Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I have a dream

so it's been 48 hrs since I last stepped foot on the long board.  it's KILLING ME!!!!!  okay, so tonight I opted for a 6+km walk {someone remind me please, that I'm suppose to be training?}.  needless to say, I totally need to hop on the board soon.  like tomorrow.  and I'm totally willing to have sore legs in exchange for the speed!!


yeah.  that and my highly-edited-super-cool-midnight-skateboarding picture is all I have for you today.  heheh!!!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

does your mother know

gonna just list this post.  it's been a horribly exhausting week at work and I added to it by being out until 2am-ish this morning.

1.  september is nearly over.  routines are in place, but the weather has been HOT.  much warmer than we're accustomed to, here in this lovely city.  I am not complaining, but it does make keeping my kids in after school to finish homework super difficult.  it's been a tough month, as it often is.  ty's slowly adjusting to grade one and nate is just happy when I'm not around his school.

2.  I got to walk the boys to school on thursday.  the first time in four years.  I was at their school to watch the music teacher teach {'cause I'm teaching music this year!}, so I combined it with going into each of their classrooms and reading a book.  ty was so pleased and proud that I would come.  nate burst into tears.  sigh.  needless to say, I read to both classes, then watched some kick-ass music classes!

3.  we took the boys to the eskimo game last night.  now, I love my football and I especially love the cfl. but I don't love losing.  grrr.  it was a BEAUTIFUL night and it was really nice to be at the game with the kids and a bunch of our friends.


4.  after the game, john took the boys home to bed and I went to my friends house for some drinks and skateboarding.  I learned how to ride a long board a couple of weeks ago and I am totally addicted.  I LOVE riding and feeling so free.  it's like holding onto a kite and just sailing into the wind.  kinda like that little kid in the movie up, with all the balloons.  so last night, we hit the roads in the 'hood and I took this picture.  my friend's neighbour - the one with all the long boards - let me take one home to borrow.  my legs are killing me from all the skateboarding I've done in the last 24 hrs, but I am LOVING every last minute of it.  STAY AWAY, SNOW!!


5.  so after only four hours of sleep last night, and a greasy egg sandwich, I went home and pulled out the skateboards with the boys.  ty ROCKS.  nate struggles.  both were super tired today and not so willing to practice corners with me, but even nate was getting better by the end of the day.  I think my neighbours think I'm nuts.  okay, well kinda.


6.  and then tonight we had tickets to a pre-season oilers game, courtesy of my dad.  the boys love hockey and my dad has killer seats this year.  it was the young guns version of the battle of alberta.  and edmonton beat calgary in the last 90 seconds with a sweet goal from taylor hall, assisted by ryan nugent-hopkins.  totally cool.  and at the end of the game, since we had club seats, john took the boys to the basement where they can watch the players come off the ice.  and ty comes back up grinning ear to ear, clutching a sawed off, taped hockey stick.  I guess one of the oilers equipment guys gave it to him.  he'd be sleeping with it, if I let him.



it's been a good weekend.  but I am tired {not complaining, it's totally of my own doing!}.  I need to try walk 10k tomorrow.  I'd be happy if I could do my 8k loop...and then hop on the board and go for a whirl around the lake...

how was your weekend??

Sunday, September 18, 2011

fernando

so, my little world of blogging is small.  I have my 7-10 blogs that I read daily, or every second day, as time and small children permit.  I read three types of blogs...my friends in real life, crafty/artsy/creative blogs and people-I-could-be-friends-with-in-real-life-if-they-lived-in-my-town blogs.  the first two categories are a bit of a no-brainer.  the last category has turned into a bit of a circle of linked blogs.  I started with one, which led to a recommendation of another, and so forth.  some of these I've been following for a couple of years and others, just months.  some I get daily-ish updates in my inbox and others, I read for an hour or so every couple of weeks.  there are a couple where I'm brave enough to leave comments and others where I just ponder in my own head.  regardless, these people have allowed me into their lives, through their blogs.  I guess in the same way I let you into my life right here.  and many of these people I also follow on twitter.  just 'cause.

all of that to say this.  I follow a blog on a semi-regular basis.  her name is sara.  and I am not going to tell you the whole story...go read for yourself!!!  I started reading her blog because it was part of the circle of linked-recommended-friend-happy blogs.  and last week, my little blog world and twitter feed started trending in my brain.  sara is really sick.  not blogging.  dying.  and the words "choose joy" started resonating from twitter to blog back to twitter.  and I had a moment.  for this woman that I don't know face to face.  chances are she doesn't know my name.  or my story.  but I know hers.  and we have  a commonality.  we both love jesus.  and we both "know" the same people in the cyber world.  and that makes her my sister.  my friend.

I began to reflect on the words:  choose joy.  there are just so many layers there.  it represents sara and her life, so well lived.  it honours her legacy.  it's a reminder that like so many good things, we can always choose.  and joy - it's not the same as being happy.  it's better.  it's up on the list sandwiched between love and peace.  sara has lived with incredible pain.  and yet she chooses joy.  that perspective is amazing.  on so many levels.

as the week progressed, there began to be talk of tattoos.  so today I got one.  because for some reason I've been sucked into this cyber circle.  and although I feel like I am on the outside looking in, it's exactly where I am suppose to be.  connected by community, but for once, just listening.  and learning.  and getting new tattoos.  those two little words.  in sara's handwriting.  my life can't be the same anymore.




Saturday, September 17, 2011

take a chance on me

okay.  so 10 weeks or so ago, I wrote THIS.  my sexyback11 goals.  I set them.  and I set them high.  I should have reported on them a few weeks ago, but today I finally feel up for it.

short term goals?
1.  down 8lbs by my birthday.  less than four weeks.  EEEEEKKKKK!!!  I would LOVE to go into year 39 weighing less than I ever remember weighing in my adult life.  gonna move it, move it.  and string some solid efforts into some consistency.  NOPE.  I bounced all summer up two, down two.  and today, I weighed in at one pound up from the end of june.  no progress in this department, but I think it's because there was progress in other departments {see below!}.

2.  I am walking a half marathon with my mom and sister on august 21st.  we want to do a 10 minute km.  that's a 3.5 hour completion.  I would be happy with that.  YES!  and we did a 9:45 average kilometre.  WOOHOO!!!  and I am doing another half in December...

3.  and it's 12 weeks until labour day?  there's a skirt in my closet that I want to wear on the first day of school.  'nuff said.  it's a size 12.  NOPE.  but I wore a kick-ass dress on the first day of school that I looked and felt fabulous in.  and it was a size smaller than my usual.  all the walking did pay off, just not on the scale...

4.  I am going to take some "before" pictures, but they won't see the light of day until labour day.  then I'll post the before and after pics.  I promise.  NOPE.  took them.  having a bit of a day today.  breaking this promise.  I will, however post a picture of me from today.  my first ever full body self portrait that I've ever taken and feel okay about posting.  point is, I feel better about myself than I did at the beginning of all this.  forgive me?



{I'm not loving my hair today, but I'm liking the rest of me...okay, except the dumb look on my face.  HA!}

5.  and most importantly, I am going to book an appointment with my counsellor and start dealing with my stress a bit better.  I need help carrying this load.  and historically, that gets me into trouble.  you know, when I try to do it ALL on my own.  gonna try being proactive for once in my life.  yeah, nope.  I haven't had time to even go there.  in fact, I had forgotten altogether.  it could explain my wine consumption as of late.


see, not all is bad...


I have more...apparently my "I HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT!" is gone.  I'll save some for tomorrow, okay?


I've missed you too... :)
xoxo

Sunday, September 11, 2011

dancing queen

I am completely spent.  exhausted.  done.  all of my own doing, but in need of rest.  every august I try to prepare myself for the crazy.  and every september I'm hit in the face with the crazy.

so today I'm going to be tired and I'm going to get to bed at a decent hour.  and then tomorrow I'll put my head back into the game.

but this I know to be true:  sometimes getting rid of the kids and spending the weekend hanging out with good friends is worth the tired.

Saturday, September 03, 2011

mama mia

here I go again, my my, how can I forget you...

yes, abba on the brain.

well, two days of teaching done already.  and a full week of work.  ty seems to like grade one so far and nate has no complaints about grade three.  my first few days were also decent, so we'll see how that all plays out!  we've also been re-building one of our fences and that's just about done too.  the damn fence has been such a hassle, but boy have we learned a lot about hiring someone to do the job.  especially people who don't really know how to do the job!  needless to say, it's been a busy, busy week.  HOWEVER, I went to weight watchers last weekend {hadn't been all summer} and then again today and I was down 1.2lbs.  not too shabby.  I also completed four out of six workouts last week.  again, not too shabby.  time {generally the lack of it} seems to be my biggest obstacle, but this week sheer exhaustion was what got me.  at one point, I just chose to go to bed at 8pm because that seemed like the best way to honour my body and my mind.  not a 30 minute interval walk.  like I said, not too shabby.

tomorrow - or monday, it being a long weekend and all - I am going to take some pics and do a sexyback11 update and see how I did on the goals that I set 12 weeks ago.  yeah.  so exciting.  not.  it's not all bad, I know that.  so off to bed for tonight and I'll inform the masses in the next few days...

yippie!

{ty on the morning of his first day of grade one.  he refused to have his picture taken.  shocking.}