I had so much fun over the week-end and when I got home I was not a mess. I was a bit headachey but Tylenol PM took care of that.

The workshops were wonderful. I took a veil workshop and actually learned a few steps. What I should say is I learned and remembered a few steps. Yeah, it's the remembering that makes the difference, isn't it. Haha! My favorite class was a belly dance samba class. It was a blend of Brazilian samba (very energetic and you stick your behind out a lot) and belly dance (lots of shimmies). Gosh, I had a great time. If I had not been jogging and working out at the gym I'd have never, never been able to keep up in the samba class. What a lot of power it requires!

The show was well done and I wished my family could have seen it with me. The lighting, the live dancing, the costumes, the music. . . were delicious. The dance is but a moment in time. It passes, never to be experienced again, but the memory of it lasts a long time. Because I was there with a belly dance crowd, when we got to the show I found others had saved seats for us! Oh my, we were in the very front row. Little did I know, foolish girl that I am, one of the belly dancers who the girls I roomed with knows, is sorta famous. She came to our room and visited us. I looked around the internet and found she made a video about veil dancing. It's the most curious thing - to meet her she is, well, somewhat dowdy. She wears glasses. She has short, brown, permed hair. She's hasn't got a remarkable body. It's nice, but not like wow. So I had no idea of how good she is. But when she goes on stage, look out. She fills the stage with her presence. They call that star power. Charisma. I was with two remarkable dancers, chatting and what-not, and I didn't even know it! Hehe! One of them, Suhaila, saw me in the samba workshop and said to my friend that I was a good dancer. Gee, it made my day.

In one workshop we had to walk from the wings (side stage) to center stage and say our name, where we're from, and name one favorite thing about ourselves. The teacher said she didn't want to hear that we read the Bible from front to back or won the Nobel Peace prize. She said name something simple, something physical. I did it and the correction I got was not to walk with my palms facing the audience. It made sense, but I was so nervous that I don't know why in the world I had my palms facing that direction. And I said my favorite thing about myself is the small of my back, in profile, when I hold my tummy in real hard. And I did it and showed them and I could hear murmuring, "Oh yeeeah, we see that!" I was pretty happy that they didn't say something like what is she talking about. I tell ya, it's a long walk from the wings, to center stage, and back to the wings! Don't think it isn't, and don't think it's easy. Performers sure make it look effortless though.

I love my husband. I love my family. I love the Lord.

I ordered two more pair of the yoga pants that I love. My husband told me to, so I had to do it. Oh boy!

I worked out on the elliptical today and did weights. I'm not doing the elliptical anymore. I did it for 30 minutes and my feets were going to sleep. That's weird. The movement is just too small and circle-y and repetitious. I'd rather do the stationary bike for 30 minutes. They were all taken though.

Short clip

So even though I took a Benadryl and felt like lying on the sofa all day, and I have itchies driving me mad, I decided to run through this choreography while I had the runway to myself. The runway would be my living room and is about 15x3 feet wide. It's perfect for practice for dancing on the sidewalk. Haha! They came back really fast though. It's nice that they understand how much effort and concentration it takes for old Liliana to do some actual steps in some kind of order.

Witness the wonderfulness, the support, the respect for my art, that my family showers upon me.

A little bird told me this clip made Evie laugh so I'm adding it back to my blog (I had deleted it) and on my blog it shall stay!

Bananas

I am tired of making subject titles.

I am joyful. My dad called me from the hospital tonight to tell me how good he feels. He's had a good day. I am not far wrong to say he's living on borrowed time now. And praise to the Lord, my husband spoke with my dad on the phone, a lively, happy conversation, and I am overfilled with, with, with, something for which there are no words for right now. They have not spoken to one another for years. I waver between faintness before the Lord and strong power. He is used to that with us probably.

He went to the doctor's office for arrhythmia on Tuesday and was sent directly to the hospital when his pacemaker began shocking him over and over about 15 times.

Yesterday they went in with a tiny catheter to fix his heart but they couldn't get to the part of the heart where the problem is, so the ablation was not done. An ablation is when they deaden the nerves in an area of the heart where the problem pulses are coming from. They said he'd have to stay in the hospital until they can do another surgery that would entail an ablation over a larger part of the heart thus rendering him 100% dependent upon his pacemaker. The up side being that he wouldn't have to take heart medication anymore. But after the unsuccessful surgery they started him on Sotalol and he's been doing surprisingly well. So with that, who knows...maybe another surgery will not be necessary. My agnostic dad says it's a miracle. He has people all over the country praying for him and sometimes he leans to the atheist side. Looking death eye to eye changes things though. Truly, I have seen the hand of God at work this week.

Collette, she cracked me up, asked for more, more, more pics. Haha! I have only a few, the ones my mum emailed me. This is one of them. I performed this night with a borrowed ghawazee coat which is more modest but my husband took this one of me at home afterwards. I'm sad we didn't get photos of the event. I do know someone took my photo though because I had a moment, this great moment, where I was twirling with my hands outstretched to the sky. Sounds dramatic but it was the choreography. It was night and I could see the stars. We were on an outside stage at a restaurant. And as my face was turned upward toward the heavens someone's flash went off in my face. It burned the moment into my memory banks! I felt a oneness with everything.

Oneness with everything.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

That is in Luke 6:38!

Divot in my head

Ooooh, so I worked out yesterday and practiced with my scimitar. I didn't drop it. I haven't dropped it yet. I just move soooo slowly with it. I put a cork from a bottle of wine on the end of it so if, that is to say when, I drop it it should be a little safer. Logically speaking.

And I noticed after ten minutes I had a pretty big divot on the top of my head where the sword sat. Haha! That could be good, right? Long as it's not permanent!

Tomorrow I get to go with a journalist to see pecans being harvested. That should be pretty neat. I guess they use a machine that shakes the trees a lot.

I'm not so bad

I got happy at belly dance tonight. As you may recall, I felt rather ill about that dern sword falling off my head 80 times last Saturday night. And after that it affected my dancing altogether. Afterwards, at home by myself it was eating little small bites of confidence out of me.

But at class tonight three girls came up to me (grown women, but I say girls for my blog) and gave me compliments on my dancing of Saturday night! One said she couldn't decide whether to watch me or my teacher and so her eyes went back and forth. She said she and her friends talked about it for two days. She said that the costumes made our dance moves even prettier to watch. The best compliment though came from a girl from India. A real Indian girl who is a dancer. She dances folk dances of India and I hear she's very good though I haven't seen her choreography yet. But the thing is, she said my movements were so very feminine and flowing that she was thinking she would like me to dance with her in her Indian style. Boy howdy, I told her I would love to learn her style if she wanted to teach me! She said she's not a good teacher and cannot break down the moves like our Middle Eastern dance teacher does, and I said, "Well, how do you know if you haven't tried teaching it before?" I should have told her I can pick up moves pretty well too. I hope something may come of it. She's young and nice, dainty and petite. She recently finished university here and is now on a work visa. Her husband is still in India until next year and she misses him terribly. He's in the military there. She liked the skirt I was wearing tonight and said it reminds her of her saris at home. She says during the wedding season everyone loves to dress up in India. It reminded me sooo much of Leia because she once wrote about the exact same thing to me in an email! They call it "The Wedding Season." Interesting! We don't dress up much here she said, and I have to agree.

And I thought my teacher almost might cry when she was apologizing about the sword. Evidently the sword was her friend's and she thought it was better than hers is. But even though my teacher's sword is nothing expensive or amazing, I knew how to feel it on my head. Never do a performance with a sword you've never used before. Yeah, I'm an Einstein now! Plus, my teacher expressed to another student that I've been dancing for years and I interrupted and told her, no, I have but eight months of Middle Eastern dance. She was surprised and said she couldn't believe it. Well, I suppose it's actually a left handed compliment to me. So when I left class she asked me if I forgive her and I said of course. I have no hard feelings toward her, only toward myself. Ha! I did tell her no improv for me for awhile. She looked disappointed, but my confidence is a little tattered and I need some time. It all builds character, right? Yes, it does actually.

Anyway, it served to erase, eradicate, delete, deter my bad feelings. I mean, don't you hate those sick, sinking feelings? It's awful. Well, it's really gone now and I'm not just saying that for lip service. Also I learned a good lesson - that as bad as I feel, if I keep moving I am probably not as bad as I think. I thought I stunk completely, but if I break it down I think I did okay when I didn't have that evil sword on my head.

I've been writing about this a lot, I know, but it was a small drama for me. The inward drama being ten times worse than the real thing, huh.

Next performance I'm going to ask my girlfriends to pray for me that I don't flub up. That will give me a special, heavenly boost.

Tomorrow is a brand new day. Isn't that something! Yeah man. A brand new day.

Scimitar ordered

I did it. I finally chose a sword. Technically, I ordered a scimitar not a sword. A top of the line sword is about $200.00. Since I'm a beginner I shopped for a cheaper one. I considered a Saroyan which is very high quality, but I couldn't believe they have a no return policy on their swords. I emailed and inquired about their return policy and got a snooty reply. Marge told me if I want a trial period to buy a sword from somewhere else. I don't want a stinkin' trial period. If I don't like it I want to be able to get my money back. She said they've never had a dissatisfied customer in 35 years and have more business than they can handle. Yeah, I'll take my money somewhere all right. She can count on it. I went down to their shop when I lived nearby and bought my zills. Nice zills, nice guy, but whomever answers their email could use a lesson in customer service. We make all kinds of online purchases from desktop computer to beads. I would never order anything that has a no return policy!

So back to my scimitar. It's a scary looking one so I can't wait to take a picture of me with it to show my mother. Haha! It's unsharpened, but you still have to be cautious. Drop the tip of it on your toe and you'll have one less toe to worry about. The only unfortunate part is it's on backorder. Huge bummer, but it should come in this month they say. Their customer service was prompt. Ideally, I wanted one with the fancy scrolled engraving, but plain will do. It's a very sexy scimitar!

Improv, and I am breathless

I had tribal class tonight from 6:00 to 7:00pm. I wore my Melodia pants for the first time. These are the coolest belly dance pants with enormous bell bottoms and mine has a triangular sewn-on sash. Over them I added my tribal scarf with two rows of awesome fringe. Wore my hair down in a half-up. Got to class (it's in downtown) and there were so many trick-or-treaters going by that my teacher chirped, "Let's do improv and solos outside on the corner tonight!" Whuh? I was the only student who showed up for class. I've danced in front of an audience a handful of times over the years, always as a student, and never improv. Yiiiipes!

But courageous was I. I said, "Uhhhhhhhhhh, okay." And she and I danced together. ...To songs I have never heard.

...I was not that bad. She's very talented, but I didn't shame myself at least. I didn't do anything amazing or memorable, but I think I held my own passably. I was so, so nervous and it caused me to sweat so much that I built up a powerful case of underarm stink by the end of the evening. Fear does that! I don't usually sweat very much and when I got the shocking sniff that was me, I was so self-conscious I kept my arms down for the rest of class. Yeah, belly dancing with arms down. Haha! Fortunately the offensive odor didn't come on till about 8:00pm, so it was just our class, the second class, inside the studio by then. I sure hope no one noticed.

A friend came by and watched us dance for a bit and later after practice he and his wife dropped our son off and he told me I danced nice. I said, "You saw me? When?" And he said they were right in front of me and took a bunch of pictures. He said, "Didn't you see us?" He was really surprised I didn't, and I was too, but I tell you I did not see them! Evidently I was so nervous that I looked right at them and never saw them. Isn't that crazy? Nerves. They're funny, aren't they. Actually, it's probably a good thing I couldn't see them because who knows what could have transpired then. I might have tripped or something really lame.

I didn't take my dance sandals with me, so I danced barefoot on the sidewalk. Stubbed my next to the pinkie toe. It was bleeding a teensy bit. I told my teacher I should not do any more spins or turns.

When I got home I thanked the Lord for a body that operates efficiently (fairly so, we'll say), that takes me where I want, that healed well after I tried to destroy it, and even looks nice to boot. I saw people smile as we danced, women and children and men, and I smiled back. The crowd waxed and waned. The littlest kids were darling in their costumes and we ran out of candy in just one hour. A few guys in pick-up trucks may have hurt their necks as they drove by. The hour flew by. It makes me want to try harder.

I sat here so long thinking of what to type next that I noticed my keyboard actually says Q W E R T Y on the top left. Gosh, I'm so deep. I thought qwerty was merely a crazy word invented to describe the crazy arrangement of the letters on a keyboard. I didn't realize my keyboard actually spells out qwerty. Such a good word for Scrabble, isn't it. 'Luxury' is my favorite word for hangman.

Boy howdy, our son went out with family friends and scored such a load of candy that it'll last him clean through February. He was ebullient. He dressed up as the character of Jughead from Archie comics.

I got to look up at the New Mexico sky as I danced. I did snake arms down low then to my sides and worked them all the way up as high as I could. With my breath I did control and release, (yes, my brain was working partially, albeit on cruise control) and I swayed my arms to and fro with a small measure of grace. Well, with all the grace I could muster...like the leaves at the very top of a tree. If you are close up to me you can see my hands tremble slightly and steadily. With my hips I did a slow Maya, side to side. Smooth, relaxing, and hypnotic, I hope. It's one of my best moves. Both times I've belly danced in public I've been able to look up and see the sky. The first time was a night sky with hundreds of bright stars, and tonight was sunset with a line of pink orange on the horizon. It was good.

I am breathless.

I want to do it again.

Transferring data and sword dancing

I'm transferring photos to CD so my husband can have this laptop. I don't like this job. I hate it. It's administrative - keeping organized and what not. On the up side, with some time separating me from the moment I took the photos I have a fresher eye to divvy up the keepers from the not keepers.

I've been real sleepy this week-end.

Did you see the glorious moonrise on Friday night? It was lovely. Its light reflected off of the lake so prettily. And today there were a lot of sailboats on the lake.

On Friday night I was flyin' after bellydance. No one else came to intermediate class which meant basically, I had my own one-on-one dance class! I told my teacher I have long wanted to learn sword dancing as a specialty and she said, "I have my sword in the car. I'll go get it." Whoa! I had so much fun. I danced with it balanced on my head. When you get better you can balance it on your tummy and your chest too. You need to have excellent control over your isolations, and I do. Your head must remain quite still whilest the rest of you dances. And you dance slooow. That's just my speed. lol! I can shimmy with it on my head too though!

So she gave me lots of pointers and I did it four or five times. She showed me how when you enter the stage you walk in a circle to claim your space and you should think of it as an opalescent bubble and you own it. I decided to make my bubble glowing magenta in my mind, but I didn't tell her that. She said it's important to do this so you aren't distracted by any negative energy from the audience and so people know they aren't allowed in your space while you dance. An example of negative energy is when one time my other dance teacher was up to dance. Right before her music started there was some raucous laughter in the restaurant and someone made a loud comment. Now maybe they were talking about something else completely, but I think they were being mean. This could be hard on a dancer.

Okay. The other thing is, respect the sword. They aren't sharp, but they can be heavy and they're still dangerous. You won't be wanting to drop it on your toe or anybody else's toe. It's a prop but you must give it respect and be very showy to make the audience think it's rather dangerous and build up the suspense. Do some flourishes with it, etcetera. Don't just walk up to it and plop it atop your head, um, like I did the first time. You can use some music up just getting the mood set. If you've seen sword dancing it's often done with a turban on the head. Dancers know this way is easier because you can fit the sword in a crease of the fabric. It still requires good balance but the turban provides a bit of confidence. If you're outside even a wind can move the sword. We have a fan in the studio and I noticed it moved my sword. I told my teacher I intended to do it with a turban and she said I ought to practice with it just on my head and that if I can do it just on my head, on my hair, it is known to be more difficult and thus, more impressive to other dancers. Well, naturally a dancer wants to impress other dancers. Ha!

I'm so out of shape. I need more stamina. I rode my bike a couple miles today and I was pooped. Sheesh.

Here is a YouTube example of a sword dance. This one is beautiful in its simplicity. There's another vid of a girl who does floorwork, but I'll put it up another time. In practice, I was able to get down to my knees but couldn't quite get up without the sword tipping. These ladies are Irish. Yeah man, bellydance is in Ireland! My costume is tribal as theirs are, but mine does not show any tummy. You can be covered and still be, I think, exceedingly beautiful. The costume is exceedingly beautiful, I mean.

Belly dance workshops

I'm beat! My thighs are sore and I even have a tummy ache tonight from over exertion. I attended workshops for Tribal Style, veil and turban wrapping, and Tahitian dance. Actually I didn't care to do the Tahitian workshop because I totally don't want to mix up my middle eastern dance vocabulary with Polynesian movement, but I was there and it was next, so I took it. I miss my class and my teacher, Aziza, from southern California very much tonight. After taking this class, I am a little blue from missing them. I miss the familiarity of routines I know and the women I knew.

The teachers were full of heart and a love of the dance and I learned some new moves. I danced worse than I used to though. Well, is that such a surprise? I haven't moved for seven months. Give me a big tissue will ya! I got compliments on my dancing when I danced in Homer, Alaska in May, but today I received none. One teacher said I looked very good, but it wasn't a comment about my dancing so much as my figure. I'm not saying that's bad, but somehow it didn't make me feel good at all. Ya know?

I did get a compliment on my hair though. That made me kind of happy. The girl, she was young, asked me how to make my hairstyle (a Chinese bun) and complimented my hair color. I find this unusual, coming from a young woman. I think there's a new batch of womanhood coming of age! She trimmed her own hair and it was perfect all the way across. I told her I was amazed she did it herself and she showed me how she did it.

An interesting comment she made, one I wish I'd asked her to expound upon, she said she'd been through some terrible times and she cut her hair as part of a sort of, recovery. She said hair can hold memories and cutting it off freed her from those bad memories contained therein. I imagine this is related to some sort of mystic belief since not a few belly dancers practice paganism. I don't buy it, but it's a fascinating thought and I'd like to know from whence it originated.

I took so long in the shower getting ready to go that I had to rush to be on time. I did not have time to apply one whit of make-up. Bah! What kind of dancer goes to class without at least eyeliner? Me. Never did I go to a class without make-up before.

I'm signing up for a weekly Tribal class, Wednesdays from 9:30am to 10:30am. I'll have make-up on for class for sure! I'll probably do a scalp wash to be sure my hair is not tinky. (Since our second son was born, we always say "tinky" for "stinky" at our house.)

Number of washes down

Wow, my number of hair washes has gone down significantly. No reason really except I just haven't washed it as often. I've washed it only a couple times per week for a couple weeks in a row. I have no explanation. The big April measure-in is coming up. I hope I will have some growth to report.

I'm all atwitter today because I received my belly dance tribal tassel bra and belt with matching vest - my piece de resistance. I expected the vest closed with velcro but instead it has a gorgeous oriental style button. The coins and the jewelry on it are gorgeous. I jingle! The bestest thing about my costume is that the bra has a jewelry piece about 2"x5" that hangs right in the middle down my tummy and when I add the vest over it it comes down a little lower on my midriff and, oh my gosh, I believe my tummy looks nice enough to show. I purchased a mesh net body suit thinking I wouldn't show my stomach, but with the jewelry hanging down, the vest over it, and low lighting in the restaurant, I believe I can get away with it. On the flip side, I can't wear the bra by itself unless I want to look just like a hooker. But! I bought a black, velvet, 3/4 sleeve midriff top and it goes just perfect underneath. Tada, cleavage trouble solved. I am so happy. It looks like it's all working out. Actually, I was mortified when I first tried on the bra. It looked too small. The thing is, I totally went to the mall and tried on the exact bra she uses to construct the costume bras and this is the size that fit. What I did, this is so bad I know, but I didn't want to return or exchange it because I do love the set, but I cut the inside lining and pulled out as much of the push-up padding as I could. It helped but like I said I still have to wear something underneath to cover up some. I'm such a K-Mart girl. I order a $370.00 dollar costume and cut it up.

I didn't go to Bible study tonight or last week. I've been tired out. That's a thin excuse I know. We are emptying out the house still - liquidating our life - and it's a bit of work. Today my husband took down the light fixture in the kitchen, cleaned the ceiling, repainted it, and put the fixture back up. It looks much brighter and better. I had a man come today and give me an estimate about putting in closet doors in our two extra bedrooms. We took them down years ago and put in shelving, but tenants will need closet doors and a rod to hang clothing. Our living room is looking very bare. We're going to have one more garage sale.

Hugs to my girlfriends!

Bidding on a Kuchi cuff / Having tribal set made

I'm bidding on a Kuchi Afghan cuff to go with my costume that I'm putting together for the upcoming April 9th performance. I have my skirt. It's beautiful and I feel beautiful in it. This cuff has a piece coming off but it's petite and it's hard to find petite sizes

I've placed an order with Domba! for a custom made tribal style bra and belt set with matching vest. I'm excited. I ordered the purple and red. It won't look exactly like the one on the page because each one is different, but it'll have the same trim, red tassels, and a darker purple tassel than what's in the pic.

Best of All

Is the Lord speaking to me or what? My first performance is for an animal adoption benefit. A good cause.

I believe I have fallen into the class of one of the best instructors in the United States. I've met another teacher and taken one other class and there is no comparison. The more I come to know Aziza, the more respect I have for her - which is no small thing in these times. Should I say "Thank the luck!" Nah. No one says thank the luck. It's "Thank the Lord." I am thankful that the joy of the dance has reentered my life. It's been so long. I have a teacher who helps me with my mind and my heart and the dance. Man, I should be paying her a lot more, but I can't afford that much!

I wore my hair down to class last night. I'll be performing with it down probably, so I figured I ought to get used to moving with it down.

In a quandary so I phoned our pastor's wife

I've been in such a quandary over my dancing, or more specifically, the performing part. I phoned the church office and talked with my pastor's wife today about middle eastern dancing and being Christian. In a nutshell her reply was that if it glorifies God, it's good. If it's overtly sexual or sensual, immodest, a potential stumbling block to others (probably to the dancer too, I would think), it's bad.

We went shopping yesterday for a cabaret costume for me and, oh dear, I didn't find the perfect one (even a beginner costume can cost two to three hundred dollars). They all pushed the bust way, way up. Lord love a duck, as my mom would exclaim, I can't wear my boobs under my chin in front of people. Only one costume had a top that was my proper size and still, there was far too much cleavage to be seen. I went online and ordered one, pretty cute and for only $129.00. I'll see if I can wear a mesh bodysuit underneath it, but if it doesn't work I'm going to tell my dear teacher, Aziza, that I just can't do it. I believe she'll be just fine with that. And I did decide to join the troupe to begin with because I liked the tribal costuming, not cabaret.

It was tough trying on the outfits because cabaret costume tops are not elasticized like bras, plus the straps are quite long to allow for sizing, so I'm there trying to hold two straps at the top, two straps in the back, and the belt all at the same time, and get a good look at myself in the mirror too. Very doofus. And the belt with all the sequins and beading is quite heavy. Sunday night I thought it peculiar that all the belly dancers all kept a copious supply of safety pins. Well it's because they safety pin everything. I was doing plenty of pinning when I helped out as a dresser for the last show.

While the cabaret costume is currently causing me some heartburn, the tribal costuming on the other hand is much more fun! Today I ordered a flying skirt from Gwen at Flying Skirts website. It would be a cinch to sew but I haven't got the time anymore on account of we're emptying our house of all our material things to get ready for our trip around the North American continent. I own a fringe belt that Gwen sewed for me and I get lots of compliments on it. To cover my arms and tummy I ordered a long sleeved, black mesh body stocking by Janie. I need a coin bra real bad but haven't decided where to buy it yet. I'm not even quite clear as to how you wear a coin bra cover. You pin it on a bra or choli I guess.

After we saw the show my little boy said to me in the truck, "Mamma, when are you gong to dance for me?" At the festival he got to see a fire dance, sword dancing, cane dancing, and snake dancing and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. There is one male in our troupe and my son especially enjoyed his dance.

On to another topic, in the evenings I've been doing Old Yeller by Fred Gipson as our read aloud. Even my husband is enjoying the story. It is a classic after all and I hoped it would appeal to him when I selected it. I'm reading it aloud in my best southern Texas twang though technically it may be more of a southern drawl!

Wore my hair down today, but was home all day. Wore it up in a tight triple twist bun to church. It's slightly oily but looks fine in a bun.

Better is One Day

How lovely is your dwelling place
O Lord Almighty
For my soul longs and even faints for you
For here my heart is satisfied
Within your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings

Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere

I'm burned out, Baby

I've been shopping online all night for belly dance costuming. I need a cabaret costume and I need a tribal costume.

Sunday night I went to the Indio Date Festival and helped the girly girls get dressed for their dances. It was sixty minutes of dance, both tribal and cabaret. The costumes are to die for. Just gorgeous and mucho dinero to purchase. It didn't begin well because the troupe got the boot from the fair management and was told to move to another stage. This took about half an hour. They had props and bags and swords and a snake and people to move all the way across the fairgrounds. The show was good. Really, really good. The audience stayed and watched the whole hour! I expected to see people wander in and out and about like you do at the fair but the people in the chairs stayed in their chairs.

My friend Maya, who started with the troupe about three weeks before I, performed for the first time. She was so anxious yet she performed beautifully. Flawlessly I would add. There was a huge audience and she danced, gosh, in about four pieces. Amazing ability. At show's end the director and I were chatting about how the dance went when she looked at me with a sparkle in her eye and said...I was next! Yipes. I have nothing but a couple fringe belts. I have to buy everything I will need. Quick!

I wore my hair in a braid to the side today. I measured it despite this being mid-month and it seems to have not grown at all so far this month. Aaaaugh!

Show at The Babylon

Dinner was so-so. My husband's lamb was full of gristle. Bummer. But we were really there for the show.

It was supposed to start at 8:00pm but didn't begin till 9:10pm. I think they expected people to sit at the tables and order drinks but boy did we fool them. We ate dinner, dessert, and afterward didn't order any drinks. My husband had wine with dinner but he later said the wine wasn't very good wine. We weren't there for the wine though.

The show was great! It started with three guys playing drums and one guy playing what looked like a guitar but it wasn't a guitar. It sounded different than a guitar too. Our son's attention was riveted on the players. Finally the first group of dancers came out called Devadasi. The girl with long black hair flubbed up the choreography but she laughed so much that the audience was entertained by her, and all of them. A woman came out and danced an Indian folkloric dance and was splendid. Next was the troupe I'm practicing with, Fringe Elements. They were so fun to watch. Afterward my husband commented on how fluid one of the dancers was and how all the women were so feminine and so beautiful to watch. He was struck by how many of the women were built so womanly. Most of them are not what you'd call hardbodies, but as my teacher explains, we are women not eight year old boys. Things are supposed to jiggle. And they do!

I wore my hair in a French braid, tucked underneath. It's grown so much I had to double fold it and then tuck it under. I don't like the braid to hang down at all so I tuck everything under. I wore my sparkly ruby mini clips. Okay, they're not real rubies.

I've been back on my treadmill and practicing for an hour a day. I feel ever so much better. My thighs are sore, but it hurts good.

Forgot to mention that at the belly dance show they announced the first dance was in celebration of one of the dancer's last chemotherapy treatment. It tugged at your heart strings all right. She danced beautifully, had a beautiful body and a joyful demeanor. You could tell she was wearing a wig due to the effects of the chemo treatments.

Mediterranean cuisine and belly dance show

I'm taking my men out on the town for Valentine's Day. We're leaving in about half an hour for dinner and a show! If it's Mediterranean food, why do they use the French word 'cuisine?'

I'm all olive oiled up

I slathered on the olive oil for an overnight deep conditioning treatment. My husband came in the bathroom and saw me dipping my ends directly into the bottle of olive oiland he rolled his eyes at me. Hhhmph. Little does he know I have really good ends on account of dipping them in oil.

Belly dance class was inspiring last night. I was feeling unworthy over the week-end. I had cobwebs in my head and kept tripping up on the choreography Friday night. Last night I asked my teacher how to improve a particular move. I don't know the name for it but it's when you do two small rib circle isolations, then you widen it way out and do two great big rib circles, side, back, and side. The effect on the audience is perceptible because after you do the little circles (performed slow with nothing but background drums) when you switch to large ones and lean alllll the way back, at can cause the audience to move forward in their seats. Very cool effect. Anyway, I was next to two long tall drinks of water. Tall, shapely, lithe and lovely, young and experienced, and then there's me, 5'2", struggling to be cool, and lucky I have a waistline at all. I felt stumpy and so little and short doing my rib isolations in comparison to them. Well I showed my teacher the move and she said, "Liliana, I can't do it as well as you just did it." Then she launched into a "love yourself" talk. Heh. So this week I'm working on appreciating how this body moves without comparing it to everyone elses. That's the beauty of middle eastern dance. It's actually folkoric dance we're doing and all body types are acceptable.

Tonight at church we had a guest speaker. He was, I'm sorry, not a very dynamic speaker, but I did benefit from some of what he shared. He mentioned in passing, a book called Living in the Light of Eternity. I like that title. Makes me remember to be mindful and to live each moment to its fullest. I should try to dance like that.

Last night I had a dream, a recurring one. I'm lost, surrounded in all directions, as far as my eyes can see, by a wide expanse of freeway and overpasses and cloverleafs. Very gray. Sometimes the place I'm lost varies, for example sometimes it's in downtown San Diego and I'm in the barrio and I'm afraid of the people. I walk in fear of danger. I need to be with my cousin Laurie but I can't find my way back to her. Always in the dream, I do not have her phone number. If I had her number I could tell her where I was and she could come get me. Always, I go into a room and there's no phone, or it doesn't work. It feels similar to when I was 20 and I'd get lost driving and I'd go in a gas station for directions and they'd give me wrong ones or I couldn't remember them after they told them to me, so I'd continue to drive. Lost. This time, the room was a dank, quiet, depressing childcare center with one person sitting in a child's chair, an open book in his hand, but no children in the room to listen. He looks at me blankly, no help at all. I go back out to the empty freeways and walk and feel like if only I can remember which way to go I can get back to the house. I never do get back.

I took a vacation from my hair

I needed a short respite from my hair. I took it and I'm back. I missed my blog.

Since I wasn't blogging I didn't stick with my two hair washes per week. I just did whatever I wanted. Last week I fully washed twice and did one scalp wash.

Last night was a complete Vita-Veeta-Vegga-Min regimen beauty night. I was up until 3:00am. I polished my toes with a spectacular electric pink, I waxed all parts in need of waxing (except for my knuckles which drag on the ground so all the hairs are rubbed off already), and I uber oiled my hair with coconut oil overnight. Now I'm semi-attractive (semi: a prefix signifying half, and sometimes partly or imperfectly) and ready to greet the week.

I found a new belly dance class in town and I signed up. It's six weeks, so now I'm taking my new class on Tuesday, my old class on Thursday, and troup practice on Friday nights. Last Friday we danced for three hours! I ordered a silk veil from Akai silks on Ebay. She sells a lot of seconds, meaning stuff that didn't turn out perfectly, and her imperfect veils are beautiful. The one I ordered is black, burgundy, and gold banded. Good colors for ATS (American Tribal Style) which is the dance style I'm interested in. We did veil work for the first time last week and it was so much fun. The teacher showed us some basic moves plus about five ways to wrap the veil and tuck it in here and there around your body to look pretty. It's just so girly!

Belly dance student in a belly dance troupe

I was quite afraid to go to troupe practice because it's far and I have trouble with driving directions and because the world is so full of danger I never venture out at night. My husband said he'd take me and asked where the class will be and I told him. But he wanted an exact specific address. Men. So I found the address. It turns out they rehearse at the Senior Citizen's Community Center. My husband said, "Honey I don't think there will be much mayhem at the senior center." Okay, that's probably true.

There was a different teacher, new dances and I was overwhelmed. They did about three dances: Hadouni (the one my teacher choreographed), lead and follow, and a cane dance. I was out of step, off count, and graceful as a three-legged camel. I'm going back for more.

What I especially like about this dance and these classes is that there were women of all ages and sizes and all are welcomed into the fold equally. Of the ten dancers present about three are very, very good. The rest are about like me. Well, like me except they know the steps. With persistence and practice I will learn them too. My teacher says, "The dance reveals the dancer." I like that.

I have yet to decide how to assimilate my belly dancing with my Christianity. Notice, I did not say I'm deciding how to assimilate my belly dancing with my faith. It's just that I haven't yet met a professed Christian belly dancer. Is saying you're a Christian belly dancer like a saying you're a bartender for Jesus? If so, then Houston I've got a problem.

I know I will choose modest attire but that's not due to any measure of religiosity but mere personal preference. Though many of the older women show their bellies, that's not for me. I have a fair tummy but I already had my day in the sun so to speak. I will prefer to be lovely, modest, and attempt to be an example of mature semi-beauty. That's my plan anyway.

Belly dance and hair

Man, I feel great when I do a scalp wash. I feel like I'm being so good to my hair. Tonight was belly dance class and it's the one time of week that I get all fixed up to go out. I got two new tops at the mall today - two for $20.00. Such a deal! There were lots of sales due to Veteran's Day holiday, plus the youngsters got the day off so the mall was crowded.

Anyway, back on topic. For belly dance I always, but always, wear my hair up. I have a perfect record for wearing my hair up to this class, and that's since August. Tonight I jumped in the shower at 6:00 pm after our delicious pizza dinner, and put my hair in a bun with a ziploc baggie over it to keep it dry. Classy, I know. I didn't dilute my shampoo though because, well I don't know why, I just didn't.

I dried my hair and it looked really good for some reason. Some water did get to the ends. I don't know how that happens but maybe it's due to my hair being basically straight and slick. Perhaps more experience will improve my method. I pulled it back into a pony, braided, and made a bun. It turned out real pretty.

By then it was 7:00pm and that gave me 10 minutes to finish up. I put a drop of jojoba oil on the top and sides to smooth the hairs and shine them up and hair sprayed my bangs. I know hair spray in not kind on hair, but once a week I do it anyway.

I got to use my new zills for the first time. I was totally uncoordinated. Plus I got up in front of the class (without the zills) and danced for the first time. I was nervous and tight. I could not move my feet! That means I danced in one exact spot the whole time. Well the girly girls in class were sweet as could be, especially since I'm new, and everyone applauded when I finished. One girl, she's a psych major with beautiful, straight, honey blond hair, bsl, said I have really good hips. I do have good hips. Now if only I can move the hips, the feet, and maybe some arms at the same time. That would be helpful.