Now What?

Just great!  It's been so long since I've written on my blog that they changed the site.  It's taken me about five times of looking at the main page to figure out how to write a new post.  You'd think with such a computer savvy/nerdy hubby that I would not be so dumb, but he's not here today!

Tomorrow is my last final!  My final last final, ever ... until I go back to school because I'm bored and don't know what else to do.
Some great things about this final semester have been:

1) Vocal Pedagogy II with Dr. Cindy Dewey.  Honestly, it has been the hardest class I have ever taken (well combined with last semesters Ped) but I have learned so much.  I love it.  I can't say that I am now the greatest voice teacher ever, but I feel so much more clarity of what I am doing or trying to do when I sing, and I've been given a lot of great tool (500 + pages of nerdy music articles) to help me be a better music teacher, if I still want to do that :)

2) Tai Chi Chuan with Kayo.  This is something I hope I can continue after we move from here.  It has helped me with my singing more than anything else up to this point.  All the teachers even noticed.  From a singing perspective, it's like the Alexandar Technique, except it's thousands of years old!  But even beyond singing, my knee feels better, my breath feels stronger, my legs feel longer, my head feels taller and I feel strong.  I have discovered this connection in my body that I cannot even describe.  I have begun to discover how to relax, which is a lot harder to do than it sounds.  Just try to relax, I dare you!

3) My Senior Recital in March.  Mostly it feels good to have it finished, but it was a really great experience to have accomplished.  So many of my family members were there, and it felt great to be supported in this goal that I undertook ... 13 years ago :)  I sang in an episcopal church that was basically a mini-cathedral and I think I sounded pretty good.  I sang my high D and it sounded so clear and free that it distracted me from the next phrase in my song.  Through all the literal sweat and tears that I have shed over the last four years of being here, it feels great to have actually done it.  My Aunt Holly said that her mom (my grandma) would have really, really loved it.  That made me feel even happier about it.

4) I'm a writer, and I forgot.  This blog isn't any great sample of anything, but I really enjoyed writing papers and essays in high school, and in general.  I haven't really written anything for so long that I'd forgotten.  I've spent almost the entire semester working on this one essay.  I revised it more times than I have ever done before.  I felt so good about it and my teacher and her adviser said that it was actually good.  So I revised it some more.  Anyway, I won $50 for it! 
(It's called Flying Back and it's a little more personal than I feel like posting on my blog at this time because it's about my mother, but I will let you read it if you ask.)

5)  Discovering Zumba.  Now this has not been an actual part of my schooling, but it is something I discovered this semester.  First you must know, I can't dance.  I'm not coordinated.  I hate aerobics (mostly step) and if I were to choose a work out class, I would always choose yoga, and that's it.  Not anymore.  I told Trav, if I wasn't a plain boring white girl, I probably would have been African, maybe Latino.  I don't know what it is, but I can Latin dance, all of it, any of it.  These hips had to come in handy for something.  I did a sample African dance one night, and wow!  I was good at that too.  It just came to me, like I'd always been doing.  So what sort of aerobics is perfect for me -- Zumba.  The teachers here are really fun.  I look forward to searching out the classes in my new hometown.


After this semester is over, three of my next goals for myself are:

Pack up my house, and move (I'm trying not to think about that one too hard -- the packing up mostly)
Read books, lots and lots of books I have been putting off while I've been in school.
Work-out.  My hot sister-in-law Katrina is a great inspiration to me.  I'm going to use up what use to be homework time for my body ... belly! 
I knew when I decided to come back to school that with my health and sleeping needs I would have to put some of my priorities on hold to make room for the current one, school.  Now that it's done, I can recall some past ones.  I mean, what could I possibly have to do?

The Role of a Mother

I, as you may or may not know am not a mother.  So that inevitably makes me an expert on the subject.  I realized something today, inspired by one of my teachers.  One of a mother's most important jobs is to make sure that there is always toilet paper -- there is always toilet paper in the house, there is always toilet paper in the bathroom, and there is always toilet paper within reach of the toilet.  It is a very important job, because as we discussed today, it is not by magic that the toilet paper is ALWAYS there.  Someone has to think about toilet paper, the mom!  

This is an essential job, but it also is a metaphor of mothers.  Mothers make sure that their children (and husbands) don't have to worry about all of life's little necessities.  These simple comforts, that everyone takes for granted leave their children free to live and experience all of the goods and bads of life, to work and to think, to cry and laugh, to live and to learn. 

There is always toilet paper so we can do our business of living life!

What about now?

Today was the first day of my last semester of school ... for my bachelors degree!  I've been trying really hard to enjoy school, even though it is ridiculously hard for me.  Mostly, I have really wanted to not just think about "when I'm done".  I want to remember that I was a student and that I made good friends and I learned so many wonder things and I loved being in school. 

This has been harder than I thought, especially since every time I see my family they ask, "How much longer?"  And, "When are you moving?"  And, "What are you going to do when you're done?"  What about now?  What am I doing now?  What did I learn today?  Did I meet anyone new today?  Any lifelong friends?  Any life changing moments? 

Do want to know what I learned today, what we talked about today in one of my classes?  In my vocal pedagogy class we talked about being process oriented, not product oriented -- that means be aware of the journey, not the outcome!!  That is the best way to teach, and the best way to learn.  Since I'm here to learn, I'd better "find what is right" in my life so I can recognize it when it happens again!

So, yes, today was the first day of my last semester, but I hope I enjoy every day of it!  I will learn from yesterday to prepare for tomorrow, so that I can live today!

Four may have been too many!

My oldest sister, Jennifer is one of the best mothers I know.  She is a role model to me, and she is the reason that I am not so scared to be a mother.  Currently, she is also the reason that it won't be too soon ...

While Jen and Mike went on a romantic research expedition to Prince Edward Island, they asked Trav and I if we would watch four of their children.  Eliza is practically a second mother to them, so she hardly counts, but still ... four!!  And I said yes.

At the Instacare

A little relaxation!

S'mores!!

Messy s'mores!

As much swimming as the weather allowed.

Ice cream before bed?  Of course!  I'm not their mom.

A girls night out, leaving Trav with boys ... asleep.

Even treats at the pool.

We had a marshmallow roast, played at the park, went to the mini-zoo, had a tea party, made a lot of pine cone and grass soup, played in the hose, went to the pool and even went to the movies.  But two bouts of vomit, one broken arm, several nose bleeds, quite a lot of screaming, a LOT of sugar, and a ton of fun later, we were all happy to see their parents.

We had plenty of crying and laughing, and much fun, but there is a reason that they come tiny and one at a time!

Seven Sisters and a Niece

Back tracking, again, in August, all of my sisters and I, and our niece went on a back-packing trip.  It was the first time that all six of my sisters and myself have ever done anything all together.  It was very hard, but very fun!

Still Clean!

We saw quite a few moose.

The first night.

It was so beautiful!

Looks fun now, but she said she froze in the night.

The second night!

Our bear-bag!  Hanging it was quite a feat, but we felt safe.

The greatest snow on earth?

We made it!

 There was a lot of laughing, some crying, quite a few blisters, excellent chaco tans, some good food, and tons of fun!  The exact milage is unknown, but safe to say it was a lot of difficult hiking.  Two nights and three lakes later, we arrived at the cars ready for the shower!

Remember this trip from the summer...

My baby brother finally got married.  Brittany really is better than his lab research!  

They were married in July in Nauvoo, Illinois in the temple belonging to the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It is a small town now and not very conducive for a wedding; hot as Hades and mosquitos the size of small chickens, but it is a beautiful place and the wedding really was wonderful!

All of my brothers and sisters were there!  It reminds me that I was stupid and didn't postpone my own wedding for two weeks so that my brother and his family could have been there.  Then we would have all been together then too, but I didn't.

And St. Louis was pretty fun too!!

Who knew it would be my family that would be the ones dancing all night?

My sister, Wendy and I made these cute dinner name cards!

Mostly, I enjoyed being with my whole family again!

I am not a complete failure!!

As my birthday surfaces again, I have not forgotten the many unaccomplished goals I made, but I also have not forgotten the things I did do!!

Seeing as I love books, this was not a difficult accomplishment for me.  Here is a list of the ones I can remember right now, and that I finished (I have to add finished because I'm currently in the middle of about four):

Paul and Virginia (just finished and it was so sad!  I feel a bit depressed)
The Portrait of Dorian Grey
Ethan Frome (too depressing for me)
Jane Eyre (my first time actually finishing)
Wuthering Heights (didn't like it the first time, and I still don't like it)
Villette (one of my new favorite books)
Agnes Grey
Lady Susan (maybe one of the her funniest)
Mansfield Park
Persuasion
The Watsons
North and South
The Room with a View (loved it!  Is there a movie?)
Theo
The Forgotten Garden
The Thirteenth Tale
The Automatic Millionaire (it was for class, but it was pretty good)
Vocal Faults
Night and Day
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (I haven't finished the rest of the series yet, but they're on the list)


I love Anne Brönte recently.  I only wish she's written more.  She's like Fanny Hensel to me, overlooked because of the more popular sibling, but maybe more talented.  John Steinbeck is probably my favorite author though, and strangely, I realize I didn't read one of his this year.  I'd better remedy that.

I wish I'd marked the quote, but in Paul and Virginia he says that literature and books are of the best creations of man.  I agree!