16 weeks and counting...

That's it. Only 16 more weeks until the wedding.

Wow. When I think of it that way, it's really rather intimidating. So I think I'll stop doing that, dammit. (Except now that I've done it, I probably won't be able to stop doing it...shoot, shoot, SHOOT!)

Jesse and I have started taking dance lessons in order to better prepare ourselves for our first dance together as husband and wife. While I'm ok at dancing as long as I'm being led by someone who knows a thing or two about swing, or cha-cha, or waltzes, or what have you, Jesse is an expert at one dance step, it seems: the rock-back-and-forth-slowly-turning-in-a-circle-a-la-junior-high/high-school-dances type of step. Our first dance song is a bit more...complex...than most songs usually are, and so we needed to get another couple of moves under our belt before whipping this baby out at the reception.

And, no...we aren't telling anyone what the song is that we're dancing to. No hints other than the fact that it changes pace during the song. To be exact, it changes pace and tempo. It's foooon.

Anyway, the dance lessons are going exceedingly well, and I hope I didn't just jinx it by saying so. *knocks on wood, just in case!* The dance teacher is a sweet guy who is starting to get just how quirky (and sort of obnoxious) I can be, and I think he feels sorry for Jesse because of it. It's very helpful when it comes to his teaching style, though. He's being somewhat hands-off (lovely) and is doing a great job of understanding how different Jesse and I are when we are absorbing the lessons. Jesse is more pragmatic when it comes to figuring out certain moves. He's got the box step of the waltz down. And he's getting better and better at the fox trot. But when we learned the pretty under-arm turn I get to do, if we want, he needed more to go on than just to lift his arm in the air so I can go under it during the step. He needed to know exactly when to lift the arm...what step is he on when he starts to raise it? One, two, - up arm! - three, one, two, three, one, two, - down arm! - three. It's not too fluid of a movement at this point...so right now, it looks a bit more like we're playing a one-armed version of London Bridges, I'm sure, but over time, we should get smoother with the move.

I'm less heady when it comes to learning this stuff. First of all, it's for fun. This is not a contest, or a performance, or anything like that, so it's just something else we're doing for the wedding, IMO. Not that Jesse isn't having fun with it, though...I think he is. It's just he does a lot more thinking about the dancing as we do it than I do. Which, let's be honest, is the boy's job in the dancing thing. So I guess it makes sense that he's being like that! Anyway, I've danced for a LOOOONG time. Started out with the ballet and tap and stuff when I was a kid, and then I did the Irish dancing as an adult for 2 years, so I've got it in me. Waltzes are my thang. The fox trot? Not so much, but I'm getting there. And let's not really talk about the turn step for the waltz...visually beautiful, but technically, it makes me dizzier than all get out, so I think we might avoid doing it much during our dance. Maybe for one stanza...we'll see.

The dance teacher even asked us in the middle of our lesson the other day if we both play an instrument of some sort. I think he was impressed by our ability to pick up on tempo and timing. I told him I'm a singer, but Jesse doesn't have any musical background, really. But he IS really, really good at the rock-back-and-forth-slowly-turning-in-a-circle-a-la-junior-high/high-school-dances type of step, so maybe that's helped him for all these years without him even knowing it. Hmmm...

Anyway, it's been a fun addition to our wedding preparations over all. Much more fun than the getting up at 4:30 to go to the gym during the week, although I cannot express how awesome it is that he does that with me when he doesn't really need to! I found it interesting that we were both sore in totally different ways from our workout on Wednesday...we both did the same exercises. Sometimes he lifts/pushes more weight than me (sometimes I lift/push more than him! I have been doing the training for a lot longer than he has, though, so it makes sense. You don't wanna screw with my thighs, is the thing. Just a friendly warning...), and maybe I'm doing it in a slightly different manner, since our form during the exercise might vary. I dunno.

We have 4 more lessons to go, and I can't wait to see what we learn next! We need to practice first, though, so tonight, I think we'll be hitting the back yard. (It's the largest space we have for practicing in, so we thought it'd be fun to do it out there...) I certainly hope everyone enjoys it when we are able to do it on our wedding day! So excited...

As it is Friday, I will leave you all be now. Happy weekend, and I'll be back with more info next week!