Where Has The Time Gone?

Hello friends! As you all know, I’ve been long awaiting my trip to Europe for Spring break.  My excitement is quickly growing and my suitcase is slowly coming together.  It feels like only a few months ago I was telling myself I’d be leaving in 365 days. Where has the time gone? The countdown snuck up on me before I even realized that I am leaving in 2 days.

I’ve been pretty occupied getting ready for this trip and finishing the last few projects and exams I need to do this week.  January and  February were WAY to hectic but at least I have 10 days of vacation to look forward to before getting back to Canada and finishing my last few months of high school.

It feels like this whole year has been calculated in hours, in days, in weeks, in countdowns, in months, in deadlines, in projects, in days off, in presentations, in obligations, in rants and in television series. *sigh* constantly counting time gets extremely tiresome (no matter how you calculate it. Since the next 2 days will go by in a flash, I thought I would spend part of the evening writing to myself in order to remind and refocus my intentions and expectations for this trip. Most of all, I hope Europe will help me lose track of time. Or at least not be intimidated by it.  I won’t be bringing my phone or my laptop on this trip so it will be quite refreshing to no be constantly reminded by what time it is. Of course we’ll have to follow a schedule but I can fully enjoy this trip knowing that I have no projects or essays to hand in for the next 10 days. I don’t want to let the future and what might happen after this trip dampens the excitement and beautiful experiences that are waiting. In other words, I won’t allow time, individuals or negative situations to ruin this vacation I’ve been planning for over 3 years.

Here are some of the intentions I have set myself for this trip in order to enjoy it as much as I can.

1.       Be patient

2.       Be tolerant

3.       Be open to new experiences (cultures, food, languages, traditions, etc.)

4.       Avoid sowing negativity

5.       Do not let an individual ruin your experience

6.       Put aside differences for the sake of group harmony

7.       Take pictures

8.       Share your experiences with others

9.       Brush off frustrations

10.   Write everything down in a journal

11.   Stretch at least once a day

12.   Pay attention, Be attentive

13.   Be sociable

14.   Step outside your comfort zone

I know this post isn’t as filled with content as my others but unfortunately, I only a have a few days left and I’m afraid I won’t be able to blog any more before we take off. I hope you all have a great Spring break wherever you are in the world! See you 2 weeks!

Girls In White Dresses by Jennifer Close

Don’t you hate it when you explain the plot to a book you’re reading and people look at you like you’re illiterate and brainless? Yeah, me too!

People don’t only judge a book by its cover; they also judge it by its summary. After sharing the plot to Jennifer Close’s Girls in White Dresses, a few of my friends gave me a puzzled look as to say: Why are you wasting your time reading another predicable young adult romance novel? I don’t believe in reading a book to impress people on the bus. I don’t choose my books based on what I want people to think when they see it on my coffee table. This book wasn’t written by Freud, Bukowski or Dickens. It wasn’t intellectually challenging nor is it a classic. However, the time spent reading those 300 pages was so satisfying I'm glad I picked it up because it allowed me to turn my brain off for a second and take advantage of my free time.

This book pleasantly surprised me. I realised after only 2 chapters that it was much more than your typical young adult book. It was witty, charming, funny and extremely refreshing. It got me thinking about how much appreciation I have for authors like Close. Her characters were extremely relatable and wonderfully portrayed. The resemblance between their adventures and those of every 20-something adult made it so easy to picture one of these girls being your older sister’s best friend or a girl you met in college. These girls are real. They have flaws, they’re ordinary people. Contrary to the judments made by my peers, these girls are so far from being vain and shallow. They have opinions, they’re charming, and they’re smart. They get dumped, they get fired, they cry, they date, they drink (a lot), they fight and they question themselves. That’s what made reading this book so pleasant for me. It was really comforting to be reminded that not everybody has their sh*t together once they graduate.  

Although there are mixed reviews about this book, it was a perfect release from real life. It’s quite different from the books I tend to read.  It made me look forward to my own post-college adventures. Somehow the future doesn’t seem so scary. Overall, it’s comforting to know that when the time comes, I will eventually get over student debt, self-doubt and years of not having any idea what I’m doing with my life. I guess that’s all I could ask for from such a short and sweet novel.

I definitely recommend if you're not in the mood to do any deep-thinking. My overall opinion: It's a relatable chick-lit with interesting characters living realistic, every-day problems. I think that my appreciation is much less for the actual content of the book but for the reflexion that it brought and the relaxation that came from getting back to reading for pleasure vs. schoolwork.

Nonetheless, my thoughts written above remain the same. Read because you enjoy it, not because it looks good to others!

God Help The Girl

Hi guys. Happy Wednesday!

I wanted to share some information about a project that recently caught my eye.

I’ll start by letting you know that I’m not a big fan of movies. I know the horror! Who doesn’t like movies right?

Over this past year, we got rid of our television and I somehow lost the ability to pay attention to the same story line for more than half an hour. Oops! Unless I’m watching a documentary or a horror movie, I lose interest quite quickly and I always end a movie feeling like I’ve wasted 2 hours of my life. I do on occasion watch movies if I happen to be with family or if I feel like I need background noise to help me study. While I avoid most Hollywood blockbuster movies, I find that independent films or more creativity driven movies are further adept at maintaining my interest. (Think anything Wes Anderson!)

Lucky for me, I stumbled upon this little project called: God Help the Girl. This description that follows was taken directly from the movie’s website.

God Help the Girl is a musical feature film, written and directed by Stuart Murdoch, lead singer of the group Belle and Sebastian.  It was produced by Barry Mendel and stars Emily Browning, Olly Alexander and Hannah Murray.

Stuart aspired to tell the story of “a better summer, or at least a summer when something happened. It happened to a boy and a girl and a girl in a city roughly the same size and population of Glasgow. Perhaps the canals were a bit grimier, the high-rise buildings taller, the streets emptier when you needed them to be, and the beat clubs busier than the ones around here. But on the whole the city was this one.”

According to Barry Mendel, “It’s a simple story – about the brief moment after you’ve realised what you want to do with your life, before your dream settles into becoming your job, when you’re filled with enthusiasm, meeting like-minded friends and the possibilities are endless.”

The film was shot, edited, scored and mixed in Glasgow over the course of 2012-2013 and will be released in cinemas around the world in 2014.

This is a movie I definitely look forward to seeing simply because I’ve admired Belle & Sebastian for quite a while.  I’m positive the musical soundtrack to the movie will be amazing and I’m really excited about Emily Browning (The Host, Sucker Punch) and Hannah Murray (Skins UK) being cast as the main female characters.

Finally, I love how the creators of the project are constantly including their fans and accepting contributions from everyone interested in creating this beautiful movie. Primarily funded with Kickstarter, it’s the true definition of an indie movie. Nonetheless, solely after reading the character descriptions and the plot, I’m hooked and left wanting more. I wish I could be friends with these characters and I’m looking forward to seeing them come to life on screen. You can find out more about the project on the official GHTG website. The release date for the U.S and Canada is remains unknown.

Rise & Shine Smoothie

Here’s a quick little smoothie recipe I tried out and completely fell in love with! Laura from Blogging Over Thyme calls it her Rise & Shine Smoothie.

It’s quick, filling, delicious and nutritious!

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup coconut water

3 dried medjool dates, pits removed

2 tablespoons unsalted (and unsweetened) almond butter (or any nut/seed butter)

2 tablespoons hemp seeds (+ 1 tablespoon for garnish)

pinch of ground cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into glass and sprinkle top with reserved hemp seeds.

Although Laura suggests it can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days, I always prefer to make my smoothie fresh, on the day I’ll be drinking it. Also be sure to use a really ripe banana. Bananas with darker patches are digested quickly and have a higher level of antioxidants. Unripe or green bananas can also cause gas and bloating which isn’t the best way to start the day :P. If you’ve never use dates as a sweetener, you’re missing out! They’re Mother Nature’s candy!

Due to some digestion issues , it’s not something I can have every day but it’s definitely an amazing morning treat if you’re in a rush or in the mood for something cool and refreshing.

I hope you try it out and let me know if you enjoy this smoothie as much as I do.  Thank you Laura for sharing this recipe! She has a beautiful blog with amazing recipes and gorgeous photography!

xox

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day. Being single definitely doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate just as much. It’s a perfect opportunity to pamper yourself or to do the things you love.

My aunt is visiting from Belgium so she brought me back some of my favorite European treats like Speculoos  from Pain Quotidien and a Valentine’s Day assortment of designer chocolates from Pierre Marcolini. Yum! I was definitely feeling the love. I was snacking on chocolate throughout the weekend while simultaneously trying to tie up the loose ends to various projects. They say that cocoa flavanols increase blood flow to the brain. I’m not saying that divine European chocolates can credit for the 52-page essay I wrote but they certainly kept me going.

Looking back on this week, I’ve realized how much space and time is occupied by talk of others. Although it was challenging and quite strange to distance myself from situations concerning rumors or gossip, I definitely think it was a positive experience. Not talking about others for a week isn’t a huge accomplishment. Far from it! But in a private, girls-only high school, it’s undeniably harder than it seems. Throughout the week, I started to let go of the things that bothered me and vowed to stop talking negatively about the people who bothered me. Instead to focusing on their actions, I focused on my reactions. I wasn’t constantly reviving small feelings of anger or annoyance. By not ranting and not venting, I was able to forget the pointless judgments and disputes I had with those people in order to focus on finding long-term solutions.  I didn’t feel like I was keeping things bottled up inside because 99% of my frustrations weren’t entirely caused by the person but rather the situation. It’s easier to direct our anger towards our surroundings the people closest to us instead of digging down and finding the true cause of our frustrations.

All in all, I benefited from this little experiment and I’m going to challenge myself to keep it up. Although they’ll be hard to avoid for the rest of my life, conversations based on rumors, judgment and speculation are things you knowingly decide to participate in. I will make a conscious effort to remind myself not to engage in gossip and focus on judging myself before judging others.

Have a lovely week! And if you can, try to bribe someone to bring you back some chocolates from Belgium! If that's highly unlikely to happen, Truffle Treasures in Ottawa is much more accessible and just as delicious! xox

Up in the Air

In a few weeks, 80 girls from my school including myself will be flying to Eastern Europe for a historic 9 day vacation starting in Budapest, followed by Vienna, Prague and ending in Munich. It’ll be my first time visiting Europe and I’m extremely excited to be able to take a break from schoolwork and deadlines. Although I’m no stranger to airports, jet-lag and layovers, travelling definitely takes a toll on our bodies, our mood, our energy and our sleeping pattern. The flight from Montreal to Budapest is approximately 9 to 11 hours depending on how many stops we have and which airport we arrive or depart from. The time difference is 6 hours, so it’s definitely noticeable and I expect the first day to be a little challenging. To help me prepare for my European adventure, I thought I would compile a list of a few tips and tricks I like to use when I’m travelling.  I’ll limit this post to the flight portion of travel because I will get more into detail about tips and tricks for airports, hotels, sightseeing and dining out in another post.

 

Stay hydrated: The air on planes is usually very dry and tends to accelerate dehydration. Drink plenty of water and use eye drops if your eyes dry out easily. Keep lip balm and a travel size container of hand lotion in your carry on.

Keep it moving: The change in pressure and the time you spend sitting can make the flight very uncomfortable. Improve blood circulation by getting up and taking a stroll up and down the aisle. Stretching prevents aching and can also help reduce fatigue.

Bring toiletries: After a few hours of travelling, it’s pretty normal to feel uncomfortable and uneasy. I like to bring a toothbrush, mouthwash, deodorant and some moist wipes to feel a little fresher. It also helps if you’ll be sleeping in the plane. Going to bed without brushing your teeth is NOT pleasant.

Never a dull moment: After the excitement of departure fades, flights get pretty dull. To avoid getting bored or making the trip seems longer than it is, bring magazines, reading material, music, cards or a travel guide to keep you busy.

Get some rest: If you’re landing in the morning, those in-flight hours are precious sleeping hours. Bring a sleeping mask, comfy socks, ear plugs, a small pillow or a shawl to make the flight as restful as possible.

Embrace the chaos: Sometimes you need to let go of things you can’t change. Leg room is often limited and you won’t always get the window seat. Sometimes you’ll be stuck with an overly chatty seatmate and you’ll be unable to sleep. Remember that the plane ride is only a small part of your journey. Make the best of what you’ve got.

Keeping the peace: Remember that travelling in a group is different than travelling alone. Your mood will influence and be influenced by others. Complaining and judgment of an activity or a situation will worsen the mood and the experience for everyone. Despite the fact you might dislike some of the people you’re travelling with, try get the most out of the experience.

I’m definitely looking forward to this little getaway. I’m expecting to take loads of pictures and make beautiful memories. Have a lovely week! 

Rant Over.

I hope everyone had a great week. I’ll be working on the blog for the next few days so I thought I’d make a quick post before I start working on a banner.

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One of the reasons why I created this blog was because I wanted to work on myself and focus on being a better person. A big part of working on yourself means accepting your flaws and bringing awareness to the parts of you that limit personal growth.  I’ve decided to challenge myself by establishing a weekly goal, a thought, a quote, a picture or a lesson that I will pay close attention to. At the end of each week, I’ll make an entry about how the week went, if I stayed true to the intention and how the awareness made me feel. Hopefully, I will take away from each challenge so that those small changes become part of my daily routine. By bringing awareness to certain negative habits, you give yourself the opportunity to take action and start working on eliminating whatever is unnecessary.

This week’s challenge is inspired by this quote:

Try to say nothing negative about anybody for three days, for forty-five days, for three months. See what happens to your life –Yoko Ono

Although the intention is pretty simple, I feel like this will be a very rewarding goal. I recently realized that we find ourselves gossiping inadvertently almost every. Most of us do it because talking about others is a form of entertainment. Judging someone else’s actions keeps us from questioning our own decisions. Talking about others means we don’t have to talk about ourselves.  As much as I would love to stay away from rumors and speculation, it is part of human nature to be attracted to gossip. As horrible as it sounds, we find happiness in other people’s misery. So we talk about others as a way to feel happy, to feel pride in the fact we didn’t make the same mistakes, to partake in the excitement, to gain energy and to get a ‘kick’ out of agreeing on the same judgment of someone we barely know. Although rants make you feel better in the moment, the temporary relief is followed by more anger and aggression.  Venting to friends and family after a long day is definitely a common way to release tension and to blow off steam. Unfortunately, venting, ranting and going off on tangents aren’t long-term solutions. They prolong anger and don’t actually help settle the situation.

By bringing up the people that anger me, I’m causing more harm to myself than I am to them. Obviously, I would never want to physically harm someone but I feel pleasure when something negative happens to someone I dislike. It’s mean, cruel, and although I’m not the only one who does it, I refuse to be comforted by the idea that I share that flaw with millions. Speculation or speaking negatively about others contributes towards the hate and the annoyance I have towards that person. In order to be better, kinder and happier, it’s important for me to stop judging others. My goal for the week is to stop speaking negatively about others. I will let people make their own mistakes. I will focus on myself instead of making quick-undeserving statements about issues that shouldn’t concern me. I will work towards disregarding rumors, speculation and negative comments. I won’t judge people who gossip, nor will I completely withdraw myself from them. Instead, I will listen to their opinions without participating to the conversation. I will still value my friends and the people speaking but I’ll make up my own opinion of a certain person instead of adhering to the opinions of the majority.

Another big part of this challenge is having to be honest with yourself. It’s impossible to let go of all my grudges in only 7 days. I can’t imagine not being annoyed at one point this week. However, instead of complaining to others about my personal grudges, I won’t speak my mind if it’s just to make me feel better. Of course, this is a lesson I’d like to apply for more than just a week. I’m hopeful that what I will gain from it will motivate me to fully eliminate the nasty negative habit from my life.

Have a great week!

Musical Comatose

Here are some of my favorite female artists. Beautiful voices perfect for a mellow evening.

Lucy Rose/Nneka/Yuna/Zee Avi/Gabrielle Aplin/Birdy/Laura Mvula/Lianne La Havas/Priscilla Ahn/

Have a lovely week.

Moodboard #1: 50s and 60s inspiration

This Friday, the graduating class from my school will be going back in time to the 50s and 60s. It’ll be Greasers against Socs (as in Socials). Although the whole activity borders on cheesy and juvenile, I’m rolling with it because Grease was without a doubt my favorite movie for most of my childhood. I could follow the choreography perfectly while simultaneously belting out all the lyrics in my horrible high-pitch child voice. What can I say? Grease is the word. I also had a mad crush on Danny Zuko from ages 6 through 12. I was legitimately disappointed to find out that John Travolta is no longer the hunk he was in the 70s. My tiny pre-teen heart was crushed.

Broken hearts aside, it’s a way out of wearing my school uniform and a chance to miss some classes to go bowling…All that’s left to do is brush up on my hand jiving and figure out what to wear.

Have a lovely Sunday.

The Start of Something New

Exactly a month ago today, I was contemplating the idea of starting a new blog. The New Year’s Day blues was hitting me with full force. I woke up with a migraine, an unpacked suitcase and the unpleasant realization that Christmas break was ending which meant I would have to go back to school eventually. The year started off pretty badly. I was in a post-getaway funk and couldn’t get out.  I thought starting a blog on the first day of 2014 would be a good idea, a resolution or whatnot. Turns out, I was unprepared, extremely distracted and I put it off until tonight, a full month later. To say the least, I quickly lost my momentum and the first few days of January left a bitter aftertaste that carried through the month.

Nonetheless, I guess my lack of New Year dedication ended up working out quite well because It gave me time to take a breather and to let the hard core resolutioners hash it out while I questioned my goals for the upcoming year.. Luckily, the stars aligned in my favor to give me, exactly a month later, the Lunar New Year (Or Chinese New Year). So maybe starting a new year in February isn’t the conventional way to do it but screw it, I’m rebelling. Maybe it’s the first important lesson of 2014. It’s never too late to start over. If that lesson doesn’t do it for you, just think of it as a second chance to set achievable goals or focus on the ones you left behind.

Happy year of the horse!

Rebirth

I’ve been an on-again off-again blogger since the age of 12, which means I’ve written numerous introduction posts, each one harder to write than the last. This year, I decided to switch it up a little and try something new in order to motivate myself to write and to share as often as possible. Blogging has never really been that easy for me. My past attempts at fashion blogs left me feeling detached, unmotivated and uninspired. I often questioned why I was spending so much time writing about things that didn’t really matter to me. Truth be told, as much as I enjoyed my brief involvement in the wondrous world that is fashion blogging, I found that writing exclusively about the subject got pretty dull… Rather than pushing out content that doesn’t inspire me, I given myself the challenge of actually start writing for myself. To stop thinking about who wore what, what I thought about it and why I should care.

 I’d like my blog to be a place of retreat and creativity… No more deadlines or guidelines. No more forcing myself to compose insignificant posts just because ˮI haven’t posted in a while’’. This will be my personal outlet, without limitations about what should or shouldn’t be posted.

Although only writing about fashion events and current trends isn’t really my cup of tea, I have numerous contacts who write amazing fashion blogs. I applaud them for their dedication and I wish I had that much passion for the subject. Rather than beating myself up for not being to keep up that type of blog, I’ve shifted my focus towards writing about what inspires me.  Music, travel, discoveries, literature, street style, décor, cooking, DIY, dreams, observations, lifestyle, art, inspirational people… you name it. Whatever inspires me will end up on here. That’s the plan.

For now, I can’t guarantee that my blog will have any coherence or visual appeal. Transforming this blog into what I’ve envisioned will take time, many sleepless nights of HTML coding and copious amounts of peppermint tea. Until then, all I can promise is genuine passion for the things that I post. An introduction page will be up soon!

Over and out,

Alexie