Date Night: Doug Verone and Dancers

 

Three years ago, on October 3rd, the most amazing man in the world proposed to me.  Of course I said yes, and so this past weekend, that amazing man took me out to celebrate.  It was pouring down rain which is so symbolic for us.  When we first got together it rained on every single date, and it rained the night he proposed.  Where did we go, you ask?  First we headed out to dinner at Antonio's in Addison Circle-obviously we discussed the Aggie win over Arkansas (whoop!).  Then we went to the Winspear Opera House in Dallas for the opening of the dance season.

After running a few blocks in the rain, getting leaves in the bottom of my beautiful, pink Marc Fisher pumps, and having to shiver up a storm upon entering the Winspear (a first since we've been back in Texas), we FINALLY sat down for the show.

 

It began with "Carrugi", a piece created just this year to Mozart's La Betulia Liberata.  From the moment the lights came up on the eight, already moving, dancers, I could see how truly unique this company is.  I could also see how talented Doug Verone is.  There was no story line, there was no intricate message.  It was just movement, movement that reminded me of composition class at Texas A&M University.  The quality of this movement was impeccable.  It was fluid when it needed to be, precise when it needed to be.  The dancers' ability to move from chaos to harmony when transitioning from moving on their own to moving in unison was eye catching and Verone's use of this in mimicking the dynamic changes in the opera kept the audience wondering what would happen next.  I'm glad to say that the costuming was simple and made the dancers feel like real people.  It gave them human qualities and showed that they were imperfect, like so many of us already feel. 

Unfortunately, the soundboard went down during intermission, causing the show to come to a screeching halt, but that didn't stop the audience from enjoying every minute.  Lucky for us, Doug Verone was willing to start his "Q and A" session while a new sound board was brought to the stage.  He was down to Earth and funny.  He showed passion for his company and his dancers and made me feel like I'd want to dance for him.  It was easy to see why he's kept many of his dancers for over ten years, and it was easy to see why over 400 women would audition for one spot. 

After the extra long intermission, the show continued with "Able to Leap Tall Buildings", another new work by Verone.  This piece, Doug said, was created around action figures, around the way they would move if they could on their own.  It was short and sweet and to the point, and I loved it.  The dancers, Erin Owen and Alex Springer, were amazing in performance quality and in their technique. Their interactions were interesting, switching between a calm and content manner to anxious and argumentative.

After, yet another, question and answer with Doug, the audience was able to enjoy the last piece, "Rise" which was originally choreographed in 1993 and is being reconstructed for Verone's 25th anniversary this year.  Each of four couples were dressed in blue, red, green and purple and each had different personalities during this piece.  Again, I was amazed at the flawless technique and quality of movement and again I was floored when the dancers' unison movements flowed so easily.  However, "Rise" was, well, long, and I hate to say it, but my interest began to wane.  I was pleased with the energetic faux ending and the mini solos that created the finale. 

Overall, I was pleased by the performance and so happy to get to know the choreographer a little better than I would have by seeing his work alone.  I loved that each dancer is unique and that Doug made it clear that he hires dancers who are "people" instead of dancers who can not show their own personality on a stage.  I loved that each dancer has a unique body type, but that each of them becomes part of the whole company.  My lack of patience and self-proclaimed ADD did make the first and last piece difficult to sit through toward the end. I also would have been happier if my behind hadn't of gone numb and my bladder hadn't of been so full.   All in all, I can't wait to see Doug Verone and Dancers again.  Maybe I'll get to be in New York for the next show. *Swoon*... Until then, I have a whole season of TITAS shows to attend.


Dinner and a dance show?  It's the perfect date. I'm one lucky girl.

Fall Wedding Fantasy

Autumn Wedding Inspiration Time!

 

I could not be more excited about fall weddings this year.  There are so many gorgeous things going on.  I need to start by saying that all summer I worried about the gorgeous colors that have been recently making appearances (aka, teal, turquoise, eggplant, yellow, etc) would disappear when fall came around.  I'm so happy to announce that this is not the truth! Those colors are here to stay, and it's translating into fall weddings. 

This year, fall weddings will not just have reds and oranges and be decorated by pumpkins.  They'll be so much more than that.  Do I still love pumpkins as a part of the weddings  this fall? Of course? How can I not?  But there are so many other options available.

 

On theknot.com, this color scheme of brown, chartreuse, and light brown is one of the top 7 fall trends for their most recent weddings.  Even though this wedding has no orange or red in it, it's use of Dalia's on top of the cake, brown bridesmaids dresses and the brides dress being covered in flowers gives the feeling of a cozy yet elegant fall wedding.  I'm in love! Isn't this absolutely gorgeous?

 

I'm also very excited because the rustic wedding trend is sticking around this fall! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this look.  It's so romantic and understated.  I love the use of old barns for these weddings.  Just the idea of having an outdoor wedding backed up to a forest or small lake where guests can sit on bales of hay or wooden chairs, where the aisles are lined with soft rose petals and mason jars filled with garden variety flowers.  I LOVE all the little details that are added to these weddings, and I am so glad this trend is here to stay!

 

 

And of course, you can't just let go of orange.  Orange and Grey.  Nothing left to say! It's gorgeous. 



Already Lovin' Autumn

 

As of tomorrow, it is officially AUTUMN! Yippee!!! I pretty much love every season, but I absolutely LOVE Fall (and winter... actually I can't decide. I really love them all... in their own time, and right now is the time for fall). 

 

So all I can think of are pumpkins and bales of hay and spices like cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg.  I absolutely love the fact that, this year, fall includes colors like turquoise and eggplant and mustard yellow.  Oh so pretty.  I'm ready for orange Gerber daisies and painting pumpkins and temperatures in the mid 60s or 70s! (I'm looking to God on that last one. Pretty Pretty please!) I'm ready for light jackets and ankle boots and falling leaves.  I've already changed my Windows background to the colors of fall in Japan.  Am I a little obsessed? Yes.  Do I think that makes me passionate enough to put together a mean fall event? Of course!!!!

 

I'm pretty sure my husband dreads this time of year.... I pretty much start spending money on Bath and Body Works Candles (four at a time :)) in September and don't stop spending money on candles, decorations, and ornaments until after Christmas.  And my having a Pottery Barn Member Card does not help.  (I have tried to convince myself that it does when I get my rewards, but I'm pretty sure I spend wayyyy more than I save.)

I do have to admit that I don't like Halloween--ewww.  I know.. it's sad, but honestly, it's always really freaked me out... ever since I was little with the trick or treating down the street, and the guy that always sat on his porch pretending to be a scarecrow.... and all those movies with the chopping off of the heads and the evil, little leprechauns... *shutter*.  I will, however, allow my kids to participate in the fun tradition of dressing up and getting yummy candy as long as they love it. 

I LOVE Thanksgiving and I LOVE Candy Corn. Yum. So pretty much everything except for Halloween, and I'm good to go.  Plus... it's still football season, and the sound of football fans and announcers on the TV on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon really, truly screams fall to me.  I can't wait to start hosting fall festivals in my backyard and planning fall themed weddings and engagement parties.  It will be AMAZING!

 

And above are some pinterest pictures of fall. YAY!

Soap Box Time: Why Wedding Planners are Important.

Hello everyone! It was a lovely weekend of Aggie Football and a cozy, rainy Sunday.  And the temperature... oh the wonderful high of 80 something degrees that has been sticking around and truly making this September feel "normal" or not normal if you live in Texas... well anyways, the temperature has been PEEERFECT *sing song voice*. 

So here's my little Soap Box Speech for today.  When you get engaged, the first thing you should do is, well, celebrate! But then after that's all said and done, you should hire a wedding planner. Even before you set the date, hire a wedding planner.  And here's why:

1: No matter how far away your weddings is, whether you have three months or three years, a wedding planner can help you set your pace.  If you're getting married fast but don't know where to start, a planner will get your budget done and start finding a photographer, florist, cake decorator, venue etc.  She or he will be able to get you on track to find the best deals and the best venues even this late in the game! If you have a long engagement, a planner can help you enjoy the process by not allowing you to rush in getting your tasks done.  He or she will help reel you in so that, come 6 months before the wedding, you're not trying to change everything based on the newest trends.

2: It's NOT your job to get everything planned BEFORE you hire your planner.  It doesn't make you look unorganized.  The planner's job is to either design your wedding for you or help you make your decisions based on ideas bounced between the two of you.  She or he can help you discover things about your wedding style that you would have never known before. 

3: If you're not sure about your budget, the wedding planner will help you with that, depending on what their package includes (of course).  I can't speak for every wedding planner when I say this, but I am willing to work with your budget.  My goal is that everyone feels like they can hire a wedding planner rather than feeling out in the dust because of a budget.  It's my job to work with you, to make your day perfect, to help you plan a day based on YOU and YOUR FIANCE.

4: You really, really don't want to be running around during your wedding trying to coordinate everyone and trying to be the bride.  Your day will go by fast enough without being a stress ball during it.  You should be having the time of your life and enjoying every minute of it.  Hey, you only get married once!!!

Honestly, I would apply these same rules or guidelines or, I guess they're really, suggestions, to every event you ever throw.  It's so important to enjoy what's in front of you... to enjoy your best friend's bridal or baby shower, to enjoy your baby's first birthday.  These are moments you can't get back.  So Hire a Wedding Planner/Event Planner, and do it before you're completely stressed out! Do it at the beginning.

Portraits// Ashley and Ziegenbock

With the first real break in the heat this weekend and football season really kicking off, it really felt like fall.  I love all of the seasons, I truly do, but I love each of them when the are supposed to happen, and right now it's SUPPOSED to be in the 80s... not the 100s.  So when the temperature was still below 90 yesterday, and there was really nothing to do inside the house (except watch rookie quarterbacks play their first games of their professional careers), Ben and I decided to get some photography practice.

Being an engineer, Ben always tries to convince me (and himself) that he has no creativity at all... which I completely disagree with. Engineers have to be creative. Or that's what I think anyways. Well after you see these pictures you'll agree that my husband has a pretty raw talent. We've only had our little DSLR camera since January, but already, Ben has transformed his pictures into something amazing! We had a little help from our good friend Ashley and her adorable lab Ziegenbock. I'm also pretty proud of my posing skills, even though I definitely made Ashley feel completely awkward when some of my less brilliant suggestions looked... horrible. haha...

 

So... if anyone needs any portraits done, let us know! Ben loves taking pictures of people and things and places and...well...everything, so he's always looking for new models. Happy Monday!

San Diego: Hotel del Coronado and Sunset at the Beach

While we were in San Diego, Ben and I stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado.  It was built in 1888 (I think), and it's absolutely gorgeous.  The inside still held the class and charm of the original architecture, the lobby was adorned in dark wood paneling, intricately sewn carpets, and an old elevator actually manned by a person! It was so charming.  The best part of the hotel was the beach access, the beautiful view of the ocean and the outdoor patio that sat around a sunken pool.  This place is the place to stay if you want a little bit of luxury, history, and fun.

The last night we were there, I found out that, within the first two years of its existence, the hotel had already experienced two suicides.  One woman committed suicide on the steps leading down to the beach.  She was waiting for her husband, who never showed up.  The other woman was the mistress of the hotel owner, and she committed suicide in a guest bedroom when she found out that she was pregnant!  Actually, both of these women were pregnant, and both of them are rumored (is it bad that I have to think hard about the fact that I'm American and rumored is spelled without a "u" here?) to haunt the hotel to this day.  Needless to say, I was a little creeped out...okay a lot creeped out.

Sundeck at the Hotel Del

Some of the sandcastles on the beach were pretty legitimate

Full moon + Ghost Stories make me feel very very superstitious.

Did you know that Marylin Monroe was in "Some like it Hot" which was filmed right here at the hotel?  It saved the hotel from being closed.

 



San Diego: Fifty Nine Mile Drive

Today, after a very emotional post about my favorite sports team on the planet, I decided to also post the next section of San Diego pictures. 

The second day we were in San Diego, we headed out on a 59 mile tour of the city/county. It really gave us a cool glimpse of what San Diego is all about.

I just thought it would be a cool picture, but then the mirror was dirty. womp. womp.

USS Midway

A gift from Japan, apparently San Diego has a sister city there.

Rosecrans National Cemetery

Plumeria is one of my favorite flowers.  It smells amazing, and is always gorgeous. 

I've never seen Birds of Paradise grow randomly all over the place... except in San Diego.

I was pretty hungry by this point, and there was definitely a group of people having a barbecue... on a Wednesday... Afternoon!!! These people have too much fun.

Picture by the amazing Ben Carpenter

Seals sunbathing!!!

Football season, SEC country, one excited Aggie. WHOOP!

When I was in highschool, I always thought that getting into a good school meant getting into an Ivy League University, that if I didn't go to Columbia, Yale, Harvard or Stanford, my life was ruined.  I thought that these schools were the only way to have the ultimate college experience and the only way to truly get a good education and a good career. 

So when I set out to apply for college, I only applied to Ivy Leagues...at first.  Then one day, my mom told me that I should apply for some back up schools.  I was reluctant to apply to t.u... that school down the street, and I was reluctant to apply to Texas A&M.  Hey, all I'd heard was that the corps was awesome (I didn't know what the heck the corps was. I just knew that my cousin was in it), and I'd heard all the lame Aggie jokes from peers at school.  But I listened to my mom, like I always should (she's always right), and I applied to Texas A&M, and before I even got in, I knew that it was the school for me.  I was also very interested in going to Baylor University, so I got out my poster board and some pretty markers and made a pros and cons list for each school.  I found myself adding pros to the A&M side and cons to the Baylor side, and when I realized that my pros were things like, "colors are maroon and white", I realized that I was being ridiculous.  I was going to A&M. 

Every single day of my life since then I have silently thanked my mother for telling me to apply for Texas A&M. It is not a backup school, but a school to put first on a list.  It's amazing. I am every single bit of an obsessed, "I Drank the Koolaide", maroon wearing, towel twirling, football attending, midnight yell going, Red Assed Aggie.  I made some of my best friends at A&M. I discovered my love of sports at A&M.  I finally felt like I fit in at this amazing school where traditions never die and are constantly being created.

I'm not really sure why Joey isn't looking at the camera.

Every single time I hear the AAAAs of the crowd and the start of the opening football video, I get tears in my eyes, literally tears. During the fight song and Spirit of Aggieland, I get the chills. I am already plotting for my kids to be future class of 2039, for them to be as in love with their school as I am.  AND I am so excited for the first Aggie Football game of the season and as a member of the Southeastern Conference tomorrow. 

Since my years at Texas A&M are now over, and I can no longer claim to be a senior.  My salute to you includes no A's today and truly begins my reign as an Ol' Ag.  Whoop!!!!