Where did the summer go?

I can't believe this is my last day home. Tomorrow I start the trip back to the Big Land. I am kind of happy, kind of sad.

Perks:

- I get back to my own space. As much as I love my parents, being in my own apartment just me and Spencer is a lot less stressful and I can just be haha.

-  Back into a routine. I have thoroughly loved being off for 2 months but I need to get back into a routine of work/activities and feel more productive.

- I don't have to worry about seeing everyone. I love my friends, I do. But when you're back you only have so much time and I also wanted to relax so maybe I didn't see everyone as much as I should have. I was bombarded with family stuff right when I came back from vacation and had some issues with time management.

Pits:

- I have to go back to our little isolated community that costs an arm and a leg to get out of.

- I love being a teacher, but is anyone really ever THAT excited about going back to work? I doubt it.

- Back to paying for groceries. Life is hard, weh weh.


I am having a going away party tonight though and will get to see most of my friends so that should be fun! It has been an awesome summer, I'm already counting down the days to Christmas (just kidding. Maybe..).

It feels like fall is just around the corner. I know it's still August but before we know it everything will be pumpkin spice and wool sweaters. That's okay with me to be honest. I do love fall.



Happy weekend!

50 Things

Happiest of fridays to you! Although all my days lately feel like friday but in a few short weeks it'll be back to the teaching grind. It makes me really sad that summer is coming to an end but hey that's life.

Anyway I wanted to make a post today, but couldn't think of anything really worth writing about. Then I hopped on here and saw that Kayla over at Keeping up with K had done this nice little question thing and I was like hey, Imma do that too!

So here we go!

50 Random Questions (you were probably never going to ask me but now you have the answers!)

1. What’s your favorite candle scent? I might be the only person in the world who doesn't really use candles. Although I am a huge fan of those Glade candles you can get, the berry one smells amazing.

2. What female celebrity do you wish you were related to? Probably Beyonce. Or maybe Taylor Swift, I think we would get along. 

3. What male celebrity do you wish was your brother?  Seth Rogen

4. What’s your favorite thing about marriage? (And if you’re not married, what’s your favorite thing about being single?) Not married but my favourite thing about being in a relationship is always having someone to go to supper with me and to binge watch tv shows with me. 

5. What’s one thing you own that you should probably get rid of, but just can’t?  Clothes. I have clothes from like 4 years ago that will definitely never fit me but I'm always like WELL MAYBE ONE DAY. No Janet, that day isn't coming. 

6. Can you do a split? That's a hard no.

7. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike?  7 I think. 

8. How many oceans have you swam in? I've only swam in the Atlantic, but I've dipped my toes in the Pacific.  

9. How many countries have you been to?  10! Canada, US, Cuba, France, English, Spain, Czech Republic, Greece and Italy. 

10. Is anyone in your family in the army? Nope.

11. What was your favorite TV show when you were a child? Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Carebears, there was some show about dogs I loved but can't for the life of me remember the name.

12. What did you dress up as on Halloween when you were eight? Cinderella I'm pretty sure. 

13. Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight series? Nope. Because I used to think my sister was really uncool and she loved them so I wouldn't go near them haha. 

14. Would you rather have an American accent or a British accent? British, 100%. I find them so relaxing to listen to. I have a friend from Essex and I love skyping with her just to hear her accent. 

15. Have you ever taken karate lessons? No way.

16. Do you know who Kermit the frog is? Duh

17. What’s the first amusement park you’ve been to? If you count it, Thomas Amusements which is like a traveling amusement park across Newfoundland, but a legit one is Rainbow Valley in PEI. (RIP to that park). 

18. What language, besides your native language, would you like to be fluent in? I am already pretty fluent in French (i'd say 85-90%) but I would love to learn Spanish or Czech. 

19. Do you spell the color as grey or gray? Grey

20. Do you know triplets? Yes! A couple of my best friends are triplets actually!

21. Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook?  Probably the Titantic. But then there's Ryan Gosling. Tough call.

22. Have you ever had Indian food? Yep and my stomach hates me every time. 

23. What’s the name of your favorite restaurant? Yellowbelly Brewery in St. John's. I challenge you to find better nachos than their buffalo chicken ones. Go on, just try. 

24. Have you ever been to Olive Garden? Yep! Think I almost died of bread overdose though. 

25. What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender? Ummm I don't think they thought about it. They wanted to know the gender.

26. If you have a nickname, what is it?  Jan. Short for Janet. So original. 

27. Who’s your favorite person in the world? Probably Spencer. And all my friends. And myself. 

28. Would you rather live in a rural area or in the suburbs? Definitely suburbs. I am NOT but out for the rural life. 

29. Can you whistle? Not really well.

30. Do you sleep with a nightlight? Nope

31. Do you eat breakfast every morning? No because I'm the worst at being healthy.

32. How many times have you been to the hospital? Probably 5 times, but I've never had to stay or anything. 

33. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo? Of course!

34. Where do you buy your jeans? Garage, Eclipse. But I mostly wear leggings so. 

35. What’s the last compliment you got? That I was genuine and kind. Always nice to hear!

36. Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning? Little bits and pieces

37. Favorite beverage that isn’t water? Diet pepsiiii

38. How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? Probablyyyyy 30-35 

39. How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real? Grade 2. I found my Spice Girls Barbie dolls in my parents closest. Pretty depressing hahaha. 

40. What is one food that you used to hate but now you love? I have one I used to love and now hate! Omelettes. I used to love them but when I was 14 I got my molars out and it was basically all I could eat and now the thought of eating one makes me wanna vomit. 

41. What is a weird lie you’ve told? That I was from a small town staying at a sketchy hotel to get some guy to back off haha.

42. Heels or flats? Flats. 

43. Do you have any weird phobias? Not weird ones I don't think..

44. What is a phrase or word you always say? Yes by and rude. Always. 

45. What is a song that you blast or belt out when you are alone? Right now it's Feels or whatever with Katy Perry and Calvin Harris. Depends on my mood usually.

46. What is one of your biggest pet peeves? People who walk around and pay no attention to other people around them. PEOPLE WHO DON'T INDICATE WHEN THEY ARE TURNING. 

47. Do you sleep with your closet door open or closed? Open. Because it's too full and stuffed that it won't close :)

48. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees?  Probably bees, I mean you could at least try and run and they would go. I wouldn't stand a chance against a bear. 

49. Do you have any weird things you do? I always check to make sure the door is locked, like multiple times over.

50. What movie could you watch over and over again and still love? Mean Girls. To be honest I very rarely re-watch movies. Although any Jennifer Lopez movies I could watch again and again.

Wooooo that was fun. I'm off to Costco with my parents then Boston Pizza for some fishbowl Friday action. 

Have a great weekend!

Think before you speak

This is a skill I have yet to master, but am constantly working on. It is so easy to let your emotions guide your reactions to things and to cloud your judgement. Lately I have been trying to really think about my own thoughts and how I interpret things. I'm well aware that it's my interpretation that leads to an unnecessary reaction.

I am by no means an expert, but here are some things recently that have helped really control the way I react and make sure that I am understanding correctly and responding in the appropriate way.

1) Take a minute

That's all it's been for me. Think for a minute about what has just been said or what has happened. Is what you're feeling justified? Is what they are saying actually offensive or are you just on defensive automatically? You would be surprised at how well this actually works. I was skeptical when I first read about it, but if you just take a minute you will realize that maybe what you feel is directly related to your own interpretation, not what the person is actually saying.

2) Realize it's not always about you.

I take everything personally, and I mean EVERYTHING. Oh someone is hanging out with another friend? Then I guess they definitely hate me. My boyfriend offered me a ride from one of his friends instead of walking with him? How dare he! I guess he doesn't want to spend time with me. These are the thoughts that go through my head unnecessarily. This goes a long with the first one, just take a second to really think about if they are attacking you or making it about you. Just because they do something with someone else or talk about someone else doesn't change how they feel about you. I used to let these thoughts consume me and really get down on myself. Slowly I have been able to realize ok, life goes on, people still like me and ask me to hang out, my boyfriend still loves me.

3) When you're alone, say positive things about yourself.

Seriously. Stand in front of a mirror right now and point out 5 things you like about yourself. If you can convince yourself that your are worthy of someone's time and affection, you will see your doubts and second guessing disappear next time you are in a certain situation.

Summer road trip

So one of the best parts about being teacher (aside from changing kids lives, watching them grow, seeing them learn) is summer vacation. Two full months of relaxing and regrouping before the busy school year starts again.

School for us ended June 23rd and S and I were on the road June 25th. We didn't really give ourselves much time to unwind, but when seat sales happen you do kind of just have to work around it. We had a 3 week half road trip half flying vacation planned and were beyond excited to start. It crept up so quickly!!

I hope you're all ready for a really long post about my summer trip across Canada!


Day 1:
So we left our apartment in Goose Bay, Labrador and drove 12 hours that day to Baie-Comeau in Northern Quebec. The first part of the drive wasn't bad as it's all paved. After Labrador City however, for the first 100km of the highway it's dirt road and has a lot of turns. But the road was in good condition so it wasn't so bad. We did have to wait for a huge train to pass and you end up going over the train tracks a bunch of times so there was a lot of waiting. For the next 250km it was all paved, then we hit dirt road again until we got to this HUGE dam called Manic 5. It's pretty impressive:

Then for another 200km you drive down super curvy roads where you definitely feel like you're going to puke at any moment. Luckily neither of us did and we managed to get to our hotel safe and sound. 

Day 2:

Today we had to drive approx. 9 hours to get from Baie-Comeau to Ottawa. This drive wasn't terrible because it was paved the whole way and the scenery coming down through Quebec it STUNNING. I would share some pictures but I didn't take any. Whoops.

Day 3: 

We just hung around Ottawa and did some shopping and spent time with S's brother and sister-in law. We tried the new Playstation Virtual Reality game and it was so cool. I also spent way too much money at Vero Moda and Simons but hey, that's what you do on vacation right? 

Day 4 - 8:

This was the day we were finally flying out west. We flew Ottawa to Calgary and stayed with my cousins for a few days. We hung out with some of my friends and saw some of S's family as well, went to the zoo, went floating down the Bow River on Canada day, saw Tegan and Sara. It was a great couple of days spent in that city. I would like go back for a bit longer and see some more local places and that kind of stuff. 

Most importantly, we saw Red Pandas at the zoo. 

Day 10: 

We rented a car and drove to Banff for a night. Only staying one night was mistake on our part because it is so beautiful and you could easily spend 3 or 4 days exploring and doing different activities in the actual Town of Banff and in the mountains. I had never seen the Rockies before so it was mind blowing to see how beautiful they were. 

View from our hotel room

The pictures definitely don't do them justice. They were AMAZING.

Days 11-12: 

We drove from Banff to Kelowna to overnight there, then the next day drove to Vancouver flew over to Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Necessary airport selfie, duh:

Days 12-15:

If you asked me where I would want to move in Canada, Victoria would be my answer, hands down. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It's not a huge city but it has so much culture and is so vibrant. It's honestly the perfect size city for me, I'm not a huge big city person. We went to Fisherman's Warf, to the Empress, all around downtown, Moss Rock. Pretty much everywhere, it was a great time. S got to see one of his good friends who got married in the Spring and he and his wife were outstanding tour guides. 

Of course we had to dip our toes in the Pacific, since we were born and raised next to the Atlantic!

Days 15-17:

We left Victoria and flew back to Vancouver for a few days. I will say, I was pretty disappointed by Vancouver. It is a nice city but it just feels really dirt and grimey. The people were really friendly but I guess I felt uneasy about it. That would probably change if I stayed a bit longer. It was really beautiful though and I got to see some friends which is always nice!

Olympic Village, where all the athletes stayed in 2010

After Vancouver we flew back to Ottawa, went to Blues fest then drove to Quebec City for a few days. We saw The Who, Danny Brown and the Gorillaz at Festival d'Été. Then we headed to Amherst in Nova Scotia for 3 nights and finally took the ferry back to Newfoundland. It was whirlwind trip and really busy but it was a great experience! I think I'll just pick one province next time. 

The road emotional maturity

This is a bit of a hard post to write because it means I'm sharing my insecurities with the world and that is, you know, kind of scary.

I have recently come to the conclusion that there are certain things in my life that require me to grow up a bit. Ok, a lot. I don't always handle situations the way I should, and I let my emotions get the best of me a lot of the time. Some of it is tied to anxiety, but I refuse to let that lead my life and I certainly don't want to use it as an excuse for not trying to become more emotionally mature.

Being emotionally mature means that you handle any emotions; anger, jealousy, fear, sadness etc in an appropriate, rational way. I know the way I currently handle things, aka getting mad at my boyfriend and irrationally reacting to things that have no real impact on my life is not the way I should be acting. I think that if I can make some goals for myself, small ones that I can see myself reaching in a shortish period of time,  I'll be able to keep track of how I'm doing. Little baby steps to keep me motivated and keep growing! I refuse to continue to treat certain situations the same way a 16 year old would. I am 27 and I want to make sure that I have healthy coping mechanisms and healthy relationships with people around me.

Aside from just goals, I have thought about picking up an anxiety workbook as well as seeing a therapist regularly. I know that I am going to need some help to have some strategies for dealing with my insecurities and my emotions. I think my immature reactions stem from my insecurities so that would be a wise thing to tackle as well.

I'm not really even sure why I decided to post this on here. Maybe some of you out there have been through a similar thing and can understand or help a girl out! Are there any books you would recommend reading? I am open to anything about anxiety, self-esteem, confidence, happiness etc.

On a completely different note, I guess I'm back to blogging for a bit? I would love to say I'll constantly be updating but let's be honest, both times I've tried that things haven't gone so well. But no harm in trying again! That is part of what I was saying earlier I suppose. 

Thursday musings

I honestly feel like March is never going to end. I can't remember if I've already said that, but like, next week is STILL March. Maybe it's because I know I have a break coming up and I will be off work for 10 days, maybe it's because of this alcohol thing. Who knows, but dammit I need April to come.

Here are my thoughts for today:

- As stressful as being a teacher can be, sometimes little things make it better. I had given a girl in my class some homework, she was staying after school for piano lessons so she finished it before she left. Anyway I came back to my desk to this:

She just left me a note on her homework saying to have a good supper. It's just a little thing but it was so sweet coming back to that after a stressful day!

- I've started new units in Science with my class and will be starting new Math units next week. It's making me feel like I've progressed but also not because I still have a lot to cover with them and only a few months left to do it. I'm sure all new teachers, probably even teachers who've been at it for a while, feel this way. It's a lot to handle!

- This no alcohol thing is going pretty well. I haven't bought any, I've been in social situations this week and haven't really desired any. That being said I'm assuming that the weekend will be a bit more difficult but I can stick to it. We have a trivia thing coming up though before my non-alcohol days end and it's super tempting. But I don't want to give in and then feel terrible about myself afterwards. Or feel like I'm basically incapable of not drinking. Even though it'll have been about 2 weeks at that point, but I don't feel like that's enough. Why do I have no willpower!!

- I've been watching Parks and Rec with Spencer these past couple of weeks and I'm obsessed. I can't get enough of that Lesley Knope.

Relatable.

I've also been obsessed with the Real World Seattle. It's season 32! It deserves an award for longest running shit show if you ask me. When I really don't want to think, this is the time of stuff I go for haha.

- Blogging: How people come up with what to blog every day? I struggle with topics a lot, how do you know what people even wanna read! Oh magical mysterious blog land. 

How's your week been? Are you ready for Friday?? I know I sure am! 

Bye goes the booze!

I hope you all had a great weekend! I got out on friday to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with some friends. We just went to house party then ordered food when we got home. A success if you ask me.

I didn't take many pictures, but doesn't that just mean I was having a great time? haha

However, after this weekend I came to a realization.

I am no stranger to drinking. I enjoy relaxing with a beer, I enjoy going out with my friends for drinks on the weekends. But I am trying to lead a healthier lifestyle and unfortunately a part of that involves no booze. I know there are times that I drink too much, so I am making this to hold myself accountable for the next 25 days. I even went to yoga this morning. Spencer is also getting on board. Not having alcohol in the house is the first step in the right direction haha, I drank whatever I had left on friday night.

Making effort.

So yeah. The next time I get any time off will be our easter break so I figured that was a good timeline. I just want to see what difference no alcohol will make in my life. By the time the 25 days is over I'll be on a week long break so we'll see how much I crave it once I have no work commitments to make for a week.

Have any of you given up booze? Have any tips?

I hope Monday isn't too painful for you guys!!