Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Love the Slades

Catching-up

It's been a while, I know. I thought we were just boring. But it turns out we have done some cool things the last couple months...



Colin was sad in this office- mostly because he didn't have a window. Also because he needs a really big Star Wars poster to cover all that empty wall space. He has since moved to a new office- with a window!



Colin made wookie cookies.




We had a leak behind our sink. Slightly annoying.







Colin helped the Navy with this static airplane display- a work project that took months. We went to the dedication. :)



We spent thanksgiving with our Air Force friends. I got a little carried away with the pies...






We decorated our home for Christmas!!



I said goodbye to blonde hair!






We went to Utah for a weekend before school was out- and participated in the third annual Iron Chef Carpenter. Battle Bacon. Colin lost by one point. Victory may come next year.



I just love my nieces. The nephews are ok too.



Ward Christmas party- we helped set up and cook-



Colin made perfect pancakes



Santa comes to our ward parties. We are that cool.






Christmas shoe orders- I had 9 orders to paint in one week. Five were Star Wars. :) I also watched Drop Dead Diva while painting. Love that show.




We fly to Utah to spend the holidays with family today! Whirlwind couple of months, but now it is time to relax. That is a relative term of course...

Cool

Google 

Custom Painted Shoes

now.

And then look who is number 2.

That's all.

Childhood Agony

When Colin was 12, he was told he no longer got to go trick-or-treating. He was too old.  That was a big disappointment for him. 

In fifth grade, my nose was broken at recess.  Afterwards, when I was super bruised and swollen, some kids in my class told me I looked like a monster.

We bought leftover Halloween candy to make us feel better.  First world problems, I know.

Chili Cook-Off

Colin made chili tonight for our ward Trunk-or-Treat/Chili Cook-off.  It was so good--white chicken chili.  Spice rubbed, pan seared chicken breast with caramelized onions, white beans, black-eyed peas, and corn. Yum. Yum Yum Yum.  

And we won!

Each chili was judged, and we beat all the rest.  Colin missed his calling in life--being a chef.  I will settle for having him cook at home. :)

And there was a prize.  Now Colin and I can go out to dinner with the gift card we got for having the best chili.

Canada, Colds, and Csardas

Colin posted videos of us dancing in our stake activity last weekend here.

It should be noted that--
1. I did ask Gary Larsen if we could perform his choreography
2. Our stage was carpeted, so they got us some plywood to dance on, but it was not a large area of space to move around on.  It was also slippery.
3. We put together the best costumes.  
4. We made the French Canadian tell the story of our dating life...
5. We put together the Hungarian 3 hours before performing.
6. We both had the cold of death.  We still have it.  Not fun.
7. I love dancing with Colin.  I want to dance with him forever.

A.M in the Car

5: something-- Colin's alarm goes off, he turns on light for scripture study

6:00-- turn off own alarm and go back to sleep

6:45-- roll out of bed

6:55-- head to work with Colin

7:20-- drop Colin off at office on base (about 13 miles from home)

8:10-- arrive home, brush hair, get dressed, it starts to rain

8:20-- out the door, no breakfast, to head to 10:00am doctor appointment in Bethesda, Maryland, GPS on phone says 54 minutes to destination, taking I-495 beltway

9:01-- pass Braddock Road (9.7 miles away from home), GPS on phone says 58 minutes to destination

9:12-- pass next exit Little River Turnpike, rain begins to pour

9:34-- almost to next exit, Arlington Blvd, GPS on phone says 46 minutes to destination, I technically should be there in ten minutes

9:47-- call appointment line to cancel and reschedule appointment, pass Arlington Blvd.

9:55-- actually talk to appointment staff, find out today's 10:00am appointment was not even scheduled at the Endocrinology Clinic in Bethesda, but was scheduled as a primary care visit at Andrews, so even if I was at the clinic in Bethesda I wouldn't have an appointment to see the doctor I need to see

9:59-- reschedule appointment at Endocrinology for October 30, finish call, begin tears, GPS on phone says 35 minutes to destination

10:04--  text Colin, approach next exit for I-66, re-route GPS for home, estimates 39 minutes to home, continue tears

10:16-- begin exit to Leesburg Pike (16.5 miles from home) in order to turn around

10:18-- head south on I-495 beltway to go back to Alexandria home, rain continues to pour


10:41-- park car at home


11:10-- finish blog about my morning in the car


projected 11:15-- change into pajamas, drink some hot chocolate, and go back to bed

Reasons I love Colin:

- He and I have lots of discussions about folklore.  About things like the general misuse of the term 'authentic' and ideas about tradition.  (Just don't say authentic around me.  It makes me gag a little.)

- He sometimes talks in his sleep, but more often laughs.  Last night, he was laughing. :)

- He is competitive in games.  It makes things interesting.

- We read scriptures together every night.

- He is so handsome.

- He does the dishes all the time. 

- He hates baking.

- He wants me to be happy.  So whatever we end up doing in life, I know I will be happy with Colin.

Appalachian Clogging #2

Still working on this paper.  It's true.  It is currently sitting at 49 double spaced pages.  And I'm not done yet... There is just so much to write about!!

Including this group from Prague--

Introducing Caramella Cloggers!  I met a dancer while I was there this summer and talked with her about her TEN years dancing with this team.  I also have been emailing back and forth with the director for months now.  (I may or may not blog more about their awesome story later...)

I. Love. Them.  Favorite moments of this video-- anytime the guy with the ponytail gets dancing.  He is fantastic. 

(They also have other videos on Youtube.  Check them out.  Now.)

BYU Business

In honor of the BYU football season starting, I painted a pair of shoes-

Ok, so I actually painted them for my sister to give to her husband, who is a huge fan.

But here are other shoes recently finished- Ones that are not Disney's "Up" themed (since that is probably 90% of the orders I get...)

If you want a pair of your own- I do offer discounts to those who love me. :)

Cleanliness

I have vacuumed once since I got home from tour.  I dusted once too.  I did straighten up a couple times when the missionaries came over for dinner.  Counting all the little victories...

Since I started this paper, I haven't gotten a lot of things done.  Including this paper.  Hence, I am awake at 4:00 am trying to at least get a semblance of a paper ready to turn in as a draft.  That was due last week.

Slacker Amy.

However, I will be turning in a 24 page draft- SINGLE SPACED.  Although half of it is still in bullet points... I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

Which is why I am going to bed.  Without washing my face.

That's all.

Anniversaries

25 years ago today I was here:

 

How cute Emily and I were. :)

Appalachian Clogging

I am writing a paper.  Well, I'm blogging right now, but should be writing a paper.  It is about clogging.  I wrote one last term too, but this one is taking it a bit further.

See, there hasn't been anything written about clogging as it has developed in the last 30 years.  

THIRTY YEARS.  

A lot has happened to the dance form over the last 30 years.    People have written about clogging in that time, but they talk about clogging as it developed up until about the 1980's.  Nothing, according to published scholarship, has since happened to the dance form.  This is what is frustrating to me, but also presents the opportunity to write something that hasn't been said yet, which in academia is sometimes really hard to do...

Anyway, if anyone wants to check out one of the latest documentaries about flatfooting and buck dancing (or early forms of clogging if you wish)- go to this website- Talking Feet. Watch it.  It is awesome.  I love it. Watch it now.

And yes, I'm aware that the film was made in the late 80's early 90's.  And yes, I'm aware that that shouldn't be considered the most recent.  But it is...  This is why people like me and Gary Larsen and some guy named Andrew Howard are beginning to write stuff now.

That's all.

Alias

I love this show.  I watch it while I exercise.  It helps me not realize that I am doing something I hate to stay in relative shape.

When I'm done with Alias, I will watch 24.

Arrivals

Dear Colin,

The last few days apart went quickly- nothing ever happened at the festival where I didn't feel safe. (except someone trying to get in our room at 2:30 in the morning. But we had locked the door, so we all were just woken up by the door trying to be opened...) even with not feeling safe where we were staying, we has a beautiful square to perform in Zamosc:



This one is a bit dark- but you can see the stage-


We were even able to find a pizza place that had Internet past 8pm at night-


Yum. We performed outside once,changing behind a not so dense tree fence-


I can tie the perfect bow. And I tried to teach the rest of the team-


The festival was nice but I was so ready to leave. I want to feel safe... We did some stretches while we were off the bus to Warsaw, led by Miriam and Cat :)


remember when we were here last time we did a fireside at a church in Warsaw? We performed at the same church-


We always love when the Ahuna family travels with us- he takes up large chunks of time in shows, so we don't have to dance as long or we have longer changes. :) Micheal came this year- he is cool:


And then Emily and I had a lazy day in Warsaw, mostly spent laying in our clean hostel beds and watching movies, with a little site seeing thrown in. But not much. We were ready to leave at 9am the next day, travelled to the airport and started our journey home- stopping in London to see my lovely parents-


I love them. And guess what?! We got my dad new sunglasses. He really rocks the aviators


Then it was a long flight to JFK, where I watched The Hunger Games for the fifth time, and then home to DC.

Thanks for coming and getting me. And taking me home to shower and sleep. I love you. And now I am home!

Amy

Creepy

Dear Colin,

Last night a few of us stayed back at our school/hostel from a party because we didn't want to make our sicknesses worse. We played games, went for pizza next door, and came back, excited to go to bed early while it was quiet. (when all the dance groups are in the building, parties go til the early hours of the morning, and everyone passes by my ground floor room in order to get to the stairs to go up to their rooms. It is LOUD. I barely sleep thru it all with my earplugs.)

No such luck. As soon as we got to our rooms to get ready for bed, we brushed our teeth, and it was silent thru the whole building.

Then someone knocked on our window.

(insert scream here)

Let's also mention there are bars on our windows. Whoever was knocking had to reach thru the bars to knock. Really loud.

(second scream here)

It was only five of us girls who were here. All. Alone. And they were knocking on all of our windows. Multiple.

They knocked for a few minutes. Also pulled on the bars. We stood in the hall hoping they would leave, and wondering what in the world to do if it got worse. There were a lot of male voices behind the knocks. And eventually, even after the knocking had stopped, I couldn't go into my room. The curtains didn't cover all the window, so with the light on, anyone could see in, but I couldn't see out. Yep. Freaky. So we all stayed in the hallway until everyone else came back from the party. We sent some boys to go check out outside our windows, but since it had been a while, of course no one was there.

Creepy creepy creepy.

I have never not felt safe at a festival. I don't feel safe here.

I'm happy to come home to you soon. Where I feel safe.

Cash or Card

Dear Colin,

Today I went to the grocery store to stock up on juice and water- I don't want to get any more sick than I already am.


Yep. Emily and I have all our water and stuff piled onto our side table. :)

The lady at the store got frustrated at me using a card instead of cash. It was an ordeal. People don't use cards here. I guess it's just that small of a town. But I didn't have enough cash for all the juice I wanted to buy! And she and everyone behind me were sighing in impatience. Cool.

But honestly, when was the last time you paid for something in cash in America?

Miss you.

Awkward.

Dear Colin,

I've been away long enough now that I start to dream really weird things. A few nights ago a boy on tour with me confessed his undying love for me. He also had a haircut like obi wan in the newer Star Wars movies. Later in that dream we had twins- a boy and a girl. We had them home for one day before you lost our boy. You had given him to an old Tongan friend and didn't know where he was. Last year when I was away I had weird dreams too. I dreamt I was coming home to you, only when I got home it wasn't you. It was a boy that was on tour with. I was furious in my dream. I was so angry when I woke up.

Weird. I can't wait to come home in one week and see your face.

Love.

Art

Dear Colin,

This is on our wall in our hotel/hostel/prison we are staying at for this next festival. Art?


I also fell in acapella the last show of our festival on sunday. My nylons were still wrinkly from the box they were so new. And I had to throw them away because I ripped my knee open.


And these three lovely girls were our guides at this last festival. They were fabulous. I wish they could be our guides all festivals.


Being here makes me want to come back next year. Its an addiction, it really is.

Love.

Addicted

Dear Colin,

Festivals are addicting. Thank you for letting me continue to indulge in them--

These goats are the festival mascots :)





Band shows are always my favorite-



And more festival life-












(This is all of us trying to get Internet at the closest bar-)

















We also looked for Internet behind the porta potties. :)


And the one group photo they chose to blow up an frame as a gift for our group- I'm closin my eyes. Cool.



That's all. :)




Love.