Do Work!

So probably one of my (and my roommate's) favorite shows is "Rob and Big" featuring pro skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and his bodyguard/roommate/best friend Christopher "Big Black" Boykin. It is basically one of the most hilarious shows ever on MTV consisting of a camera man following them around as they go about their extremely entertaining daily lives.

Along with them in their Hollywood home, is their skateboarding bulldog named Meaty and their mini horse named Mini Horse, which yes sometimes comes in and lives in their house when he's not hanging out in his luxury stable out by the pool.

What makes this show so funny is all the crazy things that they get themselves into on a regular basis. For instance they have tried time travel, brought ghost hunters into their homes, entered Mini in a mini horse competition, bought a net gun like spiderman and were shooting everyone in the city, discovered the art of turtle racing... the list really goes on and on. Just some of the things they say and do are so funny, that I am pretty much laughing for hours after! They remind me of my friends and I sometimes which just makes it even better, and some of the things they say are just hilarious. Maybe one of my next blogs will be "favorite quotes by Rob and Big!" Haha. So if you have not ever seen this show before... PLEASE watch it! It will change your life... well probably not but it will make your day better for sure!

Now get out there and "Do Work Son!"

Just click this link and it should take you to the website to watch full episodes of all 3 seasons!
http://www.mtv.com/shows/rob_and_big/season_1/series.jhtml

• P.S. My birthday is in t-minus 51 days (June 10th) and I would love to own all 3 seasons on dvd! Just a side note :) .... haha kidding, but seriously.

There's nothing like a baby basset hound...

So recently I have seriously been missing my dogs while being away at school. As I have said before my dogs are my life and I truly do love them. Here's a little something else about my basset hound Libby...she loves to chew things. Fun for her... bad for us. I figured I would give you a list of things she has chewed and/or eaten thus far since we have owned her (about a year and a half). Well here goes nothing...

• Her kennel
• Her toys
• Her toy box
• Her collars and my other dog Nikeah's collars
• Her leashes
• My cat Tipper's favorite catnip toy
• The carpet
• My iPod
• My phone
• My mom's phone
• My mom's other phone (after she had to get a new one)
• The remote control
• The charger to my computer ($80 to replace)
• A baseball (literally ate it and we had to take her into emergency)
• Lightbulbs
• Batteries
• My school books
• My sheet music for choir
• The broom
• Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, Quarters
• Garbage
• Got into my 40lb bucket of frosting for cake decorating
• My cake decorating supplies (colored frosting everywhere!)
• Pens and pencils (her very favorite)
• My shoes
• The catfood
• Her bed
• My sunglasses
• Plastic water bottles (full and empty)
• A huge box of dog biscuts
• A box of plastic silverware

As you can see she definitely is a problem grade C kind of a dog. Along with all of these things (and I'm sure there is more but I have tried to block some of the things out of my memory) she eats basically any food she can possibly get to. We can't leave anything on the counter, or out in the living room if we let her stay out there instead of being in the kitchen while we are gone. However, nonetheless there really is no choice but to love her, becaue who could stay mad at a face like this...?

Dance is Music Made Visible

I'm not one of those people that have been dancing since I was 3 years old but it has been a part of my life for about the past 8 years now. It is something I am extremely passionate about and work at on a regular basis whether I am in a studio class or alone in my room. Dance will be a part of me for the rest of my life.

My interest in dance started when I began getting involved in theater. I have been in a few musicals in my time so musical theater was kind of my first experience (other than some sweet swing dance classes I took with some friends) with dance and movement. I loved it instantly and started taking classes in jazz and ballet as well right away. After about 2 years into my high school career I started taking parter style dancing in ballroom, latin, and salsa. Those were so much fun and we took those classes for 2 years. I still love that style, but it's been a while since I've gotten to do it.

I have been taking lyrical, modern, and contemporary classes for about 3 years and have found that this particular style is what I like doing best. It is a way for me to be able to express myself without having to talk about it, or write it down. I can just get out whatever I am feeling right there and put as much power and expression into it as I want. I am a very creative person, I love to designing, and singing as a way of getting my feelings out, but there is something about movement that just takes everything to a whole new level, and that's what I love about dance.

I have recently, as in the last year or two, started choreographing routines. It hasn't been anything big, mainly solos for myself, but I have ideas that I would someday hope to have groups perfom. I've been getting inspiration from my classes and songs I have listened to, but the routines are mainly staying inside my head because it is kind of hard to try them full out in the closet that I live in. We'll see though, maybe someday it will happen. I keep hoping for the opportunity.

Until then I will continue to keep dancing, performing, and loving what I do!

Playlists Say A Lot About A Person...

Playlists on one's iPod can be as vague or straight to the point as you want them to be, and that's the beauty of iTunes. Being able to customize everything to your liking. I have quite a few playlists on my iPod Touch, some listened to more often than others but none the less important in its own way. The names on my playlists, as well as some of the playlists themselves are unique but fit me quite well... And with that here they are.

• "Stuck in the 90's" - Consisting of all those great bands we used to love (and still do!)Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, N'Sync, Aqua, Brian McKnight... need I say more?
  

• "Classical classics" - For all your Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Sibelius needs.

• "Disney Music" - Mulan, Little Mermaid, Lion King... in short.. THE BEST!

• "Feelin' The Love" - When you are in the mood for some romance, here's a gigantic list of love songs!

• "Genesis" - Mt. Hood Community College's vocal jazz ensemble! Represent! If you haven't heard our amazing award winning group yet then get down to Portland and check them out or let me know and I'll try and hook you up with something!

• "Jazzin' It Up" - Got a lot of Michael Buble, Louis Armstrong, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and let's face it, the fabulous Mt. Hood Community College Jazz Band... Probably one of my favorite genres!

• "Jesus Music" - Consisting of all the Christian bands that I love. Relient K, Casting Crowns, DC Talk, Switchfoot...

• "John Mayer Road Trips" - A tradition between friends. We always had to listen to John Mayer every road trip so it was just easier to make a playlist!

• "Keepin' It Country" - This has all the country songs you just love to sing in the car with the windows down! Rascal Flatts, Dixie Chicks, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley...

• "Movie Music Mania" - This has all the soundtracks from some of my favorite movies! Moulin Rouge, Music & Lyrics, Twilight, August Rush...

• "Musicals" - Filled with classic and modern musicals! From one's I have performed in to one's I someday will! Wicked, Rent, Les Miserables, Hairspray, The Music Man... I just really love musicals.

• "Run, Run, Runnin Workouts" - Mainly consisting out hip-hop and upbeat song to keep me pumped and energized while I'm running or working out!

• "Spring Break Troutdale Style" - Consiting of "Do You Know" By Enrique Iglesias 18 times, made specially for me by my roommate... thanks for the sweet mix Lisa!

• "SU Road Trips!" - This has all the songs we (Me, Alyssa, Lisa, Maddy, Ally, and Courtney) like to jam out on while going on our roadtrips and adventures in Seattle. Most often played "Dont' Stop Believin" by Journey!

Tradition, Tradition!

My Cousins!

From left to right. Front row: Matt, Christian. Back row: Andy, Me, Josh, Katie

Traditions in my family are never normal ones, because my family is never what one might say.. normal. We have quite a few of them that we do every year. Here's some so you can get to know my family and our quirks a little better.

Most of them happen at the end of the year towards the holidays but we do have one that resides over the 4th of July weekend. We have property in Long Beach, WA with a few trailers on it so every year we go up there and spend about a week soaking up the sun and enjoying spending time with each other (most of the time). In Long Beach there is always a 4th of July festival that we attend as well as a parade, which my mother usually inserts herself in one way or another... when that happens we pretend we don't know her, but inside we love her dearly! While at the festival we get elephants ears made by the best elephant ear place ever! After we have spent the day there we go and buy fireworks (the really big ones since those are legal in WA, but not in OR!) and take our cars down onto the beach for the remainder of the day, pick a good spot and set up camp. We usually bring a tent thing and play some card games and stuff while waiting for it to get dark, as well as digging a hole for a bonfire! Once it gets dark we start letting the fireworks loose (we always get the panda bear, the chinese pagota, and the bees which flew up my dad's pants one time, even though they are kinda lame... we still have too!) After all ours are gone it is usually time for the "Fireworks Show Spectacular" put on by the city of Long Beach, so we sit on top of the cars and watch the amazingness happen!

The next traditions happen around Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have our Thanksgiving dinner every year at my Aunt Debbie's house in Oregon City (Home of the end of the Oregon Trail!) And it wouldn't be a Thanksgiving dinner for us without "brown 'n serve" rolls, pistachio pudding, and a giant bowl of olives! After we eat we spend hours and hours playing "Apples to Apples," "Taboo", and a dice game called 10,000. After we are done we say our goodbyes... until the next day.

The day after Thanksgiving we always get together to go through the Christmas lights at the P.I.R. (Portland International Raceway). There they decorate the race track with tons and tons of Christmas lights and you get to drive through it at night and look at them all. In short it is a Christmas light winter wonderland! But before we can do that we have to go out to dinner at a resturant which we have no idea what the name of it is, but we just call it "The Cheesy Mexican Place." Inside there is a manequin missing a few fingers and with hair looking a little sparce, but she's our favorite and we look forward to seeing her every year. We named her Rosarita. As well they have some blow up beer bottles hanging from the ceiling along with other random as ever decorations. That's why we call it "cheesy." They do have a really cool giant fish tank which used to have a puffer fish in it and we couldn't wait to see him every year but 2 years ago we were informed that he was taken to the hospital for an illness and didn't make it. That was a sad day in our family. The food there, let me be the first to say is not very good and nobody in the family likes going there because the food makes us sick, but tradition is tradition and we have to go anyways! The employees at "The Cheesy" expect us to come every year!

There's a couple family traditions for ya! I hope my family isn't to strange for you!