("How I Spent My Weekend" post 3 of 4)

Sunday, I went with oracledante, silentbob037, and his girlfriend Kelly to the 30th Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival. It’s a legendary festival (at least locally), and I’ve never been before, so I figured it was worth checking out.

After a lengthy drive – which included a long and winding road to find the designated parking lot – we arrived just after 2:30.

Obviously, this being a garlic festival, the first thing we wanted to do was fend off vampires – er, I mean, the first thing we wanted to do was find the food booths. It was also a hot day, so we wanted liquid refreshment. Tom and I opted to get large glasses of triple-layer smoothies – strawberry, banana, and peach. Yum!

Then it was time to find lunch. Tom and I wandered the food booths before deciding on garlic steak tacos and garlic bread, both of which were heaven. Tom also had garlic corn, which he said was delicious. We did not partake in the festival’s famous garlic ice cream, even though they were giving out free samples. The line was way too long, and I admit I was a bit chicken.

By this time, we’d accidentally gotten separated from Richard (Kelly met us there later). Well, we all had cell phones. No big deal. Tom and I elected to wander the arts and crafts booths and see what all was for sale. There were some nice things, but nothing caught my eye … until I found this:


Why is this cupcake smiling?

( Answer in here )

The festival was smaller than I expected. We’d seen pretty much everything after less than two hours. Tom and I spent a good 45 minutes just relaxing in the shade of a tree, which was actually quite nice. :-) The last booth we stopped at was offering garlic bulbs for planting. Tom decided to try planting some in his front yard. Mmm, fresh garlic!

Around 5:00, we found Richard and Kelly, who were also pretty burnt out. We agreed it was just about going-home time. Since Kelly had driven separately, Richard went off with her. Tom and I shared a (non-garlic) sundae, then decided to head for the car. On the way out, I couldn’t resist purchasing a shirt that said “GARLIC WARS: Attack of the Cloves”. I should have possibly thought through the implications of wearing a shirt that says “May the Stink Be With You” on the back, though …

So, there you have it. A small festival, but a nice day spent with my sweetie. :-)

("How I Spent My Weekend" post 1 of 4)

Due to a scheduling conflict at our theater, we had our show on Friday instead of Saturday this weekend. Our cast and audience slow-dances in the aisles during "I'm Going Home". tarzxf took a photo of Tom and me during the dance:



Awww.

My Saturday went from stereotypically Californian to a bit more ... out of this world.

rackstraw picked me up at 1:00, and we drove to Ocean Beach in San Francisco. So I was riding in a convertible with a boogie board in the trunk on my way to the beach. In 31 years of living here, that is the most Californian I've ever been at one time. :-)

The weather in SF was absolutely perfect. We stopped at a surf shop where I rented my own board, and then hit the beach. rackstraw tried to teach me how to boogie board, but the waves weren't very cooperative. So we floundered a bit, but it was still a lot of fun. I'd try it again. (Maybe someday I'll learn to surf, too ...)

We left the beach around 4:00 to go to the Can't Stop the Serenity pre-movie dinner at Kennedy's Irish Pub and Curry House. A bit of an unusual combination, but it seemed to work. Unfortunately, we had a difficult time with traffic and parking, and didn't get there until right before the party broke up. Aww. I did eat a bit of chicken vindaloo, which was quite tasty (thanks for the recommendation, Red Dwarf), and changed into my Kaylee costume before we walked up to the venue where the event was being held.

The event was slated to feature a performance by Sonny Rhodes, who sang the "Firefly" theme song, but unfortunately he ended up being unable to make it. That was ok; it gave us more time to mingle and meet people. In fact, we played a game of "Mingle Bingo", hosted by the lovely elite, wherein we were to find people who had certain characteristics. ("Saw 'Serenity' before they saw 'Firefly'"; "Has a tattoo", etc.) I qualified for two: "Drove more than 50 miles to be here tonight" and "Has a picture of their cat in their wallet or on their phone". (Yes, my girl is my wallpaper.) rackstraw removed one of his socks so he'd qualify for "Wearing mismatched socks". (Technically it counted ...)

I skipped the auction so I wouldn't be tempted to buy anything I couldn't afford, electing instead to hang outside with rackstraw, chatting and enjoying the view. (The balcony of the SF Art Institute looks out over the city, and it's quite lovely.)

I was far from the only person in costume, and about a dozen people entered the contest, including three other Kaylees. I'm proud to say that I was one of the three winners they picked! (Along with a guy dressed as Jayne and a girl dressed as Mal.)

Then, after a prize drawing and some pretty cool film shorts, it was time for the Big Damn Movie. After three years, I still laugh at the dialogue and get very sad at certain moments. (And darn it, I STILL hope a certain character's fate will change, but no luck yet ...)

So, we got to enjoy some summer beach fun, meet fellow Browncoats, and support the worthy cause of Equality Now. Overall, it was a very shiny day and night indeed. :-)

Is there anything better than seeing an awesome band with an awesome name in an awesome town? Is there anything more annoying than continually repeating the word 'awesome'?

( Vegan vittles, an abandoned book, and a Hell of a Samba tune )

Hell yeah, I have a Rumba icon.

Matthew and I are starting a series of private dance lessons on Tuesday. Gonna try it out for a month and see if we want to continue from there. We're going to work on Rumba, Cha-Cha, and West Coast Swing.

I'm very excited about this. Rumba has rapidly become my favorite dance, and I'm anxious to learn more advanced moves. I love Cha-Cha too, and I really need to work on my WCS steps.

Meanwhile, there was a couple at the club last night doing street Samba (the style Apolo and Julianne did on DWTS, for those of you who saw it). They were really, REALLY good, and awesome to watch! They kept it up during a Cha-Cha, too. I got so distracted by them that my dance partner thought I didn't know how to Cha-Cha and kept trying to give me pointers. Another couple did what I thought wasn't possible: made WCS look downright sexy.

I so want to be able to dance like that!

It was ALL about the song and dance this weekend, people!

( THURSDAY: Karaoke )

( FRIDAY: Theater and Dancing )

( SATURDAY: Dancing and Rocky Horror )

( SUNDAY: Dancing and ... wait, no; just Dancing )

I am taking brutal advantage of this free pass to Starlite! I'm saving about $45 a week, and getting free group lessons to boot! And of course, I'm having great fun!

Ow.

They taught us a Charleston move last night where we slide one leg back and bend our other knee, until our hand touches the floor - kind of like we're in the starting position for a race. They had us do it over and over, and now my hip is complaining. Hopefully that will go away shortly.

On to other musical musings ...

Songs that I absolutely HAVE to dance to and will grab the nearest partner for:
- "Fever" (any version, although Peggy Lee's is preferred)
- "Big Spender"
- "Sexbomb" (either a cha-cha to the regular version, or a west coast swing to the dance remix)
- "Moondance"
- "This Business of Love"
- "Lady in Red"
... and yes, I'm sure there are others, as well ...

It's interesting how I'm learning about the different dance styles certain Leads have at the Lindy club. Some are hard-core Lindy; doesn't matter how fast or slow the song is, they'll be doing their Charlestons and double-kicks. Others will change up their dance according to the music, and make it a swing (either style), a hustle, or whatever the beat calls for.

And then there's the guy who likes to change the dance style mid-song and see how long it takes me to notice ... ;-)

This past week, wow ...

Best. Dancing. EVER.

So far.

( It gives me Fever ... in a good way! )

Next Wednesday, there is even more to look forward to than usual - it'll be my Birthday Jam!

Ahh, there's nothing like a night at the dance club to bring my self-esteem back up to readable levels - and then some!

I'm really proud of how much I've progressed in the past month. My dance partners throw advanced moves at me, and for the most part I can match them pretty well. I also don't have to look down so much anymore. I danced with one of the instructors, and he complimented my following and said I had a "perfect Charleston". (So zenin4711, next time you're up here, come out to the club and I'll show you what I've learned!)

I'm going to start attending their Friday night ballroom party as well, whenever I have the chance. More dancing is good!

Now if I could just get the bottoms of my feet to stop burning, I'd be perfect. I noticed last night that my leg and foot muscles have been twingeing as well. Not sure if that's muscle build-up from the workout I'm getting, or if it was cramping due to blood loss from the 17-lb. cat on my lap. Possibly both.

I think I could become addicted to ballroom and swing dancing.

( My feet hurt, and I don't care )

I did it! I Stepped Out!

( The Lead and How I Swung It )

I haven't done a lot of scratch cooking in recent years. It seems like a waste to cook for just myself, especially now that I only eat half of a normal serving portion. I thought it would be a nice change of pace to actually make something that required effort, though, so last night I made baked chicken and mashed potatoes for genuine_snark and myself.

I used a brand-new recipe that eorlover gave me, and I'm thrilled to say I managed to cook it just right and it all tasted good. It was nice to have a proper dinner and good conversation instead of a cup of soup and the TV. I even had a couple sips of wine, just to try it. (Sips, just sips! Stop looking at me like that ...)

Had a really fun evening last night. Met up with genuine_snark, had dinner, rocked out to "Guitar Hero 2", then went and performed as Janet with Barely Legal. Had a snag with my first costume change, but otherwise I think it went really well!

Was truly and honestly not going to wake up this morning until ...well, until it wasn't morning anymore, but ye olde Inner Clock had other ideas. Harrumph.

Oh, well. Worth it. :-)