my top moments of twenty-thirteen (a year in review)

As the year comes to a close, I figured it would be fun to jog my memory (and look through iPhoto) for my favorite moments of the past year. 

Moving into and living in a beautiful house with a beautiful room with some beautiful ladies.

Being fortunate enough to travel so much in the past year.
Chicago, Illinois--

Kelcey, Chance, and I went to Chicago for a weekend for some auditions in late Februrary.

Park City, Utah--

The family took our yearly (ish) ski trip in March.

New York, New York--

Kelcey and I took a trip to NYC for a dance intensive with Keigwin + Company for a week.

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Kansas City, Missouri--

The family took a road trip to KC for a few days to get my 93 year old grandma and her little sis (90) together for a visit.

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photo credit: Tim Summers
Seattle, Washington--I spent three weeks in Seattle to study dance at the Velocity Center with various dance artists while staying with family. Read more!

San Clemente, California--

My parents, brother, and I visit San Clemente for a few days to spend time with my dad's sister and her family.

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Creating and being involved in dance film. A project dancers at my school started in the beginning of 2013, which I am now in charge of the second year of it.

"America." The photo says it all. Without a doubt, one of my favorite photos of 2013.

Learning to play the ukulele.

House/dog sitting at a professor of mine with my roommates. He said, "help yourselves to any food in the house" but all he had was lentils, soup, and grey goose vodka. Did I mention he lives on a lake?

Watching my little brother walk at his high school graduation. I am so incredibly proud.

My 21st.  

photo credit: Gerry Love

A weekend full of dancing and ending with a wedding--

This weekend was very memorable in my book, from starting the weekend off teaching master classes to studio's in St. Louis and driving my professor's car around as she puked out the back window, to performing Larry Keigwin's "Caffeinated" at Dancing in the Street festival in STL, to immediately after performing rushing off to go to a wedding (or reception, rather, considering by the time I got there, I had missed the actual wedding) nearly an hour away. A memorable moment inside the many memories made this weekend was a typical "Sam" moment of when I was driving to Washington, MO for this wedding, I had to stop at a Target off of the beaten path (literally in the middle of nowhere) and straightened my hair at the customer service desk, so I looked decent for the wedding.

Spending time with my insanely crazy friends and seeing many of which who've moved past college do some absolutely spectacular things. 

Overall, my year has had it's highs and lows, mostly highs. And I couldn't be more excited to ring in the new year of 2014--as futuristic as that sounds. Cheers!

happiest of holidays

Just wanting to wish everyone the happiest of holidays! Tis the season to enjoy time spent with loved ones. Sometimes I don't realize how truly lucky I am to have the family and friends that I have; ones who are so very supportive, understanding, caring, and overall hilarious. It really helps to take a step back from all the chaos and running around to see how blessed we are. I couldn't be more thankful for the health, love, and time to spend with my family for yet another christmas season. Granted, I am talking (bragging) about my incredible family when I have photos of my dearest roommates. I couldn't be more thankful for a lovelier group of ladies to live with. Family and friends are the essence of the season, personally and I wanted to post a major shout out to each and everyone of them.

winter is upon us!

There's nothing better than a good 'ole snow day in college! Especially when this is the first one I've experienced in the past two and a half years of living here. Class was cancelled on Friday, so we got a bit of an extended weekend. It is nice on occasion to be forced to stay in and do nothing. And that's exactly what I did. For the first time in a while, I had time to read my book, toy around with the pup, and sit around drinking hot chocolate and rum! --speaking of the rum, acquiring that was quite the adventure.

By the end of the day, two of my roommates (both named Emily) and I were beginning to go a little insane being cooped up in the house all day and decided to make a trip to the gas station for a little alcohol. This trip went from taking the dog for a walk to the walk of survival (I'm exaggerating, but it was an experience I'll never forget). As we were walking one the Emilys dropped her phone in the snow and went back to find it, never returning to us to finish our journey.  The other Emily and I proceeded on to the nearest Philips 66 only to find out their alcohol was all at least ten dollars more expensive than any other gas station... we contemplated for a solid five seconds only to come to the conclusion that walking the extra bit for cheaper booze would be worth it. I ended up trekking a mile through knee deep snow, dog on one arm, Emily on the other (did I mention she is night blind and can't see at night?) We finally made it to the gas station and got the rum and took the side roads back home. Max made some new puppy friends on our way back and one of them he likes so much that he pulled a snow dog moment as I slid across the ice covered road and wiped out into a giant fluff of snow face first. The adventure was one of the most hilarious things that had happened to me in a while and Emily and I deemed it pretty damn priceless.

long before the snow

Once again, I've neglected the blog--but for all in good reason. This semester has left me swamped with rehearsals, a new job (not many hours, but hey, it's a great resumé builder), maintaining a semi-clean house, and most recently, the acquiring of a dog! I experienced the twenty-first birthday thing...on my university's Homecoming, the day bars open at 7am (yeesh), I bought a journal and actually have been using it, eating much more healthfully and using more organic items, as well as meeting new friends, spending time with the old, and visiting with family from the west coast at a fabulous winery (in a CAVE!). Needless to say, it's been a busy last few months. Before the hustle and bustle of the fall formal dance concert and the holidays, Hannah and I found a small chunk of time to explore with the camera and took full advantage of the lovely autumn colors before they faded away into winter.

I love that we have now explored enough together that we are discovering our own "voice" through the lens, whether it's through various angles, direction, you name it, our experimentation is finally beginning to pay off a bit. I must say, this time of year is one of my favorites, which is why we could NOT pass up one of the only opportunities we had (combining both of our schedules was more than tricky) to capture the beauty of fall. I posted a few small collections of photos we took one of the brilliant November afternoons.