Insert Quote about Disney and Dreams Coming True

Wow. So much has happened within my first two weeks of college! The first week was pretty slow, since I was still getting used to the flow of my schedule, this past week zoomed by. 

Gosh, where do I even start? So much good news!

First of all, I am still surprised I am 2nd chair in symphony orchestra. It's a big responsibility for sure! I can only imagine the responsibility of the concertmaster.....

Lots of people complain about how "there's nothing to do in Rexburg". Are you serious?! Look around! There's stuff EVERYWHERE! I've done ballroom dancing, a hip hop workshop, other fun, social dances. I've gotten ice cream for $1 (did not know this was possible in America), Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts), had a Belgian waffle dinner. . . and there's a ton of other stuff I still want to do but haven't done yet. 

I have many performing opportunities here. The other day, I decided to go audition for BYUI's Got Talent. I auditioned with the same hip hop piece I performed at the Freshman Talent Show. The judges seemed to like it a lot, but then they asked what Disney song it was? Wuut? Turns out, BYUI's Got Talent Auditions are NEXT week. That day's auditions were meant for Disney numbers. So, they asked if I knew any Disney songs. I knew Pirates of the Caribbean, so I spontaneously played an excerpt from He's A Pirate, and they seemed pretty satisfied. Today I found out I AM performing in this Disney show called Magic Moments! Maybe I'll also perform in BYUI's Got Talent. . . we shall see! Anyways, after my random Disney audition, I was interviewed by the BYUI Scroll (college newspaper. I'm not sure how I feel about all this attention, but I guess I better use it in the most humble way possible; can't get prideful here and slack off!

Speaking of the newspaper, I Instagrammed a picture of myself blowing this GIANT bubbles last Friday and it ended up in the BYUI newspaper! That bubble-making was amazing. A random guy on campus just had a big bucket of soapy water and some rope and people came by and made bubbles. 

BUBBLEZ!!!!!! Perfect distraction.

Okay, now for the REALLY exciting news. . . Yes, it gets better. (drumroll please)

This Wednesday, my roommate, Macie, and I are attending a Josh Groban concert in Boise. SO EXCITED. Yesterday I checked the fan club page that I'm a part of (I'm so obsessed) just to check it out. I randomly signed up for a possible chance to meet and greet Josh Groban before the actual concert. GUESS WHO WON. 

FREAKING OUT. I AM STILL FREAKING OUT. I GET TO MEET JOSH GROBAN OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of those things that I've only imagined. I don't usually win raffles like that. I mean, I almost didn't really care if I lost because I already have REALLY good seats! But, HOLY MY COW I get to meet him! He gets to meet ME! (I didn't mean that in a cocky way) I want to be his violinist so badly. This is my chance! THIS IS IT. God is POURING blessings on me; I am so overwhelmed! 

Now that my life is absolutely PERFECT right now, let's hope things don't get out of hand. . . I know God can use me in great ways, but I gotta make sure Satan does not take over. 

In other news, I got to FaceTime my mom and the Fox family this morning. My first violin student, Rebekah Fox got baptized today! This is really the first time I have missed home. . . I wish I could have been present for Bekah's special day and eat my mom's delicious cooking and homemade salsa at our house, but I know Rexburg, Idaho is where I am supposed to be right now. 

Look at this precious nugget! Baptized and ready to become a true Daughter of God

I can testify to everyone that amazing things happen when we get out of our comfort zone! So, don't even think about the fear, just DO it. You'll be amazed at the impact you can make on the world. 

I'M MEETING JOSH GROBAN. 

Big Fish

COLLEGE. OMG.

It's finally here. The place I've dreamed about and talked about for years and now I'm really here in big kid school. My classes start tomorrow. 

This past weekend was freshman orientation, or Get Connected, as BYUI calls it. It was SO much fun! So many fun, social activities. I've met hundreds of amazing people from all over the country, and even outside the country. 

I had an amazing opportunity to perform in the talent show this past Friday. About 75 people auditioned and only 19 people got to perform that night. I made it, and I was the first to perform?

I'm not used to being the first to perform in concerts and shows like this. I'm usually toward the end. But, FIRST? Like, do they want to get me over with or something? It kind of freaked me out for a minute. 

I performed an original composition that my producer, River White, and I wrote. He named it "Dragon". It's definitely a Lindsey-Stirling-type-ish song, very dubstep and hip hop, so it was definitely one to pump up a crowd. As I did sound check and as showtime became closer and closer, I did not feel nervous one bit. I just got even more excited. I was so excited to have this opportunity to shine and show this new world who I am. I recalled performing in Carnegie Hall earlier this year in February with an orchestra. That hall is BREATHTAKING. The depth of the audience, the acoustics, the SIZE of the audience. I realized that I would rather perform for 5000 over 5 people any day. I have no nerves whatsoever. I absorb all the energy from the audience, whether they're screaming or not, and I spit it back out at them, and they give it back, then I give it back. It's like a cycle. 
So, I played my piece and had a paparazzi later, along with the other amazing talent show participants. BEST NIGHT EVER. I'm SO pumped to perform more often this semester, both classically and contemporarily. (is that a word?) I feel like a rockstar here. 

This wasn't actually during my performance, but I LOVED the view of all those iPhone flashlights. So beautiful. 

Aside from all the partying and socializing, I do have a degree to pursue. And what is that? Oh, yeah. String PERFORMANCE. Haaa! Perhaps some of this socializing does help get me an audience! The only thing I fear this semester, and future semesters, is balance. Balancing good grades, sleep, health, study time, practice time, fun, sanity....it's gonna be an adventure, that's for sure! 
And I'm SO. EXCITED. 

I am so blessed to have the House of the Lord just blocks away. City on a hill. SO BLESSED.

Dear, Father in Heaven, you spoil me way too much. 

“I am mentally preparing myself for the five-year-old mind. I want to come down to their physical limitations and up to their sense of wonder and awe.” ~Shinichi Suzuki

He's right. Either everything is a miracle or it's not. It just depends on how you look at it. 

This past Saturday I took a violin teacher training class at my music school in Dallas; teacher training for the Suzuki Method specifically. 

Shinichi Suzuki is one of the most incredible people I have ever learned about. For those of you who do not know this name, this passionate man started a method for violin (and many other instruments) that changed the world. No, not every child who learns the violin becomes a professional or even continues it, but it teaches them a wild amount of life skills. Discipline, focus, a good ear, problem solving, respect, posture, memorization, speed reading, coordination, passion, and many other things that I may not be thinking of. Another amazing thing is that ANYONE can learn the violin. Suzuki proved this. Everyone is different in the way they learn.

My own violin teacher, Nicolette Solomon, took from Suzuki as a child, and now I think I understand where she gets her enthusiasm and ENERGY. Suzuki was hopping around on stage with a thousand children at the age of 76 or 77, as if he could never age. My own teacher teaches probably around thirteen hours a day and gives each student 110%, with or without lunch. People like this blow my mind so much, they inspire me to want to blow other people's minds. 

Age is ONLY a number!

I'm a new violin teacher myself, and still learning on how to teach well. I have lots of work to do. I did learn, though, that children are amazingly brilliant in their own unique ways. Each individual child is a miracle to the world. Since they are still developing as human beings, they use what they know in everything they say or do, and entertain and teach us all. I was explaining something about bowing to one of my students, Peter, and apparently something I said clicked (since he had been having a problem with this bowing for a few weeks) when he started going on some tangent about Star Wars and got all excited about it, and then did the bowing correctly (and quite dramatically, so to speak). I definitely started using more Star Wars references with him after that. 

You can make anything fun, even the boring stuff. You just have to think of something you love and connect it to that boring thing somehow. I think this also helps find your passion. What is that one thing you keep constantly referring to? Be silly with it! Physics was my worst subject in school and I found it painfully difficult to find the "fun" in it, but it did make more sense when I found music connections to it, and any other random, witty connection. 

Still not finding any fun in it? If it's reading, read it in Morgan Freeman's voice, or Ellen DeGeneres' (Dory). Works every time for me.

Like a boss.

So yeah, approach boring THINGS with something interesting or fun. As for boring of difficult PEOPLE, approach with love. Accept their flaws, look around them, and think of something that brings out their strong traits, and then focus on strengthening the weakness. 

This takes practice. Repetition is another important thing Suzuki taught. "Knowledge is not skill. Knowledge 10,000 times is skill." When a baby says its first word, they say it ALL THE TIME. Whether that's "mama" or "no", they'll respond to everything with it until they learn more words, and they'll use the new words, but still use the first one they ever said. "Twinkle twinkle little star" was the first song I ever learned on violin, as it is for many other violinists. I learned that song sixteen years ago and I still remember it. In fact, I've played it so much that's it's impossible for me to forget it!

Repetition doesn't just apply to music or studying. Repetition is consistency. I know someone who had a bad habit of cussing. They repeated "replacement words" in their head all the time, and got rid of the bad habit. They did not completely forget about the words, but they did put a stop to saying them. In fact, it made them think more positively. When they'd stub their toe, they'd be grateful that they didn't break it instead. 

If you want to lose weight and you know running will help, you don't run a whole marathon in one day and suddenly lose the twenty pounds you wanted to rid of. (If that happens then you must have a freakishly fast metabolism) You run a little bit every day, and you eat healthy. Step by step. 

I couldn't really figure out the one point I was getting at in this blog, but these are some things I have learned this past week. Hopefully it doesn't sound like babble..

In other news, I'M GOING TO COLLEGE THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM SO EXCITED IF YOU COULDN'T TELL. The only thing I'm nervous about is balancing everything. . . I guess I'll just take it day by day! Step by step.

Farewell, lovely Texas. 

How big is your wave?

August 30th, 2013. (My 19th birthday) Port Aransus, TX. 

What's that one quote that's like "I can't adjust the winds but I can adjust the sails"? Something like that. Same goes for surfing. Well, and life. 

For Labor Day weekend/my birthday, my dad and I took a daddy-daughter trip to Port Aransus, TX, located on Mustang Island. Port aransus is known for its fishing, not surfing, but surfing is what I wanted to do there. I wasn't expecting to see really any waves at all, since I've heard there weren't many on the Texas gulf. I rented a board anyway just to try. I've surfed in Kauai, Hawaii and St. Augustine, Florida this year already, Hawaii obviously having the best waves. I guess I never really thought about how different ocean waves are in different places. I mean it's all one ocean, right? This may sound kind of preachy, but I think ocean waves are like the trials in or lives. They're all different sizes and come in all sorts of forms, but it's up to us to either swim over them, or duck dive right through them, if they're that big. 

The waves in Port Aransus were pretty choppy and were all very close together, making it hard to catch one. A lot of times I got quite frustrated because I probably looked so foolish out there, only barely catching 10% of the waves. I was even starting to think we had just wasted our time and money (and gas) to come here. I didn't want to quit, though, because we were there and I had a board so I might as well keep trying. I met another blonde girl out there surfing, and we chatted for a little bit. I didn't get to know her that well, but she and I would say "take this one! Go!" And that's when I caught two or three decent waves. It's amazing what we can do with some support. After being out there for about 4 hours, I called it a day since I could definitely tell my face was getting fried. 

I went surfing again the next day. The waves were really rough and actually quite big, which made me excited at first. I took my board out and tried to catch some, but I felt like the more I paddled out, a giant wave would crash in me and push me closer towards shore, or I'd stay in one place. I didn't realize that there was a really strong current as well, pushing me closer and closer toward the pier. When these weird 13 year olds started flirting with me, or trying to I guess, I finally caught an AWESOME wave. (Thank you, Lord for that timing!) I wasn't up for long because the poles of the pier were right in front of me. I jumped backwards off my board to avoid it, but the wave still crashed on me, whacking me against the barnacle-covered pier. At that point my dad had come out in the water to come help me. My left foot was really stinging and I felt like something bit me. Nothing bit me, don't worry, but those barnacles are sharp! My foot was bleeding pretty bad, but not so bad to where I needed stitches or anything. 

It's not bad at all. I tried to clean off most of the blood before taking a picture to scare mom. 

I'm so thankful my dad came out there and helped me because if he hadn't, I would have continued to get smashed up against the poles of the pier and get cut up, especially since I had just swallowed a gallons worth of salt water and kept coughing. As I was resting, I was really frustrated with myself for not being a stronger swimmer/better surfer. I had been swimming all summer and had surf lessons, so I thought I'd be able to get right up and just go on these junk waves. My dad then reminded me of all my gifts and talents, and then pointed out in the ocean at the the other surfers that weren't catching many waves, either, including the more advanced surfers. "You don't have to be perfect at everything." Ugh my dad and his dang wisdom. 

The whole purpose of this weekend wasn't just to surf, it was to spend time with my dad. After my foot quit bleeding for the most part, my dad came out with me in the water, AWAY from the pier. We both had trouble fighting that current that kept pushing us back toward the pier, but it sure did help to have an extra hand of support. We really can't do it all on our own, no matter how much we want to or think we can. I know the basics of surfing, but I didn't have quite enough arm power for these weird waves in Port A, so my dad gave me an extra push. That extra push is really all I needed. Sometimes it's the only thing we need to get goin. The best wave I got that day was a small, junk wave, but there were a ton of fish riding the wave with me, which was something I've never experienced. And, I heard some little kids on a tube near me go "whooooaaaa!" as I rode that wave. That was a pretty cool feeling. This trip was not a waste. 

My dad and I both have to admit that Port Aransus is actually kind of a junky town, but we did get to go on a boat ride and see some dolphins. I took about 40 pictures of them, but they were always going back into the water and weren't decent shots. Of course it was when everyone put their camera away that the dolphins came even more out of the water and came closer to the boat. It's like they recognize the cameras, haha! So odd. 

I did capture a lovely sunset that night though. 

After capturing this, a dolphin popped out of the water, right in line with the sunset. Too bad I can't prove it. 

Luckily I did not run into any sharks in the water, but they were EVERYWHERE elsewhere. Take this one for example. Probably the most out of place decoration I've ever seen in an Easter-egg-colored ice cream shop. 
Sharks are everywhere, though. . . even out of the water. Watch out!

My dad and I with our cheesy tourist shirts (his was boring that day) and his interesting choice of sunglasses. Observe that burn line on my right hand...

Remember it's not about where you are and what you're doing, but who you're with! 

Accept support and be the support. 

*Happy Labor Day!*