Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Book Report

Today I attended my final class at Lone Star Circus school. My first one was back in February. It is an aerial art class. For the first one I signed a modest waiver, and then basically was told to try and not die. The classes are held at local gymnasium hidden between some warehouses. It is a fairly large building that the Circus shares with a puppet show house (Slappy’s Playhouse, yeah just let that one simmer for a bit) and then there are some general gymnastic classes for kids as well. I had looked into this years ago but could not find anything closer than Seattle, ironic. So I went and basically cussed a lot and felt shame for admitting to be a fitness instructor. I figured out climbing up the silk, but felt like an elephant during the process. The day after that class I could not open doors or hold anything for a week. I had to just fall into a door hoping its hinges were hung in my favor. I went again a week later a bit more timid since with my last try I was not instantly amazing. It was better the second time but I still sucked. I have now been trying this out at least once or twice a week for the last four months. I do not suck anymore! I am now a beamingly almost average acrobat! Haha so I am still in need of a great deal of strength and skill, but I can do at least 6 awesome to me tricks, get my ass high off the ground, and there is way less hesitation. I really have gotten tremendously stronger with this fantastic sport. I am hooked! It is the most effective form of anti-depressant I have ever tried! To hang in the air, upside down on a piece of fabric you have wrapped yourself in, let go, trusting you will catch yourself again somewhere down the silk is invigoratingly stupid. Today in my final class I grew balls enough to attempt a few more stunts, of course. I will really miss the people that are a part of the school. I have found another one, I think, in Bellingham. They are all different so it might just be a lame pole dancing type class and not so much aerialist school. I am hoping it is similar to what my girls have set up here, because the school is probably next to my friends the thing I will miss most about Dallas. Sorry Lee Harvey’s patio.  No joke when I get awesome at this I will join a circus.



This is the School...




 This is me at my first class being a tourist.



 Here I am a few weeks ago after finishing a trick, still taking pictures like a tourist.



 This is a lovely and patient student



 One of the instructors working on a trick



Here she is trying not to die, aka mid trick




Thursday, May 26, 2011

Almost Lemons

I have strep throat. Weird huh? Who under the age of 12 gets this? I thought instead of spending all day crying and being unnecessarily dramatic, why not give one of my buddies a shout out. Also for all of my seven lovely followers, and those of you not legitimately following but are reading this blog, I would like you to know I am very big in Spain and some other non US place I can not remember. Today I noticed in my stats that I have anonymous followers in a sizable part of the pacific northwest, California, and, one in Spain. Huh well hello Spaniard. Yeah I am sure it is probably a fellow yogi connected to my facebook account, but a girl can dream. In my dream after only a few short weeks of rambling blogs a tall bearded Spanish man with strong calloused hands started reading this blog while searching for puppies on the internet, yes puppies. Still in the dream kids. You see because even though this blog has nothing to do with puppies it is in the title and I love puppies, and Spanish puppies are my favorite (whatever). My love of foul language, tacos, coffee, and clothing was unlike any woman he knows (every woman I know) He is hooked, but too shy to make a profile on google and join the ever growing list of followers. Ok just a quick note to my sailor…this is going to be blamed on medications so no angry text messages in Spanish about beards. La la la what was I going to really post today…thinking…rereading…
Oh shout to my homie! Ok so in January I teamed up with one of my favorite boyfriends, not mine, to do a fashion photo shoot. I love being Indian in a very non hipster way so we did a super hot Indian photo shoot. It might be a bit hipster with a semi urban outfitters feel but a super artsy look. Anyway you look at it the pictures came out fucking awesome. I styled, he scouted, shot, edited, and gave me an excuse to act a fool in the woods. I know that lots of folks have seen these on his facebook and mine but now they go global! You’re welcome Spaniard.








For more of these, and a way to have your own freezing cold photo session with a stranger please visit his website.  In true sincerity this man is an incredible talent and a joy to work with.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Weekend Warrior

I am not a fan of change. I make change happen in my life because I think people I respect have often talked about how important it is. Also I know if I did not change I would probably just watch the same third season of Sex and the City and eat the same three tacos everyday. So I do not own a TV and I only allow myself tacos once a week. That last part might be a lie. I really love tacos. I am in full disclosure eating tacos while I write. As for change I do know that when you decide that you want to move to a new place because you feel the place you currently live has reached its expiration date, that is the time everything you felt was missing magically appears. This makes moving, BIG change, so much more difficult. I am FREAKING OUT. I want to move. No I really really want to move, but I am loving Dallas right now. My job rocks, my friends can not get any better, the city is finally waking up to the beautifully long spring weather we have been blessed with giving me more reason to play outside, and I do not mean drinking on a patio. To be fair I think that Dallas has always had a crowd of festival and fun loving folks running around the city celebrating all types of occasions, but I have been on heavy rotation the last few years of the same people, places, and complaints about what is missing without really exploring. Though this is not all my fault, I will take the blame for not being present to my daily activities. I came out of this fog around February. Since then the people I have met and the adventures I have decided to take on have been just lovely. I did accomplish great things while in my fog. I can not say that the last two years were merely TVs and tacos. I was just not able to look far enough past my single focused ambition to realize how many other things were floating around me.
This weekend was a perfect no fail example of assorted fun. My older sister gracefully stumbled her way into her thirties Friday night at the Belmont Hotel Bar. Surrounded by her impressively diverse group of friends we ate fruit cake, drank just enough to laugh at ourselves a bit more the next day, and helped give her twenties the well deserved un-manicured finger. She looked happy all night. I in my gin haze attempted pictures of her and my dear friend Alex in my first social fashion photo session. Even with three different cameras each one made the beauties slightly demonic looking.






Saturday morning I greeted a semi frantic Erika in Deep Ellum to help her set up her vintage clothing booth at the Deep Ellum Outdoor Market. Being that this was the soft unveiling of Warm Gun Vintage I would mark it as a success.




Sunday offered up a nice alternative to my original plan of napping and yoga with an impromptu appearance at the Oak Cliff Beer Fest. I had no desire to be awake when I showed up, but after tasting a few of the home brews and seeing the parade of pups I was in full fest mode. We ran into a slew of familiar faces, and were entertained as always by the musical King Bucks. At the close of the fest we were cooled off by being rained out, so my ladies and I made our way to the couches of Cosmos to eat some half price pizza. We were not saving the world this weekend but we did have a hell of a time.










Saturday, May 21, 2011

Seasonal Beauty

I live in Texas. I have my entire life. I was born in Lubbock, moved to Arlington, then Denton, and I am currently a resident of Dallas. In two and a half weeks I start a journey to a land where the trees are much taller and god help me I hope the men are too. Now if the first thing you think when I tell you where I am moving is something about rain or weather congratulations you are average. Washington state has more to offer than precipitation. I have lost three great friends to the wiles of the pacific northwest and the only thing they find objectionable about no longer being in Dallas is the distance from our sports teams. Come June something, I will be reunited with these three in Bellingham, WA. I do not yet have a job in Bellingham. That is not the reason for my move. Yes moving to a coastal city in a down economy might not be the smartest thing I have ever done. Though I am in a position to do so and well I just need a major change of scenery. I decided after this past year ending as one of the worst, that this year I was going to make big changes. I am trying things that make me incredibly uncomfortable and scare the shit out of me. So how far can I go west without leaving the country? The trip begins in my home town where I will start with some quality family time. From there I plan about a two week wander through the west coast. Then I finish the road trip but continue the adventure in Bellingham, WA.

 
 This is my beautiful friend in Washington on her wedding day.
 This is where I will be spending a lot of my free time!


At this time I am a Bikram Yoga teacher, love. My other great loves is fashion. I hate admitting this and over the last two years I have tried to hide this fact. It makes me feel guilty to love something that is considered so superficial. I recently had some space open up and I want it back in my life. It makes me happy. I spent four of my eight years in college on my design degree, working on and off in the field for a few years, getting burnt out, and ultimately tiring of the people that the fashion industry typically attracts. So I went the other direction completely to find balance. Now that I have solely played yoga the last couple of years the pendulum has started swinging back in the other direction. My small work in the industry before was a big part of what turned me off. The type of work I wanted to do was more homegrown and slower paced than what was offered. Fashion I feel should be approachable and given more opportunity to digest. I know I have always been motivated more by the style of my friends and people I can observe. So beginning now with my last few weeks in Texas, to my journey across the country, and finally at my new home in Washington I will be chronicling those I meet and what I see.

She is a big reason why leaving Texas will be so sad.



Here are the ladies of my design class.  The best friends a girl could have, and even better distractions from actually doing any work.  Our mothers should be so proud. 

Here we all are over three years later and seemingly better behaved.  I can not say the same for some of our boyfriends.  

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Modern Macrame

A few years ago I was dating a boy with a very interesting family. During breakfast one morning with his father I learned about an unusual job title that I have always found charming. The conversation began around his wife’s former profession as a nude dancer. Now I was not alive during his timeline nor have I greatly researched the validity of his account. So I can not say if what he remembers is factual. Honestly I just listened enjoying his enthusiasm, and since I have retold the same story myself as truth. During his reminiscing he referenced something he called a bumble puppy. Apparently in order to be a part of the show you did not have to only be a talented dancer. You could be a talented dresser. These women did not have skill with rhythm. They did however have skill with aesthetics, the art of creative dress. A bumble puppy was an adult dancer who could not dance. She knew how to prepare and wear a costume well, to make an entrance worth noticing. She had a talent for presence and enviable skill of keeping your attention past her exit.
Now being a creative dresser myself I adopted the term as my own. Make no mistake this, as I see it, does not imply a lack of talent in a woman. Nor does it mean being a simple woman. To me a bumble puppy has incredible courage to take on a different situation and make it her own. I liked it. Outside of the stripper context I have again adopted this phrase now as a blog topic:
A personal/style/adventure blog created to share, learn, create, inspire, and teach with my take on bumble puppy style.