My First Bellydance Recital!!!

I'm late for posting this, but after 2 months of practice in class and even a private lesson, I had my first Bellydance recital this past May! Yaay!

Now, let me tell you, I was terrified. Borderline panicking. Why you ask? I just realized I'm a perfectionist and if something doesn't go as planned, I lose all my shit! So, while I was preparing for this performance, I wanted everything to be perfect. No flaws, no stumbles, no...ANYTHING! Which meant I woke up the next morning with my mental check-list on full-blast!!!! UUUUGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! I did my best to try and relax by listening to my favorite music, taking Tess for a walk or even some yoga. Yeaaa, did not work. The closer and closer it got to the performance, I just kept taking deep breaths and talking to myself. Giving myself a little pep talk. One of my good friends, who is a makeup addict, did my makeup. I'm soo glad she was there that day! She was my makeup artist and my own personal chauffeur, so that took a lot of stress off my shoulders that day. Anyway, I made sure when I'm leaving out the door that afternoon, that I was going to have everything ready. I made sure everything was downstairs by the door, so when I was heading out, I had everything with me. Well, of course I forgot something. A couple of things. I panicked. *sigh* I forgot my friends tickets to get into the recital and my cover-up to go over my outfit, allll at the house! UUUGGGGGH!!! Luckily, my friend was very calm, cool and collected. She reminded me that my mom was at the house and to call her. *sigh* crisis avoided. Fifteen minutes later, we arrive at the auditorium and I must say, it was pretty neat to see all the other dancers walking in with their outfits and all their boxes full of goodies. Majority of the ladies there have already danced in many recitals in the past and they gave me soo much encouragement. It was nice to hear that they too have made mistakes in the past, but it didn't stop them from continuing the dance. They told me that the only person that knows your dance, is you. If you mess up, just smile through it and keep dancing. This helped me out a lot....until we were about to go on. *dry heaves* I was in the beginners group and we were the first to perform. *dry heaves* As soon as the lights dimmed, we were on!! Annddd..... IT WAS SOO AWESOME!!

Now, I did mess up a couple of times, but you know what? I had so fun, I just kept on going with it! It felt amazing at the end when everyone was applauding, doing zaghareets and all kinds of other bellydance noises. Even though, I know that I most likely will go through the same process of freaking out, I know that in the end I'll just dance through it and have a great time in the end! :D

My New Obsession: Pumpkin Ale!

It's Fall Time!!! My favorite time of the year! For one thing: MY BIRTHDAY!!! I turned 28 on October the 28th! *insert twilight music here* Whatever it symbolizes, I'm channeling that energy to get my ball rolling....again. Anyway, Besides the glorious day of my birth, Fall also brings semi-warm weather, Halloween and the Renaissance Festival!!! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! Let me tell you, my little nerdy heart, no matter how many times I go, always gets excited about Ren Fest. It's nothing but great times, every time I go. I love the volunteer actors that perform throughout the park, making it almost seem like you're in the medieval era. Not really. But it's still fun. Also, the audience participation shows are just freaking awesome. There are some acts I have to literally see every single year or my visit wasn't deemed a success. Besides, the handmade products you see while browsing the shops, while chomping on a delicious turkey leg, I have a new obsession: Pumpkin Ale.

Let me tell you; I'm not a big fan of pumpkin anything. I don't hate the stuff, but it's not high on my list of favorite "spices". So, when one of my friends told me all about this "pumpkin ale" last year, I wasn't down with that cause. I'm not a big beer drinker, so the thought of a pumpkin plus beer, equaled gross to me. But while browsing through World Market one day, I was like, "Why not?" I grabbed a case of Dogfish Head pumpkin ale and took it home. My first reaction: Gross. Being a non-beer drinker, all it did was remind me of other beers and I wasn't impressed. But I couldn't throw it away. I bought it with my hard-earned money, so I wasn't going to at least finish that one beer and give the case to my pumpkin ale-obsessed friend. Finished the bottle. I said I was done with pumpkin ale. Four days later I drunk the entire case and was determined to buy more. I was determine to taste more! I don't know what happened! It's like I couldn't stop drinking the stuff! And I feel like everywhere I go, I gotta get some! Which brings this right back around to the Ren Fest. They had pumpkin ale! Cottonwood Pumpkin Ale made my freakin' day. While, watching men in tights joust to the death, I was sipping on cup of delicious ale. All was right within the world.

Look at those Branches!

I mean this picture speaks for itself. Look at how those branches just curve and criss cross around each other. I love it!

Belly Dancing part Trois: Safe Haven

This October, will be one year anniversary of taking my belly dancing class! Huzzah!! No, I haven't been in any dance recitals yet (I'm a huge chicken), but the more I take the classes and practice the moves at home, my confidence in actually wanting to perform increases. Anyway, my class is at the same time every week and for a whole year, my manager always set my scheduled to have that night off. Great. However, the week before last, my other manager decided to take over the schedule making and yes, he scheduled me to work the night of my class. I told him that I don't work Tuesday nights and he of course he came up with an excuse on why I needed to work that night and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Whatever. Tuesday comes around aaaannnnnd, there was really no need for me to be there. At. All. All the areas in the store were covered and yet he made me come in. I was pissed. Now, it sounds irrational, but I've come to really look forward to my classes. It's the one day out of the week that has absolutely nothing to do with work or home. I get to dance and laugh it up with a bunch of ladies, who also, sees this as little break within their work weeks. Yes. There are times where she has canceled class due to life, but that is something that can't be helped. F***king with my schedule is a whole different story. I've been at my job for 10 years! I always came in when they needed me, stayed late and rarely took any sick days. But the one time I ask to not close for night out of the 6 day work week, you deny me that request?? *sigh* Lucky for me, my instructor had a free class on Sunday and I was able to go to that! YES! And then it dawned on me. Besides, the comradery we ladies have when we are clumsily learning a new dance move, I come to this class as a safe place. I don't have to worry about rude customers or rude managers. No one with bad attitudes or negative vibes. Also, with it just being women in the class, we let it alll hangout! Our boobs jiggle while doing shoulder shimmys, having our stomachs hang out for body rolls and undulations! It is the life!! LOL! Seriously though, my teacher always makes a point to tell new students that even though we are all made and shaped differently, the beauty of belly dance allows you to appreciate and love the skin your in. To embrace YOU!! After every class, that feeling of peace just surrounds me and I love it!

Trees and My Fascination with them!

I don't know why, but I absolutely love trees. I think my love for nature's oxygen tanks started at a very young age. No matter where I am or what I'm wearing, when I saw a tree that looks climbable, I latched onto the shortest branch and pull myself up.

Now that I'm older, I'm more likely to take a picture of a tree than to climb it.

Big trees, with a ton of branches, with vines crawling up the side are my favorites! For some reason when I see them, I believe that every tree has a story to tell and the branches are the different chapters in that story. If only I can speak tree.

Isolation, constipation and concentration!!

hehehe...I'm just messing. My belly dance teacher told us the 3 main terms for belly dance...and I can only remember one: Isolation!! One of the major aspects of belly dance is definitely Isolation. To be able to control and move the different parts of your body, at the same time, is the most amazing thing I ever seen. And the most hardest. You see, I have a really hard time doing one or more things at one time. I swear in the middle of class, my mind wanders and when I'm suppose to be learning a dance move, I'm thinking about dinner or cake. (mmmm, cake) *clears head* Anyhoo, one of the best ways to really see the beauty of body isolation, is during a drum solo. While someone is going to town on a drum, the belly dancer is showing how she (or he) can keep up with the beating of the drum. While watching a lot of drum solos on Youtube and my jaw drops with the way the ladies are able to keep a rhythm and show off their body skills, while dancing to the beat of the drum. My favorite dancer so far when it comes to drum solo, is Sadie Marquadt. She is absolutely amazing!! Look at the way she is able to control her body movements!! I am utterly green with jealousy!! I have also became more determined to get her LEVEL!!! Just imagine my body be able to move my hips, chest and stomach like that!! *le sigh* So, I'm happy to say that my teacher has told me, that we will be learning a drum solo this month! *screams excitedly* Wish me Luck!

Belly Dancing Part II: So Uncoordinated

It has been a couple of months since I started taking my belly dancing classes and I must say that I am in love!!! I must admit, that it did take me awhile to get used to doing chest lifts and drops, snake arms, shimmies, undulations, traveling twists and everything else in between. Now, my teacher taught us this awesome choreography that we will probably perform in a recital later on the future. I'm not looking forward to that. Anyway, it is a pretty simple dance with all moves we have learned so far. Welllll, I always knew how uncoordinated I am, but I never realized how bad I am until I'm dancing with others. Why they're going right, butt is going left. While we're doing traveling twists, which I LOVE, I tend to lose my balance, lose my place in the song and then eventually lose my mind. And she wants ME to perform on stage with people actually watching me dance?!?!?!? *runs away while screaming* *takes deep breath* But a couple of positive things I can say about the mistakes I make in class is that I don't give up. I am also able to laugh at myself when I do make the mistakes. I stumble, I fumble, I laugh and then try again. Like they say, whoever they are, practice makes perfect. :D