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“Do not dare shrink yourself for someone else’s comfort. Do not become small for people who refuse to grow”
-The Fit Foodie Blogger
Happy Friday!! How was your 4th of July celebration? Mine was nice. Mostly spent with my family. We started the day off with watching the Upper Arlington (my home town) parade. It’s UA’s 100th year anniversary so the theme was “A Cherished Past. A Golden Future”. The parade was amazing as usual with trips down memory lane of class reunions, seeing the high school cheerleaders (I was a cheerleader in high school), the marching band, great floats from different streets around town, and war veterans. The morning was perfect except for the terribly hot weather. It was almost unbearable. My poor grandmother had to skip the parade because of the heat. We made it through the hour and a half parade, but boy were we glad to get home to the air conditioning.
During this time of year I always become very nostalgic for my youth. I LOVED the 4th during high school, college, and a little after college when the entire day from morning to evening was packed with picnics. I was running around town with all of my friends having so much fun, then meeting with half the school at the baseball diamond to watch the fireworks. Afterwards everyone went to a local restaurant for an after party. It truly was the best! Now my 4ths are not quite as full of life as the past with many friends with babies and I myself preferring to spend a better portion of the day with family. Time sure does change, but one thing that does not is how amazing the 4th is here in Upper Arlington!
I have been home in Columbus since Monday, so no events this past week. Except last Saturday night I went to the American Ballet Theatre’s past employees reunion at the Met Opera House. I used to work for ABT when I first moved to New York in their Educational and Training Department. Anyway, we sat in a small auditorium in the back of the Met House and listened to a Q&A with Stella Abrera Radestsky, who is a principle dancer at ABT. It was interesting to hear how she has grown with the company, first being an apprentice and making her way up the ladder. Also interesting to hear about how they deal with travel and jet lag but still having to perform, injuries they endure, the camaraderie of the company, and so on. Stella is married to Sasha Radestsky who I LOVE. He is my favorite male principle dancer (now retired and is the Artistic Director for ABT’s Studio Company). You all may know him as Charlie in the movie Center Stage. When I worked for ABT my boss knew I had a crush on Sasha, like everyone else in the world who has ever seen the movie, and made me meet him one time after a performance event. I’d about died. Anyway, enough with my childhood crush, after the Q&A we had drinks at the Revlon Bar located on the Grand Tier of the Met Opera House, then headed inside the auditorium to watch Don Quixote. This is the first time I have seen Don Q. I was not expecting it to be so funny. I knew the storyline, but never knew why everyone loved it so much. Now I know. Besides it being funny there are some amazing “tricks” that the men do. I was in awe of it! Definitely go see Don Quixote if you get the chance!
This past week I have been relaxing and spending time with my family. It’s been a nice little break. This weekend, however, is going to be lots of fun! Saturday night I am attending the Taylor Swift concert! I CAN NOT WAIT!! I LOVE Taylor. I am going to the concert with my sister, which will be nice to spend some alone time with her. Besides the concert I am getting together with my friends.
Hope you have a wonderful xo
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