So many snuggies!

Happy belated holidays everyone! This Christmas, Dwight and I decided to do something a little out of the box for everyone's presents. We knew we wanted something practical, cute and warm and really only one thing fit the bill.

The Snuggie of course (booklight not included)!
We made 11 custom Snuggies with black-friday fleece and matched everyone's pattern to their personality. Each snuggie was also vertically custom tailored as you can see in the photo below:

Mel and Brian are very happy with their new sleeved blankets.


Getting swallowed by the snuggie. Halp!

A most epic birthday dessert

A couple weeks ago, Michael completed his 20th trip around the Sun so we thought it fitting to celebrate. We had ourselves "bougie" day in the city- admiring the Richard Avedon exhibit at the SFMOMA, drinking expensively delicious Blue Bottle coffee and dining at L'Ardoise in the Castro. I have been known to make a few birthday cakes so it was only fitting that I made dessert. Michael loves custard (specifically Don Tat) and food in large sizes so I went the giant-Chinese-custard route. His initial request was for one "as big as a table" but seeing as I did not have an oven that large I figured a 9inch round would be plenty.



The recipe was from the book, Every Grain of Rice which is fantastic cookbook for Chinese cooking. My grandmother has some sort of connections to one of the authors so she gave us a copy for free back when it came out. Though I'd never made one of this scale before, it turned out beautifully and made a delicious conclusion to the long day.

Zucchini and Mozzarella Pizza

I'd say that pizza is currently my new thing; with such a consistent and easy dough recipe (<3!) how can you not want to make a pizza out of every bit of fresh produce on sale at Berkeley Bowl? The other day, it was zucchini and mozzarella, which we paired with a simple salad and fresh asian pears.


With all of the craziness of classes/midterms, Movement, Teaching at SwingCal, NSU Choreography, and organizing a lecture series, I have most definitely been left with little time to cook for myself, so I took advantage of the opportunity to spend some time in the kitchen making delicious noms.


Because really, there is no better way to relieve stress than with a delicious slice of homemade pizza. See, look at how happy Michael is!

New Orleans and ULHS 2009

Best Vacation Ever. Period.



Oh that I could turn back the clock just a couple of weeks. There is a constant torrent of misery outside. Instead of the sounds of street musicians in the background, I have my grandmother’s soap operas. My toes are stationary and cold instead of tearing up a dance floor. And my boy is on a computer somewhere in Santa Clara. (Or at least he was a couple of hours ago.) New Orleans, I miss you.



As an enthusiastic lindy hopper, one event beckons above all others. The Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown held promises of out of this world social dancing and unmatched competition. Sprinkle in the allure of some New Orleans flavor, and these two Travel Buddies were all but forced to heed the call.

I am not sure I have ever experienced so many instances of thinking “I can’t believe something this amazing is unfolding!” in such a short period of time. Instead of simply coming away from this weekend satisfied, I feel like I have added many entries into that library of memories I will keep fresh in my mind forever. ULHS has left me inspired to dance harder and get better. New Orleans and the company I was able to keep have left me just happy to be alive.

The Host: When it comes to getting hosted, I must be the luckiest SOB ever.
Joe (Mr. Host) is a fifty something year old sax player who lives with his wife in the Faubourg Marigny (10 min walk from the French Quarter). He does not dance, but when ULHS needed volunteers, he happily signed up to take in some lindy hoppers. Brian and I got our own guestroom, a key to the house, a wealth of restaurant knowledge, and all the ice cream sandwiches we wanted. Even cooler, Joe used to be the manager for Tony Sheridan and has links to the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Hollies, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, etc. We had some nice chats in the car. Host Win.

The Food: Fantastic when you have a plan.
Brian and I had some ups and downs in terms of food in NOLA. When we just randomly went looking for noms, things generally did not turn out great. (We had pizza one day we were running late. Unacceptable.) Thankfully, Joe supplied us with a list of cheap eats that definitely left us with some winners. I had some fantastic Andouille Gumbo at the Gumbo Shop, and nothing beats constant access to fresh beignets 24 hours a day.



Our first foray into the French Quarter involved hunting for grub at midnight. I don’t think I have ever eaten a meal so horrifically bad for my arteries, and I wouldn’t change a thing. We split an “All that Jazz” po’boy from Verti Marte that was over a foot long and must have weighed 2-3lbs. It was stuffed with turkey, ham, cheese, bell peppers, lettuce and TONS of shrimp. Sitting on a stoop at one in the morning eating that sandwich was one of the most insane experiences ever. We gave up on the sandwich about 2/3 of the way through and headed over to Café du Monde for some beignets. They do not skimp on the powdered sugar. I fear that my life has been shortened from the lack of nutritional value in that meal.

The Music: Orgasmic.
I am slightly afraid of dancing in SF again. The whole “Groove Lindy” scene has never been my bag, and now that I have experienced the best line up of live bands I could ever hope to encounter, hopefully DJ’ed sets out in the Bay will still keep me motivated. I distinctly remember on Sun night that my feet were in excruciating pain, the floor had cracks in it, and there was no room to move, but because the Loose Marbles were playing, I had to dance.



My favorites of the weekend were the Loose Marbles, the Palmetto Bug Stompers and Uncle Jack’s New Orleans Jazz Band. Brian, who has always expressed a mild aversion to blues, was totally feeling the Washboard Chaz Blues Trio. The Loose Marbles held the whole event together. They played Thursday night, Friday afternoon, Friday late night, Saturday late night, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night and Sunday late night. I wish they could have played more. Uncle Jack’s flat out killed it on the Saturday night dance. They managed to fill a giant room and kept the floor moving fast.

The Social Dancing: I had to get used to being the worst in the room again.
The crowd at ULHS was not big, but the talent level was off the charts. It was super intimidating. Unlike Camp Jitterbug, I gave up on stargazing as much as I could. In addition to it being kind of creepy (yes, I am aware), there were too many fabulous leads just roaming the floor. I think my only mild regret is I didn’t ask Andy Reid when I had the chance. No matter though. There will be other events, and other than the Friday night and late night dances (which were just OK), I could not get over how much fun I was having.



Gosh, if I had the time to recount all of my favorite dance moments, I’d be here all day. There are a few moments that topped the rest. “Competing” with Carl outside and “almost” making it to the finals. (This was literally my first dance of the weekend.) Complaining about the rain and the floor outside at the French Market, but still tearing it up with BZ to the very last song of the afternoon because the Bug Stompers were just too damn good. Getting asked to dance TWICE by that fabulous female lead from Sweden who placed 7th in the Showdown. Goofily dancing with Ryan whether it was with us being rained on or dressed to the nines. Packing like sardines in a pub listening to the Marbles, and having an incredibly musical dance with Ed that may have only involved two turns at max. Refusing to not dance at a bar despite there being NO ROOM, because the Bug Stompers were too compelling. Asking a random guy to dance at the House of Blues, and having him respond yes with genuine excitement. Finding out personally that Vincenzo Fesi is not a swing zombie, even to the creepy girl that was staring at him for two or three songs.



The Competitions: More grit and less finesse.
The competitions this year at ULHS definitely marked a break from years past. I wish that I had been around for other ULHS’s, just so that I could have a non-youtube frame of reference. Without all of the “Big Names” in every competition, it is hard to say that the winners of these contests were battle tested by all potential opponents. Some notable absences for me personally were Frida (this one hurt the most), Naomi, Nina, and Max. The Showdown, Showcase and Team divisions were missing the strength of more prominent names. The Endurance competition was missing all together. The style of competition was changed up. Liberation was replaced by the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown. Freedom was replaced by a Blues contest. Revolution was swallowed by the Jack and Jill. I actually liked the changes for the most part.

Tournament style competition opens the door to more one-upping and couples’ interaction during competition. The format really seems to rev up the crowd, as people had to choose one couple at a time to root for. There was some added drama as Todd and Alice were felled in the quarterfinals by a lower seed. Joanna and Chance (1st place) put on a display that was incredibly gritty and full of life. I’m not sure if they would have won a spotlight competition. Dax and Annie (2nd place) probably would have taken that. It is just after each round, Joanna and Chance kept the same spirit and energy despite the ever increasing tempo. They fed off of the crowd. In the end, it felt like choosing between untouchable technique (Dax and Annie) and lightning in a bottle. You got to go with lightning. Oooo…I better stop writing before I get cheesier.

My favorite competition was the Blues/Slow division. Spotlights were still in effect. The Washboard Chaz Blues Trio moved the contest away from slow lindy to something more like a musical heartbeat. Peter and Ramona (1st place) totally lit my senses on fire with their display of lead and follow skill as well as a funkier side. CT described it perfectly when he declared later that sometimes they were not even touching, but they were still “SO DIRTY!” Todd and Alice (2nd place) put on a clinic for turns and footwork. Everybody in the finals brought a different flavor. It was just reaffirmation that this dance is so diverse, and as long as the strength of commitment is there to one’s movements, it doesn’t matter how it is danced.



The Disappointments:
There are a few things that I was hoping to see that flat out just did not happen. I wanted to see Skye and Frida compete in person. Everybody knows that I am completely enamored with what they put out there on the dance floor. I can’t pretend that I was not sad that Skye barely danced (as far as I could tell) and that Frida just was not there. I also would have loved to see Naomi compete in the solo blues competition. Dax displayed innovation and a perfected sense of body awareness, but nobody shakes it like Naomi.

I also have a few gripes with the rest of ULHS. Late Night at Fritzel’s did not do it for me. Dancing upstairs while the band is downstairs is not cool. Just being upstairs made it feel like a brothel. Late night is generally my favorite place to dance, but the environment encouraged more drinking and canoodling than dancing. Another issue was that other than the WWII Museum and the House of Blues, the floors kind of sucked. For daytime social dancing, I’ll suck it up. Bring on the concrete and the rain. Unfortunately, I believe that the quality of floor during the quarterfinals for the Showdown may have been Todd and Alice’s death knell. They were slipping and sliding, and couldn’t reach their full potential. Finally, I was also disappointed that the event was so small in terms of turnout. There was just an overall awareness that ULHS might be losing a bit of its appeal. Apparently it also ended up $4k in the hole. I hope that for next year, everybody sees how fantastic New Orleans is as a location, and makes the trek.



It was such a privilege to be able to go to New Orleans and participate in this event. Although the trappings of ULHS certainly dominated the entire weekend, I’m going to most strongly take away how much enjoyment I got from interacting with people with whom I really love spending time. It was wonderful to reconnect with some old friends, and to make some new friends. And there is nothing better than racking up amazing experiences with someone you adore. I really had the time of my life.


Forge Ahead

Sprinkles Cupcakes

I never use boxed cake or brownie mixes anymore. The ingredients seem questionably over processed and the taste is too perfect, not to mention the fun it takes out of baking. I used to use boxed mixes back in my early baking days (this is the late single digit to early double-digit years); Funfetti was the boxed cake of choice, and I was too young to realize that there was any alternative to cake from a box. Once I started cooking from scratch though, I promised myself I'd never regress back to just-add-water-and-oil cakes, cause seriously, who knows what's in those anyway?
SO to preface this post, I should add that the cake mixes that I used for these cupcakes came from a tube, not a box, and they used real butter AND employed the use of my stand mixer. I'm telling you, this stuff is totally legit.

Brendan's mom baked me my first Sprinkles cupcake this past summer, and it was absolutely delicious. She ended up sending a tube of Red Velvet cupcakes to Berkeley for me and believe me, I wasted no time in baking them.

Sprinkles also includes the recipe for their cream cheese frosting, probably one of my favorite cream cheese frostings ever. The consistency is consistently creamy and spreadable, complimenting the dense rich cake nicely. They even include their signature "Modern Dot" sprinkle to make it more authentic, although eating that was kinda weird.

More recently, I whipped up a batch of their Pumpkin cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting for the lovely Esther's birthday.

They were a huge hit and perfect for fall. See, look at how happy she is with her giant cupcake and candle fireball.


Both the mix and festive sprinkles were gifts from Brendan. Throw in some Angeline's fried chicken and baked mac and cheese and you have a totally obese and totally delicious night.

SCAMPI.

Last night, Michael and I decided to cook up some jumbo prawns that he bought on sale from the butcher. After having tried Alton Brown's Scampi v 1.0 we figured we ought to try Scampi v 2.0 from the same book. This book is awesome by the way, especially for anyone scientifically minded. I think that the taste and texture of 1.0 is definitely better than 2.0 but 2.0 took about half the time and was still ridiculously delicious. We paired the shrimp with rice and a steamed broccoli and cauliflower dish cooked with panko crumbs and hardboiled egg. It's another Alton Brown recipe, and though I was skeptical at first (hard boiled egg, really?) it is also fantastic. All together it only took about an hour to cook, and even less time to devour.


Does that not make your mouth water?

We walked it off on our stroll to YOGURTLAND, where we promptly stuffed ourselves again (I should add that Mike usually eats twice as much as I do, so actually he was still hungry). Having the new Yogurtland near campus has exponentially increased my yogurt intake, and I am a little worried for my health about the new Yogurtland opening less than a block from Mike's place... well, just a little.

Sick days

When I used to get sick as a little girl, I remember my grandmother would make me this gelatinous concoction to make me feel instantly better. She gave my mom jars of this stuff for storage- puffy dehydrated balls that would get boiled in water and turn into mush. To this day I still have no idea what the heck that stuff was (ancient Chinese meth?) but nothing has been able to fix up a flu quite like that.

I had been meaning to blog about SFLX! but early this week I was stricken with a bout of sickness. Unfortunately, dancing from 8pm-2am three days in a row is probably not the best for one's health. One of my two roommates was sick last week, so there was a running joke in our apartment that it was contaminated with Swine Flu.


As you can see, Melanie didn't really stand a chance (except she did, actually).

I hadn't taken a sick day in a while, but it was kindof nice to sleep in bed all day, drink hot things and get behind on classwork. I always thought it would suck to be sick away from home- there would be nobody to take care of me, do my dishes, or feed me but I guess that ended up not being the case. Brendan left me a dozen chocolate muffins on my doorstop, Michael made me chicken noodle soup and Mel put up with my senseless rambling. No ancient Chinese meth necessary. :-)

Haircuts and Things That Are Orange

Yesterday I finally cut my hair for a long-overdue hair donation. Back in high school I used to run the hair drive for Locks of Love, an amazing organization that makes hair prostheses for financially disadvantaged kids suffering from hair loss. This cut is by Katie at The Shampoo Lounge, one of the generous stylists who takes a day off every year to volunteer at the drive. This is my fourth donation to the organization, but definitely not the last.


I definitely prefer having my hair short like this, even though it means no cute 40's dos.

Now for things that are orange...
Today I pulled out this beautiful orange and yellow fabric that my friend Kelly's grandmother gave to me a while back. At first I was going to make a bright and borderline obnoxious pencil skirt but the fabric wanted to be an apron instead. I needed an apron for my new kitchen, so I guess it worked out.




And it has pockets!
Underneath is a dress that I also made this weekend. I loved the bodice detail and such and such but none of it is really visible since the print is so busy.

To end on a completely different note, I am SO excited for SFLX!

Dance Milestones

Tonight is my 3rd SwingCore meeting, and it marks the beginning of a new semester for those who are still students. Yup...fresh opportunities to create little swing-babies. It is funny how I have come to measure time in my life thanks to dance. You see, I’m not actually navigating the pitfalls of being in one’s early twenties. I’m really just two years of age. Scarcely even a toddler. I can barely walk, I can barely speak, and my outlook on life is unwaveringly rosy. (Except for when I incur an *ouch*.)

A Little Bit of Pre-Semester Crafting

Up until yesterday, the white walls of my bedroom were positively bare and somehow I managed to wait until two days before semester starts to do anything about it. Since I was a kid, my walls have been covered with posters upon posters- first, *Nsync and puppies and later Beatles and anime. Now that I'm sort of an adult though, I feel that I've outgrown the whole idea of posters and that I need something a little cleaner.


So, I had this debacle about what to do and was walking with Esther to Berkeley Bowl when I saw on the sidewalk a poster (lo and behold) on foamboard. I thought it would be cute covered it in pretty fabric to make a bulletin board for my new room, and that is exactly what I did.


By the way, I'm actually not as mature as I made it seem earlier in the post. I love bright warm colors, if you haven't noticed, especially orange and yellow. I do feel a little classier now that everything is neatly arranged in coordinating boards.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Last weekend Dwight, Michael and I flew down to SNA to visit a friend in Orange County (holla, Brendan!). While there we saw some beautiful beaches, ate ridiculous amounts of red meat and took Michael to Disneyland for his VERY FIRST TIME!
I love Disneyland. I'm sorry, I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE Disneyland. The rides are awesome and the park is clean but most of all, everyone in there is so happy. So, when I found out that Michael had never been to Disneyland- well, I had to do something about it!
Though he is approaching 20, we wanted to make sure that we did all of great Disneylandy things that most people do when they are in the single digits. We ended up being in the park for nearly 12 hours making sure we hit all of the major rides and attractions.


Oh, and we got him ears of course.

But the definite highlight of the day was eating in the super elite Club 33, all thanks to Brendan's mad connections.


I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the inside of the Club, but here are the O'Hares using the super secret intercom to get in. The inside was full of old sketches of original Disney costumes and props from old movies. Oh and the food was to die for.
Overall, a successful Disneyland trip!

The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn

Let’s turn back the clock to Summer 2008. Somewhere in a beer garden in the heart of California suburbia, a peppy teenage girl approaches two far more seasoned lindy hoppers who are just settling in for some live tunes and a bit of a nosh.

Spongemonkey: You guys should really ask us to dance later. *walks away*
Chris and Inebriated Friend: I guess we should ask them to dance later…

And the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn play on…



So, Spongemonkey and I recently celebrated a very special double anniversary. It was the one year anniversary of seeing the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn live, and of meeting Chris. Actually remembering when I first met a fellow lindy hopper in the local scene is surprisingly rare. Swing friendships are usually characterized by weeks (even months) of an awkward “awareness” of each others existence. Then suddenly everything is chummy and you no longer scurry away when you are done dancing with the person.

I literally met/danced with Chris at Swing Central when the Vipers were performing there in the Summer of 2008. Spongie, Chris and I were the only lindy hoppers to follow the Vipers from that venue to the next. At the new venue, I recognized Chris’s baby face (and he recognized my grumpy one). And because this anniversary is SO very special, the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn decided to come all the way from New York just to celebrate…except I had really just forgotten about all of this until I saw on the Midtown Stomp website that the Vipers were going on a west coast tour…again…hopefully it will be an annual one.

As a lindy hopper who has yet to see the likes of the Loose Marbles or the Boilermaker Jazz Band live, I can firmly say that the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn are my absolute favorite live band. Billy’s vocals have a comfortable sense of humor about them and are always accessible. David’s washboard percussion manages to be both silly and intricate. Add in tight harmonies, and it really does not get any better.

Just like last time, I got to see the band twice. They rocked out the dance closet that is Cat’s Corner and kept the massive ballroom at Midtown Stomp swinging. Overall, I had a far better time at Cat’s. Despite the lack of room, I felt like the floor was faster and more intimate. The Vipers oscillated between blazing and bluesy. By the end of it all, I was super gross, super tired, and super happy. Even our busted Big Apple attempt (the song was crazy fast) could not get me down.



By the time that Midtown Stomp rolled around, I was pretty exhausted. Sadly, I did not take full advantage of the Viper’s presence. Not to knock Midtown Stomp or anything, but I think it is a harder venue for an intermediate lindy hopper (like myself) to access. There are a handful of REALLY fantastic people that change partners with each other like a hoedown. The rest of the room is filled with tons of beginners. Either you have to resign yourself to sitting (which I did because I was lame and tired), dancing with lots of uncomfortable beginners (which is OK, but not for the whole night), or stalking the really good dancers (yuck). Luckily Chris and Ryan were there, but I was too moody to properly appreciate them. Plus, there were plenty of decent follows, and I didn’t want to monopolize their time. It didn’t help that the Vipers decided to make a foray into the country part of their repertoire. The night was not a bust though. I got to dance with Mikey Pedroza to Georgia On My Mind. It was pretty sweet.


Go Forth and be Merry!!!

On Webbed Fingers the DJ

Many know of Webbed Fingers the band or Webbed Fingers the crafty duo but most recently, Webbed Fingers has become our alias for our joint DJ'ing. Yesterday we DJ'ed in between sets of Jane's "house" band at Jane's BBQ.


JEREMY! is in the band. They played a groovy mix of funk, blues and swing.


And she had a hammock in her beautiful backyard.

Camp Hollywood 2009

Ok, this whole blog thing was my idea, and I am WAY behind in the posting. Excuse? I keep opting to crash on a couch at the Dancer’s Den rather than sleep in my own bed. Clearly I am not mentally where I need to be to start an adult life. In any event, if there was anything worth blogging about, I have finally hit on it. This past weekend I packed into a yellow bug with some awesome buddies and made the six hour drive down to LA for Camp Hollywood 2009. Still riding the high.

Apparently I have found my new (expensive) hobby. SFLX’08. Check. SacLX’09. Check. Camp Jitterbug’09. Check. And now for Camp Hollywood’09 I am inking in a nice fat “X.” This was not what my pocketbook had intended. I am going to go ahead and place the blame squarely on the shoulders on Mel. Next to events like Frankie95, ULHS or Lindy Focus, Camp Hollywood is not particularly compelling. Filtered through an excited first time camper and general lindy hop cheerleader, Camp Hollywood is the ONLY place to be at the end of July.






When the time came round to register for Camp Hollywood, I was not particularly inclined to pay for the entire camp OR plane tickets OR a “posh” hotel. When one is currently what I like to refer to as an immobile vagabond (i.e. a bum), one must pick and choose where one wants to spend one’s previously hard earned monies. Camp Hollywood has a (deserved) reputation of being too…well…Hollywood. A whole barrage of extenuating circumstances had killed earlier plans to road trip down to LA, and I was ready to call it quits on making any part of Camp Hollywood. Then Brom offered me the last spot in his car, and suddenly it was “CH All Systems Go!”

Let me start by saying that this experience was by no means all good. It was plagued by mediocre night dances, sometimes iffy music, a hotel disaster of (exaggeratedly) epic proportions, not enough sleep, deficient nom prospects, constant LA traffic, and a missed barbecue that was apparently fantastic. But as with most things in life, the good far outweighs the bad, and I am glad to have gone.

Things immediately started going wrong when I got a call on Thursday night telling me that my hotel reservations had fallen through, and I needed to find a place to stay for three people. I spent a half an hour outside of Triple Rock amongst smokers and (real) bums frantically calling fellow campers to find us another situation. Thankfully, Lindy Hoppers are some of the nicest and helpful people in the world. Chris, Ben and Charles were particularly kind and offered to sleep on the floor in order to give us a place to stay. Everybody I talked to was a sport for putting up with the constant reshuffling. In the end, the whole scenario just reinforced another aspect of what makes being a swing dancer wonderful. You get to be a part of a community that has your back when things go a little bit wrong. I barely know Ben and I met Charles that weekend, yet they allowed me to impose on their vacation simply because I was part of their circle of lindy friends. And Chris, well, he is just a sweetheart. Swing Love!!!

I can’t really speak on the quality of lessons, and I was not able to see all of the competitions, but I feel that I took advantage of all of the weekend that I had access to. I danced most of Friday night (10pm-2:30am) and Saturday night (9:30pm-4:30am), and managed to sneak into the awards ceremony. There was no way I was gonna miss Matt, Yon and Bromley picking up some totally righteous hardware. Represent for the BAY (and Sac)!

Friday night was decent. I should probably thank Bromley for saving my night. I was having quite a bit of trouble navigating the crowd for the first couple of hours, and was feeling pretty crappy in terms of being a good dance partner. Dancing with Bromley almost always makes me feel like a better follow, and I was able to have some killer dances with some new partners afterwards. There is nothing like encountering a new dance partner and being excited to dance with him, but also feeling like he is excited to dance with you as well! That is something that I rarely get in SF anymore. I guess I have been around for too long… The DJ played a variety of music. Although I am sure there were some songs that I dislike very strongly (i.e. all of that rockabilly noise), I came away feeling that I got to hear some new music in my favorite jazz and swing styles.

I think the biggest knock on this social dance was that nothing about the venues was conducive to a lindy hopper who wants tear up the floor for eight hours. The physical surface was terrible. I had people tell me it was sticky, but I personally thought it was very slippery in some spots. Let’s just say it was uneven. The whole floor was divided up into three pieces, and was altogether too small at the beginning of the night and too big at the end. Swingouts that transition from laminate to carpet never go well and I hated being cut off from the other dancers out there by the floor divisions. I had one dance where Laura Keat whacked me twice, I kicked Marcus Koch in the shin, and I TOTALLY felt up some woman’s ass. (I literally dragged my entire hand along the width and breadth of her butt.) Not ideal.

I was initially excited to hear Mora’s Modern Rhythm Makers, because I have and enjoy a few of their recordings. Overall, they were underwhelming. I think Eva put it best when she said that they played run of the mill swing. The long delays between songs were trying as well. By 2am, the floor had mostly cleared out, and Eva said that I looked “danced with” which I suppose translates to disheveled. I figured hanging around for much longer would not be worth the sleep I could be getting, so I packed it in. Highlight of the night, Nicole slapped my ass. Swift judgment from the head judge, and I think I am OK with it.



Saturday night made my entire weekend, but it started out rough. Once again, I had trouble warming up and approaching people. This has become a trend with me, and I need to get over it. It takes up too much time. The competitions (Team and Lindy Finals) were tough to stomach. JB had some rough spotlights, and by 11:30pm, I was feeling a bit forlorn. This was unfortunate for many reasons, but especially because Jonathan Stout and his band of farm hands sounded great. Luckily, a few swigs of beer and some great dances with friends can turn any night around.

I will forever remember Saturday night for giving me my first Big Apple. A quasi-fast song came on, and David came over to see if I wanted to practice some Balboa. I was just saying yes when it clicked: BIG APPLE CONTEST!!! *SHIT* “David we will have to dance LATER!” I literally tore across the room to jump into the fray. Honestly, I am sure I was terrible, but who cares? The music and the energy of that dance is just fabulous, not to mention that it makes me think of Frankie, which just gets music and energy bubbling in my head all over again. Right before we got into “Ride the Pony” I panicked again, because I suddenly realized that I was in between two chicks. There was no way that I was going to be without a partner in my first Big Apple! Luckily, Bromley was in the same position (except with dudes). I got my ass over to him in time to pose on 3, and well, the rest is CH history. One thing I will remember for next time is to just trust that I know the steps and not depend on other people. At one point, I am sure I was just standing there (grinning like an idiot) because half the people were off and I was no longer sure who to follow. I will have to jack the video from David later to evaluate the messy execution. Maybe I will say that I was just adding my personal “style” to the choreography.

Also on Saturday night was the second Underground Jitterbug Competition. Mel and I managed to get front row seats and were literally almost right under the action. One day, I am going to be good enough to enter. Period. I have to know what this feels like. HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO! Watching the participants tear it up was exhilarating, and I went hoarse with yelling and cheering. Congrats to Tiffiny and Kenny. While I feel that Dax and Max were more entertaining and displayed an almost unbelievable range of skills, I have nothing bad to say about the effort that the winners put out. Kenny looked like he was about to die by the end of it all. Tiffiny is pretty tiny, but I suppose constant aerials with anyone will tire a guy out. Hehe. I was also…err…”treated” to a first hand look at Dax’s knickers because he started to undress. Red briefs with stripes. TMI, I know. The only knock on the UJC is that the MC needed to shut up and let the people dance. I personally don’t need to be pumped up by a guy in a plastic crown with runny eyeliner when there are couples ready to swingout at upwards of 250 bpm. After the UJC, most dancers were inspired to go back into the main ballroom and dance more. I spent the next couple of hours doing what I love most.



In the end, I am super happy to have made it down to LA for Camp Hollywood. I got to be part of a super strong NorCal contingent that made its presence known in competition and on the social dance floor. I think the most disappointing aspect of this event was that the feel of “Late Night” never materialized. At CJ and SFLX, once 2-3am hit, everybody that was left seemed to just hunker down and DANCE. The rooms got a more intimate and darker feel. Everybody was disgusting, but nobody cared. It was like collecting fatigue points for a couple of hours, but saving them for later. At CH, the room just emptied. I felt the vibe in the room consistently lessen as the hours ticked by. Still, I met and danced with some awesome people. I got to do some more traveling/dancing/jumping up and down with my best friends. I’m not sure if this is an event I would want to hit regularly, but who knows?

Next on the docket: SFLX’09 and ULHS’09. Yikes!

Photo Credit to Charles Lin

Forge Ahead

Beach Swing Bums

Yesterday a group of us who were too poor to go to Camp Hollywood piled into Brian's car for a daytrip down to the South Bay coast. We spent most of the day in Capitola, an adorably quaint village and beach, before heading up to Burlingame for Rhythm Lounge. Besides doing all beach standards (volleyball, lounging, dipping our feet in the icy water) we also did some crazy things that drew interesting looks from fellow beachgoers- playing ninja and other games, dancing, doing the shim sham and the big apple (twice!).



Oh, and last weekend I made striped high waisted shorts, pictured above.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake and the Dancer's Den

Living with two fellow dancers is probably the best thing a dancer could ask for. My apartment, aptly named the Dancer's Den, has in these past few weeks become a hub for dance practice, swing and blues parties but most importantly SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE VIEWING NIGHTS. We and our fellow swingers gather every Wednesday at 8pm exactly to admire and critique the performances, but usually this is just another excuse to make a sinfully delicious dessert without feeling bad.


Tonight, it was Smitten's Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. The recipe was doubled of course, yet somehow both were gone in under half an hour.


And of course, we danced. We tried doing truckin' (scoots) like this and it was awesome. So awesome that AJ and Melanie should choreograph it into their piece next semester.

"Penne" a la Vodka

You know those days where all you want for dinner is Vodka Penne. What are you supposed to do?

Make the boyfriend bike out to Safeway and buy you vodka of course!

Unfortunately at Berkeley Bowl there was only bougie penne and I am cheap so I bought Campanelle. I figured Campanelle would be more fitting anyway, because it is kindof like Campanille. Go Bears!


Damn that looks good. I want to eat it again.

I used Rachel Ray's You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Pasta which was pretty good, but I felt like it could have used more cream. I probably should have also let the sauce reduce a little more so it was thicker. Next time.

On "This is Webbed Fingers"

Webbed Fingers is the name of Dwight and Spongemonkey's first band. Initially created way back in '03, Webbed Fingers has since produced the full length albums "Hand Deficiency Tour" and "Custom Made Gloves" as well as the feature film, "This is Webbed Fingers." Exciting, no? But these productions are actually quite embarrassing, and will hopefully never see the light of day again.

Instead, the WF sisters are in the process of creating a little online space to share with the world our crafty undertakings. Whether it be a triple layer cake, a 40's inspired dress, or a haircut for a friend, we hope you enjoy these crafty pursuits.

Cheers,
WF