christmas in the summer.

I had a wonderful Christmas. My family was all together for the first time in a few years. I even had some honorary brother's there. Two of Jared's friends flew over from the states to spend Christmas with us and also to catch up with Jared. Although one of them didn't arrive until Boxing Day. He actually skipped Christmas. He left the states on the 24th and arrived on the 26th! He got a good deal on tickets obviously so he didn't mind too much. We opened presents in the morning, ate a late lunch and then went to the beach. I didn't even think to take pictures until we went to the beach.

The boys were playing football in the water while my parents and I walked alongside the beach.

Jared was quite tired after coming out of the water. He started leaning on my dad as we were walking back to the car. I don't know if he was trying to get him to carry him to the car, but it was quite funny.

My dad has gray hair now from the chemo. It's weird. Although it seems to be getting darker by the day. We'll see what color it ends up turning into.

The three boys after playing in the water.

I saw this in the parking lot. how random.

This is a Pohutukawa tree. Also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree. They are blooming all over the place. It's so pretty.

I love the beach.

 

The other day I was talking to a friend about how there are no movies about christmas in the summer. I decided to google it and see what came up. 

Isn't that awesome! I am so going to have to make one next year!

jared's home!

Jared came home on November 3rd!  I'm a little late, but oh well. We were so excited and kinda nervous to see him after two years.

Here is my mom with the welcome home sign. We were busy doing some running around that day. We thought we might actually be late meeting him at the airport! We hadn't done the sign yet so my mom hurriedly wrote on the posterboard when we got to the airport. Classy, I know. Caleb stayed in New Zealand this semester because he had knee surgery done in September. He decided to tell Jared in October that he was headed back to AZ to finish the semester when he was really in NZ doing online school. My dad told us he was flying in from Christchurch the same time as Jared. Caleb went to go find him while we waited for Jared. We ended up waiting for about 20 minutes before Jared finally came out. I thought it would be awkward but we all just automatically clicked and it was like he had never left. Caleb came out of hiding, but Jared didn't have as good of a reaction as we thought. He was like "Hey!' and pointed at him.

His best friend Brian called right after Jared came out so they got to talk for a few minutes.

His poor shoes.

brother's reunited.

My dad hadn't gotten off the flight he was supposed to so we decided to wait for the next flight. We have been miscommunicating lately about his flights (by we I actually mean my dad. he just blames it on his chem brain. haha) He was on the next flight. He thought Jared got in an hour later for some reason. Jared hid while my dad came off the plane. My dad's reaction when he saw jared was 10x better than Jared's reaction to caleb. My dad did a double take so hard I'm suprised he didn't have whiplash. Maybe he was really just whipping his hair back and forth. haha just kidding he has no hair. haha. It was so good to be together as a family again after 2 years!!

Welcome Home Jared!!

granddad, tell me your memories.

My grandparents came over for christmas when I was 13 years old. We gave them these books that said "Grandma/Grandpa tell me your memories." My granny had filled hers out and given it back to us. We thought that granddad had done the same. When my granddad passed away this past May, I remembered about the books. I asked my mom if she knew what had happened to them. She thought that they were probably in the storage unit we have in AZ. The next morning we were over at my grannys house and she was cleaning out some drawers. I just happened to come in and saw the book sitting on her bed. I couldn't believe it. We didn't even know he still had it. Not everything had been filled out, but quite a bit had! Granny gave it to me as my little keepsake of granddad. It has been really fun to read over stories of his youth.

One of my favorite stories is of how my grandparents met. I thought I would share the story.

The question was "Tell about your first date."

Marie was my first date, but it was not planned. I was training to be a fighter pilot in South Wales. It was a Saturday night and two friends came to my room to say we were all going to a dance at Swansea hospital. They had put my name down because I had the car! When we got there, all the guys were down one side of the hall, and all the nurses were down the other side, and 'Matron' was up on the stage keeping an eye on all. When the music started, I went to one of the nurses and asked for a dance. "Where do you come from?" "I come from the valleys!" (In a Welsh accent) I don't like the welsh accent! After about three or four, all the same, one of my friends said "Hey, have you seen that little Irish nurse over there?" "Irish, Irish, where?" "Over there in pink!" Whoosh - I was over there quick as a flash and we spent the rest of the evening together and after that we dated regularly, and so on...!

The next question is "Tell about your first kiss."

At the end of the dance I gave Marie a very tentative 'peck' - I didn't want to be too 'fresh' besides I was pretty green in the matters! Our first 'proper' kiss came at a subsequent date.

Here is their wedding picture on March 19th 1960. Don't they look lovely!

cancer free is the way to be!

I wrote this a few weeks ago but I never actually hit publish for some reason. I must have gotten distracted.

My dad got the results of his CT scan that he had taken a few weeks ago and he is completely cancer free!! 

We went out to eat at this thai place for dinner to celebrate. I was a little skeptical to eat there because I never had thai food before. I remember someone had told me once that if you are ever eating thai food you can never go wrong with pad thai. So I ordered pad thai. It was SO good. I am so glad I took that advice!

Since I wrote that my dad is doing really well. He's still quite tired so he takes a nap during the day. His hair is slowly growing back. Although it looks like it is growing back white, which will be very weird to see. I'm so glad that is over with now. Jared came home about a week and a half ago but I will save that for another post!

movies, movies, movies.

I absolutely love movies. There is something so magical about going to the movie theatre. I decided to make up a list of movies that are coming out or have just come out. The next movie I have decided to go see is Charlie St. Cloud. There used to be a movie theatre right down the street from my house. They shut it down a few months ago. Now if I want to see a move the closest movie theatre is 25 minutes away. Which actually isn't too bad. It's just not as convenient. Anyways here is my list of movies I must see.



The Romantics: Even though I really want to see this movie, I'm not quite convinced I want to watch it. Yes, it does have an all-star cast and the trailer makes it look really good. But I have been disappointed many times by movies because the trailer "looks good". It kind of reminds me of the time I saw the trailer for Adam Brody's movie "In The Land of Women". When I finally watched it, it was a terrible, terrible movie. Most of the funny bits were already used in the trailer. I'm going to give this movie a chance and hope it won't be a waste of $13.50.



The Adjustment Bureau: This movie looks quite interesting. I love the concept of it as well. I also love Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, therefore I will love this movie. (hopefully)



Easy A: I know this movie is already out in the states but it doesn't come out here until freakin' DECEMBER! I hate that we have to wait so long for movies. Anyways, I have really really wanted to see this movie ever since I saw the trailer for it a few months ago. I saw an interview with Emma Stone on some talk show and they showed this clip and it made me even more excited to see it!

SO FUNNY!! I may or may not have already watched this about 30 times. I've heard good things about it so I can't wait to see it!

The Social Network: The only thing more nerdy than going to see a movie about facebook is going to watch that movie by yourself because no one is willing to go and watch it with you. I haven't seen it yet so maybe there is still hope that I can convince someone to come with me. (yes I sometimes go to movies by myself. Some people (aka: my family) have told me it's weird but I think I actually prefer it that way. Especially when you go in the middle of the day so you don't have annoying stranger talking or kicking the back of your seat the whole movie.)



Tomorrow, When The War Began: This movie is based off of the series coincidentally (or maybe not) titled Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. It has been out at the theatres for awhile, but I still haven't seen it. I should change that. Next week maybe?

If you have seen any of these movies, let me know what you thought! No spoilers, please!

scary kids, scaring kids

Every city has local bands that (mostly) everyone loves. For my younger brother's Jared and Caleb and some their friends that band was Scary Kids, Scaring Kids. Caleb has always wanted to go to one of their shows. He was only 12 at the time so of course he wasn't allowed to go. I'd hear bits and pieces of their music and just sort of wrote it off as some screamo band that my brother's listened too. I was never into that type of music at all so I could really care less about them. A few months ago Caleb happened to call some of his friends and they were at Scary Kids, Scaring Kids last show in AZ before breaking up. Caleb was kinda mad that he didn't get to go to any of their shows. He found out that they were actually touring Australia and were making their way over to New Zealand and would be playing a show in Wellington. I told Caleb that I would take him to their show. 

We found out that the show was supposed to be for 18+. Caleb called them and they said he was allowed to come if a parent came with him. Then there was a little bit of drama because the website said all the NZ shows were cancelled. We called the venue and found out the show was still going ahead but the promoter had backed out of the tour. Instead of tickets being $40 they were only $10. sweet! My dad was going to come with us, but he had a flight early the next morning and also had some work to finish so my mom came with us. 

The show was on Thursday September 2nd. We arrived just before 8:30 because we thought thats when the show was starting. The guy at the door said that scaring kids had missed their flight yesterday. They were flying in around 11pm and were coming straight to the venue to play. The first band didn't even start playing until 10pm. It was a little boring having to wait so long, but we did get really good seats off to the side where we could see everything.

• The first band started around 10:15-10:20. I don't remember what the name of the band was, but they weren't good at all. I could not have told you what the lyrics were to any of the songs if my life depended on it. I was surprised that the lead singer could even talk after all the screaming he did. The most entertaining part of their set was watching these kids push each other around and trying to get a mosh pit going.
• I had actually forgotten how loud concerts actually are. It doesn't help that the band you are listening to is a heavy metal band. I had some of my perfume on even though it smells amazing, it can give me headaches. This was one of those times. I was starting to think coming was a really bad idea.  Then I decided to be an old lady and use some earplugs. *poof* headache gone. It was amazing. I will never understimate the power of using earplugs ever again. 
• The next band went on about 30 min later. I don't know what their name was either. They weren't too bad. I could actually understand most of the lyrics. Which was an upgrade from the previous band.
• 11:30 the third band gets on stage to play. They are a pop/punk band from Australia called "The Mission in Motion" They were SO awesome!!  I was expecting screamo bands the whole time so I was quite excited to see a band that I would actually listen to. One of the guys in the band actually gave me a free demo cd. I listened to it later and it was so good that I immediately downloaded their album. I would definitely love to see them play again!
• The next performer wasn't actually a band. It was the drummer from SKSK. He is working on a solo project. He calls himself Mod Sun and his genre is hippy hoppy. haha. That dude was insane. I really don't know how else to describe him. Definitely an interesting character. He was pretty hilarious though.
• Around 2am Scaring Kids finally started performing. They told us that their promoter backed out on them in Australia and he took all their money with him as well. Luckily their plane tickets were already booked otherwise they wouldn't have made it to NZ. They were pretty much going to go back to the states in debt. That really must have sucked for them, but they still managed to play an awesome show!! 

Here is a video from the show. Caleb was front and center so he even got some of the guys singing into the camera! haha. Sorry for the video being everywhere Caleb was jumping up and down so it's a bit shaky in places.

Scary Kids Scaring Kids - My Darkest Hour from Rachael Ball on Vimeo.

The show finished around 3am. I know Caleb wanted to stay a tad longer to talk a bit more with some of the band, but we had to get home to take my dad to the airport. We live about an hour outside of wellington. We got home at 4 just to turn right back around to go to the airport. I went with my mom just to make sure she didn't fall asleep. I'm afraid towards the end I wasn't very much help as I was practically asleep. We finally arrived home just before 6am to get a few hours sleep before we had to get ready for a "Nerd Night" that we were putting on for the young women. It was definitely a fun and memorable night!

run and tell that, homeboy.

I'm sure most of you have seen the "bed intruder" news segment and the song that goes along with it. The song has over 21 million views. Insane. If you haven't then go ahead and familiarize yourself with them. If you have feel free to watch them again. You know you want too. I have listened to the song 500,000 times already. for real.

here is the song. The news segment was deleted from youtube, but this is the best part anyway.

I know that this video has been overplayed and is probably considered "old news" but I came across this picture and cracked up. I had to share.

P.S. Sorry for being a really lame blogger. I will be back tomorrow with a better post!

make it rain...

I have been meaning to post again but I haven't really felt like it. Since I am sick of looking at the previous post I will leave you with a video. These Kiwi boys are pretty dang talented. Some of those shots are INSANE. I hope you enjoy!

and the world spins madly on...

Life has been filled with quite a few road blocks these past few months. I just thought I would share a little bit of what has been going on.

One day in the middle of May my mom called and told me that my grandfather had passed away. It was quite a shock. He seemed to be perfectly healthy. I was never that close with him, since I grew up 7,000 miles away. But I am really grateful that I was able to spend these last two years getting to know him a little bit better. My grandfather led an incredible life. So even though it is sad to have him leave us, I know he is in a much better place. 

Not even a week later, my dad flew home from china. He wasn't feeling well and was in quite a bit of pain and it was only getting worse. He had gone to a few hospitals in china and they had given him several diagnosis from: he has 3 kidneys (my personal fave) to a broken back among other things. I'm sure the doctors are very good over there. It was more of a translation issue more than anything. My mom and I picked him up right from the airport and took him to A&E (which is what New Zealand calls their emergency room) We waited around for about 3-4 hours and then we finally were able to see a doctor. They gave him the preliminary diagnosis of Lymphoma. Which is a cancer of the lymph nodes. They had to run some tests first. After about a month of different tests and two different surgery's to remove lymph nodes they could finally say it was officially lymphoma. He started chemo immediately and has had 3 chemo treatments so far. He has been responding very well! So far his only side effects has been losing his hair. If that is the worst we'll take it! His chemo treatments are once every three weeks. The doctors are going to do a cat scan next treatment and that will determine how many more treatments he will have to do. If all goes well he will be done sometime in November!

Speaking of November Jared comes home November 3rd!! We are so excited! It seems like he's been gone forever. I hope the next 3 months don't drag on.

Even though life has been filled with trials it has also been filled with lots of blessings as well. I am so grateful for the trials that I have and to learn new life lessons. I'm also glad for the time I get to spend with my family since we have been spread out all over the world lately.

Currently listening to: 

world spins madly on - the weepies

i'm obsessed.

he is incredible.

learning to drive.

oh no, not me. I am a pro. obviously. 

Caleb has been practicing his driving since he has been in New Zealand for the past month. 

this past week caleb and I have been trying to get some good sunset pictures. we drove down to the beach, but failed at getting a good picture. we were just a tad too late. 

On the way back home, which is only a two minute drive. I decided to be Caleb's own paparazzi. which he wasn't very excited about.

Then he got a little more into it. 

I decided to take on a different approach that didn't work the first time.

I tried again but caleb was getting a little sick of it.

(after this picture, I thought we were going to clip the side of a vehicle parked on the side of the road and yelled at him to watch out. but the yelling only freaked him out more. haha. we didn't hit the car. fyi.) apparently I really wanted this angle to work so I had to take one more picture.

We have a winner, folks! 

In all seriousness. Caleb is actually a really good driver. I'm sure I enjoyed our spontaneous photo session a lot more than he did.

star bright, star light.

I was coming home from a YSA family home evening sunday night. I looked up at the stars on my way inside and I was completely captivated by them. I came inside and did a few things, then decided to wrap up (it was 45 degrees outside! brrr.) and go sit out on the back deck for awhile. I took two of the deck chairs and sat in one and put my feet on the other. I was just in front of the railing so I could put my head back and had a perfect view of the stars. I had the perfect playlist going. I decided to share that with you.

1. Be Be Your Love - Rachael Yamagata

2. Birthday Song - Ben Lee

3. If We Cannot See - Devics

4. When It Comes - Tyler Hilton

5. Light Years Away - MoZella

6. He Lays In the Reins - Iron & Wine and Calexico

7. Just A Little Bit More - Madison Rose

8. Sidewalks - Story Of The Year

9. Everybody's Changing - Keane

10. Glad - Tyler Hilton

11. Mixtape - Butch Walker

12. Begin - Ben Lee

13. NYC Weather Report - Five For Fighting

14. Proof - I Am Kloot

15. Empty Apartment - Yellowcard

16. World Spins Madly On - The Weepies

While I was listening to these songs I saw an abundance of shooting stars. Some of them weren't very bright. There were two amazing shooting stars. One of them was SO bright It was breath-takingly beautiful. I wish I could've stayed out longer but I was getting a bit too cold. Even with two jackets and two blankets a pair of socks and slipper socks on. I wanted to do it again, but it is supposed to be rainy and cloudy this whole week. But there was an amazing rainbow out today. It was massive. I think it took up almost the whole sky. definitely could not fit it all into my camera.

I wish I knew how to make these pictures bigger without them being cut off on the blog. tips anyone?

this side of the rainbow was so bright and I was trying to capture it with my camera. Obviously the tree was in the way, but at least it made for a semi-cool picture.

There was an incredible sunset the other day as well. 

random picture of caleb. yes he does need a haircut.

hooray!

Happy Birthday to me!!

You might remember the song and video that I made for my brother for his birthday. He returned the favor and made an awesome rap for me. I can't get enough of it. I keep watching it over and over.

My mom also had me watch this video from the beatles. Sometimes I think who has the time to make these types of things. I know if I had though of it first I totally would have made it as well. So I guess I can't judge.

I have had a pretty chill day. Watching One Tree Hill and eating birthday cake. Me and my friend MJ are going to watch all the seasons of One Tree Hill. There are 7 of them. Yes we are crazy. Over about a week we have watched season 1 and a disc of season 2. I will keep you posted on how that goes. 

I can do anything good.

How cute is this little girl. Oh, the things we can learn from little kids. We should all stand/dance in front of the mirror on occasion and repeat things we are grateful for or even things we like about ourself or about life in general. 

(The word ourslef is looking very very strange to me right now. It is making me think of elves and sleds. I have no idea where that came from since christmas is six months away!)

Anyways we should copy Jessica and repeat in the mirror "I can do anything good...better than anyone else.

I have decided to list a few things I am thankful/excited for here and I will go and dance around my bathroom repeating them later.

1.  My birthday is in six days! 23 here I come!

2.  I get to spend time with my parents and Caleb for the next little while (maybe a bit too much time
     though. haha.) We do miss Jared. (some of the time) He comes home in about 4-5 months!! We
     don't know his actual release date yet. It could be beginning of November or Christmas Eve.
     Hopefully we will know soon!

3.  New Zealand's Health Care system. hellooo it's FREE!!! Which has been a blessing. Seriously
     paying taxes is SO worth the benefits. Caleb even gets free dental work done since he is a student.
     Too bad i'm not still in high school.

4.  Decorating my room! I haven't officially started yet, but hopefully it will be incredible. If it turns 
     out decent I might even post pictures!

5. The soundtrack's to One Tree Hill and The O.C. duuude I knew that One Tree Hill soundtrack's
    were pretty decent but I just started listening to them and i'm completely obsessed.  Also I can't
    believe I have never seen The O.C. until a few days ago. Where have I been? The show has only
    been finished for about 4 years. Oh well I am enjoying working my way through them. Although 
    i'm sure the season finale's will be a little more anti-climatic since I don't have to wait three months
    to find out. I  just pop the next disc in like 2 minutes later. I haven't decided if that is a good or bad
    thing yet.

What are you thankful/excited for?

dynamic.

I found this poem on tumblr quite awhile ago and fell in love with it. I recently found it again and thought I would share it. enjoy!

I’m just a Summer Roberts

Waiting for her Seth Cohen

Well, you can be Peter Parker

And I’ll be your Mary Jane Watson

Won’t you be my Danny Zuko?

I want to be your Sandra Dee

But we don’t need to be them, you know

We’re perfectly fine, just you and me

We’re kind of just like John and Yoko

Maybe even better than them, I bet

I like you better than Katherine did Petruchio

You know me better than Romeo did Juliet

You got Nick’s indie boy vibe

I got Norah’s no-bullcrap attitude

I can’t keep sane without you by my side

You know you need me when you’re feeling blue

What about Barney and Robin?

Or Cinderella and her charming Prince

The moment I first saw you, there was no denying

That I’ll never be able to stop thinking about you since

Like a sappy movie scene

When Boy tells Girl he loves her

I anticipate our moment; it’s almost here

We’ll live out our own happily ever after

Because it’s written in the stars

Although it’s not completely astronomic

I just know it in my heart

You can’t deny it—we’re dynamic

boys will be girls.

This video kills me everytime.

class of 2005.

(I meant to post this on the 25th of May but life has been super crazy so it's a little late.)

It has been five years since I have graduated high school. I honestly can't believe it. Some days it seems like it was yesterday and others it feels like a whole different lifetime. I remember when I was in 2nd grade. I went to a school that went from Kindergarten up to 8th grade. I thought the older kids were so cool. I couldn't wait until I was one of the big kids on campus. I guess I never really imagined what it would be like when I was in high school. sometimes it seemed that I would never get there.. Not that I thought I was going to die or anything it just seemed like a lifetime away. Since being fourteen or fifteen was "so old". haha. I guess my little brain just couldn't comprehend it at the time.

In honor of my fifth year anniversary of graduating into the "real world" I decided to make a mixtape of songs that remind me of being a senior in high school. These songs bring back so many memories. Every time I hear them it is like I am seventeen again. Most of the memories of these songs are driving around with the girls screaming these songs at the top of our lungs whether we were going to QT, Applebee's, TP'ing someones house or creating some sort of havoc, or any of our other favorite haunts. One memory that stands out at the moment is when we were at the church off of 32nd street and Southern (I'm not too sure who was in the car but I know that Marinda was.) We were there for a roadshow that Kimball Stake was putting on. We had just been blasting "Rich Girl" by Gwen Stefani. There is a part in the song where she says "ding" in the song and Marinda wanted to get the timing right so she could sing along with the "ding". We must have played that part of the song about fifty times. She would with either be ahead or behind by just a fraction but she did get it in the end!! It was hilarious at the time though. (do you even remember that Marinda??) I have so many amazing memories from high school, but I am sure glad I am done with that part of my life. I wish that I had some pictures to put up but they are all on my laptop which died on me :( hopefully I might be able to get them back though. (if anyone has any pictures they could send me that would be great!) I hope that you will enjoy this mixtape as much as I do.

class of 2005 {a mix}

1. let's get it started - black eyed peas
2. beverly hills - weezer
3. leave (get out) - jojo
4. yeah - usher feat. lil' jon and ludacris
5. you and me - lifehouse
6. stacy's mom - fountains of wayne
7. these words - natasha bedingfield
8. switch - will smith
9. come clean - hilary duff
10. vindicated - dashboard confessional
11. listen to your heart - dht
12. i miss you - blink 182
13. toxic - britney spears
14. sugar, we're going down - fall out boy
15. somebody told me - the killers
16. rich girl - gwen stefani
17. since u been gone - kelly clarkson
18. don't cha - the pussycat dolls feat. busta rhymes
19. ocean avenue - yellowcard
20. she will be loved - maroon 5
21. hey ya - outkast
22. boyfriend - ashlee simpson
23. pon de replay - rihanna
24. meant to live - switchfoot
25. run it! - chris brown

if you would like to download this, click below
class of 2005

What are some of your favorite songs from high school?

keep calm and...

There is a print that has become hugely popular that says "keep calm and carry on" I had seen a few "remakes" on tumblr and decided to share some. enjoy!













If you don't watch Glee this will probably seem pretty inappropriate. But it was too funny not to post for any of us that do. I seriously love those two together. it makes for some hilarious scenes.













This is genius. That is probably one of my fave episodes because of that saying.

auckland.

I am finally getting around to putting some more pictures up of Auckland. These pictures aren't in any particular order.



This is the Auckland Harbour Bridge. This connects the the city to the north shore. which is where I live! A few weeks ago when Justin Bieber was here he bungy jumped off this bridge. obviously you don't care, but just a fun fact for you.



the whole bridge.



Sorry for the really crappy picture. I took it as I was driving but I was only going about 20 k's but I didn't really want to keep trying for a good one. But funny story about this place. While my mom was up here she wanted to come check "Victoria Park Market" out because it used to be this cool place back in the day. It used to have all of this artsy stuff sold there. We weren't sure if we would make it out there or not. we were actually on our way to the airport and my mom saw this and I know she wanted to go and she was like there's the exit we can go if you want. So I was trying to decide if I should go or not. The only reason I was skeptical was because I didn't know if we could find parking or not. Especially since most of it is parallel parking and I never learned to do that. This went through my head in all in a few seconds but then I thought what the heck and then swerved over to catch the exit in time. Luckily we were able to find parking but we didn't realize how far away we had parked. It was kind of a shame because it wasn't as good as she remembered and it was a little bit of a dive. But I know she was glad that she was at least able to see it before she left. Of course as we left it starts raining and to top it off I had parked at the top of the hill. But at least we made it to the airport on time. Even though her plane would be delayed several hours.



cool patterns on the side of the motorway



Auckland city





I had to take a picture because even new zealand must know how important Blair Waldorf is. hahaha.



Sky Tower in downtown Auckalnd



Check out all those yachts



Downtown auckland coming over the harbour bridge



Palm trees!



The mall that is near my house is actually pretty cool. Here is a little pirate ship playground.



They also had this fun activity. I don't know what to call it though.





check out this pink/purple station wagon. it's awesome. I saw this amazing van driving home yesterday. It was covered in fake grass. It was so freakin amazing. I kick myself because I didn't have my camera and I almost brought it with me! oh well.