Back Again

Elite dance team performance

Hello again everyone! I know I've been gone for a long time, but I want to start blogging again. I've done a lot since last time I blogged. I've been dancing with the Oregon State Elite Dance Team and this year I'm the captain of the team, so that has certainly kept me busy.

I'm graduating college this year and the golden question has been on my mind, "what now?" I have a loose plan on what I'm doing next, including moving back to the Portland area and looking for a job, but the one thing I've learn about myself within this last year is this; I can't live without dance. So I know one thing I'm doing for sure is going on dance auditions.

To help get me ready for auditions I've completely changed my diet and work out routines. I've cut out most processed foods and focusing on eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. At the gym I'm kicking up my weight lifting (even though it can be intimidating in the weight room, it's worth it!). I'm going to be sharing my diet tips as I continue to gear up for summer auditions.

This tattoo means a lot to me, I got it last July and in Spanish it says Always dance. It reminds me that dance is something that will always be there for me and it's something that will always be in my life. But the reason why it's in Spanish is a whole other story. In first grade, I started speech therapy, and continued it for the next 7 years. I had trouble pronouncing words and it wasn't until 7th grade that I could speech without an "accent." In second grade I found out that I also had a reading disability, and was put into the "special" classrooms. This is something that I've made great strides in but still struggle with everyday. It took me an unusually long time to learn the English language as a child, so learning any type of second language was almost out of the question.
But at age 14, I wanted to learn Spanish. This was truly a struggle in every way, but through all the frustration and times of almost giving up, I am now graduating college as a Spanish minor. I will admit I do not know fluent Spanish, everyday I'm still learning and practicing. The tattoo represents to never give up on a dream, no matter what kind of obstacles stand in your way.