Sometimes You Gotta Be Brave…

Happy Saturday!!!  I have exciting news to show you!  I think no matter what I say, seeing it for yourself is way better.  So look at what my little girl did today!

She was just on the verge of swimming by herself.  We were able to get 2 private lessons with an amazing swim teacher and whoa.  I think the video speaks for itself.  I am amazed and so proud!  She is so proud of herself for being brave.  I can’t wait to take her to practice tomorrow.

So, speaking of brave…

I was brave tonight, too. 

Tonight was Jersey Shore Night at the Gastonia Grizzlies Game.  And my dance-fitness company was going to be performing at the game. 

I decided to make a nice poof.  Snooki style.  The husband wasn’t even embarrassed.  He even sat with me.  We did a 5-minute demo on the field before the game, and did some dancing throughout the game. 

We enjoyed some nachos… I mean, you’ve gotta eat some kind of junk food at the ballpark. 

 

There was lots of laughter.

And at the end… I was in a dance contest on the field with 3 other instructors.  Oh, did I mention we were blindfolded?

Oh, the things I did tonight that I never thought I would have the guts to do.  But sometimes… you just gotta be brave.

What a fun evening!

Weekend Happenings: Dancing, Doughnuts, and Pool Time

Happy Sunday to all of you!  We’re having a lazy Sunday morning.  I should be cleaning.  But I’m not.  Not yet, anyway.  I can’t put it off for long, ‘cause there isn’t one room in this house that is clean.  But since I am procrastinating, I thought I would do a picture-heavy post and show you what we’ve been up to!

Friday night I went to the Azucar festival in Charlotte.  This is a festival by the Latin-American Coalition and celebrates Caribbean culture and cuisine.  There was lots of dancing, drinks, and food!  I was there to perform with some fellow “dancing queens.”

(Salsa dancing!)

There was a lot of pool time on Saturday…

 

And finally, I must share some doughnuts with you.  You may have heard that Friday was National Doughnut Day.  Sadie and I observed this super-important holiday Friday morning with a trip to Dunkin Donuts.  (Every Friday is “Doughnut Day” for us.  We usually stop and get her a doughnut each Friday morning. ) Since I didn’t have to work until 10 a.m., we got to have a “girl’s breakfast” together.

(I always get the egg-white flatbread sandwich instead… this time it was the veggie egg-white sandwich.)

Oddly enough, my friend Jenn was celebrating Doughnut Day, too!  Last night I was catching up on some of my blog-reading and I read Jenn’s post about how to make homemade doughnuts.  I never knew it was so easy!  Since we already had all the ingredients, Sadie and I made them this morning.

YUMMO!  They were delicious! You definitely need to head over to Jenn’s post and find out how to make them!

Okay… I guess it is time to stop procrastinating and get to work on this messy house.  Yeck.  Happy weekend!

Balle Balle!

Last night, I had the most unique experience! You guys all know how much Zumba I am always doing, and I love it.  But last night, instead of spending the evening doing Latin-inspired dancing… I spent the evening doing Indian-inspired dancing!

This was truly an aqmazing experience.  The dance-fitness company that I have been training with hosted a Masala Bhangra Master Class with Sarina Jain!  Now, a few weeks ago, I had never heard of Masala Bhangra OR Sarina.  However, when I heard that she was coming, I started doing some research.  Sarina Jain is the creator of this Indian-inspired dance-fitness style and company.  It incorporates movements from Bhangra and Bollywood into a very high-energy and FUN workout! 

Photo from http://www.masaladance.com/

We were lucky to not only get to participate in a Master Class, but to have the owner and creator there to teach us!  In her introduction, Sarina told us how she lost her father to a heart attack, and how that experience opened her eyes to the need to bring exercise to the Indian people.  Masala Bhangra deeply reflects the Indian culture.

Click here to learn more about Masala Bhangra!

Here’s a great action shot of the entire group during the class.  My friend Diana took this amazing photo!  Isn’t it awesome?  Can you find me in it?  I am in the right portion.  I am wearing all black.

Here is our group after the workout!  (We looked prettier BEFORE the workout.  It was a REAL workout!)

(Thanks to my friend Erica for this photo!)

So… what do you do after a Masala Bhangra workout?  You go eat Indian Food!  This was truly a night of firsts for me, as I have NEVER eaten in an Indian Restaurant!

Diana was our food guru.  She worked some kind of magic and the restaurant kept bringing us all kinds of goodies, like fresh naan!

 

My favorite things were the Chana Masala (top left), Chilli Chicken (middle), and that green veggie dumpling thing at the top. 

So it was a complete cultural experience and a very fun night!  I am looking forward to Sarina’s return in August!

National Dance Day!

Happy Sunday!  Did you know that yesterday was National Dance Day?  Did you celebrate it?

I got up and went to Zumba with Katie.  I’ve mentioned Katie on here several times… because she is one of the main people who inspired me to be a Zumba instructor!  It’s been a while since I was able to rock it out with Katie on Saturday morning.  I was glad to be back for a morning!

Sadie and I spent a semi-lazy “Girls' Day” while Ryan played golf.  We hit up a few stores so Sadie could pick out an Easter present with some money she got from her Leenie and Poppy, and then we went to Books a Million so she could pick out a new book.  She decided to use her Easter money to get Snow White. 

Then it was time for a night on the town with a few friends!  A big group of Zumba enthusiasts had an Uptown Takeover!  We hit up several local spots to do some dancing.  My favorite spot?  A Latin Club called El Torres!  It was amazing to watch all of the dancing.  I love doing Salsa in classes, but it’s so cool to see people do it “for real” with a partner, when they really know what they are doing.  One big difference between the regular clubs and El Torres was how in the Latin club, almost everyone on the dance floor had a partner.  In other clubs, you usually see big groups of people dancing together and lots of girls in groups.  But at El Torres, it was more traditional—partners.  I love to see men dancing like that.  Dancing is not just for chicks!

It was a great night of fun. 

I got home late, so Ryan let me sleep in while he took Sadie to church.  Sweet Hubby.  (And poor hubby waited up for me last night, just to be sweet.  he was tired today, too.)

Today I met my friend Angie at Starbucks.  She’s going to be helping me with my new Zumba class that starts this week… Thursday to be exact!  YAY!  I am so excited!  We were going over some things for class.  I decided I had to sample one of their Red Velvet Whoopie Pies.

Um… yum.  Loved it.  And I had a Passion Tea Lemonade.  Also delish.

Now Sadie and I are watching Snow White together. 

We’re trying to soak up the last few hours of the weekend.

I hope all of you had a fantastic weekend!