Western Region Oireachtas 2012

              This is my girl!

I am such a proud mom.  (can you tell?) Sarah began her road to Oireachtas last January by starting to travel to competitions basically once a month.  She would take class 2-3x a week, plus drill classes, plus additional private classes.  She did about 15 competitions this year (that is a lot considering we don't have local competitions but about 6 months out of the year).  We traveled to Texas, Phoenix-3x, San Fransisco and San Diego.  Her goal all year was to become Prizewinner level in all her dances and recall at Oireachtas.

Just to give you a little background on what Oireachtas is...it is a regional Irish dance competition and for kids that compete in U10 and up it is a world qualifying event.  So pretty big deal.  Sort of an Olympic trials of Irish dance if you will.  This year Oireachtas was in Bellevue, WA and kids from all over the western region of the US were there to compete.  There were 39 in Sarah's U8 group, which was actually a pretty small group.  So on the one hand you can look at it as though she didn't have much competition, or you can look at it as a tougher competition because only 1/2 the dancers recall and that means only about 18/19 spots are up for grabs.  When the girls start the competition they do a soft shoe dance (reel) and a hard shoe dance (jig) and those scores are totaled and the top 1/2 recall.  So Sarah's goal was just to make the cut.  Being a non-championship dancer (prizewinner level is just below prelim champion) it was a tall order.  Normally girls that recall are all of the championship level when it gets to Oireachtas.  So here is my girl....

Big smiles because she RECALLED!

Even bigger smiles because she got 15th!

I couldn't be more proud.  She worked hard and she danced well and it was a great time all around.  Here are some pics to prove it!

Ready to dance

 Kelly School U8's

 U8 Finalists

 My girls!  So proud of Lauren for being so good and sitting through long days of competition!

 Sarah with Ronan McCormack.  One of her choreographers.

While in the greater Seattle area we decided to make a vacation out of it.  We had never been up there before and we had friends to see and lots of touristy things to do.  Here are some of the highlights.  It was a great Thanksgiving week and we had much to be thankful for!

Seattle Aquarium

Pike Street Market

Original Starbucks!!

Ferry ride - Skyline at night

Space Needle

EMP- Nirvana

Pacific Science Center

Snoqualmie Falls

Lauren's 'Over the Rainbow' 5th Birthday

She's 5!  There is no doubt that my girls are my greatest joy in life.  Getting to plan these little theme birthday parties for them, is another.  After many options that she started discussing about 2 days after her party last year, a rainbow theme was the one she picked.  I must say that it was very fun and pretty easy to put together.  Since her #1 request was that we have a bounce house, the park was the obvious choice for location.  Here in southern California, outdoor parties are so nice since the weather is pretty much always great.  So here it is: Lots of friends, a bounce house, a surprise visit by Bubblemania and a "sweet" cake and we were set!

Lauren is quite a child.  She is so incredibly sweet, yet very sassy, all rolled into one.  I can go from loving her so much I can't even stand it, to wanting to pull my hair out because she drives me insane.  All in the matter of about 5 minutes.  At the end of the day, she is a beautiful child (those curls and dimples), she is very smart, she is very sweet and loves her friends.  She began Kindergarten this year and is doing very well.  She also is a very busy girl taking art, ballet/tap, hip hop Jr. and Irish dancing.  She loves mermaids, princesses, unicorns, and (as to be expected) RAINBOWS!

Party Details:

Entertainment: Bubblemania

Bounce House: Planet Bouncy

Rainbow Cake: Cupcakes Couture -Manhattan Beach

Invitations: Polka Dot Design

Rainbow Dress: My Sweetie Bean

Stella & Dot Summer Jewels Just Launched!

I have not posted much about Stella & Dot, but thought I would since the summer line just launched! Not only do I LOVE the jewels this company makes, but I LOVE this company. It has been such a fun thing for me to be a stylist. I have made my business work at my own pace and it has given me the opportunity to meet some great women and make new friends along the way! Just last month I earned enough to pay for a couple of my kids activities for April, so well worth the time spent sipping wine and trying on jewels with a bunch of fun women!

So the new summer line is just perfect for the season and boasts some of my favorite colors: Turquoise and Coral!! Just check out some of these gorgeous photos!

Retails $158

Retails $98

Retails $59

Retails $29

Retails $49

AND by the way...I found out that this piece will be discontinued for reasons I am not sure, but it is HANDS DOWN THE BEST I-pad cover I have found. Prefect for the I-pad the kids use. It protects the I-pad and the kids never have to take it out of the case. It zips up and is easy to transport. Get your now before it is gone!! I LOVE IT!

Retails $79

All these pieces can be purchased by clicking my link on the side bar or going here: www.stelladot.com/tamaramcdonald