*WARNING: this post contains an obscene amount of name-dropping….it’s how i make myself feel important and popular……carry on. 

tumblr_lz77taMZG41qzpkato1_1280

holy laughing cow!

be careful what you ask for katie. this weekend a grenade of inspiration exploded in my nutzo-stuffed face; where its sparkly, liberating debris trickled down to my baggy, sweatpant, favoring bottom, and lit a chevy tahoe-sized campfire.

{s’mores not included.}

i spent the bulk of my weekend surrounded by people {fellow instructors} who, with their vast knowledge and talent make me feel, at one end of the dance floor, like i should quit my day job, and learn to valet park cars; and no surprise here, loser that i am, i can’t drive a stick.

tumblr_mk00vyqzNt1qd9ql4o1_500

 yet at the punchbowl, where we all gathered to spike the juice with kombucha, their compassion, generosity, and enthusiasm for community, emboldened me to set goals so wild i can’t even say them out loud, let alone type them on wordpress.dot.oh.are.gee.

thank you angela leigh, keith irace, skip jennings, jill grogg, nicole quibodeaux, luciana friere, stephanie vitorino, trina altman, raquel perry, lisa hubbard, wende lichon, and jill miller.

every single one of these beautiful souls touched me deep this weekend. whether it be with their kindness, ardor for their craft, or just a smile or hug. their commitment to creating better, healthier lives for others is so lovely and contagious. there’s no other ball i’d rather be crashing.

ball

i had many {much-needed} conversations about the need for teachers to connect, support each other, crisis manage, celebrate, or even just laugh out loud regarding various mishaps that run amok in the lululemon-wearing, crazy world of 4am wake-up calls, the necessary {?} evil of class counts, the never-ending choreography in your head, the playlist that always needs to be refreshed, the nap that never gets achieved, mostly 7 days a week, and you’re just barely covering the bills each month.

the greatest job ever!

my mind is abuzz to create an anonymous forum to support instructors, who give all of themselves, sacrifice time with family and friends, teach while injured and sick, or with broken hearts; sometimes only to get trashed by comment cards, yelp or rateyourburn.

thoughts?