A petite update.

Speaking of cheese. I tried 'chocolate cheese' this weekend. It's a damn shame that I did. It was wonderful. Better than fudge I believe. Tangier. Less sweet. Probably more fattening.

I had a great weekend. Here is why;
1) Had a wonderful birthday dinner for my hubby at the Olive Garden with the fam.
2) Went to the "Marilyn Monroe" exhibit at the Glenbow. Wonderful. Saw some of her dresses and some naked pics (?) too. Well worth it.
3) Went to the Theater Calgary Production of "Doubt." Also wonderful. And intense. We sat in the front row and I have a really hard time just "watching" a performance. I'm watching people come on and off stage, praying they don't screw up and making sure they aren't missing their cues. I can't let it go and just watch. But I tried.
4) Went for lunch with Isotti. Always lovely.
5) Went to Charlie's shower. Here, I reconnected with a girlfriend I haven't seen in forever and felt really great about it.
6) Met Charlie. Loved Charlie. Cried during our initial embrace. Too funny.
7) Spent the evening and day with Kels and babe and enjoyed every moment of it.
8) Small brother turned 15 on Sunday. I remember when I was 15....
9) Parents anniversary today.
10) Cory turns 25 tomorrow.

Intense weekend. But the best in a long time. Only would have been better if I'd have seen you my love :)


Hope your weigh-in was successful this morning. Talk soon.
Rebe

Say Cheese!

turophile
(toor'-oh-file, tyoor'-oh-file) n. a connoisseur of cheese; a cheese fancier.

Example sentence - Becky is a major turophile. Her favorite is Applewood Smoked Chedder.

Top Ten (well eleven...) Reasons I Love Mariah

11) I love her version of O Holy Night. There is a moment in that song where she literally takes over the high violin part with her voice. It's phenomenal. Totally unnecessary, but phenomenal none the less.

10) She said "My mother is Irish, my father is black and Venezuelan, and me - I'm tan, I guess." Seriously? This is why I sometimes feel embarrassed to admit she is my hero.

9) She made a movie about a mixed race little girl with a weird relationship with her father who, ironically, becomes a famous singer. And she can't understand why people think it's autobiographical.

8) "One day I promised God that if he would give me my voice back I would never smoke again. I got three octaves back after quitting." Think about this. 3 octaves. C below middle C to 2 C's above middle C. This is my entire range. She regained these notes after quitting smoking. Oh my heck. I'm sorry I missed hearing her sing during her smoking period. I'm thinking about taking up smoking....if I quit do you think I could gain another octave or 2?

7) She's all about taking a theme and really running with it. She has a song called 'Butterfly', she has a butterfly tattoo, she has a butterfly belly button chain, she has 2 fragrances both in butterfly shaped containers and she said, and I quote, "Butterflies are always following me, everywhere I go.” I can dig this sort of thing. I love bandwagons.

6) She is the greatest Diva ever. She admits it. "I know I can be diva-ish sometimes, but I have to be in control. The nature of my life, the nature of what I do, is divadom, it really is.” Can you imagine her and Celine doing a duet. haha haha haha. "When I was a little girl, I had a rag doll.../ oooo.......oooooo!/ heeeeeee....ohhhhhh etc" It would be intense. Sort of like us singing in the car on the way to Vancouver. But with more hair.

5) She does the best interviews. If you ever get the chance look up her interview on Rachael Ray. I seriously sat on the floor 3 feet from the TV laughing hysterically. I thought I was going to loose it. I thought Rachael Ray was going to loose it. She tried to be all casual but it so didn't work. It was like Stepford meets transsexual meets exactly how you think Mariah would be. It was weird. And I almost had to turn it off. But sometimes I think about it when I'm about to fall asleep?

4) "I decided to make my own ski-wear range after I found there were no fashion outfits for me to wear on the piste. "....can you imagine her skiing. After seeing her walking down stairs at the concert I can't really believe she could ski. She would however look mighty fine in a one-piece ski suit....unzipped of course to reveal large breasts and a studded bra.

3) She really honestly believes in rainbows and butterflies and inspiration and heroes and daydreams and dreamlovers and all the other things real R&B singers won't sing about. But she also wrote "Touch my body," Fantasy" and "Honey." She's not afraid to mix sex and unicorns. Again....I really dig this type of thing.

2) "You'll always be a part of me, I'm part of you indefinitely. Boy don't you know you can't escape. Ooh darling cause you'll always be my baby." Need I say more?

1) I can honestly say that she evoked so much emotion in me at her concert that I could not stand up. I screamed and I cried and I fell and I sang and I cried some more. For Mariah. If it wasn't for my wedding I'm afraid it would have been the most memorable time in my life. And Lord knows she had the enthusiasm of butterfly with all the dust rubbed off it's wings.

A new addition to the blog.

I feel as though there are many interesting words that would benefit from use in our vocabulary. If it were not for the thesaurus, words such as 'transmogrify' may have failed to enlighten our essays and conversations. Therefor, I will provide you with a word of the day. I will attempt to find an interesting word. I encourage you to use this word in conversation. Today I have chosen to also provide you with a picture to further elaborate. This picture was taken this morning out my studio window. It features hoar frost. Not to be confused with whore frost.





frigorific • \frig-uh-RIFF-ik\ • adjective
: causing cold : chilling
Example Sentence: Julie shivered as she faced the frigorific blast of wind blowing off the lake.

Almost sounds like I made it up eh?...well I didn't. Enjoy.

"I'm not telling you it is going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it"

I quite like the above quote. I've been thinking a lot about my obession with instant gratitude (well really the whole cultures obsession with it...) The following are things we used to wait for without a thought;

1) Mail. No emails. No texts. Birthday cards came in the mail. And they sometimes didn't arrive until well past the day. That was alright though. Because an effort was made and we appreciated a late card as much as the ones that arrived on time.

2) TV shows. I used to watch TV at specific times to catch the shows I wanted to watch. Somehow I made it through 7 seasons of Full House without every watching the episodes online or on DVD. And I loved that show. And looked forward to the new episodes. Now I give up on a show if I can't find live streming online. And I'm usually pretty mad about it.

3) The caller on the phone. We would let the phone ring a few times and then answer it without (gaw!) knowing who was on the other end. I truley can't imagine answering a phone without knowing who was on the other end. God forbid I wait to answer the phone to see who the mystry caller is. I don't know how I got through high school without this technology.

4) Before there was ICQ (ugh-oh) and MSN and texting we had to wait to talk to our friends at school the next day. If we suddeny had a thought in the middle of the night we had to mull it over for several hours nefore bringing it over lunch in the cafeteria. Now every thought that everyone has is sent to someone. This may be the downfall of society. Constant regret. Doing things and saying things without much thought. Just "send."

I'm sure there are many more things out there I used to wait for. Now I have the patience of a goldfish. It's no wonder I think that getting healthy should happen faster. Vite, vite. I have places to go, people to see and no time for this. If I could I'd probably take a pill for this. That's sad.
Things are so easy now adays that I don't appreciate very much. I watch things are forget what I watched 10 minutes later. I go through days when I think "Wow, I did absolutly nothing of value today."(...ahh facebook.) I appreciate that damn degree I have. You know why? It took me 5 hard years of my life that I'll never get back. My marriage? 8 years of work to get to this place. That's why I really believe that even though getting healthy won't be easy, it will really be worth it.

PS - The scale was the lowest it's been this morning since beginning this journey. I'm sure it will go back up. Celebrate small victories though. I'm going for a breakfast sandwich with bacon. Just kidding :)

The worst thing...

You know what the worst thing is? Contrary to what Ellen believes it is not pickle juice in the eye. It's when after 2 or 3 days of doing everything right (exercising, eating wonderfully, feeling great) you get on the scale and it moves up. Seriously? What immediately goes through my head are all the things I didn't eat and I think for a moment...what's the point.

I'm an immediate gratification kinda gal. I like to buy something, come home and use it. If I work hard I want to see results.

Last week on "The Biggest Loser" Gillian (the trainer) made a big stink about the whole "I haven't lost any weight, I've lost inches" deal. She says it's bologna...(balony?...what kind of spelling is this anyways?) Bologna maybe. But I think it's a nessesary mantra for those of us who are doing everything right and don't see the scale move in the direction want. Otherwise, what's the point?

Hopefully I can look back at this 6 months from now and realize that all I needed was a little patience.

A shift in thinking...

I have had an 'aha' moment as the great Oprah would say. Let me explain.

There are many things I know for sure. I love my husband more than anything. I am a good sister. I can count my cherished friends on one hand. My family is everything. I love what I do for a living. I love children. I try to be punctual. I work very hard to be organized. I am intellegent, creative, talented and optimistic. I am also very aware of the fact that I am accident prone, stubborn and have a little bit of a control issue. I live this life according to all the many things that I am. I believe these things. They are the truths about me. Everyone close to me believes them too.

There are also a few things that I have never been. Among them; Thin. Physically strong. Athletic. Fast. I've never considered myself to be any of the above. I've never been able to relate to those words. I've been too busy being creative and musical and funny. Infact, when I start to think of myself as physically strong, for instance, I feel as though I am cheating a little on my "real self", the truth about me that dictates my life. Afterall how can one be athletic and artistic. There aren't enough blocks in high school to choose both. So my choice to be artistic has left me with a distorted view of myself.

My trainer recently told me that I am strong. She told me that we could move onto more challanging pushups because I am strong. I honestly thought "haha, yeah right, she obviously doesn't know me. I'm not strong. I'm trying to lose weight." Then it hit me. She doesn't know all the many things that I consider myself. She has no idea that I am creative and talented and punctual and funny and... All she knows is that I'm committed. I'm sweating through hour strength training sessions 3 times a week. I'm doing my cardio. And I'm getting stronger. Compared to many people she encounters, I might even been considered atlethic. Her view of me is different from everyone else in my life and it's a view that has always been missing.

What if I started thinking of myself as strong and fast. (All joking aside my coordination leaves somthing to be desired, so I doubt if I'll ever be captain of the badminton team.) What would this shift in thinking mean to my truth. How would it change the way I think about my life. I never realized how much I was limiting myself.

I am a wife, daughter, sister, friend and teacher. I am creative, artisitic, optimistic and strong. That is my new truth.