let's get technical

I had this moment yesterday. It happened while I was teaching. The kids were making up a combination based off of these ballet flashcards I had given them. I emphasized wanting them to work together as a unit to create this combination. I sat there dilly dallying waiting for them to finish when I started listening in on them as they worked their magic. 

How many balancés should we do?

Let's just go until we are all together.

Well, I think it would be better to have a set number so then we are dancing in unison.

Great idea!

How should we incorporate the pas de bouree?

Don't forget to use the correct port de bras!

They were being little 8 year old grown-ups. Little grown-up ballerinas who were applying the copious amounts of ballet technique I've tried to cram inside their growing brains for these past 9 months. In that moment my heart swelled a little a lot. 

You see, there are lots of days when I feel like I'm not the best teacher. I worry that I'm not doing a good enough job at sharing the appropriate amount of ballet knowledge with them. There's just so much to teach and how does one even begin to fit it all in?! 

How can I do my students right and teach them all the things they need to know?

But in that moment listening to them apply their newfound knowledge, listening to them remember little tricks of the trade (so to speak) from these past 9 months I realized that something is going right. Maybe they don't always turn out from their hip. Maybe they don't lift through the upper body as they're doing plies, but they're picking up on the true meaning of technique: not how many pirouettes you can squeeze out or if you can kick your leg to your forehead in a grande battement, but how you properly perform each little part of each movement. How your body is in line before you even think about performing a movement. 

And in that moment I thought Man, I love getting to teach these kids. Because they have managed to cram in a whole lotta of teaching me in these 9 months.

Now...go read some blogs that aren't sappy on a Friday and that don't overkill on the ballet talk.
Happy Friday!

best thing since sliced bread

I have a single picture that sums up my holiday weekend. It involves zero beer. Zero hot dogs. Zero beaching (even though that totes mcgoats happened). It involves this baby:

To me, this picture shows I got to feast on the most delicious homemade bread all weekend. It shows that I have the best housewife of a husband who bakes such delicious bread. It shows that I accomplished no laundry over the weekend since I was too busy with this 1 of 5 loaves of bread. It shows that the peanut better toast I had for breakfast every single morning made my holiday weekend that much better.

And it also shows that I'm a fatty fatty no friends who talks an awful lot about a small loaf of bread. Hashtag: no retreats and all that.

Could you sum up your holiday weekend in one picture?

five on friday: food edition

So Pinterest. It's great and all that. A time sucker when I need one, an inspiration when I feel like my apartment decor is the absolute worst, a guide to explain why all the clothes in my closet aren't good enough, and an all around just wonderful place. Yadda, yadda, yadda you know it, too. 

It's also a place where I pretend like I am a chef. A chef extraordinaire, to be more specific. Oh this recipe is easy, you say? Pinned. This recipe has chocolate in it?? Pinned and probably attempted to be pinned twice. And this recipe involves kale AND spinach and will solve all health issues and make me skinny? Whoa, healthy much? Must pin. 

I say all of this in jest (mostly...) because while I have only cooked 4 recipes out of the 489 recipes on my Favorite Recipes board (2 of which actually turned out table worthy), there are actually a lot of wonderful, amazing, creative, genius ideas for food on Pinterest.

And I will share my Top 5 with you today.

Lucky. You. 

5 Things I Should Be Eating Making Right Now

important side note 1: I pinned these because I want to eat/devour them. More importantly I want someone else to make them so that I can eat/devour them. So...there's that. For anyone who is looking to cook pour moi. 

important side note 2: yes, most of these are desserts. You know what they say, cookies and leotards go hand in hand. Wait, that's totally not what they say, is it?

one.

Cannoli Bites

via

Holy Cannoli. Literally. Like what the what? Notice I'm not using real sentences because my brain cannot form any at the moment. My brain only knows that it wants me to try these--preferably soon. 

two.

Nutella Crunch Ice Cream Cake

via

There are 3 reasons I need to eat this.

1) I don't like regular cake so it's up to ice cream cakes to fill that void in my life.

2) I only eat Buncha Crunch at the movies. Crunch = the best.

3) I want it. 

three. 

Brie and Blueberry Waffle Grilled Cheese

via

And on the sixth day, God created the land animals and people...so that cow's milk could be used to create a new kind of cheese called brie that the people would eat all day. Betcha never noticed that aside in your Bible before, did ya? Well, it's there and God really is all knowing because brie is yum. And this? This sounds dangerously yum. Thanks, God. 

four.

Milk and Cookie Shots

via

Mind. Blown.

Mouth. Drooling. 

And because I don't want you to think I sit around eating chocolate all day (because I only do that during the 16 hours of the day I am awake) I'll add in this recipe. 

five.

Avocado Hummus

via

Because if I can't always eat dessert, than I at least want to eat something in which I can dip a whole bunch of carby food. Scotch is to Ron as Carbs are to me. 

How many of your bajillion and a half Pinterest recipes have you made?

the 7000 word post

Ever heard the saying A picture is worth a thousand words? Yes, yes you have. In response to that saying I will say Good thing. Because instead of giving you an actual 7000 word post, I will give you a 14 picture post and you will love it. 

Picture update ready to commence in 3, 2, 1. 

Lately I've been doing a whole lot of this:

This is called performing. I know this probably looks like a plethora of other odd things... but trust me, it's performing. 5 bonus points for anyone who can pick out me. 

And recently Freddie's been doing a whole lot of this:

A.K.A.--getting a big promotion! Fancy pants? Check. Celebratory drinks? Double check. Dinner at a fancy schmancy Chucktown restaurant to celebrate Freddiehusband's fancy pants-ness? Soon to be checked. 

And together, we have been doing a whole lot of this:

And this:

And this:

Charleston has been just downright dreamy lately. The kind of dreamy that makes Grey's Anatomy's McDreamy looks like McDreary. I feel like I've been having a lot of a-ha moments lately as in a-ha, this is totally where we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to be doing right now. But that's neither here nor there. 

For now, I'll leave you with this. This (read: Freddie 'n Emily) is the best part of it all.

snapchat wins

Here's the thing...sometimes I plan to get things done. To workout. To clean. To make and pack Freddie's lunch. To get all things done since I perform at night. Finally to replace the God dang dusting pad on our Swiffer duster. Those kinda things. Life's fun kind of things.

So yesterday, there I was, needing to make Freddie's Friday lunch when I found myself on my Stats page of blogger. My blog traffic is about as feisty as...the back road farm lands of Southern Georgia (read: 3 cars per afternoon) so I don't really check much because...well because I kind of don't care (shhh, that's breaking all the good blogger rules. Don't tell). Also because I don't have a gas station/DQ combo on my blog so I probs get only 2 cars per afternoon. 

That's when something caught my eye. Cue the dramatic music, please. Somebody found my blog by searching snapchat fails. 

Excuse me? Mr. Finding Yippee Via a Snapchat Fail search, but I think you have come to the wrong place because while I do fail at many things, Snapchat just ain't one of them. 

Like yesterday I could not for the life of me remember the name of a ballet step. It was on the tip of my tongue. The edge of my teeth. But it was stuck. So what did I do? I Snapchat videoed my feet performing said no name step and sent it off to my ballet friends. 5 minutes later I was calling it by the correct name of contretemps. 

I asked for my sister's help in this whole Am I a Snapchat failure?! investigation and she sent over some of my snapchats she happened to screenshot. 

I see no failures here. Moving on. 

P.S.- I like to refer to that upper right picture as Angel Wings because obviously only a true angel (hint: me) would get a perfectly placed angel wing sunburn. No?

Happy Friday!

Be sure to Snapchat me all your fails and not fails. Wink.

the gross side of summer

Pretty sure it's mid-May. I mean, according to my iCal it is, but according to my double-u tee eff brain it's still January 1 or 2. The thing with it being mid-May is that summer is just a wee bit away. I'm here, summer is right next door. Now don't get me wrong I love me some summer. Mostly because my birthdaymonth occurs in the summer, but also because the warmer weather, beach days, cute sundresses, cold drinks with umbrellas, endless froyo dates and all of that other stuff occurs too. 

But...but, but, but. There are a lot of reasons I am not excited about summer. Phew, feels good to say that out loud. Or rather to write that down. With summer comes a whole lot of other crud with which I would rather not deal. Let's review. 

Bugs. Holy Low Country. I thought the bugs in Central Georgia were bad. Hahahaha. Hahahaha. Oh, 'scuse me but there are times when I am the most naive fool that ever did live in the low country. The bugs here are about as annoying as the accents up north, sawwy Northern folk. If you ever wondered what it would be like actually to live in the zombie apocalypse then move here. Because the amount of love bugs and other atrocious creatures that come in mass to attack you and everything near you is about as close to the real life version of A Bug's Life meets The Walking Dead that you're ever gonna get. 

This is a He Who Shall Not Be Named bug that got into our apartment last week and sent my Tuesday into downward spiral of chaos and multiple pleadings with God. I also sent Frederick about 15 texts (per minute) (and this picture) begging him to come home and kill it. Stereotypical girl? I am her. 

Knee Pit Sweat. Don't even make a face because we all know you get it too. And it's the grossest thing. It's also one of the reasons I hate a car with a leather interior. Read: because I dislike getting stuck to the seats during the summer months when my sweaty skin forges a bond with the soft, hot leather. You get the knee pit sweats when you wear shorts. You get the knee pit sweats when you wear dresses. You definitely get the knee pit sweats when you wear pants. I'm pretty sure you also get the knee pit sweats when you are, in fact, just nekkid as a jay bird. There's no hiding from it. Let's just hold hands and face this cruelty together.

Work. Don't really know what else to say about this one other than the fact that I never felt more like a grown-up than the summer when I realized I had to work all summer. Gross. Where are the days of sleeping in and running through the sprinkler and sleeping in and did I mention that sleeping in bit? Those days are gone. Side note: I can't say I miss the sprinkler bit so much, though. Getting grass stuck all over my wet feet was something this lil diva child did not enjoy.

I really can't complain about work too much when this ^^ is what my summer work includes.

While brainstorming ideas for this post I asked Freddie for some examples of why not to be excited for summer. I'll never forget the look I received from Dearest Frederick. It was 99% my wife is crazy and 1% please God, send me another. He then informed me that he could not be a part of such a post. I'll remember that come June 1 when he's complaining about having to work during those summer days (all while sweating in his leather interior car and having to kill bugs for me)...

a not surprise birthday party

The craziest, most insane, most wonderful thing happened Wednesday night. Let me set the scene for you.

Cue the lighting, please.

It's 10:45 Wednesday night and I had just gotten home from rehearsal. Frederick was already in bed doing this and that (a.k.a. -- playing the crap outta Quiz Up). I immediately wash all stage makeup off of my face and collapse. There's some small talk about the weekend and plans and schedules, but mostly there's just some Quiz Up playing. We are serious about our titles, people. Christopher Columbus did not discover America by not getting a title in Quiz Up, obviously. 

It's close to midnight and I'm fighting my eyelids. Which, honestly, feels like a constant battle somedays. No, eyelids, you may not weigh 100 lbs today and force yourself shut whenever you please.  Usually Sir Frederick is already conked out at the witching hour of almost midnight, but this night he got up and was playing around in the kitchen. I'm waiting for him to come back because I want to tell him about this amazing goat cheese biscuit recipe I found. Goat cheese biscuits! In a skillet! Hurry up, Freddie! That's when I get a text from my mother: Knock, knock.

My thought immediately is, Ooo! Mom has a funny/punny joke to tell! I close out my goat cheese biscuit link to respond with the obvious Who's there?! bit when who should walk straight into my bedroom and say HEY, GURL! other than my sister herself?!

What?! My sister?!

Shortly followed by my mother?! 

But you're supposed to be in Georgia! But it's midnight! What?!

Surprise!

Shucks and a half, my family is just the absolute best. My mom said she was sitting in church on Sunday when she decided she could and should come see me on opening night of Spamalot. Thanks, God for letting my mom think about things like coming to Charleston during church (I'm sure she's not the only one daydreaming about this beautiful place during the Lord's hour ;)) because I'm still squealing in excitement that they were here. 

I pretty much think that as a performer there is no one that I enjoy getting to watch me perform more than my mother. Selfish much? Yes, I am. But that lady was there through it all with me. She gets it. She can tell me if my pale-ness looks ridiculous onstage since I'm in little-to-no-clothing (which by the way, she said it doesn't. Phew. No orange spray pour moi skin) (And also, I promise I'm not playing a stripper or anything in this show) (I only strip off one layer when I am wearing 2 skirts so we're all good here). She was there as I trained and danced 6 days a week for years. She was there when I didn't get parts. She was there when I did get scholarships. She drove me and moved me around as I spent summers all over the East Coast. So basically I'm just babbling because I can't really say how much it meant to me to have them in the audience opening night. Babble babble, hope you caught my drift somewhere in there. 

The thing is...my sister studies photography and I'm still giving ya crappy iPhone pics. Such is life.

Thanks, MC and Ann, for planning the best surprise ever! Ever. Better than that surprise birthday party I never had. This definitely would have trumped that hypothetical party, though.

And many thanks to my Freddiefriendhusband who kept this a secret! Well done. He also managed to open our obnoxiously loud front door in an almost silent way since I had no idea my family was standing in my living room. He has also managed to not complain that I've been in rehearsal every night for the past 2 months and even fell asleep telling me how great the show was.

Looks like I'm surrounded by the best people around...whether they have Quiz Up titles or not. 

currently

When Jenna emailed me about this Currently linkup I wanted to cry tears of joy. What are linkups if not gifts from the blog gods to spurn the writer's block gods? If you haven't noticed, I've been rather MIA (but really if you haven't noticed then bless you). Well that's because....::drum roll:: I'm performing in a show downtown and my life has become the following: teach, teach, teach, consider doing laundry, teach, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, see Freds for 30 minutes, sleep. Repeat. 

Let's get on with it then.

cooking

Abso-toot-ley nothing. I'm lucky if I have time to grab a granola bar and some Goldfish (winning) between work and rehearsal. I will tell you what I'm currently eating since you are so curious. Two words: frozen grapes. Holy Mother of a Raisin. Yum, yum, yum. Pretty sure we go through a bag every two nights. Or maybe a bag every night but who's counting?

reading 

Growing Up Duggar. Yeah, that's right, I'm reading about the Duggars. Their life fascinates me so why not read about it? Don't worry Frederick, I'm not getting any Let's have 19 kids! ideas (because I'm having the let's have 20 kids ideas!) (the amount of jk-ness in that comment before is unreal. No, 20 kids for me, thank you though).

wearing

If I'm being really honest here I have to say I am wearing seaweed hair and neon-colored bras and not much else. Thanks, Spamalot. Your costuming is causing me to skip the copious amounts of chocolate I want to destroy every night. 

loving

This weather (minus the amount of bugs in the low country. What in the world? Ew). Freddie and I try to spend 22 hours of the weekend days outside and it is heaven. I even turned a slightly less color of pale. It's really all just so magical. Hashtag: pinch me. Charleston, you are beautiful, in case you haven't heard. 

anticipating

Spamalot opening tomorrow night. That's right...tomorrow night. As in one day away. As in wow. We have 8 regular shows and then 9 shows part of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (which I cannot believe I get to be part of! Look it up, it's an amazing, amazing arts festival). 

What have you been up to? Anyone else been gorging on frozen grapes and not chocolate lately?