Teasing

Dear Constant Reader,

Here’s your daily reminder to nominate The Boston Babydolls for Best Burlesque. You can vote once per day per email/IP address. Thank you!

And lest I only exhort you to nominate us, here’s a little tease of some upcoming writings.

* I have one last book to review before I’m out again.
* The Bod of Avon opens on Friday. Opening weekend is completely sold out!
* I made some lingerie this weekend. There will be pictures.
* B.A.B.E. had to add a second February class to keep up with demand. It starts next week, so don’t wait to register.
* I’m working on some new costume pieces.

Stay tuned!

M2

Published in: on 28 January 2013 at 12:33 pm  Leave a Comment  

Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

Here’s your daily reminder to nominate The Boston Babydolls for Best Burlesque. You can vote once per day per email/IP address. Thank you!

If your budget only allows for limited rhinestones for your costume, put them close to your face.

M2

Published in: on 25 January 2013 at 11:26 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday! Time for a tip!

Nude fishnets or sheer-to-the-waist pantyhose worn under your undies instantly improves your legs.

They’ll smooth and shape and even out the color. And from stage, they’re basically invisible.

You’ll want to snip the waistband to avoid muffin top, and pin the hose to your under-g to make sure everything stays in place.

The Boston Babydolls really like Capezio fishnets. They’re very sturdy and can be mended. Brigitte sewed hooks onto her under-thong and just hooks into the net.

M2

Published in: on 18 January 2013 at 11:48 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

If you stick on your pasties with liquid adhesive, don’t store them edge to edge like a clamshell.

I’ve seen more than one frantic stripper trying to pry her pasties apart backstage!

M2

Published in: on 11 January 2013 at 11:20 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

Today’s tip is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately.

Embrace failure.

You may be asking, “Why would I want to fail? Failure is bad.” Ah, but if you never fail, it means you haven’t set your sights high enough, Grasshopper. No one does everything perfectly right off1 and failure is normal. But failure isn’t the end. If you see it that way, you’ll never progress in your skills. Failure should be inspiration to keep improving. Challenge yourself. Allow yourself to fail and then work through it. Success will be that much sweeter.

Personal story: I once saw a performer do something amazing and I decided I wanted to learn how to do it. I was even able to take lessons from the master of the craft. Our upcoming show, The Bod of Avon was the perfect opportunity to debut this act. I knew it was going to be hard, but I envisioned something spectacular and that would be worth all the work.

Except I can’t do it the amazing thing consistently yet. It’s not ready for performance. It’s a failure.

I made the decision to remove that bit from the act. And it’s actually a huge relief. But that doesn’t mean I’ve just thrown it aside. I’m going to continue to work at it. You won’t be seeing it during the previews this month, but maybe at the show in February. Or maybe later in February. Or maybe in another show all together. I’m not giving up.

M2
1 Well, except maybe one former Babydoll, but she was a freak of nature — yes, I mean you, Dom.

Published in: on 4 January 2013 at 9:43 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

For the last Friday Tip of 2012, I thought it should be something topical.

For every glass of booze, have a glass of water.

By staying hydrated, you’ll help stave off a hangover. Also, you’ll probably consume fewer alcoholic drinks over the course of the evening — good for your waistline and your wallet!

Now I want to share a somewhat contradictory story. Once upon a time I was a student on a tall ship. After several days at sea, we anchored (and that’s a story in its own right) at a small town in Nova Scotia. It being our first night in a port, a number of the crew and trainees went to a pub. (Your humble correspondent was on the 8-12 watch and had to stay on board.) My friend DK was conscientiously drinking one glass of water for every glass of beer. The next day, he was terribly ill. Since he & I were the only students not to suffer from seasickness, there was a theory that he was “landsick” (it happens).

Turns out that the water was heavily chlorinated and if he’d just stuck to beer, he probably would have been a lot less sick. About the incident, he realized he should have taken W.C. Fields advice on water (which I will not share, as I am a lady and my mother reads this blog — you can look it up).

However, this is no excuse to ignore my excellent advice! If you’re some place where the water quality is dubious, order bottled water.

Wishing you a happy & safe New Year’s Eve and no hangover to start your 2013.

M2

Published in: on 28 December 2012 at 9:43 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

Have business cards. And always carry them.

I like cards printed on uncoated stock, so one can scrawl a note on the back. A lovely thing about cards is that they require you to have a business card case, and there are many wonderful designs out there. Personally, I keep mine in a German cigarette case.

This year Scratch gave all the Babydolls a year-end bonus of personalized business cards:

M2

Published in: on 21 December 2012 at 9:38 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

Another Friday, another tip!

Learn the rules first, then break them.

M2

Published in: on 14 December 2012 at 10:45 am  Leave a Comment  
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Officially Official

Dear Constant Reader,

As you may know, I run a humble Academy where we teach the gentle art of burlesque. It’s terribly, terribly fun — for the instructors as well as the students. Sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s a business, but a business it is. So amongst all the feathers and glitter, there are tax forms, contracts, and other bureaucratic items.

The other day, I got a long-awaited message from B.A.B.E.’s attorney who had navigated through the USPTO’s red tape on my behalf to make this happen:

uspto

Welcome to Boston Academy of Burlesque Education®!

M2

Published in: on 10 December 2012 at 10:53 am  Leave a Comment  
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Friday Tip!

Dear Constant Reader,

Yesterday I wrote all about cocktails made with sparkling wine. I highly recommend you always keep a bottle in your fridge, chilled and ready to go, because you never know…

However, if you are caught ill-prepared and need to fetch a bottle from the cellar, you can chill it in a very short time with this simple Friday Tip:

Put the bottle in an ice-water bath with a generous handful of salt. It will chill in about 10 minutes.

You can do this right in the bucket. You do have a champagne bucket, don’t you?

Just before serving, gently turn the bottle upside down to chill the wine in the neck.

You wouldn’t want the first glass to be tepid, after all the trouble you’d gone to for a chilled bottle.

M2

Published in: on 7 December 2012 at 10:00 am  Comments (1)  
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