I told ya that I got my belly-dancing costume on Friday from L-rose Designs, and the skirt wasn't finished, and had something spilled on it. I wasn't upset about this at all - everything else was so perfect, and the lady was always so nice when I made my order - I was just like 'Well, things like this happen.' The top couldn't have been better! I told her how I was built on the phone, and she got it right. I am really big busted, but more than that - I have a very broad chest, so that the big bust doesn't even get me any cleavage - and I have very broad shoulders. Basically, built like a linebacker. I used to dream of a job with the Packers. LOL I was pretty worried about this half top thing fitting me right, but it does!

I called her yesterday morning about the skirt. I called for advise in putting the elastic in, and getting the spots out, and was hoping she'd give me a partial credit on the skirt on my account for the next time that I order.

"Hi, I got my order on Friday, and I just wanted to tell you that everything couldn't have fit better!"

"Oh, good"

"I just wanted to ask you - UHM, did you mean to send the skirt unfinished?"

"What do you mean, it's unfinished?"

"Welll, there's no elastic or anything in it, and it has rough edges all over"

*pause*

"There's no elastic in it?"

"Nuh uh"

"Oh my! That's not normally how we send them!"

"Yeah, i know. I opened it up, and was like 'what am I supposed to do with this?' so i called my instructor, and she told me that they normally have elastic." *laugh*

Her *Nervous laugh*

Her "Well, do you want to send it back to me?"

"No, I don't really have time. I need to perform in it on Sunday. It's OK though, my mom got some elastic, and she's going to put it in - i just wanted to know if you had any tips or any special instructions?"

"Well, you just fold that top part over and make a casing for the elastic - are you sure you don't want to send it back?"

"No, that's OK - my mom will put it in."

"I'm going to credit your credit card 20 dollars right now!"

"Oh, OK...

...And I wanted to ask you..."

"Yeah?"

"There's some spots on it, and I'm not sure what they are... they kind of look like coffee or hot chocolate maybe, and they're kind of crunchy.. can I wash those out? I've never had any satin before, and i don't want to ruin it."

*stammering* "Well, yeah - you can spot wash it."

"Weeellll - not really, it's bigger than that. Can I like, submerge it in water?"

Now, you can hear the utter terror in her voice!

"Uhm, yeah - it can be washed. You'll have to press it. Yeah, it's polyester, it can be washed and pressed. That's OK. I'm going to talk to my girls about this!"

"Oh good - i can wash it. That's good."

"I'm going to credit your card 20 dollars."

"OK, thanks a lot! I just didn't want to do anything to it, until i talked to you, because I didn't want to ruin it, and be completely stuck with it. You know?"

"yeah"

The woman was completely mortified...

Her again, "I just want to make sure that you know that we don't normally send things out like this."

"Oh! i know it! You came highly recommended by a lot of people!"

"I'm going to credit your card 20 dollars."

Brian and I were joking after that, while I was putting it in the washer in the "hand wash cycle", that I should have fucked with her...

"And I picked up some fabreeze for the pot smell all over it - do you think that will damage the color at all?" LOL

"One of these stains is in the shape of a penis - and one smells like bourbon. Do you suppose that'll come out in the wash?"

So, then I had it in the washer, and she called me back...

"I don't want you or your mom to have to do any work on that thing - I'm going to send you another one today, and you'll get it in time!"

Now it was my turn to be mortified - I had just put it in the washer, and if I send it back, she'll think that I was lying about the big spots on it.

"*Pause* Oh, OK... Do you want me to send this one back?"

"No, that's OK. I don't want you to do any extra work for this. I'll just send you one."

Whew.

LOL

In a recent Belly Dance workshop in Las Vegas with Heather Stants of "Urban Tribal Dance Company", I was introduced to the music of Clotaire K, and really enjoyed it from the beginning. When I got home, I googled him, and found His site, where I was introduced to scenes of Beirut that I had never witnessed before, and found myself quite impressed with the man behind the music that I enjoyed. Shortly after that, I ordered his Cd, have pretty much been listening to it ever since, and am now quite the fan.

You can imagine how excited I was when he agreed to doing an interview with me for my little blog here. ( Read more... )

~If you have high speed, you can listen to some of Clotaire's music on his site. I have dial up, so I had to go the Womax site to listen. They also have a bit of a profile on him there.

I'm never going to get away from here today.

Now that I have fully paid for the Heather Stants pants that i told you about a few weeks ago, *eye roll to self* I can show you all the pants! LOL

They are super cool, and they honestly do look good on anyone, no matter what your body shape, style, or whatever is. They fit tight aorund the legs, but don't show any lumps or anything in anyone that I saw in them, and Brian says they make my butt look great! hehe

You can see the whole line and/or order at Melodia Designs EBAY store.

Here's the ones that I got -

( clicky for the photo )

I'll get a picture of me in them as soon as I get them sufficiantly shortened, and get a nice top to wear with them.

February's Las Vegas hafla is this weekend, and i'm hoping that Helen can make it this time?

7:30 pm
As usual, bring a plate of food or a beverage to share, music to
listen to, drums and rattles to play, pillows to sit on, your sultry spirit to share, money to shop with, and the $5 cover our expenses.

It will be held at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio at 4550 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite N, Las Vegas, NV, 89119

I got the material to make the girls each a circle skirt to wear, so they'll be more dressed for the occasion like the other little girls there, and my mom has gotten a good start on sewing them. I also got some material to make them veils, and some frey stop to go around the edges - simple enough. Didn't have the money today to get some things to decorate their hip scarves, so we're going to have to dig through my old craft supplies and see what we can come up with for now.


Helen - I wanted to ask something of you, and if you don't feel up to it, don't have the time, or whatever - please don't feel obligated.

I have this piece of music that i absolutely love, and would someday hope to dance to it. Problem is that it's too long. it's over 7 minutes, and dancing to the same tune for 7 minutes would not only be hard to choreograph, but my legs would be spaghetti before i was finished. LOL

I don't have the knowledge, equipment, or the ear for music to cut it down, and I was wondering if you would be able to do that? There's no lyrics or anything to worry about.

The water is continuing to be an issue for me with Weight Watchers! You know, my mom, grand example of parenting that she is, used to put soda in my baby bottle. My very first word was "Pepsi" - Hey, I can't make this shit up!

Anyhow, last week was a difficult one for me in regards to counting points, but i'm back on track now. I had feared that I would have gained when I went into my meeting last night, but I luckily, skated in with a 4 ounce loss! LOL





Went to Belly Dance class tonight, and that was hell. Had I not missed last week because Brian was sick, and turning all white and shit, then i would have probably skipped it tonight. Everything just went wrong. My mom wouldn't watch the baby, so i called Brian at work to find out what time he got off, and I must have sounded panicked when I asked for him, because they told him he could go! *feels really dumb*

So, he was gonna meet me at the class to take the baby, and then guess what? he had a flat tire! Then the rest of the kids here were really acting like animals. I somehow made it, and was just 10 minutes late, but class didn't go so well for me, because I wasn't at all psyched up for it. You know? I was panicked the whole way there - Would Brian be there? Would the house be burned down by the time he got home? lol

I'd like to say that i'm going to read through my entire f-list when I return, but that would be a lie. I have all these feeds going into my f-list now, and if I don't stay on top of them daily, then my friends get lost into the abyss.

So, if you post something really great, or really bad, or really interesting, and you think that i'd like to see it, then please link me here, or e-mail me?

The rest of today is taken - I'm going to the chiropractor and shopping for knee pads and laundry stuff, then i've gotta get stuff washed, and packed up, and loaded in the van, and I have a dance class tonight.


Then tomorrow morning it's off to Vegas for an Urban Tribal Dance Company workshop, to get my butt kicked with 4 hours of floor work. Then to my first Hafla following that! I'm very excited!!

Brian, Collin, and the girls are coming with. Bri and the kids will find something to do while i'm at the class, and then we're all going to the hafla together.

YAY! I'm out of here!! *smootches all around*

I started back at Weight Watchers tonight. I used to go, but haven't been in nearly 2 years as I had a baby and all. I'm now back to where I started from when I started going last time. LOL! But, when you consider that i've had a baby, and am now insulin dependant, that's not so bad, I guess.

Anyhow, I also signed up for a Belly Dance class at Mohave Community College in Bullhead AZ, and it starts tomorrow! This will be my first class! I'm sooo excited.

While I was at my Weight Watchers class, I announced that I had signed up for the class, and a gal asked me where, and asked if it was Rajeam, and I said yes, and asked if she knew her. She said, yes - she used to teach that class! Then she told me of some classes she was going to be having in Needles CA at the rec center on Friday nights - So, i'm going to go to those too!

WOOT!

I went and signed up today, and just in the nick of time too, because it starts tomorrow at Mohave Community College. I'm VERY excited - and nervous! Unfortunately it's every Wednesday and i've already planned my mom's birthday for next Wednesday - so, i'm missing a class right off the bat! damn!

I'm also going to start back at Weight Watchers tonight. I was going to wait because of the finances - weight watches isn't that expensive, but i've gotta stock my kitchen with healthy foods too. Then I figured, I can't afford to wait. I'm diabetic and shootin insulin, and i'm the only one that can turn that around. Credit card people are just gonna hafta wait - I'm gonna live, dammit.

I also figured that since i'm going to be getting the added exercise with the dancing, it would be dumb to not turn the diet around with it.

My mom is gonna watch baby tonight until bri gets home, and tomorrow night Bri works till 9, and i've not gotten a definitive answer from her whether she'll watch him or not. i sure hope so! He wont go to anyone else! This lady just said hi to him in the store this afternoon, and he screamed bloody murder. LOL!

Well, as the mother of two teenage non-schooled boys, Grace Llewellyn is a well known name in our house. My second son is currently reading The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to quit school, and get a real life and education, by Grace. I read it a while back when I pulled the boys out of school, and really enjoyed it. Though, I had to read it as a teenager, and not as mother.

Tonight, we happened across her site, and my husband was reading, and all of the sudden he goes "Oh, no way!" I came and looked and sure enough - she is a Bellydancer, and has a site, Bellydance by Innana. My husband, who was non-schooled as well, is a big fan of hers and we just got a big kick out of this.

As a side note. My Tribal Fusion DVD is in at the post office, and i'm looking forward to getting it tomorrow. I basically got it to strengthen the muscles that I'll be using when I start class in January. But now I've decided that I just can't stand to wait until January to get started!

Does anyone recommend a really good beginners instructional DVD?

Well, I've decided to quit smoking. I joined the stop smoking center, and have been going through the steps they recommend to quit. I took a questionnaire about how addicted I was, and on a scale from 1-10, I was a 7. They recommend that I use a nicotine replacement therapy, so I went to La Leche League and checked which was best for a breastfeeding mother, and they said the patch is best. It doesn't spike your nicotine levels like a gum would.

I've been visualising myself doing things without smoking, and meditating on it, and drinking more water, and I started doing yoga again last night. I've decided that I need a new yoga DVD. The one I have is a great strengthening workout, but it doesn't have the breathing and relaxation exercises that I need... and I also need a focus on stretching the neck and back, as I have a lot of problems with mine (battle scars and all), and it helps me to feel better... If anyone has any recommendations for a good one for that, please let me know asap.

( cut to save your friends screen )