What goes around comes around..

I spent multiple days over the past few weeks helping an energetic and almost insane hungarian franciscan friar learn english and what does he give me in return???

Any guesses??

That's right! Cake! But not just any cake... a traditional hungarian Dobosz cake! Its epic!

Although I had no intention of receiving payment for the english lessons, it Just goes to show you that kindness and generosity do get returned.

Here are some pics of this wonderfully tasty dessert and if you're still not convinced about it then google it for a description *too lazy to copy and paste one*

Xoxo
Ps so nervous for my university convocation tomorrow.. 13 hours and 20 minutes to go!!! wish me luck as I fear public humiliation *eep*

My current week..

As you know, since May I've been sitting around not doing much besides family time or trips to the local shopping centres but the past two weeks I've been pretty active visiting friends, sewing and helping a hungarian priest with his ESL classes.  Its really an experience for me as a university English major because
while I know how to "turn a phrase", the construction of sentences, words and their sounds is a completely different task. I suppose I should have taken a semantics or linguistics class but I'm not big into word trees (hehe). All in all, its a nice experience helping him and since we are using italian as the primary language I can finally get back into practicing it regularly so I don't lose it like I had feared when I was using my spanish more the past two years. Sometimes I think that my head is going to explode and all anyone will see are words and phrases in various languages.. here's hoping I can keep it all in :)

So last night I went out for a quick jaunt to the local Tim's and I can't believe how clear the evening sky was! If you've been following the local southern ontario weather forcasts and updates as of late, you'll see that we finally got the storming rain that they've been calling for. In the immortal words of chicken little, I thought for certain that "the sky was falling" but interestingly enough it just misted and dripped and thundered around. Much to my excitement, it was a wonderfully warm and clear evening. There are some pics of the sky around 9pm and one really epic shot I got of our driveway tree.. ah! The amazing things that a camera flash can do!

So this past weekend we had my sisters bridal shower, and it was really just a beautiful day! We ended up with a some lovely fresh cut flowers and surprisingly they're lasting quite some time.. check out the pics of them I took the other day!

I'm going round to one of me old haunts today... a few friends and I are getting together to revisit our alma mater for a little "reunion".  Its so peaceful this time of year and I intend on taking pictures to update my albums with. Later on I'm going with one of the girls to make risotto and have a "ladies in their sensibilities" BBC Jane Austen movie evening. I wager it will be a romping good time!

Anyway enough rambles! Check out my pics and drop a comment or email if you like.

Xoxo
C

June already...

Today I woke up and realized that it's June 1st..which considering Ive been sitting around doing practically nothing since May 1st means that I have now officially wasted one whole month of my "summer vacation".

*sigh* I really need to find a job...

*bangs head off computer desk* why can't I get myself going already?

*stares blankly at screen*



Okay I'm back.  SO im going to help  a family friend with a school presentation for his ESL class.. which is good because it forces me to exercise my brain and I get to help someone out.  But it sucks because the weather outside is ugly and grey and rainy and wet which means im undoubtedly going to step in a puddle or be hit by one from a careless inconsiderate driver.  Ah the life of a pedestrian. Oh well, It's all for the "greater Good" right?   :)

Im starting a countdown right now because in almost exactly 10 days and just under two hours I will be sitting in a long winded convocation ceremony waiting to receive that oh-too-important-little-piece-of-paper which signifies I studied at the expense of the gov't for 5 years! That's right! in 10 days 1 hour and 20 minutes from right now I will hear the provost say " I confer upon you the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Honors... Congratulations!" and I will have my hood placed to proudly show my program colors and receive my beautiful diploma which will when be stuck into the "linear frame" I pre-ordered last month!  Isn't it wonderful!?!!!

Well, Im off to scowl about in the rain and deal with a heavily accented Hungarian priest.. Wish me Luck!

XOXO
C

Coolest thing i saw today..

On a well known and recently frequented street in my home town, the arts crowd is doing some awesome things... such as weekly art crawls and new personal galleries opening.  On a wooden fence between a small gallery and a fancy restaurant an artist called TheHeartofaChild (sp?) placed a number of small framed photographs and a paper board with push pins and a carton of index cards inviting people to take an index and fill it out with something positive and then tack it to the fence.

I spent half an hour this evening examining the artist photos- ranging from a cat to a public garbage can and an alley way- and reading over each of the index cards written, doodled on and or signed by passersby.  The artist also included small type written notes throughout thanking people for leaving positivity and stating their name and love for personal small type writers.  

Although the index card envelope was empty it did not deter people from using advertisements or pieces of "scrap" paper and tacking them "as is" or writing on them and placing them on the fence. Also interestingly, someone wrote on the empty envelope "more index cards needed please!" Which is totally cool.  I'm sure the artist is happy that their project was such a hit with the "general populace".

Aboslutely something worth posting about.

Check out the pic I took of it from afar- you can probably enlargen it to see some of the index comments more clearly. If your further interested I can enlarged parts and repost.

Thanks for reading!!

Xoxo

In the backyard

Finally getting some stuff done around the house and bringing  some life to the backyard... Thankfully nature has already provided the beauty and color.. Take a look at our beautiful, natural and added space.

In all the concrete and metal, technological plastic waste we lose our souls to, its nice to have a space in which we can reconnect with the earth and all her wonders of creation :)

Enjoy! And thanks for reading.

clear for take off!

this morning i found out that my final grades have been posted and beyond some minor disagreeable endings, i have been cleared to graduate and i am super excited... im also writing this post from my new samsung galaxy q and while i had to send it back in already once it seems to be working just fine.  for some reason my keyboard wont let me use capitals or more than a few basic punctuation marks but i can let bad grammar and form go for now because im happy.  i hope your day is as bright and sunny as mine currently is. xoxo

getting dog-tired of Fido..

Is it too much to ask to have a cell phone that works properly??

SO i charged my phone for about 6 hours because the battery had finally died on me, and when I went to unplug it the phone was so hot that I could not hold it in my hand.  Then it wouldn't turn back on.  So i schlepped all the way to the mall on the escarpment, by bus, to visit the Fido store.  The worker there plugged in my phone and surprise surprise, nothing happened!  Then he switched out my phone's batter for one of theirs and it turned on... a defective battery  he said... but because I purchased my upgraded phone from Fido customer service solutions and it came to me via UPS, they couldn't exchange my phone in the store.. I had to call customer service and probably ship it back to them for exchange or repair..

So I did. And because I talked more than 30 minutes on my new phone, the 15 day exchange warranty- which I am still technically under- becomes voided.  So now I have to package it up in the UPS envelope provided and bring it back to the Fido store, with a confirmation number that the customer service lady gave me, and they will ship it out to be fixed.. which could take 10-15 days at least. 0-0 seriously?? It's not my fault the thing was faulty, they sold it to me that way.. what a b/s excuse is that?? "oh sorry, you talked more than 30 minutes on your cell phone since April 19th so we can't exchange it." like WTF? Honestly? UGH!

**throws phone and runs screaming in circles flailing arms above head in utter frustration**

On the bright side, at least I still have my previous phone which besides having a now weak and quick draining battery and terrible signal reception, allows me to "stay connected".

-_-

Sometimes it makes me feel like I should give up on cell phones all together and live off of my little netbook scouring the city for WiFi spots.. though it would probably be more effective to simply open a window and yell.

The only good thing to come out of this disastrous day is that I ran into an old friend at the mall.. he works for the Ti-Cats as an intern and is hanging out at a booth in the malls entrance getting people to fill out a super short survey and offering the chance to win an autographed jersey.. totally cool.  He was kind enough to listen to my phone troubles and in return I filled out a survey.. which I might add was fun as I got to use an ipad- seriously, who uses paper and pencils anymore?? *sigh* I wish we could go back to the stone age.  Now I'm not a fan of apple, or apple products but you gotta admit, the ipad is an interesting piece of technology.

SO at least all was not for naught- and I managed to read an entire book today on the 6 half hour bus rides I  was on from 11:30am-4pm.  Thanks J.K for providing me with the comforting, companionship of Etienne and his absolutely entertaining Alphabet.  <3 <3 <3

Oh well, guess I'll go back to my sewing now, since the chances of me getting back up to the mall today are slim to none and the pile of alterations at my feet is growing steadily with each passing day...  :(

Super accomplishment of the week.. I shortened the sleeves of a fleece lined lumberjack patterned men's fall jacket yesterday... I had to take the cuffs off, which, if you ever thought would be easy and or fun, wasn't.. it took me approx 1.3 hours to rip the stitches from each cuff. And then I had to measure and cut the sleeve to shorten it and then re-attach each cuff, which is not as easy as it sounds.. it was double lined and half the width of the sleeve itself so I had to pin and ruche and tuck and pin and measure before I could stitch it.. but it was fun and my soon-to-be-Bro-in-law totally loves it!  He also bought me Anne Rice's The Vampire Armand as payment and thanks.. so yay!!

Well, keep reading and comment if ye care <3

p.s I mailed a letter to totally awesome Spokane author-dude Sherman Alexie this week.. soo excited and fingers crossed to get a response!!

<3
C