Summer To-Do List (Ongoing)

Every day, I make a to-do list on my Brookstone Boogie Board:

I can easily write and erase my lists for
environmentally-friendly prioritizing!

I check off items as I go throughout the day, and it is a very simple way that I love using to stay organized, reflect on what needs to be done (and in what order), and to feel satisfied with each "check!" placed beside an item.

For the summer, I think an ongoing list would be nice to upkeep, so I shall endeavour to do so and see how many items I can cross off. For starters, I have a few basic items and a few that are unique to this summer:

1. Get outside for at least an hour each day!
   It may sound simple, but it's easy to stay inside when it is hot and bright all the time.
2. Develop a new healthy food routine to work around flexible summer schedules.
3. Stay on top of an exercise routine or schedule.
4. Try a 30-Minute Hit women's kickboxing class.
   Free trial has already been booked! Will cross this one off early on in May.
5. Go to my 3rd Calgary Stampede! 102nd anniversary.
   Timing of this event will fall near another related to-do list item...
6. Celebrate my 21st in some sort of exciting way.
   I definitely want to use this as an excuse to cross off #7.
7. Road trip for a day or two across the border!
   G's parentals have kindly provided us with the A-OK to spend the night in their extra space!
8. Visit UBC a few times and become familiar with my upcoming role as an RA
   i.e., visit the PRC and have fun times
9. Read two new books.
   I would like to finish An Abundance of Katherines and read into my Body Language for Dummies and 30-Second Psychology books - plus a new novel I may come across!
10. Get back into writing.
    Ideally, I would be making that more of a reality with the blog... But physical pen-to-paper writing would be very soothing to return to often.

This list will be on-going throughout the summer vacation!

Looking Forward: The next 4 months.

The next four months: a time I both welcome and fear.

For the most part, I believe that I will enjoy the next four months - the weather will (hopefully) be summery and show signs of life blossoming everywhere, energies will be high, and a reprieve from school will be mine. However, he is going to be back at home, and visits will once again become once-every-few-weeks sort of occurrences; I do not know what job I will be holding (I would really rather not return to my old safety net and have chosen to search elsewhere). 

1. Weather.
- Get all the Vitamin D!
- Wake up by natural light streaming in early through my window.
- Be rid of the chills by simply laying down for 30 seconds outside.
- Rain is exciting and rejuvenating and makes me happy for the plants.
2. School reprieve.
- I love school, but my body feels the strain of spending too many hours 'loving' it.
- Social life, work life, and other 'lives' become independent of one another. 
- Must come up with a schedule of my own when work is not in the picture.
3. Absence.
- Visits will be the most exciting of times.
- Alas, my heart shall ache often and yearn for its partner in crime. 
4. Employment. 
- Where have I applied? Let us take a look: Chocolate cafes, healthy living cafes, jobs with the city in event planning, program coordinator, communications assistant, internship with local produce delivery company, summer camp counsellor, restaurants.
- Where might I apply? Let us take a look: Favourite UBC-local cafes, restaurants, healthy living themed shops.
- During the school months, I miss work! I miss that income and sense of having done a job well and making others satisfied through my service. Next year I suppose a great deal of my involvements will revolve around a sort of employment - even if it isn't a regular paycheque like those I would receive during off-school months.
- I want to try something new; I've had good times with my ol' pal Safeway, but I'd like to feel challenged in what I do this summer.

I expect excitement, friendship revival (for which I'm very excited), painful yearning, lots of family time, and hopefully a bit of travel this summer. It would be my wish to feel that I've grown a bit more, learned a few new things, and seen one or two new places. Many photos should be taken, and perhaps even a new friendship is to be made!

ABCs of: Denim, Easter, Food

The day of near denim overdose.

(See how I continued the "ABCs" with the words in my title?)

There is little to update anyone on during this frustratingly lengthy exam break (12 days between my first exam and my last two exams on the same day), but I thought it would be a nice time to throw down some photos and muse over things.

My last exam was welcomed, as I had a 9-day break between that and the last day of classes - and as it is a difficult course for my arts student background (Brain and Behaviour Psychology), I was very pleased with how it went! I finished in less than an hour and was given chocolate-covered almonds at the end. :) 




Following this exam's (and course's, I suppose...) completion, I began about 36 hours of intensive resume-depositing and driving between school, home, the 'Wack, and back! It was really nice to just kick back in the 'Wack after all of the driving and make some veggie meatloaf with my daddy-o while watching movies. 

Father-daughter camera dates!

The most delicious of unmeatloaves.

Josephine!

Bella!

After a too-brief but rejuvenating visit with mi padre, I ventured back out to UBC and put in some more study hours in preparation for a busy Easter Sunday back at home. 
Thus far, the study schedule I have devised has worked exceptionally well for being so simply-structured, so I've been on track for everything so far! I sense that I will be well-prepared for my favourite class and that I will make it through my least favourite.

Ah, dinner - one of the most magical moments to capture (not really, but it is a moment that can elicit salivation over and over, which is kind of magical, right?)! I tried a vegan "imitation ham" which added
some fun texture to dinner, and with the help of gravy and everything else on the plate, dinner was both filling and delectable.

Not a couple to let food fall by the wayside, he and I decided to celebrate 20 months of togetherness with a trip to The Reef for a Caribbean lunch! Plaintain chips, jerk tofu, Johnny cakes.... I still haven't tried one of their coconut cocktails yet, but I think when that day comes, it will take the Reef to a whole-new level!

Hopefully, more exciting and interesting adventures will arise in the week still left before my next exam takes place. In the meantime, I will continue to hunt for a summer employer, contemplate what courses I will take next year, and try to pack up some of the belongings in my dorm room to prepare for moving out in just over a week. 

Vacation seems both too far and too near at the same time.