Glitter Scrubs

glacial facial

2010-11-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

Miraculously, I had both Saturday AND Sunday off last weekend so Saturday was spent shopping in the States and Sunday Cam and I braved the icy winds and wandered around Fort Langley.

My eyes are watering, my ears alternate between feeling like they are bleeding to not feeling them at all and I have a face full of ice wind which I can imagine is only slightly less desirable then being hit by a cement truck. Isn't winter soooo romantic?

Jacket: Urban Planet

Cardigan: Cannot recall

Floral Romper: Urban Outfitters - Reformed

Belt: Thrifted

Heart Tights: ebay

Socks: Ardene's

Boots: Army & Navy

Shopping in Washington was a huuuge success! We hit up my international lover, Target, for an hour just glazing over at how cheap everything is. My main intentions were to shop down south for Christmas gifts, but I ended up being my own Santa and bought a few items for myself and some gifts for Penny! ha! I'm a terrible Christmas shopper, I always want to get really special, meaningful, unique gifts, but I leave everything until the last minute and end up panic atttack shopping my way through late December.

Afterwards we visited the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood where they had some outrageous sale at Urban Outfitters. Everything item of clothing and shoe was magically my size and I sort of hyperventiallated when I saw how cheap they were. My mind wandered frantically: What's going on? Why is this so cheap?! Why didn't anyone buy this goodness before? Does Lynnwood not appreciate fashion? I'm hungry when are we eating? Who am I? And so on. Unfortunately, I got there just before closing and I only had time to grab this romper guy. Regular $68.00. Sale $9.99. I squealed and almost bodychecked a sales clerk on the way to the register.

It was some kinda cold in Fort Langley. We were right on the river and the -3 plus wind chill made it feel like -10. This is exactly why I hate winter. Give me back my rain and milder temperatures. Although a romper is clearly summer attire, I like to live life on the edge and wear my summer clothes in the dead of winter. Rebellious. I just had to wear my new purchase right away so I just layered the shit out of it and called it an outfit. Don't think that you can tell me what to do Winter!

The back is adorned with buttons and a cutout, but you probably won't see that until Spring. Jacket removal is the closest I got to showing off the full look and I almost lost a few fingers from frost bite. Look how red they are :(

There's only so much brain freeze weather I can take so we ditched our little old towny/nature walk prematurely and got lunch. I got a burger and Cam got ketchup(?) at Triple O's, my fingers thawed out and all was right with the world again. 9 times out of 10 it's in everyone's best interest that I'm fed. Happy Lesley, happy you, happy world.

ew.

2010-11-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

i guess it had to happen sooner or later. mother nature dumped a pile of gross on us tonight. while i was at work too. i was not dressed appropriately at all. just my sweater, ripped jeans some keds slip ons. my feets are so cold! i drove home going 30kms and fah-reaking out. as bad as i am at driving in the snow, i know there are 10 more of me out on the roads at any given time. i was almost home, at an intersection about to turn left and honda guy just sails through the red with his hands up in the air as if to say, sorry, can't stop even if i wanted to. a near t-bone miss man. we are supposed to have the worst/snowiest/coldiest winter in 50 years. OH BOY I CAN HARDLY WAIT.

i made it home without putting myself or anyone else in the ditch. i'd call that a success.

someone on the other hand, LOVES snow. playing in it, eating it, rubbing her face in it.

which leads us to dog in a log.

my friend and i are driving to seattle tomorrow (remind me to get health coverage this time, because i'm quite positive the world is out to get me as of late) to do some pre-christmas shopping! yay! groupon.com has a nordstrom rack coupon and wouldn't ya know it, there's nordstrom rack where we're headed. Weee! AND we're going to Target - oh my god it's like christmas has come already :)

that's why they're called business socks, ooh

2010-11-12T01:55:00.000-08:00

Good news! I can see! I was having some issues with my eyesight for the past several.. months. I've worn contacts for awhile now, but lately they had been giving me the run around. My eyes were red and in pain.. it felt as though I had suntan lotion in them. And although it was really lovely for passersby to suggest I had pink-eye (I didn't) I decided it was high time I got them looked at.

I excel at putting things off that trouble me. My logic as follows: If I don't acknowledge things, they will go away on their own. Turns out pain doesn't go away and your eyesight is not as overrated as I thought. After applying dye and other fun drops the doctor said it appeared as though my eye had been "sandpapered". Then she verbally spanked me for not taking better care of my contacts. I said, "Well the lens solution says 'No Rub' who am I to not listen?". She says, "Would you submerge your dirty hands in a sink full of dirty water without scrubbing them and expect them to be clean?"

touché, doctor. touché

My eyeballs are now on a strict diet of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and artificial tears. And worst of all, no contacts for a very long time. *(artifcial) tear*. I didn't have a spare pair of specs as a backup, because you are probably familiar with how I like to put everything off until the last minute. Driving was fun! I stepped on my previous pair of glasses last summer during an intense game of bocce, so I had to get a rush order done. Naturally I decided to get the huge honkin pair of Ray-Bans which funny enough turned out to be less expensive than most of the frames. I am pleased with the results. At least when people stare at me now, it'll be in envy of my giant four-eyes and not in suspicion of giving their child pink-eye.

This outift post is a tribute to how I might have dressed during a recent job interview. I haven't had any formal job interviews for a very long time. Currently, I'm a city worker and the jokes/rumours are true - We have it pretty easy. I'm very comfortable at my job and like it very much. But it's only part-time and I won't work there forever, so I decided to apply as an ESN (employed student nurse) so I could get some more hands on experience towards my actual future career. We were able to choose from 3 locations and 3 clinical areas (I chose Pedatrics, ER and Mental Health and Addictions) and the recruiters find a suitable match from there. What I wore to the actual interview wasn't anything special, which got me to thinking I perhaps need some nicer "business-y" clothes. I believe a sweater vest was involved in the interview, but I can't recall.. It was obviously so ugly I've repressed it. I hope my redo makes up for it. Simple, clean and profesh.

{Glasses - Ray-Ban "New Wayfarer"}

{Shirt - Army and Navy}

{Belt - Thrifted}

{Pants - Urban Planet}

{Bar Stool - DIY Grade 11 Metalwork class} (Unfortunately I turned my nose up at all Home Ec courses in high school and spent all five years of electives on construction and metalwork.. so while I can't bake anything that results in edibility OR thread a macaroni bead onto a homemade necklace to save my life, I can build you an ugly bar stool or a coffee table)

The good news is they obviously weren't marking my attire, because I was offered the job! You are now looking at an Emergency Room student nurse! Training begins this December. Hope to not see you there.

Lest We Forget

2010-11-11T22:33:00.000-08:00

rule breaker

2010-11-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

Generally speaking I think fashion rules are a little unfair and dated. I do my best to abide by them out of A. wanting to be socially acceptable to the general public so they don't think I'm as weird as I actually am. B. comfort. C. sheer laziness.

{Blazer - I&F}
{Sequin top - thrifted}
{Pants - Wet Seal}
{Purple wedges that you cannot see - Rocketdog}

But once in the while I get a little out of control. I mean, white pants after labour day AND sequins in the daytime? I am just as surprised as you are that I got away with it. Thank god my grandma doesn't read this blog...

I will let you in on a little secret... white pants are not conducive to... anything. Remember the late 90's when white jeans were super in? Anybody? Bueller?
In grade 6 I had a pair of white flares. Obviously I was the cat's ass that year. Being the delicate little flower I was (am) and being very active in sports (boy chasing?) and lunch-time tree climbing didn't mix too well with the current trend of that year. White flares with grass stained racing stripes don't last too long.

This time around I'm a little wiser and slower so no trees for this girl, but still I was covered in the world's remanants (ew gross) by days end. Lesson learned. From this day forward I now pronouce these as my sitting pants. Perhaps a short transfer from chair to fridge, but nothing more strenuous than that. Speaking of pants dedicated to jobs, I have a pair of eating pants. As in, I'll be eating a small busload (I said small, don't judge) of appies, entrees and whatever else is edible and within reach tonight and therefore I'll be needing my 'eating pants'. 98% spandex (lycra when I want to class it up) 2% cotton = 100% forgiving.

We are getting way off track here. Sequins and white, do it once so you can cross if off your bucket list.

A day at the P-Patch

2010-10-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

{Dress~borrowed from mom's closet}
{Belt~Forever 21}
{Knee socks~Claire's}
{Boots~Army and Navy}

I only had to ask 374 times, but sooooomebody finally took me down to the pumpkin patch. I envisioned a fantasy pumpkin-land with hayrides and acres of perfectly orange spheres and was a little bummed when it appeared we got the rotten, homegrown, industrial area farm, batch. I felt for the little dude who stormed onto the field and full out booted the first pumpkin he saw. His mom yells out, James! Don't do that! And little ~~bratty~~ James scowls and says, I don't like pumpkins!! Hah! Well, James I don't like your attitude. Should I kick you? No, wait that's what was in my head. Anyway, they were all rotting so I don't really blame him.

Much like this p-patch, my outfit is a mixture of blacks and browns. Big deal dudes, I wasn't truly sold on the colour brown and mixing it with black felt awkward, but I really loved the outcome. The boots are freakin perfect! I found them two days ago at Army and Navy for like $39. Horray! They're warm and comfortable and just what I've been looking for. Brown is quickly becoming my new favourite colour to wear.
Shhhh... No, "i told you so"s. Don't tell summer Lesley I said that. It'll be between you, me and the unloved orange carcasses.

Happy Halloween tomorrow friends, homemade costume coming your way! weeeee

expectations

2010-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Blogging lulls.
When I'm not blogging, I'm thinking about what I'm going to blog next.

When I'm not blogging, I'm feeling guilty because I can't get on here and blog.

And when I have no pictures or a lack of exciting, ground-breaking stories to share, I get all anxious and worried that I've left it too long or that there is no point in coming on and just typing the small stuff.
But I like to share the small stuff and I don't want it to always be a big production, because I cannot commit or live up to those expectations. And the only one who is pressuring those expectations on me is myself. I'm working on ways around that. But the blog is always here. I'm always here. And the excuse du jour is always school related. It sounds so annoying that I just can't find the time to put a simple outfit and post together, but lately it seems every precious moment is spent on homework or sleep or bitching. And whining makes me feel better about it.

In the meantime, I thought I'd let you know what I've been up to this week. I have an 8 page paper due tomorrow morning on peer teaching strategies during presentations and the only words I've written are, "the strategies implemented..", my car was towed from the school parking lot because I didn't pay, and I didn't pay because the meter was broken and I even wrote a please don't tow me the meter is broken :sadface:... after establishing my car was missing after a 9am-4pm school day, I had to walk an hour in the rain (uphill both ways) and pay $104 to get it back, I'm now in a heated reimbursement battle over said tow (parking lot companies have a special place in hell reserved for them, don't worry I called and booked you a table), my cellphone bill was $291 because it picked up signals from the US (as I live so close) and roaming charged me into debt and rage, I'm living off of diet coke and 4 hours of sleep, on clinical days I'm up at 4:30am so I can be downtown Vancouver at the hospital at 6:30am and I don't leave until 6:30 or 7pm and then sometimes work at my part-time job afterwards so I can make money to pay for this ~~torture~~ nursing school. I'm chronically exhausted, I'm eating like shit, when my meals aren't being microwaved, they're being served from a snot-bag teenager through a drive-thru window and I haven't exercised in aaaaages. (I think we can all see this disaster coming at us miles ahead). I had a bioethics exam where I have to argue both for and against euthanasia and I decided in the end I'd like to euthanasia both myself and the instructor. Philosophy makes me want to claw my eyes out (is a chair really a chair? or is it just the idea of a chair? or is it the sum of all it's parts? or singular parts?) %#*$&#@ and then I just finished a 12 hour pediatrics rotation where I felt sorry for myself, because I couldn't feel sorry for myself due to all the sick little grasshoppers with smiles on their faces and me wallowing in self-pity over miniscule happenings, and *$#@&^$ MY PAPER IS STILL DUE!

I feel better now, thanks :)

Psyc wards, jail and your average night out in Vancouver

2010-10-20T03:11:00.000-07:00

Oh wow. Nice face. Sorry for the overweight eye luggage. It's a direct result of nursing school. I'm finishing up my clinical rotation on a psychiatric ward and it's been a very enlightening experience. In the beginning I found it difficult as I'm not actually doing task-oriented nursing. Meaning, I'm not going into their room to change a dressing or apply oxygen. Mental illness is so taboo. My family kept asking why they would let me work with "crazy" people who were dangerous... Most of the patients are there voluntarily to get help. I'd say it's more safe on a Psyc ward amongst people who want help than in your everyday community. I'm thinking I may specialize in that area. We shall see. I used to major in Psyc (but then I decided I actually wanted a job after I graduated, haha kidding)(not really), before nursing so it's always been an area of interest.

For our clinical experience we were able to visit a jail (turns out some criminals are more polite than the people I work with at my part-time job!) and another institution for those who are in conflict with the law, but are not responsible due to mental illness. (Formally known as "criminally insanse").

Whilst on a tour, seven us of young female nursing students were standing in a lockdown glass walled nursing station. The patients were walking up to the window eyeing us up and just generally glaring at us, someone even waved, but mysteriously forgot the other four fingers. Talk about... uncomfortable. We were discussing how each of the staff must wear a personal alarm that is linked to a tower and if someone is in danger (like being attacked) they pull it and you can immediately see who pulled it and where they are. No joke, right as they were saying it an ear-piercing screech went off and every single staff member in the room leapt to their feet and raced towards the panel and out the door. Sweet mother of - where do they keep the spare pants? They left us locked in the 360 glass room being eye molested by the patients. Turned out to be a false alarm and the whole event was maybe 2 minutes long. Frightening then, funny now. You might be surprised to know there is a lot of joking between the staff. In private of course, safety first, but behind closed doors there is some hilarious banter going on. I guess you kind of have to in this line of work.

Also, I thought you all should know as we left the unit the psyc patients serenaded us with a lively rendition of Bon Jovi's "Halfway there".

Apparently a Corrections Nurse makes unbelievably sick money. Lesley the jail nurse? Hmmm...

Now for a smooth transition into the topic of the weekend.. I spent Saturday evening in Yaletown (snotbag section of Vancouver) hating the human race in general. We were trying to enjoy ourselves in some sort of establishment called the Society Lounge, but it turns out they serve sneers and snide comments with their $10 weak drinks. What a steal! Somone in our group ordered some kind of drink that had 151 in it and the waiter said in a very derogatory manner, uh we don't serve that, let me check the trunk of my car, is that a Surrey thing? What the F would imply we're from Surrey, you little zit? Even if we were (and we aren't), it's a still a super rude thing to say). It was my nursing friend's birthday and they were really giving her the run around. She had reserved a table, but they double booked it and told us we would have to move upstairs (carrying our drinks and food up there!) where we sat on friggin ottomans. We peace'd out immediately after, really now.. who does that?

After that pleasant experience we went to a nightclub still in Yaletown (there was my second mistake), called Bar None, where the None must have implied personality, generosity, friendliness or quality customer service. $18 cover? Are you out of your mind? Don't sit here, sit over there, dance here, not there. I did it for the birthday gal because she's a good friend of mine. Otherwise I would have never set foot inside. I would have liked to set foot in a couple people's jugulars though.

One girl in my nursing class LOVES these kind of bars and I just can't wrap my head around it. She says she loves how everyone dresses classy and the more money you spend, typically the better the people are that surround you. Mmmmm no. See above?

I can't imagine frequently spending this kind of money, only to be told you don't look good enough, your clothes aren't expensive enough and you aren't VIP enough to sit here. It's a good thing I dance like none of them exist mwahah! I left around midnight and met up with Cam who was coincidentally down the road on Granville street for another friend's birthday at a place called The Forum which was SO MUCH BETTER. Amazing live band, people dressed in all sort of different, yet unique styles, but who freaking cares right? I firmly believe if you're having a good time while laughing, drinking and dancing with your friends then who cares what you're wearing, how much it cost or how much money you spent to get into the club.

I try very hard to never bag on a person's outfit, no matter how much I may dislike it. Everyone is entitled to their own personal style and to express themselves freely. Compared to some, I don't own many clothes, but I know many people who only own a few things and are grateful for them in that they offer just the basic coverage and warmth. So the fact that I can mix and add pieces just because they're "pretty" or "well-made"... well I'm very grateful for that. But that is another topic for another time :)

There's my long winded tour de vancouver d-bag avoidance club guide. Now I will say something nice so I don't look like a d-bag too.... maybe they were all having an off night? I hope my completely unbiased and objective stance was helpful - wink!

And friggin finally (high-five if you got through my novel)
What I wore that night:

{Jacket - Jones New York - thrifted}
{Top - Winners}
{Belt - Forever 21}
{Pants - Mavi from Off the Wall}
{Shoes - Payless}

I'm smitten with the top. $19 from Winners, you honestly can't beat that eh? It has pretty little leaves with pearl buttons in the front, so much more feminine than anything I typically own. Cut-out heart in the back, golden right? Clearly there to show you that after this post I still have one ;)

thankful

2010-10-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

It was Thanksgiving this weekend and I did what I do best on holidays, got the hell out of dodge and ran away to the Okanagan to visit my grandparents for some slow life and good eats.

grandma, grandad... you guys are really letting the place go lately. any thoughts on my early inheritance?

Whilst I was facedown in a plate of turkey, my mom took Penny to a puppy salon where she received the full meal deal. The lady put bows on her ears which she promptly scratched off and ate.

I haven't had a haircut as expensive as Penny's in... well maybe forever. If I have to cut my own bangs then she'll have to cut hers too. I teach my (fur)babies the true value of a dollar. This is what my mom taught me and grades 1 through 4 my hackjob bangs appeared to have been cut while driving. Through a forest. On an ATV. On fire.

If you see very few outfit posts it's not because i ran out of clothes, it's because they don't fit anymore. It's Thanksgivings fault.

Oh hey look it's those shitty Fall colours you guys like! ;)

Get back here dog we have important poses to do. The jeggings were worn pre-dinner. Post-bird it was Costco yoga pants and don't even act like none of you do the same. I needed to be wheelbarrowed from room to room.

Looky at my new purchase an hour before we left. I haven't felt love like this since yorkshire puddings the night before. These are all you will see from now until late February. You think I'm kidding, just wait. Both you and the boots will be crying for me to wear something different.

Hope all you hosers had a good turkey day. I'm thankful for my loved ones, my health and the other usual suspects, but I'm definitely thankful that no matter how absent I get on here, you guys always seem to take the time to visit, comment funny, random weird stuff and bring a smile to my face.

PS: spontaneous, frantic update! I just checked Merl's blog and she's doing a friggin sweet giveaway! Horray! She's one of my favourite people ever, so go follow her (in blog world and real life) but maintain some distance and be sneaky about it, because restraining orders are most unfortunate. I wouldn't know, but I've um... heard. Seriously though... regardless if she was giving anything away or not, I'd put up a big ol' picture of her and her talent (don't be dirty, i mean her vintage and jewellery) on my sidebar ANY DAY! Because that's how aweome I think she is.

SinCityLove

2010-09-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

Trip highlights include:

Paying $18 for a flight there and $18 back by flying out of bellingham, washington. This is the only reason I can afford to go to Vegas the amount of times I've been.
A passionate two night stand with the cheesecake factory.
Spending an overwhelming two and a half hours in the largest forever 21 I've ever seen and leaving with only one item. I just couldn't handle it.
41 degree heatwave. mmmm, now this is what I call Fall.
"Why yes I WILL take that drink to go"
Winning 200 bucks while playing craps
Waking up with some dude's last name on my hand from the night before and remembering he invited Cam and I to Phoenix, Arizona and told us we had to take him snowboarding in Whistler and that I should write down his last name so we could find him on facebook. what. the. hell.
Seeing Mystere, my first Cirque du Soliel show, it was mindblowing. Like a cross between a Dr. Seuss book and Pan's Labyrinth.
And a personal lifetime best genius moment: apologizing to a floor length mirror image of myself while alone in a store thinking we were both trying to get past each other. I'm blaming the yard long peach margarita.

the used

2010-09-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

I did it. Bought my first pair of jeggings. Aside from the fact these could have very well been painted on when I first wedged myself into them and I looked like a bit of a stuffed sausage roll, all is peachy keen now. The saleswoman recommended I go a size lower because they will stretch out a bit, however I stuck with my size for fear of a double leg amputation due to lack of circulation. I really don't know how jeggings differ from my regular "extra stretch" skinny jeans, but I've broken them in and holy smokes, they're almost better than pajamas.

My favourite Canadian former blogger and current stalk interest, Linda has been working on a new header for me and I love it! It's been a long time coming, so thank you very much :) I'm about as obsessed with her as I am with Merl, among many, many others. Who knew how many amazing people you could meet through the internet? And here I thought it was solely for not paying my visa on time and checking my hotmail to see if I won the nigerian lottery again.

Let's talk about my shoes and why Penny looks like a Japanimation cartoon. I might be holding her ball here and she's absolutely livid that I won't throw it.

I almost never look in the shoe section of thrift stores since most of the time I find what is leftover is mostly gross, not my size or plain weird. But while on my way to try on every single belt, I walked by these tan suede little friends and did a double take.

Brutally honest first gut reaction: Wow. Those are super fucking weird shoes. Hmmm. *tries them on**looks in mirror*. Yep still odd. *stomps around store**poses some more in mirror* Ok, too weird (and that's saying a lot) for this girl.

So I put them back. Do a few more laps around the store and daydream what I would wear them with (I do this kind of thing a ton). Walk by the shoes AGAIN. Try the shoes on AGAIN. And I think well whatever they're only $12 so even if I only wear them a time or two then it'll be okay. And they are in immaculate condition... like they've never been worn. I walk up to the till and learn it's 50% off day. HEYO! $6! It was insanely busy of course due to the clearance sale and I also went at 8:30pm when the store closed at 9:00pm, so clearly it was a sign they were meant to be mine (and that no one else wants ugly shoes).

Reactions from the apparent fashion police around my town included:
"ew"
"those are the ugliest shoes i've seen in my life"
"they look like old lady grandma shoes"

and probably the most disturbing one:
"sweet, are those like an updated version of crocs?"

god no. no, they are not.

{Shirt~Gap lifted from boyfriend's closet}{Necklace~lifted from mom's jewellry stand}{Jeggings~Garage}{Shoes~Thrifted}

To be honest those were the only "negative" comments I've received (and i knew they were mostly kidding) and the majority have really like them or at least been intrigued by them.
I, for one, L-O-V-E them. They're so strange looking, yet fantastically comfortable. Totally a hipster's wetdream. I laughed when people said they looked ugly or old school or weird - I like that they're different and that there is something slightly "off" about them. Much like their owner :) Normalcy is for suckers.

good heart, bad blogger

2010-09-15T00:26:00.000-07:00

oh guys... honestly, if you're still here thanks for your patience. two weeks MIA? what the hell right? as per usual i have no real valid excuse for my absence, but if it makes you feel better i'm week #2 into my 3rd year of nursing, my face has viciously exploded into a preteen breakout, i've had 2.5 school-related panic attacks and i'm pretty sure i gained 6 lbs over the course of the weekend. some might call that impressive.

are 100 calorie snack packs still effective when you eat 3 in one sitting? just curious. asking for a friend? i need a restraining order against my fridge.WHY CAN I NOT STOP HOARDING ALL THE JUNKFOOD?!

a classmate told me i looked like katy perry today.(you can stop laughing now) i think she meant the fact that i was dressed like a 12 year old and not so much my looks. i friggin wish. don't crush my dreams. can i get russell brand with this deal?

{shirt~mossimo from target with a DIY hacked neckline}{coral pants~O'Neill from Winners $10, maybe that was a hint no one else wanted them?}{shoes~payless}

all time favourite meal. i could eat mexican food everyday. in fact... maybe i do? 6lbs story completely unrelated. (totally a lie.)

I hate Fall. Perhaps a risky statement considering the loads of blogs I've been reading lately (oh yes I still stalk you even when I'm not posting) filled their eager anticipation of Autumn's rude cold snap.

Fall is totally bullshit guys, here's why:

back to no social life (school). yes I like learning and no i don't want to be in university forever, but being in a state of panic for three consecutive months starting the moment school begins is not something i actively look forward to ya know?
cold/rainy weather. perhaps you live super south and your idea of "layering" is an extra tank top and a decorative scarf... heck i'd look forward to weather like that too if your Fall means 20C degrees instead of 40C. but where i live the only thing i want to wear when i wake up in the pitch dark, -5 degree morning is an ugly ass heavy winter jacket, old (but warm as hell) fleece pants and a scowl. trendy among elite canadians.
clothing colour options. i went on a little wardrobe update shopping trip last week and was more than annoyed at the lack of hues on display. yes, i get it. dark, drab and depressing (look ma, alliteration!) seems to be the only option year after year. i walked into countless stores and a wash of sadness fell over me each time. when i was younger i wore various dark shades out of pure shyness and wanting to blend in, but i'm branching out now. i'm on a mean, loud colour streak lately and if i want to wear orange pants in september or january i most certainly will. furthermore, they should be made readily available to me year-round. weird? yes. greedy? no. wait. i mean yes.
everything is dying and/or already dead. blooming flowers, blossoming trees, baby birds and butterflies? not for me thanks! i'm good over here in my frozen, grey wasteland staring at dead cedar corpses while trying to decided which shade of dark gross i should wear today! does this shirt go with the colour of my cold, grey soul? no? what about my attitude? ;)

anyway, i've never liked fashion rules and i definitely don't like this season's colour rules. this outfit is a big middle finger to you, Fall. welcome.

of weddings and worries

2010-08-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Although I'd like to be, I'm really not a dressy girly girl. I'm improving though and weddings are an excellent excuse to dress up all fancy. Cam and I had a wedding to hit up mid-August and so I lazily shopped around, but didn't find anything worth my while. That is until I spotted this saucy little beast in a store and was immediately taken by all her pretty sunset colours.

I tried it on but it didn't fit, particularly in the bust area, story of my life, so I pouted out of the store. Merl just had a post on this so she knows exactly what I'm talking about. Listen to her, she says it best. Like 99.283% of people I've met, I too have my insecurities, things I wish I could change and I feel so trivial bitching about tna (or maybe just a little less t and a little more a), but I'm also a human being who's a headcase at times and being rational (ie: being thankful I'm healthy, strong, etc) when I want to wear a specific outfit isn't always an option.

As much my friends hate to hear me complain (you can either chip in for a lift in 20 years or dry my tears when I'm tuckin' them into my boots), it often does suck when clothing fits you immaculately save for one area or you go a few sizes up and suddenly the material falls in a way that makes you appear with spawn. I feel like this dress would look way better if my boobs were smaller, but I've got to work with what I've been handed I suppose. empire waists? deep v necks? bandeau tops on their own? not in my vocab or my closet and sadly going sans bra is NEVER EVERRR an option.

Case in point: at the outdoor wedding I wore this dress to it was 40 degrees. My best friend was a groomsman and was text-bitching to me that they had to take pictures for 5 hours before the wedding in the sun in a full three-piece black tux. I don't know where you're all from, but 40 is hot as balls around here. Expecially when you live near the ocean. 28 is my happy place. As much as I love to sweat, feel bloated and stand for hours watching two people gush all over themselves, bitch about wedding costs and how they better get money as gifts (don't even get me started on weddings lately)(no I'm not married yet, feel free to blast me) I'd rather not sunny side up my ovaries on such occasions.

As I was typing I realized all body types probably battle with one thing or another. you might look at me and say, ya i totally get what she's saying, or you might look at me and say, what is your issue?! (and when you figure it out let me know). getting teased in your younger years or have slimy old dudes stare at you. it's two sides of the same coin really.

I was over the moon when Cam expressed an interest in buying a new shirt and tie for the wedding. I dragged him into a store and we ended up buying a sea foam (he prefers to call it 'mint') dress shirt and silver tie that highlights some of the colours in my dress. I think we're both in shock and amazement at the colour I got him to wear hah. Look mom, we match!! (is what i'd say if i dared to let any family members know of my blog mwaha)

{Dress - Billabong}{Belt - thrifted}{Heels - Rocketdog}

Cam: {Shirt and tie - le chateau}

I have become completely off topic with my tangents and need to talk about THE DRESS. Now because I just can't seem to let ill fitting, store clothing go, I searched online using terms like "pretty rainbow-coloured billabong dress" which believe it or not, lead me to the exact same one, a size larger and $30 bucks cheaper!! I had it shipped to the states, such a sweet deal for any Canadian that lives near the border. I live like 5 seconds from washington and there's a place across the line that allows you to use their address with your name for online purchases. For example if I had it shipped to my place in BC it would have been $17 just for shipping (dress was $24.99) and it would have been minimum 3 weeks delivery. BUT having it shipped to Blaine, Washington shipping was only $5! And I ordered it on a Wednesday and it was there by Monday morning. Unreal. I'm so smitten with this place.

The groom altered the getaway sign and I laughed for a good 20 minutes on the way home, which leads me to believe I should maybe try and start making more girlfriends. Only girls with this type of humour though.

True story here, did you know that everytime I log on to write a post I remind myself not to get too carried away, go off topic or write offensively long rants? Keep it simple, self. And what have we here? Every. single. time. I talk like this in real life. talk til I can't breathe. type til I can't see. big arm motions. volume goes up. One day I'm just going to post a picture and one word and it will blow everyone's mind. That's probably a lie.

Gotta jet, it's $9.95 all you can eat pasta, salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden and I'm going suffocate myself under a pile of fettucini. I hope O.G has google alerts, because I consider this fair warning.

psychedelic space requests

2010-08-26T02:20:00.000-07:00

all I'm saying is.. i want some space clothes. a crab nebula or two on a dress. turn up the quality and turn down the price tag though please. i need a big bang bargain cuz i'm on a big bang budget. yes thanks, i write all my own stuff, i'll be here all night.

the print MUST be double-sided though. unfortunately I can't articulate why, but shirts with one-sided prints irritate me to the point where I will visibly or verbally (face scrunch and an 'ugh!') show my displeasure towards all clothing that avoid using boths sides of the page. Come on designers, it's better for the environment.

i somewhat despise posts of this style. you know what I'm talking about.. vacant, awkward models (sorry if i hurt some feelings, may i suggest drying those tears with a 100 or seven?) (kidding). (not kidding) posing uncomfortably in clothes that are, were, i don't effing know anymore the next up and coming, hip hop happening thing, clothes that somehow convey a designer's message or deep meaning and if i post them it means i "GET IT". (i don't get it). deep meaning translation: these purpley-mustard scalloped cut-offs, bamboo recycled peter pan collar and layered burnt sunrise textures mean i am far too poor to look ugly (opinions are fun!) and ergo, "fashionable".

weird, right? why am i showing you them then?? instead of posting and linking you to models or 'collections' (gag me) ((sorry, but my eyes glaze over at collection pics)) ((one might say i'm not 'deep' enough for that)) (or rich enough)(or giveashitenough), i'd much rather wear them myself. ALAS, i can't seem to find these shirts elsewhere aside from expensive websites. if these were ever popular at one point in the past... or the future (zing!) i would have no knowledge of such. but they must've been. stuff like this would likely zoom over my hometown's head or my tunnel vision may have missed it. shit. i believe i just 'disclaimer'ed myself into a corner. and i blogger just sent me a message saying i would get slapped by a set of parentheses if i used them one more time. anyyyyway.

photos from zara and youreyeslie.com

how to eat your feelings {and other travels}

2010-08-24T00:47:00.000-07:00

a little week's collection of pictures. went to my grandparent's place in the okanagan. it was splendid. two of my favourite people in the whole wide world.

wait, first you need to make these cookies. they're dangerously delicious. cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of veggie oil, 2 eggs and a box of cake. THAT'S RIGHT I SAID CAKE MIX! devil's food. you see where this is going right? i bullied a girl at a party into giving me her recipe and she finally gave in saying to share it with cool people only. i think the internet is pretty cool. so here you are.

oven 350F. non-stick cookie sheet. KEY WORD: non-stick. roll into balls. make dirty jokes. eat a handful of raw cookie dough. feel nauseous. bake for 6 minutes. NO not 7 minutes. i had to throw out a whole pan due to thinking i was a genius with an extra minute on her hands. sad face.

makes like 60-70 cookies. i ate 9 right out of the oven. gahh they're so good. let cool for a few. share and/or accept bribes.

much like the thoughts in my head, these picutres are in no particular order. if you feel panicked and anxious whilst reading this then welcome to my BRAIN.

grandma comes out on the deck and says oh come look a rainbow. it might almost be a double rainbow! (!!) cam and i burst out laughing. insert hours of showing my grandparents the double rainbow youtube video (after we established what youtube was), charlie bit my finger, sneezing panda, etc. they loved it. grandad was all, what's this guy been smoking, we get double rainbows all the time. haha

Newfie golf = good fun. Newfie jokes are an added bonus. Fun fact: I don't know any real life newfies. ridiculous. any newfies reading this may not want to be my friend anymore. i wish i was a newfie. i've filled my newfie word quota now.

9.2 times out of 10 i'm a slob. american apparel can't save you now dirtball! i don't blame you if these photos make you want to be a better person, perhaps make something of yourself and/or take a shower.

my grandparents took us to see this hotel spa resort above okanagan lake made by/of swarovski crystal. very pretty, but i just wandered around and gawked at the prices, made fun of obnoxious rich people, in most likely an obnoxious way.

Cam spotted this and was like, hop in, it's an outfit post! hah. how about no. but then i did anyway. it's a tree. get it?

also, can we talk about my cowlick for a second?

i have an 'i have to pee 10 million times a day' issue lately. on our way back i asked cam to pull over at the next stop because i had to go moderately, not super bad, but i was anticipating it. so i fell asleep and woke up an hour later, still driving, pitch dark and i knew we were on a section of the highway that had a whole lot of nothing for a whole lot of long time. uh why haven't we stopped for the washroom? oh, we passed it, you were sleeping and i didn't want to wake you. son of a -! how sweet of you, now kindly pullover so i don't explode my bladder all over your seats. we stop at the semi-truck brake check area. it's 10pm, super dark and all my shyness of peeing in public has seemed to disappear. i battled with the fear of either being spotted by a passing car or getting eaten by a mountain goat, but decided i would risk the latter and told him to turn off his headlights. i dashed to a ledge and ended up half falling into a ditch, peed all over my flip-flop and my foot. mothereff. no water in the truck to rinse off but cam offered a half a can of warm pop to rinse my foot off. i smelled like pee and old pepsi for the remainder of the drive.

my week in a nutshell. nutblog. i wrote this whole disaster while under the influence of melatonin, diet dr. pepper (helluva combination) and have not proofread a single sentence above therefore am not responsible for this mess. it's yours now suckahs!

49 pursuits of happiness

2010-08-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

1. a giant plate of guacamole, multigrain chips and a fresh new Nylon mag to read

2. LOUD thunder and lightning

3. giant family bbqs
4. tattoos (don't have any yet, but like looking at other people's)
5. donald duck
6. when someone holds the door for me
7. empowering at-risk children/youth and playing a positive role in their progress
8. comparing notes on how you were raised with someone from a different country (turns out we all get smacked for chewing with our mouth open)
9. mmorpgs
10. nursing program and psychology
11. anticipating changes and being involved in improving a person's health and healing
12. polka dot tights
13. people watching
14. photo albums
15. school. i think i'll forever be upgrading and improving my education. i love learning.
16. real carrots from a real garden
17. canadian patriotism
18. my job
19. cliff jumping
20. waking up at 4am so i can google things that are causing me to lose sleep such as: top 10 scary things at the bottom of the ocean, what's the deal with crop circles and what ever happened to the children from mrs. doubtfire.
21. going for a jog with an ipod full of brand new songs
22. checking facebook 732 times a day
23. peanut butter and pickle sandwiches

24. coupons
25. recycling, buying second hand and reusing items in unique and new ways

26. achieving goals and seeing friends achieve goals

27. SUMMER

28. vegas

29. jumping on a trampoline
30. when people say please and thank you

31. chinese new year

32. weird and unique contemporary furniture

33. surprising people

34. recognizing and accepting that i operate on a bit of a different wave length than your average bear

35. wakeboarding

36. conspiracy theories

37. receiving and giving homemade gifts

38. poutine

39. reading about and pictures of outerspace

40. quotes. i'm a bit of a quote whore.

41. library books

42. finding a new band or song no one has heard before, introducing it to friends and having them LOVE it.

43. dreaming about climbing mount kilimanjaro
44. bellinis in Langley on patios with good friends
45. thought provoking lectures by mind-blowingly intelligent professors that make me reevaluate my stance on my ideologies

46. coming home and having Penny greet me like she hasn't seen me in a decade. happens every single time and it NEVER gets old

47. making people laugh really, really hard

48. accents of any kind from anywhere

49. making life as uncomplicated, joyful and inappropriately hilarious as possible

what makes you happy?

shirt ~ urban planet
skirt ~ old, old gift from bootlegger
double wrap belt ~ market in utrecht

Cabins, crochet and THE ONE.

2010-08-11T04:51:00.000-07:00

May 2010 in a Topshop on Princes Street in Edinburgh. I was busy wandering through aisles being mesmerized by racks of marvelous garments, cursing under my breath why we don't have this store in B.C when a young girl walked by, caught my eye and made my head turn. Although I'm sure she looked lovely, it wasn't her looks that had me floored, it was the most amazing and simple top she had on. It was some sort of white open cable knit sweater, not too thick, but just enough bagginess so that I could see she had a white tank underneath.

Of course being way too shy/lame to actually ask the girl where she found her top I missed out on the opportunity but figured I could find it somewhere on my own. What a goof I am. I searched high and low. Chain stores, online, thrift stores, google. Nothing. I pictured pairing it with a tight fitted bodysuit underneath that was black and speckled with bold florals or a white tank like my Scottish friend who I probably frightened with my stares. I make friends quick!

You know when you have those days/months/decades where you feel you have nothing to wear and you wander absent-mindedly through the mall or consignment stores or outlets or thrift stores and you feel like you've visited every retail building in every single city and you're just waiting for that one piece of clothing to jump out at you and then one day you find that item and you'll know when it's the one, because you gasp and grab it tightly because suddenly all those other ladies in the store must be onto you that you've found THE ONE and they are now your mortal enemies whom you must fight off on your way to the cash register and fuck it you're not even trying it on there is NO TIME!! of course they'll want the one too and your shit-eating grin will be wiped clean off your smug face and you'll look up and scowl at no one and everyone in particular, just try and pry this outta my hands bitches. and then you realize this is the best thing you have going in your closet and obviously you'll need a VERY special occasion to wear it on and you wait for that perfect moment and it will come and everyone will OOOOHHH and AHhhhhh and fall all over themselves trying to talk to the girl with the MOST AMAZING outfit ever and they'll shower you with delicious drinks/free vehicles/rainbow confetti and they'll want to be you, but then FEAR strikes when you realize BALLLS!!!&$#%! I can never wear this again, because that special wardrobgasmic experience will never be topped, they'll be like what that old thing again?! now I need to find a new $*#& amazing piece which is a load of horse poo because that first piece took me months/years/Amotherf*ckingLIFETIME to find, and this effect is highlighted times 3.4 billion goldplated puppies in blog world because everything is documented meticulously via photos and date stamps and either you wear clothes over and over (like real life!!?!) or you're fashion lightly cooked bread and you get freebies, but either way they'll find you and judge you right into the ground.

What I'm trying to say is: this is my ONE.

I found it after much patience, (ok, that's a lie) in a thrift store and basically threw the $6 bones it cost towards the till as I ran out the door with it.

Sun hat ~ $4 from a Willams Lake walmart. I know!

Purple Bandeau ~ American Apparel

Sweater ~ Thrifted :D

Shorts ~ rolled down romper from The Garage

Scenery ~ well you'd have to thank my parents for th- OH!? you MEAN the water and nature and such?! well then ~ boyfriend's cabin on Lac La Hache.

the good news is.. I like... no.. I LOVE wearing things over and over again. Call me smart, but it's kind of what clothes are meant for. Furthermore, my favourite bloggers are the ones who wear their clothes repeatedly and style them in various ways. It like, uh, gives me ideas and stuff. In summation, you'll be seeing much, much more of this handmade gem of a sweater. So this confession completely negates the rant above which means you can disregard, rest easy and save your letters of referral to be committed for another day.

PS: I asked the boyfriend what he thought of my top and he replied that I look like a tablecloth... so there you have it... both me and my kitchen table can wear it.

a picture an hour(ish): road trip edition

2010-08-09T03:11:00.000-07:00

Pack your bags we're goin' on a road trip. Just you, me, a photo an hour and big red. I'm sending you your share of the gas bill as i type.

9:47am* - The route - iphone google maps are the only way I can find my way around anymore. I can get lost with the simplest of directions.. great life skills there guy. How sad is it that this is the furthest 'North' I've been in my own province? To be fair, it's pretty big and it takes a long ass time to get around. To be unfair, I don't like going places that become -30 in the winter. i'm quite comfortable here in my warm little corner of the country. *confession - This time is completely fabricated. Look I'm first paragraph in and I'm already lying to your face. We all know I barely made it out the door by 11:30am.

11:31am- exactly why i go to the states for gas.

12:42pm - Regretful road trip fuel for champions. Lay off I was starving! I was sorry the minute I swallowed the last bite. McDonalds why do you do this to me every tiiiiime!!? mmmmmcnuggets.

1:43pm Big Red est 1993. She's faithful, but a real gas pig.

1:47pm - 'never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly' - gift from grandma. thanks g! do not return to picture from 1:43pm. carry on.

2:48pm - what happens when everyone complains it rains here too much. Like clockwork every summer without fail, it won't rain for months on end, the interior gets bone dry and the whole province ignites into flames from lightning bolts or campfires or people who throw cigarette butts out their car window (i will punch through your windsheild and drag you out by your mullet if I ever witness that) and then oooh what have we here?! everyone praying for rain to put out the flames? in the meantime I can't see any pretty mountains or lakes on my already painfully long drive up north, let alone 3 feet in front of my face from all the smoke and I smell like i live in a fireplace part time. so the moral of the story is smokey the bear says only you can prevent me from assaulting you when you bitch about the rain and/or smoke.

3:37pm - are we there yet? what a terrible picture an hour idea. for 5 hours in a row it's all the same scenery. But I've decided if I have to suffer then so do you.

5:57pm - arrived safely with a dash of grumpy at destination. suffering is over. now you can sit here and watch me have fun.

6:21pm- sleepy gogs waiting for me to faceplant in the lake so we can head back in and nap/eat/sniff bugs/eat butterflies and so on.

6:34pm - Sneak peek quick break for some blog outfit post pics. I brought up a fantastic handmade thrifted find.. might be my favourite one yet. If you patiently wait for me to get my shit together more photos will follow this week.

6:58pm - I just remembered how cool it is to live here.

7:04pm - well why not. i'd like to make you believe i am consistently this active in one day. would I LIE to you!? infrequently.

41:89ampm?- my friend's joint stag/stagette cabin outback shindig. saw way too many people from high school who i could've gone another 8 years without seeing. Having clichéd inebriated deep conversations and other inappropriate activities that must not be mentioned mostly because I cannot recall the majority of them.

i've been eaten alive by through deet, pants and air punches by miniscule devils with wings and i want to remove my skin I'm so itchy. Was it worth it? Yes. Unless of course I contract some sort of disease from all these bites and then cabins and lakes can jog on. The next picture per approximate hour will be more insightful and half as entertaining. probably. Not too shabby for a first time learning adventure. I think we all have become better people for having shared this new experience. I bid you adieu.

home is wherever i'm with you

2010-08-02T03:21:00.000-07:00

After six weeks of summer clinical condensed into four weekends and 160 hours of free labour from yours truly, I am finally free (until September that is) and watch out August, you're mine. Yes, maternity was fantastic, surgery was.. well it was surgery, but working at my laid back real job, making real money and frolicking in the sunshine all day is way cooler than all of the above.

had a little firework action downtown vancouver last night. grand finale by China watched from this generous, beautiful, and hilarious blogger's Vancouver apartment ROOFTOP! The views of the ocean and the mountains were stunning. If I lived there you'd have to pry me off the roof. I'd just sit and scream that I'm not leaving. Unless of course it snows. Then I'm gone. Complete with her very funny and super nice friends, I had such a good night. thank you sooo much to wanderlust.. your Finnish alcohol was like a kick in the face (there are some fantastic photos of my post-shot disgust floating around, perhaps they'll see the light of day) and it still makes me shudder when I think of the taste. I also ate a chip that tasted like a junior whopper. no joke. this girl makes the magic happen.

Old news I'm sure, but lately I've really taken a notice of the blogs with all the c/o's littered throughout their outfit breakdown. Right on. I'm pretty ambivalent towards it all. I care. I don't care. Mostly I just want your life as it seems way more intriguing than mine. You know how it is.

Step aside for the new kid on the block. I just joined the 'courtesy of' club.

Courtesy of your mom that is.

no. that's a terrible joke. It's courtesy of MY mom.

Ya, this beauty has been a part of my life at least since the early 90's. Baggy, blue and infused with jet black sparkles it has graced us with it's presence through Phil Collins songs, paired with acid wash a time or eleven and of course plenty photo ops of my mom in this gem and me with my late 80's neon phase.. which still hasn't ended. A little warm for summer, but pain and sacrifice (and hot flashes?) are my gifts to you.

My mom's apparently retired the sparkles for a bit (says me when I ~~stole~~ borrowed it from her closet), but guess who came in for the clean sweep?! this guy.

Now if only I could get her to sponsor me and my wardrobe...

{sweater C/O my MOM!}{skirt-roxy}{necklace-gift}

I have this new obsession with wanting to pair light and bright fitted skirts with dark and oversized tops/sweaters. The hunt is on.

I can't wait for Fall when I can pair it with everything. No I take that back, I can wait. I am not finished with summer yet.

happy Pride week, happy August long weekend and Happy BC day to my fellow British Columbians today! you know how passionate I am about my home and how i never shut up about it so I'll spare you, but i hope it's sunny and filled with plenty of oceany/mountainy goodness

"stab your facebook, sell sell sell"

2010-07-28T02:57:00.000-07:00

And guess what i did last Saturday night?

Pretty much had the best night of my whole summer. Best night of 2010? Ok one of the top 3 best nights of my life.

Two and a half years LATER my favourite band makes it back to Vancouver. Finally! Hold onto your raybans, here's a hugely biased concert review of MGMT at the Commodore :)

I've been (not so) patiently waiting for them to come back to Van for a very long time now. I never got a chance to see them in early 2008 and when I heard they were coming this summer I got so excited and immediately got online as soon as the tickets were available. Me and everyone else apparently, because they soldout quite quickly.

I was pretty nervous to see them live as I had heard a vast range of reviews, everything from sound issues to amazing performances to a lack of stage presence and lack of interaction with the audience. As far as I'm concerned, they could've just stood up there and played their CDs in a stereo and I still would've paid to see them.

All previous small amount of negative reviews I've ever read were so unbelieveably wrong though.

I had managed to get there a little early and find a spot right up at the front against the guard rail. Unreal. I couldn't believe I was going to get to see them that close. I was pretty pumped because I was positioned right in front of some keyboards and only 10 feet away from some Goldwasser scenery.

Based on the tiny handful of odd reviews saying the band never interacts with the audience, I was super worried in the beginning they wouldn't say more than the standard, 'hello' and 'thanks'. Not too sure why I would've taken it personally... I mean I'm sure they're exhausted and each city probably feels the exact same as the last. I suppose I just wanted them to enjoy themselves here so that I don't have to wait TWO *&@#ng YEARS FOR THEM TO COME BACK AGAIN.

My fears were quickly erased as soon as they walked on stage. The crowd absolutely lost their shit when the guys came out. Just freaking out. And all the band members looked shyly at the ground and broke into smiles, talked about how they hadn't been here in awhile and jumped right into Brian Eno. Sounds fantastic live. I've never been lucky enough to make it to Coachella or Sasquatch, but I felt like the Commodore (amazing place to see shows by the way) was a little more intimate than a huge festival. There was no mistaking that we were all there for MGMT and only MGMT. Except for the two frighteningly loud girls at the side of the stage that were there for VanWyngarden and only VanWyngarden. simmer down ladies, let the man do his job.

They bounced back and forth from songs off Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations flawlessly. The crowd wasn't there just for the 08/09 hits. We screamed "even if this hall collapses" just as loud as "all along the western front". Ben had a huge smile on his face and at one point said, geeze you guys know all the songs! Even when they played their 12 minute hit Siberian Breaks. The audience was a little pushy the first few songs but when Siberian Breaks played, we just all kinda sat back in a trance and took it all in. In true BC fashion, I was second-hand high by the time that song rolled around and the 12 minutes felt like 2. they make it possible for you to feel like you're at a synthpop, rock, indie, psychedelic, alternative concert all at once.

I was so happy that they seemed like they were genuinely having a good time up there. James was hilarious and probably the most talkative out of all of them. Some sweet recorder tunes from him. They joked around on stage. I didn't catch what word he changed, but Will sang, 'shock me like an electric'.. some muffled word, which made andrew laugh mid-song. Speaking of Will, he finished off of moons, birds and monsters with a phenomenal drum solo. All of them so ridiculously talented.

Not sure if you can tell thus far (..ha), but I kind of like their music. This band is very special to me, because it's one of the first bands I found searching for new music on my own a few years ago and not something the radio had just forced upon me. I see music in a completely different way now and have discovered more new (to me) tunes on my own.

Even though nowadays I buy my music directly off itunes or whatever, Oracular Spectacular was one of the first CDs I had bought in almost 8 years. I bought Congratulations too. A friend of mine found out i had been to their show and said she felt really bad, because she had no idea who they were. i was secretly happy with her confession. Why? i think it's cool that their music is not for everyone. including regular radio play. And also because I'm selfish and don't like to share great things. Alright sorry I'm done falling all over myself gushing over them. Not sorry. And not done.

I was thrilled with the whole set, it exceeded my expectations and was probably one of the best concerts I've ever been to. The songs and vocals sounded identical to the CD which impressed and surprised me. Andrew's voice has such a side range of pitches that I didn't think it would sound similar in real life. But it did. It almost sounds like a different person singing each song.

Not that I think anyone would want my pics because they're so fuzzy and the quality leaves a lot to be desired, but if you would like to use them please ask/credit me.

and then pay me in cookies and gifts.

kidding. (not kidding)

money will do just fine.

At the end of their set they came back on after our wall-rattling demands for an encore and serenaded us with "The Handshake" and "Congratulations". They thanked us again, waved, Matt threw water on me and they all left the stage. The house lights came on, security guards took out their earplugs and the roadies started to peel tape off the stage. I stood in place hoping to snag a setlist (ya, no chance) and try to wrap my head around what a fantastic night I just had. Suddenly Andrew walks back on stage looking at the ground with a smile on his face with the rest of the band following. Those of us left standing there just sort of stared in disbelief as he walks up to the mic and says, 'um we want to play one more song'. I'm pretty much over the moon at this point, 12 hour shift in 4 hours be damned!

Maybe it's a bit super huge lame fan of me, but I found it pretty fucking rad they came back out and surprised us when they absolutely didn't have to, to play one more song. mgmt, your music makes me SO HAPPY and i hope you know how much you're appreciated here. thanks for the amazing show. please don't wait another 2.5 years before you come back!

I didn't get out of the commodore until 1am and downtown was still pumping. There were fireworks down at the ocean that night which usually draws out thousands and there was a dance party on Granville when I walked outside. People were laughing, singing and dancing in the middle of the road. Reminded me of the olympics. My friend and I walked back to my car, perfect summer night, warm enough for just tank tops and shorts, going through all our pictures and yelling out 'holy shit we got to see mgmt finally!' every few minutes. i went to bed with my face sore from smiling so much.

From the "should have" files

2010-07-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

turning 26 has been a real kick in the face guys. i had to check a new age box on a survey the other day. that one hurt. i'm feeling a little 'stuck' as of late. a kind of 'this is it?' style mood.

this too shall be annoying.

i got this romper from my mama for my birthday and i'm positively in love with it. i am borderline too top heavy to wear it, but I'm in denial. Strapless bras are a THORN in my ass. I mean, I'm gonna wear it anyways, but you'll just have to listen to me whine a little more.

I'm operating on a whole lot of 'should haves' lately (see above: 'stuck') That's my own doing. Making unwanted poor decisions left, right and centre. It's boring so I'll stop. We can keep it light.

I was so happy to wear this today but when I saw the photos I was like maaan. I need more accessories. You can't just throw on a one piece and call it an 'outfit' now can you. Well I mean you CAN. I can. Because i just don't give a shit somedays. But I look at this and think... I should have worn a belt with this. Geez, I should have worn shoes at least! I should not have worn sunglasses made for 4 year olds. I should have bought bangles, should have bought rings! I should've not worn little mushroom earrings, I should have better necklaces... etc. You see where I'm going with this? And this is just the light, fluffy, dumb stuff. I'm running myself into the ground here. My life is one big, fat SHOULD have. Whoa 26, I do not like you thus far.

But I'll get over it. I always do. Just typing my thoughts by the seat of my pants. Tomorrow I'll read back (nah I won't, I never do) and be like what is your problem spoiled girl? This is therapeutic for me and I'm sorry your eyes have to take the brunt of it (not sorry really).

birthday nailpolish. mama knows what's she's doing lately for sure. my bday was swell. Lots of guacamole, family and fun knick knack gifts.

nailpolish one more time. ok promise I'm over it.

This field was full of tall wildflowers and dandelions this morning and I envisioned mystical, field outfit photo posts, but then a big scary lawnmower ate it all up as I inhaled my breakfast of leftover DQ icecream cake.

Procrastination is killing my dreams.

So is it possible to have a 'mid-life' crisis at 26? I'm normally a very happy, light-hearted gal so I just want to make sure I haven't gone bat-shit crazy or something.

Should have woken up earlier to take pretty pictures in flowers. Here's some old dead grass shots instead that I'm SURE you'll find just as lovely.

I'm off to go find life's little answers at the bottom of the ice cream bucket. adios. :)

this must be the place

2010-07-12T02:32:00.000-07:00

I partook in my absolute FAVOURITE summer activity this weekend. A little pre-birthday celebrations if you will. I've been coming back to this same place since I was 16. It's only an hour and a half from home, but it's so remote... just mountains, a rushing cold river, an abandoned logging road with tons of campsites and once in awhile some winnie the poohs.

We have never really camped at provincial sites where you have to pay. Nobody likes to go to bed at 10pm, keep the volume down (I don't have a low volume) or leave the doggies at home. I'm in love with this place and over the years we've built up multiple campsites, had a full kitchen, massive firepit for 30 friends, tent cities, dance floors. It holds such great memories for me. I like to share though, so if you're ever in the neighbourhood, I'll take ya!

wearing cam's shirt he bought somewhere in northern BC... complete with an aboriginal chief, eagle, wolf and A TIGER. friends are all, hey sweet shirt man wait IS THAT A TIGER?! you may think he doesn't belong. but I promise you, he does.

i was chatting with a friend the other day, explaining to him how ~~psycho~~ funny i am in regards to the weather. The sunshine makes me absolutely elated and lifts my spirits. I operate at full performance from May to September. My mood is completed dictated by the seasons and that kinda freaks me out. He called me a solar panel. It was the funniest and most accurate thing I've heard about myself in awhile.

eat stick. life = good.

guys it was like 34 degrees this weekend. We usually hangout between 24-29ish all summer with a couple visits from the 30s. But still. This is HOT for us! i don't know how toronto does it. Actually I don't know how ALL of Canada besides our mild little corner does it. my face is melting. i have internal sweats. chair. river. dog. beer. solved.

want a cheap thrill? fall in the river while chasing a runaway flip flop. hold your beverage up high to save it from taking a dip for extra cheers.

looking for a life.

Summer makes me want to be a better person.

who wears short shorts?

2010-07-08T01:18:00.000-07:00

I do.

{shirt-f21}{shorts-old bongos DIY cutoffs}{hot pink shorts-nottightsnottelling}{sunnies-from turkey}{runners-keds}{green bracelet-thailand}

I'm on a huge DIY kick lately. Well, mostly a 'think about DIY', maybe even go as far as buying the supplies to DIY, but then piling them in a corner and stalking people on facebook instead. my ambition is paralyzing.

meh.

One 'did it myself' task i actually semi-completed are these shorts. Cut off an old pair of jeans, added a few rips and tears for authentic hoodrat cred and threw on some fluorescent pink underneath because I'm still a 7 year old at heart. Sadly, these are a little too short so I don't think they'll be making anymore appearances for fear of incarceration. I'M A LADY DAMMIT. (all caps means you'll believe me). The fluorescent pink saved the day. barely.

They're my never nudes now!!

As much as I'd like to think I'm 7 still there's nothing like a jaunt on the monkey bars to make you feel like you're 89. speaking of which, my mom had a BBQ last week and there was an older couple there and the man kept complaining that dinner was served too late (it was like 7pm). he announced to everyone that he never eats later than 6pm and went on to describe how he couldn't possibly digest that fast and he'd be up all night with a bad stomach (ie: the shits?). couldn't have an after dinner coffee either, my mom felt bad and made him decafe green tea. christ, getting old sounds like a fucking blast.

Coincidentally, I'm turning old next Tuesday (26 yiii!) and cross my heart, honest to blog, I'll dance like no one's watching, sing like you're all deaf, run around naked like you're all blind (or you will be soon thereafter), dress like i've got cognitive issues, live with no regrets and eat after 7pm without shitting the bed. I'm a free spirit. FYI it's the 13th and i want a pony and longer eyelashes. write that down.

Happy 143rd!

2010-07-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Due to school overload I don't have a bundle of time to do a huge post like last year, but just wanted to wish my favourite country a quick Happy Birthday! Happy 143rd Canada, you don't look a day over 29.

thievery.

2010-06-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

I'm certain I'm enrolled in the only university that makes it's nursing students partake in 6 weeks of school in the summer. Not just summer, but the Canada day long weekend, one of my favourite holidays of the year. Sadly I'll be doing a 12 hour shift on canada's birthday, but I'll be sure to have some cake for her on my break or something.

I just finished up my first set of four consecutive nursing shifts in a row last week, hence why i've been missing around here. When I'm in clinical, I'm up at 5:00am, not home until 8:00pm and therefore dead to the world. How do nurses have a family and a social life? I get home and faceplant into my bed. It looks like a bomb went off in my house as I can't be arsed to pick up after myself as I may lose precious sleep hours. After four shifts in a row I look like I should be admitted right back where I came from.

Anyway, no matter cuz I'm working with BABIES this rotation! Finally something a little different than geriatrics or surgical patients. Those were fun, but before I was accepted into the program I always leaned towards little people (all my jobs have involved working with kids and/or babies) and so it seemed natural to want to be a maternity nurse. Maybe even NICU. Or Peds. see now there's too many options!! I'm glad I can finally experience the maternity unit firsthand to see if I actually want to specialize as a labour and delivery nurse later on.

Boring stuff for everyone sorry! I'm just trying to capture a little moment here, so I can look back and remember later on in my career.

Here's a FUN story though. WARNING* graphic content!!** skip if you're queezy. I was able to sit in on a delivery last Sunday. I've seen a video of childbirth, but nothing in real life. Sweet baby jesus, I'm scarred for eternity. I know I'll save a ton of money on birth control now after witnessing that traumatic event. You know when your guy friends or boyfriend is watching TV and someone gets kicked or takes a ball in the nuts and your guys goes OOHHHHH! And grabs himself as if he's in pain and you're like, what is your issue it's not you who got kicked?! Well I saw an episiotomy and I can officially say.. I. GET. IT. I felt for her. Oh god. I was horrified. Poor lady was exhausted, meanwhile her business is getting mutilated. Obviously, it ain't pretty, but the good news you get a baby out of the deal. Fair trade I suppose. ADORABLE little girl :) And the family wanted a picture with me and the baby afterward which pretty much made my day.

Loving this rotation though and the unit is such a cheery place. Now I feel like I should go into detail about how much overwhelming information there is for me to learn and how much I need to know, because I'd rather everyone not think it's easy work or that I just wander around teaching parents to give baby baths all day, but most don't care and I'd rather not remind myself on my day off. Sometimes I just DON'T want to think or justify myself or try to prove I'm smart(ass). Brain break.

Amature wannabe photography skills. I got my hands on a fancy new camera and have staked out all the backyard hummingbirds. they dive bomb me when I walk outside.

My partner in crime, Penny.

After five long years of owning their own house together (and 23 years of living together before that), my boyfriend and his brother are putting their place up for sale. The brother is moving to Calgary (good luck with that, I'm not visiting you in the winter) with my best friend Anna (who happens to be his girlfriend) as she was accepted into law school over yonder. AND I guess Cam and I are supposed to take the next step forward and move in together! Once I get past my selfishness and my set weird routines and unholy hours I operate on, I think it could be smooth sailing. What's the definition of sharing??

Uh where was I going with this? In preparation of making their house look all sellable, the boys have cleaned house and closet, packing over 8 bags full of clothes and donatable household items. Cam gave all the bags to me so I could give them to goodwill, but I got all nosy (and paranoid some of my things were given away by accident) and decided to see what they donated.

So, I see all these huge, fantastic men's button up shirts and decide, Hey I really like these, I want to belt them up over some shorts this summer. Ya. Unreal eh. How I concluded that I needed them more than the people I was donating to is beyond me, but I already warned you above that I'm selfish so I figure you won't care too much. jokes guys I'm playing dress up with a box of clothes, washing them and donating them right on back. EVERYBODY WINS. (mostly me though).

I couldn't decide between stripes or the light blue, so I did both. What a treat. Stripes is a little short, but most comfortable and fitted. I swam in the light blue and the length made daily errands look as though I was doing a perpetual walk of shame with no pants on. the look I strive for.

The women's trendy boyfriend fit, what a farce that was. All these hot new styles, promoting their relaxed fit.. boyfriend jeans, boyfriend blazers, boyfriend shirts. Why in the hell would I buy all new baggier versions of what I already own when I can steal his?!

And so I did.

peace out invisible readers. i need a nap after this beast.

It's Grind Season!

2010-06-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

I have a sitemeter link on my blog which lets me know how people find me in internetland. Usually I'm discovered through rambling, strange banter and borderline creepy comments I've made on other people's blogs or people will google "where can i find glittering scrubs" (ps if you find out i want some too) or they find an image link i added sometime last year about a pair of prada shoes that freaked me out. BUT 99.43% of the time my sitemeter is filled to the brim with people googling, "how many calories do i burn on the grouse grind"? I wrote a post about it last year when I tried the grind for the first time and people seem to have enjoyed reading about my pain and suffering since then.

For those non-vancouverites, i'll let you in on our favourite ass-kicking pastime. Located on Grouse Mountain in North Van, the Grouse Grind trail = mother nature's stairmaster. I swear, I lose a piece of my soul each time I go up. If you like the feeling of your legs and lungs on fire, then you'll fall in love with this. I sound like a morbidly obese asthmatic when I go and Grind Trip #1 resulted in me begging to be sacrificed at the 1/4 mark. I was all, I'm gonna hangout in the mud for awhile guys. i almost hurled my breakfast off the side of the mountain and asked them to leave me there to die on the edge amongst discarded water bottles, power bar wrappers and broken dreams.

It took me over two hours to complete it the first time, but I LOVED how great i felt afterwards and I went back a few times that summer. I think by the end I was making it up around 1 hour and 20 minutes. Now a few friends on facebook and myself have a little competition with how fast we can make it to the top.

It's just trees, a few sections of man-made stairs, roots and giant rocks straight vertical for 2.9 kilometres and 2800 feet above sea level. Now 3 klicks doesn't sound like much, but your legs and bum will feel it i promise.

These pics (and the one above where i ran up and ate log and mud on the last step - make note: trail is slippery when wet) are from when I went up last Thursday with a bunch of my nursing friends. I can't wait to see how my time and strength improve this summer.

I was thinking about recording my measurements and doing a before and after, but I have a fear of accountability, commitment and um FAILURE. I'd rather just complete the task and then tell you how spectacular I am afterwards... and if I don't succeed - well then you're none the wiser and my pride and self-esteem are kept intact. I was looking back at my old Grind pictures from last spring and I can recall I was at least 20-25 pounds heavier than I am now. Not all due to the grind, but definitely a HUGE factor. One day (when I lose these last stubborn 5lbs) I'll do a monster post on my weightloss journey. Almost 40lbs in total yii! I'm a little shy on the before and after pictures front, but we'll see. ANYWAY, sick. enough about me! I've heard of people doing the grind once or twice a week all summer and they lose 20lbs by the end of it! If you live near here and you want to burn some major calories and build muscle then throw that ipod on and grind it out! Watch out for cougars (not the ones with big hair and red talons in the bars... I mean the ones that will tear your face off) and bears. yes i'm serious kids, this is bc.

see, i wouldn't lie to you!

here's your nice muddy outfit post. kidding, don't be ridiculous, this is gross. i posed all stoic, but i was crying on the inside.

And because sitemeter tells me everyone is so interested: you burn around 1000 calories (of course depending on your height/weight/fitness level). I've heard 850-1100 on average. That's a mighty amount of calories, so make sure you eat a nice big, nutritious breakfast before you go, because i don't want to spend my precious tax dollars on heli-lifting your unconscious ass off the mountain.

Climb the grind for free and ride this guy down for $5 bucks at the end. FIVE DOLLARS in total people, you can't even make eye-contact with a personal trainer for that cheap. Plus, look at the view! It's a win-win. Technically you can be that asshole that climbs down, although there's a sign warning you not to and i'll be giving you dirty looks while i'm on my way up, because the trail is steep, narrow and now you're making it more dangerous. So just pony up your toonies and loonies and ride down in the bucket full of people.

It's a guaranteed, fantastic workout and even if you feel like hell the first time you complete it (oh and you will) make sure you do it again about a week or two later, because I promise you it's much easier the second time around. I'm definitely not the epitome of fitness so shoot if I can do it then anyone can.

missed connections

2010-06-17T02:34:00.000-07:00

so this is sort of a long shot, but just in case...

we met at winners about half a year ago and i haven't forgotten about you since. you weren't my type.. you were a 7.5 and i was an 8. but god knows i tried to make it work. i desperately attempted to cinderella step-sister you onto you my clown foot, but alas it just wasn't meant to be. in the event you have a friend who's an 8 then hook me up, because sweet jebus i have searched high and low for you on ebay and every winners since. you're simple, cute, easy to walk in and i've got outfits planned around you. don't hold out.

hello thrift store lover. you caught my eye you little minx. i've longed for a jacket drenched in sequins. you however, were $50 (?!), 47 sizes too big and you smelled like wet dog. NEXT.

bbdakota

Me: a girl who's had her eye on you for awhile now. i even spoke of you a few months back.

You: high-waisted, available and 50% off when we finally met in person!

I tried you on and you went all weird on me. Too awkward and rode too high. You look good on paper, but maybe we're not a good fit? I got all nervous with the thought that I might not be able to introduce you to my friends and that I'd have nothing to wear with you. I'll give you one more shot next time I'm in town, but get your shit together. deal?

trench

Tuesday, June 15th. i spotted you in a thrift store for 12 bucks.. but you were missing buttons and you had a weird stain... And well, to be honest I just don't need that kind of baggage in a relationship right now. I know your kind. Many different versions of you and I want one in every colour. Hey PS: to your other friends.. the ones that look just like you, pass along the message to stop acting all high maintenence. When you're ready to stop being a little bitch and come down from your three digit price range we might be able to make it work... Perhaps with the Bamboo peep toes above as well? the three of us could get together if you're into that sort of thing, i dunno just a suggestion

where north meets south and fajita meets mouth

2010-06-14T00:26:00.000-07:00

The worst part about not blogging for this long is that I have no real good excuse. I've been back home now for almost two weeks and haven't been able to pick up very many shifts at work and so I'm sitting at home everyday going INSANE. Funny, when I'm swamped with school and work I bitch about not having free time. Now I have all the free time in the world and it's driving me crazy. No idea what to do with myself. The good (bad) news is I'm finding plenty to eat. Sleeping in, grazing my way through the house, thinking about doing some sort of project, watching terrible afternoon television and then feeling guilt-ridden for being so lazy throughout the rest of the evening. And repeat. Is this what rich, unemployed people do?

Luckily, I start a 6 week summer practicum at the end of June. Maternity ward here I come!

Cam and I went for dinner at one of my favourite Mexican restaurants the other night, Paso Del Norte. It's just 5 minutes into Blaine and since I live very close to the Washington border we decided to walk across.

If you've ever wondered what the Canadian-US border looks like, here's me jumping it. ha. zero avenue. And aside from the island, i think this is the very south western point you can get in canada. the ocean is just beyond the arch.

fajitas for two. throw a blazer on to smuggle your illegitimate mexican food baby back across the border at the end of the night. .25 cent margartia mondays you must be kidding.

blurryface likes it too.

This is exactly why I come across for gas.

This particular border crossing had a pedestrian specific side entrance. they were doing some intense renos so cam and i were wandering through construction sites looking for the pedestrian entrance to show our passports. figuring we're completely lost and not in the right place, we see some us border guards on the other side of the fence and cam was all super polite, excuse me we can't seem to find the pedestrian entrance, can you please tell us where it is? and this mean border bitch is all, you are NOT supposed to be there!! clap clap someone promote this loser and give her the honourable 'pointing out things that are obvious' medal. and he's like uh ok sorry. She's all, you have to come to the other side you CANNOT be in this area GRR I'm a mean bitch and I have a chip on my shoulder and something to prove because i'm a female border guard grunt.

so i was all, oh sorry (not at all), this is where the pedestrian crossing used to be. border bitch was all, well CLEARLY it's not here anymore. now I'm breathing fire so I'm like YES THANK YOU it CLEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeearlllyyy isn't here, but it USED to be so THANK YOU KINDLY. FOR. YOUR. HELP. and i whip my hair around and turn my back, because I know i hate it when people do that to me. Grab a snack it's justification time!! (so the whole blogworld doesn't think I'm a total biotch) - I'm usually a very nice person until you're extremely mean to me which then I can't help but make snide remarks and engage in juvenile tactics. when you need to turn up the bitch it works.

of course cam gets all annoyed at me because he absolutely haaates conflict (as do i, unless it involves me) and while we're walking back alone through the construction zone I give a lecture to no one in particular about why would two young people semi-dressed up try and jump the border through a construction zone and nicely ask where to go, while standing near a place that USED to be accesible to walkers, but recently now is not and you should assume we meant no harm and why can't border guards not be assholes, canadian ones too. honestly aagh! cam really didn't listen and told me to smarten up or they wouldn't let us across because of my bad attitude. we go inside and all the US border men guards are very nice and joke around (is it hit and miss like this for everyone else too?) and as we walk back outside (now in Washington) the girl is all polite to cam and I'm all business face you don't exist in my world power walking straight ahead on a mission for mexican food.

I believe the lesson to take away here today is, don't be mean to me when i'm really hungry.

for my cameron, who will undoubtedly read this at some point and may still be traumatized by my outburst - thank you for putting up with the crazy. xox.

back in business

2010-06-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night Cam and I went out to celebrate our anniversary. Five years! whoa. For a girl who has a tough time committing to a cellphone contract, this is not too shabby. In true Cam/Lesley style we played an hour long game of 'what do you want to do?' 'i dunno what do you want to do?' and decided on dinner and a movie. Well we had an hour layover in between the dinner and movie, but ended up missing it as we sat in my car, seats tilted back (keep it clean, pervs) talking for a couple of hours and laughing about the day we met. we used to try and plan spontaneous, expensive adventures for our anniversary, but i don't need crazy plans anymore. I'm stocked full of crazy enough for the both of us. Our night was pretty perfect. Awwwsighhmuuush! Anyway. Enjoyable. love that boy. And 5 years has felt like 5 minutes with him.

{romper-urban planet}{shirt-f21}{sunnies-grand bazaar in turkey}
{necklace-the tiny fig (portobello west)}{belt-thrifted}{nailpolish-OPI-tangerine scene from holland woo!}

My camera has taken it upon itself to act like a complete d-bag and turn blurry for 93% of all photos (see above). It's only a year old. I wanted to hurl it across the yard, but then you wouldn't be able to see my disgusted, disappointed looks. Should've told Cam eff dinner, buy me a new camera.. however this new one I seem to have broken was one I stole from him (bought with Canadian Tire money what!) after I launched mine across a pavement dance floor in Thailand. Um. I guess I won't invest in one of those fancy dslr ones anytime soon.

Speaking of lame. This outift post is quite humourous to me as it consists of the top two pieces of clothing I absolutely detest. First of all, this romper is the biggest pos I own. It's too short, baggy in all the wrong places, has fake (i just gagged while typing that) front pockets (sadly I wish I was under the influence when I made this purchase) and loves to dip low at the best moments. It was intended for the beach, but I don't think the ocean deserves all that indecency.

Hence the t-shirt. Fashionable yet HIGHLY functional. Trying to keep the blog rated T for tolerable. The shirt is absolute garbo too. Perfect in it's flowiness, yet too short giving me an attractive cut-off, stumpy look.

Being the borderline genius I'm not, I figured why not put questionable romper, plus ugmo t-shirt together, belt it up and call it a look? I'm only 25 once folks, my days of using this excuse are running low. I saved the day with the pretty thrifted blue belt ($1.99 horray!) and a super cute storm cloud necklace I bought a few months back at the Portobello Fashion and Art Market from a sweet girl who hand makes all her jewellery. I am more than thrilled to support up and comers :) Plus Cam loves to call me his little storm cloud (who me? temper?) so it was perfect.

A treat just for you kids. Borderline inappropriateness. And no, I don't mean my shirt coming down, I mean the 7 chins and the infuriated look I'm sporting. Also, Penny is absolutely pissed that I won't play ball with her and is probably looking for a place to leave a huge no in spite of my bad puppy-parenting. Celebrities, they're just like us.

not all those who wander are lost

2010-06-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say now that my month long journey is over? I won't get too deep or reflective (maybe a little), but I will say all in all I had an amazing, fun adventure.

at the rutheven barracks in the highlands. can you see me crouched in the front?

Scotland was a beautiful country. Their distinct culture felt familiar and I was pleased to discover a few roots of my extensive and complex family tree. I hope a visit to England and the Ukraine are in my near future. I was completely catapulted out of my comfort zone when I landed in Scotland. Just because you land in an English speaking (debatable, hah) country doesn't mean there's comfort or reassurance.

in a neolithic cairns tomb from 2000 BC. Scotland.

But, after a few days I decided LOVED travelling alone. Where to go, when to go, what to do, etc... it was all up to me. Then again, I've always been pretty independent. I do love me some social time though and I can be a shy person at first if I'm on my own (gasp! hard to believe, I know!) so it was great to meet up and finish the journey with Anna and meet new people from all over the world together!

Germany was a very large and 'let's get down to business' kinda country. My lack of punctuality and go with the flow attitude didn't really jive with Germany, but we learned to accept our differences and get along. Especially Berlin, I loved it there so much. There is such an intriguing, rich history in Berlin and I finally felt like I understood what they were trying to hammer into my head throughout my History 12 class. Oh Mr. Mung if you could see me now! I'm awake!

the only nazi building in Berlin that wasn't bombed during the war or destroyed afterwards. High door handles built for intimidation.

And then there was Turkey. You've heard me gush over Turkey for a week so I won't put you through it all again (unless of course you want to!), but I will say it was by far the most amazing part of my trip. The amount of generosity and hospitality the Turkish people offer blew me away. Not just Ayca and Sinan, but all of their friends and family as well. We never once felt like strangers or different from them, they accepted us into their homes and lives flawlessly.

Taking a dip in the Black Sea, Turkey

The scary Dutch stairs I practically break my neck on every morning I come down.

Last stop, Holland! By the time we got here we were so burnt out and exhausted from Turkey that poor Holland took a few days of getting used to. Anna and I said multiple times to each other, that Holland (Utrecht specifically) looked so much like home it was frightening. If BC had no mountains and was full of canals, you would swear you were in The Netherlands. It's so mulitcultural, peaceful, green and full of parks. I think it made me miss home a bit more than I expected, but I enjoyed it all the same. I'd have to say my day in Amsterdam and the canals were probably my favourite. Such a beautiful country.

I'll admit that Europe was never high on my travel to-do list. I like eccentric, unique places and to me Western Europe seemed like it would be Canada with an accent. But Anna was going to visit her old school friends and I've always wanted to travel with a close friend so I decided why not!? Any excuse to travel anywhere is a good one. In case you don't know or forgot, Africa is my #1 dream trip. Who's in? :)

My bags are packed, it's 9pm and I have one foot out the door. I'm not looking forward to the 36+ hour journey home (oh god that's even scarier in print) but I'm lucky enough to galavant around the world for a month so I have to sacrific in someplaces.

I land on Monday night, will sleep until Thursday afternoon and come back to reality sometime mid-September. I can't wait to eat a normal meal, not spend money, hug my people and my Penny and con someone into doing my laundry.

No matter how awesome the trip, home is where the heart is. Sometimes it takes weeks or months away to remember that. I had a blast, but I'm excited to get on that plane, fly over the Atlantic, wait patiently for the Rockies to appear and finally, I'm home!

Yesterday was perfect.

2010-05-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

..We took the tram to Utrecht's city centre, mosied around (am i old enough to say that?), bought souvenirs, got a manicure - orange nails for Holland!, shopped for a scarf, sobbed loudly when I couldn't find the colour I liked, thought about buying a belt, did laps around the mall for an hour thinking about buying said belt, looked for a cheaper belt, two hours later I bought the original belt, ate some fritz with mayo (dutch style), ran through the rain back home, had leftover BBQ for dinner, thought about possibly regretting belt purchase and sat around talking, laughing and drinking tea. Then I knitted Penny a sweater and talked about the old country and how wild kids are these days. Last bit is a lie. But yes, I'm 98 years old.

Shops and kiosks I visited today.

Friday's BBQ in Wilhelmina Park. Kebabs, salads, steaks, hamburgers, hotdogs and of course cheese!

Overheard at BBQ:

"Aw, Vancouver, that's so cold. That's like minus 50 right?"

Another conversation I had:

Dutch guest: "So you may not be used to these types of BBQs... we have lots of salads at ours".

Me: "Um what? We have BBQs in Canada. Salads are invited too. Lots. You should meet my Grandma."

Dutch guest: "No, no, you have meat at your BBQs. I've heard stories. Lots of meat. All meat and no vegetables."

Annelieke's brother says to the Dutch guest: "You've heard strange stories"

It's true. All Canadians bundled up in winter gear mid-July, huddled around piles of meat.

Then she says we have them in pick-up trucks only. Someone wishes she could have a tail-gate party, burger eating contest. Go watch Varsity Blues one more time.

Dutch Ducks like cheesies. I came thiiiiis close to taking one home. Can't figure out how to make the backpack not quack.

Although their flag is red, white and blue, Holland's colours are ORANGE! They're having some sort of soccer celebration thingy so all stores are decked out. We met up with Anna and Annelieke's University friends, Mapke and Laura and hungout with them for the day, annoying store owners and customers by trying on all the sunglasses and cowboy hats.

Wow we're coming to an end here pretty quick! Thanks everyone for sticking it out so long with me! I hope it was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write, question, vent, wonder, whine, laugh, etc.

I leave the 30th at 11:00pm, so I still have almost one full day left in Europe. We're going to keep it simple, close to home, hangout in the city centre and go see Sex And The City 2!.. with Dutch subtitles of course.

Tomorrow will be an eventful day as I still have yet to uncover such mysteries as, How do they get their hotdog buns to look like this? And, why are the Dutch people so friggin tall? Honestly, they're giants!

Luckily, I've mastered the Dutch language. Basically just double up on your e's and a's, throw some j's in all your words but don't pronounce them anyway and make loud painful STRCCCHH sounds.

I will make sure I do a post tomorrow with a few more final pictures... I might attempt to summarize my trip so check back at 3:00am your local time ;) ... It's not goodbye yet, it's see you soon!

Amsterdaaam

2010-05-30T02:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the train from Utrecht to Amsterdam to spend the whole day down in the big city!

My traditional Dutch lasagna meal. I'm sick of cheese on toast for breakfast and cheese sandwiches for lunch, gimme a break.

We found out that there was another free walking tour with the same company as the one we went on in Berlin called Neweurope tours. We met with the group at 1pm again and went on another 3.5 hour tour! I love these things so much. They tell you crazy, funny stories and show you all the major highlights of the city, so it's perfect to do when you first arrive, because you can really get a feel for where you're at and how to get around later on by yourself.

We visited the Anne Frank house (building above) where Anne, her family and another family hid during WWII. I thought it was an excellent museum and I'm glad I went. Very moving.

Ok I lied a few posts ago. I learned on the tour that marijuana isn't legal, it's decriminalized. Just like in BC. All 'coffee shops' sell it, but they cannot advertise and therefore law enforcement leaves them alone. Plausable deniability.

Amsterdam's skinniest house (the red bricks) located on Amsterdam's widest bridge. Coincidence? probably.

Amsterdam's national monument...?

Amsterdam city officials were sick of their buildings being peed on by drunk guys so they summoned the university to come up with a solution. The pee deflector. Comes right back at you. They had other ones charged with an electric current, but someone found the knob to turn up the voltage which resulted in 3 burn victims being sent to the hospital.

So if you really have to go badly there are dark green station things (tough to see in the photo, but it's in front of the white van) for men to pee for free as they wish. They're ancient. In the 1960's women were mildly annoyed that they couldn't pee for free (you have to pay to pee in Europe - ridiculous) and so they held a protest. The city said no, you can keep paying. So 300 of these trailblazing women gathered on the largest, oldest bridge in Amsterdam and peed all over it. hah.

It was successful! In response, the city built that big, yellow tube-like building for women on the go who have to go.. for free! However, in the 1970's they were boarded up due to people using them for shooting up and whatever else they desired to do in dirty public washrooms. Thanks a lot crackheads. Now we have to pay
again.

And now for the red light district! Smaller, cleaner and less seedier than I thought. Actually I didn't even know we were in the middle of it until I was told. Prostitution is legalized here and the ladies pay taxes. You should have seen how many men darted when I took out my camera to take this photo. They must be shy..

The tour guide took us through here and explained how it works. You approach a woman at a giant, floor length window and if she likes you she'll open the door. The guide said he has seen men get turned down, lol how devastating. She'll open the door and quote you a price... Starts at 50 Euro for 15 minutes and there's a giant clock on the wall, in case you lose track of time. That's more or less all there is to it.

And there you are! Now you can go to Amsterdam and be up to speed. You're welcome.

Some sort of church group singing in the red light district.

Lazy day today.. my favourite! We slept in and wandered around a few small shops. In very un-Dutch fashion I ate last night's leftovers for lunch and didn't feel bad about it one bit.

We're heading off to a giant communal park (no one has backyards) to have a birthday BBQ for Annelieke's 30th. see ya!

you can take the girl out of Canada...

2010-05-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Den Haag! Here's the place we house sat. Pretty swank, I guess. Minus the fur all around the livingroom. I've never understood the allure of dead hide. Does this mean you really like animals... or you really don't?

We were only there for one night so we decided to make the most of our time in Den Haag... by renting bikes and leaving it. We cycled to the next city over, Scheveningen, where there is a smooth sandy beach and the North Sea!

Scheveningen was the name used to test Nazi infiltrators, because Germans can't pronounce it. But who could really? The first half you say like you're spitting, the second half you say like you're having a seizure. Next to impossible.

I ordered a hamburger and fries and was rather alarmed when my burger arrived sans bun. Bun is extra in Holland. I was told it was very Canadian to get free refills on drinks. Pop is like 3 euros at a restaurant with no refills. Lame!

At the pannekeok house I only finished half of my meal, but thought I should take the other half home in case someone wanted it later on. I was told that was too Canadian of me. ha!

Clearly the Dutch are just jealous of our endless supply of pop and last night's dinner / next day's lunch.

Wind and waves! Although it was sunny out, I was super cold! Can you see England behind me?

The next morning we took our bikes for a 7km ride to another city called, Delft.

My wheels. I want this style of bike when I get home! They call it a grandma bike. It's pretty easy to ride seeing as it's flatter than Saskatchewan around here. I really admire how many people ride bikes everywhere, in their suits and fancy clothes, but I'm not sure if it would mix well on an everyday basis with our hills and mountains.

Random blue heart in the middle of Delft. where the Holland 'blue' comes from.

Bike riding, pavement eating, self-portrait! Anna and I went to Amsterdam yesterday to see Anne Frank's house and whatnot. Friday was Annelieke's birthday, Saturday we'll hangout in either Utrecht or back to Amsterdam if we miss it and Sunday we leave! Time flies.

Cake and Canals

2010-05-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

Utrecht is full of these amazing, winding canals that flow from the forests through the cities. We rented a 3 person Kanadese Kano (Canadian Canoe ha!) and paddled for almost 4 hours.

baby ducks!

Nice backyard!

My favourite section of the canals

We stopped by a little platform for a bite to eat.

I had chocolate cake for lunch. mmm! I needed it. Had a frustrating day on Monday. Because I'm flying out of Frankfurt (don't ask) we've known for awhile that I needed to buy a train ticket from Amsterdam to Frankfurt on the 30th of May, possibly stay a night in a hostel in Germany and fly home on the 31st OR just take a train straight to the airport on the 31st in the morning. It's been a toss up between these two decisions for the whole month, so it's not like I could go ahead and just book whatever I want. Anna has a Eurail pass so it doesn't matter if the train is $1 or $1000 it's all the same to her. But I'm buying my tickets individually so it does matter to me.

I've been asking since Leipzig (at the beginning of May) which day/time I should buy the ticket for. I knew if I waited until the day of, the ticket would be almost 120 Euros. If I bought it early the ticket it would only be 46 Euros. So I asked all throughout Germany, all throughout Turkey. I checked the prices the last night we were in Turkey and they were still 46 Euros. Wait and see, wait and see were the only responses I got.

I kept saying, I don't want to leave this too late, I'm gonna be choked if the prices jump. Sure enough, we arrive in Holland and the price is now 79 Euros. I was so unbelieveably pissed. Not interested in paying over $100 bucks to take a train from Amsterdam to Frankfurt to fly home and my first layover, ya it's #%$#$ Amsterdam.

I didn't even want to pay 46 Euros, so I sure as hell don't want to pay 79. Or 120.

Annelieke suggested a bus. It's only 40 Euros so I booked it, but I was still pissed. I'm now taking a 6 hour bus ride (opposed to a 3 hour train ride) from 11pm to 5am straight to the airport where I fly out at 10:30am. Anyway, you get the point. I was mad. I don't even want to fly out of Frankfurt in the first place Anna's dad is a pilot so she gets free flights and Frankfurt works best for her. If I had known the last stop would be Amsterdam I would've flown straight from here.

I tried calling the airline to see if I could skip Frankfurt and just catch my flight in Amsterdam where my layover would have been and they said no dice. They'll think I'm a no show and cancel the whole thing. But the info line lady suggested I could change my flight for an extra $250. Oh how sweet of her! Change what? I'm coming right back to Amsterdam anyway! Gah.

But it's done, I booked my flight long ago, booked my bus, had a little venting session and I'm over it. I won't let my trip be ruined by it. I'll definitely be enjoying my last week here, 6 hour bus ride be damned! And look, I put my angry post between pretty canoe pictures so you can skim over my rage if you want :)

Paddling through the city. Caught a huge face full of marijuana in the air. I forgot it was decriminalized here. I asked Annelieke if lots of people smoke weed here and she said not really, because it's readily available it isn't that special anymore. There you have it.

Dutch coooows.

This ain't no De Dutch Pannekeok house. Real Dutch pancakes with Annelieke's family!

We're off to Den Haag for two days to house sit for Annelieke's friend. It's like a little beach town where the government is and the royal family lives. It's so hot here, I'm looking forward to finally finding a beach and doing NOTHING! :)

Happy One Year Blog! I'm in The Netherlands!

2010-05-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

A city, a new country and a new continent! We've arrived in Holland!

Ayca took us out all night until 3:00am and we left straight for the airport to catch our 6:00am flight. Had an hour and a half layover in Frankfurt and landed in Amsterdam around 10:30am in zombie like state. No sleep for 30ish hours + Lesley = your worst nightmare. We took a train from the Amsterdam airport to Anna's friend's place in Utrecht. It was only 30 minutes away so I survived. The train system in Europe is amazing by the way. They go everywhere!

Anyway Anna's friend/former Carleton roommate, Annelieke (sounds like annaleekuh), lives here in Utrecht. Such a beautiful city. It's such a breath of fresh air being here. Literally. Everyone and their dog smoked in Turkey. I was an anomaly.

Strangely enough, it's warmer here than it was in Turkey. This city is so beautiful. I feel like I'm on some sort of movie set. Oh and the bikes! In Anna's Lonely Planet book it talks about bike riding is like a religion here. I'll have to take more pictures tomorrow, but you'll see what I mean.

After my 5 hour afternoon nap we had a delicious homecooked dinner in Annelieke's garden. Besides Ayca's mom's dinner we haven't had homecooked since Germany! I missed it so much. The food in Turkey was amazing, but I don't know how you could possibly eat healthy there. I'm sure my neglected pants will be pretty snug when the weather turns cooler.

Around 8pm we went to watch Annelieke's flamenco dancing instructor do one last performance before she runs off to marry a bull fighter she met in Spain a week before his first wedding last September. I know what you're thinking... Who does flamenco nowadays?

Not exactly the way I'd normally like to spend 10 Euros, but whatever. Sometimes you gotta bite the bullet. There were at least 100 of us crammed into this old hall watching people do this sort of tap dance - soap opera routine for 3 HOURS. Anna and I were falling asleep by the end. I've heard more Spanish than Dutch so far.

Talked to Cam for a few minutes on the phone as I was feeling a little homesick (PS: you owe me 40 bucks now). Oh god I'm such a baby haha. I don't think I missed home at all while in Thailand, but this trip just feels a little different. Don't get me wrong, I've really enjoyed myself so far. I'm sure it's just because I was sick due to living the fast life in Turkey and exhausted from late nights and being perpetually jet-lagged. Ok I'll put on my big girl pants (if they still fit) and act like a grown-up now.

I guess I should also mention it's been exactly one year since I started this blog!! This is not exactly a great one year post, but nevertheless HAPPY BLOGVERSARY! I usually don't look back on my old posts... I enjoy blasting out awkward tales, hitting 'post' and moving onto the next lame story, but hopefully there's been some improvement. If not, I wouldn't know anyway ;)

I'm looking forward to having more outfit, school and life style posts more regularly when I get back from my trip. Here's to another year! Cheers!

Last night in Turkey

2010-05-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

I'm alive now! I've been curled up in the fetal position on the couch for the past two days with a fever.

I haven't been this sick in years. I never get sick! I took all the Tylenol I brought and almost all of Anna's Advil with little results, so just kind of sat around whining and feeling sorry for myself

It's kind of funny. When you're sick, no matter how awesome the country is you're travelling in, there's nowhere else you'd rather be than home.

Sort of had the wind taken out of my sails, but I'm feeling so much better. Running around 94% now and avoiding street meat.

Friday night we went to Ayca's mom's place, because she really wanted to cook us dinner before we left.

Again, I wasn't feeling so hot so I wanted to keep my food intake pretty light and umm normal. Not an easy task in a foreign country.
There was one dish I couldn't figure out what it was. Ayca kept saying it's like chicken, but she didn't know the English word for it. I knew it looked familiar, but not in a good way so I avoided it as I was already feeling uneasy. I kept thinking, where have I seen this before? Looks like chicken my foot. Anna had eaten half of hers already and said it was good, but I still wasn't convinced. It resembled something I had seen in the Biology lab. Sinan had a Turkish to English translator application on his iphone so he typed in the Turkish word for us.
Ya it was chicken liver.
I knew I had dissected that somewhere before! I wish I could describe Anna's face afterwards hahah!

Ayca's room!

Later that night we went out to a bar called the Roxy (like Vancouver, but without the pretentiousness and canuck players) where everyone enjoyed their drinks and I enjoyed my su (water).

I'm now feeling MUCH better so I decided to celebrate with some Turkish McDonalds ha. Probably a bad idea, but I after being trapped inside for two days I was feeling pretty rebellious.

We're having a goodbye party in Taksim with all of our new friends we met this week. Then we leave for the airport at 3:00am to catch our 5:55am flight. No wonder it was such a good deal... worst flight times ever.

Anyway, aside from being sick, this week has been so much fun. I'm really going to miss Turkey! And Ayca! And Sinan! Last night Sinan said to us, that we always have a home in Turkey :) So sweet.
Ok Holland for one week and then HOME! I know it's only been 3ish weeks, but I feel like I've been gone for months!

thanksgiving

2010-05-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

We finally broke down and headed to the touristy side of Istanbul the other day. We woke up early and made our way to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Both are stunning up close and offer free wifi. I found this odd, yet desirable.

I must mention something intriguing. There is a very loud call to prayer that is blared over loud speakers 5 times a day throughout istanbul. Near a mosque or not, you'll hear this guy. It awoke me at 4am the other night which was highly uncool, but hey what can you do. I've asked around what it means, but no one really knows. It's in Arabic and it's just kind of a reminder to pray if you want to. You don't have to do it all five times. You can do it once. Or not at all! Everyone I've met appears to ignore it. Ayca's friend was all, I don't have time to pray five times a day, I gotta go to work!

Tourists. Geez. (wink!)

We ran into a couple from Florida. It was strange for us to hear people speaking English... well I mean regular, non-broken English. So many tour buses and cruiseships around this area. Old man Florida was all, 'Canada, hey? Cold!' uh no my friend, it snowed more in Texas and Nevada than it did in BC this winter. If I hear someone say I'm from the land of ice and snow one more time I'm going to roundhouse them. He also graciously informed us we were going to become fat from all the Turkish food.

Sorry for the lack of Turkish history and info this time around. In comparison to Germany I'm giving you next to nothing. Although someone did drunk lecture me on the Ottoman empire the other day... This trip is more about the experiences I'm having by being completely submersed in Turkish culture by living with Ayca and less about how many frequent museum flyer points I can rack up.

We then hit up the Grand Bazaar. Over 4000 stalls and turkish people yelling at you to buy their shi stuff. One guy yelled out, "Hello, come buy my necklaces, I love you!" Buddy at least buy me dinner first. The size and maze-like layout gave me a mild panic attack. Or it could have been the shifty simit I ate after buying it on the street corner. Too much to look at and decide... Does Cam want the t-shirt that will dismantle upon bodily contact or the 12X12 suspiciously previously loved carpet I keep telling them I can't fit into my backpack. Fridge magnet it is.

We all know how decisive I am when it comes to shopping. Oh and haggling, how I missed thee.

It was here where I was mistaken for being Spanish no less than 6 times. Seriously, people were yelling "Hola, spanish girl!" at me. I've also been mistaken for Turkish multiple times and twice mistaken for Australian - even after a lenghty conversation in my very non-Australian accent. People please, I might have a bit of an early summer tan, but I'm the biggest European mutt mix you'll ever meet. Quit 'como estasing' me.

We were going to stay on the European side the whole entire day, but Anna and I decided it would be in everyone's best interest if we headed back to the Asian side to Ayca's house so that I could have an afternoon nap. I like the Asian side better. Less tourists ;)

Later that evening was Ekin's birthday (Ayca and Sinan's friend) so we joined her and her 10 million friends at a restaurant in Taksim, a section of Istanbul on the European side. All you can eat and drink for 50 lira (about 33 bucks) and oh my. There were so many appetizers and the main dish was massive.

We also tried some traditional Turkish alcohol called Raki.

Raki Rules:
You must drink it with no less than three people and engage in conversation the whole time.
You must pour Raki into the glass first and then a little bit of water. This will turn it cloudy.
You must eat food while drinking Raki.
You must chase Raki with a sip of water and not your vodka-7.. odd looks may ensue.
You must twist your face into a grimacing look after taking your first sip.
And the only rule that applies to me: You must place the Raki far, far away from your face, because it tastes like sambuca with a dash of kick in the face and it makes you want to present your dinner to the world all over again when the smell blows in your direction.

In Taksim, the street that never sleeps! Unless you want to sleep under a bar table. It appears to be perfectly acceptable. Come on back to the party when you've finished your beauty rest, you little trooper.

The next morning... well, afternoon really, we dragged ourselves out of bed and travelled to yet another section of Istanbul called, Babek. It was here I learned rat-tails are back with a vengeance. I'd like to dedicate this to 1991.

I bought a sweet dragon vs. sea serpent ring and conquered this beast of a lunch. All in a days work my friends.

Europe + Asia + this bridge = Turkey love.

Took it easy in the evening and rented/bought a movie from a store that was 50% pirated videos and 50% petfood and supply store. Do you need pet odor eliminator and a Turkish subtitle version of Sleepless in Seattle? ...because I know of a place if you're interested.

Then we ate (surprise, surprise! I'm eating my way through Europe) Turkish pizza. I'm toying with the idea of cramming some of this delicousness into my backpack so I can enjoy a slice (zing!) of Turkey back home.

Anna and I treated Sinan and Ayca to dinner in the evening. More like raced to the door and bodychecked Sinan when the delivery guy came. We are having a heck of a time paying for anything this week. They always beat us to the punch and say don't worry about it. We're thinking of ways to sneak money to them and planning on buying them something nice to give to them when we leave. Speaking of which! I don't even want to think about right now. I love it here too much. Holland has got some big shoes to fill.

merhaba from türkıye!

2010-05-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

Turkey.

Whoa.

Everything anyone told me about Turkey before I left was wrong. Everything I assumed I knew about Turkey before I left... also, wrong.

I'm a broken record/bad updater/travel blogger, but I know you're all very forgiving individuals and you'll understand my lack of posts are directly due to the fact I've been having the time of my life.

Anna warned me when we first arrived that Ayca was a free spirit who loved to have a good time. We presumed Turkey (aside from Berlin) would be the polar opposite of Germany. And we were correct. Pretty much geniuses. As much as I love a good party with white asparagus and PhD students... Turkey is a whole new ball game. Our flight landed at 2:20am and we went out that night. A little jet lag never killed anybody (Can someone confirm this?) The following night we were out until 5:00am. Whatever, I can sleep when I'm back in Canada.

I'm in Europe! I'm in Asia! I'm in Europe! I'm in Asia! I'm in Europe! I'm in Asia! On the ferry! Heading from Asia! To Europe!

Istanbul, the only city in the world on two continents. Take that.

Also, Anna's camera likes to reminisce in 2005, so don't fret when you see the perma-date stamp. I wasn't here half a decade ago.

Many people had me thinking/worrying/freaking out that I'd have to cover my self head to toe in a burka if I wanted to visit Turkey. 'Tis not true.

I don't have the brain power to articulate, but this place is not what you think it is. I'll post pictures and stories in attempt to illustrate my new obsession and love for this country, but if they don't do justice now then I'll trap you in a corner when I get home and talk your ear off for hours about it. You're welcome in advance.

I did forget how frightening it is to drive in places like this. It's like Thailand. They just hammer on the gas, swerve and go. But there's an odd sense of calmness to it. Everyone's in on it and appears to know what they're doing. Still, I thank my lucky stars each time we park.

My new Turkish family! And Anna! You are looking at a photo of Ayça and Sinan (Anna's friend Ayça from Carleton University and her boyfriend), two of the most kind, generous and welcoming people I have ever come across. Words cannot describe how amazing they have been by welcoming us into their home and lives.

Anna and Ayça getting ready for our first Turkish meal!

Can't. Stop. Eating. Nor can I spell or pronounce the food, but I will tell you it tasted awesome!

Anna, Ayça, Çıhan (Sinan's friend), Sinan and I out for dinner our first night.

Our first full night in Istanbul. Ayça took us to an Adidas street party.

Our Adidas tattoos!

The following morning was rough, but the huge Turkish breakfast eased the pain. If you know me well, you know I despise breakfast. You can have your soggy cereal and burnt toast. I find it tasteless and about as enjoyable as waking up at 6:00am for work, which I never do, because I don't work morning shift, but I bet if I did it would be terrible. It's cruel and inhumane. Look at me I'm on a roll. BUT, Europe does breakfast much differently. Breads, meats, cheeses, tomatoes, cucumbers, honey, strawberries, cherries and little mini plum/apple hybrids I've been hoarding called 'idic'.

That evening we got together with Ayça and Sinan's friends to watch the Fenerbahçe team play an intense final soccer match. Think canada vs. us final olympic gold medal game. Bagdat street (near their house) was filled with thousands of people cheering on Fenerbahçe, wearing blue and yellow. Ayça's friends even brought Anna and I jerseys to wear so we could cheer too! We were going to go to Bağdat Street after the second half, but the team was losing and it was getting a little ugly. Safety first friends!

Today Anna and I walked down to the Bosphorus sea, ate Turkish pizza and slept in the sun for two hours. Life is challenging, but we persevere.

This evening we had our first Turkish Kebaps (like tapas, I guess?). Ayça invited us out to celebrate with her family for her Grandparents 59th wedding anniversary! They had never celebrated before so Ayça and her brother Kaan thought it would be nice to have dinner. Her brother made us like 5 maps of the city and showed us how and which buses to take to get to all the highlights of Istanbul. He's even picking us up tomorrow and taking us to the ferry to get to the European side. This is seriously just a small slice of how nice these people are. We're like the golden children here.

Ayça's grandparents were sooooo cute! We were practicing our best Turkish phrases which are slightly limited to, 'please', 'thank you', 'hello' and now, thanks to my grandma and grandad, 'how are you''. I think they were impressed though. Her grandpa was sharing a few English words he knows too!

Our family dinner! On the left: Ayça, Sinan, Kaan (Ayça's brother) and Ayça's mom. On the right, Ayça's grandma and grandpa, Anna and myself.

I have a crazy story from this restaurant, but I don't it to interrupt the flow of this post. Remind me and I'll fill you in.

Okay, monster huge post is finally coming to a close. I'll try not to leave it so long next time, but it's tough to sit on the computer when the sun is calling my name! I know it may not look like I put tons of work into these things, but between waiting for pictures to load, thinking of how to fill you in on the history of the country without putting you into a boredom coma, to making funny/smartass comments to entertain my huge fan base (....), it can literally take hours!!

So, thanks to everyone for your patience and the comments. I thoroughly enjoy receiving and reading them.

I miss the family, the boyfriend and the puppy, but I know they all understand how passionate I am about travelling and how important seeing every corner of the world is to me. I am a very happy, very lucky girl.

:) Long day tomorrow. Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar and Ayça's friend's birthday party.. all you can eat and drink for 50 Lira. Yikes. Good night, good morning, good afternoon wherever you are!

Ich leibe Berlin!

2010-05-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

Berlin has renewed my love for Germany. For awhile there I was kind of glad we were leaving soon, as I was tired of museums (which is saying a lot, because I looove museums) and cake and coffee everyday for dinner. It must be a German thing.. my god they love to go out for their afternoon cake and coffee. $7 cake slices are not my cup of tea. And I don't even like coffee. but i do love me some cake. I almost came home weighing 800lbs. I digress. I LOVE BERLIN!!

Anna and I arrived Wednesday evening at our hostel 'The Generator', which quite frankly looks more like a hotel. ... that is if your hotel was fitted with blue lights in the halls, had hundreds of 20-somethings and happy hour from 5-7pm. It's ginormous. Free breakfast and free wifi - I'm in!

We got in around 4:30, unpacked our bags and ate some cheap hostel bratwurst. Had some happy times at happy hour.

Due to the sheer size and layout of the hostel I could instantly feel it would be difficult to meet people. That is until we saw the pubcrawl sign. Free beer at the first club and free jager with drink purchase at the rest of the clubs. We decided to partake in this traditional event for German cultural research purposes only.

Needless to say, we had a FANTASTIC time. It was amazing. We met so many awesome people and hungout with them for the rest of the evening, dancing the night away and coming back to the hostel the same time as the sun came up. I'm very sad we can't spend more time with them. Reminded me so much of the great times I had in Thailand which I hold in highest regard when it comes to backpacking.

We knew there was a free walking tour in Berlin at 10:15 the next morning. Obviously we missed the boat on that one. Quite pleased to learn another tour left at 1:00pm so we ran to catch up with them. It was such an amazing tour too. Four hours! They took us all around Berlin and told us about the buildings and sites.

Fancy yourself a segway tour? 64 Euros later you can. Judgemental (with a dash of envious) looks from yours truly included!

This is the hotel Michael Jackson famously dangled his kid out of years ago. I had no idea that was even in Berlin.

Remains of the Berlin Wall. There was a death strip of barbwire and mines in front of the wall people would have to get across if they we're going to attempt an escape. The Wall used to have barbwire on top, but East Germans were using it to pull themselves up so they switched to the cylindrical black things you see on top now. If they could get by those barricades they would still have to get by the guards and dogs.

The wall is missing huge chunks from tourists wanting to take a piece of it home. Ironically enough the Berlin Wall is now being protected (from us) by the mini fence you see in front.

Holocaust Memorial. Over 2060 cement boxes that rise and fall in waves. The ground between is uneven and it's quite easy to get lost inside. There are many theories on what they mean, but the architect hasn't said.

Me in the memorial.

A hole in the ground with empty bookshelves with space for the 20,000 books that were burned under the Nazi regime.

Speaking of Nazis we also visited the place of Hitler's bunker where he married Eva Braun and then 40 hours later killed her and killed himself. No marker, no plaque, nothing. It's now just a parking lot.

Gates of Brandenburger which was a border between East and West Germany. There is still a bit of jabs and tension between East and West Germans. Ost means East in German and so West called the East 'Ossis'. Sabine (who is from Leipzig in the East) informed me East Germans think West Germans are ignorant and West Germans think East Germans are stupid. Change is slow.

Much to my own surprise, I'm actually pretty sad we're leaving Germany tomorrow! Tonight Anna and I went back to Pariser Square to check out some museums (they're free on Thursdays!) and enjoy some heisse schokolade (hot chocolate) under the Brandenburger gate lights. A perfect way to end our last night in Germany. Who knows when or if I'll be back again. I really, really like Berlin and wish I had a bit more time here. (Listen up volcano - you still need to behave!).

Anna and I have an evening flight to Turkey so we're heading back into town to take better pictures of the Berlin Wall and buy magnets :) Tschuss!

photos from germany

2010-05-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

A few days ago we wandered the city of Madgeburg, where Sabine lives! We stayed in her little flat in town and while she went to work this morning Anna and I explored the streets. We saw some funky buildings, an old gothic cathedral and a large snail thatI inspected for a good 5 minutes before deciding photographic evidence was necessary.

Oh and the explanation Sabine gave us of Madgeburg... she said 70% of the guys are Nazis or skinheads. Um what. I don't think we saw any today, but then again I'm not sure what a modern day Nazi would look like.

The door handle to the cathedral... so creepy.

Hey looks it's the girl who wears the same friggen sweatshirt and pants everyday. I am losing patience with this outfit. It's my own fault I suppose. I packed so poorly... like 8 pairs of shorts, t-shirts and tanks and only one sweater and one pair of pants. I'm the littlest hobo that could. I thought this side of the world would be a lot warmer. It's colder than home. And rainier (not a word but it's midnight and i don't care). I was attempting to pack light though. I need sympathy and a violin... but mostly a jacket.

Finally we had a lazy afternoon. We slept in, lazed around and slowly made our way into town. This place is quite small and people are even more intrigued to hear English. Anna was trying to make a phone call home and one young girl just stared at her the whole time, listening. Sabine said that some younger people like to listen to English and want to try and understand what they\we are saying. On the tram on the way into town one guy heard us talking and struck up a conversation with us. He gave us the whole lowdown on Madgeburg (but asking us what in the world we were doing here in the first place) letting us know where to visit and how to get there. Lots of friendly Germans!

We had a 3 hour dinner with Sabine's school friends at a traditional German restaurant. I had Würzflehaskdf&ser23jdser something rather. It had cheese baked on top. Pretty good stuff. Anna had Weiße Spargel (white asaragus with cheese baked on top) and banana flavoured beer. They have raspberry beer and diesel which is coke and beer mixed. I don't like beer, but I hear it's good. Weird, crummy thing about the restaurants is that you can't order water. Well not for free anyway. They'll bring you mineral or sparkling water and it's almost always more expensive than alcohol. Pop is expensive too. Like 2 Euros or more for one glass. No refills. No deal. It's like they're forcing you to drink alcohol. Sneaky Germans. So either you drink beer or drink nothing. I'm now on a pop fast, which is probably a good thing. I don't need it anyways.

Sabine's friends are all so nice. One asked if we were phd students too. We laughed and laughed and I thought about lying and then figured as soon as I opened my mouth I'd give myself away. The other girls we met in Dresden were med students too. What's wrong with you people, doesn't anyone work at McDonalds anymore? Good people though. I find it super cool that we get to have all these genuine experiences and interacting with the locals (real live Germans woo!) as opposed to just passing through the city as a tourist.

Deutschland

2010-05-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

Everyday has been packed full since I landed in Germany on Thursday. And look who I found! Anna! After landing at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport which is neither in Frankfurt nor Hahn I learned I had to take a surprise 2 hour bus ride just to get to the Frankfurt train station and then from the train station to Leipzig (where we stayed with Anna's friend, Sabine) was another 3 hours and 45 minutes... ugh. I was extremely tired. But I made it fine!

We're staying with Anna's old roommate from University, Sabine! Here's the room Sabine made up for us at her family's place in Leipzig, Germany. They had such a nice home. There are small subtle differences between Canadian and German homes. Well I can't speak for all German homes, but for instance in this house every room has it's own individual space behind a door. Basically there are two stories of hallways with 5 or 6 doors whereas at home we have more of an open concepts with our family rooms and kitchens attached. Sabine said these were called 'American style' kitchens and they were becoming more popular in Germany. Their kitchen is downstairs in it's own separate little room. Their oven is half the size of ours and their fridge is what we would call a 'beer fridge'. So tiny! Which is maybe why they are too haha.

These Leipzig mugs filled with chocolates and maps were in our room to greet us when we arrived! Although her mom can't speak English and her dad only speaks a bit, they were all still very welcoming. They had treats and towels set out for us. Like a hotel, but better! And every morning was a huge buffet like breakfast with eggs, buns, a variety of meats and even dessert cakes. Breakfast is very important in their family and Sabine was explaining to me how they usually have a huge breakfast, big lunch and maybe a small dinner or sometimes no dinner.

I work pretty much the opposite and it took me a couple days to finally say, okay listen I need to eat dinner or I (and possibly the rest of you) won't last the rest of this trip. It's all good now though.

Because I had lost out on touring time while 'stuck' in Scotland, Sabine had a lot planned for us to see on Friday. We did a couple lookout points, museums and power-walking through the town.

We also got to do the human body exhibition which was cool. I remember when it was in Vancouver in 2006 at Science World and I was annoyed that I missed it. Once you get over the fact it's real people you're looking at, it's not so bad. Kinda.

We went to a GDR (German Democratic Republic) museum where I learned more about East and West Germany in 2 hours than I did in all of History 12. I'm quite intrigued about Germany history. It's not like Germany was the hero in my high school history textbooks so I'm a little hesitant to ask more questions, but I'm still super curious. I'm not sure what's a touchy subject and what's not. In fact a cerain someone was not mentioned in the GDR museum at all.

Anna and Sabine had gone to an old Stasi museum where old spy methods from East Germany (where we are now) were on display. It basically spoke of how the future is different now and the people have more freedom, but Sabine said that's not exactly true. Again, I'm interested in a more elaborate explanation... time to crack some books I guess.

Yay, brave me trying my first German meal! Well I'm not sure how 'German' it actually was, but I couldn't exactly read the menu so I tried to pick what looked the least frightening. It ended it up being potato patty things with some sort of sour cream \ cheese \ dip concotion with leaves imitating salad. It was okay. Food here is kind of on the expensive side as is coffee and hot chocolate...

On Saturday we made our way to Dresden where we met up with Sabine's friends, Claudia and Juliane. I should mention in case anyone is wondering, Anna knows Sabine from Carlton University in Ottawa. They shared a dorm together in 2008. Actually the girls we'll be meeting and staying with in Turkey and The Netherlands also went to Carlton with Anna as international students.

This is Dresden. It's a picturesque little city with lots to look at.

Here's a church we visited 80 times to try and get inside. Each time we attempted it was just closing. Maybe that's a hint. We did finally make it in today on a Sunday ha! Nothing lit on fire when I entered so that's great.

I won't lie, I've been getting a little sick of seeing multiple museums per day, old buildings, odd dinner times, going to bed when I don't want to, getting up when I don't want to and spending money I don't necessarily want to spend. I love history, but I won't lose sleep over not visiting the much anticipated hygiene museum we missed out on today. Seriously.

I'm learning as I go along that travelling with others is a delicate balancing act with much patience, sacrifice and tongue-biting needed. Things I excel at obviously ;). There are places I wanted to try and go to, but it's not looking like this is going to happen. Sacrific vs independence.

That being said it's nice to have the company and feel safe in numbers.

Being in a place where every speaks a different language is more trying than I thought. Weirdly enough, I never had this trouble in Thailand. Maybe because I am clearly not Thai, it's assumed I am a traveller. When you don't appear to look like a tourist at first glance, people walk up and start speaking German to you and give you a strange look when you say, sorry I don't speak German! You even feel child-like at times while waiting for others to talk amongst you, translate conversations and menus. Many museums don't have exact translation or sometimes no translation at all so you're left to study the pictures and take a guess at what they mean.

Sabine, Anna, Claudia, Juliane and I in Dresden.

However, the fun times are outweighing the challenges and we're working things out day by day and communicating more. Sabine, who loves to pack as much as she can into one day is extremely organized and thrives on punctuality and schedules. I know what you're thinking... these are my specialties, right? She is a great host though and has made our stay very informative and quite comfortable.

Claudia and Juliane are super nice and funny. We had a great time wandering the shops and filling in the blanks for English words they're unsure of. Many places we've been don't appear to have many travellers so a lot of heads turn when they hear us talking english. Well that and my stunning looks.

Last night all us girls went out dancing in a mall that was transformed into a nightclub. How random! There were over 20 DJs and a variety of music genres. All the young German kids listen to top 40 and rock. They know the words to more songs than I do. Not sure if they know what they mean though lol.

Me in Dresden! Clearly no outfit posts will come of this Europe adventure as I expected the weather to be much, much warmer than it has been. I've been barely surviving in my small amount of warm clothes: one sweatshirt and two pairs of pants. And those were just so I could keep warm on the plane! The rest of my bag is full of summer outfits and I haven't been able to put on one thing yet!

After a 4 hour train ride we've made it to Madgeburg! Sabine's explanation of it is interesting. I'll fill you in soon and confirm if there's truth to it. Adios!

tha hielans aye!

2010-05-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm in Germany now but 18 years behind on blogging and still wanted to write about some fun Scotland things, so here's another Scottish post for now with some Deutschland to come!

It probably took me three times longer than the average person to figure out that 'loch' means lake. The loch in the picture above is called Loch Lochy. So of course I took great pleasure in calling it Lake Lakey... which seemed to be about as funny to the locals as the time I kept accidentally pronouncing 'Edinburgh' as 'Eden-berg'.

Sorry my mouth physically cannot say 'Ed-in-buurrhaaghhach' like the rest of you.

The tour guide seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the Highlands which was nice. He told us that only 60,000 people left in Scotland speak Gaelic. They pronounce it 'Galic' and apparently it's a little bit different from Ireland's 'Gaelic' which they pronounce like we normally do over here. Another guide told me more people in Canada speak Gaelic than in Scotland. There are now primary schools dedicated to teaching children the dying language.

Road signs throughout the Highlands have both English and Gaelic directions for preservation and respect purposes.

I laughed so hard at this one.

Okay, let's translate, Caol Loch Aillse. How about Kyle of Lochalsh? Alrighty, close enough.

How about Inbhir Nis? Inverness. Done. Sounds perfect.

Now let's tame this An t-Eilean Sgitheanach beast.

Yaaa we're gonna go ahead and call that Skye. Yes, Skye will do nicely.

Funny enough I've heard from many Scots (and by many, I mean two) that Gaelic (Gallic?) is an incredibly difficult language to learn. For example the city Inverness, is spelt 'Inbhir Nis' in Gaelic, but in Gaelic it's pronounced, 'eelah neesh'. Awesome, we all know Gaelic now!

Some other interesting things to note:

Loch = Lake

Glen = a narrow valley between mountains

Strath = a wide valley between mountains

Inver = mouth of

Munroe = hill

Ben (in Gaelic it's Beinn) = mountain

Alba = Scotland

So basically a city is named after the loch or river within it. Inverness has the river that opens into 'the mouth of Ness' (as in Loch Ness). Glencoe is a narrow valley between two mountains with the river Coe thrown in there somewhere.

My favourite guys! Aye, it's a Hielan Coo! (translation: Yes, it's a highland cow!) aka 'hairy coo'. So cute and gentle, but stay away from those horns. I almost lost my jugular. Honestly what a poor coat design. Who thought to give these guys the awful bang job? As if being a cow isn't hard enough. I'm coming to the Highlands with scissors next time and giving them all side swept styles.

Finally the best moment of this trip! Seeing Loch Ness! This is the Urquhart Castle situated on the banks of Ness and it is even more amazing in real life. At first the tour guide was all, hey hurry up you have about 10 minutes to take pictures and then we're going to look at bridges and canals, because I have you trapped on a bus for 16 hours and I'd like to make it excruciatingly boring. Hey look a mountain! hey look a loch! hey look a ZZzzzzz.....

I was like, BUDDY, this place is 63% of the reason I travelled to Scotland from the opposite side of the world! The first two words of your tour are LOCH freaking NESS! (not the freaking part) We're not leaving in 10 minutes and I really need to get closer to that castle!

Another tour guide must've overheard my loud sobs and informed my tour guide that the gates were locked but they could easily be jumped over. And with that new information I began to walk backwards away from the conversation and ran down the hill. I jumped the fence and made my way down the path towards the castle. Some of the people on my tour followed too ha!

I'd now like to address the fantasticness that is self-timer photos. The first few days in Scotland I was taking tons of landscape and building shots. Lame. I realized no one would believe that I have even been here unless I start throwing myself in some of these.

I can be a little on the shy side when it comes to asking complete strangers to take a picture of me. Plus I like to do stupid things in photos like sit on edges of cliffs or hold onto stuffed mythical BC sea monsters (ogopogo!). So I learned to set my self-timer to 10 seconds, run like the wind and pose like the idiot. What's even better I have quickly found... is when someone catches you. It's best for both of us if they pretend it's not happening, but even more entertaining when they say, hey I can take the picture for you if you want, while I'm trying to be all cool still half-posing, acting like nothing's happening and I'm not holding stuffed animals.

look who I found !! The Ogopogo! And you've been looking in Okanagan Lake all along. Sorry to non-british columbians who have no idea what I'm talking about. This is our version of the Loch Ness monster. No Nessie sightings sadly, but it was still a dream come true to visit Loch Ness. Another tick off the bucket list!

Volcano, I'll act of god you!

2010-05-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

Oh gosh I've been a bad travel blogger. I have another blog specifically for this trip that I've been updating for my family like mad, but I thought it might be too boring for everyone else, BUT I'll throw up some postsin case someone, somewhere finds them useful. Lots of exciting, crazy things have been happening.

A quick run down: I've been in Edinburgh, Scotland since Saturday, May 1st. It's beauuutiful! I'm here all by myself, staying in hostels, touring the highlands and having a blast. I'm meeting my best friend Anna (who's from Vancouver too) in Germany for the remainder of my trip and we're going to tour Europe together until the end of May.

I have Edinburgh and Loch Ness stories that I'll have to put on the backburner for a minute so I can tell you about my ash-tastic adventure instead.

A funny thing happened on the way to the aiport this morning at 1:00am. I decided against booking a hostel for the night as my flight left at 6:30am, I thought I'd just hangout in Edinburgh as late as I could and then catch the night bus straight to the airport where I could read and sleep there.

I had a late dinner... a dinner kings have been having for centuries, a Scottish delicacy perhaps.

Don't judge me, they have free wifi and they're open until 2:00am.

I stayed in Burger King and played around on the internet until 1:00am and left to meet my bus that stopped at 1:15am, but I didn't have the correct change. The horrors!! The driver made me wait until the next bus at 1:45am so I ran back to the burger king to grab change.

I was all, bye Edinburgh! And Edinburgh was all, oh that's what you think!

When I got to the counter at BK to get my change the guys saw my backpack and saw that I was getting bus change and asked where I thought I was going. When I said Berlin, they laughed and said you're not going anywhere the volcano ash is in the air again. I thought they were joking. Didn't this thing blow 18 years ago? How random is this.

I looked online and it said all of the UK airspace would be closed as of 7:00am. My flight was at 6:30am so I decided to go to the airport anyway just to see.
I finally get there around 2:00am and just crash on a long bench. And I thought hostel beds were poorly designed... I sort of fell asleep around 3:30am only to be woken up by the floor buffer guy dragging me and my bench back about 5 feet so he could wax the floor. There's me with a towel over my leaping into air trying to remember where I am and I why my bed was transporting itself.

I come to around 4:30am realizing that Lesley + no sleep for 30 hours is disastrous for everyone's well-being. The attendants at the desk are basically saying leave and try and rebook online or call. mmk. I wander on over to the service desk even though they warned us nothing could be done in person.

The strange thing was some flights were leaving before 7:00am and some weren't. Is the ash aware it can't jam the airplanes engines pre 6:59am? I hope someone got the memo.

I learned that the next flight to Berlin wouldn't be until Friday at 6:30am. Well this is exciting. I just need to get to Germany... I don't care where in Germany. Just throw me in there somewhere. She lets me know there's a flight for Frankfurt tomorrow at 10:40am and that she can change it for me right away. And that was it! It took maybe 45 seconds and they weren't charging anything to do the change.

I took the 4:50am bus back to the city centre and trudged up the hill in the rain (is anyone feeling sorry for me yet? haha) and asked/begged my hostel to let me stay there. The guy at the front was like sure I check-in is at 2pm or I can sell you two nights. In my head I thought, Whaaat TWO PM!? I have to wait 8 more hours to sleep? And since when does 6am count as coming in at night?

But I didn't say anything, I just stood there and I must've looked awfully sad and pathetic (more like delirious) because he charged me only for tonight and gave me the keys to start sleeping effective NOW. Super nice! I crashed hard and slept straight through until 11:30am.

Now that I've had what seems to be my daily ration of 4.5 hours of sleep I feel swell. It's actually kind of funny that I'm 'stuck' in Scotland. I was even saying the other night how I wish I could stay longer because I felt like I missed out on doing a couple of things. I'm quite happy that my wish came true! I'm not interested in flying through volcanic ash and jeopardizing my safety. I know I'll get to Germany one way or another so I'm not too worried about it. This is just part of the adventure.

see you in june!

2010-04-30T02:20:00.000-07:00

You would think I would have learned my lesson by now with leaving things until the last minute. 2 am and I'm still packing. It'll be a loooong night!

oZ&e62Frr!2DLjsjdn <-- my brain! Simultaneously, I feel like I'm packing too much and packing too little. And I know I've already forgotten something even though I haven't left yet. This is so much fun!!!
My flight leaves at noon tomorrow (today?) and I'll be landing in Edinburgh around 3:30pm on Saturday, May 1st. The time difference is 8 hours ahead I believe so I'll be sure to alert everyone in the middle of the night that I'm having a good time.

I'll actually have a little computer with me this time so I can update you with all my fascinating tales and so you can sleep better at night. If you suddenly can think of anything I need to do while visiting the UK and Europe then please let me know! Or if you just want to say hi that's cool too! I don't want to feel like I'm bragging to myself. Yes I do.

I'm so excited, yet so nervous, which makes me feel like a goof... people do this kinda thing all the time, but travelling this far, for this long and being away from my family, my boyfriend and my puppy is a big deal to me ;) Lucky for me they're very understanding and know how bad I want to do this.

To everyone that gave me advice, thank you so much! I've carefully read each tip and googled and researched until the early hours of the morning and have learned so much from those who have shared little facts and must-dos. I'll be sure to creep blogs steadily while I'm away and post lots!

bye!

the vintage virgin

2010-04-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Behold. You are witnessing my first ever piece of vintage clothing. so legit now. It hurts. Spotted this beautiful sequined explosion screaming at me from across the thrift store and ran at it like it was cake. I've never owned vintage before.. and if you're a long time reader of 2 weeks you'll also remember that I just bought my very first piece of thrifted clothing recently. I'm new to all this second-hand business and it's extremely overwhelming, but so far I love it. I now regularly walk into thrift stores and only sometimes walkout empty handed due to brain overload, non-computing.

I've been harrassing Cam to take pictures in a park for the longest time and I thought I had found the perfect place for it too. Campbell Valley Park... with a few 1-3km running trails and several 8-15km horse trails I figured it would be a quiet and peaceful day and that I wouldn't look like too much of a clown walking around with 50% of me covered in sequins in an area so large yet relatively isolated.

I had a hoodie that I would throw on in between shots, but I'm not quick like cat anymore. My 25 years of hard partying with chips, orange crush and scrabble have caught up to me and I'm a slowpoke. Fun for the joggers who catch a couple weirdos off guard: one with a camera and two dogs who want to eat every piece of nature that moves and the other stumbling around trying to put an old hoodie overtop of what appears to be her great-aunt's sparkle shirt.

I don't care if it's Saturday and you need 'exercise', don't you people work overtime anymore?

Five joggers, half a dozen couples, one bird watching enthusiast/suspected drug dealer (I'm onto you grandma) and 3 horses later, I decided it was time to leave. No, wait, first I decided we should get lost and spend two hours trying to make our way back to the truck. Then Penny (on the left) got too tired and had to be carried (!! what kind of dog are you!?) and Mia (puppy on the right) ate a bee. Quite happily actually. Wouldn't have known otherwise if it weren't for the rocks she appeared to be smuggling in her mouth.

So much nature.. in my hair.

Scotland, Germany, Turkey, Netherlands in 2 days. It's 3 am and I still need travel insurance, a haircut, a
Eurail pass and a clue.

At least I'm not procrastinating.

Game 5 and one week til Scotland!!

2010-04-24T00:43:00.000-07:00

We're going to watch a Canucks gaaaame! Come on iiin!! Hung out at the icehouse with some burgers, beers and PLAYOFF HOCKEY! I'll keep it short for those who don't like the sport (or the team lol), but wooo what a game! Canucks won 7-2 and now we're ahead 3-2 in the series! If we win on Sunday then we move to round 2! As much as I love my team, I know how much we excel at blowing it. Should've seen me last Wednesday, I was at a family restaurant with a friend watching game 4 (which we neeeeeded to win so badly) and everytime we scored I got so excited and would yell WOOO so loudly, teriyaki sauce all over my face. Like a 5 year old. You can dress me up, but ya can't take me anywhere.

I picked up a new pair of shoes the other day to wear with my heart tights which I'm currently obsessed with. They're so fun! I should've joined the tights club sooner - they definitely add some spice to boring outfits. Very versatile. I've decided these are the shoes I'll be bring with me on my trip (along with flip-flops) as I don't want to haul clunky runners with me all around Europe. They're so comfy and go great with jeans or shorts. Sold!

Speaking of Europe!!! Ahh! I am freaking out. I'm set to leave exactly 1 week today! April 30th I'll be on a plane making my way to Edinburgh, Scotland. I have so many little things left to do and I'm trying to not let myself get all wound up. But I've never been to the UK or anything like that so I can't help myself. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking oh my god I need a travel plug outlet thingy adaptor! or, why do I keep putting off getting travel insurance, i'm gonna break my leg over there and have to wash dishes until I'm 103 to pay it all off!

I did complete one of my to-dos though. I bought a netbook off craigslist so I can blog to my little hearts content while travelling! Just as I did when travelling to Thailand, I started another blog that my family and friends can see so they know I'm not stuck in some european jail for unintentional law-breaking. I'll be posting on this guy here too so you'll be able to sleep better at night.

I really need to get my act together and start list making.

My new anxiety inducing task is to figure out how to get from Berlin to Leipzig when I land in Germany on May 5th. The cities are 2 hours apart and every bus or train website I go to is either offensively expensive or all written in german. I'm way too cheap (i prefer thrifty) so I think I'll wait a week and panic and end up paying the same in the end.

I have 8 days to learn German so I can save 4 Euros..

Yay!

2010-04-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely surprise today from miss Candycane. My very first blog award! yay! Thank you so much! I acted like a bit of a geek about it too.. calling my boyfriend hahah. Clearly these things are a big deal to me :) First blog award today, world domination tomorrow...

Instructions for the award:
1. Put the logo on your blog within a post.

2. Pass the award on to 10 bloggers.
3. Link to the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Don't feel pressured to follow the rules, you rebels. With the amount of talent I'm directing you towards I'm sure you all get handfuls of these a day. Pass along if you like or bask in the glory of a sunshine award!

For a good time, click below:

Struggles of a Creative Mind

I could easily send out 100 of these bad boys as there are SO many phenomenal blogs out there! But here are some ladies that make me think, laugh and just inspire me so much to continue sharing my random stories with everyone. Thanks ladies, keep on keepin' on :)

it's not you, mother nature... it's me.

2010-04-20T23:43:00.000-07:00

AFP / Getty Images / Peter Muhly

When I travelled to Thailand there was 'political unrest' with protesters blocking airports leaving thousands of people 'trapped' in Thailand (extended Thai vacation? that's a shame) who weren't able to get home right away. And the day I left home to travel to Thailand a deadly cyclone hit Myanmar right next door.

AP / Brynjar Gauti

And you thought saran wrap was only good for keeping your salad fresh. Keeps your jet engines fresher!

When I was 21 I travelled to New York to work on a cruiseship (worst life experience ever). There was a massive blizzard that left me stranded for days in Ontario and later stranded in Miami where a hurricane had hit. Later on that same week I ended up in Jamaica for 16 hours, Grand Cayman Island for 5 hours and Altlanta for 3 hours. I came home and slept til March.

And now it appears (see picture) as though Iceland has either had a volcanic eruption OR lit a large campfire..? along their southern coastline resulting in air travel anarchy. Now mapmaker, kindly shift your disjointed geometric shapes out of my airspace. I'd be very appreciative. Bonus points if you can tell me how to pronounce Eyjafjallajöekull. If I were to leave today, well I wouldn't be, because all my exact flights are cancelled. Not that I'd want to fly through volcanic ash anyway!

I feel like I'm the common chaotic denominator here. Flight websites must cringe when I enter my name to book a flight.

Lesley's travelling again, prepare for world implosion.

Passion Pit with Europe Trip

2010-04-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

Captain late update here with my new favourite tank top from forever 21 which spontaneously dismantled practically every single bead and button on the front within a matter of minutes after I put it on. But should I, could I, expect otherwise? I love it so much I'm willing to attempt to sew it back together.

So many amazing and fun things happening right now, I can barely keep up! The weather has been fantastic, school has been fantastic, life is fantastic!

I'm creeping up on the last few classes of the semester which is very exciting. I had two instructors pull me aside and tell me what a great student I am. They both (separately) said there's something about me that they really like and they think I'll be an amazing nurse in the future! I was quite pleased/shocked, especially since I wasn't exactly a stellar student in high school and certainly no one ever told me how special they think I am lol. Even though I have two years to go still, I feel like time is flying by so fast and I just loooove this program so much! Although I loved my previous major, after doing 3 years of psychology, I feel like I finally found something I'm good at and most importantly, love to do.

More fun news! Passion Pit concert was on Sunday at the commodore and it was phenomenal. I went with a couple of girlfriends. SO much fun just dancing and having a care-free night out. I haven't been to a concert in yeeeears. If you've never heard of them and you have no idea who I'm talking about I recommend checking out 'Sleepyhead' and/or 'Moth's Wings'. Those are my current favourites :) These guys sounded great live. Exactly like they do on their cd, which always impresses me or maybe I've just been attending shitty concerts before this.

I enjoyed listening to the opening band so much I bought their cd at the merch table. Turns out they were hanging around signing stuff, so I got my cd signed. This is a huge deal for me, because I am so incredibly/painfully shy when it comes to speaking to any kind of performer/singer/actor. Like I will go out of my way not to look at you or talk to you. Asked them where they were from and they said Brooklyn, New York. I was all, that's cool I love mgmt and grizzly bear.. there are lots of great bands from brooklyn!! to which the lead singer replied, there's lots of bad bands from brooklyn. ooh tough crowd ha. Actually we laughed, I said something awkward I'm sure and then got the eff outta there.

And now it's official! I'm going to SCOTLAND! and Germany! and Turkey! aaaand Amsterdam! And minneapolis? (layover haha). And wherever else I happen to end up while I'm in Europe. I am so incredibly ecstatic (how many excited synonyms can i use in this post?) and nervous and stressed and happy and hungry and.. lots!

I leave April 30th for Edinburgh and what do I know about Edinburgh? Absolutely nothing, but I am 25% Scottish give or take so that'll help out I'm sure. Sure. I am so overwhelmed and need to book a place to stay still. Hosteling it obviously, but whether I want to stay in Edinburgh the whole time and do day trips or stay in Edinburgh for a few days and then pack up and head north, south or underground is something I'm still trying to decided. And by decide, I mean think about for 30 seconds, have a mild panic attack and take out my stress on the batch of cookies sitting in my kitchen.

Two weeks today!