praise in high places

E-mail I got from my teacher this morning:
"You are looking stronger and stronger in class. I'm really impressed by your progress. I keep forgetting to tell you this when you are in class, so now I've done it and you know what I'm seeing."
WHAAAAT?
Girl, you know I am one of the worst people in class, but thank you anyway.
It all went to my head a little bit and I found myself volunteering to alter and hem four slippy-slimy satin circle skirts by Tuesday. That's right, people, the way to make me volunteer to do gross chores for you is to say nice things about me. As a particularly ill-contrived* ex of mine used to say "flattery will get you everywhere".

* the relationship was ill-contrived, not him. I mean, maybe he was, I don't know. I didn't feel comfortable asking his mom those kind of questions.

Steppin' Out

Okay, this one isn't a ballet costume, though it was drawn for my ballerina dolly. I was dating a guy who was SUPER IN TO his Irish heritage, can you tell? AH the follies of youth. Anywayssss... I remember very carefully researching step dancing shoes for this outfit. You can tell I got bored when it came time to design the knot work.
I imagine that stage moms spend ridiculous amounts of money on elaborately detailed dresses for their daughter's competitions. I just went online to check it out and guess what? Things have changed in the last eleven years. A lot of the dresses don't look a thing like this anymore. They've changed but not in a good way, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, I have put this up because I am still enamored with the silhouette of this silly thing. And also, kind of pagan details, younger me! Way to go, kid!