Do You Wobble?.....

I love a good line dance.

I have a secret desire to go back to Texas, (because I just don't think country line dancing really cuts it in Australia), don my funky 'honeymoon' alligator cowboy boots and my pink cowboy hat and get down to some serious boot scootin'!! The country music is brilliant over there!....


Anyway....so line dancing is awesome....not the 'Nutbush' mind you, that is so so terrible! In my opinion line dancing is a group of repetitive simple steps and you BYO groove, and I.....am all about the groove baby!  And there is absolutely no groove in the 'Nutbush'!


Recently have found my ultimate line dance....The Wobble. Michael thinks it is lame because there is nothing to it.....Handsome Man, that is the idea of it! My perfect kind of beat to get down to some serious booty shakin'! 


Enough build up....here are the basics....and here is gettin' wild wit it from the Raw Connection West Coast Swing Dance Party in July....I am somewhere in there on the left.


If you don't know it already....you're seriously missing out. 


I'm just sayin'.....




"I can dance Homie.....I don't two step"

I Am Still Here!!!....

Its been ages, I know.

I think the semester holidays relaxed me so much that it was extremely hard getting back into the uni study/family combination. But, I am here, if only for a moment (studying for my final mid-semester exam tomorrow), and I wanted to give an update.

My life has been consumed with the usual family/study/dancing/cooking/cleaning - and although my head has been filled with 'blog thoughts' none actually made it on here. Sorry :) Michael and I had our 6 month anniversary a few weeks ago, we didn't do anything to celebrate (that I can remember!) but it was just nice to take a pause and bask the awesomeness of our life together.....I am so happy with him, it is all quite brilliant! I could go on, but I won't ;)

I have also been doing a little more dancing thanks to Raw Connection's 2 for 1 weekly class deal. Loved it! Although it really makes a different adding one extra night of dancing to my life - I was a little wrecked and not getting enough done - especially on the study front. So now I have had to take a couple of weeks break to study for these exams. I am definitely looking forward to dancing again next week though! :) Raw Con have also started up a half hour open DJ session before class - so for a week I was stuck in the late 90s, going through my CD collection and putting an old school R&B/rap playlist together. Super fun! This week I will be putting together some funky/smooth soul tracks for the gold coast class. I think some of this will go down nicely. :)

My Butt Lift challenge is still going - and its been great! I have increased my leg weights and my resistance band. (Is my butt higher? Looker nicer?? I think so, or at least Husband thinks it is! :) This past month has been off, however, due to busy life-ness....I am hoping my weight work at the gym will keep the strength up until I get back into it. It does feel great to set yourself goals and actually see results! Yay!

Speaking of goals, my goal for attending the temple this year is going well - even better than well, I didn't expect it to come about so fast. I admit, that freaked me out a little! (ok alot, it freaked me out alot!) I expected when I told Bishop I was feeling ready to get serious about my preparation it would be at least 3-4 months away. But no, he put me in the temple preparation class that was to start in a few weeks. I had my first lesson earlier this week. It was intense and brilliant! I have had a couple of challenges already just getting that started - the exciting thing is that challenges proceed blessings....I definitely have to keep reminding myself!

So yeah, that is some of me these past 6 weeks....gotta get back into more regular blogging after exams.

I Got The Number....

I have loved music and dancing ever since I can remember. I have had the chance to perform in various dance styles - but more than anything I wanted to compete. I like the challenge, I like to have something to aim for. I used to envy the kids at ballroom dancing that were having private lessons for competition....I wanted a dance partner but it was really hard to find a guy that matched my height. I remember watching the Ballroom Championships at Christmas and wanting to dance with a number on my back - I couldn't imagine anything more awesome (well, next to being a back up dancer for Janet Jackson ;).

Last year I got my chance.....

My first West Coast Swing Jack and Jill (dance with a stranger) Competition - it was AMAZING! It probably took about half an hour for my heart to stop racing afterwards...haha

Ever since then I have just wanted to get better and better. Cause frankly, at some point I want to win. It is a little frustrating that I can't put as much work into my dancing as I used to be able to, but I am super grateful for the chance to do any at all!

I had my third competition this past weekend - and guess what??

This girl made finals!!! Out of three heats I made the top 8 - it was definitely a shock (after checking the results, I pretty much just scraped in - hey, I still made it though!)....I was having a terrible night of social dancing...I don't know why, I just couldn't find my flow or get a decent connection with anyone or the music and I almost didn't put my number back on.

Heats - I am at the back in black - this is the guy I danced the best with....

(argh, doing that stupid neck forward thing, so hard to change :s)

I danced with a guy from my class for the final - which would have been cool, except we hardly ever dance together! (not sure why though....)  So it wasn't the best of dances, but we had some good moments. Will have to try and dance with him more....

Oh yeah....and I danced with Michael Kielbasa last night......it was fabulous! He is sooo excellent! 

A Most Splendiferous Day.....

The day dawned and I was up early as usual - but craaaazy excited. Despite the excitement I felt pretty chilled out. The most stressful thing was worrying that the music would transport ok to the DJ, so we had some favourite songs, and routine music.

Oh yeah, and the fact that Michael didn't call me....I had a few butterflies about that...hoping he wasn't going to bail on me!...When I finally called he was like "I though we weren't having any contact today"...."noooo, we weren't seeing each other, but I totally wanted you to call me and tell me how much you love me, and how excited you were!! Sheesh...." ;)

Let just say getting ready for a wedding is all the more exciting when you have three children to get ready and to keep clean! :) Evette rocked up just after 11am with a friend from gym who was going to do our make up.....I was having fake eyelashes for the first time in my life! Don't really know why I haven't attempted it before, considering how lacking I am in the eyelash department!

I did my own hair, painted my nails, and the kids were all sorted without much drama....They looked gorgeous...

 Ash loved his suit, and Amelie felt like a princess....

Jack was MIA - outside pushing his wagon!

I didn't scrub up too bad either....*wink*

I totally felt like a princess!

I had planned to get to the venue early - but my brother was running late with the music and Michael wasn't there yet...so I chilled in the car with Evette down the road - all giggly and excited....chatting and reminiscing....I also couldn't help posting a quick facebook update ;)

We were fashionably late...it was awesome....Chris (my bro) took some pictures before we went up the stairs (we were getting married on the deck of my Aunty's house) - and as we walked out Jack kept yelling out "We are going to throw flowers at you!".....haha....soooo cute! Needless to say, Amelie got a case of shyness, and couldn't throw any rose petals, instead, buried her head in my dress.

 Somebody (me!) may have left the ring in the car....oops...Evette ducked out and returned just in time for my vows ;) 

 I have big knuckles....hehe

Its official.....yay!!!

We mingled, we took photos.....we missed the nibblies....so hungry! Michael's sister-in-law used to be my Young Women President, so it was kinda cool that we had known some of his family for years.....

We then went with my brother to the Botanical Gardens just down the road and took some (hoping :) awesome photos...it was fun - and then cruised down to the reception. 

Food! Friends, and dancing....it was an awesome night. The kids were running wild with each other, thank goodness for the playground out the back and big dance floor. It was nice to see the children having a great time as well. We have a sleepover planned for Amelie on our return!

Our bridal waltz was hilarious, I nearly fell over onto Michael - my shoes were definitely not made for dancing!! Although I did practice, I didn't account for the sore feet! It was still wonderful, we danced to "Put You Head On My Shoulder" by Michael Buble.

The Cake

Thank you Sam! It looked amazing and tasted just as good!!

Our routine kinda bombed - in my opinion anyway :) I don't know what it was...whether we were hopped up on adrenalin and nerves or if it actually was.....slower than normal!! We stopped it once, both noticing the tempo was a lot slower....and then just had a go anyway....It put us off - Michael forgot a bit, we messed up a little, and finished slightly late! Ugh....although it took me a full hour to stop shaking and my heart to mellow out, and the fact that I was mortified that we did so bad - especially since we were nailing it in our practice time....it was all good.  

 We got to dance together, and that's all that mattered.

...I did feel stunning in my dress, but it felt so good to swap my dress and heels for pants and dance shoes and shake it out! :) We danced a whole lot, got exhausted - and we closed shop about 9.30pm - I couldn't believe how early it was. Most people seemed to have a good time - but really, who cares, we had a ball! :) :) 

Here's the plan - I want a pot lucky/family dance party in that same hall for every anniversary - and I told Michael so. What do you think....? I think it's an awesome idea!! ;)

PS The following is in response to This Girl Loves To Talk's related post.....Aww Bobbie, I admit I had a little teary reading your post....I so would have loved you to come to celebrate our wedding with us, I was honestly slightly bummed out that you couldn't make it. You are one of the people that I wish I was able to spend more time with, for our children to get to know each other, to live closer....Thank goodness for Blogger and Facebook ;) I am so glad that we did reconnect, just to clear it up -  I do count you as friend. :) (We don't leave for our honeymoon until Friday... ;)

Swingstation 2010.....

Firstly I just have to say.....

 OH MY GOODNESS, WHAT AN AMAZING WEEKEND!! :)

To break it down the weekend consisted of a Jack and Jill Competition (dance with a stranger), two dance parties (Fri and Sat) and 9 dancing workshops taken by Melina Ramirez and Ben Morris.

Started off with a little drama - got to the apartment in plenty of time, but Michael's car wouldn't start as we went to leave! (There is something going on with me and that car, it only ever has problems when I am in it!) - so I caught a taxi and Michael stayed for RACQ (it was off but still running - kind of - so we couldn't just leave it). I made it just in time for the first workshop - but felt like a huge loser because I went in alone and didn't know anybody. The class was good and Michael rocked up towards the end, though he couldn't join in as he had to keep the car running outside. The competition was on almost straight away and I had barely gotten in any warm up dances.....I was freaking out just a little! There were three heats and I was the last called in the very last heat...ugh! The heat consisted of three 2 minute dances with 3 different people to three different songs (could be either slow or fast or funky or whatever...) The first guy I got was really good....and the dance was awesome, and I wasn't really nervous at all. For some reason though, I got more nervous with each partner....by the end of it I was an adrenalin mess!! I didn't get into the finals, but I was happy with my dancing....Michael's thoughts on my dancing "I need to look up and smile more".....ugh....sounds a lot like my reports for year 10 dancing - I would always get a nine out of ten, I would nail the dance but would forget to smile - on the inside I was ecstatic...really :)

The rest of the dance party was brilliant! I danced almost constantly (they had the teachers comp and the finals randomly in between social dancing - and a performance by Ben and Melina) until about 1.30am....I finally had to stop due to blisters and running out of band aids (my shoes we still not quite broken in)....plus I was exhausted! ;) That night I really enjoyed dancing with everyone, it was so awesome not knowing how good any of the guys were - a bit of a lucky dip, and I didn't feel insecure not wanting to ask someone to dance because they were far better than me.....

Saturday we got there super early, I was really excited, the workshops were excellent - all up we had 4, 1 hr lessons that day. Then went straight out to dinner at a little cafe that they had booked out for the night. Good food, and met some really nice people who we gave a ride back to their hotel. I was really excited for the dance that night, but for some reason kind of down and insecure as well....hmmmm....I thought it may have had something to do with wanting to be better than I was after all the dancing I had done that day.....and now I KNEW how awesome some guys were, I got super self concious and didn't know who to ask to dance!

Nevertheless...I had some really good dances, and I think I improved quite a bit on my music interpretation and personal styling. We left at midnight - I was wrecked, and wanted a good night sleep to be fresh for the final day. Don't know how some people stayed out almost all night!

The last day was really good - LOVED the classes!! But honestly, by the end, my brain was completely fried!!! I couldn't think, I didn't want to dance anymore and I was getting cranky....hahaha!!

It was such an awesome opportunity to learn from some of the best west coast swing dancers in the world - and I relish the chance to improve and to progress in my dancing....

Now I am really hanging for some dance time to put into practice everything I have learnt!!!

Lucky there is a SA ball on this Friday and if I am lucky - Michael will take me dancing after my last exam on Wednesday night!

Here is Ben and Melina's most recent Classic routine that they performed for us on Saturday night.....amaaaaazing!! I love Melina's style, she is so freakin' funky!!! :) :) They were really fun teachers too....



West Coast 4 Life!

My Dilemma......

 

Jordan and Tatiana - Top WCS dancers in US

One of my favourite quotes is from Sister Act 2:

"If you wake up in the morning, and you can't think anything but singing, then you should be a singer, girl"

 Dilemma: that is exactly how I feel about dancing....I have ever since I can remember....

I never wanted to make dancing my career - because I didn't want to be judged by it....I didn't want to feel pressure that my body wasn't good enough or that I wasn't good enough....I dance for the pure love of it, whether people watch me or not.  Then I also love performing - I could do a routine in front of loads of people and feel absolutely ecstatic! (Really!) When I dance its pretty much one of the few times I feel completely confident and entirely myself.

While I was married and having children I locked away my passion for dancing - except for random episodes around the house....putting the fulfilling of my husbands dreams, and the taking care of my children first.  Unfortunately with no one to support my dreams - I had nothing left for myself. It emotionally deadened me....I withdrew and I just switched it all off...I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything if I didn't want anything for myself.

Now that I am divorced, I have rediscovered my passion for dancing all over again - and finally found a style of dancing I adore....dilemma: I have a family to raise by myself, an education to get and I am on the verge of losing my license. (The license thing, due trying to juggle everything and doing too much speeding around - without the children with me).

I really don't know what to do!


Why would I be given such a talent without the means to use it?

Why did I stumble across this amazing style of dancing now (last 7 months) if I am unable to do it? (These particular styles, Modern Jive and West Coast Swing gives me, for once in my life, the opportunity to progress, to perform, and to compete, with no age limit or body image pressures - and I am actually really good at it!!)

...and now I just feel addicted, as if I just have to take as much as I can get because I know its not going to last.....I won't be living with my family much longer (no more babysitters or the spare money to go dancing)....its consuming and depressing....I know I have a family and I don't resent my children at all...

Soooo....do I just suck it up and put it all on the back burner?? Is that what it means to be a mother???

I don't want to reach 45 and start wigging out like so many mothers do because they have sacrificed too much...Hmmmm 

Its giving me a lot to think about - everything happens for a reason -(in my opinion) so where is the why? in this context? 

* * * * 

23rd Feb 2010 - update

 

Ok, so I am greedy.....and I want it all (a friend enlightened me to that fact the other day - thanks Michael).... I have been thinking about this all week, and I have come to this conclusion - I am extremely lucky be able to dance, and to have something that I love to do....and especially lucky to have the ability to do it at all with three young children. Two years ago I would have given anything to be able to dance one night a fortnight, if that! So I am grateful for the opportunity I have had in the last seven months to get a bit hardcore into dancing - but reality is begging my attention. Least I know now, whenever I get a free moment Modern Jive and West Coast Swing will always be there. Thank goodness!

 

But for the record.....even if I have to wait until I am 40+  - I will satisfy one of my life's ambitions and I will do competitions. :)

Monday Night Dance Therapy....

 

My dancing shoes - I would be lost without them! 

I don't know how it happened - but Monday night dancing has become my therapy.

Its not a night I usually dance, and I don't do it often....but the times I have found myself going completely mental and I know I just NEED to dance, always seem to fall on random Mondays.

Admittedly I feel the need to dance quite often, but these urges can be very easily satisfied with my iPod and locking myself in a room. :)...

This is different - Monday night dancing - as well as the endorphins and getting lost in the music, demands my complete attention...I need to concentrate on the moves and following a lead....and for sure nothing beats the connection when your  dancing in the zone with a partner!

So....yay for healthy coping mechanisms, and living with family, so I can put the kids to bed  and get a dose of thearpy :).....What do you do???