Close to my Heart

Once again, long time no post!  Actually, with the advent of social networking sites, I think a lot less people are blogging these days, don't you?  Anyhow, I'm still around.  I continue to keep busy teaching zumba, attending zumba, bellydancing, as well as other group fitness classes.  I no longer have to fight with myself to exercise, my body truly craves and enjoys it and I always (or almost always...) look forward to my next work out. It's a great stress reliever as well as a source of social interaction.

Spring will hopefully be here on Vancouver Island soon (according to the calendar in just a few days).  While we haven't had much snow this winter, I'm nonetheless very glad to bid the season goodbye.  We had a freaky windstorm just last week which resulted in much of our town being without power for varying amounts of time.  We were among the fortunate that were only without for about 8 hours, others did not have it restored for days.  And although we are now having to deal with insurance to replace half the shingles that left our roof we consider ourselves fortunate because our awesome neigbours noticed and tarped it before the water started leaking through and into our house.  And something else to be thankful for is that a huge tree in our driveway snapped and landed on our lawn and not our house or vehicles.  Phew!

I spend far too much time on Facebook these days.  I've found a wonderful group of zumba instructors there whom I'm able to learn so much from.  And I am also trying to have a bit of a presence to promote my own fitness pursuits.  To that end, I have a "Zumba with Brenda" page.  I am trying to use it not just to promote my classes, but I also want to create a bit of a resource for those trying to embrace a healthy lifestyle.  I'm posting links to recipes, fitness information, as well as words of inspiration. 

So please give it a look, and I'd also appreciate a "Like" if you are so inclined. Click on the widget to the right or go here.  Thanks!!

Dare to Live!

Well better a day late than never, here I am back to share my goals and aspirations for 2012 and beyond. 

The last year or longer has, for me, involved stepping outside the box and beyond my comfort zone.  Never in a million years would I have guessed a year ago that I would be teaching zumba.  Those of you know me in real life know me to be fairly quiet and introverted (although I think that is changing) and I know a few people were a little surprised when I expressed my interest in becoming an instructor, myself being one of them! So, this adventure has really involved stepping outside the box for me.  I do not regret it for a minute, I am having a blast and I also think it impacts other aspects of my life in a positive manner too.  So a goal for 2012 is to continue to step outside the box and allow myself to enjoy new experiences, whatever they may be.  I think this sums it up well:

More specific, practical goals:

1.  I need to devote some time to the Fitness Theory course I'm enrolled in.  My longer term plan is to obtain my Group Fitness Certification and the first step towards that is this Fitness Theory course and passing a Fitness Theory exam.  I need to pass that exam in 2012.

2.  Give back to the community.  I hope to give my time and share my zumba love by being part of fund raisers as well as volunteering my time in other ways.

3.  Continue my active lifestyle.  Need to get back to healthier eating, the last month or so things have kind of deteriorated.

4.  Get back to my crafty pursuits.  I feel like I have kind of lost my love for knitting and other fibery pursuits, and I hope that will change in 2012.

I think that is about it.  I would also like to be more oraganized on the home front and to keep our house cleaner.  We shall see........

What are your goals for 2012?

I leave you with the song that I will be using to close my Zumba class this month.  I find it to be very inspirational and really fits what I kind of see as my theme for the year ahead.  Dare to Live!

Reflections of 2011

Well this blog certainly did suffer in 2011,  and I'm quite honesly, unsure as to whether or not it will continue in 2012. I last blogged in early September, and in total blogged just a measly nine times for the whole year.  At any rate, I felt compelled to compose my annual reflections post on this, the last day (heck, the last hours) of 2011.

In last year's Reflections post I talked about the lifestyle changes I had made.  Well I have continued to embrace a busier, more active lifesytle in 2011.  The biggest change for me this year involves something that I did mention last year, and that was Zumba.  Last year I talked about how I had started attending Zumba classes and that I had never had more fun excercising.  Well as you all may recall, I became a licensed Zumba instructor in May of this year.  At that time, I had no idea where that would take me, and wasn't sure whether or not I would do much teaching.  As 2011 ends, I've now been teaching on a regular basis since mid September, and am having a blast doing so.  Teaching Zumba is even way more fun than I ever anticipated.  By year end, I was teaching two regular classes each week.  When you add a full time demanding job to the mix as well as a wonderful husband that I also want to spend time with, 2011 has been pretty busy for me, and I wouldn't want it any other way.  Zumba has also allowed me to develop some wonderful new friendships, both in real life and online.  I'm happy to report that this community is as fabulous as the fiber community. 

I still am an avid reader, although that has ebbed and flowed during the course of the year.  I had some time off over the holidays, and am happy that I got back into books during that down time.  I don't think I can report a favourite book for 2011, and admittedly, the majority of my reading was of a rather fluffy nature.  I just checked through my Goodreads account and apparently read 31 books in 2011, which kind of suprised me, I would have guessed less!

Fiber pursuits really suffered this year.  I don't think I've spun since January, and knitting has been really minimal.  I think I knit a total of about five minutes over my Christmas vacation, which is really rather appalling.  I think given that my only active project (if you could call it that!) is plain vanilla socks that I cast on during the flight to Hawaii in August (and are about 60% complete) may be evidence that I should probably cast on something a little more interesting.  And a quick perusal of my Ravelry project page reveals that I have completed only ten items in 2011, and I wouldn't classify any of them as being major projects either.  

So, is anyone still reading here?  I will be back tomorrow to talk about my goals for 2012.

What I did on my summer vacation

Wow, almost three months since I last blogged?  Crazy!!  I had a hard time even remembering my password to log into Typepad.

Thought it was about time that I update here.  Knitting and other fibery pursuits continue to be minimal.  I did finish a baby project at the beginning of August as well as an e-reader cover.  And I have socks on the needles too.  I haven't knit for a couple weeks but it is on the agenda for today.

So what have I been up to?  Well, I spent about 10 days in Hawaii mid August.  I travelled with three girlfriends, and we had a great time.  If it wasn't for the husband and kitties back home I just might have stayed.   Check out this sunset on our first night there:

And if you're interested, you can view my entire Hawaii photoset on Flickr here.

Not surprisingly, the zumba obsession has continued.  At the beginning of July, I was approached to teach a weekly class at the rec center where I attend classes as well.  I've spent tons of time preparing for my first class, which is now just over a week away.  I'm really excited about this new opportunity and the new experiences it will bring me. With retirement about 6 or 7 years away, I now see group fitness as a big part of my retirement plan, something I would NOT have fathomed a couple years ago (Facebook just reminded me the other day that I began my lifestyle changes two years ago).  Speaking of Facebook, I created a "Zumba with Brenda" page and if you are on FB, would love it if you would go and "Like" me there.

Well that's about it for this Sunday morning.  Hopefully I'll be back sooner than three months from now!

Actual knitting content

Don't be too shocked, I have an actual knitted finished object to show you.  I finished this sweater over a month ago, and finally remembered to photograph it yesterday.  I present to you, Something Pink:

More pictures as well as pattern and yarn information can be found on the Ravelry project page here.