Cast of Wild and Whirling Words

It's ME!
Spencer--and yes, he's laying on the swords. Lounging if you will. . . Truly a man's man.
Ariel and Bridget--posing beautifully for the camera. I love these girls!
Ariel and Spencer posing in the dip they do at the end of each show.

Spencer and Ariel do some incredible sword fights during the show.

So, our run comes to an end on Monday. So sad. I won't miss the 5am mornings, but I will miss hanging out with everyone. I won't miss the traffic. But I will definitely miss the Rockstar drinks and working with all the kids.

Adios Maryland Shakespeare!

Gratitude

We went to the beach yesterday. We had people staying at our house so we could leave early in the morning. I crashed in my bed at 11:15pm. I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and could hear people chatting throughout the house. For one moment--one single--tiny-- moment--I regretted falling asleep so early. But then I crawled back into my little metal futon and happily went back to sleep.

At 5:30am, my crazy roommate started playing music loudly in her room in an effort to wake up the troops. I calmly walked to her room and stated, "Do you want the neighbors to call the police? It's 5:30am on a holiday weekend." Nothing could squelch her hyperness--which is good. Who wants to squelch someone's bliss?! Not me! No sirree.

I just typed up a bunch of negative things--but I shouldn't publish such negativity. So here's a catalog of good things and some bad things.

1) The drive was long.
2) The beach was beautiful! It always is!
3)Water was cooooolllllldd.
4) I got a sunburn, despite my best efforts. Of course, it's only in areas that my spray sunblock missed--like my arm pits and my butt. Crazy!! And my back is pretty toasty.
5) We ate Fish and Chips.
6) I listened to bad jokes told by uninteresting men for a very long duration. It took everything in my power not to text Spencer, "I miss you!!! I love you!!! Never leave me again!!!"

There's nothing like spending time with other people to make you appreciate the close friends you have.

Traffic getting back into the city was horrific. But Jared's car was wonderful and he was pretty cool. Another guy in the car kept stating horrible facts about how long it was going to take us to get home. He also enjoyed answering all of my rhetorical questions. The other guy in the car spoke so softly I couldn't understand him. No one could. There's shy, and then there's inconsiderate. I love my loud and articulate friends now. I love you all!!!! 5 hours in a car people! Five hours!!!

Today I get to start the new quarter. I'm going to enjoy teaching this new English class.

Happy Memorial Day!

Yesterday I had a wonderful moment. I was driving to Bonny and Mike's wedding, set to arrive a good 30 minutes early--and I hit a major traffic jam on the beltway. This is nothing new--but I wasn't expecting it on a Saturday! So I thought I would be soooo cool and get off the freeway and take the backroads to the temple.

I got so lost. I can't describe how confusing the roads are here. I have a great sense of direction--but it was 11:30am so the sun was no help--the hills are just hilly and the roads like to turn for some idiotic reason.

I finally made my way back to the beltway--and realized I was in the exact same spot I had exited. I was ready to cry. I knew I was going to miss the whole ceremony. I got back on the beltway and the accident had cleared. I noticed a car in front of me that I knew was headed to the temple. I sped up and followed her path through the traffic, but despite my miracle leader--I got to the temple at 12:02pm and despite Mormon standard time--they actually run a pretty tight ship at the temple. I was sure I had missed my chance to attend the sealing. I wanted to cry. Despite all my prayers to help me to get there on time--I was going to miss the sealing!

But wonder of wonders! The bride and the groom were late!! So I didn't miss it! It was a beautiful ceremony. The man performing the ceremony cracked me up. He quoted Reader's Digest and kept calling Bonny, Nancy. I was cracking up. Bonny was the world's most beautiful bride. It was fantastic.

Today I taught Relief Society and Priesthood in a combined meeting. I was really happy with how it went. The main points that I wanted to hit on were these:
1) the words KNOW and the words LOVE are interchangeable. To know is to love--as we come to know one another better, we love each other more.
2) If we identify the attributes of Heavenly Father's love for us--we can seek to emulate those attributes as we strive to love one another.
3) Discuss the transforming power of Charity.

Everyone made wonderful comments. I LOVE TEACHING!!

Tomorrow I'm going to the beach!! And i promise that there will be no pictures!!

Getting it Together

Yesterday, after falling asleep under the burden of debt--I woke up on my day off with renewed ambition.

The other charges did indeed go through, leaving me $300 in the hole--but there was nothing to be done so I got to work on other things and tried not to worry.

I revamped the online Ethics class I'm teaching and designed my college composition classes that start next week. I got all of my grades in for the quarter that just ended. I pretty much accomplished amazing things yesterday!

I let myself cry a little over the money over the phone with Spencer, but my tears stopped quickly when he told me that he was hired as an understudy with the Shakespeare Theatre! It's so exciting! And after working very hard all day, I went to the gym at 9pm and killed myself on the machines. I kept my heartrate above 170 for 30 minutes. At one point it was up to 190. I'm so happy!!

Just so you understand why I care about my heartrate so much--my mother and my grandmother both had heart attack scares in their early 40s and when I went to the doctor this past December I was warned that my blood pressure was in a scary place--sooooo I'm trying to strengthen my heart. And last night felt incredible.

This morning I had to be up and out of the house by 5am, so I didn't get much sleep last night. I was supposed to go down to Charlottesville to be with Bonny and crew for the day before the wedding chores and festivities, but I have no money with which to buy gas--so I'm going to the temple tomorrow and bumming a ride with Bri to the rest of the festivities. This works out great because I was able to get in another good workout tonight, watch the Season Finale of Grey's Anatomy--which was incredible by the way--and work on my Relief Society lesson for Sunday.

I'm really trying to learn how to prioritize caring for myself. According to Carol Gilligan, women (and probably men too) pass through these stages of moral development: 1) The concern for individual survival. We are morally correct because it will help us to survive. Then there's the transition from selfishness to responsibility. I remember distinctly when my mother put the sponge in my hand because I was finally tall enough to see over the countertops. That marked that transition for me! 2) Goodness comes to be equated with self-sacrifice. This is the phase I'm finding myself in, though because I'm aware of the other stages, I'm trying to work my way past this stage. Then there's the transition stage that involves giving yourself permission to take care of yourself. It feels like a regression but it's actually a progression towards the third stage--3) Moral goodness is seen as caring both self and others.

Soooo, I'm working my way past the martyr stage. It's teaching me to stop being upset with people who don't choose to sacrifice themselves readily for others. I love and appreciate those who freely give themselves--there's nothing wrong with that--but I have to stop judging those who appear to put themselves first. In fact, I feel like I need to take a page from their book and learn to care for myself a little better. Which is why tonight was so wonderful! I did exactly what I wanted to do. And it didn't cost me a dime and I feel great!

I still want to serve others though because that makes me happy. And hopefully it makes others happy too--but I'm going to value self-love more than I have been.

Well, this post is long enough already! G'night!