Shouting from the Rooftops

I can't believe it's almost March. I've been trying to follow a vegetarian diet for 6 months now, and our nephew is 3 months old!  Rush is now a full-time employee at The American Village! He has been so blessed by that job already, but this promotion has turned it into a real career. I've been in school for about a month now and on the 18th of next month, I will be a quarter of a century old. We have begun the process of combining our Facebook pages and will soon delete Rush's old account. Our lives are about to change even further.

Throughout my life, I've often attempted diets or fitness plans. I come up with hard and fast rules for cleaning or building upon my relationship with God. You know, all sorts of schemes to better my life. I've always kept these things a secret. I figured if nobody knew that I'm attempting to become a healthier person (inside or out) and I fail, no one can judge me. I now want to adopt the philosophy that if you're going to make a mistake, make it loud! So not only am I sharing my decisions with my husband, but he's going to take on many of these challenges with me. We will keep each other accountable! And now, dear readers, I am sharing our hopes and dreams with you.

Last month, I wrote about my new journey to finish my work at Samford. Starting next week, Rush and I are joining Hoover Fitness and beginning the 14-week challenge from 100 Days of Real Food. We have also worked for hours to develop a budget and a cleaning schedule which we printed out and put on our fridge. I legitimately cannot imagine having any sort of organization to our lives. We've been working so hard, though, and have factored in everything we can in order to raise the possibility of success in these projects.

We would love for anyone to join us in any of these goals, particularly the Real Food Challenge. Just by reading that blog and similar sites/books/magazines, I have learned so much. I find it unlikely that we will continue a strict real food diet when the 100 days are up, but I hope it changes our eating habits positively. If any of you live near us and would like to join the gym with us, please do! I can't find the specific budget worksheet we eventually settled on but if anyone's interested, I'd be happy to look harder.

So, all of this to say, expect to see changes. And if you don't, well I guess we made a really loud mistake :)

Don't Sweat the Big Stuff

I'm currently working on quite a few projects that, a year or two ago, were giving me significant grief. All I had to do was take a little time, calm down, and now everything is falling into place. Yesterday I went to my first day of classes at Samford. I'm going back, and will finally have both the degrees I intended to get. I never thought I would even finish my theatre degree, let alone the one in music! But lo and behold God has directed my path in several different directions, all of which eventually led me right here.


Some time in the next few months, Rush and I are planning on getting internet in our apartment. It will be the first time we've had internet at home in two years. When we first got married, we could barely afford rent, let alone all those other unnecessary expenses. I can't tell you what a blessing that was to our relationship not to have internet or cable. We spend all of our time together talking and playing games or choosing a movie to watch together. 


I was prompted to write up this post when I was searching for a new emerald ring. You may or may not know that the beautiful filigree ring that Rush gave me when we got engaged was stolen from our car. It's been almost a year since I've seen that ring. After looking at thousands of rings online I came to the conclusion that I will never find one good enough to serve as a replacement. So I began looking for my exact ring. And I found it. Not only did I find My Ring, but I found the real version of it! Turns out Rush had gotten a knock-off. A gorgeous knock-off, but a knock-off all the same. We're saving up and hopefully by the time we get to our 2nd anniversary, I will have an even more perfect ring on my finger.

I just think life is pretty funny that way. Everyone always says not to worry about all the little things, but honestly, what's the point of worrying about the big things either? If there's something you can do about it, do it! Otherwise, just be patient and pray.

I'm a crafty vegetarian!

Life is moving fast. Today is the due date for my baby nephew Isaac... COME ON ISAAC! I've been preparing people at work for my absence over the past two weeks but he's still not here!! It's okay, though. We're glad he's going to be completely ready for this world before he gets here. And I have the best job (and boss) in the world so whenever Isaac decides to grace us with his presence, I will be there.

Tomorrow I start work at the mall as one of Santa's Helpers! SO excited to work there again this year. As I stated in this very blog just last year, my family didn't do the Santa thing when we were kids. In fact, last year was the first time I'd ever even had my picture taken with him. Maybe I'll get to work there next year and there will be a little one-year-old that can get his first Santa picture from Aunt Meme :)

I'm also happy to report that I have a new craft project. I seem to go through different phases. I've done ornaments (that one didn't last long), I did canvases, and now I'm on to fabric flowers. I love wearing clips in my hair so when I learned how to make them at First Baptist's Crafts and Conversations, I was hooked. Now I have 12 home-made rosettes and I plant to make more and more! Let me know if you'd like one because I would LOVE to make one just for YOU!!

Biggest news of the past three months (since there's no baby to brag about yet) - I no longer eat meat. On this Monday (the day my nephew will most definitely be here), it will have been three full months since I had a single bite of meat. Well, except for one time at Gymboree that someone gave me a chicken finger and I ate a little before I remembered that I didn't eat that anymore... It's been pretty awesome. I haven't had any cravings and, now I know this is silly of me, but I went to the pumpkin patch with my family, they had a petting zoo. It was truly lovely to love on those little animals and know that I no longer consume anyone in their family. Of course Rush is still very much a carnivore but so far that hasn't even been much of a struggle.

Alright. So mostly I can't stop thinking about this silly little boy who only my sister really knows right now. I'm so ready to meet little Isaac that I don't have much else to talk about. I know an even bigger piece of my heart will soon reside in my hometown and I'll have to visit even more often. But I'm happy with the crafty, vegetarian, awesome kid-friendly job-filled life that Rushy and I are setting up here.

On the Bright Side

You know how when you say a word over and over and over, it eventually loses all meaning? Such is the way I feel about Hairspray. Not the show itself or anything about my experience, just the word. Today at work, one of the kids randomly started talking about the movie musical version and it took me a couple minutes to comprehend what was coming out of his mouth.

I’ve been meaning to write a final Hairspray blog for the past week, but I don’t even know what to say. How does one describe the most positive, successful, meaningful experience of their career? Not to mention, I’ve been rather heart-broken by the absence of my time on the stage, the dear friends I made, and oddly enough, Tracy herself. I’ve got to get it out now because Rushy gave me until today to be an emotional mess. Of course he’s been an absolute saint to me during what he deemed Emily’s Breakdown Week. Worry not – it only took a couple days.

The end of the show was such an interesting roller coaster. Throughout our final performance, and even in the hours following, all I felt was relief. I can’t tell you how many times I came dangerously close to giving up. More often than not, I legitimately believed there was no way I could make it through the entire process. I had an absolute blast and everyone was so supportive but let me be honest here. That show was hard. I was exhausted and constantly in terror of losing my voice or butchering the words beyond recognition (as many of you know I am apt to do) or just not having enough energy to make it all the way through act one.

We made it, though, and it was so rewarding that by the time I left our final cast party that Sunday evening, I could barely hold it together as my husband walked me to the car. Ultimate meltdown. I instantly missed everything and everyone involved with Hairspray. That was when Rush transformed into Superman (as if he weren’t that already) and declared that I had a full 7 days to wallow. Fortunately for everyone involved, it didn't last nearly that long. Perspective.

At work, I danced and sang and played with the kids with every bit of my being for the first time in months. At karaoke, I sang with abandon and stayed up much too late. When my body was tired the next morning, I knew the most significant thing I had to do was clap my hands and sing about the bubbles in the air. And, best of all, I ate a nice, leisurely dinner with my husband every single night. So, as much as I long for Tracy every now and then, and miss the sweet friends that I made, I know that the next thing is just around the corner. Until then, I will enjoy my state of peaceful relaxation.

Oh, and I got a tattoo. On my foot. It’s awesome.

Living on the Stage

No posts in the month of June. I am positively ashamed of myself. Bad blogger, bad! I feel like I approach this the same way I clean my room. The longer I wait, the harder it gets, the more effort it seems it will take, and eventually I decide it's just been so long I might as well not bother. But, eventually, you gotta clean your room. And I gotta blog.

I thought I was busy with Tracy training and appearances, and I suppose I was, but it does not compare to what the past two weeks have held. We started rehearsals and I just have to say: what an absolutely, mind-blowing cast and crew we have! They work so hard and so fast and it is a truly beautiful, creative experience. Everyone in that room is so stinking talented that I sometimes feel like the fat kid that got picked to play on their team because nobody else was left.

It has been a blast and I cannot (let me repeat that) CANNOT believe we open in a week and a half. I keep thinking that it's almost over and that I'll miss this family that I've barely even gotten to known. Then I remember that we still get to run the show for a month! I want to do it forever. With this group of crazy supportive people. Please come see us. I know not everyone will be able to swing it, but I really hope you try. You'll be missing something amazing if you don't.

Of course I know all good things must come to an end, which is why I'm trying to find time to attend some auditions and keep up the momentum of being in the theatre again. That's right, I said auditions. I was behind the scenes in most of the shows I did in school and nothing fills my life with joy quite like piecing a production together and watching it come to life. I think somewhere along the way I forgot just how thrilling it is to be on the stage. I think I'd like to live there for a while and see where it takes me next.