Give me something to remember.

Press play on this video. Do it. Trust me. It's what I've been listening to on repeat as I write this post.



I'm trying my best to get back into the groove of real life post-Paris, and, well, post-other-things. Everyone said that I came back from Paris with a post-Paris glow and looking better but maybe it was the new silk scarves that I got from Monoprix for €15. They are pretty.

Right now, I realize that I'm not the tour-de-force that I usually consider myself to be.

I'm having a hard time getting back into my running regime. I had a crappy-ish first run since Paris yesterday... I just did 5K. It was too much time in my head to do any more. I'm going to run again tomorrow after school. Maybe even take myself to the nice new gym by the Eaton Centre as motivation for a good run. My 10K is in a month and a half. I felt ready for it a few weeks ago, but now... not so much.

I've been losing myself in books. I read through Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections in record time. It was rather depressing, but I overall I liked it (although I liked his more recent novel Freedom better). Now I'm immersed in a novel about Catherine the Great: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak.

I was reading this book on my Kindle but then I woke up yesterday, and half of my Kindle screen was dead. I called Amazon, but it's out-of-warranty, so they'll replace it for $65, but I could get the newer model for $79 so what's the point? I actually think I'm going to make the move to the Kobo, because it's compatible with the Toronto Public Library's E-books.

Which reminds me of the fact that our librarians are on-strike so I can't even go to the library these days. :(

I was really into my novel, so I went to Indigo and bought it so I can continue reading it.

I haven't been listening to music as much as I usually do. I've been riding the subway in silence, reading. Note: I usually do listen to music while reading... I've just not been listening to music much.

But I have been... a bit. Enough to have put the new Joel Plaskett Emergency song Harbour Boys on repeat a few times. And listen to some Phoenix, which reminds me of Paris. And discover the Neko Case song that I hope you're listening to now like I told you to. ;)

Oh yes, and I have been listening to John K Samson's album Provincial and some old Weakerthans songs because I did go see my beloved Johnny K play on Thursday night at the beautiful Great Hall which made for an awesome show. The openers were good too. I'd seen Shotgun Jimmie (from Sackville NB) before, and he's a fun guy. I gotta figure out the songs I like by him and get them on my iPod. The other openers, Wake Owl, a young band from Vancouver, were great, and I have acquired their EP, which I'm enjoying immensely.

Of course, Johnny K was fabulous. I love his solo stuff, and I died a bit to hear old Weakerthans tunes, which are the soundtrack to my past, and I also loved when John K and the Provincial Band went loud for some songs. I needed loud. Also, my heart broke during the last song, Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure, because it is a song about a lost cat, and I was missing Rilo (she's back home now), and Johnny K sang it out into the crowd without a mic and it was a perfect moment.

I forgot to bring my new awesome camera to the show though. I bet I would have gotten some great pictures with it. Next time.

Okay, so I did not mean to purge all that up onto my blog, but I did, and it stays. The other things, besides reading and a bit of music, that have been getting me by are my memories of Paris, and my photos.

On my first day in Paris, I had some time to wander around while Becca T did some work stuff, and I came across my street namesake.


I also wandered along the Seine to Notre Dame, took some photos, and spent some time sitting beside the cathedral.


That night, Becca T and I went out for sushi, as per tradition, and then did some night time wandering. Here's a night shot of Notre Dame.


The next day, Becca T and I went out to the working class Paris suburb of Saint Denis to see the Basilica of Saint Denis. Why? It houses the royal necropolis where all but three of France's kings are buried, and holds the remains of Marie Antoinette. I've seen MA's chateau, her jail cell, the place where she was killed, and finally I've seen her grave.


The alter inside. Note: even though it was a sunny spring day, it was bone-chillingly cold in the cathedral.


Here is a memorial to MA's son, Louis XVII. He died as a little boy in captivity. His heart was cut out of his body, and now stored next to his parents' grave at the basilica.


Here is the memorial to Louis XVI and MA.


We probably would have spent more time at the necropolis but it was so cold inside, that we headed to Montmartre for coffee, and so that I could get a shot of the famous windmill at the Moulin Rouge, which I'd not seen before.


The next day, Becca T and I weren't at our best (too much wine the night before), so we had a lazy day sitting in the Tuileries, and going for coffee. As a treat, I booked us into a hotel in Saint Germain, and I went for a pre-dinner walk, where I took some photos. Here are the narrow streets:


And the church of St. Sulpice, which I remember best from reading The Da Vinci Code.


The next day, we met up with a friend to have brunch in the Marais, at a cute place we discovered last time: Le Loire dans la Théière. I ate what was on the chalkboard. Their Sunday brunch, which I had last time, is epic. The weekday brunch is good, but can't hold a candle to Sunday brunch.

The inside is decorated like Alice in Wonderland.


After brunch, and some shopping, Becca had work stuff to do, so I headed off to the catacombs, which was on my Paris to-do list. I wanted to see the ossuary, which contains the remains of about 6 million people who were buried there in the late 18th century until about 1874.

First, I had to walk through a long expanse of underground tunnels. I felt completely alone in these tunnels as the tourists who entered behind me didn't walk very fast and I lost them. It was spooky.


Then I got to the empire of the dead...

It was just hallways with stacks and stacks of bones. My inner goth was in heaven.


After that, I took the Metro to Bir Hakeim. I was doing a night bike tour of the city that started near the Eiffel Tower.
I had an hour to kill, so I ate my supper that I brought from home (fresh baguette with ham and cheese, yogurt, and a banana), and took lots of pictures of the Eiffel Tower while listening to Phoenix.



Why did I listen to Phoenix? Paris makes me think of their awesome Take-Away-Show series, that I'm pretty sure Rawbean, told me about a few years ago. Phoenix = Paris for me. If you have some time, watch the series. I have been. It makes me happy.



I'll close this post here. Next post will be about my night time bike tour, which was awesome and one of my favourite things ever. Back to Catherine the Great for me.

Hope you all have a great Monday.

And to think this was last night.

We sat along the Seine drinking wine.


Light reflected off of little puddles left along the cobblestones from rain earlier in the evening.


The light reflecting from the water's surface was also beautiful.


We walked over a pedestrian bridge to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle on the hour.


We wandered to the front of the Louvre to be treated to this view.


And that was last night. And now I'm back in Toronto. It was an amazing trip. I think my hiatus is over and I'm going to be posting a lot of pictures and memories from my trip (before I forget what I did). These are just a selection from a couple of hours in Paris. Imagine what else I have up my sleeve.

Oh you delicate heart.

How is it that I only have one day left in Paris? I know, I promised posts. I've actually been staying away from my frenemy the Internet. It's been good for my soul.

But I do want to check in with you lovely people. I have done some amazing stuff here in (and out) of Paris this week. I started off with a nice trip to Notre Dame, sushi w Becca T, the royal necropolis at St Denis, lots more walking around, a wine & Kanye debacle, lazy day in the Tuileries, night in a St Germain hotel, dinner at my favourite restaurant, brunch at my favourite brunch spot, shopping in the Marais, the catacombs, a night bike tour of the city, a day trip to Chartres, lounging in the Luxumbourg Gardens, a party, and today's day trip to Bruges. It's been great, and I think I'll write more from home.

I got a new camera for this trip and it's AWESOME, so look fwd to many pictures.

Tomorrow is do-what-I-feel day. I look forward to it.

Au revoir!

My first hiatus.

Hiya blogarinos.

I'm going through a really tough time right now. I'm not going to go into details, and it'll be all A-OK in the end and I've got all of my wonderful friends in my corner right now.

It will be okay. Paris is coming in a week, and I want to post from there, but other than a few updates from there, I'm going to go on blog hiatus for awhile. I don't know what to write about right now.

I'll be back I'm sure. Who knows? Maybe the city of lights will make everything right and this will be the shortest hiatus ever. I hope so, because I enjoy blogging immensely, and I'm just not feeling it right now.

Cheers,
Your pal,
Christielli

I'm gonna try, see me try!

I've been really unfocused lately, hence the lack of blog posts. To get back to writing, I'm just going spew some randomness on here.

1) My post title comes from the song "Demons" by Sleigh Bells which is my new favourite running song. It's loud and angry.

2) Speaking of running, I did a personal best 5K today, quite possibly because of the song above. It inspired me to sign up for the Women's Half Marathon 5K in Sunnybrook Park at the end of May. I want to see if I can get a PB for 5K in an actual race. Don't forget, I've also got a 10K in the middle of May. My goal for that one is to live through it.

3) I have been researching running routes in Paris this evening. I want to go for at least two decent runs during my vacation. It seems as if Becca T lives near the Bois de Vicennes, which is a big forest that came up in my research, so I'm gonna ask her what she knows being that she's the Parisienne.

4) And yes! Paris! 9 sleeps. I've been doing a lot of research on activities and day trips and stuff. I was considering visiting the D-Day Beaches, or somewhere else in Normandy, but then I came across a bus trip that I could take to Bruges and I'm leaning toward that. Why not add another country to my list of places I've been? Plus my friend Joanna said it's very pretty. Hey - I'll probably be off to Bruges two weeks tomorrow if all my plans come to fruition.

5) I want to go the Louvre again.

6) I'm also going to find Marie Antoinette's grave.

7) And I'm going to shop.

8) I also want to go into the catacombs. Becca did it when she first moved to Paris and enjoyed it. It looks goth-tastic to me.

9) Seriously, I feel like this trip to Paris is the only thing keeping me going these days. I am also really toying with the fact of doing another trip to Europe this summer because why not? I don't have anything pressing this summer so maybe I should pick a city/country that I haven't been to and explore it. Maybe even on my own so I can "find myself" or something like that. Who knows. Anyone wanna come with?

You gotta try a little harder, you're the comeback kid.

It's illogical when it's your first day back at work after a long weekend (thanks again McGuinty... we'll always have Family Day, right?), and you are more tired than when you left. I was seriously pushing myself to get through the day.

Why? Well, I think the first is that I ran a very enjoyable 10K yesterday, but I find when I do that distance, I'm pretty tired the next day. That run followed an early-ish train trip back to Toronto from Stratford. I find that travel always tires me out a bit. Finally, I think today's exhaustion was compounded by the fact I was unprepared for work and therefore made it in an hour earlier than I used do. However, I love the calmness and productivity of an early morning. I resolve to do it more often.

Anyway, even though I didn't feel rested following my long weekend, it was still a great weekend. I organized birthday drinks on Friday night with my favourite pals who live in the city, and that was a good time. On Saturday I headed out to Stratford for some good family time. I mainly chilled with the parents for most of the weekend - we had a birthday dinner for me and my dad (his birthday is the 25th), and watched some fun TV together: National Geographic, SNL, and the 500th Simpsons episode.

In addition my dad loved the massive books I got him (they should keep him out of trouble for awhile) and the Wile E. Coyote Super Genius T-shirt that I got him.

Do any of you remember a Bug Bunny cartoon where Bugs knocks on the Coyote's door and says "Are you in, genius?" or something like that? That cartoon sprung a very nerdy game that has been played in my family for years. It basically goes like this.

Me (to my dad): "Hey corrigible, are you in?"

My dad: "No, I'm not incorrigible. Oh sensitive, are you in?

Me: "I'm most certainly not insensitive. Hey scrutable, are you in?"

And on it goes, most likely until my mom gets annoyed and says "you have already used every "in" word in the dictionary in your game, stop for heaven's sake!"

Anyway, that's why I had to buy my dad that Tshirt. And it catalyzed a round of the "in" game. Also, I'm not sure if either of us has played "scrutable" yet... I'm going to file that away for next visit.

Last night Jason and I went to see "The Descendants". I really enjoyed the movie, and I totally say give the Oscar to Clooney - he did a good job of rocking an awkward haircut, not being a Hollywood super hunk, AND he made me cry. Damn you Clooney!

How crazy it is that the Simpsons has done 500 episodes? Jason and I were discussing favourite Simpsons lines this weekend, and I'll leave you with one of my favourites - attributed to Ralph Wiggum.

"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

But oh! There was a new good line on the 500th episode. Lisa says to Homer "I pick up books like you pick up beers" and Homer replies "Then you have a serious reading problem."

Even though the Simpsons aren't what they used to be during their Golden Years (seasons 3 through 8), they're still funnier than a lot of stuff out there.

I got my philosphy. (#1000)

The thought that I would make it to one thousand posts on this blog never crossed my mind when I started it almost seven years ago on a music-related whim. I was an avid reader of musician Matthew Good's blog at the time, and he would link to his fans' blogs, so I thought, hmmm, maybe I should start one of these blog things. And now here we are.

My first post was a whole lot of nothing. However, it's funny reading my second post and knowing the future of many of the random things that I mentioned, like:

a) I'm still listening to Kathleen Edwards... and saw her last weekend.

b) The colleague who had the Lululemon bag that I liked is now a really close friend of mine. I barely knew her back then. I still have the bubblegum pink version of that bag, and want to replace it because it's rather godawful, but it's the perfect size for a weekend bag and I use it all the time when I visit my parents. (It'll get used this weekend again.)

c) Apparently I was watching the new American version of The Office at that time. Ironically, I watched a bit of it tonight.

d) I mentioned a ficus plant (Benny) that I owned and eventually killed because it dropped leaves everywhere and I couldn't take it anymore. I haven't owned a plant since.

However, it's really fun to reflect on how even though I'm the same music-loving, sitcom-enjoying person that I was back then, I've definitely grown and changed and done a lot of exciting things over the years.

1000 posts ago, I was a new teacher at my school, who actually just had a temporary contract for that school year. The stars aligned in my favour, and I've been at the same place ever since and have grown a lot in my career. Moreover, I truly do love the students at my school, and have made so many good friends among my colleagues among the way.

1000 posts ago, I hadn't really traveled anywhere. Since then I've been to Australia, Cuba, England, Wales, Ireland, Montreal, New York, Texas, San Francisco, the Maritimes, New York (again), Paris, Scotland, London, Paris (again), Nice, Monaco (for an hour), Italy (for four hours), Cape Cod, Boston, Barcelona, London (again), Chicago, Utah, New York (again), and I'm heading off to Paris (again) in about three weeks. Well done me.

1000 posts ago, I went to shows every now and then. Now I go to tonnes of shows.

1000 posts ago, I lived with a human roommate. Now, I live with a feline roommate in a different apartment one subway stop north of where I used to live.

1000 posts ago, I had a lot of awesome friends. Now, I still have the vast majority of those friends (maybe a couple have drifted off), but I have so many more wonderful friends, many of whom I've met directly from this blog. Yesterday was my birthday, and I got so many nice wishes from my blogger friends. I've met up with many of you guys for coffee, drinks, or dinner, gone to shows with some of you, did SXSW in Austin with one of you, some of you have crashed on my couch and/or floor, I terrified one of you with my driving skills in Vancouver, I've crashed on couches and now guest bedrooms in someone's London flats, and have had awesome MSN/phone/Skype conversations with many of you too. Heck, I sort of kind of met my boyfriend through this blog. (Actually, I would say it was a set of Joel Plaskett concert photos that brought us together initially, but we're both bloggers.) I am so thankful for all of these people that have been brought into my life through this fluffly little blog.

Today I was thinking, oh crap, what am I going to do for my 1000th post, and this song came up on shuffle on my iPod. I think it's a great way to send out a 1000th post.



p.s. My dear blog buddy Claire is going to hit her 1000th post this week too! Isn't that crazy that we've done it around the same time??

Quickest Blog Post Ever (#999)

My intent was to have my 1000th blog post correspond with my birthday (today), but as you can see, I'm one post off.

However, that's OK because I am a numbers girl, and the number 999 is quite attractive to me.

Anyway, my birthday follows a very nice Valentine's Day. Tonight, I'm going to take myself for a run at the nice new gym near the Eaton Centre, then meet up with Jason at one of my favourite restaurants - The Ace. The night should be ace. Ugh, bad joke. But I get a free pass for that today?

Ugh, can you believe I sang a bit of the song "Jump" by Kris Kross (90s crap pop for the win) to one of my classes yesterday? Possible high/low point to my career. Oh, it had a point. I was reminding them to use the criss-cross method when writing formulae for ionic compounds.

Let's see if I can top that today. (Doubtful.)

So when the night falls, my lonely heart calls. (#998)

February is a busy month. Even though this weekend seems like it was calmer than the last, it was still busy.

On Friday evening, I had a meeting of the "spa club". Because of personal commitments, my colleagues and I who had booked appointments were all coming and going at different times, however, since I was in no rush, I took some times to hang out in whirlpool and steam room after my massage was done. Talk about relaxation.

When I got home, I finally finished reading "Alone in the Classroom". It was an all right book; beautifully written but slow in pace.

On Saturday I ran errands in the morning, then read/napped on my couch in the afternoon. I met up with Jason in the evening for dinner, then we went to see Kathleen Edwards at the Phoenix. Hannah Georgas, a Vancouver singer-songwriter, was the opening act. I saw Hannah last summer at Hillside, and also really like her previous work. She mostly played new stuff, and I have to say that I'm looking forward to her new album.

Kathleen was amazing. She is a consummate musician, and truly rocks out during her shows. She is a stellar songwriter, and I love how she expressively performs her songs. The highlight song for me was her performance of "Goodnight, California" from her previous album "Asking for Flowers". It started off with her playing violin (or fiddle? what's the difference?) and she and her band did a great job playing this sprawling rocker of a song. It was a great show. Ooh, and I picked up a *purple* Kathleen Tshirt.

Of course, it was Saturday evening as well when the news of Whitney Houston's death came out. She was the first musician that I ever loved. When I was six, my parents bought me my first album ever, "Whitney", on tape. I listened to it non-stop, and Whitney was my favourite for a long time. I think I eventually moved on to my boy band phase after that, but I always paid attention to her career, even though I no longer listened to her.

I was saddened about her downward spiral into addiction, and I rushed home from work a couple years ago when she had that Oprah interview. I was really rooting for her to have a huge comeback, and get her voice back, even though you could tell her gift had been damaged from years of drug use.

It's tragic that she passed away far too early. I hope that she is at peace now, and that her tale reminds us all that addiction is a real disease, and not a choice.

I had a lazy Sunday today. I relaxed at home until I headed down to Kensington for a hair appointment. I wandered around there for a bit, and picked up some yummy cupcakes at a bakery for tomorrow's student council meeting. (It's my turn to bring in snack.)

Now I'm watching the Grammys. I somehow always put myself through this award show every year. Not sure why. Oh yes, it's because I enjoy yelling at my TV.

Happy Monday folks! It's going to be a busy week for me - Valentine's and birthday week. Yay!

Mandatory Blog Update (#997)

My new couch is together! It's a vortex that pulls me directly into the land of nap. This thing has been dangerous for my productivity this week. Hopefully the novelty of comfy naps will wear off soon.

Semester two is so far so good. My classes seem quite nice thus far. Fingers crossed that it's their true nature, and not just a honeymoon.

Tomorrow I've got a massage booked after school. I feel that I've earned my relaxation for sure since I made it through exams, marking, report cards, and starting a new semester.

This weekend I'm also going to see Kathleen Edward and get a haircut. I'm excited for both, one more than another.

Hope that you all have nice weekends!

p.s. My running playlist is getting played out. Any suggestions for good exercise songs?

Happy Superb Owl Sunday! (#996)

I totally stole this post's title from the Facebook status of the TV show Portlandia. It's a wonderfully bizarre show, and the term "Superb Owl Sunday" makes me happy because I don't like football but I love owls, so Superb Owl Sunday is so much more appealing to me. I should go change into my Burrowing Owl t-shirt right now, but I'm already wearing my Dan Magnan t-shirt which is pretty awesome itself, so I'll just think about owls instead.

Also, some of you have noticed I have taken to numbering my posts. I am getting ever closer to post #1000, and I didn't want to miss it, so I realized that if I numbered my posts 'til then, I will not miss it. I'm not sure what I can do to make my millennial post special, but I still have a few to go until then.

Wow, I've had a really busy three days since my last post. I will summarize...

Friday - Non-teaching day at work. Did my photocopying for day one of second semester. Went to lunch at Swiss Chalet, followed by a quick stop at the Gap Factory Outlet where I bought a very Parisian off-white spring trench coat with navy blue buttons. I have the perfect matching navy blue Coach bag too. I really hope it will be warm enough for me to wear this to Paris. If not, I'll have a Paris springtime in my coat here in Toronto. I also got a stripey shirt to go with it. Having this Gap outlet so close to my work will be dangerous for me.

After lunch/shopping, I went back to finish off semester one stuff. I went for a run at the new gym near the Eaton Centre (it's beautiful and has heated floors) then did some running around in preparation for Saturday's Bachelorette party.

Saturday - Spent the morning cleaning all the things. My pals from the Go9 arrived to welcome shots of some fruity alcohol I picked up. We Skyped in my friend Sandra from Utah, had the Bachelorette open up her gifts, then headed off to dinner at my fave local Mexican dinner. We knocked back quite a few pitchers of margaritas and sangria. It was a great time. There was lots more silliness after that, but in order to protect the good reputations of those in the Go9, I will leave it at saying that a good time was had by all, and that the hostess was the first one who succumbed to exhaustion and crawled into her bed after the late night pizza arrived.

Sunday - Most of my overnight guests left in the 8 am carpool, but Jo^2 (Jolene & Joanna) stuck around to go for breakfast down the street, and we headed off for some shopping at Ikea.

I was feeling rather tired, but I decided that it would be good to accompany a couple of friends with a large pickup truck to Ikea becaue I needed to work on completing THE LIST. I haven't yet posted about THE LIST but it's become a running joke amongst many of my friends, so I'll introduce it now.

Bascially, once Jason was cooking at my place and asked for a pair of tongs. I replied that I didn't have any, and he said "you need to start a list of basic household items that you need." I'll admit it - I kind of live like a university student in many ways. Let's face it - I'd much rather spend money on handbags and travel then, oh, tongs.

When I tell people I don't have tongs the common reaction is "How do you NOT have tongs? How do you flip things?" This begins the conversation into how I don't need to flip things because I don't like cooking meat, and live happily without tongs. And no, I'm not a vegetarian, I just like to eat meat cooked by someone else.

Anyway, tongs was the first item on the "grown-up list" and Jason and I added to it once while he was cooking and I was drinking wine. Here it is. I was forced to take a picture of it to send it to an interested friend. Seriously, the list is FAMOUS.


Now you understand why I couldn't turn down an offer of a trip to Ikea by a woman with a pickup truck. Jason and I have been planning to go together in his car, but so far other fun things have taken precedence.

Today I knocked off quite a few things off THE LIST: TONGS, a colander, a new bookshelf, and A NEW COUCH! I've been using my futon from university days for far too long. If I watch too much TV, my butt starts to get sore. I'm so excited to watch TV in comfort... This could lead to me getting the flat screen TV from THE LIST.

I also got a couple things not on THE LIST, like a second cutting board, and a new bedside table. Both were needed though.

All of my other stuff, plus the many purchase by Jo^2 fit in the pickup truck, but my couch had to be delivered. It was supposed to arrive between 5pm and 9pm, but it arrived fifteen minutes early. I was excited. I got it all unwrapped, but I'm going to need some help putting it together (for lifting), so Jason's gonna help me early this week. Here's how it looks now. Rilo's been exploring it like a fort.


All in all I had a fun weekend with lots of money spent. I'm going to have to lay low for the rest of February so that I have money for Paris in March. I guess you'll have to wait, electric kettle.

#995

Things I've done this week:

1) I've said goodbye to my semester one classes. They were great. I'll miss them. I'm a bit skeptical about what semester two will bring.

2) I've finished marking all the things for semester one. My eyes got blurry at times. However, I got some sweet notes written to me by some students at the end of their exams, which made me feel good.

3) I saw Jack's Mannequin on Tuesday night. I had fun catching up with my friend Mathew and it was an awesome show. They are a great band to sing along with.

4) Exam week brings with it a lot of time to go for extended lunches with pals from work (followed by extended marking sessions in coffee shops). Yesterday we went for Dim Sum at the Pacific Mall in Markham. It was really yummy.

5) Last night Jason and I watched the movie Beginners starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. It was really good. It had a cute dog, a good story, and Ewan wearing many cute sweaters. What more does one need?

6) Today we walked to a cute brunch place 10 minutes from school for today's lunch. We met up with my friend Fea who just had her second daughter two weeks ago. Cute child, good catch-up. Win.

7) Tonight's episode of Parks and Rec was the awesome.

8) For Christmas, my parents gave me a perfume sampler from Shopper's Drugmart. You get ten samples of perfumes, plus a gift certificate for a full-sized bottle of your choice of perfume. After sampling them all for this time, I settled on Marc Jacobs' Oh Lola. It smells good and the bottle is so pretty! I picked it up tonight.


That's about it for this week. It was fun. Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in a little, going for an early run, then heading off to work prep for second semester. It's nice not to have a set time to be there... I'm aiming for 10.

This weekend, I am hostessing a Group of 9 Bachelorette party for my pal Christa. It should be a fun time. We should have 8 out of 9 of us there... Everyone but Sandra who lives in Utah. I am looking forward to it.

Hope you all have great weekends!

Well I try to keep it steady now, but steady's not her strong suit.

I had a fun weekend.

On Friday night, I went out with some co-workers for appetizers and drinks followed by serve-yourself frozen yogurt. It was a good time.

On Saturday, I woke up early, went to the gym to run a quick 5K, then headed out to meet up with the same coworkers to head to the Buffalo area to go shopping. We started with lunch at the Olive Garden. For some reason, the Olive Garden went extinct in Ontario (or should I say it was extirpated?). I ate a lot of soup, salad, and breadsticks for lunch, but man, was it salty. I was dehydrated for the rest of the day.

We started at the outlet mall, where the girls split up with the boys. We went to the Ann Taylor Loft store first, where I got a pretty blue polka-dot dress, a white sweater with a blue polka-dot flower to match, a frilly blue polka-dot top to go with the sweater, and a simple tank top to go with a black cardigan that I have at home. I'm hoping to wear the dress in Paris, but it might be too cold. However, the sweater and top will definitely come with me.

I also got a plaid shirt at J. Crew. If you show your teacher card at J. Crew you get 15% off, and that means I'm guaranteed to buy something there. I got a pair of earrings at Fossil as well.

After the outlet mall we hit Target. I stocked up on a lot of foodstuffs: Starbucks Hot Chocolate mixes (which you can't get here), super cheap Tazo tea, raspberry lemonade Crystal Light (can't get that flavour here), my favourite Kashi granola bars (on sale), Mint Chocolate M&M's for Jason, and mint Three Musketeers fun sized bars for me. I got Miss Rilo a new laser pointer, and a new catnip mouse. For my dad's birthday, I got him a Wile E. Coyote Super Genius Tshirt which he is going to love. Lastly, I got the last two books of the Hunger Games series because they were super cheap. I still have to read the first, but I know I'll get hooked on them when I get to them and it's good that I have the whole series.

Anyway, it was a good shopping trip. I was pretty exhausted all day Sunday, and didn't even leave my house. I slept, read, did a bit of housework, and then Jason came over and we made dinner and watched Moneyball. It's a good movie. I recommend it.

Today was a quiet day at work. It was tutorials in the morning, and an exam in the afternoon, so I got a lot of marking done throughout the day. I left work fairly early with lots of energy to go for a run. However, when I started running, my head started to throb, my stomach hurt, and I felt really low energy. I called it quits and headed home after about 4K. I don't know what happened, but now I'm home and spending my evening on the couch. On the bright side, that crappy run put me over 50 miles for the month of January. I ran 51.4 miles (or 82.7 km) in January - my best month ever!

I have to recover for tomorrow night, because tomorrow night I'm seeing Jack's Mannequin, aka my favourite emo guilty pleasure! I'll probably be the oldest person there.



Happy Tuesday folks!

p.s. Jabba - so glad you're enjoying Provincial! "The Last And" also made me think of Alone in the Classroom which I have out of the library right now, but I'm not sure if I'll get it read before its due date (Feb. 6th). I also got tickets to see JKS play here in March. I checked his tour dates to see if he was playing Victoria, but nope, closest is Vancouver. :(

I'm just your little ampersand.

Remember how at the end of my last post, I was begrudging the fact that I was going to spend my Sunday marking? Well, I ended up going to the ROM with my pal Matt from Winnipeg instead, and that was super fun. I regret nothing. Yes, the pile of end-of-semester marking still looms heavy, but it'll get done somehow, it always does.

Also, I experienced good karma coming back to me at the ROM. Remember how we fessed up to the missing bourbon on our bill on Saturday night? Well, while in line for admission at the ROM, the lady behind me had an extra ticket for free admission that she couldn't use, and gave it to me. See, it always pays off to be honest! This time, sooner rather than later.

In music news, and there is always music news in my world it seems, John K Samson of my beloved Weakerthans just released a solo album called Provincial. Surprisingly, I wasn't overly excited for it. However, he was playing a free record store set at Soundscapes on College and Jason and I went to see him last night. That made me excited for the album. I'd heard snippets of songs online, but seeing the songs in person in their entirety reminded me that you need to hear the WHOLE song oftentimes. John K Samson's lyrics are very poetic and his songs are stories. I enjoyed his set very much.

If you go here, you can see a video of one of the songs from last night.

My favourite song from the evening was The Last And. When I heard it, I pictured a teacher in the 1960s who was having an affair with her married principal. It seemed like a dark Canadian prairie novel in a song. I loved it. Here are the lyrics, and the song if you are interested.



The Last And - John K Samson

So I'm the first one in again
with the quiet and the window growing snow.
When I hear the furnace rouse itself
from its slumber, somehow suddenly I know,
As my eye stops on one curled up in my lesson plan,
that I’m just your little ampersand.

When your voice springs from the inter-com,
with announcements and reminders and a prayer,
I remember how you made me feel:
I was funny, I was thoughtful, I was rare
But like the jokes about my figure
kids think that I don’t understand:
I know I’m just your little ampersand.

And after Christmas holidays,
when you never asked to drive me home again,
and sometimes in the staffroom I
catch your eye with why'd it have to end.
But I know from how you worry at your wedding band
that I’m just your little ampersand.

At the last conjunction after every other "and"
I was just your little ampersand.

Anyway, I picked up the album at the store and I really enjoy it. I was a fool to not be excited for this, I tell you.

Hope you're all having nice weeks. Two days left.

p.s. Oh, in other music news, my former favourite band ever, Ben Folds Five, who broke up in 1999 and shattered my young heart at the time, are recording a new album right now. Woot!

Peasant child, you're into botany.

Well, after everyone's comments on my last post, I feel like the January blues are a very common experience. It makes me feel better; misery loves company, I suppose. This weekend, however, was so awesome that I feel that I've left my winter blues behind.

I had a very chill evening on Friday night with Jason. I made chickpea & cashew curry, and we ate some pretzel M&M's while catching up on this week's Parks & Rec and 30 Rock. I believe last weekend it was me who was really tired and fell asleep watching TV. It was the reverse this week, which was okay 'cuz I was able to catch up on laundry and reading while Jason fell asleep. We did, however, both manage to be awake to catch the end of Letterman which I really wanted to see because my beloved Los Campesinos! were played. With having both Kathleen Edwards and LC! play this week, I guess Dave's got the same musical tastes as me. Hmmm...

On Saturday morning, we decided to go out for brunch. Jason suggested The Three Speed, which is on Bloor between Dufferin and Lansdowne and completely hidden. I have a new hypothesis about cool/hidden gem Toronto restaurants. My hypothesis has two tenets:

a) They have little signage and dark windows, so if you didn't know about them, you'd walk right by them and never be the wiser;

b) They have hand-written menus.

The Three Speed fit both criteria, and was great. We got there before the rush, and I had some delicious banana french toast.

While we were brunching, I was looking at the extensive bourbon menu on the wall. "I think one of my goals for 2012 is to try bourbon." I said randomly. I dunno, I think I just want to be tougher or something. Bourbon seems rock and roll.

Jason said "that's a very achievable goal." Yup, it was. Achievable goals are the best kind.

After brunch, I headed to the gym and ran 10K. It was tough to finish off the distance, because I was getting tired, but I did it. I was pretty fast during the last K, which I think bodes well for May.

After my run, I met up with my pal Matt from Winnipeg, and his friend Mel, to go out for dinner before catching Los Campesinos! at Lee's Palace. I took them to The Ace on Roncesvalles, which is the restaurant that Jason and I went to for his birthday. It also supports both tenets of my Toronto cool restaurant hypothesis.

It doesn't take reservations, but we were able to get three seats together at the bar, which was actually a fun spot to sit. In addition, I noticed that they had a wide variety of bourbon, which lead me to tell my dinner companions about my goal.

"Let's do it!" said Mel, and we decided that we'd try it. Of course, neither of us knew which kind to get or how to drink it, but luckily, our waitress was able to give us advice. We went for Maker's Mark on the rocks. It was strong, but felt good going down. We both felt empowered ordering such a tough drink. However, I kind of ruined the toughness by clapping when I finished mine, which lead one of the waiters there to join in on clapping for me. It was hilarious.

The food was delicious too. I had the fried chicken, and chocolate rosemary ice cream for dessert. (They made their own ice creams there.) When we got the bill they missed charging us for the bourbon, but we like to keep our karma in check, so we fessed up.

After that we headed to the Bloor/Bathurst area for the show, but still had some time to kill so we went to Mel's favourite frozen yogurt place where I sampled a bit and technically had second dessert. To kill more time, we went to a pub for another drink. They only had Wild Turkey bourbon, which burns more than Maker's Mark. (It's the cheapest bourbon, which we completely rejected at The Ace.) I'm well on my way to to knowing my bourbons!

Finally, we got to Lee's for the show. Matt decided to join us in the bourbon club at that point. The opening band, Parenthetical Girls, were entertaining to watch. It didn't seem to take long for LC! to take the stage afterwards, and they were so fun to watch. All of their songs are easy to sing along with, and they are energizing and make you want to dance. They played a good assortment of new stuff and old stuff. It was super fun.

So a delicious dinner, a goal for 2012 made and completed in one day, and a great show made for a really good Saturday evening. Yay!

Today I need to get caught up on work, yuck. Oh well, the weekend can't all be bourbon, desserts, food, and concerts, can it? Too bad.

I'm looking for a soft place to land.

I have concluded that I dislike January. It's a tough time at work; I'm very busy wrapping up one semester, and getting ready for another one at the same time. I've been spending my week saving teenagers from themselves; why some are so prone to throwing away a credit in the waning weeks of the semester is beyond me. I've had to stage too many interventions in the past couple of weeks.

In addition, I have the worst case of the January blahs. Every task before me whether it be washing a pan, doing laundry, marking a set of tests, making a phone call, or making a grocery list seems insurmountable. Usually I can do all these things with aplomb, but I don't know what's happening to me this week. Delayed reaction to Blue Monday? Perhaps.

However, I distracted myself from me not doing the things above by accomplishing one important thing: booking a flight to Paris for March Break! It actually took a good deal of research to find this year's winning flight with the proper combination of proper airline, flight times, and dates.

A picture of Paris from March Break 2010. I spent a weekend with Becca T before I spent the rest of the time visiting her in her old French home in Nice.

Instead of flying out ASAP on the Friday, which would have been too costly this year for whatever reason as determined by the airline gods, I have to fly out on Saturday instead. It gives me one less day in Paris, but hey, at least the packing stress won't be so bad.


I am excited for my trip, of course. Becca T has found herself a tiny new flat, and has even ordered a chair that will pull out into a bed for me. I look forward to a week in Paris with a side trip. I could go visit a friend in Geneva or I could just treat myself to my own excursion somewhere random.

Self portrait of me and Becca T on the steps of the Pantheon.

I saw a book at the bookstore the other day called "The Best Kept Secrets of Paris". I am tempted to look through it, potentially pick it up, and use it to guide my week. Or maybe I'll figure out my own agenda. I definitely have to find Marie Antoinette's grave. It's one of the few Marie Antoinette things I've never done.

This is a memorial from La Conciergerie, the place in Paris when she was imprisoned. I went there in March Break 2010.

Anyway, so I have that to officially look forward to.

Here I am at the fountain at the Louvre. It was really cold in Paris that week (see hat and mittens.)

Me, my mittens, my crazy flower hat, the Seine, and Notre Dame.

Tonight I was planning on going for a run, but I went out for Greek food on the Danforth with some friends instead. I thought socializing might just be the better option.

It warmed up enough on our last afternoon in Paris that we could relax without coats in the lovely Jardin du Luxombourg before catching our flight to Nice.

In other news, my buddy Matt from Winnipeg is in town this weekend for Los Campesinos! I am excited for that show. It'll be lots of fun.

Sunday, not so much. Day of marking. :(

There's a lot of other exciting stuff on the horizon too. I keep trying to think about that in my January slump, but it's not working as well as I think. How many more days 'til February? I think that's what I have to keep asking myself.

p.s. Actually going through my old trip photos and integrating them into this emo post has cheered me. Please remind me to look through old trip photos next time I'm emo.

p.p.s. Also, I am totally treating myself to a NEW CAMERA before this trip! :D

Here is the truth: I swear I was fun.

I have just downloaded my pre-order of Kathleen Edwards' new album Voyageur and I am so excited to listen to it. Everything I've heard about it so far makes me suspect excellence. Actually, I've just skimmed one positive review. Mainly, I know it will be good because she's one of my favourite artists, and this album was co-produced by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). Collaboration between two of my favourite musicians? Yes, please.

I've been listening to the song Change the Sheets for months. I first heard it when Jason and I caught a surprise show by Kathleen at the Dakota Tavern in the summer. It was up on iTunes shortly there after, and I have listened to it seventy times since then (thanks iTunes for counting my obsessive listening habits). It's one of my favourite running songs, actually.

Anyway, I came across the video tonight and decided to share it here. I watched it once and it's got a lot of my favourite things in it: shows, cities, road trips, and Jim Bryson.



She's also playing tomorrow night on Letterman, and responsibilities be damned, I may rock it like I'm in university and stay up late to watch someone I like on Letterman. Or I'll wait to find it on the internet the next day, we'll see.

Off I go to listen now.

ps I finished The Night Circus on time. It was brilliant.

But I miss Prairie nights and northern lights.

Last week kicked my ass.

Getting back to work with many deadlines to meet, and the never-ending piles of marking was tough. I feel a bit better than I did a week ago at this time, but I'm looking forward to getting this semester done. Fresh start please. We have two more weeks of classes, then exam week, then it's a new semester with fresh faces and different things to teach.

Also, I had a really great evening with Becca T on Wednesday. She had a whirlwind trip back to North America over the holidays, and was briefly in Toronto, and I was glad to get to see her. It felt like she was back living in Toronto because we did our usual things - go out for sushi, Starbucks, listen to music, play board games, and chit chat. It looks like my trip to visit her in Paris over the March Break is a GO! and it might include a side trip to Geneva too. Another thing I'd like to do is give Becca T a break from me, and maybe take the train to little French town and spend the night on my own. I'll have to go to Indigo and hit up France travel guides to see if that's a possibility. Anyway, I am EXCITED and will keep you guys updated as I plan.

We stayed up late, of course, and I think that late night exhausted me for the weekend. Toronto was under an extreme cold alert, so Jason and I spent a lot of time hibernating. We watched 9 episodes of Parks N Rec, this week's 30 Rock, Up All Night, lots of old Simpsons, SNL (I fell alseep during that), and goodness knows what else. We also made a yummy beef stew on Saturday evening (we had to venture out in the cold to get the ingredients), and I baked cookies from a mix that I got for Christmas. Anyway, it was a lovely hibernation. I think I needed it after the shock of holidays ending.

After a lazy morning/mid-afternoon, I went to the gym and put in a good run. Then, I came home and read and marked, and now I'm going to read again. The Night Circus is due back tomorrow, and I've read 70% of it. I am still enjoying it immensely. It's a "Best Bets" book from TPL, which means you get it for a week, can't renew it, and if it's overdue, it's a $1.00 per day. I think if I read 50 pages tonight, then I can go to the library tomorrow after school, find a comfy chair, then finish it off. I'm totally into the library these days.

Well, that's that. It'll be another busy work week, and then it's Los Campesinos! weekend. WOOT! Happy week to all.

Everybody breaks a glass.

Post of random.

1) I'm currently reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It's gothtastic! There is such gorgeous, magical, dark imagery in this book. If Tim Burton doesn't adapt it into a movie, I will eat my hat.

2) My favourite running songs right now are:
a) Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
b) Stereo Hearts - Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine
c) Wild Ones - Flo Rida featuring Sia
d) Rumour Has It - Adele
e) Call Your Girlfriend - Robyn
f) Everybody Breaks A Glass - Lights featuring Holy Fuck and Shad

3) Speaking of favourite running songs, last night some of the boys in student council were working in the caf listening to music, and Otis Redding by Jay-Z and Kayne West came on. One kid said "ugh, turn it, I don't like this song", and I was like "WHAT? I love this song!"

Cue silence.

"Miss, you know this song?"

"Play it." I responded. I waited for the singing introduction to start and I rapped along with Jay-Z "I got my swagger back, truth." That one line was enough to convince them that life is pretty strange, and teachers can access their music. Maybe I ruined it for them, I don't know. Whatever. Just never assume that science nerds don't dabble in hip-hop.

4) I got new boots on sale during boxing week, and wore them to school today with leggings and a long sweater. A girl in my period two class said "Miss, you look all hot today!" A couple of my friends said the same too. I should really wear heels more often.

5) Becca T has been in Canada over the holidays and traveling all over the place. She spent a lot of time in Ottawa, and flew out to Vancouver. She's in Toronto for a bit this week, and she's sleeping over at my place tomorrow night. Yay! I'm excited to catch up with my bestie.

6) I am swamped at work right now with marking, writing exams, and various extra-curricular things. I keep alternating between feeling burned out and absolutely unstressed. It's bizarre.

Stumblin' home winter blues.

I have to go back to work in less than twelve hours.

Wish me luck.

p.s. Holidays were the awesome.

Boom, badoom, boom, he got that super bass.

Here I am, more than half-way through my last week of a super-relaxed Christmas vacation. I needed this.

I feel like I have been a bit of a hermit since New Year's. Yesterday, which was a SUPER COLD day, I managed to get myself to a relaxing noon-time yoga session. It was good. I need to stretch more. More yoga this year.

Besides being the coldest day in recent memory, it was also Jason's birthday. We went to see The Adventures of Tintin, which we both agreed was good, not great. After that, we ventured out in the cold, across the city, to Roncevalles Ave to try out a little restaurant for dinner. It's called The Ace, and it's in a tiny old diner.

When we got there, the place was filled, but we waited with a couple of beers and it seemed like we got a table rather quickly. We had bread and olives to start, and then I got steak frites (memories of Paris) and Jason got delicious fried chicken. We traded a bit o' steak for a bit o' fried chicken. When we go again, and I'm sure we will, I'm getting the chicken. For dessert, we got incredible chocolate perogies. There was cocoa in the dough, and they were filled with warm melty chocolate. SO GOOD. I wish I had some now.

Anyway, it was a really good dinner, and it felt like an exotic trip since we had to go across the city. I like Toronto for that. The subway can take you somewhere new very easily. I've lived here for forever, and there's always something new to discover.

Today I eventually managed to get myself to the gym and go for a pretty good run. This evening I've just been lounging around reading a new library book. Oh yeah, I went to the library too. A day of excitement, it was. I also made scrambled eggs. Anyway, the book I'm reading is Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner. I follow her on Twitter because she live-tweets The Bachelor and is absolutely hilarious. Her books make good light reads. I'm enjoying this one so far.

Tomorrow I'm going to see the musical Mary Poppins with my work family (i.e. a couple of my good friends with whom I work). Everyone I know who's seen it loves it, and I'm looking forward to it. We're going to go out for dinner afterwards and that'll be fun times. One thing I miss about work is seeing my friends every day.

On Friday, I'm meeting up with my friend Flora for lunch and some much needed catch-up. That day I should probably also mark some *choke* quizzes, and start thinking about the inevitable, but I might go to Ikea, so maybe I'll buy shiny new things that will distract me. Let's hope.

Oh, also I forgot that today was exciting for the fact that I obtained many tickets to many things in the new year. Jason, his pal (now my pal too... but originally his) Karen, and I are going to see The Joel Plaskett Emergency in May, not once, but twice. We're going to be those people who on the second night, when Joel says "who was here last night too?" shout "woo!"

In addition, I got tickets for me and my dad to see MacHomer at the Stratford Festival in May. I saw it several years ago in Toronto; it's a one-man play that's 90% original Macbeth done in the voices of The Simpsons. It's fucking amazing. I've declared it daddy-daughter day (Simpsons reference).

I also got tickets to see Kathleen Edwards in February. I love her. She sings about things I can relate to, like your daddy shooting your no-good boyfriend 'cuz he got you pregnant. Ha-ha. I kid. That's my standard Kathleen line.

So much excitement. So much. Hello 2012.

My Year in Lists: Favourite Albums of 2011

2011 was one of the strongest years with respect to albums that I can remember. I could have easily turned my traditional top ten list into a top twenty, and I am aware that there are a lot of acclaimed albums that I missed out on this year, because, well, my pesky job gets in the way of me consuming music as much as I'd truly like.

As always, I'd like to mention that this list reflects the albums that played the biggest part in my year. Music becomes woven into my life and into my favourite moments, so sentimentality often plays a big part into which albums are my favourites. In addition, I go to a lot of shows, and seeing songs from an album live often just makes them all the more special to me. My top ten list are quite simply the top ten albums that were the soundtrack of my life in the year 2011.

Since it was such a strong year, here are my honourable mentions:

Honeymoon Punch - Jenn Grant
Siberia - Lights

People & Things - Jack’s Mannequin

Wasting Light - Foo Fighters
Lights of Endangered Species - Matthew Good
Codes & Keys - Death Cab for Cutie

Now for the top ten!

10) Ceremonials - Florence & The Machine

I’d forgotten to check out this album until I saw Florence & The Machine’s performance on SNL. Florence has such a powerful voice, and is able to craft truly captivating songs that suit it. Each song on this album is powerful and empowering at the same time. This is one of my favourite albums to listen to all the way through on a subway ride, or on a train, or just while reading or cleaning at home. Florence’s voice and the gorgeous arrangements on each song make you thankful just to be listening.



Favourite songs: Only If for a Night and Shake It Out



9) Summer of Lust - Library Voices


Who doesn’t like intelligent poppy catchy songs? Seriously, who doesn’t? I most certainly do, and that’s why I like this album so much. I think I just discovered this Saskatchewan band this year, and downloaded their previous album Denim on Denim earlier in the year, and then waited for the August release of Summer of Lust with some excitement. I wasn’t disappointed with Library Voices’ sophomoric effort. There are horns galore, and each and every song easily embeds itself in your consciousness so you’ll find yourself humming it later on in the day. As I said, the songs are smart. References are made to atoms, Parliament, Coupland, Murakami, and my favourite song title by far is Reluctant Readers Make Reluctant Lovers.

Favourite songs: The Prime Minister’s Daughter and Regina, I Don’t Want to Fight



8) Collapse Into Now - R.E.M.

This album would make my list on its merit alone, but I have to admit that my sentimental heart gave it a lot of clout: this is the last time I’ll get the opportunity to put an album by R.E.M., a band who I’ve loved since I was eight, on my end-of-year list since they are going on permanent hiatus after a 31-year career.

There are those out there who got away from R.E.M. after a couple of lackluster records at the beginning of the last decade. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed their last two records, especially this one. I love how R.E.M. can maintain an early alternative sound to their work, even though they are an older band. The songs on this album are strong, and the album comes full circle with the closer Blue (featuring Patti Smith) that echos the opener Discoverer. Collapse Into Now is an album that allows R.E.M. to end their career on a high note.

Favourite Songs: Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter and Blue



7) Seeds - Hey Rosetta!

I am always very pleased when some little Canadian band that I discover randomly ends up garnering wide critical acclaim. I think I like the feeling that my tastes are validated, but moreover, I’m elated that they are experiencing such success. Just like with their debut, Hey Rosetta! earned a place on the Polaris Prize shortlist for their follow-up. The acclaim is well-deserved for this six-piece band from Newfoundland. Seeds opens with the bombastic eponymous track, and keeps up the pace for the duration of the album. One of my favourite songs on this album, Young Glass, just makes me think of Catcher in the Rye for some reason. I think it’s the shout out to Central Park that might do it. Random tidbit: Seeds is one of my favourite driving albums.

Favourite songs: Seeds and Young Glass



6) Hello Sadness - Los Campesinos!


For those of you who keep track of my year-end album lists (i.e. myself, that’s who I’m referring to... I have no delusions), you may remember that LC’s 2010 album Romance is Boring was my favourite album of that year. It’s quite impressive that this band is so prolific with two new albums in two years. Hello Sadness is a great album too; I think the reasons why it didn’t place as high as its predecessor is firstly that the “soundtrack of my life” factor always plays a part when I make these lists, and secondly, Hello Sadness is such a sad album. Of course, a sad LC album still means that you have insanely catchy songs, but the lyrics of this one make me feel sad. The fact that this album makes me feel so sad is a testament to how good this album really is.

Favourite songs: The Black Bird, The Dark Slope and Songs About Your Girlfriend



5) The Double Cross - Sloan


There are four reasons why this album made my list:



a) This album has THE BEST THREE FIRST SONGS of any album I’ve ever encountered. There is something about the trilogy of Follow the Leader/The Answer is You/Unkind that is EPIC. EPIC. The rest of the album is great too but those three songs are special and fit together perfectly.



b) This album is called The Double Cross in tribute to the fact that this is Sloan’s twentieth year as a band. (Double Cross = XX = 20, awww, they are clever!) For a band to rock this hard after twenty years is epic.

c) The three Jay Ferguson songs on The Double Cross (The Answer Was You, Green Gardens, Cold Montreal, and Beverley Terrace) melt my little heart. Jay is my favourite.

Favourite songs: The first three, of course



4) Metal Meets - Ohbijou



I loved this album so much that I bought at least four copies of it as Christmas presents since I like to support local bands. The sound on Metal Meets is big with beautiful strings, bass, keyboards and vocals. One of my favourite moments of 2011 was seeing Ohbijou perform songs from this album in a tiny record store.


Favourite songs: Niagara and Sligo



3) Oh Fortune - Dan Mangan


This is another album that I purchased multiple copies of as Christmas presents. Dan Mangan has cemented himself as one of Canada’s emerging singer/songwriting talents with his previous album, the Polaris Prize long-listed Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and with its strong follow-up. Dan’s songs continue to be evocative, and after seeing him live, I love how he surrounds himself with wonderful musicians who help bring his songs to life.

Favourite songs: About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All and Post-War Blues



2) Bon Iver - Bon Iver


I decided not to pay attention to Bon Iver’s previous album For Emma, Forever Ago because that's what I sometimes do with albums that get a lot of hype. However, when this album came out, I decided to check it out, and I fell in love. It’s one of those albums where each song just washes over you. It’s best listened to all in one go, and makes the perfect background music for a rainy night in while reading. One of my favourite moments of this year was seeing Bon Iver perform this album live.

Favourite songs: Holocene and Perth



1) Metals - Feist


This album is 2011 for me. I was highly anticipating this album ever since Feist mentioned last year that she was going to start working on a follow-up to The Reminder. Of course, as with any highly-anticipated follow-up to an excellent album, you wonder, will the artist be able to do it?

And, of course, Ms. Leslie Feist did. How did she do it? On her own terms, of course. She continued to collaborate with her friends, and instead of gearing this album to the pop-friendly audience she might have garnered with The Reminder, she went a bit dark and away from the mainstream with Metals. And it works wonderfully.

I love the variety of songs that this album has. The opener, The Bad in Each Other, sounds dark and powerful, and includes great background vocals from Bry Webb. Things start off quiet on the second track, The Graveyard, but quickly turn into a sing along during the chorus. Later on in the album A Commotion turns a broken heart into a wonderful cacophony. Even though some songs are complex, there are some quieter simple moments such as the song Bittersweet Melodies. The album ends with the lovely Get it Wrong, Get It Right where Feist ends the album singing “get it right, get it right” and she certainly did with this album.

Favourite songs: The Bad in Each Other and Caught A Long Wind

More.

I came across this image on Jocelyn's blog, and it sums up a lot of good goals for the upcoming new year. I had to share it on here. I'll have to come back to it when the year's less new for some inspiration.

So this is the new year.

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope your new year's eve and day were special.

Jason and I had a nice night in. He cooked risotto, I drank my favourite Beaujolais, and we watched part of The Royal Tenenbaums, the Louis CK Live at the Beacon Street Theatre Special, the ball drop in Times Square, and a couple episodes of Parks and Recreation. It was a nice night, and I'm rather glad that we didn't bother going out and having to face crowds, transit, cabs, etc. We do enough of that the rest of the year.

Today we also stayed in and watched an entire season of Parks and Rec. I love that show. Bring on season 4!

I was proud that this morning I had the motivation to get out of bed and go a run a fairly respectable 5K at the gym. I've been eating all the food over the holidays, and during the preceding week, so I feel a bit better that I've been compensating with a bit of exercise.

Of course, speaking of healthy eating and exercise, new year's brings with it the whole resolution thing. I like having goals, and I like to be realistic with them. Here are my three resolutions for the year.

1) Focus on eating healthy - I resolved to do this at the end of August actually, and was doing quite well up until December hit. However, starting January 9th, I'm going to revamp my eating habits. I'm going to ease in slowly this week, but I know I'll be still doing some celebratory social eating over the week, so I'm not going to be overly hardcore until next Monday.

I find that my biggest challenge is the vast amount of social eating that I do. However, when I plan for my nights out, and eat healthy during the week and when I'm at home, it gives me the opportunity to splurge once a week.

2) Continue exercising - This is really a re-commitment to all the running that I did in 2011. I'm quite happy that my current goal is to complete a 10K race in May, and I feel I'm well on my way to doing that. I'd also like to do another 5K in the spring to see by how much I can beat my personal best time. In addition to running, I'd like to incorporate more strength training and yoga into my fitness routine.

3) Get organized - My apartment, especially my bedroom, is really disorganized these days. I have to commit some time to organized and getting rid of stuff, and investing in some new things around my home.

In addition, when it comes to work, I have to get organized there as well. My desk isn't too bad these days, but I should take time to clear out my filing cabinet. Of course, there is always the issue of keeping on top of my marking too, which helps me feel more organized.

Hopefully this week, I can work on my resolutions by doing some exercise each day, eating at least two healthy meals, cutting back on snacks, completely one housework chore each day, and marking one set of assignments. Sounds like a lot but I'll feel better if I can get a head start on some things before school goes back.

Happy new year to you all! Good luck to you if you have any resolutions.