Off The Chalkboard

I’m not a great shopper.  I do love to find the perfect pair of pants that fit me like they were tailored.  I love to buy local arts and crafts.  Ideally, I would surround myself with items that I both loved and needed.  But I’m not a great shopper. Generally, I hate crowds.  I really dislike spending my money and I have a hard time buying day to day items.   I avoid Target on a Saturday afternoon, even in March.  One hour, maybe two of shopping is plenty. So the whole Black Friday phenomenon, to me, is extremely weird.  I…

This week’s item never actually made it onto the chalkboard, but I think it might.  Jim and I were given tickets to a Marquette Golden Eagles (still the Warriors, in the hearts of most) basketball game.  They played the University of Wisconsin Badgers. Now I’m not much of a sports fan.  In the paradox of the education system (I think on both sides of the border) I coached basketball, the junior team.   Having no knowledge or skill, I read the rules, did some drills, took the team to a tournament, yelled “more defense” and lost terribly.  So with that as…

This week’s blog post is a little different. Rather than being about a specific chalkboard activity, this post is a little broader and wider. It is more encompassing and reflective. It is about me, who I am, who I am becoming and what I am trying to create. If you have been following my blog, you will know that I have recently moved to Milwaukee to share my life with Jim. Jim and I have been exploring the city. Together we attend events and participate in activities that interest us, expand us and bring joy into our lives. In between…

This month’s major chalkboard item was a purification program. Otherwise known as a 21-day detox diet…. What were we thinking? Jim and I have both done this before, and the three weeks prior to Thanksgiving, (American Thanksgiving) seemed like the perfect time to do it again. We went to Bernie Rosen (Rosen Wellness LLC) for the stuff. We both know Bernie through our yoga teacher training programs. Among other things, Bernie lectures on healthy eating and holds a PhD in holistic nutrition. He has really made me rethink the way I eat. I’m a real bread, granola and low fat…

“Listen far beyond hearing, and call the unheard” – Lao Tzu Kirtan is a call and response chant. It is part of Bhakti (the devotional path) of yoga. It is thought to be one of the oldest sacred music traditions in the world. It’s kind of like meditating without the hard work of actually stilling your mind. You are given a mantra (chant) to call back and if you can relax enough you might just get swept away by the ‘buzz.’ It is believed that Kirtan goes beyond the music and operates on vibration. In a room full of people,…

Ed Robertson, leader singer of the Barenaked Ladies, said, in reference to his writing of the theme song for The Big Bang Theory, “it was meant to be silly and they loved it.”  This statement could also be used to sum up the Barenaked Ladies concert at the Pabst Theatre on Monday night. It was silly and we loved it. The Barenaked Ladies, Ed, Jim, Kevin and Tyler clearly enjoyed rocking Milwaukee.  They joked about the unnatural amount of vowels in Pabst.  They commented on the seeming clash of Eastern European and Native American culture seen in the names around…

Yesterday, I received an email about an event that occurred in October.  It was so much fun and what it entailed was so special that it really needs to be shared. My first summer in Milwaukee, back when I was an ‘active’ elementary school teacher, I decided to browse the web in search of teacher workshops. I wasn’t looking for anything dry nor academic rather something I would enjoy, something fun to learn that I could take back into the classroom and share with my students.  That first summer I hit the jackpot… Arts @ Large. Arts @ Large is…

Saturday was my birthday. It was a big one, a milestone, a new decade, a new city. This is what we did. Yoga, of course. Down in the Third Ward is Lululemon Athletica. Lululemon is a huge Canadian yoga apparel company. Describing a Canadian company as huge in the context of the US marketplace makes me somewhat proud, in a capitalist, consumer sort of way. Anyway, Lululemon offers a free yoga class (good marketing or what….) every Saturday morning. Each week they feature a different teacher from a local studio. Meg Galarza, the owner of  YogaOne in Cedarburg was our…

Bikram, the bad boy of yoga, 26 postures, twice, copywrited, done the same way, following the same script, over a 90-minute period in a room heated to 105 F.  It is vigorous, hard core and intense. I’m not vigorous, hard core or intense (OK, I’m a little intense), but for some crazy reason I love this practice. Jim and I are fairly serious yogis. He has his instructor certification, and even though he works full time, he manages to get to 2-3 classes a week. I am working toward my instructor certification, and I practice every day. We love yoga,…

“CLOSE THE DOOR BEHIND YOU” reads the terse note. I’m entering Cranky Al’s. Jim has been talking about this place for weeks. It is his favorite coffee and donut shop, conveniently located on his way home from Saturday yoga. He has raved about it so much that I had to put it on the chalkboard It’s a Saturday, about 10:30. The place is quiet but as we get to the counter we can tell it has been a busy morning. The donut selection is sparse; there are only two crullers left. We order them, along with our coffee. We head…