Cardio Erotica at the Bachelorette Party

A successful bachelorette! Yes Kavi the big day is only 2 weeks away.......YIKES!

A

Spa

party room and

salsa dancing at Babaluu's

were involved but there is one thing I have to share with all the girls out there about this Bachelorette party. Let me tell you we were all smiles, laughing and feeling really sexy. Oh and it wasn't the spa or the salsa dancing that really did it.

We had this inspiring woman named

Carmen

hired to do Cardio Erotica. That is right I said erotica. Cardio Erotica is a sexy form of exercise where you are doing strip tease moves without stripping and believe me you will feel it in your butt and legs the next day. It really is a good work out. We all did it as a group and then the instructor did a one on one with the bride so they could give us a performance afterwards. Kavi you were GREAT! Thank god there were no men there because there is no way they would have been able to handle the heat in that room....with all those women feeling and looking sexy! There were about 12 of us.

Vladimir Kush

I have been following this artist's work for quite some time because I find his work to be highly imaginative and inspiring and I would love to share my find with you. Vladimir is a Moscow born artist now living in Hawaii. His work is definately influenced by Dali.

Vladimir Kush website

Honey From the Tombs

Amy Millan our Toronto girl is releasing her solo album on May 30th. I can't wait! I love her vocals in the band

Stars

and she has been working on her craft since highschool or even earlier. Amy and Emily Haines from the band Metric are best friends and used to sing and play guitars together back in highschool. She has also sang with Broken Social Scene friends. The rumour is that it has a bit of a country feel to it.

The title of the new album "Honey from the Tombs" is very interesting it came from something Tom Waits said about how archaeologists were excavating some Egyptian tombs and discovered all these mummies had been buried with honey. When they took the honey out, they found it was as sweet as it'd been when the bodies were buried. It doesn't go bad. A lot of the material on this album dates back to when Amy was 21.

I heard one song on CBC the other day as a sneek peek and it was great! Click on sonicS on my website sidebar to listen to CBC3 radio where you can find new canadian music. You can search for my playlist under the name sonicS and a Stars song is on it for you to hear.

Only if a Bull Chased Me

Looking at this picture today it reminded me of how I used to feel about running. ONLY something like a BULL chasing me would make me want to run. I used to say "I could never run. I am out of breath too fast and having a large chest makes it way too difficult".

That all changed when I moved to Whistler, British Columbia. I met so many fit people that really enjoyed to run. I worked in a Human Resources office and was helping arrange a sign up for the Vancouver 10km Sun Run in 2004. One of the girls that registered called to let me know that she could no longer make it and asked that I should run in her place. I thought about it and decided to go for it. Everyone told me if I can't run the whole race not to worry because people are also walking this event and I could wak what I can't run.

So I started training with a mixture of walking and running. Gradually I was running more than walking and ended up running my first 10km run at the Sun Run in 1hr and 8min only in a few months. I could not beleive it! It was fitting running under a different name that day because in fact I could not believe it was me...I felt like a new woman. This really reconfirmed my beleif that if you put your mind to it; you can do almost anything. Since this run I have also participated in the 100 Whistler Relay, the CIBC Run for Breast Cancer and presently I am registered for The Toronto Waterfront Run.

The reason for writing this blog is in hope to inspire others to believe in themselves. Go out there and try things you are interested in because you never know until you try what you are really capable of.

If you are interested in starting to run and have never run before below is a really gradual 6 week schedule that will lead you to a 5km run with ease. If after this schedule you get hooked you can than work on your speed and strength by adding other techniques eg. sprinting, hill training, different paces and lengths.

Week 1
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Run 1 min, walk 1 min 10x
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Run 2 min, walk 2min 3x
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Run 2 min, walk 4 min 5x

Week2
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Run 3 min, walk 3 min 4x
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Run 3 min, walk 3 min 4x
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Run 5 min, walk 3 min 3x

Week 3
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Run 7 min, walk 2 min 3x
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Run 8 min, walk 2 min 3x
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Run 8 min, walk 2 min 3x

Week 4
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Run 8 min, walk 2 min 3x
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Run 10 min, walk 2 min 2x and then run for 5 min
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Run 8 min, walk 2 min 3x

Week 5
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Run 9 min, walk 1 min 3x
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Run 12 min, walk 2 min 2x and then run for 5 min
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Run 8 min, walk 2 min 3x

Week 6
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Run 15 min, walk 1 min 2x
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Run 8 min, walk 2 min 3x
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Run your first 5km YEAH!!!!

Remember to stretch!

Rudi's First Week of Life

I am such a proud auntie! It is confirmed my sister makes beautiful babies as Mariel says :) On May 4th I became an aunt of a beautiful baby girl named Rudi born at 7lbs 2ozs. Just like my nephew Noah she is absolutely precious. Her first week of life mostly consisted of eating, sleeping and stretching. She barely cries but sometimes she makes a little vibrating sound like a cat. I have it on video for proof because it is unreal.

While my sister was in the hospital I took care of little Noah and he was such a trooper. We visited his new baby sister, Mom and Dad twice a day to help with the adjustment. We also made sure we visited my grandmother a few times because Noah loves it there. Not to mention the people in the home seem to light up when they see little Noah. Only the first morning was sad when he woke up crying. I am sure it was because he missed my sister...poor little one. Hearing him cry like that was heart wrenching. Thank goodness with some support from my mom, dad and I he stopped after a short while.

That weekend to cheer him up Noah and I went to the Teen Ranch Open House for his first pony ride. He was a great little rider but it was so funny his favourite part of that day seemed to be the barbeque....he was fascinated by the big burgers. He kept giggling and saying "mmmm Big Burger". I was in stitches!

Teen Ranch is a great place for kids to go for summer camp in the countryside of Caledon. They have horse riding, swimming, basketball, volleyball, tennis, hockey and much more. Sorry I forgot my camera no pics of Noah on the pony, but I did happen to get a pic of his ride on Dino the dog in the mall on my sister's first real outing since the birth. Oh and yes I was one of those kids that ran home at lunch time to see the Flinstones in Public School.

My Morning Coffee

Every morning before work I love to start my day with a morning coffee or tea. Along the way I am guaranteed to see a homeless man or woman in downtown Toronto.

There is one homeless man I walk by often and he always greets me with a smile and good morning. This man goes out of his way to be cheerful. This always inspires my day. Usually I only just make enough time to grab my coffee and go back to the office but one day I had some extra time and spoke to him longer than the usual hello.

At one time he had a great job and home but depression took over and it was difficult for him to remember or have the desire to care to keep up with his medication due to lack of support from family, friends or places to go for help. When saying goodbye he told me with a big warm smile "Thank you for always acknowledging me and smiling to say hello each day; It really makes a difference when I am having a bad day!"

Most people just walk by the homeless pretending they do not exist out of fear or to protect themselves from feeling anything. I have to admit I have done this before but from now on I am going to try to remember this conversation and do my best to help make a difference in other peoples day by making the simple effort of a smile.

Capoeira

Capoeira is the most fascinating form of martial arts to me. Especially because it involves music and dance. Capoeira now has a huge modern movement that can be found in films, fire throwing which I witnessed in Thailand and as a sport. This incredible movement actually has a history that dates back as far as the 1600's in a time of African slavery in Brazil.

If I have your attention and you want to read more http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5225100