Friday, May 6, 2011

At The Ballet


Ahnalin and I got to go to the 
San Francisco Ballet on Tuesday night!

I can't even tell you how wonderful it was!!


Truly amazing and elegant and gorgeous
and incredible!

The tickets were a gift from another 
designer friend of mine.

 a gown designer who now lives
in the Los Angeles area,
won the tickets to the ballet and then
was unable to use them.
She graciously sent them to me on Sunday night!
(You can click on the link and go to her Etsy store
and see the beautiful gowns she makes!)

When Aria posted to my facebook page,
she asked me if I was available on Tuesday
and if I could make Ahnalin a special dress
quickly enough! 

Why, yes!
Yes!


Ahnalin adores ballet and wants to be a ballerina
when she grows up.

And the ballet was "The Little Mermaid"
which is one of my favorite stories,
so that made it even more special!


So, I went stash diving and remembered
this fabric!

My friend, smocking genius Janet Gilbert
had sent it to me a few years ago
because her darling daughter
no longer liked these kinds of prints.
Lucky me!

There was only 34 inches of this darling print
and I knew that Ahnalin was going to 
want to twirl like the ballerinas!


So I dug deeper and found
a half-yard remnant of this pink swirly print
that blended reasonably well,
and started to work!

I machine embroidered the word
"Ballet" on the bodice piece and
cut it to the shape of Ahnalin's favorite style.


The rest of the dress is just rectangles.

I did manage to figure out a way to add tulle,
because this was a dress for a ballerina!

Ahnalin HATES tulle.
She takes one look and starts itching!
Every time!

But I wanted it for this dress.
So I sewed up the petticoat to 
attach inside the dress,
and sandwiched the tulle between the lining
and the skirt fabric.

She was skeptical, but
now loves it.


So, on Tuesday, right after school,
I quickly finished
the dress (well, I sewed her into it
 just like I did for this dress.)

And we headed down to San Francisco.
Don't laugh too hard at me, 
but this was the first time I drove across the 
Golden Gate Bridge myself. 
I was VERY nervous but I made it.

We met our dear friend Ryan,
who treated us to dinner
She then she pulled up 
Hans Christian Andersen's 
"The Little Mermaid" on her Kindle,
so that Ahnalin could read the story.
Because this was different than the Disney version
and the SF Ballet had posted on their website
that it was not recommended for children,
we wanted her to be prepared.


Ahnalin started to get sleepy so I let her take 
Bunny into the War Memorial Opera House 
with us.


When I got this shot, 
I was shocked at how grown up she looked!
My 6 year old all of a sudden looked so mature!

Oh my!

Wait! Did she sneak my lipstick???


This was the stage.
The blurry blog at the bottom is a giant shell.


She was SO EXCITED!!!
She looked around and realized
that she was the ONLY CHILD THERE!


Oh my! 
I reminded her that everyone else there
was accustomed to sitting still 
and that this was a HUGE GROWN UP TREAT!
So, she needed to sit still and not talk during 
the performance.

We then heard an announcement
stating that the performance
was being filmed for 
PBS Great Performances,
so there would be 2 intermissions 
instead of 3! 
Perfect for us!

We were also told to put away all cameras, 
so I couldn't take any more pictures until after
the performance.


 This is Ahnalin after the performance. 
She was totally enthralled!

She behaved PERFECTLY!
And I don't mean perfectly for 
a busy kid with Sensory Processing Disorder!
I mean, she sat still the whole time,
staring at the dancers,
totally swept away into the beauty
of the ballet!

This photo shows her dreamy, yet sleepy
expression after the ballet ended. 
The whole experience 
was a beautiful dream come true!
The ballet was a gift.

Thank you Aria and Janet and Ryan!


Ahnalin wore her dress again 
this morning when her school
had "Moms and Muffins"
to celebrate Mother's Day.

Five minutes after this picture was taken,
she was chasing after a "SO CUTE!!" boy
and slammed into my coffee cup.
She now is wearing her pink ballet
dress, covered in coffee. 
Sigh. Oh well.
She loves her dress and she may as well enjoy it!

--------------------------------------------------------------

In other news,
India got a concussion at work the other day
and now is trying to heal from that.
She is in pain and struggling
and I want to be with her.

And we are also continuing to deal with the 
fallout from having our accounts hacked.
I just want that all to go away, 
but our bank is doing ridiculous 
things to us, and we were the victims,
not the perpetrators.
I know that somehow this will
all work out, 
and we will survive it.
But it hurts and is embarrassing,
and makes us look like flaky, 
irresponsible people,
in addition to costing us money.

We would appreciate any prayers you could
send our way.

Thank you so much.
Sivje

8 comments:

~*Aria*~ said...

I'm very glad now you and Ahnalin went instead of me. :) You two needed this night out! She looks like she was beside herself with excitement!

And that dress is so adorable! Tulle right against the skin is scratchy, but sandwiched between a outer fabric and a lining, it's fine. But if Ahnalin wants to be a dance when she grows up, she'll have to get used to all the tulle. :)

And thanks for the link! :)

Maryn said...

There's no link to Aria's shop. I love seeing new designers, so maybe I'm overlooking linkage?

Goosegirl said...

Hi Maryn, I tried to post back to you but there is no email attached to your name. But if you click on Aria's name, or "Aria Couture" it will take you to her Etsy shop.
Thank you for checking us out.

~*Aria*~ said...

I didn't see the note about India. What on earth happened? :( Worker's comp should cover any expenses and time off. Still not easy when a loved-one is injured. If she needs any help, I'm local to her.

seamsgreat said...

You did a GREAT job! She is beautiful! Happy Mothers day.~janet

Dawn said...

Sivje....Love the dress! Ahnalin looks absolutely adorable and I know she loved the ballet!!! I just wish that we lived closer because Abby would have loved it too. But sadly we are way on the other side of the country. One day we will make it out there for a serious girls week! I'm just so thrilled that you two had this special time together. Happy Mother's Day!!!

Btw...just wait ill you see what I've been working on for the past few days. Abby and I are going to go out on a big photo shoot today to take lots of pictures.

Cole's Corner said...

I love the dress! My girls would go crazy over that!

Pookie Pantz said...

That dress is "tutu" cute!! you are sooo talented!! I know my little girl wishes I was talented like that!! :)