Latin Festival

Yesterday, Saturday, Desert Gypsy performed at the Latin Festival. It's the third time I've had the opportunity to perform at the festival. A little over a week ago I was asked to do a free style solo to transition between some of the dances we had lined up. I managed to find some music and dance half free style and half choreographed song. Free style is not my strength, but the anxiety, anticipation and experience of it all makes it worth while.

It has been fun getting to know the girls in my troupe and the other troupes better this year. Only one more performance left for the season...Mini Fest.

UVU Exhibit

Tonight I went with the Broadhead family to the da Vinici Experience exhibit at the Woodbury Art Museum. Did you know that da Vinci wasn't just famous for the Mona Lisa (which I have seen), but also for his thirst for knowledge to understand everything in the universe. Well, that's what it felt like to me. There were some replicas of his inventions at the exhibit where we were allowed to move them around to see how they functioned. I think dad would have a great time at the exhibit. They even had some crafts for kids at the end of the exhibit. It will be at the museum through October.

Lots of Birthdays

Happy Birthday to all the August people...
Ariana, Josh, Emily, Max and David! ! ! ! !

I hope everyone had (or will have) a great day.

Cindy's Visit

A week ago, Monday, Cindy was in town for a visit. She brought Jeffrey and Elizabeth but had to leave Sam behind. Work can sometimes get in the way. Anyhow, we met up at Andy and Rynell's to have dinner and catch-up on things. I barely saw the kids because they were having too much fun playing. It was nice for the adults so we could have a conversation.

De-clutter Project Update

This past week I feel like I was able to get rid of a lot of trash and old files. I organized my left over pictures from the past 4 years and put them into albums. Then I labeled the negatives by year. I think I need to store them in a fire proof box.

I also organized all the programs from shows I've attended since college. I kept the front page of the program and any additional information if I knew someone in the performance. I was able to get rid of the advertisements. Now it is neatly stored away in one binder and not spread out in three different boxes. My favorite programs are from the Ballroom Dance in Concert.

The last organization project I worked on this week was in the kitchen. I cleaned out a couple of cabinets and rearranged my dishes and food. It still needs a little work, but I think it opened up a lot of space. I should have the kitchen finished this week. Then I'll focus on the mess that's still in my closet.

Masquerade! Paper Faces on Parade...

Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you.
Masquerade! Every face a different shade.
(Phantom of the Opera, Masquerade!)

Donna and Stephanie were invited to a masquerade ball for a friend's college graduation. Since Donna knows how much I enjoy these types of events I got to come along.

Above are Donna and Ted dancing the night away. I would have taken pictures of the other guests, but I didn't know many of them. I got to dance the waltz once, and as you know it's one of my favorite dances.

Here are the three of us girls showing off our formals and masks. We hope to be able to attend more balls to put our masks to good use. One of my friends that makes costumes wants to put together a masquerade ball. You'll have to visit her blog. Click the link to the side for dintarmawen. Heather and I danced together in Desert Gypsy and she makes amazing costumes. I love any excuse I can get to play dress-up!!!

Chaos! (and other stuff)

Do you ever feel like everything turns to chaos when one thing throws you off? or you try a de-clutter project?

With the rib injury I'm supposed to take it easy. So it just makes it harder to finish putting laundry away, putting the dishes in the dishwasher, taking out the trash....those kinds of things. Then I start feeling like I can't do anything till I clean up the mess. It's like I'm stuck in limbo till I can move more freely (and I am much better). Usually, I make sure to clean things up before working on another project, but not this time. I started a new project.

Ariana will be coming to stay with me next month in September. I decided to de-clutter a few items and be a little more organized in my home. This way Ariana will have room to store her things. I ended up with piles all over the place and everything was in disarray. I almost started to panic thinking I would never get all my stuff back into the boxes and put away to fit just right on the shelves. But...then I took a couple of breaths and reminded myself that this is a month-long project and I shouldn't expect to complete everything in one day.

A few times I felt like I pushed myself a little too much. I did accomplish a couple things, though. My pictures are organized and I tried out a new cookie recipe. The cookies were yummy. heehee!!!

other stuff:

I just have to mention the opening ceremonies to the Olympics were amazing! It was a spectacular show and I wouldn't mind being there to witness the goings on. Also, I saw in the news that Pres Bush had some talks with the Chinese leaders to talk about peace and religious freedom. What do you think about that? I think it's amazing news!!!

Dislocated Rib

This is an amusing story even though it hurts to laugh.

So...my side was still hurting this morning especially trying to get out of bed. I called a friend that is studying to be an RN and she suggested going to the chiropractor to see if I dislocated a rib. I already had an appointment for this Friday, but I went ahead and scheduled to go in after work today. I'm glad that I did. The first thing my chiropractor checked was to make sure the rib wasn't cracked. He got a tuning fork, made it vibrate and placed it on different areas on my rib cage. He figured that since I wasn't writhing on the floor the ribs weren't cracked. Apparently the ribs in question criss-crossed. So the next step was to put it back in place with a clicker instrument of some sort. It was kind of painful, but I preferred that to the writhing part he warned me about. I'm supposed to take it easy for the next couple of weeks.

Well, I must say this is the worst injury I've received dancing (or ever). At least I don't have a performance coming up.

Busy Weekend Full of Fun

My cousin, Andrea, came up from Arizona to visit me and Donna for a few days. We have had fun hanging out and doing all sorts of activities.

Last Thursday we went to Seven Peaks to get sunburned. Actually, Donna was the only one that managed to not get sunburned. I have never been to the water park prior to this visit. Holly and her kids also came and we were able to enjoy each other's company.

On Friday we did a little bit of shopping. Nothing to serious. The sun really drained our energy but we managed to go out miniature golfing.

Here are Andrea and I. We both struggled with our putts and tied with each other in the end.

...And Donna was the most experienced of us all. She beat us by 13 points if I remember correctly. heehee...

We watched P.S. I Love You on Friday as well. A portion of the movie was filmed in Ireland. It's just one of the many places that we want to go visit.

Yesterday, Saturday, I slept most of the day. Seriously, the sun and heat really drained the energy out of me. Donna and Andrea went tubing down the river while I slept. Then in the evening we went to an Owlz game.

Afterwards Andrea and I went country dancing. We danced a lot more that we had expected and I think that's always a good sign. However, I did get a battle wound. I hurt my side and it feels like my ribs and insides were crushed after I tried a move with this guy. I hope it's better before dance practice this coming Thursday. If not, Halima will be angry with me. The last dance I danced was a waltz with a guy that knew what he was doing. It was the waltz that made the whole evening worth it.

It's been a busy weekend full of fun. I'm glad Andrea came out to visit and hope she's having a great time as well.