One Minute Fly

I just love this video. Talk about finishing your life list just in time ;)

My name is Anna and I´m a workaholic

  "My name is Anna and I´m a workaholic"

This sentence is me these days.... i´m a workaholic. 

I might as well change my home address to my work address because i´m never at home. Finally this weekend i got a chance to do something at home and RELAX, which meant to me blog, work on my sites, write and watch some tv i couldn´t watch during the week.

When i´m not working i´m hanging out with friends. I try my best to meet my friends regularly, at least for a movie or chat. My work colleagues are also cool, so i´ve been out with them a couple of times. That includes Halloween. Last year i celebrated halloween in Vienna. The only problem was, I was the only one. I was the only one in Vienna dressed in a costume, an indian one. To top it off i was saying goodbye to a person i´d only talked to via e-mail so she and all her friends got to enjoy the sight of me in a costume. Me dressed up in a group of normally dressed people. Lets just say i was left scarred. 

So this time, i was went all out. I wanted a cool costume since we in Iceland dress up for Halloween (at least some). So i bought my costume at an erotic store (that´s right, the only place for female my age to get a decent costume is an erotic store) and headed over to my work colleagues, who were dressed as Pamela Anderson from Baywatch and a stewardess. Me, I was dressed as a slutty FBI agent. We chilled at their place and then i met my friends Svava and Sara at another party, held by our gay friend, awesomely decorated. Leave it to the gays to have the most fabulous parties. Everybody was dressed and you could really get into the halloween spirit. Then we walked downtown to see our friend Haffi perform at Nasa. It was quite empty when we came but after we were on the dancefloor for not even 5 min it was soooo crowded. Talk about a full house. Then i went to other places to meet my work colleagues again, at Vegamót, where i managed to fall up the stairs due to too many people. That left a huge mark (purple one and it still hurts).  When i was finally upstairs a guy came up to me and said "Anna Claessen, you´re famous!"... funny since i have no idea why i should be famous. Although a couple of days earlier i was on the cover of the most respected daily news in Iceland "Morgunblaðið" with pictures, review from my zumba class and interview with me about zumba. AWESOME!!! so i was famous for a day. I really enjoyed seeing my photo on the cover of the daily news. Normally you have to do something huge to deserve that. Also, the photo was good, which isn´t always the case, especially with icelandic photographers. So halloween ended with me going to B5 but it was so crowded, i asked my dad to pick me up. Not really ideal but i was soooo exhausted...

What else...ZUMBA ZUMBA ZUMBA...now i´m teaching Zumba 8 times a week, i´m looking forward to my sixpack for christmas, at least i fitted into small size of this FBI costume. I felt so proud

btw. i´m looking for some help with websites i´m creating. So if there are any website creating geniuses out there who can help me out, just holla. I just changed to bluehost hosting site and i am thinking of doing it in wordpress. Does anybody out there have any templates or ideas for a cool site. I want at least a big video on the main page and then blog (not sidebar). Any suggestions?

Until next time....xoxo

zumba girl ;)

Our Zumba fitness facebook page

I just created a facebook page for fans to follow our Zumba fitness courses. We have big plans for Zumba so stay tuned. This is just the beginning...

http://www.facebook.com/anna.claessen#!/pages/zumbafitnessis/160215017346325

Purple

Oct. 20 was a "purple day" where they asked people to wear purple to remember the lives of the teenagers that committed suicide due to gay bullying. Horrible how many have taken their lives due to bullying. That´s why i had to share this video above of councilman Joel Burns, sharing his experience with the subject. It´s a video that everyone should see.

I hate bullying in general but why is it always against people who are considered different in some way. I was always drawn to those people because that meant they were special, had something that the others didn´t see. And i know a lot of gay people and they are the sweetest and most special people in my life so that´s why i walk in the gay pride parade each year. For them. For my gays. So they can one day feel free to be who they are, to have the same rights as us.

I wish for those who don´t understand gay people to hang around them and they will see it, that it´s just love. Can you imagine if someone judged you and wouldn´t allow you to be with the one you loved.

Ask yourself: "how does a law allowing gay marriage affect me?"
Answer: "not at all."
But it does matter to them.
Equal rights for all!
  
My wish for 2010 is that people will understand that being gay is not a disease, not a choice - people who are gay are not looking for a cure but ACCEPTANCE and EQUAL RIGHTS!

Just missing a halo

In Iceland we don´t really have a rule like the Americans do with the 10% of your paycheck should go to charity. But we are happy to give our money to charity, especially if there is a special occasion. The charities in Iceland have been very active and creative, finding ways for people to give money and receive something instead, like lipgloss, candy, pin, necklace, key chain and ticket to events.

I try to support a charity every month in some way but nothing tops the other day. The Red Cross was collecting money, asking people to volunteer and go from house to house. See ad below



Of course I volunteered. I had to work so i grabbed a box and placed it on the table at the reception. I also gave them money, since i was in the red cross youth group and know all the great things they do.

That wasn´t all i did. I had to go to the book shop and saw a pin to support breast cancer (october is breast cancer month) so i thought, since i´d already given something, why not finish the day with a bang.

So there i was at work with a sticker that said i was a volunteer with a box to collect money and a pin to support breast cancer. The only thing missing was the halo ;)

What can i say, i love doing good things....

New article: "Ísland í ESB, nei takk....EÐA?"

A new article for Pressan, where i talk about a billboard i saw against EU. Here in Iceland people don´t really want to join EU and they can´t really point to why not, so i´m encouraging them to at least read more about it to form an opinion instead of just saying no.

http://www.pressan.is/pressupennar/Lesa_Onnu_Classen/island-i-esb-nei-takk.-eda

An official Zumba teacher

After spending a weekend taking an instructor course and master class with the great Jenna Bostic in Oslo, Norway I can now finally call myself an offical Zumba teacher.

Me, Marta (the other Zumba teacher) and my mom flew on Friday, spent the day in downtown Oslo, shopping and sightseeing. Oslo is really beautiful, i was astounded by the diversity of houses. Otherwise we saw H&M, H&M, H&M, it was all over the place....it was even by our hotel. Let´s just say i probably spent my whole salary there. But it was all clothes i really need. I normally don´t shop often so when i do i buy a lot.

Saturday was Zumba day, first masterclass, then learning the steps, the music (intro-verse-chorus-break, etc) and then we created a dance by ourselves. It was so much fun. After the class we went to the hotel and took a little nap and then had dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. We had a blast, talking the whole night.

Sunday was Zumba day as well, pretty much same schedule, ending with handing out the diplomas and talking more about being a Zumba teacher and member of ZIN (Zumba Instructor Network), where we get cd/dvd´s and all sorts of material and access. Then we had our diplomas and left to our hotel only to eat dinner at the restaurant and then headed to the airport to go home.

A short but interesting weekend. I learned so much and was inspired to create my own routines so this weekend will be spent doing that ...can´t wait. My class is gonna be AWESOME!

I introduced Zumba to a town outside Reykjavik, called  Reykjanesbær (near the airport) during health week, where over 70 people showed up and more than half signed up for classes. A big success.

So if anyone needs a Zumba lesson, for any occasions, events or other,  don´t hesitate to contact me ;)