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!

the autumn lull

There's amazing things about this season - the leaves changing colours, the pumpkin spice lattes and hot chocolate, season premieres every week, putting on cozy clothes, not having to worry about breaking into a sweat three minutes after leaving your door, the smells of cinnamon and apple pie. 

But I find that every time September rolls around, I hit a lull ... that lull where I barely take any photos (compared to the spring and summer), feel tired at 6P.M. because the sun goes down earlier, and any plans to enjoy the fall weather - be it a fair or a hike - either gets ruined by rain or the to-do list that is slowly taking over my life. 

September is ending, though, and I've resolved to make October a month to enjoy by making New Season/Month's Resolutions. Take my camera out more; bake lots when it's miserable outside; take time to spend outdoors or indoors, solo or with friends; and, blog more. About the everyday things, not just recaps. And to restart that, I'm adopting a little blog challenge I first saw from Leesh from After 'I Do' - it's a ten day you challenge (though it'll probably span over twenty days hehe).

one picture of yourself

This photo was taken a little over a month ago in The Boy's hometown in Hungary. It might just seem like a silly photo of a girl riding a bike through a village, but it means so much more to me (that whole picture is worth a thousand words thing definitely applies here). Earlier that day, I was hospitalized from dehydration due to food poisoning. It was a scary thing for me, since (thankfully) I'm not too used to being in a hospital. The Boy was right there with me translating everything to the doctors and staying there as I got examined time and time again, had an ultrasound done to make sure my stomach and kidneys were OK, and sat next to me as I had water put into my body via a tube.

When we got back to his grandparents' house, his grandmother came by with mashed potatoes and bread while I watched Chasing Liberty on my laptop (cheesy movies, and Matthew Goode, definitely cheer me up) while The Boy went off again to the main part of town to get me medicine. 

That evening, I was up for going outside to get fresh air, and we decided to head off to his uncle's house (that had Internet connection) with a bike ride. I was honestly so thankful that I was feeling better, that the food poisoning didn't lead to something incredibly horrible, and was just stoked to be able to go on a bike. When The Boy took this photo, I was euphoric. And it reminds me that I need to find joy in the simple things all the time.

So, now I have to ask:

What do you do to spruce up your autumn months?

What are you looking forward to most in October?

Hope you have a great weekend!

simple smiles #45

Today was one of those days where you wake up and realize that September is already half-way gone, that the official first day of autumn is coming up even if it felt like it days ago, and that three weeks have gone by without a blog post (sorry for being a stranger!). Lately life has been a combination of these three things:

The year of the planner has begun - I started teachers college a couple of weeks ago which means writing down due dates and "do I really have to do this?" reminders (and keeping all my pens and my glasses in my Harajuku pencil case). It also means having my addiction to coffee triple and encouraged by friends - I got not one, but two reusable coffee mugs and not one, but two coffee cup cozies, including the adorable one above from Leesh as a surprise birthday gift (thank youuuuu)!

And in my downtime, I focus on those simple smiles: enjoying the scent of a creamy pumpkin candle, sweatin' to Just Dance (I am awesome at "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go") and going to Starbucks as often as I can. Yessir.

When my mind isn't being bombarded with theories and practices of teaching, I find my mind wandering ... to Europe. I'm not gonna lie, there's mornings where I wake up and wish I was back at The Boy's grandparents' house, listening to roosters nearby and actually enjoying waking up at 7 in the morning. 

I miss the Danube, I miss the food, I miss the architecture. But I guess my simple smile was that I even got to go on that vacation ... and that I took a ton of photos :)

Since I can't be back in Europe whenever I please (if only!), I try to make the most of where I'm at in Ontario through:

This month has been all about catch-up and I love it - going out for dinner and Starbucks dates, random shopping excursions, laughing at ridiculous Pictionary drawings (I drew 'plastic surgery' as a girl with huge boobs and a guy standing over her holding a scalpel ... the guesses were hilarious, and just proves that I'm a horrible artist), and taking 'class photos' with a big group of people. Oh, and enjoying a delicious breakfast at 1:00 PM which included crepes, french toast, and a bucket of fruit on top (delicious).

All of those are simple smiles, but one major one is: The Boy is actually enjoying fandoms I love. He came over last Thursday for the premiere of The Vampire Diaries (ahh the last scene broke my heart) and so far we've watched the first two Harry Potter films; he hasn't read the books, but it's a start (as long as he stops calling him Harry Pothead). 

Tonight I'm off to see Drive with Ryan Gosling (we were initially going to see The Lion King 3D but figured we should probably go see a movie we haven't seen before ... and that will have older people in the theatre lol). How're you enjoying the week?

Oooh, extra simple smile: forgetting to make coffee this morning, realizing how tired I am for class (which ran from 8:00am-5:00pm today) and then having my cohort group bring in STARBUCKS for the entire class. It was amazing.

What's your simple smile of the week so far?

And what's your favourite thing about autumn?

(Or spring, if that's the season coming up for you!)

P.S. Giveaway coming soon; hopefully it'll be a hoot!