be here!

hot on the heels of my spring break-up, i am finding that with the right attitude, school can still be enjoyable...especially when the weather is so beautiful! when you are surrounded by discontent college students who always want to be somewhere else doing something else, it's easy to adopt that gotta-get-out mindset. but who really wants to live like that? "whatever may be your task, work at it heartily (from the soul), as [something done] for the Lord and not for men." colossians 3:23 (amplified bible)... i would also like to quote steve (my favorite teacher who you will hear me rave about shortly) and say, "BE HERE." if you are somewhere, anywhere, BE there. don't just exist. EXIST. deep, huh? :)

reasons this week has been pretty amazing:
shakespeare rehearsal: twelfth night has completely rocked every single day. i am so thankful to be part of this experience and i cannot describe how amazing it is to work with such a devoted director. steve snyder is most definitely one of the best men i know. tangent about why steve is so great: he reflects Jesus to his students by action and (when necessary) word, he is hopelessly and unashamedly in love with his wife and kids, and he always encourages us to make bold choices and fail gloriously. yay steve :) but anyways, working on this show is going to be one of the highlights of my college time. everyone is bringing their best to the table, and i can't wait to get it on its feet!

rooftops and sunshine: did i mention the beautiful weather?! after a good dose of pushing and pulling on our dirty, dusty layers of window (inner window, screen, outer window), hannah and i finally forced open a gateway to springtime wonderfulness...the window to our rooftop! monday we were on the roof a good 2 hours doing our homework and munching on cereal while basking in the sun.

 what's in ze box?

basking :)

then yesterday, during our own roof-date, sarah and i met a very special little roof-dwelling creature (and by met i mean made up)... the rooffala! rooffalas have dark teal fur with an orange beard and a tuft of purple at the crown. they make some very interesting and specific noises (which are difficult to type phonetically), and they feed on avocados that rain down from the even-higher roof. we love them.

working out is fun?: so it has literally been months since i have had a really good workout. erin is always bugging me to go with her but i usually just say no. well, tonight i went and ohhh my goodness it was so great! seriously i forgot how wonderful working out is. i mean, as i'm reading this i'm also wondering if i'm going crazy. but truthfully, when i stepped on that elliptical i was just like "ahhh." and then we did weight machines, which were also good. tomorrow i will be crying because my arms already feel like jelly...but i don't care! and now i will not allow myself to say no to erin again!

a great voice lesson: after a few weeks of rocky lessons and my own crisis of whether i actually know anything about teaching, Alex (my student for my vocal pedagogy class) is finally making some progress! i think i just completely misunderstood him at the beginning. i thought he hated voice lessons and singing, but (with some help from my fantastic pedagogy teacher) i found that his frustration is rooted in the ridiculously high standards he holds himself to. why do we do these things to ourselves? there is a balance between striving for perfection and recognizing our own human-ness. when you realize that you've completely failed, take a minute to "enjoy" that terrible feeling...then pick yourself up, smile, and praise God that He never fails. hmm, there seems to be a lesson for me in this.

anyways. it is ridiculously late, and i still have jelly arms. so g'night, and stay tuned for more info on the rooffalas.