Category Archives: bloggin

Listography #10 and on…

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I am STRESSED RIGHT NOW!! Holy cow. Our empty duplex has been for sale for 4 weeks, and I am freaking out a little. Since I like to make lists to soothe my stress, I thought I’d spend the morning catching up on my listography! I’ve skipped one of the lists in the past couple of months, since I don’t have a son, and then just ended up distracted and not blogging! So here goes:

List #10: In my dream home:

Truth be told, I love our house. I’d love it more with a few upgrades, and maybe some baseboards. But if I was going to go all-out, here’s what I’d be sure to add:

  • First and foremost, a housekeeper. Someone to cook and clean, shop for groceries, do my laundry (and actually put it away), tidy up, file my paperwork…and rub my feet. They do that, right?
  • A laundry chute. This was THE SELLING FEATURE at The Acreage, and I can’t imagine another house without one. Even if the laundry is on the same floor, I want a magic transportation tube for it.
  • Central vac with the baseboard suction hole thingies for sweeping. Magic. Pure magic.
  • A garbage disposal. I miss scraping plates into the sink.
  • A master ensuite with a big bathtub and walk-in shower, and (more importantly) water that smells really nice.
  • A bigger closet. Not a walk-in closet…just a bigger closet in every room with built-in shelves and drawers.
  • Floor-to-ceiling windows in my living room. We already kind of have that…but I want MOAR!!!
  • A walk-out patio from my master bedroom :)
  • A new deck, with a hot tub that is sheltered but open. Like a pergola, but no spiders living in the corners.
  • A slightly bigger kitchen with a gas range/big hood vent, and room for an island. If we could transpose my mom’s kitchen layout into my house, it would be perfect. I love my current kitchen style though.
  • Equal-sized bedrooms for my girls.
  • A finished basement that walks out to our fire pit, doesn’t smell like cat pee, and has a guest bedroom suite PLUS an office (rather than crammed into the same room…)
  • A broom closet. A cleaning closet. Some kind of storage space on the main floor for the vacuum that isn’t just my hallway.
  • A non-cave-like laundry room. Something with sunlight.

List #11: Best Blog Posts I’ve Written

This is really hard. I have to give up a little modesty and admit that some of my posts were pretty decent, whether from my own feelings, conversations generated, or traffic.

Surprisingly? Nothing about coconut oil. Hmm.

List #12: What I love about spring

I love spring. This year, it would appear we are skipping spring. So, this is more or less a list of what I can vaguely remember about this mythical “spring” season:

  • Longer days!! Coming out of class at 9pm to daylight! Wheee!!
  • Snow melting into puddles, splashing in those puddles
  • Walking to the mailbox each day
  • The first backyard fire of the year
  • The smell of sunshine in my girls’ hair at bedtime
  • Walking the chiweenie, without having to carry her because she’s cold
  • Planning my garden, and turning up the soil once it’s thawed
  • The dance season wrap-up, complete with dance festivals and fun days :)
  • Opening up the windows, and sleeping with fresh air in the room!
  • The first rain showers, and the first thunderstorms of the year!
  • That first hint of green washing through the trees
  • Pussy willows
  • Running outside

Now, with that taken care of, it’s time for me to go and do my duplex-selling dance with C-boo so that we can get rid of all this stress! Wish us luck!!

 

Listography #1: Things I’m Looking Forward To in 2013

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I’ve watched Crystal, Heather, and Melinda write their weekly lists for 2-ish years now, and I love every post. I hope they don’t mind, but I’d like to use their prompts each week on my own blog – I love the self-exploration and discovery, the reminiscing, the gratitude, the appreciation, the wonderment of it all. So, without further ado:

List #1: Things I’m Looking Forward to in 2013

  • Mexico. Always Mexico…I think it’s what gets me through these short, cold days!
  • Two sweet little bugz turning 5 years old
  • Festival/performance season as The Boss, for the first time in 8 years. Eeks!
  • Summer projects, like putting baseboards in our house, building new gardening beds, and more
  • Two months off this summer
  • Those little bugz climbing the steps to the big yellow school bus this September…although I’m equally scared about letting my babeez go off into the world!
  • (having two to three full days to myself this fall…)
  • More skiing this winter
  • Teaching the bugz to ride big-girl bikes, and surprising them with new bikes for their birthday this year
  • Saving for, planning, and booking our 2014 Disney Cruise!!!
  • Running outside when the weather warms up
  • Finishing up my 2nd round of 101 in 1001
  • Wrapping up the first “new” season of Expressions Dance Studio in 16 short weeks – ahhhhh!
  • Travelling to Vegas again for the Dance Teacher Web expo
  • More nights curled up on the couch with Leith, watching cheesy TV shows and bad movies together
  • Continuing the guilty pleasure of my Sweet Valley High book club with my childhood friend :)

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

 

It’s been awhile!

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I’ve been absent over here, but you all knew that ;)

Life with a dance studio, a couple of 4-year olds, an acreage, a husband, and a chiweenie? Chaos. Why not add in some clothing sales too??

20121026-121857.jpg

Yup. I’ve been working around the clock this past month. I’ve been choreographing Christmas dances, trying to work out on my own time, keep the minion children entertained. I’ve barely had time to stop, but in a good way. It’s all been things that I want to do. Next weekend, I’m heading to Calgary for a dance competition with an amaaaaaazing faculty. I’m breathless just thinking about it!

I’m still trying to find my blog voice again though. I don’t know where I’m going as MagzD, and it’s unsettling. I love my online life-log…as long as it fits my real life-log. Thanks for sticking by me for more than 4 years now! More updates in the future, I promise!

Hiatus

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I haven’t felt the urge to post here for awhile. I feel like I’ve lost my MagzD voice. A few things have happened to lead here. Never fear: I’m as whimsical and happy as always. I have many things to say and share…I’m just deciding if MagzD Life is still the platform I want to share them on.

I’ll be writing elsewhere for a little while. Maybe I’ll be back…maybe not. I haven’t decided yet, so for now, we will just call this a MagzD Hiatus.

Love to all,
Magz

When life happens

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I’m still alive. Honestly. My mind has just been consumed with dance class wear orders and canning carrots and making pickles. And more class wear orders. And more pickles. And house-breaking the chiweenie. And parenting. And working.

And stuff.

So, what’s new? I’m on quite the motivation kick this week, and feeling great! Monday was sheer chaos, as I had to cancel $6000 worth of dance wear orders, resize them for a different company, and reorder them on a rush.

Yesterday, I canned EIGHT LITRES of dill carrots. All of the were from my garden. Yes, my garden grows carrots, zucchini, and potatoes. Nothing else. All my onions, peas, beets, radishes…nothing but greens. And truthfully, I only got one bowl of potatoes from twelve hills of potatoes, and only 5 small and 2 monster zucchini from six plants.

Yes, that is PURPLE cauliflower, from the St Albert Farmers’ Market!

But I have carrots!

Today is all about getting back on a health kick. I haven’t been running since my 30k at the end of July. I’ve been eating horribly, and if I get a litre of water a day, it’s a miracle. Ugh. I’m back on My Fitness Pal (add me: magzd), tracking and logging my food and activity. I may even start running again!

Then there is the house! I’ve finally narrowed down paint colours for my living room and I am getting rid of my red wall. It’s just too aggressive. I’ll keep my red accents, but it’s getting toned down. I’m also buying us an early Christmas gift as well:

And thanks to my dear Sku, my office is functional and tidy again!! We spent Sunday purging and organizing everything! I finished up on Monday, and it is SO nice to walk past the door without feeling massive anxiety… Yes, there is still a couple of boxes to put away, but as of yesterday, the desk clutter was completely gone!

And I took my long-neglected SCOBY, separated the layers, made a SCOBY hotel, and started brewing kombucha tea again, much to the horror of most of Facebook and Twitter :)

You can see that, while I’ve been absent from my blog, I haven’t been absent from life! I hope to be posting much more regularly now that dance is in full-swing and life has calmed down. I miss you all – and I have the winner from my 1000th post contest to post too!!

Now for the big question: did you miss me?? ;)

1000

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1000 posts.

That’s a lot of rambling to put up with over the last 4+ years. It’s a little over 250 posts each year. You’ve listened to me ramble a lot.

Sometimes, it’s been inane mutterings. Sometimes, I’ve actually had something good to say. I’ve covered the gamut, from breastfeeding to mom-formula, from policing to cancer, from twins to contraception. It’s never boring around here!

I’ve fought with my Christmas tree and with my demons. I’ve moved and changed jobs. Myyyy, how I’ve changed jobs! I’ve baked and cooked and gardened. I’ve made cheese. I’ve been through not one, but two 101 in 1001 lists. Well…the first one ended in defeat, and the second is still in progress.

I’ve travelled alone and with my husband, and even with my kids. I’ve taken pictures along the way, and journaled my way through life. I’ve made good choices and bad choices. I’ve even made really bad choices. I’ve told my story.

And along the way, I’ve developed some fabulous friendship through the ether. I’ve cultivated relationships and poured my heart to my readers, who have loved me and accepted me with open arms for the most part.

So, to thank you for this, I’m having a little giveaway:

Leave me a comment on this milestone post about your favourite MagzD post in the past 4.5 years.

Let me know what your favourite charity is as well, and in one week, I will draw a random comment. I will give $100 to that commenter’s charity, and $100 to the Canadian Cancer Society as well.

You know, just to say thanks for putting up with me. Xoxo.

***

This post is a part of the Summer Blog Challenge (and I’m still down by two!!). Join the rest of us:

Natural Urban Mama
This Mom’s Got Something To Say
The Dulock Diaries
2 Plus 2×2

Web log

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Sometimes I’m tempted to write a post that is true to the meaning of the word “blog” – a web log of my day. Dry, unwitty, dull…but perhaps meaningful to historians hundreds of years from now as they research the lifestyle of the desperate rural housewife.

08/21/12

Dear blog:

Woke up. No coffee. Pot still hot, burner still on. Swore at husband. Made breakfast for children. Discovered cayenne pepper and nutmeg pancakes. Prepared children for outings. Remembered all necessary items. Drive to Edmonton. Outing at science centre. Note: buy more birth control. And pain killers. And coffee. And wine. Went to hospital. Met doctor. Results promising. More coffee. Took children outdoors for activity time. Wind was howling. Child also howled. Participated in organized swimming lessons. Children did not drown. Prepared evening meal. Bribed children to rest for the evening. Success. Two hours spent on paperwork for dance studio. One hour of bad television. Bed.

***

This post is a part of the Summer Blog Challenge! Join the rest of us:

Natural Urban Mama
This Mom’s Got Something To Say
The Dulock Diaries
2 Plus 2×2

10 Things

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  1. I have horrible taste in music. I love everything, but my goodness! My iPod is stuffed with nothing but country music and bubblegum pop lately. I think I’m secretly harbouring a 13-year old somewhere… One Direction, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato…oh, my!
  2. This is my desktop in the living room right now. I can’t even bare my office to you. It’s terrifying. I’m past the point of even helping myself. I think I just need to light everything on fire and walk away…
  3. I really want one of these. It’s a bluetooth speaker from Bose. I have a sick love of all things Bose. The problem is, I just spent $500 on a SoundDock for the dance studio. This one though? It would mean having my iPhone/iPod in my pocket; not tearing back and forth to the speaker = smooth class transitions. It’s also SO small – about the size of a hardcover book – which would be amazing during festivals and competitions! I could have bought a refurbished one in Vegas for about $80 less…but I’m tempted to just shell out the $330. Ahhh, decisions….!
  4. Can you picture me in this?? Hahahahaha…but seriously, I’m ordering it for dance parties. And maybe for Wee Dance classes. And Fridays, in general…

  5. Where does one buy fabric in Edmonton? I remember there being many fabric stores once upon a time. I really want to get my sew-on, but where do I go? There’s a Fabricland in the west end…there’s Davey’s wholesale. Ikea? Where do my crafty friends go??
  6. I am SO EXCITED to take my bugz to Calgary and Drumheller this weekend! We got an incredible deal on a hotel for Saturday night – free penguin slippers AND zoo passes!!! Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE PENGUINS??
  7. Leith and I decided last night that our 1990 sofa bed in the basement has officially met its end of days and should be put out of its misery. Time to go couch shopping for a sectional that fits more than two people…laying down!

  8. I took the girls to Cafe o Play yesterday for the first time in 5 months. I think it’s safe to say that we’ve outgrown the screaming hoards of toddlers, despite my always-tasty Yummy Mummy latte. Oh my. We were only there for an hour before I had to high-tail it or start drinking… But with the long winter looming, we decided to buy a family pass to Telus World of Science. It’s only $150/year for a family, which means that it pays for itself after only 4 visits. Done and DONE!
  9. I am very excited about a couple of opportunities to promote KeyLime clothing in the near future! Suffice to say that I am a huge fan of their locally produced active wear, and cannot WAIT to share more…but I have to hash out the details first ;) Patience, my friends!
  10. This is the lamest post ever. I’m trying to find some redeeming quality…really, it’s just a time-waster and a post-filler. Sorry. Let me make it up to you: blueberries and chocolate almond milk. Thank me later…

***

This post is a part of the Summer Blog Challenge! Join the rest of us :)

Natural Urban Mama
This Mom’s Got Something To Say
The Dulock Diaries
2 Plus 2×2

Cure for the rain

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What do you do when the cold and rain greets you after a week in heaven?

You book the next trip to sunshine. You pack up the kids, haul them to Canada Place, and renew the heck out of your passports.

You get your mom to book flights for the whole family. Like, all four of us, the grandparents, Aunty Jocy, Uncle Blain. As in, back-up-childcare-in-Mexico galore!!!!!!

And then…you sit back and wait six months with the sunshine taunting you through the grey autumn and hectic holiday season.

And you also book a weekend getaway to Drumheller and the Calgary Zoo. And start planning a 4-day holiday to the coast.

After all, the only cure for a post-holiday hangover is another holiday…or three!

***

This post is a part of the Summer Blog Challenge! Join the rest of us :)

Natural Urban Mama
This Mom’s Got Something To Say
The Dulock Diaries
2 Plus 2×2

The Creative Oasis

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What a tagline, hey? As soon as I saw it on the DanceTeacherWeb Facebook page, I was hooked. I pulled strings, booked babysitters, and paid for flights.

It was worth it all.

I don’t even know where to start with my recap of my 3-day dance teachers’ convention. My heart is full, my head is spinning, and my body is just starting to feel normal again! 3 days, starting with breakfast at 7:30am, only breaking for an hour at lunch, and wrapping up at 6pm. Stuffed full of inspiration, here are the highlights for me:

  1. The location! Nestled at the base of the mountains on the far east end of Las Vegas, the Red Rock Resort was breathtaking. I posted my photos here, but even they don’t do it justice. It was beyond luxurious – and our conference rate was only $109US a night! Crazy! I also booked a massage the afternoon I arrived, and it was top-notch. Beautiful spa, with every amenity you could ask for. I will definitely be back, and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an off-strip escape to Las Vegas (or anywhere!).

  2. The freebies! I can’t even start to remember everything we were given with our conference fee. There was a full expo/trade show during the conference, and it went far beyond the usual trade show swag. We also received a backpack, t-shirt, free breakfast daily, treats at lunch every day, a $50 gift card from Discount Dance Supply, free shoes from Capezio, free massages on Wednesday…not to mention the INSANE amount of prizes that were given away! And to top it all off, when we pre-registered for the 2013 conference, we received a full year of DanceTeacherWeb membership! Wow.

  3. Louis Kavouras! Oh my… I have such a deep love of real modern dance, and Louis’ classes took my breath away. I moved in a way I haven’t been able to since I took classes with Maria Chia. The chair of the UNLV dance program, his style and his personality spoke to my heart and my body, and I just can’t escape the organic feeling. I cannot wait to inspire my own students in their modern classes this fall!

  4. Simone dePaolo! Spunk and awesome. Hilarity. And pushing me out of my comfort zone into an Afro-Jazz class where I felt so grounded and connected to the earth like never before. I was FREEin her class. I adore her, and cannot wait to work with her again next year.

    Thanks to Kristi for the photo…which doesn’t do justice to my insane, sweaty, lions-mane hair I was sporting after Afro-jazz!!

  5. Cathy Roe! One of the few faculty names I knew going in, her classes on composition absolutely changed the way I look at choreography. Wow. Just so much wow. And her personality is beautiful. Charming, hilarious, open. Loved her.
  6. JV Goecke! I’ve never met a teacher who reminded me so much of myself. She said the things I only think. Totally fantastic. I would also LOVE to have her come out to Edmonton to hold one of her Jumpstart bootcamps for dancers!!!
  7. Jessica Rizzo! I recognized her right off the bat – she’d adjudicated in Edmonton a few years ago, and I love her enthusiasm. Her pre-teen modern class was EVERYTHING I hoped for! It’s my first time teaching modern in years, and it’s easy to forgot how simple you need to be, and yet how complex you can make a simple, beginner exercise phrase. So perfect. Her improvisation class was also incredible – it’s something I’ve always struggled with, and it was the perfect pathway to introducing my kids to improv!
  8. The company! I spent the week with Miss Kristi, and it was so much fun! It’s always scary to suddenly spend every day with someone you usually only see for a couple hours at a time, but we had a blast. It reminded me of how much fun I had with Krist-a  during our ADAPT teacher training years ago.
  9. The Mirage! We decided to spend Thursday night on the Strip at the Mirage. I’d only stayed at the MGM before this week, and the Mirage was the perfect choice. Weekdays are slow, so they upgraded us to a premium room on the 21st floor with an incredible view for no extra charge!

  10. Crazy Horse Cabaret at the MGM! We decided we wanted to see a burlesque show in Vegas. No one has wanted to go the last two times I’ve gone to Vegas, so I was so excited to go with Kristi!! And WOW! It was classic cabaret – tease, comedy, sexy, sultry, and campy. It was awesome. We were right up front…a little unsettling at first, but it turned out great! It’s a topless show, which I wasn’t expecting, but the fact that the bodies were so natural was very inspiring – not a single implant on stage! Bums jiggled and shoulders shimmied. The level of art was sky-high, and the choreography and music were incredible! A must-see show, and only $57US for the best seats in the house! Bijou bijou bijou!
    My (overpriced!) souvenir photo from Crazy Horse
  11. Tabu! When you’ve already spent $70 on 4 drinks (between the two of us – only 2 each!!), a free-drink wristband is a godsend ;) Even better was the group of 65-70 year old ladies in line for the MGM nightclub – no goofy 21-year old party for us! We closed down Tabu, dancing until our feet couldn’t stand, and actually being asked to leave when the lights came on. I haven’t danced like that in years. It was the most fun I’ve ever had at a Vegas nightclub…or any club!!
  12. Shopping! I never spend money on myself at the outlets, but I always get my bugz a full closet. I did finally buy myself two of the famous Vegas wrap dresses that I’ve wanted for years, and a pair of Merrel Pace Gloves for only $86!

It was a great week. I was actually a little sad to come home, even though I missed my family. My only regret is that I didn’t take more pictures!

I have to spend a few days decompressing and wrapping my head around all the dance-intenstive awesomeness. I wish classes started next week, not 3 weeks from now. Mind you, how is it only 3 weeks from now???? But most times, I’m ready to come home by Day 4. I was gone for 5 days, and I could have stayed a few more. It was incredible.

The creative oasis was just what this girl needed to recharge.

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Hopefully this makes up for the week of slacker posts ;)  This post is a part of the Summer Blog Challenge! Join the rest of us:

Natural Urban Mama
This Mom’s Got Something To Say
The Dulock Diaries
2 Plus 2×2