katismithson’s blog

Sorry this took so long! I am currently in California, and am finally ready to update you on mine and my dad's roadtrip here! The first stop was Nashville, Tennessee. We got there late, but we went and saw the Grand Old Opry. That night, Lori Morgan, John Michael, and the Charlie Daniels Band were playing. The highlight of the night for me was that we heard Charlie Daniels come on stage and start playing when we were in the gift shop!

After that, we went downtown to cruise Music Row, and then walked around downtown for the rest of the night. We stopped ata bar called Cadillac Ranch to hear a country band play. We also went to Tubb Records where Elvis used to play at the Midnight Jamboree! Dad was very excited about this. I had to take a picture with Elvis....

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma, we saw the "Old West Museum" on the side of the road, so we pulled off. It was super cool. They had all kinds of old artifacts, from Native Americans to pioneer tools, weapons, wanted posters, Wells Fargo documents, etc. It was well worth the stop.

Our next stop was Oklahoma City, where we visited the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial. It was very well done, and quite moving. It is built on the ground where the Federal Building was. There are bronze chairs for each victim, and small chairs for the children that were at the daycare. At night, the crystal under the chairs light up. There is a gant Buddhist meditation pool where the street was, and beauiful inscriptions on the entrance. Around the only surviving tree in the area has a cement wall around it with the inscription "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated."

 

 

 

Our next stay was New Mexico. I don't have any pictures because there was nothing there! We did eat at a delicious Mexican restaurant, though! Our next outing was the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. This was SO neat!! When you get there, you watch a video at the visitor center about petrified wood. The reason it is so different in Arizona is that all the minerals make it rainbow colored, and they grow amethyst and quartz in them! After the video, you drive through the park and stop at lookout points to see the Painted Desert, petrified logs (I was expecting a forest, but it was actually just petrifid logs laying down), and Newspaper Rock. This was a rock that the Native Americans carved heiroglyphics in, and you can still see them on the rock! I LOVED visiting this park!

 

 

Next stop: Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Navajo Tribal Park on the way. I got to pet an Indian's horse, and dad bought me some jewelry that they made.

 

Last stop: VEGAS, baby!! It was my first time there. Dad and I walked the strip in the afternoon and saw all the cool casinos, the fountain show at the Bellagio, the lions at the MGM, etc. It was SO much fun! The lion in the photo is the 8th decendent of the MGM lion on their movie logos! That night we ate dinner at the Rumjungle in the Mandaley Bay casino. It was the BEST restaurant I ahve EVER been to! It was a Brazillian steakhouse, and they come cut all the meats at your table and you get to eat all the sides...coconut rice, fried plantains, Parusian salad, etc. After dinner, we gambled at a few casinos. I'm sad to say that I did not come home a rich woman. But it was really the trip of a lifetime. :)

 

I got the cutest Mary Poppins bag yesterday!! I saw it when I was biking in downtown Athens...turns out it's a knock-off of an Hermes bag! I am going to take this bag everywhere with me!

Well, here's the long anticipated picture. (Sorry I suck at taking pictures of myself!!) It still seems surreal to me. But 18 years, four orthodontists, one jaw surgeon, and over $30,000 later, I'm done. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

After much research, I have finally found my future dog!! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the MALTEPOO...

 

 

OMG I LOVE them!! It all started when I rescued a lost Maltese in Manhattan Beach. I got to keep it at my apartment until the owners came, and I fell in love with him!! When I Jessica Simpson got her Maltese-Poodle mix, Daisy, I thought it was even cuter than the Maltese.! They just look like little stuffed animals. One of my students has a little boy Maltepoo named Oliver, and my friend Joy's aunt has one. She was so fun to play with...she never barks, she's just this fluffy little white thing that bounces around the house. They're so small and 100% hypoallergenic! Perfect for me. When I settle down somewhere I am getting one!! :) Of course, since they are considered "designer dogs" a Maltepoo puppy is about $850. Guess I need to start saving now!

I decided to try step class at the gym this morning. Step is the hardest exercise- not because I don't have the endurance, but because I can't stop laughing! First of all, the instructor, Frank, reminds me of one of the Ninja Turtles on the Sega Ninja Turtle game. He is short, stiff, and muscular, and when he moves it is this stiff bounce and his feet come about 3/4 of an inch off the floor. Aside from Frank, there are three other types of people who attend step:

1. The Jane Fonda Wannabees. These women are the ones to whom step class is aparently a life. They show up to class 20 minutes early (in matching little workout suits might I add) just to set up their step. Let's stop there. The step equiptment consists of a platform and two little risers you put under them so it makes, well...a step. How long does it take to set that up? Two minutes? Nonetheless, the Jane Fonda Wannabees are ready to go with eighteen minutes to spare. Plus, one set of risers under their step is not good enough for them. They have to put TWO sets of risers...possibly just to show the world that they are step pros. During class, these women get into a zone. It is apparent that any unruly distraction in step class will aggravate them because it distracts from the workout.

 

2. The Step Newbies. Step is not easy. The moves are fast and require quite some agility. It is easy to spot a Step Newbie in class because they look as if they are trying desparately to get it. Their eyes are glued to the instructor, and they frequently stop to get on the right foot. When we turn around to face the other side of the room, the Step Newbies attempt to keep their eyes on the instructor. However, lacking the fine skill that birds have to completely turn their heads around, the Step Newbies find this task impossible. Thus, they miss the backward move and again have to stop to catch up. Their arms are not in sync, if they remember to move their arms at all, and they often look frustrated. At some point, we all started in the Step Newbie category. However, most of us move on to...

 

3. The Step Impaired. This is the category for people who cannot step and do not care. They fling their arms wildly about while they jump around in circles, shake their butts, and kick. Occasionally the step impaired get the steps right, but if not, they proceed to kick and fling anyways. It's all about the workout right? I find myself in this category of steppers. Unfortunately, Frank also fits into this category. I really tried to get it right, but it is difficult to excerise when laughing so hard! And it didn't help that Ninja Turtle Frank was wiggling and flinging himself around in the front of the room. I think it'd be a great home workout video. "Jump Around Like an Idiot: The Workout for the Step Impaired." In any case, it was still a productive day. At least my stomach muscles got toned from laughing so hard! 

Last month Derrek and I went to Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, GA...birthplace of the Cabbage Patch Kids. When I was young, Cabbage Patch Kids were my all time favorite toy. When I heard that the "hospital" they are "born" at is about an hour north of me, I HAD to go! So Derrek and I went to see how the Cabbage Patch Kids are born. (Does it surprise you that I moved to the land of Gone With the Wind and Cabbage Patch Kids?!) :)

 

Outside, the place seems quaint. It is a little white wooden building with some rockers on the porch. In doors is a different story. The staff all wears nursing uniforms, and you walk through a progression of rooms that show the maturation of the Cabbage Patch Kids. In the first room, there are incubators with baby dolls in them. They are hooked up to IV's that say "Imagicillin".

 

The next room had scenes from school....

 

But if you ask me, the teacher looked dead or drunk...

Now for the final and most frightening room...the Magic Crystal Tree. This is the tree where the Cabbage Patch Kids are born from. Every fifteen minutes, the lights dim and someone gets on the loudspeaker and says "The Cabbage is dialated 10 cenimeters." That is our cue to go to the Magic Crystal Tree to witness a birth. The crystals under the tree begin glowing... 

 The disturbing part of the tree were the cabbages under it with heads sticking out of them. It was like an assortment of decapitated dolls! Anyway, a nurse got under the tree and began explaining what she was going to do. She got tongs and unfolded giant cabbage leaves, and then reached in and literally yanked out a naked doll!

 

The kids standing around got to name the doll. After the Magic Crystal Tree Room, there was a store with more Cabbage Patch paraphenalia than I have ever seen in my life. I suppose as a child, maybe this whole process would seem magical. Maybe as an adult it is a little frightening, but I still like to pretend. All you need is a little imagination. I did like the bunnybees!

What a sweet birthday it was!! The slow painful death of my car by dripping coolant has rapidly turned into a leak, so I wasn't able to drive to Atlanta to see Dad. Instead, he got a car and came up here. He brought me really pretty flowers and TWO pieces of my FAVORITE Cheesecake Factory Dulce de Leche cheesecake! (One is for when he's gone...) We went to dinner at a classy Italian place called DePalma's. For an appitizer we had Mozarella & Pomodori- tomato slices with fresh basil and slices mozzarella with balsamic vinegar on top. Dad had spaghetti and meatballs and I had the Pasta Margherita. The tables were cool- under the glass there were old International coins and vintage Hollywood pictures. For my birthday present, Mom and Dad paid for my Moulin Rouge ticket for when Anna and I go to France!!

I'm sooo excited about that!! The show this year is called Feerie. "Feerie" is French for "enchanting display" (see? I've been studying!!) There is a video clip of the show at this link: http://www.moulinrouge.fr/html_gb/show_sommaire.htm. If you click on the "historic" sidebar it was pretty cool to read the economics in France that created this artistic movement which birthed the Cabaret and the Can Can. :)

 

Anyway, after dinner, Dad and I came back to my apartment and we ate cheesecake and watched Dancing With the Stars. I still think Kristy is hands down the best one on the show, but Marlee, Priscilla, and the football player did well tonight. It was a fabulous day. The only way I could have had a better birthday is if Mom and Anna could have been here too. But of all my years living in Georgia, this birthday has been the best one yet!

I know I haven't been blogged in almost a YEAR, but I'm back. The last year has been a whirlwind between work, finishing up graduate school, and dance, so I thought I'd catch you up on the dance part of my life first. Last summer, about three weeks after my jaw surgery, I went to the BYU Ballroom Camp in Utah. It was five days a week, eight hours a day of dancing, and it was so much fun! My ballroom idols- Tony Dovolani and Elena Grinenko- taught at it, and I even got take a private lesson with Elena! Here is a photo of them:

At the camp I studied samba, foxtrot, rumba, vienneze waltz, east coast swing, west coast swing, and mambo. Since I do a lot of salsa, I took the highest level 3-day mambo class they had. Tony taught it and he is HILARIOUS. He's just like he is when they show the practice sessions on Dancing With the Stars. Here is my favorite picture with him:

 

Since it was one of the highest level classes, a lot of the competitive BYU Ballroom team were in it. They invited me and some other girls in the class to go salsa dancing Thursday night at Salsa Chocolat (a slasa club wih a chocolate fountain!) they also invited Tony, and to all of our surprise him and Elena showed up!! I danced with Tony on one song...it was probably the highlight of my year! Here is a picture of me, Tony, and Elena at the end of the night. I have no idea who the lady in the middle is. She was like stalking Tony all night, and she just jumped in the middle of my picture!

 

Ballroom Camp was the time of my life! I wish I could go this year, but Anna and I are going to Europe and there is only so much money to go around! Anyway, in the fall Derrek and I began training and teaching at Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Duluth. (Fred Astaire and Arthur Murray are the two biggest ballroom studios in the country). It was a lot of long days for me driving down to Atlanta after work, dancing until 10pm, and driving all the way back home. In October we competed in the Professional American Rhythm division of the Peachtree Ball in Atlanta. Having had only two weeks of real training on the specific steps we had to do, we got 6th out of 6th, but we were happy and had a ball. We had to compete in Pro at that competition because we both taught for their studio. had we been able to do ProAm we would have most likely placed a lot higher. Here are some pictures from Peachtree Ball. I had to hand glue the 2500 Swarovski crystals on my dress to avoid paying $3200!

In November, we went down to Orlando for the Fred Astaire Nationals. There we competed the Professional Novice division. It was for new professional ballroom dancers, and the category consisted on rumba and foxtrot. We placed 5th out of 6th, so we were excited that it was a bigger competition and we moved up! Plus there were six judges instead of three, one of which was Elena Grinenko. The Fred Astaire judges were looking at how well we executed the Fred Astaire syllabus steps, and Elena was the only non-Fred Astaire judge. She ranked us higher than all the other judges- 3rd in rumba and 4th in foxtrot. I was excited about that. and I got to talk to her again. :) We won medals and $50. For the novice division you couldn't wear competition gowns, and you also weren't supposed to take pictures in the ballroom. So here is the one picture I have!

 

We had one day to go to Disneyworld, so of course we went to the Magic Kingdom! It was so much fun, and I really want to go back to Orlando...there are SO many parks to see there!!

 

 

I couldn't resist... Derrek had never been on it, and since I made my family go like five million times when I was little, he HAD to go with me (I only made him go once, though)

The had an awesome light parade!

And of course, one of the highlights for me was waltzing on the bridge of the Fantasyland Castle. :)

 

That's my crazy life! Dance has slowed down since Christmas. I've been working really hard on finishing this horrible semester of graduate school! But we have two shows this coming week in Madison. we're performing our Roxanne tango, and a new cha cha/hip hop piece to "Low."

I'm alive! The surgery went well, but I don't remember much of Monday. In fact, during my other surgery I remember going back to the opporating room and being told I was "going to go to sleep now," but I don't remember a thing about this surgery. I had my own room upstairs, and Mom, Dad, and Derrek stayed with me the whole time. The first night was bad because the machine they had me hooked up to was so sensitive that it would go off if my oxygen dropped below 88, so everytime I go up it went off. I was only supposed to be there one night, but I was not feeling great yet, so Dr. Fennell had me stay one more night but with no machines. It is great to be home in my own bed now. Dr. Fennell is sooo nice! He even sent me flowers! :)

My face has been numb the whole last three days, and I have no control over my lips (so when I look down I tend to drool...nice). Everyone keeps telling me it looks really good and that I'm as swollen as most people, but I feel huge! I have this ice pack that wraps around my head, and one that goes across my face. I'm not really in that much pain- my jaw is just really stiff, so I can't open it far, and my braces are now cutting into my lips. I have a chin though! It's swollen, but I think my profile looks good. I'll post pictures later today, but my camera is down in the car. Tomorrow I go back to Dr. Fennell to get Xrays taken, and Saturday Anna comes to visit!

Yesterday we watched our Ballroom Magic video and The Queen (good movie!) I've had a lot of visitors from dance. It's hard cause I can't really talk, but it's been nice to know people care, and I love all the flowers! I don't know what's on tap for today. Mom, Derrek, and I watched a really hilarious movie called Code Name: The Cleaner, so I think Dad wants to see that. Mom's making me a smoothie right now. It has vanilla Ensure, plain yogurt, oj, and frozen peaches. The liquid diet has not been as bad as I expected. Yesterday I had mashed potato soup for lunch and black bean soup for dinner. I can't suck through a straw yet since I don't have control over my lips, but spoons work well. I started reading again on my patio yesterday, so it's been nice to get back to doing some normal stuff. I got Scrabble and Yahtzee too, so mybe we'll play those.

Well, I'm off to eat. Check back later for pics!

 

 

I once posted a blog entry about the idiodicy of blogs. I classified bloggers into three categories: The Obsessive Compulsive Play-By-Play Egocentrist, The Semi-Psychotic Misanthrope, and the Self-Proclaimed Genius. I do not label myself as any of these (but if forced to identify with one, I suppose I would choose the Self-Proclaimed Genius). But lately I've decided that I feel left out of the loop. I can't get on this from work, and I'm really never home, so that's why I never got around to starting one, or keeping up to date on yall's. (I will say, however, that I did go back and read them all!) My jaw surgery is a week from Monday, so I thought this will be a good way to keep up with all of you. Plus, I'll have a WHOLE lot of free time! I can't promise it'll be more exciting then biking in Thailand and climbing the The Great Wall, but if you want to see pictures of me with a swollen pumpkin head, then you've come to the right place! :)