30 Best Moments & Memories so far

Do you remember when I started this 30 lists idea, which was supposed to lead up to my birthday?
This was the post that was supposed to be posted on my birthday - Oct 4.
I have come to hate this project.  haha.
But at least this is the last of it, and I can be freed from the limiting idea that I have to make my next blog post another list about something.  Never again.

Here are my 30 most memorable moments, in no particular order.  There are definitely more, but 30 will do.


Waking up at 3am to watch a meteor shower with my mom in high school.  It was so incredible we lost count of the shooting stars.

Seeing the endless fields of tulips in Holland in the spring.

Having my crush in 4th grade give me a valentine that said "I like you."

Taking my first trip alone to visit my cousin Jocelyn in Toronto.

Film night with my graduating class - watching all of our hard work.

When my Dad made me a dollhouse by hand and left it bare for me to decorate.

Yelling from the top of the mountain in TBay with Shannon.

Swimming in an ocean for the first time - salty!

Best meal of my life at a cafe in Nice, with Marina, Katie & Caitlin who all shared each dish.

Puddle jumping with my sister after a big rain storm.

Dressing up our family cat in a mini sombrero.

Whenever I left my Mama & Papa's house they'd blow kisses out the living room window.

Having a snowball fight in July with all my high school friends.

Laughing so hard with Heather than our abs hurt for days later.  Couldn't breathe.

Rainbow Brite bedding was my birthday gift at 3 years old.

Overcoming my shyness and performing in a play with new friends.

Getting into the club in Cannes by acting like we belonged there.

Driving around town with Lori just to take silly pictures of each other.

Dancing to Sandstorm with Pat & Braydan at my high school grad.

Tasting gelato for the first time in Venice.  

When my little sister was born, my Mama took me and my brother out and spoiled us all day.  We got teddy bears and then got to meet our new sibling.

Making a video of my brother and his friend sledding on GT snow racers.

My first Canada Day with Steve.

Going to Lilith Fair and sneaking up to the front row of 30 000 people.

Being at a live SNL broadcast was the best magic show I've ever seen.

Running through Paris with my Mom, sis & cousin to see the Eiffel Tower as it lit up.

Making silly faces with my Dad on the red carpet when he came to visit me in Cannes.

The year that it snowed so much my cousins and I could climb on house rooftops and have a giant snowball fight.

On my first day at a new school, 3 girls came up to me and said "we'll be your friends."  One of them is still a close friend almost 25 years later.

The water fight in which my Papa took the garden hose inside to get all the rest of us.


Ahh this makes me smile.  I'm going to have to scrapbook this :)

In 3 months

3 months from today I'll be 30.
yikes.
As it approaches it seems less daunting, but 30 was always the number that screamed adult.  I should have accomplished all kinds of responsible things by now  - career, family, mortgage & retirement savings portfolio wise...  I guess I'm a little late.  It's a good thing it's not a race. 

However, there are a few things that I'd like to accomplish in the next 3 months before my birthday.

• Plan how to celebrate my birthday.  A trip or great party would soften any 'getting old' blow.  Toronto party location suggestions welcome!
  
• Beautify our apartment.  Tidy things, finish hanging frames and curtains, purge all unneeded stuff.  Maybe even rearrange furniture or paint.
  
• Get in better shape.  I'm so happy that the pool is open in our building from now until the Sept long weekend.  I'm going to take full advantage.  (I'm 3 for 4 days so far.)
• Get into a routine with my Etsy shop.  As in creating things for it, listing them, advertising and drumming up some business.  It would be amazing to have it be a steady source of income.
• Find a new job.  With the photographers I currently assist, I don't work enough for my liking and I'm not learning much from them anymore.   Need a new boss or scene. 
• Take more pictures.  Of life, of random things, of my family and friends - and not with my cell phone, as convenient as it is to carry. 
• Just for kicks - getting to 200 blog readers would be fun too. 

When is your 30th birthday?  Does 30 intimidate you,  or has it already come and gone without event?
The best part about any birthday - eating cake!

Happy __________!

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

Happy soon to be Independence Day to my friends in the USA.

Happy Pride to my fellow Torontotonians!

and Happy Anniversary to me and my guy Steve.  It's been 4 years!

I hope you have an amazing weekend - there are plenty of reasons to celebrate!

10 on the 10th - Single for 12 days

It's still the 10th until Steve wakes up.  ;)

Steve recently took a trip to visit family and chill out for a while after his giant exam.  (Which he did pass, whoo hoo!)  He was gone for 12 days and just came back late last night. 
These are some observations I made about me being 'single' and living alone for a short while.

1.  It is really important to not lose my keys.  I was paranoid of this the whole time.

2.  I will play a lot more loud guilty pleasure music.  Like J. Lo. or Donna Summers. And dance around the apartment like an idiot in a rom-com.  No regrets. 

3.  Dancing around to such music puts me in the mood to clean.  And not just sweeping, but "I'm going to pull everything out of the hall closets and see what happens."  This happens:

4.  Friends are great.  Note this phone conversation that was had last Wednesday.
S: What are you up to?
Mel: Sorting my nail polish.
S: Are you serious?  Whoa that's bad.
Mel: It's not! I need to do it, a bunch is no good anymore.
S: We're hanging out this afternoon.

And so we did, which was great.  But I still need to sort through my nail polishes.

5.  I don't really like cooking for just me.  Give me some people to entertain and I'll kick Martha Stewart's ass, but when I get home from work and it's just me for the night, I have to make an effort to not eat a bowl of Shreddies for dinner.   So, I made a couple meals (like a carrot-squash-sweet potato soup) and kept leftovers in the fridge for a lazy option. 

6.  I need extra blankets on the bed/ the centre of the bed is amazing.

7.  I filled a lot of time with taking photos and now need to make space on my hard drive to load them and edit them.  I'll share soon!  I also watched Girls, The Vow, Jeopardy and Masterchef.

8.  Talking on the phone is nice.  I called my mom, grandma, and some old friends this week and caught up, which was loads better than emails and facebook messages.

9.  I had a huge list of intended things to get done while Steve was away, but ultimately hung out with friends and enjoyed that instead.  Sorry 'making new curtains' and 'blog every day' - maybe next time.

10.  I like having Steve back.  I may not get the whole couch to put my feet up anymore, but it's more enjoyable when he's here than not.  And especially when he comes back with sweetness.
He went hunting thrift shops to look for a flower pin to add to my collection.  <3

Do you live alone?  Do you eat cereal for dinner?
What would be on your list to do if your significant other or housemates left for a week?

Another good-bye.

I am not happy to have 2 of the last 3 posts be about loss.   However, my grandpa, or Papa, as we called him, passed away yesterday.  He lived over 25 years with Parkinson's disease, and beat cancer in the 90's, but now was his time to go.  

I grew up across the street.  He taught me so many things, but most of all, the things he never said.  Living quietly, with a grin on his face, not complaining about his circumstances as the disease slowly took away nearly everything.   Truly a great, strong man and one of the greatest influences in my life.

 

I'm flying back to my hometown to be with my family.
Be back to the blog when my mind is clearer. 

The Life of Pretzel.

My family got a cat in the summer between my grade 7 & 8. 

We already had a dog, Winston, but when we found out we could have a kitten too, we jumped at the chance.  We had a long debate about what to name him, but ultimately went with Pretzel.

I can imagine his first day around was a little intimidating. 

But he held his own.  He was an adventurer and always entertained us with his antics.

 

A few years ago he got in a fight with another cat, in our backyard - they tumbled down the stairs like a cartoon ball of fur & curse symbols.  Pretzel lost a front tooth. 

Over the years he grew old and calmed down a lot.  No more stealing waffles from the dining table, bringing us dead mice to the doorstep or chasing his own tail.  In the past few months he got more and more frail and we said goodbye on the weekend. 

It's amazing how an animal can become such a part of a family.  I haven't lived in the same house (or city) as Pretzel for years now, but I'll still miss this little furball next time I visit. 
He was always such a good listener too.  ;)

Have you still got family pets at your parents' house?

Over the weekend.

This weekend was a busy but fun one. 
Since my last blog post I:

Had a fire alarm go off in our apartment building.  

(I think the construction workers in the basement smoke too much.) 

Hung out with C on Queen St and we picked up the fabric for my aunt's wedding dress - it's really pretty. 

Spent Friday afternoon downtown with my oldest friend L, who was visiting Toronto for a couple days. 

Scrapbooked a few layouts.

Met my sister and her boyfriend for lunch - they were also in town this weekend, for a Leaf's game.

Sent my Aunt's wedding dress fabric back to my hometown with my sister.

Scrapbooked a few layouts. 

Worked at both of my jobs. 

Played some board games with Steve and a couple friends while half watching the Leaf's game. 

Bought a new pair of shoes.  (Madmen party anyone?)

(From Forever 21)

Cooked our fave Jamie Oliver recipe, and served it with a kick-ass spinach salad.

Got some prints of fave photos made. 

Found a pair of turquoise skinny jeans at Joe Fresh.

Change room visit.

Watched the Oscars.

My best dressed list: Penelope Cruz, Octavia Spencer and Berenice Bejo.  Through really, I would wear almost any of the dresses that walked the red carpet if I ever had somewhere fancy enough to go. 

  Do you pay any attention to the Oscar's? Which outfit did you like best?

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

2012: The year of the Dirty 30.

It's official.  2012 is the year in which 80% of my friends turn 30. 
Everyone I grew up with - friends from elementary school, high school, college.  (Me too. )

It's daunting, 30, for some reason.   Growing up in the 80's I had a much different picture of where I would be at 30.  Not that I dislike where I am now at all, but when I think about my mom turning 30 and already having 3 kids, sometimes that clock gives a little tick ;)

At least the fun part of this year will be a lot of parties.  The first of them was this past weekend, a surprise party 3 weeks late for D.  Here are a few fave pics. 

First off - check out the view from their condo! My city <3

The 'cake' was a pile of persians - which are unique to Thunder Bay, and were flown in as a surprise with D's sister.  I should dedicate a post to those desserts soon - I need to crack the recipe. 

Think cinnamon bun/donut with raspberry frosting....

If you talk behind the glass no one will know.  ;)

Happy Birthday D!

How old are you and your friends turning this year? 
Does 30 seem daunting to you?

The morning after.

This is what our apartment looks like at the moment. 

Last night we hosted a very successful and entertaining Wine & Cheese party.

In short - we invited people over and asked them to bring wine and/or cheese.   We provided crackers, meats, things like olives, etc,  desserts and snacks. 
We had about 10 different types of cheese in the end, and 9+ liters of wine were consumed.

And now, I'm on my way into work.  haha.  No it's true.  But I'll survive.  

I had planned to take pictures of the tablescape - with my carefully selected blue, white, turquoise and silver colour scheme.   However, when it happens to be one of those days when everything takes longer than it should (an hour to get meats and cheese and baguettes at the grocery store !>#*JF!) and your first guest shows up while you're putting on your makeup, and you stash all things without a home into one room, close the door and hope no one thinks that it might be the bathroom because you worked 60 hours this week- you let things like blog photos slide.  Or at least I do. 
I suppose we can try again next year.

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season.

~mel

Childhood Christmas Memories

I've been busy crafting like Santa's workshop around here. 
And I can't show it off, in case the gift getters happen to stop by.  Will have to show you in the new year :)
For now though, here are some photos of Christmases long gone.

Painting the windows of our house was an awesome decoration tradition.   It's just tempera paint, which you can easily wash off after the holidays. 

Evidently I cover my mouth and gasp when I get a gift I like. 

 I remember this cardboard house being the best thing ever.  The windows and doors opened and my name was written on the door and everything.  lol.

I was cool with my Papa dressed up as Santa (with shades as a disguise from the older kids!) but strange Santas at the mall could not be trusted.

 

Hiking in the snow to get our tree and then decorating it at home with all of our handmade ornaments was so much fun.  We would take turns every year with who could put the star on top. 

The big exciting tradition was always seeing all my family at my Mama and Papa's house on Christmas Eve.  I think it's a French tradition to celebrate late on Christmas Eve.   We would meet around 10pm, Santa would come around midnight.  We'd open and exchange gifts and then eat our giant meal, turkey and all, in the wee hours of the morning. 

Proof that I've never been a night owl and turkey makes me even more sleepy.

What made Christmas magical for you as a kid?

Best Things in Chicago.

Steve and I went to Chicago about oh, 2 months ago.  

Here are some faves, now that I'm heading out to print them & hopefully scrapbook soon.

Fave photo of the whole trip.  With family at the Bears game.

Fave Chicago food.  Deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno. 
Ummm, it's pie crust, whoa.

 

Fave photo of Steve.  Super excited to be at Wrigley Field for a Cubs game. 

Most hilarious photo.  Us, FROZEN with no cold weather clothes at the Cubs game. 
They were selling more hot chocolate than beer.   Cold. 
All I had were 3 cardigans.  Missing: Steve is wearing shorts.  Dedication.

Fave moment.  Watching so many crazy fans celebrate a touchdown.  (We had awesome seats!)

Fave buildings.  Flower shaped apartment buildings.  Check out the parking near the bottom. 

Fave thing bought.  A brooch for my collection.  From Very Best Vintage. 

Best view.  From the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. 

 

Thanks Chicago for such a great time!

Have you ever been to Chicago? What's your fave thing?