I'm a graduate of the University of Puget Sound with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education (choral & general emphasis). I love baking, cake decorating, and spending time with friends. I am a music teacher with Music Together, and recently returned from my adventure as a cast member of Up With People in 2013. I am currently working towards my teaching certificate and Masters from the University of Denver in the hopes of one day teaching elementary music to adorable little kids!
For anyone interested, our Family Christmas update can be found HERE!
This Christmas has been great! We got snow this week, which allowed us to actually have a white christmas (even if it wasn't snowing on the actual day!)
Today has been very fun and quite relaxed! We slept in, ate a yummy breakfast, and then opened presents with Michael and Mindy.
Rockin' the high school apparel & no make-up look
We ate our traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas this year. I was REALLY excited to eat all my favorite things that I missed out on in November!
Marshmallow-ing up the yams! YUM!
Our pretty table! Mom didn't want to use the self-timer, so she's missing from the picture.
It's funny how Christmas changes as you get older. I finally understand why my parents always enjoyed watching us open presents rather than opening presents themselves. While receiving gifts is still very fun (especially once you're past the age of snooping and ruining the fun of Christmas morning), it's even more fun to shop for gifts and give them!
I gave...
Dad: a Jeopardy daily calendar for his classroom
Mom: a Champagne salad dressing she requested from Trader Joe's and a fun book about "How to Open Your Own Bed & Breakfast" since she's always talked about wanting to open her own.
Both Parents: Tickets to Trans-Siberian Orchestra for tomorrow night (combination present with Michael and Mindy)
Michael: the complete set of Planet Earth (BBC edition) on BlueRay
Mindy: a fun paisley purse
Some of my favorite presents this year include:
awesome gray boots!
fun "coffee table" books for my future library
pretty leopard earrings! (Ok, ok...I picked these out a few days ago, but Mom still gifted them to me!)
cute music note magnets
fun baking things (including cake-pop molds!)
Wedding pictures from M&Ms wedding this summer!
My MOST FAVORITE smelling candle from Anthropologie!!!
'Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2' and 'The Help' on DVD
A BEAUTIFUL Fossil watch. I'm a big girl now! =)
A wonderful "surprise" book from Dustin. He gave it to me on my birthday and let me open one page a week. Today's final page was a coupon for a Weekend Getaway to Victoria, British Columbia! Yay!
An incredible monetary contribution to my UWP fund - this was a gift given to me by my parents in my Grandmother's memory. Thanks Grandma! I can't thank you enough!
And finally.....The thing I am MOST excited about...
A HAWAIIAN VACATION ONCE I GRADUATE! It will be an awesome vacation spending time with my mom, dad, Michael, and Mindy, and I even get to take Dustin along! Yes! I've never been to Hawaii and I've been dreaming of going for a long time now!
{{ Merry Christmas to all! }}
I hope everyone had a fabulous day spending time with family and loved ones!
I'm a dork. I recognize this. But the other night, my entire family was having a lazy "sit-in-front-of-the-t.v." kind of night...household animals included...and I couldn't resist taking these pictures. My pets are just so stinkin' cute! Darn it!
My boys! Alpine {darker} and Tadashi {lighter}
Alpine so delicately draped his left ear over Tadashi's face. How kind.
Then Alpine decided to use Tadashi as a pillow. The things that poor pup puts up with!
Clawed is usually a little twirp, but sometimes, he's just too darn precious!
and {handsome}
His signature goatee is the reason I picked him in the first place back when he was a little baby kitten (and before we knew he was mentally deranged!)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Polete family pets!
My mother and I discovered a woman's Mecca the other day. We ventured into Charming Charlie for the very first time...and Oh! My! My jaw dropped and I was speechless. If you are ever in the market for accessories of any kind, may I suggest you hit this place up? They have more square footage of sparkly things than you know what to do with!
For those of you in Colorado, my mom and I went to the Southlands at 6240 S Main St. in Aurora, but you can search for their other locations {here}. The store was enormous! I decided to snap a few pictures in an attempt to display this store's fabulous array of wonderful goodies! {They do the store NO justice what-so-ever!}
Even though the intention of the trip was to shop for my sister-in-law, I couldn't resist buying this awesome set for myself! I'm in love!
On Wednesday, I traveled downtown Denver with my mama to visit a new ENT. I'd been fearing that my vocal nodes had returned, but I wasn't positive and I wanted an expert's opinion. Since I've been unhappy and dissatisfied with the ENT I was seeing in Tacoma, I opted to visit this new doctor who was recommended to me once I returned home for break. Boy am I glad I did! This guy was a thousand times better than the Tacoma dude.
This time around, the doctor scoped me with all his high-tech equipment. He was much more thorough and had awesome technology that allowed me to see the whole video played back. It's so much more comforting to be able to see for myself what is going on inside of my body!
The nodes are still gone, but now there's swelling that creates the perfect environment for the nodes to return. That being said, my life is now being altered (yet again) to help prevent that from happening.
Those changes include:
* Raising the head of my bed (both at home and at school) so I sleep on a slant. Construction project, anyone?
* Taking a really expensive prescription acid reflux medicine on a daily basis.
* Not eating or drinking (including water) 2-3 hours before I go to bed.
* Not eating 2-3 hours before I sing.
* Steaming my sinuses with a facial steamer for 10 min. a day.
* Using a sinus rinse 2X a day.
* Cutting the following out of my diet:
{this is the part that kills me}
~ chocolate
~ peppermint
~ onions
~ tomatoes
~ red wine (could care less about this one)
~ spicy food (while I usually can't handle heat, I do enjoy an occasional spicy dish)
So, now to rest my voice this break, get this swelling down, and figure out how to get these vocal troubles sorted out and DONE WITH!
Before heading home for Christmas break, I spent some time with my main squeeze (haha, even writing that makes me chuckle. We're never that lovey-dovey with nicknames) Anyways, Dustin and I had to cram lots of holiday celebration in in a short time frame because of my Dec. 19th departure for Colorado. Needless to say, December is a busy month of celebrating because of: 1) Dustin's Birthday on the 23rd 2) Christmas 3) New Years! (granted, we don't really celebrate that, but you know...it still gets lump-summed.)
So, even though I hate when people do this, I combined Dustin's birthday and Christmas presents into one big huzzah. Since he's been seriously thinking about opera performance as a career, his voice teacher has been bugging him to take ballroom dance classes to improve his performance abilities! When we attended a master class with a professor from Houston, TX who suggested the exact same thing, I knew just what to get him for Christmas!
{I wrapped his present this year in the same paper as two years ago! Awww... sentimentality gushing over! haha}
...see? This was the first gift we gave each other. It was the same gift, wrapped in the same paper! =)
Anyway! Back to the present. And Dustin's present! ha!
So, I surprised him with:
~ Coffee to keep at my place since we don't have a coffee maker! ~
~ Baseball cards ~
~ Homemade yummy things ~
~ Ballroom dance lessons : 1 consultation, 2 private lessons, and 1 group lesson ~
~ A pre-paid coupon for dinner out for a date night after dancing! ~
I think he liked the presents...what do you think?
Kidding. He always does something weird the first try.
Here's my asking for a nice "smile" picture!
The celebration continued as we enjoyed Dustin's concert weekend with the Northwest Repertory Singers. They performed an all Baroque concert, and it was fantastic! Dustin had quite the fan club in attendance. His mom flew up from CA, his aunt, cousin, and grandma drove up from Portland, his other cousin and his girlfriend drove down from Seattle, and his friend Ricky and his girlfriend Vienna were in town, as well as his other grandma who lives locally in Tacoma! We had a fantastic weekend full of food and fellowship!
It's terrible quality, but I wanted to be sure to capture Dustin's amazing solo in "The Messiah" for all to see! I'm so stinkin' proud of him! He was the star soloist that night, in my humble opinion!
I bothered him to snap some pictures after the concert! I want these for when he's a famous singer!
Typical... haha
Sunday night was my last night in town, so we headed to Pt. Defiance to go to Zoo Lights!
I headed back to Colorado the next day. It's always hard saying goodbye to my favorite boy, especially since I miss out on his birthday, Christmas, and New Years, but at least we have the technology we have today so I can still stay in contact! And it doesn't hurt that I come home to this:
I'm officially home and on Christmas break. What a semester! I thought senior year was going to quiet down a bit, but boy was I wrong! Now that I'm home, I have a lot I want to accomplish this break. While I want to relax and enjoy everyone's company, I have a lot to do! I figured if I wrote it down publicly, I'd be more likely to fulfill these tasks:
TO DO:
Finish Christmas shopping! Goodness school puts a damper on these things!
Work out! A lot! I never have time in the semester, but now I do!
Mentally practice for my recital. I'm WAY far behind on my repertoire, and I need to catch up, even if my voice is still on the fritz!
On a similar note, mentally practice for the opera! We get back from break and BAM! It's showtime!
Study for the G.R.E. (Dec. 30th) and Music PLACE exam (Jan. 7th). Yuck.
Arrange 'The Chain' by Ingrid Michaelson for my a'cappella group What She Said!
Work at Cold Stone a lot so I can actually have $$$!
Spend time with my family and puppies!
See lots of friends who I don't regularly get to see!
Look into more fundraising activities for Up With People
My family has lots of {extreme} Christmas traditions (which are slowly starting to pare back a little with the years *sigh*) But if there's one thing my Mama's taught me about Christmas, it's how to bake sinful, gluttonous, delicious treats! So, when preparing for finals overwhelmed me, I baked.
...and baked some more!
{1. Russian Tea Cakes}
{2. Homemade fudge with nuts}
{3. Peanut Butter Bon Bons}
{4. Corn Flake Holly Wreaths}
{5. Pretzel bites with Hershey kisses and m&ms}
{6. Peanut Butter Blossoms}
I love giving homemade treats as presents 1. Because they're yummy, and 2. Because it's a bit more personal than a gift card or some other little thing that will never be used.
Some of us from choir gathered to go Caroling over Reading Period and I made up this platter of yummy treats!
I hope everyone has a fantastic time of celebration with friends and family. I look forward to finishing up my semester (TOMORROW!), spending time with my boyfriend and his family in Tacoma for his Christmas concert, and then flying home to spend time with MY family and friends!
Some may make fun of me for loving the show so much, but I can't help it! I was raised watching the show, and darn it - I'm good at it!
(the board I was graciously given to write on today.)
My journey started back on October 5th when I ventured to the lovely (note the sarcasm) Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma for the WheelMobile event. Let me set the scene for you:
Hundreds of weird people who all claim to be the BIGGEST Wheel of Fortune fans who watch every night and claim they can solve every puzzle all huddled in a big ballroom at the back of this lovely casino. The hour is upon us...the magical moment when the audition is to start! Imagine the most obnoxious, antiquated, BLARRING rendition of Wheel Of Fortune music blasting through the casino speakers. Aw heck, just click here and listen along so you can REALLY get the essence of what we experienced!
Everyone goes crazy. The lights flash all around. And then appear the most ridiculous people EVER! Marty and...some platinum blonde chick in a neon green dress. Can't remember her name (maybe Stephanie?). But Marty is HANDS DOWN the most energetic, overwhelming human being I have ever encountered. I was terrified. See?
Everyone in the room fills out a little slip of paper about themselves with name and contact info. Then, they pull out a big rotating metal bin and pull out five names at a time. If called, you have to jump up like a maniac, run around and scream like a chicken with its head cut off, and let them know that you're making your way up to the stage. Some did this better than others!
Then those five have a one-on-one Q&A with Marty to introduce themselves and brag about weird things. Or sing songs. Or dance. You'd also be amazed at how many wackos LOVE talking about their 6 cats, 4 dogs, 17 fish, 2 turtles, and 3 horses that they have at home!
After all the intros, they play the game rapid fire like the last round of the actual show. Each player has 3 seconds to call out a letter and/or solve the puzzle. Then someone eventually solves it, everyone jumps up and down, you get a dinky prize like a blinky pen and KOMO 4 Magnet, and then you leave the stage! Then they call up 5 more and the process repeats itself over and over until the audition time is up.
The chances of actually being called up were slim-to-none, considering how many people filled the room. I never thought I'd actually be called up, but in the last round, LOW AND BEHOLD...They called my name!! ME! I got super excited, but instantly super nervous!
I went backstage, had my picture taken, found my seat on the side of the stage, and waited. When it was my group's turn, we each stood on our green X taped on the ground. I interviewed with Marty (He may be annoying and obnoxious, but up close, he's HOTT!) I survived being put on the spot during my interview, got back to my mark, and then we played!
I ended up solving the puzzle for my round by shouting out the answer ("BACK AND FORTH") the second time my turn came around. Huzzah! I was quite proud of myself and high-fived Marty. Whoo! I exited stage with my newly acquired XXXL Wheel of Fortune T-shirt, picture of Pat Sajak and Vanna White, and my KOMO 4 Magnet. ALRIGHT! (again, note the sarcasm) I wasn't sure if I'd make it to the next round of auditions, but I could dream...right?
Fastfoward nearly 2 months to Nov. 22nd. RIGHT as I'm boarding my plane to fly home for Thanksgiving I opened up my emailt to see "WHEEL OF FORTUNE FINAL AUDITION INVITATION" (I kid you not...I got this as I was walking down the Jetway.) I couldn't believe it! My audition was set for Dec. 8th at 2:30pm. I couldn't believe my luck! Dec. 8th was the first day of my school's reading period...a day when I wouldn't have class to attend! BRILLIANT! I RSVP'd as quickly as I could...aka, right as I sat down in my seat on the plane! haha. The folks around me probably thought I was insane. Oh well!
Now fastforward to today! Dec. 8th! I made my way up to Seattle to the Sheraton Hotel. I got there early, which was nice because it helped calm my jitters. We filled out sheets about ourselves, and then were eventually seated in the row they directed us to. They created a seating chart by having us call out our names, and they were REALLY big on having us SCREAM our names loudly. If people weren't loud enough, they ostracized them and shook their heads in shame. Needless to say, you won't get on the show if you aren't LOUD! I did my best, and they could understand me loud and clear! Huzzah!
Then we were called one-by-one (at random) to stand up in our spots and play the game. They were looking to see how well you worked under pressure, how loudly you spoke, how decisive you were, how logical your letter choices were, how many vowels you bought, and how much you smiled! They like smiles! I thought I did pretty well, but I only played a little bit. Oh well. I was loud...and I used my manners. That counts for something, right?
We then took a timed written test to see how well we actually solve puzzles under pressure. FUN! Imagine a sheet full of half-finished hangman puzzles - that's what this test was. We filled out as many as we could in 5 minutes and handed them in. Then we waited.
...and waited.
And watched lots of funny clips of W.o.F. throughout the years. Man there have been some crazy contestants on the show. And some really hilarious ones!
Finally, 45 min. later, they came back into the room and narrowed the 60+ contestants down to 24 of us. I WAS ONE OF THEM! Yay! They liked me! They took our pictures and then we played more puzzles that more closely resembled the actual game. We even had to act out how we'd go about spinning the 1,000 lb. wheel in front of us! tee hee. I presented myself well, once again, even though I wasn't allotted the amount of game time I would have liked! Everyone in my round got two turns except for me, but oh well!
At the end of our game, we took time to (loudly) introduce ourselves and make ourselves sound interesting, just as we would if we were on the show talking to Pat. Believe it or not, I knew I'd have to do this, so I rehearsed with myself on my drive up to Seattle. Hey, what else is a girl alone in her car supposed to do? It paid off!
All 24 contestants played, and the folks in charge left the room again. They came back a couple of minutes later and announced that they'd like to see a couple of us play once more. Five names were called. Yet again...I WAS ONE OF THEM! I'm really hoping this means good things for my future as a contestant on the actual show!
We'll know in the next 2 weeks whether or not we'll head to L.A. or Portland for taping. They send an actual letter, so that makes me nervous because I won't be at my local address to receive it if it comes once I'm back home for winter break! I might make my dear boyfriend make a trip or two by my house to stalk my mailbox! I won't possibly be able to wait to know if I have a letter waiting for me or not!
It's been a fun and exciting experience, even if it doesn't result in me actually being on the show. But here's to hoping I get that glorious letter of invitation to join Pat and Vanna on the greatest show of all! If nothing else, I have a mini-pencil that says, "I auditioned for Wheel Of Fortune" to help commemorate this whole ordeal! What else could a girl want? =)
I thought this awesome Flash Mob video would be appropriate since it takes place in the setting of my story!
Once upon a time there was a college student named Amy. She was usually quite organized, but then came the fateful day of Nov. 27th...the day she was to fly back to Tacoma, WA after Thanksgiving break.
She managed to wake up at the butt-crack-of-dawn, rising at 5:15am. She got ready, packed the last of her belongings, said goodbye to the family pets, and waltzed merrily out the door with breakfast in hand. Little did she know she had absent-mindedly left her most important possession behind!
The 35 min. car ride to the airport came and went. She hopped out at the departures gate to unload her luggage and say her goodbyes, but then the moment of TERROR struck! "WHERE IS MY PURSE!?!" the frantic maiden exclaimed! It wasn't in the front, middle, or back seats! WHERE COULD IT BE!?! The purse contained her boarding pass, keys, money, and most importantly, her photo I.D. Without the last piece, she would not be able to fly! OH NO!
In a desperate attempt, Amy called her still-sleeping Uncle Rick at home to ask him if the purse was still at the house! It was. He found it exactly where she had left it...at the bottom of the stairs. Her family promptly departed from the airport, traveler and luggage still in tow, and they raced back home!
On the ride back home, Amy called Southwest (the best airline EVER) and explained her dilemma. The nice woman calmed her telling her not to fear! If Amy were to arrive at the airport within 2 hours of her missed flight, she'd be automatically bumped onto the next one, free of charge! HUZZAH! The young maiden's worries were over...or so she thought!
Upon pulling into her driveway, Amy ZIPPED into the house, snatched her purse, and jumped back in the car. They were off...again! Back to the airport they raced. It was currently 7:30am. The next plane left at 9:10am...WOULD THEY MAKE IT?
She finally jumped out at the departure gate (yet again) at 8am. Phew! She thought she'd make it! But it would still be a tight squeeze! Goodbyes were quickly said, and the young maiden hurried her little behind into the Southwest queue-line. But oh no! Right when she thought she was in the clear, she realized she only had 1 of her 2 bags! Why ever was she so forgetful this morning?
Amy hurriedly called her father to let him know the situation, but it went straight to his voicemail! But right then, the hero of the hour called back! Her father said, "You forgot the pink bag! I'm circling back around! Meet me outside!"
She leapt out of line, raced outside, and met her father. The bag was snatched, the father drove off, and the young maiden sprinted back inside...only to wait in line...AGAIN!
The service counter attendants were very nice and accommodating, but there was one minor problem. One of them was STILL IN TRAINING! By now, it was 8:15 and the young maiden was TERRIFIED that she would miss the 9:10 flight, forcing her to wait in the airport until 2pm! After what seemed like hours of waiting while the one clerk instructed the other of the proper protocol and which keys to press, the Southwest attendants got her the info she needed, checked her bags, and sent her on her way.
Like a bat out of hell, she sprinted through the airport, dodging any slow-poke in her way! People must have thought her a mad woman! She was pleasantly surprised when she arrived at security and was greeted with the shortest line she had ever encountered at that particular airport! TSA for the win!
She hurried through security, like a boss, ran into the ever-helpful Melanie and arranged a ride home from SeaTac, then promptly got to her gate to check in with the desk clerk. Three customers had missed their connecting flights on the 9:10am flight, so...She snagged a seat! HUZZAH!
In the end, the terrified young traveler got to her destination, and only 2 hours after originally planned! No extra money, no excessive time wasted in airports, but unfortunately an exorbitant amount of stress! All in all, things could have gone terribly wrong for Amy, yet she was lucky and blessed enough to fall into the right fortunes of that particular travel day.
And she lived happily ever after...well, maybe that will be true once finals are over! =)
