Two Days,14 Hours of Rehearsal, One Hour of Performace, One Camera, Tons of Pictures

It's official, if I'm in a room full of mirrors I will make a load of goofy faces while photo punking my friends.

Saturday rehearsal was intense. By 3pm my head was spinning with moves to practice at home. I could barely think, barely dance, as I was so spent!

As with any show that's about to be put on there are lots, and I mean LOTS of last minute changes. Sometimes due to practicality, sometimes due to drama. We had both of those happen this weekend. I won't go into details, but, if you're dying to know you can email me (addy in my blogger profile) and I'll tell ya. The above picture is of the dancers and my instructor, K.t, working on cheorography at rehearsal. The next day this amazing cheography, along with other cheography, was thrown out. I was really, really bummed about this- but, as they say the show must go on.

As I mentioned in previous posts wigs get involved in Irish dance. We didn't wear the wigs the entire performance, but, we did for two dances! In fact we all got our wigs and dresses on in a matter of minutes- two for me! K.t's trying to show us how she's going to make this old, and I mean old, pony tail wig work as a bun wig. Believe it or not she pulled it off (thanks to a little help from Dawn).

But before the fun with the wigs we had to look glamorous with our real hair so K.t, being the multi-talented instuctor that she is, did our hair. We all had teased, 'boofed' hair as Dawn called it. K.t also helped with make-up. I wear make-up but it's never very thick, so naturally getting dolled up for the stage was a little out of my range.

All smiles.

See? Buffed hair all around! And great eye make-up for the stage. This is before I put on the red lipstick. I NEVER put on red lipstick as it just doesn't fit my pasty white state. However, add a spray tan, some eyeliner and look out I can rock red lipstick!

K.t and her hubby who graciously stood on stage to play the part of a British soldier.

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The performance went pretty well considering we had only two rehearsals! One of those rehearsals btw was the dress rehearsal. Oh and when you throw together three music groups, narrators, a story teller, three 'soldiers', and three dance groups you need more rehearsal time! Little things! The story teller came in too early and thus there wasn't enough time for some of our dancers to get their hardshoes on. So only three out of seven dancers were able to get on stage! Ah well, c'est la vie as they say. The audience didn't really notice and at least the second half of the show went on without a hitch.

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I didn't dance too bad during the performance which was very exciting for me, not to mention a HUGE relief! Rehearsal didn't go well with me as I was confused and mixing up all of my steps. Oh did I mention this is the first time I've had to dance through hardshoe steps- one of those hardshoe steps I learned in a day!?! Despite all the drama and confusion performing in a real theater (though a small one) at a performing arts center was amazing. Something I will always remember!

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Okay and now for what you all have been waiting for..........

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Wait for it.......

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ME IN A WIG!!!!

Not as burnette as I thought I would be. Turns out this wig is the wrong color for my friend. It is pretty light for her hair color, so,she was happy to lend it to me. In case you were wondering, she wore one of K.t's old wigs as their hair color is very similiar. So here I am ladies and gents, I threw on an older style solo dress and donned a wig (yes done in two minutes) all in the name of a performance. Not going to lie, I was really hot in all that. Apparently the newer solo dresses are lighter and cooler a fact I hope to experience personally one day...but I digress.

That wig was really fun to bounce [jump] around in! Though to be honest, I think I may get a bun wig for competitions, tends to give a more 'mature' elegant look to most. What do you think?

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That my dear friends, in a choppy nutshell, was my entire weekend. Nearly fourteen hours of dance, rehearsal, and preparations. I am still tired today and still utilizing the ice pack for some sore spots. However it was fun and we were rewarded with a fantastic post-performance party at a friends house. I really feel lucky to be able to have had such an amazing opportunity and to have it with some amazing dancers and friends!

Snapshots From This Weekend

Saturday rehearsal. Six hours, lots of Advil, completle brain drain, and near meltdown (mine). But hey, I did it and my legs were wondefully tanned to boot!!

Before today's performance. I am so lucky to dance with such talented, fun, kind (and gorgeous!!) young ladies!
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Oh and yes, you all have to wait to see me in a wig! Can't show all the goods at once you know! lol ;-)

Pale Goddess No Longer!

My 'tan' line! Got airbrushed today (for the first time I might add!) and am happy to say I am a bit darker! Not that dark, but, as the gal at the tan salon said, I couldn't go too dark even if I want to! I would look rediculous lol. I don't think I've ever been this tan- close to this, but, never this! I'm hoping it's dark enough for the stage! Don't want the ships to dock at the theatre because I'm glowing too much! More pics of performance prep/rehearsal/transformation coming soon my dear friends!

Summer Break

Look who's bearing full weight on his leg! Oh and sportin' a new e-collar after he anihilated his other one.

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This week I've done a lot of nothing, but, somethings have been done here and there. I am actually catching up on a lot of sleep! Ohhhhh how I've needed that. This morning Leo knocked over my coffee mug and it spilled everywhere. I didn't get frazzled at all whereas last week I would've just lost it as I was so tired. I got Leo to the vet this week and his doc, Dr Mary, is optimistic he will be allowed some activity here soon! Keep your fingers crossed for us pretty please. I know you guys have been fantastic with all the love and support you've sent Leo. We do appreciate it lots!

Oh and of course Leo's growing- AGAIN!

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So aside from taking care of Leo and getting sleep I've done laundry, managed to crunch up the passenger side rearview mirror (long story on that one lol), and now am getting some practice and rehearsal in as this Sunday I am performing at the performing arts center [PAC] in downtown Tulsa for Summerstage with a bunch of other dancers from our school and the other local ID school.

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Here's where it gets fun- turns out a last minute costume decision means I will have to: A) Wear someone's solo and/or school dress because that's what everyone else will be wearing and I'm too new to have one B) Get a spray tan because my legs will not be covered in black tights and I don't want to blind anyone and C) Put on a wig- a BURNETTE wig!! LOL Oh I promise there will be pictures of me all tanned and a curley headed burnette! Can't wait to see what that will look like can ya? Neither can I!

Happy Fourth of July!!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!! Hope wherever you are celebrating you are well and safe. And if you're not celebrating have a great one anyways!

Recovery Week Four... Two Steps Forward and a Step Back

Check out the number Leo has done on the e-collar. Oh right, he's pretty cute all squished up and asleep in it too.

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This past week was THE hardest week with Leo. We took him off of one of his medications, a sedative, which is good because I'm not fond of the idea of Leo being hooked on meds. However, within a couple days after he was off the sedatives I was in tears. It's not Leo's fault, he's used to going everywhere and playing. He didn't want to listen to me, he began to bark incessantly when put in his kennel. Allowing him to be out his kennel only resulted in his attempts to escape and run, which is a big no-no when one has eight pins in their leg!

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So we did the kennel thing, we tried to settle him down, but, despite all the prodding and love we could dish out it was as if a switch went off in Leo's head and he couldn't turn it off. I blame the pent up energy, and the start of a growth spurt. I lost my patience more than once and even ran out of the room in tears- twice! All I wanted to do was keep Leo healthy, take care of him, and prevent him from aggravating his injured leg. Yet nothing I could dish out worked.

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He finally managed to chew off some of his bandages on the hardware when I made the mistake of letting him be in an inflatable collar (yay for wasting 30 plus bucks!). Jon and I took him into the vet yesterday around noon. Sleep deprived, tired of listening to him whine and bark, and upset with my boss who misunderstood a FB status message I nearly broke down at the vets when they asked me if I could leave Leo at the vet clinic due to an emergency coming in. I feel so responsible for him, and hated the thought of leaving him there, but, I had to get back to work. So I relented, told them about how he has been, and left.

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That said, it was a very, VERY good decision. When Jon and I came back in the evening to pick Leo up the vet said they had to give him an injection of sedatives. Leo was fine for a little bit, being his normal cute self, and then the switch went off. She prescribed a new sedative for him for me to take home and give Leo. I nearly did carwheels! I know it sounds bad, it really does. The odd thing is when he's awake he acts just like his old self! He's sleeping more now and his pin site wounds look a LOT better. He even walks around without limping. All fantastic signs. Lets just hope that once this last round of sedatives is over with I can take Leo out and let him be a bit more like a puppy. Maybe that'll help channel some of his energy!

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So in short, it was a bumpy ride this week. But I'm sure it's all worth it to get him well. We will get there. And in the meantime, I'm going to catch up on sleep, get a massage on Monday, and enjoy some of my summer break. I didn't know this caretaker thing could take so much out of me!

Ha ha!!

I had to, and by that I mean do it then or be majorly inconvienced, get my driver's license renewed yesterday. Why do visits to the tag agency always make me nervous? I get this irrational fear they're going to tell me I can't get my driver's license renewed, or there's something wrong. Not to mention the dreaded waiting period at the DMV causing me to miss work or something. However, not only did I completly plan my time correctly for a trip to the tag agency, but, I also managed to take a GOOD, yes a good, picture! Check it out!

How did I manage it? I honestly don't know. I did add a bit of extra eyeliner and bronzer in hopes that I wouldn't look washed out. But, really I just think the camera gods were smiling upon me yesterday. Now the trick is to live up to this picture in four years when I must renew again. At least I have some time to think about it! ha!

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ps- ignore the birthdate on there will ya? :-P