12.21.2004

blue stone forges ahead

Quick note to mention that after a long, tiring, but extremely productive session in Rob's studio, we have 2 more Blue Stone tracks laid down! One is a duet with another friend of ours. The other just features me. They are still rough but they are sounding good...hopefully we will have more time to get together in the new year!

Also, and I can't believe I didn't mention this before, the Blue Stone website is now up! You can read about our work and listen to some of our tracks there.

12.19.2004

snowflakes everywhere!

Almost forgot to mention this...take a look at the Make your own snowflake site. It's incredibly addictive!

onward and upward--ho ho ho!

Sorry for taking yet another long break from blogging. Just can't seem to get into the real spirit of things lately. Christmas time in Florida always seems to do this to me...I find it wierd and a little depressing to be here in the winter. My psyche really seems to need seasonal rhythms and fluctuations, and being here in eternal summer always seems, well, unnatural. Makes me feel like holing up and brooding instead of doing all the myriad other things I should be doing--like updating this site!

Thankfully, Michael and I are on our way up to Edmonton for Christmas this week. We're leaving on Wednesday morning and not coming back until January 3rd. We've got a lot to try to accomplish in that short time frame--celebrate the holidays, visit with friends and family, and wedding-related stuff like trying to find a photographer (we had asked a friend but he didn't feel he had enough experience to do it), picking up Michael's ring, visiting a rental place to arrange for furniture, tent and supplies, meeting the officiant, visiting a florist, possibly dress shopping, and general planning/discussion with family. Whew! Not a lot of breathing room in there...

We had our annual pre-christmas party at Michael's place last night. Quite a few people showed up despite the fact that I made a huge error in the directions which was not caught until, literally, the last minute. Not that I feel stupid about that or anything :( Anyway, this was the last get-together we will have before we move. With Michael's lease expiring in January and my rent going up at the same time, we thought that it would be a good opportunity to find a new, more convenient place together. So assuming that all goes well, we should be moving into the Atriums of Plantation Late January or early February. We've filled out the application, and been approved, so we're just waiting for people to give notice so we'll know exactly which apartment we'll be in. The place has 2 pools, a fitness centre, soothing landscaping, and a lake with a pier/outlook for hanging out on and watching the birds. It's a little farther from my work, but much closer for Michael, and closer to many of my friends and extracurricular classes. Should be good!

Other than that, I've been practicing my henna (more pictures to come as they become available), and trying new dance classes. My regular Wednesday night class with Myriam Eli was cancelled, and will only be meeting every second week in the new year due to space and scheduling restraints. I've been at a bit of a plateau lately anyway, so I thought I might take the opportunity to try another teacher as well. I saw Virgina perform at the Joharah show last month, and I was impressed by her high energy and dynamic stage presence--something I need to work on myself. Her classes are in Miami, but the drive might be worth it if she's a good teacher too. I also took a private class with Ansuya along with my friend Diana last week, which was really helpful, and makes me think that if I can scrape up the cash doing that kind of thing on a semi-regular basis could help too. What I really need right now is individual attention and a focus on precise technique, I think, so it was great to be in a more one-on-one situation.

So, the next few days will be full of frantically cleaning, packing, doing last minute shopping, and getting ready to fly out home. Not sure if I will have the chance to update while I'm there, but at the very least I'll be back in the new year.