Star Trek FTW!

Apparently it's cool to be a Trekkie, for, like, the first time ever.
I have a confession.
As a kid, my best friend loved Star Trek - meaning I had to love it too. Then, as I got older, my parents got into it. When I say "got into it", I mean we watched it every single night during supper for years. I have seen almost every episode of Star Trek Voyager, and a good deal of The Next Generation.
So, even though I'm not a bona-fide Trekkie, I still know a great deal more about the franchise than the average person.
That being said, my little sister is even more of a Trekkie than I ever will be... for a while she even walked around with The Next Generation buttons on her purse. True story. So, with me being home, on Monday, my littlest sister and I had a date to go see Star Trek.


I was excited to go see it. I'd heard really good things about it, and I know J.J. Abrams is pretty amazing. Also, I have a giant crush on Zachary Quinto, partially from Heroes, but mostly due to the fact that he is completely adorable in every single interview I have seen him in.


Um, spoiler alert: it was awesome!

Seriously, go see this right away. If you grew up with Star Trek, go see it. If you've never watched an episode of any Star Treks before this, go see it. If you need to wear your Klingon costume, go see it.
Was there a downside? No, I don't think there was.
The actors were amazing, the special effects were also amazing.
Not to mention how freaking cute Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are. They should be reason alone to go see it.
Can I go see it again now, please?

I'll Be MIA for a Few Days...

It arrived today!! Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris! Look how excited I am! I need to remember to savour it, though, as I don't know when the next is coming. But I'm going home on Sunday, so I'll get to spend next week reading it on the porch - we'd better have good weather!

Seriously, guys, are you reading this series yet?

Recap

So life has been busy lately, thus I've been MIA from the blogging world. Here's what's new with me:

• Mom's surgery went really well. She had it on Monday and was okay to go home on Thursday! Her nurses were fantastic and everything went really smoothly. I am unbelievably relieved that this is finally over.
• I've been working overnights. I expect it will be a while before I have a normal sleep schedule again. We have been short staffed the past 2 nights, so I have been stationed by myself at the main desk of the shelter, which I love. When there are no new intakes and all of my work is done, I get to chill with a snack, listen to some Dave Matthews, and read or play around on the internet while everyone else sleeps.
  
• I bought the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, it's the book that True Blood is based on. I am almost through it already and I loved it! I went to Chapters tonight and bought the next 3 in the series.
• Maurice the turtle is living at my apartment now! The cat hasn't tried to kill him yet, so all is well! He likes staring at me while I do stuff around the apartment, he's funny! I will introduce you properly soon.
  
• My littlest sister is on a March Break school trip to Spain and Italy right now. The middle sister is still in Australia. I am stuck in Toronto... and slowly going stir crazy.
• BUT, I got a ticket to see the Dave Matthews Band in June! I'm crazy excited, especially because their new CD comes out only days before. However, the crappy part is that I'm going with 2 other friends, and Ticketmaster wouldn't allow us to puchase more than 2 tickets together for inside the pavilion, so I am sitting one section over from my two friends... here's hoping we can sweet talk the people around us to let us all sit together...
  
• I started a Tumblr, because I clearly need to spend more time on the internet. It's Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole, go follow me!
• Oh! How Lovely! Shops is giving away a set of bodhicitta Recycled Glasses, very cool! Go enter!
  

ANOTHER Award?!

I am super excited that I won another bloggy award! These things make me all warm and fuzzy inside in ways that I'm sure isn't normal.


Lindsay at Adventures of a Book Thief gave me this Love Ya award. Go check her blog out, y'all! She also was the one who gave me that yummy Bloggy Valentine's Day present. Here's what it says:

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award!”

And now for my nominees:
1) Lily at Lily Speak
2) Ria at & that's the way life goes
3) Jess at Classy in Philadelphia
4) Ashley at Writing to Reach You
5) EP at Stylish Handwriting
6) Lucklys at How Lucky We Are
7) Carmen at My Life in a Nutshell
8) Kern at The Transformation of Kern

All of these ladies have fantastic blogs which I highly recommend you go check out immediately, and they're all wonderful people who I am lucky to know. Go read their stuff and get to know them right away if you don't already know them!

Heads Up!

Hey guys! There's a contest at Oh, Hello Friend! Get your butt over there and enter it (or don't, so I have a better chance)!

Award O'Clock!

Recently, I was lucky enough to recieve not one but two blog awards! Here we go:


I recieved the Honest Scrap Award from Rialeilani!

The Honest Scrap award comes with a caveat or 2. Firstly you have to tell your readers 10 things about you they may not know, but that are true. Secondly you have to tag 10 people with the award.

1) I had surgery on my kidney when I was 3 years old. I still have a giant scar across my side from it. You know that tube that goes from your kidney to your bladder? Well I had an extra one, only it didn't go to my bladder, it went nowhere. Now I have a kidney and 3/4s. The only real thing that means is that I could never donate a kidney. I used to be embarrassed to tell people why I had the surgery, because it meant that I was deformed. Now, I don't care.
2) I have a magazine buying problem. Mostly it stems from my quest to find a replacement favourite magazine post-Jane. Currently, sitting on the floor beside my bed I have: Glamour, Lou Lou, Real Simple, Nylon, and Naked Eye. Still, none of them quite live up to Jane.
3) 3 is my favourite number. Has been forever, no idea why!
4) The past few days, when I have spent a great deal of time sick in bed, Thunder Kitty has started cuddling with my legs. It makes me extremely happy.
5) I feel naked if I'm not wearing a watch. I have worn one every single day since I started being a camp counsellor in... 2002. My parents get me a new one pretty much every year for either Christmas or my birthday. That sounds fancy, but they own a jewellery store, so it's okay.
6) If you follow me on Twitter (@ewalker9), you might remember that I am adopting a turtle. His name is Maurice (named after Marice Starr), and he has been a camp pet since 2001 if I remember correctly. Every year I was senior staff at camp, I took care of him, and even when I didn't work there, I harassed the staff who did into taking proper care of him. One year, way before me, he was left there alone from August to October when someone finally found him. Now, the camp doesn't want him and the girl who was taking care of him is going to Nepal and nobody wants him. So I said that if nobody will take him, I will, because I couldn't stand to let him go homeless, I like the little guy. And so, I am adopting my third pet from camp that nobody wanted (the first being Clark the hamster, now deceased, and the second being Thunder Kitty). I thought my parents were going to kill me, instead they just rolled their eyes. I will properly introduce him when he arrives at my place.
7) I have a small collection (4) of tribal masks on my wall. I both love them and scare the crap out of me. I got my first when I worked at the campus art gallery at university. They have a high-end yard sale every year as a fund raiser, where people donate items to sell to raise money for the gallery. Somebody donated a tonne of African masks, and I loved them. I told myself that if there was still one left on the last day, I would buy it. There was, and I did. After that, I bought 3 more on various Carribbean islands that we stopped at on our 2 cruises. The Carribbean ones are much more friendly looking than the African mask. I will likely collect more on my future travels.
8) This is my least favourite time of year. Winter has long since overstayed it's welcome and excitement, spring is nowhere to be seen, most days are cold and grey, and the snow is dirty looking. I cannot wait for spring to come.
9) I used to name my houseplants. I had Ezra (because I loved the name) and Annabelle and Annabelle 2 (she was a sprout from Annabelle the first).
10) Last night, my friend and I were driving back to my apartment, and in the alley outside of it, a guy flagged us down and asked if we could help him jump his car. I did it, luckily he knew what to do because I didn't even know where the button to pop the hood was at first. We got his car started and he was good to go. I was so happy that my friend was with me though, because I grew up being taught that people in the city are scary and not to be trusted, especially when you are a female alone, so I likely would not have stopped to help or at least I would have been torn about it. It was nice to be able to help him, and cool to see what to do to jump start a car. Also, he had a really nice voice.

Tagged:
Jess at Classy in Philadelphia
Lily at Lily Speak
Carmen at My Life in a Nutshell
Cuileann at The Holly and the Ivy
Kern at The Transformation of Kern
Heather at EveryyDayy
Lucklys at How Lucky We Are
Ashley at Writing to Reach You
Ashley at Turquoise Ribbons
EP at Stylish Handwriting




I also received the Arte Y Pico Award (creative blog award) from Ashley at Writing to Reach You! And I would like to give this award to Lily at Lily Speak for having a beautiful blog and being my very first bloggy friend!

What I've Been Up To

I've been MIA all week, it's been a busy week and I've been sick with a cold. Here's a bit of an update:

• Mom called on Monday to let me know that she just found out that her surgery (originally scheduled for Monday March 2nd) had been bumped back a week. I was disgruntled because I had booked time off of work to go home this weekend and spend the week with her to help out. Also, I think we were all a little bummed because we just want to get this over with. This surgery will take out her ostomy and hook her bowels back up properly, which means it's the end of our journey with cancer. I know, it hasn't even been a year yet and we're lucky it's gone as fast and as well as it has... but we're all just ready to get everything back to normal and move on with our lives. But we knew it would likely happen, and hopefully the fact that Mom's surgery was bumped means that someone else just starting their journey with cancer treatment can get theirs over with as fast as possible.
  
• My sister seems to be having a fantastic time in Australia, and I am super jealous. Since she left New Zealand and arrived in Australia, she's been snorkeling and scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef, in a rain forest, and surfing and kayaking on the ocean. In other news, I want to go on vacation SO badly.
• The Dave Matthews Band announced more tour dates - INCLUDING TORONTO! So on March 14th I will be buying tickets to go see them at the Molson Amphitheater on June 9th. SO exciting! Also, they announced the title of their new album: Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King - which is set to come out June 2nd!
• In other music news, I am going to see Craig Cardiff next weekend in Guelph! And tickets were only $10!! I've wanted to see this guy for years! Of course, going with the camp ladies should make it awesome!
• My friend signed up for a meat pie eating contest at a pub a few weeks ago, and the contest was last night. I went as her coach/cheering section and we were SO into it, complete with smack talking the other contestant we knew, pre-contest stretching, and, of course, costumes! There were 2 heats of 5 people, and the top two from each heat went into the finals, oh, yeah, and you couldn't use your hands (a nice bit of info we found out right before the contest). No one else had costumes. My friend actually got 3rd place, and most of her competetors were much larger guys! I was SO impressed! Here we are getting pumped up - check out the awesome shirts that she thought up and I made:

Alright, that's my update for now. I'll keep you posted! (haha I thought that was a funny pun!)

Oscar Night Faves

If you follow me on Twitter (it's @ewalker9), you know I spent my evening watching the Oscars. I missed the first bit because I was on Skype with my Mom, and I hear the opening was great, as were Tina Fey and Steve Martin. I loved the new format, where for the major awards, past winners announced the nominees. I found it so much more personal, and it definitely made me teary on a few occasions (Best Actress, anybody?). Having only seen a few of the movies in the awards this year (only Mamma Mia and Benjamin Button I do believe), I wasn't hardcore rooting for anyone. However, Kate Winslet winning Best Actress made me really happy because I really like her. And how adorable was her speech?? Getting her Dad to whistle made me so happy!! And acknowleding Meryl Streep's greatness in her speech was so good. Also, Heath Ledger's family accepting the award and celebrating him instead of mourning him was great!
Now, in pictoral form, here are the people and outfits that made me most happy tonight:

John Legend. I freaking love this guy. His voice is beautiful, I kind of wished his performance could have been by itself, he was really stunning with the Peter Gabriel song. And check out his suit! A little retro, a whole lot of hot.


Oh Brad. I'm not a fan of the facial hair, I must admit, but otherwise you are a good lookin' fella. I loved you in Benjamin Button (I meant to post about it, but forgot, maybe I'll do that soon). I think the fact that we can see you getting wrinkles only make you hotter - you've gone from pretty boy to distinguished man and I like it.


RPattz!! I was crazy happy to see you on the red carpet, and then you presented and I turned into a squealy fangirl. And when they did a close up on Mickey Rourke during Best Actor, I saw you over his shoulder, which made the Mickey close up more than bearable. Most importantly, you hair doesn't look like it could eat me or like it contains small forest animals, I like it.


Taraji P. Henson was amazing in Benjamin Button and is super cute in all of her interviews. She looked stunning in that beautiful dress. I would totally consider a dress like that for a wedding dress, I love that classic shape and the un-traditional material!


I have a giant girl crush on Natalie Portman. She is just so freaking cool. She was hilarious with Ben Stiller, and the dress is classically beautiful!


I know it's been on some worst dressed lists, and I know many people (myself included) are not Miley Cyrus' biggest fans, but I freaking love this dress! She looks so grown up in it, and it gives a beautiful silhouette. I just think the dress is gorgeous!


Kate Winslet... another of my girl crushes. I'm so glad she won! I wasn't certain about this dress at first, but the more I saw it, the more I liked it. It suits her perfectly! I usually don't like one-shoulder dresses because it makes your boobs look uneven, but this one works well. I like the a-symmetry and the combination of the gunmetal grey and lace. Way to go, Kate!


And finally, Anne Hathaway. I wasn't sure about this dress at first either, mostly due to the giant gap in the top of it, but it also grew on me. I love how sparkly it is and I love the colour, a daring one for someone so pale (like myself). She looks beautiful, and her expressions during the speeches were adorable, she was so excited and invested, made me happy!

So there we go, those aspects of the Oscars made me the most happy this evening. If you want my other thoughts as it happened, go follow me (@ewalker9) on Twitter. Happy Oscar Night, everyone!

All this breathing in, never breathing out...

Hey! Remember when I told y'all I was going to see Ben Folds?
Well, I did! Last night!!


That guy! Yeah! I think he's a hottie. I had a big plan that involved getting close enough to pet him... heavily. But it was packed up close to the stage and I figured that heavily petting Ben Folds might get me kicked out and/or arrested, so I decided I would be better off enjoying the show.

Here we are, waiting in anticipation... there were two openers, a band called Miniature Tigers and an acapella choir from York University that did amazing versions of Ben Folds' "Underground", a Sarah Slean song, and "Don't Stop Believing." Beforehand he played some "bad spa music" due to his interview on CBC radio earlier in the day and the controversy that has follwed it.
And after what seemed like FOREVER, Ben came! These are MY pictures, which explains why they are kind of crappy, and you can see the head of the stupidly tall guy who was RIGHT in my way, but still, it's Ben Folds.



He sang sooooo many songs that I love. I mean, it's hard not to love any Ben Folds song, but he sang a lot of the oldies - Landed (my fave Ben Folds song EVER), Army, Philosophy, Zak and Sara, Kate, Annie Waits, Fair, etc. He also did quite a few of the songs from his new album, which are awesome, like You Don't Know Me, Bitch Went Nuts, Dr. Yang, Kylie from Connecticut, Hiroshima, Effington... I could go on.
He's an incredible live performer! He does amazing things with that piano, he takes audience requests, he interacts with the audience, he got us involved in singing parts... I don't even know what else to say, it was just plain awesome.
If you're even a little bit of a Ben Folds fan, I'd recommend you go see him live ASAP

Be My Blog Valentine!

As you may or may not know, I participated in the Be my Blog Valentine Gift Exchange. I am the worst partner ever and just mailed mine out today... It's time to break the silence, Carmen, yours should arrive from Canada Post on Monday, sorry about that!
Today, I got to make the cross-town drive to UPS to pick up my gift from Lindsay at Adventures of a Book Thief, and check out what I got:


Amazing chocolates and candies! You might notice that some of the milk chocolates are gone... I couldn't wait on the way home, so I had a few, and a few turned into half of the bag because they are so freaking good!
Thanks, Lindsay!!

Fiscal Irresponsibility With Erin Continues

I just got myself a new purse. Or, at least, I will get it in a few days and I can not wait.
It's the Matt & Nat Jorja Small in Coffee Japanese Paper and it is perfect and beautiful. Y'all know how much I love Matt & Nat. (I told you about it here, here, here, here, here, here, and also here. My goodness.)

Please arrive soon, beautiful purse??
Please arrive sooner, paycheck????

Mole Mail!

Look what arrived in my mailbox today:
The package was adorable on it's own, and my mole is super cute! Now, what to name him? I am aware that I am approximately 7 years old.

Polaroids on YOUR Computer

Have you downloaded Poladroid yet?
No? You're missing out.
Check out some of the pretty pictures I made even prettier:

my camp

the road in front of my house

my favourite man

I Finally Did It!

I just bought my first thing from Etsy, I'm crazy excited about this:


A mole on a Moleskin notebook! by ArgyleWhale.

It's hilarious and super-cute! And I like to believe that it will help me with my goal of being more artsy in my spare time.

"Rock and roll is - and should be - a kid's place."

Guess who I'm going to see in concert on February 17th at the Kool Haus in Toronto...


Ben Folds!! Ben F*ing Folds!! (The post title is a Ben Folds quote, btw)

That's right, this Ben Folds:


... and this Ben Folds:


Not only am I going to see THAT Ben Folds, but I am going with some of my favourite kids from our camp years!
February 17th cannot come fast enough!!

Two of My Favourite Things

Urban Outfitters + Free Stuff!

Y'all need to go and get yourself a free year's subscription to Nylon Magazine!

Amazing!

I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

A little late, I know, but back a while ago, I received my first ever blog award from my fellow book club member Lily from LilySpeak. I was thrilled, and cheesy as it is, the inner 15 year old girl in me felt accepted by the blogging community! So I will proudly display this on my blog and pass it on to a few others:
The beautiful Lenorenevermore whose posts are always beautiful to read and look at,
a fellow Canadian Carmen of My Life in a Nutshell,
the student with the best dating stories Ashley of Turquoise Ribbons,
and my fellow DMB lover Grey Street of The Life & Times Of....
Thanks for being fantastic bloggers!!

No More Slacking!

I've been slacking on my blogging this week, thanks to it being the last week of school and therefore crazy busy. It's done now, though, I am officially now a university AND college graduate! BA and CYW... I am getting closer and closer to my goal of having the entire alphabet behind my name. So tonight I get to go celebrate with my friends, and tomorrow I am packing up and heading home to my parents' house to work for them sellin' the bling at their store before Christmas. I love working at the store, I've worked there every Christmas season since I was in grade 11... what is that, going on 8 years now? And I grew up at the store practically. It wouldn't be Christmastime without spending the weeks before it selling jewellery wrapped up in pretty boxes by me. Anyhow, I am back there working again on Monday, and until then plan to be reading Breaking Dawn, because I banned myself from it this week while I tried to get work done, and now my ban is over - sweet!

And now, this week's Friday Five, this week's theme is Not Mine:
1) When did you last sleep in a bed outside your home?
I don't like sleeping at other peoples' houses very often, so it was likely the last time I went home and slept in my room at my parents' house, which doesn't count does it because I consider it home too. Before that... I guess it was camp in the summer?

2) When did you last drive someone else’s car?
I drive my parents' car sometimes when I am home.

3) When did you last cook in someone else’s kitchen?
The other night I made myself food at Sam's house when we were studying.

4) When did you last care for children who aren’t yours?
Umm Wednesday? That's kind of my job.

5) When did you last do someone else’s job?
I am always trying to help out and do what I can for my coworkers, so I guess the work I did at my placements counts, because it's not technically my job.

I'm Pretty Much Grown Up Now

"Grow up, who me?" by charliebubbles

Tomorrow is my last day of placement at the shelter. Before today, I was full of mixed emotions about this. I'm excited to be done the CYW program, it's been a long 16 months straight in this program. I'm tired, so tired that I'm not even stressed about the big old assignment I've barely started due Friday and the final exam looming ominously before me on Thursday. I just want to be done. Before today, I was sad to be leaving the shelter. I like it there, and I'm confidant that I'm doing good work there with great co-workers. So, the grin on my face was probably very large this morning when I was officially hired for per diem relief work at the shelter. Not only do I get to stay on at the shelter... for the very first time, I have a job in my field of study. It feels grown up and real and awesome.

Cherish Hope and Peace

I got a package in the mail today! It was my prize from the contest on Hallmark's Things We Make Blog for ornaments from Paloma's Nest.

It arrived carefully packaged in a brown box tied with string and a small bit of ribbon saying thank you.

Of course, Thunder Kitty had to see what the excitement was all about. It came with a special bag I can put the ornaments in, I chose the word Cherish for the bag.

Thunder Kitty mostly enjoyed the adorable straw-esque nest my birds were sitting in.

And I love love love my ornaments! I chose Hope and Joy for their words, and I cannot wait to get to my parents' place and hang them on our family tree. They're just so pretty though, I may need to find a way to display them all year round.

A great big thank you to Hallmark's Things We Make Blog and to Paloma's Nest!