Scatterbrained

16 May

Confusion Hill in Redwoods 313 © by DominusVobiscum

I scheduled Monday’s post for Sunday. I looked at the date four times (I wrote it on Saturday), and still scheduled it wrong. WHERE IS MY BRAIN?

Well, I’m trying to cram as much information into my brain at once for my courses: ethics and finance. Finance isn’t so bad, but ethics is dense. It’s an important topic, but there is a lot of very dense information, and I’m thinking that perhaps taking the condensed course (the 6-week summer course as opposed to the longer school-year-semester course) wasn’t my best idea ever.

On top of that, I’ve nearly lost the three pounds I gained over my birthday weekend. I didn’t mention it here yet since I didn’t see it as a huge deal (it’s only three pounds, after all!) but I figured losing it again was a nice thing to mention. I like that I can bounce back from any setbacks that I come across on my journey to lose this weight once and for all.

Has anyone been actually enjoying their summer break? If so, tell me your stories. Mine seems to be full of books and papers!

Music for the Soul

13 May

Music (232/365) © by tim geers

There are very few things in my life which affect me more than music. I’ve spent most of my life involved in music in some way – singing, dancing, playing instruments, or just listening to songs – and it has a stronger effect on my mood than anything else in the world, I think.

There are a few songs that immediately lift my spirits every time I hear them. As I described to Stacy a few days ago, they make me feel like I’m letting out a huge sigh as soon as they come on. Almost as if I’ve held my breath for too long – it’s an instant relaxation. Here are a few of my favourites; what are yours?

Chicane: Autumn Tactics
Kate Havnevik: New Day
David Usher: Black Black Heart
Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat: Lucky
Tim McGraw: Please Remember Me

…I know country music isn’t the most popular music choice these days (except for whatever makes a crossover into the pop genre), but it is definitely the most soothing thing to me. It reminds me of my childhood and of the feeling that everything is just fine. I have a country playlist on my iTunes that I put on whenever I feel stressed or sad, and it does the trick every time!

Friday Favourites

11 May

Tea soothes the soul. © by Ducklover Bonnie

The week after birthday week has been wonderful, but I’ve spent most of it curled up with blankets and trying to relax – I’ve been sick! Classes started so I’ve had to go out of the apartment a bit, but right now tea is my best friend, and I’m just hoping to recover by Monday. Wish me luck!

Five Minutes to Glowing Skin is amazing – I always like reading about what other people are doing to look so incredible all the time!

As someone who regularly feels guilty and gets on my own case about having to be “good enough”, this post about whether this behaviour is actually helpful is amazing. I think I need to print it out and carry it with me all the time!

I absolutely love this list of ways to take care of yourself. I think that so many people forget to take time for themselves – especially when they’re busy, which is really when they need the time the most!

Wordless Wednesday

9 May

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Whoops!

7 May

We didn’t make it to see The Avengers this weekend. It’s not that we didn’t want to – I was looking forward to it all week! But unfortunately, our weekend was so packed full of a million things that it just didn’t happen. By the time Friday came around, I just wanted to lie in bed and not move. Of course, my weekend was pretty awesome anyway!

Thursday, we went out with Mark’s mom and sister for lunch, and I was given a free chocolate brownie cake thing that I ate one bite of and passed around to the rest of the table. What can I say? It had Oreo cookies on it. (Yuck!) They also sang to me and made a ridiculous fuss – so fun! His sister came back to our apartment (bringing a homemade cheesecake!) and I made my traditional birthday meal: Dorito Chicken and Mexican rice! We drank and played board games until the wee hours of the night.

Friday, Mark did some laundry and I laid in bed most of the day. I’d had a headache for about a week, so I needed the rest. I don’t remember most of the rest of what happened that day, to be honest. I know it involved lots of Minecraft and finishing the Dorito Chicken from Thursday, but that’s about all I remember!

Saturday was the big party with a group of our friends – we had about 16 of us at a friend’s house for a potluck and gaming night! The food was incredible – we had two different kinds of cupcakes, a full birthday cake, taco dip, two kinds of ribs, veggie and fruit plates, biscuits, deviled eggs – and the gaming was so much fun. We ended the night with a 15-player game of Werewolf, and played more and more rounds as people started to go home.

All in all, probably the best birthday I’ve had in years. Today, however, it’s time to get back to classes! How was your weekend?

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Friday Favourites

4 May

avengers movie poster © by theNerdPatrol

TODAY IS THE DAY! A fantastic late birthday present to me – The Avengers movie is out! In honour of this fantastic event (and seeing Chris Hemsworth on the big screen again – yum!), this Friday Favourites will be the nerdiest yet!

First off, I’m loving these Batman drawings in Draw Something. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you will have seen them already, but I think they’re totally worth giving a second look to. If I was more coordinated with my iPod touch, I might try to do something similar!

Crossing two of my favourite hobbies together, Eric has done it again with one of his fantastic Magic card alters: Snapcaster Mage as Mega Man! (Scroll about halfway down the page to see. Of course, stop to look at the rest of his fantastic art along the way!)

Minecraft Ultra Hardcore Season 5 has started! The biggest season yet, and it’s absolutely hilarious. Thankfully there are a million (okay, that’s an exaggeration) different perspectives from which to watch – hours and hours of entertainment! It’s not your typical tutorial-style Minecraft video series – this is all about adventure, and DANGER!

I am absolutely psyched for the costume exhibit at our museum of natural history this summer. I was hoping to surprise Mark with a trip there, but ended up telling him about it instead. It’ll still be fantastic!

Another Year Wiser!

2 May

birthday balloons © by mae.noelle

Tomorrow is my birthday. I’ll be 27! I keep forgetting my age, though – I wonder if I’m losing my mind already. I thought for about half the year that I was turning 28 this year. Apparently I want to rush it!

Aging is a funny thing. People keep teasing me that while I’m totally cool with my age right now (especially since most of my friends are older than I am, so I feel less like the “baby” of the group as I age), it’ll all change when I hit 30. I don’t think that’s entirely true, though!

By the time I’m 30, I’ll (in theory) have finished the degree that I’ve been working so hard at for the last two years. I should have a job that I enjoy (instead of just the first one that comes along) and I’ll be able to continue my life where I left off when I put it “on hold” to go back to school. By then, I’ll have reached the goals I’ve set for myself as far as health and fitness are concerned, and I’ll be comfortable with who I am.

That’s not to say I’m not starting all of this now. I’m working on my confidence, and I’m working toward each of the goals I’ve set for myself. Sometimes they might go a bit slower than I’d normally want them to, but all progress is good progress!

While I’m not exactly ready for the early bird special, I can’t wait to see how my life progresses as I get older. It can only get better, right? Right.

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Recently Pinned…

30 Apr

I’m up to my ears in work right now – things for a secret project that I might share after next week, as well as preparing for next semester (Starts on the 7th! Where did my break go?!), helping plan a games day/birthday party this weekend, trying to keep the apartment clean, and being sick (boo). Because I’m so busy, I figured I’d share some things that I found interesting lately – enough so that I shared them on my Pinterest! It might be something I do regularly when I’m super busy, so let me know what you think.

Isn’t this little guy adorable? My sister shared the photo, and I stared at it for a good five minutes turning to mush before I repinned him!

I often stare for hours and hours at things I’d like to do to the apartment if I had the money/space/time. I absolutely love this shelf – maybe I’ll have one like it once I’m done with school. I can put all my school papers on it! (I’ll have enough of them once this is done, that’s for sure.)

I think I could just stare at photos of animals all day, if I had the time! Elephants, oddly enough, are my favourite animal. I haven’t seen one in person in years (there isn’t a zoo near where we live now, sadly) but they’re just such amazing animals.

Secretly (or not so secretly), I enjoy pinning ideas for weddings. Someday I hope to have the wedding of my dreams, so I figure why not start dreaming early? I think the pinkie swear photo is absolutely adorable!

Friday Favourites

27 Apr

Magical Hour © by F. C. Photography

It’s so nice to be free for a couple weeks from classes, despite having to do a million things to prepare for secret projects (ooh!) and also for summer courses. I’m looking forward to much warmer weather, though, and “real” summer! What are you enjoying this lovely Friday?

I have a few years to go yet (I turn 27 next Thursday), but this list of 30 things every woman should have and know before turning 30 is pretty awesome.

I’m not honestly sure how I feel about the real Springfield being revealed. I loved that it was a secret. (To everybody.)

I work a lot with spreadsheets, even in my spare time for personal reasons, and I have found this tip for returning the last value in a column extremely helpful!

This isn’t the first article about whether Facebook has an effect on how lonely we are, but it never fails to ring true to me. The more I’m on Facebook some days, the more I realize how disconnected I am from having a real social life – at least around half the time.

I love this list of awkward merit badges – how many would you have earned?

Things I Enjoy

23 Apr

Clint Black at Billy Bob

There’s a post that’s made its way through many link lists lately, and nearly ended up on my Friday Favourites for the last few weeks, but I felt it deserved its own post: Stop enjoying things ironically. Just enjoy them.

Here’s the thing. As adults, we’re supposed to be past the whole “my friends don’t like it, so neither should I” phase in our lives, but we’re really not. Whether or not people will judge you for the things you enjoy, we tend to hide the more potentially embarrassing things away and not share them. So instead of just enjoying them, I’m going to draw attention to them, right here!

The biggest thing that I tend to hide away is my absolute love for country music. Generally speaking, it’s the music from the 90s – it’s what I grew up listening to, and it’s always held a special place in my heart. If I’m feeling really anxious or stressed, I put on my country playlist (separated so Mark can have a country-free ipod if he chooses!) and sing along as loud as I can. What can I say – I’m a country girl at heart.

Of course, there are other things that I enjoy and don’t often share publicly: my love for TV shows meant for kids when I was a kid (Boy Meets World, Full House, Family Matters, Saved By the Bell), TV shows and movies in the 1940s-1960s (not necessarily classics, either – just ones that catch my eye), mindless “fluff” books between the more dense historical fiction or fantasy series (Shopaholic books, and anything published by Red Dress Ink), and watching wrestling twice a week with Mark, trying to predict what will happen.

So: now that I’ve been brave, what are you enjoying un-ironically?

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