6th Annual Hispanic Festival- Zumba Demo

A few of the ladies who attend our Zumba class asked Stephanie and I if we would do a demonstration at the Hispanic Festival at the library where they work.  The event was last Saturday in the parking lot of the Palm Bay Library.  There were lots of awesome performances by singers and dancers from our local Hispanic community.

Steph and I, being the gringas that we are, felt a little out of place bringing Zumba to the event but we also felt honored at the same time.  You see, the library’s director bumped a large Zumba studio from the schedule in favor of us!  She felt that since she attended our class and we have strictly donation based classes that promoting our little business would be more in line with the goals of the festival than promoting a large commercial studio.

I made sure to give our library friends a special shout out for inviting us to give a demo.

We had lots of wonderful people from the crowd come up to dance with us.  This guy was especially awesome!  The swelter heat of the afternoon didn’t phase him a bit 🙂

Steph and I performed five songs that made up our 20-minute performance.  The crowd’s response was awesome- lots or cheering and dancing.  We enjoyed our time at the festival very much.

The librarians kindly set us up with some amazing food to go.  We didn’t eat at the festival because we were so incredibly hot from our workout.  Both Steph and I felt nauseous and had headaches from the heat.  I did devour the pork, plantains and rice and beans when I got home though.  Let me tell you that it was some of the best food I’ve ever had.  So, so good!

Thanks to Lisa and Josephine and all the rest of the ladies from the Palm Bay Library for having us at this awesome event!  And thanks to the Hispanic community for welcoming us!

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Happy Labor Day!

I am alive!

My sweet friend, Angela, asked me on Facebook if everything was alright since I haven’t blogged in awhile.  I assure you that I am well but busy.  Who isn’t, right?

Last weekend I took a little trip to Orlando to attend the 2010 Zumba Convention with Steph.  We got certified in Aqua Zumba which is so not your grandmother’s aqua aerobics class!  Wow!  It was an intense toning workout.  Can’t wait to teach a class one day.

We arrived home last Sunday completely exhausted and sore from three days of intense dance fitness with 3,400 other instructors.  Whew!  I was spent and just didn’t have the energy to blog on top of all the other weekly responsibilities I had going on.

But I’m back!  Can’t wait to share our latest adventures but right now I’m off to get the boys ready to go miniature golfing.  J has the day off and we plan to PLAY!!!

Happy Labor Day to you all!

Highs and Lows

High:

Chatting with our new across the street neighbors about their misadventures with the previous owners of their house has definitely been a high for me.  Let’s just say that talk of leather chaps and fringe was brought to light.  Hilarious and not at all surprising.  The previous owners were boisterous and quite entertaining.

Tony and Violet are very nice and quite funny.  I am enjoying getting to know them and hope we become friends.  Violet has a knack for remembering names.  I wonder if that was something taught to her in medical school.  Like one of those Capstone courses.  “Mnemonic Devices 101”.  It always helps me when I repeat someone’s name back immediately upon learning it.

Low:

My name had been appearing less and less frequently on the schedule at a local gym where I had been subbing weekly as a Zumba instructor.  I finally got my answer as to why after my third inquiry.  The aerobics coordinator was told by the board (the club has a board of predominately geriatric, bitter people) that I was not a good fit.  I can totally picture some of the women who took issue with me.  From the first day when I asked the class to form a circle for a song, I was kind of black balled.  One of the older ladies from class came up to me afterward to firmly state that “We don’t like to do anything different in class.  We don’t like circles.”  From that moment on, I was judged.  Apparently none of the frequent positive feedback I received made it to the board.

It’s a blow to the ego but I think not working there has been a blessing.  I’d rather not teach a bunch of catty women who don’t want to work out too hard and don’t like change.

High:

This summer has brought us many opportunities to spend time with our friends at  a slow, low-stress pace.  We’ve enjoyed many days in the pool and look forward to many more.  We are very thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Low:

We’re going to Alabama for a long weekend.  J’s grandparents are not doing well.  Their health is rapidly failing.  This will probably be the last time that we will see them.  I’m going to support J and his family who will all be there.  It will be a sad trip, I’m afraid…

High:

After 6 months of turmoil, homelessness, stress and struggle, Steph finally moved into her new-to-her house on Saturday!  It’s not the house that I told you about way back in February.  The contract fell through when the owners decided the appraisal value was too low for their taste.  I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason.  She and the boys weren’t meant to be in that first house.

I could not be happier for Steph.  Her crazy mixed up family (us included) turned out in droves to help her move her belongings and fix up the new place.  It was an awesome testament to the support system she has.

The new place is just three block from our door and it’s as cute as can be.  Steph has really fixed the 1976 home up nicely with new floors, skip-troweled ceilings, new baseboards, wallpaper removal, new fixtures, new paint and new furniture.  She can finally relax in her own home again.