Travel Tuesday: Bali, Indonesia

Today’s Travel Tuesday post is about an island I want to visit, but have not yet….Bali.

Bali, the famed Island of the Gods, is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. With its varied landscape of hills and mountains, rugged coastlines and sandy beaches, lush rice terraces and barren volcanic hillsides all providing a picturesque backdrop to its colourful, deeply spiritual and unique culture, Bali stakes a serious claim to be paradise on earth.

Bali is small in size; you can drive around the entire coast in one day. It has world-class surfing and diving, a large number of cultural, historical and archaeological attractions, and an enormous range of accommodations. Words don’t do Bali justice however, you have to see pictures to feel its magic. I can’t wait to visit this island one day; it is most definitely on my hit list!

It’s time to get with the times … International Women’s Day 2012

Happy International Women’s Day everyone! I’m seeing lots of love for the ladies on my Twitter feed today. It’s great to see everyone recognizing the many contributions women make in their homes, their communities, their careers and the world in general.

International Women’s Day is recognized by citizens around the world to celebrate past progress towards equality for women, reflect on the challenges women continue to face and consider what action we can take in the future to ensure girls and women achieve equality in all aspects of their lives.

While women have made great strides in today’s world from where we were in the 1950’s, we still face challenges in many parts of our lives. This is why we must continue to take action on women’s issues.

From working to prevent family violence, to promoting women’s education in non-traditional careers, to ensuring pay equality, to mother’s rights in the workplace Alberta, Canada and the world still have great strides to make.

Alberta’s Famous Five ,Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards paved the way for women’s rights. They did not let adversity or circumstances deter them from fighting for equality. We need to continue this pursuit of equality, because let’s face it. Anything men can do, women can do too.

It’s disheartening to see issues such as pay inequality and mothers rights in the workforce still in the news. Regardless of how I feel about it though it’s still happened. Today the Edmonton Journal published an article reporting that in Alberta, disparity in pay equity shows women working full-time in the province earn 68 per cent as much as men. 68 per cent!!That means that despite the fact that I worked my ass off in university, and had a higher GPA than my male counterparts, they will still make 32 per cent more than me. We need to fix this ladies!

Also in the recent past, two women (here and here) who work in politics were chastised by another party member for bringing their still breastfeeding infants to a  meeting/vote. In this day and age, when little boys and little girls alike are being told that when they grow up they can do anything, and be anything they want to be, why are we still limiting women to a choice between career and family? We can do both and we can do it well. Until the day comes that men can push a baby out, women are going to be left with that job. So it’s about time that people just get over it, realize that women are fully capable of juggling both work and career, and get over their fear of breastfeeding in public. It’s just a boob guys, it won’t bite!

My New Year’s Resolutions

 A new year, a new start. While New Year’s resolutions may be cliché, I think it is refreshing to realize your goals, put them down on paper and start holding yourself accountable to them. The goals and resolutions need to be measurable and attainable, so I am going to try to stay away from vague statements by backing them up with real objectives, so, here it goes:

Live a healthier life (I know, so original hey!)

• Work out a minimum of 2-3 times per week
• Start everyday with a large glass of cold water
• Replace juice, energy drinks and pop with water (and lemon if flavour needed)
• Eat at least 5 salads per week (try for spinach)
• Take my iron and vitamins daily
• No more than 2 alcoholic drinks in total on weeknights
• Make sure teeth are always white (stupid coffee and red wine!)
• Get out of the house more often!

Put more effort into my appearance

• Wear heels more often (let’s say at least 2 days per week minimum)
• Wear dresses and skirts more often (let’s say at least 2 days per week minimum)
• Do my hair, cannot wear it just strait or in a pony more than 3 times per week
• Get regular haircuts (every 6-8 weeks)
• Do a hair mask at least once per week
• Try to maintain a manicure and pedicure
• Try to maintain brow shaping/tinting

Spend less money

• Eat out breakfast and lunch less on workdays
• Shop less
• Buy less liquor
• Grocery shop more wisely
• Buy less unnecessary groupons