the year 2010

Yes ma'am, I'm jumping on ye old bandwagon and looking back at this past year of 2010 ... and I had to correct that from the typo of 2919 (imagine living in the year 2919 - wowsers). The last few months, especially, were full of neglecting this blog which makes this month-by-month recap a good thing for me; I can truly see what I've been up to this year, things I've accomplished (or not), the ups & downs of life, etc. 

What are the moments of 2010 that first come to mind for you?

Any resolutions for 2011? 

My plans for 2011 are to try to find a decent job, hopefully get into teachers college or my M.A., and hopefully go to Europe. I like to dream small (hehe). But for now, 2010 recap time! And I'm going to try to limit each month's summary to two sentences. Let's see how badly I fail at this.

Another term at uni started, which meant pretending to be a sorceress for a friend's thesis project, and going out for plenty of bubble tea with the gals on my days off.

Celebrated Valentine's Day in the form of going to my uni's charity ball, celebrated my close friend's birthday, and went sledding for the first time in forever in the yellow sled I've had since I was about 7. 

Saw MUSE in Toronto with one of my closest friends - such an AMAZING concert. The weather was warm enough to take Shadow to the park, my mom accidentally cut my side bangs into actual bangs resulting in the disaster above, but on the bright side I got my mosquito sunglasses and met Dan and Jessi from MTV's The Aftershow, which was fun.

By the end of March, it became clear that I wasn't going to be accepted to teachers college in the fall, which meant a back-up plan in the form of ... more schooling. Joy.

From April - December under the cut!

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'tis the season

I just wanted to wish you all

the Merriest of Christmases

and the Happiest of Holidays!

My Christmas tree - which always includes my Harry Potter ornament.

Whether it's with family or friends or even co-workers, I hope you all have some loved ones around you to celebrate! Though I'm missing my sister and my niece, the past few days have been full of friends, seeing The Boy and exchanging gifts, and today I'm celebrating Wigilia with my parents - a Polish tradition, with dinner full of fish and presents opened on the same evening. So essentially, my Christmas is tonight. And I'm excited :) 

More updates soon, but for now, I hope you all have a beautiful next few days! I'll definitely update more before the new year rings in, so I won't mention that yet ;) 

Let me know what your traditions are for this time of year!

a sample of memories

When I was younger, I used to adore Saturday morning grocery shopping - my family would head to the local Denninger's (which I now realize is only in southern Ontario, 'tis a shame) and I would get a sample of my favourite deli meat or some kind of treat they were setting up at a table.**

Well, since this past week and a bit has been a little on the busy side (half-studying, half-relaxing-time-as-to-not-go-insane-from-studying), I figured this post could be a sample of memories, if you will - some pictures of what I've been up to for the past fortnight. Which just about proves that whenever I'm not studying for final examinations, I'm doing one of two things: exploring the outdoors, or eating.

**P.S. It's memories like these that make me realize that I'm only getting older. No more free samples of turkey bologna for me (maybe that's why I barely go grocery shopping with my parents nowadays).

The downtown Christmas tree and The Boy hiding behind me and my large earmuffs, haha.

We went to a local pub eatery for the first time that, aside from having neat lights, specialized in seafood - and so we had, also for the first time, popcorn alligator. Actually tasted pretty good!

My brilliant university decided to schedule one of my exams at 7:30pm - ON A SATURDAY. A SATURDAY NIGHT. Even my Dad didn't understand and said, "But Saturday nights are for relaxing!" My thoughts exactly, father. So, to make the night less painful, me and my friend/classmate headed to the coffee shop across campus to study. I had the largest cappuccino ever and a delicious grilled chicken portobello wrap. Mmmm.

Not even two full days later, I had another exam at 9am. (Oh and of course, they schedule it so my last exam isn't until a week and a half later. The agony.) After handing in a paper, I decided to take some pictures of my snow-filled campus - including a bench that no one in their right mind would sit on and one of the oldest and prettiest buildings.

The rest of my week has been spent sending off Christmas cards, doing 75% of my gift-shopping, rewarding myself with some Starbucks after three out of four exams, photographing an event and attending a meeting, and playing way too much Sims 2. It's addictive. It's a problem. 

On that note, I wanted to give a big, big HELLO! to all the new followers I've just seen pop up to the side! And of course, all of you who follow this blog on the weekly-or-longer basis that I update it. Feel free to say hello!, and if you'd like me to check out your blog, I'd love to :) 

Feels strange that it's nearly the end of 2010, nearly the end of a decade (wowee). So my next few posts will probably be a recap of this spontaneous year of 2010, and what I'm looking forward to next year!

What are your plans this weekend?

Hope it's full of exploring and eating!

aaaah freak out!

It's that most "wonderful time of the year" ... a.k.a. exams. Err, I mean, Christmas! Jack Frost nipping at your nose, steaming warm tea or hot cocoa filling your lungs and tummy with warmth, snug boots to keep the wetness of slush away ... although, thank goodness, there hasn't been much snow here yet (I appreciate it more when I don't have an hour commute to uni). But I'm excited for the time off, for time with family and friends and getting to know a little acquiantance called my future.

My M.I.A.-ness is starting to irritate me even, which is weird considering it's my blog. I think I've just realized how much I suck at multi-tasking. As much as I wanted to update here and be updated elsewhere, and felt that I could handle juggling a whole bunch of things at once, I kind of lost my mind. After six essays, two tests, and teachers college applications all due within a week and a half I kind of took a break digitally (but I didn't do a 'digital death', who else thought that campaign was a bit tacky even if it had good intentions?).

Needless to say, this past Thursday I had a bit of an Aaaaah FREAK OUT! moment, but without the Le freak, c'est chic afterwards. After some much-needed catching up time with my closest and bestest friends, watching movies and first season Castle episodes with my mama, and finally seeing The Boy after a week since he's been sick/we've both been busy ... I finally feel ready to get back into the swing of things. Finish up exams, apply for my Masters (gulp), and get back to things that are better than coffee ... like spending time with loved ones and getting back into the blogsophere (cheesy sentence is cheesy). 

All this goes to show how much I suck at multitasking. But I put the pro in procrastinor.

What are your methods when the going gets tough? My method is to look forward to good times:

Craving salted caramel hot chocolate, making more goofy faces with The Boy, and spending nights in with my girlfriends watching our favourite holiday movies.

Up next is my future: trying to figure out what to do with my life (and hopefully not go broke) in the next six-eight months. Care to join me? ;)