I smell pretty... I smell pretty...

Some things require you be a girl to be excited about. I recently decided to spend my birthday money on perfume. Why you ask? Because I never spend more than ten dollars on any sort of nice-smelling product and I thought, "Why not spend it on something totally frilly that I'd never get to buy otherwise." And yes, I have always been a bit dissatisfied with the amount of time the scent of lotion/body spray/etc lasted on my body, and I assume the more expensive kind lasts longer. This decision also places me squarely in the "grown up" category-- the "I spent more than ten dollars on perfume" section of women.
It fascinates me to ponder the differences between my women friends: Some are so girly they seem to have a pink aura floating about them 24/7. Some others refuse to wear makeup at all. As far as where I land between the two extremes, I am definitely more on the girly side. Especially since living in Italy about 8 years ago. There are very few tomboy-ish women in that culture, and the ones you see there are most likely Americans who haven't figured out yet that baggy t-shirts are a no-go there. I think I brought more than ten BIG shirts in country with me-- and I left with one. Maybe two.
Enough rabbit trail for now... And by the way, this is in no way an advertisement for Clinique. In fact if you went looking for this particular product I am about to describe, you won't find it because it is a spring season product and everyone is sold out. I barely found this one online. But here it is:

"Happy in Bloom"-- it is just flowery enough to not be overpowering, and not too powdery. It makes me feel prettier when I wear it. And that is why I place myself more on the "girly" side of the continuum. I like being a girl... How about you girls out there? Where do you land on the "girly" continuum?

Twitter and Donut Holes

Twitter is a fascinating little society. At first when I heard about it, I thought, "An entire site dedicated to (short) update statuses? What is the point?"

And now, after personally joining myself, I have found that yes, it is true. It is a site mostly concocted of short blurbs and updates. What is the point then?...

Exactly.

Twitter gets straight to the point. It gives you all you need to know in your ten minute coffee break at work, and if you want to check out the person's/company's/etc's website for more research later when you get home, you can. It's like a donut hole or a mini can of Coke. If you don't have much time for a WHOLE donut, this is your site. I have found it is totally worth joining Twitter just to follow funny people like Conan O'Brien or Jim Gaffigan, who daily share hilarious little one line zingers. And if you start following someone and find out they are more interesting than you anticipated... Bonus! Then you can go get a dozen donuts of the same flavor at Krispy Kreme. Mmmmm... Krispy Kreme...

And that's why I like Twitter. And (here goes my plug) this is why, if you are at all interested in the dance/live music/original film/art world in the Denver Metro area, you should check out and follow DelusionsofGrandeur (DenverDelusions) on Twitter. You'll get bite sized updates about what's going on and keep up on the important stuff. The only other thing I am going to say about Delusions (about which I've said lots more in preceding blog posts, if you decide you're hungry for the whole donut :) ) is that it was the artistic highlight of my dance year last summer and it is already the highlight of my dance year this year. Which is saying quite a lot considering we've only had about four rehearsals so far... Oh, and if you really want to know more and go for the whole boxed dozen... http://bodyofsound.wordpress.com/

*gets down off Twitter soapbox, gets into car, drives to Krispy Kreme*

Apparently my hair REALLY needed to be flat ironed.

 I started sleepwalking as a child. The earliest memory I have of doing it is when I was  eleven and preoccupied by the upcoming babysitting job I had the next day. I had created a sort of "kid kit" to bring with me to the job, full of crayons, games, etc to occupy the kids I was to babysit (extra points to you if you know where I got the idea!!). Apparently I got out of bed that night, grabbed the kid kit, and proceeded to try and exit the front door.  My mom found me fiddling with the lock and gently led me back to bed. "Never wake a sleepwalker," people say. I think there is some kind of legend out there that the sleepwalker will have a heart attack or something like that. The times I've been woken up in the process though, I've only been slightly annoyed and embarrassed. I have never except for the above occurence, tried to exit the house, and most of the time I have almost complete clarity of what I am doing at the time. For example...

In the past while sleepwalking, I've looked out windows for minutes at a time (my favorite sleepwalking activity), taught ballet (sometimes from the bed and sometimes standing up: "Ok, now, go to the right... Good... No, Jan, don't sickle!"), rehearsed for plays (I often notice what time it is-- "Why am I rehearsing at 4 am? Oh well, I guess I have to do it..."), took stuff off the wall and put it near my bed (a mirror a few years ago in Portland), and pulled entire comforters/sheet combos off the bed. Nothing compares to the other night here in Denver though. 

I was dreaming that I was part of a wedding, and that I needed to do my hair for a photo shoot involved. I looked at the clock and it was 2:30 am. This, by the way, is what I often do when I sleepwalk-- notice the strange timing of whatever I am supposed to be doing, and sit confused for a while about whether I should just go back to bed or continue in the task. That is exactly what I did the other night, but apparently thought I should probably go ahead and do it just in case it was reality. So I walked over to the bathroom, opened up the cabinet and pulled out my flat iron, and plugged it in. I went back to bed until it got hot. Then, I got up and proceeded to, yes, flat iron my hair. I only got to a couple sections on the left side of my head when I thought (again, normal for this sort of thing), "This is weird timing for this photo shoot. It's three in the morning. I wonder if I am sleepwalking. I should just go back to bed." So that is what I did, after unplugging the flat iron of course. What was funny was I didn't even come close to burning myself. It's like I am in an alternate universe when it happens.

Do you sleepwalk? What is the weirdest thing you've ever done if you do?

Delusions of Grandeur

  Today I had another rehearsal with Delusions of Grandeur (the company made up of professional dancers, musicians, and other artists in the Denver/Boulder area, choreographing/composing and performing their own original works). We are working on "Eternal Dialogue," our summer show. This is the company I performed with last July-- the production in which I shared my piece "that which was lost" for the first time-- and I am super excited to be involved again. All the dancers, choreographers, musicians and artists are hand picked and are of amazing talent and quality. I am honored to be part of this group. One piece I am part of is set to "Clair de Lune"-- the music as well as the choreography is beautiful and haunting. This piece in particular is already feeling like one of the artistic highlights of my year dance-wise.
   I am in several pieces for this show, and am also choreographing another piece to Glenn Miller's "American Patrol," half of which I got to set on my dancers today. They exceeded my expectations even for a first rehearsal, and I am so excited to see how it will grow to be even better! It is a comedy (with many slapstick elements) based on the home life of a stereotypical 50's married couple, and the husband discovers halfway through that he can control the wife with the tv remote. The dancers I cast are natural comedians and are bringing their own hilarious touches to the characters. It's amazing to me that the choreography I feel I was given in my head and soul, can and will be expressed by others and made into something to be shared onstage. Last year I was in my own piece, which is a bit different. This time I can be on the outside and watch every step as an director which is a great thing. I am already enjoying this new role.

I am also in charge of marketing for the company this year. This means updating the website, facebook page, twitter page, writing and designing the newsletter, and keeping us in the news in general. Here is the website for the company with a blog to keep you up on all the happenings for Delusions and "Eternal Dialogue" (we are doing three performances this year in August, two up in Boulder and one here in Denver!): bodyofsound.wordpress.com