 I am getting married! We are getting married! CJ & I are so excited! Wednesday’s have become our productive evenings where we check our lists of what we still need to keep moving for our big celebration. People always ask- “How’s wedding planning going? Oh, it’s great now, but just wait.” I will wait and I will stress, but for now we both are excited and productive. I won’t talk your ears off, but here are the highlights from the beginnings and what we are thinking about this week.
Again: I don’t want to talk your ears off, but I know that some of you have been curious what we have been up to. Now you know. We are so excited that we are getting married, but we are even more excited for the lifetime of adventures to follow! Thanks for reading! #AisleBeBrincefield 
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In the summer of 2017, I was one of the co-directors for “Hello, Dolly!” Fendig Summer Theatre for Children hired a team of four people to direct the classic musical for the children of Rensselaer. I was feeling a little bit nostalgic this weekend and realized I never fully recapped my experience. Here it goes!  A little about Fendig: Fendig Summer Theatre for Children is a non-profit organization that teaches kids how to put on a full-length musical, all by themselves. There are no adults backstage during the show. They sing, they dance, act, run the lights, pull the curtains, make the props, do publicity. This is theatre for the children, by the children. Our audition process with the kids started during finals week in May. I drove home to Rensselaer to host auditions before coming back for the trip to Germany. We had a total of 87 kids participate this summer. Fendig is free for the children. The only cost to them is for a t-shirt if they want one. Because of the cost, Fendig is only available for children grades four through eight who live in the Rensselaer school district. This limits the number of kids, we have so the quality of the production is high. This show was a tricky one to do with kids, only because the show is so iconically humorous that some of it, or most of it is lost on the kids when they are acting it out. It also was difficult musically because of the voice ranges for the girls. The character Dolly has a lower register and most children still are in the higher register for singing. The show is a classic show that recently has been revived on Broadway. The humor of this show never gets old.  While the show was tricky, I had my own trials. This position was way different than the previous summer as assistant director. Taking creative liberties while also managing 87 children is really hard. In my mind as a director, my job was to serve Fendig’s mission and kids before myself and that’s what I tried to do.
I had so much fun directing this show with the team of people. Being able to direct my younger sister in Mary Poppins and my younger brother and cousin this year in "Hello, Dolly!" was something I will never forget. Doing a show is always very stressful, busy and full of challenges but the kids on opening night are always worth it. They worked so hard and took direction so well. We sold out all three nights and the kids were so proud of what they put on stage. A children’s theatre typically is known for a cute kids show, but Fendig is known for putting on high quality shows that you forget the actors are children while you are watching. I had the privilege to go back to Rensselaer and watch the 2018 production of Disney's Newsies and was not disappointed. It was truly amazing to see how much the kids grow from year to year personally and professionally. I can't wait to see what they do next. When I was younger I would write stories all the time. I would have countless notebooks filled with little ideas and thoughts of stories I was going to write someday. My best friend and I would sit and hangout with each other writing stories and editing each other’s work. It sounds like the most nerdy thing little kids could do, but for us it was so much fun. Recently, we both have been trying to get together again and chat. We have tried scheduling a couple of long distance “dates” via FaceTime or the phone, but most of them haven’t gone through. We both are seniors who have just a little on their plates. We joked today how if we were able to get together instead of writing stories together, we would bring our bullet journals and to-do lists to each other. We both have had quite the lists of things to do, which is part of why we haven’t gotten together. We would take turns organizing our lives. This past year I started bullet journaling to track my goals for each day, the month and my year. It has been a good way to make sure that I am looking ahead and staying on track with my personal goals. As cheesy as it sounds, this has been so refreshing and mindful for me to do.  Bullet journals are a very personal way to organize. Everyone has their own style and way to organize their lists. You can choose to do it anyway you want! That’s why it’s so fun.
Here are some of the products I use to make my organizing easy!
What ways do you keep yourself organized? 
CLick on the images above to be directed to the full album of photos.
The Ohio Northern Wind Orchestra travelled to Germany for a two week tour. We started off our journey in Ada, Ohio. We all boarded a charter bus really early in the morning and drove six hours to Chicago O’Hare Airport. As much as people hate long bus rides, I don’t mind them at all. I travelled a lot during my summers on charter buses. As soon as they start moving I zonk out.
Our flight was twelve hours from Chicago to Dublin, Ireland where we got off for a three hour layover from Dublin to Frankfurt, Germany. I didn’t have any problems on my long flight, because the airline provided little television screens in front of each seat to watch movies, television or play games. I was seated in an aisle seat so I had plenty of room. One the shorter layover I was stuck between two huge, German men who didn’t speak English so I just listened to music. I was tired, but excited to see Germany so the jet lag didn’t bother me. We all had to just force ourselves to adjust to the time. The first place we visited was Luxembourg. Luxembourg was full of quiet shops and good food. I got to have Guinness at an Irish bar and some other drinks with my friends that night before we got ready for the next day. We went to Trier where I had the best meal of the whole trip. Although we went to Germany my favorite meal was pizza from an Italian family. The family let us keep the glasses and thought we were very interesting. 
Laupheim was the highlight of the trip. It’s a small town in Germany where everyone is a close-knit community. After the war, some parts were left devastated and you can obviously see the newer part of the town. In all the other locations, we stayed in youth hostels (basically dorm hotels), but in Laupheim we all were placed in homes of members of the orchestra there. My host family was Frank, Petra and their two daughters Yana and Romina. Their little girls held up a sign that read “Welcome in Germany” when we arrived at the orchestra. Their home is gorgeous and quaint. They were wonderful hosts. Every morning we had so much food to take us with on our travels and they tried their best to speak with us.
In Laupheim we visited a brewery, performed a fantastic concert and went to a German barbeque where there was lots of food and beer. They treated us like royalty. One of our professors Dr. Hunt, studied in Germany for twenty years, so we have all these connections in small towns to experience the real life of Germany. We are lucky to have him.
The next day we went to Austria. We hiked up the Pherd trail to get a view of the Swiss Alps in the distance. There were cows with bells on them. The hills were alive with music, too. We were “those” Americans who sang as we hiked up the mountain.
We started off the next day by visiting Stuttgart where we performed another fantastic concert and visited the Mercedes Benz Museum. For some reason I remember this day not by the things we did, but the conversations I had with my professors and friends. I remember it fondly. Of course if you visit Germany, you should visit a concentration camp if you are able. It’s very hard to put into words how difficult and overwhelming visiting the camp was. We visited Buchenwald. Fifty-eight thousand people died there. The camp was know for genetic testing, euthanizations and their crematorium. There is this gorgeous landscape in the distance, but when you imagine how much pain and suffering went on where you were standing it was too much to handle. 
The last place we went to was Berlin! My friend group wanted to get a head start on how to use public transportation so we went out really late the first night. We had to take a bus and two trains to get to a cantina where we had Spanish cuisine. For my friends that really just meant really good margaritas.
The next day we went on a tour but were cut off by security around the Brandenburg gate. President Obama happened to be in Berlin and we saw his car and security detail pull up at the gate! It’s a small world! We walked to the East Side Gallery and saw the Berlin Wall. We had currywerst and Mezzo Mix. It’s like an orange cola and coke mix--so good. We went to the Olympic Stadium, the Charlottenburg Palace and the Rittersport chocolate store before ending our evening at the Berlin Philharmonic. I got to sit right behind the French horns! Before the trip, I was worried about my close friends not being on the tour and being first chair in my section, but I had nothing to worry about. I get along with lots of people and actually had some pretty great friends. I had countless memories as you can tell, but I really will remember the conversation and the people that were with me in these amazing places. If you EVER have a chance to travel abroad whether it’s for a week or a semester, GO! You will not regret it! Thanks for reading about my trip. 
Some recent snapshots from some fun projects I have been doing. I have been loving getting to know my new camera and loving the lovely weather and late fall colors. Enjoy! Thanks to all my lovely models.
 The beginning of a Sigma Alpha Iota chapter here at Ohio Northern University is finally becoming a reality. Thanks to many people keeping the interest group going, the successful petition process and now colony this Friday, September 30th the Mu Chi chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota will be founded. We are so excited.
Being the president of this organization through it's beginning stages has been a blessing and a learning experience for me. I am looking forward to all of OUR work being recognized this Friday. We can finally start growing and implementing our love of excellence and music here at Ohio Northern. Love and roses.  Ohio Northern students and alumni play jazz every Thursday evenings at Viva Maria's from 8-10 pm. It's a great atmosphere, great food, friends, and of course music. The students who take Jazz lessons with Gene Parker get first hand experience of playing live and improv! Here are a few pictures I snapped while enjoying some awesome music.
 When I am here I do miss my family, but man am I glad to be back at the good 'ole ONU. My backyard is beautiful.
Tour with the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps starts this Friday. Harrison and I will be getting on a bus in Indy and taking it to Forest City, IA where we will have spring training. This year we didn't get a chance to send out donation letters, so if you would like to support our summer adventure you can mail a check made out to Mark Heinig to our home address. We would love any support or funds for Gatorade and snacks. The best support we get is seeing familiar faces on tour. If you can make it to a show and say hello that would make our day! Our cousin Ian is also marching with us this year, so hopefully we will see a good handful of familiar faces on the road. I am really excited to be marching a third year with the Blue Stars for the sense of family. Even being away a year the same atmosphere of education and family remains the same. It's something I have always liked about the Blue Stars.  We don't know much about the show yet other than it's title: Le Reve. It's French for dreams, so we will surely elaborate more on the concept later this week. The music we are playing is challenging and fun. I can't wait to perform it. Hopefully you can make a show and share in the amazing experience. Tour ScheduleMail ScheduleIf you'd like to send me a letter or care package, follow this link.  | FINIS CORONAT OPUS | THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT May 20-June 16 Forest City, IA
June 16-24 La Crosse, WI June 25 Whitewater, WI June 26 TBA June 27 Hamilton, OH June 28 Dublin, OH June 29 Evansville, IN June 30 Evansville, IN (rehearsal) July 1 Muncie, IN July 2 Lisle, IL July 3 Cedarburg, WI July 4 Chicago Area (parades) July 5 La Crosse, WI July 6 Mankato, MN July 7-8 La Crosse, WI (rehearsal) July 9 Rockford, IL July 10 Madison, WI July 11-13 Wausau, WI (rehearsal) July 14 Wausau, WI July 15 Rochester, MN July 16 Minneapolis, MN July 17 Dekalb, IL July 18-19 St. Louis, MO (rehearsal) July 20 Broken Arrow, OK July 21 Belton, TX July 22 Waco, TX July 23 San Antonio, TX July 24 San Antonio, TX (free day) July 25 Lafayette, LA July 26 Biloxi, MS July 27 Hattiesburg, MS July 28 Opelika, AL (rehearsal) July 29 Opelika, AL July 30 Atlanta, GA July 31 Gatlinburg, TN August 1 Centerville, OH (rehearsal) August 2 Centerville, OH August 3 Pittsburgh, PA August 4-5 Allentown, PA (rehearsal) August 6 Allentown, PA August 7 Rome, NY August 8 Erie, PA August 9-13 Indianapolis, IN (DCI Champs) August 14 Indianapolis, IN (Banquet) Schedule on Blue Stars Website: http://www.bluestars.org/story.php?story_id=807 The mail drop dates are up! Please send me a letter or a Gatorade bottle or a hug this summer! Nothing is better than receiving a note from someone on tour. I would love to hear how you are doing and a note from you would mean the world to me while I'm away on tour. Harrison and Ian might like one as well. Thank you in advance. 1. MAY 20 - JUNE 15 Items need to arrive by June 15. Last Delivery Day: June 16. For letters and packages: <Recipients Name Here> Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps C/O Waldorf College 106 South 6th St. Forest City, IA 50436-1797 2.JUNE 16 - JULY 14 Items need to arrive by July 14. Last Delivery Day: July 15. For letters: <Recipients Name Here> Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps P.O. Box 2523 La Crosse, WI 54602 For packages: <Recipients Name Here> Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps 1100 Kane St. #125A La Crosse, WI 54603 3.JULY 15 - AUGUST 2
Items need to arrive by August 2. Last Delivery Day: August 3. For letters and packages: <Recipients Name Here> Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps C/O Rick Minnotte 115 Abington Dr. Pittsburgh, PA 15216 4. AUGUST 3 - AUGUST 12 Items need to arrive by August 12. Last Delivery Day: August 14. For letters and packages: <Recipients Name Here> Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps C/O Eric and Laura Jones 684 Red Oak Way Mooresville, IN 46158  I am pleased to announce that I signed my contract for my third summer with Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps this weekend. After taking a season off for some career opportunities, I am thrilled to be back again with the horn line. I can't express how excited I am to march with some familiar faces and lots of new ones, especially my brother. Congrats to everyone for having the guts to come to camp this weekend. We ALL can only get better from here. FCO.
This week has been a tough one for a lot of Blue Stars alum with the passing of DCI Founder and past Blue Stars Director, David Kampschroer. Dave was one of the founding members of Drum Corps International, the first person to be inducted into the DCI Hall of Fame, and was Director of the Blue Stars.
I am so grateful for anyone who helped laid out the foundation for the Blue Stars back in the early years. Dave was one of the people that laid down these foundations. Blue Stars is very well known for it's sense of family and tradition in appreciation and recognition of all members who made the current season possible. Being humble together in a time of success with a drive and passion to continue striving for the best we can be was part of Dave's legacy to the Blue Stars. He will be missed greatly by the performing arts community, but remembered for his passion and dedication to helping others realize they were capable of so much more than they thought was possible and putting our corps motto to the test every day in his work. Finis Coronat Opus, Dave. Thanks for making the Blue Stars a place to call home.
finis coronat opus.
Thanks for all you did to make Blue Stars a place to call home.
I love how a single picture can flood your mind with a million memories. I miss my Blue Stars. I saw a picture of me from the beginning of spring training last year; it filled me with all the emotions that come with working hard for an end goal and accomplishing it. I love how I can remember what we did that day simply by how much we did, or what chunk of the show we reps on, or what field we rehearsed on. I miss my sun-kissed skin, natural beautiful looking self. I miss my friends and I miss being in shape. The Blue Stars are my valentine this weekend because my heart is missing the place I call home. Enjoy this slideshow of things that might not be great pictures or things that mean anything to you--but remind me of what it is to work hard and be passionate about something.
Happy Valentine's Day. |
