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Blogged 2007-2012
Things I Love Thursday
A little less negativity, a little more positivity, please!
Positive thinking can be a hard habit to cultivate when very stressed, but this doesn’t mean I should stop trying. Also, I feel better just reflecting on the good things in life:
♥ These days it’s so dark, I love to curl up in the warmth of my bed for a few extra minutes before getting up each morning.
♥ I have a new radio—actually, I obtained it a few weeks ago but never mentioned it. It’s the first radio I’ve had in possibly fifteen years, and it delights me to no end, especially when it introduces me to music like Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orv_F2HV4gk]
♥ While I’m at it, I should also add I really appreciate the Firefox add-on for YouTube replay. It has proved an excellent tool more times than I can count.
♥ It was a friend’s birthday last Wednesday, and I rigged someone in to help make shortbread cookies with orange zest and two kinds of chocolate chips (dark and white). Needless to say, the cookies were decadent. Particularly because we did it all by hand and felt incredibly deserving of sweet rewards afterwards.
♥ My current food stash also consists of a new pot of blueberry jam (delicious!) and masses of cheddar and parsley scones I baked over the weekend. These are sitting in my freezer, ready to go for all my future vegetable soup dinner days! (Of which there will be many, courtesy of my schedule at this time of year.)
♥ I have a new toy and its name is Jing. This unobtrusive image- and video-capture software is simple, intuitive and easy to use. Best of all, it’s free! I’ve been using it at work to highlight text, draw colourful arrows, and type up explanatory notes.
♥ The fact that I can have hot water just about any time I want. Switch on the tap and water comes out. Fill up a kettle and boil water. Pour it out. How many people in the world get to do that?
♥ Last, but certainly not least—hot chocolate! A mug of hot chocolate is a wonderful, wonderful gift to have on cold, dreary days in November.
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Posted in Things I Love Thursday
A place to scream
Not only is ‘screaming at the top of my lungs’ on one of my to-do lists, I think it would go a long way in helping me cope with things at the moment.
Does anyone have any recommendations for places I can go and scream my voice away without unduly frightening innocent passers-by?
Posted in Wellness
College Tips 101
- Always keep a lemon and a pot of honey in your food stash. You never want to realise you need these items to soothe a sore throat when your throat is actually sore. Hot water with honey and lemon is also just a great drink to wake up with on a cold, dreary morning.
- Make batches of freezable food over the weekend, or whenever you have any chunk of time. You’ll thank yourself for this later when you’re rushing deadlines and need quick, cheap, easy dinners to get you by.
- Convince your friends that running errands with you really is a type of fun. They wanted to hang out, didn’t they?
Feel free to add on to the list.
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Posted in Wellness
Vancouver Aquarium
Back in January, I took it into my head that I was going to visit 50 new places in Vancouver this year as part of what I termed my ‘Resident Tourist’ project.
Well, I quite forgot I’d set a quantitative goal until I found this old post on my other blog today. Oops.
At any rate, the one and only item I consciously listed on my New Places Found in 2010 is the Vancouver Aquarium, where I dragged a few friendly folks to spend my birthday with me earlier this year. Because that is clearly how college kids celebrate their birthdays these days.
Located in the middle of beautiful Stanley Park (another place I’ve yet to sufficiently explore!), the Aquarium has quite the extensive, impressive showcase of marine and non-marine life. Particular favourites of mine were the jellyfish, the beluga whales and the sea otters.
Photo taken by my friend-turned-personal photographer for the day.
I wish now that I’d been to see the beluga calves last year when they were still babies! They were still very sweet and desiring of love and attention, despite being larger when I saw them. All the time I was watching them, they were rubbing against their trainer for attention, so she ended up dedicating a hand apiece to patting each of them.
Funnily enough, it was only after I went to the Aquarium that one of my friends — who’s not even in Canada! — introduced me to the VanAqua sea otters famous on YouTube for their hand-holding (or, I suppose, paw-holding would be the correct term).
It’s a really adorable video and worth watching the whole thing if you haven’t seen it. (I’m told this is a small chance, but it’s a chance nonetheless!)
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno]
The Vancouver Aquarium is open 365 days a year; it’s currently operating under winter hours, which means 9:30 AM-5:00 PM. Tickets are $21 for adults, $16 for seniors, youths aged 13-18 and students, and $13 for children aged 4-12 (HST not included).
It’s definitely fun for the family, and I wouldn’t mind going again!
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Posted in Day Zero, Recreation