Gala is coming to a close… I am so excited for the last 3 shows, but I am sooo tired. This morning I woke up at 8:15, got breakfast, took a 30 minute nap and then went to my first class at 10 a.m. And the sad part is, I could probably take another nap before the show tonight and still go to bed before midnight. I am going to miss performing, but I am really looking forward to catching up on homework and sleep. Anyways, there are only 3 Gala performances left. Friday night show (tonight) is already sold out, so if you still want to go see it…get your tickets now! The show is really fabulous, so it is definitely worth it 🙂

Opening night was a complete success! If anyone didn’t hear…Dance Gala is a performance lasting this weekend as well as next weekend at Space Place Theater!  Tickets are only $5, and the show is phenomenal! The best dancers at the University of Iowa are all in it, and it really is spectacular! So basically everyone should go!

Dance Gala!!!

terrible phone camera quality...but what a pretty sight!

It’s good to be a Hawkeye during Homecoming week! And we beat Indiana University 🙂 Not going to lie, it was such a good feeling to beat them. More than half my graduating class in high school goes to IU, so I felt pretty victorious! The weather for the game was absolutely perfect, so sunny! I am not ready for the winter weather to hit, but I know it’s coming. Anyway, Friday night I got to see Eric Hutchinson perform on the pentecrest! After my friends and I did a little dancing and singing, we headed over to Starbucks for a late night coffee to warm us up! Man is Starbucks good…I love chai tea 🙂 So after that, we headed over to the IMU and watched the last Harry Potter. I have already seen it, as well as read all the books, but I couldn’t resist! Basically I had a fun Friday night!!

Saturday was the game, which I already said was awesome. Tonight I am going to see Lysistrata, a greek play that is being performed over at the Theater building! I have some friends who live on the arts floor with me who are actually performing in it, and part of the stage crew. One of my friends saw it last night and said it was captivating! She liked it so much, that she is going to see it again tonight. Tonight is the last show, but the theater department is always putting on plays and other productions. They are a talented group of students, so I recommend everyone to check it out!

Speaking of talented students… Dance Gala is less than one week away from opening night!!! This week all of us dancers will be busy in tech and dress rehearsals, so I need to start loading up on the caffeine! The Dance Gala is at Space Place Theater (basement of North Hall) and tickets are on sale now… so go get them while you can!! It will be an awesome show, with a little bit of everything for all audiences. All of us dancers have been working extremely hard, and it is so awesome to see everything coming together…it will be a great show to say the least!

And to top of the excitement of this week…My birthday is on Saturday! I will finally be 18 years old. I am going to be performing on stage for my birthday, while my family is in the audience! They are driving 5 and a half hours to come see the show and of course me! I am so excited for this upcoming week!

sooo goood 🙂

Easy mac only tastes good after so long…and Sunday night when the Burge marketplace was closed there was no way I could have easy mac again for dinner. I decided to splurge and spend some money in order to get some resemblance of “real food.” Katie and I googled quick and inexpensive restaurants in Iowa City, and that is when we found Z’marik Noodle Cafe. They have any type of pasta you could ever dream of. But go figure, we both ordered macaroni and cheese. Except it tasted home made and absolutely delicious. It was like a little taste of home was brought straight to Iowa City! It definitely made up for the cold walk from Burge to the Cafe. The food was so good!                   yumm yumm…

Hey look it's Po

As I was sitting in the middle of the hallway talking to my family on the phone for our weekly chat when the red Teletubbie, Po, comes running down the hallway screaming my name.  My poor family on the phone didn’t realize what was happening, as I busted into a hysteric laughing frenzy! To say the least it was my best friend Katie wearing her Halloween costume three weeks too early. After she shocked me, she moved on to knocking on people’s door and yelling, “trick or treat!” Living on the arts floor in Burge, the girls weren’t too weirded out, but rather gave her a huge hug, took pictures, or choose to laugh! Sunday’s are the day everyone is locked in their room doing homework anyways, so thanks to Katie my floor’s study break was willingly interrupted! With all that excitement, I am looking forward to another great week in Iowa City, and the Northwestern game on Saturday!!! GO HAWKS!

Seriously the weather this week has been absolutely gorgeous. It is the best of both worlds, the warmth of summer and the beauty of fall. I swear over night all the trees were painted with gorgeous red and orange leaves, and next thing you know they are covering the sidewalks. I have been trying my best everyday to go and study outside, because before I know it….winter will be here!! I am looking forward to boots and sweater weather, but for right now I wouldn’t mind an extra couple of weeks weather shorts and a t-shirt!

Don’t get me wrong, I love Hawkeye football games… but it was so nice to have a relaxing and productive Saturday for a change. I got over eight hours asleep before I casually woke up and went to breakfast. I got my bagel, eggs, and coffee which started off my morning just right. I think I quickly got ready for my day and rushed over to Space Place rehearsal for the Gala production. It was only an hour, but boy was I tired. Though I promised my friend, Katie after I was done rehearsing we would go to the Rec Center, that is when I found out how incredibly weak my upper body is. We did some cardio, and then Katie made me lift some weights with her… and I have a pretty strong feeling that I am going to be sore in the morning. But my goal for now is to get some pretty strong biceps, so I need to start working on my guns 🙂

sooo sunny out, Katie has the squinty eye look going for her

After the work out session, we headed over to the pentecrest and we studied and laid out in the sun. It was an absolutely gorgeous day here!!! We couldn’t stay as long as we wanted because we had a wedding party taking pictures right behind us, so we left because we didn’t want to get in the background of their special day. Studying is tough sometimes, but when you’re outside in the amazing weather in Iowa City it makes it sooo much better!!

Here at Burge, we have now had a total of 5 fire alarms. One of the five have actually been a legit drill, while the rest were “real.” I am starting to wonder if this is a record. And hopefully as the seasons change and the weather gets colder, the fire alarm stops going off as well! Though I must admit the fire alarm sounded tonight because of my floor. Yes, the girl a few doors down burned her popcorn and the entire Burge residence hall had to evacuate for a good 20 minutes!

But looking on the bright side, it is almost the weekend! The weeks go by so fast at college it’s amazing, we are almost done with our 5th week! Tomorrow I am going to see Hubbard Street 2 perform at the Space Place Theater in North Hall! I had some friends see the show tonight, and they all LOVED it! Besides that, my weekend consists of the football game, laundry, homework and sleep! Can’t wait!!

Ashton Kutcher, that’s who! I was sitting at the football game, and the next think I know my friend screams, “Tyler, Ashton Kutcher is at the game!!” I did not believe her, but sure enough 15 feet away from me, he was standing right there. He was a little hairier than  I expected, but it was him alright! Ashton must have been a good luck charm, because as we were behind in the 3rd quarter, I started to get really worried. But next thing I knew the Hawkeyes started working as a team and it was such a great turnaround! My voice was a little sore after all the yelling and screaming I did, but I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Yes, call me lame, but on a Saturday night my 2 best friends and I did our laundry. It was completely empty, so it took half the time it normally would to clean our clothes! We brought an Ipod dock down to the laundry room in the basement of Burge, and had a mini-dance party before I realized that I should be using my time more wisely. And that’s when I began to write a blog!!!

Payden and Katie ready for laundry!!

I have been completely exhausted this week. Rehearsals for the Gala (biggest dance performance of the year) started on Tuesday, so I have been sore and sleepier than usual. Though I know these rehearsals are making me a better dancer, hopefully gearing me to one day maybe even become a professional dancer. Speaking of professional dancers… I completely forgot to blog about seeing Hubbard Street perform outside of Hancher Auditorium. Hubbard Street is a dance company based in Chicago, and they have some of the most muscular and talented dancers I have ever seen. The performance lasted about 2 hours and had a firework display over the river at the end. It was such a beautiful cool night and the performance was inspiring. Now when I am tired and don’t feel like going to dance rehearsals, I can think back to the night of Hubbard Street performance and get inspiration to work hard in dance class and rehearsal!