Happy New Year!

Hey all,

Well, it's a new year and I hope you all have your resolutions ready! I've got a few, but my main one is taking this year to really concentrate on me. I changed the title of my blog to a year of growth. Last year, it was a year of change, which it certainly was, but not really for the better in a lot of instances. 2009 was not so good to me, so I plan on making 2010 awesome. It is a year for growing, for expanding my horizons and for working toward what I want in my life at this time. I'm setting goals, I'm looking ahead and I'm feeling confident about what I have decided to do.

I hope you all had a great holiday and that 2010 brings you all that you need. I hope it's a year of prosperity and growth.

Until next time,
-J

End of the year!

Hey all,

Lots has happened in the last 2 months. What with salsa dancing and concerts galore, I haven't have a lot of time on my hands.

November 20 was our choir fundraiser for school where a bunch of people performed and it was a great night. Afterwards, some of us went out salsa dancing at a local club and it was a lot of fun. They have free lessons from 9:30-10pm and open the dance floor until about 1am. So much fun! I went a few times with my favourite Mexican, and a bunch of other friends and we tore up the dance floor. Possibly more dancing in the new year.
A week later, we had our school choir concert where I ended up with two solos and I was really happy about it. Apart from messing up on my first note, I think it went really well.

Our Christmas program for church was on the 13th and though we had a few people missing, we managed to pull it off wonderfully. We got lots of compliments on the performances and I was pretty happy with it. Last week we had the stake choral festival where I sang with the stake choir and my friend Jocelyn and I sang a duet. I was a good night. I then had a bunch of exams and lots of studying but I managed to somehow pull it off. I've passed all my classes for the semester and am looking forward to the new year!

I flew home from Alberta on the 23rd and got in in the evening. I almost missed my flight, what with the Christmas crowds at the airport, but thanks to a number of helpful strangers I managed to jump the line and get on my flight in time. Thank goodness. The next few days was spent baking, socializing, opening presents, eating and playing games with family and friends. It was some good times.









As for this week, it's the last few days of 2009 and I plan on spending it with my friends and family. I've got a number of new years resolutions that I need to keep and I am excited for the new start. I'm also planning to change the title and quote of my blog so keep posted!

Until next year!
-J

Halloween!!

Hey all,

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. I guess it's time for an update...as I'm procrastinating studying for my music history midterm, which is tomorrow. Ok, let's see...this past month has been quite eventful. I still don't have a job, so I'm freaking a little, but I'm hoping something will turn up soon, and I keep applying to job postings on Kajijii.

As for school, everything has been going really well. My voice lessons are going really awesome this year, so I'm really excited about that. I performed in Masterclass a week ago, the video is on facebook if you want to check it out. I'm getting more and more comfortable taking on the roles of the characters I am faced with in my songs. You can't see with this video, but the working video (that's too long to post on facebook) you can see me really getting into it and being the character, with encouragement from my audience and instructor.

I have only 2 midterms left, my aforementioned music history one tomorrow, and a conducting terminology one on Thursday. I'm not too worried about that one though. All it is is terms in French, German, and Italian and we have to translate them into English...and they're all music terms that we use on a regular basis, so it's pretty easy.

My social life has really taken off the past few weeks. I've gotten to know a bunch of new people and have been to many late-night parties and movie nights. We even held our own halloween party at our house this past Saturday and about 35 people showed up, so it was good! We had our friend DJ and everything so it was a lot of fun.



















As for church, I got called 2 weeks ago as the choir director! I'm really excited this time around, since my conducting class is actually helping me learn things I need to in order to direct the choir properly. I expected maybe 10-12 people to show up yesterday for our first practice, but I was pleastantly surprised when about 25 people showed up! We even have 8 basses! It's totally awesome. I love it. I'm really looking forward to starting Christmas music for our program in December, so we'll see how it goes! Hopefully I can keep people motivated to come.

That's pretty much it for now. I'll try to give another update soon, but we'll see!

Until next time,
-J

Semester One

Hey all,

So I've been in Lethbridge for almost 3 weeks now. I like my new roommates and we get along pretty well. The house here is great; nice and big and new so it's comfy. I'm only taking 5 classes this semester, so I have it a bit lighter than last year. I'm taking music history (final semester, thank goodness!!), studio (voice lessons), Conducting, Woodwind and string methods (I'm learning violin and flute!), and choir. They're all pretty good so far...except history but this is my last semester of it and I'm done forever! I really like learning how to play the violin. I've never played a string instrument before, so it's a challenge and it's fun!

There hasn't been much news in the church department...that is, we've had stake conference and the long-weekend so I don't really know who's in my ward or anything yet. Plus my records haven't officially been transferred so I can't get a calling...I don't know when that's going to happen. I hope soon.

I also went out about a week and a half ago and applied for a bunch of jobs...I haven't heard back yet, so I'm a bit anxious. I'm trying to be patient but I need something to fill my time and bring me $$$. That's pretty much all my news for now. I do miss Ottawa, but Lethbridge is only temporary, so I'll be back there soon enough.

Until next time,
-J

Round 2 of Lethbridge U

Hey all!
Just wanted to post an update before I head back out to Alberta. The summer has just flown by and I can't believe school starts in 10 days! It's crazy! So I started and finished renovating my bedroom and it looks great! I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I especially like the fact that I no longer have a nasty green carpet on my floor.

In other news, I'm moving into a new place in Lethbridge this year. A whole new set of 4 other girls, who I don't know, but it has like $100 cheaper rent than last year. I'm leaving this Saturday morning and starting the long 3-day drive out to Lethbridge. I'm not really looking forward to it, but it has to be done. On the bright side, my grandpa paid $1000 to repair my car so it can make the trip. The mechanic says that everything is running great and that it should go another 200,000kms before it dies. That's a relief! Maybe I'll even get the dented side door replaced eventually...

Any other news...oh, my last day of work is tomorrow! I'm sooooo happy. I'm ridiculously sick of Subway and will avoid it like the plague if I can in Lethbridge. I'm going job hunting my first week. Hopefully I'll be able to find something! If anyone knows of anything, please let me know!! :D Other than that, I'm getting my hair cut again tomorrow. I'm going short, so I'm a little scared, but excited too. I have so much packing to do and organizing, so I'd better get on it!

Until next time,
-J

Update of Sorts

Hey all,

So summer seems to be slipping by so fast! I can't believe there's only another month left before I head back to school. It seems so far away, yet so close at the same time. I finally found a place to live in lethbridge, so I'll be living with a different set of 4 girls this year. I'm excited and also nervous because I haven't met them before.

I'm in the process of renovating my room here in Ottawa. If any of you have seen it before, it was light and dark blue for many many years. I'm now updating to a more modern, yet feminine style. I'm going with white, a purpleish-pink, and grey. I'm really excited for it and I hope I can get it all done before the end of August. My friend from Lethbridge is coming to visit at the end of August and she's driving back out west with me (road trip!!).

In other news, I have my G-test tomorrow for my driver's license. If I fail this, I have to start all over from the beginning, so I'm really nervous. I'm taking in my grandpa's car too, so I don't have much experience driving it. We're going out early tomorrow, before the test, to practice and everything. Pray for me!! I really can't afford to fail this!

That's pretty much all there is to update. My life is pretty boring and normal, working at Subway and going to church. Not much else to report.

Until next time,
-J

Year of Change?

When I re-named my blog at the beginning of the year to "A Year of Change", I was looking forward and setting goals to change my life. I am only just beginning to see that change. A familiar quote comes to mind: "Be the change you want to see in the world". It is quite ambitious to think that one person can help to change the world, but as others see you try, and notice your light and dedication to your cause, they may decide that they can change it too.

I get so frustrated by John Meyer's song "waiting on the world to change" because the rising generation are the people who can actually help to make a difference! We have that power! It has become common in the public eye to have tv shows, movies, pictures, music and books which have inappropriate subject content, namely some type of pornography. The change I am proposing is to try to cut back, if not eliminate the explicit media you are exposed to. If you do not feel comfortable, if you do not feel uplifted by something you read, listen to, or watch, then chances are, it is not good for you.

Our Sunday school lesson and one person's testimony touched on this yesterday at church and it got me thinking. What kinds of media am I exposing myself to? What am I reading or watching and how is it affecting me? When I started to think about these things, there were a number of songs, movies/tv shows, and books that I know I should not be reading. We have been de-sensitized and it may feel like a type of sacrifice to cut these things back from our lives. I am sincerely going to try, because I believe it can help change me, and maybe help change someone else too with my example.

To some, this may seem like such a small act, but by removing these harmful influences in our lives, we can feel uplifted, enriched, and blessed by the more positive things we find to fill our time. Our spirits and minds will be more open to inspiration and the "stage of our mind" will be occupied with the things of the Lord and not the things of the world. I hope you can take this challenge with me, and if you are already trying or have mastered this in your own life, I congradulate you!

Until next time,
-J