The Queen

A few months ago, my coach dubbed me the 'Queen of not Leaving myself enough Time'. She was right. I was always finding myself rushing from one thing to the next. Trying to get one more thing done on my to do list before leaving for the next activity or appointment.

Since coming back from my vacation in Israel, I have really been relaxed. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been waking up at 5:30 - 6:00 am and that has left me lots of time to get my work done in the morning before starting with clients. I find that I am relaxed, have enough time to get everything done that I intend to and am really enjoying this easy-going time. I am committed to making this a full-time experience!

Brazil

Wow! I just recently got back from Brazil where I backpacked with my two kids aged 19 and 22. Even though Rio de Janeiro is a dangerous city, the experience was magnificient.

One of my best memories is going up Sugar Loaf Mountain, where you take an aerial tram up to two sequential mountains and look down on Rio. We were told to go around 4:30 so that we could experience it in both the daylight and at night. I have to say it was an awesome experience! I felt like God had lifted us up in his hands up onto a cloud where we looked down on Rio nestled between the mountains.

After a week in Rio, we flew up to Salvador, where there is a great African influence. The kids and I watched a Capoeira which is an ancient martial arts brought in from the Congo with the slaves and each of us was picked to practice with one of the participants. We went to watch a Condomble which is a ritual of the African Religion where some of the participants go into a trance and are possessed by one of the Gods.

The beaches were awesome. I got my hair braided, bought lots of little trinkets and all three of us returned home with a sunburn. What a great vacation!

Freedom Ride

I recently came back from a 12 day motorcycle trip through the Blue Ridge Parkway with my boyfriend. I thought. when I first started out that I had decent motorcycling skills. By the time we left Toronto, which is flat and straight, and got to Pennsylvania, my skills were being challenged. I almost missed a curve and hit a parked car. I, understandably, had a meltdown and wanted to return home. Thank goodness, my boyfriend is a motorcycle instructor and he kept reminding me of the skills I already possessed, but was not using. On the curves, you naturally look at the obstacle or edge of the cliff you want to miss and slow down if you are losing balance. Those two things are the worse thing you can do in a curve. You need to look where you are going and accelerate out of the curve. It took about a week of continual challenges and practice before I could take any curve naturally and with ease. I started this trip from a place of fear and despair, and through perseverance, ended up boosting my confidence and conquering a challenge I thought would do me in.