Ballroom Dancing

"You make me sing ooh la la la

You make a girl go ooh I'm in love, love"

Current mood: Random fits of happy giggles and unable to stop smiling

No, I'm not kidding about the giggles. Every few minutes I'm incapacitated by the extreme urge to GIGGLE. WHO HAS POSSESSED ME?

I just got back from my first group ballroom lesson. There were only four couples, including the instructor as there was one extra girl. It was MAGICAL!

Okay but seriously, I cannot stop smiling and giggling right now! I have been watching Dancing with the Stars videos for months. All through the holidays, patiently waiting for the new year so I could finally start taking lessons. Does it take a financial toll? Yeah, maybe a little. Is it worth it? HECK YEAH.

First off, everyone at the studio is super nice. I mean, it's a bunch of old people, so what do you expect? Oh course me, being in a hurry to finish cooking dinner, forgot my punch card, or even a wallet to just pay for a lesson. Luckily Sereina lent me some money, and Natasha even let me pay the cheaper rate (she's so nice and conscious of the fact that I be #notrich).

Everyone introduced themselves, and basically every time we went around changing partner's we'd reintroduce ourselves because learning new names is tough sometimes, ya know?

Of course I was a little apprehensive at first. Not exactly nervous, but I wasn't sure what to expect, right? Well, because it was my first real lesson, Nathan (the instructor) made sure to go over the basic steps. Then slowly we went move by move, learning a short piece of choreography. It was all so fun, and everyone there are such good dancers. It's very comforting to dance with someone who's really good. Every time I danced with Nathan I was like

Everytime he explained a new move, I was like "oh great this is the one. I'm going to trip on my heels 'cuz I ain't danced in them before and imma make a fool of myself" but I actually didn't do too badly. Some of my partners even helped me figure out some things that I was tripping up on (like a turn that I keep adding a step too. Oops).

Though I'll admit, with social dancing, it takes a little bit to get used to each partner. Some guys took really small steps. Others, like Nathan, took REALLY BIG steps. The first time I danced with him I was like "OPE HERE WE GO"

One of my favorite things about the night is, I've finally been lead in a dance. I've never danced with a professional before. Usually it's with my friends, and we're stumbling together and trying to learn the dance and having a grand old time. But now I understand what it's like to be lead, and it makes dancing 3295879374% easier.

Overall, it was one of the funnest things I've done. It's my new obsession. After the lesson was over, Nathan offered to dance it all through for people to video if they wanted. And of course he asked ME.

*whispering* and suddenly I forget every dance move on the planet

I only stumbled once, starting on the wrong foot. I'm quite proud of myself. One of my dance partners was very surprised to find this was my second lesson. He says I'm a natural, which only confirms what people have said about my dancing (but those were mothers, and as someone looking to be a well trained dancer, it's nice to have input from someone who's danced a while).

And, before I had a chance to exit the dance floor, I was asked to dance it through one more time with one of the men from the lesson. In every dance situation I've been to, I'm never really asked to dance (a bummer really. Feel free to ask guys, I LOVE dancing), so being asked to dance was really nice and I appreciated it a lot.

Now to just write up everything I learned, and practice it every day. I'm trying to make it a habit of going over my dancing notes and practicing every night before bed. It's a really good warm up, especially when I practice the Cha Cha Cha moves I learned in my introductory lesson.

Next week starts off two weeks of Viennese Waltz lessons! YEEEEAH!

365 Photography Challenge || Week Two

I've done it, two weeks completed! Dang, doing this everyday without all the photos being the same is tough. But now that Sereina showed me that my ISO was stuck on one setting, the quality has drastically improved. *cheering*

As you will see through my photography, I don't have much variety because #HERMITLIFE

// Sunday //

Chilling with the bro. It's his first time playing through this game, and I'm here for witty comments. I also have to suppress many a hints and "oh heyyy look at that suspicious paper on the ground" comments because I've played all these games so many times and I simply cannot seem to forget any details. Ug.

*sigh* I love my piano. Unfortunately, my bad form has caught up to me. The latest song I'm learning has pushed me in ways I never did before, and because I've apparently been using horrible form (I didn't think it was that bad, but alas) I've developed pain in my wrists when I play. Don't worry though, a good friend is willing to help me and critique my technique so I'll be back at it soon (I hope).

// Monday //

These two photos exist because I didn't feel like doing any photography so obviously I took them from my desk chair

// Tuesday //

I never want to forget this view because I can trace memories through my entire life relating to this window overlooking our driveway

// Wednesday //

Look at me tryn'a be all artsy and be all "look at my messy workspace." Haha, no. When I work, everything I use gets spread around everywhere. So basically this is the "I've made a creative mess let's photograph it" posed stuff. #art

// Thursday //

You now what this frost means? My water system for the coop is frozen solid. Makes my job harder. #thatchickenlife

The fabulous Wyandotte hens, Peregrin Took (best known as Pippin or Pippy) and Lani Minella

Yeah it's blurry, but she be look at the camera so it's a keeper.

Entrer Cat Grant! Yeah I know. Weird name for a chicken. But she's a great fictional character.

98% of photos taken of chickens look like this

Isn't her beard fabulous?

Look at my pretty girl Bianca DiAngelo!

#modelstatus

WAIT NO HOLD STILL DANG IT

 ...diva.

*happy sigh* Look show sharp this image is (for my camera anyway). Having photos actually turn out good makes photography 100000x more fun

My poor blueberry plant...

// Friday //

THESE are real life photos. They had to be broken into two pictures because it was all a heaping mess around me.

// Saturday //

This is my WAIT IF FORGOT TO TAKE A PHOTO picture. These be my new dances shoes. Actually, my first pair ever. I've never bought heels before. Suddenly I understand why wearing heels makes the feet sore. It only took a little dancing around my room and I just KNOW my feet will be dead after my first lesson with them. #noregretstho