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.

Category: Domesticality

  • A Hard Day’s Night

      11 Good Morning Good Morning It would make more sense if I had used "A Hard Day's Night," wouldn't it?  But what fun would that be?  Plus, I like this song better.   As promised, I'll give you a run-down of my day.  This seems pretty self-important of me, but I actually took note…

  • Obvious Things to Do

    I have often heard people remark, "I don't know how you do it."  I'm assuming they're talking about juggling three little ladies, marriage, dancing, working in an official capacity, and writing all about it.  Not about my confidence in walking out of the house with no makeup, my hair in the ever stylish I-just-woke-up bouffant,…

  • Pinterest Project- Knot Quite

    Oh man, puns are the best.  The French were wrong. I have short hair. Can't you tell?   I've been growing out my hair since… forever.  Well, since someone told me I need to have long hair to dance.  Three guesses on who that was.  Hint: it wasn't the G.  And if you just read…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – the nicest freakin' forecast of all time.  You must read the descriptions.  Maybe they could have checked out the thesaurus for "sunny," or maybe they were trying to make me laugh. – the next best place to find a laugh: The Happy Place.  The best responses to misspellings on Facebook: hilarious! – a new…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – realization that my oldest might be anal retentive.  The insoles from her water shoes came out when she took the shoes off.  She set the insoles next to the stairs by the rest of her shoes in this orderly fashion… – Lake Calhoun!  Trying to get through our Summer List.  It's a pretty short…

  • Represent, 651

    I got my update from Centsational Girl this morning and had to write a second post for today, so I could share alllllll my favo things about St. Paul.  I won't even try to add in ye olde Minneapolis, because I don't want your heads to explode with all the magnificent possibilities that abound in…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    –  in two hours: the breadmaker hummin', pizza dough rising, buttermilk pancake batter mixed for the next morning, white sauce for the pizza whipped up, three happy ladies and one productive evening. – several trips to the "hippo and alligator" playground-park.  I'm not sure why V is so infatuated with this park; she doesn't even…

  • Happy Anniversary

      Four years and three days ago, I married the G.  I often wonder why in the world I did such a thing.  I mean, he's pushy and stubborn, opinionated and argumentative, demanding and uncompromising…  Oh, wait.  Are we talking about him or me?   In any case, I should have seen it coming.  The…

  • Pam Beasley and Jim

    Do you remember yesterday?  To be specific, do you remember yesterday, when I wrote about eating peanut butter popcorn as my reward for dealing with crazy little ladies?  Or maybe the other day when I wrote about the awesome-ness of this dessert and the whole lot of controversy that surrounds it?   [I maintain that…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – a trip to the doctor's office with all three ladies.  Eek!  Just for wee Zoo's one week check-up, but I was a bit nervous (understatement) to take all three of them.  Turns out our new family doctor (our former one moved to CA) and her nurse are totally AWESOME and super-helpful.  Plus, my ladies…