for now...

for now....
i am in my 4th quarter of school right now which is a relief. i will be glad when school is over. i need a break.
i just got back from our annual spring break camping trip. this year we went to capitol reef. it was very fun. we went on a great hike up to Hickman's natural bridge where i learned the difference between a bridge and an arch. a bridge is made by water passing under it and an arch is made mostly with wind. we saw a great panel of petroglyphs and we enjoyed good weather.
i got a job at Olsen's nursery and am working a few times a week. it's a good job for me but probably seasonal. but hey, it's a job.
ballroom wise, i am preparing for the end of year concert which will be on may 7th. you are all invited and i will give details later. but it will be cool. we have choreographed several new numbers and it is going to be a good show. also after the wedding i am going to start taking lessons at a studio and hiring a choreographer to help my partner and i get ready for competitions next year. yikes.
for now i think that's all. so yeah.

Looking Forward

I had a nice week of somewhat relief. We just attended our last competition this past weekend as a team, and it will be the last one that I compete in this season. With tour canceled, we have time and money to spend on a more.......grand...... end of year concert. Our coaches have planned 3 new numbers to have choreographed and perfected by may. one is a hip hop/latin (probably cha cha) number, a lindie, and a Cabaret number. we auditioned for the cabaret number on wednesday and happily, my partner and I are one of the six couples who made it. we were all reminded however that, if at any time, anyone else was doing better at the part than us, then we would be quickly replaced. so as of now, i'm in, but i have to work hard to stay in. :)
I also talked to my cotton eye joe partner this week and we are going to compete individually next year. we will probably be dancing the "Open Latin Pre-Champ and Champ Events". SCARY! this means we will be competing in costume against couples our age who have been dancing a lot longer than we have. We are getting a choreographer and I am going to start attending a studio to become the latin dancer that I most certainly am NOT! But it will all be good. hopefully we'll be competing every chance that we get.
You are all invitedto the end of year cocert. it's on May 7 in the evening. I will get place and time to you later.
So yeah...

:)

National Dancesport Championships

So this last thursday, my ballroom team went to BYU for the National DS Champ. This time we were only performing our medlies. so standard performed first at about 10:00 and latin at 2:00 I am in the standard medly. instead of there being three teams there were 12. they have you dance once and then they divide you into two divisions. the top 6 are in division one and bottom6 in division 2. so in both standard and latin we got division 2. which was expected. then latin danced again at 8:00 and standard at 10:00. latin (who had 15 teams) got 5/7 and standard got 6/6. we had several points docked due to a costuming violation. three girls' floats (the whispy things that are attached to the arms) were stepped on and the floats fell off and touched the floor. they were then considered props which are illegal. :( so technically we could have been discualified, but we weren't. :) it was extremely disappointing but we can only improve. i can't wait to see what we can come up with for next season's competitions. so yeah.

~updates~

first of all i apologize!! i know i promised pictures of my trip in idaho, but........i have to admit, after i got off the bus, my camera didn't leave my purse. so....i'm getting some pix from my buddies and i will post them later. :( sorry!! so...... on friday morning of last week my ballroom team left for idaho. we got there around 2 and hurried to get our hair and makeup done. then we went to the competition. that night we danced our showcase number (cotton eye joe) and our two medlies. we placed 3rd out of 12 in our showcase and the judges only comments were, that we would have scored much higher had our formations been clearer. that was a huge highlight!! in our standard medley we placed 2nd out of 3 teams and in our latin we placed 3rd out of 3 teams. we were disapointed that there weren't more teams there. it is usually a larger competition, but due to some date mix ups, two other utah high schools scheduled competitions this same weekend. so there were only a few teams there doing medlies. on saturday, we each individually competed syllabus. this is where, you have an assigned set of steps you can use. there are different levels. bronze level is the most basic while gold has the more advanced steps. my partner and i did a silver cha cha. we didn't make it past quarter finals :( oh well. together however, our team placed about 20 times. we brought home tons of ribbons. but the highlight of the competition was team match. we had our four best couples each dancing one dance. the rest of us were decked out in purple, black and white. it was crazy. think tutus, war paint, metalic silver and sparkly eye shadow, metalic silver tights, crazy purple shirt, and of course bright red lipstick. the thing with team match is that it is the only event that spirit really matters. it wasn't easy to get the spirit award though. it was so loud from screaming in the gym, that you could barely hear the music. it was awesome!! afterwards we went to dinner at 1 in the morning and then got on the bus and went home. it was a way fun trip!! i can't wait to go again next year.

i am so glad we got to take this trip as a team. it was amazing. sadly however, at the next practice we had our coaches annonced that we would not be able to go on tour this year. too many people backed out too late and in order for us to go, each person would have to pay a significantly larger amount of money and our numbers would have to be rechoreographed to fit fewer couples. it was very sad, but i am slightly releived. maybe i'll go to a dance with all the money i have :).

i tried out again this year for ballroom team and made it. YAY! three of my good friends also made it this year and i can't wait to see the possibilities this new team will have. the only thing i have to show for this year's try outs is a sprained wrist (probably). last year, i cut my foot with one of my heels. this year as i was running towards the school doors and tripped just outside. i hit the side of the school and then fell on the ground and caught myself with my wrist. i have to say i was laughing really hard. my caoch asked me why once i got inside. it wasn't bad really but she told me i needed to go home and ice it and wrap it because it was most likely sprained. oh well. it's not bad.

so yeah..... thats whats going on.

p.s. wish me luck at nationals this upcoming week!! :)

10 days and counting! :(

10 days till my competition in idaho. aaaaaahhhh!!! :( we are competing both medleys. latin and standard. a medley is compilation of the five dances in each category. so for the latin medley, they will dance a one minute section to pasodoble, rumba, samba, jive and cha cha. for standard, you would dance a viennese waltz, quickstep, tango, waltz and foxtrot. all of the sections are to different songs but are connected in a way that is obvious to an audience and judges. for our latin medley, all the songs are tracks by shirley bassey. for standard, all the tracks are from a harry potter soundtrack. they are compiled specifically to match the mood and rythm of each dance. and they will be performed individually as teams. each team has costumes. ours are pretty cool. we had to rent them however due to a shipment........ malfunction.......... but they are still pretty cool. we will also be performing "cotton eye joe" for the open formation comp. where each team that performs a medley or medlies are allowed to dance an open formation dance. which means that we can do lifts and drops and lots of other steps that aren't otherwise legal. i posted about this dance a while back. it's the crazy swing number. but its fun and i have a good partner. i lucked out and got two great partners for both my dances. i know some of my team mates weren't so lucky. so yeah. i will hopefully be posting pictures when i get back. i can't wait. but in the meantime i will be content with my long and frankly excruciating practices. :)

sister sleepover!

me and kati had a sleepover at her apt. with her friend cali and her little sister caylie. it was super fun. we went to cafe rio to get some GREAT mexican food(funny thing is that i don't usually like mexican food unless its at cafe rio) went back home, ate the food. i had my three dressings (rio's house ranch, rio's vinegarette and some normal ranch). p.s. for future reference, the horchata drink is delicious :) we went to "the red box" and got eagle eye and also got some krispy kreme doughnuts!! YUM! me and kaylie got some of those paper hats that they have and wore those around too. then we went back and watched the movie. i did try to stay awake but i took a cold pill half way through and i just couldn't make it. it was super fun and now that its too late i realize that taking pictures would have been fun especially with the hats. oh well. thats all.

Being 16

two words my friends....... over rated. i don't have my license and as for dating...... dances......... not as fun as they seem. i haven't actually been to one yet but last week i got to experience first hand the drama of a high school dance and being eligable to go. i turned down the 3 invitations i got and stayed home instead and watched a movie with mom and dad. lame.. i know.... thats all.