yoga with adriene

Day 16

Day 16 and 11,365 steps!

For the first time since starting the 30 Day Yoga Challenge, I did yoga in the evening. (I still prefer in the morning) and after walking those many steps today, it felt good to do yoga right afterward. My hips needed it. What I am likely going to do, going forward, is after walking a lot, I’m going to do 20 minutes of yoga. It made my tired hips, legs and feet feel better! I’m learning a lot about my body since starting yoga again. If you are looking for a beneficial thing to do for your body, you may want to do this as well.

I have two Betty’s in my life that I love. My Grandma Betty (who is no longer with us) and Betty Boop. Grandma Betty was a badass and someone who influenced who I am today. I think about her every single day and always will. Betty Boop is an iconic cartoon that has the personality of a kickass, sassy pre-code dame. (I prefer the pre-code Betty) Again, this is another thing I was allowed to watch as a kid and for those who have seen this cartoon… it’s not for kids. But hey… she also influenced me and many other young women. Especially, when it comes to being sassy!

Is there a woman both alive and fictional who inspired you?

Day 15

Day 15! Halfway there! I plan to keep on with daily yoga after this. It’s good for me in so many ways! I will stop posting about it once I’m done day 30. One thing it did help with is getting back into the process of blogging again.


Now onto the picture and why I chose it.


Every single time I watch a classic movie, I am drooling over all of the clothing and dreaming about making them. Look at the gorgeous outfit Joan Crawford is wearing. Back on day 3, I mentioned that I make my own clothing. I wanted to talk a little bit more about that because making my own clothing and thrifting makes me happy. I also want to talk a little about bullying.


In High School, our Home Ec teacher was treated with a lot of disrespect and bullied by a group of girls. Many times they tormented her to the point of making her cry. Those girls still live in my small hometown and have literally done nothing with their lives. Being bullies got them nowhere. More about bullies in a moment.


There was also a small group of us who loved our Home Ec teacher. We benefited from that. She went off the lesson plan with us and taught us how to finish garments, fancy seams and how to self-draft. To this day I still self-draft many of my garments and when I do I remember that wonderful woman.


I find the process of making my own clothing therapeutic and rewarding. This year I am going to fully learn how to use drafting systems and I want to learn how to grade patterns by hand and on the computer.


Back to bullying. Yesterday I shared a post (in my feed) about walking away from people who make fun of or put you down over your successes. When someone belittles your hard work and makes fun of it trying to make you look foolish for being proud of your work, that is a type of bullying. If you work hard for something, and someone tries to diminish that success, tell them to go away. Never be afraid to stand up to bullies. Never be afraid to walk away from friends who do that to you because and here’s a little tidbit for you, those people aren’t friends. Be proud and celebrate your successes. Do not let anyone take that away from you!

Day 14

Day 14! Almost halfway. I’m really learning where my body needs help. Though… my left side isn’t as tight as it was 14 days ago, it is still tighter than the right. I will see where I’m at for day 30.


Anyone recognize the photo? It’s from one of my favourite pre-code movies Three on a Match. Along with wanting to be a Flapper (and I still don’t know how I was able to get away with it) I grew up being allowed to watch pre-code movies along with horror movies. This also makes sense why I loved Clara Bow and Jean Harlow so much. Give me all of the precode movies! I want to see them all!


Both my father-in-law and friend Heather Babcock also have the same passion I do and we talk about them and often. Want to make me happy, give me movies and books about silent and precode movies!


Not sure what a precode movie is, here are a few articles.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Code_Hollywood
http://pre-code.com/
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/women-pre-code-hollywood-movies-before-hays

Day 13

Day 13! Every day I’m feeling stronger and stronger! Moves that were hard the first few days are sooooo much easier now. I may not have them completely perfect by Day 30, but I’m getting there. My weak spot is definitely my core, which once again explains my belly fat. I will get stronger there as well!


I know you’ve all been wondering why hasn’t she mentioned The Addams Family yet. It was on the list, but what better day to mention them, than on DAY 13!


When most kids were watching Spiderman or Superman or any other type of cartoon, I was watching The Addams Family. To me, this was my ideal family. Creepy factor aside, they loved each other, had each other’s backs and would literally kill for each other. Morticia as a mother and a wife was what everyone should have been aspiring to, not June Cleaver. Morticia and Gomez, should be your couple ghouls. (see what I did there) Everything about this show was perfection.


If for some reason you’ve never seen the original Addams Family… which I find odd… here is a link with more info about the history, including its original beginnings.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Addams_Family

Day 12

Day 12! Today was a reminder that we need to be kind and gentle to ourselves when we are feeling tired and/or overwhelmed. This thoughfulness with myself is helping with my grief. Sometimes we forget to treat ourselves with kindness as well. I’m so glad I started yoga again.

For those who know me, you are well aware of my obsession with the 1920s/30s so it will be no surprise how much I LOVE Art Deco! I have several books on the subject and a few jewelry and glass pieces. I would LOVE to own Art Deco furnishings and who knows, when the furniture we currently have is beyond its well-loved state we can replace them with items from my beloved eras.

What is your favourite decade?

Day 11

Day 11! I can hold poses for the entire time now! I’m not getting off balance. Yeah! That means I’m getting stronger. I’m also really loving the mini-meditations that happen at the end. I have a really hard time quieting my mind, but doing it for short periods of time is doable!


Frankenstein. Have you ever related to a fictional character? What character was it? For me, it was Frankenstein and not for the reasons you might think. (or maybe it is)


Frankenstein is mostly known for having an iconic monster. I love watching the movie and have many times over. That isn’t how I relate to the character and other ghouls, misfits and outcasts that I know, who also love Frankenstein, may possibly agree with this.
The way Frankenstein’s monster feels is similar to how we feel or at least how I feel. If you grew up in a small town and had to go to a small town High School, oh boy… will you get this. I always felt like I was the monster trying to get away from the angry villagers. I didn’t belong there and because I was born there, I wasn’t given the choice. (until I was older and left). Frankenstein’s monster didn’t want to be alive again, he wasn’t given the choice and then when it all went to shit, he was the one who paid the price. At least in real life, we have the option to walk away from the angry villagers.


Every time I watch Frankenstein or King Kong or any creature feature where the monster is taken away from their home and forced into a world they don’t understand, my heart breaks. It always has and it always will.


What character do you relate to? Are you or did you do the 30 Day Yoga Challenge and if like me, you are still doing it, what day are you on?

Day 10

Day 10 complete! Today’s practice was much shorter. 18/19 minutes. Though shorter than the other videos, I was ok with it. Today when I woke up I was almost trying to talk myself out of it. ‘Oh it’s Sunday, sleep in, do Day 10 tomorrow.’ Instead I got up and did it. If I start talking myself out of something… it means I won’t do it. So, I reminded myself, this is for my health. I’ve made progress in my getting rid of the weight journey. I’m noticing changes… KEEP GOING! Also, this is good for my mental well-being. I’m still grieving. Yoga seems to help calm my mind. I’ve been working my arse off and I need to keep going. It’s paying off!


Keeping in the theme of the Victorian Era, I LOVE Victorian gothic novels and Penny Dreadfuls. We were at the Bloodsuckers exhibit at The ROM yesterday (highly recommend this exhibit) and there was a section showing gothic novels and I felt myself starting to nerd out. Actually, I nerded out over the entire exhibit.


A little Penny Dreadful factoid. When newspapers and publishers started to print serials (aka Penny Dreadfuls, Penny Bloods, Penny Horrible, Penny Awful etc.) the literacy rate in the UK and North America went up!


If you aren’t familiar with Victorian Gothic novels (though you may be and unaware of it), some titles are Varney the Vampire, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Mysteries of Udolpho, and Carmilla.


Here is an interesting article if you want to learn a bit more about Victorian Gothic Novels. https://crimereads.com/a-victorian-gothic-reading-list/

Day 9

Day 9! Are you sick of me yet? Guess what… 21 more days of this! Yah! A huge reason I’m doing this is for my health. I need to lose weight and get my cholesterol down. When I added yoga into my workouts before, it made a huge difference and to be honest, doing yoga now, I feel much better already!


Something I’ve been interested in for a really long time is Memento Mori, aka Death Photography. This was a very popular practice in the Victorian era, along with Spiritualism. Both of these are fascinating to me.
The BBC has a good article (if you want the Coles note version). Give it a read. There are also a lot of fakes or photos that are confused for Memento Mori. Portrait photography was very, very popular, but methods of taking photos were slow and tedious and many times subjects had to stay still for long periods of time in order to get a crisp photo. To help, stands were used to help clients keep their heads still. There are a bunch of those photos circulating and being labeled or mislabeled as Memento Mori photos. Don’t be fooled!


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36389581


The photo of the young lady laid out in the coffin is Memento Mori. The second photo is showing traditional Victorian portrait photography.

Day 8

Day 8! I’m really loving Yoga With Adriene. I’ve never had an instructor quite like her. She is amazing. Today’s practice was about healing. Something I’m trying to do right now.


Last night I had a dream about a crow. It was mad at me and was flying around and following me, telling me that. I couldn’t figure out why or what I’d done to make it mad. When a crow appears in your dreams and it’s flying and following you it means that you need to let go and move forward. This dream and Adriene’s lesson today go hand in hand.


I lost two friends this year. One was a toxic friendship that I finally walked away from for the final time. The second was a beloved friend who we all lost to cancer. In one situation I am grieving deeply. My friend was young and restarting her life and cancer is a horrible, horrible disease. In the other situation, in the beginning, I was mad at myself for letting it go on for so long. The friendship was unhealthy for both parties. It was a good thing to walk away, but I still beat myself up over it when I shouldn’t have. Today I realized I need to heal from not only my friend who died but from the toxic friendship I ended. It’s also ok to talk about it, because… this girl… doesn’t like to do that.


Today’s photo is of a ghost. I believe in ghosts. I write ghost stories. We all have emotional ghosts. It’s ok to tell them to go to the other side.

Day 7

Day 7! Yah!!! Today was stretching and I discovered I’m waaaaaaay tighter on my left side than I am on my right side. It used to be the other way around. I also carry all of my stress and tension in my upper back.

I did my weekly measure in and after a week of yoga I lost some on my arms and legs. Not really surprised about that at all. What this shows me is I don’t use my core muscles as much as I should be. That will be changing.

Here are the inches I’ve gotten rid of:
Neck = 1
Arms = 1
Bust = 1
Waist = 3
Stomach = 8.5
Hips = 5 .5
Thighs = 4
Calf = 1

Let’s talk about Flappers! Since I was a little girl I was obsessed with them. I wanted to be one. I made my mother dress me like one. Why was I obsessed? I have no idea. I was a very young girl and I highly doubt that I’d ever seen a silent movie at that point. So, why the obsession? Was I Flapper in another life?

As I continued to be in love with the idea of being a Flapper I learned a lot about them. They were going against the system and how women were perceived. They dressed the way they wanted. Listened to music that was taboo. They did things that were considered ‘unladylike’. They stood up for themselves. Sound like someone you know. My love of Flappers definitely shaped who I am today.

What were you obsessed with as a kid that you still have a great love for to this day? Who did the yoga challenge today?