currently...

READING and well, re-reading, all of your amazing comments from my last post (in 2012, what!). Every single comforting and warm wish sent my way definitely helped and I'm pretty much 98% back to normal from the insane month of illness (aka December). The left side of my face is still sensitive to the touch, but my smile is back to normal :) Thank you so much for all your amazing words -hugs- 

And I'm also reading The Passage by Justin Cronin; thanks to Kathy's amazing recommendation. I actually had to take a little break from reading it because it sucked me in to the point where I was reading it for two days straight; and now I'm back. 

GRATEFUL that the weather is going to return to semi-tolerable temperatures this week, which will make my walk from the bus stop to work more bearable. Speaking of gratitude, I am so thankful that I finally have a job! One of my best friends recommended me for a job that, while it might not be teaching, actually has to do with at least one of my degrees, and I get to spend my days editing!

LOVING that there's a Starbucks within ten minutes-walking distance from my work. And even though this is ancient in Internet-land, I recently rediscovered the hilarity of 'bad lip reading', and my favourite next to The Hunger Games one is definitely "Russian Unicorn" (a parody on Michael Bublé). My new jam? Possibly. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO having a February spending more time with The Boy (there's a picture of us from New Year's). And I also get to spend February catching up with friends I haven't seen in forever, one of whom has been in Taiwan and I haven't seen her in almost two years!! I am EXCITED! 

This month has just seemed to whiz by; whether it's due to the old adage "time flies by as you get older" or just having my days filled with work, I can't believe February is already starting this week! So, tell me...

what are you currently

reading, grateful for,
loving, and looking forward to?

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! (:

a look at may

A month's absence either means (a) I've been having a busy but awesome month; (b) I've been too lazy to update; or (c) a combination of both. I'll admit, it's been (c): the last few weeks have been full of amazing memories and getting way too much water in my ear from swimming, and also full of much needed downtime after finally finishing my "career" as a student. Now, I'm just unemployed (but looking!). The job market is slim pickings, but when my mama was away in B.C. for two weeks (more on that later), I applied to six school boards and might be even thinking of going to England(!!!) next year if teaching in Ontario doesn't work out. 

After a couple of weeks of all this though, I noticed that I have missed this blog and all the incredible people that I get to interact with and talk to, and I definitely want to revive this space here (and after this post, my next on the priority list is changing this look up a bit!). 

For now, here's a look at what I've been up to in May! I have been absolutely horrible and not catching up on you but please let me know what you've been up to in May, and what you're looking forward to in June!

this may...

We completely owned a claw machine at a carnival ...

... marveled at all the goodies available inside food trucks during an event before deciding on a chicken burrito, wood-fired pizza, and a Beavertail, which was delicieux ...

... fed my addiction for caffeine with 1/2-price frapps before seeing The Lucky One (Zac Efron, you have grown up well) ...

... celebrated birthdays & didn't get the memo of pulling a Zoolander face in a photo ...

... took a road trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a chicken breast panini with goat cheese(!), and mouth-watering and completely satisfying gelato ...

... but mostly, we went there to celebrate four years together! :) 

The day was full of happy moments, even when a bird pooped on me (at least it didn't poop on my gelato), and it reminded me of how happy I am to have this man in my life!

And last, but not least ...

This little prince was born! See my sister's announcement here about it :) Not only do I have a gorgeous niece, but now I have an adorable nephew whom I can't wait to meet! I just want to pinch his little cheeks. My mom went to visit for two weeks to help out and see the little guy for the first time which meant, for the first time ever, me and my dad living alone in the same house - and though there were times where we wanted to rip each other's heads off, we got along for the most part (and that's a good thing). 

I hope your May has been chock-full of great times & good moments!

What was your favourite part of May? 

What are you looking forward to in June?

I'm off to go camping for the weekend for The Boy's birthday, but I'll update soon! :) 

the road goes ever on...

It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to. 

- "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"

I'm definitely embracing my nerdy side by starting this blog post off with a Lord of the Rings quote. But lately, that road that goes ever on and on has been on my mind (and now I want to do an extended version Lord of the Rings marathon. Anyone want to join in?). 

Friday marked my last day of teachers college, while Thursday was my last day of student teaching ... and my last day of teaching in God knows how long, since the margin for job openings are rather slim nowadays. There's this kind of aching in my heart now to get back into the classroom, even if it is a stuffed sardine portable with 31 students with inexhaustible  energy.

After two months with these grade 5s, it was on my last day that true personalities came out; I really saw transformations in my students, and the shy ones finally let loose and made me smile with their sweet cards and gifts. The best gift? A tissue-paper made purse that had "Channel" written on it!! I know I'm going to go back to visit them, since that school has kind of become my third home (my first and second homes being my own & The Boy's). I learned so much from my associate teacher and it was an experience that really confirmed that I want to be a teacher, even with the challenges and job shortages. 

Now, after a weekend of catch-up and relaxation ... the street that I'm on is Where Next Boulevard. I'm trying not to fret or panic even though everything right now is so unknown to me; instead I'm just going to try my best. Update my résumé, get my references and reference letters together, and apply to as many places as possible.

And in the meantime, find some kind of part-time job, keep going with my graphics/webdesign, look forward to the birth of  my nephew in less than two weeks(!!!), and enjoy life as best as I can.

Yesterday was definitely a good way to start off enjoying life! Me and my four best friends (one I've known since I was 7, the rest I met in my first few years of high school) finally reunited after months and months. That time of being able to catch-up over shopping and Filipino cuisine makes me feel so happy to have them in my life, and truly blessed. 

And the leftover pancit doesn't hurt, either! Here's a few pictures from yesterday and a little collage of my last week of student teaching:

I  ♥ these ladies.

At Max's of Manila; sadly not in Manila, but in Toronto.

I had a quarter of chicken, pancit canton, and garlic rice, followed by a hearty serving of the traditional dessert, halo-halo!

(1) Owl goodie bags for my students that said "Owl miss you" on the back (embracing both my nerdy and cheesy sides in this blog post!)

(2) A few samples of the art lesson for Ancient Greek pottery 

(3) The last day of class full of cards and a chalkboard adorned with "Don't go!" messages

(4) And the classic "Bump It Up" wall of a flower blooming.

My next week is all planned out: a dinner with teachers college classmates as a 'last farewell' (before our grad on June 6), heading to the gym and library as often as I can for working out and getting applications finished, seeing The Boy and catching up with friends, and then ...

Who knows? I know where I want my path to take me, but the road is unpredictable and I have no idea where it'll sweep me off to. All I know is that I want to go to B.C. in August and hopefully get a job sometime soon! Fingers crossed, please! :)

How have you spent your weekend?

How do you deal with the unknown?

Hope you had a great weekend!

that's amore

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to say, I really do love the weekends. Especially the long ones. Easter seemed to come and go in a flash, leaving behind great memories of having a bash/"ta ta for now" party for my friend as she goes to Africa for a month, having The Boy come over for Easter dinner with accordion in hand (and my dad playing a few awesome tunes) and a bunny coming to watch us in the backyard, and going out for coffee with one of my best friends at one of the only places open on an Easter Sunday: McDonald's.

This past weekend I embraced my inner zebra with a striped top (that I had just bought a couple of hours earlier) for a wildlife-themed birthday party where I had way too many jaggerbombs but had a blast dancing the night away. 

So before I get into what I really wanted to talk about, here's a little peak at what I've been up to the last couple of weeks (and, um, where the heck did April go?!): 

Admiring Nature: The top row are from my walks back from the gym, and the bottoms two are from a camp we went to as a field trip for the grade 5s. One student said they should "tear the forest down and build a shopping mall" which almost made me weep for humanity, so instead I looked at the lake.

Simple Smiles: In the form of a "congratulations" card from my students on my evaluation day from my faculty advisor (I received a perfect score!), Second Cup for a caffeine fix, a surprise gift from Taiwan in the shape of Taiwan from my dear friend, and pizza ... because pizza is the best.

Easter Weekend!

Rawr! Yes, most of my friends are Asian.

And some silly pics :)

And while I spent half the Saturday in supreme hangover mode, it was Saturday night that brought along the most thoughts ... we spent the evening at another couple's house and got onto a conversation about how we hope that, when we're our parents age (45+), we'll still be in love as when we are now. I look at my parents, who still have such affection for each other after all these years, and hope I'll be the same way. 

While one friend remarked that he would always treat his lady as a princess and give her everything she wants, it got me to thinking about the way I love, and the way I want to be loved. 

When I think about my relationship with The Boy, he treats me with that chivalry from ages past and I am so grateful for that. But when it really comes down to it, I cherish our relationship because we try to treat each other as equals. My feelings for him go deep; I need to give him the love he needs, and I hope he needs and wants to give me the love that I need. I never want to have him suffer to make me happy, just like he shouldn't expect me to suffer hardships to make him happy. If that makes any sense. 

In essence, it's about those small gestures. I'm all about the simple smiles, and while flowers and chocolates and diamonds may be nice, I cherish those smaller things that can be done on a daily basis, almost effortlessly. A squeeze of a hand, a post-it note or text message to say "I love you", cooking a favourite meal. That's the way I love. 

Lately I keep hearing about the 5 Love Languages, so I took the test, and lo and behold, it's physical touch. So, if we ever meet in real life, prepare for a tight hug to show you I care. But it also goes beyond that; I'm not the perfect girlfriend or perfect friend, but I try my best to show someone that I'm willing to go the extra mile for them, because, as L'Oreal puts it, they're worth it. And I am so grateful to have their love in my life.

What's the way you love?

How do you want to be loved? 

Hope you're not having a case of the Mondays/Tuesdays like I am,

and hope there's sunshine wherever you are right now!

those little surprises

It might seem obvious that surprises are unexpected, but I find unexpected surprises to be the best kind of surprise. Whether it's a week of gorgeous weather that shows up and makes it feel like summer, or a package that comes in the mail, or one of those days where time feels like it's just stopped, or being pleasantly surprised that The Hunger Games lived up to your expectations. 

So even though that unexpected week of warmth was followed by getting snow and a cold (thanks, grade 5 students, for still coming to school when you're coughing your lungs out), I enjoyed that week getting to wear skirts and sandals, looking for flowers, and eating sundaes with The Boy. And when my feet ached from wearing those sandals I haven't worn in nearly a year, another unexpected surprise came in the form of a package from Kat, full of things from The Body Shop to pamper my feet with. Thank you so much, lady! 

Other unexpected surprises: getting a package from Krissy with a ring that just screams computer nerd and a lovely necklace that I can't wait to wear in the summer, having a live band listen to my request and play "Benny and the Jets" in a pub with teacher college friends, hearing that my cousin in Poland is engaged (my first Polish wedding, maybe?), being surprised every time one of my grade 5 students says, "You're a really fun and good teacher!" even when I'm teaching math, and surprised at my motivation to actually go to the gym.

Tonight I'm probably going to try to relax with a cuppa tea and a few episodes of Flower Boy Ramen Shop, continue with some graphics designing and web-brainstorming, lesson plan, and then get ready for tomorrow! 

'Til then, here's what I've been up lately in picture-form. 

But wait! Here's the winner of the Starbucks gift card + random bag of goodies:

Katy from twentyfourcarat.net! Congrats! (And visit her blog if you haven't yet!)

Exploring the jungles of a greenhouse and admiring the flowers.

On a walk down by the bay :)

Seeing how many glasses we can stack on top of each other on a wild Friday night ;)

Embracing my inner Katniss and my ticket stub from Tuesday night.

Another unexpected caffeine-related surprise & my new ring! :)

What's an unexpected surprise you've had recently?

P.S. If you like postcards, prepare yourself for a postcard-filled April!

Hope you've had a great weekend so far! :)

march-ing forward

Days are getting warmer, the sunshine is lasting longer, and my hair has become a little shorter ... feels like spring is in the air! It's so strange to me that we're already one-quarter of the way through 2012, but the nice breeze and bright skies prove to be a great distraction from those "where has the year gone?!" thoughts. 

After weeks of group projects and assignments, I can officially say I am no longer a student! All that's left is a good six more weeks of my second teaching block with grade 5s (who are err, very chatty to say the least) and some hopefully positive evaluations and I will officially be a teacher. Except for the whole having a job part. But, still. I'm on my way! 

I finally got a break this week for some much-needed me time combined with The-Boy-and-I time and some catch up time with friends. I joined the local gym (my first time at a gym in two years) and am actually enjoying the aches and sores of my muscles as a greeting in the morning. I helped my friend do some retail therapy and adored all the shirts that have bicycles and bird patterns all over it. I baked a cake and enjoyed the beach with The Boy along with a mini-Star Wars marathon that brought out the geeky sides of us. 

And ... I am now hooked to Draw Something. Just wish I had the skillz to draw. 

Here's what I've been up to this March:

Top: Catching up with my best friends over an amazing meal;
Bottom: Celebrating no more classes with my friends from teachers college.

A Star Wars night complete with a cake we made and lemoncello (yum).

Bipolar Ontario weather = going to the beach with some Haribo!

Went from my hair draping down my back to grazing my shoulders ... feels so good!

(P.S. Yes, I like that pink sweater. A LOT.) 

Retail therapy in the form of a one-piece for the gym  pool & a sailor shirt.

And getting back into the design groove with a header for Kat!

It's been a pretty good month so far, and with the weather getting warmer I'm getting so excited to get out of the house, wear my Toms instead of boots, eat some ice cream (wait, I did that during winter anyway), and make my last few weeks of practice teaching stress-free. 

And on Sunday I'm celebrating 4 years of knowing The Boy aka our met-a-versary (we met on March 18th on the city bus!) with a little outing worthy of spring weather ... going to a greenhouse haha :) 

Here are my goals for the start of spring: 
(1) Get through my block with a smile and make the days enjoyable.
(2) Get my rear end to the gym at least 3 days a week, but aim for 4.
(3) Come back from the gym and blog before lesson planning. 
(4) Go on spontaneous dates and outings.
(5) Call my sister more.
(6) Get back into graphics/web design on a more regular basis.
(7) See The Hunger Games as many times as possible haha. 

What are your goals for the next couple of months? 

Starbucks gift card winner will be announced in the next blog!

(So enter if you haven't yet!)

Hope you've had a great March so far!

And wish Tiara a happy birthday if you haven't yet!

a good meal {giveaway}

“The pleasures of the table belong to all times and ages, to every country and every day; they go hand in hand with all our other pleasures, outlast them, and remain to console us for their loss.”

- Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

Over the past week, I've really enjoyed those moments of being at the table with people I care about, enjoying a meal and reflecting on life. In a world of such hustle and bustle, it can seem almost a chore to sit everyone down at your dinner table - and, I'll admit, a good 3 out of 5 dinners with my parents involve us looking through separate newspapers or reading books instead of actually conversing.

This quote stood out to me because it doesn't necessarily say the pleasure of food, but rather the pleasures of the table. Dinner can be used as a cause for a birthday celebration, a job promotion, an engagement party (congrats Mel!), a catch-up afternoon after a long time of not seeing someone, or an intimate getaway for two. It's those memories that linger, and while a bad meal can tarnish that memory, it's the people I'm with that certainly make it worthwhile. 

The two days off thanks to 'Family Day' in Ontario and an extra day off from my teachers college for the president of the university (so random) inspired me to explore my kitchen. I honestly would love to cook and bake any moment I can, if only my kitchen was bigger and I had more spare time.

During those days off I made apple cinnamon streudel muffins, which was my first attempt at ever making muffins and I gotta say, they turned out pretty good! On Pancake Tuesday I made pancakes for the first time in forever (making me wish I was more like Bree), and then made some dinner for me and my tata while my mom was at work. It felt nice, even though the worse part of making food is definitely the cleaning up (no matter how hard I scrub, I swear there's pieces of food that just magically appear on a bowl once I clean it). 

Recipe adapted from here with slight changes: 

chopping two apples and grating one, and putting a half-cup white sugar and half-cup brown sugar into the batter. 

Last weekend provided yummy bubble tea and moments to catch up with my closest friends that I unfortunately don't get to see that often. Our go-to place has become that bubble tea restaurant with its $1.00 dine-in special where we always get french fries and fish balls (which tastes way better than it sounds).  And while we usually take advantage of all the board games there, from Jenga to cards to checkers, the last few times have been spent just talking and laughing, and I enjoy it just the same. 

Valentine's Day combined great company with delicious food. We had bruschetta with goat cheese and two separate pastas along with amazing Caesar salad (and of course, chewy gummy candy for dessert). The Boy and I hit up an Italian eatery and talked about life, love, and a little white box that popped up on the dinner table midway through the meal (a necklace from him that I adore!). 

I'm definitely thankful for the moments where I can sit down with the people I love and care about and enjoy the pleasure of being in their company (and the pleasure of food, too). To celebrate that - and to celebrate three years of blogging - I'm going to have little giveaways each Sunday for the next few weeks so that you can indulge in a good meal, too. First up:

A Starbucks gift card ($15) along with a few of my favourite teabags.

There's nothing like good conversation over a warm drink and a cake pop.

To Enter:

(1) Be a follower of this blog!

(2) Write in the comments "Enter me!"

Open to local and international bloggers alike!
Next Sunday's giveaway (teaser alert) is about a good meal at home.

And since this whole post has been about food (a first!), I have to ask:

What's your go-to meal? 

What's a dinner you'd have every week if you could?

Hope you've had an amazing weekend!

the new year

Happy 2012 everyone! How did you spend your midnight ringing in the New Year? I'll admit, mine was a tad blurry and my nude heels are now completely ruined, but it was a great night overall! The Boy and I decided to go "all out" for the first time (since we usually just do dinners and watch the ball drop on the TV) and went to Toronto with some friends. We watched some hockey at the hotel where someone came up with the brilliant but not-so-brilliant idea of taking a shot any time someone scored a goal (that might have been me), playing with a lot of glow sticks, and wandering up and down the stairs of a three-floor club with pretty good music before a kiss or two at midnight. 

About to ring in the new year!

Getting ready, getting set ...

And GO! With my glow sticks leftover from a science experiment :D

Wearing a H&M top, Forever 21 skirt, and heels (RIP) from Spring :)

Now it's four days later and I'm thinking more about the 'long-term goals' (my alternate term for 'resolutions') for this year. It's broken down into three categories: goals for myself, goals for others, and goals for the future.

take better care of myself - workout like this if I find myself short for time instead of setting myself up for failure with 'workout five times a week'; make my space less cluttered (just as I wrote this I noticed three leftover hot cocoa mugs and went to wash them haha) and more of an organized chaos (keep a jar full of memories); eating a tad healthier + sleeping longer = less illness (YAY!); and, of course, the one I've had on my list for years: stop biting picking at your nails, woman.

stay in touch with those I care about - instead of being a hermit as soon as school comes, I want to take the time to make random plans like coffee dates, hikes, skating nights, and playing Just Dance 'til our limbs wear down rather than just catching up with someone around the holidays or birthdays, even if it is great that it feels like no time has passed at all when I do spend time with someone after months. And of course, meet those bloggers I've been wanting to meet this year!

keep the future in mind, but live in the present - Save my money and read library books instead; plan for those amazing trips I want to take in the future like British Columbia, Europe, the Philippines, but also keep in mind my future car, home, and family; find the less expensive but still thoroughly enjoyable things to do in my city rather than splurging on one-day things.

The reason why I don't want to call them 'new year' resolutions is because these are things I have in my mind all the time; it just feels like the perfect time to write them down and solidify them as goals at the beginning of the year. Here's hoping I can keep them going all-year round and beyond, and let's hope I don't run into John Cusack trying to save the world in the meantime.

What are your 'long-term goals'?

And how is your 2012 so far?

Hope you're having an amazing day :)

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!