The First of the Last ( also known as "aren't my friends beautiful?")

Live from the red carpet: it's the **th annual Sing Alliance formal!

Q: "Tell us Jennifer, what would you like to say about your dress this evening."

A: "Well, the first thing you should know is I got it for a steal. I love a good deal. This would be the dress I wear to go clubbing in if I ever went clubbing. At first, I was going to pair it with black patent pumps but at the last moment, I made a dramatic wardrobe change-- which meant I had to paint my toenails with breakneck speed. I kept the hair and jewelry simple to let the dress shine.... and I really want World Peace!"



Q: "And what about you, Valori. Tell us about your ensemble this evening."


A: " Um.... I spent more for it than I really wanted to. I left all my jewelry in Houston so creativity had to be used in the construction of the outfit. I found the earrings in my purse. Lindsay think they worked well with the dress. In fact she said I was very "artistic French." I was going for a classic look in all."

Q:" Lindsay, please elaborate on your look this evening."

A:" Well, I was going for 50s/60s vintage, complete with the slightly bufont hair- which took a bumpit, 20 hairpins, and half a can of hairspray to complete. I found this wonderful little number on a clearance rack at Dillard's, according to the label I am wearing,"Made in Vietnam." My shoes (unavailable in the picture) are ones I picked up in Austria, adding a slightly European flair to the look. After an hour, I'm proud to announce that my feet were in fact completely numb, and I managed to dance the night away without much difficulty."


Can you tell we had fun with this post? Really though, last night was the Sing Alliance formal, and it was so much fun! Chocolate Fountains, fresh fruit, pastries, cupcakes, cookies.... and dancing. What more could a girls ask for? The Macarena... and we had that too. It was good to see all of my friends -most of which are seniors like me- and to hear about their plans. Last night was just the beginning of the end, however. Last Sing engagement. This coming week I have three banquets: Two Honors College, One Phi Beta Kappa, and a History dinner. It's busy, but exciting. And I have plenty of dresses to carry me through.

One more for the road...

There were so many things I could write about when I talk about All University Sing. I think I've pretty much considered them all. The original plan was to post a video of our act so you can see why I've been practicing nine to fourteen hours a week for the past two months. (Someone in our group did the math, we practice two hours for every one minute of performance... if that isn't commitment I don't know what is). Unfortunately, a video may not be forthcoming this year.

I thought about writing a review of all the acts, but that might make my post as long as the actual four hour performance itself. I'm sure you'll all stop reading before you even get to the end. And... well, I suppose while I might be "mean" enough to criticize acts in person, I'm not so sure about posting them up on the internet.

Instead, I thought I might give you the next best thing to a video (as many pictures as I could find) and just tell you about what Sing has meant to me these past three years. I promise, I'll try to spare the cheese and keep everything low fat.



Four years ago I moved to Baylor. I had had no connection to Baylor, never made a premier visit, and didn't attend line camp. Oh how little I knew! That year at homecoming I didn't drag my parents to see Pigskin... or after Dark for that Matter, and I certainly had no idea what my roommate was doing when she went at sat in line for four hours to become a member of Sing Alliance. All I knew is that she was gone that semester... a lot and when she came back it was usually with some random object: a pair of lyrical shoes, some feathers, a dress with wood glued on it, and, finally a spear. Seeing as how she spent so much time with this group, I wanted to know what this Sing thing was for myself. One of the girls on my hallway was rushing a sorority and scored me a ticket for club night. Sing Alliance was the first act I ever saw. But it wasn't until the homecoming, my sophomore year after I drug my parents to Pigskin ("Holy Cow, you've got to see this!" I told them) that I walked away saying, "I've got to do that!" That November I sat in line for five hours in order to get a spot. I was the eighth person on the list.



I don't think I would be incorrect to say that the decision was completely out of character for me, at least that's how I've always thought of it. I decided to join Sing Alliance at a time when I was non committal about everything, which I chose to be because I was too committed in high school, I think. Sing Alliance practices full
time Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. Two hours every night except for Thursday when we practiced for three. Big Commitment. Also, I went to bed every night at 10:00 like a little old lady (and I'm perfectly fine with that. I like sleep). Sing Practices at the earliest 8-10 and the latest 10-12. Some nights I didn't get home or relaxed until closer to 1 am. Hello Naps. I had to seriously adjust the way I did things.

I've never regretted it. Well, ok. Sometimes. Sing Season is strenuous. It gets long and tiring, especially toward the end when your just cleaning and cleaning, and remembering about all of the test and thesis chapters due tomorrow. There are moments you sort of hate your life. "Holy Cow, why did I decide to do this again?" But that goes away. You see, Sing kept me from being too serious. It let me get up and jump around... act like I was seven again, and sing Disney songs with people who know every single word. It was my opportunity to leave my mark on a Baylor tradition so to speak. And when Homecoming comes around I'll look forward to seeing all the Pigskin acts, and take my kids to see them. I'll tell them my stories ( and show them my costumes). Because Sing has been a large, and very memorable, part of my Baylor career, and when it ends tonight, it's smooth sailing to graduation.

Let's go, Sing Alliance.

Sing Pick of the Week: Chi O's Gold Rush

I have to apologize that my Sing post is delayed. I have a good excuse, though. I promise. In fact I have 29 good excuses that happened to keep me up all night long on Friday. Last semester I was a GA leader for my church here, and though I couldn't continue to go this semester due to a class conflict, I went to the lock in. I got to talk about all sorts of things like how the best place to take a nap is daddy's lap, and what it would be like to be a cat princess, and how Goofy and Mickey probably live on the planet Pluto [ok, that last one is mine and the 3rd grader I was talking too looked at me like I was crazy, anyway] The point is, sleep deprivation aside, my 4th graders are simply more important than you. Sorry, the truth hurts.

But I'm here now!!!!!!

This weeks act is from 2009. Interesting story is that this was actually the back- up theme for this group. The way it works when two groups submit the same theme is that one group gets the theme and the other gets all the music. Most of the time, however the group that gets the music forfeits because its hard to fashion a new theme around the same music. That's what happened this year. Sing Alliance and Chi O both submitted coffee themes. Sing got the Theme, Chi O the music, but who wants to sing the Folger's song if you can't have a coffee theme. Gold Rush is the theme they used instead. In my opinion its one of the best second themes I've seen. So here you have it,

Chi O's Gold Rush:

Sing Pick of the Week: A Latte Love

Some of you may know that my University has a production every February called All University Sing. Really, it is a neat tradition. Groups sign up during the Spring semester the year prior, select a theme, storyline, music, etc. and work to put on what's more or less a 7 minute Broadway act. ( I use Broadway here in the sense that it's continuous singing and dancing that fits together to tell a story much like a musical). While I am not a member of Greek life (which all of the other organizations are) I was given the opportunity to participate in a group call Sing Alliance which allows those who aren't in a sorority of fraternity to participate.

Sing themes are always a big secret, and there's much speculation that floats around campus prior to the first performance, so don't expect me to say anything about what we're working on now before February 17, but since we are full swing into the Sing Season (our first practice was the night before Spring classes started and we've practice no less than 9 hours each week and in some cases more) I thought it might be fun to do a blog each Friday to share some of my favorite acts over my tenor in Sing. So without further adieu, I present to you:

A Latte Love-

This is perhaps my favorite act ever. I'm biased though, it was also the first act I ever got to dance in. Others agree with me too. Not only did it make Pigskin, but it was also the first Sing Alliance Act ever to place (3rd) and if I'm not mistaken won a people's choice for best Music selection. The video isn't super clear, but it's still entertaining.

p.s. I'm a business person in blue [ not that you should care]