Concerts.

Current mood: excited

I LOVE concerts! I saw Lonestar tonight, and they were awesome. :) (Cool photo, huh?! ;-)

My favorite songs were played, and Laura and I had a wonderful time.

So... I've decided that I will try to go to more concerts this year. I'd like to see one per month... that would be awesome. I always have a blast. Music is just so... great live. Unlike anything else. I just love it.

So... Rolling Stones and Lonestar (and an opera at Brown University if that counts...) down for this year so far. It's only May. I'll see if I can get at least three more in this year. That'd be sweet. :)

Survey.

100 Random Questions To Answer When You're Bored

1. Do you like strawberries? Yeah, but the last time I ate them, I... you know... they came up... so I'm taking a break on them for a bit.

2. What is your full name? Reyanna Joy Klein

3. Who was your first best friend? Andrea Presutto, I think

4. What grade are you in? I'm in college... junior, maybe?

5. Seen the Notebook a million times? just once, but I'd like to see it again...

6. Are you always online? pretty much

8. Did you ever see the Sound of Music? Favorite movie of all time. :)

9. Have you ever played the flute? Pfff... no way. I suck at it.

10. Do you play basketball? Sure, if i were in a park... and tired of standing on my hands... and bored... and just happened to have a basketball...

11. Are you a Phillies fan? I don't like televised sports unless it's the Olympics.

12. Is your favorite color orange? Nope, green. :)

13. Do you know someone named Emily? Who doesn't... with over 30,000 of them born per year?

14. Do you think you're ugly? Nah.

15. Do you like hip hop or rock better? Generally rock, but I could be in the mood for hip hop.

16. Do you enjoy eating ice cream? Oh, yes.

17. Would you ever like to get plastic surgery? Hmmm... probably not, but I have weird-looking ankles.

18. Do you have a xanga? LOL. No, I have MySpace!

19. Do you have more than three screen names? Technically, yes, but I only use one or two.

20. Do you believe in God? Oh yes. :)

21. Is the letter M in your name? Nope.

22. Ever laugh so hard milk came out your nose? I don't drink milk.

23. Are you a vegetarian? I'm a flexitarian. :) (that is a real term, by the way)

24. What is your most overused phrase online? "LOL" I'm always laughing.

25. Ever smashed your head against a pole and/or wall? uhhh... probably

26. Do you know who invented the refridgerator? Actually, several people claim to have invented the fridge. I'll say Oliver Evans though because I like his name best out of the list. :)

27. Is your favorite subject in school math? No, but I really love it.

28. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? Yep.

29. Which comes first: the chicken or the egg? chicken

30. Do you enjoy peanuts? Yeah, especially when they're in trail-mix or made into peanut butter. :)

31. Have you ever been on a plane? Yep.

32. Do you like Ashlee or Jessica better? Neither.

33. Were you ever in a play? Lots. I even wrote a few in elementary school. I like being in front of people.

34. Have you ever been camping? Yes, and I hope we can go this year!

35. Have you ever used the phrase...? probably...

36. Do you have a crush on someone? Jeremy. :)

37. Do you have AIDS? I'm thinking... no. But then again, I've never been tested. :P

38. Do you believe in love at first sight? Oh yes!

39. Do you believe in fortune tellers? Nah.

40. Do you like Hilary or Haylie Duff better? Eh.

41. Ever seen the entire Harry Potter series? Yep.

42. Can you recite lines from the Lord of the Rings? Does, "my precious" count?! Tee hee.

43. Are you normally labeled as a goth, prep, punk, etc.? Weird? Silly?

42. Do you have the ambition to become a doctor? a doctor of what? A PhD maybe.

43. Did you ever eat rice krispies? yes, I tossed those once too.

44. What time is it? 11:14 am... I should be studying Spanish.

45. What is today's date? April 30, 2006

46. What is the name of your best friend? Hanna Leih :) (Jeremy too if we're counting husbands...)

47. When was the last time you took a shower? This morning.

48. Have you ever seen Stand by Me? Yeah.

49. Are you a Star Wars fanatic? Umm... no. I just saw those movies for the first time last year. And I have yet to see Return of the Jedi.

50. Are you a Celtics fan? Not a sports fan... unless it's gymnastics. :)

51. Have you ever seen the movie Rent? I'd like to.

52. Do you listen to music regularly? Yep.

53. Do you have braces? Nope

54. Did you ever have braces? Nope, but I wish I would have because then my jaw wouldn't be locked shut right now... Grrr...

55. Do you eat breakfast daily? Oh yes! My favorite meal.

56. Ever spent the entire day watching Animal Planet? Ha ha! I think I did a few times at SMU.

57. What kind of shirt do you have on presently? white, collared shirt and a nice v-neck sweater. I have an interview today...

58. Did you ever ride a horse and/or donkey before? Yep, and I rode a horse once that whipped his head around and bit my foot.

59. Do you believe in unicorns? Sure!

60. Do you have Aol, Msn, Comcast, NetZero, or PeoplePC? Uhhh... internet provider is... Cox, I think. Phone is SunRocket.

61. Do you know a person named Kyle? Again, who doesn't?!

62. Do you like someone? There are very few people I *dislike*... maybe three.

63. Do you have a friend with benefits? I did at SMU. LOL!

64. How many boys do you have on your buddy list? I don't know how many people are on my buddy list.

65. Have you ever been dumped? Yep.

66. How many times have you seen She's All That? Hmmm... three?

67. Have you ever watched Bring It On? Yep.

68. Do scary movies scare you? Oh yes!

69. Is your favorite store Spencers? Pfff... no.

70. Do you have more than 100 people on your buddy list? Perhaps.

71. What is your GPA? 3.6, I think.

72. Do you know your IQ? about 140

73. Are you intelligent? I guess...

74. Do you think social studies / history is a waste of time? Nope, but in high school I did. They should explain the reason we have to take it so people won't hate it so much.

75. Ever participated in a spelling bee? Many.

76. Do you have a pet? two puppy dogs.

77. Have you ever been in a racecar? I don't think so.

78. Have you ever gotten down on your knees and barked like a dog? Probably.

79. Do you have a cell phone? Yes, but I wish I didn't.

80. Do you have a lot of friends? I know a lot of people. And I try to stay in touch or stay friends with most of them.

81. Have you been to another country before? I have been to Canada! But that's it.

82. Have you been out of state before? I think I've been to half of them now. :) Jeremy has been to 49 of them. Someday we'll get to Hawaii...

83. Do you like to doodle on your school books? Not now that I can sell them on ebay!

84. Do you watch the Discovery Channel? We don't have TV.

85. Do you hate someone? I don't hate anyone.

86. Ever in the boy/girl scouts? Nope, I broke my legs the month I was supposed to start.

87. Do you have any siblings? one brother, one sister.

88. Have you ever been on a train? Yep.

89. Are you getting annoyed with this survey? Not really... I just am getting annoyed with myself that I keep putting off my Spanish homework.

90. What is your favorite font? Comic Sans. :) I also like Hobo/Hobby Headline.

91. What is your favorite TV station? I'm not sure.

92. What is your favorite radio station? 98.1... country. But I like K-Love best if I'm in a town that has it.

93. Do you like Frank Sinatra? Oh yes!

94. Have you ever dialed 911 and then hung up? No, but I've dialed 911 for emergencies a few times...

95. Did you ever have detention before? UGH, yes. My 3rd grade teacher gave me it once because my dad signed his name on my paper to look like a 4-year-old wrote it. She said I "forged" it, and I said, "That's not even my handwriting!" She didn't believe me. Miss Gresham hated me.

96. Who's your favorite teacher? Ever? Uhhh... Mrs. Hilton? Mr. Maberry? Dean Beckman. :)

97. Did you ever play volleyball? yeah, didn't like it

98. What is your personal quote? "You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." ~ Winnie the Pooh

99. Do you like oranges? Yuck, no. But I like orange juice!

100. You've reached 100 you happy your done? Time for Spanish homework! :)

101. You know what I just noticed taking this survey... I always correct grammar/spelling/typos in the questions when I take these.

Crisis.

Current mood: confused

I'm having a quarter-life crisis. I thought I wanted Nutrition... now I just want to go back into Hospitality. Not that that was EVER my major, but I worked in it for two years, and to date, still my two best jobs ever. *sigh*

So... this next year, I may change my major from Nutrition to Management. We'll see. I still need to talk to an advisor or something because if it's going to take me longer than two years... EWWW. I will not be in school longer than two more years. Just... no.

I'm going to apply for a new job today. Granted I'm leaving for a two-week vacation in two weeks, but I'm wonderful... I'm sure they'll hold a job for me. :-D Who wouldn't want all this pent-up hospitality experience? HA! I've worked for Disney! And a second resort! And a camp!

Yeah, I want to work for the The Chanler in Newport. Sure it's in the top 15 luxury hotels in the WORLD... sure the rates START at $900 a night, but I need them. :) And they need me. I know it. :)

Implosions.

Today in Rhode Island, something very exciting happened. Well, very exciting to Rhode Islanders anyway. The news channels were there. Radio stations were there. Government officials were there. I was there too... well, sort of. I was on my street (five houses down from my house... at a safe distance) looking out over the water. You'd think something was getting blown up or something. ;-) Tee hee.

Crazy people on my street... thirsty for things getting blown up... (and my friend Laura [in the pink shirt] waving from her car). My puppy, Ruby, also makes a cameo in this picture.

They blew up the OLD Jamestown Bridge today. When you look at this photo, it kinda looks like one bridge, but it's actually two. The tall one... that's the one they blew up. It all happened within about five seconds. Here are before, during and after pics of the implosion. Enjoy! :)

The coolest thing was that we could SEE the implosion about 5-10 seconds before we heard it. Isn't the speed of sound fascinating?!?!?

Fun times in Rhode Island today alright. ;-)

Procrastination

Current mood: productive ;-)

I don't want to be a big, fat procrastinator anymore. Shopping online seems to be what I choose instead of studying. I need to study. I'm going to think like Bridget (fellow Nutrition student)... no procrastinating! :) Well, at least I'll try...

*reyanna*

The Rolling Stones.

I went to see them in concert with my daddy. Yeah... that's hot. :)

There were lots of old fogies smoking dope. It was pretty funny.

So kids... you wonder where your grandparents were on January 15th? They were in Boston... lighting up, while watching Mick Jagger dance and take off his clothes. ;-) Crazy grandparents.

*reyanna*

London.

Today would have been my late niece's (London Michele) 11th birthday. I can't believe that she's been gone TEN and a half years. I know she's celebrating with Sister Stephen (and my dog, Bridgette) in Heaven.

Happy Birthday, London! Enjoy, and I'll see you soon (but not too soon...)!

Love, Ani

Death.

Life is short. My hero is gone. She died on Monday night. I did get to see her when I visited Minnesota in June. She didn't look old. She didn't look sick. She looked wonderful. We looked at pictures, we listened to music, and we sat outside in the sun.

She loved my big, plastic, lavender sunglasses from Old Navy. I gave them to her, and it made her day. Still... at 91, she looked beautiful in them.

Nothing about her seemed 91.... except the wisdom and courage she had. Those things could only be gained with age. Sincerity, kindness, unconditional love, patience, a loving heart, a giving heart... she had all these things.

She served people and Jesus Christ her entire life. She spent 73 years in the church as a nun... and then retired. Her room in the hospice was never empty. Her smile, laughter and positive attitude radiated to all who knew her. She was a joy. She was popular with adults, children and even the birds down the hall.

Although it seems cliche... I'm privileged just to have met her. She was wonderful, and I thank God that I got to know her the way I did. She said she wanted to out-live her last living sister and brother (my grandfather), but she didn't. She's gone.

My chest hurts still... several days later. My whole body aches. I feel down and depressed... feelings I rarely feel. I know I should be happy... happy that she lived a good life. She served God every minute of every day, and she was the epitome of a good Christian woman. There will always be a hole where Stevie was. My breath still catches in my chest at the sight of her name.

Stevie, I love you... you will always be my human-inspiration. Thank you for being you. I'll never forget you. :)

Your niece, Reyanna Joy

Television.

Jeremy and I are seriously considering getting rid of our television and DVD player. Many reasons. The number one reason (and could possibly be the only one): we don't use it. I don't even remember the last time I turned it on.

We had Netflix all year, and now I'm just... bored of watching movies. We cancelled it. I hate TV shows so I'm not missing anything there. Well, I did watch three shows last year (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and The Ellen DeGeneres Show), but I figured I could just rent those on DVD and watch them on our computer or at my parents' house. I feel like it's a waste of space to just have a TV sitting there.

Maybe we'll regret it in a few months, but really... I haven't watched TV in about ten years (thanks, Mom and Dad!). And sure, we'd only get like $50 for both, but hey... a dollar is a dollar.

Even as a child, we didn't have cable or satellite. We had to make-do with CBS, ABC and NBC. No biggie. And now... a big part of me wants to be one of those people who others look at with their mouths gaping open saying, "You *don't* have a television?! How do you survive?! What do you DO?!" I do what people did fifty years ago BEFORE television. THINGS. And I feel like I'm neglecting those things.

I want to read more. I want to spend more time with Jeremy and the puppies. I want to scrapbook and hang out with friends. I want to run and bike and hike and do fun things. I don't want to come home and watch television.

And when I'm driving down the street at night, there's always a glow coming from EVERY living room. They're watching television. And I don't want to be one of those windows.

I think I'll just feel better about my life when I look in my living room, and there's just a place to sit. Maybe some art or some nice knick-knacks to look at. But no television. Sure, people will think we're nuts. But... we are. In more ways than one. We're just not TV people, and we no longer want to conform to the thought that it's novel to have one.

So long, television. You won't be missed.

Weddings.

*sigh* My friend's wedding was magnificent. Truly the best wedding I have ever been to. I cried all day long. Tee hee. She looked so beautiful and in love... so young and innocent (and she is...). I loved it. The songs were great. The ceremony was enchanting and calm. The reception was low-key and stressless for everybody involved (or appeared to be so). I had the best time, and I can't wait to see them again.

I'm glad I got this photo of she and her sisters too. I can't believe I used to *baby-sit* all these girls!! They look so OLD! LOL.

It made me think of my own wedding. Jeremy couldn't come to this wedding with me, but I brought a good friend with me (also a friend of the bride). She had fun lusting after the bride's older brother. Tee hee.

I hate to say it, and I usually look for the positive in situations, but... there were so many things I wished I would have had at my wedding that I didn't...
I wanted a friend of the family to marry us, but because of the date (Christmas Day), he couldn't make it. It was the only day out of the whole year that my parents had off work so none of my friends or other family members could make it either.

We planned it in three weeks (that falls into the elopement category, I think ;-) ), and no dress-shop had my size in stock. I did, though, wear a beautiful off-white and gold, glitter ballgown.
I felt like I looked like a princess. I loved my dress, but I deserved to wear white, and it makes me sad that I didn't get to.

I wanted to dance at my wedding. I wanted to hold Jeremy on the dance floor for the first time as husband and wife, while my family and friends looked on. I wanted to dance with my daddy while he gave me that smile that says, "I can't believe you're grown up now!"

I loved my wedding though.

How could I not? I finally got to marry the man of my dreams. I had a gluten-free cake...

... without somebody telling me it's impossible. (LOL... you wouldn't believe how many cake-shops told me that!) Pachebal's Canon played as I walked down the aisle. It snowed that day and was perfectly clear the next. We didn't get a real honeymoon (we stayed at Disneyland three months later, but we worked there! LOL), but the B&B was lovely.

I tell myself that we will renew our vows, and it will be like the wedding we never had. Maybe I'll even call it my wedding. It will be at the beach (or a hotel on the beach), I'll wear white, my friends and family will be there. Daniel will marry us, and there *will* be dancing. If you think about it... It's almost SO cool to renew vows that way. We have more time to plan and time to save money. I know it will be a blast. :)

Until then, I'm having a great time being married. I love Jeremy SO much, and I love waking up to him every single day. I feel truly blessed to have him, and I thank God every day.

I just hope my friend is as happy as we are. :)

Cereal Foes.

I have a craving for Cap'N Crunch. I'm allergic.

Cocoa Pebbles will have to do. They're kinda stale, but they still taste yummy.

Yummy. Cereal. Yummy.

*emmett* ~ who hasn't had cereal in quite a long time

Books.

I've been reading a lot lately. I missed reading. I felt like I was too busy to read. Well, that was sort of it... too busy with the wrong kinds of activities. Too much time online. So... less internet, more reading.

I'm really enjoying myself. And now, I'd like to start a novel. Maybe more of a collection of stories, but I'm excited. It will be great. I've already started working on it, and I can feel that it's lots of work, but I love it.

I've written many before, but only one did I actually do an outline beforehand. This time, I'm doing it right with the outline. My mom was right... if you write an outline for your book, it practically writes itself. At least my first one did... until I ran out of ideas and put it away. Anyway, this one... that won't happen because it's a true story. Though, I will pass it off as a work of fiction so people don't know how crazy my life really was a teen-ager/college student. Tee hee. I know it will be fun. I can't wait! :)

Back to the Future

I really love Back to the Future. I watched it today. I hadn't seen it in SO long so it was awesome to see it. I think I cry every time I see the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance part. LOL. I'm such a dork.

*emmett* ~ who loves movies that remind her of her childhood

Fireworks!

We saw the fireworks!

Last night we took the bus (WAY too much traffic on the island right now) to town, and we walked over to the water to see the fireworks. The Queen Mary 2 was friggin' RIGHT in front of us, so that was awesome. That is one big boat. Seriously!

At the end of the fireworks show, the QM2 blew its horn, and then ALL the boats in the marinas (TONS!) blew their horns too. It was one of the neatest things I've ever experienced.

Yesterday was tons of fun. I spent all day working on our new home-business, and I had a fun time designing and creating things. :) Jeremy did some filing and cleaning (SHOCK! ;-) ), and I made some pancakes for breakfast. Those are good. I think I'll make some today too. :)

Jeremy took a picture of me doing a handstand in front of the Newport Bridge in town last night...
My doctor said I really shouldn't be doing handstands, but it was only one, and I just couldn't pass it up. It looked neat with the sunset. I'll have to remember to post it in my Handstand Porfolio. I'll see if I can get around to it...

I bought a plane ticket yesterday to fly to another state for my friend's wedding. I'm VERY excited. I'm only going for four days because I don't want to miss much work, but it should be lots of fun. :) That's THREE plane trips this summer. WOW!

I feel bad about leaving work though. With two weeks vacation, one week given off because of a holiday, and then this 4-day weekend trip, I feel like I'm ditching them. I'm sure they don't feel that way though. I mean... everybody has taken 2-3 weeks off this year for vacation... except me. And I do deserve two weeks vacation!

*sigh* I just wish I didn't feel so guilty. But even though I know that practice was canceled this last week, I still felt guilty about that. SO weird. LOL. I just love working, and it's difficult to be away. I miss the kids.

Speaking of kids... there was this family of five children (2 boys, 1 girl and toddler twin boys) sitting next to us last night at the fireworks. They made me want kids. And not just one... like four or six. LOL. I'm strange. I go through stages.

Before I was married, I wanted eight children. That changed to four after some thinking. Then after I got married, it was zero. Jeremy talked me into having one, but I'm still not sure. Sometimes I think I can handle it (physically), but other times... I know I can't. I suppose I just have to wait until God tells me when and how many. I do feel like in ten years would be good.

It's smart to pay off the student loans and the car, buy a house, get a boat (tee hee) first. :) I feel like having those types of things out of the way before we start a family. Children are expensive. Did you know that raising a child to the age of 18 costs over $250,000! That's crazy. Not that I care more about money than I do children (quite the contrary), but it's just interesting to think about. You should actually *have* that kind of money before taking on such an endeavor.

I love children though. I love my nieces and nephew. They're so great. I don't know what I'd do without them. Any time I can see them, I'm thrilled. I just love them so much. And the amount that we love our puppy dogs? WOW! If I loved a child just half as much, it would be a ton. I'm not sure what my heart wants, so I know that I'll look to God to figure it out for me. I'm glad He does the worrying, and I don't have to. LOL.

For now, we're just going to enjoy each other (which is great for us!). Enjoy loving. Enjoy living. Enjoy caring. Enjoy the fireworks...

My Costume!

I finally finished my Harry Potter costume! Woohoo!

And with my robe tied up...

And me, playing with my wand. "Swish and Flick!"

I'm a little bummed about the fabric of the robe, but it was the cheapest one I found, so I bought it. I'll probably end up selling it on eBay so I can make a custom one. The fabric is a little see-through, but I think that's so more air will get through. The seamstress said this would be the "coolest" fabric for the summer, so that's why I chose it. I hope she was right. :)

Nonetheless... it's a robe, and I love it. :)

Hooray! It's coming so soon. I'm excited.