and i got a haircut awhile back...

in the real world...

i took my first fitness class at VRC.

cycle.

it was a bit of a strange experience because i walked in and it was a guy teaching. having been at just ladies fitness for this last year, i've only had female instructors. and when i walked in at 6pm, there was no one else there except this guy putting a cd into the stereo. i walk in and he says to me, "do you teach here?" and i say, "what?"

he asks, "do you teach here?" and i say, "no." pause...am i in the right place? i think. "umm...do YOU teach here?" of course he does. i tell him that i've never been here before and then ask, "am i the only person for this?" because there is still no one else in the room. and he says, "oh no, there will be some others."

i stand around awkwardly for about 45 seconds (which seems long in awkward time) because i'm not sure how to move the bike or where to put it and then as if on cue, 7 other people walk into the class. i was the keener kid who got there early. and i thought i was going to be late! imagine how many more awkward seconds there would have been f i really HAD been early. and there are only 2 other women. the others are buff men. what had i gotten myself into? was this going to be too hard for me? i watch everyone else walk up and get their bikes but i still can't figure out how to move mine. they had this one weird wheel on the bottom. the instructor finally showed me how. i can't explain it.

i got my bike into place and then stood beside it waiting for someone else to get on theirs. someone did so then i did too. the instructor came over and adjusted my handlebars and then showed me how to adjust the tension.

and then the workout began. pedal pedal pedal. sweat sweat sweat. pedal pedal pedal. self talk: good for you rebecca. you can do it. it's almost over...then i look at the clock. only TEN minutes had passed ! i still had 35 more minutes! needless to say, it was a crazy good workout. i now see why everyone else had towels.

and so begins my crazy workout-summer. so i hope.

america was wrong...

when they voted to keep cedric and shauna.

the judges were wrong to keep neil and lose jesus. i don't like neil and i like him less now that jesus is gone.

after jessie's first three dances with her partner that were amazing - i don't think she should be leaving for her dance for her life. it should have been lauren or sarah.

this was a terrible terrible results show.

flashback

i was cleaning out my email inbox and found these photos from a showshoeing day we had with kara and james last year. it also reminded me that we haven't hung out with them in FOREVER so this is a "i love you james and kara" post!

lost...?

why aren't you posting?

i don't have anything to say!

though...

i guess i could tell you that i signed up at VRC fitness club this week for a free membership. they don't have the tvs attached to the treadmills like JLF but they have more classes and a pool. i have to say that i was surprised at how small the pool is but...i guess i could still swim in it. come to VRC and go to classes with me.

i guess i could say that i only have 3 more days at school cleaning and prepping and then i'm free for summer. when making plans, i'm already feeling like the summer is slipping by. what a terrible feeling hey? i know, it's not...yet.

i guess i could say that i went on a wicked hike with alyssa, james and tim this past weekend. lynn peak in north van. it's not "moderate". but it made me feel strong when we were done. i was wishing i had photos to post with this info. maybe alyssa will post them. even though tim entered our marriage knowing that i did not like hiking, he's getting a surprise every hike we've done so far this summer (yes, already THREE) in that i'm actually liking it! look out backpacking -- this is going to be my first attempt this summer at Yoho National Park. good times.

i guess i could confess that i don't feel like posting about our camping trip anymore now that it's so long over so you'll have to wait until the next camping trip.

okay, i had a few things to say.

matt in africa

in case you didn't notice the NEW! in my sidebar -->, matt is in africa! PPAC team posts often and it's a great blog with great stories though not too many pics yet. for pics (AND good stories), check out jeff and shannon's blog too. it's very cool to see your little brother off doing big things. i'm glad he was able to go. thanks shannon for this pic!

smile...

man, today i was in michaels and there were these two girls at customer service who were so outright unfriendly and unhelpful. both of them were helping one woman sign up for a class (explaining that a "mosaic box" was a "stone box" and "i don't know how else to explain it!") and when the one girl turned around and made eye-contact with me, she didn't smile or say, "i'll be right with you". she just looked away. i'd been overcharged for something and had brought it back to have it refunded. when they DID finally help me, they were skeptical (which i can understand because people can be dumb with returns) but when it turned out that i HAD been overcharged, there was no apology...just an annoyed-ness about it all. never was a smile given. she refunded that WHOLE amount onto my debit and then i had to RE-purchase the item. 2 debit transactions? "it's the only way it can be done." by this time, it was macdonald stare & a "hunh." (you know what it sounds like)

am i the only one who writes comment emails to companies for poor customer service? i just feel strongly about smiling.

did i ever tell you the mcdonald's drive-through phone call to the manager. haha.

okay...maybe i'm too uptight.

one more thought...

tomorrow the plan for the day is to start with one of my famous auctions with the kids. man, there are some good things to buy. then we're going to have a suprise happy un-birthday party with cupcakes that i managed not to burn during the show tonight. THEN we're going to clean out the desks and pull everything off the walls. we're going to keep working on our "scrapbook project" which they're pumped about but it's really just a writing assignment. AND we have extra long p.e. tomorrow because i forgot my tennis unit and have tried to make up for it today and tomorrow.

i LOVE the last week of school!

2 more days.

it's that time again...

i apologize to those of you reading who do NOT watch SYTYCD but i just cannot help but post again after tonight's episode. it's what happens when you watch your favourite show ever all by yourself! haha.

WOW! i love this show. but no more love fest...let's get down to business.

thoughts:

kudos to the russians this season. i feel like last season, stanoslav didn't show a lot of personality which i chalked up to culture BUT...faina and pascha? they're really giving it a shot to show some spunk and fun. good job.

i was liking some of the new choreographers. this hip hop guy was a refreshing change from shane sparks. they all really brought it with their music choices this week. i felt a little like mia with the confusion on the paso doble music though...queen? it was definitley living on the edge.

predictions for bottom three:

> hok & jaimie: i thought hok was awesome tonight considering the guy's own dance style but man, that girl is bringing him down. she is so annoying. gotta go.

> faina & cedric: i know cedric is phenomenal but only at his own thing. (from what we've seen) i think faina has the potential to stay around a little longer.

> shauna & danny: after the "frumpy dress" comment from nigel last week, i thought she was looking hot tonight. and i didn't think she was holding back - she did some big moves. i don't think they should be in the bottom 3 but someone's gotta be there, right?

unexpected feelings:

(1) my instant new love for dominic. wow, he didn't hold back. contemporary looks so difficult with all flowy but fast, hard movements. he was awesome and so was sabre. i can't wait for their next dance. (2) my apathy towards lacey and cameron's dance. yeah, good. not phenomenal. maybe it was the style. (3) my disdain for mia michaels' outfit. did she know she was going to be on camera tonight? pull your sweater up. don't wear spaghetti straps. i do love her hair though.

confession: i tape the shows so i can watch them again.

this is not the post you're waiting for...

well, i forgot that tonight is our grade 7's graduation and i'm not going home to get batteries or upload photos. but it did get me reminicsing about my own grade 7 grad.

i vividly remember that the most difficult thing about grad was finding an outfit that both my mom and i agreed on. we shopped forever looking for something and i finally picked out this fantastic blue and white plaid skirt, a white t-shirt and a fabulous navy vest. oh the early nineties. and i was pretty happy with my outfit once i got to the graduation too. haha.

the best thing about grad was that all the grades 5 -6s planned a skit about the grade 7's in the future. they'd act out what we would all be doing in 20 years. i was portrayed as a teacher.

it's funny to think about being that old because now i look at these kids like they're SO young but at the time, everything was a big deal. it's good to remember sometimes.

post coming tomorrow...

when i get batteries in my camera to upload photos...but don't get excited. they're photos of our rainy campsite this weekend in manning park! :)

oh you'll be so proud of me when you hear the stories...

if you weren't watching So You Think You Can Dance...

then WHAT were you doing tonight between 8 and 10pm? if you didn't watch -- this post isn't for you. if you did watch....what did you think? here are my thoughts...

WHAT a SHOW! wow! i'm so so so excited to have SYTYCD back and finally see someone new! i'm only on the fourth time through last season on muschmusic and i'm finally getting a little tired of it. haha. i thought "how could any season be great without benji and heidi?" and then i watched tonight's show.

favourites? lacey and her partner AND i was suprised to really like anya and danny. i didn't like their rehearsal video but they really brought it in their dancing. i loved hok before he even got to the top 20 but thought his partner was annoying. and the last two to dance...jimmy and his partner...they had a great rehearsal video, fun personalities, but i didn't like their dance that much.

it must suck to have your choereographer pick bad music (poor ricky and partner - yeah it was terrible dancing but also terrible terrible music selection) or your wardrobe girl pick you a bad dress (the last girl who danced) and then get judged on that. and it's SO smart when choereographer picks super trendy music to go with a not as trendy dance style like anya and danny's "girlfriend" jive. the two didn't even look right together but you just got the vote of about 2000 12 year olds who don't get the concept of SYTYCD. haha.

man, i'm excited for this season. is that too much information and emotion for a reality tv show?

rainy days

today we had swimming lessons at the local outdoor pool. there's not even an overhang to sit under and it poured and poured. i pulled my chair into the doorway of the changeroom to do my marking. then when the kids were coming in, a kindergartener couldn't get the shower on so i pressed the button for her and soaked my head, sweatshirt, shorts (yes, i was wearing shorts), and shoes. it was like i'd gone swimming. then we got everyone on the bus and i got back to the school in time for recess supervision...which of course was an indoor day...equalling chaos in the gym for 15 min. we had planned to have a bike rodeo outside this afternoon but it had to be cancelled. the kids were very disappointed. it's still raining...looks like indoors for lunch too. sigh. as much of a BC girl that i am who enjoys the rain - it just doesn't work that great at school.

giggle fits...

this morning in prayer time, we go around the room and the kids can pray or say pass. it can take quite awhile on days that everyone would like to pray...which is great. but there was this boy today could not contain his laughter. he sits front and center of the class, no one next to him, no one in front of him. so he really was laughing to himself. he'd burst out with a "phhhh..." and then pull it together and look at me. i was attempting to give him "the look" but it didn't seem to help him pull it together. then he'd close his eyes and 30 seconds later, another "phhh!" then look at me. this probably happened 5 times. finally we were done praying and i sent them all out to get ready for swimming and i say to this kid, "what was that? why were you laughing?" he starts laughing and says, "there was just something funny that happened yesterday and i couldn't stop thinking about it and it was making me laugh."

i had to laugh.

by liz prince

how did liz prince know the line in the first box that i say all the time? and how did she know what tim always says back to me? her comics are an uncanny resemblance to my life.

i love it!

yes...this was math today.

fractions...

a birth story

matt at last year's bday...umm...it looked exactly the same as this year...

may 31st marked 22 years for little matthew macdonald. we celebrated yesterday as the 31st just didn't work out. we were happy to all be together hanging out with matt last night. now katie's family has a tradition of when it's your birthday, you hear your birth story. the story of the day you were born...you know, like, "your dad fainted" and "there were no available rooms so i had you in the storage closet of the hospital"...those sorts of things. so now that matt has been enveloped into the neale family and is used to this tradition, he forced it on us last night and we all had to hear his birth story. but at 22 years, we had never heard it before! so it was actually quite funny to hear.

no...you're not going to hear the birth story here. haha.

but what you ARE going to hear is how great i think my brother is. i think he's great. i remember being 13 or so and being annoyed with matt and then thinking to myself, "despite him being annoying now...he'll be pretty fun when we're older." and what insight that was -- you are pretty fun now matt! we love it when you attend pizza night and hang out with us! let's plan another camping trip for this summer! happy 22nd birthday!

Geocaching on Saturday

so my parents had planned to go geocaching in chilliwack (20 minutes past Abbotsford) during the day then stop by our house in the evening, make the MacDonald pizza, and then go home. when i told tim this, he said, "why don't we go with them geocaching?" so we did.

reading the GPS (oh wait...that's her camera...ok...usually she's reading the GPS)

they needed a 4-wheel drive vehicle for this particular cache so tim was all over it. 4 wheeling with his mother in law. haha. good times on the mountain. after much bumping around in the back of the 4Runner, we did find the cache so it was a great trip.

caching always takes you to cool places...

fish and chips in WR on a tuesday night