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

  • November Mixed Tape

    Yo.   Happy Monday.   Here's the November Mixed Tape (click here for mobile users).  http://grooveshark.com/widget.swf I included some tracks from the Theme Weeks ("Particle Man" and "Ghosts", duh") and some other super nostalgic songs about triangles (FRENTE!).   I really want to love the Damien Rice song, but his whole line about "manger… stranger… danger"…

  • How to Raise Children

    Since I've been told my children are ABSOLUTE ANGELS, here's how to make your children awesome like mine: Have no idea what you're doing.  It's reeeeeally helpful if you didn't spend any time around children smaller than yourself growing up; hopefully you didn't have any babysitting experience, younger siblings, or neighborhood kids hanging around you…

  • Goofy Stuff from the Internet and Beyond

    This is my most important post EVER. Why is Harry Connick Jr. building planter boxes for familyhandyman.com?  Not that I doubt his skills, it just seems like an odd side project. Chemex or French press?  This will be a life altering choice.  I can feel it.   [Bodum claims this is an 8 cup press.…

  • Ghost Week in Review

    Monday Books for the week: hey, big surprise – a lot of parents plan ahead and like, check out holiday themed books before the actual holiday.   Therefore, those of us who are just getting the hang of this planning-ahead-and-taking-care-of-our-children thing and are looking for ghost books the week of Halloween are screwed.   Or…

  • Triangle Week in Review

    A week themed after the most simple geometric shape might not sound like fun, but this was our best week yet. Whether we can attribute that to the AMAZING theme or to my getting my act together is up to you. MONDAY Paper building blocks: a project that was perfectly soothing and monotonous to prep AND totally…

  • Farm Week in Review

    Farm Week basically became Where Food Comes From Week and since it involved food, I was happy. Monday I was not super on-the-ball with my planning this week, so we started off slow, with a trip to the library.  I wish I had spent more time researching kids' books, because there are SO MANY KICK…

  • Apple Week in Review

    Dude. Apple Week. How can one NOT be excited when there's food involved? Monday Apple cards: I made my own template for a cut-open apple using some parchment paper and MY IMAGINATION.  Again, I reliquished my not-so-inner perfectionist and let the ladies loose with their sketchy hand-eye coordination and scissors. Zoo REALLY likes using scissors…

  • On Being Pregnant

    In case you needed a reminder, there are rules for this subject. But let's get more in detail BECAUSE YOU ASKED: Being pregnant is Weird.   There is A PERSON in there. THAT is Weird. I sweat a lot as it is, and a lovely side effect (this time around) is that I sweat MORE.…

  • October Mixed Tape

    Am I embarrassed about loving all of Christina Perri's songs?  MAYBE.   Was I late to the party on the Meghan Trainor train?  MAYBE. Do I make up for it a little with up-and-coming bands like Wet and Sylvan Esso?  MAYBE. Enjoy October, yo. October Mixed Tape by Kathryn Bratt on Grooveshark

  • FitBit and #%$^#&$

    Recently, I got one of those damn FitBit devices. I have the super boring black one, but I want THIS ONE I'm a sucker for fitness-tech gear and figured it was a nice stepping stone to getting a heart rate monitor.* Along with keeping track of my exercise (eventually there will running again) without draining…