Being Active These Days

I've been thinking a lot about what living a healthy lifestyle means to me. Growing up as a dancer naturally meant that I was pretty active without having to even try. It wasn't like I consciously said to myself, I'm going to go to class and workout now. Dance was fun...and it just happened to be a great workout.

But here's the thing, I've slowed down a lot in the past few years. I'm no longer teaching dance several hours a day. I'm teaching three hours a week. I'm also not teaching advanced dancers anymore. I'm teaching young beginner dancers. This means I'm not sweating as much or working as hard during class. In fact, I'm not really getting much of a workout at all during those three hours.

When I teach beginners I spend most of my time talking, explaining, slowly working through sequences, and fixing dancers alignment. When I teach advanced dancers, I don't have to do that much at all. Advanced dancers know these things already, so I spend much of my time actually dancing and demonstrating difficult sequences that get the heart rate up and doing movements that work my muscles intensely. I sweat a lot in an advanced class.

I'm perfectly fine with where I'm at as a teacher these days. I've purposely taken my work load down. I enjoy teaching beginners. It is exciting to see them progress and come in to their own talent.

But....

I miss the way it feels to really be in shape. I miss feeling strong. And I'll be honest, I miss the way my body looks when I'm in shape. An active lifestyle makes me feel a lot better mentally and physically.

So, Ashland and I have started walking in the morning. It's a small change, but it's a start and it feels good. Eventually Pilates will become a daily routine again. Cycling, weight training, and yoga will be added as well. I'd like to make a lifestyle switch, if you will. I'd like to see where it takes me and if I can feel better about how I look and feel as a result. But one thing at a time. I know myself and if I heap on too much in the beginning, I will fail. I also know that if I'm not having fun with it, I will fail.

I've always associated being active with having fun. Being active cannot feel like a chore to me or I won't do it.

Right now, early morning walks are a great place to start.

Her Weekend

Lovely weekend, despite the rain.

* Ashland got a clean bill of health from the vet who exclaimed several times that her teeth looked 'just awesome!' Ha ha. She asked if we brushed them or had them cleaned. I told her that all we do is give her a Dentastix everyday. Ash is getting older and slowing down a bit and we were sent home with some pain pills to try for her arthritis when we go walking. But other than that, she's in great shape. 

 

* Saturday was busy as I had early morning dance practice with my kids. Recital is in a week and we are gearing up! I will be sad when it's all over. The girl leading the class is my assistant, Kelsey. She has been awesome to work with this year and the girls love her! * After dance I headed over to my mom's to photograph the new purses she's sewn. The website is getting a revamp over the next couple of weeks so watch for new stuff coming out.  

* Andy and I attended a Zeedish mixer at Jill and Shane's house Saturday night. I used to work with Jill in Digitization at the Library and I just love her. They are garden enthusiasts, as well, and recently launched their garden exchange website, Zeedish. She invited other gardener friends over to celebrate the launch. We had so much fun. There was an amazing spread made of fresh veggies and fruit, as well as wine made from Jill and Shane's grape vines. Even though we had just met most of these people, we all just clicked so well. Before we knew it we had spent five hours there just laughing and chatting. The plan is to make the Zeedish mixer a monthly party and to move it around to each others houses, so we can check out each other's gardens. We came home that night with goodies from the other gardeners including these strawberry plant starts from Jill's yard. Yay! 

* Sunday we went out for a breakfast date to Moore's and then saw a movie later in the day.

* Some of my Daylilies have shown up! Our front yard is really looking pretty right now.

How was your weekend?

Around Here | Garden Edition

Things are looking good around here. When the tiniest little Anemones start to open up, I know the magic of Spring blooms is about the begin. We got our garden planted last week and considered expanding the garden space yet again. The Tulips are on their way out at this point and I have one red Peony opening it's bud. The rest of the red and white Peonies are still closed tightly. We have this pretty little blue ground cover, called Grace Ward Lithodora, that I planted last year (I think). I haven't noticed it much, but this year, it's knocking my socks off. I love it. Magically (despite all of Henry's efforts) the Hostas have survived, and next to the Sweet Woodruff, they look fantastic. The Daisies multiply every year and last year I had to move a bunch of them to the back yard to make space. I don't care if they spread everywhere, because they're just the happiest little flower.
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Do you plant a garden or flowers? What do you have blooming right now?

Two Thoughts

Totally random things on my mind lately.

Thought 1-I feel like the blog and Facebook make it easier for people not to contact me. They don't really need to call to catch up with me, because they can plainly see online what's going on with me on any given day and I can see what's going on with them. A couple of years ago I found myself really isolated. I kind of did that to myself though and I was full of excuses- no money, too busy, work schedule, etc. I realized I didn't want to do that. The small group of people I kept close to me were important to me. Recently I feel a bit isolated again. I've been reaching out to people and not getting much of a response. I get it though. Life is busy, money's tight, other stuff takes priority and I tend to hide behind my online presences sometimes. I totally get it and that's not the point of this post. The beauty of close friendships is that time can lapse but the friendship will always be there. The point is- it's made me kind of negative towards the blog and Facebook and I kind of don't feel like blogging or Facebooking anymore because of it. But really- it's me too. I mean, it's me who has quit trying with people as well, right? I'm not a crazy social person at all. I can be super social, but I don't prefer it. I mean, truth be told- small talk gives me hives. I really don't like it. But- I have a very small group of people (I like it that way) who are crazy important to me and I want them close. I want to small talk with them, even if I hate doing it with other people, you know?

Thought 2-I have this contradictory point of view that I don't care if complete strangers or blogger friends (I love my blogger friends!) follow me online and I don't care if close friends and family follow me online. Doesn't weird me out in the slightest. But there's something just a little funny feeling about someone who is in between those two categories following my online presence. Well, actually it doesn't get wierd until they come up to me to say something about something I posted because then it kind of makes me jolt a little with the realization that they were 'checking me out' online. Not 'checking me out' like romantically, but looking me up, you know? When this happens it makes me think 'hmmm, now I just want to disappear from the internet completely because that was a tiny bit off-setting and awkward.' Doesn't really make sense though, does it? Because it's not like I try to hide or privatize my online presence that much and I don't post anything that I wouldn't bring up in a conversation with people. Plus, sometimes I even tell casual acquaintances where they can find me online, so when they do- why should it be strange? It really shouldn't bother me, right? I've realized it kinda does though.

These two things combined have been nagging at me lately and inadvertently causing me to step away for a bit. Of course, I've been busy finishing up spring semester of my master's degree and other jazz. But in a way, I've felt a little bit 'over it all.' That's the only way I can sum it up. So where does this leave me? Totally not sure, but whatever. I need to get these thoughts all written out so I could analyze them easier. The internet is both good and bad. But in reality, I'm actually a very private person. Something about blogging and Facebooking made it a little easier for me to come out of my hole and that was nice for awhile- but now it's just getting old. I have this strong desire to keep my hubby, our families, and our really good friends tight and keep the rest of the world at arms length if that makes sense.

This isn't a goodbye (at least I don't think) it's just a "hmmmmm."

These Days

* I have a library book problem. This is what happens when you work at a library and they let you have books out for pretty much as long as you want. It's like being a kid in a candy store. In my defense, I'm not nearly as bad as my coworkers who have had over 50 library books checked out at one time. Lol. That's right. I'm not feeling too bad about my collection of 12, although I'm well on my way to joining the obsessed club.

* On a related note, I am thrilled to be working with people who love books like I do. In the evening, after the library has quieted down, we sit around the desk and talk about what we're currently reading. We recommend books to each other and gush over favorites. I can go on and on about my current favorite and listen to my coworker talk about Brandon Sanderson for hours. I feel so happy and fresh when I leave work for the night. These are my people and I love it.

* For the last two weeks I've been finishing up my semester work. I am writing a paper that is due Friday and it's pretty much sucking the life out of me. Hence, my absence from the blog. I do not enjoy writing papers. I'm not bad at it, I just hate doing it. I'd much rather give an oral presentation or whip out Powerpoint. I think it's stupid how papers make you worry whether or not you sound 'intellectual' enough to pass. Hmmm.....how many big words can I cram into this stupid paragraph. Lame.

* Excited to move on from this semester and start summer classes. I'm taking two youth literature classes. I didn't much care for my job as a children's librarian, but I still adore the reading material for children and young adults. It's magic.

* I've rekindled my love for Tumblr. I forgot how much I love it there. Find me here.

* I've also rekindled my love for Pinterest. For awhile there it was awesomeness-overload and I had to step back before my head exploded. I'm totally ready for the awesomeness again though. Find me here.

* Desperately craving summer adventures.
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How about you? What's new?