Quiet Advent joy, and some blog re-freshening for the New Year...

 

Happy 3rd Week of Advent everyone! (I know my photo is outdated, but I forgot to take one this week. :-0)  How is your Advent going?! Mine is going quietly well. We're busily Christmas shopping and prepping our holiday menu over here. Work is nice and quiet, both kids are doing great, and we're all looking forward to spending time with friends and family this year. The O Antiphons start today, and I'm so excited to bust out my breviary later to have some prayer time! I haven't kept up with morning and evening prayer as much as I would have liked, but I have prayed them on Sundays, plus I have kept up with the daily devotional I chose for this year. 

Over my holiday staycation, I'm also planning some lovely crafting time, lots of couch time with Barney curled up watching holiday baking shows while sipping coffee, and preparing for some upcoming dance shows! I'm very, very excited about all of this. :) Speaking of Barney, he is the focus of my December piece for Catholic Mom. ;-)

I've also been doing a bit of planning with regards to this blog. I've been finding myself forgetting about it some weeks, in the fray of teaching and parenthood, and contemplated whether that meant that the time had come for me to cease blogging. But I ultimately decided that although daily (or currently, weekly) posts are not necessarily in the cards for me at this point in time, I want this blog to continue on. 

I think what I'd like to do is plan some series in the new year, which is the type of thing that excites and inspires my creativity the most. It also keeps me accountable to not only posting with regularity, but to the spiritual goals we are trying to achieve together, a win/win! So I'm thinking: 

• New Year's Resolutions and Winter Ordinary Time.
• Lent. Book club perhaps?
• Summer with the Saints.
• Liturgy of the Hours. That could work for Lent, or perhaps Summer Ordinary Time. 😀

And in addition to that, I'll post when I feel inspired to share something, which is how I think blogging works best for both author and reader. Would you agree?

What are you looking for in a blog in this post-blogosphere universe? I still think blogs have their place for avid readers, but the landscape has definitely changed. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

New Year's Dancing amusements, 2019 edition...

A continued Happy New Year to you all! 🤗I'm really riding this New Year's wave to it's maximum, so just know this going forward. ;-) I miss the lovely visiting time of the holidays, but I'm really treasuring the freshness of January this year.

I promised last week a synopsis of my always entertaining New Year's Eve performance exploits, and I always keep my promises. You have your beverage with you to sip?

Rather than the sub-arctic temperatures of last Near Year's Eve, this year the temperatures were mild, and thus the chosen precipitation of the day was pouring rain. And it being the very beginning of the winter, it was pitch black outside when Claire arrived to fetch me, my big rolling suitcase and my sword at 5:30 pm. We hustled down to the restaurant, managed city parking like champs, and wrangled our wet stuff inside. It was about 6 pm.

The restaurant owner and staff were very gracious and happy to see us. They escorted us to our dressing room, otherwise known as the supply room. ;-) To be sure, we are very grateful to have a place other than the public restroom in which to change, so no complaints here. But it's always a comical game of Twister with 2 of us and our poufy costumes smashed into a small space, also occupied by various and sundry restaurant supplies: stacks of tablecloths, cases of takeout containers, and various candles. We wedged in there, and as we began to change, I quickly lost track of a shoe. I decided not to worry about that until we had to leave, and stashed Sword atop an open box of sugar packets.

Once changed and in our coverups, we scouted the Music Situation. No matter what, the music is always a Situation in these encounters. :0 They had a sound system, but it was up at the front of the restaurant behind the greeting/checkout counter, the opposite end of the building from our home base. We quickly conferred about aux cables and using each other's devices, and hurried back to our safe space. It wasn't yet 6:30, and they had wanted us to wait, but suddenly an employee appeared with the request that people were asking for us, and could we begin RIGHT THEN?

😳

Claire hurried to the front to start my music, and I concentrated on sweating profusely and straining my ears to hear the music switch over to my entrance piece. I heard the first strains of the overture, thankfully, and burst out from the back room with my veil aloft. Well.

My music supports a grand and beautiful veil entrance, and let's just say that a crowded, small space does not support a grand veil entrance. :0 I had never danced at this restaurant before, but I've danced in restaurants with small eating areas. I've always been able to enter with a veil and find a spot at the front where you can do some veil work before discarding it. This restaurant is set up differently, and the 2 more open areas leading into the 2 seating spaces were crowded with servers moving back and forth with food and drinks, and with people waiting to be seated or to gather food from the buffet.

I swirled out and immediately was swallowed up into a sea of humanity. There was no room to do anything with the veil, or even lower it very easily. Every time I turned around, there was a server backing away from me carefully, balancing a tray of water glasses. I got up to where Claire was holding vigil with the music, and unceremoniously discarded Veil in her general direction. Things got a wee bit easier after that, but I have to say that this was the tightest space I've ever dealt with in restaurant dancing. The place was hopping, and the New Year's Eve menu was only buffet. So there were people up and about constantly, not just the servers. Me moving from place to place caused a ripple effect of gentle scattering of other bodies. The section with the buffet in it was almost completely inaccessible, and I had to give up trying to shimmy between tables over there and only dance at the small entrance spots. Even there, I risked accidentally slapping servers left and right.

In a nutshell, Set 1 featured:

• Incredibly tight spaces and range of movement. Near disaster with Veil.
• A baby who loved me and did a back bend in his highchair to watch me.
• Lots of people moving around me, wide eyed and clutching plates, as I made my way around.
• Music glitching in and out a bit in the sound system, but the general noise of the place was so loud I doubt anybody noticed but me.

When my drum solo finished up, I was relieved to have that set behind me and swirled to the dressing room. Claire and I conferred, and she confessed nervousness about the giant fan veils she planned for her set. 😬 The owner asked her to wait to start her set, because he was hoping some of the tables would clear out and turn over to new guests. So we waited. And waited. And eventually he came back to say that nobody was leaving. 😂 We took that as a sign that everybody loved us and wanted to see more dancing. 😇

Eventually, he asked Claire to start, and I hustled over in my coverup to set up her music behind the host counter. Immediately, people began asking me about their reservations and how long the wait was. I suppose hostesses in Indian restaurants often wear hot pink dance coverups? ;-)

I got Claire's music going, and the place was now even MORE crowded than it was for my set. People were up trying to pay their bill as new people were coming in and waiting. Her music was doing the glitchy thing too, and I kept trying to assure that the aux cable was attached as firmly as it could be.

After she finished, we changed for our second, and final, sets. We waited again for the tables to fully turn over at the owner's request. Our dressing room, formerly quite toasty warm with all of our necessary shenanigans to get into full costume, and then coming back sweaty from performing, had grown a tad chilly, and cold sweat was now my constant companion. I had decided not to enter with Veil this time, but Sword is featured in song 2 of the second set. He always brings a measure of anxiety in his wake. ;-)

The request for us to start anew came quickly again, and as Claire moved to the front to start my music, I readied and assured my costume was all smoothed. I heard my entrance overture, and got ready to burst out, only then noticing that I had an empty straw wrapper stuck to my bare foot. Glamour, glamour ALL THE TIME.

I danced out, and this time the restaurant was at a much more normal capacity, rather than bursting at the seams, which was a welcome relief. It was still tight over by the buffet, but not as claustrophobic as before. And the audience, because they were seated and eating for the most part, rather than standing in line, were very engaged and responsive. As well, Sword had his big moment, which is always a crowd pleaser.

Set 2 highlights:

• A little brother and sister excitedly followed me around the restaurant.
• Their mom stopped me several times to take pictures with them.
• Their toddler littlest sister came over and burst into tears, I hope it wasn't me. :0
• Their grandfather stopped me to take a picture right in the middle of my baladi song, that was a first.
• Same baby still loved me.
• Several women conversed with me *while I was dancing 😂* to tell me how much they were enjoying the show.
• Sword behaved and I actually kept him with me for the entire second song. Early discard of Sword means that Tiffany is not having a Good Sword Day. ;-) 

It was great, I really enjoyed that set. Claire was able to start her second set soon after mine ended, and we both breathed a sigh of relief that all went well. The owner was very happy and wants to have us back next year. A win/win.

As I packed Sword up and looked for my shoe, spilling the sugar packets all through the open wire shelving unit, :0 I reflected on how much I enjoy my eclectic set of interests. Egyptian dance is much more to me than a hobby, truth be told - it's my passion, it's my (granted, secondary) profession, it is the creative inspiration for everything else that I do, and it gives me a significant sense of creative purpose and meaning. The dancing life is good, truly it is.

I'm signed up for two Egyptian folkloric dance workshops this winter, as well as a Turkish dance intensive in March. Turkish - I'm branching out. ;-) I am very blessed to be able to do what I love. This New Year is going to be a good one, I just feel it. 🤗 In terms of dancing, I want to work on studying and learning as much as I can, and challenging myself in new ways.

How is your January shaping up? Any New Year's resolutions that you're working on? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

New Year's gratitude

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!

🎉

I'm all aglow from my wonderful holiday season, and I hope yours was just as special. *hug*

This particular New Year's Eve was very meaningful to me. I was performing again (which I'll circle back to) and that makes the day both nerve-wracking and exciting, as I've experienced the past couple years. But it was more then that this year.

2018 started out pretty rough for me. Although I share a lot here on this blog, I don't share everything, and this is one of those times, as I'm sure you can understand. So forgive the vagueness, if you please, but last winter and early spring were very, very emotionally difficult. And although it got better and emotional healing took place, I carried the wound with me throughout the year. In that way, I was glad to see 2018 come to an end, and a fresh start with 2019 come to fruition.

HOWEVER. I realized something very significant as New Year's Eve crept up on me. I was allowing that one very difficult situation to remain at the forefront of my mind and in my assessment of the year, when in fact, many, MANY joyful developments actually crowded that single painful one out, but I was ignoring that bit of reality. In 2018:

• My kids have both grown tremendously, with Henry becoming a teenager and Anne solidifying herself in second grade as a fully entrenched school aged kid. Henry made the basketball team and Anne started Girl Scouts, which she LOVES.
• My husband wrote a novel that is going to be published by a traditional press! I am SO PROUD of him! This is a lifelong dream of his, and it is finally becoming a reality for him. 🤗
• My own Bible study for women, which had been in the works for a year, finally became a reality, and working with dear Allison Gingras is a total joy. *heart*
• A new and adorable nephew was born into my family!
• I found a lovely Zumba community near my house that I attend on as many Saturday mornings as I'm able. The women there are warm, kind and absolutely WONDERFUL. The teacher is a woman named Sue who is am absolute treasure. I am so grateful to have found her and this community!
• My dance career has taken a gentle turn to more opportunities to both perform and study. I am so excited to continue to see where this journey takes me, and I'm enjoying every single moment. I have workshop plans in 2019 that I cannot wait to dive into!
• Last, but certainly not least, I had some cherished friendships deepen and strengthen this past year. Some were newer, others were established several years back, and in all cases they grew by leaps and bounds in 2018. I cannot possibly express how much these ladies mean to me.

And this January, on the 8th, Mike and I celebrate 14 years of marriage. Not quite a milestone, but it's an even numbered year, which I love! And we've been together fully for 16 years. That's a long time! :0 We're going away this weekend, just the two of us, to celebrate, and I am SO looking forward to it.

Life is GOOD, it truly is. And I learned an important lesson about not taking things for granted, and seeing them (and people) for what they are. Sometimes they're not good, but oftentimes they're *fantastic*, and seeing them in an honest light is so, so important. I should never again allow the negative to overshadow the abundance of positive.

And speaking of good (and never forget HUMOROUS!) I have fun dance stories from New Year's Eve! They're self-deprecating, they're somewhat ridiculous, and above all, I hope they make you laugh out loud! AND...

*drum roll*

...you will hear all about them next week!

👼

Hey! I need to preserve good blogging fodder when I can. ;-) Eagerly anticipate this with me my friends, where else do you get such a strange eclectic mix of topics?! 😀

I'll chat with you then! In the mean time, how was your Christmas? What did you do for New Year's Eve/day? Did you choose a saint for the year? Mine is St. Francis of Assisi! I'd love to hear all about it in the comments!

A return to reality...

Well, hello there, everyone!

*waves*

I had a REALLY fun time talking to you all last week about our upcoming Lenten Book Club. Tons of interesting comments were left here and in the Facebook group, and the resulting discussion was fabulous! Lots of votes have been cast, and there's actually currently a tie! This is the most drama we've ever seen in a Life of a Catholic Librarian book club poll. :0

It's all very exciting! We'll see where the votes are ate on January 30th and go from there.

*beams*

In the meantime...yeah, it's officially mid-January. What does this mean? This means that the holiday/New Year's glow has faded, and we have gone from glamorous belly dancing gigs, festive parties, warm fellowship, amazing food and drink, and days spent loafing about the house in my bathrobe while simultaneously crocheting and watching Christmas Hallmark movies, to the following:

(1) The spring semester starts in less than 2 weeks, and to say that we are not ready in our course preparation is the understatement of the century. A feeling of impending doom pervades our floor of the library.

(2) The weather has gone from charmingly wintry and cozy, to gray and cataclysmically polar within a span of 48 hours.

(3) Our "days off" begin with $1200 orthodontic appointments for one of my offspring.

(4) The dance studio is so cold that glamour goes out the window in favor of gigantic fuzzy socks and shroud-like sweaters.

(5) My new car and cute new suede boots are both covered with salt.

(6) My DVR has become clogged with Hallmark Winterfest movies that I have no time to watch.

😭

Indeed, the bloom is officially off of the rose. I'm no longer basking in money showers and glittery costumes. I am stewing in a pit of lesson plans and dirty snow.

😡

It's too bad, truly it is. I suppose, though, that this is what makes those good times all the sweeter. We'll get there. The semester will start, and it won't be nearly so bad as I fear. And then Lent will come, and we'll all enjoy each other's companionship on that journey quite well, I am sure. I also have some fun dance events coming up, including a very dancey weekend, with two choreography-intensive classes, plus a show that I'm attending. Life is good! Snowy, but good. God save us all from this frozen precipitation "wonderland."

What are you up to this cold January day, dear readers? Report in for duty, please! :-)

Happy New Year, 2018! It's an exciting, dancey start :)

Happy New Year everybody! I'm still exhausted from mine :0 (you'll see why shortly), and the transition back to work wasn't an easy one. I had a lovely vacation at home with family, and braving the sub zero temperatures here currently in WNY to troop back to my office, away from the family love, wasn't easy. :-\ But let's reflect back on the fun, and look at where we're heading in 2018!

*streamers!*

Christmas was lovely. I did not enjoy having no 4th week of Advent though, is anybody with me? I know it just falls like that sometimes, but it's very unfortunate, in my opinion. Our church was already decorated for Christmas on the morning of the 4th Sunday of Advent, because there was no time to decorate before the Christmas Eve Mass that evening! :0 And Christmas Eve was hectic with family party festivities as it always is. But after that...BLISS.

Christmas morning Mass. Gift opening. And then days upon days of relaxing family fellowship and meals. I loved it.

And New Year's Eve? Was CRAZY. :0 In a really good and amusing way. Got your tea or coffee?

So I wound up with two dance gigs that night. We had a bit of a house of cards situation going on with dancers starting out at 2 locations, then funneling to a third as earlier sets finished up. As opposed to our usual tag team plan, with us switching out for each other at each set, this year Claire had to dance fully before me, and then jet to the second venue, leaving me alone to handle my sets for the final hour. This was uncharted territory for me, and I was nervous. :0 Oh, and I did I mention that the high that day was 4 degrees Fahrenheit?

!

We were starting off in a small Indian restaurant, and every time the door open to admit a new diner, a blast of icy air filled the space. And our "dressing room" was a tiny, closet-like indentation that we had to stuff ourselves into, with a window to the outside that also made it freezing.

#ugh

All glamour, all the time over here!

Claire got started right on time just as the restaurant was filling in. Everything went great, the audience was very happy and responsive. After her first set, she reported in that despite the polar air regularly being admitted to the restaurant, it was actually *sweltering* out near the buffet while dancing. This actually made us appreciative for the freezing dressing room between sets. Huzzah!

The rest of her sets also went great (as I expected they would), and she noted something I would find true in precisely 1 hour: the 3, 10 minute sets with full costume changes between each, all within an hour, were pretty tiring. We are used to dancing multiple 20 minute sets, but over a multi-hour time period, with huge breaks in-between while the other person dances.

She finished up, said goodbye to the owners, and then I was on my own from 8-9 pm. Sweating profusely. My delightful friend Brandy came to help me with my costumes and start my music for me, bless her soul. I was changed and ready for Set #1 at 8:05 pm.

Veil and I swirled out and it went great. It was a polite and quiet crowd, but very attentive and responsive. I made my way around the entire restaurant with ease, given the size. I had 4 playlists for New Year's Eve, so I kept forgetting what was on each one - It was a big surprise every time a song ended. :0

Set 1 finished, and I rushed to change in The Freezer. Set 2 is Sword's set, and as you can imagine, he was all excited. ;-) I tried something different this time, and emerged with Sword already balanced, and I have to say, I like this model better. If you're having a good sword night, you can remove it, do some other things with is, and then re-balance at various spots of the restaurant, but if you're not, you can just discard it with the pressure off and no one is the wiser. Plus, when you come out with a sword balanced on your head, it really gets everyone's attention. :0

Sword had his big drama sequence, and it went really well. I re-balanced a few times as I swooped around the restaurant, and then handed him to Brandy as I moved into my second song - which is to say, my favorite Middle Eastern song of all time, Shik Shak Shok.

Now, you see, Claire warned me about this. Before I ever did my first professional gig, she wisely told me:

"Always pace yourself. Have a slower song in each set so that you don't tire out before the end of the evening!"

And what did I do this past New Year's Eve? I put together a set with Sword (slower song, but still high intensity nerves given the balancing prop), the high energy Shik Shak Shok which I loooovvveeeeee, and a drum solo.

Shik Shak Shok starts. Let's just say that I got very into it. :0 I've never performed to that song before, and I danced HARD, circling the restaurant like it was going out of style. I mean, I love it, I couldn't help it. I don't think I've ever shimmied so much to a single song in my entire career, and this song is over 5 minutes long.

As it was wrapping up, I thought to myself:

"Oh boy. I'm *tired*."

😆

I pounded out the drum solo, but Great Googly Moogly. You could have scraped me up off of the floor with Sword by time that set was done. And then I had to wrench on yet a third costume and perform another set. And it was quickly approaching 8:45 pm, so I had to hustle.

I think part of the extra exhaustion factor was the quick costume changes, plus all of the new adrenaline rushes every time a set starts, all within a condensed period of time. Luckily, Set #3 didn't involve any props, and was much easier than the others. A fun pop song, a slower but upbeat baladi, and a very familiar drum solo. I got some people up to dance with me and all went well. After that, I changed, said goodbye to the owners, who seemed very pleased with how the evening went, and Brandy and I rushed off to Indian restaurant #2. Well. :0

This was a larger restaurant, and it had a nice crowd there. Claire was dancing when I arrived to a very lively audience, and I hurriedly changed and readied Sword (yes, AGAIN, *sob*!). To make things even more challenging, I had also put Shik Shak Shok into this set. WHY GOD, WHY?! I told myself that I could do this. I was tired, but it was just one more set. Granted, a 20 minute one, but that's cake. Usually. I hope.

Claire came back to the dressing area, breathless, and we looked at our watches. It was 9:35, and dancing was scheduled to go until 10. The time was nigh.

She set up my music while Sword and I got ready, and we came out with all of Sword's dramatic flair. The crowd was LOUD and somewhat raucous. But in a really good way. :0

Sword and I swooped our way around. There was a table of little boys who seemed particularly taken with this part of the program. We did our thing, it went well, I handed Sword to Claire. And that's when things got interesting.

I was making my way around the restaurant when I noticed that a group of people had come out into the center of the room and were dancing, beckoning me over. So I danced over. Quickly, a circle formed around me. This was a first, but OK. I got this.

Next thing I know, I notice things flying out of the corner of my eye. That seemed somewhat alarming, so I made a circular movement thus that I could inspect further. It was MONEY. This was another first. :0 It is a Middle Eastern custom and sign of appreciation to shower performers with money as tips. I kept dancing, and the money kept flying over my head. I tried to keep my face not showing the surprise I felt that anybody liked my dancing that much. :0

There were lots of kids there, and they ALL came out to dance with me. By the time Shik Shak Shok queued up, I was having the time of my life, and flew around the restaurant with ease. I wasn't tired anymore, and this was the most enjoyable set of my career. I was starting to feel it a bit as my final drum solo started up, but I made it through no problem. That was FUN.

Afterward, Claire and I kibbitzed about what a great gig that was. The owner was very happy with how things went, and we left, aglow.

Then I got home, was all wired on adrenaline, and couldn't fall asleep until after 1 am. Happy New Year! :0

So, after all of that excitement, I am here thinking about the year ahead. I used Jennifer Fulwiler's new Word of the Year generator, and this is what I received:

Vivid

I like that! 2018 is the year of making things counts. :) I have always endeavored to do the things that I love, and to do them well, to the best of my ability. Vivid. I think it really fits.

So let's plan! Lent is approaching, and begins on Valentine's Day this year. Shall we do a book club? If I do one (likely historical/scriptural-based fiction from the Living Water series) who would be in? I'm thinking we could do a combo here on the blog and also at the Facebook group thing, and we could add in a devotional component. Like, each week we set some sort of spiritual theme or goal for ourselves. Maybe we could all take turns coming up with the themes for the upcoming week? I'd love a show of hands of who would like to participate, and then we could go from there!

Dancing into the new year...

Hi all! I'm rallying today to have a better work day. Yesterday...it was a pretty rough transition back. Especially after having such a smashing Christmas and New Year's holiday. Today though, I'm thinking positive, and super excited to chronicle my New Year's Eve dance adventure!

Soooooo...let's just say I was just a wee bit nervous about this one. :0 I've danced semi-professionally now for a few years, but those performances are few and far between. And of the times I've danced solo on such occasions, this was certainly the biggest gig of my career: at a restaurant, on New Year's Eve, for three solo 20 minute sets. That's quite a lot of dancing, right there, and at a (relatively speaking) fairly high profile, promoted holiday event by the restaurant.  It loomed overhead for all of December as I selected music for my set lists, put together my costume selections and accoutrements, bought new makeup and jewelry, and generally felt queasy about the whole shebang. I wasn't alone though - Claire was also dancing that night, and we were slated to tag team our sets over a 3-4 hour period.

We had a game plan: veil entrances for most sets. Claire had fan veils for one of hers. And each of our second sets would feature balancing - me with Sword, and her with a candle tray. I would dance first, then Claire, and during the other person's set we would each discreetly loiter at the bar in our coverup, to be there to pick up props when they needed discarding or otherwise troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

We arrived together at the restaurant at about 5 pm on New Year's Eve, each pulling ridiculously large suitcases behind us, plus hoisting our proppage. My stomach was a bit of jumpy wreck, if I'm keeping it real here. Sword had been threatened TO.WITHIN.AN.INCH.OF.HIS.LIFE to behave or else be carted off to the meal recycling center on New Year's Day. He and I had rehearsed our approach and balancing technique all month, so I was cautiously optimistic, but dancing with him is like dancing with a toddler. Just when you think you're in the clear: BOOM. They embarrass you in public.

We greeted the staff and were directed to a dressing area in the back. It was nice - we had our own restroom, and plenty of space. Only thing was there was no heat back there, with a jittery door to the outside along one wall, and so the temperature was approximately ARCTIC TUNDRA for the entire evening. We shivered back there as we unpacked our boatload of costume stuff and then scoped out the scene back in the restaurant proper: people in all 3 dining spaces. Grand. I planned to dance a song in each room (sorta; the one space is significantly smaller than the others, so I wasn't sure about the ideal way to handle that one), before moving on to the next, but I truly had no idea if that would work out, or how it was all going to go down. As well, between two of the spaces lay the buffet and the bar. So lots of traversing people and wait staff to dodge.

Closer to 6 pm, we went back to get changed. I was up first, and I was NERVOUS. I shook it off as best I could as I readied. I put on my pink top and belt set over a new black and silver skirt, and suddenly the pink belt was suspiciously loose. Costume belts are very versatile and economical (you can change out the skirt for a completely different look) but they are a pain in the you-know-where for this very reason. They never fit the same way twice, whether with the same skirt or a different one, and they have zero give. I adjusted it as well as I could, put on my coverup, and headed out bravely.

Sound problems abounded, and the music was way too low when first started, so we had to wait while they fixed that. Finally, I popped into the banquet room with my pink silk veil aloft. The crowd in there was *amazing*. Families with adorable little children, who were all attentive and enthusiastic. I danced for them happily for a spell, then moved out past the bar to the next small area. Things were pretty quiet and subdued there, so I moved up to the third, larger dining space. There was more room to move in up there, so I stayed for a bit, and the people there were super polite and engaged. Things were going swimmingly, and I was really getting into it, when my pink costume belt FELL OFF while I was shimmying.

😱

When presented with this less-than-desirable situation, there is nothing to be done but to kick the belt away and keep dancing. :0 The belt is totally separate from your skirt, so no harm done, but it's not exactly the exotic, put-together look you're going for.

!

I had to dance that way for the rest of my INTERMINABLE song, wait staff and guests enthusiastically snapping pictures of me, oblivious to my non-cooperative belt. I was distracted, but I danced on with vigor, at one point 3/4 shimming backwards into an empty high chair, but given that I stayed upright and kept dancing, I call that a win! 😂 As soon as it was over, I sashayed over to Claire to fix the belt prior to my final drum solo of the set. We got it back on, and I drum soloed over for the small dining area, worried about my belt the whole time, but it stayed on.

Relief flowed through me to have the first set behind me. It had gone well, even with the minor belt debacle. I pulled my coverup on, and Claire nervously fiddled with her fan veils. She had ordered new ones, only to receive them and find out that they were the largest fan veils KNOWN.TO.MANKIND. These things were larger than my dining room table. And we didn't exactly have a lot of space in any given spot in the restaurant.

I started her music and she danced out. The fan veils did great, she managed to manipulate them into the space perfectly. We got lots of compliments at the bar about how the restaurant owners and guests were loving the dancing, so I felt happy and encouraged. Claire finished up, and we headed back to our dressing space. I related how relieved I felt to have the first set done.

"Me too. But I'm nervous about the balancing."

Oh gulp. I had forgotten about Sword.

:0

We changed. I had another top and belt set to put on, but with a velvet skirt, which tends to hug the belts better, and indeed this belt fit fine and felt secure. I practiced with Sword a few times, and he did great and promised to be good, so out we trudged nervously with our props.

Once again, I was up first, and I nervously balanced Sword on my gloved arm while Claire got my music queued up. I brought him into the banquet room first, where my favorite families were still lingering, and they greeted me enthusiastically. I whirled him around a bit, and did general sword swirling stuff, before making my first balancing attempt of the night on my head. I will give credit where credit is due, and Sword did GREAT. I balanced him for a spell, took him off to travel to a different part of the room, and got him re-balanced like a champ. The room really appreciated my efforts, but I reluctantly had to leave them to move to the other dining spaces. Sword once again came through, balancing for me in both of the other rooms. By this point, I was more than halfway through the second song in the set, so I happily brought Sword over to the bar to give to Claire. I was waylaid. :0

As I glided over, an older man got up and wanted to dance with me. And Sword. 😎 Which presented a bit of a logistical difficulty, but I made it work. Having people get up and dance with me was totally new to my professional dancing repertoire, but I knew that it was something I was going to have to master. I navigated that, finally got over to Claire, and deposited Sword with her. After that, my set was a dream, with my all time favorite piece of music "New Baladi," included in my playlist, as well as a kickin' drum solo. Once I had the balancing behind me, I really relaxed, and just enjoyed the music. The dancing went really well, and the crowd, which had grown, was engaged. This makes for a happy belly dancer. People also stopped me to ask to take photos with me, which I found a pleasant distraction.

I finished set 2 a contented camper, and pulled my coverup on for Claire's set. She was nervously lighting her candles, and I projected as much positive energy her way as I could. Balancing a prop is always nerve wracking, but most especially when it can set fire to the building. :0

I watched her carefully as she started in the banquet room (no problem), and then made her way to the small dining space. While over there, I heard a gasp. The tray had slipped off her head, but she deftly caught it with one hand, and got it re-balanced within seconds. I SO want to be her when I grow up, she is the best.

She moved to the upper dining room and got Tray balanced with no trouble, but I could tell she was eager to be rid of her. :0 I took control of blowing out Tray's candles so that Claire could finish her set, and we moved back to the dressing room in relief. Sword was very smug the whole time - he has redeemed himself as a prop of choice for the most coveted of gigs I do.

For the third set, I was downright relaxed. I was wearing one of my favorite costumes (a top and skirt set, no belt woes!) and my playlist was awesome. I felt happy and confident as I started to dance. By this point, the banquet room had finally cleared out, so guests were all seated in the small and upper dining spaces. It was also much later in the evening, and they were now ordering drinks. Hence, the atmosphere was a bit more, we'll say - raucous. :0

Thought bubble over Tiffany's head:

"Please Lord, please let this liquid that I'm currently dancing in be water."

😱

The crowd was loud and spirited, and for the first time in my dancing career, I asked a woman if she would like to dance with me. She was dancing around in her chair, so I figured she might be a willing candidate. ;-) She seemed horrified by the suggestion and declined, but I felt proud of myself for asking. It's definitely something that is expected during restaurant gigs, so I need to get used to it. As I danced up to the upper dining space, I was clued in to the fact that these people had been watching my efforts down below. Several jumped out of their chairs and came over to dance with me. Well then.

This was a first for me, and it was a lot to manage. I had two separate dancing groups going, and they each wanted me to show them what to do. There was clapping and happy hollering going on, which I took as a good sign. As the song was wrapping up, the music cut out.

!

I could see Claire struggling with the audio cable at the bar, so I thanked everyone and danced over to help her. We got it fixed, but by that point we figured it would be easier and more streamlined to just have her start her set, given that I only had a few minutes of music left on my playlist anyway. Claire danced away. The crowd was all ready to go, and she got lots of willing participants to dance with her as well. The third sets really ended on high notes, to be sure.

The owners of the restaurant and staff all wanted to take photos with us, and we happily obliged. They were very happy with how things went, and I'm hoping that they'll ask us to dance there again. They got a great turnout, and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Including us!

As we packed up in our tundra ;-), I reflected that as nervous as I had been, things had gone so smashing that I was now sad it was over. In fact, I've been sad about it ever since, and have longed to leave my career as a librarian to be full time, professional belly dancer. :0 Maybe there's some sort of exotic castle that needs a full time dancer, and I can buy all these extravagant and beautiful costumes to dance in...

You'll notice I'm here today. At the library. Not in a castle nor shopping for $5,000 dance costumes. So I guess you're stuck with me. 😇

I had a grand New Year's Eve, and after my dancing adventure, I went home and had drinks with Mike. It was a lovely and memorable night.

How was your New Year's? Any resolutions to share? I'd love to hear about them!

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, I'm back, and I'm going to be honest: I'm having a brutally awful work day. But you know what? I'm not going to dwell on that. Because it's been like this, and it will continue to be like this, so why give it more power by talking about it? But I mention it because it's the reason why I have no time to blog or eat lunch today. :-\

I did have a magnificent vacation, and I have TONS to tell you. Look for a long dance-related post tomorrow relating to my New Years's Eve adventure (which I am SO excited for!) and I'll devote Tea Time this week to a post-holiday chat of all of the fun goings on. At left you'll see my children on our trip to the botanical gardens. You can see how thrilled Henry looks. ;-) A good time was had by all though, truly!

My New Year's resolution this year is to be more positive about things that are challenging to be positive about. And to once again make wellness a priority. That may mean accepting change much easier than I normally accept change. We'll see how this all works out, but this is my current direction as we embark on 2017.

How about you? Do you have any New Year's resolutions? I'd love to hear them, and I can't wait to talk to you tomorrow!

New Year's Resolutions anyone? *insert best of intentions here*

Hi all! I'm doing my best to stay perky as I navigate my first week back to work. How's it going? you reasonably ask, you thoughtful reader, you. :-) It's going pretty well. I've had a bit more difficulty than usual getting back to my regular routine. I miss being home with Mike and the kids. A lot. But I've set my mind to positive things, and that's helping quite a bit.

Part of the way I've been doing this is to focus on goals for the new year. I suppose one could call them New Year's Resolutions. But I know better than to set anything earth shattering for myself, because taking on too much new all at once sets me up for failure.What I prefer to do is examine the things I'd like to improve, and then realistically think of ways to tweak what I'm already doing to make them just that bit better.

So here are the things I'd like to work on, and then we can chat about yours if you like! For me:

(1) A prayer routine. So that would mean...it should actually exist. :0 Right now, the situation is that I attend Mass weekly and on holy days of obligation. I sometimes pray the rosary when I'm in the car. I pray novenas as they pique my interest. And that would be it. I don't feel "dry" in my faith life per se, but it does feel like I'm not putting all that much effort into it, and thus I am not thriving.

When I was contemplating my return to work late last week (stay with me, this ties in), being all sad about it, I thought to myself that I really need to change the way I approach my early wake up time, as that is always one of the most difficult parts of my day. I hate getting out of bed, I could lounge there for hours if allowed. Have I mentioned that over my break, I was able to sleep in until *8 am*? Peeps, the last time I slept in that long I was in my 20's. That would be a two digit difference in the first number in that equation. IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME. I reveled in it. But I'm getting off track, as I am wont to do. ;-) At any rate, ideally, this early morning time could incorporate into improving my prayer life.

When we're back to work and school, I *need* to be out of bed by 6:45 am. I really *should* get out of bed around 6:30 am, so that I don't have to be all rushy rushy.  What I decided to do is this: at 6:30 am, I turn on my bedside lamp. I give myself one minute to let my eyes adjust, then I reach for my new devotional duo and spend a few minutes reading the days' entries. What I decided on are these:

I bought a copy of this back in the late fall, related to a project I worked on for CatholicMom.com. I didn't use it during Advent because I had the Magnificat Companion, so once the new year came, I picked it up, and loved it. It has the daily Gospel reading plus short inspirations for contemplative prayer. Each day is about a page or slightly less in length, all told. Then, I pull out my cute copy of the current Living Faith. I've subscribed to this little pocket devotional in the past, and the church we went to for the feast of Mary, Mother of God on New Years Eve had them available for free, so I picked one up. Each day there is a short reflection on the daily Gospel, so it works quite well with Sacred Reading. It comes out quarterly. Both this and Sacred Reading are available in either print or for Kindle. Convenient, yes?

I've been implementing this plan since Monday, and so far I love it. It helps to make my wake up time much more soothing and pleasant, and I feel better the whole day. My goal is to keep this going through Lent (which is early this year! starts February 10th) and beyond. I'm planning to re-subscribe to Living Faith toward this end.

(2) Fitness and dance. You all know how I love my dancing avocation, and I'm also a reasonably active person, going for walks most days and popping on an online Barre3 workout when I can (only 20-40 minutes total per week, though, right now). Overall however, I've become a bit complacent. I'm extremely consistent about attending my weekly dance class, but otherwise my approach to fitness and staying in shape is fairly haphazard. I'd like to be more organized in my fitness routine and to more practice time for dance. My Fitbit is really helping in this regard, making me more conscious of how active I've been on each day. I love it. I don't necessarily want to lose weight (except for that pesky 5 pounds that everybody always wants to lose :-)) I just want to gain more tone and strength. So I'm setting daily goals. Some days I'm shooting for that 10,000 step goal with my Fitbit, other days I want to get in a workout in that focuses more on core strength. I'm also going to try and incorporate in new and fun things where my schedule allows, like the new HipFit belly dance workout class I was able to attend on Monday evening. LOVED IT. SO MUCH. I can't usually go to those classes, because Mike teaches on Monday nights and I'm needed at home with the kids, but when he's off, I can try to go. Or I can try and find a class at the gym here on campus during lunch. Lots of fun possibilities to explore.

As I've gotten older, I've really tried to learn to appreciate my body for what it is. It is not perfect nor like that of a swimsuit model, which is totally fine with me. But it's what God gave me, so I should treat it well and be comfortable in it. This comes up quite a bit in that book I'm reading, Raising the Barre, which I'm excited to discuss with you soon.

(3) Keep the creative juices flowing! Last year brought a lot of changes to my approach to blogging, and personally, I've been thriving in them. I'm hoping to keep that momentum going. Stay tuned next week for some new and upcoming ideas. ;-)

What are YOUR New Year's Resolutions, dear reader? And don't forget, if you have or get a Fitbit, let me know so that we can become friends in Fitbit app-land and challenge each other to achieve our goals!

Feeling very blessed indeed, in this new year...

Another new year? I feel old. :0 But I also feel SO HAPPY. Welcome back everyone!

*streamers!*

I often find this post (the after-Christmas-staycation, what the heck day is it?! Oh yeah, the day I have to go back to being an adult and stop lounging around the house knitting in my pajamas, post) the most difficult to write of the year. And I think it's because I'm such a spontaneous writer - I like to write stream of consciousness, about whatever is going on with me right at that moment. And now, after not blogging for nearly 2 weeks, too much has happened that I want to tell you all about, and I feel overwhelmed and do not know where to begin. I am easily overwhelmed, have you noticed that about me yet? ;-)

So here I am, looking a little sour faced in my office, because I'd rather be home brewing tea and contemplating which craft project I should pick up next, or maybe I should take a walk with Anne in her wagon? And do I *really* need to get dressed to do either of those activities?! But sadly, here I am in my work clothes trying to look alive. Because my break was AWESOME. Really, really great, I can't remember feeling so content in quite some time.

*blissful sigh*

I was dreading the time coming to an end. And last night, trying to go to sleep before The Wake Up That We All Fear? It wasn't good. The whole family has been sick (except for me, who paid her dues back in November with The Cough That Would Never End, and The Fever Rash That Sent People Fleeing In Terror) and last night poor Mike's cough worsened.

He was being so sweet, doing little things to cheer me up because he knew I was dreading going back to work, but he was COUGHING. I felt bad for him, but every time he erupted in a fit of super loud coughing I couldn't help inwardly cringing. Mike and I are real marital nerds in that we don't like to sleep apart.  The only exceptions are if one of us is traveling without the other, or if one of us is sick and coughing to the degree of potentially disturbing the others' sleep. I was thinking last night was going to qualify for exception #2, but Mike didn't seem to think so, settling into bed beside me sweetly and happily to read. And cough. He didn't seem to pick up on my discreet side eyes every time the noise barrier was breached, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

He fell asleep before I did. I was reading on my Kindle and trying grumpily to get sleepy when he started to snore. And Mike doesn't usually snore. But the congestion had obviously gotten the better of him, because he was snoring LOUD. Obviously, this is not his fault. But thus began a cycle of: (1) Snore. (2) Wake self up by snoring. (3) Get annoyed with self and angrily rustle around in the bed, elbowing pillows every which way. Repeat.

Didn't exactly make for easy sleeping for either of us. ;-) Oh, and did I mention that Anne woke sometime in the middle of the night, inexplicably demanding that a book be read to her? That happened too.

Sooooo, we were all tired this morning. And it's finally cold here, in the teens temperature-wise this morning when we left. Sadness, so much sadness. Have you seen Inside Out? I did, several times over the break. ;-) If you have too, you know what I'm talking about.

All right, so let's do as thorough a review of the holidays as I can remember, which doesn't bode well right from the outset, but we'll do what we can.

We hosted lots of fetes and family over both Christmas and New Years. It was LOVELY. True, I did a bit of tornadoing, but on the whole I kept it to a minimum. It helps that I have a wonderful husband who works so well with me to get things ready and make everyone feel welcome when they're over. It was also nice to not have to go anywhere besides Mass over the course of Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Since everything was at our house, we stayed put for the most part.

And Christmas day was BEAUTIFUL. We opened gifts in the morning prior to heading to 11 am Mass. I received many fabulous gifts (I am spoiled, truly) but one of my very favorites is my new orange Fitbit:

Isn't he fabulous?!

What should I name him?! It's very easy to anthropomorphize this thing since it says good morning to me, and congratulates me on achieving my daily step goal by lighting up and vibrating happily. I love it so much that I have become quite obsessed with it. Mike has teasingly threatened to hide it. :0 I'm doing all of these fun daily and weekly challenges with my friends who are on Fitbit and I have become consumed with getting to or near 10,000 steps per day. The kids don't even question it anymore when they see me walking randomly in circles around the kitchen table, trying to get in extra steps. I have to say, I LOVE IT, I really do. Are you on Fitbit and want to connect with me for walking challenges? Leave me a comment and we'll find each other. :)

As for the kids, we focused on crafty things this year, or generally creative things that they can work on for some time. I really tried to get away from the big plastic toy phenomenon (which inevitably, after taking 20 full minutes to extract from the package, drawing blood in the process, break before the end of January) with the exception of Anne's new play kitchen, which she loves:

Notice, also, her new apron. It matches mine. *beams*

My nephews also had a grand time in there playing over the holidays. Henry even had lunch in there with her one day:

Aren't they darling?

And so everybody loved their gifts. We went to Christmas morning Mass which was so spectacular I can't even describe it. The pianist and cantor sang a rendition of "What Child is This" that brought tears to my eyes. I feel especially blessed this Christmas.

The rest of the week we just enjoyed being together and eating leftovers. SO MANY LEFTOVERS. My family is part Italian, we can't help it. We overfeed. It's how we show love. :) I went on lots of walks (Fitbit!), we brewed lots of tea (even the children, I've indoctrinated them well) and the time was generally quite restful and invigorating.

New Years Eve found me knitting and crocheting like a mad woman to finish up the kids' handcrafted gifts prior to the Epiphany, and indeed, I finished that night as we all watched E.T. together. Here are Henry's gingerbread socks:

He's already worn them, he's such a good child.

And Anne's amigurumi cat:

A cat. Right?!

Well...she's cute, but she doesn't *exactly* look like a cat. Both children asked, separately of each other:

"Is that a mouse?!"

She's mouse-like, I suppose. But the important thing is that she is DONE, and Anne loves her, and has named her Mary. Quite fitting that she was born on the vigil of the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. ;-)

Towards the end of my time off, on Epiphany weekend, we took a short pilgrimage to a shrine to Our Lady of Fatima that is about a half hour from our house:

They have a festival of lights each year, which of course, is kept up through the Epiphany. :-) It was beautiful, and I asked for the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima as we move into this new year. Life can be challenging, but above all, it is GOOD.

We have lots of fun stuff coming up, my friends! I have a bunch of ruminating thoughts that I'm hankering to write about (prayer routines for the new year! dance and fitness news!), including the fact that I started reading Raising the Barre over the break, and I can't wait to review it on here! I'll set a date for the discussion likely within the week. My Kindle tells me that I'm about 35% of the way through. I'll also start recording short Tea Time videos again beginning this week. Oh, and amusing crafty news with the Downton Abbey knit- and crochet-alongs starting this week. Let's just say that last night involved a cast-on experience that has left me scarred for life. Details to come!

How is YOUR new year starting out, dear reader? And don't forget to write to me if you have a Fitbit! I demand this. ;-)

I'm back, and I don't even know where to start!!

:0

A blogging hiatus is necessary for me each year during the Christmas season, but I tell you, it throws me off. I feel all weird when I don't blog. And there was so much that happened that I am certain much of it will get glossed over due to sheer overwhelment (is that a word? it is now :)) but hey, one does what one can. ;-) I will summarize all of the family and liturgical goings on as best I can and call it My Very First Post of 2015!

*streamers!*

I hope that you all had a beautiful and blessed Christmas season, ALTHOUGH aforementioned season technically extends until Sunday, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. So we're still celebrating! I really, really focused on that this year, the fact that Christmas is a season and not just a single day. I think I felt it so deeply this year in particular because with small kids, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day take on a chaotic quality. But beginning with the feast of St. Stephen on December 26th, my Christmas season was absolutely sublime. :) I kept mentioning this to Mike and the kids ("Christmas is a season, we should still be playing Christmas music!!") and they humored me very nicely. 

Ok, so! Last we spoke it was Christmas Eve. We spend Christmas Eve with my family, which is much larger than Mike's, hence the chaos. Earlier that day I wanted to go to Adoration to maintain a serene and sacred feel to the day, and Henry actually wanted to go with me. We made the journey out to one of the two parishes in the area that has a Perpetual Adoration chapel and...

It was closed. :0

Not so perpetual, but understandably, they had a hard time finding enough adorers to fill the slots over the holidays so they closed it for a few days. The church itself was open, with the organist practicing for the Vigil Mass that evening, so Henry and I went and prayed in there for a few minutes. Well, I prayed, and Henry prowled around :) but I thought that was just fine. He was all excited to be in the darkened church and able to find fascinating saint-related hidey holes, and he brought me over to a nook with a St. Therese statue and a candle stand. He expressed interest in going to Adoration with me again when the chapel re-opens, and I couldn't be more pleased.

So, the morning and afternoon went well. While Henry and I were on our Adoration Adventure, Mike texted me to pitch the idea that instead of our traditional pilgrimage to a Christmas Vigil Mass, in which we need to arrive 30 minutes early to get a seat and are smashed into a pew for about an hour and a half with a wiggly Anne, maybe we could consider attending Christmas Day Mass? I was skeptical at first, but he talked me into it. And how did that go? Read on, kind visitors.

So, no Vigil Mass meant that getting ready for our family dinner was easier, and Anne napped right up until we left anyway. She predictably woke up on the wrong side of her little stuffed animal infested bed, and then refused to wear the Christmas Eve dress my mom bought for her. She left the house with a pouty face. Henry was in good spirits, but you know, this is Henry's excited face:

Looks like he's about to undergo involuntary medical testing :0

For my part, I was wearing a black velvet dress and a snowflake necklace that I made just for the occasion:

No photo of me *in* said items, Anne was making me too stressed for selfies. :0 But off we went, and dinner was lovely. I got to see all four of my nephews, including the 2 year old twins, who are so cute you could just kiss their little faces off. I'm certain that they wouldn't appreciate an effort in that regard, so I restrained myself.

Christmas morning found us opening gifts, and then headed to 10 am Mass, and can I just say, Christmas Day Mass =

*Hallelujah!*

I couldn't believe it when we walked in. As opposed to the Vigil Mass, which is beautiful, but suffocating, this Mass didn't even have as many people as a Sunday during Ordinary Time. And we went to our home parish, so it was just SUBLIME. Anne immediately gravitated to the large nativity set, and we went up before Mass started to adore the Newborn King. :)

Lovely, lovely, lovely. Lots of family visiting followed that afternoon and evening, and we were all a bit exhausted by the end of the day.

The kids, of course, were very happy with their gifts, as was I. I received a lot of great books, and I plan to spotlight those tomorrow. But I also received some beautiful new Catholic gifts. Shauna'h gave me this St. Kateri rosary:

I squealed when I saw it. :0 Such fabulousness (another word I just made up...) Anne received another saint softie to add to her collection, and here she is showing off St. Therese now joined in prayer power with Our Lady Star of the Sea:

On the feast of St. Stephen, we got together with my parents to exchange gifts, and they gave me a gorgeous new iPod Nano, which I really needed, since my old one is showing major signs of wear and tear, and I rely on it so heavily for my large music collection and Catholic podcasts. She's purple, and I've named her Cecelia :0

Also on that day, we have Anne posing with our dog nephew, Roscoe:

Cuteness. She's modeling her new Elsa necklace, crafted by my sister Shauna'h. We spent some more time that weekend (Holy Family weekend, appropriately :)) visiting with my sisters and nephews before everyone headed home.

On New Year's Eve we went to the vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God amid a winter storm blowing into Western New York, and coziness was experienced by all. :) I used a new cookbook that I received for Christmas to prepare potato soup in the crock pot, and we also had a shrimp/cheese/olives/bread combo spread after we returned. And on New Year's Day, Mike and Henry finished a 3D puzzle of St. Basil's Cathedral that had been one of his gifts, and just in time for St. Basil's feast day January 2nd :0

In honor of the 2015 patron of this blog!

 Impressive, yes? It was an absolutely wonderful week, and now here I am, back at work.

*sniffle*

But I'm hanging in there, getting back into my routine. And can I say that I am SO excited for 2015? I have never in my (very good and happy) life felt so optimistic about a new year before. Life is good, my friends. I'm looking forward to all of the spiritual opportunities the new liturgical year has to offer, to celebrating 10 years of marriage to Mike this weekend (post on that coming Thursday!), to spending time with my family, to hopefully attending the Catholic New Media Conference in June...There is so much to look forward to. And I look forward to experiencing and sharing it all with YOU, dear reader!

How was your Christmas season so far? Do leave a comment to share it with me!

Travels with your Catholic Librarian...

Originally posted on January 2, 2010 :)
___________________________________

Mike, Henry and I are in central Florida, visiting Mike's parents, and are having an excellent time. We arrived, exhausted, on New Years Eve. I was fearful of a terrible flying experience just given the current craziness of our airport security situation, but actually everything wasn't bad. I particularly hate airport security in the winter. Where we're from, at least, winter translates into wet, muddy puddles on the floor from everyone's wet boots. And of course, at airport security, we all have to take our shoes off, which I HATE. I normally love being shoeless, but not with soaking wet socks in the middle of the airport. And then we have the Henry factor, and traveling by air is a big fat wet blanket.

"Are we there yet, Mommy?"

"When are we going to be there, Mommy?"

"Is the plane landing yet, Mommy?"

"Is it time to be there yet, Mommy?"

It's too bad they don't sell valium in those little airplane drink bottles.

At any rate, we arrived safely, and that's all that matters. We had a nice new year celebration, and I went to Mass with my mother-in-law yesterday to her local parish. There's definitely a dearth of traditional Catholic churches down here. Well, actually, there aren't that many Catholic churches here at all. I'm used to the northeast, where the majority of the population is Catholic. There was much guitar strumming and audience practicing of the responsorial psalm prior to Mass beginning, but I can't complain. A girl with a beautiful voice sang accompaniment, the priest had an awesome Irish accent, and the Mass was lovely. I was just grateful to be there.

The only bad thing I've experience so far is the climate. It's not new news that I just don't like the climate here. The summer is excruciating, that goes without saying. But even the winter is just...odd. The air still carries a tremendous amount of moisture, and consequently it's all chilly and damp. And my HAIR; my God, my hair. The moisture in the air is killer on my hair. Did you ever see that episode of Friends where they all go to a tropical island and in each scene, Monica's hair looks more and more ridiculous? People keep asking her what's wrong with her hair, and she keeps saying "it's the *humidity*!" That's me. Every time I look in a mirror, I cringe. Even tied back in a bun or ponytail, little strands manage to curl up and make my head look like a giant Q-tip. It's bad, it's really bad.

Sigh. Tonight, Mike and I are going out to dinner, which I'm excited about. We're having a great time, but I'll be happy to get back to snow and single digit temperatures. Crazy, crazy girl that I am.