The Summer of Dreams

Wonder of all wonders another dream is coming true! Come January 25th, Mr. Wonderful and I will welcome our very own special little bundle.

13 Weeks

We are thrilled and overwhelmed with the blessing this little one will be and knowing how our lives will forever change. We pray the Lord directs us and gives us the grace and guidance to do all we can to love him or her in the way He leads.

15 Weeks

A Glimpse

Since I have been on a blogging hiatus for months I thought I would give a brief look into various things that have been going on!

Finally made the curtains to go in my living room. (Thanks mom!)

NYC wedding, my husband was the best man, it was an Indian wedding and one of the highlights was getting to wear a sari for the first time!

I took over 300 pictures of this amazing wedding, but choosing what to put up was overwhelming!

Natasha, was of the many amazing people we met and helped me be confident in carrying off the look. She completed it by giving me a bendi(the jewel they wear on the forehead)

We had an amazing snowfall that resulted in an actual snow day instead of an "ice day."

The backyard...I know for my family and friends in the north east this is nothing compared to what you got, but for us it was pretty monumental. I think it was the most snow in 20 years.

Took the plunge and got bangs! (That's my beautiful sister!)

Visited my brother in Colorado...love him...miss him

Met our niece in Pennsylvania

Hayley is so sweet and we love her dearly!!

And we also saw our 1 year old niece Selah. It was so fun to see her run around and explore. Plus she would just run up to us and sit in our lap or let us hold her. Being the long distance uncle and aunt this did our hearts good. In this picture she had discovered Auntie Alissa's boots. I think we have fashonista in the making!

And we had our very own peonies bloom in our backyard!! The day it happened I had full intention of dedicating a whole post just to these beauties(we had about 12 in all), but it was right in the middle of production and that is just not a reality. They were miracle flowers really as they are not supposed to bloom in Texas due to the lack of winter. Well a week of the temperature being in the 20's and my dear husband's idea of putting ice on top of them resulted in some amazing flowers that I had all over my house for a little over a week. It smelled heavenly!!

That catches me up to April...from here on out I hope to do more individual posts about the goings on of our home.

Long overdue

In honor of having our Nutcracker 2010 artwork completed by June 1st (!!!) I am posting pictures from Nutcracker 2009! We have a new graphic designer that we worked with that got it all done in 1 week. I can't tell you how amazing this is considering last year we didn't have one until the middle of October! For advertising purposes this is awful.

Well on with the pictures....they were taken from the wings by Mr. Wonderful and lighting was an issue so some are blurry. But it is a little look into my world.

Before the show in the "Green Room"

The Party Scene set with me taking care of last minute drama and de-stressing by fixing the bows!

My oh-so-amazing shoes! :)

Our magical clock that grows and has little 6 year old mice crawl from it

The aftermath of snow...unfortunately we didn't get any shots while they were dancing

Waltz of the Flowers

Our phenomenal guests artists that came from Dallas to play the Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier (the are married and even brought their two adorable children. We later found out she was 3 months pregnant!)

P.S. I've missed blogging and think I should do it more often. I'll see what I can do!

Please Pray!

I just got off the phone with my mom who told me my aunt has gone into labor at 5 1/2 months...she is carrying twin boys! She is in the hospital and the doctors are trying to stop the labor. The babies weigh about 1 1/2 pounds each...Please pray the labor will stop and that the peace that passes all understanding would surround them and comfort them!! Even two more weeks will give them time to have more developed lungs.

Thank you!

Merry Christmas!

It's so hard to believe Christmas is here already. Not to mention the fact that I have not posted anything since August 2nd. My life has been consumed by Nutcracker for the last 3 months and now I can finally breathe. I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to be a part of it from beginning to end although there were times I thought I would loose my mind! I'll do a post soon with pictures

In the mean time here are a few of our home. I barely made it getting everything decorated, but at least for the last 4 or 5 days we have been able to enjoy the tree and feel like things "look" like Christmas!

If only the accents of Tiffany blue could be scene in the trees!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Surprises and then some

I absolutely love surprises! Even when I know one is coming and the suspense is killing me...I still love them! Thankfully I have a husband who likes to surprise. What he doesn't like is when I spoil it (not intentionally of course!) like I did yesterday. I did this by discovering before I even left our driveway instead of when I opened up my suitcase at my hotel in Houston hours later.

It seems that was the first of surprises and I wonder if they will continue through the week. I'm in Houston, Tx right now attending a Dance Intensive(workshop) where I get to dance all day with people from around the country and learn from amazing artists. The first day has just ended and I am blown away...it has been a breath of fresh air just what I have needed for some time-INSPIRATION!! To move and learn and experience is an incredible thing. My other surprise I referred too happened in the last class of the day (am-ballet, afternoon-modern, and then two electives finishing around 6:15pm). It was was all about dance in a Church Ministry setting given by Michelle Leaney, the director of the dance ministry of Hillsong Church in Australia and she has done it for 18 years. To go to this specific elective was a last minute decision because I had planned on going to one about "Faith in a professional dance community" I thought it would be applicable because I'm now working in a dance department of a secular college.

So I attended the Church Ministry session and it was really good-even thinking about getting her book because I love how she thinks outside the box! In the last 10 minutes I felt like my heart breathed again in a way it hasn't in a while...I've just been tired spiritually and feeling a little dry I guess, without a whole lot of energy. It was a moment of revelation where 'head stuff" became "heart stuff" because no matter how many times you tell yourself something it isn't until that light bulb turns on, heart beat quickens, and you can't figure out why on earth you are on the verge of tears that you realize there is so much more than simply knowing the right thing to say. God wants the word to become flesh...real...tangible...something you can taste, that makes you want to come back for more. He wants to inspire, engergize, and breath life into dry bones because with out that breath of life we, I, am nothing, simply a shell that walks and talks.

After everyone left and I asked a question to Michelle that moment came...followed by her looking me in the eye and speaking truth. I don't think I was supposed to go to that class and just hear about church ministries (I'm not even currently in one!), but rather to have my heart awakened to the truth that God has placed me where he has me and THAT is my ministry-secular or not. I may not pray with my students before class, or use Christian music persae, but living my life in a way he has called me too is a ministry to Him and hopefully inturn will cause an influence on those around me.

Walking out of that studio in tears was not what I expected at all, but I'm thankful for last minute decisions that really could have been little urgings from the One who knows me best. Surprises truly are a good thing. So for the rest of the week I would like to expect the unexpected and see what happens and what each day may hold.

It's funny to me because when I started this blog never did I see myself sharing, better yet baring, these parts of me. That is typically not my personality-it would be too personal. I had planned on posting about fun(or sometimes not so fun)projects, house stuff, cool finds, or visual inspiration. Maybe ever once in a while posting something about dance and my great life with Mr. Wonderful, but heart stuff? Would never have dreamed! Maybe it's part of the process for me right now because when I got back to the hotel all of the sudden all I could think about was somehow sharing what had just taken place. Maybe there is more to this than I realize...Well for those of you read or have stumbled on this I hope you don't mind a glimpse into my journal(because that is basically what this entry is!) So there it is for all to see and amazlingly enough I feel a little freer for writing it! Have a great night!

What's A Girl To Do

While my dear husband is playing plumber and doing a pretty good job at tackling our waterless kitchen sink, I find myself getting all contemplative and maybe nostalgic. (i think those are good words to describe my mood) You see in just two short weeks my life is going to change. My new job will start and I will go from a relatively carefree day to day schedule to one that is based on many to-do lists, phone calls, and plunging into the unknown of directing a studio.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and looking forward to the challenge as it has been a while and I'm ready to dive in. It's one small detail that has me feeling a little lost...what is a modern dancer supposed to do in a ballerina world?! I love ballet (most of the time-sometimes it kicks my tail and I'd like to throw in the towel!) and being on pointe, wearing pretty tutus, and the discipline of training my body. But in all honesty...I never feel more alive than when my hair is down, my feet are bare, and I can let my heart take over. Even sitting hear thinking about it makes me want to move...to release myself from the constraints of classical ballet! I will forever endorse classical training and technique-it truly is the foundation of all dance, but when I want to feel alive, to share my heart...I wouldn't touch a pointe shoe with a 10 foot pole.

So what will I do? How will I find a way to not only dance myself, but create/choreograph as well in the midst of thinking about glissades, jete's, and fouettes?!

I hope you'll pardon my rant...somehow I needed to let my thoughts out so that in the next 15 minutes when I am trying to fall asleep, I won't be laying there thinking all these thoughts and getting myself worked up into something that can't be changed at 11pm. (that already happened once this week)

Ultimately it comes down to trust...God provided this job, this opportunity and He know me best. In that I find peace and will have to actively, day-to-day, depend on Him for this area and then take the chances He gives me when they come. sigh. I think I'll try to sleep now...put these thoughts to rest for today. goodnight