The Luncheon Project

I realized that I haven't yet personally blogged about my newest blog venture (even more sustainable then the ever-failing home-improvement blog.)

The Luncheon Project (visit HERE) is a site my husband and I started in October. It began as a good excuse to stay on top of personal networking, but we thought we would share our wonderful experiences with others!

It's a little baby website right now, with just a few posts, but so far our traffic has been pretty fantastic, and we have super high hopes for it in the future.

Follow us on Twitter @LuncheonProject and stay tuned for some great posts about some great people.

What I'm going to Do when School is Out

In just 130 days I'll be done with college.

I will celebrate Christmas.

I will read books of my choice.

I will learn to do yoga.

I will learn more about biking.

I will run with my dogs.

I will paint the walls of my house.

And I will continue to learn many, many things.

I will not have to miss work to go to reviews.

I will not have to deal with the scheduling conflicts of everything class brings with it.

I will not have to deal with petty, entitled students who "participate" in reviews by spending their time on Facebook and call the TA's "idiots."

I will not have to stress about parking.

I will not have to worry about "my record."

I will not have to correspond with "TA's."

I will not have to brave the swarming crowds of campus.

I will not have to log into BYU's "My Financial Center."

I will be so very happy.

Poise

I said I would blog more.

So here I go.

Lately, I've been thinking about taking ballet classes again.

When I was little, I took ballet classes because that's what little girls do. Also, my sister did it, which made it something I should DEFINITELY do.

I was okay. I wasn't great, but I tried hard and I was okay. I was much better at jazz and modern dancing, but still not great. I think, back then, I liked the idea of being "a dancer" than really actually being one. Took a lot of courage on my part to accept that and say "no thanks" to dance lessons after 9th grade....

Anyway.

Lately, I've seen a lot of ballet dancers around. You can just spot them miles away..

Backs straight

Chins up

Shoulders back

Stomach in

Feet turned out

Ballerinas are beautiful. Just gorgeous, really. They reek of grace, poise, and confidence. And I know they may not all feel confident - but they certainly look it. And I love that.

And I want to be a ballerina, too.

The Psychology of Audiences

If I were to study anything, at this point in time, it would be the theory/psychology/what-have-you behind audiences.

As previously mentioned, I'm in a show. A show that has audiences.

Monday night audiences are typically not as responsive as Saturday night audiences, which are always far more skeptical than Friday night audiences (which are the preferred bunch.)

Then there are the week-day audiences. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday-ers typically got some sort of 2-for-1 deal, and thus have less of a financial (and thus, emotional) investment in the show. Dull.

Thursday audiences are tired, typically with a vibe of "Go ahead. Entertain me. I'm exhausted and I DARE you to entertain me."

I know. It can be a little terrifying.

But all in all the question is this: WHY? Why the trends. How do exhausted people all agree to go on Thursday. Why do fun people all agree to go on Friday? Is there some sort of underground network of show-goers? Perhaps a show-goer message board with a "Monday," "Tuesday," Wednesday," etc. thread? Do they coordinate it ahead of time?

Or maybe there's a union. A show-goers union. And there's always a representative at each show who gets the word out: "Hey, man, you're at the Friday show. Be sure to laugh loud and clap hard."

It's fascinating. Really, it is.

Too bad I'm not looking to do a research-based masters degree any time soon.

The Thing about Dogs is this:

They're wonderful.

We're watching a friend's baby right now and when he started crying Lucy and Pepper went nuts. They started wagging tails, and smiling and licking his feet like "hey, little puppy-human, it's okay!!"

They're. So. Wonderful.

And I don't understand why dogs aren't more generally accepted.

Don't get me wrong - - a lot of people like dogs and have dogs. I get that. But I just wish that a) they were more trusted and b) people wouldn't raise their dogs to be vicious, violent idiots and give the rest of our happy, caring, loving dogs a bad name.

See, what I'm really talking about here is airplanes.

Small dogs can travel under the seat in a carrier.

Large dogs are treated like luggage.

You have to pay out the nose for your dog to be put beneath the cabin, where temperatures are "regulated," and the workers are "careful" and your dog is "safe."

But rarely do you hear about the dogs that die because of it being too hot or too cold, or because they didn't properly pressurize the storage area or the ones who's cages weren't handled carefully so that they got out ON THE RUNWAY as the plane was landing.

Why can't they just give the doggies some downers so they don't bark or fuss, and stick the kennel at the back of the cabin?

I just don't get it.

See, we were gonna live somewhere like Sweden or Scotland someday. And someday we will. It's just a matter of figuring out if we a) trust the airline system, b) want to risk it or c) leave them in foster-care for a while.

Decisions, decisions.

Opening Night

Dear world,

I am in a play called "The Hit."






















It's opening, as we (or I) speak (or type.)

It's at the Hale Theater in Orem.

I play 5 characters: Swanky, Sweet, Sal, Sexy and Sylvia

This is Sylvia:

Do come!!

Blogging

I think I want to start again.

Because yesterday, while eating the most delicious halibut I've ever tasted, here.  And every time I go up there, whether to eat, explore or play, I'm always inspired. I really should go more often.

I decided that it's about time I start doing the things I want to do and being who I always thought I would be.

Ever thought of that? Just being who you want to be? Just start.

That's what I'm going to try doing.

And I will accomplish it by doing the following things:

Eating less
Hiking more
Disconnecting more frequently from technology
Reading books I like
Finding my spirituality
Spending time with people I Love
Taking care of myself and others
Loving
Throwing away/getting rid of so much of the "stuff" I own
Working hard (increasing work ethic)
Redefining, and strengthening personal values

Ah, summer resolutions. They always seem to work out better for me than the January kind.