Break it to build it again

Praėjusi vasara tikrai sunaikino mane, visiškai ištaškė... bet gerąja prasme. Galima gi pagaliau pasimokyti iš klaidų. Situacija po truputį gerėja - pirmas pasiekimas, kad atsibudus vėl atsimenu sapnus. Dabar kiekvienas sapnas atrodo ypatingas.

Mokausi rašyti

Šeštas

Jėzaus kambarys su rožinėm sienomis ant kampo
Prie pervažos kur stoja meksikiečiai pasilabint
Gerai, kad tu žinai kur Jėzus, kai jo labiausiai reikia.
Nes tam yra draugai su privalumais
Ir trūkumais ties vieta, kur užgimsta žinia susirišti
Ir nedrįstu prisislinkti arčiau net griaudint saliutams
Bet praskleidusi šonkaulių spąstus dar tykau nutverti bent plunksną iš pagalvės tavo
Kad už tūkstančio mylių pradėta mozaika iš stygų ir ūsų
Įgautų pavidalą lizdo drugeliui ir varnui

iš NOLA sąsiuvinio, liepos 8

Laikini namai

Abu su Joe šitame bute jaučiamės kaip namie, bus gaila išsikraustyti. Šiandien užsukau į bike-shop'ą ir pasiėmus alyvos sutepiau dviračio pedalus. Valio ir daugiau kokio triukšmo važiuojant. Juokingas faktas: po mano dviračio sėdyne gyvena voras ir aš kiekvieną rytą randu du voratinklius: vieną tarp sėdynės smaigalio ir skersinio, o kitą tarp sėdynės galo ir bagažinės. Nieko dėl to nedarysiu.

An apple a day keeps doctor away

Berlynas yra gana nuostabus, bet dar labai svetimas. Eidama rudenėjančiom Friedrichshain gatvėm parašiau taip:

Ruduo kvepia lapais ir permainom
Ir kai sakau, kad daugiau taip negaliu
Dar paspaudžiu truputį
Ir tada...
Begėdiški piešiniai už kampo
Aitriai kvepia obuoliais fermerių turgus
Ir ten kur medžiai šaknim į viršų
Šypsosi vaiko veidu motina pankė

Pirma diena Berlyne

Pabandom vėl...

Pirmas rytas Berlyne. Toks lyg ir vaikystės svajonių išsipildymas. Kai pirmą kartą atvažiavau į Berlyną lyg ir 2011 pavasary, įkvėpiau, apsidairiau ir pasakiau sau, kad įdomu, kaip būtų pasisukęs gyvenimas, jei būčiau čia atsidūrus po mokyklos. Manau, būčiau niekada neišvažiavus, taip tad atitiko mano svajonės realybę. O dabar, nuo mokyklos praėjus 12 metų atsidūriau čia darbo reikalais ir per tuos ateinančius ketinu sudalyvauti Berlyno gyvenime pagal savo sugedimo laipsnį. Ir gal net aprašyti visa tai. Žiūrėsim.

Aukštyn Žemyn (knygų kalnelis prie lovos ir ant palangės)

Per keletą dienų perskaičiau visą krūvą knygų... matyt labai buvau pasiilgus ir "kaip šuo suėdžiau muilą".. per Naujuosius ir po jų: Paulo Coelho "Veronika ryžtasi mirti" ir "Brida", tada Hessės "Sidharta", Murakami "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running", šį rytą griebiau Jerome K. Jerome "Three Men In A Boat", bet galiausiai kažkaip smalsumo vedina paėmiau Huxley "Puikus Naujas Pasaulis", kurį bandžiau skaityti dar kažkada 2006, kai pasiskolinau, bet tada "nepriskaičiau" iki vietos, kuri užkabino mane šiandien. Ir dabar liko 80 puslapių ir 02:36 nakties. Jaučiuosi kaip vaikas, bet nieko negaliu sau padaryti - jau seniai esu situacijos pelėda ir miegoti tokiu metu tiesiog nebemoku. Matyt per mažai pavargsu fiziškai, kad užmigčiau negalvodama. Įdomu, kiek dar tęsis knygų manija? Kol perskaitysiu visas bent kiek patrauklias namuose esančias knygas? Tam tikra prasme man atrodo, kad tokiu būdu kamšau kažkokius palaidus galus, nes visas išvardintas knygas jau vieną kartą skaičiau arba buvau numetus iš pirmo karto.. Toks tad mano savotiškas Naujametinis Švaros metas.. Labanakt.

Knygos yra nuostabu, ypač tada, kai prie jų prisiliečia Guy Laramee. Į jas dar labiau noris kopti ir pasinerti.

News Boy Hats on Etsy

I proudly present my Esty project (www.etsy.com/shop/giedruma). I've been experimenting on classics here and with a little help of my friends the beautiful 8-panel newsboy hats are available for everyone who's in the mood to put a lid on for the breezy season:

Here they are: photographed by the sophisticated Dalia Ciupailaite (daliaciupailaite.lt), modeled by the one and only Mindaugas J. Bikauskas (www.deeb.lt):

reflections in the glass of...

it's good to be back in Vilnius. It's good to have friends everywhere and go out every night to the same cozy places you once got bored of and now so happy to be back there. It is so pleasant to look out of the window and see the same view that didn't change much for 20 years. I will love my home until it's time to go again.

this is not a sad note.

foto by: Andrey Motorichev

Portraits

One of these days in New York City I met a beautiful and sharp-witted photographer Elizabeth Waugh and our meeting turned into this...
(Braids by the amazing Alicia Vance)

The Best of Burning Man 2012 in my eyes

1. Riding a bike in the sand storm and finding a shelter in the Temple.
2. Meeting people and sharing random life stories.
3. Watching time fly while hangin' out on the art cars.
4. Potato pancake parties.
5. My old and new Lithuanian friends.
6. Amazing beautiful costumes.
7. Smiles.
8. Forgetting about the face paint on my face.
9. Lamps, cups, glasses and gifts dangling around on my belt.
10. The Feeling after the fest.

 foto by Salvia

Iš laiško sesei GP

"Tiek daug visko dedasi aplink, kad net nezinau nuo ko pradet rasyti... gal kad is tiesu pries dvi savaites isvykau i Washington DC naktiniu autobusu (buvo turbut rugpjucio 25-os naktis), nukeliavau i tarptautini lindyhopo čempionatą (ILHC), o iš ten - į mažą Nevados dykumos miestelį Reno, kur sutikau žmonių ir nuvažiavau į Burning Man festivalį (tą Black Rock dykumą...) ir ten buvau apie 8 dienas, iš kur po to jau su kitais nusitrenkiau į San Franciską pas dar kitus, su kuriais praleidau Liepą švedijoj... atsipeikėjus san franciske jau galvojau kaip čia bus, nes ten nakvojau tik vieną naktį, kol rugsėjo 6 paryčiais parskridau į Niuojorką, kad jau tą patį savaitgalį trenkčiausi uždarbiauti į renesanso mugę, kurioj išmokau groti didgeridoo, šiek tiek fleita ir ocarina, šiek tiek dzembe... tiksliai nežinau, ką veikiau vakar, bet pusę nakties klausiau Anoushka Shankar, kol išryto visai netikėtai Jason'as mane išgrūdo dirbti į New York Fashion week. Ten ir praleisiu ateinančias dvi dienas, kol penktadienį viena žavi forotgrafė iš manęs darys graikišką skulptūrą. O po to vėl renesanso mugė..."

mažytis update'as, kas dedasi mano pasaulyje, kol po truputį vėsta orai...

pasiilgau mielojo Vilniaus.

10 places to go swing dancing in the USA

I was asked to put together a list of ten places I'd go swing dancing in the states, here it is in the order of abc:

1. “Century Ballroom”, 915 E Pine Street, 2nd floor, Seattle WA 98122
2. “Frim Fram Jam”, 412 8th Ave @ 31st St., New York, New York 10001
3. “Jam Cellar”, Josephine B. Parks Center, 2437 15th St, NW, Washington, DC 20009
4. “Joe's Great American Bar & Grill”, 4311 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505
5. “LindyGroove”, 200 S. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
6. "Mimi's in the Marigny", 2601 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA 70117.
7. “Mobtown Ballroom”, 861 Washington Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21230
8. “Radegast Hall & Biergarten”, 113 N 3rd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY 11211
9. "The Spotted Cat", 623 Frenchmen St, New Orleans, LA 70116.
10. “9:20 Special”, 2460 Sutter Street  San Francisco, CA 94115.

I have not been at number 1, 3 and 10, but these places are on my map and I will do my best to go out there as soon as I hit the west coast on my ramblings...  Jam Cellar, you'll have to wait for next ILHC :)

Do you believe in Fairies?

This year at Herrang Dance Camp I was involved in so many different activities that half of all of that has already fallen out of my windy head. One of the most random things was this...


Don't know how I wandered from Astrology to Fairies... It must be like everything in my reality... unexpected matches and twists of the story...

 

 

 

I get to leave every time I get to know...

Good bye LA, hello New York City. That's all I can say for now. And it's not even funny! Now I'm afraid to fall in love with this place, cause I feel like I'm leaving pieces of myself every time I start calling a place home. I will stop doing that now, but I will live in and around Brooklyn until the end of October... You're very welcome to visit :)

It's been around three days since I came back from Herrang, making a huge circle Europe - LA - NYC. Just because life's changing quicker than plane tickets... And here I am, still waking up to Herrang time, still living separately from my head... like unexpectedly grown Alice in urban wonderland... with my hear in the clouds and my feet in the park...

In my first 48 hours I met 1/3 of my NYC friends and had an amazing dance night. And I also love my garden and the park! I've seen hundreds of fireflies for the first time in my life and I've just finished reading "Dandelion Wine" this morning, surrounded by dogs and squirrels. Life's exciting! I wonder what's waiting for me around the corner...

Off to the New York Renaissance Faire in a couple hours. Impossible is nothing!

Another day in New York City

As I wake up in the room full of daylight surrounded by street sounds in Upper West side, Manhattan, I wonder, what am I really doing here. I'm in bed that is standing in the middle of the tiny room on the 5th floor and is actually the production office of the movie that is being made by my friends here in NYC. This same bed is also in the opening scene in the movie. It's going to be a good one...

In the big cities like NY sometimes I really feel like I have a cloak of invisibility and I'm just starting to take an advantage of it. Speaking of which... my latest dream is to work in the costume department for a movie like Lord of the Rings. I think now is the right time to dream big again, no matter how scary that sounds.

I came up with this idea in the dark of the empty movie theater while watching a latest fairy tale movie. It was poor, but man how I enjoyed the idea of behind the scenes! I remembered when Robin Hood series were filmed in the forest by the summer house and how exciting that was for us kids.

I've been also thinking about Herrang and planning for the 70's party. I lucked out with the theme in terms of difficulty and fun level. I went looking for inspiration at the famous Chelsea Flea Market garages yesterday and got a bunch of good stuff for Lindy Hop Shop and myself :) I reimbursed myself with Damasquinado brooch, similar to the one I've lost at Frankie 95 three years ago (http://giedruma.blogspot.com/2009/08/damasko-plienas-is-sendaikciu.html). Here it is and the squirrel!

Giedre & Mindaugas at Herrang Dance Camp 2012 weeks 1-4

The famous, worlds biggest swing dance camp is about to start in 20 days form today and this year we will be celebrating 30th anniversary of this annual festivity!

I love this place so much and I am super happy to take part in it for the 8th time (it took me several minutes to count how many Julys I've spent there...) So this year I will contribute to Herrang by organizing the Friday party of week 1 - "Back to the 70s" and teaching together with my partner Mindaugas "Deeb" Bikauskas on week 2. We will be spending the whole month in Herrang and will be available for all sorts of festivities and activities, including private classes.

If you are interested in one, find us in the camp, on facebook or email us: giedre@lindyhop.lt, mindaugas@deeb.lt, www.deeb.lt.

foto: Mania Zyzak

http://www.bobbybonsey.com/

Learn to fly

I've been learning a lot about myself lately, mostly what I like working on at and how can I use that in life. I've known a lot by meditating over the works that I was lucky to have time for past few days...
Listening to the Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly as I look at my latest remake: 3 J's shirt (Before, collar already cut off and After) turned into my BM and Herrang Friday party outfit:

DIY: how to make a yoga mat bag

While the set is buzzing I think of what's waiting for me at home in LA. And that would be some relaxing sweaty yoga classes.. (But not quite soon, cause there is one more week to go) And I made a new yoga bag for myself right before I left. Here it is!

Things you do in NYC...

...when you have (almost) nowhere to go.
The other night J and me where talking about things we managed to do in NYC in one week. Apparently we did a lot, but for our crazy tempo was an easy flow... so:
1) 5 hours at Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, exploring Greek, Egyptian and Asian art, mostly jewelery and pottery/glass. Visited Schiaparelli vs Prada exhibit. Pretty cool.
2) Went to 3 different chicest night clubs - don't ask why - it just happened.
3) Celebrated J's best friends wedding at the amazingly beautiful venue...
4) Seen the ass kicking "Gatz" (8 hour) play at Public Theater, NYC...
5) Started my first internship on the movie that's being filmed in NYC. Working for wardrobe dept. Freaking exciting!
6) Unfortunately all this time me and J are pretty sick :( so low energy...
7) But with this all happening we have slept in randomest places in Queens and Downtown...
8) I've spent aprox. 4 hours in metro trains every day since Monday (today is Saturday night)..
9) J is producing this movie and has been working at least 12 hour days since Monday...
10) I got a great offer from HDC. And a great one from ESDC. Hell yeah!
11) Last night I felt very sad about not going to Harlem 2012 in Vilnius, so J drove me to actual Harlem and took picture of me in front of the tree of hope..
12) I spend at least 4 hours shopping for this movie every day since Monday. NYC is the best place for shopping. Guess what I got for myself after all? two charms and a travel pillow. Practical?
13) met some amazing people!

I'm sad to leave NYC on Monday and going back home to LA. We gonna be shooting on the beach in New Jersey tomorrow. Yay to new locations! I feel like there will definitely be more movie sets in my life oh so very soon.

 

What is 70s?

I keep asking ppl around - is 70s the decade before 1970 or after? Anyway... my guts tell me that 70s is glam rock, Tom Waits, the classical "Smoke On Water", bell bottom pants, bikini tan lines, headbands, Bee Gees, Abba...