First Time Back at CNP
Posted on May 13, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Chicken N Pickle reopened last week, which was just in time for our top contributor reward. A couple of months ago I decided to start giving prizes to recognize top contributors to our Wichita Pickleball Facebook group to encourage more engagement and activity within the group. We had planned a trip to Hilton Head Island and so I was thinking I would bring some Head swag back from Ansboury Academy which I could use as a prize.
Alas, that trip didn’t happen so I ended up just giving a $25 Amazon gift certificate to the winner who turned out to be Cameron. He immediately used it to buy some pickleballs, which makes sense because we are constantly breaking them.
For the month of April, rather than giving away another Amazon gift certificate, I decided the prize would be a one-hour court reservation at Chicken N Pickle. The condition was that, since I’m paying for the reservation, I would get to play but the winner would get to invite two others to play with us.
My friend Mark Smith ended up winning. When I reached out to him about the date and time that he would like to claim his reward, and agreed on Thursday, May 7, I found out that it was his birthday the very next day. So I ended up reserving an extra hour as his birthday present and he got two invite two additional people.
Here are some of our pictures from that evening…
Our group consisted of (from left) Mark’s siblings Kim Shea and Gregg Smith, Kim Knotts (Mark’s usual mixed doubles partner), Brooke Ayala (Kim Knotts’ doubles partner), and me. We probably could have invited more people to play with us but we were limited by Chicken N Pickle to six people per court based on the current social distancing rules. Everyone in the Wichita pickleball community is just so lovely and so much fun.
Kim Knotts even brought these delicious cupcakes for everyone.
Anyway, it was great to be back at Chicken N Pickle after being away for so long. I just love playing there because it’s an outside court surface but indoors. I’ve missed playing with these guys so much too so it was great to be together again.
It’s been super rainy this week so I’ve actually been hanging out at CNP quite a bit. Since making the court reservations for Mark’s top contributor reward last week, I’ve made a few more reservations.
Last night I was there to play with Jimmy Cho, Michael Cheung, and Ryan DeSantis. It was so much fun! Jimmy even complimented me on the progress I’ve made since the last time he’d seen me play. It made me feel good.
While we were playing, he gave me a couple of lobs that were unsuccessful for him and winners for me. I hit the first one in the air backwards as I was running to get it and ended up lobbing it right back. It landed in and neither Michael nor Jimmy could get to it. I ended up smashing the second lob for a winner. I think he was utterly surprised. I used to not know how to hit overheads but Chris Heck has been helping me and I can actually hit them now. I still flub them once in a while but I feel pretty good about hitting them now for the most part.
I’m playing at Chicken N Pickle again tonight. This time with my friends Tiffany Lesperance, Donnie Lesperance, and Steve Vetter. On Thursday I’m playing with Mark’s group. I’d be back again on Friday but I have a group lesson with my friends Karen Fox and Jenny Cole at Nahola.
I have some court reservations in queue for next week but I’m think I might reserve something for Saturday too because it’s supposed to be rainy that day. I need to figure out who’s available to play, though. Coordinating everyone’s schedules is usually the biggest challenge. Anyway, I’m super grateful to be playing again finally. Time to run off to Chicken N Pickle. Until next time. GNG.
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Seneca Park Shenanigans
Posted on May 11, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Now that the stay-at-home order has been lifted, my friends and I are hanging out at the park again for pickleball. I’m so glad to be playing again because I’ve missed it so much. Here are some of my favorite pics from recent trips to the park.
This is Tiffany and Karen taking Bruce’s vehicle for a joyride.
Debbie wearing her “I Love Lucy” shirt in honor of Lucy Kovalova’s birthday.
Karen has been braiding everyone’s hair. She was in a braiding frenzy.
My most favorite part of the last few days is twinning with Karen in our matching Sofibella skorts. I love that I can twin with someone at pickleball just like we do in Zumba. I am completely hooked on Sofibella outfits. They make the cutest clothes for pickleball. I’m so glad Karen likes them too.
Anyway, the weather over the next few days is pretty crummy so I’m trying to figure out what to do about playing. Now that I’m playing again, I have to get my regular fix. At least Chicken N Pickle has reopened so that gives us another option on days like today. Can’t wait for the Nahola and Riverside Tennis Center to reopen also.
I’m ready to start playing inside. I’ve only played outside a few times and I have gotten so dark already. My skin color is the way it normally looks when I return from a beach vacation.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and this brief update. Until next time. GNG.
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Karen’s Homemade Lasagna
Posted on April 25, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.
Life is pretty dull these days. There’s not much for me to really look forward to besides #ZumbaVirtual classes (basically Zumba classes held on the ZOOM platform) and some ZOOM happy hour socials.
The one positive thing that’s come out of this pandemic is I finally made one of the Women of Rotary Wichita socials. I’ve been missing them for several months because I was teaching Aqua Zumba at South YMCA on Wednesday nights last summer and then, after that was over, I joined a Wednesday night pickleball league at Chicken N Pickle. There was always something going on each Wednesday that they’d have the social that prevented me from attending. Now that we’re pretty much on lock down, I have nothing to do so I was actually able to attend.
Besides ZOOM happy hours and ZOOMba, I really had nothing going so I was super excited when my friend Karen invited Brian and I over for homemade lasagna night. She makes amazing lasagna!
Here are some pics of our dinner that night.
Dinner was amazing and Karen was a fabulous host. I really enjoyed our visit that night. I’d been really depressed because of the whole stay at home thing so I really needed it. Thank you so much for the delicious dinner and wonderful conversation, Karen! Until next time. GNG.
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Did You Know?
Posted on April 18, 2020 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life.
Did you know that several local restaurants are serving customers via delivery and carry out during the extended stay-at-home mandate? There’s actually a Facebook group specifically for connecting local consumers with restaurants that are currently open for business. Wichita FOOD TO GO During COVID-19 has several local restaurant owners posting menus and promos. It’s a great way for them to reach people and keep business going during this crazy time.
Last weekend Brian and I decided to take advantage of the Easter special at Carrabba’s. For $50 we got fresh bread with herbs and oil, Caesar salad, penne pomodoro, sautéed broccoli, chicken piccata, and two slices of the sogno di cioccolata dessert. And then for an extra $18, I got a blackberry sangria kit with a giant bottle of wine. It made so much that I drank sangria for at least three days. We also had enough food for four people so we had plenty of leftovers for the next day. It was an awesome deal.
I didn’t get pics of our food because we were so hungry we just scarfed it right up. However, I did get a pic of the bottle of wine they gave me and the sangria kit instructions. It was just as good as what they serve at the restaurant and way cheaper. This is one thing about the whole pandemic that I hope doesn’t change. I would totally buy this every weekend.
I did switch it up this weekend and decided to try the margarita kit from Felipe’s Jr. It’s also a great deal. You have to supply the tequila (which is no problem because I have plenty at home) but their $5 kit makes four margaritas. It’s also another great deal. The whole booze-to-go situation is probably my most favorite part of this pandemic. Restaurants would never have been able to do this stuff had the world not been in crisis.
Anyway, you just have to find the silver lining in things because times are pretty crazy right now and if you don’t laugh or drink it off then you’ll really be depressed. Until next time. GNG.
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ZOOMba with Ching
Posted on April 12, 2020 by Ching under Zumba.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, businesses began shutting down because everyone was ordered to stay home and limit non-essential activities for the safety and well-being on the community. That resulted in the gyms closing and me being laid off by the YMCA and furloughed by VASA Fitness. I had no classes to teach and nowhere to go for several weeks. I saw some of my friends teaching online classes which seemed to be well-received. I really didn’t want to mess with it at first because it seemed kind of a pain to set up but one of my friends kept asking me to do it so I finally caved.
I did a trial run at first last weekend. That went better than I expected and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t realize how much I missed teaching my classes until then. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go all in and signed up for a paid ZOOM account. Otherwise your online video meetings are limited to only 40 minutes and once I get going I can’t really stop. I’ve found that I have to dance for at least a full hour to get my fix.
We did a short 40-minute trial run last weekend on Saturday and then did a full hour class on Sunday. Since then I’ve committed to teaching free online Zumba classes via ZOOM based on the following schedule:
- Tuesday 5:30 PM
- Thursday 5:30 PM
- Saturday 9:30 AM
- Sunday 4:30 PM
I’ve completed my first week of offering free ZOOMba classes and, other than the technical issues, I’ve really enjoyed them. I found that they give me purpose and something to look forward to each week. I’m still experimenting a lot with the video and sound, which hasn’t been perfect but it’s better than nothing. And, I’m really enjoying it. I think others are too.
My friend Karen even came over and danced with me yesterday. We maintained our social distance of course. Here are some pics…
Don’t mind the trash. I’ve been doing these in the garage.
Here are some short video clips that Brian got of us dancing yesterday.
Karen was such a trooper and she did amazing. She even stayed and did the Bruce Lee Abs Challenge workout with me.
I started the Bruce Lee Abs Challenge the day after our 30-day stay at home order began for lack of things to do. I started with level 1 and gradually advanced to level 2. I’m hoping that I can move to up level 3 this week.
The past three weeks of not being able to leave the house have been really rough. Basically the only things keeping me sane are the garage pickleball drills, abs workout, and now ZOOMba. I can’t wait until this pandemic is over because I really miss my routine. I also miss seeing all of my friends.
I hope y’all are doing alright during this crisis. Until next time. GNG.
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