Happy Birthday, New York City Ballet: Stars of Vintage Dance

Today I'm taking you all on a trip to my ballet world and celebrating the Birthday of one of the world's greatest ballet companies...

On this day in 1948, New York City Ballet made its on-stage debut!!!! 

New York City Ballet was the brain child of Lincoln Kirstein 

and George Balanchine. 

Kirstein  and Balanchine met in London in 1933 and formed the School of American Ballet. The school went through at lot of drama and changes throughout the years including a postponed first performance and Lincoln having to go off to war during WWII. 

Following Kirstein's return from war, he and Balanchine formed Ballet Society, and used students from the school as dancers in his works. Ballet Society presented it's work at City Center in NYC. Chairman of City Center's finance department saw the performance and approached Kirstein  about turning Ballet Society into a full fledged ballet company...

From there New York City Ballet (or NYCB) was formed.

NYCB's first season opened on October  11, 1948 with 3 ballets choreographed by George Balanchine: Concerto Boracco, Symphony in C and Orpehus.  Dancing in that first show was 

Maria Tallchief, 

Marie-Jeanne

Tanaquil Le Clercq

And other famous dancers that have gone down in ballet history

And the rest,as they say, is history

NYCB has gone on to become of the the world's greatest, most well known ballet companies.

Every year it presents George Balanchine's The Nutcracker to thousands of people at NYC's Lincoln Center. It's a beautiful production that has become one of the wife and my holiday traditions!!! It's a great way to get in the holiday spirit and see some super cute dancing children and BEAUTIFUL dancing from the company!! If you ever get the chance... Go!!! And that's not just the dancer/ballet teacher in me talking!! 

NYCB has inspired so many people, dancer and non-dancers alike. It's been able to survive since the 40's (which unfortunately, most ballet companies of the time weren't able to do) and move on to today with the same artistry and class as it had way back when.

If you ever make it to NYC, or they happen to tour to your city... It's well worth the ticket to see a part of history!!! 

I didn't do a FULL history of the company... But I'm thinking that I will! NYCB has a juicy (and gossip worthy) history!!! 

A Vintage look at Southern California...Halloween edition!

So Excited!!!

It finally feels like fall here!!! Well at least for the next couple of days. But I'll take it!! That means spending the day drinking coffee, eating cake and watching horror movies!

Today, I was also missing NYC just a little bit. The cloudy, chilly, fall like weather made me think of the east coast and it's pumpkin patches, corn mazes and haunted hayrides. To fight off the homesickies I started looking up some photos of Los Angeles during the Halloween season. I have heard that Halloween is a REALLY big thing out here so that makes me happy!

I came up with some cuties and thought I would share them on the blog!!!

Here are some of my favorites..

Beauty contestants from the Halloween Slick Chick contest in Anaheim in 1947

One from the famous Anaheim Halloween parade in 1950

Los Angeles children celebrating Halloween in 1961

Another one from the Anaheim Halloween parade

1948

This one is weird because apparently... In Pasadena...They had a tradition of burning witches...Not real ones of course...but store bought or handmade ones... Not sure how true that is but I read a couple of articles that said it was so...If so...ummmmm... ewwwww...

The picture search was successful at making me feel a little better. Although, things are slowly starting to feel normal here The wife and I ( I've made the decision to stop calling her Honey...She's now on the internet too because of her makeup career so...) are both working and settling in. It's starting to feel like we are starting a new life instead of just being on an extended vacay. Which is what it felt like allllll summer!!!

Can't wait to see what October brings!!! Hopefully at least slightly cooler weather!!!!

Fall is in the Air... Well... Kinda... Plus a Recipe!

Hi Lovies!!! 

Well... It's officially Autumn!!! 

Yay!!! 

If you know me then you know that this is my favorite time of year. Even now that I'm a New Yorker in Los Angeles. 

It, of course, doesn't feel like fall here. It's currently 89 degrees and my outfit consists on my Freddie's high waisted shorts and a tank... But never fear!! My Fall and Christmas obsession knows no temperature boundaries. I'm still head over heels with the season and am in talks with myself over the holidays! 

Google queen that I am... I've been researching things to do for the fall here and there is a pretty good variety of things to do!! There's still apple and pumpkin picking, there's Oktober Fest (which is definitely going on our agenda) and we are planning a trip to Big Bear Mountain to take in some fall foliage! So, even though right now the weather isn't cooling off ( I even Googled that! According to Google and some of our friends who live here, seems that October is the magic month where it stops sweltering! I can live with that!) I can still get involved with everything the season has to offer in California. 

So in honor of the start of Fall every where else, here is a cute recipe from 1959!! 

Total pumpkin yumminess! 

Getting Back In the Swing of Things...(and a move)

Well... Well... Well...

Long time, no see, huh? 

I seems as if I took a seriously long break from blogging... Like a year!!!! Crazy! Has it really been that long? 

Yes, I guess it has. And recently I've begun to really miss it! I missed having a place to put all of my (very) random interests and thoughts. 

So why the long hiatus, you ask? Well... I guess it's because of just that. That my interests are SO random and SO different that it became very hard to fit them all in one little vintage loving box. So instead of trying to put stuff in the box and maybe just make the box a little bigger (as I was prepared to do) I just stopped writing. I needed time to figure stuff out: personally, professionally and spiritually... 

And that's what's been happening over the past year!!! 

My hunni (aka Kenni) and I have made one HUGE change... So you all remember when we were debating moving out of NYC? Well, that happened... Only thing is, it really didn't pan out the way we originally planned. We did move... But not to Connecticut... But to California!! Los Angeles to be exact! Yes, I know, I know. I was COMPLETELY against a Cali move, and my Christmas is going to take some finagling but that's the decision we made! And so far it's been a good one! 

The move was mainly for Kenni's profession as a makeup artist. She's switched companies and has already been doing some work, so that's good! And I was able to get hired at two really well known ballet schools out here!!! So we're basically all set! We just need to find a home!!! Haaaaaa! Right now the wife, pup and I are living with one of our best friends in her extra room. It's been fun! Like being 20 something with a roommate again... But... It's time to settle, so we're hoping to have a place of our own super soon! 

This time in La La Land is definitely a little bit of self exploration for Kenni and I... I'm not sure if we're going to settle here for good, or if this is just for the next couple of years. We don't know! But we DO know that we were getting ridiculously cramped in our tiny Brooklyn apartment and wanted to see what else life has to offer. This was my no means an easy decision OR an easy transition. We've had more than our share of bumps in the road these past couple of months but things seem to be settling into a more normal pattern. So we will see where all of this lands us.

As for the blog, I thought this was a perfect time to rejuvenate it. There's so many new things that I plan on experiencing! I needed a place to put it all down!!! Not to mention...there's SO many more vintage buying options (YAYYYYY)!!!!! I can't wait til I can buy some stuff without feeling that the money should have gone in our savings!  

Side note: I left ALL of my beautiful vintage clothes in NYC!!! I had to!! We flew here and the baggage fees were OUTRAGEOUS! So I had to leave all my pink dresses behind! So... Perfect excuse to go shopping in a few weeks! 

Although I must also confess that I've been relatively vintage -less for the past year. Don't get me wrong... On days I was in the mood I would bust out a vintage piece or two but (like I said in a previous post) I've been coupling my pieces with mostly 90s looks or up to date pieces! Gone are the days when I wear a purely vintage outfit... Unless the occasion calls for it of course! I love a good excuse to dress in a theme!!

So, that's a VERY brief catchup on my life... It is in NO WAY a full catch up!! I didn't even get to the concerts we've been going to or the family stuff that happened over the summer!!! Or all of the new and exciting social media stuff I've been running... New friends that have become like family... All the things!!!! But... Don't worry, lovies... There's plenty of time for all of that...

It's a new day in the world of Mz. Midcentury Pink!!! And I hope you like this new incarnation of her as much as you loved the old one! 

Xoxo