Just For The Fun of It

Christmas was great this year. I got to see all of my family that I haven't seen in a while and meet some new family members as well. I will cherish the commemorating William and Kate's engagement mug forever. You know how I love to honor The Royal Family in any way I can!
I unfortunately keep missing the post. The mail man has come and gone by the time I remember that I still need to get a few things into the mail. I wanted my best friend to have her present by Christmas, but sadly that is not the case. Well, she'll still get it, it'll just be a bit late.
I'm sad that I haven't had anything particularly fabulous happen so that I may write about it.
Well, here's hoping for some interesting happenings so that I may do so!

The Story of Saint Cupcake

The story of Saint Cupcake is not widely known. But those who remember it savor the tale like the aroma of warm cinnamon rolls on a crisp Fall day.

She was known as “the Baker’s Daughter” in the quiet Northern town where she lived. Not a morning passed without the sight of the young woman, standing outside her shop in a cloud of flour, passing out freshly baked cookies to children on their way to school. Her Holiday Pie Parade had local families dancing in the streets. Her monthly Muffin Brigade delivered sweet comfort to the less fortunate.

Over the years, the generosity of the Baker’s Daughter grew, as did her connection to the townspeople she served. Heartbroken souls found closure after tasting her bittersweet chocolate cookies. Anxious folk were soothed by her calming fruit cobbler. Listless laborers gathered strength from her eye-opening coffeecakes.

But the icing on the cake occurred when a young girl, long considered the town mute, was offered a pumpkin-spice cupcake by the Baker’s Daughter. The entire town gasped as she took several bites, grinned widely and uttered her very first word: “Sweet!”

It is said that this single event transformed a humble baker’s daughter into Saint Cupcake, the Patron Saint of Sweet. Today, devoted followers claim that she continues to work miracles in this very bakery. Here you will find that there still is plenty of goodness to go around. 

Drag Queens, Cupcakes and The Nutcracker

I've been begging my mother to take me to The Nutcracker again for the past 3 years now. She doesn't like it because the last time we saw it at the Keller, she thought it was extremely dark and it ruined her ideas of what The Nutcracker should be. Anyway, I convinced her to take me this year, and we were both pretty excited to see it, and judge whether or not it had gotten better or worse.
My dad was nice enough to get us a coupon to the restaurant, Oasisba, so we could have dinner beforehand. He'd never been there or heard of the restaurant, but a deal is a deal, right?
So, my mom and I get to Oasisba and get placed at a table by a waitress that seems to be quite overdressed. She was wearing something I might have seen at Winter Formal and high heels that could easily break some ankles. My mom and I looked at each other across the table and had a simultaneous telepathy moment where we were both thinking the exact same thing. We could not tell if this was simply a very ugly woman, or a man in drag. I guess we wouldn't know until he/she spoke. Soon enough, the deepest voice I've ever heard read us the specials. Yep, our waitress was a drag queen.
I also noticed that there was a stage toward the front of the restaurant, and I thought that maybe bands came and played on Friday and Saturday nights. I was seriously mistaken. Loud music came on while mom and I were innocently enjoying our fresh wrap spring rolls, and our waitress got up on stage and began lip syncing, "Get Happy,"that easily almost ruined Judy Garland for me. He also did some sort of strange choreography bit that incorporated a lot of jazz hands. Needless to say, mom and I were quite entertained before we even got to the ballet.
After our special "experience" at Oasisba, mom and I went to a cupcake shop down the street. It's called Saint Cupcake, and if you've never heard the story of Saint Cupcake, stay tuned, because I will make sure you know her legacy. Anyway, I got myself the best chocolate cupcake perhaps ever made. The frosting was AMAZING. It tasted like a chocolate bar in mousse form, and I don't normally like frosting at all, so this magical frosting definitely gave me a new appreciation.
Mom and I finally got to The Nutcracker, and it was truly fantastic. It was funnier than I remember it being in previous years, the costumes were better and it wasn't as dark. My favorite part is always when it starts to snow onstage. It's so beautiful, and pretty soon the ballerinas who dance as snowflakes are swirling it around the stage. My favorite dance part is the dance of the flowers and Dewdrop. Their costumes are so lovely, and they're all so graceful. Clara is one lucky girl to have a Nutcracker Prince to take her to the land of Winter.
Well, that's pretty much it for now. I'm going to take some fun photos with my friend Alayna this Sunday, so that'll be super fun! Night Night :)

The Silly Times

I have given people the wrong impression of me many a time, but tonight seemed to have blown the rest out of the water.
"So if you're Norwegian, does that mean you're from...Norwegia?"
"No. I'm from Norway."
That's right, Hali. You know Norwegians are from Norway, but you had to play it cool.

On the bright side, I did get to see my friend Ted today at the MHCC Jazz contest. I was so upset because I told him I'd bring him a Carmelizer from Dutch Bros. Delicious, but totally out of my way. I was already running late and of course I'd hit every red light on my way to the high school. But it was 100% worth it because I got to see one of my favorite people ever. Gosh, I forgot how crowded those things are. It was pretty fun though, I met some cool new people and I got to see one of my best friends. Ted is about a million feet taller than I am. When we talk I physically have to tilt my head upwards in order to look him in the eye. I hope to go with him to David Douglas's Winter Formal this year.

Amelia and I got to spend some time together as well today. We always have so much fun when we're together, and we can talk about anything. Tonight, when we were coming back to our friend, Ivan's house, Amelia parked in his driveway and it was pretty dark out. Our friend Tyler was with us as well, and we walked up to the front door. Amelia pushed on the door and realized it was locked. Which was strange because he knew that we were coming right back. Well, Amelia was in the middle of taking off her boots on the doorstep because they were all muddy and this Asian lady opens the door real slowly and peers at us through the screen. Obviously, we had the wrong house. Because this woman was not Ivan. Nor Ivan's mother. We obviously had no idea what to say, so Amelia just said, "Sorry, wrong house." At this point, Tyler was running across the lady's yard onto Ivan's actual property. We had surprised some unknowing neighbors. BOTH HOUSES LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME. During this time Amelia is screaming at me, "Get in the car, Hali. Get in the car!" So, I get in the car, and Amelia drives us to Ivan's driveway. This whole ordeal had me in hysterics, I was laughing so hard, and Amelia and I were both so embarrassed, it definitely made a fantastic ending to an eventful day.

My Idaho Family

I just found out that I will be returning to Idaho just after Christmas this year. Which makes me SUPER EXCITED!
This means I get to see my sisters/cousins Wendy and Hannah, my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Andy and hopefully my wonderful bestie Megan! It has been much too long since I've seen everyone, about 8 months. I can't wait to go back to Coeur D'Alene and visit some of my favorite family. It's snowing a lot there right now, and we don't get much snow here in Oregon. I can't wait to give Megan her present in person, and talk to her again. I miss going shopping with her, and eating Burger King. I wish we had more time to hang out this summer, but maybe a few days this winter will make up for it.
I can obviously hardly contain myself.

Winter Formal

Winter formal was fabulous! Got together with all my girlfriends and got ready together. Jillian was nice enough to do my hair, and it looked great! Then Tabitha, Shayla and I shivered outside on our way to the car, and everyone met at my place. The first surprise was my date, Jordan's new hair color. He's a blondie now too! Then once everyone got to my house we started taking amazing amounts of photos. That was probably the best part. Then we ate a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and Jordan's Shirley Temples.
After that, Jillian, Shayla, Matt and Jordan got in my car and we all went to the dance. That's where we met back up with Shayla, Michael, Madeline, Zack and Amanda. We ended up having to stand outside in the FREEZING COLD for about 20 minutes until we finally got inside. Then we made our way past the numerous obstacles of random breathalyzer tests, and non-freaking speeches and into the dance. "Modest is hottest" should always apply.
We danced a lot, and it was tons of fun. We went back to my place and watched Mean Girls till all the guys had to go home, then the girls spent the night. I love my friends and the time I had at formal this year, it was just as good as freshman year! I'm glad we all had a great night!

The whole group :)

Jordan and I being silly.

Aren't we the cutest!