Tango weekend

This weekend was one of the biggest argentine tango festivals in the US: valentango, in Portland.

http://www.claysdancestudio.com/valentango/index.shtml

My boyfriend and I spent Saturday at workshops learning from world-class instructors. We at first thought the price was steep for such crowded classes, but we both felt we learned a lot. I also splurged on some hand-made (in Buenos Aires) spike-high-heal tango shoes - I'll have to post a pic at some point.

http://www.close-embrace.com/links.html

That night we went out to try our knew knowledge at the grand tango ball. It was a disaster! The floor was super crowded and we could barely keep time with the music. Tango is danced around the floor counter-clock-wise. One song we only managed to get 1/4 of the way around the floor the whole song! Neither of us know enough moves yet to make the most of being stuck in one spot, but at least we gave it a good solid try. There was a live orchestra there, and they had showcase dances from some of the instructors. It was a nice event, even if we have yet to really be able to practice our dancing!

One of the things I find most unique about Oregon is the mix of people/fashions. At the ball there were people in formal gowns, and people in jeans and t-shirts. There were people with posh hair and lots of make up, and organic looking hippie types with pony-tails and no makeup. There were also a handful of guys with bandannas in their hair!

Audrey's slumber party

After my mid-week wine-country meet-up with my boyfriend he came back to my town to spend the day. I had a very busy day on Friday and he knew I wouldn't have time to play with Audrey before our drive up to Portland Friday night. Because of that he offered to take Audrey back to Portland with him Thursday night and she could spend the day with him. I was reluctant to part with the two beings I love at the same time but thought it would double as good practice for when he's going to watch her while I'm at my next conference. So I said yes...

Friday morning I woke up to an eearliy quiet house... it was so lonely there without my little dog! And meanwhile up in Portland she was getting a rare treat: fresh bacon! I'm not even sure she's ever had that (certainly I don't make it for her). I worried she'd want to abandon me and go live with the meat-eater who spoils her, but she was thrilled to see me when I walked in the door Friday night... She's still my girl!

I love my job :)

So sometimes I work like crazy and am totally stressed out. But then there are days like today. So far today I've gone to ballet class, stocked up on groceries at the food coop, come home to take Audrey for a walk, worked on teaching myself to skateboard, and am now making lunch. I'll head to work after lunch and certainly put in my fair share of hours before going to bed - but what a nice way to spend a Tuesday!! It's not over yet, too - I am meeting my girlfriends for dinner later. But for now, time to work!

Some fun despite the hard work

So even though I worked like a dog all Jan, I did manage to have some fun. We took Audrey up a mountain to play in the snow one afternoon:











And now that I am searching for photos - it seems most of the fun we had was after I finished teaching that intensive course. The weekend after that ended we took Audrey to the beach:










I'm not sure how much fun I was at the beach, still recovering from working way too hard in Jan:











Audrey had enough fun for all of us, though:












But after too much fun, miss Audrey has to have a bath, which isn't so much fun:











Then we had our little wine-country retreat for Valentine's day (without the "child", I mean dog, in tow) - amazing that this is only about an hour from my house: