2008 SSQQ SLOW DANCE AND ROMANCE!

SSQQ 2008 Important Moments

07. Robert Therrell and Debra Malinowski 

Gerry Francis and Amy Adams

-----Original Message-----
From: Crystal Davenport
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 10:47 PM
To: dance@ssqq.com
Subject: wedding announcement

Hi Rick,
 
Sorry it has taken me so long to get you these pics.  These are the friends I told you about that met in your Dance classes.  Their names are James Requenez and Melissa (Wilkes) Requenez. 

Melissa joined your dance classes to get away from the stresses of Medical School and met James there in 2004. 

They were just married April 5th 2008, and now live in Denver, Colorado.  She is in Residency for psychiatry and he works as a computer programmer.  They are very happy together and have your class to thank for it!

Bob Therrell and Debra Malinowski were married on Saturday, March 29  (I think).  Last week I was at the studio and someone told me "Bob and Debra got married over the weekend".   And that's how a lot of weddings around here get announced!

I didn't have my camera handy, so I took it to Whip class on Monday, April 7, and asked if I could take their picture.  Thank goodness they said yes. 

Bob and Debra are supremely graceful dancers.  They have a secret - they practice!  You might see them practicing all night long at the studio.  Bob and Debra are experts at Western Swing and East Coast Swing and well on their way to mastering West Coast Swing as well. 

I cannot remember a couple I know less about.  Even though Debra has taken 40 classes over the years and Bob is around 30 classes, there is a real air of mystery about Bob and Debra.  You see, they are quiet people.  They are also nearly inseparable.  This means I can't sneak in and get the inside scoop on their story.  It isn't that they are "private", but they don't go around tooting their horn either.

As you can see, Debra is a Susan Sarandon lookalike. Bob and Debra are so attractive together.  In addition, they are one of the most perfectly matched couples I have ever seen.   When I watch them on the floor, they look like they could be brother and sister.  Make a point to watch them dance some night - Bob and Debra are so good! 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Archer
To: amy giles
Sent: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:43 am
Subject: Mack and Amy Warren

Hi Amy!

Any details you want to add for the newsletter? Where did you go for your honeymoon?

By the way, Have I ever told you how pretty you are?

 

-----Original Message-----
From: amy giles
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:31 AM
To: dance@ssqq.com
Subject: Re: Mack and Amy Warren


Rick.... you flirt! Yes, you have!

Here's the picture you requested. It's fun and casual and I think captures how very truly happy we are together.

We were married January 5th in a very small but beautiful ceremony in Baytown. The next day, we boarded the Voyager of the Seas for a 7-day cruise with 6 other couples who dance. On the first day, we were concerned that there were no decent dance floors.... we have been spoiled on the Rhapsody. But then, we found out that they put a wooden floor over the ice rink for dancing on Country & Western night! Mack and I took the floor early before the band got there and did all our favorite moves. We didn't realize we had an audience until we heard their applause! What fun!

We've been dancing happily together now for almost 4 years and will for the rest of our lives together... thanks to SSQQ. We met in Beginning Western Swing and started dating when Vicky Harris (an early classmate and now great friend) starting pushing us towards each other. We have on many occasions and will again recommend SSQQ as a fun, safe place to learn the right way to dance, to make good friends and... to find true romance.

Amy

-----Original Message-----
From: Leroy Ginzel
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 12:22 PM
To: Rick Archer
Subject: manny and michelle

I saw Manny Angulo & Michelle Crossley at a Super Bowl party last night. I asked Manny when the big day was coming. He said the it WAS

Yesterday, ( Saturday) with only close family invited.

Congratulations to Brit Davis and Melisa Melios who were married in January.

Brit and Melisa took three Western classes last summer at SSQQ, then switched over to private lessons with Jack Benard and Linda Cook to get ready for their wedding dance.

Here is a letter sent to Linda:

"Jack and Linda, Thanks to no small effort on both of your parts, our wedding dance went beautifully!!  

Everyone was super impressed with our twirling and twostepping... oh wait, I mean polka-ing (is that a word?) ;-)

Thanks, and see you soon. Brit & Melisa"

Judging from the pictures, their first dance was quite a hit!

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Anderson
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 2:30 PM
To: Rick Archer
Subject: Jeff and Lisa

Hi Rick, Lisa and I had an awesome wedding. I have pasted the link and info below. If there’s some you’d like copies of I’ll be glad to send them. We got the rights to the photos so we can copy and send them to anyone.

Wedding Picture Info: http://www.original-images.com/

Our Ballroom was totally beautiful as I’m sure you’ll see. Our first dance was the Foxtrot and during the Father Daughter Dance, I cut in (at the father’s request) and Lisa and I two stepped to My Wish by Lonestar. She still spins pretty!

Our honeymoon was in Jackson Hole, WY. Lisa had never seen snow so we decided to go there. It was beautiful and we had a great time. We went on a 20 mile dogsled ride, a 90 mile snowmobile ride, tubing, sleigh riding, etc. etc. The weather was cold and beautiful. Usually about 0 degrees. But we dressed warm and it was fine. Lisa’s ready to go again. It was so fun seeing snow through the eyes of someone who’s never seen it before!

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Lee
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 1:50 PM
To: Rick Archer
Subject: Wendy Zhang Weds

Hi Rick,  Wendy and I married on New Year's Eve, 2007.

We met in Sharon Crawford's advanced western waltz class in July 2001. The first night, when we rotated partners and I got Wendy, I knew I would like to dance with her more than just about anyone. But, I never thought we would go out together. How things change.

In late August 2006, Wendy and I went ring shopping. Wendy told the jewelers what she wanted and we went to have a Chinese lunch while they created and sized the ring.

At about the same time, JetBlue ran an ad announcing their new service out of Hobby airport. The airline said that you could fly anywhere in their system, roundtrip, for the price of a barrel of oil - at that time about $72. I bought tickets for Labor Day weekend to Niagara Falls. Wendy called this trip our "proposal-moon."

As for a honeymoon, well, we just keep procrastinating. But we have some ideas.

Thanks to you and your studio for our happy marriage.

Best, Roger and Wendy

Rick Archer's Note:  Roger and Wendy announced their engagement in September 2006.

Wendy told me she knew Roger for three years before they ever went out together.   By the time they began seeing each other, they had already been friends for quite a while.

It was their mutual love of Waltz that cemented the bond between them.  As Roger pointed out in his email letter, they met in Sharon (Crawford) Shaw's Waltz class seven years ago.  Since then, the two of them have put in many hours on the dance floor perfecting their Waltz together. 

Indeed, Roger and Wendy are so smooth on the dance floor, they have become arguably SSQQ's premier Waltz couple.  Not since the days of John Jones, the gentleman who helped popularize Waltz here at the studio, have I seen a couple demonstrate this kind of ability.  Roger and Wendy are really a treat to watch.  I know because I love to watch them myself all the time!  I definitely admire their accomplishment.

I was kind of surprised to find out it took Wendy and Roger two months to get around to tell me they had gotten married.  After all, I see both of them practically every Sunday and Friday each week.   Once the cat was out of the bag, Wendy pulled me aside.  Never at a loss for words, Wendy said she deeply appreciated my dance studio for helping to create her marriage.  Wendy made it clear that she knew Roger was a good man because "no man on earth can fake being nice for seven years!"   We both smiled.   That is one of the advantages of meeting people here at the studio - you get to know people first as friends.  That's a really good place to start.