Category: Uncategorized

Lovelies, I downloaded new music yesterday…! I seriously can’t get over how great these songs are. I’ve organized them according to music artist, just as I did last time. Enjoy.

1. Just Older – Bon Jovi – Crush
2. Have A Nice Day – Bon Jovi – Have A Nice Day
3. Summertime – Bon Jovi – Lost Highway
4. I’m With You – Bon Jovi – What About Now (Deluxe Version)
5. What About Now – Bon Jovi – What About Now (Deluxe Version)
6. What’s Left of Me – Bon Jovi – What About Now (Deluxe Version)
7. Beautiful World – Bon Jovi – What About Now (Deluxe Version)
8. Everything’s OK – Chris Rice – Run the Earth, Watch the Sky
9. Fly to Paradise (Main Mix) – Eric Whitacre Singers, Will Dawes, Hila Plitmann and Guy Sigsworth – Single
10. Angel By Your Side – Francesca Battistelli – Hundred More Years
11. Motion Of Mercy – Francesca Battistelli – Hundred More Years
12. Beautiful, Beautiful – Francesca Battistelli – My Paper Heart (Bonus Track Version)
13. Free To Be Me [Dented Fender Sessions] – Francesca Battistelli – My Paper Heart: Dented Fender Sessions
14. I’m Letting Go [Dented Fender Sessions] – Francesca Battistelli – My Paper Heart: Dented Fender Sessions
15. When Mercy Found Me – Rhett Walker Band – Come to the River

 

“Really, what’s the worst that can happen? You fall down.” – Miss Jenna

I must admit, it is rather bizarre that in dance, it’s easier for people (myself included) to perform Italian fouettes than it is for them to smile. We put so much effort into looking beautiful on the outside; we forget about the beauty of our hearts, of our minds and of our souls. Do you think that if we smiled more, those Italian fouettes would be really lovely? Do you believe that if we smiled more, we’d stop being so incredibly uptight? Is there such a world as that? I think…

Well, this has been an extremely long week. That stated, this is going to be a very long post. I apologize in advance!

First off, this post is dedicated to “my peeps”, who drove all the way down here from Wisconsin to vacation and ended up sweeping, moving mattresses, cleaning bathrooms, installing ceiling fans, cooking, doing laundry, taking out trash and fist fighting over who the heck was going to pay for groceries.

It has been such an amazing start to July. Honestly, I push for this week every year. Because this week means Bible Conference at the ministry, and Bible Conference means Alex and Julie and my peeps, all gathered together in my home state. This year, that meant moving seven extra family members into our new house!

It was amazing. We did everything from swimming [in the pouring rain] (Yes, I have played 500 before. No, I’m not going to beat you at it.), to Texas Road House (“More soda!”), to mini golfing (“This is how the pros do it!”), to a campfire (“Here, Kaden, you can toast my marshmallow. You’ll love it!”), to a barbeque (“Well, Kaden, it looks like I’m stuck here. You’ll have to go get my dessert for me.”), to Five Guys (“Just get the little hamburger!”), to an Avengers movie marathon (“Wait, who’s he? Is he important?”).

Memorable quotes from the B&B adventures? We got those covered.

Dad: We were ready to have a fistfight in the middle of King Soopers. That would have proved highly entertaining for all of the other shoppers.

Mom: Will you just relax, please? You’re on vacation for crying out loud!

Me: I have no idea who you are. But I’ll take your barbeque ticket!

Kaden: No, I don’t have a wife! I’m not married!

Brody: We could go get slurpees….

Gauge: Aw, you guys live here, too? This is awesome!

Dan: I’m going to go install the ceiling fans.

Becky: Live long, live strong!

Jerad: We’re going to have to stop this movie like every two minutes because I’m not going to get it.

Jace: It was the grass!

Emma: Men!– they do what they wanna do.

Needless to say, we get along like a big, happy family of ten people, whom no restaurant can seat at the same table. I was so sad to see them go.

Somewhere in there, I managed to make it to Leaps and Turns, where we worked on switch leaps and jazz fouettes, and ballet, where I flat-out failed multiple across-the-floor combinations because I was so exhausted.

And fall classes are here!

Monday: Training 3 with Miss Mia

Wednesday: Advanced Modern and Training 3 w/pointe with Miss Sara

Friday: Training 3 with Miss Sara/Miss Bethanny and Intermediate Pointe One with Miss Mimi

As you lovely dancers are perfectly aware, this blog is about dance. Lots and lots of dancing and dance-related fun. Because, you know, dancing is right up there with breathing and smiling and living. It’s that important.

However, as you are also aware, I’m a huge fan of reading, which has been made apparent in previous random posts. I’m still inching my way through Rick Riordan’s The House of Hades, gobbling up my allotted two chapters a day (talk about a mini heart attack this morning, when that wind bomb blew up in Piper’s hands…).

HOWEVER (Yeesh, me and this word!), I have never really expressed my passion for writing. I guess I’ve always just assumed that I didn’t need to, since, after 203 blog posts, it’s more of a fact than an assumption. So, I’m going to go at this like a winner and just say:

I love to write.

I have tons of incomplete short stories and manuscripts, and I’m proud of it, too! When I get a good idea, I write it down, and when I get bored, I move right along through all of my other ideas, searching for one to add on to. Because stories are really just ideas. All of the characters and settings and plot lines that people have come to adore? Those all began with an idea. And thank God for people like Shannon Hale, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Heather Vogel Fredrick, Suzanne Collins, Rick Riordan, Wendelin Van Draanen, Margaret Sidney and Noel Streatfeild, who, like me, responded to those ideas. One day, like them, I hope to hand my ideas off to people like me, whose love of reading is so outlandish, they tend to forget…

Yesterday was beyond awesome.

Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without ballet. Probably pirouette around Bass Pro Shop (No, I didn’t do that over break! Why would you even ask that?).

But fear not, lovelies, for summer classes have come to my rescue, lest I lose my mind! Speaking of which, I have not forgotten about my owing you a random post. I just haven’t found the right words yet….

Miss Sara started off our first Wednesday ballet class of the mini-mester with plies, tendus, degages and ronds de jambes. After that, we had a nice stretch and then returned to the barre for grand battements. We performed a challenging adagio piece before knocking up the pace for a slightly disastrous across-the-floor combination, and after a good laugh, it was time for pointe.

Sarah and I had a semi-private pointe class yesterday– it was great. We did a handful of releves, while I cringed over the deathly state of my shoes. When it came time for chaines, however, I decided that the Mirellas must go and slipped on my Euros. They were hard and uncomfortable and hard, but I felt much less nervous as I attempted my turns. I can’t say that I was especially proud of my chaines, but I like to think that my piques made up for them…. It was, indeed, a “turn day,” working on pirouettes and soutenus besides. I decided to show Miss Sara the picture that I took of Kaden and my dad at Bass, attempting to stand in pirouette position, a row of large guns behind them. We smiled, laughed and all-in-all, felt much better about our own pirouettes! (P.S. I would totally LOVE to post that picture, but Kaden won’t let me…)

Oh, lovelies. Nobody pinch me.

Right off the bat, I just want to thank Miss Jenna for being amazing. I am seriously bouncing off the walls in happiness (OR folding massive loads of laundry after our vacation with an unprecedented vigor… your pick!).

Leaps and Turns began with a bit of a shpeel; the class will be divided into an intermediate group and an advanced group, starting next week. The advanced group will arrive an hour later than the intermediate group. Ms. Tina will be sending out email confirmations for class placement by the end of the week. Ta-da!

Then, we talked about the importance of not being too hard on ourselves because–let’s be honest–leaps and turns are not exactly plies and tendus. They are, however, my two favorite things in the book, and not even this conversation was enough to deter me from believing that I’ll be able to master whatever I set my mind to. Because that’s how God programmed me. Sometimes, I get annoyingly obsessive, but I can’t quit. I just… can’t.

So, we began class with a full-blown warm-up, including cardio and stretching exercises. The best way to describe this part of class would be Miss Jenna’s line, “Hello quads! Welcome to summer class!”

It was great.

The remainder of class was spent in across-the-floor, doing grand battements, jazz walks, chasses, soutenus and a new favorite: six-step pirouettes. Those turns were confusing, crazy and otherwise challenging, but I loved them.

When class ended, I couldn’t believe it. Even after 160 crunches, I felt like I could go for another two or three hours.

And now, I must go mope, for ballet does not begin until Wednesday. You may end up with another post tomorrow, however, and if so, you can bet your ballroom shoes that it’ll be random. 🙂

Normally, I wouldn’t use #summerlovin because the phrase, in itself, weirds me out. I don’t normally admit to this truth: I CAN BE A VERY UPTIGHT BALLERINA!— either, but obviously, this isn’t happening today.

It’s summer, lovelies. Even I can let go.

Because–honestly–who ACTUALLY minds waking up at nine every morning? Reading for the next hour or two? Eating toaster waffles and a fruit smoothie with REAL SUGAR for breakfast? Sitting outside to read some more? Starting five or six different short stories and tossing around which one you’re going to finish first? Not me!

My last two weeks have been busier than my first year of high school ever proved to be. No, I’m not working math problems, dissecting World War II and cramming a bunch of French words into my brain (Okay, so that last one’s not entirely true….); I’m doing things that I WANT to do. I’m busy LIVING instead of learning how I SHOULD.

Summer is a time to make your own rules, or so I’ve come to realize. Over the past two weeks, I’ve watched myself evolve from a girl who planned out every waking minute of her day in permanent marker, to a girl who jots down a few things she MIGHT like to accomplish on said day, and sees what happens after that. And, once again, I’m not talking about work.

Of course I’m exercising and attempting not to lose everything that I gained in dance this past year (Wow, that sounds crazy…). Because that would really stink. But these last couple of weeks have given me so much besides time for my body to recover from… well… May. These days, my mind is clearer, too. And yeah, it’s partially because it’s not overflowing with algebraic equations and historical facts, but mostly, it’s because I’m learning to relax.

I’m not a pro yet, by any means, and I doubt that I ever will be. But when I came across that field yesterday (pictured above) and thought about taking off my shoes and running around in the misty fog, I knew that I was getting somewhere.

Even moving isn’t stressing me out as much as it usually does. We’ll be heading a ways down the street on the 27th, and no, I haven’t boxed a single thing. Actually, I got up this morning and asked for Kentucky Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes for dinner. I’m embracing the cardboard and plastic wrapping scattered all over my house, and I’m actually really, really happy.

But no, parents, I will NOT be prevailed upon to leave our home state. Smiles.

And dance starts Monday, and it’s kind of hard to be sad about that… so I don’t even try. 🙂