Playing in Maui

Now a days, a fun night out is few and far between. I decided to go back to school. This was always what was going to bring me back to the mainland. I've always had the goal of achieving my Bachelor's Degree. But, Maui is the best place for me. Maui is where I am the happiest. I don't want to leave Maui to go be tortured in a classroom, trying to get a degree that the university is determined to suck as much money out of me as possible in the process. I start at the bottom, forced to pay full tuition taking classes that have nothing to do with my degree or remotely interests me because everyone else is allowed first pick of classes. And even when I do graduate after spending so much money getting a degree... I couldn't get a job. That is what many of my friends are dealing with right now. 

But I set that goal for myself. And I've figured out a way to have the best of both worlds. I am working

towards a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology through an online program through Southern New Hampshire University. This program is set up for travelers. Each session is 8 weeks long. You can take up to 2 classes. The courses are intense, jam-packed courses, and it's a lot of work. The beauty of it is that I can take a session off at any time, and start back up the next session. That's my kind of school. Also, in the amount of 2 years I can finish my degree (that is not taking any sessions off though) and I will have paid the amount of ONE semester at a State College.... 

I just finished my first session, came out with an A in World Geography and a B in Cultural Anthropology. I was very good at school in High School and college, a 4.6 GPA in High School, and a 3.7 GPA in college. I know how to work the system, how to work my great short term memory to ace a test, write a convincing essay, but at the end of the semester, everything I learned is gone. I went through my school years with so much information jammed into my head, nothing stuck, I lost it all (except maybe French :) Now, with allowing myself the freedom to do school work whenever it is best for me throughout the week, and with only 2 subjects I am currently studying, I am kind of enjoying my studies. I am finding a lot of things interesting, and I'm growing from them, the information is actually sticking!

My social life has taken a toll, because I work the same amount of hours at Hula Grill and teaching Zumba, with a side business called NightLife Fitness, I still model from time to time, and I won't give up my 1 full days off once a week with my husband for anything else. So when all else is taken care of, then maybe I'll go play out on the streets with my girl friends. Here are many pictures that I haven't posted, many before my studies began, but a few after as well.

St. Patty's Day?

Green Beers

Dancing my booty off

Karaoke night is the best dance party

Reggae star Kimie

3 mile walk to breakfast

Beach campfire birthday party 

 Many of my friends have been leaving the island for varying amounts of time. All plan to come back. 

I hope they do

Kristin's going away dinner

Going away breakfast the morning she left

Going away dinner for Sarah

Going away party number 1 for Jaime and Mike

Going away party number 2 for Jaime and Mike

And a little bit of work....

Playing is important, but Jon and I will always remain responsible and productive. He's had a little side project while I have been doing school, a blog will be on that soon... I still teach Zumba, and am expanding it to new markets through NightLife Fitness. I just recently modeled at a fashion show at a huge venue and got paid- professional model status now? Maybe... 

But we treat ourselves. Either on the island or travel off the island. Hence an upcoming blog about our trip to Hana for a few days. The next big travel location is New Zealand in October. I can't wait to start planning our NZ vacation :)))

Maui No Ka Oi

Let's Make Fitness Fun in Maui with NightLife Fitness!

Aloha all, it's been awhile. I'll tell you more about why in another blog but this blog is dedicated to a new Fitness group/company I am co-leading. Two of my fitness fanatic instructor friends and I have come together to create NightLife Fitness. It's primary goal is to make fitness fun for the people of Maui. Maui is an island of cruising, going with the flow, and doing what feels good. A lot of times that doesn't include staying fit and keeping active. So in hopes to get some new people up and moving, we combined our fun fitness dance formats with one of the primary past times of Maui: the bar/night scene. 

Our first NightLife Fitness event was called Ladies Fitness Nightclub held at the local bar/nightclub restaurant Lulu's in Lahaina (by the Safeway if anyone has been to Maui). Dancing, a DJ, nightclub lighting, a disco ball, a stage, a bumpin' bass, herb infused virgin mock-tails, and girlfriends! What could be more fun?! The ultimate Ladies Night Out. Us three instructors teach our format in 20 minute intervals for about 2 hours. Guests were encouraged to jump on and off the dance floor as they pleased to catch their breath, grab a mock-tail, or chat with their friends. 

The visionary of our three-some is Christina Farias with her own Farias Fitness LLC. She is a personal trainer to the millionaires that come to Maui, and a fitness instructor in many formats, including Buti Yoga (pronounced Booty Yoga). Buti yoga is a fusion of tribal dance, yoga, and explosive pylometrics. The lady with the largest following is Emily Shaw with HiLife Fit LLC. She is one of the main Crossfit trainers on the West side and created her own group fitness format called Cardio Dance. And then obviously I teach Zumba. I am the organized computer brains of the operation, haha. I created the flyer, the promotional video, and I run the email connections with our guests.

Our first event was a HIT! In a small space we squeezed in 50 people! We sold out of our 30 pre-sale tickets and had many people come and pay at the door. The night went smoothly, no major hiicups. It was rather hot and sweaty in there with so many bodies working up a sweat, so the ground got a bit slippery with sweat, but the yoga mats seemed to soak that sweat right up. We put in a lot of money because of the initial purchase of the cordless microphone, and the obvious promotional costs, the DJ, a good friend of mine Ola Shaw, and advertisement photos shot by my girlfriend Cassidy Baker. So we all broke even with the first event, but we anticipate to do pretty well in our next event at the end of June. And honestly we don't do this for the money, it's a passion for all of us, and its so fun to get on stage and keep the crowd energized and having fun! 

Emily Shaw

Christina Farias

  

Photos of our event:

My ruthless Zumba crew from my classes that stayed the full 2 hours!

Ola Shaw, our DJ. Also the guy I helped organize the last major event I was involved in, the charity event for Jeff Worthen at Fleetwood's on Front Street called Celebration of Love and Life

I dove back into an old beloved hobby of mine- video editing. I love it. I edited my brother's wedding video, my wedding video, and countless videos during high school and college for various events. I have a new Adobe Premier video editing software on my computer now so I shot and edited this video. Because of the lack of light and a really good video camera, the footage is rather grainy, I apologize for that :) The link goes to YouTube where you can watch the promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kmkPGu2Spg

The next event is June 24 at the same venue. The last event went so well we have offers to be sponsored from a few companies. They haven't been made official yet so I won't share who yet. But I can mention that one was Red Bull, but because of our event location's agreement with a different energy drink we couldn't have Red Bull sponsor us this time around. But another location is already in the works for the event after June 24.... We'll see what happens! I'll keep you all updated on how it goes! If you are interested in joining our next event find out more information on the Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/NightLifeFitnessMaui

or email our NightLife Fitness email account: NightLifeFitness@gmail.com

Maui No Ka Oi