27x28

Loving who you are in the moment.

heyitsbex · July 17, 2018 · Leave a Comment

I’ll be the first to admit, I have quite the rollercoaster of emotions on any given day. I can go through a week feeling amazing about life and then live the next week absolutely miserable.

It is a daily battle for me to choose happiness and choose to love the life I’m living right now. The most beautiful thing about it all is that I can always change the things that are not working.

I only know as much as I do at any given moment. I can always improve. I will always learn from my mistakes. At any given moment, I am the best possible version of who I could be at the time. At the end of the day, I can only be who I am.

I’m quirky and nerdy.

Kind and considerate.

Always late – for everything.

I can’t wake up worth a bean in the morning and I love to make lists, even if I never finish them all.

I care a lot about everything. Most likely to a fault.

And family will always and forever be the most important thing to me.

I’ve learned the best parts about me also create the most pain and struggle in my life, but I wouldn’t change it. This is who I am.

So I’ll be unapologetically me.

Taking a pottery class.

heyitsbex · July 15, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Pottery has been a craft medium I have been swooning over since Elise started making her own dishes. I talked about it so much my sister even put it on my 27 x 28 list.

Sarah and I were going to try and take a drop-in pottery class back when we were in Vancouver but we couldn’t make the dates work. I was also going to sign up for a class through the City of Edmonton, but those things sell out faster than you can sneeze basically. This item was proving to be quite the challenge to check off my 27 x 28 list.

Then I stumbled upon Viva Clayworks, a cute little studio just off Whyte Ave. They host a class every second Saturday of the month if you don’t want to commit to a six-week session. Since my dollars were limited, I opted for this route to try it out.

Conveniently enough, the second Saturday of July was the 14th, which was just before my birthday, so I was able to check this off my 27 x 28 list!

This beauty of a creation was going pretty well until the end, but now it reminds me of the sorting hat from Harry Potter! Or, it did, until my brother-in-law mentioned it looks like a toilet. Now I wish I had glazed it white.

We’ll be able to pick up the finished product in a few weeks.

Overall, throwing clay on the potter’s wheel (is that how you say it?) is quite challenging but incredibly fun. It’s so cool to see the clay come to life and work something with your hands. I kept forgetting that I only needed a single point of contact with the clay and the wheel would do the work. My dream to also create my own set of dishes is still alive and strong!

If you’re in the Edmonton area, I highly recommend checking out Viva Clayworks – they’re amazing!

Have you ever done pottery? Show me all your pretty things!

Rest and relaxation on the long weekend.

heyitsbex · July 1, 2018 · Leave a Comment

With my birthday just around the corner, I’m running out of time to complete my 27 x 28 list. I’m oh-so-close!

There was two items I could knock off at the same time, get a massage and get a facial. Believe it or not, in my entire 27 years of life, I have never had a professional massage or any sort of spa treatment aside from a good old fashion mani-pedi. So, I did what any reasonable person would do and called the spa looking for the next available appointment, completely ignoring the fact that appointment was on the Canada Day long weekend.

Truebalance recently relocated even closer to my house and the spa itself is beautiful. I even enjoyed the stereotypical cucumber water in the lounge area. I’ve learned I’m really not good at taking photos in public spaces, as evidenced by the photos below as they’re all I have to document this spa day.

My spa technician for my facial was a darling and quite chatty, which seemed to calm my nerves. Why I was nervous, who knows, but she was great. The facial was so relaxing and the way they wrap warm towels around the circumference of your face may be one of my new favourite things.

Next came the massage. I knew my back was full of knots and just a real mess. So unfortunately, my masseuse was working an uphill battle. Despite the bit of pain that came with the state of my back, the massage was so, so relaxing – definitely a must for anybody to experience at least once in their life!

Overall, I’m not sure I’ll get another facial again. It seems like a lot of money for not much reward in my opinion, though I enjoyed it thoroughly. The massage on the other hand, I walked out with another appointment booked!

Two more things checked off the list! What a way to enter my birthday month.

Have you ever been for a spa treatment? What would you recommend?

My first half marathon.

heyitsbex · June 20, 2018 · Leave a Comment

42.2 km. That’s a lot. The length of a marathon to be exact.

For whatever reason, a marathon has always held such high prestige in my brain. The people who can run a marathon are superhumans. And therefore, it’s always been an overall bucket list item of mine to run a whole marathon.

But, let’s not get too ambitious yet. You have to walk before you run so they say. Or in this case, run 21.1 km before you run the whole 42.2 km.

I knew I wanted to run the Banff Marathon, or well half of it at least. I had seen it about a year ago and had the costs not been so high to spontaneous trek out to Banff for a weekend, I would have ran the 10k. But nevertheless, with ‘Run a half marathon’ on my 27 x 28 list, I knew this year was the year. There’s just something about running the mountains that made the attempt even more bearable.

I roped my most amazing sister into running with me and, unfortunately for both of us, we suck at preparing and tend to leave things until the last minute. My saving grace was the fact I’ve been playing soccer twice a week for the last year.

Our goal was not to finish in a specific time, but rather, just to finish! With this in mind, we embarked on the challenge, taking photos every 5km, trying to take in the views and play the mental game of running a really long distance with very little training.

In the end, we finished in just over three hours and my sister still likes me! We even had enough energy left in us for a friendly competitive sprint at the end.

There’s something to be said about a sister who will literally follow you to the end of the earth all because your ambition sets crazy goals. At the end of the weekend, not only had I checked another thing off the list, I realized my sister is by far my biggest cheerleader and I had a newfound appreciation for the lengths she goes to to support me.

Thanks J! I love you more than words could ever say.

Have you ever run a marathon? What are some tips and tricks you’d pass along? If you haven’t, would you want to?

3 reasons to submit for professional awards.

heyitsbex · June 1, 2018 · Leave a Comment

I never really understood the importance of professional organizations. I was a part of one throughout college with a student membership and I don’t think I ever took advantage of any of the benefits it offered.

When I started my current job, my boss was big on being members of IABC, or the International Association of Business Communicators and so she got me a membership. IABC Edmonton offers a wide variety of lunch and learns, as well as a great mentorship program. Not to mention, there’s an amazing network of creative professionals to connect with.

Original *photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash*

IABC Edmonton also hosts an annual awards gala. If not for my boss, I wouldn’t have known professional awards were something to be desired. Last year, after much stress and anxiety over a submission that took me weeks to write, I took home my first award for our website redesign. So this year, ‘win an award’ definitely had to be on my 27 x 28 list.

This year, I submitted for three awards, so in spirit of my three submissions, here’s three reasons why I think submitting for awards is a good idea:

It encourages creativity and gives you something to strive for. Every project you begin to look at through the lens of “how can I make this award winning?”
It supports the planning process and allows for growth. We tend to rush through projects, but the submission process thoughtful objectives and measures as well as proof of whether or not your tactics were successful. Each submission also receives feedback from two judges, allowing us to take a look at where we can improve.
It allows for celebration and team bonding. We never celebrate the work we do enough. It’s nice to take a moment with your to take a step back to celebrate the work we do each year. The IABC Edmonton Awards Gala is one of two events my team aims to attend together each year.

I was fortunate enough to walk away with two awards this year. Thanks IABC Edmonton for hosting yet another amazing Awards Gala.

Are you a part of a professional organization? What’s your favourite part about it?