Z is for Zumba!

A couple of months ago my dancing group started doing ZUMBA!

We've been dancing for over a year or so and while doing the ChaCha

our instructor thought we all needed help with our "Latin hips", so

we switched to ZUMBA for awhile.

WELL!  I gotta tell ya.........the morning after we switched my American hips told

me in no uncertain terms that they 

DIDN'T WANT TO BE LATIN!

This very morning (so perfect for my Z post) 

I slipped the Zumba DVD into

the player and spent about 45 minutes 

on the Beginning moves tape.

Some of the beginning moves are pretty slow and pokey,

 but some of them,

like the Reggaton moves, 

I am pretty happy to be going through slowly.

While I'm looking forward to graduating to the 

regular dance songs I'm pretty

sure that in the morning my body will 

thank me for moving slowly through these moves.

In the past exercise for me has been in the form of 

hiking the mountain, which I really

enjoy until spring when the rattlers start showing up on the trails.  Snakes scare me!

I like to swim but the pool water is not quite warm enough yet.  

Jazzercise was a lot of fun, but for me it was a 2 hour commitment......1/2 hour before

and after the class for prep and driving time.  

A few years back I walked on a daily basis training 

to participate in the 

Susan G. Koman 3Day Breast Cancer Walk.  

It was fun walking and training with my friend, 

but walking by myself is way to slow for me.  

Biking is more my speed now!

Of course it'll soon be too hot here in AZ to bike.............

Excuses, Excuses!

I'm hoping that I'll enjoy these Zumba workouts!

Do you Zumba?

What do you do to stay in shape?  

or

What are your best excuses NOT to exercise?

Oh what a Beautiful Morning

I made a discovery today!
If you get up really early it is a perfect time for a lovely bikeride!
The cool air just rushed past me as I rode at lightning speed toward
the east and the sunrise.  As the sun peeked up over the mountains
and treetops I turned west and back toward home.  The breeze started warming up abit as the sun rose higher and higher.  Was it the sun? or had my pace slowed to a crawl as I approached home?
At any rate...........it was 6am and the sun had already begun to turn up the heat!

The last 3 days have been nearly 115 degrees here and I'm thinking that inside my house was at least 150 degrees!  Okay, probably not, but at times it sure did FEEL like it!  We are supposed to cool down to an acceptable low 100's temperature for the next few days.  Whoo hoo!

Enough about the weather!  After my very pleasant bike ride  I went straight to the kitchen and whipped up some banana bread and a special cake to take to a BBQ tomorrow.  I love to bake and recently found a recipe for a rainbow cake which I made for Father's day.  Today's cake was made for the 4th so it is, of course, red, white and blue!   I have not taken a picture of the Patriotic cake yet but here is a pic of the Rainbow cake I made for Father's day: 

Love to bake, but hate to clean up!

Lots of dishes to do now.

Looking forward to catching a little nap this afternoon since

I didn't sleep too well last night.

Might have had something to do with the food/drink orgy I

had at Olive Garden last night.

Italian Margarita's.........yummy!

Zuppa Toscana, breadstick w/ alfredo sauce,

Stuffed Chicken Marsala.

Now do you know why I went on a bikeride this morning?????

Also gonna get in a little swimming before a nap!

I think I NEED it!

Today my Jenny is officially 40 weeks pregnant!

She could have baby Mia any time now.

We are planning a spicy dinner outing for tonight

after making her walk and swim!

Mia seems perfectly content to be right were she is at.

However my Jenny usually gets what she wants and she

has been predicting that Mia will be born on the 4th!

Time will tell.

I've been working on several quilting and embroidery projects.

Here is the last one I completed.

It was for a 3 year old's birthday

and I embroidered it on a little dress.

Turned out pretty cute.

Til next time,

Quiltingly yours,

tammy