Riot and Frolic

Happy Anniversary

August 27, 2011

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 first time we hung out, it was my birthday and he gave me this very lovely toast:

"Here's to women's kisses and whiskey amber clear,

Not as sweet as a woman's kiss, but a damn sight more sincere."

I'm still slightly offended by it, albeit in a rather charmed way.

4-05 Adagio For Strings

We met through the studio (awwwww…) and I like to say I taught him everything he knows [about dancing]. He was in a new teachers' training class and I taught some of the training classes. He had a "real job" during the day where he minimally used his bio-chem degree (nerd). When I finally convinced the G that it was all right and proper to fraternize with his co-workers on a regular basis, we spent a lot of time together. Mostly listening to music, dancing, or eating. Completely platonic. And disappointing.

After about six months, I got my chance. We were with a big group for New Year's Eve and midnight struck and I got to kiss him. Ha! Win!

About a month later, the studio took its yearly cruise vacation and we had a delightful time making people ill with our lovey-dovey, saccharine behavior. And that was it! We were sold. On the next year's trip, the G proposed to me. It was supposed to be at a place that looked like this on Aruba:

We hope that it wasn't bad luck that it looked like this when we got there:

Yeah, the collapse of the "natural bridge" landmark four months prior to our arrival was not well documented.

I'm glad to report, we have not fared the same fate as the rock formation above. We argue, we scare people when we practice dance, we hate each other at least once a week, but I also couldn't do without him.

So there.
Pinterest Project- Seeing Spots

August 25, 2011

I am not great at the whole manicure thing. I have four nail colors that I really like. I go to stores and check out "new" colors and buy them, only to get home and find out I have two of the same shade already. But this lady…

I was inspired! This magnificent manicure is from Michelle over at All Lacquered Up and is one of the first things I ever "pinned." Michelle is hard-core about her nail polish and has tried and photographed just about every nail polish EVER. It's mind-blowing. Want to know what a color looks like out of the bottle? Check out her site and search for your next I-might-like-this shade.

Now, I don't know the first thing about any nail paintin' skillz, but I read somewhere that this sweet mani was done with a "dotting tool."

You can buy this tool at Sephora, or you can use… a toothpick! BAM! You just saved yourself $7!

I experimented as I went along, and I was kind of thrilled with the results.

Here's what I did…

I got together all of my colors (they're not even hot!) and my nifty "pretty hands in a bottle" goo. The goo is similar to some product I got to use when I worked at a spa and was about $40 per jar. My stuff? Not so much. But it makes my cuticles look less yucky, sooo… I used it.

Then I painted my nails with two coats of white and went to town.

I'd make a little pool of polish with each color on paper and dip my toothpick in. Two dots per color per nail made me pretty happy.

This summed up my day: nail polish, grocery list/meal planning, and Veggie Tales CD.

My digits? Pretty sweet. I haven't even cleaned them up yet and love them. It looks like balloons. And it fits with my colorful scheme today.

Just for kicks, I put food coloring in my ice cube tray.

V loved it. So did I.

P.S. Late night posting does NOT make for the best lighting or photographs. I'll try to take a picture during the day and let you see the glory of my fingertips.
About Me…

August 23, 2011

It is often said that you will hear Kate Bratt long before you see her. Kate’s fun-loving personality, animated gestures, attention to detail, and copious supply of knowledge make her the ideal instructor for both new and experienced dancers.

Winning regional and state competitions in elite gymnastics led Kate to search for a new competitive outlet after she got “too old” for gymnastics, which naturally led her to ballroom dancing. While consistently making finals through her career in pro-am, am-am, and pro competitions is fun, seeing her students succeed on the social and competitive dance floor keeps her motivated.

Professional achievements include:

Rhythm and Smooth finalist for over ten years at Twin Cities Open; Rhythm and Smooth finalists at Wisconsin State, Indiana State, Harvest Moon, Cleveland Dancesport, Northcoast Dancesport, Southeastern States, Colorado Star Ball, Holiday Classic; as well as SnowBall Smooth Champions and Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Smooth finalists.

Student achievements include:

USADance national champions in 3 styles

Championship and Scholarship winners at USDC, Ohio Star Ball, Emerald Ball, Twin Cities Open, and Harvest Moon, among others.

Ballroom dancing has afforded her creative opportunities such as performing with Michael Johns (American Idol) and Gene Simmons (KISS), working on a national campaign for LensCrafters, and performing in the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Kate and Gordon Bratt are owners of Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN, and love building a dance community of students of all levels.

In her spare time, Kate enjoys cooking, gardening, painting her nails ridiculously bright colors, and having dance parties with her entourage of handsome husband, four lovely daughters, and four awesome sons. Kate also composes content for a blog and podcast, Riot and Frolic, and Dance Comp Review to keep sleeping hours to a minimum.
Pam Beasley and Jim

August 23, 2011

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 they are not "scotcheroos." Just because there is butterscotch chips in the topping does not make the entire dessert have an aura of butterscotch. Case in point: we do not call a cake "chocolate" when it has chocolate frosting on it, if it is a white cake. We call it "white cake with chocolate frosting." Hence, Special K bars are in fact "Special K bars with chocolate frosting." Eat it.]

Anyhoo…

I like peanut butter. Besides popsicles, it is really the only thing I crave to eat. On a regular basis, anyway.

So, I was intrigued when I saw this delicious dish…

Kristin, over at Iowa Girl Eats, had this recipe for Crispy Peanut Butter Cups. There is just nothing wrong with this idea. Sadly, I'm out of chocolate chips AND have no Rice Krispies on hand either. But after payday, I'm hitting this recipe UP.

The Iowa Girl blog is also a very fun read. She seems like my type of girl. She runs. She eats healthfully, but has a penchant for sweet stuff. (I read pretty much her whole blog after reading the post with the recipe on it. She goes from telling you about her massive workout to how she did it just so she could eat a couple of those yummo thingies.) She travels.

You know who else is my type of girl? The Maladroit Wife. (I'm really glad she put the definition of "maladroit" right on her front page. I felt dumb for a second… And then I learned something! Just because it's a Weezer album, doesn't mean I know what it means.) Dang, she is funny. I read her posts twice, generally speaking. And they make me laugh both times. Somehow, we found each other through Facebook (yes? correct me if I'm wrong!), and then we discovered we have a whole lot of common interests: crocheting, crafting, blogging, football-lovin' husbands, teaching faces, lack of respect for measuring, food. (I love that I just called my husband an "interest.") Anyways, you should check her out.

My other highly-recommended blog? Soule Mama. But maybe you should stay away from her if you hate nature and fresh food and wholesome family fun. Some people think I'm a multi-tasker. Crap. I got nothing on this lady. She even writes books. And lives on a mini-farm. And makes… everything, as far as I can tell. She's both inspiring and exhausting.

This got a little off-topic today, but I'm still catching up from, uh, having a baby. And having my in-laws in town. (To put it in perspective, I really had to think about how to spell "catching.") In reward for you putting up with my half-recipe today, I leave you with this…

* I asked the G who he thought "women would think is the hottest guy in the world, of all time." He thought for a second and said, "Probably Ronald Reagan… Or Jesus Christ." … So, there you go.
List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

August 22, 2011

– 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 were very well behaved (give Mae Cake a phone and she's happy- and learns how to use the camera) and Zoo is extra healthy. Score- Kate: 1.

– early bedtimes for the older girls after a bit of a meltdown-day. Mama's therapy? Peanut butter popcorn WITH chocolate chips (recipe to follow) while watching Mad Men. Score- Kate: 2

– treats from friends. Push Pops! Score- Ladies: 1

– a surprise grad party for a favorite co-worker. How fun is it to throw surprise parties? Really fun! The hostesses with the most-esses found a high school photo of him and made it poster-size. Did we all look this young once?

– a trip to Stillwater with some of my in-laws. That town is too pretty. I have to head down there before winter hits. Fall foliage tour, anyone? We hit this crazy bookstore, The Loome, which has stacks of books crammed into every corner of an old church. Like that old book smell? Here's your destination!

– my first attempt at sewing with knit fabric. I didn't swear once! Score- Kate: 3

– Minnehaha Falls with the Bratts. This is NOT all of them. There are more. Lots more.

– the Visa Gymnastics Championships with my friend, America. Woop woop! We haven't competed for… awhile, but we still know some stuff. Although we did have to be learned in the ways of the new scoring system by America's bro, Master of the Toy Crane and all things gymnast-y. Yes, I took a picture of small children. But it's not creepy because I really am just taking a picture of their jackets, which look like our studio jackets.

– we also had a big ol' baptism for Zoo on Sunday, complete with a breakfast out with the Bratts and the godfamily. That makes them sound so BA. And they are. Zoo's godfamily is the bomb.
Ear Candy

August 19, 2011

I teach people how to dance. I'm pretty good at it. I've been doing it awhile. There are some things I love hearing while I'm teaching…

– "So, that's it?" I've gotten this a couple times from people on their first or second lesson. Clearly, these people haven't been watching Dancing with the Stars. It's often uttered after I've shown them a box step. I always want to say, "Yep! That's it!" But it's not. It's really not.

– "It feels better with her!" This comes from one half of a couple, guy or girl, and the "her" is me. Retort? Um, yeah! I would really hope that dancing with me feels better than dancing with your partner. I've been dancing, oh, 10,000 times longer than your wifey/husband/significant other. If it didn't feel better, then I'd worry.

– "Why didn't you just tell me that the first time?" This comment comes a bit further down in one's dance career. Usually, at the time a student is learning the finer points of cuban motion in the Latin dances, or promenade or something in the Smooth dances. "Why?" you asked. Because your head would have exploded. I don't know if you remember, but the first time you learned [fill in the blank], you had trouble moving the correct foot at the correct time. If I told you that you had to [do two toe releases in a row; bend, straighten, and settle on every step; make your step size 'little, little, big;' step on the "2"]… KaBOOM!

– "I've never heard that before!" A personal favorite of the G, we only buy this if you have come to us from a disreputable teacher or school. If you have been a student at our studio, we know you've heard it before. You might have ignored it or someone said it differently, but you've heard it. Don't make me scold you for lying. I can shake my finger with the best of them!

And now, all my smarty-pants students will taunt me by saying these as often as possible for the next couple weeks. Thanks, smarties.
Pinterest Project- Sewing Machine: 1

August 18, 2011

Kate: 0

This week's project involved me and my sewing machine. That is not a good combination.

Yeah, sure, I made a quilt. But I was home alone that whole weekend. That meant I could curse at that evil machine all I want and no little ladies will be the worse for it.

This time, however, young, impressionable V was sitting by by side. Watching. And presumably, listening. Dang it! (Not what I would usually exclaim, by the way.)

In any case, I have wanted one of these bad boys for awhile…

Oooo, wrist key chain. I got this off Pinterest from Infarrantly Creative, who got it from The Idea Room. So, you're getting this fourth-hand! Yea!

[I have no idea what "infarrantly" means. I looked it up in the dictionary to no avail. Mystery!]

Surprisingly, I followed the directions. I cut the fabric a bit bigger because my clip was bigger than the one in the tutorial. I got my clip from a random piece of our new car seat. It was in its own little bag. I have no idea what this piece is supposed to be used for, so I'm "repurposing" it. Oo la la. I'm so green.

I used this great yellow polka-dot print and gorgeous flower fabric I bought at Crafty Planet. The flower fabric actually has all these little words on it like "recycle" and "love your Mother" or something like that. I usually hate that kind of stuff, but the colors are so pretty, I couldn't pass it up. Once again, I'm so green!

I even ironed as directed! I did all the cutting and ironing last night, so I could "just sew" this morning.

Right.

I was going to make two wristy wonders, so I could give one away, but here is the giveaway one…

We got in a fight.

But the keeper turned out pretty well! The G thought I had bought it somewhere. He's so sweet.

Results? As long as you are a patient person, this little lovely lanyard will take you about a half an hour (max!) and then you have a neat key chain. If you are not a patient person, it'll still take you a half an hour, but your blood pressure will be higher and your child might swear like a sailor for the next week.

Side note: I made that damn Saltine Cracker Toffee again since my in-laws are coming in town and I might need the sugar coma I talked about. It's so good. And a bit prettier this time. Not that I ate any…
Projects Not Pinned

August 17, 2011

I have a problem. It's a compulsion really.

I love moving furniture.

Our house has a partially finished attic where I created a bit of a guest room (although I dare anyone to stay up there in the summer unless you have some spare pounds you'd like to lose; it doesn't have any air circulation) and two storage rooms (one mainly for crafts, the other for off-season clothes and sporty things).

I like moving our "stuff" around in these rooms. Or up from the basement, or down to the main floor. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something in our crazy house, since I haven't learned how to wire a room for electricity or put up drywall.

For example, I moved our six-foot-tall bookshelf from the second floor down to the living room when I was four months pregnant or so. I took a strange coffee table that was living in our attic out to the car a few months after that. Just now, I was hauling old baby/momma/daddy clothes out of the attic to take to Goodwill while carrying boxes of books/DVDs/VHS tapes/CDs up to store. Neat. I feel better.

Imagine segue *here.* (Did you know it's not spelled "segway" like I thought? Now we're all smarter.)

Way back in the day, I spray painted an ugly brass lamp and was waiting to show you, in reality TV parlance, the "big reveal." I needed a lampshade first. Checking out the bargain endcaps at Target finally paid off!

Not only did I get the shade for $6, but it is my favo color! Yippee!

I "made" this lamp shortly after this one, when I was on a spray painting binge. I highly recommend you raid a thrift store (not literally, people) and get the ugliest brass fixture you can find and paint it. It's even better than moving furniture.

Here's how you do…

Grab a piece of brass (hahahahahaha!), some primer, and your favo color in paint.

Make sure your piece is clean or at least not dusty. Tape a bit of the cord and whatever other parts of your doohickey you don't want painted (like the lightbulby-part) and then spray with a coat or two of primer (use a light hand on each coat, like nail polish, so you don't get drips).

The primer is white, by the way. I thought it would be clear for some reason.

Then, do a coat or two of your color. You can more or less do these coats one after another. Most spray paint is quick drying, especially if you're outside. Ta-da and voila!

Other things I've painted the same way with much-improved appearances…

A child-height coat rack and a rascal of a light fixture. Rust-o-leum Spa Blue. Love.

I also have been making random doodads.

I think I'm going to make them into headbands and force my third lady to be Headband Girl. She's really too young to argue. Love that, too.
Something Salad-y

August 15, 2011

The recipes I have shared with you are not ground-breaking. They're not particularly creative. They're not even pretty (see: Dirty Bird). But they are easy, quick, cheap, and have a short list of ingredients. These are things I like when I "cook".

Por ejemplo (¡Thank you, Senor B!), caprese salad. Let me list for you the ingredients:

– mozzerella cheese

– basil

– tomato

– olive oil

Big spender?

– balsamic vinegar

For you pizza-lovers out there (um, that means the entire world, because who doesn't like pizza?), it's like a margherita pizza without the carbs. Neat! Or not. Maybe you're one of those dangerous, risk-taking individuals who still eat white flour.

Now, I must say, I would go all out on the ingredient list. Don't buy some pre-sliced mozz, dried basil, and canned tomatoes and slap it on a plate. Ew. Got some fresh 'matoes from your garden? Grab 'em. Steal some basil from your neighbors (just make sure it's basil and not "oregano," if you live in that sort of neighborhood) and go to the cheese store to get some fresh mozzerella. Then do this…

From the upper left corner, clockwise…

– layer it.

– skewer it.

– make some pesto from your basil and have a sammy. Oh, snap!

– put it on some bruschetta.

Ready for your geography lesson?

The caprese salad comes from the island off the coast of Italy, Capri. See that little guy?

It's not pretty at all there…

I guess this here Capri island has some famous "blue grotto" that's just amazing. The salad got popular when a groovy Egyptian king had it in the 50's and really dug it. So go there and eat some delicious salad and see a cave and feel like a king.
List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

August 14, 2011

- the newest addition to the fam, and no, it's not this awesome sandwich. #3 Bratt girl graced us with her presence on Monday and we celebrated with some great grub from Nye's. Oh Lord, it was good.

– a nap on my stomach, even though I hate sleeping on my stomach.

– one-handed typing practice.

– Minnesota Irish Fair. Because what else are you going to do with a five-day-old baby, but celebrate the heritage of drinking and raucous music? In addition to our regularly-scheduled trip, the G is in a band, Highland Paddy, which happened to win 1st place in the Irish Got Talent contest that the Fair puts on. Here's the fantastic foursome…

– after playing at the River Stage on Day One, the band got to play the Gateway Stage at the fair's entrance on Day Two. It was awesome, especially with the rain because it made everyone crowd in the tent and more and more people walking into the grounds stopped to check them out.

Then, it was fun and games running around the open fields. This is such a great family event!

– one stinky baby. Man, this girl can fart. Whew!

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