the break that was not a break

it turns out march is going to be a pretty busy month for me. theatre-wise i am assistant stage managing for Rent (which ali is stage managing, whatta girl), and doing costume design for another show called Abel. life-wise applications for both summer jobs and programs for next year are due, i need to work on the yearbook, i am going to see the sam roberts band and hey rosetta, and visiting my dear friend julia in fredericton. and then there's just a whole heck of a lot of school work to do.

julia! o we are pretty.

in light of this insanity to come i decided it would be smart and necessary to buckle down for reading week and use it for, well, reading for once. i have been super productive and knocked quite a lot of things off of my massive to-do list, which feels really good. knowing that i will be a lot less stressed this coming month is a big relief. this being said i am super jealous of all those jerks that headed south for the break. you turds.

where i was last spring break - jamaica. (ali was there too!)

i worked on a whole bunch of things, everything from renewing my passport to reading about archaeology in the media, applying for teaching in france to going to the gym, writing a paper on canadian history to doing a major room clean & purge. SO MUCH PRODUCTIVITY HAPPENED.

i did let myself have some fun between all the work - mary and i built that crazy 3d puzzle of the cathedral, the girls and i had a movie night and watched crazy stupid love, gushing over the emma stone and ryan gosling scene. if you are female and have not seen it you most definitely need to, i'll even attach it right here and everything, that's how much you should see it. if you're a guy you should probably watch it so you know how to properly woo a lady.

i spent another day with a different pack o friendsies having a lord of the rings extended version marathon, with all the appropriate meals included. so. much. food. so. many. orcs.

still waiting for them to make out.

so, while i did not get a typically awesome spring break with bikinis and beaches and mojitos, i had an excellent reading week in the snowy lands of sackville in the company of good friends who were just as swamped with work as i.

as a reward for accomplishing so much this week i will be making myself this deliciousness.

rainbow white sangria! except my class will have a sugared rim.

s

ps. i have had childish gambino on repeat all week.

3d magic

oh what a find. a 3d puzzle of a church. so yeah, we built it! we built it real goods!

built from the ground up.

one piece at a time...

we have a roof!

done like dinner!

those who visit our church.

its creators.

hehe.

- s&m

ps. we're also good cooks... see!

mary's stew!

sarah's fresh pasta!

love.love.love

happy valentine's day!

we even wore pink for you.

we hope this makes you feel loved or smile. it is a pretty song
- s.a.m.

a jaunt around europe with s & a

we have big plans for september. they look roughly like this:

holy crap it's europe.

the wonderful, cookie-bearing julie is also included in these plans. we are hoping she brings cookies in her backpack, lots and lots of cookies. they will fuel us as we make our way around europe on trains n planes n bikes n stuff. we are hoping to ride a blimp. this seems unlikely.

we quickly came to the realization that this is a whole lot of places to go in a month, and we will have to use our time wisely and plan smart. in light of this we have decided to go for a 'divide and conquer' strategy, each of us taking a couple countries and researching the bejesus out of it so we don't miss any of the fun times. after much though we have concluded that the best approach to compiling our plans and map out the exact train and road ways we will need to take, as well as the locations of all the hot spots would be to create a large map of europe on the living room floor with various breakfast cereals (chex = czech republic, french toast crunch = france, puffed wheat = netherlands, etc). mary doesn't know yet. now she will.

now, the tricky part is that our knowledge of europe and all its hidden gems is limited. this is why we would like to extend to you, dear ________ (insert name here), an invitation to influence our plans! drank awesome wine in france? shredded the gnar gnar in switzerland? had coffee at a quaint cafe in italy? done german stuff? LET US KNOW! we would welcome travel advice and will send you a hug in the mail or give you one in person.

shenanigans will be had by all.

s. & a.

ps. this here is a song we like. we listened to it last night while doing this:

studying.

sex.

MASSIE. wtf??

if you weren't already aware of it, i have a part-time job with mta... i'm the MASSIE program assistant 
(wait, wtf is MASSIE??)
MASSIE - mount allison semester studies in english.
so japanese students from kg university come to mta for a semester. take special classes, where they focus to improve their english listening, speaking, writing, and thinking skills.


i consider myself very fortunate to have this job. i have met some incredible people (massies and canadians) i started out by being a conversation partner (saw they needed people on facebook...) then continued. after having four different massies, in the span of a year, i applied to be program assistant, starting this past fall... and obvi i got it.

yu - my first massie

i've learned this past fall, and during our new winter program, that i love getting to know the whole group of massie students who come. i enjoy talking with each, watching them improve in their skills and confidence!!


i can definitely say that being involved in the program has allowed me to see that i am interested in japan and japanese culture. it pushed me to apply to the JET programme... japanese english teaching. i have an interview next week, so hopefully by the end of this summer, i'll be in japan! wow! talk about culture shock... i'll stick out like a sore thumb...

fall '11 massies

this past week we got a new group of massie students, they are the first winter group, they are only here for 6 weeks. but i'm super-duper pumped for them to be here. i'm actually pretty impressed with them... well, i mean they are actually dressed appropriately for winter, don't want the lil massies to freeze... that'd be awkward...

winter '12 massies

-M.

ps. i found out today that i am going to be the summer program assistant! points!

tribute to julie

this girl brought us cookies and a plethora of earrings. we were pretty happy.

the lady of the hour.

i love tea. i love cookies. i love lamp.

earring madness!

omnomnom.

julie is a good thing.

s.a.m.

the onesie

this is by far the most ridiculous thing that i have ever purchased. i mean, my children's sized muppets socks  from walmart were pretty silly, but at least they were functional on a daily basis.

from modcloth and originally priced at 50 bones i am quite pleased to be able to say that i only spent a mere 15 on it. it was an 'ah, what the heck' situation mixed with a 'this is not something i can see and not purchase' situation.

i mean look at it.

colour blocking like a boss.

i sent a couple of my friends the link for it and asked them how it made them feel. one asked me what i would do with it and if i was planning on frequenting the beach more next summer. the rest of em told me that it was probably the best use of 15$ they had heard of in a while. fashion forward, fashion forward.

while i was scoping the site out for other sweet deals the size i wanted sold out, leaving me with no choice but to get an extra small in it. instead of leaving the onesie behind i interpreted this to be a sign that the small wouldn't have fit and the fates were telling me to get an xs. i closed my eyes (literally) and clicked 'confirm order' button and don't really know how to feel. half of me felt like laughing at myself, the other felt like i was soon to be the baddest girl in town.

shipping this puppy took what felt like aeons, though it was only about two weeks  in reality. yes, i did check my mailbox everyday. when the parcel finally did  arrive i was pretty excited - would this prove to be a waste of 15 dollars or the best thing to ever happen to my wardrobe? i hustled home, took the onesie out of its packaging and slipped er on. little tight. higher neckline than expected.  kind of a wedgie inducer (the bigger size was totally what i needed). but all in all pretty good for a 15 dollar onesie.

for all you fashion mongers out there i plan to wear this number with my black jeans or a black skirt.i don't think my eyes could deal with it being paired with anything other than black.

did i mention it snaps in the crotch? imma get all the boys.

s.


ps. good music straight outta australia comes from here. the boat song is my personal favorite.

just a lil lovin' from the oven.

i don't try to hide it...

i love to bake.

but not just to bake for the sake of baking. i love to share my goodies with others. that's why i love a good ol' potluck. when i need to de-stress or get away from life's problems i bake. i want to share with others, whether it's the other members of s.a.m, the neighbor elephants, my father, or a friend who needs cheering up, i always share.

growing up i would always help my great grandmother in the kitchen, then i would try to help my mom. but mostly i just wanted to lick the spoon. my nanny was an amazing lady. every sunday she would put together this huge dinner for the family. turkey or roast beef, with all the fixing. then to top it all off, dessert. and oh man, were they amazing! boiled icing was her speciality. now, my mother is also a fantastic cook, growing up with my nanny, she learned a thing or two. but one time, i still remember this, she attempted nanny's boiled icing... fail. and even to this day, she doesn't understand why. she's made it since then, and each time, it's been a success. 

so i guess, being around my nanny and my mom in the kitchen i developed a liking to baking. but like them, they would always bake for others, so maybe that's why i do the same thing. bake for others.

noms.

so why banana chocolate chip muffins?

my friend kali (she likes birds) made me a pair of feathered earrings. and as payment i agreed to make her banana chocolate chip muffins. my first reaction, "yay, i get to bake," second thought, "shit, i've got to wait for my bananas to ripen." 

this is a recipe my mom gave (so you know it's good):

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 12/3 cups white sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 mashed ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• ½ cup butter, melted
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• as many chocolate chips as you please

1. preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).  line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
2. in a large-sized bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. in a medium-sized bowl mix together the mashed bananas, egg, melted butter, milk and vanilla.
4. add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir to just combine.
5. add the chocolate chips and stir to just combine.
6. divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups, filling three-quarters full.
7. bake, rotating tin halfway through baking time, until tops are pale golden and a tester inserted in the centre of one muffin comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes.
8. transfer baking tin to wire rack to cool for a five minutes.  turn muffins on their sides in their cups and cool completely.

a neat trick, if you don't have muffin papers, grease them with shortening... yum, fat...

muffin pyramid. 

all the sweetness.

and of course, i had to test one, just to make sure they didn't taste like cat poo. hehe.

enjoy my friends.

- M.

holy snow batman

it snowed something like 30cm today. talk about your great white north.

up to our knees i say!

it is pretty though.

s.a.m.