S-Factor Revisited (my own level 1, week 1)

It's been some time since I mentioned S-Factor. I haven't done it in quite a while - a combination of my own lack of motivation and some unreliability on the part of my 'workout' partner left me feeling uninspired.

But this is something I want to do for me and I've decided that it was time to revisit my own sensuality. Wednesdays are now for S-Factor. For finding the sensual creature within. And for letting her free from the box that I've stuffed her into in the name of 'respectability' and being a 'good girl'.

Good girls supposedly don't get to be sexy (or at least shouldn't be comfortable with it).

I mean to prove that statement wrong.

This first practise (I'm going to try to set it up as close to the actual S-Factor classes as I can) I began with just getting used to being present in my body again, feeling the strength and stretch of the movements.

My favourite part of it was 'letting my curves take up space'.

I think one of the reasons I love it is that it makes me feel feminine. In a world where feminine is small and delicate and dainty, my six feet of height has always left me feeling less than feminine.

And to quote one of my favourite artists 'you can be a kick-ass bruiser and be feminine'

Here's the song it's from. Enjoy :) (click)

The St. Patrick's Day Post

Sorry it took so long to get this up - I've been neglecting the blog a bit. But not anymore!

I had so much fun the weekend before last! It's been quite some time since Jon and I have gone out, especially with a bunch of people.

For St. Pat's this year, we got the traditional party group together - these are the people we hung out with most when my fiance and I first started dating. And I danced. Oh, how I danced *smile*

It's been so long since I went out dancing (not since last June when I managed to sprain my ankle at Drop Kick Murphy's) that I'd forgotten how FUN it is. Mind you, drunken irish dancing is mostly just a bunch of jumping up and down, but still.
The band was great, played lots of good music. They made a brief foray into some more country-ish stuff, but they got back to the celtic pretty quick, which was nice.
And then the pipers came in. It's kind of funny - usually I can tell how skilled a piper is, since I've been listening to them for so many years, but I don't know how good the pipers were - I'd been drinking beer all night, and I just wanted to dance so I guess I wasn't paying much attention.

The pipers made my feet remember how much fun highland is. They started off with a reel or two and then played mostly jig/hornpipe stuff. So I danced. Off to the side - until some guy saw and kind of gestured me in front of the pipers.

So then I danced front and center, for almost the entire rest of the set. I was exhausted by the end, but I loved every second of it. And after I was done, several people came and said that it was awesome. Even one of the pipers - he said they always get a better reception when they have highland dancers.


All in all, it was probably the best St Patrick's Day I've had in 4 years (the one before was when Jon and I 'officially' got together, even though we'd been dating for a bit before then).

Slainte!

Pole, and Cleansing

This is just a quick update for those who may read the blog and are wondering what I've been up to :)


I had the BEST dance class tonight. I was a bit hesitant about switching my class to Mondays, despite the fact that I absolutely love the teaching style of the instructor. Now I'm at the studio 3 days a week, but I think I made the right choice - I got a move tonight that I probably should have gotten a long time ago, but hadn't worked on for a while. It probably helps that she teaches the class in a way that we're all working on the same things at the same time. That kind of structure motivates me more. Plus we're doing a fun thing too - as a class we're coming up with a choreography. She's walking us through how to make one. I think it's going to be fun.

In other news, I started a two week 'cleanse'. It's a 'cleanse' instead of just a cleanse because I'm mostly just trying to set up a couple habits that I think will be good for me - getting up and going to bed earlier, stretching daily, taking my greens, my lung cleanse stuff, and my lemon aloe water in the morning. Eating primally, and making time to play. Oh, and a set time to tidy and do household stuff.

As you can see, it's quite a bit. Today being day two of my new routine, we'll see how it goes.

Ostara 2012

So, I know this post is a little late, but in keeping with my decision to write every time we have a ritual, I thought I'd post anyway.


Last weekend, we had the Ostara ritual, which celebrates spring (basically, our version of easter). The only thing I'll say about the ritual itself was that I realized how drawing down can work with finding things that resonate properly with the energy of the deity being drawn down. I don't know why, but for some reason, this really struck me just now.

Secondarily, I love spring. I know, back in fall I said that it was my favourite. It happens every year - in fall, I love fall best, but then, when we get to spring again, It becomes my favourite. Summer and Winter seem to exist as limbo times for me. They merely come between my two favourites.

I have to post about St. Patrick's day, but soon. Not tonight :)

Musings on my way home from work

Sometimes, when the wind blows in spring, I can almost feel it sweeping away the blanket of winter and stirring the land awake.

It's a faint hint of connection, and while it has been invigorating in the past, tonight it pulls me into sadness.

One of the first connections I felt with the natural world was the wind in my hair - connections I only have a shadow of now. I was not made for city dwelling.

So as the spring wind calls my soul awake I yearn for the wild places. By celtic theory, I hold them inside my soul. But the child in me cries that it isn't fair that I can feel them there and miss them so much, and yet still not manage to find them in the real world. And the faint connection I feel to the land here slips away like fog in the morning sun.

I miss the wilds and I think I'm going to have to do something to re-find that connection.

Primal/Paleo Food

So, you may or may not know that I started playing around with Primal/Paleo eating last September. (For a description of what that is, check out this website: click)

Since then I have discovered a LOT of recipes online that sound delicious. I've tried foods I've never tried before. I've made homemade protein bars that taste almost like cookies (and that Jon eats like cookies). I've realized that I don't actually miss grains at all - they really only added texture and filler not flavour to foods. I've made pizza, and I've made meatza.

The one thing I haven't followed strictly is the dairy restriction common to paleo eating (primal isn't as restrictive - it even includes red wine and chocolate!). Now, I don't drink milk. But I LOVE cheese. And yogurt's pretty good too I guess.

A while back, after having cut out grains, I realized that when I ate them, I felt tired and sluggish over the next half to full day. Now I'm realizing the same thing about dairy. A little bit of fermented dairy seems to be ok, but if I have a lot of cheese, or something with cream in it, I feel very slow and tired. I think I'm going to be cutting out liquid forms of dairy from now on - I had strawberries in cream last night and I was sooo tired today, even though I got plenty of sleep.

Of course, that's not going to stop me from enjoying the last of them tonight ;) At least I'll know why if I'm tired tomorrow.

Wedding Updates

Just a quick update, since it's been a while since I did one on this.

Things we've done since my last post:

Met with and booked our caterer. They also take care of linens/napkins/china/cutlery etc. for us. The main course is chicken - can't really go wrong with that, and I don't know if anyone has specific dietary stuff, but I think we can figure something out once we know what we have to work around.

Met with our commissioner. We just did this today (it was supposed to be a week and a half ago, but Jon ended up with a fever, and I was feeling crappy too). I have to say, he's a really nice guy and quite willing to help us figure out a spiritual, but non-religious ceremony. Which is kind of why we went with him. He's a Lutheran minister, but he's open minded about it not being right for everyone. And he actually took the time to get to know us a bit, so he can actually be more than just some guy who's there to make the paperwork official. I think that's important.


He also had some good tips on how to make an outdoor wedding feel a little less informal, length of the ceremony, where best to fit the handfasting in, etc. I think we chose well. (his website is here: click)


The last of the invitations has gone out (there are a couple of exceptions - there's a few people who we're giving the invites to by hand because we see them on a fairly regular basis). No RSVP's as yet, other than people who probably won't because we already know for sure that they're coming.

Next on the list of things to do is to figure out table rentals, apply for a 'letter of authority' (basically permission to have the ceremony in Fish Creek), figure out my dress (I'm seeing Chelsea on Friday, so we'll probably figure out a time to start it then), look into where to get the tiny ivy plants we're using as favours, find a place to pretty up Jon's ring, and then flowers and table decoration bits and pieces. It seems like a lot left, but really, it's not that much.

Pole Practise

I had the best pole practise tonight. Sometimes it's really refreshing to switch instructors up every once in a while.

I also find some styles of instruction suit me better than others - I feel like I progress better with more guided instruction. Instead of 'what are you working on today?' I prefer 'we're working on this move today'. You'd think the more specific would be hard to do with a class of people all at slightly different skill levels, but given that the moves have a progression to them, it's easier than you might think. Besides, even if it's a move you already have, there are always things you can do to polish and improve.

The benefit? I actually feel like I accomplished something this class.It's been awhile since I was so proud of myself for getting bruised on the pole learning something new (lol). I've made progress for sure, but it's been slow and since most of the people in my current class are a little bit ahead of me, I feel like I'm working on things alone. Yes I can ask questions, but it's missing that group sense of accomplishment when we're all working on getting the same things.

In any case, I may be switching to mondays on a more frequent basis in the near future.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, I worked on something called a 'cross ankle release', the 'extended butterfly' and my 'shoulder mount'