In prep for a social gathering tomorrow, I’ve made some of my Halyma’s Cheesecakelets, and then I had a pile of leftover wonton wrappers and decided to get simply creative again…
Halyma’s Applewraps are simple wedges of Macintosh apples, a sprinkle of cinnamon/sugar, wrapped individually in wontons.
Bake them on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, until golden.
I’ve been working hard, so i thought I would take a break, a practically narcissistic break, and cartoonish some of my fave promo shots. This is me just being silly!
I have to credit Lainie Cambria for the last two pics and the first one was take by Tom of DarnerMedia for my Halyma’s Belly Dance Lessons on DVD – Level 1.
So, back to work now!
T/H
PS – If you wanna play: http://www.cartoonize.net/
I just decided to flip my paper calendar ahead to just have easier access to next month’s blocks of time.
So while it is still technically September for a few more days, October is really rearing itself constantly with exciting plans!
Just ’cause I am sure you wanna know what’s so exciting about my life, { no narcissistic attitude here at all!} here are the big ones in my calendar now :
October 1 – prep for the OSCS, and possibly dancing with Bollywood For Fun at Cine-Musiq. $10 advance tickets – you should go even if I cannot manage to squeeze this in myself, the rest of the group will rock it!
October 2 – Ottawa Serenity Charity Screening – I somehow was named chair of the organizing crew for this amazing afternoon fundraiser event. The crew is all doing amazing work to get ready/fundraise/promote etc. so it’s really just a title and I get to pretend to be bossy – really, I am only pretending 🙂 If you are a fan of Firefly, ya gotta come – or even just make an advance $12 donation and you’ll get a Bicket afterwards!
October 3-7 : Sewing/ dancing – the usual deadlines loom
October 8,9,10 – Thanksgiving – still deciding on what we’ll do that weekend – camping? family?hermitage? we’ll see…
Oct. 10-14: Sewing/ Dancing/ the usual deadlines loom
October 15: 10 a.m. to 12 noon: SEWING CLASSES! Level 1 begins! I’ll be teaching the very basics of sewing, including hand and machine work.
SAME DAY: Gyspy [Turkish Rom] workshop with Zafirah of Montreal – I haven’t committed and if you folks all jump on it and it sells out, that’s cool – I have to see how the sewing is doing as I will have deadlines still for the next weekend
October 16: Ottawa Dancers’ Bazaar This is one of my events – so yeah I gotta be there 🙂 Shopping!! socializing!! Shinies!!
Weekdays – = sewing/dancing.. blah blah blah
October 22: Ottawa Zombie Walk!!! Woot!! I have not yet actually walked in it, but I gleefully head out to watch and video tape! I’ll decide closer to it what the plan will be for this year! But I’ll be out that day one way or another!
Weekdays – again with the sewing… and the dancing…
October 29: 13th Annual Witches Gathering!!!!Mega Woot! Again this year, @wtl and I will be judges – so your costumes had better be phenomenal!! And my fave drinks for those who know how this works: Baileys; strongbow; smirnoff ice; rum and coke – I cannot remember what Mavericks has at the bar – but that list should be a good start!
So I was about to start adding pics to make this a more visually interesting post – then realized how much time I’ve already spent writing it – so click through the linky goodies and see the pics on the sites of interest!
And back to sewing and dancing for me!
T/H
I just took some time to check in on registration for my Byward Market location classes and hey – there’s still room for some new dancers to come on out and start learning this fun dance form!
Here’s the deal – over 12 classes for $97.75 at the Routhier Community centre on Monday evenings from 7-8 p.m. or if you are looking to dance with a bit more high energy , join the Bellywood classes on Thursdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
You have time to go home and have a light supper, but not get too comfy, and come on out and get moving – gently but powerfully!
Everyone who comes that first night leaves marvelling at the workout! From just gently isolating those body parts, laughing, shimmying and playing with a lovely piece of fabric, you get a fun head to toe adventure in cultural immersion! Well, at least a few anecdotes, exposure to really interesting music and loads of silliness and learning how to move in new graceful ways!
So, feel welcome to join me this fall in any of my classes – and there’s room in all, but I really hope to see some new faces this session 🙂
NO. Wear comfy clothes that you can move in, sweat in, stretch in and feel good in.
YES – but so does everyone else! So don’t worry about it! And every week, your muscles take over and allow those movements to feel more natural and elegant!
NO – but you can if you want to. Over the 12 weeks, i teach techniques first, and choreography only towards the end of the session so that you feel comfortable with the moves. then you can either join us for the December OCCP as a dancer or audience member! or if you cannot attend, at least you’ll have learned a fun dance to show your close friends and family on your own time!
NOPE! I am happy to see folks with or without the coin scarves/belts/etc.. I want you to feel comfy and relaxed and take it at your own pace!
Of course,if you have one already and want to wear it, you are most welcome to – pretty skirts, fun tops are great – but I want you to break a sweat, so don’t wear your full on performance costumes!
I do organize the Dancers’ Bazaar in October so that you can come out and see the full wealth of pretties you can partake in, if you so choose, but again, do it your own pace!
Any other questions?
Leave me a comment below and I’ll be happy to let ya know anything you might need to.
Classes start Monday the 12th, so if you can come out to play – please check my class listings for registration info – and come play!
In the meantime, here are some samplings of past fun:
Thanks to my students who gave me permission to use theses clips of them from the spring 2011 session routine!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqeNbaqABVk&feature=feedu]
And Halyma [ that’s me!] doing some belly dancing :
Note: the music is obviously not arabic. I have always liked to dance to a variety of music, but especially music with which I already have a connection. I have loved this song since I was a teenager, and with the white and blue silk pieces designed for me by Shibori Borealis, I was really moved to just be floaty and as graceful as possible for this piece… this is me – not too worried about being sharp on the tech moves, more about the feeling…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31ADQNpvCjs]
So, my gradual easing back into life in Ottawa included a jaunt to Fan Expo in toronto last weekend – and this was the moment of fun for me!
I am a bit of a fan girl in certain areas of pop culture and niche culture – some sci-fi, some fantasy, some nerd comedy, and a smidgen of horror cross-over type stuff { Buffy and Angel type stuff}!
And so this was year three for us, and we had a blast!
I could go on and on, but really – suffice it to say, it’s a blast in spite of being a series of line-ups to queues, but the folks there were fun and enlightening!
Time flew by and August was amazing, but it’s gone now and all I have are my memories and a pile of digital pics to sort and put online!
September brings my new dance class schedule too and organizing, promoting, postering a bit and mainly reminding folk online that in another week or two, we can get moving to those fun rhythms and learning some new moves and choreos!
So, if you’ve got that itch to dance, check out the class schedule here and join in the fun this fall!
Meanwhile – here’s me and Barbara Eden – how cool is that! { sorry it’s so fuzzy – it’s a pic of a pic!}
Oh my.
This spring/summer sewing season has been another journey in learning for me.
Starting in January 2011 or so, I connected with the lovely ladies at Luxe Bridal as their main Alterations Specialist. I would pop into the store for set appointments with their brides as the dresses arrived, give them a quote and trundle on home to work on the myriad of Eco-TAV, Belly Dancing For Fun, Bellywood with Halyma, Bollywood For Fun stuff on those todo lists or even just relax a bit.
And the clients started to roll in – how cool is that!
And I worked my fingers to the point of knowing it was time to take a break when I would start to accidentally poke myself while pinning clothes, clients, etc. I love sewing – no question there. but geez the heavy season does take it’s toll.
And the brides have all been pretty good – the dresses have on occasion been evil incarnate – or the designers just have no consideration for the end result having to be taken apart again in order to actually fit!
Bah humbug! to nylon thread, tiny machine stitches, and beading lace after it’s sewn onto the dress { this means that when I start to remove lace to access a seam, little beads start dancing all over my studio floor}
Bah humbug to plastic crinolines sewn into the dress and the outside temperature hitting 37 plus a humidex reaching “OMG I am a lobster” degrees. { sorry vegans}.
I also had some amazing moments creating some fabulous dresses – one in particular was a wedding dress that would continue it’s useful life as a performance dress for a local harpist…
…the final days of this season’s journey are upon me. I consider September like the New Year – it’s back to school time, back to livable temperatures and time for me to look at all of the fun fall events, projects, classes, clients… AAAAAAA...
holidayHolidayHoliday….
Okay, I am a bit better now.
Tonight= final fitting on the lovely bridesmaid dress connected to the beadwork above. it should go on it’s way by Thrusday – maybe Wednesday.
Tomorrow =I work like a crazy person on a small batch of new products for my favourite Eco-TAV client, Life Without Plastic. You’ll see those online soon. This will probably be a 2-3 day project.
Two more wedding dresses head off this week, and one lovely silk outfits goes home until September, when I will get it back and finish it off.
Almost there…
Had an amazing time meeting and dancing with Rebecca Nazz – a young star with some really fun songs and a great, down to earth nature! Hope to get the chance to work with her again – but maybe on schedule next time around 🙂
GAH!!!
Unannounced and unexpectedly this afternoon our Internet stopped working. My wonderful husband called Bell and after being bounced around for 30 minutes, he was told that they have decided to do some work on our line.
So without telling me in any way at all- no call, no email, nothing, we will be without Internet access until late Wednesday evening/Thursday.
This is not the end of the world- but it does mean that if you need to reach me for anything immediate, you will need to go ‘old school’ and pick up the phone!
If you can wait, email me And I’ll get back to you Thursday or whenever I get a moment to pop online at the coffee shop or community centre !!
See ya later!!
T/H
Just back from a supply run, and after trying two other Byward Market places that might have sold twill tape/straight of grain ribbon, I ended up at Richard Robinson school. The Tuck Shop.
There is a funny young man who has been working there for about 5 years, according to his chatter today, and I pop upstairs about once every 4-6 months for some supply that I don’t want to drive all the way out to a fabric store to pick up and especially if the little yarn/sewing place on Nicholas doesn’t have it { I go see her first, small business and all}
And today it was straight of grain tape as I have a slew of under-bustles to create and I have devised my own ribbon system that works pretty well, especially with cotton tape that sticks to itself once tied in a little bow.
As I was leaving the school, I cannot help but count the years since I graduated from the Fashion Designer { 1988] and Couturier [ 1989] courses there. It’s been a while. And over the past few years, I have run into a few of my school mates from those years, some still sewing but many having moved on to other creative adventures – which is all very cool.
Today I was thinking of the day I went in for my first meeting with “Mr. Robinson”, when I was applying to attend the school. I don’t remember the exact day or anything, but it would have been in the spring of 1986, the year I graduated from high school, making me 17 at the time – just barely 17.
My mom and I drove to Ottawa and she came up with me and waited for our allotted appointment time. I told her it was okay for her to stay out in the waiting area while i went in, but “Mr. Robinson” happy invited her to join us. I would have shown him sewing projects and probably some artwork, and I vaguely remember him asking my mom what she thought – kinda odd, but I think he was trying to make me feel comfortable as I would be one of the youngest people in the class. Folks from Ontario did 2 more years than us folk in Quebec at that time, so I would have been starting at 17 with 19 -40 year olds { actually one lovely lady was in her 50s I think}.
So while I don’t remember every specific detail, I do remember the feeling of nervousness, anticipation, but also a confidence – I always felt strong in my sewing capabilities, even at that age. I was making Grad dresses that year for 3 friends…
Anyhoo – if one is going to spend some time on beautiful Friday afternoon reminiscing, it might as well be about something positive, and although there were a lot of stressful times during those 3 years, and the 20ish years since, it’s all good.
