jostle my roadblocks

snoop. stalker. numb. lied to. fibbing. fake. nothing.

fingerprints.

Where I am today:

Family - Everyone keeps me grounded, in all their quirky ways. I get frustrated at times, but all's easily forgiven. My great-aunt just turned 100 last week!

Love - Always learning. Tolerance. Happy. Unsatisfied. A bit broken. Always questioning. He loves me. Laughter. Supportive. Cherished. Misunderstood.

Career - I'm at a crossroad, but letting the wheels churn in both directions. This isn't where I want to be. This will change within a year :)

Friends - A good friend is pregnant! I'm so excited for her and her husband =) Going to attempt reconnecting with old friends when my final exams are over.

Short-term goals (complete by June 21st):

Do hot yoga for 8 weeks - got my groupbuy voucher!

Run once/twice a week for at least 20 minutes

See baby geese at Toogood (didn't get to last year)

Pass Economics!

papa noel

Child's play.
I held my breath. My heart gained weight, using all its energy to create a defense, ready for the oncoming attack. It hits, and a thousand fingers are pinching and pulling at it. It was inevitable.
Pere Noel? Let him burn. He can't even tell who's really been naughty or nice.

bandages

Another shot.
Give it a chance.
Worth the wait.
Maybe today.

Another shot.
Right in the chest.
Accidental hit.
Bandage would do.

Another shot.
Wipe your eyes dry.
Throw your head back.
Drown it.

still

Her wings beat slow.
Her wings are still.

Road Trip 2011 with cherry garcias

I can already cross off 8 of the items on my summer list! Speaking of lists of happy things... I just learned about the Book of Awesome, by Neil Pasricha, which is a book about the simple things in life that puts a smile on our faces amidst our crazy schedules. Most of the items on my summer 2011 list would make it into my personal Book of Awesome. I just checked out 1000awesomethings.com and I'd give a thumbs-up to #213 Airborne Hugs and #208 Cleaning out all the gunk out of your mouse ball.

Don't tell me to wait when there's nothing to wait for.

This past long weekend, I had another memorable road trip. We headed east this time and enjoyed some hiking, beach-time and lots of gorgeous scenery. My favourite moments include:
- swinging on a bench at the boardwalk in Burlington, Vermont... swinging towards the lake
- Ben & Jerry's tour and sampling ice-cream (mm.. Late Night Snack)
- Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire. Fell in love with it (aha!), with its waterfalls and boulders with trees growing on them. We did a 2 hour hike, took a cable car up one of the White Mountains and looked for the Old Man in the Mountain.
- Sandbanks Provincial Park, ON. We relaxed on a sand dune/hilly beach just outside of Kingston. We walked in the clear, clear water and the weather was just right.

We talked about visiting NH again in the autumn, to see the beautiful warm-tone foliage and to ZIP LINE! dun dun dun.

I went tree-trekking/zip-lining a few weeks ago, and I loooved it... zipping through the trees and the wind blowing at your face

sun-kissed daydreams

Personal to do list for the summer (because SUMMER IS AROUND THE CORNER):
ride a bike, lie on a beach, watch fireworks, eat a street-vendor hot dog, Mark & Fi's wedding, star-gazing, HP7 finale, see the baby geese at Toogood, run barefoot on (clean, poop-free) fresh-cut grass, fall in love, watch season 2 of Vampire Diaries, run barefoot on soft beach sand, road trip (cross the border!), volunteer, make a wish upon a dandelion, boardwalk-walking, Yonge Street-walking, bbq, plane-spotting, do a cartwheel, make and eat a s'more

head over heels thrice

Twenty-eleven has been a pretty sweet ride so far. It wasn't long before I realized that I would be falling in love over and over again, and destined to do so at least 4 more times.

Love#1) Fell in love with snowboarding. Made a trip to Blue Mountain back in January to embark on a new snow-bunny adventure (a week after Eddie fractured his collar bone while boarding). I split up from my friends (who were seasoned boarders), so I can take lessons, and take my baby steps at my own pace. SO COOL! My instructor, forgot his name, was cute.. but he had to hold both my hands as we went down. I made it down a couple times on my own, pretty proud. The worst part was getting off the seat-ski lifts after holding the board up with one ankle the whole way up. When I get better, I'd like to invest in some gear.

Love#2) Peru. Machu Picchu... love love love. I was so awestruck by it all--the strange Incan bunny, the llamas, the rocks that they carved out by hand and more rocks, the structures that were all once hidden! It took 2 tries to get here...but it was so worth it [but I'd definitely prefer a shorter trek]. Peru-trip post coming later.

Love#3) I met a boy. It wasn't instant... but it was all very accidental and sweet, almost unwanted, almost forbidden. I've also sorta barricaded my heart again recently. It hasn't been any whirlwind romance...the game has definitely changed since the first few times we hung out. But in the end, I still find this all unbelievable and enjoy getting to know him a bit more each day. He has a dimple and he makes me smile :)

parachutes

*dreamy sigh*

I walked with my Aunt Elouise (from Baxi), Kathy and dude to EC, communicating with a lot of gestures, references to her translation books, and breaking down sentences to its very atoms. "How do you like Toronto?" became "like dance?" hehe.. and "Come visit again" was done by pointing at a phrase in her book, while rolling my R's :) My aunt's pretty gorgeous... and young, but I don't see a hint of Chinese in her face.

I waited in the food court by his workplace again, while sipping hot chocolate and rephrasing Hands Down lyrics on my doodle papers. I'm a little giggly when I see him in his work clothes, very proper, while I'm in my jeans and worn-out boots. We ordered burritos at z-teca, and after enjoying those babies, we walked to Harbourfront.. half-underground railway, half outdoors. It seems his hands are constantly warm, perfect for my cold-blooded hands. We sat on a bench by the lake, watching the water and dusked sky blend together and a duck bobbing relentlessly in front of us. Although I was shivering, it felt so nice just staring out into the distance with him, my head resting on his shoulders.

When the wind picked up a bit, we continued on and ended up inside the Harbourfront Centre. After gazing through darkened shop windows, we settled in the food court for a long chat, and catching glimpses of some street dancers on the boardwalk. We even snuck into the men's room. I think he almost peed himself in embarassment ;) We walked around downtown some more, attempted to exchange piggy-backs, shared a beef dog, until we reached Grange Park, where we simply relaxed on another bench until the rain started to spit on us. Oh, elements...

We're still getting to know each other... I want to enjoy that process. I think I'm taking that blind leap but still want to be able to slow down and smell every rose and daisy along the way. This falling business... it's pretty scary.. but pretty amazing at the same time.

rocking in 2011

I rocked in (yes ROCK!) the new year at Eric's place.
Hot Pot.. with baby octopi
Had a real-life Street Fighter battle with my friend. Gotta work on my fireball executions.

Here's the results of an impromptu Timmy's date with 2 of my buddies, on napkins...

2011 To-Do List
1. Abs
2. Eat less and eat healthy
3. Walk down Yonge St.
4. "Have you met Sarah?" (a la Mr. Stinson)
5. Land a better job
6. Run a half-marathon. Or a run.
7. Take an interest class
8. Leave the continent
9. Get a phone
10. Hook ___ up
11. Be less socially awkward
12. Be more girly
13. Snowboard
14. Learn Spanish
15. Visit Sarah in Ottawa

Christmas comes but once a year

The older I get, the greater the distaste I have for winter and snow. But I've always loved Christmas and the warmth it brings. I like making/writing cards, giving little tokens to people I love, receiving some back and getting together (my favourite part).

For Christmas this year, I woke up mass texting/emailing my international friends and putting finishing touches to 'gifts' for relatives.

Later, I hung out with one of my best friends. We had some festive takeout Chicken McNuggets, because bless their souls, McD's is opened everyday of the year, and they have nasty-looking holiday dipping sauces. Bernz and I had a mini HIMYM marathon then went on a hunt for another open McD's or Timmies.

Then in the evening, there was the family Christmas party at my house. My dad put a lot of heart into creating the menu and started prepping dishes very early, along with our 25 pound turkey!

We did a secret Secret Santa this year. Kept it simple, $10-$15. 12 of us.. it was a new concept to a few of my cousins, but we had a blast opening gifts and taking turns guessing who their Santa was (one guess only!).

We opened our gifts in order from smallest box to biggest.
Angus was supposed to receive a Pizza gift card from Tiff
Keegan got special Japanese hair clay/gel from Lily
Steenie got a pink scarf from Cadyn (wrapped in layers and layers of tape!)
Cadyn got some awesome T's from Steenie
Nancy received something fragrance-y from Kathy
I received a hair straightener from Francis
Tiff got a candle thing from Edwin?
Lily received a mooncake box full of cute winter gear from Angus
Eddie got a box of art supplies from Jennica
Kathy got a bejeweled belt from me
Francis received a black scarf from Nancy
Jennica got BBW items from Keegan

Dinner was very delicious, as usual. Ask my stomach. We renamed Lily's boyfriend, drank a red wine concoction, sang Nobody, Nobody But You, watched Cadyn and Kathy do a boom boom ba dance, compared facial pores, jammed on our guitars and piano, etc. I don't remember what else but it was a great night :)

Hilarity ensued. We played Spoons. Uncontrollable laughter didn't come from our usual ridiculous signals, but from the dares that the losers did. Poor Mabel--but wow, what a good sport she was! She lost about 4 out of 5 of the games, so the things she had to say to the Mah-Jong players (our elders) ranged from "I need to go poop" to "I'm having bad diarrhea". Lily had to tell my mom she wanted to suck her milk... my mom, also a great sport, offered a (covered) boob.

Amazing Race 17

My favourite teams from the start: Gary/Mallory, Mike/Kevin, Kat/Nat and Brook/Claire. I always root for the strong all-female and the parent/child teams. These guys had fun and were pleasant to their respective teammates and competitors.. for the most part. I had no love for any of the couples.

With the top 3 determined tonight, I am happy with either the doctors (Nat/Kat) or the home shopping channel girls (Brook/Claire) winning!

wanna see a naked tree?

If Christine and I ever move out together, we'd eat junk in between meals all day, get creeped out by strange sounds and trees, and randomly break out in song (and dance).