SO MANY FRIENDS SO MANY HUGS

Gosh, today has been a great day! I ran into three friends I haven't seen in a long time: Emma (3 years), Alex (almost 2 years) and Tess (a week haha). Emma Tan was in my first ward here at BYU...gosh so long ago. :) Summer term 2009. When Emma and I saw each other in the jkb, we hugged so hard and then held hands/hugged while walking. hahah I never thought I'd be one of those girls who screams really loud when spotting a friend a ways away. hahhaa But I guess it's come to that. :) Alex Nichols was a missionary serving in Burlington, Kansas when I went home for summer break 2010 and has become a wonderful friend to my younger brother, Jim.  Alex served in Manhattan, Lawrence, Topeka, and our humble town, Burlington. :) I found out he came home 3 months and 3 days ago and is studying Exercise Science here at BYU, mega rad. Tess Richmond became a wonderful friend a year ago when we took the same Creative Writing class. Plans will be made to eat lunch at the moa soon, I'm sure. :) 

Overall, the past few days have ruled:

1) Zac and I made chicken fajita tacos with corn tortillas an hour ago...om nom nom

2)I cleaned the apartment--the whole thing--as soon as I got home from classes today.

3)I'm getting awesome grades back in all my classes.

4)I hardly have any hw due tomorrow or Friday! Hazzah!

5) My novel is coming along so nicely and I can't wait to write some more tonight.

6) Last night/this morning Zac and I read scriptures together before falling asleep. :)

7)I have a great idea for my next play writing assignment...It's gonna be cool.

8) Zac and I went on a date Saturday night. I drove in the crazy snow...in the dark. And I didn't kill us. Obviously. :)

I want you to laugh, right now. So watch this. Thank you.

Love,
Chelsea

I'm gonna be a political activist, mommy!

I'm actually in the kitchen making food! Surprise!

It's been a long week, you guys. And it's only the second full week...What's a girl to do?! Sleep, pray, laugh, kiss, and eat, I think. :]

I'm making some delicious honey mustard chicken for dinner. The kitchen counter top is my desk currently, the kitchen is filled with Imogen Heap and Landon Pigg. Thank you pandora. :] As the chicken bakes, I'll clean the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Zac's out and about playing video games with his friend Josh and probably cuddling with Bert right about now. :] I wanted the night to myself so I could have quiet as I write more for my novel.  Tomorrow afternoon, we've been invited to a movie party with an old friend, who happens to be my previous director for The Stronger. :] And then tomorrow night, we're going on a double birthday date with Emily and Tim to Tucanos! 

Speaking of birthdays, we celebrated both mine and Zac's birthday this week. :] We used our $25 gift cards for Walmart to get each other presents:
His Gifts

Creme button down shirt

The Hunger Games

Adidas after shave

Mini Reese's cups

My Gifts

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

After Party anti hair frizz from Bed Head

A giant Symphony candy bar

Pretty good with $25 for the each of us, am I right?

Mommy also sent me three pairs of tights, an adorable bow cardigan, and a lovely pink sweater for my birthday. My outfit yesterday was too darling. Whenever the camera is available, I will take pictures I promise!

I was just cast in UTA's stage reading for the weekend of 1/28!
Basically it's a theatre high school competition. There's 5 or 6 ten minute plays written by high schoolers and they were all cast this afternoon.
I'll be reading the part of Corrine, a passionate political activist. The play sounds super cool and I'll let you know more about it as I get my butt in rehearsals and all that. :] 

Hw this semester is really kicking my butt all over the place...but I've been getting awesome grades back! So, I really shouldn't be too hard on myself. It's hard keeping that mindset, though, when in the throes of long nights and tired eyes. haha 

Well, I have quite a lot to get done tonight. I love you guys. So so much.

Love,
Chelsea

Homemade chicken soup and mr/mrs birthday

Today has been quite amazing, if i do say so myself. I'm currently sitting on the love seat, curled up in the handmade quilt grandma made us for a wedding gift. I am so proud of myself, you guys. Wanna know why? I did the dishes first thing this morning (that's really awesome). I cleaned the kitchen and living/dining room. and we're in the process of laundry. Zac helped a whole bunch, of course! annnd. There's one more thing i'm really excited about:

I am making my first ever crock pot soup!

chicken, chicken broth, water, pepper, parsley, basil, garlic powder, garlic pepper, carrots, potatoes, and onion. noodles will be added in a bit. :] we have to wait another...5 or 6 hours, but I am beyond excited! The kitchen smells so good right now. :] I really hope my cooking is okay...i took some liberty with the instructions online...really a 1/4 cup of parsley?! The garlic powder and garlic pepper i added on my own (to offset the insane amount of parsley). om nom nom I like cooking every once in a while.

I also have some other exciting news!

Tomorrow (the 17th) is my birthday!

And then on Thursday (the 19th) is Zac's birthday!

We're gonna have a party hopefully on Wednesday night. :] Nothing too outrageous or anything...but we're pumped to share the night together with cake/Oreo pie and small gifts. We have yet to use our two $25 gift cards to Walmart, perfect for birthday celebrations!

Every year, Zac and I will celebrate our birthdays together on the 18th of January.

How's that for a flippin sweet family tradition?!

Well I'm off to get some hw done for tomorrow.

:]

24 hour theatre and i wanna dance BAM

NO HOMEWORK TONIGHT! I am a free woman!

Look out, someone's happy. And that someone is me.

Saturday night I was in BYU's ETC's 24 Hour Theatre Project! 

I planned on waking up at 6:45 am, showering, eating breakfast, looking cute, you know? Plenty of time to get to the HFAC by 8 am, right? 

WRONG.

DEAD.

WRONG.

:]

I woke up at 7:54 am. 

7. 54. am. 

My alarm decided to not make an appearance on Saturday morning. I jumped out of bed screaming, "7:54 AM 7:54 AM ZAC, ZAC!" He woke up and emailed ETC; I hopped in the shower, got out, dressed, rubbed my eyes, and opened the front door. Guess what I found? SNOW. SNOW. SNOW. Everywhere.
I kissed Zac goodbye and ran for my life, unsure if ETC would give my part to someone who took their role seriously enough to be on time.

(This was my first ETC project)

><
As I ran through Provo's first snow that Saturday morning, I imagined myself some awesome female rogue killing machine spy ninja...hahhaa It was so completely awesome! No one was up that early, so all the snow was clean and white, no footprints. My dark hair flew around me and contrasted so nicely with the snow. I could see my breath. I remember thinking, "Someone's gonna see my footprints later!" I don't know why that's such an amazing thought, but I think it is. So often, I see other people's footprints in the snow. But now they'd see mine! (I'm a lame-o.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I stepped inside the warm warm HFAC at 8:07 am.
Normally it's a 9-15 minute walk to campus.

aljfalksdjfa;lksdjfl

Yeah.

From then on (8:07am-12pm) I met my cast and director, memorized lines/blocking, and had a wonderful time. 1pm-3pm we rehearsed some more. 3pm-3:30pm we ran the show twice in the Nelke theater, where we'd perform later that night. 3:30pm-5pm we rehearsed some more. 5pm-5:30pm we ran the show three times in the Nelke. Dinner. I ran lines on my own for half an hour. At 6:50pm we met up and did a quick read through without our scripts. Show started at 7:30pm.

We were the last of five 10 minute plays to perform and ROCKED IT.

And then ROCKED IT again at the 9pm show.

Zac, Emily, and Tim came to the second show and I can't put into words how happy I was to see all of them afterwards. We walked home together (Emily and Tim live just across the parking lot from us, yay!)

The snow was covered in many footprints, btw.

:]

I will never get over the rush of finding my position onstage in complete darkness, hoping to beat the lights in 3 seconds. I will never get over the butterflies in my stomach as I realize I have the first line, it's real, we're on, we're live. I will never get over the exhilaration as I react to my fellow actors onstage. I will never get over a full house audience laughing at my ridiculous antics onstage (think a 5'2" and 103 lbs girl jumping on a demon-possessed girl's back with wild ferocity...YEAH). I will never get over the feeling of relief and empowerment after the last line is said, we take each other's hands, and bow for a standing audience.

Theatre is the best.

---

Other than that, I just been pretty busy with schoolwork and taking care of us. We're doing awesome, btw. He's been completely adorable lately, pulling me out of my chair and away from frustrating hw...hahaha We've had a lot of laughing fits. It's so unreal I get him forever.

We went to BK and Walmart today to do some errands and I DROVE. Man, you guys. It feels so good driving with my hubby next to me, rocking out to...

Party Rock Anthem

OH MY GOSH.
We had so much fun jamming to this song.

"Get up get down put your hands up to the sound! Whoa!"
I put my hands up and Zac reminded me to keep one hand on the wheel.

I totally had one hand on the wheel.

Totally.

this weekend may kill me: but in a happy way.

Really fast.
I was just cast in BYU's Experimental Theatre Company's 24 Hour Theatre Project!

Starting tonight at 7pm, 5 playwrights will each write a 10 minute play, finish it by 7 am tomorrow, turn it in, and then 25 actors will take those scripts, memorize and block from 8am-12pm. Then scheduled rehearsal/tech rehearsal until 7:00pm.
Show starts at 7:30pm.
Then another show at 9:00pm.
Holy bananas.

I've seen several 24 Hour Theatre Projects and have absolutely loved all of them.

I'm pretty pumped to actually be a part of it tomorrow!

And...
I'M A BACKUP WRITER FOR THE PROJECT!
If one of the 5 playwrights suddenly drops out tonight, I will take his/her place. If that happens...I don't know how I'll remain sane with writing a play and then performing the next day. haha But I'll manage.

I'm also looking quite cute today, to top it all off.
Hair bow? Check.
New boots? Check.
Blue handmade skirt? Check.

Yellow and pink shirt? Check check.
Hehe.

On a less happy side note: Homework is already killing me.
"I'm dying."

"You're not dying. You just can't think of anything better to do."
Name that movie.

year reviewzorz

January

My family moved from Burlington, Kansas to Buckeye, Arizona! I turned 20 two days before Zac...and broke up with him on fb to scare some people. hahahha We had some fun.

February

I was in "The Importance of Being Earnest" with Utah Shakespeare in the Park and got engaged to my very very best friend, Zac Hickman.

Gosh, I love them.

March

I had some fun in my first makeup class, found my wedding dress, and wondered if I should keep pursuing an acting major.

April

I finished up the hardest semester of my life, did my proficiency audition, and found out I was ready to move on. I said goodbye to my wonderful roommates: Emily, Amber, Lori, and Hannah. I went back to Arizona to be with my family before getting hitched!

Arizona chicken. Odd.

May

I went on a road trip with mom and Julie to Kansas to see my brother graduate high school. I got to meet up with some old amazing awesome friends, including Wooge. I went to California to visit Zac for the first time in three and a half months. I also touched a sea urchin for the first time ever! :O I then came back to Arizona to do some last minute wedding planning with mommy.

 Photo cred: Logan Whittington

I love you guys.

June

Mom and I made a road trip out to California together the week of the wedding and HAD A BLAST. We stopped by a huge outlet mall somewhere in California where I found a dress for both the honeymoon and the day of my endowment session. Lots of crazy things happened that week: dates, cake testing, reception decorating, friends flying out, and mass confusion/excitement. But it all came down to the best day of my life:

I was married on June 24, 2011 in the Los Angeles Temple to Zac Hickman.

And then four days later, on our honeymoon in Hawaii, he did a back flip into a pool hit his head and was rushed to the hospital. He didn't remember us getting married. He didn't remember me for a while. Oh, wow. Biggest scare of my life.

Do not approve.

>:(

July
I started to get used to the word "wife" and "husband." We came home from Hawaii, took a break in Arizona with my fam, and then went back to California so Zac could work before we headed off to school. We saw the 3am showing of HP7p2!

A Hawaiian cave. o.O

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

We got to watch the 4th of July fireworks on a beach in Hawaii.

Luckiest girl ever is me.

Harry Potter happy excited satisfied obsessed ecstatic faces.

5:30 am, don't judge.

August

Zac, Poter, and I went to see Ludo live in LA! AMAZING.
Zac, Karen, Stephanie, and I loaded up the car and drove from California to Utah. We stopped by Vegas and had a great time! (No gambling or booze drinking for me and Zac! haha) BYU started and I figured out I wanted to be a playwriting major and an English minor. :)

September

I was cast in a one act play, "The Stronger" by August Strindberg. 

We rehearsed for 3 weeks then it went up in early October.

Definitely changed my life.

October

We carved pumpkins with Emily and Tim!

I was a zombie for Halloween.

November

I got to see my dad for the first time in a year and a half for Thanksgiving. We rode a Greyhound bus to Colorado from Utah.

I.Hate.Buses.

December

We wrapped up our finals, celebrated Emily and Tim getting married, enjoyed our 6 month anniversary and had our first Christmas together!

I also learned how to do a hairbow.

:)

An amazing year, to say the least. The best is yet to come, methinks.

I'm ready for you 2012.