Ahhh Weekend Away

I don't know if it has come through in my blogs, but I"m a leeetle stressed at the moment. Stressed in a good way if that makes any sense at all.

I'm going away with the girls this weekend up to Ellicottville, New York. It's only like two hours away, but it feels like a million miles and I can't wait.

We go every year, and it essentially involves hanging out in our pajamas, a whole lot of drinking and ridiculous drinking games, watching random 80s movies such as The Karate Kid and that's about it. Actually, last year we tried snowboarding, which let me tell you, was interesting. And by interesting, I mean incredibly painful.

There is also a place to go tubing which is just the about the most fun thing ever. You get towed up the hill on a pulley, and then race your friends down a huge ice hill. The potential for injury is high, but the potential for awesomeness is even higher.

ALSO, also, right next to where we stay there is a pub. The grossest, most rednecky pub you can imagine. Like, there is no way in hell you would ever use the washroom there or god forbid eat anything from the kitchen. Even the mixed drinks are questionable. The pub parking lot is usually full of trucks with gun racks. There is a huge sign out front that says "Welcome Hunters".

We stick out like sore thumbs, despite the fact that we in no way look spectacular.



But you know what? The people are nice. Except that one time we almost got our asses kicked by a skanky girl and her huge boyfriend. Apparently we "looked" at her boyfriend wrong, and one of my friends almost got a high kick to the face. Seriously, the girls boot was literally an inch away. After that happened we had some other lady create a distraction by waving her arms all wildly and we hightailed it outta there. I only win hypothetical fights. I can jab, jab, upper, upper with the best of them, but if someone's actual face was on the recieving end I would likely cry.

K, I so need to see if I can find a picture of the pub now....



Classy right? I can't wait.

Happy Weekend!!

On International Days of Weirdness

So I was reading the paper yesterday and there was a recipe inside for some chocolate brownies. This recipe, according to the paper, was printed in celebration of International Chocolate Day. Immediately after I read that, I was just like, 1) how did I not know about this, I need some chocolate stat!, and 2) who comes up with these things, and maybe more importantly, why?

Every day is chocolate day for me! Or at least hot chocolate day! But when I googled "international chocolate day", several different days came up, so I'm thinking maybe some random people decide they need an excuse to eat copious amounts of chocolate in one day, thus International Chocolate Day was born. Yeehaw!

Then I got to thinking....what other random holidays am I missing? There is probably a plethora of exciting days that pass by unnoticed by me every year, when really, I could be partying it up!

So I looked some of them up, and indeed I was right...I can't believe I've been missing some of this stuff year after year! That ends now!!

So these are the holidays I will hence force be celebrating!

January-
National Clean off Your Desk Day
Someday We'll Laugh About This week
I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore day
Appreciate a Dragon Day
Squirrel Appreciation Day
Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Out of these, I have to say Appreciate a Dragon Day is my favourite. What does one do on Appreciate a Dragon Day? How exactly do you Appreciate a Dragon? I'm thinking...I'll watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Oh, and maybe sing Puff the Magic Dragon a couple of times.

February
National Tooth Fairy Day
At first when I saw this, I was all, awesome! Tooth Fairy! Then I thought about it and remembered the Tooth Fairy used to creep me the eff out. My friend told me a story once about how after she lost a tooth, she put it under her pillow that night, and woke up to find a large black man in her room! Which led us to conclude that: 1) The Tooth Fairy actually was a large black man, 2) Her house was getting robbed, or 3) It was actually the shadow of one of her parents. Either way, that scared me off the Tooth Fairy for good.

March
National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day
Awkward Moments Day

Truthfully, every day is Awkward Moments day for me, because I am a highly awkward individual. I've accepted it, it's just the way it is. If there is a way to make something unintentionally awkward, I'll likely do it!

April
Blame Someone Else Day
Avoid the Post Office Day

I love the post office like woah, so I'm not sure how that day would go for me. You mean I can't browse the new stamps? Ahhhh. Blame Someone Else Day? Yes please!

May
International Respect for Chickens Day
Limerick Day

Both of these are awesome! Chickens are awesome! Not when they are within 5 feet of me and getting all pecky, but I do like to EAT chickens, and I respect them for that. And Limerick Day??? Nothing would make me happier than if everyone in the world abides by this. Except maybe if there was an Pretend You Are in a Musical Production Day.

June
Hug Your Cat Day
National Handshake Day

I don't have a cat, but I'm sure I can find one to hug. And I'm sure I'll get clawed to death. National Handshake Day doesn't seem so sanitary, especially with all the H1N1 brouhaha going around, but I'll make sure to stock up on hand sanitizer for this one.

July
Compliment Your Mirror Day
Be A Kid Again Day
International Town Crier's Day
Embrace Your Geekiness Day
Take Your Houseplants for Walk Day

I LOVE ALL of these. Be A Kid Again Day??? Amazing. I also am slightly obsessed with Town Crier's, like I want to be a Town Crier, so I can totally get behind that day. I wonder if there is a Town Crier Festival anywhere in the world? Note to self-look that up.

August
National Mustard Day
National Underwear Day

I hope everyday day is Underwear Day, but hey, it happens I guess!

September
Be Late for Something Day
Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ahoy matey! Arrrrr. Shiver Me Timbers. Swashbuckler... Ummmmm, whoa, I would have very limited conversation skills on this day!!

October
International Moment of Frustration Scream Day

Yes please. They should time this simultaneously around the world...I'll like to hear what that sounds like!

November
Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day

Okay!

December
Gingerbread House Day
Cat Herders Day

I love making elaborate Gingerbread Houses, so this is perfect!!I have an excuse to spend hours upon hours of Gingerbread House decorating!!

This is only the tip of the iceberg people! Just imagine the possibilities! Hi ho, look at this: http://www.mydayregistry.com/ ....want the perfect gift for somebody? Create them their own day! Again, the possibilities are endless!!

What random holiday can I create??? Ideas??

On Thrilling the World

So I participated in Thrill the World on Saturday night, and I don't believe they know yet if we broke the world record...but I'm thinking probably yes! However, it was fun times! Group dancing while dressed like zombies? Yes please! My friend K and I went to the dance workshop on Friday night so we could learn the dance, and we got it pretty down pat. Although when we actually attempted to do it in a large group, it was significantly harder because some people didn't know what they were doing and it became slightly confusing. Also, there was this random small child behind me...not sure who she belonged to, but she was about two, and I almost ran into her like 12 times. It still went well though, there was 91 people registered and pretty much all of them were dressed up like zombies. We danced in a pavilion in a park which was definitely the perfect spot. It was freezing, so the roof of the pavilion blocked the wind a bit. Plus, the floor was wooden and it made the most awesome clomping noise when people starting dancing in unison. So fun.

I think K and I did pretty well with our costumes. I found this scar putty stuff that I was obsessed with, and it actually worked pretty well! We also bought this "tooth out" black wax stuff, but as you will probably be able to tell from the pictures, it wasn't so great. I definitely spit it out after it being there for half an hour.

And besides all the fun-ness, this was a great way to raise money for charity! It was an all around win.

We had one reporter take our picture, and he was like "pretend you are strangling her!"...which I did, but I did so while hysterically laughing, so we'll see if that makes it to print. I couldn't keep a straight scary face to save my life. We also told the reporter to put our ages as "392" and "396", but he wasn't haven't it. Oh reporters with no sense of humour. Anyways! Oh, and I also randomly won a Michael Jackson cd...not too sure why, but some girl just came up to me, and was like "here you go!"

I can't believe I'm actually posting these on here!



Not sure what this pose was...I believe I am trying to look scary though!



After getting ready! Happy zombies!



Mid dance.

I'm definitely going to do it again next year! Fun fun.

Thanksgiving Adventures

Do you ever have one of those moments where you absolutely must go somewhere, anywhere, or else you might burst? I don't know if it is just my city or what, but sometimes I just really need to get out of here. It doesn't matter where to, as long as it isn't here. The city feels cagey sometimes, everything repeats itself, everything is the same, and I must get out. I mean, I live in a city where a crazy wild turkey routinely makes the newspaper.

I felt like that this week, thus this weekend was spent up in beautiful Western New York where luckily my aunt has a place. Ellicotville is more well known for it's amazing skiing, but in the Fall, it is equally as great. Nestled right in the mountains, Ellicotville, Great Valley, and surrounding areas, can literally take your breath away in autumn.

Fall Festival was happening, which meant the streets were full of vendors, every possible kind of food imaginable was for sale and apple cider was of ample supply. They also were having chair rides up one of the ski lifts which was pretty cool. They had a bbq and a band on top of one of the hills. We decided to walk down the hill after riding up, which in theory was great, but in reality was actually kind of painful. My knees were confused. And I almost wiped out approx. 8 times.

Another day we spent some time in a state park at a place called "Little Rock City". After driving for a good while far, far into the woods we finally came across it. It was basically giant rocks that you could walk on top of, walk in between and in general just marvel at. They were all covered in moss, and it felt a little bit like a different world. So cool. My aunt at some point decided it would be fun to mention the bears that live in the woods, which made me entirely unnerved. Getting mauled by a bear is not how I want to leave this world! In any event, we saw nary a bear, or any other kind of animal for that matter and it was a lovely hike.

I love fall, it is without a doubt my favourite season. The colours, the crispness in the air, the smell, Halloween!! I could live in fall year round. I love walking down the sidewalk and hearing the crunch of leaves, and I love bundling up and just being outside.

Photos don't quite do it justice...

Weekend of Fun

Last weekend was great. I know, it's Thursday, and I am only now writing about the weekend...but I try. Lord knows where the week goes.

Reason Number One the Weekend Was Great:



I do love Jack Johnson. I first discovered him approximately in....2005, whilst I was in Europe, and I have loved him ever since. Jack has the kind of music that just flows, flows, flows through you body, and gives you a nice, relaxed, mellow kinda feeling. It's lovely. I kind of feel that Jack Johnson's music has contributed somehow to my being very que sera sera about life. It just really mellows you out. Some of the songs are cheesy and simple, but some definitely make you ponder life. Jack Johnson's music IS summer to me. Sitting on a dock, drinking a beer, legs danging in the water. ohhhhh yeah.

Reason Number Two This Weekend Was Great:



Mason Jennings is my new music love. He was at the concert this weekend. Honestly, I didn't notice him at all while he was actually playing, mostly because I was concerned with waiting in the very long porta potty line, but he came back out to do a song with Jack later in the evening, and I thought "damn! I love this boy!". So I've since bought his album, In The Ever, and it is pretty damn great. Kinda Jack Johnsony, but a little more upbeat.

The concert was at Burls Creek Park in Oro, Ontario. It was a great place for a concert....big wide open field, lots of room to spread out blankets and chill. Finding the actual park proved to be slightly difficult, and what was supposed to be a 10 minute drive, turned into an hour drive. Damn you google maps!! Oro is quite possibly the most hilly city I have ever encountered. My new car was like 'ummm where the hellllll are we going?" She was having quite the time chug chug chugging up and down the GRAVEL road google maps had us travelling on. Turn left on Line 8 my ass!

Some of these hills were so steep, you would get to the top and be like "ummmm where did the road go?" Redonk. Even more redonk since we ended up having to go ALL THE WAY back the way we came, up and down those same roads. Initially when we were going the wrong way, (LINE 8 does not lead to Burls Creek Park if anybody was wondering), we ended up on a dead end road. A family was there taking a midday walk. I pulled up and was like "excuse me, but are we near Burls Creek Park?". They all looked completely confused, which is never a good sign, and then the dad was like "ummm you are nowhere near it, it's about 20km down this same road you just came up, then you have to get on the highway, quickly get off the highway, drive across the bridge, and yada yada". Then the teenage son piped up, and was like "damn, you are almost in Moonstone now!". Then they all laughed. So I turned around, and went back the way we came. Funnily enough, approximately 20 other people must have gotten their directions from google maps, because at some point during our trip back down Line 8, a convoy of Jack Johnson fans was driving down the road. People were stopping their cars, yelling out the window "where's Jack???" It was quite ridiculous. Kinda fun though.

When we left the concert and were heading back to the parking lot, we all got the feeling that it was going to take us a little while to leave. TWO AND A HALF HOURS later, we got out of the parking lot. Seriously. They had us trapped in there like cattle. We played many a game, some of which included "would you rather" and the ever popular "movies...fruits...food that start with a certain letter". It was the longest wait in a parking lot ever! If you ever go to a concert at Burls Creek...don't drive!

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend. It also involved zip lining and tree trekking, but that is another post for another day.

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

A couple of weekends ago, my friend and I went to Toronto to check out the closing ceremonies of Luminato, the arts and culture festival. It was a really great day at the Harbourfront, there were buskers, parades of people banging on drums, shopping, outdoor patios and bars, bands, art, ice cream, and sun. I considered that day my first official day of summer.

One part of the day stood out though: A giant bubble battle. I don't care how old you are, bubbles rule. The premise was, everybody gathered on a predetermined spot at 5 o'clock, and started blowing bubbles. People had bubble guns, bubble machines, giant bubble wands, hippos that blew bubbles out of their mouths, and old fashioned bubbles in the bottle, with the little wand. It was sunny out, and the sun reflected in the bubbles..it was quite a lovely sight.

I have more pictures, but most of them have children in them, and I really don't want to be a creepo who posts pictures of random children on their blog. But you get the general idea. Bubbles are cool! I wish St. Catharines would do something random like that sometimes...it would work well in Montebello I think. I don't know if people would actually come out to it in St. Catharines...but it would be cool! There were people of all ages there, and the kids were hilarious to watch. Dancing around in the bubbles. Such a summeresque activity.

Anyway, upon more investigation, I found out this bubble battle was put on by a group called New Mind Space http://www.newmindspace.com/ . The whole idea behind events like these, is the concept of an urban playground, and reclaiming urban public space. Subway parties, giant pillow fights, bubble battles, huge games of capture the flag...all just this really cool stuff that brings random people together, and lets them experience their city in a whole new way. It also kind of takes a person out of everyday city life, which is often quite....rigid. Normally, people don't talk to strangers, don't even really smile at them, but at events like these, you find yourself dancing in the bubbles they are blowing out of their bubble gun. Quite amazing really. I like the whole concept, and kind of makes me want to move to a big city so I can check out events like this more often.

I always am at work thinking....wouldn't it be great if at lunch time, there was somewhere to go everyday, or if not everyday, then maybe once a week....a Wednesday perhaps, to just go and dance for half an hour? 20 minutes? To one song? Just to kind of loosen up after sitting at a desk after what is often realllly long periods of time? I also always imagine the guy who plays the saxophone downtown all the time, starting a parade of dancers down the street. He's just walking...jamming to whatever song, and one by one people leave their offices and follow him and dance. They bring whatever they have to join in on the song, and soon it turns into a giant parade around downtown. And then afterwards, everyone would just go back to their offices and go about their business. Perhaps I have thought about this a leeetle too much, but it would be pretty freaking fun. Also, in my mind, the sax guy is playing Todd Rundgren's, "Bang the Drum All Day" song. Ah. That would be the best parade ever.

Spicing Up My Life

During the last little while, it has become a theory of mine that almost everyone has a deep down secret love of the Spice Girls. Regardless of whether or not she cares to admit it, every girl between the ages of 12-30 has pondered which Spice they would be if they were in the group.
The Spice Girls back together? I was suspicious from the beginning. At the wise old age of 24, I could now see that the whole group just screamed of merchandising. I called bull on the whole Spice Girls machine. I saw through this scam, and was slightly offended by it. They had their run, and it was all well and good back when I was 14, but now, it just seemed a little old. A little desperate almost.

“You’re going to see the Spice Girls….are you joking?”

Okay, so five months later, there I was buying tickets to the whole charade. I was still skeptical and slightly cynical about the whole thing, but the 14 year old in me practically begged and bullied me into buying tickets, so I did. As the concert crept closer, I will admit, I started to get a little excited. It was a long time coming though. 10 years later, and I finally was going to see the Spice Girls live. They hadn’t seemed to change much. Or perhaps they had changed, but for the purposes of making some money, they pretended they hadn’t. Whatever the case, it worked.
Whenever I told people of my big adventure to come, I could detect a sense of mocking in their responses. “Yes, I am going to see them, and it is going to be their last show ever. It’s going to be great!!” I would say, secretly thinking, oh lord, the 90 dollars I spent on that ticket could be put too much better use. Food perhaps. Bills. Boring adult things.

“Okay...right. Have fun then!” Same response every time.

Underneath everyone’s I’m too cool for that exterior, I suspected they were all secretly jealous. They just couldn’t get past the, been there, done that line of thinking.

Back during the true reign of the Spice Girls, it didn’t take long for Spice Fever to hit me and my friends. So what, we thought, if their lyrics were simple, their clothes skanky, and their declarations of “Girl Power!” trite. We were 14 and we ate it up. They didn’t need to be great singers; which they by no means were (or are); they were relatable…and fun. We soon developed a weekly routine of watching Spice World, and we began to refer to each other as our assigned Spices. I was Sporty; less because I had any athletic ability, and more because I had long brown hair, and owned ADIDAS tearaways. I, and my counterparts, Ginger, Posh, Baby and Scary, otherwise known as Lauren, Tiffany, Leah and Sara, knew all the words to every Spice Girls song, as well as the accompanying dance. We even entered a Spice Girls look-alike contest at the mall. We didn’t win. The summer of Spice was one of my best ones yet, and looking back on it, I think it would be pretty hard to top. So there I was, 10 years later, going to what may be the last Spice Girls concert ever.

I suppose one could understand why I felt slightly nostalgic, yet conflicted about the whole thing. A little bit like I was compelled to let the 14 year old me go to this concert.
And besides, maybe “Girl Power” is not so trite. In the Spicy sense of the word, I got to thinking what it might actually mean. It is about friendship, it’s about love, about support and mostly it is just about having fun. It doesn’t need to go any deeper than that. Perhaps the Spice Girls were never meant to be a feminist movement. It was more of a get up, dance and be with your friend’s movement. A celebrate life movement. And that summer when we were 14, we embodied that.

So there I was at the concert with one of my best friends (who oddly enough was not one of my aforementioned dance partners of yesteryear). The cynical 24 year old part of me was still there when we got to the concert. She was there all the way through the snowstorm we drove through to see the concert, and she was there when the hour spent preceding the Spice Girls entrance was spent being inundated with messages to check out our merchandise stand! Buy a t-shirt…they are only 50 bucks. Buy a book, buy a button, buy a headband, and so on and so forth. I stood there thinking, aha! I knew it…they had this whole reunion thing planned from the get go! The t-shirts were probably made back in 1998. They would let themselves fade into obscurity, only to one day come rushing back with their cries of “girl power!”, and rake in millions. They would charge exorbitant prices for their merchandise, and pimp out their solo careers. Mmmmhmm, I thought, sucked in again.

But then they rose from the stage, starting to sing “Spice Up Your Life”. The excitement bubbled up in me. The 14 year old in me told the 24 year old in me to shut the hell up, remember what Girl Power means, dance, sing, and let her enjoy this. So I did.

The Spices put on an excellent last show, full of energy, colour, and nostalgia. They acquired a whole new generation of fans, and they assured their old ones that girl power will live on long after the last chords of “Spice Up Your Life” have ended.

Let’s face it: I’m not going to lie. If in another 10 years they decide to tour again, I’m totally there. If there is one thing I’ve learned through my journey with the Spice Girls, it’s to stop thinking so much, and just have fun. And that’s my 24 year old self saying that.