Category Archives: Dancing

Calling All Belly Dancers! Or Would Be Belly Dancers!

Good evening!!

I am sorry to be getting to my post so late this evening! In all honesty my sweetie and I have taken it upon ourselves to stay up extra late tonight because it is our FRIDAY night for a FOUR-DAY-WEEKEND!!! WHOO! HOO!!

Anyway, I have had a very FANTASTIC evening! I had my Artist date with myself!! I am a very lucky date, after some shopping at the art boutique, I took myself out to Venti’s for a healthy dinner – YUM! Then  I sat and read a magazine,while I enjoyed the cafe’s ambiance,  and patiently waited for belly dancing class to start!!

Now, you might be sick of hearing me talk about belly dancing, but I have to tell you!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!

Tonight, i even got brave enough to ask the instructor, Jody, if I could take pics of the advanced troop doing a dance for us!! and wouldn’t you know it???

SHE SAID YES!!!!!!

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

OK, so I pulled my camera out, as if I were giddy kid getting a long awaited for present at Christmas and these are a few of the pics that I was able to capture!!

Even in still pictures, don’t they just look great!!! These ladies are the ladies that I want to emulate!! I hope that there will come a day that I will be in this group having a blast and dancing my little heart out!!!

I want to take a quick moment to invite anyone who might be reading this, if you have had any inclination, or any interest no matter how fleeting in giving belly dancing a try – I HIGHLY recommend this class. This class has completely changed my beliefs about what my body can and cannot do! I couldn’t not have had this new found confidence if it weren’t for this dance class!!

Jody is a fantastic instructor, she is extremely patient, and after one of my very first classes,  I reported to my husband, that I couldn’t believe I was actually able to do some of the moves because she kind of tricked us into them!!! She breaks them down, and then when you put all the pieces together – a MIRACLE happens – YOU ARE BELLY DANCING!! and the prince is PHENOMENAL, SERIOUSLY!! For 3 months of weekly classes, it cost me less than $10 per class!!! SO ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT!!! If anything, try it for just ONE class!! I am sure you won’t be disappointed!! 😉

Anyway, I am going to ske-daddle off to bed, because it is WAAAAY past my bedtime! but, if you live in the Salem area think about taking this class, maybe you will have the same kind of AMAZING experience that I am having!! Call RJ Dance Studio at (503)363-3341 or go to RJ Dance Studio’s website to get more details!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

As Promised!

Good morning!

As my hubby and I finish up and get ready to head out for the day, I thought I would stop and take a moment to post those pics I had promised from last night’s belly dancing performers!

Yes, she is actually dancing on top of glass!! AMAZING! 😉

We really did have such a GREAT time last night!! The costumes were beautiful, the dancers varied and extremely talented, the music was energetic, and the room was just electric! I can’t wait until it is MY turn to get out there and show my MOVES, but first I had better get out there and keep practicing so that I can HAVE moves!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day! 😉

Belly Dancer’s ROCK!!!

Good evening!

Tonight my sweetie and I had the most fun going to a club tonight to watch a bunch of belly dancing performers and troops shimmy, shake, pop, and wave! To say we had fun was quite the understatement. I mean, just look at this man’s face!!

Does this look like a man who is NOT having fun!?!?!?!? LOL!! 😉

The performers were just BREATH-TAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL, and I am so envious of their dancing – I can NOT WAIT to get to that level of ability!!

Instead of spending time tonight posting pictures, seeing that it is so EXTREMELY late, I am going to say goodnight! I will post tonight’s pictures first thing in the morning!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Really Late Post!

Good evening!

I just wanted to make sure that I touched base before I climbed into bed this evening! I am soooo tired!!

I had an hour and a half long belly dancing class tonight by a substitute instructor, and she REALLY kicked our heinies!!! 😉 No, she did a FABULOUS job, but she worked us out from HEAD TO TOE, so I am gonna be ONE SORE MAMMA in the morning!! Scratch that – I AM SORE NOW!!! 😉

This pic is of me striking a pose!! Paula, one of the other students, was very sweet in offering to take my picture, and I just HAD to jump at the chance! I would have taken more pics, but our class of 6 has somehow managed to dwindle down to a class of two. So that is a bummer, but I am still having a blast.

My focus in class has changed from “Let’s see if I can be brave enough to do something scary”, to “Let’s see what else my body will do if I practice!” It seems like a minor change, but it has really made me stop and think about EVERYTHING that I demand of my body, and what I DO and DO NOT do to take care of it! I have to remember that this is my soul’s vehicle, and it will only last so many miles, so I have got to start taking better care of my engine, er…uhm…so to speak!! 😉

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home this evening – I was craving cheerios with a sliced banana for dinner, and I wasn’t sure if we had any of that so, I made the mistake of grocery shopping on an empty stomach. NO, an empty stomach that had just worked out hard for the last hour and a half!!! So, let’s just say I may have gone a little crazy, and bought a little bit of EVERYTHING!!! 😉 The good thing is that after belly dancing class, I am on an adrenaline high, and I ONLY WANT to do or eat things that are healthy, so ALL of my food choices fit that bill!! I am now contemplating doing our weekly grocery shop under those conditions EVERY time I shop!! LOL!!! I wonder what my sweetie would think of that??

NOT TOFU AGAIN!!! 😉
(I really do LOVE that man of mine!!)

On that note, I am taking my happy, but exhausted self to bed!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

A Late Post!

Good evening!

I am sorry this post is getting to you so late! I completely lost track of time this evening!! 😉 I was playing in my craft room with my friend, Cicily! We were both collaging our little hearts out! I can’t wait until we get to do it again!! 🙂 I will have to take a moment sometime tomorrow to take pictures of our newest works in process for you to peruse!! The funny thing is, that we were sitting on completely opposite ends of the room, and our color schemes are almost identical!! TOO FUNNY!!!

Well, I am ready for my class on Wednesday, and because of lack of class space, I am going to have to find some kind of alternative activity for Saturday, since my encaustic class will have to wait until the next round!!! HOWEVER, I picked up all of my supplies this afternoon after work, and I am ECSTATIC!! I truly can not wait!!!

Oh! and I am excited to say that I am going to take a Zumba class next Monday evening! My first Zumba class ever!! I am all about making movement fun, and I have heard nothing but GREAT things about Zumba, especially one of the classes that is offered a few blocks from my place! I will give it a try for one week, and then I will decide if it something that I can commit too!! I will keep you posted!!! 😉

As for me and right now, I am zonked!! It is so far past my bedtime that all I can do right now is tell you G’night…and

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

A Night of Private Lessons!

Good evening!

Tonight was my belly dancing class, just in case you have been hiding someplace and hadn’t heard me say it for the umpteenth time!!

BELLY DANCING THURSDAYS!!!

WHOO! HOO!!

Hee! Hee!! Hoo!! Hee! Hee!! Hoo!!

Ok, I have gotten myself back under control!! 😉


Tonight I wanted to share a bunch of pics that I took this morning while I was taking a walk to go into the office. It was very cold here, and foggy, and I thought that the world seemed very ethereal and magical this morning with all of the hazy fog. So, I took some time just finding some shots that I thought were BEAUTIFUL! I would love to hear your thoughts about them!!

Ok, onto my class this evening. When I started this belly dancing class about a month ago, there were 5 of us, then we became 6 for a couple of weeks, last week we dropped to 4, and I am not sure what happened this week, but there were only 2 of us there, and the other lady had to leave early! BUMMER!!


BUT TO MY SURPRISE! I got to have about a 20 minute private lesson with the dance instructor and one of the students from the advanced class! That was really awesome, and that means that I know some dance moves that everyone else doesn’t!! YEAH!!!


HOWEVER!!! There are two moves that I am going to have to really practice on! They are both spinning moves and you do this thing with one of your feet that you do a 180 degree turn, and let me tell you MAMMA IS GONNA HAVETA FIGURE OUT TO SPIN THIS SHIP IN A SPLIT SECOND!!! SHEESH!! Let’s just say it is going to take me some practice, and maybe some slippy socks!!! LOL!! 😉

I can’t say it enough! I truly LOVE this class, I look forward to it all week!! It is exhausting and energizing all at the same time! I am becoming better coordinated, balanced, and graceful, three things I thought could never be associated with me, and through lots of practice, I am getting better, and better, a little every week!!

While I was waiting for the instructor to get there, I was sitting out in the waiting area with a tall, graceful woman, who looked to be in about her 80’s. She was VERY OBVIOUSLY a dancer, with a dancer’s body and a dancer’s posture! So I got to talking to her, asking her questions, like I have a tendency to do, and I found out that she has been dancing since she was 6, she has 4 dance instructors because no one can keep up with her, and she tells me,

“I can’t help it, when my feet hear the music, they just can’t hold still, so I have no other choice but to get up and let them dance!”

She was right, not 5 minutes later, there was a private lesson going on in the next room, and the music started playing. She got up to watch, and before you know it she was dancing all around the waiting room, and down the hall! It was actually quite beautiful and made me smile all the way down to my liver. 😉

I pray that when I am 80 something, I am able to say,

“I can’t help it, when my feet hear the music, they just can’t hold still, so I have no other choice but to get up and let them dance!”


If only we were all so lucky to find a physical activity that gave them this much joy and pleasure!! I am truly blessed!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Surprising Evening!

Good evening!

Let me just start out by saying, I am soooo thankful it is Friday tomorrow, because I am not sure how many more bad days at work I can handle without getting a break!!! In my office, my boss hands out colored, and funky shaped paperclips if you have done a good job, and a red one if you’ve made a big boo-boo!! We display our paperclips like medals of valor or something!! LOL!! So, it is kind of a fun competition between our team! Now, we don’t really get paperclips very much, we are all just too busy to really even notice, but my co-worker Chris and I were talking about it the past few days, how it really would be nice to get a few more handed our way! Silly, right?? Anyway, I was having one of those horrible, wrotten, no good, yucky days, and this is what I saw on my desk when I got back to my office, which was after EVERYONE else had already gone home!!

This simple little sign literally MADE MY DAY!! I left knowing that someone loved and cared about me enough to remind me to smile, and then when I looked closer, I realized that Chis not only left me this sweet little sign (it is in her perfect handwriting!!), she gave me ONE OF HER PAPERCLIPS!!!! OH!! When I realized that I had to sit down, because it had made me a little verklempt!! Thank you, Chris!! You probably didn’t even realize this seemingly small gesture meant to me!! I owe you one, friend!! 😉

Tonight I had my belly dancing class!! Are you sick of hearing about that yet?? I am finding that I am catching on to the moves a little bit better every week, and although I am struggling a little to flow smoothly from one move to the next, I am still having such a GREAT time!! 😉 The class is an hour long, which is just long enough to get me on an endorphine high and I go home feeling ultra jazzed!! What a FABULOUS feeling!! 😉

At the end of tonight’s class, we got to choose which type of belly dancing we wanted to go into – there are three main kinds (I think): tribal, cabaret, and oriental! However, don’t quote me on that, I think that is what our instructor said!! I am choosing to go into tribal-type belly dancing! It is more free flowing, more gypsy-like, you get to more freely express yourself in your costuming, and the dances are more of an improv, follow-the-leader-with-subtle-clues  type of dancing. She once described it as, you all could have grown up in the same village, so your costume fabric is similar, but you dress and dance a little more freely and it is more representative of your own personal style. Right now, my own personal style is the goal – so that is where mamma is going!! YEAH!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Quickie Post!

Good morning!

I am running a little behind this morning, but I am pretty jazzed about today, and for no apparent reason, just because! What a GREAT feeling!! I am learning to LOVE getting up early every morning! It gives me the opportunity to really clear my head and wake up before I head out to face any challenges that might come up in my daily life!!!

I think tonight will be a swimming night with my sweetie, which is always fun!! We have fun with friendly competition in the pool!! It makes me feel like a kid again, spending all my days in the water trying, unsuccessfully to not get sunburned!!! Thankfully our pool nowadays is indoors, so no sunburn any longer!! LOL! 😉

I have a couple of new art classes that I am going to be taking within the next couple of weeks that I am excited to tell you about this evening, but my song that I LOVE belly dancing to, just came on, so I am going to have to go!! When a girl has got to dance, well, what can I say??? She’s GOT TO DANCE!! I will talk to you all of you this evening!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Random Thoughts for the Day!

Good evening!

To say that I am tired is quite the understatement. I am zonked, pooped, spent, drowsy, lethargic, sleepy, drained, bushed, wasted, stale, exhausted, weary, beat, haggard!! In other words I am ready for a breather!!! 😉

My sweetie has totally made my day this evening! He new that I was having a long day, and when I got home today, I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did he make dinner tonight, he even set the table nicely and we had a nice dinner together!!! I know you guys must be so sick of hearing this, but I am really SO IN LOVE with my husband!! He is SUCH a KEEPER!!! 😉

Ok, so what has been going on with me?? Well, I am still doing my morning pages from The Artist’s Way. I am into week 4 now, and I REALLY DO SWEAR BY THEM!! I can’t ever imagine me not doing them again!! By clearing the “clutter” and negative self-talk out of my head, they have helped me tap into a part of myself that I thought was long since dead, and in reality it was just a part of me that I had let go dormant.

In the last four weeks, I know I have really changed a lot. I find that my perception about the world around me has really changed for the better, and I think that those closest to me have been able to see that. I feel like I don’t have to be a doormat any longer, always trying to please my friends and family, although I still like pleasing them, I don’t have to do it at the sake of myself and my own happiness. Now, I am part of the equation.

In the movie Eat, Pray, Love, Julia Robert’s character says something like I have worked so hard to create this life, why can’t I see myself in it. I feel like that really summed up what I had felt about me in my life. Every single thing I have in this life is because I created it. I did the work, I made the sacrifices, and I made it all happen, but why wasn’t I happy. Because I realized that I wasn’t there – I wasn’t represented in my own life, I wasn’t present!! What a wake up call!

Doing my morning pages, writing my thoughts, feelings, emotions, desires, and dreams out on paper for an hour every morning, has helped me get out of my own way, and find out what truly makes me happy! A lot of those things that make me happy now are the same things that made me happy when I was a little kid, and rediscovering that has really opened a world of true joy in my life!!

Some of those things are:

  • Walking barefoot through the grass
  • Playing with my best friend out in the rain
  • Reading a good book while laying upside down in bed
  • Coloring
  • Making something from nothing
  • Racing to the other end of the pool while holding my breath the whole way
  • Making a fort with my sweetie just for the sake of having a fort to play in
  • Trying a new recipe just for myself
  • Laughing so hard with friends that you all end up crying from happiness!!
  • Dancing as if no one is watching
  • Not caring when I realize someone is! 😉

I am learning that it is all these things that bring you back into your own life, it is what is bringing me back into mine. These minor changes have made me excited to get up in the morning, which is a huge change from getting up every morning because I feel obligated to, or it is the responsible thing to do. I also realize the truth in the quote from the movie The Answer Man,

Kris Lucas: Why can’t I do the things I want to do? There’s so much I know I’m capable of that I never actually do. Why is that?
Arlen Faber: The trick is to realize that you’re always doing what you want to do… always. Nobody’s making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you’re free and that life is really just a series of choices. Nothing happens to you. You choose.

This has been something that I have been whining to my husband for YEARS!! Why can’t I do what I want to do? When is i t my turn??? By using my Morning Pages, I get it! I FINALLY am understanding that I DO choose! I get to do it right now, and every moment, of every day! That knowledge is what true freedom is all about!! I am so thankful for this book, and my sissy who sent it to me, thank you Alex!! Opportunities are presenting themselves all around me, and all I have to do is be open to trying out new things, and not being afraid to walk down new paths!! So, tonight I am going to take care of myself by having a nice, peaceful and quiet evening, and letting myself fall asleep nice and early!! NOW THAT is what happiness is all about!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Belly Dancing Night!

Good evening!

I’m here! I’m here! I am sorry, I had forgotten that my e-mail account was hacked into a couple of days ago and it broke my connection to my Blackberry, so I wasn’t able to blog today like I had wanted to. To make it up to you, I will make this one a little long to tell you about all the things going on with my day!!

I did not get a post up this morning, I was running around like a buzy bee trying to get out the door in time this morning! I am not sure why but time seemed to pass really quickly, and before I new it, I had my flat iron in my hand and it was 7:30! AAAACK!!! 10 minutes AFTER I normally leave for the office!!!

Then by lunch time, my day had completely flipped, and was now going SOOOOOOOOOOOO VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY SLOOOOOOOOOOOWLY!! I almost couldn’t stand it!!! 😉 I was soooo jazzed about my belly dancing class tonight – I just wanted to get out there and get to it!! It was supposed to be veil night!

 VEIL NIGHT!!!

WHOO! HOO!!

I mean, come on! What little girl didn’t dream about playing dress up and being a little Indian Girl layered in veils, dancing beautifully, while being adored by her audience??? No? Not you?? Oh, so it was just me then?? Oh. Ok. Man I am so wanting to learn how to do an actual dance, and I realize we are learning all of the kinds of moves you can do so that way when you do put dances together you know what you are doing – BUT, PUT ME IN COACH!! I AM SOOOO READY TO PLAY!!! 😉

My co-workers were SUPER UNDERSTANDING this afternoon, seeing that even the boss wasn’t too into the idea of getting any work done, so they spent a little time talking about all of their plants that are coming up in their vegetable gardens, and I was soooo jealous!! I want a garden too, but that is kind of difficult when you live in a condo. However, they gave me all sorts of ideas on how to grow plants in my own container gardens, or even in small greenhouses that I can use year round! Isn’t that just DIVINE??? Really! I am so inspired! and you HAVE TO KNOW, my hubbie would just LOVE that!!! I can’t wait to tell him all about it!!

After work tonight, I started my artist date with myself and did a lot of walking around downtown, going from craft place to craft place looking for art or craft classes that I could take, and I have to tell you I found quite a bit of them that I am going to look further into. One is an encaustic painting class. I had seen an artist doing that on a craft program some years back and it has always intrigued me, so I put it on my life list! It is the one about painting with wax – that is was encaustic painting it. I also found a quilting class I want to take and a collage class that I am going to take!! They all sounds REALLY FUN and EXCITING! and I am sure they will be, but what I am most excited about is a class that I have signed Jason and I up for tomorrow!! We are going to be taking a glass fusing class at one of our local art studios here in Salem. This is going to be a first for both of us, and I JUST KNOW we are going to have A BLAST!! My co-worker was just SHOCKED that Jason agreed to do this for our date night, but he WAS TOTALLY GAME!!! Jason has a bit of an artistic streak running through him too!! I told you we were MFEO!!! (Made For Each Other!!)

We will do all of our glass cutting/designing/assembling tomorrow evening, and then the studio will kiln fire it for us, and we will pick it up in 7 days! I hope they turn out looking FABULOUS!!! I can’t wait to share pictures!!!

Oh, talking about pictures! I spoke to my belly dancing class mates tonight, and besides myself, the vote for me taking pictures of the class was a RESOUNDING HELL NO!!!

BUMMER!!

I was shocked (doesn’t EVERYONE put there life out on the internet for public perusal??? LOL!), and a little bummed (boo! hiss!), but I will respect the wishes of the class, and refrain from taking , for now! HOWEVER, if we should ever perform, you had better believe that I am going to task Jason to take as many pictures as he is able to, and HONEY I AM SHARING THEM ALL WITH YOU!!! 😉

So, I will be taking pictures of our glass class tomorrow! (I hope that is alright???) and I will share them with you tomorrow! They should be GREAT!!! Until then…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

NOTE TO CHUNKY DUNKERS: I did 1/2 an hour of walking downtown, and an hour belly dancing class today! I at a strawberry smoothie for breakfast, a small whole wheat english muffin ham sandwich for snack, mini-bite Crunch candy bar, baked carrots, a baked potato with sour cream, and some baked turkey for lunch, a large chocolate chip cookie in the afternoon, and then I had a super healthy chicken, veggies, and rice for dinner! Looking at this, I can see that there is a lot of room for improvement, so I will be conscious and try to do better tomorrow! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!!