From the Mind of AlphaBetsy

I have been in a bit of a wedding panic over the last couple of weeks, but I am finally not quite as manic so I will show you what I have been doing when I am not panicked, doing school work, or working. Komen race for the Cure  Mom with a hot pink biker!!  My beautiful niece Sadie.  I have another week of school for this quarter, and will be glad when this set of classes is complete. Maybe it is all the stress, but this quarter has kicked my ass. Next Monday I start taking bellydance classes again, which is super exciting, and in June I am hoping to get signed up for my boot camp class, and to take some of the extra classes I bought. I am taking classes, but both are online for summer, which is a bit of a relief really. Hopefully I will be able to calm down and get my head back together soon.

Mother's day this year also was the two year anniversary of my mom's remission from breast cancer. For her mother's day gift my little sister and I went in together to get mom a survivor tattoo. My little sister drew the initial design and had taken it to an artist she had worked with previously and he drew it up for us. Then on Sunday we surprised mom with a trip to the tattoo parlor.  The line drawing. It says 2009-2010 Survivor Mom in the chair with me lurking behind her.  Zach getting to work on the tattoo.  Mom smiling through the pain with me lurking in the background again.  Zach still working away.  Filling in the color.  The tattoo right after the artist finished.  The final product. It's clearer than this I promise, stupid camera phone.  Tomorrow night my mom is joining me to go to a poetry reading that I have to attend for my creative writing class.This Friday my mom, Traci and I are going to ...

And that someone is Sadie Xandra, my beautiful niece, who was born this morning at 1:04am. I left class early tonight in order to run to the hospital so I could meet her. Oh so beautiful. Congratulations to Chris and Niki. Your daughter is gorgeous and I cannot wait to spoil her rotten. 

On Friday night I was a little bored and thought, hey I should work on wedding stuff. So looking around I decided I had a good amount of button flowers made, so I got everything together and began to assemble my bouquet. I pieced and pieced and wove and when I looked at what I had made, I started to cry. I think it is done, other than wrapping the "stems" and it is beyond anything I had in my mind. I took pictures, but I don't think it does it justice. Seth's chainmail flowers, with the buttons, beads, feathers and the beautiful fall colored silk hydrangeas I found, it's just truly gorgeous. And somehow it made the wedding seem so much more real. So without further ado... The bouquet. Seth and I are attending the wedding of a friend of mine this weekend. She and I have gone into our weddings very differently and I can not wait to see how hers reflects her. We actually joked together about taking similar posed pictures and laughing at the d...

Saturday night Seth and I went with my mom, sister and my friend Janet to see the performances for Cairo in Columbus, which was a weekend event for bellydancers held by my instructor Chandara. They pull in dancers from all over and have masterclasses and nightly haflas. I didn't get to take any of the classes this year, but we did go to the performance and it was amazing. So many amazing dancers. It was very inspiring and I cannot wait to begin taking classes again in June. :) Bellydance Columbus Bellydance Columbus Chandara Gamal...my instructor Erika Elliott  The Desert Dancers Maali Shaker Mehira Devon Stormageddon Laylia Laylia America...the adorable bellydancing stage cleaner Majestic Bellydancing Kaya  Kaya Sofia Saharr Habeeba's Dance of the Arts Habeeba's Dance of the Arts Natalie Orr Natalie Orr Mariah Bronwen Nadiah Saeed Nadiah Saeed Leyla Soleil ...