Real Life.

Life has been pretty intense lately. That is the only word to describe it right now. These past few weeks have taught me so much. I have learned that I am stronger than I thought I was and that I can do a lot of things on very little sleep. 

I bought this journal the other day just because I liked what it says on the cover.

A few weekends ago we babysat for one of my team kids and she snuggled with me on the couch all night watching Disney Channel dance shows :) Pretty much the best thing ever. I got to tuck her in and was reminded why I do my job. I always hope that I can be more than just a teacher for my kids. I hope they are always a part of my life and vice versa. 

I discovered that QFC has my new favorite wine. Mmmm! Usually I'm a white wine girl, but the more and more I drink wine the more and more I like red. Last night I finished the bottle and when we get home from Disneyland I'm for sure going to get more :) 

Matt has been fully engulfed in his Giants. And...they have won the World Series :) I have a happy husband with his Giants and Disneyland all in one week. 

Poor Cogsy Wogsy got sick last week. Hopefully he has learned and will not be eating candy corn anymore..... yikes. Here he is during our visit to the vet.

When the Disneyland tickets came in last week, things got real.... :)

I tried to have a photo shoot with Miss Avery...they just wanted my phone. She doesn't sit still anymore :) I can't believe that she is already 10 months old!! 

After Cogsy got sick he was confined to the kitchen. This is how he felt when we finally let him out. Poor guy :( Look how he has his arm on Matt's chest. Seriously...! Cutest dog ever. He's human I swear.

Then, the girls costumes for Disneyland arrived and things got REAL. 

Um seriously, I have the cutest dance kids on the planet. She is my youngest going to Disneyland, just turned 6 in August. I'm so so proud of them! 

The girls have had practice everyday (Sat & Sun, too). My Junior team girls have shown such leadership with my little ones. This picture says it all. I'm so so proud of them! 

We leave for Disneyland in 2 days. The girls have one last practice tomorrow night. They all have Ballet from 5-6pm and then have rehearsal from 6-7:30...they don't know this yet, but Alex and I have decided to throw them a party tomorrow night instead of practicing. They're going to be so excited! I'm so impressed by all of their hard work and how they have pulled together as a team even with additional side drama going on. 

Matt and I are so ready to be at Disneyland. Tomorrow should go pretty fast. Wednesday I only teach in the morning and then we're going over to Alex & Matt's for Halloween. 

7:00am flight on Thursday and we'll be there!! 

Things are really starting to come together at the studio. My life Our Life, has officially been taken over by dance. It has happened. I'm so thankful for having such a supportive husband. He has come to every practice with me (body guard) and he has helped a lot with the kids and getting everything ready for Disneyland. I could not have done this without him.

I'm so excited now!!!

-Chelsea-

What We've Been Up To...

Time is just flying by. It's frightening actually.

In just 7 days we will be taking my team kids to Disneyland to perform in the Disneyland Christmas Day Parade taping for ABC. They have been working so incredibly hard and so have Alex (my co-director) and I. It's so much work getting everything together...

Making sure the girls know the choreography, making sure everyone is flying in on the right times/days, making sure everyone knows where to meet and when and what they should be wearing and how their hair and make up needs to look. They needed to get certain socks, shoes, tights......It's been crazy.

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind. 

The kids have practice with us everyday from now until we leave, yes...even on Sunday. I am going to take them there knowing I did everything I could to make sure they are ready and feel prepared so they can go and enjoy themselves and not worry about not making it in when we arrive (our team has to perform for the ABC/Dance the Magic staff when we arrive to be approved that we know the choreography). Yikes! 

I have been having an awfully hard time with one of our team parents that finally last night I had to ask to not come back after Disney. It was one of the hardest things I've had to face yet. She said hurtful things, but I shrugged them off and then proceeded to hold our team parent meeting while she rolled her eyes at me at least 10 times. (Knots in my stomach). Matt was awesome and sat with me for the whole thing, never leaving my side. He even talked to the parents during the meeting explaining to them all the behind the scenes Disney scenarios. I was really proud of him. 

I feel good knowing that as soon as we walk through those gates at Disneyland, all this drama is behind me and I will officially for real be pretty stress free. I imagine my job feeling fairly similar to any other jobs stress level after this. Well....at least for a few months until competition season hits ; ) No more knots in my tummy anymore though about mean moms :) Yay! 

Today I thought it would be a good idea for me to make a list of things that are currently making me happy (lots of negativity happening with this mom..she's trying to bring me down and I won't let her).

*Tonight I made grilled cheese with ham and turkey and we ate it with cozy tomato soup for dinner. Yum! 

*13 of my 15 Disneyland kids are making me the happiest and proudest dance teacher around. (2 of them unfortunately belong to that mom and they've been a handful)

*I bought new dance pants and a new work-out top to wear to work. Yay for new work clothes!

*We leave for DISNEYLAND in 7 days!!!! We will be there for 6 days total and only 2 of them require me to work :) We have some very special things planned that include a dinner at Club 33 with one of my team kids and their mom who got us in, and dinner at Carthay Circle with our good friends we met on our Disney Cruise! 

I'm so so pumped!

In other news, Matt is currently rooting for his Giants as they are winning Game #1 of the World Series! It's loud here right now.

Also, Cogsy ate an entire bag of candy corn and peanuts and was really sick yesterday. $137.00 later, he is feeling better. Lots of trips to the bathroom....and he is confined to the kitchen until he's completely better. We're glad he's okay though!

-Chelsea-

Wine & Sushi

Today I went out with Katie (Avery) & Ashley to Woodinville.

We did some wine tasting and had some fabulous sushi.

It was so nice to be with friends and have a relaxing, fun day.

I didn't eat before we left (oops) and was a little too happy after our first winery, lol. 

Sushi helped and then I was good to go for our 2nd winery.

Mmm Mmm! 

I was adventurous with sushi today and had a few new kinds.

I also discovered a delicious red wine at Matthews Cellars. (I loved that it was from Matthews) :) 

Super fun day.

{fussy baby...solution...my wallet :) }

{Ashley and I at Matthew's Cellars}

I really enjoyed today being out with friends :) 

-Chelsea-

2nd Annual Fall Feast Family Fun Day!

Yesterday Matt and I hosted our 2nd Annual Fall Feast Family Fun Day!

It was again tons of fun :)

I was pleased with the way things turned out considering I did absolutely no preparation until the night before. Matt was so helpful and cleaned our whole apartment, went out and got groceries/pumpkins and  helped make the chili while I was at dance. I had to work until 1pm and the party started at 2pm.

It was fun having everyone together at our apartment. I love it :)

We had chili, salad with Matt's homemade croutons, cornbread and biscuits for dinner.

I also made pumpkin pie bars & homemade butterfingers for treats.

Matt made the Nuts & Bolts this year & Marie brought a fruit salad.

Yum Yum!

We had fun with the kids. Clare is finally old enough to have fun with Cogsy and he was so good :)

Everyone (minus Megan, the kids and I) had a good time watching football and we all had fun watching and carving pumpkins. 

Good day!

Our apartment felt smaller this year which makes me worried that we won't be able to do it here next year, but I'm sure it will be just fine. 

  

Studio Update: Office MakeOver!!

We finally got to make-over my office.

Ok wait. I finally have an office. One that I cannot wait to work in starting this week. It is finally something that I am so so proud of. I cannot wait for everyone to be at the studio this week to see it all completed. I have new shelves, a new desk, curtains to divide the space and a beautiful rug (thank you, Ikea). I'm so excited to get organized! I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to organize all of my files. It makes me giddy. Is that weird? I want to be confident every single day that my business is running smoothly and is growing like it should be. I'm so happy!

Matt built everything for me. He helped me paint the back wall too. I am so so thankful that he helped me with everything. 

Here are the photos of the update. 

We have not put the velvet curtains up yet as we need to make a trip to Home Depot to find a rod long enough to go from wall to wall in the studio. My goal is to do this tomorrow after my morning classes. 

{Junior Team kids excited about the new rug}

{my amazing husband hard at work}

{all organized now}

{love}

{a dream come true}

I am so excited to go to work tomorrow! :)

-Chelsea-

A Few of My Favorite Things

Tonight I feel like writing.

I have nothing in particular to write about, so I'm just going to write about some of my current favorite things.

Currently, I have 3 favorite series that I am obsessed with...

Sunday nights we watch Revenge and 666 Park Avenue. I get super scared before going to bed after watching 666 Park Avenue but I'm hooked! I run into our room immediately after it's over (literally run...and jump on the bed away from under the bed). I get scared because we have a mirror over where I sleep that used to be Matt's Grandma's and I don't like looking in it at night after watching that show. Scary!! Matt does the same thing lol. He'll go turn off all the lights and then bolt into our room yelling "turn the light on, turn the light on!" Ha!!! If we ever have kids one day, they are going to be the biggest chickens lol! 

Anyway, I love the show so much!

We just started watching Revenge this season but we get what's going on and it's really good!

LOVE this show! I look forward to my Monday nights after teaching dance for 4 straight hours knowing I get to chill and watch this after. : )

We've also been watching, "The Voice." That's good too.

I'm also obsessed with these bad boys lately and am on my 3rd bag since Saturday...oops...stressed much?.... Mmm, Milano Double Chocolate Cookies!! 

My favorite fall drink from Starbucks right now is a Grande Salted Caramel Mocha. Mmmm!!

We also have been snacking on our bowl of candy corn mixed with peanuts! Tastes like Payday candy bars! Holy yum!! 

Oooh aren't we healthy over here lol. I figure dancing 21 hours a week I'm allowed to eat as many cookies as I want ; ) Matt's been taking super long walks with Cogsy everyday too so he's allowed as well ; ) ha! 

Oooo...I am also currently obsessed with my orange and blue oversized scarf, my teal fleece and my moccasins. : ) 

It's the little things that I have to focus on making me happy lately. 

It's also helping knowing that in just 22 days we will be at Disneyland! 

Alex told me tonight that beginning in November she'll take two more of my classes :) So my schedule in November will be way easier, I'll just have 16 classes/week then! Yay!!! I can totally do that :) 

I realize this is probably boring to read, but it's my stress reliever to write when I get home. 

-Chelsea- 

Sisters Thoughts :)

Growing up, I always wanted a sister. 

Then when I was 12 years old, my parents adopted my little sister, Cylie.

I was the happiest big sister around.

I got to help throw my mom's baby shower for her and took care of her every chance I could.

Two years later, when I was 14, my parents adopted my other little sister, Cirrah. 

At this point I looked at being a big sister in a whole new light.

I took care of them a lot and taught them a lot.

What I didn't know then but am thankful for now is that they were really the ones teaching me.

They taught me not only how to take care of a baby and then a child, but they taught me an extreme amount of patience. Which is now a crucial part of my job teaching mostly 2, 3 & 4 year olds dance. 

Now as an adult and as a wife I feel so lucky to have gotten 2 big sisters with this deal ; )

I really am "The Middle Child" with 2 big brothers, 2 big sisters, 2 little sisters and 2 little brothers. 

My big sisters, Mel and Megan, have taught me so much too! 

Mel has taught me to chill out and just laugh sometimes and Megan has taught me to breath. 

I am so thankful for all of my sisters.

I saw a post today written by one of the bloggers that I love to read. It was about her sisters and now her daughters having sisters. She is giving away the new Tinkerbell movie that Matt and I want really bad, so I was excited to write this post about my sisters.

Although I don't share the same blood as any of my 4 sisters, that's never seemed to matter much :)

Here's the link to the Tinkerbell Giveaway blog :)
http://thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com/2012/10/sisterhood-secret-of-wings-movie.html

Learning & Goals

I have taken this week to re-evaluate a lot of things.

I needed to take a step back and remember what is really important.

I am a people pleaser by fault.

I have a really hard time when I know I've let people down.

This is the first week that I have had Miss Alex teach one of the classes that I have taught since Day 1.

This class is full of little ones that I have taught for 2 years. Little ones that I have had since they were just 2 years old...It was hard. Today was hard being somewhere else teaching kids I've never met knowing all those kids were having dance class and I wasn't there to watch them grow. I had to fix another teachers mistakes. I needed to pick up the pieces. I left that class today with happy faces and hugs from these kids I've never met. It was all okay in the end and I am looking forward to teaching them.  

I am learning.

Today, I am up to teaching 22 classes/week. 

That is a lot of dancing...A lot of little kids...and A lot of patience. 

So far, this week, I have survived.

In the past three days, I have taught 14 classes on top of everything else running the business. I still feel like I've got enough patience & energy to get through the week.

I have interviewed a new teacher tonight that I think will work out well. But, I'm not just going to throw her to the wolves. I'm going to teach with her for the first 2 classes, and then sit outside and evalutate for the next two that she's alone...things are changing around here.

This was the first week that I could take a deep breath. I got to pay myself again. Like a real paycheck. I felt so accomplished seeing that come in the mail today knowing that I wasn't stressed about it. I earned it and don't have to feel guilty about it. 

So...some goals. 

*Hire & train new employees so that my classes go from 22/week to eventually 10/week. I'm not going to just let anyone in there, so it's going to take some time. There is a light though. I have great dance parents that are 100% supportive.

*Get organized. 

*Get organized.

*Get organized.

*Take time for myself. Today was great. Mid-day I went on a walk with Katie from the Community Center to Starbucks and back. It was perfect. Time with my best friend, fresh fall air and a treat at the end. I need to do more things like that. 

*Make sure I am taking time for Matt so he knows how much he means to me. Sometimes it's okay to work for 10 hours and come home and watch a roller coaster show... 

We're re-evaluating a lot around here. Making some not so fun decisions, but ones that we know will be better in the long run.

Not So Fun Decision #1...We have shortened our Disneyland trip to just the long weekend. We were going to be going for a 6-Day Park Hopper...we shortened that to 4. That's 3 days with my team kids doing the Christmas Parade and one full day to enjoy each other together at our favorite place on earth. I almost cried, but then I didn't. Matt said it's because I'm different now.

There are a few not-so-fun's we're talking about...but just one thing at a time. 

I haven't had a panic attack in a very, very long time. 

I'm stronger. I can feel it when I have parent conflict or situations at dance. I don't take it personally and I'm harder. There's more of a shield in there than there used to be. I have confidence in myself and my program. 

--Chelsea Kay--