(not so) tiny dancer

Hello, friends, and welcome to our SIXTH EPISODE of me shamelessly embarrassing myself for your humor   Way Back When-sday. Can you believe I've stuck with it this long? I know, me too. Figured I'd fizzle out after 3 weeks or something, right? Look at me and my stick-to-it-iveness. Don't you think that NOW you can join in? Share a little of your own past? No?? 

Fine, I'll just do it myself.

So you may have noticed a slight theme in some of the pictures over the last few weeks. Costumes. Particularly of the glitter-and-glamor DANCE persuasion. That's because for the first 15 or so years of my life, I was a pretty committed (notice I didn't say talented?) dancer. And then for the next 10 years I was an on-again-off-again dancer. And the first 15 years involved lots of makeup, glitter, and flesh-colored pantyhose. And, in retrospect...money. Thanks, Mom! I know those tap shoes didn't just buy themselves every year while my feet grew to their ever-so-dainty maximum capacity (bet she was prayin' for a daughter who maxed out at a size 7, wasn't she? HAHAHA, say my sister GIANTFOOT, and I). 

So this week, let us cast off our inhibitions and put on our glitter eyeshadow and big hair as we waltz leap, twirl, and jazz-hand our way down Memory Lane.

Let me start by apologizing that I do not have any of my REALLY YOUNG dance pictures in my own possession. Mom is pretty tight-fisted with that caliber of cuteness (can you blame her?), so next time I make a trip home I'll see if I can pilfer some, but until then...we're gonna have to start with about age 6 or 7.

Here we can see one instance of what was truly a rarity at this age: a PROFESSIONAL photo. Please compare it to what NORMALLY happened: the home photo:

As you can see, my posing improves exponentially with the cost of said photo being taken. Payin' a dude at a studio?? I turn on the glam. Have me in the front yard? Well, you get what you pay for. Other observation: apparently my mom spent the month's pay on the professional photo. She must have decided to save money by CUTTING MY BANGS TO THE QUICK so that they wouldn't have to be trimmed for 3 more years. Nice.

Also, it is worth noting that I have worn glasses since kindergarten. Big ol' thick ones. I didn't get contacts until the summer before 8th grade, bless my heart. So, you do the math. In all of these dance pictures (and during all dance performances and competitions and photo shoots) that took place prior to 8th grade, I was blind. I wore glasses during class, but never for performances. Maybe I was a better dancer when things were blurry. Or maybe I was vain. Either way...MOVING ON!

Tap picture!! Please notice the fabulousness of those silver shoes. I LOVE tap. Throughout my "career" I did ballet (including pointe), jazz, tap, modern, and lyrical. I'd be lying if I didn't say tap was and is my favorite. Yes, I still have tap shoes that fit me, and yes, I tap in my garage. It's friggin awesome. Unfortunately, no, I do not still fit into the above costume. FAIL!

 In middle school, I changed studios and started dancing with the company (now known as the "competition team," according to their web page) at Martinez-Evans Dance Studio.I loved dancing there, most likely because we got sweet costumes and got to take awesome pictures like the one above. This dance (which was actually pointe, so I'm not sure why we're wearing regular ballet slippers) was called 'The Dollmaker' and as you can see, we are all dolls (except for the one girl in the back who is obvs the Dollmaker). Dances always had to tell stories, you know? So that must explain the deer-in-headlights look on our faces. Me? I'm a smiler. I really don't know what to do when you tell me to make a different face for the camera.

It is probably worth your time to click on that group picture and check out our awesomeness up close. Just sayin'.

Also, I should sidetrack here and say that the studio I FIRST danced at (from ages about 4 to 11)...well, the lady that founded and taught at that studio...her daughter was on So You Think You Can Dance a few seasons ago! So, basically I am almost famous.

Here's one of my tap dances from that same year. I'm the one in the middle (back row). These costumes are significantly lamer than the Dolls ones.

Here's my tap dance from the following years. It was to "Devil in a Blue Dress," obviously. I'm second from the right in the back row.

Although I did some more dancing in high school, college, and even a few years post-college (mostly hip-hop and modern. and salsa.), I don't have many pictures of that...probably because the costumes weren't nearly as awesome. Nor the makeup as glittery. Nor the group poses as cheesy. Basically, life after middle school dance company has been a severe bummer.

That's all I've got for WBW this week. Gotta go get my tap on in the garage...peace!

just relax- it's not really a disease!

 

Myth 1: Infertility isn't a disease.

Myth 2: If you just relax, you will get pregnant.

Did you know it was National Infertility Awareness Week? If not, you can thank me later for letting you in on it. I think it's funny that there are so many "awareness weeks" for different diseases/causes. Funny slash sad. I have a hunch that if you are the person affected by whatever disease/cause people are having a "week" for...you don't really need reminding. You never really forget.

Welcome to my world, where it's always Infertility Awareness Week Month Year Life! It's not the kind of thing that slips my mind. But I guess if you're lucky enough to not be in my club, maybe you need some reminding. Just like I need reminding about National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, National Work Zone Awareness Week, National Sleep Awareness Week, and National Asbestos Awareness Week. Strangely, I did not make up any of those weeks. Thank you, Google, for making my day a little bit more magical.

So this week the idea is to Bust a Myth relating to infertility. This naturally appeals to me, since I am a) a fan of Mythbusters, b) pretty knowledgeable about many things related to infertility, c) pretty irritated about most of the "myths" out there surrounding infertility, and d) always looking for someone to tell me what to blog about. However, being the indecisive person I am, I couldn't choose just one myth. I went with two, since they seem to go pretty well hand-in-hand.

Myth 1: Infertility isn't a disease.

Actually, it is. Infertility is directly caused by a malfunctioning hormonal or structural system in the body, thus meeting the dictionary criteria of disease. Infertility is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), amongst other organizations, as a disease. About two thirds of couples dealing with infertility will be able to pinpoint the specific cause (or causes) of their infertility. Matt and I are amongst those "lucky" 2/3s. We know exactly why we can't conceive. For that, I am often thankful. It was horrible, all those months of trying and hoping and not knowing why we couldn't get pregnant while everyone we knew popped out baby after baby. Finding out the cause of our infertility, while extremely disappointing (and incurable, by the way), at least gave us the sense that it wasn't just something we were doing wrong. It wasn't just bad timing...for fifteen months. We have a disease, and it has a name, and it has no cure. Except-- wait!! What's this?? You...you average, fertile, non-reproductive endocrinologist acquaintance of mine...YOU know something doctors don't know?? You know the cure?? I should....relax?

Myth 2: If you just relax, you will get pregnant.

"Hey, Sally. I'm really sorry to hear about your cancer/heart disease/diabetes/arthritis/pneumonia/hangnail/athlete's foot (pick your favorite malady here) diagnosis. That really sucks. But hey-- one time, my sister's cousin was diagnosed with that, and she just went on vacation to Hawaii for a week and BAM! her cancer went away. It was crazy. So why don't you just relax? I'm sure you will get better in no time."

Sound ridiculous? Yeah, I thought so too. Does it sound just that ridiculous when I hear people suggesting that my husband and I just relax and we'll probably get pregnant, too? Yup. Sure does.

There's nothing wrong with relaxation. If you've known me for any amount of time, you'd know I'm a pretty huge fan of all things relaxing. And relaxing (or rather, not being wound up in stress) is bound to be beneficial for your health, whether you are battling infertility, the flu, or testicular cancer. It is not, however, a cure for any of those things. 

To me, Myths 1 and 2 go hand-in-hand. Infertility is a disease. So unless you are a doctor (or a fellow infertile, or someone I am specifically asking advice from), please do not offer unsolicited 'cures.' When you got diagnosed with liver disease, something I know nothing about, I did not attempt to minimize your pain, give you some hear-say 'medical advice,' or console you by reminding you that "you're young! You'll get well someday!"...because that would have been ridiculous. And I'm anything but ridiculous. Well, about this stuff, anyway.

So...did I bust the myths? I feel like I could have blabbed on for longer, but I don't want to feel like I'm lecturing, because...we're friends here. And to be honest, I rarely encounter any of the above scenarios anymore. You guys are awesome. My real life friends and family are awesome. It's usually only the occasional random acquaintance that commits any of these faux pas, and I am usually quick to forgive them (after I burst into tears) because they are totally clueless...but just in case any Totally Clueless People dropped by my blog today, I figured this could be my Public Service Announcement.

But just in case you're wondering...what can you do/say when you meet an infertile person/couple? Because I hate to write a whole long thing about what NOT to do and then you're all lost without any idea of what to do.

You can/should:

-Tell them you're sorry, that you can't imagine what they're going through, and that you're praying for them (and do it).

-Ask if they have any new funny/ridiculous/awkward stories from one of their many doctor's appointments...they probably do.

-Ask what their favorite side effects from fertility drugs are

-Avoid announcing your own pregnancy (unless you have been TTC for over a year yourself) (or, strangely, if it is completely unplanned/"oops"...for some reason, that also comforts me, to know I'm not the ONLY one not in control of her body!)

 -Follow their lead: if they're talking baby-making (or lack thereof), you talk baby-making. If they're avoiding the topic, you should avoid it, too, in order to avoid awkward cry-fests or fits of anger.

-Avoid talking exclusively about your own child/children/pregnancy. Mix it up with something they can happily relate to.

-Get excited about whatever good things are going on in their lives. I can tell you from experience that it takes some effort to think about/do ANYTHING but obsess about my plight. I have to make a concerted effort to find hobbies and activities to pull me out of myself. Let's talk about that instead.

-Pray. I may have already said it, but genuine prayer is always appreciated. Infertility is a disease like so many others, and like so many others, God CAN AND DOES HEAL IT!!!! I absolutely believe in that, cling to that, and place all my hope in that fact. 

And finally, I feel obligated to say on behalf of all infertile women/couples everywhere (bold, but I'm willing to go there):

If you are still of the mindset that relaxation will cure me, then by all means...help us relax. Donate us your frequent flier miles so we can go on vacation! Treat me to a day at the spa! How about an in-house couple's massage?  Perhaps a weekly maid service. The sky's the limit!! Never feel like you should hold back on your generous offers of relaxation! You just never know which one might cure us, right?...

Want more information about National Infertility Awareness Week and/or infertility in general? Check out:

What is Infertility?

National Infertility Awareness Week April 24-30, 2011

or go here to read other Myth-Busting Blogs.

hitched (steve & jess)

It ended up being a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding.

Not so, yesterday. Yesterday, when we were supposed to have the (outdoor) rehearsal and (outdoor) rehearsal dinner it was 50something degrees and drizzly/misty all day. AKA cold and wet. Awful. We kept hearing it "might clear up," but it never did and eventually we had to make last-minute changes in order to have the rehearsal dinner indoors. Everything was fine, of course-- I guess we all just got reminded that despite our greatest plans, we aren't really in control! Despite the weather and changes, it was a wonderful night...just not weather-wise.

Today started out looking like yesterday. Cloudy, drizzly, and chilly. Come on, weather, I repeated all morning. I know you can do better than this. Matt and I actually had a pretty chill, normal morning-- a few yard sales, working in the yard. I kept a constant eye on weather.com and the sky and reminded God that we could really use some help with the weather here. Sure enough, around 2:00 the sun started peeking through. The temperatures climbed up nicely, and by the time we started getting dressed I was once again feeling confident in my choice of sundress. 

The wedding was fabulous. The venue was beautiful. It was warm and sunny, but not overly hot or humid. Jessica was drop-dead, slap-your-mama gorgeous. Stephen cleaned up okay. :) Let's skip this monologue and move on to the pictures, eh?

Here's Matt and I with the flower girl who also happened to be our houseguest for the weekend! She's a master flower girl and also one of the funniest and smartest kids I've ever met. She's six, right? And as we were driving around last night, me next to her in the back seat, here's what she says. "Erika, we're related!" "We are?" "Well....yes, I think. See...[lots of pauses here as she thinks it all through]...your...broth--no, husband...yeah, your husband is my uncle's brother. My uncle Jo-Jo was married to my mommy's sister. And....my mommy...had me! So...we are related!!!!!" Well, when you put it like that, Kirsten, I guess we are! Too bad there's no easy term to describe our relatedness, though.  So we'll just take a picture here where you look like you could be our daughter and call it a day.

Here I am with my sister-in-law, Amy, and my mother-in-law. Can you even tell Amy is 25 weeks pregnant?

And the requisite picture of myself with my own groom.

And here's the Reason You Came to the Wedding: the bride. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe her.

  
And here was my job: handing out programs. Needless to say, I'm pretty awesome at that job.

No need to narrate these pics...

The ceremony was fairly short and completely wonderful. I only cried the whole a few times-- success! We also counted it a big success that a train didn't come by the whole time. There are train tracks running RIGHT next to the Thompson House...during pictures, etc, before the wedding, trains were coming by (LOUDLY) every 20 or 30 minutes. 

Amy and Tom (my SIL and BIL) departing from the ceremony. I have loved getting to spend time with them this weekend! (PS- If you are from Vermont and you are awesome, let me know and you can be friends with Tom and Amy.)

 Here I am with my two sisters-in-law! (Or is it sister-in-laws? Tricky s.)

And Matt with his dad and Tom.

And I stuck around to help haul Jess's dress around while they had a little lovey-dovey photo shoot. And then I stood behind the photographer and mooched off her shots. Hahaha.
 

Then there was the reception, and I didn't get many pics there (let's face it, all the curl had fallen out of my hair by then, so what would be the point??), except of the cake table. Not only was the cake delicious...have you ever SEEN such a beautiful and decorative and unusual and fashionable cake table set-up?? I mean, it was like a little forest with all the plant and birdcage and bird decorations!! It was amazing!!

And then it was over. And they zoomed off into the night and I took off my (cute but painful) shoes and called it a night, too.

It was such a good day. And tomorrow is Easter!! I admit I have had absolutely no time to think about Easter or prepare for it...there will be no Easter Bunny visiting our house tonight...but we will go to church in the morning and then spend the afternoon with the family. And hopefully, God help us, go to the gym. It has been far too long since I've darkened their doors with my ever-expanding shadow.

Oh, but there has been an Easter Miracle already!! And you have seen it! All these pictures?? Taken with my OWN CAMERA! Yup. One of them just decided to up and work today. Who knows how or why these things happen...I will just be thankful for it and not at all surprised if it once again won't work tomorrow. At least it worked today. Amen? Amen.

prom-tastic

Required background music for today’s post: Boys II Men, Blink 182, Destiny’s Child, Britney Spears, N*Sync, and above all: Ricky Martin, ‘Shake Your Bon-Bon’

Today’s Way Back When-sday theme should really be ‘Rushed’. And no, not rushed in the sorority sense—I think we’ve already established that I’m not girly—CERTAINLY not girly enough to have rushed in college. I just mean a regular old I’m-in-a-big-hurry rushed.

You guys had tons of great suggestions for topics for today, but then it occurred to me that it’s almost Easter. Visions of Easter dresses and pantyhose and Sam & Libby flats and white hats filled my head. I knew I had to dig up some old Easter pics (the three kids in age order, in front of the tree and azaleas in our front yard. Same pose ALWAYS.) for you to feast your eyes upon.

But then it turned into this week. This is like the busiest week EVER. Matt’s brother’s wedding is on Saturday, so already Thursday through Sunday is absorbed with wedding activities…which pushed back our normal Thursday plans to Wednesday…and then we opted to hang out with our family last night instead of having our normal Tuesday…and anyway, the week’s shot as far as time for blogging/digging through pictures in the attic is concerned. So this morning I rushed through my breakfast and dashed to the attic in hopes those beautiful Easter pics would be SOMEWHERE near the top of the boxes of pictures and I could find them and scan them before I was late to work.

I couldn’t. Sadsies.

I did, however, find another seasonally appropriate stash of pictures. Therefore, today we will be waltzing (more like grinding) back through time and enjoying Prom 2000—my junior year of high school.

Ah, prom. What can I say about you? You’re a glorious tradition, and I’m glad I partook of you. And now I’m done talking like prom is an actual person.

I had a pretty solid core group of friends in high school, known to ourselves as the Spectacular Seven (not sure anyone else truly recognized how spectacular we were…). Since we were a 4-3 split of boys-girls, it usually worked out pretty well that we just mix-and-matched amongst ourselves when it came time for formal dances and what-not. Also, at any given time members of the group might be dating each other, or occasionally dating some Outsider…so the odd numbers were never really a problem. That’s how I ended up going to my junior prom as Michael’s date.

Michael was an excellent date, despite the fact that we were the same height and I had to pose for all pictures barefoot so that I wouldn’t tower over him in heels.

Speaking of pictures…I’m going to spare you a little this week. Rushed and all. I only had time to scan a few, and anyway—they aren’t that exciting that I need to inundate you. I found a few pictures of my friends, and since several of them are fellow bloggers and/or requested I feature pictures of them/their spouses during WBW, I wanted to take a chance to embarrass showcase them.

Here we are actually at the prom, and amidst this crowd of dapper folks you will find James and Kristina! Prom dates in 2000, “life dates” (married, you could say) in 2007. What foreshadowing! (Other interesting fact: James was MY prom date senior year. Maybe we’ll feature that one sometime!)

After prom (and most weekend nights, for that matter) we went over to Jessica’s house. This year, it appears that Jess and Christopher were dates. Somehow we also seemed to end up with some of the prom decorations (?? What else would those big white gate things be?? Any other Seven member, feel free to jog my memory)…

Patrick was thinking outside the box (HAHAHAHAHAHA…funny pun if you’re in the know.) (and if you’re not, I’ll let you in: his last name is Box) and took this girl who I can’t remember her name because she didn’t go to our school. I like her dress though. And I also like how if you look really close, you can see the Shrine to Jessica on the mantle behind the white gates. Jess is an only child. If you think First Kids get lots of photos…wow, that just pales in comparison to the Shrine that an Only Child can get. Especially Jessica. 

That’s all I’ve got for you now. Like I said…there are way more pics, but not way more time. But one more quick tale before I go—

Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess it depends) for you, I went to Evans High. Had I gone to Greenbrier High, our rival high school, I would have had Christina Aguilera at my prom that year. I know, crazy, right?? Some kid at Greenbrier won a contest that year and the prize was having Christina come as your “date” and perform at your prom. It was pretty much the biggest thing to ever happen in suburbia. And also, according to most of the people I knew that were at the prom that night, one of the most frustrating/lamest things ever. Wish I could tell more, but…ya know, I wasn’t there. Sorry!