Sometimes I feel sitting on trains, every stop I get to I’m clocking the game”
Today has been the most relaxing day I’ve had in a while. Spent cuddled and huddled next to my Aunt in my pajamas watching movies all day. I love days like today. Love, love, love. I got home last night from Medicine Hat, but I’ll write a post about that later once I’ve got some pictures downloaded. It involves an epic car ride and two of us cousins jammed in my Hyundai music blaring.
I know I’m cutting it close on time, but I’m just so glad that I’ve been able to so far this month keep up coming on here and jotting something down, even if it’s a little. I’ve got some pictures hanging around from the opening July long weekend out at Pine Lake, they put on a spectacular fireworks show, the first we’d ever seen from my Uncle’s new boat.
Oh, and my title is a reference to the soundtrack from Slumdog Millionaire, the movie I’ve had going for the past couple hours while cleaning my room. It’s a repeater. Beautiful, wonderful, and no matter how many times I watch it I always end up with tears. If you haven’t seen it, hit up a blockbuster, even better hit up an HMV and purchase it for multiple viewing enjoyment!
“I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it”
So I pre-wrote a blog for this morning, but my internet connection is extreme dodge-time, so I can’t load my email where it’s saved. Though, I’m not going to complain cause internet is internet, and I very much appreciate my Grandma’s 69 year old neighbour having an un-encrypted network!
Today I’m off to shoot a wedding with Jenn Galloway, I’ll write more about her awesomeness tomorrow when this connection firms up, or when I have a chance to hit a Starbucks, hope everyone is having a fantastic long weekend, I know I am, Medicine Hats forecast for today is +35 dear God let my anti-perspirant work over time!
“If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad”
Everyone has a code, some are easier to read than others. I’d like to think I’m a pretty open-ended gal, easy to read, nearly all of the time. Knowing me, means knowing that after time, my tenuous moods, aren’t so tenuous, but rather boringly predictable.
- When I’m sad I watch White Christmas (Bing Crosby cures all)
- When I’m anxious I scrapbook (Two-way tape cures all)
- When I’m stressed I take a bubble bath (Radox Muscle Soak cures all)
- When I’m mad, I write letters (Merriam Webster Thesauraus cures all)
- When I’m happy, I say so (Honesty cures all)
And then, there’s one thing I do throughout it all, when I’m happy it makes me giddier, when I’m sad it cheers me up, when I’m anxious it calms me down, when I’m mad, well usually I just measure things wrong and something turns out wonky, but Damn if I don’t feel less like Cruella Devill and more like Martha Stewart (Pre-jail era) once I’m done.
Baking.
I know, I know, it’s a bit dorky, but I just love getting my bake on. Wow, I could’ve made a comeback before that last sentence, but now I think I’m a real goner. A goner with sugar cookies mind you. I’m feeling extraordinarily rambly today in case you can’t tell… I love to bake, any excuse and I’m all over it. Usually every couple weeks or so I’ll bring in cookies, tarts or brownies for all the men at my work but every so often we have a birthday and I like to go all out.
Betty Crocker mixes begone, I stood Monday night in +24 kitchen (Unusually hot for Calgary this time of year) switching my oven on to 350. Good god in heave, that Amanda didn’t kill me and actually helped me with her artistry skills in cutting parchment paper was a miracle on 34st. So pulling out all stops for one of my favorites at the shop I brought out the 12 layer cake recipe. Yes, I just said 12 layers. 12. Layers. Actually here’s the part where I fess up and admit that I left two layers off accidentally and they actually are still sitting outside ‘cooling’ on top of the BBQ. (Camille code: I AM THE MOST FORGETFUL PERSON EVER!)
This time I actually remembered to get my camera for pictures of my kitchen debacle:
I’m a bit of a, shall we say, all-over-the-place baker…
I had an intense measuring system for making sure each baked cake would be the same amount of batter….I later showered to find beige batter in places beige batter ought not to go.
Almost done, this looks like an ad for Denny’s Pancakes, with a potentially diabetic coma inducing amount of syrup draped over them.
Excuse our mess of a fridge, and by our mess, I mean mostly my mess, because, well, look at that first picture. I’m kind of an all-over-the-place kind of person.
Look! Dishes! I can be helpful some of the time! 
“Do you realize, that you’ve got the most beautiful face”
She’s Morgan. My best friend forever. The one I’ll probably grow old beside, and argue over prune juice and wheel of fortune. To know her, is to love her, and that’s really all there is to say. No fancy thesauraus terms, just love. The kind that lasts forever, and through anything, the kind that lots of people don’t find in their entire lives. Sometimes, when the wind blows softly I can’t help but thank whatever force of nature brought Morgan into my life, gratefulness whispered off chapped lips time and time again.
Thank you for loving me despite the fact that I cut cheese crooked, talk too loudly, and swear a bit too much. Thank you for holding our childhood sentiments faithfully in your hands, for never forgetting Colby Moments or that time Mack fell in that pond, for the Chandler List and always thinking Jason and Liz should be together. For the times when you remind me my Mum would be proud of me, that compliment from you means more than I could describe in this decade.
Thank you for it all.
“Given the chance, I’m gonna be somebody, If for one dance, I’m gonna be somebody”
I am going to blog for a month. No more bullshit excuses. Sorry children for the vulgarity out there, but it had to be said.
It’s been on my 101 Life List and it’s something that I could so easily accomplish, well, more easily accomplish say versus swimming in the Dead Sea or being able to do 20 Push-ups in a row (Not the girl kind). So this is the month I set off to do it. I’m really going to try to shove more of me into this blog, as much as it has things I’ve wrote, pictures I’ve taken, feelings I’ve felt, I still feel like I’ve held a bit of myself back. Small parts of me, like for starters, that I’m someone who says bullshit. Yes Internet world, I’m not perfect, and in reality I’m a little rough around the edges, but hey, so are most people.
Why I picked September? Well, because it’s the best month of all of course. Not that I’m biased with a birthday in exactly four weeks I’ve got so much going on, my calendar is literally busting its threads with excitement, Elizabeth and Ryan’s wedding, Medicine Hat second shooting, my impromptu road trip through Utah to the ever wonderful Jessica Claire workshop and back around for turning twenty-three. Here’s to a September filled with blog posts and happyness.
And because posts without pictures suck, here’s a peak from the Kings of Leon concert last month. Anyone who doesn’t own Only By The Night, go buy it, right now, like five minutes ago right now. Note: I may or may not have attempted a zoolander panty removal in an attempt to slingshot my one true love Caleb Followill. Too much too soon blog? Sorry, I’ll ease into it next time 
“God Bless The Child”
Sometimes I’m too wordy.
Layne is one of my favorite people on the entire planet.
Just Cause. I could list thousands of reasons, some complex, some perfectly simple. She is superglued to the deepest layer of my heart, velcroed, stapled, nailed, and two-way taped there for the rest of time.
I hope I can always make her laugh just like this.
“Today is the greatest, day I’ve ever known”
You know, I’m not always sure how those in long-distance relationships make it work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an all-out romantic and in my heart of hearts I believe love can conquer any molehill or mountain (From the fiery pits of Mordor vs. Name brand ketchup issues) but, there is this sense of disconnection that seems to linger if you let it. I know the friendship part of this problem, as one of my bestest friends Marwa (See: Here) has lived in Edmonton for the better part of our friendship since High School.
In an attempt to tighten the threads between us we found a magican new website (Shout out to Morgan!) www.playlist.com It is magical, have I used that word yet? Cause I should use it three or four more times, magical, magical, magical! You combine with your friends and make playlists of all the songs you love. Yesterday listening to the tracks falling into sleep I felt like the foundation of our frendship was more rock solid than ever, and if we could all for that one moment be on the same page then we’d be alright, no matter what came at us.
We all have such differing tastes so along with adding our songs we’ve been posting up what we think of each others and why we’ve chose ours. Needless to say it’s been enlightening and hilarious all at the same time. I’ve copied a couple excerpts here cause they were too good to pass up. Anyone who is anyone should bookmark it stat, best of all its free (And I now I have indeed mentioned here before how much I adore, worship and love all free things)
Marissa’s Choice: 1. Crazy for this girl: This song takes me back to junior high every time I hear it. Back to Mr. Brown in the band room, Mrs. Lim and her orange concealer, Mike Steele’s locker, tube socks, watermelon bubalicious and Ms. Porter. Best line: “…and what was I thinking when the world didn’t end; why didn’t I know what I know now.”
Camille on Marissa’s Choice: 1. Evan and Jaron: Crazy for this Girl. I listen to this song and I’m honestly back in 1998, Junior High, at the school dance, DYING for some boy to ask me to dance. Picture me with braces, frizzed electric socket hair and sweaty, sweaty palms. Clearly, I was the biggest babe to ever hit Vincent Massey, that band department didn’t know what was going to hit them! Favorite Excerpt: “She was the one to hold me the night the sky fell down, and what was I thinking when the world didn’t end, why didn’t I know what I know now.”
PS. Here’s a picture I dug up from the abyss of my childhood, this is actually our Grade Nine Halloween dance. Can’t imagine why I had trouble making friends?
Camille’s Choice: “1. Ciara ft. Justin Timberlake: Love Sex Magic: Okay so clearly I’m a pop lover. But this, I know, even for me is a bit much. But it’s like From Justin to Kelly, so bad it’s good. I never even really liked Ciara, but BAM throw J. Timb in anything and it’s magically delicious. Seriously, he’s got a midas touch more intense than the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. I made the fateful mistake of watching the video last week, and now whenever I listen to the song, the coherent thought switch in my brain conveniently flickers rapidly. The lyrics are pretty amateur, but to the point, and really, Favorite Excerpt: “What’s your favorite trick that you wanna use on me And I’ll volunteer… “ That pretty much sums up all of my violently inappropriate string of thoughts on Taylor Lautner. Anybody see my Twilight Obsessed theme yet? I’ll openly admit really anyone who sees that trailer and feels nothing is dead inside.
Camille’s Choice: 2. Taking Back Sunday: Ghost Man on Third: As Butter Chicken is to beginner Indian food lovers, Taking Back Sunday is to beginner Screamo listeners. They’re pretty gentle especially in comparison to Underoath or one of those bands that spends about 90% of their songs in a consistent high-pitched scream with pretty unvarying pitches. Their lines cut cleverly and when they do scream, it seems like it’s filled with the perfect emotion and totally fits into the song. I love it, I usually listen to them when I’m bike riding, normally at 6:00 on my ten speed is the only place I can let out a guttural scream of lyrics and no one bothers me. To those living on my commute path, I apologize. In this song my favorite line is like chocolate raspberry gelato, smooth and rich (Am I hungry or why the sam hell can I only make food similes) “Then I’m as smooth as the skin rolls across the small of your back” I would like someone this smooth, more than I’d like butter chicken and gelato combined while walking down Main Street in Disney World. Desperate? Or just descriptive, you can make the call.
Marissa’s Choice: “Remember Me This Way” Jordan Hill: This is the song from Casper when Christina Ricci, her forehead, and Devon Sawa (who got to be human for an hour) dance together at her halloween party. I couldn’t resist the early 90’s nostalgia. Best line: If you loose your way, think back on yesterday, remember me this way ”
Camille’s Choice: I Want You Back: “Back before showbiz and plastic surgery ruined Michael. Need I say more? Who am I trying to kid, when in my life have I ever been able to keep my opinion to one sentence? It’ll be a cold day in hell my friends. I LOVE MOTOWN. I make no secret of it, it was THE best era for music. I don’t care what anyone says, I’ll fight them for it. I listen to Mr. Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, you name it, I dance to it. It’s my cleaning music, walk to work music, shake my groove thang music. Guaranteed, your having a shitty day, plug just ONE tune in, and you can’t help but smirk a little. This is one of my most frequently played, that and it gets double whammy awesome points cause it was in Now and Then, which lets face it, IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER (If there were an award for best exaggeration it would be me, but this time I mean it!) Devon Sawa, and Christina Ricci’s forehead, the key to a good movie!
Camille on Marissa’s Choice: To Be With You, Mr. Big: Okay, I CANNOT say enough about you adding this song. I LOVE THIS SONG. LOVE LOVE it. Not just let’s hold hands and giggle when we kiss teenage love, I’m talking fullblown here’s the engagement ring lets spend the rest of our lives together love. In my Mum’s rust colour Volvo we had a tape deck, and I remember rewinding and rewinding this song until one day it broke. I could never get enough, Favorite Excerpt: “Build up your confidence, so you can be on top for once, Wake Up who cares about little boys that talk too much” Marissa this song solidifies our BFF status in cement, as if it weren’t already. ”
Note 2.0: Marwa’s comments aren’t featured on here because she has yet to wax poetic on her choices, but she’s added such classics as All The Small Things (Blink 182), I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls and Today by Smashing Pumpkins
“On a prayer, in a song, I hear your voice and it keeps me hanging on”
I’ve been alive for 22 years. 8282 Days. 198790 Hours. 11927434 minutes. 715646103 seconds. A while now. And out of every breath and heartbeat I can still think of my most favorite moment.
It was way back in the day J, I was about nine years old, still living in my hometown Medicine Hat. And to make a long story short I’d had a horrible weekend away in Calgary. Gone from my home, filled with arguments and several bouts of tears. I’d spent hours begging, pleading, groaning with my Mum to come save me. But, she’d insisted I could handle it, and we’d talk about it when I got home.
Coming home I had the quivery lip, you know that one that shakes no matter how hard you bite it? That one. And red-rimmed eyes, and a sore heart. I met my Mum on our driveway and clung to a hug of exasperated exhaustion, walking around arm in arm to our backyard I stumbled blindly onto friend after friend screaming ‘Surprise’. My Mum had organized a Feel Good party. She’d gathered each of my friends, rented a Trampoline (so, the rage) hung balloons, ordered pizza, and best of all had everyone write their own cards as to why we were friends, what they liked best about me. It was one of those afternoons where you think your heart just can’t fill anymore up, it’s right up to the brim with happiness and love and laughter and everything that makes childhood perfect.
That was the kind of Mum she was. Out of the ordinary, unique, original. Always finding new and old, big and small ways to show me how much she loved me. Of course we had our stumbles, and things weren’t always easy, but to this day I have never and will never doubt all the love we had for each other.
She passed away three years ago, and finally this April on the Anniversary (April 6th) we stood on a pier and said one more goodbye. Sometimes the sadness of it all can still sit in my throat, or right in the lowest deepest part of my gut, or the worst; in the direct center of my heart. But once I swallow it. Once I let it beat through, I know how lucky I am to have even just one more breath with all those I love still here. How everytime I hug my Aunty Pam, laugh with Layne, call Karla, think of Morgan, visit Marwa I do it with just a little extra oomp. I know that hugs and laughs and phone calls are a gift, and one more days is glorious. So if you’ve scrolled through and read this all, I hope you go call someone you love, hug just that second longer, laugh just that little bit louder. In the end who you love and how you loved them really seems to be the only thing that matters.
Ps. Note: There is Grafitti pictured there, and though some may condemn it, it was small, tasteful, and on a part of the small pier that you can’t see until up close. I felt justified in that I wasn’t just spraying another profanity on there, but that it was a little dedication to the most amazing woman I think this world may have ever seen.
“How will you ever know, the way that circumstances go, always gonna hit you by surprise”
To be spontaneous.
I’d like to think I’m an easy-going person, most of the time you could probably even use the word impulsive to describe a good fair chunk of my personality, but last month for the first time I did something truly spur-of-the-moment. My family and I had spent the better part of a week in the Ontario region (post on that soon!) and nearing the end my Uncle and I had planned a trip to New York. Ontario had been filled with dreary, soaked-to-the-bone days and our American Travel future wasn’t lit with bright optimism. So the night before we were scheduled to leave we sat down and searched out all the travelocities, and expedias and underneath a little stone found a steal of a deal to Cuba.
Sandy beaches and sunny days, yes please! So with my wooly sweaters on the greyhound back home, we headed to Varadero. Where I honestly had five of the best days of my life. I could never find the words to describe how kind and considerate the people there were. We went into Havana nearly everyday, walking cobbled streets, dirt streets, small pathways. Lines upon lines of clothes drying in the air, sweat slicked to the back of your neck, it was truly glorious.
How many hours I lay floating in that ocean I could never add, something about that white sand and endless blue sky. We had been in Ontario for the spreading of my Mum’s ashes, and to have it finished, and to be able to feel every ray of sunshine in every pore of my skin was magnificent, wonderful, brilliant.
Of course I attached my camera to my side, loving all the differences in culture, people, landscape that Cuba brought, here are some of my most favorite.
*Also, I am working on updating the pictures so they aren’t so impossible to view by thumbnail. Bear with me for now!
“When it snows, ain’t it thrilling, Though your nose gets a chilling We’ll frolic and play, the Eskimo way, Walking in a winter wonderland”
Okay, so it’s been a dreadfully long time since I’ve posted. But it’s been a bit of a whirl wind these past two months, and trying to find the time to come back here to the words and photos I love seemed impossible. After so much time had passed I knew I couldn’t come back with the same tail between my legs like I do everytime procrastination swallows me whole, so I’ve been working these past two weeks to tweak and adorn with love, my new blog!
It’s been a long time coming, but it is FINALLY here. I’ve got a shwack load of posts I’m excited to share and I’m hoping I kick this thing of right with regular blog posting and no falling off the face of the planet allowed.
To start things off nicely I’m sharing some new stuff, we spent our usual May long weekend up at the happiest place on earth, Pine Lake (it’s no Disney Land, but you’d be hard pressed to convince me otherwise) About two-ish hours out of the city it’s got junk food that doesn’t count on your hips, endless hours for book reading and a lake to sea-doo on like no other. Of course this year Mother Nature had her say to keep us out of the water as it just thawed two weeks ago, so we spent the weekend full of chores and pulling the docks back into the murky freezing water.
Today on our last morning we woke up to inches of snow, a first at our beloved cabin, so we decided to take a chill-rific ride around the lake, here’s some hilarious photos of my cousins freezing their hineys off.
