Amigurumi Naima and Husband Person

I do not normally like to show off the gifts that I get but we received these sweet little amigurumi likenesses of me and the Husband Person from my sister. This is the only time you will see me taller and with better hair than the Husband Person. =)

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

Finger Cymbals!

~N

Naimaland State of the Union 02/03/14

I've been away from blogging since December for mental health reasons. The day after my last post I won an award at work. They mailed an award plaque and balloons to my home as congratulations. The awards dinner will be held in Disney World. Paid round trip and everything. The same night, a family friend passed away at 36 years old. He passed away sometime between the phone call and us arriving at the hospital. The Husband Person had the misfortune and shock of seeing his body still laid out on the bed before we had been informed he had passed away. It was fairly traumatizing. I've never experienced a day of both a high and a low of such extremes.

That weekend I performed as Rosie the Riveter in the Big Show, Girlz. The following weekend at the Malaika holiday hafla. I think both went well. I see myself in the pictures but I honestly don't remember much. It felt more like those times when you drive home but don't remember how you got there.

The Husband Person's birthday came shortly thereafter. It was not a happy one seeing as how his mind was still at the hospital with his friend and that now they were the same age. I tried to stay positive and accommodating to his needs. Christmas came and went. It felt awkward and sad. Then New Year's. I went to bed early.

On top of all of this, I was hired into a new department at the tail end of November. I was going through all of the growing pains of a transition into a new job and by January I ran out of steam. I am the proverbial introvert and had not had any time to myself for my own thoughts or needs. I wrote in my journal for the first time ever, "I am depressed." Hitting bottom one day, I hardly spoke for 24 hours. This was followed by a few days of doing mindless quiet tasks alone for hours so I could get my mind back into a feeling of normalcy. I did talk to a few friends and family about what I was dealing with but reaching out isn't what helps me. Reaching within, privately, is what helps me to process.

My "alone" time helped greatly. I kept January as low-key as possible. It is now February. I have been planing what to pack for my Disney trip at the end of the month. Visioncon is also a top priority. Meetings have been weekly since the beginning of January. I will actually miss the first day of con due to my Disney trip so I have to have all of my registration duties taken care of before I leave. I don't know when I'll get back to more regular blogging. I have a couple projects in the works that aren't quite ready to go online yet. "Easy does it," is my motto right now. On a lighter note, I finished the Harry Potter book series for the first time. I heart them.

~N

 

 Laced Photography & Design

 Laced Photography & Design

Laced Photography & Design

Oogie

 

This year's Big Show 2012: Dark Phantasma hosted by Phenomenon Studios, themed on The Nightmare Before Christmas, was held at Drury University's Clara Thompson Hall. Our cast spent October through November rehearsing the 18 some odd numbers, (all but 5ish choreo'd by Miss B.) by a great coordination effort and scheduling through Facebook. Some of our super talented dancers designed and painted some really terrific backdrops for the stage. 

I had the great honor of portraying "Oogie Boogie," the best-est villain ever. Actually, I had 3 parts, including a brief stint in Halloween Town and Christmas Town. The huge cast shared practice rooms backstage with each other and handful of pianos. I can now say I've used an upright piano as a dressing table. Despite the cramped backstage everyone did fantastic and I had a wonderful time. I hope to see the show on video some day. What can I say, it was super fun!

~N

 Preparing for Halloween Town in my "dressing room" complete with radiator and upright piano. Not very spacious but hey, at least it had a mirror.

My favorite Christmas Town shot by Bob Ek. Yours truly in the front with white gloves and pigtails.

Oogie terrorizing Sandy Claws, Photo: Charlene Wells

  Oogie's "death scene" after Jack steals Oogie's shutter shades. Photo: Charlene Wells

 Lock, Shock and Barrel drag Oogie away. They actually picked me completely off the ground! Photo: Charlene Wells

 Curtain call. Photo: Charlene Wells

 

 

 Promo photos by Maharet and Miss B.

The Baroness

 Photo: Chris Harris. Model, hair, make-up, costuming: Naima. Weapons Master (and sunglasses): G. Holt.

Photo: Chris Harris. Model, hair, make-up, costuming: Naima. GI Joes and Cobra toys: The Husband Person's personal collection. 

 Dear Internet,

A Baroness themed photo shoot on Oct. 28th, 2012.  

Your Welcome,

~N

P.S. Can you spot Destro and Cobra Commander?

Happy 4th of July!

May fireworks shoot from your breasts like stars!

Right now, at this very moment while writing this post, I am a song splicing genius with no make-up and greasy hair. My eyelashes and eyebrows are also totally blond.

Naima photo credit: Chris Bryant

On the internet I am a Photoshopped Bellydance goddess with a nice rack.

Actually, my rack is pretty nice all of the time.

So, it is the early am on the 4th of July. I have spent the past 3 hours editing music to my great satisfaction. After my last post about backtracking, my dance has been at a stand still for over 2 weeks. It hasn't really helped that it has also been in the triple digits most of that time making me feel extra sluggish. I have been spending most of that time with the Husband Person, video games, movies, and hooping. Today I was ready to dive back in and start gearing up for the next dance events on my calendar.

Right, so onward and upward and all that. Happy 4th!

~N

Postcards From Birthweek

Acting our age.

Surprise from the Husband Person

Helping

The best "Bellp" Dance Songs I've ever heard.

Personalized hair flowers

"It's chompers had chompers!!"

The Acme Attitude Adjuster

Hooping, I'm sort of addicted.

The best Not-Dancers you'll ever meet.

Earrings. Yeah, they're pretty awesome.

Sewing EXPLOSION!

Crazy was not an option.

~N

Mother & Daughter

Today is my birthday. My mom is giving me pie. Thanks mom!

~N

Holiday Hafla 2010

Highlights from the Holiday Hafla at Step by Step in Springfield, MO.

I thought this was an awesome pic until I realized it looks like I'm sniffing my pit.

Waiting...

Rock Paper Scissors to see who goes first.

 

Despite all your hard practice before the show, you will always be upstaged by children dancing like zombies, (no matter the holiday.)

See the whole photo album here on Facebook.

~N

Now watching: The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (in all of it's late 90's glory.)
mood: sushi

Holiday Lights

Naima all lit up

I am dancing at a Holiday Hafla in a few weeks which brings to mind one fun way to accessorize for the season aside from the usual red and green costume color choices. Dancing wrapped in LIGHTS!

You need:

• Battery powered LED light strand. (Mine is an 18-light strand made for "mini" Christmas trees. I paid around $5 at Target.)
• Batteries
• 1 old knee high panty hose
• Safety pin(s)

First, tie a note in the knee high close to the top of the leg hole. This will make a little pocket for the light strand battery pack to fit into. (The first time I danced with lights I had the pack tightly tucked under my belt and managed to shimmy it out. It hit the floor and all the batteries scattered across the room. This is how the knee high pocket came into being.)

Second, fold the knee high inside out tucking the toe and knot all inside. There should be enough room for the battery pack to fit completely inside the pocket. If it doesn't, untie your knot and move it up or down accordingly.

The lights should be pinned inside your skirt not the belt.

 

Finally, secure the knee high to the inside of your skirt, not the belt, with safety pin(s). I recommend pinning it lower than your belt line instead of directly under it. That way your belt will lay flat and snug while the pocket dangles under the folds of your skirt. Don't forget to pin it with the on/off switch facing a direction you can easily reach. Mine has a switch on the top edge making it easy to stick a finger under my belt and turn it on and off.

Wrap/drape the lights around your body tucking or pinning them to your bra, etc., as desired.

When you are done dancing store your lights without the batteries in the pack. The batteries will last much longer that way. Since the lights are LED, and you dance in them for only a few minutes once or twice a year, the lights should last you an extremely long time as well.

Good luck and have a fun safe holiday season!

~N

Now: going to bed
mood: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Halloweek

Wedding favors 10/30/10

I take the week of Halloween off every year. This year I spent almost the entire time playing Fallout 3: New Vegas. I managed a little bit of beading and a little bit of dance practice. I am pretty much over the bronchitis but my ribs still hurt when I dance.

Saturday, the Husband Person and I attended a wedding reception where he ran the sound equipment. On Halloween, we turned off our porch light, ate candy, and played New Vegas all night. And that's it. Spent my vacation in my pjs.

More costume detail pics for your viewing pleasure.

~N

Now playing: New Vegas!
mood: I'm ready for Thanksgiving dinner, how about you?!

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Thanks to everyone for the Bday Wishes and for the most part leaving me alone for the week. I am having a fat & lazy birthweek, ignoring everything but the Xbox360 w/the husband person and watching old VHS tapes. We also successfully decided on a new mattress set which will be delivered tomorrow afternoon. *very excited*

~N

Now playing: Borderlands Xbox360
mood: Brandon Lee

Happy Hedonistic Holidays

Here is the clip of Tanya Lemani dancing in the Star Trek episode Wolf in the Fold. I thought it would be fitting since her costume looks like Christmas tree tinsel. I also get a kick of bellydancing being associated with a "hedonistic society". They even imply all of the women there are prostitutes. Way to go 1960's stereotypes!

I hope you all are having a "Hedonistic" Holiday without getting into too much trouble.

http://www.tanyalemani.com/

~N

Now playing: The Guru
mood: spiced cider

Welcome Back

Will I ever reach the top?

I've been away from the internet for about 2 weeks now. The first week was part of the reading deprivation of Artist's Way (I'll talk more about this later). The second week being my vacation/birthweek. In order to catch up on the past two weeks without this being a super wordy post or veering too far from the topic of this blog (remember the whole promise of reading about bellydance?) I'll do a recap with some pretty pictures.

Cleaned out my 5x15x10ft closet (see above).



It has it's own window.


Worked on silver bedlah.


Made a work space.


Went to a parade


Watched friends blow stuff up.


Had in this order:
pizza
cupcakes
ice cream
pizza


Did more work on closet until over-run by green-eyed monster.


Green-eyed monster called in reinforcements and took over work space.


Also, in no particular order:

Ate tacos.

Saw the in-laws.

Sat in dentist office lobby.

Ate even more pizza.

Received b-day wishes and gifts.

Made a collage.

Practiced zills.

Played Red Faction on Xbox with Husband Person.

Watched Lucky #Slevin and The Machine Girl.

Had fight with vacuum and won.

Did some vacuuming.

Exercised.

Wrote a letter and mailed it.

Worked on class notes for BD workshop.

Ate a fortune cookie - “Good things will come to you in due course of time.”

Reread The Velveteen Rabbit.

Did more laundry than you can shake a laundry stick at.

Ate even more, yet different, pizza.

Got a free book at the mall.

Took a BD class on arms with Ananya.

Folded an origami paper crane.

Now we will return to our regularly scheduled blogging loosely related to my bellydance addiction. I have posts about costuming and the Artist's Way coming up!

~N

Now watching: Cowboy Bebop
mood: less pizza