September 5, 2013

September (and Fall) Goals

One of these times, I’ll actually have to go back and judge how much I’ve accomplished with my goals, but for now, I’ll just give you my general goals for the month of September and the fall in general:

Follow an Editorial Calender for ABP

I’ve become the worst at actually scheduling and follow a blog schedule, so I’ve set up a schedule of posts for the month of September on weekdays. I already know that not all of these will probably happen, but I’ll consider myself successful if I get 3 or 4 posts up a week, even if it’s not originally as planned.

editorial calendar

A (rough) editorial calendar for September!

Connect with my Fellow Ballet Bloggers More

Ever since making the switch to self-hosting (and really before that, too) I got really bad about follow-up on other people’s blogs. I’m trying to do better. One of these ways I’m doing this is following blogs on Bloglovin’ and trying to comment when I can. Seriously, if you read this blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments and I’ll give you a follow.

Another way I’ll be doing this is by hosting a blogger link-up on Monday on the topic “Why I Love Dance.” It’ll be a chance for bloggers to share posts, old and new, focused on why they love dance. I’d love to have as many people take part as possible, even if it’s just sharing a post that loosely fits the topic.

In the future: I’d love to host another TweetChat but I’m not quite sure what my schedule looks like for September, so that’ll fall into more of a fall to-do along with more link-ups.

Be Successful at Both Running and Dance

I often feel like running and ballet are competing factors in my life–it seems like I’ve yet to have a month where I happy with my performance in both. My goal for the fall is to not over do one or the other and try to find some sort of happy balance between the two–even if it means having to run quickly from a running event (with a free gift card and discount running registrations!) to ballet class if it’s the only way I can fit both in this week.

and…because it’s always a goal: STRETCH

Stretching and flexibility is always on my goal list, and I know I need to do it more. There will hopefully be more stretching guides up here as well in the fall. 

What do you hope to accomplish this fall?

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September 4, 2013

Happy September!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend! Mine got off to a rough start on Thursday with a pretty rough ballet class. As I mentioned last week, I was dealing with some pretty painful top of my foot pain after a pre-pointe class so I was trying to stay off it as much as possible.

I almost decided not to go last Thursday because my toes were in an awful lot of pain because of the flats I wore to work that day (I have such a bad habit of wearing shoes that are horrible for my feet) but decided to go anyway. It was painful, and although my balance felt super off on my right side because of how painful it was, my instructor didn’t seem to notice.

Things got better on Saturday when I finally got a 3 mile run in after not getting any in for the past two weeks, although my calves were super tight afterwards. Unfortunately on Sunday I started coming down with a cold so the rest of my weekend was spent relaxing.

 

Emergen-C

Necessary after catching a cold this weekend!

I started a new part-time job yesterday, but today I’m spending relaxing and working on a few blog things, including getting an editorial calendar organized and getting a jumpstart on working on the studio website (finally!)

scarf

I’m getting ready for fall!

I’m also working on crocheting a scarf today to get me into a fall-like mood. I’m loving this chunky bulky yarn. Any other crocheter or knitters out there?

But…back to Adult Ballerina Project. I’m loving this calendar printout for getting myself organized on the blog. I know a lot of people love reading tips on different ballet moves, so if you’d like to see something specific on the blog such as “How to do a better pirouette?”, let me know in the comments, by e-mail, or by filling out the form below! While I’m certainly no expert, I love compiling research to help myself out with ballet and you guys as well, so let me know what you want to see and I’ll add them to the calendar!

I’m also working on setting a blogger link up, so if you have any suggestions for that as well, don’t be shy!

What would you like to see on Adult Ballerina Project this fall?

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August 29, 2013

Tumblr and TV, anyone?

girlwhowatchedtv

A long, long time ago (my freshman year of college) I ran a little blog over on Blogger called A TV and A Girl after encouragement from a professor that we should start a blog, any blog, just to get writing. So I did, and I kept writing for a while (quite horribly actually). My friends mocked me regularly, calling me avatar girl (because that’s what the URL looked like)–but I got quite a lot of hits after creating a tutorial for a Glee hairstyle on YouTube. That was also pretty horrible.

But I’ve missed writing about TV (a lot)–so that’s why this blog has had a fair amount of posts on Dance Academy, Bunheads and Breaking Pointe. I’ve wanted to create a blog about TV for a while, but I know it would be too much of an additional pain to handle–not to mention the fact I have pretty eclectic tastes and don’t have cable TV. But with me watching a ton of Netflix the past few days and not getting into the studio or running, I’ve really wanted to start one.

So my simple solution is to start a Tumblr blog for now since it’s easy. involves a lot of reblogging and I already spend a fair amount of time on Tumblr looking at TV stuff. Maybe move it eventually if I really enjoy it and since I have the hosting account anyway.

It’s called “The Girl Who Watched TV” (after “Doctor Who’s The Girl Who Waited”.) If you’re on Tumblr, let me know what your blog is, and I’ll follow you.

Have you ever wanted to create a blog on a completely different subject?

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August 26, 2013

Weekly Wishes: Last Week of Summer!

Beach

So I was going to fill you in on a short and quick recap of what I did this past week (ie no ballet and no running–but lots and lots of walking) but I’ve instead decided to go with this rather cool idea of Weekly Wishes (thanks for the idea, Amanda!) than bore you with how I walked miles across the city of Philadelphia with different friends who were visiting and spent a day at the beach.

The Nectar CollectiveI wish…to get back on track in ballet and running. And not to be so hard on myself when it doesn’t happen like I want it to. I did neither last week, and my left leg is still really tight from flips flops and subconsciously putting more weight on that leg because of injury to my right foot.

I wish…to be injury free, and for patience when I’m not. Even if it means  missing out on a few weeks of ballet and running, it’s better than pushing my injuries further.

I wish…that everything goes well with starting a new part-time job next week and possibly extending my current internship, and that I can handle and organize both well.

On that note, I think I’ll be scaling back how much I blog on this blog from 4 or 5 times to about three times a week (Especially while working on the studio website). Feel free to let me know if you’re interested in guest blogging!

What do you wish for this week?

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August 19, 2013

Weekly Recap: Ballet, Pointe Shoe, and Running Updates

This past week started off rough.

Sunday 8/11:  We ran about a mile last Sunday to get some of our favorite mac and cheese, but it was too hot out to do anymore than that. We stopped by the library on the way home and I picked up Apollo’s Angels, a history of ballet.

photo (21)

I did a 3o minute barre3 workout (HQ‘s birthday present to me) and a few hours later my left calf started nagging me.  I can’t wait to share more about Apollo’s Angels (once I read more) and Barre3 once I do a few more workouts–but so far, I’m in love with both!

Monday 8/12: We ran about a mile out the pier here (one of my favorite routes to do near our apartment) and both of us were having horrible shin/calf/knee pain. We ran about 3/4 of a mile back before eventually quitting and walking the rest of the way home. I decided to skip ballet.

Tuesday  8/13: I worked for a little in the morning and then we went to an awesome event about becoming an entrepreneur featuring a panel of young entrepreneurs in the city. You can read my recap here.

Wednesday 8/14: Got to pretend I was editor at work for a little and then got some more mac and cheese for lunch. Clearly, I have a mac and cheese problem.

Thursday 8/15: Finally got some more exercise into this week in the form of beginner ballet, which went really well. We then attempted to go to Night Market here in Philly but the lines were horrible and the tacos I wanted were gone by the time we got there. So we got Jim’s Steaks instead.  This further proves that my life is pretty much the definition of #fatfluential. I exercise, but I eat pretty badly. My legs were also exhausted from ballet plus a ton of walking.

Friday 8/16: Family came down for a last minute so trip, so today meant lots of walking as well. Good news is, I’m now a member of the zoo and I can go whenever I want with up to two guests.

The giant tortoises at the zoo are my favorite.

The giant tortoises at the zoo are my favorite.

Saturday 8/17: Day of the horrible ballet class. I hate when I have a bad class, especially when my teacher can tell I had a bad class. My legs were just too tired. I went to pointe class for a little but the shoes came off roughly 5 minutes in, and 3 hours later I have a little bit of pain on the top of my foot (yes I realize, my feet are probably too weak).

Good news is, I’m staying on top of the squat challenge and got 80 squats in.

Sunday 8/18: Hellloooooo, rest day. Took it easy with some stretching (and catching up on Doctor Who).

I plan on taking the rest of the week depending on how I feel. Luckily, if I decided I need to take the week off, I’ll be fairly busy with work and friends visiting to not go stir crazy.

How do you keep yourself from going stircrazy from an injury?

PS. I’m contemplating a name change, so let me know what you think. Run. Dance. Write. is what I’m debating right now.

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