Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

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about

I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

Month: February 2013

  • Zen and The Art of Toenail Maintenance

    I started meditating.   It's surprisingly hard. But I'm letting that go. Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I don't meditate like that, btw.   There's no "ooommm"-ing.   Not that there's anything wrong with that.   I just like the silent kind of meditation.   It's a nice way to start, or end, the day: the silence and the…

  • Ah, Nuts

    I've been on another kick this week.  It involves a lot of nuts. … In the interest of saving some dough, I stopped buying "treats", like crackers and other random snacks awhile ago.  It's been a great thing for so many reasons: I save money not buying them; having them around gave me something to…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – the last jar of tomatoes from my garden.  At the time, it didn't seem like I had canned or frozen that many, but my supply lasted until 2013, so I win.  This year?  I'm canning for a two-year supply.  Oh yeah!   smells like summer, not teen spirit   – picked out a rutabaga,…

  • Impressionists

    Competitive ballroom dancers are impressionists.   That's why there's only 3 hair colors on the floor.  (Black, red, or blonde.) That's why there's a million rhinestones sparkling under the lights. That's why there's a bottle of spray tan on each person's skin. That's why there's a can of hairspray keeping each person's hair in place.…