2011 looms

We say good-bye to another decade with 2010 and welcome in the beginning of a new decade in 2011!  Happy festivities and remember- resolutions are overrated.  See you in the new year!

a year in the movies

Whether you've kept up with all of the films of 2010 or not, here's a montage of all of the movies from throughout this past year.  I haven't seen nearly all of these, but it sure does make me crave some extra buttery popcorn and surround sound...

boxing day

'Tis boxing day.  I came back to the city from a 3 day holiday last night in order to get up before the sun this morning in time for a crazy day in retail.  Absolutely exhausting day, what- with 50% sales on all clothes at a pricey boutique, of course you can expect people to be utterly seduced into the store.

After work, I decided to wean myself back into the hustle of work/non-holidays by simply watching a movie that I got from my sister from Alaska for Christmas: Eat Pray Love (thanks sis!).  I'd seen it before in theatres, so I allowed myself to curl up on the couch and snooze throughout most of it.  Just nice to have the hum of it on.

Since my roommates and I are switching over to Shaw from MTS, our internet is out until tomorrow.  I figured I should at least check the email before I turn in (and maybe post a blog), so I headed on over to my neighbourhood Starbucks for a cup of tea.  So here I sit almost ready to head home to bed.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and if it's not quite over with family gatherings etc, I hope you continue to savour it!  I am going for a sleigh ride with my extended family on January 2 (haven't done that since childhood!).

via {wit + delight}

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Fun Fact of the day:  I've never actually been shopping on boxing day.  I don't mind.

merry christmas

Merry Christmas Eve today and an early MERRY CHRISTMAS since I will be busy celebrating with family all day tomorrow.  Blessings to all of you and enjoy what you have of the holidays.

Cheers!

a night in

Currently listening to the dazzlers Ms. Ella Fitzgerald and Ms. Billie Holiday while editing pictures from last nights Girls With Pearls event my girl Jenner put on in honour of the holiday dresses hanging in all of our closets waiting to be donned.

No posts for most of the week since I've literally had something up every night- from wings to crafts to spending 4.5 hours in a Second Cup by a fireplace.  Retail at Christmas also seems to really drain a person.  That flu bug going around better not hit me...

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ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

just one of those mondays

(photos via { wit + delight })

arts & crafts

 

1. Meghan came over to be styled yesterday for a Christmas banquet (not that she needs a lot of help, that trendy little girl!).  I need to feature her on my blog more.  What a creative person!  2. The beginning of my arts 'n crafts escapade where I will attempt to make Christmas cards for everyone.  3. After the process began.  Sorry to my dear sister and brother in Alaska for being my first card (it usually only goes uphill from attempt one...).  I hope you still like it!  4. Comfy knit socks with pom-poms I purchased for evenings in like this.  Clearly I have this paired with my huge oversized knit sweater (both from Joe Fresh!).

making a list and checking it twice

Excerpt from my previous blog: "shopping to do, movies to see, curry to make, and Bodies to view."

Well, I have completed almost all of those items listed.

Shopping to do:  Now I can't tell you about that, after all Christmas presents are supposed to be a surprise, aren't they?

Movies to see:  Tuesday is cheap night at Cheap Seats.  For a mere $1.50, my sister and I were able to see the movie Never Let Me Go that I mentioned in a past post.  My sister and I both shed a few tears; it was a sad story but also incredibly thought-provoking.  It was also simply beautiful, aesthetically, psychologically, & emotionally.

Curry to make:  I hung out with my friend Stacey yesterday and her dear little 6 month old babe.  She taught me how to make authentic Moroccan curry (I enjoyed watching rather than participating, with her having gone through culinary school and all...).  It was absolutely delicious.  A tip I remember: alternate "hot" and "cold" ingredients while adding them.

Bodies to view:  I just got back tonight from seeing the Bodies Exhibit put on at the MTS Centre.  I actually saw the Body World exhibit a couple of years ago while it was in Minneapolis.  The latter is actually from a Germany company whereas Bodies (the one in Wpg) is from China.  It was interesting to compare the differences between the two exhibits.  I realize that there was a controversy with this Bodies exhibit where there is debate that the bodies were taken from prisons as unclaimed prisoners  (the Body World exhibit's bodies come from donors specifically for this exhibit/research).  Despite the controversy, it was very interesting and it's always nice to rebuff the old educational parts of the brain.

(I say this list is "almost" complete because there is still some Christmas shopping left to do!)

Tomorrow is my day off and I get to go for brunch with my girl Meg-o, make a pit stop at Michael's for some arts and crafty things, and then the party-party for Mr. Saint in the evening.
Cheers!

hometown glory

I spent this weekend in Winkler-town.  My first full weekend off in awhile.  Main reason for visit?: my 8th and final wedding of 2010!  'Twas for my old friend since junior high and one time housemate (aka "Spouse"), Heidi.  It was lovely with a classic theme of black, white, & red.  Decorated with Christmasy touches, it felt very festive and wedding-ly at the same time.  It was an almost flawless evening, save for one detail....

Two minutes before I was to jet out the door to meet my ride, I heard a heart stopping rrrriiipppp.  My skirt had split thoroughly down the seam in the back.  Oh no....no no no no no.  This only happens in movies!!!  I looked at my mum with a look that combined absolute horror, yet a hint of hilarity.  A dash was made to the sewing machine and the seam was mended in a matter of tops 3 minutes.  Thank goodness for sewing machines.  Thanks mum.

It was also a wonderful time being able to set up the Christmas tree with my mum.  Like for many families growing up, it had always been something that we looked forward to.  Having been absent from the home due to school/sports around the time that it went up over the last couple of years, it was nice to finally be the one to do it.

Now it's back to a full, busy week in the Peg with a schedule of shopping to do, movies to see, curry to make,  & Bodies to view.

a home in a nook on a hill

Some super photos that I found on some blogs I follow.

The first is a home layout that I love.  If I had my own way, I'd follow some of that homeowners tips and tricks.  Can't even handle the amazing wall art...I'll try my hand at it.

I used to build forts all the time when I was younger.  Not even lying, I was hardcore; I even went to the lengths of fun-tacking one of my favourite childhood blankies to the wall to make it work (residue still remains to this day).  Hence, I thoroughly enjoyed this second picture of the new, adult version of a fort.  I want!

The third is just plain cool.  Time to go to Belgium.

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Fun Fact of the day:  I watched Love Actually again with my sister on Sunday...that's twice in less than a week.

Benjamin

My November Brain:

1.   Owls are super neat; I'm seriously drawn to their mystery

2.   Grandpa sweaters

3.   Harry Potter
4.   White Zinfandels (interesting)
5.   Copenhagen
6.   Stockholm
7.   Big, comfy, fluffy blankets
8.   The new facebook chat noise is soothing- no more irritating pop
9.   Where is all my money going?!
10.  I need some wooly socks
11.  I want to go skating this winter
12.  When people continue to write "Dear _____," in their status or on someone's wall, it makes me want to punch something hard and ditch facebook forever
13.  Bake chocolate chip banana muffins (seriously, I've been meaning to all month...)
14.  Need to quit trying to figure out the next step in life, it makes me feel dumb...and poor
15.  I'd like to buffer up my sketching skills
16.  Maybe paint a picture
17.  I need a bigger closet...or an external rack...or a bigger room
18.  I want a cat...so bad
19.  Forgot how much I love rice soup
20.  Someone get me Motivation for Christmas

he saw it

“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”


- Maurice Sendak (illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are)
[Found on http://lost.net.au/vic/]

actually, love

Roommate Cait and I made a pact that we would watch my all time favourite movie on the first day that it snowed.  This movie happens to be Love Actually.  I would watch it all year 'round no matter the fact that it takes place at Christmas: a sunny summer day to spend how I choose?  How about Love Actually!?  Despite the fact that there are zillions of amazing movies out there, this is just a movie that I can watch over and over and over and over again...  (Cam, remember when we all discussed our favourite movies in Media class?  Yeah, same.)  Best movie ever and it is just all that much better when you can get excited about Christmas with the characters!  Gotta love BBC.  Unfortunately, snow happened to come on a day when we were both so busy that we didn't get to watch it!  So tonight (with both of us having a day off tomorrow), we are going to snuggle down with some tea and one of the greatest movies ever made.  Mmmm, a movie that just warms me right up despite the chill outside...

(Completely fed up with all the preceding horrible photos of us where we actually smiled, so we gave up & went with this)

Pretty sure most of you men out there wouldn't love it, but it has Rowan Atkinson in it!

mandarin

A month ago, I sat outside in my short sleeves.  Apparently, winter has finally decided to grace us with its fluffy presence.  This whole not-being-in-school thing that I keep referring to seriously makes everything that once seemed regular or (I don't really know the term I'm looking for) those 'mundane'-on-the-verge-of-or-even-on-par-with-'exasperating' common occurrences seem new again.  I'm talking about winter in general.

For example, on the first day of this big snow dump (meaning Thursday morning after it began Wednesday evening), I had to get up early, shovel my car out, scrape the windshield/de-snow the car, and actually let the car run awhile while doing so for it to warm up before driving it (not to mention simply hoping it would start- you see, for the past 4 years, I've lived in dorms/apartments with landlords who do the shovelling...I was always just concerned with walking in the damned cold).  After all this, I arrive at work before my key-holder only to get a call from her saying that she's stuck.  A short time later, she floats (yes, floats) across the snow in front of my store and promptly gets stuck again.  She got stuck on Queenston, she aimed to park on Brock....I pushed her car an entire block (about a 15-20 minute process).  Needless to say, that was my first of that for the winter season.  Here's the horrible equation:

Ridiculously light sports car + non-winter tires = nope.

It's funny though, remember how I mentioned awhile back when it first lightly snowed and I enjoyed it?  Well, I can't say I'm loooooving the snow right now, but to be honest, I'm really not hating it.  Even after my huge Thursday morning ordeal.  I'm shivering to the bone, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my car will start, I'm driving slower than I like, yet still I'm not cursing the world for its frigid state.  But like I also mentioned, I know that I will yearn for the warmth again.  All's I'm sayin' is that I'm not Holly Hater right now, and I'm savouring it while it lasts.

Probably Christmas anticipation.

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Fun Fact of the day:  I ate my first Christmas orange this week.  I actually stopped before my first bite, closed my eyes, and let the Christmas memories and excitement flood my mind.  Got my roommate in on it too.  Loved it so much, I bought a box of them today.  Om nom nom!

scotch & soda

We got in a line at my work the other day called Scotch & Soda.  I quite like it.  It's a line that is based out of Amsterdam (I want to go to the Netherlands so badly!) and is generally inexpensive (for my stores price range, that is).

Problem: we only got it in men's.

Sometimes I just want to raid the mens section for their awesome clothes (not that the women's section isn't good)!  So I checked out the Scotch & Soda website to see more of their stuff and the women's line.  It was a pleasant surprise to have the homepage playing just the best, most relaxing music.

 And oh lordy, elbow patches for girls!:

The clothes are pretty basic, but I think I just might be in love with the way they present the clothes.  How do you not think they're great by the photos (like the ones I've attached- go to the website for more!).

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I'm also just going to point out that everything seems so much cooler with the word "scotch" attached to it (only exception is scotch tape).  But when I think of scotch, I think of Scotland.  And when I think of Scotland, I think of only good things.  For instance, this nail polish:

Aside from the colours being so amazing, the name and name tag just make it first-class in my mind.

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Now that everything I've talked about has been very materialistic, I'll redeem myself by saying that I'm super excited to hang out with my dearest Meghan on Wednesday and then play a little basketball and then some volleyball to follow.  Shall be a great day!

And now I can't end without writing that I looked through a friends facebook album of her trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida!  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I can't believe I am not there!  It's safe to say that I'm significantly obsessed with HP and have always had a pretty vivid imagination; therefore, it's also safe to say that I've always imagined myself in Potter's world.

Crap.

I wanna go.

dream a little dream of me

Ever have a dream about someone and it was such a weird or hilarious dream and would be so funny to tell the person, however, unfortunately, it just had to be that one person that it would be so ridiculously awkward to have them know you're dreaming about them?

Yeah, I'm in that situation right now.

Hmm...

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Anyway, I was browsing this online blog from Sweden and I just like some of the fun photographs, so I thought I'd share with you!

lest we forget

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Annie

I will be printing these off and framing them to add some spark to my living room here on my little Bay.

I believe they're found on etsy.com, however, I do not have a credit card (which is probably a good decision...although there are benefits............). This'll be cheaper, too. I need to get around to more DIY's anyway. Should be fun! Speaking of DIY's, I'll post a picture of my mini DIY project from last summer soon (Meg-o knows which one I speak of).

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Excitement:

I can't wait to see this movie:

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(In reference to the title of the blog, I've decided that if I can't think of a blog post title, the post shall simply be given the name of a person).

return of the dragon

Part 2 of some familiar faces:

Saint Kris - Return of the Dragon from Nice! Productions on Vimeo.

extra ginger

More ginger beauties to make me crave the switch.

fire

Check out this darling apartment that is being rented out for the week following up to Christmas. It's actually the New York home of a blogger A Cup of Jo who also writes for magazines as well, but she and her family seem to be taking a week holiday. Here's what she says of the place:

We live in the heart of Greenwich Village (aka the West Village), a charming downtown Manhattan neighborhood with treelined cobblestone streets, romantic restaurants, cheese shops, fabulous boutiques and the famous Magnolia Bakery -- and we're just one block from the Friends apartment! Our apartment is very centrally located and convenient to public transportation. We have a large living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms with double beds, so 1-4 people can sleep very comfortably.

How cool would that be to stay for a week in such a perfect location and that homey type atmosphere!

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Anyway, it's my day off and I stayed up late and slept in late. I should probably get outside and go for a run while the delightful November weather is still sticking around. There's more motivation on top of it that there's a cheque waiting for me on the other side of that run (this is a destination run).

Interest of the day- I've been having a hankering to dye my hair red, comme ca:

My oldest sister has hair similar to that, only a bit darker, and I love it (that's right, Andrea, I do!). I love my blonde hair, but sometimes I really would love a good change. We'll see what happens. It's kind of fun, though, knowing that my oldest sister has auburn hair, my second oldest sister has brown, chestnut hair, and I'm the blonde haired one. (I get a kick out of braiding a lock of all our hair together...while it's still attached on our heads...no shame).

So, we'll see if I ever do switch it up (I did it in grade 8, but that looked bad 'cause it turned out more orange and I had a short pixie cut).

Thoughts?

no matter how it ends, no matter how it starts

Today is my parents anniversary! 31 years isn't too shabby. Happy Anniversary mumsie and papa!

Lennie just made a post about Christmas, and I'd just like to respond to that and say that I, too, am so excited for Christmas. Not because of the commercialism, but because being with family always makes me really happy. Not to mention I absolutely adore the atmosphere of dim lights, candles burning, soft music playing (John Michael Talbot, for example...he's a monk), fire crackling in the fireplace, mom's tasty dainties, and soft snow on the ground.

And I love presents.

Yeah, I said snow. It's weird, over the last while, I have really been loving the "dreary" weather and haven't really minded the cold so much! (No, I am not depressed). Honestly though, on the many consecutive days we had of rainfall this summer/fall, I really wasn't too bummed out about it, despite everyone's groaning. Sure, I was really pumped to get outside when the sun was out shining and warming my skin, but I wasn't grudgingly moaning about "uuuugh, my haaaaaaaiiir" or "OMG, why can't I ever go to the beach?!" (to be honest, I haven't been to the beach in 2 years....other than my stint in Florida for volleyball last November). No- I am quite happy carrying on my day despite the state of the clouds (minus tornados. Those things make me stay put...). In fact, I am a fair representation of my family: we enjoy sitting inside with a good book and a cup-o-hot tea. Now- back to the snow. Normally, I would be on the verge of (angry) tears at the first snowfall. Our first snow fall has come and gone, and I enjoyed it! What?! I was out for dinner at J. Fox's on Academy after work with a newer friend of mine and it was lovely walking outside after amongst the other strolling folk under a navy sky with the lightly falling snow being lit by the soft glow of street lamps (<--some cliché descriptive writing for you). I do find the snow quite pretty. Perhaps I'll knock on wood now and save myself eating my words in about 2-3 months time... Hopefully my old (generally trusty) car doesn't die on me in the dead of winter. I'll feast on my words then.

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Random Notes:

• I'd like to wear my hair like this:

Simple knots! I just know that I would need a lot of hair spray.... A lot.

• And the boots I ordered just arrived to my doorstep today- Hooray!

• I've been listening to a lot of Radiohead again lately.

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Done with this random (and long) post.

Cheers!

big things happening in the streets of wpg

You may have seen it here, here, or here already, but for those of you who don't know these people, I'm proud to call them my friends. Look at the coolness they're making! Big things happening...

Saint Kris - Cool Ya Off from Nice! Productions on Vimeo.

Happy November. Wear your poppies!

edelweiss

I'd like to go shopping for:

1. Big knit anything; in this case, a sweet braided head accessory. 2. Elbow patches. There are boys sweaters at our store that have them, and I want some for the ladies! 3. Nautical stripes. Burberry style coats. Nautical stripes with Burberry style coats (with the sleeves poking out).

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Fun Fact of the day: Today on Oprah, the entire cast of the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music was on! So happy. So, so, so, so happy.