Adios to Arco…

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This is the final season the NBA’s Sacramento Kings will be playing at Sleep Train Arena…formerly known as Arco. Arco Arena, as so many will affectionately  refer to it, is the place where my pro sports dance team career started, just a few months removed from my college graduation at San Jose State. The team is now moving to a brand new, state of the art arena in downtown Sacramento that is currently under construction. And — since “Arco” will be no more, the Kings invited us (all the team’s Alumni dancers), to perform one last halftime.

The amazing show happened just 10-days after I hit the NFL field for a pregame Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders Alumni Reunion… I couldn’t be more pleased with myself (and how my body held up..lol), or the dedication and commitment all the ladies put into making the halftime come together. We all learned our choreography from a video, then whoever could make it would get together for non-mandatory weekend practices, before the day of, final fixes. I never expected to continue dancing after I hung up my “poms,” years ago, but it has been an amazing blessing to not only pick up where I left off and dance alongside so many talented dancers every so often, but really embellish in the unique sisterhood and bonds formed with every team I have had the pleasure of being on.

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Below are some of the photos from our “Adios to Arco” event…yet, I’ve joked – you never know they could have us back in March or April for a final, FINAL farewell dance…hehe

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Celebrating 25 Years of Arizona Cards Cheer

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It’s been a week since I had the opportunity to perform on Monday Night Football at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Last Monday, I took the field for pregame with more than 150 Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders Alumni to entertain the crowd before kickoff. The experience brought back the chills, some nerves and that anxious feeling you get before performing in front of tens of thousands of people! After being away from dancing on the NFL for several years now, I sort of had forgotten just how HUGE the field feels and how it feels to dance in the stadium. Plus, I had NEVER danced in a domed stadium before…during the one season I spent with the AZ Cardinals, they still played at ASU Sun Devil Stadium, so it did feel different to be in the air conditioned dome. Press play below to see video of the performance…

Anyhow, keep scrolling down to view some of the photos from my fun-filled weekend in the desert, celebrating the Arizona Cardinals Cheerleaders Anniversary.

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Buster Posey x Body Armor

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I’m not a big baseball fan, but sometimes I do interview baseball players… Today I headed into San Francisco to interview World Series Champion of the San Francisco Giants Buster Posey, at a Body Armor Super Drink event being held at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, for Bay Area HQ. It was pretty fun as he surprised all the high school kids by popping up at their school for the event.

He talked about sports, being their age and how important it is to stay hydrated and think about nutrition at their age, as well as be physically active. In my interview with him, he was very nice and we reminisced a little about his high school days, who he may offer one of his famous “Buster Hugs” to — specifically which of his fellow Body Armor athletes like James Harden, Klay Thompson, Kobe Bryant, Rob Gronkowski, Richard Sherman, Andrew Luck, etc… and he also revealed he may want to do some acting!! 🙂 Press play below to see my chat with Buster Posey.

“Football Player” Dances with the Dance Team

One of my good girlfriends in Arizona coaches the Sidewinders aka the Arizona Rattlers Dance Team and last night she shared a beyond awesome video with me of a performance during one of their arena football games. I started watching the video thinking her girls looked GREAT, dancing so clean and sharp…and then out of nowhere a “football player” – IN UNIFORM, jumps in and breaks it down…easily outshining the ladies! I told her this is too awesome not to share and she replied by telling me he was responsible for choreographing the whole routine too!! LOVE IT! Press play, you won’t regret it!

We Gonna Be Championship

It’s a great day for the BAY AREA!!! Congratulations to my hometown Golden State Warriors on a well-deserved 2014-2015 NBA Championship!! I wish I could be there for all the celebrations, but I assure you my spirit certainly is…and I’ll be heading home soon!! DUB NATION, STAND UP AND ENJOY this long awaited victory!!

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#BakeAwayDBA Campaign

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An old classmate of mine, Monique, owns a bakery in Pittsburg, California called, “Sassy Sweets & Eats.” She has been featured on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars” (season 9) and in 2014 was chosen for the  “Bay Area A-List” for best Cupcakes! Now she has reached out to me because she is doing a #BakeAwayDBA campaign.

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This is how she came up with the idea:

I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a video of a 6-year old girl named Audrey. She has Diamond Blackfan Anemia, which is a rare bone marrow disorder. She just melted my heart. Her parents post videos of her singing Taylor Swift karaoke, doing Zumba and just being downright adorable. I started following her page and also started reading up on her condition. I instantly felt the need to help out her cause.

I contacted her parents, with an idea and I asked if Audrey wanted to create a cupcake and I would bring it to life and sell it at my shop and donate all proceeds to the DBA foundation… And she did! I revealed her creation and started taking orders and been shipping them across the country in mason jars! It’s been a hit so far!

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Monique’s goal is to spread awareness of DBA and raise money to be donated to the DBA Foundation, to fund research toward finding a cure. Every week she is coming up with new creations to fund the cause andin July she will travel to Kentucky to personally deliver the donation check to Audrey and her parents over the 4th of July weekend…I’m sure she’l be bringing her Sassy Sweets cupcakes too!

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So, whether you’re in the Bay Area or some other corner of the country, please consider supporting Monique through the #BakeAwayDBA campaign.

You can visit the Sassy Sweets website at http://www.sassysweetsbymonique.com

Wedding Bells in Sin City

I just spent an extended weekend in Las Vegas for my younger sister Adrienne’s neon-themed wedding – she the older of my 2 younger sisters! We weren’t on the strip, but in DTLV (downtown Las Vegas) and it was filled with fun festivities, true to the style of the couple we were there to celebrate. We stayed at the Downtown Grand Hotel which is a block off from Fremont Street, recently remodeled and very comfortable (and reasonably priced). We did head over to “the strip” for one night of table and bottle service partying, but everything else was within walking distance to the hotel, which was really nice. From the Container Park to Gold Spike, The Neon Museum and her post-ceremony venues of Le Thai and Commonwealth, it was the perfect wedding weekend. Many congratulations to my sister and new brother in law, may their marriage be blessed and filled with endless love.

Check out some of my favorite photos from our Sin City festivities…

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My VIP Tour of Raymond Vineyards

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I recently embarked on my first ever wine-tasting outing in Northern California’s “Wine Country,” and it was so much more than I could’ve ever imagined. I went with a group of ladies, as we were all celebrating my sister Adrienne’s upcoming wedding, so it was a girls getaway bachelorette weekend of sorts. Like I said, I had never been wine tasting, so I asked around for recommendations before finally settling on a VIP Tour Raymond Vineyards in St. Helena. The contact who booked gave me a heads’s up that it was a  non-conservative and atypical of a traditional winery..whatever that is. Honestly I was just expecting a plain room in the middle of a huge field of grapes on a vine and wine barrels. I couldn’t have been more wrong in “stereotyping” a vineyard/winery. This was anything but boring, typical AND oh so perfect for our occasion!

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I instantly fell in love with our VIP host Gina, she was a complete doll! As soon as she saw our group, we got our glasses and popped the bubbly. Then she proceeded to take us for a short tour of their grounds, with beautiful gardens, farm animals and even a “Doggie Winery” if you will. She explained to us that they create their own energy and do their best to be “green.”

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From there, the party started! We went into an indoor facility where they make the wine and this place is almost indescribable, you kind of have to experience it for yourself. It has sexy mood lighting with several Vegas showgirl-like outfitted mannequins…it had a Moulin Rouge feel…lots of “French” influence! There were elaborate chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and lounge music pumping through the room..and of course we were surrounded by wine!

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From there we went to another outdoor area where we had an impromptu photo shoot on picturesque white lounge furniture before being ushered in to the “JCB Lounge.” JCB standing from wine maker and owner Jean Charles Boissant. The JCB Lounge is all-gold EVERYTHING! There’s also a huge projection screen and just a very rich, very high end vibe. My first thought was this is the perfect backdrop for a hip hop video! LOL!

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Our last stop on the VIP tour was the private Red Room. Think velvet and leopard fabrics…it was out of this world, the room just sucked you in and invited you to relax. Gina was even kind enough to let my sister pic the Beyonce Pandora station to provvde our soundtrack for the room. All in all, I was blown away by this place..and I’m sure when I return there’ll be so much more to take in that I missed this time around. We may not have went to Vegas for this bachelorette, but Raymond Vineyards made us feel like that’s where we were..and the wines were amazing too! It couldn’t have been a more perfect VIP Tour of the Winery or for my sister’s special outing. We are so thankful we had the opportunity to visit it.

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I would highly recommend this as a stop for anyone’s next jaunt into wine country. It’s nothing short of amazing and didn’t disappoint..both of which I never expected to be saying about a winery.