James and Tamra's Dance Party

Deron, Elena, Tamra & Heather

Deron, Elena, Tamra & Heather

Jesse & Kenneth

Kenneth, Koichi, Tamra & James

Deron, Justin, Jesse, Elena, Kenneth, Koichi, Tamra, James, Julie, Heather, Joshua & Koda

Joshua & Heather

Joshua & Kenneth

Koichi & James

James & Joshua

Joshua & James

Koda, Elena, Joshua & Julie

Jesse & Tamra

Jesse & Tamra

James & Elena

Deron & James

Julie building a baracade for Koda

Elena & Koichi

Tamra & Kenneth

Tamra & Kenneth

Tamra & Kenneth

Heather & Joshua

James and Tamra invited us and a few dancer friends over for the evening to enjoy some wine and their beautiful hardwood floors. Their house was built in the 1800's and is absolutely beautiful! There was one very important request from Julie James and Tamra's little girl. We had to bring Koda. Julie and Koda had great fun when they came over for our dance party a couple weeks ago. They chased each other for hours. James and I were dancing and He stopped and said he thought her heard his daughter crying. Tamra had gotten to her first. Big alligator tears were rolling down her face and my first thought and fear was that Koda had bitten her. However that was not the case, Koda had lost a toy under the hutch and couldn't get to it. This really upset poor Julie bless her heart. Luckily momma Tamra came to the rescue and pulled the lost toy out from under the hutch so they could keep playing. So Julie had been preparing for Koda all day. First she set out bowls of food all over the house, followed by periodical question about when Koda would arrive. At one point Julie was very upset and when Tamra asked her why she asked what if Koda doesn't like me? This however was not the case. Those two spent the whole evening chasing each other back and forth from the kitchen to the main room weaving in and out of dances. By the end of the night both of them were pretty tuckered out. The Adults had a great time dancing. The guy girl ratio was a little off though so the guys took to working on their following skills. Tamra had all sorts of delicious cheese's,crackers fruit and wine. It was quite the spread. Good food, good people, good times.

Open Mic night at the Oxford

Richard, Uncle Fuzzy, Randi & Glory

Kyle

Kyle & Randi

Richard

My little sing-a-longs...

Kyle & Janine

Richard, Janine, Glory & Uncle Fuzzy

Glory & Uncle Fuzzy

Richard, Janine, Glory & Uncle Fuzzy

Glory & Uncle Fuzzy

For the first time in a long time I came home from work happy about the night. Lately I come home stressed out, burnt down, fed up, side ways and a little on tilt, really just plain exhausted from another whirlwind of a night. But not to night. It was a really good night at work. Megan is in Peru for three weeks. She is working on a Community project for two weeks and then the last week she and her family toured Lima, Cuzco and Machupicchu. I am so jealous. She must be having an amazing time. Any ways that is why I was filling in on this particular Tuesday evening. The Oxford hosts an open mic night on Tuesdays. There is a wonderful core of regulars with a fantastic rang of talent. I was absolutely delighted by them. Some I knew because they come in regularly through out the week, others are strictly Tuesday night goers only. They were all wonderful just the same. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Kyle one of my long time regulars writes his own songs, sings and plays the guitar quite well. He is a very sweet man who affectionately calls me miss Heather and Joshua Walt. Some where along the way he got it in his head that Joshua's name was Walt. He can't seam to shake it. Kyle and I have worked out hand motions for different drinks because usually it's much to loud to hear a word any one is saying. Not on Tuesdays though. You can actually hear the music and have a conversation at the same time. Open Mic is mostly acoustic and has a very laid back feel. At the end of the night it feels like they have been at summer camp for a week together and it's the last night around the camp fire. They throw their arms over each other's shoulders and sway to the sound of kumbaya. It's like a big sing-a-long. On any given Tuesday night one could hear songs such as Margaritaville or Blowin' In the wind by Bob Dylan. It's pretty great. It was so fun to see Glory my most favorite old lady customer in the world. She is a spitfire. Don't try to tell her any different. The first time I met Glory she gave me her number on a slip of paper that said she sells eggs and designer jeans. She can be the biggest pain in the butt you ever met but I love her for it and I wouldn't have her any other way. She likes to bring me things like red shoes and basil from her garden. Megan and I made an awesome four cheese penne pasta with the basil. She was very pleased to hear this. She also give me advice like I need to wear better shoes to work if I want to be Salsa dancing like her when I am her age. I am pretty sure she is older than dirt. I scold her right back when I catch her out side smoking cigarettes. Glory has a new Bo and let me tell you she has dropped 10 years. She is quite smitten with him. There are pictures of him at the 40's swing party. I don't know his name but I can tell you he is a bit younger than her and likes scotch and soda. Uncle fuzzy I just met but he is some one that leaves an impression on you the first time you met him. He has twinkly eyes and is just a really cool ol' hippy. He is part of a really great band called Uncle Fuzzy and the jam shack band. They played on a street corner during the Taste of Music in Snohomish. Tuesday night is Megan's favorite night to work and I can totally understand why she loves it. If you ever get a chance to come out on a Tuesday night you should do it. You might just love it as much as we do.

40's Swing Dance at the Oxford

Larry & Heather

Glory & her Bo

Glory & her ginormous hot buttered rum.

Kathy, Karen, Kristy & Rick

Mr. Martini & Prentise

Randi, Glory & Heather

Randi & Heather doing shots before heading over to

Tina's wine bar for some dancing with our wonderful Sunday night regulars

Down the hatch...

Heather

Randi checking herself out on film.

Tuxedo Junction is a 1940's style line dance basically.

The swing time express play this on big dance nights at the

Oxford and the floor is packed full. It's a lot of fun to watch!

Kathy, Rick, Heather & Randi

Randi, Eric & Heather

Heather

Randi

Randi & Heather

Every year our Sunday night dancers host a big 1940's dance party. They all dress up and come out to the Oxford to dance to the sweet sounds of Swing Time. Even Glory dressed up this time! She was to cute. at some point in the while wind of the night she complained to me that Randi had taken her empty hot buttered rum glass and never brought it back. I told Randi of these accusations and she thought it appropriate to bring her the biggest hot buttered rum in history. Now you need to know that there are very few people who can do any thing right in Glory's eyes. But she was thrilled and a little "tilted" as she puts it. It took her all night long to finish it which is what we were aiming for. I truly adore Glory for many of the same reasons most people dislike her. She makes me laugh. The Oxford was absolutely jam packed  this year. There wasn't even standing room. Sadly enough we had to turn  lots of people away. Randi and I run our butts off all night long and then rewarded our selves with shots and an invitation to Tina's wine bar. AKA the after party. It was a lovely time with lovely people.