Moving Time

I've gone silent again the last few weeks. My life has been rather stressful and topsy turvy. I've elected to move early, for several reasons. A large one being that my apartment has an increasingly serious cockroach problem and I am not willing to wait around another month as it just gets worse. My parents have found me a wonderful little two bedroom apartment on the edge of town, very near my grandmother's, which I'm very happy about. The official move is Tuesday, so most of my belongings are already packed up.

I have been up to things other than stressing though. I baked up a Chocolate Guinness Cake with Cream Cheese Icing back around St-Patty's day. It's the third time I make the recipe and it's amazing every time, probably one of my most favourite cakes. I also finished up this round of belly dance classes. I'm really going to miss dancing with my ladies, but it's time to move on.



I met Laura way back when we both started taking belly dance classes in January of 2012. I thought she looked like a really groovy lady, and like someone I'd like to get to know. So I wrote up my name and number on a piece of paper and introduced myself, saying I'd like to try and be friends. It may have been dorky, but it worked, and we're great friends now. I'm really going to miss her, and my other friends here. But there are plenty of people in Sturgeon who are looking forward to having me there, old friends I'll be able to catch up with and strengthen those relationships. My future is looking really good. I'm about to head out and say goodbye to some more of my friends now though. I hope you are all having a lovely Easter weekend. Cheers!

Shades of Nature

It's springtime, and everybody is just mad about pastels and bright springy colours. Except me. I on the other hand, am still dressed in browns and greens and am so ready to blend in with natural surroundings. Who needs camouflage when you've got this kind of paisley?

 

Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Leggings - Who knows

Shoes - Sears, Hush Puppies

The day I took these photos started off with some cold rain, and I was forced to take them indoors. By the time my friend and I wandered off on a walk to the Arboretum though, it had tapered off to an annoying but tolerable light mist. Everything was so lush and green from the rain. The only thing that could have made it more enjoyable would've been slightly warmer temperatures so that things like frogs and newts might be out. It was still too cool for them yet!

 

Now that's what I call flounce! I thrifted this skirt after having realized my wardrobe had a serious lack of not-maxi length items. They're all well and good when it's not too hot out, but I'll melt once it starts hitting 25'C again. I'm not exactly certain how I dealt with this last summer, other than for the fact my workplace is air conditioned and I live by myself which allows for a minimum of clothing while in my home!

I was rather insulted today when one of my co-workers commented on the dark circles under my eyes and said that I was looking very tired. They'd probably think I was about to drop over dead if they actually saw me without any makeup! I have dark circles under my eyes. There is nothing I can do about this. I can sleep twelve hours of glorious deep sleep and there will still be dark circles under my eyes. I was wearing foundation and VERY good coverup when I got this comment. It just drives me crazy that we as women - especially young women - are expected to look flawless and well-rested every hour of the day, no matter what, and that somehow if we don't look that way, it's everybody's business to inquire about it.

I've mentioned it here before, but I happen to like how I look without makeup most of the time. Even with the dark circles and kinda-red patches and forehead shininess. I wear makeup because I enjoy it - which is why my eyeshadow is so in yo' face - and not because I'm trying to hide my natural complexion or skin tone. It's me, my skin. I'm okay with it. I am not okay with people coming to assumptions because of it. Especially when that's not even anywhere near how I would actually look if I had not had proper sleep and had no makeup on.

 

Those are the sorts of comments that get a girl wondering if she's hideous and worrying that everybody must think she looks like an exhausted mess. It might seem insignificant, but for some people it's enough to tip them into a nasty cycle of self-loathing and personal issues. Pro tip folks, don't tell people they look tired, it's insulting, regardless your motive! Anyway, sudden rant aside... I hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!

Grinning and Grateful

I had such a great Saturday. I started off my morning by driving around with my grandfather - practicing for my driving test Tuesday - and then had lunch with he and my grandmother. My young cousin came back to my apartment to spend the afternoon with me afterward and I was a little nervous. It's not like I interact with tween girls on the regular, you know? Everything was awesome though, I'm pretty sure I didn't bore her and I think she might have maybe even found me interesting haha... It helped I probably spoiled her too.

Cardigan - Thrifted from Value Village

Dress - Thrifted from Value Village

Leggings - No idea

Boots - Some shop on Sparks Street in Ottawa

Of course the first thing we did was get her introduced to all my pets. She met all of my snakes, held my crested gecko and even put my ball python Galen around her shoulders. She was totally comfortable with him, it was awesome. A lot of our conversations revolved around animals and pets.

After she was introduced to the zoo, we went out and got ourselves some bubble tea - a new thing for her - and then walked through Chinatown, through Little Italy, and to Dow's Lake. That's where the above outfit photo was taken, by my wonderful cousin. Now if only I could get someone to take my photos more often!

We did a little tree climbing - which is why my dress looks funny, the lining was hiked up crooked from climbing trees! Now's the best time in this freaky warm weather, the trees are bare of bugs or other ickies. Afterward, we stopped at an Italian pastry shop to pick up some desserts, and went back to my apartment to bake muffins.

On walls off Somerset in Ottawa's Chinatown.

For supper, I took her out for some pho since she'd never had any before either. I think she may have liked it, but it can be difficult to eat. I mean, it is a bowl of super long rice-noodle soup that you eat with chopsticks. That requires some form of skill to eat (or an absolute lack of self-consciousness). She didn't eat a ton, but I don't know if that was from dislike, or just because she doesn't eat a lot at once, or it being difficult to eat. I am so clueless about children.

We capped off our time together by eating our desserts while watching the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (I felt old trying to explain who David Hasselhoff is and why he's a thing). It was a very good day.

I'm so very thankful for my family, for these wonderful people I can love and be close to. These sorts of days for me, these are new experiences, brand new and shiny. And now I'm holding that shiny new thing in my hands, and I know once it starts to tarnish - as all things do with time - that I will only love and appreciate it in its worn beauty even more. I hope you're all having a really great weekend, I'm sending you all a little love. Cheers!

Paradise Point

I mentioned a while back that I spent a weekend with some friends at one's cottage. The place is suitably called Paradise Point, as the cottage is built on a "point" of land jutting out into Sydenham lake. It doesn't matter where you are in the cottage, you can see the water from any window.





Plus, there was a swimming raft, kayaks and a jet ski! Plenty of things to keep us happy and entertained all weekend. We did arrive rather late Friday evening, so we were pretty mellow and just hung out eating tasty food and listening to music.

Saturday morning I went down to the dock to drink my coffee and admire my surroundings. There was definitely plenty to see (and photograph) around the place. I wish I had someplace like this to sit with my morning coffee everyday.

The day turned into one of those ideal not-too-hot days with enough cloud cover to keep you from crisping in the sun, but still hot enough to warrant swimming. We discovered during our swimming however that the fish in this lake are apparently very bold. They were nibbling at the people around the raft first, and then one particularly brazen fish decided he was going to try and eat the strings on my bikini top. Strings do not equal worms, little fish!





I was also thrilled to bits when a special visitor stopped over. The friend's mother had told us that a large snake had been coming around the front yard for a while, just sunning himself lazily. I of course wanted badly to see this snake. Turns out, I got even better, and was able to catch and hold it! It was a Black Rat Snake, very calm thing, had no real issues with me holding it. I'd never seen a snake like this in the wild before so it really made my weekend that I got to hold it.



Eventually the day started to wind down, people taking naps and spending some relaxed time off by themselves. Since I've never been one to nap, I took the opportunity to sit and read. I changed dresses and finally put all my things up in the Bunky (a cute little guest cabin where I got to sleep) and then settled on the front deck.

Meanwhile, the boys had acquired themselves some fireworks in the nearby small town and our friend Matty decided he was going to go Frankenstein on us and try to get more bang for his buck. Here he is taking the explosives apart, and then having way too much fun lighting them with his hand-made holder.




We got the pit ready just before sunset, and had ourselves a nice fire. Pity none of us thought to bring marshmallows! It was a perfect night for our few fireworks too, no wind at all.





All in all it was a good weekend. Friends, laughter, good food, good times. Something everybody could use a little more of any day of the week. Cheers!

Motion Notion Part 2

I'm headed to a friend's cabin for the weekend, but here's the other half of the photos from Motion Notion to tide you guys over for a while! A large part of Motion Notion is about visuals, art, crazy creations. The Main Stage had some fantastic psychedelic art on display.










Unfortunately, due to some rather negative events, my boyfriend and I wound up spending most of Saturday away from the festival. We were at his grandfather's nearby farm so there aren't many daytime festival photos from that day. Once night hit though, we were back out and dancing again. And I got to dance with this guy! My boyfrie- I mean, Anonymous - really loves glowsticks.





There was an awesome workshop where you could go paint these clear plastic butterflies with UV paints, and they were then put up around the Main Stage. So cool! And I just had to share this woman's costume... the Alien!

We spent most of Sunday just hanging out at the beach or chilling around our campsite. And there are a lot of photos of me because my boyfriend said he refused to let me share shirtless photos of him :p I still managed to get him to agree to let me squeak one in though, heh.








This guy had a ton of Super Mario Bros. themed tattoos all over his legs, they were awesome! I also really loved the guy with the didgeridoo, just playing off to the side along with the music, which was pretty cool. Artists and musicians everywhere!







This land really is a working ranch though, and there were horses aplenty. These ones had the entire field to roam in but they seemed to like hanging out near the road to check out all the crazy people.



We went to go dance to an awesome set by Electrypnose around 8PM, and had a blast. Definitely one of my favourite sets from the whole festival. And I went and daringly wore not only a pair of shorts, but a crop top! With a bare belly! A first EVER for me.






After the set, we headed back to camp to cook up some horrifyingly greasy but ever so delicious burgers. Shpongle was that night, and we needed to be properly fueled!




I danced my heart out that night, for over two hours. It was amazing. If you want to listen to something that will blow you away... listen to Shpongle, seriously.

And that's that folks! I took a lot of photos this year, and I'm happy about it, but I still think I could have taken more heh. It's just so hard to communicate how it feels to be there through something like a photo, no matter how I describe it.



I hope you enjoyed this second round of photos! And if ever you have the chance to hit up Motion Notion... or any similar festival, do it! You won't regret it, I promise. Cheers!