"The King and I"

I never liked the name Eliza, but now I love it :) It feels like a part of me. I've been Eliza for the past week, and I loved it. All the waiting backstage during the shows was pretty boring, but dancing is always so worth it. And this time there was acting involved, too. I didn't know I could act. I always felt like I could, but I'd never tried. Apparently I'm not too bad at it XD (Although yesterday, the day pretty much all my friends came, I didn't do as well with the acting *sigh* Of course.)

The costumes and makeup were crazy. I can't say that I liked the process, but seeing how different I looked was kind of fun :) Pictures? If you insist :) This was a great experience and I'll never forget it.

Captions on the bottom.

Momma experimenting with how to get my hair in a bun exactly on the top of my head XDDying my hair black :DAll the supplies for my bun XDMaddie, the cutest Siamese princess in the world.Me and my mom (note the black bun :D XD).Me and Danae. She was a fellow Hun in "Mulan"!Danae doing a pose from the ballet ("Small House of Uncle Thomas").Princess Ying YaowlakMore friends :DSIAMESE WIFE MAKEUP!!!! I could hardly recognize myself. It was so strange looking in the mirror.The dress for the song "Western People Funny" when the Siamese wives dress up like European ladies.The dance for "Western People Funny".The opening for "Small House of Uncle Thomas", starring.........Eliza! Played by yours truly :)Oh yes. And my baby. George.
Eliza and the Angel.A part of the ballet.Me before Eliza makeup.Me after Eliza makeup :) (Too bad I'd already taken down my hair in this picture :-/)Eva, Eliza, and Topsy :)Eliza (who looks awful in this picture XD) and her evil master, Simon of Legree! I really wish he'd hold up his mask in this picture, it's SO FREAKY. I'm gonna try to find a picture of it...Me, Lizzy, and Princess Maddie :)Me and Maddie.My hair after I took it down!

~Kendra

Kendra's Epic (and Painful) Fail

I had play practice today at 1:30.

I rode with my grandma after church, and she dropped me off at the Students' Center, where it was supposed to be. It was POURING down rain, which was fine with me :D I love storms.

I went up to the door and walked in. However, the second set of doors were locked. Great, I thought. It must not be here after all. I know they told me it was here! I turned around and headed back for my grandma's car.

Only she drove away.

I ran after her a little, but in the rain I'm sure it was hard for her to see or hear.

I really did not want to walk to the other building in the rain. I tried calling different people in the play, but no one would answer. Finally I decided to cowgirl up and walk through the deluge. I picked up my bag and water bottle and went over to the other building.

What the heck. No people.

Frustrated and confused, I guessed that I must have been totally wrong and practice was at the high school and not the college. The high school really wasn't much farther, so I figured I'd just walk. I took a deep breath and set out in the rain again.

Note to self: Even if you are planning to dance barefoot like everyone else, do not wear high heels to play practice. End note to self.

"At least now I can really relate to 'Eliza' running through a rainstorm," I muttered, trying to shelter my bag full of journals and books for when I wasn't dancing. I called both my parents to let them know to pick me up at the high school, but they were still at church. There's no cell signal at my church building. *sigh*

I walked a long way, but my feet were starting to blister from the heels. So I shrugged and took them off. I mean, this is ME we're talking about. I prefer barefooted anyway.

Also being me, the twisty country roads didn't bother me. The possibility of redneck creepers didn't bother me. Blisters didn't bother me, walking didn't bother me, rain didn't bother me. What DID bother me?

WHAT IF THERE WERE LOOSE DOGS??

The terrifying thought plagued me (XD).

After about twenty minutes of walking, I started to get worried. I didn't remember the high school being this far away. It was only about a five-minute drive, surely I wasn't THAT slow of a walker. I pressed on.

I tried calling my parents again to ask them how far they though I would have to walk. Still no answer. I tried calling Ellie 'cause I was bored and starting to be more than a little worried. Someone to talk to would have been nice. She didn't answer either. I tried Kyle, but, again, no answer.

By this time, I'm really worried. There was no way that I'd passed the high school, but there was also no way that I shouldn't have come to already. I didn't know what to do. So I kept walking.

Finally, I either got a hold of my momma, or she called me. I can't remember which. But I told her what was going on, and she was a bit freaked. I guess I don't blame her. I was in short shorts all alone on a redneck country road. Prime target for a creeper. I hadn't really thought about it that much XD Creepers I can handle.

But dogs. Not so much dogs ;D

So, my mom agreed with me that I couldn't possibly have not come upon the high school. We talked things through, and guess what?

Basically, I had made a wrong turn >>>>>>.<<<<<<>.<>.< Gosh, I ruined everybody's everything, and it's completely my fault! And my feet hurt XD

So, today has been pretty fail, and I don't know how to make up the practice. We'll see how it goes.

You know what's weird though?

Those of you who know me know that I tend to freak out. Someone ate the last hot chocolate, someone stepped on my toe, someone took my bracelet, I have to try a new food, all that = KENDRA FREAKS.

But when something really weird/scary happens, I'm perfectly fine. I shrug off the freaked-out-ness and figure out what to do.

I'm so strange XD

Anyway, I just thought I'd share one of my biggest fails yet :D I'll call it "Kendra Gets A Time Wrong And Makes A Wrong Turn And Ends Up Making Her Mom Get Her And Ruining Everyone's Plans".

*sigh* Ah well. Live and learn. I promise you all, nothing like this will EVER happen again XD

~Kendra

Busy!

This has been a busy week! Monday-Wednesday, I helped with 6-8-year-old day camps at practicums. Practicums are basically three day day conferences for people who do my kind of homeschooling. The moms (or dads) can drop their kids off at the appropriate camp while they go get training and listen to speakers. Handling 50 little kids is exhausting and challenging, but I LOVE it. Kids are one of my favorite things in the world.

Yesterday, I slept in. I hadn't been able to sleep past 6 o'clock in six days! I sure made up for it yesterday. I slept about 12 hours and got woken up at 11:40 (thanks, Daddy XD). The rest of the day was pretty chill, and I went to Cavender and Matt's band concert that night. I'm really not a person to give compliments and I'm not easily impressed, but I will tell you something:

Cavender is a beast on the trumpet. Just saying.

Today, I woke up from an extremely awesome dream, but unfortunately have a cold :( Not enough sleep and not enough vitamin C, I guess. I'm taking Zicam and drinking lots of water because guess what happens tomorrow?

My first "King and I" practice! 5 hours of nonstop Siamese dancing! That will really be something! Never in my whole life have I danced alone, so this will be a very new and challenging experience. I hope I don't mess up! The play is in just over a month. Think I can master a 16-minute foreign ballet in that time? Honestly...

I think so :)

Here's to staying positive and having a great summer! Hope you all are doing great. Carpe diem!

~Kendra

Audition Results

Well, the cast list for "The King and I" has been posted. I really wanted to play Eliza, the main character in the ballet portion. Of course, this is only my second play, there were several good dancers and the audition instructor had me doing the part of the Angel the whole time, so I knew what to expect when the list was published.

Which is why it shocked me so much when I got Eliza.

I was so shocked when I saw my name next to Eliza. I gasped, jumped out of the chair and covered my mouth XD A pretty cliche reaction, but the truth all the same. Lizzy asked me what was wrong and I told her I was Eliza. She was thrilled for me. I then ran upstairs to share the news with my parents.

I'll be honest, I know I can dance. I'm not pulling false modesty there, I'm a pretty good dancer. But I just knew that someone else would be better, and better suited to the part. I was hoping for Eliza, but not really expecting her.

I just can't believe it. I'm so excited.

If you want to see what I'll be doing, here is the ballet on Youtube.

Part I
Part II

Thank you so, so, SO much for all your prayers! I know they helped!

~Kendra