Bar Carts!

I'm officially obsessed with Bar Carts. The only debate is whether to eventually purchase a ready-to-go, got-all-the-fixings, serve-it-up, bar cart... or to start a DIY project and create something that's made for us.

I love how the carts below are perfectly styled for their environment and really show the design style of the homeowner. I bought Chris a beautiful decanter for an anniversary gift a while back and we have yet to fill it with anything. Now mark my words, one day we will have a beautifully styled bar cart like one pictured below, anniversary decanter and all!

Some of my favorite bar cart stylings include:

-Fresh flowers or potted plant

-Sparkling water and tonic/soda in glass bottles.

-Cocktail recipe books

-Fresh fruit ready for garnishing 

Artist's Pledge

Every once and a while I get myself into a funk. I forget why I chose the career of an artist, and I get upset when i'm not working constantly, when I make a mistake in rehearsals, and when I feel uninspired. The truth is, this happens to everyone working in the arts and I KNOW I am not alone. 

Today I spent some time online looking for some inspiration and motivation to do something creative with my free time, whether it be dance related or not. I was lucky enough to stumble upon this wonderful artist's pledge and it really lifted my spirits. I can't tell you who wrote it but if you know, please pass along the info. 

It's exactly what I needed to read and I hope you find something wonderful in these words as well. 

I hereby do solemnly swear,

To approach each day with curiosity

To pay attention to the world around me,

To be brave and courageous,

Silly and embarrassed,

Thoughtful and enthusiastic.

I vow to take chances and to stretch my limits

In the knowledge that there are

No mistakes,

Just bad follow-through's

I acknowledge the need to abandon my ego

In the service of art

And in the spirit of ensemble

And generosity.

To better understand the nature of my materials,

I promise to experiment

With light, line, sound, gravity, language

And bit ideas.

I promise to think, feel, move, breath,

Experience and understand.

I vow to dream,to imagine, and to enact

I vow to treat myself and every other

Inhabitant of earth,

With compassion, kindness, and respect.

I vow to live fully every moment I am alive,

And to put something beautiful in the world

That wasn't there before

In order that I may help to put a grin

On the face of the future.

Artists that inspire me. Who inspires you?

Bobby McFerrin

Gene Kelly

Sylvie Guillem

The Perfect Winter

I don't know about your hometown, but this LA weather has been super bizarre. One day it's freezing and all the clouds are black, then the next day it's beautiful outside, 80 degrees, and sunny. Can you say global warming? Anyway....

Chris and I are so excited about winter that we've already broken out the wool socks, beanies, fleece blankets, and candles. We've also already started to plan our trip to Park City with my sister and her boyfriend to visit my Aunt and Uncle for the Sundance Film Festival in January!

Due to my excitement, I'm going to ignore the perfectly sunny day outside, take advantage of my day off, pour another cup of tea, and show you a few things we love about winter!

Tea! A few of my favorites are PG Tips, English Breakfast, Green, and Peppermint! 

Dates by the fireplace! Chris is a picnic pro, inside or out of the house. I can always count on him to prepare a delicious snack for fireplace hang times.

Candles! You can never have too many candles. The best thing about winter candles are the amazing seasonal scents. My favorites: pumpkin, cinnamon, and spiced apple!

Cozy Socks! Well, all winter clothing will do.

As you may have read in other posts, this year has been filled with many firsts for us. This winter we'll be able to add so many more to the list!

- Chris's first Thanksgiving in the US

- Chris's first winter Christmas

- Our first Christmas together

- His first time seeing me perform in a ballet

xx D

Our dream home

What a jam packed year this has been so far. I can barely believe it's already November! 

Chris and I have made so many life changes in such a short amount of time, but there is still one more page in this chapter we have yet to turn. Buying a house. 

Like every young couple, we have our own ideas of a perfect home. One filled with beautiful wood floors, the amazing smell of Chris's cooking, and all the little nicknacks we've collected throughout  our lives together. Not to mention being able to find a special home for each and every one of our wedding gifts (which are currently taunting us from their Tetris stacked nooks in our bedroom).

For the most part, Chris and I have similar taste in homes...wood floors, space to garden, eclectic furnishings, splashes of color, and clean spaces. Thanks to Pinterest i've been able to compile all the wonderful ideas the internet has given me for decorating and organizing, so when the time comes for us to finally move into a place we can call our own, you can be sure i'll be ready! 

A few tips for decorating:

- Take pictures of store displays (my favorite's are Anthropology and Crate and Barrel)

- Neutral. Start with simple furnishings and neutral colors. When you're ready for an upgrade, you can always refinish your wood furniture or add another color to your walls!

- Personalize. Decorating your home is like dressing yourself in the morning. If you put on a super out there jacket from Urban Outfitters, it's going to be obvious when you see someone wearing the same thing. How can you have a personalized feature piece of art if you bought it from Target.. just saying. I mean, I would much rather see a DIY piece of art than an imitation Andy Warhol than everyone and their mother has. :)

And with that, I leave you! 

xx D

Nutcracker season

That time of year has come again! Time to sew point shoes, break out the legwarmers, and pack a few extra tea bags in my dance bag. That's right! Nutcracker!

Nutcracker season was always my favorite part of the year when I was young and dancing at Pasadena Dance Theatre. It's been a few years since I've participated in this magical ballet and although I thought I wouldn't be performing in this show again, I'm more than ecstatic to be back!

The only problem is that I knew what I was getting into...but my feet didn't. Ouch!

Here are a few things that have really helped me get back into the magic of nutcracker rehearsals, including a few new tricks and suggestions I picked up from other dancers!

1) Capezio pro ballet flats. Dancewear companies are always coming out with new crazy looking ballet flats but these puppies have never failed me. Every once and a while i'll switch to leather, for the longevity.

2) Apples, and lots of 'em. I used to never be able to finish a whole apple myself but I think it's safe to say that since this is one of my hubby's favorite fruits, i've been eating more of them.

3) Freed pointe shoes. I've tried so many pointe shoes and have had a lot of difficulty finding ones with a long enough box to fit my low arched feet. My last pair were Bloc Alpha (3/4 shank) but I have high hopes for my new Freeds.

4) Green Tea. You can never have enough green tea. It's great hot or cold and can you say antioxidants?!

5) Body wrapper full body tight. I love these tights for a couple of reasons. First of all, I throw away the removable straps right away. Because of all the extra fabric, these tights are super comfortable to wear folded over your hips, and you aren't left with any rolls due to tight elastic. 

6) Sour Patch Kids. I would be happy with reeses, yogurt covered pretzels, or snickers (to name a few) but sometimes I just need a delicious boost of processed sugary goodness!

7) Sippy cup! (or at least that's what my husband calls it). These wonderful inventions keep my iced drinks cold and the inside doesn't stain when I put tea bags in it.

8) Almonds. The 3 Ps... perfect protein portion. The perfect snack to much on between rehearsals.

9) Epsom Salts! Unfortunately I don't have a bath at home but I'll use a plastic washing tub and fill it with 1/2 C salt and warm water to soak my feet. 

10) My favorite leotards, mostly Yumiko and Class In. 

11) Oder eaters/ disinfectant shoe spray. Enough said.

To keep up-to-date on Nutcracker rehearsals at Pasadena Dance Theatre, be sure to follow us on Instagram here!

@deannaannaed

@pasadenadancetheatre

Tickets for the Nutcracker are on sale now at pasadenadance.org

xx D

Honeymoon Bliss, miss, and traveling tips.

Now, you must know that I love children, but when I picture a romantic honeymoon with my husband, I don't exactly picture crying babes, running children, kids meals, and whatever may end up in the hotel pool. Chris and I were very lucky that we were able to visit Maui after most kids had returned to school. So, although I'm sure anytime of year would be the perfect time of year to visit this beautiful island, I would definitely recommend trying to arrange your trip around school holidays.

No onto the recommendations! I have to warn you that I can't take credit for ALL of these suggestions, as a few were passed on to us by a wonderful friend, (who is also very thorough with her recommendations), Vivian! Thanks girl!

Happy Hour

Betty's Beach Cafe: Ok, this place is seriously a gem! The time of year we visited Maui may play a part in how empty it was, but there is no complaining here. Beautiful beach front view, $5 fresh civeche, $3 mai tai's, and $2 extra to make it a double! We were hooked... and back the next day obviously. If we had checked out Betty's earlier, we would have stopped by for the whole fresh lobster for $16.95 on Wednesdays. We'll have to save that for next time. 

Dessert

Ululanie's Shave Ice: I've been wanting to put a 'D' on the end of Shave so bad, but that's really what it's called in Hawaii! If you get the opportunity to stop by this amazing place, please get the Haleakala flavor.... and make it a large! 

Snorkeling

The Snorkel Store: This place had a really amazing deal to rent two sets of gear for the whole week. Vivian had recommended that we do this to safe time and money. What makes this so fantastic is you can leave the gear in your car so it's there whenever you want to explore. There are so many wonderful snorkeling spots to visit without a guide! My favorite part of the deal was paying about $30 extra to get a spare mask that had photo and video capabilities. Extra star for that one! We dropped off our gear the morning we headed off to the airport, and by the time we had checked our luggage, all our photos and videos were available in a personal folder online for us to save!

Lunch

Paia Fish Market: Chris and I had just finished an amazing hike through the Bamboo Forest and we weren't very excited about our peanut butter and banana sandwiches on the way home. Lucky for us our drive back to the hotel took us through a beautiful Hippie town in Paia. We decided to park and take a walk around when we found this awesome fish market restaurant, totally packed, affordable, and absolutely delicious. We both decided to go with the Mahi Burger. One word, amazing! We were talking about this burger for the rest of the day.

Fish Tacos

Ono Tacos: OnoMG! Seriously the most delicious fish and shrimp taco's i've ever had. Being from LA I was sure I had already had the best of the best street vendor tacos around. Boy was I wrong!

I'm already wanting to go back!

Yelp reviews up soon!

xx D

Groover - Bouncing back after a wedding

Maybe it's just me, but there's was something exciting about the idea of getting back to normal life after our wedding. For the past few months our lives had been completely consumed by this party of a lifetime that unfortunately, my work hustle suffered. Being primarily self employed and responsible for finding the bulk of my work on my own, meant some serious time management between wedding planning and work life. I would easily say now that that is my downfall. Sure, I'm the 'To Do' list girl, the filer, the organizer, but for some reason I just can't manage my time well. I made a few goals for myself while I was laying on the beaches of Maui and a nice long 'Back To Reality To Do' list on the flight home. Here's what i'm finding is helping me get back into the swing of things...

#1 Exercise: Leading up to the wedding, I was doing some serious cardio and over all fitness, but one month visiting with out of town guest.... and not any guests, Australians, meant a lot of drinks and good food was consumed. My first dance class back was pretty much hell but the good kind of hell where you know the deeper the burn, the more you're getting done. I've since scheduled in some sort of exercise every day. This brings me to my next tip.

#2 Scheduling: Since my mornings are slow and I don't start teaching or rehearsing until the afternoon or evening, this is prime time to schedule in anything personal I need to do. Additional dance classes, blog posts, filing paperwork, responding to e-mails, etc. Even if I've only loosely plan out each day, I'm bound to achieve more with having a bit of structure to my days.

#3 Setting Goals: I used to hate the idea of setting goals because when I was younger I was worried that I wouldn't be able to live my 'free as a bird', 'whatever happens, happens', 'just live life' lifestyle. Sadly it's taken me until now to learn that I can still have those mantras while using goals to get what I want. My goals for the rest of the year are to perform on stage again. Get back in to pointe shoe shape, get an additional job, and make a financial goal to allow us to start house hunting. 

#4 Read More: This is a hard one because if I have free time, I either am spending it online, Pinterest, or while doing something on my never ending To Do list. Lucky for me, I've just joined a book club with some wonderful girls I work with. There's nothing like a little pressure to get me to do something.

We'll that's my plan so far, so as I bid you adieu, I leave you with pictures from my honeymoon to make you jealous! Aloha!

xx D

YOUNG MGMT

Chris is officially on his last day of touring with Strange Talk, and I miss him terribly. Only 24 more hours until I get to tie him down and force him to pick napkin colors. Muahahaha

So, I've mentioned it through twitter, but have yet to brag fully about my amazing Fiancé starting his own management company, YOUNG MGMT. I knew this time would come at some point and I'm happy it's sooner rather than later. You know when you see someone totally in their element, like they're really in the zone and killing it? Well, that's what I see when I watch my man in management mode. He's so passionate about all things music and he's the kind of person who see's what he wants and does everything in his power to get it... Not to mention it's kinda hot watching him talk business. Love you baby!

Anyway, my love has recently added a new act to his roster, Vancouver Sleep Clinic, as well as a new website, courtesy of his loving future wifey ;)

Follow YOUNG MGMT on Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date on his adventures!

Now back to seating arrangements!

xx D

The do everything girl

I once had someone tell me "I've got to hand it to you, you've always got some sort of a job"

Thinking back on it now, it was a pretty back handed comment. However, at the time I was (and still am) very proud of my ability to find a job... whatever it may be. Of course I would rather be consistently booking dance/choreography jobs, but wouldn't we all? Any young artist knows that you can't always rely solely on your art to provide for you, sometimes you need to find an extra gig here and there. I've tried my hand at quite a few jobs over the years because I refuse to settle down and give up on my art to sit in an office 5 days a week with only 2 weeks vacation time. No way, not this girl!

D's extensive random job list:

Receptionist at a Pilates studio

Office assistant at a flameproofing shop

Cashier at a cafe

Mannequin model

Hostess

Dance stylist for a dance studio photographer

Home organizer (ok that was only a couple of times)

Waitress

Telemarketer for a travel company (that I'm starting to think may not have been legit)

Dog walker

Sales associate

Personal assisting.

Of course seeing this list inspires me to push even harder in promoting myself as an artist, but i'll be honest in saying, I still hold a lot of pride in my ability to swallow my pride to get the job done. Pointe shoes don't pay for themselves you know.

What random jobs have you taken to keep busy and support your art?

xx D

Wedding Arms

Youtube has become my personal trainer and I'm absolutely loving it. $100 a session my ass, free is the way to go. I've been searching youtube for easy workouts I can do at home in between planning, running errands, and working.  

I've promised to not give up on my wedding body even with the stresses of everything and I figured I'd start from the top and work my way down so I don't get too overwhelmed.

My favorite video so far is for Wedding Arms, although I'm sure they'll look hot for any occasion ;) For these exercises I use 3 lb weights, but as she suggests in the video, the exercise is still helping even if you're holding nothing. Did you hear that?... Nothing, so no excuses.

Don't feel bad if you don't get through the whole video.... because then I'll have to feel bad for not finishing it either. Baby steps guys.

However, I do have to warn you, this chick can be super entertaining. Don't get distracted by her high voice and enthusiasm.

Now squeeze into that spandex click here, and enjoy!

before...

after...

Side note: I've decided that everyone who chooses to get married should get appointed a fairy godmother or godfather to magically help with all the wedding plans. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually having the time of my life, but I'm feeling a bit scatter brains at the moment.

xx D

Our not so Drunch Brunch.

So, Chris arrived at LAX on thursday night and I've been pretty distracted  from anything els since he's gotten back. It's weird how being apart from him feels harder now than ever. I wasn't expecting all the butterflies in my stomach driving into LAX. 

Even though he was on tour for only about 2.5 weeks, it reminded me of the difficult times living in separate countries. All the work and changes we went through to live in the same country and here we were skyping again. Of course it's not the same, but I've clearly developed a love/hate relationship with skype. Nonetheless, it's amazing to have my best friend back in town and to get a little extra help on our final wedding plans. Only 26 days!!!

To celebrate his return and get started on some wedding projects, we decided that on Saturday we would get out of the house as soon as I had returned from teaching my regular summer dance classes. 

First stop, Bloody Mary's! 

We decided to head to Echo Park to a fairly new restaurant/bar, Mowhawk Bend.

Chris and I are both big fans of Bloody Mary's and who on earth doesn't love a good drunch? (drunk brunch). Unfortunately we were too late to enjoy a brunch so we went with appetizers instead. Sweet potato fries and wing style cauliflower.  

I'm just going to be completely honest here and say that we weren't very impressed. I really wanted to like this place for a few different reasons, i've heard amazing things about their beers and the fact that they have 72 on tap. The fact that they only serve locally sourced food and drinks was also pretty enticing, as the carbon footprint discussion was one often had, growing up in my family's home.  Either way, the food isn't good enough for me to even recommend. And i'm afraid to say my Bloody Mary was more like tomato juice and a bit of vodka. Looks pretty good though, don't you think?

I've decided to save the second half of this post until AFTER our wedding. It involves our personalized wedding favors and I don't want to give away too much yet ;)

xxD

Zucchinis are taking over!

My parents have a gorgeous vegetable garden that i've been left in charge of while they are on holiday in London. It's filled with 3 different tomatoes, blueberries, 3 kinds of hot peppers, and zucchini!

I've been super busy with planning my wedding, teaching, choreographing, all while trying to get in wedding shape, which has resulted in a large amount of neglected Zucchinis. When I say large, I mean L-A-R-G-E. Have you ever seen an over grown zucchini? They pretty much triple in size over night which also means they become more bitter, so you really need to cut them off the vine while they're still fairly small.

I've been searching all over cooking blogs, Pinterest, and of course my families cook books, for every recipe under the moon using zucchinis. I've decided to make my own list of favorite zucchini recipes for anyone who might be having trouble keeping up with their own green beasts.

Here's one of my favorites so far:

Zucchini Fries

These are super easy to make, and are quite filling. I only used one large zucchini and it was enough to call dinner. I served my fries with homemade Mayonnaise mixed with a bit of Sriracha sauce, although I'm sure there are many different dipping sauces you could experiment with.

Ingredients

1-2 zucchini (depending on the size)

1 egg 

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I had a bunch of panko and decided to use that instead)

1. Preheat your oven to 425 F

2. Cover baking tray with either wax paper or cooking spray

3. Cut zucchini into 4 inch strips 

4. Whisk egg into small bowl and add milk

5. Mix together your parmesan and bread crumbs into a large bowl or ziplock bag.

6. Dip whole zucchini strips into egg mixture and then into your parm/crumb mixture and lay onto baking tray.

7. Bake for 25 min or until golden brown.

8. Enjoy!

Do you have any recipe suggestions for cooking with Zucchinis?

xx D

Who Disney Desires

This morning I work up around 8am to get ready for an audition for a live stage show at Disneyland. It's about an hour drive to the park, and maybe even and hour thirty during rush hour and on weekends.  Not exactly something I want to be contractually obligated to do. To be honest, I've never had any desire whatsoever to work at Disneyland, although I do know many dancers do. To me it's always seemed like a job you went for when you didn't have any other auditions coming your way, or when you were really wanting extra money. Oh boy was I wrong. 

First of all, some of these dancers were F-I-E-R-C-E! The combo was a tid bit more hip-hop-ey than what's in my comfort zone, but after learning the combo and the comfy pay rate, I turned on the power. there were about 100 dancers all together, most with agency's like myself, and a few freelance dancers. We all learned the combo together and were called 5 at a time to dance twice in front of the casting directors and choreographer. 

Something I was never taught in the ballet world but have learned from years of experience in the commercial dance world, is improv! There are always a few eight counts of music to get you prepared to break out the combo. Well, you don't want to look like an idiot waiting for the dance to start so you have to improv. One thing i've caught on to (although I wish I knew this earlier) is to show off your expertise, even if it may not be exactly in the style of dance you're auditioning for. For example, my forte is ballet, so I'm not going to pop my booty or do split jumps even if it's a hip-hop or lyrical audition. No, I'm the girl doing fouettes in heels to a grand jeté.

To make a long story short, I was in the very last group and by this time I had a pretty good idea of the people the were watching... short, hip-hop training, and DISNEY.... basically everything i'm not. Anyway, after attempting to make fouettes look mildly funky, i'm afraid I looked a little more classically trained than I wanted too, and I got cut. So, I rewarded myself for even going and went to in-n-out for lunch. The end. haha.

Bye bye free park entry passes!

xx D

Fortress Social Club

Last Friday I was working all day on a music video shoot for Fortress Social Club. I was asked to choreograph on 10 dancers including myself to create visuals resembling those of old black and white Busby Berkeley films. If you don't know Busby Berkeley, run to your closest library and rent "42nd Street" or "Gold Diggers" (1933). He was an extremely influential movie director and choreographer who used arial cameras to show geometric shapes with dancers, resembling what I see as a sort of kaleidoscope effect. Needless to say, he was very creative, and it was a pleasure to do my research. For an example, check out this video!

I was hired by an amazing company called Arts & Recreation Group. They work in many different aspects of the entertainment industry. I suppose it's because of their small team and/or desire to do a bit of everything, but it was refreshing to work close with a company willing to hear other artistic opinions. It's not often that choreographers are encouraged or even allowed to have any artistic input other than the choreography, but working with these guys was a blast, and everybody's job was important. 

Don't forget to check out Fortress Social Club on Soundcloud, follow them on Twitter, and like them on Facebook.

Most importantly, keep your eyes peeled for a post after the video is released! In the meantime, here are some more stills from the shoot day. 

xx D

Thinker - Fulfillment

ful·fill·ment/fo͝olˈfilmənt/

Noun:

1. Satisfaction or happiness as a result of fully developing one’s abilities or character.
2. The achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted: “winning the championship was the fulfillment of a childhood dream”.

What is it about our generation that makes this seem so hard to achieve?

It seams to me that we have all been taught that to achieve happiness we either have to be rich or doing something we love. It’s a known fact that today more and more people change their careers in the pursuit of work that is more fulfilling. However, accomplishing this gets harder every day.

We see other artists and professionals reaching great success, which results in fear of failure or desire to succeed. Both of which still making it difficult to actually feel fulfilled in the process. 

I can speak for myself in saying, when I see photographers, choreographers, and other artist, I often think to my self ‘I could do what they do! I should pursue more things to fill my time, to be happier’.

Why has it become so hard to be happy where we are now?… Not being a rock star, but enjoying music, not performing behind Beyonce, but loving dancing, not directing movies, but making art. I’m not talking about settling and giving up, I’m simply saying that perhaps taking a step back from the competition to enjoy where you are in the process, can be a good thing. 

So, in light of this, I herby vow for the rest of 2013, to find smaller joys everyday to leave me feeling fulfilled.

Things that make me feel fulfilled:

- wake up earlier 

- eat a full breakfast

- change out of my PJs even when I'm home all day

- make a pointe to get out of the house everyday, even if it's to grocery shop, or walk around the block.

- paint my nails

- tackle my 'To Do' list one thing at a time

- take mini breaks to send texts to Chris

- exercise every day, even for 5 min. (dance parties count)

- smile, life's good!

What I did to kick this off today: 

- woke up early to make my favorite breakfast of 2 soft boiled eggs, soldiers (toast cut into dunking strips), and iced coffee

- took a one hour Cardio Barre class.

- went for a quick swim in the pool to cool off

- tanned for 30 min. (tan lines in a wedding dress = not cute)

- showered (I actually shaved and moisterized too... whoa!)

- sent a work e-mail about a potential job.

- wrote this blog post.

All before 12pm people! It might not seem like much, but in my world, it's certainly doing the trick! Already feeling fulfilled and the day's only getting started!

What's something you do to feel like you've had a fulfilling day? And no, putting things on your 'To Do' list that you've already done doesn't count. (been there, done that)

xx D