All Hallows Eve 2

This is my second Halloween as a blogger.  It's crazy to look back at last year's Halloween, where it not not only the first one "blogged" but also the first one for Chris and I in our home.  This year I spent it with a friend handing out candy and occasionally freaking out people with my mask.  

This picture is dedicated to all the people who have irrational fears of birds.  :)

You know who you are.

Now onto my obsession with skulls for this holidays season:

Yah, those are skulls hanging from the maple tree.

Pretty darn spooky, huh?!

We definitely had more candy then kids last night.  Even though we were handing out handfuls to each  kid, I'm still left with an insane amount of candy.  So I'll continue to hand them out to family and friends because looking at this sugar coma gives me a stomach ache.  

My onto my costume... Can you guess what I am?

If you guessed a dark angel or evil fairy... you are wrong.  Isn't obvious that I'm a crow?!  Well I'm sure you would have guessed it if I took a picture of me with the my long black pleather jacket and knock-off Doc Martens.  

How did the everyone else spend Halloween?

This & That, Random

End of May.  Already?

It just went by in a blur of events, stress, major changes and a winding down.

The only sense of calm was found in my backyard jungle.
Which in about a month's time went from an all natural swimming pool.

To barren land.

To roaming land.

To fresh hills.

And now it's over growing with plants... Pictures to be loaded.

There is a plan to this landscaping madness.  But right now it's the boring work of fixing some dumb decisions by the previous owners which resulted in the fence becoming warped and massive pools of water accumulating in the middle of the yard with heavy rain.  

Enough ramblings because I want to quickly share two events with anyone who is still reading.

Image from: www.ripthefablane.com 

This past weekend, Marilou of Twenty York Street asked me to come to the "I Am Fashion: Rip the Fab Lane" show with her to help out with the coverage.  I was so pleased and honoured that she asked me to go.  Ever since I saw the post by Marcia B Creative promoting this fashion show, I wanted to go so badly.   To be there as a part of press was just awesome.    

So be sure to check out Twenty York Street throughout the week as our article on Rip the Fab Lane will be posted soon.  If you want a sneak peak of the event, take a look at Jose's pictures at his blog, YouGotSquared.  Jose really has talent with taking photographs.

An upcoming event that I'm volunteering for is the Orleans Festival on June 3 - 4th, in and around the Shenkman Arts Centre and Centrum Boulevard.  It looks like a wonderful and fun event for anyone who loves all forms of art.  There will be exhibitions of art, music, the performing arts and an iron chef competition, just to name a few.  The full schedule can be found on the website at www.orleansfestival.ca or here.  The best part?  All activities and performances are FREE!

ALSO, this non-profit organization gives back to charities, including as the Ottawa Food Bank, Children's Wish Foundation and Orleans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre.

Now the random.

Has anyone seriously heard of a Liger?! I though this beast was that of fiction, only to belong in the movie of Napoleon Dynamite. But my friend insisted today after lunch that it does exist.  Now... I googled to find that there are pictures and even a definition on Wikipedia.  Through my skimming of the information it seems like they are serious.  Thoughts?

The Weekend Report: Motorcycles & Fashion

Days off are nice... the house is finally quiet (with the exception of the birds) and my personal home-reno drill Sargent is at work.  Today I plan on staying in my lazy clothes while getting through the "to do" list. This past weekend started by mid-afternoon on Friday.  Surprisingly the morning meeting that I was so nervous about went well.  After meeting up with some good friends; Mo & YC for a late lunch, I was easily convinced to explore the mall with Mo.  Thankfully my parents got me a generous gift certificate to Dynamite.  

The unplanned shopping trip worked out perfectly because on Saturday morning I did a photo shoot for Marilou at 20YS. When ML first asked to to do a shoot with her, my reaction was major anxiety.  Honestly, a huge fear of mine is being in front of the camera. I tend to make random and awkward facial expressions when people are aiming a camera at me.  But Jose was incredibly supportive and patient during the whole process.   I'm super excited to see what he comes up with because he has a lot of talent, check him out at YouGotSquared. There are  a lot of amazing photographs showcased.    

ML & I with Cloud in the Sky Studios

I won't share many pictures from the shoot because I want to make people wait until 20YS posts them.  If you follow ML or myself on twitter, you can see a fewer sneak peaks. I want to thank Marilou and Jose for being really great.  I learned that cameras aren't so scary... and if I want nicer picture of myself, I need to stop being so nervous around cameras.

After the photo-shoot, I decided to go with J's advice on practicing to build comfort with the camera.  I must say that Chris was way better this time around with being the photographer.  I'm sure my behaviour of clumping around the yard while whining might contributed to this improvment compared to last time.  Next time maybe I'll try to be more mature in asking, but probably not.

Once in more appropriate motorcycle gear, Chris and I went for a ride.  We did a long stretch, about 90KM.  I really enjoyed the cruise along the river & canal but when we hit the highway I freaked out a bit.  It was my first time and the wind was surprisingly strong, once we were off the highway my hands were cramped onto Chris's side.  I much prefer going less than 100 KM/H on the bike.   

FYI pleather high-heeled boots are not the proper biking footwear.

The remainder of Saturday included landscaping our front yard, which looks more like a mud pit with random flowers all over it then a typical grass yard.  It's not fair that landscaping means heavy lifting and digging up dirt, which isn't fun activity.  We packed up about 50 patio large stones to give away.... again more heavy lifting.  Then finished the night by digging up all the pretty flowers on the lawn to replant in a garden.  

For Sunday, Chris had more manual labour planned for us.   We traveled up to the Valley to help out with renovations for our Uncle.  As soon as we turned onto his road, the rain started.  Which was fine by me, the weather was warm enough for the rain to not suck.  The renovations meant more heavy lifting,  inside and out, the rainy & muddy conditions weren't so bad but it meant that we couldn't get some of the gardening done.  At the end of the day, we were treated to a yummy dinner then headed back home.  

Personally I prefer the colour pink on this bike.  Chris will most likely laugh really hard if I ask him to paint it so I'll just play on Photoshop until the day comes when he hands this baby down to me. That comment might sound weird to some people, but after a little "rolling down the hill incident" during this photo-op... I realized that 1) I need to take the course on riding and 2) get comfortable on a 250 before riding the 600 beast.      

Thanks for sticking through that report on the weekend... I'm shocked at that amount that I did.  Usually weekends for me are chill.  It was a fun weekend but I am glad to be resting, cleaning, studying, gardening and catching up on other random things today.  

Happy Monday Everyone!

Sitting here watching "Deep Blue Sea" because I need a break.  The last time I watched this movie was definitely before my Samuel Jackson crush... It was a nice surprise to discover that he is in this movie.  Just a little nervous that he'll be eaten because I sort of remember the ending.  I have a friend who briefly met the man when she was young, and I will always be super jealous of that.  

Enough of my Samuel yapping!(even though all his movies are awesome)!! Between work, school and house work I'm feeling too torn and exhausted.  Not meaning to sound all whining... just saying.  

The weekend was full of things to be done: school reading, cleaning, scrubbing clean & building the old kitchen table, hosting guests, folding two weeks worth of laundry, painting, raking & landscaping the front yard and a baby shower. Weekends never seem to be long enough. Or maybe now, with three days off, it will be enough?!

My parents gave Chris and I the old family table which was great of them.  While cleaning it, I see that my little sister vandalized underneath with spelling her name:

SAR
  AH

You suck Sarah!

If you look hard enough at the picture on the left, the proof is there. 

One thing I realized was that as kids, we totally damaged the table with stains and scratches. 

The table fills of dinning room nicely.  It's a banana wood but made in Canada kind of table.  Eventually we will strip, refinish and stain it.  But that kind of DIY project can wait. 

We are thinking of having a comfy bench along the partial wall which looks down into another room. Another project that will come in time. 

OH MY GOD!  SAMUEL DIES IN THE MIDDLE OF ONE OF HIS MONOLOGUE RANTS!!!! Not fair.  There's like an hour left and the sharks are just starting their feast.  

Thinking about my full week ahead makes me stressed.  I hate this constant feeling of stress and exhaustion.  I know that there are things in my life that I will have to cut down on if to stay functionally sane.  I always tell other people to do what will make them happy and to take care of themselves... but I'm such a hypocrite. 

No point in this movie anymore so the plan: eat, nap then get back to the studying/student groove.  Urg <3

This n That

Please allow me a moment to vent some frustrations.  I wrote a long blog post on my week, then of course I lose the USB in which I saved the document.  Since I’m never in one place, I depend on USB devices to save and transport information.  This forgetfulness is not like me.  Yes, I have ditzy moments, but I am an organized person.  Yes, I realize that those two qualities are contradicting, but just go with it.

Form & Policy

It’s been somewhat confirmed, starting November, I will be officially working part-time.  Four days a week.  The process is going slower than what I thought.  Apparently there are forms in which need to be signed, and policy to follow.  The back and forth is frustrating because I’m not a patient person when it comes to certain things.  At least my manager is super understanding and pleasant to deal with. iI’s those positive things that I need to focus on. 

A Cruel Awakening

 Don't feel sorry for this alarm, it really did deserve the violent end that fell upon it. 

It was around 2:30 when Chris woke up.  I was still in a daze when he tried to wake me. Apparently I was rude but I don't think it's fair to expect pleasantries between the mental state of asleep and awake. 

The house alarm was ringing loudly throughout the house.  We checked... no sign of any "intrusion", so the damn thing was just being annoying.  The first major clue of it's location was when I heard the sound coming from the air ducks.  But of course, the both of us were too tired to really think.  After a doing an inspection of the house, I had an "ah-ha" moment.  In the basement, the air ducks exposed had a slight vibration... AND there was an odd wire running into a repaired section of those ducks.  Chris grabbed the power drill and removed the patch quickly.  

Once the hole was exposed, I pulled at the wire until the damn horn cam out.  The alarm was in my hands for about 10 seconds before Chris took things into his own hands.  Hence, the brutal end to the thing that so rudely woke us up. 

Travel Envy

My dad is super lucky to be traveling to Japan and China.  I am jealous.  I wish to travel there one day to explore and shop!  The fashion is really cool, hopefully he can pick up an interesting and unique piece.  This world of fashion is new to me and my googling skills are limited.  So if there is anyone out there who knows and would recommend a line or trend that's going on in Japan and/or China, please let me know!  

Speaking of Fashion

Ottawa fashion week is coming up.  I don't want to buy a new outfit for the event but I feel like my wardrobe is too out of date.  The only new item I have is a cute pair of gray pumps.  

I'm not great at matching up items/mixing up what I have to look trendy and new.  All the Fashionistas out there, I envy their talents.  Hopefully I pick up a few things during the show next Saturday.  Again, advice on the trends or "how to mix & match", would be greatly appreciated!

Thankfully I have a good friend visiting me before the show to help out with make-up, hair and fake lashes.  She always seems to know the trends and always looks great.  I'm trying to peer pressure her to start a blog because I know that's something that she would rock at. 

To be a Witch? or not?

I tried my hand at doing some dramatic make-up... Usually I don't wear much because my skin is super sensitive and loves any reason to break out.  So I used some  pictures from one of my favorite fashion/make-up bloggers: Doe Deere Blogazine. She's a super beautiful girl who's very creative and talented.  I definitely need some practice and liquid black eyeliner.  

I messed up the bottom lines... I should have brought her picture and tutorial with me while trying out the new style.  It's makes me envious when girls can do such amazing make-up.  Make-up always seems to make me  look more tired and old.  I need help with make-up application!!  The goal was too look like a gothic witch. 

I usually have big issues with people dressing up as witches for Halloween because I feel like it's stereotyping.  But right now all I have available at the low cost of: $0 is an old black dress, black gloves, a black wig and a borrowed cape.. plus some crystals to accent the costume.  So I'll be hypocritical this year.  

Halloween is fast approaching and so is the first party that we'll be hosting in our new home.  Decorations were needed!  Chris and I hit up some dollar stores, to do a little bargain shopping and I realized that I'm a skeleton-kind-of-girl.  The only Halloween decorations that I liked were the creepy bones ones... at least we have a theme throughout the home now. 

It's the little things that make a house a home...

Last week I was full of stress, mindless and bitchy moments. The midterm was over for me by 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.  I emotionally and mentally crashed that night...

 

But Sunday was a new day. Full of friends, love and pie.  The cutest moment of my weekend was watching a friend's little boy loving the motorcycle.  This 5 year old, adorable little doll, just jumped at the chance to sit on the CBR.  With no fear he learned how to turn it on and what handle makes the loud noise. 

Last One until Midterm

I'm distracting myself.  Whenever tests come along, I always tend to get very A.D.D. moments.  Tomorrow the laptop will be shut down, my cell on silent.... and, ya.  Hopefully those tactics allow me to get some good quality studying in.

 A creepy large spider at my mom's place.  

She's by a creek so this guy was about the size of  quarter.  Ew!

Our backyard....

Poor Jake is hating the leash.  It makes me nervous that he doesn't have claws and that the road is fairly busy.  The backyard is in a desperate need to be fixed up.  The fence is buckling because some previous owner piled up soil against it, without some kind of "retaining wall".  Chris and I dug these messy soil piles out of the front yard, it's still about half way completed.  The backyard will be a huge project because it's quite large and has four big trees and a few little ones.  I didn't realize how much maintenance trees are. 

One of my crazy landscaping ideas.  We have two needle trees in the back, which seems to be destroying the lawn.  Chris was told that those needles are toxic 'therefore', kills the soil.  I don't know anything about trees, but I do feel bad about cutting them down.  The rough sketch is my attempt to "save the trees".  Whenever I shouldn't be distracted, I will look up the type of trees and learn some more.

All of these needles... Sadly this was the amount that fell in one week.  We continue to rake, and they continue to shed.  

Do you remember these?

I loved soaking them in ketchup. 

My sister created a super cute blog with her friend.  It's about potatoes.  Her first post is very entertaining :)  I think she is a very talented writer: witty and smart.  Then again, I'm a biased critic since it is my favorite sister
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