Samantha - Happy Les Mis Day

So, since today was The 27 anniversary of Les Miserables; we all dressed up! It was super fun. We also invited some of our friends over too - Maddi, Ani, Andrea, and Delia, who is Ani's friend. All of us really like Delia, she's Ani's other best friend, and Lilyanna really likes her, too, but we don't know her that well because she's really shy. We want to get to know her better. She made a very good madame thenardier!

I, of course, was Eponine. I rather like the way my costume turned out. I know that she doesn't wear a shawl in the musical; but she does in the book, so I decided to add it in to my costume. I used a piece of string for a hair band, even though you can't see it in this picture. Anyway, I think I look great! Melanthe said I look exactly like Samantha Barks! I think that is just so awesome. I adore Samantha. Plus; we have the same name! How cool is that! 

Melanthe decided to dress up as Javert. She said she didn't want to end up as Madame Thenardier. I really love her costume, especially the hat. I don't know if she looks stern enough, but I think she rocks as Javert!

Rebecca dressed up as Cosette, of course. A lot of people have this extremely mis-informed idea that Cosette has blonde hair; but they're wrong. Cosette has auburn curls, and large blue eyes. I think Rebecca looks remarkably like her. Now, the costume was the best we could do. We don't have very many old-fashioned dresses, so we dug up this one. I think it looks alright. 

Lilyana, naturally, was Fantine. I think she makes the best Fantine ever! She just looks so sweet and innocent. We decided to put her in Fantines nightgown, instead of her blue dress, because we couldn't find a blue dress that would work right. I think she looks perfect; and even Rebecca had to agree with me. 

Here we are; the four mizzies! Who do you think looks the best? 

Finally, our friends arrived. Andrea came first, dressed as Enjolras; which we all though was pretty funny. I think she looked great, of course. Or, as great as a girl playing a boy CAN look. I just love her red vest! 

Maddi came dressed as Marius. It's OK, but hey, I would have no idea how to dress up as Marius. 

Ani came as Grantaire; which we all though was the funniest thing ever! Grantaire is a crazy alcoholic given to long, drunken, speeches, and Kanani is the shyest person ever. Still; her costume was pretty good; I thought. 

This is Kanani's friend Delia, who is kind of a bitch. Kanani had the idea of inviting her, and I didn't want to say no. It was really funny to see her dressed up in a sort of dirty costume, because Delia's really neat! She made a good Madame Thenardier! She's ugly anyway, so it was alright. Honestly, I hate her . . . but she's Kanani's friend so I guess I'll have to deal. 

HAPPY LES MISERABLES 27TH ANNIVERSARY! 

For more pics go to my photo - bucket at 

http://s1297.beta.photobucket.com/user/Samantha-Parkington/library/LesMiserablesDay

Samantha - Plans and Summer days :(

Hey guys, Samantha here. I thought I'd do a post about how the rest of the summer is going to go. Melanthe should be getting back within a couple of days - like I said before, she had very bad cell reception there, so she doesn't call often.

 Anyway, Lilyana's best friend Ani's birthday is next weekend, so we're going to the party. That's going to be fun! I love a good party. She's the youngest of us though; we're all thirteen already. Melanthe is the oldest, her birthday is in November. Rebecca's is in February, Lily's is in March, and mine is in may. My friend Andrea also has a birthday in May, so we often have a double birthday party. Maddi's birthday is in June. So its always fun to have a summer party. I'm not quite sure what I'm getting her yet, though. Oh well, I have time.

On August twenty-seventh, there is the annual Little Miss Sunshine pageant! We're all competing in it. I love pageants, and so does Melanthe. Rebecca tolerates them, and so does Lily. The only problem is that Rebecca wins a lot, which I find annoying, Sure, she may be prettier then me, but I have the better personality, and I am SO more talented. Thats what counts, right? And after coming FORTH in Little Miss Springtime to Rebecca's first and Maddi's third, I swear I will win this one!

We're still having trouble selling the house, so I have no clue when we'll actually move. Oh well, the later the better. And like I said, we'll have to have a house meeting when Mellie gets back.

As you know, Lilyana got back yesterday. She's a bit shell-shocked about what happened with her father, and she was really sad about leaving. I've only met my uncle a couple times, but he's a nice guy. If he's going to remarry, I'm sure he'll pick somebody nice. At least, I hope so, for Lily's sake. Lily thinks that he's hiding something else from her, but I'm not sure what she thinks it could be. I wouldn't know if he is or not, having not seen him or talked to him, but Lilyana has good instincts. I g=feel bad for her, I really do. She's kinda mopey at the moment. And Rebecca is so not helping. She keeps making all these cryptic comments, and giving advice that seems to scare Lily. What does she know, anyway? Well, actually, I don't know what the heck the deal is with her parents. Her dad sounded like a real piece of work on the phone, so maybe she does know what she's talking about. To some extent. But still, she's really upsetting Lilyana, and thats not fair or nice. Really, she has to be more empathetic sometimes, or nobody will like her. If anybody ever did, which I doubt. Well, she gets along OK with Lily, but Lily is friends with anybody, she's so nice. I just don't know what her problem is. Speaking of Rebecca, she's been in quite a mood ever since she got home from camp. Firstly, she's not as mopey, and she's smiling a bit more. She seems very...happyish. But she's also gotten more reckless; talking back to my mom all the time, and being mean to the rest of us, sassy comments and mean insults said in a jokey tone that really hurts. When she's home, that is. She's at the studio a lot, or up on the roof, or who knows where, getting home late and ignoring my parents when they ask where she is. She's freaking me out, actually, but I'm just being stupid. She's just being Rebecca. Oh god, I hope thats all this is, because I must be crazy to think like this about her. I'm the one with the problem, not Rebecca. But I still worry.

Samantha

Samantha - from the train

I've never posted from my ipad before, and I'm having quite the time of it. Give me a laptop any day! I'm on the train right now, Andrea sitting next to me.We have been on the train for about an hour, so we have another hour or so to go before we get there.

We woke up quite early this morning to get to the train station. Andrea is not very fond of waking early, so I had to go next door and 'encourage' her. Not an easy task, especealy at five thirty in the morning. In Andrea world, 'encourage' means 'Force her out of bed with a bag of chocolate." Ah, the lengths I go to. We stopped at a Duckin Donuts on the way to the train station to get breakfest. I got a nice simple blueberry muffin. Andrea got five donuts. I mean, come on, there must be a limit to her apitite SOMEWHERE, right? Well, not here, clearly.

Currently on the train, i have read three chapters of The Forgotton Garden, had a conversation with Andrea about last nights Bunheads episode, and ate half a snickers bar. I wanted to eat the WHOLE snickers bar, but a certain Andrea foiled my plans. When I got back to the bathroom, it was gone. Three guess's who took it! Right now, between typing and swearing under my breath at my ipad, I'm looking out the window. I love looking out the window, watching all the scenery go by. There are tons of trees, much more then in the city. I've also seen variose cows and horses, and a varity of Mcdonalds. I'm very sorry for any spelling errors, as my ipad does not have spell cheek. Huh. Strange. Anyway, i'll post again tonight.

 Tonight, tonight, I'll post again tonight!
 Samantha

Samantha - Sparklers

After the News; later that evening; Rebecca, Ani, Andrea and I went down to the park to set off some sparklers. We were all still processing the strange, crazy, events of earlier that day, but we had a lot of fun. Here's some pictures of us.

Thats the new yellow shirt Rebecca got; the one Melanthe got so mad over.

There's my BFF Andrea! The crazy, sporty, foodloving Andrea!

Hope you like the pictures!

-Samantha

Lilyana - Now They Know.....

First of all, Happy Forth everybody! Second of all, Today was a huge day for us. Yesterday we finally told our friends – Maddi, Andrea and Ani– that we were moving to Ellis Ave. Let me tell you what happened.

We arrived at the party around noonish, and standing on the blistering concrete we could already hear the study thrum of music. I didn’t know the song, it was something perky and auto–tuned that Melanthe would like. I glanced around at my friends. Samantha was wearing an American Girl Chicago tee-shirt and jean shorts. Melanthe wore a right red halter dress. I was wearing jeans and a white floaty top. Rebecca was the only one who had refused to wear patriotic colors – She said her new yellow graphic tee-shirt was fine, and that it wasn’t a law that you had to wear red, white, and blue on the forth of July.  Earlier yesterday, Melanthe got pretty mad about that, but i don’t think it matters. Unfortunately, Rebecca didn’t see it that way. She and Melanthe got into this huge fight about clothes. I mean, honestly. Finally, Melanthe got mad and stormed into the bathroom to cake make–up on her face. Sometimes, I wish Rebecca could see things like I do. Rebecca may come across as not very empathetic or compassionate, but I know she is, she just doesn’t show it. Sometimes, however, it does seem like she just makes no effort to understand how the other person is feeling. Didn’t she see that Melanthe didn’t really care about the clothes, she was upset with Rebecca because Rebecca was refusing to leave? Melanthe felt that the whole household was conspiring to kick her out, and blamed it on Rebecca, because she wanted her to go back to New York. Not to mention that Rebecca is not the easiest person to live with.  Wait – this blog post is supposed to be about yesterday, not an analysis of Rebecca and Melanthe’s relationship. Sorry. 

Anyway, we were hovering at the door when we saw Andrea bounding towards us, blond hair swinging wildly.

“Samantha, hey, over here!” she called, waving. Andrea is a very excitable person, and she hugged Samantha briefly while grinning at the rest of us.

“Hi Andrea. Where’s everybody else?”

“We snagged a picnic table out back. Lets get some of Lily’s pie and join them, come on!” Andrea headed off to the food table, Samantha and Melanthe following in her wake.

“Come on,” I said to Rebecca. “ or there won’t be any left. You know Andrea.” Rebecca barely cracked a smile at the mention of our friends large appetite, but followed me as we proceeded to get slices of Lemon, blueberry, and apple pie.

Once outside, Mellie and Samantha slid into the picnic table with Maddi and Andrea, while Rebecca sat down cross-legged under the oak tree that made out chosen spot so shady. I went over to the picnic table, and sat down next to my best friends Ani Akina. 

"Hi, Ani. How are you?"

"Hey Lilyana. What do you think of my hair?" Ani asked. Kanani (or Ani, as I called her) wasn't a girl who cared to much about her looks, but she had to pay a lot of attention to her hair. That was because its deep brown, and longer then her butt. Today, she had it french braided, and it looked really pretty.

"It looks fantastic. Who did it?"

"Maddi."

"Of course. What do you think of my pie?"

"Thanks, Kani. What type are you having?"

"Apple. Tastes really cinnamon - y."

"I'm glad you like it. Did you watch the horse race yesterday?"

It was when we were done with our pie that Samantha stood up.

"I have an announcement." She said, taking a deep breath. Everybody turned towards her. Maddi and Melanthe stopped giggling.

"I have an announcement." Samantha repeated. She looked really nervous. "I -"

"Are you getting another dog?" Andrea burst in. Samantha glared at her. "What, I only meant that you have, like, four dogs, so I only thought - "

"Can it, Andrea." Samantha growled. "Anyway, I have an announcement."

" You said."

"Shh. I have an announcement."

"SAMANTHA! TELL US!"

"OK, I want to tell you......."

"Tell us!"

"Andrea, be quiet. We're moving."

"WHAT!!!!" Andrea gasped, her eyes shooting from Samantha to Rebecca to Melanthe to me. 

"Moving? Why?" Ani turned to me, her eyes shocked. 

"We need more space." I answered. "You know, because my mom needs an office, and we don't have enough bedrooms."

"I can't believe it. Is it true?" Maddi turned to Melanthe. 

"Yes." Melanthe muttered. Maddi put an arm around her. Andrea opened her mouth again, but Samantha held up a hand.

"Wait. There's more."

"More?"

"The new house doesn't have a loft." She burst out. Everybody looked around, unsure of why this counted as something important. It was Ani, good old Ani, who grasped the seriousness of the situation. 

"But...there is enough space for all of you.....right?"

"No." sighed Samantha. 

"What!" gasped Andrea. 

"We don't have enough space in the bedroom for four of us, at least not according to the requirements on Traveling Stars."

"I.....What are you going to do?"

"One of us will have to go."Said Samantha, with an air of  a tragic heroine. Maddi sat bolt upright from where she'd been lying on the grass, trying to get a tan.

"What! Go? Who? Melanthe...."

"Yeas. Its true."

"But who's going to leave? How will you decide?"

"It won't be me." Said Rebecca from her corner, her first contribution to the conversation. 

"But that leaves....Mellie?"

"Yeah. Thats what THEY think, anyway."

"But you can't go! Thats insane!"

"I know...I just....Maddi, lets go." They stood up, the blond and the redhead, and started to leave. 

"Wait! Mellie, Maddi, come back!" called Ani, but they either couldn't or wouldn't hear. They disappeared back into the building, probably to join the party. Samantha looked at Andrea, and there were tears in her eyes.

"I'll miss not living next to you, Jules."

"Wait - where are you moving to?"

"Just across town, to Ellis Ave. But oh, Andrea! I'll miss living here. I've been here for four years, nothing will always be the same." 

Andrea held out her arms to Samantha, and she collapsed into them, sobbing.

"Oh Andrea! I'll miss my house!"

"So will I!"

"I know, you're over there al the time!"

"Its so sad! I won’t be living across from each other any more!”

“I know! Its horrible.”

I turned to Ani. Now I won’t live next door to you.” I said sadly. I would miss living near Ani. She had been my best friend ever since she moved here two years ago. I would miss her so much when we moved.

Lily

Samantha - Such a lot of people!

I've been thinking about how lucky we are to live on a street with so many girls our age. Well, and a lot of little kids, but thats cool.

 My best friend Andrea lives next door to us, on the first floor of a two - family house. She has an older sister, Tracy, who's in college, but we never see her much. Andrea is super pretty, with shoulder-length blond hair and huge brown eyes. She's a real tomboy, though. Andrea loves ports, especially soccer and basketball. She never dress's very well either, and has HORRIBLE fashion sense. She also eats a lot, more then anyone I've ever seen. She's super thin, though, which is unfair considering the size of her appetite. She could not be any more different then I am, which is strange considering we're best friends. Yes, Andrea Albright is my best friend. She's really funny, and she goes to Sutton to study theatre, like I do. Its nice to have that in common. She also has a dog, like me, and loves cherries, like me. She's much more immature then I am though, which is fine with me. I like being the wiser one, which is kinda funny because her birthday is a month before mine. We had a double beach party this year, which was really fun.

Kanani Akina (Or Ani) lives in the apartment above Andrea's. She's a shy, long haired Hawaiian girl who moved in two years ago with her aunt and uncle. We never knew Mr. and Ms. Sandtti before, but once Ani moved in with them, we all got to know each other very, very, well. Kanani studies half-time at Sutton, taking classes in Hawaiian dancing. She's also a very good swimmer, much better then i am, which makes sense since she grew up on the ocean. She's very quiet and shy, like Lilyana. Lily and Ani get along very well together; They're really close friends. They both love animals and being outdoors.

And of course, you know about Maddi from Mellie's post. Maddi lives a block or so up the street, with her brother Jake and her dad. I dunno where her mom is.  Maybe they're divorced, like Lily's parents. I don't like her very much. She's kinda....blegh. Shallow. Boring. but whatever, I'm not disputing Mellie's taste in friends. Her brother is cute though. VERY cute. Like INSANE cute, like I WANT TO KISS HIM cute. But also as in 'he has a hot blonde girlfriend' cute. Oh well.

Anyway, the seven of us get along pretty well. Sometimes. Its good to have close friends that live near you.