trapeze show

At my last class I gave my trapeze instructors their thank you presents. As a sign of appreciation for all of their support, guidance, and most importantly for sharing their love of trapeze with me. To say thank you I designed and painted an individual silhouette of each of them on the rig. The background of each painting represented their favorite colors and the design was pulled from a photograph I found of them online!! The paintings came out great and my instructors really appreciated them!

Mike Flat.

Brent Catch.

Mandy Sweep.

Since gifting these paintings to Brent, Mike, and Mandy I have decided to sell custom orders! If you or somebody you know is interested, email me at CapturedOnCanvasDC at gmail dot com.

And now it's time for the great reveal...

This past Friday night I had my trapeze performance at TSNY DC. My costume choice was candy dots and I performed (and caught) the Seats Off!

There are two videos I have to share! The first is shot by Lizzie and shared by Brent (catching as the Gingerbread Man!)... thanks so much, both of you! And THANK YOU to Brent for catching this trick with me on Friday evening. The second video was shot by Ross... he was sitting with my Dad, Rosa, and my friends Natalie and Jeff. They were in the first row and had sore necks shortly after the show started, but I think that they really got to enjoy my style in the middle of my trick ;-)

I've previously mentioned that I handmade my costume for the show! When my class decided on Candy for our theme, I did a bunch of research to find a candy that could be easily translated into a costume. As soon as I settled on Candy Dots, I knew I'd have tons of fun putting my get-up together!

My completed costume laid out on the floor. The pink tulle has SO much glitter, I had to lay it out on a sheet.

Close-up of my tutu. I cut white felt into 3" wide strips and used fabric paint  to create the candy dots. With pink, green, and blue tulle I wrapped it around a ribbon then sewed on the felt strips when dry. 

My final costume, post-performance!!

I'm so sad that I won't be in the next IFW but it's time to focus my time and attention on GMAT studying and Tough Mudder training. I'm sure that I'll sign-up for a few classes over the Spring, but I miss flying already. Not to worry, I promise to keep my blog audience up to date on my other daily adventures. Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

trapeze and circus things

As promised, I snapped a picture of the gift wrapping for my trapeze instructors' thank you gifts. Don't you just love how they came out? I think the wrapping makes it even more personal. Tonight is my dress rehearsal and I get to bring Mandy, Brent, and Mike their gifts. I think I'm more excited to see their reaction than I am to practice for the show!! I will post a photograph of the gifts after they have received them, since I don't want to spoil the surprise.

The most adorable sticker for my Camelback, from fellow trapeze student, Tracey!

Last night the Ringling Bros. train arrive in DC! They're performing downtown at the Verizon Center, Thursday through Sunday. In true Ringling tradition, they unloaded the train and paraded their elephants from the yard through downtown! Since they were off-loading only a few blocks from my apartment, Ross and I went over to take a look. (I have to share, my grandma was very concerned that I might follow the elephants and run off with the circus! A sincere fear she has developed since my passion for flying trapeze has grown. I told her not to worry, I have [at least a little bit of] self control.)

The Pachyderm Parade route for Ringling!

The Ringling train getting ready to unload the elephants and horses!

busy yet relaxing weekend

Ross and I dancing at my friends' wedding, November 2011. (All images copyright vjmStudios. Duplication on any media without express written authorization is prohibited.)

My hard work at the office last week paid off. Each Friday my manager's two teams get together for a meeting; each of these meetings ends with a section termed "Mad Props". This is an opportunity for any individual to congratulate and call-out exceptional effort or note-worthy contributions of a team member. Mad Props can be verbal or include a small token, such as a balloon, candy, a box of tea, etc. This Friday I got a Mad Prop from my team lead for quickly responding to a client's request and managing the next steps. It was really unexpected and led to finishing my week on a high note!

My Mad Prop!

When I got home from work on Friday I had a great surprise waiting for me... my very first order from My Habit. Thanks to my friend Alexis for introducing me to My Habit. It's an Amazon sample sale site, similar to Rue La La, Gilt, HauteLook, and Ideeli. And oh my gosh, I just went on to look at one of the swimsuit sales... the image of the model in the swimsuit moves around! That's such a fantastic feature of MyHabit and lets us (the consumers) really see what we're going to buy. Last week they had a Delman shoe sale and I scored the coolest pair; black suede lace-ups with woven wedges. I cannot wait to wear these in Cabo!

Ross and I planned a low-key Friday night in. We both headed to the gym after work (so proud of myself for staying on track with my training!) and enjoyed some cocktails and popcorn while watching NYPD Blue on our Roku player :) I got a late start to dinner, as we didn't even sit down to eat until nearly 9:30 pm. That was fine by us, the Chicken Parm was a great meal to enjoy and we were in no rush. After dinner I went back into the kitchen because on Friday afternoon I had a sudden urge to bake. I did some quick online research and suggested two recipes for Ross to choose from. He requested the Pear, Cranberry, and Gingersnap Crumble - a great recipe from the Smitten Kitchen blog which I was first exposed to via Cupcakes and Cashmere. We enjoyed this warm out of the oven at 11:30 and thoroughly enjoyed it! It was sweet and tart, a real treat. (Note: I used frozen cranberries because I didn't come across any fresh ones in the store... didn't notice an issue at all!)

So delicious. The ginger snaps in the crumble made a good difference!

While that bad boy was in the oven we watched Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon - well, Ross was watching it. I was finishing my third and final gift for my trapeze instructors and glanced up every few minutes (usually when Josh Duhamel was on screen). I'm so glad that my gifts are done on time, and I am really excited to give them to my teacher's this Wednesday to say thanks for all of their hard work and support! I will have to take a picture of the wrapping because they came out super cute. I used brown paper bags to cover each painting and secured it with kitchen twine (nope, I did not use any tape). Then I made individual gift tags and strung them on. It's such an adorable look!

Re-learning fractions as I study for the GMAT.

Despite getting to bed later than usual on Friday, my Saturday was a really busy and packed day! I woke up early to do more GMAT studying, gave myself a new art deco inspired manicure, and hoped off to volunteer for 4 hours with the Junior League! The DC League has a thrift sale each Spring, the items are mostly donated from the 2,000+ JLDC members and range from clothes to housewares to furniture and electronics. You want it? We've got it! When I got back home Ross had already met up with our friends visiting from out of town, so I took the time to shower and get ready. It was quite lovely not having to rush as I really do enjoy the process of getting ready!   

Art Deco inspired nails, found via Pinterest.

Since I was already missing out on the fun with our friends, I decided against using the Metro (transferring would have taken too much time) and instead I opted to use Uber for the first time! Uber is an on-demand car service; use your cell phone (app or text) to tell them where you want to be picked up and you'll receive a text message when the driver is arriving. Rates ($7.00 flat plus distance [if you're traveling >11 mph] and/or time [if  you're traveling <11 mph]) begin when you are picked up not while the driver is on his way to you. It's great, you slide into a nice black town car and get whisked away to any destination you please! When you arrive at your destination you simply get out. Uber already has your credit card information from registration and tip is included! They say prices are approximately 60-75% more than a cab, but when DC cabs don't take credit cards or frequent your neighborhood, this is a great go-to solution. Also, there is no per-person fee, rates are flat and thus this can be a really convenient way to travel through the city with a group of 3 to 4 people. Plus, you get to feel like a rockstar when your car pulls up front and you casually get out and saunter inside. Well, at least I did!

Saturday night dinner was at Logan Tavern. Have you ever been there? You must go! And you HAVE TO order their garlic calamari - it is  OUT OF THIS WORLD. Oh man, now I'm hungry. Also because I'm thinking about my Sunday morning brunch at Luna. That egg white omelet and those crispy hash browns were t-a-s-t-y. Then there was food shopping and Sunday afternoon snacking (edamame hummus with baby carrots and pretzel crisps), evening snacking (rosemary crackers with brie & hot pepper jelly and sharp cheddar), dinner (capellini with chicken and broccoli and a spinach salad with homemade croutons made from whole wheat sourdough bread) and dessert (more of that oh-so-awesome tart!). Is it lunch time yet?

week in review

Yesterday morning I was so stressed out that I almost started to cry. I was at the office. That would have been embarrassing. A combination of a busy work week, studying for the GMAT, planning and making dinner for 20 people, and putting the finishing touches on my trapeze costume nearly put me over the top. So, what did I do to keep those tears from streaming down my face? I IM-ed Ross and told him how excited I am for our trip to Cabo in 5 and a half weeks, specifically relaxing on the beach together drinking margaritas. Thankfully the distraction worked to get me back on track and plugging away on deliverables. Words of advice? Keep calm and carry on! Who has time to freak out? Not me, that's for sure.

I don't think I have yet posted I'm studying for the GMAT! This was a decision driven by a few people and opportunities. I'm really excited about the prospect of business school, though I'm not sure whether I'll apply for Fall 2013 or Fall 2014. I do know that I'm taking the GMAT this May, and so far the studying has been going rather well. It's been interesting to relearn about fractions, exponents, roots, and sentence structure! Although I thought it would be 10-15 years before I was in a classroom again, I'm noticing a lot of anticipation for that change of scenery. This should be a fun ride!

Despite taking a 3-hour class every Monday night, it is recommended that I study for 12-20 hours per week. That's a lot of extra time! To help balance it out I'm trying to get up 30 minutes early and put in some time over a cup of coffee. I bring my materials with me to work so I can take advantage of waiting for the metro and any trip, despite the length of duration (my ride to work is only about 10 minutes on the train). I have also been cutting down on after-work activities so that I can build in at least one hour every night. So long as my excitement stays high I feel optimistic about maintaining this schedule, despite how aggressive it may be.

Rainbow fruit kabobs!

As I have posted before I volunteer about 50 hours a year with the Junior League in Washington, DC. This year I'm working with a wonderful group of women, one man, and children in a transitional-housing program. This Thursday was my turn to provide dinner for the approximately 20 people. I could have easily ordered catering trays from Cosi or Panera, or picked up boxes from Bojangles. Instead, I chose to prepare the meal myself! By doing this I tried to promote healthy eating habits and well-balanced nutrition (something our Junior League group focuses on with the families). For dinner I chose to prepare baked chicken nuggets, baked zucchini sticks, a chopped salad, and fruit kabobs. There was iced tea and lemonade for the parents and Juicy Juice for the children. Everybody LOVED the dinner and complemented my cooking :) One mom even said she thought the chicken was from Chick-fil-A (that just about made my day!!). A big thanks to Pinterest and the Skinny Taste blog for helping me search and choose recipes. For certain, I will be making these at home!

• Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets
• Baked Zucchini Sticks

In all honesty, I wasn't sure how the kids would react to the zucchini sticks. Turns out they were all for 'em! That was unexpected, so in preparation I built an approach to encourage the children to try them. If a child asked me what the zucchini sticks were, for fear of them making an icky face and deciding not to try them I crafted the following response; "Well, I'm not sure. They look kind of like french fries. Why don't you try one and tell me what it tastes like?" I wish I got to use my tactic but I guess it's better that the kids weren't picky eaters after all!

Next week is my flying trapeze show!! And this time I'll actually have a big audience; my Dad will be coming into town to watch and cheer me on along with my old flying buddies Natalie and Jeff! For the past few weeks I have been practicing and honing in on my trick for the show (which is why you haven't seen videos lately). I don't want to give anything away, so next weekend or the following week, I promise to share a detailed overview of my costume and performance. In regards to my costume there are a few hints I CAN offer;

1. My class' theme is "candy".
2. I have a tutu.
3. I'm wearing a leotard.

And, in regards to my trick, here is the only preview I am sharing!

Tonight will hopefully involve a trip to the gym to keep up my Tough Mudder training, making chicken parm, and finishing a gift for my trapeze instructors!! And then tomorrow I get to look forward to celebrating Ross' 30th birthday again along with a few other friends. We have two other couples joining us for a fun-filled Saturday night in DC! Can't wait to hang out with Vinnie & Kelly and Darnell & Marcie. Should be a great time and I hope you have a great weekend, too!

my life in pictures a la instagram

My addiction to instagram has increased exponentially over the past month. Every time I do something, go somewhere, or see someone I want to take a picture, crop it, and filter it! I feel like my experience is not complete without an instragram capture. The growth I have seen in the number of my followers and responses just adds fuel to that fire!

So to fill you in on my life for the past two weeks, I share with you my life in pictures, a la instagram! (My instagram user name is cviole if you want to follow me!)

People watching and fashion faux pas at the DMV while waiting for a new license!

My first sake bomb ever! If you live in DC, check out Momiji for happy hour!

Prepping for a stir-fry dinner. Lots of veggies... yumm!

Delicious cocktail that Ross made me! Blueberry vodka and raspberry lemonade!

Training for a Tough Mudder, still on track, surprisingly! Hopefully will be beach ready for Cabo in  6 weeks!!

DIY homemade bowl made from beads. Inspiration a la pinterest!!

Dirt cups for my Oscar-watching party!! Chocolate pudding, crushed oreo cookies (no cream), and gummy worms! Such a fun snack in just the right size.

Individual crudite cups for Oscar-watching party! Buttermilk Ranch dressing in the bottom was so delish.

Stuffed red pepper for dinner. Thanks to Erin at "I Am Quirky" for sharing the recipe!

Fancy cocktails with square ice cubs and green garnishes from Againn gastropub in DC.

DIY pink ombre manicure. This didn't blend as much as I was anticipating, but the stripes still look cool.

Went to a friend's birthday part at Medieval Times! Was able to fulfill a childhood dream in the process :)

Our new bookends!! Yes, these are our souvenir cups from Medieval Times, ceramic knight heads!

Whole Foods Market = Whole Foods Heaven. I love this place.

Wildflower Honey at Whole Foods Market!