top5s online

Interstellar Rodeo is quickly becoming my favourite summer music festival! Proper chairs, shade, protection from rain, food trucks, short lineups, no early mornings or late nights and la creme de la creme: indoor bathrooms with proper plumbing! Oh yeah, and a pretty good line up of music as well! Here's my Top 3 from this year's festival: 1. The Strumbellas I thought I liked this band, but the remind me of Mumford & Sons and Mumford & Sons remind me of an ex, heartbreak, and sadness...so I avoided listening to The Strumbellas. But they were good live, very good, and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. One of my music crew bought me their new CD, saying that "We are making new memories this weekend. Now when you listen to them you'll remember us and the fun we had." Touche. Now Strumbellas CDs are on repeat in my car.  2. The Lone Bellow Never heard of this band, but they put on a high energy performance that we all got into. More memories made! 3. Wagons I rem...

July book club genre was short story, on the premise that it's summer and short stories are shorter and easier and more fun to read (?). I'm not a short story fan for the same reason I don't like watching movies - I'd rather get into a novel or a TV show and really get to know the characters, setting and story progression. Short stories, and movies, always leave me...dissatisfied. July 2014: Short Stories Anything Boys Can Do By Angie Abdou 2006 183 pages I picked this up after a recommendation on Facebook, and since I'd read The Bone Cage by Abdou and liked it, I thought this collection of short stories would be ok. The premise sounded good: it was meant to be a collection of likeable women dealing with life and romance in a man's world. In actuality, almost every story is about a woman who has an affair that does/does not ruin her marriage. Oh and the last story is about amateur wrestling. Blah. Read something else.

No idea how I happened upon this book, but as I'm currently trying to "get healthier", it seemed like a timely read! The Cure for Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness, and Happiness By Timothy Caulfield 2013 234 pages Timothy Caulfield is a health junkie (and academic), who like all of us I'm sure, is tired of all the commercial and media bullshi*t surrounding fitness, diet, and health fads. His book covers four areas of healthy living: fitness, diet, genetics and alternative medicine. In each chapter, Caulfield tests out a claim and researches the facts behind what "works" and what doesn't. I thoroughly enjoyed the chapters on exercise and dieting. Fitness wise I learned the best ways to exercise are intensity or interval training and resistance training. Targeting specific areas doesn't work. And, exercise isn't the best weight loss method (that would be diet) but does help you get fitter and healthier, and being fit an...

Recently, I bought a new house! It's fantastic and I love it! I also love living where I live - the neighbourhood is safe, close to all amenities and is lined with big old elm trees! I specifically bought a house in an area that offers me non-driving commuting options. Driving in rush hour makes me angry, and parking/gas costs are ridiculous these days. I purposely bought a house a 2 minute walk away from a bus stop that will get me to work in a reasonable amount of time on a direct bus without a transfer. But the best part about the location of my new house is that it makes it super easy for me to bike to work! It's a safe, flat, 12km round trip on quiet residential streets and I love it. Riding my bike to work has helped improve my health and fitness, saved me money, and gets me there and back without making me angry! I love it so much that I'm seriously considering becoming a year round bike commuter, which is a daunting task given our Alberta winter's but I think it...