an ode to august

Oh August - how I love you. I might be a little biased since my birthday's on the 31st of August which is  tomorrow(!!!), but I've always found myself enjoying the days more, taking the most pictures during this month, and reveling in free days, planned nights, and spontaneous Skype dates. The air is not as humid and muggy as July in southern Ontario, and there's a slight crispness in the air in the evenings as the sun sets earlier; but it's a nice reminder that layered knits and pumpkin spice lattes are right around the corner.

My simple smile for this week - besides finding sweet birthday cards and surprise packages in the mail from dear friends - is finding my own little bit of paradise this month in the form of a road trip to Bruce Peninsula National Park. We drove through towns that had a higher population of cows than actual people and made it to crystal clear (and freezing!) waters and exploring a grotto (and coming up with a song called "Otto the Grotto").

The waters looked all Caribbean-like but were so cold.

The Grotto and my freshly dyed strawberry-blonde hair! (:

When I haven't been searching for or enjoying paradise, I've been baking a lot thanks to my parents' friends who have a ton of fruit trees in their backyard. Two weeks ago I made plum cake, and just last night made a peach cake, all using the same basic recipe (which I'll probably share soon)!

The times that I'm not baking, I've spent catching up with schoolmates from university and teacher's college, either at a restaurant, cafe, or a 10km hike which kills my legs but feels so good at the same time. There's this trail that my friend introduced me to that has running streams, crazy hills, and close encounters with deer and I wish it was closer to my home so I could walk it every day.  

Two of these lovely ladies are leaving me for London; 

I unfortunately could not fit inside their luggage.

The times that I'm not catching up with schoolmates, I've spent doing an overdue reunion with two of my workmates - and crashed a TV set in the downtown for a show called Bomb Girls. Lots of 1940s garb, fake snow, and posters for 5 cent burgers and trendy fashions.

WOMANPOWER -- we can do it! We can ... cook things over a stove?

And when I haven't been doing all that, I've been trying to plan out as much of my fall as I can while also working in The Boy's soon-to-be-open shop! While we'd love to get our ideal jobs right away, this is kind of our back-up/let's-make-ends-meet route for now, and it's pretty nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time. 

I find that I can look back at every August of my recent years with fond memories; it'd definitely be my month of choice to relive over and over if I could.

if you could choose a month to relive whenever you wanted, 

which one would it be & why?

and if you haven't yet,

please mosey on down and join the postcard project!

Tomorrow involves a surprise day from The Boy (all I know is that I have to bring my bathing suit), and then hopefully a beach day with my girlfriends on Saturday. Hope you all have a great rest of the week! (:

the postcard project no.3

In my mind, postcards are magical. They have the power to remind you of a place that you've been to; the ability to connect you with a friend in a faraway place; can serve as a blank canvas for you to spill your secrets onto; and can slowly, bur surely, turn your thoughts to wanderlust. 

For the past few years, my postcard collection has grown because I've finally been able to travel a bit and because of amazing friends who send me postcards on their travels. And I know there's people out there who love postcards just as much as I can do --

so I'm bringing the postcard project back! 

If you weren't here the first two times around, this is just a little "let's connect everyone through snail mail" project that involves you commenting, getting paired up with someone (or two, depending on how many people sign up) and sending & receiving a postcard! I thought this would be a really neat way to connect with each other; plus, postcards aren't too expensive (and if you want to make your own, by all means go for it!) since I didn't want to make a project that would break the bank. It involves:

Leaving a comment (or e-mail me) with a message that includes Your Name, Your E-mail, Your Country, and Any Preference? - if there's a continent or any specific country you'd love to have a postcard from, list it   here - hopefully we can make it happen, cap'n. And under 'any preference' you can list if you want a silly-ish postcard (if you don't list anything, I'll assume you want a postcard that is country-related!). Example:

• Your Name: Nikolett
  Your E-mail: betterthancoffee@gmail.com
  Your Country: Oh, Canada!
  Any Preference?: Anywhere around the world!

I'll e-mail you back and ask for a bit more info (address-related), and make up a list (I'll be checking it twice; and the only ones who will see your address are me and the postcard-sender/receiver).

I will pair you all up randomly (unless there's a specific preference to fulfill - just depends on how many participate!) and send an e-mail to both of you around Wednesday, September 5th - so you have two weeks to sign up!

Try to have the postcard sent out to the person by Wednesday, September 19th - gives you another two weeks to get the postcard, write it out, and send it out! The only catch - please e-mail me once you have sent the postcard so that way one person isn't left without a postcard after he/she has already sent one out. I'll be sending out a reminder e-mail to anyone who is left on September 19th!

I really liked the way this project turned out the first two times and would love it if you all signed up again :) If you want to spread the word and make it so you're paired up twice, it'd be great if you put one of these buttons on your blog, either in your sidebar or by mentioning it in a post!

<a href="http://better-than-coffee.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-postcard-project-no3.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/betterthancoffee/postcardproject12a.jpg" border="0" alt="Postcard Project" /></a>

<a href="http://better-than-coffee.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-postcard-project-no3.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i614.photobucket.com/albums/tt222/betterthancoffee/postcardproject12b.jpg" border="0" alt="Postcard Project" /></a>

If anything is unclear or you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask :) It'd be crazy to see how many people across the globe we can unite through a postcard! For now, have a great rest of the week :)

P.S. I have a lot of postcards from Budapest/Hungary and Vancouver/British Columbia so feel free to request one of those if you'd like!

five good things on a friday

01. great food shared with great people

I spent the weekend indulging in amazing food while visiting one of my best friends in Oakville - Saturday's meal consisted of an incredibly filling and delectable turkey burger from a place called The Works; the toppings were goat cheese (can not stress how YUMMY it is), spinach, roasted red peppers and added sundried tomatoes with a side of sweet potato fries. Sunday's homemade brunch included leftover sweet potato fries, baked salmon, and quinoa - a word that I always pronounce wrong - mixed with salsa, peas, garlic powder, and pepper.

The meals were a perfect accompaniment to catching up, wondering about our lives, and strolling about town. Oh, and watching V/H/S, which I can only describe as ... horrifically strange. 

Oh and I also made chocolate almond macaroon (cookies) that were found from Kym's blog and made from this recipe. 

02. taking in your favourite scenery 

Excuse the crazy close-up, but it just shows how happy the beach makes me. Or just being by the water in general. Especially when there's Haribo involved. 

03. dancing (horribly) to zumba followed by yoga

No picture of this one since my dancing should not be photographed ;) But I had an awesome Monday run at the gym; Zumba has quickly become my favourite mode of cardio, since the instructor at my gym is so enthusiastic and doesn't mind making a fool of himself (and he has insane hips), making the whole workout a blast. And yoga was the perfect way to wind down and really see just how inflexible I am (must do more yoga). 

04. mixed (online) tapes

When I was younger, I distinctly remember all the mixed tapes I would make from recording things on the radio and, when I became a little older, all the mixed CDs my sister and I would make, complete with customized Photoshopped covers of whichever artist was on the CD (mostly Britney Spears and Spice Girls, in my case). Just this past week I became acquainted with this site called 8tracks, where people make mixes of 8 tracks or more. I made my first one (here it is) for when I'm more in a mellow mood, and can't wait to make more. If you make mixes on here, please let me know :D 

05. playgrounds 

Although I don't go to playgrounds as often as I used to (remember that spinning wheel of death where everyone tried to hold on? where did that go?), my park recently did renovations and my boyfriend got stuck: 

Good times. This weekend I'm planning on being a bit of a homebody by making plum cake and getting The Hunger Games when it comes out tomorrow, but hopefully do some more exploring outdoors, too.

what's a good thing (or five) from your week?

what are your plans for the weekend?

hope it's a great one! (:

gone fishin'

Sometimes you just need to getaway - even if it's just for a day. Escape from the hectic life that is either thrust upon us or that we make for ourselves and take time to relax. On Wednesday I was able to have a little getaway by going fishing! (In a way, it's like my Wednesday wish came true.)

Before I met The Boy, my experiences with fishing were looking at the dismantled fishing rod, net, and box that my dad kept in the basement but seldom used. Now, I think of it as a perfect mini-escape: you spend the day sitting by the water, looking at the clouds, enjoying the sun, and it doesn't really matter if you catch a fish or not. But it doesn't hurt, either, since I caught 8 fish myself! (Whoo-hoo, pro fisher-woman here.) That day was definitely one of my simple smiles of this week.

Taking some time to jump around; t-shirt from here. 

      

We were nearby Hewitt's Dairy Bar so decided to stop in
for a treat of the raspberry sherbet variety.

     

A family had a property right on the lake we were fishing on
so we got to see their paddleboat and airplane in action.

    

My first fish of the day (that we threw back in).

Even though the rainclouds have finally found us in southern Ontario, I'm going to make the most of it by visiting one of my best friends this weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend!

What's your simple smile of the week?

P.S. Thanks so much for the warm welcome back! (:

hi, my name is...

I feel like I need to reintroduce myself on here after leaving this blog on the back burner (secretly hoping that I'd visit and the blog design would completely change on its own - but yay for a little facelift!). So, howdy! My name's Nikolett, though it's more of a nickname. I'm an almost 24-year old and I still feel a little at odds with the world, although I yearn to see as much of it as possible. And I think it's safe to say that my caffeine addiction is still safely (?) intact. 

This time last year I was marveling at the shallow but beautiful waters of Lake Balaton in Hungary, and am now fully regretting not purchasing the Nikolett 'license plate' that I noticed at a vendor. For my Wednesday Wish, I wish I could just magically teleport or time machine-myself back to last year and relive my vacation in Europe whenever my thoughts turn into daydreams. 

Hungarian cuisine on the left; and a DIY ponytail holder on windy days.

My postcard of Lake Balaton.

This time, this year? Well, I'm safe and sound in Ontario, trying to find a job in the education field and also ready to jumpstart my web/graphics design company after years of maybe/maybe not. Soaking up summer as best as I can is my main objective these days since the whole finding a job part is turning into a morbid and depressing scenario. 

Apart from that, I've been addicted to watching the London Olympics 2012 (Team Canada was robbed in women's soccer, I'm just saying) and slowly morphing into a gym rat - the endorphin rush you feel after a workout is better than coffee for me (: What have you been up to lately? 

I'm so excited to make this place more alive again and talk about things on a more daily basis rather than just dumping whatever's happened in the course of 2-3 weeks. Thanks for sticking by me & coming back to read!

Where do you wish you were this Wednesday?

Hope it's a great day!