She's So Heavy

I commented on my last blog entry that I've realized most of my entries here are rather serious and reflective. They also don't say much about me and my life, at least not aside from what goes on in my head. This isn't a bad thing, but I'm certainly not serious and reflective ALL THE TIME. So, I decided that I needed to lighten up a bit and share a bit of who I am (but not TOO much) when I'm not in my head reflecting.

Besides, what's in my head can be, frankly, a tad scary. You don't wanna spend too much time in there.

One thing I really didn't want to do with this blog is get too personal. Not to be rude, but there are a fair amount of blogs out there that are little more than vanity projects for people to vent every single detail about everything that happens to them and sometimes it's just TMI, ya know? I don't mind talking about details of my life on here, but I prefer to be more vague, i.e. not use people's names or give too much away. This all being said, I realized that people reading this will be able to relate to me a lot better if I put myself out there a little more. This is something I need to work on anyway - I tend to put walls up against people and it's silly. It's not like the universe will implode if I tell people about myself! (it won't, right?)

Anyway, long story short, I wanted to change gears a little today and tell you a bit about me!
This is me:

Cute, eh? (yes, I said 'eh'; can you guess where I'm from?). Here's what my normal face looks like:

Well, I wouldn't say normal as I don't normally look like I just rolled out of bed (except when I've just rolled out of bed). Forgive the scruffiness - pulled my hair back and put comfy clothes on to go for a walk as SOON as I got home it was so warm and sunny. Got my hair cut yesterday and I think he made my bangs too short and shaggy, but just think I need to get used them. Anyway, just wanted to make sure you realize my hair is pulled behind my head where you can't see it; I CANNOT and therefore DO NOT rock short hair without looking like a fat-faced, 13 year old boy.

Here's my roomie:

Isn't she pretty?! :D Her name is Nut-Nut (DON'T look at me - she was originally my brother's cat and he named her. I call her Nutty - and she is kinda, so it's fitting). She's an old, cranky lady but she's sweet. And best of all she doesn't leave the toilet seat up.

This is my city:

Halifax, Nova Scotia. Yes, it's a real place, and no I don't know Buddy MacDonald-whats-his-name. This place isn't THAT small. There's about 400,000 people in the whole city (though, granted the boundaries stretch out pretty far). It's actually made up of a bunch of smaller cities mashed together. I'm actually from the city on the other side of the harbour called Dartmouth. To give some context to the uninitiated, Dartmouth contains a small community called Cole Harbour which has the distinction of being the birthplace (and growing up place) of hockey superstar Sidney Crosby. And, no I didn't go to high school with him.

I like it - it's not Toronto or Vancouver but it's big enough that there are things to do and small enough that people smile and say hi to you when they walk by and hold doors open for you. I live in the North End of the city, which was almost totally flattened by the Halifax Explosion of 1917 (if you have never heard of this, good lord read a book!). The house where my flat is was one of the group built after the disaster to house the homeless so it's a bout 90 years old, which is pretty cool. It's a quiet tree-lined street with lots of young, hip, artsy families and great coffee shops and restaurants. It's still a ghetto in areas, but it's improving. I love the character of it and can't wait for the trees to all bloom again because it's so pretty!!

This is my mommy:

You can see where I get my huge, bemused eyes from. She'll probably kill me for putting this photo up because she hates all photos of herself (though I don't understand WHY). Seriously though, my mom's more like my friend; we hang out all the time and we're so alike it's scary. She always gives great advice and she's taught me to always be independent and self-sufficient. She basically raised 4 kids all by herself! She's amazing.

This is my sister:

She's 5 years older than me and has Down's Syndrome. She's actually very high-functioning compared to some others with her condition. She's very quiet and shy but also very sweet. Don't get me wrong, there are many times she makes me so mad I want to smack her, but she wouldn't be my sister if that wasn't the case, right?! I'd be lying if I said it was easy growing up in the shadow of a disabled sibling, but one thing's for sure it wasn't boring! And I wouldn't trade my quirky little family for anything because it's made me into a very open-minded, tolerant person. If only everyone else in the world were so accepting of people who are "different". I think "different" people are WAY cooler to hang out with than normal people. Normal is boring.

Well I could go on and on but, considering these photos are taking EONS to load and my brain is slowly shutting down, I think I'll stop. Plus, I think this gives enough of an idea of who I am that you can (hopefully) relate to me better. Again, I'm planning on doing more posts like this - more "fluffy" and funny ones - just to mix it up a bit! Hope you enjoyed learning about my boring life - hah!

In conclusion I'd like to share this with you:

For no other reason than it's awesome. Yay for afternoon cupcake and latte breaks! (though, I must say Starbucks, your cupcake was rather dry and therefore disappointing. Think I'll stick to Susie's, thanks).

*A useless little tidbit you might like to know about my blog - I always title my posts after songs and/or song lyrics. I'm not sure why, I just think it's fun. I guess I was inspired by one of my fav shows True Blood - every episode is named after a song and that song is always played at the end during the closing credits. Anyway, makes me think a little bit and adds a little something different to my posts, I think*