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!