the best of 2011

The year of 2011 was definitely full of those "BIG" moments for me. I traveled to B.C. to see my sister getting married, I traveled to Europe for a month in August, and was accepted into teacher's college, my next step towards my hopefully full-time career. But of course, there were also those little moments that made the transitions between those big milestones memorable and kept me smiling in a year plagued by illness (food poisoning and being ill for a month? Yeah, definitely not planning on doing those again anytime soon). 

Around this time last year I posted my 'year of 2010' review, and it's honestly amazing that two of my 'small' dreams (getting into teacher's college and Europe) came true. My dreams for next year? Go to Vancouver again to see my new niece or nephew and my family, hopefully graduating successfully from teacher's college and finding a job (pretty please?) and keep up the happiness with me and The Boy and my friends and family. As for my resolutions? That's for next post ;) 

What was your most memorable part of 2011?

What are you looking forward to next year?

And everyone wish the lovely Kathy at vodka and soda a Happy Birthday! :)
Now, it's time for a recap - backwards!

DECEMBER has tugged at my heartstrings; I had to say bye to my amazing grade 8 classroom, but am finally on a deserved two-week break and I've already gotten to catch up with my closest friends in the form of an Ugly Christmas Party (we're rocking 'em above) and getting to spend more time with The Boy and my family in the form of Christmas dinners and movie nights. I honestly don't want to go back to classes. And we finally got snow, whoopah!

And November-January are found under the cut! :)

Read more »

merriest of christmases!

merry christmas!

Wishing for all of you to have a wonderful Christmas spent with those who mean the most to you & lots of happiness, joy, and laughter! I'm still wishing for snow, but everything else is amazing. 

{image found via weheartit.com via my sister}

I spent the other night having a secret Santa potluck with my four closest friends, spent yesterday  volunteering in my grade 8 classroom and being bombarded with hugs and "I miss you!" shouts, and then spent tonight having a traditional Christmas Eve Polish dinner with my parents. Tomorrow it's a regular Christmas dinner with The Boy coming over :) And trying to figure out how to display all the amazing Christmas cards I received, especially from you fellow bloggers!

Hope your holidays are full of cozy warmth and memorable moments :)

simple smiles #48

I can't believe it's less than two week 'til Christmas! While the weather isn't cooperating, we're going to put up the Christmas tree tomorrow and I'm going to buckle down tonight and watch some 'holiday' movies - I'm not a huge classic holiday film person (mainly because I don't own any) so I'll most likely be watching Love, Actually and Beauty and the Beast (a lot of it is set in winter, hence the holiday-ness haha). 

When you're sick for almost a whole month straight, looking at those simple moments that make you smile can make all the difference, because if it weren't for them you would probably spend the whole time in bed, feeling like a zombie. Or feeling sorry for yourself because you haven't gotten any better (which is so counter-productive and just makes you feel worse). I am so grateful for those around me who make each day better. Here are those simple smiles that have been filling up my life lately.

The "Get Well Soon" Package: The Boy came over the other week and said he'd bring me some kind of 'get well soon' package; I did the same thing for him last winter when he was sick a lot due to school stress - except my package was full of Fisherman's Friend and tissues :P The first thing I heard when he hugged me hello was rustling, and for a second I thought they were chips (and since I rarely have 'em, I thought "oooh!"). The chips were actually a bouquet of roses, along with a package of candy and strawberry-kiwi wine (my new favourite). It's probably one of the best packages ever, and was so spontaneous and random and ... ahh, just warmed my heart right up :)

The Grade 8s: It seems a cruel thing, to let you enter into a classroom on random dates in September-October, let you spend four weeks straight with a class, and then take you out completely. I became so attached to my associate teacher and my students during my first teaching block, and it really solidified my love for teaching, that I was dreading my last week with them. While things sprung up here and there that surprised me (i.e., hormones), they were such an amazing group of students. 

So when it came to my last day, I prepared an art lesson for them as kind of my 'last message' to them and advice as they move on to high school and bigger and better things. The quote is from Martin Luther King, Jr:  "Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." Since I did rotary with both grade 8 classes, I got to know 58 students and gave them each a letter of the alphabet that they had to design using typography skills and putting in their own personality. It was supposed to happen during the last two periods of the day, complete with Christmas music and treats. 

Turns out, they had a surprise for me earlier on in the day. I went downstairs to heat up my hot cocoa and when I came back upstairs, the other grade 8 teacher said, "You can't come in this classroom, I'll come get you, though" (since both classes were in one room). I could hear them shouting out the 12 Days of Christmas and was a bit bitter that I couldn't join in with them ... and decided to mark instead lol. 

Eventually they came to get me and as I entered the room they shouted, "WE'LL MISS YOU!" and enveloped me with a huge group hug and tons of gifts ... they spoiled me rotten (I'm now reading the final book in The Hunger Games thanks to my associate teacher who remembered that that was the only one I hadn't read yet) and were such an unbelievable first class to have. 

On the left is a 'thank you' card from one student who asked me what my favourite cartoons were (I confessed they were Pokemon and Sailor Moon haha) and gave me this card with Pikachu in it. On the right is the 'staircase' part of the quote that the students designed. They made my day, my week, and my whole teachers college experience unforgettable. 

The Celebrations: That same night, I got together with a group of classmates to celebrate, and since I'm a bit of a hermit when it comes to that, it was a fun night out :) But even better than that was finding out that me and my best friends that I've known since high school would get together this month to do our annual Secret Santa. As time goes on it seems to become harder and harder to meet up with those you care about, even though you still do care. And that only gets worse because time seems to fly by faster as you get older. I am so stoked to get to celebrate with them next week and finally have all five of us reunited!

The Christmas Spirit: While the snow keeps saying 'hello' and then disappearing abruptly, my neighbourhood is surrounded with lights (though it's no Candy Cane Lane from New Girl - something that I need to marathon with my sister when we meet up again). My Christmas cards are all sent out and there's just those little things that keep popping up - like not minding the Christmas decorations and music when you're out shopping at a surprisingly quiet time in the mall, or using manipulatives in our math class to make a Christmas tree.

And to complete the Christmas mood, I'm making one of my caffeinated mixes (which I haven't done in a while) and making it holiday-oriented; I'll be blasting it tomorrow when I put up the tree and expect a download up by this upcoming Tuesday! 

Now, I have to ask:

What's your remedy to get better when you're sick?

'Cause I need it haha.

And what are your plans for this weekend?

Hope it's a great one! :)

switching to the dark side

As I'm typing this, a flurry of snow is breezing by my window (and actually sticking to the ground). It's a pretty sight, especially when you're home sick and coughing up your lungs and you're wrapped up in layers of sweaters and blankets. All I need is some hot cocoa, mmm... it definitely brings me into that 'tis the season kind of mood: so if you'd like to exchange Christmas cards, let me know! You can email me at betterthancoffee[at]gmail.com or just leave a comment with your email and I'll contact you! I'll be sending out all the Christmas cards by December 12th so hopefully they'll get to you on time!

Aside from that, I have a wee bit of a confession to make: I've switched to the dark side. And not because of the cookies. This is actually a product which apparently keeps the doctor away every day if you have it. OK, enough with the vagueness. I finally got an iPod Touch ... my first Apple product ever. I've always shied away from them, only using them at my university for editing videos. But my mp3 player was slowly dying and after spying on all the apps my mom had on hers, I was pretty much convinced it'd be my next mp3 player. I found a sale on Friday for it, and I've already taken a bunch of photos on it :) And I'm hooked on Tap Tap Revenge, Pretty Pet Salon, and Words with Friends. Help me.

Here's a look at my life lately, through photos: 

Saturday was spent taking a good ol' road trip with The Boy for some accordion shopping! He's been eyeing one for a while as his First. Ever. Instrument. (pretty brave choice, huh?) and had a shop in mind and a lady from Kijiji to visit so I decided to join him for some sugar-high, caffeine-induced, accordion-shopping (and learned The Art of Negotiation in the meantime). We were almost considering purchasing the lovely silver one above except the son of the shop gave us a much lower price and then the father came around and upped the price $50 ("Oh yes, we'll set you up with a nice case, too") so we decided to get the lovely one below:

There's my Movember Man holding his new-ish accordion! The lady we got it from was a bit of a crazy cat lady (she had 6 cats and 5 strays she fed) and had a shrine to Elvis in her kitchen (I am not even kidding) but she was really sweet. So far The Boy's still learning the basics but I really want him to learn La Valse d' Amelie from Amelie so hopefully that happens in the next year or two :D

Once we got back to our city we decided to hit up this restaurant we've been eyeing for a while and got the large fish & chips - it was a huge portion and the owner let us sample the country-style fries too, which were pretty darn yummy in my tummy. 

It was also my mama's birthday on Saturday, and so I helped myself to a slice or two of this cake this weekend (which doesn't look so appetizing in that yellow-ish hue but it was delicious). 

Apart from that, my life has been pretty much taken over by teaching a grade 8 class for my teaching block at teacher's college. When I told my students that Dec 9th would be my last day, I was pretty touched that they all looked upset and asked why I couldn't just stay the whole year :) On Monday we had a bunch of errands to run at lunch which my teacher couldn't make it to due to a meeting, so me and the high school co-op student who was volunteering hit up a bunch of stores and got ourselves some bubble tea!

I decided to take today off since I've been hit with illness (AGAIN.) and really needed a day to recuperate. I woke up to an adorable "get well soon" e-card from The Boy and SNOW! It was just light flurries at first but now it's actually sticking and making me all giddy. It'll probably all disappear in a couple of hours but I'm on my pretty long to-do list for today is watching "Elf" (since I've never seen it ... don't judge lol) to get me into that Christmas spirit :)

What are you looking forward to in December?

How has your week been so far?

Can't wait to exchange Christmas cards! :) 

a few of my favourite things

Suddenly it's the second last month of the year and the days feel shorter and darker. My cough has become one of those guests that overstay their welcome and just when you think it's gone, it pops up again in the form of a nasty 3-minute coughing session (but thank you, thank you, thank you for the get well soon wishes, they made me feel warm and cozy!). But on the bright side there's plenty of things keeping me happy and healthy-ish, so here's a few of my favourite things:

In the blurry background you can see the amount of leftover Halloween candy
(we had zero children come to our door).

Holidays Cups: OK, I'll admit I was going to write "coffee" but thought that would be obvious. Starbucks has come out with their holiday cups and I had my first one today (peppermint mocha, yippee)! Yet, I'll admit, I'm a bit "why now?" when I walked into Zellers (the Canadian version of Target) and heard cheesy Christmas tunes blaring and when I headed downtown and saw three people walking around with Santa hats on. I'm all for Christmas cheer and all that, just wasn't expecting it so early!

Shellac 'em!: After my eye exam yesterday, my mama and I had a bit of a "girls day out" and decided to get a manicure with Shellac! I'm prone to biting/picking at my nails (the grossest habit ever) so knowing this'll last fourteen days makes me happy. The cute lady who did my nails said, "Next time you bring hand to mouth just slap away with your other hand and say, 'NO!'" Considering I pretty much have no nails this is only the second manicure I've ever had and I kinda like 'em :)

Warm Hugs Scarf Swap: The lovely Leesh and Elisse (who just celebrated two years of blogging) held an amazing scarf swap that included a packet of a warm beverage to enjoy. I was partnered up with Lori and received my package earlier this week and love the infinity scarf she sent me (seen in the pic above)! Thank you so much, and thanks to Leesh and Elisse for hosting this!

Cozies: This is a bit of a shameless plug, but I'm absolutely adoring the cup cozies that we're whipping up for mine, my mom's, and my sister's design shop! While our etsy shop is still empty, stay tuned; and thanks to everyone who responded to my little 'survey': honeybean designs is coming soon :)

This might just be the weirdest combination of photos I've ever put together.

Henry Cavill is very angry with the leaves.

Crunching leaves: Seeing as one of the most popular Facebook groups is called "I Will Go Slightly Out of My Way To Step On That Crunchy-looking Leaf", I know I'm not alone in getting excited over seeing a sidewalk absolutely littered with bright-coloured leaves ... and then jumping all over them to find the crunchiest-sounding one.

Immortals: Even though seeing this film on opening night made me and The Boy promise to never again see a film on opening night because of how chattery/giggly the crowd seemed to be (and it's a promise I might keep since there's no more midnight releases of Harry Potter), I really enjoyed this film. It's not the typical Greek mythology film because it really concentrates on gorgeous visuals and slow-mo gore (OK, maybe that last part is typical); it makes me wonder how it would look like in 3D since we opted for the 2D version. Since Henry Cavill stars in it, it was pretty much a given I was going to like this film. And then the second I saw Klaus from The Vampire Diaries pop onto the screen, The Boy and I both looked at each other and went, "Yup, I like this movie." Don't expect a masterpiece, but expect a good story and pretty things to stare at (including, but not limited to, half-naked men).

Aside from all that, it's going to be a hopefully relaxing rest of the weekend ... I start officially teaching in my gr8 classroom this Tuesday so I need to start planning (and wishing and hoping and dreaming and praying that I do okay my first few days) and maybe watch a movie or two.

What are a few of your fave things right now?

What are you up to this weekend? :)

Hope it's a great one!

i choose you

This Halloween, no dress-up is required. I am going as a sick lady :P Yesterday I lost my voice, overnight I've developed a nasty cough, and this morning I threw up. So tonight I'll be napping and ignoring all the kids ringing the doorbell (sorry!). 

On the plus side, I got to dress up last week since my teachers college decided to join in on the festivities a week early: 

I choose you, Staryu! I went as Misty from Pokemon ... though one classmate asked "Are you a fire-woman?" and a little piece of me died inside. I'm posing with a hippie and fellow classmate :)

And I was able to get into a semi-Halloween spirit a few weeks ago with a youth group I lead (along with The Boy and another girl), where our theme was falling for fall holidays. Oh yeah, we're full of cheese. We decorated owl cupcakes which was a hoot (yes, more cheese):

I was finally able to enjoy some autumn weather when my grade 8 class went on a retreat which offered gorgeous views like this one:

And this past weekend I was able to catch up with friends, have a horror movie marathon (full of [REC], [REC]2, and a downloaded version of Paranormal Activity 3, shhh), watch some Harry Potter and The Vampire Diaries with The Boy, and celebrate one of my best friend's birthday ... and getting sick at the same time haha.

With two of my best amigas. 

How are you enjoying your Halloween? 

And here's the winner of my "what a hoot!" giveaway - thanks to all who joined!

Congrats goes to the fashionista Erika - make sure to email me your address :)

Next up: more news about our upcoming shop, a Christmas card exchange (before I bring back the postcard project) and finally a new layout? :) Hope you're all having a good start to your week!

life's a beach

Long weekends are great, aren't they? You get that chance to just unwind for a day or two, reconnect with people, or let you be by yourself and just enjoy the moment. It was Thanksgiving in Canada this past weekend and the weather was perfect - which means that, of course, the rest of this week is going to be cold and rainy (c'est la vie, mais oui!). 

Even though I've been yearning for a hike (and stepping on crunchy leaves) ever since it became autumn, the weather this weekend called for: a beach outing with The Boy. 

Don't mind the dry cuticles ... loved this little "bouquet" he picked for me.

We couldn't decide whether to GO kart or not ...
so we creeped while eating Haribo (the YUMMIEST candy).

Gazing off into the distance ... there's something so tranquil about being by water.

Jumping photo (a.k.a. We're sooooaring, flyyyying photos)!

A skipping rock competition turned into me capturing him throwing dozens of rocks into the lake. This was our favourite one :)

Next came Thanksgiving, which has always been a bit of a low-key event for us since most of my family lives in Poland; now with my sister in B.C., it was just me, my parents, and The Boy eating a delicious dinner and then watching Horrible Bosses (which was hilarious). 

Wore a dress from Hungary - and that's it! Hottest Thanksgiving ever :)
And in case you're wondering - it's amaretto almond coffee (delicious).

Just looking back on this weekend makes up for a week of stress from lesson planning and having my first real lesson in front of six chosen grade 8 students, my peers from teachers college, my faculty advisor AND a video camera. To say I was stressed was an understatement ... and since the school we're at doesn't have a proper heating or cooling system, I was sweating buckets. I decided to do a lesson on homophones and homographs and it actually went pretty well :)

Now that's it done, I know I still have so much to improve on, but my classmates were so encouraging so instead of coming home and having a breakdown I turned on the kettle, boiled some water, and made a coffee/hot chocolate/Nutella concoction. Pretty good way to relax, methinks.

This weekend I'm celebrating mine and The Boy's friends getting engaged over drinks, having a youth group meeting (complete with owl cupcakes, need I say more), and err ... homework. 'Tis a thrilling life for me.

What are you up to this weekend?

If you haven't yet, make sure to join the "what a hoot!" giveaway!

what a hoot

I've turned into a bit of a night owl in the sense that every night this week I've headed off to bed at 1am and woken up at 5:30am (all thanks to a gazillion presentations and tests and lesson plans due). Being able to sleep in (until 9!) and knowing it's a long weekend made waking up today so much better. And knowing that, for one last weekend, it's going to feel a bit like summer makes me want to pull out my camera and really capture the moment. Today I'm planning on doing a little exploration hike with The Boy (and catch up on The Vampire Diaries) and tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner! What do you have planned this weekend?

Since I'm a bit of an owl right now, I thought I'd make the next giveaway a little owl-related! My fab sister, our mama, and myself are starting up an online shop with knits and blog designs come November, so hopefully you can enjoy some knitted warmth while sitting at your laptop enjoying a design. As a little teaser of what's to come, one part of the giveaway is an item from our future shop. The other is something I know I'd love to keep on my wall but that I would love to share with one of you, so here goes: the what a hoot! giveaway.

You'll get to have:

1) A lovely dictionary print from collageOrama (frame not included); and

2) An owl cup cozy from a future shop! (more details to come!)

How to enter?

Be a follower of this blog & enter with a comment that says "What a hoot!"

For extra entries?

1) Tweet about it and leave another comment with a link to your tweet!
2) Mention it on your blog and comment with a link to it.

3) Let me know what kind of items you'd like to see in a knit/blog design shop.

Open to both local and international readers :)

Winner will be announced October 23rd!

And to continue the 10 day 'you' challenge that I started last post, here's two songs that I've been constantly replaying over the past couple of weeks.

Florence + The Machine: "Shake It Out"
Anytime I'm in a rut, I play this song and "shake out" the stress.


Coldplay: "Paradise"
If only for it's epic minute-long instrumental intro. 
I'm actually kind of excited for their new CD.


Hmms, I smell a new mix a-brewin'... but for now:
Hope you have a great weekend!

the autumn lull

There's amazing things about this season - the leaves changing colours, the pumpkin spice lattes and hot chocolate, season premieres every week, putting on cozy clothes, not having to worry about breaking into a sweat three minutes after leaving your door, the smells of cinnamon and apple pie. 

But I find that every time September rolls around, I hit a lull ... that lull where I barely take any photos (compared to the spring and summer), feel tired at 6P.M. because the sun goes down earlier, and any plans to enjoy the fall weather - be it a fair or a hike - either gets ruined by rain or the to-do list that is slowly taking over my life. 

September is ending, though, and I've resolved to make October a month to enjoy by making New Season/Month's Resolutions. Take my camera out more; bake lots when it's miserable outside; take time to spend outdoors or indoors, solo or with friends; and, blog more. About the everyday things, not just recaps. And to restart that, I'm adopting a little blog challenge I first saw from Leesh from After 'I Do' - it's a ten day you challenge (though it'll probably span over twenty days hehe).

one picture of yourself

This photo was taken a little over a month ago in The Boy's hometown in Hungary. It might just seem like a silly photo of a girl riding a bike through a village, but it means so much more to me (that whole picture is worth a thousand words thing definitely applies here). Earlier that day, I was hospitalized from dehydration due to food poisoning. It was a scary thing for me, since (thankfully) I'm not too used to being in a hospital. The Boy was right there with me translating everything to the doctors and staying there as I got examined time and time again, had an ultrasound done to make sure my stomach and kidneys were OK, and sat next to me as I had water put into my body via a tube.

When we got back to his grandparents' house, his grandmother came by with mashed potatoes and bread while I watched Chasing Liberty on my laptop (cheesy movies, and Matthew Goode, definitely cheer me up) while The Boy went off again to the main part of town to get me medicine. 

That evening, I was up for going outside to get fresh air, and we decided to head off to his uncle's house (that had Internet connection) with a bike ride. I was honestly so thankful that I was feeling better, that the food poisoning didn't lead to something incredibly horrible, and was just stoked to be able to go on a bike. When The Boy took this photo, I was euphoric. And it reminds me that I need to find joy in the simple things all the time.

So, now I have to ask:

What do you do to spruce up your autumn months?

What are you looking forward to most in October?

Hope you have a great weekend!

simple smiles #45

Today was one of those days where you wake up and realize that September is already half-way gone, that the official first day of autumn is coming up even if it felt like it days ago, and that three weeks have gone by without a blog post (sorry for being a stranger!). Lately life has been a combination of these three things:

The year of the planner has begun - I started teachers college a couple of weeks ago which means writing down due dates and "do I really have to do this?" reminders (and keeping all my pens and my glasses in my Harajuku pencil case). It also means having my addiction to coffee triple and encouraged by friends - I got not one, but two reusable coffee mugs and not one, but two coffee cup cozies, including the adorable one above from Leesh as a surprise birthday gift (thank youuuuu)!

And in my downtime, I focus on those simple smiles: enjoying the scent of a creamy pumpkin candle, sweatin' to Just Dance (I am awesome at "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go") and going to Starbucks as often as I can. Yessir.

When my mind isn't being bombarded with theories and practices of teaching, I find my mind wandering ... to Europe. I'm not gonna lie, there's mornings where I wake up and wish I was back at The Boy's grandparents' house, listening to roosters nearby and actually enjoying waking up at 7 in the morning. 

I miss the Danube, I miss the food, I miss the architecture. But I guess my simple smile was that I even got to go on that vacation ... and that I took a ton of photos :)

Since I can't be back in Europe whenever I please (if only!), I try to make the most of where I'm at in Ontario through:

This month has been all about catch-up and I love it - going out for dinner and Starbucks dates, random shopping excursions, laughing at ridiculous Pictionary drawings (I drew 'plastic surgery' as a girl with huge boobs and a guy standing over her holding a scalpel ... the guesses were hilarious, and just proves that I'm a horrible artist), and taking 'class photos' with a big group of people. Oh, and enjoying a delicious breakfast at 1:00 PM which included crepes, french toast, and a bucket of fruit on top (delicious).

All of those are simple smiles, but one major one is: The Boy is actually enjoying fandoms I love. He came over last Thursday for the premiere of The Vampire Diaries (ahh the last scene broke my heart) and so far we've watched the first two Harry Potter films; he hasn't read the books, but it's a start (as long as he stops calling him Harry Pothead). 

Tonight I'm off to see Drive with Ryan Gosling (we were initially going to see The Lion King 3D but figured we should probably go see a movie we haven't seen before ... and that will have older people in the theatre lol). How're you enjoying the week?

Oooh, extra simple smile: forgetting to make coffee this morning, realizing how tired I am for class (which ran from 8:00am-5:00pm today) and then having my cohort group bring in STARBUCKS for the entire class. It was amazing.

What's your simple smile of the week so far?

And what's your favourite thing about autumn?

(Or spring, if that's the season coming up for you!)

P.S. Giveaway coming soon; hopefully it'll be a hoot!

where to begin...

Yesterday, I returned home from a month-long amazing trip to Europe. To say it was flawflee would be a bit of a lie, but experiences like food poisoning from a sketchy hot dog stand in Transylvania complete with a trip to a Hungarian hospital for an infusion where your boyfriend is translating everything just makes me love The Boy even more ... and want to avoid hot dogs with a passion for at least a good six months! Honestly though, it was an incredible month I will never be able to forget and will definitely recap over the next month :)

Today, it's my 23rd birthday! My twenty-second year was pretty darn awesome so here's hoping my next year is just the same but better! It'll be a jetlagged one for sure, though I already have a Starbucks gift card (I didn't see a single Starbucks in Hungary, felt so weird!) from my sister to stay awake when I go out for dinner tonight with girlfriends and then spend the night with The Boy. But the celebrations and parties can't go on all night, because ...

Tomorrow, I start teachers college. It won't be official classes, but the first two days are mandatory and full of orientation and meeting with your group and it's definitely a bit nervewracking. I know a bunch of people (including The Boy) who are going to the same college, just with different classes, so at least I'll have someone to share lunch with. Seems weird to get right into the busy with things but that's life, right-o?

For now, here's a brief glimpse into how I spent the month of August ...

I kissed a boy in front of a fountain ...

And kissed some fountains in my spare time, too.

Took some leaps in front of Heroes Square ...

And then just relaxed at a spa (Szechenyi Spa in Budapest).

Took a ferry across the Danube almost every day in The Boy's hometown ...

And also took a cruise along the Danube bend to Esztergom.

 Gave some speeches when I was in the mood to enormous crowds (cough cough) ...

But most of the time, just enjoyed cobblestone roads with an amazing travel partner.

How's your month been? I'm going to have to start playing catch-up on everyone's lives since I've been so out of the loop and my apologies for being so MIA but ... I am so grateful that I was able to spend a month in Europe and am looking forward to the next great adventure :)

I've missed you all!

Hope your September is full of great things, too :)

greetings from hungary!

The last few weeks have been full of crazy adventures ... lost luggage (eventually found though, no worries!), exploring the town where The Boy grew up, watching him get shocked by an electric fence when we got lost on a hike, finally finding strawberry and kiwi ice cream, checking out the largest lake in central Europe called Lake Balaton, and then venturing into gorgeous centuries-old cathedrals is just the tip of the awesome iceberg that is Europe.

At Lake Balaton!

But through all that ... barely ANY Internet access. I almost died when my cell phone said that it could only do emergency calls, which meant no updates or random times to check my e-mail. But I just thought I’d do a quick update and let you all know I’m still alive and having an awesome time :) The next few weeks will be full of Budapest, Vienna, and Transylvania, and hopefully I’ll do another update soon!

What have you been up to lately?

Hope your August is awesome so far!

simple smiles #44

And just like that, my countdown to Europe has reached the single digit of 5 days. I'm a little burnt out from the daily 7-3 work grind to the point that I fear I'll spend half my vacation snoozing away like an old lady to catch up on sleep (though getting a free daily coffee from a teacher for the past three weeks has definitely helped!). At the same time, I'm excited to soak it all in - the culture, the food, meeting The Boy's family, food, exploring castles, food, going shopping, taking a gazillion photographs, FOOD. I know I'll be missing these following things though, the things that bring me those simple smiles:

BOOKS. (click here for a larger image) I'll admit, lately my 'reading' has been trying to do the 'medium' section of my Sudoku puzzle book, but books will always have a soft spot in my heart. Plus, my sister who just recently returned to the blogging scene has a section called "bookshelf love" and she wanted me to join in! All my novels/textbooks/comics are pretty much scattered ALL OVER THE PLACE but here's a peek at just one of my shelves - you'll find Harry Potter, some Shakespeare, required reading from university that I ended up loving, and a couple of books I haven't even read yet - whoops! I'm going to try to take a couple of books with me on my travels but I know I probably won't have time!

SUMMERLICIOUS. Every winter and summer, Toronto hosts a 'Winterlicious' or 'Summerlicious' where restaurants have set menus for lunch/dinner that are $15 and up. Two online friends that I've known since I was about 13 (so 10 years!) meet up every year and decided to try out Cafe California - it was AMAZING. Above is the warm pasta salad, which was an assortment of everything and was bursting with flavour. And after we checked out a Salsa festival, which made me wish I knew how to dance (though I'm great at the waltz) :P

ESCAPING TO THE BEACH. I finally had a day off this past Friday and got to catch up with The Boy; I owned him at skipping rocks and then had another couple of our friends join us for random times at the beach. One of the main reasons why I'm so excited for Europe is because I'll be able to actually spend time with him, since it's been such a rarity this past month. 

SURPISE BIRTHDAYS & FRIENDS. Yesterday we hit up a local conservation area for a surprise birthday party for one of my closest friends and it was a blast! :) I know what I'll miss most in my month away is planned & spontaneous get-togethers with friends. We BBQed, caught up, explored behind a waterfall and just enjoyed the sun, making it the perfect three-day weekend.

My final day of the three-day weekend has been spent getting those last-minute items for Europe, trying my hand at EXTREME COUPONING ($10.99 Venus razors on sale for $6.99 + a $2 off coupon = $4.99 razors, baby!) and err ... fighting the urge to take a nap and sleep away the rest of the afternoon. Gotta start packing!!

How has your weekend been?

And what would your ultimate Europe souvenir be?

(I'm planning a giveaway at the end of August with a European souvenir!)

wednesday wishes: wish come true!

Whoa, where'd the rest of June and the first half of July go? Since resuming my five-summer streak of working in the office of a summer school the days have become a bluuuur - a mostly fun, but kind of exhausting blur. Tomorrow I'll be waiting in line with two of my best friends to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at midnight and waving farewell and adieu to what's left of my childhood once the credits start to roll by (and probably saying "accio tissues!" A LOT). 

I've been both anticipating and dreading the arrival of July since this means the end of an 'era' (for Harry Potter anyways) - but I've been able to fill up these past few weeks with a lot of happy times (too many to recap in one post!). Here's what I've been 'obsessed' with or up to recently:

I decided to put the vain, beauty-related one first haha. Since getting my hands on the OPI Shatter nail polishes and looking up different things to do to your nails I've been hooked on 'nail art' - like cutting bits of newspaper and applying it to your nails with alcohol! Since I'll always bite my nails if I don't have them painted, I'm always looking for new things/polishes/designs to try out.

This one has kind of taken a back seat now that I'm working five days a week but I got bit by the cooking bug a couple of weeks ago which meant lots of cookies, cupcakes, and loaves. Nom nom nom.

I both blame and thank my sister Margarita for introducing me to Pinterest ... it's kind of like having a page of bookmarks except it's images and you can organize them easily and see what other people have 'pinned.' At first I thought, "Oh, like Tumblr" except it's on crack. If anyone else is addicted to it like I am, I'd love to see your boards, as weird as that sounds (here's my account).

Spontaneity might seem a little broad, but it's basically just random days and nights out that have pretty much little to no planning involved but turn into amazing moments, like walking along the lake with The Boy, seeing X-Men: First Class (AWESOME FILM, EPIC BROMANCE) and checking out a fair, and then making s'mores at a friend's BBQ (and looking crazy while doing so).

Hmm, counting down to what, you may ask? Well, since the dawn of this blog I've almost always had this in my description: "Dealing with university life, an amazing Boy and the friends, with a strong yearning to travel around Europe anytime." Well that 'anytime' has turned into a definitive amount of time:

IN 16 DAYS
I'M GOING TO EUROPE!

It was one of those "yes I want to go, please make it happen even if we don't book the flights until three weeks before the trip" kind of deal. But it's FINALLY HAPPENING. For the whole month of August (and the last couple of days in July) I'll be hitting up Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Transylvania, and hopefully Austria and Croatia, too. In other words: A HARDCORE (EASTERN) EUROTRIP. I can't wait to pose by more statues, admire the architecture, eat the FOOD, and meet all of The Boy's family while seeing my relatives again for the second time in my life :) I've kept this a bit on the downlow since I didn't want to jinx it, but you'll bet your bottom I'll be writing about it a lot now!

So finally a 'Wednesday wish' has come true and now I'm just hoping for a bit more time to relax, catch up on some amazing blogs, and get everything ready before we're off! :)

What have you been up to lately?

Anything you're obsessed with?

And who is going to be sobbing at the end of Harry Potter like me?

Hope you're having a great mid-week!