Ballet Recital

My adult ballet class got to be a part of the studio's annual dance recital last weekend. It was of course optional and I was all for it, but when it was coming down to it, it felt like a little more than I had bargained for and started to be a little stressful (and expensive! damn these costumes!) but in the end, I'm really glad I did it and I'm sure I'll say yes to the next one in 2023 cause for some reason I always end up doing that myself.

There's not really much to say about it, other than it sure felt weird to be back in the dance and performing world after all this time. Putting in the ballet buns and doing stage makeup, hanging out in the dressing rooms and in the dark wings as someone is dancing in the light with the music blaring. It was also surreal to see how much time had passed from when I used to do this. But it was fun to do it again.

I got really nervous just before we were about to go out and felt really blank in the head, but a lot of that was because the stage was so slippery I was worried about breaking my ankle, but it all went well and it all flew by. AJ took a bunch of quick pictures in the beginning because he didn't want to have his phone out, so none of them really turned out, and no one took video, so these are really all that exist from my performance.

I was told that Sophie was transfixed the entire time I was up there and that she definitely recognized me and realized that it was me up there.

Afterwards, I was greeted by Debbie and AJ and Sophie, with AJ holding a rose and Sophie presenting me with a sunflower and it made me melt and made it all worthwhile.

Til next year...?

Denver, Colorado

Sophie's daycare schedule included a closure the week of Memorial Day, so Debbie had planned to come help us out. So it worked out when Jessica was going to Denver that week for work, so I could go crash with her for the hell of it to get away from it a little bit, and AJ wouldn't be left alone to fend for himself against Sophie. So that's how I found myself in Denver this past week.

I've technically been to Denver before. AJ and I went there in December 2015 to visit his friend, but we stayed at his place just outside the city, and we visited Breckenridge and Vail and went to a Broncos game, and never went into the city itself. So this was my first time in Denver proper. And by the way, the landing was so awful, I was truly lucky to not puke before I got off the plane, and was able to run off and make it to the bathroom to splash water on my face and take enough deep breaths to walk it off.

The hotel was right in the downtown area off the 16th Street Mall. We had a great location and we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to, which included going down to Larimer Square for dinner on our first night.

This site on my drive in. Precious!

Denver clocktower

Larimer Square! Featuring jerseys
of the Colorado Avalanche, currently
in West Coast finals for the Stanley Cup

Nighttime skyline

Jessica had some work to do and I made my own plans, but somehow Jessica was honestly interested in visiting Molly Brown's house, so we did that together. If you've forgotten, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" was a real person in history who is known for surviving the Titanic (you'll know her from Kathy Bates' portrayal in the 1998 James Cameron classic) and she was also a huge suffragette and nominated as a Senator. Her and her husband came from a mining town in the mountains and after it started producing the most gold of mines in Colorado (or the West or something like that) they basically struck it rich and moved to this beautiful crasftsman style house on Capitol Hill. I was especially interested because there was a Titanic exhibit commemorating the 110 years of the voyage this year.

The Denver mint!

Colorado State Capitol Building

REAL White Star Line setting from the Titanic!

Signed script!

THEY provided the props and made it
fun! I did cry otherwise at all the horrific
details that were there from the reality
of the Titanic

That night we went out to a Denver saloon for dinner and the Colorado Avalanche hockey team were taking on the Edmonton Oilers in the West Coast finals for the Stanley Cup, game 1. We got very into it and Jessica, who has never even been to a hockey game, was getting very excited, it was hilarious and I was enjoying it too.

The next day I got to sleep in (what's that like?) and relax and get some work done while Jessica went in to the conference. When she was done, we walked through LoDo down to Coors Field to watch the Rockies take on the Miami Marlins. We were actually really lucky, because the game was supposed to just be a 1:10p game that we wouldn't have been able to make it to, but because the game the day before was rained out, they had a double header so there was a second that we got to make it in for. Only $4 to get in! The stadium was empty and we went up the Rooftop bar for drinks and stood and watched the game for awhile. It was super eventful - ended up 12-11 (Rockies win!) over 10 innings. Of course we left long before that, but it was fun. We had also looked up the special food at the Coors Field stadium and learned about Rocky Mountain oysters. We thought we had to try some until we learned that's an expression for fried bull testicles!! WTF! Thank God we learned that in time.

We left to go to a bar across the street to crash a conference party and even came away with a free dessert. When we got back to the hotel, we put on Titanic to watch haha!

The next day was the last day, and Jessica and I had to say goodbye early since she had to go in to the conference and I had to catch my flight before she would be back. I stayed in the hotel until check out and then I decided to walk up to Union Station and take the train to the airport. It was so lovely! The interior was so nice, I actually wished I had gone sooner and could maybe hang out there to read to work on my laptop for awhile.

Flight back was great. Smooth, on time, anything you could want. AJ picked me up and I got to come home to my baby before taking off for dress rehearsal for my ballet recital tomorrow. Yes, you read that right. I'm starting to regret my decision to partake in it but here goes nothing!

Congratulations Priya

I met Priya through Pam, who was one of her college roommates. And I lived with Priya in San Diego and remember sometimes when it felt like the three of us were inseparable. Priya and I spent a crazy fun and memorable 4th of July together in 2014 that we still reminisce over. She is a very impressive person. After getting a bioengineering degree and working in the field for years, she felt unsure and never confident in the area of finance, so she went to business school in Chicago and now works in investment banking. And, she is a selfless and kind person, and her generosity is truly unmatched.

(I swear going into the photo archives is sometimes so painful, but it's all in the name of memories! And the majority of these are from Vegas haha!)

Vegas Strip

Bar Basic!

Strawberry Fields, NYC

New York, New York hotel (Vegas)

Paris Hotel, Vegas

Central Park, NYC

Chicago (with Pam & Pearo)

Albatross, San Diego

Chicago

San Diego

 It was such an honor to go celebrate her this past weekend up in Silicon Valley for her wedding. Plus, it was a chance to see so many people again and all in one place, since so many of them live up there and AJ and I still haven't exactly made it up to the Bay Area in all these years.

Welcome dinner night

We stayed up until 4am!!! Part of that
was due to Jacqueline and some Estonian
girl. But here I am around 3am with Rob's
bowtie on

It was our first time both away from Sophie overnight so that was weird, but the entire turnaround time of the weekend was so quick, it flew by anyway.