Test run, vol.2

Some black & white this time. The headline picture doesn't really match with this one :D I really like the pattern, but it's probably not nice enough. I'll continue thinking about it.

Madison Avenue (from the cutest blog on the block)

Test run, vol. 1

Okay, contestant number One is here. Called "Shabby Peonies" it is, and the reason for considering this are the colors and the overall feeling. The lace on the sides aren't my absolute favorites, but at the moment they don't show that much under the "text part" in the middle.



You'll find picture of Shabby Peonies here.



Also I changed the headline-picture, as I found this supercute from the net :) The font doesn't please me, but it's the best I could choose quickly :D

Other stuff: today I had another pointe class - yay! Wore the capezios for a change (haha...) and they felt so different. But not bad. My ankles are still a bit too wobbly to do much on the middle, but I don't mind :)

Also I had a practice with a certain choir that's going to make a Christmas album! I'll be playing in 3 songs, like them quite much. Especially the 2 that Jukka Linkola has arranged. So beautiful, the other one so funny! :)

Now I'm at home, trying to relax a bit. Nice life :)

Lots of changes happening around me

Well, the most obvious change is visible here: I'm searching for the Next Template :) Have been flipping through lots of pages (The Cutest Blog on the Block and Shabby Blogs for example), also the pictures and stuff that Blogger offers. It's too difficult to choose! Also I'm very picky, so it has to be really nice in all ways... I think there'll be a test run for a couple that I've found. Then it's decision time. Yikes!

At first I wanted to write about the crafts that I do, my cat Viuhti, food & cooking... Then I found ballet again and as someone Might have noticed (haha), most of the posts are about dancing. Or the dance gear. Also the majority of posts these days are in English, especially ballet-subjected. The bilingual-thing is here to stay. (I'm not so organized nor productive/good writer that there would be enough to keep two separate blogs...) (Or who knows. But not yet anyway.) (I have Huge respect for those, who manage more than one blog :))

Other changes are for example this "mold-my-body"-project and "think-more-about-what-you-eat"-thing. I feel better all the time and want to dance/learn more. One other change would affect my sleeping pattern - which is quite terrible. But when I'm going to work in the afternoon, there's no Must-reason to get up early... And then stay up late. Have to try changing it. (There's also Viuhti, who wakes me up once or twice almost every night. Especially if I go to bed early.)

Tomorrow there's going to be a pointe class, the second one this year :) After which I have to storm out and head for a practice with a choir (to play the flute). Luckily the rehearsal is located Very near my home, so it's a fast journey after it.

Now, time to flip through some more photos.

Music videos with ballet or "ballet - part two

Just found something Very Nice with a lot of help from my cousin Liisa :) Thank You!!!

As I said in part one, many times there's only Something Like Ballet in music videos, but this has The Real Deal. And the dancers are MEN! :) (Well, they were also in part one, but imitating women.)

Here you go:

Regina - "Saanko Jäädä Yöksi?"


p.s. The title in English: May I stay for the night? (...or something like that :))

Good music - Kuukumina!

About an hour ago came home from a fantastic club gig, played by -> Kuukumina!!!

They play (like the site tells us) Afro-Cuban & world music and the recipe for it goes like this: " Take a little bit of Son, combine it with Rumba and dip it in Salsa. Mix with Flamenco and Samba. Cooked in the Kuukupot, the outcome is unpredictable. But beware – it’s always spicy!"

There are some songs on the site, go and listen :) Also there's one live video from Huvilateltta in Helsinki on Youtube. Don't listen to it just before going to bed, otherwise you won't be able to sleep - you just want to dance :D

Que viva Chango


Goooooood night!

Classy!

Last Wednesday's class was nice :) I'm looking forward to upcoming week's session(s). Tomorrow evening we'll have the first pointe-get-together. It's a bit, or a lot I mean, nerve-wrecking to do this thing after manymany years. And to know that I wasn't anything brilliant back in those teen years with the "toe shoes". There's still a long way to go and develop, when my overall physical shape is concerned. But (and there always is one): during the whole year (from last August till today) there definitely has been progress. So I'm on the right track! And the biggest positive point about it is that I really like what I'm doing.

Biggest challenge this Autumn (or semester or whole year) is to improve balancing on left side. With the right leg I don't even have to think about it that much (of course Something has to be done, but it happens almost by itself). When we're working with the right leg and standing on left, like tendus on the middle, it's just wobbly too often. It Is better than a year ago, but still not the same as before the ankle breaking etc.

Another challenge I've decided: better pirouettes. Which means clean singles at the moment :D I know I can do them, but it would be nice to happen every time... :P

Challenge by the barre: developpes (want to make them at least a tiny bit higher) and fondus (the plié and the whole movement... feels super heavy and frustrating, blaaaaaaaaaah) (so, I would like to like them, that's the point).

Soooooo.... This week I'll have pointe on Monday, regular class on Wed & Sat. Maybe another class on Sat, but that's only a maybe. In September there'll start a Friday class, and then my week is kind of complete :) Work for 5 days, ballet (=play) for 4.

Also new template being chased after for this blog... But I'm in no hurry, so have to look around a bit and try different stuff. To see what is me ;)

Only one day to go before....!!!

New season starting at the dance schools, as well as the "normal" schools did last week in our region. I started my flute-teaching job today, 5 lovely pupils all in one row, no breaks. And I'm not kidding, they were very nice! :)

But on upcoming Wednesday: first ballet lesson with my new teacher, at a new dance school. Yikes indeed. I know one girl (well, woman like me :D) who's gone there for couple of years(?), and talked with her last week. I think it's going to be ok, but still I'm very excited/nervous. In a good way! Also the teacher phoned me last week, as I'd sent her e-mail considering for example the pointe lessons on Mondays. Sounded very promising. After Wednesday's lesson I think I'll know, whether or not I'll like this school's style.

Today was a day of ups and downs. Mainly ups, I guess. Which is good, of course ;) Washed a full machine of dance stuff -> definitely an "up" :) There's still some to wash, as I'm quite lazy when it comes to doing the laundry... Today's load was all darks, blac - dark grey - petrol blueish. Still some orange, red, blue (as I forgot it today), powder "light" to go... No chance of putting them in the same load. Wannabe-dancer's life seems to be Very Interesting today, yes?

By the way, after one week I'll know, how those 45 minutes' pointe lessons are :) As a teenager, we had part of every class (almost) pointe, but don't remembed too much of them. Pity... Every time I think of those days, I miss my old teacher. She was super, although I wasn't the most eager pupil always ;) Would be awesome to meet her some day again. She's not working anymore, so it's kind of "mission impossible". I know that her husband does some performing (and teaching...?) still, but that's about all the information. She always called me Iepukka, as a nick name of my real name Eeva :)

This post turned out to be a lane of memories, kind of. It's funny how thoughts twirl sometimes - especially if you're a woman :P

-> weheartit.com <-

Erikoinen leipä

Leipomisvimma iskee yleensä illalla tai yöllä, varsinkin silloin, kun keittiön kaapeista ei löydy hiivaa ja tahtoisi tehdä leipää. Eikä mitään littanaa teeleipää. Leivinjauheellisia ohjeita löytyy netin syövereistä mukavasti, samoin soodallisia. Aika monessa oli siirappia ja sitäKään mulla ei ole. Mutta!!! Soodaa oli ja maustamatonta jogurttia, niitä tarvittiin Pöytä kahdeksalle -blogissa. Mutta piti vähän soveltaa, käytännön syistä (kaapeissa ei ollut kaikkea samoja aineita) ja huvin vuoksi :D

Omaan leipääni laitoin näitä:

1 dl vehnäleseitä
reilut 4 dl vehnäjauhoja
vajaa 1 dl auringonkukan siemeniä
1 tl ruususuolaa
1 tl sokeria
1 tl soodaa
reilu loraus kookosöljyä
3 dl maustamatonta jogurttia

Ensin sotkin kuivat aineet keskenään, sitten lisäsin jogurtin ja lopuksi öljyn. Mätkäytin taikinan pellille ja hienosti muotoilin leivän näköisen kimpaleen, jonka pintaan tein alkuperäisen ohjeen mukaisesti viiltoja. 175 asteeseen uunin melkein alimmalle tasolle puoleksi tunniksi. Annoin olla 5 minuuttia vielä siten, että sammutin uunin lämmöt.

***

Tuli muuten Hyvää :) Laitan kuvankin vähän myöhemmin.

Music videos with ballet or "ballet" - part one

Once in a while we bumb into a music video that has a dancer in it. And to be exact, I mean a ballerina. Or a male imitating one. Or then a male dancer. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they make us wonder "Why have they done this??", sometimes something else. I thought I'd present some here, also to make myself remember them better. (Most are also songs that I Like :D)

We start with No more "I Love You's" - by the wonderful Annie Lennox.




Although the whole video is a parody of something, I like it. It has strong tones, the coloring matches the feeling. Lennox has other "quirky" videos, too, and I like them, too :D

Tomorrow it's ballet for me again, yay!

Pointes of my life, vol.2

Here are those "brandless" shoes. I remember where we bought them, but that's about it. And there's no text in them, no stamps/marks of any kind. And there never was! So, if any of you can solve the mystery, let me know :D

The fabric was so dried out that the heels didn't want to stay "out" :D

There was a suede patch ready in these.

The only "marking" could be this thing here, on the right side... But that's it.

They were ok :) The sole & shank just a bit too soft too soon.

The end :)

Next time maybe some clothes. Maybe not :D