Picture 1: Jacket Urban Outfitters, black dress American Apparel, black ballerinas and purse Bimba & Lola

Picture 2: Embroidered vest and jersey shorts ZARA, white tank River Island

Picture 3: Scarf TopShop, sun glasses RayBan, earrings YSL, ring Bvlgari, oversized clutch Uterque, leggings Sass & Bide

alamo square

We’re huge fans of these skirts from Acting Out that come with a motion activated music box.  Our six year old tester got inventive with the music box and played musical chairs with her parents.  Click here to see our full review. We’ve added this one to our Platinum List for 2009.

I love these pictures of dancers. The lights and movement make them look almost abstracted. The gauziness of the skirts is just amplified. Gorgeous!

[via]

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Okay, it works…… Kiss

Maara

I read a news story yesterday about elementary schools banning scary costumes from school Halloween celebrations, and it really annoyed the hell out of me. One item in the story especially stood out in my mind: apparently at one school district in Illinois, “…costumes depicting animals and food (preferably carrots or pumpkins) are in favor.”

Carrots? What is so scary about carrots? That is absolutely idiotic, I thought. But then I watched this film.

I stand corrected, carrots. If you’re pals with that cackling leek there, you’re probably a pretty tough customer.

Had a great day yesterday aswell, in the afternoon I met Tina and we went visit Cristina at Ponte Vecchio
and then all my colleagues at romanofirenze. After all visits we sat down at ChiaroScuro to have a coffeé which ended up in a glass of wine and dolce! Then we made one last visit at Zara, where we both ended up shopping..remember wine+shopping = dangerous situation! I just bought a shirt…a beautiful black shirt with studs that make a perfect match with my black ballerinas with studs!

Buona Giornata!

xxx /Sofie

Edgar Degas, "Petits Rats"

I saw my first Degas while visiting the National Gallery in Washington, DC, and paused in front of it for about ten minutes, trying to capture the grace of line that Degas seems to have so flawlessly captured in his paintings of ballerinas.  His unusual use of color is worth noting–brilliant colors that cared nothing for what the critics said, but instead recreated the glow of stage lighting.  Also, take a look at his compositions.  Often, his subjects go off the canvas, giving the viewer the impression that they are just catching a momentary glimpse of the dancers, like butterflies crossing your sight-line.    I hope you enjoy these selections of Degas’ paintings.

Edgar Degas, "Ballet Dancers in Butterfly Costumes"

Edgar Degas, "Opera Diablo". Love the viewpoint from the orchestra.

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas, "Ballet Rehearsal"

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas--love the colors here, her white skin in the pale yellow and pink.

Edgar Degas, "Yellow Ballerina"

Looking at his paintings really makes me want to paint some ballerinas. Maybe sometime soon.  I just have to figure out a way to get backstage during a ballet …

A troupe Downloadsof little ballerinas showed off their fancy footwork as they performed for Affiliates(and then swarmed) David Beckham during the First Namelaunch of the Motorola Razr 2 V8 in Beijing on November 24.Isla is so
slim so soon
New mom Isla Fisher looked thin and sexy just four weeks after giving birth as she stepped out with her fiance, Sacha Baron Cohen, and their new baby, Olive, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills on November STOP STRIPPING
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In Nederland kennen we haar van het liedje Mama Do, een leuk uptempo liedje die de hele tijd in je hoofd

blijft hangen. Ze is nog maar achtien jaar, maar ik zie nu al een stijl icoon in haar. Ik vind dat

ze een hele leuke stijl heeft en een prachtig figuur!

Lott werd geboren in Kent. Later verhuisde ze met haar ouders, broer en zus naar Essex en

ging school volgen in het Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Londen. Tijdens haar studietijd

acteerde ze in de musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in het London Palladium theater en was ze te zien als

“Louisa von Trapp” in Celebrate The Sound of Music op BBC One. Ze werkte mee aan de opera

voorstellingen “Ça Ira” van Roger Waters.

Bepaalde outfits van haar vind ik zo inspirerend, maar het is gewoon zo dat ze een

geweldig figuur heeft voor korte broekjes en rokjes. Ik vind de twee middelste outfits hierboven

echt erg leuk. Ik was sowieso al groot fan van de combinatie streep met blazer.

Op 15-jarige leeftijd werd ze ontdekt door muziekproducent L.A. Reid. Later tekende ze een platencontract

bij Mercury Records voor Europa en Interscope Records voor de Verenigde Staten.

Haar eerste single “Mama Do” verscheen op 6 juni 2009 op de Engelse markt en veroverde een

week later de eerste plaats in de UK Singles Chart. De single kwam binnen op 20 juni in de Vlaamse Ultratip. Het eerste

album, “Turn It Up”, wordt verwacht in september 2009.

Ze coverde ook “Use Somebody” van de Kings of Leon, “Apologize” van de band OneRepublic en

 ”Outta Here” van Esmee Denters.

Do you remember when I told you that you shouldn’t wear stripper shoes?

Yeah, well, no one remembered to mention that to the woman who belongs to these legs. I suspect it is unnecessary for me to explain what exactly is wrong with these ballerina stripper shoes from our friends over at Pink Stiletto Shop, but I’m going to anyway. It’ll be cathartic.

1. Ladies, you can’t walk in these shoes. For the record. So if a cockroach appears, you’re going to have to scootch away from it on your butt.
2. Also, if your S&M partner turns out to be an axe-wielding madman, rather than a naughty boy who needs a spanking, you might find yourself in kind of a tight spot.
3. Because, dude, those are some crazy laces. You can’t just slip these suckers off and make a break for it. Unless the laces are decorative and they’re really held together by Velcro. Actually, in this particular context, that would make sense. So scratch that.
4. Finally, they’re just…well, they’re ugly. I said it. I’ll say it to their face, too. Hey, shoes! You UGly!

Ah, yes. I do feel better now. Thanks.

On this day 3 years ago PA Hostpics was re-launched as PA Photocall and to celebrate this occasion I wanted to take at look at some of vast and varied projects we have been involved with…

I thought I might begin with perhaps PA Photocall’s most iconic image which was commissioned by The National Lottery for their Love UK campaign back in June 2007. English National Ballet’s Swan Lake ballerinas enjoyed a practice session on the Millennium Bridge as part of the new Love UK campaign to celebrate the £20 billion raised by Lottery players for good causes. English National Ballet and the Millennium Bridge had both benefitted from Lottery Funding.

National Lottery Love UK campaign. Goeff Caddick/PA Photocall June 2007

Our seasoned PA Photocall photographer Geoff Caddick captured this beautiful image…

‘As a photographer I am obsessed with symmetry, this image just worked perfectly. You always envisage how you want the photograph to turn out but sometimes it doesn’t always happen that way, this image was everything I hoped it would be.’ Geoff Caddick

One image which highlights the importance of planning your photocall was this shot commissioned by BAA and British Airways to announce the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.

BAA and British Airways announce Terminal 5 at Heathrow opening. Geoff Caddick/PA Photocall March 2007

An image which is my personal favourite and a testament to not having to use branding in your picture to get your message across is that of ‘Ripley’s’ photocall with the worlds smallest road worthy car which we ran riot with in London’s Piccadilly Circus.

'Ripley's Believe it or Not' unveil their newest exhibit the Peel 50. Carl Court/PA Photocall

 The Peel 50 was to be exhibited in ‘Ripley’s Believe it Not’ Museum in London and they wanted to capture a photograph to mark the occasion. PA Photocall photographer Carl Court followed the little car around as it unveiled to the public and caused quite a stir. The beauty of this image is the reactions of the people to the Peel 50 against the London back drop. The image not only got into the national papers and online but was also featured in the BBC programme ‘Have I Got News for you’.

As far as spectacular PR stunts go this year’s highlight was that of Eden TV’s launch back in January. A 16 foot high sculpture of an iceberg featuring a stranded female polar bear and her baby cub floated on the River Thames. The stunt was to mark the launch of Eden, a new digital TV channel devoted to natural history.

Eden TV Channel Launch. Geoff Caddick/PA Photocall Jan 2009

After 3 years much has changed and will continue to do so but the ability to be creative, fun and varied will always stay true in the world of PR photography. No one day is the same and each job gives us a new challenge, to that end long may it continue.

Post by Penny Joyner (Marketing Executive at PA Photocall)

Back in the day, when I dreamed of being a Ballerina Princess who was also a secret Fairy Butterfly, these fall 2009 Manolo Blahniks would have ROCKED my WORLD. Tragically, those days have passed. And I don’t know any four-year-olds who make the kind of cheese that can support the price tag for this ephemera. If you come across any, though—maybe a prodigy i-banker?—send them this way.

Angelina Ballerina gets new ballet slippers. Thanks, Manolo Blahnik!

On the other hand, the heel on this sucker could double as an ice pick. Perhaps I will change my mind…*strokes chin thoughtfully*

This past Sunday Sept 27th. Mom’s company, Tailored Pet Sitting was invited to participate in the Tampa Woman’s Club Doggie Fashion Show.  Not even the scatter rain showers diverted anyone from attending and “Strutting their Stuff” down the red carpet. The proceeds were donated to the Tampa Humane Society, who was there with lots of 4-legged friends looking for homes. There was refreshments, face painting and doggie buffet (mom, sadly did not bring us anything… bad, bad mom!). We had all types of costumes from Divas, Ballerinas, Batman and Robin Combo, to bumble bees, Biker-guy, and preppy Chihuahuas.

The whole event was a total hit! We thank the TWC for inviting us to it, and hope that they do many more in the future.

Hi everybody a few days ago start the Munich beer Festival…and a lot of ppl from all over the world travel to germany…and here i show u a really cute outfit which match absolutly with this event…hope u like it u can find this nice outfit included the accessoires at CdC. Oh, and btw, the ballerina shoes u find there too!!

(Skin: Glance / Hair: Junwave)

Photo: by Zyma Caffarelli – Photographer in SL –  Flickr

I am on a new diet. It’s based on really scientific principles blah di blah… yawn. Blood tests blah, balancing of hormones, blah blah blah blah blah, serotonin, yeah, heard that one, insulin, got it, human growth hormone, blah blah blah, 5kg in one month – not bad at all! Ok it works, but I get to eat next to nothing. Supposedly, I am told, it is worked out to my body’s exact nutritional needs and absolutely no more. Without the extra ten kilograms that I am trying to ditch, I am not a very big person, so my minimum nutritional needs are quite small,so the diet supervisor (yes, I paid a lot for this diet) can’t understand why I am always hungry.

That’s easy to understand. My nutritional needs and my appetite got divorced a long time ago and are now living happy and fulfilled lives on separate continents and haven’t spoken for years. I eat the same, if not more, than my 6 foot 5 inches, 90kg husband. My goal weight and actual height are two thirds of his, so logic dictates that I should normally eat two thirds of what he does and half of that if I am trying to diet. That fits the logic on the diet sheet but doesn’t explain why I have the appetite of a Tour de France rider at the end of a mountain stage. (Did you know they get to eat 7000 calories a day – that is as much pasta and potatoes as you want and then some more! They struggle to eat enough. If it wasn’t for the 6 hours on a cruel little saddle it would be a great job.)

I put it all down to early childhood conditioning, my Dad owned a restaurant, so I was trained to eat high level food, in catering quantities from toddlerhood. I could polish off a junior T-bone at the age of 7 and knew my prawns from my langoustines before I was ten. My mother is also Greek. The exact English translation of the Greek words for “I love you” are actually, “Have some more baklava, I made it especially for you with extra butter!”. My husband on the other hand grew up in a WASP household that yearned back to the good old days of post World War II rationing with nostalgia. Anything excessive or lavish was, and is, considered to be in slightly poor taste. My father on the other hand starved during the war. No amount of food will ever be enough. I wonder if we genetically inherit our parent’s learnt fears. Mine would be, ” Eat everything you can, because there may never be anymore,” and my husband’s would be, “Don’t eat everything, because there may never be anymore.”

The bottom line is that in order to be thin, you have to eat very little, halve it, and then only eat some of that. Supermodels know this, anorexics know this, so do concentration camp victims and ballet dancers. The rest of us waste a lot of time on GI, low fat, fat free, high protein, low carb, no carb, good fats, bad fats, calories, water and getting enough sleep at night. There is very little that I don’t know about nutrition. All of it is conflicting, contradicting and medically contra-indicated and has not helped me one little bit.  Do you know what Angela Malan, prima ballerina for the South African Ballet Theatre eats? According to an interview in Shape magazine, she has a really good breakfast because she has to set herself up properly for 6 hours of dancing and teaching and coaching every day and a possible performance at night. She has, wait for it…… either a bowl of bran cereal or (not and) a slice of rye toast with a sliced banana on top. She is too busy for lunch and never eats before a performance. She does allow herself some Energade on performance nights when rehydrating between acts. To summarise: for a full day in the studio and a marathon on stage at night she shovels down a single bowl of bran cereal.

I don’t even have the capacity to burn off what I eat. I have an extremely low boredom threshold for excercise.  I just can’t find the motivation to work hard enough to get strong enough to be fit enough to burn enough calories. As a result I have done just about everything there is to do in a gym and am now on my last option, which is swimming. I was a really poor swimmer and had never voluntarily got into water since early high school, and even that was under duress. When I was 28 my mother admitted to me that I had nearly drowned when I was 2, and had to be fished feet first out of a fish pond at a lunch party. I really could have done with this excuse earlier, it would have saved me much humiliation.

So at 39 I discover that the lady that teaches my very small daughters to swim also does “fitness training for adults”.  I sign up for swimming lessons at the gym and promptly get thrown into the shallow end of the overheated baby pool to learn how swim from scratch. Yeah, it was that bad.  For many weeks I did the same exercises in the pool as my three year old. Now I am pleased to say I am doing the same drills as the 12 year olds in the BIG pool.

My efforts to get other people to swim with me have been in vain. All are too self conscious about their bodies to appear in a swimming costume in front of the bank of treadmills. My attitude is, ” If you didn’t want to see cellulite you shouldn’t have been looking.” I have also spent long enough on those treadmills to know that the bored and wandering eye, with 7 minutes to go on the clock, is going to linger on the firm buttocks sashaying past and not on the less pleasing thighs straining away on the neighbouring equipment. Anyway, one is anonymous in the water. Goggles and a cap face down in the water cannot be recognised and if you make the right amount of splash the exact shape of your bum cannot be determined, even from the  gallery above. I spend a lot of effort on style and grace in the water, concentrating on glide and rhythm, rather than on speed and stamina so as not to appear to be thrashing helplessly in the water . As a result, although I was promised that the weight would fall off,  I have lost absolutely none  from swimming. On the contrary, swimming has pushed the envelope of  my already excellent appetite to new and frightening depths. I can barely get home without chewing on  my towel.

I am not going to tell you which diet it is that I am on. If you are reading my blog I am very grateful to you and would not inflict the torture of slivers of lean protein and carefully regulated vegetables on to you. Unlike other diets, which allow you to gorge on vegetables, only certain fruits and veggies are prescibed on this one. They are supposedly selected to increase serotonin levels, which will make you feel better about the 95 grams of steamed fish you are about to consume. ( I thought that chocolate was a good source of serotonin.) Broccoli is not allowed on this diet, now that made me feel better already! Any diet works if you stick to it, but the mind and soul have to be ready for the abuse. I struggled for the full three months of my sabbatical before I got it together to call the dietician. I remember telling the psychologist that dieting was going to be too hard for me to do because some days eating was the only pleasure I got, and if I couldn’t do that, then life was too grim to bear.  Even now, although I can see that the diet is working, I still cheat if I am feeling bored, lonely, frustrated, cross or tired. Pleasure is an antidote for all of these things and what could be more fun than eating?

My girls spend many hours a day drawing, and their drawings are all remarkably similar. They feature fairies, princesses, ballerinas, and mermaids and the occasional flower. Nothing else. No animals, no houses. Sometimes they draw a car for Jonathan, but it’s always a labor of love and not a natural aspect of their creativity. They’ve specialized in fairy-princess-ballerina-mermaid, and that’s what they’re sticking with.

We’ve got an easel, and the other day I wandered over and found this collaborative drawing by Moira and Eva on it. It’s such a great representation of their drawings that I had to show it off. (They both refused to tell me anything about it, except that they both contributed to it.)

ursprünglich gepostet am: 19. 07. 08 – 17:35:12

Gestern bin ich dann doch noch mit ins Skandal, die endgültige Entscheidung hab ich bis zur letzten Minute raus geschoben und fast wäre ich nicht mitgegangen, da hätte ich dann aber echt was verpasst.
Der Abend war lustig und absolut stimmungs-rettend.
Leute ihr seid meine persönlichen Helden! Das ich aus dem Loch mit nur einem Abend gekommen bin grenzt an ein Wunder.

Das Skandal ist eine Jugendeinrichtung, und irgendwie typisch für Jugendeinrichtungen, ohne das ich genau sagen könnte woran es liegt. Das meine ich übrigens ziemlich Wertungsneutral
Interessanter Nebenpunkt war lediglich das das von uns bevorzugte Bier schneller weg war, als die Bands angefangen hatten zu spielen.. zumindest kams mir glatt so vor, damit wurde der Abend dann auf meiner Seite recht nüchtern bestritten, aber ich hatte zwei andere Aufputschmittel

Den Anfang machten die Ballerinas die Musik ist lustig, die Männer im Publikum zu beobachten war fast noch lustiger Interessant das ein kurzer Rock und 4 Frauen auf der Bühne den Platz davor so sehr füllen können
Ihr Programm setzte sich aus Rock und Balladen zusammen, aber ich muss sagen, so ganz objektiv kann ich ihnen gegenüber nicht sein, immerhin waren sie der Ersatz für Verfallsdatum und die hätte ich viel lieber dort spielen gesehen und gehört.

Als zweites spielten

Zwang rockt einfach, sie sind laut, sie sind gut und sehr tanzbar. Immer wieder genial und das absolute Highlight des Abends.
Für ne Freundin hab ich ihr Album gekauft und das läuft hier grad in Dauerschleife. Ich muss schon sagen, mit jedem Auftritt gefallen sie mir besser.

Als drittes und letztes waren dann Melloy dran.
Die Jungs kann ich echt nur schwer beschreiben, diesmal hab ich sie ja sogar auf der Bühne gesehen und nicht nur gehört, und man sieht ne Menge
Nen nicht mehr ganz nüchternen Sänger mit einem Hang dazu sich auszuziehen und jede Menge anderer Unfug auf der Bühne gehören dazu.
Schade war das wir bei dieser Band auf einmal nur noch zu dritt waren, der Rest hatte sich nach Zwang verzogen, okay viele waren auch nur wegen Zwang gekommen, aber schade war es trotzdem und knickte die Stimmung ein Stück weit. Najut, ich war auch vom wilden rumgehopse zu Zwang echt k.o. das war mal klassisch übertrieben auf meiner Seite, aber es ist jeden Moment Schmerz wert gewesen :yes:

Zusammengefasst wars ein toller Abend mit guter Musik und dem großen Wermutstropfen das Verfallsdatum nicht spielte, aber sie geben nicht auf. Inzwischen haben sie auch wieder Gitarristen, also weiter fleißig hoffen und Daumen drücken dann rocken sie auch bald live auf einer Bühne in Berlin :wave: