About Rachelle

I live on the west coast but hail from the eastern one and I love the things I love. I think life should be the pursuit of happiness, because what's the point otherwise? I'm a writer, a dancer, an unlikely MBA and a yoga teacher. I live on a beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest with my dashing and fun husband, Adam and our two furry cat-kids, Maui & Hermes.

That was a miss…

Actually, I remembered to blog, but then I forgot again. As the saying goes, it’s the thought that counts. And technically, during Lent, I’ve been blogging on Sundays, which counts for extra. Seriously, count the days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday and you’ll count 46. That’s because Sundays are freebies. Check it out if you don’t believe me.

Today we held our first Health Fair, which was pretty cool. They did biometric testing and it looks like I’m doing okay. My cholesterol was high, which runs in the family, but my HDLs were really high, too, and they’re the good ones. The nurse said that she thought that it was probably my HDLs driving up the overall count. I’m gonna go with that.

Also, I taught yoga at noon, but didn’t have tons of students. In fact, instead of tons, I had 3. I have noticed that many people say they want to do yoga and recognize that yoga would be good for them, but the correlation between those comments and the number of classes they attend is pretty poor. There must be a confounding variable I’m not sure of…

On that note, I have to run, because I’m off to teach at Oak Bay Rec. One of eight! After tonight, seven more weeks until I am Doing Less. Four more weeks until I’m done InDesign, too. Doing Less is going to be so sweet. I wonder what I’ll do…

Volunteering is good for the soul.

This is true. I just did a bunch this weekend, which was awesome. However, I’ve spent about 90 zillion hours working on business cards for Pacific Tattoo, and only JUST NOW discovered the “advanced editing” option on the site I’m using. Seriously. You guys, I spent about 5 hours getting really frustrated that it wasn’t an optional layout.

And with that, I’m going to bed. So there.

Fairytales do come true?

I don’t even know how I found this, but there are people out there who want to be mermaids so badly that they dress up with a monofin flipper and fake tail and then splash about with a dolphin kick.

What I enjoy about this product write-up (people make scrilla off of the tails, for real), is how it describes the tail as “much more realistic looking.” Um, you guys? A much more realistic-looking mermaid tail, as in a fake tail for a make-believe creature? I’m all for the fairytales, myself, but I’m not this far gone…

Seriously, friends. I couldn’t even make this stuff up. Well, actually, I could, but I swear I didn’t.  They have competitions and pageants and everything.

Am I the only one who wonders if a shark wouldn’t be more likely to bite a marauding—oops, I meant mermaiding—human? Because that’s pretty much the first thing I worried about. I mean, if the whole reason sharks bite people in the first place is because we confuse them with our sea-creature-like physique, then I would hardly be wanting to up the ante and look like a more convincing morsel.

What’s next? Unicorning?

Girls’ night in.

Adam’s in Vancouver tonight, enroute to Seattle for his monthly coaching training for the weekend. I am taking the opportunity to unwind (a night in being made significantly easier by the lack of a vehicle). Tonight has been spent watching movies on Netflix that I probably shouldn’t watch on my own. I like Paul Bettany, so I watched Legion. Pretty gory and a little freaky, but it wasn’t a real horror/thriller, so I think I’ll be able to sleep. Maui seems to be doing okay though. Granted, she’s not facing the TV.

Me & the Mauster

I did go to yoga, though, so that’s good. I work from home most Fridays, which means it’s really easy for me to spend the day in sweatpants (hey, at least I change from my pajamas) and not venture out into the world at all. Actually, I went out twice: I went for a swim at lunch because I was way too comfortable to roll out of bed this morning.

So, what this boils down to is that I soaked in chlorine, then sweat it out at the studio. And, let me just say that chlorine is a better body odour to have than what is often floating around a yoga class. After the profuse sweating, I walked home to make dinner. I made dinner in shifts, eating it in the same manner. End result? I got too full and never made it to the roasted potatoes…

Now I’m watching a cheesy episodic from ’91 called “Dark Shadows.” It turns out it’s a remake of an earlier soap opera from the 60s and 70s. When I Googled it, I was interested to learn that apparently Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were fans, back in the day. I hope the original series wasn’t this bad… I also learned that they’re doing a remake film this year, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton. It seems that dreams really do come true. At least Johnny Depp will make a much better Barnabas Collins.

I’ve also painted my nails (fingers and toes) and succeeded in messing up one fingernail. At least I’m consistent.

On that note, I’m off to watch episode 3. I should really just go to bed…

Friday in the deep end.

Tomorrow is Friday. I’m pretty pleased about it, actually. I’m probably not breaking a lot of new ground here, but pssst: Fridays are the bomb.

On Fridays, I celebrate by hitting the pool first thing in the a.m. Friday being a led-class day and all for Ashtangis, it’s the one weekday (apart from moon days) that I’m not practicing Mysore style in the wee hours.

I just reread that sentence and it made no sense at all. To you, I mean. It makes perfect sense to me. It’s a yoga thing. I’ll explain another day. Today, I’m too tired because Thursdays like to kick me in the gluteus maximus. I am über-grateful for the courses I get to take through my work, but after this one, I’m taking a time out, sending myself to the corner to stop and think about what I’ve done.

Anyway, yeah, the pool. Adam thinks it’s hilarious (maybe more like mildly amusing, but whatever) that I go to the pool and proclaim to love swimming, because I get so annoyed and stressed out by it. The thing is, I’m not annoyed by swimming, I’m annoyed with the morons with whom I have to share the lanes. Because I’m the only one doing any sharing. The rest of these splashers clearly didn’t graduate from kindergarten and were only released because they were dragging down the averages. They certainly didn’t get bumped up for good behaviour.

It is not rocket science. You know what? That’s a stupid phrase. What is rocket science, apart from rocket science? That’s like saying “It’s not chocolate,” when it’s labelled vanilla. Gee, you think? Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Begging your pardon: I digress. Allow me to return to the gross indignity of sharing a swimming lane with someone who is being lapped by those wading in the extremely-slower-than-not-moving slow lane. I’m a little worried that these people drive vehicles on the roads I, too, drive upon. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you: They don’t know which lane they’re in, what “slow” or “moderate” mean, they tailgate and they cut in. They’re RUDE. And there is no excuse. What’s confusing to me is what they would do if I just did what they were doing. I think they’d erupt into a chlorinated, spleen-damaging indignation. They’d be shaking their fins, bug-eyed (okay, that’s probably because of the goggles, but still. Still.) and yelling out, “HEY! I’m swimmin’ heee-yah!” Yes, they are all New Yorkers by this point. Don’t ask me why.

I would like to delve deeper into this worthy topic, providing anecdotes from my countless personal experiences (Just wait until you hear the one about the change room. You’ll need an adult. I sure did.). But, it’s late and I’m tired. I’m likely to mix up my examples and throw in something about the instant IQ hit suffered by anyone except myself at Costco/Walmart/<<insert the name of any store that offers shopping carts>>. “No, really. That’s a great place to leave your cart.”

So, I’ll hit you back on this one soon. Splish splash and all that jazz.

Sometimes when I walk to work,

I listen to my iPod. Ha, just kidding: I always listen to my iPod whenever I’m walking to work/yoga/sightsee/meander. Know what else I do, though? I pretend the music I’m listening to is a soundtrack and I’m an awesome character in a movie.

Then what? Let me tell you. I’m happy to share. In my soundtrack-accompanied movie (in which I’m at least a co-star), I can break into sweet and magnificent dance moves. I can do back handsprings, wicked split jumps and all the cool stuff that you see in the silhouettes at the beginning of So You Think You Can Dance?

Sometimes, I catch myself thinking I can actually do these things. Luckily, I can usually catch myself before attempting to disembark from gravity with disappointing results, albeit perfect musicality and rhythm.

Does anyone else ever have daydreams like this? Am I the only one who is filled with the gentle hope that they are more awesome than reality will general allow?

Also, I did some errands today. Since Adam’s gone to Seattle for the weekend, I got some groceries I wouldn’t want to carry on foot. I also got some chips. I’m pretty excited.

Don't worry—I won't be lonely while Adam's gone: Meet my friends, Salt and Vinegar.

On Curling (hair, not rocks) and Tuesdays

Yeah, so I’m about to run off to bed, but I wanted to post something quickly. We’re holding our Workplace Health & Safety 2012 Conference, so I was being all conference-y today.

Today being Tuesday, I also taught my last class of Yoga Ballet Bend & Stretch at Oak Bay Rec. I called the desk, fervently hoping that there would not be enough students for the next session to run, but alas! The class is a go.

Don’t get me wrong, my friends: It’s not that the class hasn’t been fun. It’s just that it takes more prep and has fewer students, so it’s more work/time, less pay (not that it’s just about the money, but when we’re tallying up pros and cons, it counts) and quite frankly, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m too darn busy. I was hoping to reclaim my Tuesdays, since the class is smack dab in the middle of the night (7–8:15 pm).

Anyway, whatever. It’s running, so I decided that rather than wallow in it, I’ll get stoked about it instead. I tried wallowing and it wasn’t much fun. So now, I’m trying to wrangle up as many students as possible, to make the class as fun as possible. The more, the merrier, right? We’ll see. At least I’ll be done in another 8 weeks, which will also have seen the end of my Camosun class (another good thing, but still another thing, nonetheless). Basically, my weeknights are gonna feel free like Hermes in a sunbeam, all at once. It’s going to be amazing. In 8 weeks, I mean. It’ll be amazing then.

Oh and also, I’m curling my hair in a creative way that my friend Annie told me about. I have a sneaking suspicion it works better when you have longer hair. Time will tell. More specifically, about 7 hours will tell, because that’s about how long I’ll be asleep on this experiment (also known as my head).

Ciao, guys!

Star Trek: Original Series, Original Awesome.

So, Adam and I have been watching the original Star Trek series. And it is awesome. There’s no other word for it.

The makeup is amazing. And by amazing, I mean terrible. Especially since all species’ physical attributes are portrayed solely through the use of eyeshadow. It seems the more evil you are, the worse your eyeshadow will be. If you have several layers of colour, you’re up to no good. Makeup artists had clearly not developed the blending techniques we see today.

It’s kind of fascinating, actually, to see how much TV has changed in 50 years or so. We’ve been trying to sort out whether this was meant to be incredibly campy, or if that’s just our perception of it, because we’re used to, um, more evolved special effects. Oh yeah, and plot lines. I’ve grown accustomed to plots in episodic television.

I’ve gotta say, even though I like The Next Generation best (followed closely by Voyager), we just can’t stop watching the original series. I think it might be the pants. You know, those short ones, with the ruffle on the bottoms. I wonder if Lululemon will ever make similar pants. If they did, they’d probably look ridiculous, but I’d probably still buy a pair. Don’t judge, guys.

In other exciting news, I started to bake brioche, and by started, I mean that I read the recipe. I decided it would be too onerous, so opted instead to make a fool-proof Italian loaf with parmesan and black pepper. It did not work. 100 percent of the time, my bread only rises roughly 50 percent of the time, choosing instead to become an excellent building material for villages in third-world countries, as opposed to a delicious baked treat. Yes, people, I’m anthropomorphizing my bread. It’s fine. We’re going to use this loaf to prop the door open when we bring in the groceries, which will include bread from the bakery, which we buy because 100 percent of the time that we buy it, it’s risen 100 percent of the time. Statistics. So intuitively obvious.

Lazy Sundays.

Are the best. I could do with a week of them right now. The first thing I’d do is find a delicious recipe for brioche. There is something so magically rewarding about making bread. And then eating it.

I think my bread machine has a brioche recipe, but I’m hesitant to test it out, after the great cinnamon bun debacle of 2008. Those things were solid. Could’ve been used in creating the foundation of a house. I’ve since redeemed myself with The Best Cinnamon Buns ever (two for two, actually), which I found online. The recipe said it was a dead-ringer for Cinnabon. Who am I to argue? Oh man, those are really good. Now I want them, but it’s Lent.

Brioche, on the other hand, would just be a delicious little bun that I could eat right now. Like seriously right now. ASAP.

I’m off to dream about French sweet breads. I’ll keep you apprised of the developments.

I are friends with wirds.

Yeah, so today was a sad day for my professional wordsmithing skills. Let me explain, but first let me just point out that I realize it’s technically tomorrow, so I missed a day of blogging. However, I haven’t gone to bed yet, so I’m counting it as Saturday. My blog, my rules.

Back to my vocabulary issues: Adam and I were over at Nicole’s place, having a games/appies night with some awesome people (I hang with the best of the best!). We started out with Catchphrase, which also was the way we ended the night. Actually, we just played it for, I don’t know, maybe 17 hours straight? (slight exaggeration, but it was at least several hours)

This game is like trivial pursuit, mixed with cranium and charades and a healthy dose of hot potato. It’s the best fun. We’re going to need to get it. We’ve been meaning to get some fun games for a while. This one allows conversation and is hilarious. Basically, you get a catchphrase and have to get others to guess it, but you can’t use the words from the answer. This gets quite tricksy. There are moments where we each shone like the Rainman, and moments that were much less inspiring.

My stellar low was when I was stuck finding an antonym for “on”. I went through every other preposition I could think of, getting the team to shout the opposites of “in”, “behind” and “under”, even mentally switching to a French song I knew from childhood. I did not succeed. Clearly, I was over thinking, though I may just have been overtired.

Anyway, after losing the point, I cried out, “what is the opposite of ‘on’?”, to which everyone replied, in chorus, “Um, ‘off’?”.

Right. Off.

I work in communications. I’m a writer. With an MBA.

Sigh.