Live.Love.Dance.

So I've forgotten how much I love to dance! These past couple of weeks I have gotten back to my normal routine of working out & dance fitness and I feel a lot better. I feel like I'm back in control of my life, because I was drowning! - Eating tons (of healthy food), not working out, and not sleeping. But I've finally started back doing Zumba or some type of dance fitness class everyday, along with strength training daily.

Two weeks ago I found a Zumba class that was free on the weekends at the Todos Santos Plaza Park held by Thayna and Emely. Their zumba company is in the middle of moving locations, so I took advantage of the free classes. It was fun! Who doesn't like to do Zumba outside in the morning sun?! So refreshing!

Zumba!

Todos Santos Plaza- Concord, CA

A couple days later, I decided to try a free 3 day trial at the 24 Hour Fitness (gym) near me. I took full advantage of those 3 days by trialing many of their classes including Zumba, U-Jam (hip-hop dance class), BodyPump (weight/strength training), BodyCombat (like boxing), and a couple others. I enjoyed them and decided to do a 1 month membership since I'm leaving in a month for Fresno. Let me tell you...I'm getting my money's worth. I go to 2 classes a day minimum. Some call me crazy because it seems like a lot with my night shift schedule and trying to get enough sleep, but honestly it's my outlet. I love to dance and I love good music. So when I say I'm "going to the gym" or "going to workout", it's not a stressful thing for me. Although, BodyPump kicks my butt lol. But I'm happy while I'm there and I sleep better after! I can't believe I went soo long without doing some sort of dance fitness class! NEVER AGAIN.

My new NikeFree Fly Knit's motivate me :) <3

I've met a couple people at this gym which has been cool! A lot of the same people come to the classes. One day, I met this black girl that resembled me...same complexion, same hair AND style, both our names start with "Sh", both nurses and Pediatric at that! And she does Pediatric Oncology like I did...everything just seemed so ironic. This lady even walked by us and called us twins, which I thought was funny. It's nice knowing a few people in class; makes it that much more enjoyable.

I have a new friend Neisha! Met her through the boys (I knew they'd come in handy for something lol). She's really cool and loves to dance just like I do soo...two Sundays ago, we decided to try out this new Dancehall dance class taught by Emery at In the Groove Studios in Oakland. We had a blast and will definitely be back every Sunday until I leave! Last week, I picked Neisha up from the Bart near me and we went to U-Jam together at my gym. She had never been and she loved it. It's definitely a fun dance fitness class to take if your into the hip-hoppy sort of thing. After class, we went to In-N-Out Burger and ordered off of their "secret menu" lol. I got a protein style burger and she got a veggie style - both of which are NOT on their menu lol smh...only in California. Then we went back to her place, showered, and got ready to go to Somar Bar in Oakland for their Wednesday Reggae night, which was a fail because people around here hibernate the second it gets a little cool/rainy smh. But driving around trying to find a poppin' bar on a Wednesday night was still fun...lots of laughs :)

Dancehall taught by Emery at In the Groove Studios

U-Jam neon color day! Can you spot us?!

So as you can see...I'm back on track doing what I love to do. I'm am looking forward to many more classes to come before I leave. There's this Soca Dance Fitness class we just found out about, taught by Nekeya at Studio Grand in Oakland that I tried this past Sunday and had a blast of course! Who doesn't love dancing to ONLY Soca music for an hour?! I was in heaven. Nekeya was awesome. Definitely worked up a sweat. Although, working the night before sucked; but the high vibes of the music gave me energy :) Definitely making that a Sunday routine! Sunday's have become my new favorite day of the week! If you go out and don't want the Reggae/Dancehall/Soca party to end Saturday night...just go to class with Nekeya then Emery Sunday morning and your all set! The party continues lol.

Okay, so I may be a little obsessed with dancing, but you wanna know why?? Here are the Health Benefits of Dance:

Boosts Memory

Improves Flexibility

Reduces Stress

Diminishes Depression

Helps your Heart

Lose Weight

Balance Better

Increases Energy

Make Friends!

So if you haven't tried it...your just silly :) But I suggest you do so before it's too late! Trust me, you won't regret it. Hope you all are having a great day!...if not..go DANCE!

Live.Love.Dance.

Xoxo,

Carson Update!

Okay, so a lot of you have been asking about Carson and how he's doing here in California since I haven't talked about him much in my posts. Well...he's doing okay. He's liking it, I guess lol. He's getting used to all the sounds outside of the apartment, so he's not barking too too much. He's gone to daycare a couple times and he loves going on walks around the neighborhood. We tried to go to a dog park when we first moved here, but no one was really there and I haven't attempted to go back. We haven't found a playmate yet either, but that's okay. He has definitely become a Momma's boy. Sadly, I'm pretty much all he sees most of the time.

As far as an update with Carson, he had to have a wart removed from his left shoulder about a month ago. Before I went to Miami it was there; the vet gave me a steroid spray to use twice a day and said it should most likely eventually go away. Well of course it didn't; it only got bigger and more dried out. It looked disgusting! Like an artichoke! It gave me the creeps and made me itch. Ewww...just thinking about it is making me itch. Anyway, we went to the groomer and she was like, "Oh your gonna have to get that removed!" And I was like, "Really? Because the vet told me it should fall off." And she was like, "No, I doubt that." So I was telling her about how expensive my vet would be to remove it, and she then recommended hers to try. So I immediately called and set up a consultation appointment for that evening. At the appt, the Veterinarian said he could remove it right then with just a little anesthesia. So...I left (went to the mall around the corner), and within an hour he was done and the wart was gone! Stitches intact and Carson just like his normal crazy self. They put him on an antibiotic and pain medicine for about 10 days. Leaving the vet, we had to stop at Walmart to get him a shirt to wear so that he wouldn't lick at the spot; options were limited though lol...so don't judge.

At the vet...so cute! <3

They had to shave him

The silly shirt (really a onesie) he has to wear lol

We followed up 2 weeks after the procedure to get the stitches removed and...come to find out they didn't really work like they wanted. It had just like scabbed up around the stitches (hard to explain). So they removed the stitches and scab and put about 4 staples in instead. So that's what he has in now, and this was about two days ago. So we follow up in 10 days to get them taken out. Hopefully they work!

He's ready for Christmas lol

Stud

Other than this annoying wart removal process for Carson, he's doing fine. Never seems to be in any pain. It just sucks because he can't go to daycare for the time being. And of course I just bought like a 10 day daycare pass for a couple hundred dollars, which I'm hoping they'll let me use in the future when and if I come back to the Bay Area after my next assignment :)

Well I think that's it. Hope this filled you all in a little on my "Little Man".

Xoxo,

  Shante' & Carson

Just a Weekend in My Shoes

Hey guys! Happy Saturday!

So I know I'm late with this post, but I just feel like writing about my fun yet chill weekend last weekend here in Cali... I have to preserve my memories somehow :) . So let's recap!...

Okay, so Friday night I worked; it was a good night (that I remember lol), nothing crazy. Saturday morning, my friend LaShan (another traveler at my job) came over right after work to help me take my weave out. It was cool - we just chit-chatted, gossiped & laughed; the take down took less then an hour which wasn't bad. But I still had to take the braids out, wash, and comb it, which was a hassle! Took like almost 3hrs! I was over it; arms were sore, etc. Having no perm is not cool lol. Not fun! After that was all done and situated...you think I went to sleep?? No. Why?! Because I'm crazy! Instead, I went to go shopping with my guy friends I met here. How could I pass up an opportunity to shop?!

Dirt or highlights?!! Take your pick.

So, I got my things together and headed out to Bay Street Emeryville (outdoor shopping mall) to meet them. We shopped, well they shopped, for a couple hours. I didn't really buy anything (surprisingly) - just a headband for this nappy head of mine! So I just harassed them while they spent hundreds of dollars on clothes and shoes they felt were necessary lol. Although, I was able to tell them what looked good and what didn't...whether they chose to listen to me was another story smh. We were in and out of line at Express and Nordstrom Rack while they tried to figure out the best deals and how to get the most for their money...lol smh black people. But it was fun though; a little chilly, but we had a good time. Definitely a day full of laughs :)

Mikey wanted speedos soo bad! lol...I said NEGATIVE!

Deuces! Stay cruisin'



Dope

After that, we were starving of course, so we decided to go to TrueBurger in Oakland. Not my preference of food, but I made it work lol. The burger was good, quarter-pounder, not as big as I would have liked :), but that probably was a good thing if I'm trying at all to eat right! After that and a couple selfies later, we headed back to Dickson's house and chilled for an hour or so before heading back out.

Why the face, Dickson??

Typical

Justifying there shopping to Taiwo lol smh

That night we went out to Era Art Bar and Lounge; it was fun, crowded, and the music was good. We thought we'd have an extra hour of partying (because of Day Light Savings), but we were wrong. They shut that shit down on time. Somewhat of a bummer, but no biggie! So we went back to Dickson's house...and what did we do?! Cook! Well they cooked haha..African food of course - one of my favorites! I helped cook the rice, fell asleep in the process and forgot to turn it off soo...yup that burnt! lol. Not too bad though. In the middle of my sleep (waiting for the stew to be done), I woke up randomly asking was the food ready & immediately went back to sleep lol. They thought I was sleep talking! No...I was really trying to eat lol, but too tired to move! Sadly, they already know how greedy I am, which is why they now call me "Jeunkoku" meaning something like "eat until I die" haha...smh. Either I've been hanging out with them too long or I'm just really fat lol. But as my family and friends know...I am a fat girl at heart <3 My love for food is serious :)

Sunday morning, the 4 of us did our just about weekly "family food shopping" haha at the local Trader Joe's. Came back and Taiwo cooked almost a whole carton of eggs w/veggies! Yea, we eat a lot lol. Oh, I can't forget the wheat bread along side that Mikey handled like it was Fufu (an African dish) to eat the eggs lmaoo. It cracked me up! (But you probably have to be African to understand lol)

That afternoon we went to Lake Shore Park - they played soccer while I watched, well.. took a thousand selfies! The weather was perfect - sunny and warm! Also, perfect lighting/scenery for selfies lol. Just made me love being out here in California even more :)

One of many :)

Taiwo photo bomb

Palm trees make life so much better!

Dickon teaching me the Oakland sign

After the gorgeous day at the park, we went back to the apartment and chilled, ate, and rested for once! By the time I got home, I was only able to sleep 1 hour before going in to work. I know...I'm crazy! But like Mikey says, "sleep is for suckers" lol. But it was worth it; I had a good weekend & laughed almost the whole time. I aught to have burned 1,000 calories just from laughing!

Definitely a YOLO weekend. But doing what makes me happy is key right now!

Keep smiling people!

Talk to you soon!

Xoxo,