Last Zumba Class Before Surgery

Here are a couple of pictures from Zumba the other night, the very last Zumba class I attended before surgery. I thought it was quite fitting that our theme was all black because I was mourning my thyroid. LOL.

Meg and Jeri both had the same Zumba tank on.

BTW, I’m feeling a little better so I’m blogging again. I’ll be posting about the surgery soon so come back tomorrow.

December 14, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Zumba

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Our Saturday Morning Routine

My favorite part of Saturday is teaching Zumba fitness class at Evergreen Rec Center and then coming home to a wonderful breakfast prepared by my even more wonderful husband. I think it’s Jenni’s favorite part of Saturdays too. I’m pretty sure that she only endures my Zumba class because she gets fed afterwards.

Here’s what we had last weekend.

This is a picture of Jenni taking a picture of her breakfast.

The weekend before last we had bacon and eggs and rice. Yes, always with rice because we love, love, love eating rice. We eat rice with EVERYTHING!

Oh, and Brian usually has to make three different kinds of eggs: fried hard for him, over medium for me, and sunny side up for Jenni.

Except this last time he made a breakfast bowl for himself instead. Anyway, no breakfast after Zumba this weekend because we are going to Ben’s birthday party right after my Zumba class. Sorry, Jenni! Will you still give me a ride home, though?

November 13, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Food and Drink, Zumba

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Zumba in Old Town Square

I had a great time doing Zumba in Old Town Square on Saturday night. Thank you so much to Wheels Studio for organizing the FREE event.

I also had my first Linercise experience. I had never participated in Linercise before. It was actually pretty interesting.

I thought I was just doing Zumba at first, but it was quite different. We kept turning different directions and the choreography followed a more specific pattern (no random breaks in the music, as is often common with Zumba).

If you want to try it out, along with other types of fitness and dance exercise classes, go to the Wheels Studio Facebook page.

P.S. Jen Cole and I ended up wearing the same Zumba top without calling each other or planning it. Just a happy coincidence!

October 1, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Zumba

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Fiesta at Nomar

I just wanted to post a quick reminder to everyone that Angela, Adriana and I are doing a FREE Zumba demo at Nomar tonight. The demo doesn’t start until 9 PM, but the party begins at 6 PM.

If you’ve never been to Nomar, this is your chance to enjoy live music, food, and drinks. This event is open to the public. Admission is free, but you’re on your own for the food and drinks. Bring some cash if you want to eat and imbibe.

Come be merry with us!

July 21, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Events, Things to Do, Zumba

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Post Aqua Zumba Feast at Abuelo’s

I managed to talk Brian into hanging out at the Genesis (Rock Road) pool while I took Aqua Zumba on Wednesday. Neither of us had to work since it’s the 4th of July (Independence Day here in the US).

He didn’t really feel like hanging out at the pool at first, but then he changed his mind. I think it was the cute lifeguards in skimpy bikinis that did the trick. He was like, “As much as I enjoy hanging out at our pool, the view here is so much better.” Spoken like a man. Although it’s usually just the two of us hanging out at the pool at our apartment complex, so what does that say about me? LOL.

Speaking of insecurities, I love Andrea but I absolutely hate standing next to her. She may stoop so that I don’t look like a midget, but I still feel like a heifer. I guess I should consider it motivation. Note to self: workout more and watch nutrition better.

It was fun hanging out with Hideki and Andrea. The four of us went to Abuelo’s after because I was craving a sangria and they had cheap pitchers. Much to my disappointment, I found that as of July 1 restaurants can no longer serve pitchers of mixed drinks. Blech. Bad news for me, but good news for the restaurants because they can make more money selling drinks by the glass. In this case, a glass of sangria is $7 but pitchers used to be $16 (I think at one point it was only $12, talk about cheap tasty drinks). This change was part of the whole “happy hour” thing. We were all so focused on “happy hour” that they snuck this one rule in there without anyone noticing. At least I didn’t. Otherwise, I would have protested. I want my pitchers of sangria, darn it!

The funniest part is that our server, Dale, felt bad for breaking the news to us. I bet he’s had a few unhappy customers because of the change. He had a good sense of humor about it, though. When Brian asked about bottled beer, Dale told us they pretty much had every beer. Brian asked for Stella and he was like, “Except that.” So Brian asked for Sam Adams and again Dale was like, “And that.” They only have Sam Adams on tap. No bottles. I gave Dale a hard time for batting a thousand. LOL.

Brian ended up drinking Budweiser. Thank God his tolerance has increased enough to the point that he can drink almost any beer these days. He used to only be able to safely drink Sam Adams.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure you’re expecting food pictures so here’s my Durango Burrito covered in queso with papas and rice on the side.

Hideki had Pasta La Paz.

Brian had Huevos Rancheros. Egg fried hard, of course.

Andrea got some kind of platter with a ton of food in it. Her plate was enormous. LOL. And, to top it off, she ordered margarita pie for dessert. I don’t know how she does it. Some people are just blessed with good metabolism, I guess.

Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy on Urbanspoon

So I still like Abuelo’s even though they no longer serve pitchers of sangria, which used to be my favorite drink there. It’s not as good as the blackberry sangria at Carrabba’s or the sangria at Bonefish, but the pitchers were cheap. No more pitchers, though. However, they still make good food and I really like their chips and queso. Brian and I usually add taco meat to our queso, which almost turns it into a meal in itself. I have to be careful not to get full on it, though. The proximity of the restaurant to our place is another added bonus. If we get tanked (which we’ve never ever done) but, if we did, we could always walk home.

July 6, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Food and Drink, Zumba

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Pool Party in College Hill

Pat invited us to a pool party yesterday. I got to hang out with fellow Zumba instructors. It was a lot of fun. Here are some photos.

I’d never done Aqua Zumba before but, as luck would have it, we had a couple of Aqua Zumba instructors present. Gina recently got her license and did one song for us. It’s a lot of fun. I’m thinking that I will have to drop in on Pat’s Aqua Zumba class at some point before summer is over. Maybe I can drag mom to it.

June 24, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Zumba

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Guess What Arrived Today

My CD/DVD boombox arrived today! Woot! I will now be able to take my Zumba music and videos with me everywhere. I’m so excited!

June 21, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Toys, Zumba

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Can’t Wait Till My New Boombox Arrives

Speaking of service anniversaries, I got 30,000 service award points for 10 years of service and 10 years of safety. Unlike Darcy who is saving all of her points for a house (inside joke), I opted to use my points towards a CD/DVD boombox. With the ubiquity of iPods and such, I had no idea that companies still made those. Did you?

Anyway, I’m super excited to get my boombox as, now that I can bring my Zumba music wherever I go, this brings me one step closer to the Zumba flash mob I’ve always dreamed of… LOL!

June 10, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Things to Do, Zumba

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A “Zumba Rangers” Style Road Trip

Driving three hours to attend a Zumba master class and then driving back three hours on the same day has got to be one of my craziest ideas yet. I initially wanted to spend the night and drive home the next day, but no one else was staying so Brian and I decided to do the same. I figured it would be better so I could still come to work the next day. As the day of the Gina & Tanya Rock the Stage event drew closer, I decided to go ahead and put in for a vacation day on the following Monday, April 30, anyway… Just in case I was too tired to make it to work the next day. I would rather have it pre-scheduled than have to call in for a vacation day that morning. However, I warned my coworkers ahead of time that if we arrived back in town at a decent time, got enough sleep, and felt good enough the next day that I would come in to work and cancel my vacation day. But, just in case I was worn out from the trip, my vacation day was already on the calendar a week ahead of time.

I’m so glad I had that vacation day scheduled for Monday because I really needed it. Even though we got back home around midnight or so, I didn’t end up going to bed until about two in the morning. Part of it was that I was still wired from the trip, but the other part was that Gina wouldn’t quit posting pictures. Every time I would get ready to close my laptop and go to bed, I would get a message from Facebook that said Gina posted some photos of me and I felt compelled to look at them. Every single time! Brian finally had to put his foot down and say, “You can look at those tomorrow!”

Without further ado, here are some of the photos… This next one is what got us dubbed “Zumba Rangers” by my friend Jay. Gina is supposedly the Fuchsia Ranger; I’m Teal Ranger; Hideki is Blue Ranger; Mandy is Lime Green Ranger; and Andrea is Magenta Ranger. Why? Because regular colors just won’t do.

Our first stop was Town Center Plaza in Leawood, Kansas. I wanted to hit the Lululemon store and sign up for the ambassador program so that I could get 15% off all my Lululemon gear. This has got to be one of the best perks of being a member of the Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN). The only down side is that only my clothes can be discounted. Items that are not for me (e.g. if I buy anything for Brian or anyone else) cannot be discounted. Blech.

You would think that they would have given us better deals for agreeing to do a Zumba demo inside the store. LOL.

This is a photo of the “Zumba Rangers” at La Bodega.

This photo, which was taken before the event, is courtesy of Patricia Thompson (Wheels). We color-coordinated so everyone is wearing teal.

Here are a few more photos that we took before the event.

It truly seemed like everyone in Wichita came to the Gina & Tanya “Rock the Stage” Zumba master class.

This is the photo that I’m using as my cover photo in Facebook right now.

While waiting to check in, our group got a photo taken with Zumba Jammer Amy Hayden. After check in, Andrea and I got a photo together.

Gina’s not in this one because she took the photo.

Me and Mandy. My caffeine high had worn off at this point.

My photo with Tanya Beardsley (left) and Gina Grant (right).

They’re our Zumba idols! This is our group photo with Gina and Tanya.

The Gina & Tanya “Rock the Stage” tour was super awesome. I’m so glad that Gina and Mandy talked me into going. I had a blast!

May 5, 2012 | Posted by Ching under Events, Zumba

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Missing My Zumba Girls

Whenever I miss my Zumba girls, I just look at our old photos. Here’s one from last Saturday. It was pajama day.

I had to bust out my Nike shorts that I haven’t been able to wear in years for this theme day because I figured I would get hot in my PJs. It worked out great.