Only in DC...

....is my (thus far) favorite Zumba instructor a Foreign Service Officer.

And, she is being sent to Uganda on mission in August for 2 years! I am extremely disappointed, as today was one of my favorite exercise classes of all times. Which is saying a lot given that I have been to my fair share of classes in my lifetime--step, aerobics, jazzercise, bikram yoga, regular yoga, spinning, kickboxing, etc.

At first glance, she didn't seem like anything special (sorry, that's rude), but her moves, choice of music and energy had me praising her and clapping enthusiastically by the end (which needless to say, is rare). Half way through the class she asked for three volunteers to wear belly dancer type skirts and my hand shot up immediately (similar to that of a teacher's pet, which I may or may not have been once upon a time). I cannot tell you how awesome the skirt was, simply magical, I never wanted to take it off. I want one, I NEED one. Which is perhaps why I was the only volunteer who wore it until the end. The first song we danced to with our "butt bells" was Jai Ho and it was awesome!

If I wasn't pumped already, the next 30 minutes included THREE Shakira songs, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Except, I was not happy when the instructor told us that just like Waka Waka, she was really going to Africa :(
 
Other than that, today has been a much needed lazy day. However, we did decide to go to three separate supermarkets to get our provisions for the week--Trader Joe's, Harris Teeter and Arrowine. We had never been to this last one, but I purchased a $30 Groupon a few weeks back and we were itching to see what they had. The "neighborhood store" has everything you would need to throw a fantastic dinner party--wine, beer, bread, olives, cheese, charcuterie and crackers (Leticia, you would have loved it). We left with an Avery 'Maharaja' beer, some prosciutto, chorizo and dried pineapple, which we indulged in while watching 'Kings Speech', which had been f-f-f-f-orgotten in a drawer for about two weeks now.

The Gold Cup Final is on at the moment and Mexico is playing the USA. The only channel broadcasting the game is Univision and Matt can't understand anything except "GOOOOLLL". I would offer to be his interpreter, but we are not on speaking terms, as he is clearly rooting for the wrong team. Gotta LOVE a sport where the clock keeps going, unlike others...ahem, ahem.

Very excited to see Patricia and Chris's wedding featured in the Rice "Owlmanac" (June '11) and a bunch of us were mentioned in the blurb. I'll try and scan it on Monday, we're famous! And, on the same page was my friend Emery's wedding, love is in the air mes amis.