January Snapshots

January has been an amazing month! It's definitely been a bit stressful at times, but overwhelmingly, I've had a a ton of fun with people I love. I've been making progress on my creative goals, zooming through classes and school work, and living healthfully and wholly. I have had an overwhelming feeling that this is going to be a great year. But already it's going by too quickly!!

Some January highlights:

• Mike and I spent the last bit of the holidays together, and went to some fun holiday parties
• I came back to North Bay to start my second semester! My friends and I had a super fun and hilarious slumber party night. We made cauliflower crust pizza and black bean brownies, and generally had a blast. We've done lots of fun things together this month!
• I've made lots of friends with the cute deer who roam around my backyard every day!
• I've been reading a lot of poetry, and have fallen in love with Lang Leav.
• I also started watching Parenthood, and have become positively obsessed.
• We began art class at school. It's helped to remind me of my creative goals and to focus on them.
• I started my Whole30, and focusing on eating whole, clean foods. Actually pretty challenging as a vegan. I eat like a bunny rabbit. On the bright side, I went down another pant size!
• I took a trip home for a weekend to visit with Mike and my family, and to attend the Coles holiday party. It was such a fun weekend, but way too short.
• Mike had an unplanned trip to Sudbury, and I met him there for another weekend together!! We had an amazing time together.
• I bought a ukulele and began learning how to play! It's been a goal of mine for such a long time.
• School was a blur of presentations, group projects, and papers. I'm flying through assignments and inching ever closer to my next placement (EEP!)
• I ended the month with some fun adventures with all sorts of friends, and a blurry drunken night.

Altogether, it has been such a fun month! I can't believe it's already February. Despite being fairly terrified to start my next placement, I'm excited to see what this month has in store for me!

Dressing Profesh And Feeling Fresh

(dress: h&m | tights: h&m | booties: ardene | scarf: h&m | necklace: american eagle | bracelets: h&m | earrings: joe fresh)

On Friday, our school hosted an Education Fair. It was hyped up quite a bit throughout our program. We were told that all sorts of school boards and agencies would be there, and to dress really professionally and print off resumes. I prepared appropriately, and it was nice to stroll around with my friends and check things out a bit. But I think it was a little over-hyped. Ideally, I want to end up in either the Soo or Toronto next year, and there was no one there for me! Not a single board or agency! But that's to be expected. I know it's going to be a challenge finding a job next year. BLAH I don't want to talk about it, I don't know why I brought that up!

I bought this dress with the $100 gift card I won at H&M on Boxing Day. I do think it's really cute and professional, but I'm no longer in love with the way it fits me. It's a little too conservative for my taste, and I thought it hugged me in all the wrong places. It has a very high neckline, which could be cute on some, but I decided to cover it up with my scarf and funk it up a bit. It probably takes away from the professionalism, but I just had to do it.

After my classes and the fair were over, I ended up having a really fun day! I had an impromptu hangout with Sarah that began with us playing Settlers with her brother and his wife, led to us having a late night dinner with a friend of hers, turned into us having a crazy drive + dance + sing session, getting pulled over by the same cop twice (because of silly reasons! not my driving!) and laughing a lot with him about it, and then randomly deciding to drive to Quebec in the middle of the night (about an hour away from North Bay). It was a night to rival the kind of thing we did when were ripe little 19 year olds with the energy to last us until 5 in the morning. It's so nice to a close friend that I've been close with since we were 15! We've spent a lot of time living in different cities, and don't get to see each other a ton in North Bay due to our extremely different schedules. But we always have a blast together and it's always like no time has passed at all! So nice :)

My Cutest Ugly Dress

(dress: h&m | tights: h&m | boots: spring | earrings: joe fresh | bracelets: mix of smart set and h&m)

When I first spotted this little treasure on the rack, I was with Mike and Amanda, who both gave it a confident and firm "NOPE." I believe the words Mike used to describe it were "absolutely hideous." And Amanda likened it to something a grandma would wear, obviously.

Still, my heart longed for it. I returned to the store, tried it on, took a #FAB dressing room selfie, convinced myself it was the perfect dress, and triumphantly left the store with the dress in my shopping bag and $30 or so gone from my wallet.

That was back in September or October, and admittedly this is much more of an autumn dress, but it remains one of my favourites. Long sleeves, floral print, and an unexpected ruffle? Check, check, and CHECK. I feel like a 60's folk hero when I wear this thing. It's great.

Yesterday was a lovely day. My friends came over between classes, and we had a super fun ukulele and singing session. Then Alexa and I spent a few hours in the library, doing lots of homework but also being silly geese.

Today, however, sucked. I had lots of homework and a big group assignment. I wasn't even overly concerned about the work but I still felt overly stressed! Bah! It was a long day and I had random bouts of anxiety. I think that being so busy is really starting to catch up to me. But I relaxed as much as I could and had some sim time for myself so things are looking up.

Making a Statement

(top: smart set | jeans: american eagle | boots: spring | necklace: h&m | bracelets: h&m)

Homework has really been picking up this week, but I can't seem to peel myself away from lying in bed, watching Parenthood, and playing around with my ukulele! While we're on the topic- Parenthood is SUCH A GOOD SHOW. I am fully addicted.

All I know is that I need to get myself in productive mode, and FAST. I have six things due from Thursday- Saturday, and I also have an education fair to prepare resumes for on Friday. You would think being in school from 8-4 every day, and having group meetings for projects, would get me in school mode! Instead, I think it's taking away from potential homework time. And then by the time I get home, I'm too lazy to think about school. *Sigh* the next few days are going to be something else, I tell ya.

I went to a dance cardio class with Lindsay and Larissa yesterday. That's kinda productive, right? Just not the kind of productive I'm aiming for currently.

This is actually an outfit I wore last week. I've been whining for several months about how badly I want a statement necklace, and how difficult it is to find one that I really love. It doesn't help that my friend Lindsay has an adorable collection of funky necklaces that I'm always pining over. Finally, the last weekend that I was home, this sparkling treasure caught my eye on my trip to H&M. It was $20, which was more than I wanted to spend on a necklace that I was almost too intimidated to wear- but I'm so glad I did! It's just the kind of necklace I was looking for, and I think it will look great with casual outfits, as well as dressy ones. I think it spiced up this relaxed outfit perfectly.

Now I just need to spice up my homework routine, AMIRITE??