Crawl for Cancer 2019
Posted on September 5, 2019 by Ching under Events, Things to Do.
This is the story of how we got roped into participating in our first cancer crawl, ever. Brian and I don’t typically participate in these for several reasons: (1) Brian is very picky about his beer, (2) I’m always too busy, and (3) he won’t do something unless I make us. So what happened this year?
Two Words: PEER PRESSURE
We have several people at work who always participate in the cancer crawl every year. For the last few years, they’ve had two teams. I’ve never really felt the desire to do it because I don’t particularly like drinking beer and I usually have my Zumba classes that keep me tied up all weekend.
This year my friend Tom from Topeka wanted to do it, so he started a team. He needed four more people so he asked if Brian and I could join and invite two of our friends. Well, when I started asking around, everyone wanted to do it. Tom didn’t have room on his team for all of us, so we ended up forming a whole other team.
Tom eventually filled his four vacancies so, in the end, we ended up with four teams consisting of 12 crawlers each. We had a total of 48 people signed up to crawl with our mega group.
I originally still had my Zumba classes so I was just going to join the group late after my last Saturday class; however, as luck would have it, my classes in Andover ended up getting canceled that weekend because the floors were being refinished. I didn’t know this at the time we signed up. It was just a lucky coincidence. It was the same weekend I went from four classes to just one class (my Aqua Zumba class at North YMCA) to none — because my Aqua Zumba class ended up being canceled because of bad weather.
It was a gift from the universe, which decided that I really need to slow down. It was welcome break from my usual Zumba-filled weekends.
On the eve of the cancer crawl, a bunch of us met up at the Pumphouse (across from the shirt pick ups at the Courtyard Marriott). Our team captain Reniece picked up our shirts and distributed them to us when we met up that Friday night. I really wanted my shirt the night before because I wanted to be able to customize it. Nothing too fancy. I just wanted to turn it into a tank.
In keeping with our #VacayWithJayJay theme, I busted out my Jamaica bag and straw hat. I also got some leis and floral hair clips for everyone. I looked so legit in my white sarong, bag, and hat getup that, as we were leaving the house that morning, our neighbor Tommy asked if we were going on another vacation.
But the pièce de résistance was my picture frame prop. Brian and I assembled it just a few days prior. We ran out of As though, so #VacayWithJayJay turned into #VacayWitJJ. Regardless, no one really cared. Most people probably didn’t even know the reference.
Brian couldn’t believe I was willing to lug this thing around with me. It was made of foam board so it was pretty light and we got a bunch of great pics like these so it was totally worth it.
Here’s a couple of pics of our small cancer crawl team within the mega group.
Here are a couple of selfies of me and Brian.
Yuvina and me.
Becca and me.
Kishon and Alex.
Tina and Justin.
Brian and Jay.
Darcy and Jeff were part of the big group from work.
With Chris.
Reniece behind bars.
More pics of our group…
Brian wore his straw baseball cap from Costa Rica and his favorite Hawaiian shirt.
These three crack me up.
My lovely props that I carried with me from bar to bar. No joke.
This was at Fever Night Club — midday party. LOL.
When we got to Lucky’s, which was a long walk, we got to have the back patio all to ourselves. There was just enough room for all four teams back there.
Here’s our big group at Lucky’s.
Not everyone could make it but we had over 40 people between the four teams.
Jay tried to get everyone in an ultimate selfie.
We had a ton of fun but it was also a lot of walking for pitchers of Coors Light. I’m looking forward to Haus of Brews on the 21st, which is a much better event overall. We will have good beer (no Coors Light) from seven Kansas breweries (Aero Plains Brewing, Norsemen Brewing, Nortons, River City Brewery, Third Place, Walnut River, and Wichita Brewing), two wineries (Grace Hill Winery and Mabel’s Homestead Vineyard), and delicious food… Oh, and no “crawling” because everyone will be at Treescapes.
Anyway, I’m grateful that we had an opportunity to participate and help raise money for some great causes but our #VacayWithJayJay team actually ended up skipping the whole after party. We’d had enough Coors Light and we were all hungry so we all opted to go to River City Brewery instead. We held our own after party there.
I hope you enjoyed the pics. Until next time. GNG.
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We Found Sunflowers
Posted on September 4, 2019 by Ching under Things to Do.
We didn’t get to see sunflowers on the day of our anniversary but we did manage to find some a couple of weeks later. When you’re in Kansas, taking pics in the middle of sunflower fields is the thing to do around this time of year.
Here are some of our favorite pics…
These blooms are much smaller than the ones we found a few years ago. We heard this hasn’t been the best year for sunflowers (because of all the rain) so we are grateful that we even got to see any.
We did find some little ones at the entrance of our neighborhood so we had a mini photo session on our way out to dinner on Friday night.
Our pics didn’t turn out too bad, don’t you think?
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We Made It To Labor Day
Posted on September 2, 2019 by Ching under Health, Zumba.
I taught my final outdoor water class today at South YMCA. This year as been the best year for me for water classes. First, I picked up some extra classes, so instead of teaching only one Aqua Zumba class like last year (and only during the summer), I’ve actually been teaching an average of four Aqua Zumba classes each week. In the peak of summer, I was actually teaching five water classes.
I always like learning new things so I was super excited to have the opportunity to teach Water Walk this year. I really didn’t want to teach it at first but there was no one else available so I took a couple of classes and shadowed another instructor a couple of times and then I jumped right in. I still prefer teaching Aqua Zumba but I’m happy that I can now add Water Walk to my repertoire.
Another cool thing is that I’ve had some friends visit my water classes, which I appreciate so much. My friend Stephanie came out to South YMCA a couple of times. I love it when Stephanie comes to take class because she really knows what she’s doing and it’s fun to watch her do the exercises in the water. I also like getting her feedback. She knows her stuff so it helps me get better.
Brynden got to shadow me a few times before summer was over. She completed her Aqua Zumba training at ZINCON this year so she’s now licensed to teach the format. She’s been doing a few songs in class and I look forward to her teaching her own Aqua Zumba classes. She’s going to be great!
Now that outdoor water classes have wrapped, here’s my Aqua Zumba schedule going forward:
- Sunday 10:30 – 11:15 AM at South YMCA
- Sunday 12:00 – 1:00 PM at North YMCA (we are taking a break during the month of September, though)
- Thursday 5:45 – 6:45 PM at Genesis West Central
- Saturday 8:45 – 9:45 AM at VASA Fitness
If you’ve never tried Aqua Zumba before, I highly recommend you do. It is an amazing workout and one that’s not as impacting on knees and joints. I hope to see you at the pool sometime!
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Anniversary Grub
Posted on September 2, 2019 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I spent the eve of our 17th wedding anniversary at the movies. We went to see Hobbs and Shaw. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
I also enjoyed watching Brian eat his flatbread pizza which they conveniently forgot to slice for him. Always wanting to do things the hard way, Brian didn’t go back for a knife and slice the pizza. He just picked the whole thing up and started eating it.
On the day of our actual anniversary, we didn’t have any major plans. I still had to teach my regular Saturday morning Aqua Zumba and Zumba classes. So after my last class, we had lunch at Wichita Brewing Co — one of our most favorite places to eat pizza — and then stopped by Edgemoor Park to see how the Hot as Hades Pickleball Tournament was going.
I had a couple of raspberry arnies, my favorite drink at WBC, so I was a bit woozy. LOL. I think being dehydrated from my workouts didn’t help matters any.
After staying at the park for a bit, we went home to get cleaned up for our anniversary dinner in Netwon. I wanted to take Brian to the Italian restaurant that I discovered when I went to Newton with the Zumba girls on 4th of July.
Before dinner we made a side trip to Buhler to look at sunflowers. Unfortunately, the sunflowers hadn’t bloomed yet so we didn’t actually get to see any sunflowers that night. On the plus side, at least we know where the farm is now.
Dinner that night was at Genova Italian Restaurant in Newton. I’m just realizing it now but Brian wore his olive green Wicked Brew shirt earlier that day and then also his olive green, short-sleeved Express button down shirt that night. You’d like olive green was his favorite color. He does have a lot of army green, camo stuff.
Here are some pictures of our food. Pictured above is the delicious bread that they serve. It’s my absolute favorite thing about Genova. It is so good with the oil and vinegar they serve along with it. The best part is that it’s pretty much “all you can eat” when it comes to their bread. They give you as much as you want and they even give you fresh ones to take home if you ask.
Brian had the meat ravioli which he said was very good. I had the chicken parmigiana with spaghetti.
We shared a slice of tiramisu for dessert. It was yummy!
We didn’t do anything too spectacular this year for our anniversary because 17 isn’t really one of the milestone ones. Besides, we celebrate our marriage everyday that we’re together. And, realistically speaking, we had two big trips this year already (Costa Rica and ZINCON) and we have another one coming up so we were both totally fine with not having an anniversary getaway.
However, it’s been at least a couple of months since our last couples massage so I think we’re about due for one of those. Anyway, this month has been a blast… Actually, this life has been a blast. I feel super blessed that I get to share it with someone as wonderful, thoughtful, caring, and kind as Brian. I look forward to everyday that we get to spend together.
Until next time. GNG.
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Wichita Corporate Challenge
Posted on September 1, 2019 by Ching under Events, Hobbies.
We didn’t do so hot on the Wichita Corporate Challenge this year but I got to play pickleball and had a ton of fun!
I got to hang out with these fabulous people (from left: Jeremy, Frank, Tara, and Abby; below: my partner, Chris) for an afternoon, met some people from Pickleball Connection in real life, and made some new friends.
One of the players I met at the event that day invited me to be on her team for a pickleball league at Chicken N Pickle. It just so happened that my Wednesday night Aqua Zumba class was ending and I would have Wednesday nights free. Anyway, the stars aligned because I’d not found a league that worked with my schedule until then. I decided to join at the very moment and now we’re on a team together. I am super excited to play in my first ever pickleball league. I hope it helps me improve my game. If nothing else, at least I’ll have something to do on Wednesday nights.
I just love how Pickleball Connection brings people together.
Speaking of Pickleball Connection, it’s amazing to me how a group we started on January 19 with just a handful of people has grown to almost 500. It’s actually much bigger than the Wichita Zumba group now. How awesome is that?
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