The Oscars

 So. sometimes, our little sister gets more attention than we do. and we're jealous.

So at our Drama Awards night, we wear all red. a 70s dress and a big red hat that kind of matches.

 And sometimes we get our friends to wear hats too.

Teddy and I sang a song from Wicked. It was definitely bittersweet. especially because she's my cousin...

 and our friends call us Meryl Streep every time we get an award. and we're flattered when we get called Meryl Streep a lot that night...

AND sometimes...Regardless of our outlandish hats and award winning performances, sometimes people still don't notice us. 

and by the way, is his shirt not amazing? I didn't even pick it out! it was all him!

aaaand sometimes it's the last day of school. and you're literally never going to see half these people again so you say goodbye... my dang BFFL Mitchell!

I love high school.

so so much.

sometimes we gloss over days so that some day we'll look back on them fondly instead of sadly. 

Sometimes we just don't wanna think about the next few days. 

So we don't talk about it...

Bohemian Rhapsody

Today is good.
and it's only 11:58 in the morning!
We went to a memorial day morning side and listened to a hilarious adorable old man talk about his insane survival story from a shipwreck in WWII.
I semi planned a beach trip with el blobs.
Then Derek, Jonathan, Jenae and I all jumped mom and convinced her to ride home with dad so we could go to the thrift store. Best decision ever.
On the the way there, we rocked out HARD CORE to Bohemian Rhapsody. most definately one of the top three car rock out sessions of my dang LIFE. it was amazing. and it was sooo loud, and people were staring. mostly gangsters. and it was good.
WE saw a porch covered in cats. literally.
I got a new wallet and turned jenae onto satchels.
She and I are driving up the mountain this afternoon to see some friends.
I'd say today is a success.

Also? yesterday i received the best dang compliment of my life from an old guy who sat in front of us (Derek, Jonathan and I) in church, "You all have such wonderful voices! I felt like i was sitting in front of the mormon tabernacle choir!"
I'm graduating from high school in 4 days.
I hope you feel old, because i sure don't.

Pitt Rule

Attention all boys. please read this. and take it to heart. and ladies? the same goes for you. but instead of Brad Pitt, maybe substitute for Angelina Jolie or some other ridiculously attractive celebrity. apply it.



"So you've decided to stop hanging out with women and start dating them. Congrats. But negotiating the waters of dating can be tricky. A little bit of rejection is part of the game, but no man wants to make a frequent habit of it. Fortunately, there's an almost fail proof way to know whether a lady is into you or not. The Brad Pitt Rule. Here's how it works:

Call up the woman you like and ask her on a date. Did she say yes? Great, she probably likes you. What if she makes an excuse for why she can't go out? Now is the time to employ the Brad Pitt Rule.

Imagine that instead of you, Brad Pitt had asked this same woman out. Would she use the same excuse with him? If Brad Pitt asked her on a date, would she still say she had to study or was going to the movies with her friends that night? Nope. She would  have dropped pretty much anything and everything to be able to accept a date with Brad.

Now you're not Pitt obviously. But if a woman is interested in you, she will drop her other plans to be available to go out with you.

Of course there are exceptions; the woman may have a legitimate reason she cannot make the date. Perhaps she has to work or go to a funeral. But if this is the case - and here is the real clincher - she will then suggest a different time for the date. She will say something along the lines of, 'I can't do it Saturday night; do you want to hang out next weekend instead?'

If she makes up an excuse and does not suggest an alternative plan, you have been shut out. She is not interested. Do not ask her out again. Doing so will only result in awkwardness and you feeling like an emasculated mass of inanity.

But don't worry, she probably isn't as cool as you thought she was since she doesn't appreciate your charms. Start pursuing another lady who will. "

- 'The Brad Pitt Rule'
The Art of Manliness pg.122

Prom

Sometimes before i go to formal dances, my mom holds me to my promise of mowing the lawn.

and oh yeah, sometimes i spray paint my shoes gold while my date is being grilled by Derek in the parlor...

taking posed pictures is my least favorite thing in the world. that and wet socks.

add to that the fact that Derek, Jonathan and Jenae were all just standing with big ol grins on thier faces, soaking up the awkwardness while mom tried to tell me how to stand.

this is how the first picture came out:

And then Jenae made some joke about the neighbors watching from their windows. so Derek starts running around the yard, yelling for the neighbors to come outside and gawk.

naturally.

I was freaking out.

we finally got a smiling picture so i ran away from my mom and the camera and got in Jay's truck. and we pulled away to my family all laughing their behinds off on the front porch...

on the bright side, Jay pretended to be cool with me taking my fancy fanny pack, charlie, to prom.

He's cool.

that's wassup, dawg.

When we got to Brandon's, where we took group pictures (which was just uhmm, down el street ha.) we all exchanged the obligatory hellos and 'you look great's. We all uncomfortably ate delicious cookies in the kitchen while we waited for the stragglers to show up.

right before we went outside to take pictures, i went into Brandon's room to fix my hair. and Travis and Jason were in there too, and we had a nice little, "this is real, we are seniors and this is prom" moment.

we took some pictures outside that were all awkward and i felt like i was forcing my smile sooo i won't put them up here. plus, i'm sure a bunch of far away group shots is pointless for this blog.

I made Brandon take a picture with me.

His mom snapped all these by the way, she's great.

I seriously love this kid.

Luke and Leia all day.

 

so, in like March, i didn't even know if i was going to prom, but we were in fresno, and on a whim i asked if we could stop by my favorite vintage thrift store.

so we did.

and i was looking for a giant, purple princess dress with a bunch of fluffy tuele and maybe some lace hem and crazy pleating and i don't even know. i just wanted to look like a dang Disney princess!

and then a sequinn on a rack in the corner caught my eye. I pulled out the dress and squealed. and then i walked away because i didn't want to look at the size. I was sure that it was going to be like a dang 2 and i was not about to lose 700 pounds and cut off my hips just to fit a dress for prom. 

But i checked. and it was my size. so i tried it on. and it fit like a dang glove. 

plus, it was $20. so uhmm obvi, we got it.

and i literally giggled the entire drive home.

I didn't even have a date until two weeks before the dance, but heck was i ready with my dang dress!

And you know what? I felt like a mermaid. 

So i WAS a Disney Princess!

And i love this picture of the four of us really smiling :)

We hopped in our cars and drove to travis' where the limo picked us up. -_-

I hate limos.

just puttin' it out there.

they're super awkward. especially when there like 8 too many people and you're squished on the ground between giant Arron Van horn and the door. and i hate hip hop music. and i hate rap.

most of it.

sometimes, it's fun, or there's like a cool piano part. and sometimes the lyrics make me laugh because they're witty or there's a cool rhyme. but 90% of music these days is literally filth.

disgusting, degrading, aggravating filth.

and most of it sounds angry.

and most of it is extremely immoral.

anyway, moving on from my rap rant...

the drive to Travis' was uhmmm? super fun. hahaha. we laughed. and i made fun of Jay for being short. and i enjoyed riding in a truck, because i rarely do that.

And he called me cinna because i wore gold eyeliner (props to home slice Jenae for finding some for me in the ghetto girl section of make up at walmart. you rock.)

Unfortunately, I left my camera in Jay's truck....so....my documenting process was thwarted. boo.

We went to Dinner at a Japanese place...

It was wild.

they cooked the dinner right there in front of us! THE CHEF MADE A FIRE VOLCANO OUT OF STACKED ONION RINGS. I died. several times.

and i had my first experience with tartar sauce. 

gross.

and my first shrimp.

gross gross.

and my first sushi.

gross. gross. GA-ROSS.

but the rice was good! and i got to use chopsticks! and there were carrots!

But...

I think i'll stick with hamburgers and Pizza...

when we finally got to prom, we walked in looking fabulous and while the security guard searched through all the other bags and gave full pat downs to evvvveryone else, she barely even glanced at me and my fanny pack as I waltzed past her. haha.

we got in line for pictures and decided that there was no way in heck we were going to do the traditional prom pose. are you kidding me? those pictures are like $50, i was not about to stand there posed.
I wanted to Bernie, he refused so we settled for this:

I had a dang BLAST at prom!

and i got to do the robot with my favorite teacher, Mrs.Watterson!

she definitely gave my class a lecture the following Monday for the dancing she unfortunately witnessed.

**WARNING! rant ahead!**

It's frustrating to me that only one genre is played at school dances: sex.

literally.

all the songs have the same beat, and they're all just grinding songs. no body cares that the lyrics are obscene, so long as the beat is 'down'. stupid! they don't even play songs that you can DANCE to, they just play songs that you can make babies to. all the grown ups complain about the suggestive (to say the least) dancing at prom. uhmm. do something about it.

play music about sex? students dance like they're doing the deed.

play music about fun? students have fun.

it's not that difficult.

play songs with a dance beat. play songs with lyrics that are happy, and not just : get in bed with me.

turn a few more lights on so it's not so dark.

i promise, most of the dancing that grown ups worry about would NOT be happening if it wasn't almost pitch black on the dance floor. and no, strobe lights are not the same thing. i'm talking actual, florescent, on the ceiling, with a dang rectangle glass/plastic thing covering them, LIGHTS. the kind that illuminate more than a foot in circumference.

THIS is dancing:

THIS is not:

this was taken at our winter formal, but i whited out everyone's faces so y'all cna't get mad at me!

I have been to 3 school dances. three. and all of them were exactly the same dancing wise.

I have been to a church dance once a month for the past six years. plus EFY and other occasions were dancing was involved. never once have i felt uncomfortable, not once have i felt like someone was going to get pregnant, and i have never gone to a church dance and not had fun.

people just need to get it through their heads that dancing doesn't have to be dirty. and you can have fun without being under the influence. and you can look good without showing off your body. and you can be attractive without all the cloth on your entire dress adding up to the square footage of a dish towel.

*gets off soap box*

when it comes to school functions, and anything really, you get out what you put in. so i just partied hard with my friends and didn't worry about impressing anyone because I just wanted to be comfortable. so even when i looked ridiculous, i kept going back to the dance floor, trying to dance. i was trying to be zane veator all night. aka? I flung my arms everywhere while my feet go the opposite direction. When done right, you attract friends are seen as a groove genius. like Zane. but when I do it, it means dancing by myself in a corner. ha. but that's perfectly okay with me! Because I had hecka fun bernie-ing and doing the EFY dance and the cotton eyed Joe while everyone else got nasty. and flipping out when the allotted ONE  not hip-hop nasty song came on. and interpretive dancing to "no air" by Rihanna. by my self and everyone else stared at me while they el Mcnastied with their dates. aaand i may have hard core whipped my hair when dang willow smith came on.

 It was great.

now i feel bad because i feel like i'm sending the wrong message.

I had SUPER fun at prom!! 

 and despite the seafood and the dirty dancing (ten points for Patrick Swayze reference...) I'm really glad i went! I loved seeing everyone all dressed up and happy, and I love being with my friends. I love taking pictures and eating yummy rice. I love laughing, which i did a lot of.
My best friend and i had semi matching sparkly dresses, I had gold shoes and i took pictures of my dance group outside if Brandon's house. which is pretty much the ultimate sign of cool here... I love how superficial we all are here :)

Thanks Jorge, for being the Junior class president and throwing a sweet, sweet dance.

thanks, group for being crazy and making me laugh all night.

thanks Marissa for being my best friend even though your dancing skills are miles above mine.

thanks watterson for being a legit chaperon and having a giant flashlight and a whistle.

Thank You Jay for taking me!! He was a perfect Gentleman all night.

Prom was awesome.

I had a total blast and i would definitely recommend it.

my only suggestion? don't make babies on the dance floor.

I hope your Saturday is going great!

-Mel

Playoff Game

these guys. 

in case you missed the 2572 other posts about them, I love them. they're like my brothers!

Brandon and Jason play baseball. It's their senior year and they made it to the valley playoffs again. so Steezy and I drove out to Lemoore to watch!

SO worth the drive.

They lost by two in the seventh inning, but it was a great game and geez, AFTER the game was the best part. I'm so glad i went. and i'm glad that Stephen and I had some great conversations.

 I love them.

I feel like i throw that word around a lot, but i do.

and I loved driving on back roads. with The Hunger Games and Billy Currington in the background while i napped and laughed and talked to my best friends.

Life is good. It is oh so good.

Birthday Dinner

After my super fun day at school, I went to a friends house to watch old showcase material. drama lingo for old performances. I forgot how amazing our drama program is. Mrs.Latimer is incredible, but we'll save that  rant for my prom post.

While i was watching the old one Act, Derek was telling me to come home because he had yet another surprise for me, so i took off. 

Derek said we were going to dinner and I'm not gonna lie, i was a little annoyed. because I had just opened my presents and i had already changed into my lounge clothes and put my hair in an unattractive bun/braid thing and i didn't feel like getting dressed up, which Derek said was required.

But he kept pressing the issue, so i went and changed into my new dress from Mufasa.

And then Derek said i didn't have to wear a dress, but i didn't want to change back into pants. 

He was kind of hurrying me, so i just kind of rinsed my face and hoped no one would see me because i wasn't wearing make up. And i put my hair in a little kid braid. 

I basically looked all kinds of disgusting.

And i was kind of annoyed, but i knew i was being rude, so i sucked it up.

But then Derek wrapped a bandanna around my face.

and he tried to trick me by taking an obscure way out of the neighborhood but I knew exactly where we were, and that made him mad, so he did a bunch of random donuts and confused me.

After what seemed like uhmmm, hours? we stopped and Derek turned off the car. then he told me not to get out yet. so i didn't. 

And i heard him talking to other deep voices outside. and then i was mad because i knew they were boys. and Derek didn't let me put on make up. Derek opened the door and told me to get out but i was embarrassed so I stayed in the car and then someone, i still don't know who, haha, pulled me out of the car. so i took off the head band and died.

Derek, Jonathan, Brandon, Jason and Stephen all stood around me, smiling their dang heads off.

I was thoroughly blushing. 

turns out, my sneaky snake mom had planned the whole thing. Derek and Jonathan left and the boys took me inside the restaurant. first off all, i love cowboy food. So mom, Cool Hand Luke's was the uhm, el perfect choice. and? they only play country music. love. At first, i felt awkward but as soon as i remembered that these boys honestly don't care what i look like, i was over it.

all i can is, is love them.

they are my best friends in the whole world and they get me better than anyone else.

I've ranted about them so. many. times. haha

we got to really talk. really talk. for hours, it was wonderful.

I joked about how much our meal told about us.

Jason got steak-looking meat.

Because he is super white and buff and white. and his dad is a farmer, too.

Stephen got a super crazy salad because he's a tennis stud. ZAP! PURPLE!

with pepper, because he's Mexican.

and i like that me and Brandon got the same meal because we're twins.

We talked about school. and boys. and our futures. and boys. and stupid high school drama......and boys. we laughed. So much.

and they forced me to eat calamari, despite my (COMPLETELY RATIONAL) fear/ hatred of sea food.

and we had those perfectly vulnerable, but totally necessary conversations about our dreams. what we truly want. and how we're gonna get there. 

we joked about our future spouses. and how I need to find the prefect blend of these three boys.

We remembered a lot of things.

and i punched Brandon 52 times for not having thanksgiving at his aunt's house in Idaho.

and we smiled a lot. and i cried. 

and i just looked at them and let it sink in. that we're leaving. that this is it. this is the last time we'll be together - just us. only us. the last time we'll leave everything else outside for a few hours while we laugh and reminisce and just sit contently with each other.

I made a wish

 and Stephen took play by play pictures because, i like to document everything but i couldn't do it. ha. which is good, because i always take a million pictures of everyone else and no pictures of myself.

and then i made them finish my ice cream because i couldn't eat it all.

and then came the last surprise of the day. and probably the best surprise.

they got me a present. 

the perfect present. 

and cards. the perfect cards.

one was a super cool Dr.Seuss card that played a drum beat, and then the person who opens the card blows into the mouth of a trumpet looking thing and the melody starts. so flipping cool. I died.

The second card had a spinning exclamation point and the card sang, "shout". which we all love. And they all wrote the perfect things. and I cried. And i love them.

And then the sneaky snakes brought out a present! I put it on my head to guess what it is, because it's a tradition. and it was super heavy! so i opened it to find Swedish fish, which i love. 

Red dye #40.

aka? crack cocaine.

the actual present has a back story. the other Day we were all talking in the morning in the parking lot and we were dreaming of a digital Polaroid camera. or any Polaroid in general, because i love taking pictures. Even if I'm not a great photographer or anything, i just think taking pictures is the funnest thing ever.

I opened the present.

a dang Polaroid camera.

I made them take a picture for my dorm room.

they're so handsome, my brothers! and they look so happy! I love them so much, i honestly can't explain it. there's no possible way to put into words how I care for them. 

you can imagine my excitement!

I couldn't believe it!

we won't even talk about how expensive it must have been. especially to get it here in two days! what the?! they're wild! It's ridiculous how well they know me.

 Brandon opened the plastic thingy on the outside because he's a boy scout.

 one more talk, some deep moments, i love yous and a few of my tears later, it was time to go.

this a terrible picture of us, and it was awkward because the waitress had no idea how to use a camera. But i don't even care because they're just amazing.

walking out to the car, I tried to thank them.

but how could I even do that? How can you thank someone for fourteen years of friendship? fourteen years of birthdays and recess and school projects. Teachers we loved and teachers we hated. How do you say thank you for changing your life? for molding you, for correcting you, and humbling you. How do you say thank you for the countless smiles they've given you and all the times they've been there when no one else was. All the times they walked you to class, or even just waved to you from across campus. 

they have no idea the impact they've had on me. 

they don't know about all the times they absent mindedly (pretty sure that's not a real word.) made my day. or saved me from having a bad day. all the times they were late to class just so we could talk for 30 more seconds. all the times they've put me on their shoulders. literally and figuratively. 

They can never know how grateful i will be for them. 

Because of them, I am Melissa! they made me who i am. they have loved me unconditionally all my life. they always complimented me. even when i wear ridiculous things. even when I come to school one day with hair as short as my ears. Even when i made stupid decisions. they were there. always.

and I know they always be.

They're incredible. I could have never made it this far with out them and i promise, my freshman year is going to be ridiculously hard without Jason distracting me from my problems, or Stephen making me laugh it off, or Brandon smacking my head and reminding me to look at the big picture.

so thank you, boys. for just being my friends.

For taking me from crayons to college.

for helping me be comfortable with myself and not caring about what anyone else thinks.

Thank you for teaching me what kind of a girl to be. and what not to be.

Thank you for showing me all the things i want in a guy. and all the things i don't want in a guy.

Thank you for punking out various guys that I've liked... and for warning me about others even when i didn't want to hear it. For being there when I was wrong, and you were right, but never once said i told you so'. 

Thank you for reading my mind, and being clueless. For knowing everything about me, and reminding me what i truly want for myself and my future. For being my best friends, my constant go-to's and never wavering confidants. for being my Berenda Brothers.

and even though there is absolutely no way of adequately saying thank you for everything you've ever done for me over the years,

Thank you.

and even thought there is no possible way of saying how much i love you, 

I love you.

-Mel

Birthday Morning

I woke up forgetting that it was birthday. ha. and then walked out to the living room to find this:

 from first-third grade i had a ridiculous obsession with Harry Potter, even worse than i do now. But once i hit fifth grade and wanted to impress cool boys by pretending to be girly, harry had to go.

so the nimbus 2000, my wands, the trading cards and the board games were all donated to the dang DI. 

tsk tsk tsk.

I SERIOUSLY regret it, just like my mom warned me i would. 

but my sneaky dang snake mother kept this empty Bertie Botts every flavored beans bag alllllll these years and filled it with jelly bellies. what a champ! I love her!

then i found an assortment of presents from celebrities on our wood stove haha.

apparently Derek doesn't know how to write his own name. Or else Scooby Doo, Jeremy and Conda from biggest Loser, Mufasa, and snoop dog all made a trip our to Madera to give me perfect birthday presents.

 He knows me too well sometimes. Love the guy.

 so. I was showered with footwear this year. which i am completely okay with.

Item number one? these Croc moon boots.

Saying that I'm in love with these shoes doesn't even BEGIN to express my feelings

rexburg? I'm coming.

 AND THEN, surprise number 23472 of the day? crocs.

 "Just look at them!!!" i couldn't stop screaming.

yes i'm a teenage girl. proud of it.

I love them.

 So. flipping. cool.

and Marissa got asked to prom...again...hahahaha.

way to be the most desired girl at Madera South, Mo.

speaking of Prom?

Jitters.

I have them.

hahahaha I'm such a girl. I'm worrying about EVERYTHING and trying not to get my hopes up too high. I'm just telling my self that 5 things will go wrong. that way, i won't freak out when they do. 

And i don't have a purse. you know what that means! 

my new classy fanny pack from Derek is going to make it's debut.

Hate on it.

I woke up to a text today that says, "you're a creep". so obviously, today is going to be a good day.

I'm amped for prom. soyou can hear about it and the rest of my incredible birthday soon!