Tree, Frog, Downward Dog

This summer I took some time off from the fitness regime I started last year.  With the long, hot days of summer I just couldn't bear the thought of locking myself away in a gym to run on a treadmill, or even worse, to sit amongst 30 other  sweaty gym rats at a 90-minute hot yoga class.  Instead I tried to earn my activity points by daily walks, working in the garden, outdoor bootcamp, etc.  This is how much things have changed for me...I actually chose to go hiking when we were in Alberta & BC this summer.  Yup - I'm a certifiable move it or lose it kinda gal these days.

But, the days on the sandbar are getting shorter.  And wetter.  And windier.  With the coming of fall and the beginning of my teaching contract I don't have as much leisure time to slot my activities in whenever I feel like it, so I thought it best to get back into some sort of fitness routine.   I've returned to the gym and starting last week to my Monday Night Sweat-a-Thon - Hot Yoga.

If you've never taken a hot yoga class, or a Bikram's class let me tell you what you're missing.  Typically the classes are 90-minutes long.  The yoga studio is dimly lit and intensely hot.  So hot that the thermostat reads 105-degrees (f).  There's typically a fan blowing the hot air around the room and, in the case of the classes I take on the sandbar, about 30 other like-minded individuals in varying degrees of dress and undress spread on their mats about the room.  The less you wear, the less you suffocate.  The more you wear, the more you sweat.  A case can be made for either side.  I choose to dress somewhere in the middle - enough clothing to cover up all the jiggly bits and not so much that I die of asphyxiation.

So, last Monday, there I was kitted out in my bike shorts and tank top, lying prone on my neon green yoga mat trying to calm the voices in my head and clear away the day...breathing in...and...out...in...and...out...when I heard the creak of the studio door, felt the cool breeze of fresh air rushing into the room and with it, the smell of a newcomer. 

He smelled like old socks.  Old socks that had been left in a hockey bag to ferment over the winter.  Old socks in a hockey bag that had first been rolled in poop.

Guess where he chose to roll out his mat?

That's correct...right behind mine.

To add insult to injury (and let me tell you, I was injured after spending 90-minutes inhaling hot, sweaty and STINKY air) I managed to catch a glimpse of the offending yogi whilst twisted into a "happy baby" pose.  The guy with the big stink?  He was one of my former students.

So yeah, hot, tortuous class, coupled with overly ripe former student who was mostly nekked.

Can't wait for tonight's class!

Well, If Oprah Can Do It...

Oprah's been doing it for a couple of years.

I have other friends that have been doing it a while too.

This week, even my MOTHER started doing it.

So really, what choice did I have?

I had to join the Digitals and get with the program.  After-all, I couldn't be bested by a woman 21 years my senior who admittedly thinks the technology that allows us to pick up a plastic device in one's home and talk to someone on the other end of the country (you know....the "telephone") is mind-boggling.

I got a Skype account.

Let me tell you how my world has changed by simply downloading an application to my computer that allows me to call people and video chat with them...LIVE!  It is SO cool!

I know by even admitting how cool I think it is, I am now by definition completely and totally uncool, but there you go - that's the story of my life.

I Skyped with my mom first.  I watched her drink her scotch while we chatted.  All these years, I had no idea she drank while we talked.  The things you learn in a digital universe.

Yesterday I Skyped my 13-year old niece and we had a great laugh about where to position the camera so you don't have a double chin...or making sure to wipe the dust off the monitor so it doesn't appear that the person you're talking to has a big booger in their nose...you know, important stuff like that.  We also caught up on movies we've seen, how our school years have started and where we each respectively write our thoughts to share with the world.  I'm a blogger, so is she.  Again, the things you learn when you can look at someone when you're talking to them.

But here's what occurred to me this morning as I was thinking about the Skype call I'm scheduled to make today at noon.

Most of the time I look something like this:

(truth be told, I seldom have a glass of Sangria in my hand, but it's a cute picture, so there you have it)

But now that I'm Skyping to talk to my friends and family, I'm going to have to do my hair and make-up - otherwise everyone will know that in reality...I normally look like this:

So, did I just improve my life by learning how to video call or complicate it more?

I Don't Know Where I'm Going, But I'm on My Way!

Phhhhhhh…..Here I am blowing the dust off this old blog.   I’ve been gone for a few weeks and that seems to be the trending theme with this old blog lately.  Sorry.

I’ll tell you why I slowed down stopped writing a while ago.  It wasn’t that I was soooo busy redecorating, traveling, gardening or reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.  Nope.  It wasn’t that I was too busy to write; au contraire, I had plenty of time to for that.  Uh-uh.  It wasn’t that I didn’t have things to say; if you know me, you know I always have something to say.  Nope, it wasn’t any of that at all.  Here’s what happened:

My blog got discovered.

I mean, ordinarily, in the blog-o-sphere having your blog discovered is considered a good thing.  Right?

More readers = happy writer?  Right?

Well, probably for most other bloggers that’d be true.

But not for me.

You see, my blog wasn’t discovered by “the masses”. 

Nope. 

It was discovered by one person. 

Snapshots was discovered by …

One of my former students.

And so, why would that keep me from writing you might ask?

Well, people, I had to pause for a bit to figure out how I felt about someone from my place of employment having insights into my personal life.    Because, just like in the Republic of the United States of America, I like to keep Church (work) and State (life) separate. 

I mean it’s one thing to share the details of our life with  friends and family spread across this vast and wide continent, but isn’t it another thing entirely to have people outside of my inner circle reading the daily minutia that makes up our lives here on the sandbar?

So, it’s taken me a couple of months of thought and here’s what I’ve decided.

There are really no state secrets on my blog.

It’s a great tool to share what’s happening in our world, so far from our families and closest friends.  It’s a creative outlet for me.  It’s a place I can showcase my growing skills at photog’ing (new word meaning the taking of photographic images).   It’s fun.  I like it.  I’m not giving it up dammit.

Buzz and I are about to embark on a really big adventure in uncertainty that will take us many more miles away from some family & close friends (but closer to others) and what better place to keep you all apprised of what’s happening with us than to continue to update here?

I may redesign this site.

I will probably rename this site.

I don’t know.

Just like almost everything else that’s going on in our lives, this too is changing.  Come along for the ride, won’t you?