"Fantasy and Reality Often Overlap"

As I slowly got past the shock that it was already October, that I had 47 birthdays to get gifts for, and I was going to be *gasp* sixteen; Homecoming Week came sneaking up on me with an amazing 'Wonderful World of Disney' Theme! Disney is obviously the most amazing theme ever for no other reason than Disney=Life! The week before a poster was put up to let everyone know the spirit days...

Sadly, this sign was wripped down about a day and a half later due to the inaccurate 'Class Colors' for Friday. Corrections: Freshmen- Green(because they're 'green' to the whole idea of Homecoming) Sophomore-Blue, Juniors(that's me!)-Red, and Seniors-Blue. Excited for school spirit days as ever, my friends and I started the week by digging out our Minnie Ears!(Ironically enough I got my sparkly pair of ears the same time of last year's homecoming)

"I only hope we don't lose sight of one thing...it all started with a mouse" -Walt Disney

When you're commanded to do a funny picture and you all make funny faces while thinking of making funny faces...

"He loves me, he loves me a lot, he loves me, he loves me even more!"- Minnie Mouse

After a very fun Monday('IT'S A MONDAY'), chock full of polka dots, bows, and adorable Minnie/Mickey matching couples, we decided to not even try the next day and just roll right out of bed!

Aren't out pajamas the sexiest thing you ever did see?

Apparently our pajamas make us so tired we can sleep standing up...

If this isn't the sassiest, sexiest group of potatoes you've ever seen then you're lying to yourself!

Yes, Kaely and I wore onesies to school; yes, I did get laughed at multiple times; and yes, we were dying of heat stroke since it was 90 degrees in October! I vote for changing pajama day into pajama year! Anyways, on Wednesday it was 'Goofy Day' and I 'goofily' forgot to take a picture, but I can tell you that it involved a lot of crazy prints; sparkly and colorful tights; and mismatched, knee-high socks! Next we head on over to Thursday a.k.a 'Dynamic Duo Day', where I couldn't find a dang thing to wear but my friends did and made up for any neglectfulness of my school spirit with their amazing outfits!

Introducing...Flynn Rider and Rapunzel(after her hair cut)

The love here, ladies and gentlemen, is practically 'towering' over any other love.

"Frying pans...who knew right?"

*cue the awkward prom pose*

After the adorable spectacle Anya and Christina were...we leaped right into Friday and wore all the red we could find! I was decked out in red shoes(from seventh grade), red polka dot tights(that my sister owned before me and you can see in the above photos of 'Minnie Day', a red dress(from eighth grade), and a red vest(from the 80's). 

The whole school squeezed into the gym for the Homecoming Rally. At my school, we sit according to class in the bleachers, so each area was a different color and it ended up looking pretty cool, if I say so myself. 

The cheerleaders had a colorful tunnel to go through as you entered the gym.

And pretty soon the whole place was filled with the BruiNation!

The Freshmen Class

The Sophomore Class

Not the best picture, but I was in the midst of it!

My Junior Class won the most spirited of the week, and there was no surprise there due to the fact our whole Junior section was a sea of red! Our amazing band played throughout the rally and sounded fantastic and later our choir sang our Alumni/School anthem, which although cheesy, is mostly adorable!

Meanwhile, there was tons of games and videos being played, our Homecoming Court was presented and promptly embarrassed, and our Football team huddled up and got everyone pumped for the Homecoming Game that night!

I also have to include the amazing locker sign my fantastic friends Anya and Megan made me...complete with baby pictures and the most embarassing picture of me(see bottom left-hand corner). I also want to thank my lovely parents for taking the time to make and put up signs in front of my school wishing me a happy birthday!

BONUS: each of these opened up to say something! Cuteness overload!

That night I headed to the Homecoming Game to see out amazing floats!(don't want to brag but ours was the bomb!) We beat Foothill in the JV game and in the Varsity Game at 40 to 6! GO BRUINS! 

Freshmen - Snow White

Sophomores - Monsters Inc.

Second half of Sophomore float

JUNIOR FLOAT! - Peter Pan

Come on, you can't beat a ship!

Seniors- Toy Story

We had a great time at the football game- drinking hot coco, eating funnel cake, and cheering for our team. 

Doesn't Isabella look like the fish from that Disney Channel show 'Fish Hooks'

On Saturday, Anya, Christina, and I went to the Homecoming Dance where the decorations were amazing! Sadly, Isabella wasn't feeling well and couldn't come but I hope she's feeling better! After a long and strenuous  process of finding a Disney character to be, I invested in a tutu and some mouse ears and became a girl mouse from Cinderella!

"Cinderelly, Cinderelly, night and day, it's Cinderelly"

"Got any CHEESE?"

If it isn't a Lost Boy and Wendy I see!

I had a wonderful time dressing up for Homecoming and having a great time with my friends! I hope everyone else had a fantastic time too and if your Homecoming hasn't happened yet you have as much fun as I did and if it's already passed(whether by a few weeks or multiple years) you had a great time! Jewel.

Four Days=Countless Amounts of Fun!

Due to the fact my teachers needed not one, but two 'teacher work days', that took up yesterday and today, my fellow students and I received a four day weekend! After school on Friday I went to lunch with my madre at the 'Joe Caribe Bistro and Cafe'. They specialize in 'fresh, ethnic and Caribbean flavors' according to their website and I would certainly that their food is not only fresh but amazing! My personal favorite is the Vegetarian burrito which not only has your average burrito ingredients but whipped sweet potato, which might not sound good but it definitely is! Anyway, after a late lunch and some car shopping for my sister I headed home exhausted after a long week at school.
The next morning, I joined my school's Key Club to take part in cleaning up the Bear River, my school's namesake actually. Donning elastic gloves and grabbing trash and recycle bags, we set to work combing the river banks for any trash that inconsiderate and laze people left over the summer. Although we mostly found cigarettes, glass shards, and bottle caps; we did find a surplus of butane gas, a suspicious head of a genie sculpture, a goat skull with a feather wired to it(I suspect homeless voo-doo), and a food-saver. I hope our Key Club and the other groups who were taking part in river clean-ups across Nevada County and elsewhere made a difference for the environment and our community.

Beautiful Morning cleaning at the Bear River.

After I headed home, I went to the 28th annual Draft Horse Classic hosted every year at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. We arrived mid-day, the perfect time since this is when the barns are primarily open, and set to going through each barn.

This big guy wasn't very happy to be getting a bath!

You can't tell in the picture, but these horses are nowhere near regular size!

Some random mules mid-Draft Horse

After eating a baked potato(they're the best around) and getting a 'Nevada City Cappucino' which is actually a lot like a frappucino...just better, I went home and got ready for a Comic-Con Dance, hosted by a Mormon Church in Nevada City. Of course when I heard the words 'Comic-Con' I at first held back the tears that I didn't attend San Diego Comic-Con and meet the beautiful Benedict Cumberbatch and of course the numerous other beloved actors and then I realized I could be Benedict...or Sherlock actually. So, acquiring my mother's purple shirt, my great-grandmother's coat, and my father's magnifying glass; I transformed myself into Miss Sherlock Holmes, or as my Dad put it 'She-lock Holmes'.

Yah I did spend 10 min. taking selfies of myself with this magnifying glass. No shame...

Complete Sherlock Outfit

Megan, Kaely, and I(I'm that white flash in the corner) 'sherlocking' while Anya looks really excited for some reason...

I ended up having tons of fun at the dance with Megan, Kaely, Anya, Andrea, and numerous other people all dressed up as everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Avengers. Megan and I both went as Sherlock, while Kaely was John Watson(both Megan and I's "best 'friend'-'man') and Anya went as the Tenth Doctor, which she nailed especially since she had gotten a pixie cut earlier that day.(which looks adorable by the way).
The rest of my weekend was spent taking my first Driver's lesson(since I'm permitted and all that!),  facing the smoke from the King Fire to take a short trip to Nevada City on Monday, and doing homework(since the Teacher's had to give us tons!). If you take a closer look at my Draft Horse Classic pictures you'll see a haze in the background similar to the haze in this picture...

This isn't a Delta fog setting in this is smoke from the King Fire, that has burned thousands of acres and made a cloud of smoke big enough to see from space. I hope everyone affected by the fire is safe and I want to thank all the firefighters for trying their best to keep this basically uncontrollable fire under control! I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend(four days or not)! Jewel.

Calistoga to Healdsburg.(Our own Route 66)

              The sweeping valleys, acres of vineyards, fall colors splattered across the trees......the description of California Wine Country in mid-October. How about we don't talk about how it is November and I'm posting this and I'll instead give you a reminder that high school teachers seem to think if they don't give you homework they are not doing their job. But lucky enough for me, my school has a October Break and I was able to take a short road trip to beautiful Calistoga, in the heart of Napa Valley. Complete with signature hot springs(of course tried) and  a winery every few feet, my mom and I had a wonderful time trying out everything the small town had to offer.
             After a rigourous and hair-rising drive over the steep and windy Calistoga Mountain, we dropped straight into wine country, looking exactly like a postcard. First off, we ate lunch at Checkers, a darling Italian restaurant with cozy window seats perfect for watching the downtown area out of. I enjoyed ravioli and cheesy garlic bread, while my mom enjoyed a Greek salad.

We quickly polished off everything except that second serving of bread

               We then walked around and enjoyed the quaint shops, art galleries, and beautiful murals spread throughout downtown Calistoga before checking in to our tiny and homey bed n' breakfast, Christopher's Inn.

                 We hit the road again to visit the beautiful wineries for their charm and amazing architecture. We started with the Beringer Brother's Winery, one of the oldest wineries in the Napa Valley. This beautiful winery has been walked by the likes of Clark Gable(Gotta love Gone with the Wind) and Carole Lombard.

The Rhine House 

"Are those Artichokes?!?" "No, Jewel they don't have artichokes growing as landscape."

Mom in front of the beautifully detailed fountain.

                 Next up was only the coolest winery/building ever. Castello di Amorosa. A medieval castle tucked away in the hills of California, a exact replica of a castle from 13th century Italy even built with European materials and complete with drawbridge, moat, cellars, a well, a chapel, and torture chambers.What could be cooler then a castle 30 years in the making? The answer is nothing. It practically has every winery in the valley beat just by its building.

Not my picture, but here's the whole effect.

Gargoyle Sentries

OHLORDJESUS. That is a drawbridge!

The top of the tower!

King Arthur's Table. Duh.

Handpainted walls

I'm a princess. I'm in a castle and I'm a princess. No, questions aren't allowed.

Every castle needs creepy underground passages.

The next day we continued our road trip to Healdsburg and tracked down the one and only donut muffin. 

Half donut.... half muffin...covered in a sweet cinnamon and sugar blend. Hands down amazing.

OM NOM NOM NOM. Be jealous.

After and amazing and ridiculously fun road trip, we drove home to a fall signature, the Harvest Moon. I hope you all had a wonderful and spooky October! Jewel.