This is what happens when you’re a toddler who watches Leap!, an animated movie on Netflix about a French orphan who dreams of becoming a ballerina, over and over and over again for a month… You go to Tiny Toes Ballet for the first time and stomp-walk into the center of the room like you’re auditioning for a principal role in The Nutcracker.
Oh, and if you’re wondering what it’s like to attend a toddler ballet class, it’s similar to watching a very cheerful but somewhat desperate person try to herd cats for 40 minutes.
The instructors do their best to encourage the children to follow them, and even try to bribe them with stickers and coloring pages, but ultimately the little dancers do what they want, when they want, and go where they want, and that includes posing and twirling with very serious ballet faces, ha ha ha!
Now, for this week’s reading list…
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A few years ago, when I was only washing my hair two or three times a week, I relied heavily on dry shampoo on the days in between to get me through life. Now that I’ve fallen back into the habit of washing my hair with shampoo and conditioner, or just doing a conditioner co-wash, every day, I only use dry shampoo maybe once a week.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, I’m kind of relieved I broke my dry shampoo addiction because according to some people in the hair industry, too much (I’m not sure how much is too much, though) dry shampoo can be bad and can lead to thinning hair or even permanent hair loss.
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Seriously, this is a thing: chicken wings dipped in gold.
Would you eat them? GIRL. I would order the wings, scrape off the gold, take it home in a Tupperware (covertly, of course), and have someone make me a charm for my favorite necklace!
Kidding!
(Kind of.)
- Speaking of noms, what makes chocolate-chip cookies ? so addictive? According to some researchers, they’re as addictive as cocaine, holy crap!
- ***FANCY LADY THINGS ALERT*** Christian Louboutin is launching a cream eyeshadow, and it’s $50 per shade.
- Every town in America has a hair salon, a nail salon… Could a makeup salon be the next big thing? Own Your Wonder, located in Washington, D.C., is a beauty bar where clients can walk in and get à la carte makeup services. They do makeup for special occasions, big events, and they also do everyday makeup for peeps who want a touch-up for a big meeting or a date.
Prices start at just $15!
I would totally go if there was one in my town.
- How to wear blush if you have rosacea
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Remember when “Glow” wasn’t only a Netflix show about ’80s lady wrestlers? Back in the day (like, 2002), Glow was also a celebrity fragrance by Jennifer Lopez, and according to this story it’s the best celebrity perfume of all time.
Fun fact: The nose who formulated Glow was veteran perfumer Louise Turner. She went on to create Love by Chloé and Margiela’s Lazy Sunday Morning.
- Oh, the horror! Cats — mysterious creatures they are — are now losing their privacy because of technology. Yes, the same gizmos used to track prisoners on parole are now being used to monitor cats…
- This, of course, leads us to the eternal question pondered by cat ladies across the millennia: Does your cat actually hate you?
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This new service in New York is like Rent the Runway, but for workout clothes. (Yes, you read that right.) Now you, too, can sweat in previously worn leggings and sports bras!
Um…fun?
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…
Here’s what nail polish is made from…
I can’t handle the cuteness.
What it’s like to walk your dog in Switzerland
How beautiful is that video of Switzerland?? Makes me wish we were there right now twirling around in a field like in the beginning of The Sound of Music.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
There’s a ballet school in the same building as the circus gym, right across the hallway, I love watching the toddler classes. They do older children, adults, etc, classes too, but the toddlers are fun (as well as the siblings hanging out in the hallway until their siblings’ classes are done). They’re always looking in our windows at us doing shenanigans, but we’re just as impressed with ballet dancers tbh.
Aww, that’s so sweet! It’s especially cute when you see them being moved by the music, isn’t it?
It’s so pure and wholesome!
It is. There’s a sweetness to it that I wish I could bottle and keep with me forever.
That pic of Connor Claire is one of the best things ever. I’m so jealous; we never got to wear such awesome outfits to dance class. Our teacher was a former professional ballerina, so we had to wear only very proper black leotards with pink tights and pink ballet shoes.
Have you ever heard Julie Andrews talk about filming that opening scene to The Sound of Music? It’s hilarious. They were filming in a helicopter; it kept blowing her around and knocking her down. She was saying some very un-Maria words. (I think that interview is in the bonus materials in one of the anniversary Blu-ray editions of the movie.)
Hi Suzanne,
I asked her if she wanted to wear a leotard and she said yes. And she wanted a black one! With pinks tights. I guess she wants to be a proper ballerina?
How long did you dance? I used to do hip hop and jazz years ago. I did a few classes of ballet but was terrible at it.
Anywho, I haven’t seen that clip and now I’m dying to! Sound of Music is one of my favorite films, easily top five. 🙂
OK, we’re going to need a picture of classic ballerina Connor Claire, too, lol. That will be too cute. (That face she’s making in this pic is everything, though. “I’m about to blow you people’s minds with my ballerina moves.”)
I took 5 years of ballet and a year of tap. I stopped when it was time to move into pointe shoes; that was serious ballet and I wan’t interested in that.
Yes, TSoM is definitely in my top five, too. Right up there with All About Eve and Casablanca.
Working on it. 🙂 I just googled toddler ballet shoes!
Casablanca is SO GOOD. One of my top 5 too, because of the dialogue. Here are the rest of mine:
1. Godfather
2. Godfather II
3. The Sound of Music
4. Casablanca
5. Apocalypse Now <---- although sometimes this gets switched out for other movies, because it's so heavy and I can only watch it once every few years. Sometimes I replace with Amy Heckerling's Clueless, which is kinda silly but it always makes me laugh and I can watch it over and over again. Again, it's a dialogue thing for me. I love the use of slang and how it doesn't feel forced or fake. It's just fun! Sometimes it's Dirty Dancing.
Top five movies should be a Monday poll question
Save her first pair of ballet shoes; my mom has regretted not doing that.
Jennifer, that’s a great poll question! And yes a thousand times to Nagi’s wings. I was thinking of getting her wings cookbook.
Ohh, I’ll do that! Thank you.
And yay, now I have one of the question for Monday Poll, woo hoo!
Okay, so many thoughts right now. First, eeeewww to renting workout clothes.
Second, Connor Claire is too adorable. I love that tee-shirt. I haven’t watched Leap yet but maybe I will do that tomorrow afternoon.
Also, her little tutu is giving me flashbacks to when I was in my first dance class–I was a bit older. I think five. One of my first performances was in a red tutu with a red, white and blue leotard dripping with sequins. I can still remember how that costume smelled. Since this was 1975-one of our dances was done to Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy! Can you even?
Have you seen Dance Moms? You must watch. But Connor shouldn’t watch. There is terrible behavior and language.
Dry shampoo—thank you for this alert. I’m suffering terribly from thinning hair now that I’m in menopause. Sorry if that’s TMI. No, not sorry. We’ve got to talk about these things. I wish somebody had told me menopausal hair loss was a thing.
Anyway, my dermatologist doesn’t want me washing my hair everyday–due to the skin graft I got last winter. So I’ve been using dry shampoo probably at least three times a week. I’ve actually been spraying my hair with it at night before I go to bed. It absorbs oils and such while I sleep and I wake up to a great hair day. Guess that’s out.
Makeup salon–I would totally go to one. I need so much application help. Especially doing eyes and highlighters.
Chicken wings–I have the best ever recipe for crispy chicken wings from a food blogger in Australia named Nagi. I think her site is recipe tin eats. These wings are so good we’ve stopped ordering them when we go out because mine are So Superior thanks to Nagi.
I still remember my first ballet classes when I was 5 (I’m 47 now). The students were pretty in-line, no messin’ around, no wandering kittiness. ;D
Looks like CC could do hip hop ballet fusion in her wonderful outfit. 🙂
For the longest time I had no idea that The Sound of Music (shooting and story) took place in Salzburg, Austria. Yup, the home of Mozart and the fanciest McDonald’s in the world. My husband, who is from Vienna, had never seen the movie and most in Austria do not know of the movie (of course they know of the von Trapps). Talk about American pop culture!
Wow! I wonder if Connor will remember this first class… Probably not, LOL! I hope though that she continues to enjoy it. I think it will be great for her body awareness.
Those are cool fun facts about Vienna!
I love everything about this entire post!
That’s awesome about Connor’s new class – she looks adorable. Yes, any group activity at that age is absolutely like herding cats. The bigger the space, the more herding. HAHA!
I love the Sound of Music. 🙂
Love your daughter’s outfit.