"30 before 30"

I'm about to be 29.


On Saturday I will celebrate my 29th birthday, and thus begin my last year in my 20's.  Kinda' crazy!  This approaching birthday has brought on some thoughts about the past nine years and the experiences that I have had, the accomplishments, the travels, the relationships... pretty much everything.  So here is a brief summary of my life as a 20 something.


I graduated from college with a bachelors degree.  I turned 21 and celebrated in true Vegas STYLE.  I moved out of my parents house into a crappy apartment and had the best time EVER... I moved home 6 months later.   I spent some time unemployed.  I ended a long term relationship only to jump right into another one.  I broke the heart of someone I cared for.  I had my heart broken, shattered actually.  I chose to end a relationship that was bad for me.... I experienced depression.  I spent an entire summer drinking and partying non stop.  I traveled to Hawaii, Vegas, San Francisco, Hawaii again, Miami, Vegas, Indy, Hawaii, Vegas, Washington D.C., Vegas, and New Orleans.  I went on vacation alone.  I learned how to snowboard... well sort of.  I tried sushi. I became a teacher. I became a choreographer.  I discovered my passion for creating dance.   I bought a business.  I had a business partner for 3 years.  I bought my partners half of the business and started on my own.  I bought a lot of bridesmaids dresses.  I watched my little sister and many of my close friends get married.  I watched some of those marriages fail.  I learned a lot from watching both.  I experienced anxiety, and learned to manage it.  I learned to surf, and I stood up!  I went deep sea fishing.  I started to care about politics and the issues.  I went to my first music festival.  I learned to appreciate a great wine.   I spent a LOT of weekends at the drag races, both driving and watching.  I made new friends.  I had some really bad hangovers.  I fell in like... a couple times.  I fell in love.  I found a really good man.  I became open to the idea of getting married.   I decided that kids wouldn't be so bad, except for the whole giving birth thing.  I started to use eye cream.  I took up yoga.  I attempted to give up fast food,  more than once.  I stopped drinking soda, unless I was hung over.  I baked a lasagna from scratch.  I genuinely had a good time. I laughed a lot, cried a lot and I learned more about who I am, who I want to be and I learned that happiness is a decision that you make!!




But aside from all these things that have been gallivanting through my brain, I have also been thinking about what I would like to do with my last year as a twenty something, before I turn 30.  Now please do not get me wrong,  I am in no way scared of 30.  I think that it will be a marvelous time and that my 30's are going to be even better than my 20's.  But I do have one year left of being "a dumb 20 something" and blaming my stupidity on my age.  So I have compiled a list of my "30 before 30"!!  I realize that a year is not much time, so I've tried to keep it reasonable, but fun and challenging as well.  I also would like to make clear that this is NOT my Bucket List.  Yes, I do have one, but it's much more extravagant and is meant to be completed over a much longer time span (God willing)... and I highly recommend that everyone start theirs!!  So without further distraction, I have decided that in the next year I will.......


1.  Attempt to train my dog to come on command (I said attempt people, I know this will be a challenge)
2.  Get back to a weight that I feel is acceptable
3.  Take up pole dancing (this is to help with #2)
4.  Take ballet classes on a fairly regular basis (this should help also)
5.  Play the piano (I know how to play, but never take the time to actually sit down and do it)
6.  Spend more time with my grandparents!!
7.  Become a decent snowboarder and try not to come home injured every time
8.  Cut my debt in half.  Now this one is ambitious.  It's DOable, but not easy... so we'll see.
9.  Travel to at least one new place
10.  Attend a music festival
11.  Grow my business by 25%  ( It could happen!)
12.  Eat healthier
13.  Drink Less
13.  Enjoy midnight margaritas whenever possible!
14.  Learn to ballroom, or swing dance
15.  Create a successful Dance Recital!!
16.  Start reading Harry Potter.... Ya, ya, I know I'm WAY behind
17.  Say "I Love You" more often
18.  TRY to be less messy
19.  Learn a recipe from my grandma and my mom
20. Find an organization that helps to prevent childhood obesity, and become a part of it.
21.  Sing more! In the car, in the Shower or wherever!!
22.  Dust off my Guitar and look into lessons.  It's time to get back to my musical roots!
23.  Be a better friend, sister, daughter and boss. (There is always room for improvement)
24.  Try something brand new that I have never done... Possibly rock climbing?
25.  Give REAL Hugs all the time!! (No more side hugs, I'm comin' in for the REAL thing)
26.  Really listen when people are speaking, focus on their words and not interrupt.
27.  Fall more deeply in love.  
28.  Go to Church
29.  Pray
30.  Enjoy everyday, even the bad one, and always remember that each day is a gift!





CHEERS!!!

Day Off

What a peculiar title.... I'm not really even sure if I comprehend what the meaning of those two words together actually is.  Day (I know this one...) Off (now this one I have trouble with, what exactly does one do to be "off"?)  I don't really even know how to shut off my brain at the end of One day.  It's a problem.

Now please do not get me wrong, I am not a workaholic who never leaves her office and neglects her family, friends and pets, then ends up being portrayed in a movie that mimics a Christmas Carol, getting a glimpse of her "life" the way it could be...... no, no, no.  I'm just EXTREMELY busy!  With what you might ask?  Well, just about everything under the sun.  It's my own damn fault, I refuse to be board and consistently bite off more than I can chew, or even fit in my mouth for that matter.  (Have you ever played Chubby Bunny?? Ya that's me ALL the time!)  

I'm learning to run a business on my own (which is new, I've had a business partner for the past 3 years), I manage 9 other girls,  and still teach my own classes. I teach extra classes on the side and also work with a competition team.   I'm pretty much always in a wedding (which requires lots of outings).  I'm in a new relationship, (which is going fantastic btw).  I have a hobby that books up entire weekends at a time (I drive a racecar, no big deal).  I refuse to stay home on the weekends when I could be on a boat somewhere (anywhere).  I have close friends who I make an effort to see on a semi regular basis, I have a huge family with lots of birthdays and events that always seem to call for celebrating (can you say midnight margaritas?), and I feel the need to always try and fit it all in all the time!!

It's exhausting, it even makes me tired to write it.  So last weekend, I decided that instead of heading out to the drag races with my family, boyfriend, and friends, I would make the responsible decision and stay home and work.  I did have a lot to get done, and though I probably could have taken some of it with me, I chose to relax a bit and work leisurely on the couch!  It was great.  I finished everything I needed to do and even fit in 3 movies that I had not seen.  Great Friday night and Saturday morning!  

So Monday rolls around and I'm not feelin so hot.  I immediately associated this with, my being at the fair the night before, you know,  cigarette smoke, a glass of wine or two, or three... and not much sleep.  But the cough I had developed was NOT from a hang over, as I was trying to convince myself.  On Tuesday I still did not feel well and it was becoming very apparent through the day that this was not getting better, but instead getting worse, much worse and at a very fast pace!!  3:00 I was crappy, 3:45 I was really crappy, 4:10 I almost collapsed while teaching my last class, and at 5:15 I was in bed for the night with a fever, and the whole 9 yards.   You've got to be kidding me!! I do NOT have time for this.

I have not been this sick in years, in fact I do not even recall the last time that I was this sick.  I tried to put my finger on it and then it hit me.  I was being punished for taking a day off!!  My body finally had a moment to rest and in that brief span of time, the evil "back to school" germs found their way in and punished me!  Had I not rested at all, I believe this never would have happened.  So that's it, I'm not allowed to ever be still or lazy because if I do, I will be punished!  So much for a day off!!  Oh well, I don't have time for that anyways!

Just a Frog

I has occurred to me that children may have much more insight into life than most of us realize or acknowledge.  If you have any experience with children, you know that they only speak the truth and that there is really nothing that they will not say.  For example, I happen to be a natural blonde.  One of the questions that I get asked on a fairly regular basis is; Why are your eyebrows that color?    ------------------  I have naturally blonde eyebrows.  I guess it's rare to see.  I was once even told that I had scary eyebrows!!  Shocking I know, but we must always remember how observant children can be.

One day I came into teach a class and in a rush to get ready I had neglected to put mascara on.  Now with blonde eyebrows, can you take a wild guess at what color my eyelashes are??  I do look different without mascara, needless to say.  One of my very sweet young dancers very politely pointed out that I was NOT wearing Mascara!! How did she know??  Ugh, I went straight to Target and picked up some makeup.

But aside from all of the comments I get about my makeup, outfits, hair and eyebrows, I also get some very good reality checks.  One of the most insightful comments came just a couple of weeks ago.  I was teaching my dancers some sort of frog move, (probably frog jumps) and one of the girls made a comment about kissing frogs and this is what she said.  "When you kiss a frog, sometimes he's still just a frog."

Uhhhhh............ Wow, she's TOTALLY Right!!! What a smart little girl.  I think all of us girls can learn from this.  I hope that when she grows up that she doesn't have to kiss too many frogs before finding her prince.  But if she does, at least she already knows that he may just stay a frog....

Worlds Worst Bowler.... No really

So, it's Thursday night, there's not much goin' on and my boyfriend and I decide that it might be fun to go bowling!! There's a local bowling alley that has very inexpensive games after 9 pm, and a great deal on shoes as well.  Since were poor as most couples my age are, this will be the perfect way to have to fun without breaking the bank.  So to the bowing alley we go, along with his roommate and another friend.

Now, I bowl probably once a year, if that.  So, you would expect that I would be a bit rusty right?  Well, lets just say that I was becoming extremely good at knocking only 1 pin down at a time.   What?? Consistency is the key to results right?  If the object of the game was to only hit one pin at a time without touching any other pins, I'm sure I would be champion of the world (That was for you chum).  So my first game I ended with a final score of.... wait for it..... 57!!!!! Oh ya babe, I was on FIRE!!

The second game I improved by a whopping 30 points, but still came in last, as I expected.  I really don't care if I'm good or not as long as I'm having fun.  So we went home and I felt pretty good about my performance.

The next morning, I awoke to the most excruciating pain in my neck it was unreal!!  (I have been having some neck and shoulder issues for a little while.)  But HOLY CRAP, this was bad!! Could it be, that I actually re-injured my neck while BOWLING??? Are you kidding me?? This sucks!!  Not only was I beyond bad, but I also got hurt!  The crappy thing about this, besides the constant pain, is that, as you might remember, I teach DANCE for a Living!!  I don't know if you have even tried, but it can be extremely difficult to get your groove on when you can't look to the right (it's also tricky to drive, in case you were wondering).  Now on most Friday's this would not pose to much of a problem, since i usually just work in the office.  However, this Friday I happened to have auditions for my competition team! Ughh... I have to dance.  I'm pretty sure I resembled some sort of awkward bird while I was demonstrating my routine to my girls. I ended up having one of the other teachers do a routine for me, since I could barely move my head and shoulder.  What a nightmare....

So my pain continued throughout the day and night.  A few motrin go a long way though and I'm hoping that a weekend of stillness will help my injury to heal.  I might also reconsider the bowling league I was going to join... JK!

Too Funny Not to Share!

So, here I am!  My name in Melissa and for the past 7 years I have had the great pleasure of being a preschool dance teacher.  Now this is not the only age that I teach, but the majority of my time teaching is spent with children under 5 years old.  (Which does have some influence on my title, aside from the fact that I myself am only 5 feet tall, and therefore am a tiny dancer as well!)  I recently bought out my business partner and became the sole owner of my business, a mobile dance company for children.  So although I am a teacher, I am also the boss, amongst other things.  Let's just say my life is VERY busy, with all sorts of fun adventures which I plan to share with all of you through this very new and exciting Blog 'O Mine!  Anyhow, it occurred to me recently that I have some really funny stories to share, and what better way to do so.   For example...


About 2 weeks ago, I was subbing a class for one of my teachers.  Now these children are not my usual students, as I was subbing, however they had had me as a teacher once or twice during the year.  They recognized me but of course, as all children do, had some questions.  One child in particular was very straight forward about her curiosity... The most basic question came first, "Do you have a daughter?", to which I responded "No." ( I do not have any kids, but as many children assume, I am just like their mom and I have children too!) The next questions was a bit more specific, "Do you have a son?" to which I replied, "No, I do not have any kids", very calmly, (I get this question a lot.)  So this very inquisitive child thought about my response for a slight moment before responding, "So, your not married??"  Now please put yourself into my place for the moment.   I am dancing with them as this conversation is taking place at a very Christian preschool.  So the natural order of things for a child who attends Christian preschool, is that you grow up, get married, and then you have kids!  I responded to her very calmly again, "No, I'm not married."  So naturally her next question would be this..."How come no one wants to marry you yet?!"


BLAAAAHAAAHAAAAA!!!!!


I literally laughed out loud at this and then very honestly responded, "That's a very good question, and I don't really know!"  


Now later during the same class, the same child explained her recent experience at our local county fair.  I had no idea what I was setting myself up for when I asked my girls if they had seen the piggy's! (We were about to do a Piggy Dance, and a little creative imagery goes a long way, however I had NO Clue the imagery I was about to get.)  My little darling dancer told me about how she went to the fair and saw the pigs.... and this is what she continued to say, "Then, the Momma pig farted, and a Baby pig came out of her Butt!"  silent pause Then BLAAAAAAHAAAHAAAA!!!!!


Even though it was probably not appropriate for me to laugh at her very detailed story I just could not help it.  This was by far one of the funniest classes that I have taught in a long time.  I decided very shortly after this class that it was just too funny not to share.  I think I can safely assume that everyone can get a good laugh from my very witty and curious Tiny Dancer!