Love like the Movies

I was reading a blog today that mentioned something about love like in the movies. And you know what? I think more of us think about more than we care to admit. The relationships you see in the movies: never having enough of each other, the constantly passionate, sexy relationships... are they real? Or is my type of relationship real? The type where we aren't constantly passionate, we argue, we get sick of each other, but at the end of the day, we really truly love each other and are there to support each other.

Sometimes I wonder if relationships could ever really be like the movies? Or do these movies give us a false notion of what "love" really is, making us want something more than what we have, when really, it's unattainable.

An analogy I heard before has already really stuck with me, the 80/20 principle. Your partner provides you with 80% of everything you could want, however, someone else is capable of giving you the other 20%, but only that 20%....

So, really is the grass ever greener on the other side? Or do many people just believe that? I don't think it is greener on the other side. My relationship may not be like those in the movies and may not be perfect 100% of the time, but that's okay. Because of the end of the day, my relationship is perfect for me.

he idea is that your partner gives you 80% of everything you could ever want, but someone else is capable of giving that 20%... but only 20%. It's like, the grass is always greener on the other side. - See more at: http://www.livinginyellow.com/2013/12/10-things-that-ive-been-too-afraid-to.html#sthash.RgnjfITn.dpuf

he idea is that your partner gives you 80% of everything you could ever want, but someone else is capable of giving that 20%... but only 20%. It's like, the grass is always greener on the other side. - See more at: http://www.livinginyellow.com/2013/12/10-things-that-ive-been-too-afraid-to.html#sthash.RgnjfITn.dpuf

Cider

So this summer, I've tried to expand my horizons. I love wine (but lately has been giving me a headache). I also love a lot of other mixed drinks, including ceasars but thought I'd finally give cider a try. Now, it's my favourite drink. A totally different taste than beer. Even though I started out liking the sweeter ciders such as Somersby, I find that my favourite now is the County Cider which is less sweet.

And what do you know? The beer companies have realized that they also were missing this niche - the girls who like cider but don't drink beer. How do I know this? Because lately, all I have been seeing are these:

It's all good with me. More ciders for me to try! Go ahead.. have one! Right now!

Living life

When I started this blog, I wanted to be someone who blogged daily.. and yet.. I find myself barely blogging. Perhaps it's the summer? Or that could easily be an excuse.

But the lovely weather (which we don't get to experience for long periods of time in Canada) needs to be absorbed as often as possible. When I was in University, I used to work part-time and during the summers as a lifeguard/pool manager. These summers, I was outside a lot and even if I wasn't working outside, I had enough time off during the days, that I was taking in the sun often. Now, flash forward a couple years to me spending 8 hours a day in an air conditioned room with florescent lighting. This environment makes you want to run outside as soon as you are done for the day, quickly throw on your short shorts, a t-shirt, and your flip flops and walk/tan outside for as long as humanly possible (basically until the sun goes down). This also means that on those special days off (Saturdays and Sundays), I tend to perform as many activities as I can outside. Walking to get groceries, biking everywhere, playing sports, sitting outside with my coffee. It's the small things in life that make me happy. My favourite things to do during the summer are: enjoying my first cup of coffee on my deck, laying in my bathing suit on the beach, and drinking a refreshing glass of cider on a gorgeous patio.

So, basically this all amounts to, I have spent a lot of this summer outside enjoying it. Does this excuse my lack of writing? Probably not. Here a very small snapshot of my summer.

 

Sand Banks Provincial Park - A quick over night trip to visit some of Prince Edward County's attractions

 This is another one from this trip. This was on route to checking out the wineries, gorgeous view.

Adam's going away party. Since my best friend Adam is moving all the way across the world to Spain, we had to throw him a going away party.. and yet he isn't even present in this photo.... oops

 

 

This was taken at Boldt castle in the US. Gorgeous castle and was lovely to take a boat cruise over from the Ontario port to see it.


Basically, it's been a pretty good summer with decent weather. I can't complain. Perhaps next summer will be more adventurous - thinking a trip to Spain, Croatia and some of my ancestry countries.

The maxi skirt

I've never been one for dresses or skirts... For whatever reason, I have always preferred pants or shorts. There seems to be no real reason for this dislike of dresses or skirts... so really - I have no idea why I feel like that.

However, on special occasions or going out at night - sometimes I do prefer a dress. I do own dresses, but 9 times out of 10, I'd probably prefer to not wear a dress. I do have to admit, that dresses are extremely convenient - only having to pick out one thing to wear instead of 2 is quite appealing. Skirts also have their benefits - They can be as cool as shorts and I can wear them to work.

Now - this summer's fashion trend, the maxi skirt.... Being 5'5, I never thought that this long skirt would be something that would look good on me. I guess in my mind, I always thought long skirts were best suited for those who were blessed with height. However, this summer, I tried one on and fell in love. So many ways to wear it, a slimming outfit, easy to wear, and super comfortable - remember, this is coming from the girl who doesn't like dresses. So go out and try one on if you haven't already done so... You will not be disappointed.

Wow it's hot outside!

These past few days in Toronto as well as Sunday on the weekend have been extremely hot, +30c kind of hot.. Now don't take this the wrong way, this is by no means a complaint - I am extremely happy with hot weather. Since the hot weather is here in full forth, I have decided to make a list of my top million 5 places that I love visiting in Toronto during the hot weather.

1. The beaches

This by far my most frequently visited spot in Toronto (it's also one of my favourite places in Toronto period). I don't swim in the water. Now go ahead and tell me how safe it is, but my argument is, if the "safety" fluctuates daily, it's probably just safer not to go in it. Probably not 100% logical, but I've never gone swimming in it and I probably won't any time soon. The beaches offers a gorgeous beach, a boardwalk, a biking path (people need to learn how to use it),  and is a short walk from Queen St.

2. Sugar Beach

If I can't be at the beaches, I might as well be at sugar beach. Since I really don't in the water anyways, I never feel like I'm missing anything by going to this beach. It also has adorable umbrellas and if you get there early enough, lounge chairs.

3. The Yorkville Rock

Call me a snob, call me crazy, but I am absolutely in love with this spot in Toronto. My routine is to get my iced Starbucks drink, and get a frozen yogurt (which I can eat because it's from a milk derivative) from Summer's then sit myself on that rock to people watch relax.

4. Habourfront

Now, I don't go here all that often, but I think it's kind of adorable that children (well... and adults) can rent kayaks and boats to use on the pond. Funny? Yes. Adorable? Also, yes! I also enjoy the view of the lake and the boats as well as the restaurants with patios overlooking the water.

5. Restaurant patios

Why be inside to eat when you can eat outside in the gorgeous sun and warm weather? Since I work inside all day, it's always nice to go to a patio, sit down, and have a great glass of something alcoholic.

Some of my favourite patios include:

Oasis

The Pilot

Remy's

The Drake

'

I could go on... and on.. So I will stop there.

Off I go to sit on a patio! Ciao and happy Wednesday!



Of course you can do my make-up...

So a few weeks ago, I attended a wedding at the Steam Whistle Brewery. It my was my boyfriend's best friend getting married. The venue was gorgeous, the bride looked wonderful, and overall, it was a great wedding... (more to come on weddings in later posts).

At the beginning of the year, I was at a charity event and won a gift card for a free make up application at Gee. What a better time to use it then going to a wedding?

Problem is... now I'm hooked. I need way more money so that I can have someone apply my make up every single day.. well every time I go to special events at least. But seriously, going to get your make up done makes you realize the following:

1. Proper make up application can make anyone look good

2. I have no idea what I'm doing

3. If I could do this myself regularly, I would have much better photos

4. This better not turn into an addiction because it would be a very expensive one

5. Fake eyelashes are amazing

I would also like to say that the staff the Gee were fabulous, the store was adorable, and you felt great once you walked out. To top it off, I really liked the dress I wore to the wedding :)

My favourite money sinking investment

So, it's clearly been awhile since my last post. Between my on line course, working a million extra hours at work, and having dental surgery - it's been a busy few weeks. Oh yes, you heard me right - dental surgery. Unfortunately, this is pretty common occurrence in my life. Having been blessed with lovely genes from my father, I am prone to dental issues. He has 13 crowns... mind you, he is over 60 years old, but still, how many people can say that have had over $100,000+ worth of dental work. Though, you don't realise how quickly these dental occurrences add up. Let's see, over the past couple years, I've spent over $14,000 on my teeth. Thank goodness that at least SOME of that was covered (when I had insurance... those were the days).

Anyways, this week has been interesting. It is the first time I've ever had dental work done for an implant. Basically, this is what the happening:

Which is actually pretty damn cool, if I may say so myself. The fact that they can replicate teeth like this is awesome! So this week, they inserted the bottom part - the post, and then in November, they will add on the crown, so that it actually looks like a tooth.

For anyone considering a dental implant - ask me how it goes later on. I can say for now that my pain from the surgery was minimal compared the pain I endured to extract the tooth in the first place - which is a win for me.

Having had this surgery means I am on a soft food diet for 2 weeks - joy! This means I made a lot of soup... which actually turned out well. I will post my broccoli and pumpkin soup soon. I also made split pea soup which I think was better than the broccoli and pumpkin soup - but I really like split pea, so maybe I'm just biased.

I still think that enduring the pain of all this dental surgery is worth it.. At least, my teeth still appear to be gorgeous minus the fact that they are probably going to fail me somehow in the future one by one. It's basically my best money sinking investment!

On another note, it's FRIDAY. Which is exciting in itself!!! Woo!

Clothing Swap

I feel as though I start a lot of these blogs posts with an apology for being so neglectful.. However, I am not going to lie by saying that blogging is my first priority, unfortunately, this week has changed my day to day life. This past week at work.. well.. and the upcoming weeks are work are becoming increasingly busy. Since my normal work hours are 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, it's very unusual for me to stay to 6pm, 7pm, 8pm... which has become a normal pattern this week.

On top of my crazy work schedule, my first course of my Certificate in Corporate Communications and Public Relations has begun. Experiencing lovely technical issues, dealing with individuals at Humber who were incapable of registering me properly led me to being on the phone for over 1.5 hours and put me 4 days behind in my course, which doesn't seem like a big deal but when you realize that all your assignments are due in 2 days - not a pleasant feeling.

Oh to brighter topics! This week at work our team decided to do a clothing swap. What a great experience! Everyone brought in their clothes that they don't wear and are sick of. Basically any of those items that currently sit at the back of the closet waiting for the day when you wear them... Don't lie to me, we all have them. Since at least 3 of us are kind of shopaholics in the office, it makes for a great clothing exchange!

I got these jeans! woo!

My coworker got these shoes

Here are the left over clothes (we probably started with 10 bags of clothes)... these are the ones no one wanted.

We ended up donated them to a program at CAMH. Nothing was wasted, we all gained some new clothes, and we got to give some clothes to those who need them.

Weekend Recap

Why hello there summer, how nice to see you again!

This weather has been incredible...How can anyone have an awful weekend when the sun is shining and you can wear a t-shirt (and possibly shorts.. if you're not me)? I am often too cold to wear shorts, unless of course it's like 30+, but so many people were out and about in their shorts and t-shirts all weekend. It was one of those weekends when you are walking down the street and everyone has that little smile on their face because the weather is getting warmer and you are finally able to enjoy being outdoors again.

This weekend was pretty relaxed for me, which was nice. Saturday, I did my usual volunteering. However, this weekend, I was able to bike to yoga and bike around to do my errands. I soon came to the realisation that my mountain bike (that I also use to bike to work) is awful. It really should just be in the garbage. This explains why after biking home from work, I am usually fairly tired. I bike quickly and yet people (who look like they are exerting much less effort than me) are easily passing me.

On Saturday night, Eoghan surprised me by taking us to the drive-in movies. I love the drive-in. Bring your own food, lay in your own car, and enjoy a recently released movie! Although the movie, identity thief, was far from great, it was nice to just be able to go to the drive-in and enjoy it.

Sunday, I went for a bike ride on my good bike (this is the one I keep for riding on the weekends and do not lock it up). I went for an hour and it was such an easy bike ride. It's so nice to live a 20 minute ride from the beaches.

 I felt like I could have rode for hours. Until you have a good bike, you will not understand how much a good bike makes a different on your journey. This feeling quickly resulted in me deciding that I needed something a little better than my mountain bike to get to work. I ended up being a used hybrid bike this weekend, equipped with a basket. In perfect condition to be left outside locked up downtown!

That basically sums up my weekend, nothing too crazy, just a nice chill weekend to finally soak in some of the rays. Might as well enjoy it while I can, with Toronto weather, you are never sure what is to come in the weeks ahead.

Yoga

Sometimes I find hard to come up with ideas of what I want to write about.... Since today is Friday, meaning tomorrow is Saturday, I thought I would write about yoga. Now you must be asking, so what if it's Friday? What does that have to do with Yoga? Well, let me tell you! On Saturdays, I am an "EE" at the Yoga Sanctuary. What kind of ridiculous awesome title is EE? Well, it stands for Energy Exchange, however, I guess on Saturdays I would be an Energy Exchanger... (Okay that sounds a little ridiculous...) That's besides the point, the point is, Saturday means being immersed in yoga!

The Yoga Sanctuary at Danforth and Broadview is really gorgeous (I am not being biased.. even though I kind of work there).

The main studio brings in a lot of natural light and has a nice space to practise your yoga.

When I was completing my undergraduate degree at York, I tried yoga for the first time. I found it relaxing yet still challenging. It really did evoke an inner calmness in me which I had never really felt any other time than running (which I have stopped because of my knee). Having had so much time, I ended up practising basically 4-5 times a week (on top of my usual gym/exercise routines). It was a great compliment to cardio and strength training. Continuing this for over a year, I was able to get in to poses I never thought possible.

These are some examples:

Now I can't say that I have kept it up at the same rate. Unfortunately, when I moved to Winnipeg, I wasn't too good about yoga very often, but now I can say that it is a part of my exercise routine and I thoroughly enjoy practising. Now, let's be honest, I can't do all of the same things I used to be able to do when I was going so often, but I can do some. Seeing your progress over time is so encouraging.

So now I practise at the Yoga Sanctuary on the Danforth which has some amazing instructors and a welcoming environment... and you may also see me working at the desk on Saturdays.

So even if you think yoga isn't for you, go out and try it.. because it may surprise you... it sure surprised me.

Iphone - App-mazing!

So, as some of you would know, I used to have a Blackberry curve. This is the type of phone that is really cool when you first get it and then slowly quickly you realize how terrible is actually is. So, after days, weeks, months of wanting to throw my phone out the window, I realized that I desperately needed a new phone. I got out of my car one day and my Blackberry smashed on the pavement... My first thought was "Does this mean I can get a new phone?".... This is the official moment I realized that, it was time to upgrade to a real phone.

I ended up getting the Iphone 4s, obviously, not the best on the market, but really, IT'S AWESOME. It could be that it's like comparing it to not having a phone, since my Blackberry was full of limitations, but I love it.

Having just got this phone, I am slowly discovering my favourite apps (because.. my phone couldn't even handle apps before.. oh Blackberry).

Ashley's list of App-mazing applications:

1. Run Keeper

Having biked to work for the first time (although I do enjoy biking for pleasure, I have never been close enough to bike to work until now!), I think this app is amazing. It tracks your distance and speed via GPS. It also calculates the approx. calories burnt using your age, height, and weight. This way, I can see when I am slowly down on my bike and if my time is improving.

2. Shazam

I am totally that person in the club, store, car, etc. that is always like "I love this song"... yet I have no idea what the song is called and fairly often have no idea who the artist is. Problem solved! Just Shazam it and instantly, you know!

3. Photosynth (and Photoshop Express)

This is a pretty sweet app. Loving photography, this is up my alley and allows me to take panoramic pictures super easily. No explanation needed - download it, you won't regret it.

Photoshop express is simple and free. It let's you easily edit photos with clicks of a button, app-mazing!

4. Instagram

Now how can I forget Instagram? I was so excited to get an Iphone so I could finally Instagram my life. And then obviously post it to Facebook and Twitter. People are going to get annoyed with me so quickly, but it's incredible! I love the filters.

5. Draw Something and Fruit Ninja

When I am bored, I love playing Fruit Ninja. I love it, super exciting. Draw something is also very entertaining but that one requires others' participation whereas Fruit Ninja does not.

6. Starbucks

I love Starbucks.. a lot.. and I also love the app. This app allows me to track my stars, drinks, purchases, as well as being able to pay with my phone. Good bye wallet, all I need is my phone.. yay for Iphone!

And the best part of my Iphone and all of these apps? They are free!

As I am sure you can all tell, I am still super excited about my Iphone!

Happy Friday and yay for the weekend.