been a minute

Its been a little while since I wrote here. Haven’t had a whole lot of time for much of anything and frankly the blog is the first thing to fall off. Always.

The move to Toronto has been good, difficult, lonely and worth it.

My new job is rewarding. Not perfect by any means, not the least of which is that its BARELY enough $$ to get by in this expensive ass city (be glad I wasn’t blogging during the apartment hunt, all I can say is “What the Fuck Toronto?” on that one). Its also a normal NGO with its dark underbelly of bad labour politics. I don’t know what it is about NGO’s that bring that out but this one is no different. That said my work is really interesting and is in a field that’s new to me so I’m learning a lot, which I appreciate. Plus I have benefits!! Whoooooo, new glasses and maybe a visit to the dentist is in my future. BIG PLANS.

I think after almost 4 months on the job I’m starting to settle in to what a 9-5 job does to my body. FYI, it makes me ridiculously tired. I’m trying to figure out how to curb my night owl lifestyle into a morning person job. I’m supposed to be at work at 8:30am. I go in for 9am. I prefer a short lunch break over being fucking exhausted all day.

Now that I’m into a big of a work groove I’ve picked up the pace on working on my thesis. It sucks a lot to leave work and go to a library to open my laptop and work some more but I keep trying to tell myself that it will feel amazing once I’m done. Between trying to talk myself out of quitting anyway.

Oh, I’m also working 2 facilitation contracts too. Not exactly sure how that’s supposed to fit in to my days but I’m trying to make it work.

Our new house is almost set up. One more trip to IKEA and we should have all the basics to live with. In retrospect deciding to get rid of everything in Montreal has turned out to be super expensive. No regrets because our brand new bed is wonderous and the house looks amazing with furniture that is not sagging, ripped or coming apart at the seams and all that but the credit card bill is a little scary…Hence the extra contracts I’ve been taking on.

Mars and I have been doing good. The move was hard on us for different reasons, me because I was leaving the only place I had ever really made home. Mars because she was leaving a place that she had just finally figured out. Its been a stressor on our relationship for sure, especially since I leave the house every day and leave Mars alone all week. I think we’ve started to hit our stride though and are definitely happier now.

I’ve been thinking a lot about happiness lately and what it takes to be happy. Alright, I know its not just been lately but I’m still trying to figure out my happiness stride and what makes me happy. I don’t think I’ve found it yet. I’m not necessarily generally happy at the moment but I think I’m on the right path. Finish the thesis so I can finally go the direction I think I want to go in my career, and also have a social life without guilt. Get my experience at this job and then move on. I can see where the path is, I think its just over the next hill. Get Mars settled here so that we can focus on other things. I want to travel again. My wanderlust has been in a box for years because I haven’t been able to afford it and I know its making me sad.

I’m about to turn 31. Life isn’t over but it does feel a helluva lot more serious at times.

So yeah, that’s my update. No pictures but this play list is helping keep me upbeat on this rainy fall day.

{image from last.fm}

ps. Jolene is about the only song I ever mastered on the guitar AND could sing.

 

Welcome to Calgary

view from the Bow Falls in Banff

Okay not exactly welcome welcome since we leave tomorrow but this is the first chance I’ve had to blog since my computer was fixed and since I arrived here almost a week ago so it will have to do.

Mom & Me

M and I arrived late on xmas eve to the town I spent my pre-teen to teenagehood. My mom still lives here in the house I grew up in with my step-dad. Calgary is the first stop of our 2 week, 2 city, 2 sets of parents tour that M and I are doing to cap off a solid year of living together. Its an intensive of where I’m from but its nice to finally get the chance to show off my roots and spend some more relaxed time with the family. It helps that no one is getting married this time.

Mom’s tree

Christmas was quiet as usual. We mostly stayed inside, fed ourselves a lot of sugar and read books or talked technology and music. We took a night trip out to Banff for M’s birthday which was beautiful. Its always so fun to travel with Mars and this time was no exception. Especially because it was their first time in the Rockies. The Rockies are breathtaking for me and I’ve seen them many times, it was incredible to see them through M’s eyes and definitely a lot of fun. I’ll post a few pictures at the end of this post. We got a really sweet upgrade to a loft suite with a king sized bed and a fireplace. We didn’t ever want to leave!

Starting a fire in our sweet suite

I spent some quality time learning some new things while I was here. Stuff that I will share in later posts (I have a million posts planned right now, I can tell its winter and I’m getting back into writing mode). Also, handmade holidays worked out pretty well, everyone seems to love what they got so far. Recipes and photos will be going up very soon.

Hope everyone else had nice holidays and are excited to start a new year. 2013 man, where did the time go?

 

Driving into the Rockies

Mars from the loft

M’s ‘gangsta deer’ really didn’t care that we were that close

M and the Banff Springs Hotel

M’s new buddy

winter can’t stop me

30

Holy balls I turned 30! This is me, in the rain, hungover and excited about a giant sunflower.

/// Birthday Day!!! ///

The weekend was so very nice. I was really sick last week and I rolled into my last few days of my 2oies seriously on my last legs. My new work schedule and the amount of time I spend on the metro every day had really led to a helluva cold. I took off work early on Friday because I had a sneaking suspicion that a surprise party was brewing and I needed a nap. The surprise party was adorable. Mars gathering a few of my closest friends together for a really sweet party with family and friends skyped in, champagne, delicious food, cake, balloons, noise makers and streamers. It was lovely and he put so much work into it, it really showed. The party didn’t go late which worked fine for me because I felt like death and I got a good night sleep on Friday night, partially because M slept on the couch (he was trying really hard not to get sick).

/// an extremely fuzzy phone photo of a really delicious cheesecake ///

On Saturday I treated myself to a haircut (with Julie again). I hadn’t had a haircut since April I think. Julie cuts hair so well that it can grow out for literally ages and still look good. I also got my nails done by my friend Laura of Drop Dead Manicures. Yay, self pampering.

/// purple ombre with roses on the ring fingers and thumbs ///

I had a quiet rest of the day with Mars and then we got ready to go out to a party that he was performing at. He gave an incredible performance and then made me get up on stage at midnight to wish me happy birthday. I was totally embarrassed and totally charmed, no one has ever done anything like that for me. We spent the rest of the night dancing, were joined by my good friend Katie and rolled out very late.

Sunday was my actual birthday and the only thing I wanted was to go have brunch at a really great spot that I’m not going to name because its already SO busy and hard to get in there. That’s pretty much all we did too. I didn’t answer any calls except from my parents (seemed fair that they got a pass for making this birthday possible) and we just had a quite day watching movies and napping.

30 is already way different than 20 but I love it. I’m really excited for this new decade and what it will bring me. I did so much in my 20ies and had so many adventures, I’m really curious to know what my 30ies will bring.