Aerial yoga

For Christmas, a friend gave me a gift certificate for an aerial yoga class. I’m also her son’s teacher, so it was my teacher gift as well. It’s the first time I ever recieve a present from a parent that has the words “pole dancing” on it! There wasn’t any actual pole dancing involved, but the class was at a pole dancing studio.

In January, just before school started up again after the holidays, four of us braved the snow and made our way to the studio. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect. I’ve tried aerial silks before, but I wasn’t sure if it would be the same thing or not.

Turns out, it was a good work out, a lot of fun and a great challenge! Our instructor made it look easy, but it really wasn’t. We started of kind of flying back and forth, which was nice, when you got used to the ribbon cutting into your stomach. I thought it would slice me in half, but that was just because it wasn’t placed right. Oh. My bad.

We did some handstands too. Correction. The other girls did handstands. I developed a sudden fear of the floor coming too close to my face. Must get over it, as I would like to do an actual, unsupported handstand one day.

 

Then we tried some sort of flying flip thing. Ha! That did not work. Not even a little. Not even at all. (See how I snuck part of that poem from 10 things I hate about you in there? yeah, I know. Awesome!) One of the girls did it. She must have been taking something to boost her performance, because it was impossible.

 

We did a few upside down poses. That was kind of the point of this whole thing. At first, it was too much of a head rush and I felt like I was going to explode, so I didn’t stay flipped around for very long. But after a while, I got used to it, and could get into a few poses instead of just hanging there like a Christmas decorations.

 

They made us keep our socks on, so I look like some sort of lumberjack aerialist. Those socks were never supposed to be in the pictures.

Aerial yoga is on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, so I’m pretty happy I got to do it. I would definitely recommend trying it if you like yoga, being upside down, flying and having sore hipbones and arms the next day. Because we also pulled ourselves up using upper body strength. I don’t have very much of that, so my arms felt like noodles the next day. But it was worth it!

 

At the very end, we got to stretch out and relax inside the ribbon. It’s actually very wide. We hung there in our cocoons for a while, then emerged as beautiful butterflies. Ha! Just kidding. We emerged as sweaty messes, but smiling sweaty messes.

Winter Blues

I am not an equal lover of all seasons. I enjoy all of them, just not the same way. Spring’s got flowers, rain, dresses, rain boots and grass. Summer has sun, beach days, camping, vacations and ice cream. Fall is colours, sweaters, pumpkins, scarves, lattes and boots. Winter has snow. Also, it’s got snow.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are some great things about winter as well. Hot chocolate, reading wrapped up in a blanket, skating, tea and that quiet feeling when it’s snowing and all the sounds are muffled and everything is soft.

Another thing winter has is cold and dark days. The days are so short, it’s dark when you wake up, and dark when you leave work. This serious lack of sunlight is quite the downer.

The past few weeks, I’ve been having the winter blues. I’m bored, but I don’t want to do anything. I want to get out of the house, but it’s too cold to go outside. I want to see my friends, but I’m too lazy to move. I want something different, but I don’t know what.

I don’t hate winter, but I’m looking forward to Spring!

Since sunshine and daffodils are still a couple of months away, I’ve decided to make my own bright and happy days. Well, to find some. I’m going to Costa Rica for a week of yoga, adventure, sunshine, beaches, turtles, surfing and bliss. I’m leaving on Saturday and I am looking forward to it!

picture source

Book to movie challenge

In January, somewhere in the wonder that is blogland, I found this post. It’s a book to movie challenge. Basically, you read a book, then see the movie and review both. Is there anything more fantastic than this? I think not. There are different levels to the challenge.

Movie Fan – read 3 books and watch their movies
Movie Devotee – read 6 books and watch their movies
Movie Lover – read 9 books and watch their movies
Movie Aficionado – read 12 books and watch their movies
Movie Auteur – read 24 books and watch their movies

I think I’m going to go with movie devotee, so six books. You can change levels at any time, so I can always move up.

I’m not going to stick with movies coming out this year or books I read this year. For example, I read Gone Girl last year, and the movie is coming out this year, so it will probably make the list. Also, I just read Stardust, and I want to watch the movie. Both came out several years ago, but they are new to me, so they will make the list also. I might do a few books-to-tv-shows as well.

I’ve read and reviewed Divergent, by Veronica Roth, but I’m going to wait until I see the movie so I can post both reviews together. These are several books-to-movies that I hope to review this year.

Serena, by Ron Rash

The fault in our Stars, by John Green

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

Orange is the new black, Piper Kerman

If you have any good books to suggest, please do! (Even if there’s no movie coming out. I’m always on the lookout for good book recommendations!)

I heart dresses!

I’m always impressed by fashion bloggers. They can take one dress and wear it 14 different ways. They can make jeans look fancy and an evening gown look casual. I’m not particularly fashion-y.  Fashion seems like a lot of work. You have to know what colours are “in” and what 80’s looks are good and which are bad (to me they’re all bad. It’s a been there, done that kind of thing.) You will never catch me wearing anything with a peplum, but I understand that’s fashionable. Or it was, maybe it isn’t anymore. See? So much work.

I think I’ve created my personal style, but everyone does that, whether we want to or not. What you wear becomes your style. I tend to favour dresses. I love them for several reasons. Here is a list, because I like lists.

Reasons dresses are awesome

1. They make me feel pretty.

2. It’s only one piece of clothing to choose and put on.

3. Jeans (and most pants) hate me.

When I put together an outfit I love, I will wear it that way over and over again. I will wait at least two weeks before wearing it again, but if it was awesome when I wore it, why would I change it up?

Since Valentine’s day was on Friday, and I have several dresses that could have worked, I decided to do a theme week. Nothing too out there with flashing heart headbands and ribbons or anything, just Valentine’s day inspired dresses.

Day 1

I love this dress (Obviously. I love all my dresses.) One of my students told me I should have saved it for Valentine’s day, so I told her my plan. Of course, she thought it was brilliant.

Day 2

While I don’t have one favourite dress, this one is always described as “one of my favourites”. Also, hearts. Love.

Day 3

This was an “I’m sick and I do not want to get up and put on clothes and talk to people” day. I wasn’t feeling great about this look, it felt unfinished (maybe it’s my inner fashionista trying to get out). When I got to school, one of the six year old boys in my class said “Wow! You’re so pretty. You look like a ladybug.” Who needs high fashion when you’re compared to the loveliest insect in the world?

Day 4

This is an awful photo. I actually hate it when people write that, because if it’s such a bad picture, then why did you post it? In my case, it’s the only one I had as I was still sick and in no mood to take pictures. I set the camera lower than usual so my tights would be in the picture since they’re the star here, but it’s got a weird “I’m looking you up and down” vibe to it. Oh well, pretty tights, comfy dress.

Day 5

My official Valentine’s day dress! I actually ordered this dress in November to wear on Christmas eve, but I only received it in January. I didn’t think it would be so shiny, which makes it more or less appropriate for work, but whatever. It’s pretty and that’s all that matters.

If you look at my Dressember post, you will notice that most of these dresses have been worn in the exact same way before. Like I said, why mess with a good thing?

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some dress bloopers. Because we all love it when other people look funny.

Well, the zoom works.

This photo tells the story of a bird trying to fly. Unfortunately, she’s a chicken, so she’s not going anywhere because chickens can’t fly.

Did you know giraffes sleep standing up?

Paint me please!

For as long as I can remember, this bookshelf has been in my life. When I was little, it was in our living room. When I was a teen, it was used for storage in the basement. Now, it’s living with me.

I’ve always liked the look and shape of it. However, it was looking dated and old. I decided to give it a lift to make it vintage and awesome instead. Along the way, I discovered a love for painting furniture. Like this piece. I have plans for you, night table, dresser and weird old cabinet by the door. You’re going to look amazing.

But back to the bookshelves.

This is before. It had a lot of stuff on it.

Since I decided on this makeover in November, I had to do it indoors. The living room was going to have to do.

I primed it with an oil-based primer, no need to sand anything.

I added two coast of pretty blue latex paint and voilà! New shelves!

I love how fresh and airy it looks now. It feels like a little bit of summer in my living room all the time. Since it’s February, that’s a great feeling!

Skate away

There’s a Joni Mitchell song called River, where she says “I wish I had a river I could skate away on”. Now, I don’t really want to skate away, but I love, love, love that song and I think about it every time I go skating. Sometimes I sing it too!

My friend Jess and I went skating on the Rideau canal, which is the largest skateway in the world. The canal was created in 1892 to connect Ottawa and Kingston. It is 200km long. The skateway, however, is not that long! It is used for boats in the summer and skating in the winter.

It’s been really cold lately, and while I’m not a winter hater, I have no desire to spend the day outside when you turn into a popsicle after 3 minutes. The day we went out was lovely. Not too cold, no wind, my toes didn’t even get cold!

The best thing about skating on the Rideau canal, if you ask me, is the Beaver tails. Beaver tails are an amazing Canadian invention. Stretched out, fried dough covered in cinnamon and sugar, shaped like a beaver’s tail.

I try to go at least once a year, because it would be a shame not too! Plus, skating is the only sport I actually do really well, so I like to get the most out of it!