all that jazz

i love this picture of hannah.

hot pink.

hot hannah.

yeah man.

-k

"...On the Polar Express!"

donna, me, jade, sarah, emma, gabby, billy-jo and abby
me, jade & abby
thought yall might get a good laugh out of these pictures..i did. it was 'picture day' today at dance. this is my dance group for one of our numbers; The Polar Express. its ridiculously cheesy but still cute and much fun. we are performing next week in the christmas parade and then we have the big recital the following week at csd-excerpts from the nutcracker and other tap and jazz christmas-theme dances. so exciting! love this time of year.... posted by chalice

Together

we arn't three anymore! look--lowen's home! and i am NOT the oldest for three whole days. i'm starting to remember the days of being one of the "three little ones". but it'll all be over and done with tomorrow. reality hits. school and everything. no more running around with the cousins during thanksgiving, getting considerably more bruises and playing round after round of mafia (which by the way, sienna, i was a townsperson for all the rounds!! talk about slow, painful death. and chalice got to be everything. mafia, police, nurse, townsperson and narrorator. ) No more ping pong competitions and eating way more dessert than normal because theres just too many options. note to family: i was on team three this year in the Olympiad. we didn't even do that balancing game. you know the one?? apparently everybody didn't like it. i did! we came in third. the questions were really hard that danny came up with. "how many people a month die of malaria?" "Whose Thomas Anderson?" "Where was the battle of Antietum and how many died?" and " When did dinosaurs exist?" --which i thought was more a matter of opinion. we got it wrong. the answer was 65 millin years ago.
here's lowen talking to you this morning, sienna. he didn't know how to turn off speaker phone.
posted by kyrie

raise your hand if you miss sienna

found this "rummaging" through all our digital photos.
posted by kyrie

november's tuesday

kyrie here.

today was a lot of running around( and around and around) for me. to the point where i started to get that independent feeling. not so much good, just there. i started the day at hannah's in salisbury and drove home early early this morning to be on time for school. i listened to Dido the whole way home and the rain was pouring from the grey sky and i was all by myself and quite sleepy. needless to say, my mood was quite melancholy by the time i pulled up in the parking lot. Her voice music makes me feel like i'm in a dramatic movie.
gym today came early. usually we all pile into the bus and head to the YMCA around 1:25 on tuesdays and thursdays. today we left at 10:00. i don't know which i like better. morning is such a sensative time to me. i like to ease very slowly into my day, taking care not to rush anything or expose myself to anything loud. so running up and down in a very echo-y gymnasium, shouting for people to pass me the ball and running so i was out of breath was a very new experience. and i drew the conclusion that i am desperately out of shape. all these times of playing volleyball has been very decieving. chalice pointed out "in volleyball, you just stand there. and you like move left or right but you don't run". how true that is!
at the end of the practice mr. steve left us with some drill to do. to occupy us or something. i don't know. you've never seen any girls more confused in your life. it was such a simple drill. passing, lay up and then switch lines. we were running around and missing the ball and passing to the wrong person and yelling and everybody was trying to make sense of what was going on. the more frusterated people got, the more i smiled. note to mr.steve: never leave us again.

the day continued on like any other school day. complete with studying so fast and hard that i didn't retain anything and had to leave quite a few blanks blank on my spanish quiz. 20 new spanish words in one day makes me feel unhopeful.
after school came work at the salon until 6:30. and joy! i got my hair colored again. that really is a joy. i am not being sarcastic. when people play with my hair and do stuff with it it makes me so happy and relaxed. my mood automatically lifts 10 levels.
but i am always happy to be free of that place when the time comes. one's own time is so much more precious when one has a job. i'm working and working and working and not accomplishing anything in my own life. When i get home and i can write my letters and read my books and clean my room and do my stuff that i love to do and accomplish things i care about. but i am very appriciative of my work. i'm glad of the job i have and am very blessed with it. Good people to work with and am always kept very busy which i love. i don't think i could have a job where nothing much was required of me. being busy makes time fly.

evening came and with it a wonderful dinner at the salvatores. steak, asparagus and potatoes. i could eat potatoes until the end of time if there was a steady supply of them and butter nearby.
i don't even think a fork is all that necessary.

bed time now! i love bed time! how could i have not liked it when i was little? always avoiding it and denying i was tired. i am tired and i do want to go to bed so very much.
so i will. posted by kyrie

my dear papa

well mom and papa are on their way to John Hopkins right now in the company of Mrs. Lisa, Mr. Chris and Bryce. and i'm here watching mason and pax. i took this photo right before they hopped into the SUV.

This girl will miss him beyond what words can convey. posted by kyrie

the goblet of fire

okay, i've seen it. the beginning scene got my hopes up; with the old man and the Riddle House. they did that one pretty good. wierdly identical to how i had imagined it. exactly how j.k. rowling wrote it down.

i think to satisy my expectations the movie has got to put in all the little details (Rita Skeeter being an insect, the house elf that put the dark mark in the sky, Barty Crouch jr. not being in the Riddle House with Voldermort, and the Veelas from the other wizarding school)and remember to explain things. heavens!! Most of the things i was really looking forwards to seeing were skipped altogether (Harry woke up from his dream of voldermort and wormtail already at the Weasly's house! and five minutes later they were at the world cup) that seriously effected my being able to say i loved the movie.

but hermione was pretty (even if she was spaz). posted by kyrie

Kiera is Dorothy.

oh. this photo shoot makes my day.


even before i got it. i saw the photos on Inside Edition one night and fell in love on the spot. i even told mom something about how wonderful it was and how i hoped i would get the issue. and then, yesterday...i found it on my bed! something about having the classic fairy tale themes to the shoots that gets me. there was that one of the model doing Alice in Wonderland. and then drew barrymore was belle from beauty and the beast (joy of all joys) in another vogue shoot. now we have kiera knightly as dorothy in these wonderfully brillaint (as in color) shots. magic!
















posted by kyrie

so darn hard.

today we went to Ripley's Believe it or Not (which is off the boardwalk in Ocean City) for our quartly trip with the school. this room was whack. have any of ya'll been in it? it's this cylinder room with path going straight across it and the walls around it are spinning. it's all pitch dark except for the dots that show up because of the black light. seems simple enough to walk across but as soon as you step into the room your world just starts spinning and instantly get this dizzy feeling; the kind you got as a kid when you spin around really fast and then suddenly stop. it's impossible to walk across the path without colliding into one of the railings. if you shut your eyes , it's fine and you feel stupid for ever thinking it would be a problem. it's only when you see the thousands of dots circling around you, that your steps become unsure and start feeling quite drunk. never had i known that walking straight could be so darn hard.

papa's a newsie (and i'm just happy watching survivor)

like papa's new hat? he wanted one for chemo so i took it upon myself to find him a cool one. did i? straight from the streets of brooklyn. all he needs is some paps over his shoulder and a couple of good dance moves. whole new look if you flip it around too. it's a kangol hat. the kind samuel l. jackson wears-- so it must be cool.

score.

Stephenie LaGrossa (in all her glory )

"LaGrossa enjoys yoga, Pilates, water sports and going to the beach. She describes herself as relentless, persuasive and extremely competitive"

stef's at it again --kicking butt, tan as ever and forever invincible . !!
sienna, your missing it!

Twiggy

here brae. at long last i've finally got you a photo of chal with her danc e shirt. she actually wore it to dance today, like i've been telling her to for awhile. it's dern cooler than anything! right after we took this picture we both ran in the freezing cold (hence the expression on her face) back to car. and, i was wearing shorts! shorts weather is offically over as of today. they are such uncozy things when the bitter wind is whipping around.
as to the twig she's standing next to, that is our new dear little tree. the Era's bought papa a Ginko tree last night. They had heard from mrs. ida that he liked them and was thinking about getting one. around 7:00 last night and they came by to visit and planted it in the pitch dark. here's to hoping it better luck than our last attempt. can't wait til the leaves dress it up a bit. you know how beautiful ginkos look in the fall?

i'm off to babysit jake silva until 6:30. it's 6:30 now! dangit.

dance dance dance

Well, last night I went to my dance audition. Wow, those girls are just like my teacher said. Very competitive and cold and spiteful and just rude. its ok, i guess- they dont hurt my feelings even if they do that body scan thing and then roll their eyes..(yeah, see what i mean) Anyway for those of you who would like to here my story about the dance festival i went to i will start, it may bore you though...;

...after many tears and confusion and wrong turns i ended up in the auxilary gym #1 where scholarship auditions would begin in ten minutes. i rolled down my tights and slipped on my ballet shoes and started to stretch. several hundred girls all dressed in a black leotard with pink tights and hair back in a tight bun were seen in every direction; all stretching there bodies in ways i dont care to explain, heh. minutes later this woman came prancing into the room on her toes. "I....am Linda Ftitzgerald (yes, thats how you spell it)...president emmeritus of Maryland Council for Dance!!! she was very tall and bold and intimidating and she made me feel nervous like i didnt know what she was gonna do next. she motioned us to "rise" and we lined up in rows of 20 or 30 across the floor. we started the modern audition which lasted about 30 minutes consisting of strange turns and bends and just wierdness that felt like african tribal dances. here comes the bad part. a woman named Barclay Pease came next and she was our ballet instructor. we again lined up, strechted a little more and did some basic barre work. Barclay showed us the most confusing combination which included triple pirouettes, balancing in arabesque, two double side leaps, double foites, and double pique turns. (i know you didnt understand any of that but basically just hard stuff) and many other ballet moves iv never seen. we then were divided into groups of four according to our audition number. i was #18. i didnt realize that the combination she had just shown us was what we would be doing in front of a panel of judges just moments later. after 1,2,3 and 4 for danced across the floor with pleasant faces and dang perfectness i started to get a little nervous. 5,6,7 and 8 did the same, a flawless performance, as well as 9,10,11, and 12. I knew it was my turn soon and i got that dreaded lump in my throat and began feeling intensly over heated. i knew i'd go out and make a fool of myself. i wasnt concentrating hard enough during the instructions and my thoughts started racing as my body temperature went up further. i could not help my self and i just became a crying mess. all the girls were still doing "the body scan" and i felt so alone and nervous and shaky along with every other negative emotion that one can feel in .2 seconds. 13, 14, 15 and 16 were called to deck while the judges finished up their scoring for the previous four. i could not do the combination and the only thought in my head was- leave chalice, leave! if you just slip out the door no one will notice-. and that's exactly what i did. i made a rash decision that still haunts me. i knew when my number was called i would go out there and cry so hard in front of the judges while every one was staring at me and i was not doing what Barclay had demonstrated. i inched my way out of room, turned the corner and leaned against a brick wall and just cried so hard. i cried for like ten minutes all by myself even to the point where i could hardly breath..(you know that cry) i pulled myself together and walked to the locker room. i grabbed some tissues and took a look in the mirror. (bad idea) as i was walking out my aunt dawn was walking down the hall to pick me up. we rode home and i didnt really say much. i was really tired and worn out and just beat. james and i worked on a puzzle and i got a couple refreshing laughs. then i headed upstairs for bed.
...yeah....
Today was much better..i took a contemporary jazz class, a carribean class,(thats like island dancing, hahaha) a ballet class, and a couple point classes. those were better. you could work more at your own pace and really just learn. all the girls were the same. no one would make eye contact or dare say anything. two girls that did talk to me were in my beginners point class named Jenna and Rhonda and they were 10 and 11. real sweet and perky and nice girls. they havent quite hit that competitive age yet, they still have fun in dance and they know how to be nice. i liked them. mom and ida found me in the cafeteria (at my own table) and we walked down to the auditiorium to see the show. man it was awesome but thats a whole nother blog entry. it was exilerating like Aida or something and it was a pleasant way to end the day. ill blog about that later maybe. so i was very happy with today and i learned much and jenna and rhonda are blessed. it was nice to smile. tomorrow i have hip-hop fusion, funk tap, and broadway tap. hope its fun. im looking forwards to going to EP too. i will surely be surrounded by much more friendly people.
i really dont like my writing so just bear with me. it doesnt flow well and i just forget to add so many little details that paint a picture in your head, so to speak. im working on it...

can't stop loving it.

here's some views of Aida. yes, i'm still on a high from seeing that play even though it was a week ago. i think i've already told many of you of my new found love for this play. so for fear of repetition i will post these photos so that you can visualize this beautiful woman. i wish you could have heard her golden voice as well.

oh i remember

You have to dig a hole to China. Where do you start?
in my mother's garden, between the squash and tomatoes. i know because i tried once.
-annie huntington



I remember when Annie and Emma and I were little; after playing in the tunnel slide at the park we had this great idea we should dig a tunnel from their house to mine. Mr. Thom even told us he'd put in bright yellow plastic tubes, just like at great marsh park. For like a whole week we were digging everyday after school before we heard a "chink." it was devastating to find out that it was all in vain because there was some sort of tank right under the very spot we were digging. So we threw away that hope of someday being able to just run out the back door and scurry into our bright yellow tunnel and at the end to arrive at the howard's or huntington's back door...

gotta love this kid

man, dawson is the best kid. he says funny things all the time:

-"chalice, hh, iv known you since you were a baby"

-"chalice, i dont know, i just love you"

-"hey....chow-chow" (he always calls me that. *chal-chal)..thats usually how he greets me in the morning, phf!

his dorchester accent will make anyone laugh very hard and hes got a good imagination and a happy face and im glad he goes to my school.

"don't forget me"

in case you forgot about jember.
yes, she's still here.

a blustery day

yesterday found us at Horn Point. chalice and i along with the whole school. though the trip was geared more for the little kids, i got into disecting owl pellots with the best of em. we all played a tag game out on the lawn too..some kind of game that included migratating and hibernating. running games get me fired up no matter what. we had to collect "food" and put it in our "stomachs" which were paper bags before we got eaten by the predator, played by our principal mr. steve. by the end i was lying face up on the ground, with a throat burning from the cold air, my hair all a mess and legs that felt rubber. i'm so blessed competetive. often, not for my own good.

then my favorite thing of all. chalice and i got to lead a group of three boys on a scavenger hunt! a nature one. running down a grassy trail trying to find spider webs and wildflowers with little ambitious boys is my cup of tea. and having chalice right there to keep the mood energetic. all the tips of my body turned freezing cold: my fingers, toes and nose but i loved it all the same. something about being in nature and hiking gives me great satisfaction. i probably owe this to my beloved grandipop.

the assasinator

found pax in this get-up the other night when i went to pick him up from Mason's.
him and mason saved up 35 dollars to buy this "really cool tag game!" personally, i think the orange glasses make it.

one such girl

i miss my dear sienna!

dear girls

sweet girls. and i love this picture. i love getting spontaneous 2 hour breaks. Mr. Steve just sets us free to play outside and do whatever it is that we would like to do instead of being confined to our cubicles doing school work which nobody likes. thanks Mr. Steve