I Jazzercise. I know, if you haven't been to a class in a few years, you may not have the best impression of Jazzercise. Olivia Newton John, "Let's Get Physical" video is what most think is Jazzercise-esque, with all the cheesy workouts. (I loved it in 1982 by the way, loved me some Olivia too) Leotards, tights, leg warms, head bands-not anymore! I started taking classes with Regina over 3 years ago. But going to a Jazzercise Convention!? I don't think I would have ever thought!!! But..I attended
Tres Jazz , Jazzercise's National Convention held every 5 years. I am one of the youngest in my Jazzercise group, but I've learned age is all in the mind. These ladies are in great shape and for the most part know how to kick it! If you don't know Jazzercise is an hour long class of 'dance-aerobics' and weight training. They use all the current music and change it up every 3 months or so. But enough of that, let's get to New Orleans. First off we rode the
Amtrak train. I did this once before with my family when I was about 5 years old. I think we went from LA to Chicago or something crazy like that. And I think I made a friend on the trip, but that's all I remember..Well this time, we went from
Memphis to New Orleans. We were all so excited to try this out. There were 9 of us on the train, and another 3 meeting us in New Orleans from Cordova Jazzercise. Well all of a sudden we start to hear about this sink hole that was causing problems at the downtown station. Well sure enough, it didn't get fixed. Amtrak charted a bus (a nice motor coach) and drove us about 15 minutes away to an 'undisclosed location' and we hopped on the bus from there. Let me tell you, its way nicer on the train than a plane, unless of course you get upgrade to first class a lot.
You have so much room, you can walk around, there is even a dining car you can hang around and order food in. We did that almost the whole way down, that is, hang out in the dining car. Ok, so after about 8 hours on the train, ya, about 2 hours longer than in car, we arrived in New Orleans. We checked in the
Spring Hill Suites (highly recommend it for a Convention Center hotel) and were on our way. There was an opening class, some of us did it, Courtney, Regina and I did some of it, then did some shopping. Courtney was our dining concierge and made our reservations for the trip.
NOLA was our first stop. It was great, I would for sure recommend it. Food was excellent, atmosphere was lively and the waiters were fun and flirted with us. What more could you want? I had the red fish which was the special and loved it. From there we walked around Bourbon street had some hurricanes and danced in the fun corner bar, don't remember the name. We also looked around the voodoo shops, thinking we needed a little voodoo action. The next morning we were all up bright and early and did 3 classes in a row. Butts and Guts, Boot Camp and Street Jazz. Street Jazz was the worst class I did. It was
'supposed' to be a street hip hop class..nope, it was a choreography class for beginners, slow beginners..and to top it off Tim Roberts, the street expert, announces one of his fave songs by Missy Elliot, you know Missy who just released this album, ya like 4 years ago...sorry but I am a major music snob and like all my stuff current, especially for an advertised 'street' class-more like the street in front of a day care. Lunch that day was per Regina's suggestion..
Mother's. It was fairly crowed, we had to wait in line for about 10 minutes, but got in and well, I tried to order. Outside Mother's it says they are world famous for the Baked Ham. Well of course that's what I would try. Um, no Ham. Ok, well let's see I like turkey is it good? Yes, so I ordered the turkey. Got to the table and Bree (coincidence) our server (that you don't tip by the way) informs me that they are out of turkey, but do I want ham, bc she could get me some? WTF? Where is this ham coming from, who cares at this point, bc my picky self didn't care for much else on the menu. Nonetheless my ham sandwich was good and we were off to more Jazzercise action. Dancing Abs was our choice for the afternoon..loved that class, so much more
hip than Street Jazz..I decide that I love Young, she had instructed Boot Camp and kicked my butt, and also did Dancing Abs, which I loved!! Love some Young!!! We were done after Dancing Abs, 4 classes that day was plenty, plus we had a busy night. I had made friends over email with Susan, Donte's attorney in New Orleans. She invited us to her house for some cocktails before the Jazzercise Opening Night Concert. Susan and her husband Al live in a 100 year old home in the French Quarter. It is one of only 2 in the Quarter with a 'dog trot' splitting the center of the home-Gorgeou
s home!! They even shared their Hurricane Katrina stories with us. From there we went to our Opening Night Show. It was okay, I swear Jazzercise hyped this up so much and recommend "Vegas" type attire. We got there after walking through the convention center for like 20 minutes and it was so not "Vegas" style entertainment.
The highlight was the cute Cajun violinist,
Amanda Shaw who has a very up-tempo style. She was very cute and we got a picture with her tiny, exuberant self the next day at the EXPO. If you get a chance to see her somewhere, go, it will be an entertaining experience. After the show we went to the Bombay Club. Al, Susan's husband recommenced it. They brag about their inch thick book of martinis-which they did have. It was a lounge type place with a lounge singer, but the crowd was a little older..let's say they probably heard Frank Sinatra sing in a place like this LIVE. I had a great salad, and a few really good martinis. Saturday brought another day of classes, we did Dancing Abs again (remember I love Young), and Italian Jazzercise. Lunch was a suggestion from Randy who didn't attend ( we still don't know why, he would have LOVED it),
Napoleon House. Had the famous hot Muffaletta here and a Pimm's Cup drink. Loved this place! I would forsure go back. After lunch we did Boot Camp again, the Men's Instructor Class and Party Jazzercise. Ok, the Men's Instructor Class was by far the most fun. I swear these ladies thought these guys were the Chippendale's or something. Screaming, Ooohing, trying to touch the guys, all while they are teaching. The Japanese ladies will probably have the whole thing on You Tube soon, bc their entire group filmed it. But.. there was this girl that kept getting in our 'dance space', let's call her Dill Weed, bc she sure smelled like it, well Dill Weed, you could
tell she didn't get out much, she kept taking pictures of the guys and when we moved she stood in place, hence we were practically running over her the whole class. Somehow she kept popping up in front of us although she didn't start there. So irritating-and that smell-eww! I think these ladies should have taken a better look bc these men, most of them at least, were more interested in each other, versus any of these ladies. That night Courtney picked another awesome spot, the
Hookah Cafe. Before the Hookah Cafe we made a stop at
Cafe Du Monde for some beignets and cafe au lait, always a must when visiting New Orleans. The Hookah Cafe
was fabulous, the food, the drinks the hookah pipes. Loved it. I had the wonderful filet and we had the bellydancer hookah (pina colada, strawberry and vanilla). We had a great time and Loren, Nicole and Regina got to hookah for the first time, I think I got them hooked.
Fred came and met us out too, I think he liked the place too, even being a local. The next morning we got up and went to Cafe Du Monde again, can't get enough of that place. Regina, Brenda and I went to the closing class but didn't feel like partaking, just wanted to see all the new routines that Judy Sheppard-Missett (founder of Jazzercise 39 years ago and in the top picture with me) and the taping team were doing. We were ready for the train ride home, this was perfect, after an exhausting weekend it was nice to relax on the train. Overall the convention was lots of fun and I might be back for the next one in five years.
We did a fun wine tasting at Regina and Rhea's with the Jazzercise crew. We each brought 2 bottles, one for all of us to taste and another to trade. I really liked all of the wines, and we ended up with Randy and Diane's bottle: Gascon Argentenian Malbec. We can't wait to open it.
We went and saw The Hangover yesterday and it was soooooooo funny! GO SEE IT! I mean this is going to be one of those classics that everyone refers to. So many great lines and hilarious moments. Makes me not want Tony to have a Bachelor Party! After the movie we went to Osaka and afterwards had some wine in the backyard. It was the wine I got at the Big Orange Caravan silent auction. It was a pretty good Merlot. It had a great orange label and was called Screw Kappa Napa, and yep had a screw top. The weather was perfect and we had the best night just watching the dogs play and listing to music on our iPod. Lane we discovered kills Lightening bugs! He catches them in his mouth spits them out and then paws at them while they flash and die. So sad...He did this for hours and it was hilarious, yet sad. I feel like I'm getting old sometimes bc that was a perfect night, a bottle of wine, cool evening and our dogs.
After Jazzercise and Coffee on Friday I got my FREE burger at Back Yard Burger. All I had to do was get in line, and they handed me a ticket, I was #92 around 11am, and order my burger. I have been mad a BYB, but I'm not missing out on free food! That burger was delicious! 
I got a call that my car was fixed and ready! For some reason as I was cleaning out my stuff out of the rental car Lennox and Lane wanted to hang out in the car. They love going for 'rides in the car..sometimes I can't get them out. It's really more Lennox than Lane, I used to go to Knoxville so much to see Tony he got used to it, I think Lane does it to be like Lennox. 
Problem is...Lane sheds and his white hair on the black seats didn't make the manager at Hertz in Lakeland very happy. Yes, he's a UT Grad and still wanted to charge me $100 for a detailing fee for Lane's hairs on the seat. I tried to work the UT angle, but it didnt work. I have my corporate account with Avis and they have NEVER tried to charge me for anything like this. So I was going to use the vacuum at Memphis Collision before they dropped me off, but the nice guy who drove me said he was not going to worry about it and just send it the the airport. Oh, the UT Grad manager at Hertz was in the band...hmmmmm..maybe that explains it. 
My car looks great! Way better than before!! They even detailed it before giving it back to me! 
That night we grilled out and Randy and Diane came over and Ben and his wife Jessica. This was our first time meeting Jessica who just got in from Peru. 
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