He terminado una semana de flamenco. ¡Olé!

Today marked the very last day of my week long flirtation with Flamenco. I thought it would just be a summer romance, a fling of passion which I would regale my children with in future years as part 'your mom was young once too' and part cautionary tale, and then I would return to the loving embrace of my West African Dance leaving Flamenco for some other woman to discover, fall in love with and tame. I fear, however, that it was much more than just a passing fancy. It might even be *gasp* LOVE! Thankfully, WAD and I have an open relationship...

For all the silliness in the preceding paragraph, I really did enjoy Flamenco and I have the blisters to prove it. The only downside (isn't there always one?) is that one of the blisters caused me to have to do the last half of tonight's class shoe-less. Flamenco just isn't the same without the banging of the shoes sound of the golpe or the planta-tacon. Listen to me sounding like I know what the heck I'm talking about. I would really love to continue with Flamenco in September but I'm trying to write up a budget so I can do Spain-Morocco next year for a friend's wedding... hmm, maybe I could use my snazzy Flamenco moves to score up some busking money on the streets of Granada. They don't know what Flamenco is there, do they?

Stomping to a Dance Floor Near You

This is the week that I take a break from running to do a week-long intensive Intro to Flamenco dance class. For the record, as of writing this, I have only done one class (number two is tonight), but I love it! Having spent a better part of my childhood doing dances that involved being light and airy and hiding any sign of strength while still being strong, The fun of being able to stomp, stomp, stomp and being allowed to show strength in your movements is a great joy to me. Much of the pleasure I am deriving from the Flamenco is the same that I derive from my West African Dance. I was never the dainty dancer, always complimented by my teachers for my kicks and large jumps but never slight enough to be the lead girl. Both Flamenco and West African celebrate my strengths as a dancer, and although I feel great excitement at finding them, I wish I could have found them 10 or 15 years ago. How different my physical body might be now if I had. The other thing I am learning from Flamenco is that I need to find a sugar daddy and I need to find him now. All these classes I want to take in September (all two of them)? They aren't cheap. Also, I never knew that my fingers could feel this sore and yet still function. Typing is a bit of a challenge today! Seriously, fingers!?!

I totally look just like this when I do it except fatter and with short hair and no skirt and non-flamenco heeled shoes...

but other than all that exactly like this.

I stumbled a bit at the start of the week with my water challenge. I find drinking enough water on the weekends difficult because I'm moving about and so I can fill up my water bottle and then not see it for four hours. I found myself chugging a lot of water in the evenings to try and make up for the lack of it during the day. Then today and yesterday, I just plum forgot as I was sitting at my desk, despite the full water bottle right beside me. I was better today, but it's going to take a bit more effort to keep up with this.