SAME SEX MARRAIGE REFERENDUM IN IRELAND. WHAT IT MEANS TO ME.

Hello Friends.

On May 22nd 2015 the people of Ireland will take to the poles and cast their vote on marriage equality in our state.

This is a long time coming and I have felt the urge to blog about this for the longest time but just unsure from which angle so I'm just going to speak to you from the heart.

Currently in this country same sex married couples don't have the same rights as heterosexual married couples. What does this mean for same sex couples? Where do our rights fall short? In a lot of areas in fact. I'm going to speak hypothetically to you now. If I was to marry my beloved, why would my marriage be different to others? In 2010 the government set the ball rolling for civil partnerships and in 2011 the first ceremonies took place.  A civil partnership does not give the same rights as a marriage certificate. The list of differences is quite long. But I'll go through with you the ones that hit close to home.

Lets start with children. The no campaigners seem to be using children as a way to encourage people to vote no with slogans such as 'surrocacy, she needs her mother for life not just for 9 months vote no'. So at the moment the state does not allow a legal relationship with both same sex parents and the child, only the biological one and because the state doesn't recognise a civil partnerships home as a family home but rather a shared home, this creates many limitations and has many implications also. One main implication being the death of the biological parent. If this was to happen the other parent would have no legal rights to their child and could quite possibly loose their child, circumstances depending. When we get marriage equality this will eliminate this and both parents will be recognised as legal guardians. A family home, at the moment is defined in the states eyes as a home with a married heterosexual couple at the helm and gives more rights to that home if ever it got into difficulty. This is not the case for a shared home and if for some reason a shared home with a same sex couple at the helm got into difficulty it may have many implications for the dependent children living in the home.

I find the no vote campaigners using children as a way of encouraging the people of Ireland to vote no the most frustrating. This is what makes my heart sink. I don't know if I want kids, YET. But I know I'll make a damn good parent and I've got the proof- I am legal guardian to 3 children! God forbid anything happens but that is FACT. I have been asked to be a god mother 3 times and I don't take that duty lightly. I have many children in my life (niece, nephew, MUCH younger siblings) and I love them all dearly. So what I am trying to say is, I will more than likely adopt when the time is right provided I am in a loving marriage and a secure home but I will have to fight for my kids. My kids will not happen via a mistake or a one night stand, because lets face it we know there are many many accidental pregnancies. And what about the poor unwanted children brought into this world? The poor little children that are put into care? The poor little children on the streets across the world over? Do these children not deserve a loving home with loving parents? Because I tell you now I would be honoured to provide for a child in need and mark my word I will. Are the no campaigners gonna clutch onto the straw of, 'surrocacy, because she needs a mother for life not just for 9 months vote no'. What do they say to the children in the situations I have just mentioned? Are they willing to deny children a GOOD LOVING home because of their potential parents sexual orientation?? I don't think so. If you are reading this (no voters) and this is your reasoning to vote no then you need to do some serious soul searching. Now I'm not saying that gay parents are perfect, no parents are but at the end of the day their families are planned, because they have to be. Now why shouldn't they have the same rights are heterosexual parents?????? Exactly.

I am sure you have read storeys on gay couples where one of them passes away and due to the family not accepting them and their partner, the family taking full control of their funeral and the widowed partner being left in the cold? No? Go surfing guys because there are many many stories out the there that will break your heart. So What would happen if my wife was on her death bed? Technically I would have no control over her treatment and no say in what happens to her. Because I don't have the right to. Them choices are down to her family. But if we had marriage equality they would be down to me.  Yes we can draw up wills etc... But what happens in case of emergencies? We are looking at the big picture.

So guys I could go round in circles all night trying to convince some of you to vote yes and point out multiple reasons as to why. But the truth is you know why. You know how important this is. I hope and I pray that we are victorious. It will be monumental. Ireland, will be the first country in the world to grant same sex marriage via a public vote, the first country in the world!!! Yes there are other country's that have same sex marriage equality but these rights where given via high court rulings or parliamentary votes. So lets set the right example. Part of me thinks that we've got this! But the more rational part of me knows that this is not the case. You have to vote! I repeat, You have to vote! And if you are between the ages of 18 and 25 do you know your age group are the least likely to vote but your age group has the highest percentage of potential yes voters? So its vital you vote. 

In the words of Macklemore ''a certificate isn't gonna solve it all but its a damn good place to start''. Marriage equality will not rid Ireland of homophobia we are a far cry of people not passing judgement and dispersion on the gay community but it will be one very big step closer to a lesser prejudice and discriminatory world. In my opinion, we are caught between 2 different generations. One that is accepting. Full stop. Doesn't give it a second thought. And another generation where a lot of the people still need convincing and I hate using that word but it seems the only word appropriate. They need to be convinced in more ways than one that the gay community have an equal place in society as them. They need to be convinced that gay people are here to stay and it is not a choice (because believe me you would not choose to be gay).  They need to convinced that being gay is normal. It may not be their normal but it is to thousands of people and that is OKAY! Being gay to me is as normal to me as being straight to you is. They need to be convinced to vote yes!!! It is also in my opinion that the next generation won't blink twice at a gay couple. Why? Because its normal! Because they are now growing up in a society where we are getting closer and closer to equality. Marraige equality will be proof of this. Marriage equality will improve the lifes of gay couples across our country. We are so close but its not over yet so please vote yes. 

Please feel free to leave me a comment letting me know your view and thoughts thank you for taking the time to read this.

 
Much Love and Same Love,

Amy xo

WEEK 5&6. Little Black Dress Challenge.

Hey guys,

I hope you're all well. Thanks popping by again and taking the time to read my post. This week I have weeks 6 and 7 wrapped up into one post, so not to bore you all! Have a read and see what we got up to.

WEEK 5

SESSION 1

With the finer weather and a beautiful evening in toe, Sean decided we'd go for a run tonight around the park right next to the venue we do our little black dress sessions in for the first half of the class. I decided to walk this tonight for 2 reasons- A: the first class had knocked my socks off (I do a body conditioning class before hand) and the trainers I wear are made for indoors and sadly are coming to the end of their life's, ha! So a new pair of runners for training in are high on my priority list. This time when I go to buy them I'll have gate analysis done in Elvery Sports. This is where they fit you with a trainer suited to your feet depended on the way you run and walk. I cannot stress how important the right foot wear is! I honestly feel my trainers are setting me back ever so slightly at the moment but I'll soon fix that ;). In the second part of the class we did kettle bells express.

SESSION 2

Oh Thursdays night class will go down in history as the toughest class I have ever put in!! (Ever so dramatic, I know LOL) In this week I trained A LOT. I put in more classes than I had in a long time- 7 in total plus our Sunday morning jog. And Thursday nights body conditioning class alone was, at the time, the toughest of the week until we entered into the little black dress training session. Tonight's class was boxercise cranked up more than just a notch. It was full blown intense! Have a read of my previous posts on these workouts in the little black dress challenge for full details on what we get up to in these classes.

WEEK 6

SESSION 1

Tonight's weather was just glorious as the rest of the week had been so Sean brought us for a run first. Well to be quite honest it was a fast pace walk/run. I have no shame in saying I cannot run as fast as the other girls in the class but as I have mentioned recently the FACT I can walk a fast pace without being killed with shin splints is quite an accomplishment to me. Each week I get stronger and stronger and soon I'll be running laps around the park. Sean is hugely motivating and he stays with us the entire way round pushing us on to go faster and faster. When we returned to the hall we did 30 minutes of kettle bells. I also have a post detailing what we do during this class as mentioned above. Again it was tough, tough as nails in fact and with the warmer weather, it certainly didn't help! But it was a great fun class!!

SESSION 2

Wait for it......

This has definitely been the toughest class I have put in the Little black Dress Challenge so far- so let me break down the class for you via bullet points in order of what we did-

- WARM UP
SPRINTS UP AND DOWN THE HALL
LUNGES UP AND DOWN THE HALL
SIDE WARD SKIPS UP AND DOWN THE HALL
KNEE UPS UP AND DOWN THE HALL
BACK KICKS UP UP AND DOWN THE HALL
AND SPRINTS UP AND DOWN THE HALL AGAIN!
(and that was just the warm up)

We then grabbed our pads and gloves, partnered up and we where ready to go, and we did as follows-

-SIDE KICKS
Basically we side kicked the pads whilst hoping up and down the hall. Very difficult indeed! I felt muscles move in my legs I didn't even know I had!

-FRONT KICKS
Here our partners held the pads waist high for us to reach, to say I mimicked something of an elephant looking cancan would be an under statement.

-KNEE UPS
Like we have never done knee ups before. our partners met us with the pads as we brought our knees up as far up as possible. Here I felt like I was taking out my frustration on a foot pump on an air bed for dear life LOL.

-LUNGE UPPER CUTS
We came down into a lunge and we came up out of our stance we punched into the pads continuously.

All the above moves we did for 3 minutes each!

NOW if that doesn't sound like enough Sean threw in some HIT (high intensity training) for good measure and that went as follows:

-sprints for 30 seconds
-mountain climbers 30 seconds
both for 3 minutes in total

-bare crawls for 30 seconds
-side to side push ups for 30 seconds
both for 3 minutes in total

-bicycles for 30 seconds
-jumping jacks for 30 seconds
both for 3 minutes in total

The idea behind this hit style training is to increase our metabolic system. Which (from my understanding) is our system that burns fat and by doing this intense training we increase our metabolic systems time to BURN fat, so basically after the workout our body's are still burning fat for a short amount of time while we can sit and watch TV! Sean has done HIT programmes in the past and all his participants have seen amazing results. You have to have a fairly high fitness level to participate in these courses but in due time I will put my name down for one!

Then we where onto abs- sit ups, bicycles and planks- our usual. Then we stretched it out and we where done!!

Next week is the penultimate little black dress week!
Where has the time gone?... 

 

Thanks for reading this guys, I'll be back very soon!

Much Love,

Amy xo

WEEK 4. Little Black Dress Challenge.

WEEK 4

Hi Guys!

Well we are just about half way through the 8 week, which will now run into 9 weeks, Little Black Dress Challenge. The reasons for this is because bank holidays and public holidays have fallen onto the same days as the classes so we're going over time slightly. Its time to knuckle down! As you seen in last weeks post I missed a class due to a hand injury which is 100 times better now. After our warm up jog, we where down to business. So lets see what Sean had in store for us this week...

The stations where as follows:

BATTLE ROPES

SQUATS USING A...... 10KG BALL

UPRIGHT ROWS

WALKING LUNGES

JOGGING

T PUSH UPS

KETTLE BELL SWING

BACK KICKS

TRICEPS DIPS

KETTLE BELL FIGURE 8

Here's how I get on with each station...
  
Battle Ropes

I have been using battle ropes for sometime now. Sean (our class instructor) is also my personal trainer and he has been incorporating battle ropes into training sessions since we began working together, (more or less). I might do a post on a 6 week cycle of personal training too ;). I find these incredibly tough, especially at the beginning but once I found my form I became stronger. Now having said that I still STRUGGLED with the 1.5 minutes I was on the station! For this you create waves with the VERY HEAVY ropes while in a semi squat position. This is the ultimate arm work-out, well it is for me in anyways!!! 

Squats with a 10kg ball

Oh my goodness! Have you ever lifted a 10 kg medicine ball?  This takes so much strength to complete without dropping the ball within the minute and half Sean had set out for us. Bearing in mind my hand is still quite weak and healing but nonetheless I gave it a lash. I think posture comes into play big time in this exercise. Resistance training at its finest.

Up Right Rows

When I first started training I had VERY little upper body strength. But little by little its been getting stronger (still a LONG way to go) but what I have learned in this exercise besides how important correct posture is, is that its one thing to lift the bar bell up and down like its a piece of string and get nothing from it, than putting effort into each lift.  This is resistance training and once I have my correct form or Sean has reminded of so, I put all I have into getting a proper arm work out with this bad boy. I feel it all in my biceps and triceps and I also be feeling it for days after! (GOOD PAIN) I never want to be without this good pain. And I sweat bullets on this station!  Effective or what!!!

Walking Lunges

Ah lunges! It helps with good balance and also serves as a reminder of how strong my right side is in comparison to my left side! So while on this station I am so aware of my left side and focus in on pushing it that much harder and it's working! I still can't get my left leg quite as low as my right one but I'm working on it. 

Jogging

This time 2 years ago a mere 100 yard walk had me in so much pain with shin splints! To the point of tears some days so the fact that I can even run solid for more than a minute is probably my biggest achievement to date. I love jogging especially if there is a good beat on in the hall. Its liberating.

T Push Ups

OK!!! So I cheat a little bit here and I come down on all 4's into a box push up but I'm sure in time to come I'll be well able for a regular push up but until then, the box push up with a T does me just fine! Now Truth- I find this very difficult on the arms. Its probably the most challenging exercise in that area for me but again its effective and what ever it is about working out my upper body I sweat like a mofo. And that's fine!

Kettle Bell Swing

Kettle bell swings would be fairly straight forward for me. Its all about the hips in this one. Snapping them back and swinging the bell to face level.

Back Kicks

Another cardio station that gets the pulse going. Basically my aim is to give myself a kick in the  a** LOL getting the arms invloved. What better way eh?....

Triceps Dips
 Triceps Dips have always been one of the hardest stations for me. It feels like you're putting all your body weight on your triceps (which we are) and moving up and down. This on top of battle ropes and push ups, my arms do be burning for days!

Kettle Bell Figure 8
I find this 'okayish'. Staying in the semi squat position while moving the kettle bells in a figure 8 can be brutal!

We stayed on each station for a minute and half and we did a 5 minute jog in the interval (no one said this was going to be easy ;)) and we did the circuit again. And we finished off the class with an abs workout consisting off bicycles, situps and plank. I feel the need to work on my core a lot. While I feel my leg muscles have gotten much stronger along with my arms, I feel the need to focus on my core muscles at the moment. I feel I am lacking there. I always get some sort of training in on my own time so my core will be actioned next :).

As the weeks are going on the classes are getting more and more intense and still as enjoyable! I love it!! Yes its hard but getting the endorphins racing puts you into such a good form like nothing else.

Back to normal this week with our 2 classes and my regular Sunday time post. 

Thanks so much for reading this guys! 

Much Love,

Amy xo