A Cultural Explosion and a Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy

This past weekend was filled with lots of culture . . . and just a wee bit of fitness. Last Friday night I went to see Wicked for the first time with Darryl, Benji and Mel.  It was AMAZING!!!!!  I can’t believe I waited this long to see it.  We had great seats at the Fabulous Fox and we may or may not have finished off the  evening with a dozen “hot now” glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme.  I am not authorized at this point to confirm or deny this information.   

As the alarm sounded 6:00am Saturday morning, Mel and I crawled out of bed to get ready for our “Stop Injustice 5K” walk in Peachtree City.  We were supporting Wellspring Living – a non-profit organization working to stop child sexual abuse and exploitation.  We got our fitness on for a great cause and had a fabulous time doing it. 

Prior to 5K - Game Face

Dream (I mean Beam) Team


Right after the 5K I jumped in my car (sweat, stankyness and all) and drove home to Asheville for some more culture (but *alas*no fitness)!!  Saturday night Mom and I went to see (and listen to) the Asheville Symphony.  It was this season’s opening night and the music was both quirky modern and fantastically classical.  They have a new crop of teen volunteers (all girls) whom they call “Symphonettes” ( I guess that’s how you spell that).  Mom and I thought we had stepped onto the set of a 1950s movie!  A great evening was had by all.  Dad was home with the grandkids watching iCarly – so Mom and I figure we came out on top regarding the evening’s choice of entertainment.    Sunday afternoon I headed to my last cultural event of the weekend.  My BFF Olivia is lead singer in a Rock Academy band and she was performing at the Orange Peel in downtown Asheville.  Rock Academy was raising money  for “Give to the Music” – a non-profit organization that provides tuition for private music lessons, instruments, etc. for children.  Olivia’s performance was out of this world (as expected).  After Olivia’s performance I jumped back in the car and headed back to Atlanta.  Phew, it was a fun and enriching weekend, but geez was I tired.   I had to stop and get a Twix just so I could stay awake for the ride home.  I had no choice – it was a matter of life or death.

Olivia the rock star
(the lights were too bright to get a really good photo with the iPhone)

On Monday, it was back to the grindstone.  I clipped on my “CONTRACTOR” badge and headed to my windowless conference room.  For the most part I kept my head down and my nose clean.  Tuesday began like any other day in the life of a CONTRACT worker.  However, after work I didn’t head home to sit on the couch and watch TV (or read) like any other day.  No – after work on Tuesday I headed to Little 5 Points to meet Deborah for our first BELLY DANCING LESSON!!!!!!  First order of business upon arriving at the studio – buy a jingly bell sash to tie around my waist.  I have to admit – I was worried that everyone in the class would be a Skinny Minnie and that I would feel uncomfortable shaking what my momma gave me in front of everyone.  I worried for naught, because there were all shapes and sizes in the class.  The teacher was gorgeous, of course – and she was wonderful.  She included the perfect combination of pushiness and praise in her style of instruction.  We learned the basics on the first night – which included the basic belly dance pose (i.e. legs together, knees bent about 1 ft, arms out to the side (slightly bent), wrists bent up at a 45 degree angle, fingers pointed to the ceiling except for the thumb and middle finger, which form a loose “C”).  We held that pose while looking at ourselves in the mirror (from the front and from the side), we walked in a circle in that pose, and we tiptoed in a circle in that pose.  We learned to do a one hip shimmy (the right then the left), a full throttle hip shimmy (both guns blazing) and a knee shimmy.   We shimmied until our teeth were rattling and our arms were burning from holding belly dance pose.    And then class was over.  By the time I reached my car I could already feel the soreness creeping into parts I would rather not discuss publically.  I knew at that moment that the next two days would be muscularly challenging.  So, while Deborah and I still had full range use of our arms, we headed to La Fonda to toss back a half pitcher of margaritas - naturally. 

Rest easy - I pushed through the soreness throughout the week and look forward to next Tuesday when we start on the actual choreography.  I will let you know how it goes!

Where the belly dancing magic happens

Suited up and ready to shimmy