Friday, June 28, 2013

June Jam Sesh

I'm linking up for #backthatazzup again!



Here are the songs I've been loving this month...

Silver Screen Shower Scene by Felix da Housecat
Silver Screen Shower Scene by Felix da Housecat on Grooveshark
My step-sister actually danced to this with her studio company last year or the year before and I loved it then. This week on So You Think You Can Dance, Travis Wall choreographed a jazz (with my early favorite couple, Malece and Jade) routine that rocked my socks off.

We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus
We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus on Grooveshark
Can we just all agree this is a damn catchy song? I love it. I haven't downloaded it yet, but I'm *this* close. Weird af music video, but catchy song.

Let's Have a Kiki by the Scissor Sisters
Let's Have a Kiki by Scissor Sisters on Grooveshark
This band is weirder than Miley's video for We Can't Stop, but I'm slowly becoming obsessed with this song. Who wants to have a kiki with me?

Midnight City by M83
Midnight City by M83 on Grooveshark
I saw this band open up for the Killers four years (wow, really?) ago and thought, "They're pretty good. Kind of random, but good." Now they're everywhere. Victoria's Secret and car commercials, dance classes, I love it.

Down the Road by C2C
Down the Road by C2C on Grooveshark
It took me forever to find this song after I heard it in that Dr. Pepper commercial and now that I've found it, I'm completely obsessed.

What songs have had you jamming all month?

Monday, June 17, 2013

Bachelorette Shenanigans!

I'm linking up again for Weekend Shenanigans!
Sami's Shenanigans

This weekend was one of my college roommates' Bachelorette Weekend!

I was very low-key Friday night since I had a BIG Saturday planned. Saturday morning I woke up early, packed, and headed to Fort Worth! I got to FTW about 11:30 so I stopped at one of my favorite restaurants, Kincaid's Hamburgers, for lunch. Their hamburgers are perfect and they have crinkle fries! I also love(d) that they have Cherry Coke (however, I haven't had Coke since FEBRUARY, so I stuck to Sprite - nonetheless, I love that they have the option).

After a delish lunch, I went to Amanda's apartment to change and help with any last minute finishing touches she needed before the rest of the guests arrived. Her apartment was precious (as to be expected from this particular Amanda) and her decorations for the Bridal Shower were perfect!
Gorgeous (and yummy) cake
So cute
Stacey and the salad bowls I gave her!
After the Shower, I went downtown to check in to my hotel room and relax a little before getting all glammed up for the Bachelorette Party! Then, I went downstairs to the Bachelorette Party room and helped decorate there before everyone arrived. When the party started, we played some fun games, had delicious snacks, and drank pink champagne!

The Bride-to-Be and me
roomies reunited!
cookies
After that, we caught one of the last trolleys to Mi Cocina for dinner! Then we went to one of my (and the bride-to-be's) favorite places: Pete's Dueling Piano Bar! We danced, sang loudly, and had an absolute blast! Stacey brought one of her friends from TN/ bridesmaid, Kaitlyn, who quickly became all of our new friend. She created the motto for the night when boys started to approach us: Buy us a drink or leave! We were kind of kidding, but kind of not - what good is being a girl in a bar if you don't get a free drink or two?

All of us before we hit the town!
Pete's Piano Bar
We love Pete's.
At the end of the night (or beginning of the morning?), we walked back to our hotel (that's one of the greatest things about downtown Fort Worth - you can walk EVERYWHERE) and hung out for a few more minutes before I went back up to my room and got in bed. Quints was on on Disney Channel and Maggie and I relived our 90's childhood-ness for the last 20 minutes or so of the movie.

Sunday morning, Maggie and I hit up the Jazz Cafe for breakfast. It's a little mom and pop hole-in-the wall place, but my breakfast was SOOOO yummy.

After that, I drove back to Tyler, exhausted and VERY ready for my move to the Fort next month!

How was your weekend?

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Boot Camp

I decided very last minute Sunday night to sign up for Boot Camp with Lindsay this month. I must be crazy before three mornings a week for four weeks, I'll be waking up at 4:30 AM to get my sweat on.

My reasoning was this: After trying it out last month It actually think I may have liked it! So if I'm serious about trying to do it in Fort Worth, I should try it now while I have a friend going. That way I feel like I'll be more apt to going by myself later (I know I'll make friends once I'm there, but it's intimidating to go somewhere by yourself).

So here's to twelve 5:15 AM hour-long work outs that'll be kicking my ass.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Weekend-ish Shenanies

What up? I'm back for more Weekend Shenanigans... Only my weekend was more like Wed-Friday night because I was exhausted Saturday and Sunday for no real reason. Anyway, here's my Weekend-ish Shenanies.

Sami's Shenanigans

Wednesday afternoon my mom and I drove over to Dallas. She has a Marriott Reward account so we were staying at the Renaissance (technically in Richardson) for free! It was SUPER nice and we could walk to the venue where we were seeing the Shaping Sound tour (big plus). After attempting to get seated at this loud and hot little Cuban place, we gave up and walked back over to the hotel and ate dinner in the bar.

After dinner we ran back up the room and grabbed my purse and phone (I had to charge it for adequate picture taking, duh) and walked over to the Eisemann Center. Super nice venue. The website says it's about 10 years old, but it looks even newer than that. In the smallest of small worlds, my seester's dance teacher and two company members were sitting RIGHT in front of me and my mom. My sophomore year roommate and her sister were also there (although not sitting right near us) so I got to see them, too!
Shaping Sound Company tour 2013 program
On to the show. I can't even, y'all. It was SO good. If I wasn't in love with Nick Lazzarini before, I most definitely am now. I would have his babies if he would let me (unfortunately I don't think he wants any females to have his babies... So sad). Anyway - the show was amazeballs. Still gaga over it.
That's Nick in the black... LOVE.
Thursday night was the opening night of an exhibit called 6x6 at a local art gallery downtown. My friends, Lindsay and Chad, and I painted some canvases last weekend and we wanted to see our beautiful works of art alongside all of the others (and maybe to buy some). This exhibit is so awesome. It's a TON of 6x6 inch canvases that locals have painted or quilted or whatever and then the canvases are sold for $20 to raise money for the gallery. I did it in the fall and went after the opening night and one of mine had already sold! Talk about a self esteem booster. Anyway, I wasn't really going to buy one, but I saw one and fell in love. It'll be going up in my new apartment, so no worries - you'll get to see it!

Friday morning I had breakfast with my seester and finally got to finally give her graduation gift! I'm still so proud of it, let me tell you. I got her a shower caddy, bought a monogram sticker on Etsy to put on one of the sides, and filled the caddy with stuff I used when I was a freshman and called it her "Freshman Year Survival Kit." She loved it. And I'm so glad because, like I said, I was super proud of it!
Seester's Freshman Year Survival Kit
Friday night my seester graduated from high school! I went over to my dad and step-mom's house for hamburgers before going out to the school district's stadium. The weather was perfect and it was absolutely gorgeous. I graduated in an old, broken AC, nasty, shell of a building. This was quite the opposite and I was (and maybe still am) incredibly jealous. The Valedictorian's speech was entirely TOO long. It started out ok, but then he just kept talking. And they spelled his name wrong on the big screen, something I can relate to since we have the same name only his is obvi the boy version and mine is obvi the girl version. Anyway, my bestie's sister was also graduating so we texted through most of the ceremony and got a picture at the end. I can't wait for my seester to start the next chapter of her life! She's going to rock college.
Who knew Texas in June could be so pleasant?

That's seester crossing the stage!

SELFIE.

with the Graduate!

How was your weekend?

Friday, June 7, 2013

Life Lessons from Camp

Camp season has officially started and my personal favorite camp opened its gates to the first campers this morning. And I'm super sad I'm not there (again. I think this will happen every June for the rest of my life). I also feel old because ALL of my campers are now counselors. It's crazy, but I absolutely love it and know some are already fabulous counselors and my baby ettes are going to become amazing counselors. They are both such fun groups!
Sky High at sunrise
 Anyway after my camp friend and former counselor Olivia posted what she missed most about camp, I started thinking about some of the life lessons I learned at camp (there are a lot).
One of the first lessons every camper learns, whether 8 or 17, is how to take care of yourself and your things. Living in a cabin with anywhere from 7 to 30+ other girls can be tricky, especially when you have to pack enough clothes, toiletries, books, stationery and stamps, etc to last a month. In the process stuff gets misplaced or even worse, lost. The better care you take of your stuff, though, the more likely you are to go home with everything you took with you. The first part of this statement, taking care of yourself, if also something you learn pretty quickly. You learn to brush you teeth, brush your hair, wash your hair, take a shower, etc. These things may sound simple enough, but some of these girls are 8, 9, and 10 years old and have never been away from their parents for longer than a night or two and may not know how to do these things without help or being told to.
My cousin had the younger campers her first year as a counselor and was shocked when she realized they didn't know how to do their hair or make their beds. But camp teaches these skills early on in your camp career.

The view of the camp ground from Sky High

Patience. Despite having a packed schedule each and every day, each camper spends part of the term waiting. Whether it be waiting for rest period because she'll get a package or waiting for her favorite ice cream after lunch or even her favorite meal during the term - each girl waits for something. Your patience also gets tested by living with so many other girls. This goes hand-in-hand with another life lesson:

Learning to work/live with other people. Sharing such a small space with other girls is difficult. You have to wait 30+ minutes for showers some nights. You may have to share an aisle between beds with someone who is WAY messier than you. You may sit at a table with a chatty Cathy and have to wait to get a word in edgewise about the awesome package you got at rest period from your best friend. Working and living with people you don't know and sometimes don't always like requires a lot of patience.

The importance of naps. Every afternoon the girls are sent back to their cabins with their counselors for a two hour rest period. During this time the girls get their mail, can read and write, or even nap. For two hours everyone is required to stay quiet and to "recharge" for the rest of the afternoon. The younger girls totally dislike this time (other than getting mail), but as they get older they realize how awesome it is that they can take a real nap and really recharge.

To try new things. Every girl is required to take between 7 and 9 activities on a blocked schedule (5 on MWF and 4 on TTS). Some girls find it easy to pick their activities and are on their ways. Other girls don't know what they like. Should they take diving and learn to dive? Should they take drawing? Are they good at tennis? There are tons of things to do at camp and you definitely have to try them all to find out what you like and what you're good at. This doesn't just apply to activities, though. We have excellent food at camp. At home with their families, some girls may eat the same things week after week or even may eat a lot of fast food (like me, totally guilty), and may be picky (again guilty), but at camp there are so many new and absolutely delicious foods you just have to try them all!
Chapel Hill
Camp Mystic has three ideals that every camper learns and can recite by heart on the spot. Not only are these great lessons to learn and use at camp, but you can easily apply them to life outside the gates.
Be a better person for being at Mystic. Because of the many life lessons you learn at camp, I'd dare to say most of the girls that go through those gates leave better people.

Let Mystic Bring Out the Best in You. As you grow up, you learn a lot of bad habits like biting your nails, gossiping, and cussing. The directors at camp push you to be the best version of yourself you can be. At camp you have the focus and support around you needed to try and curb these habits.

Grow Spiritually. Mystic is a Christian camp. There's devotionals every night in the cabins (led by the girls a lot of the time). There's vespers Sunday evenings and Assembly and Devotionals Sunday mornings. These are just the most obvious times campers and counselors spend time worshipping. It's hard to be in such a beautiful place for so many weeks and not feel God's presence.

I could go on and on and on... and on. But I'll stop here with just these things I've already listed. My family loves camp. My grandmother, aunt, and cousin went to Mystic before me. My step-sister went as a camper until last year (she'll be a counselor in the future). And we have numerous second and third cousins that also have attended, do attend, and will attend Mystic. I only pray I have kids that love camp as much as the rest of us (boys or girls because there are some great boys camps down there, too!).

Did you go to camp? Did you learn these life lessons? What other life lessons did you learn?

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

It's No Secret...

That I LOVE dance. I danced most of my life. I watch So You Think You Can Dance almost religiously. I watch Dance Moms and love the drama (although if they're trying to integrate the dance dads from Cathy's studio, I might have to stop watching because they're just stupid). Last summer I fell in love with the new company Shaping Sound on All the Right Moves featuring a ton of SYTYCD alumni. I love dance.

So a few months ago when Shaping Sound finally announced their tour dates I was thrilled. I had to be there. I had to watch my new gay crush, Nick Lazzarini, in person. I love him. I don't care that he doesn't like girls. He's a beautiful specimen and he can dance. Total package. And Kyle is also super cute, too. Not to mention the choreography this group performs is just amazeballs.
Teddy, Travis, Kyle, and Nick, the founders of Shaping Sound

Anyway, tonight is the night they hit the stage in Dallas and I couldn't be more excited. Here are a few of their dances from the show last summer.

Travis Wall being dramatic... but beautiful at what he does.


Travis got asked to choreograph an Ingrid Michaelson music video.


Teddy's choreography for their opening show last year in LA.


These people dance how I wish I could dance! I love it!

Is there something you as much as I love dance?