More Holiday Cheer....

The Christmas costumes and hats and cookie exchange organized by Eleanor brought lots of cheer into the Center in December.

As you can see we had both reindeer and elves!

For our Holiday Class, Pina, Tressa & Beth and I teamed up to do a New Routine Preview (the first one ever held at our Center)

With Tressa leading the crew, we had a fabulous and fun class. And the feedback on the new routines was great!

Then it was on to Villa Italia for salad and pizza and our Annual Holiday Dinner.
Our friends at Villa Italia were outstanding as always, and no one can even remember what year it was that we started this party, but we know that it has been at least 10 years!

Finally on the family front.....we had a lovely Christmas Eve at our home, a Rzasa Christmas the following Sat, and a Christmas with the Hargraves (again at our house -- that's a lot of cooking in one week!) on Sunday.

But the highlight was of course spending Christmas Day in New Jersey with my brother Tom, his wife Heather and our newest addition to the family Landon. Landon seemed to enjoy his first Christmas.

And Nana DEFINITELY enjoyed it!

Staff Holiday Brunch and December Fun

This year our staff celebrated with a Holiday Brunch. It was a great to spend some social time together and relax.

Beth brought a fun game "Catch Phrase: The Music Edition" ...Pina belts out a tune below.

Tressa's strategy was to "dance" out the songs, mainly any song which is a Jazzercise routine. "I can name that song in four hip shakes!"

Everyone enjoyed their 'Secret Santa' gifts and we still can't agree on whether Secret Santas are supposed to STAY secret or not. Feel free to email me with your vote on this!

Beth's enjoying those mimosas!

On a personal note, I had the chance to go into New York twice to 'get into the spirit' . If you didn't get a chance to see it, the tree at Rockefeller Center was beautiful in the new colored lights.

First I went with some of my Jazzer-buds to see the Alvin Ailey show. WOW! It was fabulous and I will definitely be back to see them again!

Here we are posing at Angela's office. I think my mom's the one behind camera (yikes!) so she's MIA in the picture.
And then again to meet up with my Aunt Carolyn and cousins Mary Ann and Carol who
came in from Virginia for two days of shopping and shows. Uh, guess mom is once again behind the camera in this one (do you see a pattern here?)

We had lunch at Bryant Park and a fun time shopping, including my first visit to the American Girl store.

Of course the snowflakes at Saks were beautiful (above), but i thought our own Christmas tree was just as pretty!

Happy Holidays!

An Unforgettable November

We started off the month in beautiful Aruba at our timeshare on the Divi Links Golf Course.

This is the only photo Rich & I are both in...and though it's a little dark you can see the golf course behind us. We like to watch the golfers on the 9th hole to see how they're doing!

It is one of my favorite spots to relax & unwind!
Or as you can see....go out on the town for a great meal.
We've tried just about every restaurant in Aruba by now, so if you're ever going, let me know and Rich will give you his rundown of restaurant reviews

The sunsets are beautiful and I make sure that I get up for the sunrise at some point during the week. I think everyone should catch the sunrise at least once a year!

Only hours after our return, we headed to Pittsburgh after receiving the sad news of the passing of my grandmother, Dolly. The support, cards, and prayers were amazing and we greeted well over 300 people who came to pay their respects to this unforgettable woman.

I've received so many notes from people sharing their memories.

I think my friend Joe summed it up best in his email

"She was an original. There will never be another like her."

Behind the Scenes at our Photo Shoot

We decided to call in the professionals for a fun filled afternoon of make up and photo sessions. Thanks to Maria & Valerie (and Paula for putting the day together) we enjoyed some glamour and lots of laughter.

The photos here are the NON-professional ones which we took behind the scenes. Look for the good stuff soon on our website!

Beth gets the full treatment!

Maria did a wonderful job making us look beautiful. Her work can be seen on television, film, runways and magazines including Harper's Bizarre & Town and Country. Plus she's a wiz with air brushing! You can get more information on Maria www.mariAnellomakeup.com

I'm practicing my "Judi" kick -- yeah, right!!
Pam and I practice in case they need us for the next Togs catalog shoot.
Paula poses like a pro!

Pam's all "made up" and ready to go!

Tressa tries to recreate the "Shanna" spin just like in the poster at the Center

Here's the "before shot"....

Tressa gets some tips from Val on posing.


With great music (and a little champagne) the mood was festive and fun.
Check out our website for the final products!
(coming soon)

Summer Highlights

Fall is in the air, and while my posts usually highlight the fun we're having at Jazzercise, I thought I'd include some photos of other fun stuff this summer.

We kicked off the summer with a bang this past Memorial Day celebrating with my Nanny in Virginia. Here Nanny is posing with me and my cousins Lisa, Carol and Mary Ann posing at her 102nd Birthday Party!
Then I headed down south again in July to participate in my friend Beth's bridal shower. Here is Beth's mom Maryann and I catching up at the shower.

What a great weekend we had together. I can't wait for the wedding this fall.
Beth is my OLDEST friend (since we were in kindergarten together at age 4!)

Also in July, my nephew Landon Vance Hallett made an early entrance. I'm practicing being Auntie Kristen. He's tiny in this picture, but growing like a weed.

My dear friend Melissa came to from Raleigh, NC a few weeks later and we had a girl's day at the pool at Liz's gorgeous home. Well, the girls and at least seven lively kids. It was great to catch up with them (Deb, Kim, me, Liz & Melis). Liz is keeping busy with her new store Newbury Place in Southbury. It is an awesome gift shop so if you're in the area check it out! I will definitely be making a trip back there for holiday shopping!!!


Well, after our BIG surfing adventure (see our surfing photos on earlier blog post), Pina decided to hit the golf course. Now I've been getting in a lot of golf this summer, but it was Pina's first time out. She took to it like a pro and we're already planning our next golf trip.

At least we LOOK like golfers here, right?

The tournament was to raise money for breast cancer research.
As a bonus, we met two time Superbowl champion, Leonard Marshall from the New York Giants. Turns out he's pretty good at golf too. But we held our own scoring a 79 in the scramble format. Way to go!!!

I was able to take a final break before Labor Day and headed to the Berkshires to Kirpalu. I make a point to visit every year (although twice a year sounds even better!)



It was a beautiful, relaxing time and I highly recommend checking it out if you're looking for some R&R (www.kripalu.com). Aside from yoga, which they have ALOT of, I went kayaking, pole hiking and enjoyed the fabulous scenery.

Now it's time to kick it into gear for the fall. There's so much good stuff coming so be sure to check our website regularly.

Happy Fall!
K

PS and one more shot of Landon of course!