"Feels like their talkin' in a language I don't speak. And they're talkin' it to me…"

In lieu of anything that requires mental exertion here are some pictures from the weekend. The sun peeked out for a moment.

We live here?!

This particular daffodil was remarkable because it was nearly the size of my hand. 

They make me sneezy but they sure are
pretty. 

Lichens.

Classic red brick school house. It has graffiti on the one side
all the way up to the second floor.
But it catches the light in a way that makes you think of
Normal Rockwell. 

All  have to do is make to next Thursday and UBC 2011 is wrapped!

Happy Monday!

"Cuz it's the wrong'em boyo."

FOR TODAY

• Outside my window…Daffodils! Spring has sprung. This weekend the camera and I are taking a walk. 
• I am thinking…don't relax yet. 
• I am thankful for…My Moozh. He leaves for a retreat centre tomorrow until Saturday night. I'm going to miss his snuggles and awesome pre-sleep pajama pant dance. 
• From the learning rooms…Finished my portfolio and my gender theory essay. Now I just need to start (!) my GMO foods assignment, practice my Russian dialogue and write a web series. Whew.
• From the kitchen…a matcha latte with cinnamon. Mmmm for home. 
• I am wearing… my vintage cameo and thigh high socks. (Among other things of course.)
• I am creating…a portfolio, two competition submissions, irish soda bread and a knitted scarf.  
• I am going…outside! Bankybear is showing the sun! So. Bright.
• I am reading…The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I haven't been able to get past the front cover yet. How I long for the days of recreational reading. 
• I am hoping…for warmer days. Believe it or not I'm getting tired of big socks. 
• I am hearing…Catastrophe and the Cure by Explosions in the Sky. 
• Around the house…boots under construction. Smouldering Yankee Candle filling the house with caramel.  My backpack looking menacing (and full). 
• One of my favorite things…caraway seeds (for the aforementioned irish soda bread). I love their earthy smell. 
• A few plans for the rest of the week: Celebration post-portfolio submission! And Saturday is a sleep day. Fer sure. 

Here is picture for thought I am sharing…

This is my city!
And that yellow triangular mound in the upper right hand corner. That's sulphur.
Photo from Flickr by ecstaticist

"I wear my hair frizzy. I don't copy no style."

Oh bloggity blog. I am sorry you have taken such a back seat during this process. It is only my brain in on the verge of explosion. I promise I'll give you some tender lovin' care this weekend. Because of course, this weekend will be post-creative writing deadline and Moozh is away for the weekend. I will be consoling myself by distracting myself with bread, blogs and knitting.

I am rather conflicted about Vancouver right now. It has been distinctively ugly outside for the past month. It was nicer before Christmas. And all of the El Nina blah blah blah is leaving me cold. I always end up wearing the stupidest things on those days, usually involving silly shoes and no pants, and thus I am grumpy all day. But then yesterday, and here is my beef, it was freakin' resplendent outside! The sun was out and kickin' it. There were birds and small children playing. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was still a bit nippy, it still being March and all but there was something about the sun being out that made me feel (foolishly) hopeful. And all if the Bankybear-ites muttered 'Stupid foreigner". I am not feeling emotionally overwhelmed or morbidly depressed but I am sick of the rain. And everybody says, 'Well, duh.'

From here until when I get my creative writing portfolio away from myself and into the hands of who matters, I will be a little crazed. But once that happens, I am eager to get back to the things that do not stress me out. Summer term is going to be really great. I'm taking a class on Modern Jewish history which I'm stoked for.

Any suggestions for some great reading? I starting on the Handmaid's Tale by Atwood but I would love to have some more suggestions for some new reading to lead me into summer.

"Everybody look to their left, everybody look to their right…"

Whoa. I just read my previous entry. Kind sounds like I was watching a tv show while I was writing. Which I was. Resolution #1: No creative multi-tasking. That is how you get personality disorders.

This week has gone by so fast and has really been so bizarre. Quite a bit of tension has been released but I feel a bit like I'm wandering around waiting to be the victim of slap-ass. Or the Gobble Gobble game. Have you ever played that? It's when you try to grab the skin underneath your opponents chin and you hold it until they say "Gobble gobble!" It's a bit like "Uncle" but so much better. My sister is the queen of that game. I, consequently, always lose. I've had bruises under my chin.

Next Friday will be the culmination of my year at UBC. My application to the creative writing program will be in and the Lord has it from there. Everything will be awesome, I know it. If my original plan had worked, I would be in Toronto studying fashion at Ryerson University and I would be so unhappy. Instead, I am married to my hot husband, I live in an adorable hobbit hole in a beautiful city and I'm in a program that, though at times it infuriates me, leaves me inspired and eager to slog through the frustration. The Lord has been teaching me a lot lately just about trusting him. And to not worry and fixate on the minutae of my life but find joy in all that is going on around me. My sister-in-law AND my sister are getting married this summer. The Lord is so in their relationships and in how they are moving through life. We've had a couple of friends pop out gorgeous healthy babies that will be presidents and wholesome pop stars one day. Flowers are growing! Out of the ground!

Aside from that, I have lots to keep me busy. Today was the first day that my swim was really impressive. I think it has to do something with me…eating before hand. Why has nobody told me this?! I am trying to wrap my head around personal genomics. One huge 'hella yeah' to whoever not only understands that but is majoring in it. I pretty much just nod when they ask me if I understand so that they won't keep me after class and say, "So, umm…should you be here?"

And allergies are here! Woot.

Linkies:
~ Umm I don't know about y'all (because I'm southern now) but these sound phenomenal. Like some of the comments say, I don't know if these would make it into anything but my mouth but they would be uh to the mazing.
~ My heart is warmed by how everyone is using all they have at their disposal to raise financial aid for Japan. Go onto any site and type in "Japan Earthquake Relief" and it is beautiful what you find.
~ This has been on my mind a lot lately. I don't know if it's because of anxiety over career or anxiety over pregnancy. Maybe it's because I'm writing a paper on stay at home dads. Either way, imma obsessed.

~ This is beautiful, especially as a table centrepiece.
~ Ha, I don't know why I found this so funny. It's actually really cool in it's own way. A different kind of boudoir session. Ummm safe for work?
~ I think I'm gonna make this. This seems to be the only way I can wholeheartedly take in St. Pat's this year.

Tomorrow's TGIF!

"Will you share your dollar with me…"

There was a magical stillness to the city tonight. Moozh and I went for a walk along the water. The coast slopes and juts into the pebbled water as the lights of the West End fall in swirls and shadows fall upon it. Pillowy fog tops the northern mountains. Blurry lights from Grouse Mountain peer through it. Cars buzz along Beach Street.

And wedding excitement! I pretty much can't stop thinking about the weddings this summer. I get my mullet trimmed tomorrow so hopefully I look less like Joe Dirt. I'm at a place where I just want to wear my bathing suit and read Go Fug Yourself on the beach. I will hopefully graduate to something a little more…academic at some point during the summer. But this summer is going to be awesome.

I would have fifty terrariums if Matt could stand it. Can you
imagine? A whole house full of these. I'm a hoarder in the making.
Sea and Aster

These are just beginning to show here.
Alicia Block Photography

I want this bathing suit. And these tattoos.
Fables by Barrie

Mmmmm this is pretty.
ASOS

"Until you kissed my lips and you saved me…"

Okay so major meltdown averted. There is something not just a little irrational about my mental process in the morning. Proviso: I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON. I know this. I have known this for a long time. But there is something unsustainable about getting to school and already being, as my grandmother would describe it, a state. Today was my registration day for summer school and I was READY. I had flow charts, and registered worklists and price per credit hour and all that crap. Moozh would be proud of me. So would my mom. I was ready to kick ass and take names AND register for classes. And then 8am arrived and she was like, "I don't think so" with the ghetto-style shaky fingers and pursed lips, "I'm gon' make you crazy." And she did and Moozh said "Whoa" and I went to school and now I am here, writing about it, feeling rather foolish about it all.

So in summary, I am registered for classes and I get to go to weddings, and suntan on Kits beach and generally party like it's 1999.

P.S ~ I'm still doing Lent. I know.

Linkies:

I loooove her eye for detail. I will learn how to do this.

Marita Bliss

I am going to make this salad. Duh-lish.

It's that site I never stop talking about!
Salad Pride!

I think I just might make this too. Because I'm not off sugar.

Mmmm Smitten Kitchen you speak my language. 

I wish I could dress like this and not feel like people think I'm a douchebag.

Steampunk Couture

Happy Belated-International Women's Day!

"Watched it pour as I touched your face…"

One of the most bizarre details about college life is that wherever you go, at whatever time, which whoever in attendance it will always smell like a combination of popcorn butter and pizza grease with a hint of dirty socks.

I am better. I am so much better than I actually went running in the rain this morning. I KNOW! I was not only up and running but I was in the rain at 730. And that's a.m folks. I know you're going to say, "Girl, (because you're Mary J. Blige, obviously), you just got better. Why are you running in 'I would love to get sick' weather?"But my Arc'teryx jacket, after long being ignored since I got a pretty umbrella that makes me feel like an extra from My Fair Lady, performed like only Arc'teryx can. I was the only one out and it was so calm and quiet. It was beautiful and so worth it. And on top of that, I was on time for my class. Boom.

I had a dream while I was sick that I had a beard. And I was all verklempt, in my dream, because I am usually so tidy and…maintained. And then Matt told me it was alright and I looked great. And then Beej and Megs came over and I noticed that they had beards too! So everything was fine. And then I woke up and realized that it was not fine. And that is officially Moozh's favourite story to tell about me now. That and when I yelled at him about cutlery in my sleep. Being sick is SO DANGEROUS.

Happy Ash Wednesday, btw. And Mardi Gras is also coming up. Got to celebrate! Except no.
Did you know that the ashes that are crossed on the foreheads on Ash Wednesday are from the burned palms from Palm Sunday the previous year. I did not know that. And Wikipedia could be lying to me but that would be so unlike it. **Like how I regarded 'foreheads' as if they are an independent thing. That is called personification. Or crazy talk.

So, as I mentioned, I am fasting from Alcohol with a capital "A" for Lent. Both Moozh and I. Which I will last longer than he will fer sure. The man just loves him some scotch. But I also love to drink gin and tonic by intravenous and be silly. Especially while I'm watching 30 Rock. And 30 Rock is tomorrow.

Right in time for Lent, I found this fabulous new site. (Fabulous. What a hilarious word.) I found it on Bloglovin' and The Kitchn within a day of each other too which means it's a big deal. It's called SaladPride (no rainbows, however) and it is pretty much what it says it is: Just a gallery of pretty, yummy, pretty yummy salads. I love salad (Otherwise my lifestyle choice would be a little dumb. Can't live on potato chips, at least I wouldn't advise it.) but I find it hard to come up with new salads. And if Moozh is going to eat salad, it has to blow his friggin' doors off. But this site has those kind of salads! Go there! She puts potatoes on salad. And couscous!

Happy fasting!

P.S ~ I already have a "Lent" tag in my labels from when I wrote about it last year which was probably something self righteous and silly. Fasting from negativity, psssh. Now I have REAL things to fast from :)

"You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue…"

Okay now I feel like I've been whapped (WHAPPED!) in the head with a frying pan numerous time. I always get sick in second semester. I manage to avoid it when it's going around in first semester but then I straight up get my ass kicked come February. I've managed to hold out this long but this is just yucky. Did you know that the first four months Moozh and I were dating I had the barfy flu three times. That is just unfair to the guy. But he married me anyway. Must be love.

Thank goodness I have not reached that level yet but there is always time.

Dear Moozh,

Thank you for taking care of me and being nice to me even when I'm crabby and sick. You know what I need before I do sometimes. 

Dear Microsoft Word, 

I have returned to you after years of avoiding you. I can finally, and confidently say you are a superior word processing document. I salute you. (And I salute your autocorrect.)

Dear Crepes, 

I think you and I need to get reacquainted. That is all. 

Dear Cheddar Cranberry Muffins, 

Yeah I ate three of you in one sitting. Thanks for being delicious and making my house smell like France. You got the Moozh stamp of approval.  

Dear Banksy, 

I saw your movie. It's okay, I think you're still a badass even if you sold your stuff at Sotheby's for $500,000. 

Dear Running Early in the Morning, 

I like you a lot. If you don't see me it's not because I don't like you. It's only because my cuddle buddy is still in bed. Nothing personal.

Sincerely, 

Sickface Grumpypants

P.S ~ This is my new favourite picture. 

He kind of reminds me of Hexus but he is so cute!

P.P.S ~ Ash Wednesday is coming up which means so is Lent. Pretty much positive what I'm going to fast from :s (...Al-kill-hol)

"I'm speechless and I don't know where to start..."

This week is over.

I feel like I've been whapped (Whapped? Yes.) over the head with a frying pan. My head is just full, full of deadlines, group projects, social activities. And now full of mucus. Overshare? Probably.

I was regrettably (Regrettably? Sure.) absent from my Russian class today so that I could sleep off the four-day migraine I've had this week. I picked out some spicy chai tea to make my nose run a little. It didn't quite do that but it did make me feel warm. And I am alone for the day which will help things. Moozh Cimpatichini is almost better at reading me than I am sometimes and yesterday he could tell I was spent. He thus left me the house today to sleep (and blog) to my heart's content. He is my favourite.

This. Week. Has. Been. Heeeeeeectic. I was this guy when I wish I could have been this guy. I...overprogrammed myself a little bit, somewhat in hopes that sociability and productivity would rub off on me from the people I was working with.

For now (meaning until I can get myself back together), I have pictures. Arie gave me permission to post some pics of her dress. I didn't realize that I didn't get a single normal picture of her dress, I only got try-hard pictures, as I tried to do things with my camera that I don't actually know how to do.

Pichers!

The sky was flawless the whole time and the palm trees were so tall!

Betsy J

No bride. I distractedly never got a picture of her
IN the dress AT the store. 

She is so cute!

She wanted to post on the bed.

Tubule Fleurs

Thar they be. Cute as ever. 

Links: 

~ If I ever got Matt to try a pair of these on, I would never let him take them off. 

~ Portraits using screws. Umm awesome? 

~ Okay stay with me. What if you switched out the pink for grey or chocolate brown. Die of beauty? I thought so. I love yarn for decorating!

~ Can I have it! Can I have it!? Who doesn't want a house that was once a bomb shelter? Okay probably lots of people but this loft is the bomb. 

Such sweet sweet music. Makes me feel like I should be waking up from a dream ;)