i do what other facebook people do...

25 things. I can think of 25 things about myself, right? Everyone else on facebook can do it... and most of them are pretty interesting. I'm interesting. I think...

1. I met my husband in the 8th grade but we were NOT high school sweethearts. I had no idea I would marry him until much later. We did date for a short time in high school, but it didn't work out at that point. People always seem confused by this.
2. I am obsessed with my dogs. They are awesome. Libby is ridiculously smart and funny and Baxter is the sweetest, goofiest ball of fluff you'll ever meet. My life and my apartment would feel empty without them.
3. Speaking of my apartment, I live in the tiniest one bedroom in all of Athens, I'm pretty sure. My husband, our two dogs, and I share less than 600 hundred square feet with no dishwasher, no washer, no dryer, and no cable. I have learned to live without all of the "amenities" and was surprised to realize that I don't really miss them. Except the washer and dryer. Good God, do I miss having a washer and dryer.
4. I was planning on auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance or American Idol this season, but I missed the Idol auditions and the SYTYCD auditions are too far away and in the middle of the week. Maybe next year. Did I mention I love reality television? If I was single, I would totally go on the Bachelor too. Ha.
5. I love my job, but I have a lot of guilt about it. First of all, I feel like people don't think of it as a "real job" and therefore look down on me. It doesn't help that I have the morning off and tend to sleep late and spend a lot of time on the internet. I want people to take me seriously, but can't really blame them for looking at my lifestyle and not seeing me as an adult. However, I would challenge any of them to try their hand teaching 6 years olds ballet.
6. I know for a fact that some very close friends of mine feel like I made a mistake and am wasting my life by not pursuing a performance career. I can see their point, but I feel like everyone has so many directions they can go in their life, all of which will lead to happiness. I could have trucked it to New York and lived like a starving artist and loved it, but I also love my life here in Athens and am excited about my future.
7. I feel guilty about things ALL the time (refer back to number 5). I hate the thought that I have hurt people and tend to dwell on situations that I should have let go of a long time ago. I alway want to fix things and fix people... I think I inherited that from my mother.
8. Speaking of my mother, I am so grateful for the relationship that I have developed with her. We are so much alike, which I view as a blessing rather than a curse. She is absolutely amazing and so much fun and I'm lucky to not only have her a mother, but also as a friend.
9. My dad is my hero. I am convinced that there is nothing he doesn't know about or know how to do. And if there is, he could look it up on his iPhone and get back to you about it. And not only is he smart, but he is kind, funny, and unconditionally supportive. Dad has sent me flowers for every opening night performance that I can remember. And that is a lot of flowers.
10. My family has been going to Harbor Island, SC for pretty much as long as I can remember. There is no place that I feel more comfortable or closer to God.
11. My sisters are two of the most beautiful people I know. I hope they both know how much I admire and adore them.
12. My husband and I are pretty much exact opposites of each other. He's an extrovert, I would rather stay home. He's loud and goofy, I get shy around new people. He doesn't mind a mess, a sink full of dishes makes me twitchy. We do tend to argue, but it works for the two of us and I know there is no one in the world who could love me the way he does. I trust him unconditionally.
13. I have a deeply rooted love for the Gap brand. There are days when literally everything I wear (from pants to underwear to socks to shoes) is from either the Gap or Old Navy.
14. My dog Libby is a flyball prodigy. I have no idea how this happened... she successfully jumped all 4 hurdles in her first class and was running a full lane in 3 classes. I guarantee you that it was nothing I did. I didn't even give her treats- just tennis balls! (Which should show you how obsessed she is with tennis balls.)
15. I have a secret (well... I guess not anymore) desire to have lots of people read my blog. I started keeping it as more of a journal, but the more blogs I read the more I realized that I liked the idea of it being more of a public forum for my thoughts. Although most of my readers are family or close friends, I'm excited to know that some of them subscribed and read all of my entries (of which this will probably become one...). I had the same secret desire when I was young and kept a diary after reading Anne Frank and Zlata's Diary. I didn't take into account that both of them were in war torn countries and died at a young age... greercaldwell.blogspot.com (help my dreams come true, folks)
16. I did not have an imaginary friend when I was young. Instead, I had an alter-ego named Jula and she was FABULOUS.
17. I am sad to have lost so many friends in my life, but exceedingly blessed by the ones I have kept. Thanks for sticking with me, be it for 20 years (Christin! can you believe it's been so long?) or just a few. Meghan and Katie, you are two of the best and loyal friends anyone could want and I love you both. Keith, you bring light into my life. Joel and Margaret, you made an amazing experience even more life changing. Erin, you are a constant in my life even when we are so far apart and don't talk as often as I'd like. I always know I can count on you. My Berry dancer girls, you are always a joy and I often wish I was more like all of you.
18. Yes, Joe and I are trying to start a family. No, I didn't intend for everyone to know about it (thanks Dad), but we are excited about it and so really I don't mind who knows. Just don't keep asking me "are you pregnant yet?". I'll let you know.
19. My parents paid for my first car (which I still have) and my college education. I don't think this makes me a spoiled person, just very lucky. My parents worked hard to be able to do these things for me and my sisters and I appreciate it every day. I hope to be able to do the same for my children.
20. Although I weighed about 40 pounds less in high school than I do now, I am much more comfortable in my body than I was then. It was one of the down sides of dancing all the time... feeling fat at less than 100 pounds.
21. I will always identify myself as a dancer. It is not just a skill or a hobby that took up a lot of my life, it is part of the person I am now. That has a lot to do with why I teach ballet now... I feel like there are so many valuable things to learn from practicing any kind of art form that extend far beyond knowing how to do a plie or 16 fouettes. Ballet taught me discipline, work ethic, poise, patience, and much more.
22. While I loved my college years, I feel a deeper connection to my high school (well, my elementary/middle/high school... I was there from 5th grade til graduation!). Maybe it was because I was there for so long, maybe it is because of the family ties that I have there, but I look back at Davidson with so much fondness and appreciation for all that I learned there and for what it gave to me. I know it is a much different place now, but I will always treasure my memories there and the people it put into my life.
23. I love animated movies (namely Disney and Pixar) and movies with the Muppets. Finding Nemo is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time, and my family has a Christmas tradition of watching Muppet Christmas Carol every year. My dad and I can pretty much reenact the entire thing together. And we have.
24. There are many places that I want to travel and I know that my knowledge of the world is limited, but I am pretty sure that London will always be my favorite city because of the time I spent studying abroad there. Not only is it just an awesome place to be in general, but it also brought two of my best and dearest friends into my life.
25. I am impressed to find that there are still more things I could share about myself. There are so many life changing people I have not yet mentioned (Dee, Justin, Nicki, Jaime, Dan, my grandparents...) and places and times I have not talked about. Although this reflects a lot about me, I think it says more about the people in my life and how much joy they bring me. I could go on and on about my amazing family, my husband, and my friends and still not really capture how important they are to me and how thankful I am to share my life with them.

argh

I have to post something just to prove to myself that I can. It's not like I haven't had things to post about... it's been a crazy weekend! Of course, Sara Keelin was (finally) born at 12:52 in the morning on Saturday. It was such an incredible process to be a part of. I was so proud of both Katie and Stephen, and of course Sara is beautiful and healthy and perfect. On the other end of the life scale, one of my mom's friend's young son was just diagnosed with leukemia... and my sister-in-law was laid off. Please keep Brennan and his family and Kristin in your prayers.

Ok, I know it was not exciting, funny, or any of those things. But it was a post. And I had to do it or this blog would have just gone the way of other blogs before it... down the blog-toilet.

So there. A post. How hard was that, Greer?

introducing...

WebLink Wednesday!!! Since between myself and Stephen I always seem to have websites, blogs, youtube videos, and other interesting internet tidbits to giggle at/ponder I thought that I would set aside a blog entry a week to ruminate on one of my latest finds. Given the historical significance of yesterday's events, I thought it would be fitting link to this amazing photo taken FROM SPACE of the inauguration (taken by the satellite that Google uses for Google Maps). The things that resemble coffee grounds scattered around the Monument and across the Mall are all of the MILLIONS of people who not only recognized the historical nature of yesterday's inauguration but were willing to brave throngs and hordes of people in the frigid weather just to be a small (coffee ground sized) part of it. (They all looked so cold on TV...) I don't even know if some of them could see or hear anything that was going on (I mean, I've been to DC and the Washington Monument is a long way from the Lincoln Memorial... maybe they had a kick-@$$ sound system...) but they were there anyway. I watched most of the news coverage and was excited and moved to be witnessing such an amazing moment in our nation's history... and it was TIVOed on FOX NEWS! I can't imagine the rush of being there. Even if Obama did kind of stumble through his oath. But anyway, congratulations to our 44th president Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden!

PS- Getting excited to welcome Sara Keelin into the world on Friday! I will post pictures and videos!

gooooo me!

I mean, let's be honest. Who doesn't need a little bit of this in their lives? I know you'll all be pulling out your credit cards and copying down the phone number after you watch it.

nest

Yesterday I decided that the house needed to be cleaned. This does occasionally happen. Often it will start with something as simple as realizing that the bathtub might be considered a bio-hazard, which leads to me realizing that I have no desire to kneel down on that nasty hairy bathroom floor, which draws my eye to the inside of the toilet bowl, which then makes me think about all of the bowls that are in the sink... etc. So I commandeered (also can be read as "commanded") my husband to take charge of the kitchen (seeing as how most of the dishes were his and all of the unsorted mail on the counter was his... not that I keep score or anything...) and I would tackle the bathroom. Then began what I like to call the Surprised Sloppy Spouse Moments.

SSSM #1: "Wait... why are you taking everything off the bathroom counter?"
SSSM #2: "The stovetop? You want me to clean that too?"
SSSM #3: "What took you so long cleaning the bathroom?"
SSSM #4: "Why do you need to clean the microwave?"

Now granted, I went a little crazy in my cleaning this time. I entered into uncharted territories like the top of the fridge (which was NASTY, by the way), the top shelf of our bedroom closet (SSSM #5: "Why should I hang up polos? I just keep them all up there until I need them."), the junk drawer in our side table/desk. I even went through my side of the closet and rearranged my clothes by type (pants, sweaters, jackets, then skirts and dresses... makes sense to me). So I realized that it was a little traumatic for Joe, but I didn't realize the extent of his fear until this morning. He had gone into the office to get a little extra work done and came back into the apartment as I was taking things off of our side table by the door.

Joe (the SS): What are you doing now? (edge of panic in voice)
Greer: I just noticed when I came out of the bedroom that this table really should be moved down about an inch or two. It will make all the cords less noticeable, plus there will be more room for the basket I put here for your moped helmet.
Joe: (fully terrified, wide-eyed) What are you, like, NESTING or something?

He says nest like it's a four letter word. Ha.

being of sound mind and body

Things I feel that I must/would like to/wish I could share with the world:

My husband's amazing ability to be comfortable with himself in any situation. (Refer to video of him at Agatha's, linked in previous entry. Yeah, no shyness there, folks.)

My passion for and talent in the performing arts. I figure God blessed me with them for a reason and they're not exactly the kind of talents that are just as fun alone. I envy visual artists their privacy and portability, but I love an audience and a "classful" of kids.

The knowledge that dogs are awesome. And better than cats. It's just true.

Two happily married and supportive parents that you actually enjoy spending time with and don't cringe when people say "you are so much like your mother/father" (shout out to my Dad, who is currently my only subscriber... thanks, Dad).

This video. (Note that this would probably be linked to something different every week or so, but there would always be a link to something ridiculous on youtube that needed to be shared with the world.)

A love for reading. I feel that it makes me a better, more intelligent, more well-rounded person. Even if lately my reading list has included lots of blogs (we'll call it research) and Twilight. Don't judge. It's good. It is. Stop looking at me like that.

The honesty and unquestioning love of my three year old students, the gravity and intelligence of my preteen students, and the passion and drive of my teenagers.

Candy corn pumpkins NOT ONLY IN OCTOBER. I mean really. Why do they take them away?

Fascinating friends. Although I hate that some of them are so far away, I get such a rush of pride and joy in sharing what they are learning, experiencing and seeing of the world.

Innate standardized test-taking ability. Now, I am a pretty intelligent human being in general, but I will be the first to admit that the fact that standardized tests were always easy for me helped me get through high school and into college relatively unscathed. I wish I had a secret I could divulge on the difference between my methods for taking the SATs or something like that, but I think it's basically just luck.

Balance. If my Mom has taught me anything (and she has), it is that balance in the key to a happy, successful, fulfilling, and somewhat peaceful life.

My Flip video camera. It. Is. Awesome. And completely idiot-proof. Which makes it even more awesome.

Something to be nostalgic for. While I am so happy to be where I am in my life, I know that there is so much that I have to look back on with tremendous fondness and gratitude.

promo

Some new videos up on my youtube channel... one of them is of Joe, taken last night during our Atlanta excursion to Agatha's Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre. They give you a new identity when you come in and some people are fortunate enough to get a speaking part. Apparently they scope out the table and see who they think would get the most audience reaction (or if it's someone's birthday or anniversary of what-have-you then usually they will get a bigger role). I guess they could tell what a ham Joe is... anyway, the video is hysterical. And the others are of Wonder Dog doing her thing (flyball, of course). Some of you (namely you) were requesting flyball footage, so there ya go and there ya have it.