HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SUPER SORRY for such a lapse in updates! Let's back up a bit to the interesting part!
Basically, I've been out of the US for every holiday with the exception of Christmas (my favorite!), so obviously, it only seemed right to also spend New Years Eve in some foreign town... how about, hmm... let's say ETHIOPIA. That's right, friends, I counted into 2008 in central Africa!

My previous experience in Africa was in Nigeria with this tour group as well and it were slightly over the top with security measures (but rightfully so). This time, we were a bit more chill on that notion, but got some super amazing travel accommodations that aren't our norm. This was just the security in front of the venue...

Let's break it down: We flew from LAX to Toronto, Canada, then Canada to London on a private jet that usual transports the Dallas Mavericks athletic team... so needless to say these seats were used to holding large burly men quite comfortably. Not to mention it carried their WHOLE team, and our travel party was about 30 people... we barely fill 1/3 of the plane and we each had two huge seats!
In London we switched planes into another private jet, one provided by a super important man in Ethiopia, that basically consisted of two large lounges filled with couches, more first class seating, and only 5 rows of coach in the back. That's where most of us just threw our bags.
Let me remind you that we don't NORMALLY get to travel like this, so yes, I WAS excited!
The biggest benefit of having these jets and such accommodations was simply that in traveled about 27 hours straight (including plane change time). This can get pretty brutal on the body and emotions! Not to mention we have to arrive in Ethiopia to perform and it's at a significantly higher elevation that we are used to performing at.

Once we get there, we realized we were staying at one of the nicest resorts (from rumors... ) in the world! I guess I'd have to stay at a few more resorts to justify this statement, but as of now, it's definitely in the top 3 I've been to... and I can't even name the other two right now :( haha! But let's be honest, from the looks of these pictures... can you believe this is my JOB! In these pictures are Kevin Hastings (our Keyboardist) and Bryan Tanaka (fellow dancer)... they were the only two I could convince to come take a swim so early in the day. After soundcheck everyone else found their way to the pool no problem! How can you say no to this beautiful opportunity?

Finally, our whole reason for going there... we got to perform our travel version of our show. Basically, we have a big version that we were doing in Europe that took about four truck loads of equipment alone! Then, we have our travel dates in which we take basic equipment and build the rest out of what they have at their venues... so we don't have our original sets and what not. Hopefully people still like the show, but as much fun as we have, we can't imagine them not!

We performed a little over an hour before the midnight strike of the New Year and got to count down with all of these Ethiopians shown here in the picture! It was incredible! This picture was our dance break that we do taken by the Kevin while he was chillin at his Keyboard... shows how much HE works! haha ;) this crowd was pretty incredible!

Backstage while all of the performing was looking normal, Rachael and I, between changes, found ourselves sucking air from a tank because the elevation really started getting to us! I had only danced in a super high elevation one other time and after 27 hours of flying, I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through this performance. I guess adrenaline helps... but we definitely were truckin through this one!

Since the beginning of January we've had a bit of time off, which has been rare. We are now in rehearsals for the Grammy awards to be performed in February. Our choreographer Tina Landon and her assistant Jason Myhre, have been drilling us in rehearsals, putting together more impressively creative performances. I can't even tell you how many versions of routines we have of each song! I have never performed at the Grammy's, so I'm really excited and Rihanna was nominated for four of them (I think it's four)... so that's really great for her.

Until that happens, we're leaving this Saturday, February 2nd (MY BIRTHDAY!) for a radio show in the Bahamas! I love that I'm going to be in the Bahamas on my birthday... but really I'm going to be on a plane the whole day... (not in a private jet) haha... it IS my birthday, but they don't love us THAT much! We literally fly on the second, perform on the third and fly back on the fourth... so I we'll see how much time I'll get to enjoy the beaches of this famous island!