Halloween Thriller!
This year has been a great one for new things, and bucket list items that I have completed. This Halloween I was able to cross off two items from my bucket list. One, to learn to dance Michael Jackson’s Thriller and two, to take part in a flash mob. So when the opportunity came up to join a Thriller flash mob, guess who was front and centre? Read more
My Life as a Fitness Instructor
Wow! Who would’ve thought I would one day be an honest-to-goodness fitness instructor. Certified, Licensed and Professionally employed! Certainly not growing up,! I was the “chubby” sister always getting a little bit of, well, no other way to put it but, grief from my parents (especially my mom) about my junk food addiction and lack of exercise. I always tried to go to the gym but I either went in spurts or just gave up all together. I know I’ve mentioned before how I got inspired by my good friend, Julie, and the creators of the formats that I now teach, Chalene Johnson for Turbo Kick® and Beto Perez for Zumba®, as well as a certain Taiwanese celebrity that I admire but now that my life revolves around fitness I am looking at more ways to improve myself and my classes. I’ve finally found my passion! And it turns out that it’s not a bad one at all! Read more
Vegas Weekend
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My Visit to Vancover Salsa Festival
Well, I must say that this latina is very much impressed with the Vancouver International Salsa Festival (a.k.a VIS), with 4 nights of dance parties and 2 full days of workshops I was very tired but happy. Nothing better than a chance to get dolled up and go dancing in a non-threatening environment, knowing that, no matter who you are or what your dance ability is, you can dance with everyone. Yes, it’s the first Salsa Congress that I’ve attended and I have nothing to compare it with but I still think that it was a great time and a great festival. If you have the chance to go to the festival I think it’s a great opportunity to learn new dances and/or improve on your own dancing. It really is a great time!
Getting Ready for Vancouver
The Vancouver International Salsa Festival is this this week and I am more than ecstatic to be able to go this year. I’ll be able to visit my sisters in between parties and workshops so I’m, and I really don’t like this expression but there’s no other way that I can think of to express myself, killing two birds with one stone.
I am so excited that I am preparing for the trip a little more than I would any other trip. I really can’t explain why, I’m just doing things a little differently than what I would usually do before a trip. For example I got my “salsa” pants hemmed which cost me more than buying another pair of pants but I really want to wear them since I’ve only ever worn them once because they were too long and I kept stepping on them. I went tanning… Yes… I went indoor tanning… and after you stop laughing I can tell you about it. 
Winter really makes my skin look pasty and I thought, since I will be salsa dancing, I would like to look sun-kissed. There’s a place in Winnipeg called Body Shades that has a great selection of tanning lotions and tanning beds, for my first time I used the Entropy unit that gives you “6x the results”… to tell you the truth I did spend a little more than I wanted to because I did buy lotion and even tattoo protecting balm. but it really was worth it. I actually did see the results after only 7 minutes. I think I may go again before I leave on Tuesday, I do have a pedicure and manicure there on Monday so I may have to take advantage of another session of tanning. Other than that, I just have to pack and get ready for 4 nights of dancing and 2 days of workshops in beautiful BC. Will keep you posted on my activities!
Java Thoughts
As you well know, I’m a tea drinker through and through, I love all kinds, all cultures and all ceremonies that have to do with tea. I drink it all day everyday too! But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy a cuppa java more than once in a while. And I’ve come to realize that, just like tea, there are many coffee traditions all over the world!
I recently went for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and had their “Vietnamese Coffee”, they serve it in a tall glass with condensed milk at the bottom. You get to mix it up and even add more hot water to it if you find it too strong but I thought it was perfect the way it is. The sweetness of the condensed milk mixed with the bitterness of the coffee really worked well, and I thourougly enjoyed it!
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Rosca de Reyes
It seems like the last part of 2010 went by in a whirlwind of events! I finally got my Turbo Kick certification and started teaching, I’m taking my fitness instructor exam this week and I’ve been running around like a mad woman trying to “study” for my exam and practicing for both my Turbo and Zumba classes. Combine that with overtime at work and all the holiday fun, I hardly had time to think!
Now that it’s January, a new year, I’ve had a chance to cook and bake a couple of times. Seeing as today is the Epiphany, January 6th, I made a traditional “Rosca de Reyes”, which translates as “Spiral of Kings”. When I lived in Mexico as a child I remember very well going to the neighborhood party on January 6th, Dia de Reyes, (Day of the Kings) and having a piece of bread. The tradition is that everyone gets a slice of bread, and whoever gets the little plastic figurine of the baby Jesus (yup, there’s a little figurine baked in each bread) has the honour of having a party and making the tamales for February 2nd which is Dia de la Candelaria. Every kid wanted to get it, I know my parents were not very keen on the idea of making tamales for the whole neighbourhood, and, now that I think about it, in the whole 5 years that we lived in Mexico we never had the honour of getting the little figurine.
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Zumbadora
I can finally proudly say that I am now a licensed Zumba instructor! I was looking forward to this training for so long and it was over in just one day. Almost sad actually. But I’m so glad that I was finally able to take it, I’ve researched so much about this instructor training that I knew from the get go that this was something that I could do, but needed the training to be able to call myself a Zumba instructor. Well… now I am! The day was full of energy and fun and, even though by the end of it we were all exhausted, we were all very happy to be there!
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Celebra la Vida
A few months ago my mom sent me a forwarded power point message, it was pretty simple really, a few beautiful scenes with background music. She said she thought I’d like the song. Well… she was right! It’s nice to know your parents know you so well! Sometimes she’s far off but this time around she was right on the button! The name of the song is “Celebra la Vida” (or, Celebrate Life) by an artist named Axel Fernando. I immediately looked for and downloaded the song and now listen to it whenever I need a little pick me up. The words are so right! I wanted to share the lyrics with everyone and their dog! Lol!
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My Fitness Conference Survival Guide
I went to my first ever Fitness Conference this past weekend! I was so pumped for this! I’ve been feeling much better from my injury and I was sure I could participate in all of the workshops that I registered for.
As a newbie to these things I wasn’t really sure what to expect or what surprises this event would bring so, after my first experience, I put together this “survival guide” in case you were curious on how to be prepared.
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