Blogmas Day Four In Snapshots

  You know it has been a long day when my blog entries consist of more photos than text. After a long day (and weekend!), sometimes just doing a photo dump and going to bed early is what is best! I began my day with church, then attended and helped host a graduation party for a close friend. following that, I attended a neat show done by Piercing Word called "The Advent of Christmas". Piercing Word is a really neat Theatrical Ministry in Lancaster PA that puts on musicals with scripts consisting of only all memorized biblical scripture. It is pretty interesting and impressive. Before ending my day at home composing this blog entry and winding down for the night, I ended my day out back at church for our annual tree lighting event, in which I volunteered to help the kids make ornaments for it! Now I'm pooped, and ready to turn in for the night. Peace and Blessings.

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A little quiet time to start the day before I hit the ground running...

Happy Blogmas !

-Signing out!
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• December Bucketlist
• It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas- Day Two
• Crazy Blogmas Day Three

Crazy Blogmas Day Three

-    Blogmas  Day  Three  .  Nutcracker  and  Makers  Market  Haul  !    - 

Me and the Nut :)

Busy times! It looks like I'm about to knock out nearly half of my December Bucketlist

in just one weekend! Yes, busy times for sure, but also fun - lots of parties, church events, Christmas shows, gift exchanges etc. This month is definitely not without the challenging balancing act of how to best spend our time, money, and also energy too (which I often forget to take into consideration) without burning out! I hope this introvert makes it through the month with all the social engagements I've committed myself to. Ready or not, here it all comes! Can you relate?

Hey then! Let's breathe deeply, take it all in stride, and make sure we count our blessings as we go! 😉 
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This Morning,  I started my day by stopping by the Lancaster County Christian School Holiday Craft Show. I really enjoyed the experience and meeting some of the vendors. My original intention for attending the craft show was to show support to some special friends of mine who were selling their amazing creations to the world as first-time craft show vendors, which I thought was really exciting and inspirational! Participating as a vendor in a maker's market myself is something I have always dreamed about doing. I also ended up getting a little shopping done as well!

My friends at their lovely stand! 

This is what I bought: A few books, some fun cookies, and some crocheted items, all to be gifted!

In The Afternoon,  I attended the local Nutcracker with another dear friend of mine, one of my students. It had been years since I had last seen the Nutcracker! Put on by the "Viktor Yeliohin International Ballet Academy", It was cute and we has a good time.

"Cheese!"  📷

Bravo!

Thought I would share a pic from when I was in
The Nutcracker. I believe I was 13 or 14 here.

Then,  I went home to prep things for my tomorrow, which is going to be even more full and more crazy but I guess you will just have to stay tuned to hear more about it!! I think the following picture captures it well... All those bags...No, they are not groceries, No, they are not trash, but all those bags are what I will be loading into my car tomorrow morning and are what is needed for all my Sunday adventures. 

... Stay Tuned !

😁
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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

-    Blogmas  Day Two   .  Let  The  Festivities  Begin  !    - 

This evening was the annual Christmas party held for Cavod's Citylight dancers and hosted by my co-worker Jill and I. I always enjoy connecting with my students outside of the dance studio. We had such a great time! 
 I honestly have not felt very Christmasy this year. Not yet. I don't think I have ever before experienced a year like this feeling so empty, unenthusiastic, and unprepared regarding the holiday season. I have no tree up, no gifts bought, no tunes playing. It's not that I'm feeling like a grinch or anything. December has just come so fast out of nowhere! I'm simply not ready for it, neither practically or emotionally. But ready or not, it is here!
This evening's party was the most Christmasy thing I have done so far (I guess it is only the second day of December). It ended up being so fun and good for my soul even though I started the top of the day feeling exhausted and later stressing slightly about all the preparations needing to be done. I think the social anxiety I get sometimes before parties (even parties for my students) had something to do with it, but everything went so wonderfully smooth. I ended the day feeling more relaxed than when it started.
We shared dinner together potluck style, did a White Elephant Gift Swap, played charades "Christmas Carol" style, and made gingerbread houses which I think was my favorite part! I found these three-dollar gingerbread house frames at Ollies (It was a totally amazing find!), and the students did not disappoint when it came to fulfilling our request of them to bring diverse and the-best-of-the-best candy toppings/ house decorations. 

Nom nom nom...

Jill and I made the one in the middle, "Confetti Christmas"! 🙂 You can ignore the fact that there might
be a little problem with its construction. It held up all night!

Despite my lack of feeling the "Christmas Spirit" lately, there is no shortage regarding the gratitude
I have in my heart for the people God has put in my life this season.

One Christmas party down, several more on the horizon; I can't tell if they are helping cultivate more "Christmas Spirit" in me...or if all the planning, prepping, and shopping they require is just making me more exhausted. Ah, tis the season. But I know all of it is worth it in the end seeing the smiling faces of the people around me I get to serve, fellowship, and celebrate with. I know "Christmas Spirit" has little to do with the reason for the season anyway. I will FOREVER be in dumbfounded awe and wonder over the precious give granted to us in the form of the little baby who grew up to live the perfect life we could not, die a sinners death he did not deserve, and then raise to life to finish the work that brings us peace, and wholeness, freedom, and right-standing with God.  

" My  soul  magnifies  the  Lord , 

and   my  spirit  rejoices  in  God  my  Savior,"

Luke 1:46-47

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Blogmas 2022

-    Blogmas  Day One   .  Feels  Good  to  be  Blogging  Again !    - 

 Well, here we are. December 2022. I've decided to give Blogmas a go again this year. For those of you who don't know Blogmas is when bloggers everywhere commit to posting daily material pertaining to Christmas, lasting for 25 days starting the 1st of December and leading up until Christmas day! It is a fun way to get into the Christmas and blogging "spirit", and since I've lost my rhythm with getting content out, what better way to get back into it, and a festive way at that!
 I am not sure that I will always have very interesting things to blog about every day this month, but I guess we will see. The fun part will be simply documenting it as it unfolds. It is easy for me to see my simple redundant teaching-dance-all-the-time-life as rather predictable and unfascinating, but one of the things I love about keeping this blog is that it forces me to take a closer look at my day and note all of the smaller but just as important and precious things that take place in it, in an effort to scrounge up something interesting to tell you all about, giving me opportunity to discover things I can be grateful for that I might have otherwise overlooked. Over the next couple of days, you will be hearing about many of the mundane happenings I will be experiencing, but also about some of the special moments too! I'm sure throughout the month you will also be hearing about the lessons God is teaching me, and I will see what I can do about slipping a DIY or holiday recipe in there too somewhere if I can.  

The beautiful Christmas tree at Cavod Performing Arts!

Today I will begin Blogmas 2022 by simply sharing with you all my bucket list for the month of December! Enjoy!

-  DECEMBER BUCKETLIST  -

• Finish a book

• Go ice-skating

• See the Nutcracker

• Attend a holiday Makers Market

• Build a gingerbread house

• Go see Christmas lights

• Make Christmas cards

• Bake cookies

• Attend the Christmas Eve Church Service

• Successfully participate in Blogmas all 25 days

😊

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25 days until Christmas! What will you be up to this month? Stop by for some more daily Blogmas updates from me!Love you, my dear readers!

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Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Would ya guess? Baking is not my favorite thing to do. I'm not great at it. I would rather cook, or better yet, be the taste tester. 😊 I feel like baking is so much more of a science than cooking, but this season, with SO many people in mind that I would like to gift-give to I've decided that giving homemade baked goods might be the best way to go this year! Today I'm going to share with you this delicious and easy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. My old Ballet Magnificat housemates would make these cookies all the time in the winter (dancers do eat cookies) and now I'm giving it a go. If you're like me, a novice baker, this is the perfect recipe for you! Oatmeal is delicious and super easy to work with. They also don't require a lot of time! I of all people know, time is a precious commodity. Prep-time is short and they only bake in the oven for about 8-10 mins. That's all! Not to mention, the cinnamon and nutmeg in these cookies give off a fragrant delicious aroma that will make your home smell divine! Who wouldn't love their home smelling like delicious fresh-baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, during the holiday season?

Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 sticks of butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
•  1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 3 cups of oats- The "Old Fashioned Quaker" kind works well!
• 1 bag of chocolate chips- add to your liking

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients together.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper 
4. Scoop out 1 inch round balls of your dough and place them out on your sheet with adequate space between them as they will expand and grow a bit.
5. Bake anywhere between 8-12 mins, until the under-edges begin to brown slightly. 
6. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cook a bit as they will continue to firm up even after being taken out of the oven.
7. Enjoy!

 

Nom, nom, nom!

Buen Porvecho!

Give this delicious recipe a try, 
and then please let us know how yours turned out!
Thanks for stopping by! Happy Baking!
comment, follow, subscribe, and don't be shy! 

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Adventure

Hello Friends! If any of you are still out there reading my blog, props to you for sticking with me, and a heartfelt thanks!

The year 2018 has come and gone and I have not much to show for it at The Occupied Optimist, with a grand total of only 20 blog posts published over the past 12 months, but with good reason. Some of you may not know, this number pails in comparison to how much I usually post, but I can explain...

...But I feel like I'm always explaining... Ha. I guess that is kind of a big part of what bloggers are supposed to do on blogs, eh?! I actually enjoy it, and miss it! I hope to be much more involved here again for the 2019 new year, like I used to be. Consider it a part of my New Year's resolutions.

2018 has been eventful to say the least! I did a fairly decent job of including you all on my journey for the first part of the year, but kind of dropped the ball this past semester. Sorry, in this blog post I'm not going to try and catch you all up on everything that has happened, though if I had my external hard drive with me I would have loved to have shared some pictures of the highlights with you, BUT I do not have my external hard drive with me with all the pictures on it because I left it in Jackson, MS...and I'm in Lancaster, PA right now spending time with my family for the holidays, so I'm so sorry for that too. It will have to be saved for another day. But I promise- keep your eyes peeled for a snapshot update will appear soon!

In the world of blogging  it seems a popular trend around this time of year to share reflective posts evaluating what went down the previous year and then what hopes and dreams are desired for the coming year, so I think I will jump on that bandwagon and share with you some of my thoughts, a few highlights from the year, and a few resolutions I have for 2019, so if any of that sounds like it might be of interest to you then stick around!

Highlights

• Attending IBC (Int'l Ballet Competition)
• Touring to Israel w/ Bmag
• Touring to my hometown w/ Bmag
• Moving to Madison- that was hard.
• LCDancewear taking off

Goals 

• More Sleep
• More Blogging
• More Making
• More Roadtrips
• Loving Jesus More

Another trend  that people like to do to usher in the new year is to pick a word they would like to describe and be inspired by for the advancing twelve months. I know New Year's resolutions can be taboo to some, and I guess I can understand why, but this trend is one trend that I actually really like, since I'm in love with words so much. I never shared this last year on the blog, but for 2018 my word was "Opportunity", and many of those did I have. This year my word of choice will be:

~ Adventure ! ~

And with not much more to say about that. I just know I could really use some this year!


I realize that  this blog entry is nearing its end and that I have kind of strayed from what I originally was going to explain to you which was the reason for why I had not been very present this past year here at the Occupied Optimist. You see, most times blogging about my life, the lessons I'm learning, and about the things God's teaching me comes easy. But this past year it has been hard to be honest. Somethings just cannot be shared in a clear concise manner through blog posts, especially if what God is speaking to me is not translating clear and concisely. So you see, I've actually spared you I think. 2018 was a great year, a year of sifting (maybe that should have been my word-of-the-year),  and now that 2019 is here I'm so excited to see what God has in store! And for those of us who are patiently waiting for clarity and illumination to come in this new year, we can take heart in the fact that God's promises are true and can cling to the one found in Luke 8:17

"For nothing is hidden, that will not be revealed; 

nor anything secret, that will not be known and come to light." 

Amen.

Adventure awaits!

🎉 Happy New Year! 🎉

Eternal Treasures and Blessings to you in Christ Jesus!

Thank you for reading! 

I have the best followers a blogger could ever ask for!

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Ready, Aim, Fire!

Our year has been off to a fabulous start here at Ballet Magnificat. January was a looong month. Would you agree? So much was accomplished this past month and I would like to spend some time in this blog post telling you about it. With not much time on my hands, I will have to resort to using snapshots, Instagram posts, and simple bullet points. I hope you enjoy this concise little update!

Ready ... getting  ready

 First things first. We began working with Tara Thibodeaux Drew January 8th, our first day back in the studio from our holiday break. With no time to waste, we knocked out learning two whole brand new contemporary worship pieces in that first week. You can bet we were sore after that! I just know everybody is going to love these dances! Check out our tour schedule to see if these pieces are being premiered in a town near you! And if not, you can book us!

Here is a sneak preview of the Alpha company’s final preparations for their tour to Israel. Excitement is building! @taradrewdance . . . #balletmagnificat #balletmagnificatalpha #internationaltour #tourlife #bmag #worldwideballet #israel #ballet #karijobe #dancelife #balletdancer

A post shared by Ballet Magnificat! (@balletmagnificat) on Feb 1, 2018 at 12:30pm PST

 The Ballet Magnificat Alpha Company started preparing our other repertoire for this coming season including "Prodigal's Journey", also potentially coming to a venue near you! We also broke out some of our Christmas repertoire for next season as well. I guess it is never too early to start on that...


 It seemed that the north-central part of Mississippi shut down entirely for a whole two days during our second week back from Christmas Vacation, due to snowy weather and "bad roads", which had me laughing being that I'm from the northern state of Pennsylvania and I know what real snowfall can do. With less than an inch of accumulation, I guess the south just doesn't know how to handle a little bit of frost.

Happy Housemates; Ecstatic about having a few days off from work!

 When I wasn't busy reviewing choreography or doing ballet exercises trying to get back into shape, I spent most of my free time having "coffee dates", face-timing people (with my new iPhone I got for Christmas!), and generally just catching up with friends I hadn't really seen in a while. My friends are the sweetest!


The Occupied Optimist had it's first ever giveaway event, partnering with author Dr. Troye Thigpen to give away her book, "Good Morning Holy Spirit: 50 Days of Prayer and Devotion". It was a total success. Congrats to Carolyn Moten who won the raffle!

If you missed out, keep checking in for future Giveaway opportunities!

Aim ... the  goal

 This time of year can be taxing on my emotions. New repertoire means learning new choreography and having to deal with cast listings which most dancers can relate to how much of a mind game those can cause in our heads if we let them. Not to mention, Ballet Magnificat just held trainee auditions and with that follows trainee evaluations and with that comes people, dear friends, either being promoted or let go. And oh, I know 'turn-over' can be so good but the change can also be hard to deal with emotionally. SO in an effort to stay sane, I've decided that my theme verse, my focus, my aim, and for this semester is to

" consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I will lose all things. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." ~Philippians 3:7-11

...reminding myself that this earth is not my home and that my identity and value are not found in my accomplishments or career but in Christ. If you so please, feel free to join with me in having this AIM for this year.

Fire! ... here  we  go!

 With new repertoire in our back pockets and our suitcases all packed, Ballet Magnificat Alpha is being launched into the new year starting off our tour season with an International trip to Israel where we will be working alongside an organization called Helping Hands Coalition. We have bookings in Israel in 5 different cities and will be performing specifically for Russian holocaust survivors and their family members. We leave for Israel Monday. I am totally stoked for this trip but I have to admit I feel a little unprepared for it, practically, mentally, and financially. I feel like this trip came out of nowhere! I know as we surrender this trip to the Lord, He will bless it! The Alpha company covets your prayers! Please be praying for safe travels and safety overseas, effective ministry, and for changed hearts!

A picture I snapped at the wailing wall at night time last time I was in Jerusalem, Israel in 2014.

Thank you so much for taking time to stop by and visit my blog!I apologize for the brevity and the perhaps disjointed flow of this entry but I hope you enjoyed reading it none the less! My next blog post may very well be written to you from Israel so stay tuned! I have a question for you. If I were to get an Israeli souvenir of some kind from my upcoming trip to Israel, would you be interested in participating in a Giveaway for a chance to win it? 
Let me know in the comment section down below! I have the BEST followers ever and want to bless you guys with these Giveaways so let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas for future Giveaways. I really like doing them. They are fun for everybody! 
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.Blessings to you all! Have a great weekend!

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