The dog days are over.

It truly feels like fall these days. I love fall, and one thing I notice is that a lot of my blog buddies are the same way, so a lot of blogs have morphed into fall love letters of sorts.

I've been having some really nice fall, aka autumn, moments lately. Word choice note: I like the word autumn more than the word fall, however I think I've always called this season fall, so that's what comes out when I think/talk/write about it. Here is a list of great stuff that's been going on in my world during the past week.

1) I went for a really nice bike ride today. It really was just a trip to my friend Fea's and back because we then departed for TIFF together, but it was good riding weather for sure.

2) The movie I saw at TIFF (Sarah's Key) was really good. There was a lot of crying going on in the theatre. It's a movie from France, mostly in French but with a lot of English, so I'm not sure when it's coming out here, but when it does, I highly recommend it. And the book as I said last post.

3) I've been listening to Florence + the Machine's album "Lungs" a lot lately. I bought in the summer but never listened to until last week. It's great.

4) I'm reading a really good book called "One Day" by David Nicholls. It's about a couple and what their life is like every July 15th over a span of twenty years. I'm liking it a lot.

5) My Kindle has shipped. So maybe the next book I read will be on the Kindle!

6) Last week, three of my besties from work and I went for coffee at a really pretty French bakery in my neighbourhood. I can't believe I hadn't been there before. I had a spicy cocoa macaroon. It was delish. The place made me miss France.

7) On Saturday, I got a Zipcar and drove to Vaughn for a workshop at a conservation area there. I'm doing a stream study with my environmental science class, so this was teacher training for that. It was a good day; I think the kids will love the study. We went down to the river for a bit to collect bugs, and I got a lovely mosquito bite on my neck.

Since I had the car, I went to Ikea to get some picture frames and storage boxes, and also went to the big mall there. I bought nothing. Well done Christielli.

8) I feel like this post has completely sucked. I was going to write all kinds of deep things but got distracted by convos on MSN, Facebook, and text messages, so I promise to do better next time.

Random Bits of Fun!

1) I neglected to mention in my last post that I got tickets to a TIFF movie. TIFF is the Toronto International Film Festival for those of you who don't live here and aren't subjected to 24/7 coverage of celebrity sightings on the news. It's the film adaptation of a great book I read this summer: Sarah's Key!

I hope that the movie doesn't disappoint as sometimes film adaptations of books tend to do. However, the story is amazing so I have faith that it will carry through to film.

I do highly recommend the book to anyone and everyone. In fact, I'm usually not someone who speaks to strangers in public, but when I was in a bookstore line in Boston this summer and the lady in front of me had the book in her hands, I had to tell her that it was great. It's always nice to hear that the book that you're buying is good, right?

2) Speaking of books, the cover for my Kindle has been shipped and is on its way. So I guess I can look at it and get excited about the Kindle until the actual gadget arrives. I agree with a lot of your comments about e-readers on my previous post: I too might miss the turning of the pages and curling up with a book, however, since the Kindle was designed with book-lovers in mind, it's not supposed to feel like you are staring at a screen (it's only b & w), and it's supposed to just "disappear" as you get immersed in your e-book.

Anyway, when it arrives, you lucky blog-readers will get to live vicariously through me and find out what it's like. That's why I'm splurging on it, you know. Gotta do stuff for your blog audience. ;)

3) Today I got pre-sale tickets to see Broken Social Scene in December. I'm very excited. I've never seen them properly, only at a record store. I also got to make Steve's day with news of the tickets. Win-win!

4) My classes are still really good. We're all gelling together nicely.

5) I think I'm going out for Brazilian food with some pals from work... but then again, I thought that about last Wednesday too and it didn't happen. We shall see if it's a go this week.

Happy Wednesday!

It just is.

I just got back from a pretty good workout at the gym. New school year: new good habits, I always say. I hadn't been in awhile, and it was great to find that they've installed a bunch of new bike posts in front of the gym. There used to only be two, and they'd always be taken, and I'd have to go around the corner or across the street to lock up my bike. Anyway, it's a nice little touch.

So yah, here's some randomness from the recent past, the present, and the future.

1) I survived the first week of school. My classes seem good. Right now the planning is a bit overwhelming but I'll get back into that groove soon (I hope).

2) I've been listening to a lot of Rilo Kiley lately. Poor Rilo has to put up with my wandering around her apartment singing loudly and massacring her namesake. Poor kitty. (She's giving me a dirty look right now as I sing "I Never".)

3) I ordered a Kindle! One night this week I was browsing the internet because I was in the mood to buy something. Anyway, my travels brought me to the Kindle site and I thought "hmmm".

I was/am still on the fence about e-readers. I love books as physical objects but I have a bad habit of buying too many of them and my bookshelf is full. I'm trying to use the library more, but I also like immediacy. With a Kindle, I can get the latest books for $10 in 60 seconds! Damn this culture of immediate gratification and its bad influence on me! I also like the idea of not having to lug books around when I travel. A con of an e-reader is that I can't lend books to people from it, so I guess people who use me as a lending library (hi Dad!) are going to be out of luck.

My friend Flora got a Kindle for her birthday and raved about it when I last saw her. Anyway, I was discussing the idea with my mom, and she was really for it, so that went in on the "pro" side of the argument. The deciding factor for me is that I hope the novelty of it will get me reading more. I haven't been reading as much as I'd like to this year, so maybe the latest gadget will encourage me to spend more time reading, and less time on more mindless things (hi internet!).

I put my order in today. It's not going to be here anytime soon. They are currently out of stock because they are so popular, but they estimate mine will be ready on September 24th. It's also gotta ship from the US, so that'll add another week or so. I'm going to push it out of my mind and then it will be a nice surprise.

However, who wants to bet my pretty apple green case will arrive well in advance?

4) My plan for the autumn is to rock my purple chucks as much as possible.

5) I am in love with Starbucks' Toffee Mocha Frappucino. So much so, I haven't even had one of my beloved Pumpkin Spice Lattes yet. I'm holding off on the latte until it gets a little bit cooler.

6) I'm really excited to watch this show. It looks like it might have potential, and may warm my heart. I don't get A&E, but I hope that I'll either be able to find it on the internet, or someone nice (hi Steve!) will let me watch it at their house.

7) I was going to be ambitious and make homemade mac and cheese but that would mean going to the grocery store, and I'm supposed to meet up with my long-lost friend Mathew for coffee tonight so I don't think there will be time. Ahhh, well, toast and peanut butter it will be! Happy Monday everyone!

Edit: I just realized that I could have grilled cheese + soup for dinner instead! Yum! Perfect fall comfort dinner!

Labour Day Weekend/First Day Back

Wow. It seems like it's been an eternity since my last post. Here's a summary of what's been going on in the world of Christielli since then.

1) After three hectic days at school where I managed to get enough accomplished, I was able to take Friday off. So I spent the day making my first lasagna ever. It was really yummy. Day well spent. However, it was so time consuming, I doubt I'll do it again until there's another break from school.

2) On Saturday morning, I took the train to St. Ratford. I had a pleasant trip there. I got to spend some good quality time with the 'rents, and catch up with some friends. I got to meet my friend Teresa's new baby (he was born just over a week ago), sample her mother-in-law's amazing shrimp curry, and have a great dinner with my pal Heather.

3) I returned to Toronto on Monday. It was a yucky rainy day, which meant it was not really conducive for anything but spending some quality couch time with Miss Rilo Kitty. I find Labour Day always a little hard to deal with because it's the end of summer. I do look forward to going back to school, however it's always a hard transition and I get a little mopey. Luckily, Steve was nice enough to take me for ice cream to ease the pain, then we rented a movie but ended up watching Hoarders instead. That show is hard to watch, but once you get into an episode it's hard to turn away. Anyway, my Monday night moping was minimal.

4) Today was the big day! I put on my new purple cardigan/lilac frilly tank top duo, my favourite black skirt, and matching lilac flats and headed off to the races. The first day back is a joke. It consists of 20 minute classes which are basically a meet and greet. Then there's a bit of prep time built in, and the same ol' staff meeting where you go through the same ol' staff handbook you get every year.

Anyway, it's nice to be back and see old friends and catch up. My classes this semester look great. I've got my environmental science course which is my favourite to teach, so that's nice to come back to. My grade 9s probably won't make a peep until the end of October, and my grade 10s seem a little chatty but good-natured. It will be an awesome semester.

5) Tomorrow is the first full day of classes where I'll have to do a lot of talking and probably won't be able to speak by the end of the day.

6) I'm all ready for tomorrow which means that hopefully I can finish the awesome book I've been reading forever and start on the new one I picked up from the library tonight. Fall's a good time for me to reawaken my inner bookworm, I hope.

Happy September everyone!

15 Albums (Special Blog Edition)

I have been hit twice by this little meme in the facebook-o-sphere, and I thought it was a fun thing to do whilst doing laundry. Anyway, instead of another post about work, which is really what's consuming me these days, I've decided to bring this meme to the blogosphere. And, since my blog buddies are very special to me, you guys get the special annotated version!

Here we go.

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you've heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Remember: List records in no particular order.

1) The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner - Ben Folds Five

This album came after my first year of university during a hard summer when my Nana was dying of cancer. The song "Magic" defined that point in my life, and the rest of the album's great. It's funny that it's not too sad for me to listen to either.

2) Under the Pink - Tori Amos

I didn't like this album at first. However, after it being the only CD that was kicking around the art gallery where I worked one summer, and hence the only thing I had to listen to during the last hour of my shift when no one was there, I really got into and became a huge Tori fan.

3) Reconstruction Site - The Weakerthans

I saw this album develop over the course of many Weakerthans shows. I knew the songs so well before the album was released. It's so special to me.

4) Twice Removed - Sloan

Deeper Than Beauty. Pen Pals. Coax Me. Snowsuit Sound. I Hate My Generation. I Can Feel It. A lot of my fave old school Sloan songs in one place. Love.

5) (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves - Hawksley Workman

I was at the CD release party at the Rivoli where Hawksley performed this album with a string quartet. It's always been my favourite Hawksley album as a result.

6) Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - Neko Case

This is the album that really got me into Neko Case. That teenage feeling? That's how I feel about this album!

7) Pinkerton - Weezer

I am so happy that I'm among the lucky who was a teenager when this album came out and got to mope around to it in its prime. And El Scorcho is one of my fave songs ever.

8) Hold On Now, Youngster - Los Campesinos!

This album got me into LC! and I'm still waiting anxiously to see them live. October 8th can't come too soon.

9) The Reminder - Feist

Just so you know, this album plays very well when you are in France. And anywhere else, really.

10) Set Yourself of Fire - Stars

Even though Stars keeps putting out amazing stuff, and their preceding albums are great too, this is my favourite.

11) Parachutes - Coldplay

Coldplay, although I'm okay with them, isn't one of my favourite bands, so it's surprising that this album made my list. However, I love the lovely simplicity of this disc, and I listened to it on repeat when I first started reading Harry Potter, so this album reminds me Harry Potter more than anything.

12) You Were Here - Sarah Harmer

This is a desert island album for me. I always come back to it.

13) Three - Joel Plaskett

Triple album of awesomeness.

14) C'mon Feel the Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens

I love the long song titles, the complex arrangements, and Sufjan's voice on this album.

15) Everything in Transit - Jack's Mannequin

This is the album that I go to when I need something pop/punk/emo with mad piano.

If you'd like to tag yourself with this meme, do it! :)

It's not going to stop, 'til you wise up.

I survived a whole day of some pretty intense work. As with most tasks in life, planning a grade nine orientation with the help of approximately forty student leaders, takes longer than one anticipates. Of course, it would have taken less time if the computer server wasn't down for two hours, and things would be completely under control if half of the locks for the incoming grade nines weren't in Mexico. I made it clear that I'd be more than willing to pick them up, but no one took me up on the offer.

Anyway, I'm really glad that my first day back in the building involved me actually working with students as opposed to just coming in and trying to get organized and prepped for next week, which would have been actually a difficult job because there is a heavy filing cabinet right in front of my own desk/filing cabinet so it's hard to get into my stuff with it there. I tried to move it, but got fed up, and decided that'd be a job for another day. (Too bad I discovered this after all the teenage boys left the building.)

The kids were in super high spirits and glad to see each other and did a great job planning games and other activities. One of my fave students greeted me with a "Miss, it's so good to be home!" which warmed my heart. The funny thing is that I completely agree with her. Despite all of its challenges and frustration, my school is my home, and it was nice to be back.

I have to say that I'm excited for the upcoming school year. I'm excited for my courses; I'm teaching all science, which I don't think I've ever done. There's usually a math stuck in there somewhere, or a special course that I used to teach for kids-at-risk. It was weird that they took me out of there, but I seriously needed the break, so it's a blessing.

I'm really excited for my environmental science class, of course. I have a nice list of kids so far, and I found a great opportunity for us to be trained in measuring water quality in a nearby stream. I really hope that pans out. Also, I've been really enjoying Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" book, which totally relates to the Sustainable Agriculture unit in the course. I think I'm going to find a snippet for the kids to read that was written by the author's teenage daughter. I'm planning on taking them to the park to bake pizza in the oven using ingredients from the gardens there, but I'm also toying with the idea of us borrowing the family studies room to cook a local foods meal. That would be so fun!

So yah, actually I'm so glad that I've written this post. When I started, I was listening to Aimee Mann's "Wise Up" and feeling a bit morose, because even on the first day in the building, I was reminded of the politics amongst staff that makes me frustrated with my job. However, I am reminded of what I love about my job: the kids who were so fun and funny today, and of course, the excitement of planning fun and meaningful courses.

It was good to be home.

However, I'm going stay away from there tomorrow and maybe work from home and/or take myself to a movie and/or go shopping. I like that I can ease out of summer.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'; gathering no moss.

Right now I have the Emmys on as I post. Awards shows are like black holes for me; I'll start watching one with the intent of only watching for 10 minutes, but then I end up watching them for way too long as a way of procrastinating something (dishes today) by saying "one more award" and then I get to the point where I've watched so much that there is no point in stopping. Even though I'm bored out of my skull.

I had a very fun weekend.

On Friday night, I went to the Jays game. They were playing the Detroit Tigers and managed to eke out a 3-2 win in 11 innings. I'm glad that they won since I'm pretty sure they have lost more games then they've won in my attendance. I do really enjoy going to baseball games; I was a hardcore Jays' fan as a kid so being at the Skydome (I refuse to call it the Rogers Centre) always brings back nostalgia. It's too bad that it wasn't today that brought me to the game; it's the 20th anniversary of Dave Steib's no-hitter and they were giving out free bobbleheads. My Christmas shopping for my dad could have been done!

On Saturday, I went with Steve and his family to the Elora Gorge to go tubing. I wasn't really sure what to expect as I'd never really been to the gorge before, nor have I ever tubed in a river. I've done the winter type though...

Anyway, it was rather fun and I managed to escape without injury. I got into the river just past the worst rapids but I still go to go through enough of them. The entire ride down the river took about 45 minutes. There were parts that were fast, but others were quite slow and relaxing. There were lots and lots of rocks to watch out for; again, I'm so surprised that I made it out with no bruises. We had enough time to make two trips!

Today I did a little bit of shopping, and now I'm here sitting on the couch with Rilo hoping that bedtime will never come because I'm going into school tomorrow at 9 am. Ach.

Hope you all had nice weekends and have a nice week! Toronto has a heat advisory! Crazy!

The concert post that's been going around...

Lately there's been a "list 50 bands that you've seen" post going around on galapogos' and wigsf's blogs. I did that meme about a year ago on Facebook. However, I thought that it could use some updating, and I could use a good filler post that requires little thought so why not?

Also, after a lean summer concert-wise (only 1), I'm gearing up for an awesome fall concert season. I always find that I go to the most shows in the fall, and this fall, particularly the month of October, is shaping up nicely.

Especially since I now have tickets to Los Campesinos! on October 8th, and my pal from Winnipeg is gonna return for the show. I think of it as a redemption show. Stupid Icelandic volcano grumble grumble.

On to the list: I've added bands that I've seen for the first time since last year on the bottom. And upcoming new bands too. I've put an asterisk besides the bands that I've seen more than once.

One thing I regret is that I didn't start keeping a concert-diary when I started going to shows at the age of 16. I have no idea how many shows I've seen, nor how many times I've seen various bands. For instance, I have seen Sloan, Hawksley Workman, and the Weakerthans probably about 15 times each, but that's an estimate. I really wish I knew, you know?

Here's the list:

1) Melissa Etheridge (first concert ever… not counting Sharon, Lois and Bram)
2) Alanis Morissette
3) Our Lady Peace*
4) Moist/David Usher*
5) Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
6) 54-40
7) Treble Charger*
8) Matthew Good (Band)*
9) Sloan*
10) The Tragically Hip
11) Sheryl Crow
12) Ashley MacIsaac
13) Foo Fighters
14) Smashing Pumpkins
15) Eve 6*
16) Ben Folds (Five) (once Ben with the Buffalo Philharmonic)*
17) Hawksley Workman*
18) Tori Amos*
19) Christine Fellows*
20) The Weakerthans*
21) Andy Stochansky
22) Martina Sorbara* (she's now in Dragonette)
23) Stars*
24) REM*
25) Blue Rodeo*
26) Ben Lee*
27) Bowling for Soup
28) Weezer*
29) The Carnations*
30) Neko Case*
31) Joel Plaskett (Emergency)*
32) Jason Collett*
33) Two Hours Traffic*
34) Hayden*
35) Feist*
36) Damien Rice
37) Danny Michel*
38) Dashboard Confessional*
39) Emm Gryner*
40) Great Lake Swimmers*
41) Tokyo Police Club
42) Hey Rosetta!*
43) The Constantines*
44) Jack’s Mannequin*
45) Rilo Kiley
46) Kathleen Edwards*
47) Kimya Dawson
48) Martha Wainwright
49) Rufus Wainwright
50) Sarah Harmer*

51) Metric*

52) Tegan and Sara

53) Owen Pallett

54) Broken Social Scene

55) Los Campesinos! on October 8th; unless fate intervenes again

56) Dan Mangan on October 28th

Hope that you all have great fall-concert seasons too! Any exciting shows coming up?

ps Thanks for all of the positive hair comments! Love you guys!

A post about hair-dos, eavesdropping, and books.

After a summer of lots of fun, my hair was looking a little bit worse for the wear. Bangs in my eyes, shagginess all over, dried out ends, and colour washed out by the sunshine. I decided that that was that, and I was going to get it overhauled: I'd have it cut and dyed. Basically I'd tell the stylist to go nuts, because I wanted something new.

I've been rather "homeless" when it comes to hair salons since April-ish. My longtime stylist moved, so I went to a slightly pricier place in my neighbourhood. I enjoyed the proximity, the atmosphere, and the free drinks. I decided to make it the location of my overhaul.

Whenever I say I'm going to get my hair overhauled, it never ends up being as drastic as my statement. I wanted my hair darker, but I realized I do like my style (a layered bob that's longer in the front, shorter in the back, with bangs). So really, the overhaul wasn't much. I had the hair trimmed so there are no more bangs in my eyes, and it looks neat again.

As for the colour, it's a nice subtle difference, and no longer looks washed out. The stylist recommended that I get some highlights put it to make my hair look fuller. I have super fine hair, and if someone says something will add body to my hair, I say do it.

I was happy with the end results until I got the bill. I have never ever paid that much for my hair in my life! I had an estimate in my head of how much it would cost, and I though I was being a little bit extravagant, but it was twice that! I'm surprised I didn't faint at the counter! Why was it more than I thought? Well, the only places in my life I have ever gotten my coloured have been in Stratford, and there when they colour your hair, they cut it for free. I thought that was the norm. Here, I had to pay for the colouring + the cut, so hence the heart attack for me. Seriously, what have the rest of you experienced on this matter?? When you get your hair coloured, do you have to pay for the cut too? Or is this a small-town thing?

Anyway, here's a picture of the end result from the back. Please tell me it's beautiful.

Anyway, the atmosphere of the salon was really cool. I got complimentary lattes and hand and shoulder massages. Also, there was an interesting older gentleman getting "a little taken off the top" who was seated next to me. As I was sitting with foil on my head, I listened a bit to his conversation with his stylist. She asked him what was the last book that he read, and he commented that he'd read the latest book by Richard B. Wright which is called "Mr. Shakespeare's Bastard".

The "books to read" part of my brain immediately took note. Richard B. Wright is the author of one of my favourite books ever: Clara Callan. I haven't really kept up with his writing since then, but this new one sounds so interesting. It's written from the point of view of Shakespeare's illegitimate daughter. Now, I'm not sure if there's any historical evidence that there was one, but that's an interesting premise don't you think?

I got home and researched the book immediately: it doesn't even get released until mid-September! Older gentleman at the salon apparently has some connections!

Anyway, since I spent a lot on my hair, I vowed to be frugal ASAP, so I looked to see if the Toronto Public Library had it in their database yet, and they did! 37 holds so far, but for the TPL and their bazillion copies of anything, that will only take a month or so to get through.* Unfortunately, my account needed to be updated before I could place a hold, so I hopped on my bike to fix that situation, plus put a bunch of holds on other books too.

So, I'm really excited for that book.

Right now I'm reading a really great book. I picked it up yesterday on a whim. It's called "The Girl in the Blue Dress" by Gaynor Arnold. It's fiction that's loosely based on the relationship between Charles Dickens and his wife. Did you know that he sent his longtime wife and mother of ten children to live in a shabby apartment so that he could conduct an affair with an actress? And, he released a statement to the papers blaming her for the separation because she was an insufficient housekeeper? Neither did I! It's a good book, and I'm zipping through it.

I also have Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" on the go. It's non-fiction about the author and her family's quest to eat locally for a year. It's really good so far, but I took a break from it because I was craving fiction.

Congratulations if you made it through this rambling post. What are you reading these days?

*My estimate for this time is based on experience. Years ago, on a lark, I put a hold on a book with 1000+ holds to see how long it would take to receive. It took about six months. I never got the book because my roommate at the time forgot to give me the message until it was too late to get the book. Luckily for her, it was just an experiment, and not something I really wanted to read. I think I would have been a little bit peeved if that had been the case.

p.s. One last piece of excitement from today: Los Campesinos! are playing in Toronto on October 8th! YAY!!! Hopefully I'll get to see them this time, barring any interference from pesky Icelandic volcanoes!

Post #800!

That's a lot of posts, Batman. I can't believe that I'm only 200 away from the "I'll never get to one-thousand"-th post. Thanks for reading bloggarinos.

Post #800 is going to be an always-exciting weekend rundown complete with recipe links. Recipe links? That's new!

On Friday, I decided it was time for me to go the Harry Potter exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre. I love Harry Potter, and I think the only thing that had kept me away for so long was the location. I mean, I'm used to going there with 20-40 teenagers in tow, and it just wouldn't be the same to go on my own, ha-ha.

However, it was amazing, and I'm glad I went. The Harry Potter books, and movies, are one of my favourite things, and it was amazing seeing the costumes and props in real life. I had completely forgotten about the hilarity that is Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart in the second movie. I got to sit in Hagrid's chair, saw Buckbeak and Fawkes, and probably my favourite was seeing little Dobby. I have to say that overall the Harry Potter movies are an awesome adaptation of an incredible series of books. Well done movie people. I enjoyed my afternoon of nerding out.

On Friday night I chilled and procrastinated the inevitable: the cleaning of the disastrous apartment. For the past week, I've had people in and out of my place without warning because of a plumbing situation, and it's been a little embarrassing because of the disaster. I felt like saying "I don't normally live like this" but I still couldn't muster the courage to start the overwhelming job. Saturday morning was when I finally got my ass in gear, and I did a really really good clean. There's still some organizing stuff I need to do, and some laundry, but if the people need to continue coming in here this week they'll be like "whoa! what happened here?"

One sad side-effect of the cleaning is that I realize I have enough clothes and no back-to-school shopping is needed. :( Well, maybe one outfit...

On Saturday night, Steve came over for dinner and I made this delicious Moroccan Chickpea & Vegetable Stew that is from the blog Everyone Likes Sandwiches that I discovered through rawbean and/or Jabba. Then we went to see "The Other Guys" which was funny, provided you find silly Will Ferrell movies funny (I do). This morning, I made haute egg sandwiches for breakfast which were really yummy. I was so intrigued by the interesting combination of ingredients in this recipe that I just had to try it, and I loved it. Cheese, apples, and honey forever!

This afternoon I treated my beat-up hands and feet for a mani/pedi. Fingers are now silver; toes are now periwinkle. My friend Fea was also able to join me which was fun 'cuz we got to catch up about our respective summer travels and commiserate about the inevitable. We met up again at my work spouse's new house in my neighbourhood for a BBQ. The weather sucked, but at least it stopped raining so we could chill outside. Anyway, it was fun meeting up with friends from work, and seeing them on a regular basis is one reason to look forward to September.

Tomorrow, I was supposed to have Mel, the craziest member of the G of 9, visit me but she's postponed until Thursday. I'll have to figure out what to do with a free day now. On Tuesday, I'm getting my hair cut and dyed (!) for back to school. I want to go darker. I'm excited for that. Wednesday is dinner at my fave neighbourhood Mexican place with friends. Yay for having lots of fun stuff on tap for the last proper week of vacation. However, I just ask for time not to fly while I'm having fun.

I'm moving past the feeling again.

Well folks, it's the tail end of summer vacation. Yah, yah, I know. Poor Hawaii!*

I knew my adventures had come to an end when I had to get a car to go pick up Miss Rilo Kitty from my parents' house. I'm enrolled in an auto-sharing program. It's a super convenient way to get a car when I need one: I can book online, and I can even reserve one for just a few hours. Anyway, I was ultra-pumped to listen to the new Arcade Fire album on the road, because I finally got it. I always choose a car with an iPod adaptor, but the cord was missing from the car, so I was stuck with radio. Oh well...

Anyway, I had a nice visit with the 'rents and I saw my aunt too. The part of the drive with Miss Rilo is never as smooth as when she's not in the car. She is not a good traveller. She cries the whole time. This time, however, she was able to claw/chew a small hole into her carrier, and escape into the car. Driving on the highway with a loose cat isn't my idea of a good time, but now I've learned to choose a hard plastic cat carrier, instead of a cute soft one with netting that isn't a match for a pissed-off cat who wants out.

Luckily, Miss Rilo doesn't hold grudges, and she still loves me despite the car trip. She's also taken to sleeping up here a lot:

On top of all of that excitement, there is a leak on the first floor of my building, and they have been trying to figure out where the leak is coming from. My apartment is one of the suspects, so I've had people in and out for three days now flushing my toilet and running my water to figure things out. However, apparently my bathtub taps were leaking (I never noticed), so a plumber fixed them while he was here. This morning I was awaken by a request to put a hole in my bathroom wall so they could continue with the forensic plumbing.

So the good news is that my apartment isn't guilty of the leak: it's the unit below me. They now have to have their toilet ripped out. As for the hole in my bathroom wall, it's gonna stick around until the situation is all clear.

Today I had a dentist appointment. Right now I'm waiting for the freezing to wear off so I can eat. I'm hungry.

As for the next week and a bit, I've made a lot of social and beauty appointments. It'll be busy and fun. In case you are wondering, August 30th is the day I have to go in and start planning. My brain has atrophied and is afraid of going back. But do you know what my calf muscles say to my brain? If we can do a 35 km hike, you, my friend, can go back to school!

*Poor Hawaii! is something I say based upon this Triumph video. (Sorry, Youtube won't let me embed this one.) A teacher whining about going back school is exactly like a cloud or two in Hawaii.

The post-camping post.

Well, I did it. I made it through the wilderness! Oh, I made it through-ooooo. My camping trip consisted of about 35 km of hiking on often hilly terrain in 48 hours. However, despite the scratches, the multitude of insect bites, the perspiration, the exhaustion, the sounds of large lumbering creatures in the night, the rain, the thunderstorms, and the dehydrated food, I think I'd do it again. Let's just see how long these mosquito bites torture me before making the final verdict.

We left Toronto fairly early on Friday morning, faced zero traffic, and got to Huntsville in good time. After looking around for a good brunch place, we settled on a good lunch place, and then had ice cream to fortify ourselves for the day. After we picked up our permit, we realized that we forgot to pack TP, so we drove a bit to a supply store in the park to pick it up.

While Steve was paying for it, the girl said "just so you know, this is final sale." I had to go hide behind a rack of coats to cover up my laughter. Seriously? TP is final sale? WTF? That's the kind of thing I want to return if it doesn't work out for me! Anyway, whenever the hiking was getting long, one of us would randomly say "do you think we can return the TP if we don't use it all?"

We had about 10 km to hike the first day, and got to our campsite in good time. I really liked the site because it had a nice beach where it was easy to get water, and nice lake views from where the tent was set up, but Steve found it creepy and gross that someone had left a bunch of broken coats/tarps/sleeping bags by a tree. I was able to ignore them because they had also left a comfy camp chair was also left on the site, which was really nice for fireside sitting. Here's a picture of the lake.

Here's a picture of the loon that was hanging out on the lake. At first he was really far away, but Steve was able to call him over so he was closer (talented boy). I named him Larry.

In the evening, we had a really nice campfire, and sipped some fortified orange Kool-Aid to make things more fun. Here's a shot of the fire.

We even went down to the beach where we could get an amazing view of the stars, and got to see some of the Perseids too. I think that was my first time seeing shooting stars. It was incredible to watch.

When we were almost ready to go to bed, we heard some loud noises in the woods near us, so we headed back to the beach area until they stopped. Steve was pretty sure it was a moose, and we heard it snort a couple times. It took a long time to pass by, and in the morning we could see the massive trail it left through the brush.

Anyway, Saturday was a more tiring day of hiking (15 km), and I didn't like the campsite as much. It didn't have random crap left behind, but the access to the water wasn't nice at all. Steve was clever enough to use a metal grate on the site in the water to make it a bit accessible to get drinking water. We had another fun night of dehydrated food and an abbreviated campfire. It started to rain, so we called it an early night, which was OK since we were both exhausted.

Of course, I can't say that I fell asleep right aways because we were in for another evening of large woodland creatures walking by our campsite. This time, they were going right through the site, and it sounded like there was one about four feet from the tent.

On Sunday, we had another 10 km of much easier hiking to do. When we had about 1.5 km left, it started to thunder and pour, but I kind of liked it because it made me feel less sticky. Thankfully it was very close to the end of the hike when the downpour occurred, because my shoes got soaked.

By the time we made it back to the parking lot, it was sunny. We sorted our stuff, and drove to Huntsville for a celebratory lunch of Harvey's and Dairy Queen. The nice thing about doing so much hiking is that you can eat unhealthy food after without feeling the least bit guilty.

And the worst part of the whole experience was driving through the awful cottage country traffic on the way back home to Toronto. I deeply hated anything that stood between me and a shower at that point.

And there you have it: the city girl survived the woods.

Camping!

Let's play the fun game of where in the world will Christielli be for the next three days? Well, the title of this post gave it away, but it's one of the least likely activities you'd expect *me* to be doing.

However, I am a fan of trying new things (albeit reluctantly), and since I am an environmentalist, I should probably get out into the environment every now and then. Right? And, since I am dating a super fun cute guy who loves camping, and he actually agreed to go with me enthusiastically (even with the caveat of "it'll be like camping with a five-year-old"), it's probably the right time to get my outdoors on.

We leave tomorrow morning, and are doing about a 35 km hike over Fri/Sat/Sun. I'm going to have to sleep in a tent for two nights. I think the last time I slept in a tent was in high school, and it was most likely on my friend Sandee's lawn during one of her infamous May 2-4 parties. I'm going to have to eat dehydrated food. I'm going to have to go to the bathroom outdoors, which I've never done before.

This upcoming camping trip has provided much laughter to my friends. When I was telling my work spouse about it, she said "Christy! You are going to have to wear running shoes!" (What, did she think I was going to do it in heels?) Now she's actually someone who is *less* outdoorsy than me. She asked me if there are little houses along the path where you can take a break, charge your camera batteries, go to the washroom, and have a nap in a proper bed for a bit. She was appalled that there weren't.

More than one person I know has wished for the ability to turn into a fly to watch me camping. I'm going to be extra cautious around flies, because I wouldn't want to accidentally smoosh a friend of mine, just in case they were granted that power somehow.

Also I have been reminded that I've made the statement "I don't camp" on more than one occasion by more than one person.

However, since I do have an army of people praying for me and wishing me luck, I really think it should go well. If there's one thing I've always had a plethora of, it's well-wishers. And their well-wishes will help me get by, I know it.

So, hopefully, that will reduce the anxiety of my brave camping buddy 'cuz he was a bit worried when I described some people's reactions. However, the ones who did laugh the hardest are the ones who are less outdoorsy than I, so it's not like camping experts were laughing at me. I think I avoided this by not knowing very many camping experts...

Anyway, again, wish me luck, pray for no rain (the forecast isn't great, but I refuse to believe it), and stay tuned for the hilarious post-camping post.

Vacation's come and gone.

Well, after a twelve-hour trip from door-to-door, I'm back in Toronto. We actually made very good time from our hotel in Dedham (guess how many times I made fun of the name of the boring suburb our hotel was in) to Hamilton, but then I had to take the GO bus back to Toronto, so it made for a long day.

Anyway, I guess I haven't blogged since leaving Cape Cod. Salem was really cool, however we got soaked in a torrential rainstorm in the midst of our sightseeing. Luckily it cleared up in time for us to do a ghost walk around town.

The two days we spent in Boston were really fun. I really liked the city a lot, and we spent a lot of time walking around and exploring Boston Common/The Public Garden, Beacon Hill, Quincey Market, and the waterfront. We even trekked out to Cambridge to check out Harvard. On our second day, we were supposed to take a whale-watching cruise offered by the aquarium, but it got canceled because of boat problems, so we ended up going on a corny high-speed boat tour of the harbour called "Codzilla" instead. It was fun.

Anyway, I'm just going to leave you with some of my fave photos from the trip. Yes bloggarinos, you are guys are getting them even before Fbook does, because after this, I'm hitting the sack. I love traveling but I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

1) Here are my feet as I'm lounging on a beach chair on our hotel's private beach in Cape Cod.

2) View of the lighthouse and the cliffs at Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard.

3) Some birds (cormorants?) that I spotted during our Cape Cope bike ride.

4) A view of Boston's skyline that I took when we were out on the waters of Boston Harbour.

5) Sailboats on the harbour at sunset.

p.s. I just noticed that my five fave pics all have the ocean in them. I guess you know what my fave thing of the trip was. Although, I do have lots of pics of really old graveyards too. But I guess the ocean even trumps those, ha-ha.

Quick Trip Update

Martha's Vineyard yesterday was lovely. We were up early to catch an 8:15 ferry over, and more or less saw the whole island. We got a lot of use out of our $7 VTA bus pass. I think my fave part of the island might have been the iced mocha I had at Mocha Mott's, but there was a lot of pretty scenery too.

Today was a fabulous day too. We rented bikes and rode the entirety of the Shining Sea Bike Path, which added up to 33.6 km. It was mainly flat, but there was a really tough wind that you had to face when going south.

After we returned our bikes, we had a lovely lunch in town, then did some shopping. We had some amazing chocolate peanut butter ice cream, and bought some AMAZING cupcakes that we ate tonight.

We then drove back to our hotel to relax on the beach. It was cloudy by then, and the waves were a little bit rough. I swam (okay, played in the waves for a bit) and then read on a beach chair for awhile.

We tired of the beach at about 5 pm, and decided to drive an hour to an outlet mall. I was well-behaved: all I bought for myself was a sweater and a new pair of running shoes. No designer handbags this time.

It was a busy day so I'll sleep well tonight.

Tomorrow, we'll take advantage of the beach one last time, then go to Salem. I love trips.

Oh, I'll share pictures probably when I get home. I am too tired after these busy days to upload them.

If it feels good, do it.

One of the things that you have to do on vacation is to really just do what you feel like.

After a second day of lots of driving, we finally arrived in our really nice beachfront hotel in Falmouth, MA. After immediately taking advantage of the beach, and spending a long time in the ocean, we decided to head to town for dinner.

We found parking on the main street right in front of a cute little Italian restaurant. We checked it out, decided why not, and proceeded to eat a really decadent dinner. I had the lobster and asparagus ravioli.

So what to do with the rest of our evening? Well, what we both really wanted to do was watch the finale of the Bachelorette and eat dessert. So, we ordered dessert to go (tiramisu and cannoli) and then drove back to our hotel and indulge.

And it was pretty much perfect.

Tomorrow, it's an early morning where we are taking a ferry across to Martha's Vineyard to explore the island. We'll probably do a bus tour to get oriented, and then maybe rent bikes, or walk around, or just do what feels good. I love laid-back vacations. More later. :)

It's almost trip time!

Hey ya kids!

Well, I've been spending a couple of relaxing days in St. Ratford. On Thursday night, I took the train to Stratford to hang with the 'rents and Rilo for a bit. I had a big surprise when I showed up at the train station that evening: they changed the departure time of the train that I've taken for twelve years! Luckily, it left just 25 minutes later, so I was just a little bit early; at least I wasn't late and missed my train.

On Friday I relaxed, did some light shopping at Stratford's crappy mall, and then went out for dinner and drinks with 4/9ths of the Group of 9. It was great catching up with them. Veronica, my travel buddy for the upcoming MA trip was there, and I suspect we are going to have an excellent roadtrip.

Today was another slightly lazy day but I did drive out of town to visit a Group of Niner who couldn't make it last night. Now I'm chilling at the coffee shop with wifi. My visits here are much fewer now that I have an iPhone, but blogging from an iPhone isn't the easiest.

Tomorrow morning Vern is supposed to pick me up at 7 am (we'll see if that happens) and then we are off. We are spending the night at a mountain resort in Hanover, MA. I hope it's at neat as it sounds. I'm excited, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for nice weather during the trip.

I enjoy my new Mac a lot. I was playing with the built-in camera to get a new shot for Facebook, and I noticed that my tuft of hair was sticking up like a stem on an apple. You may recall that when I was in Nice, I was on a balcony taking a scenic picture, and some cigarette ash fell on my head from the balcony above, burning off a chunk of my hair. The regrowth of that hair is what is currently making a little apple stem on my head. Here is a picture of it. It makes me laugh.

Last time I got my hair cut, my new hair stylist commented on the "breakage" so he got to hear the story too.

Also, you may be noticing my super cute earrings in this picture. I got those at a super cute boutique that Becca T and I came upon as we were wandering in the Marais. J'adore!

So yah, it's an early night for me. I have to do some laundry then hit the sack. I haven't woken up at 6 am in a long time, I tell you. I am nerving out on my vacay: my laptop's coming with so I can blog and Facebook to my heart's content. I love uploading my pics right away.

Hope that you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, especially if you get a long one!

Mishmash

I have a mishmash of things to post about, so instead of a coherent post about one topic, here's bunch of random stuff, yet again.

1) I'm staying up late doing laundry because that's how I party it up during summer vacay. As I was taking a load out of the washer, I came across a pair of strange man's underpants in amongst my stuff. I guess that's one of the joys of sharing laundry facilities: people don't always check if they leave stuff in the washers and I don't check before I start, although I might start that practice now. Blah. Oh well, at least they were most likely clean before they came into contact with my laundry; unless some strange dude is breaking into my apartment and leaving his underwear in amongst my laundry. Ew.

2) The answer to my mail riddle from my previous post is that the letter to the UK arrived first, then the one to Winnipeg, and finally the one to Etobicoke, which is basically the west end of Toronto. Well done Canada Post.

3) I had such a lovely Friday in honour of my friend Jane's birthday. I was totally playing the role of a rich lady who lunches and I liked it. We had lunch at a posh downtown restaurant thanks to the reasonable prix fixe as a result of Summerlicious. The food was excellent and I had a great glass of wine. Check out the presentation of my dessert which was a cherry pudding with vanilla ice cream. It was amazing.

After lunch we headed to the luxury of the spa. We had enough time to relax in the whirlpool before having massages. I was so relaxed after lunch and the spa brought me to a new level of relaxation.

4) The rest of my weekend was pretty lazy. I did see "Despicable Me" which I really liked.

5) Tomorrow I'm driving Miss Rilo to my parents' house so they can take care of her while I'm on my trip. It's so funny to think that last year, my dad was really against Rilo staying with them, and now he asks me "when's Rilo going to come visit next?" She loves being at my parents'; she just hates the car ride there.

Anyway, my laundry is done now, so I should go to bed. I want to be on the road by 10 am, which is an early appointment for me to keep on vacay!

Darling, I'm with saint bernards and we're scouring the Alps and the Andes.

A post of random.

1) I am listening obsessively to the new Los Campesinos! EP "All's Well That Ends". It's four alternate songs from "Romance is Boring" that are more stripped down and bare than the originals. You can download the EP here.

2) About a week and a half ago, I mailed out stuff to friends in Etobicoke, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and London, England. You can play a fun game and guess in which order the items arrived.

3) I love Starbucks VIA iced coffee. It's the instant stuff that you make at home. You just put a pack in a shaker with water, and voila! Deliciousness. I started drinking it during the heat wave 'cuz it was too hot for real coffee, and now I have some every morning. Each pack makes 2 big glasses, so it's like $0.50 per serving. It's sad that Becca T is no longer here to share with me, but more coffee for me, I suppose.

4) I have booked the hotels for my Cape Cod/Boston road trip. I'm going with my pal Veronica from high school. I've always been blessed in the fact that every summer I find a great travel buddy to embark with on an adventure.

We leave from St. Ratford on Sunday August 1st. Our itinerary is that the first night we're going to stay at a resort in the Berkshires (a mountainous area in Western Massachusetts) to break up the driving a bit. Nights two through four will be spent in Cape Cod, and nights five through seven will be spent on the outskirts of Boston. Our outskirts hotel is super nice, and within walking distance of commuter train station. It saves us a lot of money since parking is free, and the rates are way cheaper than in the city. It'll only take us 30 minutes to get to Boston by train.

Now all we have to do is fill in what funtivities we'll do while we are there! Oh, and all of our hotels have free wifi, and my laptops coming with us, so expect vacay posts! Did I mention that we're taking Vern's convertible? I don't think I did. But that's def worth mentioning!

5) I love the time that summer vacay allows me to spend with friends. I spent my afternoon with my work spouse (or best work friend as normal people might say). She's moved into my neighbourhood and her new place is a nice 10 minute bike ride from mine.

Tomorrow, I'm celebrating a friend's birthday by going out for a summerlicious lunch, and then we are going to the spa for massages. Relaxation to the max!

6) My lovely pal Siobhan sent me the link to a post about internet grammar on the hilarious blog Hyperbole and A Half. I think a lot of you would enjoy this blog, 'cuz it's very funny. The post about never being an adult reminds me of me. INTERNET FOREVER!

7) I own about a billion unread books, however none of them were appealing for me to start this evening. Instead, I walked down to my fave cheap neighbourhood bookstore and picked up a novel called "What the Body Remembers". I hope it's good. I'm going to stay up late reading it tonight. Well unless I drift off.

8) Well, my calendar tells me that tomorrow's Friday, so I hope you all have great weekends!

A post about stuff.

The past five days have been an awesome whirlwind of busyness. I just woke up from passing out on my couch for an evening nap, and I was going to just write a quick post, but Rawbean had asked on twitter if I was going to post pics of stuff from my shopping trip to the US, so I am going to do that instead of lazing out and just using my words.

Here's the breakdown of the whirlwind.

On Thursday, BT and I did some shopping on Queen St. I got a basket for my bike, a cool camping hat, and some shorts from lululemon that I'd been looking at for a long time. I will post a picture of the basket on my bike once I install it.

On Friday, BT and I went for mani/pedis and sushi for dinner. We had a quiet night since we had to prepare for our shopping marathon on Saturday.

And here is the loot from Saturday's marathon!

a) Shiny stuff from Coach: I've been in the market for a smaller purse and it was love at first sight with the one below. Look how it has a removable long strap (for every day use) as well as a short strap (more dressy use)! It was 40% off! Oh and it's dark purple inside! I have been wanting a Coach wallet as well, so I got the cute purple one below. I'm tired of carrying a larger wallet.

b) I got this cute headband to wear at the wedding I went to on Sunday. The thing with short hair is that it's tricky to dress up, but neat headbands can do the trick!

c) Some random cheap costume jewelry. I wore the big bracelet to the wedding.

d) I loved these sparkly bird earrings as soon as I spied them. I got them even though they weren't exactly a bargain but they are so cute and are so me!

e) I loved this ring from Macy's. It was on sale too! I also wore it to the wedding. As you can tell, I was pretty blinged out at this wedding. Also, note the nice nails from Friday's manicure!

f) Being the school supply that nerd I am, I bought this cute notebook and some pretty pens that will no doubt come in handy once I have to mark again. I did also buy some really nice black pants for work for cheap at the Gap outlet. It killed me to buy something for back to school, but when I can get pants for $28 there that I'd pay $75 for here, I had to do it, even though I really didn't want to think about going back to work.

g) This is the yummy flavour of Crystal Light that's not available here. I bought a modest five boxes of it. Princess Pessimism asked if it's that good, and yes is it!

We did get back pretty late that night, and seriously, both BT and I felt pretty tired from the trip on Sunday.

Which, of course was the day of the wedding! It was for my friend Flora, who BT and I met in our university residence almost twelve years ago! Flora and I also did teachers' college at the same time, and we have traveled a lot together (Australia, UK, and the Maritimes). She is an amazing friend. The wedding was beautifully organized, and I have to admit that I constantly got emotional since she is such a great friend and I'm so happy for her. I also love her parents, and it was so touching to hear their speech and how happy they are for their daughter.

It was a lovely and fun evening, and here are some silly pictures of stuff from the wedding.

a) I wore my highest heels to the wedding. Now, I've wore these shoes to two other weddings plus this year's prom. However, I think my legs were so tired from the shopping marathon, that it just wasn't working. In between the ceremony and reception, BT and I hit up the Oshawa mall and went straight to Payless, where I got these cute flats for $14. Note the cute pedicure.

b) Isn't this dessert so cute? And trust me, it was tasty!

c) We got these bird salt and pepper shakers as favours. Love them! And that cute Chinese takeout box had personalized chocolate-covered fortune cookies in them, which were very yummy to eat at 1:30 am as BT and I were chatting after the wedding in my apt.

Even though last night was super late, BT and I dragged ourselves out of bed and hit the gym. This evening, we went for one last sushi dinner with BT's sister who was in town to pick her up. Sadly, my temporary roomie for the past two weeks is gone and I'll miss her. :( She's back to France in a month and I don't know if I'll get to see her 'cuz she's in Ottawa, and I gotta hit Stratford, Boston, and go camping. Oh well, I did get two whole weeks of BT time, so I can't be too sad!

This week, I'll be working on planning my Boston trip, and doing some apartment cleaning/organizing. The first is fun, the second is vastly necessary. Hope you all have fantabulous weeks!

If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it.

I think the heat is denaturing my brain these days. I CONSTANTLY have the above Beyonce song in my head.

Becca T and I have been watching a lot of shite on Youtube lately. I wake up in the morning and the first words out of my mouth are "Full on double rainbow! What does it mean?" or "I'm on a horse." Seriously, I need to go to something cultural and uplifting like going to the theatre. (Note: I'm hearing great things about Rock of Ages and would really like to see it. Perhaps a date with the work spouse?)

Anyway, we're off on a shopping trip to the States! What am I going to buy? Something shiny and pretty at Coach and a bunch of Raspberry Lemonade Crystal Lemonade, that's what.

Happy weekends folks!

I can see your halo and don't it feel good?

I spent an evening getting reacquainted with my old friend television. I haven't spent an evening watching so much TV in a long time. I started with some Jeopardy! (I totally would have won), then watched Hot in Cleveland (that show makes me laugh), then caught part of the Bachelorette. I haven't been watching this season, but from what I saw I liked the guy she sent home so boo to her. Becca T and I both didn't like the dude with glasses; his V-neck shirt was too low and he had beady eyes. After the Bachelorette, we caught a silly show called True Beauty and finished with an episode of Glee from my DVD collection (hence the title of this post).

Whoa, when I write it all down, that seems like a lot of TV. It was. I commented to Becca T that my butt was feeling sore from sitting so much. She replied "that means you're getting a good workout." I like how she thinks.

At least I wasn't completely slothful; I did get some laundry done in the meantime.

Other than my night of heroic TV watching, I've been quite busy these days. I often have people ask me if I can handle the two months off without getting bored. I always say it's no problem; summers are way busier than you'd ever think. I spend a lot of my time getting caught up with the people and tasks that sometimes get lost in the craziness of the school year.

The Metric show on Friday night was amazing. The Molson Ampitheatre was packed and with good reason. Emily and co. put on a spectacular show. Metric has definitely one of the best live shows out there, and you guys know that I do go to a lot of concerts, so I know my shit. :)

Since the show I've been busy going out for late night breakfast, sushi, one-year old's birthday parties, pho + ice cream dinners, and a proper late morning breakfast. It's amazing how many people I've been able to see so far this summer. It truly makes me appreciate all of the wonderful people in my life.

Oh! And I also caught the World Cup final game in the midst of all of that. I watched the whole game, and I have to admit that I liked it, even though I don't understand off-sides, yellow cards, and all that stuff.

Becca T is still with me for another week. This week has some down time for me, but I've got a dentist appointment, a mani-pedi, a US shopping trip, and a wedding to keep me busy. Again, totally no time to get bored.

And, this week I'll have more time to get back to the gym and read some more. I'm slogging my way through Sybil. The first 200 pages of the book were great, but it's lost steam and I just want to be done with it. I have about 50 pages left. I can't wait to start on something new.

Hope the rest of you are enjoying this wonderful summer month too!

Come on, baby, play me something like, "Here Comes the Sun"

I woke up to rain, glorious rain, this morning and I couldn't be happier. I think the insane heatwave we've been having is going to break finally.

It's been a busy week. Becca T arrived on Tuesday evening, and I've been able to spend some good quality time with her. One of the things that has been priority for us is to spend time in air-conditioned places, so we've been going to lots of coffee shops, random movies, and the like.

I hope that the rain takes a bit of a break this evening because I'm going to see Metric at the Moslon Ampitheatre. I have covered seats, but not everyone is so lucky, so I hope it stops. I'm very excited for the show though.

This weekend I have a lot of socializing to do which makes me happy. Hope you all have good weekends too. :)

But holidays are made for reading...

... especially when the temperatures with the humidex reaches over 40 degrees Celsius. The title of this post comes from the song "Things to Forget" by Sarah Harmer. It always runs through my head when I spend a good deal of time reading during my holidays.

This post is going to be about the book that I'm currently reading and how I discovered it. Summertime usually allows me to discover some weird true story that I become a little bit obsessed with. Last year, it was the story of Jackie O's eccentric and destitute cousins that is portrayed in the movie "Grey Gardens". I highly recommend that movie. It was made last year for HBO and stars Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.

I discovered this year's odd obsession when a friend of mine sent me a link to a Futurama episode that has something to do with iPhones (I haven't watched it yet). The site had all kinds of other TV shows on it, and I started to watch an episode of "The United States of Tara" that stars Toni Collette. It's about a suburban wife and mother that has multiple personalities. It was all right, but it got me to thinking about some women with multiple personalities who had written a book that I saw on Oprah when I was a kid. I started doing some googling so I could see if I could find out what happened to her. My research lead me to Sybil, who is an early case of multiple personalities before the woman on Oprah.

Sybil is a book about a woman with multiple personalities written by a journalist. It is based largely upon her treatment by her psychiatrist and her own experiences. It was made into two made-for-TV movies: a 1976 adaptation starring Sally Field, and a 2007 version.

I found the Sally Field version on YouTube in 19 parts. I started to watch it and became hooked. First of all, they don't make movies like this anymore. It was originally shown on two nights, so it's pretty long (3 hrs). This gave a lot of time for character/setting development. I found that the movie was really detailed, and at first I thought "man, this is slow" but at the end I appreciated it because I got to know the character(s) and how she lived. Her apartment was featured a lot, and I feel like I got to know it, and its posters of cats, very well.

Sally Field is a really amazing actress in it. She does a great job of portraying Sybil and her other personalities. All together Sybil had 16 personalities, but only maybe six were shown in the movie. But Sally did a great job of showing the differences between them. Oh and the scenes with Sybil's mother were super creepy! I recommend the 1976 version of the movie, but only if you have time and patience.

I tried to watch the 2007 version which is much shorter but I couldn't really get into it. I will give it another shot, but frankly, I missed Sally.

I wasn't quite ready to leave the world of Sybil and her other personalities, so I decided to pick up the book. According to the cover, the book was a huge bestseller back in the 70s. I am LOVING it! It's non-fiction, but it reads like a novel, and it's very well done. I'm about halfway through, and it's obviously way more in-depth than the movie. I think the movie was a good adaptation, but I'm enjoying getting to know the story more through the book.

And that's the strange reading that I've been doing in the heat of my holidays. But seriously, I so love discovering some neat story that was always there just waiting for me to find it in some random way.

I died so I could haunt you.

Forgive the gothiness of the title of this post. It's from the Stars song of the same name and I really like the song.

Anyway, the theme of this post is summer, so far, in point form.

• lots of sunshine and heat
• searching for the perfect pair of camping pants takes me two days
• but it's pretty sweet when I find them; gotta go return the reject pair sometime
• listening to a lot of Broken Social Scene, Stars, and Sarah Harmer
• my shoulders are red from a bike ride in the sun in a tank top with no sunblock (shame on negligent me)
• Rilo likes to play and sleep in my translucent turquoise dining room curtains
• it's not the best idea to bake homemade mac 'n cheese on a hot night when one doesn't have AC... but it's still a good idea, just not the best.
• talked to Becca T on her Canadian summer cell phone... she's here in two days!
• I should not buy any more books, but Indigo just had a buy 3 get one free sale, and I discovered a weird book from the 70s about a woman with multiple personalities that I just had to read which prompted me to partake in the sale
• there's a lovely plant on my dining room table from a colleague to whom I lent a bunch of resources for summer school (note: I am against me teaching summer school... ever.)
• I want to get up for a 9:30 am yoga class tomorrow... but there's also one at 7 pm.... will I make it with that knowledge?

Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of July too.

Park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me.

Welcome to a post with a focus: a movie review! You don't see that around here very often, that's for sure.

On Thursday, I headed downtown to see the Broken Social Scene Movie "This Movie is Broken". I totally would have seen it last weekend, but you know, riots downtown meant the theatre was closed.

The movie takes place in the summer of 2009 in Toronto. It was nice be reminded of that summer, and the city-wide garbage strike with the heaps of garbage being dumped in parks, and the smell, oh, the smell.

Broken Social Scene were supposed to do their annual concert on the island, but the ferry drivers were also on strike, so the concert was canceled. Instead, they decided to put on a free show at the Harbourfront.

If you know me, you'd assume that I would have been there at that show with proverbial bells on, but alas, I was the MC for a good friend's wedding that weekend, so I had caught a train to St. Ratford for that event.

Luckily for me, they decided to make a movie of the event! Woot! The movie is very different in that it shows a lot of footage of the show, with a fictional love story wound around the show itself. I loved the idea. Here, watch the trailer:

The concert footage amazing. It was hard to keep myself from clapping during the performances. Seeing the show made me really eff-ing wish that I could have been there, but seriously, seeing it in a theatre is the next best thing.

The love story was all right. It was really sweet at the beginning, but then it sort of fizzled a bit. However, the more important love story was the band's love of Toronto. Even though their big show was cancelled, they put on a free hometown show, and pulled out all the stops, as you can see from the number of people on the stage. Toronto, garbage strike and all, looked fabulous in the movie, and it made me glad that I'm going to spend most of my summer in the city.

Anyway, overall, I'd give the music part of the music 5/5 and the story 3/5. That averages out to a healthy 4/5. It's only playing in Toronto and Vancouver right now, but I'm sure the DVD will be out soon enough.

Here is someone's footage of what was my favourite song in the movie. It's "Anthems for a 17-year old girl" and seriously, if you were ever a 17-year old girl or even just liked one at some point, I challenge you not to fall in love with this song. Seeing Emily (from Metric), Feist, and Amy (from Stars) sing together on this song is amazing. Again, it's too bad I wasn't there, but I had to spend time with all of my best friends from when I was a 17-year old girl. I'm so happy they made this movie though.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. It's bike-ride in the heat time for me! Movie review done.

At 3 am, they play Oh Canada.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

This afternoon, I'm going to check out the Broken Social Scene movie "This Movie is Broken" and then go for dinner. It will make for a very Canadian day since I'll be watching a Canadian movie, eating at a local restaurant owned by Canadians, and I'm sure I'll make a Tim Horton's run at some point today.

I've been enjoying the start of my summer a lot. On Thursday night, we had a very nice graduation ceremony for my favourite graduating class ever. I'm going to miss those kids a lot. After grad, I went out for dinner with four of my favourite work friends, and that dinner morphed into a very late and very fun night. I needed one of those.

Yesterday was our year-end party and now I'm stress free for two whole months. I love it!

Well, I'm going to go for a bike ride this morning and then head out. I will leave you with my annual Canada Day tradition: listening to this song at least once.