much awaited before photos.

Ta DAAAA!!!

Here are the delightful before photos of my new apartment!! I can finally share them because I start moving in tomorrow, and the current tenant is all moved out!!

The front door is to the right. This is the GIANT closet (only closet) that is right inside the door.
The green? Is going. Blech.

Giant closet and entry way to the diagonal right. The photo was taken standing in the kitchen.
My table and chairs will go just under that window to the left.

Other side of the kitchen.

Bedroom.

Further into the bedroom, the bed "nook" is to the left.

Bed "nook". Only fits a double (thank goodness that's what I have!).

From inside the bedroom, looking towards the kitchen and living room.

The bedroom is beside the bedroom, off of the kitchen. The purple is going.

Other side of the bathroom.

Aanother shot of the gross kitchen wall.

Standing inside the living room looking towards the entrance.

Living room wall, just waiting for some art work!

Living room windows. NOT my curtains.

More windows.

Looking back towards the kitchen.

I'm so excited to get in there and clean, and make it my own. You will definitely be seeing some "after" shots, it's just a matter of when!

things I'm loving.

Glee Gone Wild.

Having an unlimited amount of time to primp in the morning on a Saturday (versus the 30 mins I leave myself on a weekday.. not nearly enough time!).

Jaffa King ft. Masta - Your Life.

Drunk texts from a friend across the country, made funnier because I get them while driving to work ("Night so drunk" and "I waana baby u" among my faves).

Dark chocolate fro yo.

http://www.chapmans.ca/products.aspx

Coffee. Always. Forever.

Picking paint colors for my apartment!

Green Monsters.

And cute nerdy comics.

http://xckd.com/162/

thanks Dad!

I think I'm still in a thankful mood from the weekend. Having this attitude all of the time would be awesome!

Tonight I went for a walk with my dad. I am really grateful to have the relationship I do with my parents. When I was younger he would help me with school assignments, hiking through the woods and pointing out different kinds of trees, and using his trusty jackknife to cut out pieces of bark for my projects. He makes maple syrup, and I remember as a child tromping through the mist and the snow to "help" him collect sap.. which mainly entailed peeking into each bucket, and feeling like I personally won the jackpot when I found a bucket that was overflowing. I remember the steam boiling off of the vats of maple sap on the hot plates in the woodshed, and the sweet aroma that it produced. I remember excitedly waiting for the final product, the golden amber maple syrup that we rationed carefully on our pancakes, which we totally ate for supper.

Source.

I remember the time and effort we put into building our very own lean-to on a vacant lot in the woods up the street, the hours and planning that went into it, and the feeling of accomplishment it produced.

Picture this, only covered in fir boughs and with a triumphant 10 year old perched beneath it. And pretend that dude is my dad. Source.

Yep, I have a great Dad :)

We finished our walk tonight sitting on a bench in our backyard, in front of a campfire. It's cooler now, so there aren't mosquitoes and blackflies to contend with, and the whole experience was just really peaceful. The sky was ridiculously clear, and we could actually see the Milky Way! I'm always quick to point out the only constellation I was ever able to see, which is the Big Dipper.

Definitely not my photo. Source.

So this one's for you, Dad. Here's to another year of father-daughter bonding in the great outdoors.

long weekend.

Ahhh. Thanksgiving weekend. I'm at the tail end of a restful three days, and it is lovely.

Saturday morning brought a bit of a disappointment, as the bus (bringing DC) couldn't get over the Confederation Bridge due to high winds. Alternate travel arrangements would have had him traveling all day and missing Thanksgiving dinner, so we both decided it would be best for him to visit next weekend instead. I was a bit sad, so I went for a jog, and wound up catching up to one of my neighbors who was out for a walk. 9km later, we had gabbed our way back home, and I had a much better attitude. Feeling down? Chat with someone you haven't seen in a while. Ask them about themselves to take your mind off of your troubles. Cheap therapy, my friends :)

After I got back and cleaned up, we had our family dinner, and it was DELICIOUS. I've been eating leftovers ever since and LOVING it. My mother truly outdoes herself.

The table awaits!

Incredible. Squash, carrots, stuffing, turkey, potatoes, and jelly salad (thanks Oma!).
Also, peas, gravy and cranberry sauce (not pictured).
Please note the strategic placement of the stuffing.

Homemade pumpkin pie (and apple, not pictured). AMAZING!

Once I digested my food baby over some tea and coffee (it took approximately 5 hours to go away.. ha!), I ran some errands to pick up materials for a little arts and crafts project:

Not going to lie, my mom totally helped me cut out the big letters. Thanks mom!

My friend Josh ran a marathon on Sunday! I drove to Wolfville to go be a cheerleader for him. Getting up at 6:30am was hard for me. That was NOTHING compared to what these runners went through!! 42.2km of headwinds. Strong, frustrating, spirit crushing headwinds. Nevertheless, Josh powered through it, and ran across the finish line around 4:16!! And he got a sweet medal. The green monster reared its ugly head in me and I started planning when I could get a cool medal of my own :)

Incredible! Congratulations Josh!!

I literally vegged out the rest of the day on the couch. You know, because watching people run is such hard work! I rented "Sicko" by Michael Moore and it made me really, really grateful to be Canadian.. but now I want to move to France. Did you know that full time employees get FIVE weeks of paid vacation every year?! That's two and a half times more than us! AND they work 35 hour work weeks versus our 37.5-40. Crazy.

Also, I may have picked this up while gathering craft supplies.

I was dreaming of my Prince Charming <3

Today I haven't even showered. Gross. I got out of bed at 11am to the smells of cinnamon rolls that had just come out of the oven. I sat around drinking coffee, reading blogs, and Youtube surfing for the next few hours. Life is rough.

Then I decided I needed to do SOMETHING. I bought a table and chairs off of Kijiji a month or two ago, intending to strip the finish off and re-stain it darker. But my goodness. I am coming to the realization that I am not a do-it-yourself-er, I am a who-do-I-pay-to-do-this-for-me-er.

AND I'm using my dad's palm sander. There is no way I'd ever finish this if I had to do it all by hand!

So far I have finished sanding the four table legs and one chair.
One more chair and the table top to go!
Thankfully it is a small set...

Now, some tea and some Grey's (I'm still catching up from last week! boy I love the internet...)

And, just maybe, I'll shower.

The Commute.

Aaahh, The Commute. One of my main excuses (yup, excuses) for not posting as much lately. Two hours of flicking between radio stations, self reflection, and lovely sunrises. And the occasional bum.

Sun peeking over Miller Lake. About 20 minutes in.

What a pretty sky!

Not so stressful.

Seat buddies: mug #1, spinach smoothie; mug #2, coffee; sandals for after work; packed lunch; and smartwater, because if Jennifer Aniston drinks it, it will make me ripped. But hopefully not single. OH SNAP

Coming into Dartmouth.

Approaching the Macdonald bridge. This is where I apply another coat of mascara and lip gloss. There's a lot of sitting in traffic, it's safe! (ha)

Sigh. For my American friends, that's $1.03/L, or $3.93/gallon.

Sun over the harbor.

No word of a lie: When crossing this bridge, I always unlock my doors. So when the bridge breaks and I miraculously survive, I can get my door open and swim to the surface. Sometimes I also roll the windows all the way down.

Is that a BUTT?

I believe it is. There was totally a guy standing on the sidewalk who saw me take this photo. Awwwkward. Also, I couldn't help thinking, how many times did that person have to photocopy their butt to get an "ad quality" bum print? Were there auditions for this ad?

Pet peeve: when people park on the side of the road when it distinctly says:


...No parking between the hours of 7am-9am. It was 8am at the time. It really slows down traffic when everyone has to squish in one lane..

On another note, I came home tonight and found THIS in the basement...

Is that what I think it is??!

Look closely...

Alas. It was empty. And thus you get a blog post, otherwise I would have been buried in spells, armor and quests.

Caribbean dance is SO MUCH FUN!! I think I smiled for most of the class yesterday, when I wasn't busy pulling my pants back up (bum shaking makes them fall down, who knew?) and checking myself out in the mirror. My parents tell me there used to be a mirror opposite my crib when I was a wee bebe, and I used to talk to myself and stare in it all the time. Surprisingly, TIMES HAVE NOT CHANGED MY FRIENDS. Plus, today my quads were sore. I like to call these times, "accidental workouts", like when you're doing a fun activity (dance, frisbee, hiking) and you forget you're also working out. They're the best kind!

Now, I must go set up the coffee maker, another commute awaits in the morn..

nerdy throwback.

A few things that I can't get enough of lately:

http://mbmbam.wordpress.com/ (check out the podcast) and http://textsfromlastnight.com/.

If the combination of those two websites doesn't blow the nerd factor out of the water, rest assured that I was, in fact, glued to the tv watching Star Trek tonight, and oh hey, look what I found while cleaning out a closet at my parents' place:

11 year old me was obsessed with this series. Plus Shawn Ashmore was (is?) cute.

I think I went through a tomboy phase where I loved sports, certain PC games (Baldur's Gate anyone?) and reading more so than girlie things. But toddler me certainly liked girlie things, as evidenced by my favorite doll ever:

This, my friends, is "Doll-ya". Apparently I used to "hide" her and walk from room to room calling, "Doll-ya! Are you?" .. as in, where are you, my toddler brain has temporarily-on-purpose forgotten where I put you?

And grown up me has almost gone a full year with gel acrylic nails (whoa, what?! Rachael went girly again!) and started wearing COLOR! This is big. I am the neutral QUEEN. My old roommate Lindsay and I used to joke that you could always tell whose side of the closet was whose because her's was like all ROY G. BIV up in there and mine looked like the camera settings were on B&W. If you catch my drift.

Presenting...

I will no longer be embarassed in yoga class by fraying straps and nasty old tanks.
I. AM. PINK.

With a sweet back to it too!

Now, where did I put my hair straightener?