SLOx 2011!

*Sigh of relaxation* This exchange, for me, outlines what every exchange should be: a vacation, with good dancing. There were places for just chilling out and having a good conversation if you needed a break from dancing. At many exchanges I feel like I have to remove myself from the dance to stop dancing. Here, you could take a break and still feel like you were part of the night.
The day events were my favorite part. No, the bands were my favorite part. No, hanging out with my friends was my favorite part. No . . . I could go on :)

But I'll start with the day events.
Lindy games in the park. Because WHO CARES if you're dancing on GRASS?! It's a game day! We want to eat powdered doughnuts and throw water balloons while dancing and you can't do that just any dance floor. My feet got green and my skin got sun-kissed, and I haven't laughed so hard while dancing since . . . . I can't remember. With this growing pregnant belly, I couldn't participate in many of the games, either because you had to move to fast for me to keep up, or because I was afraid a water balloon would hit me in the belly, but they were hysterical to watch! Banana Bal was the one I did and we probably could have gotten a lot further in the game if we hadn't been laughing so hard! The great part, majority of the time at the park I didn't even dance. I was just hanging out in the shade, seeing old friends, listening to Dexter serenade us, eating snacks, and re-connecting with the people that I only ever see at exchanges. Sunday day event: SAME THING only this time at the BEACH! Take 100 dancers, plop them on a beach. YES. Games, lying in the sun, playing in the water, and a random live band on the boardwalk that you could choose to dance to or to hang out and listen to. It felt like a vacation with my dancer friends. It was absolutely incredible.

Evening events were equally as fun. A wide variety of tempos, music, and a packed blues room. There was also a lounge outside the dance room for when you wanted to not dance but still socialize. Once again, you didn't HAVE to dance to feel like you were part of the exchange. I absolutely loved it! The dancing was good, the bands were good, the DJs were awesome. AND let me just say, this is one of the most organized events I've been to! Those college girls (and guys too). . . ;) They were all right on top of "are you ready for your set? Do you need some water?" They made sure everything I needed was taken care of immediately. They new exactly what to do, and when to do it. They knew what happened before me, what happened after me, and where to go if I needed help with anything like sound equipment. And, from where I was standing, it looked like they were also able to participate in their own weekend and have a great time with it. Way to totally nail it! VERY impressive.

The blues room. OH the blues room. One word to describe it: SATISFYING. Every DJ was totally rockin' it. I was the closing set on Saturday and the room was still full at the very end of my set. What an amazing energy to be a part of!
Because every DJ was so amazing, I'm going to do something different with this blog. Rather than post my set list (unless anyone reading it really really wants me to post it), I'm going to write down, for my own record if nothing else, all of the new music I was introduced to that I absolutely loved!

MSG acoustic Blues Trio
The White Ghost Shivers
Tipsy Gypsies
Lipbone Redding
Melody Gardot
Joe Henry

There are many more that I didn't get to write down, regretfully. All the same, the music was amazing and this event tops the charts for me.


Babies: Evelyn stayed in Seattle with my mother, who was thrilled to have her. While in SLO, it was easy to identify that, with the right housing arrangements, we could bring kids to this event. We could have brought our freakin' DOG to this event, it was so family friendly. This weekend made me want to MOVE to SLO because it seems like a great place to raise a family. The pregnant belly - I was sore, I won't lie, but it was worth it.


Oh California, I love you.