You wouldn't even be yourself if you weren't telling a lie.

Here's a rundown of a few days of epicness in reverse.

Today: I had a lazy morning of sleep, TV, and breakfast, and then I hopped on my bike to go to the gym for a Body Pump class. After I got home from the gym, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck - I was really tired. I spent the afternoon napping and watching TV, which is so not like me. After dinner, I got back on my bike and rode over to my work spouse's house. Our back-to-school plan was to create a "wall of fun" to hang up in our office. Basically, we went through old pictures of trips, parties, and random things that we have done together, and made a collage. It turned out well, and will cheer us up on stressful days.



Sunday: A morning of sloth, followed by a good run at the gym. I have another 5K race that I'm training for. This one occurs at dusk on Sept. 10th, and you run through a park with a light on your head. It sounded fun, so that's why I signed up.

After the gym, I met up with an old-time blog friend at a neighbourhood bakery. Readers who have been in my "blog circle" for ages probably remember Katie, who used to live in Montreal but then re-located to Toronto a few years ago. Anyway, we never had met each other in person, and decided this needed to be fixed. It was super fun hanging out IRL, and discussing work, life, politics, and all the great people we've both met from blogging, and the one person who was definitely not great. It's awesome that we live in the same 'hood, and I predict more coffees in our future.

Next up on my blog-buddy-to-meet list is Miss Ash. She's someone else who's so geographically close, but we've never organized ourselves to hang out. It will happen this fall. Stay tuned.

Sunday's fun doesn't end there. Jason dropped by for dinner, and then we headed to The Dakota Tavern to catch a small show featuring Kathleen Edwards (with Jim Bryson). We found out about it via Twitter, and it was a super intimate and fun. She played a few new songs too, and I think she mentioned her new album was coming soon. I'm excited.

She opened with the song below, so check it out if you'd like to introduce some gritty alt.country/folk/rock in your life.



Actually, Jason took a video of one of the songs and posted it on Youtube, so here it is. It gives you a good idea of what a tiny show it was.



Saturday: I hadn't seen my friend Wendy in forever, so I couldn't let the summer go by without spending a day with her. She lives in Hamilton, so I took the GO bus out there, and suggested we head to Niagara Falls for the hell of it. It was a beautiful day for a road-trip, and quite frankly, I was craving a chocolate-covered strawberry from the Hershey store.

Not only did I get my strawberry, I had ducked into Starbucks to use the washroom, and they now have a Niagara Falls Starbucks mug! Another one for my collection, woot!

We walked around for a bit, but it was so freakin' hot that we decided a nice air-conditioned lunch was necessary. Everything in downtown NF is pretty much a chain restaurant, so we settled on Boston Pizza. I never eat at chain restaurants in Toronto, so it's a weird treat to have the opportunity to do so.

The restaurant was by the Sky Wheel, and I decided we should go on that to get a nice aerial view of the Falls. Here's a nice view of the Canadian Falls that I took from the Sky Wheel. The mist coming up from the Falls is pretty impressive, eh?



However, from the Sky Wheel, you also get a great view of the Dinosaur Adventure mini-golf course, so we decided we needed to do that too.



It was lived up to its name, with a lot of fake dinosaurs, and we tied, so it was a nice game.



Our parking was up by then, so we headed back to Hamilton but stopped at the Winona Peach Festival on the outskirts. It was pretty crazy - lots of tents of vendors and food and stuff, but I was quite frankly expecting more peaches. However, I did come home with a big basket.

After that, I met her cat for the first time, and then I had to head back on the bus to Toronto. It was nice to get a good view of the CN Tower lit up orange for Jack Layton as the bus drove into the downtown core.


Friday: I was up early and off to the gym, and got a lot of errands done too. I didn't really have any evening plans, but luckily two of my pals from work were back in town after their summer trips, so we had a nice impromptu catch-up session.

Thursday: I totally don't remember what I did this day. It will remain a mystery for the ages.

Wednesday: While I was writing my previous blog post, I had the TV on with coverage of the memorial events that were happening for Jack Layton. I decided to go down to City Hall to pay my respects. I wrote "thank you Jack" in chalk on the sidewalk, and signed the condolence book. I think the past week since Jack's death has been a really surreal and emotional experience for most Canadians. When I went down to City Hall the mood was very sombre and quiet. I had to hold back tears. I know I, like many other people, didn't realize quite what an impact Jack Layton had on them until he was gone. I will carry his message of love, hope, and optimism always.

That night Jason and I were supposed to go see the outdoors screening of The Muppet Movie, but tornado warnings changed those plans. We ended up staying in and having dinner. We were treated to a wicked thunderstorm with lightning that seemed to last for hours.

And that my friends, brings you up to date on my penultimate week of summer vacation. And now we're on to the home stretch. Hope your weeks treat you well!

Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, wake up.

After a couple of sunny days where I went on some bike rides and sat in the sun on a patio and read a bit, the weather's turned a little cloudy and ominous. And what bad timing. There is a screening of The Muppet Movie in a park downtown courtesy of TIFF, and Jason and I had plans to go, but it looks like it's gonna thunderstorm, so that might not happen.

Yesterday, I received a letter from AA in the mail in response to my complaint about the customer service I received after my cancelled flight. It included a voucher towards a flight in the future. It could cover a trip to NYC, Chicago, or Boston (I've been doing my research), but I've been to those places all recently. It's not like I have to use it right away; it doesn't seem to have an expiry date, but I've already been thinking about how I could use it. I've always wanted to experience NYC at Christmastime and go skating at Rockefeller Centre. Or maybe I can use it to go somewhere warm (Miami? California?) in the the winter. Anyway, it's just a fun thing to think about.

Yesterday, a new album came out by a band I recently discovered: Library Voices. It's called "Summer of Lust" and it's a really catchy album. I love it. My favourite song on it is "The Prime Minister's Daughter". It's a pretty catchy tune that imagines that Stephen Harper's daughter will grow up to date a dude in a band which would be highly ironic considering his views on arts-funding. Give it a listen:

All the other songs are similarly clever and catchy. Another catchy song, sung to the city of Regina, is "Regina, I Don't Want to Fight", which I found ironic listening to considering my recent post about never having been to Saskatchewan.

Hmmm, what else? I've been having such a laid-back week this week. It's my first this summer. I've been using extra time to cook a little bit, sleep in, catch up with some friends online, and to chill. I'm getting a mani-pedi tomorrow, and I have plans to go on a mini road-trip to Niagara Falls with a friend on Saturday. Next week, I'll have to start planning lessons and photocopying. I think I'm a bit ready to go back. Daresay I'm getting bored and I could use money. I could have more summer vacation, but to enjoy it, I'd have to go on another trip, and that costs money, and I need to work for more money, so that's where I am now - I need to work another year to support my holidays. But I'm hoping I have some nice classes that will allow me to nerd out and plan some fun lessons.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Sadness, but hope.

I woke up this morning to find out that Canada lost an amazing political leader to cancer. I always hoped that one day I'd be able to call Jack Layton our Prime Minister, but sadly, that won't happen.

I highly doubt that any Canadian, regardless of their political stripes, could read his last letter to Canadians without feeling emotional and sadness that Canada lost an amazing leader at his peak.

The closing lines of his letter leave all Canadians, and I think everyone around the world, with words to live by.

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

Well said, Mr. Layton. May you rest in peace. I hope that one day your vision of Canada, and the world, is realized.

I never...

I am procrastinating right now, and what better to do whilst procrastinating than to steal a meme from someone's blog (in this case wigsf's)?

I never...

...have travelled to Asia, South America, Africa, or Antarctica. There are a lot of continents left on my travel list.

...have been to Saskatchewan or Newfoundland. It's one of my goals to have visited all ten provinces, so those are two travel destinations on my list. (Wait, can one call Saskatchewan a travel destination?)

...have seen Death Cab for Cutie in concert. I think I've pretty much seen every other band I love live.

...have tried Jagermeister.

...got around to buying an air-conditioner, nor a new couch this summer. I swore up and down that I'd do both, but here we are in the waning days of August.

...have been downhill skiing. Or water-skiing either.

...will forget the entire lyrics to Weezer's "El Scorcho". They've been in my head since 1996, and I'm pretty sure they will stay there.

...will be able to get rid of my black Doc Martens from the 90s.

...tried Mr. Pibb + Red Vines. Apparently, they equal crazy delicious.

...posted any pictures from Chicago. So here are some!

Swim until you can't see land.

I am back from a quick trip to St. Ratford and back to retrieve one cat. I left here on Monday morning, and made it there by noon. I relaxed, chilled with the 'rents, visited my aunt, and then I spent today running errands and went to the gym which was really good. I've been feeling pretty lazy post-trip, so that first good workout felt invigorating.

And now we're home and I'm feeling the need for a random-ish post. My friend Heather is visiting me for a couple days and arrives tomorrow morning. We've got a spa day planned for Thursday and I'm not sure what else, but it will be fun catching up and doing girly things.

Now for the random.

1) The Winter of Mixed Drinks

Jason brought me this album by the band Frightened Rabbit back from when he visited Montreal while I was in the US. He saw this Scottish band play at a music festival there. Anyway, I really love the album; it makes me nostalgic for the summer where I visited Claire in Scotland since they mention the North Sea. It's a great road-trip listen too. I had it in the car with me on my way to St. Ratford and back. I recommend it. Its title gives me an idea of what my winter should be.

2) My emo heart is beating fast.

Jack's Mannequin, the band that appeals oh-so-well to my inner-sixteen year old, just released a new song and the video makes me oh-so-happy!

3) I will most liked explode on October 4th.

That's when the new Jack's Mannequin album comes out, AND the new Feist album too! I think the Feist album will win the battle, but seriously, I will be over-stimulated that day.

4) Some random pictures of NYC.

This evening as I was walking down my street here in Toronto, I thought "I miss New York!" I thinking I was daydreaming about Central Park. Here are some pictures of NYC, since I haven't posted any (anywhere!) yet.

Statue of Liberty as seen from our 'round Manhattan boat cruise.

View of our lovely hotel from Central Park:

Me walking in Central Park:

The memorial for John Lennon in Strawberry Fields in Central Park. I think I look for it every time I visit NYC.

Me at Tiffany's. No, I'm not giving the peace sign like a silly teenager. I am holding up two fingers to symbolize the fact that I had to go to Tiffany's twice. The first time I bought a necklace that upon further reflection, I thought made me look too old. I exchanged it for a bracelet. (Rare photo of my on my blog: note, it was windy!)

Here's the bracelet. (And a sparkly ring I bought at Swarovski. The picture doesn't do it justice.I blame Vern for that purchase.)

Times Square. I love this picture (taken by Vern) of the Wicked sign. Oh, how I loved that musical. Also, the Sbarro makes me think of the episode of the office where Michael goes to NYC and eats at Sbarro. Oh, and can you spot Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in the ad for his Broadway musical?

Here's a view of the Manhattan Bridge from my favourite Brooklyn neighbourhood - DUMBO.

And here, from the same beach, is a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. (You have one bridge on your left, one bridge on your right.) We crossed that sucka three times that day: twice during our race, and once we walked it on our way home from DUMBO, so that we could take in the view at a more leisurely pace.

Lastly, here I am walking in one of my favourite Manhattan neighbourhoods: Greenwich Village. We went there for lunch on our supposed-to-be-last-day in NYC. It started to pour, and I left my umbrella packed in my suitcase (silly) so I had to buy this new purple one at CVS.

Ahh, I do <3 NY even though it never wants to let me leave. My 2009 trip to NYC also had a cancelled flight home, but that time, it just meant that we were put on a plane that left 1.5 hours later. Hell, I still love you New York. (I stole that line from Ryan Adams.)

Happy Wednesday pals!

How Come You Never Go There?

I survived the night in the fleabag hotel and made it back home to Toronto. I've never been up and at them so early and quickly than I was on Wednesday morning. We made it out of that place at 7:30 am, even though our rescheduled flight was at 11:20 am.

Of course, things didn't go 100% smoothly from there. When we arrived to the airport, we couldn't check in using the self-service kiosk, so we had to stand in the "problem line" for about twenty minutes. When we got to the agent and gave her our confirmations that we had received the prior evening, she said "you missed your flight."

WTF, I thought as my heart dropped. How hard is it for me to get home? Also, how can you tell me that I've missed my flight when I'm here almost four hours early?

"You were originally scheduled on the 6:45 am flight from La Guardia," the agent explained.

"Yes, we told the agent last night that we wanted that changed," I explained. Who wanted the trouble of moving to another airport, and getting there in time for 6:45 am?

"She didn't cancel that flight, so when you didn't show up for that flight, your booking on the 11:20 am flight was cancelled," she continued using a tone that insinuated that this was somehow our fault.

I asked her if she could fix that, and she could, but seriously, who needs a couple more minutes of stress after your flight was cancelled in the first place? Seriously, I am never flying American Airlines again. I already wrote them an email where I explained that the service at the airport the first night sucked (the agent gave us the wrong reason for our flight cancellation and did not give us a "distressed traveller" voucher for a discount on our fleabag hotel). They haven't responded yet. Boo.

However, we did manage to check in, have a nice enough breakfast at the airport, and chill in the terminal for a bit. Of course, our flight was delayed by another 45 minutes, but we made it Toronto, and there was absolutely no line at customs and our baggage got to us quickly, so at least there were some silver linings.

***

It's so nice to be home though! We've had some really nice summer weather the past couple of days (not too hot and no humidity) and I'm glad to have some down time. I'm going to pick up Miss Rilo on Monday and spend the night at my parents', but I'm glad to have a chill weekend ahead of me. I have to do some heavy-duty apartment cleaning (as always, I never seem to beat the clutter), but I think I'm going to bike to Starbucks this afternoon and finish reading the novel about Frank Lloyd Wright that I picked up while visiting Oak Park.

I also have to write up some proper posts (with pictures) about my trip! My last few days in NYC were great. The run went really well. My time was really similar to my first 5K in May, which I was pleased with since I hadn't been training too hard since then. Also, the weather was pretty hot and humid that day, and there were two hills on the route, so I think having an equal time on a tougher route is a bit of an improvement. The scenery was beautiful and I waved to the Statue of Liberty when I saw her.

I'm not emotionally ready to go back to school yet, but my bank account sure is. However, I'm looking forward to the fall/winter already. I have some really awesome concerts lined up: Dan Mangan, Matthew Good, Feist, and Tori Amos. I'm totally pumped for Feist's new album. I came across the first single on the internet today, and I like it a lot.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Just think, soon enough the days of the week will have meaning for me yet again.

Silver linings and first world problems.

As you all know, I like to travel. And thus far, all of my travels have gone relatively problem free. There's been a delayed-flight here, a lost bag there, and a couple express trains hopped when they should have been locals. However, right now I am facing my biggest travel SNAFU ever.

My flight home was cancelled because of "air traffic control". Airline policy is that we are responsible for finding and paying for our own accommodations. We did our best while tired, annoyed, and lost since we don't know Queens, and have ended up in a scuzzy hotel by the airport. And I won't even tell you about how I got us on the wrong hotel shuttle, which ended up bringing us to an even worse place than this one. I guess the fact that we're not there is a silver lining.

Another silver lining is that we do have free wifi, which our swanky Manhattan hotel did not have.

I had potato chips and peanut butter M&Ms for dinner. We walked over to nicer hotels to see if we could eat in one of their restaurants (closed), and tried to order pizza, but they wouldn't deliver. At least this place has vastly available junk food, I guess, which is yet another silver lining.

We could have stayed at the Sheraton. But our reasoning was that this was cheaper, but still expensive enough to be nice, right? Wrong. If you're ever stuck in this situation, go brand name. Of course, if we had been travelling in Canada, I would have had my handy data plan on my iPhone, and would have looked this place up, so that would have saved us some grief.

Anyway, I do realize that after having a really amazing holiday (I'll blog about the rest later, I swear), this isn't the worst thing in the world that can happen. Hence, it really is a first world problem, that a lot of people would be more than happy to have. However, right now, all I can think about is how much I would love to be at home in my own bed.

Please let there be no cancellation tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me, blogosphere.

p.s. And another silver lining - Vern has gummy bears from FAO Schwarz in her suitcase. Oh, and we have time to share photos!

p.p.s. And I do realize as well how my problems could be way worse, especially considering the riots in London. If things were different, I very well could be there right now, since it's another favourite city of mine. However, I'm not, and my prayers are with my friends in London right now.

NYC!

I love this city. This is my third time visiting, but my first in the summer, so it's nice to see a different side of it. Here's a rundown of what I've packed into the last 24 hours or so.

1) Cabbed from the airport to our really nice hotel on Central Park South. We have been schlepping our stuff on public transit thus far, and after a long flight from SLC to NYC, we splurged on a cab. Plus, the bumpy, crazy, heart-rate-increasing ride is definitely the way to arrive to the city.

2) We navigated the subway to go to little Italy for a nice dinner. My travel buddy loves Italian food, and I love starting NYC trips with a random dinner in Little Italy. Last time I was in NYC we did the same, and I actually found the same yummy restaurant so it was nice to return. Little Italy is awesome on a Friday night in the summer: the streets are closed off to traffic, there are patios everywhere, and there are carts selling gelato and canolis. I was very full when I left Mulberry Street.

3) I woke up early, and went for a nice jog in Central Park. There was some sort of race going on at the same time, yet I was still able to carve my own route on a different path. I love Central Park so much, and I plan on going there a few more times, hopefully for some biking and sight-seeing, before we leave Tuesday night.

4) We started our afternoon by going down Fifth Avenue and doing some shopping. I had decided my big souvenir from this trip would be something shiny from the original Tiffany & Co. It's only a little silver necklace, but I love it. I love the NYC Tiffany shopping experience. All the sales people are really nice, and you get to take the elevator (complete with happy elevator operator) to the third floor where they sell the silver that is affordable for regular people. As I was leaving the store, one saleslady commented "oh, I see you got yourself a blue bag of happiness!" It was very sweet.

5) We headed to one of my fave NYC spots: 30 Rockerfeller Plaza. It's always nice to walk around and see sights familiar from my favourite NBC TV shows.

6) After a completely meh lunch (were running short on time, so went to the first restaurant we saw), we headed to the Gershwin Theatre for Wicked. WOW. It was an amazing show. It might be my favourite musical ever. It's much much different from the book, so Jabba, you'd even like it! I missed it when it was in Toronto awhile ago; but I think seeing it on Broadway must have been better because the sets and the effects were extremely effective. I got teary-eyed at the end of Act One just because the show (and the singing) were so good.

7) We headed back to our hotel to relax, and then headed off to Starbucks* in the rain. We are doing a 5K run across the Brooklyn Bridge tomorrow, so we had to figure out the details and how to get there, hence I'm sitting and blogging. With the rain, and the fact I'll have to be up tomorrow morning at about 6 am, it's going to be a chill night. I think I'll just enjoy the comfy couch in the hotel room and do some reading.

Hope you are all having fabulous weekends! :)

*I like Starbucks in general, but it's so handy when you're on vacation for the free wifi!

Utah in a Nutshell.

I haven't blogged yet from Utah, and I apologize. This part of my trip has been way more laid-back than the Chicago part, and I had ample time, but I think I was just too busy hanging out and chilling to really get to it. But now I will.

We arrived in Utah on Saturday, which now feels like a lifetime ago. I love how time goes so much slower when you are away from home and having fun. Anyway, once our plane landed in Salt Lake City, we rented a car, and I drove twisty mountain roads (it was a little scary!) to arrive in Mount Pleasant, Utah.

We spent the first night catching up with our friends Sandra (Go9) and her husband Jason. We even went out for ice cream at the Shave 'N Cream. As soon as we drove by this place, I died laughing at the name, and knew I had to go. We went the first night and got a tonne of ice cream for $7.50. I asked for a single scoop of ice cream (cost = $1) and got three giant scoops. And yes, I checked, and that was indeed a single scoop. After that I was on a giant sugar high, and composed a song in the car.

On Sunday, we took a long ride out to Arches National Park. It took almost three hours to get there, but it was worth it. Utah's a big state.

Here's a picture of a lookout that we stopped at:

Here's one of the arches at the park. I forget which one it is.

We then hiked up to the arch and climbed in it. Can you spot 1/3 of the Go9?

Here I am walking towards another arch. I've also forgotten the name of this one.

Monday and Tuesday were spent just chilling around town. We went for a road-trip to the nearest "big" city (Provo: an hour's drive away) to go to Best Buy. I thought I'd broken my camera near the end of my hike in the park. I got some sand in the lens and it wouldn't go in and out any more, but it worked again by the time we got to Provo. We still did some shopping, and everyone else bought new electronics except me.

On Monday evening, I cooked my awesome veggie chili for dinner, and we had a nice meal with the very classy wine that Vern and I brought from Chicago. We bought it at Walgreen's one night with the intent of drinking it in our hotel room, but that never happened, so it came to Utah with us. We had a nice campfire in the backyard, made s'mores, and then we girls stayed up talking past 2 am.

Vern and I left Mount Pleasant at noon today, and drove to Park City, where we'll be spending the next two nights. Before we left town, one last stop at the Shave 'N Cream was needed, as well as a photo of us, the sign, and our rental car taken with the self-timer on my now-alive camera.

The drive to Park City was very scenic, with many mountains, lakes, and twisty roads. I'm getting pretty good at this mountain driving, I tell you. After we checked into our hotel, we drove to Main Street and spent the evening wandering around, doing a little shopping, and having a nice supper of some pretty yummy pepperoni pizza. Here's a picture of Main Street:

Tomorrow we have lots on our plate: perhaps a scenic train ride, a visit to an Olympic site where Vern's going to force me to zipline, and then we will head off to Salt Lake City to meet up with The Grunt! I'm excited!

Hope you're all having great weeks. I will hopefully get in a post from NYC, and I will definitely have to backtrack at some point and post pictures from Chicago!

p.s. Vern was commenting that my Utah post is way longer than my Chicago post. That's because that one was from my iPhone, and this one's from my laptop. Yay for hotels with free wi-fi!

Quick Chicago Post

Been holidaying hard in Chicago. Done lots and lots of stuff.

Day #1 - Shopped the Magnificent Mile and went out for deep dish pizza. It was all right. The crust was too pastry-esque for me.

Day #2 - Morning lakeshore run, Chicago Art Institute, Architectural boat cruise, Navy Pier.

Day #3 - Morning lakeshore bike ride, lunch on the 95th floor of the Hancock building, Shedd Aquarium, Millenium Park.

Today - Venturing out to new neighbourhoods (Oak Park, Wicker Park). Dinner with Chicago blog buddy!

Tomorrow - Flying to Utah, then driving to middle of nowhere in Utah to visit Sandra (Go9). Think I'm gonna experience culture shock out there.

However, Utah could be a nice change of pace where I can do some reading, catching up on blogs, and whatnot. Catch you then!

Hillside!!!

I've been completely lazy and exhausted today from a great first Hillside experience. Three days of music, beer, sun, water, food, and fun have left me absolutely shattered. I should be packing right now since I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow morning, but well, I'm naturally a procrasinator, and when I'm tired, I'm even worse. That's okay though. I have a hard time falling asleep the night before I leave for a trip, so I might as well leave my packing until the last minute.

Anyway, I loved my first Hillside experience! Hillside takes place at Guelph Lake Conservation Area on the island. It's a beautiful site surrounded by trees and water. Jason, who has been to Hillside a couple of times before, had described the Hillside experience and philosophy to me, however, it was pretty amazing to see a music festival done "right". And by right, I mean that Hillside is committed to being good to the environment, and to creating an event that fosters community, and living in the moment.

You might remember that for Canada Day, I went to a show at Downsview Park. And while I had tonnes of fun at the show, it was pretty much the antithesis of Hillside. You couldn't bring in your own water, so you were gouged and had to pay $4 for bottled water; there was no tap water provided if you brought your own water container. Only Budweiser (yuck) was available, and served in plastic cups. The food was expensive and nothing to be impressed with. At the end of the night, my friend and I were thinking about all the waste that littered the park: water bottles, food containers, beer cups, and so forth.

Hillside, however, is all about people working together to protect the environment and produce little waste. In fact, the whole festival is staffed by volunteers. There was not a single bottle of bottled water on site, everyone (including performers) brought their own containers and got water from a giant water truck filled with tap water. If you wanted beer (yummy beer from a local microbrewery), you had to use a reusable Hillside mug. Since I hadn't been before, I bought this year's version, which is made from corn and biodegradable. Food was served on dishes that were washed by volunteers. There were trash turnaround areas where you could sort your waste into dishes, recyclables, organics, and finally trash. The main stage, which is now a permanent fixture on the island, has a green roof.

It's amazing to see how you can have an event and really minimize the impact on the environment simply through people working together and being conscious. At the end of the three days, there was very little trash on the ground, which was quite a difference compared to the massive amounts of litter produced at my Canada Day show.

Another great part of Hillside is the community. All the people washing the dishes, getting your water, etc. are volunteers, which is cool. Many of them have been with the festival for years. The food vendors are all local, and all the beer that is served is from local microbreweries. There is no big corporate advertising anywhere. Everything is very well organized and thoughtfully done: there are even nice messages taped inside the port-o-potties to make that experience a little bit nicer. (My fave: "Every moment is precious. Even this one. Breathe deeply.") People tend to be way nicer to each other at this festival than at others. In fact, I experience no CGR (concert-going-rage) at this event. A lady was nice enough to give me some toilet paper that she brought from home on the first night 'cuz the port-o-potty was out. I reciprocated this random kindness by giving a random woman a hair elastic because I heard her say she'd forgotten to bring one and needed to tie up her hair in the heat.

Of course, the music was my favourite part of the show. There are three stages, so you have to make some choices. Here's a list of everyone I caught:
- Lights
- The Dears
- One Hundred Dollars
- Torquil Campbell (of Stars) jamming with Hooded Fang
- Dala
- Dan Mangan, Mother Mother, and Hannah Georgas (all from Vancouver) jamming together
- Memphis
- Emmanual Jal (I caught one song, but he was impressive!)
- Dan Mangan
- Hannah Georgas
- These United States
- Mother Mother
- Lowlands
- Modern Field Recordings
- Old Man Luedecke
- Kevin Drew jamming with most of Sloan
- Shannon Kingsbury Band
- Kevin Drew & The Beauties
- The Rural Alberta Advantage
- Serena Ryder & The Beauties
- Common Grackle
- Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
- Slooooooooo-oooooooooooan (to close out the event)

Wow, that was a lot, but it was all excellent. What were the standouts? Well...

- I really enjoyed One Hundred Dollars. The lead singer has an excellent voice that reminds me of Neko Case.

- Memphis is Torq's (of Stars) side project and I've loved them for a long time, but this was the first time I saw them perform. They had to start off the set with just two members because they were waiting for the others to be boated across the lake to the stage. They made it though! The band closed with a great version of "Incredibly Drunk on Whiskey" which is such a fun song.

- Dan Mangan put on a great set even though he made a mistake of wearing jeans in such hot weather.

- I'd never really heard much by Mother Mother, but they put on a great show. It was really high energy with catching songs.

- Old Man Luedecke, my favourite banjo player who is from Nova Scotia, put on a great show which had the whole audience stomping and clapping, and even won over the grumpy old men behind us who declared him "boring with a banjo". Even they were clapping along a few songs in!

- Kevin Drew (of Broken Social Scene) put on a great show with Toronto's The Beauties. It was excellent. They closed with a great cover of the Arcade Fire's Empty Room.

- The Beauties also played with Serena Ryder, and put on another great set.

- Sloan closed out the event with a stellar version of Money City Maniacs.

And lastly, for some pictures! I was just going to post one of each band I saw, but I'm a horrible photographer, so I'll just put up the ones I'd posted on instagram, which I actually like.

My reusable beer mug, filled with Flying Monkey's Antigravity Light Ale:

Folk duo Dala on the Main Stage:

Memphis:
Dan Mangan:

Chris Murphy of Sloan during the afternoon jam with Kevin Drew (not pictured). Jay Ferguson of Sloan is covered by Chris' guitar.


Sloan closing out the festival:

Do I have any Hillside regrets? Yes. Two.

1) I only wore SPF 30 on Saturday and got burned on my shoulders. Yuck. I got SPF 60 for Sunday and did not burn any further.

2) I did not see Fred Penner. He's a kids' artist that every good Canadian of my age watched on CBC. He was playing at the same time as the Rural Alberta Advantage, who Jason likes a lot, and I was interested to hear. They were good, but then I heard that both Dan Mangan and Serena Ryder jammed with Fred. And I swear everyone I heard walking around said: "Did you see Fred Penner? He was amazing!"

Moral of the story: always choose Fred Penner.

I do not regret any of the food I ate. I had a really yummy Italian sausage with roasted corn on Saturday, and organic pumpkin ice cream. It tasted like pumpkin pie. On Sunday, I had the Indian taco, which Jason highly recommended from past experience. It had beef chili, cheese, peach salsa, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, and fried Ojibway bread. It was sooo good. That day I had chocolate ice cream, which was good, but not as good as the pumpkin.

I drank a lot of beer, but I sweat out all the toxins because it was hot and sunny.

All in all, I loved my first Hillside experience and I'm excited to go back.

Now I have to go pack.

Later all. Next post will be from Chicago!

Road Trip Week

I'm going to need a day to collapse and rest soon. But seriously, there is no time for that when one is busy holidaying hard! Well, actually Monday was a little bit of a day of rest. I lazed around my house until the late afternoon when I went to the gym, then met up with Jason for sushi/gelato in the evening.

Anyway, on Tuesday I got a car and drove Miss Rilo to my parents' house. You know what that means - my travels are approaching very soon! Rilo was less angry in the car, but still grumpy about the whole trip. However, she was happy as soon as we got to my parents' house. She likes it there, and they like her a lot, so everyone is happy once the car ride is done.

While in St. Ratford last night, I finished reading Wicked. Yes, Jabba, I survived the bear scene. ;) I felt the book was very good during the first part, and then it picked up again in the fourth and fifth parts. I'm very excited for the musical in NYC!

I left bright and early this morning to return the car, then meet up with my pal Eric at the gym. I wanted to stay in air-conditioning as long as possible, so I ran after our class, and then got my hair cut and my eyebrows done. Then, I came home and had a nap. I woke up from my nap insanely hot, so I decided to take myself to the movies to see Horrible Bosses. It was really, really funny. It's worthwhile to see even if you don't need to go see a movie mainly for the air conditioning.

So, tomorrow the temperature in Toronto is supposed to reach 37 degrees Celsius. I am yet again picking up a car, then getting my work spouse, and we're going to drive to Midland, Ontario to visit a friend who used to work in our department. We miss her a lot and I haven't seen her in a year and a half, so it will be a fun day.

On Friday, I will undertake my third road trip of the week: Jason and I are heading to Guelph to the Hillside Festival. It'll be three days of indie music in a conservation area with lots of yummy food. I've been excited for this ever since we got our weekend passes in April. It looks like the weekend will be hot, but hopefully dry (maybe thundershowers on Sunday... fingers crossed they hold out). I'm also looking forward to staying in an air-conditioned hotel. How sad is that? Every summer I say I'm going to get an air-conditioner, and then I make it until the typical July heat wave, get too busy, and then figure that if I've survived this far, why bother?

After the three road trips, I'll have Monday to get ready for my big Chicago/Utah/NYC excursion, and then I fly out on Tuesday.

And the holidaying hard continues.

I holiday hard.

Here's an epic recap post of my last five days of summer vacation awesomeness.

Wednesday

I lazed around in the morning and then went to my favourite Body Pump class at 1:15pm. I really like the instructor, and my friend Eric goes to this one. My work spouse/gym buddy also joined us, which made the class fun, and we chit-chatted for awhile after.

When I got home, my dear Claire phoned me and we had a lovely catch-up conversation. We discussed the concept of holidaying hard, and that's where the title of this post comes from, because I've definitely been holidaying hard these past two weeks.

Becca T came home from a visa appointment and we watched Harry Potter 7 part 1 to get ourselves prepped and psyched for the new movie.

Thursday

Thursday morning I biked to the gym to go for a run. I do not enjoy running outside in the heat (nor the rain, cold, or a multitude of other conditions), so I spent some time on the treadmill. Don't forget, I've got that 5K in NYC to prep for. Not sure if I'll be ready for it, but I'm doing my best.

After the gym, I biked home, showered, and hopped on the bus out to Scarborough to meet up with Becca T at the mall. Our friend Flora, who had a baby about three weeks ago, lives out there, and a visit was necessary. It was fun catching up and meeting her cute little guy.

In the evening, Becca and I headed out to see more university friends. Our friends Jon and Ali (it's very convenient when your friends marry each other) threw a reunion party for our group of friends. I'd seen mostly everyone within the past year, but the highlight was seeing my friend Matt who I hadn't seen in maybe four years. He'd gone off to work in Azerbijan, and now is living in Calgary, but might move back soon. It was really nice reconnecting with him, plus seeing all of the old group who I don't see often enough. We've all changed in years since university, but we still click as a group, and as soon as we're together it seems like old times. Awwwww. It was a great evening.

Friday

Friday was the special day that I planned for Becca T, and I ended up fleshing it out with more fun stuff in the days since my last post. I'll run down the schedule.

9:30 am - Body Pump class. I got Becca some free passes and she was keen to come build some muscle with me.

12:00 pm - Mani/pedis at my favourite neighbourhood nail spa. I ruined the surprise slightly before we headed off to "undisclosed location #1", because I was showing Becca my new red sun dress that I had planned to wear that day and I said "I'll have to get my toes painted a colour that matches this dress... Oh shit!!!" Anyway, she had suspected I'd scheduled some pampering time.

2:00 pm - Lunch at Sassafraz in Yorkville. I managed to not ruin the surprise of "undisclosed location #2", which was the bigger surprise, anyhow. As I described before, ever since university, we'd wanted to eat at this posh restaurant, and now we finally had. We ordered off their $25 prix fixe Summerlicious menu, and the food was absolutely delicious. We splurged on white sangria, and finished the meal off with lattes. During the meal Becca commented that we were living a day like trophy wives do, and it was absolutely true.

We didn't take too many pictures in the restaurant, because we didn't want to be those guys, but my sangria was so pretty that I couldn't help but take a shot.



4:10 pm - Harry Potter 7.2!! The movie was EPIC. WOW. I've seen each and every HP movie in theatres, and it's strange to think there will be no more. I got very emotional during the movie, and I've never been to a movie before when people are clapping when people are killed. (Sounds morbid, eh?) It was such a great film. Hats of to JK Rowling for creating HP, and for the actors, directors, writers, etc. who were able to bring it to life on film.

6:30 pm - Drinks at the Duke of York. After the movie we walked to the Duke of York, a cute pub with a great patio near U of T. Jason met up with us, as did Eric, who wanted to see Becca T during her week in Toronto. It was a pretty fun night. We polished off quite a bit of beer, and discussed everything from the Muppets to male burlesque.

And can you believe after all of that, Becca T and I stayed up doing laundry? It needed to be done. Holidaying hard has its byproducts: dirty clothes.

Saturday

Luckily, we got to sleep in a bit. Then we trekked out to Mathew's place so that Becca T could see all of the renovations he'd done on his new house. Our friend Elaine met up with us there too, and we wet to Swiss Chalet for lunch. Yum. Becca hadn't been yet since her return to Canada, and that was a restaurant that we could afford during university, so it was good to make a full circle with respect to our culinary choices of the week.

Later in the afternoon we decided to meet up with Jason to take the ferry out to Centre Island to catch a show planned for Parks Canada's 100th birthday celebration. The wait for the ferry was absolutely hellish. There was no shade over the waiting area, and the sun was beating down on us. There were tonnes of people heading over to the island since it was a beautiful day, and there was also an Indian festival going on. The waiting area had no queuing system; people were just packed in like cattle and pushed and shoved as soon as the gate for the ferry opened. Poor Becca almost got run over by two strollers. It was madness. I seriously felt like a refugee try to pack on a boat to escape.

After we got on the boat, the rage and stress subsided, and it was so beautiful on the island. We arrived to the concert in time to find a shady spot to spread a blanket and listen to Serena Ryder. We moved closed to the stage for Sarah Harmer's set, which was amazing, as usual. She's such a great singer, songwriter and performer. Seeing her definitely fit the week's theme of connecting with university memories, since we listened to her a lot back then.



After the show, we couldn't help but hang around and take some pictures of Toronto's skyline in the setting sun.



The line for the ferry going back was INSANE, so we decided to hike 3.25 km to the east end of the island (Ward's Island) to take that ferry back instead. It was a really nice walk despite the mosquitos. It had cooled off, and once we got away from Centre Island, it completely felt like we were out of the city. Of course, a lot of people had the same idea as we did, but the line was orderly, and we got on the second ferry back to the city. I think we only had to wait for about forty minutes or so in total after a walk.

Today

This morning Becca had to leave to go take care of work stuff in Vancouver, so she was off to the airport, and her visit was done. We went out for coffee in the morning to celebrate a super fun week. I hope I'll get to see her again before she heads back to France; she has to pick up her visa at some point, so hopefully that's when I'm in the city.

I came home and passed out on my couch for awhile. It's a really hot day, so I decided to see a nice air-conditioned movie. Jane Eyre was playing at one of the old-fashioned rep cinemas in my neighbourhood, so I decided to see that since I love the novel, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen a movie version of it. It was well done; the actor playing Mr. Rochester was dark, brooding, and handsome, and the cinematography of the English moors was outstanding.

I'd also made it a goal to see a movie at this theatre, because it is right out of the 1960s. It's taken me four years, but I finally did it.



So, week #2 of summer vacation is over. Next week is road trip week. I'll write more about that as it's happening. Happy Monday everyone!

I could see for miles, miles, miles.

Random thoughts post.

1) First, I'll answer some questions from my previous post.

a) Wigsf asked me what a Body Pump class is. It's one of the fitness classes offered by GoodLife (my gym). It's a weight class where you lift barbells to strengthen different muscle groups. I was intimidated to try the class at first 'cuz there's a lot of stuff involved (weights, mats, steps, etc.) but then I did it for the first time with a friend awhile ago, and I've been trying to do it as much as possible during the summer. I don't like doing strength training at the gym. I get bored, and I hate having to wait for someone else to finish using a machine. Body Pump is lots of fun, and really hard at first, but I'm really enjoying it! The first time you do it, you really feel it, but now my body is getting used to it. But I have upped my weights for squats and my thighs are feeling it today!

b) Jabba asked me how I was liking the book Wicked. I really liked the first part of the book, but the second part hasn't kept my interest as much. However, since I'm now about 40% through the book, I'd really like to finish. I haven't gotten to the scene with the bears yet, which Jabba said was where she stopped reading, so I'm kind of scared to get to that part.

2) I downloaded the new Bon Iver album last night and I really love it. I never really got into his previous stuff, but this album is gorgeous and symphonic. It's one of those albums that you have to listen to multiple times to really figure out, and I love that.

3) I'm having a good visit with Becca T. Today we met up with our mutual friend Elaine for a sushi lunch. Fun times.

4) It's been really hot in Toronto for the past three days. We are supposed to be getting a reprieve, and I can't wait. I'm not a fan of heat.

5) Did anyone watch the ABC interview with Jaycee Dugard on Sunday night? I did, and it was pretty amazing. She's the girl who was kidnapped in California when she was 11 years old, and held captive by a couple of psychos for 18 years. She was raped by her captor and gave birth to two daughters, and they were all found in 2009. It's a pretty amazing story, and her outlook on life is amazing. She doesn't want to spend time hating or being bitter but living her life and loving it. Her story reminds me of Emma Donoghue's book Room. That book was published in 2010, so it must have been written before she was found, but the parallels are there. Jaycee wrote a book that actually came out today, but after seeing her interview, I don't think I could handle reading the book because it sounds like she describes the physical cruelty that she endured, and I was uncomfortable enough hearing about it during the interview. However, her view is that it's his shame, not hers, and she wants to stare the cruelty down in the face to overcome it. I think I read that they are re-running the interview on Saturday if you missed it and are interested.

6) On Thursday, my friend Ali is organizing a reunion party for a bunch of my university friends since Becca T is home, as is my friend Matt, who was in Azerbijan for many years. It will be lots of fun.

7) I am excited for Friday as well because I have planned belated birthday surprises for Becca T. She doesn't read this ever, so I can reveal them on here. First we are going for mani-pedis, then I've made reservations at Sassafraz, a restaurant in Yorkville (snooty neighbourhood) that we always dreamed of eating at when we were poor students in university vicariously walking around Yorkville. The restaurant once actually burned down, and we said "we should learn a lesson from this! We must take advantage of opportunities before they go away!" They repaired the place, but we've still never been. Anyway, I thought a lunch there would make a great birthday present, and today Becca T brought up Sassafraz, the fire, and the fact that we've never gone. I'm excited!

8) I'm also really excited to catch the *last* Harry Potter movie at some point this weekend!

Random thoughts post done.

Bird Post

Hello again from the wonderful world of summer vacation. I used last week as my decompression week, and I'm feeling very relaxed these days.

While I was in Stratford on Thursday/Friday of last week, I spent a lot of time chilling by the river. On Thursday, I had dinner with my friend Heather, and then we went for a walk around the river and took a bunch of pictures of various waterfowl that we saw. Since I'm always saying that I'd like to post more pictures on my blog, I figured that I'd share them here.

Here's a young cygnet. So cute!

Here are two cygnets swimming with their mom.

I don't know what kind of bird this is. Is there an app where I can take a picture of a bird and then the app will identify the type of bird? If not, there should be! Anyway, he didn't seem to like paparazzi as he kept quacking at us as we tried to get a good shot of him.

Here's a black swan. Stratford has two of them to my knowledge. I like to refer to them as the ever-elusive black swans just because it's fun to say.

On Friday, I spent some of my afternoon reading by the river. I brought a blanket and sat on the grass which was super relaxing. However, I ended up with a few mosquito bites, including one on a finger-tip, and one on the knuckle of my thumb. Anyway, here's a shot of the view I had while I was reading. I'm reading the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire in preparation to see the musical on Broadway when I'm in NYC this August.

I took the train back to Toronto on Saturday morning, and I've been busy since I've returned. I met up with Jason and some of his friends on Sat. afternoon, and we went to this very cute but rather pretentious French cafe/dessert place in Yorkville where I ended up having a $20 mimosa. It was tasty but so over-priced. We ordered food, but then they said they were done making food so no food for us. Afterwards, Jason and I went to a cute backyard patio pub near Rosedale station because I was starving. We ordered food, then they somehow forgot to make our food, so it was another hour until I ate. Bonus: we got a free round of beer. After we ate, we decided to walk all the way home (5.5 km in total) to work off the food/beer/etc. Luckily it was a lovely evening.

On Sunday, I went to Fea's daughter's 2nd birthday party. It was pretty amazing. She hand-made capes for all the kids, made the birthday cake herself, made Sesame Street cookies as favours, and had TONNES of food. Seriously, this kid's bday parties are always the event of the year.

Becca T got in late last night, and it was great to catch up with her. I dragged her to a Body Pump class at my gym today, and then we went for Starbucks for frappucinos. We couldn't stay very long at Starbucks 'cuz Becca said "we'd better leave before I can't move ever again". She's now off meeting up with another friend for dinner, but hopefully she'll be back in time to join me and my bottle of wine for the Bachelorette.

I gotta run off and call my parents now. Today's their 41st wedding anniversary. Hope everyone is enjoying whatever day of the week it is! Just kidding, I know it's Monday. But seriously, at this time of year sometimes I have no idea of the date! Love it.

When I wake up in my makeup...

I think I'm transitioning into a summer life of leisure quite well. I started summer vacay with a super fun concert, then went on a hilarious cross-border shopping expedition with some friends from work, and now I've been pretty much chilling for three days. I've gone to the gym, met up with Fea for a Yorkdale expedition, ran some errands, and read/napped a lot. I think I'm decompressing from a crazy hectic school year.

I'm heading off to Stratford for a couple of days tomorrow for a belated Father's Day visit. It'll be fun, and then I head back here and before I know it, Becca T will be visiting me!

So before I go, I'm actually going to write a post about a specific topic: makeup. I'm a real girlie-girl on the inside: I love beauty products of all kinds. I think it's surprising, because on the outside, I'm more of a jeans/hoodie/chucks kind of girl. I'll dress up sometimes, but there has to be a reason.

However, I very rarely leave the house without makeup on. I usually wear pretty subtle products, and these are my favourites:

1) Foundation: Even Better Makeup by Clinique

This is actually a new product for me. I used to use Clinique's Perfectly Real Makeup, but made the switch to this product because it has SPF. This foundation is very light, so it's perfect for the summer and doesn't cake on. It's a great way to cover up imperfections without wearing something too heavy on your face.

2) Powder: Almost Powder Makeup by Clinique

I have combination dry-oily skin, and it gets shiny fast, so that's why a powder is essential for me. This product is also very light and weightless, and is great to carry in your purse to get rid of shine throughout the day. The added SPF is a nice bonus too.

3) Eyes: Big Beautiful Eyes by Benefit

I recently purchased this eye makeup kit by Benefit and I'm in love with it. It comes with under-eye concealer, a base shadow, an accent shadow, and a liner. Even better, it comes with handy instructions explaining how to apply everything! I've never felt like I'm an eyeshadow whiz, but this kit makes it so easy. The first time I wore this makeup to school, all the girls on student council noticed and complimented me on my eye makeup. I did wear subtle purple shadows before, but I guess this kit delivers what it promises. I highly recommend this!

4) Mascara: Buxom Lash by Bare Escentuals

I got this mascara in a trial size a few years ago, and it's been my staple mascara ever since. It's not clumpy, doesn't smudge very much, and gives wimpy lashes like mine quite a bit of volume.

5) Lips: Black Honey Almost Lipstick by Clinique

When you look at the colour of this product it's literally black in colour and you think "WTF? How is this one of Clinique's best sellers?" However, when applied it goes on in a dark berry pink colour that is pretty flattering on everyone apparently. Even my mom likes it! (I once gave her a sample tube.) I love the colour on me since I have very light skin tones, and I look best in cool colours. It's also fairly subtle, and is a great everyday lip colour.

These five products make up my everyday makeup routine! They are all pretty subtle, but they definitely make me look/feel better.

So, what are your favourite makeup products? I just spent a fortune at Sephora restocking mine, but I will keep your suggestions in mind next time I feel like trying something new. And for non-makeup wearers, thanks for sticking with me. My next post will be less girlie-girl, I swear.