No more funk for me

Boy, have I been remiss in my posts lately. I guess it's because life hasn't been much of a dream lately. I've gotta get out of this rut (aka "the funk") I've been in the last few weeks. The following is a list of what's contributed to it:

1) I turned 35 last month. Truth is, I'm not quite sure how I feel about being 35, so I'll have to think on this one some more.

2) My truck blew a head gasket (among other things). Picked it up from the shop last night - had to pay a ransom to the tune of $2000. Ouch!

3) Money woes. What else is new...

4) I'm sick (bleck!).

Ok, now that I've got all that off my chest I must change my focus and look on the bright side of life:

1) I'm 35. Wow, what an accomplishment. For my birthday, I went out for a fabulous dinner with some of my favorite people!!

2) My truck is good as new (almost) and running like a champ, plus the shop threw in a full detail for free. Not only is it shiny and pretty now, but they also found the alarm remote control that I misplaced so many months ago :) Oh, and a special shout out to my sister who let me use her truck as a "loaner" while mine was out of commission. Thanks Bon!!

3) The financial situation is looking up. I've received lots of help from my family and friends in this tough time and starting with our next payday, our annual raise kicks in. I had a moment of misunderstanding when I received my evaluation information and it turns out that my increase was more than I'd originally thought. Wahoo!!

4) The good thing about being sick is that you get your rest. I've been getting an average of 8 hours the past few nights (my regular average is 6) and I'm actually not feeling too bad. I should be right as rain by the time the weekend rolls around.

I guess that just goes to show you (at least it does me) that if you look hard enough, you can always find good in every situation. If it weren't for the bad (or more truthfully, the tough) situations in life, would we ever appreciate all that's good? I wonder...

Well, here's wishing you find the good in all that's difficult in your life. Remember: "That which does not kill us, makes us stronger." (a quote from "Steel Magnolias", one of my favorite movies).

What a great weekend!

It was my pleasure to participate in a sleepover weekend with my girlfriends from the dance studio. It very well could be that I haven't been to a sleepover since I was a school girl. We had a fabulous time! We were at the house of a daughter of our gal pal, Edna. Not only is her home gorgeous, but the backyard is a virtual oasis, complete with palm trees, garden fountain, swimming pool with a diving board and slide, playscape and trampoline. Our favorite past time was lounging by the pool with our peach daiquiris and book du jour. We enjoyed good movies, good food, good drink, and great company for 48 hours. It has to be one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. I think the most interest thing is that the ages of the 6 ladies ranges from mid-20s to late 50s and we all got along marvelously. One of the gals is studying to become a massage therapist and was giving free massages. I didn't get to partake, but I know the other ladies enjoyed their free massages. We watched several movies (some I'd seen and some that were new to me) and I even got to go to a free play on Sunday afternoon at the McCullough Theater on the UT Campus. It was a new musical written by Larry Gatlin called "Quanah, the Parker Family Saga" and the celebrity attendee was Governor Perry himself.

This was the best weekend I've had in ages! Thanks ladies!!

Dancing With The Stars

Now, I'm not an avid TV watcher and haven't been bit by the reality show bug, but I doubt anyone who knows me would be surprised to hear that I've not missed a single episode of ABC's latest reality show...Dancing With The Stars. And I understand that millions of Americans are right there along with me. Whoda thunk?!! There's even an entire blog dedicated to information about the show...http://dancing-with-the-stars-info.blogspot.com/. I have to take a moment here to brag that my "alma mater" is sponsoring the event. Arthur Murray rocks!!

Ballroom dancing is by far the coolest thing to come my way in a long time. I've been doing this for 8 months now and I know how hard it is to learn these dances. I'm extremely impressed with the level of dancing the stars (John O'Hurley, Rachel Hunter, Joey McIntyre, Kelly Monaco, Evander Holyfield, Trista Sutter) have displayed in the last 3 weeks. Some are doing better than others (2 have already been eliminated), but this week's show will really be telling. The last 3 weeks, the couples have been doing 1 dance per show, but this week they have to do 2. We're talking 2 fully choreographed routines for brand new dances they are learning. When I did my competition in April, I spent 5 weeks (1 hour per day) to prepare a single dance routine that wasn't nearly at the level the stars are performing. Trust me when I say, this is not easy!

I do want to say that I think the judges are fantastic! They get a lot of flack from the audience when they give "harsh" feedback to the dancers, but I haven't disagreed with a single comment. In fact, on occasion, I think their comments were too nice. In my opinion, the only reason Evander made it through the second week was because of the audience vote which counts for 1/2 of the overall score. Trista was a better dancer (technically) than he was, but I think "America" is just sick of her and wanted her off of their televisions.

For me, the big surprises have been John O'Hurley (J. Peterman from Seinfeld) and Rachel Hunter (supermodel). I see them as true dancers. Their technique is good, but more importantly they convey the story of each dance and the feeling behind the music as well. They're definitely my favorites!

Well, if you haven't seen the show, I highly recommend checking it out. It's been so popular that ABC has been re-running the previous week's show the hour before the live show each week. It's on Wednesday nights, re-run at 7pm and live at 8pm. Don't miss it!!