Thankful...

My dancers and their parents are so unbelievably thoughtful. It's our last week of classes before Christmas and I have been absolutely showered with gifts. I'd like to think that I'm not a very materialistic person, but I have gotten some really cool stuff! I've received some beautiful ornaments (which I'm in desperate need of!), some bath and kitchen type stuff, a really sweet bag, Webkinz clothes and cards (yes I have Webkinz - blame it on my petite company girls - they got me hooked), and lots and lots of gift cards. Much needed gift cards.

I'm not doing that great financially right now, so it's really nice to have those gift cards. I'm very thankful. I met with my small group at Barnes & Noble tonight to pick out a new book for our study. I got a book, the workbook for it and a hot chocolate with a gift card I received from a few students - and still had 15 cents left. Woo-hoo! I'm also in need of a winter coat - it's kind of cold around here. I saw the exact kind I wanted at Target yesterday for $50. Definitely don't have that kind of money right now. I got a gift card from one of my classes tonight. $50. I'm pretty pumped. And like I said... thankful. Very very thankful.

The Evolution of the Butterfly...

Stretching with the little ones is always really fun. And usually really funny. Every time we do our butterflies, I ask my girls what color butterfly they want to be. At the beginning of the year, they usually pick one color (typically pink, sometimes purple, and in Amber's case... brown). By the middle of the year, their response usually sounds something like this:

"Well my body is going to be tan. And my head is going to be brown. My wings are all the colors of the rainbow, pink, black, purple, yellow, pink, blue, purple, green, yellow, pink sparkles, rainbow sparkles, all the princesses, castles, Hannah Montana, Sponge Bob, Sandy, Patrick, Sponge Bob's house, Sandy's house, Patrick's house, pillows, all of the girls in the class, you (that's referring to me, their wonderful, amazing ballet teacher), ballerinas, diamonds, gems, crowns, and sparkles."

I kid you not. It's hilarious. My personal favorite is pillows.

What color butterfly would you be?

I'm back

So I just returned home from an 8-day adventure in the Caribbean. My mom and I went on a cruise. And it was nice. And warm. I hiked and did a canopy tour in Jamaica, went scuba diving in Grand Cayman, went to an adventure park in Cozumel, and layed on the beach all day in the Bahamas. Oh, and shopped. Pretty much everywhere.

The ship was nice. There was lots to do. I read a couple of books, got myself a tan, had a couple of drinks... a day, spent time with my mom, watched movies and football on the big screen under the stars, met some really cool people, and bought a couple of really nice things. It was a great trip.

I'm really glad to be back though. I heard so many people on the ship talking about how they were dreading going back to work. I couldn't wait. I love my job. I missed it while I was gone. I missed my kids.

I went to the studio last night to work on some choreography for the week. And I've gotta say, I think the break was good for me. I have really been struggling lately with my choreography. I haven't been feeling very creative. But last night I was on a roll. Which was very refreshing. Now hopefully I can remember everything I came up with last night....