Fare thee well, my love... until we meet again...

My love being the weekend, of course. Another Monday and another week are upon us... le sigh...

BUT!

Today was marvelous! I think Sundays are my new favorite days. I was concerned about them being long and tiring, as I have four rehearsals, and three of the four are back-to-back to each other, but now that I'm apres-rehearsal, I am in love with Sundays!! Why, you ask?? Two of my rehearsals involve some sexy, sassy jazz and I am LOVING it. Just what the doctor ordered (remember this post?). I love what I'm learning in ballet and modern, but sometimes a girl just needs to get in touch with her inner sass-a-frass!

Time to tear myself away from the school computer lab and head home. Hope your weekends were lovely!!

xoxo
J

Long time no see!

What a whirlwind of 2 weeks it has been! And the semester is only getting started... classes, auditions, rehearsals, jobs, homework... that's just the general summary. I won't bore you with details, but just trust me when I say I'm not really sure what day it is sometimes.

But I'm not complaining - things are good! I made it into so many pieces for the semester's concerts, and I'm tickled pink about it. The BF seemed a bit concerned when I told him how many I'll be dancing in, for my time and sanity, but it is so hard saying no to what I love.

There are some new problems on the horizon, as usual... wouldn't be life without them, right? Money, tuition, financial aid... ugh, the things that stress me out most in life. But I just have to roll with it and get creative. Pouting and stomping my feet won't help much.

I'm choreographing for the Student Dance Concert again, of course. This is the song I used to audition my dancers:



The BF introduced me to the composer, Konstantinos Vita (Dimitris Papaioannou is a choreographer and this video includes excerpts from his show "Two", which K. Vita composed for). I want to supplement it with another of his songs, maybe this one...



I haven't quite decided yet. There are a couple others of his that I really like, but I just don't know. I have a feeling my indecisiveness is because I still haven't decided on my theme yet. I struggle to choreograph simply for the sake of movement - I need some theme or concept to inspire me - and picking music is influenced by my theme, too. My first rehearsal is tomorrow, so the clock is ticking...

I guess that means I should get off the computer and start moving then, right??

Happy weekend!
xoxo J

[P.S. Glad to be back in Blog Land! Sorry to go missing all of a sudden... school starting plus living in the Land of No Internet has made it a bit challenging...]

Who am I kidding?!?!?

Yeah, no internet at home is no bueno. It sucks.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I also have no cable... um, yeah. Not that I watch a ton of TV, especially with school starting back up, but I feel like I'm living in the dark ages, far, far away from civilization. *Le sigh*


xoxo
J

Unplugged

So, my new digs are great... love living alone, love having a dishwasher, LOVE having a garage (no scraping ice in la manana, boo-ya!)... BUT. And there's always a big but getting all up in your business, isn't there?? I have no Internet.

[gasp!]

I know! The travesty. No longer can I waste copious amounts of time dorking around on the interwebs as if I have nothing else to do when I get home at night, wake up in the morning, and every other second I can spare. It's amazing how addicted I am to the 'net... email, Twitter, Facebook, the blog, all your blogs, the weather, TV Shack, my bank account, Sephora, We Heart It... omg, the list is never-ending...!


It's good to be unplugged to some extent, I think... hot diggety, I'm actually reading! Who'da thunk it?! And I just might get to some projects I've been "meaning to get to" since the beginning of time. You know, the dance portfolio, the big scary filing project, writing...

It is rather annoying, though. And sometimes inconvenient. I'm looking into getting me plugged in, but then there's the concern of paying yet another monthly bill...

In other news... I started the spring semester today. Zero-to-sixty in true fashion, wheeeeeee! I already have 101 things to do by the end of the week, but I'm not freaking out about it. I'm really glad to be back... I miss being a busy bee, I miss dancing, I miss creating, I miss how my muscles feel (and look!!) when dancing many, many hours a day, I missed the camaraderie of all of us dancers... god, I really love what I'm doing...

AND!!! Tomorrow is the first day of my "trial" ballet classes... getting nervous!!

Bisous!
J

(P.S. I'm still working on my new blog feature, but being unplugged is slowing the process down quite a bit... never fear, though, it will happen soon!)

Didn't get a "yes"... but it's not a solid "no", either

Whoa. I'm not really sure what happened to this week, but I just realized I should probably fill you in on what my last, annoyingly ambiguous post was all about...

The ballet saga continues. For those who are new 'round here, let me quickly fill you in... ballet and I have a love-hate relationship, which I've recently come to realize is not really because of ballet itself, but because of my ballet classes at school. One aspect of this love-hate is the fact that I cannot seem to move up a level... now, on one hand, I haven't spent my life dancing ballet, so yes, I have lots to catch up on and learn. BUT. I don't suck so badly that I don't deserve to move up. It makes me crazy.


So my request on Tuesday (was it Tuesday? my week has been a huge blur, so much going on...) for your prayers, thoughts, crossed fingers and toes, etc. etc., had to do with my umpteenth request to the ballet professors to allow me to move up this semester.

The verdict: "we love your work ethic and passion, and we're very impressed with your progress... but we'd like to keep you in the same level because we are following a step-by-step syllabus and we feel it wouldn't be good for your technical training without preparing you properly... working hard can jump you ahead, of course, but the real issue is being exposed to the technical work..." [sigh]

That's the "no" half. Okay, I can't really disagree with this argument. It's logical and she's right. But what I struggle with, semester after semester, is that the class I'm stuck in gets to a certain point in the syllabus, but then starts completely over at the start of a new semester. Which is great for people taking the class for the first time, but for me, notsomuch. I get to the same place each semester, but no farther. I'm only learning so much!! Working on the basics over and over again is important, sure, but so is challenge... to grow and to prevent from plateauing!!


But the "no" isn't set in stone: "... I am always willing to be proven wrong... you may come try my class next week so I can make an assessment and then we can discuss it further..."

Well well! So, yes, I am disappointed and frustrated with the "no" part, but am happy she is giving me a chance to try to change her answer. It's better than a definite, solid no.

So thank you for your thoughts and doing your dances to the dance gods! It might not have been a yes, but it helped give me a little window of opportunity :)


I'm so glad it's Friday, y'all! Anyone else?? It was one of those weeks where I felt like it was Friday on Wednesday... and then again yesterday... no bueno! I have some dance to do, dance to see, help the BF move (another move, oy!) and a bunch of other things... happy weekend!!

Bisous!
J

(photos via We Heart It)

Pray, meditate, cross your fingers...

... or whatever it is that you do... I need a "yes" to something very badly... I don't want to say much right now, for I'm a bit superstitious and I don't want to jinx myself... I will give you all the deets later, I promise, cross my heart... but seriously... pray, meditate, cross your fingers...

xoxo
J

On the tail end of moving and a big THANK YOU!

Hey all... After a tiring weekend of packing and moving, I'm almost there! I'm leaving work early (here in a few minutes) to go clean the old digs and turn in my keys. Kinda sad, but my new digs are sweet!! Things are a mess and there are boxes everywhere... this morning I couldn't find my shoes and had to search for my undies, but don't worry, I found them, so no commando today, lol!... but it will get organized sooner or later. Hopefully sooner, because I can't do an underwear hunt every morning, ha!


I'm excited to organize my bedroom furniture and decorate it all snazzy. I also get a bathroom to play with. I never really got around to that in my old digs, but I definitely want my rooms to reflect me and my personality. I'm all over the 'net looking for inspiriting photos... that'll be another post in the next day or so.

And THANK YOU for all your suggestions on a new Better Late Than Never feature! I love all your suggestions! I might do as Kristin suggested and do more than one! I'll be doing something thinking and mental organizing this week, and get back to you with what I decide. And I'm still open to suggestion, so check out this post to leave more comments.

Ooo-wee... a new place to live, new stuff on the blog... exciting, fun stuff up in this joint!

xoxo J

Let's brainstorm

So, I have a new project that I'd like your help with!

I've been thinking of ways to spice up my blog a bit, and I think I'm leaning towards doing a regular feature, kinda like Summer's Fashion Fridays, Erika's Thrifty Thursdays or Maegan's Completely Gratuitous Outfit Posts. I've never felt that something fashion-related fits my blog 100% (nor do I feel anywhere near the fashion league of these lovely ladies!). I've been racking my brain trying to come up with something witty and clever that's related to dance, but no dice so far... so that's where you come in!

Some ideas I've come up with so far... "Dance-Inspired Fashion", but not sure how many unique outfits I could actually come up with... "Wisdom from the Studio", like little life-lessons I've learned from my dance adventures [but do I really have anything to say??]... "a dancer's health/fitness tips"... I've thought of others, but I'm drawing a blank now...

Yeah, I'm second-guessing most of my ideas so far... so then I thought, why not ask my readers? What would you all like to see here? What do you want to know more about??


Oh, and what will make this even more fun, is I'm buying a camera - finally!!! - with my Christmas money, so I can finally post pics and maybe a vlog! Hot diggety, I'm finally catching up with the rest of the blog world! LOL.

So. Give me your ideas, suggestions, requests, anything and everything, the sky's the limit... ready, set, GO!

xoxo
J

Inspiration

photos via we heart it

xoxo
J

First big change of 2010: new digs!

I'm moving this next weekend! This has been in the works for about a month now, but I kinda forgot to mention it. Nothing bad happened at my current place, I just got offered a good deal that would have been stupid to pass up.

The lowdown: my school adviser, who is from Taiwan, is leaving for sabbatical in Taiwan for the spring and summer. He just bought a townhouse and would like someone to watch it while he's gone for eight months. So he offered for me to live there... rent will be $125 less than what I'm paying now, so there's where I couldn't pass it up. Mama is b-r-o-k-e and needs all the help she can get!

(Photo courtesy of We Heart It)

I'm sad to leave my current place... I like my apartment and I love living with international students (I live in University housing where mostly international students live, with the occasional culture-hungry American like me, lol). I've met some cool people here from all over the world, including my BF. But like I said, the break on rent is something I need. And it will be nice to live by myself. My current roomie is fine and all, but I love living alone. Once you get past a certain age (30, ahem...), roommate living gets less and less appealing.

Have I started organizing and packing? No. Did I utilize the huge chunk of open time I had all weekend to pack?? Of course not. That's not my style. I rock the procrastination, y'all! And I seriously hate moving. I hate it. About as much as I hate celery, and I loathe that nasty veggie!

So tonight after work and after my Tae Bo workout (I heart Billy!) I will start the painful process of packing and organizing my stuff... accompanied by rockin' tunes, of course!

xoxo J

Resolutions

I make resolutions but I don't get too attached to them. Not so I have an "easy way out" if I blow it, but because life is funny and will throw all sorts of shiz at you, so you have to be able to roll with it. Which means goals and resolutions are best made flexible with room for editing.

My list doesn't seem too long, but each one will take up plenty of my time.

My 2010 To-Do List

Jazz classes [see post from Monday].

Read more, watch less. I miss reading and I'm paranoid that my brain is turning into a pile of stupid mush with all the TV and movies I've watched lately. And it will inspire my imagination and creativity in other areas... writing, choreography...

WRITE. This includes blogging, journaling, playwriting, thank you notes (omg, I suck at these, my poor fam and friends)... all the writing projects in my head need to finally get down on paper... or, MS Word, more accurately.

Put together my dance portfolio, finally.

Organize my "important papers" filing system. 'Cause as of right now, there is no "system"...

Remind myself regularly that life is not all about me. I'm not the only one with feelings and dreams and a heart that can be broken.

Trust that God has some amazing shiz in store for me, I just have to keep trucking along with what he's given me...

There are a couple more, but they are a bit more personal so I'll keep those close to my heart. What is on your to-do list for 2010??

[Oooh, fun factoid... this is my 200th post! Love that it's on the first day of a new year and a new decade!]

xoxo
J

Short and sweet

My first blog post for 2010! And it's totally short and sweet, lol... I'm still in a fog from going to bed at 5 this morning, even though it's almost 3 pm. New Year's Eve was fun. It was chill, nothing crazy, which is different than how I usually ring in the new year, but different is good. Gotta change it up from time to time. Ate some amazing food, kissed my BF at midnight and enjoyed meeting some of his friends. A good li'l party. And I looked cute, mwah ha ha!

Working on the resolution list. Slowly. I'll get back with y'all on that one a bit later... after more coffee - much more coffee - and probably a nap... Can't wait to hear what your resolutions are, lovies!

Happy 2010!!

xoxo
J