I believe it's been a bit...
Seems as though I haven't blogged about dancing in a while so why not do so now?! I'm still into it full swing, pun intended, and am still loving every minute of it. My dad and I have actual dance shoes now and joined the swing club so I take that as meaning that we are hard core professionals now! Or not ;)
We have graduated from the beginning to intermediate classes although there are certainly some things that I have yet to master from the beginning class such as my poor frame. I just can't seem to keep good compression when I partner dance! That probably makes no sense unless you've partnered danced before! Regardless of my poor frame, our hearts are still in it and we at least feel like we do well :)
Last night pops and I went to a bar/restaurant out south for dinner, a few drinks and an introductory lesson to salsa! It was a blast! After the lesson, they open up the floor for whoever wants to dance! We really had a great time and I'm sure I'll return next week! Apparently, every Tuesday, they have an introductory lesson to all sorts of stuff (rumba, salsa, cha cha, two step, night club sway, blah blah blah) and then afterwards the west coasters show up and swing!
Not 100% sure I'm going to my normal lesson tonight though. I've either got a really slammin' (and not in the good way) case of allergies or I've got a cold. My head is filled with crap and I can't seem to hold my eyes open. Blah.
Even though it may be the weather making me feel like this, I can't ignore that it is FREAKING BEAUTIFUL outside this week! We have a FULL garden now and the mister has started working on renovating our deck which I am SO excited about! It really needs a facelift!
Also, Monday was my last day to teach this semester. It's always bittersweet it seems. I totally miss my students and being in front of the class but I also love the extra free time I have to do whatever! Now, I still have a stack full of projects to grade so I'm not out of the woods yet but I'm not lesson planning for a while! I start a summer course up on June 1st so it's just a little break really.
Sorry if any of this seems disjointed or discombobulated or whatever....my brain is struggling through all of the snot today. Nice image, eh?
OH! Also, I am thinking of making this blog private so if you're a reader I don't know about and would still like to read this, let me know so I can invite you to it!
Ta Ta! Bodaciously ;)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Baby Book Treasure Trove
So my parents have found many old momentos from all of our pasts that have been in storage for many a year. One such momento is my baby book! Now, I didn't start out as the cutest child in my opinion, but I blossomed into this supermodel you see today! Or something like that ;) Reading through my mom's notes in the book, I found some amusing little tidbits:
*She has a mole birthmark on her back (it's sort of like a freckle - flat)*
My note about that: That mole grew with me and became the most hideous looking thing a girl could have on her back, making me forever self-conscious about my back. At the age of 22, I had that sucker removed due to fears that it was a cancerous little devil. Fortunately, we later found out that it wasn't. Now I've a big scar on my back to replace the hairy, misshapened and large birthmark. I find it funny that it was once described as being like a freckle :)
*9 months - doesn't like to share*
I'd like to say that has changed but it hasn't ;)
*5 months - laughs and gets very excited over Bilbo our cat*
I still get excited about cats.
*first word - bye-bye & waves, cookie, daddy, kitty, hi*
All but cookie are still part of my daily vocabulary.
*first sentence - broken balloon*
I'd sure like to know what this means! I'm actually quite frightened by balloons to this day. I HATE popping balloons, almost as much as I hate the toy Jack-In-The-Box.
Special Aptitudes:
from 6 months on - loved to dance in some way or another
4 years - tries to break dance
How rad of a kid was I?!?! I totally laughed out loud when I read the break dancing part!
Of course there's all sorts of other goodies in there but I doubt you'd like to hear about my immunizations, dental development or when I crawled and walked so I will spare you ;)
*She has a mole birthmark on her back (it's sort of like a freckle - flat)*
My note about that: That mole grew with me and became the most hideous looking thing a girl could have on her back, making me forever self-conscious about my back. At the age of 22, I had that sucker removed due to fears that it was a cancerous little devil. Fortunately, we later found out that it wasn't. Now I've a big scar on my back to replace the hairy, misshapened and large birthmark. I find it funny that it was once described as being like a freckle :)
*9 months - doesn't like to share*
I'd like to say that has changed but it hasn't ;)
*5 months - laughs and gets very excited over Bilbo our cat*
I still get excited about cats.
*first word - bye-bye & waves, cookie, daddy, kitty, hi*
All but cookie are still part of my daily vocabulary.
*first sentence - broken balloon*
I'd sure like to know what this means! I'm actually quite frightened by balloons to this day. I HATE popping balloons, almost as much as I hate the toy Jack-In-The-Box.
Special Aptitudes:
from 6 months on - loved to dance in some way or another
4 years - tries to break dance
How rad of a kid was I?!?! I totally laughed out loud when I read the break dancing part!
Of course there's all sorts of other goodies in there but I doubt you'd like to hear about my immunizations, dental development or when I crawled and walked so I will spare you ;)
Friday, April 3, 2009
Once Upon a Time
Once upon a time I did a short stint as a student in Mexico; Tepotzlan, Mexico to be exact. Nearly ten years ago, I began my first real travel experience out of the country. I had never flown alone before and had certainly never been out of the country alone before. It was truly uncharted territory I was uncovering.
Tepotzlan is situated about 30 minutes from Cuerna Vaca and is technically not even large enough to be considered a town, but rather a municipality. Many spoke Spanish, of course, but many more spoke native languages indigenous to the region. I stuck out like a sore throbbing thumb, blonde and pale thing that I am, and had a terrible terrible time adjusting. I never realized that visiting a country so physically close to your own could cause such terrible culture shock. I nearly went home shortly into the visit. But I toughed it out and still remember this travel experience as one of the most important I've ever had.
The school. (that's not me in the picture but another gringa looking quite similiar to myself)
I've not kept in contact with anybody who studied there with me. I've no one to share memories with about the trip. Let me rephrase that. I've plenty of people to tell about this time but no one to talk about, remember this and remember that? It's the only trip I've no one to do those things with. I often dream about Tepotzlan where I'm back there walking the streets back to my house. I miss that place more than I realize sometimes.
About ten years before I arrived in the village, the locals uncovered a pyramid atop the mountains that surround the town. In the picture above, you can see it in the mid left region of the photo at the top of the mountain. They built a very crude hiking trail to the top which takes about an hour or so to hike, depending on the number of people ahead of you. We went on the 'free' day, thus our hike took a couple of hours as there were SO many people with the same Sunday afternoon plan. Once atop the pyramid, we sat on it, and stared down at the village we had called home for 5 weeks. We left Mexico the following day.
My time in Tepotzlan taught me more about myself than I thought possible in one trip. I learned that I can do it. And by it, I mean anything. And I can do it all alone. And in many instances I have. And I can do it again. I learned what it felt like to be the minority. I know what it feels like to be stared at unrelentlessly because of the color of your skin. I know what it's like to be so frustrated with not being able to communicate your point because of a language barrier. I feel like this trip, among others, taught me lessons that would eventually serve me in being the best teacher I can be; it taught me to put myself back in the student's position as someone who is not a master of the culture's language, who is trying to figure out cultural norms and who is trying to figure out themselves.
I've been wanting to blog about my travels for a while now. I call myself Worldygirly yet I've seen a mere 10% or so of the world. I feel like the title I've bestowed upon myself though goes much deeper than how much I've traveled or how much I've seen. I feel like it also includes being sensitive to those that share the world with us or having the willingness to yearn to learn about other lands. Through conversations with my students, I feel like I step a foot into other worlds every day. Teaching ESL gives me more than a paycheck, more than the satisfaction of helping someone learn, but it also fulfills this insatiable desire to learn more about the world through the amazing and diverse people who fill it.
I plan to write more on Tepotzlan and the adventures that surrounding that experience. I also plan to talk about other travel experiences I've had over the years. If blogging had been around during all of these trips, I probably would have blogged about them then. Too bad for you blogging wasn't as grand as it is now which means you get all of my past travels now. I'm going to wrap them up with a pretty bow for you. Consider yourself gifted. By me ;)
Tepotzlan is situated about 30 minutes from Cuerna Vaca and is technically not even large enough to be considered a town, but rather a municipality. Many spoke Spanish, of course, but many more spoke native languages indigenous to the region. I stuck out like a sore throbbing thumb, blonde and pale thing that I am, and had a terrible terrible time adjusting. I never realized that visiting a country so physically close to your own could cause such terrible culture shock. I nearly went home shortly into the visit. But I toughed it out and still remember this travel experience as one of the most important I've ever had.
The school. (that's not me in the picture but another gringa looking quite similiar to myself)
I've not kept in contact with anybody who studied there with me. I've no one to share memories with about the trip. Let me rephrase that. I've plenty of people to tell about this time but no one to talk about, remember this and remember that? It's the only trip I've no one to do those things with. I often dream about Tepotzlan where I'm back there walking the streets back to my house. I miss that place more than I realize sometimes. 
About ten years before I arrived in the village, the locals uncovered a pyramid atop the mountains that surround the town. In the picture above, you can see it in the mid left region of the photo at the top of the mountain. They built a very crude hiking trail to the top which takes about an hour or so to hike, depending on the number of people ahead of you. We went on the 'free' day, thus our hike took a couple of hours as there were SO many people with the same Sunday afternoon plan. Once atop the pyramid, we sat on it, and stared down at the village we had called home for 5 weeks. We left Mexico the following day.
My time in Tepotzlan taught me more about myself than I thought possible in one trip. I learned that I can do it. And by it, I mean anything. And I can do it all alone. And in many instances I have. And I can do it again. I learned what it felt like to be the minority. I know what it feels like to be stared at unrelentlessly because of the color of your skin. I know what it's like to be so frustrated with not being able to communicate your point because of a language barrier. I feel like this trip, among others, taught me lessons that would eventually serve me in being the best teacher I can be; it taught me to put myself back in the student's position as someone who is not a master of the culture's language, who is trying to figure out cultural norms and who is trying to figure out themselves.
I've been wanting to blog about my travels for a while now. I call myself Worldygirly yet I've seen a mere 10% or so of the world. I feel like the title I've bestowed upon myself though goes much deeper than how much I've traveled or how much I've seen. I feel like it also includes being sensitive to those that share the world with us or having the willingness to yearn to learn about other lands. Through conversations with my students, I feel like I step a foot into other worlds every day. Teaching ESL gives me more than a paycheck, more than the satisfaction of helping someone learn, but it also fulfills this insatiable desire to learn more about the world through the amazing and diverse people who fill it.
I plan to write more on Tepotzlan and the adventures that surrounding that experience. I also plan to talk about other travel experiences I've had over the years. If blogging had been around during all of these trips, I probably would have blogged about them then. Too bad for you blogging wasn't as grand as it is now which means you get all of my past travels now. I'm going to wrap them up with a pretty bow for you. Consider yourself gifted. By me ;)Monday, March 30, 2009
Married Twinky Weekend
As I said before, we didn't skip town as planned for the anni weekend. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty bummed about it at first but got over it quickly once we awoke Saturday morning to see a snowfall like I haven't seen in years! It was beyond beautiful! I loved it for SO many reasons! 1) the weather was to be warm the next day so it would be gone and wouldn't interfere in people's lives (esp my driving) 2) it was so so so so sooooooo pretty! 3) huge flakes 4)watching the beast bound around in it 4) bundling up with my mister 5) that it happened on the weekend 6) that it happened on our ANNIVERSARY weekend! 7) that it lasted all day 8) that it made me feel like we were snowed in and still stuck away like we had initially planned to be...I could go on and on but I shall refrain ;)
Saturday wasn't our exact anniversary but it was the day that we celebrated. The day started with me remaining in bed for about 3 hours while reading a book - this is something I haven't done in FOREVER and it was greatly missed. During this time, the mister cooked us breakfast which smelled so good during my reading time! We ate and went back to reading and video gaming, appropriately. There were of course many spurts of time where we watched the beast go beserk or just watched the snow fall. It snowed until 5 that evening, btw, and it was reported that our town got 9.9 inches! We had a oven baked frozen pizza for dinner and watched some b-ball. (I cannot believe how much I am getting into the March Madness business!) Later after we cleaned up we opened up a bottle of nice wine called the Bird Man, which my mister is, and relived what we were going through this time last year. Oh, and I wore this snowman shirt the mister got me as a joke a while back...I thought it was perfect for the random snow day! And funny! I wore a white long sleeved shirt under it and when the mister came out of the room from getting himself ready, he had mimicked my outfit completely! Well, he didn't have a snowman shirt on but you get the idea.
Moving on. That night was Earth Hour which asks that everyone turn off their lights from 8:30-9:30, local time. The Great Pyramids turned off their lights, the Vegas Strip participated, the Eiffel Tower was there and there were big street parties in larger cities all in the dark! We shut down all of our goodies, lit every single candle in the house (which did make me a little nervous as we have one kittie who is quite flame curious) and kept the lights off for much longer than the said hour! After about two hours, we turned on the ipod and had dance party 2009 in the kitchen. It was LOADS of fun. Oh, also during this time, we dove into our wedding cake which was surprisingly SO good and stepped outside to have cigars to celebrate! During the dance party, we cracked open a bottle of Cava (a Spanish champagne) and proceeded to get a bit more fuzzy.
Sunday morning consisted of some headaches, melting snow, lesson planning, b-ball, leisurely reading and a fancy homemade anniversary dinner. Oh, and some more cake of course ;)
I couldn't have asked for a more perfect anniversary weekend. I'd like to thank Mother Nature for snowing us in, my folks for storing our cake, our electrical lines for not letting us lose power, our friends and family for not calling and most of all, my mister for being my mister.
Saturday wasn't our exact anniversary but it was the day that we celebrated. The day started with me remaining in bed for about 3 hours while reading a book - this is something I haven't done in FOREVER and it was greatly missed. During this time, the mister cooked us breakfast which smelled so good during my reading time! We ate and went back to reading and video gaming, appropriately. There were of course many spurts of time where we watched the beast go beserk or just watched the snow fall. It snowed until 5 that evening, btw, and it was reported that our town got 9.9 inches! We had a oven baked frozen pizza for dinner and watched some b-ball. (I cannot believe how much I am getting into the March Madness business!) Later after we cleaned up we opened up a bottle of nice wine called the Bird Man, which my mister is, and relived what we were going through this time last year. Oh, and I wore this snowman shirt the mister got me as a joke a while back...I thought it was perfect for the random snow day! And funny! I wore a white long sleeved shirt under it and when the mister came out of the room from getting himself ready, he had mimicked my outfit completely! Well, he didn't have a snowman shirt on but you get the idea.
Moving on. That night was Earth Hour which asks that everyone turn off their lights from 8:30-9:30, local time. The Great Pyramids turned off their lights, the Vegas Strip participated, the Eiffel Tower was there and there were big street parties in larger cities all in the dark! We shut down all of our goodies, lit every single candle in the house (which did make me a little nervous as we have one kittie who is quite flame curious) and kept the lights off for much longer than the said hour! After about two hours, we turned on the ipod and had dance party 2009 in the kitchen. It was LOADS of fun. Oh, also during this time, we dove into our wedding cake which was surprisingly SO good and stepped outside to have cigars to celebrate! During the dance party, we cracked open a bottle of Cava (a Spanish champagne) and proceeded to get a bit more fuzzy.
Sunday morning consisted of some headaches, melting snow, lesson planning, b-ball, leisurely reading and a fancy homemade anniversary dinner. Oh, and some more cake of course ;)
I couldn't have asked for a more perfect anniversary weekend. I'd like to thank Mother Nature for snowing us in, my folks for storing our cake, our electrical lines for not letting us lose power, our friends and family for not calling and most of all, my mister for being my mister.
Friday, March 27, 2009
A Fantastic First Year
Well boo hiss. But still yeah. This Sunday is mine and the mister's 1 year anniversary. YEE HAW!!! Too bad we don't have cattle to round up. What? Anywhoodle. We were planning on skeedaddling to the country but here in Okiehomie, we've got some jacked up weather sprouting and we've decided to stay inland. Er, in town. I'm so bummed because I want to get out of town SO bad! But it would just be a muddy mess if we went. Not us but our ginormous beast that is. I don't feel like having muddy paw markings all over the place and we partially fear being snowed in if it really snows, that is. So we're staying here and we'll still have a good time with our frozen pizza, polaroid project, schmaniversay playlist and living room camping. We acquired the top of our wedding cake to eat and I'm crossing my fingers it is actually edible! I'm all about nose-diving into that thing! It's really bizarre it's already been a year but I guess that's a good thing that it doesn't feel like it's been forever, eh?
I have nothing else to say except Happy Anniversary to the Bifftastics. We are fantastic. Biffishly fantastic.
I have nothing else to say except Happy Anniversary to the Bifftastics. We are fantastic. Biffishly fantastic.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tis the season for helmets
For Christmas this year, I received two pairs of galoshes. I had searched and searched for months before trying to find some myself and had ZERO luck. I even had one young worker at a store who had never even heard of the word galoshes. Seriously? Apparently, I had harped around enough to let it be known that I was in the market for some of these shoes and was gifted the pair of pairs!
Today I'm wearing my galoshes and I'm not happy about it. I'm down for some rain here and there and often times, need a good washing from the sky to match my mood but as for springtime storms in this part of the country, I'm not so welcoming. We've got possible severe storms in the forecast and it's got my stomach in knots. I love living in Oklahoma more than I can express but this time of year, I find myself wishing I had a spring retreat in a non-tornado-threatened area to abscond to. I'm pretty sure this time of year scrapes precious moments off of my life much more than other times of year. The worry I go through has my body manifesting anxieties in not so friendly ways. Did I mention I hate tornado season?
Now, try teaching while having a huge chunk of worry in your body. Now try explaining tornado season to people who have only lived in this country for a few months. Try acting brave for them. Try to act like it's no big deal. I don't act. I tell them like it is; that I'm petrified of pulling a Dorothy Gale and that nothing scares me more than springtime storms here. I teach them weather terminology that is rarely heard anywhere but here. I teach them how to safely protect themselves when they hear the sirens. I teach them that it's okay to be scared but that it's important to keep a level head admist those fears.
Perhaps I make it worse than it should be. Many of my anxieties are anticipatory. When in the moment of the feared moment, I'm fine yet hours, days or weeks before I am sick with worry. Perhaps someday I'll welcome these type of storms the way I welcome those that arrive during other parts of the year. Perhaps.
I've informed the mister that I'm purchasing helmets for us for tornado season as I've read that blunt force trauma to the head is how most are fatally injured in tornados. He's not really down but it makes me calm down a bit. And think of the photo-ops with those helmets ;)
Did I mention that our one year anniversary of marriage is this Sunday? It is. True story.
Today I'm wearing my galoshes and I'm not happy about it. I'm down for some rain here and there and often times, need a good washing from the sky to match my mood but as for springtime storms in this part of the country, I'm not so welcoming. We've got possible severe storms in the forecast and it's got my stomach in knots. I love living in Oklahoma more than I can express but this time of year, I find myself wishing I had a spring retreat in a non-tornado-threatened area to abscond to. I'm pretty sure this time of year scrapes precious moments off of my life much more than other times of year. The worry I go through has my body manifesting anxieties in not so friendly ways. Did I mention I hate tornado season?
Now, try teaching while having a huge chunk of worry in your body. Now try explaining tornado season to people who have only lived in this country for a few months. Try acting brave for them. Try to act like it's no big deal. I don't act. I tell them like it is; that I'm petrified of pulling a Dorothy Gale and that nothing scares me more than springtime storms here. I teach them weather terminology that is rarely heard anywhere but here. I teach them how to safely protect themselves when they hear the sirens. I teach them that it's okay to be scared but that it's important to keep a level head admist those fears.
Perhaps I make it worse than it should be. Many of my anxieties are anticipatory. When in the moment of the feared moment, I'm fine yet hours, days or weeks before I am sick with worry. Perhaps someday I'll welcome these type of storms the way I welcome those that arrive during other parts of the year. Perhaps.
I've informed the mister that I'm purchasing helmets for us for tornado season as I've read that blunt force trauma to the head is how most are fatally injured in tornados. He's not really down but it makes me calm down a bit. And think of the photo-ops with those helmets ;)
Did I mention that our one year anniversary of marriage is this Sunday? It is. True story.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Garden Party!
The mister has been mighty busy in the backyard during these pretty days. This year will be our first year with a REAL garden. We've had a corner designated for tomatoes and a row of asparagus (which should be ready this year finally!) and strawberries but nothing that truly constitutes a garden. So the mister has cleared out the five million mini trees and rose bushes that had overgrown our yard and erected a small fence to note our garden space.
Side funny story: The day that the mister put the fence up, Pongo was patiently standing next to it (such as pictured below) and a bird landed in the middle of the garden area. Well Mr. Pongo jumped over the fence from a standstill, chased the bird to the corner, turned around and jumped right back over the fence! So much for keeping the beast out! Ever since then though, he has yet to try again and just stands on the outside of it looking over the edge. It's pretty cute.
Here's the mister during a rare break from digging up a huge stump. Behind him you can see our leaf compost pile, a wood pile and not pictured is our food compost pile.
To break up the ground thoroughly for the garden, we have borrowed a tiller from my parents. A tiller they purchased from TG&Y back before I was born! They had a guy at work get it in working order and here it is in all its glory! It's amazing how many childhood memories seeing that tiller has brought back!
I then took a stroll through the rest of the yard while the mister finished tilling. Below you'll see our future fire pit area. The mister buried all of those pavers himself and is slowly making a rock walkway through all areas of the yard. I liked the way the sun shone down on this pic :)
Heres the garden corner of the yard from the other corner of the yard. That stupid flag is the mister's pride and joy! We had an ongoing 'argument' when we moved in as to whether or not that was a flagpole or a tetherball pole. I still side with the tetherball pole since I want one :)
Side funny story: The day that the mister put the fence up, Pongo was patiently standing next to it (such as pictured below) and a bird landed in the middle of the garden area. Well Mr. Pongo jumped over the fence from a standstill, chased the bird to the corner, turned around and jumped right back over the fence! So much for keeping the beast out! Ever since then though, he has yet to try again and just stands on the outside of it looking over the edge. It's pretty cute.
Here's the mister during a rare break from digging up a huge stump. Behind him you can see our leaf compost pile, a wood pile and not pictured is our food compost pile.
To break up the ground thoroughly for the garden, we have borrowed a tiller from my parents. A tiller they purchased from TG&Y back before I was born! They had a guy at work get it in working order and here it is in all its glory! It's amazing how many childhood memories seeing that tiller has brought back!
I then took a stroll through the rest of the yard while the mister finished tilling. Below you'll see our future fire pit area. The mister buried all of those pavers himself and is slowly making a rock walkway through all areas of the yard. I liked the way the sun shone down on this pic :)
Heres the garden corner of the yard from the other corner of the yard. That stupid flag is the mister's pride and joy! We had an ongoing 'argument' when we moved in as to whether or not that was a flagpole or a tetherball pole. I still side with the tetherball pole since I want one :)Oh, something else to note at this point. So our beloved neighbor Hap is now gone and was the mister's bff in the backyard. Almost to the day of losing Hap, another elderly neighbor caddy-corner to us has now befriended the mister. He's in his late 80's and lost his wife last month. The mister finds it funny that his best elderly neighborfriend passes away and BOOM! all of the sudden he's got a new one! I told him it's only fitting seeing that he married a 'grandma', as many of my friends call me due to my old lady tendencies.
Our 'new' fence which is actually about a year old. We spent wedding money on this and it has made such a difference! Pongo can't escape anymore and the meter man can get in to do his job! Also a little more of the pavers the mister layed. And our trash.
An artsy pic I took. Actually kind of a cool story about that spring. I basically lived with my childhood BFF at her house and her at mine. Well, they had this old couch that her mom finally decided had reached the end of its life and let us tear it up! Mind you we were maybe in our early teens? I totally still have two springs from that couch and this is one of them! They've since been used as candle holders, decoration and jewelry tool holders!
And finally, a funny one to end this blog. This would be Pongo staring out of his hole on the deck he created when we first got him. We were SO mad at him when he did this BUT are glad that he actually uses it ;)
I hope your backyards are exciting to you as ours is!
Our 'new' fence which is actually about a year old. We spent wedding money on this and it has made such a difference! Pongo can't escape anymore and the meter man can get in to do his job! Also a little more of the pavers the mister layed. And our trash. 
An artsy pic I took. Actually kind of a cool story about that spring. I basically lived with my childhood BFF at her house and her at mine. Well, they had this old couch that her mom finally decided had reached the end of its life and let us tear it up! Mind you we were maybe in our early teens? I totally still have two springs from that couch and this is one of them! They've since been used as candle holders, decoration and jewelry tool holders!
And finally, a funny one to end this blog. This would be Pongo staring out of his hole on the deck he created when we first got him. We were SO mad at him when he did this BUT are glad that he actually uses it ;)
I hope your backyards are exciting to you as ours is!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)