Showing posts with label Dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dance. Show all posts

Monday, December 28, 2009

I Was Going to Title This Post "ALOHA", But I Know Some of You Don't Speak Hawaiian. So I Didn't.

We have now safely returned from Hawaii. I wish I could say the same for one certain piece of luggage but that's a whole other story.


Holy Jeebus I don't even know where to start. The Hawaii trip was a Christmas gift from Alex's parents, the whole family went and stayed for a week on Maui. We stayed at a gorgeous house in Lahaina, here are a few photos of the place we stayed.






The view from the house:



This was a trip full of surprises. My mom-in-law surprised us by getting everyone first class tickets for the flight! Not only that but she also gave us all Bose headsets to watch movies and listen to our ipods with. (And I was in desperate need of a new headset, score!)


Now I know why they say "first class is the only way to fly." You don't have to wait in that awful long line to get through security and you get to board the plane first. When you sit down the first thing they do is give you a Mai Tai, and then another, and another. I asked Al if they paid the flight attendants who worked in first class extra because they all were just so happy to help you.


Weird.


I totally soaked it up because I knew it would be the one and only time I would fly first class. I kind of felt like Jack in Titanic, you know trying to fit in with Rose and all the elite? Only I didn't spit off the side of the boat. Because we weren't on a boat. And well, I don't know how to hock a loogie.


Ok got a little side tracked there, where was I?


Oh yeah, Hawaii. It rocks. I want to live there. Forever.


And Ever.


Cris surprised us again by getting us all lei'd when we stepped off the airplane at 4 in the morning.





You'd think it'd be awkward all getting leid at the same time but it was so late we were all okay with it. (Hey, I know the whole "getting leid" joke has been done many times before but I still think it's funny, and that's all that counts. Sorta. Ok I suck I should have just left it alone but now I've gone on too long and totally ruined the whole joke. Good God will someone just shut me up?)


While at the house, the majority of our time was spent throwing children.





When not throwing children, we were at the beach. On our first day at the beach we were all minding our own business, the kids playing in the water, the girls wading on the shore, and the guys snorkeling in the ocean.






(For the record, Cris was NOT picking her nose. At least that's what she tells me.)


Like I said, minding our own business.


At the time I was laying on my towel reading a book, you know, minding my own business.


So we were all minding our own business, nobody's business but our own, when I see in the corner of my eye some strange old man walking my direction.


In my head I'm thinking, "Please keep walking, please keep walking, please keep walking" but guess what he did?


He kept walking.


No, he didn't keep walking, why would I bring him up if he just walked by? He stopped right next to my towel and said, "Excuse me?"


Annoyed, I look up and see him holding out some coral in one hand and a rolled cigarette in the other. (Identical to some illegal substance that one might roll up and smoke, or cook into brownies. Or so I hear.) He started blabbing to me about how the coral was clean and dry and was already dead so I couldn't get into trouble for taking it home.


He hands it to me and I'm not sure what to do. I didn't want to hurt his feelings so I walk over and show the kids the coral, pretending to be fascinated by it, and then I hand it back to Crazy Weed Dude.


He tells me to keep it, I'm like, okay thanks, and I put it on a towel by our stuff.



I expected Crazy Weed Dude to walk away but he doesn't. He approaches me and Rachael mumbling something totally incoherent so we just brush him off and he leaves.


Finally, he's gone!


Oh but he wasn't gone. He walked into the ocean to swim for a bit but stayed near by.



After his little dip in the ocean, he comes back and approaches Rachael again, this time she understands what he says. He asks her if he can use the kids' bucket and she politely says no, the kids are using it. He then explains that the reason he gave us the coral was in exchange for him to use our bucket.


What? Crazy Weed Dude just won't quit and we start thinking that maybe he's trying to distract us while his accomplice steals all of our stuff from the beach. So just to be safe, I walk back to my towel and grab my bag, when I turn back around I see this:



Somehow Crazy Weed Dude managed to get the coveted bucket. We all watched while he taught the kids how to use the sand and water to drip onto the sand castle and make strange looking peaks.



And of course we all stayed close and watched him (and our stuff) like a hawk while he interacted with the kids. We were all just humoring the guy because he clearly wasn't "all there".


About that time we decided to pack up, leaving the crazy son of a bitch by himself.


I left the coral behind, lying on the beach, and I'm sure he used it on some other poor family to get into their bucket too.


When we weren't being accosted on the beach, we were kickin back with Buddha.


(Sorry bad phone pictures)



When we weren't with Buddha, we were getting lei'd (yes, again) at the Luau.





This is Albert's usual face after getting lei'd:



And yes, I am really that white and Alex is really that tan. I hate him.




And while the dancers were doing this:



Ava was doing this:





She is quite the dancer (and no she did not learn this from me, I only teach pole dancing, not Hula Striptease). When Rachael asks Ava if she wants to do dance or gymnastics, Ava says she wants to do "fighting" instead.


Yes, fighting.


And with two older brothers, she has plenty of fighting experience! But she is also such a girly girl. She wanted her toe nails painted almost every day. She'd bring me my nail polish bag and tell me that she needed her toe nails painted again. Of course I was happy to oblige.

(These two pics courtesy of Cris)


I love this girl.




If you're actually still reading this I will now put you out of your misery. Stay tuned for more Hawaii including magic tricks on a boat, sharks, sea turtles & a 5 foot 10 inch praying mantis!


And best of all, Albert's awesome fishy face.


You DO NOT wanna miss that. Promise.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

I Want To Have SYTYCD's Babies

I'm in love with this dance. It's my favorite so far from this season's So You Think You Can Dance.


This is Kathryn McCormick & Legacy Perez dancing to "2 Steps Away" by Patti LaBelle. Choreographed by Stacey Tookey, it's about a girl who is struggling with fear.


Watch it, you'll fall in love too.




Seriously makes me cry. I miss dancing so much. I love when he jumps and wraps himself around her waste (about 1.06 seconds in).


That dance reminds me of Kayla and Kupono's Addiction dance choreographed by Mia Michaels last season, which in itself was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

Didn't see that one? Why the hell not?

Enjoy.





Brilliant.


I'm going to hump So You Think You Can Dance one day.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Beet Digger Wannabe

I was hesitant to write about my experience as a Beet Digger because I know it will resonate a lot of jealous and resentful feelings directed towards me and I would hate to be the source of such sinful thoughts and emotions.


Oh who am I kidding? Resent away!


I was honored to be accepted, if only for one night, as a part of the Jordan High School (home of the Beet Diggers) Popular Girl crowd. And not popular girls like in the movie Mean Girls popular, but popular girls as in the coolest chicks you'll ever meet kind of popular.


My friends Andrea & Talisia are part of this group of like 13 or 14 girls from Jordan High who are all good friends and every month they take turns hosting a get together. This month was Tara's turn and she wanted to go see Thriller! (Which I've been dying to see since poo poo head Andrea saw it without me.)


And they let me tag along.


Thriller totally rocked! For anyone that doesn't know what Thriller is, it's an annual dance production put on by The Odyssey Dance Theatre every year for Halloween. It's scary, it's creepy and it's amazing! The dancing is incredible!















I already knew Tara and Dellany who are awesome bloggers and even awesomer real life friends, and I met the other girls for the first time that night at dinner.


At first I felt like that new kid in school with the glasses and braces who is ugly and awkward before she's befriended by the popular girls who then give her a makeover so by the end of the school year she gets asked out by the hottest guy at the school and they go out on a date but he's a jerk and just wants to have sex with her so she slaps him and then realizes that she's been in love with her nerdy best guy friend who she ditched to hang out with the popular girls and after she apologizes for her stupid ways he takes her back and they live happily ever after.


It was like that but minus the braces, and after we sat down and all got to talking, I realized they were all quirky like me so I felt right at home.


Thanks Dell for ordering nachos with me for dinner and for teaching me things that I didn't even know existed, like almond milk and, what did you call them? Vegetables? Yeah, that was pretty awesome.


And thanks Sara for freaking out about everyone having babies all the time and doing stupid stuff like getting married. Oh, and thanks for being so concerned about the audience at Thriller who were all coughing and choking to death from smoke inhalation.


As far as you know I didn't cough once. Shut up Andrea.


And thanks Tara for buying the tickets and letting me write you out a check like those annoying check writers in the grocery check out lines that take FOREVER! Good God people, ever heard of a debit card? Checks or SO 20th century. Oh and thanks for liking the ruffles on my shirt, they like you too.


And thanks Talisia for not having your baby right there on the steps in front of Kingsbury Hall. I thought for sure he'd pop out after that zombie girl snuck up on you and I would have to jump forward and catch him before he hit the cement and then we'd all have to take you to the hospital and miss the show all together. So yeah, thanks for not doing that.


And for not peeing.


And thanks Andrea...for something. I'm sure you did something I should be thankful for soooo...thanks...er whatever.


And lastly, I'd like to thank the Academy. It was hella fun!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Nursing Is Not Just For Mommies

Facebook is awesome!

I recently was able to reconnect with my good friend Melanie on facebook, she's my best ballet buddy. We did a lot of crap together. We carpooled to ballet two to three times a week...

(I'm always the tallest (imagine that?) and Mel's always the second tallest)



...we shared clothes, we went to school together and we had tons of sleepovers.

(Mel & I on the very right, cute De & I on the left and middle)


Obviously we were very cool. All three of us.



We choreographed our own dances together, we were in the Nutcracker together...








...and we were on the high school drill team together!








That's a whole lotta togetherness! Here is her lovely face today.




And here is her lovely belly today.




That's right, she has a baby, no, she has a Human. Being. In. Her. Belly. (Pregnancy is so alienish!)


She and her charming husband are having a baby boy, little baby Ivan. Mel went against her best judgment and invited me to her baby shower to help celebrate this lil guy waiting to spring forth into this world. She really had no idea the risk she was taking in extending an invite to a klutz such as me; of course I didn't tell her I was a baby smasher.


I'm not stupid.


So here is Mel & the guy who helped make the baby:




The baby shower was thrown by Mel's mother in law and it was just beautiful! Complete with brunch and Mimosas!






And showing up fashionably late (because it is fashionable to be late to a baby shower) were two other friends from our high school drill team. It was so awesome to see them and they are still as funny as they were in high school, and just as pretty!

This is Kristie and she has 2 kids of her own, a boy and a girl.




I was lucky enough to meet her littlest cutie Preslie, and even luckier to snap this shot:



(Don't worry, I didn't smash her)


This is Shirley Ann and yes, she too has a Human. Being. In. Her. Belly. She is pregnant with her first child, a baby girl.




Kristie had to teach the two future mothers how to change a blow-out poopy diaper, or as Tori Spelling would call a PUTP (Poop Up The Puss). Mel almost fainted from the pungent smell and Shirley Ann simply gasped realizing what the future has in store for her. Oh the horror!




I of course kept my distance, good birth control there.


Aren't my friend's bellies so dang cute & just enormous? Oh I am just kidding, really. Sort of.





And to think ten years ago we were all dancing together! Since I have fully embarrassed both myself and Mel with old pictures, I only feel obligated to do the same for Kristie and Shirley Ann.


Year book day at school, can you find them?




Shirley Ann and I at the Tremaine Dance Convention in Las Vegas. We stayed in a suite and felt pretty important. Rightly so.




This is at the national drill team competition in Florida, I have no idea what I'm doing to Shirley Ann's hair but she doesn't seem too upset by it.



One thing that I think is just hilarious about Shirley Ann is that she gave me the nickname Big Mamma. Her reasoning behind it was that I was the mother of the drill team with big boobs. And you know what they would do? They'd all make a sucky face and pretend to be nursing. That damn nickname stuck until I graduated.


Yes folks, like I said before, we were very cool and not immature at all.


Goofing around at Disney World while in Florida at nationals.






This is at the top secret candle light ceremony where the new members of the drill team are initiated in and the old members were ultimately kicked out. Very, very top secret stuff here; I could get killed for posting this picture.



(Mindy, if you value your life, you will not tell anyone!)


Now, back to the present.



Melanie I know you will be a great mother, just like you are a great substitute mother to Fox. I wish you all the best and can't wait to meet Ivan. (Hopefully this week!)

And don't worry, I hear that giving birth is absolutely the most excruciating pain you will ever experience.

No biggy.