8 weeks to a better me: Week Two (from Sometimes Sweet)

Okay, it is week 2 in the 8 week quest of self reflection and setting new goals, and this week's focus is fitness/working out. You can read the guest post here on Danielle's blog from Amber, someone who is quite motivated and dedicated to her own health!

I have already signed up for Derby Fit which starts this weekend. I have already started skating again but I figured it would be nice to start doing some drills in a group setting. I am not sure how advanced this exercise group will get, but regardless, being new to the area, I thought it would be a nice way to meet people. It is sort of hard to meet anyone just exercising by yourself, adding a social element to it is nice! Derby Fit starts this Saturday for me so this is a great time for me personally to focus on 3 fitness goals.

Goal 1: So the other day when I got out of my car, I dropped my bag and out of it tumbled my glass water bottle which shattered to a million pieces on the ground. I need to get myself a new water bottle and commit to drinking at least 6, preferably 8 glasses of water throughout the day. I am SO bad with the water rule, and having a pretty bottle of water near me is a huge help!

Goal 2: I already lift weights and stretch every day, but I am a bit of a slacker when it comes to getting my heart rate up and core exercises. This week I pledge to do core exercises Monday, Wednesday and Friday and to run or skate Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Goal 3: I have been a bad mommy lately, and end up hitting snooze too often and then rushing my pup on his morning walk. We used to go into the park and saunter around and now I bust around the block quickly and speed off to work. This week I pledge to Get 7 hours of sleep and wake up early enough for a longer walk with Malomar...in the park!

If you would also like to participate in 8 weeks to a better me, head over here!

xo!

Sunday's Song

Seriously, Four Minute Mile is such a good album...yeah, I said it!

I remember being so in love with The Get Up Kids when I was in High School and I would take my "long" drives to Lebanon from Lancaster blasting this album. My friends and I traveled all up and down the upper eastern states to see The Get Up Kids, screaming along to their music with our super cuffed jeans, short black hair, hoodies on and huge water bottle in tow. Also, during this time I was listening to a lot of powerviolence, grindcore and screamo and all of that crap...and went through a small bout of never wearing shoes...no big deal, totally normal stuff.

Every time I hear these songs I think of those trips. One particular trip that comes to mind is this time I went to go jumping on rocks with my buddy Wibbs. We rode in his VW beetle into a wooded area and we would jump from rock to rock in a stream. We would literally say, let's go jump on rocks. That was a normal hang out at that time. Of course, being super clumsy, one day we were jumping rock to rock and I fell into the stream. I remember listening to this album with my hand out of the window, holding my pants, with about 12 hoodies wrapped around my waist as to conceal my probably totally lame skivvies.

Ahh memories.


I also put in Michelle with one L...for my Ma Dukes. Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there!

The Get Up Kids - Michelle with one ''L'' by thrsh
xoh!

Thankful Thursday V.9

If you haven't read the book, Last Child in the Woods I seriously recommend that you pick it up. I am currently nose deep in Louv's writing and while I already agree with a lot of what he is saying, it is helpful to really sit back and think about the reality of my student's day in relation to nature. This book is about the current prevailing lack of direct exposure to nature. Louv argues that being in nature often is essential for healthy childhood development, not to mention the health of adults.

As someone with Seasonal Affective Disorder (and boy do I have it bad), I see a definite connection between being in the natural world and my wellness. Last year, when I was working in Rhode Island in a school set in the suburbs it was very easy for me to take my students outside and work out there. I student taught in both North Kingstown and Portsmouth, suburban schools with a wealth of green surrounding their campus. My cooperating teacher at Portsmouth even designed and implemented a Plein Air Studio outside of her classroom! I was so lucky to teach out in this area, and soak in the sun with my student's as they fervently drew/collaged and painted, took photographs of their work, drew from a live model and closely observed and illustrated flowers that they hand planted the year prior.

This week we had a chance to take various students outside and walk down the Central Park and soak in the sun, be in nature, and most importantly: PLAY! This outside time did wonders for the student's wellbeing, attitudes and health. As part of Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, the first wife has been spreading the word about how important activity and movement is in the health of our nation's children.

I am thankful that my school realizes how important Dance, Recess, Sports and trips out of the building are to our students, especially in the concrete jungle of NYC! (And yes of course I am thankful that my school realizes how important Art is as well, but let's stay focused!)

And look how happy being outside made my fellow teachers!

One of my fondest memories of Elementary school was making sit-a-pons and then bringing them outside to a little cove for a read aloud. I liked trudging out of the classroom, sit-a-pon in tiny hand, and believing I was in a secret forest or fort with the rest of my classmates while our teacher read to us.

If I could teach in an outdoor classroom for even part of the year, I would jump at that opportunity in a heartbeat. Perhaps I should start writing up a grant. An outdoor classroom in the city...hmmm. MAYBE!

Does anyone else feel this way?

the little things (pet spotlight)

Having animals in my life is such a wonderful thing. For those of you who have pets, I am sure it's no surprise that I would say my animals truly have a special place in my heart. I love them so much and I can't imagine my morning without hearing Ganoushie's little meow asking for food, Claudia running up and jumping onto the sink to get water, and Malomar's ears perking up because he knows we are going outside as soon as I get dressed!

When I was looking back at the timestamps on my old twitpics, I realized that I have had Malomar for a while now! We have lived in 3 different apartments now. (4 places for Malomar if you count his vacation in Lancaster with my mom). We have gone on multiple trips up and down the east coast from New Hampshire to Maryland and everything in between. We have gone on long hikes, he has been forced to go swimming (HATES IT) been through broken bones, have been to many beaches, and have even gone on a kayak and a canoe! (Malomar actually really enjoys this).

Then I thought about Ganoushie. He has lived with me now for many years. I found him in Taunton Massachusetts at the Silver City Skate Rink when I was there for Roller Derby practice. He was outside hanging out with some other gangsta cats and was pretty skinny. He had a cut on his nose, and let me pick him up without too much resistance. He looked hungry so I fed him vegan banana bread...and I told him that if he was there when I came out of practice I would take him home.

The whole time I was inside skating I was thinking about him. Let's be honest, if he wasn't there I would have probably gone looking for him...but what do you know...Ganoushie was lounging out on a car hood when I came out of practice hours later!

After begging Dolly to let me take Ganoushie home...the rest is history. He was a terror when I first got him, and even still he is a *star* patient at the vet (read as: they are prepared with extra people for when he comes in, full protection with gloves up to their elbows and my poor baby gets a shot to make him asleep EVERY time he goes to the vet...for anything!

Yeah he is pretty badass.

I love him so much!

Do you have any pets?

Art Happenings: NYC Thursday May 5, 2011

I was SO excited to get this email and I wanted to share it with all of you, especially those of you in the NYC area!
~~~
Hello!

We are excited to reach the final stage of our project called Looking for a Home, which is a lounge area created solely with furniture found in garbage on the streets of New York collected over a period of one month.
Please join us for the Reception and Artists' talk which will include also other projects of the EXPRESS +LOCAL: NYC Aesthetic

This Thursday, May 5 from 5 – 8pm at the Queens College Art Center, CUNY

Looking forward to see you !

Kristyna and Marek Milde

www.mildeart.com

Address:
Queens College Art Center
Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Level Six
Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367-1597

Our installation is on the 3rd floor (ground floor), right behind the main entrance and the gallery is on the 6th Floor

CLICK HERE for DIRECTIONS

LOOKING FOR A HOME

Kristyna and Marek Milde

Looking for a Home is an installation concerning the themes of consumerism and the culture of disposal. The public space is populated with furniture and domestic objects dumped on the streets of the New York metropolitan area, which the artists found during their one month residency. The objects are cleaned, repaired and categorized; the progress is monitored and documented. The resulting piece is fully equipped living environment, which the public is encouraged to use as a private working area.

The objects, which assumingly have been replaced by new commodities, are, in Looking for a Home, kept relevant by the artists’ discovery. This site-specific environment reflects the state of abundance and rejection and recalls environmental awareness in the realm of domesticity. While the sale of anonymously mass-produced household objects is encouraged by the supportive framework of fictional stories around the objects and designers, Looking for a Home focuses on the stories of the objects’ lives and their use, adding an enriching personal layer of a real story connected to specific people and their environment.

Part of the EXPRESS +LOCAL: NYC Aesthetic

By bringing New York-area artists to the Queens College Art Center in Flushing for a month long residency, EXPRESS+LOCAL: NYC AESTHETICS explores the possible effect of locale on their works. Artists (Ellis Avery, Becky Franco, Carl Gambrell, Naomi Grossman, Erin Hanke, Rob Kimmel, Howard Lerner, Kristyna Milde + Marek Milde, Tommy Mintz, April Nett, Antonia Perez, Anne Sherwood Pundyk, Derek Vadala + Jon Wohl) from diverse disciplines and divided into three groups, will share gallery space for one month at a time (Jan. 28-Feb. 28; March 1-31; and April 1-29). The public will have the opportunity to view the works-in-progress and talk with all the participants during an Open Studio one night each month and at varied times during their residency. A free culminating exhibition (May 5-June 30) will showcase pieces created during their time in Queens and feature artists’ talks with the curator, Tara Mathison.

Depending on their chosen residency, the visual artists, writers, musicians, and curators will work separately or together within the gallery space to respond to the idea of place. EXPRESS+LOCAL aims to offer insight into the varied studio practices documenting their creative response to New York and specifically, the borough of Queens. While some of the artists are very familiar with Queens and Queens College, others have had no direct experience before the residency; EXPRESS+LOCAL may lead each artist to forge a new sense of place.
~~~
If you aren't in the area or cannot attend, you should still check out their website here! You will be glad you did!

Providence Flashback via Twitter (SUPER Image Heavy)

Oh man. One reason that I kind of love the internet, is the fact that you can go back and look at so many photos stored from over the years in this great accessible digital archive.

A camera is an unreasonable place to store photos...especially if you take as many photographs as I do. We all know that computers crash, and even external hard drives can be grumpy sometimes. Let's see, your phone...well, if you are someone like me...who knows when you will drop that piece in the toilet or something and POOF all photos taken on it are gone! That is why I like uploading things to the internet, where they are safe and sound, and I can look back on them!

Here is a collection of phone photos from Providence, starting with the first photo I ever tweeted and ending in my car on the way to NYC. Don't worry, I spared you a few million.

It is nice to look back at old chapters this way, with beautiful memories and snapshots of daily life.

And now to continue on my new chapter of life here in NYC...

Do you have any old photos on twitpic that you love?