The See-Saw Effect!

So today's post is selfish and petty but I should be posting what's on my mind, petty or not. Right? Ben and I have been frequenting the gym for roughly 4 months now. It's been good. I know I've gotten stronger and the scale has slowly been creeping it's way down, but right now all I can focus on is how slowly changes are taking place. Sure I'll lose a pound one week, then low and behold the next week I'm up 2. I'm so tempted to just grab the scale and throw it off the balcony....The truth is it's not the scale I should be blaming, it's me... I will be soooo good for a week, eating breakfast, drinking water, giving it my all at the gym and taking my vitamins, then I'll have one bad day and all of a sudden my good habits go straight out the window and I'm back to doing everything half-assed. I'm getting quite sick of my see-saw ways... How do I stick to something? How do I stay motivated? These are the questions eating my brain...Sorry for being a butt today, I'm not quite as down on myself as I sound, I really do have hope! Today after my workout I was already looking forward to tomorrow's, and my friend Allison has joined too so now I have someone to work out with! I'll let you know how it all turns out, I feel a change coming on!!!

Baby Rose!

We have a baby!

Meet Rose

And even though she poops and pee's on the floor I love her.

Mood Swing Friday

If I had a doc following me around today I'm pretty sure there would have been two conclusions made;

1. how creepy that would be and

2. that I am bipolar.

Let me explain.....

This morning I woke up with a smile on my face...well that's not quite true but by the time I'd had my cup of coffee I was about as close to smiling as one can be while doing ones make-up. I even annoyed the receptionist at work by saying 'good morning' in too cheerful of a way... My point is that I was in a really good mood. Anyways, this jolly attitude continued through my first 2 massages, however after my second massage I was informed that my next client had cancelled...last minute...boo! In about 3 seconds I went from very very happy to not quite as happy. I sat around during the next while, my mood slightly dampened, I wasn't too disappointed though, I sat and read my book. As the time approached for my next client I eagerly waited for his arrival, he's a regular and it's always an enjoyable time. However, the time for his treatment came and went with no sign of him. My mood once again took a tumble... To make a long story short...er This same thing happened with one more of my clients today. So out of my 7 clients booked I only ended up with 4. For all the readers out there please please please take note, it's really important to make it to your appointments and if you can't, call and cancel as soon as you know!

Anyways, now that I'm home and have had some time to chill I realize that if I let my mood be determined by others I'm never going to have a day without mood swings. My goal is to let that morning smile last all day and I encourage the rest of you to try that as well, life is good!

That is all!

Bossypants.

I have a new book to add to my book club!

Tina Fey has just come out with a book and it is fabulous!

I picked up Bossypants about a week ago and it's quite funny. If you enjoy Tina Fey's quirky sense of humour in 30 Rock or SNL I guarantee you'll enjoy this read.

May Flowers!

Spring is here! I'm so excited about all the new colours and patterns that I've found. I've put some pics below of some patterns that I really like, the bottom one is pretty much the only one that works with our current colour scheme, but these other ones are pretty cute! All of these patterns come from Amy Butler's website, check out some of her other beautiful patterns here.

Bookcase Revised!

So, what you see below is a bookcase that we had in our place, as you can see it was a total mess....

This bookcase is something we got from my grandparents house when they moved to a smaller home. I thought it had some potential.

First we sanded it down, added a coat of primer, then painted it two coats of this beautiful bluey green colour- Embellished Blue

We then added this fun wallpaper and updated hardware.

This is the finished product, I've changed the shelving around and organized it better but I think this definitely brightened our living room up. I have a few more DIY projects in mind, I can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Don't think twice it's alright

Once again I've left things wayyy too long, it's not that I've been too busy, or bored, I've thought about blogging lots in the past few weeks but just haven't gotten around to doing it...

These past few weeks I've really been trying to put in time at the gym. It sure is frustrating to not see the results that you want. I have learned that I'm quite possibly the most impatient person that I know. As of today it is 3 weeks since we started at Mecca Fitness and somehow I secretly was expecting to reach all my goals by now....silly Sov....It took months to get to the state that I'm in, I don't know how I expected to miraculously change shape in a matter of days. Anyways enough about the gym I'm annoying myself just talking about it.

So if you had read this post you would know about my reading list for the year. I have updates! So I finished The Birth House, it continued to be one of my favourite reads right till the end. It's not an overly 'feel good' type of book I realized as I was pretty disturbed by some of the things that I read, but we can't always read books that make us feel good. Speaking of 'feel good' books, I also finished Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk which was one of the funniest books I've read in a long time. Not only was it really easy to read (it only took about 2 1/2 hours to read) but now whenever I think about it I'm reminded of lying by a pool in Arizona reading it in the sun. I've changed my mind about Tess of the Durbervilles, I'm not going to read it, there's a reason I've had the book for 4 years and have tried to start it about 5 times and have never gotten past the first chapter. I guess I'm going to have to post a revised reading list seeing as I'm pretty much done the one that I had made.

On a totally different note, yesterday was Ben's 22nd birthday! We are finally the same age! I hate the three months of the year when I'm a year older, so it's nice to be the same age. I'll save his 'Birthday Post' for later...

Anyways, this was quite a mishmash of a post but it's what was on my mind.

Gym Talk

Joined a gym today.... boy do I hope this pays off...

Oscar Musings...

So as you probably know a few weeks ago the 83rd Academy Awards took place. What you may not know if that I LOVE watching the academy awards and this year especially. Not only were there 10 films nominated for best picture, but I had seen and genuinely like a lot of them. We had pretty much JUST arrive home from AZ when they started, I hardly had time to throw our bags into the bedroom before sitting down to watch. Our friends came over and we had lots of snacks and played oscar bingo which was great fun, also I won which was a bonus. :)

Ok, so earlier I had stated my predictions here, I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. I was right on all accounts but one...

Best Actor- Colin Firth

Best Supporting Actor- Christian Bale or Geoffrey Rush

Best Actress- Natalie Portman

Best Supporting Actress- Hailee Steinfeld

Best Picture- The Kings Speech

All and all I found the awards pretty good this year. I was just happy that 'The Kings Speech' won. I watched it again the other night, that movie really does get better with each viewing. Well, tata for now

Shoot The Moon

So, it's been a while since I've posted but boy has it been an exciting two weeks! So last I posted I was preparing for a few interviews and was ready to be shipped off to fun in the sun down in good ol' AZ. Well I did secure a job the day before we left which was AWESOME! I'm now wrapping up my first week at 2nd Avenue Family Chiropractic and am LOVING it. I had some doubts while in school that I wouldn't be good at massage and that I would hate it but now that I'm out of retail and actually in the field there are perks that I enjoy more than I had anticipated; I can come and go as I please (to a certain extent), I have my own room which I can decorate in whichever way I wish, I have a receptionist to does stuff for me, and I actually have been getting clients!!! Anyhoo...it's an exciting stage. :)

On another note, our trip to Arizona was amazing. We spent 7 days with 20ish wonderful friends from all over the world! The reason we made our trek down south was to witness the wedding of two great friends that I met while attending bible school in Sweden 3 years ago. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, I feel so honored that both Ben and I were invited to come. I just love meeting up with my bible school friends, even if we haven't seen each other in 6 months or however long, we kinda just pick up where we left off and it's like we were never apart, not to mention, there are so many places that we have an excuse to visit. Another point worth mentioning of the trip was that I managed to secure a pretty intense sunburn and have been peeling my nose off one flake at a time since...I think the peeling may finally be coming to an end.

Life is good! Nothing else to report! Oh yeah, our wine is almost ready to be enjoyed! Post on the Oscars in the making.

Quick and to the point.

Last day at The Bay today-hurray

1 Interview today

3 Interviews tomorrow

Hopefully a job will come out of this!

And the hunt is on....

After 3.5 hours and 13 delivered resumés I am pooped...and hopeful.

On the most overblown 'holiday' of the year...

...I'm thankful for:

• My husband who I wouldn't trade for the world, and who I love more than the day I married him.
• A family that loves each other and likes to spend together.
• A roof over my head.
• A passport that is on its way!!!!
• The means to be able to take a trip to AZ to see a bunch of wonderful friends this upcoming week.
• Great friends who I can have fun with and yet have serious time too!
• A world of opportunities!

Hello My Name Is Solveig Chamagne and....

I'M A REGISTERED MASSAGE THERAPIST... After two years of school I can now say that I'm fully and completely done. I finished my schooling in early December of 2010, however I totally froze during the practical portion of my board exams which granted me a VERY unwelcome "non-mastered" grade. I had never considered the possibility of not passing the test, I was sure I would be a Registered Therapist and raking in the dough by January 1st. I never thought that I could be waiting two months to rewrite the test.

So I failed, I had two months of what I called my "limbo" period and today I went back to redo the test. My stomach churned and I wasn't able to eat anything all morning. I was sure I would be the first to ever fail the board exams twice. I already had started thinking of a new career path, little did I know how much I would impress myself! I walked into the exam area and all my nerves melted away, I took a breath, said a quick prayer and began. The whole time I felt composed and answered with assurance and confidance. I knew when I left the room that I was a different person taking the test that day. About 25 minutes after I left the exam I got an email with my results- I PASSED! The first thing I did was stuff two pieces of eggs on toast down my mouth and laugh. Now I just have to drop about $400.00 to join the association and I can begin working!!!

As much as I whined and complained about my initial failure, I can now admit that the "non-mastered" experience was needed, in more ways than one! Not only did I just need a break from work (my schooling was condensed over two years so I basically got one week in the summer and one week in the winter off for two years), but also my ego needed a reality check, I went from thinking I was invincible to realizing that I am definitely not as awesome as I thought I was, yes I am capable of failure and studying is really not overrated...Most importantly I also needed that failure to truly validate for myself the profession that I have chosen, subconsciously I think I've always thought of massage as less therapeutic and more relaxing, but you REALLY have to know your stuff. I am truly proud of my accomplishments/profession because I realize that it wasn't just handed to me, I earned it!

Winter blues

I don't particularly like winter, but living in practically the coldest place on earth I have learned to deal with it. I can handle the cold, the dark, the mud, the ice, the driving, and pretty much everything else. My biggest frustration with winter is how dry my skin is. I have cracked knuckles, flaking elbows, and itchy knees.

The most embarrassing thing is that ALL of these are moisturizers, maybe I should start using them...

Some exciting news........

It looks like in about 9 months there will be a new member of our family! oh...I see how that sounds, no it's not what it sounds like, it's STEPH! PD (my older bro) and his girlfriend Steph have decided to tie the knot sometime in October. I'm so happy for them, PD has changed so much in the months that him and Steph have been together, and it's a good thing, not that he was bad before, he's just better now. They are so happy together and I know that they will make a very wonderful life together. I can't wait to see what the future holds for them.Welcome to the Family Steph! Mazal Tov!

Passport Update

Good news! It pays to be a procrastinator! Well not really, but I finally got my application for my passport in yesterday, and it only cost me an additional $30 to have it rushed so that I can go pick it up on the 17th, the day before we leave...The moral of the story is this, renew your passport when it expires so that you can save yourself $30, the stress of worrying about getting it in time, and the inconvenience of having to go pick it up yourself! Although I'm sure in roughly 5 years I'll be posting something all too similar... I wish it was easier to change...

Movie Talk

Fun Facts about February!

• Black History Month-woohoo
• National birdfeeding month-come on feed those birds
• Groundhog Day- Feb 2nd
• Chinese New Years- Feb 3rd we had a party this year-SO FUN
• Valentines Day- Feb 14th money making scandal!
• International Mother Language Day- Feb 21...what?...
• Leap year! once every four years makes it pretty exciting I reckon.
• THE 83RD ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS! -FEB 27

Now February is what I like to call the underdog month. It's short, and cold and is mispronounced more often than not...It's FebRuary nor Febuary.... not to mention it has less days than any other month. However, if one chooses to, there are quite a few little gems hidden inside this 28 day month that need to be addressed, the greatest of these gems (in my opinion) the Academy Awards.

All year I love going to movies, analyzing, arguing and discussing these films with anyone willing to do so, usually with my movie going partner who doubles as my husband. In the back of my mind I'm making my predictions as to which ones will be nominated and will ultimately win the great Oscar! I've looked over the nominations and have decided to put my predictions down here for all to read and comment.

And the nominees are......

Actor in a leading role:

• Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"- I haven't seen this film so I don't know but if his performance is anything like "No Country for Old Men" then I think he has a shot.
• Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"- As much as I LOVE the Coen Bro's and good ol' Jeff, I don't think this performance is worthy of best Actor, I'll be surprised if he wins. It was a great movie though!
• Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"- I would be SHOCKED if he wins, this movie was hardly worth the 10.50 I payed to watch it. I don't think I'd watch it again and mainly because of the leading role. This has nothing to do with how unlikeable the character was, I just thought his acting was pretty hollow. I'm surprised he was even nominated.
• Colin Firth in "The Kings Speach"- Here is your winner! I'm 80% sure he's going to take this one. Not only was the film FANTASTIC but Colin Firth and made it for me. I think this movie might be the one that wins 'em all this year!
• James Franco in "127 Hours"- He should win just because he's so scrumptious. However, I haven't seen the movie so I can't say too much one way or another. I would be content if he won.

Actor in supporting Role:

• Christian Bale in "The Fighter"- I love Christian Bale, I loved him in this movie and I love him in every other movie, I think he has a 50% chance.
• John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"- Haven't seen, I doubt it, but you never know.
• Jeremy Renner in "The Town"- Not a chance.
• Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids are Alright" I would be surprised.
• Geoffrey Rush in "The Kings Speech" I think he's got the other 50% chance, he was wonderful in this movie along with every other movie I've seen him in.

Actress in a leading Role:

• Annette Bening in "The Kids are Alright"- Don't know...
• Nicole Kidman in "The Rabbit Hole" -Once again not sure...
• Jeniffer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone" -I don't think so.
• Natalie Portman in "Black Swan" -I've got my bets on this one, don't really have a reason, just a hunch.
• Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine" -I would like that, but as I said I think Natalie's got it.

Actress in a supporting role:

• Amy Adams in "The Fighter"- This was a different role for her, I liked it a lot, I don't think she's going to win, but if she does I think she deserves it!
• Helena Bonham Carter -in "The Kings Speech" It sure was nice to see her not playing someone who's insane (although she does it well...almost too well). I think she made an excellent Queen.
• Mellisa Leo in "The Fighter"- I think she was pretty great however I'm not sure it was worthy of an academy award, once again I'd be surprised.
• Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"- I HOPE she wins, it would be pretty awesome if she does. I'll be cheering for her!
• Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"- No comment...

Best Picture:

• Black Swan- Doubt it. But not utterly surprised
• True Grit- Hope so!
• 127 Hours- Possible
• The Kids are Alright- Nope
• The Kings Speech- This is your winner, I'm guessing at least.
• The Social Network- Noo
• Toy Story 3- Cute movie but I don't think so.
• Winter's Bone- This is a possibility I think
• The Fighter- Good movie but I'd be surprised.
• Inception- Once again, a good movie but I don't think it was quite good enough.

So those are predictions. I didn't make any on all the other categories because I don't know enough to even pretend to have a guess. So here is my list of who I think will take the win in each of the categories.

• Colin Firth!
• Geoffrey Rush! or Christian Bale!
• Natalie Portman!
• Hailee Steinfeld!
• The Kings Speech!

Looks like in 3 weeks we'll see how wrong I am! Please comment on your predictions, and if anyone wants to attend an Oscar Party, we're hosting!

WineMaking

So, something that I had failed to mention in my Goals 2011 post was that this year Ben and I wanted to start making our own wine. This has been a hobby of my mom's for years, something that has provided us all with what seems like an endless supply of tasty wine, so we thought, why not we try our hands at it?! So today we tromped on down to Wine Kitz and picked up two kits, one Green Apple, and one Valpolicella. We'll make both batches and then split the 60 bottles between my mom and us- 15 red and 15 white for both of us! We went over to my parents and got started making our first batch, in 6 weeks we'll have 60 bottles of wine ready to bottle and cork! Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Adding the cool water to the concentrated juice

Here I am with my mom adding hot water to the concentrated juice

(I'm learning from the BEST, for those of you at our wedding, my mom made all the wine!)

Stirring the prepared mixture, now it's ready to go into the cellar to ferment for 14 days,

more to come!

I Need a Passport!

The title pretty much says it. I need a new passport by Feb. 19 since that's when we're leaving for Arizona! The only issue is that I am a procrastinator, I neglected to get my health card switched over to my new name and now I can't apply for a new passport until I get that piece of ID back. Badly done Sov.... At this point it will be a miracle if I make it to AZ in one piece...if at all!

True Words!

Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile... initially scared me to death.

~Betty Bender~

Solveig's Personal Book Club

So these are the books that I've compiled so far for my reading goals for 2011, I know I'm not aiming overly high at the moment but I'll be pretty happy if get these done by summer.

The Birth House- by Ami McKay

This is the book that I'm probably most excited about, I'm probably halfway through and I'm enjoying it immensely. The story is set in Nova Scotia during the time of the First World War. It explores all aspects of the miracle of childbirth from the eyes of a girl who stumbles upon midwifery. So far I'm really grabbed by the story line, at this point I would recommend it to anyone. Every page is a joy to read!

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk- by David Sedaris

This book I haven't actually started yet, however I'm really excited to get to it! I have read some other books by David Sedaris and his writing is really funny, if at times a bit off colour. The difference with this book as opposed to his others is that this one is a collection of short stories featuring animals where as the others I've read were short essays pertaining to things in Sedaris' own life. I guess we'll see!

Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering- by Dr. Sarah J. Buckley

So in doula class we were told that this book would be a good read and it almost always seems that whenever I'm doing some birthing research this book is recommended. I have yet to pick up the book, but once I do I'll most definitely fill ya'll in on what I learn. A cool fact, the author Sarah Buckley is an MD who had all four of children at home. I'm sure I'll learn a lot. I'd like to have this one read by March as I have my first birth as a doula then!

Tess Of The Durbervilles- by Thomas Hardy

I've had this one lying around for at least 4 years and still haven't gotten past the first chapter, now I just want to finish is out of principle!

Well those seem to be the only ones that I can think of at the moment. I'm open for suggestions. I'm just really needing to get back into the habit of reading again because I really do love it.

Goals 2011!

Well it's been a while, but it feels good to be back! I know it's almost the end of January but I figured it's never to0 late to set some goals. Yesterday I was moping around whining about how I have no hobbies or interests, basically having a big ol' pitty party and then I realized that there were so many things that I'm interested and that I can do! If you don't have a passion, then go out and find one!

So, I dedicate this year to be the year of my life where I test out some new things and maybe I'll find the gem! I'm going to list them here so that I have no excuse as to why I haven't done any of them at the end of the year.

To Do List for 2011!

===============

• Take a pottery class- I've always wanted to do this, I've seen people do it and it's just kind of always appealed to me, plus I find pottery very very beautiful.
• Read the Bible in 1 year- This is something that I've tried before, and also something that I've made as a goal for myself what feels like every year, this year I really want to do it!
• Make Soap- I think making home made soap would be cool. Something else to learn.
• Get a good workout DVD and do it 5 days/Week- Enough said...
• Knit leg warmers- I'm currently working on a scarf and I'm ready to move onto something a little more interesting/challenging I think.
• Read, Read, Read- I'm in the process of compiling a reading list for myself, and I'm planning on using this blog as a place to write my book reports so I'll get that list posted as soon as its ready.
• Get my Doula business set up- I don't know exactly what this will look like but that's another huuuuuge goal for the year.
• Take a Charleston dance Class- I actually took this class last year with my brother, however Ben has decided that he really wants to take the class so it looks like I'll be taking it again.