It's official!

I passed my preview! My recital is ON!
The preview actually went really well, which is good. I didn't mess up any of the words I was expecting to mess up! But then I did mess up the words at the end of one of my songs that I know really well. Random. But I kept going. BA HA.
So now I am starting to design cards and things. This is my favorite so far. So what do you think?

Junior Recital Drama

The beginning of it...
Spring Semester of 2010--
So I was planning out how my recital was going to play out. It is custom that you perform your junior recital with someone else who is doing a half hour recital.
So I tried to figure out who else was giving a half recital. Then I realized....Shaye Leavitt, one of my very best friends was going to be giving a half recital. Naturally, we jumped all over that!
So I brought up the idea to my voice teacher. She thought that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to do our recitals together because my voice is dark and big and Shaye's is light and pretty. So that makes sense. But there was no one else that I wanted to do my recital with. Eventually I just begged. She finally said that that would be okay. So we were going to be able to perform our recitals together! Yay!
Fall Semester of 2010--
Shaye and I were still excited to do our recitals together and we got cast in an opera scene where we sang this REALLY fun duet. Our voices were just fine together--no one pushed or held back (I don't think).
In September we picked a date for our recital. We had taken Shaye's allergies into consideration because they tend to get really bad around April. So we chose April 7th because we wanted to make sure that we had it early in April so that we could avoid Shaye's allergy problems. We told all of the voice faculty and our accompanist. They were all fine with that and some of them even praised us for being so on top of things.
Spring 2011--
We came back from Christmas all geared up and ready to go. I just got gotten my rep for the recital and I had two and a half months to memorize 13 songs and prepare for our preview. The preview has to be scheduled 3 weeks before the recital and three weeks happened to fall on spring break. So we were going to have to do it a whole month early.
I was nervous about that, so I talked to Professor Modesitt and asked her special permission to do it the week after. She gave us permission and so we scheduled our preview for the Monday following spring break.
We both worked our tails off all semester to try to get ready for this preview.
Sometime in January, Professor Modesitt (Shaye's voice teacher) had to have emergency surgery and she was out for a very long time. So she left Shaye without a teacher and Shaye has been fending for herself for most of the semester. But she is a trooper, and she kept faithfully practicing and preparing her rep.
Then my voice teacher found out that Opus tour was the weekend before our recital and she...thought that it would be a really bad idea to go on tour and then try to perform a recital a couple of days after. So she told me that I would either have to reschedule my recital date or we wouldn't be allowed to go on Opus tour.
The problem with rescheduling was that Shaye's Dad is a Fireman. Therefore, his schedule is unlike other people's work schedules.
We eventually were able to push the recital back a week. So now our recital was April 14th and we rescheduled our preview for the Thursday following spring break.
And now the final result--
Shaye has had about 4 lessons this semester. She was so stressed out and she was working so hard all by herself, but she was so worried about being truly ready because she hasn't had a teacher.
And then my voice teacher recommended that Shaye do her recital in Fall of 2011.
Shaye thought about it and took her up on the offer--So now Shaye is doing her recital in the Fall.
And I am doing my recital. Alone.
And my preview is tomorrow.
Pray for me.

One year older and wiser too

Yesterday was my birthday! My golden birthday.
I am 22. 22 years old. Me, I am. I know I am not that old. But still. When did 22 years pass? And how? I swear I hardly noticed.
But I did notice. So many great years. I have had a fantastic life. I really have. I have no complaints.
Yesterday was my birthday. My golden birthday.
I am 22. I was just 21. Now I am 22.
Yesterday morning I woke up and my roommate and best friend Kjersti had made me breakfast. French Toast--one of my favorites.
My other roommate and best friend Shaye came and gave me a birthday present. The A-Team. She got it for me because it had lots of "esplosions" in it. Best movie gift ever.
I went to school like normal. I even got to wear new clothes. I didn't really advertise that it was my birthday....you know me. There was no advertising.
But thanks to FACEBOOK everybody and their pink poodle knew that it was birthday. People continued to find out all day. And it turned into a great day.
Kjersti and Shaye went to the Pastry Pub and brought my a sandwich and a yummy bag of chips.
My good friend Tyician Knight played me "Happy Birthday" on his Tuba. Best version of "Happy Birthday" I have ever heard.
I got birthday cards of my Uncle Mark and Aunt Kristin and from my Grandpa Van.
Then we had a party! Friends came over and we had Hawaiian haystacks and had a firepit where we roasted marshmallows and starbursts. We had cake, and brownies, and ice cream cake.
It was a great party. Stayed up late laughing, lots of fun, I loved the people there.
Then they all went home and I stayed up until midnight when my birthday day was over.
Kjersti gave me her present. Tongs (for flipping the chicken on the grill. She is so nice to me). Cashews--because they're my favorite. A beautiful book of quotes by Elder Holland. Chapstick--because I am always running out.  It was so great.
Then I went to bed.
I know that I have birthday anxiety.
But I didn't all day.
Thank you Kjersti and Shaye for planning and arranging and cleaning and all of the fun things.
I love you both.

Nutrition

This post is specifically for my mother.
Dear Mom,
Well, in my Nutrition class, I had to track my diet for 5 days. Alright, Would you like to know the results?
For my height and activity level, I am supposed to eat 2558 kilocalories a day.
Do you know how many I eat on average? 2152.79. So 84% of my calories. Which is good. For a Music Major.
I don't think I have to take a vitamin supplement because I am over 100% on most of my vitamins. The only one I am low on is Vitamin D. Surprise?
I get 8% of my Vitamin D. I get 34% of Vitamin E. And I get 53% of my Potassium.
The thing I ate with the highest nutrient density was Sushi. Followed by tuna macaroni salad.
I eat a few less calories than I burn. I burn 2275 calories in 24 hours.
I get 97% of my water intake a day. So I am fairly hydrated. Which is good.
You are supposed to get 45%-65% of your diet from carbohydrates. I get 50%.
You are supposed to get 10%-35% of your diet from proteins. I get 17%.
You are supposed to get 20%-35% of your diet from fats. I get 33%. I could improve on that. That what I get for putting cream cheese on my bagel. For shame.

Anways Mom. Here it is for ya. There is a ton of other info on there.
But we'll talk about that later.
Love, your Daughter.

The beginning

It has begun....the first three weeks of school have happened. We are on our fourth week and I am thinking that I am going to die. I have two weeks to memorize the Mikado, I have a month and a half to memorize 13 songs (5 German, 4 French, and 5 English) for my Junior Recital.

I am Katisha in the Mikado. She is a crazy. I can't even explain her to you--she is a crazy old woman. Naturally. I am always cast as the crazy old woman. Which is perfectly fine with me for now.

I love all of my classes except for German. But my favorite class is Nutrition. My professor is AWESOME and I  love going to class. I have my first test on Friday--so wish me luck! I should be okay, though. We'll see.

I am not the theory tutor this semester--sometimes I am sad and sometimes I am glad. I still work in the music office and I just love Donna.

I love my roommates and our house. We have the cutest house--I just love it. We have started hunting for a different house for next year and I keep thinking, "NO, I DON'T WANT TO MOVE!"

I might go on a mission in between Undergrad and Grad school.......? Maybe? Don't freak out. I don't know yet.

I got to see Christina Meikle! Oh my goodness, my great friend! She just got home from her mission in Chile! We went down to St. George and I went caving in the lava tubes with her and her sister Kayt. It was so much fun--I am still kind of sore from all of that rock climbing in and out. I crawled through bat poo. Disgusting. Really. But I just love her. I am so excited for her to come back to school next semester.

I will try to keep this thing updated. But I can't make any guarantees.
I love all of you. All of you cute people. And even those of you who aren't cute. But if you are reading this, I guarantee you are cute.
Peace out.

Suffocating

Dear Myself,
Do you still exist?

Love Languages

I was thinking about “Love Languages” today. I found this book in this used bookstore about love languages and I sat down right then and there and took the test. This particular book generalized them into 5 different categories:  Physical Touch, Gift Giving, Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, and Quality Time. Those are the five. I am going to tell you mine in order of importance to me.

Quality Time (35). I enjoy spending time with people and I feel the most loved when someone wants to spend time with me. That is such a hard thing to give to someone yet it is one of the simplest things to give. Isn’t that fascinating? Would giving a friend 30 minutes of my time kill me? I submit that it probably will not. I am really bad at that game and am in desperate need of improvement.

Words of affirmation (28). Yeah, I am one of those annoying people that needs to be reassured every so often. Every so often I need someone to say, “Hey Geneil, you are doing this right.” A little reassurance gets me a long way in almost every aspect of my life.

Acts of Service (26). Once upon a time, a good friend of mine took my old guitar and polished it up and gave it new strings and tuned it for me. He oiled the fret board and put some new finish on it. You know, I have never forgotten that and I have been devoted to him ever since.

Gift Giving (6). When my residents used to leave me little gifts it would make my whole day. One little Hershey’s Kiss on my doorknob when I got home from school brought a smile to my face every time. One little act of kindness like that can mean so much to so many people.

Physical touch (5). Most of the people I know score the highest in this area. And for me it is the lowest. I am okay with physical touch sometimes. I am getting better about it. But really, it’s not that important to me to know that I am loved. Let's just say, I don't thrive on it.

Aren't those categories great? I thought they were all  well labeled. Sure it's general, but most things can fit into one of those five categories. I have been lacking in my love giving, lately. I am trying to be better. Hence the reason this has been on my mind so much recently. What's your number one love language?