Special Blessings

When I went to bed on Friday night, I figured Saturday morning I would be writing a post about the Zumba Party I helped teach Friday night.  But instead, I have sad news to share.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that about a month and a half ago, I wrote about my grandmother’s passing.  And today it is with a heavy heart that I tell you that her husband, my beloved Grindaddy, went to join her in Heaven early yesterday morning. 

Grindaddy and Memama

 

Grindaddy on his birthday in 2007… he was 89 years old.

 

My Grindaddy was such a special man.  He was a courageous, strong-willed, generous musician who spent the last several years taking care of his sweet wife. 

 

One of the best blessings is that he and my Memama were able to meet my daughter, Sadie, and get to know her over the past three years.  Here he is with Sadie, when she was just two weeks old, and he was singing to her as he held her.  What a special blessing.  Isn’t life full of them? 

It’s so hard to believe that he is not with us anymore, but I am so glad he and my Memama are together in a beautiful, wonderful, happy place.  I’m sure I’ll be doing another post soon… with a few things that will always remind me of Grindaddy.

Impromptu Pub House Dinner

Tonight, something cool happened.  Just as I was packing up my Zumba gear, my friend Katie was nearby.  She had just finished teaching her Zumba class, too!  And oddly enough, we were both childless!  So we decided that we should go for drinks and a quick bite to eat.  We ended up at Pub House, a local restaurant and bar.

I started off with the Pub House Brew, which I really liked. 

In fact, I had two!

We decided since it WAS a pub, we should have some greasy pub food…

fried pickles

mozzarella sticks

… and to balance it out, we had side salads, which were actually HUGE.  And they had lots of green olives!  Yay!  Rarely do you get a salad with green olives at a restaurant.  And these were big ones—like the ones they put in martinis!

I can’t believe I forgot to take a pic of Katie!  OOPS!  But I am seeing Katie tomorrow for something fun and Zumba-related.  Shocker, I know.  You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that…

Convenience Food Success and a Great Dance Movie Scene

Today was the first day of testing for students at my school.  Yuck.  I always dread the testing days.  It always throws everyone’s schedule off, too. 

But you know the perfect way to get rid of testing blahs?

Dancing!

 

I headed to Charlotte to help teach a private class.  It was a fun class, AND I was home before dark!  Bonus!

I wanted to make something quick tonight, so I made these potatoes I bought at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago. 

 

They were handing out samples and they were really tasty!  I really liked them and would buy these again!  All you do is cook them in a skillet until they are heated through.  They have green beans, 2-3 different kinds of mushrooms, garlic, and herbs, and they are really tasty! Great with turkey burgers!  (Premade… on sale this weekend.)

 

 

Now, I’m settled in and watching a favorite movie… Center Stage.   Have you ever seen it?  Of course, I love dance movies, but even if you’re not a dancer, this movie has one of the best dance scenes ever.

This is a 10-minute scene, but… sigh… it is so worth watching.  It will make your heart happy.

How do You Take Your Bananas???

Over the weekend, Facebook exploded with pictures from the St. Patty’s Day parade.  Take a look at these cute ones!

 

Well, another Monday has passed.  Did your week get off to a good start?

Today I had a very productive day at work.  I came home for a few minutes to rest and have a pre-workout snack:

 

graham crackers with peanut butter and bananas.  Love this combination!  I’ve heard of people eating bananas with mayonnaise, but I have never tried that.  It sounds so wrong!  But I bet many other people think bananas and peanut butter sound strange. 

Tonight was another great Zumba class, but boy was I tired at the end!  I think I have been a slacker about drinking water.  I’m thinking it might be time to do a little challenge.  More details to follow on that. 

I was feeling lazy, so on the way home I picked up Chinese takeout:

 

Chicken with Mixed Vegetables over rice.  Perfect!  (Is it sad that the Chinese restaurant phone number is programmed into my phone?)

Now I am resting on the couch and watching a little TV.  When I turned it on, the scene from Raising Helen was on where they dance in the living room to “Whip It” by Devo.  It’s one of my favorite movie scenes because I LOVE this song.  It was my ringtone for many years.

Reader Questions:

1.  How do you like your bananas?  Plain, with Mayo, or with peanut butter?

2.  What’s your favorite movie song scene?

St. Patrick’s Day, Take Two

Happy Saturday, everyone!!!  I’ve really been looking forward to this weekend!  Most of you probably enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day festivities on Thursday, but we had fun celebrating today!

I started the day off early.  I had to hurry to catch the Blue Line to Uptown Charlotte for the St. Patty’s Day Parade… nope… not to WATCH it… to be IN it! 

I was really excited to do this.  The Charlotte St. Patty’s Day parade is really huge, with 30,000-50,000 spectators!  Wow!

The weather was gorgeous!  Take a look at these blue skies!

Ryan and Sadie took a later train  so that they could watch the parade.  They were joined by a few friends… who also really enjoyed the ride!  This was Sadie’s first trip on the light rail.  She was excited to ride the train to “the big city” and enjoy the parade and festival!

We rehearsed our dance a few times, and soon our group was off!  We were headed down Tryon Street, handing out bracelets to the crowd, singing, dancing, and just living it up. 

 

 

That’s me, right in the middle.

Just as we reached the end of the parade, I spotted my little munchkin, so I scooped her up and let her finish the parade with me. 

 

Then it was time for some fun… a few rides…

and lunch at Five Guys in the Epicentre. 

What a fun Saturday!  I wish we could do it all again!  I love that we are so close to Charlotte and can enjoy the “big city.”  It would probably be really fun to live there.  I think Charlotte is one of the prettiest, cleanest cities. 

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Did you remember to wear green today?  I hope none of you got pinched!

Sadie and I went the extra mile and sported green sparkly fingernails today!  :)

Tonight I taught a St. Patty’s Day Zumba class… I have found that these beads and Zumba don’t mix well… they will smack you right in the face!

And I decided on a green dinner… another noodle stir fry with broccoli, edamame, Udon noodles, and sesame seeds.  I stir-fried them in just a little pasta water, reduced-sodium soy sauce, and a drizzle of sesame oil.

We did not do too much celebrating today… because we will be celebrating on Saturday!  We’ll be attending the Charlotte Goes Green festival in uptown… and guess who is going to be in the parade… YUP… MOI!!!  Don’t worry… pics will be taken for sure!