First night in Albuquerque, NM

I think I’m finally recovering from the Albuquerque, NM - Regional Competition.  We left Thursday night of last week and returned home Sunday around 8pm.   I never knew it was possible to experience so many mixed emotions in such a short amount of time.   

A group of us left Thursday night to Albuquerque even though competition didn’t start until Saturday.   One thing that sucks about planning your traveling for dance competitions is that you don’t always know which days you need to be at the theater until a week or two before competition.  We all got a great deal on our tickets and didn’t want to risk the cost of the flight increasing or not being able to get a direct flight so we booked the trip from Thursday thru Sunday. As it turned out the girls were only performing on Saturday and Sunday.  Robin and I thought that having an extra day would give the girls plenty of time to relax before the competition.

We checked in to the Doubletree by Hilton around 9:00pm.  I am not a fan of Hilton hotels; and it does not have anything to do with Paris Hilton. I just haven’t had one good experience in any of their hotels.    We were all hungry after the flight and had to order room service for dinner because the hotel restaurant closed early.  We had  used a shuttle service from the airport so we didn’t have any other options.  The next thing we did was check out the pool.  Leyla’s dad had brought her a new swim suit for the weekend and Leyla was looking forward to swimming with her friends.  I was looking forward to sitting in the Jacuzzi while doing absolutely nothing.  We walked through the hotel gym to get to the pool.  There was just one little small missing detail in the online description about the pool ….IT HAD NO WATER… and there was no Jacuzzi.  It never crossed my mind that the hotel wouldn’t have a pool available for guests year around.  I have never been to a hotel that didn’t have a pool.   Wow what a big disappointment!!    

Dinner was delivered to our room and we forgot to order drinks.  Opps..   We were pretty lucky because our room was right outside from a vending machine full of cool refreshing beverages.  Leyla and Robin searched the room for change and could only find a dollar.  The cost for a beverage was $2.00 but oddly enough the machine magically spit out a dollar bill. We thought that it would be ok to take the dollar bill under these circumstances since we couldn’t let the kids go thirsty.  Leyla inserted the first dollar bill but the vending machine kept spitting it out.  Both of the dollars was not accepted and we were all dying of thirst.  The end result is that we were a dollar richer and had to drink tap water.  When I told Leyla I was going to use the bathroom water to fill up the cups she just about had a heart attack.  Its sounds gross and in her defense she never had drank tap water before. It was actually pretty good.  It may sound crazy that she has never drunk tap water but there was a refrigerator with filtered water everywhere she’s lived; which is a little funny because I was raised on tap water.  Wow I’m getting old!!   

Robin lowered the air in the room since it seemed a little stuffy.  The best part of a hotel is the cool AC and being able to lower down the temperature to your likings.     We were disappointment when we found no refrigerator in the room and felt horrible to have to throw away our left-overs.  We were planning on buying food and eating healthy and now we had to rethink the food situation.  We found out later that we could have gotten a refrigerator for an extra $10/per night. 

 After dinner Leyla turned on the TV and flipped to the Disney channel and to our surprise there was a cost of $3.99 per episode. We decided to get ready for bed.  Robin open the door to the hotel to get some cool air in the room and notice the vending machine had spit out another dollar.  I thought maybe we were on Candid Camera and we were being filmed to see how many dollars we would take.  Our first Thursday in New Mexico was turning out to be an interesting start....

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Last chance workout!!

Click here to watch a short video  http://kccreativedesign.com/journeyoftucsondancemom#h219ff6d3

 Sunday was the dress rehearsal for all of the dances that had not already been performed in a competition or that needed a little more practice.  Leyla was feeling horrible and had been fighting a bug since Thursday of last week.  She was complaining about a sore throat, felt warm, and had a light cough.   Strep throat has been going around and since it was Sunday so we had her checked and got her on some antibiotics.  They worked and Leyla started feeling better within a couple of days. The bad news is that her friend Sarah on the dance team now has a sore throat and Leah, my middle child, has had a 101 fever all day.  At this point I would be happy if we made it to competition alive. EmergenC has become our family’s best friend and the girls love the punch and berry flavors.  I just keep telling myself Think Happy Thoughts!!

Dress rehearsal was intense!  I think there were some dances that never got to run their whole dance number all the way though.  April, the owner,stopped the music for every little mistake the kids made and even made them doing push ups.   This had me VERY happy!   I know what kind of mom am I?? Tough Love!! Yah!  Hey, the way I see it is that you 'll never know when you’ll see the Abby Lee dance Company and we want to make sure we give them a run for their money (or beat them).

I recorded the dress rehearsal so that everyone can see little clips of some of the dances that are going to this week’s competition.  The girls have worked very hard and I hope we do well in competition.

I am happy to announce that I conquered the competition hair without the help of anyone else! Woo Hoo! Oh wait, there is more; I am done putting Rhinestones on everything!! Watch out world here I come.  Ha ha   Charlie surprised me today,no, not a wedding ring but with a UPS box that had clear panel garment bags and an On the Go Travel Companion.  He knew I had a tough time finding the right costumes because I had to go through every bag and it was always in the las tone I looked in.  So he found garment bags that have clear vinyl in the front and a solid color on the back. They should fit around 3 costumes each. Perfect!  I also picked up extra earrings and extra pairs of tights.  Tomorrow I am picking up fishnet stockings and eyelashes.   I am excited about the trip and have to admit that it feels really good to be prepared; what a relief.  I don’t want to jinx myself but my rookie days of being a dance mom might just be over.

Charlie is doing a photo-shoot event with out me while I’m in Albuquerque.  He even rented a kick butt lens that I won’t get to try until I get back in town form competition.  I know he’ll do a great job because he one of those people who is good at everything.  In fact he is making me look bad with the other dance mom’s.  He sewed the clips on Sarah and Leyla’s costumes and then on Saturday he baked both Gluten free and regular chocolate chip cookies for the girls and made enough so we could take some to the other girls at the dress rehearsal.  When Robin asked Leyla if I had made the cookie she replied“no it was Charlie.”   I’m sorry; I have to laugh at this point.  I don’t want to complain because Charlie is definitely my better half.  There is no other person in this world I rather take this journey of life with.            

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Before I knew it, it was hailing rhinestones.



Me & Robin counting, counting, counting

This is so much FUN!!

 I can smell the competition in the air; it’s in the aroma stemming from the mist of sweat streaming off of the dancers practicing nonstop.  Yummy =)  The mothers are running around  like crazy hoping that all the costumes arrive in time to have the rhinestone added before  the competition that is only days away.  It’s such a bittersweet feeling.  I’m excited to see all the girls dance but I was not excited when I received this month’s bill.  My grand total was $951.00; not counting the traveling expenses for the competition, or the hospital bill for me after I fainted when I looked at the bill.  The only good news about this bill is that $279 was a mistake.  I did not realize that the $60 I paid per costume was just a deposit.  The high bill was the additional cost of the costumes that were not covered by the deposit.   While in shock I was asked by one of the other moms, who had to leave the dance studio for another obligation, to cut the girls Lyrical dance costumes.  The costumes were long so we needed to trim the length by 2 ½ inches.   Out of all the dance mom’s in the world why would you ever ask me??  Apparently none of them read my blog.  Before I could respond to Lalita she was gone!!!  Do you blame her?   I asked Robin “RL” to rescue me from ruining the costumes.   I felt horrible for asking her since she was recovering from strep throat and just wanted to rest.   Robin laughed and said yes, but I knew she wasn’t excited to help.  But I figured that between the two of us we could get it done without inflicting any major damage.  When it comes to messing up competition costumes I don’t know who I am more scared of; the girls or the other dance moms.  We decided to do our girls costumes first to make sure any mistakes we made would be to our girls and not anyone else’s.   After 20 minutes on one costume we built up confidence and a rhythm and completed the rest of the costumes by the time the dance class was done.  I have to add that we made no mistakes and receive “two thumbs” up from April.  

 Robin and I cut 2.5 inches off

When I got home I had some wine and was feeling good about where I was in preparation for competition.  All of a sudden I felt a rhinestone fall on me.  I must either be dreaming or Charlie had put something in my wine.  I know I should had have stopped at my first glass!  Before I knew it, it was hailing rhinestones.   This couldn’t be possible.  I had only one costume left to touch up.  I must have fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV, Charlie will wake me up any second…WRONG!!  That was no dream it was a premonition!  I received a text from Robin about all the costumes that needed rhinestone makeovers.  You have got to be kidding me. I starting to feel like I was never going to be done with rhinestones.   At this point all I could do is laugh and pour another glass of wine.

 Today the Future Stars dance moms had the DF1 lobby looking like a Nike clothes plant.  They had tables lined up along the wall and were clustered in groups rhinestoning away; they even order pizza.  Robin and I were once again asked to count out rhinestones for the team.  What did I do in life to deserve being constantly worrying about rhinestones?  I just cannot escape RHINESTONES!!  Luckily for me Robin is so sweet and offered to rhinestone one of Leyla’s costumes for me.  Thank you, thank you so very much Robin.  Well, to be honest we made a trade.  She would stone up the “It's My Party Girl” costume and I offered to have Charlie sew the clasp on one of Sarah’s costumes.  Nice trade…for me. Charlie was great about it and knew it was important to Leyla and me.  When Leyla found out that Robin was going to help me her expression of relief said it all.   

Future Star



Page after a long day at work rhinestoning



This is not an ordinary dance bag!!

Can anyone please tell me where February went???  I cannot believe we are already in March!   Just yesterday I was telling you all about how well prepared I am going to be for this upcoming Albuquerque dance competition.  Now with only a couple weeks away it feels like if I don’t put the peddle-to-the-metal and get my stuff together history, yet again, will repeat itself.   I REFUSE to let that happen!!!

I have a check list of all the things I need or need to replace and am making all my on line orders by the end of this week. 

 1) The last competition I used Nude color garment bags for Leyla’s costumes.  I have decided to invest in clear garment bags so I could see each costume rather than digging through every bag to find the right costume (and yes, it is always the last one I look in).

2)  I need to replace my rolling clothes rack that I use to hang all Leyla’s costumes on.  The one I used last year is a complete joke!!  I did not get the cheapest, but rather the middle priced Single Garment Rack at Target.  This garment rack is difficult to roll around and it falls apart easily, it also has lots of small parts making it difficult to assemble and take down.  I’m sure I entertained a lot of the mom’s last year trying to operate the garment rack without it falling apart! (Soo embarrassing).   I felt a little better when I noticed some mom’s had nothing to hang their costumes on.  Then there were the super experienced dance moms who were smart and got the expressive garment rack and had no problem were rolling the rack around, or with pieces of it falling off.  At the end of the day the Single Garment Rack is a not a good one to purchase for any kind of traveling.  The rack was given an early retirement from the entertainment world and is now being used to hang cloths up that come right out of the dryer ,so I guess it was not a total loss.

I was doing a goggle search on garments bags and I found a site called Stage Studio Dancewear website. I found this kick butt dance bag.  This is not an ordinary dance bag but is a Dream Duffel Medium Package!!  I know you may be thinking, so what???  But take a look at this bag! For anyone traveling that needs/wants to know what is in the bag before they open it it’s like a dream come true.  It’s everything I need in one.  The only problems is I’m not sure if I going a little over board or if the bag is going to be a big pain to get around.  PLREASE let me know what you think. http://stageandstudiodancewear.com.au/index.phpmain_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=286

3) Finishing the Rhinestones and touching up the costumes to make sure they are all on securely and in straight lines. Plus knowing where the closest Michaels is located….just in case.

4) Buy two extra tights for each style, extra eyelashes, and extra pairs of earrings.

5) Buy gluten-free food to bring so Leyla and I don’t starve (and have a map of all the stores that sell GF food close to where we are staying). 

6)  Call the competition company who holding the event and get an idea of the set up.  I heard from another mom that she thinks they have racks for us to put the costumes on.

                                                        Is there anything I’m missing?  I sure hope not!!

   

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Step Up 2 Dance Competition Feb 2012

Today all the kids who had a Solo, Duo, or a Trio competed in Phoenix at the STEP UP 2 DANCE competition.  This is Leyla’s 2^nd year on the dance team and she has not been in a solo yet.  Personally, I am happy that she does not have a dance solo.  It’s not that I don’t want her to ever get one; I just think it would have been a little overwhelming this year.   Last year she competed in two dances and this year she is competing in 8 dances; which is a big adjustment so adding a solo would be over the top, at least for me. I only wish that we were able to go up to Phoenix to support the entire dance team.  Unfortunately, I have been under the weather and did not feel comfortable with the long drive. 

 The good news is that our kids kicked butt and received Platinum and High Platinum awards.  High Platinum is not given out often and, at times, seems imposable to get.  The Shining Stars Trios took first place overall!  Sasha, Waverly, Carly, and Amanda received a Diva award.  Two of the Shining Star solos received 2^nd overall but in different age categories.  Unfortunately, that’s all the details I have right now but I promise to fill you in as I learn more. If you were at the competition please post information under comments. 

The next competition is less than a half a month away and most of the team’s dance numbers will be competing in this competition.  Thursday night, when I was watching Leyla and Leah dance, I got a kick listening to some of the other mom’s talk about Rhinestoning costumes.  Many of the dance teams have not yet gone to competition with their group dances so Albuquerque will be first competition for some of the dance teams.  This means that moms will need to dig out the tweezers and the Jewel-It glue and start putting Rhinestones on costumes, boots, etc.  One of the hip hop dances are just now ordering their costumes and may have to Rhinestone on the plane.  Sucks to be them!!  Wait, that reminds me!  I better go through Leyla’s costumes and make sure I fine tune them.   Leyla’s jazz routine costume for Party Girl needs a little work.  The top of that costume is all black; we used a variety of different size rhinestone to add some bling.  I thought I glued enough Rhinestones on Leyla’s top but at the last competition, right before she went on stage, I noticed something really wrong!!!  Somehow I made the Rhinestones into a complete circle around her top; which made it look like I was highlighting her … Well I can’t even say it.  What kind of mom am I??  My poor child!  I asked Leyla if anyone said anything to her about the Rhinestones on her top and she replied that one of the girls said that her top looked a little different than the rest…   Tip number one; have your child try on the costume once the Rhinestones have had time to dry to make sure that Rhinestones are evenly placed and do not accent areas you do not want to draw attention to.  AG made a comment that she was a little nervous about putting Rhinestone on the customs and hopes to get started as soon as possible.  She said she read my blog and wanted to make sure that wouldn’t happen to her; I think I might have permanently scared her!

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Shining Star took 2nd in Phoenix out of 22 routines!

 Watch a short video

 from some clips of the Shining Star dance team http://vimeo.com/36248076 

This past week has been very busy at work with projects and with photo shoots.  I have been complaining more than I usually to Charlie that all the driving I’m doing on a weekly basis is killing me.  It a 35 minute commutes to the girl’s school, 40 minutes to work, 20 minute to the dance studio from work, and then another 40 minutes back home.  A grand total of two hours and 35 minutes a day on the road (when there is light traffic), every day and that’s not counting the traveling I do during my regular work day.  I spend most of the weekends cleaning the house and doing laundry.  10 loads laundry between Statuary and Sunday for all five members of the family.  YUCK!  I guess that is the joy of being a mother!  During my down time I enjoy writing for the blog and editing photos from the photo-shoots, which I absolutely love!!  Photography is my calling and I enjoy it more and more every day.  It is my escape and from this crazy busy life and brings meaning to my life on a level that words cannot express.

Charlie’s schedule is also jam packed; he takes care of our youngest, Alexandra.  He gets her ready every morning and rocks her to sleep every night.  Charlie is a project manager during the day and is an awesome father who has a passion for cooking and makes dinner for the family every night.   This is a good thing because I can barely microwave a TV dinner.   We both feel a little overwhelmed and sometimes debate who is busier than the other.  Sounds familiar?   I hope we are not the only couple that feels this way.  I challenged Charlie to trade places with me for a couple weeks to get a taste of all the driving I do each week; Charlie accepted my challenge.  Thursday Charlie picked up Leyla and Leah from school and I picked up the baby Alexandra from day care.  This was the first day of our trading schedules.  It was so nice to come home after a long day and not have to sit at the dance studio for another 3 hours or more after work.  My gas tank was happy too!!  When I arrived home I put a load of laundry in the washer, picked up the living room, unloaded the dish washer and vacuumed.  Alexandra was my little helper and enjoyed being with Mom.  Everything was going well, I felt relaxed and happy that I was getting an early start on laundry.   I only had one thing left on my check list, dinner!  

I could not remember the last time I cooked and I started to feel a little nervous.   I ran though the meals in my head that I know I could make.  Hmm… tacos, spaghetti and tacos and spaghetti.  That’s it?  Really?  No way!  I was sure more would come to me later and that I was just a little rusty.  I decided to make Spaghetti because you would have to be a complete moron to mess up spaghetti.  I flavored the ground beef and added spaghetti sauce.  I forgot that I put water in the pan when I was prepping so when I grabbed the pan off the stove to fill it with water it spilled all over the place, with most of it spilling on me.  I laughed and told baby Alexandra don’t worry I got this.  Alexandra smiled and said you got this mom?  Yes I got this!!   The water started to boiled, I grabbed the Gluten Free noodles and noticed that the package was rice noodles.   Oh my goodness, I thought, how hard can it be to cook rice noodles?  I glanced at the directions and the only difference I saw was the amount of time the noodles needed to cook.  To make a long story short, I have no I idea what I did, but I over cooked the noodles and they were mushy, very very mushy.  The dogs wouldn’t even eat it so how was I ever going to pass this off??

 Friday, I was at the dance studio and the girls were practicing getting ready for the next group completion in Albuquerque, NM.   I am starting to really get into this whole competition thing.    I think the girls are capable of placing first this year!!  The fact that Shining Star took 2nd in Phoenix out of 22 routines proves that this Tucson dance team can be a true competitor in Phoenix, and in any other city that is known for great fine arts.  What the heck do theses Phoenix dance team mothers feed their children to make them so good?  Even when I was a little girl Phoenix teams were always stronger in football, track, cheer and dance.  I am really getting tired of Tucson being second class citizens when it comes to the performance level of our children.   The fact of the matter is that our girls put in the time so there is no reason that we can’t take them down!!

 This week I videotaped one of the dances that will be in competition.   After playing the video in slow motion it became very clear what the team needs to work on.    

1) Facial Expressions: The girls are using facial expressions but they are all telling different stories.    Some of girls are smiling, while others look like they are about to cry.  That can be a little confusing to the audience.   As Leyla would say “I’m just saying.”

2) Timing: For the most part the girl looks together, but after watching the dance in slow motion there were areas that need to improve.  Arm placement, turns, and transitions are the most obvious ones.

3) Cleaning it up: Throughout the dance arms, turns, leaps, and transitions could be more precise; the girls need to dominate and own their performance. 

 I heard a comment from some of the girls that the dances were good and that there wasn’t much to work on.  Ok, I’m sorry, but only one of the dances placed in the last competition and they didn’t’ take first place overall. That tells me that there is still plenty to work on.   There is always room for improvement!!!  See, this is the problem; we settle for just being good instead of striving to be the best.  I pay way too much money to have a good dancer.  I want Leyla to want to be the best she can be, or don’t dance competitively.   I’m wondering how the teachers are feeling about the dance numbers?   All the girls love to dance and they are very close.  I also know they would love to take first in any competition.  I am really not sure what to do at this point.  Do I bring the tape and show the girls, or do I just say nothing?  Any advice??

P.S. Due to the large amount of emails I received requesting a video of the girls dancing I created a short video from some clips of the Shining Star dance team.  The video is a compilation from a performance and some of the practices.  I changed the music and combined different dances to protect the choreography from getting out to the competition.

Watch a short video from some clips of the Shining Star dance team!