Getting the Dress

The reason we went to the L.A. garment district was to get Jessica a prom dress.  We went to the streets that had multiple prom dresses and it felt like a smorgesboard.  We were surprised that there were some modest dresses there; when I say some, I mean maybe 2%. 

We had a full three hours there; we had to leave for the airport by 4:00.  The hardest part for me was walking past all the stores I wanted to go into. 

And the purses.....guys on the street saying in a low voice, "you like Louis Vitton?  Over here I have discount for you."

Finally after two hours we had narrowed it down to two dresses.  One was at a shop owned by some Indian people.  I asked for a discount on the dress.  He said no and I started to leave. 
"Okay, for you I give the price on the dress."
"Thank you; we are going across the street to try on the other one she likes to make a final decision." 
"No, you like price on dress, you get it now".  So basically I had to stay with the dress while Gordon went with Jessica to try the other one on. 

I passed the time by putting various jewlery pieces with it and trying to get them down on the price.  The jewlery lady was not compromising, "No, lady!  Dhis is de price!"  really loud so that all the people looked. 
I finally settled on a lead crystal navy blue chandalier necklace for me. 
Then my phone rang and it was Gordon telling me that they decided to get the other dress.
Now for my escape....I walked to the front of the store by the jewlery and when the guy turned around, I darted out the door.

We had a few minutes left to shop the other stores and we got Jessica some great jeans for $20 each.  I wish we had two more days to comb through all of the shops.  It was definitely an event that I would like to recreate.  But I think it's important to have a male figure with you when you go there. 

The best part? That Jessica has a dad who will shop till he drops for her.

Adventures in LA

I wish I could say we spent all of our time at the beach while in LA but there were so many things to do;
one of which was find a PROM dress.  Jessica got word while at the competition that she was being asked to the Prom by a guy she really wanted to go with. "We're going all out on this dress!" was her tagline.  Whatever we do, it is her tagline, "We're going all out on this".  It needs to go on the shirt, for sure.

We looked around a really swanky mall for an afternoon with no luck and then a friend that had family in Cali texted Jessica about a place called "la garment district". Jessica then proceeded to tell Gordon and I about it. 

"Is is French", I wondered aloud?
"I don't know, but it's in downtown LA in a seedy area."
"Doesn't sound French".
Then Gordon piped in, "Could it be the L.A. Garment district?" 
Silence.
Laughter. 
It needs to go on the shirt for sure.

L.A. Garment district is like the mouth of the stream.  Blocks and blocks of storefronts open to the street for retail and wholesale purchases.  Everything from prom dresses & suits to shoes, candy and toys.  And I mean everything.  $100 jeans here were just $10 and $20 there.  (We got Jessica two pair - wish we had gotten three).  It would take three to four days to feel like you saw most of it.  It is Canal Street in New York times a bajillion.

Did we find the prom dress?  Yes, eventually.  But that is a story in itself and I'll post it next time.
I love "la garment district".

I'm just wondering...

My internet feed says I get upward of 60 hits per day.  I wonder about that, though, based on the comments section.  If this picture doesn't garner any, then I think I must be getting hits from the crazy key words I use.

Darling or what?

My Favorite

Go HERE for my favorite American Idol Performance  I loved this!  Jessica teases me because I always like the long haired guys, but hey - there's no arguing this.

I imagaine a different ending for the song but he didn't check with me for my opinion.

Spring, are you coming?

Since we got back from California, it has been positively cold, rainy and snowy here in Boise.  Today, however...it is sunny.  Yes.   I love the sun.  But fooled, I walked outside this morning to get the paper and WHAM - I was hit with a blast of arctic cold air.  But that's okay - sunshine makes a lot of things bearable.

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday with the family.  I told Jessica that she had to come and do eggs with me, since this is her last Easter at home (guilt works, you know).  We even put glitter on the eggs - that's about as crafty as we get!  

Laura made a Dinosaur cake for our celebration of Cam & Eli's birthdays. I love her - she is so much fun.

Sunday dinner - as I look at the picture now, everyone seems real excited, don't they?  Gordon must be pontificating.

Cam & Eli looking for eggs. 

Jessica's Senior Sweet Liberty Nationals

March 24-31 found us in Anaheim, CA. again for USA Dance Nationals.  The team had qualified for the championship division in Kick and Military.  Prop was in the open division; we missed qualifying by .40 in Las Vegas and just couldn't get the Idaho judges to buy into the routine. 

Kick and Military both got into the finals on Saturday night.  There were only two teams in each of these categories that made it into the finals.  It was a great show with so much talent.  It is so fun to be there and it was so fun to see Gordon really get into it.  The caliber of dance at that level is so good and fun to watch that it's not hard to have fun. 

The team we competed against in Military had some similar music and (I thought) some similar choreography.  They went first and then it was our turn.  It was about as perfect as they have ever performed it, with a couple of minor glitches.  They won the national title!  Not only that, they won the sweepstakes trophy for highest military score overall (small, medium and large militarys).  Kick came in second.  As I mentioned before, the prop routine from the open division received the Judges Award of Excellence and Best Choreography along with an invitation to perform it at the finals.

So all in all, the girls came home with seven trophies.  It has been so much fun to experience this with Jessica on this level.  What a great way to cap her senior year; it couldn't have gone better.  We are so proud of her.

Right before Jessica went in to perform her solo, we ran into Kerrington from "So You Think You Can Dance" and the movie, "Fame".

Words to live by

LDS General Conference has been awesome so far.  Two of my favorite quotes from the Saturday session:

"Peace, hope and joy are available to those who measure succes properly."  Julie B. Beck

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

And...the overwhelming message that Christ our Savior achieved Victory over the grave. 
And we will too, thanks to Him.

Hotel California

The past three years for Dance Nationals, we have stayed at the Sheridan Hotel, just down Harbor Blvd. from Disneyland and just a hop, skip and jump from the Anaheim convention center.  You can walk anywhere you want and it is such a nice hotel with a great pool area and ambience.  There are plenty of gathering places for the team and I just love it. 

Because we were staying three extra nights this year, I decided that I would book us a hotel down the road at one I had seen the previous year that I found through priceline for half the price.  So, with Sunday night approaching, we drove past it.

Suddenly didn't look nearly as good as I had remembered and the pictures online had really made things look much better than they were.  I slyly got online back at the Sheridan to see if I could cancel the other reservation.  Yes, but with a whopper of a cancellation fee because I booked through Priceline.  (I don't think I will use them again for this reason.)  I decided that I would just have to leave the comfort of the Sheridan for this new one.  So, we checked out and headed down to the other hotel.  We couldn't check in yet, but we needed to change out of our church clothes.  Prepared to eat the cancellation fee,  I asked the man in the office if we could cancel our reservations.  Well, if you had cancelled yesterday (when I first wanted to) you could have, but now the rooms are paid for and you're committed.  (I was about to be committed!)  He offered us a bathroom to change in.  As I walked in, it smelled like a cross between stale bread and really old mold mixed with damp dust that has been around a minimum of 5 years.  It was disgusting. I didn't end up eating anything that day until about 3:30 and I think this is why. (couldn't have been a cumulation of  all I had been eating that week.....)

"Let's walk down and check out a couple of the rooms and the pool", Gordon suggested, trying to gingerly handle the situation.  The pool looked nice and blue but when we got close, there was dirt settled on the bottom in little colonies.  The hot tub was worse.  On our way to look at the rooms, I thought to myself, "I can stay here if the rooms are clean, and I'll just have to suck it up".  We came to the first room; same smell as the bathroom we changed in.  Second, third and so on. 

I told the guy at the office that his rooms stunk.  He looked puzzled.  Must have been the Indian food reeking from the small kitchen area behind the office. 

We got in the car and I was near tears wondering what we could do and feeling like a spoiled little brat.  My head was aching and I was feeling beside myself.   I don't do smells. 

We went back to the Sheridan and I got online and on the phone to Priceline to their customer service.  I told them about my tour of the hotel they had fixed me up with and told them that it was dirty and smelly.  Long story short, after waiting 10 minutes on the phone, they cancelled the reservation and refunded all of our money.  The key words I gave them, I believe, were dirty and smelly.  I was so relieved and happy the rest of the day; it was the best day of the whole trip. (that, and the picture below of me in my Happy Place).

The bonus:  Gordon scored us three more nights at the Sheridan for a significantly reduced price than we had been paying because it was Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

At this rate, I am hesitant to book our cruise.  I mean, I don't have the greatest track record with these things.  I have Champagne taste on a beer ability.

Our Beautiful Dancer

No text needed here. (Posted at 4:25 p.m.)

On second thought (posted 4:38 p.m., this is our favorite all time dance picture of Jessica. So much so that we paid a fortune for it at the competition! It does capture one of our favorite routines of the season, although we couldn’t score a first with it in Idaho.

 The Nationals judges recognized it for what it is and gave it the “Judges Award of Excellence” and best choreography in all the open division  (approx. 120 dances).  I'm being openly snarky when I say that we couldn’t get it into championship, thanks again to the Idaho judges. They were invited to perform it at the championship show Saturday night, where they won the military national championship.  It was such an honor for them to be singled out that way.
More pictures of Nationals and our trip coming soon.

More Sweet

The weekend of March 20th, Sweet Liberty won the state championship.  They also won firsts in three of their routines, but the biggie for Jessica was being the Overall State Champions.  That has been her goal all year!  It was such a great joy to watch her achieve it.

We are currently in Anaheim CA. for dance nationals.  Actually, they are over and I know how it turned out, but I will do a full post with pictures on Thursday.  We leave for Boise tomorrow.  Gordon came with us and we stayed a few extra days for some fun in the sun.  He has been so great to chauffeur us around, schlep our bags and so many other things.

The other day we frolicked on the beach in 80 degree weather (I'll post pics of it) and had swordfish at this really quaint little restaurant by the water called, "Mahe". 

But...we're getting tired of all the sunshine and happily heading back to 'raining cats and dogs' Boise, home sweet home.

You're probably getting tired of this, but.....

Sweet Liberty won again today.  We won 1st in Hip Hop, Military and Prop, 2nd in Dance and Kick and 3rd in Novelty (the routine that shall not be named).

It was a fabulous day and when I got home tonight, I became teary-eyed at how close we are to being done with this - for good.  I've set a goal to enjoy and milk everything I can out of it and not think of the end. 

Back on track now.

I don't often pat myself on the back for my parenting (I give Gordon the credit for that) but today, two things happened that warmed my heart.  Something about watching your own children serve each other makes you know that something must have been done right.  At the conclusion of PNW competition today, James walked up and handed Jessica these beautiful flowers.

Little Cam-doggie ran a mile race downtown today that he's been planning for quite sometime.  He was so excited about it.  The gun sounded and he took off running as fast as he could and didn't let up for the mile.  Along the way was his Uncle James with a big green sign (Cam's favorite color) that said, "Cam can run fast!  Go Cameron".  Tonight when I called Cameron to talk to him about the race, he told me all about it and about seeing the sign. 

When I asked him what he did after the race, he said, "We had these shakes, they were sooo big." 
"How big?" I asked.
Hesitation....
"About 9 - or maybe 12."

That's big.

For more on Cameron & the race, go here.

And what did I find? (See update below)

Last week we got weather into the low 60's.  Couple that with the end of February and it's rose trimming time!  One of my favorite things. 

But while I was raking out another bed near the door, I found this little green beauty, hiding under everything; incubating, gathering strength and color for what is to come.  And I thought....

That is me!  In the winter, that is.  I bury myself under something WARM and safe and ride it out until it is time to reveal my strength and color for the spring, summer and fall.  You can probably tell from my blogging that I struggle in the winter.  It is just not my best time. I have to make a concerted effort to stay positive and upbeat and sometimes the cloudy, cold days win out.

But no more!  I have reared my little green  head and even have some transplant ideas going on in there. 

The roses are trimmed  I'll have to post how things transplanted turn out.  Until then, SPRING is on it's way!

Update:  As soon as I posted this, the weather turned dark and it began to rain.  It has rained all day long.  Snow is predicted for tomorrow morning.  What's a person to do?

Birthday Celebration

Last Saturday was James' birthday.  He and Suzanne celebrated by moving into their new home and afterwards we had pizza, cake & ice cream at our house (with match stick candles again - I'm hopeless). 

When Eli found out they were coming over and that it was James' birthday, his mom tells us he had to "make a card" for him.  Jo makes wonderful, beautiful cards and Eli wanted to do the same.  So he colored a card for James and burst through the door ready to give it to him.

Don't you just love the car in his hand?  Seems like every other picture we take of Eli, he has a car or plane of some sort of toy he's holding. 

I know...I'm a bragging Baca, but who can help it?

Gracious Winners

I love dance because it puts this smile on Jessica's face.

They did very well at the district qualifier on Saturday; 4 firsts, a 2nd, and a 3rd.  I like being a gracious winner much better than a sore loser.  But sometimes it takes losing to make winning so SWEET.

There are some really good teams and it is fun (after the fact) to have close competition.  We were pleased  to win 1st in the Hip Hop division, since it's a bunch of white ladies. 

Lady Miriam

She just gets cuter and cuter.  What a lovely baby and it is so fun to have a granddaughter.  She has nerves of steel with her big brothers rough housing about.  The other day, Cameron asked, "What's rough housing, Baca?"  I am anxious to see if she will join them, or be a "girly-girl".  Jessica never did get into carrying babies around, in spite of my cramming them down her throat.  She didn't like Barbies, either.  We have a great collection awaiting Miriam.

A Sore Loser

This past weekend was the opening competition for dance.  Ordinarily, I would have posted by now, but...... I have always known this, but it was reinforced this last weekend:  I am a sore loser.
That being said, Sweet Liberty won 1st place in three out of the six routines.  That's winning - right?

We came in second in Military, our strong suit.  We won dance, which we totally thought we wouldn't, we won kick, which they performed perfectly, we won Novelty.  We thought our prop routine was a first place for sure and it took 3rd. 

There are several reasons for all of this.  The quality of dance in this valley has elevated to a level that provides more competition than ever. There's no denying that.

If you present your very, very best; personal and as a team, and still lose then I can deal with that. 

But when you serve up your routines on a big silver platter for utter comsumption, good things do not happen.

I am confident that we will get the kinks worked out and kick some major bu-tee in two weeks.

Until then, I will work on being a more gracious loser.

I crack myself up.

Last night I had one of those experiences that you never think you will have.  One that never even occurs to you.

I woke myself up laughing - at my own joke!

I was waving a blue green and yellow something or other and it had the word "Leo Saa" or something like it written on it.  I was busy saying the words in different intoneations, which sounded pretty funny.  (I think this part is what tickled my funny bone).  Someone asked me what it meant and I replied, "It's a joke." So of course, I proceeded to tell the joke, which went something like this:

"What does one hunting horse say to the other?  Leo Saa!"

Here's the craziest part; when I woke up right in the middle of a belly laugh, I thought the joke was sooo funny, I tried to remember the details to tell Gordon, it was so funny.  And then this morning, the details are fuzzy.  As a matter of fact, I'm sure I haven't gotten any part of the joke but the horse and saying "Leo Saa" right.

I really, really cracked myself up.

Never underestimate humor and it's place in our lives (or subconscious:).

It's begun...

Tonight was "Senior Night" for dance.  At half time of the basketball game, they announced all of the Seniors.  Wow.  I wasn't quite ready for that.  It seems a little early to start with all the "lasts".  And besides, I have resolved myself to not look at it that way, but to enjoy it all the way.  But every once in a while, I think about the "lasts" and it really hits.  Not so much tonight because they called Jessica's name before Gordon and I got down out of the stands.  We went trailing out there after the fact, with me trying to not give Mr. Melby a snarky look.  "Just smile", Jess said. So I did. 

I was glad it went that way, because I couldn't think too much; it just happened so fast. 

Saturday begins competition season and we are ready with six numbers. It's going to be fun and intense. Speaking of intense, I look a little that way in the bottom photo. Must happen trying not to look snarky.

Sweethearts Dance

Tonight was the Sweetheart Dance.  Here is Jessica right before she went out the door.  She is one lucky girl; she has so many great "sisters" to come and share the fun doing hair and make-up.  Ashlee & Sarah came, as well as Laura and Meaghan (They did Meaghan's hair & make-up too).

Jessica picked out this dress - it is so pretty.  It's early "Bordello" style meets "Stand for Truth and Righteousness".  We added the sleeves.

Gordon's parents came to town this weekend and we had a wonderful time with them.  While Jessica was at the dance, everyone came over for an "Oh Heck" tournament and some baby-spoiling time.  Great Grandma Bird had quite a way of getting little lady Miriam to gurgle and coo.

She is two months old now and her personality is really coming out.  Her eyes are still blue; still waiting to see if they'll turn brown like her brothers.  While she looks a lot like her brother Cameron, she looks a lot like her mommy too.  And so petite......and all sugar and spice.

I am a Groundhog

Today is Groundhog day.  I like that.  It is a welcome sign that things will get sunnier and warmer. 

I think I am a Groundhog. 

In the winter I hide in my cool cave all stocked with winter food and wait for things to clear so I can be out and about again, jumping from tree to tree and chasing squirrels (you know what I mean). In case you can't tell from reading (or not reading) this blog, I am different this time of the year, not my usual self.  Sunlight is my on-switch. 

That's not to say that I won't miss the family time of the holidays or college football.  Saving graces, they are (a little Yoda there.....).

So, will I see my shadow today?  It's 50/50, but I have a feeling my cool cave days are numbered.