Let's hope the next 18 months go by as fast as the last did!

I really wish I had written more posts before I leave, but I wanted to make sure I did one last time before I left. I can't believe I'm going on a mission. I'm excited, but scared and I wish you all a very fond farewell.

My MTC address is:
Sister Kristen Diane Smtih
Chile Santiago West Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604

And for the mission:
Sister Kristen Diane Smith
Chile Santiago West Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0510
(This is the pouch service. Only postcards and letters that are single sheet, folded into three panels, and taped at the top only, no envelopes.)

and packages:
Sister Kristen Diane Smith
Chile Santiago West Mission
Pedro de Valdivia 1423
Providencia
29 Santiago 29
Chile

"It's quite all right
and goodbye for now
just look up to the stars
and believe who you are
cuz it's quite all right
and so long, goodbye."

Then and Now

After my sister-in-law ran a marathon in April, I decided that I wanted to run one after I get back from my mission. However, I am hugely fat. So my sister, Tara, has taken me under her wing and been my personal trainer since school got out at the end of April. We go to the gym together once a week and I try to go at least 3 or more times a week on top of that. I weigh in every Monday and this week, I am very proud to say, I have lost a grand total of 21 pounds! That's a large cat! So here is a picture of me in December:

In April:

And today, 21 pounds lighter:

Woot! Woot!

Angela's New House

This is Shaundawg in the kid's room. The ceiling is painted like sky, it's super cute. This is the closet in the kid's room. She said she might leave the shelves in.
These are the doors to the kid's room. I think they are friggin' adorable.
This is the patio.
This is me.
This is the bano.

This is the master bano.
This is the shower in the master bano.
Second bedroom.
Master bedroom. She's going to put blinds in.

This is the comfy couch.

This is the comfy sofa.
This is the kitchen. It's huge!
This is the dining room.
This is the desk and pantry.

Where in the world did I get called?!?!?!

I finally got my mission call! The mailman brought it by special this morning. I got my family together to open it and it's official: I am going to serve in the Chile Santiago West Mission! I enter the MTC September 24th! Woot! Woot! Hola! Me llamo Hermana Smith de la iglesia de Jesu Cristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. Wow! Look at me go!

I am such a goober!!

I haven't posted in ages and I feel terrible about it! So much has occured! I don't have the time I need to write everything cuz I've got dinner cooking on the stove and I should probably check on it before it fuses to the pan. But some moments of importance that have happened are:

#1. Happy Birthday Angela and Gage!!!

I know it's been like a month, but I just wanted to wish you both a happy birthday!

#2. My boy won! I heart my American Idol. Chelsea, I am so taking you up on the offer to go to your HS reunion.

#3. I got a fish!!! His name is Charles. I have a story about why I decided to get a fish, but it is too long of a story for the time being.

And just as a side note, I turned in my mission papers on Sunday and could have my call as early as next Wednesday! Pray for Jersey!!!

I love you all and I will promise to post more often!

TAG! I'm it!

This weekend has been crazy! I've studied my brains out for finals. I must have studied 10 or 12 hours alone just for my trig final. At this point, I don't even care anymore. All I have left to do is read my scriptures, say my prayers, and hope for divine intervention. I always freak myself out before finals, but then I end up doing okay. This is the most I've ever studied for them and I just hope I can remember all the crap that I'm supposed to.


Anyhew, Cowgirl tagged me, so here are six weird things about me and the five people I want to find six weird things about:


1. I can't tell my right from my left. Honestly. Unless I am driving. It really takes me a couple minutes to try and figure it out and then there is still a 50% chance that I am wrong.


2. I wish life were a musical. You know how sometimes you stop and think to yourself, "It would be perfect if this song was playing right now?" I feel like that all the time.


3. I have my outfit picked out for the marathon I want to run in three years. My sister-in-law ran the SLC marathon this weekend, and now I kind of really want to run one as well. I want to wear a black tank top that says "I do it the Gerard Way" and fluorescent green shorts.


4. I really want to dye my hair like this (not the cut, just the dye job. I love my long hair) :

Black with orange-ish/blonde on top. I think it would be way cute. And another tribute to my fave lead singer. Ha!

5. I want to serve my mission in New Jersey. It's been my lifelong goal to teach Jon Bon Jovi. (and now Gerard Way!)

6. I have a Britney Spears song on my iPod! AGGGHHH! Don't worry. It's a Christmas song off a multi-artist CD. It's actually pretty good.

Well, that's weirdo me. I therefore tag: Angela, Kimm, Lisa, Chelsea, & Natalie.

Whew! Well, I should really get back to studying. Wish me luck with finals and hope that I see emo kid again! I was gonna give him my number last week, but I never saw him. If I don't see him this week, I may never see him again! Aggh! I'm in love with a boy and I don't even know his name! Haha!

My Other #1 Reason I'm Excited It's April...

ANGELA-FACE IS COMING!!!!


My sister-in-law is flying in tomorrow! She is running the SLC Marathon on Saturday. She's going to be a-freakin-mazing! GO ANG! GO!


This is a picture of us on the Monster Mouse Roller Coaster at the Puyallup State Fair. (She's the good looking one.)

My Ears Must Hate Me

The concert last night was amazing! Paramore was so good! Hayley got the audience going and she was running around the stage headbanging. And then the guitarists backflipped over each other!!! It was so awesome!

Jimmy Eat World was really good too. They went straight from song to song without skipping a beat. It was a really good concert. Here's some footage:






My ears hurt so bad from going to 2 concerts in 4 days, listening to my iPod, and I just got a really bad head cold. Ouchy Pouchy!

Set the date: June 28

WARPED TOUR!!!! WOOT! WOOT!



Yes, that time of the year is upon us: Warped Tour is a mere two months away! Eek!!

A complete list of the tour can be found here, but I have listed the bands that I will be able to see, with the most important ones highlighted of course.

1997
3OH!3
Action Design
A Day to Remember
Against Me!
The Aggrolites
The Academy Is...
The All-American Rejects
The Audition
Alesana
Anberlin
Angels and Airwaves
As I Lay Dying
August Burns Red
Beat Union
Between the Trees
The Briggs
Broadway Calls
The Bronx
Charlotte Sometimes
Cobra Starship
The Color Fred
The Devil Wears Prada
Entice
Evergreen Terrace
Everytime I Die
The Fabulous Rudies
Family Force 5
Farewell
Forever the Sickest Kids
From First to Last
Greeley Estates
Gym Class Heroes
The Higher
Horrorpops
Hunter Revenge
Jeffree Star
Katy Perry
The Lordz
Lost Point
Love Equals Death
The Maine
Mayday Parade!!!!
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
MC Chris
Norma Jean
Oreska
Phathom
Pierce the Veil
Protest the Hero
Reel Big Fish
Relient K
Say Anything
Say No More
Set Your Goals
Shwayze
Stick to Your Guns
Story of the Year
Street Dogs
Tat
Treaty of Paris
Valencia
We The Kings
Your Highness Electric


50 bands on 5 stages! Although I counted 64 bands.....but who cares? WARPED TOUR!!! You can see my report of last year's warped tour and the injury I sustained.



P.S. I am going to Jimmy Eat World/Paramore tonight!! Double Woot!!

THAT WAS FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!

Last night was the MCR concert and it was incredible!!!

I was so scared we were going to be late. We were all running a little behind. :) I had the lady at the MAC counter do my eyes and I looked awesome. I found a really cute black shirt at Target and wore that with my hat and my skull sneakers and black bracelet and necklace. Black nail polish completed the ensemble. I didn't end up dying my hair. I was going to see if they had some black hairspray at Hot Topic, but I didn't have time. It took a long time to do my eyes.

We got to SaltAir 45 minutes before the doors opened and then we were in line for another 45 minutes after that! We all had to pee really bad so we headed straight to the bathrooms after we got inside. K. That place is a dump. It's called "The Cursed Palace" because it's burned down at least two times and was flooded once when the Great Salt Lake rose. Here are some pictures of the outside:





And this is what the inside looks like, minus the stagecoaches in the middle. And everything was painted black. The stage is to the left and the bathrooms are to the right. The bar is up the stairs.

Back to the bathrooms. I wouldn't be surprised if we all caught hepatitis in those things. They were disgusting! Yuck!! During the concert Gerard said that this was one of the most beautiful place they've played at. I'm guessing they had a much better bathroom than we did. :)

Drive By opened up and they were amazing! I'm still kicking myself for not getting their CD and having them sign it. The second opening act was Billy Talent. Not so much a fan of him. But he did get some good energy going. I thought it was cute when he said "If someone falls down you help them up. Gentlemen, take care of the ladies!!"

During the interim between Billy Talent and MCR we met this kid from Idaho and he was roasting in his sweatshirt. He had it pulled halfway over his head when MCR came out and everyone went NUTS!! So there's this poor kid who is getting crushed and can't see anything. It was kinda funny.

This concert was a lot different than last year's. I was so excited for flames and the giant balloons full of confetti that would burst, but when I saw the stage I was like "Yeah, there's no way they can get flames going on that stage." Gerard even said they cut their budget way back for this tour. But it was so AMAZING. They just rocked out all night long. Along with tracks from Black Parade and Three Cheers, they played stuff from Bullets, two B-sides (yay!) and a couple songs I've never heard before. One of them was called Desecration Road.

It was sooooo much fun. The crowd was really good too. Way better than OneRepublic, although they had to tell people not to throw punches during the opening act. There were a few mosh pits, but we were never in one of them, well except for Megan, but that was an accident. She went to sit on the side of the room for a little while, but when MCR came out she got shoved to the very front of the stage. It was so hot in there that she passed out and hit her head. She fell into a mosh pit and some jerkface stepped on her arm. But some guy pulled her out and she went to the EMT room. She's okay though. She got a blue hospital glove for a souvenir. We found her and totally rocked out for the last song of the night, HELENA!!! That's her song!!! And we were by this back hallway and saw the boys go to their room. It was cool.

It was a nice small venue. We got way close and didn't get crushed! It was amazing! Like ten feet from the stage. I could almost see the sweat dripping off their faces! Some kid kept grabbing my arm. I wanted to knock him over, the little dweeb. When we were on the other side of the room there was this kid behind me that knocked my hat over my eyes. Ha! I couldn't see at all. But he situated it back on my head and then patted it down. It was hilarious.

It was an incredible show. It was so hot in there. When we all got in the car the windows all fogged up cause we were so hot. It took forever to get out of the parking lot. But luckily some guy came around selling shirts because I totally forgot to get one inside!

I'm still super exhausted. It's a workout! All that jumping up and down. I still have ringing in my ears, but I'm not as hoarse anymore. Ha! When I went to the staff meeting this morning they all said I looked hungover cause I was super tired and had my sunglasses on and sat in the corner. But I still had a slight headache and didn't want those bright lights making it worse.

It was such a fun show! I only wish I could've taken a camera in. Oh well. Here's a video of them jamming when Gerard was blond. AMAZING SHOW BOYS!!!

Whoops!!

I ended up getting the green shirt for the concert for two reasons: a) the last time I ordered something from the MCR store it was backordered forever, so I wanted to make sure it got here in time and 2) I really wanted to have a shirt that no one else would, and I love the saying on it. However, I got my shirt today and part of it is misspelled! Instead of saying "you want him, you gotta go through me" it says "you want him you gotta go THREW me." Just, you know, a minor mishap. I was a little worried about how it would fit and it actually fits great expect that it's a guy's shirt so the sleeves are forever long and it just looks kinda boxy. I thought about keeping it as maybe a pajama shirt, but I think I'm just gonna send it back. :( I did find that other t-shirt at Hot Topic, but all they had left was an extra small. I may just have to wear a black shirt with my incredible hat. I have a three-quarter length shirt I might wear. I'm kind of leery about wearing just a t-shirt because of the Relief Society-ness of my arms. No bueno when one is jumping up and down.



DISCLAIMER: I really don't like posting pictures of myself because of my big fat face, but Chelsea wants a picture of me in my awesome hat. I hope you all treasure this because it is a once in a lifetime experience:



This is me with my hair in straightened pigtails. It looks better when it's down. But gotta love the hat.







This one is of me with curly-haired pigtails and my misspelled shirt.

Maybe I'll just wear my Budweiser cowboy hat. That won't get me beat up....

...I'll just glare at them like this all saucy-like.

And here is a picture of Snowflake listening to General Conference on the radio. She really sits in the chair like this. I swear she thinks she's human.

Less than 48 hours to the concert! I am so excited!!!

P.S. Shaundawg goes into the doctor tomorrow to see how her foot is. Let's all say a little prayer for her and hope she doesn't have to get surgery. <3

P.P.S. Saw emo kid today and yesterday. I heart him.

It's here! It's here!

My hat came in the mail on Saturday! I was so excited. Of course my entire family mocks it, but I don't care. I LOVE it. I wore it all day. I even wore it with the tags on for like three hours because I was so excited to get it that I forgot to take them off! Haha. Whoops!



Sad news! Yesterday I was vacuuming underneath the cupboards in the kitchen and I got this sharp pain in my hand. Yeah, I got like a three inch sliver STUCK in my hand. I did get it out though. It was surprisingly really painful. I just hope I don't get an infection. I've been having bad luck lately with minor injuries. :) Last week I went to get something out of a cupboard and caught my finger on a nail that was protruding out of it. Ouchy Pouchy! I think I just need to steer clear of the kitchen cupboards.



Anyway, only 4 more days until....

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! I am so excited! Woot! Woot!

I got this album on iTunes called Strung Out: The String Quartet Tribute to Alternative Rock Hits, Vol. 3 by the Vitamin String Quartet and they cover "Welcome to the Black Parade". It's pretty awesome. They have a whole CD of MCR cover songs, which I will be purchasing shortly.

8 days left!!!

I found this Black Parade press conference on YouTube last year. It's got 11 or 12 different parts where the band answers questions from fans. This one is my favorite. They make so much fun of Mikey. Poor kid! I love Bob's little contribution at the end. "Slippers."

5 Reasons I am Glad it is April

#5. Spring is in the air!!!

After this bitter winter I can't wait to get some sunshine. This picture of Gage and Nate is from 2005.

#4. School is almost out!

Only two more weeks of classes and then finals. Yikes!
#3. I don't have to water the pig.

I couldn't think of a number 3, but I found this picture of Tom in Paraguay watering his pet pig.

#2. Flipping the Calendar

I love my MCR calendar. This month Gerard adorns my wall. I get to see his beautiful face everyday.

I tried taking a picture without the flash, but it turned out RED! It still looks cool.


#1. MCR CONCERT!!!!

Only nine more days! I can't wait!!!!!

What a Week!

This week has been super crazy with school (3 tests! Yikes!) and work. And on top of all that craziness, Shaundawg broke her foot. But first, my week in review:

Emo Easter Eggs

Easter Sunday the fam got together and dyed Easter Eggs. All of mine were emo eggs except for my James Blunt and Smithers eggs.



I had actually done a way cooler purple egg of The Black Parade, but my sister smashed it. On purpose. Grrrr.

This egg is my dedication to Emo Kid. Last semester I had Intro to Forensics with this way cute kid. I have no idea what is name is (I think it might be Jason), but one day he wore a MCR t-shirt and I HAVE THE SAME ONE. I think he is absolutely adorable and I still see him all the time at school. Maybe I should talk to him. . . .

And of course, one for Gerard.

Shaundawg Breaks Her Foot

So Tuesday, Shaundawg slipped on a dress at work and broke her foot. They didn't know if she needed surgery or not, so they didn't cast just yet. Well, I was playing around with her crutches and whilst I was doing so I jumped on the couch. I had slippers on and totally fell backwards, like flying through the air. And my head landed right on Shaundawg's (uncast) foot. I felt so awful. Even though the screw from the crutches had left a small gash on my wrist, I was so worried about my mom I didn't even care. However, when she went into the doctor, he looked at her first x-ray and said she would definitely need surgery, but he decided to take another x-ray just to be sure. The second one looked better than the first. Yeah, my head had straightened out her foot. I just have a miracle noggin.

The heater in our house wasn't functioning so we put one of my fuzzy socks over mom's cast so her toes wouldn't freeze off.

Snowflake taking advantage of the fact that Shaundawg can't hobble up the stairs to her bed.

12 More Days!!!

Less than two weeks to the greatest show ever!!! I am so excited! I can't wait to see MCR again.

Pick an outfit

I already have 3 MCR shirts and a jacket, but I thought it would be coolio to have something new to wear to the concert. I have to pick fast if I want it in time though. I do have a favorite, but I would definitely appreciate second, third, fourth, etc. opinions. Place your votes people!

Option #1

I just saw this shirt on their website and I love it. If I can't get it for the concert, I may just wear it anyway.

Option #2

I am in love with this hat. It is so cute. I want to wear the t-shirt over a long black shirt. The front is hard to read in this picture, but it says, "Gerard's Personal Assistant: You want him, you gotta go through ME"

If you have any other ideas, please let me know! P.S. I am thinking of dying my hair black for the occasion, but that might be a little extreme.

iPod picks of the week:

"Nine in the Afternoon" - Panic! At the Disco

"I've Just Seen a Face" - Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe Soundtrack)

"Here I Stand" - Madina Lake

"I Shall Not Walk Alone" - The Blind Boys of Alabama

And I'm feelin' a little "Cemetery Drive" and "Skylines and Turnstiles" too.

Hope your day is fabulous. Because you are!