Portland's Chinese Garden

For some reason I couldn't get these to upload before. Here are pictures from the Chinese Garden in Portland, which was lovely.

Lately

Full Tilt was now solidly a couple of weeks ago, but I'm still getting my barrings. There is always a lull between projects where I am not doing as much, but also franticly worrying about what I will do next. But in case you were wondering, Full Tilt was pretty much like this:

With a little of this mixed in:

Oh, yeah, and all these rad photos were taken by the amazing Joseph Lambert of jazzyphoto.com.

As you can tell, it was pretty sweet. Immediately after that my mom, who was visiting to see the show, and I went to the Portland area for a few days:

First we had a lovely visit with cousins Carol and Grant. They live on beautiful property outside of Portland. On our walk we encountered this guy:

 And found these owl pellets! After dissection I have four little rodent skulls. These were in an owl's belly!!!!

Then mom and I went to have a little R&R in Portland proper, staying at The Marriot of course. Mom loooves marriot. And I love street food.

Trip to Olympia!

Steph and I finally make the trek down to Olympia to visit our friend Michael. Made possible by Steph's adorable 1983 (?) Tercel. 

Arriving in Olympia, we are greeted by the Capitol building across the water!

Boats on the inlet

Michael and Steph dream of living in a house boat.

Watching the Dragon Boat Races. It was a very fun community event where teams would pile into these long skinny boats (yes, with dragon heads and tails) and paddle in unison for the win!

Then we went to see the Procession of the Species!

Which is a parade anyone can be in, and many people really rose to the challenge.

caterpillar arms.

This whale was truly amazing. The outside is made of plastic bags that have been braided and then woven into spirals and fancy designs around the outside.

Especially delightful is when they spun him around...

and his other side was revealed!

Angler fish represent:

I loved this family of frogs. They had those pink party blower roll out things for tongues. 

Dandelion couple.

These were wolves had some moves.

We met up with Hannah and Elise who are celebrating their 3rd anniversary! They had fun in the fountain. 

Me, Steph, and Michael at the pier in Boston Harbor.

We ate at this adorable bakery for lunch. They had a sunny garden area. 

And it was delicious.

Ok, back to reality. 

I talk a lot in this interview.

I have a lot to say.

The amazing artist Joyce Liao was kind enough to interview myself and the other creators of HOT MESS and publish the interview in STANCE Journal of Choreographic Culture. I'm so honored to have a space (that's, y'know, not just my personal blog) to talk about art and some of the creative process that went into the last six months. I sort of did not exactly stick to the format of the questions...so sometimes my answers do not seem to make sense in regards to how they are broken up, but I get around to answering them eventually. Guess I'll have to work on my interviewee skills...

Here is the link! http://velocitydancecenter.org/stance/2013/hot-mess-the-interview/
It has pictures too and even a bio at the bottom!

Pant Rejuvenation!

Hey. What's up. It's April and I've got lots of plans. Nathan's dad is visiting us this week, our good friend Nate the next, then my friend Steph and I are going to visit our friend Michael in Olympia the last weekend in April. I'm making a new piece on seven dancers for a performance in May, and also performing in a friend's piece for the same show. I have a grant application due in two weeks, and I still don't know what I'm going to prepose. Meanwhile all my co-workers are traveling, so my work schedule's a bit crazy, but it will be good to get some extra hours in after the time I took off in February and March. I was motivated the first week after I got back from Colorado to get stuff done, which was impeded this week a bit by a cranked back (yes, injured again, but minorly) and Nathan having spring break which means he was around the house a lot and my normal productivity was reduced of course. We got to spend some time together though, and this weekend was 70 degrees and sunny, so pretty much couldn't be beat. We spent Easter eating and sitting on the sun deck facing the bay at my dad's cousin's house, I didn't take any pictures, but it was glorious and Nathan and I are both a little sunburned.

Ok, but this is what I did the other week, inspired by this tutorial that I found:
http://cottonandcurls.blogspot.com/2011/02/altering-pants-tutorial-refashioning.html
I kinda knew everything in this tutorial already, but it reminded me that I have a lot of pants, that are perfectly good, but don't fit me very well, and I have the power to change th
at.
These had a lot of extra bagginess around the thighs and knees, but I took in the inseam, and now they fit nicely!

On the Right is before, on the left is after. The pic doesn't really do it justice, but it's much more flattering.

Also these, which I call my beach comber pants. They are linen and very comfy...

But are much too large. The crotch is halfway to my knees, and the length hit my low-shin awkwardly.

I took in the outsides and now they are high-wasted, the crotch is where it should be, but they are still loose and super comfortable--perfect for my next warm weather beach outing...not sure when that will be.

And then these guys fit perfectly for the most part, except for some reason people like to make jeans long enough for a very giant skinny person. Since I'm not 6"1', the ends of my pants look like this:

Very Wrinkly.

Much better!

I even got inspired to take in some of Nathan's pants, which were "relaxed fit" which translates to baggy and sloppy.

Left leg "before" Right leg "after"

I took in the other leg of course too. I have more items to mend/alter. It's not worth having items around that aren't flattering. I like to think alterations can be a thrifty way to make the things you already have work better for you. With a refreshed item, it's almost like you just went shopping in your own closet.

Hope to get back to more crafting, sorting, and organizing. I already have six paper bags of things to give away/sell, but I have been putting off tackling the files and the bathroom, which are both in desperate need of organization.