In Brief!

 

Or boxer,
if that’s how you swing.

I am not dead.

Just busying with new job,
renaissance faire,
crazy-ass rehearsals for Salsa Congress,
and oh, yeah,
a torn rotator cuff.

(according to my absolutely accurate diagnosis via webmd)

I have so many pretties to share with you,
but for the moment,
I’m curling up with beloved friends with wine and a good movie.

I love Friday nights.

Well, Now!

Looky! I made the front page of LA Times Health Section!

Ballroom Dancing = Fitness

 

I whip my hair back and forth. Apparently. 🙂

Why I Dance:

For the joy of it, loves.

Simply for the joy of it.

 

 

And?

When I’m good, I’m really, really good.

*grin*

I’m Going to Kick Ass at the Nursing Home:

Social Dance Study
______________________________
‘The 21-year study of senior citizens, 75 and older, was led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, funded by the National Institute on Aging, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their method for objectively measuring mental acuity in aging was to monitor rates of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

The study wanted to see if any physical or cognitive recreational activities influenced mental acuity. They discovered that some activities had a significant beneficial effect. Other activities had none.

They studied cognitive activities such as reading books, writing for pleasure, doing crossword puzzles, playing cards and playing musical instruments. And they studied physical activities like playing tennis or golf, swimming, bicycling, dancing, walking for exercise and doing housework.

One of the surprises of the study was that almost none of the physical activities appeared to offer any protection against dementia. There can be cardiovascular benefits of course, but the focus of this study was the mind. There was one important exception: the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.

Reading – 35% reduced risk of dementia

Bicycling and swimming – 0%

People who played the hardest gained the most: For example, seniors who did crossword puzzles four days a week had a 47% lower risk of dementia than those who did the puzzles once a week.

Playing golf – 0%

Dancing frequently – 76%.

That was the greatest risk reduction of any activity studied, cognitive or physical.

Quoting Dr. Joseph Coyle, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who wrote an accompanying commentary:
“The cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities, are remarkably plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use.” ‘

_____________________________________

Essentially,
as long as I keep reading like I do,
and dancing like I do?

This bitch is going to go to her GRAVE with all mental faculties intact.

Why I Dance:

Pure.
Unadulterated.
Joy.

Dear 29:

Well.

Here we are.

You certainly came along faster than I anticipated.

Let’s get a few things straight:

Your predecessor?
28?

Was a real bitch.
And honestly, there were times
(many times)
when I thought I wouldn’t make to you,
29.

That 28 was an abusive relationship–
always promising better things,
followed up by a swift slap in the face,
or a punch to the kidneys (where the bruises don’t show).

And I gotta tell you…

I am through with letting a year steamroll me.

I have great expectations for you, 29.
There’s a puppy, for one thing,
who will be full of cute and awesome,
and that stunningly selfless love that only dogs really possess.

There will be a new house for the Boyo,
one in which he can stretch out
and feel at home.

There will be parties.

Quiet nights.

My first salsa performance.

Christmas and snow and wonder.

All of these things.

And you know what?

No matter what you bring,
no matter if you’re even worse than 28,
I’m not going to give up or give in.

I belong to a faithful God,
and He has never abandoned me–
and even when I felt like He had–
there was always some small grace to get me through.

I am still a little afraid of you.
Still a little scared of finding myself not at all who I thought I would be by now.

But I hope you’ll be a grand adventure of a year,
that you’ll make me look forward to 30 even more.

Yes.

That sounds perfect.

You are going to be an adventure, 29.

I have a cute helmet.
I have a nice pedicure.

Bring it.

Today I:

Got inspired:

1) Marina Bychkova of Enchanted Doll
(caution: the nude doll gallery on her site may be slightly NSFW)

I collected porcelain dolls when I was little,
but they were *nothing* like these tiny wonders.

Her artistry absolutely takes my breath away–
the tiny, meticulous details of the casting process,
her ethereal painting style,
the minuscule, faerie-fingered-embroidery and beading,
and the SHOES,
oh Lord,
the SHOES…!

To get the tattoos on her dolls,
she actually carves the design in the porcelain,
and then fires the paint into that design–
brilliant!

I can spend hours browsing her gallery
and reading about her creative process on her blog.

(I might do a watercolor inspired by one of her dolls…)

2) Style Me Pretty

One of my favorite stumbleupon sites–
always fresh, chic, interesting ideas to play with for future brides–
both in general and floral design.

They tend to be a nice balance between the amazingly awesomely wackadoodle OffbeatBride, and the boring, bleaaaah of The Knot
(tho’ i think they could still use a few more tattooed/pink haired/
colored dress brides, but hey, that’s probably just my hair dye talkin’).

And…
they create inspiration shoots with things like this:

*lurv*

3) Lawrence Yang, whose use of colors and blending kinda
make my heart hurt a little, they’re so nifty…

Honestly,
the last couple of weeks have been SO INSANELY BUSY,
I haven’t had the time or energy to devote to painting,
or even to my simple bleach-pen t-shirt designs…
There was the Kansas City reception of McGranaghanClanness at the end of July,
(i was only two sheets to the wind, i swear!
the humidity just makes me look…um…nevermind),
I started my salsa performance class at my dance studio
(serious hours of practice and anal perfecting of
*everything* are staring me in the face),
then Santa Margarita with The Boyo for CORGI SNORGLING:

*snorrrrrgleeee*

I’m going to Oregon this weekend with The Boyo for his mom’s gradjitation
(she got her Master’s in Special Education–go, Wendy!!!),
and then it’s my birthday weekend,
then moving Boyo out of the shitholefromhell apartment,
then picking up Her Fluffiness, Nami the Corgi,
then
then
then

OY.

It’s probably a good thing I don’t have a job right now!

(In all actuality,
I probably need to give myself an hour or two per day to just sit and focus on art–
watercolors,
t-shirt painting,
sewing,
all the little things that have been poking me to get created…
sometimes, it’s hard to remember that creating art is just as vital as
cleaning my room, if not more so…
God bless those Puritan Workhorse genes…)

Legs McLegsly:

My old roommate, Steph, asked me to come out to Venice Beach for a shoot last weekend.

This was one of the captures from that day:

you know, every once in a while, i *like* my legs.

I asked my friend Jimmy to join me,
since he is one of my most favorite people to dance with–
a good, solid lead,
and just a delight, in general:

this is the 'around the back and catch-twist-thingummy' turn.

There is something happy about being one of the people *to* watch at Venice,
instead of just being a watcher.

There were about ten of us on this shoot,
including a super-sweet samba dancer in full feathered regalia,
and we made this freestyle dance parade of sorts down the boardwalk–
folks stopped to applaud,
and a few even joined in the fun.

See,
that’s what I like about Venice,
in spite of its sketchiness–
it’s cool to be weird,
to march, quite literally,
to the beat of your own drummer there.

(A lot of these random opportunities have been cropping up lately…
It’s nice to be doing something again.)

(photos by craig marks)