Corset, Fishnets and Feathers OH MY!

Saturday we (by we I mean the troupe I dance with) had our first professional photo shoot. This has been a long time coming. We have a lot of new girls in the troupe and no professional pictures. I should point out they we are a very diverse group with an age spread for 15 to 52 (that's me). Our first "set up" was to be our big girl bellydance picture....all of us dressed in black and silver belly dance costumes. This was by order of our fearless, talented leader who wanted to wear her fabulous new Madame Abla dress that was....you guessed...black and silver. The second shoot was a bit more tawdry with the required wear black and red corsets, fishnets and feathers. Our shoot was in Canoga Park at 10:00 in the morning. That meant that I had to get up at 6:00 am to color my gray hairs, shave all the appropriate locations including my upper lip and areas I don't want to discuss.. plus moisturize, pluck and spray paint my body. I discovered that Preparation H really does help plump up wrinkles, although it doesn't last as long as one would hope and you smell like cod liver oil but hey, beauty has its price, right?
After all the painting and plastering I had to apply crystal eyelashes at 8:00 in the morning, all while drinking coffee and trying to remember wear I put the heavy duty fishnets. The ones that hold everything in and make your legs look like waffles when you finally peel then off. Then off to "the drawer". The one I keep all the "slutty" clothes...I needed a sexy red bra, a black corset, the fishnets, something to try to cover my flabby arms lest I look like a jelly roll in the photos....Amazingly I readily pulled these out without a problem..Packed them all up along with the bellydance clothes, the stilettos, long black boots and the seven inch black patten leather platforms with the red flames. Yes, I have seven inch platforms and yes I wear them...me and drag queens. So off to Canoga. Me and Amanda, all made up and ready for the shoot, hopin we did not get stopped for any reason. We were just a tadded over made up for that early in the morning. All the girls were on time..a first. The first shoot we all looked so beautiful....even this old gal didn't look too bad and I know Bijan, the photographer, is brilliant and will eventually make me look at least 10 years younger when he retouches them. The next shoot was something out of a Moulin Rogue flashback. We all got trussed and taped (yes there were boobies that needed taping and others that need to be tamed) We poured ourselves into the corsets and tutus..hair and feathers.
After 20 minutes of positioning (Leela has a great eye for the staging) our timid photog came in to the studio..we had banned him during our dressing and set up.....his reaction was priceless....he walked in, looked at all of us and said "oh wow!!" then was quite speechless.
Later that day we had a chance to see the rough pictures...they were really great. I felt so lucky to be in the company of so many beautiful women.
For anyone who thinks modeling is easy...think again. It is hot, uncomfortable, one of the girls nearly passed out from locking her knees for so long and the majority of us were so sore the next day we felt like we had done a mini marathon. There is much awkward positioning to make us look natural......So corset, fishnets and feathers makes for pretty girls.....I will post the picture when I get the younger, retouched version......

Capricious Koi

In an effort to try to get those last stubborn ten pounds off I have started to run. Now running is not one of my favorite things...in fact I have always said it was against my religion..Now I love to walk and I can do that all day but running.....not so much. Since my weight loss (100 pounds) running had become easier but not very enjoyable...until very recently. I guess when you figure out you can actually do something, not look a total geek and not keel over dead, it becomes less offensive. So I run..not great distances but I have gotten two miles in without having a coronary.
Easter Sunday Chuck and I went up to the track to exercise. I walked and ran...he walked. It was warm and I tucked my shirt up under my bra to cool off my midriff. Now I always forget I have a large tattoo on my lower back..it is orchids bookended by two large, colorful koi fish. Right after I got these fish I was belly dancing and my daughter noticed that the fish "swim". Very funny!! Apparently when I run they "swim" too. As I passed my husband on my run he would giggle and mention my swimming fish. I had no knowledge of this as I was engrossed in my iPod. It must have been very entertaining for all of the soccer players and such to watch my talent fish do there thing while was so engaged in trying not to die right there on the track...
So maybe the fish will get smaller as I do...hey they are working out too...

Blinded by the White

Last night Amanda and I went bridal gown shopping. I anticipated this was going to be fairly long evening but I had not idea how emotional it would all be. She made an appointment at David's Bridal (BTW they were very sweet and helpful) for 6:30. We walked in, they had her fill out forms and Ana, our representative, asked what she had in mind. Amanda was really open minded about the style but she was fairly sure that she did not want white but ivory or champagne instead. The first dress she tried on was a lovely, puffy ivory number, very nice......the next was blinding white dream reminiscent of Grace Kelly. She looked amazing in that dress and we set it aside on the "in the running" rack. Many dresses came after that one. All with potential but none with the "wow" factor of that white fluffy number. The store was nearing its closing time and we were going blind with all the white (which turned out to be just the right color for her). Ana silently slipped away while we waited for the seamstress to give her advice on one dress with a particularly long hem. She brought out a dress they had just gotten in....not even on the rack yet ...a preview style, they called it...By this time all the sales girls had gotten involved in Amanda's decision. They were treating her like there very own dress up doll and they seemed to be having a great deal of fun. As they trussed Amanda up in the new dress, I was restless and strolled around the store. In the mean time the girls had dressed her, put her in a tiara and veil. She stepped out of the dressing room.......this absolutely gorgeous goddess in satin, tulle and pearls..My heart skipped a beat, I gasped and tears welled, she looked so beautiful. You could tell from her face that THIS was the dress...she felt like a princess. A vision in white. I tried hard not to look at the price tag but really, it didn't matter how much it cost.
So blinded by white and perhaps a tear or two....my baby is getting married and there will never be a more beautiful bride than my Amanda.
BTW the crock pot cooking was a big success.!!!

Curious Crockpot Cooking

So, my husband is home for a while and anxious to help me around the house. He is actually pretty great at laundry and dishes and for that I am most grateful. He has not ventured in the world of cooking, or should I say, I have not allowed him much opportunity to cook. This is for some very obvious reasons in my past experience. Now, I am not saying he does not cook well...frankly I have not allowed him to cook in so long that I don't know if cooks or not. He manages to survive when I am out for the evening but I usually make sure there is something frozen or pre-cooked. Early in our married life he would cook eggs (over done) and an occasion pork chop dish (pork chops al la Isaac) which to me was very much like pork jerky soaked in salt...nummy. He did cook fabulous abalone, the best I have ever had. But abalone is not a regular item in our house now that we not longer scuba dive and the way he made it would clog you arteries in, well, a heartbeat.
So today I decided to release some of my kitchen duties and asked if he could put the meat in the crockpot with some water, soy, pepper and a few quartered potatoes. Four phone calls later the meat was successfully cooking. I am very curious to taste the result...I will keep you posted.

Great things happen over wine and cheese

This has been a very exciting weekend for our family. My daughters beau finally popped that special question, asking for her hand in marriage. Needless to say she is floating on air and the entire family is thrilled to have Jesus as a member of our family. Now on to the wine and cheese...In celebration of the announcement my husband Chuck, the happy couple (Amanda and Jesus) and I gathered for lunch and then off to WineStyles for a celebratory toast. Mark and Kathy Bergstrom..the owners of Wine Styles, pulled out all the stops for the kids, gifting us a lovely bottle of Cabernet Savignon, a champagne toast, cheese, crackers and snack meats. We listen to Amanda recount the very romantic way Jesus propose (on his knees) and tales of the yet unseen ring (at the jewelers being sized as Amanda has tiny little fingers). Kathy approached and asked "that question"..."Have you set a date?"..Oh my gosh..this whole thing was only a few hours old and nothing had been determined. Now Amanda has always wanted a non traditional wedding and one of her deepest desires was to be married on her favorite holiday, Halloween. I should point out that both Amanda and Jesus celebrate their birthdays in October (one day apart) and we have the biggest dance event in our lives early in October but not to be deterred ...Halloween it is..What better day to celebrate the many roles we take as husbands and wives then on that day of costumes, tricks and treats.
So on a quiet, cold, rainy Saturday in southern California....over wine and cheese the biggest event of my babys life was scheduled....now on to the actual planning.....and paying. Oh my!!

A Rose by any other name!

This is my first time blogging and I am fairly sure no one will find it interesting but me..so I will write to entertain myself.
Let's get right to the reason for the title...A rose by any other name. While my husband, daughter and her boyfriend were out last week enjoying a wine tasting at our favorite little place in South Pasadena (WineStyles) we started discussing burlesque names we could use. I should point out, for those who don't know me well, that my adult daughter and I belly dance in a troupe (Leela with SalomeJihad) and occasionally preform in burlesque theater. Now I had always heard that your "stripper" name should be the name of your first pet and the first street you remember living on. So my name would have to be Valiant Edenhurst. Not very sexy, I am thinking. Amanda on the other hand would have to be Cosmo Oak Circle....not at all sexy. At that moment her boyfriend, Jesus, suggested she be called Emerald Pearl because she has lovely green eyes and is a beautiful pearl in his...she actually has hazel eyes but the thought was there.. After a bit of thought we decided that it was a nice burlesquey kind of name and if she was Emerald Pearl I should be Mother of Pearl. This set the table and anyone in earshot of this odd conversation to laughing and thus the burlesque team (yes we so tandem burlesque) of Emerald Pearl and Mother of Pearl was born.
To what end we will use these monikers has not yet been determined but we may debut the act in August at Stiletto 3.5....a show devoted to circus oddities....are you surprised.??