Cooking!

Monday night I realized that it had been at least a month since I had actually cooked myself dinner. I had been so busy, and was doing a Lean Cuisine diet thing, which wasn't bad, but when I have the time and energy to cook, I really enjoy it.

With the warm weather here, I was inspired to make some refreshing summer food.

I LOVE cilantro.


Gotta have lime.


Guacamole.


Edamame.


Gadoo playing with and eating the edamame.



"Asian" Cole Slaw.

Water Aerobics Report

Water aerobics wasn't so bad. There were four of us there, two of whom could have come out of the photo in my previous post, myself, and a girl a little younger than me. It turns out the other girl is also a dancer, but a hardcore ballerina. She had danced her whole life, but stopped a year ago because she had to choose between dance and college. She knows of a place where I can get certified for teaching dance, and she's going to bring the info next week.

The aerobics itself was a little easy for me, but at least it's some form of exercise, and I get to play in the water.

I Have the Best Boss.

My boss gave me my birthday present a month early this morning because she was so excited about it. I LOVE it. It fits perfectly, the fabric is BEAUTIFUL, the pleats are wonderful, and it has pockets!!! The picture from the Target website doesn't do it justice.

Water Aerobics

Now that I don't have dance on Monday nights, I'm going to try out the water aerobics at the Y tonight. I'm a little nervous, because water aerobics has a stigma of being for old people, but I think it might be ok...it's supposedly high-impact. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll like it, and I'll have a new activity for Monday nights!

Me, tonight at 7:00pm:

Erin's Birthday Party

Today was lovely Erin's Birthday (it was also Brie's, but she's in Vegas) and I made her some cupcakes at her request. I think we all had a great time at her party — I know I did. I think I drank the majority of the sangria.

So You Think You Can Dance

So You Think You Can Dance is not a good show. The title, theme song, host — all wrong. But it's the only show I've been watching this summer, simply because I love anything to do with dance.

There has been some great choreography already, last week by Wade Robson, this week by Mandy Moore (no, not THAT Mandy Moore). I'm psyched because I will be taking workshops with a lot of the choreographers from the show in a few weeks at the Broadway Dance Center's Summer Dance Fest in NYC. The choreographers include: Brian Friedman (SYTYCD), Cris Judd (of J. LO fame), Dave Scott (Stomp the Yard, You Got Served), Wade Robson (MTV, Britney Spears, SYTYCD, etc.), Laurie Ann Gibson (Making the Band, Honey, etc), Mia Michaels (SYTYCD) and Shane Sparks (SYTYCD).

Ramalama (Bang Bang) choreographed by Wade Robson on Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance.

Palapa Azul Fruit Bars

Last night I stumbled into Whole Foods after I went to the gym to get my weekly supply of the Whole Foods brand of frozen fruit bars, which I love, and for the price, can't be beat. But I was getting a little tired of the flavors and wanted to try something new. To my delight, right below my favorites I found Palapa Azul Watermelon bars. I had tried their grapefruit bars before, which were good, but a little tart for my taste. The watermelon is perfection. It basically tastes like frozen watermelon, with no seeds. I feared it would be really sweet, but not at all — although there is sugar added, it doesn't taste like it at all. The best part? Only 50 calories each, so I don't feel guilty about eating one after working out.

New Kicks

While on a recent trip to New York, I came across these AMAZING Nike Vandals. Of course, there was only one pair left, and they were about to be purchased by a European gay man. I went into pretty much every shoe store in Manhattan looking for them, to no avail.

Through the wonders of Ebay, I was able to find these beauties when I got home for half the price! I'm finally wearing them today (about a month later) because I realized after impulsively purchasing them that, although they are beautiful, they don't really match a thing I own. These shoes are worth building an outfit or two around.

Filling the Void

My Monday evenings are usually filled with three hours of dance, which sadly, I won't have again until September. What do I do with my free time this Monday evening? Be productive and make art, maybe? No! Of course, I went shopping. I fell prey to the buzz about Sarah Jessica Parker's new clothing line, Bitten, carried only at Steve and Barry's department stores. The lure of this line is that every piece in the collection is less than $20, and they carry up to a size 22.

The nearest Steve and Barry's is at the Silver City Galleria in Taunton, MA. So I went on a mini trek to Taunton. The Bitten collection was surprisingly large, ranging from accessories to formal dresses. They even have a selection of pretty well-made bathing suits for only $7.98! Most of the collection consists of basic tees, pants, hoodies, and blouses. The larger sizes weren't available in every style, but word has it the Fall collection will be more extensive in sizes and styles.

I was VERY impressed with the fit of the pants....I would have bought one in every style if I had the money/need for them. I have a very hard time finding pants that fit correctly, and was able to find a great pair of jeans that met all of my requirements: the correct rise, a dark rinse, not too long for my short legs, a straight leg, and not too big in the hips. All this for only $14.98! The picture doesn't do them justice. I also found a very cute tee for $7.98.

The Day After

After a pretty horrendous rehearsal on Friday that included a terrible lighting and sound guy, all around mediocre performances, and a very slippery floor (not good for tap shoes and hooker heels), the recital went pretty well. The two-year-olds dressed in dog outfits and "dancing" to Who Let the Dogs Out stole the show— their cuteness couldn't be beat. A close second were the two and three-year-olds dancing to Lime in the Coconut in hula skirts.

My Fairy Princesses were a hit as well, and did a wonderful job. The acro girls who forgot everything last year were perfect and adorable. My own dances went significantly better than during rehearsal (thank goodness) dues in part to the addition of non-skid pads for the bottom of my hooker heels. Surprisingly, Amazing Grace, the lyrical number, was the biggest hit among all of our family and friends. This was the dance I was most concerned about, because I've never done lyrical dance before and I don't consider myself to be very graceful.

Overall the show was a great success. I have a mild case of post-recital depression, and can't wait for classes to begin in the fall.

Some not so great pictures of the great job Janelle did on my hair and eye makeup.



The acro girls with Miss Sarah getting ready for their performance.


My Fairies post-show with all of their flowers (which they were very excited about).

Dress Rehearsal

CHAOS. And apparently my boobs were popping out of my purple costume. Excellent.

Recital Countdown: 2 Days

I spent my evening at the mall yesterday exploring Sephora and Nordstrom's makeup department, trying to figure out what the heck to do for makeup, and how to wear one color to coordinate with my three very different costumes. I originally wanted glitter eyeshadow, and found an amazing one by Urban Decay, but realized that I really needed to tame my inner drag queen because this is dance recital at a suburban high school, not a show on the Vegas strip. I settled for fake eyelashes with glitter liner, and an pallette of purple shadow... I may sneak in a tiny bit of glitter if I can get away with it.




I'm commissioning Janelle from Flaunt Salon on Thayer Street (also a good friend of my roommate, Catie) to recreate this retro 'do for my tap dance. I'm sure she'll do a great job— it's just a shame that I'll have to take it out for the rest of the show.

Diet Disaster.

I've recently discover the Somerset Creamery, in Somerset, MA. Somewhat of an institution in the East Bay, the Somerset Creamery makes their own ice cream and waffle cones. The smell of the cones when you walk in the door is intoxicating. The best part: your waffle cone is so fresh, its still warm when you get it.

My Other Blog

Check out my other blog, Sugar Coated Designs, home to my cupcakes and crafts.

I Love My Job.

If I was at all questioning my love for career (and my awesome boss), this project solidified it. This Elton John cut-out was created for B101's "B1 WITH THE MUSIC" campaign. There really wasn't any design involved, but I got to be Elton for a second.

My Little Students

Okay, so I know these pictures are a little creepy, almost Jon-Benet-esque, but my these are the costumes my 5-year-old students will be wearing in the recital. They are so freakin' cute. Their tap dance is to "Bushel and a Peck" (polka-dots) and ballet is "Wings," from one of the Barbie movies.

Countdown to Recital: 4 Days.

The Steppin 2 the Beat Recital is only four days away. I'll be sporting an array of embarrassing costumes, including a polka-dot spandex dress (Candy Man, Christina Aguilera), a gigantic Barney-purple skirt (Amazing Grace, Destiny's Child), and red hooker heels (Fergalicious/Maneater/Sexyback). Humiliation that is not to be missed.

Postcards

I think these are my favorite things I've designed in the past year. They are part of a postcard campaign forPerfect Picnics by Russell Morin. The best part: They're Scratch n' Sniff! The ice cream smells like vanilla and the giant burger smells like a pickle.