{winter winds}

Sorry for the long hiatus. It has been quite the busy month with classes ending and finals beginning. The good news? I am almost done. Today was my first day without any classes and boy did it feel good. I still have one paper to write, but being able to sit in bed and drink tea cuddled under blankets sure does make for a good morning. I hope that as finals season winds down I will be back on here more frequently. I am going to attempt to post more recipes because I have been cooking up some delicious things in the kitchen and it is Christmas time, so possibly some baked goods, yum!

I am so looking forward to going home, in just two weeks! I never thought I would miss everyone so much. It has been almost 4 months since I have seen any of my family or friends from back home. It is going to be such a fun reuniting :)

On a side note, I really do think the world may be coming to an end. I mean there is still NO SNOW in Montreal. We had one snow fall and that is it. REALLY? There are reasons I moved all the way to Canada. xxx

{Every Teardrop is a Waterfall}

It is becoming Christmas time so fast here! I love it. All the lights, and the scarfs, and the music and the Christmas cups floating around the city. It is just so beautiful. It just puts me in such a good mood.

The weather isn't too bad right now, so i am taking advantage of my last chance to wear shorts and light sweaters for a while!

Feel free to check this out on lookbook!

scarf:zara//sweater:friends//shorts:urban outfitters//boots:steve madden

The leaves are starting to fall off the trees and winter coats are beginning to be pulled out. I am going to miss fall, but am so ready for the first snow! I have so many snow activities already planned. Sledding is number one on the list, then snowball fights and snowmen...the list goes on. I am going to act like a 5 year when the first snow falls. I hope to be downtown so all the lights will be on! Christmas in the city really is the best.

{halloween weekend!}

This was my first Halloween away from home. Bittersweet I must say. I missed carving pumpkins with the family and passing out candy with my parents on halloween night but, this halloween was excellent none the less. I decided to dress up as a cat (cliche, i know, but i really love cats). I went to 2.5 events haha. On Friday night, a few friends and I went to Kill Halloween which was a dubstep show featuring Datsik. The show was so fun and so full of energy. Going to shows is one of my favorite things to do, it is definitely my happy place. Then on Saturday, I hung out with some friends for my friend Paige's birthday, and then went to another Halloween party. I don't have too many pictures of the weekend but I do have a few thanks to my beautiful, wonderful flat mate Vanessa!

{home made tomato sauce}

Here is the much promised recipe for tomato sauce! It is sooo good! I suggest you all try it. I got the recipe from this site but instead of using fresh tomatoes i used a can.

[Ingredients]

6-8 cloves organic garlic, thinly sliced

½ chopped white onion (optional)

2 teaspoons organic dried oregano

Handful fresh organic basil, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons sea salt

6-7 large Organic Roma tomatoes or a can of tomatoes

¼ cup, 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Fresh ground pepper to taste

[Directions]

1. If using tomatoes, boil water, place tomatoes in until the skin begins to peel and then move to ice water and peel the skins. Then transfer them to a food processor or blender to break up into smaller pieces.

If using a can of tomatoes, do whatever needed to get the tomato pieces into small chunks or smooth if thats how you like it.

2. In a large pan, heat oil a bit, then add onion, garlic and oregano. Then add in the tomatoes and cook for 30 min to an hour. You can also add in a few basil leaves to the sauce. Its so yummy.

This recipe makes enough for 6-8 people, personally i have had about 6 meals out of it and am not halfway done with it so i guess it depends on the person! Hope you all enjoy this. I have started trying to make things from scratch a lot more now because i think it costs less, tastes better and is better for me. Also, I have started going to Atwater Market, which is the most wonderful outdoor market. If you are ever in the Montreal area, it is definitely somewhere to check out.

My room mate and I bought some fresh herbs. Having greenery in the apartment automatically makes it more home like and fresh. Plus it is really nice for cooking to just go over a pick a few leaves. The plants were only 10 dollars for all four, you can't tell me you would pass up that deal.

{Rainy Fall Days}

I promised to start doing outfit posts (as my mom reminded me on skype the other night) and I did not follow through, so here is the first of many (hopefully) fashion posts since school started! You can follow my lookbook if you want. Today, it was 11 degrees out and rainy. I didn't wear my rain boots because it didn't start raining until after my first class. I realized today that I definitely need to go out and get some more layers! Turtle necks will be my new friend, aka i will need to learn to like them because at the moment I am not a big fan. But hey that's what uni's about right? New experiences?. :) I am wearing a black jacket also and carrying a black purse.

sweater: urban outfitters// skirt: urban outfitters//tights: target//boots: steve madden//headband: asos

P.s. please ignore the awful picture quality, back lighting is awful.

{it's fall in montreal!}

Montreal is one of the most beautiful places in fall. The leaves are all shades of yellow, orange and red. The markets are full of fall vegetables and pumpkins, and there is a slight chill in the air. I seriously can not get over how beautiful it is. So to get in the fall/halloween spirit, my flat mate and I carved pumpkins and decorated the apartment! It was such a fun night filled with The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, pumpkin carving and eating the pumpkin seeds afterwards! I used this amazing recipe to make the pumpkin seeds. I still need to make pumpkin bread, so if anyone has a good recipe send it my way please!

Halloween is such a fun holiday, definitely my favorite :) What do you all have planned for the fall season?

P.S. The Jack Skellington Pumpkin is mine, and the Harry Potter Scar is Vanessa's.

{Culture Day}

My roomate and I finally got out into the great city of Montreal and explored today! We went to the école nationale de théâtre for the open house they were hosting today. It was so amazing. There were so many activities and things to do. One room had an interactive play through facebook that Vanessa and I participated in. Everyone was typing in French so we bombarded the chat with english and were completely ridiculous. We also got to paint and view the costume room. After the exhibit, we tried to make it to the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit, but by the time we arrived it was closed.

Montreal has so much culture and so much excitment. I really hope to take in as much as possible in my time here. I can't wait to see what else is in store. Adventures galore!

{hello!}

Hello friends!

Sorry it has been so long, but university is so fun and so busy! But I wanted to update you all on a few things :)

University is such a huge change from high school. So much freedom and fun, yet SO MUCH WORK. I like to ignore the work part though. The best part about it is that there is literally always something going on, if you want, or you can sit back, listen to some music and chill. Since I have gotten here, I have met some wonderful people, two of which are my most wonderful room mates! I got so lucky with them. I know I have tons more to tell you, but i will try and update more often with specific events so all my posts aren't as lame as this.

Here are some pictures of my apartment, and I hope to be around soon :)

{off to the great white north}

Sorry for falling so far behind on my blogging! I hope this doesn't happen next year :/ I will try and keep you all updated on my exciting life in Montreal. The move begins tomorrow. So excited/stressed/sad...so many feelings. I really never thought i would get sad, but saying so many goodbyes and just thinking about the day to day things that i am used to, and how that will all change is strange. Good strange, but strange none the less. Moving to a foreign country is way harder than expected. Phone companies, bank accounts, visas, keeping in contact with friends back home, ALL way more complicated than it seemed about 6 months ago when i made my decision.

But, now my bags are packed and there is no turning back (not that i have thought of that at all). 6 suitcases, 2 boxes, and 6 carry-ons. My parents sure do love me :) I love them too.

Updates on my goodbyes with friends soon! Hope you are all having a great back to school season :)

Next time i post it will be from a different country!

{instagram weekend}

I haven't really pulled out my camera this weekend, but here are a few shots! My sister came home on Saturday! I love when she comes home, i miss her so. I am prepared for a week full of adventures and bonding with the sister. She is only home for a bit so we must cram! Tonight we are having a youth dinner so my mom and i went out to buy spinach, sun dried tomatos (my new obsessions) and pasta for a delicious light summer dish to bring to the dinner! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

{adventure is out there}

A few days ago i spent a lovely evening with a very special person...(this is sounding like a date, but you all should know by now that my life is not near that exciting....) Megan! We had a picnic and great plans to paint while sitting by the lake, but it decided to rain on us, which we did not complain about because of we are in some serious need of rain and what is an adventure without a problem arising? Nothing. That's what. Megan made some delicious wraps with feta, tomatos, cucumbers, olives and other delicious things and we also had apples :) I brought some blackberry tea (my favorite). On our way to the picnic spot we saw some beautiful sunflower fields and needed to take some pictures there, of course! I only had my film camera and one of the rolls i brought was from the 70's, bad idea. But we still got some great shots and I am super pleased. I love days like this.

sorry for the photo overload, but they were all so wonderful! I love having such beautiful, sweet friends.

{sun dried tomato pasta}

Two recipes in one week? I may just be getting a little crazy. I mainly just wanted to show you all another recipe i created while messing around with different ingredients i found in the kitchen! Did any of you all try the quinoa salad?

Here it goes.

{Sun dried Tomato Pasta}

Whole Wheat Pasta

Sun dried Tomatos

Capers

Pesto Sauce

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Parmesan

And all you have to do is cook the pasta as directed on the box, then saute the tomatos, pesto and capers in a bit of olive oil. After about 3 min, add in the pasta to the pan with the sun dried tomatos. Let the pasta sit for a few min, then transfer to a bowl, spice it up with any spices you choose (i chose salt, pepper and parmesan) and enjoy!

Let me know what you think!

{move.eat.learn.}

I saw these beautiful videos on vimeo the other night and just had to share them with you all! They are so inspiring.

"3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....

= a trip of a lifetime."

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

I really like the idea of traveling to gain knowledge about other cultures and to help the people of that community rather than the tourist traveling that aims to take rather than give.

{quinoa salad}

Recently I have been trying to get back into healthy eating and cooking a lot more, which is actually really fun and I have missed it a lot. I have been trying out a lot of new foods and mixing them together, basically making art in the kitchen. While creating, I came up with this beauty. Quinoa salad. For those of you who have never had quinoa, TRY IT. You will not regret it. I hadn't tried it until about a month ago and now I can't stop eating it. Quinoa is a great grain that also has protein, which i try and seek out due to the fact that I do not eat meat. So here is the recipe. It's not too complicated and only takes about 15 min :)

{Quinoa Salad}

Quinoa

Spinach (or other lettuce of your choice)

Carrots

Onions

Celery (or other vegetables you have at the house)

Bread (home made croutons)

almonds

Salt

Pepper

Basically all you have to do is cook the quinoa, chop the vegetables and mix it all together. You can make a single serving or you can make a batch to keep in the fridge! It's all about convince. Plus, you can change it up depending on what you want that day. And to make the croutons, chop up a piece of bread into square pieces, put a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper into a sauté pan and toast until the bread turns a bit brown! All done. And you have yourself a delicious and healthy meal!

What have you guys been cooking lately?

{for your ears}

So i stumbled upon this great video and artist the other night and I just thought I would share it with all you lovely people. It just has such a great beat and this video is so fun. I really like the youtube channel this came off of. They do "Take Away Shows" where the artist are in a random place and just set up shop so to speak. Its so cool and such a fun idea.

This video is of Alex Winston, i don't really like her songs as much on CD as much as I do her acoustic versions. She is so talented and I wish they would not mess with her voice.

Plus i really love the outfits in this video.

{what i wore: adventure edition}

Well it's been a while since my last outfit post, but school is nearing so GET READY. I am really excited to start adding a fashion section to this blog. This is the outfit i wore out to lunch on a mom/child date. It was just a fun day. We went out to lunch at the Corner Bakery and then galavanted around Houston to the Army Surplus Store and the I Heart Houston sign, which is so cool. Then we adventured around the art studios and just had a great time. Who knew moms could be so adventuresome. And here is my outfit:

dress: urban outfitters// belt:vintage// shoes: steve madden

These boots are my new favorite shoes and I plan on wearing them with everything! Hope you all have a lovely day!