My Blog

HAHA!!

violetjade — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:00:18 GMT

Heather's awesome Brad made this for me :) He rocks. I think I'll call it 'Don't even think about sticking that thing in this flower!" heeheee

Last night

violetjade — Mon, 12 May 2008 02:23:20 GMT

Was wonderful. Mark and the guys were asked to perform at Virginia Samford Theater for the Birmingham International Center. It was a concert to celebrate "Bridging the Peace between Israel and Jordan". Mark, Mike, Robert and Ryan played at the reception before the main event. They did so well. I saw Naser arrive and went to say hello. He greeted me with the biggest hug, like an uncle I had not seen in years. I swear, he is the nicest human being ever. He went over and sat with the guys, picked up Mike's Oud and began playing with them! It was great! After the reception we went to the main theater where some Israeli and Jordanian diplomats spoke, then we were treated to a concert by Naser, a Jordanian cellist and an Egyptian violinist. It was such a wonderful concert! Tickets to the event were $100, but we were so very lucky to get in for free since Mark performed. The musicians improved most of their performance and had never performed together before that night. A true symbol that multiple cultures can come together in "harmony". A truly peaceful evening.

SO much better

violetjade — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:34:31 GMT

OK, dancing, some yard work and lots of wine over the weekend was the key to the pissiness ending :) I am once again...happy DeAnna :) YAY Did I mention that the barrel turn is my favorite slow move??

Solo...me?

violetjade — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:01:55 GMT

My first solo on video...yay!! :) Thanks D!! Also, as a bonus....there is a video on her profile of me and Wendi dancing with Carolena!! YAY! I didn't know one was out there! :) http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33305208

10 year anniversary cruise!!!!!!!

violetjade — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:43:24 GMT

Pirates and Rum!!! YAY!!! Daddy just sent us a confirmation of a 7 night Eastern CarribeanCruise (oceanview room) on Royal Carribean!!! He paid for the whole shabang and flights to Puerto Rico! What an amazing gift!! Holy frackin cow! I can't wait til August!!! Depart San Juan (we arrive a day early to tour) Ports are: Barbados St.Lucia Antigua St.Maarten St.Thomas WOW!! ummmmm....WOW!!!

One year ago

violetjade — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:39:13 GMT

I became a certified FCBD ATS teacher!! I think teaching has taken my dance and technique to a whole new level and I am more in love with ATS today then ever before. Thanks to my fellow teachers (and best buds) and students for always encouraging me! Many many thanks to my momma teachers and the FatChance ladies for being such an amazing inspiration! And a very special thanks to my love who has supported every decision, skirt purchase, weekend with the girls and makeup shopping excursion I have ever had :) YAY for ATS!

email address change!!

violetjade — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:49:05 GMT

Please change your contact list to reflect my new email address: ishimmy4me@gmail.com It defintitley suits me better than the old "Wiccan magickal name" email address did :) ishimmy4 me represents a different kind of spirituality that I hope everyone finds one day!

Saltanah

violetjade — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:00:08 GMT

Mark's new tattoo. Arabic calligraphy of the word Saltanah. It's beautiful. Saltanah is an Arabic term that refers to a phenomenon that sometimes occurs during a live music performance. “Saltanah is the feeling, the ecstasy really, that can occur during a performance, when the energy is flowing freely between the audience and the musicians, and a kind of magic happens … when there is Saltanah, musicians excel, they outdo themselves really and may do things they never thought themselves capable of”.

Little Baby Moemoe

violetjade — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:05:25 GMT

I realized I love painting. I'm not really great at it, but hell...I've only painted 4 times in my life and they have all been in the last month. We took my mom to Sips n Strokes Friday and here's my painting. I decided the black kitty needed a little nub tail like my sweet baby moe moe. I think she likes it.

Disco Inferno

violetjade — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:56:57 GMT

One of my employees turned 50 today. We decided we needed to do something fun and cheery instead of the traditional black and "over the hill" theme. So DISCO it was!! We discofied her office, all dressed in 70's attire and began disco dancing to 'Freak out' when she walked in her office! It was groovy. She loved it. My afro was a hit and very simple to accomplish....perhaps I will wear my hair like that more often :)

Teenagers - sad

violetjade — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:27:23 GMT

If you live in Alabama, you heard of the tragic I459 car accident that killed 4 teenagers. Well, one of my co-worker's 18 year old son's was in that car. I knew Joel. We always hung out during company parties, beach trips, cookouts, etc. Mark and I were "the cool" older people because we had tattoos, Mark drums, etc. Most of his sentences would start with "don't tell my mom" and end in some crazy story where he was going to do something that no parent would approve of. He was adventurous. I don't deal well with tragedy (of course, who does). I tend to be quiet, not talk about it (as though maybe it will go away). I guess everyone handles it differently. I've had to be the responsible one this weekend. I had to call all my employees and tell them the news (we are all kinda close). I had to hear them crying over the phone, calm them down, check in on them throughout the weekend, update them on arrangements, etc. It's like each phone call is the same, depressing conversation that I have to relive. Blah. I'm going to start my morning with Mimosas and hope the day gets better from there!!!

I love my job

violetjade — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:43:26 GMT

My department had an egg hunt and picnic today at the company owner's farmhouse on the lake :) Who says accountants are boring?!

HILARIOUS

violetjade — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:33:12 GMT

I found this pretty amusing. Even moreso since Proctor and Gamble is the devil I understand that this is an actual letter from an Austin woman sent to American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph... Dear Mr. Thatcher, I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the Leak Guard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants. Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from 'the curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call 'an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.' Isn't the human body amazing? As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying, jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.' Are you kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness, is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory. For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us? Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to taken my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending crap. And that's a promise I will keep. Always! Best, Wendi Aarons Austin, TX PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best web mail-award-winning letter.

wiped out

violetjade — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:14:48 GMT

Yesterday we started undoing all the crap the previous owners attempted to do in the basement. 1st step is removing the cheap, bubbling, linoleum tiles and cleaning the concrete. We also had a guy come yesterday to quote us on heating and air for down there. Today we'll finish the floor cleaning and be ready for the next step....walls and new stairs!! YAY! Eventually this area will be our "play room". Mark has a music studio planned out and the rest will be dance, craft and sewing space. I can't wait! It will probably take us a year or so until it's completely finished (I can't believe people want to get paid to do flooring and electrical), but most of it we are going to do ourselves. In the meantime, I am looking for a person to rebuild the steps leading to the basement. If you know of anyone please let me know!

Send us to San Francisco!!

violetjade — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:05:00 GMT

Devyani is heading to San Francisco in June to perform with FatChance BellyDance in a very special show called 'Devotion' As most of you know...we are all addicted to ARBONNE products. Not only are they amazing and will totally change your skin....but they are VEGAN! YAY! As if supporting cruelty free products wasn't enough of a reason to try it out....... beginning March 10th, $10 of every Arbonne sea salt scrub purchased from your Arbonne Devyani representative will go to our San Francisco fund!! That's right, you'll have fantastic skin, peace of mind AND help send us to dance with the lovely FatChance ladies :) You can purchase the sea salt scrub at the studio or message me and I'll be happy to take your order and ship your order :) Here's a little info about the show: June 13, 14, 15 and June 20, 21, 22 at San Francisco’s Climate Theater: Performances focusing on Devotion by FatChanceBellyDance and guest artists Devyani Dance Co. , Colleena Shakti and Teresa Tomb. Advance tickets only, seats limited to 50 per show Thanks for the continued support!!

Arbonne zombified!!

violetjade — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:40:42 GMT

Thanks (and grrr) to Megha and Marci for addicting me to Arbonne products! My third favorite product is the walnut exfoliating 5 minute mask. It feels so good I was MOANING putting it on so Mark thought he would join in. Once it hardens you can't really move your face. Add the moaning in there and we decided we were zombies. Here's our zombified photo :) uuuhhhhhh......

tribalcon

violetjade — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:19:47 GMT

I love it when people post photos online! Look at that fancy ink :)

YAY!

violetjade — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:45:20 GMT

Julie took a ton of photos while I was dancing Saturday. Turns out what she thought was my camera was really Souhail's camera!! I received a few photos from him today :) He said he loved them. I'm still floating on happiness today....

Did that really happen??

violetjade — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:09:22 GMT

Speechless. Yep. Pretty much. The following is an attempt to recreate an amazing night that can only be totally understood if you were actually there. This past week I had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with two truly talented musicians. Naser Musa is an extremely kind, reserved, brilliant musician and I am so very honored to have met him and spent time with him. Any quiet moment you can hear him humming beautiful rhythms. It’s like he lives and breathes melody. I didn’t get to meet him until Saturday, but our short time together was quite memorable. Souhail Kaspar…where to start. Between the private lessons at the studio, lecture on Thursday, more privates Friday, car rides across town and then Saturday’s activities, I got to spend a lot of time with this fantastic and amazing person. He is GOOD. Not even just great….he’s a genius. I got to hear stories of his life in Lebanon, how he got here and why. He’s a very open, honest and loving person. He has touched my heart and I will forever remember this man and adore him. Hafla – Megha was going to be on tour with Carolena and asked Mark and I if we would want to organize, promote, etc their workshops and hafla. OF COURSE! We worked like crazy making sure everything went as smooth as possible and was a fantastic experience for all attendees, performers and especially our guest musicians. I think it was a success. All the dancers were beautiful and I am so very, very proud of the Devyani students! People didn’t believe that you were not a professional troupe! Liz saved the day by jumping in for Marci who sprained her ankle. The girls kicked butt and I owe them all some sparkly bling ;) My hubby’s drum students, me included, and fellow fabulous drummers (Ryan and Robert) got to show off what we’ve been learning in drum class. Kaitlyn opened the second half with a drum solo. She rocked! If there is anything I would say is more nerve racking than dancing in front of Souhail, it would be drumming! We all did a great job and I think we made Mark proud.  Last night we had dancers from a wide variety of cultures. Indian, Persian, Hula, Flamenco and multiple styles of bellydance. The night ended with live music by Naser Musa and Souhail Kaspar. Mark was fortunate to play with them for their whole set! (Ryan and Robert you guys rocked it too!) Towards the end, multiple dancers performed live with Souhail and Naser. Majida Anwar (one of my favorite dancers) brought the house down with her and Souhail’s drum solo. Such beauty and talent, I couldn’t help but stand up and cheer the girl on!!! I was just thinking that I felt sorry for the poor girl that had to follow that act and then it happened. Souhail began speaking of his new friend (and said some very kind words that made me get a little teary eyed) and then called me up to dance. Umm….me….not a soloist….not worthy of such an opportunity. But I knew there was no getting out of it (trust me, you cannot say no to this man….and who would want to?) So here I go. The music started slow, Naser began to sing and I see Souhail lean over to Mark (who was still playing along side him) and tell him how beautiful I am and how beautiful my arms are. Suddenly I was totally invincible  the music got fast and I shimmied and spun all over that stage. All the while not believing that I am dancing live to Souhail Kaspar, Naser Musa and my sweet man!!! Souhail got down on the floor next to me and began playing even faster and watching my hips (just like in the movies!) and I totally loved it and just went with it. I did arabics around him, shimmies, shoulder shimmies, hip bumps and anything else I could think of that might knock his socks off  All the while my girls and the audience are zaghareeting like crazy and smiling so big you’d think they were the ones up there! Liz joined me for the next song and by the end of it we had the whole Devyani studio up there improving and dancing to this amazing music, with these fantastic musicians! Dear God it was awesome. I can’t begin to thank everyone enough for their hard work in making this event so memorable and FUN! I am looking forward to doing this again soon! Of course, that’s after I recover from this time!  If you have photos or video of the evening please please send them to me! I don’t want to ever forget one second of the night! I am so very lucky to be a part of something I love so much and if I only had one regret for the whole night it was that my teacher, the one that gave me this opportunity, was not there to share it with us. We missed you Megha! I’ll be posting photos throughout the week 

Less leaves to rake

violetjade — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:37:27 GMT

I woke up at 4:30am to hail, a horrible storm and Mark yelling "get in the basement!". It was madness! No power, cold basement and the worst part was that I couldn't find my kitties. This morning we woke up and found the biggest tree in our yard on it's side. This is the root system that came out of the ground. You can imagine the tree size. Luckily we are ok and it did not damage our home.

Animal Rights

violetjade — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:34:56 GMT

Last night was moving. We had a range of vegan to meat eaters at the party and viewing last night. The food was wonderful, the movie was very moving and fascinating and the conversation afterwards was thought provoking. It was great to have viewpoints from those involved in veganism, then others more involved in domestic animal welfare, etc. I really learned a lot and am grateful to all those that shared their thoughts and feelings. I'm totally inspired to do MORE. The question is what. Do I stand outside the fur store and hand out flyers? Protest at the meat rendering plants here in Birmingham (there are two plants here that process the dogs, cats, etc that are found/not adopted and make them into cattle and pig feed...yes I am SERIOUS!) Not sure what, but I'm searching for something that will truely make a difference. So stay tuned.... I want to share the following link with you all. I heard a little about it last week, but apparently it made CNN (thanks Meg!). It's sad that it took this long to finally make the news. It's also sad that it took children's lunch food to bring this out. Apparently, food that they have been eating for two years. Nice. Thanks USDA. Just one reason I don't eat meat. http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/02/17/usdabeef.recall.ap/index.html

Chopped it off

violetjade — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:14:58 GMT

My hair is hotness. I think what turns me on the most is the five minutes it took me to fix it today :) Usually it takes about 45 so now I can sleep in a little! YAY!

Weekend fun!

violetjade — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:47:00 GMT

So, tomorrow is going to be a full day at Devyani Dance Center! 3:00 - Sample Arbonne products (our newest obsession because they are cruelty-free, totally vegan and the rockinest skincare products around!) 6:00 - I AM AN ANIMAL party including viewing the documetary and lots of yummy vegan food and treats.

Off to Florida - then it's PARTY time!!

violetjade — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:27:42 GMT

Feb = Party month! I'm off to my little brother's 5th birthday party for the weekend! I NEED sunshine and warmth so I am looking forward to a refreshing weekend full of family, wine and sun! Ahhh.... When I get back it will be party month for sure!! Feb 6th - Marci's tattoo! And shortly after hopefully mine! Feb 7th - Raise the Voice!! Feb 9th - Arbonne party at Devyani 6:30pm (rsvp to devyani@bellsouth.net) Feb 16th - Party like a PETA loving, vegan animal at the DDC Feb 23-25 Party with us in Atlanta at Tribal Con March 1st - Party like a Grammy winner at our special event! (half the tickets are gone so you better get yours NOW)www.devyani.net/arabic_workshops.html And sometime this month the Jareeda magazine that Michelle made front cover on will be out! Lovin life....

Update

violetjade — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:55:18 GMT

So....I feel fantastic. I'm a new person. If you read my previous posts you know why this is so wonderful. Know what happened? I discovered acupuncture (this sounds like a commercial). Seriously. I really didn't know what to expect and I certainly didn't realize it would work so well!! I guess my body really likes it/needed it. I've been three times and even after the first time I KNEW I felt different. I highly recommend it!! I'm going to go about once a week for another month or so to be sure I am totally good :) YAY!!