I've Got Events To Keep Me Warm

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Have I mentioned that I hate winter? Well, I do. And February has got to be the worst month of the year in Nova Scotia. It's long enough after Christmas break that the holiday seems like a distant memory, far enough away from Spring and the next long weekend that the days seem to drag on. AND, as if that was not bad enough, we seem to get most of our snow in February - big storms interspersed with warmer, wet days, resulting in a whole lot of dirty slush all over town. You can see why one would become hateful and depressed at such a time!

That being said, what is getting me through is the great events happening in February and March. Here's a few that I am looking forward to:

1) Stargazing and the Science of Love: My boyfriend and I decided to visit the Discovery Centre this Thursday, for a unique Valentine's Day outing that is romantic without being cheesy. Adults looking to "mix it up" for V-Day can do some stargazing and listen to a talk by Matthew Numer, PhD, on "The Science of Love and Attraction". Can't beat $10 for a night of learning something new together. Plus, we are going for supper at Piatto first, a place I have been looking forward to trying since it opened (I had two separate people tell me they had the best pizza of their life here!). The only thing better than learning is learning with a belly full of delicious pizza!

2) Savouring Some Delicious Cocktails: The Savour Food and Wine festival is taking place for most of the month of February and there are tons of great events happening. Alas, I am not able to make it to the main event - the Savour Food and Wine show - but we are hoping to take in the Imbibe cocktail event on February 21st. This is basically a gathering of the best mixologists in Nova Scotia (along with a couple of special guests, including Jeremy Parsons, who is heralded as "one of the top mixologists in North America") and a chance to sample some of the most delicious and innovative drinks that local restos are pouring. Trying to sample as much as possible without getting totally sloshed on a weeknight will be tough, but I am up to the challenge!

3) North End Tour of Yum: On March 9th, the boy and I will embark on the North End Fantasy Food Tour, and I will finally get the chance to try two more places that have been on my list for a while - Ace Burger (from the guys who brought us the Brooklyn Warehouse, one of my favourite restos in Halifax), and DeeDee's (who apparently makes amazeballs gelato and burritos). We will also stop at an old standard favourite of mine - Java Blend coffee shop. Their coffee is delicious and the owner is like a local business powerhouse (he just opened a new brewery and is always willing to donate an awesome item to the silent auction for my sister's work). Guessing I will be supremely stuffed by the end of this evening, but I KNOW I will be supremely happy.

4) Tedx Nova Scotia: I have never attended a Ted conference before, but I am really hoping to get the chance this year (March 10th). In case you couldn't tell from #1, I am a bit of a "learning nerd" which means I really enjoy any event where my brain can soak up tons of interesting information and my synapses are fired off in quick and constant succession. The full list of speakers isn't posted yet so I'm not quite sure what specific sessions I will be attending but I am sure there will be some great choices. If nothing else, the Ben Caplan concert should be fist-pumping. I really enjoy the event motto "ideas worth spreading" - it could easily be a life motto for me!

The snow may be snowing and the wind may be blowing, but I will weather the storm thanks to all the fun events to keep me warm this February and March!

Fashion Fridays: Baby, It's Cold Outside

That's right, Fashion Fridays are back, baby! Back in November I decided to start doing weekly fashion posts on Friday featuring my fav outfit from the week, as well as some favs from the webs and general discussions about fashion, etc. Well, I did that exactlyyyyyy once. I hate to use the usual excuse but I just got busy and I found it too time-consuming to take outfit photos. Plus, I did not really have proper equipment to take decent outfit photos in the first place.

But it's a new year and I have a new attitude (read: I now don't give a crap about the above things). I thought 'who cares?!'. I wanna do fashion posts so I'm gonna do fashion posts! Lack of time and equipment be damned! This isn't freaking Vogue - no one expects magazine-quality photos from you! It's my blog, I like fashion, so I'm going to blog about fashion. Period. I'm excited to bring it back! (can't ya tell?!)

I was soooo not feeling motivated to look nice this week - it's only a 4-day week and it is post-11-day-vacation. However, it seemed as the week went on I woke up a little bit more, which meant that by the time Friday came, I actually felt like putting effort in! Hence my fav outfit of the week being from Friday! There's just something about Fridays anyway, isn't there? I don't know about you but I always feel more laid-back and upbeat on Fridays and I think that translates into what I wear those days.

Why, yes, that IS my closet behind me hence the closed doors. Trust me, you don't want to see in there. You will have nightmares for a week and I can't live with that on my conscience (besides, the clash of clothing would distract from my ugly mug, and that would just be tragic *rolls eyes*).

I have had most of these pieces for a while and tend to fall back on them when I'm not sure what to wear. I think I've said this before but I freaking love these jeggings. Yes, that's right, I wear jeggings. I'm one of THOSE girls. Now, don't judge! They can be cute and flattering if you wear them the right way! Plus, they actually look quite polished (as long as you don't wear them with a giant sweatshirt) and they are really comfortable. I was feeling a bit girly and artsy today, hence the necklace and shoes.

I LOVE these shoes! They are so comfy, and lets face it, super cute! Plus they go with everything, and you can throw them on with any outfit and it instantly looks more cute, girly and polished.

I'm not feeling the most motivated to put outfits together lately also because it's FREAKING COLD!! Have I mentioned I hate winter and cold? Well, I do. The only good thing about the cold in terms of fashion is you can create visual interest with cozy layers and I do love winter accessories. One of my current favourites is hats. Like this one I just got on Boxing Day:

I LOVE this colour. For some reason I just love the look of these slouchy berets; I have no idea why. Maybe they make me feel french or something. I also just bought this little number:

I just love the feathers on this hat! So cute! And this hat is like the shoes above, it goes with everything and makes any outfit look instantly polished. Not to sound conceited, but I'm one of those people that looks good in hats, but I just never used to wear them often because they made my hair a staticky-frizzy mess. I'm embracing them more and more over time though (especially since they are great for days you don't want to wash or style your hair, but don't wish to look like a homeless person!). My 2nd favourite winter accessory is definitely scarves, and I have WAY too many of them.

I realize cold is something I should be used to since I'm Canadian and have lived with half a year of winter since birth, but I'm sorry you just NEVER get used to it, I don't care what anyone says. I'm always shocked when I run into tourists or see license plates from places like California and Florida around here - I always want to go up to those people and just ask "what the bleep are you doing here?! I mean it's a great place to visit, but do you realize you have summer year-round?! A) why would you want to leave that behind and, B) would it have KILLED you to bring some of that shiz up here with you?! Gawd!!

Anyway, I'm always fascinated by ladies who can manage to look great in the winter because it's really tough. Case in point:

Glamorous, right? Here are some ladies who actually do cold-weather dressing well:

OMG her hat looks just like mine! I guess it does make me look French!

I really want to stroke her hat like a kitty...is that wrong?

Ahhhh I really really want her cape! Alas I lack money, but if I had any I would probably buy this one.



Have a fashionable (and toasty) weekend!

 

Canned Heat

I have some pent up rage inside today. And just to warn you, I'm not in a blogging mood today and can't think of anything to write about in particular, so my post today is markedly more random than usual (and that's saying something).

My morning started off on a great note - since the Snowpocalyse of the eastern US decided to slam into us last night and bring 20-30 cms of snow overnight, I thought I would sleep in a bit and get a later bus to work. However, I wasn't prepared to encounter a completely snowed in bus stop when I got there. Seriously, the snow was at least to waist height on me (which, granted isn't that high since I'm only like 5 ft tall, but imperatively 2-3 feet of snow is deep) so there was nowhere to stand except on the street. I could glimpse the previous stop just down the road and it appeared to be clear so I thought I would walk down and catch the bus there.

But for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to cross the street and walk on the other side thinking the sidewalk over there was clear. It wasn't. Only more snow of the knee-high variety. Then of course (because this kind of stuff just happens to me as clearly Metro Transit has a vendetta against me) the bus came down the road and drove right by me (even though I waved my arms at him to stop - I swear to god these drivers do see those people running and flailing to get their attention and just ignore them because it provides them some sort of sick entertainment value).

That's the point that I decided I was not going to work. So, even though the morning didn't start off well, I now have an unexpected day off, which is nice!

But seriously, there is a lot of effing snow on the ground! And it's rather deceptive when you look outside because it's bright and clear. But then I look out the window to see a mom and her daughter SKIING on the street! Seriously, with poles and everything! In the middle of the road. Eat your heart out, Alexandre Bilodeau (who, can I just say, is so cute I could spread him on a cracker? *sigh*).

Speaking of the Olympics, I feel like me and everyone around me is filled with a kind of warm, gooey national pride that is nice to see. But I still don't get why we're only 4th in the medal standings (I love you fellow Canadians but why, oh why, are we always consistently shitty at bringing home medals?! Can anyone explain this?! I mean, really!); it's kind of disappointing when we're hosting the Games and all the world's eyes are on us. But I suppose it's only day 6, and we have had a couple awesome gold medal wins. Plus, we're proving there's a reason that hockey is Canada's Game - ummm 18 to nothing for the Canadian ladies?! 8 to nothing against Norway for the men?! What, what!

But I tell you if I hear that "Believe" song one more time I'm going to tear my ears off (see?! rage). I mean, it's a nice song but once you hear it it gets stuck in your head and runs in a loop indefinitely, and once you hear this loop go around 10 or 12 times an hour it gets rather annoying. (On the other hand I can't hear Sade's new song "Soldier of Love" enough times; for some reason I love that song so much! See?! random).

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I'm not sure where I was going with this post. It started off venting my annoyance but veered off somewhere around "morning". But don't say you weren't warned. It's a snow day so my mind's in a lazy state I guess. I could have used my bus experience from this morning as a launching point into a treatise on the crappiness of our city's public transit system, but I'm afraid once I started that rant it would go on forever. That's how much I hate MT, that I fear for my own mental stability (which, let's be honest, is questionable to begin with) too much to even talk about it. I think it's best that I walk away from the computer and go sit on the couch and read Lucky now. Until next time...

Winter Wonderland, My Ass

Sam* completely let me down - that damn groundhog apparently saw his shadow this morning, which means 6 more weeks of winter for us already frozen people in Nova Scotia (little asshole - it's all fine for him, he's got a fuzzy, thick coat to protect his hide).

(*In case you didn't figure this out, Shubenacadie Sam is our version of Punxsutawney Phil-see right)

I was sick of winter back, oh, around the beginning of last November, so to say that this development pisses me off would be a massive understatement. I HATE winter and cold - really, I should have been born in Hawaii or something - so forgive me if the fact that I have to endure it for a further 6 weeks is not music to my ears.

Sure, winter is pretty in a I-can't-feel-my-fingers-but-the-lake-sure-does-look-chillingly-pretty-the-way-the-sun-is-hitting-it kind of way, but for the most part it sucks. The only time I like winter is when I'm looking at it outside the window of my apartment wearing layers of sweaters, sweatpants and socks and drinking some kind of hot beverage, with the knowledge that I don't have to go out there anytime soon.

I think anyone outside of Canada who doesn't know much about our country and can't sympathize with having to experience winter for half the year (and given the general view of us Canucks as happy but simple folk) probably thinks we just LOVE winter so much that we frolic through the snowbanks with idiotic grins on our faces.

Ok, maybe not. But, at the very least, when people outside of Canada really THINK about Canada and what it's all about, many think first about snow and ice and cold. I remember being in Harrods in London a few years ago when one of the friendly doormen asked us where we were from. When I said "Canada", the first words out of his mouth were something to the effect of: "It's really cold there, innit?". And the girl I was with was from OHIO and he didn't say ANYTHING even remotely relating to the climate in her home! I mean, I've never been to Ohio but I can imagine it's not exactly Palm Beach!

I tried to explain that we do in fact have seasons where it's NOT cold, in an effort to make my country as pictured in this man's mind sound less like a barren ice flow. But to no avail...and really, who am I kidding?! He's totally right! It IS fucking cold here! Even in the summer, it can hover around the mid-teens and is often cloudy and/or rainy (though the Fall really is quite a lovely time of year here).

I suppose I'm especially bitter about the cold today since I missed my bus connection (stupid Metro Transit) and had to walk partway to work in -15 windyness, but is everyone with me in saying that this winter really has been particularly shitty?? Is that just me?? It's been consistently -15 and windy and dry pretty much every day, we've had like 4 snowstorms (and the snow from the last one has hung around for like a month), and I have to bundle up every inch of my body in about 50 layers every day before I leave for work. My poor hair is so dry it doesn't want to do anything except stick right up or out in staticky single strands and....well, I could go on and on...

And there's still 6 MORE WEEKS OF THIS??!! If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go stuff myself with 10 pizzas and crawl into a cave to hibernate until May...