What I Learned Today in Dance: Hands on Hips

Normally when I take ballet, it's with a very mixed group of women.  Typically, there are a couple adults who danced all through their childhood and stopped past their teens, as well as some who have never taken dance before ever.  I fit in the middle as someone who has danced ballet for about 4 years; I know the basic exercises and can do them without thinking too hard (at the barre) if i can follow someone but I struggle once the routines are combined.

Today, there were 4 of us: 3 newbies and myself.  As the most experienced dancer in the room, I definitely felt more pressure to get the routines right but the routines were simpler today (set to the level of the newer dancers) so that helped.  And today we didn't do the arm movements and instead put our hand on our waist while we worked our legs.

And that, my friends, is harder than it sounds.  Because it is ballet, putting your hand on your waist is never just putting your hand at your waist.  You are actively engaging your back muscles (like when you hold your arms in second) so your shoulders are down, your elbows are pushed slightly forward and it feels so awkward and uncomfortable.  My teacher explained the twisting action to be reminiscent of a snake bite that you would give/receive as a child (regularly, if you had brothers like mine).

This is definitely something that I am going to struggle to remember as I wasn't aware (until today) that there was more to it than I thought.  So, on top of trying to remember the leg actions, I also have to remember to keep my shoulder down and elbow forward.  Give it a try! If it feels like you are attempting to wrench your shoulder out of place, you are probably doing it right!

Did you learn something new today while doing your hobby? 

Food: Zoodles

I bought a Veggetti the other day.  Essentially, I use it like a pencil sharpener and it turns my veggies (like zucchini) into noodles.  Shaped like an hour glass, one side is for thicker strips and the other side is for thinner strips.  You can then either microwave, sauté or boil your veggie strips to soften them.  I nuked mine for 90 seconds (because my microwave sucks) and topped with the Mighty Meaty Pasta Sauce (found in the Looneyspoons recipe book).

Yum. 

I was so freaking excited to try this because I thought it meant I would be able to eat more for less.  Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I found that I was actually more hungry after eating and totally pigged out on muffins later.  Next time, I think I am going to pair this with a salad so I could prevent the food bingeing later.

I will definitely be trying the zoodles again though (I do have leftovers after all), as well as trying the different veggies suggested by the Veggetti (potato, carrots, and cucumber - although not necessarily with pasta sauce).  I also want to try spaghetti squash with pasta sauce.

Have a great day!

2015

Welcome to 2015!

I haven't done resolutions for a few years (because they weren't getting done) but I kind of just want to take this time to think about what I did last year and my goals for this year.

For the first time last year, I attempted the 50 Book Pledge and actually came close (at 43) to accomplishing that.  I'm attempting it again this year and have already signed the pledge. I have 2 kids and work evenings and weekends so I don't have a lot of spare time to read.  I spend a lot of time attached to my phone (reading blogs, playing game, doing random stuff) so I want to spend less time on my phone dicking around and more time actually reading.  Plus, I'm such a book hoarder so this forces me to READ those books and now I have a great reason to buy more books!  Win.

Improving my dance skills.  I sort of set a new goal at the start of each dance season (in September) so I'm really just expanding on that right now.  I want to improve my stage presence.  I've been working on this for a couple years so it is an ongoing process and I am becoming more dynamic on stage, so I just want to continue in that direction.  I want to be able to do a double pirouette outside of my kitchen.  I was nearly able to do this (to the left) before I had my second child, so I know it is possible.  I also want to be able to do this to the right as well.  This may mean having to do jazz on Thursdays instead since that class pushes me more than the one I'm currently in, but this also may mean that I need to take the initiative and push myself harder than the teacher is pushing me.

Self improvement.  I recently lost (a lot) of weight and I'm extremely pleased with that.  I want to continue doing what I've been doing.  A big part of that has been keeping myself more active at home, exercising during the baby's nap for example, but another part simply included doing more housework.  The added benefit of this has been a cleaner house, which is nice since my boys insist on leaving crumbs everywhere.  I've been shovelling the snow too, which burns so many calories that I actually get excited about being able to skip an ab workout for the day, for example.  I also want to continue meal planning and cooking dinner on a fairly regular basis,  especially since changing my eating habits helped me to lose weight.

Personal happiness.  I've been a lot happier this past year and I'm not entirely sure what I did to attain this, but I want it to continue.  I'm actually surprised that I'm happy because I've taken on a lot of extra responsibilities that eat up a lot of my time so I'm surprised that I'm not just a ball of stress, but something obviously agrees with me.

Well, I think that's it.  Do you have any personal goals/achievements that you're accomplished this past year or do you have a bucket list that you'd like to see checked off for 2015?