This One's For All the Girls....

Ok so I'm going to try to be terribly honest here and open up a topic that I think 99% of women rarely discuss but always think about. The reason for this post comes as a response to a discussion that I happened to fall into with a couple girlfriends the other night. For whatever reason we got onto the topic of  "clicks" and "popularity," "impressions" and "intimidation."

Let me take you back a little bit to my days in high school and university days...just so you can get an idea of what kind of girl I was.

I was shy.
I didn't wear name brand name clothes.
I shopped at the Goodwill.
I didn't drink, party or smoke.
I didn't go to sleepovers mainly because I was a home body and afraid of drinking, smoking and drugs.
I was in band and a quintet.
I was in multiple choirs.
I danced 6 days a week.
I was totally a nerd (like seriously, I shed tears if I got below a certain grade in any class)
I never stayed out late or did things with friends.
In fact aside from my bestie at school I often felt utterly and completely alone.
I was a skinny toothpick with no boobs.
I took a Grade 9 to my prom because no one would ask me and I had no other guys friends to go with. 
I didn't kiss a boy until I was 18.
I didn't date a boy until I was 19.
I was definitely and most certainly not ever popular.

For most of my life I have felt like the odd one out. Even among those friends I have had, I have never felt like I truly belonged. I was often left out of events and get togethers- I was never invited to parties. I was incredibly shy so I rarely spoke to anyone, but I had a very confident carriage thanks to my years of ballet training. This combination led to what I became aware of as, "looking like a snob."

I kind of just accepted that this is what people thought of me and went with it (still do sometimes.)

The popular girls would always stare me down at school and when I went to church activities I could feel the girls whispers whenever I walked in the room. I pretty much had no friends, save my little sister and her girls friends because she was much more charismatic than I.

I really was alone, and top it off (as I've mentioned) I was a dancer.

Some may think that this would be amazing- well yes it was what I loved and it brought immense joy to my life, but it also came with a price. Let just say that criticism is a major component of dance and unfortunately there are many dance teachers out there who do nothing more than tear you down and make you feel like nothing more than a body full of flaws, never good enough to live up to their expectations, not talented enough to have that solo, or skinny enough to wear a certain costume on stage. In dance your errors are always magnified in front of a mirror and plain for you to see. While it was something I loved it was also something that made me incredibly self critical and never satisfied with who I was.

Ok so to bring this back around to what I hope to discuss here-

I may have looked skinny and beautiful to other girls, but I often felt horrible about who I was. I didn't have any real friends who I could open up to, boys never spoke to me and I could never dream of being asked out on a date. I didn't fit in, even with my ballet girls who were much cooler and had way more friends than I could ever hope for. There was always someone prettier, skinnier, cooler, better dressed and more talented than me.

Now the point of this is not make you all feel sorry for me- its to raise awareness that we all feel like this. I'm quite certain (especially after the discussion that I had with my gal pals) that as women we are ALWAYS comparing ourselves to others.

Now that I'm a mom it's a whole new avenue of comparisons but they are all still there- there's always someone who looks like they have it all together and maybe that person is me- but trust me I don't have it all together! There are plenty of women out there who I look at with a little pang of envy because they own a  house, or have an awesome job, or an amazing sense of style, or more education then me, or a wicked talent, or adorable children, or a cool car, or always prepare amazing meals, who's homes are decorated amazingly etc. etc.

The point is that none of us are perfect and none of us have it all together and NONE of us should be jealous of or intimidated by one another.

If anything we should be working together and supporting one another and learning from the areas of strength that we each have. Some people may seem beautiful and perfect but you can't judge a book by its cover.

I don't want to share my dirty laundry but trust me house it full of it and not just in the form of clothes!

I put on makeup everyday because it makes me feel better about who I am- sometimes I wish I were confident enough to leave the house without it- but I'm not. I've got my insecurities too, and let me tell you I always look at the girls who look beautiful without make up on and wish I could be confident in my skin just like them.

It has never in my life been my intention to intimidate anyone. I know that people have viewed me as this way for a significant portion of my life and I'm sorry for that, but trust me when I say I really am nice. I'm not mean, or critical and I most certainly don't judge you, I've done enough of that to myself and continue to struggle with it every day of my life.  I became a dance teacher because I love dance but also because I wanted young women to know that they could do something they loved and still feel amazing about who they are. I wanted to create wonderful dancers who are also confident human beings who love themselves and don't always wish to be something more.

Let spread the word and learn to accept who we are: our height, our weight, our hair color, our cars, our house size, the number of kids we have, the meals we cook, the dirty floors and piles of laundry, the makeup we wear or don't wear, the shoes we own or would never dream or wearing.

We're all different and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact there's everything right about it! I'm not saying we're all going to be best friends, but we can love each other for who we are and not feel like we can't go out to certain events/places because we're scared of what others might think of us. Let's learn to love who we are and be confident about that woman...because that woman is YOU!

Jordan

Marshal's 2nd Birthday! It's Been A Long Time Coming

Well sadly I fell off the face of the blogging planet. I've been swamped with work for our business and never have time to blog anymore. Anyway I'm back at it and hopefully I can maintain some sort of consistency throughout the summer months. A lot has happened but I can't seem to remember all the good stuff so right now I'll tell you about a super important event- Marshal's 2nd Birthday!

Marshal turned 2 on May 25! I seriously cannot believe that my baby is 2- where has all the time gone? I went as all out for his party as I could muster with also having a wee 7.5 month old to take care of. I find joy in planning, decorating and putting together something fun. I definitely could have organized things a little better with the way some things turned out (ie. the birthday cake- looked pretty icing was a huge disaster and tasted awful!) but all in all I think the party turned out pretty well. I am fortunate to have some super talented friends one of whom (Alex) snapped a few shots for me at the party while I was busy trying to be a good hostess.

So the theme of the birthday party was Rainbows! Really I just wanted an excuse to make the fabulous rainbow cake I'm sure you've all seen via Martha Stewart or Pinerest. You can see the picture of my cake a little later in the post. 

Ok here are the classic tissue paper puff ball decorations. My favorite because they are both cute and incredibly cheap to make! 

Luckily the weather cooperated so we were able to have the party outdoors as planned!

Food table:

And here are all the party kidlets looking oh so cute!

Time for presents:

When we started singing Happy Birthday to Marshal he started screaming at the top of his lungs! It was absolutely hilarious!

Here we are cutting the cake:

And here it is, the rainbow cake!

Like I mentioned above  the cake didn't turn out completely as planned. I was totally pleased with the colorful cakes themselves, but I ran out of time to make icing and ended up buying a big tub of Wilton icing from Michael's craft store. Sadly this icing seemed to have gone bad but I didn't realize this until after I had put it all over the cake! It tasted horrible! And we ended up throwing over half of the cake in the garbage. Luckily Michael's was awesome and gave me a full refund for the icing when I went there to complain after the party, because it wasn't cheap!

Thank goodness for the cake pops which I decide to make at about 11pm the night before (I know I'm totally crazy!) But they tasted delicious to make up for the yucky icing on the cake!

Marshal enjoying his new pedal fire truck:

We also had a pinata, which the kids were a little young to understand. But I think they still had fun:

Marshal searching through the treats with Grandpa:

 And here are just a few amazing pictures I had to share! 

Marshal was pushing Natalie around in the fire truck but she got stuck!

 All in all it was a great party and I think the kids and grownups all had a ton of fun. 

I'm still getting used to the idea of having a 2 year old who has fully decided to enter the Terrible 2s! Got to love that little guy and all his will power!

Jordan

HOT Yoga!

I know I've been the lamest blogger ever lately but life has been so super crazy busy!

So rather than try to update this lame-o blog I'm just going to dive right in here with today's events.  My baby turned 7 months old today CRAZY I tell you! And so to celebrate not working out for the past 7 months ;) I went to a hot yoga class this morning. Let me tell you about my very early morning adventure.

So last week my girlfriend Angela asked if I'd be interested in taking a hot yoga class with her. I was interested. Why? Because 1- I love yoga and it always makes me feel so good 2- I seriously needed to get back into exercise mode as it has been 7 months since I gave birth and 3- I've never done hot yoga before but have always been super intrigued by it. Then I found out that the class was only $5 and that turned up my excitement a few more notches! Because seriously you can't pass up a class for only $5 that's a super great deal. The classes are also really early in the morning which could be a huge turn off but the fact that it is so early actually made me feel like I could do it with a little more ease. Hubby and kids are still sleeping at 6:00am- so I can get out, get some exercise and come home and get the day rolling.

Ok so today was the day that we braved the 6:15am class!!!! I woke up at 5:30 this morning and we rolled out out of our neighborhood at 5:50. It was seriously a miracle that I got out of bed I don't think I have ever woken up that early before except to tend to a crying baby. However since I'm now used to being sleep deprived  I figured I may as well get some exercise. And I am totally glad that I went. The class was fast paced and the teacher was a little different from other yoga instructors that I have had in the past, but all in all in was terrific. My body felt amazing both during and after class and it was nice to remember some of the things that my body can do (though definitely not as easily as before!) I enjoyed the hot room- definitely adds an element of challenge to the class and I loved how rejuvenated I felt afterwards. I'm still up (at 10:30pm) and have been going strong all day long!

And so Angela and I have decided to go back this Thursday as they offer this particular class twice a week. I hoping that I can commit to 2 classes a week but if I can't manage that I'm for sure going to make it to 1. I'm so happy when I exercise and I know my body thanks me for taking some time to stretch it out. I'm glad that Dan kicked me out of bed this morning when my alarm went off and that the beautiful sun was pouring in my window. It made it that much easier to get up and get the day going with some exercise. I love yoga!

And now I think it's time for me to sign off and hit the pillow.

Jordan

COLDPLAY!

So I know I am a little late in posting about this but I simply have to before I completely forget about the best night of my life! Last Wednesday Dan and I had the chance to go and see Coldplay in concert here in Calgary. It was AH-MAZING! First off let me tell you that when we heard Coldplay was coming to Calgary back in the fall of last year we were totally pumped. Neither Dan or I had ever seen them in concert but are huge fans of their music. Our wedding song was even a Coldplay tune- Til Kingdom Come. In any case we planned to get tickets but then when they actually went on sale we didn't because of one reason or another.

Later on I started looking for tickets on kijiji but didn't really find anything that I wanted to pay for etc. So I came to the sad acceptance that we weren't going to see them in concert :( Then a week before the concert a miracle happened. Like literally a miracle. A friend posted on facebook that her friend from school had 2 tickets she was trying to sell because she had an exam the night of the concert! I immediately messaged the girl and as luck would have it we were able to make a deal! I called Dan to see if he would be down with paying said amount for the tickets and he was like- is that even a question?! YES!! So later that night we went and got these bad boys.

Ok so now about the actual concert. Like I said earlier it was the best night of my life, I may be over exaggerating slightly, but it was definitely up there. Coldplay is an amazing band that makes amazing music. They are so inspirational and always get me right here. I LOVE their music. Seeing them in concert was even better than I imagined. They sound just as good if not better live and the show that they put on is incredible. I love seeing artists who are passionate about what they do and Chris and band are totally that. Dan and I had a blast. Here we are just before the concert began.

Here is the Saddledome full to capacity!

And some of the show (sorry I'm not such a good photographer)

It was an incredible night that I will never not ever forget. 

Thank you Coldplay for coming to Calgary and for being oh so wonderful!

I heart you. 

A LOT.

Jordan

Cohen Is 6 Months!

It's hard to believe that my little baby is already 6 months old. He was officially 6 months old on Sunday, but I've had a busy week and just managed to sit down and do some blogging today. Cohen has definitely been a much more difficult baby than Marshal was but he continues to bring joy into our lives each and every day.

Morning that he reached 6 months. 

Its amazing to me just how individual a baby can be- Cohen was definitely born with a personality.

Cohen is a sweet little man. He loves to snuggle and be held and really doesn't like it when I put him down for too long. He is completely a Mamas boy and seems only to settle or calm down when I am holding him, or nursing him. He has bright cheerful smiles that he gives to me each morning and whenever I look at him and smile. He likes to chew on my fingers and laughs every time he is tickled.

At church on his 6 month b-day.

Cohen already has a special bond with his big brother Marshal. I love watching the way that they interact with each other and I can see that Cohen already adores Marshal even though he is rough housed once in awhile! Cohen is always watching Marshal, and I suspect wishing he could do the things that his big brother is doing.

Cohen also loves his Daddy and tries to follow the sound of his voice whenever he hears him talking. He loves when Dan comes home from work and likes to sit nestled in his arm through the evening. Cohen likes to play with Dan and lie on his belly.

Cohen LOVES the jolly jumper- in limited doses of course. But when he is in there he is like a little leprechaun jumping for joy! It is totally hilarious to watch and so stinking cute! He always has the biggest grin plastered on his face as he bounces away, working out those chubby little baby legs. He likes the exersaucer too- though not nearly the way he loves the jolly jumper. But he is getting better at playing with the toys on the exersaucer which gives my arms a bit of a break!

Jolly little jumper.

Cohen has just recently started sitting up on his own. He is still a little wobbly and I wouldn't leave him sitting by himself but if I'm behind him I'll let him sit on his own (until he falls over) as he plays with toys. He seems to really like sitting up- a lot better than lying down- so I'm hoping that once he can sit stably he will be more content to sit and play which will hopefully make it a bit easier for me to get things done!

Cohen is also loving food, which is a huge relief for me and will hopefully allow me a little more freedom in the coming months. He has refused the bottle but likes rice and oat cereal and a variety of other fruit and vegetables he has also tried. He isn't eating a lot yet but I try to give him a bit at breakfast and dinner to help fill up his belly and get him used to eating. Plus he totally eyes up our plates at dinner time and I think wants to be part of the fun!

We are all totally in love with our little Cohen. He is a lovely addition to our family and we are so happy to have him as a part of the Fuller family! Here's to another great 6 months!

Photo by Arianne Bieber

Yummy Zucchini Bread

I just want to share a yummy zucchini bread recipe that we enjoyed at our Healthy Lunch Bunch Potluck today!

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded raw zucchini with the juices squeezed out 

1 cup oil

3 eggs

1 ¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts

2 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, makes 2 loaves. 

Places shredded zucchini in a strainer and squeeze out excess juices.

Beat oil, eggs and sugar until blended. Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together and then add to oil/sugar mixture. 

Add zucchini.

Add nuts- stirring in by hand.

Pour into 2 greased and lightly floured loaf pans.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Remove from oven and let stand a few minutes to cool, then remove from pans and allow to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

Jordan

Birthday Party Help!

Remember this awesome birthday party theme I had for Marshal's 1st birthday?

Well his 2nd birthday is fast approaching and I need help coming up with a fun idea. Your suggestions are welcome!

Photography cutesy Everglow Photography.

Happy Weekend- Jordan