"Moses supposes his toeses are roses. But Moses supposes erroneously..."

Who needs a nose job when you've got one of these?Late Fall time(maybe) 2008 I think. We were doing Nose Night. Previously our YG had done, Cheese Night, Potato Night, Banana Madness Night, even a Dental Hygiene Night, but never had we ever ventured into the realms of "Facial Appendage" night... Well, we did, and we pulled it off. (You can't tell, but there are small silver rings in the noses we're wearing.)

freedom of movement

For the past ten years of my life I've taken dance classes. It's become something in my life that I am known for in my circle of friends. Here's a look at things that one might get over a long period of time from dancing. This is what I've received from the past five years of dance, and of course some things come with stories :)

My second pair of pointe shoes.

I soon found that this type of shoe would not accommodate my type of foot...there was a chance of snapping an ankle, tendons, or any number of bones in my foot. Needless to say...I found a different kind of shoe.

My second pair of shoes. Bloch - Aspirations.

(first pair)

No, I did wear these shoes with my feet at the current size. My feet were a bit more wee six years ago. My feet were changed by wearing these shoes. They don't look at all like the rest of my families, the effect I imagine is similar to when the Chinese would wrap their feet. Only difference being that is no longer legal or practiced.

This was my very first pair of pointe shoes, I bought them 6 years ago. Bloch - Aspirations. The epic shoe that starts it all. They give this shoe to every beginner, then when that dancer is ready for another pair they bring the shoes in and the shoe mistress takes a look to see what kind of damage was done and in how much time it was caused. Based on that 'interview' of sorts she goes on to pull many boxes of different kinds of shoes that may or may not be just what your feet need. A person with normal feet can spend a little longer than an hour searching for a right pair...I take a bit longer ;)

This was my first 'big girl' tutu. When my dance teacher moved studios we faithfully followed her. As I started my classes I found myself surrounded by older and taller girls, but was surprised to learn that most of them had just started dancing. This was the year I first started dancing En Pointe.

this was an, interesting, costume. We danced to "In Like a Lion (Always Winter)" by Relient K. I was happy to join this class with Bella and Lissy :) We had fun!

This was my first tap costume(2007), it was gold and sparkly. On occasion I still find gold glitter in my tap shoes!

To be fair, out of all the pointe shoes I've ever owned these ones looked the best :) (Capezio Glisee)

My one and only pair of Capezios. Capezio Glisees. The gave my feet painful burning sensations...so this was the one and only pair I bought.

As you'll see further on...I'm rough on shoes.

They were well loved :)

Bloch, Signature Rehearsal - Strong. When I bought these the woman who owns the store and does the shoe fittings told me that they rarely sell these, ever, because "no one ever has a foot like yours." I have very flexy, archy, beastily-strong feet. When I put pointe shoes on my foot pops out, even with elastic there to hold it in. As you'll see below...my feet can damage shoes...

.:warning:. shoe carnage ahead.

By the end of the 3.5 months that I had been wearing these (once a week for about 45 minutes) I had completely snapped the shank (that red part there) in half...just by wearing them...

This was the first time we had ever done ballet with props, it was rather tricky.

Ballet 2006, we danced to Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera - my MOST FAVORITE ballet number ever!

Tap 2008. We danced with canes...and pants. Not to worry, they're there...folded somewhere under the shirt thing.

2008 was the year I discovered Fuzi! An interesting brand of pointe shoe. You either love 'em or hate 'em. {Pointe shoes # 5 and 6}

2007 ballet. We danced to "A Time For Us" and were forced to improv when our music started skipping. Do you know how hard it is to improv ballet and make it look smooth and executed correctly? Extremely.

2009 tap costume, complete with newsies hat and suspenders ;)

(above) 'Haley'. The lyrical class did a dance to Haley by Need To Breath. This was probably my favorite costume :) and the best part was the 'arm-y thingys' ;)

This year we had props. :) those are always fun...

<-- This was last year's (2009) ballet costume. Our dance was done with a little bit of 'Spanish Flair'.

...I felt like a spanish bumble bee :D

...someday

someday i will get pictures of my danceness and starbucks up...i just need the pictures. so off i go to take them :)

more emily and bella

Bella and I do alot of stuff together. One of those things has been an annual summer missions trip to the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia with our youth group. This pic I believe was taken Friday afternoon at lunch. we're tired(understatement). we're hungry(but not for peanut butter and meat). and just want to go take a snooze(something neither of us do often). so we did :) and then continued working until it was time to pack up for the year and go back to camp and pack some more. I don't know if we'll make it there this year, what with her missions to another country and my school not having any vacation time. But we have memories from these trips to cherish and trump with whatever it is that we do for the rest of our lives.

singing is a way of prayer

It's been a while. Sorry :)

Last night at about 12:30, or early in the morning I suppose you could say, I was up late journaling and listening to music when the lyrics of the song being sung hit me. It wasn't just the lyrics though, it was the fact that the song was not just music and lyrics put together to praise the Lord, but a prayer. And so I did what I do nearly every time I find a song that sparks something in me, I write out the lyrics. And as I wrote, I prayed. I sang the lyrics aloud as a request to my God.

That's what David did. He wrote his Psalms and he sang them in prayer. So I've made this song a psalm of my heart.

Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love; take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee, swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice and let me sing Always only for my King; take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee, filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold: Take my intellect, and use ev’ry pow’r as Thou shalt choose, ev’ry pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine;It shall be no longer mine:Take my heart, it is Thine own;It shall be Thy royal throne, It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store:Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee, ever, only, all for Thee.

Hairitage

Heritage.
–noun
1. something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth; an inherited lot or portion: a heritage of poverty and suffering; a national heritage of honor, pride, and courage.
2. something reserved for one: the heritage of the righteous.
3. Law.
a. something that has been, or may be inherited by legal descent or succession.
b. any property, esp. land, that devolves by right of inheritance.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin:
1175–1225; ME < MF, equiv. to heriter to inherit + -age -age; see heir
Synonyms:
1. estate, patrimony. See inheritance.


This past weekend my family and I took off to the big ole' state of Pennsylvania where most of my relatives reside. While there I found out that my grandmother was not the only beautician in the family, and I heard some interesting stories. As it turns out, my grandmother's brother, Uncle George, married a beautician...two of the in fact.

My great Uncle George was married three times. His first wife, Milly, was a hairdresser and is just now getting out of her practice. While we were there she gave me rolling trolley that has lots of shelves to hold curlers, and clips, and towels, and a hot iron, and such things. Uncle George's third wife, Franny, was also a beautician and on occasion still does hair. As time went by quite a few more relatives popped up in conversation who, at one time or another, had been in this profession.

While we were visiting, my cousin , Elissa, and aunt, Julie, told us they visited a beauty school and were looking in to applying. Two more of my mother's siblings have professed a desire to go into hair, but don't think they can now because of their age. Another aunt went to school for aesthetics(nails). Until this visit I had no idea just how much of a family business this was. It wasn't just my grandparents and I, but a good chunk of my family who has gone before me who have invested themselves at one time or another in this profession.

It's in my family. It's in my blood. This is my profession. This, is my heritage.

....or should I say Hairitage ;)

some pictures

This...is a tiny car. It was in the mall parkinglot one day. My brother's dream car. I bet these are easy to park ;)

Last spring my family and I took a trip down to Tennessee. I was trying to get a beautiful picture of the Nashville skyline but the car was moving to fast, in the opposite direction, and it was quite dark.

My one and only trip to NYC. We went for my friend's 17th birthday. I get to go again sometime in the next year for school. We'll be going to some sort of hair/make up show. Pictures, I'm sure, will follow.

in fairmont, WVa when we take our missions trips I am often called upon as the hairdresser. I gave bella cornrows one day...then i gave two or three more people them cause they thought it was pretty darn cool. What was it that we called you Bella? the best lookin black-white chick? I don't remember, but your hair was cool :)

This...well there's no explanation for this. Well there is, but it doesn't matter much cause this is who we are and what we do....(also in West Virginia)

I like spring...I like reading...I like hamocks... 59degrees rolled around so I took my book outside and hung up my hamock and read there for quite some time until i started losing feeling in my fingers. But it was worth it.

A Quote

Life is so unnerving for a servant who's not serving,

he's not whole without a soul to wait upon.

Ah, those good old days when we were useful,

suddenly, those 'good old days' are gone.

Ten years we've been rusting, needing so much more than dusting,

needing exercise, a chance to use our skills!

Most days we just lay around the castle.

Flabby, fat, and lazy, you walked in and whoopsiedaisy!

Beauty and the Beast, a tale as old as time...sorry I couldn't resist :) This movie is near and dear to my heart for a great many of reasons. In this Disney movie, things are not as they appear, the characters are all under a spell, punished, for a wrong done by one of their own long ago. They've learned to live with it, but still are unhappy, yet have given up hope of the spell ever breaking. Then, in walks someone willing to take a life sentence off of a man's shoulders so that that man could walk free. It was done out of love. Days go by and the Hero and Heroine never fell in love at first sight...unusual for a Disney movie if I do say so. Instead, it takes time. Emotions are all over the board. Anger, fear, sadness, longing, curiosity, guilt, remorse...the couple butt heads, save and take care of each other out of obligation, then slowly, begin to trust each other and start up a friend ship, and from there a bond is formed. The Hero lets his love go to take care of her dying father, because he truly cares and can't stand to see her hurt at this point, even though he knows that his curse will never break if she leaves. But he has learned to love. In the end, the heroine goes back to protect the thing, err, man, that she once was frightened of and despised, the bad guy dies, and an amazing transformation happens.

Belle was always my favorite Disney princess, probably because a 'princess' is something that she doesn't portray at all in the movie. She starts out, in a town, in a quiet village, every day like the one before. She reads books, multiple times, and is always going back for more. She doesn't run with that silly trio of half naked, blonde girls who are always fainting at the site of Gaston, and throws him into a pile of mud with the pig when he tries to convince her that he's the 'one for her'.

Her father is sane...but incredibly imaginative. She's odd, she doesn't really know it cause she herself feels just normal. "Normal is a setting on a washing machine." She "wants adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell. And for once it might be grand, to have someone understand..." She wants sooo much more than these little villagers can imagine. She's not afraid of getting a little muddy, or using her brains. And when someone she cares about is nowhere to be found, she rides through creepy woods that are just screaming "GOOOO BACK! you're crazy if you keep going!" She's a lot of things, but a princess, she is not....until the end. :-D

and when a movie has a singing and dancing candle stick...well, you can't say no to that!