Tres Jazz

The energy at Tres' Jazz was electric! Nearly 2,500 Jazzercisers from around the globe have invaded New Orleans — the birthplace of Jazz — for fun-filled days of shopping, partying and of course, dancing!

My mom & I arrived on Wednesday. Here she is striking a pose on the famous Riverwalk.

We headed out to the French Quarter for dinner on our first night.

New Orlean's famous Bourbon Street by day....

On Thursday the rest of our crew arrived. Tressa & I peruse the schedule and try to map out our classes.
The Shopping Expo opened and the craziness began. Togs had loads of great bargains, you can see the madness below.

We escaped to the sidelines to review and try on our Togs bargains. Tressa & I look happy with our loot, or maybe just happy to have survived the Togs chaos.

Thursday afternoon we attended two Instructor Only events.

The Behind the Scenes of a Taping was really interesting. It’s
amazing how much goes into the final product which arrives in our
mailboxes. The Taping Team was on hand for Q &A in an "Oprah" sort of setting.

Thursday night was the Instructor Reception and it was first class!
This group certainly cleans up well. Joining Tressa & I are Sarah (from Pennsylvania) & Becky - soon to be instructor in Stamford...ssh....don't tell anyone Becky was smuggled in!

We had catfish and jumbalya and good and met some new friends.

We caught up with some old friends too… including Shannon, who is running very successful classes in Chicago.

Among the favorite classes was of course Tim Roberts , especially his Ballroom Bounce.
Check him out for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PiXgtYy7jY&feature=related

It was an honor to be a part of the East Coast Circuit class and to teach with such a dynamic group of professionals.

As always the Men's class was a highlight, as well as Dancin' Abs, Party Jazzercise with Kenny (my favorite Jazzer-guy), Guts & Butts with Shanna & Rich, and so much more!!!

We caught up with Kara as well. She is as hilarious as ever, even now that she's a married woman :).

Mom & Kara, & Tressa & I wait for the Opening Night Show to begin.

The Opening Show was a real tribute to the music and culture of the city and Amanda Shaw was absolutely unbelievable and watching her perform was really one of the highlights of the weekend in my opinion. And she also performed at the Shopping Expo. Check out a profile of her at http://www.myspace.com/officialamandashaw or even better go to Youtube to see her in action Henry Butler is a legendary New Orleans musician, pianist and vocalist www.henrybutler.com

The incredible Charmaine Neveille also performed www.charmainenevilleband.com as well as the amazing Giordano Dancers, named after Gus Giordano, Judi Shepard Missett's mentor.
The show was very informative and we learned a lot about the history of jazz and the culture of New Orleans.

Charmaine Neville said that we could have gone to any other city in the country, yet we chose to come there and for that each of them was truly grateful.
Many people we met echoed her message.

On our last night we went to Nola's one of Emeril's restaurants. http://http//www.emerils.com/restaurant/2/NOLA-Restaurant/welcome
The food definitely lived up to his reputation.

Mom & Kara brave Bourbon St.

The New York Gals: Kara, Fran, Shoko, Alicia & Nancy

(I think Lisi had been abducted by this point!)

Becky scored us a bunch of beads!

Of course we had to make a stop at the House of Blues.....it's Naw Orleans after alll!


You can check out even MORE photos of our trip on my Facebook page www.facebook.com ,
(Just search for me), including more of our party on Bourbon St. Although remember, what happens in New Orleans, stays in New Orleans, right??
You can also see great video clips and lots of other photos at www.jazzercise.com
(click on Tres Jazz).

I loved checking out the jazzercise.com photos for a glimpse of some of the stuff I missed.

As with all Jazzer-events, we returned home happy, exhausted, sore and with plenty of shopping bags in tow.

A good time was definitely had by all!!

See you next time,
K

Fishnets in Darien?

We took Darien by storm at the Spring Dance Recital sponsored by the Darien Arts Council.

My buddy Barb and I bravely donned our fishnet stockings, along with our fellow dancers above, and performed a sexy rendition of "All That Jazz" dancing Bob Fosse's original choreography from the Broadway show.

Our dance teacher, Jim Clark (right), worked with us to perfect the challenging choreography and the rest of the seduction was left up to us!

I'd say we did Fosse proud!!!

Sex & the City

Move over Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte!

It's Becky, Andrea , Pina & Kristen!!


We hit the town for the opening night of Sex & the City, complete with fancy shoes (see Pina's pumps below) and frosty cocktails.

Here we are sampling the Pineapple "Flirtini" at Match in SoNo.


It was a great night of laughs (ok a few tears as you know if you've seen the movie) and great fashion.



Grab your girlfriends and get going!


I highly recommend it.

Fun and Games in May!

We kicked off the month with a festive Cinco de Mayo class. Beth, Peggy and I team taught a fabulous class complete with limes, limbo and laughs!

Shake it up Carla~

Bonitas Muchachas!

Our Annual Mother/Daughter class is always a lot of fun.

My mom popped up on stage for one of her favorite routines to
"Shake her Tail Feather!"
(Too bad we don't have a photo of that!)
Later that weekend we headed to Dodd Stadium to watch the Defenders Minor League Baseball game and to kick off the game with a fun performance.

Michelle, Terri, Annette & I joined many other Jazzercisers from Connecticut for a special Breast Cancer Awareness event.
Our District Manager, Lise, presented a check for $67,000 representing funds raised by Jazzercise for various Breast Cancer charities.

It was a busy, but exciting week!

The Checkered Flag Team Rides On!!!

On Saturday night I headed to New York to stay at my friend Joe's apartment to be ready for the Five Boro Bike Tour in NY the following morning. This is a photo of Joe's "hobbit size" kitchen which I just love. You can reach everything without moving.

There were five of us camping out before the Tour and we had a nice dinner and relaxed to get ready for the BIG ride.

It was a real thrill to participate in the Bike Tour. It is the largest recreational cycling event in America and the ultimate tour of NY.

The journey began in Lower Manhattan, after of course, a quick stop at Starbucks.
I learned that the multi-talented Glade can bike with a Grande cup of Starbucks coffee in hand.
Go figure!

Our team was the "Checkered Flag" Team which made it amazingly helpful to find one another in the crowd. Here's the team at the start....Tim, Glade, Joe, Mia & me!

Joe & I model the flags. Although I learned that you need to be careful when riding by trees with low branches and using the porta-potty when you have a big flag on your head.

I don't know what's happening with my helmet in this photo!

Uh, I should mention that Joe (just call him Tour Boy when you see him) and I DID NOT train for this event....so we really did not know what to expect.

We went north through the heart of Manhattan to Central Park and continued on to historic Harlem and the Bronx, returning south along the East River on the FDR Drive.

The flags were a big hit and all day people were yelling out to the Checkered Flag team to cheer us on.

It was amazing to see so many people (30,000) of ALL ages biking together.

We went from Queens and then into Brooklyn.

Mia & Tim are still smiling -- they're pros at this!

No, I really mean it. Tim is ACTUALLY a pro and rides for a professional cycling team, so we were in good hands.

Glade & I stop for photos at the Verrazano Bridge before heading to Staten Island.

Those bridges are a !@#$%^&*!

We made it the full 42 miles!

After crossing the finish line, we took the Staten Island Ferry back over. It was my first time in Staten Island and I just had the urge to break out into the 'Working Girl' theme when I was on the ferry.
We stopped to catch our breath and take a peak at the Statue of Liberty. Then we enjoyed tasty burritos and stopped for cookies at the Fairway Market
(be sure you know the rules of conduct if you stop in!)


It was a very inspirational day and I highly recommend it!! I was very proud that I did it.

I definitely hope to return next year and will be packing my flag away safely until then!


GO TEAM!

A Farewell to Nanny

On February 21st, we said good bye to my Nanny (Agnes Wilson Hallett), was passed away at 102 yrs of age! This photo was taken at her 100th Birthday Extravaganza!



Below is my contribution to the funeral service:

It is amazing to think that my grandmother (Nanny) has lived through 18 Presidents and inventions that have changed the course of history over the past 102 yrs. It is fun to imagine her as a young girl as the “Charleston champion” kicking up her heels on the dance floor. But it is also inspiring to think that she was also at one time a single working mother after the untimely death of her first husband, something that even today is impressive, but in those days was rare. That surely showed her immeasurable strength.

Going to her house on Sundays for dinner I always looked forward to her broccoli casserole and Toll House cookies and you knew that she would always take the time to play with us.

Some of my favorite memories of Nanny are how she always played so patiently with us for hours. Whether it was playing dress-up in the attic, playing “school” in the basement with the big chalkboard (there was no one who had better penmanship than Nanny!) or playing out in the yard picking up apples and watching the birds in the birdbath, or teaching us to recite her favorite poem “I Wants a Piece of Calico”, or watching us play on the beach on our many family vacations to Ocean City…..she was always calm, patient and never tired of playing the same things over and over.

But probably the best legacy Nanny left, was the example of her marriage with my grandfather. I never once heard my grandparents argue or raise their voices to us or to one another. She was a devoted and loving wife and they were still holding hands after over 70 years of marriage. This is truly an example of love and what I’ll remember most about Nanny.

Well miss you Nan!

Party for Pina

To continue a tradition which begun a few years ago,in March some of our Jazzercise friends gathered to celebrate

Pina's 5th Jazzer-anniversary!

We enjoyed a delicious brunch L'escale Restaurant in Greenwich.
www.lesacalerestaurant.com

What a beautiful place!

Pina checks out her fancy duds (purchased of course by Star Shopper Angela).

Uh, I think this is Pina's surprised & happy face!


Congratulations Pina and looking forward to many more years of fabulous classes from you!

Jazzercise Hits Rippowam

I had a lot of fun dancing with the cool girls from Rippowam Middle School. We ran a class through the fall and again in this winter.

Here are a few of the posing at our last class and showing some attitude.
These girls can dance!

President's Club Award Luncheon

I had the honoring of traveling to Providence for the Northeast District Meeting to receive the President’s Club Award –Platinum status. This award demonstrates that the Stamford/Norwalk Jazzercise franchise operation is in the top 100 franchises worldwide. Above it's me and the "P's" - Peggy, Pina, and Pam. Well done everyone!!!!

Fun in the Village

After a busy week of work, there's nothing better than hanging out with friends, relaxing and laughing. Saturday, I headed down to Greenwich Village to see a wonderful show staring Paul Stroili,

Paul's one man show, "Straight Up with a Twist", is about a straight guy who knows all the wrong things.


I met a bunch of my friends there for the show. Most of us have shared many years doing community theater together in this area, some sharing the stage with Paul, many years ago.

This made it even more fun to see him in action!

Since we were in the front row (thanks to Paul) OF COURSE, he dragged our two non-theater guys up on stage for the audience participation segment.....That's Paul on the left, with Larry & Ted being very good sports!

http://www.straight-up.com/

After the show we headed over to Cafe Figaro for a great meal, yummy chocolate mousse and hours of conversation.

Another old theater pal, Tom Fagan (now Tom Cleary, as Fagan was already taken in the Actors Union), joined us. Haven't seen Tom in over 20 years so there was plenty of reminiscing about the theater days and catching up to do.

And here's our theater gang....Diana, Joe, Tom, Jura and yours truly!

If you're looking for a good laugh, Paul delivers PLENTY!
Check out "Straight Up with a Twist" . But hurry, because the New York run is limited.....and let me know how you like it!