Yoga

Sometimes I find hard to come up with ideas of what I want to write about.... Since today is Friday, meaning tomorrow is Saturday, I thought I would write about yoga. Now you must be asking, so what if it's Friday? What does that have to do with Yoga? Well, let me tell you! On Saturdays, I am an "EE" at the Yoga Sanctuary. What kind of ridiculous awesome title is EE? Well, it stands for Energy Exchange, however, I guess on Saturdays I would be an Energy Exchanger... (Okay that sounds a little ridiculous...) That's besides the point, the point is, Saturday means being immersed in yoga!

The Yoga Sanctuary at Danforth and Broadview is really gorgeous (I am not being biased.. even though I kind of work there).

The main studio brings in a lot of natural light and has a nice space to practise your yoga.

When I was completing my undergraduate degree at York, I tried yoga for the first time. I found it relaxing yet still challenging. It really did evoke an inner calmness in me which I had never really felt any other time than running (which I have stopped because of my knee). Having had so much time, I ended up practising basically 4-5 times a week (on top of my usual gym/exercise routines). It was a great compliment to cardio and strength training. Continuing this for over a year, I was able to get in to poses I never thought possible.

These are some examples:

Now I can't say that I have kept it up at the same rate. Unfortunately, when I moved to Winnipeg, I wasn't too good about yoga very often, but now I can say that it is a part of my exercise routine and I thoroughly enjoy practising. Now, let's be honest, I can't do all of the same things I used to be able to do when I was going so often, but I can do some. Seeing your progress over time is so encouraging.

So now I practise at the Yoga Sanctuary on the Danforth which has some amazing instructors and a welcoming environment... and you may also see me working at the desk on Saturdays.

So even if you think yoga isn't for you, go out and try it.. because it may surprise you... it sure surprised me.

Iphone - App-mazing!

So, as some of you would know, I used to have a Blackberry curve. This is the type of phone that is really cool when you first get it and then slowly quickly you realize how terrible is actually is. So, after days, weeks, months of wanting to throw my phone out the window, I realized that I desperately needed a new phone. I got out of my car one day and my Blackberry smashed on the pavement... My first thought was "Does this mean I can get a new phone?".... This is the official moment I realized that, it was time to upgrade to a real phone.

I ended up getting the Iphone 4s, obviously, not the best on the market, but really, IT'S AWESOME. It could be that it's like comparing it to not having a phone, since my Blackberry was full of limitations, but I love it.

Having just got this phone, I am slowly discovering my favourite apps (because.. my phone couldn't even handle apps before.. oh Blackberry).

Ashley's list of App-mazing applications:

1. Run Keeper

Having biked to work for the first time (although I do enjoy biking for pleasure, I have never been close enough to bike to work until now!), I think this app is amazing. It tracks your distance and speed via GPS. It also calculates the approx. calories burnt using your age, height, and weight. This way, I can see when I am slowly down on my bike and if my time is improving.

2. Shazam

I am totally that person in the club, store, car, etc. that is always like "I love this song"... yet I have no idea what the song is called and fairly often have no idea who the artist is. Problem solved! Just Shazam it and instantly, you know!

3. Photosynth (and Photoshop Express)

This is a pretty sweet app. Loving photography, this is up my alley and allows me to take panoramic pictures super easily. No explanation needed - download it, you won't regret it.

Photoshop express is simple and free. It let's you easily edit photos with clicks of a button, app-mazing!

4. Instagram

Now how can I forget Instagram? I was so excited to get an Iphone so I could finally Instagram my life. And then obviously post it to Facebook and Twitter. People are going to get annoyed with me so quickly, but it's incredible! I love the filters.

5. Draw Something and Fruit Ninja

When I am bored, I love playing Fruit Ninja. I love it, super exciting. Draw something is also very entertaining but that one requires others' participation whereas Fruit Ninja does not.

6. Starbucks

I love Starbucks.. a lot.. and I also love the app. This app allows me to track my stars, drinks, purchases, as well as being able to pay with my phone. Good bye wallet, all I need is my phone.. yay for Iphone!

And the best part of my Iphone and all of these apps? They are free!

As I am sure you can all tell, I am still super excited about my Iphone!

Happy Friday and yay for the weekend.

When I grow up..

When I grow up:

I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star... is no one else thinking of that song? I'm sure you all are!

But seriously, I would love to have a house like this:

It would also obviously come with this pool:

And inside, I would have a closet like this:

I would wear shoes like this.. ALL THE TIME...and then someone would carry me home because my feet would hurt:

They would also come from this collection - obviously, I love shoes... minor addiction perhaps...

I would also be able to wear dresses like this often.. and not look ridiculous doing so:

When I got married, I would have an amazing wedding venue, gorgeous dress, and beautiful flowers:



And I would get a puppy... I just want it to so badly.

It would also sleep in a bed like this:

And this is how I spend my Thursday. One more day until the weekend! Woot Woot!

Weekend Recap

My apologies for my tardiness. I was planning to post my weekend recap yesterday, however, Eoghan ended up getting sick so I was looking after him post-work.

So this weekend ended up being awesome, considering my lack of plans, that was a big plus!

Thursday night was Caitlin's birthday (Eoghan's sister). She turned 18, so I went over for family dinner. On Friday, his mom invited everyone over for an extended family dinner for her birthday.

Saturday night, we ended getting tickets to the Leafs game to go see the Habs vs the Leafs. Needless to say, we rocked it. The final score 5-1 for the Leafs! WOOT WOOT! Having never been to a Leafs game before, it was definitely an experience and one I really enjoyed. We sat in the purples which is basically where most of the outrageous fans sit. It was great. Beer drinking, cheering, and the threat of a possible fight, I had a blast! The 2 habs fans beside us left after the second period because they were so angry they were losing.

After the leafs game, we went to go see the movie 42. I really enjoyed it. I never knew that the number 42 was the only number has been retired by all major league baseball teams. Pretty neat if I may say so myself. I encourage you all to go see the movie, and if you don't like it you can blame me.. Well...I'm sure you will....

Sunday was spent doing nothing. I baked some vegan cupcakes that were only 110 calories, pretty amazing. Made with almond milk and applesauce, they were so chocolaty, moist, and amazing!

I took them from this blog here, you will not be disappointed!

Hope you are all having a great Tuesday.

The good, the bad, the ugly

So I've been inspired by a lot of other bloggers out there to do this post. I think that everyone has their good and bad moments. We all have our strengths and our faults. I am far from perfect and I am slowly beginning to come to terms with that... Sometimes I do things that others would seem as normal mistakes and I freak out get a little upset.... I'm trying to work on it.

 

So here's to not being perfect!

 

The good:

1. I think I'm pretty reliable at following through on my promises
2. I try to lead a healthy lifestyle, with decent eating, exercise, no smoking etc.
3. I write good papers. Obviously, this may not be evident through my blog, but I am very good at writing academic papers. I guess that's how I got through school barely going to class and partying a lot.

 

The bad:

1. I have a solid addiction to Diet Pepsi.. It used to be Diet Coke, but York University converted me
2. I swear quite a bit.... I wonder where I got that from?
3. I judge myself all the time. In the morning, I always think "my hair looks terrible", "that shirt makes me look fat"
4. I get upset too easily and take things too personally
5. Sometimes I live in chaos and then sometimes I'm super neat.. I think I can only tolerate a certain amount of chaos

 

The ugly:

1. I'm judgemental.. I'm working on it.. I do it silently, so you wouldn't know (unless you are super close to me)
2. I have my snobbish moments, it's probably linked to the ugly #1. Please just ignore these times.
3. I can really be a b*tch when I drink, watch out.. Sorry in advance!

 

I come to terms with the fact that I am either one of those individuals you either love or hate.

 

That's it for today. Happy Friday!

 

Work now feels like school

Today's article was inspired by my visit to York University yesterday and having a new employee start at work today.

Having been at York University for 4 years, it really became a second... and third home. Having started at the Glendon Campus during my first year and then eventually taking more and more classes at the main campus, I really began to immerse and invest myself in the university.... 3 years after graduating, York feels like a stranger. As some of you know, I have a tutoring/editing side job, so this time, I made the trek up to the main campus to edit a student's paper. I proceeded to go to the Village to park my car. To my disbelief, you cannot park for more than an hour... Oh city of Toronto, you just had to catch on.. No more free parking. I would just like to point out, this is where I parked for free, the entire time I went to York (I only got... 2 tickets in that period of time, which is downright awesome). So, I proceeded to the parking garage, whatever, no big deal, sometimes when I was lazy went to York I would park there. Then, I proceeded to walk over to Scott library. Walking through the campus, through Accolade West (where I spent a lot of my time), and  I left like I was walking in to a foreign area... I felt like an outsider. Surrounding by people I didn't know, people who were much younger than me, and an area that has been revamped.

When I used to walk into the York campus, a sense of ease, comfort, and energy came over me. Simply put, I felt at home. Whether it was the main campus or Glendon, the feeling was the same. Now, it's the opposite.

That feeling I used to get at York, I now get at CAMH. Walking in to 175 or even Russell, I feel pretty at home. But, it takes awhile to feel like that. I started at 175 in July and it's only been since December, that I feel this way... So, it's interesting when we get a new employee in our department because starting a new job is never easy, you never know what type of situation you are walking in to. I've been told that the TEACH team is a tightknit group, which is true. I've been told that it's hard to break into our group, but I don't really feel that way. Hopefully our new employee, Parizad, enjoys working with us and with TEACH. And I truly hope she feels at home eventually here as well.

On a work related note, some of us are joining a group and doing CAMH's health month challenges. In May, we will begin accumulating points for working out, healthy eating, drinking water, and basically doing anything good for our health. I'm really looking forward to it :-)

That's it for today. Happy Thursday... Thursday means tomorrow is Friday! WOOHOO!

Real Life

The end of the University school year is approaching, I can always tell when so many people on Facebook are posting about final exams and finishing school. I get mixed feelings when I see these posts. Especially when I see people posting about their "final exam" and graduation. When I see undergrads posting, I think "Damn, I am so old, that was awhile ago..". When I see Master students posting, I think "Been there, done that! Glad it's over" and when I see PhD students posting, I feel very unaccomplished... But then I need to remind myself, that I made the decision not to continue on to my PhD so I really can't be too upset about it.

So all of these Facebook posts inspired today's blog. So here's my list of things I like about working and what I miss about school:

Things I like about being a working full-time:

• Making $$$$$$ - Really, it's so nice not to be broke!
• Not bringing work home with me, I work Monday to Friday, 8:30-4:30 and don't need to do any extra work on the weekend... I kind of enjoy working regular hours :-)
• Making new work friends! My coworkers are awesome, I am lucky to have them!
• No exams, I don't really miss those.. But call me a nerd, but I really enjoyed classes and learning - It's really not the same working... I have a thirst for knowledge often.
• Being in Toronto. Working full-time means I am finished my Masters in the peg and able to live back in my favourite city... I really can't complain that much.
• I am on the road to some sort of career.... I am not going to lie to you.. I always thought, I have time, I will figure out what I want to do with my live, well, hello real life... and still, no idea what my final goals are.

Things I liked about being a full-time student:

• Not having regular work hours. Sometimes, I truly miss this... Now, as I work, I have to go shopping and to the gym when everyone else is also off.. It's just busy
• Daytime naps - and not being exhausted. I like sleeping at irregular times and being able to take breaks whenever. I never felt as tired as working full-time
• Manuscript, conferences, etc. I always felt very accomplished during these times. It felt great.
• Scheduling my classes when I felt like it. I often planned afternoon and evening classes as I am not a morning person. Despite not being a morning person, I still need to wake up early every day to go to work, not ideal.
• Being able to go out on school nights and then sleep in....A friend having a birthday party on a Tuesday night? AMAZING! I would be there... now... not so much.. hangovers at work, not my favourite.
• Working part-time. Working life seemed easier. It also gave me a free membership to a gym, which I have to pay for now.
• Summers off!! God, how I miss it...

Everyone always seems to have this idea that working life is so much better, but I see don't see what all the rush is about? Honestly, I wasn't one of those individuals that was counting down the days till school ended. I liked school, I only counted down the days until I could move back to Toronto. Working full-time has it's peaks but if I could be paid to go to school full-time, I would gladly take it, hands down.

Making the decision to not continue with my PhD was a big decision. Deciding not to a perma-student was hard, but knowing that I wouldn't gain too much from doing my PhD, I decided against it. Do I regret it? No! I think I made the right decision, but sometimes I wish I was getting a PhD, then I could be Dr. Hall... but who knows maybe one day!!

I also wondered what I was going to do with my life. In my undergrad, I often post-poned that thought. Doing a Masters was a good way to postpone thinking about it.. Then, I get to my Masters and graduated and still had no idea what I wanted to do... and still working full-time, I still wonder.. However, on the bright side, I have decided that I currently would like a Communications Coordinator position (preferably within CAMH) and therefore, am doing a Certificate in Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Humber.. why not? Now, I can combine working full-time with part-time school LOL.

Well, that's all today folks. To the undergrads graduating, congrats! To my friends finishing up their Masters, CONGRATS!! It is well deserved! and to everyone else, follow your dreams and do something that makes you happy!

Because I've been neglectful

So, I've clearly been neglectful, so I should would really like to apologize. I will give you all a brief recap of the festivities so you all don't keep asking yourself, "where in the world Ashley go?".... (and if you are like me, you should hopefully have the theme song to "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" in your head now).

So last weekend was Easter, which I am always thrilled about because it means spending time with family and friends (and 2 days off work !! woo).

 So since Lauren has moved to Kitchener (which I am still not happy about....) we decided that we would pay her a visit, and what better way to visit her than going to Kitchener to go see the Price is Right, live, Canadian Edition. Also, why wouldn't we visit the St. Jacob's market? So we did! I left with $15 sunglasses and $6 leather belts!! Woo.

St. Jacob's market with our new sunglasses

I must also say, that the Price is Right, live, was just not as good. Here are the reasons why:
1. Todd Newton was the host... who cares?
2. They barely gave away any prizes...
3. The showcase showdown only had 1 randomly selected person... and she won nothing...
4. We didn't get on...

Making the shirts.. that didn't work out so well

Our T-shirts

Ultimately, I was a little disappointed. I was also disappointed with the Avery transfer-on t-shirt paper. It really didn't work well (Please see shirts as a clear example).

However, I must say that being able to drink during the Price is Right was kind of awesome, which led to even better times riding the mechanical bull at Dallas.

My little adventure in Kitchener followed by some good times hanging out with my family really made Easter weekend a lot of fun..

Tuesday and Wednesday, I was at the Ontario Public Health Conference (TOPHC) where I presented a 20 minute presentation on Alcohol Portrayals on Prime-Time Television.

I love Fridays! I especially loved Fridays on short weeks because they come even faster.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!