Friday, August 31, 2012

Hey Wise Guy - Samuel Beckett on Trying and Failure


I know that our books will be the result of several tens (maybe hundreds?) of drafts and versions.

But I've never been one to be motivated by failure. I've always been more motivated by success. That said, I know that with something new, it's not always successful right off the bat.

So, I'm trying to treat the repetitive, constant, frustrating process of writing and editing/rewriting a book as a part of a learning process. 

And I'm also trying to remember that it's ok to fail. If I put our books out there and nobody buys them, I'll have to get to the place where I'm ok with that...because the books certainly won't be a success if they're never out there in the first place. That'd surely be a bigger failure. 

This post is part of a new tag series - 'Hey Wise Guy' and 'Hey Wise Gal' - words of wisdom we can all enjoy, on just about everything.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Counting Down To Yoga Teacher Training


So you may have noticed that I added a 'Countdown to Yoga Teacher Training' widget to the blog last week...just to the right over there...

A good friend and I will be starting a yoga instructors course very soon! We start in early October and will 'graduate' next May, with a 200 hour Yoga Alliance course. We'll be certified to teach Hot Power, Power, Vinyasa, Hatha Flow or Classical Hatha Yoga classes.

And we both couldn't be more excited!


For any fellow yogis/yoginis out there, here is what the training course includes:
  • History and Philosophy of Yoga
  • Anatomy and Physiology
  • Breathing Techniques
  • Yoga Postures and Proper Alignment 
  • Teaching Methodology
  • Business and Ethics
  • Practicum

We've got our notebooks ready and our pencils sharpened...back to school we go. Now, to buy a few more yoga tops! Classes are every Tuesday night between October and May and one weekend each month, so I'm going to need a few more pieces of class-friendly clothing in my wardrobe.

I'll be posting class tidbits and updates on here, I'm sure!

Image from here

Friday, August 24, 2012

Ragweed Allergy A Nuisance For Dogs Too


Ragweed is in full bloom here, and will be until late September or early October, when the first frost hits. Luckily, neither Adam or I have seasonal allergies, but Juno more than makes up for what we don't have!

For humans, ragweed allergy results in respiratory difficulties like coughing, sneezing etc., but in dogs, as is the case with most of their allergies, ragweed allergy leads to severe, allover itching. Dogs will lick, scratch, and chew their skin to alleviate the itch, which leads to fur/hair loss and inflamed or open/bleeding areas of skin, which are then prone to bacterial infection.

Enter Vanectyl P...the magic pink pill. After four summers of experimentation with cold water wipe-downs, oatmeal shampoo baths, Benadryl etc., the antibiotic route is the only one we've found to be even mildly effective for our dog.

If Juno sleeps, we sleep. We can hear the licking, scratching, and chewing from just about anywhere in the house, so, at night, if she's doing any of that, we're all awake. All.night.long.

On the bright side, she hasn't needed the pills until today, really - which is about 10 days later than any other previous season! Achievement!

We try to hold out as long as possible - Vanectyl P can be hard on dogs' systems. There's more overall lethargy, increased thirst (which leads to more bathroom trips), and a kind of greasy coating that forms on their coats and around their eyes. But, it beats severe discomfort and infection. And we should be able to stop the medication in about 6 weeks.

Does your dog have seasonal allergies? Interestingly, talking with friends and family outside our region, ragweed doesn't seem to cause the discomfort in any of their dogs...or Juno, when we travel. Must be a valley effect of living here!

Hopefully we can get away from the scratching and back to more of this soon!


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The 10 Most High-Maintenance Dog Breeds

                                                                      via

So, not surprisingly, Labrador Retrievers make the cut! And the list on this website is in alphabetical order, rather than 'high-maintenance-ness order', so it'd be even more interesting to see where Labs would fall if the list were ordered that way!

"...one word: Marley." Love it.

To see the full list, head here.

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Views From The Top


We took part of Monday afternoon (long weekend!) and headed to one of our favourite local provincial parks.

In planning our wedding, we had considered getting married in this park (having spent many of our first few months in the city walking and hiking there as a respite from the hustle and chaos of living downtown), so, this park holds a special place in our hearts.

We opted for a drive this time instead - winding our way up the mountain for this view.


It was pretty worth it. Juno thought so too.



Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Calendars


I've always looked forward to flipping calendar pages over to the next month.

There's always been a calendar on my wall - over my desk as a kid, in my dorm room and apartments at university, and in each of our houses since. This might be dorky, but I don't like to look at all the images on the back of a calendar if I can help it. I kind of like seeing them as they come, right there on the calendar, each month.

We've got an adorable dog yoga calendar up in our kitchen this year (courtesy of great friends!) and I've just changed it over for August. This month's feature is a hand-standing Bulldog and a one-arm-hand-standing Yorkie. Adorable.

I've also refreshed our computer desktop for August, courtesy of our go-to source, Smashing Magazine. Have a look - you might find some/one you like. I chose 'Fly' for us this month!

And we've got our 2013 calendar waiting in the wings (courtesy of those same great friends who gave us the yoga dogs) - next year's feature: Scotland.

What about you? Do you enjoy flipping that calendar page as much as I do?