My Hero

Anne Frank.
You are my role model.
Anne Frank inspires me beyond belief.
SHE IS AMAZING.

We read the play in English, and I totally plan on reading the actual book. We also read a short piece (I know, bizarre word) written by this man who traced Anne Frank's life, basically.

...everything about Anne Frank and the Holocaust in general intoxicates me. I want to know more. I want to thrive on this. It is so interesting!!

For the past 10 minutes, I sat and pondered the Holocaust. Think of the immense pain and sorrow the Jews went through...

Every day
Every minute
Every second
Another friend, family member, or acquaintance DIED. Just like THAT. For no absolute reason...
Other than the way they were born.

It just ANGERS me. It is NOT FAIR.

Old photographs during the Holocaust encapture me... they hold so much history, so many stories. I especially love old pictures of people. I just study the look on their face, what they're wearing, the people around them, the setting. I imagine what they are thinking- do they know what is about to happen to them? Do they realize that they are entering a DEATH camp? Where thousands and THOUSANDS died before them? I want to get inside their brain, know what they are thinking... INTERVIEW them. KNOW them.

Old things. Old things in general. Toothbrushes, jewelry, combs, pencils...anything historical makes me think so deeply. What was the person doing when they were using that item? What was going on around them? Who were they with? I read somewhere that the gas chambers in death camps to this day have paint chipped off on the inside from people scratching the walls, trying to get out as they were tortured to death. You can travel to Germany, visit the camps, actually GO INSIDE the gas chamber.

New life destination.

Germany.

Forget Paris and New York. I have a physical NEED to go to Germany, visit the camps, put myself in the Jews' position. I want to know the depths of their hearts, talk to them, get to know them and what they went through. I really want to meet someone who is living today who knew Anne Frank, someone who was with her during her last moments. What was she like? Was she still optimistic, even as she was being dragged to her death?

Anne Frank. I love you. During her time at the Secret Annex, where she lived in silence for two years and ate nothing but beans, she was HAPPY. She was CONTENT. She was glad to be with the people she loved, safe for just a little while. She didn't groan and complain. She had fun. She looked for the good things in people. One of her last entries in her diary was, "I still believe that, in spite of everything, people are really good at heart." She was talking about the NAZIS. Who killed thousands, and were about to kill her. She believed with all her heart that they were good people inside. That is true character.

She inspires me to improve things in my own life...

When I am going through a hard time, what do I do in reaction? Do I complain? Do I feel bad for myself? Do I yell at people who don't deserve getting yelled at?

How do I view people? Do I point out the bad in them all? Do I search for weaknesses, or do I build them up?

I am definitely thankful for my life. We live in Orange County, with large houses, money, food, clothing, FREEDOM. We shouldn't be complaining at all! God has blessed each one of us with the freedom to go out and about without having to wear a sign saying "I'm Christian!" or "I'm Muslim!" We have the freedom to believe what we want to without being KILLED for it. We can breathe fresh air without worrying that the Nazis will arrest us for being outside after six o'clock. We are SO blessed.

Anne Frank, you inspire me beyond all things.
You
are
my
role model.

**I don't know why this font is so large...sorry.**

Who wants to guess where I spent the past 5 hours?

At various car dealerships. NOT FUN.

11:50- Dad: "Hey Heather, you're coming with my to look at some cars."
12:30- Arrive at Nissan dealer. Look at some cars, take some for a drive.
1:00- Go to random East Indian man's house named Nile to look at a car he is selling. His house was in Amaheim Hills, aka about 40 minutes away. Take it for a spin, tell him we will give him a call.
1:40- Go to dealership about an hour away. Look at some cars.
2:00- Drive one car around for a half an hour.
2:30- Look at some more, than take same one around for another half an hour.
3:10- Decide we are interested in car. Talk for a while with salesmen.
3:30- We (or should I say my dad) is really interested. Decide we want the car. Talk to salesmen for an hour about prices in his dismal office. Sit in hard chair, pondering life abd how boring it is when you are at car dealerships.
4:30- Start to feel faint. Need food. Salesman buys Reese's for me. So kind.
4:34- Sit whilst dad talks for another 45 minutes. Boredom increasing.
5:18- Take car for ANOTHER spin.
5:45- Move to financial manager's office to sign papers. I sit there. Listening to Dad and Man talk about insurance and warranty. For a long time. Look at brochures.
6:10- Move items from Dad's car to new car.
6:30- FINALLY LEAVE.
6:40- Dad is nice. Buys me Jamba Juice.
6:50- HOME AT LAST.

What a boring day. My dad thought this would be a bonding time...

I don't think so. Sorry Dad.

Inspiring Song

Love unfailing
Overtaking my heart
You take me in
Finding peace again

Fear is lost in all you are

And I would give the world to tell your story
Because I know that you've called me

I know that you've called me

I've lost myself for good within your promise
And I won't hide it
I won't hide it...

Jesus I believe in you
and I would go
To the ends of the Earth
To the ends of the Earth
For you alone are the son of God
and all the world will see
That you are God
You are God...

WICKED.

As we all know, I saw Wicked for the second time on Wednesday.

One word- phenomenal.

Before the play, we walked to this DELISH Italian restaurant. They had interesting decor...These interesting pots were clustered on the ceiling.
I felt bad for the waitress, because I was so indecisive...
"Can I have the fettuccine portabella?"
"Do you want broccoli or spinach on it?"
"Umm...can I get chicken?"
"Sure...but that would just be the fettuccine with chicken."
"Oh, I'll just have that then."
"Okay."
"Wait. Actually, can I have the fettuccine portabella?"
"Sure...broccoli or spinach?"
"Broccoli."
"Okay!"
"Hold on. Can I change my mind again? I'll just have the lasagna."
"Baked with cheese?"
"No. Wait. Um...yes."
"Okay...what would you like to drink?"
"What do you have?"
"Sprite, Coke, Diet Coke, Root Beer, Pepsi..."
"Do you have ginger ale?"
"Yes..."
"I'll have that."

My order took so long...sorry, waitress.

We took a subway back...I am now a cultured woman. I have never taken a subway in my life. It was so fun! There were bizarre murals on the wall of the subway station.Then my sister took a photo shoot of me for my blog picture. The whole time she tried to teach me how to smile...
"Engage with your eyes!"
"K..."
(take picture. look at picture)
"Okay...um. We can try again."
I cannot engage with my eyes for my life.

THEN WE ARRIVED.
The whole thing was amazing. My brother even loved it. The songs, the actors, the sets...everything was INTOXICATING. IN A GOOD WAY. It is WAY better the second time. You don't have to worry so much about trying to understand the story and catch every line.

WICKED = LOVE. THE END.

Blonde Moment

I don't really have that many blonde moments...but I had a HUGE one yesterday.

It was Civil War Day at my school, where we go to various stations and learn about different aspects of the War. I was at Camp Life, and there were these two men talking about how they were both war veterans and what they did to entertain themselves and such. I raised my hand and asked, "What war were you in?" Everyone just stared at me. This kid was like "The CIVIL war, duh! It's CIVIL WAR day." I did not get it. "But...I thought the Civil War was in like the 1800's..." Then someone informed me that they were just re-enacting the Camp Life, and they weren't really soldiers. I felt so stupid. The two 'Civil War soldiers' just laughed at me, as well as the rest of the group.

Wow... good one, Heather.

Funniest Line From My Day

Me: Seth, move your lizard.
Seth: It's not a lizard! It's a backpack.

Another question for my seasoned high school experts

a.k.a. Allison and Shannon. Should I do periods 1-7 while I have almost all honors? Should I drop an honors class or go 1-6? Or just keep 1-7/Honors??

This is my last decision to make in regards to the vast land of high school.

Wicked.Wicked.Wicked.WICKED.

My heart is beating so fast right now. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodnesssss.

I.

Am.

Seeing.

Wicked.

On.

Wednesday.

I repeat.

I am seeing WICKED on WEDNESDAY.

I CAN'T CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!!!!!

My mom walked in the door five minutes ago. She walks up to my slyly and says, "Have you checked your email?"

"No..."

"You'd better check it." she says, a her mouth twitching.

"Okay..." I say. I quickly sign in to hotmail, the suspense building. My mom is standing there. This must be good. She is WAITING for my reaction. So I open my email...and what do I see in the subject line from Shelley Leith?

"Wicked! Plans"

I SCREAM SO LOUD.

I JUMP UP AND DOWN.

I AM ECSTATIC.

First of all, allow me to tell you that I adore Wicked. With a passion.
It is my life and blood.
I know all the songs.

I live,
breathe,
and sleep Wicked.
It is my pride and joy.

So I have seen it once before. But here's the thing. I didn't know ANYTHING about it at the time. I did not embrace.

But NOW...

I know the songs.

I realize the phenomenal extent of this play.

I listen to the soundtrack 24/7.

I know and love the actors. (Not personally...you know what I mean.)

I will fully embrace and breathe in this play.

And here is the other reason why this is so phenomenal. I learned that my brother, his girlfriend Lindsay Keyes, and my sister were ALL going in March. But my mom didn't have enough tickets for me to go. And THEN while she was in Texas she saw it again...no clue why...but both times I was so disappointed that I couldn't go.

SO I AM SO ECSTATIC THAT I GET TO GO. IN TWO DAYS. OHH MYYY FREAKING GOODNESSSS.

Madre Leith. I lovelovelovelove you for doing this for me. You are such a Wicked mom.
(you like that pun, everyone?)

Yippee for Heather's Newfound Talent!

"What is it?" Well. Lemme tell you. I can pull of a sweet British/Australian accent. I discovered this talent today at the mall with some Wildside amigas. We talked in accents the whole time.

We were at the register in Nordstrom's when I asked the girl if a certain ring sold very well in my accent. (The ring was really creepy- it was a deer with beady diamond eyes.) The girl looked very confused, and was like, "What??"
I repeated myself. "Does this ring sell well?"
"Does it sow...huh??" she said with a puzzled expression.
"DOES IT SELL WELL." I said articulately.
"Oh..um. No." She said, still extremely confused. As we rang up, Allison said, "We're playing this game where we all talk in accents." The girl looks at both of us, not getting it.

So I said in my accent, "Thot's why I'm tolking loike this." Poor lady does not get it. Allison helped her out. "She doesn't really have a British accent." Lady starts to get it. "Oh....OH. OHH. Wait. OH MY GOSH! YOU TOTALLY HAD ME!" she has this Valley Girl voice, so she sounded REALLY dumb. She was really loud and was just screaming and laughing. "Wait!" she said, "So you are American? Ohmigosh you HAD ME GOING! What if I talked like that? How FUNNY! Wait. Talk for real."

"Umm....hi. my name is Heather." I said.

"OH! HAHAHAHAHA! OH MY GOSH!" She was so ditzy it was not even funny. Actually, it was funny.

So for the rest of the day we proceeded to speak in British accents to everyone. People were staring at us for like the whole time. So anytime you need some British/Australian comfort...Who you gonna call? Heather Leith!

Cutest Kids Ever

My neighbors Autumn and Carson (love those names) plus their dog Frankie are adoooorable
I know I look bizarre here.

Notice how many times Carson sticks his tongue out to the side.

Mug shot!

Oh Autumn. You are delusional.

Oh Hot Chocolate...

Lesson of the day: Never get hot chocolate from Starbucks. It is really bitter and gross. It tasted so weird that I asked for another one, only to find it tasted the same. I ended up drinking about three sips. What a waste of money.

What's the deal with "4/20"?

4/20 is National Get High day, I guess. SO bizarre. All the druggies at school are like "Dude, what are you gonna do for 4/20?" As in, what drugs are you planning on doing? Ridiculous. I informed my history teacher that kids from RSM and other schools are planning on going to the YMCA and smoking pot. Um. The YMCA as in the RSM city hall. As in there is a police station in the same building. As in, you wanna get arrested? My teacher shared my feelings. He thought it was quite crazy as well. It is so dumb how like 1/4 of my school does drugs. I hate how it's okay. People find that attractive. NOT okay. So stupid. I am making myself angry, here. HUGS, NOT DRUGS, PEOPLE.

Makeover Madness

A couple of days ago, Melissa and I decided to do themed makeovers on each other, then have a photo shoot. My theme was Bubblegum Princess.

Melissa's theme was 80's Woman Goes to Work.

Admire and respect this authentic 80's Christmas sweater.

On behalf of The Bubblegum Princess and the 80's Workplace Woman, thank you, Heather's Madre, for keeping all of your 80's clothes and makeup/letting us borrow your recent clothes. We deeply appreciate your sense of bizarre fashion.

High School and Track...So Overwhelming.

Alas, High School is nearing. Today we had a presentation from the guidance counselors at THHS. To say the least, my blood pressure has risen at least 50 points (what is blood pressure measured in??). There are so many choices to make.
Should I go from periods 1-7, 2-7, or 1-6?
Should I do a sport?
Which sport?
Tennis?
Volleyball?
Girl's Wrestling?
Should I just do regular PE?
Should I take a language right off the bat, or wait a year?
French, Spanish, or German?
Which elective?
Drama?
Photography?
Video TV?
Should I join a club?
Yu-Gi-Oh club?
Boba club?
Juggling Club?
Esoteric Order of Dagon Club? (whatever Esoteric and Dagon mean.)
Party for the Planet Club?
Ping Pong Club?
Simple Organic Living Club?
Knitting Club?
Indian Pop Rocks Club? (yes, all of the above are clubs at Trabuco. No, I am not considering any. Well, maybe Yu-Gi-Oh club.)
Should I even BE in a club?
OH MY GRACIOUS! I AM OVERWHELMED! PEOPLE OUT OF/IN HIGH SCHOOL! SOME HELP HERE? I am calling a family conference tonight. For real. I cannot make these decisions alone.
After that frantic post, track seems much more calming. It was a HARD practice today. First of all, I had PE last period, so I was already a bit tired out. Secondly, we had to jog a lap, but people got all competitive and went fast, so I had to speed up so I wouldn't be lagging. Then we ran for five continuous minutes. THEN we sprinted the 400, which is sprinting around the track. I mean SPRINTING. HARD. I pretty much collapsed when I was done, and I was the slowest person the whole time- yet I was tiredest. I need to improve if I want to do the meet. I am determined. I will work HARD. Well. Maybe I shouldn't even worry, because I won't even qualify for the running parts, nor do I want to. I probably will make it for the high jump. But still, I want to work hard and improve. GO ROADRUNNERS.

This is one tired and overwhelmed chica, signing off.

Future Track Star...Right Here.

Today, April the sixteenth of two thousand and seven, marks the renewing of Heather Leith's track and field career. Lo and behold, this experience begins at RSM Intermediate at 3:00 PM. She is all suited up and ready to go...her friend/foe Melissa, however, is not. Far from a track star, she is decked out in a flowy tank top, skinny jeans, Uggs, fuzzy socks, and a long necklace. Shame to her familia. She has to leave her Uggs in the middle of the field whilst we do relays. They were almost valdalized by an unknown male with blue earrings. Melissa, take heed to this warning. While she was sprinting in bare feet, Heather was reminiscing on her past track career. She was and is a track star, as you can see below.

Heather doing hurdles (far left)

Heather prepping for the shot put

Heather high jumping (yes, I was a member of the Hawthorne Huskies.)

Heather celebrating her first place in the all-around

As you can see, I was a S-T-A-R. My talents kind of faded, however, as the years flew by. However, today marks the beginning of a new chapter in her life. She will redeem her title of Number One at the track meet. You just wait.

p.s. if you go to a different school, join track and then you can try to beat me at the meet.

My favorite movie

Meet the Robinson's. Amazing. No joke. When Joanna and I decided that we would see a movie together, we picked Meet the Robinson's, thinking that it would just be a silly, happy-go-lucky movie. Whatever.

NO. It was inspirational. It was somewhat bizarre. It had a great message. It had deep plots with twists and turns. It was PHENOMENAL.

Throughout the whole movie, Joanna and I discussed the plots and themes and how everything connected. No joke. We have a deep emotional connection with this movie.

The must see movie this year? Meet the Robinson's. Period.

Flat ME Day...Finally!

As we all know, Thursday was Flat Me Day, where you make a little mini-flat-you on a piece of paper and carry it around with you all day, and it participates in all activities with you.

Fact File on My Flat:
|Name| Jgretl (the J is silent, so it is pronounced Gre-tle)
|Outfit| Multi-patterned jumpsuit, painted nails|Best Friends| Flat Larson and Flat Barnabus|Arch Enemy| Flat Dudley

|Activities of the Day| Talking on the phone Riding in the car

Visiting the eye doctor

Meeting John Travolta

Seeing Meet the RobinsonsEating rice
Reading

Flat Jgretl had such a fun day, as you can see. She is quite an eccentric Flat.

Mona Lisa Smile

Admire. Just breathe this drawing in. Compare the two. Soak in the shading on the face and dress. I call it...the Mona Lisa.

Arist: Muah.

Medium: Microsoft Paint.

Inspiration: This video.

Disclaimer: Please realize that Heather Leith was completely serious on the body, yet the background was drawn in approximately 5 seconds. She knows.

So basically, I spent the past hour drawing this masterpiece. I love how the body just looks like a content girl rather than Mona Lisa.

I am such a professional.

Look for my work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dear Loyal Fans.

Fear not. Tomorrow I will blog about Flat Me day, aka Flat JGretl Day. For those who do not know what I mean by this statement, you will find out soon enough...

Good things come to those who wear loafers on a daily basis.

Easter bags, conga lines, and trash

Yesterday, Wildside went to a few different places to do community service projects. Of course, Heather Leith was there to join in on the festivities.

The Agenda:

1. Go to FloJo park to decorate and fill Easter Bags and make Easter cards.
2. Deliver Easter bags to nursing home and have an Easter Party/ Egg Hunt with them.

There was a man there playing songs for us- we all danced with the residents.

Two old ladies full on, single-handedly started a conga line. It evolved to this.
p.s. that girl in the blue is not me.

These two ladies were so adorable. The one in the pink knew every song that the piano man played, and she would just stand with a concentrated look on her face and do a routine. The one in the gray was dancing with a girl and she just wrapped her leg around the poor girl rambunctiously.
Rachel Styffe dancing with Mitzy. I did an egg hunt with Mitzy, and she kept going really fast. She almost fell three times. After we found like 12 eggs, I was like "Okay, I think we're done." And she goes, "No. No we're not done yet. We have to keep going." She was determined. Most of the residents had Alzheimer's, and so we would be talking to them and they would just get all confused or be like, "Where's my sister?" I felt bad. However, they were all gems.

3. Pick up trash at the beach. 4. Go to Golden Spoon. This kid Oscar was trying to flirt with me, Melody, and Rachel the whole time. He needs to work on his skills. He wrote his number on the window with his finger, and pressed his butt and face against the window. We were all truly bizarred. Step up on your game, Oscar. We are not impressed. : )

What a productive day. We showed old people the love of God, and helped our community by cleaning a very gross beach. Hooray!