Monday, March 23, 2009 - 
My Life,photo
9 comments
My Life,photo
9 comments
Highlights from Houston
Thursday was the most stressful day, by far. About two hours into the eight hour drive, I blew a tire. But I must sing the praises of my beautiful red Magnum. There was no dangerous skidding, and I hardly felt a thing. It was more the noise than anything that alerted me. I was all ready to begin the procedure to change the tire when a State Trooper pulled up behind me and helped me out. I thanked him profusely, and I was on my way ... to Discount Tire for a replacement. It was under full warranty, and they replaced it for free. But it put me a couple of hours behind schedule.
Then about six hours later, when I was originally scheduled to arrive, I start getting calls from my students at the hotel. They have their reservations, but we had paid for our rooms in advance. The hotel had no record of it. Ack! Have you ever had to coordinate a problem between panicked students, a competition organizer, and a hotel over the phone driving at 70 m.p.h.? I don't recommend it. (And they think I'm dangerous when I'm trying to put on make-up in the car. LOL) In any case, it all got resolved. And I'm happy to say that it was pretty much smooth sailing after that.
Once I was in Houston, and I had a chance to freshen up, we all went to Joe's Crab Shack for a sumptuous feast! From left to right we have Ray (competitor), his wife Ronnie, me, Yvette (on my lap), her mother Norma (competitor), her son Marc, and Norma's husband Thomas.
Amateur competition began early on Friday morning. Our heats began at 10:15 AM. But Ray & Norma did really well with a 1st place in Rumba, and a 2nd in Cha Cha.
The evenings were reserved for the professional competition. We were most impressed with a couple from Phoenix, Arizona (Radomir Pashev & Devorah Kastner) that danced both Smooth and Rhythm. (That's DanceSport jargon for American Style Ballroom and American Style Latin. These differ from the International in technique and style, but they're all beautiful.)
The next morning started even earlier with heats starting at 9:45 AM. This day was even better with 1st place in both the Waltz and Foxtrot. (I'm so proud of my babies!)
Saturday night was the finals for the professional competition. Radomir Pashev & Devorah Kastner danced again but so did another favorite couple of mine, Enzo Zappia & Rebecca Avila.
The next morning we headed for home, and I'm happy to say that it was without incident. Once in a while, boring can be good! LOL
Now, I think that it's time for you to head on over to Travis' blog for his commentary on this week's Dancing with the Stars (if you haven't been there already). ;)
9 comments:
Oh Cherie what a trip down. I can just picture it. And talk about DWTS...looks wonderful...I'll bet most of them were better than a lot of tonights performers :) Glad you had a good time.
I've blown a tire while going 70!! It sounds like a helicopter is landing on your roof, glad it was all OK - love your sexy car
and Brava! to your "babies" - what wonderful results
love the photo of all of you together - looks like a big happy family
Congratulations on everyone's success. Sounds like lots of fun.
Nothing makes a teacher feel better than the success of her students.
Congratulations.
This looks better than Dancing with the Stars!
Thom: Yeah, DWTS is kind of like nails on a chalkboard for me at this stage, but I love that the show is so popular. And it's really generated interest in the dance community. :)
Dianne: It's very much a family type atmosphere. We're all in this together. lol
Nessa: It is great fun! Thanks!
Dr. John: Absolutely!
Things: I don't know about that, but it is a lot of fun. :)
What a series of unfortunate events! It looks like it was great fun once you got there, though.
Beautiful pictures!
Congrats to your pair for an outstanding weekend! If we paid better attention and planned better, we could make it to some ballroom competitions too.
Thanks for the shout!
Travis: The Seattle Star Ball is coming Aug 7-9. I would highly recommend attending any of the evening sessions when the top level amateurs & pros compete. It looks like they even have a professional show. A great night out on the town. I'm sure that you and Pam would enjoy it emensely.
Here's the URL for more info:
http://www.dancesportseattle.com/starball/index.htm
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