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.

Stats

Despite my absolutely abysmal swim time, I still managed to finish 262nd out of 1229 finishers. I was 34th in my age group of 158. Given my mediocre training, I'm pretty happy with that!

An even rosier spin on the numbers is that Mom and I finished in the top 20 mother-daughter teams (19th out of 111)! Not bad at all.

Coupla bad mama-jamas

Once more, Mom and I have conquered the Gold Nugget Triathlon. I've lost exact count of how many times we've done this, but I think we're somewhere around 7 or 8 times? Maybe more?

The day could not have been more perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, and barely a whisper of a breeze. John and Sof made it out in plenty of time to cheer us on, and the event got John inspired to enter a triathlon himself! If our moving plans allow, we're both hoping to do the Eagle River Triathlon.

I can't speak for Mom here, but my race went all right. As it always does, adrenaline got the best of me in the pool, and I think I floundered more than I swam. This is probably best evidenced by the fact that I was passed by about four 12 to 14-year-olds. In my defense, I think they all are on the same swim team. And even more in my defense, I passed all those little bastards on the bike.

While we wait for the results to be posted, here are some pics of myself, Mom and my Fairbanks friend Mary, who wins the All-Time Badass Award for completing the triathlon with a broken foot and a crutch.

Here I am at T1, the transition from swim to bike:


Me, finishing the bike portion. Please note that not only am I breaking the posted speed limit, I am also about to pass one of those annoyingly-fast-swimming pre-teens:


Kicking it in:


Crutching it in:


Mom finishing (boy, does she look happier than I did!):


Me, Mom, Mary -- happy to have earned our finisher's T-shirts:


The mother-daughter team:


The future mother-daughter team:

Epic

When I was young, I constantly begged for a dog. When I got older, I began to want kids. How lucky am I to now have a baby who thinks she's a dog?





Now that I've got the requisite cute factor covered, it's time for another epic update. Yes, once again I've been slacking on my blog updates. And yes, once again I'm going to shamelessly list my excuses, not the least of which is having a one year old in the house. Besides that, I'm running my third (and successful!) session of Bellydance Bootcamp; preparing for a performance on May 30 (which involves choreographing, rehearsing and costuming for three pieces); training for the Gold Nugget Triathlon on Sunday; planning a weeklong solo trip to Santa Fe for a training/certification program (more on that later); and finally, prepping for a Major Life Change.

The Major Life Change is that we are moving to Portland, OR. Hubs is transferring within his company, and we hope to be on the road by the end of the summer. Moving, you say? Weren't we supposed to do that last year? Well, this year it's a certainty, and this year both halves of the spousal unit are happy about it. Besides all the emotions that come along with a move, we're also now dealing with the reality of getting the house ready to go on the market and searching for a suitable home in Portland.

Phew!

So back to the present, the triathlon is looming. Sofia has been an awesome training partner, riding in her trailer or stroller for many of my rides and runs. She's even been helping Dad work on the bikes:


Speaking of Sofia, she's been happy as a clam lately. She's standing on her own like a champ and is thinking REALLY hard about walking on her own. Just the other day, she was standing up and picked up her foot a little bit. We're soooo close. Her current favorite activities include hanging out on the stairs or in the dog room, usually playing in the water dish. She also enjoys long walks on the beach.

And now, Sof and I are off to the studio for a practice.

ONE

Dear Sofia, my angel, my sunshine, my sweet doodle bug,

A little less than a year ago, I wrote you a letter telling you about how you were born. Alas, that letter went to the great laptop graveyard in the sky, so I'm writing to you here in the hopes that it won't get lost this time. Also because I don't have a printer.

Last night you kept waking up, which is unusual for you. You didn't seem to want anything except to be held. So we went downstairs and lay down on the couch, you snuggling up on my chest. Your breathing became peaceful and pretty soon there we were, belly to belly, you sound asleep. It's been months since you fell asleep like that. I glanced over at the clock to see that it was -- almost to the minute -- exactly a year since we laid like that, meeting skin to skin for the very first time. I cried then and I cried last night.

You see, Sofia, when you were born and the midwife put you on my chest, I couldn't believe the miracle of you. There you were, this extension of me, this new soul, my heart beating outside my body. I couldn't find words to describe it when I wrote that first letter, and one year later, I still can't find the words.

This last year you've been my little partner in crime, my traveling ray of sunshine. You've trekked to New York, Las Vegas, San Diego and Colorado. You've danced with me and all your bellydance sisters in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Seward. After dumping cell phones in the fireplace, unraveling the TP and eating dog kibble, you've learned the meaning of NO. You can take your shirt off, dance to any rhythm, climb the stairs and make farting noises with your mouth on the sliding glass door.

Through all the tears (yours and mine) and frustration (yours and mine), you've brightened every second of every day for the last year. And even more than that, I watch how every day you can light up the day of a complete stranger with just one smile. I hope you never lose that ability. I hope you never stop dancing. I hope you always love dogs. I hope you remain curious about the world around you. I hope you laugh. I hope your faith never wavers. I hope you always know how loved you are.

Happy first birthday.
Love, Mom

Look, Ma, no shirt!

The other morning, I heard the most self-delighted baby giggles coming from the living room. Camera in hand, I found the spectacle of Sof learning how to undress herself.

Sleeve one:



Head:



Finally free:



Celebrate!



Oh, yeah, and this morning she discovered the toilet paper roll:

Who needs vitamin D supplements?

Not us! We just spent a glorious ten days in Vegas and San Diego, soaking up the rays. And -- drum roll please -- not one of us got sick! This is a major accomplishment, given that at least I have been sick on our last three visits.

So not being sick let us cram in tons of activities. We mostly spent our time with the family at Lisa's or Mom's, and Sofia absolutely ate up all the attention. She followed G all over and got endless laughs out of big cousins Frankie and Anthony.

I loved being able to take my daughter outside without having to think about ten thousand layers of clothing. So strange to think that she's almost a year old and this trip was her first experience sitting in grass! We did a little hiking in the Red Rocks, a truly beautiful place. Of course the only camera we had was John's Blackberry, so this is the best we could do:



We spent a couple evenings at the ballpark for Anthony's tournament:




Hung with the Armijos:



Then we road tripped out to San Diego. The five-hour drive there and back was worth EVERY SECOND of our single day there. We hit Old San Diego for dinner the first night and consumed -- what else? -- copious amounts of Mexican food and margaritas:



Sof got her hands in the sand for the first time. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but she liked the wandering duck:




We spent most of our whole day in CA at Sea World, doing all your typical Sea World things. Dolphin show, Shamu show, feeding seals, traipsing through the shark tank. I was amazed at how much Sofia seemed to perceive. Her favorite was walking under the shark tank -- she was mesmerized.













That evening John, Sof and I walked along the beach at sunset -- one of my favorite things in the world to do. We met the rest of the fam for dinner at this fantastic beach-front restaurant. As was to be expected, Sof got a little antsy, so I had to get up and distract her for a bit. We stepped outside the restaurant to discover a live fire show on the beach right outside! A poi spinner and fire juggler were all Sof needed to settle down.

Back inside, Sof entertained herself by feeding Aunt Lisa:





Once back in Vegas, it was time for a big boy and girl night out. Johnny and I left Sof with Lisa and Jenna and hit the Strip to go see the Phantom of the Opera. Don't let the fact that Johnny dozed off four times fool you -- the show was outstanding. Although I suppose it doesn't matter what show you put on a $40 million stage, it will be entertaining one way or the other. Again, all we had was the Blackberry for photos:



This brings us to Easter Sunday, our last day. We just happened to catch some old friends of John's for an Indian lunch of dosas, Heny Melwani and his dad:



Then the Easter feast with the whole family, including the most fabulous stuffed clams I've ever had.



Crammed somewhere between all the eating and ping pong, we had a little early first birthday party for Sof:



















And now that this post has reached epic proportions, I'm going to call it good.