love is better than coffee

Last week was my week from hell (and I know for many others, it was a week of tragedy). I had felt like I was hit with the gusts of a thousand plagues; I had the flu, a cough, a cold, the whole works. The one day that I did go outside last week was to go to do a small bit of Christmas shopping and mail out my Christmas cards; and it was on that day that I was reminded of the goodness in people, that infectious Christmas spirit (this was the day before the shooting in Newtown, which dampened my spirits, and my condolences go out to all those affected). 

But from the girl who randomly complimented my coat as I was getting off the bus and she was getting on, to the nice salespeople at Chapters and Starbucks, to the lady at the post office who took off tax, to the bus driver who said, "Hello! How are you doing today?" I had a genuine smile on my face, and was also a little resentful that I was homebound most of the time and couldn't go out and see that Christmas spirit more often. I was also missing The Boy, my friends, and my sister like crazy (my sister can't come here for Christmas anymore, but I will come visit you, don't you worry! And umm, Christmas Eve Skype date, please?). 

And then it all came to a head on Sunday morning. I had slept in and my parents were already out, and I found myself starving since I usually don't sleep in until 11:30am. I ate brunch and realized that I wasn't chewing properly and it was hard to drink. I went upstairs to brush my teeth and realized that I couldn't move the left side of my face. I tried to smile at myself in the mirror and my smile was coming out crooked. I couldn't properly close or wink my left eye, and it felt like I had been shot up with Novocaine  It was paralyzed. And I was terrified. The first thing I did was call The Boy at work, who started going through all the options and told me to get my parents to come home right away. 

As soon as my parents came through the door I cried out, "I can't move the left side of my face!" and we immediately went to the hospital; by some stroke of luck, I was in and out of there in half an hour and the nurses and doctors were so incredibly kind. Aside from my food poisoning/dehydration in Hungary a year and a half ago, I hadn't had to be admitted into a Canadian hospital since I was born.

Fortunately, it's not a stroke. I have something called Bell's palsy, which is the inflammation of nerves causing temporarily paralysis in the face, usually either brought on by a cold or because it runs in the family (in this case, both, since my grandma had it once). I was put onto steroids and have an ointment for my left eye that gives me blurry vision but allows my eye to not dry out, and it should be back to normal in two weeks or so. But it was such a frightening feeling, not knowing what was going on, not being able to voluntarily move my face which normally is so expressive. On the other hand, I know it could have been much, much worse. 

It's really been in these last few days that I've realized that love is better than coffee. From the outpourings of well wishes from best friends and blog friends, to the random surprises from The Boy who gave me flowers and a bag of candy to make me feel better, to the little things like my mom making me breakfast and showering me with hugs ... when scary things happen, as scary as they may be, love is one of the best things to respond with. It might not make the scary thing go away, but it eases the pain. 

To end this wall of text, I hope that you've been having an AMAZING December so far, full of great times with family and friends. Since I'm most likely going to be homebound on and off for the next couple of weeks, I'll definitely try to post more often. For now, here's other things that brightened my otherwise dismal week:

(1) Mail! My new favourite shirt from Kym @ herro hachi, and Christmas cards from Tasha and my sister. Thank you so much ladies :) 

(2) Watching a pretty sunset on my one evening out of my house. 

(3) A get-well soon package from The Boy with flowers, strawberry kiwi juice, and chocolate.

Now to brighten up this post:

What's made your December bright?

And what's better than coffee (or your favourite indulgence) for you?

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! :) 

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!

surprise! you're sick

I have always had an incredibly sensitive body - when I run a lot or stand under hot water, I tend to get these reddish-pink hives all over my left arm (why the left arm? I still have no idea). When I move my neck just a bit from side to side, it cracks terribly. I tend to get the hiccups more frequently than others (maybe I just don't know how to breathe). And last Thursday, when the sun was out and it was actually a mild 8°C (46°F) I thought, "Hey! Let's open up my window for the first time in months."

Yeah, not the brightest idea because about two hours later, as I ventured downstairs for some food, I felt it: the sniffles. Surprise! my overly sensitive body exclaimed. You're sick! The Boy made my day on Friday by coming to my house to surprise me with cookies, and then hanging with friends was comforting and brought warmth in the form of sharing blankets as we watched a movie and spicyness as we ate pad thai at a pho restaurant. Mmm mm good. Apart from that, my waste basket has turned into a mountain of tissues.

Basically the past few days have been attempts to stay warm and healthy while web designing (check out my sister's scrumptious cupcakery website here and the lovely, smart and sassy Sara's new blog design here), eating cookies, and watching The Vampire Diaries. My body is also incredibly sensitive to addictive shows, I'm guessing.

Until I recuperate enough to actually leave my house again (though I kind of don't want to since we just got another 10+cm of snow), here's some memories from last Monday's Valentine festivities.

 These pictures definitely don't do these meals justice:
on the left, homemade spaghetti (I also made some bruschetta again);
on the right, "homemade" delicious cake The Boy bought from a grocery store.

Gifts in the form of a bouquet of flowers and an adorable card :)
My gifts to him were all homemade and included a variety of teabags that had hearts attached to the end of the strings saying cheesy things, and lots of candy to get through a week of essay-writing.

Valentine's Day photo! And wearing my Ruche skirt courtesy of the BonBon Rose ladies.

So lately I've asked about book recommendations, things you love,
and now since I'm on my sickbed (aka my computer chair), I have to ask:

What's a video that never fails to make you smile?

Whether it's cute bunnies or a short skit, I'd love to watch! Many thanks in advance.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

bitten, burnt, and bothered

Well, doesn't that blog title sound like a bed of rose petals? (I have no clue if that's even the proper metaphor, but I'm sticking with it.) The title refers to: A) got bitten on the face by a bug last week which left a lovely red mark; B) burnt my boob (of all things) while straightening my hair due to it being so long now and wearing a tank top ... it hurt; and C) bothered by having an infection for the last few days and having gorgeous but incredibly hot weather.

It's mostly reason C) that's kept me away from here for the last few days - feeling under the weather means the only time I was on the computer was to do schoolwork (or plays The Sims, I'm not gonna lie), and then I tried to soak in the sun as much as I could, either by myself or with friends. 

In between learning about the Tibetan Book of the Dead and other death rituals, I'm longing for those carefree summer nights (even though it's still spring, but shhh) where you'd just run around in a park, go by the beach and dig your toes in the sand,  go biking ... GAH, it's taking every fibre of my being for me to not run down to my basement to grab my bike - I know the second I do, I'll be out of the house every moment and I'll most likely fail my class. And granted, this class is only two nights a week so I still do have time to have a life - but lately the hangouts are too serious, too weighted, it just makes me wish for those "good ol' days" (I seriously sound like I'm an elderly woman right now, don't I?).

I'm still loving life and I'm trying not to be a Debbie Downer about things - so I'm going to share some happy moments from this last week (in picture form, of course). 

And I have to ask:

How have you spent the last week? :) 

I know I've been out of the loop on your blogs, and I will catch up ... 
but tell me in a comment, too!

Really excited to see How To Train Your Dragon on our 2-year celebration. That movie made me tear up behind my 3D glasses, I loved it.

A beautiful bouquet of blue roses from The Boy :)

Made some German apple cake! Pretty good for my first try.

Fireworks on Victoria's Day! Basically an excuse to have fireworks until 1 in the morning.

Yesterday I met up with a classmate I haven't seen in a while and we went to this Asian vegetarian restaurant for a buffet and ... this was my plate. So delicious. And I had banana ice cream - yum!

Me and my friend - it was so good catching up and sharing our fears about graduating in two weeks (ah!). I was also having a very "bad bangs" day yesterday hehe.

After we said our farewells, I headed to the downtown mall and walked by this fountain.

I wanted to jump in there so badly because it was so freaking hot ...

... instead, I headed inside and had a pomegranate berry chilled drink to cool me down.

After I browsed around the mall, I headed to the farmer's market and ahh ... that place is amazing. So many home-made goods, from food to little trinkets. I was on my way to see my friend who I have my night class with and spotted two things for her - flowers, and then cat grass for the new kitty her and her roommate have!

So adorable! He ended up nom nom nom-ing away on it, but my camera didn't capture it too well.

It's supposed to have a ton of nutrients and good stuff for them. Bon appetit, Kafka!

Hope you're all having a good hump day and I'll try to update within a few days rather than a week later :)

simple sick sniffles ... I mean, smiles.

I planned this weekend to be one full of pictures. What I didn't count on was Avatar being sold out yet again when me and The Boy wanted to go see it (instead we watched Sorority Row at home with the pizza we planned on sneaking in to the theatres, whoop whoop). I also didn't plan on getting massively sick. Boo-urns. But in the spirit of feeling loopy on all drugs not containing acetaminophen (I'm allergic), I'm going to recap my weekend, backwards!

First off, if you haven't already, wish the happiest of birthdays to my amazing and wiser (that sounds nicer than 'older', methinks) sister, Margarita -- or, a Fab Brunette. Her daughter, Princess (my niece!), is also celebrating her birthday tomorrow ... ahh, how time flies! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The majority of Monday and Sunday was spent trying to battle this sickness while filming a movie. Say what? you might be asking. Don't worry, it won't be hitting your local movie theatre anytime soon. In the fourth year of our multimedia degree, we have to do a thesis project. Me and my close friend are doing an advertising/web campaign on HIV/AIDS, but my schoolfriend decided to take a more fun approach and create a trailer/website for a movie based on a book series called Pawn of Prophecy.


A couple of months ago she came up to me and asked, "Would you like to act in this? You would be a 7, 000 year old sorceress." As soon as she said that, I was in! (I'm so easy ... (that's what she said.)) After getting all of our make-up/hair done by the schoolfriend's sister (who's a professional make-up artist, so I felt pretty glammed up!), we headed outside for photography and then drove off to a farm in ridiculously cold weather. The horses were adorable ... I grew fond of Jenny, a 29-year old who was blind in one eye, but so soft and gentle. The rest of the time was spent trying to cozy up to the tiny heater while the kind owner of the farm provided us with hot cocoa. Still didn't stop the cough (can't stop the cough, can't stop the cough ...).

Regardless of being sick now, it still was some fun times and I rocked a blonde/silver extension for my character which was pretty neat-o!

There's me in my costume (and me acting goofy), a behind-the-scenes look at the filming,
a picture of Jenny the amazing horse, and a full look at the medieval cast!

Filming on a Sunday meant getting up ridiculously early ... but the night before, I was at an Irish pub celebrating my friend's birthday. I've known her since I was 7 and she was 8, so we go way back! Me and The Boy braved cold weather to wish her a happy birthday. It was a nice excuse to dress up since I got a few sequin tops around the holidays (yes, I a sucker for sequins). Plus, it was just nice to catch up :)

 

Probably not the smartest idea to wear this in -9°C (or 15°F) weather -

I promise I had a warm cardigan and a winter jacket overtop, though!

Annnd Friday I already explained :) Arrived 45 minutes early to the theatre, only to find Avatar sold out. But we made the most of our night! And now ... well, now I have tissues shoved up my nostrils.  So the weekend was my simple smile, but the illness is not. I feel like I've been fun over by a bulldozer ... and it doesn't help that my calves are strained from too much exercise. But I'm very excited for Bon Bon Rose's week of giveaways (and sorry Kristin for the comment, you're fabulous at any age! haha) and I'm excited for Therapeutic Thursdays! Glad so many of you liked it ... I'll be taking it low-key this week, but I'm gonna be asking you for some questions soon! So keep those ready, por favore.

In the meantime, would anyone like to send some soup my way?

Hope you've been having a healthier week!

P.S. I'm a little overdue in catching up with your blogs, I hope you understand ... once I feel better, I'll be more likely to make comments that make sense hehe. Still love you all!

making phlegm sound sexy...

You all are the bestest (let's pretend that's a word for the moment). All your beautiful comments on the last post really helped to lift up my spirits. Unfortunately, my body's now let me down.

I've been sick all weekend, with no signs of stopping. I've been coughing up a storm and no amount of Buckley's seems to be helping (in fact, I think I've gotten an allergic reaction from it since I have bumps all over my skin now). I should buy Cold FX or whatever it's called but I can't even bring myself to get out of the house. My mom bought me a ton of 'suck-on-this-and-it'll-relieve-you-for-a-bit' thingies, so that's good. And she made me this remedy out of onion syrup, which is surprisingly sweet.

Basically, I've been like this:

I'm determined to get better by tomorrow since I have a paper due then (that I'm trying to write now ... err, that's working well!), plus I'd really like to enjoy the rest of the week in preparation for Halloween festivities! Oh, and my graduation photos are scheduled for Thursday (even though I don't graduate until next May) and I don't want to look ill in them! Or cough on the photographer ... maybe I can make phlegm sound sexy?

Even though I'm sick, I have lots of blogs to catch up on, which I'll hopefully get to during my 'paper-writing breaks'. For now, though, I want to share a video that also lifted up my spirits:

That's my simple smile of the week (it's so adorable)! And I'll be sharing my recipe of the week soon, since I've made a lot of meals this weekend. Hope you're all having a healthy Monday!

FAQ! feeling under the weather...

Ooo boy, that title's a little play-on-words/sounds. But yes. It seems like after every great weekend comes the moments of the sniffles, the muscle aches, the congestion and the head pains. I fear I'm getting sick and while I'm trying to do everything to prevent it (i.e, washing my hands every 20 minutes and wrapping myself into blankets while swallowing three Cold FX pills), I think it's going to catch up to me. I'm just not feeling too good, so I'm not really motivated to do anything near a computer (besides play computer games).

So this will be a short one and I'm sorry for not responding to blogs; once I get back into the swing of things I'll be back full-force in catching up with everyone. Right now I just need some desperate recuperation/me time. But before that happens:

Two things!

1) If you could own only 3 DVDs in your collection, what would they be? (Yup, TV series count, but only 3 seasons? So hard to choose!) If you couldn't tell, I need some suggestions haha.

2) Check out some lovely ladies, if not for their awesomeness and amazing blogs, then for my designs? Haha, I kid. The amazing Andhari, the savvy Sara and the fashionably sweet Jessica have adopted some graphics I made for them, and deserve some checking out for their writing!

And, FAQ!

While I give away some details about myself, there have been some things that I notice you all are curious about. Whether it's books I like, why this blog is called better than coffee, or those silly questions like if you were on a deserted island, what three items would you take with you?, I tell you: ASK AWAY! I'll take any questions asked in this post and answer 'em all in about a week from now. That way, you can learn about me (if you'd like!) and I can learn what movies and TV shows you love haha.

Ask me any question about me, my likes/dislikes, or anything you've ever wondered about me! I'm excited to read the questions!

Now I'm off to sniffle ... mm, exciting Wednesday.
Hope you're having a healthy hump day!

nothing sexier than having a bit of tissue shoved up your nostril ... right?

This past Monday, I started working at a high school's summer school (try saying that five times fast!) for the third year in a row. I'm considered an office/student tutor -- filing files, verifying marks, writing out late slips, and assisting teachers with various things.

It's an amazing job that's pretty much solidified my dream of becoming a high school teacher. But of course, every job comes with its pros & cons. I love my co-workers, two other girls around my age who love to talk and joke around while we work, and my superiors who treat us with respect. I love Mr. Gorgeous [err, not real name!], an English teacher with an accent that we can't quite place but he's so pleasant.

Not so cool? Having to wake up at 6am every morning. I'm used to going to sleep at 1:30am and then waking up at 9:30am. A lovely eight hours of rest. Now, I go to bed at 11:30pm (SO EARLY!) and wake up at 6am. Combine that with rather chilly mornings and having to walk around doing tasks in portables & you've got ...

Me -- horribly ill. I woke up this morning with a stuffed nose and plugged ears. Not fun. I've sneezed about 128 times today, and the whole office looked at me like I was crazy as I ran to the washroom with a tissue smothering my nose (they thought I had a nosebleed). On the bright side -- since I'm not the type who lies when someone asks how I am -- I told Mr. Gorgeous that I was feeling a little under the weather, to which he replied, "Oh, well that's not good at all! I do hope that you feel better." Ah, swoon. I am not gonna tell The Boy about my little teacher-crush haha. But yeah, it's just not normal having a cold in JULY!

At this job I've dealt with learning how to make coffee for 40 people, dealing with students whose last names are Sithole (teehee) and verifying whether they're in the correct class, and running around as teachers ask, "Oh, I thought YOU were getting the attendance for me." Dude, no.

I've missed blogging and catching up on blogs so much, it's not cool haha. At least I have Friday nights to Sunday off, but I am sorry that I haven't caught up lately. Being sick doesn't suit me. And now I have to go to Shakespeare class in an hour. The fun never ends!

It's hard staying positive with 6am wake-up times ... any advice for the sick girl who has to consistently wake up early? :)