take me away

Like a Rolex, everybody's watchin' this!

     I think this photo sums up Creation perfectly. (Before I get too carried away in this post, let me just state right away that all the photos I'm going to use are credited to Jenna Noelle Galanti. I don't take pictures. My mom took a few, but when we got home and I checked the camera, there were about 10 blurry photos of the Skillet concert. :P ) Although with this particular photo, I picniked it black and white and added the words. Group 1 Crew was by far my favorite concert. But I'm getting ahead of myself. :) 

     I got to the Voigtlanders' house on Monday night, slightly past dinnertime. My stuff was packed and I was feeling extremely nervous that I was forgetting something. (I kept texting Jenna. "Are you bringing facewash? Are you bringing conditioner? I'm bringing conditioner. Don't worry about that. What kind of shoes are you bringing?" Etc, etc, blah blah blah.) While we were there, we finished our T-shirts - after I FINALLY got some inspiration besides Flyleaf - and my parents showed the Voigtlanders and me how to put up the tent. Tent of death. For some sad, stupid reason, it worked just fine for my parents, but when Millie and I tried to put it up at the campsite, it wouldn't cooperate! I reiterate. Tent of death. 

    After awhile Jenna showed up and we started to get really hyper and party. I recall she looked gorgeous with wet hair that she had put back in a bun. And she straightened it that night. I can't straighten my hair at night or it's like WACCCCKKKK in the morning. So, I remember feeling jealous. And then Nik and his mom showed up to load their stuff on the trailer. So he worked on his T-shirt too, but didn't finish it (later gave us permission to do his shirt, so I got to write some cool song lyrics on the sleeve. I accidentally left out a word though, since it was like 2 AM.) oh, and Millie made me some amazing macaroni and cheese. Yummm. :) so, we were excited, and shirt drawing. We didn't get to bed until like 3 AM at least. We made little beds on the floor downstairs, the long way between the couch and the fireplace. I guess it was uncomfortable for Millie and Jenna, but with my 62" frame I fit juuust right. I fell asleep immediately. After we laughed for a good fifteen minutes about SOMETHING. I don't even remember. Oh, and we snuck a donut. shhhhhh.

     Millie's alarm went off at 6:45 and I remember thinking I could almost go back to sleep. But then I remembered what day it was and what was happening! We were going to CREATION NORTHWEST! I straightened my hair and didn't forget anything at the Voigtlanders. I was very proud of myself. (but I didn't know I was proud of myself until later when I thought I had NO reason to be proud of myself.) We left in a decent amount of time, and picked up Nik and Tucker and Mrs. Hernandez at the Hernandez's house. I was in the far back seat on the right, next to Jenna, who was next to Millie. We snuggled quite a bit in the morning. I tried and tried to sleep, but I guess sleep is one of those things that only comes when you don't try. Kinda like happiness, and being skinny. After lunch Millie and I watched Madagascar and as soon as the movie was over, I was out. It was kinda nice. :) 

     We finally got to Enumclaw at about dinnertime. Camp was actually not that huge of a thing to set up. We did have to wrestle with the death tent though! Here is Millie with the death tent. 

     Tuesday night, after we set up camp, we really just hung out, drank Monsters, ran around, sang, and were pretty much awesome. I had a little meltdown/angry moment when I couldn't find my glasses in my bag and I thought I left them at Millie's. But really they were just in my purse. So it was all ok. I think I was just really really frustrated that I couldn't see. Well, Tuesday night we explored the whole place. We found the garbage, the water, the stages.. and just met a few random people. It was pretty fun. I would definitely recommend arriving a day early to settle in and not feel super rushed. 

This is our spotlight. 

    Wednesday was just amazing. We had nothing to do, so we decided to make the 40 minute trip to Seattle. I guess Jace wanted to go to Aeropostale or something!! Silly goose. ;) nahh, I'm kidding, we all wanted to go. Jenna sort of knew where the awesome spots were, so we actually saw quite a bit of Seattle in the two and a half hours we were there. Here is the gang (minus Jenna the picture-taker!) downtown by Pike's. I got a $6.00 coffee but c'mon, it's Seattle. We also had some fun times by the pier, Mrs. Hernandez pet a random cat that some guy had on a leash, Nik and I watched a Jewish street musician (and gave him some money, making sure to tell him, "The LORD bless you"), Millie got a free sweatshirt, and we crammed all six of us into one of those really tiny photo booths. ohhh yeah and I hugged a bubble gum thing. (totally just had a brain fart and I forgot what they're called.) We didn't make it to aeropostale, but we did get to abercrombie - and I knew I had to buy a shirt there. I found a weird, twisty cropped blue tank top that was on sale for like $17. I knew I had to get it even if I never ever wore it because it was FROM SEATTLE! it's actually really cute, I wore it yesterday. Tucker and Jace got some of that yummy smelling abercrombie cologne. :) 

    We got back to the campsite at close to 3:30. The first concert was RED, which I wasn't stoked about, but hey - I was in a good mood. And it's the first concert. :) I lived through it. All the concerts on Wednesday were really good. After RED I think it was David Crowder... which... yeah, I have a story about this one... 

Frank's "I got spit on" face!

    So, we're standing in the mosh, waiting for the concert to start, and I guess I'm thirsty or something. So Jenna pours some water in my mouth... but she won't stop pouring it... and I kinda start to laugh. (this is the first bad sign that should make you cringe. When I laugh with a beverage in my mouth, it sprays. in fact, we told John this story last night, and he said "oh yeah! I've seen you do that a couple of times!" Thanks John. That's encouraging.) sooo... I start to laugh... and I can't help it! it's reflex! I spray the water out of my mouth... and ALL OVER the back and neck of whoever is standing in front of me. And everything kinda froze for like, 45 seconds. it felt that long. I'm sure it wasn't. Anyway, my friends all start to laugh at me... and this person slowly turns around... and breathes a sigh of relief! He says, "Oh, I'm SO GLAD you're not like a big buff guy... Hi, I'm Frank." And we shake hands. This whole time, I am like mortified, and continuously apologizing. He's very nice about it, but everyone is still laughing, and I just can't handle that... so I kinda sit down on the ground and laugh at myself a little bit. Then that laughter kinda turns to crying because I'm SO embarrassed. But I'm still laughing. It's an odd sensation. Anyway, when people realize I'm crying/laughing (craughing?) they start to feel bad... and Frank turns around again! And he realizes I'm crying and tries to make me feel better. "You know, I'm so glad this happened, because we wouldn't have met otherwise. How can I make it up to you?" and one of the guys that is with him jokingly hands me $10. It was one of those moments where it happens and you pray that you're just imagining it. But honestly? I couldn't have spit on a nicer person. 

    I skipped moshing that night for Switchfoot. I was still at the concert, just not moshing. Instead I pigged out on cookies with Tucker and Millie! And tried to get Tucker's phone. It didn't work, he'll KILL YOU if he thinks you have it. 

Rockin' it! Even without Pablo :( 

    Next day was kinda cold. We sported jeans and sweatshirts! Thursday was my favorite day because of... .... ... (wait for it) GROUP 1 CREW! Like I said. My favorite concert. I got a little excited for Group 1 Crew. Here they are totally rocking out, followed by a picture of what I look like after I rock out to them! Frank and his friend Austin (who tried to give me $10 for spitting) both came to this concert. Frank had never been to a G1C concert before so I was like, "you need to go!!" He said he'll never miss another one again.

After G1C it was the classic crime. which I had never heard them before, but it was actually an epic concert. I was expecting not to be impressed, but I was. so, kudos to you, classic crime. you made your concert fun for even me. 

     When we were all done there, we signed the Creation wall, complete with a "PORP!" amongst our names. Jenna took a photo, but I'm not adding it here. there are more important things to note. :) That night on the mainstage it was Hillsong (totally BREATHTAKING. As I told Jenna, the lead guy has the voice of an Australian angel.), and THE NEWSBOYS! I have a feeling I saw Remedy Drive sometime that day too. Or maybe I'm imaginin it. The Newsboys were totally awesome. I was skeptical since they don't have the bald guy lead singer anymore... but, yeah, it was epic. They did a ton of classic Newsboys songs, like "Something Beautiful", "Wherever We Go", and "Breakfast". During Breakfast they graced the crowd with some captain crunch cereal :) a nice touch, I thought. They did a few newer songs that I wasn't familiar with, too, and totally ended their kick-butt concert with Jesus Freak. COMPLETE WITH KJ DOING SOME GUEST RAPPING! I was a satisfied panda that night.

     Next day (I actually really lost track of what day I'm on right now. Friday?) the first concert I went to was KJ-52. He was amazing as always. Millie and I missed the first part, but from what I saw, he was just epic. Love that guy. "HEY! GIMME THAT MOUNTAIN DEW!" After this concert we headed back to the camp for some girl vs. guy wars. We totally dominated. Pinned Nik down and tickled him until he cried. And Millie also ended up putting large amounts of mousse on his head, much to his dismay "Awww, I smell like girl..." Then I think we laid around for most of the afternoon at the campsite, until the next concert we wanted to go to which happened to be Matthew West. We didn't stand in the mosh for this one either. It was too hot and sticky. 

Love is in the house and the house is packed! 

    and then... and then... TFK!!!!! I bought a pink shirt of theirs, at Nik's urging. He told me I had to get it, and I wanted it.. haha! I mean, it's pink. Come on. I also got it autographed that day. Unfortunately the lead singer was not able to be there for the last part of the signing, and we just barely got it. But one guy signed it in silver, which I thought was pretty cool. I enjoyed their concert but honestly it was more fun when they came to Kali. Not sure why. Tobymac was the last concert that night! He was amazing. My favorite except for Group 1 Crew. His concert was just a lot of fun to watch and be a part of (though I always tend to want to be part of the BAND, not the crowd. Just the singer in me wanting out). This is Toby, rocking out and super close to us. Poor security. :/

      Right after Toby it was the candlelighting, which was just awesome. Most of the time I was just concerned I was gonna get hot wax on myself, but when I really put that behind me and glanced around at all the burning candles... it was really touching. I think I still have my candle in my mom's tote bag. We headed back to camp that night feeling awesome and spiritually high.  This is mine, Nik's, Jenna's and Millie's candles. Amidst others :)  

     That may have been the night we all stayed up late goofing off. I don't remember. Oh, yeah, and it was my MOM'S BIRTHDAY! She's so awesome to turn 55 at Creation. Not everyone's mom is that cool. 

      The next day we also goofed off... since it was the last day, I put on some of Jenna's expensive blue eyeliner, and Millie borrowed some of my eyeliner so she could prank Jace and put it on his eyes while he slept. He woke up before she could get a ton on, though. bummer. :/ By this time, I was getting really sick of my bangs not behaving. But without a straightener, there wasn't much I could do! (I'm noticing that the more I type, the less details I go into. I'm pretty sure this is the longest blog post of my life!!) That morning a man stopped by our tent with a harmonica and played "come, now is the time to worship" for us. it was pretty epic. I never could figure those out. And a convertible drove by, and said they were taking drive-thru orders for a coffee shop down the street. We got some nice caramel frappes :) delicious. 

wittle Daniel...

     That day we didn't go to a ton of concerts. I was with Millie and my mom for most of the day. After we looked through the merchandise and I bought a TWLOHA shirt, we were heading back to camp.. we were both pretty tired... when Tucker called me and said there was an epic speaker at the fringe stage. I wanted to go but kinda didn't because I was so tired, so we skipped it. Turned out it was the old lead singer of the newsboys! When I found that out, I was pretty sad I missed it. Oh well. This is him with Nik and Tucker. So that night was Tenth Avenue North - LOVED them so much!! I want to join that band!! and Skillet!! While we were waiting in the mosh, we met a youngster named Daniel. Super sweet. He hailed from Wyoming and was moshing alone! We adopted him for the night. In fact, yup, Jenna has a picture. After she took the picture, I remember she said, "aww, bffs." I must say, I liked him more than anyone else in our group did. Even though that's probably impossible to know. ;) And as we were waiting for Skillet, drinking our Monsters, I spat on someone AGAIN. This guy was not as friendly as Frank. Probably because he was a Canadian, and he was from a town called Salmon Arm, which I may have maybe made fun of, a little bit. haha, whoops. He wasn't mean or anything though, in all fairness. 

Tenth Avenue North is amazing.

   ahh, so, storytime again... (my fingers are cramping up from all this intense typing!) I didn't eat or drink very much on Saturday... dunno what I was thinking. Maybe I thought I was superwoman. Anyway, we were waiting for Skillet, and suddenly I kept thinking, "this is going to be the craziest concert of my life. I'm gonna get crushed." And, I didn't tell anyone about this irrational fear (big mistake apparently). So I just let it grow in my mind. And that, along with no food and water, was making me feel sick and weak. So, Nik prayed right before Skillet came on and I felt my knees go and I was just so helpless I started to sob - and the medical team was all concerned. But it was all good. Jenna held on to me the entire time and made sure I ate a granola bar and an apple, and when Daniel found out what I was afraid of, he was super protective in the mosh! I promised everyone I'd have more fun at Skillet next time, and that I would take care of myself so I wouldn't have to worry about staying conscious. And now that I have their CD, Awake, I can learn the songs and have even more fun than that! Ooh, I got their cute girly t-shirt too. It's blue with a little cartoon monster on it that says "I feel like a monster!" haha it makes me laugh. Their concert with pretty epic with all the fireworks. And I don't even want to know how many times I've used the word epic!!

      Sunday morning we packed up camp. The showers closed the day before so we were all a little on the icky side - but not bad at all. Besides, Tucker and Jace smelled like abercrombie. It was not hard at all to sleep on the way home though!! Jenna was sneaky and got a picture of Millie and I snoozing. 

the cool bench in Olive Garden!

     We stopped in Spokane to rearrange vehicles and eat at Olive Garden. I'm sure that more than half of us ordered fettuccine alfredo, myself included. It was sooo good! Then I said goodbye to Millie and Jenna and Jace, and went in my own car with my mom and dad, Mrs. Hernandez, and Nik and Tucker. So long, Creation, it's really over. :( 

This week was amazing. I wouldn't change one thing about it. If you ever get the chance to go to Creation, I say seize the day. It's so awesome. And you know me. I inherited my mom's fear-prone personality, as we like to say. I'm the biggest chicken, and I loved every minute of Creation. 

Here's what Creation taught me:

Some people are nice. Even when you spit on them.

It is possible to go without somethings. Like straightening your hair! 

It's ok to cry in front of your friends; they will still love you.

and finally: it's probably not a good idea to keep your fears and struggles to yourself. :) I love you guys, my friends, so much. (especially if you read this WHOLE blog post! wow!) one last picture for good measure.