Tunage: The Allah-Las

    Leading up to the holidays I embrace all of the coziness of winter in its entirety, but it's about that time of year when the days slowly begin to get longer, the sun is shining for the first time in what feels like months, and we get those odd days of a false spring. So to help me get through the final stretch of this Canadian winter, I've turned to summer-esque tunes and cleaning my apartment in my bathing suit (hey, it helps ok), to shake those winter blues. Here's what I'm jamming today: 

    It's got dreamy summer feels and the video is filled to the brim with golden nostalgia and sunshine. And that bus... oh.. that bus. 

Parenting Advice from a University Student?

    Here's a tad bit of a rant that I felt the need to quickly jot down! So recently, a miscellaneous woman that I follow(ed) on Instagram posted an unsettling video which she deemed as ultimately adorable. The video was of her little daughter (perhaps 3 years old - max) playing with some toys on the floor, the child then says something along the lines of "Mommy.. mommy.. can you put your phone down and play with me. Mommy, please!" *insert genuinely sad face of a beautiful toddler here*, and the mother giggling and continuing to record the video.


    I don't know why this bothered me so much, but I suppose my main thesis here is constantly recording and/or photographing your children is the equivalent to attending a concert and viewing the majority of it through that little screen in your hands.  I mean, having all of those lovely memories to look back on and to be able to provide to your child later in life is lovely and all but sometimes (more so mostimes), you should probably be experiencing these moments first hand. Obviously I'd be bummed if my parents had never taken any photographs or home videos of me and my sibling - as I cherish them dearly, but there's definitely a line to be drawn, and when it gets to the point where your own child looks you in the eyes and pleads for you to pay attention to them rather than your electronic device.. that should be an unavoidable hint. This appears to be becoming more and more prevalent with the advances in technology and social media and can undoubtedly be linked to some sort of human tendency to live in any moment but the present. I do not have children, but I don't believe that this makes my argument any less relevant, but this is just an observation that managed to get a little under my skin. I know that parenting is of utmost ambiguity, and no one can tell another how to raise their kids properly as there is no proper way to go about being a parent. All I'm saying is that something as seemingly little as this can have a massive effect on your children as they are at the height of human malleability. It won't be long before your child comes home from pre-school with a painting they made of you that looks something like this: 

    Note to future me perhaps reading back on this: live in the present, man.

Halloween Costume: Sam Shakusky of Moonrise Kingdom

 Hey! I haven't been posting on here a whole lot lately partially due to the fact that I don't have much access to internet and partially due to the fact that I'm a massive lazybum. BUT I thought I'd share my Halloween costume for this year because I'm a little bit stoked on it. I'm being Sam Shakusky (the main character of my all time favourite Wes Anderson film. I didn't replicate Sam's attire to a T so much as I just went for a 1960's boy scout look. I have a raccoon tail hat like Sam wears in the film (my mom had this kicking around from when my brother and I were little and would wear this around), but as I am going to a get-together consisting of mainly devoted Vegans.. I'm going to opt out of wearing the raccoon tail on my noggin and replace it with a mustard coloured toque and just be a 'Khaki Scout' or generic ol' boy scout. Here's what I used:

(Vintage raccoon hat - YOU CAN PURCHASE FAKE ONES ON AMAZON. And my good ol' glasses which just so happen to look enough like Sam's.. perhaps this was a subconscious decision on my part when choosing them at the optometrist..)

(Alternative head wear - I got this bad boy at Target for $6).

(Calf-high socks from American Apparel with mustard and brown stripes - $10).

(Thrifted cream coloured bandanna for around my neck - $1 and thrifted vintage thermos to sip my evening's warm spiked beverage out of whilst remaining in character - $1 - both found at Value Village).

(Old Boy Scouts of Canada button-up - $10 from a vintage surplus shop in Kensington Market. They had TONS of these to choose from. If I had the time I would have made some patches to match those of Sam Shakusky's but this will have to do). 

(Haven't decided whether to rock my galoshes ($15 at Walmart) or my Toms.. any form of footwear would do though). 

(Here is the ensemble - I added a brown vegan fanny pack from Mat & Nat, my brown globe watch and a brown summer-camp style bracelet from my cousin, and my brown khaki shorts!).  

Tunage: Fall jams

   Two albums I've been excessively into this month are 'Pines' by A Fine Frenzy and 'Repave' by Volcano choir (one of Bon Iver's side projects). They both have a really autumny feel about them and they've been perfect to jam while cozying up in my apartment with some homework and candles (romancin'). Today I listened to Byegone by Volcano Choir on repeat while walking to campus this morning and looked down at my feet crunching through piles of leaves and felt the utmost sense of contentment. Repave came out earlier this month and I have to admit, it's the very first song that I've actually gone and purchased off of iTunes and I don't regret it whatsoever.

    Pines has been out for a while (2012) but I just recently re-discovered it a midst my vast collection of music on my lap top and I've been oh so into it. I can't usually get this into female vocalists (don't ask me why because quite frankly I haven't the slightest of clues), but this woman has the voice of an angel and the most eloquent lyrics so. I think that my favourite tune off this album is 'Winds of Wander'. 

My Humble Abode: 'Autumn-izing'

   Hey! Autumn is my all time favourite season - the copious amounts of hot beverages, the crisp weather, booties, slippers, candles, and crazy amounts of knitted attire excite me beyond explanation. So I've been trying to replicate the coziness of autumn in my teensy apartment;

My Humble Abode: Knick Knacks

   I'm on campus on a Saturday afternoon bumming some free(ish) internet so I thought I'd make another little post on here. Here's a few knick knacks I've got kicking around my apartment that I thought I'd show & share!

(This is my broken Diana+ camera that I've attempted to fix many a times, but it'll just have to chill there and look pretty without serving much other purpose I suppose. Then there's my tambourine and harmonica which my neighbors will inevitably hate me for. And another of the many candles in my place.. and a vase that reads 'coffee' on it)!

(I got this vintage candle at a local market shop back in July with Sabine - it smells like cinnamon and happiness but I'm too scared to burn it because I just want it forever).

(I got this massive jug at another thrift shop this summer - it had a price sticker on the bottom that read $38 and after hours of justifying spending that much money on a second hand object I just had to go back and grab it (it was just after pay day so I was feeling ballsy) but when I got to the cash register they dude was all "mmm how 'bout ten bucks?" SOLD). 

(I got this little green vase container thing of sorts from the coffee shop. It reminds me of sea glass and since everything else in my washroom is evidently green - even my retro ass bathtub - I reckoned it would fit right in. I keep it on the back of my toilet and filled it with some sea shells that Kory brought back from Cuba for me before we even were dating, shucks).

(I also use it to hold my very little amount of jewelry in)!

(This is on top of my tiny oven. I've got some radical wooden coasters from Chapters on the left and they each have a different symbol burned into them of acorns, leaves, and trees. My mother got me these huge salt and pepper shakers for my birthday and they're pretty neat. The vase was an old travel mug of mine that I managed to break within the same week of purchasing it and it's so lovely I just couldn't throw it in the trash. So I got some fake flowers (as it can't hold liquid obviously) and there ya go. Also there's my cinnamon shaker.. which I burn through on a monthly basis.. yep).

Roughin' It (Not Really Though)

   Hi! So I've been far too lazy and far too CHEAP to get internet all set-up in my new little place. That shit's expensive.. the price of modern living ain't cheap. The original game plan was to hold out as long as possible and just bum internet from various coffee shops for as long as I possibly could, but upon attending all my lectures, the majority of my profs have chosen to just post online readings for the course as opposed to assigning a textbook to purchase. Which rules because textbooks are significantly more costly than monthly internet, but it also stinks because I kind of hate reading off of a screen for long amounts of time.. I like the feeling of physically holding the book in my hands and being able to highlight and scratch notes here and there. Aw welly. I should have internet up & running within the next week or two.

   But in the meantime, here's what I've been up to; I've been socializing more in the past week than I did all summer combined (four whole months). Which is awesome but it's left me a little bit on the sleepy side - what else is new. Last night I went to Folk Fest with my good ol' pals Brent and Sabine and that was a lovely time, it's nice having people around who are from the same hometown and who I know from back in high school. But yes, we saw Vampire Weekend who is a band I've been dreaming of seeing since the ninth grade when my dear friend Nick introduced me to them (the first song I heard was Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and every time I hear it it brings me back to the time I was waiting for my bus and he came up behind me with big earphones and snuck them on my noggin and it was heaven and sunshine). Bada bada bababadada bada bada da babumbum. They played mainly new stuff off Modern Vampires of the City (which makes sense wanting to promote a new album) but I wished it was more (or at least equally) focused on the old jams too! But I wasn't disappointed, I got to hear some of my favourite tunes like Walcott, Blake, Campus, Cousins, and s'more..

Sassy Middle-Aged Irishman

   Being 20 years old now, it's been years since I've been into any little sort of conflict or argument with another human being. But tonight that streak came to a sad end when I got verbally harassed by a grown ass man. I went for a cruise with my little brother and his pal on our skateboards, minding our own business, when an angry little man in a mini-van honked and yelled profanities at us out of his window. About five minutes later he circled back around passed us (this time without his wife in the passenger's seat) and stopped in the middle of the road with his window down, and rather than giving us youngsters a nice calm little lecture about how we should be careful and should wear helmets and various other protective gear he insisted on telling us that we shouldn't be riding on the road blahblahblah with literally every other word being 'fuck'. I eventually (after being talked at without room for response forever) was like "ok thank you we're good here, thanks man"..to which he got all defensive and began to raise his voice even more all OH YEAH? WE'RE GOOD HERE? STAY THE FUCK OFF THE ROAD THE ROAD IS FOR CARS FOR FUCKS SAKE FUCK FUCK FUCK I HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON BUT DRIVE AROUND HARASSING HUMANS HALF MY AGE. Ok I may have added that final part but still. So the three of us just started walking away because this guy was getting way too fired up and we were just trying to chillax. He FINALLY started driving off and I said YEAH GO BACK TO IRELAND. Because I'm clever and witty and brave like that.. mistake. The dude slammed on his brakes and reversed back to us at full speed all "WHAT DID YOU GUYS SAY TO ME?! F WORD SOME MORE F F F". And suddenly got twelve times more Irish rolling his r's and using profoundly Irish terms, then my brother was like "chill out we're Irish too.. Gibson.. Irish.. chill.." to which the guy concluded that no, we weren't actually Irish and that we know nothing about Ireland and that we just definitely we not Irish. Thank man but actually we are. 

   ANYWAYS this grownup was the spawn of satan. A midst him yelling at me the one sentence I got in edgewise was "No, actually, the road is not just for cars. It's for vans, and trucks, and also bicycles, pedestrians, and thus skateboards" which he spitefully testified against immediately. This ideology that the road is for vehicles and vehicles only is SO crazy backwards. We live in a little town so this is unfortunately the most common notion.. meanwhile in cities like Ottawa and Toronto you'll see bike lanes galore and many signs asking you to please share the road. You wouldn't pull over to yell at someone riding their bike on the road.. or yell at someone out your window for crossing the street or walking on the curb.. odds are this guy just wanted to pick a fight with some hooligans on skateboards. Which is another total backwards ideology.. I am a 20 year old woman.. I use a board sometimes to get from point A to point B.. it is a mode of transportation not an unlawful activity. Also it's unbelievably better for the environment than your ugly ass mini-van. 

Tunage: Sweet

   I'm finally done work. Got all paid up and feelin' pretty awesome. Going to spend my day rolling coins from my tips this summer (which I'm hoping will cover my laundry expenses for the year), hanging out with my little dude cat friend Shylo, and listening to this tune on repeat essentially. I plan to squeeze a run in at some point but I pretty much say that every day.. so we shall see how that one goes. Cheers!

Photo Post: Day off at the Native Reserve

OMGeocaching

 

   So this week I discovered 'geocaching' and my life has been changed. I recall my Environmental Studies professor in first year talking about it during a lecture one time, but it never really occurred to me that it would be so accessible and intriguing.. so it just went in one ear and out the other honestly. But my cousin Angee was in town for the week and introduced me to this lovely app that you can download on your iPhone called Geocaching. It cost something like $9.99 but she showed me this neat trick where I could sign in under her Apple I.D, and because she had already paid for it I could upload it onto my phone and then just sign out of her account and back into mine SO I got it for free. 
   So when I got off of work the other night we tried it out and it was a total blast. I suppose I'll start off by explaining what Geocaching is: it's a database on you phone that navigates to various 'caches' (it's a world-wide thing) by map and by compass. You press the 'nearby geocaches' option and it'll show you all the caches near your location by distance - starting with the closest. Some of them have hints and tips to it's basically a massive scavenger hunt that anyone can partake in. Turns out there was one that was literally a two minute walk from the coffee shop. It was located at the beach and the hint was 'you may need a stick'.. so we ended up finding it lodged between a bunch of rocks (but my hand was small enough to reach in and grab it - no stick needed). This cache was a medium size so it was in a little tupper ware container covered in duct tape and it was a take one/leave one cache. This means you got to take a little object and leave something in the box before you return it to it's little hiding place. The box contained a cough drop, wet wipes, a business card, a washer, a condom, a dime, some yarn, and a little note pad that held all of the signatures and dates of the people who had found it. We took the yarn and left a little piece of paper that I had kicking around in my purse that had a potential tattoo idea drawn onto it ehe. 

                        


   Once you find a geocache you go through the app and hit the 'found it!' button where you then leave a little comment and optional photo! I got addicted after that first one so I insisted we do just one more before going home, despite the lack of daylight left.. which was none at all. So we hopped in my truck and headed to the next one. The hint for this one was 'the neighbors are watching'.. and because it lead us in between two houses, we assumed it was hidden in the little patch of forest between them and the hint was in regards to the fact that if it were daylight, the home owners would have definitely spotted us and wondered why these random girls were rummaging about their lawn. We spent a good half hour in the pitch dark in this little forest with just out cell phones for light as we were not at all prepared for this adventure. After a while, and after my cousin Brit pee'd.. we gave up and figured we'd have another go at it the next morning in the daylight. So just as we were walking back to the car I noticed a Neighborhood Watch sign by the road.. SO sure enough I peeked up into the hollow of the pole and there was a little kinder egg hidden inside. We opened it up and as this cache was considered a micro size it just contained a little slip of paper for us to sign and date. HOW CLEVER RIGHT? While we were sitting in a little circle at the side of the road signing down our names, a boy rode by on his bicycle all 'FOUND IT?' .. it turned out to be a girl that I work with's little brother and he had hidden it there a couple of years ago as they live in one of the houses at the side of the patch of trees. 

   Thus, needless to say, I'm absolutely obsessed with geocaching and the next day I get off of work (if any) will be spent over at Gamiing (this local hiking reserve) because there's heaps of caches hidden in there! I strongly suggest this activity for everyone of all ages. 

Barista Problems V

   When someone orders a hot tea whilst holding their fresh new baby in their lap and then is surprised when the child excitedly reaches for the mug thus pouring it on itself. And then blames ME. Nope. So much nope. Repressing this event now.
   ALSO when someone orders a large cappuccino to go and then upon picking it up sassily comments "This doesn't feel full at all!".. Well.. it is cap.. which is really mostly foam.. which really is mostly air. Y'should have gotten a latte then LADY. P.S I blame Tim Hortons for this because they probably make false cappuccinos. Just a theory. 
   On the plus side though a teenage girl came into my work and told me I was really pretty and I wanted to hug the heck out of her and couldn't stop smiling for like an hour. It was nice.

Show & Share

   So I hit up Target one last time before back to school rolls around, and I left with a few little things I thought I'd share here because new things are fun. I know I like to shop vicariously through other people's shopping trips, so here! 

   I've been eyeballing this little bamboo serving tray for a while and I finally caved in and grabbed it. I figure it will be nice to bring my tea and toast over to my bed on when I'm writing, studying, or reading and just need that extra coziness that my desk just doesn't provide me with. It cost me just under $20. 

   One thing I didn't really realize that I relied upon so heavily until moving out on my own as opposed to with room mates was wooden utensils. I guess that's one thing that my roomies always had provided for me that I never got around to buying for myself so I got a little set of bamboo ones for like, $5 I reckon. 

   In the spirit of trying to live a more active lifestyle I got a little sports bra (yay)! I'll be honest I have NEVER owned one of these bad boys before and it will take a little getting used to. But I don't want to be fiddling around with bra straps whilst on a jog, and I've always felt like I need one for yoga for the same reason (and also because there's a lot of bending over in yoga and a sporty sports bra will lesson the likelihood of me flashing everyone in the room during downward dog). It's just a classic black one hence the no photo. 

   He's going to hate me for this but Kory had a little eye infection during his last visit to my apartment and I didn't get a chance to wash the pillowcases before I came home SO I splurged and invested in some new pillowcases. This way I can rotate between the two sets when one is being washed and vice verca - I've read you need to wash your pillow sheets on a weekly basis because it's better for the health of your skin so I'm going to try and get in the habit of that. Plus these ones seem super soft and comfy and they're striped. I believe they were $9.99. They're grey and white striped and t-shirt material so they're nice and soft.

   THIS I am the most stoked on. I've already worn them to work and I want to go and pick up a second pair because they are the most lovely. They remind me of Clark's only significantly less pricey and not leather so that's cool. They're the perfect fall shoes and I think I shall wear them with little woolen socks. Fuck yeah. $20. 

   Lastly I got this concealer by Rimmel. I've been working lots thus extra sleepy thus extra puffy and dark under the eyes (my low Iron and fair skin doesn't assist in the matter either). So I'm trying out this little guy because it's called 'Wake Me Up - anti fatigue and radiant glow' which sounds nice to me I'd say. I got the lightest colour they had available. Here's hoping. 

'Get Your Shit Together' Year - To Do List

- Go through my entire closet and separate into 'keepsies', 'donate', and 'sell' piles (the keepsies one being the smallest). 
- Become less attached to material objects like above. 
- Acquire running shoes and go for jogs along the canal with Sabine.
- Take advantage of the free university gym (which isn't really free because I'm sure it's buried somewhere in my tuition payments without a doubt) but hey it's available to me so I might as well check out the treadmills this winter.
- Attend yoga classes again on a weekly basis and also do it in the comfort of my apartment.
- Drink heaps upon heaps of water.
- Be significantly more social and less introverted - but not too far outside of my comfort zone. I like being the little homebody that I am.
- Get to know each of my Professors personally and take advantage of the help they provide outside of lectures. 
- Pull a good GPA.
- Not give a fuck.
- Give a little bit of a fuck.
- Become more financially stable and independent.
- Take a lot of photographs.
- Start eating outrageously healthy and start eating mainly Vegan again as I used to (no matter how cheap/easy grilled cheese and nachos may be). I'm talking smoothies every morning and Flintstones vitamins galore.
- Attend a Philosophy pub night(s).
- Ooze self-confidence and fucking sunshine.
- Skateboard more. 
- Buy the majority of my fruits and veg from the market to support local vendors and straight up better produce.
- Do all of the readings in advance for all of my courses and state my input aloud in lectures. Start assignments and papers when they are assigned as opposed to the week before.
- Partake in the odd joint as I used to.
- Visit London more often (I only got down to visit Kory once last year because of work).
- Be absolutely content and happy and smile all of the time. 

(Subject to be added to)