Father's Day and Chocolate Cake

Yesterday was a pretty good Father's Day, I think. We didn't do anything big. We just all stayed close to home. I baked a Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake for my dad. I made it from scratch...it took forever! And it made a big mess. Also, two of the 3 layers cracked in half. So when I put it all together, there was a crack the size of the Grand Canyon down the middle...

But, hey, it was one of the most scrumptiously deliciously yummy cake I've ever eaten...I also made a few facebook friends quite jealous! :-D

Dorothy Meets Alice

We've been rehearsing for a play called "Dorothy Meets Alice". It's a children's musical about the characters from "The Wizard Of Oz" and "Alice In Wonderland". We have a fun cast. Even though it's a children's musical and some of the jokes are really cheesy, we have a blast!

Our performances July 8, 9, 15, 16, and 17.

Our cast is:
Jessica- Taylor
Alice- Me
Dorothy- Natalie Sibille
Scarecrow- Bradley
Lion- Duncan
Tin Man- Michael
Wicked Witch- Angie
Doormouse- Kristi
Mad Hatter- Darrel
White Rabbit- Audrey
Red Queen- Holly

Busy, busy, busy

The last two weeks of my life have be so busy!

On Monday, June 8 Rachel Vander Molen and I went to go house sit for the Hudson's that live in Lafayette. It was a very interesting experience. They had 3 dogs that we had to take care of.

On Monday, we got there, fed the dogs, and let them outside. Then we went to Sheridan Productions where we go to dancing. I'm not actually taking the summer session of dancing, but Mrs. Meghan (0ur teacher) had invited me to come participate in class one day. After dancing, Rachel and I went to the house and hung out all evening. We watched "Jekyll and Hyde The Musical".

Tuesday, we got up, took care of the doggies, then went out to Chili's for lunch! :-D We both ordered something very yummy, but neither of us could eat all of our food, so we brought it back with us to eat for supper that night. Then we went shopping at Charlotte Russe in the mall. Rachel and I both got a dress and I got a giant black flower for my hair. Then we happened to stop by The Icing and I found the most amazing hat! So, I bought that too!

That afternoon neither of us had anything going on, so she worked on some schoolwork and a dance that she's choreographing while I read "Pride and Prejudice" and practiced my lines for "Dorothy Meets Alice". That night we watched "Legally Blonde: The Musical" while we ate our leftover Chili's food for supper.

Wednesday, we woke up and did a little hanging around. Then we went to eat lunch at Chick Fil A. That was yummy :-) Then we came back to the Hudson's house and took a bunch of pictures.

Wednesday night, Rachel had church and I had rehearsal. So, she brought me to Southern Tire Mart, where my dad works, so he could bring me to rehearsal, then she went to church. Then Dad brought me to the Sibilles, so Mikie and I could drive to Eunice together. Natalie was in New Orleans at a school called NOCCA. She went for a 3 week program to learn about musical theatre. So, she's taking dancing, singing, and acting classes all day, everyday...I'm not jealous at all.

After rehearsal, Rachel picked me up and we decided that we were gonna watch "Step Up 2", a movie that she likes that's about dancing. We started watching it, but then we started having trouble with the movie, so we quit watching it. We just hung out for awhile having fun and being friends. Then we decided that our last day, which was the next day, Thursday, would have to be a memorable one. Rachel came up with the idea that we go into Albertsons (the nearest grocery store) dressed like secret agents, and act like secret agents the whole time....

So, we did. I was Agent A04111991, AKA Alice, AKA Ding-Dong, AKA Kitty, AKA Tall-y. And Rachel was Agent F02261992, AKA Adle, AKA Ding-Dong, AKA Giraffe, AKA Shorty. We had a lovely time :-) We also recorded the whole thing with Rachel's camera, so we've got some great memories from it!

Thursday and Friday were pretty normal. Friday, Natalie Sibille was returning for the weekend, so me and the rest of her family decided to surprise her by me going to their house to spend the night. Well, it turns out that Natalie wasn't surprised at all, but still very happy!

Saturday, we hung out, then we had rehearsal.

Sunday, we had church, then Mom and I cut out the pattern for my Alice In Wonderland costume and started working on it a little! After that, it was time for Nathan and I to go to the Hope House, which is the house across the street from our church where mission teams stay when they come on mission trips to Opelousas. Our youth group has a mission week every year and the past few years our mission trips have been right in our own city. So, we all stayed in the Hope House Sunday-Thursday.

Sunday night we all hung out and had a good time. The people there were Me, Megan, Jill, Chloe, Austin, Sam, Ben, Isaac, Nathan, Ryan, Wilder, Catherine, Chris, Mrs. Heather, and Mr. Greg. We had a fun group, although I was a smidge dissapointed that none of the girls that are my age in the youth group were there...

All of the days were spent hard at work. Every morning, we went to a place for battered women. They have a donation room with lots of clothes for them. That room was really disorganized, so we went in and did some serious reorganizing. By the end of the week, it looked really good! Monday afternoon, we went to Mrs. Nan Mitchel's house and cleaned her windows, swept her floors. Tuesday, I left after lunch to babysit Mrs. Carrie's baby boys, but everybody else went to Mrs. Betty Jo's house. Wednesday afternoon, we went to the Bihm's house and did some work outside. We had gone there last summer, which was before Mr. Bihm passed away. He died 8 weeks after we went. Mrs. Lily, his wife told Mrs. Heather that us going over there was his last really happy memory of his life. That made me feel like God had really used us!

Thursday, we just cleaned up the Hope House and left around lunch time.

Here are some pictures:

Me and Rachel fixed our hair crazy and took funny pictures

Upside down Rachel

:-O

Aaaa! :-D

Smile :-)

I love this picture!

Joyful....

I love my hat....so much!

The girls from the mission trip.

Me, Chloe, Jill, Megan, and Nicole

Me, Jill, and Chloe

Me and Catherine

Me and Jill.......and Chloe

Up on my bed

New York Trip Days 4 and 5

Since I never posted anything about these days, I felt like my blog would be incomplete without them, so I am taking the responsibility to finish off my New York trip before I move on to further posts.

Sunday morning, I had a complete and total "Classic Dramatic Gracie Meltdown". I was having issues figuring out what to wear. I had 2 outfits and some missing accesessories. It was really stressful. And I ended up wearing my same dress that I wore for the wedding. Which is exactly what I wanted to do. So, after that crisis was over, we went to the Grand Chalet in Wayne, New Jersey.

It was lovely! We took pictures...and more and more and more and more pictures...And I was definetely freezing outside.

Finally we went inside and we, being the family of the bride got a special entrance. Then I sat at a table with all of Frank's brothers and their families. It was a very enjoyable event. The food was delicious! First there was breakfast on one side, then later, lunch on the other. There was a live band. They played some wonderful music! Including a Cajun song and "You Are My Sunshine" the Louisiana state song. It was such a beautiful day! And I don't mean the weather, because, if I remember correctly, it was overcast. But inside, it was georgeous.

I ate so much food, that I thought I wouldn't eat until the next week!! But of course, for supper that night, Mrs. Rosina and Mr. Giuseppe made some real Italian spaghetti....

Monday morning, we woke up, ate some delicious breakfast (of course there was plenty of it). Then we all squeezed in their car to go to the airport. It was time to go home.... :-(

Our trip home was very smooth. When we were on the plane we saw some amazing clouds. It looked like we were on Antarctica!! It was really pretty!

Then later, when we were about to land in Lafayette, I was listening to "Defying Gravity". It was almost at the climax, you know, "Tell them how I am defying gravity, I'm flying high deFYing gravity..." when they made the announcement that we were landing soon and all electronics needed to be turned off. Well, I decided that I just HAD to hear the end of the song! So, I kept listening, and they announced it again! So, I just listened to right past my favorite part, then I turned it off. Right after I turned it off, we hit some turbulence and the landing gear came out (and we were on the little Lafayette/Altlanta plane) and it made a big loud noise, and I thought, "Oh my gosh, I broke the plane!" But thankfully we landed safely.

When we got home, it was really good to be home. But I missed New York and all of it's Big City Beauty. Some people may think mountains are pretty, and other's might think crystal clear blue water is pretty, but for me, cement and sky scrapers and neon lights and best of all, theatres are simply georgeous!!