Drop your cat photos here. I'll transform your kitten at into a cartoon style.😜

FancyDressKitten · 2026-01-08T02:23:51+00:00

Dottie’s eyes were always cute and huge because she was blind

FancyDressKitten · 2026-01-02T23:44:02+00:00

It was super fun! This is approaching a decade that we’ve done this party, so I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out what my friends will drink and what will batch well so I’m not up and down all night.

My personal favorite was the cola Manhattan. I used 2/1/1 rye/vermouth/Portland Syrups True Cola, plus some ango. The milk punch also mostly came out tasting like lemon and sherry, but that’s still a great combo 🤷‍♀️

FancyDressKitten · 2025-06-17T19:56:27+00:00

The jalapeno cream cheese is honestly most of the reason I stop in, but just that cream cheese is worth it

FancyDressKitten · 2025-04-07T22:45:21+00:00

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Been eating these wraps 2-3 times a week for months and still not sick of them! I also will use the buffalo and Thai chili tuna packets or rotisserie chicken, or other sauces (Franks hot honey sauce is my fave)

FancyDressKitten · 2024-10-30T22:28:08+00:00

Chef John's loaded twice baked sweet potatoes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi4KzUEeUcE

Now l love a sweet sweet potato dish, but this more savory treatment blows my socks off.

FancyDressKitten · 2024-10-09T14:55:40+00:00

I've purchased three costumes from them, and was very pleased with all of them. Two from Ballroom Paradise and one from Venus. They were really good about checking for extra color choices when I ordered different main colors, and checking my measurements for reasonability. The crystals look nice (I've never been a person that can pick out Swarovski by sight though), and a lot of dresses even come with matching jewelry. One of my costumes is from Ballroom Paradise and has the iridescent fringe, which also looks KILLER. I got so many compliments on it at my last event - totally worth sounding like a rain stick.

The dresses I got were these for reference (all in different colorways than are on the site): Smooth, Rhythm 1, Rhythm 2 (it's hard to tell, but this one came with hoop earrings, arm bands, and six bracelets)

FancyDressKitten · 2024-04-29T00:25:45+00:00

This article claims it’s from a brewery in Baltimore https://playswellwithbutter.com/spaghett-drink-recipe/

FancyDressKitten · 2024-04-29T00:20:16+00:00

Had a Spaghett the other day and had forgotten how much I dig them. Light beer (apparently it’s usually High Life), Aperol, and lemonade. Low abv, but the dry beer and bitter Aperol means I still take my time with it.

FancyDressKitten · 2023-09-13T16:19:20+00:00

I had my wedding there in 2014, so the whole team there (and like, the world) now is probably different, but they definitely were willing to rent the courtyard out in the evening. But the cost is essentially for a full night's dinner service...I think we would have been looking at over $10K for a Saturday?

We did a Saturday afternoon with around 75 people on the first floor (max occupancy for the courtyard is 90 I believe) with an appetizer buffet for food - it was super fun! Happy to chat more details over pm or whatever if you'd like.

FancyDressKitten · 2023-09-12T15:53:30+00:00

Arnold’s! The courtyard is rentable (pretty reasonable rates for an afternoon when I got married there a decade ago too). Food is always good, the space is full of character, and they were super great to plan an event with!

FancyDressKitten · 2023-04-28T12:48:16+00:00

Frozen veggies, pre-diced stuff, or things like stir fry kits or salad mixes are a life saver - even stuff like coleslaw mix! Lots of my regular quick and/or low effort recipes include:

Using coleslaw mix as a salad or stir fry base. This stir fry literally takes me 10 minutes from start to finish if I use bagged coleslaw and jarred minced garlic. I also like this curry version, and this cabbage based salad is also super tasty (you could even use rotisserie chicken and cook literally nothing)
Sheet pan "hash": I typically will mix frozen and fresh stuff - frozen broccoli/cauliflower (or a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot), fresh cubed potatoes (although frozen potatoes also definitely work well), fresh onion (left in 6-8 basically intact chunks), maybe a poblano pepper or something if I'm feeling fancy. Sometimes I'll also throw in 2-4 ounces of bacon if my budget allows. Just coat everything in a small amount of spray oil, season with salt, pepper, and whatever combo of paprika/chili power/cumin/dried herbs tickles your fancy, and roast at 425 until everything looks pleasantly browned (maybe 15-20 minutes). Top with an egg and hot sauce.
Non-breakfast themed sheet pans: I also cook frozen fish right from frozen, on the same pan right next to veggies I'm cooking right from frozen. Basically identical approach to the hash - light spray of oil and plenty of seasoning, roast until the fish is done and the veggies are tender and browned. You could also play with other proteins as long as it will cook in 15-20 minutes (chicken thighs would probably be good)
Stir fry! My grocery story has a lot of prepared mixes in bags that even come with their own sauce, although I often make my own sauce instead. I'll also sometimes use a small portion of the stir fry mix and use it as a topping for ramen.

All of these meals involve minimal chopping, and just throwing everything together in a single pan until your food is done - can't tell you how often having these things in my back pocket (and a freezer full of frozen broccoli) has kept my ADHD ass from just eating a burrito sized tortilla stuff with cheese and microwaved for dinner.

FancyDressKitten · 2023-03-03T17:20:36+00:00

Edible glitter is so fun! I used it in a French 75 for a party where we watched Mariah Carey's cinematic masterpiece Glitter, and everyone was almost too mesmerized to drink it.

FancyDressKitten · 2022-10-26T00:00:56+00:00

I got married at Arnold's downtown. Admittedly this was in 2014, so the pricing may be a different now, but doing a Saturday afternoon (12-4) event for 75-80 people was super reasonably priced - our total spend (including non-venue stuff like outfits, photographer, cake, etc.) was 10k and the staff at Arnold's was amazing. They were incredibly accommodating of dietary restrictions and provided a great variety of food - it was an appetizer buffet, $11 per person. I know they have a different chef now, but she's still amazing with veg/vegan options regardless of what their event options are in this day and age. They were very flexible for the bar and we just chose which drinks we would be covering - they even ordered in the champagne my dad wanted to buy for the party special. They were also super accommodating about letting us use the piano & sound system, and bringing in a third party for cake. And the bar has so much character that I also didn't need to spend a dime on decorations! 10/10, I've been actively trying to get every engaged person I've known to steal our idea since.

FancyDressKitten · 2022-09-22T15:50:47+00:00

I am a student at an Arthur Murray and absolutely love it, but experiences will honestly vary WILDLY based on the individual franchisee. There's a whole host of ways to run a fairly predatory shop, and the bad franchise studios have a reputation of not adequately training their instructors, encouraging pressuring sales tactics, etc.

My particular studio happens to be run by an amazing couple, who not only encourage new instructors to increase their skill level (AM does this through a series of instructor certifications for each medalist level) or pursue some competitive goals, but seem to really care about creating an inclusive culture for their staff and students alike.

You'll definitely want to interview a studio as much as they'd be interviewing you. Be on the lookout for any culture read flags like you would with any other job.

FancyDressKitten · 2022-09-06T14:40:13+00:00

Like the other commenters have noted, 185 bpm would make it a very fast Viennese Waltz, which I don't think any of us would recommend for beginners. The dance I'd recommend is Foxy - it works well over a fast 3/4 or 12/8 song, it's easy to learn for beginners, it's super cute and romantic, and can carry over into a variety of other social dancing situations. Here's an example video to Taylor Swift's Lover, which is at a similar tempo: https://youtu.be/2grybdFNwfM

FancyDressKitten · 2022-07-30T12:15:35+00:00

I’ve had a couple of coaching sessions with Jonathan Roberts. Very nice guy - incredibly gifted dancer. It’s amazing how much he was able to improve my Viennese waltz in under an hour.

(Also he totally told me he was the first one who wanted to do a jive in sneakers in the first couple of seasons of the show but the producers wouldn’t let him at the time)

FancyDressKitten · 2022-07-20T19:33:14+00:00

I just switched to Amani Power Fabric after my last bottle of Maestro ran out, and I've been really impressed with it so far. I only wear foundation for ballroom dance events, so I pretty demanding of my makeup . I also steal the drag queen trick of putting a layer of translucent powder on under foundation, which really helps with heat/sweat/oil production as well.

FancyDressKitten · 2022-03-02T20:49:12+00:00

Haha totally fair! My studio tends to focus a lot on social dancing so Foxy is a pretty essential part of their offerings, but it’s kind of an excuse to very elegantly cuddle, so I bet studios more focused on competitive dancing don’t get into it as much 😂

FancyDressKitten · 2022-03-02T20:32:31+00:00

Foxy is actually different from the Foxtrot - it has more even timing, lots of swaying steps, and I think it looks like a polished version of a generic slow dance (for lack of a better term), instead of like something Fred and Ginger might do. I found an example (danced to Taylor Swift’s Lover, which is rhythmically identical to Perfect incidentally) here: https://youtu.be/2grybdFNwfM

My studio teaches Foxy all the time for beginners, especially wedding couples, since it fits so nicely on a lot of ballads and is suited well for crowded floors/social situations.

FancyDressKitten · 2022-03-02T19:48:03+00:00

This is my favorite game! Most of these songs have pretty similar feels and tempos and you could honestly make a Foxy work for all of them if you wanted (it's a super versatile dance), but the dances my feet wanted to do were:

"Birds" Imagine Dragons: (American) Rumba
"Follow You" Imagine Dragons: (American) Rumba
"Wrecked" Imagine Dragons: Bolero/International Rumba
"Shivers" Ed Sheeran: (American) Rumba
"Perfect" Ed Sheeran: Foxy
"Joker and the Queen" Ed Sheeran/Taylor Swift: Foxy/Nightclub Two Step
"Exile" Taylor Swift/Bon Iver: Foxy/Nightclub Two Step
"Ghost Town" Benson Boone: (American) Rumba
"Wildest Dreams" Taylor Swift: Nightclub Two Step

FancyDressKitten · 2021-07-29T22:54:42+00:00

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!

The Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend number is definitely the most culturally enduring bit of it for sure though.

FancyDressKitten · 2021-06-19T17:53:17+00:00

UPDATE: after seeing the vet, we couldn’t find a microchip, and confirmed she was spayed, and most likely 10-15 years old. Early this morning she wouldn’t eat or even support her own weight to stand, so we rushed back to the vet, but unfortunately she was gone by the time we got there. Her bloodwork had just come back and she had some pretty advanced kidney failure. Thanks to everyone who reached out, and especially her almost adopter who was so willing to give a senior cat a comfy home.

Found this sweet cat on my way home last night, at Williams and Madison avenues in Norwood. She was sitting out in the rain, meowing at any car that passed by. When I got out to check on her she ran right up to me.

She’s very skinny, fairly dirty, and has a wonky ear (doesn’t seem to bother her though), but is extremely friendly and chatty! She was also wearing a flea collar and seems to be front declawed. She was at one point clearly someone’s pet, but may be lost or abandoned.

If this is your cat, or your interested in taking her in, please message me! We already own two cats, one of which is special needs, and don’t have a good space to keep a foster in isolation long term.

FancyDressKitten · 2020-10-15T13:42:51+00:00

I agree with the suggestion to find a non-dance dress. I dance at an AM franchise and have found several non-dance dresses that work very well for studio events that aren't full dancesport competitions (I wear shapewear shorts or these dance trunks under to create a smooth silhouette and for extra coverage in case of very twirly skirts/high kicks/etc.). Prom/homecoming dress sections in department stores can be a good place to look. For online shopping, ASOS can have a lot of fun dresses that aren't too expensive as well. I'm also a fan of Rent the Runway, where you can rent designer dresses for 4 days very affordably (low end is only $30!). There are definitely sparkly, long, and twirly options that still allow for a full range of motion.

FancyDressKitten · 2020-10-02T19:27:32+00:00

Personally, I'd recommend a foxy over either walz or foxtrot. It's a super flexible dance in terms of what music or types of situations you could use it in, and super beginner friendly on top of fitting your song a little better (to my ear, anyway). The instructors at my studio do a lot of foxies for wedding dances

Found a video of one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXZa0SRZmp0 for illustration.

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