Blessed by Family and Friends in LA

It's been while blog. I know I haven't written in you in a long time and I need to. So here it goes:


As my third semester comes to an end, I am amazed at how much has changed in one year. In community group we were asked to summarize the year. I said, "Blessed by friends in LA. " When I came to LA I had a handful of people I knew but in the past year the friendships I have made have been overwhelmingly wonderful. When I turned 25 I only had five people to invite over to celebrate. This year I had cupcakes with over 35 people. There are so many people who text me, call me, make sure I haven't pulled out my hair screaming at the kids, and just hang out with me. I have a close group of girls that live all the way in Baltimore, my lifelong friends, and now I have my LA/PCC people to count on. I feel blessed.

Looking back, I should have said, "Blessed by FAMILY and friends in LA." My family has proven to love me more and more this year. As some of you may know, I love my niece very very much. My sister and bro-in-law answer ALL of my calls and texts. When I am with my family, I only talk about Vienna and they never tell me to stop. My brother took care of me when I was sick in Puerto Rico. Instead of going out, he brought me soup to my hotel room. When we drove to Vegas, he drove the entire way- there and back. Whenever I call my bro in Missouri, he has a loving and listening heart. In the midst of all my crazy, he manages to find humor and actually calls me. Like on the phone. Not just a text.

My parents deserve a medal! My mom showed up at my school today to watch our Nutcracker. She sat while I yelled at the students and just smiled at all the students staring at her. In fact, she sometimes drives three hours just to see my students perform. My dad shows love in a wonderful way- bacon. Everytime I come home there is some waiting for me and everyone reading this should be jealous.

Work is tough. Let's just leave it at that. Thank God I have wonderful family and friends that keep me sane!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a splendid new year!

-C

One year after NYU graduation

Today, NYU had its graduation at Radio City. My facebook blew up in purple of smiling grads and I had major NYC envy as they posed in Times Square. I started reflecting on what has happened since I walked the stage and I can't believe what has happened in a year. Here are some things I came up with:

1. When I walked the stage last May I  the plan was to move to CT with my sister and detox from the city. That never happened as I now live in West LA. I still do not know everything about West LA but I am slowing trying all the yoga studios and figuring out which streets have left turn signals.

2. One year ago I had 8 jobs. I now only have two! Instead of counting every minute and every dollar, I can go to work with ease and be fine taking a day off. Sick days and paid vacations are nice too!

3. At NYU I had a tight knit group of friends from grad school and although we have all separated- I know I can call anyone of them up and it would be like we never skipped a beat. I recently had the pleasure of watching Mary get married! Now my friends are mostly from my community group and it has been a joy getting to know them.

4. I used to dance a lot at the top dance studios in the US with other professional dancers wee into the night. I now dance with elderly or recreational dancers and a 9pm class is out of the question. I have redesigned my dancing life and I am still trying to figure out the balance of teaching and taking class.

5. In Harlem I used to take Zumba pretty religiously and now I teach Zumba religiously! I have a faithful following of teachers that take Zumba with me every Tues/Thurs

Congrats grads of 2014! Surviving NYU is no easy feat and you should celebrate! Your after NYU life may be very different after but I promise you- if you can survive the hustle and bustle of the city, anything is possible.

I head back to NYC from June 22-July 25. Who is still there!!

Spring Break never gets old

One of the best parts of being a teacher is all the breaks we get.  For Spring Break 2014 (!) I went to Tokyo to visit Sarah and Justin!

Here are a few things I loved about Tokyo:
1. It is clean. There are no trash cans around and yet the whole city is spotless. I never saw one piece of litter.
2. The trains run on time. We took a train every day and only once was a train delayed. That is AMAZING!
3. The food......... I love all Asian food and I have never had such great sushi. I could eat udon for days.
4. The children are adorable. I have never seen so many children so well behaved and I am a firm believer that makes kids cuter. They wear these yellow hats if they are in kindergarten and I shrieked of excitement.
5. I did not see one obese person, everyone is thin! Maybe because they work 10 hours a day or because everyone does hot yoga but all the Japanese people I saw were little. I suppose they have to be tiny or they would not fit on all the trains.
6. THERE WERE SO MANY TYPES OF KIT KATS!!!!!!!!!( I found most of them at the airport) I came home with 7 different flavors!

Things that surprised me about Tokyo:
1. It takes forever to get anywhere! We road the train about 3 hours a day!
2. I thought Hello Kitty would greet me at the airport (not really) but I thought there would be way more HK
3. Japanese girls walk in heels EVERYWHERE. No matter what we were doing- those girls were strutting their stuff.  ( I did not exactly love the fashion though......)

A brief overview of the trip:
Day 1- Arrived two hours late and got dinner then bed
Day 2- Went hiking to see a big Buddha then went to the navy base and shopped a bit. That night we ate at a little sushi place that had the freshest sushi! The tuna went straight from the fish, then melted in my mouth.
Day 3- DISNEY SEA!!!  It was like the California Adventure of Tokyo Disneyland. And it was amazing.
Day 4- Tsukiji Market, Shibuya, Harajuku, and a show at night. We basically explored Tokyo and it felt like I was in Times Square. The fish market was amazing! Sarah and I took glamour photo booth shots!
Day 5- Yoga on base, the cup noodle museum, and the Robot Restaurant. The RR was so touristy and I have my thoughts about entertainment for foreigners, but it was so bizarre. Of course we could not leave without a bit of karaoke!

*I met up with a friend from elementary school in Tokyo- it is amazing how Fbook keeps up connected!*

Buddha

Cup Noodle Museum

Robot Restaurant

Shin- our sushi chef

At Indiana Jones at Disney Sea

Sushi at Tsukiji Market

Community

I take ballet at least once a week at a ballet studio close to my apartment. Last week I decided to take the morning class instead of the evening class since I had the day off. The morning class was filled with elderly women, all retired, who probably have been taking class since the studio opened. For those of you in the dance world, you know who these women are!

During the first combination, a young woman came in with a baby in a carseat. No one blinked an eye as we continued with class and the teacher gave the next combinations. The baby woke up during the barre work and started to cry, and the mother immediately shushed and took the baby out. A few funny remarks from the teacher and everyone continued as normal.

What happened next in class made me extremely happy. During the break a few dancers came over to the mother and complimented her. As class progressed, women started holding the baby for the mother so she could dance. Complete strangers were helping this women so she could enjoy the class! For one combination the mother held the baby while learning but another woman took the baby when the mother's group danced. I even offered to hold the little one! When class ended, three women took all of the woman's belongings and helped her to her car. One of the women who helped left saying, "It takes a village!"

 I told her how wonderful it was that she brought her baby- it was a pleasure to see! I love how the community in the room did not even flinch to help this woman who was trying to dance. I can only imagine how hard it is to take class when you have a little one and I give her major points for actually doing it. This is one of the many reasons I love being a dancer. Whether we know each other or not, there is a common bond and love for dance that unites us.

I am still trying to find my dance and non-dance community here in West LA. I have made a big push in the past 2 months and I have made some real progress! My smallgroup at PCC has been a great joy and I have been connecting with people from my past. I had a great community in DC and NYC and I feel a strong community is important for a healthy life.

If you know anyone in West LA-let me know! I would love to meet them!

2014- The year of not touching my face

Although the New Year is well underway, it is never too late to try and improve yourself. I love New Years Resolutions and here are mine this year:

1. Stop touching my face and focus more on other people's faces. I am a face toucher. Specifically,  I am constantly touching my nose, brushing my hair, and rubbing my eyes. I need to stop and I feel 2014 is the right time to end the face touching madness. I don't really feel the need to focus on other people's faces but my grad school professor once told us to give a positive replacement action in order to stop the negative one. That is the only positive one I could think of but I am open to suggestions.

2. I am really setting up myself for failure with this next one- staying put. I moved across the country in 2013 and I took 10 cross country trips. How can I make a group of friends in LA if I am never here?? My zodiac sign claims that I need to travel often but I am not sure my wallet agrees.

3. Be artistic. I never wanted to be a choreographer or have my own company but my current job requires me to choreograph at least 12 more numbers before June. I have been relying on minimum creativity (like doing Nutcracker) for my pieces but I should challenge myself as a choreographer. The electric slide won't cut it!

4. Stop buying things. I love to shop and as Madonna's Material Girl song came on during my shopping binge at the 4 story Forever 21- I realized I have a problem. My closet is full! I do not need to buy clothes because they are on sale or because I might get fat one day and want to be prepared. I should only buy food.

5. Lay easy on the groupons. I adore groupon and I spent 3 months using them when I first moved here. However, now I am stuck with a bunch of classes at mediocre gyms when I could have saved that $$ for a trip (augh, I am already thinking of breaking #2)

I am sure I had more than this but after 8 days of the New Year I seemed to have forgotten them.

6. Don't forget your resolutions