Fight to Entertain

good ol' pun to start us off

This is me eating my words and wishing I had brought my sewing stuff to Stratford. Only a week in and I'm rudely reminded of how boring it can get in Stratford. I have to make a real effort to entertain myself and not just waste my days away on social media. That being said, I did do lots of fun things this week. 
It was Marissa's birthday on Friday, so on Thursday we drove to Kitchener to go trampolining. Mara and I had been to this place before, where they have 6 olympic grade trampolines. It was great fun. I almost did a full front flip (I just can't quite stick the landing and end up on my butt). Michelle however did gymnastics when she was younger and so was doing front flips, back flips, you name it. Definitely got my exercise in that day and felt it for the following two days. I'd like to go back at some point and see if I can't finally land a front flip.
Later that day we had our first SSC event of the term at a local pub. Much to our enjoyment, Thursday is now 25cent wing night. I made a slight misjudgement in how hungry I was and ordered 5 wings and a burger. Way too much food. But the wings were great. And I couldn't get over that it cost $1.25 for 5 wings! I'm no wing fanatic but even I know that's got to be a great deal. I might start making regular trips to the pub for 5 wings every Thursday night.
Friday morning started off great listening to Ed Sheeran's two new singles. I've come to realize that I almost always don't like a song when I first hear it if it's a song I'm expecting to like (i.e. from an artist I'm familiar with). So I didn't form any opinions until later. And as expected, I really like both of them. I'm not sure which one I like better; it might have to be Castle On The Hill.

Last night I had some friends over to play Catan (I won). I also made my new meal of the week: spinach salad with dried cranberries, chicken, avocado, and poppyseed dressing. To be honest I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It might just make it on to my rotation of meals. I haven't decided what this week's recipe is going to be; it will depend on when I get to a grocery store next.

I also made rice krispie squares but they didn't turn out great. I think the marshmallows were past their prime.
Didn't do much today. Watched a sermon from The Meeting House online. I've started doing a daily doodle where I practice my lettering/doodling. It's not much but I'm trying out the concept that doing something everyday will help you get better at it. I'm patiently waiting for 9pm to roll around to watch the next Sherlock episode. I've had to stay off social media since this afternoon to avoid any spoilers, since Britain has already seen it and there are already things being posted about what happens.

Am I a Baking Blogger?

Yes, but I don't have a baking blog (officially). I do talk about baking whenever I do it though. And I did lots of baking last month. It was great. I made mini churros, chai-spiced tea cakes, peppermint bark, sugar cookies with royal icing, and the capstone dessert: the gingerbread train. All of you who read this blog have already seen these, but, you have to do it for the blog so here we are.

I'm particularly pleased with how the gingerbread train turned out. I was skeptical about the support system and how the cars would stand on the wheels. It was a struggle to get the engine standing but I eventually got it with some extra hidden support (made of gingerbread of course). Unfortunately, the wheels started collapsing after two days, I imagine because of the humidity and heat in the house with all the people. I took it as a sign to start eating the gingerbread ;) The train had minimal candy on it compared to my previous gingerbread houses. This was because I was trying to go for a cleaner appearance overall. But I missed the candy, so I think next year's creation will feature more candy.

Christmas was great, if busy. We had 13 people at our house for Christmas dinner! Lots of good gifts, two of which are card games that I really like: Sushi Go and The Struggle for Catan.
The other thing I occupied my time with was a t-shirt quilt for a friend, which I got finished in time(!). She really likes it, which I'm glad of.
Having been inspired by finishing that t-shirt quilt, I decided I would start working on my own t-shirt quilt with my Forest Cliff Camp shirts (of which I have many). I started working on it just before New Years Eve, and almost completely finished the top of the quilt before I came back to Stratford yesterday. I've never moved through a quilt so quickly before. The main reason for that is because a lot of supplies I need to make quilts are at the church sewing group, so I was limited to 3hrs of sewing a week. But I recently received a cutting board and ruler which are the big things I needed. So now I can sew to my heart's desire at home! Now the only thing stopping me is not understanding a quilt pattern. Margaret often helps me a lot in guiding me through the steps of making a quilt.

I made up the pattern for the t-shirt quilts since you can't really fit the t-shirts to an existing pattern. I had been planning on bringing my sewing stuff to Stratford so that I could keep working on my quilt while at school but I ended up getting so much of it done that I didn't bother. I'll be able to finish the top within a couple hours the next time I go home. Then the first quilt of 2017 will be done!
The creativity continues in Stratford with a card for a friend's birthday later this week. We're hoping to go trampolining to celebrate :)
My new year's resolution is to make a new recipe each week. The hope is that I'll become more confident in trying new recipes, increase the number of go-to meals I can make, and learn how to pair foods better. This week is a chicken and spinach salad.

RedonDONE

I am often significantly less stressed the 48hrs leading up to a due date than my peers. Most of the time, this is because I complete my work before hand and apparently everyone I go to school with is an expert procrastinator. However, I thought this weekend might be different. We're on the third and final iteration of our Redondo prototype project (due on Monday), and my group was struggling to solidify our idea. This meant I couldn't start working on my part of the write up ahead of time. Finally, on Thursday we came to an agreement only because we argued that we literally didn't have anymore time to discuss ideas, and had to start working on the write-up and physical prototype. Filip and I were assigned the physical prototype because we were going to be the only ones in Stratford over the weekend. Filip didn't seem too happy about having the physical prototype, but I would take crafting over writing any day. Over the past two days, it took us 8 hours to complete the prototype out of cardboard, and that was on top of 2 hours the group had spent together building the shell of the Redondo. We went through 3 cans of spray paint trying to make this thing look half decent. But on the plus side, I am now done my contribution to the project, and thus have the weekend to myself. Which is where I started this narrative. Still done my work ahead of time :)

My other task for the weekend is 3D printing a bunch of mini pieces of furniture. This is for the GBDA X project, where we're redesigning the Cooper Site. As a part of the 3D model team, I created a blueprint of the building that will eventually printed at 24"x62". The mini furniture pieces will sit on this blueprint. The group became a bit pressed for time because the book/brand team wants pictures of the miniatures for their book. So we suddenly needed our models finished earlier than anticipated. I took one for the team and offered to print them over the weekend. It will be cutting it close. I started one today (a desk and bed) and it's going to take 9hrs to print. I'm just hoping that everything goes smoothly, because I left after about an hour. I will find out tomorrow, fingers crossed. 

Other than hoping the 3D printer doesn't break down from continuous operation over the next 48hrs, I don't have anything going on this weekend. All of the M&Ms are away for the weekend. I made chocolate chip cookies this evening. I used to bake because I wanted baked goods. Now I bake to occupy time, and have the added bonus of getting baked goods out of it. I finished The Crown on Netflix today. I really enjoyed it and hope they continue to make episodes (there's some controversy as to whether there will be another season due to comments from the Royal Family). Might do some reading, since I haven't done that in a while. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the weather is going to be great. Although today it was lovely. I was walking around in a t-shirt. 

Another Weekend Gone

This weekend was incredibly lazy, interspersed with moments of activity. I baked some cupcakes, which I had intended to send some home with my family when they came up on Saturday, but found out that they had made cupcakes themselves as well. So I have all the cupcakes now. I'll probably take them into school tomorrow. I've been doing a lot of baking and giving it away recently. Not necessarily because I set out to be generous, but because I'm bored, so I bake. And then I have tons of baked goods that I can't consume on my own, so I give them away. Rice Krispies have been made multiple times already this year.
As I mentioned before, my family (minus my dad) came up to Stratford on Saturday to see a showing of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It was well done; I especially liked how they did Aslan. The legs had a very realistic movement, which I appreciated.

While at the theatre, I ran into the Dyck family, which is the family I lived with over the summer. Boy was I surprised to see them. I ended up hanging out with them after the show and getting dinner with them. We went to about 6 restaurants before giving up and getting Wendy's. A rookie mistake: if you want to eat a meal immediately before or after a show in Stratford, you need to have a reservation. Even Swiss Chalet didn't have room for us. 

This morning a group of us when to an arts and crafts show at the Rotary Complex. It took us about 40mins to walk there because it's way out on the edge of Stratford. It was fun to go though. There was over 100 vendors. There was a raffle to win this massive gingerbread house. It was like the ones you see on TV in the competitions. My favourite part was that they had left the back corner open so you could see inside the house, where they had done the entire interior as well, complete with mini gingerbread people. I was freaking out over it, and somebody from the Stratford Gazette asked if they could use my picture. I said yes, obviously, so now I'll have to keep an eye out for my picture in the paper. I managed to get some things, including a butter alternative that is primarily composed of garlic. It's basically garlic butter but healthier. I'm going to start making myself garlic bread all the time. And might even put it on my sandwiches. We decided to get a cab back, since we didn't fancy walking all the way back. 

I had trouble falling asleep last night, so spent the afternoon in bed lounging around. I watched an episode of The Crown on Netflix. It's about Queen Elizabeth II, starting with her marriage to Prince Philip. I'm loving this series. And it's also surprisingly accurate in terms of what actually happened. I've been doing lots of research into the Royal Family because of it. I'm also starting to manage wrapping my head around the Royal Family tree. I've tried to do that before, and struggled. It's basically a history lesson that's also entertaining. 

This evening I went out skating again, and set a new record with my Misfit (and officially this time, since there was no time change nonsense). 2030 points :D The skate costs $5, which is a bit much to go skating for an hour and a half, but I'm calling it an investment in my health, since the Wii Fit, while motivating, I'm not exactly sure can be called a 'workout'. 

In other news, I'm counting down the days till the term is done. Not even particularly because I'm desperate for school to be over, but because I have so many ideas planned for what I can do during my break. I'm especially excited to be able to sew again. I'm going to try and pump out two quilts in one month, which I've never done before. Heck, I haven't done one quilt in a month before. And of course, Christmas baking. Big plans :)

QOTD

371. Have you ever looked down on someone because you thought your religious views were superior?

Not knowingly, although I'm sure I've done it subconsciously. I know that when people mention that they don't believe in God that I make note of it and generally try and steer conversation away from religion, but I don't look down on them. 

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!

GBDA X

All Alone...

Today was my first day completely alone in this house. It was all good (no worrying about strangers hiding in corners), but it was lonely. I wanted to go for a walk, but it was raining all afternoon, and then it was dark :( Hopefully I'll have the opportunity tomorrow. I've been positively bored all day, regardless of whether I was doing work or avoiding it. I might watch a movie. But to occupy more time, QOTDs.

361. Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "heart".
Body organ.

362. What's your favourite colour?
Green, but verging into teal.

363. What is your current desktop picture?

364. If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?
Although some people are tempting, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone.

365. What would be a question you'd be afraid to tell the truth on?
What's your dirty little secret?

Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Last year, my New Year's Resolution was to floss my teeth each and every day. That didn't happen every day (but it definitely happened more often than it did previously). Luckily, I had a second resolution: take a picture myself every day. Unfortunately, that also didn't happen every day, but had a much higher success rate than the flossing did. I think I only missed a handful of days all year. And after taking a picture of yourself every day for a year it becomes a bit of a habit, so I continued into this year. I only stopped during the summer when my ipod broke and my phone at the time didn't have a front facing camera. My goal when making this resolution was always to put the pictures together in a slideshow to see them altogether in quick succession. And I've finally gotten around to making that video. So here is 457 pictures of me, taken between Jan 1st, 2014 and June 18th, 2015, in 40 seconds.

My New Year's Resolution this year is to write a letter every week, and it must be delivered through snail mail. So far I'm on track, although sometimes I have difficulty thinking of who to write a letter to. Hopefully I can make it all the way to the end, and I will have finally (100% successfully) completed a New Year's Resolution.

A Peek Into the Life of a Food Service Director

I suppose it's been awhile. My go-to thing to do when I'm bored isn't blogging any more...now it's usually reading or Netflix :) But I finished my book and you can only watch so much Netflix at a time, so here I am (also I was told to by a certain BFFLAAT).
This past week at camp was hard and tiring, especially at the end. We had our first school group, Matthews Hall from London. Then we had a couple days with just the staff before a youth group retreat came up for the weekend. I screwed up two times: the first was with Matthews Hall. We made roast beef, but not enough. I panicked and was sitting on the floor of the kitchen not sure what to do. I just froze. Luckily, Nola, my kitchen partner (and debatable more-kitchen-abled) did not panic and/or freeze like I did, and started thinking of a solution. Aaron also helped, which surprised me a bit. It's taken me a while to get used to the fact that he's the go-to person in charge right now, not Reagan. Aaron was the one who convinced me to get off the floor and find a solution. Everybody at Matthews Hall had eaten but the staff had not, so we made chicken tacos for them. They were all very understanding and didn't get mad (at least to my face), but I was still beating myself up for it, and was for a couple days. And of course after that I was nervous every time I figured out quantities because I didn't want to screw up again. Everything was going fine until I screwed up again: this time with the youth group retreat over the weekend. We were having tacos/fajitas/whatever you want to call them for lunch and we ran out of ground beef (clearly beef is not my strong point. Probably in part because we don't order it through Flanagans and is really expensive). So we made more chicken (the chicken we use at camp is already diced and fully cooked, so makes for an easy prep). At least that time I think everybody, except for a few stragglers, had eaten and people just wanted seconds. I dealt with that situation much more professionally than the first. Nola and I didn't end up eating until 2pm. Aaron had gone to town when the beef ran out, and he bought me a sub from subway :)
And then Saturday afternoon happened. Most people don't know about this, because it all happened in the kitchen, and not around meal times. Nola and I were in the kitchen, trying to increase the amount of chilli we had prepared for dinner. We were adding beans and veggies and all forms of tomato: diced, sauce, paste. We even debated adding condensed tomato soup (that didn't end up happening). Now keep in mind that Nola and I had been in the kitchen since before 7 that morning. All of this is being added to a huge pot - easily a diameter wider than my shoulder width and as tall as my torso. We weren't sure how many people it would feed, and there were 160 of us that needed to eat. So we start lining up ladles along the edges and sides of the pot to try and figure out how many servings we
could get out of this thing. We even took a picture to send to Catherine to see what she thought.

(this picture does not do the size of the pot justice)
We had a range of guesses, ranging from 75 to 114. Regardless, not enough to feed everyone. So we start whipping up another pot of chilli. We cooked some more ground beef, start grabbing veggies and all our cans of tomatoes in various forms. The only problem is, we used so many of our cans of tomatoes and beans on the first pot trying to bulk it up that there wasn't many left for this second pot. So we added in all that we had, and it still wasn't tomato-y enough to be considered "chilli". So I start looking up how to make homemade tomato sauce because we have a box of tomatoes in the fridge. I had never before peeled a tomato, and I don't think I ever will again, but it was interesting at the time. Needless to say I did not have the 90 mins to let it simmer on the stove and added it straight into the pot.
So there we were, Nola and I on our step-stool (because the pots are so tall), using wooden juice paddles to stir the pots of chilli (because nothing else was long enough to reach the bottom of the pot), and the sanity had left the building. We said that we didn't have any sanity left, because it was a key ingredient in the chilli. There were also multiple mentions of leaving camp and never coming back.
When it was dinner time, we had to ask two of the guys on staff to move the pot because all Nola and I could do was nudge it in circles on the stovetop. We had managed to created almost another full pot of chilli. I knew that was really too much, but I had been told by Aaron, from Tyler, to "make enough, and don't worry about leftovers". Well Tyler, it's hard not to when you still haven't given me a budget. (As a result, I've decided that if this special meal deal* that Nola and I are doing for the staff goes over budget, camp will step in and cover the rest). Aaron came up to me and asked how it was going, as he has made the habit of doing around meal times, and all I had to say to him was "If they eat both pots of chilli, I'm handing in my two weeks notice**". And I wasn't even completely joking. Aaron, having not yet seen the pots of chilli, said "Don't say that!" I just walked away. He walks into the kitchen, where Em was because she was helping prep dinner, and sees the pots of chilli and goes "Whoooooooooooa..." Em then says something along the lines of 'that's why she's threatening to hand in her two weeks' because THERE IS A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF CHILLI.
Dinner starts, and the buffet line starts moving. I keep checking up on the pot of chilli and it seems to be going down at a reasonable amount. Everybody has gone through the line; people start coming back for seconds (more for the homemade buns than the chilli). Nola and I approach the pot. The bottom has just been exposed. We fed all 160 people. With one pot of chilli. I couldn't even get angry because I was just so done with everything. So the camp freezer currently holds a pot of chilli large enough to feed over 100 people.
And still we were not done. There was popcorn for a late night snack, and while popcorn is easy to make, it is very time consuming. My day did not get any better when Aaron said that instead of 9:40, the group wanted their snack bumped to 10:15. Nola and I were joined by Rebecca in making popcorn and putting it into paper bags to be handed out. We started right after dinner, and finished around 9:30. And we missed the fireworks that the group was letting off at the beach. I later found out that the spring staff had taken group pictures down at the beach after the fireworks, so I was bummed that I had missed out on that. At the final count, Nola and I had been in the kitchen for over 16hrs straight.
On Sunday, everything went fine food wise, but then we had cleaning to do. Clean up takes a long time, and people just want to go home, so it's always a rough process. Aaron was helping, which I appreciated because I would peg him as the kind of guy to disappear until everything was cleaned. But the thing that really got me down was that the debrief meeting that we always have after a group leaves was held while people were still cleaning in the kitchen. I know I wasn't missing much, because we just discuss how we felt the retreat went, but I felt really left out. Especially after that weekend, where I had hardly any time to relax and hang out with people.
I know that some exclusion comes from working in the kitchen - that was a lesson I learned last year - but I never felt as left out as I did on Sunday while cleaning up and leaving. I understand why the meeting happened when it did, people were done cleaning and wanted to go home. But I felt like I hadn't talked or even sat down with someone other than Nola in days. People come by to help prep or clean up, but I can't really relax and chat with them then. I can't even talk to people during meals because during the meal we have to watch the buffet and replace food when it runs out. By the time Nola and I are eating, everyone else is already done and gone. Often we just end up eating on the counters in the kitchen because there's no longer any reason to go eat somewhere else. I'm going to mention it to Reagan, because I feel like I need to tell someone about how the meeting didn't happen when all the staff were present. And I just also need to get it off my chest, which this has helped with a bit. Hopefully this upcoming week is better.

*The Special Meal Deal: in hindsight, probably a bad idea on my part in terms of stress and extra work required, but hopefully it works out. Nola and I came up with this because the meals that the spring staff have together alone are dwindling quickly. We pitched to the staff that if they each brought in $3, then we (Nola and I) would make them a meal of their choosing that is not limited by camp's (non-existant) budget or food/ingredients, for a dinner this coming week where it's just spring staff. They were all for it, and so this Friday dinner will include guacamole, chicken breasts with goat cheese, stir fry and some sort of dessert (Nola wants to make cheesecake).

**Handing in our two weeks notice has become something of a joke between a handful of us at camp. A couple weeks ago Em, Aaron and I were chatting about the changes at camp that we didn't like/agree with. We were jokingly threatening to hand in our two weeks notice of quitting our jobs. We all agreed that if one of us did it, the others would. We then went to see Reagan and told her about this. I asked her what she'd do, and without missing a beat she said "I'd hand in mine as well." :D

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. 

Ok, pick your fave:

1.

 2.

 3.

 4.

5.

Or if there's something you like in one, and something in another, let me know. 

Ok I know that two of you looked at my collage and then didn't comment, and I'm hurt. But don't go back and comment on that one, cause I've made changes.
Seriously guys, I don't know what this looks like to other people. Lend a girl a hand.

Collage

I need your help with one of my assignments. I have to make a digital collage. I'm trying to make it say something, but it's one of those things where, since I know what it is, I see that. So I need your unknowing eyes to tell me what you see in this:

Copyright Heather W.

Donuts

Here are some pics of when I made donuts earlier this month.

Baking (& QOTD #37)

I've been doing some baking in my spare time. Today I made gingerbread men. I'm planning on decorating them tomorrow. I also cut out the pieces for a little gingerbread house. Hopefully it turns out. I'll post pictures once it's been assembled. I'm really excited for it, cause it's going to be mini! Earlier this week I made sugar cookies. I love making cookies that use cookie cutters. And so here they are:

We have this cookie stamp that says "HOMEMADE" which I love.

As always, some cookies don't make the cut. (I wasn't even trying to make that a pun. I'm hilarious)

Then I thought, I can do so much more than just the cookie cutter shapes.

 And then the layering began.

 This guy wasn't supposed to be the Monopoly man, but he turned out that way.

I love my little pirate man :) Don't ask what the girl is holding, I don't know what it is. 

 And then this happened >:)

 Making these cookies took me all afternoon, and I have no regrets.

37. Do you believe in love at first sight?
I believe that you can be attracted to someone at first sight, but I don't think you can develop genuinely true love feelings right away.

Also, this:

Funny/Cool Things I Have Found On My Recent Journeys Through The Internet

Friday Lunch

I decided this week that instead of bringing a bag lunch to Stratford, I would buy lunch. There are so many different places to eat! Anyways, I decided to try Boomers Gourmet Fries. Only to arrive and find out that it had been on You Gotta Eat Here!, a Canadian TV show similar to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I thought it was pretty cool to eat at a place that had been on TV, if not very tourist-y. I had Meatball Poutine: fries, cheese, red sauce and meatballs. It was pretty good. I only got two meatballs though.

But before all that happened, I had the closest thing I've ever had to an outing with, gasp, a boy. I know, I know. But don't get your panties in a bunch. He asked me where I was going for lunch, and I said I was thinking of the fries place. He said cool, and did I mind if he came? I said sure. So we're walking down the street and he's telling me about how this morning he was all rushed and forgot his wallet. And I was thinking, Wait, if you don't have your wallet, how are you getting lunch? (I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that it only occurred to me as I was writing this that maybe he was going to use me to buy him lunch. But I don't think he's that kind of person).  Anyways, we're walking and I go to cross the street. Half-way across I realize that he isn't beside me. I look back and he's standing on the curb. I just look at him with a questioning look. Once I reach the other side, I'm not quite sure what to do, so I just keep walking. Another block down he catches up to me and says that his friend offered to buy him lunch and then he leaves. That's it. Never spoke to him again. I was like, Ok then. And then went and bought my lunch. I'm not sure where we stand exactly. Was I supposed to offer to buy him lunch? And what if I told you that he's the uncultured swine?

Regret...?

So....I went to the mall today. I had intended on it being a very purposeful trip. I had a few things I needed to get, then I would leave. However. That is not how it went. And I am now fully aware of the effect of not paying with cash has. On the bright side, I got some great stuff for a good deal. But back to the down side, it got a little out of hand. I kept telling myself I was spending birthday money, but I didn't get that much birthday money. I think this scene from Tangled suits my situation perfectly.
And to distract you from that bit of honesty, I have pictures!
On Friday our prof had asked us to bring our cameras, so very reluctantly, I took mine. I was only reluctant because it meant I would have to be carrying it around all day. So I am sitting in class, excited that we will be doing something other than just a lecture. Not as such. We never used the cameras. I'm still not sure why she asked us to bring them. Anyways, during my lunch break I was mad that I was lugging my camera around all day for nothing. So I decided to go take picture of the building behind the Waterloo Stratford Campus building. Did a bit of research, the building was The Grand Trunk Railway shop. Functioning from 1870 to 1964, the GTR has been vacant since 1989. More recently, a fire in 2002 destroyed the west wing. I couldn't find a picture pre-fire except in this PDF, but here is a picture of the fire:

This is an aerial of it now, the little checkerboard building at the bottom of the picture is The University of Waterloo Stratford Campus:

You can just see where the fire was on the right. The pavement that heads down from the GTR on a 90 angle (which is now being used as a parking lot) is where part of the building used to stand before the fire. And here are the pictures I took. The building has a very steampunk feel to it, I think.

 I don't know If you can see in this ^ one, but there is a shattered light bulb hanging there. I loved the idea of the shot, but my lens was not capable of getting as close as I had hoped. I might bring my camera out again with my stronger lens sometime.

So there it is! I stuck to one end, where the fire had been. To be honest, the other end looks rather dull compared to this end which is exposed and rusted.