Today was our second day of movement training and I am definitely starting to feel it. Although playing 1.5 soccer games last night after a full day of movement may not have been the best idea. I did enjoy it though so no regrets. Today was emotional for a lot. For me I am just hoping moment to moment that my strength holds up. I kept myself motivated during the tricks that I was having trouble with by keeping in mind this is just a jumping off point. It's hard not to put ego into it thinking that well I have been here the longest surely I should be able to do everything perfectly by now.
I have to remind myself to not view the room in a masculine competitive way. But in a supportive everyone is amazing kind of way.
Tough day three...I thought I had said all their was to say and then found out there was so much more that I cannot even begin to put words to.
Losing my shit. Falling into plain view going nowhere not coming full circle.
sigh, after such a rough day I have a headache the size of mount rushmoor and I just want the music to stop, want our company to go home. want to get out and into my head, my heart. pounding resistance between my eyes. when will I learn acceptance. of all that she is. I fell out of class tonight wrapped my arms around my EC best friend and sobbed. I don't think I have felt that miserable during class in a long long time. stuck and stagnant. nothing working. but following Ms Suave's guidance as i try to find my way into my body, my heart. do i live in sadness, i want to jump ahead and just figure it out. but i cannot think my way there. and these days i can't even put words to what I am actually feeling when I dance. Other than an unbearable tightness locked just at the bottom of my ribs. in my sternum almost. so much frustration in not being able to read into it. explain it.
i feel like she doesn't want to accept her limitations anymore than i do. find a way to be private while still being seen. allowing others to witness...
breathing deeply did not come easily or maybe even at all today. my dance was..lacking. Lacking in release mainly.
Fuck, Fuck, Fuck fuck fuck.......deep well of emotion coiled into a snake of tension in my back and my chest and my head trying to comprehend and release but finding no channels no freeway to find my way home to there. that place where it all makes sense where nothing and anything can happen to. within. your body and dimension. That place where I can breathe deep and fall into a pit a of despair .Where I can be heard and seen. been.
Authenticity and real in my meal of deal and rhyming wheel. spiel. Connect. disconnect. run cry hide, find answers in the been and why.
Home at last, what a long day. It didn't seem long though. I think I was just hyper aware of actually being there today. It seems surreal that I am in Teacher Training at all.
To be here today is amazing to me on so many levels. Especially after last years utter disappointment. On top of the back injury, which I actually spoke to in class today. I seem to almost choke on emotion when talking about such things. In that first instant it totally overwhelms me and I find it hard to breath. I find my body racked with unexpected sobs. It makes me wonder where I keep all of that sadness. I suppose my teacher would say "in your curves".
Afterwards a girl asked me "why do you think you got choked up about it". I don't remember what I responded to her. But honestly, it was traumatic. The fall, the aftermath, the recovery. Wondering if I would ever get back to where I was. Coming into it from such a place of strength and final understanding and then losing it all. This mainly has been bringing up all of the walls that I am struggling with in my own journey.
Our secret society awaits. As I see the light reflected on my dash. I realize that my choice of outfit today is perfectly me. Comfy, casual, sporty, sparkly. This is real, it is not a dream. here's pride awareness tears journey is officially begin and I am sparkling on the way there. on my way there with every breath galaxy of lights play across the visor, dash, and steering wheel of my car.
Over the past few days I have been hunting and gathering for all things necessary to start my new adventure tomorrow. I hit up target, victoria's secret, mika yogawear, and then target again.
On the docket...warm comfies, journals, and some workout wear.
I was just discussing tomorrow with one of my fellow trainees. I was saying how it kind of felt like the first day of school. Picking out your outfit for the day, getting your supplies together, feeling a bit nervous. And she stated how she felt a little like we were joining a sorority or a secret society.
It does feel a little like we are training to be in the insider's club. Learning all of the secrets.
I'm feeling just...I'm not sure how I am feeling. Excited, a bit nervous. A bit ambivalent. Maybe even a little disbelieving.
I cannot even believe all that has happened in the last few months. Sorry I have been so absent but Mr Mine and I bought a condo! And Mrs Bokeh had her baby! So it's been a couple months of chaos, flurries of paperwork, inspections, moving trucks, and many many car trips back and forth. I am happy to say that we are finally completely moved in to our new home. Settled in? Not quite, but it is slowly getting done. I'm hoping just a few more weeks and everything will have found a home. I plan on bringing you the full story soon. Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you!
We've been juicing at least once a day since Monday. It's been nice. Since we have been buying all our veg well in advance its been easy to just pick a recipe and juice. So much quicker than cooking. Don't get me wrong we've still been eating regular meals for the rest of the day. But it's been refreshing to know we've been getting a good size of fresh veggies each day. We have both been sleeping alot better too.
Ok its official. I appear to currently be incapable of painting in the same style as my instructor and the rest of my class. When we were finished today my instructor cane up and said " you know you paint in a very stylized way right?" "Have you taken a lot of painting classes?". To which i responded yes, and no i havent had any painting classes since high school. She then asked me about college classes and i said no. Yes i went to an "art school" but we did more marker rendering or model painting. In fact the only "painting" class that I had in college was an airbrush painting class. So maybe its the marker rendering techniques I learned that are influencing my painting style. Who knows? I wasn't very good at rendering. Mostly its my underdrawings that need work. Im not very good at perspective. I'm sad to say that this was my last class. But I am going to try to continue doing one painting per week at the least.
I just crawled into bed after getting home from class. Wide awake I lay listening to the steady breaths of my husband as he sleeps peacefully. And to the loud propellers of the helicopter that has been circling our area for the past 5 minutes. Which is completely at odds with his peaceful slumber. Not sure what is going on these days but this is the third night in a row that this has been occuring. I envy Mr Mine's ability to fall asleep through just about anything. I have to hand it to him nothing gets between the man and his sleep.
I visited another class tonight and even though there was a last minute teacher swap it was still a great class. There are certain teachers that my body responds really well to. Its a combination of music choice, voice, and energy. Ms Soulful, embodies all three in perfect harmony and is actually one of my favorite teachers. So it was a pleasant surprise that she was subbing tonight for Ms Songbird.
When my dance was over Ms Soulful asked me if being back in class was like riding a bike. I told her kind of, that it was more like riding a bike very cautiously. I had a feeling she didn't know or remember or possibly even realize that I was the student who had fallen and broken her back that fateful day in May. Not feeling like expounding on that I just let it drop. She told me that my dance hadn't looked cautious. And really it didn't feel cautious as much as accepting that I am still learning my bodies limitations. That I am trying exceptionally hard not to push too hard too fast.
I woke up today and was just a great big ball of whiney. Exhausted and not looking forward to the events of the day to come. First on the agenda was a tangle with our storage unit which you can read about here. Second was my fifth week of Portrait Painting. Even though I was tired I was partially looking forward to class after the positive results from last week. Unfortunately, class today was to be a bit of a disappointment to me.
I just can't seem to follow our instructors formula even when I try. Today we were really working hard on warm vs cold light. What I learned was that when you have warm light hitting your subject you get cool colored shadows. When you have cool light hitting your subject you end up with warm shadows. We had both types of light hitting our model so we were supposed to paint one side warm and the other cool. Again, the instructor took up the first hour of class demonstrating and explaining how we could make this happen. I think I started out ok, but towards the end my brain was mush and I think I just stopped caring about what color I was mixing as a warm or cold versus just getting my painting to at least look like the model. Sigh. Hopefully I will have better luck and more time with the assignment next week. Two hours really isn't long enough for me to sketch and paint someone.
Now that I am back in class I thought it would be good to start taken supplemental lower level classes to help build my strength. So I took a Super Pole class for levels 1-2. Where we would work on the most elementary of tricks. None of the flipping upside down stuff that has my family freaked out. It was an awesome workout. Although since there were two poles and only two of us attending the class my shoulder started wearing out towards the end. Good thing I had a four hour break between the Super Pole Class and my regular class...
I love working on pole tricks. It's like flying. It's like playing on the swings but on steroids because you are using your own strength to control your speed and height.
It really is strange being back in my "home" class and only knowing a few other people in it. Tonight was especially unnerving because the only girl I really knew was my old-time gal Ms Soarer. There were a few other girls that I had met recently. One being the girl who went through all my paperwork with me to sign back up for classes. The other, a girl who had been in the same teacher training tryouts as me.
I've been having a hard time reconnecting to class, maybe because my expectations and the reality of class are very different spaces. I remember someplace, warm, welcoming, and safe. But this new class hasn't lived up to that yet. With different girls in class each week it's hard to garner the support and camaraderie that I am not only used to, but expect to be there. I did enjoy our warm-up, but the pole conversations that we had felt one sided. And once again Ms Soarer was paired with me and another girl. I don't think this combo is working very well and I think I will have a chat with Mrs Suavity about it before class next week.
My personal dance this week was to Waiting for the End by Linkin Park.
It was interesting. Again, I could feel the frustration mounting throughout the song. There were moments when I broke free of it, but they felt fleeting. I think that it stemmed from having injured me ankle this past Sunday and feeling as though I can't trust my body. Not that it was actually my body's fault for once.
So many things to work out. Lots of mental merry-go-rounds pulsing through my head. I suppose to that end the lyrics of this song were fairly fitting.
This is not the end,This is not the beginning,Just a voice like a riotRocking every revisionBut you listen to the toneAnd the violent rhythm,Though the words sound steady,Something empty's within 'em, We say "Yeah!"With fists flying up in the air,Like we're holding onto somethingThat's invisible there,'Cause we're living at the mercy ofThe pain and the fearUntil we dead it, forget it,Let it all disappear. Waiting for the end to come...Wishing I had strength to stand...This is not what I had planned...It's out of my control.... Flying at the speed of lifeThoughts were spinning in my head.So many things were left unsaid.It's hard to let you go... (Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,I know how it feels to lie,All I wanna doIs trade this life for something new,Holding on to what I haven't got Sitting in an empty roomTrying to forget the pastThis was never meant to last,I wish it wasn't so... (Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,I know how it feels to lie,All I wanna doIs trade this life for something newHolding on to what I haven't got! What was left when the fire was gone?I thought I found right but that right was wrong.All caught up in the eye of the storm.I'm trying to figure out what it's like - moving on.And I don't even know what kind of things I've said,My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead.So picking up the pieces, now, where to begin?The hardest part of ending is starting all again. All I wanna doIs trade this life for something new,Holding on to what i haven't got!.. This is not the end,This is not the beginning,Just a voice like a riotRocking every revisionBut you listen to the toneAnd the violet rhythm,Though the words sound steady,Something empty's within 'em(Holding on to what I haven't got!) We say "Yeah!"With fists flying up in the air,Like we're holding onto somethingThat's invisible there,'Cause we're living at the mercy ofThe pain and the fearUntil we get it, forget it,Let it all disappear!(Holding on to what I haven't got!)
Hurray! We finally got to take an entire class to sketch and paint the model. I'm still not quite getting the technique that my instructor is using but I was happy with the results from today's class.
I just watched a hummingbird take a bath outside my window. It was using the water droplets on my rosebush's leaves. So cute! Sometimes it's just the little things that make you smile.
That's right my friends, yours truly finally officially started back at her pole classes. It was a very interesting experience. Kind of like starting at a new school. My class still has a few of my girls in it. But there are a lot of new faces to get used to. New energies to figure out. One of the girls who is "new" to my class is one of my life long pole friends. She and I took classes together in the very beginning and all through the middle. Sadly Ms Soarer and I haven't been in the same class for probably about 4 years. Sure we have had run-ins over that time. A make-up class together here and there, chance meetings at our studios dance-a-thons. But it's different, and frankly we both dance completely different than we did 4 years ago. So the next few weeks will be a learning curve for me. Finding my place in the class. Meeting new ladies. On a happy note, my body is stronger than I thought it would be. I didn't do anything too crazy. But I can tell that the strength in my arms has returned as well.
For my dance I chose one of the studios suggested songs for the week "Underneath" by Adam Lambert. I wasn't sure with this being my first dance back, just how it would go. Would I love the song? Hate it? Would I be able to connect?
I'm happy to say that although initially I didn't really feel myself sinking into the song, eventually the annoyance and anger at the song built to a level that I was able to let it out. So it was unexpectedly a great dance for me. A bit all over the place and I felt like I had so much to say I wasn't even sure what to let out first! Fortunately, I don't do a whole lot of thinking while I dance, so most of that was subconscious. It was great to be back. I'm looking forward to my next class, but I might just wait until my regular class time next week to take it. Trying really hard not to push myself too fast. Not an easy feat since I just want to go, go, GO! I love being active again. It felt exquisite to move and bend and stretch my body. To feel the rhythms and beats pouring through my soul. It's good to be home.
I got CLEARED!!! Much to the chagrin of family and friends. I think that the only person as excited about the fact as I am is Mr Mine.
I had my final MRI on Feb 20. I was happy that it was not nearly as grueling as the first one that I had back in July of last year. I was in and out within an hour. I even got street parking so I didn't have to pay. On Feb 22, I went in and met with Dr. Perri to go over my results. To make doubly sure they even took another set of x-rays that day. The words " you should have no problems going forward" were music to my ears. I don't think that the ordeal is absolutely completely behind me. My back is still not as flexible as it used to be which is something that is hard to get used to. I am hoping that once I am back to taking my classes regularly a lot of that flexibility will return. I'll keep you posted!
Phew, painting class is exhausting. I'm beat. Today instead of using the limited Zorn palette we added a bunch of additional colors.
Today's Palette.
New Palette Colors:
Raw Siena
Burnt Umber
Violet
Ultra Marine Blue
Veridian Green
Alizarian Red
Cadmium Yellow Light
I wish our classes were four hours long instead of three. That extra hour would really make all the difference. Every week I feel rushed to try and finish my paintings. I think it's also a matter of I haven't done much sketching in the past few years so I'm pretty rusty too.
Figure drawing was never one of specialties but I am really enjoying this class. Even being rushed it is fantastic to just be painting every week. I still feel really far behind the rest of the people in class, but I am trying not to judge myself too harshly. Trying to accept where I am and just acknowledging that I have a long way to go.
For the past few weeks it seems as if everyone and their mother has commented on my haircut. Which by the way is the same haircut I have had since November. Only it grew out a bit and I just had it reshaped.
No, no people, it's not just the haircut that you are reacting to. You're also reacting to the fact that I have lost 17.8 lbs since Martin Luther King Day. My face is thinner, I'm overall a lot leaner and THAT is why you currently are amazed at how awesome I look! Nope, definitely not just the haircut.
But thanks for all the compliments just the same :) They really do make a girl's day!
Every class starts with our teacher telling us what we will learn this lesson, a few extra pointers, and then a demonstration on what we will be doing. This week we were going to go a step beyond our value paintings of last week. Today we were tackling the Zorn palette. Which is a limited palette technique named after Anders Zorn. Limited meaning we were only allowed to use the following four tubes of paint to create all of the colors necessary for our painting:
Ivory Black
Titanium White
Yellow Ochre
Cadmium Red Light
She told us this was an excellent way for us to learn how to mix the colors for flesh tones. I have to agree. I don't have the colors right yet, but I can definitely see where I would find them if I continue to work within this palette.
There is something exceptionally daunting about a blank canvas. Even when you know what you are going to paint. It's just at the moment of actually starting I have this spiking fear of failure. Which I admit is ridiculous. Because really who is around to judge me other than myself? And why should I WANT to judge me? Painting classes have made me realize that I have unrealistically high expectations for myself when it comes to doing new things. This is where I think that the description for "Capricorn" actually finally rings true for me. I'm a perfectionist. Which is horrible, because I don't give myself space to grow. To start off awful at something and work hard to become better at it. I have a history of "trying" things and then quitting them. I'd like to change this fact about me so you'll likely see me hammering away at attempting to paint and learn photograpy this year. These two things are my focus.
So upon the ending of my first oil painting class our teacher suggested that we go home and that sometime during the week we attempt to paint a self portrait. So in keeping with my resolution this year to really try. Here is my attempt:
All set up and ready! Now, the hard part, that first stroke.
The final product. Wish I had thought to take a few inbetween shots.
Well, I think I captured some likeness, but I need to work on values. It will be interesting to see how the next one turns out. I will just have to keep trying.
Today was the start of my six week painting class at SMC. I was a bit nervous earlier in the day. But after all the last minute rushing around and dropping off Mr. Mine I forgot the nerves and was eagerly anticipating class. The teacher, Ms Bledsoe, was kind and efficient. Starting the class out with lots of explanations and how tos. Today our assignment was a value scale painting using only black and white. I got too class about 15 minutes early so was able to get an ok spot. Although i think next week I will opt for more of an angled position.
This was my first time working with oils so it was a bit off an adventure. I did feel as though everyone else in class seemed to sink their teeth into the assignment while I was only just starting to graze the surface. I'm a very slow painter and we had probably about two hours to work on this. It was also hard because the model seemed to only sit for short periods of time. Then she'd get up, stretch, then get back into the pose. Every time i swear the light hit her face differently. Which was a little frustrating. I'll have to get used to this.I'm not used to dealing with moving subjects. But overall i loved the class and it was exceptionally fun getting my hands dirty.
I took a secret dance class the other day. Just to see how my body would take it. The result? My body felt fantastic. My back groaned a little through all of the stretching but has felt absolutely fabulous since class. My biggest complaint once I stopped PT was that my back was always tight. It's amazing how much one class loosened me up. Ok, well MOST of my body felt fantastic after class. There was a little bit of a groin strain incident. But that was my own fault for just not acknowledging mentally how inflexible I have become. Thou shalt not try dropping into a split from a standing position if one has not done the splits in over 9 months.
So I survived class with flying colors. I mostly just warmed up and danced. No pole tricks at this time. I'm not planning on pushing my luck. I have an MRI scheduled for next wednesday to officially clear me ( I hope) to start taking classes again. I know that my family is going to throw a fit about this, and I don't blame them. But I want to dance, need to dance and if I can completely bounce back from this injury I am damn well going to do it. It makes me happy and it keeps me fit both mentally and physically.
How do I know that my family is going to throw a fit? Well because they have already made their position quite clear on the issue of me being back to playing soccer. Yes soccer, I know I am probably crazy, but I'm not ready to stop playing yet. Although I know there will come a day when I decide, enough is enough when it comes to this sport. Dancing for the rest of my life is one thing, soccer, well, we'll see.
In the meantime I am enjoying the ability to move freely. To run and jump, to bend and twist all things that I definitely missed.
October 29, 2012
I had my latest appt with Dr Perri and he declared that I should start weening myself completely off my brace. He also said that as long as I continued to heal that I should be back to my full activities in 3 months. I have to say that I did a mental happy dance when I heard those magic words. He also ok'd me to start physical therapy once I returned from my trip. Woohooo! The road to recovery is near. I'm looking forward to not having to wear my brace all the time while we are in London too. I will be so happy to no longer be a bionic woman. And I can tell that my posture has definitely improved already. I'd say things are finally starting to look up.
Today Mr Mine tried his first ever sloppy joes. I didn't realize this when I pulled this specific recipe out of our new light meals in a slow cooker book. But I was very excited for him once I found out. I loved sloppy joes as a kid. And probably haven't had one in years. Although he wasn't getting your everyday average Joes. He was getting a much healthier version, Turkey Joes. These were incredibly easy to make and once I pointed out the correct way to eat them (not with a fork and knife) he was in love.
So my cats know that they are not allowed on the table. But that doesn't mean that they don't try to bend the rules as much as possible. As in putting two paws on the table as they jump from chair back to chair back. Leo took it to a whole new level this morning with trying to sun himself. He decided that as long as only his head was on the table, he technically wasn't on the table because his body was still on a chair.
His second bout of amazingness today was even more classic Leo though. My husband opened the litter box lid to clean out the litter and what did he find. The Toilet Brush. Leo was definitely letting us know that the litter needed cleaning. When he was little he used to drag plastic bags over to cover the litter box when it needed a full cleaning. Who says cats aren't smart?
And just because we are on an inspirational track at the moment this also seems appropriate to share:
We CAN do it. And by it, I mean ANYTHING. I was having a really rough couple of weeks and when a friend shared this video it really hit home. Inspiration found! I hope this inspires you as much as it inspired me. People are pretty amazing.
One of my cousin's shared this video on facebook today. I love the message. It speaks to my heart and what it has been trying to tell me the last few years. Or maybe even the last decade. Enjoy:
No matter what your job is this video tends to speak to your life. One of the commenters on the post wrote the following which also rang true to me:
"There is no happiness in pursuing a quest that matters not to ones true desires."
What are your desires? What would I do if money were no object? I'm still working on figuring my answers out. On initial response and much I am sure to my parents chagrin I would say. I want to be an artist, a photographer, a dancer. I do love designing, but it is definitely not something that comes easy to me.
So I have been working towards a few things. I signed up for an online photography course and I also signed up for a painting course. The photography course is all year, but the painting class starts this Saturday. I'm a little nervous. Last year Mrs Bokeh and I took a 3 hour painting class and while it was fun, I found that I was berating myself over technique and lack of abilities most of the class. Which made it a lot less enjoyable for me. I think that my expectations are way to high so I am also trying to work on that. Since talent takes time and patience to grow.
I also signed up for online photoshop, flash, and dreamweaver courses. I know photoshop pretty well, but there are always different ways to do things and so much to continually learn.
The other thing that I want to do this year are workshops and possibly conferences. I've found that my local camera store has a lot of workshops that happen pretty regularly and are not too pricey. And I was thinking about trying to attend the annual Adobe MAX Creativity Conference.
My mind and heart are whirling with the sheer gravity of the amount of stuff to DO. From the big stuff like finding property to buy and figuring out this whole trying to get pregnant thing to the little things like cleaning out my email inbox which has well over 6.8 gb in it. The apartment is completely trashed from having people over for the Superbowl (and there were only 2!), the cats puked on the new rug in the living room, the bedroom and hobby room are turning into chaos jungles, and I have a mountain of work to do.
I know that I should just take one step at a time and it will all eventually get done. But the chaos is driving me to madness. All my organization gets destroyed in minutes. Even when I think I have finally gotten the perfect solution, created the perfect tetris formation, thrown out enough of the excess junk. I just can't seem to do it all fast enough. It takes 24 hours for all my careful work to turn back into chaos. Ergo, Madness. Mounting frustration that just makes me want to kick and hit things. It's so hard to sit at my desk and tune all of it out so that I may actually get my work done. One of the reason I suppose why working from home is not always a blessing. I can't escape from all of this. And I can't take a break and do something about it all right now. Even though I know that doing so would improve my work efficiency. Since I would no longer be regularly distracted by the piles of clothes, miscellaneous boxes, stacks of books, and the massive amounts of odds and ends strewn helter-skelter everywhere.
I may just have to call a halt to all activities that do not include apartment rehab. My husband and I continually got tangled up in our own lives and ignore the place we are living. We both hate the chaos and it only makes us even more disagreeable the longer we let it go on. Lucky for him, he gets to leave the chaos and go to work.
I know there is a solution to this. I just don't seem to have the strength and energy that I know it will take to implement. Ok, now that I have take too much time to write about chaos, back to the work at hand. More work done = less stress. Hope you are having a less overwhelming day!
My KTG girls and I have been talking for the past month or so about doing a ceremony or ritual to bring in the new year for our first gathering of the year. Something that would signify that we were ready to start anew. Since my apartment was already decorated for just such an occaission I volunteered to host our NewYears Gathering. I appreciate these women on so many levels. They never give up on me, are always there to lend support, and they are enabling me to become a better person. A more complete and well rounded person. So I wanted to make sure that our new year cleansing meant something for all of us. I scoured the web searching for ceremonies and rituals and finally decided that a Burning Bowl Ceremony was the best choice for us.
The Ceremony consists of writing down regrets from the previous year. Things that you want to let go of and purge from your soul. Once written you can either tear up the paper and add it to a burning pyre or you can burn the full paper which is what we chose to do.
While you are burning your woes you read the following:
Ready! I release and let go,
ready to make the most of this present moment.
As I reflect on the events of the
past year, I recognize successes and failures, gains and losses. Each event has
taught me something and made me wiser. Knowing this, I acknowledge and release
the past year in gratitude.
In contemplation of the coming
year, whether I am excited or apprehensive, I know [the spirit of God/the
spirit of the universe/my spirit] will empower me to meet every situation with
confidence and strength. With this in mind, I release any concerns I may have
about the future.
Today I am ready to stand tall in this present moment. I appreciate the now, perfectly balanced between the blessings of the past and the promise of the future. This is the moment of power and action. I am ready!
I placed a glass contained candle inside a large beverage tub for the burning portion and had a glass of water on hand in case we had any incidents. But all went according to plan. As an added touch to close the ceremony we read the declaration together and then jointly blew out the candle. Short sweet and definitely to the point. Ready or not 2013 watch out here we come!
As per usual life got in the way for a good percentage of the girls, but the few of us that made it made the most of it. I can't wait to see what this year brings. I can feel it in my bones it's going to be a great one.
