Visitors from the North

Before we leave for Seattle, and since Travis never sleeps the night before a trip, pictures of mom and Lisa's visit:The surprise! At my favorite restaurant, Red Robin :)
My two favorite people
Sisters, sisters . . .
Lisa demonstrating her cool face
Travis and me after Austin Dance Company's recital. Travis was surprised that my back was so sticky- I guess he's never mixed hairspray and sweat before!
With mom and Lisa after recital. I couldn't believe they came all the way to see it (and me)!
With my life-saving teaching assistant Lauren in the teacher dressing room backstage. I wish I could keep her from going off to college!
My mom with the cacti outside of the theatre. It was very windy, but it was also important that she get a good cactus picture while in Texas.
Mom doesn't think we look alike, but I really think she looks like me in this picture. Or rather, I always look the way mom does in this picture.

Brief Pause

I'll be taking a brief blogging pause, until next Wednesday (July 1st) when we return from Washington (!), but maybe we'll see you in person there!
Our plans right now (subject to change, depending on how tired Travis is. He's getting back from camp tonight, then we're leaving in the middle of the night. He's been on a bus with 40 sick teenagers for the last 18 hours) are:

• Arrive in Seattle saturday morning
• Spend saturday in Indianola
• Go to Marine View for church sunday morning (so you better all be there! I have read all the Twilight books now, plus the draft of Midnight Sun online, and I blame you Marine View-ers!)
• Drive to Yakima for Phil and Katie's wedding sunday afternoon!
• Hang out in Yakima , Seattle, or Indianola monday (plans are a little flexible here, so call 206-427-7573 if you're free)
• Back to Indianola tuesday. I plan to eat many smiley-faced cookies to make up for the faker smiley-faced cookie we found in Fredricksburg, the one that got me all excited for Sluys, but then was a big letdown.
  
• Fly back to Texas early wednesday morning
  

Ole!

Story of my life, part 2

Yesterday at work, I walked around and helped customers for at least 5 minutes with a dance belt hanging from my nametag. There is only one item we carry in the store that makes me blush, and somehow I didn't feel it hanging there from my neck for 5 minutes. I must have inadvertently hooked it to my lanyard while I was digging for men's tights in the back room.
Good times.
In other news, ever since I saw the 3rd Harry Potter movie I've wanted an excuse to say this:

Is that really what my hair looks like from the back?

Travis is having so much fun!

Today Travis went whitewater rafter. He is in Colorado at camp with the middle school youth group. One of the parents just sent me a link to pictures of their rafting trip, and I just found this wonderful sequence of photos!
Start on the first page, and note the guy in the red shirt in the front. That is my husband :)
Then click the arrow to go to the next picture, then click it two more times, to see a total of four pictures. You won't regret it.
Notice how dry everyone else in the boat is. And I hear that water is 44 degrees!

Moving on from dolphins

This tiger is not joking around.
Nor is this Lion. When I was in San Diego with my parents and Lisa 2 Churstmases ago, this Lion fell in love with me. Or maybe it was my bright yellow jacket.
He spent most of the 15 or so minutes we were near him this close to the glass in front of me, peering into my soul. We had a moment.

And now, the big cat picture of the day:

Our marriage

Today, when I was locked out of the dance studio, sitting in the hall and waiting for wonderful Pixie to rescue me, I needed something to read. The only thing I had available was Sunday's church program, including the church newsletter. This made for semi-interesting reading, but what really got my interest was a note on the sermon I had penciled in the margin.
In marriage, husband is servant leader, and wife is servant lover.
I know it sounds a little cheesy out of context, but this little quote really rang true to me. I'm pretty sure our pastor Rick spoke on the same thing during our wedding ceremony, but the ceremony was such a blur that I don't remember anything that's not in the pictures. Or maybe it didn't mean as much to me then as it does now, after 7 months of marriage.
I am all about egalitarian relationships. I believe that man and woman are equals, that husband and wife are equals, and that God is the true leader of my marriage. I also know that every marriage looks different, so I don't think that Pastor Rick's quote would feel right to everyone. But it felt like he was describing my marriage exactly.
Travis serves me, and our little family, by leading. We make decisions together, but it is Travis who does best at picking out cars, finding good deals, planning trips, and making quick choices when they need to be made. He shows me love in little things, like looking after our cars, keeping track of bills, and driving when we go places together. Some women might prefer to do these things themselves, but I really appreciate that Travis takes care of them.
And I try to serve our family by showing Travis just how much I love him every day, by respecting his choices, encouraging his dreams, and helping him stretch when he's sore (Travis is the least flexible person I've ever met). I think we would both agree that I am best when it comes to putting my feelings into words, and I think Travis appreciates that I initiate that part of our relationship.
Or maybe he would prefer that I never say anything mushy or remotely complimentary, but I'm not really giving him a choice on the matter:)

Story of my life

Today I locked my keys in the dance studio. It wouldn't have happened had I been responsible in the first place, and turned in my time card 3 days ago when it was due. But I forgot, and our wonderful office manager Pixie texted to remind me yesterday. So today after work I braved the terrible traffic to go turn in my time card. I unlocked the office door, left my card, walked out, and closed the door. And then I reached into my purse for my keys. Which I'd of course left on the desk. I checked in vain to see if any of us had accidentally left the two studio doors open, but of course they were locked. I probably locked them myself.
So then I called wonderful Pixie, who again proved herself wonderful by braving traffic to come rescue me. She will be seriously missed at the studio (moving on to a full time job), and everything will probably fall apart without her. But we will still be friends. She has promised to go take a hip hop class with me!
Oh yeah, I'm teaching hip hop in the fall. I give you permission to laugh. I only have a few months to find my inner JLo.

The Heffers All Call Him Amigo

I heard Lisa singing that line in a song about Ferdinand the Bull, and I promised myself it would be a blog title soon. If only you could picture my grandma singing that song (she's the one who first sang it to Lisa!), you would fully appreciate how happy it makes me. In other news, I have just (like 2 minutes ago) finished reading the terrible obsession-inducing menace that is the Twilight series. Now another, much healthier, obsession is on the way: in approximately 30 minutes it will be June 23 on the East Coast, and then (I'm guessing then) Regina Spektor's new album, Far, will be released. I've already listened to the whole thing here (thank you to Lisa, and also NPR!), but then I will be able to listen to it any and everywhere! Yipeeee! The dances are quickly forming in my head, as are the questions about whether you should move on after you have choreographed almost 10 dances to songs by the same artist. But that's the way I enjoy music. I'm realizing that it's hard for me to like a song if I can't see the dancers. And it's hard for me to not go crazy if I can see the dancers, and can't make them come to life. Most of the dances that form in my head, however, aren't quite right for my main choreographic venue, classes full of 8-year-olds eager to dance to the Camp Rock soundtrack (seriously- my dance to Hasta La Vista was a big hit). So I'm feeling a little restless lately. Danielle seems open to letting me set something on a few of the members of Borealis, but I'm really nervous about that. Not sure why; maybe because everything Danielle choreographs is so beautiful and intellectual and artistic, and when I choreograph it comes out more like a hug than a work of art.

I guess what I love about Regina Spektor is that her music is sweet and playful and sincere and comforting, like a hug, but also innovative and complex and fascinating. It's everything I want my art to be. And I definitely want to keep at it, but now that I'm out of college I feel like my experiments on the way are much more out in the open. In college, my audiences knew me and my "big hug" kind of choreography. In college, my dances were projects. I was learning. Suzanne Ostersmith, my dance professor, friend, and kindred spirit, once told me that a mentor of hers once told her that your first 50 dances don't really count, so there's no need to stress over them. It was a truth that set her free at the beginning of her long career as a director and choreographer.

I haven't kept count of how many dances I've choreographed, but I'm pretty sure my hours are marked, if not up. I really wish it was the first 100 that didn't count . . . Why did I have to be so darn prolific in college?
Oh well. Next time I choreograph, I'm resolved to make it really spectacular, or at least to make a spectacularly wholehearted effort.

Hmm . . . the word spectacular just got me thinking about a conversation Lisa, mom, Travis and I had last Thursday night at Kerby Lane re: words that don't really mean what we think they do, or didn't originally mean what they do now.

Did you know that decimate means "reduce by 10%?" That's it. Only 10%! I was flabbergasted. I feel like my life changed in a small, but also big, way when I learned that.

Listening to new music by Regina Spektor makes blogging feel so epic! I hope it will continue making things feel epic and exciting, at least until Friday night when Travis comes home. Until then, I am stranded here with no Travis, no Borealis rehearsals (Danielle and Travis really need to better coordinate their vacations), and not even any crazy work schedule to distract me. Darn you, summer break at Austin Dance Company!

Another video (in which Travis rides a bike that is too small)

Friday, in a toy store in Fredricksburg, TX:

This bike was actually pretty cool. I rode it too. You see, it has no pedals. It propels itself! The front wheel is a little smaller than the others, so somehow the process of turning the little steering wheel makes the bike think it's going downhill. In this toy store, they also had glitter unicorn stickers, which Lisa of course had to buy. She (almost) always puts stickers on her correspondence.

Proof . . . Of the best surprise ever!

And thank you to everyone else who was in on it, including Dad, who didn't tell me, and Aunt Sue, who is staying with Grandma this week while they're gone! And a big thank you to Wakelyn too for letting me take a personal day so I could spend time with them yesterday! Many pictures and videos to come!

Dun Dun DUN!!!

This film is dedicated to our dear friend Joe Muck.

I should maybe mention that Joe is deathly afraid of puppets. . . or if not deathly afraid of, then creeped out by.

Exploring Texas (photo edition)

Gruene, TX (pronounced Green), being all awesome and Texas-y
Everywhere we went on Saturday, with the exception of the Ann Taylor outlet and our family's house (though I'm picturing it now . . . hee hee), was filled with bikers! They were exploring Texas, just like us, but wearing a lot more leather. Big props to them for not giving up on the leather, since it was well over 100 degrees.
Chaps! In the entrance to the antique store where we found Stephen's birthday present. I'm not sure what kind of chaps we're referring to here, but I prefer to imagine that this stained-glass window was devoted to the garment worn by cowboys/bikers.
So true, Hershey's. So true.
Old lead printing-press letters! If I were a furniture designer, I would design a glass-topped coffee table with these letters underneath. You know, minus the lead part.
Ole!
Travis had to wear this hat, because it is very similar to the sombreros worn by the Three Amigos in his favorite movie. (He really does love The Three Amigos- last night when I forced Travis to discuss baby names for our future children, he suggested Lucky, Dusty, and Ned)
This book hearkens back to the days when book titles had exclamation points for emphasis. I love exclamation points!
Boots look best all lined up. However, one of these things is not like the others . . .
They pickle everything in the south. You don't even want to know.
Or in my case, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here because I really love my husband."
Advertising was much simpler then.
This sign is so nonchalant. Like, "Rattlesnakes have been observed, but you're probably cool as long as you stay on this little strip of pavement." If I made this sign it would say "Rattlesnakes have been observed. Run for your life!"
At least Travis didn't buy this.
Way to show off the product, Travis! They would love this picture on America's Next Top Model, except for the fact that you're not connecting with the camera with your eyes.
After Gruene, we went to the Salt Lick for dinner! They do not joke around about meat in Texas.

Romeo, oh Romeo!

My co-worker at Austin Dance Company, Aimee, has a really cute dog named Romeo. Sometimes he comes to teacher dance rehearsal, which is impressive to me since we do lots of loud tapping, and he just sits on a spinning chair and watches us dance!
Well we teachers are doing a last-minute ballet at recital- long story, but the students from the winter section of the ballet suite aren't available, so we teachers are dusting off our tutus and stepping in. Speaking of tutus, Romeo looked great in his yesterday! I thought I was taking a picture at first . . .

Video Series, continued

More videos from Saturday evening in the driveway with Travis, Vicky, Richard, and Daniel!

Exploring Texas

This past week was my last week (hopefully ever!) of getting up early Saturday morning to teach dance. I have struggled through more than 20 of those Saturdays, and am beyond relieved to be done! This Saturday was also special because my boss unexpectedly gave me Saturday afternoon off at Capezio. I've never had a Saturday off that I didn't ask off for a trip or for work at the dance studio, and I was so surprised and grateful! Teaching Saturday mornings is hard enough, and then going to work at the store for 5 more hours on the busiest day of the week is killer!
Anyway, I got home Saturday before 1:30 with no plans for the whole afternoon, only to see Travis packing a bag. "Are you going somewhere?" I asked. "We are going somewhere," he replied, with that special Travis face that accompanies plans. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, just that I should pack for the whole day. I was so excited, since I love surprises and dates with Travis, but hate planning!
Our first stop was Casey's Snowballs. I'd been once before, last August, and couldn't wait to try another flavor. Also, my family stayed at the Keep Austin Weird House (yay!) right down the street from Casey's the week before the wedding, and I lamented that it was closed for winter every time we passed by. But Saturday it was open! These are not Viking Fest snow cones, with really crunchy ice and barely any syrup. They are cups of icy cold deliciousness you eat with a spoon, soaked in so much syrup that the bottom is like an icee. Travis had coconut and cherry, and I had blackberry and strawberry. My mouth is watering right now . . . good thing I have a snow cone date with Tiffany from church Wednesday morning!
The next stop was the outlet mall in San Marcos. One of my sweetest Saturday students and her wonderful mom gave me a gift card to Ann Taylor after class, and Travis wondered if there was an Ann Taylor outlet at the mall there. And of course there was! (The outlet mall in San Marcos is literally miles long. Every. Store. Has an outlet there.) I'd never been in to Ann Taylor before (because I knew I couldn't afford it!) but at the outlet and with my gift card I was able to get 3 lightweight summer shirts. I am so grateful, since my large collection of sweaters and long-sleeved t-shirts has been sitting untouched in my closet since March. It has been in the high 90s and low 100s for at least a week straight, maybe 2!
Then we headed down to the cool (but hot!) little town of Gruene, TX (pronounced green) to go exploring! It was such a blast; I don't experience much authentic Texas here in the city, but Gruene was like something out of a movie (The Muppet Movie and Blues Brothers both came to mind).
After exploring, it was off to a mystery restaurant for dinner. I had been wanting to go to the Salt Lick, a famous bbq restaurant out in the middle of nowhere, since we considered it as a wedding venue last summer. Travis went with church friends a few months ago, but of course they had to go on a Wednesday night when I was teaching! As we drove further and further into rural Texas, I was getting more excited that we might be headed there! Sure enough, we pulled up and enjoyed the best bbq of my life! The whole place was very Texas- big unfinished tables in a metal and wood slat building, a huge pit of meat by the front door, live music outside (a man who sounded just like Tracy Chapman- at first I thought he was playing along to her vocal tracks!), and a bring your own alcohol policy, which meant everyone but us had coolers of beer!
We finished off the night with a visit to Travis' family to take Stephen his birthday presents, some vintage Coke memorabilia from an antique store (including a bottle of Coke from May 1992, when Stephen was born!)
All in all, one of my favorite days in a long time. Pictures to come, as soon as I can get some videos uploaded and my computer stops being sooooo slooooow.

Travis up north

Travis recently journeyed up to Montana (by way of Washington) to be in Paul and Katelyn's wedding. Paul was Travis good friend, teammate, and roommate all through college. Travis had a blast seeing some of his best friends on the whirlwind trip, including a quick (3 hr!) drive down to see his old youth director from Covenant, Dan Cravy, in Missoula, and a morning at Glacier National Park with our friends Shannon, Jeff, and Karissa. You know how Travis gushes- he wouldn't stop talking about it! Okay, Travis doesn't gush, but I was able to pry out the fact that he had an awesome time. He even honored his promise and took pictures!
The guys at the bachelor party, at which Paul (to Travis' right) had to answer questions about Katelyn. When he got them wrong, he had to do dares- the tamest of which was feeding a dog a chip with his mouth. Thank you again to my amazing friends for not making me do anything like that before our wedding!
The lobby display Paul made for the wedding, complete with a video and live fish! This is such a cool idea (though I got a little choked up when Travis told me these fish were destined for the toilet. I would have saved them had I been there!)
I don't know how this happened, but I knew this picture was destined for the blog as soon as I saw it. From left: Jeff, Jake, Travis, Dave
Katelyn's dad, a pastor, officiated the ceremony. Look at Katelyn's beautiful dress! My dad would like all the orange, too.
During the reception- I was excited that Travis (or whoever he pawned off the camera on) caught a picture of Paul and Katelyn together, looking so happy!
At Glacier National Park with Shannon, Karissa, and Jeff!
I love it when Travis is silly!
Hee hee.
Travis got to drive through campus and see Whitworth's new dorm, East Hall. I miss you, Whitworth!

Fun with Austin family!

Part one of our video series on Saturday evening with Travis' family:

Making up for lost time

Today, after work, I will be blogging. A lot. I have stories and photos and videos piling up in my brain, and I'm afraid I'll lose the stories if I don't get them in here soon!
And the reason for my blog absence? The plague upon humanity that is the Twilight series. I don't read novels often, mostly because I get sucked in and want to do nothing but read until I'm finished. And I especially wasn't going to read Twilight, since Travis has a beef against those books going back more than a year. I wasn't going to cave.
I blame Hannah Snelling. Hannah is a good friend of ours who was Travis' boss during his internship at Marine View Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, WA. She and Travis go back a long way; she interned at Covenant here in Austin while Travis was in high school (that's right- the same job Travis has now!). She is also a Whitworth theatre alum, so she and I have always had a lot to bond over. And she runs an awesome, thriving, youth program full of committed volunteers and amazing kids. But there is also a dark side to Hannah- she loves Twilight. And for an entire summer, she and half the youth at Marine View tried to get me to read it. The other half, led by Travis, took a moral stance against the books, encouraging me and anyone else who hadn't yet been assimilated to stand firm in our convictions. Hilarity often ensued.
The whole battle piqued my curiosity. I didn't really care about vampire romance, but I was curious to read the source of all the conflict. Little did I know, it is impossible to read the Twilight books as an impartial observer. Even as I was criticizing the lame dialogue and obsessive characters, I myself was becoming a little obsessed.
So here I am, a week later, 100 pages or so into the third book. Every minute of free time goes to the books, as long as I'm not in the same room with Travis. This is his rule, which seems harsh, but is really pretty relaxed considering the fact that he told me last summer (with a big smile on his face) that the wedding would be off if I read the books.
I started reading the first book last weekend when Travis was in Montana for Paul and Katelyn's wedding. Caitlyn from Borealis loaned me the second book a few days later. On Tuesday night, I got a text from my sister Lisa back home in Indianola asking if I had fallen off the face of the planet, since she and mom hadn't heard from me in a long time. I called her back, sheepish. When she asked if I had been busy, I admitted "well, I was busy with the ballerina cookies, but now I'm reading a book."
"What book?" she asked.
"I'm too ashamed to tell you," I replied.
Then Lisa, my kindred spirit in almost every way, said "Twilight?! I'm reading that too!"
Lisa has several graduate degrees in English literature, so her reading the Twilight books makes me feel a little better about it. We decided that we both needed to read the books so we could understand our students. Lisa teaches college Writing I courses, and is studying to be a high school English teacher. And, well, I teach dance, but my students are mad about Twilight. Once student, Caroline (age 11), wanted to read the books, but her mom had to read them first to see if they were okay. After a few weeks Caroline received the last book in the series, Breaking Dawn. She was eager to share the news in dance class the next day, especially the part about how her mom had stapled some of the pages together so she couldn't read them. I'm going to have to remember that trick . . .

Kids

Between Capezio and the Dance Studio, I am pretty much around kids all day long. We're probably still years out from having children of our own, but I love talking with kids and teaching them and generally spending time with them (as long as they aren't licking the mirror in dance class. Not cool, student who will remain unnamed). Today there were a few really good kid encounters:

One of my sweetest little 4-year-old students told the class that she was going to have a baby brother soon. When I asked if he had a name yet, here's what happened:
Lila: Well, my sister prefers Theodore.
Me: That's a very nice name! What name do you like?
Lila: Well . . . I think I'm preferring Theodore also.
Me: And then you could call him Theo for short!
All 10 students: Theo?!?!?!?
Apparently The Cosby show isn't well known among the 4-year-old set. But the word "preferring" draws no eyebrows?

And then, standing in front of the $1 movie vending machine at the grocery store, I felt a prick in my back. A little Korean boy, probably 5 (so cute, and definitely made me miss our neices and nephews) was poking me with a spiderman action figure. His mom was a few feet away, looking at the fruit. He started asking/telling me about the row of spiderman stickers in a sticker vending machine.
Boy: Do you see these? Spiderman. But these guys [pointing to a few stickers] are bad.
Me: Oh that's the green goblin. He is a bad guy.
Boy: And this [points to scary sticker] is venom. [Then starts counting the stickers] Spiderman, spiderman, spiderman.
Me: [Pointing to his action figure] And that's spiderman!
Boy: [Excitedly] Where?!
Me: Right there, in your hand.
Boy: Oh that's a toy.

Also, today at the store I got to fit two best friends for their first pairs of pointe shoes. If you aren't a dancer (or the parent of one), it may be hard to understand what a big deal it is to go up on pointe. It's basically like a girl becoming a woman, and it also means that you are one of the chosen few, someone who has what it takes both physically and emotionally to be one of the best (If you choose to stick with it). When a former ballet dancer tells you she used to dance, she almost always refers to pointe, as in "I did it for years, but stopped right before I got up on pointe," or, "I danced all through high school, but quit when I got to college. I miss pointe though." In all honesty, pointe is brutally painful, often stressful, and not at all necessary to be a top dancer in anything but ballet. But I still think about dancing on pointe every day.
All that is to say that these girls were excited, nervous, and more excited. They were young, 9 (almost 10) and 10, but I could see that their ankles were strong, and the studio where they dance takes prepointe (the class in which you prepare for pointe, and do excercises in pointe only at the barre) very seriously. I myself was a little nervous to do two first fittings at the same time, since a first fitting can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, there were only two of us at the store, and Saturdays are crazy busy. But they were both happily fitted in under an hour. That hour ended up being delightful, full of giggles (them) and questions (both moms) and stories (everyone). It was just another indication to me that preteens might be my favorite age to work with. I am fascinated by the way they shift between emotions so quickly and fully. It's not teen angst, it's actual sincere fluctuation in the way they feel about the world around them at any given moment in time.
For example, in one of my jazz dance classes a few weekes ago a 5th grader asked to leave to use the restroom. We were in the middle of a little "assignment" I had given to the students to take an across-the-floor combination they had just learned and add a jump, a turn, and a moment on the floor. The student returned from the restroom just as I was telling the class they had one more minute before they would show their modified combination to their friends. She jumped into working on her combination and I turned to the stereo, only to hear a muffled "M-m-miss Jeannie." I turned around and there she was, with actual tears streaming down her face. "I was in the bathroom. I'm not ready!" she sobbed. I told her to just do the original combination again, and she mustered out an "okay" before walking away. 30 seconds later she was happily leaping across the room.
This is just one example. It happens just about every day. A student will say they're feeling a little sick, and I'll tell them to do their best, and they seem okay with it. Then the next thing I know they're panicked, calling for their mom and crying. It's not an act; that is life when you're a kid. Most anyone I know would say I'm a pretty emotional person, but I sometimes think my students see the world in brighter colors than I do. And those colors change faster. Even though it's a little startling at times, I like this part of working with kids. They embrace every little success and get excited about every new surprise. I am trying to learn to harness these quick changes and use them to my advantage to take the scary out of performing and the boring out of repetition. Calling a simple exercise "THE CHALLENGE!" and adding "DUN DUN DUNNNN!" every time I mention it has a way of changing the colors in the room from dull to vibrant.
But then of course someone's shoe comes untied and they all start crying . . .

More like fundLOWERING!

I hate fundraising. I want to support my dance company, and i want us to be able to perform, but I don't want to send out letters asking for money, or organize workshops and try to get people to pay for them, and I especially don't want to sell all my ballerina cookies (partly because they are going to be super yummy, and partly because some of them look like sumo wrestlers instead of ballerinas, and I'm a little embarrased). Tonight Danielle and Caitlyn are coming over to help me decorate the cookies, and hopefully we can work some miracles and make them look cute. Then tomorrow someone (not me, since I work the longest day ever on Saturdays) will sell them along with little boquets to the parents of dancers at Danielle's recital. I am nervous!

Also, the season premiere of Burn Notice was on last night. That show is so good!

And, the top 20 were selected on So You Think You Can Dance! That means from now on it is all good dancers, mom, so you can start watching. And one of the top girls, Asuka, is Danielle's friend from college!

Time to make some frosting. Pink and blue and white, perhaps? Purple sounds cute in theory, but it always turns out so gray and blah. I'll make pink and white and let Danielle and Caitlyn decide on the other color when they get here.

Sugar Ballerinas

When we Huskissons get busy, this blog gets a little neglected. And right now, we are all about the busy! Travis is on a whirlwind trip to Montana to be in his friend Paul's wedding, and I am trying to bake and decorate a hundred or so cookies in between working extra hours to fill in for my boss, who had to go out of town unexpectedly. Let me just say this: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
It will be very nice to have a little break in July, when the dance studio is closed and Travis will be home for more than 5 days at a time.
But expect to hear a lot from me just as soon as these cookies are done!
Update: my new leaping ballerina cookie cutter is the hardest cookie cutter to work with, ever. I loved those little leaping legs until I had to punch them out of cookie dough a hundred times! I also just burned 8 perfectly shaped cookie dancers. Not a good night in my baking career.

Plans

For the last several months, a plan has been in the works at Capezio. My friend and assistant manager, Danielle, wanted to pursue more teaching hours, so a switch was proposed; on August 1st, I would move up to 40 hrs/week, and she would move to 30 hrs/week. Since then, our boss has been training me on assistant manager duties, and I have been shuffling around my other jobs to get ready (including ending my job at the J teaching acting).
At the time this plan was proposed, I was swamped: I was working around 50 hours at three different jobs, and felt like I was always driving between jobs and making lesson plans. There was no end in sight, since the summer was going to be a zoo of working 8 weeks of camps at the J and dance studio in addition to my 30 hrs/week at Capezio. I decided, after some prayer and lots of talks with Travis, to accept the promotion. I loved teaching, but I was tired, and knew I couldn't keep up this pace forever. I stopped working at the J, which meant I would only be doing two weeks of camps this summer, and teaching three days a week instead of five.
In the last few weeks, however, I started to get nervous about my decision. If my career goals were to be a dance teacher, why would I take more hours at Capezio (and, as a result, teach only 4-5 classes in the fall instead of my current 12)? Being assistant manager at Capezio would mean more financial security, less total work hours, and less work-related stress, but it would also mean a step back in terms of my long-term goals.
So I continued to pray about it, and God has answered me loud and clear. I could tell the last several days that Danielle was getting nervous about the switch as well. She would be taking a serious pay cut, and had decided not to teach some of the dance classes offered to her. Sunday evening, at dinner after our show, she and Travis and I all talked, and we decided not to switch. Throughout the process, our boss has been incredibly understanding and flexible.
So now I'm looking for more teaching hours in the fall, and for ways to save money here and there. Even if I'm not teaching quite as much as I have been this spring, I know God will provide exactly what we need. And maybe what I need now is less money and more time with my husband!

Brain Rules

Travis is creating a middle school Sunday school curriculum for the summer. It is going to be topic-based, and each week there will be a video clip from a popular movie. There will also be a slideshow with lots of pictures, so that the students are never just sitting and listening or discussing for more than 3 minutes without some new visual stimulus.

He got the idea from a book his boss gave him called Brain Rules, about the way our brains really work. If you click on this link, it will take you to the Brain Rules homepage where you can watch a really interesting short video by the author. Based on what Travis has told me about the book (and the little exerpts he sometimes reads to me), it sounds like a lot of the ways American society expects us to work actually run counter to the way our brains work. For example: our brains are made to rest a little bit in the mid afternoon. Taking a short nap around 3pm can boost our energy, focus, and brain-power for the rest of the day. Most of Latin America knows this. But that's when we often schedule meetings, tests, practices, and rehearsals! I'm looking forward to reading the book when Travis is done with it. The little videos on the website are great too.

But back to the Sunday School curriculum. Each week, when the students walk in, there will be a strange or funny picture on the projector to grab their attention. This week's topic is freedom.

This week's picture is: Travis showed me this picture, and said "I don't know where he's jumping from." The whole thing (the picture, Travis finding the picture and using it for his lesson, and his response to it) was so cute I had to give Travis a hug :)

Pictures of other places

The Czech bakery on the side of the highway in West, TX, where we got yummy cinnamon rolls (me) and kolaches (Travis and Joe) on the way to Dallas! At the Rangers game. Stadiums always look more impressive when they are packed! Notice the sea of red, white and blue. Texas sports fans don't mess around. Joe had to keep putting sunscreen on his bare head :) He brought a hat, but it fell off on the first ride of the day (Tony Hawk's big spin, one of my favorites), and then you have to wait for them to mail it back to you!
Travis, focused on the game.
Me, focused on taking pictures (and unaware that the guy behind me was making an awesome face at the time) The view from Travis' campsite at South Toledo Bend state park. They were right on a little cliff overlooking the lake, which, as you can see, is huge!

We like to move it move it!

I am listening to this song right now.

When I played it in my jazz dance classes a few weeks ago, I realized that I had gotten in touch with the pulse of the generation: my 5-12 year old students unanimously proclaimed "we love this song!" and started doing all sorts of dance moves I certainly hadn't taught them. It was wonderful.

Adventures with Travis

Don't get too excited: Travis is not writing this blog entry. He has told me that maybe, possibly, someday he will blog, but we all know how Travis is a man of mystery who won't sing for months and then BAM! sings and dances in front of hundreds of people, so I'm not saying it won't happen. But he did take some pictures, which I will post later when I'm not up in the middle of the night (can't sleep? try blogging!).
Travis is traveling a lot this summer:

• Last weekend Travis flew to Santa Fe, NM to pick up our beloved baby semi truck (Jetta TDI), then drove all the way back.
• This weekend Travis drove to Louisiana to go camping at South Toledo Bend State Park with his good friends from college Jake and Kaitlyn. Jake lives in Mississippi, so they picked a park where they could meet halfway, and Travis picked Kaitlyn up along the way in Houston. Turns out they picked a really good park! They went on runs and swims, watched the beautiful sunset, made campfires and roasted smores, and explored the lake in a really tippy canoe. Sounds like a wonderful trip! We both wished I could be there, but I am really needed at work Thursday-Saturday (Travis's days off), especially Saturday morning when I teach my youngest students. Plus, we had rehearsal every night this week to prepare for our show. But next time we will plan the trip really far in advance so I can ask off from work :) I am really glad that Travis got to spend some time with his good friends though!
• This coming weekend Travis is flying to Spokane (Home of so many good friends! I am jealous!), then driving to Montana to be in his good friend Paul's wedding. Paul is marrying Kaitlyn (different Kaitlyn), who is gorgeous inside and out and sure to be the world's most stunning bride. The wedding sounds like it will be a lot of fun too; the invitation promises "ice cream and merriment" at the reception. My kind of party! This will be Travis' first time as a groomsman, but surely not his last. Many of my best friends have already gotten married, but Travis' friends are just getting started!
• The weekend after he gets back from Montana, Travis is driving out to Dublin, TX to run a 10k. Dublin is the home of Dr. Pepper, and the only place where you can get Dublin Dr. Pepper, which is made with pure cane sugar. Travis would probably describe this as the nectar of the gods, were he prone to flowery language. He's not (prone to flowery language), but he is prone to taking detours on his way home from New Mexico just to buy several cases of it!
  
• Less than a week after that, Travis will be riding on a bus with 40 middle schoolers to summer camp in Colorado for a week! It promises to be a ton of fun for the kids, and a ton of fun and work for the adults. I'm sure Travis will come home exhausted and ready to rest, but . . .
• The next day we fly to Seattle to SEE MY FAMILY (!!!!!!) and also to see our friends Phil and Katie get married! This is a very special trip, since it's the only one so far I get to tag along on, and did I mention WE GET TO SEE MY FAMILY? Also, Katie was a good friend of mine all through college (we lived in the same dorm, same hall, and even had a bible study with two of our best friends, Kara and Bethany), and Phil was one of Travis' roommates for 3 years (or maybe 2? Can't quite remember, but regardless they are great friends). AND: the diaspora that is my best friends from college will be there, including Kara, coming in from Arizona, Bethany and Kevin, coming from California, and Amy, flying all the way from Australia! Many of Travis' best friends and roommates will be there too!
• Then, the day after we get back from Washington, we may be making the trek to Nashville, TN, for a family reunion. Travis hasn't been to this family reunion in years and years, and I haven't been in this family before, so if it's possible we would really love to see it happen!

Whew! And all of that happens by the 4th of July! Travis is a very busy guy, always going on trips, just like my Dad and Barak Obama.