fabulous, fun, full friday

the bean asked me weeks ago if i would take her to see a live performance of the nutcracker.  i've actually never seen it before (i know, i know), and i was also hoping it might inspire her to go back to ballet classes next season, so of course i said yes.  i asked my barre instructor (who's a former ballerina) for a local recommendation, and as luck would have it her dance studio was planning to attend a performance as a group.  the only caveat was that both dates offered were during school days, since the dance company was offering it to school groups as a field trip.  the tickets were a steal at $7 vs. the regular $25+ per person though...super tempting.

after consulting with the hub, we decided that it wouldn't be terrible for her to miss a couple of hours of school on the morning of the show, and he cleared his schedule so that he could come with us too.  a week before the big day, i came across a flyer in her backpack that threw a wrench into my carefully orchestrated schedule - the christmas performance at school that her class had been rehearsing for several weeks was - yup, you know this - that very same morning.

gah.

i broke the news to her as soon as i could, explaining the snafu, and told her that it was totally up to her.  either we went to see the nutcracker, or go to school so that she could be part of her class' routine at the christmas show.  it was a tough, tough decision that took her a few days to work through, and finally she settled on going to the ballet.  she wanted to be the one to tell her teacher, who didn't seem to bat an eye, and that was that.

until the teacher found out that her class had been chosen to open the show with their rendition of "frosty the snowman."  doing some quick calculations in my head, i realized that we could make it happen after all.  they would be on stage at 9:00, the song would take them basically two minutes to perform, and then we were due in claremont at 9:45 to meet with our group and be seated together for the ballet.  super tight, but it was doable with the hub skipping the show and heading to the ballet to check in for us with our group if we didn't make it in time.  sweet.

she was pretty excited that morning, with a new pair of boots and one of my favorite scarves to wear in the rain.

i managed to score a decent seat in the auditorium, right in the middle and behind all of the kids so that i had a great view of the stage.  her teacher made sure to place her at the end, so that it would be easy for her to scamper off and meet me so we could get outta there and head to the car as soon as it was done.

the song was very cute, with little hand motions and dance moves and props and things.  and it was literally over in two minutes.  we ran outta there, through the rain, and were in the car and driving towards the freeway at exactly 9:10.  and with all of the traffic going in the opposite direction, we actually made it to bridges auditorium at pomona college with time to spare.

selfie time.

the auditorium itself was really pretty.

the artistic director came out to introduce the show, explain what we were about to see (because it was an audience full of 1,500 kids and chaperones), and brought out a couple of the dancers to show us a few ballet steps.

photos weren't allowed during the performance, which was fabulous to watch.  i've never seen a professional ballet company production before, and i was pretty much mesmerized by it all.  every step was beautiful and graceful, each motion was fluid and watching their feet as they danced mostly en pointe was just amazing.  i loved it, as did the bean.  the hub - well, we were happy he was there.  heh.

i scampered down to the restroom right as intermission began, and my timing couldn't have been better because as soon as i was done, a really long line had formed out the door.  and it was quite a fancy restroom, too.

the hub had to leave shortly after that for a meeting, not knowing how long the show would be.  and when it was over, i managed to snap this on our way out the door:

as we headed back to the car through the rain, i couldn't posing her for this fun shot:

then we grabbed her a quick lunch, which she ate on the way back to school.  we got back just after lunch, and she scampered towards class as i signed her in.  my last errand of the day was a quick drive out to monrovia to deliver some treats:

and then later that afternoon as i watched her shake her thing at hula class, i received an envelope of photos from the recital.  this smile...it just kills me.

it'd been quite a whirlwind friday.  we all slept really well that night.

the bean is "brave"

it was a good thing that jet lag was getting its ass kicked at our house, because after one day of play our busy summer schedule made sure we hadn't forgotten about it.  that weekend was the bean's ballet recital, with dress rehearsal bright and early.

luckily, this dance studio doesn't take itself as seriously as the last place we were at.  the vibe around this recital was much less stressful, which was a godsend considering my current state of exhaustion.  instead of a high-pressure themed recital that required a ton of sitting around and waiting for two minutes of stage time, each class worked on a routine during the year and then presented it in cute costumes onstage for their adoring fans.

before we left for vacation, i'd made sure that we had everything that we needed for the recital so that i didn't have to worry about it when the time came.  the bean was still a little groggy when i got her up, but she was ready to see her friends and do a little dancin'.  i scraped her hair back into a high bun, put her costume on, and we were off.

the venue wasn't too far away.

after two weeks away, she was really excited to reunite with her buddies and have a little fun onstage.  they had a great time hanging out as they waited for their turn to practice.  i was happy to see that although she'd missed the last two ballet classes just before recital time, she seemed to have no trouble remembering the steps for their "brave"-themed number, and didn't need a ton of coaching from their instructor.

we actually had a bit of a break between the end of rehearsal and the actual recital time, so we headed home and grabbed some lunch before packing up and heading back to the auditorium for the real thing. when we got there, we were directed to one of the four dressing rooms.

the schedule for the afternoon was posted on the wall.  i'd volunteered to assist backstage, so i made sure i read through that thing line by line.

our dressing room had a pretty wide age range - we had a class of 3-year olds all the way up to a couple of tweens.  armed with a movie and some art supplies, it wasn't too difficult to keep them from getting bored.  and it was kind of cool that we were able to hear the music being played in the auditorium via the school's intercom system.  this made it really easy for us to figure out what performances were onstage at any given moment.

finally, it was go time.

my kid is definitely not one to suffer from stage fright.  can you tell?  geez.

when they took their places and got ready to start their routine, my friend sassy and i scurried through the corridor to get to the other end of the stage, where they would make their exit.  from there, we watched our girls and puffed up with pride.  i may have teared up a little, too.  you know how i do.

at the end, the girls each received a cute little trophy.

and now i can hang up my dance mom hat for awhile.  yay!

back in the game

i feel like it's been forever since i actually ran a 5K.  the last one was probably like two months ago!

add that to the list of "things i never thought i'd say."  heh.

anyway, i'd signed up for a local run that follows a route i do pretty regularly while training - but backwards.  see, when i map my runs i typically choose one that offers lots of downhill stretches without too many hills.  haha, i'm such a lazy runner.  i don't even know if i can call myself a runner with my whole walk/run style.  but whatever.  i was happy to add another bib to my collection.  and i liked having such a short drive to get there.

check-in was simple, and i was parked close enough to go back to the car and toss my race shirt in.

and because i was early, i strolled around and checked things out.

the sun was coming up, and it was warming up pretty fast.  i was glad when it was finally time to line up and get the show on the road.

it was a little weird running my route backwards, and i struggled a bit on the hilly parts.  slowly but surely, i got through.

my sparkly running skirts are always a hit with fellow females, young and old.  at the water stop, i got lots of "oooh, i love your skirt!" from the volunteers.

because we didn't have timing chips on, i was tracking my progress using my nike+ app on my phone.  and i was excited to find that i had actually managed a sub-11-minute mile, especially given my many walk breaks on the hills.

but i was so excited that i forgot to shut the thing off, and by the time i remembered it had me at closer to that 11-mile pace.  poop.  oh well.  look, i got a ribbon!

back at home, the bean was excited to report that she'd won one of the games they played at golf lessons and got to pick out a frozen treat.  yay for an icee at 9:30 in the morning!

then it was time for dance class.  grumpy ballerina.

that pretend pout of hers is pretty killer.  because, of course, when she got to the studio she was all smiles.

i'd say it was a pretty good saturday, eh?