And so begins TECH WEEK

welp - we just jumped head first into tech week tonight for 42nd street!  i was actually thinking it was going to be a train wreck tonight just being on the stage for the first time, but it went surprisingly well.  got through act one relatively painlessly.  of course the real terror will come tomorrow when we add in costumes and wigs.  lottssss of quick changes that as of now seem almost impossible.  but we will find out tomorrow i guess haha.  speaking of costumes, tried on the "we're in the money" get up today.  not HORRIBLE, but i don't feel awesome in it either.  i guess it takes longer to get rock hard abs with no fat over them than i thought. anyway, here is a pic of the costume so you can see exactly what i'm talking about here:

Yep..... so now you see why i'm in the gym every morning before work!  all i'm sayin' is why we gotta have a costume that goes that far BELOW the belly button??? everyone knows that is a girl's biggest problem spot!! ugh, whatevs.

ANYWAY, moving on from THAT.  i think the show's going to be awesome.  if you are in ATL anytime dec 3-dec 19 you should def come see it.

man i'm really boring tonight. i don't even have anything else to say.  kinda over school, but what else is knew and who really wants to read about that?  kinda wish life and scheduling were easier so i could do the things i want to do and see the people i want to see, but again nothing new there.  kinda wish i could snap my finger and know who someone really was.  that's definitely not new.  but yeah other than that.....ain't got nothin.

got a 7am training so i need to peace out now.  time to go to sleep!  and maybe i won't have such CRAZY dreams tonight.  last night i dreamed that this tornado was like right up on me (i was just hanging out outside i guess) and somehow sucked me up so i was hanging on to the outside of it for dear life.  there were other people there too and they were telling me i had to hang on and just ride it out, but that seemed like suicide to me so i was saying "no, no, i have to let go!" and they were saying "no you can't do that!" but i did it anyway. i think i landed in some trees or something.  background:  i am absolutely terrified of tornados. i always have been, ever since i was little.

anyway, no idea what that dream was about, but it was SCARY.

okay for real, it is bed time.  i shall leave you with christmas video numero dos:  here my dear friend brad and i show you the best christmas songs out there.  slash, basically, it's just us being fools to christmas music.  ENJOYYY!



WOW. TERRIFYING freeze frame. i look like quasi moto.

Mountains and TURKEY DAY!

y'all.  i had SUCH a good time at the cabin.  it was so nice to just sit and do NOTHING and go nowhere.  we just hung out, played games, played music, cooked yummy food, ate yummy food....yep that basically about it.  and our new favorite family game is definitely banagrams.....or banarama as mother likes to call it.  she has this thing where she never really calls anything by it's real name.  particularly if it's real name is something even slightly obscure.  i once had a professor named dr. zavaleta and you would not believe the names she came up with when referring to him.  and she referred to him a lot because it was ochem and it consumed my life, so it was bad.   and FORGET about it if i have a boyfriend with an unusual last name.  all of these are done just to annoy me of course. haha love you mom! :) 

anyway, here are some pics from the trip:

the view on the drive up the mountain

 

terrifying deliverance house we saw on the way up...

complete with a rebel flag hanging from the porch (blowing in

the wind so it's hard to see) and a "no trespassing" sign.



our pretty cabin.  the porch was my fav :)



sisterly love



jordan started getting on our nerves so she had to go



self timed family portrait!

so then we came back, i went to back to work and rehearsals for a couple more days and then home for thanksgiving!  i just had thanksgiving round two actually...don't judge me.  i have a 7:30am training followed by a 10 hour rehearsal tomorrow so i will pay for it i am sure.  thanksgiving was great as usual, but we were missing grandmomma and granddaddy a lot this year.  it's so strange without them.  but having all of us together definitely helped.

ps - total side note. i need a haircut SO BAD.  i'm looking super shabs right now.


to stay on the whole thanksgiving theme...i just have to say that i am thankful for so, so much this year.  it has been a trying year in a lot of ways and very successful year in other ways.  but all in all, God has been so faithful through everything.  He has held me together through some pretty difficult times that i didn't think i would come out of so well.  but i did.  i have been blessed beyond measure.  i'm thankful for my family, my friends (near and far), my job, the compassion and concern of my coworkers/employers, the opportunity to do what i love and the possibilities that are just around the corner.  i wonder what all i will be thankful for come next year :)

AND WITH THAT....i am now officially transitioning to CHRISTMAS MODE!!! to start off the season right, i shall post a classic holiday video made my myself and my best friend/twinsie, chase.  and to clarify and make you aware of the skillz you are about to witness...we recorded the vocals and then lipsynced to OURSELVES.  pure talent.

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALLLLL!

Family time is the best time.

OH MY GOSH BLOGGING IS SO HARD!!!!  i can hardly keep up with this thing.  i always have so much to write about, but zero time to do it.  between work, school and rehearsals it's completely insane and then add in what little social life i try to have and forget about it.

so okay, what's the last thing i wrote about?  woodstockappella? well let's see, since then i've pretty much just been consumed with 42nd street rehearsals.  you know how show time goes for me...i pretty much have to tell all my friends "see in a few weeks."  once the show opens and i have week nights off, i can play again but until then i basically disappear.  i'm having a ton of fun with everyone though and it's going to be incredibly cute.  and all this tapping is giving me some much needed EXERCISE.  i'm still doing the training thing in the mornings before work though (i know right.....who am i???) because LETMEJUSTTELLYOU. we have to wear what is basically a frilly bikini for "we're in the money" and listen...you can think you're toned pretty good....until you lift up your shirt and tap dance in front of a mirror.  frightening.  so i don't care how i tired i am, i will drag my butt out of this bed and into that gym at the crack of dawn if that's what it takes to not make the audience stare in horror and empathetic embarrassment at my bouncing stomach fat.  i hope that visual didn't gross you out too bad.

but don't worry, come opening i am going to be so un-jiggly it's not even funny.  i know you were worried, so i'm just setting the record straight.

hmm.....what else?

well last night my family (mom, dad, sisters, aunt, uncle and cousins) came over  to take on the task of dividing up my grandmomma's jewelry.  she passed away two years ago and mom and my uncle scott figured it was about time to do it.  it wasn't something anyone was looking forward to...it's such an emotional thing...especially coming from a grandmother who had TONS of jewelry and wore it often. ever piece reminded us so much of her.  but this is why i love my family SO MUCH.  even taking on such a difficult thing somehow became a good time with lots of laughter.  and one point daddy picked up my guitar, started going to town and this is what happened:

we are such a loud, rambunctious group and i love it!  at the end of the night, everyone left all at once and all the sudden the silence was deafening hahah.  i'm sure my neighbors hate me a LOT right now, but who cares :)

and speaking of family, i'm now off to a cabin in the mountains with my mom, dad and sisters for a few days of ultimate relaxation.  it couldn't have come at a better time.  we all need a break from life for a bit just to sit, breathe and enjoy each other's company.  and eat my dad's AMAZING chili :) yummmm.

now the key will be to not totally lose all my hard work on my abs over the next few days.  will be tempting with chili and sausage gravy and biscuits in my face, but i am going to do my best.  

ALRIGHT PEOPLE. it's that time. off to the mountains i go!

peace out and see ya in a few.

Hairspray Vid, Rehearsals and Woodstockappella

what it do y'all? so i have like 20 minutes before i have to leave for rehearsal and i am determined to get a blog entry in. READYSETGO.

okay so i started rehearsals for a new show, 42nd Street, with the atlanta lyric theatre and i am SUPER excited about it. first of all, no one in this town does musicals like this. i mean it's a huge, huge show and a tap show on top of that, which is extremely difficult to pull off. but we have such a great cast and creative team there is no doubt in my mind it will be amazing. so y'all come see it if you are in the atlanta area! obvs there will be more deets to come as the time approaches.

speaking of shows, i just finished editing a MASSIVE amount of backstage footage from my last show this summer, Hairspray (also with the lyric). it just shows a sampling of the craziness. also, i know, it's long, but you don't understand how much video i took. i worked so hard just to get it under 10 min.

also, last weekend i made a little road trip to athens to see my sisters (haley and jordan) perform with their a cappella group, noteworthy, in their big fall invitational concert entitled "woodstockappella." brilliance, i know. as i was also in this group in college, i got to jump up with all the other alumni and sing a ditty with the current group. it was my old solo so i got to sing the last half and it was so funnnn! check it:

don't hate on my choreo...i had a hard time remembering after all this time okay. i actually messed it up when i was still in the group now that i think about it, but whatever. anyway, after much appreciated peer pressure (thank you julia, kelly and kiley) i did end up spending the night there, which meant i got to go hang out with everyone at the after party (SO much fun). it also meant i did the most awful walk of shame the next morning as i ran into starbucks to get a coffee, on game day, in non game clothes, from the night before, with disheveled hair, one contact and looking very very tired. i'm so too old for that. but it was fine b/c the AMAZING time i had the night before totally made up for it. also, let me just jump back to the concert again and say that it was SO INCREDIBLY GOOD. haley and jordan were ridiculous (as usual) but every group was fantastic. and tyler reed (haley's bf)... if you are reading this (not likely because you're never on the internet...much like your girlfriend...) you seriously killed it! i was so proud :)


here's the video of haley singing "i want you back" by the jackson 5 (with jordan KILLING the vocal percussion):





aannddd here's the video of jordan's song ("uncharted" by sara bareilles).  obsessed.





i'm such a proud mom right now.

hmm...what else. OH. so i don't think i mentioned yet that i have been working out with a personal trainer for the last 3 weeks now and i am loving IT. i feel such a difference and between that and dancing my butt off in these rehearsals i am sure to be fierce in no time. i'm talking beyonce fierce. like i could dance around in a leotard and stilettos and be totes fine with it. he promises me ima have a six pack by summer. WHAT?

well my loves, i must be off. i started this post before rehearsal, and now i'm back, it's 1:00 am and i have GOT to go to sleep.

TOMORROW IS FRIDAY YAY! fun times in store for this weekend y'all. I SAID FUN TIMES IS IN STO'.

Halloween and Steff

i could write the longest blog post ever right now, but i am TIRED y'all so ima keep it short.  plus if i wrote about everything going on in my life right now, that would be a reallll long post and i'm not about that.  i feel like people would stop reading if i went on too long.  better to break it up into smaller increments i think. 


SO.

after my friday night of not doing anything festive or social (back off holiday nazi's) i did quite a lot on saturday. first i had a personal training session with my new AWESOME trainer where he just about killed me.  then i showered, and ran across the street to taco mac to kick off the GA/FL game with friends (devastating loss, but good game).  left half way through to go to a swing dance lesson (one of the bajillion things i have going on right now.  i'm telling you, i have too many interests!), then met back up with everyone to finish the game.  we ended up at myers' apt watching hocus pocus.  solid choice.  and MUCH better than stupid paranormal activity that would have terrified me for months no doubt.  i'm serious, people can downplay it all they want, but that stuff is SCARY.  sometimes i even find ghost adventures scary if i watch it by myself at night.  don't judge me, i'm just being honest here. 


then on sunday (halloween) i went to party down in the McD with my family.  who did i go as you might ask?  well i will tell you.  see, i had lots of brilliant ideas in the weeks leading up to halloween, but they either turned out to be too expensive or i heard of other people going as the same thing (after a run in with another tinkerbell two years ago, i vowed to never let that happen again). speaking of, that tinkerbell costume was pretty fierce.  ANYWAY, so basically i knew whatever i went as had to be made of stuff i already had.  times is hard y'all.  sooo i decided on....drumroll PLEASE....TSWIIFFTTT!!! that's right. you heard me.  taylor. swift. i actually don't have any pictures of the FULL costume just yet, but i do have pics of my tswift-inspired make up.  you know how she do.

i was trying to do my best squinty eyed pose.  and i know you can't see any of what i was wearing, but i promise it was cute and very taylor swifty. i mean, i know, it was mild, not too crazy, not too out of the box, but i will amp it up next year fo sho.  anyway, the family party was fun and i was glad i got to spend time with everyone.  i have treasured every moment of time spent with my fam these days.  not that i don't usually, but especially this past month.  and we have a mountain trip coming up in a few weeks that i am SO looking forward to!  three days of pure relaxation people.  mom has actually already ordered a ban on electronic devices that would give us access to the outside world.  haha.  i am so down with that.  

well, i am going to start this episode of modern family and work some more on my current video project: backstage footage from hairspray.  y'all ain't even ready for this.  i kind of forgot how crazy it was back there.  first of all there were fifty BILLION people crammed into 5 dressing rooms, but also being a high energy show people were just kind of bouncing off the walls before hand.  here is a little tastey taste of what you have to look forward to:

(if your computer is lame and you can't see it, you can also click HERE.)


hard to believe all that chaos somehow organized itself onstage huh?  yeah...sometimes i can't believe it either.  also that is literally the ugliest freeze frame they could have ever chosen, but whatev.  i'll just hope you actually pressed play and watched me at least morph OUT of that hideous face.


ALRIGHT KIDDIES. time for me to hit they hay.  i ain't no spring chicken anymore and mama needs her beauty rest.  can i get an amen?!