Creatures' Greetings

Did you know there are different animals and things that live here in Mississippi than Grand Rapids???? It's true. Sometimes, they show up in places you don't want them to. I came home from work at the bagel shop the other day and this was on my bedroom wall...


I texted this picture to my friend and her child determined it was a wall lizard.
"Ahhh, there's a lizard on my wall in my bedroom!"
My kids would love to help you.
"I wish they were here"
My son says it's a wall lizard
"Does he have a suggestion on how to remove it without touching it?"
Do you have a butterfly net?

"No, I didn't happen to bring one with me. I have a cup or a bowl or a broom. I'm guessing the creature would like to live so I'm thinking more of the catch and release method than the smack and flush."
He suggests holding a trash bag under the lizard and then gently nudge it with the broom.
"Ok, he may just have to live on my wall til after ballet tonight when a roommate is home to help me. If he's gone by then, I'll assume he found a way outside...oh wait, then maybe he'll climb on me when I'm sleeping, EEEWWWWW! Well, I'll try it by myself. Thanks for the suggestion. I hope it doesn't jump on me."
"Will it bite me if it touches me????"
Probably not. If you grab it and hold onto it, then it might bite. But just brushing against you shouldn't make it bite you. It won't hurt if it does bite and lizards aren't venemous.
"ok, I'll try and get it then. I most definitely will not be grabbing onto it, so it should be good. If it fals it will land in my bed. I sure hope I get it."
You can use a towel or something between it and your hand. It's worth a try. If it disappears you's know it's still somewhere in your room.
"yeah, that's the scary part. I don't want it somewhere in my room, I'd rather him just stick to the wall...it'd help if I wasn't so short., grrr"
12 minutes later...
"I win! He fell off the wall and started climbing on my bike and then I trapped him in the bathroom and chased him around for a while and directed him into a bag. Now he's in the bag outside, he hasn't come out yet so I'm just leaving him there and he'll come out eventually. *Shudder* I did not like that"
Way to go! 

I went to ballet and he was still in the bag. So, I left him there. When I got back from ballet, I was talking to the same person on the phone. I reached out my hand to grab the doorknob to get inside and there was a huge spider right about where I was going to reach! I did not have so much mercy on the ginormous spider. Then there was a spider crawling on my floor!!!! You have to understand, all spiders are gross, but these are especially unpleasing to look at or crawl on your floor for that matter.

Thanksgiving

Plans were all set. I was heading to North Carolina with my roommate. We were leaving at 5am, I believe. That is very early. Since I had been on the morning shift all week, I was used to being up around that time so we decided that I would be the first driver. We get into Squirt's car and I start backing out, we've got 14 hours ahead of us. I look at her car and there is no input for an ipod. No big deal, we'll just use some CDs. Just kidding, no CD slot either and I most certainly didn't bring tapes because I don't think my car has a tape player. But that wasn't too much of an issue, we could use the radio or just not listen to anything and talk.
I got over the no music thing very quickly and easily. We start going and I'm driving on the freeway and go to set the car on cruise control...there isn't one. So now we've got 14 hours of pushing the gas pedal.
It ended up working out just fine. Out of 28 hours of driving, we spent about 30 minutes listening to music (both of our ipods have speakers).
Now, of course, this is Squirt and I, so we didn't really know where we'd be passing through or anything. But eventually we got to Lexington, South Carolina. I texted my friend from Alaska because she used to go to school there and just said that I was thinking of her cause I was driving through there and eating my halfway treat :) She immediately called me and was like, I'M HERE!!!! I haven't seen her since being in her wedding and no plans to fly up to Alaska, so we were able to have lunch on the way back home and that was really nice.
The break in North Carolina was great. I got to meet my roommates' family and that was very enjoyable. It was fun to see where she grew up and to meet a lot of the people she loves and cares about and talks about. We especially had a great time hanging out with her little sister, Katie. I also got to meet some of her friends. We had Thanksgiving meal at her Grandma's and they basically have the same types of things we have in the north. We mostly just hung out with the family and that was really fun!
On the way home, we mostly just talked the whole time. Squirt slept some, but I couldn't really sleep. I rested a bit, but sleep was not my friend that day. So we talked and talked and talked and it was super great. Then she sang to me...I will always love you. Haha, she's very funny.

The Long Awaited....

UPDATE! After getting such a nice compliment on how well I was doing on updating my blog from my friend, Becca Willis, I seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. It's been nearly a month since I've posted (since "losing my mind" doesn't really count). But, no worries, I'm still here. We're almost through November and you have no idea what's been going on. So, I am here to inform you of all the recent happenings so you will experience withdrawal no more.

Ok, let's take a brief visit back to October. I asked all of you to pray because I was working at 6am every day. Well, we all know how Andrea does on a lack of sleep, so low and behold, I got sick. I spent the next two weeks sick and working at 6am, but I still did ballet. I've requested to not be on the 6am shift anymore, but so far that wish has not been granted, so a few adjustments may need to be made when I return after the holidays. Yes, so the sickness and early morning working kinda got the best of me the first two weeks of November. But, never fear, a little sleep and health is restored to me.

Me and my buddy, Bethany

Hair clinic - I was the dummy

Chanbriandrebeff plus friends

Ballet has been going well. I am still very much enjoying it. Everything is still good, nothing is broken. I do have a couple more aches than when I started, but that goes with the territory. Someday my body will be fully restored and I am looking forward to that. Feel free to continue to pray for my body, specifically for my shins if you think about it. We are having a great time though. We have such a good group of girls in our companies. We all went out to eat last week and had tons of fun! All of our dances are coming together nicely, also. It's very fun to be dancing and learning choreography!!!! Some of us are going to do a Christmas performance in a nearby city so we had to learn how to do have for some little kids coming with us. I have become the hair guru at ballet. It's fun cause I get to try lots of things on peoples' hair and that's enjoyable. Apparently, hair and nails are my thing. I always just liked to mess around with that stuff on myself, but other people are enjoying having me do it for them too and that's very fun for me! 

Guess what's in the present?

Some of you have been asking, but I will not be coming home for Thanksgiving this year. It's too short of a break to make the trip all by myself and so I was never planning on being able to come back for Thanksgiving. I will be going to North Carolina with one of my roommates, so that should be fun. I'm sure it will be different being in the south, but I'm excited to go with her and meet her family. I did make it back home for a very short weekend and I was able to bring my friend, Rachel, with me. (And Daniel, but he lives there so it wasn't anything new for him). We had a great time, but we were there less than 48 hours. I was able to introduce Rachel to Robinettes and a few people we were able to surprise because no one knew I was coming. I came back for a couple of birthday surprises. I will be home for Christmas which is a longer break and so I am looking forward to catching up with more of you then! The video of the surprise is posted on my facebook so you should check it out!

Losing my Mind!

I was thinking this was no big deal, just life. But things keep happening, so I have to write to you about it because I really don't know what's going on in my head. Well, for one thing, I must have poorly slow reflexes because I have to take some pills every day...like calcium and stuff...and there are about 11 per day that I take. I always, almost without fail, eat one of them from off the ground. I drop at least one per day and I don't know how I manage to do that every day. One time I dropped the entire bottle on the ground and they scattered every where all over the kitchen.
In addition to eating pills off the ground, I am losing things!!!!!! The problem is that they aren't actually lost, but I swear they disappear while I'm looking and then suddenly reappear when I don't need them anymore. This first started when I bought castor oil (for my legs, I'm not having digestive issues). I had it and some other things and I could find everything but the castor oil. I kept looking and looking and finally broke down and bought new stuff since I figured I must've thrown it out. The day after I opened the new one, I found the original, lost one.
I bought some clear nailpolish at target the other day and I painted my nails and used it. I was going on a trip and wanted to bring it with me (that same day I used it) and it was no where to be found. I searched all over my room cause I had just used it ten minutes ago and I gave up and left without it.
So, I went on a trip this weekend and I brought my face wash. Except, I went over to someone elses' house after ballet to shower because we were leaving right from there. So, I used my face wash at her house and then I could not find it the whole rest of the trip. I figured I just left it at her house. WRONG, I opened up my bag to unpack it and there it was, right in my bag the whole time. I had been using hers all weekend cause mine was missing when it really wasn't, I just didn't know that.
My cell phone charger is still MIA, but I am confident it will also re-appear when I least expect it.

What's Shakin' at the Beagle Bagel

I thought my "funny" things from working at beagle bagel were going to be coming from customers, but for the most part, it's been from people I work with. They are all trying to convince me that I am not white. They're like, "you can't be that color and be a white person, you have to be something else" and so I say, "nope I'm as white as they come, sorry" and they say, "I don't believe you, you have to be hispanic or something, but you're not white." Ummm, last time I checked, I most definitely was white. It's all good natured teasing so it's funny. Someday, maybe, they'll believe me.
This week was a bit hard. I got plenty of hours in, but I got called at 6:15am one morning saying someone had quit and I needed to go in if I could. I needed hours, so I went. Then I was asked to work at 6am the next day. Usually, I can plan better if I know ahead of time, but I'm really supposed to be a lunch person.
If you think of it, pray for me this week because I am on the schedule at 6am every day this week and that will be extremely difficult for me especially because I don't get home from ballet until 8 or 8:15pm and I need to go to bed by 8 or 8:30 to be ok to get up that early. But, I can't go to bed right after ballet so I'm unsure what I'm going to do. Hopefully it's just like this this week until they hire someone new.

MYB Debut

I have to figure out where I last left off. It's been a little while and I'm sure lots of things have happened. I can assure you that last week I was not able to be in three places at once so I ended up performing...since that was the required thing, and I really wanted to. We had a fun time, but it was a little weird because only part of the senior company got to perform and so it was different not having everyone there. But we had a good time. The performance went well and it felt really good to be dancing on a stage again. Here are a couple of pictures from our evening...

My friend, Bethany, putting in my hairpiece into my favorite hairstyle ever - the slicked back bun. Please note the greenery growing out of my ear. PS - Bethany and I are the same age, such a wonderful friend.

Most of MYB senior company with our teacher, Ms Tracey, and our red lipstick. I know, I don't need to point it out because it's kind of obvious.

Me with Bria and Chandler, just hanging out and waiting backstage, I'M the white one...can't you tell.

Massage train!!!!!!! I know, super flattering picture of myself, but I thought the overall picture was cute.

Look at what I can do!!!!

We really are very focused when it's necessary, but other than that, we really enjoy each others company and have a great time together. It was really fun to perform and I am so blessed to be a part of this group. It's such a wonderful group of girls of all ages and I'm so glad I was invited to join the company!!! God was really with us in this performance because one of my friends had a three ring binder prong go through her foot the night before and was not able to walk Saturday morning, but she was able to do the performance. My shin hurt, but not to the point where I couldn't do stuff and he was working in other ways too. It was just a fun time to share the stage with these girls and see what can happen when you trust God. One of my roommates and a few of my friends were also in a different dance so it was really fun to be able to watch them do their dance. I'm so thankful for this opportunity.

Have you ever wanted to be three places at once??? That's me today. There are so many spectacular things happening this very day and I only get to do one of them because I have this problem called a body and it only allows me to be in one location at a time. Anyone else like that? Ok, that's rhetorical cause I know the answer.
Well, tonight is my debut with Magnificat! Youth Ballet. I'm so excited. Yesterday, we had ballet class, then we went to dinner at a really good restaurant. We headed over to the theater to touch up our make up, put on our RED lipstick and get our costumes on. We warmed up and then did a very quick dress rehearsal. It went well other than the fact that the floor was really slippery, but we will fix that problem today. Yes, I am very excited about this, about performing with all of my friends from my class and then also some of my friends who are trainees are performing as well. It should be fun!
The other place I'd like to be is in Houston, Texas. It's my sister's birthday today and so I'd like to celebrate with her. But, I suppose I'll have to celebrate from afar. But, they're doing all sorts of fun stuff and it'd be awesome to see her. But, that will have to wait for another time and maybe we can have a party just cause I'm there, who knows?
I would also like to be in Rockford, Michigan right now. It is homecoming in Rockford and some of my favorites are going to their first homecoming dance ever! I so wish I could be there to do their hair and help serve them dinner, drive them to the dance and most importantly of all, TAKE PICTURES! I'm really sad I'm missing it and there won't be another "first" homecoming. They have all promised me pictures though, so we'll see what I get. The last time they said they'd take pictures for me, this is what I got...

 

 This was when I left them in charge of the camera, though. Hopefully the parents will do a better job about taking some nice photos. I mean, I love these and it shows who they really are, but it'd be nice to have some "organized" photos. Which, if only you could see my albums you would be able to see all of the poses and stuff I put them through. BUT, now we have the pictures and they made me this beautiful photo album before I came to Mississippi and I just looked through today. Now, I'm so glad I made them take all those pictures :) So, girls, have tons of fun tonight! I miss you and love you and can't wait to see you in not too much longer.

Pray for my team and our performance tonight. We are prepared and very excited!!!! But, we definitely need God's help. My leg hurts a lot (not different than the usual stuff, but it's just pretty intense right now) and there are a couple of other things that we could just use some prayer for. Thanks!!!! Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pictures of us in our costumes :)

Church Giggles

Have you ever had the church giggles before? Do you even know what church giggles are? My sister, Melissa, defines church giggles as, "finding something really funny, (that's not necessarily all that funny), at a very inappropriate time such as in church." In other words, everything is funny, but it's really not a good time to be laughing, but you just can't help yourself so you try to keep it inside. But then that makes your body shake because you are laughing internally and that's even more funny - diagnosis: church giggles. I have learned that it is not good to come down with a case of the church giggles in ballet class. Church giggles and ballet are not a good combination. I'm just saying, don't do it...NOT that I've ever experienced this, I was just, ummm, thinking about it.

So, I spent the night at my friend, Rachel's, house Saturday night. I suppose you could say it's fun, but we basically got to her house in time to go to bed. So, she's in her bed and I'm on the floor and we sleep, I guess that's considered fun. Haha, just kidding. Anways, I found the morning quite hilarious. So, I'm sleeping on the floor and for Rachel's roommates to get to the bathroom, they have to go through her room. I'm sleeping and I'm having a dream about someone back in Michigan (Erica Daniels, this is you) and all of the sudden someone starts coming in the room. I get startled and sit up "who's coming in my room!?!?" because at my house here in Mississippi I have my own room that connects to my own bathroom, so my roommates never come in unless I'm awake. I look around and I'm like, "Whoa, where am I? I am way not at home. Oh yeah, this is Rachel's house, I get it now. That was her roommate walking through the room." It was so weird because I was so confused. I was in like three places at once, dreaming about Michigan, thinking I'm in my room in Mississippi, but in reality I was at Rachel's house. Thankfully, I was able to figure out where I was and ease my mind and go back to sleep. It was like 6:30am on a Sunday morning and there's no way I'm getting up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning when church isn't til 11:00!!!!!

The Fall

And NO, I did not fall in ballet class. At least not yet. Although, yesterday we had a substitute teacher and she gave us this combination to purposely make us really dizzy. I know it was on purpose cause she told us. I'll have to show all of you sometime and have you try it and see if you can stand on your own two feet.

Anyways, the fall. I miss the fall. It's beginning to feel like fall here because the mornings are cooler. But, it will still get up to like 85 degrees in the afternoon. Some days, it stays in the 70s. But yeah, there's nothing really too fallish here. Most all of the trees are still very green; there's none of those pretty maple trees changing colors or anything. Apparently the tree in my front yard gets really pretty, but that doesn't happen til December. There's not really any apple cider, no apple picking, caramel apples, apple pie, hay rides, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, it's just not the same. I won't really get to see fall though, because I am sure it's happening right now in Michigan while I am here. And then when I come to Michigan in December, fall will be over there but it will be going on in Mississippi so I'll miss it here. Oh well, it does happen every year, so I am certain I will see it at another time in my life. I am not too sad about missing all of the snow, though...*And there was much rejoicing*

So, at work this past week, some of my co-workers were asking me what I was eating. I was like, ummm, a sandwich and carrots. They were like, "that ain't no lunch, that rabbit food" and I was like, oh, well it fills me up, what's wrong with it. "what kind of bread is that? that no bread" and I was like yeah, it is. "oh, girl, no. We gonna teach you to be black. You're too white. We're gonna have a big southern fry and make you try everything. You be anorexic eating like that." I was like, we can't be anorexic at the ballet company I'm with and so they were like, "Ok, you're malnourished then, is that better?" I was like Oh no, I'm not! But they didn't believe me. It was funny. I'm just waiting to see what the cookout is like. It probably won't happen. They like to tease me and my healthy eating habits. Every one there likes to pick on me, it's really funny.

The meow is Re-located

I'm in my kitchen after ballet making my dinner. Two of my roommates were home and the other wasn't yet. Ballet was hard, but good, so I was really focused on making my dinner. Oh yeah, this is late at night like 8:15ish because I get out of ballet at 7:30, so it's dark out. All of the sudden, I heard a meow from outside. I was like, "whatever" and kept working on dinner. I thought it was maybe just some people trying to be funny; interesting folks we have here in Jackson. But, the meow happened again and it had been a little while so I didn't think strangers would still be hanging around outside. So, I was like, "Very funny, Squirt, stop trying to make me think you're a cat outside" because she would stay out there long enough til I looked. I still refused to look because I thought she was going to pop up from the bushes and say she tricked me. It kept meowing though, so finally I opened the kitchen blinds and there was a cat sitting on my window sill.
It had a collar on, so then I started thinking, "what if someone planted the cat there just to get me to go outside??" So I texted my roommate and told her I was going to see the cat outside and I walked closely to the fence so I could grab onto it if necessary. Thankfully, all of the outdoor lights were on and there was no one there, just the cat. I looked at the collar and got a number off of it and called. I was thinking, "someone is gonna answer and just wants my address so they can come and get me!!!" The number was out of service and I was like, "Oh great! This poor cat is at my house and my roommates are allergic and I'm not allowed to have pets in the rental house, what am I going to do?!?!?! I can't just leave it outside." But, there was another number, so I gave that a call and this young, sweet girl answered...so relieved. I was like, "Are you missing your cat?" and she was like YES!!! A black one? And I was like, yeah, his name is Leroy. It ended up that she lived on the same street as me, but the cat had been gone for like a week.
So yes, she was very excited to have her cat back and I felt like a hero! It did make me miss my little kitty, Meow, back at home. But I'm sure she's doing just fine.

How to update you?

Hmmm, it's about time to update the blog, but what to say???

I think the best way to start is to say that this was a challenging week. But, God helped me get through it. He gave me the strength to do things by the end of the week that I thought impossible at the beginning. He gave me the courage to keep trying. I worked really hard and had encouraging friends who helped me gain confidence. The week ended on such a high note and I am so thankful. "The Lord is My Strength", right Ms. Tracey?, and he was this week and I needed Him.

I had three days off of work in a row which was a blessing in one sense and not so much in another. For some reason, I was not able to sleep well at all this week. I would wake up during the night and then also be up early in the morning. You all know how well I do with little sleep, haha, enough said. Anyways, so it was great to have some time off of work and I could go to the gym and lay out by the pool there and that was really needed. At the same time, time off doesn't pay the bills. Hopefully, this does not become a regular occurrence because I can't afford that. We'll see what happens.

We've finished one month of ballet, three weeks of pointe. It's so crazy that it's going by so fast. I can't believe we're already done with one month and we perform in two weeks!!! If you wouldn't mind, continue to pray for my body. It's doing a lot of things it hasn't done before. So far so good still, but I still need help staying healed and healthy because I am not yet doing everything I would like to.

Oh, but I can throw in a funny story here, because things still do happen. So, I was over at my friend's house, I think I was just hanging out. I don't think it was for any particular reason. Then I stayed for the family birthday party even though I'm not technically a part of the family, but I am in spirit. Anyways, I was there later than anticipated and, once again, we know what that means. So I decided to stay the night. I go to bed just fine, get up in the middle of the night, and then go back to bed. When I wake up and get out of bed, there is a dead cockroach under me!!!! It was so gross, I slept on a cockroach. I am so glad I didn't know it was there until I was done sleeping.

Two Great Discoveries!

One of the main reasons I had to move to Mississippi was because when I was here this summer, I never saw an armadillo. It has been my goal, since, pretty much, June to see one. I was getting nervous that my year here would be up and I still would not have seen one resulting in me staying another year until I met one. My friend, Rachel, said that she wouldn't let that happen and we would spend a whole day just driving around looking for one. Well, I am happy to report that I finally saw one on my way to church last week! Unfortunately, it was a little of the squashed variety, but clearly a genuine 'dillo. It made my day! Rachel was in the car behind me and so she called me to make sure I had seen it. I have yet to see a live one so that will be my next challenge. BTW- they are very unattractive little creatures.
The next discovery was that the doors in Mississippi actually do lock. My roommates and I were discussing how interesting it was that in all the houses we've gone in so far, only the front door has a lock. There are no locks on the bedrooms or the bathroom and we just kind of thought that was strange, but whatever. I have my own bathroom and stuff, so it didn't really matter. Yesterday, we had a couple of friends over and we were talking about this interesting issue with them and they were like, Um, no the doors lock generally you just have to push the knob in and twist. We tried it and it was like magic! It worked. Kinda strange how it took us 5 weeks of living here to learn that doors in Mississippi do know how to lock, it's just the operators that don't.

Sir Chuck? I think so!!!!!

On the day I took Squirt to the doctor and she received sad news...which is getting better, btw...we decided we needed to do something fun. Well, Jackson is not the most exciting city to live in, so what should we do. Since I am a member of the Chuck E. Cheese club, we decided to go there because I had some pretty snazzy coupons that got us a great deal. Yep, so Paige, Squirt and I all went to Chuck E. Cheese to help her get her mind off of her foot and the sad news she got.

Oh! And I had pizza while we were there. The first time in a year and 9 months! Crazy, huh???? I didn't get sick, so I think the time I spent anti-pizza paid off and now I can enjoy it again. Yippee skippy!

We headed to Bops afterwards which is the most amazing frozen custard place ever. It is soooooo good!

I'll post a few pictures from our evening. (PS - this was right after I got out of ballet)

Dancing Queen - Well, not really, yet.

Ballet is going well. My ankle is hurting a little bit, but I think it's getting better. We are on class 6 in a row of doing stuff en pointe, so my big tootsies are feeling it a bit, but that's about all. I was anticipating more pain, but so far so good. I think I should probably just stop counting the number of days we have pointe because I am pretty certain we will be doing it every class from here on out. No blisters, just a marley burn on the top of my foot that bleeds every day from doing a turn into a kneeling position. I might try putting a bandaid on it tomorrow before class to see if that helps. Yes, I am just thinking of this now after two and a half weeks of cutting it open every day.

     Right now, I have classes four days a week and rehearsal one other day. Eventually, I will be taking two classes on a day, but I am letting my body get used to 4 days a week before I start adding some days. I feel like I am improving already! My leg muscles are beginning to come back and buff up again which is nice considering their wimpy state before I came here. Please pray that I continue to pump out the muscle so I don't hurt my bones.

     Everyone in my ballet class calls me a beast. It's kinda strange cause I don't think of myself as a beast, but I'll take it. We have to do these conditioning things before class every day, jumping jacks, hollow hold things, back ups and push ups. These are not difficult for me. I can do the amount of everything in a row without breaks, but apparently no one else can. Especially the stomach things, we have to do 100 and they try and do them as fast as possible, but I just go slow and take my time...which I guess is harder because you hold the position longer. And then there are very few girls who can do real push ups. I'm only up to 35 and she wants us at 50 by Christmas...I should be there in just a few weeks.

     We are working on several dances right now and so that's a lot of fun. A lot of work, but it's good. This is my third week of dance and I already know three and am working on a fourth. Next week I think we start a fifth dance. So yeah, there's no messing around. They keep us moving, but it's good.

Oh and a new discovery I have made. I know how to sweat!!!! By the time I get through plies, I am pretty much drenched. I don't know if it's cause it's way hotter here and they keep the studios warm or cause I'm working hard or what. But, I never knew how to sweat before and now it looks like I sprayed myself with a water bottle.

I still have not come to like hairspray. I use it daily, but ewww. The only times I used it before were for high school banquets and performances and now it's like a part of my life. But, if I wanna dance, I've got to use it, so I do.

A Laundry Day Person...what????

Yes, I have to become a laundry day person and I never thought this would ever happen. But, there is reason for it. Wednesday has now become my laundry day. The reason is because I only have two dress code leotards and two work shirts. Wednesday we can wear any color leotard but every other day have to wear the blue one. So, I wear them Monday and Tuesday, wash them and wear them Thursday and Friday and then wash again over the weekend. I used to marvel at people who could have a laundry day cause I never did, but now I have to. I can assure you that once I don't have to wear certain leotards, I will most definitely go back to my old ways of doing things.

A Doctor's Visit

But this one was not for me. I needed to take my roommate, Squirt (Rebecca is her real name), to the doctor today. She just turned 17 so she can't go by herself so I am her "responsible party". Funny, I know, but I am. So yeah, if any one reading this could please pray for her, she has plantar fasciitis and that really doesn't work well with dancing. She can't do jumps at all and it hurts to go on her toes. Both of those are a huge part of ballet.
Pray for healing for her feet. A miracle would be fantastic! Pray for us that we will have wisdom in when she can start ballet again. We want it completely healed before she starts dancing again so it stays away. Pray that we will be diligent in icing and doing the stretches she needs to do and remembering everything so it will get better as soon as possible. She's supposed to dance 9-3 every day, so she'll be missing a lot by taking time off, but a few weeks is better than several months. I think the ballet company will understand, so just pray they don't give her a hard time about taking the time she needs to heal.
The doctor we went to today was not very helpful and we've been basically doing everything he told us to because I guessed that she had this a couple of weeks ago, so we just started working on stuff to help it. We went to a running store for her to get fitted for better shoes to walk around in. The guy was very helpful (more so than the doctor) so I just hope that her parents will understand and she'll be able to get the shoes and inserts. She had no pain when she was in those shoes and she's usually in pain all the time. I'll be talking with her dad later today explaining everything that the doctor said and what the shoe store guy suggested and stuff.

If anyone else has had this before and has suggestions on things that worked for you, please comment on this because we're willing to try whatever. We've been icing, ice waterbottle, stretching it and doing some massage on it, but didn't want to massage too much as to irritate it more. She's been taking some ibuprofen, but we'll be more consistent about that.
If you think about it, you can pray for my body as well. I'm still in recovery mode, too. So far so good with everything, but the demands of me to my body are increasing as ballet classes are getting harder. I really want to stay healthy so I can dance the whole year and not sit on the sidelines. I am in one of the Youth ballet companies now and that demands more from my body. It's really fun though.

Oh, and I started point this week and that was really fun!!!! Yep, my toes hurt a bit, but nothing too bad. I have rehearsal tonight and then a fun night with my roommates!!!!

Funny Ballerina

Imagine you are working out. You haven't done it in a while, but you think you should get back in to it. So, you get all ready and head to the gym. You start running on the elliptical or treadmill or maybe you decide to lift weights. You get all hot and sweaty and breathing hard. Now, what's the first thing you think about? Having your picture taken while you're doing it? I think NOT! However, this is what happened to me. Second day of class, we had a photographer in class to take pictures while we were dancing. Oh boy, I can't even imagine what they look like. Thankfully, I mostly forgot she was there, but that can make for some interesting photos.

Oh yeah and then add tights and a leotard and a slick back bun in the mix. The slickedness is not very becoming to me...in my opinion

Some of you may know that I have a really tight neck. I don't know why it's so tight, but it is. I have a hard time looking any direction except forward. So, in class Thursday, when you do stuff to the front, you are supposed to look to the side over your shoulder a bit and tip your head back. So, my teacher was trying to get me to do this. She would twist my head and say "There" and then let go and I couldn't keep it there! So, she grabbed my head again and put it where she wanted it and was like "Yep, look right there over your shoulder" she let go and it went back again. I almost started laughing, which would have been not good. But then, I was able to force it back to a satisfactory position. I couldn't hold it too long because it felt like my neck muscle was going to pull out of my collar bone. I guess I need to work on stretching my neck more. Who knew?

A Beagle Bagel Story

I think I just have one Beagle Bagel story for you.  So, since I've usually been working 10 or later, I've been staying up a bit late cause my roommates are night owls and I like to be with them. Well, Wednesday morning I got a call at 6:30am. I answered, not really realizing why I was talking on the phone...
Hello
Hi Andrea
Hi...
I know it's early but can you come in to work, Ty is sick
I don't know
You don't know if you can?
No, I don't know, what time?
ASAP
I don't know when I can get there
How about in an hour?
Oh ok, yeah, that will work.
Ok, see you in an hour
Ok, bye.

I was so not awake!!!! But, I got up and made it in in a half an hour. Pretty impressive, huh? Anyone who's seen me in the morning most likely understands...especially since I stayed up til like 1 something. I have worked at 7 both yesterday and today, but I enjoy the morning shift. I just do better if I have a little advanced notice so I make sure I go to bed around 8:30 or 9. I really like the job! It's a lot of fun. And my dream came true!!!! I learned the cash register this week!!!!!! The only bummer is that I don't have to scan anything :( but I do get to touch buttons on the screen.

Oh yeah, and it's kinda funny cause we have some 'regulars' who come in and I am known as "Ballerina". When they come in they always say, Hi Ballerina as if ballerina is my name. It's kinda funny. Some people also call me little girl, I am most certain they do not realize I'm quite a bit older than I look. It's also funny though.


Yeah, I really like my job!!!! It's a lot of fun and I enjoy the people I work with and also the customers. By the way, Tips are great! I love getting tips!!!!

First Official Week

Where to begin?? It's been some time, so let me think of some highlights. Please don't think of me failing as a blogger quite yet...it's been a busy week with ballet starting and work

Sunday, we actually did make it to church!!!!! Getting home was a different story, but let's just say we were mis-directed by the person who gave us directions. We did end up making it home, hence my ability to be on the computer right now. Then, we had a pointe shoe sewing party, which is not really as fun as you all might think it would be. Sewing and sewing, but it was kinda cool too. Oh, and we made brownies for a party on Monday, but we sampled them during the pointe shoe sewing party while we watched sound of music. We decided to put them on a plate so we could have some and no one would know they were missing like they would have if we left them in the pan...

Labor Day was such hard work!!! I got up at noon, hung around with my roommates and then I went to a trainee party with my roommates. It was fun cause the trainee captains have invited me to come to any of their events.

This is me, Paige, Squirt and our friend Meredith at the trainee party.

This week we started ballet class and so I had class Tuesday, Thursday and today. I LOVE IT!!!!! I am having so much fun. I'm working hard and it's really hard but as my teacher says, "It's ballet, people, it's hard. Get used to it." So, I am working on that, but, oh my word, is my body ever sore. Try not doing something for 6 months and then all of the sudden doing it 3 out of 4 days in a row...you're body will be angry with you as mine is with me right now. But, it's all good. Just general soreness, nothing's injured yet. We will start pointe Monday!!!

My most exciting news is that I have been asked to be a part of a performing group with my level. At first, I was just planning on taking class and understudying all the parts so I could fill in if someone was missing, but now my teacher has invited me to be a part of the group. This means that I will get to be in the performances and tour around with my company and PERFORM! I love performing, so this is just great. The name of my group is Magnificat! Youth Ballet - Senior Company. I am so excited about this. There are certain performances that feature MYB and now I am one of them. This will really help me become a better dancer and be better at choreography, too!!! We're already rehearsing for a piece we're performing in October.

Oh, another exciting thing is that I got a gym membership!! It's a gym that my friends go to, so that's going to be fun and I got a really good deal on it. Did you Michigander friends know that gyms in the south have and indoor AND an outdoor lap pool???? It was 100 degrees today. I think I might test it out tomorrow after work since I worked pretty much right up until ballet then went to ballet and I was too tired to work out after all of that.

Yeah, so my most exciting thing in all of this is that I just love ballet and I am so happy to be dancing all the time. I am really excited to get back into dancing shape, it's going to be super!

chipmunk dance at OneTrueMedia.com

Here is the chipmunk dance from our dance party night last Saturday. This is a little taste of what our house is like all the time...fun!! I hope this makes you laugh

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This weekend

We had a roommate night last night and that was tons of fun. We made dinner together and watched a movie...we've done a lot of movie watching, more than I probably watch in a year. There's just not tons to do in Jackson, Mississippi. Then we went to pick up our friend Daniel from work and he came over and we did swing dancing. It was so fun!!!!! My roommate, Squirt, and I stayed up until after 3am talking about stuff, about life. It was great!! I love good conversations.

Today, Squirt and I are going to the pool at Daniels. Then I am hanging out with my good friend from the summer, Erin. Tomorrow, we will attempt to go to church. I think we are riding with people who go there so we won't get lost. At some point, I will need to sew my pointe shoes because I haven't don't that yet and classes start on Tuesday. It will probably be a cleaning weekend.

I will also try to post some pictures if I have time!!!!

 Ok, so this is me, Squirt and Paige

A Miracle

God saved our lives yesterday. Paige, Squirt and I were driving home from somewhere and there was a lot of traffic. We were at the end of the line of traffic and everyone was stopped. So we were just sitting there waiting for the traffic light to turn so the cars in front of us would move so we could turn onto our street. This was only a one lane road on each side with a turning lane. All of the sudden, I look out my windows and there are two trucks on either side of my car. The truck to my right was first and he was looking down at his phone and looked up just at the last second before he rear-ended me. Out to my left was another huge truck that was driving behind the other guy. He didn't know we were stopped because he didn't see us since the other truck was in front of him and suddenly swerved and hit his brakes. My roommate saw the whole thing happen in the rear-view mirror, but it was so fast she couldn't say anything. Even if she had, there was nothing we could do because we were just sitting at the end of the traffic line. I didn't know what happened except all of the sudden there were two trucks right next to me.

DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE!!!!!!!! We almost got in a serious car accident and we weren't even doing anything. I am so thankful God prompted him to look up just in time to see us stopped there because I can't even imagine how bad it would have been. We would've had a truck hit us from behind, another truck hit him and we would've been shoved into the car in front of us.

Thank you, Jesus for protecting us and watching over us. We were doing nothing and another driver texting almost caused serious problems.

Beagle Bagel

Oops, I forgot to add something to the last one. I think I remember why I can't remember one of the days. So, I've been trying to eat more green things to bring in the calcium and a friend had given me a recipe for a smoothie thing with green stuff in it. It was disgusting. But my two roommates were so kind and we're like, if you have to eat that, we'll do it with you. But, it did not sit well with me at all. I spent the night throwing it up. Some people don't think it was the smoothie, but all I know is that's what came up and I will never be having one of those again. We've all actually had our turn throwing up from different things, so Taralah is next because she hasn't yet.

Monday, this week, I started my new job at Beagle Bagel. It's so so so different than anything I've ever done. I've gone from a gymnastics coach to an office manager to an administrative assistant to a production assistant to a dance teacher and now I'm doing "one of those jobs" that everyone has at some point in their life. I am really enjoying it, though. Everyone is so nice and helpful and it's great because you get to be so friendly with the people you serve. It's kind of like a subway type thing, but much better. But you ask them different things they want on their sandwich and stuff. I worked M-F this week. A little bit more than I will be doing when ballet starts, but I was ok with that cause I was training and they have a new person next week so I needed to know most everything by the end of the week.

It's kind of funny because I am really having to work on understanding people. I am having to learn to say new things, too, that I am not used to because down here it's considered polite. Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself and my inability to understand what people are saying. I think I am catching on, but sometimes it's just really funny. It helps that one of my roommates is from North Carolina, Squirt, and my other is from Florida, Paige. Taralah is from Oregon so we mostly sound the same. But the other two are helping me and find great joy in mocking me for how I talk and making me repeat different things I say because I sound weird. They think it's funny.

My two roommates and I made dinner together a couple of times this week. I really enjoy that. We've had tons of great talks and it's been great to really get to know the two of them and start investing in their lives. They are both working at Pac Sun.

The weekend

Friday morning, I finally got around to unpacking my room. My friend who does her blog always has pictures with her stuff, but I don't know how to do that. But, the picture that I do have up, is a typical good morning picture. My roommates come and hang in my room in the morning cause I'm downstairs next to the kitchen. But yes, I bought a lamp for my room from target that has the wire lights that can go every which way and they have a little cover over each of them that we decided to use as hats...

Friday, we cooked dinner together...all of the roommates. Most of the time it's just been the three of us, Rebecca (Squirt), Paige and I. Our other roommate, Taralah, has a lot of friends here from other times she's been here so she goes to hang with them a lot, but the rest of us are brand new. She's pretty sweet though! So, when I was picking up a few items for our meal at Kroger, I was trying to get a cart and it was stuck. And I pulled and shook and pulled and jiggled and I could not get it separated from the other cart. But, thankfully this guy was next to me and he came over and separated them for me. There were like 6 rows of carts to choose from and I chose to pick one from the row that was stuck together.

I don't really remember Saturday, we might have gone to Daniel's pool. I know Daniel from Grand Rapids so it's nice to have another Michigander here. Or this might have been the work out day. I forgot. I do remember a leotard fiasco. We have to wear a certain color and style of leotard for ballet class and so they told me I could just get it when I got here because we didn't know what level I'd be in so I was going to wait until after the first week. But then they told me I was for sure in a certain level and I needed to have the leotard. So, I went over to the dance store to get one. NONE! Oh ok, no big deal, I'll just order one. Haha, funny, they won't come in til October 13...classes start September 7. I thought I'd just order on discount dance but they didn't have it. I called Kicks in GR and every store in Mississippi. No one had it. How can no one have the leotard I need. I did end up finding it, but it was a ton of work. But, now I'm all set and ready to go.

Sunday, we planned to go to church. I have one that I really like, but I wanted to try a couple of others just to make sure of which I was going to. My roommates were all going to go to this one called Pine Lake that a lot of Ballet Magnificat! dancers attend so I decided to go with them. We never made it. The gps took us to some gated neighborhood with a lake in the back of it. Not sure what happened, so then we just turned around and went home because we were going to the 11:00 service so every place else had already started. We just went home and hung out instead.

Always, always, always an adventure.

I am a blogger now, let's see how regularly I can do this...

So, I had a friend suggest I do a blog to keep all of you Michigander friends updated. Here it goes. I haven't been on the computer much since I've been here, but I'll try to keep it up-to-date.

Where to begin? My mom and I drove down here on August 24 and made it safely with no hang-ups. We unloaded and I met all of my roommates. A couple of my friends I met this summer also stopped by to welcome me to my new home for the year. The next day, my mom and I went to get some things that I didn't bring - like bedding, shower curtain, you know some of those things you kind of really need. (The first night I slept in a sleeping bag). She headed back home and I went to my friends house to help her paint her kitchen.

Oh yeah, I also got a job on my first day here. My mom went to this place called Beagle Bagel for breakfast (she slept at a hotel) and was talking to some of the workers and they wanted me to come in and talk to them. So, I did and now I work at Beagle Bagel making sandwiches on bagels or paninis or whatever people want. They also make incredibly delicious looking desserts and pastries, so it's kinda hard to work and not get anything.

Thursday, I painted again and then my roommates needed my printer and couldn't figure it out, so I headed back home and my friend, Daniel, helped me put my bed together so I would have something to sleep on. I still hadn't unpacked my room because I was too busy socializing. That night, two of my roommates and I had a dance party and as soon as I figure out how to put the video on here, I will because it is definitely a must see.

I am having tons of fun here. It's hard to explain, but the video will show you what I mean.