Don't be careful. Don't be clever. When you see your wish: PURSUE!!

Once upon a time....later!
It has been a CRAZY couple of months! I started my classes at Mountainland Applied Technology College about 2 1/2 months ago and got cast in 'Into the Woods' at the Scera in Orem and trying to work enough hours at the Big Orange Box to keep me afloat! I'm realizing as I type this that it doesn't sound like it should be that time consuming...but it is! I swear!
I am LOVING my class. I never realized how much work the Medical Assistants actually do. Did you know that the average temperature to keep the reception area at in a physicians office is 76 degrees? Cuz I didn't! Seriously though. I have learned so much. Its amazing to me that the human body goes through so much and has so much going on inside that we don't even know about. And we just go about our daily lives! Its crazy! Plus, I now have my own stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. So thats pretty awesome.
Into the Woods has definitely been interesting!! We have such an amazingly talented cast and I'm so honored to work with them. Right before opening, it was scary, but it went really well!! 6 weeks of rehearsal went really fast but we got a lot done and were all pleasantly surprised when we put it together and it actually worked! It has been so much fun to get to know these new people and work with my sweet friends Kaelie and Laurel and of course, the handsome prince, Josh. :D
I became an aunt for the 3rd time this morning! Cameron and Trin Hutchings baby Kaylee Amberlyn was born this morning at 8:05. She is BEAUTIFUL and you know I'll spoil her rotten. I'm her godmother! Its what I do!

I'm just the girl all the boys want to dance with!!

Remember that one time when God dumped a bucket of rain on the stage of the Scera Shell during a performance? Because I do! The AWESOME cast went through the show until "Gaston," but once the Tech Booth saw that our performance of "Beauty and The Beast" had turned into "The Little Mermaid," complete with water works, we finally called the show and ran off into the wet rainy night!! Our weather for the entire run was so crazy bojangles. I swear, every other night we got rained on. By the end of the first weekend, my feathers were drenched and mostly ripped off! But it was totally worth every second. Especially the sunny ones!
Its so weird to me that the show is over. I forgot how much I love being on stage and under the lights. The friends that I saw everyday for hours on end, I consider myself lucky if I see them once a week now. I miss everyone so much! I'm so excited though, because tomorrow a group of us are going to see a fellow cast member in West Side Story, so that will be an awesome reunion.
I have finally decided on what I'm doing with my life, and hopefully, this time it will stick. I'm going to keep working on my Theatre degree at Utah Valley University, then starting in the Spring, I'm going to start the Medical Assisting program at Mountainland(the tech college in Provo). I looked at so many different options, and I really think this is the best one. So, unless something better jumps out at me, that's the plan.
Earlier this week, I had the privilege of going to a MDT workshop called "Take It From The Top," taught by Paul Canaan (who has been performing on Broadway for years and helped judge the Legally Blonde reality show on MTV last summer), Megan Larche (one of the casting directors from New York), and Dave Barrus (another performer, recently seen in 'Chess: In Concert' with Josh Groban, Adam Pascal, and Idina Menzel). It was such an amazing opportunity to learn from people who have actually been there and done the things that I want to do and could give us advice on how to succeed.

Tale as old as time....

Rehearsals are over and we have officially started the run of "Beauty and the Beast" at the Scera Shell!! Woot!! Its finally here!! Rehearsals had us pretty worried about opening. Costumes and set pieces weren't done, people got sent to the ER after set pieces fell ON them, choreography looked awful, dedication levels went WAY down, we were forgetting lines and cues. It was like as soon as we started practicing on the actual stage, everything we had spent 6 weeks learning had gone out the window! That was slightly nerve wracking. So far, everything has gone relatively smoothly, though. Well, at least most of it...the Beast is still giving us a little trouble...like running out on stage without his Beast wig on but complete with a Nike sweatband. THAT was a lot of fun. I got to run it onstage to him in the middle of a scene. AWKWARD!! Everything else is pretty good though. We've had really good audiences both nights and of course my parents have been front row center through out the whole thing. It's crazy that everything that we've been working for is so close to coming to an end, though. Its going to be hard to not see the cast everyday! The best part has been getting to know them and hanging out backstage and being r-tarded with them at Denny's and Applebee's until all hours of the morning! I'm going to miss these people so much(aka stealing carafes from denny's, creme brulee vs brownies, etc). We've all gotten to be so close after spending long hours rehearsing and working together. But I think we'll all stay in touch and I'm SURE we'll do more shows together!!

I'm so bored my brain is collapsing---love Bill

So this post is totally illegal because I'm on the computer at Home Depot!! Yay for stickin' it to the man!

Beauty and the Beast is starting to take shape and its going to be so awesome!! At rehearsal about 2 weeks ago, Jerry Elison, the director, and Robert, the stage manager called me out into the hall. My first instinct was "Aw shoot, how did I screw this up already?? We've only had 3 rehearsals!" But, to my surprise, Jerry said(in his cute little old man voice) "Madison, our Babette has had to drop out of the show. Would you like to do it?" On the outside I was very calm, cool, collected, thanked him so much for the opportunity and told him I would love to accept the role! On the INSIDE, however, this was me : "OH MY GOSH!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! MY FIRST REAL SHOW DOWN HERE!! THEY LIKE ME! THEY REALLY LIKE ME!!" I'm having so much fun and LOVING my role. Its slightly discouraging when I tell people that I'm the skanky hoe French maid and they say "That fits you!!" but whatever! It's fun!
SAST closed a week ago today and we had a really good run! A few more screw ups then we would have liked, but it turned out ok. And we had a blast doing it, so what more can you ask???
FINALS ARE DONE!! WOOT WOOT!! I probably shouldn't complain because I only had one actual test during Finals week, but still. The stress of people around me stressing is stressful! I now get to enjoy the torture that is waiting for the final grades to be posted. I only have to wait for two of my grades, but its killing me! This is my punishment for being OCD. I don't have all my grades, thus I go insane.
My Florida ladies have all left me except for Laura. Chelsie is on her way to England(, Sarah is in Italy, Paige is in Europe, Kelly is in Montana, Kate is in Mississippi and Elyse is at BYU-I. Which leaves me and Laura! Sad face, but Laura and I are going to have so much fun without them that they'll wish they were here instead of their various locations across the globe....hmm

Pampering

I think that at some point in their life, all women should get a facial. I just had my first one and oh my word....that room is my new happy place! I was thinking about it while I was in there and I realized that women totally deserve this kind of stuff. We put up with a lot of crap!! We deserve to be rewarded. Guys and some girls get to go play sports or whatever to release tension, but for those of us who are "athletically challenged," that is why God gave us estheticians.

First Blog!!

Yay! I've always wanted to do this and Paige's dedication finally pushed me to do it!

These past few weeks have been really crazy. I feel like my life is consumed by Home Depot and school, which in a way is good, because thats kind of why I'm in Provo. But I feel like there is more. I FINALLY got cast in a show though, which I am so excited for! I'm in the ensemble of Beauty and The Beast at the Scera Shell in Orem. Its going to be so much fun to be back in rehearsals and performing in front of an audience. I have Short Attention Span Theater coming up next week, too. That is going to awesome-ly funny and stupid!
I got to see ALL of the Florida girls this past weekend and it was amazing to have us all under one roof. Especially with a certain announcement from one of them! Yay! I love just sitting around and talking, usually nonsense, with those girls! They truly are so amazing. I wish I had been able to watch General Conference with them, but just being with them was awesome.
I got really overwhelmed the other day when I was at my parents house, and I felt bad because I didn't want to talk about it, but my parents were really worried about me. I felt like I was walking around in a daze; just an emtpy shell. I finally broke down and cried to my mom for about an hour about how I feel and how stressed I am. It was so good to be able to talk to her because she knows me so well. I feel like when I'm in Orem and Provo, I have to put on this front of "I'm fine! Nothing ever goes wrong in my life!" and its good to go up there where they know I'm not always ok, especially now. Granted, my life could be so much worse, but there are so many little things right now that seem to pile up and make it seem impossible to get through. BUT I know I'll be able to. Its a matter of time!