What a day!!! :)

Saturday was such a great day! We first started off with a special Zumba class only instructors could take. If was to better ourselves as an instructor. We learned a lot of techniques that would help us. If was fun and engaging. I learned a lot. And I had the biggest compliment ever! For those of you that know my family, Jamie is my oldest sister and has always been a great role model for me. Well, she's the reason my whole family is into Zumba. She became an instructor and taught my mom, dad, youngest brother and my other sister. Well, when mom and dad moved back to Yakima it was fun to go to Zumba classes together. Nani (my other sister) had moved back also. My mom and I went to one of Jamie's friends studio up in the Seattle area. On the way back home I told mom we should open up our own studio! We all have dance in our background. Mom, Nani and I could all be instructors. Then we wanted to add our brothers wife in too, Becky. There were no Zumba only studios in town. You had to go to a gym and pay gym fees if you wanted to go. Blah! So, here were the four of us, ready to start a Zumba studio! It has now been 3 yrs since we opened. And we love it! However, it definitely came with ups and downs. I backed away from the business perspective and became just an instructor. Nani has since moved to North Dakota. So it is now mom and Becky. But now Becky is pretty much running it due to moms cancer. Since I got a full time job I'm not able to help as much as I'd like. 

Anyway, back to my story. I received the biggest compliment ever! My sister Jamie had watched me up on stage and observed me as an instructor. She said I am a good instructor and I do a really good job up there! Which made me feel really good. A few weeks ago she came up while mom and I were teaching. She pointed out that moms knees were hurting because she was leaning to far forward. I then asked her if she had any constructive criticism for me. She said she had to think about it. Then she told me this in class and I just beamed. I was so happy that Jamie thinks I'm a good instructor. 

So, if you can't tell, I love getting compliments from my family. I don't know why. But for the longest time I've always wanted acceptance and appreciation from them. Now, it's not so important for me to get it from them. But when I do, it feels great!!! 

So Saturdays class was fun. Then came the evening. What a great night! We had planned to have a hair cutting party for my mom. We had invited a few friends to help cut hair and put pink extensions in. I made it into a fundraiser and charged everyone $5 an extension. Then whoever wanted to shave their head could. We had a ton of people show up! It was amazing to see all those people there to help support my mom! We raised over $800 that night! It was awesome!!! One gal told her friends and family that she too would be shaving her head in honor of mom and made $350 in donations! Wow!!! We had quite a few shave their heads. My mom, sister Jamie, brother Josh, my dad, and our friend Monnie who raised over $350. I wanted to shave mine too but the hubby would not have liked it. So I pulled a 90's look and just shaved the back of my head. Like 3 inches off my neck. You can't even see it unless I pull my hair up. It was an eventful day. Brought tears to my eyes just thinking about. It was a great day, one I will never forget. 

Love Always, 

Nini V. 

Working girl

Here I am again 7:00 AM getting ready to head to work. I'm liking the work thing again. Actually, I'm loving it! I love being around people, always have. I love that I get to help people all the time. It makes my day when people say "Your a life saver!" or "Your an angel." It really makes me feel good. 

However, with every pro there is a con. As much as I love people, they can also be annoying. And I'm not just talking about the phone calls. In a workplace you kinda have to be dealing with those around you. Unfortunately it's not that easy. I always knew I had guy friends for a reason back in high school. Girls can be mean!!! I'm trying my hardest to just let it roll off my back. It's hard though. It's frustrating when I feel people are making fun of not only me but the other newbies sitting around me too. It's frustrating that we feel like we can't talk about how life's going when we're slow. Apparently chatting is not acceptable by some. But it's only one way. Others can do it, just not us. Honestly, does it really matter? I feel like I'm in high school all over again! Girls can be mean!!! Sometimes I just want to say "Grow up!!! Put your big girl panties on and just do your job!" Right? Isn't that how it's supposed to go? You worry about what you need to do, it'll the others aren't doing the right thing then they will suffer the consequences. At least that's how I think it's supposed to go. Well I guess we'll have to wait and see. Got to head to work now. I hope you all are loving life and loving what you do. 

Love always

Nini V

Once again on a Saturday morning.

Here I am again at 5:59 AM on a Saturday morning wide awake, showered and dressed with makeup on. Well, mascara is makeup but I wouldn't say I'm all makeup'd out! Anyway, here I am wide awake but this time I'm already at work. 6:05 clock in time comes awfully early! So far I'm loving my job. It does however have its weaknesses. Last night I got off work at 9. I get home to everyone gone. Apparently the kids and Jason decided to go get a movie. So I'm laying in bed already (early morning shift remember?) and they all get home and start enjoying the movie together. :( Miss my family time that's for sure. But I feel that this is the right place for me I be in order to help my family now. I've never seen Jason so relaxed now. He's definitely less stressed then what he used to be. Which honestly isn't that hard. Lol I've got to go now. Thanks for keeping tabs on me. Loving what I do! 

Love always and forever, 

Nini V. 

I passed!

So, it's now early Saturday morning and I'm wide awake at 5:46 in the morning. Having an early morning job can really suck sometimes. ☺️ 

I had a much better week though at work. In fact, yesterday we took our final test and everyone in my class passed! I guess that doesn't happen often. But we are all so excited we did it. So later that afternoon we took our very first phone calls. It was fun but very hectic! My partner and I both took 3 phone calls each. It was a very eventful day. 

My first and my last calls were pretty easy. One of them even called me Sweety. However, my second phone call was a mess!!! It was crazy. First it was a furniture call then it wasn't. Which means two separate ways to handle. Ugh! I had my trainer standing right next to me the whole time. We worked it out though and everything turned out fine. Thank goodness! 

So this week at work was a great learning experience. Now, on to family. 

We found out this week that my mom has two more lumps in her chest area. One by her armpit and one by her neck. Which means two things. One, she could have swollen lymphnodes or two, her cancer is spreading. :( Obviously we are hoping for the first one but remember, she does have grade 3 cancer which means it could spread aggressively. Well, mom went and saw a Dr. Brady and both her and Jamie loved him. He took care of my mom better then the first oncologist she saw. He also got things moving for her. So on Thursday (Halloween) mom had her port put in. (Which pretty much means there's a device inside her skin to make the chemo reach her more effectively.) So things are moving fast. I'm not sure if I'm happy about this or not. It's all to scary to think about so I try not to. 

Earlier in my posts I mentioned my cousin/brother and I forgot to tell you what that meant. Remember I told you my mom was adopted? Well, she came in contact with her biological family when I was really young. One of her cousins is very wealthy and is actually co-owner of the Pilot Pen company. So, when they had their son they wanted the best upbringing for him. So they sent him to live with us in the United States. So growing up he was my brother. But he didn't like it here. With my parents more likely. So when he was old enough he moved out on his own, changed his last name back to his parents and lived about 10 hours away. But we still stay in contact with him. He too had a hard time forgiving my mother. But now he is such a strong person. He inspires me to be a better person. 

So, that pretty much sums it up for now. I think I'll go watch some tv until I fall asleep again. Thanks everyone for reading. I love how writing...typing this all is such a relief for me! It feels great. 

Love always and forever. 

Nini V.