Archive for "Travel"
My Fancy Dinner with Jane at Fleming’s
Posted on February 15, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
This dinner was 20+ years in the making so it was only fitting that we went to a fancy schmancy restaurant. Oh, yes. Only the finest for my dear Jane. 😉
Here are some pictures of our food.
The spreads are tasty, but the bread got cold too quickly.
This is a picture of Jane’s filet.
Jane’s baked potato.
My chicken, which was surprisingly very good. But for the price, it better have been. LOL. I think I could feed 4 people at Applebee’s for the price of that piece of chicken.
This is the most delicious sautéed spinach I have ever tasted. I don’t know what Jane thought of her dinner, but I was very, very happy with the food that I ordered. My food was so good that the price didn’t even bother me and you all know how much of a cheapskate I am. LOL.
The dessert was great too. In the middle of our meal, our server asked if we wanted dessert because they had one particular dessert that takes 20 minutes to make. When she gave us our options, that was the exact one that we wanted. I told her the 20 minutes didn’t bother us because we’ve waited 20+ years to see each other. Twenty measly minutes is nothing.
The last time I saw Jane was March 1993. That’s when my family moved from Las Piñas (a city located in the island of Luzon in the Philippines) to Colorado. Jane moved to the US in 2000 but we never had the opportunity to see each other until now. It’s funny because our mutual friend Sheryll only lived in the US for three years or so and yet I saw her four times. Jane has been in the US for 14 years and this is the first time we’d gotten together.
I initially planned to take her to dinner at Yard House because their food is familiar to me. There’s one at Legends that I’ve dined at a few times and I really like it. The prices are pretty reasonable. I planned to buy dinner so that was a factor.
My friends who attended the Zumba Conference with me wanted to go to dinner before the theme party on Saturday night. We initially thought we would go to Fleming’s but then nixed the idea after seeing the prices. Everything is a la carte so the cost of dinner would add up really quickly. After considering our other options, we ended up at Yard House where I had originally planned to take my friend Jane. Anyway, it worked out for the best because, out of all our restaurant options at LA Live and Nokia Plaza, Yard House seemed to have the best vegetarian selections. One of the women I traveled to the conference with is a vegetarian.
That meant no Yard House on Sunday night. Jane wanted steak so that really only left one place: Fleming’s. Oh, irony! LOL. I was trying to be cheap on Saturday night and managed to avoid Fleming’s only to end up there the next night when I was actually footing the bill. The universe is funny that way.
Of course, the food was really good and I hadn’t seen Jane in over 20 years so it was totally worth it. Don’t ask how much it was, though. It actually cost more per person than our dinner at Duck City. At least there we got appetizers and soups (the best soup ever) and I think Lance even had a glass of wine. I don’t think Brian and I have even come close. Well, maybe once. LOL.
I hope Jane knows how truly special she is to me. She managed to get her cheapskate friend to buy a really expensive dinner and spring for an extra night at the JW Marriott at LA (also not cheap) just to make dinner happen. And, what a delightful dinner it was. I had a great time catching up. Hopefully, it won’t take another 20 years for us to get together again.
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Yard House at LA Live
Posted on February 10, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Here are some pictures from our dinner at Yard House.
I love Yard House because the food is reasonably priced and reasonably good and they have great reasonably priced drinks. Reasonable for LA anyway. LOL.
I think it’s going to be tough for you guys to figure out which plate is mine because I didn’t order my usual mac and cheese. Even though I deviated from my usual, I wasn’t disappointed. I enjoyed my dinner so much that I actually want to drive out to Legends in Kansas City and take Brian to dinner at the Yard House there.
Have you figured out what I had for dinner yet?
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2014 Zumba Instructor Conference — Day 3
Posted on February 9, 2014 by Ching under Events, Travel, Zumba.
Day 3 consisted Aqua Zumba training. Yes! I am finally licensed to teach Aqua Zumba. Finally! I really wanted to get my Aqua Zumba at the 2013 Zumba Instructor Convention but the training sessions were full by the time I registered. I’m so glad I was able to get in the training this time around.
Here’s a photo of me with out instructor Caroline Parsons. She is the new lead Zumba Education Specialist (ZES) for the Aqua Zumba training program.
As they say, things happen for a reason. I never did catch Beto at the convention last year but this time he actually got in the pool and took the Aqua Zumba master class with us. What at treat!
Not only did I get a photo with Beto, I got photo with Beto with his shirt off!
I caught a glimpse of the Zumba Step demo during our lunch break. I was too late to participate in it, though. I think I’m going to ask for the Zumba Incridible Results DVD set this year for either my birthday or Christmas because I doubt that any of the gyms here in town will pick it up. It’s just too much like other existing group exercise formats. At least, I don’t think the YMCA will offer it.
Oh, and guess who I ran into while I was watching the Zumba Step demo. None other than the handsome David Velez, of course. You might recall him from my post about day 2 because he helped Steve Boedt with our Pro Skills training.
Besides photos with Caroline, David, and Beto, I also got a photo with Richard and Jill from the Aqua Zumba team.
Actually, practically the whole Aqua Zumba training team was there on Sunday afternoon. I wish that I could have gotten a photo with all of them.
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2014 Zumba Instructor Conference — Day 2
Posted on February 9, 2014 by Ching under Travel, Zumba.
I missed mentioning the Burlesque and Fierce Funk workshops that I took on day 1 of the conference because I didn’t have any photos. My phone ran out of battery.
Burlesque was awesome. Gina Grant taught it along with Betsy Dopico and Melissa Chiz. They showed us five Burlesque routines. I wish there were choreo notes because I can’t remember any of them to save my life. They were super fun, though.
Fierce Funk with Pepper Von was great too. Check out his Fierce Funk web site for links to music and choreography.
So those two workshops happened between the kick off session and the Augie’s Quest fitness concert. The fitness concert was great but it wasn’t half as good as the one in Orlando. It was still a lot of fun, though.
Day 2 consisted of Zumba Pro Skills with Steve Boedt. He is beyond amazing. Seriously. What a treat too because Gina Grant, Donna Giffen, and David Velez all helped with the training. How many people can say they took Pro Skills with four of the best Zumba Education Specialists? LOL.
And the best part? I was third in line so I was front and center during the training. In other words, I was in the splash zone. Literally. Steve sweats a lot. I actually got some of his DNA on me and I almost didn’t want to shower at the end of the day.
Here are some of the photos I took during training.
This is where he showed us how the A/V team used condoms to keep the mic receivers from getting gross. I guess condoms were the best way they could think of to keep sweat and dirt off the technology. Interesting.
This is my favorite photo of the day. For obvious reasons.
Here’s a picture of the theme party. This one wasn’t as cool or as fun as the one in Orlando. There were entertainers working the crowd. No photo booth. No face painting. The conference hall decorations were sparse. Actually, other than the lighting, I’m not sure there were any. No big name performers. Not even an impersonator. LOL.
The party was fun but pales in comparison to the theme party at the 2013 Zumba Instructor Convention in Orlando. If you guys get a chance, I highly recommend attending the conference first before attending the convention that way you’re building up. After attending the convention, you have such high expectations that it’s hard not be disappointed.
The event itself was fantastic and the trainings and workshops were high quality but the fitness concert and the theme party were not as elaborate as Orlando. That’s all.
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2014 Zumba Instructor Conference — Day 1
Posted on February 8, 2014 by Ching under Travel, Zumba.
Here’s a photo of my travel mates — Lisa, Pat, and Stephanie — at breakfast.
The three of them traveled together because they flew through United. I used Brian’s frequent flier miles (thus, my airfare only cost me the $10 handling charge roundtrip) so I had to use American Airlines. I arrived only an hour behind them so it wasn’t too bad. Although, they had a nonstop from Los Angeles to Wichita on the way home so that was nice. I, on the other hand, had another layover in Dallas.
I can’t complain, though. Even though my choices were limited, using the frequent flier miles saved me almost $500.
I’m glad that I saved money on airfare because our hotel was not cheap. We stayed at the JW Marriott at LA Live which is right across from the Staples Center and just a short walk from the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC). That convenience came at a price. It’s worth every penny, though.
Check out the view of our hotel from the LACC.
The one nice thing about the Los Angeles Zumba Instructor Conference compared to the Zumba Instructor Convention in Orlando is that there were no lines at registration. Probably because the conference is a much smaller event consisting of only about 5,000 or so Zumba instructors.
We got badges and goodie bags in no time. We didn’t get free conference shirts this time. However, we did get free Zumba sweat towels in our goodie bags.
The goodie bags are just like the backpacks they gave us at the convention except they’re in the conference theme colors. Lisa is modeling hers below. She must have a sixth sense or something because her day 1 outfit perfectly matched the conference colors. Even her Asics and cellphone case matched!
Here’s a photo of Stephanie, Pat, and Lisa, on our way to the kick off session.
And then here they are at the kick off session.
It was insane! I think there was enough energy packed in the conference hall to power a small village for a month. LOL. Zumba instructors are so energetic!
There was an LA Lakers game that same night at the Staples Center but we had a date with the Augie’s Quest Fitness Concert. A basketball game would be something fun for Brian to do if he does go with me next time so I made a mental note of it.
Here are some pictures from the fitness concert…
If you think this is a lot of people, wait until you see the size of the crowd at the fitness concert at the Orlando convention. This is nothing compared to that.
That was pretty much all of day 1 in a nutshell. I’m amazed that I lasted the entire fitness concert considering I was running on 3 hours of sleep that day and I was up for almost 24 hours the night before. I must have absorbed some energy from my fellow Zumba instructors. What an amazing experience!
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