Reasons to be Cheerful the end of year round-up! #R2BC

As its the last Reasons to be Cheerful for 2016 I thought I would do a round-up of some of the biggest things that have made me cheerful this year. I will be handing the baton back to Michelle for January so I hope you will all carry on in 2017.

1) Completing my first (and last?) half marathon

One of the toughest things I have ever done was back in May when I ran in the inaugural Brathay Half Marathon. My finish line photo sums up what it meant to all of us:

Who knows if I will ever run one again...

2) Single with Kids holidays

We had our most ever trips with Single with Kids this year. With them we camped in the Peak District, Stourport and Kettering. There was also a trip to Robin Hood's Bay for a self-catering break. All of these put smiles on our faces:

3) Fun with family and friends

We are so lucky to be able to have great adventures almost on our doorstep. Adventures we have enjoyed have included:

• Wray Castle and Claife
• Cruising on Windermere
• Camping in Dent
• A weekend in Bowness
• Waterhead and Galava
• The Lakeland Maize Maze
• The Hobbit in Williamson Park
• Kirkby Lonsdale
• A walk on Hadrian's Wall
• A visit to Lanercost Priory

4) Family & Friends

Of course my family and friends have put plenty of smiles on my face this year too! Here is hoping for plenty of fun times in 2017 together too.

Zumba with Caytie

I was quite excited when my Rosemary Conley instructor Caytie announced she would be doing Zumba classes from early summer. Unfortunately none of them were at a time I could go until she started a brand new daytime class last week. Having done Zumba on the Wii at home I knew it was a fantastic workout and was keen to try a class out. 


There was a mix bunch of ages at her first class from 20s up to probably 60s and most had never been to a Zumba class before. We were told to go at our pace and to drink plenty of water between the tracks. It was an easy aerobic warm up to get our muscles stretched and heart rates up with a funky salsa style routine to get us all ready to go.


The main bit of the class has 6 Zumba tracks and they are pretty fast and furious. We had a mix of salsa, mambo, reggae, Bollywood and swing tunes to workout too. As most of us are new to it all there was plenty of laughter as we ended facing in the wrong or getting our steps wrong. 


By the end of the 6 tracks we had had a really good workout and were very hot and sweaty. Apparently in a 45 minute session you can burn off 600-800 calories and it certainly felt like it! If you've no idea what Zumba is all about then check out this video guide to the basic steps:

If you fancy having a go yourself then Caytie offers a first class for free! So check out one of her Zumba sessions and party yourself slim:

• Monday 7-7:45 PM at St Mary's Infant School, Bowness on Windermere
• Tuesday 9:30-10:20 at Kendal Parish Hall
• Wednesday 7-8:30 Stramongate Primary School, Kendal
• Thursday 7:15-8 PM at Lindale Village Hall

For more details please e-mail Caytie.Wightman@rosemaryconley.com