F r o l i c . n u

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I don't know if it was my workout tonight or the large glass of red wine that I just drank, but right now I'm feeling incredibly relaxed and exhausted and like my body is so heavy. I just want to lie on my bed and read my Vogue Paris (yes, my dad bought me French Vogue along with regular Vogue for Xmas!).

I just want to make it known that I hate Ugg boots. They are so freaking ugly and frumpy looking! Okay, maybe not all Ugg styles are bad, but those kind that are just a giant tube of boot are so unflattering! (For clarification: these are what I mean.) Girls, get rid of those ugg-ly boots and buy something trendier and a little more fitted to the leg/foot area - how are these boots in fashion!?

Okay. Next rant. I'm fed up with winter! This morning I left at my usual time to catch the bus, but the whole way up Ave des Pins there were stupid snowplough trucks pushing snow around and hauling it into giant snow dumpster trucks (these said snow dumpster trucks are a brand new sight for my wussy-winter eyes!) and my bus got stuck behind them and merging into one lane of traffic... anyway, my usual 20 min bus ride turned into 45 mins, making me late for work. LAME.

(This post is turning rather hostile. More wine anyone?)

Labels: rants, winter

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Comparisons...

This is the scene outside my apartment window right now. Snow, snow, and more snow. Current temperature: -7, -15 with windchill.

This was the scene over Christmas in BC. Sun, ocean, green grass. Average temperature: 6.

Does anything else really need to be said?!

Labels: BC, montreal, winter

Monday, December 21, 2009

My apartment smells like gingerbread. Yep. I just baked a gingerbread cake to take into work as my Christmas present to everyone. The office is rather giant and so it's not like I can get everyone presents and cards, unless I want to spent lots of $$$! Plus, everyone likes treats, right? :P I've never baked a gingerbread cake before, so I'm hoping it turns out alright, although it smells rather divine, so that's a good sign!!

Today is the Winter solstice which means that the days will soon be getting longer rather than shorter! I am so, so glad of that. Spring is approaching! Okay, that's a little bit of an optimistic thought, but I can still dream!!

Leaving for home in 2 days! Only two things left on my to-do list and two small presents to buy. Feeling pretty damn good!

Labels: food, winter

Sunday, December 20, 2009

I snapped this photo with my cell phone of my favourite little neighbourhood park on the way to the metro yesterday. It looks a lot like Christmas, no? Very pretty, but very cold still. The tragic thing is that today felt really "warm" and I guessed it was only around 0 or -5 degrees and I came home and looked up the weather and realized that it's actually -10 degrees outside. Since when is -10 "warm"?! Let me just say for the record one more time that I cannot wait to go back to BC with its 8 degrees and rain! The snow is pretty and Christmasy, though, I cannot deny that.

So I spent the weekend up in Rosemère at Lyndsey's mom's house, which is a town (suburb?) out of Montreal. At the house the Christmas carols were playing and there was a tree and present wrapping, and I felt like adopting myself into their family as surrogate daughter, because I really feel like I'm missing out on all the really fun and festive Christmas preparations this year! I'm missing hanging out with my own mom and wrapping presents by the tree and drinking tea by the fire while listening to Christmas carols. I'll have one day to do that with my family - Christmas Eve. One day to wrap presents, enjoy the tree and its presents, bake shortbread and gingersnap cookies, visit friends, and then the relatives come and Christmas starts! Wow, it's definitely a weird, whirlwind Christmas for me this year.

And speaking of whirlwind, I have a giant to-do list to accomplish before Wednesday, and I should get crack-a-lackin'!!!

Labels: christmas, winter

Thursday, December 17, 2009

This photo is from my work Christmas party which was on Monday night, one of the many parties that I went to in the past week! Thankfully the craziness is over - there were a few too many late nights and beverages consumed! Haha.

Now I can focus on Christmas (and finishing my shopping!)!! In a week I'll be HOME! I am so, so excited to see my family and friends again, and get away from the ridiculously cold Montreal temperatures! I'll be home for over a week, so there will be lots of time to visit, unlike when I was home for Thanksgiving and had only 2 days to see as many people as possible!! There will actually be some relaxing this time!

So much has happened in the past week that I don't even know what to write about. OH! Highlight of the day today: watching Grey's Anatomy at lunch in Lynds' office and CRYING because it was so intense and emotional. Yes, yes, I cried at work watching TV. And then, of course as I'm dabbing my eyes with a tissue, one of the guys came in and saw me crying and made fun of me for the rest of the day! Hahaha. Ah man, I'm so ridiculous.

Okay, shower + bed.

Labels: christmas, TV, winter

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Just in case that last post needed any illustration. (Lyndsey has been way too camera-happy at work lately.)

Labels: winter

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Me: I hate wearing my snow boots! They're so ugly. (etc etc, other similar grumblings)
Lynds: Buddy, you can't be pretty in the snow.
(later)
Lynds: (after seeing me wearing my snow boots with my pants tucked into them) HAHAHAHA You look ridiculous, take your pants out of those right NOW.
Me: If I have to wear these ugly snow boots, I want to look as ugly as possible.

Montreal had its first snowstorm today. It started snowing at 8AM and dumped snow the entire day. I think around 30-40 cm accumulated, and temps hovered around -15 C. Sweet. Actually, it wasn't that bad. This city actually knows how to deal with the snow. It was a weird feeling for me today though, because I'm so not used to so much snow at all. I kept thinking I was up on some mountain and should be snowboarding or hanging out in a chalet.

Labels: montreal, winter

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Bundled up to walk around in the chilliness.

So I did buy boots today. The whole shopping expedition kind of made me cranky for these reasons:
- spending almost $100 on winter boots is not fun when the boots are ugly
- especially when I'd rather spend $100 on some pretty boots or clothes
- the malls are retardedly busy right now and full of busy people and screaming kids (have I ever mentioned how I go through phases where I really, really don't want to have a kid? It's other people's crying and screaming kids that does it.)
Okay, okay, I am blowing this whole boot thing out of proportion and my feet will thank me later. As in tomorrow when it snows. But, still sucks.

Labels: winter

I wish I could start all days like this. Lazily get up around 9AM, eat breakfast in bed, drink a big mug of Chai tea while surfing through my daily sites... Ah, weekends. How I love thee.

So I've been on this mission for the past month to buy a new winter coat and winter boots. I don't know why this is so challenging! Okay, I do know, it's because I don't want to spend $200 on ugly winter boots that will hardly be worn outside of Montreal, and I'm a bit picky about coats. But seriously! Today is THE DAY. I must buy either one or the other - preferably boots. Last Monday it snowed for the first time. Just a dusting, but still snow. This week it's forecast to snow lots and dip down to -15. WICKED. I love Montreal winter already! (That was sarcasm.)

I never wrote about how I made it the whole month of November as a vegetarian. Yep, I was successful, and even expanded my cooking repertoire. I actually didn't find vegetarianism that difficult. Maybe I should up the ante next time and try veganism. Or not.

I would like to write a book at some point in my life. A couple weeks ago I found this website, National Novel Writing Month, which promotes the idea of November as novel writing month. The idea is to just write without any editing, just let the words flow, and try to write a novel within a month. You have a set wordcount you have to achieve (50,000 words), you have to start with a fresh idea, and there's advice and forums to help support you along the way. I think this is a fantastic idea, and I wish I had stumbled up on the website at the end of October so I could have tried it out. Maybe I will turn January into my own writing month. After all, it's going to be so freaking cold, there won't be much else to do!! Hmm.

This up-coming week is going to be epic. The amount of events written on my calendar is unreal. Hello social butterfly.

Labels: 30dayvegchallenge, books, montreal, winter

Sunday, November 29, 2009

My favourite part about Sunday afternoons is this. Right here, right now. I am all cozy underneath a fleece blanket I bought today, a mug of Chai tea is beside me, I have a brand new Elle magazine on the other side of me, my laptop on my lap... Good times.

I set out today to buy a winter coat and winter boots, since the forecast is saying that it's going to snow tonight and continue snowing throughout this week. Yep, winter is finally arriving, and I can't be in denial any longer about it. But I really couldn't find anything I liked, and bought this fleece blanket instead. So now I'll be all warm and cozy inside my apartment, but as soon as I go outside, I'm going to freeze and die. Excellent. Good planning, Maresa.

Last night I watched "New Moon" (thankfully I did NOT pay to see it), which was just as terrible as I expected. Cheesy, terrible acting, stunted dialogue, one-liners, ugh ugh and more ugh. I pretty much just laughed and mocked the entire movie. The best part was how in every scene Jacob managed to be wearing no shirt and was showing off his rather sexy abs. However, then Lynds told me that the actor is actually 17 and I should stop being such a perv. Hmmm. I continued perving. Seriously, those movies are just terrible and it makes me sad because I actually liked the books. Too bad I'm not 16 like all the other Twilight fans and then I might actually tolerate them.

Time to go grocery shop for the week before it starts to SNOW. This is the first year in my life that I'm dreading snow. Usually I'm so excited and happy. But no, this winter there's going to be blizzards and -40 degree temperatures, and I'm going to be trekking through snow drifts, and everyone is telling me I'm going to die. All of the above do NOT inspire confidence! Help!!

Labels: movies, winter