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

Contstant change

Hey guys,

So for those of you who know me, you know that the only thing that is ever truly constant about me is change. I love to try new things and I want to experience the world. In the last 6 months here are some of the different looks I've had:

So as you can see I'm a real life shape shifter... or at least hair shifter lol.What are some of your favorite hair styles and looks?

Love

Maureen

Diet update

Hey everyone!

So I'm back on my original Four Hour Body diet with some slight modifications. For example, one of the rules of the diet is no fruit except on my dieters gone wild day once a week. Well I've modified that to having one serving of fruit a day. Also, I do have dairy in my coffee every day as well. So far I've been back on it for about 2 weeks and I haven't lost any weight!!!! WTF(What the Fat) is up with that??!! Well I'm staying optimistic and I will keep on going for at least a few months an then see where I am.

Love

Maureen

New Years Resolutions!

Hey everyone!

Ok firstly... Happy New Year!!!!! It's already 2012! Can you believe it? I always feel like every year seems to go by faster than the last.. I know I have not blogged in a long time but I guess that's just because I was extremely busy the last few months so I hope you all are doing well and are healthy. As for my health... well let's just say the Holidays agree with my lips but not really my hips lol Too much sweets and good food. However, with the start of the New Year comes another opportunity for redemption and a fresh start. I'm going to go back on my diet with a few slight amendments but in full force nonetheless. I honestly think the secret to successfully eating healthier is filling up on liquids. It makes you less hungry and gives the illusion that you are full, so here we go again and hopefully this time it will stick.

Thinking about New Years usually gives people hope. Many of us create new years resolutions for ourselves. It may be to lose weight, make more money, find true love, find yourself or become enlightened and knowledgeable. Whatever it is, I think there is one important thing to consider when coming up with your new years resolution:

1. Is this resolution for yourself or for someone else?

For this reason I think it's a good idea to create 2 New Years resolutions. One that is to benefit you and the other to benefit others. For example my 2 New Years resolutions are 1. To lose 20lbs and 2. To encourage one person a day... anyone but ideally a stranger or someone I'm not close to.

Think about what would be suitable resolutions for you and start to put practical measures in place to achieve them. You can do it! Surround yourself with encouragement and positive energy and people and you will be happy.

Well that's all for now folks.

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Love

Maureen