Blogging

Bloggers,

May I recommend one thing.

Please go back to previous blogs of yours and then sit down and have a nice read.

It's like reading journal entries. You are surprisingly uplifted by your previous posts and things that people have commented about your posts. You also discover strengths about yourself.

For instance I discovered that I am really funny!

Hilarious, actually.

Enjoy. :)

Oh man! This is torture!

This is the ONLY time where I miss television.

You see, we own a tv and a dvd player, but we don't have cable or anything hook up to watch television.

Now, I usually don't get so crazy over TV shows, (for instance, I enjoy 30 Rock and others, but I'm not sad if I miss a few weeks) so I feel justified in having no shame in my 3 month, summer TV obsession.

That's right, tonight is the beginning of...

So You Think You Can Dance!

Anyone else big fans? Care to share your TV with me?

As incentive, I'll trade services for TV time. Cookies? Cakes? Foot Rubs?

How did that happen?

So along with purchasing a paper shredder. A life saver, truly.

I couldn't resist buying a few "board" games (neither actually includes a board).

Hate to turn my blog into a commercial, but you HAVE to try out this game. It's so fun!

Plus, it will probably make you 10 times smarter and increase your word power.

It's really...uh...really great.

BANANAGRAMS!!!!

This next one is a family tradition. I have memories of staying up late playing a few rounds with my mom. This will also make you really...really...really smart.

That's right, PERQUACKY!

Oh man, let the good times roll!

I know what (I'M DOING THIS) summer.

I've been thinking about summer, lately.

Things like:

Where am I going?

What am I doing?

As well as some other unimportant details, like where can I find an A-line, knee-length, denim skirt with front pockets? I'm quite specific on what I want. Anyone know where I might at least find a pattern?

I digress...

I'm really looking forward to summer this year. Some of the time will be spent doing what others tell me to do (ie work) and some of it will be spent doing whatever I decide to do at the moment. I like this combination.

Part of my summer will be spent rehearsing, teaching and performing. June has trips to New Jersey and Detroit. Never been to Detroit.

Then later in June (date pending, could be august or so), I am going in for my final jaw surgery. Yipee! I'm kind of bored with this whole cyst thing and I'd like to get it all over with. Who knows how much my insurance is going to cover a hospital visit, but so far Heavenly Father has been blessing me with pretty fortunate situations. I mean golly, I have insurance, so cool!

But if not, I have faith it will work out in the end.

July I travel to Amherst, MA for work. Then I'm off to Mesa, AZ to see mi familia! Another Yipee! Oh man, that is going to be awesome.

August I'll be rehearsing for a show in Flushing, Queens (which hopefully will allow me to collaborate with the hubby. Nice) then, doing a summer intensive out at Keane University in NJ. Good times.

The rest of the time will be spent getting in shape (4-pack here I come! I'm a realist, not an American Gladiator). Doing Physical Therapy, yoga, class, etc. Working at the temple, learning more spanish, reading. and getting into the habit of personal study in the morning.

Sheesh. After writing it all out, I'm afraid it's going to go by too quickly. I'll just have to remember to savor every moment.

Untitled

Okay. I've been neglecting my blog, I know.

But to be honest, often times, I'd rather go to my family and friends blog and look at adorable pictures of growing families, fun adventures, hilarious stories and inspiring insights.

Also, what I have to blog about isn't nearly as interesting. In fact you might call it boring/annoying/frustrating/depressing---take your pick.

Organizing.

I, actually do enjoy organizing...no, wait. Let me re-phrase that: I enjoy having things organized.

Especially when it comes to my home. Now, I'm not the crazy types, you know like those crazies that, uh...gosh, I can't even think of an extreme organizing example. That's how unorganized-minded I am! (unorganized or disorganized...?)

Well, anyway. I want to get organized, so I'm thinking of purchasing a paper shredder and filing cabinets. Mostly, the reason why our home feels so disorganized is because we have tons of random bits of paper. Old and unimportant documents that's cluttering up our tiny little apartment! (frustration is beginning to bubble up now....basingstoke. basingstoke.)

But should I buy more stuff to make myself organized? A paper shredder I think I can see more of valuable purchase, but what about filing cabinets? Anyone have ideas? Or maybe you would like to come to my house and organize it all? Hmm? Any takers??

Pump me up with your good advice. Or maybe if you know a good reliable paper shredder...

(desperation creeping, creeping in.....GAAA!)

What a character!

(sorry family, this is a repeat for you, I just had to share with my friends!)

This is my cute niece. (So VERY cute)

If you look closely. She has nice little accessory on the back of her hair.

Yup. It's a Dum-Dum!

Kids are the greatest!

Me. In an Opera House. Sa-weet!!

This is a picture of me dancing on the stage of the Wroclaw Opera House.

Yup. I pretty much love this picture.

Not sure how to edit this one.  Let me know if you know how...

But this is a picture of me and the ceiling of the Opera House.

And this, of course a pic of my dirty foot.  An opera house isn't used to barefooted dancers and therefore, had hard time keeping the floor clean.   Eww.

After the show, the company took the dancers out to eat at this restaurant, where we had our own room with plush chairs. 

Needless to say, I felt like royalty....

(yes that is wine in my hand, but it was borrowed for the pic for effect)

Poland Continued

This is a picture of hotel they are renovating, across the street from the Opera House.  If you look closely at the picture, the balcony that you see there (slightly masked by a drop cloth) was not part of the original design. No.  This balcony was constructed specifically for Hitler when he came to make a speech in Poland.  eerie.

Below are some cool buildings of Wroclaw's city square.  The photos were taken on two different days.  We had 2 half days to go explore, the rest of our time was rehearsing.  

There were also several little gnomes around the city, just hanging out here and there.  Some where on window ledges, some hanging off lamp posts.  Not sure why.

And of course, I got a picture with Papa Elf.  For whatever reason, posing with this character wasn't as nearly as creepy as is it with some "street performers"

This a picture of the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company in downtown Wroclaw.  Cool!

Below is a picture of a the University and one of it's lecture halls.  Pretty cool.

 A picture of the company rehearsing in the Opera House rehearsal hall.

Hey family...remember when I brought back those random kids books from Montreal? 

Look! It's Gofrette the Cat! On TV!  

Apparently he has a TV show and there are plans to bring him to the states!

Trip to Poland

 

We arrived in the city of Wroclaw (Vrot-Swav) at 10:30am,  after a somewhat long, yet fairly comfortable flight.  A taxi drove us to our hotel, just outside, but within walking distance, of the city-square and the Opera House.  After checking in, I sleepily made my way up to our hotel room and found this on our TV screen...

Yes.  It was a screen of champagne glasses and roses, with a note from the concierge, welcoming us to Hotel Orbis, specifically "Pani Woolf".  Which means "Miss Woolf"...ooh...personalized!

The Hotel was mostly there for sleeping in, that's it.  In Poland you are allowed to smoke in restaurants, lobbies, bars, and hotels.  Our room wasn't too bad, as it was a Non-smoking room, but several of the rooms on our floor were definitely smoking.

Then, in order to fight off any jet lag, we went walking around the city (for 6 hours...whew, I was exhausted.  Mind you, I had already been up for a good 20 hours. So by the time I got to bed, it was about 36 hours without sleep.  But, it was worth it!)

So the next couple of photos is of the more historic part of Wroclaw.

Above Left, are statues that gradually make their way down below the

street level, which represented those who "disappeared" or were forced to go 

underground during Soviet rule (let me know if that is not totally accurate).

Above Right is a picture of me in front of Town Hall.  I'll say once and I'll say it again...such great architecture!

Above is a picture of me jumping for joy in the city square.

The buildings in downtown Wroclaw are so colorful!

Top is a picture of the Opera House where we, rehearsed and performed.

Below is the logo for the festival.  I thought it was pretty cool.

I have to go now but there is more to come, so stay tuned...

Oh. About Pollack jokes...I don't know if they can ever be told in good humor. I say this because of the origin of Polish jokes.  After WWII, word was spread as to how quickly Poland was defeated by German and Russian forces (just over a month).  And shortly thereafter, Pollack jokes  appeared, making fun of Poland and how quickly they became occupied. 

And after reading about Poland history, AFTER WWII, I have great admiration for Poles. Despite their historic struggles, Poland is quite resilient and tenacious.  

So no jokes from me sorry.

Oh no!

Lisa Simpson:   "I'm losing my perspicacity!"

Homer Simpson:   "It's always the last place you look."

The other day, I caught myself saying "Plivirege", instead of "Privilege", again.

Sheesh.

Randomness

Today I ate my food in bar or liquid form. 

 

Here are some examples: 

Banana & OJ smoothie for breakfast

Granola bar for snack

Cliff Bar for lunch

Protein bar and berry smoothie for dinner

I feel weird about that.  In fact, I would really like a salad now.  But it is now 10 pm and I'm done eating for the day.

I love my next door neighbor (or diagonal neighbor).  She is fantastic.  She was in the Dominican Republic visiting family and we were to keep an eye on her apartment.  Well, when she came back, she brought us a key chain and coin purse, and some Dominican candy (tastes like Dulce de Leche...mmmm. So good).

I keep thinking how I need to be a better neighbor and serve her more.  But she is always inviting my hubby and I over for dinners, birthday parties and bringing us back gifts!  She's such a sweetheart.  I think I'm going to write her a letter and tell her.

My pinky toe is fat.  I think I ought to ice it.

I leave for Poland in a week.  I am in Poland for 4 days, then I'm  taking my 4 days off to go visit friends in Stuttgart, Germany and then Basel, Switzerland.  I was feeling a little panicked about traipsing around Europe--navigating my way around, trying to get to know the culture, trying out my Polish/German.  

Yesterday, at my doctors appt, I was able to practice some of my Polish on the X-ray technician, who happened to be from Poland.  She said I had very good pronunciation and that when I get to Poland I should try Pickle Soup.  

I went to the orthopedic doc, to have him take a look at my left hip/thigh/ back area.  I've been having some chronic pain lately.   It appears that I injured the tendon that connects my hamstring to my "sit-bones", a while ago, and in my body's efforts to make it better, created little calcifications around the tendon, or something.    

I  put it off for so long, so then I started compensating in other areas, so now I have pain on my entire left side.   Word of wisdom to the young:   TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY!  Don't put off  going to see the doctor.  GO NOW!    But the Doc said it's nothing a little bit of massage therapy and Physical therapy could take care.  

I am grateful for my family.  For the words of love and wisdom and support.  I love my hubby. My ability to dance and use my body to express and share ideas.  What a wonderful blessing.

"Anna Needs"...

My husband shared with me a quite funny Google Game.  In the search engine you type, "[your name] needs" and pick the first 10 results (or the 10 best/funniest!).

Check it out.

1.  Anna needs to be excused from class today.

2. Anna needs to find a toilet.

3. Anna needs whatever sense of humor works for her.

4. Anna needs to balance out, and find peace without extremes. (how insightful)

5. Anna needs new ones (I jut have to add that this came from a plastic surgery website. It was in reference to breast implants.)

6. Anna needs to tone it down a bit.

7. Anna needs money.  Not for herself, but for her son. (riiiight...)

8. Anna needs to be held accountable.

9. Anna needs some media training.

10. Anna needs to clarify her expectations.

Let me know what you come up with!

Grateful for Primary

I have been teaching Primary for about a year now, ages 11-12.  And lately, I've been coming home so uplifted from the songs in singing time and inspired by my bright and interesting class.

What a wonderful blessing the gospel is!

You Know You're a New Yorker..

…you say "the city" and expect everyone to know that this means Manhattan.

..when you're standing in a packed subway car with 200 hundred other people and everyone manages to avoid looking at each other

…you can pick out the tourists when they turn their heads to the "ladies and gentlemen this is an important announcement from the MTA" message

…when you're away from home, you miss "real" pizza and bagels.

…you can ignore homeless people without feeling too bad

…you can walk through "The City" for hours and not get tired but once your out of NYC and walk for 10 minutes you feel exhausted.

…rather than waiting safely on the sidewalk to cross the street, you wait inches away from speeding traffic waiting to cut through it.

…you have jaywalked in front of a cop. More than once. And they didn't care.

...you're 35 years old and don't have a driver's license.

...you ride in a subway car with no air conditioning, just because there are seats available.

... you are going home from work by subway and you know exactly where on the platform the doors will open and leave you right in front of the stairways at your home station.

...you cringe at hearing people pronounce Houston St. like the city in Texas

...you start thinking that a 500 square foot apartment is large.

...you see Harrison Ford walking down the street and nobody seemed to care to look at him.

...you know who Dr. Zizmor is.

...you have at least 50 menus in your apartment, two thirds of which you have neither ordered from nor even heard of.

...you wouldn't dream of going to Times Square on New Year's Eve.

...you freak out because a stranger says hello.

...someone bumps into you, and you check for your wallet.

...you pay no attention to the nice lady walking down the road having a perfectly normal conversation with herself.

...you understand that the plural form of you is youse.

...Nothing is north or south, it's uptown or downtown.

Stay? Go?

I went.

and it was good.

Should I stay or should I go?

Let's see here...

I could stay inside and eat my weight in peanuts

or

I could go for a walk around Inwood and get some fresh air.

.....to be continued....

Trip to Swarthmore, PA

It's been fun performing/working with the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company.

We've been traveling around New England performing at schools and doing workshops.

Recently we made a trip to Swarthmore (yes, SwaRthmore...I've been pronouncing it wrong), Pennsylvania.  We mingled with some students, did a Master class, a Lecture Demo, stood on a dark stage for several hours of tech-ing and then finally, performed our 2 1/2 hour show.  All over the course of 2 days.   The show was good for stamina and we had lots of fun.

Swarthmore is a Liberal Arts private college and was founded by Quakers.  It is now a secular school, but the buildings remind me of churches.  They are all so beautiful.

The Mess Hall at Swarthmore...mmm...college cafeteria food....

The school put us up in a nearby B&B, where we had the nicest accommodations and the best Host (she's the one on the end).  She made homemade cookies for us every night!

(these were taken in David's room, he had his own private bathroom)

This was the girl's bathroom we shared.  It came a whirlpool tub. ooh la la

This is the entry way and living room (all this

explanation is for mom...

I know she would love this place and would like to 

see as much detail as I can offer)

And then of course we had a delicious breakfast!  Our choices were

Homemade Granola, Eggs, Bacon, Pancakes, Fresh Oatmeal, Homemade 

Sausage, etc.   It was all so good!  The first day, I filled up on Breakfast and then

didn't have to eat 'til dinner!

And of course, the usual silliness backstage!

Mark found both these shirts in the lost and found.  Why would anyone get rid of such prized outfits?

Craft time

My cool Sister-in-law had a great idea to make fun headbands for New Year's.  Well, we went shopping for headbands, felt and feathers, but ran out of time to make them.  So I brought it home to work on.  It's not high quality, but it was fun.

The Grape-vine

The Green Feather

The Pink Feather

Now where to wear my new accessories....

Oooh fun!

This has been an exciting beginning of the year for me.

To start off, I came back to my job with gusto, as we prepare for 2 performances this weekend. Not that I don't like performing, it's just that after 2 weeks of barely moving, I've been a little sore from an intense week of rehearsing.  But, like I said, it's been nice to get back into the full swing of things.

However, I wasn't expecting to dislocate my toe during one our tech rehearsals. Of course I didn't know at the it was dislocated. Funny thing is, I wasn't dancing when it happened.  Oh no...I was running to a spot in the darkness and rammed my toe into one of the props.  Dancers are strange like that.  We function most gracefully when we are dancing, NOT in everyday life.    sheesh.

At first I thought I had just stubbed my toe....really really bad...I mean, it didn't look dislocated, it just hurt like crazy!  So, I taped the thing up and took the pain.  After about 3 hours of dancing on it, I couldn't take it anymore.  It hurt really bad.  And it was apparent that I had more than stubbed it, when I took off my toe tape it was all black and blue and swollen.  Not your normal response to stubbed toe.

(*I would like to digress here for a bit...

the day I "stubbed my toe" I was having sort of a dark, mentally cloudy day.  I was feeling pretty ungrateful and had nothing real positive running through my mind. But I want to say now, that that experience I've learned a few things...like being grateful)

Luckily, CDDC has workman's compensation, so I ran over to ER (was the quickest way for me to get x-rays to see if was broken or not).  I didn't have to wait more than 30 minutes, total, before I saw a doctor.  He assumed it was broken, but after x-rays, saw that nothing was broken, so assumed that it must have dislocated and then re-set on it's own.  What a blessing that was. It has healed so quickly. 

S0, after 3 days I've healed quickly, received reassuring phone calls, been treated by a doctor and still am able to perform this weekend.  (of course that was my biggest concern)

I was reminded that I have a lot to be grateful for: family, friends, an understanding employer, workman's comp, competent physicians, a body that heals well. 

Here are some pictures of my quick recovery: 

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

The Re-entry

Well, it's that time again. That's right...time for The RE-ENTRY into the real world, the everyday life.  Here's to eating healthy again!  To waking up early, going to the gym, to working and paying bills.

I'm not complaining, really...well, maybe a little.  But I do miss having routine and regimen. Even though, I can hardly stick to it through out the year.

But until I can master my weaknesses, I have here a picture posted of how I generally feel after my lazy, over-eating 2 weeks.

Happy New Year!!!