I had a friend recently ask me to write a little note about another mutual friend.  When I sat down to actually think about this woman and all that she has done for me in her life I got really emotional and felt so grateful and blessed to have her influence in my life.  I am surrounded by amazing people like that, but you know how it is.  Life is busy and who has time to sit and think about all the people that mean so much to you?  Especially with those closest to you.  You know the ones who also drive you nutty-bonkers on perhaps many occasions.  Well, something happened that has made me stop and think about one such person and his life thus far.  My husband, Chris did something really cool.  And I’m so super proud of him that I’m kind of emotional if I really start to think about it.  I have known Chris since we were 14 and started going to dances like the one in my last post.  And that is exactly where I met him.  In that exact same room.  He was always one of the best dancers, but other than that we didn’t know each other very well until about 7 years later when we fell madly in love one summer both with each other and with big band music and all things swing dance.  We have been married for 13 years now.  I am going to have to stop myself right now from diving in to our whole life story and just tell you what he did!

He created a website for ballroom dancers called Ballroom Beats that streams specific playlists for the type of dance that a student is learning or practicing.  For professionals it has playlists of the rounds they go through while competing edited to the correct time they need, and for studios it has all of that plus playlists for parties.  Chris has always loved music so much.  He notices it everywhere and it can bring the man to tears.  People have always come to him for music recommendations and this is how he has come up with this idea.  Necessity is the mother of invention, right.  Between the two of us we have come up with a lot, a lot, a lot of crazy ideas.  Some of them we have actually tried.   This one has taken Chris many years to see into actualization.  I am so proud of him for sticking with it through thick and thin in order to make it happen.  I’m kind of in awe a little bit of him doing something so original.  I always need to find instructions or a road map.  Chris, on the other hand, never has been one to do things the way any one else does them.

I keep thinking about this part in a movie where Susan Sarandon says to a PI that….Oooh. I found the clip. Funny enough, it’s from a ballroom dancing movie. She says that the reason we marry is to be a witness to each other’s lives.  And when I sit and think about what Chris is doing right now with Ballroom Beats and how it ties in all of his greatest loves (dance, music, and technology) it just makes me so happy for him and so proud of him.  I’m grateful to be that witness and to be able to truly appreciate what a huge accomplishment it is just to have gotten this far.  It’s in beta right now.  Which means that certain people are logging on and using the site to test that everything is working the way it should.  After the beta testing is done it will be open to the public.  Right now it is so exciting for us to have people using what has been an idea for so long.  He also has a facebook page.  Please help me celebrate this big accomplishment by going to visit him on that page and leave a comment or a like, or both!  Go check out the website it looks amazing!  Kate did a great job on the graphic design!  And I want to say a special thank you to Chris’s dad and the team at Firstview Online who made this dream a reality.  (Geez, this is turning into my own Oscar speech on behalf of someone else).

Chris, I truly wish for you that if anything in life could possibly ever exceed the lofty expectations that you have for it that this would be it! I am so proud of you and I love you.

miss you girls!!!

xxoo, andrea

I think my favorite is the black and white with her hands on the door frame.  Kinda hard for me to pick, though.  What’s yours?

From left to right, top to bottom.  1. Olivia turning 7. 2. Skipping school, zoo, St. Patty’s day 3. Getting a coaching from Jonathan Roberts and dancing with him (for about 2 seconds)  4. Gentry’s farm with our good friends.  3. gigi’s cupcakes 4. snow days 5. Chris and Lindsey killing it at the Colorado Star Ball! 6. Friends! @ Liz’s amazing New Moon party! 7. Halloween on Main St.