My Life in Instagrams—October Edition

November. Wow, wow, wow. I think I've said that in every post this month so far. I just can't get over it. But without further adieu, let me present this month's installment of "My Life in Instagrams. I'm going to do this a little different and group multiple photos together because as I've looked through my posts in October, I see several themes. Enjoy. Oh, and go ahead and follow me on Instagram. I'd love to follow you back!

October 2, 2013

Let's just say that this post was only the beginning of my attempt to organize that huge box of pictures and documents. I pretty much conquered the pictures, but I'll admit right now that I DID NOT finish the entire project. I ended putting everything back in the box and moving it out of my living room because it was driving me crazy. Maybe I'll finish in...December??

October 4, 2013

Me. My friend Kirsten. And Imagine Dragons. Oh, in a huge arena with horrible seats. Regardless, it was a fun evening out and I'll always appreciate a good concert or night enjoying music. 

Fall, Fall, Fall

Utah has had a beautiful fall this month. So often it seems that Utah kinda skips right over my favorite season, and I've loved enjoyed a little cooler weather without jumping RIGHT to winter. Here we see a shot from a canyon drive between General Conference sessions and my lovely view as leaves stared falling. Love it. 

 

Halloween Events

My month included an awful lot of Halloween/Zumba events. I had (pictured) a Halloween Zumba party with the Pleasant Grove Recreation Center, a Monster Mash Dance Fitness party with the Provo Recreation Center, a Zumba Kids party, costumes for my regular classes on Halloween, and then another dance event including a Thriller Flash Mob. Whew.  

 

Instructor Trainings Galore

First of all, I passed my U-Jam video certification! (More to come on that!) and I've started teaching U-Jam classes bit by bit as I build an hour playlist. (I'll just do half Zumba for the rest.) But I also completed my Zumba Gold and Zumba Sentao trainings back to back. Gold is a program specifically designed for the less-active, 60+ plus population. I'm excited to build a Gold-Toning program because I've found so many of my attendees in this age bracket really benefit from the design of a light-weight workout. That's another mini program I need to complete, but I plan to do so in the next couple months. Sentao is Zumba with a chair, and, like Toning, incorporates a little more focus on strength training. I will say that Sentao tends to be pretty...sassy...considering you are dancing with a chair. But it's super fun, and I'm a lot more excited about this program than I thought I would be! 

That third photo shows my current Zumba certifications and qualifications. It's crazy I have that many! Crazy! 

  

  

October 27, 2013

These are now always sitting either on my desk or tv stand and make me smile every time I look at them. Let's just say that I didn't get them for myself. :)

October 31, 2013

Reading The Book Thief did seem to take up much of my month! I got a whole stack of books at the library several weeks ago and loved getting back into reading. This book is long and I did not start reading it first so I found myself rushing to finish because I wouldn't renew it again. Great book! (I'll share more of a complete review later!)

October was great, and I have high hopes that November and December will be just as excellent. Enjoy! 

Motivation Monday: Gratitude Unlocks the Fullness of Life

Welcome back to Motivation Monday. (Yes, I know I've been slacking here.) As I mentioned on Friday, I really want to take advantage of cultivating gratitude in my life this month. Usually I don't like things like this that may seem cliche (I still won't be posting it every day or on my Facebook page), but I've been feeling peaks of gratitude in my life a lot over the past several months, and I want to let this all out!

Today's quote is from Melody Beattie and reads as follows:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

I really do feel very thankful for so many things in my life. And I love the outlook this quote provides on gratitude unlocking all the bounty I experience each and every day. I love the simple separation of past, present, and future, and how gratitude provides a vantage point to help us benefit from everything we have, are, and will have—emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc.

So this month I will strive to recognize my many blessings and how great of a life I have. I want to embrace that I have enough. I want to appreciate and accept where I am in life. I want to welcome order and clarity and embracing my current circumstances.

I want to enhance the gratitude in my life.

Thankful For November

November 1. Who can believe that? This morning I dragged myself out of bed to make it to my 9 a.m.  U-Jam class. I definitely gave props to the attendees who made it despite all the many festivities the night before and surely the extra bit of sweets consumed. (I'm thinking I need to go on a sugar-free cleanse for a couple weeks.)

In years past holidays and such always seem to sneak up on me. I may have all kinds of thoughts and desires and what I want to do to honor, celebrate, or even enjoy certain occasions.

I've been thinking about November and Thanksgiving quite a bit the past couple weeks. Perhaps this is because my entire family is gathering in Dallas and we are all planning and looking forward to that fun.

But I decided that I want to really embrace the spirit of Thanksgiving this year and write a daily thought of gratitude. I think this blog may be the best way to do that.

So here goes.

Nov. 1: I'm grateful for my job as an instructor at the Provo Recreation Center. I've mentioned it a lot over the past several months and my time there has really always been positive and motivating. I am a part of a team that I FEEL a part of. I love all of my fellow instructors, my boss (she is amazing), and the other people I get to work with. I love the facility, the people who attend my classes, and the opportunities offered to me.

But my gratitude extends beyond those things.

My getting a job as an instructor here actually played a large roll in my recent life decisions regarding quitting my job. I had been building up my Zumba income as a way to support myself in that decision. I jumped on a couple opportunities to teach classes during the day and simply had to move forward on my plans to leavey full-time position.

I couldn't have asked for a better situation. The Provo Rec feels like home (or as close as a fitness facility can). I'm grateful for the opportunity to work there.