Monday's Fabulous Moment of the Day.. or not

So, I was going to copy Emily again and do a "Monday's Fabulous Moment of the Day" post- the idea is to fnd something- anything- remotely resembling fabulous and post it for the sake of the Monday. But...I had a perfectly mundane Monday at work and then Monday night I was a big fat crabby brat (sorry to my volleyball team for that!) so there were no fabulous moments to blog about.

I guess I wasn't feeling like myself- does anyone else ever experience that? Times where they just don't feel like themselves? It's weird. It's like, you KNOW you're acting unlike yourself, it's almost like you're watching it happen, but you lack the energy or even the desire to stop. FYI to anyone who is feeling that way- prayer helps!

So, today I am feeling much more like myself. Instead of a "Monday's Fabulous Moment of the Day" post I will do a "Totally Terrific Tuesday" post.

So, a little over a month ago I got an email from the Performing Arts director at one of the Santa Barbara schools. The email said that she had obtained my resume (seriously, my resume is apparently making the rounds around this town!) and was looking for a vocal coach for her show choir. Being that I have a full time job, I replied saying that it sounded like a lot of fun to a midwest girl who grew up in show choir, but that I would have to decline. Her response was that she was very disappointed as she too, is a midwest girl (from Iowa City) and thinks we could have worked well together.

That's right, she's from Iowa City. Exactly 5 years ahead of me in school- she was in the exact same choirs that I was in in high school (4th Ave!!). Long story short, I took the position and I've worked it into my lunch break 2-3 times/week. It has totally proven rewarding- it's a choir of Junior High girls and it's great. It's funny- after a few months of not teaching how invigorating it is to get up in front of a choir and sing with them. I always thought I would hate teaching Jr. High but it's actually really cool- they're at that age where they're just starting to consider the possibility of being really talented singers and I get to be the one to build them up and show them how- so fun.

It's also an enormous ego boost- I won't lie. I won them over the first time I sang for them and it felt awesome. It's not exactly bragging- I have a degree in vocal performance, it would be embarassing if they weren't impressed.

So, my "Totally Terrific Tuesday" moment was during warm-ups today. I was talking to the girls about posture and and how important it is because of the fact that our instruments are in our bodies and we need energy to use them. I was demonstrating how when we shift our weight to one leg or another it requires more energy to stand, and therefore you have less energy to sing, which is why we need to be balanced. They asked all sorts of great questions ie. Why can't you sit? Why can't you hold your hands behind your back? etc. We tried out all of those positions and they came to the conclusion that the neutral posture that I was advocating really did take the least amount of energy- which left the rest of their energy to focus on singing. Yay! Teachable students!

So, one of the girls has her hands raised and says:
"Two things- first, I love those shoes. Second, why can't you have your hands on your hips?"

Seriously. These girls are awesome. Flattery will get you everywhere.