Nike + Plus other news...

YAY! I just bought a Nike Plus Trainer to help me with my training. It is a pretty neat little gadget, it simply clips onto your shoe and it automatically calculates your distance, time, and playlist. It's really neat because this can all be shared online through a Nike Profile which can then be shared onto Facebook and Twitter. There are plenty of goals you can choose from that you can add to your profile, and specific training programs like for 5km or 10km runs. I am really excited to start using it and hopefully it will only help me to get better :) The run is just over 3 months away!! I know the time will just fly.

My Nike Plus Profile name is Tasha Pav. Add me as a friend if you like.

Speaking of time flying, I have officially been living with Shannon in this condo for 6 whole months! 6 months! Can you believe that? It seems like yesterday we just moved in. I think I will probably be living here for at least another year and a half. As much as I want to buy a house, I don't think I am ready to leave my fun city lifestyle. Once I get a house, I will be so far from everything. Plus, I am in no rush to grow up. Mortgage payments, property tax bills, Saturdays wasted cleaning a house...no thank you! I am just fine right here :)

In other news, winter officially sucks! I am so over it already. I realize I am such a hermit in these colder months. I don't want to do much as I spend most of my free time either at the gym or parked on the couch watching TV. I can't wait until the weather gets better and I can get back to my usual extra social self.

Tomorrow I am going to my second french class. I signed up for French classes last week at the French school just down the street from me. It's every Tuesday night for 3 hours for 8 weeks. It was at a relatively decent price so how could I not? I want to learn French because I was always good at it in school, I just never went on to pursue it. Plus, it's a beautiful language and could prove to be beneficial later on down the road. Also for when I finally get to go to Paris one day :)

Well that's all from me for now. It's bed time!! Happy Monday everyone!!

Training Day 3: New Kicks!

Today I was feeling a bit sluggish, but I pushed through and did my 2km at a rate of 4.5-5.0. I tried to stay at 5.0 for most of the time and finished in about 17 minutes! Not too shabby!! I am convinced it is because of my new runners!! I went to the running room last night and was thrilled with the service I received. A nice gentleman helped me find the perfect pair first by assessing my feet and then by my running. He brought out a bunch of pairs for me to try, and in the end I ended up getting a nice pair of Asics on sale from 169 to 50 dollars! Amazing! And not to mention they are pink too!!! He also told me about the Run Club that the Running Room offers for free. Basically, you meet every Wednesday night at 6:30pm and go on different routes around the area. There are different routes for a different distance which I thought was really neat. When the weather gets a little warmer, hopefully my roommate and I can join in on the fun. We now have more friends joining the 10km Sporting Life Run!! I am so excited!! This will be a fun thing that we can all do together. It’s so much easier to stick to a fitness schedule and training guide when you know you aren’t the only one doing it. I am proud of my friends and proud of myself for embarking on this journey together.

Half Marathon Training Day 1: PUMPED!

January 10, 2011- Training Day 1:
Today was my first official day of training for my half marathon which I plan to run in September in Disneyland with one of my best friends, Siobhan! I have never really been much of a runner, I would say more of a “brisk walker” or “elliptical enthusiast” but running, no way. I guess with me being in such a slump lately, I figured I needed something new to do, a new goal, or a new challenge. When Siobhan mentioned this run to me on the weekend, I was on board as soon as she mentioned Disneyland!! How fun would it be to run through a magical and enchanted theme park with one of your besties and some Disney characters!? Needless to say I am pretty motivated. So yesterday Siobhan sent me my own personal training manual!! I love having a free personal trainer! Haha. When I noticed my guide, I was a little scared. 4km on the first day?! I didn’t think I could do it, but I actually surprised myself when I pushed through it in 40 minutes time at a pace of 4.0-4.5 mph. Normally when I run on the treadmill I never look at distance, just time, so it was nice to have a new goal to work towards. Granted it was at a slow pace today, but at least I have a start! My boyfriend just bought me some new Skullcandy headphones so my music sounded extra loud while working out, plus I just revamped my Ipod on the weekend so I had a whole bunch of new tracks to hit the ground with (special thanks to MSTRKFRT for keeping me pumped up). I had a nice bean salad and chicken wrap for lunch after I ran and I feel amazing. I reported to my “trainer” Siobhan about my first run and she recommends we do the Sporting Life 10k in May. I think I can do it!! And I am excited!! Hopefully we can get some more of our friends to join…the more the merrier J

Home for the Holladayz

I'm bacckkk!! Back from Cuba that is. I was gone from the 18th to the 25th (yes I spent my Xmas day travelling on a bus, plane and taxi cab) and just finished celebrating my belated Xmas with family. These past 2 weeks seemed to just fly by, but while I was in Cuba, time seemed to be moving slower than usual. I believe it's because I did not have access to my blackberry, so I felt like I had no sense of time or responsibility, it actually made me feel more anxious than anything, which is terrible! How sad is it that I can't even relax without clutching to my blackberry and checking my messages every 5 minutes? Something is definately wrong with that picture, and I am positive it's not just me that feels this way.Our whole society in general is hooked on these technological mind-numbing gadgets, but this isn't new, this was just the first time I was able to see firsthand how much of an addict I am. Thanks Cuba!

But besides my withdrawls from the outside world, I would say overall I had a good time. The beach and poolside were beautiful. The resort staff was just lovely and I got to really bond with my family. It made me sad to see the poor Cuban people working so hard for us, cleaning, cooking, entertaining, yet they never expected a tip. I felt so uncomfortable being waited on and treated like a queen. While we were on the beach, we overheard that lifeguards make 10 pesos per week!! Per week people!! That is probably equivalent to 15 dollars a week. I couldn't believe it, but then I looked at how much they love life and seem so happy. At first I didn't understand how they could make so little and be so content, but then I figured they probably don't even realize what they are missing because they don't have luxuries like we do in North America. These people probably don't care about facebook updates, or obtaining the latest Iphone, because their culture doesn't care for it. I wonder how much happier our society would be if we made life a bit simpler by toning down technology use, limiting our beauty and spa appointments, owning less "stuff". Could simplicity be the answer to finding true happiness? I am starting to believe it to be true.

Speaking of simple living, I have decided to spend the rest of my holidays at home with my parents in the country. There's nothing better han coming home to family, my dog, and curling up on the couch by the fire and reading a nice book. I will have to wake up a little earlier the next few days to take the GO train into Toronto, but it's worth it.

New Year's Eve is on Friday and I still have no plans. I don't care much for NYE, I find it overrated, crowded and a rip off. I would rather stay in with my loved one and go out for a nice dinner instead. Crowded clubs? No thanks! But to each his own, and I wish everyone the best in 2011!

Let it Snow for the Show!

Well I've come to my final post for the 2010 Christmas Dance at the Eaton Centre. If I could describe the performance in one word I would say it was magical!
Before the show, I had a few hours to kill so I roamed around the mall and checking out the scene. And as I predicted on Monday, the place was packed. Christmas shoppers scattered everywhere rushing to all the sales, promotions and giveaways going on. I must admit I was getting pretty nervous.
To relax a bit, I ate some dinner and sat on the bench going through the dance in my head. It was going to be a straight shooter...no practice run or anything, so I wanted to visualize everything in my mind beforehand.
About 20 minutes before showtime everyone met up to change and grab the flowers (I picked a nice purple one) and we headed down to our "stage" area. Once we got downstairs, a huge sea of shoppers were planted around the tree. I quickly panicked wondering how on earth we were going to dance through all of the people, but thankfully security helped clear the crowd our of our dance space. And then the tree lights lit up, the hall dimmed and we were on!

It was amazing to see the huge crowd wathching. I love having a big audience! Surprisingly, I get less nervous with a big crowd, this way I don't really notice individual eyeballs staring directly at me.

Once the music started, I felt good. We had done this dance so many times, I knew we were going to rock it! That's when I noticed snow falling from the ceiling! It was so beautiful and gave such an elegant and picturesque look to the whole dance. I couldn't help but smile. As we danced, I noticed the crowd watching intently and smiling with us. There were lots of people which kind of cramped our space a little bit, but we all managed to work around it, taking smaller steps here and there. Overall we danced through it gracefully. For some reason it felt like I had been dancing for 20 minutes instead of 5! I think I got a little anxious once I spoted my friends in the corner watching and taking pictures.

Once the performance was over, we got a great big round of applause as we did our bows and scurried off stage. The shoppers seemed really delighted and that's what made me the most happy. One man even thanked me which was really sweet. I love how dance can provoke all sorts of emotions and can captivate almost anyone.

And so folks, that is the end. This was yet another wonderful experience with the National Ballet School Adult Class. Hopefully there will be more to come in the spring time.
Happy Holidays!

Dress Rehearsal: Almost Show Time!

Why is it that on night's I go to dance, I have a tough time falling asleep!? I just got in from the group's dress rehearsal for Thursday night's performance and I am giddy with excitment! Everything ran pretty smooth this evening and we are pretty pumped to perform. It turns out there isn't as much scaffolding and pillars that we were anticipating, so there is more room for us to dance. Since we rehearsed after mall hours, the space was pretty open but I guarantee it will be filled with mad dashing Christmas shoppers on performance day. It will be a bit of a challenge dancing through the crowd, but as long as we stay in a close knit group we should be fine.

We did some last minute formation and spacing changes in order to keep us close together. At one point in the dance when we do our diagnol walks, I felt as though I was going to walk into a store, so I have to make sure to keep tight with the rest of the group.

As we were dancing, we had some audience members of people walking through the mall. It was nice to have them appreciate our dance. They even smiled and clapped which was nice. There were also people who walked right through our "stage" area which was a bit of a challenge, but we must be prepared for that to happen on Thursday. It willl be interesting to see how it all folds out. So far it looks great and we are all well rehearsed. The flowers that we get to hold throughout the dance gives the piece a splash of refreshing colour too!

Come check it out, this Thursday at 7pm at the Eaton Centre right in front of the Swarovski Christmas tree.

Rehearsal Day 2: Keeping it together!

Well there wasn't much more of a turn out today as we had expected for the 2nd rehearsal for the Waltz of the Flowers Christmas dance. I guess this time of year everyone is busy with holiday plans, so the original group of 60 dancers has shrunken to a sweet set of 16. Not that I mind as there are pros and cons to dancing in both larger groups and smaller groups. A plus for dancing in larger groups is that you blend in with the crowd more and no one can really notice if you make a mistake, but I guess this could be a con as well if you enjoy the spotlight. I also like the look of a big group dancing in sync, but seeing a smaller group sometimes looks more neat and compact. So it will be exciting to dance in a smaller sized group this time around. (No mistakes allowed!) :P

Today's rehearsal went by surprisingly fast, we picked up exactly where we left off on Wednesday and cleaned up some of the choreography. Now, working in a smaller group means we had to change some of the spacing and lines. We also practiced working in tight clusters to avoid the look of empty space. Throughout the piece there are 5 small groups of 2-4 people all while taking turns coming on and off the stage, breaking up the piece nicely and giving it a nice flow.

Of course we won't be able to figure out the actual dimensions of the area we will be dancing in until next Monday at our dress rehearsal, but we figure that we will have a lot time to draw out and sustain our movements with less people.

For those of you interested in coming to check it out, it will be happening on Thursday December 16th at 7pm at the Eaton Centre, right in front of the Swarovski Christmas tree. A diamond tree AND a ballet performance? What could be sweeter?! Hope to see you there!