This past weekend, I had the chance to stop by Balanced Life Yoga‘s brand new studio, located at 274 Mackenzie Avenue in Ajax. Director, founder and senior teacher of Balanced Life Yoga, Shasta Townsend, has rounded up a group of diverse, personable and all around kind women to her team, each bringing something uniquely wonderful to the studio. Over a dozen Balanced Life Yoga teachers welcomed me, and we spent the afternoon taking photos of essential yoga poses and capturing the faces of the vibrant and gorgeous instructors. I must say, I was quite impressed with the strength these women poses – something I can only dream of achieving, right now.
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After weeks of planning, I was finally able to drop by Laurel Richards Hair in Ajax and snap some photos. Laurel Richards Hair is a charming Durham Region hair studio, located in south Ajax, which provides hair and spa services, along with beautiful gifts – anything from hand made soaps, jewellery to makeup bags.
Laurel Richards – the owner and master colourist – is not only a master at her craft, but truly a fantastic person. A couple of years ago, she assisted me in a Hallowe’en food drive I ran called Trick or Eat … and to be more specific, she didn’t even hesitate when I asked; she was onboard with excitement right away! Ever since then, I’ve found a deep respect for her and the business she runs. Not only is she valued for the services her company provides, but for the kind work she does with the community.
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Don’t you just love when you find a great local place to waste time, without having to drop too much money? Well, I’ve found my permanent tea shop, as mentioned in previous posts, we spent an afternoon at Jazzberry Tea House, in Pickering Village.
Today, my friend Jaya and I spent the afternoon drinking Chocolate Peppermint & Chocolate Coconut teas, and enjoying yummy desserts – she ordered an oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie, and I bought a chocolate brownie. We also had some time to talk about our career plans, and make some solid goals for for the future. Productive? Absolutely! Did I mentioned we also were given a couple of homemade Valentines while we were there?
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Today, I was introduced to Pickering Village’s Jazzberry Tea House, a fantastic tea house located in the heart of Ajax. The small and quint shop offers High Tea in their private Victorian style room, and holds open mic and poetry nights. I enjoyed a perfect cup of Chocolate Mint tea … tasted great.
Just a note for parents, if you have little ones, the business’ website also says they offer a 90-minute Princess Tea, with Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine, Belle, Ariel, Aurora, Tinkerbell, and Alice in Wonderland – how cute, right? The shop is a truly terrific local tea house to meet with friends, read a book (they offer free WiFi) or just stop by for a quick drink – and they offer quite an array! I highly recommend it.
Despite how much I hate bugs, I decided to choose insects as this week’s photo challenge theme with ExP (Exposed Planet).
I shot this image with a Sigma macro zoom lens 70-300mm. It didn’t allow me to get super close to the butterfly, but I still think it came out quite cute and colourful.
