NEW YORK CITY

Hello all you beautiful human beings! It's been a good long while since I've posted, and a lot has happened since the last time i did. So here we go.... the speed version of my summer and first few months in NYC: 

- I finished out my first year of college at AMDA LA. At the end of my spring semester my dad drove out to LA and helped me move all my stuff back home to Texas for the summer. I followed him home in my car and we made it home in two VERY long days of driving. As much as I absolutely loved LA, I really loved being back home... in my very big bed. It was all sorts of wonderful. Plus it was nice to be able to dance at my home studio for a few months, be with all my teachers and studio friends that I didn't get to dance with throughout the year. 

- My summer was all sorts of jam packed with just about everything you could possibly imagine. We went on a family vacation literally four days after I came home from LA. And on that vacation I had the chance to surprise on of my absolute best friends Mariel Flores on her mission! She had absolutely no idea I was coming and she just happened to be at one of the Church history sites my family and I were at on the day we were in NY. It was basically the best thing that has ever happened.  Let's just say there was lots of screaming and plenty of hugging! Man I love that girl. The picture below is the two of us right before she had to go in for a meeting. It was so much fun being able to catch up with her even if it was just for a few minutes. This definitely was my favorite part of that trip. 

After vacation, I had to get busy teaching at several dance intensives at various dance studios here in Houston. I had the chance to sub for several people at different studios. Made some new contacts with people which is always fun and exciting, and even got to choreograph a group number for one of my favorite teachers ever. 

I got the chance to spend a week in Austin for a dance intensive in August, and had the chance to stay at one of my old Young Women's Leaders house with her family. It was fun to just hangout with her and her family and become a Brady for the week! We went and saw Oklahoma! with all the kids for mutual one evening. I had my first Torchy's Taco, and I even popped a rib out of place.... not something I'm proud of... but it happened, and now you know. haha! 

Quinton and I after intensive! 

Rachel Brady and I at Oklahoma! I adopted her as my little sister for the week and we still chat quite often. She's the best... and absolutely hilarious! 

Sister Brady and I! I'm so incredibly thankful for this woman, and example she is to me. She was my Young Women's President for basically the last two years that I was in the Young Women's Program at church and she truly is like my favorite person ever. 

The rest of the summer then turned into me working at dance studios, choreography, and getting things ready to move out to NYC. 

October came quickly, and dad and I packed up 4 suitcases and moved my life to NY. We flew in on a 6am flight on a Monday and then spent the rest of the day exploring the city figuring out where various things were. We even had a Daddy Daughter date to Chipotle and a Broadway Show! I know... expensive daddy daughter date... but a quality one i promise. :) 

We went to see On The Town... and I LOVED IT. It's now on my top 10 list of Broadway Shows that I want to be in. I've realized I have some serious big dreams when it comes to Broadway... so keep your fingers crossed that I make those come true. 

 The Playbill from On The Town!

Below is a photo of all of us LA girls who transferred to the NYC campus! Love these girls more than you know! 

We had dance workshop auditions the second week of school. Below are some photos of the 2nd and 3rd semester dance majors on Jazz Workshop Audition night!

Halloween was our second week of school, and we can dress up for our classes that day. So my friend Maggie and I decided that we were going to be Crayons! Joey was Where's Waldo! haha! See if you can spot him the picture below ;)

This guy is probably one of my all time favorite dancers, and a really good friend of mine. Craig Black dances for the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and they had a show at the Joyce Theater here in NY. So of course I went with one of my friends and we saw his show and it was AMAZING. One of the best I've seen. It was fun to get to see him perform again and catch up with him for a few minutes after the show!

Maggie and I are big on doing everything we can while we are here in NY. And we got discounted tickets to the Big Apple Circus!!! No joke... we used like 6 promotion codes. It was fantastic and so was the show! Plus, Maggie had never been to the Circus before.... so we had to change that.

We are also big fans of Broadway shows, and I managed to swing us some cheap tickets to the show Cinderella! So one Saturday afternoon we got all dressed up and headed to the show, then while we were at the show we realized some of our close freinds from school were also at a show nearby. We had a Broadway show selfie war (picture below) and then met up at Applebee's after for some good ole after Broadway show chit chat and a delicious meal.

 Maggie, James, Joey and I at Applebees!

I spent Thanksgiving here in NYC, because I had school all the way up to the day before, which meant I got to go to the parade! Maggie and I slept over at Steven and Alex's place the night before, stayed awake all night getting things ready for Thanksgiving and then went to the parade! The balloons are MASSIVE! Blew my mind. But it was super fun, and now I can officially check that off my bucket list :)

This is just a fun photo of Maggie and I at TGI Fridays.... on a FRIDAY. We thought we were clever.

Somedays I get out of class earlier than others, and if I'm lucky I can normally make it to a class at BDC. While there the other day I got to take class from one of my mentors Aaron Tolson and got to catch up with some of my Tapkid friends who live around the city! It was fun to be able to dance with everyone again.

Below are pictures from my most recent show here in NYC! Taylore and I got chosen to be in the Cafe Series with our tap duet. So below are just some snapshots from throughout the day.

 Ryan and I (the texasns) being sassy during tech rehearsal!

 Taylore, Jon (the director) and I on Show Day!

 Me with Isaiah after the last show!

 Mike is literally the funniest person I've ever became friends with. I met him at church and he came to the last show of Cafe Series! Below is just a random photo of Ryan, Me, and Taylore, who are seriously delirious after being at school for 15 hours in one day. haha.

So, There you have it kids. a brief summary of my summer and my time here in NYC so far. I'm hoping to be a little better at blogging again. Hopefully I can get back into the update once a week thing again. I go home for Christmas next week and will spend two weeks back in Texas and then I come back to school and don't have a break until Graduation in May! Crazy to think that in a few short months I'll be done with school and moving on with life! 

Hope all of you have a fantastic day! Miss you! Love You! 

Nearing The End

So here we are in the last week of the semester of my first year at AMDA and it's been quite a year. I've had some really good amazing moments and some not so good ones as well, but all were for a reason and I'm grateful for them all. 

I know I haven't blogged in awhile, so I figured I would spend the afternoon catching up on things and updating you all on the last couple months here at AMDA LA.

First off Easter came and my roommates and I decided we would have this super cute Easter dinner get together. We made Easter shaped pasta with red and white sauce, garlic bread, green beans and just enjoyed each others company. Below is a lovely picture of me modeling out Easter feast! 

Dance Concert was at the end of April and it was a huge success! The cast was extremely talented and worked so incredibly hard on the show. As a cast we had our moments but it all paid off when we walked on that stage together. Below is a picture of us during circle up on opening night. 

Kellie and her fiance Tyler came to see the show and I'm so glad they had the chance to! I've gotten super close to those two over the past year. Neither of them had ever seen me dance before so the show was the first time they got to see me and everyone dance together. They loved the show and I'm so thankful they got to come hang out with me for a night in Hollywood! 

My dad and brother both came out to see my show in April and I was so incredibly excited about it. My brother hadn't seen me perform live since I was like 10 so him coming out to my show in college meant a ton. They both flew out on a Friday and stayed over the weekend. It was fun to have the both of them here and spend time with two of my favorite guys in the world. 

 Above is a photo of the car my dad and brother drove up to AMDA in... yes that's a mustang.... yes that's my dad striking a pose in a mustang. You gotta love him. 

The guy pictured below is basically the best brother anyone could ever ask for. This kid has been there through a lot of crazy situations and means the absolute world to me. If you ever see the two of us together we are always just going at it with the teasing and messing with each other, but know we are really just best friends, which is how a brother and sister really should be. He hasn't seen me dance in forever, so when I got into the show I called him and invited him to my show. The next day he called me and told me he was coming with my dad. Let's just say my day was made. :) Below is a photo of the two of us right before I said goodbye to him after my show! 

So now we get to my favorite part about Dance Concert weekend. THIS BOY... aka Landon Badoni... also my best friend in the entire world, drove.... for 12 hours... all night to come surprise me at my show. What the heck... I know. I was so incredibly surprised and beyond excited and happy to see this wonderful boy. And it really meant the world that he drove all the way from Utah to come see me perform in my show. The funny thing was is everyone in my entire family knew he was coming except me and everyone either called or texted me the day before he came asking me if I knew if he was coming or not. haha So since he came I really got to spend the entire weekend with three of my most favorite guys in the entire world.  Basically it was one of the best weekends ever. 

Pictured below is me with Kyle! He's both one of my Jazz teachers here at AMDA but he also was one of the directors for the show. I'm so incredibly thankful that I could work for and be inspired by him over the semester. 

 Below are just some fun snapshots from the past couple of weeks with me and my friends. I cut my hair, we went out to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Mother's Day and just had some good ole quality friend bonding time since the show was over and I could actually hang out with people again. 

 Marisa and I at The Cheesecake Factory! 

 The picture above is a photo of Troy and I. I met him my first week here at AMDA and I absolutely love and adore this guy. I love the way he dances and he's like my brother here at AMDA. 

Pictured below is of me, Amanda, and our Musical Theatre Accompanist David Rada!  

 

Me with Eileen Barnett! Eileen is my Musical Theatre teacher and I can't thank her enough for helping instill the love of Musical Theatre in me. 

 Santana and I on performance day in DTP! 

The Last Day of Musical Theatre class photo. 

This photo below is of Me, Riley, Michelle, and Josie. The three of us took our first jazz class here at AMDA with Michelle and we had the opportunity to continue taking jazz from this wonderful woman through our second semester of school. Now all of us are going our separate ways whether it be taking the summer off or moving to New York.

  Below is a photo of me and my big sister here at AMDA Vesta! She came and saw a group of us perform at a show last night and we matched so of course we had to take a photo! 

 This is me with one of my most favorite Jazz teachers here at AMDA Dasha. Her class is insane but it gets you in crazy good shape. I'm so thankful that I could be apart of her piece last night. It was truly magical. 

 The whole cast with Dasha! 

 This is just a cute snapshot of me and Josie ready to perform last night! 

Below is a photo of me and my girl Nini. She left yesterday for the summer but won't be returning to AMDA, and since I'm moving to New York we had to say our goodbyes considering we weren't exactly sure when we are going to get the chance to hang out again. I love this girl to the moon and back and I'm really going to miss messing with her all the time. 

Overall this semester has been a really good one. I've made some really great memories with some really amazing people over the semester and I can't wait to make more. Now being the last week of second semester we just have our final demos and then we are officially done for the year. I perform 6 dances and then if anything gets picked for final showings I'll do that and then head home to Texas for the summer. Dad comes up this week to help me move back home and then I'm spending the summer working, traveling, and keeping up my training. 

I'm so thankful for AMDA and the opportunities it's given me throughout this past year. It's going to be hard to leave in a week but I can't wait to see what New York has in store for me. 

Love each and everyone of you and I'll see you all in a week! 

Hugs and Kisses! 

Midterms Round 2

This week was the week of midterms. For those of you just joining midterms at AMDA are totally and completely different than midterms at a normal college. My midterms here mostly include just performing a series of combinations that we have been working on throughout the beginning part of the semester and or doing a small project on the side. The only class we actually have to really study for is Dance History, and believe me it was an exciting one. My midterm for that class is actually tomorrow, but me and my dancer friends got together for a lovely study session... yes with cheesecake and a study game involved. Below is a photo of us studying super hard. haha. 

                                       

My friend Marisa went out with me and did a photo shoot for me for some new headshots and action shots for some auditions and such. Here's a sample of some of the ones that I got done. 

Dance Concert is going just oh so swimmingly these days. We are officially a week and a half away from performing so we have started rehearsing as a full cast. I would just like to say that I really do love the cast of this show. The people are amazing and really genuinely care about the work being presented. I really can not wait for everyone to see the show. The photo below is some of the girls in the cast this semester... all of which I love oh so much. 

All in all this week has pretty much been just midterms on top of midterms on top of rehearsals. It's been a fun week though. It's hard to believe that in two months I will be back at home in Texas. Not going to lie I am really going to miss LA when that time comes. Sorry this post is short this week, but that's about all the exciting things to share for the week. I promise next week and the week after will be a little more exciting for everyone. 

Love and Miss you all!!! 

Semester 2

Hello Everyone! It's been a while since I've written on the good ole blog, but fear not. I am back. Alive and kicking. There's so much to catch everyone up on in the crazy life I live. So fair warning this may be a lengthy post, but I promise everything will be quality. 

  

Semester Break my two big sisters came to visit me in LA. We've made it a goal to have an annual sister's trip every year. Every year we are going to try to get together and go somewhere new. Who know's maybe one year we will take a tropical get away, but until then we will aim for cool places within a more friendly budget. Below are just some photos of the week! We had tons of fun and it was super nice and relaxing to just spend a week with some of my most favorite people in the world. I really don't think I've ever laughed so much in my entire life than I did over that week. Such good times, such good times. 

 Britni, Me, and Shyla at the Newport Beach. 

 Shyla and I modeling our Mike and Sully hats at Disneyland. 

 Britni and I modeling our Car's Hats at California Adventure. 

 I really just think this is a super cute photo of Eden and I so I thought I would share it with you all. No worries, you're welcome.

 Just a little snapshot of Shyla and I before she left for Utah! 

 The gang meeting Mulan. 

After that exciting week, it was back to school for me. I basically have the same schedule as last semester but I have a couple of different classes. This semester instead of taking Acting, I chose to take Musical Theatre, and I'm actually really liking it. I've recently have gotten really into singing and really feel myself improving as I've been working on it this semester. We've had one performance in Musical Theatre already and I do have to say it went really well. I got assigned my new song and its "Roxie" from Chicago. I LOVE that song, and I'm super proud to say that I can actually sing it really well. Below is a picture of some of us on our first performance day. The group of us below had to sing "Home" from Beauty and the Beast. 

We finally went on a Roomie date like a week ago. We went shoe shopping...(no I didn't buy any) and got some dinner and then just hung out back at our place. Below is Yami, Andrea and Me. :) Room 311 coming at cha! 

Okay, I absolutely love this next picture. It basically explains Landon and I's relationship totally and completely. Landon and I will have been best friends for two years this summer. We've gone on TONS of crazy adventures together and basically this guy is the coolest guy there is. Well, in being best friends, we talk often, and a lot of these times are late at night because that's the only time we both are available. Well, a lot of times we end up falling asleep on each other. A lot of times Landon is the first one to fall asleep but sometimes I give in first, but in this particular instance we were video chatting and both of us just crashed. You have to admit though, it is a pretty cute picture. 

 This lovely girl is my "big sister" here at AMDA. Actually, I feel like a lot of peoples little sister here which is totally cool with me, but this girl is amazing. We call ourselves "Cookies and Creme". We have the chance to dance with each other a ton this semester and I'm so incredibly excited about it. I'm so honored that I get to share the stage with this girl. She is such an inspiring dancer and person. She's definitely my go to girl when I'm having a bad day. 

 Me and Big Sister Vesta!!

I also don't know how you stretch during runs of rehearsals but this is how LT and I do it. :)

These next two photos are really funny. Today we had a 9am Modern CORE technique class. Well basically the whole class which is literally 8 people walked in with black and grey on... so of course we had to take a photo to document the occasion. I like to call it "Promoting Unity in Black and Grey" haha. 

Believe me when I say we don't always look this exhausted. Most of us had a 9am-11pm dance day yesterday so we look a little brutal Tuesday mornings, but don't worry we push through it like champs... because there's not really another option. haha. 

Okay, I think that about catches you all up on all the crazy things that have gone on in the past few weeks. Oh! I auditioned for Dance Workshop for this semester and got in. I was cast in like 7 pieces and just recently found out that my dad and my brother get to come and see my show! So incredibly excited about that.  Other than that I think that's about it for now. Just know that I love and miss you all and can't wait to see you all during the summer before I head off to New York City!