Eye Spy...My morning ritual

There are three major components to my every morning.

1. Food
2. Blog-reading
3. COFFEE



Those three requirements must be met and enjoyed for at least one hour to an hour and a half post waking up. I am a SLOW riser in the morning, and I need to putter before I can function. I always get up around two hours before I have to be anywhere, no matter how early that might be. If I have to leave the house at 7:30, I'll be up at 5:45. Otherwise, I will not be able to get out of the house!

Strange, maybe, but it's how I function.

***

There is so much happening right now that I have not had time to blog. It's not for lack of wanting to, I assure you! I am going to have to get creative with my images, because Matt left for tour yesterday and took the nice camera. He will be traveling all over the United States in the next two months, so he is going to take pictures galore and e-mail them to me.

Not gonna lie, I cried a bit when he left. Sigh - I miss him already!

Eye Spy...Something that makes me happy

This week's theme by Iris+Lily



I've been working at BB for awhile now, but when I attended the performance of "Black and White" a few weeks ago I was greeted with a fun surprise...



I found my name on the staff list in the playbill. My first official appearance in a real playbill :)



Never did I ever think that my name, Boston Ballet and the word "staff" would ever appear together in the same sentence. I get such a kick out of seeing it in print!

Eye Spy...Love

My friend Shannon read this at our wedding

Song of the Open Road excerpt from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

15

Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe - I have tried it - my own feet have tried it well - be not
detain'd!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the
shelf unopen'd!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn'd!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the
court, and the judge expound the law.

Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?


So in love then, and every day since.



<3

Eye Spy...My Secret (Food) Shame

Oh boy. I can't believe I'm about to admit to this, HA.

My secret food shame is that I drink maple syrup. (The real stuff only). There I said it. I take the bottle out of the fridge, pour maple syrup into the cap and do little mini shots of it. This is an excellent way to curb a sweets craving and is even more excellent chased with milk!

Sorry to be so short, and (oh so incredibly) sweet. I hope to catch up on some blogging soon. I've been BUSY.

Eye Spy...a small object

This week's Eye-Spy theme provided by The Crafty Librarian



When my Memere C. died last April, family and friends were invited to go to her apartment afterwards to take something away as a memento. I didn't want to go myself, so I asked my mom to bring these birdies back to me. My Mem really loved birds, (as do I), and she had quite a collection of ceramic figurines. Many in the collection were a little too big and garish for my taste, but these two chubby, little birdies were always favorites of mine when I was little. They each have a little sticker on the bottom reading: DISSING KERAMIK Hovedgaard Made in Denmark.

There are many small objects in my house, but these birdies are two of my favorites!

Outside my window today there were scores of real little birds hopping about in the snow.



Weeee! Then they were scared away by the church bells ringing.



Today I am thankful for the little things. What are you thankful for today?

Eye Spy...Something With a "J"

I'm going to dance nerd it up for "Eye Spy" this week. Theme courtesy of Lauren

The ballet company, that I just began working for, is doing George Balanchine's evening length work Jewels later this season.

I did a search on Flickr, to show a friend of mine photos of the famous Karinska costume design. That's when I came across zxDavem's Royal Ballet "Jewels" photo set. He's taken beautiful photos, and I favorited quite a few!

Balanchine was inspired to do this literally glittering evening length ballet by jewels in the window at Tiffany's in New York. The ballet has three sections. Emeralds with music by Faure, Rubies with music by Stravinsky and Diamonds with music by Tchaikovsky.

If you're interested in more in depth program notes, see what the George Balanchine Trust has to say about Jewels

Want to see a clip of it? I was only able to find a one minute clip of "Diamonds" on YouTube. Balanchine's choreography is copywritten and the Trust is pretty strict about going after people who post it on YouTube. I'm guessing the video below is legal because it is an advertisement for a DVD:



I've never seen the full length ballet myself, so I'm excited to attend (FOR FREE - BECAUSE I'M AN EMPLOYEE - YAY!)

Hope you enjoyed this nerdy dance segment!

***

P.S. Thank you for all of the lovely comments left on my last post. Things have been sh#$%y to say the least, and I haven't felt like using G+N as a forum to moan about it. Hopefully, I'll have something a little more inspiring to bring to this space soon. Until then, enjoy Jewels!

Eye Spy...Something I Want to Try in 2009

If you had asked me five years ago if I was interested in home brewing, I would have answered no in a heartbeat. Too much work!

Then about a year ago I favorited this photo from Liz aka Pocket Farmer on Flickr:

the beet ginger porter is finished, originally uploaded by Pocket Farmer.

Beet ginger porter?! Oh be still my heart!

Before I saw that photo, I don't think that I really thought about how creativity could play a part in home brewing. Then articles on home brewing and microbrewing starting popping up in a few of my favorite magazines. My interest was peaked. I guess I am just a slave to trends!

My curiosity doesn't just extend to beer. I'd love to make my own wine, cider, liqueurs, etc. My sister has made wine for years, maybe this year I can ask her to teach me about it!

:::

I'm nursing a terrible cold right now. I spent most of yesterday and today shuffling around, rearranging my kitchen to accommodate my new kick ass hutch! Pictures tomorrow - I can't wait to share!

Advent :: Day Seven / Eye-Spy Sunday

Something to get you out and about: Go to the Bazaar Bizarre in Boston from 12-7pm today!

Can't make it to BazBiz, but you want to find some cool crafty shows near you?: Visit Indie Craft Shows, an online database of indie craft shows. They have a newsletter that you can sign up for too!

Why is buying handmade a good idea this (and every) holiday season? Something for you to watch:


Buy Handmade Video from Etsy on Vimeo.

Go take the Buy Handmade Pledge!

Something for you to listen to: A classic today, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas read by Perry Como

Something for you to make: Check out this cool penguin ornament by BazBiz regular Teresa Levy of Sewing Stars.

:::

Eye-Spy Sunday - This week's topic "I spy something in my garden..." was provided by CurlyPops. It was a serendipitous topic, indeed!

I spy...



FIRST SNOW in my garden!



I turned off my alarm clock this morning, then reached towards the window and peeked out through the blinds. I let out a surprised little gasp, "ha!" and poked Matt next to me. I said, "First snow!!! First snow!!!," to which he, clearly thrilled, replied "grunt".

Nothing in the universe fills me with more childlike excitement than a good first snow. Especially in December!

We're off to get our tree (if I can convince Matt to get out of bed), and go to Bazaar Bizarre with friends. It promises to be a great day!

Eye Spy Sunday :: What do I want for Christmas?

Well, this may seem ironic, especially in light of yesterday's post bemoaning shopping and crazed capitalism, but I love to make Christmas lists. Big ones.

They're mostly items from indie businesses, I swear!

This year's list is the smallest one ever. It's under forty items! As I get older I'm trying pare my wishlists down to a more realistic level. (Not that I'm at all expecting 40 presents).

Here are pictures and links to all of the loveliness that I am coveting this holiday season.

My list is pretty predictable, if you know me well, and can be broken into a few categories.

:: Crafty Type Books and Zines ::




:: Clothing ::




:: Accessories: The usual giant earrings and miscellaneous bling ::




:: Dance ::




And a few miscellaneous, such as...




Those Converse are so cool!

Will Santa bring it all? Most likely, not, but I'm totally okay with that!

Today I'm thankful for the things that really matter. Love. Family. Shelter. Food. Health. I am so lucky to have these things already. What are you thankful for today?