Giselle

I am almost finished a Giselle costume for my daughter. It is getting to come out quite cute even with my amateur sewing skills. I will put the picture on this diary soon.

My cold is still on and off. I have bad cough all day. PK

The Dad speaks about Crazy Wednesday

My kid stood up for me with my terrifying wife?

We're never fully confident that the values we hold are successfully passed along to our kids. Even so, I'm seeing so many encouraging signs from this 15-year-old, the elder brother of the ballet dancer, that my heart fills with love and pride and admiration.

There's talk of the daughter spending the summer in an intensive program, a few hundred miles away from home. Well, if that comes about, it will certainly make Wednesdays a little easier to manage. You'd probably laugh if I diagrammed the course my wife describes in the previous post. Back and forth, zigging and zagging--it turns out to be a small sacrifice for a couple of absolutely wonderful children.

Crazy Wednesday...I forgot to pick up my son

When kids do after school activities, parents become the private transportation. Can any of you parents relate to this? My son's kung fu class start time was moved up one hour earlier to 5:30 on Wednesdays, drastically changing our transportation arrangements.

Here is the new routine in January: My husband finishes work at 4:00 and drives 20 miles home to pick up my son. Without taking a breath, together they double back in the direction of work, and beyond, to pick up my daughter at school at 5:00. Then another zag (they've already zig-zagged) to the kung fu studio, which is between the daughter's school and home, just in time for the 5:30 lesson. Son is dropped off and Dad and daughter go home. Then I (the mom) pick up my son at 6:30 on my way home from work.

At least my husband has at least one kid in the car though most of that back and forth, allowing him to use the carpool lane both ways. In rush hour, that saves at least a full hour on the road!

The very first week, we succeeded this crazy routine, but the second week I forgot pick up my son at 6:30 and went back all the way home without him! My husband went to the kung fu studio to retrieve him!

Today, the third week of this routine, my husband has completely forgotten to pick my son at home. He was still at his office at 4:30 when he realized it. He called our son and told him he'd have to miss his lesson today.

After my son got that phone call, he called me and said "Mom, don't be upset with Dad, and don't call him Stupid or anything."

"Of course, I won't say anything like that! Today we just couldn't manage the crazy routine. Sorry you had to miss your lesson." He is such a thoughtful and considerate teenage boy. I am so proud of him, and happier to hear what he said, sticking up for his father, than the time he got straight As in High school! He is my angel. PK

Ancient Roman...

I have to make a toga costume for my son. He is 15, in 9th grade and still a sweet mommy's boy. The toga costume is for Latin Class. I don't know what they perform or make presentation but I guess that some mom has a headache with such a big mom's project. The toga-making instructions from the teacher of the Latin class says that I need 8 yards of white fabric. I went to Walmart and found plain white fabric $1.67/yard. It will cost about $15 for all I need. I looked around the flat sheets in the bedding section and found full size bed sheets for $2.69. I bought two of them for $6. I saved $9 and saved time to sew the edges. It came out a beautiful Toga costume!

Jason Robert Brown's teenage musical "13"

In a middle school in Appleton, Indiana thirteen 13 year olds leap from childhood into a whole new fantastic and frightening era: their teens. Like kids everywhere, they suddenly are trying to survive classes, navigate cliques and be in with the right crowd and “cool”. In 100 song-filled minutes 13 is their provoking, engaging story, told with contagious energy and humor with all-teen performers and a teen band.

Sang and played very talented children, the music and stage arts were fantastic. It was a great musical and I loved it!... but it was painful that I had to pay $20 for valet parking because I could not find the regular parking. It seemed that the regular one was closed somehow. The location was the Mark Taper Forum at the Music Center. It is a small and cozy theater and the best place to see a musical. I had a nice time to go to entertainment with my 13-year-old daughter... PK

How to take a picture

I borrowed my daughter's camera to take some shots of tiaras. This is the very very first one I took.

This camera flashes twice when you press the shutter button. I think it helps with the red eye problem or something. But I'm used to just one flash! Look...I moved after the first flash and got this picture in the second flash. I have to get used to operating this camera. Whoops, in case it's not clear, that is our model Sue's forehead, not some other body part! PK

What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

I feel eating too much comes from a mental requirement, not a stomach requirement!

Don't you feel that the idea of telling yourself not to overeat makes you really want to overeat (like something sweet after dinner!)? Try changing your approach to telling yourself what you can eat, not what you can't! Check this link of Pictures of 200 Calories of Various Foods. I like beautiful pictures of food! Don't they look satisfying? Let's eat smart. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

Healthy snack recipe

Ants on a log — Spread peanut butter on celery sticks and top with raisins.

Banana ice — Peel several very ripe bananas, break them into 1-inch pieces, and freeze the pieces in a sealed plastic bag. Just before serving, whirl the pieces in the blender with a small amount of water or juice. Serve right away. Add berries for a different flavor or top with fruit or nuts.

Mini pizzas — Spoon pizza sauce onto half a bagel, English muffin, or mini pita. Top with low-fat mozzarella cheese and your favorite veggies and toast or bake at a low setting until the cheese is melted and the bagel is crispy.

Healthy ice pops — Freeze fresh, unsweetened 100% juice in ice pop molds or ice cube trays.
Low-fat pita and hummus — Warm a pita in the oven on low, then cut it into small triangles. Dip it in a tasty, low-fat hummus. Hummus is available in yummy flavors like garlic and spicy red pepper.

Happy trails mix — Combine 1 cup whole-grain toasted oat cereal with 1/4 cup chopped walnuts and 1/4 cup dried cranberries for a healthy trail mix.

I got a new keyboard!

Finally I got a new keyboard. How wonderful to use space key with ONE press. I've had to cut and paste a space where I needed one for the last few days. Amazingly, the current newest keyboard has many keys I have never seen before! It must be so improved and so useful. However, if I do not know how to use all these new keys, they are just fancy decorations. Oh well, I have to get used to it.

The picture is my dog, Maisey, age 5. Her job is sleeping, not sweeping the floor. She is sleeping for 20 hours a day and snoring for 10 hours a day and seems to be awake only a few hours a day. She must feel "Life is short". Her special skill is begging for treats. The way she tricks me, to get my attention, is to pretend to go outside for her "nature break". When I open the door for her, instead of going outside she turns around and takes me to the cabinet where we store her doggy treats. What a smart dog she is! PK

Model Sue is a sweet girl

Her name is Sue, Prima Korona's top model. She's never complained about any photographer's requests. She is a very beautiful, quiet young lady and a hard worker.

COLD

I got cold, terrible cold so I will go to bed soon. My keyboard's space key doesn'twork because I spilled coffee on it the other day! So how do I type? I am pasting one space in between each word! It is such annoying work...don't make this mistake yourself!

Anyway I will go to sleep. Good night. PK

Svetlana Zakharova

I forgot turn off the date imprint setting on my camera again this day.... and I was going to re-take photo without the ugly date imprint, but I just could not find a time to do it. So here it is! I'll have a chance to reshoot this photo soon when the new Snow Queen tiara needs its photos.

When I looking for variation video clips, I found many clips of Svetlana Zakharova, a principal from Bolshoi Ballet. She is a gorgeous and elegant dancer who has also ultra flexibility and impressive talent. I hope that I can see her in the OC area someday. PK

Mini tiara

This is the Mini Tiara. You can use it by your bun for your regular lessons. It looks like tiara and pretty popular among ballet girls. I do not sell this product at Prima Korona but they are available through Dancer's Choice.

I went to the San Francisco Ballet Summer Intensive program audition for my daughter today. She loved their warming up barre lesson and said that she did pretty good. There were about 80 people (age 13 and 14) split into two sessons. Each audition lasts about one and half hours and the audition fee was $25. It was a good experience for my daughter. PK

Summer Dance Intensive Program

Auditions for Summer Dance Intensive Programs are coming! Check your local or distance programs at this site http://www.cyberdance.org/summer.html

The Christmas holiday passed so fast and of course Summer Program auditions are coming next. If you want to search about particular programs, go to http://www.ballettalk.com/ to check out the latest information from the program alumni. Their information is pretty good for you to get know the good part and the bad part of the program. Also you can compare one and another. PK

How does it stay secure on your head?

You can see the silver wire on the back side of this tiara. That's my support structure for the entire tiara. But the silver wire has another function: hair pins go over it to be secured to your hair. Similarly, there are "horse hair" loops on both sides (not visible in this photo) that attach to your head with hairpins.

I offer a choice of two horse hair loop colors on all Prima Korona tiaras, one for dark hair and the other for very light blond hair.

Giselle costume

What a stressful day it was today... I am trying to make a Giselle costume but I failed on the chiffon over skirt part. The main problem was my sewing machine won't zigzag smoothly on soft chiffon fabric. This fabric is so soft and beautiful but it frays a lot. I adjusted many ways but I still could not make it well. I have to get new fabric...... :-(

Here is the best Ballet information for everybody. www.ballettalk.com To join this forum, you have to be 13 or older. They have good search engine so you can find the answers to your questions easily.

First time at the Ballet?

http://www.sfballet.org/performancestickets/firsttime.asp

This link is for people who go to see a Ballet performance for the first time. The site includes the history of ballet, ballet dance positions, and answers for common questions. I am glad that I have found the answer I had been looking for in this section. It is very good to go back to basics sometimes even when you think you know stuff. Please review it. PK

Happy Meow Year!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope everybody celebrated the new year and made great new year's resolutions. My resolution is to work hard to design and create elegant tiaras. I want to improve my work and maybe try new styles. I also want to practice flute for 15 minutes every day. Although I have had this resolution for 4 years, it has never really happened. But I am motivated this year. Thank you very much for your support all of last year.
I wish for every body's health and happiness through 2007. PK