About this time last year..

Me and this lovely lady were packing up every leotard and summer dress, and bringing our cute, little, dancer behinds to NYC. Seems like forever ago, but at the same time, just like yesterday, that we were living in a little one bedroom, 5th floor, hotter than you-know-what, apartment. The two of us made sure to document e v e r y t h i n g. From over-flowing toilets, to learning/refreshing our Spanish, running to Ailey, arriving late to Ailey, emergency rooms, Forth of July fireworks above the Hudson and soooo much more. So don't you worry, new friends! It's all here. (Unfortunately, it goes backwards so if you want to read in order, you'll have to use my archive on the side and click June then July.. sorry!) So have a ball reading all about one of the most amazing, difficult, rewarding and inspirational summers of my life. And most likely, hers too.

Happy Wednesday!

And we didn't even take any pictures (this should make up for it)

So you probably won't believe me when I tell you that my bestest friend came to visit me all the way from Boston! Our reunion was extremely overdue (after she left, I tried to remember the last time I saw her.. and I couldn't. That's how long ago it was!) I guess that's what happens when we "grow up".

Noooot that we actually act like grown-ups or anything. Just that our calendars fill up fast, never having a smidge of free time.

At the same time that is.

So friends! It's true.

She came! And it was short. But wonderful!

Our visit this time around included: lots of hugs, a bottle and a half of wine, blue blueberry pancakes, dance teacher gossip, saying up late, boy-talk (for as we live.. boys will always be a topic of discussion), presents, book-reading, and a whole lot of other stuff that my brain is having trouble recalling.

Leading up to her arrival I thought about all the fun photos we could take with hopes of doing a cute post afterwards. Like all of you do when you meet up with co-bloggers. Yeah. That didn't happen. We got too carried away to even know what a camera was. So instead, I will just reflect back on our four years of friendship with these (keep in mind, we're talking four years worth of photos here folks. Of course, I'll only share the best, but I'll wait if you wanna go get a snack first.) Get ready to laugh Liv.

21st Birthdays - March & April 2009

 

 

Celebrating Earth Hour 2009

22nd Birthdays - March & April 2010

Senior Year

Graduation - May 2010

And for the grand finale..

I love my friends!

I hope your day is as much fun as..

 Wishing my very best friend, a lovely Birthday. Give her some love --> AliviaLynn

Have fun plans for the weekend? I'd love to know how all of you are spending the first full weekend of Spring! Happy Thursday =]

xoxo

kid with skis and marshmallow stairs

from us, to you - December Giveaway!

It's not too late to enter Alivia's giveaway! You could win something wonderful for yourself, or to give (Christmas is next week people!) And no worries - ships for FREE! 

So check out my handmade by nicole page.. over there -- > and leave a comment on Miss Alivia's blog telling her what you would pick for yourself or for someone else! 

Become a follower of the two of us (if you aren't already) and the winner will be announced 

D E C E M B E R 17th!!! 

So hurry!!!

Days thirteen, fourteen & fifteen

Sorry that I am slacking on the daily posts. As I'm sure you can imagine, we have been really busy. And by the time we get home, the last thing I want to do is sit and stare at the computer screen. But today, I might be able to find a little energy.

Since my last post I have been on the most nauseating, emotionally and physically draining roller-coaster ever:

MONDAY - A great start to the week. I was so happy to be dancing at the most prestigious modern dance school in the world. Classes were entertaining for the most part, and I felt satisfied with the way the summer was shaping out to be.

TUESDAY - Ballet & Dunham. Alivia and I were excited to have two classes instead of four (like Mondays and Wednesdays). We were wrong. As of now, three or four classes on MW&F are a breeeeeeze compared to the "easy" two that we thought we had on T/TH.
First of all, before we even got to our 9:00 class, we had a workout. The bus got stuck in ridiculous traffic and we pretty much sprinted 14 blocks to Ailey. When I got there, I was frazzled and already sweating. Although our ballet teacher is so cute with her accent, I thought that the class was kind of boring. It seems like people in our level three (out of six) ballet class, don't know the basic ballet technique, or they are simply just too lazy to try. I haven't figured out which it is. It's so annoying. But the teacher of our T/TH class (Mrs. Mario), seems to think that everyone needs to go back and review level one. Ugh. I can't help but be irritated. I'm both expecting and desperately hoping that the class gets more difficult next week. I hate being bored (especially when I'm paying a lot of money.)
We have an hour and a half break between our two classes. We get to eat lunch and change for our next class. Dunham. The school should seriously consider changing the name to "Boot Camp." Because that's what it is. It's not dance. We do not move around gracefully with beautiful expressions of joy and freedom on our faces. That doesn't exist from 12:00 - 1:30 on T/TH. There really is no way to describe the class other than to say there is a lot of moaning, grunting, swearing under the breath, painful expressions and gripping knuckles on the barre. The teacher stays in her chair the entire time (She is one of three in the world approved by Katherine Dunham to teach her technique!) and bangs her stick on the floor.

WEDNESDAY - We took our usually 7:49 bus - however it took us an hour just to get to the Lincoln Tunnel (usually only a five minutes drive).
Needless to say we missed our first class.
And we were mad.
This pretty much ruined my whole day.
Until I got to West African. Because I love that class. The drums. The free movement and the smile on our teacher's face when he sees that we are doing something wrong. I love his accent and the way he describes the steps. We get to be a part of the "Summer Sizzler" which is the show at the end of the program with our West African class. I'm really excited.

THURSDAY - Overall, it was a pretty good day. Ballet was still irritating. I didn't sweat which makes me feel like I didn't work hard enough. I fight for room to dance among all the girls who clearly have no sense of spacial awareness. Although, I think at least six or seven girls are being moved to another level which will give us more room!
Boot Camp was just as difficult as the first day, contrary to some expectations. However, at least this time I knew that I was about to be tortured to no end.

--------------

*In other news - our boyfriends are coming to see us for the weekend. I'm excited to see Dana, hopefully go out to eat (for the first time since we've been here), and watch the fireworks from the shore of the Hudson River on Sunday night. I will take lots of photos to share with all of you.
OHHHH!
And we don't have class on Monday which we were really happy about. We get to sleep in : )

Enjoy the Fourth of July weekend!

No, we did not have hot dogs..

Coney Island
More popular than I thought. Although I've heard of the place, I didn't know much about it except for the fact that it had a beach. And also that it was the home of "Nathan's Hog Dogs." Unfortunately we were 8 days early for their National Hot Dog eating contest. Darn.

From the subway, we could see the amusement park section of this very crowded attraction. Other families and young teenagers stood beside us staring out the window as though we were all five again. I have to admit, it was exciting, [even though I now consider most of those rides nauseating instead of thrilling.]

We headed straight for the beach and spent about 3 1/2 - 4 hours on our towels. It was hard to find a spot and the sand was the hottest that I have ever felt sand. You know how annoying it is to walk through the sand with flip flops on? Usually I do everything in my power to take my shoes off once I hit the sand. It hits you on the back of your legs and you feel like everyone is watching you saying "why is she walking like that." But today, the sand was so hot that I had to endure the looks and sand in my shorts. As I sit here now, I swear I can still feel it burning the bottom of my feet.

One of my favorite things to do at the beach, among reading, sleeping and swimming, is watch people. Especially children. It's the one time that they can usually be amused with one toy. A shovel and the sand. Today I watched one boy play in a huge mound of sand, with his little blue boat for at least fifteen minutes. It was adorable. He didn't complain, get bored or start crying because someone took his toy. He was completely content. Playing all by himself. Maybe the parents at the beach should take lessons from their children. But that might have been too much to ask of them. Since they seemed so preoccupied with more important things than their children.
The least they could do is pretend to be a responsible parent. I can't tell you how many kids I saw by themselves. Most of them could barely walk on their own, let alone remember where their parents were sitting. One of the umbrellas that was set up close to us, shaded a little boy and his father. Most of the time that they were there, they played in the sand. The boy was maybe two years old. MAYBE. At one point, I looked up from my book and saw that he was alone. I immediately scanned the crowd for his father, thinking that maybe he was visiting with someone that he knew nearby. Nope. I couldn't find him. Then the poor little boy was in tears. I searched again for a man who is the nationality of pretty much everyone there. Kind of reminiscent of the "Where's Waldo" books. When I was about to get up and look harder/go comfort the boy/make sure he didn't get up and look for his dad, the father reappeared. Walking from the water to his son, he seemed to be looking at him like "Why are you crying? What's the matter?"
There were several times today just like this, when Alivia and I would look at each other with the same confused expressions. And although I really don't want to go on a rampage, it really makes me mad that people like this can reproduce. No. It TERRIFIES me!

Anyway. There's nothing I can really do about that. Except say that I will never, EVER do that to my children. Or let my friends do that to their children.

So to illustrate the beauty of our wonderful getaway..

[A really cute father and daughter built this. I think it's.. a rabbit??]

We decided that we aren't going to do anything tomorrow. Except maybe laundry. That will definitely become a weekend chore for me. As well as returning to Coney Island as often as possible. Hey.. every girl needs the beach : )

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend everyone <3>

What is "fe-hee-hee--ne.. Oh."

(Que uncontrollable, rolling on the floor, laughter)

Right after I saw the update for Alivia's blog on facebook, I asked that very question. We both rolled on the floor laughing. It's one of those things you don't understand until you say it. So yeah. It just happened. We just spent a significant amount of time watching clips of "Boy Meets World" on youtube. That show is a halarious and I would own every episode if I could - hint hint!

Here's one of my million and one favorite parts of the show. If you find, or know of a website that has episodes of this show, (if it even exists) I would love to watch them all : ) So please share!




This morning we took another Horton class from Troy Powell (as I'm sure you have read about on my lovely friend's blog). It was similar to yesterday, but different enough to keep our attention and make us work hard. Today's class took place in studio 2A. It is on the second floor and overlooks 55th street. The building across from the school looks like it is filled with offices. If I could pick any office in Manhattan (besides one in The Ailey School, because that would be pretty cool too) it would be one in that building. I would never get any work done.
We got gelato after class. Again. It wasn't as amazingly delicious as the kind I had yesterday. However, it could called "plain" with no flavor at all, and I would still think it was the most amazing dessert ever.


What is the opposite of a heat wave? I think we might be experiencing a slight one. (Knock on wood). THERE IS A BREEZE! Currently our windows are open and we have positioned the fan in front of the window to get the cool air circulating through this awkwardly placed apartment. I hope it lasts through the night. If it doesn't, we might use the air conditioning. It turns out it might not add as much to the electric bill as we thought.


My sister is at her last dance convention/competition this weekend. I hope she has fun and does well. I wish I could be there to watch her and cheer her on. I love to watch her perform. She has grown up so beautifully - as a dancer and as a woman.
Good luck baby sister.
Relax. Focus. Breath. Dance. Be free.
I love you.



Tomorrow we are hoping to get to the beach. Because clearly we haven't experienced enough of this hot, muggy weather already. Actually, we both agreed that we would probably spend the majority of the time in the water. We were thinking Coney Island. If you have any suggestions please comment because we really don't wanna stay in Union City all weekend long. (We also don't want to spend a lot of money..)


Have wonderful weekends everyone!

One week down - five to go..

And I absolutely can't tell you how excited I am for the next five weeks. I'm not sure if I'm still starstruck every time I walk through that heavy revolving door or if I'm just not paying attention. But. HELLO! I'M AT ALVIN AILEY! Pretty much the most amazing dance school in the world. (At least to me). Today we took a Horton modern class with Troy Powell. He danced with the company for ten years or so, and now he is a master teacher at Ailey and the choreographer for Ailey II. He was really quiet at first, but man does he have the ability to make you do what he wants you to. You can read his full bio here!

Other than that, today has been the same as every other day. HOT. I took two cold showers today. The latter of the two was actually enjoyable because I didn't feel like melting when I got out.

Oh, Oh, OHHHHHH. I almost forgot to share something super important. Today. Alivia and I got gelato on our way to the bus. I got cappuccino in a waffle cone and it was the most delicious dessert I've ever had. And I love a lot of desserts. But I'm telling you. This was simply incredible. It was the first time (that I know of) I've had gelato. And after confirming with Alivia's research, it's slightly less bad for you than ice cream. If you come visit me, I will make sure we go get some. They have lots of interesting/yummy flavors!

Other than that, not too much excitement to report back to you lovely people. I'm going to get back to looking at pictures that have anything to do with ice, snow, winter and temperatures under 40 degrees. I think it's all in my head, but I don't seem to feel the heat as much.
However, this rice pack from the freezer seems to be helping with the uncomfortable circulation of warm, muggy air in the apartment. Temporarily that is. And by temporary I mean like for 5 minutes.


****


I need to take some more pictures. I apologize for using photographs from websites in previous posts. I'm either too nervous to carry my camera with me, or I think that I won't want to stop and take pictures. I promise that I will try harder to remember to bring it with me. Until then, I'd like to share some older (and new-ish) pictures that I have taken.

*The marvelous Sammi Jean*

*I miss Amber Kitty terribly*


****


Five weeks of energetic/difficult/inspiring/motivating/hot/sweaty/pure love of dance, dance classes left!

They are about to be the best five weeks of my life!


- Until tomorrow lovely friends and family -

"You have two choices: love or fear.."

Love will give you peace, happiness, creativity and serenity. Fear gives you anger, regret, jealousy, hate and resentment. It closes your door. Locks it up. Bolt after bolt, until there's no possible way you could ever get out. When people choose fear, they stay trapped and struggle to move past their locked door. Some try to dance in that tiny space. If you have the courage to choose love, you're free. Able to be unrestricted from yourself. You can do anything.
You have to make the choice.

****

That is the gist of what our Caribbean teacher was telling us today. It has to start with the breath. Let the spirits move inside you - traveling to every part of your body. From there you can journey forward and become a different person.

I really enjoyed the class today. I think I might have benefited more from his words, than the movement itself. Which might have been his intention all along. He kept talking about how the movement has to come from within, and how it is important to follow what the gods tell you to do. He explained the history of the Caribbean dance and how it relates to the Vodun religion. One dance we did, Dambala is about the serpent spirit. Our hands are cupped and fingers are together to represent the snake. When our fingers are open, we are the spirit of waters. The actual movement was all about isolations and had a lot to do with waving of the arms (literally like an ocean wave). I'm sure my shoulders will be sore tomorrow.

I probably didn't explain the concept of Caribbean dance nearly as well as our teacher did. But hopefully you have somewhat of an idea. It was very insightful and thoroughly worthwhile. It was new and refreshing! I'll probably research more about the dance because I am very interested in why they move the way they do.

Another interesting comment that he made went something like this (in his adorable accent):

"I'm not a dancer. When people ask me what I do, I don't say dance. To be a dancer is to be restricted. It's more than that. I simply hear music and move the way the music tells me to. Whether the music tells me to do ballet, horton or jazz. If I knew what "dance" was, I'd be a millionaire. But I can't even say that word. I'm a Da-aa. Da-an. See it doesn't come out. Be more than a dancer."

****

It's soooo hot in our apartment...

Beautyineverything.com

..as usual. And all I can think about is how much I want to go swimming. We tried keeping the windows closed today - since that's when it's seems to be the hottest. When we came back this afternoon, our first reaction was, "wow, I think it's actually a little cooler."

We are currently complaining about how hot it is in here.

I thought this picture was adorable. And I'm really jealous of her. I should just get off the couch and put my head in the freezer. Again. That's sort of like swimming I guess.

Tomorrow Alivia and I are taking a Horton master class at Ailey. Not until the afternoon though. So we'll be able to get some laundry done.
Hope all of you are having a lovely start to summer : )

Thanks for reading my blabble of a blog!

Successful Sunday!

First of all, Happy Father's Day!

My sister Michelle and I with our daddy!

***********************

Today, Alivia and I went into the city. After taking two days off from traveling into Manhattan, we decided we had one last chance to mess it up before having to get to Ailey Monday morning.

We've been doing lots of research on bus schedules, times, routes and other nonsense. We marched down to Park Ave. (only a block from our apartment) and waited at the bus stop. When we saw the sign, it said:
Board here for:
156 New York

That's our bus number! Woohoo! We waited for about 10 minutes before the NJ Transit bus pulled up. Like we've been doing since we got here, we asked the driver if he was going to NYC and he answered "Yes" in English! The bus was air conditioned which was so refreshing to our sweaty, sticky skin (today it was 90 degrees). The whole way there we contemplated the alternative to the "big bus" as we call it, as oppose to the "mini bus." Even though it is $3.20 instead of $2.00 or $2.50, we came to the conclusion that if we take the mini bus we will end up paying more because we will probably go to far and have to get on another one.

We acted like tourists today. Which was fine because we were totally surrounded by them. Unlike we are in Union City. We try real hard not to look like tourists around our apartment. We walked through Times Square to 51st and Broadway to the Capezio store. We are finding our way around Manhattan with such ease. (Maybe if Union City had street signs we wouldn't have such a problem). I bought a black leotard and Alivia bought ballet shoes that she set aside yesterday over the phone. It was a nice store, however really really expensive. I think I might go back in a few weeks if we find out that we can wear more than just black. Blahh it's so depressing and hot!
When I asked Alivia what she wanted to do next, it was like she read my mind. "I don't wanna go back to Jersey!" So we wandered through Times Square a bit, weaving in and out of the people who suddenly stop in the middle of the sidewalk to take random pictures. Uhh. At least we moved out of the way. The only other store we went into was the M&M store. I've been there before, but Alivia hasn't. It's pretty awesome - I would have bought something, but a key chain was $4.00 so you can imagine how much a bag of candy would be.

Here are some other interesting sights to see in the heart of the city..

The Naked Cowboy


Times Square






The Parsons School of Design
(Where the design contestants on Project Runway do their work)






Bryant Park
(This is where Fashion Week takes place sometimes. I'm not sure if it's every year though.)


On Wednesday night, this is where we met Alivia's friend Blair and her boyfriend for dinner. There are lots of chairs and tables set up. And past the tall thing on the right (maybe a screen for movies??) there is a large grassy area with some trees around it where we saw people sun bathing today. In the far back you can see part of the New York City Public Library, which, by the way, you can't take books out of!
Alivia and I got lunch at a little Wholesome foods place on the corner of this park. We sat and watched people sleeping, walking, chatting, as well as cars and pigeons. It was very yummy and entertaining at the same time.



And now for the most exciting part of the entire day. Walking into the Port Authority, asking a man where we could find the 156 bus to Union City and hearing him say, "Upstairs, gate 200."
It exists! We bought our one way tickets, after realizing we couldn't pay in cash, went up the escalator, and got in line for the bus without a second to spare! Talk about perfect timing. All the signs affirmed we were going to make it back without having to squint at street signs or question what our bus driver was saying. We high fived each other like we were ten year old boys and boarded bus 156 with the biggest smiles I think I've ever seen.
It is so worth it to pay a little extra to not have to guess where we're going to stop, or walk 15 blocks to our apartment. Finally.
The only thing left to do is to find a time-sheet of how often the bus stops so we know exactly when we're going to have to get down there. Especially since there are two different buses and bus stops that will take us to NYC. Both are only a block from our apartment : )

(Sorry if this bus brouhaha has completely confused you, or driven you insane. I truly apologize. But at least you don't have to figure it out like we've been struggling to do.)

Tomorrow we start Ailey! We have orientation at 9:00 then placement classes during the day. We have to take a Ballet, Horton and Graham-based dance classes. Horton and Graham-based are both types of Modern dance. I think it is going to be a very long day. And of course it is going to be almost 90 degrees again tomorrow. Yuck.

<3

A real good laugh..

While visiting with our visitors (haha) Christine and Kate, we got some much needed laughter. Maybe a little too much. I don't think there is such a thing.

Sitting in the living room trying to find a place for them to have dinner, Alivia leaned against the air mattress which was standing up against the wall. In slow motion the air mattress moved and all I could picture was the non-working television falling to the floor. I moved quickly to grab it. Alivia thought it was a spider. I guess it was funnier to see it happen than it is for me to tell all of you now.
Oh well.
Here are some funny photographs of us fooling around last night : )




It is really nice to be silly : )

We've also started a tradition of watching "The Best of The Cosby Show" every night. It is really funny - and we love laughing.

Have a nice weekend everyone!!