Back to Ballroom

This past weekend, a really great opportunity just happened to fall in my lap.

Last week, my dance instructor asked me if I was available to do a holiday show with him this weekend, both waltz dances, and paid!!!!  I could hardly contain my excitement.

It had been awhile since I'd danced in front of an audience, being almost a year since I've competed, but I figured, dancing makes me happy, and hey, any chance to dress up!

Friday night my instructor and I met up, came up with two very short routines, and met at Mountain Brook High School for a little show..

               

 Yes!  We performed with the Voices of the South!  The men of this A Capella singing organization were incredible!  They were all so sweet and gracious for us to be there!  It was incredible!  It truly was an experience.

Me and Mike getting ready for our first dance.

It honestly was a really great experience, and since it wasn't a true competition of any sort, I was really happy that I got to wear my new short hair down.  And getting to wear that white dress is always a plus.  I love that white dress!  

It made me miss ballroom dancing just that much more.  Probably just because of how happy it makes me.  Even if I wouldn't have gotten paid to dance in this show, it would have been well worth it.  Plus getting to wear stage makeup (lots and lots of super red lipstick and glittery eye shadow) is always a great time.

Maybe I'll get back into dancing, as it truly was a fantastic time.

And also, if you get a chance to see the Voices of the South, I definitely wouldn't pass on that.

Good-Bye to Ballroom Dance

I've decided that the time has come for me to give up ballroom dance.  I took it up as a hobby while the hubs was traveling, but now I just don't seem to have the time or the money for it.

 

It is a very expensive hobby, especially if you like to compete; which of course if you're the most competitive person on the planet (oooo, me!), it can become very expensive.

 

I couldn't have asked for a better instructor, or a better place to learn.  If you are in the Birmingham area, please look up Magic City Dance and get some lessons from Mr. Fowler.  The little group of friends I made there were fantastic (although older than me), and some of the friendships I made from other studios will last awhile. 

 

But sometimes you just have to hang up those dancing shoes.  I know that sometime in my future I will pick it back up, because studies have shown that older people that dance have a less chance of getting Alzheimers.  And we all know that is a good thing.

 

 

 

Picture from my very first competition ever.  I look just a tiny bit goofy and a whole lot nervous.

 

These are a few from the Chattanooga Choo-Choo competition.  On the left is a rumba, and on the right is a foxtrot.

 

 

 

And this is my most favorite dance picture of all.  I absolutely love this picture of me and Mike; mainly because my foot position in this picture is perfection. 

 

I am sad about it.  I've been going back and forth for a long time on it, and have decided that with this new semi-promotion that I'm about to get myself into, it was just time. 

 

So good-bye for now ballroom dance; I'm sure we'll meet again in the future.



The Most Important Lesson Learned

i had a ballroom dance competition this weekend.  i have it written as my last competition ever.  now, who know what will happen once we make it to austin, but for now, i am pretty much done with it.

and i love to dance.  i will always love to dance.  magic city dance studio gave me a new hobby for life.  and some new friends for life.

so i vowed to myself to make this weekend competition about having fun.  and that is all.  even though i knew the girl that had beat me at a previous competition was going to be there.  i was going to just dance.  just dance.

and wouldn't you know it?  i placed first in every single dance.  every single contested dance.  something i have never done.  and i had to attribute it to my no worries attitude.  

yes, i am a huge worrier.  always have been.  if i don't have anything to worry about, i will make it up.  and that's just me.  

fake eyelashes.  boo yah.  i feel like i look like my sister in this picture.  except icky and older.

making silly faces at the competition. 

so i learned the most important lesson of my life this weekend; just let the world come as it may.  no worrying, and everything will turn out ok.

happy monday!

Back From the Dead

Wow! It has been a looong time since I've written in this. Things have been sort of busy lately, and the one thing that I had time to give up was the blog. Much to the dismay of the very few.

But I haven't done too much lately.

I started a new position at my job.

I have recommitted myself to training for a marathon.

I work part-time for the dance studio, mainly doing office admin work, and working on the website, etc....

I'm planning a bachelorette party in New Orleans, as well as being a bridesmaid for my lovely friend Lindsey.

Back in February, I did a dance showcase at Rocket City Dance Studio in Huntsville. It wasn't my best performance ever (I severely mis-stepped), but it was still a blast. Here are a couple pics from the event....





also, if you get a sec, check out the website to the studio.

you know, since I get to work on it now...

www.magiccityballroom.com

Just Along for the Ride

All in all, this weekend has been pretty relaxing. I still haven't returned that two week overdue book (d'oh!), but I'm assuming that will happen soon.

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe not.

I like when there is a weekend of nothingness. Especially when the weather is beautiful, and we can go to the trail and walk the dog.

Or ride our bikes.

And of course, people watch.

Saturday was, of course Auburn football day (that's all I promise! well, except we won...woop!), then followed by sleeping on the floor with the dog? I don't know why we even put the pillows down there. My back was killing me today. But I pretty much look forward to Saturdays during football season, because I get Chick-fil-a for breakfast, which as quick become a tradition since we did it for every game last year, and *clearing throat* we won the national championship.

Sunday started out with a 10 mile bike ride in 21st gear (ouch!), followed by frozen margaritas, sunbathing and Cam Newton. That's right! Can't get my fix on Saturdays anymore, so I'll take him on Sundays. Except next Sunday when they play the Packers! (Ok, done, I swear with the football!)

I needed this relaxing weekend after this past week. I didn't have a very good recruiting week, and it seemed like so many things went wrong. I have decided (for good) to give up my dancing. It seems that I continuously disappoint my instructor, and I hate disappointing anyone. And as soon as cosmetology school starts next month, I don't think there will be much time for it anyway. It really stung a lot to see how little I meant to my instructor...

Thank goodness for frozen drinks and sunshine! They definitely got me through this week..

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Dancing Blues

This weekend has been a rough one. For so many different reasons. I really just don't feel like myself.

I had a dance competition yesterday that, unfortunately, I did pretty poorly in. Ballroom dancing is something that I love. I love going to practice during the week, but for some reason, I feel like I am disappointing my instructor. I don't know if competing is going to be for me anymore. I clearly don't have the ability (like the person my instructor pointed out to me) to be good at this.

I feel like I put in so much practice time and heart into dancing, and it just isn't paying off. I have no real dance partner to practice with, so most of the time it's me just turning on MusicChoice to the Latin station and practicing my cha-cha and rumba by myself. Which is admittedly pretty damn difficult.

The bad thing about everything is how much I love it; and how much I think my instructor just doesn't like me. It kind of tears at my heart strings to think of how much time and effort (not to mention, moo-lah) into learning how to dance, and I am terrible at it. I'm trying to decide now whether to continue with it, or just give up. And I hate it, because I really do love it, and don't want to quit just because I'm "not good." But I also don't want to put 100% of my heart into something and have it blown off by other people.

Source: google.com via Laura on Pinterest

Absolutely gorgeous.

I hate looking at this and seeing that I may end up giving it up. It really breaks my heart.

Oh well. Maybe I'll throw all of my energy into training for that half-marathon now.

Oh, the slacking!

So it's been a week since I've last posted. Not that I've disappointed anyone with the lack of entries, but I just haven't been that interesting lately. Well, I lie. There's always interesting things going on.

This past weekend, I had another ballroom dance competition in Chattanooga at the Choo-Choo Challenge. This time I actually had some competition and got a good run for my money. I did well during the smooth competition (waltz, foxtrot, tango), but got my tail handed to me in the rhythm (cha-cha, rumba, swing).

My hands still look weird, as well as the lift on them. I can't seem to find it in myself to be graceful. I love dancing, but I don't know if competing is for me anymore. I started this so I would have a hobby and learn something new, but I don't like looking like an idiot in front of a room full of people.

Lindsey came with me; thank goodness! This would have been a nightmare without her...

The person who took this picture? A whole new story. Once upon a time, there was a crazy boy who pretended he was Johnny Cash. He worked at the Choo-Choo hotel, and sold pesticides to pay the bills. Of course he had that whole brooding musician thing going on; dark hair, slicked back (like Johnny Cash), nice little country twang (like Johnny Cash) and an all black outfit (like Johnny Cash). So naturally, with my "I can attract any crazy" attitude, this dude came over and talked to us at the hotel bar, where we went after the competition. And he called me June Carter, at least until I went to the bathroom and he found out that A. I was married. B. Lindsey has a boyfriend and C. He wasn't getting any that night.

Oh, did I mention that he had a girlfriend? Oh yeah.

The weekend was finished by a lovely breakfast at the Cracker Barrel.

There would have been more pictures had I not left my Nikon at the house. Don't get me started; I was definitely mad about that.

Wednesday Ramblings

• 
  
  I got a $10 off coupon for shoes in the mail, plus my Glamour magazine, J Crew Catalogue, and a copy of the Packers Super Bowl DVD in the mail yesterday. Best. Mail. Day. Ever.


• 
  
  Is it really only Wednesday? I feel like it should be Friday. But hey, at least the ramblings are coming on the correct day.


• 
  
  I would just like to reiterate how much I don't like sales. It's hard, and is super hard to talk myself in to going into all these offices, when I know most of the time the answer is going to be no.


• 
  
  Bennett was gone this week, and I thought our thermostat was broken. Normally in March in Alabama, this is not a problem, but I think this was our last cold snap of the season. Me and the dog cuddled like it was 1999.


• 
  
  I am loving Thompson Square's, "Are you Gonna Kiss Me or Not." I walkd around with this song constantly stuck in my head. I love it.


• 
  
  My friend from dance, Courtney, is probably going to lose her life this week. Please everyone pray for her and her family during this awful time.

(this is her and her dance partner, Don, at the last competition. such a beautiful, beautiful person inside and out.)

• oh, and happy 200th blog post to me.

Day 16

so, today while at work, i was reading up on some photography websites. i figure that i need a better grasp on the basics, so today's picture is a practice shot of "aperture." while i sort of grasped it from the class i took, i took the time to re-read over some of the things that i didn't really get the first time around. so this is a simple picture of me trying to do a picture with a large aperture (which means, smaller depth of field...go figure.) so i'm sorry again for the "around-the-house" shot..but hey...it's a picture a day. never promised it would be interesting.

something that you may not know is that i have been invited to a ballroom dancing competition in february. below are the pictures of the dresses that i will be wearing...

this one is for my smooth dances...waltz and foxtrot.

this beauty is for the rumba and cha-cha.

i'm a little nervous about them coming and being the right size. also worried about how low the rumba one goes in the back. oy. but trust me when i say this is one of the least skanky ones i could find. at least there is no hint of my stomach showing in either of them. maybe after february, there will be some posted pictures of me and my ballroom dancing awesomeness.

wish me luck!!