Sexy Zumba lady and Happy Halloween

So, today was a normal Monday, which typically ends with a Zumba class in the evening.  Today was no different, except today was dress up day at Zumba.  Some people dressed up and took their costumes out for a test drive before Halloween on Wednesday and others played it safe and knew it would be too hot and sweaty to dress up in costumes for an hour long Zumba class. 

Barry and I cooked up a surprise for class tonight, which nearly didn't happen.  Why?  Well, this is how I spent my afternoon:

Barry:  Show me the steps again.
Me:  Gangnam style starts playing.  I show him the steps.  Barry follows.
Barry: Stopping abruptly.  No,  I can't do this.  No, that's it.  I can't.
Me: Come on!  I told people we had a surprise.  This was your idea you have to do it!
Barry: I don't care, I'm not doing it.  I'm shitting meself.
Me: Come on...its just a few seconds!
Barry: No.  Right, go on show me the steps again.

Anyway, some form of this conversation went on over and over again most of the afternoon.  Turns out Barry did follow through with the surprise and it went over really, really well.  What was the surprise?  In case you haven't figured it out yet....

HE DRESSED UP LIKE ME and did a few seconds of our warm-up song which, at the minute, is Gangnam Style.

Here's my handsome husband:

There's Barry on the left.  That's a dead Mario and Luigi on the right.  Dead because they crashed their go karts.

 

Here are some of the lovely Zumbies who sported their costumes in class tonight.

Aww...there's the Zumba baby in her first Halloween costume before class.  Scary witch!




 

And now...the grand finale...the VIDEO of Barry's Gangnam Style warm-up:

Collective Facebook Updates

I have too many Facebook updates to post and I don't want to be a news feed hogger and post too many status updates...I do that enough with my Zumba posts.  But, I just feel like I need to get them out.  How did we get our mindless little thoughts and points out before Facebook?  Here's my collective Facebook status updates because I want them out of my head:

• Why is everyone being so hard on Jessica Simpson?!! So what she's a bit heavier than she used to be!  She JUST HAD A BABY! Give her a break...jeez! 

• Are we really sure Psy is saying Gangnam Style and not open condom style because I'm pretty sure he's saying open condom style?

• Are there any fun haunted houses in Derry for Halloween?

• What is there fun to do in Liverpool?  I haven't been to England yet so I want to go and it is a direct flight from Derry....so....what's it like?  Plus, Liverpool apparently is only a short train ride from Manchester and guess what just opened in Manchester?  TACO BELL....oh, what!!!!

• I really want some chocolate digestives and a cup of coffee.  Or even better, someone go to Starbucks and bring me back a Mocha Frappucino with no cream and a Skinny Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin.  I will take this anytime of day.  Thanks.

• Has anyone watched the new Taylor Swift video, "We are never getting back together?"  And, if you have, have you noticed the fella dressed up like a cat or whatever he is (he is playing the guitar too I think) and how sooo in to the song he his?  I love him lol.   And, why is Taylor Swift suddenly so angry?  Have you listened to her new music?  Poor wee critter.

There he is above on Tayor's left.  Maybe he's a bear...or a raccoon?

 

• Why do you call your underwear pants and your pants trousers here?  This just gets me in all types of tricky situations!  When I say pants, I mean my trousers not my underwear lol.

• I so wish I could get on board with this whole metric system thing, but being American, I can't, I don't think I ever will.  I am constantly converting centimeters to inches and if you asked me right now how many centimeters are in an inch...I have no idea.

• Barry and I both have gray Converse trainers and yesterday we wore them out together without realizing it and we looked soooooooo adorable lol. 

• Was anyone else sick of reading the sex scenes in the 50 Shades trilogy by the second book or was it just me?

• Why is the Disco Ball jewerly at Argento so sparkly and beautiful?  I want all of it.

• Why are Crunchies so darn good?

• All the people that come to my classes are awesome and they work soooooo hard and do sooooo good!  I'm impressed every day by their energy and enthusiasm.

• I can't believe Tesco has their Christmas wrapping paper and cards and stuff out!  It's September!!!!

• Why do people say things like, "I'll do that today."  But, in reality, they won't do it today.  They know it and you know it.  What they really mean is "eh, I'll do it in 3 days or so."  Why don't they just say that?

• Barry is a great cook!  And, no he didn't tell me to say that!  I am treated to a gourmet meal nearly every night...I can't tell you the last time I cooked something!

• Does anyone have the recipe for O'Brien's cherry scones?  Ohhhh Meee Geeee, those things might as well be King Tut's golden undies in my book.  Yummmmmmm!

That is all.

Two years and a big zumba thang

Happy two year anniversary to my hubbers, Barry.  Its hard to believe it has been two years since we got married, but here we are...two years later, living in Ireland, with a bambino.  Who ever says the first year is the hardest part of marriage was a liar, personally, I think its the second year, so I personally feel a great deal of achievement on this anniversary, more so than last years.  So, cheers to two years...I'll drink to that (this weekend maybe if we have a babysitter:).

I have no idea what we're discussing here, but it looks serious doesn't it?

I'm still ragin' I didn't get to try the white part of the cake, but the chocolate was nice.  

In other news, this past Saturday was a Zumbathon to benefit Diabetes UK.  Here are some pics.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention this part because I'm proud of the Derry Wans.  Diabetes UK on Saturday had One Great Big Zumbathon.  Basically, in four different parts of the north, there were four different Zumbathons taking place...one in Newry, one in Derry, one in Omagh and one in Belfast.  The Derry ones soooooo kicked butt, because we had a spectacular 62 people come out for that!  Omagh had the next highest number of peeps at 24...so Derry...you kicked butt!

The belly cometh and a leg kicketh

Here I am at 22 weeks.  Finally starting to look a little pregnant and not just looking like I've drank one too many Buds.  

And, here's the wee acrobat shown at 21 weeks.  Yeah, these are upside down because Blogger won't let me flip them.

And, since wee leprechaun wouldn't hold still during the ultrasound, we say it was practicing its Zumba moves.  Here was the best one...leg way up over its head. And, kick!

Shape of this

Funny story. 

After teaching a Zumba class, I'm covered in sweat.  I don't  mean just tiny little beads of sweat gently trickling down my face...oh no.  I mean, I look like I just jumped into a swimming pool kind of sweat.  Not one piece of me is dry.  Here's a photo to give you an idea...well kind of...I look slightly more human than this, but just to make the story a little more dramatic.

So anyway, since we don't have a car here, I have to walk home after class.  Its not far, maybe a 6 or 7 minute walk, but when you're soaking wet, it doesn't make for a lovely stroll. I know I look ridiculous, but I always just hope that when people pass me while walking they assume I've just finished exercise (which is true) and that I don't always look like that (which I don't) and move on.  I think that is usually the case...until this past Thursday. 

You see, I finished my morning Zumba class on Thursday and began my walk home.  It was a beautiful, perfect and warm day here in Derry, so there were a lot more people out and about than usual.  As I was walking, I saw these two girls, approximately in their mid-twenties ahead of me.  They were dressed beautifully...perfect makeup, jewelry and clothes and they were coming towards me.

As we got closer, I saw them looking at me. One of them leaned over to the other and said, "Look at the shape of this."  Of course, they were talking about me and post-Zumba wet look.  I wanted to say something snarky in response, but I didn't I just kept walking and laughed quietly to myself.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't offended.  I knew the shape of me was quite disastrous looking.  In fact, I was quite amused.  Amused because I probably would have said the same thing and I probably have said the same thing.  I know I certainly have been around when Barry points out the state of people.  I've heard him say, "Look at the shape of this," several times. And, usually when he does, I turn around to see what poor soul is coming towards us and believe me...the shape of them isn't good.  The difference is that Barry and I would have waited until we were out of the badly "shaped" person's hearing before saying anything.  That's what amused me about the incident the other day.  Perhaps the lovely girls thought I didn't speak English, or perhaps they thought I was deaf.  Anyway, doesn't matter.  It gave me a funny story to tell Barry once I got home...and after I showered, of course. 

Creepy commerical

Not too much going on here at the minute.  The spider I talked about in this post, has been evicted.  Notice I said evicted and not killed.  Barry was much more lenient than I would have been.  He just put it outside and let it walk away...knives and all.

Ah well, anyway.  I went to a Zumba Instructor training on Saturday for Zumba Toning.  Even though I teach Zumba five days a week, my ass is sore today from the all day training.

Other than that, I've been trying to make sense of these commercials.  Once of them is just weird (the Cadbury one), although I enjoy watching it.  I dig the song...brings me back to my childhood.  And again, reminds me that we, in fact, don't have to take our clothes off to have a good time...oh no.  The other one (the Dodgers one) creeps me out.  Take a look.

Cadbury:



Dodgers:  If these things came at me in the grocery store, I'd run like hell and say screw the Dodgers!  I'm gettin' the Oreos!

Funk

I'm sort of in a funk.  The weather here has been pretty crappy for a few days and it is amazing how that can affect your mood.  I'm not depressed or anything like that.  It's just a weird, little, icky funk.  I mean, I'm fine.  But, I miss my friends and family a lot.  I miss having someone to do things with.  With the hubs working most of the time, I find myself wandering around the town aimlessly at times by myself until it's time to go teach Zumba.

I don't mind doing things alone, I actually enjoy it, but sometimes, it's nice to have some company.  It kind of sucks not having any friends to do things with, even if it is something as silly as going to Subway to eat a sandwich after a Zumba class.  Or, just going to my mom's house and sitting there watching television.  I'm having to start from scratch in the making friends department here and that is a little intimidating.  My good friends back in the States, well, I've had them for YEARS so I don't really know how to go about making friends. I'm rusty. Aquaintances, I've got it covered no problem, but good, solid, tell anything to friends, I haven't a clue.  Luckily, I do, for the first time have plans this weekend with some gals from Zumba class, so that has got me a little excited.   I'm also very excited that hopefully some family and friends  from the U.S. will be coming over to visit this summer!

Anyway, In between classes, I try to find things to keep me busy.  For example, I clean, or I work on new Zumba routines and listen to music to find new Zumba songs.  At times, I stand in the shop with Barry and just kind of hang around all the time being tempted by the wall of chocolate and gummies that rest behind me.  They all whisper my name constantly, ya know.  I suppose I could try and work on another book, but honestly, I have no desire to begin writing AT ALL.  I'm hoping the desire will come, but at this point, I'm not so sure. 

Otherwise, Zumba classes are going incredibly well!  We are running out of space in our room and unfortunately I've not been able to find a bigger room for us to go to.  I mean, it's a good problem to have and I'm so pleased so many people are loving the class, I'm just frustrated we don't have space to properly accomodate everyone.  So, I guess that is contributing to the funk.  I want to make everyone in class happy, but I'm afraid the space issue is working against me. 

Moving on.  To fight the funk and my raging home sickness, I've decided to focus on some things here in Derry that I've come to really enjoy aside from Barry and my Zumba classes, of course.

Number 1:  Baked Wotsits (These can be found next to the aformentioned wall of chocolate.  These have also been known to call my name.  I enjoy a bag a day.)

Number 2:  A red Bounty Bar. 

Number 3: A berry Five Alive drink

Number 4: The restaurants and any other type of food producer/manufacturers', etc. brilliant use of sweet chili seasoning/sauces and the salt and vinegar options for lower calorie crisps.

Number 5: I love that "Fuck" can be said on television here.  Everytime I hear it, it still shocks me. 

Number 6: I'm also enjoying the fact that I'm beginning to understand the Derryisms floating around.  Things like, "Yer Ma's yer Da" (the U.S. equivalent would be something like "Yo Momma"), "Mucker" (friend), "Whats the craic?" (What's going on?), "Yer a cabbage" (You're stupid), "Now yer suckin' diesel" (Now we're getting somewhere). For more, click here.

Number 7: Primark

Number 8: I like that everyone here gets really dolled up to go out to dinner.  I often feel like a slob in comparison, though.

Number 9: Marks and Spencer chocolate mousse.

Number 10: That you can venture to the town center at any given time and you'll always see people out and about.  This is far different than my hometown. 

I do realize the majority of these are food related...what can I say.  I likes me food. 

Interview progress

Alrighty, bloggy folk...I think we have our questions for the interview with a shopkeeper a.k.a. my husband, Barry, post ready to go.  He is having a little case of the camera bashfulness so I will do the best I can do...and so will he.  So here are the questions.  Mollie...you have the most and I will make sure my huckster, er, I mean hubster answers them to the best of his abilities.  :) 

It may take me some time to get this posted since I'm leaving Thursday to go back to the States to finish up a few things and get my kitties.  I'm so excited to bring them over here but I'm soooooo freakin' nervous about the trip with them so lots of prayers for me and my kitties on April 28th would be appreciated.  And, so you know who you're praying for, here they are.  My Charlie and Fox Jeffrey.

Also, I've been given blog herpes (a term coined by Mollie at Ok in UK and now spreading like wildfire in the blogosphere...as herpes does).  Blog herpes equals a blog award.  This time I was given an award by Rachel over at The Mean Girl Diaries.  The Versatile Blogger award.  Thanks, Rachel! I'll do all the award rules and stuff later because right now, I'm too tired.  I've taught five Zumba classes in the past two days and need to pack a suitcase. 

And, I'm so excited that in a few days, I'll get to drive a car again and go to Taco Bell.  Fresco bean burrito, you're on my list...I'm comin' for ya!!!

I love my followers...but, I'm starving

I love love love when I wake up and see that I have another follower!  I created this blog as a way to keep my friends and family up to speed with my going ons in Ireland, but now I've found the bloggy community (which I also love) and I have 32 followers!  This seems shocking to me...that 32 people would want to read about what I'm up to.  And, this brings about all kinds of other thoughts...will I keep them entertained, I hope I don't sound like an idiot, and so on.  Anyway, I just want to say...I love you followers and I hope I can amuse you!

Not to bring the enthusiasm down, but I also have to mention that I'm starving.  And, no not in the I'm starving for attention kind of way.  I'm starving for food.  By choice. You see, I used to be thin, then I got fat, now I'm not fat, but I'm still not happy with my current weight.  Although, I'm not sure that I would ever be happy with a current weight. 

Right after I got engaged, I started trying to lose weight for the wedding, because those wedding photographs last forever and I didn't want to be repulsed by my own image in wedding photographs.  I've always exercised (Zumba), but dieting in recent years was never something I was down with, because dieting is hell. 

So, I started dieting for the dress...counting calories and fat intake.  This was a slow going process so I decided to speed it up a bit. I mean, it was April 2010 and my wedding was in September 2010 and I still didn't have a wedding dress because I hadn't lost as much weight as I had wanted to!  Something had to be done!

Enter the 3 day diet.  Many of you have probably heard of this diet before.  I was skeptical before I tried it, but I did lose 60 pounds using it and was able to reach my wedding day weight loss goal.  It wasn't easy.  Let me just say that this diet was created by the devil from the fiery bowels of hell.  I can almost see Satan in his lair, sitting in his wingback chair in front of a fire (what else?) writing with his fire pen or the tears of imprisoned souls, or whatever he uses to write with, the contents of this diet.  All while he releases an evil laugh deep from within his gut and says something like, "You silly women will follow this diet and you will be selling me your souls for food!"  Random thought: He wants souls, right?  At least that's what he wants in the movies. Okay, well maybe that's just what I picture.  Just a little side note:  I didn't sell my soul to the devil in exchange for food while I was on this diet, I'm stronger than that.  His plan is easy to see through.  So, joke on you, Satan.

For those of you that don't know, here is what the 3 day diet entails: 

DAY 1
Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water 1/2 Grapefruit or Juice 1 slice toast with 1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter	1/2 Cup of Tuna 1 slice toast Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water	3 oz. any lean meat 1 cup green beans 1 cup carrots 1 cup vanilla ice cream 1 medium apple Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water
DAY 2
Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water 1 egg (any style) 1 slice toast 1 banana	1 cup cottage cheese or tuna 5 saltine crackers Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water	2 beef franks or hot dogs 1/2 cup carrots 1 banana 1 cup broccoli or cabbage 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water
DAY 3
Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water 5 regular saltine crackers 1 oz.(slice) cheddar cheese 1 apple	1 hard boiled egg 1 slice toast Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water	1 cup tuna 1 cup carrots 1 cup cauliflower 1 cup melon 1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream Black coffee or tea (Sweet & Low or Equal) or water

Condiments Allowed

• Lemon (and lots of it, if you like)
• a dash of salt and/or pepper
• mustard
• cooking spray

Substitutions

Some people use the following substitutions for the 3 day diet:

• Orange instead of Grapefruit
• Tuna instead of Cottage cheese (and vice versa)
• Frozen yogurt instead of Ice Cream
• Cauliflower instead of Broccoli (and vice versa)
• Green beans instead of Broccoli or Cauliflower
• Beets instead of Carrots
• Toast instead of 5 crackers (vice versa)

I followed this devil diet for five months.  Every week, I would do this diet for 3 days then have 4 days off and it really did make a difference.  To be honest, sometimes my substitutions were a cupcake instead of grapefruit, but it still worked ;). 

So, here I am six months after the wedding and I've been able to maintain the weight loss.  However, I don't want to maintain!  I want to lose about 15 more pounds.  But, all that will power I had before the wedding has just disappeared and I'm struggling to get it back.  But, it's hard, especially since McDonald's just re-released the Shamrock Shake again...um, hello delicious. 

I tried going back on the 3 day diet this week, but it appears to be much more difficult than it was before the wedding and as I type this on what is supposed to be day 2 of the 3 day diet, I find myself fantasizing about what I'm having for lunch and I've decided that this week isn't a good week for the 3 day diet.  And, probably not next week either.  Those last 15 will just have to wait.

Here are before and after pics for your viewing pleasure:

This is before (and also when I was going through a weird dark hair phase):

And, this is me now: