Inspiration!!!

I don't know if it's the reemergence of the sun or all the fantasy filled films, tv shows, music videos and books but I can't help but feel moved and inspired by the world around me. I'm so lucky to have mostly positive influences in my life and above all else a God who loves me despite all my shortcomings. At times we all have those days when we feel inadequate and unworthy but thankfully God reminds us with the little things that every single one of us is special and worthy.

I've always been a philosophical person but lately I feel like I've been receiving so many new inspiring messages. The most recent revelation has been that we all share something in common when it comes to our purpose on earth and that something is: that we are all here for one another. No one has been put on earth to merely be a success for themselves but instead the true purpose is to be a blessing in each others lives. You never know who you might touch or influence so always try to behave as if someone who looks up to you is watching.

I am so very grateful for the people around me, they have been my greatest blessing. I know I say it a lot but that's just because I feel so strongly about it. I'm so thankful for my spiritual family in Christ who encourages and cares for me without needing anything in return. I'm so thankful for my friends from all areas of life, I cherish them all for different reasons, my girls who make me laugh and remind me what a real woman is, my cousins who make me feel loved, my boys who make me feel comfortable and the deep and meaningful discussions they all bring (as well as the silly jokes). I learn so much from you all and I love learning. Even the dance teachers at Joy of Dance, you guys are so inspirational to me, your passion and positive attitude truly reveal your beautiful spirits and I look up to that. My co-workers, I'm so lucky to be working with such a great group of human beings, especially the ladies who have been so supportive and so positive and such strong role models for me. I love you all. Of course, I've said it a million times, my family has been such a strong foundation for me and my life. No words can describe what they mean to me.

The sun is finally coming out... after the spring showers we're gonna see lots of beautiful summer flowers. I love nature and wish I could spend more time out in it. I wish I could travel more and see the rich beautiful jungles, mountains, grasslands, deserts, temples, waterfalls, castles, gardens, churches, museums, historic sites, oceans, islands, coves etc.. I could go on and on. The world is so adventurous and so beautiful and so very complex. Think about it, right at this moment, while you are reading this, someone is getting married in African or Asia or South America and at the exact same time, someone is going to work on a gondola in Venice and at the same time someone is giving birth and someone else is sleeping under the stars and someone else is working at the hospital and someone else is picking through the garbage and someone else is looking out over their farmland and someone else is working in a crowded factory. We are so narrow minded sometimes to think that our situation is the only important thing that's going on right now... when we stop to think of the magnitude of our planet and the people on it, our issues seem silly. Embrace the small beautiful things around you and you will be so much happier, don't let your happiness rest on materialistic gain because then you will never be satisfied. Just know that you are loved simply because you're here!

Tata for now...

Maureen

Movies and music

Hey Internet family and friends!

I am pretty excited about the movies coming out in the next few months. So many great flicks from The Hunger Games (which I already saw and I thought was very well adapted) to Snow White and the Huntsman to Dark Shadows to Think Like a Man... I love watching a good movie. For me movies that really captivate me are those that have emotional as well as intellectual depth... if you are able to throw in some comedy as well then that is a winner in my book! Some recent movies that I've seen that are worth mentioning are:

- Africa United about kids from Rwanda who journey to South Africa to attend the world cup. It was very heart warming and funny. It was creative and cleverly put together, I definitely recommend it.

- Another movie that I re-watched recently was the illusionist which has a great ending. I'm not going to divulge anything about it because I don't want to ruin it for anyone interested in it. It stars Edward Norton and Jessica Biel. It's a mysterious, romantic film with Gothic themes of love and death and the hereafter.

Movies that I've seen recently that I would NOT recommend watching are:
- Mirror Mirror, I love Julia Roberts but the movie wasn't funny... it was kind of boring actually and there was this random Bollywood dance during the credits at the end lol Sadly, that was probably the most entertaining part of the whole movie.

I've also been listening to some new albums in the last few weeks. Notably that of Rihanna - Talk that Talk which is pretty good but I must say, not as good as Nicki Minaj's new album - Pink Friday. Usually I'm hesitant about giving the artist credit about the melody or beat because I know usually they have no say in that but I like Nicki's flow and how she puts her songs together, I just wish her content and language would improve. I can't help but feel bad listening to it.
I used to love Damien Marley, in particular his Welcome to Jamrock album, he also had a unique way of putting together his songs and lyrics which I really appreciated but he hasn't released anything new in ages (I'm not counting the colabo album he did with Nas because I felt it lacked the Caribbean vibe his other songs possessed)

New and renew

Hey y'all so again it's been a while since my last post but I just felt inspired to write something since I haven't for so long. A few things that have been on my mind and in my heart lately are as follows:

1. How do you know if you're on the right path? I know what I love doing (performance) but I can't dedicate as much time as I'd like to getting better because I have to work so hard to do what I should be doing (psychology) which I also enjoy but not as much as performance. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and change a lot of the choices I made growing up, in terms of my education and hobbies. I would've spent a lot more time on improving my dance technique and ability as well as my acting and vocal skills. These are things that require work as well and I really wish I had worked on them more. It's never too late to do it but it's a lot harder now.

2. I love making friends and I feel connected to people really easily but how do you avoid getting hurt? I have had bad experiences feeling close to people in the past only to find they don't feel the same way. Unfortunately I have been given a heart that feels too much. It sounds really lame I know. Even typing it, I want to erase that sentence but it's the truth. I get so happy and joyous making great friends only to feel rejected by them in the end. I have developed a complexity that makes me feel inadequate and unworthy of real friendship as a result. I often ask myself "Why doesn't so and so want to hang out with me? Why don't they confide in me? What have I done to upset or turn this person away?" Don't get me wrong I absolutely love all my friends and family and am so utterly grateful for each one and thank God for them in my life, but because I care for them so much and put them on a pedestal, all the more reason it's hard when I feel rejected by them. In the end I try and tell myself not to take it personally and that I'll make new friends as my journey through life continues.

3. Self esteem: How important is it to have it? Does anyone truly have it? What does it mean and what does it look like? Does self-esteem mean you have no insecurities? Do the people who say the "cockiest" things really have self esteem or are they just covering up their own insecurities? What are you allowed to do to get it? How much of your physical self do you think it's OK to alter until you feel more confident? We change our size, our hair, our eye colour, our clothes etc.. why can't we change our noses and thighs while we're at it? I have to live with what I see in the mirror every day, shouldn't I be worried about making me happy and not you who only has to look at me every once in a while? It's not like I can afford to change anything lol but if I could I would and I hope no one would judge me.

Speaking of change here's a recent pic of my new haircut.

 

Well I apologize for the heavy topics today guys but I've had all these issues and more on my mind and in my heart recently and this is just a way for me to get things off my chest. Hope there's no judgement and thanks for reading and visiting my blog. Sign up if you want to follow me and get regular updates. 

Much love to everyone out there

Maureen

Dancing with the stars

When life gets too stressful, you tend to want to curl up in a ball and just do nothing. You become tired, restless and demotivated. It's especially easy to just binge on junk in front of the TV when the weather is so dreadful outside. I'm only 27 years old but my body already feels aged. My joints and muscles often ache from misuse and my hands ache probably from carpel tunnel. It's easy to complain and convince yourself to just sit in bed but all you need is just that one time to do some activity and the cycle is almost always immediately broken. I often forget how wonderful dance is. I forget what it does to my body and soul. It makes me euphoric and not only brightens me up while I'm dancing but the entire week later I still am able to feed off that good feeling. It brings people together and allows a positive outlet for frustration. For me, it's probably one of my favorite stress relievers and funny enough I'm talking about fast dance. I've tried yoga and Pilates and they were so boring. For me to feel good I need to sweat and feel pain. I know it sounds crazy but without it I have nothing to feel proud about. Even if I struggle at least at the end I can tell myself "Yes! I did it! I got through it and it can only get easier from now on!" I love a challenge, I love trying new things and I love to learn. Those are 3 very honest truths about me. Even if I fail at least I can say I had the experience of something new and I learned something from it.
I love all forms of dance but there are some that I am better at than others. The types of dance I prefer to do are:

 

Dancehall (reggae)

 

Hip Hop (but I can't break dance unfortunately, that's too athletic for me)

 

Latin dance (I've tried salsa, samba and tango and I love all 3)

 

African Dance

The dance that I like to do but prefer to watch because I suck so much at, would be:

 

Ballet

 

Contemporary (Modern)

 

I like belly dance as well but it's so limited in terms of what you can choreograph that I tend to stay away from it. I like fusions of dance as well. Check out Saba, she's a Toronto dancer and dance instructor who teaches belly dance fusion classes. Her style of dance is pretty interesting and unique: 

If you're interested in taking classes, I can tell you that I've taken a few classes at a few different locations and I really like the classes that the members of AIM (Artists in Motion) teach at The Joy of Dance Studio. They are great instructors and their choreo is always so full of life. If you are interested in taking classes with them you can sign up at Joy of Dance Here: Click Here for Adult Jump In Classes.If you want to learn more about workshops and other AIM related activities they also have a facebook page here: Click Here for AIM's Facebook Page

I can't help but thank God for the gift of dance and allowing me the opportunity to have it and use it. I know I will dance my whole life and beyond until one day I'll be in Heaven dancing with the stars :)

Love y'all

Maureen

Nostalgia...

I tend to be very nostalgic a lot of times. Remembering bits and pieces of things that used to sooth or entertain me as a child. Here are some of my favorite things when I was little:

Many many nights, my sister and I would fall asleep to Dumbo after having cookies and milk... something about that movie was so comforting and in combination with the yummy fudge cookies it was such a treat

 The Last Unicorn was a gift given to me by one of my relatives (can't remember who) but I loved that movie, I still remember the song it was really pretty.

 

 Alvin and the Chipmunks were one of my favorite cartoons of all times

 Blossom was always such a fun show.. I'll never forget the episode where she acts like Madonna

 I had this and a few other barbies growing up, I remember the sweet smelling solid perfume this barbie came with and how I used to design and sew little clothes for all my barbies

 I grew up in a french school in downtown Toronto and the school was very small but one thing I remember is the J'aime Lire collection we had in our humble library. I loved reading those books because the illustrations were so vivid and the stories were so cute.

This show used to come on right before the Mickey Mouse Club on the Disney Channel and I used to love watching it, all the skits and music were awesome!

When I was very little I used to love Jem because she was just like a cartoon Barbie! The show went off the air though when I was very young so I didn't watch too many episodes.

This video of Madonna's song Who's That Girl always reminds me of the 80s because of the clothing. I loved Madonna's music growing up.

The elephant show was another of my favorites as a kid! I'm lucky to have grown up in Canada where we had awesome kids shows. That mixed education and entertainment.

Another Canadian classic kids show was Today's Special... About a store mannequin who came alive after night when you said "hocus pocus alimagocus"

 

There are lots of other things that make me nostalgic about my childhood like Camp Caribou, Boy Meets World, Snakes and Ladders etc...

What kind of stuff do you miss?

Love

Maureen

Mosaic Nails!!

Hey everyone!!!

I saw this nail tutorial on YouTube on mosaic nails I liked the finished product so much when I tried it on myself that I thought I'd do my own video tutorial on how to make stained glass mosaic nails. Here is the technique with a few colour varieties:

If you use bright contrasting colours it can have a more "pop art" look

I like to use 3-4 colours that are "similar" in shade and 1 or 2 contrasting colours that pop

Here's the tutorial video for the last picture... I know it's kind of shown quickly but hopefully you guys get the idea:

Watch it here on YouTube

Thanks guys!

Lots of Love

Maureen

How to style naturally curly hair.

Hey guys,

So there's not as much out there about styling curly hair and which products work. I recently got a special request to do a video about how to style curly hair. So here it is y'all enjoy!

Love

Maureen