Spring in the Midwest is often an exercise in frustration. Mother Nature teases us with 1 or 2 days of warmth and sun, then decides to freeze us out (or should I say in – since it forces us back indoors) for a few several more weeks. Spring Break vacation starts tomorrow, (or I suppose today) and looking at my local forecast I need to be reminded of what season it is…since it looks like temps in the 30’s and yes…that s-word.
Here’s a post I wrote during spring break several years ago:
While I don’t think the snow will be as bad as that last post…it’s still on the radar and that just ain’t cool. (Pun intended).
Something that helped brighten (again, pun intended) my day was the recent release of Bird’s Party newest E-zine. It’s bursting with bright colors and fun ideas for parties and Easter and, my favorite spread: SPRING! (It’s on pages 18 & 19).
Find a sunny spot in your house, and enjoy digitally flipping through Bird’s Party Magazine – available HERE.
As a bonus, Bird is offering a prize package from her magazine sponsors worth over $100! Visit Bird’s site to find out how to enter HERE.
And, if you live somewhere warm and sunny, wish a bit of it my way please!
1. If you started your St. Paddy’s day morning extra early with eggs n’ kegs you might still be feeling a bit green today. Any hangover cures you have found to work? Worst hangover I ever experienced was New Year’s Day. I won’t tell you the year since I think it was my first time drinking on New Year’s Eve. I was still in the experimental phase of things, which means I tried stuff I wouldn’t touch now like a shot of Goldschlägerthat made me drop to my knees (literally, I recall holding on to my boyfriend’s belt loops) once it hit the back of my throat. A friend was home from Hawaii and brought a bottle of blue stuff that kind of tasted like kool-aid, don’t know what was in it, but I vaguely remember french kissing one of my husband’s (the boyfriend of whose belt loops I had been holding on to for dear life) best buddies. It was kind of a dare, and everyone knows you don’t dare drunk girls (or maybe you do). Anyways, I was supposed to open the coffee store I worked at the following morning. I managed to get to the store on time…but less than two hours later I was begging to go home. My boyfriend (you can see why I married him) despite feeling like death warmed over himself, came to pick me up, and we crashed on his waterbed and slept the next 8 hours or so away. I really think sleeping it off is one of the best ways to deal with a hangover.
A little more experienced now and a little less stupid (I hope), I don’t have the option of lying in bed all day to sleep it off. So I have found on the rare occasions I do over imbibe the best thing to do is drink lots of water.
3. For awhile last fall I tried the Atkin’s diet – there were things about it I loved and things I just hated – I am considering giving a modified version of it another go…but one thing that resulted from my 2 week hard core stint was it changed how I drink my coffee. On Atkins, you can’t drink milk – and I was a skim milk junkie. I’d brew a big pot of coffee in the morning, pour the husband a thermos full to take to work, then let the rest of the pot cool off to make a giant glass of iced coffee for yours truly. My version was about 2/3 coffee and 1/3 skim milk…sometimes that ratio went closer to 1/2 and 1/2. With Atkins, I couldn’t have milk, but I could have heavy cream (I know, it sounded weird to me too). So I experimented with drinking hot coffee with a bit of cream in it. Wow, it was awesome! I never drank cream in my coffee before, always milk, and it tasted so decadent. There was a good and bad side to this change – on the good side, the flavor is so strong, a little bit of heavy cream goes along way, and my overall calorie count was probably less than all the milk I put in my coffee. On the bad side, this is heavy cream we are talking about, and not exactly good for you. Hence, my search for something in between the two…which is why when I saw all the promo-bits on BlogHer for La Creme I was interested. La Creme’s angle is that their products are made from real dairy – not the artificial stuff you’d find in “non-dairy” creamers. I bought a bottle of the Cinnamon Vanilla to try and I don’t know if I’m sold – the texture and taste is not as decadent as heavy cream, but the calorie content is comparable, so I don’t think it’s a worthwhile indulgence. Currently, BlogHer and La Creme are hosting a series of Giveaways to win a $100 Visa gift card. To enter, just visit one of these 10 blogs and leave a comment.
4. On the subject of contests and comments, a few weeks ago I mentioned a giveaway for a really cute 4 Leaf Clover necklace from Cap Creations. I thought the necklace was darling (yes, I just used the word darling) and was sad I didn’t win. (Don’t worry, I got over it). Imagine my surprise when I find out today that Cap Creations has decided to award their favorite 3 comments from the contest a $25 gift certificate to their shop! Looking back at my comment – this year I didn’t get to have corned beef and cabbage at my mom’s since everyone at their house is on a diet and I don’t make it here at home because neither my husband or Miss A would touch it. The husband and I didn’t get our Guinness in a pub yet either, but I’m hoping soon. I have a gift card to an Irish pub we’ve never been to burning a hole in my wallet.
So, I’m telling you people, it never hurts to take a moment to enter these contests I mention. It must be good karma, since even though it decreases my chances of winning by upping the odds, I like sharing the info with you . Take a look at Cap Creations and help me out by letting me know what you would spend the prize money on. I am considering getting one of the four leaf clover necklaces that I didn’t win, but there is also this cute Eiffel Tower necklace, which I might put away as a present for Miss A.
Miss A and I have plans to learn French together at our local community college, then celebrate by taking a trip to Paris. Of course, this is a few years away…but it’s fun to dream!
5 . Tomorrow night is a full moon, and not just any full moon. It’s called a Super Moon, and only occurs every 18 years or so (which means I was still in high school when the last one rolled around).
If you are curious to learn more, I’ll let the experts at NASA explain. I plan to get out there and take a whole bunch of pictures, I love pictures of the moon, if you happen to take a few shots of your own, please let me know where I can see them! Last year we looked at the moon a whole bunch, since one of Miss A’s first school assignments as a non-homeschooler was a moon log. She did several video journal entries, you can check them out HERE.
Enjoy your weekend, try not to drink too much, maybe write a limerick or two, enjoy a great cup of coffee whatever way you like it, and make sure to check out the SUPER MOON!
I am a little bummed I ran out of time these last few days and the 17 Days of Irish was cut short…I have had several long days and nights in a row doing quintuple duty and hence, website posts dropped to the bottom of the task list.
I hemmed and hawed about cramming the last 3 or 4 posts I still needed to do in – but the rest of my week is about as busy as the first half was so I’m going to give myself a free pass on this one and save the posts I had planned for next St. Paddy’s day. This way, I’m even giving myself a bit of a head start. Look at me, turning negatives into positives.
So while I try not to feel guilty about not having finished what I started with the posts this month, and also try not to berate myself for skipping the gym this morning so I could finish a few things around the house – here are some pics from my St. Paddy’s Day so far…
After starting the morning in a very unlucky way with Lil’ G spilling chocolate milk all over herself, the floor, the cabinets and me – I was able to whip up a quick batch of Paddy’s Day pancakes.
Green pancakes for Miss A's breakfast
Next, I had a verbal wrestling match with Miss A to sit down and complete the homework we forgot about since she was dancing in a performance last night and we didn’t get home til around 9. While she was working on that, I packed Miss A’s lunch, hiding a few surprises in there for her.
Yes, there were other items in her lunch besides chocolate gold and a shamrock cookie - but she probably didn't eat any of that.
Lil’ G, Having completely soaked her pajamas in chocolate milk, spent the rest of the morning in her robe – which she apparently really likes. It took a great deal of wrestling, this time physical, for me to get her dressed. I had a cute St. Paddy’s day outfit for her and really wanted her in some clothes! Then we headed to Miss A’s school to volunteer for lunch time and recess (oh, yeah – I also baked 2 dozen cookies for the class that morning to pass out while Miss A and a school pal who also dances put on a mini show for their class).
Luckily, the last couple of St. Patrick’s Days have been incredible weather wise. Today was no exception, nearly 70 degrees out, it’s the warmest weather we’ve had in over 4 months, and the kids were fully engaged in the happy-go-lucky spirit. Lil’ G had a blast running around in her new Irish duds.
The tutu is from BitzyBowz - an Etsy shop owned by a friend of mine.I asked her to make a St. Paddy's day tutu for Lil' G, and it turned out so cute! She made the bow too.Playing outside lifted Lil' G's spirits - she even humored me and posed for the camera!
The day is not over yet – I never got around to drinking my coffee this morning, and I really feel it now…maybe I’ll treat myself to a certain green logo’d purveyor. I’ve still got classes to teach, and Miss A is in another show tonight. Though I’d love to kick back with some friends in a pub, it will be just as fun to settle in at home for some wine and Irish cheese with the husband after we get our two red heads to bed.
Irish or not, I hope you all have a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day full of luck!
Pronounced “fesh” a feis is a festival of Gaelic arts. For an Irish dancer, it’s a dance competition where they get a chance to perfect specific steps of their dances to be judged – there’s a lot more to is than that, if you’re interested – here is the WIKI page on it.
Miss A attended her first feis last year, and to help soothe her nerves (not that the girl gets a great deal of stage fright), I let one of her best friends accompany her:
Her American Girl doll, Nellie, put on her Irish Dancing Duds too.
It was interesting to walk around and see all the various competition areas set up – there was dancing and music going on all over the place!
Miss A didn’t score high enough to place, but she got a ribbon for dancing, and that was fine with her!
I loved the fact that many families brought items to sell – from brand new class costumes and wigs and hair accessories to gently used dresses and SHOES! (I got a great deal on her current pair of Ghillies). It was a great place to look for bargains on all the stuff a dancer needs. All they needed was someone selling stuff for Miss A’s American Girl doll.
Actually, there are quite a few Irish costumes for AG dolls – we’ll cover that as part of day 14, which is full of ideas for the little people in your home!
Day 12 of 17 Days of Irish and we’re still dancing.
Created by GoodGran on Zazzle.
After learning the beginner’s jig, the next dance to be mastered is the reel. Somehow Miss A started to learn the Slip Jig first (which is often called the ballet of Irish dance and is very pretty and delicate), but this semester she got around to learning the reel. Miss A loves the reel, in fact, just a few weeks ago she cried after practice one day when she didn’t get a chance to dance it (I’m not kidding, girl has her own fair share of drama). I can understand why she likes it so much – it’s fun to dance! There is more movement and twirling and the music is very lively…most Irish music inspires toe tapping and hand clapping – but reel music really gets you itching to get up and dance too.
Created by Sallbergs on Zazzle
I found this video of a beginner’s reel from a Feis in Moscow. Irish Dancing in Russia? Who knew! And what’s a Feis? Come back tomorrow for day 13 and I’ll tell you!
Day 11 of 17 Days of Irish and it’s time to dance!
The seeds of Irish Step dancing as we see and know it today were planted over one hundred years ago, just around the turn of the 19th century. Of course, Irish dance has a much longer, deeper history than that – but the style and nature of Irish dance as we enjoy it now took shape around 1900…and really kicked into full gear in the 1970’s (and exploded with Riverdance in the 90’s).
Miss A’s dance school began in the 70’s and her teacher is is accredited by An Coimisiun, the Irish Dance Commission in Dublin – which means the best dancers in the school can qualify to compete in the World Irish Dance Championships (I have no aspirations or expectations for Miss A to get that far, but would never say no to a trip to Dublin!).
I love this picture, Miss A looks so serious!
During the summer, the dancers wear parade clothes (a troupe t shirt and skort) and usually as they march in the parade will attempt to stop at various points along the route and perform steps of the jig (one of the easier dances to try and perform while walking).
The first dance every new performer learns is the Beginner Jig – and it’s so cute to see all the little tiny dancers come out to perform for their first time.
Here a little dancer tries to follow Miss A's feet.It's wonderful to see how the older dancers help Miss A, and she in turn helps the ones younger than her...soon it will be Lil G's turn up there too!
The following is Miss A and several of the other young dancers at a recent performance. Often, at a show, they will break the dance up and assign each dancers a step or two, which is why you see some standing still while others are dancing. Check out the girl to Miss A’s right, she has awesome high kicks!
1. It’s Friday! So that means Giveaways Ahoy! Here are my favorites this week:
– Kim of TomKat Studios is celebrating reaching 20,000 FaceBook fans with an incredible Giveaway: a personalized customized party package! I asked Miss A what theme she’d like if she could hire someone to create it for her – she said Rainbow Magic Fairies. (So, I know what I’ll be making if I don’t win).
– Bird’s Party found a really cool website that puts together packages of sample items from all sorts of crafty companies selling lovely hand-made items. Called My Dream Sample Box, I think it is a genius idea and a great way to help small companies spread the word about their products! I think I’m going to have to order one of the kid’s boxes…how cool for Miss A and Lil’ G to open up a package of stuff just for them? Today, Bird’s Party is giving away 2 prize packages from MDSB full of the best offerings from their sponsors.
2: Earlier this week I mentioned author Erica O’Rourke, and guess what? She’s hosting an awesome giveaway of her own right now. For a chance to win a whole bunch of lovely gifts, visit her website and simply tell her whether you’d prefer to spend Mardi Gras in New Orleans or St. Paddy’s Day in Ireland (I decided I would prefer Mardi Gras in Temple Bar, how’s that?) Contest closes on St. Patrick’s Day – if you comment, let her know I sent you over! 🙂
3: Recently I mentioned trying Zumba for the first time, and I am so hooked. There are lots of fun songs and routines, but I think so far, my favorite routine to do is to the song Jai Ho (made famous by movie Slumdog Millionaire). The husband and I watched this movie not long after he returned from a business trip to India, so it was especially interesting. The movie really is a must see, it’s not the most happy movie overall, but powerful, and I’d say the ending still qualifies as a good one.
“Greek Yogurt? Oh my God, Greek Yogurt. Greek yogurt. Oh my God.” Regular yogurt really has never done it for me – and I had read of how wonderful Greek Yogurt was over and over in all kinds of magazines, but it just sounded, well, gross. Then I finally tried it and YUM! Low to no fat, high in protein, rich and creamy – it is awesome. I have it for breakfast almost every day, either mixed with a bit of granola or on top of oatmeal. I’m sticking to my under 300 calories for breakfast goal, and still feel totally full. If you’ve been hesitant to try it – go for it, it really is good! Greek Yogurt in all kinds of flavors from all kinds of brands seems to have exploded onto grocery store shelves, so everybody else must have figured out the same thing I did.
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My little Irish dancer came home from school sick with a fever yesterday, so I never got a chance to post Day 9 of 17 Days of Irish…however, it all works out – since a sick kid at home knocks my schedule into the trash I can sit here, drink a mug of coffee as big as my head, and do a combo Day 9 & 10 post! Miss A is recuperating in her pj’s and a tiara, playing Lego Star Wars on her DS, and Lil’ G is harassing me with a jack-in-the-box (well, actually it’s a bunny-in-the-box, but still…).
Now that you have a complete picture of the view from my world, let’s move on to the topic du jour: Irish dance shoes and costumes.
All dancers begin learning soft shoe dances first. Called “Ghillies” what makes Irish dance shoes different from a basic ballet shoe are the fact they are laced from toe to ankle, and do not use eyelets, but loops in the leather. Boys Irish dance soft shoes look a lot like your basic jazz shoe (in fact, Miss A often dances in a pair of jazz shoes to practice in so she doesn’t wear out her ghillies).
Oh…and here’s a dancer secret: to keep those poodle socks in place while dancing, the girls use something called sock glue:
Some dancers buy the fancy stuff, but Miss A has found that this works just as well:
Another tip…after over a year of struggling to help Miss A tie up her shoes before class, before a performance, etc; I took the advice of some other dance moms and bought elastic to re-lace her shoes…it has saved us a lot of time and energy!
For hard shoe dances, the shoe looks like a tap shoe – but bulkier (and, in my opinion, louder).
Hard shoe dances are so much fun to watch, and guarantee to get an audience going, especially as the dancer starts to move faster and faster (Miss A was in a show this past weekend, and I am always amazed at how fast some of those girls get their feet going!)Miss A hasn’t begun to learn hard shoe yet…maybe in another year. Oddly enough, the first hard shoe dance her troupe learns is called St. Patrick’s Day!
How many dances a dancer knows equates to what level she is dancing at – at the highest level, a dancer can qualify for a solo costume – those beautiful, gorgeous confections of velvet and lace and satin and silk and all sorts of glittery things. These costumes are hand made, unique, and – of course expensive. Many dancers will sell their costumes to another dancer once they grow out of it. To take a look at some of these incredible dresses (and to get an idea of why I need to start an extra savings account) visit Dance Again, a site where dancers can list dresses for sale.
Before they can get to that level though, first a dancer starts out with a basic costume. For Miss A’s dance school, it is a skirt and vest:
This is Miss A about a year ago, you can really see how much she's grown! The vest and skirt are the first costume a dancer wears before moving up to the "class" costume.
After progressing a bit, and performing in several shows – a dancer can qualify for a “class costume” which is a standard dress for that particular school of Irish dance.
Miss A is currently in one of the rental class costumes. If she continues to dance, I will probably buy her the fancier, more elegant version of the class costume (and, obviously, more expensive).
Speaking of expensive, while I dread how much one of those solo costumes are going to cost. If Miss A sticks with it and continues to progress, I look forward to helping her choose a dress she likes, and can’t wait to see her dance in it!
Those things are like eye candy, and one of my favorite parts of a show, it’s always fun to see the combination of colors and patterns a designer puts together!
It’s day 8, and for the next couple of 17 Days of Irish I will be taking a look at the various elements that make up an Irish dancer. I have a budding one at home, you see – and am learning the ropes from the ground up. After several years of watching the fun at various festivals, at the age of 6, Miss A decided she wanted to be the one on the stage. So our journey began.
Miss A has been dancing for almost two years now, and recently we took a big step…we bought Miss A her first wig.
She's a strawberry blonde, and it wasn't easy to find a good match - but I think this looks fairly decent.
I can still remember the shock I felt one year at an Irish Fest, when I stepped into the bathroom to discover a dancer taking her wig off. You mean those curls aren’t REAL?!? I felt cheated, lied to….and kind of stupid…because really – if I had taken the time to actually look closely – the curls on those dancers are just too perfect and bouncy and, well perfect!
So yes, I will let the cat out of the bag for you. It’s a wig. Sorry if you didn’t know.
In Miss A’s troupe, they recommend dancers wait to get the wig until around age 8 and then only a bun wig (like the kind you see Miss A wearing). The fuller wigs are better suited to older dancers. I agree with this for two reasons:
1 – the bun wigs are cheaper than the full, and I’d rather take my time moving up the scale of cost (it’s all rather expensive, if you haven’t guessed). It gives Miss A something to work for. In this case, she had to completely master her jig and reel before I would get her the wig.
2 – it just looks better – I have seen younger dancers wearing a full wig, and it looks, well…ridiculous. No offense, but something about it just looks down right silly.
So for now, Miss A will happily jig and reel with her bun wig and I can hold off dropping the cash on a full wig for a few more years. She has a lot more dances to learn before then.
And I have to admit I’m crossing my fingers that Lil’ G – who has crazy curly hair – might not need a wig at all.
She starts dancing in the fall, so we’ll see.
Come back for days 9, 10, and 11 – when we discuss an Irish dancer’s shoes, costume, and see Miss A in action as we learn a little background on the jig and reel.
It’s day 7 of the 17 Days of All Things Irish. St. Patrick’s Day is still more than a week away, and tonight many are preparing to celebrate Mardi Gras tomorrow and go to all kinds of excess in preparation for the deprivation of Lent.
If you’re looking for something extra decadent and wicked, then I have just the thing: home made from scratch Irish Brownies so rich and sinful they would send you right back in for a second confession.
I had my first encounter with these brownies while I was a high school English teacher, and subject to the variety of treats and goodies left all over the teacher’s communal office. I don’t like cake, and can say no to most cookies, but man am I a sucker for a brownie…add mint to the mix and my willpower disappears faster than (insert your favorite metaphor here).
A sweet lady named Jill brought these brownies in for Christmas, I think – and after one bite I hunted her down and demanded she give me the recipe.
It’s been almost eight years since I had a desk piled with papers to grade, but I’ve been making Jill’s Mint Brownies on St. Patrick’s Day ever since. I only make them the one time each year, and now you can too.
Melonie Johnson 
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