Taking a Break

I'm taking a break from Christmas decorations now. I woke up tired, which is unusual for me. Zachary usually sings or talks in the morning and I cheerfully bound out of bed to go get him. It's fun to get up when you're greeted with the most adorable smiling face in the whole world! Of course, there are many times when Ryan pops up before me and I sleep in a little while longer. But even then I wake up full of energy and ready for the day. Not so this morning. I don't drink coffee, so I'm on my own when this happens. So, I tried to rally. Ryan helped me put out the garland on the bannisters this morning, and then I went to my tennis drills clinic. It was a futile attempt to get so more energy. I came home exhausted, it was all I could do to feed Zachary his lunch and put him down for his nap.

After lunch came some energizing news, however. A lady in my tennis clinic wants to book a belly dance party! Hooray! I really need to get some business cards printed, and flyers too. Geez, I'll get to that soon. The lady wants a "Learn to Belly Dance" party. This is easy and fun. I take some costumes, my music, do a little dance, then teach them some choreography. I leave the hostess a CD of some music as a little present. This lifted my spirits, but I'm still tired.

This afternoon I did some Christmas shopping and found some PERFECT presents for folks on my list. Of course I cannot talk with anyone about these because most everyone got a variation on this secret theme. I love finding the perfect present, it makes me so happy to think of how the person receiving wth gift will react.

So, tonight I take a break from all the decorating. I have to plan my intermediate class for tomorrow, may a playlist for it, and tweak the playlist for my beginner class tomorrow. I have a beginner class on Monday and one on Thursday, so I usually teach the same class, I just vary the warmup & cool down music a little. Tomorrow I have to have a lot of energy - two one hour classes, a rehearsal for another hour, and errands to run! I usually race home to get here before Zachary wakes up from his nap, and then the real energy expenditure begins! It's already 8:30, so I better get busy!

Almost done . . .

I'm a little, okay A LOT tired today. My muscles were aching when I got up this morning - too much time away from belly dance last week! My medial crucae ligaments in both knees are hurting - I guess too much bending and squatting. Oh, the joys of getting older! No worries, a little yoga will make it all better tomorrow!

As for Christmas decorations, I got a lot done today. All the trees are done. Hooray! I also finished the dining room, got most of the bows on the light fixtures outside, and did the greenery behind the bar. I still have so much to do, but I am almost done.

Here are the trees:

The sea shell tree. I collected all the sea shells at Crooked Island.

The little tree in my bedroom, with all my ballerina ornaments.

This is the tree in the upstairs hallway. It's got only silver ornaments on it, and the bow has a touch of red with silver on it. The picture doesn't do it justice.

"Cheese!" says Zachary, here with his tree. He loves to shake it a little, but so far he is quite gentle with it. Nemo and Elmo like to sit by the tree!

Here is the dining room, set with my Christmas china, and the angel tree is in the background. I know my Mom is dying right now because I didn't iron the tablecloth. Mom, I need you to visit! :)

I've tried twice to get the main tree uploaded, but it's not working now. I'll try again tomorrow. Fatigue has the best of me. Time for tea, SuDoku, and more tree gazing.

Bellyrolls and Boughs of Holly

Today was class day. I usually plan my class the week before, but since I'm in the middle of this melee we call Christmas decorations I procrastinated until naptime today. No worries, I just copied an old class and taught it again tonight. It went well, which was great since I had a lot of new ladies tonight. It's always fun when new people attend, but the learning curve is steep on bellyrolls so sometimes they don't return. The ladies that "stick it out" end up as excited about bellyrolls as I am! It truly is my favorite move now. I like to roll up to down, then down to up, alternating back and forth. I'm trying to add that to a backbend, but it becomes a challenge to articulate the abdominal muscles once they are stretched fully into a nice layback. Oh, but it can be done - I've seen it done by the incomparable Rachel Brice (at least the up to down bellyrolls in a layback, the alternating is my own twist). I have faith that one day I'll be able to execute this step. Look out, Bricey!

Ok, more fodder regarding Christmas. I have completed the sea shell tree in the den. It contains sand dollars and other sea shells I collected at Crooked Island. They are beautiful. It also has some blown glass replicas of those old glass buoys that fisherman used to use. I bought those in Apalachicola at the Tin Shed. The tree looks great. I also finished Zachary's tree, put new bows on the giant wreaths out front, refurbished the wreaths on my front door, and put a wreath and greenery (resplendent with lights) on the mantel in the living room. I still have a few "finishing touch" things for the main tree. I also have to put up the tree in the upstairs hallway, and the mini tree in our bedroom. I have to change out all the china in the cabinet to the Christmas china. I have to put the wreath and greenery around the bar, and the wreath on the mirror in the entryway. I have to put bows on all the light fixtures outside, more lights in the bushes, and all the greenery and bows on the stairwell. Progress has been slow, but steady.

It seems like so much work to do all this, and it really is hard work, but it's so nice to come home and see how beautiful it all is. I realize I am nuts and completely over the top with all these trees and all this decorating, but I just love it. I love that my entire neighborhood seems to be as crazy as I am about decorations. I turn onto my street and I can see lights in trees all the way down the block. It's beautiful. And besides, what better time of year to go overboard? It's not like I do this for Presidents Day or anything! Ok, no pics today. I'm exhausted after decorating all day and teaching all night (those bellyrolls will take it out of you, hee hee!). I'm going to drink some chamomile tea and gaze at my trees (Ryan's not home yet, it's poker night).

No Time to Blog!

Ok, I'm knee deep in boxes and utter chaos. But I am creating Christmas Central! I have no time to blog, since I still have SO much left to do. We got the garland up on the upstairs balcony, the large wreaths out by the entrance to the driveway, the tree in the dining room (it's an angel theme this year), and I have the main tree up with lights on it. I still have the upstairs tree, the mini trees in my room and Zachary's room, and the sea shell tree. Ryan and I found a motorized light up skiing polar bear today at Home Deport. Today, Ryan "launched" it on our kayak into the lake behind our house. It looks great, especially at night.

Here are some photos:

Here is Ryan working on his "creation" - preparing it for the lake.

Daddy, can I help you set the anchor? This red oval is really cool!

I say "Who's the cutest little boy in the whole wide world?" Zachary says "I am!!!"

Launching the kayak . . . .

And the finished product. The polar bear is facing the road to our subdivision, and he'll greet the visitors to the Marriott and the condos across the street. Merry Christmas! Okay, now I gotta get back to work!

Travels & Schedules

Ok, we're home from Thanksgiving. It was nice to see my family, a good time was had by all. My Mom is amazing. She cooked our delicious meal all by herself. She worked her butt off, and kept a smile on her face the whole time. Plus she thinks Zachary is as cool as I do. Here's my Mom playing the "pee-dano" with Zachary. My little brother's girlfriend, Tey, is in the background. She's a great singer and sang the first Christmas carol of the season. It's a family tradition to sit in the living room after our big meal and listen to my Mom play the piano.

During the long drive to my parent's house and back, some thoughts occurred to me. Zachary is a "schedule" child. That means he eats, naps, and goes to bed around the same time every day. I learned this philosophy from my friend Michele. She has triplets that are 6 months younger than Zachary and a singleton that is a year younger. Her children are on a schedule for her sanity. She is not one of those haggard, stressed out mothers you'll see in wrinkled clothes and dirty hair. She's happy, well rested, and fun to be around. Just like her children. Plus she always looks smashing! But I digress, my thoughts about travelling and a scheduled child came to mind after a discussion on Michele's blog. One detractor of "the schedule" mentioned that the real problem with having a child on a schedule is when you travel the child just falls apart. That certainly isn't the case with Zachary.

Our driving trip to Grandma's was centered around naptime. Halfway there we stopped for lunch. After lunch Zachary usually naps (around 12:30). We were back on the road at 12:20, and this picture was taken at 12:37.

He slept for 2 hours, not his usual three, but enough that he was in good spirits when we arrived. I put him to bed 1/2 hour earlier Wednesday night and he awoke at his usual time Thursday morning. He never did "fall apart" because the only thing different was our location. He doesn't sleep as well away from home as he does at home, but who does? Whenever we travel, and this little guy has travelled a lot in his short lifetime, I maintain our normal schedule and he is just fine. He may miss a nap when we fly, but I compensate by putting him to bed earlier and by the next day he's ready to be back on his schedule. It takes discipline on my part, but having a happy, well rested (& usually well behaved) child is worth the sacrifice.

Enough of that soap box!

We start decorating the house for Christmas tomorrow. I am psyched! There are three houses in the neighborhood that already have lights up, it's crazy! I just love Christmas, on every level. I love the true meaning, of course, but I love all the other merriment that comes this time of year. I LOVE decorating the house. I am a bit eccentric in this area - we normally have 5 trees, but this year I'm adding a mini tree for Zachary's room. That may be a terrible idea, but I won't know until we try it. Zachary has a June birthday, so he's always been the perfect age that I didn't have to worry about ornaments and trees getting pulled down. I do put the more valuable ornaments at the top of the trees, just as a precaution. It usually takes almost a week to get the house completely decorated, but I'll post pictures of my progress. I think Zachary will really get into the spirit this year. Oh, so much fun to be had in the next month! I'm just giddy thinking about it.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Continuing in the musical theme . . . .

Ok, I live in Florida. I do not like the cold. My brother in law and sister in law live in Golden, CO, and while they are shovelling snow I am walking on the beach (see previous post) with my son. I prefer it that way. We've spent the last four New Year's Eves on our boat at Crooked Island. We run and play in shorts and sweatshirts on New Year's Day. The Colorado side of the family skis, we sail (well, okay, we ski too & they sail with us).

Today, for the second day in a row, the temperatures hovered in the high fourties/low fifties. It's no fun outside because the wind just rips through you. Yesterday we found activities to do away from the house, but today I finally had to bundle us up and get outside. Zachary usually loves to play outside. Our usual MO is to head outside after naptime and play until dinner. We played with sidewalk chalk today for about 20 minutes and then Zachary went to the front door, opened it, and quietly let himself back inside. Usually I have to drag him inside, kicking and screaming, while I finish cooking dinner. I guess he doesn't like the cold either.

Here he is bundled up in the fighter pilot jacket his Grandpa got him last year for Christmas. Zachary loves to draw in the driveway with the sidewalk chalk. We had fun for the short time we were outside, but I'm ready for not so cold weather! Usually this time of year we have highs in the 60's.

Tomorrow we head to Grandma's house in Alabama. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive. We'll leave shortly after breakfast, stop and have lunch along the way, and hopefully get there after he's had a little bit of a nap. Ah, the best laid plans. We'll be watching a lot of videos along the way. Ryan will meet us there, since he's been in Birmingham working this week. We'll come back Friday morning. My parents don't have wi-fi (I don't think) so I won't be blogging while there.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Since it's a slow day, I thought I'd post an old picture. This was taken a little over a year ago at Crooked Island. It's one of the most beautiful places on Earth. This was after the very active hurricane season last year. The topography changed so much with all the storm surge. At one point the middle of the island was under water during high tide, which made for a rolling anchorage. Fortunately, the dunes are building back up now. You can see our boat, along with Ace's Wild and Fox III, anchored in the background.


And here's our visit to the beach at the state park a few weeks ago. Zachary likes the feel of sand between his toes. This picture makes me laugh because this was the weekend before Halloween, and tonight it is 40 degrees outside.
I certainly wish we could have worn shorts and t-shirts today!

I took Zachary shopping for Winter clothes today, since apparently we'll need them! We had the best time, he "helped" me pick out the clothes. I got him some cute Mickey slippers too - he chose Mickey over Elmo! As we left the store he said bye-bye to everything he could see. I love this phase we're in now, it's so much fun to interact with him.

On the way home from class tonight I started listening to Brazillian Pearls, a drum solo that I'm choreographing for my troupe. It's such a great piece of music. Choreographing to a drum solo is more difficult than traditional music. There are different accents on each beat and quite a challenge to keep the choreography dynamic and interesting. I had some great ideas tonight for the piece so I think I'll start on it tomorrow during Z's naptime. Plus I need to practice. I came up with a "new" move last night while Z was doing "seat drops" in the bathtub. I would shimmy, he would splash. No wonder we both got to bed too late!

Countdown to Turkey Day

The countdown is on for turkey day. I'm thinking about all I have for which to be thankful. The list is long. It makes me happy to reflect on such things.

I don't have much time left to blog today. I had to plan my class for tonight, since I spent most of the weekend not worrying about such practicalities! I also had to burn some music CD's for my students. Riveting stuff, I know. Now naptime is almost over, I can hear Zachary starting to stir. He'll be calling out to me in his sing-song voice "Mama, mama, mommeeeee!" very soon. He's so happy after his naps, it's great. The rest of the afternoon we'll spend cramming in as much fun as possible until I have to leave for class. I'm always sad to leave him, but my babysitter, Miss Karen, is so good that when Zachary hears the doorbell ring he goes running down the hall singing "miss Kaahen, miss Kaahen." He hugs and kisses me bye-bye and happily plays with her after I leave. It's so wonderful to have Karen. Another thing for which to be thankful!

Sunday Morning

This morning I sang the Marron 5 song as I be-bopped around the house. Zachary and I have had a great day so far. He woke up a little early, wimpering, but when I went in there he was smiling and happy.

My friend Leslie has these delightful Sunday mornings where she makes delicious pancakes (I've never tasted her own creation, but I use her recipe all the time) and lounges around reading the newspaper while her delightful daughter entertains herself (and anyone else around). So I channelled Leslie's family today and we had banana pancakes and I read the Sunday paper while Zachary watched "Kangaroo" (it's Baby Einstein's Baby Gallileo for the uninitiated). After I finished the paper I took a quick shower and we headed to the bookstore and toystore. I wanted to pick up a couple of videos for the long drive to Grandma's on Wednesday.

Zachary loves the bookstore. They have a Thomas the Train table and lots of trains and he always makes a beeline for it. Sunday morning is especially fun because I get to see all the crazy people that have camped out at Toys R Us overnight for the latest shipment of TMX Elmo or the PS3. It's easy for me to be smug since we have a TMX hidden in the closet and no interest in the PS3. The toy store was the usual melee today, but we found a couple of videos (JoJo's Circus and the DoodleBops) for the drive. Zachary was so good. I let him choose between two different JoJo's videos. He deliberated for quite some time, it appeared he was carefully thinking about this important decision!

For lunch we went to our friend Dee's restaurant. Zachary loves "Unka Deeeee" but alas he wasn't there today. It didn't matter, my date was so well behaved and we had a great time. We go to this restaurant so much that I don't even have to order anymore, they just ask if I want my usual. Zachary and I always split the grilled Amberjack with a small Ceasar and the requisite french fries. The good news is Zachary usually eats as much Ceasar salad as he does fries, so at least he's getting some sort of veggie at this meal. He's been on a bit of a veggie strike, existing solely on carbohydrates lately. I guess I should be thankful that at least he eats a variety of fruits (when I have the variety!).

Yesterday Zachary was playing while I was on the phone, when I got off this was what I saw:

So I laughed and asked Zachary what he was doing.

He replied "Soo DOHHHH Kuuuuu" as if it were completely normal! This kid is truly a genius, I tell you!

The green flag has dropped at Miami Homestead. If you know what that means you know why I have to go!

Life is Good

Today life is good. My life is charmed. I am enchanted.

Tomorrow I may change my mind, but that just keeps things interesting.

Ryan is at the Iron Bowl. For those of you who are not familar with SEC Football, that is the annual Auburn/Alabama game. There will be lots of drunken debauchery had by Ryan and his old fraternity brothers. I guess I should amend that to as much drunken debauchery that can be had by a bunch of fortysomethings! It should be a fun game, but I'm quite content to watch it in the comfort of my living room with my son.

This morning Zachary and I had the best time. We didn't do anything special, we just played around the house, watched a little Playhouse Disney (the DoodleBops and a few minutes of Charlie and Lola), and went to the grocery store. It was just nice to be. It was a little chilly this morning so we didn't spend too much time outside, but it's warming up nicely so when he awakes from his nap we'll go outside. Our neighbors are having a party for the game, so we may drop in for a few minutes.

Zachary is getting more and more conversational in his language development. It's so much fun! Our newest game is I'll say "who's the cutest boy in the whole world?" and he'll say "I am!" and then I'll ask "who's the sweetest boy in the whole world?" and he'll reply "I am!" and so on. He's also coming up with independent thoughts, which is both fun and frustrating. For example, I asked him the other day if he wanted strawberries or grapes for dessert, and he replied "Papaya!" This is all fine except we didn't have any papaya, and they absolutely cannot be found here this time of year.

Here he is, desperately needing a haircut, enjoying a pomegranete. We are eating lots of pomegranetes now, since they are plentiful at the market. Oh, yeah, and doing LOTS of laundry too!

Last night we went to the Bay Medical Gala. It was a veritable who's who of important people in town. We didn't decide to go until late last week, and I had no time to go to Birmingham to find one at Sax, therefore I had to find one in town. We don't have any high end department stores, and precious few boutiques so I had a hard time finding a dress. Ultimately I decided on one from a thrift store - for $49! My lingerie cost more than that. So I pulled out all my fabulous material possessions: my mink (it was in the low 50's last night - fur weather for Florida), my Prada stilletos, and my Judith Lieber purse. All complemented my thrift store find and fooled the masses, or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. If I ever have a daughter I'll pass along this wisdom: you can wear any old rag as long as you have a ridiculously overpriced (but still wonderful) purse and a pair of fabulous shoes. Oh, and a push up bra helps.

I spent most of the night recruiting friends and acquaitances for my belly dance class. Lots of folks promised to come, but lots of wine was consumed so we'll see. I'm working on a marketing strategy for my troupe. I'm trying to push our professional performances more, as well as my own "for pay" performances. Enough freebies. I was at our local jeweler Thursday scouting out a new watch for Ryan for Christmas, and let it "slip" that I was a professional belly dancer. The pushy but charming salesman (related to the owner, I think) asked about booking me or my troupe for their customer appreciation parties. Gulp, I have no business cards yet! He didn't flinch when I quoted him a price. I'm sure I can get the booking, but I may have to buy a $4,000 watch for it. While discussing other matters, Ryan decided he didn't want a new watch. This is a relief, since my personal finances are a bit stretched of late, except for the possibility of the booking. I suppose it isn't ethical to buy the watch, get the booking, then return it.