JAN 30

Wow, January has flown by!  So I finally heard the words today in ballet I've been waiting on....you're making progress!!! What?  Was el capitain speaking to me?  I'm making progress?  I let that sink in for a few minutes and realized I guess just by balancing myself (holding onto the balance bar) is progress. Not such a big deal after all.  Just when I think maybe, just maybe the dictator is warming up to me, she walks by yelling in her Brazilian accent,  point your toes, Connie!  Elbows in, chest out, knees out...I remind her to tell that to my knees and elbows and toes!  I'm actually teasing her.  Isabella is the sweetest, tiniest little gal I've ever met.  She has taken this lump of clay and started shaping it into, well, I'm not sure what yet because she's still molding me.  What a good first decision I made for January's  New Years Resolution...ballet.  In Martha Stewart's words...it's a good thing.

JAN 27

Well, I've gone and done it this time.  I don't know what I was thinking but apparently I wasn't thinking at all!  I signed up for the Spring recital.  Ahhhhhh.  Look, don't invite me if you don't mean it.  My instructor  assures us she will have two routines choreographed for the different levels of talent.  She assures me she won't let us look bad.  I don't know how that's possible unless we are just going to stand there and maybe do a couple of grand plies...(that's a sort of squat for all you non ballet people)  Well, it should be quite the production and it will either get great reviews for what we new beginners have learned or it will end up on America's Funniest Videos.  Hey, that may not be so bad...it would be a shoe in to win first prize!!  I think when this is all over I will write a new book...Ballet For The Plie Challenged.  (sub-titled...Ballet For Dummies...)

JAN 23

Ballet class is coming right along.  I think this is my fifth class and although I'm still in the "beginner" category, I feel I am ready to promote myself to level 2.  (My instructor does not feel the same way)  I want to say my ballet instructor is nice, but she is not!  Just when I think I'm balanced and doing a  good job, she takes the balance bar away!!  Who does that?? She likes to watch us sway back and forth on one toe until we topple over like a fish out of water....lot of flopping going on. To top it off at the end of class she did it again.. she ...had the talk.  The dreaded talk.  Spring recital...She's getting very excited about this recital and I can say she is alone in her excitement.   Now she's talking outfits.  I've got news for her....I'm saying no no to the tu tu!!

JAN 20

No ballet today :(  I am actually looking forward to this form of torture.  Even at two days a week, I feel my balance and flexibility already different.  (not necessarily better, just different)  Ok, so I will practice the routine that I can remember until I get to class on Thursday and realize I didn't remember it so well.

JAN 19

So I'm a bit bummed because there is no ballet tomorrow in honor of MLK day.  I just started and I can't afford to fall behind with the spring recital in a couple of months!  I'm thinking of putting up a wall of mirrors in the basement and a bar (not for drinking!!)  for balance.  I'm sure my husband won't mind my borrowing some of his "man" space.  He probably won't even notice...Yes, I think that's the plan.  Demi plie...demi plie...grand plie...into the bar and around..or something like that. :)

JAN 17

So I am now getting excited for the "spring recital"...I think.  I figure this will get me motivated to practice my ballet at home.  Problem is, I can't remember the steps once I'm outside the class....maybe for February, my new year's resolution should be a memory class.

JAN 16

Ballet this morning!!! Class is getting so comfortable.  Not that I'm getting any better, I'm just enjoying it more and more.  My instructor is so gentle and kind and she's a very good liar!  Good, Connie Good!!  (yea right)  It's ok, there were new gals in class today, so now I am three classes "up" on them :)  Everything was really going well in class until the instructor said two words that almost made me pass out....SPRING RECITAL.  What???  Look, it's one thing for me to prance across the floor in front of the class, but to do this in public??  Not yet sister, I don't think so!  Maybe I'll just play the tree...oh well, we'll see by spring how far I've come to decide on this spring recital.  She can't force me! I'm older and bigger, yes I said bigger!  (That just tells you how small this gal is)  Actually, maybe if I practice really really hard, I could be the princess in the spring recital!! Yes, that's my new goal now!  Watch out class, I won't settle for less.  Spring recital or bust!