A Few of My Favorite Things (Part 2)

Favorite Thing #2:

The incredible, eatable.........POPPED KERNEL!!

Growing up, Sundays were known as "popcorn Sundays." Our mom would cook and clean ALLLLLL week long so when Sundays came around, she forfeited her duties. Therefore, it left us with either making our own dinner OR popcorn. Just so you know, I looked forward to popcorn Sundays. We all usually had popcorn.
I know I know, you're thinking "Popcorn?!?! What in the world?? Why would you eat Mr. Orvil's popcorn from the microwave???" Let me explain. :)
Mom didn't like to buy microwave popcorn. It's all well and good but there's something about fresh popped popcorn. Popcorn that you've been smelling for the past 10 minutes as it pops away in the pot. Yes, I am talking old school, legit, self popped popcorn. We had an air popper for the longest time and then my mom showed me the most magical thing of all.
Popcorn from the stove!!
Ya know those packages of popcorn that you can take on camping trips?? The ones in the little aluminum containers that you hold over the fire and shake and shake and shake and shake and......you get the picture. Well, that's exactly what I'm talking about!! Except in a MUCH tastier way. Mom taught me how to pop popcorn on the stove and since that day, every time we sit down to watch a movie or its Sunday or someone just NEEDS some popcorn, I seem to get the text, phone call, or Facebook tag in the status to make some popcorn. Mom says she can make it all the time but there's something about how I make it that tastes different. I don't know!! I guess it's the love that I add to each kernel before throwing them into the hot oil. Haha!! :)
I have put this as one of my favorite things because I truly enjoy popcorn. This Christmas, a teacher that Matthew works with gave him a bag of Vic's Popcorn half salted with a mix of red and green sugar colored kernels. I  was so excited when he brought that LARGE bag of popcorn home. Let's just say, that was only two days ago and well....the bag is about 3/4 gone. ;) OOPS!! Vic's makes some pretty fabulous popcorn. Not too salty, not too sweet. If I personally don't make popcorn, this is my favorite kind to buy.

I know it's not exactly a Christmas treat or anything but its something that brings my whole family together around one big bowl of buttery salty goodness. :) And that's why it's the second part of My Favorite Things.


A Hui Kaua...

A Few of My Favorite Things (Part 1)

I got to thinking the other day of the song from the Sound of Music (that for whatever reason is a Christmas song....I don't get why) called "My Favorite Things". I think it was in the middle of a conversation that I was having with my mother that made me think of this song. Whatever the reason was, I thought it would be fun to write about a few of my favorite things. I have titled this post with a "Part 1" because I'm hoping to add to this list of favorite things, especially during this Christmas season. 

Favorite thing #1:

Candy Cane Kissees

These wonderful morsels of greatness are perhaps THE most delicious pieces of candy EVER made. No. Really. I don't lie. The other week I waited on a party of ladies who had come into the restaurant for a Christmas party. At the end of their little get together, the lady who had arranged everything handed myself and the other waitress a little back of chocolate candies. I figured it was your usual pieces of candy, ya know, Chocolate Kisses, Reese's Cups, maybe a Twix, or some collection of other candies. Anywho, I opened it and sure enough there were Twix, Reese's Cups, and THESE. Honestly, I didn't realize what THESE were at first.
Then I ate one.
My life changed forever.
Ya know that moment when you think you are about to drink or eat something and your mind is all made up that what you THINK you are consuming is really that and as soon as you put it in your mouth, as soon as your little taste buds are going crazy, you realize that's a completely different flavor than what you were expecting??????
That's what happened with me. After making this comment to my younger sister that I had found my favorite Christmas candy of all time, she informed me that they came out every year and was SURE that I had tried these awesome pieces of white chocolate hugged with peppermint flavoring and sprinkled with little bits of candy cane. Whatever the case may be!! I love these things and they have QUICKLY become One of My Favorite Things during the Christmas season.
I am very interested to perhaps make some cookies or even peppermint cupcakes with these wonderful little things. :)

What are some of your favorite yummy Holiday treats, homemade or store bought??

Resting in the Unknown

Yes, this might be a strange title but truly it's the first thing that came to my mind and honestly where I'm trying to get to. The past few months have been really hard for me emotionally and spiritually. I'm so thankful to have such a positive thinking husband though. I know that my mind set is not always positive so to be married to a man who has a very positive outlook on just about everything truly helps me. As most of you know, we have been seeking the Lord on direction for the near future. Matthew wants to go back to school and has been trying to narrow down exactly what medical field he wants to go in to. This process has just about made me tear my hair out. I have struggled trying to be encouraging and support whatever his decision will be. I know on the his end, he has been extremely stressed because he wants me to have opportunities to dance wherever we may go. So, I guess you could say we both have been having a hard time. Well, just recently, he has FINALLY decided on what that field is. And that is????
Veterinary school. 
With this comes a whole other can of worms for me personally.


What test(s) does he need to take?? Where are the school options for him?? What about me?? What will I do?? How will my passion flourish while he is in school pursuing what God has called him to do?? How is this supposed to work?? How are we fitting together?? This isn't going to work. I can't dance and pursue my dancing career if he wants to play with animals. What have I done........????

These and MANY more questions have kept me awake entirely too many nights of the week. At first, I am excited. Then, I get stressed about how I fit into this plan. I am totally thrilled that he decided on a field he enjoys, loves, and believes its what he's supposed to do. AMEN!!!! I stand behind him completely. There are two different schools that he has narrowed down the option of attending. I will not go into those details right now because that would be a whole new post and perhaps I can save that for a different day. :)

As you can tell, there have been plenty of decisions we have had to make and making those decisions as a couple has been a tough journey. This morning, after dropping Matt off at school, I had about an hour or so before I had to get ready for work. I made myself a cup of coffee and sat down at the computer to journal. As I started praying, I was reminded of a verse. The chapter this comes from is very popular and is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. I have pasted below the verse what I wrote down in my quiet time. It's not all of what I wrote but it's what I wrote about these particular verses.
*I encourage you to read this entire chapter and seek what God might give to you personally.*


Psalm 139:5-10
"You hem me in - behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.


Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from  your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you
are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast." 


These verses so encouraging to me!! God has laid his hand upon me, his right hand WILL hold me fast. It doesn’t matter where we go!! It doesn’t matter where I am at. The Lord will still hold me in the palm of his hand. There has not been one time that he has not taken care of me and my needs at a particular time. Why should this new chapter with new decisions be any different??
 I remember being done with CFCC and stumbling around trying to figure out where I was going to go. I auditioned for several different schools and either I didn’t hear back from them or I wasn’t accepted. Then, I applied for Belhaven via a video. I had missed the physical audition date to go to MS and audition and therefore they said they would accept a video audition. I remember preparing that video on a Saturday afternoon, sending it in that following Monday morning, and by the end of that week I had received a phone call telling me that I was accepted and that my letter of acceptance was on its way. Talk about God being in every inch of that plan!!!!! Why he shouldn't be in the midst of this plan for us is an absurd thing to think about. He is our creator and the reason we find our being.

I am not a failure. I am created to succeed and be a blessing. God does not create mistakes and I am NOT a mistake. He has hemmed me in before and behind and he has laid his hand upon me. His right hand WILL hold me fast.


Like I said, I encourage you to read the entire chapter of Psalm 139. I also want to encourage you if you are in a hard place to not forget who you belong to and who is holding you always. Satan likes to discourage us in thinking we will never be good enough because of this reason or that reason but I'm here to tell you, God doesn't see us like that. God seriously doesn't make mistakes!! We all have a purpose on our lives. He has plans to help us succeed. I want to stay encouraged but more than that, I want to be an encouragement for others around me. If I can't live out encouragement in my own life, how will people believe me when I encourage them??
Today, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, etc, I CHOOSE to be encouraging. I CHOOSE to stand on the promises that God has over my life. I CHOOSE to rest in the unknown of where God is taking us because of what his word says.

A hui kaua...

Beautiful Things

I had planned on posting this yesterday which would have made my postings two in one day. Wow!! Be amazed. However, that did not happen like I planned. I know I have posted twice about Christmas but this post is not at all about Christmas. It's just a little story about what's been going on lately. 

Warning!!! After reading over this again, I realized that I wrote a lot. Just keep reading. I promise it's worth it. 

So!! Another song for you. This one was brought to my attention by my lovely younger sister, Abigail Lanier, about a year ago. She had it playing one day and it caught my attention. She made the comment about how she loved this song and kinda saw me doing something with it. Well, that comment was stored away in my subconscious after that and didn't come back to my memory for several months. This past summer, our lovely photographer for our wedding, Katherine Freshwater, was taking our engagement pictures. On the way to the photo shoot site, this CD was in her CD player and this song came on. In her absolutely beautiful voice, she began singing it and as it got to the chorus, I immediately recognized it from the song my sister had showed me. I of course fell in love with this song all over again. What was interesting was that she made the same comment my sister made about seeing me choreographing to this particular song.

Now, this was about 6 months ago and again I hid the comment away in my mind not to be brought up again for several more months. God sure does have a way of bringing things back to our attention after some time. In all his awesomeness, God did just that. :)

I am currently taking classes at a studio that meets downtown called the Dance Co-Op. During the month of October, I didn't take many classes due to a very important date that changed my life forever. ;) Of course, that date was my wedding day. I was just completely consumed with finalizing everything and didn't have much time to take classes. Well, when I went back to the Co-Op, I was reminded of an audition that was coming up soon for the North Carolina Dance Festival.

NCDF is a festival that the Co-Op sponsors in Wilmington every year. It is a festival celebrating dance in which professional choreographers bring their works to show over a weekend. During this 2011-2012 tour, they will be making their last stop in Wilmington (read more about it on their website: http://www.ncdancefestival.org/). After returning to classes, I was reminded that the Co-op was holding auditions to be in some of the pieces for the show. I had the opportunity to audition to be in a piece as well as audition dancers for a piece I could choreograph myself.

This is where my entire long story comes together. Just hang in there. :)

I started praying about choreographing my own piece. I honestly struggled with the idea. This festival is by no means a Christian based festival. I haven't met any dancers at the Co-Op who were Christians as well (or so I thought) which of course made me second guess this opportunity over and over again. On top of that, I really didn't have a song that I wanted to choreograph to (or, again, so I thought). Like I said before, God is awesome and reminds us so gently and many times abruptly of how absolutely amazing He really is.

Auditions were to be held on November 4 which was a Sunday. All week long I looked and listened, and listened and looked constantly for music. I was to the point on Saturday night that maybe I just shouldn't do anything and was ready to just pass up this opportunity.

Until.

Matt had turned on Pandora in the living room. I was standing in the kitchen doing the dishes. What station did he turn on?? None other than Gungor Radio. And what song "just happened" to come on that station?????? None other than the exact song both Abbey and Katherine had told me they saw a piece to. I honestly about dropped the plate in my hand.

THAT WAS THE SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was no denying I had choreography to this piece. As soon as the music started, the dancers were moving in my head. I was all smiles!! I had my song!!

But.......

One minor problem.

I didn't have the CD.........

SO!!!!!!

I texted Katherine and asked if she had it available for me to borrow. I got it from her the next morning at church just hours away from the audition.

However, just as soon as I got excited, I started second guessing all of it. Again.

"Why would anyone want to be in my piece??"

"I am a new dancer at this studio and they know nothing about me."

"I'm gonna get laughed out of there."

"They're going to think I'm crazy!!"

One negative thought after the next came to mind and by the time I had left church, I was certain there was no way I could do this choreography.

*I'm fairly certain God laughed at me that day. Just sat up in heaven, pointed and laughed and said, "Oh you silly little girl. You have no idea!!" Honestly. Truly!! He laughed at me!! I just know it. That's why the next course of events took place.....*

I went to that audition with barely 12 counts of choreographed movement. To those of you who don't know or understand music and choreography, 12 counts is not much!! Barely enough to be able to see anybodies capabilities. Well, I had my music and the little bit of choreography (I guess I should add that the choreography I had was merely in my head.....I had not even been able to see what it actually looked like. For all I knew, I would look like an idiot trying to show it.).

The auditions started and as each choreographer went, I became more and more nervous about how my turn would go.

Finally. 

It came to me. 

All the others had explained to some degree what their piece was about. Me on the other hand?? I didn't know what to say about mine. I didn't have a set idea. I didn't even have set movement for more than 12 counts of it!! What was I doing?!?!

So, there I was. Walking over to the sound guy to hand him my iPod.

The song isn't even on my iPod yet!!

Oh Lord......

I had to think quick.

I was immediately reminded of a song that was on a Hillsong United CD I had on my iPod. It was completely instrumental but I just had a feeling it would work perfectly to do some movement to.

Turned to the song. Handed the sound guy my iPod. Walked to the center of the studio. And just stared moving.

I counted. I turned. I rolled. I twisted. I twirled. I jumped. And then I was upside down?? What?! 

Oh boy...... 

This was not going anything like I had imagined.....it was going FAR better than that!!!!!

After it was all said and done, I had 24 full counts of choreographed movement!! All of which was done on the spot. I was blown away. Until I saw their faces.....they needed me to do that again.....

I went over it again. You know what?? It was the exact same movement!! Nothing changed. It felt like I had rehearsed it a million times and knew exactly where to go and when. They asked questions. I answered. They said they were ready and we went for it. Broke everyone up into groups and started the music.

When you audition for a piece, normally you already have an idea of how many people you want or need, what the music is, how it's going to play out, etc etc. Ya know, the important things. Of course, I knew none of this. As I watched them all move (some more fluid than others) I began to see my piece coming together.

Since the audition over a month ago, I have asked 3 dancers to be in my piece. One of them had to decline because of scheduling conflicts which left me down one dancer. I honestly didn't want to choreograph myself into the piece. I wanted to sit back and watch this one play out before. I wanted to see where this was going to go without me in it. It seemed God had crazier plans than I did!! I could not find a third dancer who was able to rehearse with us so I have now put myself into the piece. As of two days ago, we had met only 2 times and have almost half the song finished.

That just blows me away!!

To put the icing on the cake, the two ladies I will be dancing with are Christians as well and know the song very well. At our first rehearsal, I was a little unsure if they were going to like the song. As soon as they recognized the music, they both were beaming with excitement to get started.

That filled my heart with joy. :)

I knew God was making this possible and was right in the midst of the movement. For the past several months, I have felt very much like a failure (that's a whole other subject for a whole different blog....). But for this to be happening, for this particular song to be working, to be connected with these specific dancers, I know that these moments have been gifts of confirmation that this is where I am suppose to be and what I am suppose to be doing.

Now for the song????? :) 

Here it is. 

Michael Gungor 

"Beautiful Things"

I do ask that you be in prayer for us as I continue through choreography. We have to show what we have so far on December 18. It doesn't have to be completely finished but the panel critiquing the piece has the right to not let us do it for the festival. I am praying against that. As soon as I have a good video of the choreography I will post it so you can see it. :)

A hui kaua....

Christmas Music

Tis the season for Christmas music!! We have a Blueray player which will stream all kinds of fun stuff straight to the TV. I have been listening to Christmas music for about a week now through our wonderful Blueray player and Pandora. I am still trying to find a holiday station that I honestly like because some of the renditions of the Christmas music is....well....sorta annoying. Just saying. Anywho. Listening to all these Christmas songs reminds me of my favorite Christmas song. Ok, one of my favorite. There certainly are entirely too many to post in one blog. I want to share my favorite Christmas song here for you. However, I have had a hard time trying to find a good rendition on Youtube. I absolutely LOVE how the cello sounds when played this song but all the videos for that are live and the sound quality isn't good. My other issue was finding one that didn't have random pictures of the singer. So!! The one I found is by BarlowGirl. I don't listen to them on a regular basis but this rendition is beautiful. I hope you enjoy it as well. What's your favorite Christmas song??

Christmas Time is Here!! (Cont.)

I previously posted that I had started decorating my little house. Well!! Wait no longer because here are some pictures of the exciting decorating fun. :) I have also put lights up on the front bushes (Yes, all by my little lonesome. Be proud, be proud.). We have a lighted wreathed on the front door as well. It's still light out so you can't really see those lights so I'll have to post those pictures on here a little later. What do your Christmas decorations look like this year??

Our tree. Got all my ornaments from Olde Time Pottery and the angel tree topper from Lowe's.

This is probably my favorite Christmas decoration. It's my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!! :)

Found this at Lowe's today while searching for our angel tree topper. Isn't she beautiful!!

My first own nativity scene. I'm pretty happy with it. :) It's so cute!!

A hui kaua...

Christmas Time Is Here!!

Haven't posted in a while and what better time to post the now!! It's that time of the year again. The time of the year we all get to go rushing through crowds buying gifts for everyone on our lists. The time when everyone bundles up (unless of course you live in Wilmington, NC where it's only 70) and goes to buy or cut down their own Christmas tree. We can all listen to and sing Christmas music and nobody looks at you funny for singing

"Jingle Bells" in the middle of July. Thanksgiving is officially over so NOW I can get excited about Christmas (we'll save that point for another blog ;) ). It's been a tradition in our family the past few years that as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over and cleaned up, we all get comfy cozy on the couch and watch the movie Elf. This year was pretty much the same other than the fact that Matt and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house since it was our first Thanksgiving as Mr. and Mrs. Anyways, back to my point here. We all sat down and watched Elf which of course immediately put me in the Christmas spirit!! Since then, I have been pestering Matt about when we were going to get our tree. The week past and December 1st arrived. I was starting to get antsy. I love Christmas time. Everything about this time of year I just love!! Ok, minus the crazy shoppers. There's a line that I've gotta draw somewhere. I love driving around at night and seeing the houses lite up with Christmas lights. I love going to Lowe's or Home Depot and smelling the Christmas trees. I love decorating the inside of my house. I love baking cookies and maybe even decorating them!! :) I love decorating my Christmas tree. But what I love the most out of this whole season?? That moment when you have your tree decorated and you turn those beautiful, glittering Christmas lights on for the first time. That moment when there's no other light on but the tree. Maybe a candle or too but nothing that is disrupting from the grandeur of that shedding, wonderful smelling, sparkling tree standing in your living room. That moment when those lights first come on and the instrumental Christmas music is playing on Pandora. That moment when you are able to stand back and just stare because you can't tear your eyes away. That moment, that moment, is what I look forward to ALL year long. I had my favorite moment just last night actually. Matt FINALLY ;) let me go get THE tree. Jon-David and I went across the street to Home Depot (he joked the entire time that we could have just walked across and carried the tree home we lived so close but alas, I didn't want to get sap, pine needles, or anything else that might drop outta that tree all over me. Sorry. There was my girly moment for the day.). I walked up to the tent, found the one that smelled the best and looked the best which took me all of 5 minutes. :) I don't like to take too much time in any kind of shopping. Find what ya need, get the size, color, shape, whatever and get outta there. Bottom line. :) Walked inside to pay for my new little chunky tree while the guys were getting it ready to go on my car for the "long" drive across the street. As all things go, nothing ever comes quick and easy. I figured we'd get it home, clear a space for it, put the lights on, find the ornaments, plug it in, and bing-bang-boom!! We've got ourselves a decorated Christmas tree!!!!! Yea right. Only in the movies does that happen. One thing led to the other but Jon-David and I finally got it inside (I guess I should add that during this whole process, Matt had 2 soccer games that he was playing in so he did not get to experience the joy of such purchase and the journey of the tree entering our humble abode. Oh well. Perhaps next year?? Ha...). I had diligently been working on untangling the lights which, might I had, looked they had just been waded up and thrown in a bag.....that is NOT how they will be put away for next year I can tell you that right now!! All of this while watching the UNC game of course. :) Had to have a little entertainment while doing this. You will be happy to know that as soon as the game was over, I turned my Christmas music back on and sang right along. The lights became untangled, the tree was placed in its stand, and finally put in its spot in the living room. Before he decided to get up and help me, Jonathan sat on the couch laughing and watched me struggle with trying to get the lights around the tree. Thanks. In the end, the lights were on and I was happy. I had a dance rehearsal at 430 so before Matt and I left, I plugged the tree in so it would be lit when we came home. As soon as we pulled in the drive way, I saw it. That beautiful tree standing in my living room. As we walked inside, the smell of it overwhelmed me and I was so excited for it to be Christmas. We sat down for a moment on the couch and didn't say a word. My perfect moment had come. My husband beside me, no other lights on but the tree, and a comfy couch to sit on. Christmas has arrived!! :)

A hui kaua.....