Thrill the World!

I mentioned in my last post that I just recently got home from the Zumba Conference in Los Angeles... What a weekend that was! 

I left for South Pasadena (shout out to Jackie D for letting me stay with her!) on Thursday afternoon after spending most of the morning in a packing fog. I just don't know how to pack! 

This video sums it up in a nutshell:

 

I mean, what IF there was a zombie apocalypse?! I'd want to be prepared for that sort of thing!

 

So naturally, I left way later than I planned to and my 1.5 hour drive turned into a 2.5 hour drive (thank you LA traffic and construction), but I finally made it to Jackie's house. I got settled in and headed off to bed early, as I knew I had a full day ahead of me!

Finally made it!

 On the schedule for Friday: 

Kick Off Session

Dancing Through the Decades 

Fierce Funk

Fitness Concert 

The Kick Off Session was actually really great! Beto Perez (aka the founder of Zumba) came on and brought out Augie Nieto, who has Lou Gehrig's disease. He talked about how our Zumbathon's for ALS are helping take steps to treat and find a cure. Next up was Marci Shimoff, co-author of a handful of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I was pleasantly surprised what a fantastic and inspiring speaker she was. Finally, we were treated to a little demo of Zumba Step - it looks like a ton of fun! Bringing the 90's aerobics back with a Zumba twist!

At the Kick Off Session!

My first official session was Dancing Through the Decades with Zumba Education Specialist (ZES) Kass Martin. I took her session last year, but wanted to start off this Conference with some familiarity - there are over 3,000 instructors present and it's really easy to get overwhelmed (especially me)!

The session was amazing, as expected! Some familiar songs from last year like "Call Me" by Blondie, and some new (old!) jams like "Blame it on the Boogie" by The Jacksons.

Me with the lovely instructors (Kass to my left) of "Dancing Through the Decades"!

 We had a little break in between the sessions, so I wandered around the Convention Center for a bit and bumped into Heidi Torres, another ZES.

Gahhh! That hair! LOVE!

 I may or may not have went shopping after...  

Okay, I shopped!

My next session was Fierce Funk. I had my reservations about that session, but it turned out to be FABULOUS! I love how Pepper Von taught the dance, and he (and his crew!) were amazing! I would take that session again in a heartbeat! 

Get it, get it, get it, get it, get it! Get funky with it!

I had a bunch of time to kill before the concert, and debated running back to Jackie's, but ended up just hanging around a bit more.

Well, it turned out to be worth my while... I bumped into another ZES that I adore, Eric Aglia! I met him last year at the Hip Hop session, and try to see him at Zumba events whenever he is in San Diego!

Me and Eric! Love him and his family!

At this point, I'm just hanging in the lobby, slumming it in my sweats and playing on my phone... I glance up and see Steve Boedt... My FAVORITE ZES! Like let me put this in perspective... I adore Beto, but I saw him a couple times (naturally he was being mobbed by everyone for pics), and didn't feel the need to go squealing up to him... But for Steve Boedt, my inner "fan girl" cannot be contained!

So I go casually walking up to him (ha, yeah right!), and basically ramble off something along the lines of, "OMG, hi! You're Steve Boedt! I'm taking your Pro Skills training tomorrow, but can we take a picture right now? Oh wait, I hate these pants!"

And then I proceed to strip off my sweatpants (my skirt was underneath, I swear!) right there in the lobby! I got a couple of whistles... Steve luckily cracks up (BTW, he's gay!) and we take the picture!

You can see my sweatpants in the background!

But needless to say, I was dying! Not one of my finer "ladylike" moments! Haha!

Time for the concert, so I made one final outfit change - The colors for Augie's Quest (the charity Zumba chose for the Fitness Concert) are blue, black, and gray, so naturally my pink top would not have been appropriate ;)

I met up with a couple of my Instructor friends, Zuliya and Cosette, and hung out in the back for most of the concert.

With fellow Y staff, Penny, at the Fitness Concert!

I headed out a bit early... Full 8 hour training day ahead! But one last encounter with Pepper on my way out!

All smiles and laughs!

 Pepper noticed I had changed into a different color skirt from earlier and started cracking up! Called me a ballerina! If only I was graceful enough!

Stay tuned for highlights of day 2! Don't worry - my pants stay on!

Stay sparkly,
Kristyn