Funny Yoga!

Rachel, Kelsey and I tried to do yoga today.....we had a lot of trouble.....because we couldn't stop laughing. Rachel was the only one that actually did work. GO Rachel!!

Kelsey couldn't stop laughing.

I had pulled a muscle this morning at zumba while attempting to 'pop lock and drop it' couldn't really do anything, except lean against the couch and laugh my head off.

While Rachel was a rockstar yoga champ!....

...so Kelsey and I took pictures instead : D

Monday: OMG Twins

This is my twin sister Linnea. We lived together for 18 years, went off to school and lived separately for 3 years, and now as we end our time at PLU are living together again in the same house. Now even though we lived together, doesn't mean that we actually see each other very much.

So on Monday, I got up at 7:15am to do yoga and I put on my Michael Buble Concert T-shirt, and went on my usual day. Until 3:15 pm, when we ran into each other, and the first thing that comes out of Linnea's mouth is

"REALLY!!?!?!?"

We didn't see each other at all up until that point, so we had no idea. I guess this means my 'twin-telepathy service' is finally working on campus....after 4 years.

Sunday: Mr. Clean, where are you!??

Today I hung out with Anna. We ate Taco Bell and watched our favorite show: Cougar Town. Unfortunately she refused to let us watch it in her room because it was a mess. Now I am a neat freak, and she knows this so I of course had to see the chaos....and boy was it chaos.

But I still love her : D

Saturday: Night Out & In

Today was an exciting day...sort of. I had my last Saturday class for Abuse and Neglect (aka the most depressing class I have ever taken) so I was excited to be done with the class, but not about having to spend most of my day being sad.

So when I came home, my sister comes in and was in need of a nice dress, so she went through my closet and found this....and she looked AMAZING!!

I <3 my beautiful twin sister : D

Now while she was out on the town with some of her classmates, Kelsey, Rachel, and Didi came over and we had a girls night in. 

Along with strawberries, angel food cake, and cool whip!! Yumm.

Friday: Michelle's Recital

On Friday was Michelle's senior recital, the first one of our music ed graduating to have her recital and she was FABULOUS!!

Her and I have been in the same vocal studio since freshmen year.

Recital count down...

It is officially 9 days till my senior recital!! 

This evening after HERmonic, I came home and addressed the last of my formal invitations to go out to my old teachers and professors. My amazing mom Gail helped me create them. Check it out:

I am so excited!!!

Mani Poura

Mani Poura is defined as 'finding your center.' It is used in yoga, to channel your breath to the center, your heart. In addition to breath control in yoga, it is also defined as 'finding balance.' This 'balance' can be referred to as physical balance to do the many different yoga poses we do, or to find the balance in your life.

During yoga, I always light candles to 'burn off bad energy' and it was necessary this morning after having a rough night. An accumulation of bad energy and negative thoughts boiled up inside of me, and I made the bad decision to go to bed with that energy still inside of me. This mornings yoga session was just was I needed to unlock new positive energy as well as be surrounded by people I love: Kelsey and Rachel. Today, I need to focus on balancing that new found energy and moving it forward and to 'burn off' the negative Nancy inside my head....and maybe do another yoga session to relax and unwind. 

Friends + Mac 'n' Cheese = perfect combo!

Today was a rough day. Filled with highs, lows, and everything in between. After choir rehearsal Kelsey and I planned on doing our yoga session to de-stress while Rachel (who already did yoga today) drew pictures. It was just what each of us needed. Since the end of January/beginning of February Kelsey, Rachel, and I have been doing yoga in the mornings to start the day off right, and boy does it! You feel like a rock star! On top of that my flexibility is getting back to where it was back during freshman year YEAH!

After yoga Kelsey made Mac 'n' Cheese WITH a secret ingredient...garlic salt. It changed my whole outlook on Mac 'n' Cheese!! WOOWZA!

It was a great way to end the day. 

Quote

Before I post a picture for today, I want to take a moment to thank an individual: Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser. He is an incredible speaker, music teacher, and motivator to all music educators. I got to listen to him speak this weekend at the WMEA conference and I am always blown away by the stories he tells that inspire me to be the greatest music teacher I can be. I just revived an email from him with information regarding music advocacy and this quote was in it:

"You cannot stay on the summit forever, you have to come down again. So why bother to go there in the first place? Just this; what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees, one descends. One sees no longer, but one has seen. There is a way of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one say higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know. We live and love by what we have seen." -Reme; Daumal

This quote is exactly how life should be lived. Always reaching for those memories of being at the summit, and bringing them in reach to those still to travel there.  I have one such summit, at EHS. 

With memories from that experience, I will continue to learn and grow. I cannot wait to student teach and climb that 'summit!" Both of these milestones for my major are crucial in my preparation for the best job in the world. I can't wait to be a teacher! 

WMEA Conference Weekend

I am finally home from the Washington Music Educators Association Conference 2012 (why I haven't been posting the past couple of days). This conference brings music teachers and music ed college students from around Washington state all together for workshops, concerts, and networking. It also acts as a great re-charge, to re-ignite the fire for music education in all of us. I look forward to this conference every year! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

The new Collegiate WMEA President Kameron!

Happy Birthday Kameron!!

This should be enough to make up for the past couple of days : D

ZUMBA!!

Yesterday after ed. psych, Kylie and I went to zumba down at the local fitness studio, and it was AWESOME! Since it was a morning class, not a lot of people were there and there was a Valentines day raffle and I got a zumba bracelets and Body for Life Pledge. Here is what it said:

"I will give to myself as I give to others.

I will value my health as I value the health of my loved ones.

I won't ask, 'should I or shouldn't I?' about matters of self care.

I will just do it.

I will humbly accept that I must work to be the best me I can be.

I will choose to work for myself, rather than abandon myself.

I will embrace adversity as an opportunity to test my mental and physical strength."

I really like this pledge, and have it on my mirror so I can see it every day. And I am also definitely going to go back to zumba!! 

I <3 zumba!!

I PASSED!!

Today I came home from class today and saw a thick envelope on the kitchen table, with my name on it. Sure enough it was from the PLU Music Department. Inside was a letter and 5 comment sheets. On the letter, it stated that I had passed my recital jury with flying colors, 5 solid passes.

YAY! Now I am full speed ahead for my senior recital...WEE!

Anna!

Meet Anna, she is one of my best friends and is great!! : ) Today we had a skype date to catch up on boys, boys, and more boys hahaha

Tehehe we can't take normal pictures....ever

My new favorite song

Somebody that I Used to Know (cover)

By: Pentatonix

I <3 amazing a capella

All Caught Up!

WOO! So many pictures, but now I am officially all caught up. I am so sorry for the long absence of not posting. But now my camera is back, and I am ready to go!

So last night my sister 'Nea and I went out to celebrate my jury for being over, and we went to DQ. And it was delicious!! YUMMM.

Then I went to the University Chorale concert last night. OH. MY. GOSH. It was the best concert I have ever seen Chorale perform at. I lost count of how many times my skin erupted with goosebumps and the times I would close my eyes, simply listening to the beautiful sounds surrounding me. It was breath taking. Congratulations to all of the members of University Chorale, on a job well done! I wish I could have taken a picture but since the organ in Lagerquist is copy righted I refrained from taking a picture at the concert. So here is their group photo:

Recital Jury Day - Thursday

Today was my senior recital jury day, which is the ultimatum for seeing if I am ready enough for my senior recital AKA if I don't pass, I don't graduate on time and can't have a recital. No pressure. My friend Darren and I were both going today, he was first and I was second. To say that I have been nervous about this for the past month is a bit of an understatement.

I completely forgot to get a picture of Darren and I while we were there (because I was so nervous) so here is a picture of me afterwards:

It went perfectly! I only had to sing 3 of my 19 songs and the judges all picked songs that I have performed for semester juries before THANK GOODNESS!! So I had it 'in the bag.' Now I have to play the waiting game to wait for my results, which will be coming via snail mail. Cross your fingers that I passed!!

Non-Concert Concert Performance - Wednesday Night

Today is the first day of spring semester and NON-CONCERT CONCERT!!

The attendance for the concert was surprisingly high, which was incredible. As one of the actors I had to put tremendous amounts of energy into not laughing my butt off every other minute, this led to me simply shaking on stage in order to repress the bots of laughter boiling up inside of me : D.  Unfortunately not all of the professors we impersonated were there but here are the best pictures from the night:

It was an awesome night!!

Dress Rehearsal for NCC

NCC stands for Non-Concert Concert. Every year, the music education majors of PLU put on a spoof concerts  where we get to make fun of our crazy awesome professors. This years theme was "Whose Line is it Anyway" taking our favorite skits and writing our own to fit our professors in. We also took famous commercials and did parodies off them as well. The concert is the high light of the year because the cast impersonates our professors and the quirky things they do every day which make them truthfully hilarious!! Tomorrow you will get to see each of the characters with their doppelgangers. Here is this years awesome cast:

Afternoon Delight on a Monday

Not really, but the sky was sure a delight, (can you tell that I am a sucker for the sky yet?)

This was taken on steel street on the way to Tacoma for a guitar jam session with a friend of mine (whom you will probably meet soon). Don't worry the car was stopped when I took the picture.

Perfect timing!