blog – Page 4 – jellylift

Memorable and Outstanding Jellycats!

Do you need a subheading? The title seems self-explanatory.

Let me preface by saying how incredibly excited I am to finally be working on and uploading this post. Over many years of longingly browsing the Jellycat website, dreaming of the day I could call one my own (shoutout Beebee, you’re my world babygirl), I spent a lot of time discovering unique Jellycats and documenting some particular absurd and/or charming characters. Therefore, as one does, I compiled a list of the most Memorable and Outstanding Jellycats! There is absolutely zero rhyme or reason to this post, aside from my endless yearning for more Jellycats, and feeling the need to gush about them and share my favourites. Maybe this post will help convince me to ignore the financial trouble of indulging in more plushies and finally purchase some Jelly friends. And perhaps convince you too!

(You know you want one…)

Let’s get started!

Edward Bear

Edward Bear has been at the top of my Jellycat wishlist since the very beginning. A standard looking bear, with lovely coffee colours and a simple design. He is incredibly handsome and was the very first Jellycat who ever caught my eye, and I won’t rest until I have him. Just look at that bear face! He’s the perfect little fella!

Wee Bear

Just a wee one!

Vivacious Vegetable Leek

So vivacious! Look at this lil dude. Look at the attention to detail. Look at the bright colours. Look at how incredibly impractical for cuddling this leek is. A need.

Sensational Seafood Shrimp

You’re surely starting to notice the impact that the Food and Drink line has on me. Look at this shrimp! Just so ridiculous and fun and silly! Why on earth would I ever need a tiny shrimp plushie? Who cares! Simply sensational!

Amusable Popcorn and Slice of Pizza

Amusable Pizza Slice, simply lazing about!

A perfect movie night combo. That has got to be the softest looking popcorn I have ever seen in my life, and the way the pizza slice lays flat in blissful defeat is so real. This pizza has accepted its fate, whatever it may be. Like… yeah me too, Amusable Pizza Slice. Me f**king too.

Amusable Sandwich

I swear I’m done with the foods now. But I had to close with the sandwich. I feel like out of all possible Memorable and Outstanding Jellycats, the sandwich is the most self-explanatory. Filled with crisp folded lettuce and bright round tomatoes, topped with a couple slices of cheddar cheese all pressed between the softest bread imaginable. The attention to detail is impeccable, appears incredibly soft and cuddly, and best of all… Vegetarian friendly!

Amusable Pinecone

Fitted to the nines in the freshest corduroy boots you’ve ever seen in your life, the Amusable Pinecone is sure to exceed your expectations. Bouncy and soft, how can you possibly hide a smile when you see this fella rolling about? You can’t. Yeah. That’s what I thought.

Smart Stationary Ruler

I want to know how Jellycat comes up with some of this stuff.

Silver Blossom Bunny

IT’S LITERALLY JUST BEEBEE OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

SHOUTOUT BEEBEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lallagie Dragon

I love how the Lallagie Dragon is slumped over. Harmless! He’s just a lil guy! Don’t let the spikes and horns fool you, Lallagie Dragon is as cuddly as they come, and needs snuggles as much as any other Jelly.

Love Me Lobster and a Pair of Lovely Lovebirds

Pair of Lovely Lovebirds lovin’ each other

Just in time for Valentine’s Day! Gentle heart shaped claws and bright, vibrant colours are truly the standouts on these Jellies. You know what they say! “The way to a jellylift admin’s heart is through Valentine’s themed Jellies specifically the Pair of Lovely Lovebirds because it would just be the cutest thing in the world to have matching lovebirds like just imagine gifting your significant other a lovely lovebird and watching their face light up because you know how much they love Jellycat.”
Yup. That’s what they say.

Riverside Rambler Frog

Yeah, this guy TOTALLY steals bikes.

Woody Bear Lying

Woody Bear Lying packs quite a punch… to your wallet that is. Oh well! Priced at $110 USD, I haven’t a doubt it my mind that this 26″ long fuzzy wuzzy would offer some of the best snuggles you’ll ever find.

While I could truly go on forever about all the incredible Jellycats out there, I think we oughta wrap it up here with these winners. The cream of the crop! A cream which needs to be entirely in my possession. As soon as possible.

I need more Jellycats.

Before I get violent.

Jellylift Takes on Peer Review (Peer Review #1)

An in-depth review of Lucid Dreamer – a peer’s blog!

click here to visit Lucid Dreamer

First and foremost, shoutout to Kathy, the Lucid Dreamer Admin! I know you’re lurking 😉

the first impression

As I opened Lucid Dreamer, the first thing that caught my eye was the very organized layout, and aesthetically-pleasing colours. The dark green in the background image of the trees feels satisfying with the green header and footer, the green accessibility tag, and splashes of green font. The theme chosen lays out the newest posts right on the front page, and is very simple to navigate as a first-time viewer. No maze, no frantic page-searching, everything presents itself right before you. The online persona of “Lucid Dreamer” is clearly established, and upon a visit to the About page, there’s no confusion around the objective of this blog and the kind of “online self” (Suler, 2004) which the Admin chooses to assume. Suler (2004) discusses the idea of our identities being like constellations, offering that personality is “an intrapsychic field containing clusters or constellations of emotion, memory, and thinking that are interconnected with certain environments” (Suler, 2004). He offers that this model explains “identity experimentation… and other subtle shifts in personality expression” (Suler, 2004) in an online space, which is something interesting I observed about the Lucid Dreamer page. The admin uses the blog as an online platform to express herself authentically while simultaneously taking on a certain role of the Dreamteller. Reading about how the admin’s favourite colour is green is a fun piece of trivia to discover, especially after observing that the themes and colours revolve around green. In establishing her online self and online identity, the admin uses a fun balance of authentic self-expression and expanding on her own imagination, creating a very unique persona as the Lucid Dreamer.

the concept

An aspect of Lucid Dreamer that really sat with me was entirely just the concept of documenting lucid dreams. I don’t think I have ever stumbled upon a site like this before, or any content creator who openly discusses dreams that they have had. Lucid dreaming is not a very common or frequent occurrence, therefore, the fact that the admin lucid dreams often enough to produce weekly content about it is very gripping and attention-grabbing. Sharing your dreams – stories that unfold only in your mind which could be a reflection of your inner thoughts and experiences – puts you in a vulnerable position, offering a unique sort of connection between the admin and her audience. Campbell (2009) discusses the importance of students and youth having a digital space for self-expression and how doing so helps them to “shape their own cognition, learning, expression, and reflection in a digital age, in a digital medium.” I believe there is an aspect of introspection involved in documenting one’s own dreams, and I think the admin is putting herself in the perfect space to be able to reflect and respond to her own imagination.
In addition, the admin provides a lot of detail about these dreams, and dreams up some awesome things! Thank you, Admin! Very cool!

the specifics

After a deep dive into Lucid Dreamer, I noticed a couple things which didn’t feel quite right. There were some grammar and spelling mistakes, which kind of take you out of the experience of living in the dream with the admin.
In terms of design, I think there is very little room for improvement. I think the theme could benefit from a sort of hazy, dreamlike aesthetic to fit with the concept, but I believe the current theme to be a great reflection of the admin and her interests, requiring no substantial modifications.
I love how Lucid Dreamer does not rely on relatability to have potential for interesting and interactive content. She is not trying to appeal to a certain public (Warner, 2002), as her dreams are stories – something which any reader can indulge in and take something away from. There is a manga and game recommendation section, which can recruit perhaps new readers, or existing manga fans.
That being said, something that left me a little confused was in fact, the emphasis on manga and game recommendations. There is no content on the page yet about either of these subjects, and the domain name seems strangely disconnected from the blog. It took a little bit of exploring for me to realize what the blog is actually about. In addition, the blog seems to be lacking in content. As of right now, there are only 2 out of 4 process posts, 2 content posts, as well as none of the mini-assignments. The admin does not feel connected with her blog, and it does not feel like it is getting lots of love and attention and updates.
In terms of content, I thoroughly enjoyed the attention to detail captured in the documentation of each dream! I think that placing an emphasis on storytelling and adopting a more narrative and descriptive voice could really bring life to the re-telling of these dreams.

I look forward to seeing the development of this site as the admin publishes more posts, giving depth and fullness to the blog!

Campbell, G. (2009). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure. Retrieved from: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Warner, Michael. (2002). “Publics and Counterpublics.” in Quarterly Journal of Speech. 88.4.

Suler, John. 2004. “The Online Disinhibition Effect” Available from: Cyberpsychology & behavior 7.3 (2004): 321-326.

Knock Knock… Who’s There?

Hi! Who are you exactly? Yeah, you. And why are you here?

I don’t think I will ever be able to fully comprehend the grandiosity of having an online audience. Quite literally anyone from anywhere with access to the internet could be my audience. Yet constructing the idea in my head of the people, an entire population, a grand scale group that Warner (2002) discusses as “the public,” as my audience seems far too big to wrap my head around.

Obviously, for handfuls of reasons, my website is not reaching the entire public. While it is available to the public, it may only be reaching an incredibly small group of people. To further break it down, among that group that my site is reaching, my website is only impacting select people, resulting in a subgroup (of the already very small group) of people that consume my content in any sort of meaningful way. It is accessible to the public, but recruits engagement more specifically from a public (Warner, 2002).
So, who is that exactly?

When building jellylift, I began thinking about what an incredibly specific and niche concept it was, as weightlifting and plushies are such opposite and unrelated ideas… why on earth would they ever end up in the same cyberspace? In fact, when I texted the link to jellylift to a friend she said:

“!!!!???? WHAT IS THIS !!”
(I proceed to tell her it’s the blog I had literally just talked to her about like 3 days prior)
“OHHHSDBFHSDHFB ITS YOURS!?? I thought you had somehow just magically found this incredibly niche site that was hyper specific to your interests💀💀“

It made me think… Oh. Yeah. It is incredibly niche and specific to my interests. So, who on earth am I appealing to? Who is my audience? What is my public? Who’s there, on the other side of this screen? When I think about it, jellylift is ridiculous in the most charming way. I might say that it, as a concept, almost falls into the category of post-ironic content. When I think about my audience, I think of a group of people who are reading my posts and keeping up with jellylift out of irony. Not because I don’t believe I have a “real” audience that values my work, but because I don’t believe jellylift is intended for a “real” unironic audience. With that in mind, I will still say that jellylift’s primary demographic is youth – weightlifters and the occasional plushie connoisseur.

The content I produce speaks for itself. While the obvious audience would be those in the gym community and anyone who owns a Jellycat plushie, the style in which I choose to write and share posts attracts a certain group of people on its own. There is no need for me to write on the homepage “Welcome to my blog! Anyone who loves lifting, plushies, or post-irony is more than welcome to stick around!” in order to assemble my public. First of all, I actively avoided using the phrase “welcome to my blog!” anywhere on my site. [Click here if you care to know why] And secondly, throwing up a statement like that would go against the grain of the nature of what I’m posting. Stating the presence of a public that is meant to be an unspoken identity and assembled through self-organization (Warner, 2002), would not only deter that public, but would defeat the purpose of trying to appeal to that public. The people who it’s meant for know it’s meant for them… but stating that it is meant for them, makes it no longer meant for them. It’s paradoxical in a way. A brain twister and has a sort of, as Warner (2002) puts it, “chicken-and-egg circularity” (p. 413). While he puts this concept in a different context in terms of the nature of a public and its existence among its speaker, his discussion of the endless loop of how a public is addressed is both relevant and similar to what I am discussing in this post.

I won’t say that jellylift is a complete joke. There are individual posts and concepts discussed across my blog which hold merit and are of real value – but I also won’t say it is entirely serious and unironic. Take Oh My God, She’s Mine, for example. If you are unable to identify what pieces of this post are ironic and what parts are me simply enjoying something silly, you are probably not part of my “public.”

This idea ties into Habermas’ (1974) discussion of public sphere, a concept heavily discussed in Communications studies. While Habermas’ public sphere is a rather extensive text, reading between the lines reveals the inherent exclusivity of the public sphere. I think, in relation to Warner’s (2002) conversation, “the public sphere” is a public in itself. It calls for a group of people bound together by a discourse, allowing only eligible participants. This is something which can be applied to not only my, but all of our blogs. While it appears accessible to all, only certain members (the target audience, perhaps?) are actually capable of authentically participating.

I will not deny that there are, without a doubt, aspects of jellylift that accurately reflect my passions. Lifting is a huge part of my identity, and growing up with stuffed animals who still sit on my bed is something that brings me real, genuine, wholesome happiness. With jellylift, I cater to a group with similar interests and simultaneously hope to offer them the same happiness that lifting and stuffies offer me, in addition to the ebullient and absurd whimsy brought from combining the two.

Warner, M. (2002). Publics and counterpublics. Public Culture, 14(1), 49–90. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-14-1-49

Getting F**king Huge: Deep Chats with A Special Guest

Words of weightlifting wisdom from Guest Star Noel Deyzel!

In this week’s post, we have a very unexpected and exciting guest!

When mapping out jellylift, I never would have expected to guest feature one of the most successful, aesthetic, inspirational and funny content creators in my feed – Noel Deyzel. An icon in the gym community, nicknamed by the fandom as “Daddy Noel,” is known across social media for sharing fitness tips, making silly and entertaining gym-related content, as well as being jacked and an absolute beast of a man. This week, he shares some insightful discussion on chasing those gains and staying motivated. Below is a snippet of an informal interview I had the pleasure of conducting with him, as well as a post which he so kindly offered to write for my blog.

Noel Deyzel on the mental struggle of hitting training blocks

JL: “You know, something that myself and I think a handful of intermediate level weightlifters struggle with is hitting a plateau.”

DN: “I’m glad you brought this up, because I think hitting a plateau is something that just about everyone needs to go through in order to test their own limits.”

JL: “Really? Hm, I’ve never thought about it that way. See, the plateau, I think, really gets in our heads sometimes. It’s difficult to stay motivated when you aren’t, like, seeing that same sort of, consistent progress as you might have been when you first started or even just from a different period of your training. How are we meant to test our limits when our bodies seem to be holding us back?”

DN: “Often, you’ll find it is, very much, a mental game. Let me explain. We are capable of pushing ourselves further than we may think, and we are often the biggest thing holding us back. Your progress is not going to be linear. Your training is something that will take patience and discipline, and often, we cannot rely on the validating feeling of hitting a new PR every training session to keep us going. Setting your goals, reaching blocks in your training, should be frightening. It should be difficult. If it is too easy, you are not tapping into your full potential.”

JL: “So, let’s say I’ve been stuck squatting the same weight for a couple months and physically, I just can’t increase the weight without risking injury. What would you recommend I do in that case?”

DN: “Something a lot of weightlifters find to be effective is implementing a deload. Decrease the weight to something you are more than comfortable doing, and work your way back up. If that doesn’t seem to be helping, consider making some changes in your program. Also, make sure you are eating like a f**king whale.”

JL: “taking notes Eat… like… a f**king… whale. Noted. Thank you, Daddy Noel. Very cool.”

Daddy Noel’s Guide to Getting F**king Huge

If you’re here then that means you wish to get f**king huge. So read on, and I hope to you inspire you in your journey.

Getting to the Gym

I’m tired, I don’t feel like going gym. Sometimes, getting to the gym is the hardest part in itself. I get it. But I also don’t. You made a commitment to yourself, and you are responsible for holding to that commitment. If you are struggling to find motivation to get yourself there, try some of these:

Have a friend

Keeping a gym bro on call is a great way to stay motivated and ensure you get yourself to the gym. They can hold you accountable, and you can do the same for them. But Daddy Noel! I don’t have any friends that go gym! Then make some. Meeting people at the gym can be frightening, but by putting yourself out there and initiating simple conversation, you can start to develop bonds that may grow into lifelong friendships. It can be as simple as asking someone for a spot… just see where it goes!

Pack your bag, and be prepared

Prepare all of your things in a bag the day or morning before. Pack some snacks, gym clothes, a water bottle – all of your gym essentials. This way, everything is ready and prepared for you, and you can get up and go.

Just go

The longer you whine and complain about not wanting to go to the gym, the longer that you are not at the gym. Just get up and go. Tell yourself that you will only go for five minutes, and I can guarantee that by the time you are there, you will get in the zone and forget about not wanting to come at all.

Taking Responsibility

When talking about accountability, a huge part of staying motivated is keeping your head up. It’s easy to slip into bad habits of complaining and slacking off. But as you move forward, it is very important that you begin taking responsibility, and quit complaining and placing the blame on other factors. Complaining only pushes us further into negativity, and limits our learning. This is something which not only applies to moving forward in the gym, but moving forward in life. Life becomes beautiful when you start to see hardships as a tool for growth.

Staying Motivated

So you’re not seeing growth, you feel like giving up, and you’re tired of what feels like you’re moving backward in your progress. Have you been eating enough? Pushing yourself? Giving it your all? If you’re able to answer yes to each of these questions, then take a moment to look back. Every day there are minute changes taking place… think about where you started. Think how far you have come, and how the troubles which once occupied your mind are now distant thoughts. Think about one month ago. Three months ago. Six months ago. Haven’t you changed? Remember that anything worthwhile in life takes sacrifice, determination, and time.

If you’re going through hell…
Keep going.

Eating and Living Healthy

Your diet is going to play a very important role in your training. Let me explain. Learning to have a healthy and balanced diet is one of the hardest parts about getting stronger. Despite all the gym rats telling you to live off of chicken and rice, it is very important to incorporate lots of different vegetables into your diet. I actually really enjoy eating vegetables now… f**k brussel sprouts though.

If you’re in a rush and looking for some quick and nutritious pre-workout snacks, try pairing beef jerky and fruit, or a protein shake and some nuts. It’s convenient, good for you, and will give you the energy you need.

Daddy Noel! I’m sorry, I cheated on you! So you had a Big Mac meal this week. Big Mac, big deal. Let me explain. Every once in a while, treating yourself to a controlled cheat meal can be a good way to reward yourself, and in the long run, is not going to do you much harm. Just remember, it is a cheat meal, and not a cheat weekend. Your relationship with your diet should be like any relationship, if you feel the need to cheat… maybe you shouldn’t be with that diet anymore (Or maybe you need some time to work on yourself buddy…)

On top of it all, more than eating well, it is important to be living well. Getting an adequate amount of sleep at night is going to be essential in giving your muscles time to recover and grow.

Chasing Gains

When going to the gym, make sure that you target each muscle group 2-3 times per week. Your program should be evenly split between all the muscle groups and while you may gravitate towards your favourite exercises, staying well-rounded is what will make you stronger, and give you the aesthetic and balanced physique that you want. And I don’t want to catch you skipping legs. You can’t spell LEGENDARY without LEG DAY. And if you do, you’re left with: ENR. And that doesn’t make sense. Just like not training legs.

While you’re training, it can be very easy to attempt loading as much weight onto your muscles as possible while sacrificing your form and technique. While you are encouraged to lift heavy and push yourself, you don’t want to be putting yourself at risk for injury. Lessening the weight will give you better muscle activation and better results, and will help you prioritizie technique over numbers.

Your training is not a path that has a final destination. You are going to continue learning each day that you show up and put in the work. Learn to love the process and every day you will learn something new, and all that knowledge is only going to help you and make you stronger.

Remember to work hard in silence, and let success be your noise.
Keep training to make Daddy Noel proud.

My Helpless Screen Addiction: Is Jellylift Pulling Me In Deeper?

The WordPress editor has me in a chokehold, and the hours spent glued to my screen send me spiraling.

At the dawn of the Spring semester, I wasn’t expecting to develop such an addiction to my blog. I would say I was excited, curious, passionate, motivated, inspired, but certainly not addicted.

I spend my transit ride to school brainstorming post ideas, and the transit home drafting those posts. I have started browsing other lifting sites and Jellycat blogs in my free-time. My Instagram algorithm has started showing me more Jellycat accounts. When I need a break from other schoolwork, I’ll edit old posts and toy around with website colours. Before I can get started on my other coursework, I check jellylift.com just to make sure it’s still up and running, and get trapped looking through the links a million times. When I’m done doing that on my laptop, I’ll grab my phone and do the exact same thing, but it’s different because the mobile site looks different and I need to see what it looks like on the mobile site. As soon as I’ve put jellylift aside and can finally get to work on something else, I catch the site icon in my over-crowded bar of open tabs and click on it just to see it again, and start editing, and following links, and the cycle endlessly turns itself over. I think about content, I consume content, I create content. It’s like a deathly mantra.

Think Content, Consume Content, Create Content, Think Content, Consume Content, Create Content, Think, Consume, Create, Think, Consume, Create, Content, Content, Content, Content.

jellylift, my modern day devil

As much passion and inspiration I feel towards my blog, and enjoy the outlet for whimsical creativity, I tend to over-think every little detail about the content I’m creating. Is it funny? Do I want it to be funny? Will people think it’s ridiculous? Do I even know enough about weightlifting to make posts about it? Should I be taking this blog more seriously? I should probably post more. Who am I even posting for? It inhabits so much space in my mind, and as I stare at the WordPress dashboard, head spinning, I switch to another screen, and then my phone steals my attention for a moment or two. Or three. Or four, until ten minutes have passed and I realize I have been mindlessly scrolling and the only (temporary) solution is to throw my phone across the room.

if my attention was ever mine, I doubt I ever had it

Thinking about this forced me to reflect on how my WordPress editor habits not only fall in line with my screen-usage habits, but perfectly mirror them. The uncontrollable desire to check Instagram, the helpless nag to refresh Snapchat, the spontaneous need to text my friend about that one thing I thought to text her about an hour ago but forgot to because the Gmail notification distracted me and pulled me to my inbox. Each and every single platform attached to my name has me in a chokehold, and as I blinked, jellylift threw itself into the mix. To quote Mod (2017), “Technology is commanding our attention in infinite, insurmountable loops,” and my blog is another step in the this lethal cycle. In Mod’s “How I Got My Attention Back” (2017), he discusses his experience with going off the grid and escaping the internet for twenty-eight days. This seems like a luxurious privilege, and as Mod (2017) humorously puts it, a “cop-out.” His time in the country got me thinking about a twenty-four hour digital detox I performed in 2021. Not only did I run away from my phone, but I boycotted every form of media; television, radio, music streaming, video games, I even printed out my class readings and assignments on paper to avoid logging into Canvas. I happened to be out of town that week, which made the escape that much more immersive as I was in an unfamiliar space. I journaled throughout the day, and documented my thoughts and experiences. In that time, I mailed my friend a handwritten letter, wrote poetry, and without constant distractions stealing my attention, I fell down an incredibly vivid and striking spiral of existentialism. Attached below are my journal entries throughout the day, attached with time stamps. Feel free to indulge.

maybe jellylift isn’t the devil…

Those twenty-four hours were the first in forever that really forced me to think about how many years I’m wasting away in front of my screen. Scrolling, searching, seeking. Instagram reels, Wikipedia rabbit holes, Netflix specials. Despite the academic urgency of posting to jellylift, the hard truth is that my blog still calls for my attention, and takes it on the train, takes it at my desk, takes it in my bed. Yet, am I not my own person? Do I not have free will and control over the things I let occupy time and space in my head? Am I not perfectly capable of shutting my laptop closed? Turning the television off? Putting my phone away? And not on my nightstand, plugged into it’s charger. Putting it away. Face down, in a bag, in a drawer, on the other side of the house. Some would argue no.

That twenty-four hour detox made me think about how many distractions are constantly being thrown at us, begging us to buy, luring us to look, calling us to consume. When searching for an excuse for our inattention, it’s easy to point the blame at technology, for “technology is such an easy scapegoat” (Mod, 2017). So, sure.

Maybe technology’s hands are bloodied from murdering our attention.

But maybe they’re sparkling clean, and our hands are the dirty ones.

Mod, C. (2017, January 13). How I Got My Attention Back. Wired. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.wired.com/2017/01/how-i-got-my-attention-back/#.djqfcpajo

The Work I Should Definitely Be Paid For

a little peek at the Beginner weight training program I’ve created for my first “client”.

You’re probably wondering why I’ve put “client” in quotation marks. That is because my “client” is one of my coworkers, who kindly asked me to train her, and I ever so generously offered to do so. When she asked how to pay me, I foolishly said “Oh, you don’t have to pay me. Don’t worry about that.”

Technically, I’m not PT certified, so if I were to actually charge her, it would be pretty unethical to do so, considering I have zero credentials aside from weightlifting being my only personality trait. That being said, getting PT certified is on my to-do list, and recently I’ve been looking into completing the ACE PT program. Despite lacking these credentials, I like to think I know my stuff, which is why I felt confident training my coworker and building her a basic beginner’s program. I ended up putting a lot more work into it than I originally intended, and am spending approximately 6-8 hours a week training with her, on top of my own training, making this whole ‘free training’ process rather time consuming. It is for this reason that you should be ever so grateful that I am sharing the program with you right here and right now:

When creating this program, I consulted with other members of my gym to inquire about their experiences with being a beginner, and what sorts of routines were most digestible. I settled on a Push-Pull-Legs split – a very organized and effective split when starting out. As my client is starting from ground zero (has never stepped foot in a gym, did not grow up athletic, would only occasionally go for runs) I didn’t want to overwhelm her with a complicated program, and decided to stick to basic exercises with straight-forward yet effective movements.

The best part about this program is that it is incredibly flexible. It can just as easily be used for someone who is familiar with lifting, and adjusted accordingly depending on individual fitness goals. The exercises for each day are arranged so to cover the primary movements controlled by each muscle group, activating each part of the muscle to achieve maximum efficiency during the lift. Some professionals and trainers who I will often look to for inspiration are Jeff Nippard – who puts heavy emphasis on bodybuilding backed by science, and Darryl Williams (Bullyjuice) who builds simple and effective routines that can be implemented both at home and in the gym, while emphasizing the importance of looking after the mind and how your mentality plays an instrumental role in your physical progress. Completing Williams’ 30 Day At Home Workout Challenge is what got me passionate about exercise, and what helped me build a strong enough foundation to feel prepared when entering a gym for the first time.

My client’s main goals at the moment are to feel confident using gym equipment and to get into a healthy routine of moving her body. Which quite honestly, is a spectacular place to start. Due to this, I decided to keep her program fairly well rounded, including a little bit of mobility training, heavy emphasis on weight training, light core training, and cardio on her own terms (as she used to be a runner.) Given that I am not her coach, I am simply showing her the ropes in weightlifting, and have not put her on a meal plan or any sort of incredibly strict routine. Exercising three days a week is digestible and fits in with her life schedule, and allows us time to have fun and enjoy the process opposed to it feeling like a chore.

Two training sessions in, and it has been a blast. My client is beyond excited to finally be getting into a gym and I’m getting a fantastic opportunity to dip my toes in what it would be like to be a personal trainer – on a very informal and low-stress level. The best part is, right now it’s just about getting strong, breaking a good sweat, and more than anything, having fun and learning to love what our bodies are capable of.

The Digital Hellscape Known As WordPress

the trials and tribulations and the joys and jubilations of giving birth to jellylift

To be blunt, setting up this website made me so irrationally angry that I had to (on multiple occasions) step away and take a deep breath so that I wouldn’t punch my screen or break my neck from having been slumped over my laptop for hours. The process of building this blog was long and strenuous, and at this current moment, ongoing.

dreaming up jellylift

When I brainstormed what I wanted my blog to be about, I had two main concepts in mind. Originally, I planned to create a blog about either weightlifting or Jellycats. Weightlifting seemed perfect, as I already have a fitness Instagram account (which is a joke in itself, but that’s another can of worms) and it is something I was already frequently documenting and could easily create content for. That being said, I loved how niche and specific a Jellycat blog would be, yet still couldn’t let go of how easily I could slip a lifting blog into my life and be passionate and excited about it.
Upon discussing it with a few friends, the joke came up multiple times that it would be kind of funny to just… do both. It was just a joke, but then it hit me.

Why not just, do both? As soon as it clicked, I was bursting with inspiration, and more than anything, it was a perfect representation of who I was. A blog about lifting and stuffed animals seemed silly and fun and whimsical, and so me.

the inspiration

In Gardner’s (2009) discussion of Personal Cyberinfrastructure, he addresses the idea of giving students an online platform which acts a personal digital portfolio – their own little corner of the World Wide Web. He suggests that this space can act not only as an extension of the imagination to enhance digital literacy, but as an environment which harbours and festers that imagination. This opportunity for imagination and self-expression in a digital form within an academic context was something I truly wished to take advantage of with my blog.

the gears start turning…

I loved the idea of juxtaposing two completely opposite themes. When creating my Vision Board, I decided I wanted that contrast to be reflected in the visuals of my website. I loved how the soft, delicate colours looked beside the dark, moody ones, which was the main source of inspiration for this site. In terms of representing the self, I have always had a very minimalist taste when it comes to design of any kind, so I instantly knew I wanted my site to be generally absent of flashy colours or pictures, and should they be present, they would be intentional and strategically placed. For colours, I discovered how black text against a white background is fairly standard and uninteresting, and isn’t typically perceived as a ‘contrast.’ When staring at a minimalist white page with black letters, you think of a resume. Or a contract. Or any sort of bland, typical document that you encounter everyday. On the flip side, white text against a dark background punches you in the face… in a good way! The contrast alone is striking and visually pleasing, and so you soften up the tones with a dark brown or muted grey instead of black, throw in some pastel accent colours, and boom. You have Antalya Kabani’s recipe for the Ideal Website.

jellylift is born! (kind of…)

So of course, I hop on WordPress, and I’m instantly lost. Inspiration turns into rage, as I hopelessly edit the standard template with no clue where to find colours, text font, layout, and the whole thing is a mess (myself included.) After days spent looming over my laptop, I finally stumbled upon the ideal template, which gave me control over the few things I needed control over. The mess did not end, though. The chaos only continued as I attempted to figure out how exactly a page was different from a category, why posts were only showing up in one spot and how to move them, and how not to rip my hair out in the process. The most frustrating part was that I knew exactly how I wanted it to look. I just didn’t know how to make it look that way. In addition, my stubborn self refused to ask for help or find a Youtube video with a basic WordPress overview.

My biggest struggle was creating the “the fun part” page. I wished to have a static page with a small description, and for all of my posts to be displayed beneath that description, and then each of those posts to be accessible form their respective categories. I tried assigning “the fun part” as the “Posts page,” which I quickly realized would get rid of any other words or pictures on that page, and quite literally only be a page for posts.

I did not want that.

After some more troubleshooting, and finally swallowing my pride and asking a classmate for help, I decided to just add each individual post as an internal link, rather than uploading the post itself to that page. This worked out for the better, as it helps maintain the minimal look, and I have complete control over the visuals rather than the entire post being loaded on the one page. This moment felt like a huge achievement, as I felt I was finally getting the hang of this foreign software which I was starting to love and appreciate, rather than detest and resent.

the calm after the storm

All this aside, jellylift is still in its building phase, and is very under-developed. There isn’t much content on my site and despite many of my little accomplishments, there are still a few loose strings hanging from jellylift, including the currently absent site icon which only has a prototype design, making jellylift accessible, re-designing the home page, ensuring clarity in every corner of the site, and a handful of other little cleaning tasks that seem to have carved themselves on my to-do list.
Though surely enough, with each passing hour spent on jellylift, my personal cyberinfrastructure (Campbell, 2009) – my little corner of the web, will be sculpted like marble to not only reflect my interests and passions, but to inspire them and help them grow.

Gardner, C. (2009, September 4). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure. EDUCAUSE Review. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Me Asf

oh my god that’s so me

Honestly the ironic part about this is that I don’t take pre-workout. Because the one time that I did, I damn near died. But I can guarantee you, that one time when the pre did hit, this was so me.

Oh My God, She’s Mine.

my very first Jellycat

Okay, okay… I may have talked the talk a little bit with the Jellycats. I’ll admit that I have never actually owned a Jellycat, nor were they a part of my childhood. I have dozens of stuffed animals, which admittedly are each a defining part of my character, but if we really want to address the elephant in the room…

Then yeah. I’ve never actually owned a Jellycat… until now!

Everyone, meet Beebee.

Beebee in the loving arms of her new owner; Beebee in the new crib

She was given to me as a gift from a friend on Friday, January 20th, 2023. This friend is ironically the first person to have ever introduced me to Jellycat, so I find it incredibly fitting that my first Jellycat should be a gift from her. That being said, Beebee and her previous owner have some history, as Beebee is not a brand new Jellycat. She was originally a gift to my friend from her ex-girlfriend. Her and her girlfriend often used to spend unreasonable amounts of time browsing the Jellycat website, pointing out the silliest Jellycats, cutest Jellycats, softest-looking Jellycats, their favourite Jellycats, their dream Jellycats… until one day, her girlfriend finally purchased one as a birthday gift. It was an exciting moment for the both of them as well as for Beebee (who I’m sure was ecstatic to have a home.) Despite the excitement of a new Jellycat, the relationship slowly turned sour, and to my friend, Beebee was only a bitter reminder of what used to be. The relationship came to a messy end, and Beebee began collecting dust. The poor bashful baby sat for months in a closet, with no cozy bed to sit on and no snuggles to give; truly a modern day tragedy. The guilt ate at my friend, as she really did love her Jellycat… but Beebee simply brought up too many bad memories for my friend to keep her around.

And that’s where I enter Beebee’s story. My friend off-handedly mentioned giving her away, and one thing led to another, and the donation was made to yours truly. Just this past Friday, the adoption process was finalized, Beebee was beaming, I was elated, and after weeks of waiting and years of yearning a Jellycat now sits sweetly and patiently on my bed and she… she’s… Oh my god. She’s mine.

Beebee is a size large Blossom Bunny in the colour Silver, and is an absolute gem. The Blossom collection is identical to the Bashful collection, but the bunnies have a lovely floral print on the ears and feet. The Bashful collection is a fairly popular one, with endless colours and variations of Bashful Bunnies, Bashful Foxes, Bashful Turtles, and more. Beebee is not only my first Bashful/Blossom Bunny, but my very first Jellycat. And I will love her dearly and endlessly. Given that it is the Year of the Bunny, I’m inclined to believe that mine and Beebee’s meeting this year was destiny.

Oh! And what has this got to do with weightlifting, you ask?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
And that is the point.

Please give Beebee a virtual snuggle, she’s blog-shy.

Vision Board

When dreaming up jellylift, I instantly knew I wanted contrast. The nature of the themes (weightlifting and stuffed animals) already juxtapose themselves, and I was very excited to represent that visually. I wanted my vision board to feel like two separate collages that were cut out and pasted on top of each other. Originally, I had a paper rip to divide the two sides, but honestly just thought the lightning bolt looked cooler, so I made the change. I think that the creation of my vision board perfectly displayed the vision I had in my head, and implementing that into the website was a little bit tricky, but I managed to work through it to create something I’m very pleased with.