No funky juju!

So, what does a girl do when she has nothing to write about, but feelin' the pressure to write since it's NaBloPoMo?? I didn't have anything to write about yesterday either, hence my absence from the blogosphere. I guess I could talk about something dance-related, since that is what this blog is about...

I had the Fall Concert dress rehearsal last night, which went waaaaay late. There were a handful of mini-dramas and everyone was grumpy in general... the faculty, the tech crew, us dancers... so that made for a long, awkward night. Ugh. I hope tonight has better juju. Funky juju isn't good for a performance... the audience can pick up on the funky energy and the show can fall flat. No funky juju allowed for tonight's show - or tomorrow night's, either! But they say that a not-so-hot rehearsal means the show will be great. Fingers crossed!

It's snowing again, so all I want to do is get cozy in my sweats, read a book and drink hot beverages. And cook and bake. I think the weather is supposed to be dreary and wet all weekend, though, so maybe I'll get a chance to do these things. Oh, but maybe not... I have my costume design final project that I must start working on... I have to find a pattern and fabric and then start sketching my templates... maybe I'll work on this while I watch the Broncos on Sunday. I also need to work. And I'd like to see the BF at some point. Oy vay. Anyone else think that weekends should be extended to three days???

What does everyone have on their weekend agendas??

Happy Friday!!
xoxo J

Check it!!

Hey HEY! I'm tickled pink to announce that li'l ol' me got my first guest blogging post published today!!! Go check out the FAB-u-lush Midtown Girl (LUV this girl!) for her weekly "Single in my City" series. I was VERY flattered to be asked and had a lot of fun answering her questions all about dating life here in the FoCo... and yes, I know I'm technically not single anymore (don't worry babe, I mention that in the interview!), but I go out and about enough to be part of the FoCo's nightlife, AND people watching is one of my fave past times. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU again, Midtown Girl, for asking me to feature my city in your Single in the City series!!

And in other good news for the day... I just love synchronicity. Sometimes God just knows what I need. As usual, I'm sore, tired and my attitude towards some of my classes and professors isn't on par this week... so wouldn't you know it, instead of holding regular class, my modern dance professor decided to give us a yoga/stretch/massage day (er, he didn't give us massages... um, yeah, weird... he had us partner with each other and we're all chums in there... just clarifyin'...). And then at the end, he had us lay on the floor to completely relax in meditation - i.e. we all got mini-naps! It was deelish.

You know what else is deelish?? Two-shot soy caramel macchiato's... thank you, Starbucks. Yep, a li'l mid-week splurge for myself! And thank you baristas for not forgetting my two shots of espresso today... this happened last week, and lordy mama was not happy when she realized it halfway through. When I ask for two shots of espresso, there's a darn good reason yo!

(um, yes please?!?!)

Hope everyone's week is going well!

xoxo J

It's nice and all, but....

I get the point of NaBloPoMo... motivate people to write on their blogs more frequently... but sometimes quantity negates quality...

Take this post for instance. Not a lot of substance.

I could

drag out

my sentences

to make it seem

longer...

but then that's just annoying.

So, yes, today's post is lame, as I don't have much to say, but since it's NaBloPoMo, I gotta get something on the page. And I'm heading to the BF's for dinner, which means I'm signing off of the interwebs for the night. I'm really tired, hella sore and I've been rockin' one doozy of a headache all day today, so while there are a few things I could (read: should) do tonight, I think some chill time with the fella is the better prescription.

See ya tomorrow!

Oh yeah! NaBloPoMo and another dance concert

Whoa, whoa, whoa... NaBloPoMo already?!?!

Um, yeah, I'm a little behind the times here... but whatever. No way in Hades am I going to pull off blog posts for the days I've missed but that doesn't mean I can't jump in and get-'er-done for the rest of the month. And awaaaaaay we go!

Nothing too exciting to report here... oh wait! Yes there is. My Student Dance Concert piece got selected to be featured in the Fall Dance Concert! I was one of four that was selected, out of 15. Not too shabby! So what I thought was going to be a chill week last week wasn't so chill, but it a-okay, because my piece got picked! Never in a trillion years did I think that was ever going to happen... not because I don't think I'm good enough, but because my style is a bit diff than everyone else's. I like to use mainstream music with lyrics (the faculty don't love this - oh, the horror!) and my movement tends to be more "pedestrian" or "vernacular", depending on who you ask... which just means you can see my hip hop/African/swing dancing background in my work. I don't make apologies for my style, but when it comes to school, I just don't expect to be picked for the Fall/Spring concerts. But I did! And I'm tickled pink.

This week's agenda... tech rehearsals tonight through Wednesday, dress rehearsal Thursday night, show time Friday and Saturday. And sweet jesus, Thanksgiving Break is only two weeks from now. Bring on the turkey and football and laying around in my jammies!

(Oh, and P.S.... I have a new project that I'm really excited about! I will fill you in sometime later this week... Have a fab week, y'all! xoxo!)

Miss you

Dear Blog,

I miss you. I had various posts in mind each day all last week, including the Aspen Adventures update and Halloween pics that I've promised my lovely readers... but then life got in the way. Just when I thought life would calm the eff down a bit with Student Dance Concert being done, my piece had to go and get selected to for Fall Dance Concert (!!!) and calm eluded me once again. This week will be more hectic than last, with tech and dress rehearsals and all, but hells bells, I'm going to try! Don't give up on me, dear Blog...

xoxo,
J

Happy Halloween!

I'm heading out for my night o' Halloween festivities. I'm very excited to be going out and partyin' like it's 1999... after this month of craziness and stress, I need to let loose fo' sho'. Going to live it up with dancing, cocktails, friends and fun!

And what am I dressed as?? The SOLAR SYSTEM!! Teehee, I'm so tickled with this costume!! It's made of a navy blue tutu, with styrofoam planets attached to it, all which are painted and glittered. I have a tee with a sparkly sun painted on the front and a glittery moon painted on the back. It's made complete with black tights and silver ballet flats. I wish I could take cred for this genius costume, but it's a dance friend's... she offered it to me on Thursday when I was wondering what the heck I was going to go as. Too much fun!! I hope to get some pics this evening to share with you all.

Have a safe, fun and Happy Halloween everyone!!

Snow can't keep us down!

Night #1 of Student Dance Concert went well tonight, and the audience was bigger than we expected, considering the huge-ass snow storm we got Wednesday and today. About 21" fell here in the FoCo!

I did almost fall out of this turn-jump thing I do in the beginning of my piece, but the friend who came to see me tonight attested that she didn't notice at all. Sweet! 'Cause I hate hate hate messing up... yep, the perfectionist thing again. But they say if you mess up one night, the next night will be fine, because you worked out the juju's... I hope I got my juju's exorcised, 'cause the BF will be coming to see me dance tomorrow night, and I want to astound him with my dancing prowess - ha!

Anyhoodle, one night down, one more to go. Then Halloween is ON, like DONKEY KONG!!! OMG. Kinda excited. Finally figured out my costume, just this evening... I'm going to wait 'til the weekend to reveal what it is... it's simple, but clever and cute, and it involves a tutu - teeheehee!!! :)

Nighty nite, y'all... Friday is almost upon us!

xoxo Jessi

On hold until futher notice... in the meantime, cookies

The Aspen update, that is. Not because I'm lazy and putting it off, but because for once I'd like to include pics with my post... and since I don't have a camera (lame, I know) I rely on stealing my friends' pictures from Facebook... so until the rest of the Tour crew posts their photos on their respective Facebooks, no Aspen post. Hopefully they will load them soon.

In the meantime...

Yesterday kicked me square in the arse. It was just a bad day all around... I was exhausted, classes were terrible and nothing was going right. I was ready to blow a gasket by the time I got home last night around 10. So as I drove home from work tonight I decided to take advantage of a rare occasion - an entire evening open, gasp! - and play in the kitchen. Cooking and baking are huge stress relievers for me. I love being in my kitchen. I rarely get to cook these days and I really miss it.

Tonight I baked oatmeal cranberry cookies and the process was the perfect antidote to yesterday. I don't think I've been this relaxed in a long time... and I mean both physically and mentally. Sometimes I think that the mental strain of my schedule hits me harder than the physical. That thought occurred to me last night while in my last rehearsal of the day. I was fighting with my body to just move, as I had been fighting with it all day long. My body checked out during my first class yesterday, which made for a v-e-r-y long day... hello?? arms? legs? you guys want to join me today, do some dancing maybe?? I didn't understand what was going on, as I had slept fine the night before (or so I thought) and I didn't dance throughout the day as much as I usually do on Mondays. Then it hit me - I think the mental stress of the preceding weeks (Student Dance Concert prep, Tour, the trip to Aspen) was finally catching up to me physically. I thought, crap, if I don't calm the eff down, I'm going to get sick or injured. And then I thought, I need to get my arse into the kitchen.

And so I did.

I am the worst blogger of all time

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. But seriously. I meant to write a post all about the Aspen adventures of last week, but other things distracted me this weekend... sleep, laundry, the BF, rehearsals, sleep... so, it's postponed yet another day. Sorry my loves.

So much is on my mind, though. SO. MUCH. So I'm thinking a brain-dump here on the ol' blog might behoove my quality of sleep tonight. Here goes...

Money is a nasty li'l beyotch that I'd love to punch square in the throat. I'm having some big money troubles, and had to call a family member to ask for help. I hate asking for money. HATE it with a fiery, burning passion. Especially because I'm 30 and should not have to call home for money. So lame. And humiliating. I also spent the day wracking my brain and scouring the apartment for stuff I can spare in the way of selling... camping stuff, rock climbing gear, my drawing table (that one kills me)... I've even gone so far as to considering selling my car. But I don't think that's really a good idea. I think that's the desperation talking.

I haven't been to hip hop class/rehearsal since, oh, sometime in late August or early September. Can't remember, it's been so long. And for anyone who knows me or who has been following me for awhile knows that my hip hop is my church. Why have I been foregoing Sunday night church? See above said money probs. My car is in need of major, hella expensive repairs that I'm nowhere near affording, and driving my Civic on the interstate would be playing a game of Russian roulette at 75 mph - I'd like to live to see 31, thankyouverymuch. Oh, and the car repairs are not what I had to call home asking for money for... the car is #2 on the big-ticket list. SIGH. So yeah, not happy about my absence in hip hop-alicious.

Student Dance Concert is this week! Tech rehearsals tomorrow night, dress rehearsal Wednesday night, then show time Thursday and Friday. Thank god it's almost over. I've struggled with this one... struggled with choreography (remember the case of the missing dance mojo?? Yeah, it never really fully showed back up...), struggled with time, struggled with being happy with what I have to present to the masses come Thursday, worried about if my friends and fam will like it... or rather, worried that they'll just think it sucks. Oh, the life of a perfectionist!

Not sure why, but today I really started jonesin' for a New York minute. The BF and I were talking about life in general last night, and I suddenly remembered that I almost moved to NYC back in 2003 (or was it 2004?). I had forgotten all about that. Wow, what the hell would I be doing now if I was kickin' it in the Big Apple?? Probably trying to be a writer of sorts (that's my first degree, btw). It's kinda fun to think about, but also kinda sad because I chose not to go for a guy I met around that time, and we're clearly not together anymore. Not the first or last time I changed or neglected my own life plans for a guy... and clearly that's worked out so well for me... but I digress. A couple weeks ago the BF and I were talking about winter break plans, and a short trip to NYC came up... I've always wanted to see New York around Christmas and/or New Years, and he's never been there. And since he and I didn't get to go on our li'l weekend excursion, we thought, let's save our money and make NYC happen! How much fun would that be?!? Great idea... until above said money probs decided to be a little beyotch and rain on my parade.

[Doc? May I have a prescription for this??]

So. Hopefully my pissy 'tude doesn't scare you all off, and hopefully this stress-mind-dump will help ensure that I will pass out into blissful slumber with no problems. Wish me luck.

Back from Aspen

And so tired I can barely see straight. Yowza, touring is exhausting. I have adventures to share with you all and many of your blogs to catch up with, but I'm afraid it will have to wait. Sleep is screaming my name... so until I'm rested...