I'm late, but I AM grateful!

This is kind of a late thanksgiving post. That's how crazy busy life has been lately! However, I had a great thanksgiving.

I spent thanksgiving this year with my cousin Megan in Pocatello, ID. I'm so thankful to be loved by them and that they always welcome me to their lovely cozy home. I was SO ready to get out of my apartment! It's those little things such as nicer facilities that I REALLY miss and appreciate. I took a legitimate bubble bath twice while I was there and I think it was one of the most pleasurable things ever. I got to go see Catching Fire (again), which was super fun. And, of course, watching Snoopy movies on the comfy couch with Taylor, Ashton, and peri, was probably my favorite. The simple PEANUTS cartoons make me feel so happy and make me thankful for the cute, little things in life. 

I am thankful for the amazing HUGE thanksgiving meal I had. I think this is the fullest thanksgiving I've experienced. I could NOT stop eating! When I woke up on Friday morning I was STILL full. 

After hearing some amazing, traumatic stories from a man who served an lds mission on the Ivory Coast, I really don't think I will ever complain again. I'm grateful for the mostly safe town of Fort Worth, my home, and the safer town of rexburg, Idaho. 

Overall, I'm grateful for family, food, shelter, and my savior Jesus Christ! Cheesy but true. 

Aaaand now it's Christmas season! Happiest time of year for me!! I love everything about Christmas. I am so excite and thankful to go home. I did not think I would get homesick here but I definitely did. I miss Texas and everyone in it. I hope that ice storm goes away before I get there, though!

In the meantime, our baroque ensemble got to do a day tour in Utah and we got to walk around Temple square. This was my first time ever in temple square and oh man, it is BEAUTIFUL! And we didn't even see the Christmas lights since it was daytime. But, just look how breathtaking that Salt Lake Temple is!! It is a castle. I felt so much peace around it.

My first semester of college is coming to an end. I must say it has been an incredible one. Well I still have finals so hopefully I don't completely bomb those and ruin my GPA, but I think I will be okay. 
I have never met so many incredible people in such a short time, and I know I am making lifelong friendships. 

By the way, Rexburg has finally his the negative degree weather. It is INSANE. I have never lived in this much snow. My dear friend Alex and I decided to embrace the snow one day and Pixar-ize all the cars in a parking lot, and we made a snow shark! I do love snow, hehe. Ski weather has arrived!

OMG IT SMELLS LIKE CHRISTMAS AND I HEAR THE MUSIC EVERYWHERE AND I JUST LOVE THE SPIRIT AKDFGJHALDKFJGHALDKJFGHALDKFJGHALDKFJGHADLKFHGADJFKG. 

happiness galoooore

People, People, People!

What a crazy week it's been! 

I am still pretty starstruck from meeting Josh Groban and his violinist, and I probably always will be. However, life must go on. If I wanna actually PLAY with him one day, I can't just sit on my butt and retweet his tweets all the time. I gotta WORK. 

The homework and practicing is definitely loading up now and the amount of sleep is decreasing. Tuesdays are my longest days. I am busy back-to-back from 9 am to 5:30pm! 
Last Tuesday, I was planning on waking up early to get some things done before my long day, but I overslept and missed my morning practice. I felt so unfulfilled. :( Luckily, devotional is at 2:00 pm and I felt better after that, since my day felt so long already. However, as I rode my scooter to my violin lesson, I totally wiped out, in a skirt, and in front of an attractive human being who kindly helped me. I skinned my hand a little and was late to my lesson. WHY?! That day I really faced the reality of balance and managing time in college. You really cannot do everything. I had meetings to attend and homework to do and still needed to eat, and of course practice (I am NEVER done)!

Thank goodness for weekends, though! Even though I have an essay due Monday. . . 

I actually felt like Superwoman this weekend. 
On Friday night, I ran the Glow Run 5K. Don't ask me when I last ran, but I ran the entire time and it felt amazing! I felt so alive and free and crazy when people threw paint at me as I ran by. I finished this race, and continued my night at a crazy 80's dance party. 

That feeling after a run covered in glow paint >>>

I was so sore the next morning. Sure, I guess I can go randomly run a 5K without dying, but I totally forgot to stretch. My left leg is PAINFULLY sore. And, I had another performance at BYUI's Got Talent that night! A performance involving some dance moves, something I have never done before. I was actually a little nervous for this one because it involved some coordination. But, I did it!

Here's a video of part of my performance. Just an iPhone recording. I think I can access a better recording sometime later. 

In the middle of my performance, my track stopped playing! AHH WHAT THE HECK! There was some sort of technical difficulty, but I kept playing. No choice! It's unexpected times like these that we MUST keep going! Plus, it's not like I messed up (or maybe I did, shhh. No one shall know). As long as I don't react to the mistake or problem, all is well! In-the-moment trials like this are to be faced later! (when there is NO audience!)

 Luckily I had some great inspiration beforehand. 

So, yeah. I've met another famous violinist this week. Her name is Jenny Oaks Baker. If y'all haven't heard of her you NEED to look up her music. She is beautiful and talented and has spectacular arrangements of our favorite songs and hymns. She performed here at BYUI and I got a picture with her afterwards!

Not too satisfied with my awkward smile here but JENNY IS GORGEOUS!!!

I experienced two incredible performances on Saturday.
There was one very moving part of Jenny's concert. Jenny herself actually got choked up about it. A girl named Claire had lost some of her fingers on her left hand in a car accident when she was young, and was so sad she could not play her violin. Jenny was able to meet her and told her that she could still play, and that she would. Now, her violin was readjusted, and she plays the violin BACKWARDS. As in, she sets the violin on her RIGHT shoulder instead of left! It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Together, she and Jenny played a duet of "I Know My Redeemer Lives." I was in tears. That one got a standing ovation for sure. 

During BYUI's Got Talent, a girl who talked kind of funny played the piano and sang. This girl was deaf, and she sang BEAUTIFULLY. Perfectly in tune! She may not articulate well, but the fact that she played piano and sang with such passion without being able to hear just took my breath away. 
I wish I had pictures!!! Sorry about that!

I am SO grateful to meet so many amazing people, especially those who kick their trials in the face and come out stronger than ever! These people have taught me that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! It just takes WORK. 

Speaking of, I have homework to do now. *Deuces*

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!*