Lets Try This Again

(Photo Credit: The Ballerina Project) 


Oh dear me, it has been a while hasn't it? This seems to be a reoccurring theme through all my more "recent" posts. Any way enough about my tendency to procrastinate. I just got back last night from a two day Outdoor Ed trip, (and I am sure anyone who is reading this could care less about that, but it does have relevance to dancey stuff.) I got back last night and I had ballet this morning and it was just about the hardest class I have ever done. I realized due to my sore wrists (it was a biking trip) just how much I grip the barre. Upon this realization I thanked fate that I have yet to do pas de duex, because I am positive that anyone who partnered me would end up purple from bruising. In conclusion eureka moments are fantastic, and they can happen when you are in your tiredest states of mind. 


~Adrianna

Glad to see you're still alive!!

{Photo Credit: The Ballerina Project}

I am sorry, but as you probably could have guessed blogging had most certainly not been on the top of my "To Do" list lately. I have been working like a crazy person for the past month. When I have moments off, I have been spending them either fulfilling my desperate need to catch up with friends, going to yoga, or sneaking in a chapter or two from my good friend "Harry Potter". So apologizes for not writing but I have been busy!

I have recently started "IMS" treatment at  physio, (inter-muscular stimulation) in attempt to loosen up my left hip which was abnormally tight, and thanks a bunch to Warrior Two, becoming increasingly painful as the days dragged on. I have been having "hip-sues" for a year or so now and even though I have only been to two "IMS" treatments, it is already starting to work miracles. In addition to becoming pain-free the "IMS" has also made me realize just how weak I am in my hip/lower core area. So as a revision of my original summer goal (6:00 ponche) I am now going to focus on strengthening the weaker areas of my body that the "IMS" has unearthed!

A Bit of Summer Love

{photo credit: The Rock School}

Today I am going for my first Hot Yoga class of the summer. I have been planning to go during the summer but was waiting for July to start classes. The long weekend sort of ate up the begining of July so I am starting today. Originally I had planned to go everyday, looking at my work shedual and coordinating it with the yoga studios schedual is harder than I had anticipated and so I will only be able to go Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and some Sundays. I am hoping to improve my flexiblity and strength for when I go back to dance in the fall... (my summer goal: 6:00 ponche)!  I have also been using my time off work to swim in the lake lots which is extreamly exciting, and today I went for a little bike ride around town with a very good friend! In short I am enjoying every bit of summer so far, (especially now that the weather has turned) and I hope you are too!

~Adrianna

Tea for Teary Days.

{Photo credit: Good For You}


On rainy days I love to curl up on the sofa, with a cup of tea and read a good book. Today while cleaning out my book shelf I came across a list of 10 reasons to drink tea, in a Teaopia brochure, and I thought seeing as the weather has been so dodgy the last two days I would share it with you...

10 Reasons to Drink Tea

1. Lose Weight, Stay Alert and Protect your Heart

2. Fight Diseases

3.Drink to your Health

4.Boost your Memory

5. Reduce Stress

6.Age Gracefully

7.Lowers Cholesterol

8.Ease Arthritis

9.Oral Health

10.Stay Hydrated

So I am going to go make myself a cup of tea now. Hope you have a lovely Saturday afternoon.

~Adrianna

Things To Love Thursday

{Photo Credit: The Ballerina Project}

*WHAT TIME IS IT? SUMMER TIME!!!* Summer Music* Swimming* Beaches* Summer Clothes* Anything Summer Basically* Staring my Nannying job in just under one week* Having a shedual for my job made out detailing every ounce of my summer* re-connecting a friend* Vitamin-D* Summer Food... mmm salads and BBQ* Friends prom on the twenty ninth... I think I am more excited to see them than they are for it to happen* Smiles* Hot Yoga* Summer Dance Classes*  

Hello again, it's me SUMMER!

Well I'm back, and this time for good. Thank you all for your patience with me and my scarce posts. Now that exams are all done and school is out for the summer, I am going to post frequently! 

So as the official kick off to summer, I thought I should share with you the top five reasons I am excited  about this summer...

NUMBER ONE: My house and swimming in the lake

NUMBER TWO: Camping Trips with Friends

NUMBER THREE: Trips to random attractions outside of town

NUMBER FOUR: Summer Dresses

NUMBER FIVE: Bathing Suits

Inspired?

{Photo Credit: The Ballerina Project}

Well it has been a rather long time since I last posted... sorry 'bout that, I was busy with school, dance, and life just seems to be gorging on my time lately. Year end dance recital was yesturday, and went very well as usual; (pictures, I am sure will show up on here eventually)! I am rather tired as a result of the show today, so I am just going to leave you with these...

Wonder-filled Wednesday

{photo credit: The Ballerina Project}

Today is both my younger brothers birthday, and my parents anniversary ... what does that add up to? CRAZINESS! So that's really all the time I have for today, promise to write more later.

~Adrianna

So well I am running around buying presents, going out for sushi, and doing all the things that my parents usually do so that they can take a vacation for their anniversary... you can enjoy this!

Deepest Apologizes

Ok so lately I have been too busy enjoying this lovely view to write; for this I must apologize profusely. I promised to update you on the results of how I was doing with my routine and I have failed on that front. As far as my routine goes I have done a rather mediocre job at following it. Except for today, I have not been waking up at the 6:00am designated time and  I have not been able to do my homework on account of not being able to write due to some soft tissue damage in my right hand. As of late I have been getting rather frustrated with the continuation of the limitations of my injured hand. When you cannot do the majority of work, school gets rather boring! So that's about it, sorry that my life has been terribly uninteresting, and slightly depressing lately.

I promise to try and write more.

~Adrianna

Mothers Day Challenge




{Photo Credit: Ruth Pontalti}



Happy Mothers Day!

Ok so if you have read my very first post you will know that I had written that I was starting a fantastic new routine... well hmm? Sadly I have failed to keep up with the routine, despite the fact that it is posted on my wardrobe doors. I was doing really well for about a week and a half but then I got sick with the stomach flu, and have not been able to get back to following it. Anyway so this post is to signal a fresh start... starting today I am back to my routine, grumpy right hand and all!

Here are the details...

{sorry about the bad cellphone picture}

                         

Ok so about a month ago I made this schedule/ routine up (sorry about the crappy cell-phone picture) ... The large sticky notes at the top say the days of the week (Saturday-Friday). The rows, and columns of green, pink, orange, blue, white, and yellow stick notes underneath each larger one are blocks of time during my week. On each of the smaller sticky notes I have written what I should be doing (key word SHOULD) on that day of the week, and what times I should (there's that word again) be doing them at! For Example on Monday (purple square) I will, wake up at 6:00am eat breakfast go running or stretch (Green Square), Leave for school at 8:00am (pink square), Be at school from 9:00am- 3:15pm (Orange Square), Get home from school at 4:00pm have a snack and do my homework (blue square), Leave for dance at 5:30, modern dance from 6:00-8:00 (white square), arrive home at 8:30 and be in bed at 9:00 (yellow square).

So as I take each day this week as an individual dose of routine, I will keep you updated as to how it goes. I also want to challenge any of you out there who feel that your life is just a little to spontaneous to make your own routine up and try to follow it alongside me and mine! 

Wishing you all (and myself) luck!

~Adrianna

Exhaustion

{Photo Credit: Pamanner}

I am exhausted and in studio rehearsal is tomorrow, but before I curl up in bed for the night I just thought I'd share the joy of listening to rain on the roof, (as I am doing right now) with you. A reminder that tommrow will be a fresh new day!

Sleep Tight

~Adrianna

Things to Love Thursday

{Photo Credit: The Ballerina Project}

*Birthday celebrations for my beautiful "little" sister * Friends getting their "N's" * Finally learning that I have a extender tendon injury along with an intrinsic muscle injury and nerve irritation to the fourth and fifth fingers on my right hand (not a broken pinkie like I had originally thought) * Knowing that I am not going mad, and that the pain I had in my hand wasn't my brain playing tricks on me * FINALLY working towards healing * That the weather has finally brightened up... maybe spring is actually on its way * In studio rehearsal being this Saturday * Modern costumes * writing poetry again (even though it is for a school project, I am just happy to be started again) * going in at lunch to write a test, and finishing early enough to blog while everyone else is writing their tests * Planning mothers day out with my younger brother * Suffolk Solo's <3 * Planning a Princess tea party that was supposed to happen last year but never did because I came down with the stomach flu * Saturday morning ballet class *

~Adrianna

Tribute Tuesday

{photo credit: Snowville Creamery}

So since I started this blog I have wanted to do a Tribute Tuesday to the people/ bloggers who inspired me to try blogging...

The first part of this tribute has to go out to An Avenue Homesteader, a long time family friend and excellent blogger. On a visit this past summer she mentioned her blog and suggested that I start one about my experiences as a nanny. Though my blog did not end up solely being about any one topic, I must attribute the planting of blog seeds in my brain to her.

The second part of this tribute goes out to The One In Pink. Around the beginning of March I came down with a rather bad case of the flu, and was home sick for about a week. During this week I came across T.O.I.P and I was inspired by the simple layout, and variety of topics on her blog. Most blogs I had seen or read to that date had been devoted singularly to one topic. That fact largely contributed to my hesitance about starting to blog, I was so worried that I would choose to focus on a topic that a week or two down the road I would no longer feel any inspiration to write about. So I must thank T.O.I.P. for shining a new light on blogs for me. Once I started A Dancing Attitude, T.O.I.P continued to inspire such things as the simple "no frills layout, and I should definitely credit the idea for Things To Love Thursday's to her (Things I Love Thursday's).

The Third and final part of my tribute goes out to Eternal BreakThru. A fellow blogger and friend who gave me some advice which finally coaxed me into becoming a blogger.

So a big thank you to these three lovely bloggers who inspired A Dancing Attitude to start typing!

~Adrianna

Royal Wedding



{Photo Credit: That 1960's Chick}

                        Well, it happened! They kept the world waiting for eight years, and now it will go down in history as one of the most elegant, intimate, and beautiful weddingsever. And as I stayed up all night and watched the whole affair unfold  on my TV screen I couldn't help but feel an immense sense of excitement, and hope. Excitement for Brittan, for the people, for the Windsors, of course for Will and Kate (whom I should probably refer to as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge now), and even for Canada. I was filled with hope for not just for Brittan, and Canada, but for the entire world and its future. Many people laughed when I told them I was planning to stay up all night to watch the posh affair and exclaimed how silly it was for people to be all worked up about the marriage of two people who have no direct link or effect on their lives. However I can tell you that though I have no direct political or other connection, correlation, or link (besides being Canadian) with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Royal family or the Middleton's, I felt as though I did as I watched the Middleton's hand over their daughter not only to William but also to the entire country and the Commonwealth.   

{Photo Credit: That 1960's Chick}

                 And probably like every young female who watched the wedding, I was filled with hope and excitement for the day when my own wedding rolls around. And when Kate stepped out of the Rolls-Royce and we got the first look at her dress I was reminded of an experience that happened to me just last week. I had went with a very dear and close friend to pick up here grad dress at a local bridal boutique. As I stood outside the dressing room waiting for her to try it on I looked around the shop at all the gowns and was overcome with the just how amazing it was that I was there with a friend I had known since birth getting her grad gown. I was sure that we had thought of this day many times when we were younger, I remembered dreaming with her about one day going to the same school. And as I watched dreams from my childhood take form, I looked around the shop at the wedding gowns and started to think about the occasions that were to come in the next seventeen/ eighteen years of our lives... high school graduation, university, graduation from university, marriages, and children. I was overcome with the prospects of the future, and how quickly the last eighteen years have flown by. Her dress was (is) lovely, and as we left the store, garment bag in hand I said isn't it crazy to think that likely in the next ten years we could be back looking for wedding gowns?

{Photo Credit: ACTUStar}

So anyways that was my moment of reminiscence. The Royal Wedding was beautiful and if you didn't watch it live early this morning, I would strongly suggest that you try and catch one of the replays of it later today!



{Photo Credit: abreakingnews}



~Adrianna



 And they all lived Happily Ever After ;D

{Photo Credit: Getty Images}



Things I Love Thursday



{ABT Photo Credit: Ricof3 flickr- not original source}



     *New Summer Employment Opportunities *  The Royal Wedding being just six hours away * The fact that I have started this blog * Middle of the night Tea Parties with my mom and sister * Finally getting a new clear retainer * New Yoga Pants, Shirts, and Skirts * When Dances Start to Look Like Dances *  Dapper Haircuts * The fact that it is days away from May... that means weeks away from the end of the year * Greek Yogurt and Kashi cereal * The Canucks * Making Plans for summer (already) * Listening to students delve into political debates... (even though they aren't old enough to vote) * Finally filling picture frames that I have had for several years with photos * Running into a good friend that I hadn't seen in weeks * Jaffa Cakes * Marmite * Orchids * Starting to consider different Universities * Hearing about friend getting Scholarships * Enjoying in weird Quirks that my sister and I both share*

    

~Adrianna

*Inspiration For "Things I Love Thursday"

Tribute Tuesday

So today I came across these Nike adds and of corse started thinking...

How much influence has Nike had on the women poweress in sports?

Answer: A LOT 

They made it respectable, cool, beautiful, even sexy for women to be involved in athletic pursuits. I respect this so much, and in the past couple of years (since about 2006) Nike has really been making a case for dance as a sport, (which makes me respect them even more). So as a dancer and a general lover of athleticism here is a tribute to Nike's support for Women!

Visit: Nike Women Homepage

Set Backs for Saturday

So this is an interesting story... I will probs not be blogging much, as I fell down the stairs this morning... I know that sounds ridiculous someone of my age falling down the stairs, you would think I was a two year old who was just learning to walk and my parents left the gate to the stairs open. No though I know how to walk but if you get a running start to my stairs you are going down on the corner where the last few wrap towards the basement. Anyway so long story short I fell down the stairs and broke my pinky finger and strained my right hand; so as you can imagine typing hurts, as well as many other things! Anyway so this is my written excuse for why I will likely fail at my goal of frequent blogging over the weekend!

Hope you have had as interesting a Saturday as I have!

~Adrianna

P.S. Vancouver is awesome we just got back from a long walk down by Brighton park and the Ocean; beautiful! Once my finger is feeling better (hopefully soon) I will post some photos of the beauty, and the cherry trees in bloom!

Early Saturday





{Vancouver Skyline: Dave Rogers}

 

                          Yay, finally the highly anticipated long weekend! I personally am quite enjoying the fact that Easter long did not fall over spring break this year, extra vacation time is always welcomed. My family and I are headed west to the big, rainy, city of glass for what is sure to be a fam jam with the firsties, (some of whom recently returned home from a whirl wind trip to Asia, which I am so stoked to hear all about!).  Well amidst all the celebrations, family, delicious food, chocolate, rabbits, and eggs I am hoping to keep up better blogging habits than I have the past couple days. We will see what comes of that goal. Anyway I leave at 6:00am this morning and I have yet to pack so I best be getting some shut eye. I am sure as the rest of this wonderful Saturday unfolds I will update this post so check back!  

And I will leave you with something fantastic to start, (or finish) your day off with...

                                                                    {Sarah Lamb: Princess Flourine}

A Single Friday's Goodness



{Forgiven ~Thomas Blackshear}



Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

~Luke 23:46

When I was about 9 or 10 years old my dad had this photo in book mark form. I used to love flipping through his bible just to smell and feel the thin, onion skin pages. On one ocasion I came across the book mark and was completely enchanted with it. Thomas Blackshear manages to caputre in a way that a 9/ 10 year old can understand the complexity of the smiplicity that is devine forgivness. So I hope that this photo speaks some insight, as we prepare for the celebrations of three days!



{Lead me to the Cross ~ Brooke Fraser}

I love this song, and of course all the more at this time of the year!

~Adrianna 

A Perfect Monday

Strive for excellence, not perfection.

~H. Jackson Brown Jr., O Magazine, December 2003



{Bolshoi Ballet}
{Photo Credit: Helix}



  When I first glanced at this quote I was initially awestruck by its apparent genius. As dancers we often think about excellence as being an outcome of perfection, perfect lines, perfect feet, perfect turn-out, so I was attracted to the thought/ idea that they could actually be separate terms with less correlation then I always thought.
 However when I really started to think about  the difference between perfection and excellence I got a little flustered, so I turned to my good'ol friend Mr. Dictionary for some advice...

Excellence: the state or quality of excelling or being exceptionally good; extreme merit; superiority

Excellent: exceptionally good; extremely meritorious; superior

Perfection: the state of quality of being or becoming perfect

Perfect: conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type

At this point I thought I understood  the difference between the two, but then I looked up their synonyms...

Synonyms of Excellence: arete, class, distinction, eminence, excellency, finesse, goodness, greatness, high quality, merit, PERFECTION, preeminence, purity, quality, superbness, supremacy, transcendence, virtue, worth, eclat.

Synonyms of Perfection: accomplishment, achieving, acme, arete, completion, consummation, crown, ending, entireness,evolution,exactness, EXCELLENCE, excellency, exquisiteness, faultlessness, finish, finishing, fulfillment, ideal, idealism, impeccability, integrity, maturity, merit, paragon, perfectness, phoenix, precision, purity, realization, ripeness, sublimity, superiority, supremacy, transcendence, virtue, wholeness.

And now I am even more confused then when I began. The definitions suggest that Excellence is being the best within ones own limits, and that Perfection is being the best within a certain ideal. The synonyms however suggest that they have the same/ very smillar meanings. I sat and thought about this for quite sometime, and I have come to this conclusion....
 As people we all judge ourselves by some standard, a standard that we see as being perfect. A person might look to a movie star, or their older sibling, or maybe as it is in ballet a person might judge themselves by an abstract idea of perfection that is ultimately unattainable. Poeple so closely correlate excellence with perfection, that it is not possible to think of something as being excellent without it being near to or perfect. Anyway that is my psycho-babble for this Monday.

On that note here are some things/ people I consider to be the absolute embodiment of perfection....





{Splendid Isolation: ABT.}





{Overwhelmed Aster Dress: Anthropolgie}





{Audrey Hepburn}
{ Photo Credit: Listall}





{Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir}
{photo credit: Myra Clarman}



Sunday Showers




Photo Credit: Megan Anderson

¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”~ John 4:14 

I came across this photo while perusing my facebook, and it seemed to somehow capture all that is glorious about spring. Rivers full to the brim with cold renewing, refreshing, water that seem to blur all the lines that winter has drawn. Flowers start to stain colour on what has been a bleak canvas for several months. Peoples toes starting to show rainbows as they bravely slip on a pair of gorgeous open toed shoes in hopeful expectation of the warmer days ahead. So as April Showers continue to drown us as spring is here is full force. I let them wash away the gloom of winter, quench my thirst for spring, and water the seedlings that will turn May into a bouquet of flowers.


Happy Puddle Jumping
~Adrianna

 

Starting With A Plie.




Photo Credit: http://site.e.K.Clothing.com



    For  a while now I have had "the blog willy nillies", (I've been wanting to start blogging, but my lack of  free-time and ideas has left me somewhat unsure of how to begin). As I type my way onto unfamiliar territory today I have chosen to commence from a very familiar starting place; a plie. 

In ballet the plie though rudimentary transfers across all levels and styles. Upon thinking about the plie, I tried to compile a list of like things that pertain not to ballet but rather to life, (although for me a plie could probably be on that list ;D). In doing so I realized the reason my life has been a big mess of stress is because my "plies" are not there to support me when I leap into life's "grade-jetes". With this epiphany at the forefront of my brain I "went back to the barre" and came up with a plan, (and yes this blog is part of it).  I wrote up my standard weekly schedule, and aloted time to focus on all my "plies", (school work, relationships with family and friends, myself and my health). Things that I have not spent enough time on in the past. I looked all this over and set my main goal for the remainder of this year; DISCIPLINE.

 So as I explore new things, develop new opinions, and squeeze every last bit of zest out of all the lemons life gives me, I hope this blog will serve as an outlet to share with you my journey.

~Adrianna