Goodnight moon...

Do you remember this bedtime story from childhood?


It was one of my favorites... but then again, I loved (and still love) so many books.

I was going to try to crank out a legit post tonight, but I am so so tired and instead, I must crash into bed. So...

Goodnight room
goodnight moon
.....
goodnight stars, goodnight air
goodnight noises everywhere.

We heart it

Sweet dreams!

xoxo
J

Miss you

I miss this thing called blogging. Pictures are fun, and being a visual person myself, I love it when people post pics on their blogs, but I know that for myself, my picture-posting is a bit of laziness on my part. More pictures mean less writing. Tons goes on in my life on the reg - never a dull moment, EVER - but for awhile there I just felt like it was too much work to get it down on e-paper... or that no one would find it interesting, as it was the same stuff, different day/week/month... you know? Anyone else go through this??

However, the blogging bug must have sneaked up and bit me recently when I wasn't looking, because I have been seriously jonesin' to write again lately. Maybe I was in a bit of a dry spell? Maybe I still am, and this is just a mirage in the desert, but the words are appearing on the page, so...

I also miss the heck out of all your blogs, what's going on in your lives, all your pretty pictures ;) It's weird, but while I've not met the majority of people whom I follow here in Blog Land (and probably never will), I find myself wondering what's going on with you all and the details of your lives... What?? Yes. I miss you. Again, anyone else go through this?

Okay, I'll stop waxing sentimental. But I do miss being 'round these parts! And I sure hope that the writing ideas bubbling up inside me aren't mini-mirages but a legit oasis.

We heart it

Happy last week of 2010!

xoxo
J

Birthday Bash

I almost forgot to post my birthday party pics!

My party was two Saturday's ago and my actual birthday was last week. It was a fabulous birthday, probably one of the best! Between my nephew's arrival and an amazing party, I was quite happy. It was exactly what I hoped for and more!

"Happy birthday to you..."

Make a wish!

It's not a true party without dancing!

Breakin'

Pretty girls

My Russian mafia

SO happy

xoxo
J

Babies and Birthday Parties

Helloooooooo!!

Long time no blog... but let's cut right to the chase, shall we, because I am bursting with news!

My birthday is this week and I threw a big birthday bash on Saturday night to celebrate. When I woke up Saturday morning, I started gearing up for party prep... cleaning, decorating, baking, shopping, the usual... and then my mother called me to tell me that my brother's girlfriend was in labor! I couldn't cancel my party as over 50 guests were coming, so I jumped right to business, telling my mom to call me when it was time to drive to the hospital.

About 2:30pm my mom called and it was time! I jumped into the shower and headed to the hospital. I was so excited and it was tough to drive the speed limit, ha!

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Forrester, my perfect little nephew!

He's perfect, he's beautiful

Auntie Jessi is a little smitten!

My brother, catching some zzz's at the hospital... poor kid, he's not going to get much of this anymore ;)

Isn't he precious?! I'm so proud to be an Auntie! I keep showing everyone pictures of him on my phone :) I can't wait to babysit and play with him and spoil him...

Birthday party pics to come, so stay tuned!

xoxo

J

Student Dance Concert photos, take one

Waiting on my dance crew to post pics for me to borrow (steal) is like watching grass grow, yeesh. Don't they know my adoring bloggy fans are anxiously waiting?? Ha!

The concert went very well and the audience loved the zombie piece - as did we. Some friends who had never seen me dance got to come to the concert, which I loved. I'm not going to post all the pictures I have now, as I have a handful, and I'm hoping for better ones in the next show.

Caught gettin' down with my bad self pre-costume in the dressing room

Me and my girls... aren't they pretty?

I danced in five pieces total. In the first piece, the choreographer included pitchers filled with water as a prop, and we poured water into each other's pitchers throughout the dance. It was challenging not to spill on stage and we succeeded... mostly.

Water fountain girls with our choreographer.

The next piece involved cups... many of the choreographers were students in Choreography II, and they were required to use a prop of some kind. This dance included a live drummer onstage, and we created rhythms and beats ourselves, clapping and slapping the floor and playing a rhythmic game with the cups, which many of the girls had played as kids (I had never heard of it, but I am a bit older than them, ha!). The piece had a very tribal feel.

I'm the one rolling backwards with my leg straight up in the air.

Howl like she-wolves (I'm far left).

Tall girls rarely get lifted (we're usually the lifters), so I was stoked to be the one to get to do the splits in the air!

I am rooted like a tree...

And this dance included pillow cases....






Aaaaaaaand the piece you've all been waiting for... zombies!! A zombie wedding, to be exact. Unfortunately, I don't have many pics of this one, but here are a couple to hold you over...

The mother-of-the-bride must have big, crazy hair to complement the gold lame blouse...

The entire wedding party.

Why no action zombie shots?? Long story... but we are gearing up for the Fall Dance Concert this coming weekend, and the zombie wedding will be presented again! A photographer friend of mine will be there so hopefully zombie action shots, take two, will be a success. It darn well better be, 'cause this piece rocks my socks and I want to share it with y'all!

There was one more piece, the "naked/digital" piece (related to our costumes, explanation to accompany pics), which is my other fave along with the zombie piece, but again no action shots. It will also be in the next concert so I'm crossing my fingers that my friend gets good shots of that one, too.

Nighty nite!

xoxo
J

Dance and zombies

It's the day of the show, y'all! T-minus 3.5 hours 'til curtain and I'm buzzin' with the typical pre-show excitement!! Tonight the fall student dance concert opens. Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE what I do?!?

Also on the weekend agenda... umm, nothing much else, ha! The concert will take most of my time (I will be at the studio tomorrow from noon until about 10pm) and I've been so exhausted this week (see previous post) that all I want to do Sunday is lay around in my sweats and pass out candy to the kiddos. My costume will be Exhausted Dancer, hope it doesn't scare the kids, lol!

I have to make one last shopping trip to Walmart for the show... bandaids, fake zombie blood, spirit gum for my fake gash wound and makeup remover for said blood and spirit gum. This isn't for my Halloween costume... I get to be a zombie in the show!! Yes yes y'all, we are featuring a zombie dance, it is SO much fun! Pictures next week ;)

Happy Halloween, loves!!

xoxo
J

My happy place

The wind is howling outside. If it were summer, I'd be worried there was a tornado on it's way! Today was so cold and it was so gray this morning, it just broke my heart... so it begins, *le sigh*. Several months of cold, bleary, dreary, gray yuck.

Okay, I'm leaning a bit to the dramatic side... this is Colorado, which means Thanksgiving could be in the 60s - heck, even Christmas could have freakishly warm weather like that! - and the sun prevails the majority of the time, even when the temps are in the single digits. I'm very tired, so my drama meter is running high. Bear with me.

I was at the studio tonight, of course, but instead of regular rehearsal, we were running tech rehearsals in preparation for the latest dance concert, which will take place at the end of this week. Choreographers have been calling extra rehearsals as show time draws near, per the norm, which means I'm packing even more into my already tight schedule. I'm exhausted. I'm incredibly sore. I'm bruised and banged up. My feet have floor burns and bleed if I don't keep them bandaged (gross, but the life of a dancer... we do not have pretty feet). But I am happy.

I dread the cloud that settles upon me during winter, growing a bit darker each day until spring reappears, but I realized something tonight. Dance helps me fight that dark cloud. When I'm inside my little dance universe, I'm transported to a happy place. The cold, blustery, gray yuck outside can't touch me. I walk through the doors, inhale and exhale my first few dance breaths and it's game on. All the yuck outside fades and is forgotten.

Despite my stress, exhaustion and pain I was reminded today of my happy place. And I am grateful.

Bisous, bisous!

J

F-i-n-a-l-l-y

Good grief, Friday, what took you so long!?

I hate hate hate weeks where I wake up everyday thinking it's farther into the week than it really is. Makes me crazy!

I have no epic plans for this weekend. I'm simply happy that it's the weekend.

Oh, I'll do things...

Like sleeeeeeep!

Take my sweet time getting out of my sweats and into real clothes, then eventually venturing out to shop a little for some real clothes.

My shopping bags will say "Ross" on them, but a girl can dream...

Continue watching the Firefly series (I love the movie Serenity and finally started watching the series the movie was based on, per many friends' suggestions), and hopefully catch up on Grey's and Gossip Girl episodes online... as usual, dance rehearsals cut into my TV shows. The nerve!

Maybe go to the gym for some cardio kickboxing goodness, but sleep might trump this plan since the class is on Saturday morning...

Read. Write.

Cook something scrumptious. My meals are quite basic during the week (I'm talking sandwiches, canned soup and eggs cooked in various ways) due to one tightly-crunched schedule, so I like to get crazy in the kitchen on the weekends. I've been craving squash and cinnamon and cardamom and wine, so we'll see what ends up on the table...LOL... so me during the week

(Both images from We Hear It)

A string of rehearsals on Sunday. Which means I won't get out of my sweats on Sunday.

Any epic plans for your weekend?

Happy weekend, my lovelies!

xoxo J

News Brief - the grumpies, the 'Bucks, aerobics and blonde hair

The latest Jessi News Brief...

I miss Blog Land, but life is such right now that I just can't read, comment or write as much or as often as I used to. I pop in when I can and am keeping up with you all as best I can... I miss obsessively checking in everyday, but such is life right now.

Dance is going alright, but I still want more. Last night I was watching choreography created by my school peers, and I got really emotional. It was a rush of knowing that I am exactly where I belong in life, that the dance studio/stage is home, mixed with sadness that I can't do it to the extent or capacity that I desire. I know I need more... I haven't taken ballet in a couple months now and I can see and feel the absence of ballet conditioning. I'm still jonesin' to find myself a jazz class to start building that vocabulary, but I just can't take on more right now. My schedule shifts come November, so we'll see... I get so frustrated with myself because I want to have a better attitude, to be grateful with what I do have, grateful that I get to dance, but I'm struggling to shake the grumpies that are lingering like a bad cold.

Like dance, I want to do more with my Avon business than I am or can right now. When I started my business I fantasized about jumping right in to having a huge customer base, my own home office (completely furnished, of course) and rockin' the crap out of my business so that it is my only income source... I have such an entrepreneurial spirit, desperately wanting to be my own boss, create my own schedule, all with the goal of having a flexible schedule to work around dance. See? The grumpies.

Okay, okay, I need an attitude adjustment here... I think I'm going to take a cue from the lovely Liz over at It's Unbeweavable and list things that are making me happy right now... hope she doesn't mind!

Salted beverages at the 'Bucks. Pumpkin spice, schmumkin spice... I'm all over my custom Starbucks beverage, a salted soy caramel macchiato. It's not on the menu, but they'll make it for you if you ask. I should trademark it as the Jessi Special. If you're a sweet-salty fan, try one the next time you make a Starbucks run.

Pumpkin. I may be indifferent to pumpkin spice lattes, but throw some pumpkin puree into muffins, pancakes or cake and you have my attention. I whipped up some pumpkin pancakes last weekend, topped with a variation of cream cheese frosting that I concocted, with much less sugar than frosting and runnier, so a kind of cream cheese "syrup", if you will. The roomies and I inhaled them.

Boots. I just found some flat, black Report booties for $16 last week at Ross. I've hardly been wearing anything else since.

Aerobics classes. I adore aerobics classes. Every single class I take I get nostalgic for when I was an aerobics instructor once upon a time, thinking I should re-certify (another thing on my perpetual wish list). I'm going to toot my horn here, so please forgive me... but I was good. And I think that I'd still be good. Friends tell me I should teach Zumba, and I have forever and a day wanted to teach Tae Bo or some other cardio kickboxing offshoot. Maybe I will someday pursue this. Someday.

Last, but not least... my new hair!! I give you Phase 1 of my Blonde Transformation...

Gearing up (sorry for the crappy quality, I took these with my phone)

Foiled!

Phase 1 complete!

I think I look better blonde... My hazel green eyes have just popped and I have more color in my face. I feel like I have to wear less makeup. I was a bit worried I'd look washed out, considering how fair skinned I am, but I feel the contrary happened... my complexion seems warmer. And based on the compliments I get, I don't think it's all in my head, lol! I'm planning to go even blonder, in due time :).

Happy Hump Day, everyone!

xoxo

J

Now where did I leave off...?

First off, I would to thank Tiffany over at Dancing Branflakes for shaking me from my non-posting coma with a simple little "where you at?!" comment! I've been in a blogging dry spell, mixed with thoughts like "who wants to read my ramblings anyway?", and before I realized it, saying "I'll do it tomorrow" day after day has turned into weeks later... Thanks girl!

Omigosh, where do I even begin?!

I guess just pick up where I am at the moment...

I'm still lovin' the new house (which isn't quite so new anymore), and what I love most is the wonderful people I'm meeting there! My house sitch is kinda unique... most of the people that live there are very short-term housemates. Most are veterinary students doing short-term externships at CSU (myself and one other roomie are the "permanent" residents of the house). Most people are there anywhere from 2- to 6-weeks and they come from all over, literally. There are Americans and there are international students. Since I've been here, there was guy from Spain, a gal from Georgia (the US state), a woman from Denmark, and now there is a girl from Washington, DC, and two Frenchies - everyone has been so wonderful! So far everyone has gotten along great and we have such a good time hanging out, cooking and eating together, learning about each other's cultures and lives and just plain making friends. This is so perfect for me. I have such a strong desire (obsession, really) to travel and live all over the world, learn different languages and live life outside of the American box.

My infatuation with fall grows... scarves have been a regular part of my wardrobe lately, all I want are salted caramel macchiatos from the 'Bucks and I'm getting antsy to find me some tall flat boots. The other thing I love about fall?? It's creative season. I don't know what it is, but there is definitely a strong ebb of creative energy at this time of year because I get into total create mode when fall comes knocking... it ranges from epic cooking and baking projects, to choreography, to writing, to wanting to sew and sketch and craft like its my job. Sadly, there is little time in my crammed schedule to bring any of these things to fruition, which just breaks my heart. I know, I know, it's a matter of me making the time, but so far I've not done that. But oh, the project ideas I have swimming around in my head!!

Dance. Oh dance. Dance is this this constant tug-of-war between confidence and insecurity... Earlier this month I was grappling with serious frustration and identity issues over my new schedule... specifically, not being a student, not choreographing, sitting at a desk all day and dancing for what I felt (and still feel) is a mere tidbit of my day. I need my job and am very grateful for it, but I struggle with the fact that I sit for a crap load of hours a day and only move for a few. I do have rehearsals through the week, I take class a few times a week and I'm cross-training at the gym to compensate for the lack of dance hours, but I never feel like I'm doing enough. Ever. I can feel and see the effects on my body of not dancing 4-6 hours a day and it's completely discouraging.

We Heart It

And then there are weeks like last week and this week. There has been some emotional stuff to work through but dance has helped bring me back to the moment. Concentrating on balancing on one leg while slowly extending the other into the air takes all that I have... and it reminds me that I am exactly where I should be, right now, and my spirit is refreshed. I still grapple with frustration, but as time passes it's lessening to moments rather than entire days or weeks. I'm coming to terms with how my life is right now by taking it a day at a time, or even hour by hour on some days... some days I'm fine and other days I just have to write off.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! Remember to live in the moment...

xoxo
J

Oh, hello September, didn't see you there...

Wow, September already! I'm battling the denial that my favorite season is ending... but the upside is that fall is my second favorite, so wins all around!

Fare thee well, summer, my love! I will miss your pool days, barbecues with friends, 14er climbs and camping trips, watermelon for dinner... I will miss sundresses and my bikini and sandals... I will miss the barbecue smells as I bike through neighborhoods, the sound of lawn mowers on Saturday mornings... I will miss the white-hot sun kissing my skin a rosy-gold... please write often and see you in about 8 months!


Welcome, fall! I look forward to football days, harvest parties with friends, fall hiking trips and apple butternut squash soup for dinner... I look forward to scarves and tall boots and sweaters... I can't wait for the smell of falling leaves and colder air... I look forward to cooking and baking with cinnamon, bay leaves and nutmeg... I look forward to lazy Sundays cozied up with a good book and a hot mug of chai tea... make yourself at home!

Images compliments of We Heart It

xoxo
J

I escaped the cave!

If you've been a reader for a bit, you've heard me mention my "office-cave" once or twice. And a cave it was. In the basement, cold, sterile white walls... not exactly the ideal work environment for inspiring productivity. But as of last week, the cave is no longer!

My work crew moved to our new building last week. I've been waiting for this move for awhile, knowing it would be my escape from the office-cave. And despite the glitches that come with a new building that is still under construction in parts, I'm very glad we're finally here. Very glad. Let me take you on a pictorial journey from office-cave to room-with-a-view.

Before...

... and after!

This is the view from my office. The landscaping is still in progress, but not a bad improvement from the window-less basement, eh?

Its amazing how much your environment affects your mood, productivity, focus, etc. I never thought about it much until we set up shop in the new digs... my mood at work was a total 180-degree turnaround in a matter of hours! Lesson learned to make your space yours with posters, pictures, artwork, anything to make your 8-, 9-, 12-hours more comfortable. As I continue unpacking at home, I'll figure out what to bring to work to bring a little Jessi flavor to the office!

xoxo
J