get ready, cause here it comes!

Okay everyone, it is mid-April and we all know what that means: bathing suit season is swiftly approaching! It may seem like the jolly holiday seasons were just occurring but the time has flown, like it always does. Now that spring has sprung it may be the perfect time for you to jump into the new you. The temperatures are rising and so should your enthusiasm for the summer months! Personally, I am completely stoked for the summer and I have a step-by-step plan for my summer preparations.

Step One:
I’m not sure about your families but my family likes to eat, especially during any holidays. So after Easter this past weekend I realized that it was time for me to cut back, big time. I decided it was time to really eat healthy and start exercising at least four times a week. I set goals and a timeline for when I want them accomplished by. This will keep me determined and focused on what I want to do. Goals are great things to have but if you don’t have a time period enforcing the accomplishment of them, they may be forgotten or deemed insignificant. You too can set goals for yourself and accomplish them. Step one to the road to a great summer is being comfortable with your body.
Tip: Need the push to getting in shape? Go to your favorite store, pick out a bathing suit you would love to see yourself in, try it on, and find out if you’d be comfortable on the beach in what you are wearing.

Step Two:
Assess the goods. Spring is often famous for spring-cleaning, so go through your room! First push your parkas and long johns to the back of your closet and bring those shorts to the front. Get rid of anything that you have not worn in the past year or anything that does not fit. After cleaning your closet out, take inventory. See what you need for the summer and make a list. You have plenty of time to search for anything you need so make your list and gradually buy the things you need when you can.
Tip: If you do not love something, don’t buy it. Just because something is on sale, does not mean you need to buy it, unless you love it. If you can see yourself wearing the clothing item more then five times it can be considered for purchase.

Step Three (the big one):
Try on at least ten bathing suits. I suggest you go to TJ Max, Marshalls, Ross, or a similar “brand names for less” store. These stores are great because they have high quality merchandise at very low prices. For example, I got four bathing suits for $54! Now is the time to buy! Bathing suits are cheap now but won’t be for long! Go out and buy bathing suits and keep the receipts, worst-case scenario: you exchange them! When I went into the changing room to try on my bathing suits this was a bit of reality check (see step one). I realized that the bathing suits fit me well enough but I’m not quite as toned, as I’d like to be. I realized that this could be changed!

Summers right around the corner, get yourself prepared now so you aren’t stressed in two months! :)

Hand jive baby, do the stomp with me!

"If you feel, a weird affection you're too shy to convey, meditate my direction, feel your way."

"Honky tonk baby, get on the floor."

"Press against them when we dance, make them think they stand a chance, then refuse to see it through, that's a thing I'd never do."

"I can't explain Rydell, this pain Rydell, is it ptomaine Rydell gave me?"

"Well they couldn't teach you anything, you think you're such a looker. But no customer would go to you unless she was a hooker!"

These are just a few of the many sexual innuendos that are contained in the play performed at the high school this past weekend. Grease was a hit all three nights.

It all started before Holiday break. Tryouts happened and because of my sucky dance auditions, I seriously doubted I'd be in the show. I was walking to homeroom the day the cast list got put up and a friend of mine came running to me saying I was on there. I said she had to be joking, that couldn't be. I walked over to the list and there was my name in the "Ensemble" section. I was excited but incredibly apprehensive, I couldn't wait for the first rehearsal.

After two months of rehearsals, things started to get serious. I'd find myself on stage three nights a week while my head was going through a mental list of all the homework I was yet to complete. My weeks only got more intense with play practice and AMEX homework piling up. Before I knew it, hell week had arrived.

I had never been through a real hell week and was very anxious. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all dress rehearsals. I figured since they’re just dress rehearsals I’ll be home at a reasonable time, get some homework done, in bed by 11:30 at the latest. Boy, was I wrong. They called it hell week for a reason. The dress rehearsals were over and it was Thursday, opening night. I was so nervous. I thought of every terrible thing that could happen: tripping on stage, my friends thinking I looked like a fool, messing up the words or dance. We got the signal to get set (on the stage) and the scrim (curtain thing) was see-through. It was the largest audience I had ever seen in our auditorium. The music began and the play took off and it felt natural. After the countless rehearsals I felt like the audience was there and I was just doing the scene again with my friends. I couldn’t believe I had been so uneasy before.

The entire cast did a wonderful, fabulous job and I’m incredibly proud everyone. I personally learned so much from this play. My favorite part of the play was learning about people in the cast. I had known these people before whether from choir or passing in the hallways, but after this play I feel like I have bonded with so many fabulous people.

This is different from my past posts but here’s the advice. “Do something that scares you everyday.” I was incredibly nervous to do the play but I learned so much from it. You never know the amazing things that can happen at any time. Try something new and see what happens, you may find a new hobby or meet a great group of people. And do not, not do something because you’re afraid of what others may think of you. You control what you want to do, be yourself and have fun!