The Name (Pic Heavy) and My Bedroom

 So, back when I was a little one, I was OBSESSED with teddy bears. Seriously, my childhood bedroom looked like a teddy bear museum. And/or a Boyd's Bears museum. I'm not even kidding. This led to my childhood nickname. When I was around five years old, my uncle started greeting me with "Erika Bearika of America!" Over time, this shortened to "Erika Bearika" and then, finally, "Bearika." I'm 29 years old and this nickname is still used by a few family members. (I usually use another nickname, Hysterika, for some social media, but Bearika is near and dear to me.)


So, now, as a 29 year old, I live with my boyfriend about half the time, and live with my best friend half the time. My fur babies live with my best friend because my boyfriend and I haven't gotten a place of our own yet and my babies can't live where we currently are. So I share a bedroom with my boyfriend Monday night through Thursday night and stay in my own bedroom at my best friend's house Friday night through Sunday night. I miss my babies too much to be away from them the whole time. The wonderful thing about having a room of my own is being able to decorate it how I want. It's like 50% teddybears and teenage decor from when I was a teen and about 50% "Oh-a-dancer-lives-here." So, it probably looks like a 12 year old's room. hahaha.


I also recently got some of my things back from my parents from when I was a kid so I'm surrounding myself with these things of comfort.




This was one of the teddy bears I cuddled up with when I slept as a kid. I loved Precious Moments.

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 Some super heavy bookends I had as a kid. Boyd's Bears, I'm pretty sure. (Sorry the second one is blurry.)

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An adorable bear I love because of the color.

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A bear my best friend got me years ago. Skelanimals are pretty great. Fits me so well. :)

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The top one here went above my bed as a teen. A Boyd's Bear, as is the one with the hat. I think the Winnie came from The Disney Store.

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This was a thrift store find (a few years ago). How perfect is it that it mixes two things I adore!?
Bears and ballet. Yassss. (This should have been the picture I used at the top but I'm too lazy to do it now.)

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And now, just because, a few pictures of my bedroom. Needs improvement, obviously.

I should have turned the light off. I threw and old dance ("Step In Time") performance hat over my fan. Old school calendar turned to the Phantom of the Opera photo. This calendar is from the 60's, I believe. Above my closet, BAD WOLF is spray painted in stencil. Points if you get the reference.

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My paternal grandfather traveled the globe and brought back those two dolls near the corner. Yes, I do still have my old Treasure Troll collection. *smirk*

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I need to find a way to make this prettier, and wash my actual comforter (not pictured), but I love my room. I have so many more dead pointe shoes I could add to that but I'm not sure if I want to. I kind of want to hang some of that fake snow above them so it's more like the "pointe shoe cemetary" I envisioned it to be. This was just a quickie thing.
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Anyways, feel free to link up your bedroom in the comments, or tell me the story of your blog name! I'd love to hear it.

Photo Dump from 3.2.2015

     So, Mondays have been a frustration for me at the studio I teach at. Before the December show, I had more students in my Monday class (I only had one Monday class and one Friday class at the time). A problem with the area I live in is that it's a spread out desert area and jobs are harder to come by than in many other areas. This leads to people not being able to afford to put their kids in dance (or adults not being able to easily afford hobbies that cost nearly $50 a month). 

     This, paired with the fact that the only time I could get to the studio was three hours early, led to me getting in some much needed pointe practice. I just got back into technique classes again and though I have been en pointe for nearly five years, I have craptastic feet and I'm not where I could be. 

So, though I'd taken Intermediate Ballet at the junior college en pointe that day, I decided to get in some extra practice. My feet were hurting. Especially my big toe on my right foot. I decided to try to get some photos of me failing dancing en pointe. Most are stills but I took screen grabs of a video for some chaines that definitely need work. I had thought they were okay, but seeing the pictures...no. haha.

Anyways...

Purple tights I forgot I owned. I need better turnout. 

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What photo dump wouldn't be complete without a smudgy mirror pic?

I need to work on turning out my back foot.

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I'm over my box...but my feet suck. It's an issue I need to work on. Perhaps some love for my elastic band is needed. Okay, ALL the love.

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And strettttchhhhh. I'd possibly love this if my knees were over my toes.

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I actually really like this one (shitty turnout aside).

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Now, some motion!

At first, I was not aware that my feet were so far apart.

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Better...ish. (took off the top because I need to face being able to see myself like this. Ick.)

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At the front desk after. Where are the students?!

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ALL THE CHEESINESS.

Though I'm not exactly proud of these photos, it gives me something (everything) to work on. But I'm sure I'll have this next Monday to work on things too. *sigh*