My Cousin Becca...

So this is my younger cousin Becca... singing at her Senior Nite..

gosh Becca I remember when we were all running around in our little swim suits as babies in Michigan... and now you're graduating high school... crazy!
Awesome! You rock!

A beautiful Saturday...

ROLLIN into the parking lot of the DZ just after 9am... and this is what we see... GORGEOUS!!! perfect sky, perfect temp, no winds! OMG...
Yesterday the air was so amazing... just beautiful. I can't even describe it. All day, it was like butter, gliding through, so smooth, it was just an awesome beautiful BLUE SKY skydiving day.
I got 8 in! And I even packed for myself and didnt slow myself down, so I was happy with myself for keeping up with folks!
I met some awesome new folks yesterday too... thanks JoAnn for all the email arranging and the carpooling. Can't wait for all the fun this season!
Below are some pics of me waiting for sunset load... don't worry I remembered to put my rig on fully after that first pic...

(BELOW- sun goin down... me waitin on the plane... we ended the day with a pretty good 5-way, i can post the video once jason sends it to me!)
(BELOW- wheres the plane?wheres the plane?... we wanna jump!!)

My annual sweets fast....

So today is Ash Wednesday... the start of Lent for Christians. As a Catholic I find this time of year brings me back to the Church if I've gone astray a little. I give up sweets every year... and so again this year, today marks the start of no chocolate, candy, ice cream or anything of the sort, for me!
And since most of you know how BIG of a sweet tooth I have, its a pretty big deal. I usually lose a few lbs over lent because of the amount of sugar decrease in my diet.

So... what else are folks giving up for Lent?

Red Dress Ball...

(Above- Charlie and I dancing ...)
(Above- Ben and I)

(Above- Charlie and I)

So on Valentines Day, there was a RED DRESS BALL at Glen Echo. The ballroom was filled with red dresses galore! It was quite a sight. And the gentlemen all looked great, as most were dressed up in suits and red shirts. It was a lot of fun...

Ben has a few more pics HERE

POWER is here

So TUESDAY we launched POWER at VIDA at the METROPOLE location. It was awesome. We taught back to back classes that were absolutely packed to capacity. I was totally sore wednesday, but it was worth it. The first class I taught with Adriane and Ty, the second class I taught with Adriane and Lauren.... so much fun!

Wednesday nite I taught my first full POWER class that nite. It was fun, I had a pretty full class, I hope people keep coming back!

The sad part is, We forgot the camera and so no pictures from the launch =(
so sad considering how cute we looked in our matching outfits!

So right now my schedule at Metropole is POWER on tuesday's at 1800 and POWER on Wednesday's at 1915

Pre-launch of POWER

So last nite was our "preview" of POWER at VIDA. Juliet, Ed and I were the team taught at Metropole. It was a lot of fun. We had cute little outfits (i'll get a better picture on tuesday from the big launch). But the class was great, full class! and we had lots of fun!

More to come on TUESDAY when the BIG LAUNCH happens!!

POWER is coming....

TCO at Glen Echo....24JAN09

So last nite was a typical Saturday Nite for the local DC lindy hoppers. Tom Cunningham Orchestra rockin it out at the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo. As always, good times. Here's some videos, Charlie and I just goofin off =) and Ben and I for some reason went into the jam and here's what we ended up doing... a little silly entrance but hey... we got some laughs!

BEN and I...

CHARLIE and I....

(ABOVE- DEB and ME)

(ABOVE- Jerry, Me, Ben)

First Prize...

Soooooo, tonite's Jam Cellar Dance was a Black and White Ball. Everyone came all dressed up in their finest. The JC crew decided to have a Jack and Jill comp for the special nite. I entered because I figured what the hey, and the Prize was a WHITE CHOCOLATE replica of the Capitol!! I SO wanted it....
Luck was on my side tonite, because I randomly drew Doug, which of course gave us a LIL bit of an advantage than the other 6 couples, Lily and Kevin gave us a good run for our money though!.

Result: WE WON! =) and I, of course, fought Doug for the chocolate hehe.

UPDATE:
Just got these emailed to me from last nite... Jerry and I, and Doug and I, before the dancing begun...

Pics from Squeak...

(ABOVE- Ben and Me doing a cheesy dance move which is why we're laughing)

(ABOVE- Ben and Me exiting the Jam Circle)

(ABOVE- Dave and I...Swinging Out!)

(BELOW- The COOL DIPS!)

So, Jennr8r brings Squeak and Mrs. Squeak out to Glen Echo last Saturday for the dance. Squeak is a skydiver from Australia, who Jenn and I know from dropzone.com, and no, we still dont know his actual name, he just says ... call me Squeak. Squeak and Mrs. Squeak were good sports, they watched, they danced, had a good time, and Squeak was nice enough to take pictures =). Which I thought was cool, because I hardly ever get pictures of me dancing. He mostly took pics of me dancing with Ben and Dave.

Baby Pictures...

Ok, so another pic from a while back (not a hundred years, but about 23yrs ago) this is me when I was 4 years old...

Someone mentioned baby pictures to me the other day and I thought it'd be fun to share. This is one of my favorite pics from when I was little =) watcha think? I look the same??

Anyone else wanna share? email me and i'll post it up... hehe

100 Year Old Pic... Gust Family Heritage..

WOW (CLICK PICTURE TO SEE FULL SIZE)- My mother forwarded me an email tonite with this wonderful picture attached. She received and email from her second cousin. My Mom's side of the Family is the Gust Family (her maiden name). The child in the center standing up is my GREAT Grandfather!! How cool is that?!?! This picture is believed to have been taken in 1906.

I think it's so cool to see pictures and hear stories like this...
Below is the text of the email from Cousin Roland... it has all details the Gust Family knows of this picture...


""Attached is a copy of a 16 in.x 20 in.photo of Matt and Hilma Gust and their four children in the front yard of their home in White Cloud,Michigan. From left to right are:Ingrid Sophia Gust (often spelled or misspelled as Ingred, who adopted her mother's first name, Hilma as her own preferred middle name sometime during her school days, Matt Leander Gust (formerly known as Gustaffson until he had his name changed while living in White Cloud Anders Victor Gust (who was called Victor A, Gust from an early age),Hilma (nee Mattson) Gust and Myrtle Eleanor Gust. Garford William Gust sits on stool front and center. I believe the name shortening to Gust was done officially and legally, but the other changes were probably just personal preferences that the individuals adopted. My mother didn't like the name "Sophia" so she went by Ingrid H(ilma) Gust. On her birth certificate copy the middle initial is S, and her brother, Vic, occasionally would tease her in their senior years by calling her "Ingid Sophia" which annoyed her mildly.

There is no date on the original but I judge that it must have been taken about 1906 in the summer or early fall, based on my opinion that Garford (Garf) looks about three years old. He was born July 29th 1903. If 1906 is the correct year, then Ingrid would have been nine years old; Matt,about forty-six; Victor about twelve years old; Hilma about thirty-eight yrs. old; Myrtle, about ten years old. I'll check some other records at a later date and let you know if these need correction. In any case, they must be very close to the actual ages at that time. Another sibling, Elvira Gust, who died in infancy had been born in 1893 and would have been about thirteen years old had she lived to be included in this photo. I have a portrait of her as she looked when about one to one and a half yrs. old.

As seems to be the style for formal portraits in those years, everyone is supposed to look serious. Too bad that we could not have seen them smiling. Of course, the process took quite a bit of time and multiple exposures, so the subjects may have just the serious look the photographer was seeking. For some like Myrtle they were on the edge or just past the stage of grumpiness. My mother told me that our grandfather had this house constructed and it was the birthsite of all five of the Gust children in an upstairs front bedroom. I think the name of the street is Charles St., White Cloud, on the SW side of the intersection of M-37 (which runs north/south) and Charles which runs east/west. I don't remember the house number but I believe it was about two houses in (east) from the intersection corner. I don't know how long the family lived there, but the house was razed for a parking lot about twenty or so years ago,long after the family had moved to the hotel on Wilson Ave. (White Cloud's main street) or the four children had left White Cloud after graduation from old White Cloud High School.The lots remain vacant as of 2008. I have no information on when Matt Gust sold the house nor to whom it was sold. The old archives in White Cloud probably has that on
record.

My mother Ingrid, and our aunt Myrtle were separated in age by only 13 months. Myrtle should have graduated from high school in 1915 but she had missed a year of school early in childhood due to "spinal meningitis". When she had recovered, she ended up in the same class with Ingrid and they graduated together in 1916 from White Cloud High. Almost like twins, they remained close throughout their long lives,

Matt, we believe, had a brother, Anders, the Swede/Finn name equivalent of Andrew, who had come to the USA from Finland earlier than 1881, the year of Matt's passport. We hear that he had settled in Wisconsin or Minnesota where he was a successful farmer. Victor A. Gust, Sr. as Matt's elder son was known through most of his life apparently chose to be called Vic rather than Andrew or Andy at some early age. Victor or Vic is the name that his childhood friends always used in referring to him when I interviewed a number of them in later years. The quality of the original of this picture came into my possession unframed and with some damage from light, water, abrasions, and some edge tears. I believe Shirley had it from her mother and then gave it to me after Myrtle's death. I only flattened it, photographed it, did some minor coverups which did not include any of the faces. No doubt further professional restoration could improve this old image.

I wanted to share this antique as it is now so that our family can enjoy it. I wanted to send it before Christmas but was sidelined by a cold and snowbound for three days just before the holiday.
Please transmit to any and all the Gusts on your group list together with my love and warmest best wishes to all for a Happy New Year.
Roland"

Look out... Coach Kelly has arrived =)

ABOVE- The Coach Course- 5 of us took the course (and the rest in the picture are the awesome instructors who played students and taught us)
So... I am Officially a rated SKYDIVING COACH! yay! I'm so happy. I passed the course, learned a lot and had a blast. I thought the wind was going to get the better of me and stop me from getting my rating, but I waited it out and was able to get my eval jumps in.
So watch out everyone... here I come =)
(seriously though... can't wait to get out there and do some coaching to students!)
Next goal.... AFF instructor rating!

Zhills update...

(ABOVE- Jane found this pic of me on laszlo's website and got it for me!! thanks jane you rok!)
(ABOVE- a gang of skydivers at the local mexican restaurant one nite for dinner)

So... 4 days into my trip and 19 skydives later. Good stuff. It's been an awesome 4 days so far, hanging out with old friends, meeting new ones, making some really awesome skydives. Even with the sadness of losing our good friend Debbie, everyone is still in good spirits and doing what she would have wanted us to do... enjoy the boogie. Of course she and her family and all of her friends are in our prayers.
... in this sport long enough... you'll be on the dz when an accident happens... it sucks... but at least we all support each other and are there for each other.
Blue Skies Debbie.. Muff Muff...

... now off to the tunnel tonite for some training then right back at it tomorrow morning.

(Hope everyone down at Lindy Focus is having a blast, I'm sure you are, and probably dancing as much as I'm jumping... i'll see you guys at ccb on the 5th though)

Merry Christmas from Zhills....

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!!
This morning JennR8R and I got up at 4am and went to the airport... by 11am I was at zhills. Sadly the entire afternoon was overcast... but I met some awesome new friends to keep me company all afternoon. Joe and his pet sugar gliders, above is me and gizmo. He has two, stripe and gizmo. I have to say I think I may have found my next pet...
But after an afternoon of gizmo sleeping on my arm. The clouds cleared and I got two really fun jumps in... not too shabby for Christmas =)
I'm happy.. .off to Christmas dinner at the dz... stayed tuned for more updates throughout the week ...

VIDA Holiday Party

UPDATE- Lauren emailed me some pics!!
ABOVE- Lauren, Me, Catherine
ABOVE- Alyssa, Lauren, me

ABOVE- Angelica, Jessica, Me, Mark
ABOVE- Jessica, Me
So this past weekend was the VIDA holiday party. It was a lot of fun, it was at TOWN night club, i'm not really into clubs, but the company of the VIDA gang was good that nite. These are fellow cycle instructors in the pics above... I'll have more pics once I get them from Lauren, then you can see the entire fitness gang, lol.
I really like everyone at VIDA... working there is so awesome!

Office Holiday Party at Topolino's

Dec 10th, My directorate went to Topolino's for a Holiday Office Party. It was a lot of fun. Marie planned a great event. I helped some with the secret Santa. We all had a great time! Yay for Morale!
I was going to post the picture of the whole group, but then realized everyone prolly doesnt want to be on my blog... so instead you just get me and Marie =)
and thanks Mike... you didnt have to give me back the best Secret Santa gift. (Mike gave me back the Eggnog liquer gift at the end of the game, even though he stole it fair and square... just to be nice because i've edited some papers for him... way too nice of him to do that!)
Topolino's is a pretty good restaurant too!!

Videos from Monday nite CCB..

So here are two quick videos of me doing some social Lindy dancing. I know a lot of my friends are non dancers and are wondering what I do several nites a week... well this is pretty much what I do... These are both medium tempo songs... so not super exciting or anything, but still a lot of fun... I'm the one in the suspenders =) THANKS ABA for the AWESOME DJ-ing!

(Above: Doug and I)
(Below: Bob and I)

My favorite sandwich....

Yes... I LOVE this sandwhich so much that I took a damn picture of it! Every time I go home to Ohio I make sure of stopping at W.G. Grinders to have my favorite lunch in the entire world. Grinders has been my favorite sandwich place since I was in High School. I miss it like crazy since they aren't here =( But anyways.... Mom and I went last Saturday, I got my regular order... Club Grinder (minus honey mustard and dressing, extra mayo). OMG, i'm drooling and my stomach is hungry now just thinking about it! If you've never been there... you seriously have no idea what you're missing.

Turkey Trot 5 miler...

So this morning I ran the Columbus, OH 5miler Turkey Trot. No official times or anything because we didn't have chips, but by my watch I ran it in 40min 40sec. Not bad considering I haven't been running at all lately. I got caught way behind at the start line and had to spring through the mob to get out running so I think I might have finished sub-40 if I had been up front... but oh well. It was fun. This picture is post-race, with the pie I got for being in the first 1000 females to finish.
The pic below is me and my nephew Sammy, (he was kinda cranky today)

Black and Gold 2008

So for the better part of the last week I was on permissive orders, down to NC to jump with the U.S. Army Golden Knights at their annual Black and Gold Event (a skydiving competition and jumping for all active duty military skydivers). It rocked. I jumped, I competed, had a blast...

So check out the slide show... I couldn't pick just a few so I put all the ones I had in a slideshow =)

The competitions were a lot of fun. My 4-way team, Non + Com (Freddie and Kramer are NCO's and Alicia and I are both O-3's), ended up taking 4th place out of 12, which is pretty good considering we had never jumped together before, we would have gotten a medal if it weren't for the ringer West Point team, boo! =( oh well, we're still happy we did so well. Check out the video

And our 8-way Speed star team.. We took the 3rd place 4-way team, and added us (except Tom came in for Alicia) and voila, that created the 8way team, "Mostly Officers." We ending up taking 3rd in 8-way speed! We could have taken 1st, I think, but we had a few issues =( but it was such a blast/challenge doing speed star out of the C31. Here's that video....

Love your Failures

Good timing.....

So a lot of you know I'm having some trouble lately... this image came in an email today for one of my workout gear stuff.... and all the sayings on the collage are great (except for the eat organic ;)... but just so happens the one that was highlighted is probably the phrase I need to embrace the most right now... bec I feel like I've failed at a lot and I keep beating myself up for it...
But, they were failures because of decisions I made, and I have to deal with that...so to move forward I have to deal with the consequences and make sure I don't fail again....

I'm workin on it..... it's going to be a difficult path

Scary Way Weekend 2008

(Formation Load attempt: Me, lower right corner looking back at Jane-who is docked on my leg but not in picture)
Above- Jane and I high-five in the landing area after both successfully docking on the formation!

Above- Jane and I Hug and walk back! =)

So what was this past weekend, Scary Ways? Well for my non-skydiving friends, we use the word "way" to describe the formation, i.e. if there are 4 people in it, we call it 4-way, five people, 5-way. This past weekend we attempted "Scary-ways" which was a play on words for halloween, and partly because when you do formation loads (more than one plane of jumpers building a formation) it can be a little "scary." But this weekend, we did several formation loads and only one dangerous thing happened (but no injuries and no one got hurt) and we built some beautiful formations. No records made, but this one that Jane and I were in, I think 25 made it into the formation, which is pretty darn good!

This weekend, was cool, I met Jane, from Pennsylvania, we surprisingly have a lot in common and she was great company , a great skydiver... definitely a cool chick! Should have met her sooner...
(Above- prejump pic by McDuck)

All in all, a good weekend.. missed dancing of course =( but I have one more big weekend of skydiving (Golden Knights Black and Gold event)... then it's all dancing for a while...
Juggling hobbies is sooooo difficult :/

ALHC 2008...

Well... just got back from the American Lindy Hop Championships (ALHC). I have to say, people were right, this event is dying. It had some great dancers there, but not nearly as many as should have been there. But nonetheless, I had some fun.
Doug and I competed in the OPEN Strictly Lindy competition, and went up against some really good dancers, but we actually felt really good about our dancing and had people tell us we did good! Here is video from the spotlight portion of the comp, (sorry for the ghetto video, but it was kinda done on the DL) .
Doug and I placed 6 of 10, but 1 judge placed us 3rd and another 4th... so i'm happy two of them thought we were pretty good =)

SPOTLIGHT:



And despite not making finals in the jack and jill, (not sure why) here is one clip from one of my prelim dances... i'm number 217 (teal shirt black pants)

JACK N JILL PRELIM:

Facebook....

Ok Folks... so apparently you all want me to join facebook. I get the hint, I've gotten I lost count of how many suggestion emails to join facebook from countless friends. And severe badgering from you all verbally too.

Last Nite, I got another one of these invites, from Paul, (Paul not your fault, it just so happens things happened after you sent your invite). I deleted it, like I usually do, BUT for some reason... after that... I've gotten A LOT of notifications that you all have "added me as a friend" on facebook! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON? How can you add me as a friend if I don't have an account?!?!? Someone splain to me please!?

Anyways... so fine.. here's what i'm doing... LOOK RIGHT----> SEE POLL... VOTE.. if enough people vote and convince me to get an account... then I'll get a damn account so you all stop sending me invites....

Great Grampa Gust

Above- My Great Grandfather- Victor Gust, WWI, picture taken in 1919.

My mom found this link on line HERE and she emailed around and My Great Uncle Jim confirmed this is definitely my Great Grandfather and that he has the original photograph.
I thought this was pretty cool to see my great-grandpa in his WWI uniform. Priceless and awesome!

Carrie, does this type of puppy look familiar?

Gosh, this made me miss Devin and Leo! Carrie you gotta bring your puppies up here so I can see them!
(above: Me with Nina's puppy, Minerva)
Gotta love those little Italian Grey hounds! ***SIGH*** some day I'll have one of my own!

Why do people keep telling me "I'm crazy?"

Ok, so today I ended up doing 3 spin classes. I taught one at lunch, then after work, I went to one of my gyms downtown to teach... but no one showed up (not unusual for this small gym) so I left... went to VIDA and took 2 spin classes in a row =) . Hey it was fun, and I needed more practice on the real ryder bikes they are so AWESOME, but I want more practice before I teach on them. Then of course I went to my normal Monday nite dance...
Yes, I know I'm busy and always doing something... but come on people... I'm not crazy =) I'm ....uh... there's gotta be a better word than crazy....

I got zapped today...

i.e. Nerve Conduction Study done today.... Neurologist said she couldn't find anything wrong with the nerves in my arm and I can return to normal activity =) YAY!!**** happy dance**** She said as long as the symptoms don't change (i.e. I notice weakness or pain, which I haven't yet) then I'm good to go. I do have to go get an MRI, she wants to look at my brain just to look at a few things but said nothing to worry about that it's probably fine and that the tingly will probably just go away. So... the MRI looks like it won't happen till November bc the entire DC area is booked till then... So
looks like I'm back =) yay!

Personality in Geography...

A lot of you know that I'm a Personality Freak... as in I LOVE MBTI and social sciences and love talking about it and learning about it...
My friend Megan was nice enough to share this article and I find it fascinating ....

so ENJOY CLICK HERE

VIDA Grand Opening...

As most of you know I've been teaching several gym classes a week. I've been lucky enough to be on the staff at VIDA at the verizon location as a sub instructor. The great news is that VIDA is opening another location and I am now on the permanent staff, I have a weekly class at Metropole, Wednesday's 1915, BOOTCAMP. Hehe. Should be lots of fun.

We had a staff meeting yesterday and the walk thru of the club was amazing, it's gorgeous. The grand opening party was last nite and the place had hundreds of folks walking through. I feel real lucky to be on the staff there and hope to get more classes. My new friend Steve came to the party with me, we had a good time, free food and drinks... it was fun, only got one picture the whole nite though.... well actually keep your eyes peeled, some photographer asked to take our picture on the way in for some luxury DC magazine, it was pretty funny bec he actually came and grabbed us as we were walking down the stairs to get our picture... =)

Update on my arm...

Saw the Neurologist today... I thought they were gonna do the nerve conduction test, but apparently that is a separate appt (next wed). She examined me, and good news is that she doesn't think there is anything wrong with my neck... she thinks there is a "stressed" or "irritated" nerve in my arm, most likely from overuse of some type of activity (dancing most likely). She said the test next week would not only confirm diagnosis but should be able to tell how badly "irritated" it is. Which will determine how long I have to rest, bec apparently rest is the treatment. She said I didn't have to stop dancing altogether though... so thats good news.

And on a side note, the PT doc said I could try to run again...

Update...

Went to the PT doc yesterday. We worked through a few things. Discovered I have scoliosis in my back, not severe, but definitely there and part of the reason my back probably has a few problems. But we're working through it, she's gonna try to get me better and back to everything I want to do.
My nerve test isn't until next wednesday, between now and then I have 3 more PT appts, so hopefully I'll be all better soon. but for now, no running and I'm supposed to rest more. I can elliptical or easy spinning, I told her I still want to be on track for the marathon at the end of OCT, so we'll see. I think i'll be ok... I can't lay around for much longer, it's killing me... next week i'm dancing... i dont care what they say! i cant take it anymore!

Doc says NO TRI =( =( =(

So really bad news today.... I CAN'T race this weekend. I'm really disappointed. For those of you who don't know I was supposed to run The Nations Tri this Sunday. I ran it last year and it was amazing. This year I wanted to beat my time. I've been looking forward to it, (despite my lack of time to train in the swim).

So, Last week my right arm started to Tingle, and this morning at the Doctor, the doc said I need to go for a nerve study test thing, and until then I have to "take it easy" and I explained about the race and she basically said NO! So i'm stuck doing nothing for the next ...um I don't know how long =(

Ok, so i'm having a pity party for myself, but come on, I really wanted to race, PLUS it cost 165 bucks in registration,

ok.. I just took the muscle relaxer for my back... time to rest!

West Wing Tour

(Above- Cecilia, Tracy, Me and Steph.. right in front of the White House! inside the bars!!)

So today... I was lucky enough to have a friend who works for the U.S. Trade Representative at the White House, give a private tour of the West Wing, which was special bec it's not open for public tours. So pretty cool, we couldn't take any pictures inside.
But these pics are from "inside the bars" which was pretty cool... and there are a few more that i'll post once I get them from other folks' cameras.

Idiocracy Scrambles 2008 FIRST PLACE!!!

So this Wkd was the 2008 4-way Idiocracy Scrambles!! (for all my dancing friends.. that's just like a Jack and Jill competition... where we have no idea who are teammates are until they draw)

My team "Particular Individuals" named by Tony, included, Tony, Frank, Marie and myself. None of us had EVER jumped together before so we were quite surprised when we did so well. (Weelll... truthfully they were calling us a stacked team bc we all had some good flying experience... but HEY! that's not our fault we drew so well!) hehe.

Anyways... after some awesome jumping!
First round: 8pts
Second Round: 11pts
Third Round: 19pts
Fourth Round: 8pts

We WON FIRST PLACE!! and got big obnoxious medals! HAHA. I can't lie, all I wanted was this big medal to have laying around!
So Rob's Team (Full body Latte, got 2nd) and Willie's team got 3rd.. nice try guys ;) And Steve did video for "Family Style" and well we'll just not mention how they did ;)
I'm still waiting on getting video and pics of the actual jumps to post.. so stayed tuned for that!

Thanks everyone.. it was a blast!
(ABOVE- My Team- Particular Individuals- Tony, Frank, Me and Marie, bottom row, Larry and Figgs- video guys, and Franks daughter)
(ABOVE- Willie, me and Rob- Olympic Podium style with our medals!)
(ABOVE- 3--2--1) hehe
(ABOVE- Me and my BIG OBNOXIOUS MEDAL!)
(ABOVE- Willie and I with our Brawndo!)

(ABOVE- lastly.. me in the landing area after attempting a sitfly)

I learned to Sit...

Ok, So I know I'm strictly a Belly Fly only girl... But for some reason this wkd I let McDuck take me for some sit instruction...

and here's the video of my 3rd attempt ever at sitflying... not bad not bad...

But no worries, i'm not switching over to the darkside...

VPC

23AUG08 Spare Parts VPC meet....
check out our jumps... not too great, but not piss poor either

Now all you dancers who are always asking me what I do when I skydive... now you can see...

What a WKD... VPC and ILHC all in one wkd

(Above- Jens-outside center, Jenn-point, Me- tail, Lynn- inside center and Tre-video)
(Above- Jump 4 of the day... launching a round)
(Above- I believe this was jump 3...)


So this wkd was RIDICULOUS insanely busy and FUN. It started off Thursday Nite where my friend Bromley flew in from Cali. I picked him up at the airport and we headed off to Ozio where the pre-ILHC party kickoff was. We danced till midnite and it was awesome! Friday at work was a little rough, but I made it through, went straight to teaching my gym class (bromley actually took my class hehe) then we got ready for ILHC fun to start. We met a group of dancers at a Thai place in Crystal city... then danced the nite away. I left at 1215 because I had to get up at 0515 saturday morning to make it to my skydiving meet....
Which I did... I got up and drove the 2+ hours to Skydive The Point where I competed in another VPC 4way meet. Our team (named "Spare Parts" by Jenn) had a lot of fun. We started off kinda on the wrong foot as our first attempt at jump #1 of the day turned out to be an expensive plane ride with no jumping as we had to ride the plane down due to cloud cover over the DZ... that sucked! So we waited the weather out and eventually got 4 jumps in. So Spare Parts did not get first (like last time) BUT we got the bronze... which is better than nothing! So after the awards at the DZ I jumped in my car, drove the 2hrs home, drank the 5th energy drink of the day and headed back to ILHC... where I stayed until 515am.
Eventually I got to bed on Sunday Morning about 630am (after taking brom to the train station)... I finally got some sleep and after waking up... um yeah.. I was back at ILHC at about 230pm and stayed until 930 dancing...
WHEW! what a wkd!!!
craziness... but in a good way. I'm sad to say I don't have any pics from ILHC =( but lets just say the dancing was amazing!
I'll post the skydiving video if I can get a copy =)
ok... time for bed....

COVER girl!! =)

So there it is! Aug 2008 issue of The Bulletin! Thank you Tara, (editor of the Mag) for all the work to get it on the cover. The Q&A article was great too!

Yesterday, I walk into work and a few people are like, "Great Cover Shot!" and my response was "Um, it's out?" Apparently it got delivered to most folks this weekend and I hadn't gotten mine yet so I hadn't even seen it. But it was cool to have a bunch of folks notice it and then say something to me at HQ.