Dancing the Weekend Away

Surprise!  Guess who's back!  I ended up taking an unintentional vacation from these parts for the past few weeks. I really thought things were going to start slowing down for the summer...ha.  It always seems like my "slow times" are when I tend to get super busy because we end up doing more because we aren't bound to our routine.  The past few weeks have been no exception with softball, a beach trip, and a dance reunion. On top of that I have been writing a huge grant at work which has been sucking all of the creative writing juices out of me since I've spent all day writing at work.  I have several recaps to share and I don't want to leave anything out, but I also don't want to make this post 150 miles long, so let's start with this past weekend and work our way back to our Memorial Day Weekend Beach trip later this week.....

I make no secret around these parts that I teach tap dancing and that I love it! I took lessons from when I was 5 until I was 15.  I think my love for it really took off when we moved to Tennessee and I started taking lessons from Nadine's School of Dance...now NVS Dance.  When I was there it was a very well established dance school and I had the opportunity to really expand my horizons with tap and other types of dance.  For 5 years my parents took me to lessons several nights a week, spent countless weekends at dance competitions, and even spent summer vacations at dance conventions...thanks again Mom and Dad!  This year NVS Dance was celebrating their 50th year in business.  Amazing right? And Ms. Nadine is still teaching with her daughter.  Since Mom and Dad moved back to Memphis last year I have thought about catching a recital one year, and with it being the 50th year everything just fell into place this time around.  And the best part?!  I got to dance in the recital!  They had an alumni number at the beginning of the recital and about 25 of us danced (tap of course!). I had such a fun time dancing and catching up with old friends at the reception they had the night before.

Clockwise from top left: 1) My friend Ashley and I...we were always the tallest in our class and were consequently paired together all the time.  It was so good to see her at the reunion!
2) Caliente! This was my last dance routine I did.  It was our Mid-South Fair number in 1999....we placed in the top 10 that year!
3) Ready to dance with the alumni at the recital!
4) The alumni from my era at NVS who were able to come to the reunion.
5) A little gem from the past....This was from our Vegas trip in 1998.  I'm 2nd from the left with my head turned to the left.  I had never heard of a hair straightener at this point.  Ugh!

The recital conveniently fell on my Mom's birthday so I got to be there to celebrate with her, too!

Clockwise from top left:
1) Mom blowing out her candle on her Gigi's Cupcake birthday cake!
2) Hollow made himself right at home at Mom and Dad's house.
3) We did her birthday lunch at Huey's and stuffed ourselves silly with delicious hamburgers.
4) Hollow helping Mom tie up her home grown garlic.
5) A trip to Memphis is never complete without some Germantown Commissary BBQ!
6) Peanut making sure I did not leave him behind when I started packing things up to go home. 

It was a wonderful weekend and I am so thankful that I got to make the trip both for Mom's birthday and for the recital!  And the best part?! I have a holiday from work today so I get to recover all day long!

This IS a Happy Monday!