Scenes from the Weekend

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope all of you had a wonderful and productive weekend. This post will be a little bit of a mashup... I thought I would just share some pictures and details from our weekend.

We started off our weekend with a special ceremony for our little soon-to-be preschool graduate!

 

I still can't believe that she is going to Kindergarten in the fall! (Insert cliche comments about time passing too quickly here.)

The ceremony was very cute and I only took about 200 photos.

 

I will spare you the other 197.

On Saturday, we were all up and around pretty early. I headed up to the Queen City to help lead the warm up for the MS Walk with Queen City DanceOut (the company for which I teach dance fitness classes). We led our warm up song and then quickly headed to another venue where we were guest instructors for a Zumbathon called Pearls for Creative Healing. Pearls is an organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence and also raising awareness of this important issue. We were the last instructors of the Zumbathon. The pictures from the event were amazing. Here are a couple that were posted online by Hip Chick Photo.

 

Afterwards, I met up with the hubby and munchkin for lunch:

Salad topped with a turkey burger... And sweet potato fries!

I squeezed in a few bike rides this weekend- nothing too long, but it was nice to be out on my bike in the neighborhood. I like to ride around and check out other people's yards and landscaping.

Meanwhile, Sadie enjoyed the sprinkler in the yard.

And I made this delish smoothie.

In the magic bullet: 4 large strawberries (green tops and all), 1/4 cup canned coconut milk, 1/2 banana, a few ice cubes. SO good! It was actually too thick for this straw. Very sweet and creamy! I am wondering about making strawberry ice cream with coconut milk... I will look into this!

Okay friends, that's about it! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend, too!

 

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Dancing for a Cause

I know we’re all getting ready for THANKSgiving… but tonight I want to tell you about DANCEgiving.  If you’re a longtime reader of Confessions of a Former Couch Potato, then you know I’m a Zumba instructor and I love dancing!  There are so many rewards to being an instructor, including seeing participants grow stronger, lose weight, make friends, and find confidence!  However, I am lucky to work for a company that frequently tries to give back to the community. 

This past Saturday, we held a DANCEgiving party.

The purpose of DANCEgiving is two-fold:

get a great 90-minute workout…

and collect non-perishable food items for a local food bank.

The event was so much fun.  There were 6 instructors there, so we got to take turns teaching and teach some songs together.  Participants were able to attend for free with a donation of canned goods.

It is always great to be able to do something that you love, while also helping the community! 

Is everyone ready for Thanksgiving?  What is everyone making?  Ryan, Sadie, and I attend TWO Thanksgiving celebrations (One for each family), so we have certain things we are assigned to bring to both.  For Thanksgiving Number 1, I will be making lemon merangue pie and redskin mashed potatoes.  I’ve never make a lemon merangue pie, so I am trusting a dessert expert: Paula Deen.  She is one of my go-tos when I need a dessert recipe.  For Thanksgiving Number 2, I will be making pumpkin pies, collards (soooo excited to make collards—I have been craving them!), and rolls.  I think I am going to make my Easy Mini Cinnamon Roll-Ups.

We always think of food first when we think of Thanksgiving, but I am so looking forward to having a few days off of work to spend time with family! 

Now, I want to hear what you all are doing.  Where are you going?  What are you cooking?

Real Women Sweat

Hey friends.  I bet you thought I forgot about you.  I didn’t.  One of these days soon I will be blogging regularly again.  I’ve been trying to really throw myself into my new job and try to learn as much as I can.  It’s been crazy busy, but I love it. 

I bet you thought I was going to share a recipe.  Nope, not today.  Today I want to talk about real women.

Last Saturday, I woke up a little earlier than usual.  5:15 a.m., to be exact.  Sounds crazy, but it was all for a good cause.

I was up to walk with a group of friends in the Susan G. Komen 5K in Uptown Charlotte.  It’s kind of weird to be driving down empty streets at 6 a.m. and then happen upon a whole village of people wearing pink.  Pink hair ribbons, shirts, unitards, tutus, feather boas… all pink. 

It reminded me of the weekend that my sister Adrienne and I walked in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  The Susan G. Komen walk was pretty amazing.  Our company was dance-walking.  If you want to see what dance-walking is, take a look at our video we made.

 

We carried a big speaker and an ipod full of great dance-worthy tunes.  We gathered quite the crowd to walk with us, and we all got to watch the sunrise.

Everyone was singing along and smiling.  What was most amazing about it was the feeling amongst all of the walkers.  Most people were walking in teams in honor of friends or family, or in memory of friends or family.  Even more amazing than that was the amount of survivors.  Some were still going through treatments.  It made me think about how often we complain  about trivial things.  As I was getting to the end of the race, there was a woman in front of me who had lost her hair.  We were playing the song, “I will Survive!”  She was just belting out the lyrics and fist-pumping.  It made me think, “What do we really have to complain about?”

All this week, our company has been fundraising for a local organization, Pretty in Pink, who provide mammograms and support for under-insured and uninsured women.  They also support women who have been diagnosed with financial help.  They are a great organization.  It’s been a pleasure to dance in the name of ending this terrible disease!

So… if you’re healthy, be a real woman.  Real women sweat. Make the most of your health!

 

Disclaimer: I realize I talked mostly about women here, but I want to point out that men can and do get breast cancer!  It’s not just a women’s disease!

Zumba Convention- Full Recap!

Whoop whoop!  I am back from the Zumba Convention 2012!  It was such a great trip, and I cannot wait to tell you all about it!  Early last Thursday morning, a group of Instructor friends and I met at the airport and headed down to Orlando, Florida for four days of dancing, walking, laughter, and learning.

I have been wanting to go to the Zumba Convention for a couple years, so it was a very exciting trip!  For those who are thinking about going next year, hopefully this post will be helpful for you as you make your plans.  The convention is held at 2 hotels and at the Orlando Convention Center.  The main hotel is the Peabody, but our group opted to stay at the Hilton. Luckily, the three locations are conn ected by a long walkway, which one of our instructors dubbed “The White Mile.”  (It actually IS a full mile.)

This meant that we walked somewhere around 4-6 miles per day, which sounds like a lot, but it wasn’t as bad as you might think.  It was all in the shade and some of it was indoors.  :)

I was able to participate in lots of Master classes and workshops, such as Flamenco, African, Caribbean, Hip Hop, Latin Pop, and even a workshop on warm-ups and cool-downs. 

My two favorite classes were Hip Hop, taught by these two AMAZING instructors…

… and Caribbean!  I got so many ideas for new choreography. 

I can’t wait to have some time to work on some new songs.

My last class of the weekend was Warm-Ups and Cool-Downs.  I originally signed up for this workshop because it was being taught by a mega-famous instructor, Tanya Beardsley.  However, she was not able to be at Convention.  I wasn’t really looking forward to the session, but we got a nice surprise!

Beto Perez, the creator of Zumba stopped by our session and helped lead it.  It was exciting to have a session led by Beto.  He did a warm up to one of my favorite songs of all time, “All Night Long,” by Lionel Ritchie.  Beto’s enthusiasm really is inspiring. 

The Zumba Convention also included some fun nightlife as well.  One night we were able to attend a Fitness Concert.  (This is really the biggest Zumba class ever. 

Can you believe we had a surprise visit from Vanilla Ice?  Yes, he came out and we were able to dance to “Ice Ice Baby” as he performed it LIVE!

There was also a “Dancing Through the Decades” theme party one night and a concert by Daddy Yankee! 

All in all, it was an amazing (albeit tiring) weekend.  Zumba really does know how to put on a great weekend for Instructors.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to go this year.  Now I can’t wait to go again next year!

Salsa, Two Ways

You know one thing I love about summer?  Fresh salsa.  For years, I bought the jarred stuff from the aisle in the grocery store that has the International foods.  You know, the kind that doesn’t need to be refrigerated until you open it?  What was I thinking?  How fresh can tomatoes be if they can sit indefinitely on a shelf?! 

Then one day I found that there is a separate salsa section in the grocery store.  Go to the produce section and you will find some fresher salsas.  One I like is Jack’s Special Salsa.  I also like this one kind that is just called “Fresh Salsa.”  I promise, that’s all it says on the jar.  The difference in the fresh salsa vs. the other stuff is unbelieveable. 

Then a few years ago, my mom started making her own salsa, and it is amazing.  This summer, being the new owner of my very own food processor, I decided to give it a whirl.

This recipe is adapted from the way I have seen my mom make it.  Now, if you don’t have a food processor, you could finely dice each ingredient with a knife, or you could use a chopper to dice each ingredient, and then mix it all together at the end.  personally, I throw all the ingredients in the food processor and process them all at once.  That’s just because I am lazy.  But it comes out delicious!

Fresh Summer Salsa

Ingredients:

• 4-5 vine-ripened tomatoes, rough chopped
• 1 bell pepper, rough chopped
• 1-2 Jalapeno Peppers or other “hot” peppers, rough chopped*
• 1 small-medium onion, rough chopped
• handful of cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves (I just throw them in whole)
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• sea salt and Freshly ground black pepper to taste

* For a milder salsa, you can omit the “hot” peppers.  You can also control the heat by including (or not including) seeds from the peppers.  The seeds add lots of heat!

Preparation:

Throw everything in the processor.  Process until the salsa is the desired consistency.  Pulse to be sure it is mixed well and scrape down sides once during processing.  Store in the fridge for about a week.  If it lasts that long.  ;)

Use this fresh salsa for:

tacos

taco salads

on fish

as a dip for celery

as a salad dressing

on burgers

on chicken or chicken sandwiches

Are you wondering about the two ways thing?  Well, I do love salsa 2 ways.  Obviously I love to eat it.  But you all know I am a Zumba instructor.  So I also love salsa dancing!  It is one of my favorite Latin rhythms and I always include a salsa song in every one of my playlists for Zumba classes I teach. 

(Here are a couple of photos from a few classes I have taught or helped with lately.)

So… here’s to Salsa!  Go enjoy either type this week!

Zumba Road Trip

About a week ago, I promised you a look at a full day of Whole30 Eats.  And I have to apologize, because I haven’t delivered yet!  :(  I promise, it is coming.  Last week just got a little crazy for me.  I had several days where I woke up at 5:10 a.m. and didn’t get home until after 9 p.m. and blogging just didn’t happen.

And then… I took a little road trip over the weekend!  I didn’t even take a computer because I knew we’d be pretty busy.  Where did I go?

Richmond, Virginia!

I hit the road on Friday afternoon with three other fellow Zumba instructors.  I know what you are thinking… a road trip just for a Zumba class?  But this wasn’t just ANY Zumba class… it was a class with Tanya Beardsley and Gina Grant.  If you are not into Zumba, those names may not mean much to you.  But in the Zumba world, they are really famous.  Let me see if I can explain this through an analogy.

Paula Deen:Southern Cuisine::Tanya Beardsley:Zumba Instructors

Gina Grant:Zumba::Jane Fonda:80s Exercise

Does that help at all?

When I first received my Zumba Instructor License, one of the first DVDs I got was of Tanya Beardsley.  I loved her style and her way of teaching right away.  So I jumped at the pooprtunity to see her and dance with her LIVE!

The class was so much fun and full of great energy.  It was 90 minutes long, but it went by really quickly.  Gina and Tanya were such a great pair.  It’s really amazing to attend a Zumba class with over 300 people (maybe over 400!?) but not feel lost in the crowd.  I think that is a sign of a really fantastic instructor!

Afterwards, we were so excited to meet Gina and Tanya and have our picture taken with them. 

The rest of the road trip was filled with laughs, good food, and storytelling. 

  

What a great dance-cation!

Whole30 Quick Update: As I type this, I am ending day 29!  I am so excited!  It was definitely a challenge to go on a road trip and stick to the Whole30 plan.  I made the best choices I could for two days and really didn’t stray too far off the path.  Success!  I’m planning to do a post on my experiences eating out on Whole30 after I do my daily eats post.  Stay tuned!

What Makes Me Happy

I’ve got some random pictures to post.  Usually, when that happens, I try to think about a way to tie them all together, so that my post can have a sort-of theme to it.  As I was going back through the pictures on my camera, I was thinking, “What fun.  What a great day.”  And that sort-of became the theme for today.

First of all… dance.

You guys all know how much I love Zumba.  It’s like therapy.  There’s nothing like it!  I had so much fun at a class today!

Second… family.  I have so much fun with these two!

Third… days at Carowinds.  Seriously—there is not much that is better than seeing your child make this face.  You know what this expression says?  I think it says, “Mom, this is pure joy!”

 

Fourth… getting to try our the newest ride with no waiting. I tried out the new Windseeker ride today.  We went at the perfect time and I didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes to get on this ride. 

That’s me giving the thumbs-up.  (On the way back down.)

Fifth… Chinese Chicken and Mixed Veg. 

 

Sixth… homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cups (recipe by Mama Pea).  I made these last week for a special gathering with friends and I am still thinking about them.

 

So… those are just a few things that have made me happy lately.  And I must mention that SPRING BREAK makes me pretty happy, too.  It means that we can go on another fun little outing tomorrow. 

What’s making you happy lately?