Hey, guys! Yearbooks today! AND the exposition. I have to play the 2nd violin part to the Bach double (Tera's playing the 1st) and some of Prokofiev's gavotte from the classical symphony. Then I have to present my un-finished environmental architechure game. Yay - soooo nervous. No news, really. I was going to see if my 'rents would let me have lessons @ Hunter Hollow, which is in Coupeville, over the summer, but my dad said that we should try to save money. So there's a neighbor up the street who has a horse and likes V and she's going to give a little horsie camp, so me and some other little girls (probably Kailey, too,) will be riding! Excited - haven't ridden in two weeks. OH! and the instructors at HOPE quit 'cause of the exec president's attitude, so no HOPE this summer. But seventeen days until Jaz comes up!
Natasha

Hey you guys! This is probably one of my last posts of the year - school lets out on the 17th!
Anyway, nothing has really happened. Romeo and Juliet went well last week - except I kind of slammed into the balcony at the 'sweet sorrow parting' line, cause I had been sliding in socks earlier, but I forgot I had shoes on..... Oh, and I DON'T think Derek has a crush on me. It's just...no. Besides, he's turning 15 in August, so he's nearly three years older than me. And I just don't think I'm ready to get involved with someone yet. I might post later, but people are buzzing around. I'll give Derek the note when we go on our aquarium field trip on Wednesday after tomorrow. I'll be like 'could you give this to it's owner, 'cause it's not mine and it's probably jake's' and then run away and look at the penguins. I'm waiting until the last minute because I probably couldn't look him in the face afterward, and he's leaving for Orlando the day after, thank god. Anyway, I'll email later you guys!
Natasha
p.s. the group health 'teen awareness, decisions and tough topics' booklet came last night, and I read it, and it was soooooooooo boring, just how periods don't hurt, don't smoke, etc. and now I'm wondering if V is even going to mention it. I'm sorry, but I can't imagine. Like when I asked for a bra a few months ago, she was like 'women with much bigger boobs than you don't wear bras, you're fine', sooooooo yah............. I doubt she's gonna talk about it. Jaz is coming up in 15 days!

You guys need to comment NOW!!

Romeo & Juliet goes up tomorrow! I am sooooo freaked out! My stomach is really messed up. And... I'm worried I've signed up for more than I thought. I'm worried Derek likes me.



Like, in the prolougue, when we have to turn, hold hands, and walk six feet upstage before parting, he said "Actually hold my hand" when I just curled my fingers around his hand. And when just us & Ms. Ashley were working on the final death scene, we were seeing if we wanted to add lines, she's like running through them "...oh churl, though hast left no friendly drop for me, um, I'll kiss thy lips to get the poison from thee, you guys don't want to do that, right?" she says, only the last bit isn't really a question. Derek is lying on the floor, and I'm kneeling over him, cause I have to be able to draw his dagger, and he looks up at me and says kind of quietly so Ms. A can't hear, "she doesn't". And I shake my head. And now he's really sweet, and opening doors and stuff, and when we were debating in seminar where we wanted to go on a field trip, and I wanted to go to the aquarium, and everyone else was undecided, Derek said 'I'll go wherever you want to go' but I can't be positive he was talking to me, as opposed to the whole group, etc. So now I'm kind of scared. Maybe I'm overreacting, but if he liked me, I would be his third girlfriend since September.

I don't know what to do, you guys! Should I ask him about the note? Am I overreacting? Is there even a chance he likes me? I mean, Veronica is always around, being Mrs. PTA mom of the year, and I'm just about good as teacher's daughter! Please you guys, what do you think?

We worked things out with the riding people, so I get a discount with the riding people 'cause I help with lessons, but I think it's a one time thing, so, I still might have to quit riding this summer. I had to trot on a bareback pad, and I almost fell off, and I'm really, really, really sore, since I didn't have stirrups.

Monday: I was gone most of the day - my gma drove me everywhere, and orchestra went late, so I got home at 10:30

Tuesday: Riding lesson in the morning, really sore, I took the wrong bus, figured it out two blocks later and had to walk 17 blocks to school. The drama sub was not able to control the idiot middle school boys, and Pansy brought Derek's ex, so, yeah....

Wednesday: Sat alot at the hospital, V got discharged, went to choir, ate dinner, and read until bedtime.

Today: V sleeps most of the time. I had to be at a different school @ 7:30, so I got there, and I was meeting two people to show them where the Da Vinci Class was - 1. Trystan, Tera's brother, who's kind of cute, and 2. Garik, who was 45 minutes late and missed the science section on cold fusion. The day's going okay so far - Taylor Swift is stuck in my head.

Sorry if this is boring. And Cathi - please relax. V often gets t'ed off at me because I'm 'not pulling my weight' but she always apologizes. Just chose what you want to do. Try to go to a horse camp.
Nat

p.s. please don't mention my blog in your emails. My 'rents read my mail and they don't know about my blog. It's the only place I can vent without getting grounded. :(

Sorry I didn't post last week - our school receptionist kept buzzing around.

My riding stable is now under new management. I was worried about this. So I went to my lesson last week, and instead of Ms. Aarons, like usual, telling me to go get Gabby and that I'll be working on the flat or something, there was this 30-something guy with an energetic air who looked at me and said "Natasha King?" I said yes, and he appraised me. He said "Let's put you on Quicksilver, he's in the back pasture. Gray Arab, can't miss him," and sent me off. Quicksilver was, as he said, a gray Arabian with a darker gray mane and tail. He was very easy to catch. When I was going into the barn to look at my tack assignment, Mr. Jaccobs shook his head and told me to just get a bareback pad, saddle blanket, reins and a bridle. I was going to ride (semi) bareback! The second I swung my leg over, I was estatic! I could feel him under me, so alive and energized. Quicksilver is so graceful and flowing. Not mellow, exactly, but not a rush-into-things horse, that's for sure. It was a fantastic lesson - no courses, or anything, we mostly did flat work, with a few minutes going over a row of 2-foot jumps with no strides in between. I was sooo happy! Mr. J said I have 'outstanding balance'!

Then after school, when I went to help with lessons, my student didn't show up, so Mr. J put me riding again. He surveyed me again, and told me to get Molasses. Molasses is a Rocky Mountain Horse, and drop dead gorgeous. When I asked what tack I needed, he took a look at me and said, "reins and a bridle." I was really really really going bareback! It was so incredible! I was in a class of five, and we were practicing squirrels! which are emergency dismounts. Kind of like musical chairs, when Mr. J yelled 'squirrel' we would all have to squirrel, but last one off would go in the center. Next time someone was out, they would trade places. Everyone would trade horses, and get legs up. I rode (besides Molasses) Indian Summer, Ginger, Rising Sun, and there was also a little pony called Peanut Butter who I didn't ride.

It was amazing. However.

On the way home Veronica had a talk with me. The new management is charging two to three times what they used to. I might not be able to ride anymore. Money is tight, even though my dad makes six figures, somehow we can't afford my lessons. I am really mad and depressed and betrayed and heartbroken. I love riding! Not to mention that V is bugging me about school and is threatening not to let Jas come up, and I'm getting hounded about violin and I have to keep practicing the Shastokovich until August, and I'm dead sick of it, and V is getting surgery in her throat, and my dad is going to have to stay with me, but it'll be wierd and I want my grandma to come up, and my life is really messed up.

Natasha

Hello. On my riding lesson yesterday, someone had taken Gabby to a show, so I had to use a different horse - Ginger. She and I do NOT get along at all. AND we had to work on leading, which Gingi HATES, and I got hot and dusty and really p/o'ed. But in the afternoon I got to help with other lessons. Remember Olivia? The one with Gabby's stallmate, Willow? Well, she's Derek's sister! I just found out a week ago. She is so sweet. I'm probably going to help her again next week. She still hasn't quite got the hang of trotting.

I really wish my life was a movie. 'Cause it would be one of those real life Romeo and Juliet things. I'm not getting obsessed or anything, but I sort of miss the attention I got when I would read Juliet's lines and Maddie would giggle, and Tyler would look very seriously at Derek, and so on. But Derek's going to the high school next year, so even if we did go out - which is really unlikely, since he's 2 1/2 years older than me, and he'd be in high school, and I'd be in 7th grade, so that would be weird. I'll try to ignore him. But Livvy is adorable. Tera's brother, Ty, might have a crush on me, but most likely on a girl named Annie, who's also a cellist. Sigh. Sorry I'm getting all lovestruck here.

We've decided that in June we're moving to our Whidbey house! We discussed it, and Dad can commute, and it gets REALLY REALLY HOOOOTTTT in Seattle in the summer. I also heard V say something about 'Natasha' and 'emotional stability' and 'run free this summer' and I'm like, I'm sooo emotionally stable, but if it gets me to Whidbey, I'll be as unstable as possible! It's really nice there, too, we have like two acres, and a beach across the street. Plus the Rileys stay on Whidbey during the summer, too, and I have some friends there, like Jaccquelyn. And in late July, my family is flying up for a reunion, so I'll have a ton of cousins around then.

That's it, really. Sorry if this is boring.
Natasha

Hello! HIHIHIHIHIHIIHIHIHI!:D
I am back and it is SPRING! FINALLY IT IS WARM AND SUNNY! until it rains.
Canada was incredibly awesome - V came up for five days when my g'rents had to leave, and my cousin Kailey was there, too. I had six ski lessons (with K, who is unfortunately as good as me.). Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for two weeks. Here is what I thought of the instructors.

Sean: We were in a class of eight, and we just followed him down the hill. Boring.
Dennis: There was only one girl besides us, Grace, and Dennis called us Fred, Barney, and George. His name was Matilda, but we called him Millie. It was really fun, and we worked on our weight.
Tim: Had Barney w/us again, called Tim Tillie. We called eachother Fred Barney & George to confuse him. We called wipeouts 'bananas' and bad spills 'Madagascar'. We got lost in the woods and since we had so many wipeouts, we named those woods 'Madagascar'.

Shawn: Okay. We were stuck with two boys and had to go in some double black diamond trees, where I literally ran over a pine sapling.
Tamara: Awesome! She really gave me alot of confidence. We went on lots of black diamond moghuls, working on hockey stops, parellel turns, and always being one turn ahead of yourself. She is awesome! She skis during the summer in New Zealand, so she's really good. I think the best thing is just that I wasn't worried about failing, falling, or being too slow. I was just skiing, and I was confident about it! Oh, and Dennis....is her DAD! Is that COOl or WHAT???
Ben: Pretty fun. It was just us and a boy named Matt. The sign-in person stuck us in Level Five, but it had been easier than Tamara's level four lesson the day before! Wierd. Didn't like Matt. Oh well.

It was really fun up there, aside from the fact K kept flipping out at me. But I walked my g'rents chocolate lab, Charlie Brown, every day in the snow, which was really fun, and we went swimming at the swimming pool, which is outdoors, so we swam under the stars. Sigh. But now I'm back. New topic.

I have been kind of obsessed with 'How smart am I?' I mean, it is time for the dreaded WASL! Even if V hates it and I'm not taking it. I've been tested alot - SCAT, SAT, Robinson Center Stuff, etc., but I never see any results! I asked V and Dad about it at dinner last night, but all I got was a long lecture about 'how it doesn't really matter about test scores' and 'it's how hard you work' and as I 'get older, everyone is getting smarter. By the time [I'm] in college, there will be no difference.' I got really ticked off and hid in my room after dinner. V is always checking out all these books on gifted kids, how to create curriculum for them, etc., and I took some and studied them by flashlight after they had gone to bed (which was, inconveniently, for V, quarter past ten). So far as I can figure out, I can't be higher than Level Three gifted, because I'm better at language and writing (as Cathi, you can attest to?) than math, even though I'm working on polynominals right now. So now I'm p/o'ed at my 'rents, and worried I'll suck at swimming since I haven't been at practice for three weeks. That's my life so far. It's my b-day.

OMG!!!!! This will be my last post for TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!! I"M GOING TO CANADA! YAY!

All week we've been trying to figure out if we're going up today or Saturday. Since V is too busy to come up right away, she's just dropping me in Hope, and my g'rents are picking me up and taking me to Sun Peaks. Last night, my grandma called, and V had a looooong discussion. Apparently there's going to be a storm up there over the weekend, so we're driving up today. Then there was all the drama that my dad didn't get the form notarized, and then we were in the depths of despair - correction: V was bewildered, and Dad and I were watching NCIS on TV. It's a good show. Anyway, V finally figures out that since she's my PARENT she doesn't have to have a form notarized to take me over the border, so then she had to change the form, and we stayed up until eleven packing me. I had my bag part packed, but I was missing socks, my toothbrush, etc., so it took a while. And then she insisted that I take enough snacks to feed an army : Srsly, who eats a WHOLE BAG OF SUNCHIPS? OR FOUR APPLES? OR SIX YOGURT BARS? Sigh...

We went to the island and saw Other Moves on Sunday! It was fantastically awesome! Graham even signed my program! V was humming the Prince music on the way home, and she suddenly turned around and asked "Nat, weren't you a dancer once? Do you want to start classes again?" "Not really," I say, pretending to be engrossed in Nancy Drew, even though I've read it a million times.

I was a dancer, once. I started dance when I was five, and added riding when I was seven. Before long, I was one of the best. I got moved up, made captain of my dance teams. But people were always whispering behind my back. "Teacher's pet" "Miss Perfect" "Always has to be better than everyone else" I tried to ignore it. I practiced four times a week, obsessing over every pointed toe, every graceful sweep of the hand. I was only nine. It only got worse as I got older. One girl, in particular, was really mean. She used to hide my dance bag, not tell me about changes in schedule, put soap in my hairspray. Then, Mrs. Elliot, my dance instructor, gave me a lyrical solo. Melanie, the meanest girl, was furious. I ignored her, though. I was thrilled. My solo was set to "Lessons Learned" by Carrie Underwood, my favorite singer. I had even learned a back walkover for it. Then, the night of my performance, right before I went on, Mel hissed to me "Mrs. Elliot only chose you because you're little. It makes you look like a prodigy. From HER studio." My heart sank, but I did my routine perfectly. Mrs. Elliot gushed about it. But my fantasy was ruined. I would never be a dancer. I quit dance soon after that. But, as it turns out, my dad met Veronica at my performance. They started dating, and seven and a half months later, I had a stepmom. V is the one good thing to come from it - that and being able to accel at riding.

But I love riding, and Gabby is fabulous. And I'm leaving for Canada in fifteen minutes!
I'm watching the clock.

GTG,
Natasha Eleanor Anastasia Hawthorne King

Samantha and Simon stayed overnight last night - Mark was having his adenoids out in Bellevue, poor guy! :-( It was so weird sleeping over with them! I'm at their house so much - teasing Sam, making forts with Si, playing battleship with Mark, giving Beth bronco rides, playing with Lis. We watched Bridge to Terabithia, and then we stayed up talking until one, and V kept yelling at us, which was our cue to burst out giggling uncontrollably. Yes, Simon actually laughs. It's a miracle. *sarcasm* They took the bus with me today, and got off at school - they had math. I, however, am sitting in the lounge. We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and ice cream and cookies left over from a few weeks ago when V and I went overkill baking. (didn't tell them that!)

I'm like the bottom of the food chain at my school. I'm way smarter than anyone else, most of my courses are online, and I am not popular or superchic. Middle schoolers don't outright HATE me, but Maddie and Feya are always very exclusive, and I try to keep a safe distance from the brainless twits they call boys. So I'm just friends with the Rileys, the Zuvers, and the Andrews. I also have to put up with a cretinous troglodyte named Dmitri. He's russian, fifteen, but was adopted, so he's behind everyone else his age. He makes me so mad! After V teaches physics on Friday (he's part of the class, much to my agony) we generally walk up to the park for half an hour, and play around, which basically turns into football without a football. Like if I leap in front of Simon or Mark, like shielding him, Dmitri says something along the lines of : "Oooh, Natasha, you're the queen and (Simon/Mark) is the king!" And then Si or Mark says "Hey!" and tries to tackle him. And then he goes "Oh, wait, Nat, that would be you and Chris Andrews!" He is so stupid, and I don't want him ruining my friendship with the Rileys! What is his problem??? Revolting embicile that he is........

I love Gabby! Lessons are on a one month break (we're switching quarters) so I can't ride! So my Wednesday afternoons are open for homework, according to V. NOOO!!! Kathi, I wish I had your problem. Srsly, 'rents.

GTG,
Natasha

Hello! Um, not much news, really. Jaz, I wish you would stay in contact. Kathi, I'm still going to email you tomorrow, no worries. UGH!!! I had a concert on Tuesday, but that's pretty much it. I'm REALLY bored, and the week is flying by! This is like my shortest post ever. It's kinda sad.

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually do have a little news. I think I've figured out who wrote the note! Jake. GRRR... I figured it out last Thursday after I posted. Jake and Feya were sitting in the lounge while I was working on my essay, and Jake said "I think I saw you today" -- almost the EXACT SAME WORDING AS THE NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus, I am 99% sure that he hates me. I think he has a crush on Feya. Maddie doesn't believe me, but oh well. Maddie and Feya are like, BFFS, which is okay, except there are only three people in sixth grade: wonderful, but not normal ME, Coel, who is currently LOSING HIS BRAIN, and Clay, who makes me sick to my stomach.

GTG,
Natasha

Hello! Hello! Hello! Okay, onto my week.
On Friday I went rollerskating in Volunteer Park with the Rileys. The Rileys live over at Queen Anne Hill, but we're friends; their mom teaches us Latin, and V teaches us Physics. There's Samantha, Sam, who just turned thirteen in October, Simon, who turned eleven in November, Mark, who turned eight in November, Beth, who's four, and Annalise, who is nine months old, and the most adorable thing on earth! We rollerbladed around while V and Sasha, their mom, sat on a bench and chatted, gossiped, and exclaimed over Lis, which is what I call Annalise. We had an awesome time. Then my dad came home and said he had to fly to Oakland for a conference on Saturday, last minute, so then I got a bit depressed, and refused to eat dinner. (which worked out well, any way, we were having chicken adobo, which is chicken boiled in soy sauce and spices, and long grain rice with brussel sprouts - gross!) I slugged through school the next day, and did all my homework on the bus, before I even got home.

V had had a good day, and she was humming 'Music of Jubilee', some organ music by Bach, under her breath. I scowled and slouched into the living room. "You know," said V, thoughtfully, "It's carnival time in Germany, right now. Let's have one." So then we dragged out flour, salt, nuts, chips, chunks, candy bars, dried fruit, etc., and we started baking. I ran to the stereo, and put in Carrie Underwood, whom V likes and I worship. We were mixing, and singing, and dancing. Everything came out GREAT except for this one batch of rustic butterscotch oatmeal cookies, which looked like greasy pancakes when we took them out. We gorged ourselves, and then stayed up until ungodly hours watching a Marx brothers marathon on tv. Then we got up early the next day and made brunch. We still felt bloated, so we put the sausage, danishes, sauted mushrooms, scrambled eggs, and french toast back in the fridge, and ate cinnamon toast.

Monday was okay, Tuesday, Garik said I didn't look good in my sweater (it was cranberry colored, ribbed, fuzzy, loose-fitting and warm. Who is he to talk? He's not exactly Micheal Kors! Srsly.) Wednesday V was ragging me about my essay, and today has been okay, so far. I had to go to a science class and a da vinci class at a different school. I knew where da vinci was, but I got lost, like, four times going to the science classrooms. Then I went into the wrong class! Turns out they had rescheduled it for half an hour later! Added onto my parents wouldn't let me take the bus there, because they "don't doubt my maturity or abilities, but there are too many weirdos out there." I said that V could drive me to the stop, wait there with me until the bus came, and go home, but she said, why go out twice when she could drop me off on the way to the gym? Grrr.

So, I've got to go. Kathi, sorry I haven't emailed, I've been sooo busy. Jaz, puhlease email.
Natasha

Okay, first of all, I am really, really sorry I didn't post last week. The laptop I usually use was having internet problems, and I had to use the computer lab during a class, which includes certain very annoying people who I do not want reading this!

Second,
IT SNOWED!!!!!! SNOW!!! SNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOW! YAYZERS! GO SNOW GO! LET'S GO SNOW LET'S GO! BEAUTIFUL! WHITE! SNOW!!!!!!!!! *contented sigh*

Anyway, what is up with me.... Riding went well, my violin teacher and accompanist are happy with my pieces, I have a duet with Tera, I have a competition on the 14th (well, you get graded 1-5, and once you have 15 you get a trophy), and I have to recite a poem for drama class. I already picked mine - no prob. It's called Enchanted Light. You can Google it for the text. When I was little, my dad used to read me poetry, sometimes instead of bedtime stories - I was a sucker for fairy tales. It was one of my favorite poems. We get paired with teacher-assigned partners next week; I'm just praying to the mighty drama gods that I don't get put with TYLER!!!!! OR JAKE!!!!!!!! Not that Ms. Ashley is naive, or something like that, but she can't understand the middle school politics. Not even Veronica gets them, and she wasn't in middle school THAT long ago. Besides, she was a jock, and didn't really interact with cliques.

Actually, I'm a little worried about that. Veronica was very sports-oriented when she was my age. She was totally devoted to her track and swim teams. She sorta freaked out when I asked for tinted lip gloss last week. It's "not appropriate" at my age to have a "lip gloss that's meant to make your lips look a certain color." I mean, lip gloss isn't going to make me a Valley Girl! And if she's freaking about lip gloss, what about if a boy asks me out, for crying out loud? Not that I am in ANY hurry. I wouldn't go out with anyone in this school if you paid me. Rhetorical question only. But I am seriously nervous. Mira and Tera wear mascara and eyeshadow, even! And they're like eight months younger than me! Veronica is awesome, very chic, great taste in clothes, and she's gorgeous, too, with black curly hair and deep green eyes, but she can be just a little bit behind the times.

Oh, and we were at the mall yesterday, because V is going to be MCing at my next orchestra concert, and she needed something to wear, and I saw this drop dead gorgeous sea-green chiffon dress that looked perfect with my hair! V would have let me get it, except it didn't look good because, according to V, I "don't have the cleavage to pull it off." OMG!!!!!!! I almost DIED!!!!!
At least she's okay with tankinis, though - I have a friend whose mom has forbidden two-pieces until she's fourteen!

Kathi, Jaz, r u reading this? I have not heard from you, hint hint hint!

'K, GTG
Natasha

Hello Hello Hello! Sorry I didn't post last week- I had algebra homework instead :-(
My riding lesson with Gabby went well yesterday - we worked mostly on transitions and getting the spot before jumping. FYI, you non-horse-obsessed people, the spot is the perfect spot for take-off. Gabby was so happy to see me, it was adorable! I saw Olivia, too, learning how to trot on Willow! It was very sweet.

So, on to the swim meet. I did soooo much better than I expected! There were five events you could sign up for:
50 yard freestyle
50 yard breaststroke
50 yard backstroke
50 yard butterfly
100 yard IM (25's of all strokes. It stands for Individual Medley.)

I signed up for everything except IM - number one, I hate trying to beat people while you're trying to go a distance, and there's another boy, Christopher, who is really good at it. I won everything but breaststroke! I am soooooo psyched! I love swim meets! And I actually did a flip-turn correctly during freestyle! I never got it before! I beat two girls who are way taller and six months older than me! Bah, Jamie and Maria! On breaststroke, which I suck at (seriously :-()
I got put with them and Christopher, and we were arguing who was going to win, while we were waiting for our turn. I said Christopher would win, Christopher said Maria would win, Maria said that she wouldn't win she totally was not in shape, and Jamie refused to get involved. Mr. Fast won. Not that I blame him - my time was over a minute. Not good.

Drama was okay; two new people have joined, to replace the evil boys who dropped! *does victory dance* Their names are Jake and Feya. Jake has been here for forever; I used to think he was an absolute jerk, but I guess he's okay. He's chummy with Derek. Feya is new - she just enrolled last Thursday. She has some drama experience, but is clearly not used to the methods of Ms. Ashley, the drama teacher, who is like, "Go for it! Crazy is good!" She is very unique. Feya is relatively pretty, I guess, with a cute nose, large teeth, and shoulder-length darkish hair. I can't decide what color it is; it's not black, but it's too dark to be brown. It's sort of like Tera's.

My violin lesson went well! Amy, my teacher, said she was very happy with how the Massenet was coming, and the Shostakovitch was going nicely. I have to learn some new shifting for that, because Amy changed her mind about using the top fingering. It's to make the B in fourth position more in tune. I have a lot of vibrato exercises too. Vibrato is when you wiggle your hand back and forth very fast to make a rippling sound. You could probably youtube it.

Anyway,
GTG!
Natasha
p.s. Thank you my loyal followers!

I start pet-sitting today! YAY! It's for this really nice family up the street, who moved here from Germany two years ago. They have a six-year-old named Abigail, and a two-year-old named Cecily. Anyway, they're going to Germany for three and a half weeks in February, and they've got to take their dog to California first, so I will be pet sitting while they are in California and Germany! They have a cat named Musafa and a guinea pig named Minka. I will be feeding, playing with, watering them, taking care of the plants, etc. I am psyched! I play with Abby and Cecily all the time - very nice people. They walk their dog, Ciro, alot. He is a German German Shepherd, which means he is not that sort of police German Shepherd, but he is big and black and furry. If you google them you can find pictures. He's about 18 months old.

I have a swim meet today, too. I hate swim meets. I always feel soooo pressured, and I hyperventilate, and I'm freaked I'll come in dead last, and not get a personal best, and get kicked out of gold, you get the picture. Unfortunately, Veronica is like, "don't feel pressured, Tash, you just do the best you can, and not worry about what other people are doing." Easy for her to say. She is very Zen-y. We are very different in that respect. I feel sick at the mere mention of a swim meet.

I had my riding lesson yesterday, and I jumped cross country for the first time! It was soo exhilirating! Log jumps, big jumps, ditch jumps, stretch jumps, everything. It was sooooo awesome! I LOVE cross country.

GTG,
Natasha

Saturday...........

I auditioned for the concerto competition on Saturday, so I should get the results before Thursday. I'm pretty sure I didn't make it-- there are so many good musicians!-- but I'm happy I did it, and I did my best. I woke up super early, at quarter to six, but Veronica and Dad were already up, making coffee, because I could hear the coffee grinder going. Veronica and Dad both like grinding the coffee beans themselves. I groggily staggered out of bed, and put on my yellow fuzzy bathrobe, and went downstairs. At my spot there was a huge bouquet, sort of golden and white, with yellow roses, and lilies, and white mums, and some other flowers I don't know the name of.

Then I took FOREVER deciding what to wear - I finally wore a white Henley and an indigo gauzy skirt w/mary-janes. I played the Haydn well, and then I went home for about half an hour, then I had to go to a two-hour swim team intensive, which drove me nuts, 'cause I had wanted just to not do anything the whole day, and then Veronica drove me home and we ate spaghetti. Afterward, V., my dad and I had frozen vanilla yogurt, and put tons of toppings on it! My dad used cashews, caramel sauce, butterscotch chips, and alot of whipped cream. I put on walnuts, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce, and banana. Veronica laughed and said she liked her ice cream plain with regular chocolate sauce. However, she did cave and slice banana onto it at my persistent pleading. She admitted it was good. Then we all sat around and watched Lord of the Rings. Rivendell is soooo pretty!

GTG,
Hannah

Rambling...........

Okay, this is going to be short, but, oh, well.

I am still sort of nervous about the competition, but my accompaniment thing went good yesterday, so not so freaked. (The fact I played it thirteen times last night helps, too!) I was practicing in an empty classroom at school, you know, just to get ready, since if we went home I would have exactly 0 minutes to practice, so I played some there, Meditation, Shastokovich, but mostly Haydn. I'd been playing about fifteen minutes, when Derek had to come in and get his backpack, and then Garik, who was waiting for his next class to start, kept watching me through the window, and then Lanie came in and I had to play the fast sixteenth note sections for her. It was just so weird! I usually practice all by myself, in my room, with Veronica occasionally commenting, like, "little higher on the F#", or "that shift is a bit muddy," etc. (She's a pianist, so she knows that kind of stuff.) Just, like, having people watching me when I'm practicing, makes me feel funny. I mean, it's not like they're, I dunno, judging me or something, (Lanie's the best of them, and she can barely play 'Twinkle, Twinkle,') but practicing has been a sort of personal thing for me, I guess. Only Veronica, my dad, my grandma, my grandpa, my aunt, Mira, Tera, and my teacher have heard me practice. Practicing, I mess up. I fudge trills, I shift wrong, I go flat. I'm not performing. It's just this weird sort of feeling.

When I got home I just sat in the shower and tried to figure out what made me feel so weird practicing in front of them. All I ended up with was hair that smelled like strawberry shampoo and a wet towel. So, that's still not solved. My stepmom asked what was up, since I got in bed right after dinner, (swedish meatballs, green beans, and mashed potatoes) and read 'The Mysterious Benedict Society' and 'The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey'. I tried reading a Phantom Stallion book, (Run away home) but I ended chucking it under the bed in exasperation. Sometimes cowgirls get on my nerves. I just told her I was tired (which was half true).

GTG,
Natasha

Just news...

MY SOLO COMPETITION IS IN THREE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo nervous...... I did it last year, and I was sooooooosooooosooooo nervous, and I hit a wrong note in my cadenza, and I nearly blew the second trill section -- I hope I do better this year! There are four adjudicators, all sitting at this table with their little comment sheets, and it's in this big cathedral, so awesome acoustics (only thing is, your mistakes are beyond crystal clear), and you stand up and play your piece with your accompanist. My teacher, Amy Gudorf, who is awesome, is going to try to come see me play, because this has been really important, since the people who won last year can't win this year, and I'm probably better than most of the contestants, so I'm psyched and freaked at the same time.

I am totally on my toes about Jasmin coming up! I feel like I can't tell anyone, for fear of jinxing the trip. I almost let it slip to my whole drama class! We were doing improv, and the only thing I could think of at the moment, (we had just had a scene about cow pies coming out of an ATM!) was that "My BFF is coming up this summer." I'm a little worried that Garik saw through it, because I intended it to be a bombshell sometime in Febuary or March or April, to get everyone excited.

I've thinking of what we could do; Veronica, my stepmom, says that we can spend the week at our vacation house on Whidbey, so we can go to Lone Lake, Goss Lake, Double Bluff, and Holmes Harbor for swimming, Castle Park, Putney Woods, and, of course, the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), the Pacific Science Center, Seattle Center, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium, Future of Flight Museum, and maybe the Children's Museum. We might even be able to sleep in the tent in the backyard! Just a thought, though, haven't run THAT by Veronica. We'll probably just sleep in my room. It's not anything like my real room, it's all clean and white and extraordinarily neat (unlike my real room, which is passable, but definitely not going to win any awards, unlike Jaccquelyn's).

Since it's summer, I probably won't get to introduce Jaz to many people; alot of people at my school come up to Whidbey for vacation, but I probably won't see them. I volunteer at HOPE all summer long, too. I'm going to talk to Miriam and Denise - maybe Jasmin could help one time? After all, it's only on Tuesdays! Of course, she might not be able too, 'cause there's emergency procedures, student safety, etc. Plus, I don't think Jasmin has ever tacked up or groomed a horse, much less sidewalked a student!

GTG,
Natasha

Exciting new development: Jasmin might be coming up for a week in July! Of course, our moms are lecturing us about straight A's, and my stepmom is warning me about working really hard on riding and violin - I have a solo competition on the 24th! - but other than that it's probably going to be okay! She won't be able to see Romeo and Juliet, but it's going to be filmed, anyway, so no big deal. She can't come up earlier because she has training with the Audobon and her zoo, and there are only ten days all summer she can come up. She is really into animals; not like Nicole, though, Jasmin is into ocelots and lemurs and jaguars and things like that. In her room she has all these gorgeous animal photos on the wall above her desk. She says it inspires her.

I should probably describe my room. It's big, and it's all painted pale green. My bed is a sleigh bed, all painted white, and it's good to hide under because it's just high enough to wiggle under, but low enough that it's pretty dark and hard to see under (which can be a bad thing if my homework is under there). The duvet cover is plain old mint green, but my sheets are mint green and white striped. My desk is white, too, and so is my closet. But my favorite place in my room is the windowseat. it's built into the wall, and there's a huge window that's like a rectangle with a half-moon on top. the cushions are white and soft, and the pillows are green. Also recessed into the wall, perpendicular to the window so you can't see them from the outside, are bookshelves. They're stuffed with books: The Redwall series, Eva Ibbotson, E. Nesbit, Roald Dahl, Harry Potter, Sisters Grimm, the Phantom Stallion, the Saddle Club, The Betsy-Tacy series, Charlotte's web, Judy Blume, The Black Stallion series, Wild Horse Island, Artemis Fowl, etc. It's my favorite place.

Gabrielle was used by another student for dressage yesterday, so I rode Chrysanthemum, who is a really sweet palomino. She doesn't have quite the spark of Gabrielle, who whenever she sees a jump perks up, but she jumped well. Ms. Aarons said we could try cross-country next week! I am so excited.

GTG.
Natasha

Hey! Sorry I haven't posted in so long -- it snowed, I forgot to post, my laptop was down, etc. Anyway, I'm back now and I have so much to write!

The weekend before Christmas, we went up and visited some good friends of ours on Whidbey Island, the Sinclairs. They have a twelve year old daughter, Jaccquelyn, and a six year old daughter, Jane, and we're good friends. We went for a trail ride in the snow at a nearby stable, and then came back and went sledding! We sledded for three hours, until about five thirty, and then we went in and had fondue. There was meat and cheese and fruit and bread and pickles and everything was fab! We stayed over, my parents in a guest bedroom and me in Jaccquelyn's room, which is the complete opposite of my room, but I still love it. Jaccquelyn's room is a beautiful warm yellow, with honey-colored wood furniture, and it has these beautiful paintings of flower gardens in it, because Mrs. Sinclair is an amazing artist. In the morning we had a really hearty breakfast, because the Sinclairs moved here from Britain a few months before Jaccquelyn was born. (Oh, just a note, Jaccquelyn Hates being called Jackie.) So we had poached eggs, whole wheat toast, sliced pears, oatmeal, and cinnamon rolls. After breakfast we had a big snowball fight, and then went sledding again. Then after grilled cheese and soup for lunch, we had to leave so we could get home before the roads froze.



Christmas was wonderful, it was mostly snowy and everything was perfect! On Christmas Eve my whole family decorated the Christmas tree, and then while my stepmom, made the lasagna and potatoes for dinner, my dad and I wrapped, then my stepmom went up and wrapped while me and Dad made the salad and made the Yorkshire pudding. Then after dinner, we went to church which had a beautiful service. There were candles all around the church in glass jars: big pillar candles, tea candles, short candles, fat candles, skinny candles. Then everyone was handed a candle, and when they were lit there was a warm, cozy, golden glow over everything. We sang 'Silent Night' and 'Hark a thrilling voice is sounding' and 'Away in a manger', and the choir sang 'Carol of the Bells'.



And Christmas morning was wonderful, too. I ran downstairs, and around the tree were tons of presents, all gorgeously wrapped. (My stepmom and her family have an incredible knack with wrapping presents. They always come out pristinely perfect. They're always better than store-wrapped presents, because they have pinecones, or candycanes, or something special like curly sparkly ribbon or something. I woke up my parents, and they made hot cocoa, and we ate Yulekakka, which is a traditional Norwegian Christmas bread, before rushing over to the tree. I think my favorite presents were a subscription to Horse Illustrated, a diary with a very pretty japanese cherry blossom print on the cover, and an mp3. I have already downloaded about forty songs.

Then after a few days, we went to a New Year's Eve party, given by some other good friends of ours, the Calloways. My stepmom and I had just gone shopping for a dress and we couldn't find anything until we found this dropdead gorgeous white gauzy dress. It was sleeveless, and in had these ribbons going down the front and shirring it so it twirled nicely. I wore that with my new white shrug I got for Christmas. It was a good party, and I got to see some of my friends from school, but that kiss at midnight stuff? I was on tenterhooks for the half-hour between quarter to midnight to quarter after. We left at about one, but we walked because we only three blocks away anyway, and my stepmom wasn't wearing heels.

I have good news, too! Jasmin might be able to come up for the summer! I am currently begging, pleading, whining, wheedling, etc. I want her to see Romeo and Juliet! I have to go. Bye!

Natasha