March Madness! (Not to be confused with the actual March Madness…)

I promised you fun things were in your future, and look what I did.  Video!  That’s what’s up.  Hope you guys like it and enjoy getting to check out the progress.

Also, I’m posting this pic for the sole purpose of proving that I have actually done a little work in at the studio.  Mom was concerned and photo attacked Friday afternoon.  I’d also like to point out that this is what happens when you are in town and have no painting clothes because you drove there straight from Indy.  Yes, that. We spent so much time Friday and Saturday painting trim.  So. Much. Time.  But since both Mom and I have a slight love for painting, it wasn’t half bad.

Okay, that’s all for this week!  I really have no idea what next week has in store, but I’ll do what I can to post an update. Oh, and by the way… Go Butler!

Under Construction

I’ve been home for my Spring Break for less than 24 hours, and I have been reminded to update this thing twice.  So uh… here I am… Updating.  But seriously, I am completely amazed at how much the studio has changed in such a short time.  Every time I walk in, I’m a little bit amazed.   I mean, the first weekend (was it only a month ago?) we were shooting footage of an empty building and trying to explain where things were going.  Now, there are walls and restrooms and doors.  Crazy, right?

The wall project started with building the dividing wall between studios A and B.  No big deal, right?  It shouldn’t have been, but the floor in studio B was ridiculously uneven.  The picture on the right kind of shows how they’re trying to fix it.  That is a whole process of its own, and if I’m being honest, I have no idea how that gets fixed…  Moving on!

The next wall built was the wall separating the studios from the waiting room.  The coolest thing about the walls being up is that everything is so much easier to see.  I know that seems pretty obvious, but it’s true.  Before, I was picturing it in my mind and feeling like Mom and I were on the same page.  Now, I’m actually watching it happen.  It’s coming together so fast. 

Drywall was the next step.  Once it was up, the walls actually looked like real walls.  As you can see in these pictures, one of the great features of the new studio is  the addition of the windows.  People will be able to watch class from outside.   For one, it’ll be ten million times less distracting.  Moms, siblings, friends, girls from other classes, etc. will noooo longer be drowning out Mom/Amber/Jessica/Jennifer/Steph when they’re trying to teach.  People will be able to watch but there are walls and doors to eliminate the noise thing.  Everyone wins right now.

You all know my mom, right?  She’s pretty cool.  Let me tell you a little something about growing up with my mom.  It was never quiet in our house.  There was always music playing.  Same thing with car rides.  I remember listening to Janet Jackson, MJ, Bon Jovi, TLC, Michael Bolton (?), Mariah Carey, Pearl Jam, Whitney Houston,  and so many other artists it would be ridiculous to name them all.  What I’m saying is that Chandler and I were groomed to have music be a daily part of our lives, and also that some things never change.   The texts I got from both of my parents were of these pics with the following.  Mom:  “Enrique!  Music choice for the day!”  Dad: “Mom mudding”

I can’t really say much else that surpasses how amazing that is, can I?  Didn’t think so.

Bathrooms, Part Deux

I know, I know, I know… It’s been two weeks since I last updated you… And I said I was going to work on getting a new post up every week… I’m blaming school, and I’m actually seriously promising to upload another post very soon.  And that post just might have some pretty amazing pictures and things if I do say so myself.  This is me saying sorry. 

In the last post I showed you the beginning stages of the bathroom process.  If you remember, everything had to be gutted and started from scratch.  Well kids… a lot, lot, LOT has happened since then.

The last picture posted was the absolute outer framework of the bathrooms.  In these shots, all of the framework is up.  The sink that’s mounted is the handicap accessible one.  Dad had to get all of the piping and water lines in first, as you can see by the red and blue piping.   I know you’re probably thinking,  “Dude, it’s just bathrooms and wood and such… Get on to the good stuff!  We want to see the actual studio!  Walls!  New floors! PAINT!”   No.  Believe it or not there is a method to the madness.  Let me break this down for you…

Bathrooms need water.  Obviously.  The water line isn’t even in the bathroom.  It’s out where the dance floors are.  (Actually, if I remember correctly, it is directly in the wall separating the two dancefloors.)   The thing is, the water line has to make it to the bathroom.  First, all of the framework for the walls had to be built.  I’m talking the bathroom walls AND the walls for studio B.  Then the water lines have to be taken through the framework of the entire length of the wall and into the bathrooms. THEN the drywall has to be put up.  Plus there’s the whole wiring for electricity and plumbing and such.  As you can imagine, there is a LOT to do. 

I can safely say that the process is well under way.  The drywall is up and has been mudded.  Dad said he finished the corners, too.  (Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if you Google it, you’ll get what I mean… It’s a royal pain in the neck to do it right.)  Lights and plumbing are all that are needed for a functioning bathroom. 

Here’s even more proof of Dad and Grandpa hard at work.  Drywall never ends.  But the outcome is fantastic.  Any guesses of what’s going to go in the picture on the right?  Changing rooms.   If you’re keeping count, that means two bathrooms and two changing rooms for the inevitable occurance that sixty girls are coming in and out of a class at the same time.  Pretty cool, huh?

That’s all for tonight, but there is some good news to leave you with.  The next post is one you will really want to see.  If you think it’s been all about bathrooms and ripping up carpet and pink tutus and hard hats and funsies… You’re kind of wrong.  Mom, Dad, and many others have been hard at work for the past few weeks.  That empty building from the walk through?  It definitely doesn’t look the same anymore!

Until next time…
Keep dancing!

Courtney

Bathroom Burnout

This weekend I didn’t come home.  I stayed at my apartment in Indy soaking up the short-lived pretend Spring days on my balcony with a book and/or friends.  What’s even better?  While my face, arms, and chest were turning a lovely shade of sun-kissed pink, I was receiving picture messages of my family hard at work.  Let’s all agree I won this round.

Moving on!

The first text of the day came with this picture and the words, “Music of choice for the day.”  Yes, music is probably a necessary thing to keep everyone sane… That being said, there’s only so much of The Best of KC and the Sunshine Band that is acceptable.  Then again, this is coming from the kid who had to listen to it for days at a time in the summer.  No further comment here…

I knew the plan was to start working on the bathroom situation.  First of all, Dad was sick of running across the street to use the gas station restroom.  Secondly, there’s the issue of following handicap accessibility guidelines.  There has to be a restroom with a handicap toilet, handicap railings, and a sink that is wheelchair accessible.  It’s pretty intense.  One of the rules is that there has to be 5 feet of space in front of and to the side of the toilet.  Because of this, we already knew the walls were coming down.  As Debbie mentioned in the video last week, nobody knew whether this meant we got one or two restrooms.

Last weekend, Dad started gutting the bathrooms.  The toilets, sinks, wall coverings, and carpet were all removed.  He went from the picture on the left to a hollowed out room.  This weekend when he was continuing the process of clearing everything out, he hit the first speed bump of the renovations.  There was some damage to the ceiling trusses (supportive framing beams for the non-construction literate, like me).  Long story short, this was bad news bears.  Dad had to call in Denham Construction to help fix the problem.  There is good news, though.  Since the entire structure had to be redone from scratch, we definitely get our two bathrooms!  In the picture, you can see the progress so far.  Pretty cool, huh?

Dad and Grandpa teamed up to move these light fixtures around, so they don’t get in the way of the new walls.  The picture on the right is one of them making sense out of the new exhaust fans.  How cool are they?  Seriously, they can do just about anything.  It’s freakish how many random things they know.  Impressive, really.

Sunday brought its own challenges.  Chandler spent his day off work helping Dad with pulling up the carpet.  You guys… last weekend we tried pulling some of it up by hand/crowbar.  I have never seen so much glue in my life.  EVERY INCH OF THE FLOOR IS COVERED IN IT!  And it is some heavy-duty stuff.  Think I’m exaggerating?  Underneath the carpet is concrete.  Notice how it looks yellow?  THAT’S THE GLUE.  They didn’t learn “dot, dot, not a lot” like we did, kids… And look what happened.  It’s a mess.  That machine is supposed to pull the carpet and glue up.  Even with the machine, it clearly looks like it taking everything Chandler has to pull it back.  They spent six hours pulling carpet up.  And they only got half of the job done.  Rough.  Looks like next weekend might be round two of the battle between Carpet and Man. 

"I love being watched when I work!" - txt from Debbie

And just when I think I’m done receiving pictures messages of random building related things, I get this piece of art… 

That’s all I have for this week!  I meant to get this up last night, but alas… that thing called school got in the way.  I’ll be coming back to Miami County Saturday morning, so you can definitely expect some kind of update after Sunday or Monday.  I am going to try my best to make this a weekly thing…  Subscribe and comment and talk and tell Mom you’re keeping up with this.  Also, I figured out how to put the share buttons on here.  You know what this means…  Facebook!  Share the link!  Spread the word!  Thanks everyone! :)

Keep Dancing!
Courtney

Video Funsies

First post online, and it’s a video?  You guys are spoiled already…

Check back soon!  I took some pictures of the fam doing work, so I’ll actually have a written post sometime this week, too.  Maybe I’ll explain things a bit more clearly.  Maybe not.  Haven’t decided yet.  

Enjoy the video, and expect much, much more in the coming months!!!

Keep Dancing!
Courtney

Also, I’m just sayin’… It would be pretty awesome if you all left some comments here and there to let us know what you think of everything going on!   Debbie’s excited.  I’m excited.  Even Dad and Chandler are excited.  (Well, not for the work, but you know…)  Everyone’s excited.  Get excited with us!  It’s a good time to be a part of the Ballet Arts family.