retail therapy

For once, I didn’t have a good weekend.  I, the queen of busy-and-fun-filled-or-otherwise-productive weekends, was in a sorry state.  I received some very sad news about something I cared very deeply about.   I cannot go into details at this time, as I do not feel that it is fair to speak poorly of someone in a public venue if you have not heard their side, but suffice it to say I am very disappointed after hearing the first side of the story.  There was crying, and I am not a crier.  I even scared the dog. 

 

So, yeah, long difficult weekend.  To compensate, I attempted a little retail therapy, buying a cheap-o digital camera for our upcoming vacation (not taking the “nice” camera out of the country!), a belly dance dvd, and two new craft books.  Yea!  Stuff!

depression - it's not just for the economy!

Last week, the DH & I saw two of the most depressing, why-do-I-bother-living movies I’ve ever seen:  Revolutionary Road and The Wrestler.  Both were good, don’t get me wrong , it’s just that they were very effective…and that effect was a deep sense of sadness and futility.  The Wrestler didn’t both me as much as RR.  I couldn’t really identify with an aging professional wrestler/entertainer (and I was coming off a large dinner and several drinks, so I kinda dozed off during the first 20 minutes), but it was still a tragic tale.  The young suburban couple in RR, however, was a different story entirely – um, yeah, as half of a young suburban couple, this really hit a chord.  I was still down in the dumps two days later!

 

From now on, only comedies for me please!

Silence = Not Whining

Sometimes I blog like 6 times a day and sometimes I have nothing to say for weeks on end...suffice it to say that if I'm quiet, it's 'cause I'm cranky and trying not to come off sounding like a total baby. This is precisely what I've been going through this week. I caught some icky bug that's going around last week. It started in my throat (that horrible "I'm starting to get ill" taste - uck!), moved into my chest and is now settled in my nose... So I've been congested and exhausted, BUT not sick enough to take a day off from work or other activities...I've just been floating through them, trying not to cough on anyone... Fun! On top of that, I had my first arch wire change on Thursday, so I've been pretty sore. Well, perhaps "sore" isn't a strong enough descriptor - I feel like all my teeth are being slowly ripped out. I can't chew, a misery compounded by the fact that my Girl Scout cookie order came in this week and the Thin Mints are taunting me. So, yeah, I'm kinda whiny. Sorry...

So, let's see, other than being sick, I've been pretty busy the past week or so... Last weekend, the DH and I had a date night - when to the new downtown Stokes for dinner (mmmm...Hawaiian Walu works well with braces!), then to Film Streams to see "City of Men", which was basically a modern "Boyz in the Hood" but in Portuguese. I highly recommend it. Saturday night, we met up with ML and her man at Joslyn for the opening of the Qing exhibit. I attended a YAP lecture earlier that week, so I felt qualified to lead my own little tour... :)
The focuses of several dance rehearsals this week was gearing up for our next show, March 15 at the Shark Club. ML and I are working on a duet, but we'll see if it gets done - both of our busy schedules plus my total physical exhaustion (even dancing is too much exertion with this bug) is really hampering our practice time. The Salomes (my Diva Soma group - and that's "Sal-Oh-Mays, not Salamis, got it?!) is putting together a new choreography, and Angeli Tannebrarum is attempting to resurrect our Yallahween number...lots of dancing for poor sick A.D!
Thursday was by far my busiest yet most enjoyable day. I took the day off of work to help at the Jr. League booth at the Young Professionals Summit (ML was heavily involved in putting this event together and she and the rest of the team did a great job!). Then it was off to the orthodontist for my first wire change. Ouch. Then back to Benson (my second hometown it feels like now) to help at the Nebraska Food Coop, and out to Old Mill for a Jr. League Leadership Academy meeting. Then home to down a bunch of painkillers and pass out from tooth pain. :(
So, yeah, I'm barely functioning, but still going strong...I slept in this morning and it did amazing things for my mood...and so here I am, blogging again! :) Happy Saturday!

Tonight the DH, ML and her man, and I will down a bunch of coffee and head out to see Angels in America Part 2 at the Shelterbelt. The coffee is necessitated by the fact that the DH got up at 5 to run and go to work, and it's a 3 hour play....hmmm...may be sleeping in tomorrow too!

Brrrr....

Gotta love Nebraska winters…no, wait, you don’t!  Ugh.  It was near 50 degrees on Sunday and Monday before the latest cold front rolled in early Tuesday morning, bringing snow, single-digit temps, and 45 mph wind gusts.  At least the weekend was nice!  Sunday was the first official Omaha Running Club race of the year, the Chiller Challenge 8k.  This was my 3^rd time at the Chiller, and it was definitely misnamed this year.  Folks showed up in everything from hats and gloves to shorts and tank tops – the spring-like weather left everyone a little confused on how to dress.  I left my coat in the car, but wore my mittens and hat…until I reached the first mile marker, where I tucked those babies in my waistband…  All-in-all it was a good race; however I really felt my lack of training when I got a mean side cramp right before hitting mile 4.  Ouch!  I finished in the top 30 women, coming in at 44:35.  Not great – not even in the top half – but considering my recent bout of laziness, not bad either.  I’m really just happy I didn’t walk!

 

This was the 1^st race for the 2008 Run the Magnet Challenge, which will be my 3^rd challenge…and potentially last for a while.  If I have my jaw surgery around Christmas/New Year’s time, I will probably be prohibited from running for a few months – I was told to abstain from contact sports (“No boxing, huh Doc?), but I’m guessing that running is also too high-impact for my recovery period…

 

A Tribal Dreams weekend

This weekend I attended the Tribal Dreams Festival in Lincoln, hosted by local Improvisational Tribal Style troupe Benu.  This annual festival is always a real treat – they bring in some phenomenal instructors and the vendors are usually good too – which explains why I’m completely broke now! J  Because most of my weekend revolved around going to the festival, it was actually a less busy weekend than normal.  Shocking, I know. 

I narrowed my class selection down to just 6 classes (the minimum to get a discount) – it’s always so hard to choose.  I took 2 classes with Princess Farhana, one of my favorite belly dancers – her Extreme Taxsim class I’ve taken before, so it was a nice refresher.  New to me was her Veil Obedience class.  I’m not a prop dancer – I have enough trouble remembering that I have arms, much less manipulating an object with them, while I dance.  I learned some cool tricks and hopefully I can incorporate more veil-work into my dancing.  I also took Performance Focus with Sabine of Tribulations.  This class discussed stage fright and other performance hazards, so it was right up my alley!  

The Khaleegy class on Saturday afternoon was…interesting.  I can’t say that I loved it, but it was interesting to try.  Khaleegy is basically an Arabian social dance done by women while wearing a large garment called a “thobe”.  There isn’t much hip action, just steps and arm motions while moving the dress around.  I’m sure it’s great fun at parties. J  Some of the thobes other students had on were beautiful – I just wear a piece of fabric pinned over my shoulders…

The last two classes of the weekend included More Tribal Fusion Combos with Chris and Elizabeth of Marrakech (a follow up to last year’s Tribal Fusion Combos, naturally), followed by…get this… Pirate Belly Dance!!!  We were instructed to bring an empty rum bottle, and lots of people dressed up with eye patches, hats and other pirate garb.  It was tons of fun!

I can’t wait until next year.  I heard rumors that Benu is bringing Unmata (an amazing tribal troupe)!

This is definitely one of my favorite workshops.  I love workshops in general – you don’t always remember everything you learn, but it serves as a great reminder of how great the belly dance community is and how much fun dancing is in general.  I always leave wanting to go straight home and practice…until I get home and remember how sore and tired I am…which pretty much describes my physical state right now!

Looonnggg weekend

I love “observed” holidays. J  Usually because I get the day off of work.  Ah, the 3-day weekend, who doesn’t love that?

Like most of my weekends, this was a busy one.  The DH and I enjoyed the rare occasion of spending the entire time together, and surprisingly he doesn’t seem sick of me…yet.

We started off Friday night by seeing “American Gangster”, an excellent film about Frank Lucas, the man that used American military planes to smuggle heroin into the US during the Vietnam War.  Plenty of action and drama, but like most action and crime movies, it was a little too sexist for me.  There were 3 female roles – the trophy wife, the mother, and the no-speaking-lines woman that ran the drug shop.  But if you don’t focus on that part, it was a good movie! J

Saturday we went to the Nebraska-Kansas State football game.  Wow, it’s a lot more fun to watch football when your team is winning!  J  We stuck around until the Husker had scored 73 points, then headed home to meet the in-laws for dinner and catch the Kurt Cobain documentary “About A Son”.  This film was OK; not spectacular, but I thought it was interesting.  A lot of the people we went with seemed very disappointed, but I thought the way the filmmaker put it together was cool – it was basically just a recording of phone interviews with Kurt Cobain collected over a period of a couple of years before he died, set against a visual backdrop of scenes and video footage of towns in Washington state.  No real action or story, just Kurt talking about his childhood, early adult life, and influences.  He was a sad, strange child who turned into a sad, angry, and pretty damn lazy adult.  Dying was probably the best thing that could have happened to him, at least artistically – his music might not have gotten nearly the recognition and praise if he’d lived.  

After the movie, we headed next door to Slowdown for the Nirvana tribute show – a bunch of local bands performing Nirvana covers.  It was…kinda sucky.  For one thing, each band played one song, and then the next band took 15-20 minutes to set up.  So we really didn’t hear all that much music.  For another thing, it sounded like either none of the bands were very good or they had just never bothered practicing the song they chose.  I’m hoping for the latter, ‘cause most of the bands have decent followings around town and I’d hate to think that many people would support bands with no musical ability.  There were a couple of exceptions, but quality covers were not the rule at this show.

Sunday morning the DH and I drove back downtown to a brunch for Jun Kaneko.  A collection of his work from 2004-07 was on display, so we checked that out while munching on lobster quiche and crème puffs.  Mmm…crème puffs…

After watching football (DH), sewing (me), band rehearsal (DH) and dance practice (me), we met back up and headed to the Waiting Room to see the Meat Puppets.  Now, I only know like 2 Meat Puppets songs, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Well, we didn’t hear either of those two songs…and neither of us was too impressed with the songs we didn’t know, so that kinda sucked.  However, the opening band, Ha Ha Tonka, was AMAZING.  Enough so that I picked up their CD, a rare thing for me to do.  The last time I bought a CD at a concert was for Devotcha, whom I still love like no other band.  So, yeah, Ha Ha Tonka was that good!  I can’t wait for them to come back around – we’ll definitely be there for the full set.

Yesterday was a government holiday, so I celebrated by finishing up my BurdaStyle Marie skirt, getting a flu shot, and going for a consultation with my oral-maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Deva.  Dr. D explained the surgery to me, including the possibility that my insurance will pick up part of the tab.  Cross your fingers!  He said I should be in braces for 9-12 months (probably closer to 12), then have the surgery, then stay in braces for a while longer for “fine-tuning”.  The braces will correct the alignment of my teeth within my arch, and the surgery will match up my bite.  I will need both lower and upper jaw surgery for the best possible results.  I will spend the night in the hospital and then be off of work for 10-14 days…I guess I better start banking my vacation hours now!  But if I get my braces put on in the next month, I could be looking at surgery by next Christmas!  Whoo-hoo!  I want to do this, but I really just want it to be over already! (and I haven’t even started yet…)

So, how’s that for a jam-packed 3-day weekend?  Not bad, not bad at all…

I've fallen (off the wagon) and I need to get up

6 months. 6 months without buying any new clothes (other than a few misc belly dance items). But still, aside from that, nothing from the mall, nothing from the internet, no new cute clothes. Until this weekend. I went to New York City with my siblings to watch my brother run the NYC Marathon. And I shopped. Way too much. I bought a new jacket, a cute reversible hoodie, a pair of jeans, a pair of gloves and a scarf (that purchase was a necessity – it was cold!), a couple of tops…it was bad. I have learned something about myself. I have absolutely no willpower. The only way for me to avoid buying new clothes is to complete avoid the opportunity. If I’m presented a chance to buy something, I will take it. Much like my inability to just say no to chocolate, I have no control over my shopping impulse. It must be completely avoided.

All that being said, I love NYC. All the people, the public transportation – I mastered the subway and the New Jersey Transit system – the sights and sounds – that was all good. Traveling with siblings? Not so much. Suffice it to say, this was our last family vacation.

One of the highlights of the trip, aside from witnessing the marathon – that was cool! - was stumbling into this little burger joint with my brother. Appropriately named Brgr, it was seriously the best hamburger I ever had – gruyere cheese, avocado, herbed mayo, a side of sweet potato fries…and then I noticed the sign on the wall. It was grass-fed, all natural, hormone and anti-biotic-free, humanely-raised meat. All sauces were made on-site, using locally-sourced ingredients when possible. How cool is that! It was totally an accident, too. J

Another very cool aspect of the trip was meeting my mother’s friend’s future sister-in-law, Ally, who designs handbags. She has two lines – recycled-material bags (aGaiN NYC) and sustainable-material bags. Both sell for more money than I have to spend, but it was awesome to meet people who share that kind of passion about sustainable production. I am horrible jealous of her and her fiancé, though – they lived in a million $ apartment in the West Village and have artsy/creative jobs. So not fair. J

But I’m home now, and tired from all the walking that we don’t do enough of in Nebraska, tired from carrying my heavy carry-on bags everywhere because we didn’t plan that part very well, tired from arguing with my family, being generally bitchy and frustrated, and getting in rather late from the airport. I’m ready for a nap and getting back to my routine. I’m climbing back on the no-shopping bandwagon. It was a momentary slip and I’ll recover. Eventually.

sugar coma

We have leftover candy, and the DH’s low-carb diet is going to force ME to finish it all. Not that I’m complaining… J We had a pretty good run of trick-or-treaters last night, even some trick-or-cheaters – the kids that came back more than once… Kids these days, huh?

Our own “kid” wasn’t too thrilled with his costume. Yes, I’m one of those crazy people that dresses her dog in clothes. But I do it for a good reason – if he has a shirt on, he doesn’t move and that keeps him from jumping on people. Oh, and he’s cute!

Tomorrow morning, I’m heading to the airport with my siblings and we’re off to the big city. My younger brother is running in the New York Marathon and invited my sister and I along to watch. He actually invited us so we could plan the trip for him and defray his costs, but he won’t admit that outright… I’m not sure I’m looking forward to this trip. I haven’t packed yet, I have a slight cold, and I’m super cheap. Being cheap in NYC doesn’t seem like it will work out too well. Gee, don’t I sound like a pleasant travel companion? I’m sure it’ll be better than I make it sounds, but optimism is not my thing today…

another sleepy Monday

It’s Monday and I’m exhausted again. These busy weekends are hard on me…but I love them! This particular weekend included two plays, a farm tour, a Halloween party or two, a trail race, and a visit with my dad.

On Friday night, the DH and I met up with ML and our friend Amanda to see the Shelterbelt’s annual ShelterSkelter production. This year, they performed “The Duchess of Malfi.” I can’t say this was my favorite of their SS shows, but it was decent. Very dark and disturbing.

Saturday morning, the DH insisted that we sleep in…yeah, right. I woke up right at 5 a.m. I suffer from that weekend/summer vacation thing that causes you to not be able to sleep in on days you don’t have to work. Hmmm…

ML and I trekked out to the Kvam family farm in West Point, NE for a farm tour. We saw dairy cows, sheep, chickens, turkeys, a friendly dog and many cats, watched a vinegar cheese demonstration and took a hay rack ride. I learned about raw milk and how to distract a hen while collecting her eggs. J

Saturday night, the DH and I donned our “White Trash” Halloween costumes and headed downtown for the Haunted Vault party at ML’s building and then on to my friend Maurine’s annual bash. Everyone got a kick out of our getups and we won the costume contest, narrowly defeating a couple of Elf characters. I think the DH’s mullet was the clincher.

Sunday was spend helping with race-day registration at the YMCA Master’s Classic 15k/5k race, and then running the 5k. Since it was a “masters” race and I’m not old yet, I didn’t qualify for any of the prizes… My dad was in town to run the 15k. I should probably amend that statement to say “My insane dad”, since this was his second race of the day and third of the weekend. He’s running 3 races next weekend, too. Just crazy, I tell ya…

ML and I met up again in the evening to see Seascape at the Blue Barn Theatre. This was the better play of the weekend – very entertaining, a story of a couple nearing their twilight years sitting on the beach discussing their life…they are joined by a couple of lizards that have climbed from the sea to see what the world was all about. Weird, but good. J

Mmmm...chocolate

Because I firmly believe no one should go through life without at least trying my grandmother's chocolate sauce, I'm going to post the recipe. I don't know if this is hers originally, but that's where I got it! Thanks, Grandma!

Chocolate Sauce:
Melt 1/2 cup butter in small saucepan. Add 1 1/2 cups white sugar and 1/2 cup cocoa powder. Blend in 2/3 cups light cream or evaporated milk. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Poor over ice cream or yellow cake. Store leftovers in the refrigerator and eat by the spoonful when the spirit hits you. :) Enjoy!

I got a hankering for this stuff tonight, and we just so happened to have most of the ingredients (I used milk instead of cream) and a box of Birthday Cake-flavored ice cream. That's what I call dinner!

This was definitely a better meal than the others I had this weekend. Friday night at the home and garden show, my salad and banana wore off and I gave in and bought a cheeseburger from the concession stand. Uck. The bun was hard on one side and who knows how long those condiments had been out. (Please don't tell me.) Saturday I indulged in a slice of Valentino's pizza, which was decent, but after the game we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. I don't even know why I keep trying to find good food there. I should order fries and call it a night - it's pretty hard to screw up potatoes. A chicken wrap, however - that can be screwed up an infinite number of ways! It just wasn't good...

Food aside, the weekend was fun. I already went over Friday night, so we'll skip that. :) Saturday, the DH and I caravaned to Lincoln with his band buddy and girlfriend. The first quarter of the game got our hopes up a little too much, so the loss was just that much more painful. We left mid-fourth-quarter. We did get to see Tom Osbourne, though! I had hoped he'd be in the box behind our seats, 'cause that's where Steve Pederson had sat during the previous games. I bet it was kind of a shock to Larry the Cable Guy (next box over) that someone else was getting all the attention in the North Stadium for a change!

Hard to get a picture of Tom - he kept his back to the crowd:

After a beer with our road-trip pals, we headed back to Omaha to meet up with some neighbors at Scary Acres, a local haunted attraction. We made it through the House on the Hill and the Castle before we went home - the DH had to work early this morning. I didn't have to work, but I did get up early to pick up trash with the Omaha Running Club along the West Papio Trail and take a quick run. The rest of today has been dance practice and starting projects. Starting is the operative word here - I've basically just made a huge mess! All the better to end a pretty good weekend...

Here's some trash I picked up on the trail - an aereson can stuck in some brush:

Regression: a weekend of just too much food

I set myself up with a pretty regular workout routine the last couple of years, and was done to a decent weight for quite a while.  However, I noticed that despite my healthier local eating this summer, I was still adding a little too much junk to my diet, and perhaps being a little lax with the workouts.  I blame the heat – I’m not a summer runner.  So I hopped on the scale this morning…and it’s gone up 5 lbs!  This is not good.  A 1-2 lb fluctuation I could brush off as typically daily water intake, but 5 is a big number – too big to chalk up to excess H20.  Sigh…I’ve gotten lazy.  More so with the diet that the exercise, which is actually worse for me – I used to be able to eat whatever I want and just work it off, but alas my metabolism must have disappeared with my rapidly-fleeting youth!

So I am sitting here on this beautiful fall morning, vowing to start monitoring my food intake a little more closely – I will stop and think before I eat that ice cream sundae! 

Ice cream was only one of many things I indulged in during this fun-and-food-filled weekend…  On Friday, I skipped a few hours of work to help at the River City Roundup’s “Rough ‘N Ready Challenge”, a rodeo event for handicapped children.  It was an awesome event; a special rodeo just for these kids that normally wouldn’t get to participate in something so elaborate.  They could ride horses, pet goats, rope “steer”, ride the “bucking bronco”, get their faces painted and their pictures taken, all in the company of real cowboys.  There was even a gun duel performance to entertain us while we waited for lunch. (Major food event #1:  BBQ pork and cornbread). 

Friday night was the Junior League’s Toast to Omaha event, an annual fundraiser.  This year it benefitted the Ronald McDonald mobile dental service that brings dentists to kids at lower-income schools.  I got to wear my new dress and chow on hor d’uerves. (Major food event #2). 

My family was in town for the weekend; we all walked or ran in Saturday morning’s Cathedral Cup Run at the St. Cecilia Church.  OMG!  I had been warned about the “Mount St. Davenport”  (a large LONG hill) but I had no idea how bad it was…but my feet sure do now…  I’m due for a new pair of running shoes…actually far overdue, and it’s starting to show.  The past week, my right hip and knee have been completely out-of-whack, and now my feet are aching too. 

After the race, we headed to the Radial Café for breakfast (Major food event #3: Apricot-stuffed French toast and bacon).  Stuffed and exhausted, we headed to Lincoln to watch the Husker-Iowa State game.  It is much more pleasant to watch football when your team wins!   (Major food event #4: Pop, Runza, ice cream sundae).  My dad likes to find new restaurants to try by reading the reviews in the paper; after the game, we met up with my folks at the Europe Café, or as the free pen the owner gave us proclaimed, the “Aurope Coffee”.  The owners were a lovely European couple, but they had recently immigrated and weren’t quite caught up on the language yet.  Regardless, the food was great, as was the service, so I might convince the DH to go back there another time… (Major food event #5: Mediteranean burger and fries).

We took it easy Saturday night – after getting up at 5, running a hilly roadrace, and then sitting in the sun all day, we were both exhausted!  We watched a movie and I worked on my latest belly dance costume.  Sunday morning, the sweet DH made me breakfast (Major food event #6: fried eggs and dill rye toast).  We went our separate Sunday ways (me sewing, him watching football); after a rather lame belly dance rehearsal, I indulge in Major food event #7 (more ice cream) and then #8 after my second and third rehearsals of the day (leftover pizza).  Ugh, so much food!  No wonder my butt looks like a bag full of Jello!

So, another busy weekend (what else is new, huh?).  This week is full already too – belly dance class tonight, two rehearsals on Wednesday, helping at the food co-op on Thursday (plus picking up my first order!) followed by the first official JLO Leadership Academy meeting.  On Friday the DH and I will meet up with some of my friends at Espana in Benson to watch La Tamara, a flamenco dancer from whom I’ve taken a workshop.  Then Saturday is finally Yallahween! 

Loonnnggg weekend

After a not entirely pleasant weekend, I’m almost relieved to be back at work this morning. Almost…

It wasn’t a longer weekend than any other, but it sure felt like it. I started the weekend off fighting with traffic, running errands, and preparing our house for a visit from my family. My parents came up Friday night with their dog, picked up my nephew (5 months) on Saturday afternoon to stay with us, and my brother and his girlfriend visited for a while on Saturday night. Since it’s usually just one or two of us, plus one small dog, in the house at a time, it was feeling a bit crowded…

Saturday was definitely the busiest day we had. The DH rose at 4:30 to jog before we left for the NU/Ball State game. We met up with his friend Ron and Ron’s son at the governor’s mansion in Lincoln for a tailgate party. Free beer and politicians at 8:30 in the morning – can’t beat that!

The game started off great…but quickly went downhill. What should have been an easy win became a total cluster that came down to the last seconds. I’ve never heard the crowd boo like that at Memorial Stadium; it was so disheartening. The only thing that salvaged my spirits was the fact that we did end up winning – by 1 point. This was pure luck; we didn’t deserve to win. I’m a little afraid of next week’s contest against Iowa State… The only thing I’m sure of is that I WILL remember sunscreen on Saturday – I can barely move my arms.

After a long drive home, more errands, cooking dinner with the fam and visiting with my brother, the DH and I chugged some coffee and went out for the evening. We were invited to a birthday party at a couple of bars for the singer of the band’s wife. It was fun – I hadn’t met some of the new members yet, and one of their wives and I seem to get a long pretty well. Plus there was another b-day party at the second bar and I was able to talk my way into some cake. J Mmm….cake.

My dad ran the half at yesterday’s Omaha Marathon. He was out the door at 5:30, making me really happy that I signed up to help with chip stuffing instead of race day events! The DH and I are now somewhat considering running the half next year – we’ll see…

The rest of Sunday was filled with more family time, working on my dress for next weekend, and dance practice – Core (now code-named Salome) rehearsal, Angeli Tennanbrarum rehearsal, and some duet practice with ML.

Phew! I guess I’ll never get the hang of these lazy weekends…

Another football weekend

Here's a shot of Memorial Stadium last Saturday night, before half the fans left in disappointment.

This weekend we play Ball State, which hopefully will be an easy win. We need it! The DH and I will head down to Lincoln tomorrow with my folks, and then they will bring my nephew back to our place with them to spend the night. I'm not sure that my sister has let him spend the night away from her yet, so I'm curious as to how many times she calls to check on him. :)

Aside from the game and having family in town, I'll also be working on what will probably be my final Wardrobe Refashion for this pledge term. I'm really considering signing up again - there are still dozen of projects I haven't had time for in the past two months, and I really don't need to step foot in a mall any time soon. This weekend's project will be a dress for the JLO Toast to Omaha party that the DH and I are attending next weekend.

Throw in some dance practice and cheering for my dad at the Omaha Marathon, and it's another busy weekend.

Spoken Morse Code is the most annoying sound ever

Someone in my office found the need to verbally recite Morse Code patterns today, and I’ve been bitching about it every since.  Why on Earth anyone would need to do this is beyond me.  This individual then proceeded to find some recorded clips of Morse Code on the internet and played them for us.  For 20 minutes.  If I wasn’t allowed to wear my ipod during work hours, I don’t know what I would do.  Probably drag my desk into the hallway…

So anyways, not the greatest start to my work week! J  The weekend was pleasant enough, though.  Met some friends for drinks on Friday night, helped with a charity road race on Saturday morning (where this cute little high school boy tried so hard to impress me with his knowledge of Christian rock and boxing – it was adorable), then headed to the West O farmer’s market.  I still have plenty of stuff left from last week, so I decided to branch out a little, buying my first butternut squash and a very large beet – the latter I was promised could be wrapped in foil and baked like a potato…we’ll see.  Saturday afternoon was spent in my yard pulling up sod from around the house and putting down weed-guard fabric and mulch.  It was the most beautiful day we’ve had in a long time – about 80 degrees and sunny.  SO much better than the near-100 temps we’ve had recently, and it wasn’t raining for the first day in a week.  The weather only got better as the day stretched into evening – the DH and I spent most of the night in midtown at Dundee Days.  My friend Maria was celebrating her birthday and this was obviously the place to be – great music, cheap beer, sitting under the stars watching little kids try to dance.  The first band we’ve seen before:  Oxygen, a Dave Matthews-esque jam band that does an awesome cover of the Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.”  The second band was a swing band, the Prairie Cats.  They were amazing, and Maria kept dragging guys up to dance with her – I guess she takes a swing class…  No chance of getting the DH to do that, I’m sure. J  The third band was…I’m not sure, actually, because by that point, the fact that there were 2 port-a-potties for well over a thousand people convinced me that we needed to retire for the evening.  J  I’m not a fan of public facilities, especially not ones without running water.  Ew. 

Sunday was spent curling my hair for the Diva Soma Corps photo shoot, then heading out with ML and pals to the local comedy club to see the Erotic Hypnotic himself, J. Medicine Hat.  Word to the wise, if you’re going to be hypnotized, don’t do it in front of co-workers.  Or your mother.  What are these people thinking?!? 

 

One of THOSE weekends

Exhausted on Monday, as usual.  It was a busy weekend, mostly good, some definitely bad.  My poor baby-dog was still sick on Friday afternoon when I got home.  To add insult to injury, the DH and decided to finish the dog’s haircut (it’s starting to become a two-day project – he squirms and whines too much) then give him a bath.  Then he threw up again.  It quickly became a low-key stay-at-home kind of night, watching movies on the couch and following Ryker around with a towel in case he yacked on anything else.  

My parents showed up later that night and we all woke bright and early to head to a charity fun-run.  Yes, we are one of those silly families that goes to road races for fun! J  This one wasn’t bad – it was the 2-year anniversary of the first race my now-husband/then-new-fiancé had ever done.  Plus my sister and nephew joined us and we got to check out the Lincoln Farmer’s Market.  Wow, what a selection!  Heirloom tomatoes and a rainbow of peppers like you wouldn’t believe; the Old Market FM doesn’t carry this much variety.  It was hard to comparison shop, but I got a great deal on multiple pounds of peaches and nectarines, plus some peppers, onions, an odd cucumber, raspberries, and some ground lamb.  We sampled salsas, fruit butters, fish, root beer, and ostrich meat.  

Saturday night started off good, as we headed out for ML’s birthday party, but ended poorly – the DH and I got into an argument at the bar, effectively ruining any fun I’d been having.  I won’t go into details, but neither of us was happy until the next day…we’ve made up.  As usual, we tried to find the positive aspects of this fight – what things we could use to make our relationship stronger, as well as what NOT to do during a fight!  Oh, well – all’s well that ends well, and hopefully ML is not too grumpy with us for staging the whole thing during her bar crawl… J

Sunday was a bit more relaxed.  I did yard work, finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (I highly recommend it!), and worked on a new Wardrobe Refashion project while waiting for ML to come over.  We went out for sushi to celebrate her actual birthday as well as the fact that she passed her Roller Derby skills assessment!  Woo-hoo- way to go! 

 

 

On the bright side...

Well, my overbooked weekend was really stressful and not a lot of fun.  I’m very tired today, but it’s not the usual “I had so much fun, I can barely move” exhaustion that I typically exhibit on Monday mornings; it’s more of a “this better get better fast” worn-out and grumpy tiredness.  Oh, well.  Not that it was all bad this weekend; in fact, I think that despite all the unpleasantness, we might actually come out ahead after the smoke clears.

What happened, you might ask?  Let’s review the bad stuff, and then I’ll try to find the silver lining:

Friday night we had a belly dance performance at the PS Collective.  I did a solo.  As I climbed onto the stage, I started to realize that I could not for the life of me remember how my choreography started.  The song has no intro – I start dancing on the first beat, but I could not recall what I was supposed to do.  Man, that was embarrassing.  The bright side?  I was forced to smile big and improv and no one would admit that they could tell a difference.  Phew.  Plus we got some exposure to a new audience, since most patrons were there for the bands…

Saturday night, my DH decided to part ways with his band.  He played drums for this band since Thanksgiving, and while he thoroughly enjoyed the experience, some recent events lead him to the decision that this was the best time to walk away.  The bright side?  He is free to pursue original music (they were a cover band) and I no longer have to spend my weekends in smoky bars listening to the same 3 sets.  We’ll be able to spend more time together, with less stress and heavy lifting (although I was becoming quite the roadie!).   

On the way home from his final gig that night, we got pulled over!  I can’t even remember the last time I was stopped, but here we were in the middle of nowhere digging out registration and proof of insurance…  The bright side?  No ticket and the cop let us know that a rear brake light was out.  The light itself was not a “bright side” exactly, but the fact that the brilliant man I married had salvaged the light bulbs from the last tail light he accidentally busted, and was able to fix the problem himself for free – that’s definitely bright! J

Sunday morning, ML and I sprinted away from the starting line for our second Lake Wehrspann 10k.  We did it last year, and a full 12 months must have been enough to dull the painful memories of the first attempt, because this was a long, agonizing run!  I pulled my right quad and my hips got so stiff that I could barely stand up or sit down without some major effort.  The bright side?  This was #6 of my 8 qualifying races for the Run the Magnet series I am doing for the 2^nd year in a row.  I finished in under an hour and I’m not limping too badly…

Other bad things include a monster headache, a messy kitchen from salsa making, and our treadmill going on the fritz this morning…

So, a not-so-good weekend, but I think we’ll be all the better for the experience…

Let me throw in a couple of all-good happenings, so I don’t seem like too much of a whiner:

I made salsa!  I never had before, and I not only made up a huge batch, I also canned it with my new (old) canner.  I have 4 pint jars of super-spicy almost-all local salsa in my pantry now, and we’ll try it out tonight.  All of the tomatoes were from my garden, the peppers (bells, sweet, and jalapeño) onions, and garlic from a local farmer’s market, and the cilantro was a garnish on my chicken lettuce wraps at a local food-fest we attended yesterday.  I think the idea of his wife wrapping up free herbs in a napkins and stuffing them in her purse while at a public event was less embarrassing for the DH than the thought that I would otherwise spend our money buying the same herbs later, although not by much. 

The DH and I completed a project together without screaming or breaking anything in frustration.  The space under our deck was overgrown with weeds and the lattice we threw up when we moved in was starting to look pretty sad – we never quite finished the initial intended project.  So Saturday morning, we pulled down the fencing, and yanked out all the weeds.  We graded the surface, put down weed-control fabric, some pretty red mulch, and voila!  It looks much nicer and now I can landscape the rest of the yard without this eyesore in the corner.  This was one of the few times we’ve done any kind of home-improvement effort without a major fight.  Very cool!

I’m looking forward to a pretty boring week as we rest up for our anniversary next weekend…hopefully drama-free!

What was I thinking?!? Overbooked as usual

Our weekends are seldom boring around here.  Exhausting, maybe, but never without excitement.  After a late night of Jazz on the Green, I got an early start today so that I can rush home and prepare for a belly dance performance tonight.  Some of the Divas are dancing a set between two bands at the PS Collective tonight.  One of the bands, Soul Plexus, I know and like.  The other, Space Age Polymers, I’ve never heard of, but am looking forward to seeing what they have to offer.  The DH has offered to meet me there after he gets off his late shift, but I’m hoping I can just meet him at home – we were both up late last night and have a busy day tomorrow.  In the morning, we’re headed to the farmers market, then to do some fun-and-exciting yard work.  The area under our deck has taken on a life of it’s own and I’d really rather not show it off during our planned late-August party.  If we have time after that, we might head out to the Taste of West Omaha festival (or put it off till Sunday…).  There will definitely be a nap in store for Saturday afternoon, after which we will head to the Woodcliff Corral near Fremont, NE for the SideCar 69 gig.  I’m bringing a pillow for the ride home – I will definitely need to sleep while I can, as ML and I signed up for a majorly hilly 10K early Sunday morning.  That wasn’t smart. J  Then, if I can still move, I’ll sew for a while, or finish yard work.  If I can’t move, I can read for a few hours.  This Sunday is Super Diva Sunday, our once-monthly all-troupe meeting and practice.  Since the grand opening of the studio is next weekend, I’m guessing it will be more meeting than practice – we’ll probably be cleaning and preparing the studio.  Yea.  Who doesn’t love cleaning?  (That would be…ME!)

I’m already tired and the weekend isn’t even here yet!  I don’t want to even think about next weekend  - the Art Crawl, our anniversary, another race, and a concert…

 

 

I’ve been Bozified

A couple of the Divas trekked down to Sedalia, MO this weekend for the Jim Boz workshop. Jim is an amazing belly dancer and teacher. Yes, that’s right – a male belly dancer! There are a few out there… Jim is 265 lbs of muscle and grace, with a great sense of humor. We had a blast and learned a lot, too.
The only complaint I had about the trip was the driving - not only do I really hate to drive (especially for 5+ hours!), but we got lost more than once... :( The first time was on the way through Kansas City - a wrong turn parked us at a gas station in a very bad part of town. Feeling very white and suburban, we quicking refilled our tank, declined purchasing a cd from the nice man with the grill and a 40 oz, and sped back to the interstate. The second time was coming back through KC on the return trip...the fact that we missed our exit went unnoticed until we'd driven 60 miles north of the city. Fortunately we were able to backtrack only 6 miles before finding a crossroads and getting on the right road home.
All in all it was a fun trip - its a treat to watch new dancers, and I got mucho inspiration for new costume ideas. Plus we got to see fire poi dancing! Hot! :)

Luck of the Pot

I guess that's why they call it "potluck". Last night some of the Diva Soma girls threw an informal "hafla" (belly dancer party) for our friend Karen and her husband. Karen was an original Diva, but moved to Japan a couple of years ago to be with her sweetie. She was visiting this week and we welcomed her home in true Diva style.
Typically a hafla goes like this: everyone brings yummy good, we stuff ourselves, then we dance for one another. Always a good time. However, typically we also sign up for food, so we have a general idea of what everyone is bringing. This was not the case last night. The first 8 people brought chips and dip. That's it! We had a dinner entirely composed of chips and dip. Granted, there were numerous kinds of chips (tortilla, potato - plain & bbq, Sun Chips, fruit chips) and several varieties of dip (hot salsa, mild salsa, fruit salsa, spinach dip, onion dip, cheese dip) but still! Didn't see that one comin'. At the end, one girl showed up with some wings and potato wedges from Buffalo Wild Wings, which we flocked to like pigeons to breadcrumbs. I think from now on, even the informal haflas will be a little more coordinated, food-wise.

SO not a good time...

Well, hopefully I learned my lesson today:  do not take several days off from running and expect to do well during a race.  I did, and I didn't.  I haven't run since Monday, partly because I had things to do after work and needed to get out of there at a decent hour, but mostly because I just felt lazy.  Big mistake.  This morning was the Run for Justin 5K, a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society put on by the family of Justin Nealon, a boy who died in a tragic car-pedestrian accident.  As it was "just" a 5K, I didn't really worry too much about my training this week.  After all, what's a measly 3.1 miles?  Well, let me tell you, it's HELL!  I just never caught my breath, never found my stride - the whole thing was miserable.  Usually, I struggle a bit at the beginning, then hit a good stride and can breath like I'm sitting still.  Today it just didn't happen.  The hills seemed like mountains and the heat was unbearable.  Even my finish, normally my strong point, was weak.
So, as I have signed up for another 5K next Friday, I will spend several days this week in training!