Today is my Birthday!

This message goes out to you all. I hope that wherever you are, whatever you do, you have a fantastic time doing it. Stay warm and enjoy!

Time Flies!

I was just browsing through some of my old posts and noticed that on February 5, it will be one year since I joined the HYC. I had a fantastic 2008 but did slip a bit towards the end. I'm working very hard to make sure that by February 5, 2009 I can do a bit of celebrating!

Hope to see you then and until then, I'll just keep on trucking :)

AACK!

Back in classes this week at the Faculty of Education and I already feel as if my head will explode! I wish I could be back with my grade four's but I have to be an adult and suck it up. It will be a very, very hectic month for me before my next placement so it's quite likely that I'll be MIA for the next little while.

That being said, I'm back on track for my workouts. I've worked out a schedule to fit in trips to the gym with breaks between classes. Have you ever ZUMBA'D? I will be this week and I'll try to let you know how that goes.

Take care until next time!

What Is Beauty?

It is not a dress size.
It cannot be bottled and sold.
Beauty is not a label.
It is not a word reserved for the perfect.
It is not flawless skin.
It is not perfect coiffures and perky breasts.
Beauty is not grace.
It is not lengthy legs
Or hourglass figures.
Beauty is not full, pouty lips.
It is not what you see in glamour magazines.
Beauty is not something to be achieved.
It is not something to be coveted.
It is not at all what you think it is.
Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder.

Beauty is weathered hands from doing laundry.
It is the uneven proportions of the common woman.
It is ivory, ebony and every color in between.
Beauty is the sweat beaded brow from childbirth.
It is the tears of pain and joy that fall from loving eyes.
It is the lines etched from a mother's worry.

Beauty is truth.
Beauty is courage.
Beauty is compassion and generosity.
It is plump, it is thin.
It is tall, it is short.
It is what stares back at us in the mirror,
Longing to be recognized.
Beauty is real.
Beauty is you.
Beauty is in the eye of she who chooses to see it in herself.

May you see the beauty that is in you throughout the new year.

Thank you Patty~you are beautiful!

Happy New Year!

A new day and a new year--and I'm excited! I found this great little "poster" and it's totally got me revved up. How many of these are you or would you like to be? I know that there are a few I need to work on ;)

Cammy did a little year in review and I thought it would be fun to do one too. There were some changes in my life and most were positive, some need to be tweaked just a bit.

1. Sent off my application to the Faculty of Education and was accepted!
2. Quit a part-time job that I thought would be fun but wasnt'!--no more wasting time doing things I don't enjoy.
3. Started blogging and joined the HYC leading me to meet some of the most amazing, incredible people in the world!
4. Began the Couch to 5K training program and before I knew it I could run 7 miles by the summer!
5. Finally dropped those pesky pounds by working out--a lot!
6. Back to school in the fall and did my first round of practice teaching--I LOVED IT!!!!

Yes, I feel that I had a successful 2008 even though there were rough times (the economy, my investments, will there be a job for me?, gaining a little of the weight back during the faculty strike).

But, I am so ready for 2009 and am excited by the new possibilities and challenges that await. I hope that all of you are too!

I'll post soon about some of the new things I'm planning on fitting into my back-to-school schedule.