#mevsblank

welcome back to the blog! (it’s only been a couple years). in my defense, it’s been a busy couple of years. first, a little explanation: since I wrote last, I moved out, graduated college, got a full-time-real-adult job (with benefits!), got a new car, moved back home, and have been saving up for a down payment for my very own house. of course, that reality stopped real fast when last week I came to the realization that I will not be owning a house for quite some time (house prices are insane right now - and working in real estate, I get a first-hand look). all that being said, i’ve been a little down this week and am looking for a new outlet. what’s better than one you already had? so let’s dive into today’s adventure. I was driving up to a meeting tonight, giving myself lots of extra time. when I was about a fourth of the way there, this guy in front of me slammed on his brakes. to avoid a pretty nasty accident, I also slammed on my brakes. everything was fine, except for what happened next. all of a sudden, my emergency break light came on, followed with my battery light. my car then decided that it was just going to stop driving. on the middle of the highway. great. I pulled off as soon as I could and tried to figure out my next move. for some dumb reason, I thought that maybe I could just turn off the car and turn it back on again. smart, right? well, after I turned the car off, it wouldn’t turn back on again. now, I have mentioned that I live in Canada. it’s January. therefore, it’s very cold outside. so now I am sitting in the dark, right off of the highway, with a dead car. in the cold. luckily, I have my emergency kit in the car. so I put my hazards on, go into the trunk, and get a blanket and gloves. I call CAA, only to find out that it’s going to be an hour and a half before anyone can come to me. why do I pay for this again? I additionally called my parents and they were on their way to get me (i’ve figured out already that I will need a tow truck). so one CAA guy comes, takes one look at my car, says “I can’t help you” and literally drives off - leaves me in the cold. on the side of the road. fortunately, my parents were on their way and arrived shortly after. once I was in a warm and running car, I called CAA again. they told me it was going to be at least an hour and a half to get a tow truck (what the heck was I waiting for already!?). at this point, my dad decides that he’s going to drive me home and get one of his friends who has a tow truck to get my car in the morning. so now my poor car is         sitting in some terrible lot off the highway until we can tow it back to my mechanic. I can only hope for the best tomorrow morning in the sense that it won’t be terribly expensive to fix (there goes my vacation fund). I had to cancel my meeting and my babysitting job for tomorrow morning because I have no idea how long I will be without a car for. things I am grateful for tonight: my parents, warm cars, mechanics, pajamas, hot water, blankets, and a loving God that didn’t let anything worse happen. after all, it’s just a car (that I just put brand new brakes on) and the important thing is that i’m safe. you discover something new everyday. 

about a month ago, I travelled down to the states with my mom for a weekend road trip. I had a couple of good friends getting married in Pennsylvania on the Saturday, and didn’t have anything else planned for the weekend. so, I decided to take advantage of this little “vacation”. right after my Friday afternoon test finished, I raced home to meet my mom and we were off. crossing the boarder at 6pm seemed like a dangerous thing to do, but it was one of the quickest lines I have even been through. one of the benefits of driving in the states is that you can get basically anywhere by staying on one of the main highways. one big con, however, is when you get lost from said highway getting gas, and you don’t have data on your phone because you didn’t get a data plan, your GPS has no idea where you are, and every single store charges fourteen dollars for a map, your only real option is to ask a gas station attendant for directions. we were supposed to get there at 10pm, and we didn’t pull into our hotel until 2am (just don’t trust anyone with directions). sleeping in on Saturday morning was a real treat, because I was exhausted from the drive and had a long day ahead. the wedding was absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun! after the wedding, my mom and I decided to drive down a half an hour to downtown Philadelphia. we found a great salad place (go to sweetgreen if you’re ever there) and some really cute clothing shops. we walked around for a while but it was so hot we didn’t last very long (side note, for any of “The Office” fans out there, I was basically freaking out the entire time we were in Pennsylvania, and almost made my mom miss a turn because I yelled “SCRANTON! THAT’S WHERE THE OFFICE IS!”). we went back to the hotel and packed up, planning to leave for NYC the next day. I had convinced my mom that it was on the way back, and I wasn’t completely wrong. at least we had managed not to get lost anymore. NYC was beautiful, as always, and I managed to see a couple of things that I didn’t get to on my first trip down there (the Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, the 9/11 Memorial). we also got some really good pizza in Brooklyn and attempted to drive into New Jersey so I could go to Cake Boss, but there was a festival going on and there was no way I was getting a parking spot. of course, we had to do a Target run (because of its non-existent presence in Canada) and also fit in a couple of the outlet stores in Buffalo. this was also the first time that I drove in the states, and let me tell you, it was nothing short of terrifying. there are so many times were you just have to stop on the interstate because you randomly have to pay a toll. I don’t even remember paying any tolls on route to Atlanta a few months back, but I swear these tolls were every 100 feet. also, when we were nearing NYC, my mom got really nervous about driving and didn’t think we would be able to go. I really wanted to obviously, and before I knew it, I was driving across the Brooklyn Bridge. I think I was freaking out too much to appreciate the views on either side of me, so I made a mental note to go back and do it again. there are many other things I plan to see in the states, and my adventures have only just begun. you discover something new everyday. 

it’s been on my bucket list for a while to do a cross-country road trip. so when the opportunity came for me to attend the Orange Conference again in Atlanta, Georgia (April 2016), and the plane tickets were crazy expensive, I found three other ladies who seemed as equally as crazy (excited) as me who wanted to drive down. we planned to leave at 5:30am and get to Georgia at approximately 10:00pm. (we got in at 1:30am, not too bad). we were trying to stop as little as possible, but the need for energy though food was strong and often overwhelmed and controlled us. more than a couple of times we got distracted (including stopping for an hour-long Target run because stupid Canada doesn’t have Target anymore) and I tried to be the navigator (which ended horribly as I fell asleep when I was supposed to be giving directions). when we finally got there though, it was nice to say we accomplished the drive and were plenty filled with snacks, laughs, and memories only four women in a car for twenty hours can experience. some of these memories include: the boarder security lady being super nasty to us because we didn’t declare our road-trip snacks (that were from America anyways), playing car bingo provided by the conference we were going to, making up our own car bingo after the first one proved to be too challenging, and sharing personal stories and experiences. of course, there were many times were I questioned why I was driving across the states with these people, especially when one of them took away my head rest so I wouldn’t fall asleep again (side note: I still managed to find a way to fall asleep). despite all of the challenges, including almost dying on the drive back because of sleep deprivation, it was one of the best things I have ever done. even though none of us vow ever to do it again, it was a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn’t have wanted to share it with anyone else. I also have a super awesome map coloured in of all of the states I have been to. I’m hoping to colour more of it very soon. you discover something new everyday.

hello friends! I’ve been pretty absent for the last six months, but my life has been a little bit crazy. in January, I got a text from some family friends asking me if I wanted to move out, as they were looking to rent their basement apartment out. I was hesitant at first, but after a couple of weeks thinking about it, I didn’t think it would be the worst thing in the world. so, in April I packed up all of my things into boxed, moved across town, and unloaded. I have never moved before, so I had absolutely no clue as to what I was doing. luckily, I have some pretty awesome friends and they were able to help me through the whole thing. unpacking was actually pretty fun, and having been to their house and stayed overnight in their basement before, I had some fun ideas in mind of how I wanted my new apartment to look. before I knew it, I was totally unpacked and decorated just the way I wanted it. these past three months have flown by, and it is fantastic living on my own. I have a better relationship with my parents and my brother, and I have learned a lot of independence. for example, I can cook a pretty decent meal without causing fires of any sort. that’s a huge win for me. I have also learned a TON about being a “real adult”, such as learning how to hang pictures, paint, and properly clean my apartment. moving out has been one of the best things I have ever done, and though it can be challenging and lonely sometimes, I have grown a lot through it. I was never really okay with being alone for a long time, and I have learned to appreciate the balance between people time and alone time. I have also discovered a lot about myself, and I have been enjoying the experience of living on my own. now, preparing to graduate post-secondary, I am continuing the first step of a brand new chapter in my life. you discover something new everyday. 

let’s be clear: i’ve been grocery shopping many, many times. how many times have I been grocery shopping without my parents? well, yesterday was a first. my very good friend who lives out of town was back home for the week. her parents were away and she needed to get some food for the house - so off to the store we went. I should mention that both of us had absolutely no clue as to what we were doing the entire time and just started putting random food together in the shopping cart. we started with the food that we thought that she needed, and by the end of the trip, we weren’t even sure what was in the cart anymore. we started out with really good intentions, carrots, salad, milk, but it all went downhill when we saw donuts. it also occurred to me that you need to ask yourself a lot of questions when you’re shopping. like “how would I like the cold cut meat cut up?” or “what kind of apples are the best and the cheapest?” overall, it was one of the best shopping trips I have ever experienced, just based solely on the fact that this is one of my best friends and we’re pretty certain we are the same person. we got distracted by the sparkly sweaters they put right next to the food, and had to make a quick stop to look at all the makeup before we got cat food. it was the most amusing grocery shopping trip I have ever been on...I could get used to this whole adult thing. you discover something new everyday.

back in November I was feeling a little down, so I decided to try a new challenge. every day for one hundred days, I would find something to be happy about and Instagram it. in the beginning, it was very easy and there was lots of things that would make me happy that I would take a picture of. but near the middle of the challenge, it became more challenging (see what I did there) and I would often find myself looking for something to take a picture of before it was the next day. there were a couple of days where I completely forgot that I hadn't posted a picture yet, and that usually involved me lying in bed at 11:30 at night, remembering that I hadn't posted today, and had to get up and take a picture of something in a state of panic. there were also some days that I was rushing without wi-fi to make it before midnight to get my picture online. I have no idea why it became such a big deal, but I liked that I had to find ways to be happy about anything, even the little things. it also taught me that I don't always have to be happy about something big and obvious. yes, it made it a lot easier to Instagram a picture when I was at an event or hanging out with my friends, but if I was having a bad day or was by myself, it was a lot harder (that's where some of the "throwback" pictures came into play). even though I complained a couple of times about how exhausting it was, and that I understood how people gave up on the eighth day, now that i've finished it, I recommend anyone to do it. this challenge just makes life so much fun, and really highlights all the joys and blessings you can find in your life. it was a great experience, and I hope to do something like it again soon! you discover something new everyday.

well, I hope you enjoyed my "parenting-advice-from-a-non-parent". it was definitely an adventure, and I think I might be willing to do it again...eventually. sleep is just too high on my priority list right now. you discover something new everyday.

recently I took a trip to Atlanta for a conference. we were there for a few days, and being across country, we needed to spend the nights at a hotel. since the conference was sold out, we were going to need to book the room far in advance. what happens when you forget to book it far in advance and are then stuck with whatever place you can get? the results ended up with an extremely fancy hotel with some interesting twists. when we got there on Friday night, we discovered that a lot of other people were staying there (not to our surprise) and there was about a twenty minute wait for any elevator. so, for the next three days, we hopped on whatever elevator we could, rode it to the fifty-fifth floor (our hotel has seventy-four floors) and had contests to see who could run down thirty flights of stairs the fastest to get to our room. the second interesting thing was that there was no in-room wi-fi. well, there was, if you wanted to pay twelve dollars a day for it. that ended with us coming home at midnight from the conference and spending an hour in the lobby downstairs where there was free wi-fi. the actual hotel room was pretty decent, and had a very nice view of the city. but there were some other unexpected perks; I almost accidentally opened the water on the desk that cost four dollars, I accidentally opened the fridge and cost the room five dollars (which I then got taken off because I pleaded with the front desk and used my "Canadian charm"), and the in-room movies were eighteen dollars (there went our girls movie night). man, it seems like a lot of this would not have happened if I wasn't there. luckily, I wasn't the only one getting frustrated. the poor people at the front desk must have had some interesting names to call us as well. we probably used the phone about ten times within the three days we were there, asking the most ridiculous questions to them (i.e.: do you have a hot tub, do you have a deck of cards, do you charge for wi-fi, can I drink the water in the room?). there was also two ridiculous stories I must share. the first is when Natasha and I just wanted a couple towels so we could shower. we called down to the front and after an apparant "accent barrier", we opened the door to an employee holding fifteen towels. apparently one set has three towels, and the front desk heard us say five sets. the second story is when we ordered an extremely messy pizza and then discovered we had nothing to eat it with. we called down to ask for plates and forks and they took so long that we just used our hands and pieces of cardboard. after a good twenty minutes of finishing the pizza, we heard a knock on the door and opened it to the same, poor employee, standing with 5 full sets of plates and cutlery (there was only four of us staying in the room). we ended up just throwing the forks around at each other and eventually we found other ways to keep ourselves busy. by Sunday night, there was a significantly less amount of people. the conference had ended and we were staying an extra day. no longer was there a twenty minute wait to get to our room, no more lines in Starbucks getting coffee in the morning, and way less noise (although the people beside us could argue that was the next night for them when we left). all in all, it was a pretty good stay there and I couldn't have done it without the super awesome girls I was staying with. next time, we'll be sure to book our hotel twelve months in advance. you discover something new everyday.