Ward Choir

I love my calling as the music chair. As part of that, I'm the ward choir director. I'm really excited to be able to use my skills, and not to sound prideful, but I think I'm probably the best qualified person in the ward to lead the choir.
But I am so nervous! Why?! I feel like I have to plan everything in advance . ..which pieces we're doing, how I'm going to warm up the choir, when we're singing in Sacrament Meeting, who will be my accompanist, who's going to come, how well they sing, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure the choir will be great (given it is a ward choir), but I feel like I have such big shoes to fill. Because I know so much about music, and after watching Sis. Weidmann do an excellent job as a ward choir director, I feel like I have a responsibility to be the absolute best I can be because that's what I envision. Yeah, I can be better than previous ward choir directors in this ward, but I want the people to have fun and enjoy it, too. Angst. I've spent the last hour or so trying to choose some pieces and make lists of ideas to use with the choir, and I'm still a little anxious about it. What if they don't like me? What if I go over the top? I tend to to that with things, you know. (Take school for instance . ..).
Will you just reassure me that it will be okay?!? Why am I so nervous about this?!

Devin doesn't have a dog.

Spencer's comment from my latest post reminded me of this awkward moment in high school.
I was in PALS, this mentor program at our high school. Every year, we had a kidnap where we kidnapped the new people in the program and took them out to breakfast. I gave my friend Devin rides to our schools and stuff, so I had agreed to pick him up that morning so we could go pick up our people together. I normally picked him up from school, so he had to tell me his address.
Well, when I'm driving in the dark at 5 in the morning, my night vision isn't very good. What I thought was Claremont Street turned out to be Canemont Street. So . .. I knocked on the door of the appropriately numbered house and waited. And waited. I heard a dog bark. Devin didn't have a dog. Then I heard a deep man's voice tell the dog to shut up. Devin doesn't have a deep man voice. This man opened the door. He was white. Devin was hispanic. Great. So . ..what did I do? Basically, after stupidly asking if Devin lived here, I apologized profusely and left the poor man to get back to his sleep.
Maybe I should resign from offering rides to any of my friends of the male variety from now on. It never turns out very good, it seems.

I decided this semester should be full of awkward posts.

Like this one.

I drive my friend Evan to school because he's still recovering from a broken leg he's had since around Thanksgiving. Last semester, we had our first class together every day, so I'd pick him up every day. This semester, I only take him on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but he's out of his special boot, so pretty soon I may not be giving him rides at all anymore. I used to climb the stairs to his apartment so I could help him down the stairs in his crutches. He doesn't need help going down the stairs anymore, but I still go up to his door and knock instead of just calling him.
So, last Tuesday, I climbed the stairs to his door and knocked at the appointed hour of 7:10 in the morning. I had noticed from the parking lot that the light to his living/kitchen area was on. I was a little puzzled because every other time I would pick him up the light would be off because he gets ready in the dark (after all, it is so ridiculously early). Oh, well . ..I thought nothing of the light.
Until I knocked at the door . .. and waited . . .and waited. Then he comes to the door in his bathrobe, apparently so roughly awakened by my knock. So, I come inside and wait on his couch while he goes back to change and get ready super fast. As if that wasn't awkward enough, his new roommate (whom I hadn't yet met) had been asleep on the couch. My knock also woke him, and I'm sure he was pleasantly surprised, if not utterly confused to find a girl in his apartment at such an ungodly hour. "Who are you?" he asks. I explain simply who I am and why I'm there. Noticing it was still dark outside, he asked what time it was. I told him, and he agreed that it was way to early to give any sort of attention to anything academic. He looks around, then he kindly informs me of the obvious. "Uh . .. I think I fell asleep on the couch last night." Hence the reason the light was on, thought I. "Yeah, it looks like it." Luckily I was saved from continuing the painfully awkward situation by the presence of Evan, dressed and ready to go (despite not having showered, of course). We left, and I'm sure his roommate went promptly back to sleep on the couch.
With the light still on.

Just Keep Swimming . .. .

Have you ever tried on a new swimsuit and you just feel awkward doing it? 'Cause you gotta keep your underwear on, right? And, besides that, that's probably the most naked you've gotten in a dressing room before, and you're probably still wearing socks when you try it on, right? Maybe you're imagining your body in that swimsuit, and that makes you feel awkward.
Okay, combine all those factors, and add in a few. Like, maybe you're buying a swimsuit in the middle of the winter when it's snowing outside. Or the fact that you haven't bought a new swimsuit in who knows how long, so you have no idea how the sizing works.
Okay, now add a boy waiting for you in the Sporting Goods store as you're trying on said swimsuit.
Yeah. Water Aerobics better be worth all this! =)

The Sister Chronicles, Part 1

When I was home, I had many opportunities to serve with two wonderful sisters. Let me tell you about them.

Sister Stevens is from San Fransisco. And when asked by investigators if she is lesbian (yes, it did happen!), of course she says no. She has a great smile, and she speaks Spanish almost fluently. Others feel very comfortable around her, and she has a special guy friend out serving a mission, too.

Sister Moyes is from San Diego, and she is the navigator supreme. She's calm and confident in any situation. She loves her family, and she is very detail oriented when it comes to studying and planning. You can't help but smile when you hear her laugh.

I love these sisters. Here's why:

-They get along very well. It's easy to feel comfortable around them.

-They are solid in their testimonies of the Gospel, and it's so amazing to watch them teach together.

-They aren't afraid to get in sword fights now and then . . . .

Christmas Cards

So, somehow I am finally coming up to the surface in regards to holiday things. I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas mood because I've been trying to get everything else done for school. One of my first and continuous Christmas enterprises is making Christmas cards for everyone in the clarinet studio. I'm technically not in the studio this year, but I know and love everyone in the studio, and I'm in at least one ensemble with just about every one of them. Here's some pictures of my favorite cards. I always take pictures of my cards to give me ideas when I make new ones. Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

I think this one was Hannah's.

The one on the left is one of those slider cards, where the center thing slides off to open it (thanks Sis. Weidmann! =). Don was the recipient of this one, I believe. Thanks to Whitney for the tag punch; I love it!

Well, I was going to spell Merry Christmas with the puzzle pieces, but the words were too long. So, I made ho-hos instead. I think Courtney got this one? I can't 'member. Shoutout to Whitney again for the punch . ..

Ornaments again. I came up with the idea for them today, so I have to document it so I can remember it for next time. DRB got this one.
The classic torn, three layer Rebecca style. I love these. I gave Dr. Hinckley this one.

Random Rambling #4

41. I'm listening to "The Reason" by Hubastank. It reminds me of Spencer and also of the dentist's office. I think I must've heard it on the radio on the way home from the dentist's office once.
42. Out of curiosity, I asked one of my (guy) friends if he was going to the Draper Temple Open House, and I think he thought I was going to ask him to go with me. I wasn't, so it was semi-awkward.
43. I went to devotional today, but I dozed off.
44. I made at least three sandwiches today.
45. I'm working on a research paper on Mozart's clarinet concerto.
46. I know two people entering the Proco MTC today for the Argentina Mendoza Mission.
47. Purple Monkey Dishwasher (in honor of Kevin).
48. Thanks to Heidi for handing me down the shirt I wore today. I got several compliments on it.
49. It's entirely too late for me to be up.
50. I fully intend to fulfill Lisa's Christmas tag . ..eventually.
51. I should not go to concerts on a regular basis with my siblings. We goof off too much.
52. Writing this post was not on my to-do list, so I need your opinion to see if this post was worth the opportunity cost it took me.