, the colors aren't justified!! (There's my prof. btw lol)

Stage left - like a city, but blurry!

Magical..

This reminds me of Titanic. I got quite inspired by this scene, as you'll see...

A sitting area away from the theatre, classy.

These were taken in chronological order, notice the better lighting? lol, I'm getting the hang of it!

I was truely inspired by this shot I took, AMAZING!

Little figures carved on the wall

A piano that was supposedly played by George Gershwin, smashed to thousands of pieces and then restored to what you see here.

The entrance area

Side of entrance area.

AHH!!

Hallway leading into theatre. See the big mirror?

I particularlly love the angles I captured in this picture, but also the lovely painting.

Part of the overhang ceiling in the theatre

Oriental dragons - kind of hard to see.

I am in love with the lighting here

 
There were many of these faces, and they were all different

Awesome lighitng fixures

All the world's a stage, and we are mearly players!

As you can all see it's been a full month since I posted last. I think that's a first for me. Honestly I don't really care how often I write (it's quality that counts, right?) and truthfully I'd rather be doing other things, but regrettably I know if I don't write anything there will be nothing to show what's been happening in my life, especially if I ever want to look back and have a good laugh at something that's happened to me

I've been having a lot of computer problems lately where my computer wouldn't start and thankfully I've been able to figure it out. My computer has definitely hit its middle age period lol. I went jogging on Monday and totally had a body ache all week. I think its the shoes I wore, they aren't running shoes by any means. I need to go shopping for running shoes before i hit the pavement again. Yesterday I had my last football game with marching band. It wasn't sad at all, I've felt like I've put enough time into it to say, "Ok, I'm done now, that was fun." and not be sad or regret not doing it again next year.

That's us!!! Can you find me? Hehe. I have a concert tonight with Chamber Singers, and tomorrow we are going to Madison to sing too. I did a poster on Adobe InDesign, but I can't figure out how to load it onto here for you all to see. I love this group so much! I love that the majority of my friends are in it and I can't wait for Germany and Prague in May!!

I played my first Sudoku this week and completed it without any mistakes. I fell in love! Haha. Since then I've been playing many more puzzles and granted I have messed up, so I'm no puzzle genius, but I do think it reenforces my idea that while I complete these things, my mind is constantly racing and it all makes total sense to me! Does this mean I'm logical? lol.