Flirty Girl

What an incredible week.  Simply incredible.  It started out with a huge bang, and I've ridden the shockwaves like a surfer, navigating the alternating calm and choppy waters of this vast ocean I call my life.  My personal life is getting better and better, and it really fills me with energy and motivation, which get carried into other parts of my life.  Here are some of them:

Monday night was BodyAttack release night - definitely upped the intensity with this release!

Wednesday night was BodyShred with a different instructor.  She did a very legs-heavy routine, so my legs and butt felt it for a few days.  It's nice to have a change.  It keeps it fresh and forward-moving.

Thursday I went for a run around the neighbourhood.  Just 20 minutes, but harder intensity than usual.

Friday was BodyPump and CXWorx.  CX was actually a new release class, so it was all new for us.  It was also leg-heavy, so I'm still feeling it a bit today in my butt.  Good stuff.

Saturday and Sunday were social bonanzas.  

For Esther's bachelorette on Saturday, we went over to Flirty Girl Fitness for a pole dancing lesson.  What?  That's right.  Pole dancing.  It has, in recent years, become popular as a fitness activity, and not just a hyper-sexualised performance that you see on TV and in movies.  We had a wonderful instructor who taught us some different moves and then put together a little choreography for us.  All of us at the party are active ladies, so we caught on quickly and were eager to learn as much as we could.

We then went dancing at El Convento Rico.  I loved when they played Latin music, because I just pretended I knew how to salsa.  I threw in all the Latin I could muster from deep in my soul and we danced the night away.  It got really hot and sweaty in the crowd.

Even a bachelorette party can be great exercise. ;)

My niece has arrived for another stay!  This time her parents are staying the whole time, so it'll be nice to catch up with my brother (he didn't come last time, just my sister-in-law).  It's only been about a month, but I find it a lot easier to lift my niece.  Must be all those push ups…?!

I signed up for another 10K run.  It's happening on September 8th, so I have a month and a bit to prepare.  Then I'm doing a 5K run on October 6th, so I have a few more months to train for that one.  I'm excited and nervous.  It's going to be great!  What a way to keep me inspired.  Though I have to say, I never want to skip my gym classes.  Not only do they make me feel good, but they're also social events.  They've become a part of my routine.  In fact, I get grumpy if anything threatens my attendance.  I guess that's when you know you really enjoy something.

This week has been simply amazing.  It's been like a dream come true.  It's the end of July, and we still have another month of summer left.  Let's all make it the best month we've ever had.

Oh No, Not Another Camping Trip

On Sunday evening I got back from the second of my two trips up to Bruce Peninsula.  Trip 1 involved yurts.  Trip 2 involved tents.  In today's post, I'd like to share some pictures, but the report will be somewhat disjointed, as I will mostly just point out events that go with the pictures.

We were a group of 7.  Marie, Dave, Vaughn, Melissa, Ben, Kevin, and me.  We went up in 2 groups.  Group one included me, Melissa, and Dave.  We drove through tornado weather.  We thought we were going to die.

Melissa and I saw big dust clouds signalling what we think may have been the touchdown of a tornado.  We arrived safely and pitched the 2 tents that we had brought with us.  We then attempted to make a fire, but everything was so wet that it was very difficult.  When the rest of the gang arrived, they pitched the other tent, and we got a fire going.  Dinner that night was apples, carrots, hummus, and three roasted chickens Ben had picked up from a Fiipino restaurant in our neighbourhood.  It was a little hard to fall asleep that night, but in the morning, we were up pretty early.  We made what Marie termed "breakfast boats".  This was necessary because out of the 7 of us, nobody brought a pan or a pot.  Oops!

We set off for a hike, and lo and behold, just like my last trip, in the same place except on the other side of the bridge, we spotted a snake.  He was hard to follow, but after some movement he resurfaced with… a fish in his mouth.  Wildlife hunting in action!

We made it to Georgian Bay and the Grotto.  Ben and Kevin went for a dip in the cold waters.  They were very brave, since it was also a very windy day and the waves were choppy.

After a while, we hiked to a rock beach on our way back to the campsite for lunch.  Here is Ben and wilderness.

Many photo ops presented themselves.  Here was a beautiful dragonfly that decided to chill out on Vaughn's tent.

We picked up a bunch of sticks on our way back from the hike.  They would serve as our food cooking sticks.  Vaughn whittled them with a whistle (well, I don't think he whistled, but we can pretend he did, since it sounds cheery).  He did a wonderful job.  Those sticks made our marshmallows and hotdogs feel safe and properly pierced.

The fire constantly going and the light shining through the trees made for some interesting photos.  Here is Dave looking like he has Cyclops' powers, except with smoke, not lasers.

After a visit to the Singing Sands Beach (the dip in Lake Huron served as our "shower" for the weekend), we went back to the campsite for dinner.  Dave's mother - bless her heart - made kalbi for us.  20 pieces of wonderfully delicious, authentic kalbi.  Oh, we ate like kings that night, for we also had burgers and s'mores.

Later in the evening, Vaughn went for a swim, and when he came back, he informed us that a big snake was chilling by the beach.  I was the first out the door.  We went down to the beach, and there she was.  A big, beautiful, hungry snake. 

She was eating some kind of salamander. She got very nervous when we approached close, and she backed up into this tree trunk, curling her tail up and out of sight.  It took her quite a long time to eat.  In fact, we were there for…. oh, I'd say over half an hour and she still hadn't finished her meal by the time we left.  A lot of people passed by and were curious what we were looking at.  We presented Snake (what a creative name) proudly to passersby, explaining what was happening.

We watched the sunset as the mosquitoes started to really dig into us.  Some ducks swam by.  Here was a straggler.

On the last day, Sunday, we reluctantly packed up and loaded up the cars.  We went to a rock beach (Little Cove) and hung out there by the rough waves.  We threw rocks into the lake, and I ran up and down the beach, a most precarious exercise on such uneven chunks of rock.  Afterwards, we went into Tobermory for some delicious Fish n Chips.  We hung around the docks for a bit after lunch, and then, sadly, it was time to go home.  I'm glad we had such beautiful weather to end a beautiful trip.

Trips like this can really make friends grow closer. But I find that not just the trip, but the aftermath of the trip helps friendships grow.  I can certainly say that on Monday, after such a wonderful weekend away, and the reality of being back in the city sinking in, I was inspired, and my love for my friends grew infinitely.  I realised that my friends are here to stay, and that nothing - really, nothing (except maybe murder) - can take them away from me.

This week promises to be a very good one.  I've been busy with social events and it's only Tuesday!  I did BodyAttack yesterday with Marie, planned a bachelorette with Rachel and Sarah after the gym, then did coffee with Ben this morning, worked, and then did tea with Alex in the evening.  I think the first 2 days of the week really set the tone for the rest of the week, so here's hoping for another great set of days.

Love and peace.

Softball Adventures

It's been another eventful week.  Monday I did BodyAttack, Tuesday I had to work on my feet for 9 hours, Wednesday I did BodyShred, Thursday I went for a 32 minute run, and Friday… was the busiest day!  But first I'll talk about last Thursday.

My workplace has a softball team that plays other departments at the university, and they needed an extra girl last Thursday so that they were eligible to play.  Seeing as I wasn't busy that evening, I joined.  It was incredible fun!  Everyone was very welcoming.  It had been many years since I'd last played baseball (we're talking elementary school era).  I was never really good at hitting the ball, but catching and throwing were all right for me.  Last Thursday was great.  I actually hit the ball (gasp!), although I never made it to first base, since the hits were pretty weak and they were able to throw the ball in before I got there (sprinting is also not my forté, so that's a double whammy of imperfection).  But I was catcher on the field and took part in a few key plays, which felt good.

I played again this past Friday, but it was after work and then BodyPump (I skipped the CXWorx that comes after).  I was a fair bit exhausted by the end of that day.  The game was great.  We didn't win, but it was close, and I feel like I was even more active.  I was weak with my hits, but my last turn up to bat, I hit a good ball.  Nice and strong.  However, I hit it right in the direction of another player, so she was able to grab it quickly and throw it to first before I made it.  Despite this, I felt really good about my hit!

Before this Friday's game, I looked up some youtube videos about proper batting form, and keeping the pointers in mind, I found a big difference in how I batted this week compared to last week.  I felt more in control.  Now it's a matter of practice.  I can watch all the videos I want and read all the information I can, but I need to physically do it to truly get it.  Hopefully I can practice hitting the ball a bit before I play next, whenever that may be.  There's also more inspiration to work on my sprinting.  The games have been thrilling and the team spirit high.  I'm glad I took a step contrary to my fears (of looking like a fool on the field) and let my coworkers and friends talk me into playing.

The coming week  is going to be a short work week (camping next Friday!) and another one packed with fitness and social events.  Tonight I'm doing my regular BodyAttack, and I'm please to announce that I have finally gotten myself a new lock so that I can use my bicycle for commuting.  It's a Kryptonite Evoluton Mini, which I hope will help to deter theft.  I'm excited because I'll spend less time commuting and get used to biking again!

Bruce Peninsula yurt trip

I went camping this weekend at Bruce Peninsula Provincial Park, up on Georgian Bay/Lake Huron.  I went with my 2 oldest friends, Rachel and Esther, who I've known since elementary school and junior high school, respectively.  We took the Friday off from work and drove up from stormy, rainy Toronto to happy and sunny Cyprus Lake.

Cyprus Lake.  Great care was taken wading into the water to get this shot.

We stayed in a yurt, so we weren't exactly "roughing it", but we got a taste of quiet forest life.  We unpacked our sleeping bags, locked our food in a cabinet, and put on the sunblock.

Our yurt had a wonderful location just seconds away from the water

On the first day we took a dip on Cyprus Lake, the lake our yurt was located by.  The water was deliciously mild - a little cold going in, but wonderful once we were fully submerged.  We tread water and swam for a while before heading back in for a meal.  We were eager for a quiet, good night's rest, but I think we were too excited and too tired.  We turned off the flashlights, but an hour later, after Esther dropped a water bottle from her top bunk, we all admitted that we hadn't fallen asleep yet.  A trip to the washroom ensued, followed by more fitful tossing and turning.

The second day we were awoken at 5am by some men in the neighbouring yurt talking about what their mothers or fathers or whoever said 5 years ago, this dramatic thing or the other, and we were all extremely grumpy about it.  Why discuss this at 5am in loud, booming voices?!  We grumbled about it, but when Rachel finally gathered the courage to go and ask if they could keep it down, they were just taking off to shower.  Um…?!  We were finally able to drift back to sleep for another hour and a half, but we were all tired from our late night and early awakening.

However, we didn't let it keep us down.  We coffee'd up and went for a hike to the Grotto on Georgian Bay.  On the way, we stopped on a bridge to look into a little river feeding into the lake.  Imagine my complete delight when we saw an Eastern milksnake!  He was cooling off in the water.  He then began to swim, his powerful body projecting him from rock to rock for shelter from the running water.

Eastern milk snake, a non-venomous species of snake found in Ontario

Upon arrival at the Grotto, we took a dip in the turquoise-coloured waters of the freezing Bay.  There were signs on the trail cautioning swimmers that the body of water was very cold and that it could inhibit swimming ability.  It was freezing.  I only stayed in for about a minute before my limbs began to seize up with cold.  It was extremely refreshing once back on the shore - it was 28 degrees celsius before humidity.

The water of Georgian Bay looks deceptively tropical and warm.

We hiked back to our yurt for a well-deserved lunch and then to the lake for another dip.  We swam, chilled on the beach, and ate our snacks - wasabi peas in the shade on the beach.  What more could a person ask for?  Well, another snake sighting would be nice.  Lo and behold, my wish was granted.  There was another milk snake taking a dip in the water.  Others in the water kept their distance, fearful, uninterested, or disgusted, but I followed the little guy in the water until he surfaced near a log.  I must admit that I reached out and touched the tip of his tail.  Then as he slithered under, I let my hand brush along his smooth back section.  He came to a pause and I went in for another touch.  I got it in, but I pushed his limit and he struck at me.  I pulled my hand away, backed up a step in the water, and watched as he slinked off along the shoreline.

I feel a mix of intense thrill and guilt - thrill that I got to come into contact with one of my favourite creatures, but guilt for disturbing him and scaring him with my touching.  Bruce Peninsula is also home to Ontario's only venomous snake, the Massasauga rattler.  If I ever encountered a venomous, or otherwise unidentifiable snake in the wild, I would not try to touch it.  I would stop and back away immediately.  As much as I love snakes, I understand that some of them can hurt me more badly than just a bite.  Also, I would just like to note that I love snakes and would never bring any harm to one.  While touching a snake in the wild violates the "leave nature alone" principle, I believe that my actions caused the snake no harm, and it was simply another animal interaction in both his and my daily lives.  Like a playful dog, I had a curiosity that had to be satisfied.

After our swimming and wild creature encounter, we drove over to Singing Sands Beach on Lake Huron for more swimming and beach bumming.  The water was shallow and warm for such a long distance that we didn't even bother to go as far as the deep end (wherever that may have been!). 

Singing Sands on Lake Huron.

That night after dinner we played cards till sunset, when we got up to enjoy the mix of colours.

Sunset over Lake Cyprus.

More cards, and then it was time to sit around the fire.  Once the residual light from the sunset dimmed for good and the worst of the mosquitoes were upon us, we went back into the yurt for more card playing.  We reminisced about the songs we'd learned to sing and play on the guitar in grades 7 and 8 and had a wonderful night.  When bedtime came, I believe we were much more exhausted and fell asleep easily.  Oh, but one hiccup - Rachel and Esther got up to go to the washroom, but they locked themselves out of the yurt.  Luckily I was inside to open it for them!

The next morning I woke up at 6:30 and went to take a peek at the sunrise.  There were some ducklings making off into the water as I approached the lake.

Early morning dip for the ducklings on Lake Cyprus.

I did some sit ups on the beach to wake myself up.  It was wonderful working out on the sand with the sun rising above my head.  I had done some push ups, sit ups, and jumps the previous morning.  With the hiking and swimming, I'd say I met a bare minimum amount of exercise.  A jog would have been nice, too, but then there was only so much time for all our activities.

It was then time to go home.  We had breakfast, packed up all our things, and checked out of our wonderful yurt.  We said goodbye to the park and had a rainy drive home (it's amazing how the weather moulded perfectly around our plans - sunny for our entire trip, and then rainy for the car ride back).

Bruce Peninsula is a beautiful place, and I would go there again.  In fact, I'm going back the weekend after next for another camping trip!  This time in tents with another group of friends.  Here's to another weekend of hiking, swimming, and wild animals.

This week, though, it's back to my regularly scheduled life.  I hope to make it to the gym 4 times and go for at least one plain run outdoors.  Next week's update should include fewer pictures and more gym talk.  I did, however, enjoy writing about my trip here and sharing pictures.  I hope you did, too!

C is for…?

All right, here I am!  Back to my regular week activity update.

It was a pretty good week, and an excellent long weekend.  I didn't do so many classes, and I went out for 0 runs (second week in a row doing that - eek!!), but the social aspect of my week was great.  My niece left a couple of days ago, so that was sad, but I'm confident that I'll go and visit her soon.

On Monday I went to what is now my regular BodyAttack class.  The instructor is so witty and energetic that she infects the whole class.  I felt like such a newbie when I attended weeks ago.  I did the moves quietly while the regulars whooped and cheered their way through the hour of exercise.  Now, I'm one of them, cheering when the instructor asks us if we're having fun.

Tuesday I took a break.

Wednesday was my regular BodyShred with my favourite instructor.  I pushed hard.  When I first did Shred (incidentally, it was with this same instructor) , I was sore for days after, and I couldn't believe what I'd let Marie drag me into.  Nowadays, Wednesday night Shred is the highlight of my week.  I look forward to it more than anything!  And I don't hurt for days after.  I feel stronger and stronger each time.

Thursday was a break day.

Friday I had to work late, so I missed my usual Pump/CX.  Instead, I got together with Dave and had a good dinner and chat with him.

Saturday I was going to do a three hour extravaganza of BodyCombat, BodyFlow, and Zumba.  However, after Combat and Flow, I felt like it was time to stop.  Combat was great, and I got that same release I had two weeks ago.  Flow was relaxing, a time to work on stretching, core strength, and breathing.  Marie and I went shopping afterwards, where I got a new bikini.

Sunday was beach day! We strayed away from our good Lake Ontario and headed out to Long Point Provincial Park, a peninsula jutting out into Lake Erie.  We slathered on the sunscreen for an afternoon in the sun.

There's Kevin doing a plank in the water and turning to 

watch some crazy dogs leaping in the waves.

Marie and I secretly brought water guns and attacked Dave when we first got there.  There were a lot of dogs at the beach, so we lay around watching them, occasionally going into the water.  It was a very lazy day, and a much-needed escape from the city.  At the end of the day, Dave dropped me off near the Pride festivities, and I walked through to go home.  What an amazing crowd and party.  It was the complete opposite of the quietness of our beach day.

Finally: today, Monday!  Today is a national holiday, but some of the gyms were open for limited hours, so we made it out to my regular BodyAttack class, except it was in the morning, not the evening.  It was spectacular!  The crowd was energetic and ready to work hard.  Favourite move of the day?  Jumping jacks followed by shuffles.  Agility training is the best!


It's been a busy few weeks having a little kid around and taking care of her while working and working out.  My alone time has been short, but precious and appreciated.  I like unwinding in the evening with my book or a TV show, reviewing the day in my mind and looking forward to the next.  This week will be another busy one, but it'll be a short work week for me with camping coming up on Friday.  I'm also going to re-add a few outdoor runs to my routine.  I can't believe I've gotten so lax about it!  But I have been getting good cardio workouts at my classes, and I'm a heck of a lot stronger than I was a month and a half ago.

I shall wrap up with a little story from today's class.  For the last track of the class - ab work - our instructor had us do C crunches.

She called out, "C is for…..?"

Marie and I both yelled out "Canada!", because it's Canada Day (our instructor had referenced it several times already).

The instructor did a double take, a small, surprised smile growing on her face.  "Oh, yeah.  I was gonna say cookie, but you girls have the right idea!"

We laughed so hard, and as we started the ab work, Marie said as an aside to me "C is for Crunches."