Concerning Tutus

Hello World!

Last week, I had an interesting lab experiment for General Psychology.  I had to break a social norm.  As some of you know, I'm a pretty introverted person and tend to stick to all the social norms.  Social norms are the unwritten rules that most people follow. For example, you don't just go sit next to some stranger in a movie theater if there are plenty of empty seats.  Or you wouldn't wear your pajamas to class in the morning.  Wait, never mind, a lot of college students wear their pajamas to class.  You wouldn't wear a prom dress to class in the morning.  People would give you a weird look.

For my assignment, I was going to stand very close to someone and just kind of trail them, but then I remembered that I own a plethora of tutus and I am currently taking a Ballet class.  Yep.  I wore a bright red, obnoxious, fluffy tutu to Ballet.  I originally wore that tutu as a Spanish Dancer in The Nutcracker. Three  different years.  I even wore the hair piece and the classic Ballet bun.  I'd say that was breaking a social norm.

So, as I walked into class impersonating a Spanish Ballerina, I got some pretty weird looks.  It was hilarious! People just stared when I took off my coat and said good morning like I normally would.  I couldn't tell them it was for a Psychology experiment quite yet so I just said I wanted to get my money's worth out of the costume (they cost like 80 bucks normally).  It was hard not to burst out laughing.  Throughout the class people kept glancing over at me when they thought I wasn't looking and I just about lost it a few times.  When the class ended I did end up telling them it was an experiment, so people don't think I'm just a weirdo who wears tutus to Ballet.  I knew people would want to see what I looked like, so here is a picture of me about to go outside in the freezing weather in a tutu.

  

I hope you all have a good morning, afternoon, evening or night.

2 Chronicles 15:2
"The Lord is with you while you are with Him.  If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you."

The Start of Autumn

It's getting to that time of year where the air starts to get crisp and cool (doesn't get above 100!) and the leaves are starting to change (nearly).  A lovely time to go for a nice walk and enjoy the fall air or sit in a coffee shop drinking a pumpkin spice latte and eating some warm pumpkin bread.  Or, if you're a college student, it's a great time for study, study, and more study!  Mid-terms are almost upon us and we're right in the thick of classes with a test or paper around every corner. (I had three tests in four school days a bit ago!)   Even so, I have found that a short break to take a walk  can be quite refreshing on the brain.  Students can only concentrate for so long.  My sister Carol keeps reminding me of this when I get stressed out about a test. (Thanks, Carol!)
Oh, I nearly forgot, this is also the time of year when colds and the flu are invading the campus like the ants invade our kitchen in the summer.  I'm taking a microbiology class this semester which is making me very aware the of gazillions of bacteria surrounding us.  Here's a little advice to try and stay healthy for those tests: wash your hands frequently (you wouldn't believe the bacteria we found on door handles), carry tissues so you don't wipe your nose with your hand, this spread germs and you can wipe germs onto your nose, take vitamin C, and last but not least, SLEEP!  Some college students think that sleep is overrated, but it is definitively not.  Without enough sleep, our brains don't function at their full potential and we can get sick more easily because our body is not rested.  In my Psychology class today, we were talking about sleep (what a coincidence...) and our teacher mentioned that cramming for a test by staying up the night before is really the worst thing you can do.  Lack of sleep affects your memory and if you will have a better chance remembering things if you have more sleep.  Also, an interesting fact I learned in the same Psych class, we have a built-in time in  the afternoon to take naps. It varies from person to person, but 3-5pm is a general time when people's brains are the slowest in the day.  This is why my Mom always says never to get a haircut at 4:30, because it will almost never be a very good one.

On that note, I am going to close this post and snuggle up in my warm bed.

"In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe."
Psalm 4:8

Pentatonix!

I just got back from a Pentatonix concert!!  It was completely amazing, of course.
For those who don't know, Pentatonix is an A Cappella group who won the Sing Off.  The started as a trio from Arlington, TX (Scott, Mitch, and Kirsty) and added Avi and Kevin for their bass and beat boxer when they competed in the Sing Off.
I've been pretty busy lately and have not had any time to post about going to see Pentatonix before now.  Even though school just started, I've already had a few quizzes and my first big test coming up on Tuesday. So, right now, Carol and  I are in Saginaw, TX, staying with her best friend, her husband and little girl. The ride down was fairly eventful so I may post about that some other time.
Back to Pentatonix,
Pentatonix sang at the Levitt Pavilion in Arlington for their opening concert on their tour.  It was an outside concert, and the best part about it: it was free!! We were originally planning to get to the venue at least one hour before the concert started to try and get semi-decent seats, but one thing led to another and we didn't get there until 20 or 30 minutes before the start of the concert. It was a pretty small venue and there were a million people there. Well, it seemed like there were a million, but it was closer to 12,000, which was still quite a few.  We searched for a place to put our lawn chairs, but the only place we could find was way off to the side in the back and we could only see the front part of the stage.  You could still see the performers, but Carol and I wanted to see the whole stage and I wanted to get closer to get some pictures.  It actually turned out okay because Carol and I walked around until we found a pretty decent place to stand. I thought I'd mind standing for the whole concert, but it really wasn't bad at all. Of course, I took lots and lots of pictures and videos. Too many, I'm sure, but hey, there have got to be some good ones in there somewhere!
Any problems in getting there were completely forgotten once Pentatonix picked up their mics and took the stage.  I couldn't help but smile at their first note.  Carol and I got a little fan girl crazy when Avi started singing bass, I can tell you that much.  I love to sing A Cappella music in choir, so it was great to hear Pentatonix singing live.  What they do is so difficult, but they make it look easy!
I'm getting super tired, so I should probably go to bed before I start typing gibberish. But before I bid adieu, I will post some pictures!

Good night to all, and to all a good night!

Psalm 98:4

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music."

Moving Day!

As I mentioned before, I moved to college this week!  I'm living in the Honors Apartments, which are small, but have a kitchen! Which I was pretty excited about because I obviously love cooking/baking.

I'll start from the beginning with my move-in story.  Normally, my family loves to help move any of us girls to college or camps or whatever.  Sometimes it's the whole family and there are almost too many people to help!  This time however, it was mostly my friend Glynne and I who moved my stuff into my apartment.  My mom, Annelise, and Sarah are in Oregon for my cousin, Andrew's wedding and my dad and Carol had appointments they had to go to.  I was pretty bummed out about missing Andrew's wedding, but I certainly wasn't bored here!

I'm one of those people who don't like change, but once it happens, I'm generally happy about it.  For example, when I was getting ready to move into my apartment, I wasn't overly excited about leaving my family and my house.  I'm really close with my family and even though I'm only living 5-10 minutes away, I still won't be able to see them all the time. Of course though, once I got to my apartment and moved all of my things in, I was very excited to have my own place with my roommate, Amber.

My kitty :) Well, technically she's not mine, but she always sleeps in my room. I miss Cleo!

Goodbye room!! I refurbished this a few years ago, so I might post a blog about it in the future because I have before and after picutres.

I normally don't take pictures of myself in the mirror, but since I was the only one moving things out of my house, I thought I'd take a picture of Annelise and I on the phone.

My handiwork! You'd think I'd watched my dad pack the van before.

Goodness, I sure have a lot of stuff!

Glynne wanted to take a picture of me in my new apartment!

Glynne made my bed for me :)

My roommate Amber!

My favorite drawer! It's not organized yet, but it's still awesome.

Glynne and I made tacos after a huge shopping trip to Walmart, Dillons, and Braums for groceries.  this picture cracks me up because we had to set it up on a shelf to take the picture on timer, but we were never sure when it would take, so we just sat there smiling at the camera like idiots.

I've now organized pretty much all of my stuff, but I want to hang up a few things and do some more decorating before I post a tour of my apartment.

Until next time!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6

Refurbishing

 This is just going to be a quick post.  My mom, Annelise and Sarah are in Portland, Oregon for my cousins wedding on Saturday and my mom wanted me to post some pictures of her latest project for her sister to see.  Our family loves to remodel/repaint/redo rooms in our house.  There's always sweat, blood and tears, but the results are great!  If I remember correctly, we've redone 12 rooms, two staircases, two porches, stained a few doors, and our latest project, the upstairs hallway.  Although, you'll have to make it 13 rooms if you count mine twice.  It was the first room we ever worked on and I painted it/stripped the wall paper when I moved in.  It used to be the guest room.  We have a very old house.  And when I say old, I mean it.  It's 116 years old! So, naturally, when ever we get into the remodeling stage, it's not just slapping paint on the walls.  This time, Dad worked tirelessly on the floor of the hallway to re-finish it.  And it looks gorgeous if I do say so myself.  Mom and the rest of the crew (Annelise, Carol, me, Ashleigh and Dena Sizemore, Dad, and probably others) stripped the "lovely" shepherd wallpaper and replaced it with a beautiful shade of tan.  I'm sure it has a fancy name, but I can't recall it at the moment.  I do know that it is the same color as our breakfast nook and the trim is the same as in my room though!  (The trim is crumb cookie.  The come up with the most interesting names for paint.)  Mom, the wall-fixer-upper genius that she is, patched up all the cracks and messed up corners like a pro. (She's had practice.) Without further ado, here are the before and after pictures. (So much for a quick post.)

Mom stripped these wood things! I'm too tired to remember the actual name.

See that corner way up there? I stripped that. Balancing precariously on the window sill and the ladder. Yup.   I live life on the dangerous side.

 Butterflies!

The results of lots of wall paper stripping.

Go Dad! 

Anna was a bit tired while sanding.

Aww! Ashleigh and Annelise

Every time we strip wallpaper, we find signatures of those who put the old wall paper up! It's pretty awesome having an old house.

 Little kid scribbles!

 1908!

The painter's signature is above the kid's scribbles. Mom thought that was completely adorable.

Finished product!

I did the inside of these! (and maybe the outside, I don't remember)