Another year gone by....

Christmas is past for another year. As for me, I'm glad I had my Christmas family celebration early this year. It is time to recover from the exhaustion that too many cookies, glasses of wine and holiday shopping, Seriously, I’m developing a little pot-belly, and now I don’t dare step on the scale to check! Time to rest and relax, reflect and sigh.

Yes – it’s time to think about another year gone by – 2010 is coming. This year has brought many changes of my life. As I reflect back, I know my dancing journey has been a long one! I am still working hard on it, carrying on each day with one foot ahead of my students - pick the songs, start working on dances, breaks things down in small sections so my students learn the routine in pieces before we put it all together since most of my student never taken a dance class, they are not a tiny 5-6 year-old ballerina girls or a jazz dance girls, I am super, super focused and when I put my mind to do something or have a goal I want to accomplish, I always get it done. After a while they can actually dance to the routines and that was really exciting. Of course there was a moments where they will lose their balance and complaint too many turns, but some days they are better and better. Just a quick Thanks to everyone have been working so hard for!!

With all the rehearsals, competition, performances, makeup, photo shoots - all these always blows my mind. Most of our costume are hand made, every sequin and every bead is painstakingly and lovingly applied and sewn by hand. Costumes have to look great and we would be able to dance and move in them. Aahh…I can't wait for my PINK costumes!! When it come to troupe costumes, it's really, really a mind-blowing. The costumes have to fit for the dance style as well as the troupe wearing them. Hair and makeup is much the same. Belly dance is very dramatic, very heavy, over the top – lots of eyelashes and glitter and rhinestones. I love makeup, it's really fun and the hair and makeup are so great!

My full time job – I work 5 days a week as an administrative for a large public company and mostly my schedule was absolutely eating me alive. But, still I have refused to give up the things I love in my life – dancing. Cutting back on my dance activities has left me very little time. I teach a class on Monday to Tuesday evenings, and I teach on every weekend on Saturdays too. What I'm looking at now is getting more and more involved with belly dance emotionally, intellectually, financially, and physically especially with teaching, that the more I work at it the better I get at it. Yes, I love it. I fully anticipate that I'll be in love with it for the rest of my life.

Oh and I forgot to mention my calf muscle, it is heeling but it's not back to normal, I took really good care and it's healing well.

People in my life have played such an important role - Good friends that speak life to me and I am grateful for what I have gained - rather than lost. Their daily words to me have been a “life boat” when I was sinking. And those that just turning their backs on me, sit there and laugh or ignore me, I will let them go – for good. And that will be okay. God knows my heart, knows how the pieces of the puzzle don’t fit, something is missing, but it is not forever. And I will okay!

Until then, I look forward with great anticipation to 2010, I give all my hope for the best!