No more Nut!!!!!!!!!

Hey y'all!!! So Nutcracker season is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It definitely is a bittersweet thing, all dancers gripe about the dancing and the music but we would all be really unhappy and lost if we didn't do it every single year. 6 shows in all and 3 locations from Montana to So Cal. Now we get 2 weeks off for the holidays and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself...besides turn my alarm off ;) I helped Alden with 3 jobs this last week with the Percheron boys and it was a lot of fun. It's been a while since I've done that and it felt good to be around those gentle giants again. Since I've been helping her as of late, I needed to dust off my cowboy hat and wear it keep rain out and heat in, since it rained on all 3 of the jobs I did. One of the jobs was right after a student show of the Nutcracker so I put my boots and hat on in the parking lot of the theater, thinking I'd be saving myself some time later. I had more time then I thought so I made a quick jaunt over to Starbucks before getting on the freeway. I was cold so I didn't bother to take my hat off when I went in to get my drink. The barista was looking down when I walked in and he said his normal speech "Hi welcome to Starbucks what can I get you today?" I think that's what he said. In the middle of the word Starbucks he looked up and saw me and paused for a good 2 seconds between star and bucks, I think the hat took him a little off guard ;) So I ordered my drink, he made it and then I left. I got called Ma'am more times in that Starbucks by different people then I ever have in my life...I should wear the hat and look country more often ;) Here are a few pictures from the jobs with the boys!!

Stuart, Cisco and Loomis :)

Diamond and Cruiser :)

Watching a helicopter drop off Santa

Me and Diamond 

Ricky decided to climb all the way up to my back...love this cat!!!

Nutcracker tour...Billings, MT

Well I've certainly had a full Thanksgiving weekend that's for sure!! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful time with your family...I spent Thanksgiving day with Mommy and the weekend with my dancing family so it was good all around ;) There's no through flight from San Diego to Billings, MT so we had to make a pit stop in Denver to kill time before making our connecting flight. Our plane got in to Denver later then we thought and our gate for the next flight was at the other end of the terminal (if anyone's been to the Denver airport you know what I mean, that airport is HUGE!!). So about 20 dancers were sprinting through the airport trying to get to our next flight before they started to board...and we made it!! We arrived in Billings and went to the hotel then to the theater for 2 run throughs with the local kids and orchestra. Everyone was a smidge bit crabby after 2 flights and dancing till 10pm so we went and got food at the Montana Brewing Company...their Southern Mac & Cheese is to die for by the way ;) Saturday we had dress rehearsal in the morning and a show that night. The show went well but I did end up whacking my Arabian partner in the face with my bun...he wasn't to thrilled about that, sorry Tim!! Sunday we had a matinee show and then all the dancers go out to eat and drink to celebrate after the last show, it's tradition. There are 3 minors in the company this year so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and got a good nights sleep while the other got back at around 4am looking horrid and walking a little lopsided. Our flight home on Monday left at 2:30pm and we got into San Diego at around 8pm...I used the dudes I was sitting with as pillows both on the way out and on the way back ;) All in all we had fun and enjoyed each others company. Can't wait for next year to do it again!!! Here are some pics of the trip :)

Waiting in the airport to leave San Diego
Me, Matt, Tim, Stephanie and Zoe

Plane #1...nap #1
Joe and I

He has a very ripped upper body so he made a very comfortable pillow ;)

Looking out the window...not sure where this is  but it's not Billings

Dinner Friday night...at 10pm
Sam, Joe, Max, Sarah, John and Tim

Before show #1

It snowed Sunday...yippee!!!!!!!!!
Zoe and I

Playing in the snow :)
Zoe, Sarah, Me, Joe and Chris

Waiting for the theater to open
Sam, Sarah and Zoe

After the last show...group pic!! ;)
Martine, Stephanie, John, Tim and Zoe

Green Arabian couple...I had so much fun with this guy,
he made it so easy to get into the part :) Thanks Tim!!
Tim and I

John's post-nutcracker therapy...the Beer Sampler, 8 different Montana beers
Regan, John and Zoe

Snow!!! So pretty!! :)
Zoe

More snow!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Diamond, Me and Cruiser :)

Billings bound :)

Hello all!! So today was Thanksgiving and I'm happy to say that I did eat a lot and it's a good thing that no one had to lift me today, I might have broken some dudes back...not good! So tomorrow begins 'the most wonderful time of the year' and Nutcracker season. San Diego Ballet tours their Nutcracker to a few places but this year we're just going to Billings, MT and from what google tells me it'll be snowing on Sunday :D Yippee!!!!! So tomorrow I get to spend the day in 2 airports and 2 planes, not to thrilled about that but I think/hope I'll live. Our flight leaves at 8:30am tomorrow and then we have rehearsal at the Alberta Blair Theater in Billings until 10pm. We have 2 shows in Billings, one Saturday night and one Sunday afternoon and then we come home on Monday. A pretty packed weekend but it'll all be worth it. Touring is always a lot of fun, especially if it's with a lot of friends that you enjoy being around. I get a long with everybody pretty well but I get a long great with the guys so I'll be hanging with them probably the majority of the time. I'll try and keep y'all posted about the tour but I'll be busy while I'm there so I'll do my best :)

My parts in Nutcracker include:
Mother
Gun rat ;)
Snowflake
Arabian
Flower

Ballerina's Mask

We spend so much time trying to be someone or something we're not that we sometimes forget who we really are. With practice we can be whoever we want to be...someone nice, someone mean, a killer, a jealous lover, a princess, a prince, a fairy, a gypsy, a witch, a sorcerer...the possibilities are endless!! We change our appearance to make it more believable, you can see it in our eyes and in our body language. The best compliment any actor/dancer can get is "I believed you on stage, you were really feeling that."If I can make someone say that, I've succeeded...that's truly dancing!!

Part of our everyday mask

Dramatic mask

Day 3...

So season started on Tuesday and my body is kindly reminding me why ballet is so unnatural for you...everything hurts!!! From soreness to bruises...I have both. The plan was to work on Alice for the first week before the show and Mambo & More the second week before the show, we're almost done with Alice so we can get onto the fun stuff next week :) We had a film crew at the studio today taped footage of our rehearsals. Apparently there's a new TV channel that's opening soon and it's about San Diego, so they wanted to film the local businesses (how you can pick local businesses out of San Diego is beyond me) in SD. On Sunday we have an official meet & greet with the patrons of the ballet at an art gallery in the NTC Promanade where we dance, so they can meet us and all that jazz. The picture below is of our meet & greet last Saturday at the bistro, a very casual fun time...it was nice :) Well I'm hitting the spa tonight so I can walk in the morning...see y'all soon!! :)

Some of the company :)

New Beginning

I'm sooo sorry that I haven't written here in forever, I've just forgotten about it...oops! So company season starts this Tuesday and I'm so stoked!! We have a lot of new girls this year and the same number of boys...so the boys are out numbered about 4 to 1. We have our photo shoot tomorrow for the San Diego Ballet website and then a physical to make sure we're all in dancing shape and not going to fall apart. Our first show is October 13 & 14, so we have 2 weeks to get back in shape and learn a new ballet...this should be fun, but it's our job and I wouldn't trade it for anything! The girl who's been in the  company the longest threw a meet & greet for the dancers so we could get to know each other before we started spending every waking moment in each others company, which was a good idea. Last year I was the only trainee, now there's like 6. And last year I was the only one under 21, now there's like 4 or 5 people under 21...so that's nice because we'll do more social events at places that can accommodate minors and not just legal drinkers. I really hope this season will be a good one, we have a lot lined up to perform so if anyone is interested just keep an eye on sandiegoballet.org for tickets and events :) Happy season!!http://www.sandiegoballet.org/

5 minutes of fame

So when Svetlana was telling everyone their parts there still wasn't anyone to play the evil queen in the show Once Upon a Tutu that I'm doing in September. Since I had a blast in Snow White being a vulture back in 2008 I volunteered to be the evil queen...playing evil is sooooo much fun, but there's a twist to it. Instead of it being the evil queen from Snow White that goes into the cauldron and comes out ugly, it's Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty that goes in and comes out beautiful but more evil. So I'm Maleficent before she goes into the cauldron and an incredible jazz teacher is 'me' when she comes out. I finally get to be evil on stage and Svetlana says that the part is perfect for me. I plan to go all out with this part, including the make up ;) So Maleficent before the cauldron will be red hair and black and green makeup while after she comes out, she has black short hair and black and purple makeup so there's a distinct difference in the transformation. So I get to have fun with eye makeup!! Here's what's it'll look like ;)

Country Ballerina ;)

Did a small ballet/country photo shoot with Mommy today...thanks Mommy!!!!!!! :) Here are some of the pictures :)

Not ready...obviously!

Add caption

We had fun!!!!!!!! :) Thanks Mommy ;)

Gunpowder & Satin

The other day Daddy and I were shooting out in front of the garage towards the big dirt hill in our front yard. We were hitting the usual targets of water bottles and aluminum cans and I must say I was pretty proud of myself. I shot the .22 pump action most of the time and was able to chase a can across the hill and hit it with pretty much all 20 bullets. Then I practiced with the pistol and had a fabulous idea. What would my pointe shoes do if they were shot? So I emptied the pistol into the hill and went and got a pair of old, dead shoes and put them on the hill. I loaded up the pump .22 and unloaded it on them. It was soooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt that it was a form of therapy being able to take out my anger in that way on my shoes, might as well cause them some pain since they cause me pain everyday of my life!! My mother was horrified that I would do that to my shoes but now they've taken up permanent residence on my shelf ;)

We had fun, if you couldn't tell ;)

My shoe, full of holes :) I also, unintentionally, shot the ribbons a couple times

Car issue #I don't know

So Tuesday nightish I'm heading to PCOM for my TAing job with a stretching and traction class and I notice smoke coming from under the hood of my car. I pray really hard that I make it to school and right as I pull into the parking lot my oil light comes on. I'm thinking 'this isn't good' and grab 1 of the 2 quarts of oil I have in the back of my car and set it on my seat to put in after class. 4 hrs later I'm done with class and I come out and I check my oil and the dip stick is dry...no oil on it at all. I add the quart and call my dad but he doesn't answer so I call Mommy and she told me to find the nearest gas station. I'm in the process of driving when my dad calls me and we chat about my car doing this odd thing. I get to a Shell and get 3 more quarts of oil and put them in. I check the dip stick again and its still dry. Thankfully there was a shift change of cashiers in the market because I went back in and bought 10 quarts of oil, the guy looked at me like I had 2 heads. He probably thought I was putting it in the wrong place since a normal car takes about 4 to 5 quarts and I got 10. So dad and I decided that i was going to play hop-scotch until I got home, so I drove about 5 minutes and stopped again and checked the oil...pretty much nothing on the dip stick so I added 3 more quarts. I drove another 10 mins and stopped...same thing. So now Daddy asks me to start the car and look to see if I can see where it's leaking. By this time my engine is covered literally everywhere with oil but there's one spot that I can see that's dripping. I move around the front of my car and i can see a steady stream of oil about as thick as a pen spouting from somewhere inside that I can't see. I tell him what i see and he meets me at my next stop and follows me home. So, the normal drive home takes me an hour...it took me 2 1/2 hours, 7 stops and 22 quarts of oil to get home and it was 12:22 when I parked my car at home. It turned out to be that my oil sensor had a crack in it and was thinking there wasn't oil so it stayed 'on' the whole time. Daddy was able to fix it yesterday and we both made it home safe. The next day Mommy and I went to the fair because I was dancing there with San Diego Ballet and we could pretty much follow my oil trail home coming up Lake Wohlford Grade. So if anyone sees large oil puddles on the grade, that's me!!

My oil trail on the driveway before backing into the
rocks on the side of the house...
and that's pretty much how it looked the whole way

A tribute to the King of Pop

So Miss Ann, my very first ballet teacher, asked me to dance with her in her summer recital entitled Legends & Superstars. I said of course and started thinking about a legend or a superstar that I would either like to depict of dance to one of their songs. I've always liked Michael Jackson's music and after picking one of my favorite songs and making sure it wasn't already being used, I started choreographing to it. I've never heard of anyone doing a pointe dance to a Michael song so this will be a first :) A friend of mine who did competition for a long time told me that I should add one of his key trademarks into my costume. Apparently he most always had a rhinestoned glove on his right hand so she had the idea of me rhinestoning my right pointe shoe and see who caught on about it. Well now all you who read my blog will know, but don't tell anyone ;) So on Saturday, June 9th, I'll be dancing to Michael Jackson's Bad with a rhinestoned pointe shoe and attempting to moonwalk in them. Michael, I hope I don't make you roll over in your grave after this...for those of you who would like to, please come watch, it should be good ;)

Pointe shoe and hat :)

Ballerina!!!

Whoop whoop!!! I'm officially a ballerina now, a payed ballerina!! San Diego Ballet contracted me this year for their season :) I'm soooooo happy!! 17 years of work is finally starting to pay off and it feels/tastes amazing. I'll try and be better about letting y'all know when my shows are. I know we're doing a new ballet this season, it's the story of Don Juan, can't wait for that one :)

Beach :)

Well I took Andrew to the West Coast for the first time on Sunday and he loved it!! I took him to La Jolla Cove and the tide pools first.

Looking out over the ocean

He was very proud that he didn't get wet, till after dinner

We found a nice outcrop to sit on and enjoy the view

After that we went walked some more and found a nice big grassy area and did some pas de deux lifts. By the third lift we had about 15 people watching us, it was pretty funny :) Here some of what we did...

We did just a normal arabesque press lift...

...and then a lift from Swan Lake which requires a lot of trust

And then we did some ballet poses or just random stuff...

classic arabesque

dying swan from Swan Lake

something pretty :)

Assemble' off the rock

being weird

I don't know what this is...a contemporary handstand

After a fun filled day I took him to Ruby's on the Pier. I had never been there but my aunt told me I should take him there, so I did. It was sooooo good!! It's an old style 1950's burger joint and their shakes are AMAZING!!!! Then we had a nice walk along the beach in which we both got a little wet. I told him though if he got too wet I was going to strap him to the roof till he dried off ;) I showed him how to catch sand crabs, he just thought that was weird and we got to see 2 California Grey Whales swimming just off shore...that was cool!!!

Black Forest shake & Orange 50/50 shake...both were really really good!!