Welcome Home!

It has taken so long! so long but finally it happened - as Kyle picked me up and carried me over the threshold of our new home, it all became so very real and it smelt like manfume and new house (ok the manfume was Kyle).

A new house only has its new house smell for a very limited time, before you know it your old couch brings its personality to the air, a fresh cup of coffee is brewed, hair spray and perfume wafts about the place and suddenly, it smells like home, and not like a new house any more.  

I stood in my new lounge room and I took a deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, and repeat.  I wanted to keep that new house smell in for as long as I could, lets face it, its going to be a while before that happens again.  This house only just had its finishing touches put on it a few months ago, its not been lived in before!  No one else has burnt their dinner in that house, no one else has left a half eaten potato cake on the bench after a late night out, never before had the air in there been decorated with fresh linen or dirty socks!

We still have not settled in properly, at the moment it feels like we are staying in a really nice hotel, and living out of suitcases, but finally we are no longer at the mercy of a land lord and their endless inspections, open homes and surprise pop ins.

There is no white carpet to fear red wine spillage, polished concrete is the most convenient floor I have found so far.  There are many many spaces to hang pictures up on the wall, and there is a garden that we can finally love because we know we wont have to hand it back in a year.  

But best of all, we moved house and did not kill each other.  We tied down tarp to a trailer in the middle of Hobart August winds and rain, we worked till late and we worked hungry, we negotiated parents being "helpful" and neighbors being nosy and moved house in 48hrs!

Im sure there will be some sort of house warming soon, but this weekend is unpacking and putting everything away.  After a week of take away I'm dying to just cook some real food (gas cook top), pop on some slippers and just enjoy the new home!

Pic is view from the bed, don't think i will get sick of it for a while!

Tell me lies - tell me sweet little lies..

Righto - Turns out there have been some fibs that have been told, and im here to expose the truth!  When I first started to learn to blues dance, I was told:

1 - Its easy, its just like walking

2 - its NOT a spectator sport, its all about dancing with your partner

3 - Its sexy

LIES

If blues dancing was easy and just like walking, the level one blues class this month would not be as popular as it is.  If blues dancing was just like walking, I've been walking wrong for my whole life and heck if it were easy, why does everyone have their "concentrating like I have to do a poo" face on in the middle of class (yes I see all when perched at the door..).  I have never seen so many open mouths and deep forehead furrows as I have in this class, then again, I dont think I have ever seen as many "yay" moments either so you gotta take the wins with you!

If blues is not a spectator sport then why the heck am I so mesmerized by everyone bottoms?  I could not look away, it was a deep sea of wiggles and wobbles and hips doing their thing.  Lord if I knew so many boys could move like that, I would have had a boylesque troupe and stopped messing around with princesses!! (actually, the offer is still on the table guys!!).  I get it, when its done right you should feel like youre the only girl in the room, like he is dancing with you and it does not matter who is watching - but lets face it, if we did not love attention, we would not be learning to dance, and we would not be learning to do that stuff with our hips that you were learning last night! Do it and be proud, if there is one thing gravity will take care of for you its momentum, the corner stone of all our dancing esp blues, so don't fight it, throw your hands up and give into it and be proud!

This brings me to my final point.  I hear a lot that the popular opinion is that blues dancing is sexy, that its dirty sexy fun and it should be done when the lights are low and the blood is hot.. Just think about that for one second, because I have felt this way before, I'm not gonna lie to you.. I think we have all been there, but think of it this way.  If you think of blues as the sex of dancing, you are sexing on husbands, fathers, boyfriends (MY boyfriend), girlfriends, mums, you see where I'm going with this.. I'm not denying that it should feel good, but it should not feel that good in that special way.. If you would be mad to see your parner do it in club with some hot young stranger, dont do it in your blues dancing!

I think if anything, everyone is learning to love moving to blues music, learning skills you can take with you through your lindy, I'm  pretty excited to be at this years TasSwing Ball because I honestly believe after a few months of blues classes, you will see an improvement across the board in all of your dancing, and will finally be able to do those funky moves that you see Kara and Mr Quinn bust out all the time!

Angry Cats and Clamped Clams

Oh man, last night blues class was like watching myself on a first date (ok more like first sleep over).  Feeling all awkward, not really knowing where everything goes, being all serious about something that is ultimately a lot of fun, can feel really great, and to be honest is usually more fun with its crazy and not at all candle lit sexy - yeah, we are still talking about blues dancing.

I remember a few years ago when I was on my first encounter with blues, well blues and I had been flirting, we had been giving each other that look, you know the one girls, I like to call it "sparkle eyes", blues had been hanging out with other girls, making me dead keen to get in on the action (oh dancing, treat em mean and keep them keen eh?), im not gonna lie to yo, I was gaggin for it! But it made me try too hard..

I threw myself at blues, thighs first, and clung onto it like an angry cat, ordinary fairly cute but then possessed!  I look back with a slight sick feeling when I think of how hard I tried to RELAX, the poor boys I must have violated, hell, the poor girls I must have violated.. Im blushing!

Its soo embarrassing to think back to a few years ago, when at CCB we (not just me!!) were issued with orders such as "no clam clamping" and leads complained of "heavy beavers".. Ill explain both when you are all 21!  Lets just say, we should always leave room for cheesus...

For those of you who have tried blues without instruction, it may have felt like a whole heap of fumbling round in the dark with no real great outcome other than a polite thanks from the girl you were dancing with or a sheepish I'm sorry for the guy who you were swaying with, its time to think of Kara as your blues dancing Cosmo.  She will show you all the moves, come to class and take the quiz.. "what does it mean when he tells me to relax" and find that inner blues beast that has been waiting for just the right song forever!!

The most important thing to remember is this, ITS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN.  Its not supposed to be hard work, its not supposed to be sexy, its not supposed to be sleazy or make you feel like maybe you just got pregnant from dancing with that guy.  Its not supposed to be for a performance piece, its not supposed to leave you feeling like maybe you gotta buy that girl a nice steak dinner and introduce her to your mum... its supposed to be fun.  You dont want to look back on your blues dancing and wonder if it was you that they were really talking about when they said they were gonna have to hose "them" down...