Hanging up her shoes

New York City Ballet prima ballerina Darci Kistler will be retiring next season at the age of 44. She is the last remaining "Balanchine ballerina" and has been dancing with NYCB since she was 16.

Holding steady

A little over two weeks in office and the Prez's approval rating is at 61.8% (according to RCP polling).

Once a showgirl...

Once upon a time I was a showgirl believe it or not. This picture was taken of our entrance at Cherry Ball in DC . We entered down the marble staircase from behind and made our way through the crowd to the stage. It was pretty cool, but not without a few glitches (of course, I was involved, right?).

First of all, I've always had an issue with finding my cue when the dj is mixing into the intro (just tell me when to go!), but with the headdresses on, it also made it extremely hard to hear. So, we're waiting and talking and -- "isn't that our music?" -- shit! Go! Go! Go! Four not-so-glamorous showgirls flat out running to make our entrance (and perhaps pushing and cussing along the way). We made it -- literally with one beat to spare. Turn and smile. Don't fall down the stairs.

The other girls had performed the number before and I was added just before the trip. Hindsight tells me that practicing in full costume probably should've been on my agenda. While I had practiced with the fans (really, me and props=impending disaster), I hadn't in the headdress or with the gloves on. The headdress was heavy and deafening and the gloves were not condusive to holding on to much of anything, especially a slippery plastic fan. Thank goodness they were wired open, so all I had to do was hold on which I did by shoving my thumb through a slat and utilizing the cramping in my hands to work as a death clamp. Pretty.

I also soon realized that two feet of feathers on top of your head, not only make you look like a freakish bird, but also make it nie impossible to circle your hand over your head without either knocking off said headdress or knocking your ass over. Smile. Breathe. Try not to look like you're terrified and have never danced before.

My saving grace was a girl sitting on the edge of the stage in front of me. She was smiling and clapping and genuinely enjoying my performance. That always makes it worth while. Later, at the after party, I found out she was just hitting on me.

That was one of my favorite performances, harried moments and all. The next time I performed it (in Toronto at the Fashion Cares After Party) my headdress fell off as soon as I came down the stairs, so I ended up doing the entire number with my crazy pinned up hairdo and a HUGE smile. But, considering we didn't go on until after 4 am, I'm sure no one noticed.

A little R & R

Recovery and Reinvestment, of course.

The White House released a 102-page report that breaks down the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan state by state. You can download the full report here.

Some highlights for Illinois:
*creating 157,700 jobs over the next 2 years (not sure how they came up with that number?).
*providing a "making work" tax cut of up to $1000 for 4,890,000 worker (ooh, I hope one of them is me!).
*and, providing funding to modernize at least 412 schools in IL

SCHIP Passes

Finally. Some good news...

Today Obama signed a bill that gives $32.8 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) which, ABC News reports will help approximately 4 million uninsured children. The House sent the bill directly to the White House after a 290 - 135 vote. The funds are being raised by raising the federal tobacco tax.

New book

My campaign crush David Plouffe is getting a book deal. Viking reportedly offered him 7 figures to write "The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory" (due out next fall).

I know I'm getting a copy.

Crabby Cathy!

Wow! I have been in a mood this week - and it's only Tuesday.