It's OK

I have decided that it is OK for me to be proud of myself sometimes. Not in a bad, cocky way, but in a way that I feel good about things I am doing and things I am accomplishing. It's OK. I'm allowed to do that. I need to remember that. A lot more.

Also, I am super stoked for Xanadu to open! I love everything about this show. Seriously. I also love everyone involved. They are all such amazing, talented, and sincerely good people.

One last thing: I have the right and the ability to be happy. I can do it. Things only affect me if I let them. I choose to be happy. I need to remember this.

I CAN DO THIS. IT'S OK.

SO MUCH!

So much has happened since my last post! So here it goes!

Cooper:

In my last post I think I talked about a dog named Luna that we were trying to adopt. It fell through and she got adopted by the person who put in their application just before us. However, it turned out to be not such a bad thing that we didn't get her! Brandon and I went down to the Pet Smart pet adoption on September 10th and found "the dog." He is a boxer/border collie mix, is about 1.5-2 years old, is super fun to play with and loves us a lot. He is also a great dog for watching our house. He's got a jaw on him that I would hate to have clamped on my leg! We love him a lot. It has been a little rough with the whole "training" thing... but we're working on it and hopefully we'll be making some major headway soon. He is super smart, but he uses his smarts to get around what we want him to do. And/or he just ignores us. Stinker. But, like I said, we love him.

Xanadu:

Rehearsals for this show have been so much more fun than I think any of us thought they would be! I love this show, I love this cast, I love Jim Christian, I love the music, I love everything about this process. I love being able to play around with my muse (Polyhymnia the muse of pantomime!) and getting to explore all of the different things I can do with it. I also love learning how to be an understudy! It's a lot of work and a little overwhelming, but it is such an amazing learning opportunity! I am loving every second of it! Seriously. So much fun. Rehearsal is probably the best part of my school day. No, it definitely is the best part of my school day. Also, this process seems to be going REALLY fast! We are way ahead of the game! Which is good cause it gives me time to work on my roller-skating... I'm not the best at it... But I'm working on it! Make sure to buy tickets, which you can do here! Yay!

Life is so good right now, and though I am not talking about all of it, just know that life is GOOD. I love it. It is super stressful with school and a new dog and rehearsal and homework and all of that stuff.... but that is life right? I mean... it has to happen sometimes. I am so blessed to have the life that I do and the opportunities that I have and everything like that. I love it.

Twenty-one!

HOLY COW.

Yes, I am 21 years old as of yesterday.

And it feels absolutely no different! hahahaha

But does it ever?

Yesterday was so awesome. My amazing husband made my birthday a complete success! I love him so much. Because I love him, and because I can, I am going to go through everything he did for me yesterday. And because IT WAS AWESOME!

Before I woke up yesterday morning I could hear Brandon busily getting ready to leave for work for the day. Or so I thought. He woke me up moments later with a big omelet and some fresh peaches in my favorite yogurt! He had really been making me breakfast and served it to me in bed. He also told me that he had gotten work off for my birthday! What a gem :) seriously, I love him. So, I enjoyed my breakfast, and shared it with him because it was A LOT, and then got ready for school. He drove me to class and then said he would meet me back at the school at 11:30 for lunch!

During classes Brandon sent me an e-mail saying "Happy Birthday! Sorry it didn't get here in time for your birthday!" It was the confirmation to the purchase of a new camera! I am so happy. I will be taking this one with me everywhere I go so that no one will burgle it. They would be stupid to burgle our house now though. After going to pick up some cupcakes for Xanadu rehearsal, he took me to Golden Jade (yuuuum!) for lunch. We went to the park and ate it under a shady bowery thing. It was super fun to just relax and spend time with him during the day. That never happens on regular days! After lunch he took me back to class, which was really good, and then met me after with a surprise!

He had bought me all of the stuff we need for a dog! We have been wanting one for a while but haven't had any of the stuff to take care of it, or the time to go buy it all, so we had been putting it off. He then told me that we were going to go to the animal shelter to look at dogs! I almost peed right then and there.

We went to the Weber County Animal Shelter (which is WAY nicer than the Davis County one) and found the sweetest dog ever. Her name is Luna and she is a white lab. She is only 2 years old and super affectionate. She is a cuddle bug. But she doesn't like strangers, which is good. She had to warm up to us before we could take her out. She is super big too! I love her so much. We put in an application for her, but the only problem is that there was another girl who put in an application for Luna just before us. We can only have her if the girl that put in the first application doesn't come get her.... I'm praying that she doesn't cause I just LOVE LUNA. She is the perfect dog for us. But, if that other girl takes her, then I guess it just wasn't meant to be.... and we'll keep looking.

After we put Luna back in her kennel we hurried back to Weber State so I could go to rehearsal where we had an 80's party, watched Xanadu, and munched on 80's snacks. The cast sang happy birthday to me, which was both super happy and super embarrassing. In a good way though! Rehearsal was super fun and when it was over Brandon was waiting for me outside of the rehearsal hall. He took me home and made me a yummy (and healthy! Thank you honey!) chicken dinner! We then went on a walk, relaxed, and enjoyed our time together. We even got to fill up our new dishwasher again (I never thought an appliance could bring me such joy!). We got to bed early and were able to sleep with the windows shut without dying! It was fabulous.

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday! It was very perfect.

Thanks Honey for being the best husband in the world!

Challenge Day 19: Adorn your Head!

I love wearing things on my head! Also, I love it when it isn't 3 billion degrees in my house and outside so I can actually wear my hair down, AND A HAT! whoot :)

Oh, and aqua converse are awesome :)

Hat: Thrift

Flower on hat: Forget Me Knot

Sweater: NY&CO.

Shirt: Shades

Necklace: Bear Lake Antique Store

Pants: Target

Shoes: CONVERSE!

Challenge Day 18: Statement Jewelry!

Today I chose a necklace, not based on the necklace, but based on my skirt. I just finished making this skirt with my mom YESTERDAY and have been dying for weeks to wear it! So here it is! My happy yellow lemon skirt :) So I picked a statement piece of jewelry to go with my skirt that I am madly in love with!

Undershirt: DownEast

Shirt: Old Navy

Skirt: Hand Made!!!

Sandals: Old Navy

Necklace: Gifted from my Mommy

Cultivating Creativity

I'd like to think that I am a creative person. I used to paint, draw, read, or what-have-you every day (or close to every day) just because I could and wanted to. It was refreshing and helped me cultivate my own creativity.

Recently I haven't been taking as much time for my creative self. I am creative at school with my acting and design classes, when I do my Forget Me Knot stuff, and stuff like that, but it's different when you HAVE to do it. Ya know? It's different when you are being creative for someone else than when you are being creative for you and only you. There is something liberating about knowing that you can create whatever you want and no one has to see it unless you want them to. You can keep it for yourself and hold it secret for as long as you want or you can show it to people. It is completely up to you because it is completely yours.

In my Stage Costume class, Catherin Zublin let us watch this movie about being creative. Though it was slightly hokey and had some cheese in it, it was still very insightful and reignited that part of me that used to be creative just because it could be.

Here are some things I learned from that video:

- Seeing amazing things is up to me.

- Creativity is falling in love with the world.

- In every act we have the potential to be creative- It is a matter of perspective.

- The key to seeing the ordinary as extraordinary is viewing the situation, object, etc... through the right lens.

- There is ALWAYS another perspective.

- There is more than one right answer.

- Don't stop at the first right answer.

- Embrace change and be comfortable with knowing there is more than one right answer.

- Reframe a problem into an opportunity.

- Turn win/lose situations into win/learn situations.

- Don't be afraid to make mistakes

- If we let our patterns go too long unquestioned they become our prisons.

- Don't be afraid to break the patterns of our lives.

- Train our technique; Vision without technique is blind.

- Put ourselves in the place of most potential- where we can find the most right answers.

- Life presents us with windows of opportunity.

- Don't give up.

- The window of creativity is always open, but are we open enough to see through it?

FALL IN LOVE WITH THE WORLD

GOAL:

I really really want to try to do something creative for me every day. Wether it be dancing, singing, painting, reading, writing, playing piano, doodling, sewing, crafting, etc.... I just want to do something FOR ME, for no reason other than because I want to. HUZZAH!

Challenge Day 17: Repair!

PREFACE: I usually do my hair down and curly, or down and curlying-iron-curls, and only sometimes do it up or to the side.... however, my house doesn't have air conditioning and IT IS FREAKING HOT, so I have been wearing it up most of the time because when I wear it down I sweat so much it looks like I just got out of the shower.... gross.... I know....

ANYWAY, I chose this skirt out of my repair pile because I've been dying to wear it for a long time. I got it for free from this yard sale thing (the lady just wanted to get rid of it lol). It is probably like 5 sizes too big for me and used to be hideously floor length. So, a few safety pins, some scissors, and some duct tape later it looked like this! Whoot!

Sweater: Wet Seal

Shirt: Express

Undershirt: (ok it's really a sports bra) Target

Belt: Thrift

Skirt: Free from a Yard Sale

Shoes: Converse :)

I wasn't kidding about the duct tape.

I carried the rest of the role around in my back pack all day just in case :)

Oh, and I love my mother's dogs.... LOVE THEM.