jiggle wiggle belly roll

Before I begin this post, let me take a moment to thank you all for the amazing comments left on my last post about my little family issue. Collectively, you all make one heck of a counselor! 

Saturday I attended a small American Tribal Style belly dance workshop/fundraiser hosted by pro-dancer Amanda (right) who is trying to raise funds to get her ATS teaching certification. She came from Dallas to Texarkana (her original hometown) to give us the opportunity to check out a style of belly dance that's unknown around here. 

I only know classical Egyptian and a little tribal fusion so for me this was a great opportunity to learn something completely different while helping someone reach a fantastic goal.

169 people were invited but only 7 showed up. Welcome to Texarkana!!

The other ladies (and guy) who came to the workshop had never belly danced before. They were there to help support this great lady with hopes that she'll come back someday to give us another lesson.

Honestly I'm not an ATS fan but I love belly dancing and I love challenges so yeah! I'm there! Despite having this basketball in front of me, I was able to do all the moves, but thanks to my lungs being squished and mushed out of place I found myself getting a little light-headed and had to take a couple breaks... oh and going into upward-facing dog for yoga warmups was totally out of the question.

More belly for my dance!!

After the workshop, Amanda changed and gave us a great solo performance.

It was super lovely!

So, have you all ever tried belly dancing? How did you like it? Do you still do it?

wow, I'm actually.... depressed...

I'm in a rare mood today. 

Before I started taking my anti-depressants almost ten years ago, this mood was quite normal for me. It wasn't caused by anything in particular.... just an imbalance of chemicals in me ol' noggin. Sadness, anger, frustration, confusion; then, it was for no reason (seriously, really I had a great life)- now it's because well, honestly I live in a really dry and boring town and I have no way out.

I made a list of things this town lacks a few weeks ago and decided to make a humorous blog post about it last night, but as I was typing I realized... there's nothing funny about what this town lacks and there's nothing funny about feeling trapped. I can bring humor to anything - that's how I get through life and I like it that way... but this time -- there's nothing to laugh about.

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What's making this even worse for me? My husband is in the middle of opening a gun accessory shop here.

Yes. He's setting us up to be stuck in this awful redneck town forever.... selling things that I hate to the likes of people I can't stand.

Our plan was to open an eccentric ethnic bohemian store but he chose guns instead.

Depressing?

Very...

And what's making this worst for me is that my husband is going through one of his insomniac spells so he's a grumpy zombie and I can't talk to him about how much this is hurting me.

Please forgive me for being such a buzzkill.

I've just got to get it out somehow.

pick a nick

Saturday evening I went on my first picnic with my boys, sister-n-law and nephew.

Yeah, I'm almost 30 and I've never been on a picnic. I don't know why. Well now that I think about it, I guess maybe it's because I didn't come from a "fun family activities" kind of clan. 

 I went to the grocery store and bought some tasty foods for the picnic, but the plan was to go today, (Sunday) after church but the weather was cooling off rapidly and it was only going to get better. I was already hungry and it was dinnertime so I figured, why not now???

 The park is what I would call "infested"with ducks and geese. They're everywhere, they're friendly... and horribly greedy. I made the mistake of giving them some stale breakfast cereal from River's bag. That resulted in them following us everywhere so it was impossible to lay down a blanket in the grass to set up a spot to eat. 

Stupid foul fowl ain't got no manners!

 Luckily a pavilion with picnic tables has been recently built on the grounds so it was very clean, perfect for meal set up and best of all, duck free.

I've never packed a picnic dinner before so I was super excited and kind of went overboard.

ON THE MENU:

Clover honey glazed strawberries

My own combo of dried berries with coconut flavored toasted almonds

Pears

Nutrigrain Bars

Mandarin orange slices and Goldfish Crackers for the kiddies

 Grilled chicken caesar salad wraps

Sea salted kettle cooked potato chips

Tuna salad and cracker kits just in case I didn't bring enough food. HA!

TO DRINK:

Bottled water

Bottled green tea with honey and ginseng

Blue Powerade (for me)

Rootbeer

 And the coup de grâce:

 I didn't know such a thing existed - especially not in a Texas grocery store. I bought this canned octopus out of curiosity and one taste was enough for me. The texture was surprisingly firm and rather pleasant for canned meat but the smell was outrageous and the taste was no better.

I imagine this is what a whale fart would smell like.

 After our meal we went for a little stroll to let the kiddies run off some energy.

Yes, my son is on a kiddie leash. Some of the pathways at the park are super narrow and there's water on either side of the path with no rails or anything to keep a wild toddler from slipping and tumbling into pond. So yes. We leash him when necessary.

 Only three months left to go! 

So tell me. How often do you picnic? 

Are you like me? A late picnic bloomer? 

What's your favorite picnic food?

someone's in the kitchen with Hollie

It might be you.

After a long day of faire work followed by my nieces' junior high band concert and a dinner of awful Chinese buffet food with my mom I decided to end the day by making breakfast for me and the husband at 10:30pm.

 Breakfast foods are my favorite. Pancakes, oatmeal, bacon, cereals - anything breakfast related has my heart. Croissants, biscuits (American, not cookies), coffee... I love it all and I want it all the time.

Hardcore. 

 Yes we buy eggs by the crate and yes, this whole post was about me cooking breakfast for dinner.

Ya hungry now?

 What about now?

ketchup sandwich

Getting caught up: here are a few honorable mentions from April/May

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Feeling the groove at grandpas house.

Our new weekly visitor.

River's first haircut (done by me!)

 Prepping for our Pirate's Ball next month. That flag cost a penny + shipping on Amazon.

 Got a great late birthday gift from my brother and sister in law. I collect ornate elephants but this one is now my favorite because it's I it's so me, River and a baby in my big round elephant belly,

 First tractor ride at Granny and Gramps house on Mother's Day.

 My new adorable nephew was born at the end of March in NY.

 Found the perfect fabric on sale for $5 for the bodice I'm having custom made for the faire this year. I found the bodice on the right on Pinterest and almost bought it but a friend said she will make it for me for just the cost of materials!!

 And River has discovered the joy of being a bucket head.

my faire lady

I know it's been a while since my last post but I am one busy bee lately. Since I'm due to have my baby two weeks before the faire in October, I've got to get as much work done as possible while I can. On top of planning the faire I'm also working on our town's first Pirate's Ball which is June 21st. It's going to be an upscale event at a Victorian mansion downtown so I've gotta do a little more than just run down to the party supply store and pick up some helium balloons. 

 Saturday me and my crew set up a booth at the Texarkana Railfest. I'm not sure why it's called Railfest but it's and outdoor festival with vendors, live music, a BBQ cook off and a beauty pageant. We always set up at these festivals to promote the faire by handing out flyers. There are still thousands of people who don't know there's and annual renaissance faire and we're desperately trying to fix that.

 We decided it would be better for the husband to wear our official tee shirt instead of garb so he can be a walking advert for the faire.

 To raise a little extra cash for the faire, we raffled off these handmade leather bracers that were donated to us by a local leather-worker. The raffle wasn't very successful. We only sold a little over 20 tickets. The goal was at least 100. Eh, it happens.

 Two of my crew members also make jewelry so they sold a bit in our booth. It was a great way to lure people in so we could talk to them about the faire and the upcoming pirate ball.

  And here's a few pics of my peoples:

  We found this great door downtown that was just perfect for photos.

Yeah, I was having some weird bosom lacing issues towards the end of the day but the photo is decent enough to make up for that, right?

Well party people, I gotta go to bed now. I've got to get up early for a three hour drive to visit the in-laws for Mother's Day. When I get back, I promise I'll catch up on my blog reading!!

Peace to you all and don't talk to strangers. Good night!