Birthday, Books, and Baggage

Hooray for being 21!

Last Saturday was my 21st birthday, and I had a wonderful time celebrating with friends in Kingston. Between the unbelievably delectable chocolate fudge birthday cake, the rarely seen bright sunshine, and night time fun, it was one of my best birthdays. I happen to fall during one of the worst times for birthdays, right before school starts, and right after the good summer days, so no one is ever in town to celebrate. I'm just very grateful to have had the opportunity to spend it with friends this year.

Since my summer vacation is officially slipping away, I've started doing some of my reading in advance (I know, I'm a nerd sometimes), but I know I'm going to have so much on my plate this year, so it will be nice to be able to just ease into it. After finishing my Sustainability Strategies reading, I moved onto my Renaissance Art text, which was far more fascinating. I'm definitely looking forward to my art history classes this year, although I'm also excited to see my Sustainability professor's 100% sustainable house. So much more reading to prep...

And lastly, my countdown to Florida continues! Only 4 more days until I'm in my old home state and I am unbelievably excited. Sadly, I learned that I have to pay $50 to check baggage, so I will be attempting to cram all of my necessities into my teeny carry-on bag in attempt to save some extra money. It's so very very hard to limit the contents of my suitcase. I don't know how I'm going to pull it off and still leave room for some FL shopping. I'm really hoping my LL Bean large tote can pass for my one "personal" item. Otherwise I may end up wearing four or five layers of clothing on my way back

Craft Corner

One of my favorite things about summer vacation is that I finally have time to do crafts and paint. One of my favorite activities growing up was pottery-painting, and I'm so happy that I've had the opportunity to do it again. I hated that I lost my favorite studio, All Fired Up, after I moved out of FL. However, I found one in Ottawa! These are some of the items I've painted lately: A cookie jar and a wall plaque

Each time I get a new housemate in Kingston (I rent a house off-campus with other girls at school), I make her a door sign, which is a white board that I personalize. Well at the end of last year I moved out of my house and am joining a completely new house of girls, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to make all new signs. I found some great magnetic dry-erase boards at Wal-Mart and got right to painting them. Here's mine:

I like it so far, but I feel like it may be missing something. What do you all think?

Florida Vacation

I am officially heading down to Florida at the end of August, and I am so very excited! I am never impetuous at all, but I logged on to expedia.com and the flights to Orlando were calling my name. Since my classes don't start until September 14th, I decided I had the time. I can't wait to visit my old friends and get to live as a Floridian again. Counting down the days...

Food for Thought

I just got back from seeing the new Julie & Julia film and all I want to do right now is dive into a chocolate cake. Do not, I repeat, do not, see this film if you have no self-restraint when it comes to food. As I was watching all of those superbly-crafted works of gastronomical art, all I could think was why oh why did I decide to limit my intake of carbs, sugar, dairy, and all other things delicious. My mouth was watering, my stomach was rumbling, and my eyes were widening with each smooth stroke of her spatula as she spread the chocolate frosting across the chocolate gateau.

Of course the film was wonderful- witty, inspirational, with a pinch of drama. Overall, a good film to see with my mother (which was a common idea, apparently, given the number of mother-daughter pairings).

Now I am home attempting to find something adequately-appetizing to eat that still satisfies my dietary restraints. Off to look at some recipes.

In the famous words of Julia Child (and many Frenchmen who preceded her)...

Bon Appetit!

Another Weekend in Kingston

First off, thank you all for all the kind comments, and I can't believe I'm almost up to 15 followers. I feel so lucky to be a little part of each of your days.

So I spent another weekend in Kingston. I really did miss it while I was on exchange, especially the shores of Lake Ontario and my campus. I drove over friday evening and picked up DW from the bus station. We attempted to go see a drive-in movie (we were both dying to see The Proposal), but due to a glitch in my planning, we ended up missing the movie and went for a late-night stroll around town instead. Saturday was absolutely beautiful- the sun was out and bright, there was a crisp and light breeze, and we ran into some old friends from school who also happened to be in town. We spent a couple of hours on the shores of Lake Ontario to tan a little. The water was so enticing we decided to jump off the dock (fully clothed!) and go for a swim. It was so refreshing.

After a barbeque, we made our way to a couple of parties, creating a truly amazing weekend. The next morning we woke up to a downpour and dark skies. We made our way

to Starbucks for some absolutely-necessary pick-me-ups and brunch at one of our favorite breakfast spots. While the rain was dying down, we finally made it to the movies to see The Proposal, which was a pretty cute movie. It was a little dramatic at parts, but hilarious most of the way through. And of course the fact that the main character was Canadian made it all the better! Thankfully the weather completely cleared up after the movie, so my drive home was splendid, especially with my sunroof open and my Michael Buble CD blaring. It really was the perfect summer weekend.

I hope you all also had a wonderful weekend!