Have you ever...

Had someone give you food because they thought you were really sweet? That's what happened to me today. Kyle calls me on his way home from work and says the lady at his favorite place to eat lunch (Thai House) liked me so much that she gave him my favorite food from the buffet for free: orange chicken and chow mein noodles. I've never had that happen to me before. She just scooped up the food from the buffet and gave it to Kyle and said, "Here. Take this to your wife because she's so nice." Hilarious and sweet of her to do for me...and the really funny thing is that I've only spoken like 2 or 3 times to her and it's all been small talk. Regardless though, it really made my afternoon and made me feel really good. Now I want to eat the orange chicken...

"I like to see your body movin'..."

Movin' is exactly what I've been doing--as in, Zumba Fitness all over the place!! I finished with the high school gig last week. My body's probably pretty relieved. :) This week's been pretty relaxed and non-eventful. I subbed for a fellow instructor last night and had 8 people in the class!!! That's a really good number--it'd be better to have a few more due to getting paid a little more but I'm not complaining by any means! And I'm so excited that I got some feedback from a Zumba student of mine that said since she's been taking my class, she's down 10-15 pounds!! I couldn't be happier for her and I know she's ecstatic!

Another tidbit of news: I just got hired at Gold's Gym! I don't have an official schedule of classes yet but that will come soon. Probably when a new one comes out. The class coordinator has to see where I'd fit in with all the other classes. Looks like Zumba is taking over Idaho Gold's Gyms by storm finally--Idaho's been kinda slow to grow in this awesome, effective program. In fact, when I met the coordinator for my audition, she told me that for the longest time she fought bringing Zumba into the gym since they already had a dance class through the Les Mills program. She didn't want to have to pay for another dance program but her boss came in one day and asked her, "So why don't we have Zumba at our gyms??" LOL! Beto Perez (the founder of Zumba Fitness) would be so happy to know about this and how it's finally starting to take root here.

Anyway, I'm having a blast doing this and will be instructing for a long time to come--it gives me so much more enjoyment than any other mode of exercise or other exercise program. I love ZUMBA!!!!

Jen Campbell Zumba Demo

The reason I'm not facing my students, there's a mirror that I'm looking at and for that particular song, it's just easier at times to face the mirror so we're all going the same direction. Especially in smaller spaces like this studio and with a large number of people, it also helps to do this. :) Normally, I face them though and smile constantly.

Oh and the girl in tie-dye is my friend, Amanda Farner. We were coworkers (aka partners in crime) at CHS. I miss not seeing her face most every day at work. :'(

Status update

First of all, I'm exhausted. Second of all, I have officially lost 30 pounds!! Took me 4 years to get to this point but it's awesome! I want to keep going for another 10-15 pounds but I feel pretty great about myself right now. I feel so accomplished.

The reason I'm exhausted is I've been teaching Zumba NONSTOP. Started a couple of weeks ago at the karate studio (W,Th,F) and plus my two Saturday classes. Well, I also added an extra short-term assignment for myself...This week and next I'm teaching Zumba at Bishop Kelly High School (the Catholic high school) for the girls' PE classes. 3 periods a day, for 3 days a week, for 2 weeks. Next week will be my last and I'll be there M,W,Th. Then I'm done with that. I've been so sore but it's worth it. To see those girls running..no sprinting..to class to see if they can get their favorite color belly scarf and be the first on the floor to start dancing, it's all worth the pain and soreness. I love it. They love it. Every time I walk in the front door of BK, the girls who have been taking Zumba yell out to me, "ZUMBA, ZUMBA!!!" I love it. Have I said that already? The PE teacher's been pretty impressed with the class. If I don't have a job next year, I will definitely be there for both semesters!!!

Anyway, gotta go. Write more later.

So far, so good!

Getting through my first week of Zumba 4 days a week and so far, it's going well. I've been able to introduce new people to the Zumba Fitness program and so far, they seem to be loving it! Granted, it's been a little overwhelming for some but they will love it once they get started!! :) I'm excited for the health benefits it's going to present me too! It'll probably take a couple of weeks for it to register with my body what exactly is happening. Right now, I'm a little more sore than I usually am! Yikes, this morning I had to stretch around in bed a little more so that I could get up and be able to walk--haha!! Anyway, it's going to be a lot of fun for me and hopefully all of my students!


Nothing much else is new with us. It's spring break for the schools right now so I've been enjoying a much needed mental rest period after all of that testing that I did last month. Got my first paycheck for that and it was nice. Helped cushion our tax expenses we had to pay out--OUCH! Maybe the second paycheck that will come at the end of April will feel a little better and we'll be able to save it. I start right back into the subbing mode on Monday for the traveling German teacher. Now starts the time where I will be more avid in watching for job postings, if there are to be any--but now is the time when people are deciding whether they want to sign their contracts for another year and when some decide they want to retire or move out. The question is if those positions will be refilled. I have a very slight job prospect if all goes right and that's the traveling German teacher position, except it won't be traveling!! She seems to think that the high school she starts out at every morning (her home base) might take her on as full time if the numbers of students for German rise enough. So then that would mean that a German position at the second high school will open up. It would probably be a part-time position but at this point, I'll take it!! Plus, I can offer up that I can teach ESL English for other periods as well! So my fingers are crossed in the back of my mind but I'm not getting too excited just yet. Who knows what will happen for that. We'll just have to "let the rose unfold". ;)