Category Archives: Jazzercise

STL Pre-Birthday Weekend

Daily Life!, Jazzercise, , , , ,

Happy Monday! How was your weekend?? I hope yours was as much fun as mine! We arrived home yesterday evening around 6:30 which left me in a rush to get everything sorted out before the work week began! But it was worth it. We had so much fun visiting Nick’s family!

We arrived to Nick’s parents house around 8 pm on Friday night. Traffic was fairly light for a Friday evening, so I was pleasantly surprised! We had a nice dinner at home and headed to bed pretty early. We were all ready for some sleep after working all day and driving all evening!

Jazzercise + Tempo Run

Saturday morning started wayyyyy too early. Mac started getting restless around 5:30 am because he heard Nick’s two golden retrievers moving around in the living room. So we all decided to get up and have some early coffee. And after that, I headed off to take a Jazzercise class!

photo(93)This was my morning drive over to the Jazzercise center close to Arnold, MO. Four lane highway is a bit of a change of pace for me at 7 am! I made it with no problems though and stood in the back (I barely made it on time!).

photo(99)I love standing in the back of classes at this center. The women are all so energetic and friendly – plus they do the quirkiest things during class. I want to be able to take it all in!

The owner of the center came in while I was there, and I was happy to see her! Jan owns the center there in Arnold, but she is also a trainer for new Jazzercise instructors. So she is the wonderful lady that certified me and did my training back in June 2012! We’ve stayed in touch ever since, and I love dropping into her classes. While we were chatting, I asked that she recommend some local trails or somewhere safe where I could get a run in. She recommended a nice, paved trail that was less than a mile from the Jazzercise center. So after class and this quick convo, I headed back home to put on some running clothes and then back over to this trail.

The trail had a nice parking lot and several other vehicles were there – seemed fairly safe and legit! So I put on my ear warmer and took off in a hurry!

I was shooting for around 8 miles. My training schedule only called for 6 miles this week, but the trail was 2 miles long end-to-end, so I figured down and back twice would be perfect for a longer run. By the time I was headed back the first time, I was completely sick to my stomach and getting side cramps really bad. It wasn’t until I finished that I realized I was just running way too fast! I completed the 4 miles with a pace of 7:59 per mile. That was my first time breaking the 8:00 min/mile barrier, so I was pleased with that, just not pleased with my distance. So I called it my training ‘tempo run’ and headed back home to get ready for the day.

Luckily Nick’s mom is a sweetheart and knows me well, so she had lots of fuel in the fridge for my post-workout tummy.

photo(98)I had several of these during the weekend to help outweigh all the sweets I kept snacking on. I love some thick Greek yogurt after a workout!

The rest of the day was spent traveling into the city to visit with my girlfriend Emily and her boyfriend Nathan. They took Nick and I to a restaurant and bar called Biggie’s that was located on The Hill (known for its awesome Italian food!). So I obviously had to go with some nice homemade meat ravioli. Our meals here didn’t get a photo….my phone was MIA in the car. But it was all delicious, homemade, and really hit the spot after my morning workouts.

Dinner + Chocolate Cake

We headed back to Arnold, MO around 4 pm, squeezed in a cat nap, and woke up with a house full of family ready for dinner! Nick’s parents, his brother and his girlfriend, Nick, and I headed out for a fun dinner at 54th Street. We eat here a lot for family meals because the food is great and the menu has a bit of everything on it!

photo(106)I had a chopped grilled chicken salad, and it was amazing! It was full of fresh romaine, eggs, pico de gallo, avocado, tortilla strips, and lots of chicken! It was tossed in a honey lime dressing. It was so tasty, I could probably drink the stuff. Needless to say, I almost ate the entire plate! I decided not to overstuff though… I knew there was chocolate cake waiting at home for me!

Nick’s mom got a chocolate chocolate chip cake for my birthday! One of my faves!

photo(97)It’s hard to see, but this was some seriously dark chocolate cake. I also was modeling the cake while wearing some awesome red PJ pants with my hair in a bun.

photo(96)I’m classy, I know.

photo(95)Everyone had a piece once we got home. I may have snuck an extra sliver onto my plate once I polished off this piece. But hey, it was for my birthday, so the calories don’t count!

And with the cake in our bellies, that brought our Saturday evening to an end. I was ready to pass out by 9 PM after all the food!

I’ll spare you the rest of my weekend for another post. It’s amazing how much we cram into 2 days when we visit his family. I hope you’re having an awesome Monday, and I’ll see ya later!

 

Jazzercise Pink Dance Party

Jazzercise, Workouts, , , ,

Happy Monday morning! I know we’re all excited to start a new week..right?? Okay, maybe not. I’m pretty exhausted and could’ve used about 3 more days of rest. Hopefully I’ll feel different after another cup of coffee!

Last night I promised you a new Crock Pot recipe that I tried out, but I want to back up before dinner yesterday for this post. I promise the recipe later today. 🙂

Yesterday morning started bright and early because I couldn’t sleep! I thought after my long run on Saturday that I would be able to sleep straight through to my alarm at 7 AM, but no such luck. I awoke at 6 AM with a rambunctious dog crying at the foot of my bed. Mac and I got up, got the morning paper, and set out on a quick 3 mile run to warm up my sore body.

The weather was around 40 degrees, and we met lots of other runners along our path. It was a nice little morning to be out and about I guess! We made it home in about 26 minutes, and I immediately sat down in our livingroom floor to stretch out my sore quads and glutes.

The rest of the morning continued on with some hot breakfast and lots of coffee!

IMG_2343I toasted an English muffin and spread it with raspberry jelly before topping one side with some colby jack cheese. I love the combo of salty and sweet! I also had some Greek yogurt on the side for extra protein.

Jazzercise Pink Dance Party

I did some grocery shopping and had lunch before heading over to Jazzercise for our Pink Dance Party! We hosted a fundraiser class for some students that are raising money for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. They are walking this upcoming Saturday in the American Cancer Society’s event. Everyone (not just Jazzer students!) were encouraged to attend and give a donation of $10. And of course, we encouraged everyone to wear pink!

IMG_2354Several members of our instructor team, including myself, volunteered to teach a fun Jazzercise Plus class that included a few more cardio songs and less body sculpting. We made sure we threw in as many ‘tata’ songs as possible!

IMG_2352Our turnout was fairly light, but we still had a great time! And my favorite part (besides the dancing)?? Cupcakes. 🙂

IMG_2356Yum! I had several of these tiny cupcakes and didn’t even feel guilty. We worked up quite a sweat during this special class!

IMG_2358I’m once again reminded of how blessed I am to be a part of such an awesome group of ladies. My friends from Jazzercise are some of the most fun and caring people I know!

And then after this fun class we headed to the London Calling double decker bus for an instructor meeting!

IMG_2361Cool, huh?! I think it’s pretty darn awesome. One of my fellow instructors is opening up a food truck here in Springfield called the London Calling Pasty Company, and this double decker is only part of their fun set up! If you like British food and are in the area, stop by London Calling starting this Friday! I can’t wait to try out some homemade meat pies. 🙂

Well I hope you enjoy your Monday! I’ll see you all later today!

 

Jazzercise Fall District Meeting

Daily Life!, Jazzercise, , ,

This past Saturday started out bright and early for me, which I was not super excited for since we were out for a fun evening on Friday at the BCFO event. But I had to get ready to hit the road to Kansas City with my Jazzercise instructor team!

We loaded up in our fearless leaders Katie’s car at 8 am with our overnight bags in tow and made it to KC in time to grab a quick lunch before our meeting started at 12:30.

We have 2 meetings each year in Kansas City where all the instructors from the district come together and have a sort of business meeting on a Saturday afternoon. Kelly Sweeney is our district manager, and she leads the meeting where we learn about lots of things Jazz, Inc. related!

photo(85)

Kelly is the one on stage there in the white dress. She always puts together a great meeting full of important info.

photo(71)I was a rebel and didn’t put on my nametag. Oops. But I did listen and participate, so that has to count for something, right?!

photo(70)Check out this funky/terrible carpet that was in Marriott Convention Center we were at. I couldn’t stop staring at it during the meeting. Why is it that convention centers and hotels always have disgusting looking carpet in crazy designs? I have no clue….

The meeting wrapped up at 5 pm, and we went to check into our hotel for the evening. We stayed at a Sheraton close to the downtown Power & Light District. All 5 of us crammed into 1 room, and it actually worked out great!

Once we got settled and put on some fresh clothes, we headed out for the evening which started with dinner at Nara. It was a nice little sushi place that Katie liked to frequent when she lived in KC years ago.

I started my meal with some yummy seaweed salad.

photo(79)And then ordered 2 different rolls. One was called Mr. Lobster Roll and the other was an Apple/Mango/Crab roll.

photo(78)Both were amazing!! I couldn’t get enough of the lobster roll, and the apple/mango roll was almost like a dessert for me. Yum!

After dinner, we ventured into the KC Power & Light District. I had never been there before, so I had no idea what to expect!

photo(75) photo(76)Yes, this is Katie and Kim riding the bull at PBR. And the rest of our evening kinda went like that…HA! After some late night snacks, we made it back to our hotel room by 1:30 am. It was a late night but completely worth it. I always have so much fun with this group of ladies!

photo(80)Aren’t we cute?! We found this fun little telephone booth and had to do our group photo with it.

We headed back to Springfield early the next morning after we got some greasy McDonald’s breakfast in our bellies.

Someone was happy to see me!

photo(84)And for good reason. We also stopped by a Trader Joe’s in KC, and mommy brought home treats!

photo(74)It was my first trip into Trader Joe’s, and I left with organic dog treats, pumpkin butter, and pumpkin coffee!

photo(83)Mac was the most excited for the dog treats though.

photo(73) photo(72)The pumpkin butter is amazing!! Seriously SO GOOD. I had a spoonful of it this evening with some cottage cheese. Best idea I’ve had all day. YUMO! And I’m trying out the pumpkin-flavored coffee tomorrow morning. I’m sure it’ll be amazing as well. 🙂 Now come on Springfield and get a Trader Joe’s already!!

Nick was happy to have me home too. But I think mostly because he wanted to go get Mexican food without going alone.

photo(81) photo(82)Hah he’s so attractive. We celebrated my return home with some Mexican food for lunch at the new Jose Locos on Glenstone. It was delicious. And we’ve decided it will be our new go-to Mexican place. Hooray!

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend spent with my best friends. Now I’m just trying to get back to real life. It may take me the whole week to catch back up!

Have a great evening, and I’ll see you tomorrow!