Improv Class

Chase and I attended our first improv class on Sunday with the Charlotte Comedy Theater. Taking these classes has been Chase's dream since he moved down to NC in 2009. We have been to a few shows of the improv team and enjoy it every time. So here we go trying it out for ourselves!!

We car picnicked to make sure we made it there on time! lol!

The class was surprisingly big, 19 people were there.  Everyone was over 18, of course, but acting like kids on a playground...perfect for Chase and I, that's how we act every Wednesday night at Fusion.  We played some super fun warm-ups including one called Samurai.  

Samurai

The "it" person had to run to someone and slice them with their fake sword, the victim screamed in agony while drawing their sword upward in defense.  However, while their sword was up the people on either side of them swung devastating blows to that same victims mid section.  The victim then became the "it" person and started the cycle all over again.  Did I mention each person had to scream war cries the whole time? Sounds like a fun student ministry game, if you ask me!!

This first class had the emphasis of knowing that we do not have to try to be funny, just simply be yourself and funny will come! I liked that about it. 

We also learned A LOT about teamwork: 

• being there for one another 
• taking one for the team (looking stupid for several minutes or simply saying "the")
• playing off another teammate's idea or character 

The trainer talked about how when you learn improv, you retrain your brain to use the left and right sides at the same time.  How cool?! While looking like crazy people we are becoming smarter!! AH!

Let me know if you've ever done a class or club similar to this.

Tell me about your experience. 

Salvation Is Here

This summer our Pastor decided to do a series called So You Think You Can Dance.  Each week is a different aspect of life that we have to "dance" with.  To make the series come to life we are integrating some actual praise dances into our worship time. 

How I came to be involved: 
I'm not a choreographer by any stretch of the imagination and I'm not even a great dancer but I love to dance and LOVE the show SYTYCD.  Also, one of the goals on my 25 things to do by 25 was to have more dance drama in our Xalt services. Even though this is for the main church congregation...I was stoked for the opportunity.  And who knows? Maybe this will light a fire for Xalt to have some more dance involved in the services for the upcoming year.  

25X25 Goal:
Some girls and I put together a little diddy for the Xalt talent show which mashed up the songs "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha and "Good Morning" by Mandisa.  The girls did an awesome job, sorry I haven't posted that. 

Back to the Point: 
More recently, to kick off our summer series I found a dance on youtube to the song Salvation Is Here.  We cut it down a few minutes to fit our schedule and the dancers did a tremendous job on our Praise Dance (click to see the video).

I really enjoyed getting back into rehearsing and just enjoying dance.  The dancers learned so quickly, had amazing attitudes, and allowed for our passion for dance and God to come together.  

New York Preview

What is Chase eating?
How was The Lion King?
Why am I refueling with the ever popular but never healthy McDonalds?
Why are we joined with a line of people on the street?

Stay tuned for the answer to these questions and many fun facts about our trip to NYC!!

Cutting Out Cancer!

Thursday night we had a donating dinner!

What a fun journey!

Since the first hair donation post in December, 

I have lost 8 inches of hair and gained 80 inches of ponytail.  

TEN girls in the Salisbury Area decided to make the courageous cut.  

Boys might not understand but this is a nerve racking decision.

I am so proud of each girl for making such an awesome contribution!

10 ponytails = over one and a half wigs!!

Huge THANKS to Cut Up & Dye

They gave us amazing styles 

      not to mention tons of laughs and smiles!

WORD UP!!

The word on the street is that New Year's Resolutions are out and picking a Word of the Year is in. In these fickle times with ever changing trends it becomes increasingly difficult to be on top of things. When it comes to hip fads I tend to go with the flow, you know...roll with it, so I jumped on this creative twist to making the most of the New Year.  The point is to pick a word or ask God to make a word glaringly obvious to you, so that throughout the year this word can inspire you and encourage you to grow and stretch yourself.  

The word compassion kept coming to my mind but I wasn't convinced.  I have a bad habit of treating people nice and looking good on the outside but not really loving from a sacrificial place or even an honest place.  I wanted my Word for 2012 to reflect my dependence on God and not my actions toward people.

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 
              John 15: 9 and 10

ABIDE

Throughout the year, I want God to abide in me, 

directing my movements, writing my lines, creating the scenes instead of me trying to control it all.  

In turn, I want to abide in Him, 

listening to His director's notes, reading the script, and of course, enjoying the cast party.  

What's in a name?

The VOTES are in and the winner of the naming contest for the Hair Donating Event is "BBBRRRRRRRRR" drum roll please...

CUTTING OUT CANCER!!

A friend of mine from high school, Lauren Weaver, suggested this name.  Lauren, thank you for joining in and helping our donating event sound more exciting!! Also, thank you for reading Les of Me! For your creativity and participation I'll be sending you a gift card to Starbucks.

I love that we were all able to work together to suggest names and votes came in from several states.  Thanks for indulging my little experiment and getting involved. Who knows maybe we'll do it again?

I'm excited for Cutting Out Cancer with Cut Up and Dye on February 18th. Six ponytails make one wig, I'd love to make three wigs, that's 18 people!!

Before we use the promo video for advertising I'm going to post it here...so stay tuned and give me your feedback!!

Thank you all for your support!

VOTE!!

I am reposting this because the vote is tied. I need more votes please.

Last week I asked for names for a hair donating event. Thank you for the responses!! Now it is time to VOTE!
Please vote only once.
Voting will end New Year's Day!!
Vote via facebook or the comment section.
Everyone please vote even if you have to tell me when you see me.
Help make this the COOLEST name for a hair donating event ever.
Without further ado here are your options:

A. Cutting Out Cancer
B. Buck Up and Cut Up for Cancer
C. Shear Fun
D. Wig-Out!
E. Cuttin' for Cancer
F. Dig it and Wig it

Thanks for voting! Happy New Year!!

Event Name Voting

Last week I asked for names for a hair donating event. Thank you for the responses!! Now it is time to VOTE!
Please vote only once.
Voting will end Christmas Eve eve, Friday December 23!
Vote via facebook or the comment section.
Everyone please vote even if you have to tell me when you see me.
Help make this the COOLEST name for a hair donating event ever.
Without further ado here are your options:

A. Cutting Out Cancer
B. Buck Up and Cut Up for Cancer
C. Shear Fun
D. Wig-Out!
E. Cuttin' for Cancer
F. Dig it and Wig it

Thanks for voting! Merry (week before) Christmas!!

Cut Up and Dye!

 "A Funky Full Service Salon" with a slogan like this and a life size pink cat out front you know this salon sounds AWE-MAZING!!

Inside, you can taste the enthusiasm and vibrant atmosphere. From the asymmetrical furniture to the friendly stylists it is110% FUN!!! Not only are they fun but they're also generous!! They have decided to partner with the ladies of Trinity Church to put on a hair donating event.  Cut Up and Dye generously offered their salon and stylists to transforms the ladies of Salisbury into literal self-sacrifices for women with Cancer who have lost their hair and need wigs.
We only have one problem...Hair Donating Event doesn't sound that appealing so please share creative ideas!!!
I'd love there to be enough entries to hold a vote and then reward the WINNER!!

Things We've Crossed Off our 25 By 25 List!!

      I mentioned in my Camping post that Chase and I made a list of 25 things we want to do by the time we turn 25, which will be late next Spring.  Some of the things we've crossed off have been finding go-karts, shooting our guns, and of course, camping.  Needless to say, we have a way to go. 
      Our list includes 15 things we want to do together, 5 things specific to Chase, and 5 things specific to me. Even though we both aren't actually doing 25 things, we want to be a part of each others' personal goals even if it's simply through giving the other some space or encouragement. Chase has crossed off 2 of his personal goals and I still have all 5. I guess that means I'm the better encourager! JK! 
Side note: One of Chase's accomplished goals for the 24th year of his life was to get a battery  put in his favorite watch.  You've possibly seen him wearing the watch in the past, maybe even asked him for the time, but he looked at his phone to tell the time because he had been wearing it, sans battery, just for fashion's sake. 
      On our way back up to Ohio we always pass a go-kart track that entices Chase's inner child or...NASCAR lover, I'm not sure which.  Since we travel after we get off work or on the weekends, the go-kart place is always closed. It seemed we would never fulfill our goal of finding go-karts, until this summer when Chase spoke at a camp in Myrtle Beach.  One day, the two of us and his parents went to the NASCAR Speed Park, finally satisfying his need for speed and allowing us to cross the first item off our list.  On Labor Day, we went to a friend's house and had a cookout.  We also shot our guns, it was my first time.  I'm not very accurate at skeet shooting but it seemed like it could be fun with some practice.
      Maybe you're thinking: Bucket List? How about TO DO list! Some of the things we have on our list are kind of silly, some are financial goals, and some are life long dreams.  I'm not sure what your list of things to do before whenever looks like but ours is practical at times and improbable at times.  Who knows how many of the things we'll experience the triumph of crossing off with our pink highlighter?! Wherever we are in life, doing fun, difficult, or life changing things starts with a small step and for us it was go-karts and watch batteries!

Camping

My birthday is just a month after my husband's so this year we decided to make a list of things we wanted to do by our next birthday. One of our goals for the year was to go camping.  This afternoon we were able to mark that off of the list.  
Last night after work we loaded up the  Subaru and headed to a local camping site.  We had all of the essentials: tent, tarp, extra stakes, no toiletries except toothbrushes which we needed because of the marshmallows, grahams, and Hershey's chocolate.  Side note: S'mores are my absolute fav!!!  

We arrived with our inner Pocahontas roaring and ready to go.  The thunder and rain during our tent set up helped to further authenticate our experience.  When I frantically put the rain cover over our tent, I didn't realize there were loops across the top for another pole until we had the whole thing set up and our sides were caving in.  We had to finagle it through the loops with the rain cover still on.  Let's just say it would be a good team building exercise. 


Eventually we made it to the fun part, making a fire and roasting hot dogs. Chief Fire Chaser made a great fire. (LOL! Let's not tell him his new nickname).  In normal fashion, I forgot some important things but we made do. For instance, our make shift pot made of foil, that we used to cook our hot dog sauce.  As the air cooled down we relaxed around the fire, made s'mores, and just enjoyed each others company.  Hooray for bucket lists and first times!!

If this picture was better quality it could be a Subaru or Hershey's ad!