Observe her in her natural habitat.

May 29.

This beautiful woman came to my house today.

I kinda love her a whole lot.

Aside from dance, we have barely anything in common.

But I think it's one of the reasons I love her so much.

May 28.

This was a pretty good Saturday.

In the morning, I auditioned for a dance company.  I made it.  And I'm really excited for the stuff we're working on.

In the evening, I took these fooligans out to dinner & to see a movie. We had Chick-fil-A & saw Kungfu Panda 2.

Definitely a kids' night.

<3

May 27.

Today was the first time I've been paid to take pictures for someone. Typically, I just do it for fun but these guys missed their senior photos and needed them soon.  I'm pretty good friends with their mom and she asked me to take pictures for them.  She is one of the funniest ladies I've ever known. 

Both of these boys are - or were - drummers for the Bay High Band and for some reason, every guy on this planet (including my own little brother) has a man-crush on David, the one on the left.  It's a little creepy. His brother Steven, on the right, can freestyle like nobody's business. He definitely has David beat in the swag department. 

Unfortunately, the only time they could do pictures today was around 1:00pm, so not only was it sweltering hot, but the lighting wasn't as great as it could have been.  We worked with what we had, though, and it ended up being pretty fun.  I still cannot stress how much I love their mother.  I think I might adopt her.

May 26.

My English class got out really early today.  Didn't really want to go home so I decided to enjoy my view, read a book, and talk to God.  It was a much needed moment.

Photo of the day: resume.

Now that things are (sort of) less busy..I'll be doing my best to keep up with my photo journaling.  This was taken a few months ago, but since I'm spending a good portion of my day working on the yearbook (yes, ridiculously enough, homeschoolers have yearbooks, too. Don't even get me started...), I figured I'd feature my all time favorite photo. 

Don't tell me this isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen.

History of dance.

Yes, I know..it's been over ten days since I've posted any picture.  I could just take a jillion photos today, upload them, and pretend like I was doing what I said I'd be doing.  But..I won't.  I've been dancing, hanging with my best friends, going to graduations, and dancing some more.  Sadly, I've also been to the doctor/chiropractor and have been told that I need to stop dancing for a while.  I told them that "a while" can only mean "two weeks" because I'm auditioning for a dance company in two weeks.  So, pray I heal enough within that time.  Doubtful, though.  My chiropractor said she thinks I have a cracked vertebrae and doesn't want me bending backwards.  Who knows.  I just want to start dancing again. 

Anyway, to compensate for the lack of photo-posting, I thought I'd post this article instead.  I'm currently studying the 1600/1700's and the establishment of American colonies, English civil wars, etc.  While researching this time period, I came across this article that, naturally, interested me greatly.  I love history.  I love dance.  I love the history of dance.  I apologize if this is agonizingly boring.  I'm pretty sure the only people who will be moderately interested in this are history nerds and dancers.  The rest of you lovely individuals can carry on. (:

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Ballet originated in Italy in the 1400's and 1500's, during a cultural movement called the Renaissance.  At the time, Florence and other powerful Italian cities made up nearly independent units called city-states.  The wealthy families who ruled the city-states did much to promote the arts.  The ruling families competed with one another in giving costly, fancy entertainments that included dance performances.  The dancers were not professional.  They were nobles of the court who danced to please their ruler.

Catherine de Medici, a member of the ruling family of Florence, became queen of France in 1547.  She introduced into the French court the same kind of entertainment she had known in Italy.  The dances were staged by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, who moved from Italy in 1555 and became Catherine's servant and dancing master.

Many historians consider the first ballet to be Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Reine, performed in Paris in 1581 in honor of a royal wedding.  It was a magnificent spectacle that lasted more than five hours.  The ballet included specially composed music, singing, and spoken verse as well as dancing.  Because dance technique was limited, Beaujoyeulx relied on lavish costumes and scenery to impress the audience.  The ballet was a great success and was widely imitated in other European courts.

Italian dancing masters taught European courtiers how to dance, and they wrote manuals that preserved many steps for modern historians.  Choreography was based on the social dances of the 1500's, such as the fast paced courante, the lively galliard, and the stately pavan.

Because dancing was an activity of the royal court, it emphasized refinement, elegance, and grace.  Women wore such long, heavy dresses that their movements were difficult to see.  Men's clothes gave them more freedom for fancy footwork and jumps.  Performers often wore masks.  Many ballets dealt with love and tales from Greek and Roman mythology.  In England, court spectacle took the form of masques.  This entertainment, which reached its peak in the early 1600's, often included music and dancing as well as dialogue by leading writers.

As ballet developed, it required greater skill.  As a result, professional dancers began to replace courtiers, who became the audience rather than the performers.  The Ballet Comique de la Reine helped make Paris a center of the ballet world.  King Louis XIV, who ruled France from the mid-1600's to his death in 1715, promoted ballet further during his reign.  Louis enjoyed dancing both as a spectator and as a participant.  In 1661, he founded the Royal Academy of Dancing, and in 1669, the Royal Academy of Music.  The music academy, soon known as the Paris Opera, established a dancing school in 1672.  Ballet as a profession can be dated from this period.  Through serious training, professional dancers developed skills that had been impossible for amateurs, and dancing became more athletic and lively.

Louis's dancing master was Pierre Beauchamps.  Beauchamps is credited with defining and naming many of the ballet steps used today, including the five positions of the feet.  Most ballet steps have French names because of France's central role in developing the art form.

In the early 1700's, two famous ballerinas in Paris came to represent the two main styles in ballet.  Marie Salle gained her fame for her dramatic expressiveness.  Her rival, Marie Carmago, was known for her technical brilliance.  Carmago shortened her skirts to make her steps more visible.  (This was the birth of the tutu and, as you could imagine, was an extremely daring and controversial act for the period she lived in).

Professional dancers gradually moved from royal courts to performing for the general public in theaters.  Dancers, teachers, and choreographers traveled from country to country.  One of the greatest companies formed during this period was the Russian Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg, now widely known as the Kirov Ballet.  Its ballet school was founded in 1738.

-Excerpted from a World Book article entitled Ballet.  Contributor: Katy Matheson, M.A., Free-lance Writer; Dance Historian.

The Lord is my strength.

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O Lord, supported me.  When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.  The Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. -Psalms 94:18-19, 22

The Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words connot express. 

-Rom. 8:26

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.  -Psalm 28:7

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I spent a good deal of last night and this morning reading the Bible and talking to God about my attitude towards the way I let myself feel yesterday.  I'm typically not the type of person to let the opinions of others get to me, but lately I feel like the enemy is really trying to mess with my head about my interactions with people. We all get bummed now and again, I guess I just feel stupid for voicing my sudden rush of self-doubt.  God has blessed me with incredible, encouraging friends.  It's something I was really reminded of on Saturday.

But then Sunday rolls around and I let the tiniest, stupidest thing get to me and eat at my thoughts all day.   I let it plant a seed in my mind and I let the enemy water that seed.  I knew I was being stupid, but I let it happen anyway.  Yes, what I was feeling was a bit discouraging, but I also was over-analyzing the situation and letting the enemy guide my thoughts in response to what I over-analyzed.  Bad combo, right there.  All I got out of that was a realization of how selfish I am.  When I went to God about it, He told me the same thing.

I started off praying about my issues with doubt and jealousy, but as He and I conversed and I asked Him to give me the right perspective on this whole thing, I ended up praying about my issues with selfishness instead.  I realized that's the actual issue at hand.  And that is not the kind of person I want to be.  I want to be thoughtful, self-sacrificing, generous, understanding, patient, trusting, loving.  I think if I work harder on focusing on developing my character into those kinds of things, if I work harder on focusing on becoming the woman God intends me to be, I will stop worrying about issues like this. 

The Bible talks about how destructive jealousy is, it also talks about how it's the product of foolishness.  Why would I want to spend my time harboring destructive feelings that make me look like a fool?

The Bible also talks about not worrying about stuff that will happen.  God has that stuff under control and I recognize that it's out of my control..so why do I worry?  I need to continue to strive to work on the things that I can control so that I can be prepared for what God has in store for the future.  If I focus on that, I won't have time to worry about trivial things.  But it's a struggle, and I need prayer. 

May 7.

Rachel came in town for the day! After SATs, we took our mothers (and sisters) to a tea shop to celebrate Mom Day.  It was interesting.  Then Rachel and I went to the beach and ate a ton of food.  Rather, I ate a ton of food and she made fun of me for being a fatty. When the day was done, I took her to meet up with the rest of her family so she could head home.  Our battery died.  I'm really not sure what is about the two of us that makes cars just decide to die, but this is like the jillionth time we've had to jump a car.  Actually, it was the second.  I'm just over exaggerating.

It should also be made known that after eight or so years of friendship, I have finally exposed the little jellybear inside of this snarky woman.  Rachel does indeed know how to say the words "I love you."  Though, only after a Twix, a book, and a LotR soundtrack.  It's progress though!

However, I should probably go ahead and start digging my grave.  She is going to kill me for announcing that bit of information.

It was nice knowing all of you.

Divaas.

Kaeli decided she wanted to fix my hair tonight.

She has a promising career in cosmetology.

May 6.

Fact: I own almost twice as many dance shoes than I do street shoes. And yes, those little underwear lookin' things are shoes. And yes, that creepy stain on them is blood.

May 5.

Just a little braggin'.

A kid tried picking a fight with my eight-year-old brother today.  I'm really proud of the way he handled it.  I'm also really proud of the way he used what he's been learning in karate for the past two years for what it's really meant for.

This little punk found out Isaac took karate and figured he needed to see it to believe it.  After plotting with the rest of his punk buddies, he came up to Isaac and began calling him names and was just being a douche about how Isaac couldn't take him and whatever.

Instead of getting indignant, Isaac just ignored the kid's taunting.  Clearly, this wasn't the reaction the kid hoped for, so he took a swing at Isaac.  Without even missing a beat, my little brother blocked the swing with one hand, grabbed the kid's neck with the other, and pushed him to the ground.  Then, he walked away.  He hadn't hurt the kid, but he did enough to let the kid know not to mess with him.  Pissed off, the kid followed Isaac and punched him in the back.  Isaac continued walking.

Do you know how much it hurts to be punched in the back?!  It hurts a lot. Boy's got some self-control.

Maybe I'm just letting my big-sister instincts kick in, but I'm really proud of him.  In these situations, it seems like kids usually either get mad and react on that anger, or turn into little pussies and cry about it.  Isaac did neither.  He used what he's learned to stand up for himself, but he didn't take advantage of his ability to beat the piss out of the kid, because I can assure you...he could have if he wanted to.

I dunno, I just thought it was kinda cool.  With that being the first time (that I'm aware of) that something like this has happened, I feel like he handled it really well.  Plus, he's not being all haughty about it either.  Which is also cool.  Though, someone's gotta brag about it.  Figured I would (:

May 4.

No, no Star Wars picture.  It was tempting, but I'd rather just throw in a ton of these.  I didn't take all of them (obviously), but I wanted to share them anyway. <3

May 3.

"Hey.  I'm Harry.  Just hangin' with my friends here.  I sorta vanquished a Dark Lord yesterday.  No big deal.  Just an epic battle at my school.  That's all."

May 2.

For some reason, I figured it'd be a great idea to sign up for SATs the same week as finals. Yeah, brilliant idea. (facepalm)

The absurdity of homeschooling.

When will people (particularly the homeschool community) realize that you cannot always Christianize everything?  When will they realize that teaching solely from a "Biblical worldview" actually carries a lot of danger?  When will they understand that their children are more likely to write off Christianity as a whole because they've spent their whole lives having Jesus shoved down their throats?  When will they understand that in their attempts to "train their child in the way he should go" they are causing their child to view God as some impersonal enforcer of rules?  When will they realize that their actions are actually producing the opposite effect of what they're intending to do?  It's foolishness, and it's dangerous.

I dunno.  Maybe it's just me...but parents' attempts to raise their children "the right way" and the whole concept of homeschooling is so bogus.  I know these aren't ALWAYS the intentions parents have when they choose to homeschool their kids...but 99 percent of the time, it is.
And it pisses me off.

May 1.

In spite of the fact that starting from today, I will somehow become even MORE busy than I already am...I think I want to start documenting life from behind my beloved Canon again.

Yes, I shall. Challenge accepted, Courtney.

[This is not my photography.  Although it was edited by me, it was taken by the oh so talented Rachel Sandypants.  I left my camera at her house once.  Apparently she took this while I was away.  Excellent work, m'dear.]

Daily photos: uploaded weekly. Or daily..depending on how busy I am.