I bought new zumba shoes!

My walk Friday evening was very succesful. I was gone for 2,5 hours.. I brought a huge bag of old bread with me in case there would be any hungry ducks. But I was lucky. There were more than ducks there.. An entire Swan familiy counting mom, dad and 6 ducklings came over to have some bread. I love swans and the ducklings are so cute.

This picture should give you an idea of just how pretty the nature is around the pond nearby where I live. Of course it had to start raining when I was on my way home.. But that didn't bother me. I was happy with my accomplishment! Returning home from a long walk at 8:15 PM was just a great feeling for a Friday evening.

Saturday I decided to get up early so I could go to town before the shops close. My mission for the day was to buy proper zumba shoes and stop by the farmers market on my way.

The farmers market was rather boring. Not at all like it used to be. I wanted to buy sweetie lemons, but all they had were the red lemons.. So I didn't buy any.

The zumba shoe shop in town is new and very small. It has only been open for 1 month and already it's very popular since zumba is becoming more and more popular. No wonder. I haven't heard one person say anything negative about zumba. When I got to the shop, another woman was trying on shoes. When it was my turn, the woman who owns the shop asked me about my feet.. If I had wide or narrow feet, what size etc. Now I already knew that I have very wide feet.. But the size varies a lot for me.. Depending on the shoe, I can be either a EUR 41 or EUR 42.. Sometimes I'm in between those two. Turned out to be a 42 in these shoes. She tried to sell me purple shoes cause zumba is all about having fun and wearing fun colors. But I wanted black shoe for one reason... So it could go with any kind of pants I want to wear and being black, I could always change the color of my shoe laces depending on my mood.

Because of my wide feet, there were only 2 models for me to chose from. A shoe with a whole shoe sole and one that only had a sole on the toe part and the heel. Because of my weak ancles, I decided on the whole sole. As I walked out of the shop, I was already looking forward to testing them at home in my living room.

Since I was already spending money, I decided to go have a look at the gym clothes in the many sport shops in town. Because I will now be doing zumba more than twice a week, it would be nice with more clothes so I wouldn't have to wash all the time. I want capri pants, but they seem very expensive. Note you, I'm new in the "buy clothes to fit your activity" field.. I used to always find something to wear at home. But now that I know zumba is my new life, I've decided that it's ok to spend money on clothes etc. I ended up buying a pair of runners tights cause they were a lot cheaper. I still have huge thigs, but my selfesteem keeps getting better and I'm actualy starting to think that I look slimmer wearing tights. When I got home, I actualy found some other pants that will be more apropriate for zumba.
Zumba is all about happy colors and I love colors. So when I saw messenger bags for 25 DKR (4,3 $) in pink and lime green, I just had to buy them. And I'm glad I did. Going to zumba 4 times I week, the more organized I can get, the better. So as a test, I packed a bag for each day and all I need to do is put the shoes in the right bag! It might show up to be a terrible idea, but for now, it's a test. The bags are in the brand "Phase" and are of recycled material. They used to be a lot more expensive, so I think I made a bargain. I wasn't sure if they were big enough for my gym gear, but they actualy are. The blue bag is my regular gym bag. Since I have zumba classes 4 times this upcoming week, 3 bags isn't even enough if I want to change bag all the time. But I'm pretty sure that I will not be spending all bags. It's funny, 2 months ago, I couldn't find a nice bag with great color and now I own 3. Love it!

When I got home from a great shopping spree, I changed the shoe laces in my new zumba shoes, from black to pink since I usualy wear a pink top when I'm dancing zumba.

I just took what I had, but in the future I'll probably change these shoe laces with something more fun.

I put on the shoes and started dancing.. It felt great.. My floor was making more noise than usual. I hope the same thing won't happen at the gym tomorrow.. The woman in the shop told me I should wear the shoe out on concrete for a few minutes, and that should minimize the feeling of "new sole" - I'll see if I remember to do that tomorrow. The shoes have suede on them, so I also want to spray them before I wear them.. Just in case I need to clean them later.
This morning (Sunday), I woke up to a weightloss of 14,7kg. (32,4 lbs), which means I'm very close to my "midway goal".. I wanted to treat myself with the shoes when I hit 15kg. (33,7 lbs), so hopefuly tomorrow I will have earned my shoes!
Today has been a hot day, so I spent most of the day on my balcony. I brought the new sales catalogues and found an add reading "ZUMBA PAKKE" (zumba package).. A sport shop at the mall is now selling a package of shoe, capri pants and a fitness top. If you buy all three things, you actualy get the shoes for free. It's very tempting, I must say. Especialy now that I'm always at zumba and always in need of more tops to wear. I'll think about it and maybe go check it out.

Zumba is not suppose to be an expensive sport. You can literaly come as you are.. Only think you should make sure of, is to bring proper shoes. But zumba is also a very happy sport and because you get so happy and start to feel great, you also want to make the zumba classes more fun wearing nice and colorful clothes.. Atleast that's how I feel. Another reason for me to want to buy new clothes is.. I lost weight, I look good and I now feel comfortable showing my legs in capri pants. 4 months ago I would think of my legs as being too chubby for capri pants.
I see my passion for shooping these days as away of thanking myself for starting my new journey in my life. Therefor it is ok for me to spend money on things that makes me happy!
I'm excited to see where Zumba will take me!

(8/15/2010)