Pilates, pilates - PILATES!

My oh my oh my.....lordy, lordy Jenn - what have you gotten yourself into?

Pilates update:

• Monday 6-7 (indefinitely)
• Tuesday 5:10-6:00 (until December)
• Wednesday 7-8 (indefinitely)
• Thursday 6-7 (until mid-October)
• Friday 12:10-1:00 (until December)

Who thinks they're Wonder woman? I DO! I DO! In order to keep my sanity and keep my blood pressure from skyrocketing through my body, through the ceiling and eventually to the sky I'm putting together a pro's and con's list.

PRO's

• I'm finally jumping in with two feet rather than one in and one out;
• I am putting my Certificate to good use;
• I'm going to see what I'm really made of;
• I'm going to find out if I enjoy teaching;
• I'm forced to learn every posture and master it;
• I'll get lots of experience in different locations (gym, studio, in-home lessons);
• Physical proof that their is a need for Pilates in the region;
• 3 of the classes are not indefinite and there is an end time;
• We'll have extra $ for trips and home renos (with no extra time to spend it on crap); and
• I'm gonna be buff, oh so buff.

CON's

• I feel like I'm over my head and I'm nervous about teaching in general;
• I'm afraid I won't be able to balance my job and home life;
• I don't know every posture by heart; and
• I'm worried that I'm not knowledgeable enough to teach to advanced students.

Based on the list above I have some to do's to help me feel good about my decisions to date:

• I know I'll be a good teacher once I feel more confident in myself and the only way to feel more confident is to practice, practice and practice.
• I will have to ask Alex to be patient with me during the next few months and let him know he might need to pick-up some slack around the house.
• I have to let my bosses know that I am comfortable teaching beginner and intermediate classes and that I am not comfortable teaching advanced classes yet - BE ASSERTIVE.
• I need to make sure that I'm taking it easy on my off days and really give myself time to recoupe from the hectic week.

Anything else you can think of?

xo
Jenn

speedy mcspeedertons is back.

As mentioned in prior posts I'm a busy beaver attempting to be not so busy (and failing miserably).

Going against everything I've been trying to do in terms of slowing down, I started applying to teach Pilates in a few different places in hopes of ONE of them working out.

I did this because became a teacher recently, really enjoy the form of exercise and thought it would be a good way to force myself to stay in shape, get better speaking in front of groups of people (for my current jobs benefit) and lastly, to earn a little extra dough.

On Wednesday I received an email from a co-worker asking if I could come up to her home to teach her and a couple of friends once a week and I agreed. On Thursday morning, I met the new fitness co-ordinator at the College who asked me to teach on Tuesday evenings and on Friday afternoons and of course, I eagerly agreed. Today, I received a call from the owner of a local Pilates studio asking if I could meet her this Sunday at 4 p.m. to discuss my available teaching times! Guess what I did? You got it - AGREED!

Can you believe it? I put it out there in hope of ONE and now I've got THREE. I am super excited to build up my Pilates teaching resume but also a little nervous about the amount I have on my plate.

On another note, I went to Winners today and got three awesome workout tops with built in slightly padded bras which I am super pumped about. I have an awful time finding tops that work for me and of course I'd find some this week because EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON!!

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

xo Jenn

my personal vows.

Monday was my 28th birthday. It was a GREAT day (although I worked for the majority of it) filled with family, friends and PRESENTS!! My hubby arranged for all my local family and friends to meet at a new little Thai restaurant downtown and totally surprised me - it was fabulous.

On the way into work on Tuesday feeling great about myself and everyone in my life I made a few vows to myself of things I will and will not do over the next 30 days in hopes of breaking bad habits and starting new good habits.

1) I will not smoke anymore cigarettes. I don't smoke regularly by any means but when I'm in a group of smokers and I've had a wobbly pop or two I get an insatiable need to smoke at least one cigarette if not five. I don't feel good about it the next day, my breath reeks and most importantly if I'm getting my body ready for a baby it does not need any second hand smoke.

2) I will start taking my vitamins again. I have a new family doctor who prescribed me calcium-mag (lactose intolerant), a multi-vit, vit D, vit C and now Materna = a lot of pills. However, she said in order for me to be the most "hospitable" for a bebe I've got to get my levels up in all of these areas.

3) I will committ to a 30-day, 30-minute Pilates challenge. This includes bringing my mat to the cottage or to a friends home if I stay the night. It seems when I don't exercise I get in a funk and when I'm in a funk I don't want to exercise (surprise, surprise huh?).

Last night I started the ball rolling by doing 45 minutes of Pilates, refraining from cigarettes while Alex sucked a couple back on the back deck and took my viatmins in the a.m.

1 day down and 29 to go!

PS - don't worry this blog isn't going to become me talking about these challenges constantly. I just needed to put the word on the street so people hold me accountable.

xo
Jenn

it's baby time.

For the past 2 years Alex and I have been all over the map about when to start a family (actually, it's just been me). A few months before we got married Alex suggested we wait for a year after our wedding and I agreed. A year didn't seem that long to me and only a few of our good friends were in long term relationships let alone ready for or thinking about having a child. I'd also heard from tons of people that it's best to be pregnant and have children when others in your life is so the transition from two to three isn't so isolating.

After about six months of being married I started to change my tune. I wasn't happy in my job, lots was going on at home (on my side of the family) and I decided I needed something to keep my spirits up. Guess what that was? A baby!! Alex, being the level-headed, process oriented creature that he is said no way jose you agreed to a year and we're sticking to it. Looking back now I realize he was right and that he likely would've agreed had I been in a better head space and not as overwhelmed as I was at that point in life. He's a keeper. I will also admit I was suffering from baby fever as people we knew started to get pregnant and I felt like I was missing out.

Shortly after this baby episode I decided I wasn't happy in my job and that getting a job closer to home that allowed me to have a better quality of life was more important. I took a leap and looked at my new endeavour as a "what is meant to be will be" perspective and I took a one year contract job that was 5 minutes from home versus an hour in hopes of it turning into full time.

Fast forward to about two months ago (nine months after my contract started) and you'd find me sitting in HR signing a full time contract! I was (and am) ecstatic.

So, for the past month and a half or so Alex and I have been discussing what the appropriate length of time is to be on full time before getting pregnant. I've been polling my girlfriends to find out there point of view. After about 2 weeks of agonizing (because we are both ready) we decided that we're going to try right away because we shouldn't be concerned with what the correct protocol is but what feels right for us.

I'm so excited for this next chapter of life and to have a big old belly filled with a beautiful human being that the love of my life and I created together.

For anyone that has any pull out there, please bless this child that we will soon create.

xo
Jenn

alone on the range...

My husband has been away since Saturday and I won't be home until this coming Wednesday (in total 11 days). This is the LONGEST I've ever been on my own in my life.

About a year ago I would've been terrified to spend this much time on my own.

This isn't because I didn't like spending time by myself here and there (i.e. - one day to read, relax, clean, catch-up on sleep etc.) but because for one, I love talking and for two, I honestly didn't think I could occupy myself for a long period of time. My husband always made fun of me when I had a "me" day and asked "how many people did you talk to today?" because he knew I'd get bored and call my Mom, Dad, friends or anyone else I could think of to keep me busy. The worst part is that it was true! By noon I'd be getting antsy and needed someone to talk to. I guess that means I wasn't so comfortable in my own skin.

Over the past year or so since I've been working locally and coming home for lunch then spending a couple of hours on my own before my hubby gets home from his commute, I've come to love my personal time. I read, I take the dog for a walk, I clean up the house a bit and then I start dinner. It's a beautiful thing! Nice and relaxing and the perfect way to wind down from a busy day at work.

So, I'm 6 days in and doing great! Last night was a bit of a gongshow - I went to volleyball until about 8:30 p.m. and didn't eat dinner and was so hungry when I got home that I ate an ENTIRE Little Ceasar's hot'n'ready pizza to myself and I have wicked gas today to prove it (too much information?). What was I thinking?

I've taken Winston (our 9 month old boxer pup) for a walk most nights, done Pilates a few times, ironed umm...11 elephant shirts (my husbands massive work shirts), watched a couple of movies and kept the house nice and tidy. The laundry is done, the floors are clean, the beds are made, the dishes are done....oh, so nice.

The things I don't like: 1) cooking for one, 2) having the dog by myself...I feel a little chained to the house since it's so warm and I can't leave him in the car when I want to do a few little errands, 3) bedtime - it's freaky going to bed alone in a big house...I check and double check the locks and 4) when my cellphone dies due to lack of charging (my own fault) and I have no method of communication if a burglarer tries to steal me.

Although I am liking my time to myself I can't wait for my lovebug to come home.

xo Jenn

oh my aching head...

I've had a headache for 6 days straight, I've been taking 2 extra strength Tylonel's twice a day and all they did was make it manageable to go to work and function. I finally went to the doctor today and she said Advil liquid gels are where it's at along with getting an eye exam, rest and plenty of water.

An eye exam you say? No thanks. I've already spent my early years resembling a pirate and I have no intention of wearing glasses that make me look like I have one googly eye.

To give you background, I had a lazy eye that was operated on at a very young age (maybe 1 and a 1/2 or so) and I wore a skin coloured eye patch until grade 1 along with glasses. Can you even imagine how cool I was? The one eyed child.

My Mom was also famous for the buy one, get one deals so I had two lovely pairs of glasses that not only magnified my eyes but also my cheeks. I think her philosphy was the bigger the better. I'm also fairly certain she thought the more colourful the better. I can remember denim, pink and purple glasses.

Then in about grade 7 I noticed that I could see the same with or without glasses so I decided to stop wearing them at school. Well, Mom found out (thanks to my lovely brother) and then started policing me and doing "pop-in's" to make sure I was wearing them. That wasn't embarassing at all. I spent the next two years fighting my Mom tooth and nail to not wear them and eventually she agreed to take me to a different optometrist who agreed with me and told my Mom I didn't need them anymore and that my eyes had corrected themselves. HA!


So, do I want to get an eye exam and hear I need to wear glasses all the time again? No, not so much. Mind you, the 6 day headache is making me think twice about choosing vanity over some not so pretty glasses and they do have some pretty cool ones now....

hello!

Soooo.....I'm not quite sure where this blog will be about.

At this point, I feel it will likely include a lot of me rambling on about where life is taking me and the process of getting where I'm going.

To start, I'm going to explain me and my quirkiness and hope that helps me to iron out what I'm going to write about.

I run physically and I run mentally.

I'm sure running physically makes sense to most (putting one foot in front of the other quickly while bending your knees and swinging your arms). However, you might think when I say I "run" that I run marathons and I don't. Sometimes jog but more often then not I run to the car, to the grocery store from the car, run-walk the dog, from my office to the car, to the washroom...I just plain old run, wherever I can and whenever I can. I don't THINK I run to the point of looking like a crazy person but I don't much see the point in walking, especially if I have somewhere to be and let's face it - running burns more calories then walking does!

What I mean by running mentally is that I do everything at warp speed. Basically this means I run through life; I generally bite off more than I can chew. Some regular examples of my daily life: I double book myself, I do a million things over my one hour lunch, for example: I drive home, let the dog out, make the bed, make and eat lunch, tidy-up the house, put on a load of laundry, take something out for dinner, water the plants and play with the dog - then drive back to work. PHEW!

It doesn't bother me that I tend to run to most places but more and more often it's bothering me that I run through life. I truly do try to make a conscience effort to slow down and take things slowly (especially with my husbands help who is much more balanced then I) but inevitably I pick-up speed and before I know it I'm back running through life again. For example, in the past two weeks I have:

1. Started a new job;
2. Finished a Pilates certification and started teaching out of my house;
3. Applied at three places to teach Pilates part-time in the evenings; and
4. Begun researching the best way for me to go back to school (while in a new job) to obtain a bachelor in something....(business, communications, marketing - something along those lines).

....and that's just the NEW stuff.

I also have a husband who commutes to work 3 hours a day, a 100 year old house that needs loads of attention, 3 gardens, a dog, a kitchen, front yard and backyard under renovations, 80% of our family within a 5 minute drive, a bunch of new nieces and nephews, friends in Toronto, Bowmanville, Oshawa, Cambridge and Bobcaygeon, a million people getting married and well....I could go on and on - but I won't.

So, now that you know about me you'll see that this blog will be varied.....whatever floats my boat (or sinks my boat for that matter) will be the topic of the day.

I'm looking forward to a place to share, muse, discuss and of course, talk outloud without actually doing so.

xo Jenn