Nutcracker Sweet

Tonight my fiance and I are going to see the Charleston Ballet Theatre's Nutcracker. This will be the first time I see CBT perform it. I actually take ballet classes from CBT and my teacher is a company member, so I will get to see her perform and some of my younger classmates as well.

Source: Charleston Ballet Theatre
I've seen many versions of the Nutcracker across the South, and so far my favorite is Columbia City Ballet's. I took classes there while I lived in Columbia, so of course I had to go see my classmates perform and William Starrett (CCB Artistic Director) probably would have had our heads if we hadn't gone to see the performance.

The reason I loved Columbia City Ballet's version is because my favorite scene (the snow scene) was beautifully done - from the glittery snow (not soap suds like Atlanta Ballet uses), the stage scenery, the lighting and the choreography was perfect.

Source: Columbia City Ballet
I'm excited to see CBT's version and see how it compares to all of the Nutcrackers I've seen before. The interesting thing about CBT's version is they use a company member for Clara - she happens to be very petite and young looking, so they always use her for Clara. So I'm expecting more advanced dancing from Clara in this version which I think I will like.

We're sitting front row, center left of the second level. I like to sit up higher so I can see the dancers' feet.

I usually dress up more for the Nutcracker, but I'm going more casual tonight. We're stopping by a happy hour before with my fiance's co-workers, so I didn't want to be too dressed up.

I'm going to try out a pair of brown booties instead of knee high boots to see what it looks like - but I might just stick with my tried and true knee high brown boots. We'll see. For jewelry I might try some pearls and see what that looks like.

Are you going to see the Nutcracker in your hometown this year?

Nutcracker Sweet by CharlestonGirlBlog featuring cable knit cardigans

P.S. That navy wrap cardigan is on Rue La La today for only like $30 or something.

JCrew Ballet Inspired Ad

I never get the JCrew catalog, but for some reason I got it today and it featured dancers from the Mariinsky ballet school in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The photos are beautiful and I love how they paired their white tutus with JCrew cozy, cashmere sweaters.

I always wear old sweaters and shrugs in the winter for ballet class...so I definitely related to these photos and admit it makes me want to buy one. It also makes me wish for cold, winter weather.

I do wish they had wrap sweaters, shrugs, and legwarmers...but I guess that's too "ballet" literal. But I love ballet inspired fashion...then again, I'm biased. :)

Ok, enough of me blabbering...enjoy the photos! All photos copied off of JCrew's website.

I got over it...

...the Cooper River Bridge that is. I ran the annual Cooper River Bridge Run on Saturday in Charleston - it's a very popular 6.2 mile race from Mt. Pleasant, over the bridge and into downtown Charleston. There's 40,000 runners...it's crazy!

My best friend and I decided last Fall that we were going to actually run the whole thing this year. We have walked it in the past, but we wanted to finally be runners. After running the bridge about once or twice a week since we set this lofty goal, we were ready Saturday and we did it! We only walked for half of the incline up the bridge {which is about the same speed we could run it} and about a block downtown.

Our time was about 1 hour and 16 minutes -- which to any serious runner probably doesn't sound that great, but we were so proud of ourselves because we aren't runners and we ran the race! :) The winner {always a Kenyan} ran it in 28 minutes...can you even imagine?!?!

So some people dress in costumes for the run, and my best friend and I always dress up for theme parties and races...so of course we dressed up for this one. We decided to be the white swan and the black swan in honor of the movie Black Swan. I was the Black Swan -- I even superglued black feathers and rhinestones on the sides of my sunglasses. :) We got lots of compliments on our costumes while we ran and that was encouraging to keep us motivated to run.

We had on feather boas around our waist during the race,
and you can barely see my feathered cuffs on my wrists.

So..I'm a ballet dancer...trying to be a runner...and because of that, I run on my toes. And yes, it looks silly. But a few of my runner friends have said that it's actually better to run on your toes because it's less stress on your knees and joints. I even got fitted for running shoes that are made for 'toe runners'.

Well, I have high arches from ballet and I run pretty high on my toes, so I guess it's really noticeable... I didn't realize how much until Saturday...during the race like six different people pointed out while running next to me: "Look! That girl runs on her toes!"

Granted I guess that the fact I was dressed as a ballet dancer, tutu and all, probably made it more of a "Wow that girl is dressed like a ballet dancer AND she runs on her toes" for most people...lol...so I'll give them that.

However, there was this one group of girls, probably in their mid-20's, high ponytails, short shorts, etc....running behind us at one point and one of the girls really loudly said {in high pitched valley girl voice}, "Oh my god! Look at that girl's feet...that is so weird..she's running on her toes! Look at that! That is so weird!!" I turned around, running backwards mind you, and pointed to my ears and said right to this girl, "Um...honey, I don't have earphones on, I can hear everything you're saying." She just kind of looked at me stunned, then her and her posse picked up their pace and passed us and kept going. Lol...some people never cease to amaze me.

After the race we headed to Red's Ice House to reward ourselves for being healthy by drinking beer and eating delicious, greasy seafood! Yum!

So how was your weekend?? Do you look 'special' when you run? :)