DANCE!

Dance has always been a passion of mine. I fell in love with Swing when I was fourteen and for the past five years I’ve been expanding my limited dance knowledge little by little. Finally, this semester I was able to register for Social Dance, the prerequisite for all other ballroom dance classes. The class is designed to teach four basic dances that will allow you to successfully get through any dance anywhere. We start with the basics and work up until we have enough knowledge to be “impressive”. On Thursday my Social Dance class began learning the Foxtrot. We learned a basic travel step, a turn, a promenade, and a variation of the promenade.
What is there not to love about dancing? It’s exercise. Dancing with the Stars? They all lose weight. It makes you feel graceful. The clumsiest person ever could learn to control her body while dancing. It just inspires happiness. If you can walk, you can dance. So dance! :) If you don’t know how… I’ll teach you.

I have a new goal. I want to update my blog more often.

U of O and the Difference Between Good and Better

I have two thoughts tonight.

When I applied for Brigham Young University - Idaho I knew it was the only place I wanted to go. An LDS school on a small campus, and not in Utah. After being there for three semesters I have an incredibly high opinion of the school. The Spirit is very strong everywhere on campus. Everything is all I want in my education so far. After the Rose Bowl, however, I'm realizing that there is one part of college I'm missing out on. Football. I never thought I'd miss it. BYU-I does have a few football teams, but nothing big. I have a hard time believing the stadium has ever been completely full except maybe for Freshman Orientation on occasion. It's one small part of college I'm missing out on. It'd be nice to have a team to root for and get excited for.

I'm hoping, however, to end up at either BYU-Provo (I'm praying that that's not where I go), or U of O to get my Masters degree in Education after I finish in Idaho. Then I'll go to as many of the games as I can afford.



My second thought tonight is something I randomly thought of on the way home from work tonight. I think there's a difference bettween a good worker and a "better" worker. A good worker presses the proper buttons on the computer and fills the orders like a grocery list. A "better" worker takes the order while packing it, knows what a number 2 (a barbeque sandwich combo with a side and a drink), and a number 10 ( a big box meal with your choice of a thigh or a leg, two sides, a crispy strip, an individual popcorn chicken, a biscuit, and a large drink) off the top of their head, and makes sure the customer leaves happy, or at least won't call the store because of a miss packed order. Maybe the "better" worker has just been in the business too long. I'm grateful for my position at KFC. They're paying my way through college. The best way to repay them is to do my job to the best of my ability.

I love days like today. Usually these are the rare days that come between the rain in the fall and spring. At least here in Eugene. But today it was a gorgeous January day. The day started out really well anyway, but then I walked out the door and to my surprise…




I was disappointed to have to be at work while the sun was out. I would have loved to have been out with my camera and tripod working with the fluffy clouds in the sky. They made a beautiful backdrop for the sunset that came between 4:30 and 5:30. I didn’t get home fast enough to get good pictures of the sunset but, …



It was a great day. Even at work. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood. I love the rain with a passion, but today the sun was nice. I drove to work and back again with my country music blasting. I went to work with the window down even. It was beautiful. Heavenly Father loves us, and we are so lucky to have the world we live in.

I’m not usually a morning person, but today I made an exception. I got up at 6:45 and got dressed, made myself a lunch, put my hair in a French braid, packed up my stuff and was ready to go an hour later. It was just a normal drive until we got further into the mountains. My heart started pounding when the snow appeared like the remnants of white linen shredded over the tops of the pine trees. A few minutes later we were there. Finally I’d be able to try this crazy sport that I knew absolutely nothing about, other than that it looked like a lot of fun. We pulled on snow pants and boots and grabbed our boards. I knew it was going to be a lot harder than it looked the minute I strapped just one foot onto the board. I was slipping and sliding all over the place. You should just know that Snow and I are in a love/hate relationship. I like looking at it, but every time we get together the snow thinks it’d be fun to try and assassinate me. Today I came prepared with two pound weights on my feet called snow boots. They made me feel like an astronaut. The minute I strapped into the board one foot wanted to go one way and the other foot was hanging on for dear life. I almost decided right then and there that I would never be able to do this and it was time to go home. Lucky for me I didn’t want to seem like a chicken and despite my better judgment screaming “no” I hopped along the ice to a hill. It was a little hill so we went up to the top and then I was told to strap my other foot on the board. “Oh my gosh. Kill me now”. After giving the people already on the hill a show, I finally was able to slide a few feet before I ended up right back on the ground. Talk about frustrating. After my second time down the little hill, a group of beginners came and took over my little hill. So we decided to head to the bigger beginner’s hill. My first run down the hill I hit the ground quite a few times, mostly because I sat down when I started going too fast. The second time down the hill I had a better feel for what I was doing and then just as I got towards the end I tried to stop. I managed to do the first part right, but somehow I got flipped around and hit the ice hard on my rear end, and hand. I have no idea how I ended up on my back facing the wrong direction down the hill. I sat up and went right back to the top of the hill. I continued like that for a few more runs down and then decided it was time for a break. My muscles were so tired. After lunch we walked around in the snow a little and took pictures. By the time we left I was wet and could tell I was going to be sore for the next few days. I’d had the best time and for some crazy reason I can’t wait to go back and try snowboarding again.

Tonight my family and I went to a friend's wedding. It was really pretty. It was in a Catholic church downtown, and the reception was at Emerald Valley Resort (I think that's what it's called. I can't quite remember now) where we had my senior prom. It was neat to tell my family about the little details from prom. Where tables were set up, where we were dropped off and picked up, what the lighting was like and where the DJ was, where we took pictures.

The wedding reception was beautiful. Amber and I started talking about what our ideas for ours are. It was so fun to sit there with my sister and talk about these things. Sure we've talked about them before, but never really just the two of us. She's such a cutie. I love Amber so much. :)

The wedding also made me realize again the value of eternal marriages, and families. It makes me giddy. We have such a blessing in the Gospel.

For the past couple of semesters all of my roommates and I have been talking about dogs, and what kind we want. I've become a fan of the little toy dogs. I think they're adorable and as long as you teach them not to bark they're not too much to handle. I never knew exactly what kind of dog it was I wanted, but I'd seen one once. I always described it as the dog with the paws, because I loved the way the paws look. The fur is a little longer and it makes them look like they're jumping and prancing around. This semester I finally figured out what kind of dog I think I want. It's called a Havanese



They're absolutely adorable. I've looked at some Youtube videos and I just think they're just so cute. I'm not allowed to have a dog in our apartment, and I'm really not ready to have one yet. I've started doing some research though. These little dogs usually grow to be about 8-11 inches tall and between 7 and 13 pounds when they're adults. They're playful and energetic, but cuddly and sweet too. There were some health warnings but they don't occur in every dog. They're a little expensive as well.

I'm twitterpated. Last night when we went to get pizza there just so happened to be a little Havanese dog in a car outside. There was a line so we got to watch it for awhile. It was just TOO cute. I am in love. I want one SO bad. When I graduate, many years from now, a cute little Havanese puppy will be a first edition to my house.

Sometimes I Pretend I'm a Dancer

I'm taking a Modern Dance class this semester because the dance classes I really want to take all require a prerequisite that's always full. I've actually enjoyed Modern Dance very much. I want to have plenty of dance experience in case I end up working at a school that can't afford for me to hire a choreographer for a production.

I started thinking about this last semester when a good friend talked me into jumping into a Beginning Jazz class with her. I've found that I'm not fantastic at dance, but I get A's in the classes and I pick up on the choreography fairly quickly.

Today in Modern Dance we were getting ready for our final. We are all in groups and we have to choreograph a group dance to a hymn. My group picked Hark, the Herald Angels Sing in light of the Christmas season. We split it into eight counts to choreograph. It's turned out to be a very nice dance with a little bit of a modern twist. I'm excited about it.



I practiced today in my tiny little room trying to figure out exactly what the footwork is for some of the turns. Needless to say I ran into things a few times.