For the Sake of My Sister

So I've mentioned my LOVE OF SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.

I've watched it from the start. The first season started when I lived with my parents (MAN, that seems like forever ago) and I was getting ready for Miss MN. I basically spent two hours every night working out, so I would put SYTYCD on the TV in the garage while I did squats, sit ups, more squats, more sit ups, and jumped rope until I HATED it. ANYWAY. The dancers were so motivating (which I totally needed) and I fell in love with them. Over the years the show itself has come so far in production, choreography, entertainment, etc. And I just love it. I taped the finale from last summer because I seriously thought the dancing couldn't get any better than last year.

Well, last night may have made me eat those words. There were only two of the ten dances that I didn't like. I think my sister may now be hooked on the show, since she calls me to talk about it......

BUT she hasn't seen my FAVORITE DANCES of other years. So I thought I would post some of them here. She said that her favorite dance from last night was the hip hop routine that told a great story. So first I'll post some of my favorites in that genre.

First, Katie and Joshua dancing about him getting his notice to go to war.

Now Chelsie and Mark dancing about love vs. work......

I personally love the contemporary dances with props.

Here is one from "Twitchington"

And one from Twitch and Katee

And the Emmy Winning dance from Travis and Heidi (two seasons ago)

I MUST include a dance from Courtney and Gev just because I thought they were the cutest thing ever.

Okay, only two more, I promise!

Will was my FAVORITE DANCER EVER last season (and I still think it is a travesty that he didn't win - sorry Joshua) so it only makes sense that my two favorite dances have to do with him.

First with Jessica

And with Katee

Okay, that's PLENTY. Enjoy, sis.

Homework

Two events occurred in the last two years, accompanied by various thoughts and convictions here and there, which have led me to a massive stack of "homework".

I'm finally committing myself to coming up with, defining, and writing out my core values. What defines me. What do I want to "be about". Spiritually, that is.

Event One: I was in a wedding where the gift the bride gave us was a verse (or verses) that she chose for us based on our character and personalities. Can I just say I thought that was the greatest gift!? Especially since each one of the passages she chose had great thought put into it and personal meaning. I've never had a "life verse" that I've claimed (and I've never wanted to, for many reasons, but that is an entirely different post...) but now I have changed my thinking some, and I have been struck by the passage I was given so much in the last year and a half, that it is now my "life verse". More on this in a moment...

Event Two: I was at a friend's house for a party a few months back and I saw this cute frame thing with different words and beautiful pictures in it. I made a comment on it and she informed me that the words were the core values that she and her husband had chosen for themselves. I was like, "COOL!" I loved it. And the things they chose were very appropriate for what they believe and how they live. I started to think that I would love to do that one day if I get married.

"If I get married..."....."when I get married...." It's a phrase that gets tagged onto a lot of thoughts and statements when you are in the "limbo-single-stage". I've read some encouragement to NOT live with the mindset to put things off until marriage comes, because there is no guarantee it will ever come. So DON'T wait to cultivate godly femininity, DON'T wait to practice your spiritual gifts, DON'T wait to be involved in a church/ministry....etc. So I said to myself, "DON'T wait to do your core values!"

But I don't want to just put some words down on a piece of paper and be satisfied that I've made another list. Instead I really wanted to put thought and study into my core values and be convicted with what I want my life to represent.

I kept coming back to the passage I was given as a basis for my core values. Separately, I came up with some values that I wanted to think about as being my core values. I narrowed that list down as far as I could and came up with seven words. Then I started to look at my passage of scripture and match up phrases with the words I chose. I wasn't going in any order at all and I was just picking and choosing phrases at random, and wouldn't you know, every phrase from the passage of scripture was taken when I got through my list of seven values. So I thought that was cool. When I started that process, I sorta thought I might like to narrow it down to only five values, but now I feel very happy to have seven.

And now I want to do more study on the passage I've chosen before I get into the definition and writing of my core values. Which is where the "homework" comes in. I will read some commentaries and listen to sermons. I went to the Desiring God site to look up sermons on my passage (which is only five verses long) and found THIRTEEN sermons. So that pretty much gives away the fact that my passage is in Romans.

I wanted to have this all done by my birthday, which I am now realizing won't happen, but I wanted to blog about this so that I have at least a little accountability and urgency to get this accomplished soonly.

So, stay tuned for what my life verses and core values are!

Funnier. More Funny?

I never know if funnier is a word. I have a strong hunch that it is not, but people always say it.

Regardless, I think Conan is funnier on his new show. I was a pretty BIG fan of his old show (though I did not love him as much as I loved Craig Kilborn in college. I will never love any late night talk show host the way I loved Craig Kilborn. Whatever happened to him now, anyway?!) but so far (as in "the first three episodes") he has been very funny.

I didn't catch the show the other night, but my sis alerted me to one of the funniest (most funny?) things I have heard all week.

Conan: "In the year 3000, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook will merge into one super time-wasting website called 'You Twit Face.'"

Pretty Sure I Missed My Calling

Oh. My. Cheesy. Goodness.

Did you catch the show GLEE on Fox a few weeks ago? They showed just the pilot episode this spring and will start airing the show next fall. It is about a show choir and it was all things cheesy, quirky, and ADORABLE. If you are into that, you should go watch it on Hulu.

The absolutely most fantastic part of the show was the performance of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". Love Journey. Love that song (mostly because I AM a small town girl). Loved the performance. Loved it. I may have cried.

So I saw in an article in EW about REAL show choirs which directed me to an actual show choir performing a Journey medley.

This is the part where I go ASD;LFKJAS;DLFKJAS;DLFKJA;SDLFKJAS;DLFKJ again.

[I tried my HARDEST to embed the video, but I couldn't figure out how to do it from Vimeo, so you'll have to go there to watch it. PLEASE. For me.]

I SERIOUSLY WISH I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN SHOW CHOIR!

Can't you see it?!

It's just wonderful, cheesy, GOODNESS.

To My Marrieds

I have a message to send out to my married friends/readers.

I almost completely forgot to post about this. I think we were talking about dating or something of the sort at the garage sale a few weeks ago and I was reminded of a post about married people setting singles up, so I said I would link to it here. I was then reminded about that conversation today when I came across this scorecard about surviving church as a single at Stuff Christians Like. (In case you're wondering, I stopped counting when my score reached 1000 points. Not kidding. Okay, maybe kidding a little. But just a little.)

Truly, most of my friends are married. So that means we are in very different seasons of life (especially for those now having kids). But I’m thankful that some of those friendships are still close, and I am able to seek advice and prayer from those friends when it comes to dating and relationships (Side note: I heard someone (who I kinda respect) on the radio today give advice to a pregnant woman that she shouldn't be friends with a single friend anymore since they really won't have much in common once she has her baby. I basically almost cried.).

Thing is, I often think WHERE IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO MEET SOMEONE!?!?! That is where my marrieds come into play. Married people know some single people, don’t they? They know me, anyway! That’s a start! Maybe they know my future husband!

So, if you’re interested, read this advice on "The Set Up" (or just read the few parts I have at the end of this post) and see what you can do. Not just for me, but for all of your single friends. But for me, too. Just sayin’.

And remember, just because two people are Christians doesn’t mean they necessarily have anything else in common or are a good match. Again, just sayin’. I’ve had some STRANGE first dates and I would like to avoid that in the future.

I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that dating (especially the first date/s part) is completely tedious, stressful, and awkward. But as a good friend of mine told me, “Dating is awkward, but so is becoming the crazy cat lady”. So there's that. No matter how awkward dating is, I want to avoid being the crazy cat lady!

Here are my favorite parts of Carolyn McCulley's post on "The Set Up":

Please know the difference between being a busybody with a self-appointed agenda to "fix" every single person and a friend who truly believes God can use you to network on behalf of your single friends. The difference often lies in how much prayer you put into the situation and how discerning you are. Do not force two otherwise-incompatible people to meet simply because they are single, of the opposite gender, and they show up in church occasionally. Please consider mutual interests, energies, temperaments, and shared outlooks....I urge married women to enlist their husbands in the cause. They are the secret weapon of single women everywhere, for no one can envision a single man for marriage quite like a married man can.

Some practical tips: Invite your "targets" and some other people to your home or other outing for a group event. Don't tell the woman what you are doing. Just let her be herself. There's no point in stirring up her hopes if the man is not going to initiate. But feel free to tell the man that you've invited a woman he might enjoy meeting. Talk her up a bit, but not too much. Don't make him feel the pressure--just get him thinking about it. Whatever you do, try your hardest not to make everyone revert back to middle school. And avoid the blind date at all cost, unless your "targets" think blind dates are preferable (you should know their opinions here). You are introducing friends, that's all. So keep it chill.

Now to the "targets." Of course, you know that you never have to accept such overtures. However, I would urge all of us to examine our hearts before we respond. What are our motives for accepting or declining? Are we thinking too highly of ourselves and too poorly of others? Are we unwilling to invest a few hours in meeting another person rescued and loved by Christ? Do we have an unyielding expectation of how God should provide a mate for us? And have we possibly contorted the feminine role of joyful response into a lethargic passivity? I paint that with a broad brush, but I do want to caution us from swinging to extremes. When it comes to relationships, we have to show up. And more than show up, we have to be willing to make an investment and participate.

Wedding Season

YAY!

It’s wedding season!!

I hosted my first (and I guess only) bridal shower of the season last Thursday. We had a nice time, which I hope makes up for the invitation: I sent an announcement to be put in the weekly church update that goes out to all members. Imagine my HORROR when the announcement came out and it said BABY shower, not bridal shower! How embarrassing! I ran to my email to make sure I hadn't made the error, which I hadn't, but I still felt horrible! Especially since the girl being honored is a very new member at church who many people still haven't been acquainted with. Anyway, a correction was sent out, so it was all fine and we had a good laugh about it. NO baby shower, yet. Just a bridal shower. Oy.

I also attended another bridal shower on Sunday, and this coming weekend the actual weddings start!

I seriously LOVE wedding season. I love seeing groups of people who have been in hiding from my life since the last wedding season, and I LOVE celebrating my wonderful friends and the love they have found and share with special people. I also love getting to know those new special people because, as I have mentioned, my friends' husbands are the bomb.

So, it’s time to break out the cute dresses, awkward dance moves, and Kleenex (since I cry like a BABY at weddings) and get my WEDDING SEASON on!! WHOO!

Finally!

It's finally June!

And June is my BIRTHDAY MONTH!

I mean, it's the month that my birthday is in. Not that the whole month is my birthday.

Although, I WOULD like to celebrate for the whole month.

But I'll settle for a week. :)

OH MAN I'M EXCITED FOR MY BIRTHDAY!

I've had my birthday events planned for quite some time, but it didn't seem appropriate to talk about them until it was finally June.

My birthday week will start with what I anticipate to be a VERY FUN church picnic on Sunday. So that's good.

The next evening will be spent helping a BFF move back to MN (for the time being, anyway). SO THAT'S VERY EXCITING!!

Tuesday night is what I consider my "Worlds Collide" night. I'm going to invite all kinds of friends from all kinds of parts of my life to join me at the Twins game. Between church, college, basketball, tennis, work, high school, camp, pageants, etc, I should be able to make a few worlds collide. So that's enjoyable.

Wednesday is kickball. Which I love. So that's awesome.

Thursday night will be dinner with friends at PANCHO VILLA. They have a special birthday treat there (which pretty much includes wearing a sombrero) and the food is OFF THE CHAIN. And I will eat lots of nachos, which makes me feel like ASD;FLFKAJS;DLFKJAS;LDFKJA;SLDF. So that's yummy.

Friday I WILL NOT GO TO WORK, and will head to the cabin with friends from basketball for the weekend. One of the girls swears she will teach me to wakeboard. So that's FUN.

OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH I really like my birthday. And I know that people think I like my birthday because it's "all about me", but really I like my birthday because it is such a good excuse to plan things where I can hang out with my favorites and catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time. And I won't apologize for planning my own parties, even though I really loved it when I hadn't planned anything last year and my GREAT friend AH stepped in and made my birthday fun and special. Seriously LOVED that. But I'm confident I will also like the events I've planned for myself. :)

That's two little smiley faces in ONE blog. Yikes. I think I'm OVERLY excited.

So, if you actually know me, be on the look out for an email about that Twins game!!