Riot and Frolic

Checklist for Ballroom Dancers

I Can Stop

No, not "I can stop" like the "... at any time... It's not a problem, really... I don't need to dance" conversation at your intervention.  I mean, the "... at any time if there's someone in the way... I just feel like resting... There's a nice pause in the music... My partner is totally lost" sort of way. 

While moving is the obvious part of ballroom dancing, stillness [ahem, control] is also a lovely and underused element.

I Can Dance with Different People

If you feel like you like float when dancing with your regular partner and you feel like a lead weight with everyone else, it's not them, it's you.  

Being able to dance with everyone in the room IS leading and following, AKA ballroom dancing.  

I Do Not Need a Routine

If you are a beginner and you need a step list to help you remember your moves, that is great.

If you are NOT a beginner, then your repertoire has alternate endings and handholds, easy fallback patterns, and repeatable "thinking" steps to help you complete a dance.  

While dancing with music might include all elements of your routine, if something goes awry, you have a pocketful of tricks to use.

 

Peace out, Friday.

One year ago: How to Make Diaper Wipes, in which I break the Al Gore streak.

Two years ago: I'm, like, "whoa"., in which I discover the internet.

Three years ago: Before the spray, in which I mention Al Gore for the first time in two consecutive years.

 

Bullet Journal 201

I've mentioned before how I found the simple tutorial for bullet journaling, a straight-forward way to organize your thought, to-do lists, notes, or ramblings on paper.

Having a couple of months to try my hand at different schedule layouts, research other planners I like, and troubleshoot long-term planning spreads and to-do lists, here's what I've come up with:

The Index Page is as Index Pages are: direct, listy, and numerical.

My pièce de résistance is the weekly schedule.  I borrowed heavily from the Passion Planner and would buy that if I didn't love the Moleskine kraft paper large cahier squared journals.  After trying a few other layouts, I dig the amount of space I have for daily to-do lists (I can't, unreasonably, put 20 items on one day, even though I have tried and felt bad about it), plus having the shopping list, meal plan, housekeeping, goals, and happy thoughts all on one spread is MY JAM.

 

 

 

I also like the long-term planning pages, where I have 12 months of space to block out big events.

 

 

There's space for super-important running plans, group class ideas, business plans, and plain ol' empty pages for jotting down goodness.

 

Lastly, I put all the monthly to-do lists consecutively, since it'll be easier to transfer and I don't check on those big ones all that often.  (Note: I took this pictures at the beginning of April; there ARE checked off items on this list.)

What's your preferred form of schedule/list-keeping?  iPhone?  Have any favorite apps?  Paper?  Do you use a Filofax?  Or do you just use your mind palace?

A year ago: Food Revolution Day, in which I fall in love with a cook again.

Two years ago: LLLL, in which I run and laugh.

 

LLLL

- it was a pretty dull week in comparison to last week.  The usual teaching, practicing, cooking, mothering business resumed with full normalcy. 

- as I pointed out on Facebook, one must be very careful with fonts and the word "flick"...

so naughty

- we finally ate at the Lion's Tap in South Dakota, or wherever... Okay, Eden Prairie.  

After hearing about their legendary burgers for approximately 20 years, this weekend brought us in the right end of the cities and ample time to test them out.  I'd post a picture of our delicious burgers, but we ate them.  Without speaking to each other.  Because they were so delicious.  

There's nothing fancy about their signature entree (check out their concise menu), but if you are looking for an amazing, juicy, inexpensive, speech-stopping meal, it's worth the drive.

How was your week?  Looking for spring... still?  Gardening plans?  Summer vacation plans?

two for one!

Three years ago: Homemade Everything, in which I first allude to WWLIWD.

Inspiring/Cheesy Dance Quote

Get moving.  

Happy Friday.

Three years ago: Unpaid Programming, in which I heavily hint at gifts.

Mae Cake and Blender Muffins

Mae Cake had been planning her 4th birthday cake for approx. 364 day.  

At 3, she wanted three cakes: blue, yellow, and green.

Boom.

At 4, she wanted one cake with three different colors (blue, pink, and green) with chocolate frosting and [in a high-pitched toddler voice] "little tiny cupcakes all around it".

challenge accepted

And dude, it was delicious: moist, not too sweet, and interesting.  I used the ol' cake mix cheat and then went insane with the filling and frosting.  

Bottom filling: coconut chocolate "mousse", which when I tried sans cake, I puckered, "Not. Enough. Sugar."  But in the cake?  EAT IT.

Middle filling: allrecipes.com highest rating pastry cream, because I've always wanted to make it and it's the highest rated because it's delicious.  And weirdly easy.  Like real pudding, I've always been scared to make it.  For the record, Mae Cake stated she did NOT ask for any "orange stuff" in her cake. Harumph.

Frosting: likewise on the allrecipes.com chocolate ganache and being scary but easy and nomnomnom.  Also, a little not sweet without a cake nearby, but EATIT EATIT EATIT when in the finished combo. 

On a separate occasion, I was looking for a muffin recipe that wouldn't kill you AND that used bananas.  I found this HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS looking one called Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blender Muffins.  

Blender muffins. Like that's a thing.

Well, similar to WWLIWD, it is totally a thing.

You put 5 things in a blender and... blend them.  And then bake them.  

Harumph.  Too easy.  Muffins need to be coddled and require more 5 ingredients and contain flour and cannot be overblended.

Even with Averie's meticulous descriptions and beautiful photography, I doubted they would be any good.

And they are delicious.

Harumph and HOORAY.

Go make some today.

...

[poet joke]

A year ago: The Year of F-ing Replacing Things, in which I lose stuff.

Two years ago: LLLL, in which I make the self-proclaimed best LLLL post ever.

Three years ago: LLLL, in which I make the first list.