Merry (belated) Christmas!

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!

I sure did - one of my presents was an autographed copy of Margot Fonteyn's autobiography! Wow!

Can't wait to read it...

12 Pains of Christmas

(This was supposed to be funny but it actually turned out kind of self-pitying, haha oops. Sorry to be a downer.)

Candy canes are more fun than walking canes.

1. My achilles, 3 1/2 months post-surgery

2. My scar, rubbing against my boots

3. My calf, from the physical therapist digging in

4. My knees, from sitting at this desk all day

5. My hip, jacked up from compensating for the injury

6. My lower back, from holding that long yoga backbend
7. My neck, from sleeping strangely on the bus yesterday

8. My wrists, from stretching on the reformer this morning

9. My biceps, from today's "holiday" pilates session

10. My lip, from biting it after a cookie from the office party

11. My head, from not enough coffee today
12. My heart, from not being able to really dance this Christmas :/

You Have to Watch White Christmas

Ok. I admit. I'm in love with old musicals. I'm not ashamed.

Last night I happened to catch the last hour of "White Christmas," which I hadn't seen since I was really little. I saw the stage revival before it was on Broadway a few years ago but somehow nobody compares to the old cast...

If you get a chance to see it this Christmas season, do it! Check out Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye in this sweet clip...it's true...the best things do happen while you're dancing...

Happy Holidays

Apologies yet again for the lack of posts...I'm home now for the holidays (until Thursday) but will do a nice long update on the past week when I get back to the city. Not much excitement has been going on since school finished so not much to blog about anyway! hah

Oh, check out Christmas Gift Ideas for Dancers over at the Winger. My suggestion was the flexi-stretcher, haha.

Have a happy, safe, and restful holiday :)

intern bosses on video

The magazine I intern at is doing a Christmas season special on their website where all the editors were filmed while giving a different holiday tip for readers. Thought I'd share my two bosses making their website video debut :) They're so great...the day they filmed in the studio it was such a big deal, haha. I kind of love the magazine world.

beginning to look a lot like xmas

I cannot believe it is December.


(Rockefeller Center pic I took last year...haven't gotten over there yet this year...)

This semester has gone by so very fast and yet so very slow. And it's almost done! Tomorrow is my last day of Nutcracker rehearsals before we go onstage next week! Yes!

Yesterday's interview for BalletConnections.com went well. He said it should be up on the website in a week or so, so you'll all get to read my amusing answers to some amusing questions. I can't help but laugh at myself sometimes, but I guess that's a good thing...

I'm still fighting a bad cold so classes have been a little rough this week. I think I'm just drained from everything, but I'm hoping the adrenaline will kick in these next two weeks of finals and performances! Too much to do to be slowed down by a headache and runny nose :(

Anyway, what lifts my spirits when I'm sick is all the pretty Christmas decorations starting to pop up around the city. The lobby of my internship office was all decorated with lights and wreathes when I went in the other morning, and today my school's lobby was decked out as well. The city is so nice at the holiday time :)

mailing list, amusing comments, and internship update

There are 3 parts to this post...1) join new mailing list, 2)some amusing comments I've received recently about my dancing, and 2) an update on my new internship at Quick and Simple Magazine

MAILING LIST
I've you're a regular blog reader, PLEASE join my new mailing list to receive regular notifications when the blog has been updated. See the form at the right...take a second of your time and fill out your email address!


AMUSING COMMENTS
When I started this blog I made a vow not to get too personal with the stuff I write about here in regards to my dancing...believe me, I have much more inside of me I would love to scream out to be heard, but I know that isn't practical, necessary, or appropriate.

However I do feel the need to share 2 comments said to me recently about my dancing...though they are indeed highly personal (in some ways), I'm putting them here simply out of amusement. Lately I'm finding that teachers are really just other human beings, and not some untouchable force of perfection to be feared (as I still think of some). I'm finding amusement in the way certain people express themselves:

-"Ugly feet. Ugly hips. But she has talent. She can dance."

-"I notice you don't look very happy when you're dancing. Sometimes we can over train ourselves and lose the joy."

Make of those what you will. I shall add no more commentary.
I want Alessandra Ferri's feet. (took this from the wings at the Met @ her retirement performance...talk about talent)


INTERNSHIP UPDATE

Though ballet still seems to be the aspect of my life that controls my mood (good class, good day, bad class, bad day), the other half of my life is going quite well (though busy) lately. I've now been at my internship in the Home Editorial department of Quick and Simple Magazine for a week and I'm really enjoying it. My 2 bosses are super nice, and I get my own little desk in the intern cubicle (where, to date, no other interns have shown up...so I'm alone :). Getting to know the magazine is a really interesting process and it's fun to be back in an office environment (how much of a dork am I?).

Hearst Tower(pic from their website)...where all the magazines are...except ours haha. We're in another building, but this one is still pretty!


Similar to when I was at Pointe, I get to work pretty much independently and at my own pace, which I love love love. At another previous internship it was more of a collaborative environment, which definitely had its plusses, but I had to wait to find out my next task minute to minute. The way I work now, I can get much more done and have more creative freedom.

To that effect, today I got to start researching for the first story I'll be helping with. Though it's a weekly magazine, they work really far ahead in order to get issues out on time, so we're working on the Jan. 1 issue right now. The story: recycling Christmas materials, such as cards, gift wrap, etc. I spent the afternoon coming up with creative ways to use these things after the holidays using crafts and other ideas. How fun! If anyone has an idea for this let me know...it could end up in the magazine ;)

Anyway, that's the scoop for now.