kim schmidt

Zumba – Ditch the Workout, Join the Party!

I stepped into my first Zumba class spring 2010. I only had to go a few times before I knew I had to be an instructor. By September 2010, I was licensed to teach Zumba Gold + Zumbatomic (now called Zumba Kids) and began teaching my first classes at the seminary’s gym. It was the best group of ladies to begin my Zumba journey with, as they were all energetic, excited, had a passion for dancing and Jesus. I could always try harder moves with them and would learn whether it worked or not. It was a judgement free zone (which all of my Zumba classes are that way – I am genuinely happy that each and every person shows up to my class each time and never judge them.) – I knew that I could easily mess up, laugh at myself, and move on.

After a year of teaching two nights a week at the seminary, I had the opportunity to start a Zumba Kids class at the Hamilton YMCA. From there, classes began rolling in. I ended up taking over a Monday morning class from an instructor that became injured and soon followed with a class at the Princeton YMCA. It’s been a fun ride, learning how to have confidence in front of complete strangers, laughing at mistakes made during a routine you’ve done a million times, and meeting people from all over the world.

August 2013 I was able to fulfill a dream of going to the Zumba Instructor Convention in Orlando, FL. I received two more licenses (Sentao and Toning), met some incredible instructors, and was recharged with a passion to be a better instructor.

We may never be this close to NYC again, so we are making it a point to visit more frequently before we leave! It’s no secret that I’m an advocate for public libraries! We are fortunate to have access to both the Princeton Public Library and the Mercer County Library System. Both libraries have museum passes that you can check out. In early May, we finally made our way to Grounds for Sculpture via a pass. We also took advantage for my birthday to the Mutter Museum in Philly (though Mercer County no longer has a membership and Anthony left feeling nauseous for hours!!).

This time around, we grabbed the Guggenheim pass to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary in NYC. My oh my, we were extremely disappointed with the museum. I would have been truly outraged if we had spent money on two tickets to the biggest let down of my life.

After the museum, we walked around Central Park a bit and then made our way to Broadway to try for lottery tickets to Book of Mormon. Unfortunately we didn’t get the tickets, but it was probably for the best, as Anthony wasn’t feeling top notch that day. The two redeeming factors was gorgeous weather (hello sunset peaking through by MSG) and at the last moment we found the Pie Face, that served similar pies and pasties as the ones we had in Edinburgh.

In May, we headed to Oklahoma to watch Anthony’s youngest brother, Noah, graduate as valedictorian of his high school. It would also be the last time we stepped foot in the house that Anthony grew up in. When we left for the airport, the one who rarely gets emotional, was a bit of a wreck! At Christmas time, he went around taking photos with his phone, to remember what it looked liked. He is a sensitive man, a quality that melts my heart! We are anxious to get back this Christmas to see the new home!!

30. It’s just a number. It’s just an age. I don’t really think of myself as no longer a 20-something but there are so many times I have to face the truth of being a 30 year old now (aka: being categorized in the 30-65 year age bracket for “obamacare”!). I had 3 different celebrations on ringing in the big 3-0. One was visiting DC the week before, the actual day on the 19th with a visit to Philadelphia, and then Chicago the following week.

Anthony and I flew Frontier Airlines out of the Trenton Airport for the first time (which is hilarious in oh so many ways, but I loved the convenience of driving 10ish minutes, parking for free, walking on the tarmac and flying direct to Chicago Midway for less than it cost to drive to Philly or Newark!). I highly recommend booking with Frontier if they are flying directly to wherever you need to go!

We made a small detour to Wheaton College, for Anthony to take photos of a manuscript that he is using in his dissertation and will hopefully turn into another book. I was able to quickly sneak a photo of him, being all scholarly! That evening we walked down to Second City to catch a show. We had a grand time before my parents arrived the next day.

On Thursday we took the rental car back to the airport, met up with my parents and went back to our hotel in preparation for a Bulls playoff game. It was fun to experience another city’s traditions, even though the fans were far from being “into” the game. We’ve had the privilege of seeing the Thunder play many games in OKC and there’s a reason it’s called Loud City. The United Center was about half full for a playoff game, and there was little entertainment to keep the fans excited. While I can’t even remember who won, we did have a lovely time!

Friday we spent the morning at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, which is housed in one of the buildings from the 1893 Chicago’s World Fair. Anthony + I both read The Devil in the White City many moons ago and it was by far one of our favorite books. We were hoping that we’d be able to go on a tour based on the book, but they weren’t running any during the time.

Saturday we walked around Chicago on an art deco architecture tour. Then made our way to the Navy Pier (no photos from that) and back up to Millennium Park for the quintessential photo at the “Bean”.

It was the perfect 30th celebration with the 3 most dear people in my life!