swingchickie | (no subject)

swingin' new england was a really good time this weekend. all i did from friday evening to sunday morning was dance and sleep, with the occasional meal thrown in. the bummer was that J, L1 and i couldn't get a room at the resort where the event was (we usually like to throw a party at least once during these dance weekends), but it actually worked out pretty well. i got us a room at an inn in the center of falmouth, about 10 minutes from the resort, which meant we weren't too far away, but far enough that we could take a real break when we were in the room. it also gave me a chance to see a bit of the cape for the first time in almost 2 years... i'd really missed it, so i got to relax at coffee obsession (my favorite coffee shop, right across the street from the inn) and have breakfast at the counter at betsy's diner. it made the weekend into a mini vacation for me.

i did pretty much all west coast swing dancing this weekend. i knew people in the lindy room, but i just haven't felt part of that "scene" lately, so i took all west coast workshops and social danced in that section to practice. i had some really nice social dances on friday and saturday night, but i didn't stay late either night because the dance floor was too packed. everyone was bumping into everyone, and it just wasn't fun to be in a mosh pit. (i think the next dance weekend i go to, i'm going to nap until midnight, then go down to dance... the floor starts to clear a bit around 2am, and then i can have fun until 4am or so.) saturday night i wore my newly "blung" stuff... my dance shoes that i'd covered in 300 swarovski crystals, and a black shirt where i'd done the same thing to the strap. (these crystals are so much fun). i got a lot of compliments on them, so all the work was worth it.

the competitions were a mixed bag. i didn't do that great, i didn't even make it to the finals in the newcomer's division (the lowest level). i think my problem was that i wasn't flashy enough... the guys i got paired with did all basics, and so i wanted to match what they were doing... i need to learn how to throw in fun stuff without looking like i'm trying to out-dance my partner. something to work on for the next time. but i'm glad i competed, it was fun to be out there. i watched some of the upper-level competitions as well, especially the bookends competition at midnight. (for the non-dancers, a "bookends" competition is where guys dance with guys and girls with girls. it's silly and a lot of fun.) some of the bookends dances were absolutely amazing, people were on their feet and screaming at how good these guys were. there was one dance that i wasn't too crazy about, i won't go into any detail except to say that it was supposed to be funny but i thought it was a bit mean-spirited. maybe i'm becoming too p.c. in my old age.

we decided to head back to boston sunday morning. there were workshops and more competitions all day, but since i wasn't in the finals, i really liked the idea of having the afternoon to myself at home. J and L1 felt the same way. so we stopped for breakfast at a very packed IHOP, and then all headed home. on the drive back, closer to the city, i suddenly realized there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground... the cape had had cold, COLD rain all weekend, a litttle slush on my windshield one morning, but no snow that lingered. it was really odd to see the ground completely white.

i spent the afternoon reading and snuggling with the cats. as usual, i'd missed them a bunch. the ex had done me a favor and looked in on them over the weekend (i bribed him with 3 boxes of cookies), and he'd promised to call me to let me know they were okay... but our conversation saturday night had made me a bit nervous.

ex: angus is here, but i can't find monkey.
me: well, find her! i can't get off the phone until you tell me she's there and okay.
ex: oh, there she is. i found her.
ex: hey, did you get her a new toy?...
ex: oh, wait, that's part of her body.
me: WHAT???

so it was good to see them and know that there were no odd toy-like growths anywhere on them.

this is a dull week coming up, ending in a complete crap-fest planned for the weekend. i'll have time to post about some other stuff that's been going on... for now, got to pull myself together for work...