Pictures from Zoobilee 2016
Posted on September 14, 2016 by Ching under Events.
Here are some fun pictures from Zoobilee over the weekend…
Me and Mindy (Brian’s favorite massage therapist) with Michael (my favorite massage therapist) and Sveta in the background. Speaking of Sveta, she actually gave me my very first ever full-body massage almost 20 years ago.
Here’s Ebony with her fun party outfit.
Brian with Ronnie and April.
Donavan, Andrea, and me.
Me and Cari.
Cari’s friend Buck.
Cari, Kati, and me.
Cari, Brian, and me with the Nails and Beyond girls.
Me and my Leadership Wichita pal, Stacy.
Me and Liz.
Me and Stephanie.
Me and Andrea.
Donavan, Andrea and me.
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Willy Wonka at the Orpheum
Posted on September 11, 2016 by Ching under Things to Do.
We took my little sister Nickira to see the original Willy Wonka movie starring Gene Wilder on Friday day night. They had a free showing at the Wichita Orpheum Theatre. Brian and I were running late because he didn’t get off work until 5 PM and then we still had to pick up Nickira. Luckily, the Phelpi were there early and got us excellent seats.
As the movie began, Nickira told me she had already seen it and promptly fell asleep halfway through. I’m pretty sure I enjoyed the movie much more than she did. But, clearly, the lady sitting two rows behind us enjoyed it much more than we did (and everyone else in the theater for that matter) because she recited all of the major movie lines and sang along to all of the songs. LOL.
Brian made fun of me at the end because I cried. April asked me if I had seen the movie before and I had. I just can’t help but cry whenever I hear the words “happily ever after.” It’s such a heart-warming movie. I just melts my heart.
Apparently, it was raining really hard while we were in the theater because the Orpheum was surrounded by water. We had to walk through a river to cross the street to get back to my work parking lot. What a mess!
I shouldn’t have been surprised though, because the last time we were out with the Phelpi we ended up with a major thunderstorm. We are planning another outing with them in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the third time’s the charm.
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Goodbye Bags
Posted on September 11, 2016 by Ching under Shopping, Wishlist.
I retired a couple of bags this weekend.
The zipper of my Thirty-One gym bag broke a while back but I had been enduring it because I didn’t want to have to move everything over to a different bag. Plus, I always felt that the big blue duffel/gym bag that I got from work a couple of years ago was far too big so I didn’t want to switch to it.
I finally moved all of my stuff over to it yesterday out of necessity. Although it’s a little big, it actually works out because I can fit two pairs of high-top sneakers in the shoe compartment; whereas I could only fit one pair in my old gym bag.
I also had to finally retire the Coach crossbody bag that I got from an outlet in Arizona almost six years ago. It was money well spent because it has been my everyday, take everywhere, bang-around bag from day one. It is a shame that they don’t make it anymore, otherwise I would have just ordered the exact same thing to replace it. After all, the signature print matches my wallet.
I couldn’t find a suitable crossbody from Coach. And, it seemed like they weren’t making bags in the old signature print I had. I think it might be a retired material. I had to completely switch brands.
It’s an upgrade for several reasons. (1) It is actually bigger than my old crossbody. It’s like a full-fledged messenger bag but on a smaller scale. (2) It’s got way more compartments to hide stuff. Lots of different pockets. My old crossbody only had the main compartment and a small outside pocket. (3) It cost most more than my old crossbody. But, considering I keep bags for five years or more and I pretty much use the same bag everyday (rather than switching bags on whim or match my outfit), it’s going to get lots of mileage. I don’t mind paying a bit more for something functional, practical, and won’t be collecting dust on a shelf in my closet.
The nice thing about this is that, since it’s black, I won’t have to replace my wallet. It doesn’t match my wallet perfectly but it kind of coordinates with it. It works for now, anyhow. Unless someone gets me a wallet (hint, hint). My birthday is just around the corner after all.
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Labor Day Weekend 2016
Posted on September 9, 2016 by Ching under Life, Zumba.
Here’s a recap of our short but Zumba-filled holiday weekend.
On Friday night Missy got everyone together for Zumba with Jenny at East YMCA at 6:45 PM followed by dinner and drinks at Carlos O’Kelly’s. I would have missed all of the messages had I not taken a day of vacation. I’m glad I was home to I could join the fun. The craziest part is that, after she rounded everyone up, there were more instructors in the class the regular students.
After teaching my Zumba class on Saturday morning, we ferociously prepared for Jay and Becca’s visit. It’s such a privilege to host them for dinner because they’re busy travelers and we rarely ever see them anymore.
It was a productive evening.
Sunday was “Labor Day Fun Day” at the Larnengs’. Brian and I arrived at the party late because I had to teach my Sunday afternoon Zumba class first and then we still had to take care of the dogs. I’m glad we went though because we had a blast.
It had been a while since Brian and I played poker. We were both really rusty but had fun, nonetheless.
On the plus side, I’m glad we didn’t end up doing well because we would have been up late playing poker. And we couldn’t have that because we had an early morning commitment, volunteering for the Labor Run.
Brian actually did not want to volunteer this year because we didn’t receive any kind of communication and had no idea what was going on. But I’m glad we did anyway because it’s for a great cause. And, the volunteer shirts were nice. 🙂
It was a little bit chaotic. I’m not sure that any of the volunteers knew what they were supposed to do. No one had assigned jobs ahead of time. Heck, I had five different jobs in 10 minutes.
I’m thinking I might listen to Brian and refrain from volunteering for the Labor Run next year. We’ve given them our holiday weekend the last few years. We hadn’t been able to go out of town because we’ve had to be at the park first thing in the morning. I’m thinking it’s time to start enjoying our Labor Day weekend again. By not committing to the Labor Run, maybe we can actually go out of town for a change, which is something we haven’t done in forever — at least since we started volunteering for the event.
After the Labor Run, I managed to squeeze in a Zumba class led by Melissa and Todd at South YMCA, which was awesome.
I have been pretty lazy about my workouts lately so getting Zumba in four days in a row (Friday with Jenny at East, teaching my own classes on Saturday and Sunday in Andover, and then with Missy and Todd on Monday at South) was fantastic. It really got me thinking about how much I love to take Zumba classes and maybe I should put a schedule together so that, whenever I’m in town and have some free time, I can easily find a Zumba class. I used to keep a map of all of the Zumba classes in the Wichita area but I haven’t updated it in years. It’s probably time to dust it off and work on it again.
In the meantime, here’s the helpful Zumba schedule I put together:
These are all of the weekday evening classes, ideal for people like me who work their butts off during the day.
These are all of the Zumba classes for the full week.
These are all the classes on the weekends (Friday included).
Don’t fret if the writing is too tiny. You can click on these pictures and then you can zoom in. Also, I will post links to the printable PDF versions so you can stick them on your fridge or board at home or in the office. I hope you guys find these helpful. I know they will help me a ton. Until next time!
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Impromptu Lunch at P.F. Chang’s
Posted on September 4, 2016 by Ching under Food and Drink.
It has been about six years since Jay introduced me to The Secret and it never ceases to amaze me how it works. Granted, the concept of the Law of Attraction was something that I was already living. I just didn’t know that it was a thing. And, I wasn’t doing it consciously. Now that I know about The Secret, I’m a little bit more purposeful about behaviors and decisions.
So I was sitting at my desk the other day, trying to figure out what I wanted to do for lunch. We didn’t have any food at the house so Brian didn’t pack any lunches for us that day. Around ten after eleven, Alicia came by and invited me to go to a celebration lunch. She told me they were going to P.F. Chang’s and I was like, “Sold!” I usually go to lunch at around eleven so I’m really glad that I hadn’t gone yet that day or I would have missed Alicia’s invite. As I was thinking about lunch, the universe did even better and provided a free lunch. LOL.
Here’s a picture of my free lunch:
Thanks, universe! Actually, thanks to Alicia. I did tell her that I was super grateful for the invite because I had just been wondering what to do for lunch literally moments before she asked.
I’d had been to P.F. Chang’s in a while so it was perfect. Brian and I used to eat there all the time but, for some reason or another, it had fallen off our eating out rotation. I think probably because we’ve been gravitating toward more locally-owned and mom-and-pop restaurants over the last few years. As restaurant chains go, the food at P.F. Chang’s is very good.
If I had to eat at a chain restaurant, P.F. Chang’s would be one of my top pics for sure. There are several reasons for this but the main one being, with P.F. Chang’s I know what I’m going to get — figuratively and literally speaking because I actually always get the same thing when I’m there — Mongolian beef and eggplant. It’s made the way I like it so I add eggplant. I love eggplant, specially with the sauce/flavorings used in Mongolian beef.
I really like the lunch portions. They’re the perfect size. Then again, when I get the Mongolian beef with eggplant, I always clean my plate out no matter the size of the portion. LOL. The other thing about the lunch combos is that you can do appetizer add-ons (there are several to choose from listed on the menu) inexpensively. I had crab wontons added for $2 and I’m so glad I did because it reminded me of how amazing their crab wontons are.
Krystee didn’t like the crab wontons for the exact same reason that I loved them. They contained too much crab and not enough cheesy goodness for her. I actually liked that they were all crab.
Oh, and before you freak out. I did not have a cocktail at lunch. That drink you see in the upper left corner is P.F. Chang’s yummy strawberry cucumber lemonade. I like it because it reminds me of refreshing spa water, only sweeter (because it’s lemonade and not water). Cucumbers always make me think of spa water.
Anyway, I’m super grateful for the opportunity to join Alicia, Krystee, Alex and Teresa on Teresa’s celebration lunch. It definitely beats eating lunch at my desk which is what I end up doing most of the time.
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P.S. I was only kidding around The Secret. I know it don’t really work like that. My life is full of these creepy coincidences, though. It’s like the universe is paying attention to every single thought that comes through my mind. I have to constantly remind myself to be careful what I wish for because, inevitably, some form of it happens. It’s both good and bad. Brian and I have learned to roll with the punches. Now it’s a running joke around here when some kind of coincidence happens we chalk it up to The Secret and get a good chuckle.
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