holiday dance showcase - part 2

i had such a great time performing at my dance studio's christmas showcase this weekend.  yesterday i shared the video of the showcase.  here are some pictures from sunday . . . 

^after the performance, everyone gathered for refreshments.  it was pot-luck style, so everyone brought something with them.  ryan and i made a vanilla sheet cake for everyone to enjoy.  we chose blue and white to go with the theme of the show.^

^all of those amazing balloon decorations were donated by a family friend of one of our dance teachers.  can you believe that she just does this on the side for fun?!^

^our first dance was our jazz class dance to "dance of the sugar plum fairy" by pentatonix^

^these little tikes are our youngest and newest dancers at the studio.  they are just 2 years old and started taking ballet in september.  this was their very first performance and they did great.  i was their class leader for their ballet dance to "twinkle twinkle little me"^

^this lyrical duet to "let there be peace on earth" was super special to me.  it was choreographed at my request as a special gift to my dad, and i'm so grateful that i got the opportunity to dance it for him.  every time i hear this song i think of him because he always says that it is his favorite song.^

^we closed the show with our ballet class dance to the pentatonix version of "mary did you know"^

you can see more photos and the video of our performance

on my dance studio's facebook page

love, laurie

holiday dance showcase - part 1

on sunday, my dance studio presented its annual christmas dance showcase, and i was so happy to be a part of it again this year.  i was in 4 numbers (2 of which we presented a few weeks ago at our town's annual christmas lighting ceremony).

our holiday showcase is much smaller and more intimate than our annual spring main-stage recitals.  we danced at a local fire company hall, and it was the perfect setting.  after the performance, everyone gathered together for refreshments.  despite the fact that it was snowing like crazy on sunday, there were over 200 people (including 30 dancers)!

in addition to dancing in 4 numbers, i also worked with the students on 3 other numbers in their classes.  (i'm pretty proud of myself for keeping all of that choreography straight in my head!)  i really enjoyed having the opportunity to design the posters and the programs for the show too.

i'm so grateful that ryan captured the whole show on video!  you can see the video here on our studio's facebook page . . . be sure to check it out!  i'lll post lots of pictures from the show tomorrow!

love, laurie

. . .

last year's christmas dance show: here and here

winter wonderland

we woke up to a winter wonderland outside this morning with lots of snow everywhere!  right after breakfast, we got to work shoveling out.  we were closely supervised through the windows by this guy who runs a really tight ship . . .  

. . . he was watching to make sure that we cleared the snow properly to his liking.  we're looking forward to cuddling up on the couch later on tonight with some hot chocolate and this strict supervisor!

stay warm!

love, laurie

'tis the season for christmas shows

even though it doesn't exactly feel like christmas time yet to me, we're back in the swing of christmas shows.  it's show season again, which means we're spending lots of time in theatres working local concerts, shows, events, etc.  here's a photo i snapped on my phone while working a concert on wednesday night when i was back up in my perch in the spot light loft.

my dance studio's christmas show is this weekend and i'm really excited about it.  we did a little preview of it a few weeks ago for our town's christmas lighting ceremony, but i'm excited to perform the whole show for real on sunday.  i'm in 4 different dances, and really looking forward to the show!

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

gingerbread village

while we were at stroudsmoor on sunday admiring their christmas lights, we took a peek at their elaborate gingerbread village.  every year, their bakers and pastry chefs make such gorgeous gingerbread creations.  this year, we thought it was really clever that they used slivered almonds for the walkways between the gingerbread houses.  we also enjoyed the miniature bicycles too!

love, laurie

admiring stroudsmoor's christmas lights

after we celebrated my mom's birthday on sunday, we drove to stroudsmoor to see their christmas lights.  we always love visiting stroudsmoor since it is where we got married.  their christmas lights are always so charming and their grounds are so pretty.  we parked the car and walked around the property for a little bit to admire their lights . . .

 love, laurie

birthday celebrations

on sunday, we got together with our families to celebrate my mom's birthday.  we went out to a seafood restaurant that we have never been to before, and it was great.  after dinner, we went back to ryan's parents' house for dessert and presents.

^everything was so good.  ryan had an ocean combo of shrimp, scallops, and a crab cake.  i had coffee/chili encrusted swordfish.  yum!^

^for dessert, we made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  some were topped with sprinkles and some were topped with coconut (my mom's favorite)!^

^when it came time to open presents, pepper just couldn't resist "helping" my mom!^

happy birthday, mama!

love, laurie

happy birthday, mama!

happy 65th birthday today to the world's greatest mom!

love, laurie

xoxo

our 2016 christmas cards

december is here and the holiday season is upon us!  i can hardly believe that christmas is right around the corner.  ryan and i absolutely love sending holiday cards each year.  we especially love photo cards since they are such a nice way to share little snapshots of the past year with our family and friends.

we are thrilled to be teaming up again with tiny prints this year for our holiday cards because we love their products and because they are a one-stop shop for all of our holiday card needs.  tiny prints makes it so easy to customize cards.  all we had to do was pick our favorite design, add our photos, and add our personal message along with our names.  it only takes a matter of a few minutes from start to finish, which is perfect for our busy schedules.

we really love cards that allow us to display multiple pictures from the past year.  after looking through hundreds of holiday card options, we decided on one of the gate fold designs which are new for 2016!

we picked this card which is called "living in love" in the flint color and the pearl white shimmer finish.  it was the perfect card for us because we were able to display photos on all sides!

to accompany our holiday cards, we chose envelopes to match in the "snowflake dust" design and we embellished our envelopes with snowflake envelope liners.  to complete the look, we created personalized holiday postage photo stamps.  we chose the "merry trails" stamps in marigold.

as much as i love sending cards, it is so time consuming to write out all of the addresses by hand.

thankfully, tiny prints helps out and does the work for you by offering free recipient addressing on custom envelopes!  they printed our return address on the back of the envelopes and printed all of our recipients' addresses on the front of the envelopes.  talk about a life saver, goodbye hand cramps!

when our cards arrived in the mail, all i had to do was stuff and send them.  easy peasy!

we are beyond thrilled with the way our cards turned out this year and we can't wait for our family and friends to receive them in the mail!

love, laurie

. . . 

past christmas cards: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

deck the halls

over the long thanksgiving weekend, we packed away our fall decorations and decorated our house with our christmas decor.  we also put up our christmas tree, which is leko's second favorite thing in the world (second of course to tuna fish).  as soon as we brought our tree out of storage, his eyes lit up.  he just loves chewing on the branches, it is the strangest thing.  thus begins another holiday season of me having to pluck a furry orange ornament out of the christmas tree every 5 seconds!

happy december!

love, laurie