i would just like to reinforce

how much i love my family.
having everyone home again is so heartwarming.
like carson said at dinner- it became so normal to have just five in the house. but when shan and jason AND grandma and grandpa alf all came, we realized that this is just how it's supposed to be. when we are all home, the atmosphere is so vibrant and warm and fun.

i am so grateful that God put us all in the same family. i could not imagine my life without a big, hilarious, talented, loving, God-centered family. they are the absolute best.

my love for disneyland increases more and more with each visit.

as does my love for my family.
those are my number one and two thanksgiving thankful-nesses - my family and disneyland.

we filled an entire indiana jones car, plus ryan, who had to ride alone...
here are my attempts to document our leith-and-yamashita-filled car:

it never really worked out.

heather: space mountain is my favorite ride.
shannon: me too!
heather: this is why we're sisters.

i love love love this one vv

we also filled an entire small world boat.
and again, i failed at taking a picture of it.

oh, another failed photo attempt!
this was supposed to be a picture of the snow in our hair,

oh well, they can just be regular pictures.

this was directly after we waited for 50 minutes in front of the castle for the fireworks.
there was great fear that they would be canceled- but in the end, they happened.
thank the lord.
my favorite thing is joking around with strangers as if you have known them for years- i love bonding over the situation you both find yourselves in,
like waiting for an hour only to find the fireworks almost canceled.
it was a great great day.

i would like to thank walt disney for creating the happiest place on earth.

if it does not rain tomorrow...

i will be SO mad.

it is for sure raining and maybe THUNDERING tonight...why does it always have to be while i'm asleep? i want it during the day.

anyway. tomorrow = leaving school early to go DLANDINNNNG. i am so excited. all the leithies together at last.

i have such pointless posts these days.

but hey, it's my blog and i do what i want.

reason number one billion why physics is irrational:

here is a problem i am supposed to be doing right now-

"At a wedding reception, you notice a small boy who looks like his mass is about 25 kg running part way across the dance floor, then sliding on his knees until he stops. If the kinetic coefficient of friction between the boy's pants and the floor is 0.15, what is the frictional force acting on him as he slides?"

uhh so how do i go about this....?
stupid sliding boy.

the happiest place on earth.

i payed disneyland a visit on friday with cory, joe, jason, and tiffany.
it was thrilling.
and i am returning on wednesday with the fam fam!
these are the times i am very grateful that i live in california.
because d-land is magical.

post number 600!

how did that come so quickly?
looking back, my first couple hundred posts are so embarrassing.
dear reader, if you ever look back at old posts and think "this girl was a psychopath," don't worry about it, i have changed. i no longer think that being random is funny- i.e...

"I eat garlic with my toes."

or "So today, we established that I am Catwoman. I am their arch enemy. I attack cities with my hissing and clawing. I constantly try to defeat Dogman and Seniorman. I destroy towns to the theme song that was playing in Daphne's. Yeah, that's right, I have a theme song. It is Greek."

oh my gosh, humiliating.
this is the number one reason why i am not eager to tell people i blog...because if they look back they will question my sanity.

okay so how did this relate to post number 600?
i forgot...

either way i am proud of my accomplishments and thankful that i am not a gross and embarrassing 8th grader anymore.

and so the journey begins.

first comedy sportz practice was today.

here comes a list.
in three.
two.
ONE.

- i got in trouble after practice for "laughing about inside jokes with nikki adams..." sautner even told me to stay away from her...but he was confusing me for melissa. she talked to nikki about inside jokes, not me. yet she did not admit it, because she was already in trouble for talking too much and asking dumb questions. yeah, that's why we're BeStIeZzZZZzz. we "stick up for each other."

- we played easy games. but i blanked a lot on stage...whatevs. first practice. i'm all good.

- after practice saut saut talked about his eyeball rupturing and him being blind for like a month. i could not hold in my laughter. but it wasn't good because we were mid-getting in trouble.

- i really have nothing else to say about it...i'll just continue on with news from my day.

- joanna and i took fashion pictures for the yearbook today. i am discovering that i take good pictures! probably from watching shannon all these years.

- we always have to go to the orchestra room to pull people out to get their pictures. well, twice, but you know, it seems like a lot, because every time we enter, they are all intensely tuning their violins, etc., and they all just look at us stealthily, their eyes full of disgust for disrupting their sacred practice. it's like we are entering a secret society meeting, and we are the enemy they were just gossiping about. did that make sense? and then we tried to pull out this bass player (the "first seater," so we were told?) to talk about his mozart-like talent, but this girl glared at us and was like "CAN YOU COME BACK TOMORROW." so we apologized and left.

- our lunchtime group has expanded so so much. last year, it was me, melissa, rachel, zeinah...and that's basically it. but this year we also have jp, steven lo, phillip, jordan rex, and the occasional rachel styffe + friends. it's so fun, i love watching the group grow in numbers.

- okay, i have to have all my christmas carol lines mem-oh-rized by tomorrow...so off i go to work on my british dialogue. ta ta for now, friends!

i like to think i'm clever.

grandma: how can you date any boys? none of them are as tall as you.
heather: well, i have some pretty HIGH standards.

these are the pathetic jokes that get me on comedy sportz.
naaat

AHH I GOT A NEW CAR!

it's a giant silver truck!


okay, fine, i'm lying. but i DID drive my grandma's truck around o'neill park in trabuco canyon today.
and i had to stop for deer crossing the road!

how pathetic my life must be if this is the most exciting part of the week.
stopping for deer.
it was really cool, though.

how to party hard

[ step one ] bust out a spinning double disco ball, otherwise known as a mini-mace
[ step two ] turn it on in the garage
[ step three ] turn the lights off
[ step four ] pump up the jam, ideally hannah montana and n*sync
[ step five ] open the garage to get some cool air circulating and to impress the neighbors
[ step six ] play pool
[ step seven ] do not stop dancing

it works really well, i promise.

jump for joy!

even though i look headless and armless in this photo and my legs are awkwardly contorted!

for i am semi-officially ON comedy sportz.
they need to train more people for next year, so they took on me and this kid matt.
they said it was to train us, but i think i'm basically a regular part of the team. i will even do some shows at the end of the year!
i am SO SO SO SO excited. BEYOND thrilled. SUPERBLY giddy.
and nervous at the same time.
it was a good, good day.

AND! i took a physics test...and i actually understood the questions. and i'm pretty sure i got a good grade. this is revolutionary. i have yet to comprehend one concept...but inertia just all make sense when i took this test.

....go team.

praise the lord.

my brother was visiting westmont college, you know, to experience collegiate life there.
and the one night he goes there, there is a fire.
the dorm he was staying in burned down. but great news. he is alive and not dead!
although he did lose his iPod, some books, clothes, a Bible, and songbooks- important things, but replacable. he had his journal, which is priceless. so we are all good in the neighborhood, for the most part.

except that 14 homes and 8 buildings i believe in westmont were completely burned. so that is not okay. but praise the lord, literally, that he is alive.

i'll be praying for the people that actually lost everything.

our favorite activity

i have 624 videos and pictures in my photobooth.
and that's after deleting about 200.
it is literally what we do EVERY time we all come to my house...
which is usually every wednesday before small group.
oh, it's just too fun.

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

it turns out that taylor swift and kelly pickler saw rachel and i's (mine and rachel's? what i do i say?) homecoming picture and copied it, right down to our expressions, hand placement, necklines...

those brats.

AND!

i renovated my blog.

i was SO productive today.

- i cleaned my room. like, REALLY cleaned it. this calls for sub-bullets:

• i threw away old papers
  
• put away things that belong elsewhere in the house
• vacuumed the sand off of my bed (long story, but i have been sleeping on sand for the past 21 days)
• organized my shoes
• put some clothes in the giveaway bin
• made my bed
• hung up my clothes
• cleared off and organized surfaces...
• goodness, was it ever satisfying.

- i did my laundry.

- i set out the clothes that i need to return to the people whom i borrowed them from.

- i watched some TV, ate some ice cream, checked blogs, myspace, facebook, email, etc., but only for a short time.

- i journaled and prayed.

- i ate.

- i renovated and simplified my myspace, because it was just too cluttered and i was tired of the design.

- i took a walk- down the driveway to check the mail and then back up the driveway.

- and now i am going to finish my math and a book, and do worksheets and vocab and all that jazz.

okay, this has by far been my most productive day in a long time- and it's only three PM. heck yeah.

my new favorite snack

coffee ice cream with caramel sauce.

absolutely addicting.

are we all comment shy?

or does no one read my blog anymore?

yours truly, circa fourth grade.

i was a cutie.

i'm still jenny from the block.

this picture is just to entice you to keep reading.

it has nothing to do with the following post.

today

was my street's first ever block party.

are you ready for a list of highlights?

because here it comes.

- i was called a freak by an 11 year old i had just met

- there was a slide bounce house in which lauren and i did cool tricks down the slide to impress all the 12 year olds

- i met the cutest little child in the world. his name is luke. and he is my new hero.

- i got the word out that i babysit to some families with cute babies

- the food. was delicious.

- lauren and i put on rollerblades and showed off for the neighborhood

- i got SHOVED off of the part where you climb up to get to the slide in the bounce house...by the same boy who called me a freak. it was really mean. like, he fully pushed me off. and it was high, too.

- rachel patla, who does not live on our street, is now on the neighborhood phone number directory. she is listed as one of the leith children.

- lauren was tackled and held captive by a vicious five year old

- these two children harassed lauren and i the entire time, and even dragged innocent luke into it too. kids these days.

oh, what a day.

great, great neighborly bonding.

"can i have some of that german shepherd?"

FACT: homeless people have a great sense of humor.

i went to hang out with them and serve them dinner last thursday.

it was an amazing experience.

there is a church that does this every week- they give a message, then serve them food, and then just hang out with them and love them. so yazz and friends and i joined.

first, we served them dinner- jade and i were on the dessert committee. this one lady was trying to ask for the german chocolate cake...but instead she said the above quote ^^. it was hilarious.

then after that we walked around and just talked to the people. it was so sad looking around and knowing that each person had lost absolutely everything. all they had was a backpack with some clothes, if that. it was really really fulfilling talking to them and hearing their stories, and one man told me how God has helped him get through the incredible hardship he's facing. oh, it was so good.

now, on the sunnier side of things- like i said, homeless people are hilarious. i offered this man some dessert, and his response was "ohh, no. i'm sweet enough already." it was a good one.

and there was this man who told us that he was a mountain climber, a mortgage broker, a world traveler, and a professional biker who knows Lance Armstrong. obviously he was lying, but it was still comical.

conclusion. i want to go back as much as possible. it was so so amazing.

end!

i just fed the homeless

and it was wonderful.
i'll elaborate when i'm not so tired.
i'm ready for my four-day weekend. lay it on me.

yesterday i had a pomegranate tootsie pop.

i know, weird, right?!

it basically tasted like cherry, just more sour.
i felt really exotic eating it, though.

i love lists.

11 things i'm passionate about
1. Jesus
2. Familly
3. Food
4. My best friends
5. Great conversations
6. Learning from the Bible
7. Acting
8. Writing
9. Rain/Snow
10. Wavy hair
11. Laughing
______________________________
8 things i want to do before i die
1. Get married
2. Have children
3. Go to New York
4. Go on an overseas missions trip
5. Dye my hair (at least semi-permanent.)
6. Tour Europe
7. Have a job I love
8. Live every second for the Lord
______________________________
6 things i say often
1. That's so fun!
2. I would appreciate it if you would stop.
3. It's been real.
4. Let's just all be friends ?!
5. Calm down, please.
6. I love you.

______________________________
6 artists i never get tired of
1. Brooke Fraser
2. Ingrid Michaelson
3. Coldplay
4. The Jonas Brothers (sue me)
5. Michelle Branch
6. Norah Jones
_________________
10 things i despise
1. Cockiness
2. Fake people
3. When people freak out over stupid things
4. High-stressers
5. Physics
6. Faded stickers
7. Pulp in orange juice
8. Cussers
9. Complainers
10. Being forced to read dumb books
_________________
6 things you will always find with me
1. Telephone
2. My wit
3. Tranquility
4. A smile! (when will the cheesiness end)
5. (fake) Diamond earrings
6. A brush
_________________
5 things you would do if you were a billionaire
1. Travel everywhere
2. Give a lot away. A lot.
3. Buy a car
4. Save
5. Raid Urban Outfitters
___________________
5 bad habits i have
1. Cracking every joint
2. Laziness
3. Leaving my clean laundry in the basket in my closet
4. Major procrastinator
5. Never ever cleaning my room
__________________
5 snacks i love
1. Popsicles
2. Pasta (yes, it can be a snack.)
3. Strawberries
4. Fruit snacks
5. Muddy Buddies

Okay, that was really enjoyable.

it was almost the perfect day...

- it was cold and rainy in the morning
- i wore a big sweatshirt and my newly repaired favorite jeans (my mother patched them up!) and some lovely Toms.
- it was chilly, but not absolutely freezing
- i was all cozy in all of my classes
- i got a good grade on a Spanish vocab test which i studied for for five minutes right before we took it!
- we are doing a Christmas Carol in Drama 2, and i am Francis, who is the girl version of Fred, who is Scrooge's niece who wishes him a Merry Christmas and invites him over for dinner and helps change his Christmas spirit and such. Anyway, we got our scripts today...i have giant chunks of inspirational Christmas dialogue...sure to be fun.
- we made those balloon racecars in physics...ours is named the Messiah- "it has come to save the world from sin and darkness."
- daylight savings time, how i love that darn time change. we all get an extra hour of sleep!
- i was really optomistic the entire day, it was just great!
- melissa gave me the new ingrid michaelson cd, which i am listening to right now. i love that woman.
-tomorrow is LATE START...praise Him.
-tomorrow is also our last performance of Cinderella...which is sad. but i'm excited to embrace my British mouse persona one last time.

the only negative thing was that it was SUNNY at snack...it almost ruined my whole day, but then the clouds came back. yes.

thank you, gloomy day, for making me cheerful.

For clarification...

the last post was referring to the Lord, not a boy, like my mother thought.
that's why You is capitalized.

don't worry, friends, i'm not letting any mysterious man break into my heart...

You're breaking into my heart

and i'm letting You.

i love

how God puts people in our lives who we can look up to and strive to be as close to Him as they are.
i love how there are people in my life who i just look at in awe, because every sentence that comes out of their mouth, everything they do, all of their conversations, are to ultimately bring glory to God.

these are the people that make sure we are never satisfied with being lukewarm in our faith.
and i love that challenge
and that internal desire to be like them.
not in an envious way, but like how friends build each other up and challenge each other and better each other. like how you want to change for good and adapt certain spiritual characteristics that someone has.
does that make sense?

i am really thankful for this person in my life.

berrer berrer berrer berrer berrer AHHHHHHHH!

this gem of a video never ever gets old.
1:09 gets me every time.
and i really like his preface of korean gibberish before he begins.


this one is less cute, but that's not saying much, because this sweet girl is absolutely hilarious. slash precious.
don't talk back to darth vader, he'll getcha!

the pants theif strikes again!

rachel patla held my jeans captive for three months, which i recently discovered.

but a few days ago, i was at her house when i realized that she was holding my fleece superman pajama bottoms AND my adidas sweatpants captive too! when i discovered, she guiltily admitted that she'd had them forever...and she even had the nerve to get mad at my for taking them back. my mom called to say she was there to pick me up, and so i went to get my pants out of the dryer, which she was not expecting, and she ACTUALLY said to me, "heather! i'm really mad!"

"RACHEL!" i retorted, "these are MY pants. i have the right to take them back from you."
we just laughed and i walked out the door, along with my two precious pairs of pants.

never again, rachel, will i loan you any article of clothing. because you never give anything back. and then you get mad at me when i do take it back.

but i love her anyway.

maybe.

i went for the old standby:

the classic meant-for-a-three-year-old-poofy-small-unrealistic-ugly princess costume.
and rachel was a rocker.
and zeinah wore her flapper girl costume from 7th grade.

oh, what a night.
first we went to the trunk-or-treat at church, which is where little kids go around to different themed cars and retrieve candy.
so we sat on the back of a car and gave them their treats.

then! we went to cory's house and ate chili, and went trick-or-treating to approximately five houses.

THEN! we went to the pumpkinfest at church,
ohhh man was it fun.
it was basically a dance.
and it was oh so enjoyable.
except my meant-for-a-three year old costume was really tight and hot.
but it was definitely worth it.
and there was also karaoke, and i sang a duet with rachel and then a duet with melissa.
the crowd loved us...
AND there was a maze and a showing of the great pumpkin charlie brown movie.
ahh it was so fun!

halloween oh eight. was so great.