The Five Part Journey

I spent the past weekend in Toronto. It was lovely, up until precisely 5:39pm on Sunday evening. But I'll get to that in a bit.
Marissa and I wanted to see the Mystical Landscapes Exhibition at the AGO, so we took a trip to Toronto. I also took the opportunity to visit Emily and Alison. We arrived very late on Friday evening, so much so that we just chatted for a bit before heading to bed. On Saturday, Marissa and I went for brunch with her aunt at FRANK, the restaurant at the AGO. (Emily had brunch with her roommates and friends celebrating a belated birthday). The brunch at the AGO was lovely. I started with a pastry platter, which had two mini croissants with butter and jam and two mini chocolate croissants. For the main course we all had eggs benedict: a croissant with smoked trout, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce with roast potatoes on the side. Marissa's aunt insisted on having dessert, so I had tiramisu gelato with a delicious caramel sauce and 'churro dust'. To top it all off, a lovely cup of tea.
We then met up with the others to see the exhibition. The exhibition had timed entry, so we looked around the rest of the AGO for a little bit before heading to the exhibition. The exhibition was advertised as "Mystical Landscapes: Monet, Van Gogh, and more". I was under the impression that it would be primarily Van Gogh and Monet, with some other artists. To my disappointment, it was the other way around: primarily other artists with a handful of Monets and two Van Goghs. Overall it was still a great exhibition; there were some paintings by Emily Carr and Paul Gauguin, who stayed with Van Gogh at one point. One of my favourite paintings was Crystal Castle in the Sea by Wenzel Hablik.

One of the Van Gogh paintings was Starry Night over the Rhone, which was on load from Musee D'Orsay. Which is where I had seen that painting for the first time. So now I've seen it twice (still just as good the second time around). The Monet paintings were some of his famous Rouen Cathedral paintings, some of which I had also seen before. I enjoyed the exhibition, but had been hoping to see more Van Gogh and Monet. And the audio guide was on the artistic interpretation side of things, whereas I prefer to hear about the facts of the painting.
After we finished the exhibition, we continued to look around the rest of the AGO. It's much bigger than I thought. And as with every gallery, very easy to lose track of where you are. I'm not sure if we actually saw everything or not. We did see most of it though. The last section we walked through was in the basement where they have the miniature boat models. Miniature is a relative term, some of the models were the size of kayaks. But all very impressive; the amount of detail on the models is astounding.
We then went out for dinner where I had chicken wonton nachos (very good) and stopped at Michaels to grab some supplies for a t-shirt making party we are having later this week. Then we headed back to Emily's apartment for a pit stop before Alison, Marissa and I went to see the Toronto Light Festival. It's a collection of light installations in the Distillery District. It was pretty neat and I got some cool pictures of some of them.

On Sunday we slept in and spent the afternoon at a board game cafe. We discovered a game called Codenames, which we all really enjoyed. I'd like to play it again in the future. At 4:30 we decided to head back to Emily's apartment so that Marissa and I could get ready to catch our train.
And this is where the weekend derails (no pun intended).
Our train back to Stratford leaves at 5:40pm. We leave Emily's apartment at 5:20. It's cutting it close, but Google says it's a 15min walk so I'm not too worried. But despite walking quickly the whole way there we arrive at the station at 5:38. Our train isn't listed on any of the screens around the station. Panicking, we ask the info desk where train 87 is leaving from.
Info Desk Attendant: Train 87? I don't know about a train 87! Where does that go??
She was less than helpful and was wasting valuable time. I go to a different desk and ask if they know where train 87 is boarding.
Info Desk Attendant #2: Oh, that's probably left already. *checks with someone on the walkie talkie* Yeah that train just left.
I know you're all thinking we should have given ourselves more time to get to the train station. That's probably true. But I would also like to state that the train left 2mins early. And Union station is a nightmare.
That was the last train to Stratford for the day, so we were not going back to Stratford by train Sunday evening. There were a few options:
1. Stay at Emily's another night and take the Monday morning train to Stratford and be late for class.
2. Somehow get to Waterloo and sleep at Marissa's parent's house and get a ride with a carpool to Stratford Monday morning.
3. Somehow get to Waterloo or London and get our parents to drive us to Stratford.
We decided to try #3 via Waterloo. Marissa called her mom to make sure this was a plan that could happen and we quickly got on the 6:00 GO bus to Mississauga, where we would switch GO buses at Square One and go to Waterloo from there. Neither of us are sure whether our presto cards have enough money on them to pay for the ticket. Mine had just enough; Marissa's did not. We think that we'll have to get off but turns out you can pay with cash (who knew?). I lend Marissa some cash and we're through. We get on the bus, and while still shaken, I'm glad we've figured out a way to get back to Stratford fairly quickly. Although, I had the issue of not having enough money on my presto card to pay for the second bus ticket.
Around 6:45, Marissa is not sure we're on the right bus because she doesn't recognize the route we're on. I check the map on my phone and sure enough, we are nowhere near Square One. We are on the edge of Mississauga and about to go to Milton. I suggest we get off, because Milton definitely is not where we want to be. At this point, we're both tired, cold, and desperately want to get home in one piece.
So I decide to call up Sheila, whom with which I stayed with over the summer. I asked if she would be willing to come pick us up and drive us to Square One, so that we could get on the next bus. Thankfully she wasn't doing anything and was willing to come rescue us. The drive from the edge of Mississauga to Square One was explaining to Sheila the night Marissa and I had had. When we arrive at Square One, we see the bus that we are supposed to be getting on to. Marissa and I decide that instead of rushing and potentially missing it, we'll wait for the next bus which comes in just under an hour. We grab dinner at the nearby Starbucks and buy tickets for the bus at a kiosk there.
Finally the bus arrives and we get on, this time sure that it is the right bus. It take just over an hour to us to get to Waterloo. The bus stops at the university; it was strange being back there. I haven't been there since second year. Entire buildings have gone up in the time I've been gone.
Marissa's mom met us there and drove us to Stratford. I have never before been so glad to see this apartment. I had intended on doing some school work Sunday evening because the train would've arrived in Stratford around 8pm. When we finally pulled up in front of our apartment, it was 10:30. I was going to bed.
That, my friends, was our five part journey. It will surely become something to laugh at in the future, but for now we're simply calling it a comedy of errors.

The Real Ending

To minimal surprise but some disappointment, there was no new Sherlock episode last night. On Saturday I was starting to have my doubts. But here we are a week later and there's nothing to show for all the hope we (the fandom) had. There are still some who are clinging to their last shreds of hope that it will actually air next week. Their reasoning for this is because the date will be 1/29, which is a time that Sherlock stopped a bomb going off in a previous episode. But that's too much of a stretch for me. Season 4 is over. The producer of the show even tweeted that there's no fourth episode. I'm going to watch TFP again to watch it with less expectations than I did the first time around. A number of people who originally didn't like it have come around to it. All I can hope is for them to make another season. But enough about Sherlock.
I went home this weekend and managed to finish the top of my t-shirt quilt. I won't be able to quilt it until reading week, but I'm very happy with how it's going so far. I'm really excited to show it to people, because I know camp means a lot to so many people. Tomorrow I get free lunch at Crabby Joe's because I'm helping with some UX testing. They're even providing transportation so I literally am losing nothing out of this.
I've decided to start eating based on Canada's food guide. I know that I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables and I also eat too much meat. I think I might have to increase my grain consumption though, which was not something I was expecting. It will take some adjusting, but hopefully in the long un will lead to healthier eating habits. The plan is to make a tracker that I can use to keep track. Im surprised that no apps exist for this type of thing. I'm also going to start going for walks every other day as a form of exercise. It would appear that if you're not just strolling along and are actually going at a quick pace, walking can be just as effective exercise as going to the gym. And I'm not a fan of the gym, so this is the compromise.

Let it Be Christmas Already

Here I am again, not as stressed as everyone else. I'm just about done my ePortfolio, just waiting to hear back from some people for feedback. You can take a look too if you like: heatherwoo.com.
The SSC will be hosting another potluck on Thursday, this one is a dessert potluck. I'm very much looking forward to it. Unfortunately, two of my closer friends won't be around to come, but we had to go with the date that worked for the most people overall. I bought a gingerbread house for people to decorate, since that was something that people liked last year when it happened on campus (although I died a little inside, since I haven't bought/used a store bought gingerbread house in 4 years). Right now it looks like we're going to have a good turn out. It's a fine line though. Obviously we want as many people to come as possible, but we also don't have a ton of space in our apartment. And we can't really use our 'sunroom' off the back this time because it is not insulated. So we'll see how it goes. Might have to do some rearranging of the furniture.
Thanks to Black Friday and the magic of the internet, I've completed all of my Christmas shopping except for one gift. This is definitely a record for me, having it done so early. My mom messages me on a semi-regular basis saying "Another package arrived today," since I'm having them sent to London. Although I think they've all arrived by now. I am very excited to wrap the gifts. I love gift wrapping. (If you want me to come over and wrap your gifts for you, I'd love to. Seriously).
Not a whole lot else going on. I only have one more week of classes, and then I'm free! I've been making Christmas cards and I have to say I'm quite happy with how they are turning out. I'm really looking forward to being at home over December. I can't wait to do Christmas-y things. I'm also excited to get back into sewing.
I made dinner tonight for Marissa and Michelle. I made dill meatballs, which is one of my favourite meals. I made it for them at some point last year, and they both really enjoyed it as well. So now I try and invite them over to eat with me whenever I have it. Michelle and I played Mario Kart after. It was fun to just hang out with her for a while; she's often very busy and is never around on the weekends.

BFFLAATs Take TO: Take 4

The yearly tradition of me going to visit Emily (and now Alison) in Toronto for a weekend continues. I was able to stay for a little longer this year because I don't have school on Fridays. I arrived Thursday evening and we went to see Mariah Carey perform at the unveiling of The Bay holiday windows. There was a large crowd filling the street and we weren't sure where Mariah would be performing. We did manage to eventually worm our way further into the crowd, but we still couldn't see a stage. Mariah eventually came on stage after the Mayor of Toronto and CEO of Hudson's Bay Company spoke for a few minutes. We couldn't see her at all, but there was a screen that was projecting the whole thing. I did see her at one point when I jumped above the rest of the crowd and I caught a glimpse of her in her predictably red dress. Add Mariah Carey to the list of famous people I've seen with my own eyes.

On Friday we went to Snakes and Lattes Board Game Cafe. It took us a while to walk there, but it was worth it. They have so many different games. We played one called Sushi Go Party, which once we got the hang of it, was a lot of fun. It's a card based game by Gamewright, whose games I've played before and enjoyed. We played a number of games and ended up staying at the cafe for the whole afternoon. We headed home and made dinner (pasta with a rose meat sauce - very delicious) with our friend Justine. It was really good to be able to see her again.
Saturday morning I took on the role of model for Emily's roommate, Nicola. She was doing a photography assignment on lighting and needed a model, so I was assigned to the role. It was a lot of fun, and also something I'm not keen to do again. It feels great to have your photo taken and to have the fancy lights and reflectors, but staying in the same pose for an hour at a time or trying to recreate a pose multiple times get tiring. For one position, I was leaning all of my weight on my crossed leg and I promptly lost all feeling in my lower leg. I could touch my foot and I didn't feel anything. When we were done it took me 5mins to try and get feeling back in my foot again. I can't wait to see the photos though. I'm sure Nicola made me look much better than I usually do.
After the photoshoot was done, we headed to a cafe that made #freakshakes, which are these milkshakes that have entire desserts perched on top of them. I got a surprise version, which came with a chocolate milkshake topped with Nutella, whip cream, a mini cupcake, two powdered donuts and lots of sprinkles. They also offered a version which came with a full size donut and a fudgsicle on top. On the way to the cafe we stopped in this store that has a bunch of random props everywhere, including these absolutely massive picture frames. It was a really neat store to look around in.

For dinner we went to a pub type restaurant across from the movie theatre, where we each got poutine. Alison got a popcorn chicken poutine, Emily got a smoked brisket poutine, and I got the poutine sampler which came with the standard poutine, the popcorn chicken poutine, and a pulled pork poutine. It was delicious.
Of course, the tradition of the visit to Toronto is to see the next Hunger Games movie. Unfortunately those are finished now, so we found another movie with a November premiere date that we all wanted to see. Thus, after we finished dinner we crossed the road to the theatre to see Doctor Strange. It was a really good movie, and pretty different from other Marvel movies. But they still managed to tie it into the MCU. And I'm very happy to hear that Doctor Strange will be making appearances in future Marvel movies.
I had to leave fairly early on Sunday morning to come back to Stratford, so Emily made pancakes for breakfast and I was off. I got a ride with my friend Mara, so the ride was much more enjoyable than riding public transit. I ended up going skating at one of the Stratford arenas in the evening with a couple of guys from GBDA. It cost $5 which might be a bit much for skating, but it was enjoyable. I'm not quite at the level of skating as the guys I was skating with (they both play hockey), so at the beginning we were spread out on the rink. After a while we were starting to tire, so we just started doing laps together and chatting. There were only 6 other people on the ice, so there was lots of space. It was an adults only skate as well, so there wasn't any kids which was nice. It was good exercise. I set a new record on my Misfit (fitness tracker). The way the misfit works is you get points based on how much you move. It's approximately one point for 100 steps, but if you're doing something more intense than walking, you get more points. Unfortunately, I think some things got mixed up with the time change, so things aren't registering correctly. But I reached my daily goal of 600 points with just the skating.
A very busy and enjoyable weekend!

Wait, Camp?!

Spring is officially done! Our last retreat group left on Wednesday (safe and sound, after surviving a wild thunder storm and a tornado warning). A bunch of us stayed up late on Monday to watch the lightening storm. It wasn't raining and there was hardly any thunder, but there was lightening almost every 30 seconds. It was so cool to sit in the field and watch it flash across the sky. There were some streaks that would go horizontal, which was pretty neat. 
Right now I have two days off, whereas most other people have one day off.  I realized a while ago that there wouldn't need to be any meals served today (Thursday), so Nola (my partner in nutritional provision) and I had no reason to be there. One day off! But then I got thinking and the only person it would affect if either Nola or I were missing would be the other. So if we were both down to do a day on our own, then we could have more days off. So Nola got Wednesday and Thursday, and I get Thursday and Friday. A pretty sweet deal, if I do say so myself. I'm glad I'll have extra time to rest before camp starts. I realized belatedly that I wouldn't be there when all the staff arrive tonight and would miss all the introductions, but I've come to be okay with it. Most people already know who I am anyways ;) 
It's really hard to believe that in 3 days camp starts! We're going to need to make 93 pizzas to feed everyone Sunday dinner. Luckily, I have another oven now! This extra oven is a life saver; we now have double the oven space that we did before. (Where the two ovens are stacked on top of each other we used to only have one). What used to take 3hrs to bake can now be done in 1.5hrs. It is going to make my life to much easier and less stressful. 

I also just found out that the girl who did my position last year is going to come up for part of this week to help out, which I'm really grateful for. I'm not as stressed as I thought I would be. I thought I would be worried about how many people I have to feed (this week it's 312). It will be a bigger number than I've ever done before, but we've had meals during the spring with over 250 people, so it's not a huge jump. And I've become more confident in myself in this position, as well as gained a lot more knowledge about prep time and quantities. 

It's going to be a wild summer, but I couldn't be more excited for everything that's going to happen :)


354. You are at the doctor's office and she informs you that you have one month to live.
a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die?
I would tell my family and close friends. And probably the people at camp as well since that's where I am right now.
b) What do you do with your remaining days?
I would probably want to spend some of it at camp. I wouldn't do FSD, I'd probably wander and do whatever I wanted to do (climb high ropes) and just hang out with people. 
c) Would you be afraid?
Yes, but I think that within the month given I would come to terms with it.

355. What's a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?
Blame It On The Boogie by The Jacksons

356. In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?
Love, honesty, trustworthiness, humour, dependability, basically everything lined out in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

301. What books are you reading?
The Book of (Even More) AWESOME

302. Piercings?
One in each ear lobe along with a cartilage piercing on my left ear.

303. Butter, plain or salted popcorn?
Double caramel, actually.

304. Dogs or cats?
Cats.

305. Favourite flower?
Plumeria? Maybe? I don't have a favourite flower. Chrysanthemums are nice too.

A !#FFFFFF Christmas

I suppose I could take one of these depressingly-not-cold nights to write a blog post (my mother gives me looks when she checks my blog and there isn't a new post). I wish there was snow, to be completely honest. I miss needing to bundle up in scarves and gloves to go outside. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss shovelling snow. It was always a time that I could exercise, enjoy the outdoors and have quiet time to myself, all in one. So I'm a little disappointed there's no snow and it's been weeks since the temperature dropped below zero.
I was thinking that we shouldn't call it Christmas Day, but rather Christmas Hour(s). Because there's the Christmas celebration in the morning, but then the rest of the day is just any other day off (except for Christmas dinner). My grandma is visiting and we had my aunt and cousins over for a few days. It was god to be able to see them again, even if I didn't hang out with them that much :/ We had the classic turkey dinner with all the side dishes. My favourite is always the stuffing. My dad has started making the stuffing outside the turkey and while he thought he would never admit it, he likes it better that way. In no small part because now you can make so much more stuffing, which is good news for me :) Eating recently has been a bit of a struggle because I got my wisdom teeth out a week ago. I'm no longer in any pain, but I can't open my mouth all the way. Which I only notice when I'm eating, which has caused me to dwell on how I use my mouth. I never really thought that I took particularly large bites, but evidently I do. Nevertheless, eating takes me a while (bad news for securing seconds and thirds). There has also been an abundance of baked goods around which is bad news for my waist line.
The one big notable gift I got this year is a drawing tablet, which I've been wanting for a while. It let's me doodle and draw and have it show up on the computer (I thought this was common knowledge, but everyone I've told about it has asked me what it does). I also got a lot of tea and tea related merchandise. I asked for a temperature set kettle, and I got one, which I'm so happy about. My dad doesn't understand this, but if you make some teas with boiling water, you can burn the tea and give it a bitter taste. To prevent this, I usually wait for a while after the kettle boils before making my tea. But now, with my temperature set kettle (I don't know if that's what it's actually called, it's just a term I came up with) I can make my tea right away. My brother got me a earl grey tea sampler from The Tea Haus. Now, when I think sample, I think enough to make one or two cups. The box was a decent size, so I was expecting 10 or 12 different samples. Instead, it was 4 full sized bags of loose leaf tea. Like the bags that DavidsTea comes in, packed full. It's a lot of tea. I've only tried one so far, but I really like it. My sister got me a tea steeper that looks like a little man chilling on the edge of your mug. It's pretty cute.
I really want to see the movie The Imitation Game. My parents have also expressed an interest in seeing it, so I have high hopes that I'll be able to convince them to go see it in the near future. This evening we watched Grand Budapest Hotel. If I had to give a quote to promote the movie, I would choose "Visually intriguing". It was not what I expected (mind you, I didn't know much about the movie going in). The cinematography was very different that most movies today are; kind of indie? It actually kind of reminds me of 500 Days of Summer in that way. Not really what I was expecting, visually different than the status quo and generally a good movie (in my opinion, at least).
I just finished reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and wow. What. An. Ending. I think I mentioned it in an earlier post and gave the book description, which ends with "And if anyone ask you how it ends, just LIE." That was what got me interested in the book in the first place. And it lived up to it. The beginning of the book was a little slow, but worth it for the ending. (And no, I won't tell you the ending). Now I want to try and read one more book before the end of the year to complete my goal of reading 20 books this year. Something I want to do in the new year is read more often. Because this past year, reading was put on a back burner to school and surfing the internet. Less tumblr, more reading. And creativity. I was given some art inspiration for Christmas, and I want to make a real effort to try and be creative more often. I may also steal J's idea of getting rid of something everyday. It probably won't be everyday, and being away at university will make it hard, but I want to make a real effort to get rid of things I don't need. Because Lord knows I have way too much stuff. Kijiji, here I come.
I have a ton more stuff I want to write about (like Elliott's birthday party, Boxing Day shopping, how the break is almost over, and saying "saucy" in a British accent to my Grandma), but I want to go to bed before the sun comes up, so I'll draw this to a close.

293. What was the last movie you watched?
The Grand Budapest Hotel

294. Favourite day of the year?
Christmas is one of them. But birthdays are also nice because their your own special day, and nobody else's.

295. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
You betcha,

296. Can you do a headstand (not using the wall)?
Is the pope atheist? (Hint: the answer is no).

297. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs. And then if I decide I like you, kisses.

In case you were wondering (which I know you are), #FFFFFF is the colour code for white, and "!" represents "opposite" or "not" in computer programming. 

Homecooked Meals For the Win

I feel bad for the students who are living off fast food and premade frozen meals because I just had a PC indian butter chicken frozen meal.

And.
It.
Sucked.

I was supposed to have spaghetti and meatballs, but I forgot to take the sauce out of the freezer, so I had this frozen dinner that I only bought cause it was on sale. And how badly I would have preferred the spaghetti and meatballs, you'll never know.
This weekend has been incredibly unproductive in terms of school work. Although I have made big progress on my various study abroad forms. I've decided that my first choice school is the University of Leeds. I'm really excited, now that most of the stress of all the forms is mostly out of the way. Also, I can't get over how fast time is moving. Like, another week is gone already. Each day comes and is it's own, but then BAM it's the weekend again and I'm just over here like damn where did the time go. And I keep looking at my list of things that I need to do and how I'm ignoring every single one of them. I'm pretty sure at about 8pm tonight I'll suddenly get this panic and I'll work till midnight (hopefully. I'm kind of banking on that happening so that today isn't completely unproductive).

275. Something that's worrying me right now
(LOL) Um, my lack of productiveness this weekend.

276. tumblr friends
No one.

277. Description of my best friend.
- funny
- beautiful
- caring
- loving
- creative
- giving
- supportive
- loves me for me
- honest
- makes me smile
- fashionable
- intelligent
- genuine
- my RDJ-loving partner
- there for me
- encouraging
- imaginative
- ambitious
- friendly
- happy
- outgoing
- an independent woman THAT DON'T NEED NO MAN
- encouraging
- talkitive ;)
- basically the coolest person I know
- aka my BFFLAAT 8D

McDonalds is Organic

Where McDonalds is pulled off as organic food: here. (click the little cc button at the bottom to get subtitles.

Dinner

Tonight I made spaghetti carbonara for dinner. I wasn't sure how it would turn out because it calls for:
- minced garlic
- bacon
- the bacon's grease
- parmesan cheese
And I used:
- garlic powder
- bacon bits
- oil
- lets be serious, what university student has parmesan cheese?
And then there's the whole raw egg bit. But I looked it up and the egg cooks when it hits the hot spaghetti, so I think I'm good. Although you should probably keep an eye out for symptoms of salmonella. Anyways, it turned out really good. Seriously good. Like, wishing I had made more so that I can have more. It will definitely be added to my list of regular meals to make. Yeah. That's all I got to say about that.
I bought these really cute shoes yesterday. I'm calling them my gift to myself to help me get through midterm stress.

I went on a walk this morning. I looked on Google Maps to see if there was a park nearby, and there's one just a couple blocks down. So I headed in that direction, only to find the intersection closed for construction. So I had to talk a detour. I eventually did make it to the park, but by that point, I had walked so far that I didn't actually spend too much time in the park, but started trying to make my way back. On the way back I stopped by a store kind of like the old Toy Shoppe of London, but with stuff for collectors as well (like baseball cards, comics, etc). I saw this game called Concept that looks like it would be fun to play. It's about trying to get people to guess a word or a phrase by giving them pictures and colours. (e.g. if the word was "bee", you would give them "yellow", "black", "animal", "small", and "flying"). It seems like it would be fun. The phrases would obviously be much harder.
Now I have to go write another 2 pages for my Digital Culture paper. If anybody has any advice about writing introduction paragraphs, let me know.

268. Age you get mistaken for?
OH HOW I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW! I've always been really curious about this. And you can't ask people who know you, because they take your actual age into account. From people at camp the oldest I got was 23.

Food Preparations

I've decided that timing the preparations of all parts of a meal to be ready at the same time is a skill that cannot be learned. Also, don't eat spaghetti with your laptop in front of you.

267. Favourite Song Ever.
"Ever" is a very strong term. It's probably Ordinary Miracle by Sarah McLachlan from Charlotte's Web.

Summit

This weekend, I went to Camp White Pine (Haliburton, ON) for a Power To Change retreat called Summit. It was a lot of fun. We left on Friday and came back today. We were supposed to be at the bus for 5:30 so that we could be ready to go at 6:00, but the bus didn't show up until 6. So we didn't end up leaving until 6:30. It was a 4 hour drive, sitting on an overcrowded (40 seats for 44 people) in the dark. It was quite the experience. Driving along the winding and hilly roads in the dark was kind of scary at some points, especially when we left the paved roads. And we were late, so we missed the beginning of the first session. But it was all good. It wasn't until Saturday morning that we could get a really look at the camp. It's a pretty nice place (although FCC's dining hall is waaay better). The area is beautiful. We had pancakes for breakfast (such a shame I had pancakes for breakfast on Friday). Then we had a session. Each session consisted of worship and a speaker. The worship band was really good and I really liked the songs they played (you should go listen to Cannons by Phil Whikham). The speaker was good too. He spoke about how life is short and eternity is long and how we should live for eternity, not our earthly lives. Saturday afternoon we made a video where we spelt out "Never the same P2C Summit" using out bodies. There I was able to see my friend who I worked with in the kitchen this past summer, it was nice to see her again. Then we had free time with activities running. My friend (the one that I went with) and I went to archery. I did pretty good if I do say so myself, I hit a bullseye and a hanging balloon. Then we sat on the dock and took a lot of pictures because it was so beautiful. The camp is kind of on a point, so they have a lot of "lakefront" property (they have 3 separate docks). We went on one of the smaller docks that was in the shade. It was beautiful weather all weekend. On Saturday it was actually too hot. I would even go so far as to say that this past weekend was warmer than the summer. Regardless, it was beautiful. The trees are just starting to change colour, so there's such a range of colour in the trees. A big part of meal time was the different campuses cheering. McMaster was probably one of the better cheerers. Brock was also pretty good, especially since they didn't have a ton of people. We had some good ones, but Waterloo has a bit of a reputation of not being good a cheering. Luckily, we had the most people, so our numbers kind of made up for it. But it was a lot of fun to cheer about how great your own school is. And then usually at the end, someone would start the "We. Are. All best friends. We are all best friends." cheer. Because we do love each other. The dessert for dinner was one of the highlights of the weekend: it was a giant homemade ice cream sandwich. It was so good. In the evening we had another session and then extended worship (probably one of my favourite parts of the weekend). There was a ball hockey tournament going on, and we watched the final game (Western won). There was a campfire, but my friend and I decided to call it a night. This morning we had a mini session and then broke off into seminars based on what we wanted to learn about. I went to one about how to keep God as your priority. It was good, very practical. All of the talks were very practical and directed towards university students, so that was nice. The bus ride back was much more pleasant than the drive up, but still not great. We took the highway this time, so that made it smoother. Overall a great weekend. They mentioned missions trips, and so I want to see if a missions trip will count towards the international volunteering part of my GEC. 

This year, tuesdays are the days that are held in Stratford, so that's where I was yesterday. In my first class we got to spend 2/3 of the class walking around and taking pictures. It was a lot of fun, and we got some really good shots. We took some by the abandoned building behind campus and also meandered into town and took some by Town Hall. While we were out, ambulances showed up at the Stratford campus. They wheeled someone out on a gurney and took them, I'm assuming, to the hospital. We didn't recognize who it was, so we thought it might be one of the third years, because they live in Stratford now. The second class was nowhere near as fun, but some interesting discussions about some readings. And then, near the end of that class, one girl was having trouble breathing and was all red in the face, so she left too. She also ended up going to the hospital. Not a good day for UWaterloo Stratford campus! Two hospital trips in one day.
After class, my friends and I didn't get on the bus, because we had plans for a GNO, I guess you could call it. We had tickets to see the play Hay Fever at the Avon Theatre. But first we did some shopping, mainly at chocolate stores. Well, only at chocolate stores. I bought a lot of chocolate :) (I love Rheo Thompson!) A lot of stores in Stratford close at 6, so there wasn't a lot of options and/or time. So that was fun. Then we ate dinner at Fellini's, an Italian restaurant. I got pasta with chicken, bacon and roasted peppers. It was really good. I kind of had to shove the last few bits down though because I was so full. And then my friends had told the restaurant that it was my birthday, so they brought me a mini cake. And even though I was full, I still ate it because that is quite possibly the best cake I have ever had in my entire life, no jokes. It was so moist and chocolatey, I wanted to call it a lava cake, but there was no oozing...I don't even know how to describe it. It was so good. It's too bad I had to force it down because I was so full. Then we wandered over to the theatre and saw the play. It was really funny, but not quite what I was expecting. I don't really know what I was expecting. And as a surprise birthday gift, my friends payed for my ticket! So that was really sweet of them. After the play, we got into the car (my friend drove up to Stratford in the morning so that we would have a ride back). My friend who was driving claimed to have a great sense of direction, but then made this one turn out of Stratford that I was questioning. So then we got the GPS out and it told us to make a couple turns. A few minutes later, we were back in Downtown Stratford. (So clearly it's me who has a good sense of direction). Then we were on our way home. By the time we finally got going in the right direction and had dropped everybody off, I got home around 11:30. I had told myself that I was going to to some reading for school when I got back, but that didn't happen. It was a very long day, but a lot of fun.

252. Height.
I believe I am almost, but not quite, 5'9".

253. Role Model
Reagan Butler.

Apartment Life (?!)

(I'm back!)
Everything's going pretty well in the new apartment. Still haven't met two of the girls...one hasn't even moved in yet. Oh well. I'm not complaining. My room is small, but I'm making it work. Now that most of my stuff is up off the floor, it seems bigger :) (I have a lot of stuff. Too much, really. Although I'm realizing now that I did not bring a lot of shirts with me. Guess I'll have to go shopping!)
This is the view out my window:

Pretty dece.
lol jk

This is actually the view out my window. Could be worse, I suppose. At least I'm not looking directly at another apartment building, which is what one would expect in this area. It will take some getting used to living in the apartment, but I'm sure it will all be fine.  The biggest thing for me will probably be thinking of meals to eat. Not even making them is an issue for me, just thinking of what to eat. Maybe I'll just continue on with the camp menu, but with added peanut butter :)
Also I don't know if this is weird or creepy, but I made a picture of Elliot my desktop background and it makes me smile every time I see it. I'm going to miss him so much.
Speaking of boys, Josh is very eager to see me. Like, he hasn't even moved in yet and he's already asking to see me tomorrow. He's already said that he really likes me, but I don't know how I feel about him. But I now understand when girls say they don't know how to break it off. I totally understand that. Because even though we haven't actually had a thing yet, I don't want to crush his hopes and dreams. Ugh. I can't deal with all this drama. I don't know how girls do this all the time.

I'm not going to catch up with the QOTD because I haven't posted in over a month, but I'll do a few and will continue on with them.

245. Opinion on insecurities.
I think everyone has them or has had them at some point. I think they are completely justified and people are entitled to have them.

246. Do you miss how things were a year ago?
Well, a year ago I was a lot more homesick than I am right now and was stepping into first year university not knowing anything, so not really.

247. Have you ever been to New York?
I think I landed at their airport once? I know that I flew over New York City once, because I remember seeing the Statue of Liberty from the air.

248. What is your favourite song at the moment?
Afire Love by Ed Sheeran

249. Age and Birthday?
18, but only for another couple weeks.

What do you mean, blogging...?

I'm currently sick, which is putting a bit of a damper on things. And being tired doesn't help either. But camp is still a bunch of fun. It's so hard to believe that camp is in less than a week. It will be interesting to see how things go with some new scheduling and new staff. Some staff have come up early so the work is distributed over more people, which helps a bit. Today we had over 200 people at camp for lunch, so the dining hall was all set up and it was like a glimpse of camp. It all went fairly smoothly considering how many people it was. I can't wait till I have a SALT team to help out with everything.

198. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?
No.

199. Who was the last person you cried in front of?
Westmount Cineplex movie theatre #6, for The Fault in our Stars

200. What was your childhood nickname?
I didn't really have one.

201. Have you ever been you of your state/province?
Yup, multiple times.

202. Do you play the Wii?
Not so much anymore, but I did, once upon a time.

203. Do you like chicken noodle soup?
Yes.

204. Do you like Chinese food?
Yes.

205. Are you afraid of the dark?
Only in unfamiliar areas.

206. Are you mean?
I don't think so. I certainly hope not. Some of my sassy/sarcastic remarks might be mean.

207. Is cheating ever okay?
In general, no.

208. Can you keep white shoes clean?
I wouldn't know because my parents never let me buy white shoes for the exact reason that they would just get dirty

209. Are you currently bored?
Nope.

210. What makes you happy?
A lot of things. Food, friends, family. Camp. Success. Torrential downpours when I'm inside.

May the Fourth be With You

158. Craving something? What?
Donuts.

159. What colour are your towels?
I have a white one, pink one, and a purple one.

147. Last thing you ate?
Baskin 31 Robins ice cream (pistachio almond and cookies n cream in a waffle cone)

148. First thing you ate this morning?
Nutella on white bread (today hasn't exactly been a healthy day...)

149. Been suspended/expelled? For what?
Nope and nope.

I read them all one day / When loneliness came and you were away / Oh they told me nothing new, / But I love to read the words you used

- Things We Lost In The Fire, Bastille

I never blog when I'm at home...

wooohooo! Home again, this time for good. Well, for three weeks at least. Then I'm off to camp (which I am so excited for!!!) I honestly did not think I had so much stuff, but the entire back of the van was stuffed full with all the stuff I had in my dorm room. It's a good thing only my mom came to pick me up, because otherwise somebody would've had to sit on the roof on the way home. But it's good to be back, even if it's only for a little while. We watched Monsters University this evening, which I hadn't seen before, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty funny. And I loved the short film, The Blue Umbrella. I'm going to sewing tomorrow morning (9AM *sigh*) to hopefully get some more work done on a quilt I'm doing for someone. I haven't done any sewing in almost a year.

142. Favourite makeup brand?
I don't really have a lot of experience in this area, but I guess I'll say Mac?

143. Favourite store?
Well this is a very broad question and I don't like it. I like unique stores. Stores that sell unique things. There's this toy store in a mall in Ottawa that I really like. They have typical toys, but then they also have all the weird toys you always hear about but never see in person. So that's cool. I really like online stores too :3

144. Favourite blog?
obbsessionsareme.blogspot.ca, obviously.

145. Favourite colour?
Green.

146. Favourite food?
Lasagna.

Real Fruit

Something I learned in my international business class is that there are companies named things like "Real Fruit" and "Natural Flavours". Now, from a design point of view, one would wonder why such simple names? Nobody is going to notice you with a name like that! Well, my dear friends, that is precisely the point. Companies name themselves these simple terms because they often appear on packaging, meant to lure us, the customers, in with the appeal of "real" food, and not chemicals. This way, a food producing company can use the products from the company "Real Fruit" and then label their package "Contains Real Fruit!". Except our definition of real fruit and their definition of real fruit differ greatly. Who knows, maybe the company "Real Fruit" actually uses real fruit. But between you and me, if they have to use that name and that marketing strategy, then it probably isn't real fruit. This is why it is so important to do research and not just believe everything you see.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Just a little something I put together...I love McDonald's Shamrock Shakes