Silly Snaps

Every few months, I enjoy downloading the photos on my phone just to see what's there. Miss Millie seems to get most of the credit (or blame?!) for many of the images on my phone, camera, or "Photo Booth," as she has the most free time on her hands. At least she documents what she's fiddling around with, so I do not have to ask quite so many questions. I also downloaded the pics from her iPod Touch; there are some real gems!

I hope that she doesn't mind my sharing some of my favorite pics from the past few months.

The World as Viewed Through Millie's iPod Camera:

Silly Bands = A Silly Snapshot

'Lina & Millie

New PINK Shoes

View from the top floor
(Denver Embassy Suites)

Bartholomew, up close & personal

Self-portrait w/a dash o' 'tude

Photo Booth Images/Home:

Self-inflicted Manicure

What narrative could I possibly add to this one?

Moody Blues & Greens?

My Phone's Snapshots/Landscapes:

Hoosier sunset -- December 2010

Same Indiana trees covered with white stuff

Who says that big kids cannot play in the snow?

Downtown Ft. Worth in December

Mobile Images/Playing with our Food:

OK McD's

We didn't stop, even though this is reported to be the largest McDonald's in the universe!

I love how Hors d'œuvres is spelled phonetically on this menu -- only in a TX restaurant!

"Mr. Carrot Pants" was created after we discovered a mutant carrot with one top & two taproots. This photo was taken before he sprouted a really cool looking cilantro 'fro. For the record, Mr. C.P. was quite tasty.

Homemade chicken pot pie is always photogenic.

V-Day treats

More Cell Phone Pics/On The Road:

We must be close to home.

This lock in a public restroom is just begging to have a "Sharpie" smile added to its "face." Although tempted, we did not deface public property. :-)

We returned from a trip to the store to find an Audi twin parked nose-to-nose with our car. Awww...

Millie took this photo from the back seat of the car as we were breezing through St. Louis on the way to Indiana. It looks like I-70 now takes a detour through the Gateway Arch!

We laughed at the sign over the door at an OK gas stop -- in neon, no less.

The Canon Shoots Artsy Stuff:

I am so proud of Millie's handiwork! :-)

Unfinished artwork, but still worth sharing...

Millie had to draw this dragon in her art class, but she felt it was kind of a "boyish" assignment. I love how she added heart-shaped clouds to "girlify" her drawing! She claims she didn't do that on purpose -- it just sort of happened.

My camera batteries are fully charged & ready to go.

Mile High Weekend

Five lovely ballerinas from North Central Ballet put their best foot forward at the Youth America Grand Prix competition in Denver this past weekend. Although none of "our" girls placed in the top twelve, they all did very well. There are hundreds of competitors, and the talent pool runs deep. Considering this was the first ballet competition for these girls, we could not have hoped for a better outcome. The joy was in the journey.

The competitions were held on Friday and Saturday. Ballet classes were on the schedule for Sunday at Colorado Ballet.

Since photography is not allowed at the actual YAGP competition, we had a mini photo shoot after Saturday morning's rehearsal. Through connections, our director secured a studio for rehearsal that is a historic church building in downtown Denver.

http://www.cleoparkerdance.org/ensemble.html

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance's stage proved to be the ideal location for perfecting pirouettes. The dancers also had to learn how to control their breathing at the higher altitude. Several of the CPRD company dancers came in to watch during their lunch break -- their kind support of our girls was appreciated. And their tip to drink LOTS of water helped with the breathing issues.

The tutus are gorgeous...

...and so are the girls!

(I might be somewhat biased.)

John, of J&K Costumes, gets the credit for creating all of these lovely tutus. Our ballerina's tutu is not quite finished, but we had to take it to Denver "as-is." There will reportedly be more Swarovski crystals here, there, and everywhere for added glitz. I think there are going to be some additional gold scrolls, as well. We think that our Cinderella will get to use this costume for the upcoming production of Cinderella, so it should be 100% complete by the show.

I could make some corny remark here about there being two too many tutus on either side of my daughter, but I won't. Oh, dear! I just did.

As I was trying to take a photo of Liesey with her two teachers/coaches, a not-so-observant lady walked right in front of the camera as I clicked away. She apologized profusely, but was grabbed by the arm & yanked back for a second photo. :-) That seems like something that I would do. Must be a blonde thing.

Our dancer got ready for the awards ceremony...

Mr. Smith & I didn't look this pretty, so there are no pics of us!

Tori, Olivia, Liesey, Les, Jana, and Alaina

Thankfully, ballet did not completely dominate our schedule while we were in Denver, so the Smiths met up with the "Jones" family on Friday night. It had been way toooo long since we had seen T&T. (Three years?!)

We enjoyed tasty Italian fare, a nice bottle o' red, wonderful conversation, and lots of laughs (and tears!) with our dear friends. It's a good thing the restaurant wasn't really busy, as we were at our table for a few hours. We then grabbed a cup of coffee & "yacked" some more at a nearby Starbucks. We stayed until the barista politely reminded us that they would be closing in five minutes. Time flies when you're havin' fun -- it's true!

For an encore, we enjoyed yet another S-bucks break on Saturday morning. Mrs. Jones and I visited for a few more hours, and we still are not quite up-to-date. I am not sure that we would ever run out of things to discuss. Coffee & conversation are two of my favorite things -- especially when shared with a good friend!

As if a weekend filled with tutus and old friends was not enough fun, as an added bonus, Mr. Smith & I had about five hours to ourselves on Sunday afternoon to explore Denver. No kids! During our outing, my "boyfriend" treated me to a decaf. latte made with 1% milk at Peet's Coffee in Denver. YUM! It was a tasty reminder of California.

Deliciousness -- good to the last drop!

I guess this latte kind of represents our weekend in Colorado -- it was a treat that we savored, but it was gone much too quickly. Sigh!

Cinderella

It's my blog, so I get to brag whenever I want! Well, I am not really bragging, I'm just proud of our resident ballerina. :-) Her hard work and dedication has paid off.

Liesey landed the role of Cinderella in an upcoming production of Cinderella! We always suspected that we had a princess in our midst. Now it is confirmed.

Although rehearsals for the production have been underway for several weeks, our dancer has perhaps been more focused on preparing for a ballet competition. Most of our family will be in Denver this weekend for Youth America Grand Prix -- the world's largest student ballet competition. http://www.yagp.org/eng/index.php Then it will be back to TX for weeks and weeks of rehearsal before Cinderella.

Well, we think we will be in Denver this weekend. The tutu for the competition is still not completed, and we are having a hard time getting pointe shoes that were ordered at least 9 weeks ago. It's just so much more exciting to wait until the last minute... Oh, if only we had a fairy godmother to attend to these details.

Snow Days/Snow Daze

It's snowing again today in Keller. After last week's sleet, ice, snow, and bitterly cold temperatures -- which kept us in the house for three days -- I am quite finished with this walking in a winter wonderland business. I thought February was supposed to bring 50+ degree temps to North Texas. It's currently 17° at lunchtime, and we are heading for a low of 12° overnight. Brrrr!

It was nice to experience warmer temperatures last weekend, but as for today, it's back into the deep freeze. Saturday is supposed to be back to 58° temps & sunshine. Ahhh!

Classes at Univ. TX - Arlington were canceled again today. Our resident collegian had four snow days last week, and one today. M is surely liking this revised class schedule, as it allows him to sleep in!

The downside to homeschooling is that there are never any snow days for the Smith girls. Millie is having a very difficult time focusing on her assignments, and quite honestly, so am I. It is much more fun to play in the snow, or nap, or bake, or curl up with a good book, or blog, or... the list of better alternatives is endless.

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers

from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

The junk mail MUST be delivered!

It may be picturesque, but underneath all that beautiful snow there was about an inch of ice. It was not impossible to drive on the streets, but stopping proved to be the bigger challenge.

It has been said that Maine Coons are equipped with snowshoe feet, perfectly designed for traversing the winter terrain of the northeastern US; however, we cannot get our coon cats to cross over the threshold...

...unless we force the issue.

These "kittens" don't mind the snow!

Jemima appears to have a fretful look on her face. It's almost as if she's concerned that she will be plunked down in the snow to see "if" those snowshoe feet really do work.

Her worst fears were realized.

We are bad pet owners.

Or really bored.

Or both.

Here's a view of our snowy neighborhood.

Our back patio is definitely not a place to sit & relax on a day like today. Warmer days are coming. :-)

The neighbor girls trudged through the snow to pay a visit. Liesey got lots of hugs -- especially when she baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies for our guests.

Those are all of the photos for now, so that means that my blogging is done for today. What's next? A nap? No, I think I'll curl up with that good book. Wait! It's a school day. :-( I'd better help Millie with math. That's a good book, right?