Nutcracker Weekend!

December 11, 2011

I’m here in northern CA, cheering on my niece who is debuting as Clara in her ballet company’s The Nutcracker. Special moment in a ballerina’s world! I was in town for a conference and was able to stay on for a few days to see the big event. My mother flew in from the East Coast, so we’ve all been able to have a wonderfully crazed, busy, but very special family weekend together. With us spread over all corners of the country, it’s difficult to get us together, so it has been a gift to have this weekend!

I haven’t seen my niece in a year, and it’s amazing to see how much she’s grown in poise. The height I expected, but to see her dancing en pointe as Clara is so impressive, especially when she was a wee dancing snow angel just a few years ago! I’m such a proud auntie!! (This is a picture of my proud sister with her beautiful daughter, the ballerina!).

On other fronts, I’ve been away from my shiny new sewing machine for more than a week now, as I’ve been traveling, but I had a wee run-in with my needle just before I left. I went to grab a pin out of the fabric and thought I had time (stupidly!), and next thing I knew I was looking down at my finger straight through the middle with the needle! Yes, I can tell you it was searing pain!!

I’ve always joked that I’m not great with day-to-day events, but I’m a super person to have around in a crisis, and this event apparently proved me right; I looked down at the needle, going in one part of my finger and coming out another (and, of course, still attached to the machine), I told my sweetie I was fine (before the crisis was even really readily apparent), and then I calmly pressed the lift needle button and made my getaway to the bathroom where I applied pressure, a bandage, and sought good painrelievers!! Thank goodness for my new machine--had I still been using my dear Susie Singer, I would have had to reach over with my free left hand to the dial on the right side of the machine to manually life the needle. Yikes! Worry not, however! It's a full week later now, and there's not even a scratch left from the big event!