2015 Goals

Do you set goals for the New Year? I usually set at least one goal, sometimes several. This year I'm planning a few triathlons and shooting towards doing an olympic distance, with a lake swim YIKES! My first one is planned for April (pool swim)!

What goals have you set for 2015?

So warm

It is so warm here in Victoria currently. While my ideal winter is a snow covered trail what we are getting here right now is rain, more rain and a side of rain.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and many people spend it running about getting last minute shopping done, I know my husband does!

My favourite part of today is the end when we snuggle into the house, watch a movie or old Christmas cartoon, maybe have some hot chocolate. Relax. 

What is your favourite thing to do on Christmas Eve?

Skating on Lakes

Something about skating on a snow covered lake makes me smile. When I worked at Spruce Meadows in Calgary many many moons ago one of our favourite night time activities was to skate on the pond if it was frozen. 

It's still one of my favourite things to do. If we ever get enough of a freeze here in Victoria I'm going to flood our riding arena and make a skating rink!

Next time it snows

Next time it snows I think I'll try taking some photos of the horses. This idea is one I'm going to try.

Winter Solstice

It's no secret that I love winter and pretty much everything about it. Today is winter solstice, and the first official day of winter. I often sit today and dream of snow. This photo reminds me of the snow laden roads we often encounter when we head out to our property in Stettler. One year I will spend the whole winter out there.

Just because it's pretty

Confidence

I am always grateful for snow

Could you imagine

Could you imagine hiking through a snow laden woods to stumble upon this tree?

How sweet

This picture reminds me of some good friends barn. I'm always jealous of them come snow season, they live in Princeton now and get way more snow than Victoria does. 

Vintage Christmas Tree Goodness

A box came the other day and I was giddy with excitement. I was pretty sure I knew what was in there and was dying to see it!

A little peek confirmed it was in fact what I thought it was, a precious vintage Christmas Tree!

How sweet! I friend (Karen) had posted a picture of one on her Face Book page and I had commented on how much I missed seeing one. She mentioned she see's them all the time at estate auctions and loe and behold she found me one! If you look closely you'll see two of the lights are birds! I just love it, it makes me smile every time I look at it.

Keep Going

Accept

One of many

Anyone who knows me knows I love winter, snow especially. This winter season I've seen a lot of pictures of Christmas tree's in the snow on social media. I'm probably going to be sharing a lot of my favourites.

This one looks like a  quite place to contemplate. A place to sit and watch the snow fall?

Below Zero

This week I will be submitting to Below Zero and event held in Quebec in February. It's a artist residency for one week for artists wanting to experience Canadian winter up close and personal. Anyone who knows me winter is my season, I love everything about it. Snow fall makes everything magical and this is something I just could not pass up applying for. Wish me luck, if I get accepted I'd be over the moon.

You cannot

12 week program with Coach Lindsey

My program with Coach Lindsey is going really well. I find it really nice to clear my head and let someone else handle and balance my work outs for the week. I also find I hold myself more accountable when I have to report in, plus I like those little green blocks that show up when I complete a scheduled work out!

Lindsey is offering a 12 week program in the New Year and I recommend it, get out there, get it done.

You will not regret it.

Unless it's pouring rain. Even then it's more like complaining and whining, but no regret.

The mind

Personal Coaching

I am 2 weeks into a 8 week personal training program with Lindsey Millar. It is fantastic! I get my weekly training lag uploaded to Training Peaks and she lays out what I need to get done that week. She's fit in my Tristars workouts and balanced my whole fitness schedule. It works around my daily time available and I can change days if I need to for flexibility. What I like about it the most is it feels like I am doing less but getting more out of it. That and the fact that someone tells me what I need to do that week instead of me guessing. 

I realized that while I was working out a fair amount I was a bit all over the place, sometimes pushing too hard. So often I wasn't recovering from one workout before moving into the other. My runs have been decreased but feel so much better, in fact thursday I ran and for the first time in years my left foot did not go numb!

I've known Lindsey for a long time, she used to ride in some of the same circles as me many many years ago. Seeing her journey into fitness and triathlons is part of what inspired me to try them.

Lindsey offers a 12 week base building program starting in Jan that will work me up into some triathlons for 2015. I recommend her highly, give her website a look and sign on with her. You won't regret it.

Coach Lindsey Millar

Respond

Tri For MS mini medals

Earlier this year I did the Tri For MS triathlon host by Tristars and Fort Street Cycle. I had a really good time and the event was pretty inspiring. I've stuck with the triathlon training and the Tristars has really impacted my life, so I decided to donate some "mini medals" for the 2015 Tri For MS. I finished them a couple weeks ago and here they are. What do you think?

There for a reason

Move in the pool

Last night the slow lane got move over on in the pool. Not a big deal, right? OIY! Yup, big deal for a nervous swimmer. Now we swim in a middle lane. Which means no wall on one side. To me it feels like being in the middle of the ocean, big wide open spaces nothing to ground you.

It also means a rope on one side, which I fret over getting my arm over top of. Of course if I bump it I want to hang a hard right (and panic) so I have to calmly tell myself to "just keep swimming" the entire time. 

It also means more chop (waves) which makes breathing a struggle. 

I knew sooner or later I'd loose the security of the wall lane and eventually I will get over it. This morning though, I'm moving a bit slow. Tense swimming makes for sore muscles.

One Small Positive Thought

A month about change

As I sit tonight and watch the Halloween fireworks, which I love. I'll be thinking back on a month of blogging about change. It was a struggle some days, and some days it felt great. For the most part it was really good to be able to stick to a topic for a whole 31 days!

Can I snorkle

This is how I looked when snorkelling in the past. Having a life long fear of open water snorkelling really was a struggle. While I yearned to se the pretty fish and sea life anything moving caused me to panic. Or rocks, they make me panic too. Mulling over a warm weather trip with my Mom in the new year I wonder if now that I can swim I can snorkle? 

Can I go from that picture above, to this?

Does my style change

Sometimes I wonder if my style changes? While I feel like I am creating something different, something unique. Is it really? The rings above I made about 3 years ago, simple stacking stone rings.

This ring I made a few weeks ago. Hollow formed silver ring, with horse hair set in resin.

It helps to go back through your old photos when you are feeling a lack of motivation, muse or creativity. Looking back can really help you see how far you've come.

Your life

Trip down memory lane

Foraying back into essential oils brought to mind a newspaper article written about my use of oils with horses. I am pretty sure my Mom gave me a copy of it and have wracked my "filing" system trying to locate it but alas I can find it no where. 

I am sure it's location will come to be at 5 am in a bout of insomnia. But for now I'm taking a trip down memory lane.

Henry was the horse that sparked my interest in essential oils and equines. He had migraines and claustrophobia related issues. I ran a diffuser at night for him with his own personal essential oil blend ( that I cannot remember ) for many months, his headaches lessened and combine with chiropractic care finally left. His claustrophobia was always a underlying issue but became easier to manage.

I remember sitting each night and watching his worried face relax as he parked himself in front of his diffuser and breathed in. 

I've always loved scents

Some things don't change. I've always loved scents. I remember about the age of 12 or so thinking "I want to make perfume" a dream that lasted a short time but I can still picture lavender fields in france and a brick perfumery. 

Scents trigger memories for me. I find scent to be one of the strongest healing powers for me especially when it comes to moods. 

Many many moons ago I took a essential oil course, it was hard but it gave me some insight into how oils work. I took more schooling when i was doing animal rehab on essential oils with animals and worked it into my practice way back when.

Recently I signed on with DoTerra having ordered it through a friend for a couple years now I grew to love the high quality and finally decided to sign on myself.

New to their program (but not their product) it will take me a while to get familiar with their ordering process. But I am excited for things to come!

Change Is The Essence of Life

My eyes are getting worse and worse

I swear the day I turned 40 my eye sight started to decline. I've worn glasses my whole life for distance but I find myself holding books at a totally different distance than I used to. Moving food items closer to my face to read the labels, then maybe back a bit further………hunting for a place I can actually see the small print.

Do you find your vision changing as you get older? 

What do you do to make it less of a struggle?

What's something you've always wanted to do?

I really really love this photo.

Take a leap, make a change and do something you've always wanted to do?

I want to scuba dive, but and really fearful of open water. In fact I can't even snorkel without having a panic attack. So I'm hoping in the next year to head some place warm with beautiful fish and snorkel.

What's something you've always wanted to do?

How long to make a habit?

How long do you think it takes to make a change a habit?

Most articles point towards 21 days. 21 days to make something new into something habitual. This article explains a bit about why it takes 21 days to make a new habit.

Having quit sugar years back I know how hard eating changes can be, I think that time varies depending on the person and the level of their bad habits.

Making activity into routine can be harder (for me anyways) as you have to make the extra time in your day for the activity before you can even begin to tackle it becoming a habit.

That is where I struggle, making the time for the activity.

Where do you struggle?

Couch to 10 K - Again

After some summer injuries and age (yup getting old sucks!) I'm back into the Couch to 10K running program.

On the advise of my chiropractor I started back at the beginning again, having done the program before he suggested starting at the beginning would be an easy way to gauge progress and any pain I may encounter.

I am 2 weeks in, having no specific problems other than I feel horribly out of shape. I remember when a 10K run was the norm. Not anymore!

BC in the fall

I love Victoria in the fall, it's usually a time I get a lot of work done in the studio. I find the shorter days and cooler temps lead me to want to hole up and create.

I also love running in the fall, spring too but fall temps are so nice for a morning run. Lately I've been met on the trails with a blanket of fallen leaves. I love the crunching sound they make, I find it soothing. 

Hoka - The teacher

Hoka came immediately following Pumpkin.

I out grew Pumpkin first so was deemed the one to "move up" to a bigger pony. Enter Hoka and enter with a bang he did.

Hoka became well known in the early days for bolting. When out trail riding I was often running into the back end of my mothers horse to stop him, he really was a bit of a bugger in the early days.

He attended many clinics and a Ray Hunt clinic with him finally started to make some progress. He became a very versatile pony. English, western, jumpers and even a short stint at polo were all disciplines he managed well.

Hoka became a integral part of my school horse string when I was teaching, he was great with the young kids and his versatility never left them bored.

We even appeared in a commercial for Thrifty Foods. Rode through downtown Victoria to a restaurant for the grand induction of Sterling Silver Beef into their stores.

Hoka also stayed with me right up until his final days. He retired from teaching in his mid 20's but was one of my favourtie horses to take out for a quiet trail ride. A long way away from the early days of bolting off on me.

In Order To Change

Pumpkin - The one who started it all

Pumpkin was the first one, the pony who started it all. One summer trip to Alberta to visit our grandparents we were met in their garden with a pretty special pony. Dapple liver chestnut with a white mane and tail she was a sight to see. Boy were my sister and I excited! My grandparents had got her for us! I cannot remember who named her but one of us spotted a pumpkin in the garden and that's how she got her name.

She was a bit of a handful in the beginning, I do remember a few tosses into the weeds off her. She also like to run under low branches to get rid of us.

She taught us so much in those early days and we stayed on her longer than we probably should have. I remember a jumping class at Saanichton Fair that my feet almost hit the rails, I was probably much to long legged for her.

Pumpkin stayed with our family right up until her final days and I've got some very fond memories of that special little pony who started my journey into the horse world.

Snoopy - the "old man"

Snoopy is the "old man" of the house at well over 15 years of age now. I've had him since he was about a year and a 1/2. He's slept on our bed almost every night, gets up with my husband each morning for his tuna treat and is often in the studio with me sleeping on my torching chair.

He's definetly starting to show signs of his age and we've put him on a supplement to help his mobility. It's harder for him to get on the bed and couch than it used to be.

He's incredibly special to us, the first pet my husband ever had on the house. He's not horribly impressed with the addition of Beep to his home. His hearing is getting weaker so Beep wears a loud bell so Snoopy can hear him coming. 

Snoopy spends most days snoozing on the cat post in the barn or on the bed in the winter. Life is pretty good at our house!

5 Min Stretch

Morning is a great time to do some kind of fitness routine. When I'm running I tend to enjoy them more first thing in the morning, they give me time to settle into the day and I find if I do them first thing I am more likely to stick with my routine.

A 5 min stretch can be a simple way to start something fitness related in the morning. There is a simple 5 min stretch here. It really does't matter how long you stretch, so long as you do it. If you only have a couple min pick a couple stretches and go for it. If you have more time repeat your session a couple times. Modify stretches to match your own abilities.

Do you think stretching is something you can do every morning?

Beep - the new addition

Beep the latest addition to our family arrived last year. We have property in Alberta and while my husband was out there fixing the roof this little kitten got tree'd by one of the tenants dogs. My husband rescued him out of the tree, twice. When my husband called home telling tales of the kitten living in the camper with him I was pretty sure the kitten would be coming back to BC with him. 

The kitten did come back to BC and has been a constant source of laughter ever since. He was named Beep due to his almost silent meow, more of a short "beep" than any cat noise I've ever heard.

Most nights Beep helps with feeding the horses and enjoys his rides in the hay wheelbarrow. He will come running from across the yard to jump into the wheelbarrow if I try and leave without him

Beep is ever curious, he'll climb into anything and will often pop out to surprise people. We had thought he'd start to mellow now that he is a year old but that doesn't seem to be the case. There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't make us laugh.