An Urban Fairytale

Chapter 1~The Emerald City

Music to live by: Northern Lights by Cider Sky

Want to know why I ride the bus? The people. On the bus you can see a wide range of people living various different lifestyles. Rich, poor, young, old, married, single, Asian, Hispanic, White, Black, Indian; all different. But my favorite part of riding the bus is trying to guess what type of music someone might be listening to. Admit it, you get on the bus and you immediately put on your headphones so you don't have to interact with any “seedy” characters that might be riding the bus. What is the definition of seedy? Everyone. Sure, there are a few people who ride the bus that listen to the music because they have a rehearsal or audition and they are freaking out. But let's face it, you already know who those people are. They are the ones that are doing small versions of dance moves, playing the air violin, or mouthing the words to songs. People like me, but we will get to that in moment. No, most of you just don't want to interact with anyone. So I choose to interact with you, in my own way. If you haven't ever played this game, let me tell you that you are missing out. Think about it.  

       A business man walks onto the bus in his three piece suit and looks flawless. He sits down across from you and immediately puts in his headphones. Black, simple earbuds attached to a fancy iPhone. Now at first glance you think, “This guy definitely listens to classical or maybe some old school Kenny G or even possibly Yanni.” But this guy, we shall call him Evan, went to college. He had some crazy times and oh, no wedding ring. So he still wants to attract the ladies and settle down. A guy like that definitely doesn't listen to Yanni. So here is when I try to figure out what he might be listening to. Mhm. Single, handsome, professional, and has money enough to buy an iPhone. I need more details. So I glance up from my hands and study dear Evan some more. He isn't openly reacting to the music he is listening, but that's when I see it. Instantly I know what type of music he is listening to. Taylor Swift. Now you might be thinking, “No way! T-Swift is for teenage girls, sensitive guys, and people who say that they like country music but only like her.” Well that is where you have to look outside the box. What I say when I looked at Evan there was a slight sadness in his eyes. They weren't a sad, emotional, cut yourself sadness, but just that whatever the singer was belting, he could relate. Who better than Taylor? The thought makes me smile as I tell Evan, “Don't worry, I will keep your secret. Want to go to a concert?” Only not really. I only hope that one day he finds the girl that won't break his heart and he can finally say, “You are the best thing that's ever been mine.”

       Time to move on. YES! This next girl I can tell instantly the kind of music that she is listening to. In walks a 5'8” brunette wearing form fitting jeans, Toms, and a REI jacket. This girl is a hippie who loves lives her life organically and shops at, yep, she is a carrying a bag from Trader Joe's. Typical. First, let me say that there are a ton of them in this city. I don't dislike them, but for people who don't like fitting into a image, fit into a image. Anyway, she puts in some green headphones. Good lord. She probably is wearing hemp underwear and a diva cup (look it up). Cheryl, as she shall be known, crosses her leg and looks out the window. Somehow she has managed to get a window seat and hasn't acknowledge anyone. Cheryl thinks that nobody knows her secret, but she is so very wrong. I know why she looks out the window. She doesn't want anyone to find out the kind of music that she is listening to because she is ashamed. Ashamed that she wants to jump around every time she hears this. Ashamed that her friends would judge her and tease her if they found out what she was listening to. This girl, Cheryl, is in love with Lady Gage and Katy Perry. She lives for 'Teenage Dream', 'Firework', and 'Americano'. She cried when Katy sings about 'the one that got away' because she knows exactly how it feels. Lady Gaga speaks to her and has taught her how to love herself no matter what and that what you care about matters. The Mother Monster is the whole reason that she started to eat better and care more about what was going on in the world. Little did Cheryl know that that lifestyle came with a persona that she felt she had to fit. But despite all that she purposely takes long bus rides so that she can listen to whatever music she wants and be whomever she wants. So for Cheryl I smile and do a smile fist pump for her because I too love Katy and Gaga. They rock.  

       Oh! My bus stop! I gingerly step off the bus and begin my walk back to the homestead. The day is bright and sunny which makes the colors of the trees just, pop. I pass by people on their way to catch a bus, walking their dogs, or bustling to their jobs in the local city center. If one were to look at this scene through a snow globe you could see that all the people look like dark blobs. After all it is winter, who wouldn't dress in boring colors. Not me. Miss Lillian Brighton. Lily or lil bright as some people refer to me. You see I, in no way, fit into this drab world. I thought maybe I should try to not stick out like a sore thumb, but I thought why? So today I am sporting my usual attire. Hot pink hoodie, jeans, gold sparkly shoes, and a purple Vera Bradley bag over my shoulder. In the middle of January I am the brightest thing around and people definitely take notice. They stare and think, “Doesn't she know that it is winter?” “Of course I do! I just choose not to blend in.” Maybe it's the fact that us Southern girls like to make statements or maybe its just the simple fact that I like to stand out. Obviously thats what my parents intended naming me Lillian Yvaine Brighton. A name like mine could only mean that the child is either going to be a princess or is destined to always stand out.

        Now I come to my favorite part of my walk. As I walk up the hill to my house, or at least for the time being, I see the path of trees that lie ahead. Part of my fascination with coming to this strange, artistic, and colorful city was the trees. Honestly I could lose myself in a forest and be perfectly content. I dream of laying in a field full of flowers, or lay by a stream in the middle of forest filled with moss and tall, tall trees. Until I build my dream house with all my millions, I will have to settle for this beautiful tree lined road. As I ascend the road a cool breeze blows through my hair and the forrest of pines and evergreens enclose on me. I pause for a slight moment to take in my surroundings. Everything around me seems absolutely magical. So I switch my iPod to a upbeat song that has a magical lilt and I start the dance down the path. Yes, dance. Why not? There is nobody around at this time of the day and our road isn't exactly I-5. As my feet hit the dirt road that is our drive-way, a smile spreads to my face. My current accommodations is with a family of one of my super good friends. We have known each other practically since birth even though we never lived near each other. Our moms went to college together, so we have been seeing each other at reunions ever year. So when I told them that I was making the move, they opened their doors wide.  

        Speaking of my guy pal, he also has a ridiculous name that we often bond over. Beauregard Vladimir Scott. I know, ridiculous. We all just call him Beau. I guess our parents thought that it would be grand if both their kids had names that made them sound like we were important. It made us laugh on endless occasions. Of course we swore that when either or us got married we would name our kids something like Bob or Ann. Simple and unpretentious. Then they would take over the world. Finally I make it to the front door and I walk inside the house only to be greeted by silence. Pure, simple, silence.

Sunsets and Wonderlands

Howdy loyal fans...

Yes it has been a long time since I have written on here, but my new goal is to at least post something once a week to let people know what is going on in my life. The main news is that this diva is in her new town of Seattle, Washington! Let me tell you this week has been the most exciting and fun week that I have had in a long time. At this moment I am living with the nicest family and they have made me feel so welcome. There are a lot of laughs that happen just within the first week. So here is what I have been doing.

I have been to.....
Pioneer Square
The Waterfront (for a beautiful sunset)
Pike Place
The Bellevue Mall
The Ave
The Can Can Burlesque (an AMAZING dance show as well a randy romp. ;)
The Movies (We went to see The Artist, which is FANTASTIC, Joyful Noise, which was not, and Hugo which was not bad.)
Photoshoots! (I went to three and all of the models were AMAZING. They are really nice people and I enjoyed watching all the creativity and beauty going on!)

Most of these things I did in a span of two days because my dear friends Andrew and Ashley decided that we had to fit everything that we possibly could. It was insane! Some of the things that we did were go to bad interviews in which we ate chocolate afterwards, take sunset pictures, eat a lot of food, look at apartments, and laugh...a lot. It was pretty great and very exciting and I thought that maybe life in Seattle wouldn't be so bad. The first week was beautiful and I love my sunset pictures that proved that the sun DOES sun in Seattle.
The second week was completely different. On Sunday it snowed. A lot. Then some of it melted so Andrew and I went to a photo shoot. It was great and we were happy that we made it out despite the snow that was still left on the ground. Then Monday morning, MORE SNOW. Tuesday, MORE SNOW!!!! It was terrible! We were stuck in the house and the two of us had serious cabin fever. Sure we danced around, went on snow walks, and walked around the find the best place to go sledding. It was pretty great. Sadly we were supposed to spend time with the lovely Ashley, but the hills near her house were closed down. It also didn't help that she couldn't apparate or that Andrew was too lazy to open our flu so she could travel through the flu network. Still we went to photo shoots, I took great headshots, and we had fun even though it took like twenty minutes to put on shoes.

Ironically today, the day that they both left, the snow melted and the sun came out. So now I am left to live a grown-up life and face the facts of life. Since I am on my own now I am excited to do the thing that I came out here for, be a famous actress.

So with two auditions for dance companies next week, I think I am on my way.
LOVE.

Warning! Musings of a Top Secret Twlight Fan

Song of the Day: Americano by Lady Gaga

Yes. As you might have guessed this is where I am going to tell you, my ADORING fans, about my trip to the "city" of Forks, WA. This is the sign that you pass when you are within the town limits. Right as you are coming up to this sign there is a visitor's center that has two bright red, old pickup trucks out front. One of them has the license plate of Bella and is the one that Stephenie Meyer based Bella's truck on in the books. The other red truck that looks slightly more new is the ACTUAL car that they used in the movie. It was pretty cool and of course I have pictures next to it. I then took my little journey into the vistor's center and let out an audible chuckle. The walls were covered with Twilight posters and all around the store was pictures, postcards, and t-shirts. We decided to get a map from the lady at the desk who told us that we should sign the guestbook and put a pin the map. Today alone they had 4 pages full of people that had visited and it was only one in the afternoon. The map was packed of pins from all over the United States to the world. It was pretty amazing and we decided to go find a bigger store in the center of Forks.

So we drove into the center of town and there really is one stop light and a hardware store. All of the other stores pretty much have to do with Twilight and it is pretty hilarious. Stores that sold prescription drugs claimed to be Bella's First-Aid station. We decided to go into a store called Dazzled by Twilight. This was the big fan store in the town and it was pretty crazy. There were huge fake trees and twinkling lights on the ceiling and green grass-like carpet on the floor. There were more cardboard cut outs and tons of t-shirts, sweatpants, jewelry, magnets, and tons of other things that just made me laugh when I saw them. After walking around and seeing funny shirts I decided on one that said "Give Blood. Date a Cullen." I thought it was funny and it was unique-ish.

Our next stop on my secret dork tour was La Push and the Quileute Reservation. We drove all the way down La Push Rd. and passed by a house that stated that thats where Jacob Black lived. There was even a motorcycle out in front. Once we were in the Reservation there was a sign that said, "No Vampires allowed past this point". It even had a sign that said treaty line. Once we got to First Beach I started to really get excited. One, it is absolutely beautiful and even though the water was super cold the view was absolutely breathtaking. The other interesting thing that happened was a lady that lived on the reservation came up and talked to us for about 15 minutes. She was an honorary member, which meant that she wasn't native american, but she had lived there since she was little. Let me tell you she was quite the character. She was telling us where to find the best shells, how to skin a 43 lb salmon, where to make cheap money on the res, and she also loved my earrings that I got in India and said that she had a pair just like them that she got in Tibet. Yes, she was a hippie but she was telling us that she loved living there and she had been living in Seattle for 20 years, so she told us that her love for this place was some special. As we were leaving the guy she was with, who was Native American, told me that he loved my earrings and that he could catch fish with them. I REALLY wanted to take pictures of him because he looked like he had one of those faces that had seen many crazy things and that he would have loads of stories to tell. I didn't want to be rude but I kept thinking about what sort of things this man saw. My mom and I were super sad that we couldn't take a picture of him because of their tribal law.

Tonight I am staying in Port Angeles another place that was mentioned in the Twilight books. There arent't as many places here as in Forks but there is another Dazzled by Twilight stores and supposedly the restaurant that Bella and Edward ate at called "Bella Italia". All-in-all it was a fun, dorky trip but my favorite part was when I saw three 40-year old money with matching shirts that said that they want men that can sparkle. It was pretty hilarious and it pretty much made my day.
Tomorrow we are off to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I am excited to see some more flower gardens and just to go to Canada in general. One week until it is wedding central!
Lots of love and vampire blood. Diva.

Shakespeare in Love

Song of the day: She is Love by Parachute

Highlights: basically everything that has to do with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

So where you last met me I had had a wonderful day in San Francisco. Well a lot has happened since then. But instead of writing a long post describing my trip to Ashland I will sum it up in a few bullet points.
~Went to the Maybeck church in Berkley.
~Drove on the coast of California. Saw the ocean, which was beautiful. It took forever because we were on windy roads.
~Stayed in a hotel that promised ocean views. Guess what? They didnt exist.
~Drove on some more windy roads in the woods on the way to the Redwoods.
~Drove THROUGH a Redwood.
~Explored a river in the forest.
~Almost DIED driving down the mountain
~Met some cousins I never knew I had and they were super awesome.
~Arrived in Ashland, OR.

Now onto the super good stuff. So we woke up early in the morning and got ready to go on our backstage tour of OSF. They told us the history of the festival and just how many plays they did in a season. Theatre friends, listen up. In the height of their season they are doing 12 plays at a time. Their season runs for 8 1/2 months. Not only are they doing 12 shows at a time they are doing about 3 to 4 shows in ONE THEATRE. You know what that means. They have to change out the sets before every performance. That means that all the sets have to move easily and be stored, so you can imagine the type of space that these theatres have. It was absolutely amazing and I was about to come out of my pants. So after our tour we ate lunch at Grilla Bites which was a all organic place and it was very tasty. Then we went to a store called the Renaissance Rose. It was amazing and I got a beautiful blue masquerade mask that I am going to wear for Halloween. It was just too cool to pass up.

Fast forward to the evening where we saw Henry IV, Part 2 in the outdoor Shakespeare stage. The stage was beautiful and the show was pretty good. It was Shakespeare and I enjoyed seeing it and the actor that played Prince Hal was very convincing and very cute! So after 3 hours and a coronation later we drove back to our hotel. Earlier that day during the tour we had heard that most people who come see more than one show and we were thinking that maybe we should alter our plans and see another show. I was hoping that we could see The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, but it wasn't playing for the matinee time slot. So we decided to go see an original play called Ghost Lights. Now let me tell you that I have not seen a more amazing play in a long time. It was absolutely believable and I cried along with the actors. It was about Jonathon Masccone who was the son of Mayor Masccone who was assassinated in San Francisco. In the play the main character was battling with the loss of his dad which happened when he was a teenager and directing Hamlet. This play opened many floodgates for him and it was amazing to watch it unfold. It is kinda hard to explain but you will have to trust me that it was absolutely breathtaking. At the end the cast got a standing ovation and the lead actress was crying. I could tell because I was in the second row. I loved it and I am so glad that we stayed an extra day.

So then we made our long drive up to Portland which is where we are now ready to begin our new adventure! Below are some pictures from my trip so far. Enjoy! Diva.

 These are the sutra baths that I went with Will to go see. These arent the baths but I just really like this picture.

Me on the coast of California in the middle of our crazy drive.

Woo! Ashland!

Chinatown, Hippies, and Friends

 

Song of the Day: I Got You by Leona Lewis

Highlight of the Day: spending time with my best friend.

As you can probably tell from the title, today was the big tourist day and we saw a ton of things and did even more walking. We took our little trip to Chinatown and once we passed through the gorgeous gate my mom and G-ma spotted a shop full of trinkets and scarves. 30 minutes later we emerged with chopsticks, scarves, statues, fans, and lanterns. Our next mission was finding the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. Our tour guide told us that they made tons of fresh cookies and that you could get them in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. After asking many people and walking through little streets we found a line of people waiting for fresh cookies. This cute little man walked through the line with a smile on his face and handed our WARM fortune cookies that were flat. They were so delicious. So we decided to buy chocolate and vanilla cookies with fortunes and ones that were flat without fortunes.

Our next point of interest was Haight-Ashbury which was where all the hippies used to live. We are talking REAL hippies, Janis Joplin was one, and it was pretty cool. There were tons of stores selling loose clothing from different parts of the world, tattoo parlors, and stores selling marijuana. We saw some pretty interesting people and enjoyed all the colors which made us them buy even more things. Bracelets, earrings, saris, and hippie shirts. So once we got back on the bus I headed off on my own to take the train back to Milbrae to spend the rest of the day with my dear friend Will. After talking to his mom and spending some time with Bandit we headed off toward the Sutro Baths on the Pacific Ocean. They are ruins of old salt water baths that are literally right on the ocean. There was an easy way to get day to the baths but according to Will that was the boring way to get down to the ocean. That was code for the SAFEST way to get there. Of course we took the route which required me to hop over a wall and try not to die on the dirt cliff that we were walking down. Once we safely made it down the baths were pretty cool and I even got to go into a cave. The cave was almost pitch black and thankfully Will went in front of me because he got to fall in all the little holes instead of me. Of course that was my evil plan all along! After the baths we drove around the outskirts of San Francisco trying to think of where we wanted to eat. After about 20 minutes we decided that we were going to eat back where he lived. It was a fun drive which consisted of tempting fate and try to get all the green lights and seeing where his grandma lived. After about 45 minutes of silliness the place where we going to eat was closed! Grrr. So we ate delicious pizza and hung out until I had to head back to my great uncle and aunt's house. It was one of the best days I have had all summer!

Next time you will all hear about our crazy trip by the ocean and seeing the Redwoods!
Love and Kisses, Diva.

The French Avant-Garde and Turtle shaped rolls

Song of the Day: Fade Into Me by David Cook

Highlights of the day:
~Meeting Will at the BART station and getting to see his mommy and ADORABLE puppy Bandit!
~Discovering the painting "Music" by Matisse. (There will be a story and a picture later in post.)
~Taco Food truck!
~Turtle-shaped bread
~Ice cream at Ghiradelli Square

Funniest moment you ask.....this picture right here <------------------------------

Let me tell you this story about this picture. My G-ma got us this bus tickets for a sight seeing bus in which you could hop-on-hop-off at different locations in the city and see all the main sites. This sounded like a great idea but ended up being kinda a pain in the butt. So we got on the bus at Union Square and then took it all the way the fisherman's wharf. The wharf was a typical fish place and was SUPER touristy. I mean on a Friday in a beautiful day in the summer there were tons of tourists everywhere but this was by far the worst. So we walked around and decided that we were going to have some bread from this factory called Boudin. That's where I got my turtle shaped bread! It's cute and I will put a picture up later. Then we decided all we cared about was chocolate so we walked towards Ghiradelli Square and found FREE chocolate...yumm and ice cream. By this time we had to walk back down to the wharf and catch the last bus tour back into the city. We got there in time and then had to wait for the bus to come. After three buses came and went that were the same color and company as the one we got off on they finally told us that we could get on one with an open top. As we were sitting in the top of the bright blue bus I looked up at the clear blue sky and noticed that there was the fog rolling into the city. I didnt think anything of it and enjoyed my ride for about 20 minutes. Then came the bus ride from hell, which brings us back to this picture. This is my mom and I on the top of the bus with tiny sweaters freezing our asses off. We got stuck in traffic for an hour and then it took another to get back into the city. Let me tell you I thought I was going to die. But it was pretty comical because my mom looked like a turtle.

OKAY. So now I am going to tell you the story I MADE UP about a painting that I saw in the exhibit at the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). The exhibit had paintings from Matisse and Picasso and was pretty cool but so NOT my style. Until I saw this painting I just knew that I had to give all of you what was going on during this painting. First I will give you a picture of the painting. Then as you are reading you can refer back to the painting.  I will be narrating it to you like I am a very snooty museum curator.
  Now this is Matisse's most priceless work "Music". I know what most of you are thinking that it has only one element of music but it doesn't matter. As most of you know an artist can do whatever the hell he wants and everyone will still think that it is the best thing in the whole entire world. However this painting is not about the man with incredibly short arms playing a tiny violin, this is about the two women sharing an intimate moment. Their names are Clarice and Jezebel. They have just found their new love and Matisse was their gay artist friend. He saw them hanging out at the park and told them that he would love to paint them free and friendly. So he told them to wear simple white dresses, let their hair blow in the breeze, and go at it for a solid hour. They had no problem since they were being allowed to express themselves when usually they were bring stiffled by their husbands who are the two naked men in the front of the picture. Matisse is making a statement encouraging women to embrace their natural desires and tear down the men in their lives. I am sure you have all heard of the saying when you are complaining that you could be playing the worlds smallest violin. This means that nobody cares about what you are feeling because you are a huge baby. Matisse is suggesting the first husband of the brunette, Clarice, is whining and Matisse basically told him "Wah"and that he should just be happy for his wife. The other man is just so embarassed that he just wants to disappear. What will his mother think when she finds out that his wife LOVES OTHER WOMEN! EGADS! Matisse was a big fan of women and this painting was basically the reason that women decided to burn their bras and rule the world. Women we owe everything we have to dear Matisse.

So I hoped that you enjoyed my interpretation! Tomorrow will be about hippies and chinese people and my time with dear William Crowley and Bandit!
Til tomorrow! Diva

A Diva's Adventure in BoyLand.

Song of the Day: Firework by Katy Perry

Today's post will be a story that I decided to write for all of your. I hope that you enjoy this very special post that I am doing for all of you.

Once upon a time there was this gorgeous Princess named Amelia. She was super talented in the arts and all the princes in the land wanted a chance to be able to dance next to her at the monthly balls. After one of her parties she decided that she didn't want to be a prince and decided to stroll the local market for a peasant boy. One of her friends told her that she should try meeting someone that she knew. So she decided that even though she had no idea what this peasant boy looked like she would give him a chance. So with the help of all of her friends she decided to go out and find the best dress to wear on her rendezvous with this peasant boy. So the night of, she got all dressed up and her friends told her that she looked absolutely stunning. When the carriage arrived she happily hopped on and drove the the local tavern where she was to meet the boy. The whole way there she was thinking about all of the things that could possibly happen. As she walked into the tavern she looked for the boy and saw him across the room and she gasped at way she saw. He was dressed as a wizard! A princess could never date a wizard, it was forbidden. Sadly he had seen her so she had to try her hardest not to be put under any spell. Thankfully he was the most boring wizard that he had ever met. She tried so hard to do everything that she had been taught in school. How to smile, how to seem interested, and most importantly how to graciously decline meeting with someone.
"I'm sorry, but as I am princess I can't really be with someone like you. Another peasant might like you but me I think I will stick with my balls and my princes, even though they can be crazy." Princess Amelia waved to her servant and she quickly ran to her carriage. As soon as she was inside she let out a huge laugh and was automatically grateful that she didn't fall under the spell of the wizard. When she got back to the palace late that night she called all of her friends into her room. She told them the story about her night and they all laughed and she told them. "I will never be ungrateful for what I have. Ever."
So the princess went to her next party with the brightest dress she had ever worn. They played her favorite song, she danced all night, and she most certainly will live happily ever after.