ah, to be tan in the rain

yeah, i'm rubbing it in. it's dark & raining like mad here in california, but i have tan lines. mexico was fantastic. the weather was perfect, the waves were beautiful, and as my friend eddie says, "we feasted like mexican royalty every night." it's true. actually, we feasted like royalty every night AND morning. friends came and went throughout the week, so there were 3-9 of us there at any time. and every single person who came is an AMAZING and somewhat obsessive cook. mahi mahi ceviche, mango salsa, pineapple salsa, steaks grilled with lime & onion, dave's fresh-caught snapper (!) pan-fried with lime & onion, chorizo with black beans, chorizo with eggs and manchego cheese, fresh guacamole with every meal, tequila, mas tequila, cold beers with salt & lime, banana milk & strawberry smoothies... and the stuff we didn't cook ourselves: al pastor tacos, and of course, sayulita fish tacos.

it rained so hard in san francisco last night that my power went out, and i ended up doing my taxes by candelight. it was very romantic.

one more from last night

i thought this one was too un-smiley to go on the website, but i really like it. pensive, serious but happy - in meditation before the show - and it captures the makeup & decorations nicely. more pics from last night's gig here.

now, off to mexico i go! people say, "didn't you just get back from there?" well... yeah, but baja and mainland mexico are very different. baja's like a total adventure with desert, the bay, camping, and fishing; sayulita is all about longboarding, lying around in a jungle paradise, margaritas and fish tacos. can't wait! no blogging from mexico but i'll write when i get back!

a cute pic of (some of) the troupe

from last night's gig in san jose. from the left: neo, me, atomica, & kalima before the show.

indian lights & the worst promoter ever

so, we are definitely on for this gig in san jose tonight - only, alas, no stilts and no fire. it turns out the gig is in a big tent outside, so fire would be un-do-able. and the dude wanted the stilters there BY 6pm - he tells us this two days before the event! whatever! this guy has been an absolute nightmare to deal with. we're certainly never working with him again. poor jon. i feel so bad for his having to deal with this guy who clearly does not have his shit together at all.

on top of the fact that he asked super-last-minute for four stilters in full indian costume (!?) to be there at 6pm, now he's saying that we're not allowed to hand out business cards because it's HIS event? that's the biggest load of crap i've heard from a promoter yet! no way in hell would i want to treat this guy to my stilts or amaze him with my fire! it's best that the gig tonight is super-easy. two six- to eight-minute sets, one at 8pm, one at 9pm. that's it. with lights, no less. i brought my hoops to spice things up, just in case. spin easy, get the money, and bail.

all i really want out of tonight is some hot pictures. if we can't play with fire, we may as well play with our costuming and makeup, instead.

share the warmth

happy valentine's day!

five days!

till we go back to mexico! yay! back to sayulita, to our little jungle paradise mushroom house... i can hardly wait. dave & i spent the weekend getting our stuff together. we're de-virginizing our padded, super-size, double board bag - we even figured out a way to fit the fishing rods in with the longboards, so we'll have the poles with us, too! i can't wait to spend my days surfing all day, and fishing in the ocean in the early mornings and evenings... hanging out with my good friends at night... i can't believe there will be EIGHT of us there this time! except the end of the week, when it dwindles back down to me, dave, & seth - that will be so much fun!

i haven't decided yet if i'm going to bring any poi, or if it's something i just don't want to deal with again. i learned my lesson last time - but who knows? if our gig on thursday falls through, i may test out gasoline with jon during practice, and decide then... if i DO try gasoline, though, i'll be sure to post all about it here! and of course, if the gasoline works, then i'll be brining poi to mexico for sure!

back into the spin of things

so, yeah - that cold lasted TWO WEEKS! do yourselves a favor and take tons of vitamin c, and wash your hands a lot. you do not want that cold. i feel great now - thank god. and i mean it. thank god, really - meditation helped a lot in chilling me out enough to get the rest i needed, without feeling like i had to check my email or stress out about anything while my body healed. meditation - it's what the body needs!

on a brighter note than health issues, i'll actually be at fire practice this week - yay! it feels like it's been forever. slow season has been living up to its name, unfortunately. our next gig is on valentine's day, but i think jon & laura are doing that one. fire's my lover, but i should spend that silly holiday with my human love, i think.

after that, we've got a gig in san jose on the 16th. it's been pretty messy getting everything confirmed for that one, but i believe we're 100% now? not exactly sure what the event is - some kind of corporate gig. the theme is indian, which means long skirt or maybe my new melodia pants, plus lots of my cool bellydancing accessories and henna - sounds like fun! i'll be sure to post pics when i get 'em.