desiderata

amidst all the chaos that is my life right now... i read and reread this poem. i'd like to share it with you. 

[via]

gets me. everytime.

happy new year!

[via]

happy new year!! i hope it's been great so far.

i like fresh starts. i think we all could use one, amiright?

i have a couple of goals in mind specifically for this year but instead of sharing some resolutions, i'd like to share with you my life rules:

1. the path is not straight.

2. mistakes need not be fatal.

3. people are more important than achievements and possessions.

4. be gentle with your parents.

5. never stop doing what you care most about.

6. learn to use a semicolon.

7. you will find love.

this list was adopted from Marion Winik, an American author. 

these rules keep me humbled, allows me to keep soaring to new heights while never letting me forget my roots.

so here's to a new year. what's do you have in store for the new year?

cheers, s

normal people humour

via

my sense of humour tends to be on the sarcastic side. it doesn't help that i'm a nurse. 

i was waiting for the bus the other day and got talking with a stranger. we eventually got talking about our professions, then he asked me how my day was. i smiled and said "nobody died on my shift so it was a good day." 

cue laugh track...

he laughed politely and uncomfortably replied "that's not funny...it's funny..but not really" 

i laughed it off and said something about the weather.

his reply caught me off-guard but totally appropriate.

ya know, every now and again, i forget that bodily fluids and death aren't normal conversation topics for most people. 

nothing grosses me out anymore. frequency of bms and "nice veins" become icebreakers. 

sometimes stories of orifices and wounds are sprinkled in conversations with friends and family. 

and then i get the "face" that says "please let me finish my meal first.." 

my friends and family are used to it. most of the general public aren't. 

should remember that more... 

so, please forgive us in advance. 

we're not insensitive, it's how we cope. 

we're normal too... most of the time ;)

oh my...

february? really? geez... i didn't realize how long it's been. 

so let's go back to february.

niagara falls, feb. 2013

a & i celebrated our 2 year anniversary in niagara falls. this trip almost didn't happen. we got into a huge fight the day before which spilled over to the day we were supposed to leave. we were pissed at each other and i told him to cancel our trip because i was just not in the mood. i hate making decisions when i'm emotional, they don't work out for me... anyhow he convinced me to go and we ended up having a great time! our hotel was in a tower and we had this amazing view of the falls but the weather sucked as per evidence above. luckily, we managed to get out the next day before the snow storm hit! lessons that i continue to learn: communicate, always. relationships are hard.  

got stuck!

there's a first for everything. with all the snowstorms we got this year, i'm sure this was bound to happen. my friend and i wanted to take advantage of all the powder and so decided to get some snowboarding in. we planned to leave early so that we didn't hit traffic, but things don't always go according to plan...so we ended up leaving later. however once we got on the road, to our surprise, no traffic! because our wipers kept getting ice on them, my friend decided to stop to manually de-ice.  that's when we found out why there was no traffic; we got snowed in by the side of the road by the plows!!!!!!! the traffic was behind them...hahaha.. good times!!

happy heart day

this was from work. yes, i indulged.

as canadians--sorry, read torontonians-- we like to complain about the weather. why? because this happens a lot.

early april

mid april

end of april

early may (24 C | 75 F ) hott!!

yesterday. yes, that is snow. 

i've been trying to do these when i can: 

eat.

drink.

& be merry. 

sprinkled with friends when possible. 

some other new things:

- i got my hair did ;) it's lighter with some lowlights. i haven't gotten streaks since i was in my first year of highschool (gasp!) and i've never had my hair coloured professionally. so it was a first. 

- i go back to school in september. i'm excited :) 

so in all, no huge life altering events. just living day by day. 

oh and remember to keep climbing, keep aiming high!

that is a thumbs up! i promise.

cheers, s

not cool, robert frost.

"screw it" hair. 4:30am and I, we're working on it. 

oh hey. how's it going? me, i'm still alive :) i just landed a new job two weeks ago. it's keeping me busy. and so far it's been great. i like my coworkers, i like my mentor, and i'm taking it all in stride. i'll keep you posted. my goal everyday: not to become jaded. it's easy to be when you work in the healthcare field. it's frustrating. there's never enough time, or resources. but i digress. we'll talk about it another day. 

for today, i leave you with this awesome pep talk by a 9 year old.

kid is the bomb diggity.

"AND IT HURT MAN! really bad! rocks! thorns! and glass!...not cool Robert Frost! " - Kid President (Robby Novak, 9 years old)

happy monday. 

club soda, fresh rosemary & stevia. i call it "for 7am"

cheers, s

two weddings and a birthday

hello hello. happy 12/12/12!! i'll never get another day like this in my lifetime so it's incredibly fitting to do a blog post!

i didn't realize how long it's been since i've written my last post. life gets in the way sometimes...ya know how it is ;)

so here's what i've been up to:

wedding one. A and yours truly.

wedding two. highschool sweethearts. 9 years y'all. then they got married.

my dearest R and best friend T. they've been keeping me sane since highschool.

  

my best friend J turned 26. she rocks. this girl.

i ate. i.ate.a.lot. it's just smoked oysters..looks like mini brains though

oh and i found j.lo's butt while thriftstore shopping. haha

mind you i do not shop for underwear in thrifstores, that's just way too close for my comfort. it was just too funny not to capture.

i hope you guys are all having a great december. christmas will be here in no time!

cheers, s

new kid on the block

bam. it only took 20 tries.

so i rummaged through my picture folders on my laptop to try and post a recent picture of me. lo and behold..i got nothing. even on my phone. most of the pictures i have are of my friends, family, objects, landscape, food... pictures of me are usually with someone else and i feel bad cropping them i out - well actually, i just don't have their permission to plaster their beautiful faces on here - or i have snot coming out of my nose! those latter ones will probably surface here one day..when we're more acquainted, peoples of the interweb.

that picture up there took 20 tries, okay, 17. most of them at weird angles, bad lighting, blurry, my arms were awkward..it wasn't working. so believe it or not, this was the best one people. taken today.  i will save you and your weekend from that reel of photos by only posting this one. 

you're welcome ;)  

i'm always impressed by the pictures i see on blogland. a lot of you guys claim you're not photographers but your pictures, very pinterest worthy people! teach me your tricks of the trade.

on another note, remember how i was [anxiously] waiting for the results of my board exams .. 

it went well :) board certified nurse. 

i'll be working all weekend but definitely catching up on season 4 of modern family and grabbing some pumpkin spice latte in between.

happy friday! 

cheers, s

red lights

[from here]

stoplights. not the district ones. well...there's probably red stoplights at the district but i digress.

i went for a drive the other day and i literally got the red light, every. single. time.

it was fine because i wasn't in a rush but seriously...

it was thanksgiving weekend here in Canada last weekend and it got me thinking about all the red lights in my life. how grateful i am for them. i forget how necessary they are.

i sometimes have a bad habit of thinking ten steps ahead before i've finished step one. i'm in that part of my life right now where i'm older (don't let the pic fool ya!) but not completely settled into who i am yet. the pretend adult. more often than not, as a quasi adult i feel like i'm supposed have a more concrete idea of who i am by now. but then again i've also been told that adult is a relative term. 

so those are the thoughts that have been occupying my mind lately.

but i leave you with something one of my best friends told me once. "civilization forces us to mortgage the present for our future." and she is right. i forget i'm not supposed to have it all figured out right now. heck, who really does?

red light. she is a very treasured one. 

anyhow, thanks for reading and happy friday!

cheers, s