I'm Still Here

I haven't blogged in 22 days! :( Sorry!  Life has been a little busy lately, but I'm here to give you some updates.

Remember how I went for a huge exam in March? Well I PASSED! I was honestly never so scared in my life to open a piece of mail, but I took a deep breath and ripped it open and there it was.. "we are please to inform you...." blah blah blah. SO HAPPY. This means that I will get back the $900 it cost me to do it, which feels like found money. This also means that I have completed all the requirements to become a licensed pharmacy technician in the province of Ontario! All that's left is some boring paperwork to apply for my license.

This also happened to coincide with me getting a $2 raise at work. Oddly enough it had nothing to do with me passing the exam but instead was the result of my accumulation of hours.

I'm still hunting for an apartment which is coming along quite slowly...the good thing is that since I still live at home I don't really have a deadline, although I would like to be out by summers end. I did look at one so far which was supposed to be a basement "apartment" but was really just a basement...with a fridge. lol. Not what I had in mind! I am planning to go see another one hopefully this weekend that looks very promising. I have emailed back and forth with the homeowner a few times, but they were going out of the country and wont be back until this weekend.

For the Victoria Day weekend I ended up going out partying two nights in a row, which I never do! On the Saturday I actually went to a party with an old friend I haven't seen in awhile. It was out in the country and we camped out in her tent. I haven't slept in a tent since I was a kid! So that was interesting. Then on the Sunday I just hung out with a bunch of coworkers at a bonfire at one guys house. It was really fun and they are a great group of people. This past weekend I went to a stag and doe for a guy from work. I went with 3 other girls from work and had a blast! Some of the girls I hadn't really hung out with before so it was cool to get to know them more. We had lots of drinks and some of them won prizes (not me though) and afterwards we went to the bar. It was really fun and hopefully the 4 of us will do it again sometime soon!

This morning I went to the eye doctors. I was kinda worried that my eyes had gotten much worse but he said I have really healthy eyes and my script only needed to change very slightly. I can't wait to get new glasses as I have had these ones for about 3 years now and need a change! They are also pretty heavy and I want something lighter. I also plan to get prescription sunglasses which I have never had before. Usually I either: 1. wear sunglasses and don't see as well or 2. Just wear normal glasses and get blinded by the light. So I can't wait!

So that's what's been happening with me lately...just working a lot, trying to save for moving out ( up to $3276 now) and watching Criminal Minds on DVD (on season 6).

Updates

It has been a while since I've really updated you all on what is happening with me, so here's a bunch of random bits.

- I met a boy. It happened when a bunch of us from work went out to the bar on easter weekend. I went to say hello to one of the guys from work and he had brought his friend along. I ended up hitting it off with his friend. There was a lot of dancing and doing shots and general shenanigans. I hadn't had a night out like that in a long time, so it was super fun and really quite what I needed. So far since then we have gone on 2 dates and right now he's on vacation so I haven't seen him recently. I'm not sure where it is going but I do anticipate seeing him again when he is back from vacation.

- I had to buy 2 new all season tires for my car. This was an unexpected expense which kinda bummed me out, but I realized that these things happen from time to time and there is not much to be done about it. And luckily I have an emergency fund for these purposes. And hey, at least I didn't need 4 tires right?

- I've been checking kijiji like a mofo for apartments. So far there was 2 that sounded good that I have contacted the landlords about. One I think I've basically ruled out mostly because of the fact that it's $850 plus internet which I feel is too much over my budget, and it's on the complete opposite side of town. Apartment number 2 looks super nice in pictures...it's a ground level basement which is great, and it has a double sided fireplace and from the one picture it looks like built in shelving in the living area. This one is listed for $925 (including EVERYTHING) which is over my budget but they said they might consider lowering it for the right person and it's in the area of town I like. But it's a retired couple which is of slight concern. I will probably email back to see about going to look at it, and see where that leads. It is still slightly early to be finding places for a june/july move in date so I am not too worried yet.

- So far I have $1986 saved for the move-out.

- I need to go to the dentist and also get my eyes tested and get new glasses. I have been putting it off mostly because of the cost, and now especially since I had to get new tires. It seems all these things happen at once eh? But it really needs to be done. I haven't gone to the dentist in a long time, and I haven't had my eyes tested since 2010 and sometimes after working 8 hours my vision starts to blur a little.

- I got invited to a gala this coming weekend with some other pharmacy people I know, so I will basically get to dress up and get free dinner, drinks and a concert. I'm so down for that!

- I got my car insurance renewal statement and it's going down again by $13 per month!

- I can't wait for the warm weather to be here permanently so I can start wearing my cute shoes and my mint jeans and hopefully be more motivated to go running more often. Speaking of exercise, I did return to hot yoga finally for the first time since before Christmas. I just about died. But afterwards I felt so good, which was no surprise!

Anyways, that's what is new with me lately..and I figured I would end the post with a few things from Pinterest. 

Totally want to try this recipe sometime!

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So gorgeous! (source not found on Pinterest)

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SO TRUE. Mostly because this happened to me as a child once. 

Paid off my car and other life blurbs

This past weekend I tried this recipe I found on Pinterest. I omitted the stuffing and added potatoes and yellow pepper. It turned out amazing!! So tender and the pepper added that little kick of sweetness. I made a bunch more today as well! 

I also made some banana bread and these muffins, and these cookies.The banana bread was quite bland I'm afraid, but the muffins were ok, and the cookies were fantastic!  Here's a little baking secret I learned from Pinterest (of course).

That's right. Marshmallows in my brown sugar. It keeps it from going hard! I had tried buying one of those little clay disks from the bulk store but it didn't seem to work for me. I've had these in there for awhile now and its still soft. 

The other day after work I decided to head to Marshalls to see if there was any good deals. Here's what I ended up with:

Those jeans are Seven for all Mankind ($29.99!!). I was actually looking for mint jeans for the summer and this brand fits so well! Then I got that striped top which was on sale for $19. The little cuff part on the sleeve there is actually almost like a leather material which is what drew me to it, because its got the two different textures.

Another thing I wanted to show you is my new favourite snack:

They are so super addicting and not that many calories! Try them out, you won't be sorry. 

And the biggest news of today is that I have paid off my car!! WOOHOO. This means I am completely debt free right now. And I plan to stay that way until I can buy a house, which wont be for a few years still. It feels so good knowing that you don't owe anything to anybody. Tonight I'm going to a nearby town to visit my friend and go out for dinner. We haven't seen each other for a few months so it will be nice to see her and her little girls, and it will be a celebratory dinner for myself, so I can't wait!

On Being Judgemental

Sometimes I wonder if I am too judgemental. I mean, we all judge others to an extent right? Today I found myself judging a co-worker. This is actually a guy that I was interested in. I have always found him to be attractive and lately I have noticed that he was been striking up conversations with me more and more. 

We were talking on break and I was asking him about his hours. At my work part timers are guaranteed 25 hours only. You could have anywhere from 25 to 40 hours, but the minimum that you can count on in 25. Luckily in my department, most of the part timers work almost 40 hours a week. And most of the time, even if you are scheduled for less, you can count on getting called in early or asked to stay late, so it always works out to be more than what you were scheduled. 

Usually when we see each other in the break room we are always asking each other what our shifts are. I notice most of the time he has like a 5 hour shift. So I just casually asked if he only gets the minimum of 25 hours. He said sometimes that is the case and sometimes more, but lately its been only 25. So I asked him if he worked anywhere else for more hours and he said no, he didn't feel the need to work elsewhere.

I immediately went into judgemental (and nosy) mode. My thoughts were something like: What do you mean, you don't need more hours? How do you pay your bills, feed yourself on 25 hours a week? How is that even possible? He must have no ambitions in life if he is happy living on what he makes from 25 hours a week. He must be crazy. Etc etc. 

It turned me off a bit. I mean I still think he is cute, but I no longer am in the I-want-to-get-to-know-you-and-hopefully-you'll-ask-me-out mode. Isn't that crazy? I mean, am I being a total bitch here or would you be wondering the same things I had going through my head? And where do you draw the line between being judgemental and not being willing to settle? I remember there was this really popular post and I can't remember what blog it was, but the girl broke up with a guy because he didn't have a degree. It got a LOT of comments. Some people felt she was being judgemental while others applauded her for not settling with someone who didn't share the same values. Obviously this is not the same situation here, but the point is that one little comment turned me off almost completely. 

Where do we draw the line? What do you guys think? Have you ever been into someone and completely changed your outlook based on 1 thing they said or did? 

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday!

I thought it was time to participate in another Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday again, since I haven't done one in awhile. But before we get to that heres a little recap of my life lately:

• I'm on track to have my car paid off by the end of next month!! 
• Speaking of my car, I had an unexpected car expense this week. I took it in to Toyota to have it looked at because it's been quite loud lately and making a bit of a rattling noise. I figured it would still be under warranty but the part that needed replacing was not under warranty anymore. Toyota told me it would cost $219.00 plus tax and said they had all the part in stock and could do it right away. I was thinking in my head that it's already been making this noise for months, whats another week or so? So I asked the guy to write it down so I could ask my dad about it because he has a friend with a shop that does repairs. So my dad took it to his friend and his friend was able to do it for only $100 total. So half the price of the dealership! So I was pretty happy about that. 
• On the weekend I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and ended up buying a waffle maker. It was only $50 which is the least expensive one I've seen so far, and it does two waffles at a time. I decided to go for it even though I wasn't planning on spending that much money that day. I whipped up a recipe for brownie waffles I found on the internet and was please with how they turned out. It's simple to use and it's non-stick, you don't need any non-stick spray. Here's a picture of my waffle:

I apologize for the fact that you can barely see the waffle under the fruit and whipped cream :)

• I made good use of my netflix subscription and watched two movies this weekend: This Means War and Friends With Kids. Both great movies! 

And now for some of my favourite pins lately:

You know the YouTube video right?! 

Stenciled glitter squares!

Michael Kors Shirt Dress

Blurbs

Here's a few blurbs about what's been happening with me lately:

• After getting paid this Friday I'm putting another $450 towards my car loan. That's on top of the $118 that automatically comes out. I just have to wait a few days for the money to transfer from ING (where my main chequing account is) to TD (where I have my car loan). And then I can make the payment!!
• My co-workers 9 yr old daughter got my hooked on this iPhone game called Ice Cream Jump 

                                   

• Yesterday morning I found my parents watching the new Beauty and the Beast tv series. I sat down and watched the remainder of the episode with them, and was pretty intrigued...I googled it and found out it airs Thursdays at 9 on Showcase. I think I will be checking that out!
• Friday night I made this Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Cups recipe. I brought some to work on Sat where they were inhaled. Total success! 
• My friend is having a baby in a couple weeks and I got this sweet t-shirt off Etsy for her son:

• Ever since I made it a priority to move out this year, I've been fantasizing about decorating my own place, with the help of Pinterest of course. One thing I can't wait to do is print out some of my Instagram photos and display them like this:

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Reflection and Looking Forward

Best Parts of 2012:

First time on a plane: San Miguel, Azores

First time at an all inclusive resort: Cancun, Mexico

Seeing one of my closest friends get married

Going to see the cherry blossoms at High Park in Toronto

Passing my PEBC

Looking forward to in 2013:

Paying off my car

Passing my last PEBC (and getting back the $900!) and becoming an RPhT (registered pharmacy technician)

Taylor Swift in June

Getting my own place

Growing my blog

Dipping into my emergency fund..

A couple days ago I started feeling a little bit of pain in my mouth. It was so subtle it was barely there, but it got a little worse the next day and the day after. Finally I looked in the mirror and I was like:

I have a freakin wisdom tooth coming in!!!!

So after the pain got worse I called a dentist that my coworker recommended and got an appointment for that same night. This was yesterday. So I was texting my friend about it and she said to watch out, they might charge me an emergency fee! She said a dentist once tried to charge her $250 for getting an appointment the same day. I though oh my god, I really hope they don't do this to me!

When I got there I asked them and they said they didn't charge emergency fees. And these people were like, the nicest people on the planet. I mean, talk about service. I was so glad I went there because they really made me feel at ease. I was the last patient of the day and they didn't make me feel rushed at all, even when they were starting to close up and they were going over the prices with me of having the procedure done to remove it. 

So, it turns out that I am getting 3 teeth removed next week! I actually have 4 of them but only 3 are coming up and the 4th one would be more complicated right now because its still really far into the gums. The one that has been bothering me is actually infected, so I have to take antibiotics for a week to clear that up before they can do the procedure. So I get to live with this pain for a week and starve because I can barely open my mouth to fit food in. I went to the grocery store and got lots of soup and applesauce. 

So you guys are probably wondering how much this is costing me. Well for the exam and x-rays I had last night it was $120. To get the 3 teeth removed its going to be about $350. I have benefits but I have to pay 50% since I'm technically only part time (on paper). So that's my portion. So thats $470 i've got to take from my emergency fund :(. I hate having to take money from my emergency fund, but I guess the good part is that I have one right?! 

Here are a few pins I loved this week:

Bachelorette Party

In just a couple days I'll be off to Ottawa for my friends bachelorette party! The other girl bridesmaids and myself have been planning it for a few months now and I'm excited to see it all come together. But what I'm even more excited about is just being there. I haven't seen her in a year or so and I'm just excited to spend time with her in the beautiful city of Ottawa. 

We have a whole day planned including the spa, a stripper dinner, etc etc. I have been in charge of planning the games and getting decorations and things like cups/napkins etc. Also the bride is of course not paying for anything during this whole day, so what we have done is asked each guest to chip in $20 towards her evening and then the rest will be split between the 3 of us. 

So far I have spent about $57 on this bachelorette party. About $20 was for her tiara, sash and her special bride martini glass for pre-drinking. The rest was on the decorations and stuff. After this weekend I will have to let you know what I have spent in total. And this is not including what I've spent on my trip for her wedding or the $100 I contributed to her bridal shower that I could not attend. It's expensive being a bridesmaid eh? But its all worth it to make her happy! :) 

Weekend Recap

Well this weekend was a nice one for me because it was a long weekend and I actually had it off! On Saturday I did a bit of running around, looking for a pumpkin and various crafting supplies because I had a project in mind I wanted to do that I had seen on Pinterest. Here is the picture that was my inspiration:

And here is my version:

I had a lot of fun making it and am thinking about maybe trying some handmade things for Christmas.

On Sunday I did some more running around including shipping my first ever Ebay sale! I also made a recipe from Pinterest. It seemed really good and it turned out really bad. As in everyone that tasted it thought it was gross. I threw it out. I also made some more granola energy balls, which are dangerously addicting! 

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I pretty much just lounged around the house all day. I watched For Lovers Only for a second time. I rented this movie from iTunes awhile back and loved it so I actually bought it this time. 

Then it was time for my favourite shows. Gossip Girl season 6 (and last season) premiere was last night and it was great! Then Castle, of course. 

Today I did some more errands picking up some items for my friends bachelorette party thats in two weeks and also getting a present for my friends little girls birthday next weekend! 

All in all it was a pretty nice relaxing weekend, just doing things that I enjoy which is always great.

How was your weekend?

Tuesday Ramblings

After the last Sunday Social where I answered the first question with wanting to start my own business, I started thinking more about taking baby steps in that direction. Basically what I want to do is start a business re-selling thrifted items. My love of thrifting started off with going to Goodwill to look for cheap books. I love to read but I hate how expensive books are. And you get the same story no matter where you buy it or whether or not its been read, so why pay full price?? After going a couple times to look for books I ventured into the clothes area. I used to think that the idea of buying used clothing was like "gross" or only for people who have no money. Somehow I fell in love with it. I love the thrill of the hunt, never knowing what you are going to find and then the excitement when you score a really high value brand name item in great condition for super cheap!! I figured, why not turn my love of thrifting into a business and help pass on the great deals to others. Of course I am looking to make a profit but I would still be helping other to get stuff for less than retail, which everybody loves right?

I've never even sold anything on ebay before so I figured I need to start listing items I already have here to get the hang of it and build up a rating. I have a Coach check book cover that came with my wallet I bought awhile back. I don't use checks at all so it has never been used. I decided to list that on ebay. Unfortunately I couldn't even get past the first step of choosing a category to list my item! It would ask me to type in a keyword, and then it brings up some categories to choose from. I pick my category and click continue. Then I get an error message telling me I need to select a category and the box I checked is now NOT checked. Ummm ok so I check it again and hit continue, and again the same thing. After some research I learned that I am not the only person having this problem! It seems to be some glitch or something so I think I'm just going to wait and try again in a few days.

Aside from that, nothing too exciting has been happening over here. I am deeply saddened that the Tim Hortons smile cookies are gone though! I loved those cookies and probably bought at least 5 of them during the time they were on sale.

Soooo good!

Last night was the season 5 premiere of my FAVOURITE show, Castle. It was everything I imagined and now I can't wait for next Monday. It's the only thing that I like about Mondays thats for sure! Whats even better is that I figured out this girl on my Facebook loves the show too. We grew up in the same hometown but she's a few years older so we weren't really good friends or anything but I think she babysat me once. Anyways we are both royally obsessed and talk about Castle on Facebook all the time. Well after last nights episode we were discussing how amazing it was (of course) and another lady joined in that she (and her daughter who I also know) are hooked on it as well. So now I can look forward to not only watching the show but our post-Castle discussions as well :)

Thursday Thoughts

Well big news folks. I finally, at the age of 26 got a copy of my credit report. I found out you can call Equifax Canada and request it through at automated system without even having to talk to anyone! It was super easy and it came in a few days. And everything looks good. So then I decided to go online and get my credit score. Too bad you can't just get your SCORE. You can only get your credit report AND score together for $23.95. So what's the point of getting your free credit score, if you have to then pay just to see it again?! Wasted my time getting it for free then. I checked Equifax and TransUnion and neither site has an option to see your score only. If one knows of some secret way to do this please let me know. LOL

So I've got a big exam this Saturday and I'm feeling a little jittery about it. Here's why: I feel like I should be burying my nose in a book studying. Only thing is, when I look at the exam outline to see whats on it...it's not really like study and memorize type of stuff. It's more about professionalism, how to handle a situation and stuff I encounter in the workplace everyday. But I still feel like I should be studying. Ugh....

Today after work I went to Marshalls because I needed new bras. Since losing 20 lbs, they just don't fit the same anymore. I ended up getting 3 bras including a Tommy Hilfiger, a Calvin Klein and one other cheaper brand. All were under $17! Then I ended up getting some body stuff.

I needed a new hand cream to carry around anyways and for $3 I figured what the hell. Also, I've never been to Maui but I figure it would smell like that body butter! It's called Pineapple and Orange Macadamia. It smells heavenly.

The other day I got my "August" glossy box (arriving in Sept). It is my last one as I have cancelled the subscription. One of the main reasons that I cancelled was because they were always late. I also have so many of these beauty box items that it's a little out of control seeing as there's only been a few that I've actually used up! I'll do a post on this one soon.

They are changing our pay periods at work which is a little inconvenience. Basically I have no idea why but we are getting a one week pay check and then another one two weeks after that. So our pay periods are basically on opposite weeks of what they were. So tomorrow I'm getting a pay check for ONE weeks pay which has to last me TWO weeks. I do still have money left over from the last pay which is good though. But I can't decide if I want to just put that towards my car loan or save it incase I need it in the next two weeks. Ever since I started putting extra money towards that loan, it's making me more and more motivated to just pay it off! I can't wait to be able to say that I am truly debt free!!!

My thought's on Rihanna

Last Sunday night I tuned in to Oprahs new network to watch the much anticipated interview with Rihanna. After seeing a lot of talk of this on the internet (Perez Hilton for example) and seeing it being mentioned on tv I thought I would just share my thoughts on the interview.

My overall thoughts are that it was a great interview. Rihanna seemed really comfortable with Oprah and seemed like she was able to really be herself. Oprah asked some good questions and some of her responses surprised me and I think surprised a lot of people.

One of the things Rihanna said that really rang true was that she doesn't like to be seen as a victim because whenever something really bad happens to someone, it follows them around forever and that's what people will always remember about them. I feel this is really true and probably explains why a lot of celebrities will hide the fact that they are going through certain situations because they don't want to be associated with that for the rest of their life.

The thing that a lot of people are talking about is that in the interview Rihanna said that her and Chris Brown still love each other and always will and are working on their friendship. He was the love of her life and she not only lost her love but her best friend. It is making me mad that people are writing nasty comments on Perez Hilton saying that she's an "idiot" or "stupid" for still loving him.  I think we can all say that those people have obviously never been in a situation like that, because if they had I don't think they would judge so harshly.

First of all, does anyone remember being young and your first love? Cause I sure do. And I think that I speak for most people when I say that person will always hold a special place in your heart, and even if it ended badly you will always remember the fond memories. I also know what it's like to be so head over heels with someone that everyone else thinks is a bad idea, but you don't care because "they don't know him like you do".

The fact that she said those things just shows that she is a normal, typical young woman with real feelings. I think it makes her more relatable to her fans. The only thing I wish Oprah had asked was whether or not it was the first time he had ever hit her. Who knows the answer to that but it could have been a game changer.

How do I feel about them trying to be friends again? Well I'm not really sure. I guess if they are able to be friends without it interfering with each other's future relationships, then I guess I don't see the harm. But on the other hand in some situations, it is better to cut them out completely. Who knows, she might cut him out completely too but it may take some time to realize if its the right thing, as it did for me.

Overall I gotta say that after watching this interview I am now a bigger fan of hers and for those of you who didn't watch it I recommend seeing it! I'm sure you can find it on youtube.

Thursday Thoughts

Top left: painting my nails with Essie Sand Tropez, a great summer nude colour

Top right: Organix shampoo on sale $4.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart! Using the coconut one right now and liking it a lot.

Bottom; my new sandals I got on sale for $7! Don't you love the beads on the back?

Do you ever feel like theres a slight discrimination against single people? Sounds silly I know but think about this. Sometimes, I feel that at work there's a general consensus that just because I'm young and single I must have nothing better to do than work. I can't use my child as an excuse for not being able to stay late, come in early, or come in on my day off, and I feel it puts me at a slight disadvantage. But just because I don't have to get home to cook dinner or pick up my kid from daycare, does that mean that my free time is less valuable than others? Does anybody else notice this?

I've been thinking about planning a trip to the 2016 Summer Olympics. They're going to be in Rio de Janeiro and it's somewhere I've been thinking about going lately. So I was thinking, why not go summer of 2016 and be there during the Olympics? It's always been a dream of mine to go to the Olympics, and it would be like a killing 2 birds with 1 stone type of thing. I know tickets can get pricey, but I figure with a lot of planning and research it doesn't have to be. So if anyone has ever gotten tickets to the Olympics, or knows someone who has gone and has any tips, I'm ready to hear them starting now. 

If you like to check out home decor on Pinterest, you'll know that decorating with maps is all the rage right now. I have them on my list of things to keep an eye out for at the thrift store, garage sales etc. 

 To my luck I scored a huge world map at work for about $8. Now I just have to find a frame that huge. Probably would have to be custom made, and probably would be pricey. 

I've got a pretty big exam with the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada coming up in September. It was $375 so I'd really like to pass so I can get my money back from work. Problem is, I haven't started studying. Ugh. I'm just so tired after work that when I get home I want to shut my mind off. 

Anyways hope that everyone else's week is going alright. Any thing you want to get off your chest?

I Met a Boy on Vacation

It all started when we went to the "festa". It's basically just a big town party. A stage with live bands, a bar and an eating area. I was eating dinner with my family and I took notice of the attractive group of young men at the table behind ours. I was making eye contact with one guy in particular we'll call him "A".

After we finished dinner we went outside to get drinks at the bar. As I was approaching the bar area I saw that same group of guys and "A" said hello to me. I pretty much just said hi back and after we got our drinks we left. Then I decided I wanted to go back and speak to those guys some more so I went and found them again and approached "A" and asked him what's his name and learned quickly that he didn't speak a lot of English. He introduced me to his group of friends, who also didn't speak much English.

After that there is a somewhat blurry period of time because I just remember suddenly I had been talking to his friend "C" for awhile and noticing that "A" was gone. I ended up spending most of the night talking to "C" and he wanted my number. But I hadn't purchased a plan for using my phone overseas so instead we wrote down our names in each others phones with a plan to add each other on Facebook.

I added him and we ended up chatting a few times when we were both online. It was very difficult to make plans to see each other because I could only talk to him on Facebook when I got WiFi and we didn't speak each others language. Next time I would definitely set up at least a texting plan!! Anyways we finally managed to get together on my last night in town. I was back to my hotel early and I messaged him on Facebook asking him to stop by my hotel if he was free. He came by and we hung out in the lounge, bar, by the pool etc. There is something refreshing about trying to have a conversation with someone who doesn't really speak your language. (He spoke way more English than I do Portuguese though). It forces you to speak in a simple and direct way. No word play, no innuendos or mind games. You have to just say what you mean.

I wish I could of spent more time with him. I wish I could see him again but the reality is that I will probably never see him again. It really sucks. But at least we had the time together that we did and I came home with some great memories :)

A Feel Good Post

Guess what guys? I'm officially an organ donor! My drivers licence was due for renewal this year and I just got the new one in the mail about a week ago. Of course it came with the little organ donor card. The last time I got it I think I signed it but never got around to sending it in. This time there was a little message saying you can do it online now, which is so much more convenient. I knew right away I was going to do it, because the way I look at it is this: when I'm no longer live, I won't need any of my organs/tissues so might as well let someone else have them who needs them right? I went online and did it in only a few minutes time. All I needed was my health card number. It was so simple. I encourage all my Canadian readers to do the same here.

On another positive note, I'm celebrating the fact that I have lost 20 pounds! Truthfully I had wanted to lose 30 before my trip, and losing this 20 pounds has taken me forever. But I'm still really proud of myself for being over half way to my goal. Slow and steady wins the race right? But the one thing that has surprised me is my reaction to all the attention I've been getting. When I first started this journey I thought I couldn't wait to get compliments from everyone on how good I look. Turns out it's not like that. When people say things like "Wow you've lost a lot of weight!", I find myself replying with something like "Eh, a bit yeah" like its no big deal. Sometimes I actually feel uncomfortable when people bring it up and I try to change the subject or downplay it. It's so weird. I know it sounds strange but deep down I feel like I could balloon up again at any moment so there's no use congratulating me. Almost like it's too good to be true or something. I guess it's something I need to work on.

Anyways in lieu of this new development I thought I would share some motivational pins. Maybe some of you will be inspired, even just a little bit.

Weekend Recap

June 10 is a day that all Portuguese around the world celebrate: Portugal Day!! In Toronto, Portugal Day is a pretty big deal. The weekend closest to June 10th is when all the major stuff happens but there are other events in the week leading up to it. There's a stage set up in the park with performances going all weekend including pop singers and bands that come all the way from Portugal as well as traditional portuguese dance groups. I went down to the city for Friday and Saturday with some friends/coworkers to take part in the festivities. We had a ton of fun eating Portuguese food, watching the concerts and the parade and just generally taking in the culture.

Pasteis de nata (Portuguese Custard Tart)

Tosta mista (not my picture)

It's basically like grilled cheese with ham, but on a portuguese style bun instead of regular bread. And its way less greasy.

Some portuguese dancers in their traditional dresses. So cute!

Weekend Recap

I hope you all had a fabulous long weekend! I definitely did, seeing as I had the whole weekend off which was nothing short of a miracle in itself. Here are some pictures from my weekend:

 

1. Sitting on the patio with my Iced Coffee from Tims and painting my nails. 

2. Ritz Smores (anyone had these?! Amazing)

3. My small clothing haul from Old Navy. 

4. My contribution to our work BBQ - pasta salad with broccoli and grapes. 

I managed to get some good deals at Old Navy, including some great tanks for $5 each so I got black, white and pink. Great for when you need a tank to wear underneath other shirts. Also got a fabulous white/blue striped sweater on clearance. I did a lot of relaxing, watching Castle on DVD, hanging out by the campfire with family and neighbours and then of course we had a work BBQ on Monday which was super nice! Anytime we are all together sharing good drinks, good food and good conversation is always a fabulous time.  I'm currently listening to the new John Mayer cd while I write this. I'm really liking it so far, his music is always so soothing, I like to think it's the perfect yoga music! Anyways that's about it for today, I'm off to watch the finale of American Idol soon! I'm cheering for Jessica but it really could go either way!!