New Home

So we're mostly settled in our new place which is around Queen and Woodbine. We're right on Queen, which is sweet, and we're a very short walk from the beach. I'm not posting pictures of the actual apartment right now- it's still a bit messy. And I want to take them at a certain time of the day because I want them to be pretty. But it will happen, I promise.

So in the meantime, here are some pictures of us enjoying the nearby scenery. I'm in love with this place already. I'm so pumped to go for long walks, ride my bike, and get back in touch with trees and grass and plants.

We've seen two cockroaches. Small, but nonetheless there. We're going to put caulking in the cracks and hope that we don't see them again.

A few days after moving, our sinks started filling with water...from the drain... but the landlord guy was really kind, and the problem was solved pretty quick.

Otherwise, there haven't been any issues, and I'm diggin' the neighbourhood and the beach. I had a job interview last week at a really cool cafe called 'The Tango Palace,' if you're ever in the area, check it out. So I'm meeting the baby I could potentially be nannying on Wednesday and I'm so excited. She sounds like a peach, and the mum is an artist too. It sounds so hopeful, so send me all your best wishes and what not. (plus I SO want to spend my summer with a baby part time! It will be so fun.)

Summer is in like one week. And a half really. But still! It's so sweet. I'm going to do so much this summer, I just know it.  I'm finally learning how to be a person.

H

Halloween

K. So I was sitting in class talking to two of my buddies (yes, I actually am making friends...), and we were talking about halloween. They were talking about the sweet costumes they've had, and creepy halloween experiences and as soon as I opened my mouth, I was laughing. To tears.

My halloween experience has always been strange.

As a kid, my parents didn't believe in halloween- which is fine. I didn't mind too much. The thing that was weird about it was that we'd turn off all of the lights and hide in the basement so that people wouldn't knock on our door. Which was really scary and fun for me as a kid. What is this weird day that we hide in the basement with the lights off? It was a pretty fun little game. Let's see who can be the quietest, so that nobody knows we're here- otherwise people dressed like dead people will ask us for candy. It was a strange concept for me.

When I was 8 we moved to Baxter. Which is out in the boonies for those of you from Toronto that don't know anywhere beyond the GTA. My parents had 17 acres, and there are small hobby farms, and horse farms around us. So it's like a 5 minute walk to each house & we have a baby, a 5, 6 and an 8 year old which makes it slower. It's my first halloween and because there's like 5 houses to go to on our road my parents decide to dress up this year. I dressed up as a granny. Not too creative I must admit, but it didn't matter much because when we knocked on people's doors, they were like, "we haven't had people trick or treat here for over 20 years!!" so we came home with some granola bars, and some chocolates, and some cans of pop because nobody was prepared.

I was a granny again the next year - and you're probably wondering "aren't you like, an artist and can't you sew?" The answer to both is yes. But if you know me, you probably also know that I procrastinate. So that answers the rest for you. My costumes were usually pulled off a few hours before take-off.

After that I was a mummy. Worst idea ever. I thought it was a sweet idea at first. It's easy, and would look cool. I just wore long-johns, and a tank top and wrapped up in toilet paper, threw some black lipstick on and there yea go! Well.
1. When I showed my friends this picture, they said- KKK. And it is pretty freakin creepy.
2. By the end of the night I had unravelled and was knocking on people's doors in my long-johns. People stopped giving me candy because I wasn't dressed up.
3. My parents found me later. Maris was sitting in her wagon playing in the heap of toilet paper my parents had collected from the trail I left behind.

My final, and best costume which still makes me cry laugh to this day, was my potato costume.
For the life of me I cannot find a picture on facebook, so if I find one I'll update- so for now you'll just have to imagine. When I was three (ish) ACF the church had a Veggietales float in the Potato Festival in Alliston. And me and my mum were potatoes on it. These costumes had been kicking around for ages, so I used my mom's brown sac-like costume, stuffed it with pillows, rubbed some dirt on my face, wore a brown hat, and collected my candy in a potato bag. It was a smash hit. Being from Alliston- where all the farmers grow are potatoes, and the Lays commercials feature people I went to school with- it was pretty popular. But it`s still a pretty weird thing to dress up as. A potato.


So that`s the history of my Halloween adventures.

I hope you're having a thrilling day- although if you're reading this you probably aren't and are just trying to waste a bit of time. So I'm glad I've helped you in that venture. Good luck procrastinating fellow students facing finals, and here's a piece of hope- it's nearly summer.

xo.
H

Earth

So I've had a few people ask me what my tattoo means and I thought I'd write what I know about it.

When I was first brainstorming about what to get, I just immediately thought of the word Earth. Didn't know why- I just did. When I started telling people that I wanted it and they asked, I would just say- "it's relatable, everyone shares it..."

I've always felt a connection to the Earth as many people probably do- with both nature and humanity. Recently I've been on a bit of a spiritual journey and I feel led to lead an earthly life, one that seeks fulfillment and joy in what God or the Earth has given me. Maybe God and the Earth are similar. Always there, always everywhere, and though it's always there, often forgotten and doesn't always make itself known. I like the idea of 'Mother Earth;' it's taking care of us, nurtures us, gives us the resources to grow and learn and become independent. The earth itself is full of resources and gifts for us all and we have the choice to take them and use them well, or to take them for granted in the same way that a God would. And I believe choices are a gift.

I think the First Nations people had it right. Figured out. The Earth is pretty freakin' important.
I've been called a hippie/flower child over and over again.
When I first met Aj, he told me I was 'acoustic, and earthy'. BTW- It's in his writing, not for lovey-dovey purposes, but because he has nice writing.
I've discovered that the city isn't really for me. I had no idea how much I love and need to be in clean, fresh air surrounded by trees and fields until I moved here.

After thinking about all of these things, and having wanted to get it for a while, I was reading my horoscope (which is kind of a joke thing I do once in a while for laughs to see if Aj's Cosmo horoscope comes true each month...) and I read that the element for my sign (Virgo), is Earth. Which -I mean it could only be one of four, but still. It was cool for me.

So that's why I got Earth. And now if anybody asks me about it- I'm sending you here, because this has taken me eons to figure out why I felt compelled to permanently ink the word Earth onto my body.

Stuff.

Well, we've moved a ton of stuff. You may have seen this picture on facebook...

Last night, Aj and I borrowed a truck and together moved 3 loads of our junk to the new place. Doing this has helped us get rid of a ton of stuff, but also realize we should get rid of more but are too attached to things. We are not pack rats. maybe a little, but not too bad. We just like our things. Which I've come to justify to myself over time.

When I got home from Peru, I felt so guilty for all my 'things,' and threw a lot of stuff away. Like garbage bags full of all of my clothes, and bits and bobs. I was left with like a few pairs of pants, some shirts, and my bed. When I moved here, I started collecting things from people who were getting rid of stuff, and from thrift stores to furnish my home. Aj and I could never do a pre-furnished place- we're too picky. If you ever catch me buying something from Ikea or Walmart, you have permission to shoot me on the spot. Not that those places are bad (or maybe they are...)  just not us. Both of us have always been into 'antiques' (used shtuff...), or retro (old stuff... ), or vintage, or whatever you want to call it. And for a good reason- those things have lasted long enough for us to inherit them, so they'll probably last a good amount of time longer, & they're just quaint! Whereas everything I did buy from Walmart has broken already. We bought spatulas from walmart, and they fell apart. But the spatula Aj's dad bequeathed onto us has lasted us, and Aj's dad before us, and wherever he got it from too.

So. Anywho back to my thing about things. When I got here, I calculated how much money we spent on furniture, and appliances. Which was easy because, EVERYTHING was gifted or thrifted.

Furniture cost us nothing. The only thing we did buy were some clean sheets (which I don't buy from the thrift store....), and a bunch of kitchen things from the thrift store. Our entire set of dishes cost $3.
When things don't cost me money, I don't feel guilty for owning them. It could be argued that other people need my things more than I do. And maybe that's true. I still tend to fill a garbage bag up once and a while and cart it to the Salvation Army or whatever. But I just cannot feel guilty for being so blessed by friends and family who have supported us and made our lives possible. When we left we had three sets of dishes to choose from- a mish-mash set from my parents, another offer from a friend, and the set we bought (and kept). We have had countless offers from people up in Alliston to help us out, asking if we need anything or what they can do. So if we have too much stuff, I don't feel guilty for it- it's a blessing.

All of my blankets came from either my grandma, or great grandmother. Some of which were hand made in the 80s. All brought here from England. Some of my dishes are my great grandmother's as well. I have a blue tea set which I kept of hers, and her wardrobe made of ration crates from WWII.

Perhaps I'm writing this defensively, if so- sorry! But we get it a lot- you guys have a ton of stuff! Just get rid of it. And I don't know why, but we ended up together, and we're both sentimental people who like our things. So stop telling us to get rid of stuff, we do it when we need to. The times we're stumbling around in this tiny apartment and kicking ourselves in the butt for owning so much, are outweighed by the amount of times we can say stuff we have comes in handy around here. (like that iron, as soon as I got rid of it, I needed it). Maybe just cause we're at art school and we're always needing obscure utensils, or materials. But either way, moving all that stuff just the two of us maybe proved how much I want to keep the 'stuff' I have.

Oh. And let me remind you- my stuff is important to me. But not so important that I would die if I lost it in a fire (unless I was in the fire too...), or that I wouldn't give it up if I had to. But at this point I don't. Call me materialistic. I don't care. I like my stuff, and it all serves a purpose in my life, and I am SO thankful.

And, you probably gave it to me.

This is us- being tired and thankful for all of that stuff we moved.
See you later.

H

home this weekend

So I'm back up here, where it's freakin snowy. Toronto didn't have much snow when I hopped on the bus to get here, and I wore moccasins. Now I'm here, and we got like 20 cm since I got here (could be way off, I haven't left the house, but it's been blustery all day). 

Anywho, I thought I'd share these songs. It's a bit silly, but everytime I'm on my way home I listen to these songs. 

Are You Ready For the Country?

&
Out on the Weekend

Because that's what I do on the weekend, I go home to the country & relax and catch up. I drink tea and play games. And I don't do my homework. 

Today

If you haven't seen it on Facebook or Instagram yet...

We started painting our new apartment. We replaced the dingy off white (it looked like the white an indoor smoker would have after living somewhere for 50 years.....), with a warm white ($10!), and a cool grey (also $10)!

The guy at the paint store was nice. He showed us all the mistints- even ones he was saving for himself. He gave 1 to us for free, and the other three were $10 each!

Here's a sneak peek. I'm only showing one picture this time, because by the time we finished that room and the kitchen, there was no day light left- and it looks much better in sunlight. So I'll add more when we're completely finished painting, and it's daytime!

I also decided to dye our bed sheets pink. For some reason I bought white sheets. They were pretty cheap, so whatever... but I could've chosen any other colour for Pete's sake.

Aj has nosebleeds in the night a lot. So naturally the white sheets are looking kind of disgusting.

I was browsing home hardware looking for a spray bottle (we have to start cleaning up our place for the person who's moving in.... ), and came across fabric dye and was like- I can have fun while scrubbing the tub. So I bought it and made some pretty sheets. They didn't turn out completely how I wanted, I wanted them an even tone, but since I only had a small bucket, and both sheets had to get squashed in there, it ended up more of a tye-dye (or squish-dye).

I also learned a cool technique to do transfers of drawings and photos and stuff onto fabric, so I might do some doodles to transfer onto the sheets later. I'll definitely let you know if/when that happens.

Also I've been drinking a lot more tea since grandpa died. Maybe it's to honour him, or maybe I missed it since living at home, or maybe I drank so much with my family while I was there mourning that it reminds me of my family. Or maybe it's just really good, and really comforting. Either way. It's what's going on around here.

.gif

Aj and I were exploring an abandoned farmhouse once, and we found a bottle of syrup and a couch dumped there. So what did we do? Made a .gif.

And this was one of my latest projects. The requirements were that it had to be a metamorphosis of some kind. So I did a clay interpretation of the food industry.

So there you go. 

Shout out to things your grandparents make for you!

This morning I was just putting about, and remembering my grandpa and things he would help me with (school projects!), and I realized how much cool stuff my grandparents have made for me, or done for me.

My nanna and my grandma are always making me the coolest things! Nanna makes us jams and sauces all the time. And even though I'm not a huge fan of hot sauce, Aj is and he eats these like nobodies business!

She also crocheted me a rockin' scarf- an infinity scarf. It's my go-to. And it wraps around three times so it's extra warm and lovely. Seen in this picture of when she came to visit me for a day in Toronto. 

And nanna keeps me stocked up with scrubbies too. WHICH ARE THE BOMB IF YOU HAVE NOT USED ONE. It's like the perfect mix between steel wool and a cloth. It's a scrubby.

It's cool because my nanna crochets, and gramma knits. So I get a bit of both!

Gramma knit me a grey sweater when I was little, it disappeared but it was the best sweater...I'm guessing I grew out of it. Now I have two sweaters she's made and I love em. They're so warm. She also made me this cute pair of slippers. (Which is good cause I can't stand bare feet on a dirty floor....yes my floor is dirty, and it's my own fault)....

Grandpa was an electrician- and when I had my electricity unit in grade 9....well. I didn't make that project. I just watched him do it and pretended I understood. Both him and my dad were great for that. In grade 4, for our medieval times project, my dad (helped me) built a trebuchet, battering ram, and a siege tower. I got 100% because clearly I overdid myself, it was the coolest project complete with barbie heads to catapult and a styrofoam castle (my part in the project) to knock over. If I ever got high grades, it was probably because I had the help of some creative parents, or grandparents. Not to mention- if my pants were the right length, I have my mom to thank. + she helped me make my glow in the dark pajama pants. And from all of these guys giving me homemade things, or helping me do them I've become a pretty creative person myself. So thanks!

I don't want to brag or anything... or maybe I do. But I really do have a great family. And really cool grandparents. I love you guys!

Queen St. E

Last night A & I went to the new place to get the keys and clean the place up a little to get ready for painting. It's currently an off-white colour. And it's the same colour throughout the whole place and it's very tiring. We're thinking white and grey in the living room/studio. Otherwise we don't really have any other ideas.

It has this dorky little stained glass window. I love it. It's hilarious.

We're moving into a building now, just a low-rise. But it means we get a buzzer! How fun! We don't have to answer the door three stories below in case someone is actually ringing the doorbell. People hit ours all the time right now- getting mail, the cleaning lady when opening the door. It's in an unfortunate location, right where you lean if you're holding something else while opening the door.

Kitchen tile is much nicer than the laminate in our current place! It's cute. 

And here's the most exciting part- A full sized kitchen. Double sink, full sized fridge and oven. AND A TON OF CUPBOARD SPACE!!

I think this little collection of Aj doing all his important measurements is funny. He gets so into it. Has to know how big the radiator is, every section of wall. It's cute. He's planning on doing another floorplan on the computer so he knows if everything will fit.

Also : another decision is that we're planning on getting rid of our couch. I'm thinking of making big floor cushions that can be used like a couch, but we don't use our couch that much and it's a huge waste of space. The cushions can be stacked or thrown in a closet, and aren't as permanent. I also am making some curtains for the bedroom closet. There are a few little summer projects that I'm looking forward to. !


Also, wish us luck in getting jobs. Because things are getting tight.


xo.
H

Productivity

Hello all.
It is me.
I am taking a wee break from all this work I'm up to just to tell you how much work I'm up to.
It's a lot- or it feels like it anyways. I had a very encouraging conversation this Sunday where I was talking about all of my stresses in life and how I work well under pressure, but I'm always under pressure, but when it's over I'm like, "wow, that wasn't so hard, I wish I had used the time I spent worrying about all the work to actually do the work." And then after talking to my grandma about how easy it is to actually stay clean - put things back when you're done. Sounds easy right?!

Well here's the exciting part. I've actually been applying these two simple things to my life the past two days (which isn't long, so hopefully it lasts), and our apartment is so much more refreshing and happy to spend time in. It's clean, I can think and I've gotten a ton of homework done. I have quite a long list of things to do if I'm going to be able to go up north for my mom's birthday and if I don't get them done, I'll have to stay home. So I have a little motivation, and things are happening.

It's a storm of creativity and productivity at my house today.

I hope yours is too, and that maybe this has inspired you a little to get off your butt and do some cool stuff. Like write an essay on this pile of fake diamonds- the neat thing is that there is one real diamond in this pile somewhere. I left it ambiguous on Facebook because it's funnier when there's absolutely no meaning there. But there is, so the essay wasn't as hard- and I tricked you. Life is grand.

H

2001.

For any of you who had a similar childhood:

Here's a walk down the musical memory lane

Things I have fallen in love with since living on my own

Original hardwood flooring

Radiators

Also note the texture of the wall. I like it.

And also gas stoves.

Those are things on my mind lately. Unfortunately our new place doesn't have a gas stove, but it's bigger. 

And it's steam heat, which looks like radiators to me but there might be a difference. Who cares though, they're still cute.

moving

So. We're moving. Two weeks before school ends.

This is going to be nuts.

The place is only 100 sq ft bigger than our current place, but there is laundry, a nicer kitchen (real cupboards!), and otherwise it's basically exactly the same as the place we have now. Radiator heat, hardwood floors, we can paint and be messy and whatnot. It's on Queen st!!! Right near the beach.

Move in date is April 1. I didn't take any pictures of the place yet. But I'll keep you posted as we go through the next most stressful six weeks ever.

H

Moving?

to move or not to move.

Looking at a place on Queen st. tomorrow which unbelievably is just smaller than double my apartment now. It's also on Queen st, right by the beach! So. It would be sweet if this pulls through, and then everything else falls together- like finding someone to take this tiny place, and find a job.

So keep Andrew and I in your thoughts and wishes and whatnot.

As much as I'd miss this little place, this other place sounds like paradise after being crammed in here for almost a year. And it sounds really similar- just bigger! Still no A/C, radiator heating, same commute length, but it's in a much cooler neighbourhood (QUEEEEEEEN!), and it's bigger, and it has a dishwasher and laundry, all for only $100 more ish.

We're seeing it tomorrow, so I'll update you then!

H

Back to life

So I'm back in Toronto - I missed last week's classes to be with my family and decided I can't afford to miss any more. I'll keep going home every weekend for a while though. I don't really feel ready for life back here- it's so fast. I have a few things due today and as you can see, I'm wasting my time on here rather than doing some things that would take me ten minutes tops to prepare for the day. If it were up to me summer would start now, along with my summer break and I'd take 4 months to refresh and process everything that's happened not only in this past week, but the past year. This year of my life has been huge. Moving out, starting university, living in the city, losing grandpa. All of that. 

I'm a zombie. And everything looks like this. (My homework which I'm not doing).