The Script comes to Denver

On Tuesday night, three of my friends and I went to see The Script perform at the Ogden Theater downtown!!!! I absolutely love The Script so I was excited to begin with. Even better was that Ginger's grandparents, who live in Ireland, sent her a copy of their new CD that isn't even out in the U.S. yet!!!! We knew all of the songs that they played, even the ones that people stateside can't get! It was like super V.I.P. and I was just beyond ecstatic.

The concert was opened by a small act called Hugo (also from the U.K. I think) who were surprisingly good! They played five little songs; I really like their style. It was rock-y, blues-y, pop/soul-ish plus, the lyrics were witty and memorable, too. (We bought their EP because it was only $3.)

Then, of course, the main act :), The Script!

We were screaming loud when they came out! They started with a song off their new album and then did a mix of new and old songs. And their Irish accents when they were speaking were sooooo intense :D I want to go to Ireland next summer with Julia and hear Irish people all day long....

And as with any concert you attend, you must make the memories last with a band tee. We both picked the same one :P

So as you can see, we had a great time!! I love concerts and this one was surprisingly easy to get to, so hopefully we will go to many more here in Denver...

xxo, S

Colorado has apple picking too!

One of my favourite activities to do back home in the fall is go apple picking. The very tastiest apples come out in September, so it's a nice activity to do the first or second weekend after school starts. Last year, we got SO many apples - a whole bushel full! We had apples for forever. I love climbing the trees and picking the apples from high up. If you go on a pretty day with a blue sky and it's not too cold... ACK, it's perfect!

So I missed going this year because, duh, I'm in Colorado now. But surprise! there is a Colorado Apple Tree outside of the JMAC residence hall. They are tiny little guys, so you'd think they'd be pretty sour but NO! they are sweet and delicious :)

Ginger and I discovered the tree two weeks ago when we walked by and some girls were picking the apples. So when we found ourselves outside of JMAC today, and with nowhere particular to be, we decided to get some apples.

i climbed up this little tree to get the best apples possible

pretty high up! i was a little scared...

amongst the leaves

with my little treasures!

ginger with her apples

so many!

of course, not quite a bushel-full

Now, I've got a bunch of tasty little apples for my room! :) Mmmmm, they are SO yummy!!

xxo, S

Delta Zeta progress

Tonight I was elected the Panhellenic Representative for my ∆Z new member class!

It's my first leadership position in college and I'm really excited about it - my class loves me :) My friend Ginger wasn't elected to Philanthropy Chair like she wanted, so that's kinda sad. It would've been fun to be on new member board together.

The Pan-hel rep goes to the meetings every Mondays, hears what the rest of the sororities are doing on campus, and keeps their chapter informed. So when I go back to our ∆Z meetings (every Sunday), I'll tell all the girls what happened at the meetings; I'm like a liaison.

First meeting tomorrow!
xxo, S

Weekend life

Photos from the weekend

beautiful sunset

getting Feather Locks put in my hair

we have feathers in our hair!

waiting for the bus

sign for my lovelies :)

xxo, S

Homecoming hockey games

(80th POST!)

DU is playing BC in hockey this weekend, which is also Homecoming and Parents Weekend. So lots of people are going to the games, including me and my friends. And since I got season tickets I can go to all of the games!

DUGS grilling before the game

giant turkey leg dinner

trying to eat

the DU vs. BC hockey game

We lost to BC but I still had a fun time at my first hockey game ever.

I'll see more homecoming stuff later!

xxo, S

TDW: queen of sugar

On Thursday, a family friend, TDW, was in town for the Food Network Challenge: Sugar Destinations (which will air sometime in June/July). She is an amazing pastry chef and has won a few of these challenges in the past. I'm sure you've seen the showpieces they create... about seven feet tall and made completely out of sugar or chocolate. Crazy extreme!

her piece from last fall,

Food Network Challenge: Extreme Candy Carnival

Anyway, I got to go down to the studio where they were filming and see the competitors put together their showpieces from scratch. It was the closest thing to magic (over eight hours...) I've ever seen!!!! I have NO idea how they do it, but all the pieces stood tall and shiny at the end.... beautiful.


All I can make is cake. From a box.
It's still tasty!
xxo, S


----------------------
UPDATE (10/17):
the episode will air on Sunday, December 19th, 2010 on Food Network. check your local listings!

Sister speed dating

Last night all the pledge sisters went over to the house for "big-little speed dating," which is where you talk to each of the active members for about two minutes (speed dating style) in order to get to know everyone. At the end, you pick the three you thought you connected best with, write their names down, and hope that one of them becomes your Big Sister in a few short days!

Ideally, this was supposed to take about an hour and twenty minutes... it took two hours. By the end, I was so tired (it was like recruitment all over again - not good) that all I wanted to do was go home and sleep! Of course, you never get to do what you actually ever want to do; my friend Ginger's parents are visiting this weekend for parents' weekend so they took us out to dinner with her brother and his friend. Her parents are so nice!! They are very relaxed and easy to talk to (like Ginger herself) so we had a yummy meal (because after speed dating we were STARVING!) and then went home. I think we are supposed to meet up with them later today, too.

Updates coming later about my Big...
xxo, S

Fall weather's come around

October has arrived here at DU! The unseasonal warmth I had grown accustomed to while my friends in New York were bundling up has given way to windy, grey and drizzly weather.

On Sunday, a few of us DZ/HRTM girls went to the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield to volunteer with their Pumpkin Festival. (I used a cash register for the first time!) At the end of the day, we each got to take home a big, bright pumpkin for our hard work.

I think we might carve them later in the month (closer to Halloween, naturally), but until then, mine is sitting in my room, giving off some fun fall flair :)

Gonna go cozy up in blankets now!

xxo, S

Dracula

:[` (<-- vampire)

Happy Early Halloween!

To celebrate the first day of the greatest supernatural month of the year, my FSEM went to see Dracula at the Denver Center last night, opening night. Preceding the performance, we went to a "talk" with a panel of people from the production team: props master, director, vocal coach, lighting designer, and set designer. They told us all about their hard work in putting together this version of the famous novel and gave us a lot of insight about what we were seeing so that when it came time to see the performance, we (at least I did) noticed a lot that we might not otherwise have noticed.

For example, the set was very simple, yet very genius. There were no set drapes to speak of, but the lighting projected scenes of the castle walls, daytime skies, and a blood-red moon. The rest of the set was intricate moving parts (the floor opened and small tables, chairs, and desks would rise up) that helped provide a more tangible sense of the world. Also, the costumes were beautiful and (from my knowledge) accurate to the time period (1892). Of course I would notice the costumes ;)

Having never read the novel or seen the original movie version, I cannot say how well this play followed the storyline. But I can say that the story I saw was very in-depth. The actors did a great job at being vampires, or doing vampires' biddings; playing a "mentally ill" patient (I put this in quotes because this character has more insight into the events than the sane characters); being hypnotised or possessed by vampire thoughts; and even just staking the undead. There were a fair number of humorous scenes and even some scenes that I'm sure were intended to be serious and spooky, but at which we all laughed at. I hope the company wasn't offended by this!

If I could give one criticism to an overall splendid play, I would say that several scenes in the second act (and even the first) could be shortened or simply cut out because they slowed down the mounting plot line to the point that the climax scene is nearly anti-climactic. Also, being a lover of crimson corn syrup (or stage blood), I was disappointed in the frank lack of blood in a vampire play.

Afterwards, my friends and I all came home (via light rail of course; I am beginning to know the RTD system very well) and settled in early.

More blood next time please!

xxo, S