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.