sausagefests & surprises

The past couple of weeks have been full of sausagefests, surprises in a variety of forms (good and bad), and plenty of shutter-clicks, as well as strawberry kiwi-flavoured candy from The Boy when we went to go see The Mechanic on Friday. {Note: it doesn't matter how bad the movie might be (I'm looking at you, Crank 2), they could call a Jason Statham movie THE JASON STATHAM MOVIE and I would go see it. The Boy still loves Mr. Arnold and Mr. William Shatner, but Mr. Statham is where it's at for me}

The past couple of weeks have had their handfuls of good moments with a quick visit from the 'what are you going to do with your life this year?' ghost. Though I try to take life a week at a time, it's hard to stay positive when people ask Oh, what have you been up to lately? and the response is Ah, you know, trying to find ... some kind of employment ... and just hoping I get accepted somewhere ... you know, just, waiting. It's so hard to be in control of what's going to happen to me this year; I guess all I can do is try my best and see where the winds take me? I sound like a pirate. Speaking of pirates, specifically from the Caribbean region, one of my main 'hope this happens this year' goal is to go to somewhere tropical for a week-long vacation (most likely Cuba). So cross your fingers I get to enjoy some white sands and palm trees this spring?

'Til then, and to keep up with the 'week at a time' mindset, here's a little recap of what I've been up to lately - in reverse order (gotta switch it up every once in a while!):

Last night involved one of my closest friend's boyfriend's surprise birthday party (that's a mouthful)! Me and another uber close friend missed the surprise by minutes - since we ended up right behind the birthday boy on the way to the house and kept hoping we wouldn't be spotted. Then, as we parked farther away down the street and I shuffled out with a bottle of wine, I -SLIPPED- on a patch of ice and fell - me and my bottom are fine, but the wine bottle completely shattered. Apart from that - oh, and setting the smoke alarm off because of the candles on the cake - it was a really fun time, complete with guitar/drum/music jamming (we sang anything from "All The Small Things", "Wonderwall", "I Want You To Want Me" and "Maps"), beer pong with water for all the DD's, and playing with balloons.

For the past month, I've volunteered for a club at my university as an editor for a show. We've shot a couple of episodes, and for a little bit of promo, I was in a photoshoot last Thursday! Above is just a standard headshot for each person, but then we wandered around outside without our jackets and took more photos, which will hopefully be ready for sharing soon!

Another closest friend and I have gotten into the habit of exploring more things around our city - we're pumped about a new skating rink (complete with lit-up shapes all around it) behind one of my favourite coffee shops , where we each had white hot chocolate (mmm).

And then a weekend before, I attended an actual sausagefest - true, it was a majority of guys there, but the host bought a pig, which we ground up, added spices, and then made our own homemade sausages. Oh, and me, The Boy, and another lovely lady peeled up a good 5lbs. of potatoes to make roasted potatoes. It felt really neat being part of the dinner process and then eating the finished result knowing you made it ... on the same table where raw pig sat. Yeah, that sounds kinda gross. But trust me, it was good. 

Now, with all my ramblings out of the way, I gotta ask:

Are you a take each day/week at a time kinda person, 

someone who plans ahead meticulously, 

or c'est la vie, whatever will be will be person?

Hope you all had a great weekend!

simple smiles #38

That number is just a guestimate (hehe, I love that 'word'), since I haven't tagged a post with simple smiles since last June. Holy cannoli, I've had some simple smiles since then for sure! So I'm bringing it back, and hopefully making it last :) Here are some things over the past few days that have made me smile simply, and one kind-of-complicated smile.

CHEESECAKE BROWNIES. They're pretty easy to prepare/bake, and taste so delicious. I made a batch this weekend for a youth group I was leading, and had some leftovers to share with others. Adding just a hint of Skor bits makes for yummy bites of caramel-like flavour.

TAKING AN UNINTENTIONAL PHOTO. I meant to take a photo of the snowfall, but my camera decided to focus in on the snowflakes stuck to my window instead. I like when cameras 'mess' up but still give you something beautiful.

RANDOM OPPORTUNITIES. For the past couple of weeks, I've been volunteering as an editor for this project at my university (yes, I've graduated, have no more classes, and am still going there twice a week - such is the sadnessity of my life). We went to look at locations for our next shoot and came across the most hyper and positive woman in my life, who owns an esthetician/cosmetic spa location. We're filming there on Wednesday, and through conversation, I landed myself a job redesigning her website. Love random opportunities like that!

HAVE TIME TO JUST "BE" ... IN THE FORM OF THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. I've heard about this show for so long (mainly from Andhari) and decided to give it a go -- I finished the first season in five days(!) and am starting the second season now. 'Tis a good show - it's gone from guilty pleasure to just pleasure. [Image from Google search.]

And finally, THE SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED SMILE comes from The Boy spraining his ankle on Friday night, which means he's been hopping around in pain. But it was so nice visiting him over the weekend, running out to get us food in the form of Harvey's while he relaxed on the couch, and cuddling together while watching "RED" - I treasure simple moments like that, though it's a bit complicated by his injury.

Now, I've got to ask:

What's given you a simple smile lately?

oh, the insanity!

Happy 1/11/11! Or is it 11/1/11? I've never been able to figure it out - on the one hand it reads January 11th, but the other reads the 11th of January, which one is more common? I'm never sure what order to put it in. Hmm, the things that are on my mind on a daily basis could fill a book ... or a blog (bwahahaha).

Also today? My sister's birthday (and my niece's birthday is this week, too)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Make sure to wish her a happy birthday! right over here. Love you and miss you! Annnnd also today? A winds-so-strong-you-feel-like-you-can't-breathe snowstorm in southern Ontario. I exclaimed to my mama, "I hope there's a snow day tomorrow!" and she went, "But you don't even have classes to go to!" Ah yes, the sad reality of life.

 The snow coming down outside my window earlier this afternoon (looks a bit creepy, doesn't it), and two birthday celebrants this week: my sister & my niece.

So to fill up time, I've watched Tangled with my amazing friends (such an adorable movie, I want to own Maximus), cuddled with The Boy, celebrated another friend's birthday (my life is full of January babies) as well downloading this thing called the Insanity workout. And while it might not literally drive you insane, the level of intensity is insane. I tried doing the fit test and by the time the fourth move came around, I was crouching down, feeling like my chest was about to collapse, my ears were all plugged, and no amount of water could satisfy. At least I wasn't doing this workout in public. I definitely need to build myself up, yesiree bob. Wish me luck?

 I'd love if the picture on the left was part of my kitchen or something, but alas it's a restaurant I went to - and had a scrumptious salami provolone sandwich.

Other things this week - the lovely BonBonRose Girls are celebrating two years of blogging, KS from While We're Waiting... is officially becoming a lawyer(!), and I'm ... still on the lookout for a job. Wish me luck on that too, por favore. 

How's your week been so far?

If it hasn't been so chipper (and you like caffeine), then: 

 I've had the blessing of enjoying lots of coffee this weekend over amazing conversation, and hope you get to do the same this week (over your beverage of choice, o'course). 
'Til next time :)

happy new year!

OK, so the start of the new year was four days ago (or five, depending on time zone?) but better late than never, righto? Thanks for all the Happy New Year wishes! The past few days have been spent recovering from muscle and body pains; I fear that 2011 has brought about an early stage of old age or something. I blame it on spending the evening of New Year's Day dancing my heart out with my closest friends to Just Dance 2 on the Wii, for sure :)

I hope you all had a great time ringing in 2011, whether it was lowkey or extravagant. Mine was spent with a co-chef by my side (aka The Boy) plus a couple coming over to have dinner, whip our hair, laugh a lot, and then taking care of The Boy who didn't feel so well in the first few hours of the new year, to put it vaguely hehe. Either way, it was a great night and now I'm spending the first few days of 2011 ... trying to figure out what I'm going to do the rest of the year. But for now, a little peek in my night:

 The Boy and I, an excellent co-chef who chopped all the onions for me :)

Bruschetta, anyone?

Dinner was served in the form of roasted potatoes and pork tenderloin stuffed with feta and bruschetta plus a salad (mmm), and then there's me and my friend whipping our hair back and forth! I look like a have a Chewbecca head on me.

Two unintentional "resolutions", though I prefer to call them long-term goals, are to make videos of memories instead of just taking pictures, and to have a dream diary. I have this tendency to read in bed for about 10 minutes, which makes my bed all nice and toasty for when I settle down to actually sleep. But when I do this, I tend to have the most vivid and strangest dreams ever - so why not record 'em! This post is getting more random by the second.

My first few weeks of January will probably be spent relaxing - catching up with friends even though the whole work/school shuffle is starting up again - and trying to find some kind of job. Whether it's seriously starting up a web design/graphic design kind of business, or venturing into my city screaming, "Pleeeeease hire me!" (okay, I probably won't stoop so low to do that ... hopefully). Thankfully, I have plenty of hobbies to pass the time and actually having some me time for once is refreshing. But soon, I know I'll have to spruce up my resume and find places to apply to. 

For now, I hope you've all had a first good few days of 2011. 

Let me know how you celebrated, if you have any "long-term goals", and how you're spending this first month of the year!