SNEAK PEAK!!!!

Here is a little sneak peak of what I've been working on.... the Kansas City Ballet's World Premiere of Tom Sawyer, a Ballet in 3 Acts!

Tonight is the World Premiere of this amazing all American ballet. We have been working on building these costumes, designed by Holly Hynes, since July, and I am so excited to finally see them in action, and on stage!

The other exciting aspect of this big event is that we are performing in the brand new, world class Kauffman Center of the Performing Arts

I snapped these photos of the theater yesterday on my way to rehersal

this is a costumers dream, a full rack of finished costumes!

JEWELS! even a ballet set in the 1800's needs some bling!

some swirly goblin hats!

...now that I've whetted your Tom Sawyer appetite you should all come to the show and see the costumes, beautiful sets, and amazing dancers!

green meanie.

I've recently gotten into the impulsive habit of cutting my dresses into skirts! No joke, this is the 2nd thrifted dress that Ive cut the bodice off this week, all so I could have a sweet mid-calf length skirt (I'm obsessed with this skirt length)...and I never wore this dress, it was in my pile of stuff to be altered (it had long flowy sleeves and rows of ruffles on the chest!) and was definitely not my style

pretty colors and textures!


jewels!

outfit details: sweater: Forever 21, skirt: former dress, thrifted, belt: my moms closet, purse: LA market, shoes: BC shoes (gift), necklace: science store

a grab bag! (some things I've been doing, while not blogging for the past 2 months!)

mmmmK, so here goes, a collection of photos that I've been snapping and things I've been doing for the past couple months! (total image/info overload!)

the days are getting shorter, but while the summer lasts me and my gals have been into some serious porch sitting!

...All gussied up for a big KC Ballet event!

My mom found this beautiful dress at a vintage store and sent it to me for my birthday last year! the color is amazing! I gave tours of the costume shop that evening and all the guests asked me about this bright, beautiful dress! Thanks mom!

....speaking of my mom, I visited my family in Colorado, we had a ton of fun and visited the Estes Park Highland Festival. When we were kids my sister and I used to compete in scottish dancing, so we would go to these festivals all the time, its been a while since we've been to one, but we had a blast. Here my mom and I are relaxing in the shade (sporting our McLeod tartans!)

dork alert! I also got to ride my dads vespa! can you tell I was nervous?!

...Ryan and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary! (and some very sweet fairies decorated our car!)

...on the heart/ love theme, my friend Lily sent me this awesome hand-made pin cushion!

......whew, obviously I've been busy traveling and working and not blogging, but alas, life happens!

Union Station

I've mentioned it before, but just as a recap,I'll let you know that I am lucky enough to hold a great job as a costumer for the Kansas City Ballet.... along this vein there is a lot of new and exciting things happening in my world of work (and in Kansas City) The first being that there is a brand new Performing Arts Center, that we (the ballet, as well as the Lyric Opera and the Symphony) will be using! It is a lovely and innovative building and I can't wait to use the new space for our fall show! The second exciting news has been all consuming for me and my co-workers for the past month, the ballet itself has a new home, The Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity! This is the space where all of the pre-performance magic happens. There are studios where the dancers rehearse, offices from which the business is run and (dumdumdum) a lovely costume shop! Where yours truely is priveliged to work!

Our new building is adjacent to our city train station, Union Station, which makes a lovely backdrop for photos, what with the trains zooming by and all. I've had fun exploring the area on my down time and can't wait to take some romantic/nostalgic feeling outfit+train photos, but for now, alas, you get my moving clothes (shorts and a tee) and some trains zooming by!

outfit details: shirt: Target, shorts: thrifted, shoes: Steve & Barry's

dots.

just a quick post this AM, summer is winding down and work is winding up! I'm going to be a style geek here and make a declaration of love with a item of clothing! I gotta say that this is my favorite skirt! ever. I feel 70's sophisticated (is that possible?), and lady-like, yet comfy.... In general I feel fabulous in this outfit....


outfit details: skirt: thrifted, tank: F21, shoes: mall (dyed by me)


unfortunately my tomato plants which were thriving were blown over in a storm a few days and I fear my season of tomato is done! I was pulling of a bountiful amount everyday (handfuls full!)

DIY: jewelry hanger

Like a lot of girls (and maybe some guys?) I have a serious soft spot for shiny/pretty things, sooooome people might even say that I have an excess of them. All of the jewelry that I use most often was stored willy-nilly in a bowl on the bathroom counter, so I spent a good amount of time every morning untangeling and sorting thru it all. In an effort to organize all of these gems I came up with this handy little DIY.

so here are all of my goods, organized and looking pretty on my kitchen table (to the great excitement of Simon, my cat! he tried to knock it all off)


Supplies: picture frame, which I found at a thrift store. The window screening, hooks, piping were bought at the hardware store for less than $10. The acrylic paint was from my studio, but could be easily found at any craft store.


The first thing I did was paint the frame...



Once the paint had dried I nailed the screening to the frame (I would of used a staple gun... if I had one, but I just improvised and used some tacs that I found in my husbands tool box)


then I simply screwed in several hooks along the top of the frame and used two more fanciful hooks on the bottom to hold some thin metal piping.



and, VOILA! A stylish and tidy jewelry stand/hanger!

catch-up

For some reason I only know about two jokes... my brain doesn't seem to be able to hold more, despite my efforts to repeat a joke over and over to myself once I've heard a good one.... but lucky you I always remember this one...

a mama tomato a daddy tomato and a baby tomato are out for a walk. the baby tomato is lagging behind to the great annoyance of his parents, finally in a fit of annoyance the daddy tomato turns around and slams his fist down, saying "KATCHUP!"



now that I've actually written this joke out I am realizing how its sort of an awful joke (abuse and family turmoil and all that)....sorry. But the whole point I was trying to make is that in an effort to "catch up" with the blog here I am posting some older photos from a few weeks ago.



These shorts were a longer pair of culottes that I thrifted and in normal Joey fashion, immediately cut off about a foot of length! perfect for these warm summa days!

outfit details: tank: Forever 21, shorts: thrifted, shoes: old