oh hello, november

making: super fun plans for the weekend(s). I have somewhere to be/something to do 3/4 weekends this month and that is SO unlike my life. 

simmering: beef stew. Like, every week till April, probably. It’s my favourite dinner in the winter. 

drinking: coffee. Hot. 2 a day. 

reading: nothing at the moment. Just finished The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene (enjoyed it) and Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford (also liked it). Up next: We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter and Not Me by Michael Lavigne. 

missing: baseball. Already. It’s been 2 days. 

playing: hooky Monday for a birthday trip to Target. (my birthday is next Friday, I like cards)

wishing: it doesn’t snow till December (sorry to all my pals in Alberta)

crushing: fun-size chocolate. Not so fun when you’re ridiculously full from eating 17 fun-sized pieces of chocolate. 

remembering: those rainy grey days. If you’re wondering what November – March is like in Southern Ontario, it’s this: mostly overcast, with or without precipitation, millions rejoice when the sun comes out for more than 2 hours. 

waiting: for the premiere date for New Girl. I need some Nick Miller in my life. 

craving: tacos. 

wondering: how I can manage to cut my fingers so easily. Within 2 days I slashed 2 fingers on my right hand; I didn’t even notice I had gauged the pad of my middle finger until I put the freezer down and the was blood running down my arm. The one on my pinky? Have no idea. There’s also a splinter from the back of a wardrobe and a bruise from a 50lb slab of marble. You’ll be happy to know I think I’m done moving things for a while. 

loving: my new dining/bistro table. The top is the 50lb slab of marble that bruised up my arm. Worth it though. There is no formal dining space in my apartment and the kitchen counter isn’t extended to have stools so I have been eating on a TV tray pulled up to my couch. I lucked out and found end-of-summer-season bistro table and chairs on major discount and they’re perfect. 

needing: a good 9 hours of sleep. I blame baseball; the World Series was great but the games were ending after midnight.

smelling: “Autumn” from Bath & Body Works. Like “Leaves” but muskier. 

wearing: socks. Grrrrrrrrrr….

watching: Christmas movies on Lifetime. The sun may never come out anymore but there’s 3-4 made-for-tv-movies to occupy my work hours. I have made no secret that my very UNguilty pleasure is holiday movies. I love them so much. 

listening: to Riptide by Vance Joy on repeat. If you’re looking for a little CanCon (aka: not Vance) check out the newest albums from Glorious Sons and Rural Alberta Advantage. 

opening: the windows then wondering why I’m cold. I like fresh air and it was so warm in September and October than I keep forgetting that it’s cold now and I shouldn’t open the patio doors in the morning. 

giggling: at pets in Halloween costumes. So wrong. So great. 

feeling: like a big complainer. Whoops. But cold and dark suck. Ohhhhh, and daylight savings ends Sunday. Let us step in to the darkness; let’s step into the darkness (song from Said the Whale. So appropriate – also v catchy)

pimping: ebates (referral link). I try not to pimp things out unless I really love it, but holy moly, guys. Why did I watch the ebates commercials for so long before signing up. I do 90% of my shopping online. In the last 11 months I’ve made over $100. Don’t have it? I would HIGHLY recommend you sign up for an ebates account before Black Friday/Cyber Monday holiday shopping.

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oh hello, october

sleeping: a lot. 

cooking: even though I was sweating through dinner (go away October heat wave) I made a roast pork loin with mashed potatoes and green beans with caramelized onions. So worth the sweating. 

drinking: raspberry lemonade crystal light. 

reading: just finished November 9 by Colleen Hoover which I loved the structure and then thought more about some of the scenes, which are a little rapey, and then I liked the book less. Picking up Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford at the library today. 

(also) reading: Sparks of Bravery by sister. A personal story she shared with Calgary Heritage Roasting Co. about her move to Alberta 6 years ago. 

wanting: actual fall temperatures. 

looking: forward to helping a friend decorate her new office! 

enjoying: all the sunshine. A rare occurrence for Ontario. Sure, it’s sunny, but we also have a disproportionate amount of cloudy for no reason days (I’m looking at you, January 2017), but it’s been so sunny lately. Which, obviously, great! (ps: it’s definitely raining right now.,,and more Friday and Saturday)

wondering: what version of “Dream Weaver” is in the newest Leon’s commercial. I’m obsessed with the raw and raspiness of it, but can’t find the source. The vocals seem slower than Gary Wright (original singer) and there is none of those space beam-type sounds from the original. Ugh. I just love the commercial version so much.

smelling: Leaves. The candle. Smelling outdoor leaves is weird. I had read somewhere that people were loving Bath & Body Works “Autumn” more than “Leaves”, so in a moment of weakness and great deals I bought a few Autumn with my fall supply of Leaves, and those people are wrong. Leaves is so much better. BUT, if you are a dude or like muskier smells, Autumn may be for you. 

wearing: really baggy tank top and really baggy lounge pants. My hair is not clean. I’m looking rather disheveled. 

watching: Daily Show monologues and Late Night with Seth Meyers’ A Closer Look. I need my politics with a heavy side of sarcasm and humour. 

(also) watching: fall tv! It’s back! I’m down with all the regulars: Chicago PD, Fire, and Med (whenever it’s back), Criminal Minds (watched the next day in daylight hours), Mindy Project & New Girl (whenever they’re back on), Grey’s Anatomy (it’s been 14 years, I’m going down with the ship), Scandal (last season), and This Is Us (shockingly, I don’t cry that much). Tuned in to a new series 9JKL on Monday; it looks like it has crap ratings on IMDB, but I liked it. What are you watching? 

listening: to…be nice…the adult alternative station on Stingray (radio stations on cable tv). It’s like hipster tunes for people over 30..35? Not so much easy listening, but enjoyable background music while reading a book. 

giggling: at panda videos on instagram. Pandas are jerks. But they’re the cutest jerks. 

missing: sister, Jess, and mountains. 

 

oh hello, september

sipping: a pumpkin spice latte. Hahahahaha, I totally am not. I legitimately hate culinary gourds. PSL makes me want to vom. I did however wake up on September 1 and beeline it to Starbucks for a hot cinnamon dolce latte. Hug in a mug. My falltime caffeinated bestie. 

burning: leaves. The candle from Bath & Body Works. The last thing I need is more candles but B&BW was having a big sale a week or so ago and $10.80 for 3-wick candles seemed like a good excuse to buy a few. Perk of working from home is that once the temps drop I burn candles all day and coconut candles are not welcome from September – March. 

(be more basic, right?) 

listening to: The Boy Who Cried Wolf by Passenger. Wow. I adore this album. It is so, so chill. Like, hi, sip your latte, light your candle, swaddle yourself in a blanket, read a book and listen to indie music. Aka: my Saturday plans. 

watching: The Sinner – loving it. Just finished Handmaid’s Tale – unexpectedly loved it. 

reading: an early galley copy of Allison Winn Scotch’s newest book (coming in January) Between You and Me

baking: these brownies. They make 2-4 servings. They are chewy and fudgey and easy to whip up when you need a sweet treat that doesn’t make a ton of sweet treats. (subbed a handful of chocolate chips for M&Ms) 

loving: cool mornings

hating: pretty much everything else. I’m having a rough week emotionally. And most foods are giving me insane stomach aches; I’ve been existing on toast, cantaloupe, and iced coffee. Yes, I know how acidic coffee is, and no, I don’t know why it doesn’t bother me while I want to rip out my intestines if I even see a tomato or ear of corn. 

oh hello, july

Unlike most people I know, July and August are quiet months for me. I like quiet months. 

Works slows down…well, at least until the Civic Holiday weekend in August when everyone is in a rush to finish up their back-to-school advertising. I refuse to take serious vacation time and probably won’t venture anywhere near a place that could be considered touristy or a popular destination. The only plan so far is a long weekend at the end of July to visit Chrissy in Ann Arbor. 

Summer for me is a lot of the same: lots of iced beverages, lots of snacks or snack plates and chopped salads over big meals, lots of strawberries and watermelon. 

A few things I’m currently loving this month: 

Private Practice is way less dramatic than Grey’s Anatomy, they randomly kill off less people, but they DID kill off my favourite character (Dell) and I know what’s coming for Pete in Season 6. I’m thinking about getting Happy Endings when I finish PP next week. 

Have you read any of these books? I don’t know if I’ve read too many Elin Hilderbrand books lately but I feel like they’re not as good as the ones written a few years ago. I had read a comment that her books have reached beach reads peak and are being churned out too fast and the storylines are unimaginative and follow a predictable pattern. I kind of agree. Sure, it’s still a good enough beach read because you don’t have to think about anything, the characters are simple, and you can pick it up/put it down easily. Really looking forward to the other two and have heard great things about them. 

I recently tried 2 new sparkling beverages that I’m loving: PC Blue Menu sparkling watermelon water and peach Lemon Lemon. So good. ps: Lemon Lemon is brand new to Canada! I’m loving San Pellegrino prickly pear and orange, too, but I haven’t seen it anywhere in Canada. There was a press release that La Croix was officially in Canadian Whole Foods…but…haven’t they already been there? Do they have coconut and passionfruit? Those are the only 2 I care about. 

The coconut chips were an impulsive buy; the bag is really small but I only use about 1 tablespoon crushed in my yougart and the bag has lasted a long time. I find them by the dried fruit at PC stores. Breakfast lately has been yougart + coconut chips + sliced roasted almonds + sultana raisins. 

I finally cut my hair 10 days ago (can we get a blog-wide hooray!) but it can still get into a ponytail and I think I need to get one of these J Crew bow hair ties. I was in The Gap over the weekend and they have a bunch of very lightweight cute, bright summery scarves. There’s one in store with little pom-poms that I didn’t see online. Maybe my pals in Alberta can use one? Because humidity is overwhelming in Southern Ontario, it’s regularly still in the high 20s overnight, so, not a lot of use for summer scarves, but I love ’em anyway. 

What are you loving this summer? 

oh hello, may

making: reservations. Boston hotels for next month are booked. Between the city being expensive and the crappy exchange, let’s just say, wow. Good thing I have a lot of PC Points I can redeem for groceries. 

prepping: salads. Quinoa salads for lunch and chopped veggie and chicken salads for dinner. 

drinking: homemade cafe au laits. I thought, maybe, it would be iced coffee time but noooooo, it’s cold and windy and rainy this week. 

eating: mini eggs. 

reading: just finished Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum. I’ve been in a big reading rut this year so got WWII historical fiction from the library in hopes of reigniting my love of reading. I can’t explain it, but, I liked it and didn’t like parts of it at the same time. 

shopping: at The Gap. I know Crazy Stupid Love’s Jacob Palmer would encourage us to “be better than The Gap” but for super plain penny pinchers like me, The Gap is fancy. I do all my shopping online, unfortunately the 2 pairs of jeans I ordered were too big (for my short gals, there are lots of ankle length styles on the website) but this flutter sleeve tee is too cute. For my flat(ter) chested ladies, check out this tank. So summery, I love it.  (ps: do you use ebates – total referral link – but I legit love it. I’m an online shopper and you want to give me money for doing what I was going to anyway? Um, ok, thankyouverymuch. If you’re an online shopper, I would highly recommend signing up…and then go through ebates to get some new stuff at The Gap. Win-win.) 

playing: hooky. Last Friday I took a day to ignore work (not that I’ve been busy anyway) and get a bunch of pesky errands done and then look for lamps. I got these ones at Pier 1 (a store that I rarely go into). The perfect tulip base in bright white (aka: exactly what I was looking for) for 45% off. Done and done. 

wishing: the sun would come out. OMG, I just looked at the Thurs-Sun forecast, so much rain. 

enjoying: my 4pm cup of coffee and 5pm New Girls watching. (NickMiller4lyfe)

crushing: on ball players. I love baseball as it is, but it’s so much easier to crush on the boys when there are no bulky (but safe) helmets. Monday’s Jays game which was pretty much a 3 hour Ryan Goins and Marco Estrada highlight reel? Oh hello! 

loving: (loved) my Blooms & Flora bouquet. B&F is a gorgeous flower shop in Guelph and all I wanted as a housewarming gift from my mom was a bouquet. They start at $25 which isn’t much for beautiful flowers, but I’m a $5 tulips at the grocery store kind of girl. When a few of the blooms died, I gathered the still living ones into a smaller bunch on Sunday. They have just started receiving peonies in store but I’m restraining myself until they’re in season and the price goes down. 

marveling: at how much better I sleep with the window open.

needing: a hair cut. I am so lazy about getting my hair cut and it’s getting really long again. 

smelling: my clothes. Seriously. My Dad gave me some Gain fabric softener a few weeks ago and it is amazing. Those commercials, so so true. (why yes, we are a great gift-giving family, thank you for noticing) 

(not) wearing: socks. 

knowing: that spring weather is (probably) just around the corner. Hopefully. But hey, summer? Don’t rush. Up to 20C is perfect for me. 

watching: Jays baseball (don’t want to jinx it, but they’re not as bad lately, and the games are so much easier to watch) and Ally McBeal. 

listening: to…not much. Any recommendations? 

noticing: there are made-for-tv movies on bravo all year round now. It was a few weeks of Lost Letter Mysteries (loved them) and now we’re into lovey-wedding ones. Still good. You know how much I adore made-for-tv movies.

giggling: at my, sister, and Jess’ insta-messaging group. I hope you have friends and a group chat this great. 

counting: down the days till sister is here. 

feeling: bored.