Pod Squad

I attended my first Halifax Podcamp this past weekend and I'm so glad I finally got there.

Podcamp is an "unconference" about social media and marketing, which basically means it's an informal conference - anyone can host a session and discussion is encouraged. Best of all, the entire day was FREE!

Although I don't do any marketing or social media work at my day job, I hope to someday and I am very involved in social media in my spare time and hope to pick up more contract work to keep my communications skills up. So, the information was certainly useful to me on a personal level and I think anyone who spends a significant amount of their time on social media or marketing activities would find the information helpful, whether it's your day job or not. Learning new things is never a bad way to spend a Sunday!

I attended 3 sessions altogether - Branding in the Digital Age, How to Get Good Ideas, and the 5th Annual State of Social Media in Atlantic Canada.

The first session (delivered by Sean Williams of Brand Bandit) reminded me of being in PR class, but in a good way. He refreshed my memory on the basics of branding and brought up good points about how a brand is about the emotional side of a company or person as much as the physical and practical points.

The second session (delivered by Mike Hayes of Free Agent Factory) revolved around strategies for coming up with ideas. A lot of the suggestions Mike gave seemed like 'no-brainers' (two heads are better than one, rest up, fuel your brain, etc) however they are also things that most of us don't remember to do when we're actually in the moment. I will definitely keep some of the tips in mind next time I am sitting down trying to get some ideas on paper.

The third session (delivered by Giles Crouch of Media Badger) was basically the keynote of the conference (if there was a keynote) and presented the findings of the annual survey of social media activities in Atlantic Canada. Some of the findings were really surprising (activity on Linkedin increased by 67% over last year) and eye-opening (women are 8x more likely to share content then men). It was all a fascinating exercise in psychology and it was nice to see some local stats. This session was definitely important education for anyone who deals with social media and marketing in Atlantic Canada. (Psst you can read the report highlights here).

Not only did I attend a bunch of free, great sessions but I also had a lovely latte and croissant (prosciutto and provolone - gah!) from Two If By Sea - one of the best cafes in HRM (imho) and an even lovelier brunch at Nectar Social House with fellow Podcamper, Megan. Wow! This place is gorgeously decorated inside and the food is delish. My poached eggs parisienne was a refreshing detour from my usual eggs benedict and (coincidentally) our waitress was a fellow tweep who recognized us from our avatars (did I mention the Halifax Twitter community rocks?).

I also had a twist on the usual mimosa - a "nectarosa", which was cranberry juice and champagne. Very refreshing! I will definitely be back to this little downtown Dartmouth gem!

Social media is so much fun when your local community is so active, friendly, supportive and interesting. I'm proud to be part of the Halifax social media tribe!

Beer Gut

All Photos by me - Seaport Brewing Co., Portland ME

Don't let the above photo fool you.

This never used to be me - I was never much of a beer person - at least until I met my boyfriend. I would have one here and there when out with friends at a pub but would never buy it for myself to drink at home, didn't really understand the differences between different kinds and always kind of thought of it as a drink better suited to males of considerable size and not so considerable manners.

However, my boyfriend is a beer connoisseur - he understands how it is made, is knowledgeable about different brands and loves to try different brews from different places. I have to say he has opened my mind considerably about beer and I find myself enjoying sampling different kinds as well, and appreciating them more also.

Do you know how much work goes into making one batch of beer? There are like a million steps! So, it takes a lot of care and patience. And there are endless flavours that can be concocted from different brewing methods, which I really never realized before. I am kind of in awe of the amount of love and devotion that brewers put into their craft.

We recently went on a road trip to New England and I discovered that there is a huge contingent of microbreweries in this area. We visited the Shipyard Brewing Company in Portland, Maine and sampled all of their bestselling brews (and perhaps picked up a few drink-related items in the gift shop). Their Pumpkinhead Ale is delicious and is now one of my favourites!

We ate out at one of Portland's most acclaimed restaurants and drank a couple other great local beers (Allagash White and Narragansett Summer Ale). We even came home with a variety case of various beer, many of them from New England (thank you, lax USA liquor laws) so we can keep up the tasting long after the trip. They really brew with love down there. You can practically feel the warmth of pride radiating through your body when you pick up the bottle and tip the liquid down your throat.

Some of our haul

Just a couple weekends ago, the Seaport Beerfest was held here in Halifax and we got to sample even more! I tried 9 or 10 to be exact, which is actually less than last year (I think I topped out at 15). This time we got to try beer from all over the world and across Canada. I tried concoctions brewed with everything from coffee and cocoa to spruce leaves and pears (another new discovery: I am also a big fan of cider now - and hey, there are some great ones made in Nova Scotia!). 

Always a lover of silly, random facts I was greatly amused by a marketing project employed by Northampton Brewing out of Fredericton - their Melonhead brew (a watermelon flavoured beer) features a photo of a crazy-looking cat wearing a watermelon helmet, which is funny enough by itself, but they actually hold a contest wherein people submit photos of their cat and each year the company chooses a new one to grace the label! We bought a bottle of this last year in Quebec with a grey striped Tabby on it, and the posters at Beerfest had a black cat with its tongue sticking out. I think I'm going to enter this photo for consideration next year, what do you think?:

I am so short I could barely get my head in that hole. For reals.

I smell best-seller.

Don't like beer? I understand, I used to be with you, but I would encourage you to give it a chance. There is so much more out there than Bud Light (lets be honest, you might as well have water as that).

Are you a beer-drinker? What is your favourite summer patio refresher? Have you ever written off a specific type of drink only to discover a newfound appreciation for it?

Hidden Gems: tommy mcculloch

This post is part of my Hidden Gems series. To read up on what this is all about, check out this post.

For this week's HG, I wanted to highlight a cute little place that I walk by every morning on my way into the office. For those of you that don't know, I work at a large University in my home city and in order to get to my office in the administration building, I have to cut through the Life Sciences Centre.

Tucked into a connector section between the two buildings, enclosed in a glass "box" is the Thomas McCulloch Museum. I never realized this place was here until I started commuting to my current job and I barely noticed its presence during the first few weeks. Well, I did notice it but in kind of a subconscious way. Mainly I just saw the glass display cases holding lots of bizarre things like taxidermy, mushrooms, bones and shells and thought "hm, why is all this stuff here? Weird". Then kept walking. 

One day I decided I needed to learn more about this odd and nondescript place - it seemed so wrong to walk by it every day and not know anything about it (you know in Love Actually when Hugh Grant tells Natalie that he wants her to tell him about herself because working alongside her every day and knowing so little about her feels elitist and wrong? Anyone? Bueller?...just me? Ok, moving on...)

From the Museum website:

Thomas McCulloch was a Scots Presbyterian minister, an educator and a political reformer. He came to Pictou, Nova Scotia in 1803 from Scotland at the age of twenty-seven. His controversial views and opposition of the establishment left a lasting impact on Nova Scotia and eventually on Canada.

-          He arrived in Pictou when the colony was growing and in need of education and change.

-          He became a missionary and a minister of the First Presbyterian Church.

-          The founder and principal of Pictou Academy.

-          He was ordained in the Secessionist Church.

-          The first principal of Dalhousie College in Halifax in 1838.

-          He created the Audubon mounted bird collection in the McCulloch Museum.

-          McCulloch sent a collection of Nova Scotian insects to the University of Glasgow who in recognition of the gift awarded him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1822.

-          McCulloch had a profound belief that education should be liberal and available to everyone. Therefore he felt his greatest work was the creation of Pictou Academy which manifested these beliefs. He was met with a lot of opposition from the officials of the time.

 Cool, huh? McCulloch came to Dalhousie in 1883 and taught Logic, Rhetoric and Philosophy for five years. He also developed a series of scientific lectures which he took on tour throughout the Maritime provinces, which supposedly greatly piqued the public's interest in and knowledge of biology.

The highlight of the museum is McCulloch's preserved bird collection - 22 cases altogether! All Nova Scotia birds mounted in natural settings (according to the Audubon style). The museum also includes a mushroom collection, coral and shell collection, and butterfly and insect collections - all contributed to by life science professors at Dalhousie.

You can visit the museum for free daily between 8:30am and 4:30pm and classes are often held here. 

Ok, I know some of you are thinking "This place is just a bunch of dead/stuffed things in cases...how boring is that?". But I think it's fascinating that this man took the time to amass so many specimens and that there is a free space just steps from my office that I can peruse anytime I like and learn about species I have never even heard of. The natural world is so fascinating and complex; there is so much to learn about it and I feel the only way to really have full respect for this world is to educate ourselves as much as we can. That is why I think this museum is cool. 

Plus, it's sort of quirky and a little weird, and I always love things like that. And it's always nice to learn a bit more history about the storied institution where I work (I think it makes me appreciate it more). 

And to think most people just walk right by this museum with barely a second glance. I'm glad I took the time to learn more about this hidden gem. 

Do you know of a person, place or thing that you think is really cool but is not very well-known? Are there little pieces of paradise in your city/province or in cities that you have visited that are off-the-beaten-path, but you think everyone should know about them? Well, I want to post about them on Gathers No Moss! Email me, tweet @KimHumes or leave a comment and I'll share it in an upcoming post! Here's to celebrating the little things! And exploring off-the-path to find them!

Tasting and Travelling at Nomadic Foodie

Hey y'all! I am guest-posting today over at Nomadic Foodie. I LOVE this blog - I mean it's about food and travel (two of my fav things) - what's not to like?! Check it out here and please let me know what you think. I hope it opens people's eyes to the awesome foodie and tourism culture we have here in Halifax and Nova Scotia. 

Not to be confused with this Beerfest.

What are you tasting and where are you travelling this Tuesday?

Photo by the boy (on my camera)

Blueberry Fields Forever

One of the great things about living in Nova Scotia in the summer is the abundance of delicious and fresh local food being grown only an hour from the city. So when the boy and I were looking for something fun (as we are often wont to do) one sunny afternoon post-swim, we thought:

"We should go blueberry-picking!" (ok, so maybe we have a weird idea of what is fun, but what can I say, we're dorks at heart)

This is how we ended up at Blueberry Acres.

Blueberry Acres is a U-Pick blueberry farm in Centreville, NS. We arrived on Natal Day, late afternoon, unsure if they would even be open, but luckily we arrived to find the fields open for business!

The "Blueberry Express", aka an air-conditioned bus, picks you up at the main building and drops you off out in the field where a worker will choose an good area for you to pick from. This place is HUGE, so the bus makes it so much more convenient. We arrived early in the season so there were still quite a few bunches that were not quite ripe, but there were still enough blue, fat ones to fill our box.

I could not believe the SIZE of these babies! HUGE, just the way I like them (read into that what you may). I am surprised we even filled our box we ate so many in between picking (teehee). It was a super hot and sunny day, and it was actually nice to be there early in the season because it was not crowded at all. There were only a few other couples picking so it was very quiet and peaceful. Apparently if we had gone a couple of weeks later, there would have been 10 times the people!

When we got back and weighed our haul, it came to about 8 pints, which cost us $16. For those of you not good at math (I feel your pain) , that's approximately $2 a pint. For those of you who don't buy bb's in the grocery store (at least around where I live), a pint of bb's there will easily cost you twice that, so I think we got an amazing deal. 8 pints is a TON for two people to share, even if you eat a cup every day!

In fact, the week after we picked them all, I made TWO BLUEBERRY PIES. That's right. TWO. I have never made a pie in my life so I was concerned they would turn out disgusting, but I have to say they taste pretty darn good! I cheated and bought pre-packaged Pillsbury crust, which I am not proud of but it saved me so much time. I looked up a random, basic BB pie recipe online and used that as a guideline and the filling is quite tasty. I think for my next venture, I may try a more ambitious recipe, but for my first time I just wanted to keep it simple. 

Here is the recipe I used for the filling, in case you are interested:

For each pie

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• Teaspoon (approx) of maple syrup
• Few drops of lemon juice

Basically you just toss everything together in a bowl, pour it in the crust in the pan, making sure the layers are even (as I mentioned, I used Pillsbury pie crust - each box comes with 2 crusts, 1 for the top, 1 for the bottom). At 425 degrees, mine took about 35 minutes to bake, even though the recipe I referenced called for 50 minutes (!). The syrup and lemon juice were not in the recipe, but I just threw those in to see how it would taste - not sure it made a difference but I like to think it added a bit of flavour (the berries we picked were pretty flavourful on their own, though, so I wouldn't recommend adding too much and messing with that).

YUM!

Know what the best part is? After I baked, I divided the remaining berries up so that the boy could take some home and I could freeze some, and they filled 2 margarine container-sized tubs. and two large tupperware containers! I gave the boy half, and I have been eating them on my cereal every morning now for about 2 weeks and I have barely made a dent. If I freeze one of my two containers, I would say I will still have enough to last me until Winter rears it's ugly-ass head.

Maybe they will be getting low just in time to go apple-picking! Mmm apple pie...

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

I never post twice in one day, but just wanted to give a head's up that my 2nd blog post is up on Nova Scotia Blogs. This one outlines a fun little trip the boy and I took to Deadman's Island city park last month - a place I never knew existed in my own city (and that has a dark past).

Feel free to read on!

I Hate You, I Love You

My mini recap of True Blood, episode 5 is now up on You Know You Love Fashion! Sookie wore what I would say is my FAVOURITE dress ever on last night's episode. Observe:

Umm, super cute, no? You can't see the back, but it ties with two bows and is possibly even cuter than the front. I had seen this photo around the interwebs and was wondering if this dress was ever going to appear on the show so I could get a closer look, and there it was on Sunday night! Just goes to show that you do sometimes get what you wish for. 

I am liking the turn of character that Eric is experiencing this season - I think he is realizing what an a-hole he has been in his life up until now and (maybe?) will honestly try and change that, even if he gets his memory back. I still think he's bad news for Sookie, but whatever. There wouldn't be a show if she realized vampire men were bad for her, now would there?

Anyhoo, um you guys I just realized that AUGUST IS NEXT WEEK?! What the eff? The good news is I have Monday off though (yay for Natal Day in Canada!), and therefore a 4 day work week next week. Besides, I had an awesome weekend:

*Friday: Unfortunately had a rather horrid day at work, but the evening made up for it with a haircut (god, I love Laurel at Flaunt in Halifax! She really knows what she's doing!) and the start of the Al Fresco Film Festival here in Halifax! In case you couldn't tell by the title, the fest is all about watching movies outdoors on the waterfront. So. Much. Fun. 

They have dubbed this year  "Summer of Murray" and are playing all Bill Murray films, which is awesomesauce. Friday night was Meatballs, which I had never heard of, but enjoyed for its silly humour and 70's hair-do's and outfits. Actually, a lot of the outfits the gals wore would work for today too, which was kind of cool!

See? Check out Miss Cute Checkered pink shirt + red shorts over there!
Camp Counsellor Chic if I ever saw it.

*Saturday: Saturday the boy and I roused ourselves before 10am (which is a feat for us on the weekend) and went for breakfast (post to come on that!), ran a couple of errands, then headed to the wedding of a friend of mine from University. Her and her man have been together for a few years now, and they have an adorable little 2-year-old daughter together, so it was really sweet to be able to share this special day with them. The three of them broke with tradition and walked down the aisle together, rather than Jenn's parents giving her away, and I thought that was really nice. Unfortunately they had to move the ceremony inside due to weather, but it was still lovely. 

Saturday night was spent on the boys couch watching Memento - have you ever seen that movie?! If not, you really should -  you have to pay attention because it is a tad confusing but such a neat concept! Christopher Nolan is seriously one of the most creative filmmakers out there right now. 

Guy Pearce is hot. True story.

*Sunday:  The boy and I went whale watching in the morning (again, another post to come on this!), which was "meh" - didn't see anything of note, but it was a beautiful day and being on the water was soothing. I spent the afternoon cleaning (yahoo!), cooking Greek-style meatballs with artichokes in the slow cooker (must have been in a meatball mood this weekend; read into that what you will), catching up with the bff in Alberta on Skype, getting writing projects done, and watching the newest episode of Auction Hunters. 

How was your weekend? Do anything exciting? 

Have you seen any of these movies?

West Eats Meat*

Last night I was lucky enough to enjoy a concert on behalf of a hotel that we deal with at work. I was part of a group of "hand-selected" clients to be invited to the Halifax Jazz Festival tent to hear the musical stylings of Harry Manx and Sisters Euclid!

All photos by me

I was pretty excited for this - both because it is awesome to get invited to free stuff (lets be honest, here), and because I am always up for discovering new music. I knew both of these artists had a blues-style sound, and I love blues music so I was looking forward to hearing both.

Well, I was SO impressed! Harry Manx is a "slide guitarist" - he plays guitar with it laying flat on his lap - and also plays banjo and harmonica. The person who introduced him referred to his musical style as "Mysti-ssippi", which I think was the perfect description. It was this really cool mix of raw southern-style country-blues-rock and dreamy Indian-Latin-style mystic music. I loved his covers of Crazy Love (one of my favourite songs) and Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix=love). He was also really funny, providing witty banter between songs, including several jibes at JP Cormier (a popular local blues guitarist).

Guest artists included a keyboardist from Australia (to be honest, I forget his name! Ah, terrible. But his sound was SO neat - it was set to sound sort of like a gospel organ; really added to the raw southern sound of the songs), and Mike Cowie, who is a local trumpeter who plays in lots of restaurants/lounges around town regularly. Man, can that guy play! I feel sweaty and out of breath just watching him!

Mike Cowie - he always wears this hat

Sisters Euclid came out after a break, and despite what the name suggests there are no women in this group and they are not hippies. The group consists of four guys - I was especially impressed by the guitar player and the keyboard/accordion player. They were both really funny and their fingers were so fast during some of the numbers they were like a blur!

Their sound was a little more "funky" blues than Harry's, and honestly a couple of the songs had so much "noise" going on it was a little overwhelming for my little brain, but I was really impressed with the fun layering of the songs in any case. Harry joined them for a couple of songs at the end, including another Jimi Hendrix tune (Voodoo Child! YES!) because he and the guitar player are good buddies who just released their 3rd disk together.

I had never heard of either of these acts before this show so really didn't know what to expect, but I am so glad I discovered them. To be honest, the homogeneity and unoriginality of most of mainstream music today really gets me down so it is so nice to hear artists that are passionate and real and have amazing talent and are not just a marketing machine. It's just a shame that so many great artists don't get the full recognition they deserve outside of small circles. I just love having my mind expanded and opened by creative people!

Halifax is no Montreal or St. Lucia (two places that both have huge, high profile jazz fests every year) but I think our festivals can certainly rival the ones of bigger cities in terms of organization, fun and variety. This is the 25th anniversary for the Jazz Fest, so they must be doing something right!

And beyond the Jazz Fest, there are TONS of really great festivals in Halifax and Nova Scotia in the summer - the city really does buzz and sing in the summer like no time of year. Just in the past few weeks there has been the Greek Fest, Atlantic Fashion Week, Canada Day festivities, Lebanese Fest, Dragon Boat Fest, and coming up there is Pride Week, Atlantic Film Fest, Natal Day festivities, Beer Fest, Seafood Fest, etc, etc, etc. Summer is short here, but we certainly make the most of it.

On a completely unrelated note, I am discovering that my new kitty is quite the goon and likes to get into things. She also really likes cool things (hence why she often sprawls on the floor or table). I was in the bathroom yesterday getting ready for bed, left for 2 minutes, came back in and found this:

Meh.

Needless to say I laughed out loud. I probably should be annoyed that she is getting fur all over my sink, and will likely track her wet paws on my floor once she jumps out, but what can I say - I'm a cat person and we are weird.

Happy HUMP day!

*If you are curious about the odd blog title, this is the name of one of Harry Manx's CD's - funny, eh?

Hidden Adventures (and frustrations)

My first blog post for Nova Scotia.com is now live! You can read it here.

As always, any feedback is appreciated! I hope my entries encourage those of you that live here to explore here more, and those of you that don't live here to visit sometime!

Photo taken by me, Five Islands Provincial Park

Unfortunately I am still sick - although I'm feeling better, I'm still not feeling good. Throat is still sore, still have a fever and generally low energy but I'm back to work because I just can't afford to take any more time off. I hate to complain about temping because it's helping me pay the bills while I look for a permanent job, they have been good to me, and ultimately I am the one choosing to do it, but I have to be honest - I am getting really really sick of not having a job that gives me paid sick or vacation time. Or that provides any kind of stability whatsoever.

First, they do not provide direct deposit, so I have to rely on waiting for cheques in the mail or going out of my way to pick them up (which was super-fun during the month-long postal strike). I am not provided any sick or vacation time, so these past two days I had to take off due to illness are a huge hit to my paycheque. Plus, I realized today that I was not paid for Canada Day (last Friday) even though it's a stat holiday because I didn't work the first scheduled day after the holiday (which was Monday in this case). I had remembered you had to work 15 of the previous 30 days in order to qualify for stat holiday pay, but had forgotten this other rule. So, this means TWO weeks of short paycheques in a row (one day short from last week, and next week will be two days short). Great.

Maybe I'm being a baby about this, but I don't really get why it's ok to doc me money because I physically COULD NOT work the first shift after the holiday. I can't help that I was sick - if I could have gone into work, I would have, but I couldn't. Besides, I shouldn't have to go into work if I feel it's endangering my health - it's not fair to me, and it's not fair to my coworkers. There is something wrong with a system that means people are dragging themselves into work half-dead simply to put in time to meet archaic and ridiculous rules. I had to borrow money from my mother in order to get a prescription and bus tickets because I have been so short the last couple of weeks. I HATE borrowing money from my mother, even though she doesn't mind and I appreciate it.

I am just getting so sick of temping. It's keeping my head above water and I appreciate that, and I certainly make more money doing it than I would if I took a retail job. But I barely make enough to get by and I am so tempted to just say "screw it" to finding a job in my field and just look for something that is easy to get but at least allows me a stable paycheque and benefits, like a secretary or receptionist somewhere. I feel like I have my foot in the door (finally) to a permanent career in a field I actually enjoy, so I am reluctant to pull that foot out, but I am just getting so sick of the unpredictability and stress that temporary work is giving me.

Sorry to rant - opening my cheque this morning just put me in a bad mood and I felt I needed to write it out.

Am I wrong? I know I should just quit complaining and do something about it, but I'm sort of at the point where I don't know WHAT to do. I feel like I'm damned if I do something, damned if I don't. Thoughts? Anyway, I'll figure it out - I'm just cranky today and need a nap. Or a giant cupcake.

Thanks for listening, internet.

Short Week for a Short Chick

Well, it's a short week here in Canada since it's a holiday tomorrow (Happy Birthday to my lovely country!). So, even though today is Thursday, it's technically my Friday.

Take a minute to let that sink in. I know, it's a mind-twister.

The best thing about this long weekend is that they are predicting SUN ALL WEEKEND! Trust me, we are lucky to get that here in Halifax, especially lately when the heavens have apparently deemed us to be experiencing a drought and decided to drop the entire Nile River on top of us. Thanks for nothing, Gods; you would think we would deserve better treatment for worshipping you all day long...
...

Anyhoo, suffice to say I am excited about the long weekend. Here are some other things I am excited about right now:

> The Canada Post strike is over, which means I am FINALLY receiving things in the mail I have been waiting on for at least a month. I got my heart necklace from Heart of Haiti, that I received for my participation in this blog promotion. It is really cute (see!) and I can see myself wearing it all summer with many different ensembles. I am still waiting on a book I ordered on Amazon, and a fun gift bag I won through a blog giveaway. It also means I won't have to go a half hour out of my way on the way home to pick up my paycheques anymore (usually they are mailed to me, but obviously with the postal strike - no mail, so I had to go to the office in person which is an annoying chore when you don't have a car and your city's bus system sucks balls).

That's right, the temp agency I work for does not have direct deposit. Apparently they are living in 1911 and not 2011. Though can't complain too much, because without them I'd pretty much be living in a box at the Dockyards.

> My boyfriend and I are planning on visiting Thomas Raddall Park down the south shore of Nova Scotia tomorrow to pick up the 3rd geocache in a series I wrote about here (post may not be up yet because they have a backlog). I'm looking forward to a little road trip and getting some fresh air and exercise. Friday night is bringing a free concert back in the city for Canada Day, featuring The Trews and The Stanfields (which are awesome local bands that have made it pretty big, at least in Canada)*. And, of course, fireworks. It wouldn't be Canada's birthday without fireworks.

> On Saturday we are hoping to go on a bike ride. My boyfriend bought a bike recently and really wants to get back into biking regularly. I have not been on a bike in, oh, 10 years I would say and even when I was skinny and fit enough to ride one I didn't do it that often. It will be interesting to see how this goes. Looking forward to it though, despite what you might think. Not looking forward to the wiping out part, but maybe that won't happen. More than twice.

> On Sunday, I will be getting a new roomie! She's part ginger, has a great personality and is apparently really funny and entertaining. Here she is:

Isn't she cute?? via Twin Bridges Photography

Meet Bella! She is actually my friend's mom's cat. Her poor mom has to find a home for the cat because she has a new little grandchild running around plus another on the way, and the cat does not get along well with the kids. She needs to be in a home with no kids and no other pets, and it just so happens that I have been really wanting to get another kitty (I have been so missing have a pet since I had to put my Nutty down last Fall) and have a quiet home with no other pets or kids (just me!). I'm taking her in for a trial for a few weeks starting Sunday. We will see how we click and if we are living well together than I will keep her! I'm really excited to get to know her. I will be back with an update in a few weeks, I'm sure. (side thought - wouldn't it be cool if you could do "trial runs" with people roomies? If after 2 weeks, they are not picking up their dirty clothes or washing their dishes, you can boot them out the door! Sweet, huh? I think I'm onto something...)

Other places I have been this week:
* Check out my first True Blood mini-recap on You Know You Love Fashion!
* I posted a couple reviews on Yelp this week - one for a local Irish pub, and one for a new favourite cafe in my neighbourhood that serves amazing gelato
* I went to see Bad Teacher on Tuesday and it was really funny. I have to say, even though Cameron Diaz's character is a jerk, it's refreshing to see female characters in movies that have sass, independence and a little bit of crude. Women need to see characters beyond the scope of the sickly sweet rom-com heroines that are constantly shoved down our throats (IMHO) *endrant*

What are you excited about this week? What are your weekend plans?

*ok, all the bands I really like seem to start with "The" - what is that about? I'm sure there is a Freudian theory of some kind to explain such things...

My Nova Scotia

Just a quick note to say that I'm a newly minted blogger over at NovaScotia.com!

This blog network is basically a tourism tool for the province - local bloggers write about their adventures in Nova Scotia to educate people about the province, and hopefully to encourage them to visit! I love exploring where I live and sharing those explorations with people, so I can't wait to get started. This is brand, brand new so I haven't started posting yet, but keep your eyes peeled! I'll make sure to link to here whenever I post over there so you can keep up with my adventures, too (or at least try to - I'm pretty speedy).

You can check out my profile and posts here.

(in case you are curious, the photo is from a hiking trip in Porter's Lake, NS back in March on a trail system called Crowbar Lake. I know you were just dying to know...)


Speaking of this gig (and hiking in Nova Scotia), this weekend the boy and I are going to Five Islands provincial park to kick-off a fun NS Parks geocaching challenge. We will also be heading to Caribou/Munroe's Island Park to complete that portion of the challenge, and possibly camping there for the night (though they are predicting rain all day right now, grrr). This will probably be my first NS Blogs post, actually, though we shall see...I may be hanging out with a couple of gf's Saturday night (if we don't camp) and just getting some housekeeping thingy's done at home. Pretty easy, breezy weekend, nothing set in stone. Except, of course, rain (one thing I'm NOT so hot on re. living in NS right now).

Happy Weekend! Any fun plans?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Checkin' In

Man, I can't believe we're coming up on mid-June already! It's not even (officially) summer yet and I already feel like it's disappearing so quickly!

There are so many things my boyfriend and I want to do this summer, too, we got to the point where we had to start putting things in a calendar because we realized, if we didn't plan things ahead enough, we were going to wake up in September with nothing to show for it!

It seems kind of sad and slightly ocd to schedule activities for each weekend as though we are running a summer camp, but that's how it goes!

Some of our plans include: Road trip to the US (probably Maine or New Hampshire, since those are close - someone suggested visiting Mount Washington area so that's a possibility), camping a couple of times, U2 + Arcade Fire concert (!!!) in Moncton on July 30th, road trip to Cape Breton to drive the Cabot Trail and participate in a geocaching event, 2 weddings + a bridal shower, various festivals (Halifax Greek Fest is this weekend - can't wait! Also, looking forward to the Halifax Jazz Fest, Canada Day festivities, etc), at least one bbq and one beach bonfire, visit to McNab's Island, hike at Cape Split/Blomidon, possibly visiting Treego in Moncton to try out the ziplines, etc etc...

Do you see why we need the calendar now? What can I say, we're not lazy!

What other plans do I have in mind? Well, funny you should ask because I have many other things running through my mind for the near future (don't I always), in no particular order:

* Going to see Kung Fu Panda 2 tonight! The first one was hilarious, so looking forward to it

* I just finished reading Home by Bill Bryson (my favourite writer!) and have just started Beyond Belfast by Will Ferguson. So far, I am loving it and I am only a few pages in! btw if anyone wants to buy me a Kindle, please feel free!

* Drafting a freelance writing plan - this is something that I have procrastinated on for too long and it's time to get my butt in gear. I want to start pitching articles to publications and picking up various jobs here and there on the side. Project for the summer! I am working on setting up an interview with someone in the next week so that I can complete a profile on them for a local magazine I recently came on board with - this is a great start, but I want to do more here

* I am having a one-hour massage on Friday evening - my boyfriend got me a TeamBuy gift certificate for Christmas and I still haven't used it!! (did I mention I put things off?) Looking forward to this too because my muscles have been very sore this week and I hold a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders so those areas need to be loosened up BIG TIME

* Continuing to apply for jobs as they come up (see neck/shoulder tension pain above) - hopefully I will either hear from my old boss in the next month or so about the  job she recommended me for, or that something will move forward in terms of making my current position more permanent. Getting tired of waiting (and not being able to go to the dentist)!

* This weekend I am participating in the Weight Watchers 5k Walk-It event in Halifax (Sunday). I am looking forward to getting out, maybe meeting some other local WW ladies, and getting some exercise in the fresh air. I walk and hike every week, but there is something about the energy of a communal walk that is exciting *

* Speaking of fitness, I am hoping to sign up for either a weekly yoga or Zumba class. These are both activities I really enjoy, however I am on a tight budget so I have to search around for what I feel is the best deal, and for what is in the most convenient location since I don't have a car. I walk every day and hike on weekends (see below) but it's not enough to keep fit so I want to add something more to my routine. Also, part of what I want to work on in the near future is branching out my friends circle, and I am hoping that taking a fitness class will help me meet some people. A girl I work with takes a weekly yoga class, so I am looking into possibly joining that because it would be nice to go with her and get to know her better (which would strengthen both my personal AND work social ties)

* Continuing with weekly hikes with the boy on weekends, and cooking a new recipe every week are two things I want to keep focusing on - we are slowly making our way through some great trails in Halifax, and in other places we visit. I have come to really enjoy it - I just love the fresh air, seeing nature up close, and the physical challenge. In terms of cooking, I find I am also liking that more and more. I made a pretty awesome lasagna on Sunday that I'm quite proud of and will cover my suppers the entire week. This goes hand-in-hand with the fitness goals, and with my overall attempt at keeping up a healthier lifestyle and continuing to lose weight (it's a process, as I have said before).

So, what about YOU? 

What have you been up to lately? 

Do you have any plans or goals for the near future that you want to work on? 

What are your summer plans/hopes? 

Can you relate to any of the things that I write about above, or are you involved in any of these things too? 

I'd love to hear what's going on with YOU!

*My Weight Watchers membership runs out the end of this month, and honestly I don't think I am going to renew. I have nothing against it, and I have really enjoyed the program - it has definitely helped me develop better eating habits and I love the community that the online program cultivates. That being said, I am at the point where I am really tired of recording everything I eat and I don't feel that I need to anymore (at least for now). Also, I felt that (for me and my lifestyle) there were some limitations to the online system that I found frustrating - mainly the lack of variety in the food catalogue. There were a lot of foods that I could not find, and either had to go through a lot of work to find the nutritional info elsewhere, or estimate based on something similar with no way of knowing how accurate the points calculation was. Also, now that I have developed more positive eating habits, I want to turn my focus more to fitness for a little bit.  I have heard rave reviews about My Fitness Pal, and it's FREE (again, I am on a tight budget) so I think I am going to give that a try. NOTHING against WW whatsoever, and I would actually strongly recommend it for anyone who is trying to live a healthier lifestyle and lose some weight because it's really helpful, but I'm just ready to try something else.

Featured Blogger

Just a quick note to say I'm this week's Featured Blogger on Infomonkey.net under the Nova Scotia Bloggers category.

I was really excited when they contacted me and asked if I'd like to be featured. There are tons of awesome bloggers here in Halifax and Nova Scotia so I feel honoured to be considered on their level!

Cheers!

Glow in the Art

The highlight of my weekend was something I've been looking forward to for a while - Saturday night was Nocturne night in Halifax! The subtitle for Nocturne is "art at night", but it was so much more - specifically over 100 art installations happening ALL OVER the city from 6pm to midnight, with everything completely free! There are versions of Nocturne in lots of other cities - Toronto, Paris - but I'm willing to bet ours could stand up to any of them.

A lot of people are ignorant and think Halifax is full of fishermen and naval officers, but there is a HUGE creative contingent here. There are actually a ton of artists, designers, musicians and other artistic types choosing to make a living (and their art) here. Um, hello we are home to one of the best art colleges in the country! It was nice to see these people (who, frankly, I think are often overlooked by the government at many levels in many ways) come out of the woodwork, so to speak, and come out loud and proud with extremely fun, thought-provoking, sometimes wierd art pieces and with the complete sanction and support of the city for a change.

I've always been into art - both making it and viewing it - and I don't think I could live without art in its many forms. Seriously, how do people go through life without ever going out there and absorbing art?! It's like water and air for me - it feeds my mind and my soul. My high expectations for the event were definitely met - we saw a lot and had a lot of fun.

I went with my bff Kim (yes, her name is Kim too...well actually Kim #2), her sister and her friend. We started out with a walking tour, which was honestly a tad boring because it was the first one of the night and a lot of the artists hadn't actually set up yet, plus there weren't many spectators yet either. However, we stuck with it down Barrington Street and up Spring Garden, ending at the YMCA on South Park Street where Kardio-Karaoke was taking place. I had read about this but considering anything with "karaoke" in the title generally makes me want to run and hide, I wasn't keen on doing it. However, my friend's-sister's-friend wanted to go in so we did and am I ever glad!





In case you couldn't figure it out by the name, Kardio-Karaoke involved participants singing karaoke while working out. This is one of those concepts that I thought was completely wierd and totally awesome all at the same time. I mean, it's just so ridiculous you can't help but smile and laugh at the concept and want to give it a try. So, yours truly, who is too chicken-shit to get up in front of a group and do ANYTHING let alone sing AND exercise, got on a stationary bike and sang "Don't Go Breaking my Heart" with her bff. Yes, that's right. Mind you, there was only about 6 other people in the room at the time so it was a lot less intimidating, but I'm still shocked I even went through with it. I have to say, I was quite proud of my bold sillyness. I would recommend singing karaoke while on a stationary bike to anyone! Unfortunately, the photographic evidence is on my friend's camera so I can't show it to you, but I'm sure you can use your imagination! (it really did happen, I swear!)



From there we went to the Public Gardens, which is normally closed to the public at night and I believe this is the first time an installation of this kind has been allowed in there, so we were really excited to see it. Highlights included the screen above which showed close-ups of various native Nova Scotian creatures (bugs, frogs, etc), a local "art rock band" playing in the gazebo, speakers tied to trees throughout the Gardens broadcasting nature sounds such as gurgling water, crickets, lit-up mini-watercrafts floating in the pond and changing colour/direction with the weather, etc. It was really neat to just wander around looking and listening - it felt like being in a wierd alternate universe like Wonderland or something!




Excuse the crappy photography - it was tough to get good shots in the dark and far back!

 Other highlights of the night included: Film-e-oke at the CBC building (we watched two people reenact the "Luke, I am your father" scene from Star Wars including foam "light sabres" by reading the lines off the screen. HILARIOUS!), a fun photo session with costumes (and fake moustaches!) at a local boutique (again, don't have the photo yet but will share when I do), the site of our new city library covered with lit-up pylons marking where the important interior spaces will be located, Halifax Circus performing aerial, juggling and fire tricks, and an extremely interesting exhibit of Nova Scotian film stills and photos from 1917-1957 at the Nova Scotia Archives (an exhibit that my buddy @laurenoostveen did an amazing job curating!).

All in all it was an exhilirating, titillating, strange, eye-opening, colourful, and crowded night! Can't wait until Nocturne 2011!

How was your weekend?