Where is Sarah?

Hello friends. Were you wondering where I had gone? Life has been very full lately and I am learning the importance of margins because I don't feel like I have them. I know things are really busy and intense right now so I am trying to work through that at the same time as trying to figure what I can cut out so I can once again do those things that refresh me like hiking and quilting. I need those times, those naps in the park and long walks. I miss them.

These are the looming tasks that have pushed me out to the edge of the paper:

-Now that the book is published, the publicity begins. As the Publicity Coordinator, I am helping people connect and getting events going for groups around the world who want to talk about the book. If you are interested in doing one of these, (you might even be able to get me there depending on where it is), let me know! This is the website for the book and you can also buy them from me for $17.50. http://www.quakerbooks.org/

-I am moving! I am not sure where yet, within the Salem/Keizer, Oregon area at least, but I have been working hard on finding a one bedroom apartment somewhere where I can find out what living on my own is really like. I have always had roommates and was thinking of continuing that when I came to realize how nice it would be to have my own place. So I have been hitting the streets, making phone calls, and will start viewing apartments this week before making my selection. I want someplace safe with a little greenery. I think it's high time I had that single adult crappy apartment experience. I will let you all know who live nearby when the moving day is just in case you would like to lend a hand. :o) It would be immensely appreciated. Does anyone have any boxes lying around I could use?

- Now that the big trips are over, my schedule is clear to really look (and find!) a job I can invest in. I would like to find one that at least involves some writing, editing, and hopefully, even some presenting. I want to be able to use my gifts while gaining new skills. Meanwhile, I am still substituting with the schools and enjoying the challenges each day brings.

- I have a tap dancing recital coming up next Sunday at 3. (Tickets are $5.) I am looking forward to the show and at the same time, looking forward to being able to lay tap dancing down for a while. I need some things off my plate, my knees are ready for a break, and the evening class has been moved to 4 pm when I will hopefully be working. I have loved dancing with On Tap for the last 5 years, it has meant a great deal to me and I have grown so much through the lessons learned and the friends made but I am ready for a breather.

As you can probably guess, I have lots of other irons continuously in the fire, little and large, but these are the big ones right now. If you are the praying type, please pray that I create the margins I need to sustain myself and that I have the wisdom and courage to make the decisions that need to be made. Thank you everyone, you are a joy.

Salem Art Fair "On Tap" Show

Here are some of those dance photos I promised you. :)







365-09 #198

What a Great Day!

Today as I was on the stage dancing before the audience, looking out at all the faces before me, many smiling, my friend Julie grooving on the back of the bleachers, I felt God remind me to enjoy the moment. We build up to moments like that. In dance, we build for months with countless hours of rehearsal and then when we get there, it is over so quickly if we don't pay attention. It is important to pay attention. I like to smile and groove with the music. I try to enjoy it, which I know, also gets the audience to enjoy it too. We had fun. Stacey even bought us all ice cream afterwards as a treat- an incredibally kind gesture. All in all, it has been a fantastic time at the art fair for me filled with friends, new experiencs, good conversations, and a great show we can be proud of. I'll post pictures here tomorrow.

365-09 #196

World Beat Festival Show Pictures

Here are some pictures from our show at the World Beat Festival. Our next show is at the Salem Art Fair at the Family Village Stage, 2pm on Sunday, July 19th.















365-09 #181

Me For Now

Good morning friends! This week I have been focussed on getting all of those Pentacle photos posted, labeled and organized on flickr for all of the Pentacle Theatre cast and crew. I'm getting there! I'm now onto Death of a Salesman, the show I was in, which is actually the hardest as I'm working with someone else's photos for the production shots. I'll probably be spending another day or two holed up in the theatre offices next week as they have faster internet than I do. Last night I finished labeling the Enchanted April production photography. That was a fun play to photograph, a lot of good photographs came out of that show. The next one is Comic Potential and should be quite good as well. This weekend, though, is foucssed on the World Beat Festival here in Salem where our On Tap Dancing Troupe is performing tomorrow, rehearsing today. Let me tell you, performing in a dance show is more stressful for me than performing in the theatre. So that's me for now. Enjoy your day!

365-09 #177

Decisions

Tonight as I type I have a orchestration song from Titanic going in the background. Years ago I used it as the music to a power point for my Images of God class so it carries with it the emotional weight I put into that project. It's very soothing.

I talked with Stacey this afternoon about my future in tap. For months I have been wrestling with the decision to continue or not. I attended the easier class today after spending all morning either loading her website pictures or reading submissions for the Quaker Youth Book Project. Looking at those photos and videos made me remember how much I have loved dancing with On Tap. But I'm tired, my attention has shifted, and change is in the air. I told Stacey I was going to stop with the Irish dancing and would continue with tap up to the recital and commit to two dances. After that, I was taking a break. Being Stacey, and being me, she talked me into adding the shim-shams, and to continue on with the soft-shoe pieces with the Irish up until the recital. In her defense, there was no arm twisting, but a finger may have been involved. I also told her I would dance in the art fair and World Beat shows. But I do feel better after having talked with her about it. She is one of the last people I would ever want to hurt or disappoint. No matter what happens after that, for either of us, we will always be good friends and still maintain that friendship. Out of these four years of dancing with On Tap, that is by far, the greatest gift I'm coming away with. Still, I didn't expect it to hurt this much.

365-09 #87

Death of a Salesman

A year and a half ago, Stacey was asked if our tap dancing troupe would participate in a fund raiser by performing two of our pieces in a show. Stacey, always one for having us in a show said yes and soon we were polishing up the dances and working on our costumes. Having performed in front of audiences before whether in one of several choirs (a national television show included here), instrumentally with a bell choir (tv again) or piano, or a little bit of theatre in college, I did not mind being watched by many people. It was the possibility of making a mistake in the dance that made me nervous. But I was still not prepared for what happened to me that night. I fell head over heels in love with the stage. I love the whole thing- the dressing rooms, the crowded hallways full of whispering performers, to the "five minutes On Tap!". I love it all. That night I drove home knowing this is one of the things I was born for and I felt right at home.

In the intervening time as we have gotten to perform several more times including twice at the Elsinore Theatre, this feeling has only intensified. In fact, I was watching a movie last night where they showed a shot of people working on getting a stage ready for a performance and my heart skipped a beat. I simply love being in a show and from the comments Stacey has heard and relayed back to me, it shows.

So it will come as little surprise to people who have seen me perform that I auditioned for and got the part of Ms. Forsythe in "Death of a Salesman", a production my community theatre is putting on. It's a minor female role in the second act, a character who lightens up an otherwise darker scene and helps illustrate what two men in the play are really like. This is the kind of thing I have long desired to be a part of but was too scared to try. But I'm willing to take a chance now, I have that confidence in myself and little fear. I have also hesitated because of the time commitment but since it is a smaller role, for most of November and December, the rehearsal schedule is pretty light for me which works well with my dancing classes. In January and February though, it's much more involved but I'm willing to sacrifice a bit to be a part of this. I will learn so much and I think being a part of this is going to change me in ways I can only now begin to imagine. I think I am going to like the person who comes out of this.

The show runs from January 23rd to February 14th and there will be a lot of rehearsal time leading up to it. I am really looking forward to seeing how a show is put together, to watch the cast gel. By the way, it is an incredible cast of extremely talented people. I highly recommend seeing this show. Tickets are on sale now. You can check out the theatre's website at: www.pentacletheatre.org.

Expect the Unexpected Tap Dancing Show!

It was quite an evening. Any time I get to perform at the Elsinore Theatre is quite an evening. I now know the backstage area better than I do the rest of the theatre, and that ladies and gentlemen, is just the way I like it.

The evening started out with our troupe gathering at our studio to run through our dance a few more times and to make sure everyone had their costume together. While the girls in turn got pincurls to hide their long lengths of hair under their wigs, we jammed and practiced the parts giving us the most trouble.

Stacey, our teacher, had just arrived that day from Israel after weeks of being away. We were so excited not only for the show, but to see her. Walking through downtown to the theatre, we walked to the box office to deliver tickets to Stacey. It was my favorite moment of the whole evening. Walking together along the sidewalk, Stacey spotted us, grinned, and almost immediately bent over she was laughing so hard. I think if I could have chosen a look on her face, that would have been it – pure joy. Of course, all the parparazi stationed outside on the red carpet, interviewed us as a group, flashing pictures and video cameras, and hyping it up. Being the extrovert of the group, I was thrilled with and secretly, I think the others were too!
Stacey gave us all hugs, admired the pink wigs and then went inside to go warm up as we walked around the block to the stage door. Downstairs in the dressing rooms, underneath the stage, we put on the last touches to our makeup. In the halls, we got to talk to the other performers, some we knew, some we didn’t. I then grabbed my coat to cover my costume including the hair and crept upstairs to find out where Stacey was sitting. She’s never to hard to spot with her curly ringlets. Ah! 3rd row, she would to the left of our view when we were on stage. (Not that you can see anything but lights swimming in the blackness.) I went downstairs to tell the rest of the troupe, and then at different times, we slid up to the stage wings to watch the other performers until it was our turn to go on. The Latte Boy was particularly funny and the woman who sang the first half was a kind person. It is really fun to see the “show” and then the SHOW, the show most people don’t get to see. That show takes place in the wings and I find it absolutely fascinating. For example, that song? It ended in heartbreak with Cinda lying on the floor. What the audience didn’t see was Cinda getting up immediately after the curtain went down and running to her friend who had sang it with her for a hug. That was priceless? And us? Well, we quietly walked to our places so when the curtain came back up, we were ready to go. The dance went really well, we smiled and had fun! (That was my Stacey version of a pep talk given on our way to the theatre.) After Stacey left, we rechoreographed the dance together, moving out of an inward facing circle to the audience and then to a chorus line at the end. We hadn’t told Stacey and she loved it just as we thought she would. It also really added to the performance. I can only imagine what she thought of her tappers as she saw us go into new formations, it’s something she had wanted us to do in different pieces for quite some time.

What the audience didn’t see as soon as that curtain went down was us rushing off the stage for a big group hug in the wings. We had worked really hard for that moment and it was worth it.
During intermission, all six of us came out together to find Stacey who held pink roses in her arms for each of us. Mine is displayed in a vase in my bedroom, it is so pretty.

The good news is, no more three rehearsals a week. The bad news is she wants us to perform it again- for her, so I guess it’s not that bad. I think we can oblige. All in all, I do indeed LOVE the stage!

On Tap Troup Learns Some Lessons...

Sheri and I have both learned a lot as we have team taught our tap dancing troupe these last few weeks. We have each added so much to the group and this time together has bonded us all I think. Among the lessons we've learned as a group are:


-Brenda Buffalo is the epitome of what should and should not be done in tap. Apparently if she says it's okay, then she must be right.
-Doing it agains and agains really does help.
-That turn is HARD!
-You really can get it.
-Sheri and I make a good team.
-Sheri and I are a lot harder teachers than Stacey ever is.
-We need to listen to the music AND each other.
-What is said and done at the tap studio, STAYS at the tap studio!


We have also learned it is important to have fun and laugh as we learn the dance ever better. Here are some photos from rehearsal this week we had a lot of fun taking. (Wendy and Stacey will also be in the show. Wendy had to leave by this point and Stacey is saying a few prayers for us in Israel which are much appreciated considering. Enjoy the pictures!

The Third Shoe Drop

You've probably heard the idea that things come in threes. This afternoon, the third shoe dropped in the form of a phone call from my friend Stacey who asked me if I wanted to participate in a show at the Elsinore Theatre here in Salem. Truth be told, I have been looking forward to having nearly a month off of tap before our fall classes begin but a show at the Elsinore is hard to turn down. I love dancing on that stage. So, on October 11, you'll be able to find me in the wings of the Elsinore Theatre silently practicing my steps before going on stage. I think it will be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it! As I know more details about what the show is and any tickets involved, I'll be sure to pass that along.

Meanwhile, the interview for Western Friend went well. (The second shoe.) I'm looking forward to seeing the finished article. The Quaker Youth Book Project has been a lot of fun to be a part of and I am grateful to Kathy, the editor, for helping me get the word out. I also got to meet Jane, who will be moderating the panel I'm on at the Willamette Quarterly meeting. (First shoe.) That is in early October.

This week I probably won't be posting much if at all. My schedule is jam packed from when I wake up until I get to go to bed. Three trips up to Portland in the span of four days while working a full time job and house sitting if that tells you anything. :)

The picture below is of the gorgous dress I wore to The Phantom of the Opera. Gil asked for a picture in his comment. Have a great week everyone!

Tap Dancing Workshop

Last week Stacey arranged for a teacher to come from Eugene for a workshop. Here are some of the photos I took.

Oregon State Fair Results for Stacey's Quilt

While I was making Stacey's quilt, many people said I should enter it at the fair. I told them it would have to be Stacey's decision as the quilt belonged to her. Well, the day I gave it to her, without me mentioning a thing, she exclaimed that she wanted to put it in the Oregon State Fair the next summer. Sounded good to me!

So I filled out the form, dropped the quilt off, and have been anxiously waiting for a week and a half until the fair opened to see if I had gotten anything. Nervous as all get out, I made my way over to the quilt walk in the Jackman Long Building this afternoon, (It's pretty cool), to find "On Tap: Stars and Swirls". There on the second aisle to the end of the walk,I fianlly found it, that purple and pink beauty of a quilt with a beautiful touch of blue on the side. FIRST PLACE!!! I was also pleased to see, the quilt was quite unique among the other winners surrounding it. After basking before my art, I found the glass cases holding the smaller textiles. On a somewhat last minute decision, I had decided to enter the matching pillow and bag as well. I figured people might as well enjoy looking at them too though I didn't think they would win anything. Boy, was I wrong! FIRST PLACE for the bag!!! AND, for the pillow? FIRST PLACE!!! Everything won a blue ribbon! (GRIN)

But here is what takes the cake. On the pillow, was also a purple ribbon with "Special Award" lettered in gold. Some organizations in Oregon sponsor awards for various competitions. On the card was written "Grandma's Attic". Tonight I looked it up and saw they award $25 gift certificates to those who earn best of class. So not only did the pillow win it's own competition, but it got best of class as well, which is AWESOME!

Of course I called Stacey who is down in California this weekend so I could share the moment with her. She was overjoyed, though not surprised, and was very proud. Marjorie, my friend and quilting teacher, was also thrilled to hear my news. She takes first when she enters the fair and though I am not even hoping to ever reach her advanced skill level, I am glad to see the trend rubbed off a bit on me. Wohoo!

I'll post pictures of all three creations after I take my camera to the fair on Sunday. If you're there Sunday evening, you'll find me filling in for my fellow author friend, Dolores Dahl, from 7-10, at the author's table in the Jackman Long Building.

For now, my favorite part of the fair is usually the calligraphy, paintings, and photography. Tonight I spent a lot of time looking through those with hopefully more photography to look at on Sunday. The calligraphy is always so beautiful and touches my poet's heart to no end. Here are some of my favorite quotes that I saw this evening:

-"Every artist dips his brush in his soul and paints his nature into his pictures." -Henry Ward Beecher

-"A Poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself." -Abraham Maslow

-"We must define ourselves by the best that is in us, not the worst that has been done to us." Edward T. Lewis

-"When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses." -Sen. John F. Kennedy

-"In your light,

I learn how to love.

In your beauty,

how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest

Where no one else can see you,

But sometimes I do,

And that sight becomes this art."
-Rumi

Learning to Walk in Tap Shoes

Last week I was at DGC Pro, the local dance store in Salem trying on shoes. My own pair still have plenty of sound left in them to tap out, but the store was closing and everything was half price, quite a deal when it comes to quality tap dancing shoes. That way I have a good pair for that day mine do wear out. As I sat there on their floor trying out the black leather pair, very similar to my own, I felt like I was pulled back in time to three years ago when I was doing the exact same thing on that exact same floor.

It was early June of 2005. I had just finished my second year of seminary, but more importantly, I was just coming out of my “dark night” (See previous post). I was to the point where I knew I was different and I had enough energy to want to “get out of bed” and do something. I wanted to learn something new to match the new person I had come to be. But what? So one night, I was poking around The Statesman Journal’s calendar on their website looking at the list of local classes when two caught my eye: tap dancing and Hebrew grammar. I decided to call tap dancing first. I picked up the phone and dialed the number listed. The woman who picked up the other end explained where the class was held and corrected me on the time. (She said the Statesman never really got things right so she had decided to leave well enough alone on that point.) She seemed very nice.

So, the next Tuesday I find my way downtown and locate the studio in an older building on State Street. I walk in and at the other end of the room is the only person there, a woman with blond curls and a black shirt who smiles warmly at me and welcomes me to the class. I liked her immediately. Other people come in after me and we review a dance they have already been learning. Although it is all so new to me, I try not to smile, I don’t want to show how much fun I’m having. I like to keep my emotions inside and protected. At the end of the class, I know I want to come back. And I REALLY want my own pair of tap shoes. Getting to make all those sounds when you move your feet sounded like a lot of fun!

So, the next day, or maybe the day after, I took the discount coupon the teacher had given me and went down to DGC Pro for my tap shoes. I had been looking forward to it ALL DAY. After giving the clerk my size, I sat on the floor until I found a pair that fit just right. Yellow box with black shiny new tap shoes in hand, I proudly went home and drooled over them until I could try the shoes out the next week.

Stacey, the teacher, was equally happy to see me the next week. (She later told me she had wondered if I’d be back.) But I did come back, agains and agains and agains. It was hard, my emotional energy was still at an ebb, I couldn’t “stand” for very long. But it was so much fun and Stacey was so nice, that I stuck with it through those very frustrating weeks of trying to learn the new language of dance. (I nearly cried in class several times.) After a few weeks of classes, I was lying on a couch one afternoon and in sheer puzzlement, I asked God, “Why tap dancing?” and he replied, “Because I am going to teach you how to walk again and this is how we’re going to do it.” Only God would teach someone how to walk by teaching them how to dance. So, with Stacey’s help, that is exactly what we did.

It didn’t take Stacey and I long to form a friendship. It was about a month after I had started that we walked around the World Beat Festival together after she performed with the Molly Malone Irish Dancers. (They dance beautifully.) I had gone to watch and she had some time to hang out afterwards. My friend, Deborah, had also joined the class so going every week was like hanging out with my friends. It is still very much that way today except now even more so.

Looking back three years later, I can see how much tap dancing has added to my life and how much it has changed me. Remember me trying not to smile? I smile a lot now. In fact, the other day, Stacey told me how contagious it is and I asked her surprised, “Really?” She was a little incredulous at that response. But it had taken me a long time to let myself really smile and really laugh, I had held it in so much before without even really knowing it. But I knew Stacey liked me and knowing that helped immensely. It is much easier to show who you are when you know who you are is well liked. As I was discovering who I was and who I wanted to be as God and I rebuilt, people like Stacey were there surrounding me with encouragement and love.

When I messed up in class, when I wasn’t perfect, it didn’t bother Stacey at all. It bothered me a lot and I would get so frustrated! Her focus is not usually on the end product, her focus is on having fun while you’re learning and you may even come up with something new along the way! She taught me perfection doesn’t really exist, you can do a step hundreds of times, do it again and still do it better. The whole thing is a process, much like our lives, and it is meant to be enjoyed. Then as we worked on my solo together, she would videotape me and I had to learn how to keep going even when I wasn’t getting it just right. I had to learn to be comfortable with her watching just me. I didn’t like being under scrutiny, it was even rather terrifying. But over time, as I learned to trust her, I am now down to “slightly uncomfortable”. And I still have perfectionist tendencies when it comes to a standard for myself, but I give myself a lot more grace now and I know I will get the step at some point. (Although "wings" still stumps me.)

Then, my second year, our troupe was asked to perform with several other dance troupes for a fund raiser. It was my first time on a stage outside of our studio. That night, I was stunned to discover, I LOVE the stage! I love being in the wings, the “5 minutes!” calls, the crowded hallways, being center stage, dancing down the aisles, all of it! I was in heaven. After one show, someone told Stacey I had great stage presence. When she relayed that to me, I knew my dream of speaking in front of audiences was in fact reachable. I really could do this and I could do it well. And I loved that I could have stage presence dancing.

I think the other thing I have learned besides self-confidence, is that to do something takes practice. You may not be able to do a step, it may seem like you will never get it, but if you keep at it, one day, you will do it with ease. Just keep at it. This gives me faith in myself. The most important thing I have learned, though, is attitude. This is one lesson where I am still impressed how God taught it to me. He knew exactly what he was doing when he brought Stacey and I into each other’s lives. She has such a cheerful, positive outlook, you can’t help but have it rub off on you. My personality tends toward the darker emotions and “fours” hold onto them. But Stacey has taught me that you choose what to focus on and that life is much happier when you focus on the positive, when you choose to live with a cheerful and giving attitude. I can’t tell you how many times this lesson has come back to me again and agains. I needed that light to be there. The first time I emotionally felt warmth on my face as if the sun had just broken through the clouds for a time, was one evening at tap class. It lasted for about an hour but it gave me hope that there would be life and light when the black water had ebbed away. I have to honestly say, tap dancing and my friends there was one of the biggest contributors to my healing and in who I am today. My mentors would be the other. I really did learn how to walk in tap shoes.

So thank you to Stacey and the On Tap dancers for the last three wonderful years, they have been filled with joy, camaraderie, hope, self-confidence, and love. All the things I wanted to be built into my life and who I am was partly built here, in our studio dancing together. I still have so much to learn, including all of the lessons I have mentioned on deeper levels, but I am looking forward to learning them as we continue dancing together. I think you helped draw out the person I truly was all along. Since I can’t put it any better than they did in “Wicked”, this is for all of you. (What can I say, I’m a Broadway fan…)

I'VE HEARD IT SAID
THAT PEOPLE COME INTO OUR LIVES
FOR A REASON

BRINGING SOMETHING WE MUST LEARN

AND WE ARE LED TO THOSE

WHO HELP US MOST TO GROW

IF WE LET THEM

AND WE HELP THEM IN RETURN

WELL, I DON'T KNOW IF I BELIEVE THAT'S TRUE

BUT I KNOW I'M WHO I AM TODAY

BECAUSE I KNEW YOU….
SO MUCH OF ME

IS MADE OF WHAT I LEARNED FROM YOU

YOU'LL BE WITH ME

LIKE A HANDPRINT ON MY HEART...

AND NOW WHATEVER WAY OUR STORIES END

KNOW YOU HAVE RE-WRITTEN MINE

BY BEING MY FRIEND...
BECAUSE I KNEW YOU

I HAVE BEEN CHANGED

FOR GOOD.

In honor of 3 years of tap dancing – and for the fun of it, here are some of my favorite memories from “On Tap”. (In no particular order.)

-Learning to walk silently in tap shoes behind the backdrop on the McNary stage when we had to get from stage left to stage right.

-Dancing down the aisles of the Elsinore to “Chicago”.

-Giving Stacey flowers at every recital as a troupe in appreciation and gratitude and her being surprised, every time...

-The night the drummers came and we finally got the beat to Zodiac.

-Dancing Zodiac as a duet with Stacey at the World Beat Festival.

-Teaching tap class as the substitute and watching the students “get it”. What a great feeling.

-Learning to hula hoop and tap dance at the same time.

-Rocking out in Sheri’s convertible with Sheri, Bobbe, and Connie.

-Meeting Stacey for the first time.

-Learning how to dance with canes to “Razzle Dazzle”, also from Chicago, dropping them A LOT in class, and then having the audience LOVE the canes at the shows.

-Stacey telling her friend in front of me I was going to dance a solo at our recital without telling me first. Yes, that really happened.

-Being videotaped while practicing for that solo and learning to be comfortable with that as I moved from tears to smiles.

-Convincing Stacey to dance that piece with me for the third recital two years later. (Sweet, friendly, revenge.)

-Deborah’s reaction to me telling her I was taking tap and her starting the next week.

-Learning, and being able to do, the Broadway Step and Maxi Ford Turn.

-When I learned I could do it, agains and agains.

-Really going at the finale of “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” as an entire class in response to the enthusiasm of the audience. That ROCKED!

-Learning to balance on the ball of one foot while moving the other. Try it.

-All the times people have asked me to show them a couple of steps. Good stories there.

-Designing and maintaining Stacey’s website.

-Celebrating my second book going to the printers with everyone going to the Condeterie for cake after class.

-Giving Stacey her quilt and the look on her face when she realized what it was.

-Volun-teering at the food share.

-Creeping behind stage and in the wings during a show.

-Drinking wine at Shari’s house before, during, and after, we practiced in her garage before class for the upcoming recital and the look on Stacey’s face when we would come to class and tell her what we’d just done.

-Calling Bobbe as a class and convincing her to come to class then surprising her with birthday cupcakes when she got there.

-Stacey dressed up as Betty Boop. Nuff' said.

-The happy tappy surprise birthday party we threw Stacey in May, complete with chocolate and Guinness. Surprise!

-Knowing there are lots of precious memories yet to make!

For more information about On Tap, please see http://www.ontapdancing.com/.

We Took First!

The quilt I made for Stacey took first in its class at the Marion County Fair! I am excited other people get to see it and perhaps have creative ideas of their own. I called Stacey right away to let her know and to say she was BEYOND thrilled would be a vast understatement. As she says, the quilt has taken on a life of it's own. I learned so much from making it and still enjoy learning ever more deeply it's message of taking the chance on really living your life and treasuring the friends who walk, and dance, with you along the way.