Anya's Grad Inspiration Style Board

Anya's Grad Inspiration Style Board by tessmaria featuring a gingham dress

Manning Cartell flower print dress
$945 - harveynichols.com

MSGM cutout dress
$765 - julesb.co.uk

Kate Spade gingham dress
katespade.com

Cream dress
ladyvlondon.com

Zig zag dress
$62 - tkmaxx.com

Alejandro Ingelmo open toe shoes
alejandroingelmo.com

René Caovilla retro shoes
thecorner.com

Shellys shoes
modcloth.com

Oasis shoes
$54 - oasis-stores.com

Auditions.

my name is up on that audition sign-up somewhere...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: IT'S AUDITION WEEK.

So last week, I auditioned for a Binary show, The Haunting of Hill House, and did not receive a role. BUT! I'm okay with that because this week there are auditions for the remaining ASU MainStage shows. soot n' spit, written by Charles Mee; The Halfway House, written by MFA playwright Cody Goulder; Los Santos, written by... well let's be honest, I really don't know. They're all up for grabs.

I'm especially excited for soot n' spit because Kim Wield is guest directing. For those of you who don't know who Kim Wield is, she is a Drama Desk Award nominated director from New York. She also is working with One Year Lease Theatre Company in their apprenticeship program for young actors this summer in Northern Greece. If I'm cast in soot n' spit and work my butt off, I can get a letter of rec to enter into the apprenticeship in Summer 2014! I've done my research...

I even found her BLOG!!

I swear, I'm not a stalker. I just really want this. So if you feel so inclined, send up a prayer or two this Friday around 5pm.

Snapseed

BEFORE

AFTER

Guys. I swear by this new photo editing app for iPhone and iPad. It's super easy to use and yields great results. If you really dig it, you can buy it for your desktop. But seriously, the free app is just great. 

Check it out here:

SNAPSEED

Extreme Makeover: Relationships Edition

Photo Editing: Snapseed

I complain a lot about living at home. And don't get me wrong. It's not like it's all unwarranted. I don't usually enjoy waking up from naps by yelling and arguing. Sharing a bathroom with two teenage girls isn't a dream come true. And finding a delicate balance of privacy and respect with my parents is not always easy.

But this weekend, I was reminded of why I stick around (besides my budget...). We had a lovely picnic in our backyard with the whole family. Great food, great weather, and hilarious storytelling made it the perfect afternoon. 

These moments are becoming more precious and rare to me. I get so easily sucked into my own world and its busyness; it's hard to recognize and be thankful for the people that are right next to me. This goes for family as well as close friends. Relationships were on my list of things to be improved this year and I'm beginning to realize that it is most important.

Some goals for my relationships:

1. My relationship with Jesus should influence how I love and interact with others.
2. When I say, "We should hang out sometime!" Follow up on that. (Sorry to anyone who has been a victim of my fickleness/forgetfulness)
3. Honesty is the best policy. Working on being more bold in sharing personal experiences. I'm so totally over camouflaging my more sensitive opinions and feelings.
4. Phone calls are underrated. So simple. Why do I keep forgetting they exist?
5. Walk a mile in others' shoes. Cliché, but too true. Judging and impatience with others doesn't really cultivate close and fulfilling relationships...
6. BE GENEROUS WITH TIME SPENT WITH OTHERS. #realtalk

So yes. Extreme Makeover: Relationships Edition begins now. This will definitely take more than seven days though....

Winter Cleaning.

So I've been working all day on cleaning, organizing, and decorating my room. And in the process I found my storage of music. It's everything from 6th grade to the present. Needless to say there is some really embarrassing stuff in there... BUT! The most exciting thing I found was this baby:

ADELE: LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL!!!

I totally forgot I had it! It includes a DVD of the entire performance and everything!! WHOO-HOOO! 

Moral of the story: Clean your room, boys and girls. There are treasures unimaginable hidden deep in those caverns of laundry and trash.

Wolf Pack Appreciation Post

 

These are my best friends from high school. Even though we don't go to the same school anymore--some of us aren't even in Arizona anymore!-- we still find time during our breaks to catch up and love on each other. I love my Wolf Pack! See you girls during Spring Break 2013! For now here's some of my favorite pictures. :)

2013 Inspiration Board

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I like to make Inspiration Boards for the beginning of each semester to visually represent the goals and the values I want to pursue in the coming months. It keeps me motivated and focused in a long-term kind of way. But as I put together the Spring '13 board, I felt like many of the things I wanted for this semester actually resonated as year-long aspirations. 

Being the avid thespian I am, the tagline of this board is from the music Dreamgirls. The line is taken from the song Listen. It's all about finding the courage and strength to push aside self-doubt and to accomplish something great within yourself and around you:

Listen to the song deep inside, a melody I start but can't complete... Listen to the song deep inside, a melody I've started, but I will complete. 

 

In 2013, victory is mine. It will be a year to GO farther than I have before, to SEE (and not just with my natural eyes), to DO the things I've been putting off and afraid to start, and to BE still and know that He is God.