a chance to dance again!

it has been exactly 2 years and 4 months since the last time i danced with a dance company.  the company that i was dancing with closed after our 2018 recital, and that was the last chance i had to dance.  it somehow seems like that was forever ago.

i am beyond thrilled that i have been given an opportunity to dance again.  there is a dance studio in our area that ryan has been light designing for over the past several years.  they moved their productions to the theatre where i work last year, and we've become somewhat close.  they know my background and asked me if i would consider coming on board with them as their newest teacher/choreographer.  

i was so flattered to be asked to teach dance again, and after some consideration ryan and i decided to jump at the opportunity!  the dance studio is opening for the season this week, and tonight is my first night teaching for them!  i'm thrilled to be teaching lyrical, ballet, and jazz.  they shared my bio and photo on their social media this weekend which was sweet (see above).  

of course, all proper measures are being taken in order to teach in-person in light of the pandemic.  all students and staff will wear masks at all times, temperatures are taken before each class, designated individual dance areas are marked out on the floor for each student, the building is being sanitized regularly, new air filters have been installed, and the waiting room is closed.

i'm so grateful for this chance and look forward to having a fun outlet again because i have really missed dance so much.  fingers crossed that this old and out-of-shape body can keep up after over 2 years off from dancing!

love, laurie 

biking the lehigh gorge bike trail

it has been over six years since the last time we biked the lehigh gorge bike trail.  on sunday, we got together with my parents to do some biking in jim thorpe.  the forecast was calling for a beautiful day, but when we started out it was overcast and rainy.  luckily it didn't keep raining the whole time and eventually cleared up so that we didn't get soaked!

here are a few photos we snapped from our biking adventure . . .

love, laurie

squirrel hunting

recently, i was sitting out on our screen porch waiting for ryan to come home.  leko was on the table keeping me company.  we heard some rustling outside and both looked up to see what was going on in the yard.  a squirrel had climbed up one of our sunflowers (that was now bending over a lot by this point) and he was hanging down to get the seeds from the flower to eat them!

leko was really intrigued by all of this, it was so cute!  i tried to snap some pictures of this silly squirrel on my phone.  it was so far away, so i really had to zoom in . . . the photos are a little blurry since they are so zoomed in through the screen, but you get the idea.  it was great entertainment for us!

love, laurie

halloween?

for real though . . . halloween?

have a good weekend!

love, laurie

pumpkin time!

we decided to skip our annual trip to roba family farms this year because their admission prices got so darn expensive.  however, we did take a trip up there on sunday evening to purchase a pumpkin for the fall season.  we picked out a cute squatty pumpkin that weighed in at over 10 pounds!  it's looking cute on our back screen porch for now until we carve it and put it out front for halloween.  when we brought it home and put it on the table, leko curled up next to it!

love, laurie

so much ice cream!

after our trip to ritter's cider mill on sunday, we grabbed for some lunch.  on the way home, we stopped at the caboose ice cream shop for some ice cream since it was their last day of business for the season.  the first time we were there a few months ago with my parents, ryan had noticed that they had a cinnamon bun sundae.  we didn't get it then and he's been thinking about it ever since.  we ordered it, and it was ridiculously huge: vanilla ice cream with caramel, pecans, pieces of a sticky bun, whipped cream, and a cherry.  anyone who knows us knows that we NEVER ever eat anything like that!  it was a good thing we ordered it to share because it was so big.  needless to say, we have to do some extra workouts this week and eat light to make up for that indulgence!  (i think i'm still full!)

love, laurie

ritter's cider mill

on sunday morning we took a trip up to ritter's cider mill with our parents.  we visited the farm animals, walked through the corn maze, admired the sunflowers, and got some apples and apple cider to take home.

i always look forward to visiting ritter's each fall!

love, laurie

. . . 

previous trips to ritter's cider mill: 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019

saturdate

we started our weekend on friday by working the load out for the joe biden town hall event.  since the load in was so slow and took so long, we expected the load out to take forever.  we fully anticipated it running into the wee hours of saturday morning, so we were very pleasantly surprised when it finished up before dinner time on friday!  wahoo!

that meant we ended up with all day free on saturday.  it was such a nice treat to have the day off together, so we decided to take full advantage of it.  we kicked off the morning with apple pancakes in our pjs and then got dressed and took a drive down to the lehigh valley mall since we haven't been there in so long.  we got there around lunch time, so we started our afternoon down there by having lunch at bonefish grill.  it was really good!  after lunch, we walked around the mall and checked out some of the surrounding stores.  (there are a bunch of stores there that we don't have in our area.)

later in the evening, when we were headed home, ryan got a news alert on his phone that there were s.w.a.t. teams and police surrounding the mall because shots were fired inside the mall.  the whole mall was evacuated.  we were completely astonished that we had just been there shortly before the incident!  in fact, we had just walked past the store where the shots were fired!  talk about scary.  police are still trying to figure out what exactly happened, but luckily no one was injured.  thank goodness we had just left the mall before all of that happened!

it was a great day spent together and such a nice little way to escape from our crazy work schedules for the day!

love, laurie 

outside dining

we all got together on wednesday after work to use gift certificates for a local italian restaurant.  the weather was still nice enough for us to dine outside which was a nice treat.

love, laurie

the best way to wake up

the absolute best way to wake up is to this guy cuddled in bed because it's a little bit chilly in the mornings!  not complaining one bit.  he's so adorable!

love, laurie

finally, some stage hands work!

my body is so sore this week and i'm exhausted because i spent all day saturday and all day sunday working for our local stage hands union to set up for the live joe biden town hall event that will be held tomorrow in our area.

the event will be moderated by anderson cooper and will air at 8pm on cnn.  cnn decided to use a very large parking lot outside of our local baseball stadium for the event.  over the course of several days, lots of people turned that empty parking lot into a stage area for the town hall.  the amount of stuff was insane.  truly, i can't imagine why they needed that many lights!  what a project it was to set it all up!

i definitely look forward to watching it to see all of our hard work in action tomorrow night on tv!  we get to go back on friday to take it all down (which it going to take absolutely forever).  proud to be a small part of such a bit event!

love, laurie

nine years old!

this month our baby boy turns nine years old!  i look back on pictures from when we first brought him home, and i can't believe how much he's grown.  we celebrate this guy's birthday for days with lots of extra kisses, cuddles, and of course tuna!

love, laurie

september sunflowers

i've always loved sunflowers, but we've never grown them at our house.  ryan had an old pack of sunflower seeds that he planted back in may.  they're crazy tall now (this one's even taller than ryan) and absolutely beautiful!

love, laurie

patriot day

we had the opportunity to visit ground zero seven years ago in september, just after the 12th anniversary of 9/11 and it was a moving experience.  the waterfalls and the reflecting pools that sit within the footprints of where the twin towers once stood are a lovely tribute, and the freedom tower is quite a site to behold.  our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who lost a loved one on this day 19 years ago.

love, laurie

a ton of tomatoes!

ryan's parents grew a ton of tomatoes on their tomato plants this summer.  while we were over their house on saturday, ryan and his mom picked a few.  we took a bunch home and made a delicious homemade tomato sauce which we've been enjoying over tortellini, gnocchi, etc.  yum!

love, laurie

a birthday zoom party

ryan's brother's birthday was on friday.  since it was his 40th, we all got together for a surprise zoom call while we were over ryan's parents' house on saturday.  it was a nice way to see everyone and celebrate from a distance!

happy birthday, jeremy!

love, laurie

our own la festa italiana at home

anyone who knows me knows that my favorite tradition at the end of summer is visiting our local italian festival on labor day weekend.  we love it because of the great food, the atmosphere, and most of all the memories since it was where ryan and i went on our first date back in 2004.

the italian festival was canceled this year because of the pandemic, so we got together with our families on saturday to have our own version of the italian festival at ryan's parents' house.  we had lots of great italian food.  it was nice to be able to spend time with everyone!

fingers crossed that next year's italian festival will be able to happen!  let the countdown begin!

love, laurie