Dance For Those Who Can't

Let's dance for those who can't and be grateful that we can do so without the fear that someone will try to stop us, forcing us to pay the ultimate price for that privilege.

Click here to read about Shabana. She paid that price.

Someting's Gotta Give-Internal Musings

Earlier this week I received an invitation to submit some more projects for next year's issue of "Creative Jewelry" magazine. I was so excited and mentally began to plan my projects with the idea of spending some time this weekend putting together an order for whatever materials I would need.

Along with the project planning I also spent a few days thinking about when I could start working on these projects, which led me the realization that I need to seriously scale back on the amount of things that I have going on in my life.

My 17 month old daughter is obviously my A1 priority. And after that I have:

-writing & journaling
-3 unfinished cross-stitch projects
-2 unfinished afghans
-an embarrassing number of unfinished bead projects, including the '08 Bead Journal Project
-my color journey with Margie
-Abby Cadabby decorations for my daughters room
-flash cards for my daughter
-at least 3 belly dance costumes that need to be finished or tailored to fit
-massive closet cleaning & re-organizing
-Halloween is just around the corner & I need to get ready for that
-added rehearsals, etc. that go along with being in a dance troupe
-weekly duties as personal assistant to Margie
-the day to day running of a household that includes an energetic and curious toddler
-Sparkly Wheels for Nikias book

All of these things are staring me in the face and they are not happy about being ignored. I feel so overwhelmed that I don't know what to do first so I'm doing nothing but doing a lot of thinking.

I stayed awake most of the night mulling over how much time is need on a daily or weekly basis for the ongoing things like writing or rehearsals, how close is each project to being finished, and how much time do I think I may need for each one. And, of course, the big question; is it really feasible for me to be starting anything new right now? Obvious answer: No. Why?

"Jack of all trades, master of none." I've always thought of this saying as a warning against mediocrity. That's what I'm afraid of; that as I'm dashing about frantically trying to complete each project the quality of what I'm working on will be severely diminished.

So in looking at my list I see that there are a few things that I need to let go of, as in, not all of those beading UFO's really need to finished, and then I'm going to give myself one full year to complete the rest of the listed projects before starting anything new.

Then I'll be back to submitting beadwork for publication with a bang!

Troy Necklace-Finished!

Actually, I finished this last Friday night to wear to Cirque Du Soliel on Saturday.

I wore it with a grape colored silk sheath dress and kept the rest of the jewelry fairly simple; a few gold bangles with gold, amethyst, & moldavite stud earrings.

This is one of the projects from "The Beader's Color Palette", by Margie Deeb.

Margie's Troy collar, done with topaz AZ Czech glass and pale gold metallic fire polish, is based on a gilt silver collar dating from about 2300 B.C.E. that was discovered in Troy.

I wonder who wore it. And where & why? Was it a gift?

Crazy me, I'm thinking of making another one, this time using Swarovski crystals in place of the fire polish. Since purples, violets, & pinks are my top-of-the-list favorites those are the colors I'm thinking of using.

I also need to find a box or something that is big enough to store this. I can't casually toss this in the jewelry armoire.

Facebook Photos

I finally had a bit of time to upload some photos of my beadwork over on Facebook. Click here to see them.

My non beading friends & family aren't very likely to visit me on Bead Space or Beaders' Showcase so I ultimately decided to play on Facebook & my blog.

Enjoy!

Too Damned Hot!!!

I'm a Zonie. I'm a native. And by that I mean a true native, not some one who has been here for 10+ years. I was born here. My Mother was born here. My Grandfather was born here. His mother was born here and her people have been here since the dawn of time.

Oops! The heat caused me to veer off the subject.

You'd think I'd be used to the heat.

Well, I'm not.

It's too damned hot!!! I'm ready for cooler temps. NOW!!!

Random Facts About Me

I've got to do this quick before my little tadpole wakes up. Here's a few random little known facts about me.

1. I have a weakness for Little Debbie Cakes.
2. I'm afraid of clowns & alligators, clowns dressed as alligators, & alligators dressed as clowns.
3. I like spiders because they eat all the nasty bugs I don't like.
4. I am a proficient toad wrangler.
5. I can drive a back hoe.
6. I don't like scorpions. It freakin' hurts when one stings you.
7. I am not so good with math & science eludes me.
8. I like the way Shakira sings, but not the way she dances.
9. I spent a whole year trying to learn to juggle and failed miserably.
10. I watched approximately 10 minutes of a soap opera once in my life and that was more than enough. And I have never seen any of those night time soaps like Dallas or Dynasty.

Follow The Bouncing Butt

"Follow the bouncing butt!" That's just one of the cute quips I heard Willow Chang say this weekend while she was here in the Valley to teach 3 belly dance workshops past weekend. There were more; they were coming at us like tennis balls, but that's the one that stuck in my mind.

Not only is Willow full of vivacious, chatty, goofy, energy, she's full of belly dance knowledge. I personally would like to see all that wonderful knowledge in a book, or a documentary, or something! Belly dance history, past & present, who's who and what's what needs to be preserved for posterity.

Oops! I'm digressing.

The workshops, each of which were 2 hours long, were a delightful combination of dancing, lecture, trivia, & history. During the lunch break some of us hung out in the lobby and snacked on fruit & Snickerdoodles while we talked about the belly dance scene in Arizona, the various types of belly dance, the healing power of yoga, Reiki..... We covered oh so many topics!

One of the things that Willow talked about was the importance of growth as a dancer by taking workshops, studying performance & instructional DVDs, going to as many live performances or haflas as possible, and mining the belly dance gold in your own communities. Coming from Hawaii, which was at one time a veritable belly dance wasteland she appreciates the amount of talent that is available here in Arizona. Amen, sister! To name just a few we have Helena Vlahos, Ava Fleming, Carrie Konyha, Kathryn Ferguson, Danah Stedman, Jazmine, Mahin, Dahlena, Melissa, Myryka, Amanda Rose, Yasmina, Katayna, Neena Nour, & Cari of Plaza De Anaya. I've been lucky enough to either take classes or workshops from the first 9 ladies and hope to be able to study from the final 6.

Going back to what she said about studying performance and instructional DVD's; she advised watching dancers, troupes, or styles that aren't necessarily your favorites. Spend a bit of time asking yourself what it is that you don't like. The costume? The music or how it is interpreted? The quality of the dance (ie. technique or facial expressions)? But, she stressed, don't watch what you don't like too much, lest it worm it's way into your brain and subconsciously & negatively influence the way you dance.

So....tonight is class with Ava. We are done with "Sultry Sharqi" and are moving on to "Traveling Combos With Arms and Zils." That means I need to get my bouncing little butt in gear and fix the loose elastic on one of my zils.