Long Exposures at Esquimalt Lagoon

Hey guys! Last weekend I got to play with my new Big Stopper filter at the lagoon. It is absolutely amazing and soooo much fun! I have a lot to learn about this lens and how to master it, but I'm excited at that journey. There's lots of urban and nature landscapes I'm thinking of taking.

I know the quality isn't the best, I was playing around with the long exposure noise reduction and not using it obviously makes a difference. I hope you all have a great weekend! I've got homework to do already, but I'm excited about being back in class. I'm also starting my training to become a shift supervisor at work, so lots of things on my plate, but it should be fun!

Recent Purchases

Hey all! How is everyone on this rainy Thursday? I love days like this, where it's cloudy, slightly cold, and heavy rain. It just makes the atmosphere perfect for getting things done inside. Which I can now do after having a delicious cup of tea in my new mug!

Hello everyone! It's been an eternity since I last wrote here. And my new years resolution is to start blogging back again. So hopefully I can keep on top of that! Lots have happened since I moved home from Ottawa. I've got a lovely person in my life now, his name is Ayden. Work has been going wonderfully. I'm a Barista Trainer, and I am also currently halfway through my coffee master training. I'll be moving in the spring with my dad into his girlfriends place in Sidney.

Life is pretty fantastic right now and I can't wait to share it with you guys!

Steak & Guinness Pie

I just finished making and eating my homemade Steak and Guinness pie for my dad for Father's day! I know it's a day late for father's day, but he wasn't home last night. I didn't think it was going to turn out, but it was amazing! My dad had three helpings, which I think says something about it, haha! I'm going to have to make some more next sunday and freeze them. I used Jamie Oliver's recipe, and he didn't let me down!

Not the greatest quality picture because I used my phone.

Here's the recipe!

• olive oil

• 3 medium red onions, peeled and chopped

• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

• 30g butter, plus extra for greasing

• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped

• 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped

• 4 field mushrooms, peeled and sliced

• 1kg brisket of beef or stewing beef, cut into 2cm cubes

• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 x 440ml can of Guinness (no lager, please!)

• 2 heaped tablespoons plain flour

• 200g freshly grated Cheddar cheese

• 500g best-quality ready-made all-butter puff pastry

• 1 large free-range or organic egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. In a large ovenproof pan, heat a glug of olive oil on a low heat. Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes – try not to color them too much. Turn the heat up, add the garlic, butter, carrots and celery and scatter in the mushrooms. Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary, a pinch of salt and a level teaspoon of pepper.

Fry fast for 3 or 4 minutes, then pour in the Guinness, stir in the flour and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and place in the preheated oven for about 1½ hours. Remove the pan from the oven and give the stew a stir. Put it back into the oven and continue to cook it for another hour, or until the meat is very tender and the stew is rich, dark and thick. A perfect pie filling needs to be robust, so if it’s still quite liquidy, place the pan on the hob and reduce until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in half the cheese, then season carefully and leave to cool slightly.

Cut about a third of the pastry off the block. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll both pieces of pastry out evenly with a floured rolling pin to the thickness of a pound coin. Butter a deep pie dish, then line with the larger sheet, leaving the edges dangling over the side. Tip the stew into your lined dish and even it out before sprinkling over the remaining cheese. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little beaten egg.

Cut the other rolled sheet of pastry to fit the top of the pie dish and criss-cross it lightly with a sharp knife. Place it over the top of the pie and fold the overhanging pastry on to the pastry lid to make it look nice and rustic. Brush the top with beaten egg, then bake the pie directly on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes, until the pastry is cooked, puffed and golden. Delicious served simply with peas.

Steak, Guinness, and Cheese Pie with Puff Pastry Lid 

Enjoy!

Update

Hey guys! Lots have happened since I last posted, so here's a low down!

I've officially graduated from the University of Ottawa! Even though convocation was long (and half in french), it was exciting! Michealle Jean was our new Chancellor and she's so nice! I have much respect for her now and when she was Governor General.

I have moved back to Victoria, and although I do miss Ottawa, it's wonderful! Including the rain and the cold, haha. It feels great to have the freedom of a car and soon my own income again. I've been rehired at Starbucks! The store is barely a year old, so that will be nice. I've also decided that instead of going to law school I'm going to try Software Engineering. I'll be doing upgrading this year since I didn't get into law school, so if I can do the math I'll be enrolling into UVICs BSeng program. I'll still rewrite my LSAT this fall incase it isn't something for me, but I wanted to do engineering in highschool, just not the math, haha. But at this point in my life it seems more exciting and challenging than law, which is something I'm looking for. Both are 4/5 year programs and salary pay afterwards is comparable, so either decision is okay.

Living at home is fantastic! No rent to pay, no food to buy! I love it! I just have to clear out my dad's stuff in my room so I can get into my closet to unpack my suitcases and my boxes. Hopefully in October I can get over to the mainland and IKEA to buy some furniture.

I have a bunch of photos to post from Maui, a sunrise from here in Victoria, and my friends new kitty! I'm also doing that friends engagement photos! I'm really excited!

I'm off to catch up on the Real Housewives of Vancouver and Don't be Tardy for the Wedding :P

Maui!

I'm sitting in Vancouver airport right now, gate E86, trying to waste an hour of time until boarding. I am so exhausted. Note to self: get more than three hours of sleep when doing 12 hours of flying time the next day. Not to mention the 6 hour layover. I had a nice lunch, coffee, and a wander around Chapters with my aunt and uncle here in Vancouver! The flight to Vancouver wasn't that bad, but it could've been better. Like involving a nap. Or a tv that didn't have distorted sound and HGTV, Food, and W channels that worked. Because that's all I wanted to watch.

Vacations are the best, but travelling there is a pain! Screw needing a vacation from school/work, you need a vacation from the flying!

I had to buy a new ipod yesterday, as my old one decided to crap out. But the new ones come with cameras! So guess who downloaded instagram?! I did! That means I'll be doing "My Week in Photos" each week! yay! Thanks to Philippa for suggesting it!

I was sweating so badly after I got through customs I had to buy a new shirt. I think it was also just feeling gross after having spent a day travelling in it, and having pretty much another "travel" day equivalent to go.

I was worried about customs because when I went to Florida last summer I was taken into "detention" because someone with my first initial and last name was doing bad things. The customs officer was really nice and cheerful, which seemed out of the ordinary! But it was quick and painless, and boom, I am technically sitting in the US right now!

I feel really dizzy writing this, I think it just me being really tired. I might go and try to walk around, see whats around here. Or I might not. I don't really want to have a quick nap as I know it'll make it harder to fall asleep on the plane. Here's to hoping I sleep for the full 6 hours! I'll probably post today in pictures tomorrow, I was having fun with my new camera :D Pictures of orange juice, napkins, boarding boards, planes, terminals. Yeah, boring, but not. Sorry if this post was completely incoherent. I know it's structure is horrible, hopping from one place to another. I think I'm going to get ready to go find a washroom. Bye! Talk to you guys once I'm in MAUI!

Favourite Songs of the Moment

These are the songs I have on repeat right now!

You and I - Ingrid Michaelson

It such a beautiful and fun song. It makes me want to go frolic in a field of flowers, or relax on a swing. It also makes me want to buy a house in the south of France for my dad.

Sun in an Empty Room - The Weakerthans

I can't wait to get home, get in the car, and put on this tune. It's the perfect summer driving song! And they're Canadian!

Drive By - Train

Another song that is perfect for driving with the windows down, with the ocean breeze flowing in your hair. Specifically, driving down Sooke Road. It's upbeat and catchy. What more could you ask for?

Beach in Hawaii - Ziggy Marley

I'll be playing this next week. CAN'T WAIT. Maui here I come!

Such an 'UGH' day/weekend.

You know what sucks? Being sick. You know what sucks even more? Being sick when it's 30C outside with 51% humidity and no A/C. I feel like I'm dying. I'm probably going to go take a cold shower after this post.

I've got one week of exams left! First one is tomorrow night, then wednesday, friday, sunday, and last one is tuesday night.

I'm slowly working on my design board for my room, I'm hoping to post it soon.

I'm looking for some new music to put on my ipod for the 12 hour flight to Maui next week, so if you have some suggestions, comment! I'm starting to like anything, really.

I've been watching Being Human the past couple of days to get myself to rest and get over this cold (which is not going away). It is amazing! I'm on Series 3, episode 4 now. This is the UK version I'm watching, thanks to netflix! Netflix finally decided to take prepaid credit cards, so I was able to sign up for the one month trial. I don't know if I'll continue with it after the one month, we will see.

I know a lot of people complain that it doesn't have a lot of new movies and shows on it, but since I rarely watch movies when they first come out in theatres or on dvd, it's great for me! There are plenty of movies I want to see, haha! It'll be great for when I'm sitting in Vancouver airport next week for 3-4 hours.

I'm going to go take a shower now. Looks like there's a thunderstorm rolling in! And the heat should break tomorrow, thank goodness.

Life Updates

Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted in... awhile. This is my first post under the new blogger platform. I haven't really made up my mind on how I feel about it. I think I'm just not one for changes on the internet. If things are working, leave them, haha. I'll warm up to it, I'm sure.

So, life. Things have happened, things haven't happened since I last wrote.
I officially got my rejection emails from UVIC law and UBC law, which I expected. It's never fun to get rejected though, expected or not. I'm hoping to resit my LSAT in October, giving me the whole summer and a bit to practice, practice, practice. I need to knock it out of the ballpark. What will I be doing this year? I'll be working full time, and I'm hoping to get into UVIC under a non-degree seeking status to take one or two classes over fall and winter. My dad wants this so I can stay on his medical, which I agree. And maybe I can still get CPP cheques? Never hurts to get money from the government. Never.

I've looked at some classes at UVIC that I might want to take. Consumer Psychology. That sounds interesting. I love everything to do with how people react (unknowingly) to advertising and products and shopping and all that stuff. It's fascinating. There's an international politics course I want to take, I can't remember it's exact name, but it sounds interesting! And there's another politics course on Public Policy Advising or writing, something like that. I feel that would be helpful in law. Of course, all these decisions on what class to take depends on what year I'm admitted as and what classes I'm allowed to take and what my current classes transfer in to.

My last day of classes was yesterday! I just have to make it through finals next week and then I'm a undergraduate in Criminology! Woo hoo! I'll have another piece of paper to add to my wall :P And then right after my last final, I fly off to Maui! Literally, less than twelve hours after my last final I'll be on the plane. Final = April 24th, 7pm-10pm; Takeoff = April 25th, 8:45am.

I am getting very excited for Maui. I've been slowly getting things ready and buying what I need to buy. I bought the Underwater Digicam from Photojojo.com

I haven't full tested it out, since I don't go swimming and it's not warm enough here to chill at the beach! It is waterproof though, my sink tested that out. It's lo-fi, but I just want something that I can take with me where ever so I don't miss out on anything. Especially when snubing. I would have bought an underwater housing bag for my DSLR, but I would've been too chicken to test it out, haha. The risk vs. reward wasn't a good ratio to me. I have to buy a Micro SD card for it though.

I also bought some proper sunglasses last week. A nice pair of Ray Bans. I have RB's as my eyeglasses, and love how light they look. I've had them for a year and they haven't been broken yet, so I trust them. They didn't have the funky colours that I wanted, but that might've been a good thing, haha!

Another exciting thing about going to Maui is that my Aunt is going to come scoop me away and we're going for lunch during my 7 hour layover in Vancouver. Ahh, West Coast air!

What else has happened? Hmm... the 9th was the one year mark when my mom passed away. I just lazed around that day and watched tv and movies. I did go out to get a hot chocolate and I finally found a Starbucks that had the Daffodil pins in stock. If you didn't know, April is Cancer Awareness Month (Daffodil Month)! Go out and donate and pick up a pin!

Nothing else besides all that. I'm looking forward to May 15th, Diablo 3 is released! Goodbye life. June 3rd is convocation and pretty much all my family is coming out to Ottawa :) Then I get to move home, finally! I get to see familiar faces and get back into being social! And driving. Boy do I miss driving. It's almost been a year since I've driven a car. I feel like I'm missing a part of me :(

Right now I'm doing some calculations and math stuffs for Janine and I's road trip to Cali in 2012. 2 weeks on the road, comic con, san fran, LA, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland. Can't get much better than that! Have a good day, I'll be doing some posts on my room design and wishlists and some photos!

Four re-edits, the weather, and a short update!

I was bored today and I really wanted to edit some photos, so I looked to see what .raw files I had from over a year ago. I really liked these four that I found. I re-cropped them and re-edited them from how they had originally been edited.

It has also been SO warm the past couple of days! It is currently 24C outside (at 630pm!), same with yesterday, tomorrow, and a projected 26 degrees on wednesday (which the actual temperature has been about 5C above the projected number). There will also be humidity wednesday as it's supposed to feel like 30. Ugh. Don't complain, don't complain! Haha. And then by friday, we're back to a balmy high of only 6. I just wish the weather would keep at a steady range. Whether that be 6-10C or 15-20C, I don't care.

I have also decided on how I'm going to decorate my room when I get home. I have the pictures for the inspiration, the wall colours, and accent colours picked out. I've got the layout of the room in my head and I'll just need to do some measurements when I get home to pick the perfect couch, desk, chair, and drawers. I'll do a post about it this week! And I apologize for being MIA, I haven't really been motivated to do anything lately. Kind of sucks, but yeah. Only 3 weeks + finals left of school (and not just this term, but of university)!

Macro boredom.

I was bored today and I had some feathers laying around from a headband. I also found my eye dropper the other day, so I decided to set up my tripod and put on my macro lens! I've totally forgotten how much fun shooting in macro is! <3

Recent Purchases

I went to Old Navy and Chapters today! I got some comfy pj shorts, jeans, and basic capris (for Maui!) from Old Navy.  Chapters is having an amazing sale on their home things! I bought the porcelain vase for $5!! I couldn't say no! Go check out your local Chapters and see what steals you can find! I also picked up the latest House & Home, and they had one left of this month and last, so I yanked them! Can't wait to jump into those and find some great design ideas!

Wooden Pallets Bed Frames

I'm in love with this simple (and cheap) diy bed frame! I think this is what I'm going to do when I get home, as I want to downsize my queen for a double (I want more room space!) and I'll have to get a new bed frame. If I can sleep in a single for two years, a double will be plenty of room! Pallet beds can add a nice rough/rustic feel to a room. Or they can be painted any colour you want (over and over again, too!) to suit your walls! Here are some examples of a pallet beds:

Lori has posted about what types of pallets to get, and if you want to either make them or buy them new, here. And she also has a tutorial for making a toddler's bed out of pallets, here. If you don't want to buy them or snatch them from a store, you can always try your hand at building one! It's very simple, and explained by Kim, here!

So productive!

It's only 1220p and it feels like it should be 4 or 5p with this productivity surge in me! I've completely cleaned my room, folded my laundry, gotten dressed (haha), and have finished my midterm paper for my class at 230p.

I'll probably take pictures of my room tonight or tomorrow afternoon. I bought some things for a really good deal at Chapters last night. I went with just the intention of buying a blanket that I've wanted for the past year but it was way to expensive for a blanket ($65). It was 50% off though, and that brings it just into a slightly reasonable price bracket for a blanket. I also got to wicker type magazine holders (the last two) for 75% off, which made them like $7. When I move back to Victoria I may spray paint them black or white depending on how I do my room, but there colour is fine for now.

I can't wait for reading break to start after today's class! My friend and I are playing drinking Monopoly to kick start it and forget these midterm blues. I'll be posting lots this week! I've got some ideas in my head that I want to do/post :)

Header change!

Nothing like designing and changing your blog instead of studying! haha! I got the font from the ComputerArts magazine and fell in love with it! I just had to use it. I also added some pages, and I'll hopefully update those and add more things soon! Reading break starts on Friday, so I will have some free time starting then. Until Friday though, I have four midterms in two days. Woo. There goes my sanity! haha! Best get back to studying for Geology and finishing my CRM4302 take home midterm.

Design Inspirations: Wallpaper

I've been looking at wallpaper for my room back in Victoria. I really want to try it out instead of doing the basic paint on the walls. It's expensive, but I think it may be worth it if I can do it right! Here are some wallpapers that I have fallen in absolute love with:

I love the colours in this wallpaper, it gives you so much freedom when it comes to choosing accents!

John Lewis Harlequin Samara Wallpaper

I love the harmony between the purple and the beige. This could make for a very relaxing feel in a bedroom. 

Graham & Brown: Manderley Purple Wallpaper

So far this is the wallpaper that I have my heart dead set on for my room. I love the elegance that the pattern creates, but the colours involved in it as well. I love the set up in the right picture, showing that not just the teal will look good, but other bright colours will look fantastically elegant as well! It's expensive, but I'm ready to start working to save up for it!

Graham & Brown: Desire Teal & Gold Wallpaper

Do you have any wallpapers that you have used or want to use? Any that you have bookmarked just because you love them? I want to know! :)

English Lecture: Victorian Currency

We've been studying Sherlock Holmes for the past couple of classes, which I absolutely love. We took a small break a couple of classes ago and our professor decided to teach us the Victorian England currency system so we could understand it when we came across it while reading.

So here it goes!
Basic unit = pound (£). A quid = bill £; sovereign = coin £
1 £ = 20 shillings (bob)
1 shilling = 12 pennies (pence; d)
     - 1£ = 240 pence
Sixpence (tanner) = 6 pence
Threepence = 3 pence
Groat = 4 pence
Guinea = 21 shillings (It's basically a pound with a tip built in)
Crown = 5 shillings (Quarter £)
Half Crown = 2 shillings & sixpence (8th of a £)
Double florin = 4 shillings
Florin = 2 shillings

Can I just say that I'm glad I don't live in the Victorian era, that is just confusing, haha. It's more sensible because a £ can be broken down smaller than the $. This system was in play until the 1950's when Britain got rid of some of their coins and introduced the decimal system. From then on the penny = 100th of a £, and p symbolizes a pence instead of d. The shilling finally disappeared in 1990's.

I do find it really fascinating! I hope I didn't make too many mistakes!

Design Inspirations: Pillows!

So I've been looking around the internets for design inspirations for my room when I move back to Victoria. I really want to make a room where when I move, I have everything I need. I want to try and have a nice seating area with a comfy chair & ottoman. I'm trying to find ways to make my bed fit and look nice, and maybe see if a desk will fit as well. But I'd rather have the comfy chair than desk. Here are some of my favourite pillows that I have found so far! I can't wait until I get home and I can pick the wallpaper/paint and then choose everything else!

Bird Leaves Cushion - Ferm Living

 Paper Flowers Cushion, Guild 

Lotus Flower Cushion, Geometric Print Cushion

Penny Hill Cushion, Owl Cushion

As I said, I can't wait to decide on small things like pillows! There are so many creative designs out there that are just beautiful!

Pictures!

I went for a walk today beside the canal. I wasn't out for that long as the sun was going down and I couldn't feel my legs by the time I got home, haha.