A Fairly Fabulous Day

I am finally done with my Master's of Adult Education degree.  I have been attending Westminster College for the past two year with no breaks, meaning I did summer, fall, and spring semesters without taking a break, and last Thursday I attended my final class and handed in my last paper.  Hooray!!!!  Now, I guess I am somewhat lying.  I submitted my thesis and had it returned with formatting corrections that need to be fixed before I submit it to the the library for publishing, but other than that I am done!  It feels so good.  However, as weird as this might sound, I think I will miss school.  I really love learning, but, I hate homework.  And I'm very excited to get paid to work, instead of paying tuition money to do work.  The timing of my school has worked out really well.  I get a month to wrap up things at home before moving.  When the London thing happened we initially thought we might have to be over there in March or Apr...

A few years ago I had a run in with a spider, not just any spider, like the biggest spider of my life.  I was home alone and doing some chores.  I decided to go throw some laundry in.  Our washer and dryer are in the basement, but we recently remodeled it so I frequently go down there without any shoes on.  This happened to be one of those times.  So I've got my basket of laundry and I head downstairs.  I dump the laundry in, get the machine going, when I look up to see a huge spider.  It looked like a massive hobo spider, or wolf spider, I don't know it all happened so fast.  This spider was on the move, like running across the wall.  Usually I would yell for Porter and watch it so it couldn't get a way.  However, no Porter, my next plan if I ever was to find my self in this situation would be to either grab a towel or shoe and kill the devil myself.  Again, no shoes, no towel, no time. This became a defining moment in my bug killi...

Where to start.....a few weeks ago Porter and I made a little announcement on Facebook that we were moving to London.  For most this was a complete surprise as we really haven't talked about it publicly.  It has actually been in the works for about 6 months.  Last November Porter came home and told me that his company, HireVue (they are awesome, go check them out), was embarking on an expansion into Europe.  Porter was very excited and wanted to apply for the position of one person from the home office going to join the team over seas.  I told him, sure, why not?  However, I don't think I really thought I would actually be moving to a different country 6 months later. The process took a while, and we had no idea if it was happening or not, hence we really didn't say anything.  But in late February Porter had his interview and told me it went well.  A few weeks later it was official, he had been chosen.  So then came the stressful part of n...

Wow, I just looked at my last post and the date was January 20, holy cow!  2 months later, here we are.  I have been very busy working away on my thesis.  I have 5 weeks left of school, which is crazy!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  I've also been teaching a lot of voice lessons to all my cute students.  And we've had some big stuff going on in our personal lives (more on this to come later).  Not to mention that I have been freaking out about that missing plane, flight 370.  I don't understand how a plane can just disappear?  I feel so bad for the families.  I can't imagine what they must be going through.  The reason this flight thing has my feathers ruffled so much is that Porter and I flying to London.  I am already not a huge fan of flying to begin with but compound this new story on top of it and I become a crazy lady.  Don't worry, if our plane gets lost I will call you to let you know we are lost ;) ...

When you get sick do have silly little rituals you do to ward off the yuckies?  Some of those old wives tales that you feel really make a difference in how fast you recover?  I feel like we all have some little thing we do when we become ill.  As a performer and a vocal teacher I feel like I never really have time to be sick.  My body is my tool and there is pretty much a no tolerance act in effect towards sickness.  This has led me to try all kinds of crazy things.  However, I wasn't always this gung-ho to be healthy. When I was a kid I would lay in bed and try to compel myself to get sick so that I could lay in bed and watch cartoons and daytime television instead of sitting through another 6 hour school day which, when you are 8, seems like an eternity.  My mom would always take my temperature and if I didn't clear the magic 100 degree mark I was sent to school.  Sometimes I would sneak a hot pad from my dad's stash (he is a chiropractor) and...

Have you ever watched a movie (probably fantasy based) and someone either makes a promise, performs a ritual or invokes a sacred something or other and then they take a knife and slice the palm of their hand?  I have seen this so much lately on many shows I tune in to and it is driving me crazy!  Two weeks ago I ripped the calluses off both my palms in my pole class.  It sucked!  My hands were burning when the smallest drop of sweat would get into them (I finished my class).  It has since taken two weeks for them to heal, and this is just a small cut, not deep at all.  I can't imagine the pain of having a deep wound on a hand would be like, let alone the healing time.  This is a fabulous blog post on the dramatic palm slice I found. Every time I see this trope in action I have to roll my eyes.  Seriously, it's almost as bad as the girl hearing a noise in a horror movie and then going all alone in the dark to investigate.  I wish writers ...

Before you get all excited by the title of this post, no, it's not my new baby.  However, I am so excited for my friends having their first baby!  Our friends who went to England with us last summer and eloped over there had some exciting news for the new year.  They are expecting in July!  It's probably a little silly how excited I am by this, but let me explain.  None of Porter's or my siblings have any children yet and neither do many friends.  This will be the first baby that feels close to us.  So in a weird way I feel like I'm going to be a pseudo aunty, and I am so excited!  I just wish I knew if it were a boy a girl so I could start buying cute baby things for it.  I think Porter is happy that I can't buy stuff yet.  He has already had to pull me away from several baby boutiques.  Little does he know, I've already started a stash of stuff or both girls and boys!  I figure at some point I'll have someone to give it to. ...

A LITTLE ABOUT  : Porter Age:  30            Favorite food this year:  Vanilla Americanos Favorite Color this year:   Rust Orange       Favorite Activity: Muay Thai Kickboxing Favorite Book or Movie this year:   Dresden Files HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2013 Greatest Lesson learned: Discipline can be very rewarding, but broccoli still sucks. Hardest thing of the year:   "Eating chicken when it tasted like ash in my mouth." Favorite Memory: Exploring Pickering Castle in England. What I loved most about 2012: "I felt very competent and like I accomplished a lot throughout the year." LOOKING FORWARD TO 2013 What you want to do:  Go to London Want to get better at:  Grappling Biggest Goal:  Excel at hobbies while staying balanced in life.  A LITTLE ABOUT:  Erin Age:   27             Favorite food this year:  Carmel Goat Cheese F...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We had an awesome holiday season.  I was kept busy planning and performing in several music programs.  I love Christmas music though, so I didn't mind.  I planned and produced Encore's recital, which you can see highlights in my previous post.  I also, sang at my high school drama teacher's (Mrs. Nelson) funeral.  I was honored to be a part of such a special event for her.  She was such a big part of my high school years and I am so grateful for all the opportunities, love, and time she gave so willingly to me and to all my other classmates.  She will be missed by many.   I planned entertainment and performed for our church's Christmas Party.  I was nervous as I chose a lot of non-traditional music, but I received rave reviews and so many sweet compliments.  I was so happy that it was a hit!  Finally, Porter, Kit, Rachel and I performed in our Christmas service.  It was nice to sing w...

This is a little recap of my students recital last night.  They all did great!  These recitals take months to put together.  So it is wonderful when we make it to the finish line and get to perform.  I had all the kids pick our Holiday songs.  It was a great night!