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

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

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

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