Ballet Tutus

   When I was in my assisting class at dance today, I was inspired to write about tutus. One of the little girls in the class that I was helping with was wearing one, and instantly, I knew that tutus was what I was going to blog about.

   Being a ballerina myself, tutus are a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I know that sounds really cheesy and kind of strange, but it's true. I absolutely love them. I've done a little bit of research about them so that I could know about all of the different types of tutus. Ballet tutus are absolutely not to be mixed up with any other form of women's skirst. They are specifically titled ballet tutus for a reason. Ballerinas wear them when dancing a ballet.
 
      Now, there is not just one style of tutu for ballet that everybody uses, there are many. In ballet, there are four major types of tutus. There is bell or pancake tutus, which are both classical, then there is the romantic tutu and the Balanchine-Karinska tutu. Because I was so excited to learn about these tutus, I felt that I should share what I learned with my readers.

•  Classical Pancake Tutu-The pancake tutu extends directly from the hips. It is worn with a hoop to keep it's shape very straight and flat, like a pancake.

•  Classical Bell Tutu- The bell tutu extends directly from the hips. Unlike the pancake tutu, it is not worn with a hoop. Instead, it has the sloping shape of a bell.

•  The Balanchine-Karinska Tutu- This tutu actually has an interesting background. The famous ballet master George Balanchine often choreographed ballets with a very large number of dancers. There were often many problems with the dancers traditional pancake tutus brushing up against each other, so Karinska, a famous designer from the 1950's who costumed Balanchines dancers, set out to fix that problem. She created the so-called powder puff tutu that had a much looser appearance and supported itself without a hoop.

• The Romantic Tutu- The romantic tutu is in the shape of a bell and it is between knee and ankle length. It is free flowing and emphasizes lightness and ethereal quality when used in the romantic ballets. It is said to have been invented and made famous among European ballet dancers by Marie Taglioni, a famous ballet dancer in the romantic era.

   After reading this, I hope that you have learned some new things about tutus. The next time that you see a ballet, I hope that you would appreciate all of the different styles and forms of the beautiful art of...
THE TUTU

  

  

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

    Thanksgiving holiday is this week! Yahoo! I know that when Thanksgiving comes around, people start making lists of what they're thankful for. Right now, I'm going to do just that. However, since I know that it can get a little boring hearing the same thing over and over and over again about what people are thankful for, I'm going to change things up a bit. Don't get me wrong, it's great to share with other people what we're thankful for, I'm just going to make it a bit more interesting. I'm going to write a list of small things that I'm thankful for, not just the average "I'm thankful for my family and friends..." type stuff. It'll be more like random, slightly insignificant things. So, here it goes. . .

I am thankful for...

1. Napkin baskets. I was just sitting here at my dining room table thinking about how much I like my napkin basket and of how useful it is.
2. Clean water.
3. Being able to have free access to an extremely large amount of books through libraries.
4. Learning Espanol.
5. Cars and telephones! Without them, I wouldn't be able to be in contact with family in different states.
6. Porcupines. They are really cool and I think they're super cute! 
7. Museums.
8. Pot holders.
9. Exfoliating face wash.  
10. Really warm socks.
11. Belts.
12. Paper. I love paper.
13. Sudoku.
14. Christmas lights. I'm glad that we don't use actual candles. My Christmas would end in disaster every year if we did!
15. Candles. (As long as their not on a Christmas tree!)
16. Potato peelers. 
17. Pony-tail holders and bobby pins.
18. Cameras.
19. Umbrellas. They're just so much fun, AND they're very useful!
20. Pens. I'm glad that we don't just have quill's and ink to use anymore. We have more options now! 
21. Ice trays.  

Old Rhymes . . .

   I was just flipping through my old journal that I used in my English class a few years ago hoping that I would find some inspiration for a blog post to write. Then I found it. Exactly what I was looking for.

    I found my old poetry.

   As I was reading through it all, I was very entertained and laughed at a lot of it, yet, I was also pretty impressed. Some of my poems weren't actually that bad! My junior high self actually had some pretty good ideas. I was beginning to think that it would be fun to share my poetry with other people. I find it rather entertaining(even the bad stuff. It makes me laugh!), so I was hoping that it would also entertain others besides myself. But then I realized that the only two people in the whole entire world who have seen my poetry is myself and my English teacher. Then suddenly, I had an epiphany! I could just re-write my poetry into my "modern journal" . . . My blog!

   So, without further ado, here is my old poetry! About 99.9% of this poetry is all haikus; but, alas, haikus are my favorite form of poetry. :)

"y=mx+b"
Graphing is not fun.
At least, that is what they say.

Yet, it is my joy!

"Tendus & Bautmas"
Releve, plie,
Releve, plie, jump, jump.

Life has ups and downs.

"She is"
Dancing, she is
Clothed in orange and red, she is

She is the fire.

"Valentines Day"
Distressed and lonely
Until this very day.
Where everything is cheery
And in a bright array.

"The Journey"
The big grey waves
Up and down we go along

With a yellow stripe.

"Dreams of Summer"
The summer fairies,
The dandelions in the air,

Are just the snowflakes in my hair.

Wrikis' beginning Continued...

   Theodore sat very still on the ground of the forest as the little brown owl stared at him. Theodore held eye contact with the owl for what seemed like eternity. As they sat there in the forest, just staring at each other, Thomas felt as if the little owl was trying to tell him something. Suddenly, the owl broke eye contact and swiftly flew up into the sky with great speed. Thomas lept to his feet and watched the owl circle in the air above him among the mangled and broken trees.

   He had to follow the owl.

    He didn't exactly know why, he just knew that he had to. He felt that the owl had to lead him somewhere and that he had something to tell him that was very important. The small owl began to fly farther into the forest, so Theodore followed him as quickly as he could. He jumped over logs and crawled through fallen branches just to keep up. As the owl flew faster, Theodore ran faster. He went crashing through the debris of the strange "storm" that he had experienced earlier so that he wouldn't lose sight of the little brown owl. After quite a few minutes of following the owl, Theodore began to grow tired and he was feeling afraid that he would loose sight of the owl. He was afraid that he would never find out what the owl had to say and he would never see what the owl wanted to show him.

   Just as Theodore was about to lose sight of the owl, they rounded a corner together and Theodore stopped dead in his tracks. Theodore was shocked at what he saw. He didn't even know what to think. As he stood there, trembling amongst the great trees of the forest, he saw . . .





   TO BE CONTINUED . . .

The World Without Cheese

   The world without cheese would be a sad, sad place. Food would never be the same. Lasagna and pizza would be completely different than usual because there wouldn't be any cheese for it. Soup wouldn't be nearly as delicious because there wouldn't be any Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top. There wouldn't be any delicious Irish cheese to eat with apples and strawberries. There wouldn't be any squeaky cheese to make people laugh. There wouldn't be any nacho cheese. There would be no Feta cheese for Greek salads. There wouldn't be any cheese factories to go visit and get free cheese samples from; no Tillamook cheese factory, no Hilmar cheese factory. And also . . . I can hardly say it . . . There would be no fried cheese curds. *GASP* Fried cheese curds is one of the most delicious and deadly things that I have ever eaten in my whole life. The world without them would just be sad. So, so sad.

One of the major problems with a world without cheese is that there wouldn't be a moon! Everybody knows that the moon is made of cheese. Wallace and Grommet even said so! If the world didn't have cheese, that means that we wouldn't have a moon, which means that we would all burn up from the heat of the sun, and we would all DIE!!!!

So, basically, the food in a world without cheese wouldn't taste nearly as delicious as it does now, and, in the end, we would all burn up and die.

Thanks for reading!
~ M. Frankfurt

The Donut Pirate

First off, I need to explain the purpose of me showing you two videos. The actual video that I wanted to show you is the second one, called "Donut Pirate". Then I thought to myself 'No, they need to see "Waffles" first. It is extremely important'. So, purpose for the first video, "Waffles" is so that you will know WHO Jeffrey Dallas is and WHY he is the way he is. I strongly believe that every person who goes to watch a Jeffrey Dallas video needs to watch "Waffles" first, so that they can understand more about who Jeffrey is.

"Donut Pirate" is one of my top favorite YouTube videos ever. The kid is the absolute best part of it. Sure, he's a brat, but lets face it. In this video, who even cares if he's mean? He's kinda supposed to be. I mean, c'mon guys, he's a pirate!

The way that he talks is great. His little lisp is funny (and really cute *cough cough*). I also like what he's wearing. His little vest and tie with the button up shirt just add a little something to his character. It makes me imagine that he's not the kind of kid who would actually want to dress up like a pirate, he just thinks very in depth about being one, and he has lots of evil plans and schemes going on in his mind. It makes him look reeaaally smart, like he knows exactly what he's talking about and he's very serious about it all. I think that his frown is like the cherry on top for his character. I can't help but crack up when he frowns! It's so intense, I feel like he could frown a hole through someones head!

So, I really like this video and it always makes me laugh, and I hope that it makes you laugh too! :)

BEING A TEA POT!!!!!!

Tea pots lead really tough lives. I don't mean tough as in they have a difficult job or anything. I mean tough as in they have extremely boring jobs and are ridiculously misunderstood and mistreated. I feel that, being a tea pot myself, I need to stand up for all of my fellow tea pots in the world and shed a little light on our poor, poor situation.

   First of, I would like to talk about our appearances. Based on that "I'm A Little Tea Pot" song, everybody just assumes that all of us tea pots are little, short, and stout. Sure, we do all have a handle and a spout, but are we ALL little, short, and stout? Absolutely not!!! Though I myself am a short and stout German tea pot, the tea pot in the china cabinet next door to me is, in fact, a very tall and skinny French tea pot. You see? That ridiculous tea po0t song that all humans sing sticks all of us tea pots into one, single stereo type; little, short, and stout.  And, besides that, how can humans go on singing about being a little tea pot when they know absolutely nothing about the experience. I mean, seriously, have you or anybody you know actually asked a tea pot what it's like to... Well... Actually BE a tea pot?! No! Nobody has, have they?

   The next thing I would like to talk about is our job. This is the part of our lives where the tea pot song is actually quite accurate. Now I will just explain it to you in a bit more detail. We sit on the stove in your house and wait to be used. During the summer, we just sit there and get all dusty. By the time winter comes around, we're boiling over with excitement (get it? eh, get it? Boiling over??? Ok, never mind, enough joking...)! When winter comes, we actually get to be used! Then, we remember just how boring our job is. You fill us up with water, put us on the burner turned on high, and you wait. After quite a while of sitting on the stove and watching you wait, we finally get all steamed up, we shout, and you tip us over and pour us out. TA-DA!!!! THAT, my human friends, is the life of a tea pot.

   Now, for a few little tid-bits that I have left to share. Our scenery. All we have to look at is what we can see from the stove. Maybe YOU should go sit in front of the stove for hours and hours on end and see how you like. Or, when you do, you can even face the wall! The majority of the time, people don't care whether we're facing the wall or not (and yes, we have invisible eyes.)! One more thing.We shout. ALL WE DO IS SHOUT! WE DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER SPEAKING LEVEL BUT SHOUTING! IT REALLY GETS OLD AFTER A WHILE!!!

   So, as you can see, us tea pots are very misunderstood and mistreated kitchen appliances. We're only expected to do one thing in and we are all stuck into the same stereo type that  says we're all little, short, and stout. So, next time you go to use your tea top, have some respect. Don't sing the tea pot song and, when your done with us, please... Just take a little extra time and go put us up on the mantle (if not, at least have the respect to put our eyes facing the right way on the stove.).