Wanna see our review?

Hi there Everyone!
I just got this review of our musical and had to share it. This is my first ever play since high school and it's so much fun to be in something that is getting such a great reception...for community theatre of course. I highlighted the best part of the review ;-)

Link: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story.php?story_id=3403

Operetta, Bollywood-styleDelightful dances and beautiful voices enhance Savoyards' creative version of "The Sorcerer"by Jeanie ForteWe on the Midpeninsula are blessed.We enjoy a tremendous variety of theatrical troupes with every stripe and genre of theater represented, from professional houses to educational programs. Many of these companies have been around for decades.One is the Stanford Savoyards, combining campus and community efforts to present Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in Dinkelspiel Auditorium on the Stanford University campus twice a year. Still going strong after more than 30 years, this stalwart amateur group caters to the seemingly bottomless appetite of loyal "G&S" fans and has a great deal of fun in the process.The Savoyards' latest offering, a Bollywood-ized rendition of "The Sorcerer," shows the strengths of the troupe and provides an enjoyable evening's entertainment.

Setting "The Sorcerer" in Victorian India is truly inspired silliness that actually enhances certain aspects of the book and livens up the dance numbers. The plot revolves around love â€" love unrequited, love unexpressed, and true love found, lost, then found again â€" all ubiquitous Bollywood themes.Alexis and Aline (Jonathan Erman and Aumna Iqbal), two lovers destined for each other, are about to be wed, and the entire village is rejoicing for and with them. But on the eve of the wedding, Alexis has the bold idea to make everyone else as happy as he is by hiring a Sorcerer (Geoff Schaeffer), who will administer a potion that makes one sleep and then fall in love with the first person one sees on waking.

Of course the potion works in disastrous ways, mismatching couples and even challenging the pure love of Alexis and Aline. It takes a major leap of love and faith to set it all right and send the Satanic Sorcerer packing. While it's basically a silly plot, the story has deeper themes and even political metaphors, and the humor is decidedly adult. Too many people mistake G&S for child's play when it's really intended for a mature audience.The strengths include the local talent who turns out for the chance to sing G&S. Erman and Iqbal have lovely, lyrical voices, crystal clear and pleasant. Erman soars in the beautiful "Love feeds on many kinds of food" in Act One, and their duets are definite highlights.

Other standouts include Paul Melville as Sir Mahadesh and Jenn Wheelwright as Lady Balrampur, whose comic duet "Welcome joy!" is indeed a joy. Alejandra Martinez makes a marvelous Constance, with a sweet voice and innocent demeanor. Rebecca Sacks, as Constance's mother, sings prettily, though she does some strange flouncing about.

Schaeffer, as Sorcerer John Wellington Wells, perfectly suits the part, and has a wonderful strong baritone. David Lapham, as the hapless Vicar Dr. Daly, turned in a decent performance, despite minor pitch problems.The set and costumes aptly reflect the concept, although the Indian costumes definitely outrank the British ones Constance's dress, in particular, is most unflattering. The lighting is also oddly spotty, so performers are sometimes in shadow in key moments. Music director Jeremy Erman gets a very capable sound from both the orchestra and the ensemble, but if the company had a few more resources, they might also invest in a miking system to help voices rise above the orchestra.

Where this production really shines is in the dancing, with absolutely delightful choreography by Ishika Seth that is at once authentic and parodic. In several ensemble numbers one feels transported into a Bollywood video, in the best way.

Director David Euresti has done a good job bringing all these elements together, working with an amateur company to deliver a creative production that amuses and entertains. The company's staying power is no mystery, given the timeless material and the supply of fine talent.What: "The Sorcerer," an operetta by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, presented by the Stanford Savoyards

Where: Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University
When: Saturday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 19, at 2:30 p.m.
Cost: Tickets are $10-$16.Info: Call 650-725-ARTS or go to www.stanford.edu/group/savoyards.

Come see the show...s

Hi there Everyone!

Well, it's showtime, and what a busy weekend we have planned. As many of you know I've been rehersing for a bollywood style production of "The Sorcerer" up at Stanford, and openning night is on Friday. The show is actually really funny and the dance numbers are so much fun to watch (of course ;-) ). So, please come see the show.

Showtimes are November 10, 11, and 18 at 8 pm and November 19th at 2:30. For more details on the location and ticket prices go to:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/savoyards/default.html


And, for an additional surprise, I just wanted to mention that I am doing a Bollywood piece at an annual Indian cultural show Roshni at San Jose State University.

Date: 12th nov., Sunday
Location: Student Union Ballroom
Time: 7:00 pm

Ticket price: $10 (Can be bought at the door or on their website http://www.desihub.com/view/isosjsu/event?eventid=15064 to get information about the show, go to http://www.iso-sjsu.org/event-roshni.htm

The cool thing is the tickets include dinner; they usually have good Indian food. I actually will only be on-stage for about 4 minutes, but if you like to see lots of Indian and fusion style dancing this should be a very festive and fun evening. And I'll be debuting a double veil piece to the Indian community. I can't wait to see their reaction.
Okay, hope to see you soon!!!!
Monica

Back in time....

Hi there Everyone!

Well, the movers came yesterday and took away most of our furniture. We decided we'd sell most of our nice stuff, and that needs to happen now, well before we move, so the movers came yesterday and halled everything to the consignment center. So, the house looks amazingly emty of furniture, and all the stuff that was in the furniture is strewn about everywhere. Dave came home last night and was taken aback at the look of the house. But the best part was when he went upstairs to our bedroom. The mattress is on the floor, boxes are everywhere, and we have no furniture in there at all. He laughed out loud. "This reminds of my old bachelor pad!" he exclaimed.

It did take us back to the old days when we bought our very first house together. We couldn't afford anything so this is exactly how our room looked. And as we lay on the bed on the floor, the ceiling seemed so far away. And everything, boxes, piles of stuff, lights, were all high above our eye-level as we lay in bed. And so it is again. It was amazingly romantic and nastolgic. It's been 13 years since that first house, and we had forgotten what it felt like to have a house so empty of stuff (but so full of dreams). We slept so well last night. Like a couple of kids building new dreams, and worn out from the energy of it. And we are building new dreams again. Empty house, big dreams. Have we been taken back in time?

It actually surprises me how happy I am that the furniture is gone. It's like the transition has really begun. I'm so excited about the upcoming adventure. And what a wonderful thing to be taken back 13 years like that. Oh my goodness!! This move is going to be full of surprises!

Le Consulat général de France à San Francisco

Oh my goodness! What a wonderful afternoon Dave and I just had. It was like a field trip. Can you guess what we did? No, no! If it was that I don't think I could really write about it without being booted from Blogspot :-)

We actually went up to the French Consulate in San Francisco to get our Visa's. And it was so much fun! The woman that was helping us was so helpful and kind. I couldn't believe it! She took all our paperwork, teased us about our French, and was helpful. Can you imagine? Going to a consulate and being treated really well? Unheard of! But actually, I had heard that for Europeans, many of them just need to get a visa for any country in the European Union, so most of them choose to go to the French consulate because they are so great to work with. I gotta tell you, I didn't believe that. But now I'm a believer. Oh yes, and for those of you who are wondering, everyone in the consulate was very good looking. Another piece of their reputation they definitely lived up to.

The weather was stunning in San Francisco today so after the visit to the consulate, Dave and I took a stroll down to an adorable cafe and I had a mocha and almond coissant. This mocha was a strong one with fabulous cocoa in it. And everyone around us was speaking a different language. It felt like we were in a different country. It was a fabulous little vacation, in one quick afternoon. Mmmmmm....I need more afternoons like that. Dave and I haven't been able to stop smiling since. It certainly helps that this trip made our impending move so much more real. We are so excited about it. So excited that things are finally happening. I've been so stressed out about so much with regards to this move, this was a wonderful relaxing way to enjoy part of the experience. Yeah!!!!!

Bollywood, here I come!

Hi there Everyone!

I'm sorry I haven't written much lately, but you won't believe what I added to my schedule. In addition to my French classes, planning our move to France, packing up our house, and practices for Ashiana for our 2 upcoming private gigs, I just auditioned and got into the Operetta "The Sorcerer" which is being put on by the Stanford Savoyards, Bollywood style.

You might think I'm crazy....and you'd be right :) , but the truth is that I'm not getting enough dance time with the Ashiana group and I have been dying to dance more. I need to keep my body moving, or I get depressed. And it's always so much more fun if we are working towards a goal/performance. So I am now a dancer in this production.

It is soooooo much fun. We've had 3 rehersals so far and the other dancers, the choreographer and the Director are just fabulously fun people. Dance is such a social thing for me, that I am just so happy to be meeting so many new people. Oh, and the moves! The moves are so Bollywood. They are fun and playful and we can't stop giggling while we dance. I used to do classical Indian dance when I was young, but I've never done any bollywood stuff, so this is a totally new adventure for me. I'm learning new moves, meeting new people, working towards a goal, and I don't even need to pay for classes! Woohoo!!!! Life doesn't get any better than this! Do you still think I'm crazy?

So do you want to hear about the play? It was originally set in old England, but the plot is so perfect for a Bollywood musical. We asked one of the new dancers if he knew what the play was about and he guessed "boy and girl fall in love. In comes the villian. Boy and girl fall out of love. Villian gets killed. Everything is made right and everyone is blissfully happy." Okay, he didn't know the plot of the play at all, but his guess was almost right on!!!! We couldn't stop laughing.

So, here's the real plot. A man is getting married and is blissfully in-love. He is so happy that he wants everyone in his village to know how good love feels. So, he brings in a sorcerer who administers a love potion to the entire village through tea served at the dinner before the upcoming wedding. Everyone falls asleep and then falls in love with the first person the first lay eyes on once they awaken. Each new match is inappropriate, of course, and havoc ensues. But in the end someone dies and everyone is restored to their appropriate loves and everyone lives happily ever after. Is that so bollywood or what?!!!!

I'm just a dancer so I don't have any major part in the play, but I am so excited to be doing this. It will be so much fun. If you want to find out more about show, go to:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/savoyards/default.html

More on burning man....

Hiya Everyone!

After my last Burning Man post I got a lot of questions about what Burning Man is, and it's so hard to answer that question. So, instead of trying to explain it myself, here are some links to some cool sight that will give you a good feel for what Burning Man is all about.

For access to stories, blogs, picture galaries, and audio clips go to: http://www.sfgate.com/burningman/

I loved the pictures on this site: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=0&f=/c/a/2006/09/03/MNburningmangallery03.DTL

A friend of mine just sent this link that has a lot of video clips. It's great! http://www.current.tv/burningman/

A friend of ours is working on a video that is gorgeous (that we were there for the shooting of). When I get access to it I will post that too.

Enjoy!

Some pictures from Sat. night

Hi there Everyone!
We have a few pictures from Sat. night. Most of the action shots didn't really come out, but at least you can see the costumes...after that whole costume fiasco!!!! Just click on this link. Hope you enjoy them.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/album?c=travelingnuts&aid=576460762314514462&pid=&wtok=BqeT2WxiRo.c4ov83S2WuA--&ts=1158821727&.src=ph

Ashiana Unveiled!

Wow! What a weekend!!!! I have never experienced such an incredibly emotional rollercoaster ride in my life! Okay, maybe I have, but this was quite a ride.

On Sat. night the new troupe that I am a part of, called Ashiana, was suppose to do our debut performance at the Desert Dance Festival. We'd been working on our choreographies for about 2 months and had them pretty much nailed. But, our costumes were a completely different story. First, 3 or 4 months before the performace, we turned the costumes over to a costume designer who we really wanted to support. She is very creative and wanted to try to do the job. However, she was pregnant and all the things that come with pregnancy got it the way of making the costumes. Finally, a month before the perfomance she confessed that she wasn't going to be able to do it. OMG!!!! One month to go and we had to find someone to do the job. We called our preferred costume designer to see if she could do it and found out that just a few days earlier she had taken on another troupe's costumes, so she couldn't commit to doing ours in time. We were frustrated, but appreciated her honesty. So, we took a chance and called a costume designer who has and amazing talent for design and sewing, but always has time management problems. When we talked o her (Patrice), we were very clear that we needed the costumes a week before the perfomrance so we could practice in them. She said she could do it, so we turned the project over to her. It was going to be very expensive, but at least it would get done. But as we drew into our final stretch before the performance, Patrice still hadn't given us our costumes. We tried politely to remind her that she had commited to giving us our costumes a week before the performance, but she kept sending us curt e-mails saying she'd get them to us when she was done. On Thursday morning before the performance Jen sent her an e-mail stating very kindly that "we trusted that we could pick up our costumes tomorrow." The message we got back was that we could come get them after 4pm on Friday. I was so angry I could spit. She'd had a month to work on these costumes! Why were we getting them the night before a performance? There were only 3 of them to make and she said each one only took 6 hours to make. So, what was taking so long?!!! If she couldn't do the job, she should have just told us. Other costume designers had! And then we'd have had the time to work out another plan.

Anyways, we had to rent rehersal space on Friday so that we could do our final dress rehersal with mirrors and a wooden floor, and we had reserved the spot for 4:30 that afternoon. Because of the costume thing, we asked to push our reservation back by a half hour and Hala, who was renting us her space, was incredibly kind and changed the reservation for us at the last minute. So, Angie went to pick up our costumes, only to find that they actually weren't done and wouldn't be done until late that night (supposedly). What "was" done we took a look at and it looked aweful. The costumes she had made looked nothing like the prototype she had shown us. We went to her place to talk to her about it and she said this was a "rush" job and couldn't do anything to fix the costumes now. So...we asked for a refund. In the end, we ended up losing about $65 per person, but at least we didn't lose a couple hundred each.

So, deep breath. The performance was in less than 24 hours and we had no costume. We decided at that point to wear a costume we had all worn with another troupe 2 years ago. It wasn't the perfect solution, but it would do. We had cleared that option with the person who had lead the troupe at the time we were dancing with them, and she said it was fine. She was of the opinion that we had paid for the costumes ($400/costume) and we should enjoy them. However, she wasn't still leading that troupe and the new leader of the troupe got wind of what we were planning (She's a personal friend of Patrice and we got a call from her 2 hours after our conversation with Patrice. Any ideas on how she heard about our troubles?). Honestly, we didn't even suspect that we were doing anything wrong. The troupe hadn't worn those costumes for 2 years! But the new troupe leader told us bluntly that we could not use their troupe costumes. Now, just as a point of reference, I am a new dancer and I don't have much costume stuff. So at this point all I wanted to do was cry. (I have to say here, I really hope that our old troupe leader never actually reads this blog. I think it would hurt her alot, because I don't think she would like to know how her old troupe is treating other dancers. But I want to tell the whole story, so the whole world gets the picture. This sucked!)

At that point, I have to admit, I wasn't sure at all that we were actually going to perform the next day. All of our spirits were so low, and I felt desperate. And who knew what my other 2 troupe members, Jen and Angie, were feeling. At that point if anyone had said they didn't want to do the show, we'd all have given in. So, on Friday late at night, I uninvited most of my friends to the performance. I wanted to make sure that the ones that were coming strickly to see me dance, didn't pay to get in and then find out I wasn't dancing.

The next morning, Jen, Angie and I met very early in the morning to talk about costumes. We went through a lot of ideas before we settled on something that seemed okay. We even came up with a new idea that was so exciting we were practically beside ourselves.

At 4 in the afternoon, Jen and Angie came to my place to get ready for the show and reherse one last time, in costume. The rehersal was fabulous. The costume idea was fabulous, and now I was really excited. So much had gone wrong, I didn't think we were ever going to make it. But there we were, ready to go. Our troupe name Ashiana means "Glorious" in Urdu. And there we were looking Glorious. After all of that, it felt like magic.

We got to the Desert Dance Festival practically just in time to perform. Our whole set was veil work. We started with a double veil piece in which we all came out in masks. The piece went better than it had ever gone before, and they masks added a great touch of mystery and play. Our big move in that dance was that we alll switched veils in the middle of the piece and went into Airplanes. It was very cool!

The second piece started with an "unveiling." We had removed our masks and came out hiding our faces with black veils. After several teasing spins and stops, we finally "revealed our faces." Okay, so is that old world or what? But it was sooooooooo much fun! The whole dance through we couldn't stop giggling. We were like girls just playing with veils. Then we sauntered off the stage to some burlesque style music. We got back-stage and couldn't stop laughing. OMG! That's what dance should be like. That's what if feels like to be glorious.

When we came out from back-stage complete strangers came to us congratulating us on the set. And, to a person, they all said they were sad to see the set end. They wanted more. Just the way we like it! Leave 'em wanting more. And Dave (my hubby) caught other dancers trying to imitate our moves. Now that is the best compliment of all!

But the very best part of the evening was when our old dance teacher came to us and told us that we were fabulous. She has no idea how much we look up to her and how much we yearned for her approval. We wanted to make her proud, and....well....we I feel like we did.

Through all the set-backs we had had to endure we had made it and done a good performance. Dave kept telling me how gorgeous I was that night. And as we sat at dinner after the performance the thing that we kept coming back to most often was "Alyne said we were fabulous." Need I say anymore?

House for Rent

I can't believe I'm about to post this blog! But it's time. I just wanted to let you know that I am putting my house up for rent. Dave and I are moving to France in January and will be returning late December of 2007. Our house will be available to rent as of Nov. 1st, but Dec. or Jan. 1st would be preferred. For a Jan. 1st start date, we will move out on Dec. 24th so that whomever wants to move in can have the week between Christmas and New Year to move. We would like the renters to sign a 12 month lease, since we will be out of the country during the year. The house is in the San Jose, Cambell area. We are very close to Hwys 17, 85, and 280. Here are the details of the rental:

Single family home in a beautiful walled community
2400 square feet
4 bedrooms/2.5 baths
attached garage
12 month lease
gardener included
$3000/month
Prefer no pets

Please let me know if you or anyone you know might be interested in this opportunity.

My last public performance in the USA!

Hi there Everyone!

I wanted to invite you to my last public performance in the US before I leave for France. In truth, this will be a very short performance, we will only be on stage for about 7 minutes, but there will be lots of other dancers before and after us that will also be worth seeing. So, if you are in the mood to see some cool belly dancing, please come to the Desert Dance Festival in downtown San Jose on this Saturday. The event will be at the San Jose Civic Auditorium, 135 West San Carlos St., San Jose, CA. Tickets for adults are $15, for children from 6-12 are $5.00, and children under age 6 are free. My troupe name is Ashiana and we will be performing sometime between 6 and 7pm. Our scheduled time is 6:24, but they are never that exact :-) The festival is a great place to see some terrific dancing, and also to do lots of shopping. There are lots of vendors selling clothes, jewelery, music, everything related to belly dance. It really is a lot of fun. Hope to see you there!

We Burned!

It's been a week since we got home from Burning Man, and I am still at a loss of what to say. A friend of mine sent me an e-mail last Tuesday asking how it was and my e-mail back to her said "All I can say is OH MY GAWD!!! That's all I have to say!" And I feel like I am still in that state. If you've been to Burning Man (BM), you know what I mean. If you haven't.....well.....I think I can try to write something.

This was my first time at BM, and my husband's too. And we went with two other friends who had never been before. I don't think any of us had any idea what we were in for! By the time Dave and I got there on Friday afternoon our friends Jen and Angie had already been there for a day, so they had sort-of eased into the atmosphere. And they were ready to start doing things, so Dave and I got pulled into excitement of it all right away. That night we went to the Silicon Valley burn group's party and met up with some friends. And we met some other cool people too. Then we headed out into the Playa (that's what they call the desert out there) to look at all the artwork lit up and see what was going on. We ended up riding, actually more like lumbering, around on the top of a 2 layer bus artcar and getting a great view of all the other artcars and all the going's on around us.

But, we didn't get to bed until 5 in the morning, and we were dead the next morning and slept in. So, we missed our morning yoga which I really wanted to try. That day was a very mellow one. We visited some of the big camps, and basically lazed around all day, trying to recover from the night before. That night was the burning of the man. Dave met up with a friend and went right up close to where the burn was going to be, but Jen and I took our lawn chairs and set-up by the bike racks and lamps. So, while Dave got a great close up view of the Burn, we got an great view of all the thousands of people parading towards the burn site, in their very best BM finery. It was a fabulous spectacle of color, creativity, and pure wildness. There were wigs, hats, furs, capes, boots, bodypaint, sparkle, wings, and costumes. It was just fabulous. We also got to see all the artcars come in. They were incredible. There was a full stage car that looked like a harem with bellydancers, a big pussycat filled with cats of both genders, several driving sofas, and a canopy bed full of a crowd in their PJ's having a "slumber party" to name a few. Jen's personal favorite was...a guy riding a tandem bike. He was on the front seat and on the back seat was a metal man pedalling along with him. But the metal man was completely on fire, from head to toe. It was really incredible to see. And the burning of the man was quite a site to see. And we also could litterally see the energy of the crowd rising as the man burned and finally fell. It was like a wave of passion flowing through the group.

That night we went to bed early, and the next day was our best day. We decided that we wanted to go see all the artwork in the desert before they all got burned down that night. So we hopped onto our bikes, and headed into the playa. However, there was a dust storm happening in the playa, that we had been protected from in the camp. So as we rode out there, we were assaulted by the wind and sand and we could barely see anything. Our group stayed very close together as we rode out blindly into the dust. We were prepared enough that we had goggles with us, and we covered our mouths with fabric so we could breathe. But I have to say, it really was amazing to ride out into the dust, not able to see anything, and not knowing where we were really going, and then to have a huge gorgeous structure suddenly appear in front of us out of the dust. I think that is exactly how someone should see desert art. It was absolutely magical. And then we would walk into the art and it was like a safe haven from the harsh conditions outside. And we would stay and just really enjoy how beautiful it was and watch the dust swirling around outside. We spent most of our day doing that, and then came back to center camp and collapsed with some cold drinks. We were all so covered in dust that Jen was teasing Dave and me that we were finally the same color! That's never happened before.

Dave spent the rest of the afternoon at the book tent and Jen and I went to the Necklace Factory tent and I made myself a gorgeous garnet necklace. We needed some quiet time to focus on something other than struggling for survival so this was exactly what we all needed. Another woman in the Necklace tent said she always makes a new necklace each time she comes to BM. That necklace sort-of represents who she was at that particular BM, and she is always so surprised at how each necklace is so different from any of the other ones. I think that sounds like a terrific idea and I am going to do that too if I ever go back.

Which brings me to the question you are probably dying to know the answer to. Are we going to go back? For me the answer is "I don't know yet." It was an amazing experience, and I'd love to do it again. But, there are so many adventures for Dave and me to have still, I'm not sure we'll repeat this one. We'll have to see how we feel each year as Labor Day weekend approaches. I think each year it will be a new decision, and that's how I like to run my life. Keep it an adventure. Keep it spontaneous. But I will say this. I've never experienced anything like this in my life. So, if you have the constitution to handle the desert and camping for a few days, I would highly reccommend that you experience Burning Man at least once in your life. And then you can say "All I have to say is OH MY GAWD!!!!!"

Memories of Hawaii

Ahhhh........last night I was reviewing pictures so I could post something new up here and all the memories of Hawaii came flooding back to me. It was so soothing, it almost felt like I was on vacation again....but only for a moment ;-) I wish a memory could take you back and keep you there for longer.

I never got the opportunity to tell you all about Hawaii. Wanna here about it? Well to start with, the weather was absolutely amazing. Sunny during the day, and rainy at night. The night rains kept things cool so it was just gorgeous in the daytime. And the grounds of the retreat where we were staying were incredible. We had our own waterfall with wading pools that we could hike to right on the grounds. And you know the view in the picture I now have posted on my profile? The hot tub was overlooking that view.

Walking the grounds was so relaxing and meditative. Everything was so lush and gorgeous, and there were beautiful Balinese Hindu statues everywhere. Our room was gorgous with marble walls, a huge golden Budha at the head of the bed and an outdoor shower surrounded by stained glass walls. And right outside our room we had our own private little wading pool. One wall of our room was just glass and a sliding glass door, so we woke up each morning to the view of our beautiful little pool with the statue of a woman filling up her water pot reflecting in the water.

The very first day we got there, as we were walking around discoving the property, Dave found a coconut that had dropped from on of the trees on the property. He went to the front desk and they gave him a macheti and he opened up the coconut. The milk was so sweet and yummy. Then I scooped out the meat and poured water over it each day so that I could have coconut milk every morning. Yummy! What a way to start the day.

All of our meals were included and were vegetarian. We were a bit concerned about not having any meat, but OMG the food was so so delicious. I'm Indian, so I'm pretty used ot good vegetarian food, but I have never tasted anything quite like this. The food was really tasty and every day they served something completely new and unexpected. They only serve Indian food one day. Both Dave and I were really impressed.

The yoga classes were fabulous and we met some really neat people there. One day I led a veil dancing class too, which was greatly appreciated. One of the guys in the class heard that I love gardenias and brought me back a stunning one from one of his hikes. In a way, it was all like a dream. I can't capture the exquisiteness of it all here. But it was amazing to be in this gorgeous physical environment, eating this incredible food that made you feel so relaxed and good inside, with weather that could have been special ordered from God. And then to have the opportunity to hang-out with these beautiful people. Everyone we met in the retreat was so full of life. They all had such great stories and we just loved visiting with them every single day. I'm pretty social, but I'm not usually that social. Usually I really want some alone time. But this time, I just couldn't wait to hang-out with our new friends. Just thinking about it all I'm tearing up. I really want to go back.

The last day of our trip was our wedding anniversary and one of the guys in the group offerred to take us out on his sailboat for the day, which of course we couldn't refuse! So we spent a lovely afternoon sailing along the coast of Maui and drinking flavored ice tea. Then we went back to his house. He and his wife buy homes and remodel them and sell them, so he showed us around his newly remodeled home. Have you ever walked on bamboo flooring? OMG, it felt so wonderful on the feet! It was soft, smooth, and had a lot of give. It was like being in slippers when you're walking barefoot! They also showed us a spot in their house that they are thinking of putting in a 600 gallon fishtank. And they were so inspired by pictures we brought of our seahorse tank that now they are thinking of making their's a seahorse tank. Oooooooo, it's going to be lovely. I hope we get to see it sometime.

That night Dave took me out to the best restaurant in town for dinner. The food was good, but the ambiance was amazing. The restaurant had their very own beach with lots of coconut trees, gorgeous rock formations out off the beach, and tiki torches lit everywhere. And the windows of the restaurant faced the sunset so we got to watch the sun go down behind the beach and tiki torches as we sipped our Hawaian alcoholic concoctions.

Oh yes, have you ever seen a moon bow? One night we were driving along the coast and we saw a silvery arch spread across the sky over the ocean. At first we thought it was spot lights, but there is no way you could get them to arch that way, and the arch started and ended in the ocean. It was nearly a full moon that night, so we figured out it was a moon bow. Like a rainbow, but at night. It was absolutley gorgeous!!!! And our friends that live on Maui say they've only ever seen one of those in the 2 years they've lived there. We were really lucky to see it. Wow, what a treat!

Did you want to see some pictures? If so, go to:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/travelingnuts/albums

My heart is breaking.....

Oh my Gawd! My heart has just fallen into the pit of my stomach and feels like it is melting. The seahorses are gone. We delivered them to their new home today. I just want to cry. We've known this was coming. We are moving to France very soon. We need to start looking for renters for the house in Sept. We've started packing and I've had an upscale consignment store come price all of our furniture. They'll come take it all away in a couple of weeks. But that's all just stuff. I love my stuff, but it is still just things. My heart isn't tied up in them. Those changes have put it right in front of my face....we're leaving. Life is changing fast. But this...OMG this hurts. I just want to cry. The tank is barren and empty. No little guys joyfully wiggling around to say hello. No more sweet snicks good morning. No more of Rocky's showing off, or Jacqualine's (the cleaner shrimp's) pranks. How the heck did we get so attached to our FISH?!!!! I must be nuts. But the tank is the center point of our house, and now the house feels so different. Now, I have to face it. As exciting as this move is going to be, it will present huge challenges for us. And the journey has begun.

I have yet another passion now....

I have yet another passion now. As if I needed yet another one :-)
I was so inspired by the introduction of partner yoga in my summer yoga class on July 19th that I borrowed a book from a friend of mine about Partner yoga over the weekend. This is particularly interesting because coincidentally, Dave and I are leaving for a weeklong yoga workshop in Hawaii on Saturday. The class we are taking focuses on individual poses, but as we both build our strength, I’m sure we can bring partner yoga into our repertoire of practice. I am so very excited. The book is called “Partner Yoga” by Cain Carroll and Lori Kimata.

In this book, the first distinction they made was the difference between partner assisted yoga and partner yoga. In partner assisted yoga, on person does the pose while the other assists. In partner yoga, both people are involves in and benefit from the pose. A good example of this is the double triangle pose, which was introduced in class, as well as is the first position introduced in the book. To get into the double triangle, you and your partner stand back to back, both positioning yourselves in the triangle posture, pressing your backs together and eventually touching hands up above you. Together you have created a new position and it creates a completely different feeling than doing the posture alone. Both of you are giving support and receiving benefits from the joint posture at the same time. Also, if one of you gets off balance, both of you topple over. So there is a lot of trust and teamwork involved. (I think Dave and I will both want to kill each other for the first few practices J !)

There are several good reasons to practice partner yoga. First, cultivating touch. In the book they talk about the many benefits of touch and how because partner yoga involves touch, that alone is a great benefit. I agree, but I don’t actually think it’s the biggest benefit. There are so many ways we get to touch people that this seems like just another way to do that.

Next they talk about the fitness aspect of partner yoga. In partner yoga, you expand your concept of fitness from just physical fitness to include physical, mental, emotional and spiritual fitness. This is the benefit of yoga in general, and therefore applies here too. Interestingly though, practicing partner yoga means using the full practice, the postures, the breath, and the partnership, to stop the mind running wild and to get the most benefit from the practice.

Other benefits of partner yoga include having fun and relaxing. Partner yoga is supposed to be playful and fun. In partner yoga, it’s not how perfectly you execute a posture; it’s how much you enjoy the posture. Here is a great excerpt from the book:

“Let’s say you’re moving into a posture and you’re not able to stretch as far as you would like. You are disappointed and uncomfortable. You’re not having fun. Here’s where those “new eyes” come in. This is an opportunity to turn pain into growth, fear into courage, and resistance into acceptance. When you can redirect your self-criticism and look at yourself instead with curiosity and compassion, you have just moved a mountain. You have found a new way of being you. If you can find the ability to laugh at your shortcomings and be amused by your insecurities, life becomes less serious and more fun.”

I LOVE THAT!!!

Another great point they make is to make sure partner yoga doesn’t end up as another item on your “to do” list. They make the statement I have heard so many times, “we are quickly becoming a race of human ‘doings’ rather than of human beings.” There are too many things that are already on our “to do” lists. Partner yoga is about learning to relax and “just be.”

And finally, they talk about partner yoga as a way to strengthen relationships. Partner yoga uses the good old buddy system that has been around for a very long time. And we all know that buddy systems work. Looking out for each other, finding safety in pairs, and watching your partner’s back are concepts that are familiar to all of us. Here is another great excerpt from the book:

“As kids, we were taught to hold hands when crossing the street and to always travel with a buddy. As we get older, many activities use this same concept. Scuba diving, weight lifting, and rock climbing, for example, use the buddy system for safety and support. Partner yoga postures use the buddy system in similar ways. If you notice that your partner is stepping way out of alignment in a posture or that his attention seems to be waning, you can encourage him back. At other times, you will be physically supporting your partner and literally watching out for his safety. Partner postures remind us of how important it is to have a buddy and what it really means to be one.”

From here they moved on to the tradition of yoga and the postures. All great stuff, but too much to write about here. I am so excited about this. Plus, yoga is really helping my dancing! Woohoo!

I'm just not getting that whole sex thing!

French class has been so fun. Through the weeks we've learned so much, not only about the language, but about the culture. Our teacher is very Perisian, and just the way she talks about things makes us realize how different the French are from us. In one of our class discussions we were talking about where things are in relationship to each other. For instance, the rug is "under" the couch. At one point someone said the cat is "on" the chair. The teacher exclaimed, "cats don't get on chairs! Only bad mannered cats get on chairs!" She wanted us to make "logical" sentences, not nonsensical ones, so this one didn't work. But, in my mind I was thinking, "Have you ever had a cat? They go where they please!"

Then one day we were talking about meals and someone said they would have a coke with dinner. Oh my gawd she was horrified! Coke with dinner? You don't have coke with dinner, only with lunch! Then she calmly said, "well, everything is possible in this world," to which I replied "everything is possible in America!" I can't believe I said that. But the teacher laughed at least.

But some of our funniest moments have been as we were leaving class. We leave class around 9ish each evening, and invariable there are tables full of studying students in the hallway as we walk out. One day Dave and I came out of class and down the hall, near the math lab, I stopped to search for my keys. Dave asked "so how are you doing in class?" I exclaimed, "I'm just not getting that whole sex thing!" (Referring too the fact that all the nouns are male or female.) Of course, everyone around us looked up. So Dave responds "I got that sex thing down pretty well. I'm actually pretty good at it." "Well, it's giving me trouble," I pouted. Dave consoles "don't worry. You'll figure out the whole sex thing just fine when we get to France. You'll have plenty of Frenchmen there to help y0u." To this people just burst out laughing. Ha! We caught them eaves-dropping :-) Now we frequently walk out of class speaking french so people can't understand what we are saying. But every once in a while we'll throw in the word "sex" quietly in English, just to get their minds wondering ;-)

Can you believe this?

Hi Everyone!
I have so many stories I want to share with you, and absolutely no time to sit in front of my computer and blog. :( But....last night I was looking through cards on Bluemountain to send one to my Dad, and I came across this one. It's so funny I couldn't stop laughing, so I had to share it with you. I think they only keep these up for 2 weeks, so go take a look.

OMG, I can't even believe that people send this card to people they know. But it is sooooo funny!
http://www.bluemountain.com/view.pd?i=145620060&m=4329&rr=y&source=bma999

Mini Cooper Jumping Video

Any Mini Cooper fans out there? You have to see this video!

http://stupidvideos.com/video/stunts/fm_miniskijump/

French in Seattle

What a weekend!!!! Dave and I went to Seattle to see some friends and visit family and we had such a great time. When we arrived in Seattle, a friend of ours came to pick us up at the airport. As we were waiting for our luggage she asked, "are you guys afraid of heights?" "Uh, no," we responded, "why?" "Well," she said, "we're having bed problems." Big grins spread across our faces. I was imagining a big crane in the backyard with a bed swinging from it, while Dave was wondering if we were going to be asked to sleep on the roof. "Um," we both murmerred, trying to stay serious, "what do you mean?" It turns out they just got new furniture for the guest room and now the top of the mattress is about 4 feet off the ground. Dave and I burst out laughing. At least we weren't going to be swinging from a crane in the backyard in the rain! The problem was easily fixed with a little stepping stool so I could climb into bed. Dave decided he'd prefer to get a running start and launch himself into bed. My husband! In the morning when I woke up I mentioned to Dave, "we are so close to the ceiling.....we could practically paint it."

Well, that's how the weekend started, and it just got better from there. We got to spend some great time with Cathy and Martin, and their 3 year old daughter Ella. Ella has gotten so talkative she is absolutely adorable. And I had forgotten, but Martin is French Canadian, so he speeks French! So, we got to practice French all weekend with him and Ella, who is also learning how to speak French. Cathy understands French fine, but prefers to speak English, which is fine by me so I didn't feel like I had to speak French if I didn't want to.

To aid in our learning, we played some of Ella's French games and read some of her books. It's pretty amazing how much she knows, at the age of 3! Any question we asked her, she knew the answer to.

As we were practicing at one point Martin exclaimed "Dave, you have the WORST accent I have ever heard!" And Dave exclaimed back, "Oh, merci, merci monsieur!" To which Martin replied, "and evidently your comprehension isn't very good either." Those two guys! But that did prove to me the thing that I keep telling everyone who tries to correct our accents. Some people think Dave's accent is better than mine, others think mine is better than his. My opinion is that our accent will need to be determined by where we finally decide to live. If we live in Lyon, our accent will need to be different than if we live in Paris. So, as long as we practice the nasal sounds and get our vowels and "r" sounds at least semi-okay, we will adjust when we get to our final destination.

The weather in Seattle was fabulous and we hated to leave. But the weekend quickly came to an end, and we flew home on the 4th of July. I wasn't planning another trip to Seattle before we leave for France, but now I'm reconsidering. Maybe just one more trip......

Truth? From a Politician?!

Last week we saw "An Inconvenient Truth" and all I want to say is:

You have to see this one!

It was very well done and it really openned my eyes to truths I didn't know before. Plus, in one of the funniest scenes in the movie you get to see Al Gore moaning lustily over a pile of gold ;-) Are you intriqued....

I'm still here....

Hi Everyone!
No, I haven't fallen off the planet. I'm still here! Life has gotten nuts. I've started summer school! Yes, you heard me....summer school! Dave and I decided we needed to learn French more quickly than we were, so we are taking a summer French class. So...we are in class 4 nights a week for 3 hours each night, for 6 weeks! Can you imagine? Plus homework and lab time. We need 5 hours of lab time per week! And to top it off, I am taking a yoga class for 2 hours each morning. And amongst all of that, we do need to actually keep life going by working (go figure), and house chores, etc. So needless to say, we have absolutely no time left in our schedules for the fun things in life like making phone calls, seeing friends, and blogging.

In spite of being so busy, we are really, really enjoying our classes. My yoga teacher is so good that every time I walk out of class it's like I just got a massage. I was talking to another girl in the class and she said that when she walks out of there it's like she is walking on air. I've tried a lot of yoga in my life, and this is the first time I am truly enjoying it. Yippee!

And I our French teacher is really fabulous. She is so entertaining, but challenges us to our limit. I love that. I talked to her a bit about my fear of not being able to get along well in France because of my language capacities and she told me not to worry too much about it. She's from Paris and she says that even there now, everyone speaks English and as long as I am trying to learn, people will help. She really put my mind at ease.

And our classmates in the French class are terrific too. It's so much fun to meet people and find out why they would spend so many hours of thier summer in French class. Most of them have a true desire to learn the language, so we are all over-achievers. It makes the class very exciting.

Anyways, I just wanted to fill you in on why I stopped blogging. I'll say hi periodically over the next 6 weeks to keep you updated.

The Complete Works ....

of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

As promised, here is my quick review of this play we saw in Sunnyvale (at the California Theatre Center (CTC)). The word I would use to describe this one is "Hysterical". Once again this play is done so well that it is fall-out-of-your-chair funny. The whole audience, old and young was laughing constantly. And even during the intermission people couldn't stop laughing. The show was such a treat.

I've seen this show twice now. Once 2 years ago in Milpitas, and then once more this weekend. The 1st performance was done by a company who had very little money and therefore, not much of a set. The 3 actors who performed all the parts of all the Shakespearean plays had to seriously compensate for the lack of props. They were like "actors on crack!" It was amazing. They acted, ran about the stage, dragged things in from back stage (a ladder served as Juliet's balcony, they had a blow up godzilla for....well I should let you guess, folding chairs served as thrones). I couldn't believe all the energy they had, and the acting was so engaging you never noticed that they were compensating for so much.

This performance had much more money behind it. The set was wonderful, and the actors were super. It had a completely different flavor than the last one, and it was still amazing. The actors seem to have a lot of liberty to add things into the performances as they seem fit. So each performance has some different jokes and different uses of props.

For instance, in the Milpitas performance, one of the guys exclaimed incessantly "I am slain!" Well, you know, in every single Shakespeare play someone dies, so this actor fell to the ground in a heap in so many creative, hysterical ways, we can't stop quoting him even today...2 years later. In the Sunnyvale performance, one of the actors exclaimed, "I don't want to perform boring vomitless Shakespeare!" So every time he played a woman, some poor audience member would have a Shakespearean actor standing above them pretented to....well....you get the idea. If you see this performance don't sit in the first row or on the sides of the rows.

Oh yes, and Dave got pulled onto the stage to perform as Ophelia's "ID" (you know, part of the triad of the Id, Ego, and Super Ego). He ran back and forth across the stage flailing his arms as the audience chanted at poor Ophelia. Now that was different!

The moral of the story.....see this play, no matter where you get to see it. It seems that each different performance is exciting and new and makes you laugh so hard you cry. And when you see it, let me know how you liked it.

Hairspray

Have you seen the musical Hairspray? If not, you have to see it. We have season tickets to the American Musical Theatre San Jose and they are doing a production of Hairspray right now, and it is fabulous. It's probably the best production they've done in 2, and maybe even more, years. The acting is fabulous. The singing was terrific. I couldn't believe what a great dancer the lead was. And Dave and I couldn't stop laughing throughout the show. So, if you're looking for a fun way to spend an evening, you might check this show out.

This weekend, for Father's Day, Dave and I are taking Dave's Dad to see "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" in Sunnyvale. Dave and I have seen that show through another production company once before and it was probably one of the funniest shows we've ever seen in our lives. I'll let you know how this production of it is.

Have a great weekend!

People come into your life for a reason....

Hi there Everyone!

Have you ever noticed that if you are open to life's lessons, the lessons come from the most unexpected places, but at the exact time of need? A friend of mine posted a blog recently, and it felt like just one of those deeply needed lessons. This has been a year of loss for me. Loss and change actually. For me change is exciting, but loss can cause deep sadness. And I have questioned many times what is causing the outflux of people from my life. In truth, there has also been a huge influx of people into my life who have made me very happy. But I hate to lose relationships that are important to me. My friend's blog lifted my heart and gave me a new perspective. It made the evolution of my relationships in the last few months seem more meaningful and natural. Thanks Megan for posting this blog. And here it is for the rest of you. I hope you enjoy it....

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of you life.

For those of you who know about my caffeine addiction...

This has been making the rounds on the internet again. An oldie but goodie. Should I warn you? Nah...

http://www.dvo.com/newsletter/monthly/2004/august/ghost_car_ad.mp4

Enjoy!
Monica

Sex of a Fly

Hi Everyone!
I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I wanted to say hello. Here is a really cute joke for ya. Hope it makes your day.


A woman walked into the kitchen to find herhusband stalking around with a fly swatter.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Hunting Flies" He responded.
"Oh? Killing any?" She asked.
"Yep, 3 males, 2 Females," he replied.

Intrigued, she asked.
"How can you tell them apart?"
He responded,3 were on a beer can,
2 were on the phone."

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

Love Rocks!

We just got home from a lovely weekend away in Ben Lomond....yes, Ben Lomond. So, you ask,
where the heck is Ben Lomond? It's a tiny little town in the Santa Cruz mountains and I
think it's population is only about 4000 people. So, what do you do for 4 days in a town
that small? Well, the first night we went to a restaurant called Ciao Bella. It's Italian
food, but you have to see this place. It's decorated with all sorts of pieces of naughty Americana, and just wierd stuff. Posters, pictures, murals, manikins, things hanging from the ceiling,
halloween masks (Hillary Clinton's face on a stand greeted us at the door...that was
scary!), quotes. There was stuff everywhere. There were even manikins on the roof! And then there were the performers. First the staff did a great hip hop type dance, but they kept manhandling each other on stage :). Then there was the transvestite with thigh high boots and a boa dancing around the restaurant. Ah, do you get the picture? The atmosphere overwhelmed the senses, and so did the food. It was really yummy Italian food, and the service was fabulous. It was definitely an experience! Check out their web-site at http://www.ciaobellabenlomond.com/photos.html

The next day we strolled the local Art and Wine festival, and then went to a local beer
garden for MaiFest. It was a real beer garden!!!! Can you imagine? What the heck is a
beer garden doing in Ben Lomond of all places? But the place was packed. They had a live
band consiting of jolly old men all dressed up in their Liederhosen playing happy German
tunes. The waitresses wore the traditional german beer garden attire and served full Maases
of yummy German beer. And just like in Germany, they even had half Maases, for us
light-weights. It was a fun-filled evening of singing gaily with other drunks at long
tables lined with beer.

The last day, we spent the day reading on the deck of the B&B we stayed at and just taking
in the sun. It was blissful, and then in the evening, came the best part of the weekend.
I'm not sure what inspired this sudden artistry, but Dave declared he had written me a song,
and he wanted to perform it. We had just come home from an nice dinner at the Shadowbrook
so he was very nicely dressed. To achieve the perfect affect for his song however, he
needed to change into jeans, which he did. Then he stood before me, invisible electric guitar in
hand, and began to "play". You wanna see the song?

Ready or not, here it comes......

Singing in his hoarse rock-star voice....

My Sweetie Pie, she comes from Napa
When I met her, my heart got a zappa.
My knees grew week, I lost my running shoes
'Cause I knew right then "I love you"

Chorus:With her dazzling smile
she sends me up a mile.
When she does a belly dance
She puts me in a trance.
But above all else, one thing is true
Mon Petite Chou*....I love you! (Mon Petite chou is basically "my sweetheart" in French)

I gave her a kiss on a boulder
I gave her a kiss on the shoulder
I gave her a kiss to stop us getting older
And with each kiss I got a little bolder
'Cause let me tell you, she wasn't getting colder!

Chorus:With her dazzling smile
she sends me up a mile.
When she does a belly dance
She puts me in a trance.
But above all else, one thing is true
Mon Petite Chou....I love you!

Some say with marriage, the fun is dead,
but for us it just got started instead.
Play, play, play. It's all we seem to do.
Our parents shouted "What's wrong with you!!!!!!!!!"

Here he did a music solo. He made the guitar sing, or rather was singing for the guitar. And then when he came back to earth from his state of musical euphoria.....

What's the future hold, with life's cloudy weather?
Whatever it is, we'll face it together.
Your hand in mine, our hearts carefree,
It's the two of us...singularly.

Now was that art or what?!!!! I tell you man, it's totally true.....Love Rocks!

Installing love

Hi there! A friend of mine sent this to me yesterday and I couldn't resist sharing it....

Installing Love Tech Support: Yes, ... how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support: What programs are running ?

Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ?

Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program not run on external components." What should I do?

Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentmnt are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer: Thank you, God.

Learning to tell time

The French lessons continue, and today's lesson was hysterical. It's just so obvious who these tape sets are created for. Today we were learning how to ask for and tell the time. The conversation we learned went like this:

Him: Hello Mademoiselle.
Her: Madame, Monsieur. NOT Mademoiselle. (Ouch! This isn't looking good.)
Him: Sorry Madame. What time is it?
Her: It is 1:00.
Him: Thank you. Would you like to have a drink with me?
Her: No thank you, Monsieur.
Him: Not now? Would you like to have a drink with me at 2:00?
Her: No Monsieur, I do not want to have a drink with you at 2:00.
Him: Ah, a little later? Would you like to have some beer or some wine at 8:00 or 9:00?
Her: Absolutely not Monsieur! Not now, and not later!
Him: Oh, I understand. You don't want to have a drink with me. (Here I picture her rolling her eyes inwardly and sighing in relief. But...)
Him: You would like to eat with me! Where would you like to eat lunch?
Her: Monsieur, I do not want to eat or have a drink with you!
Him: You don't want to eat or have a drink with me today?
Her: No Monsieur, I do not.
Him: But you want to have a drink with me tomorrow!
Her: No Monsier, you do not understand.
Him: What do I not understand?
Her: You do not understand French.

OMG, could you imagine watching this conversation happen? I'm not sure whether to feel more sorry for him because he's so dense, or for her for having to endure this conversation. It just sounds so painful. But we couldn't stop grinning as we were listening to it. However, at least we now know how to say "Absolutely not!!!!" That's a fun one to use frequently in daily conversation. Especially in public. Dave might say something like "would you like to have a french fry?" and I exclaim in French "absolutely not!" Everyone around us looks and wonders what just happened at THAT table. And we just grin at each other knowingly.

Crackers at the Ritz

I am falling so behind. Oh my goodness! I can't keep up! All this celebrating, and no time to write about it!

Okay, so I have 3 blogs I am dying to write, and time to only write one. So, we'll start with the first one, regarding Tuesday, and then stay tuned for the Wed. stories.

Tues. May 9th was my official day-after-your-birthday celebration. That's what Dave calls it because the place we wanted to go to for my birthday wasn't open on Monday. Guess where we had our official day-after-your-birthday celebration? At the Ritz Carlton San Francisco. Okay, now before any of you out there start to get the impression that we are hoity toity types, let me just state that "WE ARE NOT HOITY TOITY TYPES!" We just really love amazing food, and we do something incredibly indulgent about twice a year. And what better time to indulge than for a birthday, don't you think?

Let me start by demonstrating that we are not Hoity Toity. When we walked into The Dining Room at the Ritz, it was exceedingly evident that we did not belong there. All the men in the restaurant were dressed in tuxedos or Armani suits. Dave actually fit in very well with his very classy custom made suit (from Hong Kong). The women were all dressed in black evening gown with spaghetti straps and deep necklines, wearing diamond strings to accentuate their collar bones. It's like they were all in a predetermined uniform.....which I didn't get the memo about. I walked in wearing a peach floral summer dress! Oh my! Thank goodness they seated us at the very first table they came to. People must have been staring agast!

From my point of view, we got the best table in the house. We got seated right by the entry hall, which meant that we could see the whole restaurant and watch everyone who came in and out. People-watching heaven!!!! It's like we were hosting a party :-) Many of the guests said hello and good-bye to us as they arrived and left. They do this in Europe everywhere actually. Whenever you enter or leave a restaurant in Germany in particular, everyone in the restaurant says hello (Gutten Tag or Gutten Abend) and good-bye (Wiedesehn). It is very, very nice, but we don't normally do that here at home. So, it felt very European to have this happening at the Ritz.

We had been to the Ritz San Francisco once about 9 years ago, and hadn't really been very impressed. Our favorite French restaurant at the time was Masa's, which is a small boutique restaurant with a very creative menu. The Ritz menu was more traditional and was very good, but didn't leave us wanting more. I know we should have given them a try again, but we just didn't feel motivated. So each year for many years, we continued one of our semi-annual adventures each year at Masa's, until about 2 years ago. We went there for my Birthday that year and were fairly disappointed with the menu. They had just changed chefs so we figured the chef hadn't really settled in yet. So, we tried them again later in the year. Again, it just wasn't the same, and worse, our favorite waiter Michael was gone. Okay, so here is my aside about waiters.

Dave and I have been very fortunate to have been able to dine in some really exquisite places. Most of them have spectacular food and we leave feeling like our bodies just went to heaven. Certainly the cuisine and skill of the chef makes a huge difference, but the thing that really sets one restaurant apart from the others as far as making people want to come back is the service. The food can be amazing, but if the service isn't good the whole experience suffers. The one thing I have discovered is that when you get to a certain level of dining, the wait staff really gets that they are there to host you. To make you feel at home and give you the best dining experiece ever. This requires the same skills that hosting a dinner party at your home does. You want each guest to feel comfortable, in the way that works best for them.

So, for instance, many guests at these restaurants want a sophisticated, formal atmosphere, which is actually pretty easy for a waiter in this environment to affect. These guys have worked their ways up to these places, so they have had work with a lot of "hoity toity" types, and it becomes par for the course. Not easy, but easy for them. But if you have guests like Dave and me walk in, it pushes your hosting talent. We look for "passionate about food," friendly, and with a sense of humor. Fortunately, the fine dining crowd has become younger and more relaxed in the past 10 years, but still many waiters seem to have a hard time dealing with them. This new crowd just isn't "proper" enough. Right? In the movie "Titanic" they made the distinction between Old Money (the right and proper rich), and New Money (us kids who have no right rubbing elbows with the rich. We're the ones that have to work for everything we get...the working class). You can tell how well trained a wait staff is by how they deal with the newer crowd. The "hoity toity" waiter expects you to act properly. From my point of view that means that he percieves that you are there to make HIM happy. The world-class waiter expects of himself to make you comfortable. He is there to make YOU happy.

Okay, why the big aside? Because at a nice restaurant service means everything to me. Especially since I hate doing the whole "hoity toity" thing. It's sooooooo boring, and I can't pull it off anyways. And losing Michael at Masa's dramatically changed our experience there. We ended up with a very efficient, very proper, hoity toity waiter, and I couldn't wait to leave. Dave would say something really funny to me and I would start to laugh (and I always laugh a bit too loudly), and I would get looked at disapprovingly by this waiter. So I had to sit there quietly all evening. In the past, Michael would laugh with us. The tables around us wanted to know what was going on because we were having such a good time. Many of them joined in the conversation and it was like a big party through the evening. I'm not knocking Masa's, we'll try them again soon I'm sure, I'm just saying that our experience the last 2 times we were there was very similar to the experience we had at the Ritz about 9 years ago. So, it was time for us to search for a new favorite.

Anyways, Dave found out that our favorite Masa's chef had moved to the Ritz in SF, so it seemed like a good time for us to give the Ritz a try again. And OMG are we glad we did! The food was absolutely amazing. I was talking to the waiter about Ron Siegel, the chef, and how he seemed to be having so much fun at the Ritz. His dishes were so creative and had such surprising flavors. Benjamin, our waiter, told us that Ron has complete freedom here. He goes to the farmer's market twice a week and buys whatever he fancies that day. No budget limits, no menu limits. He creates his menu, and at the Ritz they have the clientele to pay for whatever he decides to whip up. So, he gets to "play" every day. And you can really tell how much he loves it.

After we sat down and ordered, little taster plates came out one at a time. None of this stuff was on the menu, but Mr. Siegel was trying out some new items, and wanted to see how the guests liked them. So the waiter kept coming out with something unexpected. At one point he told us he didn't know when our real menu items would start arriving, because the chef kept wanting to send out more new stuff. How fun!!!! One of the tasters was a sea urchin mouse, garnished with peppercorns, and served in a martini glass. It was absolutely delectable. Who'd have thought? No one makes sea urchin, because it can be poisonous and is incredibly difficult to cook.

Finally our menu items started to arrive. I had ordered Mr. Siegel's famed 9 course Salt and Pepper Menu, and Dave ordered the 6 course tasting menu. The reason my menu is famous is because they use all sorts of salt and pepper from all over the world in the dishes. My first course was a dungeness crab claw, wrapped with spot prawn shashimi, flavored with Kauai sea salt, topped with pink peppercorns, resting in a small protion of rice vinegar. It was melt-in-your-mouth incredible. My favorite dish of the evening was my Foie Gras. My menu came with it, and Dave added a house foie gras to his menu, so we got to try both. My foie gras was flavored with long pepper and served with huckleberries, apple reduction, and tonka bean essence. It was light and savory. It was also huge. They gave me twice as much foie gras as I've ever been served before. And it was absolutely amazing. Each bite just melted on my tongue. It was truly the best foie gras I've ever had. Dave's foie gras was served with spicy pickled huckleberries and a crouton. It was delightful, but sweeter than mine, so I preferred mine to his.

Oh yes, I also had the TAHITIAN VANILLA SEA SALT & MUNTOCK WHITE PEPPER
seared toro with beech mushrooms and mirin reduction. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? But what was most surprising about this dish was that they served it with fresh wasabi. Benjamin brought out a little grater and a stick of wasabi and grated it right there at the table. It was so smooth, almost creamy. Nothing like the stuff we are used to getting at sushi places. Dave tried it straight up and loved it. It still had that wasabi "heat" but it was really delicate. Incredible!

I won't go through all the menu items, but let's just say that the meal kept us in awe the whole evening. For me, even the sorbet taster before desert sat in a delicate champaigne and was topped with a sprinkling of green peppercorns. Again, who'd have thought? It was a very refreshing mix of sweet and spicy.

And then after all of that, my favorite part of the meal came. The chocolate cart. This is something that Masa's does, and I've never seen it anywhere else.....until now. They come out with a cart of freshly made candy concoctions. Chocolate, tarts, bites of pound cake flavored in special ways, mocha marshmellows, pistachio taffy, and of course lollipops. Once at Masa's a woman at the table next to me suggested that Michael leave the cart between her and me so we could graze. We all laughed at the joke, but Michael winked and suddenly had to grab someone a glass of wine. She and I took in the smells of all the chocolate and then he served us each one piece of everything. I'd been craving that same experience ever since, and here it was.

As the chocolate cart arrived at other tables the waiters would explain each treat to the guest and they would pick whatever few pieces they want. Benjamin brought the cart over and proceeded to serve me one of each little treat. He didn't even ask, he just knew. I felt like I had gotten permission to be really bad, and I didn't even have to ask. Woohoooo!!!!

Benjamin was like that all evening. He was so much fun. Early in the evening Dave gave me my birthday present. I went speachless when I openned a beautiful pair of earrings. Benjamin saw the look on my face and came over to admire the earrings. I promptly ran (well mossied quickly) to the restroom to put them on. When I came back Benjamin did his oo-ing and ah-ing...he was so good at this :-) Then Dave leaned over to him and said "good thing I didn't bring the lingerie she's getting later. She might have put that on and modeled it too!" Benjamin got a big grin on his face, then blushed. He said politely "thanks for sharing that thought." Then he ran away. Dave is sooooooo bad.

Later, after we ate our foie gras and I had that blissful post-foie gras look on my face, Benjamin asked how it was. Dave said politely, it was very good. I sprung to life and exclaimed that "it was insane!!!!!!" Benjamin laughed. Turning to Dave he said "she certainly has a way with words doesn't she?" We all had a good laugh.

Our Sommelier was also a very delightful person. He was French and as soon as he found out we were moving to France, he wanted to talk all about it. It turns out he lived right outside of Lyon, which is actually where we might end up living, so he had all sorts of great advice for us. It was wonderful. Plus he recommended some amazing wines. We started with a light Riesling to go with the beginning lighter portion of the meal. Then when the meat started arriving he served us a very different Pinot Noir. It came from a winery in Newburg, OR just outside of Portland, so the grapes have a very different flavor. It didn't really taste like a Pinot Noir, but I'd never tasted anything like it. It was really yummy (technical term)!

And at the end of the evening, when they brought me out a little birthday treat with a candle Benjamin shared that his birthday was on May 8th. When I told him that the 8th was my real birthday too (not Tuesday which was the 9th) he exclaimed "No wonder we get along so well!" So, another May 8ther to add to the club. I love those May 8th types!

As we waited for the bill, one of the couples who had become louder and louder through the evening as they drank their wine, got ready to leave. They were two very, very striking men dressed up in tuxedos. Dave called one of them "the rock star" because his blonde hair was moussed straight up in the air. As he left the restaurant he grinned broadly at as, tilted his head back, waggled his fingers and said "au revoir." We smiled and returned the au revoir. As his boyfriend started to walk by us Dave asked him how he liked his dinner. He had had the same thing I had had, so Dave was curious to see how he liked it. Through him we found out that the "rock star" was actually a travel writer and was reviewing the restaurant. He was up from LA for the weekend and "expected" his boyfriend to go to all these rich meals with him! I said gently "it must be rough." He exclaimed "it is! It is!" He explained that he couldn't control his diet this way, and the hotel was insisting that they stay there for the night. But he just wanted to go home!!! (He had a posh flat in San Francisco.) "You have no idea how rough this is!" he exclaimed in frustration. But then he calmed down and bid us adieux and was off to meet the rock star.

Oh my, what an evening that was! I'll never forget it. Dave did sooooooo good. And now we have a new favorite restaurant in SF. So when we are in the mood of an indulgence, and we want to know that it will be "so worth it," now we know where to go. Wooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!


Here is the link to the menu for Tuesday night, just in-case you're curious:

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/san_francisco/dining/venues/dining_room/menu.html


If you're interested, here is a little info about Chef Ron Siegel:

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/san_francisco/overview/pressreleases/ron+siegel+named+chef+of+the+dining+room+at+the+ritz-carlton,+san+francisco.html

Birthmonth has begun!

Have I mentioned that I love life? My birthday was yesterday, and I have to say that this has been the best birthmonth yet. What is birthmonth you ask? Well, you know how some people are big party people, and some aren't? Well my hubby loves big parties. So for his birthday we usually do a big bash and he gets to be king for a day. Me however, I prefer spending quality time with small groups of people. So, for my birthday, we usually have small get-togethers with our friends throughout the month. Thus we have birthmonth. Not bad huh ;-) Yes, yes, I know I'm spoiled rotten.....but I love it!!!!!!!!!

This year birthmonth started on April 30th, with a group of other Taureans and me celebrating our upcoming birthdays. It was a fabulous way to start birthmonth. Then, last week, my parents took me to Tahoe for a couple of days. Tahoe was absolutely gorgeous and a couple days away was just what the doctor ordered for me. Mom and I got lots of talking time while Dad gambled and won lots of money. Woohooooo! Then he spoiled us both (it was mother's day too you know?).

Then yesterday, on my actual birthday, some wonderful friends and I got together for margaritas and yummy food. I love margaritas, but I am such a light-weight. I was practically drunk after just one. I need more practice!!!! So, more celebrating this month needs to happen. By the end of the month I should be able to drink 2 margaritas and not feel it....don't you think? I need to get a lot of drinking in!!!! I'll keep you updated on how the Margarita work-out is going.

SFWAR Post-walk Update

Hi there Everyone!

Okay, so I know you are wondering how the walk went on the 29th. Well, the truth is that I had been fairly sick for a couple of days before the walk and when I woke up that morning I was still really sick. Through those 4 days I would think I was fine, go do something, and then end up feeling really sick. I won't give you any of the gross details, but let's just say that San Francisco couldn't have provided the numbers of facilities I'd have needed if I had done that walk. So, my walking team went without me.

I know that it is very disappointing to those of you who sponsored me that I didn't actually do the walk. But all of you know that if I could have been there I definitely would have been. But the truth is that the real purpose of doing the walk was to raise funds for a really, really good cause. And I gotta say, I have the most incredibly generous friends and family. Thank you everyone for all of your help. I asked SFWAR to give me a list of everyone who donated on-line, and they only sent me 2 names. Names I know should have been in there weren't included in that list. So, I know there were many more donations than got attributed to me, and I want to thank everyone for their generosity. If you didn't get a personal thank you from me, now you know why. So let me say it here. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. However, if you need a thank you card as a reciept for your donation, please let me know and I will send it out immediately.

On the SFWAR web-site they state:

"For 14 years, the citys Department on the Status of Women (DOSW) has funded our direct services and prevention and education programs for survivors of Sexual Assault. As of April 20, 2005, significant contracts were severed by DOSW." Now, they are mostly funded by generous donors in our community. It irks me tremendously that these desperately needed services for women can lose their stability so easily. So, you have no idea how much it means to me that we are able to raise funds through events like the walk. Many of you, when making your donation, appologized for not being able to give more. But please keep in mind, for services like this, every dime helps. I personally raised $1000 (that I know of) through your generosity. SFWAR raised in excess of $20,000 through this event. Think of how many abused women's lives will be changed because of that money.

I know I'm rambling, forgive me for that. But I just want all of you to know how much I appreciate your generosity. I really can't express how much your support of me in this event means to me. As you know, I understand deeply the plight of abused women and I want to do what I can to help reduce the suffering of those who are hurting. Thanks for helping me to do that. You guys really are the best. Thank you again from the very bottom of my heart.

Je comprends en peu le français

"I understand French a little."

Our attempt to learn French continues, and it seems to get funnier each day. Our recent adventure in learning the "eu" sound (as needed in the sentence above) reminds me of a great story my Father-in-law Tom and Mother-in-law Thea often tell. When they were living in France Thea, who is Dutch and therefore is more familiar with the sounds made in French speech, tried often to help Tom learn French pronunciation better. There are 2 sounds for "u" that the French make that are very hard for the American ear to distinguish. So there were endless times when Tom would say something and Thea would attempt to correct the "eu" sound. One day Tom said something, pronouncing the "eu" wrong, and of course Thea automatically corrected him

"U" he said.
"Eu" she said.
"U" he said, trying to stay calm.
"Eu" she said a bit more forcefully.
"U" he said, not able to stay so calm.
"Eu!! Eu!! Eu!!" she exclaimed in exasperation.

Tom looked at her with concern, "are you having a problem?"

Needless to say she is feeling very exasperated with OUR current serious mispronounciation of this particular sound right now. So, you will often find us walking through the house practicing our "U" sound, and each time we say "U" you'll hear from another part of the house "Eu!!!" It must just drive her nuts.

Our beautiful seahorses

Dave just took some more pictures of our adorable seahorse tank that I couldn't resist sharing. This tank is 150 gallons, so it's huge and we are going to have to dismantle it when we leave for France. We are really going to miss these guys.




Isn't this one a beauty? The seahorses are very aware of what is going on outside the tank. When I come close to the tank they completely ignore me. But when Dave comes near the tank, especially in the morning when it's feeding time, they get very excited. This one is waiting to be fed. It's like he's posing for Dave. Feed me first. Aren't I so pretty?



This is Jacque. He is our very, very industrious cleaner shrimp. Dave calls him his little monster. He has an "office" in the tank. This is where the other fish, on a swim-in basis, come to get their scales and gills cleaned. Jaque's business has been really good evidently because he has gotten HUGE since he openned shop in the tank. Of course he is so industrious that he always gets a good share of the frozen shrimp that are put into the tank at feeding time too. You should see him. He has all of his little shrimp legs stuffing food into his little mouth. My mother-in-law has given Jacque the nickname Homer because he always looks like he's stuffing his face as fast as he can during feeding time. Num, num, num, num, num. The fish guides say that these cleaner shrimp grow to be a maximum of 2 inches. Jacque, however, hasn't read the fish guide and continues to grow to brave new lengths.




Another hide and seek picture of one of our shy little seahorses. Can you find him?



Meet Rocky Outcropping. She is the fattest fish in the tank. A friend of ours named her this because one day he was looking in the tank and suddenly one of the rocks moved!!!! But this rock is all personality.




Here is a couple doing their "love dance." When a seahorses are ready to mate (and the mate often!), they begin an incredible gorgeous mating dance. Starting in the morning, the first sweep across the sand at the bottom of the tank. Then they spiral around each other up to the top of the tank. Through the day they follow each other around, wrapping thier tails, spiraling their bodies around each other, he chases her a little, then she chases him a little. About mid-afternoon he starts to open his pouch to display it as if to say "hey baby, see how big mine is." Then eventually she delivers her eggs into his pouch to be fertilized. He carries the eggs in his pouch to gestation.



This is what happens when you act foalishly and don't use protection.

Our little seahorses. I just love them!

Mahna Mahna

Good morning Everyone!

There is one other thing regarding the dance performance on Sunday that I can't resist sharing with you. One of the soloists in the contest did an absolutely fabulous dance to the song Mahna Mahna. She had everyone laughing out loud. Owen was with us at the contest and he and Dave couldn't remember the name of this song while we were there. Owen did some research on the song, and came up with this terrific video clip. I hope you enjoy it....

http://www.devilducky.com/media/7452/

I still can't believe we won!

Hi Everyone!
I got some very cute comments about my "We Won" blog. Comments included "great to hear you won, but what the heck happened at the competition?" So here is the follow-up blog with more details.

The People's Choice Belly Dance Competition is all about dancers choosing their favorite dancers out of their peers. It always feels like such a big compliment when you win a competition like this, because it says that your peers admire what you have created. There are 3 major categories in the competition: solos, duets, and troupes. Each category is awarded 1st through 4th place awards by the audience voters.

In the troupe division, there were only 4 troupes that were competing. The show put us off kilter a bit though. Several performers in early categories didn't show up, so the show was running really early. (A belly dance show running early?! Unheard of!!!!) I had a bunch of friends and family who were coming to see us at 2:45pm, and I was planning on arriving at 2 so I had time to relax and watch some dancing before I went on. At 2, just as I was pulling up to the theater, I got a call from one of my fellow dancers. “Where are you?” she asked breathlessly. “They’re running early, so were going on in 15 minutes!” OMG! Now my adrenalin was rushing through me and when I got inside we all tried to figure out how we were going to compensate for the dancers that weren’t going to be there on time.

At 2:10pm Dave showed up with his Dad and my parents and a friend. Thank goodness! And at 2:15 we went on. We were only missing one dancer, but she showed up as we were dancing the first dance, and jumped in on the second dance. Woohooo!!!! We all got to dance most of the set! And what a set it was. We had flying double veils, scimitars, Tai Chi fighting swords, and of course, hip shimmies to knock you off your seat. It was an incredible display of group innovation because all of us chipped in to create the pieces. We were so excited to perform the set, and the whole place went still when we started. We got everyone’s undivided attention. It felt magical.

When I left the stage, it felt like we had done really well. But, it turned out that after the performance, several dancers were really upset. I guess things hadn’t gone as well for everyone as I thought.

But we all had good attitudes. We came. We danced. We got to show the world what we could create as a team. We debuted Tai Chi fighting sword belly dancing to the world!!!! That was cool! Now we could enjoy the rest of the show and hope to win next year. We all changed back into street clothes since we figured we weren’t going to have to look gorgeous for the awards part of the show. People only really look at the 1st and 2nd place winners usually.

So, when they started announcing troupe awards we were all huddled together and expected to be the first to walk up to the stage. But they called another troupes name. Hmmmmm……okay, 3rd place is better than we thought. Great! But then for 3rd place they called another troupe. Now we were all a bit confused. We took 2nd place? Really? But then they called yet another troupe name. HUH????!!! What?!!!! There must be a mistake. We all stood still and quiet until they finally called our troupe name, as if we weren’t really sure what was going to happen. And then when they said it, we screamed like a bunch of teenagers. We screamed and stood still. It took us a minute to realize we needed to move towards the stage. We all walked looking completely stunned. It was the most incredible experience! We really had no idea we even had a chance to win. What an absolutely delightful surprise!!!! I am still in complete disbelief that it happened, but e-mails keep flying around saying “We won! We won! We won!” So it must have happened. Yippeee! I wanna do that again!

I know you want to see pictures, but none of the pictures that Dave took came out. If I get any good ones from anyone else, I’ll post them as soon as I get them. Thanks everyone for all your congratulations e-mails. I feel like a superstar!!!!

Vote for your favorite new Monopoly city

Hi Everyone!

Hasbro is creating the New Monopoly Here and Now game and is taking votes on 22
cities in the US. Each city represents a color group in Monopoly with three
"properties". When the votes are tallied, each city's properties will
have their order set by the number of votes, and the city with the most
votes will become the coveted blue properties (Boardwalk, Park Place).

Currently it looks like New York has the most votes. I'd much rather see San Francisco get all the blue properties. Wouldn't you? Vote today!

http://www.hasbro.com/monopoly/

In the blue box in the middle of the page, click on the flag that says "vote now".

We won! We won! We won!

OMG! My belly dance troupe danced in the People's Choice Belly Dance competition this afternoon, and after all those months of hard work, we won. We took 1st place in the troupe division! When they announced that we took 1st place we were all in such shock that it took us a moment to start moving towards the stage to get our trophy. Anyways, I just wanted to tell the whole world "We won! We won! We won!!! Woohoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!"

This is a picture of me warming up with my veils. I love my veils!