Looking for some blog posts but can't see them?
It's because I've consolidated by importing my blog to my website (finally, hooray!)
http://www.lanabetty.com/blog
Tap the RSS button to subscribe, sign up for the mostly monthly newsletter or check in from time to time! Now comments will be available and I won't have to use different websites to communicate with the world!
I still have my tumble-blog though.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Taking Control of my Life
That has all come to an end. It's time for me to take control of my life. If you haven't seen "What about Bob" (starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss), you should. I'll give you the cole's notes: Bob is crazy and Dr. Leo is a therapist who wants to help Bob. Through a series of zany events and comical situations, Bob comes to understand that all of life's BIG tasks/situations/deals can be broken down into BABY STEPS. He initially has troubles walking up stairs and entering rooms; gradually learning to take baby steps, he overcomes his fears and teaches Dr. Leo a thing or two about life and love in the process. It's a very good movie and always stuck with me. Bill Murray always cracks me up.
Back to my point; baby steps. I took all of the big, huge, insurmountable things in my life I didn't know how to fix and broke them down into baby steps. I did not do this in any formal way (unless this blog here, now, counts), but I broke them up and decided to tackle each small step and see what I could accomplish.
Goal 1: My Looming Student Debt.
The Canadian government was so kind (and generous) to allow me to have not just one year of loans, but four. When I decided to extend my visit at school into a fifth year, they were there to help. $52,000 later, they were so kind to inform me that I incurred approximately $6.00/day in interest. For those of you who don't know, that's more than the cost of a cup of coffee. I immediately stopped drinking my cherished cinnamon-dolce-skinny-lattes and immediately increased my payments from $350/month to $550. That still wasn't enough. I began making side-payments whenever my bank account had $1000 or more in it. I can honestly say it SUCKS the life out of me; continuing to live like I'm a student (though I splurge now and then...). How did I resolve it? Well, I'm still going. I realized my BC Student Loan was very close to being complete: I made one final bulk payment and while I am not entirely debt free, I am down one, one to go. I have $10,000 left to pay and I anticipate that taking me 20 months to complete. Because I was making two separate payments, I have now beefed up my payment schedule and am TAKING BACK MY LIFE!
Goal 2: Continuing Education.
I have always been creative. I think to myself; "why buy it, when you can make it?" As a result, I enjoy making and creating with my hands. Paint, fabric, felt, jewelry, you name it. I always imagined that my life branched. One path was science; one path was fine arts. I worry I've left that part of me behind, that I'll never be able to regain that artistic and creative part of education I've always longed for. I have often, frequently, always said, I want to go to Emily Carr University. This fall, I will be. Not as a full time student, or heck, even a part time student, but as a continuing studies student. Weekend classes, drawing to start (we'll see where I end up) and hopefully some beer-league drawing sessions with classmates aftewards. It is time I put my love of creativity back in the focus of my life!
Goal 3: Body Image.
I wish I had great things to say about this goal, in fact, I've been holding back. Maybe I really just need to break it up into even smaller baby steps. My first goal about my body image was to eat better. I have, I do, I could do better. I love the smell/taste/look of beer so much I have decided I will not give it up, but maybe I could do without the second sushi roll at dinner instead.
Goal 4: Love.
I would say I am doing particularly well with this goal. To find someone who's goals and dreams run somewhat parallel to my own. To grow a family and life a life full of love and support. Currently our family consists of myself, him, our ridiculously small dog, and a jade plant. We dote on our little ones; me on the dog, him on his plant. If we can keep them alive and save up enough dough, maybe we'll one day be ready to take this family thing further. For now though, we're happy playing house and learning how it goes.
There are many other baby steps I've broken my life into and slowly, I am working to overcome them all. Shopping smarter, living greener, laughing more... I am not going to list them all. But today I am inspired. I want to inspire you. I want the world to be inspired. If more of us were able to break our issues into baby steps, imagine what we could accomplish?
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Long Dog Days of Summer
I always burn in the most unusual places. Tops of my toes for example. I put sunscreen all over my body, even into the crease of my hair - four hours later, I'm limping to the skytrain because my tiny little toes, with the smallest of surface area are fried to a crisp! Such is life. I will have to remember to wear sunscreen on every exposed surface!
To celebrate summer, I made a 'late summer' treasury. I hope you enjoy it! It reminds me of staying out late while the sun takes forever to set, laughing with friends, smelling the fresh cool breeze and enjoying a soft dress over hot skin. Total bliss.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Updates
Don't you ever wake up, jump into the shower, and sing "Under the Sea" at the top of your lungs? I do. I imagine that I'm under the sea, where everything's better, down where it's wetter, under the sea! My mer-dog and I would take swims in our ocean garden; me, holding hands with my mer-boyfriend.
In the last while, I have been working to re-upload all of my blog posts from iWeb to the internet. iWeb crashed pretty hard a few weeks back and it cut me deep. After four hours spent at the Mac store, an entire system wipe, and the slow, arduous process of rebuilding my computer back to it's previous glory, I believe I am nearing my task.
In an effort to celebrate this dedication to my digital information and my love of mermaids, I created an Etsy Treasury; here. It is colorful, has spunk and a bunch of eager Etsians wishing to sell their wares. So take a look and enjoy!
Cheers!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Happy Canada Day!
First and foremost, Happy Canada Day! Today, our great country is 144 years old. That is just fantastic. I can’t help think that Canada is now the square multiple of 12. Wierd? Yeah, I know.
This weekend my boyfriend and I decided that instead of travelling for hours and hours to ‘get away from it all’ we would sleep in our own bed and have a “Stay-Cation” in the City. What an excellent idea. It is by no means less expensive, because we’ll be tourists in our own town, but the travel time is great and really, there’s no place like home. We made a list - the list includes going for a motorcycle ride, eating pancakes at De Dutch (we have a gc), watching the fireworks, dinner with the parents, kayaking on deer lake, seeing the art gallery surrealist exhibit, and many more. The important thing to mention is that the list has no chores or errands. Fun activities only!
On Friday morning we opened up our list and checked the weather (surprise, it’s cloudy with a chance of rain). What a great day to do the Grouse Grind!? Not too hot, not pouring rain, so we went for it.
There are several stages to the Grind, an evolution really. We began the hike with hope in our hearts, full waterbottles, and clean sneakers.
First Stage: Burning Panic.
For the first 1/4 of the course, the burning was tangible. My chest was prickling, my calves full of spikes and my panting was audible. I’m certain no bears would come near for fear of coming upon some strange being in heat, or worse, in labour. I attribute the piercing burning experience to not being warmed up, and the fact that the thought of 2,800ish steps loomed before me. It was pretty daunting, but I couldn’t quit. I wanted to reach the top.
Second Stage: Warmth.
The intense burning transitioned to warmth as my legs began to warm up and my muscles got into their groove. The trail was fun. I laughed and we talked about the forest. The panting subsided and I felt like I could do anything. It was such an empowering feeling... until we came across the 1/2 way marker. Only 1/2 way? I dug in and continued forward, I wasn’t going to quit now; after covering 1/2 the 900ish verticle meters.
Third Stage: Zombie.
Staggering forward, the path, if you could call it that, became more obscure and the distance between the steps larger. I was no longer thinking about my legs, or the burning, or anything really, just thinking about the next step in front of me, prodding my legs to continue to move. To have quit after going so far? How would I get down? I would have to cover 3/4 of the distance going down and there are no hand rails. Forward it was!
Fourth (and Final) Stage: Jello.
I remember looking up the path, littered with people panting, internalizing their struggle, much the same way I was, when I realized there was no higher to go. That, or the path evened out for a bit and then continued to climb the mountain. I got dizzy and had to look back at my safe, comfortable zone of 2 or 3 steps. I pushed. I wanted to do it. I felt alive! I wanted to race forward, to sprint up the stairs, except for the fact that my legs had turned to J-E-L-L-O. I had uneven footing, unsure measure of the rocks and thank-goodness for some hand ropes on the side of the trail I could grasp and pull myself forward with. While I wanted to surge forward, my burned out toes, calves, knees and thighs could just barely support my weight, let alone run a race. I continued forward, imagining a fountain of beer and a bed of french fries to climb into at the top.
Once we finished our hike, with a few high fives from fellow hikers, we sat and gazed upon our feat. We had climbed a distance of 3km over 900 vertical meters in just over an hour and a half. How inspiring. How empowering. How exhausting!
There was no beer fountain and no bed of french fries, but we did share a beer and a hamburger before heading down the gondola - which, took 6 minutes and showed us an incredible view!
Would I do the Grouse Grind again? YES. But maybe not for a few weeks. We came home, showered, and crashed until late into the evening, barely making it out in time to catch the fireworks (cross that off the list too). It was an incredible day and it feels good to accomplish goals, even when your legs feel like jello.
This weekend my boyfriend and I decided that instead of travelling for hours and hours to ‘get away from it all’ we would sleep in our own bed and have a “Stay-Cation” in the City. What an excellent idea. It is by no means less expensive, because we’ll be tourists in our own town, but the travel time is great and really, there’s no place like home. We made a list - the list includes going for a motorcycle ride, eating pancakes at De Dutch (we have a gc), watching the fireworks, dinner with the parents, kayaking on deer lake, seeing the art gallery surrealist exhibit, and many more. The important thing to mention is that the list has no chores or errands. Fun activities only!
On Friday morning we opened up our list and checked the weather (surprise, it’s cloudy with a chance of rain). What a great day to do the Grouse Grind!? Not too hot, not pouring rain, so we went for it.
There are several stages to the Grind, an evolution really. We began the hike with hope in our hearts, full waterbottles, and clean sneakers.
First Stage: Burning Panic.
For the first 1/4 of the course, the burning was tangible. My chest was prickling, my calves full of spikes and my panting was audible. I’m certain no bears would come near for fear of coming upon some strange being in heat, or worse, in labour. I attribute the piercing burning experience to not being warmed up, and the fact that the thought of 2,800ish steps loomed before me. It was pretty daunting, but I couldn’t quit. I wanted to reach the top.
Second Stage: Warmth.
The intense burning transitioned to warmth as my legs began to warm up and my muscles got into their groove. The trail was fun. I laughed and we talked about the forest. The panting subsided and I felt like I could do anything. It was such an empowering feeling... until we came across the 1/2 way marker. Only 1/2 way? I dug in and continued forward, I wasn’t going to quit now; after covering 1/2 the 900ish verticle meters.
Third Stage: Zombie.
Staggering forward, the path, if you could call it that, became more obscure and the distance between the steps larger. I was no longer thinking about my legs, or the burning, or anything really, just thinking about the next step in front of me, prodding my legs to continue to move. To have quit after going so far? How would I get down? I would have to cover 3/4 of the distance going down and there are no hand rails. Forward it was!
Fourth (and Final) Stage: Jello.
I remember looking up the path, littered with people panting, internalizing their struggle, much the same way I was, when I realized there was no higher to go. That, or the path evened out for a bit and then continued to climb the mountain. I got dizzy and had to look back at my safe, comfortable zone of 2 or 3 steps. I pushed. I wanted to do it. I felt alive! I wanted to race forward, to sprint up the stairs, except for the fact that my legs had turned to J-E-L-L-O. I had uneven footing, unsure measure of the rocks and thank-goodness for some hand ropes on the side of the trail I could grasp and pull myself forward with. While I wanted to surge forward, my burned out toes, calves, knees and thighs could just barely support my weight, let alone run a race. I continued forward, imagining a fountain of beer and a bed of french fries to climb into at the top.
Once we finished our hike, with a few high fives from fellow hikers, we sat and gazed upon our feat. We had climbed a distance of 3km over 900 vertical meters in just over an hour and a half. How inspiring. How empowering. How exhausting!
There was no beer fountain and no bed of french fries, but we did share a beer and a hamburger before heading down the gondola - which, took 6 minutes and showed us an incredible view!
Would I do the Grouse Grind again? YES. But maybe not for a few weeks. We came home, showered, and crashed until late into the evening, barely making it out in time to catch the fireworks (cross that off the list too). It was an incredible day and it feels good to accomplish goals, even when your legs feel like jello.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)