It's official...now what?

Trainer Julie ROCKED!

Well I did it!  I didn't really give myself much "thinking time" as the class was only about a week out when I began looking into the idea.

So...now what?  Well I do know I will be utilizing this training here at the park.  But that is only about 4, maybe 5, months out of the year.  Luckily I don't have to think about the rest of the year until closer to April.  There is so much "stuff" swimming in my head right now that I've definitely got to take some time to sort through it.  Zumba Fitness provides soooo much more than just a license to teach their classes.  They really have a great network and support system for instructors.

The training was a BLAST!!  Trainer Julie was awesome.  She had the attitude, the style and the humor to make the day just fly by.  Really, I could take a class from her ANY day.  Oh, and did I mention she has SEVEN (7) children!!  Yeah, you should see her abs....

Who's ready??

Seriously, if are not in the Port Isabel, TX area and want some totally exhilarating FUN fitness, check out the Zumba website to find a studio near you!

Fun fact I found out....Running for 12 miles in 4 hours can burn about the same amount of calories in 1 hour of Zumba.  I kid you not.  

Still Alive Over Here!

It has been 2 whole months since I've posted in my blog.  One big reason...it's Winter Texan season!!!  For those of you who do not know, I live in an RV park and during the Dec-Mar season the park is FULL of northerners trying to get away from the cold weather...can you blame them?  So I lead several classes, including: Yoga, Aerobics, Strength Training, Belly Dance, Line Dance, Crafts, Wii Competitions and what ever else I can come up with to keep everyone active, mind and body!

So I have been VERY busy with classes!  One of my most time consuming classes is crafts.  I teach it once a week and I typically have to find the project, get supplies, test it out, get enough supplies for everyone and then teach the class. Some are fairly simple but some are soooo time consuming!  This week we made Trellis Necklaces.  So pretty, but cutting out 50 of them was tiring.

I LOVE new ideas, if you have any send them my way!!

Something I've finished in between classes....sorry about the CRAPPY pictures!

Broomstick Lace Friendship Shawl

FINALLY!!  This shawl turned out absolutely beautiful.  The open loop strips are what is referred to the broomstick lace, or it can also be called jiffy lace.  This is a free pattern that can be found here.

I wore it to a Red Hat function and got so many compliments!  For those of you that don't have a clue what Red Hat's is all about...at least from what I've observed...it's a gathering of ladies 50+ that get all dolled up in their finest Red and Purple, the gaudier the better, and go out for lunch.  How fun is that?!  Well as many of you know I fall a few years shy of the 50 mark so I am not able to wear the traditional Red and Purple, thus I am referred to a Lavender Lady and must adorn myself in Pink and Lavender.   Sooooo...that was my inspiration for this shawl!

ECU (extreme close-up) of the broomstick pattern.

 Before I sewed the border on.

 Broomstick lacing the border's inner edge.

 ECU of border...yes it was a bit difficult to hang on to!

Finished shawl...how cute is that?!

The broomstick technique was so fun and popular that I will be working on some more patterns and teaching the basic technique to some of the winter texans.  I hope they love it as much as I do!!

Here are some other things you can do with the broomstick technique.



What about these lovelies?!





This is the scarf pattern we will be doing in class.



Until next time....

Holiday Project Catch-Up!

I hope everyone had a FABULOUS Christmas and a wonderful new year! 

It is the busy season here in south Texas and I've been hoppin'!  The RV park is filled to the max for the months of January and February.  I am somewhat of an activity director, keeping the guests fit and busy!  I teach fitness and line dancing classes.  I lead a craft classes where I'm always looking for new ideas!  We have a Wii game night, breakfasts on Saturday morning and Hymn singing each Sunday afternoon.  BUSY, BUSY! 

Here are a few of the projects that I finished for the holiday season (upon writing this I find that there are a few that I forgot to take pictures of :(  Oh well.)

This is the beginning of my very first intarsia project.  I had so many little balls of yarn I thought I'd lose my mind!  Once I got a good system down I totally fell in love with it though!  



The yarn "madness"!


 The finished product for little Oliver, I even had some leftover yarn for a little hat!


Oliver enjoys his new hat and blanket!



 I couldn't leave the new big brother out.  Meet Peanut...this is from a pattern by a fellow blogger, you can see more of her patterns here.



Made a scrap monkey for Oliver's big brother!



 I've always wanted to do cross bookmarks.  This didn't turn out as planned but cute nonetheless.

Blocking an angel bookmark.

 Flowers for the kitchen!

Dish rags, the center of the left one has a scrubbie for the center!

This is another intarsia project that I am working on for a good friend of mine.  It is a baby blanket with their family's treasured "Rock Star" pattern.


Rock Star!

A couple of our craft projects here in the park!


Discharge Dye



Embossing on a paper bag and beach glass.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the beach glass...maybe work on my wire wrapping technique??

Embossed an old flower vase...filled with my Anniversary roses!!

Couldn't you just touch them!  They smell wonderful!

I'm working on another pineapple shawl (the purple on in my profile pic) this time in a heather gray color...very pretty.  I'm also playing with a bit of mohair, not sure what it will turn into yet though.  I was given the idea that I should make some necklaces...I'm truely intriged by that idea!  In one of my previous posts I talked about my scarves for Special Olympics.  That project is park wide and we will be collecting our scarves and mailing them out next week!!  WOOHOO!!  I will be posting pics so stay tuned!

As always keep your comments and suggestions coming, I enjoy hearing from you!