Wear...Sunscreen.

My montage is complete.

Here are the words to the lyrics of my montage written by Baz Luhrmann. Baz is a talented director and he wrote this song based on his own perspective of life. I decided that I would visually interpret his words with my own perspective of the gift of life.

Enjoy.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…
I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….

You’re not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

An incident with chocolate syrup and peanut butter...

As I sit here and write this blog post this afternoon and eat my cabbage and black bean salad, I find my mind drifts away to a moment last night when I lost complete and total self control.

I like to consider myself a body-conscious and healthy individual. My breakfast, which I never skip, almost always consists of egg whites, black beans, spinach, mushrooms, onions, topped with salsa and avocado. Or at least for this week it has.

My lunches are a bit less colorful as I tend to "graze" throughout the day snacking on berries and almonds, all types of veggies, and spinach salads topped with baked chicken breast.

As you read this, you're probably asking, "Where are the whole grains and carbs?"

Well you see, this week I have steered clear of all foods that rank high in the glycemic index as I am attempting to crush a fitness plateau which I fear I have encountered.

I attend the gym about four to five times per week, and have for the last year. While I love the way I feel as I leave the doors and drive home in a serotonin bliss, I know my body composition has a little room for improvement.

Thus the slow carb consumption which I have been living by all week.

This is all fine and dandy, until you reach a moment where your will power is challenged and your thought process is vetoed by the saliva which begins to encompass the taste buds on your very tongue.

This moment was last night. I was standing in the kitchen, peering into the cabinet of wonder as my eyes met the brown bottle of Nestle chocolate syrup, (coincidentally positioned next to the peanut butter) I couldn't look away. I was hypnotized, mesmerized, captivated and enthralled by the very possibility of “cheating”. It had all started very innocently as I coyly pulled a small teaspoon out of the kitchen drawer, saying to myself, "I'll just have a taste." This was the plan.

But it was too good. It's like something came over me. Suddenly the calories, carbs and sugar didn't matter. I was even adding my "healthy" roasted almonds, I recently purchased, to the chocolate syrup and peanut butter mixture for an extra crunch factor. The home of this sinful mixture had now upgraded to a small red plastic cup.

It was only after I washed the mixture down for the third time with my health conscious almond milk, that my craving had subsided and I was left holding the red cup in my hand, saying to myself, "Well Jennifer, was it worth it?"

The answer was YES! It was amazing, everything about it! It was just what I needed and even though as I debated with myself for a moment about placing some guilt upon myself for the complete loss of self-control, I then thought, "There are some things in life, that you just can't measure or feel bad about.."

Last night this was chocolate syrup, and peanut butter. With a few almonds for that added crunch factor... ; )

Feng Shui shall we?

An ancient concept brought into the recent light of new media: feng shui. Translated as “wind-water,” feng shui has been notarized as the art of placement. Placement refers that of objects and colours enabled to nurture the flow of positive energy through a given space. Some follow this practice and believe it is linked to the improvement and well being of life.

Whether the space be small or spacious, the practice of feng shui can be applied anywhere. Even in a bathroom!

According to one of North America’s premier feng shui consultants, Angi Ma Wong, says its simple and the guidelines are all the same no matter which school of feng shui you choose to practice. Wong says to put the right objects in the right locations in order to achieve harmony with the universe, nature and yourself. She also says that certain areas can be activated to affect the areas of your life that you wish to improve, such as health, career, or love.

Here are a few of Wongs suggestions that she lists in her book, Feng Shui- Do’s and Taboos, that can be applied in your space:

Purify antiques with wind, water, fire, sound, salt, or other techniques outside of your home before bringing them inside.

If you have an aquarium, keep fish in multiples of nine, a symbol of a long life, or in odd numbers. Eight fish should be gold and one should be black. Don’t worry if a fish dies, for it means that the deceased has absorbed something negative that would have happened to you.

Hang a wind chime that is made of earth material, such as terra cotta or porcelain, or that has five solid clay rods if your bathroom is in the north. This will keep your business and career success from going “down the drain.”

Don’t use lots of yang colors, such as gold or red in a bedroom. These colors stimulate your energy, resulting in poor sleep.

Do keep your bedroom free of clutter and minimize the amount of furniture so that chi, or life energy, can flow easily through the room.

Clean your room on a new moon at the solstices, or when the atmosphere feels heavy.

Don’t keep too many plants or many plants with sharp foliage, such as cactus in your bedroom, as plants emit yang energy and can disturb a high-quality rest.

Do ring a bell in the corners of a room to clear stale or stagnant energy. Use a bell with a pleasant tinkling sound to activate yang energy in your home.

Do use the color orange in south west areas to promote motherhood, romance, love, relationships and marriage.

Skate, pass, shoot and score.

The Manitoba Moose didn’t exactly tip toe around the latest controversy that lit sports media on fire last week. Fans could watch the players pushing, shoving and checking each other into the boards while trying to complete the objective of any hockey game, that of scoring a goal.

The Manitoba Moose took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the MTS Centre Tuesday night.

As the fans cheered to the sound of bodies crashing against the boards, it seems forgotten that just last Tuesday, Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty, slammed headfirst into a metal stanchion after a high check from Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. Pacioretty suffered a severe concussion, broken vertebra, a loss of his career, while Chara, a penalty.

These common hockey injuries forced officials in the NHL to put misconduct in hockey under a microscope.

Here at home, roughing and fighting in the game of hockey is something that Moose fan, Ron Pluchinski, isn’t a stranger to. “I grew up with the game, played since I was eight years old, took and gave hits, but that hit, that hit on Pacioretty was vicious,” says Pluchinski who says he noticed Pacioretty and Chara “tangling” earlier in the game.

While the Moose took the ice tonight, the whispers of the NHL general manager’s plan on fighting concussions lingered. The meeting was held Monday in Florida and no doubt stems from the recent occurrence of unfortunate events.

Pluchinski says that he has a three-year-old son at home and is thinking twice about enrolling him in the all-Canadian sport. “I mean, my buddies have their kids in hockey camps and are excited about their kids first fight, that won’t be me,” he says.

The ominous outpour of booing filled the MTS Centre as the Moose’s goaltender Eddie Lack let the first goal in with three minutes left in the first period.  The shot made by Penguins right-wing Geoff Walker tallied his count to the eighth of this season.

“Over the years, sure, I’ve definitely seen an increase in fighting, but that’s just hockey,” says Moose season ticket holder Ted Rahal.

“Getting hurt is the risk you run when you sign up to play the game,” says Rahal. “But what happened with Pacioretty, well that was appalling how they kept replaying that hit over and over. The media totally de-sensitized it,” says Rahal.

If the Moose had focused more on skating, passing, shooting and scoring rather than checking, hitting, shoving, and hooking they may not have just penciled in their sixth shut-out of the season. The Penguins just claimed their spot as the top-ranked team in the AHL, while the Moose is fourth in the Western conference.