I'm beat!

I had a very, very busy weekend and despite getting plenty of sleep I'm still tired.

I can't even remember if I ran Friday morning, but I think I did. Friday night we taught at Copa and then went to the Soul 2 Sole anniversary event. Of course things got started late, so the performances were just beginning when we arrived around 11:30. An Austin group who shall remain nameless tortured the audience with a tawdry, slutty exhibition without any salsa dancing whatsoever... it was all hip-hop music, and basically the 4 ladies just wagged their behinds and shook their boobies like topless dancers. It was embarassing, especially because they'd gone to the Puerto Rico Salsa Congress 2 weeks before, and we were all wondering if they'd put Austin on the map with that frighteningly tasteless display. The Jack-and-Jill competition was fun to watch.

The social dancing was all right the first night-- the hotel didn't have the A/C up high enough so everyone was dripping wet with sweat, and the wooden floor was sticky as heck. I had a miserable dance with O. who slung me around like a sack of potatoes, and a similar dance with C. C. keeps doing these checks with his leg, and if he doesn't execute it right you end up being kneed in the solar plexus. Oof! It's no fun dancing with men who are only out to show off their skills, regardless of the abilities and level of their follower. I had the nicest dance yet with I. though-- it was the first time I actually could understand all of his leads, and he was pleasantly mellow throughout. Mitch and I ended up leaving around 2 because it was just too dang hot though.

Saturday morning I got up at 8 and ran the 3 mile loop in my neighborhood. Of course, I ran/walked/ran/walked. At 10 we met with a gentleman about installing solar panels on the roof. As we traipsed around the backyard, the very lush green spot (in the middle of a sea of cornflake-colored and -textured hay) reminded me we have a sprinkler system leak that needs attention. My tomatoes are doing pretty well in their pots-- my heirloom Yellow Pear plant has one to be harvested tonight. I chopped the basil off at ground level a week ago and already it's booming back to life so I think I'll be making more pesto soon. I made a nice coffeecake with apricots and cinnamon swirled in the middle and it turned out very well. Mitch and I pigged out at Texadelphia for lunch-- I ate an entire large Philly cheesesteak-- and then shopped for a while before going home to nap. Mario B (fabulous salsero from New Jersey) taught a shines workshop at 6pm that Mitch and I enjoyed. Afterwards Mario joined us for dinner, with Jerome from Houston and his cousin from Miami. We ate at Mi Colombia and I nibbled an empanada that was quite tasty.

Saturday night we arrived quite late at the event (12:40) and missed every performance and the finals of the Jack-and-Jill. At first I was completely in watching mode, not really needing to dance. I got suckered into dancing with C. again and he did a much better job until the very end. I danced with a fairly inexperienced lead from San Antonio, J., who will be moving to Austin in 2 weeks for school. My favorite dance of the whole night though was with Mario B-- so smooth, good at telling where my ability level is and pushing just a little, but not so much that I get off balance-- and when it was over I jumped up and down saying 'do it again! do it again!' (my favorite way of expressing complete happiness with a dance.) Of course after having that good of a dance, my next one was better than normal too, and fortunately it was with Mitch, and the last dance I did for the night. So it all ended on a happy note.

I crashed very hard that night, and only woke at 11:30 because Mitch was getting everyone together for lunch at Hula Hut. I tried a drink called a Grass Skirt (coconut rum, melon liqueur, and pineapple juice) which sounded better than it was, but the hamburger was, as usual, fantastic. We said goodbye to Jerome and his cousin and went home to relax. After practicing the shine Mario taught for about 30 min, I collapsed on the couch to read and Mitch worked in the office.

This morning I bailed on running (and last night had emailed Alan to bail for the whole week.) I will run in my neighborhood the rest of the week, but it's just too hard to have this deadline hanging over my head and try to accomplish all my work getting into the office at 10am. I have to be running from 6-7 to get to the office around 8. Ugh.

So this is a short week for me and probably my last post for a week or so-- Friday through Monday I'll be in Madison WI with my best friend Heather who just adopted a precious little girl from China. This is Hannah when she was 7 months old; now I believe she's 13 months old.

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