Steps of Preparing for a Pole Competition

I recently competed in the first ever, Kairos Fitness Aerialympics here in Ogden, Utah. This was my second competition and it was definately, not easy.

I came up with the 20 stages of preparing for a pole competition for myself one day when I was feeling pissed off with everything... Indulge

1. You Find out there is a competition and go, sign me up, I got this.
2. You try to find a song and debate with yourself for hours, until, finally you have a song.
3. You feel accomplished, because you chose your song for the competition & procrastinate on actually practicing your routine.
4. You start to practice your routine and make it up to your song.. and panic.
5. You continue to practice and plan it out in your head and then try the moves that look -- oh so amazing in your head.
6. Routine fails, try again.
7. Routine fails, try again.
8. Routine works!! Psych! Try again.

9. Your routine is almost done, you try various combos and try to choreograph the end of your routine.
10. Fail, try again.
11. Finish routine and record with your camera, then watch.
12. Hate your routine, everything about it, get angry, want to give up, but don't because you worked to hard to get where your at and you need to dance.
13. Practice routine, grumble, cuss, make minion sounds in the process.
14. Decide you need to be done for the day and try again tomorrow.
15. Practice again, things are kind of coming together.
16. Take an ice or epsom salt bath, shave your legs, and get pretty cause tomorrow is your day.
17. Performance/Competition Day, there is nothing more you can do, but perform what you have...
18. Don't forget to eat on performance day, no matter how much your stomach twists and turns.
19. Stretch, put on make up and dance your heart out, Cause today is the day you have been working towards!
20. Routine done, whether you win or lose, you did it and you earned yourself a margarita!

Cha-Cha-Changes

For a while I was "Fun-Employed," which is a vamped up version of Un-Emplyed. Unemployed sounds so terrible, but it's really not if you enjoy yourself on an extreme budget. 

Updates on my life include the following:

• The government decided to not give me unemployment money -- which is lame, but i'll live.
• I got offered one of my dream jobs, then got a phone call saying they didn't have the budget  
• Papa Bjorno, my boyfriend and my yellow lab moved onto the next life :( we miss our baby.
• I got offered a job at a coffee shop and currently, i make coffee. 
• I drink coffee now.. and I like it.
• I pole danced on TV for a second, and talked on TV too.
• I entered my second pole competition - The first annual Aerialympics hosted by Kairos Fitness.
• I placed 3rd in the Pole Art Category by dancing my heart out to a song called "One Day" by Matisyahu.
• I went to California and got a picture with Aerial in Disneyland with my mermaid tail on.
• I swam in the ocean with my mermaid tail.
• I went to Snowbird and enjoyed the sensation of swimming while it was snowing.
• I ate really healthy up until my competition and then I stopped.
• I run, sometimes. 
• My cat likes my boyfriend more than me. -- I like my boyfriend more than my cat.
• I applied for a job with another airline to be a flight attendant... still waiting to hear back.
• I still don't regret quitting my last job and that makes me so happy.
• I generally make as much at the coffee shop as I made at my last job. #winning

Fun Employed

That moment when you realize you need to quit your job, because you are worth more.....happens. 

& 

when it does happen, you have two choices 1. To settle and deal with it 2. To find something better. I chose to find something better even if it may not happen today, it may not happen after a month, or more, but I know that leaving my past job was the right decision for me. I am happier than I have been the last couple months. I am searching for something new to put my heart and soul into.... and until I find that something, I am focusing on myself and my relationships with my boyfriend, friends, family, & animal babies because those are the things that really matter. #livelife

Too many people in this world, wake up everyday and go to a job they hate.

I don't want to be one of those people.

I won't be one of those people.

I choose to be free.

I choose to be me.

I'm worth more and I got taken advantage of I feel. 

It is not worth it. 

#qualityoflife

I wish the company I worked for realized I was worth more,
 but they didn't & because of that, I know I made the right decision.

Anyways...

Now I am 

FUNEMPLOYED

I paint my house, pole dance, hang out with my animal babies, cook two meals a week (huge step for me), soak in crystal hot springs, pole dance some more, do some yard work and more.

being #funemployed rocks

FREEDOM

FREEDOM

is

near.

&

Changes

are

here.

The road to happiness is the road best traveled
...
for those who wish to be happy.

National Parks for Daze..

I took my two little sisters and we went on a trip that I like to call: "A Happiness Retreat." This consisted of me driving, a hula hoop rest stop break, and listening to "Let it Go," from the new disney soundtrack of "Frozen," nonstop. It's funny, how your inner child can come out as you belch a disney song out at the top of your lungs with your sisters... and feel good about it... even if it may sound awful.

Anyways... Happiness Retreat was a success.

We stayed at the grandparents house, we swam, we ate, we drove into vegas and went to a swap meet, we swam more, we painted, we bonded, we left, we drove to zion. It was in Zion National Park, that the connecting back with nature began, we bonded as sisters and hiked as mountain goats up to the top of Angels Landing.&&&
Then we drove home and sang more frozen at the top of our lungs as a snowstorm rolled in.

Oh & I bought a National Park Pass again..... soooooo more National Park trips to come. Holla!

Sisterly Love (at its best)

New Years Resolutions

A new year is a great thing. It's a fresh start if you had a stressful depressing and difficult previous year. It's a reason to set goals and push yourself to new limits. It's a year to do more exciting things than the previous year. It's a mystery, you have no idea what is in the future.

I've heard some people say (through social media), "Why set myself up for failure with a new years resolution?" This annoys me and if your saying that (your annoying-kidding), please realize, that the if you are saying that, then you are clearly setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. Set a goal that's reachable and if you accomplish it, awesome, if you fail, try again, if you realize you really didn't care about that goal/resolution at all, then forget about it.

So, hey -- My New Years Resolutions for 2014 include:
1. Chest Stands: Get my feet to my head in a chest stand.
2. Middle Splits: Get flat..BAM!
3. Trip to Banff: Make it happen!
4. House Pretty: Work with Reese to make our house & yard awesome!
5. Run twice a week for about 30 minutes.
6. Drink less soda
7. Eat less cookies: Only allowed to purchase cookies/sweets ready eat, once a month.
8. Scuba Dive: Anywhere.. I want to make it 40 and I'm at 39 scuba dives.

Human Behavior

Human behavior is so interesting. There is this idea in several peoples head that you need to do what society tells you. Go to school, graduate High School, go to College, get a job, get a car, get a house, get married, have babies and work your life away until you die and move onto the next world or turn into a tree. Society sucks, politics suck, but they exist and as humans they seem to be incorporated into our lives no matter what. #dealwithit

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"People watching" is something I do often and today I did that at a joint called "In and Out Burger." I saw different variations of humans that were fat, skinny, tall, short, young, old, exhausted, happy, hungry, sad, etc. What are all these people doing at a burger joint today? Why are they eating a burger? Was it a stab to the wallet when they purchased the burger? Did they walk there? Did they drive? Do they own a car? Do they work? Are they living off unemployment? Do they consider this an activity, an experience, or just another meal? #getoutandlive

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Alright, I have started rambling from my observation earlier today and that has nothing to do with this post really. Anyways, I do not believe in doing what society tells you. In fact, I may be a little against it. I believe in doing what you want to do, doing what makes you happy and being who you want to be.

I think about traveling around the world about 11 times a week. To travel comfortably to a destination you kind of need money. Money doesn't grow on trees, so I have found myself working a low paying job that I generally enjoy. However, lately, I have felt that I am doing the stereotypical thing that society tells you to do and I hate that. I hate that 110%.

Hooray, story time!

After I graduated from University of Utah, I moved away for about 6 months working in Alaska and California then I moved back home to Utah. In winter I proceeded to continue my job in marketing at a resort and when the season ended. I got offered a year round position, I am currently still working at this job and wondering how I have suddenly fallen into the stereotypical thing that so many people do in society-working to live. I suppose everyone is a victim at one point, hell, some people fall victim to it throughout there entire lives. They put this idea in there head that they need this and that and this and that, then before they know it, they need so many things. Things that several people in other countries don't seem to need. Due to this, they never get to taste the sweetness of living, exploring and embracing the amazing experiences that surround us.

Lately, I have been concerned, I feel like I'm falling victim to the stereotypical things that society seems to outline we do as humans (at least here in the US). I went to high school - graduated, went to college - graduated with two bachelor degrees, bought a car, bought a house, and currently, I feel like I'm working my life away.

Although I feel this way, I realize I really haven't fallen into the depth that I keep thinking I have fallen into. I'm not a lifeless robot working my life away and not living.

I did graduate high school, then I worked outside as a lifeguard, then I went to college and continued to work as a lifeguard. Then I moved to Pennsylvania to work at a summer camp and took care of some amazing kids from around the US. Then I continued college and decided I was going to study abroad in Fiji for 6 months. I moved to Fiji in 2010 and studied tourism and marine biology. After that I decided to spend the rest of my money ($2,500) and go to both New Zealand and Australia (2 weeks in each location). I went home with $20 to my name and continued to work my winter job at a ski resort.
I worked my ass off in school that year, I was determined to get done and graduate. I even did summer school - yuck! Since I was broke and my boyfriend worked nights, I searched for something to fill in my emptyness. Being nearly broke, going to school and not having company at night is no fun at all. I knew I needed something more, so I searched and found a dance studio in my Ogden that offered aerial silks and pole fitness classes. I started doing that in February 2010 and still do both of those forms of Cirque Fitness to this day.
I graduated college in May 2012 and decided to moved to Alaska with a job offer I received. I lived out there for 5 months and then got transferred to a California location for one month. I moved back home in November 2012 and continued to work my winter job which turned into a year round job. After the winter season ended in 2012, one of my best friends and I decided to do our college graduation trip we were unable to do in 2012. We went to Belize and Guatemala for two weeks with no official plan. After my return my boyfriend and I continued to look for houses so we could move out and be grown ups (we were living in his parents house for a while as we went to school). We purchased a house in the late summer of 2012 and put our big kid pants on. Might I add, it has been so nice to have a place with him, he's cute.

Anyways, here I am paying off a car loan, house loan, dancing my booty off to keep my sanity, connecting with the earth as I surf the snow and living and loving my boyfriend & fur babies (zigmond-cat; bjorn-dog). I definitely am not "grown up," but I am doing some grown up shizzz for sure.

--This may be considered a rant -- so -- rant over. #life