a goodbye to children and art.

This weekend we are wrapping up our winter season at Hoover in Chattanooga. We are a part of a circuit called SAPA and I'm so excited to go, have the girls perform one last time, and to see some old friends who I used to compete with. Today was our last big rehearsal (just a 3 hour one tomorrow and a 1 hour one before the Sunday show). I couldn't help but take some pictures and try to capture a few of my favorite moments. So today, I'm going to just do pictures - even though I sort of already wrote out a paragraph. Wish us luck this weekend!

a little gem.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I go through on Wednesdays and delete embarrassing facebook things from a whole year. Today was 2013. The embarrassing things definitely have dwindled by now compared to 2009 and every now and then I find a little gem.

A random thought that has nothing to do with the photo is that my pictures make college seem like a lot of fun. And one of the things I wish I could go back and change would just be to lower my expectations by a lot and enjoy the things that were happening around me.

But the picture I saw and saved was this one...

I'm the one with purple flag in the front. grey tank. 2013

Me struggling through my first Paramount clinic. I have a million good things to say about my time at Paramount and my first clinic was no exception. I remember getting up so so early that morning in Auburn all by myself and driving to Atlanta. I had totally forgotten about the time change, so I was an hour late. Also, it was my first time to the Howard school so I didn't know what to do at the gate. Everything about that day feels blurry to me, but I can't believe I still have this photo somewhere in my archives. Good luck, Paramount at SAPA this weekend and WGI the next. It's going to be great!

Here are today's 5 from my day in Oxford with GB :)

1. one of the many beautiful buildings in Oxford. I love this little town - especially the square. 

2. GB & I got Ocean Waters at Sonic today which is just one of my favorite treats in the whole world.

3. tonight we went to dinner with Jonathan and his boyfriend Jake at Old Venice in the square and GB suggested frozen yogurt which was delicious! I got butter pecan and chocolate chip cookie dough along with many many toppings. 

4. GB & Jonathan enjoying froyo on the square

5. GB working hard at his smartmusic assignments! 4 100s in one night :) 

Snapshots.

Today was pretty average.

everyday I answer a question in my Q&A book that my best friend from home got me for my birthday one year. It's a 5 year journal and you answer a question a day. Today's was "What do you want to remember about today?" It kind of stumped me because today was so normal. But any day I get to spend with Grayson is nice just because long distance means the normal days are a little uncommon. So luckily I have my 5 picture a day thing to just have some little peeks into what a "normal day" is.

Here are today's five

1. Grayson looking sad because he had two tests today.

2. laughing about something. boy that smile makes me melt. 

3. one more test left in the day! 

4. Chili's date night! we love Chili's. Grayson always gets the skillet queso and I always get Bacon Ranch Quesadillas 

5. home and looking at twitter or something and avoiding homework // watching How I Met Your Mother because we're going back through it now 

a love/hate relationship with the theatre.

I don't know why, but in my brain I am a huge theatre nerd and then when I try to watch certain musicals ESPECIALLY ones on screen and not stage, I'm like...oh geez please stop singing.

p.s. I'm DYING to go back to NYC

However, there are some plays that I see live and just think are amazing. I think the trick to this is just to go and try them out and if I don't like it I don't have to see it again. I've seen Wicked (three times), Les Miserables, Aladdin, and Phantom of the Opera on broadway and Wicked, Book of Mormon, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and probably something else I'm not thinking of right now.

This is my wishlist. I so wish I could see Hedwig when it comes to the FOX in April, but i'm going to need to make more money before I drop $93 on a ticket. My dream would be to live in New York and see a different Broadway show every week. But that is probably not going to happen ever. I can always visit!

In no particular order...

1. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2. Spring Awakening
3. Next to Normal
4. Once
5. An American in Paris
6. Hamilton
7. Beautiful
8. Dear Evan Hansen
9. Paramour
10. Cabaret
11. The Lion King

Here are today's five pictures.. mostly of rooms because today was a driving day/get a lot of random stuff done day.

1. morning mug of water. I drink my water out of a mug sometimes.

2. just a random picture of a wall in my room because nothing happened today.

3. again, I was sitting here and going through my to do list before driving to Oxford

4. GB doing some studying. poor guy has two tests tomorrow, but he signed up for fall classes today and doesn't have any class on Monday or Friday next semester!

5. the cool loft/ downstairs situation in GB room. I love how his room is set up.

end of march camp.

Cleverly titled. i know.

I don't really have a subject and I'm mostly amazed that I'm getting this post up. I'm so tired. It feels like one in the morning to me even though it is not even 10 pm. These camps leave me so happy, but so tired. Again, like yesterday, swirling emotions and thoughts and I really need to just sleep and have some clear thoughts.

I mentioned in another post that I am reading Charmian Carr's book and it has revitalized my love for The Sound of Music. I am dying to rewatch it. As soon as I landed in Birmingham, I downloaded the music onto my Spotify and listened to it all the way home :)

happy. exhausted. full of gratitude. I'm so so ready for this season to be more than a monthly camp.

1. full ensemble in the "bat cave." dang they sound so good. I look forward to full ensemble all weekend and it never disappoints. 

2. an old raffle ticket that was used to raise money for a trip that almost folded the corps. having this is a strangely cool feeling. it puts it all into perspective because even then the corps didn't die. 

3. the drive to the airport isn't bad. 

4. Mark & Nick the boy drum majors. love these guys. they're doing an amazing job so far. 

5. So fun to have an airplane buddy :) Britton goes to University of Alabama so he flies in and out of Birmingham just like I do and today we were on the same flight! (also, he went to Hoover and I teach there and that is why we have a Hoover tag) 

It worked!

I have had a little victory with this new beauty routine - my hair is so soft! It feels so healthy and my scalp doesn't feel sore or greasy. This is so cool.

Ok, today's five pictures are not glamorous, but it has been really hard for me to explain my experiences at Boston and I've been feeling cloudy anyway (could be that I got 2 hours of sleep last night). I just kind of want to take pictures of really normal things about my days here. This was the last camp without the color guard and I'm feeling nostalgic. I feel like I have a million things to type, but no idea how to put it into words. A little disorienting.

Today I organized the guard bay of the truck. I love cleaning things and getting them ready for people and I'm very excited and a little anxious to get everyone in Florida.

1. our beautiful truck that stays at Lakewood Ranch in Florida

2. guard bay - look at all those flag poles

3. weapons, bolts, and newly organized practiced silks

4. uniform extras and sewing stuff all nice and neat. 

5. my lil workspace at the end of a long but good day :) 

March Camp!

It's super late and I'm waiting on one more shuttle to get in so I'm going to basically just jot journal my day.

To quickly explain - Boston Crusaders has rehearsal camps every month for the musicians of the corps. This year they were all the last full weekend of the month. This is our third camp of the year and our March camp. We have one more in April before we take this thing to Vermont for spring training or move-ins.

Got up SUPER early in Birmingham so I could shower and get finished packing and not sacrifice all the wonderful morning routine things I've been doing. I shouldn't have emphasized super that much because I really only got up at 6, but to someone who normally gets to sleep until 9 - this was drastic.

Got to Bham airport very early for my flight and the security guy took away my bottle of lotion. I always remember to take my scissors out of my backpack, but I forgot about my lotion. Bye bye almost full bottle of Jergen's.

Got basically my whole to do list done waiting on my plane. I was flying Southwest which is not my fav airline, but oh well.

Read a bunch of my new book I just started on the plane. Forever Leisl by Charmaine Carr. So far it is such a treat. Got an aisle seat which is my favorite.

Made it to Tampa and sat with a bunch of Boston Crusaders people while we waited like five hours for our bus (ended up being six because the bus was so late).

Still made it to the school on time. It's so fun to see everyone again. I feel so spoiled that I get to see them every month, but also a month can feel like such a long time.

Hit the ball rolling with getting block going and continuing work on my list.

PIZZADILLAS AND PUDDING FOR SNACK (pictured below) MY TWO FAVORITE DRUM CORPS FOODS

lots of good hang out/ catch up/ good talk time with my wonderful Boston people. I love this job.

Today's five --

1. tree wall at bham airport. why not. 

2. my ticket. yay. wish it was Delta. Love you Delta, I swear. 

3. my office for these weekends is this conference room and I just set up camp here for real. I spend almost the whole camp here so people know where to find me. and I even set up my air mattress at night here. I love that proud is in quotation marks because it's so dang sarcastic 

4. photo proof of my supurb snack. 

5. new chacos doing great! I love the tiny geckos on them :) 

Skin/hair routine take 1.

One of the things I was disgruntled about in my life that I decided to change was the fact that I don't really have a skin routine. I know very little about skin and just knew enough to wash and moisturize. But exfoliating and masks and all that stuff was like a pretty little idea that maybe I'd get around to one day.

In my research while determined to get everything sorted out and have my life not feel like a half inflated pool float - this is what I decided for my skin/hair/beauty routine. I am an expert by no means, this is a humble stab at trying harder.

Morning.

Clean Face
Moisturize with something that has SPF
fix a big glass of water and drink throughout the day
add hair oil/serum to the ends of my hair so they don't look dry all day

If I have to go out somewhere not serious, I use eyeliner on the top of my lid and mascara and I always add a little bit of subtle color to my lip. I also try to do some sort of body spray. I used to wear eyeliner on top and bottom everyday, but I'm going to try to just do top lid for a little while and see if I show up in pictures.


Night.

Wash hair every other night
Instead of conditioner in the shower, using leave-in conditioner
clean face in the shower
moisturize whole body and face
drink another glass of water
and a dose of night cream on my face right before I go to bed

Exfoliate once or twice a week and mask once a week.


I am no expert and the only reason I have some of this stuff is because I've been getting Birchbox since 2015. In my daily 5 pictures you'll see some of the products I've been using, and, I've updated my wish list so it has some of the items I hope to use. I mostly based my beauty wish list off of Julia Engel of Gal Meets Glam and Taza of Love Taza. They both always look so pretty and glowing and natural and that's exactly what I want!

So far I like taking time out to really take care of my skin. One of the things that struck me in these posts of research was something Julia said. If a stranger compliments her skin, she says - "thanks I take good care of it." I definitely was responding with "thanks I have no idea why" but I like her answer better. I'm excited now to see if I'll be able to tell a difference over time.

Today's 5...

1. I've put a bunch of stuff that Birch Box sends me in my hair and most of it is gross and makes my hair feel wirey. But I love this stuff! I love how it smells and I love that it doesn't leave residue on my hands. plus, I put some in this morning and put my hair in a bun and the serum made it all wavy and pretty from the bun.

2. the leave in conditioner I've been using for now is this. It's pretty cool. I don't notice a huge difference to be totally honest.

3. I had a goal to make a ton of friendship bracelets before the drum corps season started, but I totally forgot how to make them, so zero bracelets got made today.

4. I actually painted today! I have all these wonderful paints in my apartment and they just sit there, but I set my timer for 45 minutes and painted today. My only goal was to fill it with color, I don't hate it, but it isn't done.

5. took a picture of my daily stretches so I can have them in Tampa for the Boston Crusaders camp this weekend. I do these stretches everyday, but I always seem to forget one without the list. wish me luck at camp!