I'M ACCEPTED!!!

Oh my goodness! This last Tuesday I received a letter from the ASU School of Music and....I DID IT!!!! I am so incredibly thrilled that I made the ASU music program!! I can't even put into words how happy I was when I got that letter!!! There were happy tears shed, I will say that! I have truly been blessed!

Scary Audition!! =/

Well everyone! I am finally having my ASU Music School Audition! Crazy! I can't believe it's already time for me to be doing this! I am so excited to be (hopefully) moving on, but at the same time, this is very nerve racking! It is nerve racking because this is the only school and only music therapy program I have applied to, so it's important for me to do well, and I also just have so much I need to have ready! I need two audition pieces to sing, which of course I have already prepared, and I also have a piano diagnostic which I'm not entirely thrilled about doing, and then I have an interview with a music therapy staff member from ASU. I know that everything will be fine. I have been practicing, I like my songs I'm doing, and I don't get really nervous when I perform, and I love talking to people, especially about something I love so much, but I guess the most nerve racking part is if I am not able to make it into the program. What if I don't quite have the skill they're looking for? Then what?! Oh my! Things are crazy! Pray for me! I'm gonna need all the help I can get this week!

Did I Mention...

So have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE jazz choir?!?! I believe that whoever knows me, knows I love jazz choir!! It has become the love of my life! It was funny, tonight I was going through some pictures with my mom and we found this one and I thought, "WOW! I really am getting into that!" Nothing could be more true! I love that choir so much! I believe that this picture is of me doing an awesome crazy high, very fun solo. We sang "Lady Madonna" and it is by far my favorite one we have performed so far! Anyway, just in case I never told you....I LOVE JAZZ CHOIR!!! :)

Me singin a solo at "Jazz Night"

Catch up time!!!

WOW! I haven't written in quite awhile! Life has definitely been busy and I haven't had lots of time to devote to writing a blog post for awhile, but I'm excited to catch up a little bit! Well, the first big thing I remember happening since I last wrote was that my family went to DISNEYLAND!! So much fun! We spent a couple days there and we also spent a day at Sea World which was a lot of fun too! I really enjoyed both parks!

Here we are on Main Street at Disneyland!


I got to touch this dolphin! So awesome!


My favorite part of the day though would have to be when we got to touch the Bat and Manta Rays! I seriously could have stayed there for hours!


No matter how cool Disneyland and Sea World were though, I will never forget the experience we had as a family at the San Diego temple. It was absolutely gorgeous inside and the experience we had there was equally as beautiful and special! What a neat blessing and opportunity to go there all together!


Then that following Monday when I got home we had our first choir concert which was a blast!


My lovely Vocal Jazz Group! The Denton Dozen (Plus 4) :)


Oh Yeah! Ben got to sing the national anthem with his choir for the Diamondbacks Game! They did so so good!

Preston and I watchin' the game together!


Ben on the big screen singing his heart out!! (He's the one on the very end on the right side)


We went to Ben's amazing Madrigal Feast where he played the main role!! He did a fantastic job!


Preston had an incredible band concert! One of the best I've ever been to! He is only in middle school and his teacher is phenomenal! I loved watching Preston play! You could tell he loved the music they were doing and he was just having a lot of fun up there!


I had a Christmas concert where I got to sing a solo! It was so exciting! It was one of those solos that you always dream of getting and I got it! I was thrilled!


We moved into a new house in the middle of the crazy holiday season, so the first thing we had to do was, of course, put up our Christmas tree!




Things were a little crazy and hectic towards the end of the semester! There was definitely a lot going on but all of it was so good! I ended up with 3 B's and all the rest A's for my final grades in my classes and I was ecstatic about that! It was a very trying semester in the school department but with ALOT of hard work it all turned out wonderful! I am so glad!

Looking back on all these fun things I've been apart of this last semester has really made me realize how much I am blessed with an incredible family and I am so grateful that we are so close and that we love to support each other in the things that we do. I love my family soooo much! They are just my favorite people in the whole world!

An AMAZING birthday!

WOW! Talk about fun! This birthday was definitely one to remember! I'm now 22 years old! Holy Cow! It seems so weird to think I am that old! And looking back on things that have happened in these last few years since high school I have realized that I have done a lot! I have experienced many things and I am so excited to experience even more!

Anyway, my birthday was last week on the 3rd. The night before that I was a little sad I must admit. No, not with pre-birthday "oh-my-goodness-I'm-getting-old" blues, but I was just a little sad because I hadn't heard from Josh. I really wasn't expecting anything from him (he's on a mission for heaven's sake!) but I was still just missing him like crazy and wanted to hear from him. So I went to bed that night and my wonderful sleep was soon interrupted by a phone call at midnight! What in the world?! So I got up, rather groggily, and I saw that it was a number I didn't recognize. Hmmm...should I just ignore this call? Well I answered it and the conversation went something like this:

"Hello?"
"HI! HOW ARE YOU?!" It was a guy!
"Uh...I'm fine...how are you?"
"I'm great! Is this Brittney Chapman?" At this point I could hear a very heavy French accent...
"Yeeesss...Who in the world is this?"
"This is Elder Cheung!"
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! Are you serious?!?!?!"
Lots of laughing..."Yeah!" Now an important thing to know is that Elder Cheung was a "mini-mission" companion to Josh. He was only with him for about two weeks. He is a convert of about a year and a half and he lives in France.
"Oh my gosh! I can't believe this!"
More laughing..."Well Brittney I have a message for you. I just left Josh today from being on my mini-mission with him and he made me promise him that this would be the first thing I did when I got home. He was very adamant about it. He wanted me to tell you that he loves you and that he feels really bad because he wanted to send you something but he knew it would never get there in time because the mail system is so slow here in France. He said to tell you that he hopes you have a wonderful birthday."
I was in complete shock! WOW! For Josh to even think of having him call me was so thoughtful! I couldn't even believe he had Elder Cheung do that! I just kept telling him thank you over and over. We had a great discussion about some of the things he had experienced while he was with Josh, and while we were talking he said, "Brittney, your brother is the man!! He is amazing!" I told him I knew that. I said, "I don't know if Josh has talked to you about his relationship with me but we are pretty tight and he has always been someone I've looked up to. He is amazing!" He told me about a girl that was baptized just that Sunday before, that Josh had baptized her and that everything he said was absolutely perfect and that everything went the best it could have possibly gone. He just kept telling me how wonderful Josh had been. It just made me so happy to be able to talk to him and to feel of the excitement he had. It was so neat! What an amazing way to start my birthday huh?! I was set! I felt like I was on top of the world and I was just so happy! My birthday was already perfect as far as I was concerned! I was so excited I ran into my parent's bedroom after the phone call and told my mom all about it! Of course she was way excited too! It was just awesome!

Then at 6 in the morning I woke up and had breakfast with my family, scrambled eggs with bacon in them, and English muffins! Yummy! Then I opened presents which was fun!


As I was walking out to my car later that morning to go to school I saw my car and wow! My friend Jillene had painted all my windows! It was so fun! It said things like "What a Babe!" "Honk I'm 22!" "Happy Birthday!" And then I had a "frame" painted on the driver's side of the windshield. It was so cute and how special was I?!

Then I got to the school and somehow everyone knew it was my birthday! Holy cow! Everyone was coming up to me and wishing me happy birthday and giving me hugs and making me feel so special! It was so neat! We started jazz choir that day so I went to that and we had a blast in there! Right before class I decided to treat myself and buy a "Naked" juice. Oh my! I love those things! Way too addicting! Anyway, so I went and got one of those, and was talking to everyone in the room before class started and one of my friends started to walk into the classroom. I was so excited to see him I yelled hi to him before he walked in and he smiled at me and kind of motioned with his finger for me to go outside with him. He was hiding something behind his back and he pulled me behind the door (which was open by the way). He said "Happy Birthday Brittney" and then he pulled these gorgeous flowers out from behind his back! What?! This doesn't happen to me! How sweet is he?! I couldn't believe he was giving me flowers! WOW! I just kind of half screamed half gasped in shock and just wrapped my arms around him and gave him a big hug and just kept saying thank you and that I appreciated it so much! He just kind of laughed at me and said "You're welcome" and we walked into class together. As I walked in I realized that everyone's eyes were glued to the door. Remember that the door was open? Well they pretty much heard everything I said and at least saw half the "action" I was giving him behind the door. I almost just started busting up laughing when everyone just looked at us like something was up. Ha Ha! Believe me! It was nothing! This guy was actually my husband in a play I did this summer and we had just grown to have a really neat friendship. Anyway, for some reason during class I was just on this super big high and I was just a crack-up if I do say so myself! I was just plain goofy! Even more so than normal, but it was fun! We had a great time in there and everyone sang me happy birthday. I just felt so special! Then I came home and my mom asked what I was doing the rest of the day. I didn't have plans til that evening so she asked if I wanted to go get a pedicure for my birthday. FUNNESS! My mom got me the deluxe package which came with amazing bonuses during the pedicure. It was amazing! We had 4 different massages on our legs! We had a salt scrub, a mask (it smelled like chocolate!), then they put massage oil on our legs and used hot rocks (oh my gosh! That was one of the greatest things ever!), and then they rubbed in lotion too! I definitely felt pampered! Then of course they did my toenails and painted on this amazing flower design with glittery stuff. They were just so cute! Then I also got a manicure! I can't even remember the last time I painted my nails! So that was a fun treat too! We had a great time together! Another fun part about it was that my mom had never gotten one before so it was a first time experience for her so it was great to be with her for that!


After that I had to hurry home and get dressed up. I was going to dinner with one of my best friends that night. Cassi! She wanted to take me out so we got all cute and dressed up really nice and I told her I wanted to go somewhere I'd never been before so she was going to surprise me. We went to "My Big Fat Greek Restaurant"! It was AMAZING! WOW! They had these huge tumblers that our lemonades came out in and then we had an appetizer. Greek Fries! Can I just tell you that it was a completely new taste experience for me! It had this sauce on top of it that we figured out was vinegar and a melted sharp goat cheese. It had garlic and fresh oregano and feta cheese on it too. Really good! Then I ordered the "Award Winning Greek Platter" which was slivered Gyro (roast lamb) with lemon pepper potatoes, fresh squash, pita bread, and a sauce for the lamb to be dipped in. It was amazing! There was so much food though! I hardly put a dent in it! Cassi got Mousaka (if you've seen 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' you'll definitely remember the line "Moose Caca?!" Yeah, it's the same stuff!) It was layers of eggplant, zucchini, a spicy meat, and sauce with a hugely thick piece of cheese melted on top. She liked hers as well! We were both so full that we were dying but our waiter came and brought us two completely new silverware rolls. He said, "You are going to need these. I'm bringing you out a special treat!" I looked at Cass and she just put up her hands in surrender and said, "I promise I didn't tell them it was your birthday!" Anyway, he brought out Baklava. Oh baklava, how I love thee! It was seriously one of the most amazing desserts I have ever had in my life! It was like 27 layers of philo dough with layers of hazelnut, chopped almonds, honey, and cinnamon in between. It was all melted together atop a platter drizzled with honey in this criss cross pattern, with two dollops of whipped cream on either side of the platter containing a mint leaf for garnish. It was so elegant looking! WOW! Anyway, it tasted just as amazing as it looked! We were both in heaven! It was AMAZING! Then we came back to my house and we both fell asleep on my couch waiting for our friend Jason to come over to my house after he got off work at 11:30. Once he got here we talked for about 45 minutes and then we all decided we were too dead to be awake any longer, besides the fact it was a school night!



All in all it was an amazing birthday! I had the greatest time with my family and friends! I also have to say that my family and I had celebrated my birthday early since there was a holiday weekend, and we went out to eat and went to the movies so that was a lot of fun! And then we also had a big family party on Saturday night! It was so much fun! I really enjoyed being with everyone! We celebrated my little cousin's birthday too! She is turning seven this month and so we combined our birthdays. She is such a cutie! She was even sweet enough to let me blow out the last candle on our birthday cake! She is so cute! We had a fun time! I just love my family! They are just the greatest!


Well there we go, my birthday update! Also I have to thank everyone who wrote on my facebook and gave me a call! I had so many people do that for me and I so appreciated it! It was just so great to feel so loved all day! What fun I had! It was definitely a great time!

People

I was thinking this morning about all the things that have been happening to me lately, all the things that I think are so exciting that I want to tell everyone about. There has definitely been a lot going on with school starting and whatnot, but there is always a common theme in my excitements...people! I seriously just love people! I love experiencing things with people, relating to people, talking to people, accomplishing things with people, meeting people, and spending time with people. It just makes me happy. I am truly in my element being back at school! I love it so much! I have had the opportunity to meet lots of new people in my classes. It is fun for me! Getting to know others and connecting on different levels. I am definitely one that enjoys being with others more than being by myself, although there are those times when being alone is a good thing, I would much rather be doing something with someone else. Even if that means just sitting in complete silence with someone while we both do homework or whatever. I just like it better.

I started my music theory class yesterday and everyone seemed to just be grumbling the whole class hour about how hard the class was going to be, how they were never going to pass it, and how they were just not excited to be there. I thought that was kinda funny, just because I was SO happy to be there. Yeah, I will admit, the class is definitely hard, but our teacher really does want to help us out and I appreciated that. Our teacher asked us yesterday if someone wanted to come to the board and finish up some chords and label them for the class. There was instant tension and everyone just looked down at their books. (Amazing how that happens when a question is asked, it's almost unconscious it seems...) Well I knew that I had somewhat of an idea of what to do but I raised my hand to go up and do it and it was fun! I kinda joked around with it and made it more relaxed instead of everyone freaking out because they forgot everything. Then other people tried too, and we all started having a good time with each other. I think I have definitely gotten over being embarrassed in front of a crowd. It doesn't bug me if I don't know something and I make an idiot of myself in front of a class, we are all in the same boat and learning the same things and no one really makes fun of you, maybe teases you, but it's not out of meanness. I find it rather refreshing to have discussion in a class. It brings people together and helps you connect more. Maybe that's why even going into a "hard" class like that doesn't bug me. I know that it's going to be hard, but I know I can figure it out, especially when people are open about what they don't understand. That may have all been a bit confusing to read, but at least I understand what I'm saying! Ha Ha! :)

Yeah, so people make me happy! I have noticed that my mood is almost directly linked to the relationships I have with others. Sometimes that's not such a good thing, but usually I feed off of people and their moods, and try to just make things better, whether they be happy or upset, it doesn't matter. I just love people! Aren't we all just amazing?! Pretty cool to think about how complicated each one of us are, and how we are each different, we each have different needs, we each deal with things differently. Yeah, pretty much I'm amazing...and so is everybody else! :)

Ok, the 1st day of school update!

Alrighty! I made it!! I got through the first day! And let me tell ya it was as wonderful as I imagined it would be!! I didn't even have to start my day until 11:15 which was nice! So I started out with choir and we already started singing which was awesome! We're doing a motet by Palestrina which sounds amazing and we are also doing a song called "Afternoon On A Hill". It sounds so beautiful already!

After choir was done Ed (our choir director) has a tradition that we do "put-ups". He was going to give an example to all the new kids of what one was and he said, "Brittney, where are you?" I just thought, "Oh no! Something embarrassing is coming I can just feel it!" So I got up and he told me to come stand by him. He put his arm around me and told everyone my name. Then he told them that he looks for me everyday because there is something that I do that just seems to make everything better and makes him happy. He then turned to me and said,"Ok Brittney will you show them what you do?" I just started to laugh and then everyone else started laughing. He just hugged me tighter and said, "See! It's that smile! She smiles and it just lights up a room! It makes you happy!" I appreciated it so much! But that wasn't all! He then told everyone that he knew I was going to be in his choir before I was even born. And he had a picture taken that he was now going to give me. He hands me this picture, it's black and white, with three goofy lookin' guys from the 70's. I just looked at it and was like, "What is this Ed?" He then pointed to a guy and said, "Who is this?" I looked harder and realized it was him. I was right! Then he pointed to the guy next to him and asked who he was. It was then that I realized it was Dr. Lunt!! Oh my gosh! I was speechless! I just looked at him so stunned and he started laughing. I told him, "Thank you so much! I love it!" and then everyone just clapped for me! It was so nice! I felt so special! Then we had some of the voice faculty come in to talk to the choir. Afterward I went and thanked him again. It was so thoughtful of him to think of me! He gave me another big hug and told me he knew I'd appreciate that. I most definitely did! What a neat thing!

Here's the pic! The two in the front are who I'm talking about. The one on the left is my director right now, Dr. Edmund Hughes, and on the right is Dr. David Lunt.


After choir I had lunch with a good friend and then I had my psychology class. WOW! I was already excited about this class, but after meeting the instructor and going through the class period, I am definitely ecstatic about being in there! I am already so intrigued and it's just the first day! I am actually excited to read the chapter for Wednesday! I love it! Our instructor is half Puertorican, he teaches two of the psych classes there but he also has his own practice. I thought that was so neat because he is really right in the middle of all the things we are going to be talking about! He really brought the class together so fast for a first day! We were all so ready to talk and listen to each other and ask questions. It was impressive! And another cool thing he said was that he wanted and hoped that we would have fun in the class. He said, "Psychology is supposed to be fun! I love it! So we are going to have fun in this class." That was definitely a winning statement! He caught the class' attention that's for sure!

So today has been awesome! I am so excited for the semester! Things are really looking up and I am just so so so excited to get things really going!

First Day of School

You know you have to get one of these on the first day! Say cheese!

Today is the day!! I start school again! YAY!! And no I am not being sarcastic. I am really excited to start up school again! I only have 12 credits this semester which is nice, but I still have 6 classes, so my time is definitely filled up!! Of course I have all my music classes still, like music theory, AP, and my two choirs, but I am also taking psychology this semester. I am super excited about that! I haven't taken a "core" class for a couple years now, mostly because I'm done with all my generals, but this class counts for my music therapy major and instead of having to worry about it next year at ASU I decided to get it done now. I am soooo pumped to start all this exciting stuff! I just love my life!! :)