The search for the perfect type of exercise

As a female, it seems like the obvious choice when thinking of taking some sort of exercise or wellness class is...yoga.  Always yoga.  And I can see why.  Especially for someone like me who sits at a desk all day and often is hunched over editing documents, opening up and stretching has a lot of benefits.  To that end, I've tried different yoga classes over the years but usually end up annoyed when I have to pay 16 bucks a pop to go do yoga in a room with a pretentious instructor and a bunch of clones in lululemon gear. But, if exercise isn't fun, or at least a bit lighthearted, I lose interest pretty quickly. 

Joel and I went to classes together at a couple different studios and I almost busted into a fit of laughter as the instructor made a poor attempt at describing super-scientifically what the yoga was doing for our bodies.  Being a real scientist makes it hard for Joel to let fake science talk slide. Other studios were so unwelcoming, boring and serious that it made me want to flip out.  I know that different people want different things from classes but I also know that serious and pretentious is not for me.

This led me and my friend Rebecca to try boot camp.  It was a hoot.  Yeah that's right, I said hoot.  We listened to music from The Bounce 91.7 (Katy Perry etc.) and did all sorts of hilarious stuff.  Boxing drills, cardio circuits, relay stuff.  It was a good time, and we lucked out because our instructor definitely had a sense of humour about it all.  Then Rebecca had to take a hiatus from it all, which led me to...

Moksha yoga.  I was skeptical when I decided to try Moksha yoga.  It's a type of hot yoga but it's not bikram.  And I totally like it.  Go figure.  It markets itself as being welcoming and they actually are for the most part.  And their studios are totally sweet.  They're newly built and have gorgeous change and shower rooms.  As someone who rarely sweats, even when I am exercising pretty hard, it's a new and strange experience to be somewhere so hot that my shins and inner ears are sweating.

Latest addition to the random fitness attempts is KARATE AQUASIZE.  Does it get any more hilarious than that?  I didn't think so.  It's totally great. 

Anyways, writing this post has helped me conclude that the big draw for me with exercise is to do something different and possibly ridiculous, amusing, or embarrasing.  Or, to put it scientifically for Joel

hilarity + intensity / embarrassment ^ 2 = success!

House Tour: Part I

I promised long ago on this blog that I would show you some pics of my little place when it was done.  The trouble is that with me it's never done.  I am always changing something.  So I decided to tackle this one space at a time.  That way I get like four NaBloPoMo posts out of it instead of just one, and I can focus on more details in each room.  So, to start...the makeshift enterance way!

 There are three doors into my one bedroom place, so I blocked one of them off with a chalkboard.  There's not much to say about the entrance, but I thought it would be a good place to start.

Horrifying things about wedding dresses and one or two good things

One of the interesting and challenging things about wedding planning so far has been trying to find a way to indulge my desire to have a fun and memorable wedding without buying into the ridiculous culture of bridal and wedding indulgence.  I want to vomit when I think about the huge trade shows like “Bridal Fantasy” and was floored when I saw an ELEVEN THOUSAND DOLLAR engagement and wedding photo package.  I know it's important to value the services and equipment that a photographer provides, but my head about exploded when I saw that.

There is so much pressure to plan a wedding that is totally beyond our means, and in a lot of ways I feel like the wedding dress embodies or symbolizes the crazy insanity that weddings can become.  I was apprehensive when I started looking for a dress because I feel so uncomfortable with a lot of the things that are attached to THE dress.  Because of this, there were some things that I absolutely hated about dress shopping, but thankfully there were also some positives and things worked out almost better than I could have hoped in the end.

• The first thing I took issue with, as alluded to above, was the price. Oh my word.  I had budgeted a maximum of $1,000 with a goal of spending waaaay less, and when I would go into stores and be up front about my price, a lot of the stores were unhelpful, even though they totally had dresses for under that price point...they just weren’t all that interested in showing them to me.  I think every consultant I met asked me "do you have any wiggle room in your budget?".  So I would tell them that it wasn't that I couldn't spend more, it's that I had made a decision that I WOULDN'T spend more than that.  On top of that, almost every store told me it was impossible to find the kind of dress I was describing for less than 3 or 4 thousand.
• The next lame thing is the sizes. For some cruel reason they make wedding dresses to fit small, so you can count on having to buy one that’s at least one or two sizes bigger than what you would normally wear.  Way to make someone feel good in a white dress.  Jerks.
• Just as I was getting used to shopping for dresses, I ran into people at a couple of the stores who reminded me forcefully that you have to order your dress way in advance because ALL of the dresses come from China.  They went on to emphasize how timing is an issue because of Chinese New Year when all the shops close down for an extended period of time.  The sales person who told me this was acting personally affronted that those jerks in China would dare close down their businesses to celebrate a national holiday.
• Now on the positive side I eventually learned that not all dresses are actually made in China.  There is a line called Mikaella that makes gorgeous dresses right here in Canada (outside Toronto).  I probably would have ended up with one of those except for the price, which was reasonable for a wedding dress but still out of my price range.
• Enter: Bridal Consignment.  This is basically the best thing ever.  Dresses worn once sold for half the price.  I was sceptical at first and thought that it might be a nice idea in theory but feeling doubtful that I would actually find a dress that fit me while also being better than what I had seen in stores.  But, I did.  I found one I liked, tried it on, it fit great, I loved it, it was pretty much what I had been describing to people so I bought it and walked out with it that day.  No ordering 6 months in advance.  It was so easy, and now I basically get to feel good because I am recycling.

And finally, just to make this post more interesting for you all who might not care about the ins and outs of wedding dress shopping, here is a sketch done by Joel.  This is what he thinks my dress will look like. 

 *Untitled Ink on napkin, 1/1, Artist: Joel K. Date: November 2010. Price: $200

Virgin Mobile and Perfect Day, Part II (or should I say perfect weekend?)

Well, this post was going to just be about the outstanding customer service at Virgin Mobile, but then I had Part II of the perfect day, which basically turned it into the perfect weekend, so I figured I'd throw these together.

First off...

Dear Virgin Mobile,

You have been nothing but wonderful to me since the day I met you.  Your affordability, excellent customer service, ridiculously short wait times and sympathetic customer service have me swooning.  I will recommend you to everyone I know.  

Love, 

Bb

Seriously guys, they are amazing.  My cell bill is always low, they fix everything pronto, wait times are like 30 seconds when you call with an issue, and the person on the other end always treats you like they have a personal vested interest in making sure you are satisfied with you service.  It's almost disconcerting, but we love them for it.

And now, part II of perfect weekend.  You know how yesterday we were going to go to Sugarbowl but then we didn't?  Well, we went this morning instead and ran into our favourite Dieters!  Kevin and Reba just decided to bring little Mabel out for a trip to the sugs and didn't call us to join them, although they claimed they considered it.  So, there we were enjoying our breakfast when our Dieters walked through the door.  It just so happened that the big table was free (when does that EVER happen at Sugarbowl?) so we all moved over there and had breakfast with them.  Amazing.

And then Joel and I went glasses shopping and found him some cute nerdy sciency hipster manly glasses to replace the ones that must have been rolled up into someone's quilt at quiltfest and have not been seen since.

To top it all off, I called Virgin Mobile about a mediumly minor issue with my phone and they were all "sure we'll fix it for free because we love you and want you to be happy".  And that's why I wanted to post about their wonderfulness.

A perfect day?

My fabulous non-obligatory cousin friend came for a visit this weekend.  She is also my second bridesmaid (other than sister Kaeli).  Usually, we have a great but predictable weekend.  Shopping, Sugarbowl, drink, shopping.  This weekend, for some random reason, we ended up doing slightly different things and having pretty much a perfect day.  Reagan-ing, if you will, for those of you who watch 30 Rock.

When she arrived on Friday night I was in my bed fighting off a nasty headache, so Kaeli, Joel and Mel made nachos and caesaers while I lay there being pathetic.  I managed to get up and we had a nice evening anyways, but then the next morning I slept in while Kaeli and Mel cleaned my kitchen from the night before. 

We almost went to Sugarbowl for our traditional breakfast, but we called Joel and he was all "hey what about the Elm Cafe and the Christmas market downtown?".  So we went to the teeny tiny Elm Cafe and were about to order breakfast sandwiches but then the owner, Nate (who is also going to be our food-master at our wedding in June and we are soooo excited), told us that they had lunch sandwiches that were about to be put up on the board and one of them was a pumpkin sandwich and the other was pulled pork.  Delish, and pretty much created with Joel in mind.  So we tried them and stood along the bar (there are only two stools along the window bar).  It was so crammed in there with the four of us that the fun conversation we were having was echoing off the walls and amplifying to be a DOUBLY FUN conversation.  Joel chatted with Nate about food plus science, which I think they both liked.  I never thought another Edmontonian could have a similar fascination with the chemistry of food as Joel does, but I think he's met a kindred.

*shit, I just lost my whole post with only three minutes to spare.  Part I of perfect day will have to suffice for now. UPDATE: I rewrote it to finish the post below but left this in to mark the spot where it changed...

Then we dropped our vehicles off at Joel's house so that we could go to the winter market at Churchill Square, but first we went into Joel's house to pee and had a nice/hilarious conversation with Nay-Nay, who hadn't seen either Kaeli or Mel in a long time.  Then we walked over to the square to check out the market.  It has been so wonderfully and unseasonably warm and dry and I have been appreciating it.  It's like a little reward for the not-so-warm summer we had this year and that early bit of crap weather this fall.  Yay Edmonton. 

At the square we came across the Eva Sweet waffle truck at the square and Joel bought some waffles for the ladies. If you go to their website, you can read that "The story of Eva Sweet is a story of international intrigue.  It is a story that involves love, drama, family, loss and a dream coming true.  It is a tale of crossed borders,  migrant workers, secret meetups, family tragedies, forced separations, and bittersweet reunions. More importantly, it is a story about waffles.  If you yearn to know more, we just might tell you over a waffle and some coffee."  And it's totally true.  The guy gave us free coffee and told us how he was the top waffle seller in Brussels (think delectable Belgian waffles) and moved here when he married a Canadian woman, although the waffle truck is named after his sister Eva, who passed away and whose son works with him in the waffle stand.  This guy's legit and his waffles are great.  Go buy a vanilla one and talk to him.

After that, we browsed the market and bought a bunch of great stuff.  Joel's backpack was so heavy and stuffed with frozen meat that it was hurting him on the walk home.  And as a bonus, the market's also in City Hall so I saw Mayor Mandel getting on the elevator.  He looked sheepish, or at least like he didn't feel like being recognized.  Ha.  

Mel and I split off for some hard core craft supply and thrifting shopping after that.  We found everything we needed so that Mel could make a Christmas wreath, and had some EPIC thrifting luck.  We found great stuff at Goodwill and Value Village, but also came across a legit thrift store where every single item was $1 or less.  I found some awesome vintage metal milk crates.  For a buck each.  I was buzzing from the thrifting high.  Seriously. 

Then at the thrift store we ran into Heidi (my sister in law) who invited us over for dinner.  They fed us and Mel got to see their house and the cuties (niece and nephew) and then we came home and crafted up a storm.  LOVE IT. 

Thank you Mel, Kaeli, Joel, Heidi, Thrift stores, Edmonton, and basically everyone, for a GREAT weekend.

Back alley chairs

Joel loves mid-century modern chairs.  He has been collecting them at every opportunity lately and often manages to acquire them in creative ways.  I think he sort of looks at is as a rescue mission for under-appreciated iconic chairs. 

A few weekends ago we finally decided to tackle the crowning glory of his mcm chair collection...an Eames-style lounge chair found in a garbage pile!  He caught a glimpse of it as he was driving past and sent his dad on a recon mission to get it the heck outta the garbage and the rain, and into the safety of the shed. 

It might be a knockoff, but it definitely screams Eames with its curved wood shell, so we decided to relieve it of its hideous 90s upholstery and give it a new life with some buttery white vinyl. 

All it took to take it all apart was a few tools, some good tunes, and a whole lotta patience.  There were tons of staples that had to come out.

Below you can see the top pieces of the matching cordurouy ottoman.  Ewwwww.

The cotton and foam underneath was clean but it's still gross to touch old cotton and foam that used to belong to someone else...

And here's the vinyl!  Our friend Dawn helped him pick it out.  She's a designer with excellent taste.

It's not done yet, but there are in-progress pics to come!

A temperamental artist and a small lap dog walk into a bar...

November and December mark Natasha Lawyer's third art show at The Sugarbowl in Edmonton.  Aside from being a favourite friend, she is also a favourite artist of mine even though she turned American and moved away and left me here to eat chicken caesar salad alone.  She drove from Seattle through the night (maniac) and showed up at my house around noon on Saturday with tons to do before we hung her show at 6:30 a.m. the next day.

We ran around trying to find a place that would do a rush print job on watercolour paper of some last-minute prints for the show.  Tash ended up calling the guy at one place a pointdexter because he was being letter-of-the-law and refused to print them for her.  Don't cross Tash when she's tired.  Below you will see a picture of her smiling like she would never dream of calling anyone a pointdexter.  Don't be fooled.

While she was in Edmonton, she thought "why not pick up a puppy?".  Well, actually it was slightly more intentional than that - her sister Melissa decided to fulfil Tash's dream of having a little yorkie friend as an early birthday present.  So we went and picked up the tiny, hypoallergenic, and fabulous PENCIL. I proceeded to take a series of glamour shots of the two of them and gross Tash out by referring to her as Pencil's mom.

Then we had a pricing bee on my kitchen table.  Tash (with a little help) had collected about a bajillion vintage frames and painted them all white to frame her illustrations.  Her show this time around is crazy different than the last one.  It's very architecturally inspired and has some amazing paper weaving and metallic thread details.

My kitchen was so full of art, and is not very big anyways, so I had to improvise when I was dishing out the CCS (chicken ceasar salad) for our dinner.  If you look below you will notice a plate of salad sitting inside of an open drawer.

Pencil likes art.  These are the aforementioned typewriter prints on watercolour paper.  They are adorable and come in 9 different colours!  Awesome!  They are framed and selling for just $45 each, so they would make an excellent Christmas gift. The text on the paper in the typewriter says "I want to take you to all my favorite places".

Joel liked Pencil and came to help us with some last minute framing.  I think he was sort of enjoying scaring poor little Pencil too.  He was mostly nice to her but couldn't resist pushing her timid little buttons.

And then we went to bed at like 3 - which was actually 2 thanks to daylight savings time - and had to get up at like 6 the next morning.  But we slept in a little and ended up being late and leaving poor Megan at the Sugarbowl alone. Here is the classic temperamental artist shot with Tash scrutinizing the placement of the pieces.  She wasn't actually very temperamental, but it still is fun to tease.  Or maybe I'm just adjusting to the temperament.  Anyways, this picture shows off how sharp the white frames look on the brick wall.

Because of us being late and her being early, Megan was already pretty perky by the time we got there.  No fair that she looks so cute.  Here is a glamour shot of her hammering a nail.

We had breakfast at the Sugarbowl after the show was hung and then went to my house for a nap.  And then we finally got to hang out and chill out.  We took tiny Pencil out for a walk in the ravine by my new digs, and she kept running in between our legs and getting kicked by us by accident.  She seemed unfazed but I felt awful.  Right after I snapped this pic she ran between my feet and I almost crushed her little four pound dog body.  It took some fancy footwork to avoid it.  Worth it for the pic?

Overall, fantastic weekend.  Tasha's show is up until the end of December so GO TAKE A LOOK.  Pieces have already sold.