Top Viral Videos of 2011

These are my favorite viral videos of 2011...I'm sorry I don't have a better post/update, but I wanted to make sure this list was recorded forever... :)

Marcel the Shell

Neature Walk

Chuck Testa

Double Dream Hands

Backing Up/Bed Intruder

Double Rainbow

Old Spice

Friday, Friday

PS22 Lisztomania

Singing five octaves

Charlie Bit My Finger

There's a Party in my Tummy

Misunderstandings

I am stealing this post from a blog I stumbled upon, because I think it is neat and the author speaks wise words:

(the author is writing about her daughter, a seven year-old who was just diagnosed with Diabetes in May)

When you have a child with a disease or any other issue you open your world to a lot of people making numerous comments that make no sense or are completely inaccurate (I have to believe that they think they are doing it out of kindness – or I would be punching a lot more people these days!)

The hardest part is explaining to someone that feels they know more about your disease than you, even though you are living with it day and day out. At first I just accepted the comments with an “okay” and moved along as soon as you I could, but not anymore!

Diabetes is very misunderstood.

First and foremost there are 2 types of diabetes:

Type 1 – Insulin Dependent from the onset and for the rest of your life with little to no understanding of the cause or why it happened to you or your family member, and

Type 2 – Healthy diet and exercise and for most people a pill can manage this type. They know or are aware of the major causes for this type: family history, diet and lifestyle all play a part. You should know if you are at risk for Type 2 – please find out – you can work on avoiding it more if you know! (Check out this website to check your risk factors: http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/prevention/diabetes-risk-test/?utm_source=WWW&utm_medium=DropDownDB&utm_content=RiskTest&utm_campaign=CON

More people have Type 2 and are at risk for Type 2 – everyone that thinks they understand diabetes knows it from people with Type 2 – most people do not understand that Type 1 is in no way avoidable and you really can’t know if you are at risk for Type 1.

Step Out: Walk for Diabetes

I just wanted to say THANKS to everyone who supported my Walk for Diabetes this morning. I raised $220 and was proud to bear my red had, designating me as a "Red Strider" (a participant with Diabetes).

My friend Justine (from Rippleside) and I walked almost seven miles this morning to support the cause. We started out at a brisk thirty-four degrees, but it quickly warmed up to a balmy 50-degree day. Hoorah! With great company, yummy snacks, BEAUTIFUL changing leaves, and a walk along the Paul Bunyan Trail, it was a start to a fun day!

Here is a picture of my snazzy hat. :)

Things I love most about Aitkin (so far)

1. Camp: I am close to camp, but I am not at camp (all the time). When I visit camp, it's for the right reasons - to celebrate, to visit friends, to volunteer, to worship, or to work. I'm not at camp because I'm living there, feeling like I'm saving money.

2. My house: I love living alone, even though it can be lonely (I guess that's why it's called "alone"). But, I have the freedom to do things like make the world's best dessert, an oreo wrapped in a chocolate-chip cookie (see pictures/a recipe here).

3. The staff: I cannot even begin to describe the hospitality and warmth with which the school staff has surrounded me. I feel as though I'm a part of the community and as though I'm supported and welcomed! Everyone seems to care, even clerks at Aitkin Furniture and Paulbeck's Market. :)

10 things to never say...

This is a list of 10 things to never say to a Vegan. I am not vegan, and I don't ever plan to be vegan, but it's pretty applicable to vegetarianism, too! :)

http://vivelevegan.blogspot.com/2011/08/10-things-never-to-say-to-vegan.html

Exciting news!

Scroll down to "Staff Changes" :)

http://www.aitkinage.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=75&ArticleID=37711

Books!

My new favorite website is www.thriftbooks.com, and I may have gone on a bit of a spending spree this week (oops!). Anyway, I have quite a few books on order, due to arrive within the next week or so. Here is what I am looking forward to reading soon:

1. Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher's First Year

Esme Raji Codell

2. How to Talk so Kids can Learn

Elaine Mazlish, Adele Faber

3. Queen Bees and Wannabees: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence

Rosalind Wiseman

4. We Will Sing: Choral Music Experience for Classroom Choirs

5. Me Talk Pretty One Day

David Sedaris

6. Mere Christianity

C.S. Lewis

7. Velvet Elvis: Repainting Christian Faith

Rob Bell

8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson

9. The Girl who Played with Fire

Stieg Larsson

10. Pretty Good Joke Book

Garrison Keillor

Anyway, I'm eagerly awaiting my shipments! I paid about $37.00 for the ten books, with free shipping, AND they're all used and therefore not going in a landfill. Great!

Today!

Today was busy! And really great! Here are a few things I did today...

1. Yoga! I led early-morning (only 7:30am, not that bad) yoga with Alex. We like to start out with a theme, since it's silly yoga. So, we picked the themes of Easter and breakfast and figured we'd let the campers go from there. Requests included dinosaurs, outerspace, and unicorns. With our twenty-two campers, we combined unicorns/dinosaurs/outerspace/breakfast/Easter to fill a half an hour with adventurous yoga. My favorite move was the pancake - you lay flat on your back and don't move, because you are a pancake! Pretty relaxing. :)

2. Sailing! Meghan took me sailing during free time today. There was hardly any wind and I can't say I remember much from sailing camp three years ago, but it was a great day to get out on the water.

3. Dance! During campers' choice in the afternoon, Cassie and I led dancing. We had twelve high-school juniors and seniors sign up, so it was a really fun and silly activity. We made up a few dances to teach to the campers, and we let them make up their own to perform for each other (they were actually really great!). Then, we played "freeze," an improv game where two people dance up front and when someone else yells "freeze," they take the place of one of the people up front. Finally, we led circle/square dancing. During Creative Arts week last week, the families get together for a hoedown each night (it's super intense). They dance late into the night, and they're always really great dancers because of family tradition and coming to Creative Arts for years and years. So, we had a blast teaching the campers circle dances this afternoon.

4. Delivered treats! I baked treats this weekend - campfire crack (trail mix/Chex mix, don't worry!) and Special K bars. I delivered them to cabins this afternoon, bringing the bars to counselors I knew were having a tough week. I also packed some campfire crack to send to friends working at other camps this summer. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to mail the Special K bars because they were too goopy and would've melted.

5. Helped in the kitchen! Our kitchen volunteer this evening really wanted to play the all-camp game, so I volunteered to jump in and take her place. I spent a few hours prepping food, mopping, washing dishes, etc...none of which was very fun. However, Tuesday's theme is "hospitality," and I feel like I did my part today!

It was a really fantastic day at camp, even though I am exhausted. I'm looking forward to an evening of singing/reading to cabins, playing NERTS/cribbage, and reading the books I just got in the mail! Woohoo!

Things I can do with Diabetes.

I don't mind Diabetes - really, I don't. In fact, it almost seems weird to me that people can eat whatever they want all the time and be okay, and that they don't have to check their blood sugar and take shots before every meal. It's crazy how quickly it's become second-nature to me, and how it's just a part of what I do. I don't really think about it anymore, and it all just makes sense.

I do, however, really dislike the stereotypes, myths, and assumptions about Diabetes. I find that most people really have no idea what Diabetes is, how insulin/glucose interact, what it means to have a "low," or even what the function of the pancreas is. Most of all, people think that Diabetes means I ate too much sugar one night and woke up the next morning in a coma. They look at me funny when I eat dessert at meals, and think that when I have a low it's because I don't control my sugars. Booo.

Mostly, people think that Diabetes restricts my life. They don't realize, however, that I am capable of normal things. I thought it might be fun to compile a list of a few things I've done in the last thirty-nine days since my diagnosis.

- Road trip! 1200 miles, two homestays, and three interviews in three days. Yowsers!

- Camping! Slept alone in a tent for three nights just for kicks and giggles.

- Vacation! Went to a friend's cabin for three nights with no electricity. Participated in: card games, napping, tubing, water skiing, boating, Settlers of Catan, cooking, sauna-ing, and more.

- Boating! Stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, sailing, canoeing, tubing, water skiing, hydro-biking, snorkeling, etc.

- Working! Job interviews, long hours in the office, facilitating the high ropes course, leading one-hundred campers in an evening game.

- Playing! Swinging, going down a slip-n-slide, rolling down a hill, beating friends at cribbage, going to a Twins game, painting and coloring, finishing the NY Times crossword puzzle, sewing, attending local churches, playing Scrabble, reading.

- Eating! Being vegetarian, enjoying Dairy Queen, baking five-pound bars, eating out every weekend, cooking over a campfire, counting carbohydrates, not counting carbohydrates, navigating the sugar-free sections of grocery stores.

Not to mention graduating, going to Europe, and getting a job... :)

Take THAT, Diabetes!

Weather

I just wanted to send you all an update to let you know that the forecast for Sunday has changed to...

SUNNY! With a high of fifty!

Life is great. :)

My upcoming graduation has brought a lot of stress into my life, whether arguments and conflicts amongst friends, planning finances and career plans for the future, or trying to just enjoy my last few weeks. I can't even begin to name the number of stressors that are present in my life right now.

ANYWAY, I thought it might be good to take a few minutes to focus on some positives. So here you go!

1) Bathilda: I have this awesome green pepper plant that I adopted for two weeks as a part of an environmental and sustainability project here on campus. I'll take care of it and foster its growth and then return it to be planted in our campus garden (the green peppers will then be served in the dining services). Anyway, this little bugger of a plant is adorable and super fun!

2) Europe: I leave for Europe in six weeks! How great is that? I've been trying to make this happen for years, and I can't believe it's real. Life is great.

3) School: I will be spending the rest of my life in schools, but in three weeks I will be DONE WITH HOMEWORK! At least until grad school, but hey, we'll deal with that later.

4) Exit loan interviews: All of my friends spent the day today in exit loan sessions learning how to pay back their loans on a 10 or 20 year plan. Thanks to my awesome madre and padre, I didn't have to attend a single one of these sessions. In fact, today I was blessed to receive an $800 reimbursement check for my Chicago trip!

5) Clarinet: I still have the joyful opportunity to be playing clarinet both in Echo Band every Sunday evening and in my conducting class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I meant this whole thing to be a joke, but it's turning out that I'm not actually that bad at clarinet? Weird.

6) Jobs: I am going to get a job! I'm trying so hard. I did a mock interview this morning, which was really emotionally straining, but a good experience for me. I had my first interview with a school tonight, but there must have been some miscommunication because we weren't able to connect over the phone. We're hopefully rescheduling for early next week.

7) Beethoven's 9th: This music is great! I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to make wonderful music with such talented students every day. For four or five days in the last week, we've spend 45 minutes in sectionals, and I've had the chance to lead the Sopranos each of these days. It's been a blessing for me to take such ownership in pride in knowing that I am responsible for having taught the Sopranos much of the music.

There are myriad other things I could list, but this has already done its job - put me in a better mood and reminded me of all the things in life I have to enjoy during times of trial.

What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right? ;-)

Senioritis? Oops.

Also, I have Senioritis. Can you tell? I should be writing a paper that's due in the morning. Oops. Oh well.

We have this awesome thing called "Term Calculator" and it lists all of our classes out like this:

2 credits - Instrumental Conducting
4 credits - Religion 300
4 credits - Astronomy
2 credits - Counterpoint
1 credit - Yoga
1 credit - Echo Band
1 credit - Chapel Choir
1 credit - Voice
1 credit - Organ

And then, by each class, it has a little pull-down menu where you can pick letter grades. For instance: I can give myself straight A's in my music classes, but B's and C's in my gen-eds. It will then calculate my GPA for the term, and my overall/cumulative GPA for graduation.

Currently, my GPA is 3.81. The cutoffs for graduation with honors are as follows:

3.9 - Summa cum laude
3.7 - Magna cum laude
3.5 - Cum laude

So, I am on track to graduate magna cum laude.

If I give myself A's in all of my classes, my GPA will still only be 3.83. Clearly, there's no way I can graduate summa cum laude. Thus, I need to make sure to keep my GPA above 3.7 so I can graduate magna cum laude.

I know I will get A's in all of my music classes and in yoga. So the only classes I could even possibly worry about would be Religion and Astronomy. In order for my GPA to be exactly 3.7, I need to get one of these combinations:

C- / C-

D+ / C

D / C+

D- / B-

If I get below a D-, I fail and won't graduate. Boo.

Anyway, this is great news! I have never gotten below a B in any college class, so I think I'll be okay.

Just thought I'd share...I'm super impressed if you read all of this!

Countdowns!

With March quickly approaching (in fifteen or so minutes), I figured it's time for some countdowns...

3 days until the Chapel Choir retreat
8 days until National ACDA Conference in Chicago
15 days until Chapel Choir tour
20 days until my last Chapel Choir concert
41 days until I turn 22
41 days until the education career fair in Minneapolis
46 days until my big sis turns 26
48 days until my last performance at Concordia
61 days until my lease is through
62 days until graduation
62 days until my last worship service at Grace UMC
78 days until Europe
92 days until Support Staff training begins at camp
96 days until Staff training begins at camp
101 days until Holly graduates

Many great things are drawing near! I've got so much to look forward to...

Teachers' pay

A friend posted this on Facebook, and I think it's great! Bear with me through the first bit - I know it's painful. :)

Are you sick of high paid teachers?

Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Car!

Having a car in college is a blessing and a curse. I could fill pages upon pages about how it has been a blessing, but here are some particular was in which my car has been interesting lately:

Monday: Drove a roommate to the doctor

Tuesday: Drove a friend to the car doctor, stopped by the guitar repair shop for another friend

Wednesday: Lent my car to a roommate to take licensure exams

Thursday: Drove back to the guitar repair shop to retrieve fixed guitar

Friday: Drove a friend to the airport

Yikes! Some times, I'll go a month without having to fill my car up with gas. Other times, I drive all week and have to fill up each weekend. (sad face!) BUT, I guess I had my time of lynching rides off of others, so now it's my turn to give back a little!

Highlights of the weekend!

1) Leading a small group

Much to my surprise, I arrived at camp this weekend to find out I was in charge of leading one of the small group Bible studies that met three times throughout the weekend. I was assigned a group of thirteen year-old kids, and got to read the Bible, play games, and do art projects with them for a few hours each day. They were quite the group to handle, but it was fun! I like being silly with kids. :)

2) The office

I spent an average of four hours a day in the office this summer, and it was fun to be able to retreat back to a place I remember so well and so fondly! I enjoy having a place to go when meals get too loud or when I'm overwhelmed with crazy kiddos. I have the special privelege of hanging out in the office!

3) Yelling

Due to an unfortunate circumstance involving a bunch of curse words and physical violence, I yelled at two kids. I've never yelled at camp before - never, in three and a half years...crazy! I guess my patience is tested when safety is a concern.

4) Puzzles

In a 48-hour span, we finished THREE 1000-piece puzzles. They kept us up until the wee hours of the night (morning??), and I may have gotten a little crabby, but we did it!

5) Volunteers

We have approximately twenty-five people on our summer staff, and we had nineteen people volunteering at this retreat. It was a volunteer-camper ratio of 1:6. I thought that was pretty impressive! It was great to see such good friends that I haven't seen in months. Anyway, we were all stacked in the basement of a lodge for living quarters. We had two toilets, three sinks, and ONE shower for the nineteen of us. Yuck! Saturday was honestly the first day in my entire life that I have noticed how bad I smell. Needless to say, I found a way to fit in a shower.

6) Snow fort

We built two awesome snow forts. As in, the kind you see in the Hoover playground where there are a bunch of tunnels intersecting and enough room for people to sleep! A few people slept in one of them Saturday but had to leave halfway through the night because it was so cold...oops!

7) Food

Mmmm, food is so much better when it is free! And when it's made for you. And when it comes from camp. Camp oatmeal is probably my favorite thing in the universe (okay, not really, but pretty close!). I even got to bring home a tupperware of extra food!

8) Banangrams (Scrabble)

I like games...a lot. I like words...a lot. I like word games...a lot! Friends at camp sure love word games a lot, too! It was fun to play and make silly words and make up rules and laugh.

9) Boot hockey (broomball)

There was an excellent full-size hockey court cleared on the lake, and we played a few rousing games of broomball. SO COLD (turns out it is windy on the lake??), but so great!

10) Sledding, skiing, snowshoeing

I couldn't bring my cross-country skiis to camp because I had five people in my itty-bitty car. But, luckily, camp has some awesome skiis (from the '70s), that we could borrow. Similarly, camp has a bunch of old snowshoes that are great to tromp around in. And, we made this sledding hill from the lodge all the way down to the lake (thankfully there was a clearing in the trees) and sledded down on inner tubes.

It was a great way to spend a weekend! Some day, I am going to have to stop working at camp for the summer, and that's going to be really difficult for me. It really is one of the best places on Earth!

Confirmation!

I am so pumped! Things are falling into place for my upcoming trips, graduation, etc.

This weekend, I got together with two camp friends, with whom I'll be traveling to Europe in May. We purchased our tickets - and we are SO EXCITED!

We have eight or ten friends from camp spread out across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England, so we've got plenty of connections / housing possibilities. It's going to be tough, though, to figure out how to fit everything in!

Here's what our itinerary looks like...

Monday, May 16th

1:30 PM - Depart from Minneapolis

2:50 PM - Arrive at O'Hare in Chicago

4:18 PM - Depart from O'Hare in Chicago

Tuesday, May 17th

5:55 AM - Arrive at Heathrow in London

10:05 AM - Depart from Heathrow in London

11:35 AM - Arrive in Glasgow, Scotland

In between these dates, we are going to go on various trips, including four or five nights in England (staying in Manchester, roadtripping down to London, Stonehenge, Harry Potter castle, etc.), maybe a weekend in Paris, possibly a weekend trip to Northern Ireland, and a couple nights in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sounds great, eh??

Tuesday, May 31st

9:00 AM - Depart from Glasgow, Scotland

11:30 AM - Arrive in New York, NY

2:15 PM - Depart from New York, NY

4:17 PM - Arrive in Minneapolis, MN

SLEEP

Wednesday, June 1st

12:00 PM - Support Staff training starts at camp (four out of seven of us will be coming from the UK the day before - uffda!)

I just want to be a teacher!

Okay, I did my part!

I've been in school for seventeen years!

I passed my tests!

I have a GPA of 3.8 and I haven't gotten a grade lower than an A- since sophomore year!

I complete student teaching!

I have a stellar resume and great references/recommendation letters!

...

...

...

I have Senioritis!

Can I just be done? I just want to be a teacher!

Band!

I joined band! I am so proud, and super excited.

Today was my first rehearsal, from 4:00-6:00 PM. I was nervous before...as in, my palms were all sweaty and I was bouncing my knee! But, it turned out to be okay.

I played third clarinet, and I wasn't even the worst one in the section! In fact, I was better than TWO other clarinetists! (The other two members of my third clarinet section)

Anyway, it was an interesting experience. I was nervous about the first five minutes of rehearsal. I wasn't sure how early to be in the room, when to put together my instrument, what we'd be doing during rehearsal, how the ensemble BEGINS running through a piece, etc. But it was okay! I knew all of my fingerings and I can play two and a half octaves on the clarinet - exactly what I need to know.

It was a good experience, and I'm looking forward to next week. Stay posted! :)

Conference planning?

This ACDA Conference thing is SO EXCITING! I am the only student from Minnesota to receive the scholarship, and I have only received the names of a few other students from Minnesota planning to attend the conference. It's daunting, but exciting! I will be spending a lot of time in the next few weeks catching up on coursework so I can miss classes, and spending time booking plane tickets and hotel rooms, registering, and planning for the trip.

Meanwhile, I have been busy e-mailing leaders in ACDA and at local colleges trying to find the names of contacts I could meet up with at the Conference, or ideally, another female student with whom I could share a hotel room to defray the costs (it will probably cost me between $1200 and $1400, and my scholarship is for $800).

I have contacted the...
- National ACDA Chair of Youth and Student Activities
- ACDA of Minnesota President
- ACDA of North Dakota R&S Chair for Youth and Student Activities
- ACDA of South Dakota R&S Chair for College and University Activities
- ACDA of Iowa R&S Chair for Youth and Student Activities
- ACDA of Wisconsin President
- St. Olaf College Director of Music Education
- St. Olaf College Student ACDA President
- Luther College Director of Music Education
- Lawrence University Choir Director

And those are just the names I can think of off the top of my head!

So far I have heard back from several of these contacts. The MN-ACDA President asked me to contact other leaders, since he didn't know of any other students in Minnesota attending the conference.

St. Olaf has been very responsive and helpful - they have four students attending the conference. Unfortunately, they are all male! We are exchanging contact information in hopes of meeting up in Chicago, but clearly, I haven't yet found a roommate.

North Dakota is sending one student to sing in the honors choir, and they booked a double room for her. The R&S Chair has sent her an e-mail asking if she would be willing to share the room. I have my fingers crossed that this situation will work out!

I guess I'll just have to wait and see! If I can share a room, I'll save hundreds of dollars. But, if I have a room to myself, I guess I won't complain too much! :)

New Schedule??

Why didn't I figure this out BEFORE registration and BEFORE classes started?? I am currently taking 14 credits (I've never had a semester in which I've taken fewer than 16 credits) - because I don't get any credit for yoga since I've already taken it (if I did get credit, I would be taking 15 credits right now).

Here is what I am going to the registrar's office to do tomorrow morning....

1) DROP Constitutional Law! After trying to write my first brief, I realized that I know NOTHING about this class! Nothing about the Constitution, the history, or more importantly - how to read lawspeak and what the vocabulary is. So, I'm dropping this 4-credit class!

Which brings me down to 10 credits, and I need at least 12 to be a full time student. So, I am going to add:

2) Instrumental Conducting I! Don't you think that would be a WAY better use of my time than Claw?? (Sorry, Dad! But I AM a music major after all) It's only 2 credits, bringing me to a grand total of... 12 credits! But still five classes. Weird, huh??

Anyway, that will be much less stressful. If I wanted to, I could even add another 2-credit course, to bring my total up to 14 credits. That course is...

3) Methods for Teaching Piano! Again, way closer to what I'll be doing with my life than Claw.

Instead of adding Methods for Teaching Piano, though, I think I might join the Cobber Echo Band! It is a 1-credit course that meets from 4:00-6:00 PM on Sunday afternoons. I would play clarinet (which I should learn by this Sunday...)! I think it would be a fun experience and it would look great on my resume to have band experience, both in conducting class and in an actual band.

My new schedule would look something like this:

Monday:
10:30-11:40 AM Instrumental Conducting
11:50-1:00 PM Counterpoint
2:40-3:50 PM Astronomy

Tuesday:
10:30-12:30 PM Astronomy Lab
12:50-2:30 PM Yoga
2:40-4:20 PM Legacy of Luther

Wednesday:
10:30-11:40 AM Instrumental Conducting
11:50-1:00 PM Counterpoint
2:40-3:50 PM Astronomy

Thursday:
12:50-2:30 PM Yoga
2:40-4:20 PM Legacy of Luther

Friday:
1:20-2:30 PM Constitutional Law (Pass/Fail)
2:40-3:50 PM Astronomy

ACDA Convention!

"On behalf of the Scholarship Selection Committee of the FMC Endowment Fund, I am pleased to inform you that your application to receive a scholarship to attend the ACDA National Conference in Chicago has been accepted. We congratulate you not only being a recipient of this award, but also for committing yourself to further growth as a student choral director."

It is a great day! I am going to Chicago, most-expenses paid. Thanks, ACDA of Minnesota! I couldn't be happier to be attending the national convention. :) March 8th is quickly approaching...

Last First Day!

Today was my "Last First Day of School!" It was quite the day. I know I'll be in schools for the rest of my life, but this is probably my last as a student...strange. This semester will be full of all sorts of "lasts," but I need to remember that the next year will be full of all sorts of "firsts." I have so many things to look forward to! And so many things to enjoy right now.

Here are the highlights of my day:

1) Chapel Choir! We are singing the most challenging music that Chapel Choir has sung in the last three years, and it will certainly be the most rewarding. I can't believe how far the choir has come and how great this last semester will be. We sound fantastic, if I do say so myself, and our tour is going to be something I'll never forget.

2) Astronomy! For four years, I've been terrified to take a science class. Well, let me tell you, this one is not going to be too tricky! I don't remember the last time I took a 100-level class, and I forgot how they're geared for entry-level, first-year students. It's going to be a breeze - my prof is pretty funny and I know a few other music kids in the class. I can do it!

3) Constitutional Law (Claw)! Again, another great professor. I'm just taking this class for fun, so I've been planning on taking it pass/fail so I wouldn't have to worry about my grade. After the first day of class, though, I think I can do it! I don't think I need to take it pass/fail. We write briefs for class every day, and we're allowed to form a Law Firm for the semester with another classmate and work together on these. I think my roommate and I might form a Claw (Constitutional Law) Firm!

4) Counterpoint! I LOVE Bach. I love math and formulas and things that make sense, and this class is going to teach me about Bach/Palestrina/writing like this and analyzing music like this/it is going to be great.

5) Friends! I had a friend from camp over this evening and we laughed and went to Target and ate cookies and Skyped and it was relaxing. It's fun being a student again, and having so much more time!

6) Boots! When I left home yesterday, I saw a line of boots by the front door. Holly and I have the same pair of boots, so I grabbed my pair and headed out the door. Turns out, though, I took the right boot of my pair and the right boot of hers. So, I headed to class this morning wearing two right boots, one size 7 and one size 5. I tripped several times and got some laughs from friends. What a great story! Anyway, during my Target run, I bought a new, much-needed pair of boots. They are not very attractive, but I had to choose between utility and style, and goodness knows that in Fargo-Moorhead, we choose utility.

Anyway, the semester is off to a great start! More to come later... :)

Also, in honor of my last-first-day, I took this rollercoaster picture. Please ignore the random splotches of me that are missing.

Safe arrival!

I have arrived safe and sound at Concordia! After a nine-hour trip, might I add... My day looked something like this:

9:30 AM - Arise, shower, pack, eat delicious cinnamon rolls, say goodbye to family!

11:36 AM - Depart from Rochester, MN with a full car.

11:50 AM - Find out from Dad that my car is not quite full - I left my laptop on the kitchen table. Meet Dad at the 75th St. exit in Rochester to get my laptop (thanks, Dad!).

1:30 PM - Meet a friend from camp in Stillwater, MN for lunch. Eat a delicious Greek potato concoction and realize that I'm across the river from Wisconsin! Sweet.

3:30 PM - Gas up in Stillwater...prepare for the next leg of the journey!

3:45 PM - Depart for Moorhead, MN

5:30 PM - Roads are awful! Going 30 mph near Alexandria. Figure I won't make it to Moorhead until 9:00 PM...ugh! My friends from Concordia weren't joking when they started calling it "Death-94."

7:00 PM - It's getting better! After a quick stop for dinner at a gas station in Fergus, the roads are brilliant and clear of packed snow/ice/yuckiness. It's smooth sailing - driving 73 mph 'till Moorhead.

8:15 PM - Arrive at my house in Moorhead after gassing up one more time. My roommates shoveled all of our sidewalks and both driveways - it must have taken HOURS! Thanks, roomies!

10:50 PM - Realize that I'm across the river from ND, meaning today was almost a three-state day! Yes! I had an awesome break but I'm happy to be home. Classes tomorrow will be a rude awakening... :)

I give Moorhead a thumbs-up!

Stuck?

Hi! Happy New Year.

I'm not really that sad, I'm just stuck in Rochester and would like the interstates to open so I can get back to school. :)

Also, I tried to go sledding today. It was cold. Boooooo.