Close to my Heart

Once again, long time no post!  Actually, with the advent of social networking sites, I think a lot less people are blogging these days, don't you?  Anyhow, I'm still around.  I continue to keep busy teaching zumba, attending zumba, bellydancing, as well as other group fitness classes.  I no longer have to fight with myself to exercise, my body truly craves and enjoys it and I always (or almost always...) look forward to my next work out. It's a great stress reliever as well as a source of social interaction.

Spring will hopefully be here on Vancouver Island soon (according to the calendar in just a few days).  While we haven't had much snow this winter, I'm nonetheless very glad to bid the season goodbye.  We had a freaky windstorm just last week which resulted in much of our town being without power for varying amounts of time.  We were among the fortunate that were only without for about 8 hours, others did not have it restored for days.  And although we are now having to deal with insurance to replace half the shingles that left our roof we consider ourselves fortunate because our awesome neigbours noticed and tarped it before the water started leaking through and into our house.  And something else to be thankful for is that a huge tree in our driveway snapped and landed on our lawn and not our house or vehicles.  Phew!

I spend far too much time on Facebook these days.  I've found a wonderful group of zumba instructors there whom I'm able to learn so much from.  And I am also trying to have a bit of a presence to promote my own fitness pursuits.  To that end, I have a "Zumba with Brenda" page.  I am trying to use it not just to promote my classes, but I also want to create a bit of a resource for those trying to embrace a healthy lifestyle.  I'm posting links to recipes, fitness information, as well as words of inspiration. 

So please give it a look, and I'd also appreciate a "Like" if you are so inclined. Click on the widget to the right or go here.  Thanks!!

Friday

and by the end of the week, I'm tired so once again taking the easy way out with today's blog post.  Still obssessed with Zumba though, and looking forward to a fun class tomorrow morning at 9.  You know I'm addicted when I'm willing to be at the gym that early on a Saturday.  Anyhow, I'll try to write something of a little more substance for my last two Blogtoberfest posts (hopefully that shouldn't be too hard on the weekend), and I do have some handspun to show you if the skies are bright enough for decent photos tomorrow.  In the meantime, today I have two Zumba youtube videos to share with you.  I just tried moving to these, as well as the other two I posted this week, and from a shear fun to move around to perspective, these two, particularly the second, are now my favourite.

The first was found searching for the words "follow the leader Zumba" on youtube.  We use this music at the class that I've been attending this week, which is actually way different music than is used at the original Zumba class I've attended.

And this one I really enjoyed, just because it incorporates bellydance, which you know I love.  There are lots osf bellydance moves utilized in Zumba.  And just for a little tidbit, this was choreographed by Beto, the founder of Zumba.  If you're interested, you can read more about Zumba, including its history, on the Wikipedia page here.

Back tomorrow, and I promise to talk about something other than Zumba!

Zumba all the time!

Welcome to Brenda's Zumba blog, all Zumba, all the time, ha!  I did mention the addiction the other night, right?  Anyhow, home from a  great, energetic, and once again CROWDED Zumba class.  It seems like it has really taken off in our town.  I've mentioned my ecclectic taste in music before, and one of the many things I like about Zumba is that it has exposed me to different kinds of music.  Tonight's class included a wide variety, including Michael Jackson's Thriller (with a Halloween bent to it), an African Song, and even some Bollywood.  Predominantly Latin music of course, but the variety just makes it all fun. 

I often have a new to me song in my head after a Zumba class, and will come home and type some of the lyrics along with the word Zumba into a search over at youtube.  I did that tonight, and then it turned into a blog post.  I had nothing else for you tonight anyway.  And I do like this blog to reflect what is going on in my life in terms of interest and activities. 

So here's tonight's video.  Not quite as energetic or as professional as the video I shared the other night, but still fun, and hey, it's Zumba!

Zumba Addict

Okay, tonight I'm ready to wind down, Glee is starting in less than five minutes (it's now started since I began this post), and I don't feel like trying to put a coherent blog post together.  That and Blogtoberfest is on it's last few days and I'm loosing steam.

I admittedly am now totally addicted to Zumba.  My regular instructor has the nerve totally deserves to be on vacation for three weeks, and I really miss her classes.  As a result I've had to look for other workout options.  I found one teacher that I like almost as much as my regular instructor, and will continue with a class or two of hers on an ongoing basis.  The class I went to tonight, with a still different instructor was somewhat chaotic, although a still good workout and I did have fun.  I think the main issue is that these extra to me classes are at a larger gym and not as intimate a setting as I prefer.  Still great to have workout options that I enjoy overall though. 

Anyhow, in anticipation of tonight's blog post, I went to youtube and searched for Zumba.  I normally have not found too much there, but lucked out tonight.  I found this very high energy choreography to a song that we actually did tonight. Way more energetic and peppy than I will ever be, but fun nonetheless, and when I'm alone in the house, I just may play this on the laptop and move around myself.  Don't tell anyone though, okay? 

Bellydance

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here on the blog before or not (maybe just in passing) but another activity that I've taken up is belly dancing.  I was inspired by a couple local friends who belly dance, and last September, I signed up for beginner classes.  From September until June I happily attended these weekly classes and enjoyed it immensely.  Sometime last spring, I added an intermediate class to the mix, and even performed a short number as part of a group last May.  This fall, I'm continuing with the twice weekly classes.  I'm still relatively new and thus the beginner classes are still helpful for technique.  I'm the newest dancer in the intermediate class, and sometimes feel out of my element there, but the other ladies have been so welcoming that I'm totally comfortable there.  We are currently learning a brand new routine choreographed by our most awesome teacher.  It is very dramatic and utilizes veil work (which I'm admittedly far from comfortable with but hopefully that will improve with time).  Anyhow, I thought I'd share the music we are using for this choreograph.  I found a dancer using the same music, and while her routine is far different than ours, here it is.  I hope you will enjoy it!  Oh, and I suspect this will be far from my last post about belly dance!  :)

Remember me?

Wow, I made it through both August and September without a single blog post!  The time has just flown by, and I admittedly have lost interest in the blog.  Just tonight though, I learned about Blogtoberfest through my friend Uli, and I thought, what the heck!  So, while I can't promise a coherent informative post each day in October, I am going to try to post something.

As my healthy lifesytyle continues, this fall found me looking for indoor fitness options as the weather here on the west coast turns cooler and wetter and the days grow shorter.  Uli (who obviously has a big influence on me!) told me about Zumba, and, it seemed like something I might be interested in.  I found a local class, and signed up.  Well, five classes later, I've become totally obsessed!   I've downloaded some Zumba music from iTunes, and have had nothing but it running through my head today.  So. Much. Fun!!!!!  I might even (gasp) like it better than bellydance!  Actually, it is a nice supplement to bellydance, a couple ladies I shimmy with also attend.  Some of the moves are actually quite similar to bellydance.

I will be back tomorrow, not sure if I'll talk about knitting or what I'll talk about, but I'll figure out something.  In the meantime, I leave you with this youtube clip of one of my favourite Zumba songs, I smile all the way through when this one is played in class.