Spreading the Love (a day late)

Well, crap!  I'm a day late posting this, because....life!  I was sitting at work today and I don't even remember what I was doing when this post (or lack thereof) popped in my head! 

So back in January, I found The Blended Blog, which is a group of ladies who are a whole lot more stylish & fashionable than I am!  But I still signed up to the "Spread the Love" gift exchange because they're a lot of fun.  The exchange was for jewelry / accessories and I love me a variety of earrings!  My ears are pierced 3 times and I love to mix & match what I wear in them each day. 

My exchangee was the lovely Miss Lauren of Lot 48.  She sent me *3* pairs of earrings and they're perfect!  Some classy little pearls, a slightly larger sparkly and some cute little hoops (I love hoops!)  I especially like that they're very lightweight and have rubber backings - which I've never seen before, but thumbs up!   Thanks so much, Lauren! 

Excuse the really bad pic - I didn't realize I needed to color my hair so badly!  

What up, Weekend? 2/23/18

I'm linking up again with the lovely peeps from the Peaceful Posse in keeping the Interwebz a happy, positive, cheerful place.  I love the new badge!  It's so pretty!

A few things that have made me happy this week....

1.  Finding out yesterday that I survived the interview with the Sheriff's Department and am now a part of their Mounted Division's Search & Rescue Team!   I am so excited I could pee!

OMG.  If you ever want to feel like a babbling idiot, go sit in a conference room with a huge Sheriff's Department emblem on the wall across from you, and have a Lieutenant and 2 deputies staring at you, asking questions & taking notes!  And the hardest question in the world??  

"What are your strengths and weaknesses?"

2.  I get sworn into the VFW next Wednesday!  

3.  OK, this wouldn't make anyone happy, but it was a "WOW" moment.  We got 2 1/2 inches of rain over 2 days this week that caused a lot of flooding.  Coyote Joe's here is usually on the bank of the Clinton River...not IN the River!   We launched kayaks not from from this spot last summer and had to walk down a bit from the parking lot.  Water was up 16 feet, almost to the underside of the bridge!

 4.  Seeing Miss Angela on Celebration Talent's FB page in their album of highlights from the competition!

5.  This... 

 On the left is Rusty, taken last weekend.  On the right is our (departed) Chester, taken 2 years ago.  I love that they're in the same pose!  

So we're going to be car hunting this weekend.  I'm really NOT happy about that, since I can think of  better things to be doing.  Randy & Angel could handle this on their own, but they'll clash if left alone too long, so I'll grab my Kindle & referee jersey and go along for the ride.

Wish me luck!

Celebration Talent Competition #TeamDOS

Yeah, I'm only a week late with this and I feel like I kinda suck since I didn't get pictures with Angel in her costumes at ALL during this whole day!

#TeamDOS hardware

So proud of the whole team!

So the comp started at 8:30am. Our studio's first routine was #3 of the day (we took 32 dances total) and Angel's first dance wasn't until after 6pm!  Final awards were at 10pm-ish - we didn't leave the Macomb Center until after 11pm. It was a long day, let me tell you! 

First was her solo "Joy".  

It was her first lyrical solo and so beautiful to watch!

FYI - Dermacol covers tattoos nicely. 

The judges would have had a great view of the one on her side here. 

As usual, there were performance levels - Rising Star was beginner / intermediate and Shining Star was advanced. All of Angel's routines were Shining Star except for hiphop line with our little nuggets.  Then each routine got a gold / high gold / platinum trophy for their points. And then overall placements. 

 In the morning sessions, the announcer mentioned several times that there had to be at least 3 routines in a specific category (ie, senior small group jazz) for them to do first/second/third/etc place.  So when we learned Miss Angela was the only adult competing (a detail we like to forget to mention, heehee) ....she figured she'd just get her trophy for her points and had already asked me to buy her a "shiny" (the studio keeps the awards & trophies for groups, so if an individual wants one of their own, they can buy it at the comp). Awards rolled around and she was sitting on the stage with the rest of her team, not paying attention, when they called her up for first place! She was so confused & the announcer had a good laugh at her. And I didn't have to buy it! 

With her teacher, Claire.

Senior Large Group Contemporary "We Help the People" High Gold / 1st place

(I promise I just borrowed these pics!!  A Cut Above The Rest Productions gets full credit, as their watermark shows!)

 
Senior Small Group Jazz "Control" - Platinum
I love this routine!

 
Senior Small Group Lyrical "Oceans" - Platinum / 1st place / Choreography Award

 We always have a good laugh at some of the still shots - here it looks like they're beating up the girl in purple!

 Senior Small Group Tap - We Found Love" - High Gold

I hate to say it, but I wasn't a fan of this dance at all. 

The choreography, music, costumes. Nada. 

...but the judges liked the costumes??  Jeggings from Kohl's and plain white t-shirts? 

 WTF!!

She told me that her & the girl in front of her always laugh at each other in this part!

Senior Hiphop Line - "Girl Power" - Platinum / 1st place / Judges Choice Award / SuperStar Cup for the highest scoring routine in their performance level 

 
If this looks familiar, it's because they did do this dance last year. But they voted to "revisit" it and take it to Nationals this year. There are some different girls and some parts were updated, too.

 The nuggets, because they're so darn cute!

I am a fan of this change! Last year, they threw Angel over the other girl's heads and she landed on the stage - which made me cringe since she's had a lot of knee & ankle problems. Now they catch her & flip her over & set her on her feet. Much better! 
She told me afterward that she usually closes her eyes for this, but they threw her so high this time that she had to open them to see where she was!

The judges loved it.

The girls promised their teacher they were going to get her that cup. 

And they did!

We got a big long text from the owner of the studio saying the girls shouldn't automatically expect to be going to Nationals just because they met Celebration's requirements. She said once she and the teachers reviewed all the judges critiques, they would decide which routines would be going. 

 Hiphop is without a doubt going to Nationals.

So now we have over a month until the next comp. 

I'll be able to record at that one so I'll add them to my YouTube page!

Woohoo! #atozchallenge is coming!

Hooray!

The April A - Z Blogging Challenge is coming!

Both the FB page and blog had been quiet for months, so I wasn't sure it was even happening..... but it is!   I just needed to be patient!

So here's the scoop, if you've never done this before.... for each day except Sundays in April, you write a blog post that is a topic that corresponds with a specific letter of the alphabet.  It can be on any topic your little heart desires, as long as it starts with that letter.

Themes are optional.  I started using a very broad theme (things that make me happy) and moved to more specific themes like Navy sea stories & my Halloween stuff.  I already have one in mind for this year, but I won't reveal it until March 19 on my Theme Reveal Post!

I've been doing the A-Z Challenge every year since 2012.  I started out doing multiple blogs, but since it IS a *real* challenge, I eventually eased back to just doing this one. That's plenty!  

Come on & join the party!

10 on the 10th - Memories with the Spousal Unit

heehee I typed that post title and when I glanced at it a few minutes later, I thought it said "disposal"!

Yet again, I found another fun linkup while perusing ye old Blog-land.  This one is put on by PerfectlyPortFamily.  Thanks, Erin!!   I actually found it early enough last month that I probably could have joined in then, but....I have 123 random things listed up in my "About Me" tab that pretty much covers everything.

With Valentines' Day right around the corner (and our last name being Love), this one seems quite appropriate to do!  Randy is actually a pretty amazing guy, so we have some pretty amazing memories together.  It's hard to narrow it down to 10.  And these aren't in any order.

1.  We met in January 2002 on Yahoo Personals (don't judge!)  The first time we met face-to-face, he came over to my apartment for dinner to find me barefoot & no makeup, chasing a naked 4 year old Miss Angela, trying to get her dressed after a bath.  He said he knew then he was going to marry me!  I was slower to realize this fact, since I hadn't been divorced that long and wanted to make sure he wasn't just a rebound.

2.  I went on a trip to Alaska with him that July.  He had planned on going alone, then he met me & asked me to go.  That's when we learned that we're great travelling partners.  Tons of laughs on that trip!

This picture hung on our living room wall for years before I realized that the first time he'd been on a horse (to humor me) was exactly 4 years before our wedding!

3.  My brothers handcuffed us together at our wedding reception, so this is how we went around and greeted our guests.   Man, my face hurt that night from smiling like an idiot all day!

4.  Our honeymoon to Niagara Falls - he managed to time it perfectly (even with a brief visit with the lovely Canadian customs folks & their random car inspection) to drive across Ontario, check into our hotel and get to our room on the 19th floor just in time for the fireworks over the falls to begin. (pre-blog days so no links)

View from our window. 

5.  Our 5th anniversary - back to Niagara Falls because we had to have dinner in the Skylon Tower and then we drove on to Toronto

6.  Our 10th anniversary - we drove to Marine City, MI and hopped on a ferry to (I see a trend!) Canada!  There's a little town called Sombra right across the river that has the cutest little B&B and the next day we drove to Chatham to a riding stable.  This was just a short trip, because I had surgery on the Monday after. 

7.  I asked him to get a pedicure with me for our 10th anniversary.  I really didn't think he'd agree, but he did!  We went for our 11th, too.  I think he secretly likes them!

8.  We balance each other well.  While he did manage to talk me into getting my amateur radio license, he doesn't make me go to Hamvention or swap meets with him.  And he's never been to any of Angel's dance competitions, but he does go to her end-of-season recital every year.  We're OK with each other going out & doing things without each other, because we do a lot together.  And we do nothing together!  We're perfectly content to just be near each other - no conversation is needed.

9.  He stepped up to the plate and embraced a ready made family of kid & cat.

At our reception, he gave her a necklace with a Love / heart charm on it and promised to be a good Dad to her.  I love this pic!

10. The first time I met his family was the very end of 2002 when his dad passed away and we flew to Arkansas with him for the funeral.  At the graveside service, I stood back in with Angel because I didn't think it was appropriate to sit with the family.  But then Randy turned around and called to me, so I sat directly behind him.  Brother Bubba (seriously!!) giving the eulogy looked up and actually STOPPED in the middle of his reading and went back and re-read the names of the surviving family, obviously trying to figure out who we were!  And as soon as the service was over he was right there, introducing himself and offering to take us to the church and get us married right then!  Luckily he backed off when I told him that I would want my family with us. 

This was a lot of fun & a nice walk down memory lane, thanks Erin, for the great linkup!

why are titles hard???

Maybe I need to post every day or something since I talk about too many things to do an all-encompassing title.  First world problems! 

I started writing this on Tuesday.
And I'm gonna jump around.

Miss Angela is such a dork - they've been preparing for dance regionals (this Saturday!!!) since September and she wanders into my bedroom Tuesday night while she's putting her costumes together and told me she didn't realize she was competing in 6 (and not 5) dances. 

Hmm.  Hiphop, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, tap and a solo.  Looks like 6 to me! 

I'm glad she figured it out now, before we got to the venue Saturday.  At least she doesn't dance until evening so it wouldn't be any big deal to go home to get anything she missed.  

Not bad for my first try doing a Dutch braid on a human head!  

I still have to figure out how my fingers need to hold the pieces to keep it tight...

So, although we're not football fans, we did watch the Superbowl.   We decided we were going to cheer for the Eagles in the opening segment when they showed this adorable old man who said he'd been waiting 52 years to see his Eagles win a bowl.   Mainly we watch for the commercials & halftime show.  

Our TV in the living room crapped out Saturday - of course!  When else would it do such a thing?? Angel & I thought the horizontal lines were just snow built up on the satellite dish, but when Randy looked at it Sunday morning, he said it was on it's last legs.  So he went online and bought a new one and Angel picked it up on her way home from work that afternoon.  She got home with it with enough time for him to get it hooked up & set up enough for us to not miss the coin toss or anything.  

Rusty declares time out!

Tonight is 'dress rehearsal' for the comp on Saturday.  They only do this before the first one of the season so I'll go spend my evening at the studio.  Its kind of like a sneak peek before they get on stage.  And... Social hour, don'tcha know!   They don't need hair or makeup, but will be in costume.  I can't wait to see Angel's solo in her borrowed costume.   I don't know why I love going on the crazy nights, but I do.  Dress rehearsal and when group photos are taken in May - I'll be there every minute then, too!  

Woooooo!

Doesn't this sound fun!

I went Monday after work and talked to the folks at the VFW.  I didn't know they vote to let new members in - that's kind of nerve-wracking!  So I filled out the form, he got a copy of my discharge papers, and gave me a tour of the (very nice) post.  Then I proceeded to sit there and chat for an hour or so with this man who joined the Air Force 10 years before I was born.   I actually had a lot in common with him.  Now I wait, but I'm really seriously doubt I'll get turned down.  He was talking about how a lot of the members are getting up in years and they're probably happy to get some younger blood in the post. 

How awesome is this?  I just ordered this poster!

I finally found a drunk octopus who wants to fight!