Dance, clean, pack, dance, pack, clean

Since the triathlon, my life can be summed up by those three words. Our dance community put on a successful show as a fundraiser for the Abused Women's Aid in Crisis shelter, so Sof and I spent a good deal of time going from studio to studio for rehearsals. We also managed to squeeze in a weekend out in Chickaloon, where Sof got to ride a trike, watch the dancing, listen to the band and climb:






Then it was time to get ready for my big trip to Santa Fe, a trip I've been dreaming about for the last three years. I took a week-long workshop to become certified as a SEEDs teacher. SEEDs (Self-esteem, Education and Empowerment through Dance) is an amazing teen girl mentorship program which uses bellydance as a hook and training method. After dancing, the girls learn about basic life skills -- their own development, nutrition, self esteem, body image, budgeting, financial independence, goal setting...these are just some of the many topics covered.

Besides all that, my travel buddy Joanna Lee and I rented a convertible whooped it up as best we could in our limited (and exhausted) free time. We checked out the Rio Grande gorge, roamed around Taos, drank wine aptly named Red Hot Mama, laughed at the German market in Red River, went to a BBQ at the lovely Myra's home and just generally enjoyed each other.









The week was absolutely incredible and tough to put into words. Completely inspiring, humbling and motivating. I went with my dear friend Joanna, and we came home with ten new dear friends in the other participants. And thank goodness for my family at home -- John took care of Sof while still working full time and trying to sell our house. And Jess kept Sof during the day while also taking care of Aidan. Phew! Here's a link to a bunch more pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kendesh/sets/72157619816374617/

Congrats to the SEEDs teachers graduating class of 2009!

Theeeeen, I got home from New Mexico around midnight on Wednesday, turned around and flew out to Portland at 7 Thursday morning. Ugh. Thus commenced a whirlwind of househunting, neighborhood scouting and seeing old friends. We did find a few neighborhoods we loved, with Multnomah Village topping the list for those of you keeping score.

We still don't have an offer on our house here, which means we haven't made any offers in Portland. But we did have SIX showings on our first day back home, so the interest (and cleaning) continues.

In some of the biggest news of all, Sofia took her first steps while I was in New Mexico!! She is quickly becoming a professional walker. I will definitely get some video up as soon as I can, but I'm currently having issues publishing my vids to youtube. Grrr. Suffice it to say it was a long flight home from Portland!

And now, I best go clean.