Friday, June 22, 2012

Just another date with insomnia.

Since I can't sleep I thought id post a picture of my totally awesome graduation gift!

My only brother, to whom I owe my love of all things rock and metal, got me a gift which is not only useful, but epic too!

Check out my new nightmare before christmas ear buds!! In the true nightmare black and purple fashion, they have heads on them! And yes, they also come with a little baggie that also has jack skellingtons head on it!!! Not only do they deliver great sound but they are also noise reducing! So now when I'm on the bus trying to ignore weirdos with my music I actually won't hear them annoying me! Yay!

Thanks for the amazing gift bro! You rock! :p

That's all.

Xoxo



Monday, June 18, 2012

Oh Sant'Antonio Prega Per Noi.... Baby you're a Firework!

All week the parishoners at St. Anthony of Padua have been preparing for our two big days of the year outside of christmas/easter: June 13th and June 16th.  These two dates mark our annual feast of Saint Anthony upon which bread is giving out in the spirit of Anthony who served the poor with the Franciscan brothers back in the 14th century (don't quote me on that**). The entire week leading up to those days involves a 3 day tridium wherein 3 nights of masses and special prayers are offered along with a blessing with a relic of st anthony for his intercession.. the 16th being Fathers day we end the week of numerous masses and exhaustive singing on my end with the big feast day- mass, procession, stadium night.

Last night my church celebrated our annual St. Anthony of Padua feast day and tradition called for a mass packed with people the parishoners refer to as "gli antonini"- because they only come to church the week of the feast- and a procession of cross, priests, bishop and religious groups, city, country and national flags.  Tradition also calls for ridiculous heat and overcast and we were certainly not disappointed! *hehe*

The feast concludes at our city's football stadium for 5 hours of italian music, and vendors of italian food and bric-a-brac, jerseys, hats etc. At the end of the night they call out the raffle for which tickets had been sold throughout the evening and then an incredible fireworks display tops it all off.

My family and I are there every year and enjoy the cultural, religious and social aspects of the day.  I took pictures of the fireworks and some of them turned out simply unbelievable!

My cell phone camera has a setting for fireworks and the clarity of my shots is amazing.. not to mention the crazy (almost) artistic looking shots I got.. and all I had to do was keep pushing the button *teehee* Enjoy!














Monday, June 11, 2012

I did it.. i did it! I said that i could do it and indeed i did!

Convocation day today. Went really well! I'm officially a university graduate with the official documentation to proove it :)  we were the 501st McMaster U convocation which is a pretty awesome milestone!

Thanks to everyone who has helped, guided and supported me these past 5 years xoxo love you all!

The ceremony was 3 hours but totally worth it, from the epic bagpiper to the speech by the presently conferred doctor of letters honoris causa- AA Bronson! (If u don't know who he is.. check him out.. definitely a giant as far as canadian artists and free thinkers go)..

Here's a picture of the convocation guest ticket I had for my family.. ps they were actually blue but you know how camera flashes change everything lol and Check out my diploma too! Its stylin!

So I'm off to bed with a final ecstatic Wooooooooooooo!
As we were told by the chancelor at the end of the. Ceremony, "your future, and the future world, begins as soon as you leave the building" and now that I'm home I feel the change more than ever!

Life is for living.. its time to go forth into the future and navigate the channels of my existence!

Xoxo



What goes around comes around..

I spent multiple days over the past few weeks helping an energetic and almost insane hungarian franciscan friar learn english and what does he give me in return???

Any guesses??

That's right! Cake! But not just any cake... a traditional hungarian Dobosz cake! Its epic!

Although I had no intention of receiving payment for the english lessons, it Just goes to show you that kindness and generosity do get returned.

Here are some pics of this wonderfully tasty dessert and if you're still not convinced about it then google it for a description *too lazy to copy and paste one*

Xoxo
Ps so nervous for my university convocation tomorrow.. 13 hours and 20 minutes to go!!! wish me luck as I fear public humiliation *eep*




Thursday, June 7, 2012

My current week..

As you know, since May I've been sitting around not doing much besides family time or trips to the local shopping centres but the past two weeks I've been pretty active visiting friends, sewing and helping a hungarian priest with his ESL classes.  Its really an experience for me as a university English major because
while I know how to "turn a phrase", the construction of sentences, words and their sounds is a completely different task. I suppose I should have taken a semantics or linguistics class but I'm not big into word trees (hehe). All in all, its a nice experience helping him and since we are using italian as the primary language I can finally get back into practicing it regularly so I don't lose it like I had feared when I was using my spanish more the past two years. Sometimes I think that my head is going to explode and all anyone will see are words and phrases in various languages.. here's hoping I can keep it all in :)

So last night I went out for a quick jaunt to the local Tim's and I can't believe how clear the evening sky was! If you've been following the local southern ontario weather forcasts and updates as of late, you'll see that we finally got the storming rain that they've been calling for. In the immortal words of chicken little, I thought for certain that "the sky was falling" but interestingly enough it just misted and dripped and thundered around. Much to my excitement, it was a wonderfully warm and clear evening. There are some pics of the sky around 9pm and one really epic shot I got of our driveway tree.. ah! The amazing things that a camera flash can do!

So this past weekend we had my sisters bridal shower, and it was really just a beautiful day! We ended up with a some lovely fresh cut flowers and surprisingly they're lasting quite some time.. check out the pics of them I took the other day!

I'm going round to one of me old haunts today... a few friends and I are getting together to revisit our alma mater for a little "reunion".  Its so peaceful this time of year and I intend on taking pictures to update my albums with. Later on I'm going with one of the girls to make risotto and have a "ladies in their sensibilities" BBC Jane Austen movie evening. I wager it will be a romping good time!

Anyway enough rambles! Check out my pics and drop a comment or email if you like.

Xoxo
C









Friday, June 1, 2012

June already...

Today I woke up and realized that it's June 1st..which considering Ive been sitting around doing practically nothing since May 1st means that I have now officially wasted one whole month of my "summer vacation".

*sigh* I really need to find a job...

*bangs head off computer desk* why can't I get myself going already?

*stares blankly at screen*



Okay I'm back.  SO im going to help  a family friend with a school presentation for his ESL class.. which is good because it forces me to exercise my brain and I get to help someone out.  But it sucks because the weather outside is ugly and grey and rainy and wet which means im undoubtedly going to step in a puddle or be hit by one from a careless inconsiderate driver.  Ah the life of a pedestrian. Oh well, It's all for the "greater Good" right?   :)

Im starting a countdown right now because in almost exactly 10 days and just under two hours I will be sitting in a long winded convocation ceremony waiting to receive that oh-too-important-little-piece-of-paper which signifies I studied at the expense of the gov't for 5 years! That's right! in 10 days 1 hour and 20 minutes from right now I will hear the provost say " I confer upon you the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Honors... Congratulations!" and I will have my hood placed to proudly show my program colors and receive my beautiful diploma which will when be stuck into the "linear frame" I pre-ordered last month!  Isn't it wonderful!?!!!

Well, Im off to scowl about in the rain and deal with a heavily accented Hungarian priest.. Wish me Luck!

XOXO
C