California Balboa Classic 2020

Hello fellow readers,

A post has been long overdue, it’s been a busy few weeks, but I am here to talk about my 

recent swing dance weekend! 

If you’ve read my first post about swing dancing - Swing On By! - then you’ve heard me 

mention Balboa. If you don’t know the dance balboa, then feel free to visit the following 

link, but the way I describe balboa is that it’s a close proximity dance that works very 

well for fast tempo songs.

http://www.lindycircle.com/history/balboa/

If you’re like me and prefer to learn visually what balboa is, see the link to a recent 

competition I got to witness of a couple of my favorite dancers, Blake and Teni, who are 

a major inspiration for me.

https://youtu.be/DLC6ewxpLsk

I’ve only been dancing balboa for a short period of time, but I absolutely fell in love with 

the fluidity and subtlety of it. When I watched competition videos for the California 

Balboa Classic I knew I wanted to get better. I’d been lucky to make a connection through 

the swing dance community with the volunteer coordinator who encouraged me to sign 

up as a volunteer for the California Balboa Classic 2020, so I did and I was one of the 

lucky few that had the opportunity! I volunteered a few hours every day of the weekend 

and in return, I got to attend classes and social dances for free.

The volunteer experience was absolutely wonderful. I love keeping busy and as a bonus, 

I got to meet new people and make friends. Don’t get me wrong, I was extremely tired 

for most of the weekend because of the previous work week, but I pushed through - with 

lots and lots of coffee - and had a lot of fun dances, got to dress up in vintage clothing, 

listen to amazing live bands, and witness some incredible dancers compete. I feel like I 

learned some new techniques and moves along with discovering some personal dance 

abilities. After the weekend, I was left wanting to expand on what I got a taste of over the 

weekend, but it’s been difficult to manage my time to do so. I’m not giving up, I just need 

to learn to adjust myself to the circumstances.

Photo credit: Skeeter

Location: CalBal 2020; Newport Beach, CA 

 

One thing I know for sure, I had an incredible experience volunteering, but now that I can 

afford to, I will attempt to attend California Balboa Classic 2021 as an attendee paying out 

of pocket. In addition, I would love to continue to grow in the dance and be more 

courageous to ask people to dance balboa with me. Also, I am so grateful to everyone who 

gave me advice and danced with me, there’s no way I could improve without practicing!

Live every day to the fullest.

Love, Damaris

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Welcome to the 20's

Hello fellow readers,

It’s the first Monday of 2020 and I’m looking forward to what the upcoming year 

holds, but in order to look forward, sometimes you need to look back on all you’ve 

accomplished so far. So today, I thought I’d reflect on my year. Please keep in 

mind this is a reflection, not a gloat; I want to apologize if my year went better 

than yours, but remember, you made it to 2020, maybe this is your year.

I started 2019 in my last semester of college, so I was filled with depression and 

anxiety. I was taking my last two classes, an internship, and working part-time as 

a receptionist. Early on I knew I was taking on more than I needed to so I resigned 

from my part-time job and focused solely on school, including the internship. It 

was the best decision I made because even though I no longer had a steady income, 

I was able to be successful in my classes; it ultimately led to me graduating! I had 

an amazing friend take my graduation photos, he was such a good sport about 

driving around and spending the entire day taking my photos at the different 

schools I attended growing up, I cannot thank him enough! He did such an 

incredible job! I highly recommend asking him or at least follow him on Instagram 

@mikecalr.

 Photo credit: Michael Ramirez

My favorite photo

 

Graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry was a huge accomplishment 

for me. It took 5 years, lots of tears and stress, and so much love and support, but 

I made it! I celebrated my accomplishments swing dancing and with family. A 

week later, I departed for my trip to Europe - see my previous 4 posts about the 

trip (Ballad Du Paris, Great Scots!, A Potterhead’s Dreamland, Land of the 

Leprechauns) - where I got to see and do so much and make so many new friends. 

When I returned from my trip I got to spend a lot of time with my family and 

boyfriend. 

 Photo credit: my amazing best friend, Gabrielle

Location: Stirling Castle, Scotland 

In fact, I had family visit from another country and, since I was home, I was able 

to drive them around and take them to see the sights. Time at home also allowed 

me to reflect on myself and what brings me joy. I found solace in reading, writing, 

and, of course, Netflix binge-watching. It was during this time that I found 

inspiration for starting a blog to satisfy my love for writing, keep me motivated, 

and have an emotional outlet.

 Location: new job in early morning

By the end of 2019 I was offered a full-time job and soon after I started my 

training the day of my birthday! I feel so blessed to have had all these amazing 

things happen to me, and these are just the highlights, not including concerts, live 

bands, and so on. There were a lot of days where I felt depressed, lacked motivation, 

and questioned my abilities, but, upon reflection, it was a fantastic year. So, look 

forward to 2020, this could be your year like I said earlier, and I don’t mind 

stepping aside so you can have that. Feel inspired, motivated, and look at all the 

good stuff as they come, it could be a great year, keep your head up!

Live every day to the fullest.

Love, Damaris

P.S. I am required to mention that my blog may incorporate the use of cookies such 

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Practice Makes Progress

Hello fellow readers,

The year 2019 is coming to a close soon and that splendid newfound hope to do 

better in the new year is approaching on the horizon, so I thought it would be 

appropriate to talk about New Year’s Resolutions.

Every year a majority of us make a list of new habits we want to incorporate into 

the new year. If you’re the kind of person that sticks to your resolutions, I am 

extremely proud of you! Sticking to your goals can be difficult and you were able 

to commit to them. I definitely love making resolutions. I normally don’t keep 

them for the entire year but it gives me something to look forward to.

This past month I have been binge watching YouTube videos about changing 

habits and getting into a healthy routine just to motivate me for next year. 

Slowly I have been trying to implement maybe one or two resolutions now so that 

they are second nature in the new year. It’s been difficult and I have struggled to 

keep up with them, but I want to do better next year. 

I started reading a book called Perfectly Yourself by Matthew Kelly that said, 

“Practice makes progress. And practice makes progress only if you practice the 

right things in the right way.” He discussed how you can see more progress in the 

big scheme of things when you set goals for yourself on a daily basis. For instance, 

one of my goals is to cut back on my sugar intake, mainly sweet treats. If I take 

away my freedom to have sweets whenever I want then it makes me want it more,  

but if I tell myself, “maybe not today,” it makes me feel like I can have, say, a 

chocolate bar the next day. If I continue to tell myself, “maybe not today,” 

eventually a week has gone by and slowly I start to exclude it without really 

thinking about it. Yet, if I really want something sweet, I can also reward myself 

with one if I decide to, it’s all up to me. 

 If you're interested, the cover is blue

Please keep in mind that I am not trying to push religion on anyone

Kelly also wrote, “We are trapped by our illusions of perfection, depressed by the 

difficulty of the road ahead, overwhelmed by our patterns of defeat.” So don’t 

overdo it and don’t put yourself down when you don’t succeed because if you fail 

you are not a failure (Kelly). So set your new years’ resolutions, big or small, and 

decide day-by-day if you are going to achieve that goal today, is it doable? If yes, 

then do it! If no, don’t beat yourself up about it and try to do it the next day. Be 

proud of any progress you make at any time of day because, “Celebrating progress 

is fundamental in the psychology of change.” (Kelly)

Set your resolutions and welcome 2020 with open arms and mind. You can do it!

Live every day to the fullest.

Love, Damaris

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Holiday Swing Dancing

Hello fellow readers,

As many of you know, I am an avid swing dancer and have promoted the dance in 

my “Swing On By!” post, but I cannot talk enough about this community! Today I 

want to discuss more about how celebratory the community can be and some 

upcoming events, plus promos for my lovely friends.

I have made so many friends through the swing dance community and one of the 

things I love to do is celebrate my birthday with them with dancing! Most venues 

have what is called the “birthday/out-of-towners dance” where - if it’s your 

birthday or you’re visiting - you jump into a circle with a partner and get stolen 

by dancers throughout the song. Birthday dances are so much fun because not 

only do friends jump in, but strangers too! When I’m not celebrating, I try to jump 

in with some dancers if they haven’t been stolen for a while because everyone 

deserves to be stolen during the dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vymKXv0ZRLc

You’ll see me celebrate at as many locations as I can but there are two locations 

where I’ve been able to celebrate these last two years and that’s LindyGroove and 

Third Saturday Swing (both located in Pasadena, CA)! Lindygroove is every 

Thursday night and TSS is normally on the third Saturday of the month 

(sometimes a different but normally third). With LindyGroove in particular, for 

your birthday - if there are no special events happening - you can celebrate the 

Thursday before or after your birth date which includes free entry for you and 

10 friends, plus cupcakes! They ask that you invite at least 5 friends who have 

never been to LindyGroove, but other than that, you get to attend their lesson 

and social dancing for free just because it’s your birthday! I love going to 

LindyGroove regardless because the ambience is transporting, but to go for free 

is a bonus. 

 My birthday 2019

Location: LindyGroove, Pasadena, CA

PC: Christian 

 

LindyGroove along with many other locations like to celebrate the holidays or 

upcoming weekend events. For instance, Strutters’ Ball (open every Wednesday 

night in Orange, CA) had a Pre-Thanksgiving event with a live band - Jonathan 

Stout Orchestra, give them a listen, they’re fantastic and Jonathan is a big deal in 

the swing dance community. LindyGroove had their holiday event on the 19th of 

December with a canned food drive included. Third Saturday Swing had a 

Christmas event this past Saturday (December 21st) with a live band as well - 

Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five feat. Hilary Alexander - along with 

competitions. Atomic Ballroom (Tuesday and Friday nights in Irvine, CA) does 1 

free class and social for your birthday, hosts holiday events, and, because they 

are a ballroom, they offer classes and workshops for different dances often - 

recently, they had a balboa workshop.

Time for promos! My amazing friend Paul has a Twitch channel called 

Pauldances where he live streams lindyhop at these locations and more! Bonus: if 

you’re an AmazonPrime member you can subscribe to his channel and watch ad 

free - I got to watch the holiday celebration at TSS through his stream from home 

because I felt too sick to go in person. He’s been at many of these holiday events 

and was kind enough to dance with me when I was celebrating my birthday - you'll 

see me dance with him sometimes... often. Recently, he has been promoting a 

“sponsor a youth” where you can visit pauldances.tv and donate money for a youth 

to have a private lindyhop lesson with Paul himself! He’s also selling awesome 

shirts and other deals so please check him out! 

https://www.pauldances.tv

As with Paul, another friend of mine is Kendall and she posts weekly videos on 

Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook @live.collegiateshag of her and her husband 

dancing collegiate shag at different (usually historical) locations - she’s even nice 

enough to post a history lesson in her story on Instagram. One of her videos 

recently went viral on tiktok of her and her husband dancing collegiate shag in the 

rain! Definitely follow them for weekly videos, it’s worth it.

 Pre-Thanksgiving 2019

Location: Strutters' Ball

PC: An amazing photographer that deserves credit but I cannot find their name

Let’s bring swing dancing back into the spotlight! There’s so much you can do and 

so many places you can go! Weekly dances, nightly dances, or weekend events 

locally, nationally, or internationally! Don’t be afraid to look up lindyhop!

Live every day to the fullest.

Love, Damaris

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Big Bear Lake

Hello fellow readers,

Welcome to the winter season! As we embark on our holiday adventures, my 

boyfriend and I planned a weekend getaway to Big Bear Lake for our third year 

anniversary and I’m here to describe the experience.

Since it’s been happily raining here in SoCal, the mountains have been beautifully 

coated with a white blanket of snow. With our anniversary on the horizon and a 

busy next few weeks, we chose last weekend for our adventure. During the 

Thanksgiving break, we scoured AirBnB for a place to stay and immediately fell in 

love with the adorable DomeHome! AirBnB has been good to me - despite the 

horror stories I’ve heard - my friend and I used it while in Paris, France and the 

swing dance club from my college used it for a trip to San Diego, California and 

we truly enjoyed our stay, so don’t be afraid to use AirBnB, but do tread carefully.

 Location: DomeHome; Big Bear Lake, CA 

We drove up to Big Bear on Friday night and made out first stop in the Village for 

dinner. We had dinner in the Royal Thai Café where we had delicious pad thai and 

yellow curry with rice - it was good the next day too. We walked around the Village 

to see the beautiful lights, even though it was drizzling consistently. We then 

checked into the quaint DomeHome and ended the night with homemade cookies 

before bed. 

 Location: Royal Thai Café

Early Saturday morning, bright and early, we went to the fantastic Grizzly Manor 

Cafe. It's a small building wallpapered with stickers, business cards, greeting cards, 

doodles, and notes. Let me tell you when I say, this place has the most amazing 

pancakes! Not just the pancakes though, my boyfriend tried “the mess” and it was 

full of brilliant flavor. 10/10 definitely recommend you have breakfast here. Keep 

in mind, breakfast is until 11am on weekdays or all day on weekends and it’s such 

a popular place that the wait time for us was around an hour. Luckily, they have a 

Yelp check-in option; what this means is that through the Yelp app, you can put 

your name on the waitlist and they will text you as you approach the front of the 

line. By doing this, you have time to go shopping or sleep a little longer and not 

wait outside for an hour or two.

 Location: Grizzly Manor Cafe

After breakfast we walked through the Village again and did some shopping. They 

have a lovely Christmas tree up and Santa and Mrs. Claus were there for photos! 

We even made a quick stop to the Visitor’s Center where they had a nice booklet of 

things to do while up there. After walking off all the calories gained from breakfast, 

we went back to our temporary home to take a nap. We decided to stay in for the 

rest of the day since it was raining outside but wonderfully cozy inside. We watched 

a few shows on TV then a Korean Zombie movie called The Train to Busan on 

Netflix - which I really enjoyed watching while munching on more cookies and some 

apple pie from Copper Q (we got it while walking in the Village).

 Location: The Village

PC: My amazing boyfriend

 

Our last day in Big Bear was Sunday and we woke up early to check-in through 

Yelp for the Grizzly Manor Cafe because “when will we ever get the chance to eat 

there again?” By the time we packed up and loaded the car, it was time to head to 

the cafe for breakfast, again. The pancakes were still delicious and the coffee was 

perfect for me - they have some hot chocolate that looked really good, but I needed 

a little more kick in the morning. Their mugs are also for sale, so keep that in mind 

while there - my boyfriend and I each bought one. We decided to walk through the 

Village again before heading home. On the way down, we stopped at a beautiful 

viewpoint to see the incredible lake.

 Location: Viewpoint of Big Bear Lake

I had a great time in Big Bear, despite not doing a lot per say, I enjoyed the 

downtime. I loved being able to unwind during the weekend and still be able to 

see enough of what I wanted to see. It was really about being with my boyfriend 

and seeing the Village, so it was a successful trip in my eyes - the food and treats 

were all bonuses. If you have the money and time, I suggest taking a weekend trip 

away. If you’re like me and enjoy more quiet, maybe go somewhere that doesn’t 

have a lot to offer but peace and quiet. If there’s somewhere you’d love to go, invest 

more time in seeing what you want to see. Don’t hesitate to make weekend trips, 

you may need it more than you think.

Live every day to the fullest.

Love, Damaris

P.S. I am required to mention that my blog may incorporate the use of cookies such 

as Google Analytics, AdSense, and other data collecting cookies.