Moving fast

So the last few days have been pretty passive, except for the fact that I went to a job interview (no, I didn't tell you about it, in case it would jynx it. I'm super superstitious that way) and got a call today saying they were interested and were willing to try me out, which is pretty awesome.

But as my motivating geeps says: Things are really moving fast and this is only an opportunity to get caught up and not do well in school.

I was pretty anxious when I accepted the job, but I am saving up for a house (I *really* want one of my one as soon as I can be independent (confession of the day) and I don't want a mortgage, as much as possible) so a job may come in handy. Plus, having the extra pocket money will be useful as a student. Plus, I've been thinking it over and I asked for only a specific amount of hours, so hopefully my new boss will keep that in mind and I won't have to remind him. I have a pretty loaded school schedule, so the money might be coming in handy for a tutor.

The door to adulthood is slowly opening as I make a budget and a schedule and do my taxes... and I'm still trying to figure out if it's beautiful (the illusion of independence) or scary as f*** (everything I have to do). Anyway, I still have three days of vacation, soo

Responsibility

So today my grand-mother got me out of bed at the very reasonable hour of ten am and offered that my geeps drive me to get my UdeM card.

The line ended up being insanely long, so I sent him back home and waited four (!) hours in order to get my student card and my personalized bus card. In line, I met a fourth year girl who was nice enough to tell me all about the bus plans that were good for me, as I had admitted coming from a small town and knowing next to nothing about Montreal. After a winding and hot metro/bus ride back home (where the guy I was sitting next to must of thought I was deranged, since I kept twisting in my seat, trying to see the front of the bus (I don't know where my bus stop is yet, so I have to look at the front of the bus to see something familiar) ),  I am now writing this post and procrastinating hard on my laundry.

Otherwise, nothing has changed. Talk to you when something does,

~Vero. 

Shopping, ch'yeah!

TO, Ottawa, Montreal... they're all known for the awesome shopping sprees. And I live in one of those towns, so who am I to not take advantage of it?

My god-father has given me gift cards that let me shop almost anywhere in Canada... except good ol' Sudbury. So off I went to Anjou, (who has added a Simons, to my great excitement) with my geems, who, having shopped most of her life, knows how to shop. She showed me all the great deals and whatnot, and I can't say how happy I am with all my purchases :D And I also bought Kleenexes, so I'm not panicking about that anymore. Relief.

Today, I am visiting the UdeM campus with my lovely sister in order to not be too disoriented when I start school. One week, how nerve-racking!

Keep in touch,
~Vero. 

Say Yes to the Dress

The title is in honor  of my engaged sister, who religiously watches TLC, so as to be prepared when she buys her wedding dress. Which happened yesterday.

It was a pretty busy day, starting with me taking the bus alone like a big girl (earlier than I was supposed, to, though, which meant I had to get off, wait for my sister to come meet me, then take the same bus 14 minutes later), then meeting my eldest sister and Tanja's two friends at the dress shop.
My sister Tanja, ever so efficient, tried on numerous dresses, found one that she loved (It was so beautiful to see her so happy), retried the other dresses that we liked (we were sitting in four chairs, in a row, in front of a podium with a mirror, making allusions to The X Factor and The Voice) and bought the one she liked within two hours.

I was then introduced to The Jean-Talon market, where I was tempted to empty my savings account and try one of everything (Honestly, it's like a gigantic, slightly more hipster version of Sud's marketplace), but I resisted and only bought ice cream (You can get like, four flavors in one bowl, which means that the possibilities are endless... so, Heaven, pretty much.), duck poutine and a sea food salad that I haven't tried and unfortunately left at my sister's, who doesn't like sea food. Which is a shame for her. 

We then made our way to Tanja's, who, over the years, has learned to make awesome meals, served cheese aubergine, two types of chicken legs (I'll have to get her to get her to tell me the names, but one was spicy and sweet and amazing, and the other was crispy and delicious and I think there may have been some basil on it.), and couscous salad. 

Unfortunately, my eldest sister's dog, Whiskey was sick and she had to go take care of him, which meant we were down to four girls, which still outnumbered my sister's poor fiance, until two of his friends showed up and evened it out a bit. After talking for a bit (My sister's friends are really sweethearts and I loved getting advice from people that had already been and done "that", whatever "that" is - moving to a new city, going to university, ect), I made my way home and didn't wake up until late today.

However, I have to go, because independent living is where TP and Kleenex's don't magically appear in the cupboards, and housework is done by yourself. But also, you get to sit in your bed in pj's and eat cereal while watching reruns and no one judges you. So it evens out. 

Sad day and life hack

Indeed, quite a sad day, because a) I can't finish my banking info because I can't seem to find the info I need, and b) my lovely fish has died. Six days after I got him. How do I not know how to take care of a fish for a week? reason number two why I should never have kids.

So, I've managed to lose my companion and be totally unproductive, which means I have two reasons to be mad at myself.

So for now, I will go finish my resume and hopefully, if my phone stops being dumb, download an app (My lovely sister has let me know about the existence of Safe Trek, an app that lets you put your finger down (pun totally intended) on the screen in case of danger, and type in a PIN if the danger passes. In case of an emergency, you take your finger off the screen, and if ten second passes without a PIN being typed in, the police locates you and comes to save you. Every one on campus (sexism aside, girls especially) should download this. Not technically a life hack, but pretty useful.)

Have a productive Friday,
~ Vero.

Edit: I've flushed Aka down the toilet and cleaning his tank with just water wasn't getting rid of the pungeant smell, so I tried vinegar. My washroom smells like fish and chips. 

Mosaïculture Pictures

A couple years ago, I discovered a love for art and decorating and crafts that I didn't know I had, and two days ago, I went to Mosaïculture, and I was blown away. I've taken pictures, and I really want to share them with you!

The tree planter. In his left hand, it is a REAL young tree, full size, so it gives you an idea of the immensity of the sculpture.

There were actually quite a few horses, and theses were the first we encountered. With the wind blowing in the leaves, they almost looked alive. 

I found this one so creative. Dog made of hay.

This one actually has a story attached to it. In China, a woman loved the red-crowned cranes so much that she moved right beside a nest. One day, she saw a bird drowning in a nearby river, and saved it, sacrificing herself.  The artist thought it fit to represent her love for nature through plants. 

I don't know if any of you have seen it, but this is Hachiko, the dog that waited for his master at the railway every day for him to come home, even after said master's death, thus inspiring the movie "A Dog's Tale". Heart warming story, heart breaking film. 

The artist comes from a town known for making musical instruments. Said town (I totally forget the name, it starts with an H, though) has also taken onto themselves to protect the turtle that is in danger of extinction. The waterfall represents the music of nature. 

The warthogs are actually the first nature sculpture, the ones that started Mosaïculture. There are five of them, made entirely of dried branches. On the left, there is a face on a tree, representing the spirit of the forest (There was a whole section dedicated to them, accessible through an arch and IN the forest instead of on the path, which I found pretty neat)

Another spirit of the forest, this time holding a gigantic snake that actually went all around the trail.

This one was one of my favorites,  because the wood work was so intricate, and fit so perfectly together. also a breath taking impression of a mare and her baby.

Definitely my second favorite. This is mother Nature (Terre Mère was the name of the piece), and she is only a part of the gigantic, awe-inspiring scene (Full piece below). Notice the ladder on the left, there is a person on it, below her jaw-bone, for scale. Her hair was my favorite part, all made of different leaves and flowing in the breeze. Gah.

This one is based on the Chinese belief that such a sculpture (I keep saying sculpture, but I don't think that's what it actually is) will attract a phoenix. Still a beautiful and intricate piece of art. 

This one is my absolute favorite, called the Bird's Tree (L'arbre aux oiseaux). LOOK AT HOW FREAKING BEAUTIFUL IT IS. We were a group of seven, and we just kind of stared at it. Personally, I couldn't get enough of it. Honest to God, I was so taken by it, I just stood there and I'm pretty sure there were tears in my eyes. The picture doesn't even start doing justice to it, but I just had to share it with you guys, it's absolutely mind blowing. More pictures of it below. 

Seen from below 

There a person behind that bird, for scale. That is a SINGLE bird, and there were more than twenty on that tree, plus roots, trunk, and reptiles at the base of the tree (you can see a turtle on the bottom center of the picture)

 There is also a japanese culture house/museum attached to the park, and you can wander through. One of my favorite parts, I absolutely love the Japanese culture. There was a carp pond, which I could have stayed at forever and ever.

Traditional Tea house,  used for weekly demonstrations. There was also a "tea garden", which guests would walk through in order to prepare for tea (there were actually two, an exterior one, linked to the interior one, which in turn directly led to the tea house), but guests weren't allowed in, and the pictures I took from outside were crappy. 

There was also a bonzai garden, this one is 70 years old, if I'm not mistaken. Lovely tree. 

I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I did, but for the full expo, you'll just have to come down to Montreal and see for yourself :)

See you later,
Vero.

Biodome, Mosaiculture et Pacini.

So my uncle is on vacation, and brought his two sons and his gf to Montreal and invited my grand-parents to join them, who in turn voluntold me to come along to the biodôme and the mosaïculture. I told my grand-mother I wasn't interested, but she conveniently "forgot" due to her age (her words, not mine) and I felt bad wasting tickets, so I grudgingly went along (not that  I had anything else to do anyway, I kind of have no friends in Montreal yet... *wimper* ).

It was crazy hot here, so we decided to go to Mosaïculture in the morning, since it's outside. Basically, it's an exposition of giant steel sculptures covered in flowers. It's amazing. Honestly. I'll be posting pictures in a different post, because I have so many and so much to say about them, and I don't want this one becoming too long.

Afterwards, my uncle treated us to lunch at Pacini, a nice (sympa is more the word I'm looking for here) italian diner, where I had mushroom creme and ceasar salad, clearly the way to impress our cute waiter with my originality. There was also a dessert they called dolci (see, I'm not the only one who's lacking originality. Dolci is quite literally, dessert, in Italian), a flavoured cream (there was dark chocolate, hazelnut chocolate, crunchy chocolate, vanilla and berry, and lemon). I now know why no where on the menu there was an indication of what it was, because not only do we have no idea what's in it, we don't even have the proper name for it... hence no googling recipes. I'm kind of disappointed, because I was so excited to try it at home (so if anyone knows what I'm talking about, and the name and/or recipe, please, hit me up!).

When Henri started getting fussy, we headed for the biodome, which is a very blown-up version of the third floor at Science North. I didn't get to see the two toed sloth this time, but they did have a capybara and some screaming monkeys, which were absolutely adorable and I completely fell in love with (the capybara is the largest rodent in the world, but it looks like a slim, furry pig, and is adorable in real life. The monkeys have a round, child-like, innocent face that is impossible to not love). There are also baby lynxes, and if you've never seen any, google them. I challenge you not to think at least once that you want one in your house.
Henri absolutely lost it over the fish and every aquarium was a new source of delighted squeals and high-fiving the glass repetitively. I'm pretty sure the person that cleans the glass will notice the spots where he squished his tiny face against it in the hopes of seeing the fish from even closer.

All in all it was a pretty exhausting day, and I'm about as dead as my phone is (which is why the pictures will be uploaded later), so I'm off to take a nap.

Thanks for reading!
Vero

Life hacks, midnight snacks, and gym trips

Can I just say that Pirouline dipped in Nutella make for a heavenly midnight snack? Actually, so very delicious that it's guilt free, despite your pancreas crying in agony. No seriously, try it.

Speaking of brilliant ideas, my sister Tanja has come up with a pinterest worthy idea: She cooks quinoa, puts it in muffin molds, freezes it, puts the little individual servings into a zip-lock, and then just thaws one serving every time she wants a quick, easy supper. Ge-ni-us.

Which leads me to my next adventure of today; going to the gym where my sister works and graciously invited me. She's a PT there and was kind enough to go through her routine with me, which was awesome, seeing as I hadn't worked out in a bit, and was looking a little bit (a lot) out of shape. Afterwards, she invited me to her apartment, where I absolutely fell in love with Chuck Norris, her cat, and she made me dinner (which I took a picture of, Instagram style, because I knew I would have nothing else to post about today. But honestly, it was pretty amazing. Wait till you see it)

This is chicken salad with bell peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes, along with lime Perrier with mint and berries. Delish.

I will leave you guys with this, because it's getting late, I've been going to bed late for a bit (Quebec took quite a toll, and I'd like to apologize to my neighbours for making the clothes line squeak at quarter to midnight yesternight), and tomorrow I'm going to the Biodome and another exposition who's name totally escapes me right now, but I'm so excited, because it's apparently awesome. Hopefully I'll be able to take pictures.

Until then,
Vero.

  

Quebec and Aka

These few days have been crazy busy, which is conforting, because my grand-mother's social life is busier than mine is.

I went shopping, which was painful, because a) there are sooooo many people in these stores, and I don't know where anything is. Said people are also blissfully unaware of their surroundings, and if one more person leaves a cart beside them while browsing shelves (and so blocking the whole alley), I will just kind of walk through it, dragging it with me until I turn. (can you imagine their faces, though), and b) because I was brutally reminded by everyone I spoke with that I had an accent when they would start speaking English to me, because apparently that's easier than trying to communicate in french with my Ontarian butt.

My mother was also darling enough to get me a fighter fish (or a betta fish) so that I wouldn't be lonely (I suspect she bought me one in the hopes that I wouldn't follow through with the rat plan) and he is gorgeous. I promised that if she bought him, she could name him, and she called him Aka, which apparently means red in Japanese (according to Google Translate, anyway).

We also went to Quebec to celebrate my first cousin's second birthday, and we were all so glad (and stunned) to hear that he will no longer be an only child. The cake was made on short notice, but looked amazing (picture below), and Hen'i was so happy about "Flsh Mcquin" being edible he could barely keep his panties untwisted.

Also, a little bit of general history: In 1901, the Phoenix Bridge Company starts building this bridge:

In August 1907, the bridge collapses, killing 76 men, including 37 Mohawks. Since then, every year, the Kahnawake village throws a celebration in memory of their men killed on the bridge. Voila, that's your little piece of info for today. (and also, it's a gorgeous view in a  gorgeous town. Honesty. If you ever have the chance to visit it, do!)

As for the happy moment of the day, let's just take a moment to enjoy the fact that we still have two full weeks of summer before school starts. Here's to soaking up as much sun as possible!

'Till next time,
Vero.

Idea: Fifty Shades of Dr. Seuss

Voicing this idea is actually what got my best friend to suggest this blog, or rather, the idea of putting my ideas on the internet. I'm not quite sure why cyber-announcing the fact that I'm absolutely off my rocker seems like a good thing, but here it is.

In an interview, the interviewer told J.K. Rowling that Fifty Shades of Grey had broken her record for the most books sold.
And her answer is why Rowling is one of my favoritest person ever. Totally unruffled, she said "Yes, imagine how many copies I would've sold if Harry was a bit more creative with his wand."

It got me thinking: what if anyone could have written Fifty Shades of Grey? I mean, there are several hundred amazing authors in this world, and while I hear the plot is good, no one's ever mentioned the writing style being amazing.

What if Terry Pratchett had written it? (That, I would read. It would be amazingly hilarious)
But I think the best suggestion that popped into my mind was Dr. Seuss.
I'm just thinking:
I'm super dominant and seeing red,
It would be so awesome if you got in my bed.

(I'll leave you to imagine the rest)

I smell new paint

Happy moment of the day: Awake chocolate exists. and also my room has the best internet connection in the house. Booyah.

Also, I'd like to make a comment on my upper neighbour's pet elephant, but I was hammering until 10pm for two days now, so I'll pass.
Anyway, coming to Montreal, my parents had absolutely put their foot down when it came to re-painting my room right away. It was no.
Now, I have two very talented older sisters who used to live here, and the eldest one in particular is very artisitc. Which is why I can't find an explanation as to why the room was burnt yellow with pastel green EVERYTHING. Mirrors, bed sheets, billboard, ect.
Thankfully, the ceiling needed to be repainted and somehow, that led to repainting the whole room. Three days later, my room now has three gorgeous lilac walls, dark purple accessories and one white wall, still to be designed (if anyone has any ideas, feel free to throw them at me. We were thinking purple lace-ish design. thoughts?).

I also got to redesign my apartment, which resulted in a smaller living room, but a bigger living space, which is very exciting.
Because I've pretty much been doing this all week, I've barely stepped out of the house, except to go to Home Depot (where we lost our grand-father, in a short but panicky moment, my sister and I checking every single isle of the painfully large store before finding him exactly where we were not twenty minutes ago), and to take the metro down to UdeM, because they hadn't received my final grades, and had canceled my offer. (Thank you, CND, for that last surprise, it made me feel alive. and crushed. and another myriad of emotions I'd rather not revisit right now. Several swear words were also thrown into the mix, just for good measure).
Anyway, I'm back in now, and I just have to pick my courses and manage to find my classes, because it is a BIG campus. And also, people are really old and intimidating there.

I may add a picture later on today, depending on what my day looks like (For the moment, busy, with very little time to deal with my fussy tablet, which is my only mean of taking and uploading pictures right now, so, we'll see.)

Have a happy happy day (I don't know about Sudbury, but Montreal is looking kinda sunny and it's making me happy),
Vero

Edit: Thank you to my tablet for not putting the word "paint" in the title. I did change my shampoo, though, so it wasn't totally wrong.

mysteries, novelty, and autocorrect

I've lived in Sudbury my whole life, except for a small 6 months somewhere in the distant distant past, and I'm not sure that counts. Unless you're the gouvernement, thank God. (Those precious six months mean that I get to pay the Quebec tuition fee, which is pretty darn awesome, if you ask me. )
But my point is that moving makes you prone to asking profound questions.  Honestly,  do I really need 23 pairs of shoes? Why do I have three pairs of running shoes if I don't even run?  How many different combinations can you try before deciding that, screw it, those couches are staying where they are? (yes, because gym class, and seven)
No, but really, this has all been great fun,  from learning how to take the bus (I believed everyone else when they said that Sudbury bus routes sucked, and just never bothered learning) to realizing my french is reaaaaaaaally rusty and I better get on that if I want to pass my courses (she claimed, using the English language.)

Speaking of rusty,  I honestly had so many things totell you guys (in a much less dry style than this,  rest assured), but I'm exhausted,  my laptop's charger's gone mysteriously missing, and typing on a touch screen is pain-stakingly slow and frustrating (why the word "pain" should be autorrected to "lemons"is beyond me. ) and so I keep losing my train of thought, which is hopefully why my writing style is so blah tonight.  I will be back tomorrow,  preferably rested,  with less things on my plate (still have to pick my courses! ) and with a decent keyboard.

A plus,
Vero.