Reiki and other updates

We hosted our annual wellness fair at the college last week.  It's a great event and we bring in a lot of free neat experience for students, faculty and staff such as free manicures, shoulder massages, cholesterol and blood pressure checks, and so on.  We even had Reiki and I got to experience it first hand. I no a little bit about it and have always wanted to try it but just haven't come across the chance to experience before now.  I received about a 15min. Reiki experience where a guy asked for permission to gentle touch spots on me (such as my forehead, shoulders, stomach, knees, and feet) while I was laying down.  I'm a person who likes that 3' of personal space so it was slightly odd having someone breathing right over me during parts.  It also wasn't that serene of an environment since we were in a large space with the booths right outside the door. With that said, I found it somewhat relaxing but no earth shattering changes.  My peaceful mood lasted about 10 minutes until I went back to work!

Other updates:
1. I received my list of zendoodle exchanges and mailed them all out to the recipients last Monday. 6 of the recipients on my list are from different places in the US and 6 are from other countries throughout the world.  I recieved an email over the weekend that a person I sent a zendoodle to in Oregon got my zendoodle. I then received one from her in the mail today.  Below is a pic of my first zendoodle I received in the exchange project.

2. I found out last Monday that my sister is having a baby girl! I'm so excited as this means I will have not only an awesome nephew but an already much loved niece. She will of course be spoiled!

3. I made it to trampoline fitness last week and had a blast. I realized I missed it and was hoping I could get there again this week but it doesn't look like I will be able to. Another full busy week of commitments.

4.  I went to the art therapy and art club event on campus since I am the AT club advisor. The students were hosting a 6x6 ROCO party for the community. They had two art based techniques they would teach you if you wanted to learn something new (which of course I did) and then you could also submit your pieces to ROCO. They ended up collecting 32 pieces to donate for the fundraiser.

The art technique I learned was to put shaving cream on a paper plate and spread it out. Then use food coloring, choose your colors and put just a couple of drops wherever you want on the shaving cream. Use a toothpick to make a design or mix the colors together if you want. Then place your canvas or art board down on the shaving cream and tap gently.  Lift up and flip over. Using paper towels wipe off all of the shaving cream residue (this is where you can experiment a lot by how you choose to wipe of the shaving cream- circular motions, up and down, etc...). I could have experimented with this technique all night. As it was, I was only planning on being there for an hour and was there for 1.5 hours! Below are pics of my newest 6x6 creations.

5.  Here is a pic of a mandala I made in the art journaling I'm keeping for the Art (Therapy) + Happiness Project.

Trampoline Fitness, Races, Potluck Dinners and Art: What a combo

My friends and I checked out Ariel Arts of Rochester trampoline fitness class this week as a new adventure.  It was a full body workout and a hilariously good time.  I like that you can just do drop in classes that fit whatever your schedule is that given week. This workout was way different from running and I enjoyed that it worked different muscles. I was less excited about being sore for the next couple of days.  All of us are going back this week!  We took a couple of group photos but unfortunately I forgot to have them take one of just me so I could post.  In order to respect my friends privacy I won't post the group photo. However; since this exercise class just started being offered they asked us if they could video tape a small portion of it for advertising. The class said yes, but little did we know we would be a main advertisement on the Ariel Arts site now!  So, if you want/need a laugh for the day check out our exercise class video at http://aerialartsrochester.com/classes/trampoline-fitness/. **Note there were others in the class that were regulars and been taking the class.

Other news; I registered for the Mess a Dress run and so far have about 4 friends also running with me in the race.  I have two dresses to pick from as a co-worker and my intern both donated dresses to me. Both have to be altered to fit me and make it so I can run in the dress, but I'm excited to kind of make my own dress. One is shades of pink so if I choose that one I'll be Molly Ringwald from Pretty in Pink and if I choose the red lace dress I'll be Julie Roberts in Pretty Woman. Stay tuned to see which dress I end up choosing. I'll take a before and after pic with the alterations and of course before and after pics at the race.

I'm excited to report that my friend found a Night Glow run for us to possibly travel to this summer. There is one in Baltimore and my friend has a friend we can stay with in D.C.. I believe the date for that run is July 9th. This was a run I had on my list of races to participate in and is one of the top 20 fun runs to partake in.

Oh, the faculty/staff Arts and Crafts Exhibit at work was just announced. It will take place through the month of March. I already submitted by piece. Aren't you surprised. :)

I started back to work and classes full time this week. It's been an adventure in and of itself. Adjusting has been a bit difficult but by the end of this coming week things should settle out.  One of things I was excited about with the semester starting was that it meant Candlelight Yoga would restart.  My institution is awesome in that it offers 5 different yoga classes each week (2 during lunch breaks and 3 at night) for free to all faculty, students, staff and alumni.  I was able to talk one of my classmates into trying out the candlelight yoga which I did last semester and loved.  I go on Thursday nights because I especially love the instructor Laura.  I feel she incorporates what yoga should be instead of what the western world has turned it into.  At the end of class I leave there feeling very much at peace with myself and the world.  As an added bonus I sleep like a rock those nights. It felt good to back in the class. I also found yoga makes me a stronger and faster runner.

A positive end to my week was a get together with my friends for a potluck dinner and game night. The food was amazing (chicken and dumplings, homemade mac and cheese, apple and walnut salad, desserts, risotto and more). In addition there was great beverages to choose from.  After dinner our games were Cranium and some wager game that we've played before. Last game night included Humanity and Pictionary.  Now if only I wasn't the only single person with 6 couples! ;)

Stay tuned for more art, races and other adventures...