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!

2010 Recap

Already it's time to recap 2010, seems like we were just ringing it in!  Here's a summary of my year:

1. The Olympics.  Wow, what an experience it was, one that I will never forget.  I blogged about it on the day of the closing ceremonies here.  I still consider myself so fortunate to have been able to experience the Games.

2.  Lifestyle changes.  I continued with the weight loss efforts I started in 2009, reached my goal weight, and am wearing the smallest size clothes I've worn since I was a kid.  I'm smaller than I was in high school.  So happy, more energy, huge health impact.  Glad I finally did it!

3.  Performed in my first bellydance show at the end of May.  I don't think I actually told anyone about it here.  I'm continuing to take bellydance classes, they always make me smile.

4.  Zumba!  I started zumba classes in September, and am so happy to have finally found the perfect cardio activity for me, have never had so much fun while exercising.  Looking forward to many more zumba classes in 2011.

5.  Books.  I used to read a lot, prior to the internet and prior to becoming consumed with fiber pursuits.  At that point, the number of books I would read in any given year was sadly in the low single digits, yet I'd always missed my relationship with books.  That all changed in 2010. I track the books I read over at Goodreads and according to my records there, this year I finished a total of 35 books, 13 of which were audiobooks.   This was initially related to the lifestyle changes and becoming more active.  During the summer I would go for long walks while enjoying an audiobook, something which became very relaxing for me.  I also discovered e-books on my iPad, and haven't looked back since, I love reading on my iPad, and look forward to reading even more books in 2011 (quite likely since the majority of books finished were in the latter half of the year). 

I thought I'd share my favorite reads of 2010:

Hands down, my favorite audiobook this year (heck, it's the best audiobook I've listened to period) was The Help.  If you enjoy audiobooks, you must go listen to this book!  Great story, and awesome readers too.

Many of the non audio books that I read this year were somewhat fluffy, however others were more meaningful.  Just a few weeks ago I read The Book of Negroes.  This was a great book, a fictional story based on real life events.  I learned a lot from this book and highly recommend it.

6.  Fiber Fun.  I guess it's no big surprise that with all of the activities I'm now involved in, fiber pursuits suffered in 2010.  I didn't weave at all this year, and I knit, spun, and crocheted much less than other years.  I rarely touched fiber during the work week, but did spend some quality time with it each weekend.  I quick check of my Ravelry projects indicates that I've completed 6 pairs of socks, 4 baby sweaters, 2 baby booty/hat sets, 1 toddler dress, 3 sweaters, 4 shawls, 3 scarves, 2 shrugs, 1 vest, 1 baby blanket and 2 dishcloths.  I guess that's not too shabby all things considered.  Current works in progress are vanilla socks and 2 sweaters (1 hibernating til spring). 

I wish each of you a happy and healthy 2011.  See you then!

Olympic Reflections

I think I've mentioned here before that Olympic tickets were issued by a lottery system.  I learned that my sister and I had scored tickets to the Opening Ceremonies and the Ice Dance Final back in about December 2008.  We were pretty excited that we would be attending these events, but the Olympics seemed so far away at that point.  As 2009 progressed, I would tell people almost apologetically that I would be attending Olympic events.  There was a lot of controversy about whether or not our province should be having the Olympics because of the impact on things like health care and social services, and this criticism is quite valid.

As the weeks to the Olympics approached, there started to be lots of excitement building about the Olympics, spurred on by the Torch crossing our country.  A winter Olympic fan since childhood  (I have memories of past Games going back to about 1972) I began to get excited. In the last week or so before the Opening Ceremonies I was counting the sleeps until the big event, just like a kid counting down the arrival of Santa!  The Opening Ceremonies were phenomenal.  People would ask me what my favourite part of them was, and I have not been able to answer that question.  I returned home the day after the Opening Ceremonies and worked that following week. 

I returned to  Vancouver the next weekend in anticipation of the Ice Dance Final on Monday.  Wow, what an experience that was.  Once again we were in nosebleed seats, but seeing my home country win Gold was pretty amazing.  I will never forget seeing Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir receive their medals, the Maple Leaf being raised, and the crowd enthusiastically singing Oh Canada. I admit my eyes watered at that point. 

I spent the next few days wandering around Vancouver.  Tuesday night found me on Robson Street just as Joannie Rochette's short program was projected live on the side of a building.  Lots of people stopped to watch this brave performance. 

Wednesday night we were once again on Robson street, this time to experience the announcement that Canada had won both Gold and Silver in Ladies Two Man Bobsled.  The crowd was so excited, lots of flags waving and Oh Canada being sung.  Pretty exciting.

 I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time in Vancouver during the Olympics.  Seeing the excited crowds waving and wearing Canadian flags, expressing their love and enthusiasm for their country has been awesome.  It's been great that Canada has done really well at the Olympics we hosted, but it's not even this that makes these Games so successful.  It has brought out a sense of patriotism in our country.  We are admittedly a rather modest nation that has not shown the same kind of patriotism as our neigbours to the south.  Until now.  My online Canadian friends (mostly on Facebook) have been regularly updating their status to reflect their support for Canadian Olympians and the experience overall.  And I have Facebook friends located right across the country.  I think it has brought us closer together as a country, and while I've always been Proud to be Canadian, never has this been so true as the last couple weeks.  I should also mention that my online American friends have also been supportive of  Canadians during these Olympics, so one could also say that it has brought us closer together and changed our relationships as well.

As the Olympics come to a close today, my hope for all of us is that we will continue to embrace this enthusiasm in the days, week, months, and even years ahead.  Personally, I don't think an event such as this has ever impacted me to this level.  I'm blogging this mostly for myself because I don't ever want to forget the emotions I'm feeling right now.

Peace.

International Pie Day

Did you know that today was a big holiday?  I celebrated by going to my sister in law's most awesome coffee shop, where she was serving up her excellent home made pies, with the profits going to Haiti relief efforts. I enjoyed this very yummy piece of Lemon Meringue, one of my favourites.

I might also have bought a whole apple pie home for Joe and I to share. Pie and cheddar cheese for dinner anyone?

And no, I haven't abandoned the diet thing. One day a week I indulge myself just a little, which helps me keep going the rest of the week.   I'm happy to report that I have now lost just over 33 pounds and have gone down three pants sizes.  I feel so much better.  I posted some before and after pictures on my diet and fitness blog, which you can see here.

2009: A Retrospective

I've seen a few bloggers today post pictorial retrospectives from their 2009 blog posts to commemorate the end of the year, so thought I'd do the same.  This was a year of both ups and downs, and I can't say I'm sorry to usher the year out.  Thankyou so much for reading along faithfully with me this year.  I've made some new friends through this blog as well as continued many longer online (and offline!) friendships.  I wish each one of you much health and happiness in the year ahead.  See you in 2010!

January started with my first Finished Object of the year, a crochet cardigan:

In February I had the flu (thought to be Norwalk) and was sicker than Joe had ever seen me since we've been together (since November 1992).  He bought me this lovely rose plant, what a guy eh?

 

Sadly, this plant is no longer with us, my thumb is not green.

The first day of March I cast off the first of two or three knit-a-longs I participated in this year, this is the Kauni Revontuli Shawl.  Which reminds me, I haven't worn it in a while, must do so soon.

 

I participated in a few swaps in 2009, after having taken a break for a few years.  One of the package included a catnip treat, which Buttons and Frisbee really enjoyed:

In May Spring was in the air and both ourselves and the cats were able to spend more time outdoors.  I took this action shot of Frisbee jumping up to the window to see Buttons in the house.  I think this is one of the best kitty action shots I've ever taken.

 

During the month of June I tried to spend as many of my lunch breaks as possible outdoors, often with camera and knitting in hand, thankful that I live in such a beautiful part of the world.

I spent part of July on vacation, it was a gorgeous month.  I love summer! This was the summer of the barbeque for us, can't wait to get out there and grill again!

Early in August I started to weave.  Lots of fun, unfortunately I need more hours in the day to indulge in all my fibery pursuits.  Haven't touched the loom (or actually, looms, I have two now) for a couple months, need to do so soon!

 

Didn't blog much in September so the pictures to chose from that month were pretty lean.  I did work on this scarf with some of my favourite handspun to date though:

October was a fun month featuring a couple fiber events, including a spinning retreat where the banquet dessert was this gorgeous cake complete with chocolate spinning wheel:

In November I started blogging daily photos (I hope to get back to that soon) and also finally blocked what ended up being my favourite knit item yet, the Harbour Lights Shawl. I'm still amazed at the difference blocking made with this item.

 

And finally, December. A rather stressful month as my Dad had major surgery (he's doing very well now, thankfully).  I was away from home for almost two weeks what with Dad being in hospital and then for Christmas.  Regardless, the Legislature in Victoria always looks gorgeous all lit up for the holidays:

See you soon, I still have a few things to catch up with on this blog. Happy New Year!

Cards and a Meme

It's been a long time since I've posted any cards here.  I've neglected papercrafting and my Etsy shop since purchasing my spinning wheel and becoming an obsessed spinner.  The last couple cards I've made have been simple and quick. 

This card was for a dear friend's birthday a few weeks ago:

And this one, sadly was for a co-worker who lost her mother earlier this week:

Jackie tagged me for a meme, so I will close with that. Today is the first Farmer's Market of the season for my community, so I'm headed there this morning.

• I am:  who I am
• I think: I am a thoughtful, caring person
• I know: I am a homebody
• I want: to travel
• I have: lots of purses!
• I wish: I was more motivated to clean my house more
• I hate: prejudice
• I miss: My Granny who died almost 24 years ago
• I fear: loosing my loved ones
• I feel: content
• I hear: the television
• I crave: sweets
• I wonder: why people can have no compassion for people less fortunate than them
• I regret: that I didn't travel in my youth
• I love: my husband
• I ache: can't think of an answer
• I care: about children
• I always: need my morning coffee
• I am not: athletic
• I believe: in fate
• I dance: rarely but sure love it when I do!
• I sing: while listening to music in my car
• I cry: easily
• I don't always: listen as well as I should
• I fight: for what I believe in
• I write: for my blog, Ravelry forums, and lots of emails at work
  
• I win: can't think of an answer to this one
• I lose: or to this one.  I'm not a competitive person

I'm not going to tag anyone.  If you've made it this far....have a great Sunday!

Not a year in review...

Well,  I had great plans to write a year in review type post here, but that just isn't going to happen.  I also had great plans to blog more while I was on vacation.  I return to work tomorrow, and obviously that never happened either.  I will say that 2007 proved to be a year where the majority of  my knitting seemed to consist only of socks.  My Gallery (see sidebar) is hopelessly out of date (was hoping to remedy that while on vacation too....never happened. I'm thinking that I won't create a new Gallery for 2008 but will just list my projects over on Ravelry) but I know that I haven't completed any new garments since it was last updated.  So, in 2007 I knit only two sweaters (malabrigo top down cardi and the pinwheel), two shawls (one still needs to be blocked) knit one bag, crocheted two bags, as well as lots of socks. I will always have socks on the needles, but really want to accomplish more than that in the New Year.

My first Finished Object in 2008 will likely be Mr Greenjeans:

Unfortunately, this sweater isn't as close to being done as it would appear in this picture.  I'm going to frog back to about two inches above where the cable rib pattern begins, as it is too low on my body.  I was initially going to leave it, but know I will enjoy this sweater more if it fits properly.  I've really been enjoying the cable rib pattern (it knits up much quicker than I thought it would thanks to cabling without a cable needle) so I really can't complain.  Maybe I am a process knitter after all?

2007 was also the year that I got into papercrafting and started my Etsy store.  It's been a lot of fun, gives my hands a break (since I do have some carpal tunnel like symptoms), and I've met an awesome group of fellow Canadian Etsians in the forums.  I also enjoy having a Finished Object in much less time than while knitting or crocheting.  Here's one of my last card creations for 2007, again using a Stamping Bella stamp. 

I made three of these cards as a thank-you to some awesome friends who supported me in my journey to a promotion at work.  I chose this particular stamp as we had recently enjoyed a day at the spa together, which ended with a soak and a clay scrub.

More camaraderie was enjoyed through knitting events such as retreats and fiber festivals.  I met lots of fellow knit bloggers for the first time this year, including Peg, Lisa, Raven, Michelle, Shannon (just yesterday, finally, even though she lives only a kilometer or two away from me), and even the Yarn Harlot herself.  I also enjoyed continuing friendships with Shelley and Uli.

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do have hopes for the 2008.  I want to spin more, I haven't touched my spindle for a couple months at least.  Was also planning to do that during Christmas vacation....  I will start Kauni as soon as Mr. Greenjeans is off the needles (really!).  I want to add more pages to my scrapbook and not just make cards.  And of course I need to eat healthier, exercise more, and loose some weight.  And I look forward to some interesting challenges ahead at work as I start my new position on January 7th.

Hmmmm, looks like I just wrote an end of year post, how'd that happen?  I wish each of you New Year filled whatever makes you happy!