Salsa Dancing (30 Days of Gratitude)

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 13 

For the last two years we have done an annual salsa dancing event with our LaFe group. This is one of my favorite events we do and I have been there every single time. Even the time I was super sick I managed to still come. I love dancing - I love the freedom it brings. One student commented that I looked really happy while dancing. It's one of the things my twin and I share in common is our love of dancing.

So thanks for the wonderful and bountiful food, the good friendship, the beautiful dancing and music and time where we can all feel free and alive for a moment.

Artists (30 Days of Gratitude)

30 Days of Gratitude: Day 12

We had our first Arts Ministry worship night tonight. Our Arts Ministry was started very much on a whim - I asked a student leader if she wanted to lead in that capacity, its as something we had talked about briefly over the past year. I could not have imagined what would have come from it. This arts small group has met constantly throughout the year, visioning and creating together, and asking how does God celebrate our art and how do we celebrate our God?

Our first Arts Worship night was a beautiful display of dance, poetry, and song. I never could have pictured tap dancers coming up or even the artists that were in our community sharing their heart in front of all us. Even those who wouldn't call themselves "artists" got to paint and sing together. We were invited as a whole community to worship God through the arts and I am forever grateful.

(students where invited to draw, write, and create together)

(we had tap dancers join us)

Skinny Love

Most of my new favorite songs of the recent weeks have come because they were on So You Think You Can Dance. One of the artists that has had two songs appear on the show is Birdy. For being a fan of singer/songwriter music I can't believe I had never heard of her until now. I like her music because it focuses on simplicity which makes the few instruments used stand out (including her voice, which has an ethereal quality to it) as well as the lyrics.

No to mention both performances were profoundly moving:

The District Sleeps (dance by Aaron and Jasmine)

Skinny Love (dance by Fic-Shun and Alison)

Old Skin

My new recent song I've fallen in love with is Old Skin by Ólafur Arnalds and Arnor Dan. It begins with a soft piano and builds throughout the song to send a wave of feeling through your chest. One of the best uses to this song was from So You Think You Can Dance. I highly recommend you check it out.

To purchase on iTunes click here.

Brave

Sara Barielles is one of my all time favorite artists. She has an amazing voice, range, and talent. Many artists can either sing well or have amazing lyrics. Sara B has both, and extremely high on both to begin with.

I'm so inspired by her talent and passion. Her newest video - Brave - is an amazing concept. It looks like a normal, sing in public places video, but at the end it reveals so much more than that. One of my students also things the library scene was filmed at the CSUN library. We haven't verified it, but it could be true since it was filmed around LA.

Props to Sara B!

Goals for Year 25

(updated as of December 12)
When I turned 25 I decided to try and do some things I never have done before or just really wanted to get done this year. I created a list a 25 goals to accomplish by the end of the year. Some were big some where small, some were serious some felt silly and all, but together they made amazing memories.

Look through the blog posts over the past year with the 25 in 25 tag or just peruse through the list to see what I've accomplished in one year alone.

Here we go!

1. Read 25 new books
1. Liesel and Po by Lauren Oliver
2. Healing for Damaged Emotions by David Seamands
3. God Went to Beauty School by Cynthia Rylant
4. Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen
5. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns) by Mindy Kailing
6. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
7. The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
8. Helen of Pasadena by Lian Dolan
9. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
10. Legal: the First 21 Years by Jonathan Walton
11. The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell
12. Out of Solitude by Henri Nouwen
13. Your Mind's Mission by Greg Jao
14. Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal
15. Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller
16. Who Pooped in the Park by Gary D. Robsen
17. Real Life by James Choung
18. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie 
19. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz
20. Penguins Hate Stuff by Greg Stones
21. Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones
22. Love is an Orientation by Andrew Marin
23. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
24. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
25. Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
2. Visit 25 new places
1. Snarf's Sandwiches in St. Louis, MO
2. St. Charles, MO
3. Dune Point State Beach in Malibu, CA
4. Old Los Angeles Zoo
5. Saladang in Pasadena, CA
6. Solstice Canyon in Malibu, CA
7. Eurekea Burger in San Luis Obispo, CA
8. Raku Sushi in San Luis Obispo, CA
9. Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles, CA
10. Barrelhouse Brewery in Paso Robles, CA
11. Road to Seoul BBQ in Korea Town, Los Angeles, CA
12. Menchie's Frozen Yogurt in Granada Hills, CA
13. Freddie's Frozen Custard in Bakersfield, CA
14. Zuma Beach in Malibu, CA
15. Neptune's Net in Malibu, CA
16. Salsa and Beer, Van Nuys, CA
17. Runyon Canyon, Hollywood, CA
18. Good Pho You, Granda Hills, CA
19. Zaika Indian Cuisine, Bakersfield, CA
20. Tea Bar, Bakersfield, CA
21. Pike Brewing, Seattle, WA
22. Space Needle/Seattle Center, Seattle, WA
23. Olympia Roasting Coffee Co, Olympia, WA
24. Kalama Burger Bar Inc., Kalama, WA
25. Stumptown Coffee, Portland, OR
26. Golden Road Bewing, Glendale, CA
27. New Delhi Palace, Pasadena CA
28. Saigon Deli, Fresno CA
29. Pizza Factory, Bishop, CA
30. Fraizer Park, CA
31. Forest Home, Ojai, CA
32. Seoul Sausage Company, Santa Monica, CA
33. Blockheads Shavery, Santa Monica, CA
34. Sweet Snow, Northridge, CA
35. Reality LA Church
36. Flour + Tea, Pasadena CA
3. Meet 25 new people that are not work related: I need to know their name, where they are from, and where they are going.
1. Older couple on metro (great story)
2. Norrette from H.O.P.E.'s House
3. Pastor Chuck and Pastor Dre from H.O.P.E.'s House
4. Carol - my racing friend from Downtown Dash
5. Toro, my roommate's guitar playing friend
6. Angela, a woman who lives in our apartment complex
7. Monica, from H.O.P.E.'s House (lots of new church friends)
8. Damon from the 168 Film Contest I helped out at
9. Kristina from the 168 Film Contest I helped out at 
10. Kokeb Shi, Sol's Friend
11. Randi, Jenel's Friend
12. Marshall and Alexander - the bagpipe players at the warf
13. Anna, the waitress at Marche in Seattle who got us onto the hotel rooftop
14. Lisa, the woman from the doughnut shop in Seattle (it was her birthday)
15. Austin from Tennessee - attending the WDS conference/Voodoo Doughnuts 
16. Nate also from Tennessee - attending the WDS conference/Voodoo Doughnuts 
17. Jonathan too from Tennessee - attending the WDS conference/Voodoo Doughnuts 
18. Katie at Chris and Jane's wedding
19. Beth at Chris and Jane's wedding
20. Mike from A Night of Scenes at H.O.P.E.'s House
21. Brandon from A Night of Scenes at H.O.P.E.'s House
22. Shannon, family friend, Jacob's, girlfriend
23. Mac, family friend, Jessica's, boyfriend
24. James from Texas, serving the Global Intern Trek food
25. Beth from The Toloumne Lodge 
26. Reality LA - Encino Community Group
4. Lose 25 lbs 
1. Finished on April 1st
5. Get rid of 25 things that I don't need
1. 12 items of clothing
2. The four boxes donated to the Girl's House Garage sale that probably had 50 items in it
6. Actually try 25 things on my Pintrest boards
1. Pencil Poles
2. Chipotle Pesto Pasta
3. Alphabet Pilates
4. Valentine's Day Cake Cookies
5. Standing Abs workout 
6. Chalkboard mirror 
7. Couch to 5k
8. Instagram Bookmarks
9. Mini corn dog muffins
10. Must-Have Apps for Writers
11. Rolo Stuff Ritz Crackers
12. Modern Wall Art
13. The Pizzadilla
14. At Home Speakers
15. Coffee ice cubs
16. How to Tie a Long Scarf
17. Top 10 Songs for Running
18. 200 Running Songs
19. Easy Mac and Cheese
20. Pitch Perfect Drinking Game
21. Fitness at Home
22. Sharpie Mugs 1 (I did 18 of these so I'd count them as 4 items) 
23. Sharpie Mugs 2 
24. Sharpie Mugs 3
25. 30 Day Push Up Challenge
7. Write 25 handwritten letters
8. Learn to cook 15 new dishes
1. Brownies from scratch
2. Chipotle Pesto Pasta
3. Valentine's Day Cake Cookies
4. Mom's Dump Chili
5. Mini Corn Dog Muffins
6. Rolo Stuffed Ritz Crackers
7. The Pizzadilla
8. Turkey Sliders
9. Chicken Salad Sandwiches
10. Corn and Black Bean Salad
11. Cofee Ice Cubes
12. Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese
9. Get coffee/tea/ice cream/etc. with 15 old friends
1. Frozen yogurt with Maise 
2. Coffee with Noemi
3. LA Adventure with Melody
4. Burgers with Meghan
5. Sushi with Nene
6. Smoothies and Beach with Nicole
7. Twinship Adventure Time with Sol
8. CSUN Tour with Yi-ki
9. Hike with Sarah A
10. Pizza with Meg
11. Get Shaved with Justin
12. Corner Bakery with Peter
13. Lunch with Kathy
14. Lunch and laundry with Christina
15. Denny's with Lengyel, Brendan, and Nate (and many others)
10. Physically record 10 family stories
1. No Pants
2. Mom
3. Dad
11. Memorize 10 passages of scripture
1. Proverbs 3:5-6
2. Philippians 4:4-7 
3. 1 John 1:9
4. Luke 4:18-19
5. Isaiah 61:1-3
6. Psalm 103:1-5
7. Psalm 40:1-3
8. 1 Peter 1:3-7
9. Philippians 4:12-13
10. Ezekiel 11:19-20
12. Find 10 new musical artists (or new albums) and recommend them to someone else 
1. JJ Heller - Loved 
2. Pentatonix - Radioactive (Imagine Dragons Cover)
3. Lindsey Sterling
4. Sara Bareilles - Brave
5. Ólafur Arnalds - Old Skin
6. Todderick Hall - Wizard of Ahhhs 
7. Birdy - Skinny Love and The District Sleeps
8. Ylvis - What Does the Fox Say and What's the Meaning of Stonehedge
9. The Head and the Heart
10. Beta Radio
13. Watch 10 movies I can't believe I haven't seen yet
1. Jumanji
2. The Hobbit
3. Butter (after watching it, I can't believe I hadn't seen - so good!)
4. Family Weekend (same deal as Butter)
5. 50/50
6. The Breakfast Club
7. The Amazing Spiderman
8. Fast and Furious: Toyoko Drift
9. Fast Five 
10. Fast and Furious Six
14. Give up 4 bad habits - turns out I focused more on developing new habits 
1. Gained - gratitude 
2. Gained - writing consistently 
3. Gained - consistant prayer times 
4. Gained - taking space for myself 
15. Run 2 5K's 
1. Glendale Downtown Dash
2. No official 5k but have run 3.2 miles several times since 
16. Blog once a week
1. January - success!
2. February - finished!
3. March - almost didn't make but pulled through at the end
4. April - completed!
5. May - done with!
6. June - accomplished!
7. July - win!
8. August - literally once a week and that's it
9. September - a struggle (NSO got the best of me)
10. October - not totally
11. November - thankfully yes :) 
12. December - will be done
17. Blog in another language (probably Spanish, maybe Italian)
1. Espanol 
18. Learn to drive a stick shift
19. Create a piece of art to frame
1. Modern Wall Art
20. Learn a new skill
1. Really wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument, but I learned how to do push-ups better and I'd say that's a pretty sweet new skill. 
21. Begin to learn another language (Spanish, Italian, and ASL are my top 3 to choose from now)
1. Practicing my ASL while at work. I have half of the alphabet down and a few words. It's a work in progress. 
22. Write something and send it to be published
1. Working on the poetry skills
2. Working on a book idea... possible portion here. 
23. Go out dancing
1. Had a dance party at Exponential and I busted a move or two
24. Write a song
1. Green Christmas
25. Face a fear
1. Heights Part 1: Standing on a cliff's ledge
2. Heights Part 2: Going up the Space Needle

Just Dance

Sometimes you have friends who just get it. Who understand, who act, and keep you in positive spirits.

Darin, Austin, and Nick, thank you for indulging me in my adventurous side. Thank you for allowing me to talk and ramble and just be in company of great friends.

Amanda, Ryan, Darci, Brendan, and Erin, thank you for dinner, for the company, for the laughter and food, and for the wonderful memories that I have of you all so far.

Sarena and Jenel, you are amazing, wonderful and I'm so glad you understood what I needed from people tonight. Thanks for making me dance with you, for encouraging me, and just being present.

Sol, thanks for the text messages and for calling at the right time and just being there to understand.

All of you helped make the day special and a wonderful way to usher in year number 25. I will work on my just dance moves from now. No more one star only business. Probably need to ask for that for Christmas so I can give my sister back her copy.