life in a nutshell

It's been one of those dreary, "case-of-the-Mondays" type days that really made me realize how much I've missed blogging. A lot of my life has been full of "I'll accomplish this ... later" moments, like me planning on posting a 25 things to do before I turn 25 bucket list and since I never ended up finishing it (I'm at #17, folks), I never ended up posting it. And then a lot of other things were left unsaid, and I left the postcard project at the wayside, and well ... I'm a pretty horrible blogger. I'm not making apologies or excuses, just wanted you to know ... I've missed it. I would love to be as candid as possible, but was taught to be as discreet as possible on the 'net due to my career choice. A career that seems to be in "volunteer as much as time of your life as possible without actually being paid or having an interview" mode. I'm trying to keep my chin up, I'm trying to remain positive, I'm trying to be assertive and put my name out there; nothing worth having comes easy, right? (At least, I keep telling myself this.) 

The good things? I'm celebrating 4.5 years with The Boy this weekend over schnitzel (a good thing to celebrate with, I think), I still cherish my random coffee dates and hangouts with friends, The Boy's shop is doing well, and I'm slowly but surely going through with starting my web/graphics design business while I volunteer with two different classrooms at two different schools. 

And the great thing? I finally get to meet my nephew this year; my sister and her family are coming around for Christmas and I can't wait to hold that little guy in my arms and smother him with Aunt Niki kisses. 

When I'm not volunteering, I'm catching up on "The Vampire Diaries" (OMG ELENA), "The Walking Dead" (OMG -NO SPOILERS HERE BECAUSE I HAVEN'T WATCHED THIS WEEK'S EPISODE), "New Girl", or being obsessed with the YouTube series "The Lizzie Bennet" diaries. If you haven't come across this yet, and you're a fan of Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice, or Colin Firth, please watch it. And the amazing Kathy sent me a couple of books that I can't wait to read. Oh, and um, I'm obsessed with Final Fantasy X again. No new video game has compared to it yet, though the Lego version of Lord of the Rings might give it a run for its money. 

I hope you've all been doing well and that life is full of love & laughter. I'll try to update soon. In the meantime, here's some pictures of what I've been up to lately:

 

how has your november been?

what's your life like in a nutshell? 

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! :) 

mellow autumn

I feel like I'm re-using my fingers for the first time in weeks just by typing here ... I haven't updated in a while and along with seasons changing, you might have noticed a little change in the layout here (hint hint, wink wink, come take a look if you're viewing this via a reader)! It might just be a temporary look but I felt like something fresh, something new and I've always wanted to make a Scrabble-inspired layout. Blame it on being an English major who loves words too much.

While I could explain all that I've been up to over the past few weeks, I only have two things on my agenda: catch up on all the blogs that I've missed, and provide a little peace offering for being a hermit. When I was younger I used to make a gazillion mixed CDs, photoshopping covers with the main artists on them. Why not do it now in digital form? So here goes! If you all like, I might try making these every month/every other month.

This month's mix? A little mellow, a little hipstery, with lyrics about change and the like. I'd like to call these Caffeinated Mixes :)

Blend from a 2008 wallpaper I made using own photos. Previous cover used photo from here.
Youtube play-button idea was an inspiration from Cafe Fashionista with her Play It Again, Sam! feature.

001. Brooke Fraser - Something in the Water

002. Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - Home

003. School of Seven Bells - Windstorm

004. Coldplay - Don't Panic

005. Vince Vaccaro - Costa Rica (Acoustic)

006. Muse - Shine (Acoustic)

007. Mumford and Sons - Thistle and Weeds

008. William Fitzsimmons - I Don't Feel It Anymore (George Raquet Remix)

009. Zee Avi - Is This The End

010. William Fitzsimmons - So This Is Goodbye (Pink Ganter Remix)

011. Florence and the Machine - Cosmic Love

012. Charmaine - Tied To The Ground

013. A Fine Frenzy - What I Wouldn't Do

014. Kate Walsh - Your Song

015. 2NE1 - You and I

And if you'd like to download it, CLICK HERE! :) Just a note: probably all of these mixes will feature at least one song by Muse and one J-Pop or K-Pop song because I listen to those three every single day. Either way, I hope you get to enjoy some of the music I'm into!

Does this count as a good peace offering? No? You want me to come into your house and clean it once a week and bake you delicious cookies afterwards? Errm ... we'll see what I can do about that. But for now, I'm back to blogging baby!

What have you all been up to? 

Happy September's over?

(I am!)