Bluesin' Baby!

As many of you already know, I am an avid swing dancer. I do several different styles: Lindy Hop, Balboa, some Charleston (which can be danced solo or in pairs), and Blues. This weekend was the Mile High Blues Exchange in Denver, Colorado. And boy was it smokin'!!!! Now, I'm a good dancer, but I'm not exceptional. There were some truly exceptional specimens this weekend.

What is an Exchange, I hear you ask? Well, originally it was when a group of Lindy dancers from city A invited dancers from city B to come spend the weekend. Then city B reciprocated . . . thus the 'Exchange'. Nowadays it's more of a roving party. Different cities host it throughout the year. So there's a Portland Exchange, Denver Exchange, St Louise Exchange . . . . and even abroad: Moscow Exchange, London Exchange, Munich Exchange . . . . The local dancers all pitch in and help run the event (free of charge) and everyone pays a small (larger if there's teaching going on, but there often isn't. Just loads of social dancing) fee to pay for the venues, teaching, food . . . . Mostly it's just a lot of fun. People travel from all over the country, and even all over the world for the best exchanges, to come dance for the weekend. It's typically a Friday Night + Late Night, Saturday Afternoon (sometimes, not always) + Night + Late Night, and Sunday Afternoon (again, sometimes, but not always) + Night + Late Night (though there's not always a Late Night Sunday because of people leaving). Sometimes there's a pre and a post dance the night before/after the exchange, as well. Sometimes there are classes on Saturday/Sunday, sometimes there are activities (like the Utah Exchange they went sledding) . . . every exchange is different.

So, the schedule for this exchange?

Friday 7.00 am -- Leave for Denver (8 hour drive!)
6.30 pm -- Arrival/Registration/Auditions for upper level classes.
8.00 pm -- Dance
12.00 am -- Late Night
Now, the Late Night finished at 4.00 am, but I'd had a massive headache all day, so we called it quits around 3.00 am, and the 4 of us (Utah Dancers) went back to the hotel room we'd rented near the venues.

Saturday 8.30 am -- Up. (I know . . . I couldn't believe it either)
11.00 am -- Class (really good)
12.00 pm -- Class (really good)
1.00 pm -- Class (really good)
2.00 pm -- Lunch (didn't get any, too rushed)
3.00 pm -- Class (missed half of the class, but no problem because knew the stuff from the 1st half. 2nd class was good, though!)
4.00 pm -- Class (skipped)
5.00 pm -- NAP!
8.00 pm -- Dance
12.30 pm -- Late Night (no headache . . . . . got swept out the door at 4.00 am!)

Sunday 9.30 am -- Up.
10.00 am -- Class (missed the 1st 10 minutes)
11.00 am -- Class (fun, but not fabulous)
12.00 pm -- Class (I skipped the rest of the classes and did marking instead. *sigh*)
5.00 pm -- Easter Dinner with new Denver Dance Friends. Ooooooh so yummy!
9.00 pm -- Dance
12.00 am -- Late Night
3.30 am -- Jumped in the car to head back to Utah. I slept the first 2 hours, then swapped to be the driver. Will and I swapped back and forth most of the rest of the trip (8 hours) back.

Monday 2.30 pm -- Arrival to Salt Lake
4.00 pm -- Picked up Jane and Naomi from the Airport (Jane had been at an interview earlier in the week, so she flew to Denver, and Naomi had been visiting her friends in Seattle.)

So, it's 8.00 pm now, and I still haven't been to sleep (car sleep doesn't count. It just takes the edge off.) And the plan for the evening? Will, Naomi and I (and maybe Jane) are going to Keys on Main to see a live Jazz Band. We live by this motto:

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...
Damn, What a ride!!

Blogging By Naomi

Its April and I Naomi West am Adele's guest!!! (by the way...I am an English lady who is from the same English Stake (IPSWICH) as Adele)
I spent my first few days at General Conference with the Germans! (Sonja, Christian, Rene, Rike and others...in fact half of the German Choir)



and managed to go into all sessions, except for the Priesthood session, obviously!

Monday Adele had to teach so I went to BYU with her and explored the campus. I also managed to have a tour of the music department and saw what they have to offer. Whist listening to the Orchestra (which was amazing) I saw Abby Pentreath!!
The choir rehearsal was a personal favourite of mine. Such a great sound with fantastic diction and timbre!

I then met up with MARC MATTHEWS! It has been 2 years since we have seen eachother. He took me to lunch at Cafe Rio. It was really good food and great company.
Then the BRITs got together for a brief moment in time...Ben Twigger, Dan Kim (honorary Brit) and Abby. We popped to see Adele too, so there were 5 people from our stake in the same place at BYU at one time!

Adele doesn't teach on Tuesday so we hit the slopes at Solitude. It was my first time on the slopes and with a Snowboard in my hand was a little nervous but very excited. The mountains are SO beautiful.



We started on the baby slope, up on the chair life which was a little scary getting off!! I fell over!



But did get the hang of it eventually, that doesn't mean I didn't fall over anymore though!!! My deriere is extremely tender this morning! LOL! But it was worth every bruise!


Once I got the hang of it I loved it! We had a great lunch and then hit the slopes a few more times before being completely cream crackered!





Then home to relax in the sun!!!
Then after dinner we showered, I got in my PJ's and we headed to Pleasant Grove where we stay with Adele's Aunt and Uncle but wee had a random call from Ben LaFevre and Cameron and his brother. So we went to see them. And we had a malt!



All in all having a wonderful time. Off to Seattle tomorrow!!!!

30

I'm officially no longer a 20-something.

Projects

I've been working on several projects over the past couple of months. One of them is my sister's wedding album. When she got married (4 1/2 years ago!) I promised her I'd make a scrapbook of her photos. But she never got the photos to me! So, since I'm living half way at her house for the term, I kept bugging her 'til she got around to sorting through, editing, cropping and ordering the photos in various sizes. So, I've been working on that.

Then, the second project is actually one I started back when I was a student at BYU! I took a sewing class because I figured it was ridiculous to have a sister living with me who could tutor me and make sure I really learned things, and not take advantage! I had a project nearly complete (needed sleeves, zipper and hem) when I moved to England, and it got packed away, and only just recently found. Over the weekend I got the sleves put in and the hems done, and today I got the zipper put in. And I did it myself! It's been 5 years since the last time I put a zipper (or sleves) in. Felt very proud of myself. It's a 1940's vintage pattern. I look best in '30s-50s clothing patterns. They were meant to fit women with real figures!
The third project (yes . . . I keep multipule projects running. This is normal.) is another dress. Also vintage pattern. This one, however, is a brand new project. I'm trying to get it done for my birthday on Sunday. The only thing left to do is put the hem in, but that has to wait 'til tomorrow or later, because the skirt has to hang for 24 hours. If you don't let a skirt hang for 24 hours, the hem will never be straight because of the stretch of the bias cut.

So, those are my current projects. Two are nearly complete. When I finishe them, I guess there'll be nothing else to do except the scrapbook . . . and working on my PhD! (Oh, and teaching.)

Things I Have Done . . .

Things I have done... Just copy and paste this to your blog and bold the ones that you HAVE done and make sure to put your score at the end.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (A one off appearance with an Irish Folk Band in a pub in Ireland)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (Rome - Zurich)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (But will be going on one in September: St. Petersburg - Moscow)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Gone without food or water for 24 hours or longer
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain (Does snow count?)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Stayed up for 24 hours with NO sleep at all
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving (indoor)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Changed a lightbulb
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Mowed the lawn
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Have more than one college degree (3 and 1/2: BA, MA, MA & getting close to done with PhD)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Lived in a foreign country (I've lived in 4 countries on 3 continents in 2 hemispheres)

77... I think. Sort of lost count.

Notice how the majority of my accomplishments revolve around travel?

Confused Weather!

It's the beginning of March. We've been having all sorts of strange weather around here. In fact, we'll go through pretty much the whole spectrum in a single day. Take these two photos, for example:










They were taken on the same day, out my office window! The first one was taken around 10 in the morning. The second, around 12 noon, last Friday. And then the next day, which was predicted for a snow storm, it was beautiful the whole day! And Sunday, too. Monday it was cloudy, but when I walked out of my 3.15 pm appointment, we'd had an inch of snow! And by the time I made it home (ok, so it was nigh on for 2 am!) it was several inches thick. In fact, it's still pretty white out there, though it's finally starting to warm up enough to melt. Yes, such is early spring in Utah!

Shooting In PG

Well.... Friday was exciting. I came home to my aunt's house in PG on Friday, and the door was locked. Interesting. I could tell people were home, which means the door's usually unlocked. So I dug my key out and came in, and joked 'Trying to keep me out, eh?' as I walked into the living room. My aunt said, 'We've been in lock down all afternoon.' Ummm..... ok. Why? Apparently there'd been a shooting about 5 blocks away, and the police had been chasing the guy all over PG. So the schools were all holding the students till the guy got caught, and the road was blocked off (fortunately I'd come the back way, not the front way, so I missed the traffic problems) and it was a mess, generally. And, of course, being so close, my aunt and uncle knew the victim. Actually, so did my Dad. He's originally from PG, though they moved when he was 10 to Alaska. The victim was the (much) younger brother of my Dad's friend from elementary school. Kind of scary. Actually, really scary. And in PG? It's like the definition of 'Small Town, USA'. And it's kind of freaky watching your house go by on the 6.00 news. Seriously, it was that close.