a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog
Good luck to all the amateur competitors dancing at the USA Dance Nationals in beautiful Baltimore, Maryland this weekend.
I'm excited to hear news from all my friends and students who are sure to scoop up some awards.
If there is no award-scooping action, let me remind you…
HahahahaHA!
*sigh*
I miss teaching.
I started running "for fun" awhile back.
I think "for fun" are the wrong words to use.
It was more like "for self-imposed torture [masochism, training, whatevs]".
I needed to lose some post-preggo pounds and running gives you a pretty decent time/calories-burnt rate. It wasn't just for the fat, though! It was for that whole cardiovascular endurance nonsense you have to do a crapload of ballroom dancing.
I kept running about two or three miles a few times a week. Then I started getting bored. Not that the 5K got easier…
But I also plateaued (looks like too many vowels, doesn't it?) in the weight loss category, so I needed something new.
My friend, America, sent me an email with race info about a 7K thing and I didn't even know that was a thing and that thing sounded great and much less daunting than a 10K thing, which just sounded ridiculous about three months ago. Plus, this 7K thing had awesome sweatshirts as part of the registration goodies and I'm all about goodies when they include thumbholes.
We followed the training schedule that Team Ortho (the 7K organizers) had strangely included on their webpage. Really? A training schedule for a 7K? I guess once you go over 5K, you're in the big leagues. With schedules and spreadsheets and tapering and stuff.
Meanwhile, I decided for reals to do the TC Marathon in October and reverse engineered that I should do a half marathon somewhere along the way, so I signed up for this one in May.
Basically, if I pay money for a run has to be really pretty or have awesome perks so I can forget I've been running for two hours straightand just be numbed into a jogging stupor looking at the shiny lake next to me or awaiting the delicious Gatorade in the finisher's tent or whatever.
For the marathon, I suppose I'll follow an actual training regimen. I hear this one is good. But for the half, I made up this one…
Yes, those numbers are the miles I run on those days.
It leaves off where the 7K schedule stopped and it hasn't been horrible. So, maybe I won't die when I try 13.1. Let's be optimistic.
Go forth and conquer.
"It's soooooo good on popcorn, and, like, you'll love it."
Upon that advice from some very wise 11 year old twins that I know, I bought Nutritional Yeast the other day. Well, I thought I bought Nutritional Yeast, but it was Brewer's Yeast, a slight, but definite oversight.
Brewer's Yeast has a crapload of vitamins (like energy-provoking B ones), protein (which, duh, builds muscle), chromium (great for diabetics, helps regulate metabolism and blood sugar levels), selenium (a definite maybe in the cancer-fighting column), and a billion other good things in it.
It, however, does not taste as great as plain olde Nutritional Yeast.
Nutritional Yeast is grown on beet molasses (which is apparently a thing) and tastes something like cheese or nuts or cream. So, maybe like those old school cracker sandwiches you got in your lunch box?
Since Brewer's Yeast is a by-product of brewing beer (score, alcohol is somehow involved!), some hoppiness may occur. And maltiness. And graininess. Yet no buzz. Sad?
Anyhoo, either one is reeeeeeeally good for you and popular among the vegatarians for its awesome supply of protein.
I've done the Brewer's Yeast on popcorn thing and it's good. A little butter, a little salt, and a generous downpour of BY flakes. Snack win.
I also tried BY in a glass of milk before my morning run. DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT. Beer flavored milk. Snack lose.
But this morning I got smarter and threw a tablespoon in with my protein shake (I'm sampling this kind for the week and it really tastes amazing; you can order here), along with some chia seeds, peanut butter, ice, and cocoa powder. *drool* It was so good. Like a really healthy chocolate peanut butter malt. SCORE!
To summarize: although the idea of beer-flavored milk seemed edible, maybe milk-flavored beer is a better option. But there's already Guinness, so…
THE END.
– spring cleaning. Out with the old and in with the… old. Because I have ten boxes of little girl clothing in all sizes and seasons. Hey ladies, welcome to hand-me-downs. At least your older sibling is the same gender of you.
– a Showcase and a half. I must say, Dancers Studio staff and students, you looked mighty fine. I'm sad that some people did not get the Latin solo with the very long bow. It happens, people. It is real.
– a new camera. I bought one on the condition that I would make the money I spent on it. So, check it: a trip to Half Price Books + painting some furniture + making some chalkboards + going to the consignment store = half way there to my total.
I got this bad boy and I have no idea what I'm doing, but now I can get much better quality photos of awesome things like this…
– okay, here's some real ones…
– a trip to Home Depot for gardening supplies. The G (with the help of a man-blogreader) made me a BA raised garden bed. I'm so excited, I'm drooling (because that implies excitement?). I'll go take some completely amateur high-resolution photos of it and show the awesomeness to you later this week.
– a short post 'cause I gotta go get some heinies (shown above) to take some naps. How many times can you sing the songs from Disney's Sleeping Beauty without falling asleep? A lot.
Lest you think it's all rioting and frolicking here all the time at the Brattski Manor, it's not. I'm not holding a pity party, people (but it is an alliteration affair).
Some friends and loved ones are having a hard time of it and it's SAD. Give peace a chance or something, and send good thoughts out into the universe (prayers, holding doors open, smiling at babies, worshipping the can opener, whatever it is that you think brings on the sunshine) for all those people who aren't having the best time right now (yes, you can include yourself).
In the current state of affairs in this here Brattski household, I keep reminding myself to "do something" where it might seem more appropriate to wallow in DESPAIR and PITY for all the things that aren't right in the world (the potato chips are all gone! there's crazy people in the government! I can never spell "definite"! and other, more serious things).
So! we're cleaning the attic (junk!) and learning about photography (pictures!) and getting the garden and seeds prepared (garden! seeds! DIRT!) and practicing for the show tomorrow (dancing!) and reading library books (George and Martha!) and giving toys to "little girls who don't have fun toys" (V! about our trip to Goodwill!) and drawing princesses with the sidewalk chalk (Aurora! Cinderella!) and worshipping the can opener for all our friends and family.
He definitely likes the church key.
At some point in my life, I heard there was a thing you could do with grapefruit called "broiling". What is this new-fangled technique of oven use? Like, you throw some sugar on top of half a grapefruit, and torch the top of it, and then you get healthy crème brûlée? Neat!
My main obstacles were that I'd never eaten a grapefruit and I don't like new things, but since I'm making an effort to try said new things, GAME ON, GRAPEFRUIT!
Grapefruits are "in season" now (how, I don't know, since I'm pretty sure the "frozen tundra" ecological system of Minnesota does not support citrus trees) and I bought a few that seemed ripe, AKA pretty.
[Or maybe we could support some tropical fruits. Here's the MN forecast:]
[Here's the Ojai, CA forecast, where I happen to know oranges and lemons and whatnot actually grow:]
[Winners: MN!]
I used this recipe for broiled grapefruit as a starting point, but didn't use as much sugar or butter. (For shame!) Plus, I liked the description:
The pleasures of broiled grapefruit are akin to those of a classic crème brûlée, only here the hot caramelized topping gives way to cool, tart-sweet segments of citrus fruit instead of chilled custard.
Problem is, besides the lack of chilled custard, I don't think the sugar ever caramelizes. I've made this a few times in the last week and even when it looks like you could crack that sucker with a spoon a la Amelie, it doesn't happen. It is, however, still pretty delicious. And the little ladies won't eat it, so I actually get to ingest an entire portion of something I've made.
Has anyone else done this with a successfully crunchy topping? Do you have other strange food preparations? [Because who came up with broiling a grapefruit? It seems stupid. Like, "I'm making my garlic toast and this grapefruit that fell in the sugar bowl accidentally fell in the oven, too, might as well see what happens!" Hmph.]
Next up: Brewer's Yeast. Weird stuff, man.
Get ready for picture mania, my friends. It was a big week around these parts.
First of all, if you haven't taken the poll on what you like the bestest on the ye olde blog, you should. If you have…
– someone got a new lock screen on her iPhone.
It is sad how much it makes me smile every time I click my phone on. EVERY TIME.
There's a whole bunch of cutie graphic-y wallpapers in this Paper'd app. I recommend.
– V's photography. Her favorite subject is feet, apparently.
Her choice of subject is strangely similar to my own…
– a trip to visit Gramma "Cass" which was exciting not only because of the stickers they got or the chocolate Teddy Grahams they ate BOWLFULS of, but SHE HAS GEESE, MAMA! GEEEEEESE!
– an afternoon of scootin', which involved Starbucks and talking to guys my dad's age (notice I didn't say "old") about how much I like my scooter.
– broiled grapefruit. We'll talk about this tomorrow. It's weird. And good.
– my first race of my 2012 race season. It was a 7K with my friend, America. Team Ortho (the organizer) throws a great party, er, race. Pace markers at the start, awesome freaking sweatshirts (thumbholes!), pretty course (the one that every race in Mpls uses, really), speedy packet pick-up, etc. I recommend.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Just from these pictures, you can see it was a better experience cardiovascularly than our first race.
I'm running a half marathon in May, but am really looking forward to the Women Rock MN 10K on September 1. We're basically running that for the perks, of which there are many. Hello, firefighters!
– The run started our St. Patricks' Day off with a bang and some sweatiness (WHEN is it ever 80 degrees in MN on St. Patrick's Day? Let me tell you: 2012.)
Then a gang of us (including Nicey-Nice Lady, AKA Heather, the Birthday Girl- woop woop!) headed to downtown St. Paul to enjoy crazy Germans pretending to be Irish.
The Landmark Center gave us wee Irish coffee, onion and cheese pie, a couple Guinness,
and Highland Paddy!
The HP played a PG show while The G had behind his mic so JJ's legs could take the spotlight while CH rocked his eyeball off. OMG, it was 2M2H. LOL. AKDFUVNR. yeah
Then we made a pregnant lady walk three miles with the promise of a burger that never happened, but I figure it was OK because we had THE BEST COFFEE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!
I do love Claddagh Coffee and their hyperbole.
You saw that coming, right?
In honor of you putting up with that wicked-awesome (please say that with an Australian accent, or at least sound like you surf a lot) pun, you get the shortest post ever!
I gots a question for all y'all. [It's a little poll that I can't figure out how to embed in this post.]
Please click to vote on what you like to read at Riot and Frolic. It'll only take a second and I'm curious. Plus, if I find out what you like, I can do more of that. Unlike my cat, who just does more of everything I hate.
I really really really hope you like reading about how awesome I am at everything, because I'm sooooo good at writing about my accomplishments.
Feel free to leave comments on what you like, want more of, or hate. I'll laugh or cry appropriately.
Voting closes March 24, 2012 at 12:37pm. If you missed the link for the poll, here it is.
Don't you want one of these?
Or these?
Ladies, ladies, ladies. What. Are. You. Doing.
No. It's not a question. Because I know what you're doing.
But you are doing it wrong and you are hurting me. And yourself.
Gah. She is so lovely. Of course you want to look like this.
But doing this…
Or some HORRIBLE combination of the two will not get you there.
"What's so bad about the first one?" you might ask.
This one is a little hard to see unless the dancers are in motion, but when the boy steps away from the girl, we see this…
Yes, you should look to the left… of your partner. That's it.
Try this…
Put your arms in front of you in a V, 45 degrees from the parallel floor and yourself.
Now look to your left hand. That's enough. Really.
As for example #2, do I really need to tell you that doing nice poise doesn't mean bending over backward?
"Nice poise" for ladies does not mean "bend over backward".
There. I told you. Just in case you needed it.
I'll even tell you why it's terrible, besides the painfulness of it: you're pushing yourself against the guy (probably balancing on him) which makes it harder for him to take a decent step; you've already stretched your hips past neutral which means you can't take a very big step back.
Basically, you've made you and your partner dance like Frankenstein. Neat.
Please pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease please just stand up over your own feet.
Notice the vertical line between the girl's shoulders, hips, and feet? That's a good thing!
Now, even though she is still not wearing shoes, this partnership will be able to move with ease across the dance floor.
Because they are both standing up over their own damn feet.
Note to advanced dancers: of course I did not give the whole story on lady's poise here, today, in this post. Just thinking about having to go into counterbalancing and connection and tone through the frame and the man's job and how to put it into words and take all the pictures made my head hurt. Literally.
[Literally, by the way, means "it actually happened". Figuratively means "I am totally over-exaggerating". So when you say "my head literally exploded", I'm trying to figure out how you're telling the story without a head.]
– a bunch of dance practice.
Most of my rounds had felt pretty good lately and that's never a good sign. Too comfortable. A bit too easy.
I had reached a lovely plateau and it was so nice there. These ornery coaches of ours want us to do MORE and, like, work, or something. Well, fine. Now I'm sweating my arse off and feeling silly more often than not, so I know I'm doing the right thing.
– a bunch of cleaning. Because it's gettin' all spring up in here.
– a bunch of food, mostly salads. I'm trying out Instagram for the nineteenth time. I'm using it to document all my wonderful meals of greens and other inane stuff. Anybody out there on Instagram? Do you like it? What do you take pictures of?
– weird lawn art?
Peace out!
Riot and Frolic 