Life Update

I have decided that I need to return to my former athletic state.

I years passed, I was a throrough-going professional dancer. I taught dance at 30hrs/week, I rehearsed for shows at least 5 more hours/week, I went to classes 2-8hrs/week depending on the week. I had piles of energy and only one day off each week.

I do not miss teaching. Not even a little. Wild horses couldn't drag me back into that overly-cold room full of too-many screaming 3 year olds, trying to teach them choreography and the difference between first and second positions, nevermind getting them to stand on their toes without falling over (often on purpose). I get it; you're three and you want to have fun. However, after three years I got tired of not being taken seriously (my oldest students were 6). It wasn't good for my sanity.

Having since left several jobs (because I didn't JUST teach dance for 30hrs, I also worked at a restaurant for 15, a clinic for 20, and a residential school for hours that varied all the time), I find that I am unsurprisingly unable to afford classes. This has cut my training into less than half its former glory. I still rehearse 3-4hrs/week, and I like to work out at home a few times a week for at least 30 mins, but that reduces me to... about 6 hours/week. Which is insane considering I used to do 6hrs/DAY! Albeit not as challenging as I make my current activities (you can only derive so much benefit from teaching the same class every 30mins or so), but the hours added up. The plies added up. The jumps added up. Also, the anorexia added up and made my "muscles" stand out more (quotationed because really, I didn't have THAT much more muscle tone than I do now; I was really all tendon and bone and it showed).

So with all this behind me I've decided to get back on track (training, not the other part). Keeping the 3.5hour rehearsals weekly, I've decided to add 1-2hrs 5days/week for the first two weeks. After this... July starts and I'm not sure how much free time I'll have during the month (working 70hrs/week), but at the very least I'll keep up the previous schedule.

In other more interesting news, my basil has started to flower:

I bought it at the Riverdale Farmer's Market (Tuesdays 3-7 at Riverdale Farm). Two weeks ago while there I heard a woman saying that one shouldn't let basil flower since it ruins the taste and makes it "woody." So, yesterday while perusing the herb stand, I asked Pablo the Herb Dude (yes Nat, Cute Herb Guy's name is Pablo) about this. Apparently this isn't exactly true. It doesn't change the taste; it kills the entire plant. Basically the flower is like a parasite which takes all the nutrients out of the leaves to support its own needs and ends up killing the host. Depressing. And scary. But so pretty.... none of my other plants have flowers right now and I miss flowers, yet I have the euthenize this one to save the plant.

I received a call yesterday from Fashion Crimes, the independent boutique making my wedding dress. They have a new Fitting Technician named Carrie who is calling all of the current order-ers to introduce herself and set appointments to make sure we have everything we need. Seems there are a few issues with my order: they don't carry brown tulle (which was to come out the bottom of the dress) and there was no specification regarding the size of the ribbon lacing the back of the dress. All very fixable things; I can move forward to white tulle comfortably and pick a ribbon size. I'm meeting her on July 9 to discuss our options and I'm so excited to get everything started.

I also got the items and price list from the potter being commissioned to make everything I adore. I've put together the ideal setting of a mug, a soup bowl, lunch plate, dinner plate and side plate (96$ for the set). There are also smaller items for those of us still on student budgets (teapots, tumblers, platters, serving bowls that sort of thing). In any colour the buyer thinks is appropriate. Jim and I are heading out on Saturday to create the "other" registry of such things like towels and sheets. We're also going to scour some pawn shops to see if we can find wedding rings we like for less than what we would pay retail. A mostly window-shopping excursion which I am looking forward to.

Finally, in some sad news, I had to cut my hair. Not all of it, thank god, but quite a bit more than I expected. The split ends were becoming way too much for me to abide, so I bought some pro scissors and Lisa did the honours. If I haven't seen you in a while: my hair had previously fallen to about my waist (see profile photo). It now falls just below my shoulders, sort of mid-blade, which I guess is somewhere around 4-6inches. It needed to happen for the health of my hair, but I'm sad nonetheless. It's weird to comb my fingers through it and come up to the stop before I feel I should. Strange to wrap it into a twist and run out; I have to place the clip in a different spot. I fully plan on growing it again, but taking better care to moisturize it more, to prevent splits, watch for damage, not overwash. It really does look much better now.