Gimme all your chocolate and no one gets hurt!

Happy Halloween!!!

So I took the opportunity today to wear my bellydance garb into the office. Now, I know this might be taboo for some - I respect the serious artistic dancers out there... but I work for the STUFFIEST company in town, so when I get the opportunity to grasp a little fun in the office I don't hesitate.

Most challenging item on my outfit? I tried my hand at a turban. It is bright blue silk and it turned out pretty awesome, even though it was my first try! A turba-virgin???

It was also tricky to find something to wear under my choli so my skin isn't exposed - so I put on a tan tank top and put a sticky gem where my belly button is... and then put a black fishnet top over it. My bellybutton keeps migrating when I move!

At least I've been a bad influence on the new girl... she's dressed as a NUN! Such a scream - her costume is amazing - I even found her a big wooden ruler to threaten people with! :-)

My pal Nancy is Nefertiti as a mummy, love the headpiece, she's wearing a white flowing gown with "spiderweb" sheer stuff over it.

We've also got some football jerseys running around... and my boss is an old cowboy sherriff... I told him to wear his star badge every day!

We've also got Happy Bunny, and a wizard! I'll post a group picture when everyone shows up for the pot-luck.

I love Halloween!

What are you wearing??????

Here we go, Again.

I have nothing to report except complete madness.

Sorry I was absent last week - I was sick with a head cold, I even missed dance class. I figured it was safter to avoid spinning since I was already having trouble walking. Every time I blew my nose I swear I could see stars and hear little birds twittering around my head.

J and I spent the weekend holding a yard sale - $300 for our trouble, not bad at all! Got rid of some junk that we didn't need - tons of VHS movies and books, old furniture - stuff we didn't want to repack or carry back into the house.

This week promises to be just as crazy as last week. I'm heading to Colorado this weekend to help my mother move into a handicapped-equipped apartment. She's going to have to get her other hip replaced soon and her doctor told her no more stairs under any circumstances - the danger of her falling is too great. So I'll be gone until Wed of next week.

We got free tickets to go see Metallica on Thursday. Woo.

and I just found out I'm heading back to our East Coast offices in early November (AGAIN).

Why is my life so crazy these days? Jeez-Louise.

xo

Rockin'

Getting Better, Getting Worse

Dance class this evening was a lot tougher than last week, and last week I was just purely lost. Of course I realized at the end the only reason I could breathe last week was because Flo was sick. She's really great, and has a wonderful ability to speak to her entire group of students and keep a personal connection.

At least I knew most of the moves going in to tonight's class. I still got super-dizzy trying to keep up the speed for my turns. I've been practicing the combos for a week but I'm considerably slower so I don't kill myself. Note to self: Pick faster music to practice to.

Before you ask, YES, I try to "spot" during my turns - at home I'm gold, in the studio both walls are mirrored. Go ahead, chuckle at the image... I'll wait.

.......

Feel better? Yeah, me too. I laugh those things off. The first few classes I took I got really frustrated when I couldn't keep up, but tonight I only had to stop when I felt too dizzy. That's a huge improvement over last week.

My foot is very angry with me at the moment. I need to build up strength for relevet footing and it is going really slowly. If the top of my right foot has a lovely sharp pain followed by a dramatic throb. We tend to drill to the right more often than the left, so I'm a little out of balance. By the end of the class I had to flat foot and keep up with the twists and turns.

On the bright side I think that my shimmies and hip movements are improving. It is hard for me to multitask the isolated upper movements yet - practice practice practice. I can actually see musculature in my upper abs when I dance now. I practice my belly rolls in the car on the way to work and back - I've gotten some laughs at stop lights but I just blow a kiss and get moving again. ;-)

My arms only started to droop at the end of class, and my stamina is better too~!!

I've been watching Dancing With the Stars every week - I found some inspiration for my musicality and arm fluidity - Brooke Burke has really amazed me with her posture and grace. It may sound silly to some people but that show helped me gain the courage to get out and take a class for myself and I'm really glad that I did. You can check out some of the vids from this season HERE. I've watched this show since season 3 and I absolutely adore it.

OK, that's it for tonight - I'm off to the showers!

xo

Song of the short-waisted

Oh, sweet sorrow - I am doomed to be plauged with a body shape that pains me so!

I'll never be tall and slinky looking when I dance
... unless I'm twee, which will (most likely) never be!

My belleh looks like it ain't movin
... even when I'm groovin!

~~~~~~

wOO hOO~ two in one week

I can usually field all the weirdness in my life with the skill of semi-pro shortstop... but today life took a really weird bounce on me.

The concern level I have for my mother has been elevated since my last visit to Colorado - mom's old hip isn't holding up, and so her bionic hip is starting to fail from the added stress of over compensating. Today her doctor told her that she's no longer allowed to climb up and down the two concrete stairs outside of her apartment - it is simply too dangerous without a hand rail.

She spoke with her land lord and she's eligible for a handicapped apartment that is coming available on the 17th of October - so the mad dash to get my disabled mom packed when she's 427 miles away is on my mind.

Maybe I'll get to steal a squeeze from SarBear when I head back up in a few weeks. Even though she ignores me and avoids me when I'm in Denver.....