Miss Tonga Utah Scholarship Pageant Workshop

Before I blog about the workshop, can I just say that the trip to Hawaii for 3 days threw me off? It seriously did. But then, I wasn't surprised at all. One of my weaknesses - Hawaiian food. I love the rice, mac salad and meat. Along with that musubi's, manapua's and the list goes on and on. When I go on vacation -- the whole eating right goes out the door...along with the eating in moderation. However, each time I return back from a trip, I work out harder to burn off the extra calories I tacked on while on vacation.

Along with the eating, sometimes I don't get to the workouts either while on vacation. Well, I felt it this morning in Zumba. Had the hardest time keeping up. Definitely got a good workout though.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I was invited by Luisa Iongi to put on a lifestyle/fitness presentation for the Miss Tonga Utah Scholarship Pageant contestants. She asked me back in October of last year, but with the holidays and what not, it got postponed to today.

I was so nervous preparing for this. Like really nervous. Nervous for the oral presentation and of course for the Zumba demonstration. It will be 2 years in March that I've taken Zumba--but like I told those that were present, I've just followed never been the leader myself. So to have people follow and watching you exclusively -- never racking!!!!

Miss Eleni Toluta'u the reigning Miss Tonga was present. It was neat to finally meet her. She is a relative of mine on my mom's side. I've met her parents, but this was my first time meeting her in person. She's just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She will be competing this summer in the Miss Utah. Good luck Eleni! Also in attendance -- a few of the contestants that will be competing for Eleni's title. This workshop was open to all who wanted to attend.

To somewhat shorten this post, I shared some of my experiences and gave a few tips on what has worked for me. After sharing my experiences, we began the Zumba demo. I really wanted to use some of our more recents songs for this demo, but due to my laptop burner not working and the facility not equipped for an ipod, I had to use some of my old Zumba songs I downloaded. Let's just say, it went okay. I messed up a few times, but the class was kind and just followed along.

I'm not sure if those that were present benefited from the workshop, but I certainly did. By that I mean, the young ladies I met as well as others there were able to give me the motivation I need. The motivation to get certified! Your positive feedback was something I needed. Thanks so much to all of you that were there tonight (Luisa Iongi, Betsy Lao, Sipa Raas, Faiana Fotofili, Leka Heimuli, the contestants and anyone else I might have forgotten!) A big shoutout to my little sis, Silia (missed my sis Kalo, but she had prior commitments so couldn't be there) -- always there to show her support! Couldn't have done it without you sis!!!!! Love ya muchos!