And here we go.

After weeks of consideration I have decided to make another attempt at blogging.  I have created then deleted at least 4 other blogs before this one.  It is ridiculous that I deleted the others, I should have just kept adding to it even if the posts were not frequent.  But that gives you some insight into my personality.  My hope is that this blog is sincere and honest enough that I never feel like I want to delete it.  Just for the record, I know my grammar is bad.  Don't judge me.

I have recently experienced some big changes that are forcing me to take a hard look at who I am, what I want, and where I am going.  I am living more independently then ever before.  I live with my dog Gizmo Pierre, who has quickly become my closest friend and favorite companion.  He doesn't do many tricks, but he is very smart and self disciplined.  He rings the bell on the back door when he needs to go potty.  Sometimes he rings it just for my attention, then begs for a treat.  I almost always give him one, then realize he conditions me just like I am trying to condition him.

I am one month into the last semester of the Piano Performance and Pedagogy masters program at Utah State University.  I am currently taking an Advanced Pedagogy and Music History seminar.  Both classes are absolutely incredible and every day I try to acknowledge that this truly is my last semester being a student (I think).  If I remember this, then I will stay grateful for the added work these classes take rather then overwhelmed.  I have never not been a student, so I don't really know what it's like on the other side.  But it looks scary.  I am working hard with Professor Hirst to prepare for my Masters recital.  My relationship with the piano is a complicated one.

Right now I am the USU Youth Conservatory Office Coordinator.   The amount I have learned through this job is incredible and tremendously valuable to me.  I recently learned how to create a business Facebook page, so if you want to learn more about the YC then search for "USU Youth Conservatory" on Facebook, or you can visit the website www.usu.edu/ycpiano.  This job really has has been a too-good-to-be-true opportunity, and made it possible for me to have made it through school without any student loans. When I think of things like this I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.  My parents have both always made it clear that after High School I should get a full scholarship (obviously) and earn a degree.  After they invested in a beautiful Boston baby grand piano it was an unspoken understanding that I should pursue a degree in Piano Performance from Utah State.  I fought this for a second, but in the end did just that.  Best decision ever.  I am so glad I was raised in a home where receiving a good education was so highly valued.  I have never felt more grateful for this then I feel right now.

I am the honored teacher of about 30 piano students.  I am currently teaching a healthy mix of college students, YC students, private students, and classroom teaching.  If you are more curious about this you can visit my piano studio website.  I often feel daunted by the responsibility of trying to guide a human in the process of building a personal relationship with music, the piano, and artistry.  One of the most rewarding things about my job is helping people accomplish short term goals that then lead to a successful completion of a long term goal.  I think these small successes leading to a big one, one where you get to perform in front of a group of people who's job is simply to listen to you, is an incredible and powerful experience.  I don't know what life would be like without it, and hope to never find out.  One time my Grandma told me that success breeds success.  I love providing people with opportunities to succeed.  I love watching my students build more self confidence.  I love really getting to know them, and experience them grow and develop as they discover who they are.  I hope to someday teach my students even half as much as they teach me.

The only other hobby or passion that has stuck with me the same way the piano did is health and fitness.  I remember running with my mom along the boulevard as a kid.  I was involved with dance and cheer growing up.  During my undergrad I decided to do my first half marathon, which then lead me to do a full marathon a few months later.  Looking back I trained like an idiot.  It truly is a miracle I finished that race.  When I was 21 I got my first road bike ever, a beautiful Orbea that, like the piano, I have a complicated relationship with.  This last September I did something I had set out to do a few years before this after being inspired by my amazingly hard core step dad named Tom.  I participated and finished Lotoja, a 206 mile bike ride from Logan, Utah to Jackson, Wyoming.  The training that lead up to this event resulted in an absolutely unforgettable, mind bowing, and amazing Summer.  The memories I have of the event itself are some of my very favorite in the entire world.  One thing I will never forget is what Tom said to me after we finally crossed the finish line.  He hugged me so tight then said, "That is the stupidest thing you will ever do."  He has finished Lotoja 11 times.  I also participated in my first sprint triathlon in Moab.  It was also an unforgettable experience.

Lotoja start line.  I had the biggest butterflies ever.

The best bike partner a girl could ask for.  Love ya mom.

Sexy.

My love and need for health and fitness is currently being fed by my new found love of the Logans Golds Gym, strength training, and eating truly healthy foods.  On my 24th birthday, November 10, 2012,  I walked into the Golds hoping to add something new and positive to the chaotic and stressful mess that my life felt like at that time.  It was then that I decided to invest in personal training and met Casey Bingham who has taught me to dedicate my life to this in a completely different way.  And for the first time in my life, I feel that the amount I am putting in the same amount that I am being given back.  It is actually this part of my life that I was the most anxious and excited to blog about.  I have never felt totally comfortable talking about exercise and eating and all that stuff that makes everybody feel insecure...but I think it would be good for me to identify with this part of myself through blogging.

Food for the week. 

Now that I spend more time with out the company of a fellow human then ever before I find myself not having the opportunity to express myself to.  I think by posting to this blog I will be able to express myself in a way that I never have before. I have several notebooks that I use to write my thoughts and ideas in.  I love to write.  I have no idea if anybody will want to read this, especially since it is long winded.  But it would be really incredible for me if somebody did read this, and that reading it made them happy.  Comments would mean the world, even the mean ones.