I just picked up my new Mac Mini today. If you haven’t heard, my poor old lappy has been on the way out — doing things like not being able to play flash stuff and overheating, and crashing up to 8 times a day even! It’s getting replaced with a new Macbook Pro when the next generation is released. In the meantime though, it’s made me realize I need a stable at-home computer, and that’s wehre the Mac Mini came in. It will now manage all vital files/apps and my old macbook will finally get a rest. Phew! Feels nice to have a desktop again.

Yay!

I love being in Austin. And last night was awesome. The Fed had a great DJ lineup for the night: Heather, Brooks, and Mike. So much fun dancing. But the night wasn’t over then. Some of my favorite musicians were playing at East Side Showroom till 2am. So we went, and danced like mad. Here’s the best thing. It made me feel super nostalgic for Banjo Jims. It felt just like Banjo Jim’s. Small, intimate, high energy. The band was rockin’.

After East Side Showroom, a bunch of us headed over to Kerbey Kerbey for some Kerbey Queso and other yummy snacks. I think it was about 4am when we finally made it home.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention. We have a new dancer in town, at least for the next three months. Lindsay, an RIT student and member of swing club is here for a co-op. Daniel Son accompanied her on the trip down. I was stoked to have them both in town and to show Dan the awesomeness that is the Austin scene. And Teni was also in town! It was a really fun night.

Can’t wait till next Thursday.

Except it wasn’t!

For those who don’t know, Thursday night is Austin’s usual weekly dance night over at the Fed. It’s usually a pretty good time. But tonight was a particularly amazing night, at least for me. Allow me to explain…

Sometimes a lot of dances means I’m having a really good night. But, me solo-ing? That means it’s a fantastic night! I haven’t much felt the joy of spontaneous solo dancing since I left Rochester. I loved having a group of peers, with different styles, who would inspire me to be silly within the dance. It just seemed to happen naturally. And since I left, I felt like I had to make myself do it. Tonight, and here’s the magical part, towards the end of tonight’s dance, when more than half the people had left, and Eric was planning on winding down his set, he played something (I don’t remember what) that made me want to move. I was ridiculously happy, and the dancing just happened. I don’t know, or care if it was bad or good. But it was fun. He followed that up with about three more bad-ass tunes and so, I continued to dance. It was invigorating. When the night ended I was sweating like crazy and red in the face. Best feeling ever.

We brought home our new little friend on Friday. Her name is Wingy. She’s a shorthair orange tabby with little white feet. And I swear, she’s got the sweetest little face, and the loudest purr.

So far, she’s enjoyed squeezing herself into many surprisingly small spaces. Some, which I worried about – like the sofabed… yes, IN the sofabed. But now she’s all tuckered out and sleeping next to us on the couch. I like her.

Last night we learned she sleeps like a person. She got into bed with us, under the covers, and fell asleep. She used my arm as a pillow and her two front paws stuck out over the blanket. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that. It was so bizarre. But here are pictures that I did get… and even one short video:

Wingy from Quantum Kitten on Vimeo.

I love…

• our apartment — it’s so cozy
• the friends we’ve made here — it’s great to hang out and talk about nothing/everything for hours
• dancing locally — people are so motivated and enthusiastic
• the live music — I could potentially go out and listen/dance to a sweet jazz band every night

Basically, I’ve really been enjoying the past two months living here and I’m filled with warm-fuzzies about it right now

We’ve been here a full week now and managed to get a lot done in that short amount of time. We found an apartment, and today, we moved our stuff in. It’s pretty exciting. I’m also really thrilled to be joining the folks over at The Lindy Project as well as a dedicated practice group. I can already feel my dancing changing (just the tiniest bit), and  in a way I’m happy about. Now we just need to find those darn jobs. So elusive.  But I have high hopes here.

I’ll try and remember to post pictures of our apartment once it’s all cleared of the clutter.

My apartment is empty and ready to welcome its new resident on Tuesday. Our stuff is in storage pods ready to be moved. We drive out in the morning. Exciting? Yes. Nerve racking? Yes.  I don’t think I’ll be totally at ease yet until we have found an apartment to move into in Austin. In the meantime… a-driving I shall go.

I found someone who wants to rent the apartment. She wants to move in Sept. 1st. So I’ll be moving, leaving Atlanta, in about a week.  Goodbye Georgia.

Swingtime in the Rockies was our final stop on this trip and we are now back home in Atlanta.

Swingtime was fun. It was my first competition event this year (yeah, I’ve been lame and not really traveling). In fact, I felt so out of sorts that I was nervous about competing again. Well, I wound up getting 1st in the Advanced/All-star JnJ and from what I heard, 6th in the Invitational Strictly with Joe (apparently we were the alternates for finals? – heard from Nelle). Either way, I was feeling really comfortable with my dancing again by the end of the weekend and I was starting to feel creative again. I can’t wait for my next big event – ULHS.

Now that the trip was over we had come to the big decision. Where will we be moving to?  The winner is: Austin, TX. We most likely won’t be moving until the end of the Summer. Definitely waiting till I rent out my apartment first. I’m really excited about this though.

Went to a coffeehouse tonight (Flipnotics). They pretty much had the best band ever jamming out there tonight. They played every style from gypsy jazz to old time surf rock. I only wish there was actually room to dance to the swing-able tunes.

Moments of note:

1. The waltz. They played a waltz in a minor key that made me wanna cry. I love, love, LOVE the sound of a violin.

2. The bassist played so hard he broke a string. And he kept on playing…. compensating for three rather than his four strings, and it still sounded awesome.

3. John Doyle, this awesome clarinetist we heard at a different venue with a different band the night before, sat in for the last few tunes. Man, I wanna learn to play the clarinet like that. He also plays sax and is apparently going on tour with Willie Nelson later this year… again.

This was such a great way to end our last full day in Austin. Tomorrow we fly off to Denver. It’s time for Swingtime In The Rockies!