March 18, 2014

Do What Makes YOU Happy

I have to admit, it’s been quite a struggle getting myself into gear to get to ballet class the past few weeks.  I had plans to go both last Thursday and Friday, but I couldn’t manage to get myself up off my butt and into the ballet studio. I did finally get there on Saturday, although it was no easy feat yanking myself out of bed in the morning.

My legs have done really well post stress fracture, but they’ve been really sore. Last week was especially tough. I pushed myself a bit too hard on a run  on Tuesday (I started off too fast for someone who hasn’t run much) and my legs have been pretty whiny since. They survived Saturday morning’s ballet class and pre-pointe class (in slippers) no problem, other than the fact they felt weak and quite sore.  My ballet teacher recommended more ballet classes (which is the plan, I just need to motivate myself) and not as much running.

I’ve always struggled to find a good balance between running and ballet. Often, weeks will go by where I’m completely gung-ho about ballet and then I’ll be all about one the next month. If I had a dollar for every time someone recommended I quit one or the other because of my injuries,  I’d be rich.

I toyed with the idea of giving up running completely this weekend, since I wanted to blame it for all my injuries and pain.  Then someone on Twitter gave me a little advice.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have realized that I’ve tweeted a lot of my older posts lately. I’ve got a handy little WordPress plugin that does it automatically for me. Over the weekend, it tweeted my “Should dancers run?” post and one of my fellow adult ballerinas tweeted that she does (and I know more of you do, too).

We chatted for a little about the topic and she reminded me to do what makes ME happy, not anyone else.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

Take ballet when it makes me happy (which is a lot of the time) and run when that makes me happy. And of course, take care of my body and listen to it when it tells me I shouldn’t be doing either.

Do what makes YOU happy.

 

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March 1, 2014

Newsletter Update: Daily or Weekly Option

Newspaper grape purple

Remember awhile back when I lost all of my e-mail subscribers? I was pretty upset. Fortunately, I was able to set up a pretty quick system for those of you who wanted to quickly subscribe to daily e-mail updates to do so.

Finally I’ve gotten stuff together and there’s now a decent way for those of you who want to get a weekly newsletter from me. Let’s face it, sometimes those daily ones can get pretty annoying. If you’ve already subscribed to get e-mail updates via MailChimp from me, you’re already included on this list. The newsletter will come every week on Sundays at 10 am (got a better time suggestion? let met know).

If you’re not subscribed to either option, both can be found in the sidebar to the left (as well as a way to subscribe via Bloglovin’).

How do you prefer to read blogs? Daily or weekly updates or via a Feed Reader?

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February 27, 2014

Thursdays are for Thinking out Loud #3: Stuck in a Rut

Letting HQ take over this week’s stream of conscious post for a different perspective (and since I’m a bit busy at this moment.) 

Check out this week’s link-up here.

Thinking-Out-Loud

 

So here I am writing a post about my post undergraduate life that has been incredibly underwhelming. So much I wish I could be doing but can’t due to things like financial or transportation restraints, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been doing nothing. So here is my life as of lately:

Finding An “Entry Level” Job in the City Sucks

But really, since I have graduated I have applied to probably 100 different jobs, and I’ve gotten maaaaybeee two emails back and one or two phone calls. It sucks. I graduated with a degree in theater where I focused primarily on lighting design. And guess what, everyone wants you to have a degree AND 4-5 years professional experience. How do you get professional experience if the entry level job requires you have professional experience?

Codecademy is my Best Friend Too

So much code

So much code

I know Kristen posted it last week but it’s been one of the major things I have been working on. So much that I have done HTML/CSS, Python, Javascript, jQuery, PHP and Ruby on them and feel fairly comfortable doing basic code in any of those languages. While I don’t know what I’m going to do with knowing all of those I know I’m going to keep on working on it. I’m probably going to revamp my own blog soon just as Kristen did with ABP.

Never Stop Learning

Since I graduated I have not stopped learning. While yes, I’m depressed that despite going to college for four years I’m yet to find a job doing anything, it doesn’t mean I stop bettering myself. As said above, I have been learning coding but I have also been learning graphic design (ABP header for example), 3D modeling, and more about computers hardware and software.

I may be in a major rut in life, but I won’t stop pushing forward.

What do you do when you sense you’re “stuck in a rut”?

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February 24, 2014

Sochi 2014 Olympics: Meryl Davis and Charlie White

0007AdamGlanzman.Olympics

I’ve been glued to my television the past couple of days, partly because I was at my parents and had cable.  I’ve been primarily watching one thing: the Olympics.

While I’ve been watching a bit of everything from curling to bobsledding, ice skating has to be my favorite (even though I’m pretty awful on skates).  I especially love ice dancing and Meryl Davis and Charlie White:

Gracie Gold was also one of my favorites and I can’t wait to see what she does in the upcoming years.

I’ve also loved the ballet at the opening and closing ceremonies–I just wish there had been MORE of it, or that NBC had shown more of it:


Did you watch any of the Olympics? What was your favorite/least favorite part?

Filed Under: Ballet, Blog Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment
February 20, 2014

Thursdays are for Thinking out Loud #2

Thinking-Out-Loud

Here we are again–another Thursday! I love this link-up since it just allows me to share whatever is going on in my life and on my mind. So here’s the second edition of “Thursdays are for Thinking out Loud”!

(Check out the link up on Running with Spoons, too!)

Monday  Night Ballet Sucked (But It Also Didn’t)

I ended up heading to work last minute on Monday (with very little make up on and disastrous hair). I headed to Monday night ballet straight after work having slept very little and eaten very little (and wanting very much to be home). Next time, I’ll pack more food and plan a little better.

If it hadn’t been for those factors, it wouldn’t have been so bad, even though it’s the advanced-beginner class. The class was also a huge reminder I need to get back to stretching regularly.

(Also–props to my ballet instructor, Beverly, for teaching while sick!)

I also got to meet Jenna (finally!) from Little Green Running Shoes before class started!

Codeacademy is my Best Friend

Screenshot 2014-02-20 10.09.39

I’ve been trying to get better with my web skills. CodeAcademy has been perfect for that because it’s allowed me to work on it little bits at a time. Right now, I’m going through HTML/CSS as a refresher and then I’ll be working on PHP (which I’m hoping will help my WordPress skills out) and then Javascript.

Sometimes You Need to Recharge

HQ and I are headed “home,” aka my parents house, for the weekend. I’m looking forward to spending time with them and getting some much needed shopping done.

What’s on your mind today?

 

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