Are they kidding me?!? / Guess where I was*

Dear Neighbors,
This is completely unacceptable.
Irritatedly,
Me

*Answer: Clearly, on my side of the garage.

I Love Presents!

I love my friend April so much!!! Last week she gave me a Hip Scarf--want to know why? Because I started belly dancing again! I am taking a class through the city, and yesterday was my first lesson. It was...interesting, to say the least. I love the dance!

I am excited to:
-- have fun
-- make new friends

-- not pay a full tuition
-- relearn the moves

-- have a commute of only 5-10 minutes
-- improve my technique (hopefully)

-- the isolation practices
-- improve my salsa dancing (and also my midsection)
-- gain a little boost of self acceptance because belly dancers are supposed to have round bellies
-- reap the benefits boosted self confidence/comfort offers to all aspects of one's life

-- develop a somewhat decent belly roll (as in the dance move)

I am not so excited to:
-- have a room full of strangers watching my attempts--including a man (who knew men take belly dancing classes?)

-- give up an evening every week to go to class (I'll miss my free evening, especially now that I've got a side job that will take up all my free time for the next 3 months)
-- see the teacher's "fanny-pack"
-- endure the drama of teenage angst-y cries for attention
-- have people I hardly know find out and ask for demonstrations (because that is awkward, and it is never as cool as you think it could be...especially when there is no music, no costume, no co-performer. Although it is slightly less awkward when I know you well, so feel free to ask away.)

I Made It Better

I love shopping for deals, and this is a dress I found for half off the clearance price at Torrid. (I love it when they do those sales!)

I'd decided it was a little shorter than I wanted, so I added a strip of white eyelet fabric to the bottom. You probably can't tell from the first picture, but the tying belt has eyelets too.

It wasn't too hard, just a straight line, really. But I also reinforced a few other places where the seams seemed to be coming out.


I am very proud of myself, because I even remembered to sew it facing the right way!

I'm not much of a seamstress, but I think this turned out very well! I have some fabric to make a few baby blankets* too, so I'll probably put up some picture of those, too...When I finally get around to doing them... The corners are super intimidating to me. If they were just for myself, I might be a little more forgiving, but since I don't have kids, the blankets would be for other people, and for that I'd expect near perfection from myself.



*I did make a tied felt blanket, but I forgot to post pictures...You can see a little of it on Laura Devlin's Facebook page.

Who likes free stuff?

I DO!!!

My friend Christy posted a deal on her blog, and while I don't usually do stuff like this, I'm gonna take advantage of this one:


They're not real diamonds, but for $4 I didn't really expect them to be... and as you see by the 5 steps above, it's pretty easy. I think this is a great marketing strategy. Wouldn't it be nice if every new company gave away stuff for free instead of all those annoying ads and commercials? I've looked around, and it seems like a legit ad, but if you are worried, I"ll let you know if /when I get them!


Side note/letter:
Dear http://www.diamondearrings.org/,
I love this idea! What a great marketing concept. I hope this campaign brings you success in your business endeavors. But I have a question for you: How many carats? Next time you are doing something like this, you might want to mention that. Anyway, Thanks for the studs you are sending me! I'm sure I'll love them, but if not my way too girlie niece will love new dress up jewels.
Thanks again,
Heath

Pop Quiz

I "reunited" with my BFF from Elementary school,* and was inspired to take this math test**:

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

* I am not so much "reunited with my BFF from Elementary school" as I am "reading the blog I just found which belongs to my BFF from elementary school". Same thing, right?

** I haven't taken math since my first semester of College...That was a long time ago. When did that happen?