may 30

It's my 23rd birthday today!!

Despite some less than exciting things that have been going on the past few number of weeks, I am encouraged to know that I have the great blessing of celebrating another year of healthy life with so many amazingly wonderful people around me who's love I am reminded of by the amount of messages I have been receiving today.

I don't care what some people say about facebook birthday messages being lame or impersonal, the fact is, they took the time to wish you a happy birthday and let you know they were thinking of you for at least a brief moment of their day in a well-wishing way no matter how much or little contact you have with them on a regular basis.  It's a great way to wake up in the morning and see the generous amount of love in your inbox and on your cell phone.

Here's to health, life, love, & happiness!

Cheers!

the unofficial bucket list

Know what would be fun?  Cycling around a foreign city...like Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, or Switzerland.  I've been seeing a lot of pictures of cyclists all over blogs I read, but for some reason today made me really want to do some bike tours in the spring in Northern Europe particularly.

I don't really bike here in Winnipeg even though I have a fully functional bike.  It's just European cities actually have streets devoted to cyclists and you can even just rent a bike.  Here in Winnipeg there are pathways, but not like there.  I just don't feel very safe biking here...

(Of course we all know I want to go to Europe, it's the idea of cycling that's significantly appealing all of a sudden.  I mean, my favourite way of getting cardio in a workout is on the bikes...).

I've never made a bucket list, but perhaps this'll be on it.

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Fun Fact of the day:  It's my Michael Jordan birthday tomorrow!

twin cities

Now that it's already Wednesday, I suppose a quick synopsis of my long weekend should suffice.

I'll tell you this: it was so great to be together as a whole family again.  A weekend isn't long enough to be with loved ones when you have no idea what-so-ever when you'll see them again.  It was great to just be together despite the miserable rainy weather that stopped us from doing any elaborate perusing of the city.

Naturally, we shopped a la Mall of America (camped out in H&M for awhile) & IKEA.  We ate out at some amazing restaurants (all in an affordable price range).  We hot tubbed.  We lounged in the hotel bar.  And we evaded getting pummelled by the 3 tornados that hit Northern Minneapolis while we were there...the tornado sirens and nasty clouds did enough damage to my nerves.

Here's a random collections of pictures from my weekend-

My first glass of wine since having mono at my early birthday family dinner

Attempting my first "zoom burst"

An organic restaurant called The Good Earth that was soooo good.
Recommended Minneapolis visit every time. Waiter Tyler was delightful too.

Tiramisu

Andrea and her espresso

Crepes at the MOA

Last two of Nonna Rosa's

Reimer girls keep it classy with a tailgate party

le weekend

Went on a date with my favourite guy yesterday- dinner at my favourite restaurant Stella's and a movie where we went to the cheap seats and saw Arthur.  We came back to my place for ice-cream...it was free  with no lineups that way.  It was a nice send off for the long weekend as I head to Minneapolis with my family for the much anticipated reunion!

Happy long weekendings lovelies!

Smith No. 15

Amazing weather called for me sitting outside on the front steps to read this afternoon.  It was a perfect day: warm (not hot) with a breeze.

Would have been a good day for something like this (cool vintage packaging too):

A friend and I were saying today that it felt more like July than May...not sure why.  We were out for dinner at Deseo Bistro on Albert St in the Exchange District with a few people for a friends birthday.  I had one of the specials that consisted of rice, arugula, sweet potatoes, & goat cheese mixed in some sort of sauce (didn't have a name- it was that 'special').  It was pretty good; not phenomenal, but better than alright.

Friday I'll be headed to Minneapolis with my family to see my sister and brother-in-law who are coming out from Alaska!  I am so excited to see them and get away for awhile.

Shopping is a given...

if the world had no cancer

In memory of a hometown friend who passed away on Sunday...

Reba Dookhie Tillyer 1988-2011

FUCK CANCER

bell bottoms

I was headed to bed, when I suddenly stumbled upon a blog post from A Cup of Jo about my past.  Actually, it was a post about Do-It-Yourself Bell Bottoms.  I clicked the link and memories of my early years flooded my brain!

 My oldest sister, Andrea, was an avid clothing-alterer (which my other sister Meag followed suit in.  I wasn't so skilled with the sewing machine at that point) and was never one to really stay within the lines of your typical trend (I wanted to be just like her, the pre-teen that I was...too bad that by the time I always got the hand-me-downs, my sisters were both over that phase and I was definitely not rocking it like they were...ha!).

The "DIY bell bottom jean" was a specialty of hers...

How interesting is it how now, in 2011, this has become fashionable as opposed to the grungy, hipster vibe she was displaying in the late 90's/early 00's!

Andrea, you trend-setter you!  Pat on the back.

clean house

I'm sure you all know the feeling.  A wave of inspiration/motivation suddenly takes you over and you stop what you were doing, despite how into it you might have been, and commence a completely new project with that drive...you don't know how long it'll last, so go with it while it's there!

In particular, I'm talking about cleaning.

Being at home almost every day can get a little boring, especially if you're not sick enough to be bed-ridden all day anymore, but not quite brisk enough to be back at work.

Today I had the urge to clean house.  Literally.  With both of the roommates out for the day (actually one's jetted off to Sweden temporarily- cue jealousy), I had the house to myself (and the desire) to straighten up the place that had gotten a little depressing over the winter months...  They don't call it spring cleaning for nothing!

I ain't no cleaning freak, but I do appreciate a clean, tidy place that makes me feel at home.  Besides, it's nice to bring some freshness from outside indoors.

Goodness, now I sound like some domestic freak...I am not.  Cleaning a house usually isn't a big blogbuster (get it?  BLOCKbuster...? You can use that if you want), but considering I've literally done lots of nothing lately, this is the most motivated I've been in the past few weeks so I'm pumped.

i'll be dropping their names in the future

My friend Jennie has always been one for the fashions- check out her official fashion blog HERE.  My friend Kris (aka Saint Kris) is an up and comer local hip-hop artist.  My friend Cam is probably going to make some big moneys with his video skills someday (Cam, we started our blogs on the same day in class...you now have almost thrice the followers as me!).

Here's a collaboration of their skills:

J. Lofthouse: Saint Kris Photoshoot from Nice! Productions on Vimeo.

to my mum

 To my mum on Mother's Day: 

I love you!

"My mother's love for me was so great, I have worked hard to justify it."

-Marc Chagall

picture thursday

1.  I'm just a sucker for cute pictures of fluffy animals...  Although I've never really wanted a bunny as a pet.  They're mean.  2.  Super awesome portrait of Amy Poehler; I'd like to take one of someone like this.  3.  Suitable for the amazing spring temperatures we're experiencing this week.  4.  I thought that was a deer for the longest time.  Turns out it's a dog.  Who knew?  5.  Currently my desktop picture- I'm dreaming of the UK countryside.  *sigh*  6.  How cool does that cake look?!  I love cake...

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Now, I didn't take any of these pics and I'm horrible with crediting where I got them, but they're more than likely from one of the blogs I've linked down the right of my blog under "Daily's"! -->