Wow....since March?

It sure has been a long time. Looking back at when I last posted, it's been a VERY long time.  This has probably been the longest time ever I've taken a break from updating my personal blog.  So much has happened in between but that would require some thinking on my part to post about.  I'm surprised I remembered my password to this account.

So much to write & catch up on...but for today, just wanted to write a little 'hello' to let everyone know YES, I am still alive.  Hahaha! 'Til next time...ciao!

The people you surround yourself with have a HUGE impact on how you live your life AND how successful you’ll be. It’s true. If you surround yourself with, and are in the constant company of, lazy, unmotivated people, you too will be lazy and unmotivated.

Most of us are NOT continuously self-motivated. We are usually driven by our circumstances. If there’s no one to push you to do more and become more, then chances are, you won’t. I say, stand on the shoulders of giants, hang out with people who are “bigger than life” and have the energy and drive to match. Find people who’ll teach you something or expose you to something you wouldn’t normally be exposed to.

Living in a sea of sameness is boring and uninspiring. If you find you’re always the smartest, most knowledgeable, and most successful person in the room, it’s time to seek out new people. I’m not suggesting you abandon your current friends and relations. I’m just saying, if you want to be more, do more, and have more, you need to be surrounded by those people who will push you and keep you accountable.

A life of excellence is learned and earned.

-Chalene Johnson

Lessons on how to say "NO"...

Anyone offering any lessons on how to say "NO"? Due to me not knowing how, here's where I find myself the next few days:

--Tomorrow teaching a RS/YW class out in Layton. Luckily for me, I have my crew going up with me. I see crazy times up ahead.

--Next Tuesday, breaking away from EMZ to help our stake start an morning Zumba class in West Valley. This is just to get them started.

--Next Thursday, doing an all day Zumba class with the elementary school. Teaching by grade. Believe it or not, this is their reward event. I guess when I did the sixth grade class, it was talked about and the kids are looking forward to it.

--Next Friday, helping out a fellow instructor by teaching with other instructors raising money for the Utah Autism Program.

Weeks later...

Finally another post. It's Sunday evening, nothing to do. I thought I'd stop in an update my blog.

Zumba World:

*We had another guest instructor, Cecilia Mills from down south join us. Amazing instructor. Loved her energy!

*I caught a few classes taught by other instructors. It's always great to be a student and not worry so much about remembering choreography and all that stuff.

*Finalized our EMZ Instructors: Beti, Betsy, Twig, Satomi, Dana, Lila, Maki, Silia, Billie, Ame, Sela, Souna & Liu. Grateful for all of them and their willingness to help.

*One of our students asked if we can teach a class for the community at an elementary school. A few of our instructors from EMZ were able to make it. Lots of fun.

*Tui, Beti, Ame & myself put on an Island Flava Zumba/Hot Hula party. A blast!!! Not on the flyer but joining us that night was Ula & Liu. Good times!

*Temporary location change beginning tomorrow, March 5 until the 14th. The floor at the Stake Center is getting re-done. Our temporary location is not too far from there - 1301 S. 1200 W. SLC.

On a side note, Haloti has been coming out to EMZ every morning. Many have asked if I'm excited about it. To be quite honest, I'm not too sure if I am. Without trying to put him on blast, let's just say he hasn't been very fond of Zumba. Actually, he was ok with me taking classes, but with the whole teaching part and for FREE...yeah, he wasn't all for it. He likes to critique too and being that he just started coming out, I didn't feel it was his place to critique me. Lol. Along with that, during a few of my routines, I would catch his facial expression and he didn't look pleased with my motions. Hahahaha. It is what it is. One day I hope to be ok with it. But for now, still adjusting.

I am happy to say, we have a big event in the works! So excited for it. We are shooting for something in June. I'll keep everyone posted.

Personal Life:

*Just keeping busy with work, kids and all that good stuff.

*Lots of improvements to make on my end -- still working on 'em.

*Nohe'a turned in his paperwork for his Eagle. Next step is to plan his Court Of Honor.

Too many emotions.

A few days ago I wanted to blog & put all my feelings out there. Good thing I didn't because I probably would've put things out there that I would regret later...and have to delete.

Before I get to my emotional day -- here's a brief summary of how my week went - last week that is.

Monday -- the usual - my day began with EMZ with Jocie De Corte, Binni Burns & Tessi Tolutau as guests. Jocie is a friend whom I met through Facebook first (all because of Zumba). She is my first guest Zumba instructor to ever visit my class. Little do others know, I owe her a lot. She is the one who helped Zumba greats such as Lindsey Taylor to my class. I love when Jocie visits because not only does she give a kick butt workout, I love to watch and learn.

Later that evening, after work, I rushed home to get my things together to rush off to a clubhouse where I was holding weigh-ins for my fourth weight loss challenge. My friend Lila Latu helped me out by making arrangements for us to use the clubhouse at the apartment complex her husbands works at. Lila is a such a sweet lady who I too met through Zumba. Actually Haloti and her husband are related, but I never met Lila until Zumba. We had a good turnout. The competition will be split into two groups - men's & women's. Each group will have a first, second & third place winner determined by who lost the most body weight percentage wise. First place is $1000, 2nd place $500 and third place $250. It cost each participant $40 to enter. Final weigh in is April 30th. I can't wait until then. I always look forward to seeing the final results.

Tuesday & Wednesday - the usual - EMZ, work and then home. I do have to say, the Friday prior & past Monday, we've had guests teach the full hour at EMZ. It felt great to be back in the swing with my every day instructors and it was great to hear some of the students say the same.

Thursday. It was kind of my break down day. I'm not sure why, but I was an emotional wreck. Maybe it had to do with my morning at EMZ. On Thursday morning, we had guests from Hot Hula come out to do a Hot Hula demo promoting their master class they have coming up. After coordinating with them, we had it planned that they would do the first half hour. Class began fine with them doing a warm up. Everyone seemed happy. Well, soon after the warm up, they went into their class format teaching the siva. They broke the siva down into pieces, slowly adding a motion after motion. The class was impatient. I could tell they were not having it. One individual came up to the stage and told the HH instructors, "just teach the whole song and we'll follow". The poor HH instructor did that. As she was, I could hear the crowd yelling, "c'mon we want to sweat". I felt so bad for the HH instructors. The incident reminded me of my job at Murray and when I was let go due to the lack of numbers. It reminded of me someone getting 'booed' off the stage. It reminded me of how I would feel if that was me. I felt so, so bad. I think the HH instructor caught on and before the half hour was over, turned to us and asked if we wanted to take over with Zumba. In the meantime, the instructor in charge of the music was getting things ready for the switch. I grabbed the mic to thank the HH instructors and in the meantime as I was doing so, I could hear my mom yelling different things. Those that know my mom know how she is. I was filled with all sorts of emotions and to be quite honest, what I wanted to do the most was yell out "shutup already". But out of respect, I stood there and I probably had the dirtiest look on my face. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty sure I did. Trying not to lose my cool and say something disrespectful, all I could say was "let's try and be respectful to our guests". I unplugged the mic, walked off the stage. I stayed off to the side in disbelief. I couldn't believe what just happened. I think parts of me was somewhat disappointed in the group. In parts because little do they know, everyone has heard and talked so much about the EMZ Crew - how wonderful they are, how positive, full of energy they are...and yet, here they were yelling at the guests. The whole day kind of spiraled downwards. I felt like I didn't want to do EMZ anymore. I didn't want to deal with this kind of drama. I was tired of hearing all the complaints of this and that. I was ready to throw in the towel.

But fortunately, I have others who were able to listen to me vent, offer some good advice and let me be for just a minute. I am happy to say that at the end of Thursday evening, my attitude changed and I wanted to continue with EMZ. Hopefully the incident that occurred was a learning experience for all of us.

I still love EMZ & the crew. I still love what I do and realize that it's not always going to be smooth sailing.

This past weekend I was able to catch a friends' Zumba class. It was totally motivating for me. Attending her class reminded me of where I want to be with Zumba, what I need to do to get there and hope that I can take it to her level.

Saturday & today was filled with listening to talks at Stake Conference. The messages shared were a reminder to me of what I need to do - prioritize and get things back in order again.

Here's to a new week!

Another post about THE EMZ CREW...

The past few weeks have been a little busy and hectic. Let's see, since I last posted, here's what's happened:

-I found out I have plantar facitis. I received a cortizone shot and was told by my podiatrist, no vigorous exercise for the next four months. Did I listen? Nope. That evening caught a Zumba class. It felt good. Felt normal. Fast forward to today, my feet are still in pain. I'm going to try a few other things, one of them requires me buying a new pair of shoes -- hmmm, maybe this pair:

-January 26th, The Salt Lake Tribune visited our EMZ class, took video footage, photos and interview for an article. Here's the video they did:

The article they wrote is found HERE.

-January 27th, we had ZES Lindsey Taylor visit us for the second time. It was a blast. Nothing like the energy at EMZ. Amazing for 5:30 am.

-January 28th, TheWhatItDo.com visits EMZ. We normally don't do a Saturday class, but because they were in town for Sundance, we made special arrangements.

-January 30th, my oldest turned 16. I can't believe it.

-January 31st, my sister Lani turned 36.

-February 2nd, Flashback Thursday at EMZ.

More pictures HERE.

February 3rd, EMZ with Vanessa Abernethy. I didn't get a picture with her. But here's a picture of her and my sister Silia.

It's been a crazy, but fun couple of weeks. Next week, we are back to our regular schedule, no media, no special guest instructors -- just normal EMZ.

Ouch!

For the past month or two, I've been dealing with pain in my feet, mostly in my left foot. I've just been dealing with the pain hoping it goes away. I've finally come to terms that I probably need to schedule an appointment with a podiatrist. I'm thinking it might be plantar faciitis.

What exactly is plantar faciitis? Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot.

Risk factors for plantar fasciitis include:

• Foot arch problems (both flat feet and high arches)

• Obesity or sudden weight gain

• Long-distance running, especially running downhill or on uneven surfaces

• Sudden weight gain

• Tight Achilles tendon (the tendon connecting the calf muscles to the heel)

• Shoes with poor arch support or soft soles

Plantar fasciitis most often affects active men ages 40 - 70. It is one of the most common orthopedic complaints relating to the foot.

Plantar fasciitis is commonly thought of as being caused by a heel spur, but research has found that this is not the case. On x-ray, heel spurs are seen in people with and without plantar fasciitis.

Symptoms

The most common complaint is pain and stiffness in the bottom of the heel. The heel pain may be dull or sharp. The bottom of the foot may also ache or burn.

The pain is usually worse:

• In the morning when you take your first steps

• After standing or sitting for a while

• When climbing stairs

• After intense activity

The pain may develop slowly over time, or suddenly after intense activity.

I have yet to make an appointment for fear that I may have to stay off my feet. I know, pretty dumb of me and I'm probably not helping my heel at all. After reading what may cause this -- I have to say that it probably is happening to me because I have flat feet, I've put on some weight, I wear shoes the wrong shoes -- basically I go for the look and not what supports my feet.

Well, that's my own personal diagnosis. Hopefully within the next week, I'll be brave and make an appointment. Until then, hello ibuprofen - my new best friend.

Day 1 of 2012 and I have a little catching up to do since my last post.

Let's see...where do I begin...

Christmas.

Every month for EMZ we seem to throw a theme party. For December, we had a Christmas holiday party. It was lots of fun. Festive and everyone brought something to share with everyone. My aunt Moni had her daughter-in-law make me the collage below:


Along with this gift, they put together gifts for all of us instructors. It was a nice surprise for each of us. Truly appreciative of all that we received.

Every year (except for last year) I always end up spending a fortune. I usually spend money that I'm suppose to use for bills to buy gifts. This year was a little different. The kids didn't ask for much. Haloti and I split the cost of the X-box Kinect. My brother Lopeti has a friend who was able us up saving about $50-$70. The two older boys received BYU t-shirts & hoodies. Ailini had circled a few items in a Family Dollar ad, very simple and inexpensive. One twin received a cheap MP3 player along with a cross-bow nerf toy. The other received a Lego set. Other than that, we kept the gifts simple for our neighbors by giving them a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. It was a simple Christmas. We spent the day with my family. We didn't do any gifts this year. We just potlucked and ate together.

This past Thursday, our EMZ group had the privilege of having Lindsey Taylor teach class. My friend Jocelyn DeCorte who is good friends with her was able to get her to visit. It was definitely the highlight of 2011. Grateful that she would even consider a visit, especially at 5:30 am. I think we had more than 100, maybe more than 150. We had a great time. Thank you Lindsey! We love you!

Us instructors with Lindsey


This is one of my favorite pictures. Too bad not everyone is in this picture. I would say this is only 1/3 or the people that was there Thursday morning.


Click HERE for my FB album with more pictures from Lindsey's visit.

Change For A Dollar