Reality Check from a Third Grader

     Tonight I taught a jazz class with about 10 second and third graders, and let me tell you they can be BRUTALLY honest. Here is how my night went...

Girls-- "Miss Kerry, we heard you went to the beach with your boyfriend last week. His name is Matt."

Me-- "Yes I did and with his mommy and daddy."

Girls-- "Is he cute?"

Me-- "Yes, I think so."

Girls-- "Are you MaRrIeD?"

Me-- "No."

Girls-- "Why not?!?! How old are you?"

Me-- "24"

Girls-- "TWENTY FOUR AND YOUR NOT MARRIED?!?!? You should be having a baby by now!"

About 30 minutes later...

Girls-- "Miss Kerry do you have an apartment?"

Me-- "No...I live at my parent's house."

Girls-- "WHAT?!?! YOUR TWENTY FOUR AND YOU STILL LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS??!?!"

One sweet little girl-- "Well guys she's not married yet!"

   Man talk about a rough night LOL! Nothing like a bunch of third graders to give you a reality check. Throughout this class I was also asked if I kiss my boyfriend, and of course the answer was no you don't kiss till your married LOL. Nights like tonight remind me why I love being around kids as much as possible, but before I teach that class again I plan on getting married, pregnant, and buying my own house. Hopefully Shannon won't need a substitute for a looong time haha!

"A Change is Gonna Do Me Good"~Elton John

     Lo sentio about the blog neglect! A LOT has been going on and I discovered Pinterest, my new obsession! If you haven't seen Pinterest yet you need to! It has inspired me to start cooking, now all I need is a house/husband/kids to do all the other crafty things I am inspired to do, lol easy stuff to obtain ;)! Luckily I have a couple nieces I can practice on! I am attempting to make their Halloween costumes this year (with Mom's help of course). Madison has decided she wants to be Ariel and Kennedy wants to be Flounder LOL, so cross your finger for me! Pictures will be posted as soon as I am done!

     Anyway, this Monday I started a new job at Intergraph in their Human Resources department! Let me tell you, quitting a job is the hardest thing I have ever done haha! I don't like to disappoint anyone, but everyone was really happy for me. So far I feel like I have made a great move! I am learning a lot and am finally in my field! 

     Today is the beginning of what us Alabamians call "the most wonderful time of the year"...football season! I am soooo excited/nervous! They predict Auburn will not do too well and that my Philadelphia Eagles will go to the Superbowl; hence the nervousness and excitement. This weekend I am going tailgating at the UGA vs. Boise State game (wishing I was in Auburn the whole time of course)! UGA better do the SEC proud, or me and Matt are going to have issues. If they lose it will be impossible for me to ever tolerate Georgia lol! Either way I got my new Eagles jersey, and Auburn gear and I am so ready to go!

Hope everyone has a fabulous long Labor Day weekend! War Eagle!

"It's good to see me, isn't it? No need to answer, that was retorical."-Glinda

     Sometimes I forget how lucky I am, and this past week I got a huge reminder! Shannon took Charla, Sarah and me to New York City to the Dance Teacher Summit. Not only did we have a fabulous girls trip, but I was reminded just how amazing it is that I have a job that I truly love. I apologize I don't have any pictures, but as soon as I get them from Shan and Sarah I will post them! So here is the highlights from the trip!

     We flew out of Huntsville on Thursday, and this time we only left 5 hours late, missed our connection, and had to beg for a flight to NY getting in at 11! Apparently me and airports do not mix well. But we finally got there and hit the sack as soon as we got to the room.

    We woke up bright and early for classes on Friday, and spent all day in classes. We planned on going to dinner then shopping but of course it started pouring after one of the best meals of my life at Del Frisco's. Best bread, potatoes, and lemon cake I've every had! So after dinner we bought some umbrellas and headed back to the hotel to watch "Something Borrowed" one of my favorite books/movies!

     Saturday was another day full of amazing classes. We watched the ACE Capezio Competition then headed back to the room early. Somehow Shannon and Charla talked me and Sarah into going to find some pizza. Well I think I am so smart and find the pizza place on my Iphone, a compass needs to be added to those maps because we walked about 3 blocks before I realized we went the wrong way. We finally found the pizza (which was amazing!) and made it back to the room an hour later!

     Sunday was the fun day! Again we went to classes but then we headed to Broadway. We saw Wicked and is was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Galinda was hilarious. It is a great story I wish I had read the book before we went, but I  HIGHLY recommend seeing this show if you ever get a chance! After the show we went to an Italian restaurant called Patsy's that had pictures everywhere of all the famous people who ate there (George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Mrs. Brady, etc.). 

     Of course we had smooth traveling home  on Monday (always happens that way doesn't it?!?) Soon as I got home I headed to our first Bunco party at Abby's! She was a great hostess and we had amazing food; can't wait for the next one! 

     Now that I am pumped up for dance and I have missed a couple weeks of my So You Think You Can Dance videos you get two today! WOOHOO! Here is Melanie and Neil (an All Star who is sooo good!) dancing a Mandy Moore lyrical. Side note: I got to take class from Mandy Moore last week and she is so goofy and outgoing, not what I imagined at all!

     Now here is Sasha and Twitch, another amazing All Star, in one of my favorite lyrical hip hops I have ever seen!

"On the beach, you can live in bliss."~Dennis Wilson (The Beach Boys)

I FINALLY made it to the beach last weekend! After the flight fiasco on the 4^th I was super excited to get down to see by BFF Ashley! It was a FABULOUS weekend, here is a quick recap followed by my new idol, then of course my favorite dance from last week!

Thursday night I met Matt and the Thompson’s (Kelly and Greg still so weird!) in Auburn. Man I have missed that place! The four of us and Patrick went to Amsterdam so I could have my favorite Rum Salmon Salad! Then we went to play adult trivia at a new bar down there. The “Scary Kerry” team was horrible I think we came in last place, but still had a ton of fun!

Friday Matt and I loaded my car and his truck full of stuff I STILL had to get from Auburn, then we headed down to Destin! Soon as we got there and saw Ashley’s AWESOME apartment, we headed straight to Walmart (you know I HAVE to have my sunscreen) then to the beach. It was perfect, not too hot and sooo relaxing! Later the three of us went to The Crab Trap and had some AMAZING crab dip and crab legs!

We went to bed somewhat early Friday because I was determined to get up early and spend the ENTIRE day on the beach. Well we were all woken up at 7:30 by an intense thunderstorm and a 50% chance of rain the rest of the day…I thought I was going to cry. Thank goodness the meteorologists were wrong again, and it was another beautiful day on the beach, but slightly hotter. Me and Matt beat Ashley and Harmon in bocce ball, and the boys yelled at me and Ashley for squealing about the gross seaweed in the water, so pretty much it was a perfect beach day!

After the beach we went to Buster’s Oyster happy hour where me and Matt down almost 4 dozen raw oysters a piece! You can’t beat a dozen oysters for $1.99! About that time everyone started pointing out how burnt I was. I was sooo mad I was the only one who kept putting on sunscreen. LESSON LEARNED: Always get a slight tan before the beach!  Later we went to McGuire’s and I ate some delicious prime rib. I am not big on going to the beach and not eating at a seafood place, but this restaurant was awesome and everyone should visit it when in Destin! I can’t wait to go back and see Ashley again!

Now onto my new idol…Kate Middleton. Carrie Underwood will always be number one, but Kate’s fashion has made me fall in love. Here are some of my favorite outfits…

I WANT TO BE A PRINCESS!

Here is my favorite dance from last week’s SYTYCD. Obviously I have 2 favorite couples since all my favorite dances have been from Melanie and Marko and Caitlynn and Mitchell. ENJOY!

"We can't plan life. All we can do is be available for it."--Lauryn Hill

            Well as I stated in my first blog post I am learning that plans sometimes don’t work out! I had an awesome plan for my 4th of July weekend. My best friend Ashley just moved to Destin, and I was going to spend the weekend with her! Destin is about 6 hours from Madison, but with the 4th of July weekend traffic it would probably take 8-10 hours (quite a venture alone) so I had the BRIGHT idea to fly down on Vision Airlines. The flight times were perfect and it would only take me about 2 hours of travel time (waiting in the airport and all), should have known that was too perfect…

            With the flight being delayed over and over again, sitting in the airport, and 80% of the passengers giving up and leaving they cancelled the flight. There is no way I can get in a car and drive down in the traffic alone after sitting in the airport for over 5 hours. The Old Kerry probably would be crying at this point, but as I have said I am trying to learn to “run with these changes”, so I immediately started planning when I can get down to see her; solution this weekend! Now I get two weeks of being excited about the beach!

            Now, what to do for the 4th? I was easily talked into going to Atlanta to Matt’s family reunion. Coming from a somewhat big family, Matt’s HUGE (his mom has 16 siblings) family wasn’t too overwhelming for me, plus everyone had on name tags for the extended family (I lucked out)! It was outside at his Aunt’s beautiful house, with tons of food, games, and people. I learned I am horrible at corn hole; my depth perception and hand eye coordination are absolutely terrible! My parents made a good choice putting me in dance and not softball. However, I wasn’t too bad at bocce ball, and it was super fun! And anyone who knows me knows I LOVE playing with kids, so getting to play with Matt’s little niece and nephew for an extended period of time made my day!

          We spent most of the 4th recovering from the reunion; watching Talladega Nights. Then I began my drive home and was fast asleep in my bed before the fireworks even started, lame I know! I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! We are so blessed to live in the best country in the world. On that note I will leave you with my favorite dance from last week SYTYCD…

You are your problem. You are also your solution.

            I had an extremely lazy weekend, my favorite kind, full of food and movies! So I thought I would share my thoughts on the movies you must see and the one you shouldn’t! Plus, against Amy’s advice “Don’t turn your blog into a So You Think You Can Dance blog Kerry”, my favorite dance from last week!

The Dilemma: Vince Vaughn is probably one of my favorite actors. I love his fast talking! I also love Kevin James, so I was expecting a lot from this movie. Complete disappointment! This movie was much more depressing than funny. It was also extremely slllooowww. Mom gave up on it half way through and we were falling asleep by the end. I would not rent this movie unless you really want to get depressed about marriage.

            Bad Teacher:  Since Matt refuses to go see “Cars 2” with me, we went to see “Bad Teacher” Saturday night. I am not too fond of Cameron Diaz, but love Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel (who doesn’t?) so I was worried Cameron would ruin it.  It was so funny! It is a great “date movie”, and even though I don’t like Cameron Diaz I can’t think of anyone who would play the part better. The entire cast was great Phyllis (from “The Office”) and Lucy Punch (who plays Cameron’s rival teacher) are fabulous. This is definitely rated R though, so if you don’t like raunchy movies it is not for you.

            Bridesmaids: I went and saw this with my mom and Miss Lisa last night, and it starts out with a bang…awkward! I can’t look at Kristen Wiig without laughing so I thought it was hilarious (title is a quote from this movie)! Of course it is exaggerated, but it truly showed some things that I have seen through being a bridesmaid. There is a scene where they are on an airplane on their way to Vegas that I couldn’t stop laughing. I argued with my dad and Matt for awhile that this wasn’t a “girl movie” but they were right it is, but I highly recommend seeing it! Oh, and this one is extremely raunchy too, hence the awkwardness of seeing it with my mom.  

            NOW my favorite dance from last week, another lyrical dance! This is to Adele’s “Turning Tables” and is amazing! I hope that someday I can choreograph a dance half as good as this!  Fun Fact: the dancers were so into this dance that he accidently punched her and her nose was bleeding through half of the dance, craziness!

"But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things."

      This post is short I promise! Just thought I would share some of the new things I love (hence the title by Vincent van Gogh, Dear Theo: An Autobiography of Vincent van Gogh, 1937)…

 Train’s new CD is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I highly recommend it. I love almost every single song (so much so I used some of their lyrics as my blog title!) I can’t even pick a top 3 songs from this album you just have to get the whole thing!

Another awesome CD! She is obviously been heartbroken and is moving on in this cd, some songs are tear jerkers! Another tough one to pick a top 3 but I’m going to do it!

1. Take It All
2. Set Fire to the Rain
3. One and Only

Ok I could have listed about 5 more that are must have’s, but I just put the first three I heard LOL!

         Christina Perri isn’t as well known as the other two, but will be most definitely. Being a dancer I love any song I could make up a dance to (Adele’s whole cd); especially lyrical and Christina’s songs are all very emotional! If you haven’t heard Jar of Hearts go listen NOW, and obviously you live under a rock haha! Here are the top 3…

1.  Arms
2. Bang Bang Bang
3. Distance

Here is a station must have! Spice Girls…I know sounds stupid, BUT when I visited Athens, GA we went to this bar called 9d’s, and you got it, it only played 90’s music. It was so fun reminiscing with N*SYNC, Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, old Britney Spears, etc. So now whenever I am having a BLAH day at work I pull up this station and I’m in an instant good mood!

I FINALLY got an Iphone and LOVE it! So far my favorite app (besides Facebook and Pandora of course) is Hanging With Friends. I suggest everyone try it out! If you download it play with me KerryKH87!

Shellac nail polish! I don’t get my nails done often, but when I do I like for them to last! I hate fake nails and I can never seem to make it to my car without messing up y normal manicure, this stuff fixes the problem. It’s a little pricey but it last for at least 2 weeks and it is instantly dry.

Sushi! Lately I have really gotten into it! And any of you in Huntsville have to try the sushi from The Scene (the restaurant in Monaco Pictures) it is UNREAL!

LOL this is the first picture that comes up when you type “politics” into Google! Anyway politics isn’t really one of my “favorite” things but I am now realizing just how important they are. I think everyone should keep up with what is going on in our country so we can make sure it remains the best country in the world.

This is a not so new favorite, but I hear Matt and all his friends say “You know who will know that answer? GOOGLE!” so often that it has reintroduced me to how awesome Google truly is. 

And of course So You Think You Can dance is the best show...EVER! If you are a dancer or just a fan of dancing this show is a must see! This was my favorite dance from Week One, I will probably put ALOT of my favorite dances on this blog! Well Happy Friday everyone, sooo ready for the weekend!

Disaster Numero Uno!

Many of my friends have begun blogging and I LOVE to read their stories so I thought I would try it out. Please excuse the immense amount of posts about food, my excessive use of quotation marks and explanation points, and my horrible grammar!  

The last year (since graduating from Auburn) has been a pretty crazy time, starting a “real life” job, being in/going to more weddings than I can count, and moving back in with  my parents has been quite an experience. As loco as I thought all that was the past 5 1/2 months have been even crazier and have taught me many things in life...

1.     “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” …AMEN!

2.     You truly have to live everyday like it is your last (Tornado realization, I’m so blessed)

3.     Your friends and family are beyond a doubt your best gift in life (I already knew this one, but I would be so lost without them!)

4.     Nothing cures a bad/sad mood like hearing children laugh and say “I love you” (Shout out to my little people Lee, Madison and Kennedy!)

5.     TRUST GOD. You never know what he has planned, and the surprises make life worth living!

One of my best friends Amy suggested I start my blogging with my “River” story. Apparently it will be more entertaining than the awesome food I ate this weekend! Anyway I’m sure anyone reading this knows just how “outdoorsy” I am. Pretty much if I’m not by a pool, ocean, or occasionally the lake I would rather be inside. Well with deciding to follow #2 from above I have to begin to try things out of my comfort zone. So when Matt said we were going to float the river. I thought to myself “Okay Kerry, Courtney has done this, you can do it!”

So Matt has never floated down the Chattahoochee, but two of his good friends Robbie and Ryan (who I refer to as “the gypsies” and lived on the Appalachian Trail for 6 months)  had been down quite a few times. So me, Matt, Robbie, Ryan, Jenna, and Anthony pack into our cars and head to the river at about 4 pm. On the way there they all discussed where we should get in at, I was very close to saying “Whichever is shorter,” but regretfully being the new girl I kept my mouth shut (big mistake). Thankfully everyone knew just how outdoorsy I am and how “excited” I was about this trip.

For those of you who don’t know what “floating the river” is (like me!), it is when you get in the river with nice tubes and rafts and let the rivers current push you down the river, supposed to be peaceful and usually you drink quite a bit! Well most people take nice tubes and tie them together in a circle with the cooler in middle, not us! They had bought the $2 tubes from Walmart and a kiddy float to tie the cooler on. “Redneck Yacht Club” kept popping in my head LOL! Luckily, Matt got a nice tube for me (such a gentleman) so I was in pretty good shape. Plus he kind of owed me since he didn’t tell me what to bring from home so I had no shoes to wear, therefore I had to walk through the woods barefoot, ew!

As we are nearing the river, a man and his children come up and ask if they can watch us get in the river. Everyone thought, “um okay, it won’t be that exciting but SURE!” Man were we wrong! They have nice places where you can get in with like little platforms or beaches, but not us we are going to hop in the middle of the woods. So I am watching all 5 get in screaming about how cold it is; I step into about a foot of water and my feet are sinking into mud (I hate outside) and the water feels like it is about 50 degrees! Needless to say the man and his children got quite a chuckle out of watching 6 adults scream like little girls.

And were off! The water is freezing, very dirty, ducks are coming straight for us, but the sun is out and it’s not bad. About an hour goes by and of course I ask, “So as soon as we get out we are eating right? Cause I am getting kind of hungry” and I get blank stares back. Finally someone says, “Well that is going to be awhile, the current hasn’t really pushed us very far.”  At this point I realize everyone else is feeling pretty good but I don’t like beer so I am alone in my hunger and pain. That is when we hit the first set of “rapids” or as Matt says “just shallow part with rocks not real rapids”. Everyone is yelping and getting hit, but I am in the nice tube so I am good. A little bit further down the river we have to make a pit stop and this is where Matt likes to say it got “real”.

  As soon as everyone is back in the freezing water Robbie and Jenna begin to paddle and leave the rest of us behind. Before we left I told them it was supposed to storm, but to them that would make the trip more “fun”. Well the wind starts to pick up (making it even colder), and we pass a couple of old men who say “I hope you have enough beer because a storm is headed our way!” At this point the guys decide they should probably start drinking more just in case! Well we hit the next round of rapids and Anthony falls off his tube into the freezing water! Matt thankfully catches his tube but this makes us have to take another pit stop. I am standing on the side of the woods huddled in a ball shivering. At this point Ryan and Anthony are so cold they are refusing to get back in the river so we start hiking, barefoot, through the woods on a tiny trail carrying tubes, life jackets and a cooler.  After about 50 yards Matt is over that and he says we are getting back in the water, and he is convinced if he gets on the nice tube and I sit on his lap I won’t be cold  (riiiiiight).

If ever I could have been filmed in my life I wish this was the moment. I am sitting straight up on his lap with my arms locked trying to keep our balance/navigate. We hit another round of rapids and almost fall off/get stuck many times and Ryan and Anthony who are hiking along the river at about the same pace we are floating are pointing and laughing at us. We get through all that and realize that we must have finally gotten ahead of the other guys because we can’t see them. It is then we realize that we don’t know where to get out! Robbie and Ryan had given us a brief description but of course I am freaking out! The sun is going down at this point and we are approaching another bridge that they did not say anything about so I am thinking we passed where we are supposed to get out. Luckily, Matt calmed me down and we hadn’t passed it.

So 4.5 hours into our 2 hour float we see where we are supposed to get out! We had to walk on some pretty uncomfortable rocks for about 100 feet to get out but we are on land! We meet back up with Jenna and Robbie who have been waiting for about 30 minutes, and realize that Ryan (who is not back yet) has the keys. So we can see the towels but cannot get to them…torture! 30 minutes later Ryan and Anthony make it! We all pile in the car for the 15 minute ride to pick up the other car. In the car my hands begin hurting really bad and I realize that they were numb and were just getting feeling back (after being out of the water for almost an hour!) Soon as we get back I claim the shower (never felt so dirty in my life) and I bathed 3 times LOL.  Finally at 11 pm I get to eat a hamburger and get to go to bed! The next morning I woke up with a huge, painful bruise on my hip and my whole body was sore. I had every muscle flexed for 4.5 hours since I was so cold and I must have hit a rock on one of our close calls but couldn’t feel it because my whole body was numb.

So Matt was right (MAN that hurts to say!) it may have been miserable at the time but if everything went smoothly the story would not be half as good!  Am I glad I agreed to go? Yes. Would I ever do that again? Absolutely not! I definitely need a break from outside before I’m ready for another adventure/disaster!