Rochester

Dance competitions galore. This week we went to JM and we got 2nd in both high kick and jazz. Not bad I guess. I love being with the team all day long. There is never a dull moment. The bus loaded at 7 in the morning, which wasn't bad! They were running an hour behind so some of us didn't know what time to go down to awards. There were about 6 of us girls in the room, and we were playing Candyland. Then all of a sudden, we hear the announcer say on the TV, "Let's welcome back the dancers now!" When we heard that, we went sprinting down the hall. We were late to awards! Not to mention we were the first team out. So we played it cool and walked in with Byron's dance team, even though we were wearing Albert Lea dance team warm-ups.

Where has the time gone?

It still seems like it's November to me, but it's already Christmas next week! So, I decided to go shopping for my sister, considering I didn't get her anything yet. With all this snow, It actually seems like Christmas! At least it's not the bare ground showing! Only two days of school this week which I'm pumped about!! But then again, I have dance practice 3 days during break. I'm still going to eat as much as I can. (:

Dance Competition

This past weekend was the first dance competition. It was at Lakeville North High School. Considering it's the very beginning of the competition season, we have no idea who's good or not. At the competition, we couldn't even watch any of the other teams, since it was the rules there. There were 9 teams in high kick and 7 teams in jazz. Well, awards came and in high kick we didn't place, and in jazz we got 3rd. Our hugest rivals were there, Austin. Of course they go to state every year. They're amazing. Last year, they were the section champions in jazz and got 2nd in high kick. We always dread going to awards, since we always have to stand next to them. (We line up alphabetically by the city) They always rub it in our faces when they get higher above us. Well, not this time. We got 3rd in jazz and Austin got 6th. That's the first time that we've ever won against Austin in jazz. Not to mention, we beat 2 state teams. Even a single A team beat Austin. It was a great day.

Volunteering.

So because of Mr. Worth's project, Kelly and I had to remind ourselves that we hadn't done any volunteer work at all and it's due Thursday. Well, today was the day we volunteered. We had no clue what to do. But, my parents helped us out and we decided to wash firetrucks. Even though we didn't want to do it, we had to. Once we were doing it, we decided that this wasn't so bad! We also cleaned out their lockers where all their gear is. The bottoms of the lockers were very dirty, considering their boots always get dirty. We spent an hour and a half volunteering and it felt great. I felt like I got something accomplished today! (:

Cardinals vs. Vikings

I'm extremely excited to watch the game tonight. The vikings are 10-1 and I have faith in them winning. Last weekend, I went to the game against the bears. It was a blast. We went to the holidazzle parade right after that and it was freezing out, but adorable. I was so happy the vikings win and was for sure representing my Adrian Peterson jersey.

An Odd Occurrence.

So it's Sunday and I went to church this weekend. The service was going normal as our pastor was speaking the lesson to us but all of a sudden a lady passed out while she was listening. It was a very scary occurrence for every one there. Luckily, we have people in our church that are in the medical field to help her out. As a woman called 911, the guy from our church was checking her pulse. There was none. She wasn't breathing or anything. She is 93 years old and I had no clue what to think. Is she going to die at this church service? 15 seconds later, she amazingly got her pulse back and started breathing. It was crazy. The ambulance showed up and took her away.

For the days to come..

Well, the days to come are exciting. Today, I am actually going to the Vikings game with my family. We all have our jerseys on and are very excited. (Hoping to defeat the Bears)

Also this week, our first high kick performance. Oh boy.
On Thursday, we perform at the basketball halftime. It's super nerve-racking. Will I crack under pressure? I really can't wait to get into our costumes and perform the dance for the first time. I'm super excited to show off the dance and hope that our season goes well.

The busiest two days of my life.

Since it was only two and a half days of school this week, you would think it'd be fairly easy and boring. Nope. Not exactly for me...
Well, Monday, I had an orthodontist appointment at 2:30, then dance from 3:20 to 6:00. Show choir from 6 to 7:30, and a meeting right after that. With all these events going on, I thought I'd never survive. Oh, not to mention the 3 tests that i had to study for on top of that! (Yes, I did get tired from just writing this)
Well, Tuesday came. Then, I had dance team pictures from 5 to 7 and practice from 7 to 9:45.
Yea, it was rough!

Dance.

How much more do I have to wait?

It seems like time goes by so slowly.

Our high kick dance is now complete! (: which is a sigh of relief!

Now just making it perfect.

I'm counting down the days.

11 days until the first basketball performance.

20 days until the first competition.

Why can't it come any faster!!?

A little girl's heart, in a big girl's body.

What did my weekend consist of?

Well, I went to Seussical twice, since it was so amazing. Friday night, stayed up until 2 am with a friend then woke up at 7:45 am on Saturday morning. Not my cup of tea. Went to dance from 8:30 am to 1 pm. Took a nap from 3 pm to 7 pm. Woke up. Grabbed my oreos and milk, while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Little girl's heart in a big girl's body? I think so.

Scary Movie Time!

It was Friday the 13th so I decided to have some friends over for scary movie night. We decided to watch The Strangers and Untraceable. The movie Untraceable was very intense but only a little scary. Then came the movie The Strangers. We freaked out during this movie. There were five girls on one couch. Not to mention, there was a whole other couch that wasn't being used. This movie was so scary, but then, we all decided to go to Paranormal Activity on Saturday night. I was nervous even before the movie started. It was very scary since it was based on true events. I held Kelly's hand the whole time. Yes, the whole time. That night when I went to bed, I actually had my first nightmare. Probably because of that movie, but it was well worth it.


Macy had us caught off-guard while we were watching the movie, The Strangers.

Shopping.

On Saturday, I went shopping, just around Albert Lea. Yes, Albert Lea. My mom and I actually found some great deals since it was Community Day at Herbergers. I love finding great deals. I actually bought a nice pair of boots that keep me warm!

I think that girls should get out of school for shopping, just like how guys get out of school for hunting. Sounds reasonable, right?

Free Time.

Whenever I have free time, I go onto YouTube and look at state dance team videos. It is so addicting. People might say that dance is easy, but how about you create a 3 and a half minute dance that will get you first place at competitions. Exactly. That's difficult to do.
I can spend hours watching dance videos.
Maybe I'll go watch some right now?

Pictures.

I think it's so funny to look back at old pictures. Yesterday, my mom and I looked through all of our old pictures and laughed. It's so weird how so much can change. From people to even your own house, a lot of things have changed. We have done a lot of remodeling in our house, but I didn't know that we remodeled that much! From the before picture to the after picture, it seems like everything has changed. Even though you hated getting your picture taken when you were little, I'm glad that I got all those pictures taken.

Who says we're too old?

Trick or treating this year was probably the most fun ever.
Dressing up is super fun. I don't mind the candy either!
Well just because we only saw elementary kids trick or treating, didn't mean that we couldn't. Halloween is now gonna be one of my favorite holidays. I mean, I don't mind the free food! (:

Miley Cyrus!

It seems like this whole week has been chaotic! Since I have had dance every day after school, it seems like I have no free time. But yesterday, I had some free time. I had tickets to go to the Miley Cyrus concert with my mom and my friend. I got to skip practice and go up to the cities. Some of you might be thinking that Miley Cyrus is "stupid" or "a bad role model", but I don't think that.
Everyone makes mistakes in life, but celebrities have it way different. Imagine you making a mistake or accidentally saying something that you didn't mean. Thank goodness only some people heard or saw your mistake, but for celebrities, people are just looking to put them down.
Overall the concert was very good. The opening act was Metro Station, since Miley's brother is the lead singer. We got home at about 11:30 which had me get to bed at about midnight, on a school night. Yes, I may not have gotten enough sleep, but it was well worth it. (:

Halloween

Next weekend is Halloween!
I'm so excited to have a fun time next week. Me and my friend Keisha went to Rochester last month and went shopping for Halloween costumes. We both are very excited to wear our costumes. We will be going trick or treating together and then, I will be spending the night at her house. You are never too old to go trick or treating! It's awesome that Halloween is on a Saturday this year! It was always awful when you would have to go trick or treating when it was the weekday and then have to go to school the next morning. Hopefully it won't be too chilly outside! Halloween is fun since you can be something totally different. We're both hoping to get lots of candy next weekend!

ALDT

As a follow up to my last blog, my first week of dance was great.
I love both of our dances so much. The choreography for the high kick dance is so sweet!!
We had a lot of hard workouts this past week though. It's not easy getting back into shape!
The practices for this week were only until about 5:30. This coming week, practices are either until 6:00 or 6:30 which makes a very long day. This coming Wednesday is competition team placements. You have to tryout in front of the coaches and captains and perform a little bit of the high kick and jazz dance. This determines whether you have to share a spot with someone else or have your own spot. If you have your own spot, that means that you get to dance every competition and every basketball halftime performance. If you share a spot, it means that the coaches have to watch both you and the other girl that week so that they can decide who will dance that next competition.
One week down, a lot more weeks to go!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Tomorrow is THE day.
Tomorrow is when dance team starts practices for the regular season.
For the next four months, all i do is eat, sleep, school and dance.
Dance pretty much overruns my life until February. It sure makes time go by fast!
During practices, I might say that I'm sick and tired of dancing all the time, but in the end, I love what I'm doing.
The adrenaline that pumps through your body before a competition is probably the most greatest feeling in the world. I may say that I hate it, but it is so worth it.
It's indescribable.

I Love Pink

If it's not obvious from the color of my blog, I love the color pink. I decided to write about this in honor of breast cancer awareness month. I've seen a lot of people wearing pink, including sports teams. In the NFL, each player and coach are wearing something pink, whether it is pink cleats, pink wrist bands, even pink mouth guards! I would like to buy some of it myself if they sold it to the public! Another sports team that is wearing pink is the Albert Lea Girls' Soccer Team. Their pink jerseys and pink soccer ball made them really stand out in Thursday's game against the Austin Packers. I thought it was very adorable that they had everything pink! I think that everyone should start wearing more pink this month!

My Weekend

I would have to say that i had a pretty good weekend. On Friday night, I decided to just relax and let my life catch up to me. I actually got all my homework done (yes, on a Friday night)! The next morning, I woke up at nine a.m., and decided to bring my best friend, Keisha, breakfast from Mcdonalds! I didn't have anything else going on that day so I stayed at her house all day long! We actually played The Sims for like 5 hours! We also made Halloween cookies which were very yummy! On Sunday, I went to church and of course watched the Vikings game. And they won. (: I also baked toll house cookie bars and cleaned the house. I'd have to say that i got a lot accomplished this weekend!

Music is Life

There isn't a day where I don't listen to music. Music is surrounded all around us. It really can change your emotions depending on what genre of music you listen to. I personally like to listen to music that is on the top 10 list. It doesn't matter what genre or style. Music is in my life a lot since I'm in show choir and choir. Show choir is two practices per week. I always look forward to choir because there's no homework and it's just very fun being in an all women's choir. It also gets my mind off of things that may have happened during the day. All of that gets put aside when i have choir sixth hour.

Life is Great

Life has been amazing to me and I hope that it has been for you too. You have to have your balances between work and play. As a student, you have to work very hard throughout the week in school so then you'll be able to "play" on the weekends. This past weekend, one of my friends went with me to Rochester so that we could get Halloween costumes. We had a blast! Then, she stayed over night and we stayed up late together. Not to mention, I got laryngitis this weekend. Maybe I have been playing too hard? Nah, i don't think so. (:

Dancing Through Life

It's crazy how many things I have running through my mind. I have so many emotions that i can't even handle; nervousness, excitement, etc. This is because the pep fest is tomorrow. Every year, dance team performs at the pep fest to get the crowd excited for the homecoming game. We practice most of August and every weekend in September. We create this dance just for homecoming. Then, a week later, the regular season starts.
Less than 24 hours from now, I will have to dance in front of the entire student body. This isn't my first time performing, it's just that every performance is a new thrill. It's exciting to show off a new routine to everyone because it's something that people haven't seen before. I love this dance every time I do it.
There is so much pressure that goes into presenting yourself in front of your peers; are you going to forget the dance and stand there making a fool of yourself in front of your peers? I'm staying positive though and hoping that no one will mess it up. We have done this dance so many times that it's hard to forget.
Dance team performs the homecoming routine at the high school pep fest on Thursday, at Southwest Middle School's pep fest on Friday, and then again at the homecoming game that Friday night. All I'm doing is dancing through life!

I Think I've Found a New Hobby...

Just recently, I was eavesdropping on a conversation during class. They were talking about something that I have never done before, golfing. It seems like I am the only one that has never gone golfing. I mean, mini-golfing and regular golfing is the same thing right? Nope! That's what I found out this past weekend. Willing to try out something new, I actually went golfing for my first time! I was more excited than ever before! Golfing is very intense and complex. On my first nine holes, I got a 67. Not so bad for my first time golfing, right? I had so much fun and could not stop laughing. It's all I talk about now! Who would've thought that for trying out a new sport for the first time could be so humorous and addicting? I'm still learning some golf terminology though. I have no idea what any of the golf clubs names are. I did have my ups and downs with golfing though. I arrived with 15 golf balls and by the time I left, I had four left. Well not to mention, some people used my golf balls instead. Refer to the joke below. The question is, will I be out on the golf course next weekend? I think so. (:

Why'd the chicken cross the road?
To find all the golf balls Stacia hit across it.-The one and only, Christian Andersen

Expect the Unexpected

Life can change at the blink of an eye. Something bad can happen to anyone, at anywhere and anytime. We have to enjoy life as it stands because a human's life seems like it goes as fast as a tree losing its leaves during the fall season.
I recently just met a junior in high school from a different town this week; very nice, generous and well-mannered. We made conversation and found out a lot about him. I havent talked to him since then, but as i was reading Facebook status updates, I came across a person that goes to the same school as him. As I was reading their status, I didn't know what hit me. I found out that a person that got into a car accident, was actually the person that i met 3 days earlier that week. I thought it was very weird that I just met this person and then three days later, he got in a car accident. I may have only talked to him for a half an hour, but that time made me get to know him at least a little bit. He is out of the hospital now, luckily. And that half an hour, 30 minutes, 1800 seconds of talking to him, created a new friend for me.

Lady Gaga is STILL on My Mind........

I can't seem to stop thinking about Lady Gaga's performance at the MTV 2009 VMA awards. As I watched her sing her song Paparazzi, I couldn't get enough of it. The singing was amazing and the dancing was creepy, yet enjoyable. As the performance when on, I was having mixed feelings. This was when fake blood poured down from her chest. I could hear the audience groan in utter disbelief as the blood ran down her stomach and to the floor. I wasn't sure if I liked it, or disliked it. As the fake blood was still running down her body, she walked towards the back of the stage and lay there. Her back-up dancers huddled around her so that we (the audience), couldn't see what was going to happen next. This next action, gave me a look of horror on my face. A rope started contracting into the ceiling, and there appears Lady Gaga hanging from the ceiling with her arm wrapped around the rope. She acted like she was dead, and that was the end of the performance. My jaw dropped and i had no clue what to think. How am I supposed to react to a performance that had a popular singer hanging from the ceiling. The content is even too graphic to be seen on YouTube. Since that day, I have probably watched that performance about 15 times. It never gets old. I believe that this VMA performance will be remembered forever.

If you missed Lady Gaga's VMA performance, click here for the video.

Lady Gaga's album called

The Fame.