happy hallowe'en!

Two years ago, I was a schoolgirl with her nerd. A year ago, I was a senorita named Rita. This year for Halloween? I'm dressing as an essay-writer ... so basically, my regular attire, my computer, and two books all ready to duke it out and write a paper that's due tomorrow. Spooky, huh? (insert Debbie Downer music here)

The main reason why I've continued to dress up over the years is because one of my best friends' birthdays happens to fall on Halloween, so the two went hand-in-hand. This time, due to work, we had to celebrate early so we just dressed up as ladies celebrating a birthday :)

Four best friends that a gal could ask for :)

Me with the birthday girl!

The night involved delicious food, cupcakes, catching up on life, meeting some pet rats (and surprisingly not being disgusted by it), and having a few more shots of vodka than I had anticipated to (but I was fiiiiiiiine, hehe). Now I'm just expecting to curse anyone who dares to ding-dong on our door for candy while I'm writing my paper :P

As for the rest of my week? Well, I dyed my hair! The box on the right a few posts ago ended up being the winner, and I ended up with more or less the same hair colour as before - just a tad lighter with a reddish pop :) And my second highlight of the week involved a surprise from The Boy - our loaded schedules mean that sometimes Wednesday nights is our only real night to spend together and this past one involved:

A delicious meal in the form of spaghetti, palacsinta (Hungarian crepes, recipe of the week!) and wine complete with candlelight.

That classic cliche that the way through a man's heart is through his stomach? The same can be applied to me. I was shocked and touched :) It was a perfect meal but it raised the stakes ... what should I cook for him for the next surprise dinner? *Suggestions gratefully welcomed :)* 

And I'm slowly starting to get into the swing of things blog-wise; it's the first month since May that I've actually made more than six posts in a month so that's an improvement? But I definitely need to catch up, so bare with me and thanks, as always, for sticking by here and for being amazing bloggers.

Now, I must ask:

What did you do this Hallowe'en weekend?

And what's the creepiest thing that's ever happened to you?

I'm trying to remember the most creepiest. The main things that come to mind are gross men on buses or the time that it was stormy and I was hanging out at a friend's house. When the rain fell softly, we decided to take a stroll to the pizza store to get some food, and there were WORMS ALL OVER THE SIDEWALK. I hate wooooooorms, their squirmy bodies all over the sidewalk and you don't want to step on them so you tiptoe all around them bleerghhhh.

Oh, or the time that me and my co-workers were sitting in the staff room at the high school and suddenly some woman came over the speakerphone on the phone nearby and went, "Heeeellooooooo?" in the creepiest high-pitched voice. I used to write 'creepy' as 'creppy' ... and yes. Hope you all have a great start to November! 

what made my week

Whoop whoop, it's the weekend again! Since I haven't posted in about a week, I thought I'd give a condensed version of things I enjoyed this week (in no particular order) before moving on to a tag :)

+ PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES! Finally had my first one of the season on Friday night while catching up with a best friend. Yes'm, I do love me some Arbuck Coffee (hehe).

+ Live streaming television. I'm a hardcore X Factor fan from Canada; so grateful for online streams.

+ Talking to my sister on the phone for the first time in forever. And hearing my adorable niece talking about a boy in her preschool, too cute.

+ Sleepovers. Love cuddling, and I love being out of the house for a night.

+ Seeing Life As We Know It in the theatres. I will always be a Katherine Heigl chickflick lover, no shame! Really enjoyed that movie, especially since they reference Keanu Reeves ... which will hopefully make him happier. 

+ Amazing bloggers who give great feedback and who provide such amazing material to read.

+ SNAIL MAIL! Kym literally made my mid-week amazing with this package that had coffee candy, Engrishy wrapping, and funny cough drops ... thank you cats!

+ And what made the package even more special were two amazing buttons from her herro hachi line - she sent me a female and male neeenja! which I didn't expect, thank you again! I decided to give the male neeenja! to The Boy, who noticed half a day later that mine had a bow and thought the buttons were even more adorable, haha. My button is now adorned on my favourite school bag.

+ Essay extensions that I didn't even ask for. Makes me a happy schoolgirl. 

-------------------------------

And now, the lovely Leesh tagged me in a little questionnaire! :) The way this goes is I answer her 8 questions, then I make up 8 of my own and tag 8 awesome bloggers to answer them.

1. What's your Starbucks drink?

Automatically feel like this questionnaire was made for me, haha. It varies on the season - in Vancouver, I had a gazillion and one Tall Light Caramel Frappuccinos, now no doubt it's Pumpkin Spice Latte, and then in a month or so it will be a Peppermint Mocha. Mmm. Makes me wish I had more than four Starbucks in my ENTIRE city.

2. What movie do you like better - Sex and the City or The Devil Wear Prada?

To be honest, I barely remember The Devil Wears Prada (I think I watched it when I was ill) and I prefer the Sex and the City show to the films, but I guess that one!

3. What's your token fall fashion item?
Definitely pashmina scarves ... and my oxford heels.

4. Your cable is out and the TV fairy is allowing you to pick one boxed set to watch, what show do you choose?
FRIENDS, without a doubt. 10 seasons of laughs :)

5. What's your favorite ice cream flavour?
Oooo ... chocolate chip cookie dough is one of my favourites. And Drumsticks.

6. What's your go-to food when you are having a bad day?
I have a tendency to drink my calories - so hot chocolate right now. Or popcorn.

7. You get to choose a free trip, do you choose a beach or city vacation?
AHH SO TOUGH! Can't I have both?! Ooo, I'll choose a city that has a beach, bwahahaha.

8. What's the first thing you do when you get home from work? 

For me, work = school. First thing I do is take a dive into my hot tub ... no, I kid, I turn on the computer /nerd.

The eight people I tag with this are ChinkyMel, Patikym, Animated Confessions, La Midge, While We're Waiting, Little Tiara, One Long Road, and anyone else who wants to answer the following eight questions: 1) What's something you like to collect?; 2) For some odd reason, every single restaurant/fast food place is burning down but the Food Fairy (err, yes she exists) tells you that you can save one restaurant. Which one would you save?; 3) What's your favourite go-to outfit you could wear practically everywhere?; 4) What's a song you've gotten into recently?; 5) A fairy (yes, they are popular) decides to grant you either forever clean-shaven legs or forever clean-shaven armpits - which would you choose?; 6) What's better than coffee to you? (haha so lame); 7) You're flipping through television channels late at night, what would make you stop and watch?; 8) What's the last book you read?

Annnnd, on that note:
Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!

on an irish coffee trip

Irish Coffee, meet this lovely reader. Lovely reader, meet Irish Coffee. Now, Irish Coffee, do you know what you did on Friday night? 

- Besides being absolutely delicious? 

- Yes, besides that.

- Besides being a part of a scrumptious dinner date you had with The Boy at an Austrian restaurant? 

- Yes yes, besides that too. 

- Besides being part-whiskey and part-coffee, which you love so much, topped with --

 - Okay, you made me stay up until 3am and I felt like bouncing off the walls instead of sleeping thanks to you. 

- Now you know never to have coffee at 8:30pm. 

 - Yes, I guess I do. But you were delicious. 

- Thank you.

 - And how are you even talking if I've already consumed you? 

- Errrr ...

Anyways! It's been a pretty good weekend, though it's ending on the low note of having to actually do homework (never fun). But Friday night was spent with The Boy going to a great restaurant with huge portions:

Scrumptious breaded mushrooms (recipe of the week!).

Yummy "hunter style" schnitzel with mushrooms and bacon, mmm.

:D

And Saturday was spent catching up with one of my best friends at her house, eating yummy fried wonton with cream cheese and watching the K-drama Boys Over Flowers (or Boys Before Flowers). And today I ate pizza and strawberries and watched How To Train Your Dragon and then X-Factor - I like to watch things not available in North America, apparently.

So, after all this eating and watching I think it's safe to say I put the pro in procrastinator -- after catching up on some blogs I'm locking myself into severe homework mode, followed by working out mode. Wish me luck!

P.S. I need your help! I have two opinions so far (that are going for the right); I'm going to dye my hair sometime soon (as long as I can stand these roots coming in!) but need help choosing which colour to go with. Thoughts? Please and thank you :D

Now I have to ask:

What was your favourite part of the weekend?

And how do you fall asleep when you feel wide awake?

happy 101

Way back when (a month and a half ago!) the lovely Chinkygirlmel awarded and tagged me ... she's an amazing blogger who you can't help but want to visit daily to see her adventures, so I couldn't let her down - sorry for going this long without doing the tag, and thank youuuu!

Rules for happy 101 award:

1. Post who gave you this award.
2. State ten things you like.
3. Give this award to 10 other bloggers and notify them with a comment.

 1. Love - it might seem a bit redundant to say I like love, but it's true - love with The Boy (picture taken on Thanksgiving!), the friendships I have, the love for my sister and my parents ... And of course, the awesome friendships I've made with bloggers whom I haven't met but really hope I get to one day! all of it is something I like, something I cherish; without their love, I'd probably be a different person.

2. When everything goes right - I was going to say "according to plan" at first, but realized I like spontaneity :) By "everything goes right" I mean you have a crazy morning where you completely forgot about an assignment so you whip up two pages in an hour and then print it out and realize you still have 15 minutes to spare before you catch the bus so you manage to make yourself look somewhat presentable and catch all the right buses and get to class on time and then someone shares some of their candy with you ... errr, yes.

Maybe a better example is meeting up with Kym and while I was all jittery with nerves, had an amazing time getting to know in person and being so thankful that we got along so well while she showed me around her city. Miss you!

3. Doodling - one of my favourite pasttimes, since I've abandoned the idea of bringing my laptop to class (too heavy and too many distractions). So while the Prof is lecturing, I ... doodle. I take notes, of course. But given that all of my classes kind of have the same theme I feel like I'm learning the same thing over and over again.

I've learned that I'm only really good at drawing food, which sucks when you're incredibly hungry since you feel like devouring paper. Oh, and the Pikachu is because the guy sitting in the very front row of ascending rows was playing Pokemon on his laptop during the entire lecture. Seriously dude, just go home.

4. Discovering places - whether it's a new restaurant in town, a waterfall I didn't know about, or places on the world wide web; recently I've fallen in LOVE with They Draw & Cook, where people draw out recipes ... and thankfully it's going to be published because I want to print them all out! And of course, I'm creeping My Name Is Reeses to see adorable pictures of my sister's new dog.

5. Accessories - I'm not the biggest accessory girl, but I love those ones you look at and realize, I have to have it. Added to that list are my owl necklace from Forever 21 and my heeled oxford shoes from Payless ... so unbelievably comfy.

6. A nice night in - whether it's curling up on the couch to watch my favourite show (Castle), watching hilarious YouTube videos with a friend, or spooning on a bed while watching a movie with The Boy ... nights out are fun, but I love a nice night in.

7. Collecting coffee mugs - when I move out, I expect to have a whole cupboard of coffee mugs. While matching ones are neat (the third one had a Cappuccino buddy just like it, but sadly the ear broke off during the flight from Vancouver to Hamilton), I think having a vast array of different ones is better. The Class of 2010 one is HUGE and from my parents, the second is a Shakespeare Love Quotes which I adore, the third is a Macchiato mug which was 99cents from Vancouver, and the last one is a Mocha mug my sister got me from Starbucks. Ever in doubt of what to get me as a gift? A coffee mug.

I sound incredibly boring, don't I?

8. Being there for someone - giving them a hug, doing a favour, coming with someone somewhere ... I like being there for someone :) It's as simple (and as complicated) as that (since sometimes this can be taken advantage of, but that's a story for another time).

9. Postcards - twitter and Facebook chat seem to be replacing e-mail, which replaced letters, and so on. But I still love the idea of postcards - I really hope everyone who participated in the Postcard Project got their postcards, I'd love to do this idea again sometime soon! Above are my three most recent postcards - from Alexis, Kym and Carla!

10. Reciting movie lines - off the top of my head. I have just about the weirdest memory where I can remember every single line of Pirates of the Caribbean, the entire Oliver Wood scene in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as well as Hot Fuzz, Serendipity, and Finding Nemo - but I don't remember anything really useful. But I like it? :P

So now for tagging! Sorry if you've already been tagged in this, but you're awarded anyways! :) Make sure to check them out!: Ramblings of a Fab Brunette, be de.lizzy.cious, i am krissy, Sara's Organized Chaos, Little Tiara, Across My Universe, The Blarkness Chronicles, La vie ... J'aime, A New England Girl, and Insomniac Lolita.   

What do you like? :)

And what did you like about today?

when i grow up...

When I was younger, I felt the number one question asked at school (besides "does anyone have any questions?") was "what do you want to be when you grow up?" This question both inspired me and frustrated me. I had my dreams for the future, but was annoyed that we were constantly forced to keep our eye on some distant unforeseeable future - why couldn't we enjoy being kids? It's not like I was Peter Pan and refusing to grow up, I just knew that whatever answer I gave then wouldn't hold true now. 

Around the age of eight or nine, I decided I wanted to be a priest. I would set up my bedroom with teddy bears sitting in their 'pews', taking some crackers from downstairs, and perform the mass - giving the "bread" to the teddy bears (though I would just eat the crackers afterwards). Then I realized the obstacle: females weren't allowed to be priests. So I frustratingly gave up on that idea ... and now have a bizarre amount of opinions on the church.

A year or so after, I decided I wanted to be a librarian. I would take all my books off the bookshelves, fill out cards for whoever was taking out what, and then take a little pen and "scan" the barcode of each book. I'm not sure where that dream went, but seeing that it's all done by computers nowadays with no personal touch, that dream didn't really go anywhere.

Whenever the Olympics were on I would dream of being a gymnast or a skater; I would hop onto the top of my couch and go from one wall to the other performing 'gymnast moves', or twirl around on my tiled kitchen floor doing a 'triple sow cow' (that's what I thought it was called). But then I'd hear the stories that the athletes had been training since they were five or something and realized I didn't stand a chance.

The dream that lasted the longest was also probably the most ridiculous - I wanted to be a singer/songwriter/actress/script-writer - all at once. I was obsessed with Spice Girls and Britney Spears, and wanted to be up on a stage performing like them. I had daydreams about being discovered in a mall for a part in a movie (given that my city isn't a hotspot for movie-making, this would never happen). I would write song lyrics and create album covers for my made-up girl group Sunflower Girls (best name ever, huh?) and would write plot outlines and little bits of script for whatever movie I was going to 'star' in, usually co-starring with Leonardo DiCaprio or whatever actor was hot at the time. 

I would sign up for every air band and talent show my school had, auditioned for one of the school plays, and then got my chance to dive into 'film life' during university. After all this, it's safe to say I'll never win a Grammy or Oscar, but that's okay with me.

Alongside this quartet of careers was another set of dreams - to be a teacher/novelist/web-and-graphic designer. This answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up?" is the one that has survived to this day. I realized it in grade ten during careers class (which I felt was a pretty pointless class) - it would be great to interact with others in an environment where I'd teach them but I'd also learn, and during the summer months I could just write or design. While I've been doing the latter two for a while, the first dream keeps meeting an obstacle: namely, getting into teachers college. So we'll see how that goes.

After all this, I've asked myself why the answer to this question automatically has to be a career. Or why it was to be something tangible - married, white picket fence, 2.5 kids or driving a luxury car or making sure I see place A, B, C before I turn 25. Me and my closest friends recently came up with our own bucket list and I love the idea of these lists for short-term goals and ideas ... but being asked when you're 10 to see where you'll be when you're 30 just doesn't seem logical. 

Although I'm technically an adult, when I grow up I want to be two things: happy and secure. Happy with what I have, who I'm with, and secure with a roof over my head and enough food in my fridge. Who knows what career I'll end up in - if I could be paid to be a student, I'd be a student forever.

This whole jumble of words is a bit of a process for me ... I've been known to hold onto the past too much, known to let it affect how I see things presently ... but now I just want to see the past as steps to where I got to now, that I need to keep climbing higher instead of lingering two floors down.

Long rambling post is long and full of rambling!

What dreams did you have when you were younger?

How did you envision yourself 'growing up'?

wednesday wishes: back to the west

My bum, it buuuuuurns. Today marked my first day back going to my university gym (I've been working out at home for a year now) and realized that I'm grateful for their machines but not so grateful for the people who either hog them or the bunch of guys who stare at you as you're doing the butt machine - conveniently located by the water fountain. But anyhoos!

I'm slowly trying to get back into the whole "themed" posts I did way back when. Because when it comes to mid-week, hump day, whatever you want to call it, all I can think about is a) the weekend; and b) all the places I'd rather be than my city right about now.

My last post was all about mellow Autumn and I'd honestly much rather be lying on some warm sands getting my (safe) tan on, but the place I'm daydreaming of is only about 2 degrees warmer than here and has rain in the forecast for the next week. 

I want to go back to British Columbia. When I hear amazing news like Kym's engagement, or realize that I miss my sister and niece like crazy, I miss how easy it was to just see them. It's been two months since I took a trip out there and now I just want to be back in the west. I think this is my danger in wanting to travel the world - I get so attached to the few places I've been, namely Poland and Vancouver. I'm going to try to apply to teachers college in Vancouver and regardless of what happens, I know I want to visit again soon.

Here are just some things I miss - or some things you should see if you ever take a trip there:

I love how it feels like you've stepped into a different time in Gastown.

I love that I could take pictures of my niece anytime I wanted to.

Bowen Island = amazing, and Daiso is the best dollar store around.

Trying out new places to eat and jumping like a madwoman with Kym in Steveston.

Seeing an amazing mixture of ancient architecture with new architecture.

Taking a dozen water taxis with my sister to explore Granville Island, Yaletown, and KOOZA!

And I'm pretty sure if I lived here as a student I would spend half my days at that library, and my "party" weekends up at Whistler. Ahh, delight.

What places have you been daydreaming about lately?

mellow autumn

I feel like I'm re-using my fingers for the first time in weeks just by typing here ... I haven't updated in a while and along with seasons changing, you might have noticed a little change in the layout here (hint hint, wink wink, come take a look if you're viewing this via a reader)! It might just be a temporary look but I felt like something fresh, something new and I've always wanted to make a Scrabble-inspired layout. Blame it on being an English major who loves words too much.

While I could explain all that I've been up to over the past few weeks, I only have two things on my agenda: catch up on all the blogs that I've missed, and provide a little peace offering for being a hermit. When I was younger I used to make a gazillion mixed CDs, photoshopping covers with the main artists on them. Why not do it now in digital form? So here goes! If you all like, I might try making these every month/every other month.

This month's mix? A little mellow, a little hipstery, with lyrics about change and the like. I'd like to call these Caffeinated Mixes :)

Blend from a 2008 wallpaper I made using own photos. Previous cover used photo from here.
Youtube play-button idea was an inspiration from Cafe Fashionista with her Play It Again, Sam! feature.

001. Brooke Fraser - Something in the Water

002. Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - Home

003. School of Seven Bells - Windstorm

004. Coldplay - Don't Panic

005. Vince Vaccaro - Costa Rica (Acoustic)

006. Muse - Shine (Acoustic)

007. Mumford and Sons - Thistle and Weeds

008. William Fitzsimmons - I Don't Feel It Anymore (George Raquet Remix)

009. Zee Avi - Is This The End

010. William Fitzsimmons - So This Is Goodbye (Pink Ganter Remix)

011. Florence and the Machine - Cosmic Love

012. Charmaine - Tied To The Ground

013. A Fine Frenzy - What I Wouldn't Do

014. Kate Walsh - Your Song

015. 2NE1 - You and I

And if you'd like to download it, CLICK HERE! :) Just a note: probably all of these mixes will feature at least one song by Muse and one J-Pop or K-Pop song because I listen to those three every single day. Either way, I hope you get to enjoy some of the music I'm into!

Does this count as a good peace offering? No? You want me to come into your house and clean it once a week and bake you delicious cookies afterwards? Errm ... we'll see what I can do about that. But for now, I'm back to blogging baby!

What have you all been up to? 

Happy September's over?

(I am!)