harry potter tonight!

today im going to see harry potter and the deathly hallows part II

im seeing it at 12:01 am

it wasn't necessarily my choice to see it at the first showing available

but my sister is slightly obsessed..

i do love harry potter though and i can't wait to see it!

part I was amazing.. i loved it

i watched it last night to refill my knowledge on what happened! lol

i do find it a bit depressing this is the last movie.. 

but anyways im excited!

have a nice thursday!

in this semi charmed life

the term "best friend" i kind of dont like. i know i say it sometimes, ive mentioned some of my "best friends" in some of my posts, but i really dont view these people as only best friends. when i was younger i had a specific best friend one year and it was someone else the next year (sometimes it was the same friend for 3 or 5 years). it was a title given to a person i hung out with most or liked the most. as we get older things change. i have so many amazing friends and im going to consider these people all as best friends at some point in my life.. maybe its because im with them most or i have shared something huge with them. again.. everyone i willingly hang out with, share stories with, laugh with and cry with are worth it to me and are amazing people. 

okay now i have just said that all my friends are super cool and i may call them my best friends at some point because they are some of the best people i know.. but i want to mention four people who i cannot imagine life without.. these people are more than just best friends, they are my sisters (literally and not), they are my confidants, my sidekicks, my heros. they help me get through this semi charmed life. meagan. tia. diana. becky. there is no order to them, they all fill in number one. 

diana and becky are my sisters (in a literal share half my dna way). i look up to both of them even though they are younger than me and the importance these two have in my life is beyond description. i have most memories with them. they are my dance partners and my first line support system. 

there is tia. tia and i are so much alike its strange. we often have the same ideas, same sarcastic tone and easy going personality because of this im pretty sure she understands me more than pretty much anyone else. i can talk to her about anything and she listens. she gives advice without judgment and is the first person i call if i want a coffee break or just need to chat. she is getting married this september and because she means the world to me this is such an exciting time in my life too.. :)

the fourth person is meagan. we are pretty much fire/water.. leo/gemini kind of friends.. we think differently, we have very few of the same interests, habits, hobbies and views. she loves makeup i hate it. i like spencer reid she likes derek morgan. i shop at american eagle, her at guess.. i think you get my point. despite our differences meagan is the one who knows me best. i tell her the most, even though because we are so different we argue. this girl can read my mind, she can tell when im lying or hiding something. she goes out of her way to cheer me up when im upset. she is the one i drag along to my favourite bookstores and small towns. i travel with her, bake with her, watch illegally pirated movies with her. she is my hero. she thinks before she speaks and considers every implication before giving me advice. 

this post is not a call out to anyone. it is not to make anyone feel less important than they are to me. if i consider someone a friend it means they mean a lot to me. the four i mentioned are whom i am closest with and who will be mentioned most in my posts because of this.            

cocktails and playlists

this weekend..

i went to my first stag and doe

i played bar tender

i found a pair of lost sunglasses

i went to a wedding shower

i got to hang out with a bunch of friends

details are..

the stag and doe was for one of my best friends

i make good drinks 

i like sunglasses

tias shower and lots of food

i love my friends

im a brides maid in the wedding.. this weekend was allotted to wedding events and i had lots of fun! i was so excited to be a part of all of it!

i thought it best to get a photo with the bride-to-be at the beginning of the night

i play good bar tender.. it was fun!

games game games.. 

it was fun!

we all got to celebrate the beautiful couple while playing some games, dancing with

music and drinks

chatting with tons of new and old faces

the bride is one of my best friends and im soo excited for their september wedding! like stoked!

park days

i like to read, drink coffee and go on walks. BORING.. well that what the girl i babysit told me lol. i dont care if you classify it as boring little girl.. i like my life.. but i decided because i was at her house i would try and be a little bit more fun. so this morning after she woke me up early telling me today is the day she can call her mom and dad (who are on vacation in italy) i made her a one of her favourite breakfasts. 

 blackberry photo - not best quality

yup i made us pancakes and cut up some fresh fruit.. well she wasn't fond of the strawberries i added to the plate so i took hers too..

anyways.. i did a bit of reading than made her some lunch.. then i took to the pool and park.. just a little public pool, i swear the deep end is less than 4 ft deep. but she loves it and her friends were there so she had somebody to play with in the pool.. the pool is right next to the park so her and her friends kind of went back and forth between the pool and playing in the park..

 i just hung out on a bench

in the shade..

it was a beautiful day

she was exhausted 

she napped when we got home lol

im glad i got her out of the house and maybe she will tell her parents that im something other than boring..

its my last night babysitting for a while.. i've been here since tuesday night. tomorrow im working 9-5 than i have my friends stag and doe.. im soo excited for!! then the next day i have the wedding shower.. i know it was poorly planned.. especially since the bride-to-be intends on getting slightly inebriated tomorrow night lol.

have a good weekend!

like a book elegantly bound..

 i know this is random and kind of lame of me since i dont currently have a boyfriend but have you ever imagined the perfect proposal. as a girl, and most young girls do it, i've imagined my dream wedding dress and the fact that i want a tiara not a veil and i know the month i want to get married in. and yes i imagined a proposal that would be romantic yet simple. okay so im not going to be entirely lame and fully outline my dream proposal place and stuff but i will say that it was almost described in the book im currently reading. again this is random but something that is on my mind now. two reasons proposals are on my mind right now.. one is that im reading something borrowed;  two is i spent the day watching shows like brides of beverly hills and rich bride poor bride, shows i very rarely watch. 

something borrowed, maybe you've seen the movie (its my new fav movie) is an even better book..  no surprise there i have yet to watch a movie that is better than its book. the book is based in new york city and for that i love it. descriptions of the street of manhattan makes me instantly jealous..i only wish i could afford to live there..but anyways read the book! although the story line is sad considering its about a girl (rachel) that is in love (and has an affair) with her best friends (darcy) fiance and begins to resent  darcy because she is jealous of the public relationship darcy has with her fiance.. while rachel's relationship with the darcy's fiance has to remain secret. ahh a book filled with drama but i still like it.
oh this post is so random and somewhat due to the beginning, makes me sound like some kind of pathetic dreamer. but im really not, im simple. kind of. in a complex way.. does that make sense?  

im a little healthy..sometimes

want to make one of the healthiest and most delicious snack/meal i can think of..? all you need is 

lots of fruit! 

oh and juice and yogurt.

i absolutely love freshly made smoothies.. like ones you make at home not the ones you buy that are basically fruit flavoured syrup with a banana added.

simplest recipe for health:

• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 cup fresh juice (orange/apple/cranberry/pineapple)
• 5 strawberries (or more if they are really small)
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 banana
• 1 yogurt
• 1 tbsp flaxseeds (optional)

so i guess you can substitute blueberries or strawberries for raspberries/blackberries or pretty much most berries.

the great thing about smoothies is you can adjust it to your own preferred taste.

you can add honey

you can use milk instead of juice

frozen yogurt instead of yogurt

you can add a bit of cocoa powder or peanut butter too (with banana.mmm)

 im babysitting this week and i told them i like fruit so they bought soo much!
this is the smoothie i made.. 






apple juice, vanilla yogurt, blueberries, banana and strawberries.. simplicity and its best.






as much as i love watermelon, cherries, nectarines, apples and oranges  (all which they bought) i didn't think they would be as smoothie compatible




loving the smoothie.. delishhh

cheers!

home is a fire..

im such a snoop and i cant help it. i want to know what is going on in peoples lives cause i can guarantee it is different than what is going on in my life. i want to know how people think cause its different than how i think i can promise you that. its partially why i love reading so much, the authors think in their own way and write about characters in the way they think. its kind of cool when the character in a book thinks about situations in the exact way you think of them. i guess reading isn't really snooping but i am a big snoop. im babysitting this week for a few days. you better believe i went through all the food cupboards to see what snacks they have. and obviously i looked through the bookself to see if there are books i want to read and i went through the movies they have. oh and the channels, maybe they have channels i dont have with shows i have heard of but never seen. they have like 5 flavours of ice cream, and lots of different wine. i promised myself i would not drink the wine. im not sure if i snoop around because im bored or curious. maybe if i wasn't bored i wouldn't be curious. i'll completely admit i go through medicine and vitamin cabinets.. is that weird? as much as i wont ask, im curious if you take a perscription of some sort and if you do, what its for? i read cards, maybe calendars..its a bad habit and i probably shouldn't be telling anyone. but its not like there is any harm done. when im at my grandmas i always look through old photo albums and read letters (maybe ones my dad wrote to her when he was like 10 years old lol). okay im weird and curious. deal with it and dont deny it you probably do it too..
okay so here a song i love right now, july video post..

alright im back to reading.. something borrowed is a good book!

my misson

i really want a puppy. ive wanted one for years now but i knew it was a bad time for me to get one. first i lived in res than i lived in student housing with some friends, then i couldn't afford one. now i can afford one and im living at home and im going to probably be attending a post grad program in a college near by. i wont be too far away from home and i can come back to my house between classes if needed. i was debating on a yorkiepoo or a cockapoo but i prefer the size of the cockapoo. any breed crossed with a poodle is highly recommended if shedding is a concern or if you've never owned a dog before. i've decided the cocker spaniel/ poodle cross is perfect for me.. 15-25 pounds depending on the parents, not too much shedding, easy to train, since its a smaller dog it is acceptable as an apartment dog. i dont live in an apartment but my house isn't that big and i dont want a dog that needs to live in a mansion and needs exercise every 40 minutes. its no guard dog but thats fine i dont need one. i think i have the most time to train a dog now in my life then i probably will in the future. my aunt is even helping me by talking to dog breeders she knows and asking her dogs vet information on cockapoos. i love her for that!.. i know dogs are expensive and the time investment is large but i would love a dog. when i move out in a year or few, when i can afford to, i would like a dog to come with me! 

my problem is my dad.. hes not a dog person and see there is a difference between him not wanting a dog because he doesn't want the responsibilities and him not wanting a dog because he doesn't want one in the house. the first i can deal with, he wont be responsible for the dog, i will, i will walk the dog feed the dog pay for vet appointments and train the dog. its its the second reason i cant change his mind as easily. i think he thinks having a dog will ruin our furniture and hardwood floors. booo! im hoping i can convince him to let me get a puppy!.. ahhhh! dilemma!

have a good monday!     

home town (country) glory

every canada day my parents host a family barbecue/picnic. when we were younger we had the picnic lunch out in dundas driving park, my moms side and my dads side would show up. as my grandparents got older it was harder for them to attend picnics at giant parks so we started having it at our place. it turned into more of a barbecue instead of a picnic. as all us kids started getting older, we have a small house, we started inviting only my dads side for canada day and my moms side we would have over for a barbecue some other time in june or july. so every year different people show up although everyone is invited. some of my cousins have cottages they go to, some go camping, sometimes we invite friends, sometimes someone will bring a boyfriend or girlfriend. this barbecue is the main reason i love canada day. my dad even makes a quiz and buys a prize for the winner, sometimes the two top scorers. the quiz usually consists of common questions about canada like maybe how old is canada, what year was canadas first birthday, which canadian cities have held the winter olympics. more difficult questions for me.. whose face is on the $5 canadian bill? the $10? the $50? or which canadian province owns the worlds largest covered bridge.. oh or name a book by a canadian author. im usually pretty bad at these questions its kind of embarrassing. 

setting up for dinner.. so much food to come

dads barbecuing and bailey and riley are playing.

we always play soccer with them, riley loves playing boys against girls even though he is sometimes the only boy. 

riley hes maybe 8, also decided to make names for us all.. umm shameful puppy, chatty turtle, fat hippo, wise hippie and qualified koala were some of them. i have absolutely no idea where he got these names from but when i called him wild beast he said he is the only one who can do the naming.

we had tossed green salad, macaroni salad, quinoa dish, dinner rolls, baked beans

steak and pork and randomly grapes.. oh and look at all the wine glasses

oh and appetizer before this was shrimp with cocktail sauce and tortilla chips with salsa

now comes my favourite part!

red velvet cupcakes, pound cake with fresh berries, brownies (from humingbird bakery recipes) and homemade skor pieces. and my aunt vicky also made banana ice cream.. ummmm delish.

ahh! i love canada day

i didn't get to see fire works though but i can deal with that.

and all the things i scripted they sound unfounded

this past weekend i went to megs cottage in muskoka. the weekend was full of food, booze, fires and friends. eight of us went up, pretty much all in separate cars at different times, bad planning on our parts. meg, jamie and i came up together around 3 on friday, peter came up around 8. james and mars came up separately around 11 on the friday and tia and brandon made it up for lunch on the saturday. everyone got along amazingly! i couldn't have asked for a better group to go with. there was way too much food from cupcakes to watermelon and burgers to pasta salad and i swear the guys went through more beers than some people have in a lifetime. 

it started raining after james and jamie got this fire started.

the thing that sucks is i have to drag people in pictures with me.

i do not have camera accepting friends usually

hi peter.

my wonderful smores..

after everyone realizing im weird because marshmallows gross me out.. unless they are with a piece of chocolate and squished between two graham crackers i refuse to eat marshmallows.

my sangria failed. did i mention i attempted sangria? i love sangria.. normally it is an amazingly delicious drink.. mine turned out tasting like soda water:

 a) because i added double what it asked for

b) because the container was too small and i didn't stir the sugar in properly (it was all at the bottom)

c) i love red wine sangria, i should have stuck with the same recipe i usually use

i didn't share.. but i dont think anyone wanted it lol

the day we left it was absolutely beautiful.. likely.. thats my luck

i like this cottage deal i can't wait to go back. maybe next time with a successful attempt at sangria.

i like no tv and no internet and being near the lake

and going into town and getting ice cream

and drinking wine with friends near a bon fire

and night swimming.

have a good long weekend!