Recent Discoveries for the Modern Active Gypsy Goddess

Or the blog post affectionally known (in my mind) as "Things I Like"

Over the last year (mostly just over the last couple months) I have discovered a few things that have made my life oh so much more enjoyable. Lots of these things relate either to that fact that a) I have spent more time in the last 2 years traveling than not, b) I perform/teach a lot - I have a very active lifestyle including lots of time training, practicing, performing and teaching dance and circus or c) I am a woman. I wanted to share these discoveries with you in hopes that they will make your life just that little bit more amazing. Enjoy!

1. The Oil Cleansing Method
The best way to wash your face! This definitely seems counterintuitive at first but it really works! My friend Jessica told me about it and I have been using this method ever since. Read the instructions in the link above. Basically you mix any kind of oil (I have used mostly almond oil) with Castor oil. Rub it on your face and run a washcloth under hot water. Place the washcloth on your face to steam it until it isn't warm anymore. Rub off the oil and repeat about 3 times total. I do it in the shower and I don't even have to everyday. I used to use Neutrogena face wash everyday which made my skin dry out and didn't even really help with acne. Now my skin doesn't feel dry and I have way, way less acne. You can also use the oil to take off your make-up and it lasts a long time. I've only had to replenish my supply once in the last year.

2. Travel Sized Foam Roller
I have wanted a foam roller for years but for me it's been one of those things I thought about getting and then somehow it floated away in the To Do List of the Sky. Well after doing 4 shows a day at the SD Zoo this summer (7 days a week for 67 straight days in a row) my body has been asking for a little extra love. I buckled down and got a travel sized foam roller and have literally used it everyday since I bought it. Massaging out your IT band, hips, gluts and back feels sooo good! And it's only 12" so it can fit in carry-ons for those long travel stretches! I googled and found the best deal through amazon.


3. Bluetooth Wireless Headphones
This is the perfect thing for my performing/hooping/dancing/yoga-ing friends out there. Being able to jam out without worrying about headphone cords getting in the way or your iPhone falling out of your sports bra is quite revolutionary! I absolutely love these headphones (I have Kinivo ones) and they were also affordable from amazon.

4. The Moon Cup
This thing is so cool! I wish I had known about it sooner. Aileen told me about it when we were in Nicaragua w/ PWB. It holds your menstrual blood as opposed to absorbing it. It's better for your body because you are not putting bleached/chemically treated paper products inside you. It's better for the environment because it eliminates waste. It's great for traveling (only carry around one thing as opposed to a box of several tampons). It's comfortable and lasts up to 10 years so it's economically sound as well. It's pretty much the best thing ever. Warning: there is a learning curve involved but once you figure it out, I don't think you could live without it! 


5. Frank
I heard about Frank from Traci Hauptman's blog. She is the owner of Dollhouse Fitness (a wildly successful pole dancing studio in Encinitas). She sends out entertaining and informative blog posts, and that is how I discovered Frank. It's an amazing coffee body scrub that smells delicious and makes your skin feel divine. It helps with blemishes, imperfections in the skin and stretch marks. It's a self-pampering indulgence that I have enjoyed and recommend if you spend a lot of time on stage semi-clad. Or just want to give your skin some self-love!


I realize all of these things require money and I'm not suggesting I went out and bought them at once. It was gradual over about a year or so. They just happen to be things that have improved my day to day. Thought you might benefit from my discoveries! Enjoy!

Shedding Skin

Dancing with Manasa

The last month or two has brought on LOTS of changes in my life. As I have been going through these changes, one of my dance partners, my ball python Manasa (pronounced Menesha, named after the Hindu Snake Goddess) shed her skin again. It was like she knew I was doing the same thing! I felt closer to her than ever and understood her cyclical life on a whole new level. I realized that we are all constantly changing. This quote from the book I am currently reading really hit home: 

"He seemed to see time shimmering and moving up above him and through the leaves and down around his feet and through his middle. Nothing was like anything else, including himself, and everything was changing all of the time. He knew he couldn't perceive the change because he was changing too, along with everything else. There was no still point." - Jim Harrison, "Legends of the Fall"

Sometimes you have to shed your skin. Get rid of the old and make room for the new. Grow out of your current situation into the next one. The process might be painful but the outcome is always shiny, new and fresh.

I have taken most of the comforts out of my life and have already learned a lot about myself. Moved out of my apartment, got rid of most of my possessions, put the rest of them in storage and am currently living in my friend's RV. I have entered into the "nomadic" phase of my life. My mom says "nomadic" is just a romantic word for homeless, ha! I feel like I am actually living the traveling circus, gypsy, nomad lifestyle that I represent on stage so often. Instead of just performing it on stage, I am living it! It has been an interesting journey so far and it promises to get even more interesting!

I have struggled with the concept of being a nomad AND being a performer at the same time. Not only a performer, but a hoop making performer! All you hoop makers out there know what I mean! Making hoops takes space! Rolls of 100' tubing, dozens and dozens of tapes and not to mention all of the tools involved in making them! Space is one of the biggest commodities for a nomad. You don't have much of it. Being a performer requires that you have lots of stuff...costumes, stage props, more costumes, jewelry, makeup, fire tools, more costumes, fabric, crafting supplies, you get the point! You have to be ready at any moment to fill the whim of a prospective client. Oh you want me to be a fire spinning hula girl at your beach party? A retro vintage hula hooper at your corporate event? A belly dancer at your birthday? A burlesque performer in your stage show? Suuurrrre. Let me just run to my storage unit. Again.

All in all I have figured it out. It has taken some organization, planning and forethought but so far so good. It can be done! The worst thing that's happened is I've lost a couple material possessions along the way. But who cares? It's just stuff! I'm liking this whole non-attachment to material possessions thing!

In about 3 weeks I leave for my first trip to Asia. I was hired to perform fire dancing for 3 days at the Singapore Grand Prix! I used our flight money to go to Bangkok and then 4 weeks later down to Singapore. That's right. 4 weeks in Thailand! Wow! I am so excited and nervous at the same time I can hardly stand it. It will be a grand adventure! I feel like I will learn a lot about myself and about the world at the same time. After getting back from Southeast Asia I will be going to Santa Cruz to perform at Hoop Camp's Movements Arts Festival. Could life get better than that??

Day of the Dead Burlesque Inspiration

I am already planning my next big production, The Dia de los Muertos Cabaret to be held in San Diego the first weekend of November (2nd & 3rd). More details on the way. Just know now it's going to be EPIC! Then only 3 days later I am off to my 7 week UK tour! Whew! And Weeeee!!!!!

I will be teaching at SWhoop (South West Hoop Convergence) in Bristol, then in Dublin for a Flow Fest, then the Brighton Flow Fest, then I'm off to teach workshops in Plymouth, Oxford and finally London for the Fantasia Belly Dance Festival. This will be the longest I have traveled alone, ever! I'm going to the land of amazing music and amazing hooping! I can't even fathom the inspiration about to be bestowed upon me! When I saw the Bristol Hoop Massive Video for the first time, I was blown away. It might still be my favorite hoop video of all time. The comment I posted when I first saw it was, "I want to come hoop with you all in Bristol one day!" And look, it's happening! Thanks to Emma (Kenna Hoops)! My favorite musicians have ALL come from England! Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Cinematic Orchestra, Mr. Scruff...just to name a few! I hope to see Cinematic live while I'm there. I'm already planning to see Caravan Palace while I'm in Brighton. They are another one of my all time favorite bands but they're from France, close enough!

When I'm back from England I will actually be finding a real address like most of the rest of the world. But not too long after I will be joining about 100 hoopers on the Hoop Ship! Woot!  It's a cruise for hoopers to the BAHAMAS! WOOHOOO! Ever wanted to go a cruise? Ever wanted to go to a Hoop Retreat? Ever wanted to go to the BAHAMAS?? Here's your chance ALL IN ONE AMAZING EVENT! And it's SUPER affordable if you think about all of the amazingness you get! Epic instructor line up and Hoop classes on the beaches of the BAHAMAS! Did I mention the BAHAMAS? Ha! Come play! February 2013!

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum :)

There is talk of a potential trip to India after that and then in summer of 2013 I plan to tour the United States with The Hoop Unit in a painted bus. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? Look out for the Kickstarter campaign to fund the first ever cross country UNITY Tour!

Enough about what's coming up. What's been happening? Here is where I catch you up on all of the past highlights from the last month or so....

• I was fortunate enough to see the Pretty Things Peep Show when they were in town. That might have been the best show I have EVER seen! If you ever get a chance, jump on it! 

• I taught 14 children how to make hoops, do  impressive hoop dance tricks and perform them for their parents at the New Children's Museum Summer Camp. Watch the video here. There is still one week left at Cuyamaca College. Sign up here!

Me as a Twi'lek!

• I got to be apart of Hell on Heel's Carnival Burlesque show! That was fun!

• I had my first paid Lyra gig that was not at one of my own events! It was with Aerial Revolution for the 4th of July at the Escondido celebration.

• I walked on stilts for the first time! Thanks to Mango!!!

• I got to be a Twi'lek for the Keyhole Cabaret Comic Con show, "Nerd-tastic Burlesque" It was the first time I painted my whole body. What an adventure! There are snippets of the show here. You can see me eating fire as a Twi'lek at the end of the clip.

• Oh yeah and I turned 27 :) My birthday was everything I could have asked for. Relaxing, yummy and full of amazing friends. BRING IT 27!!!