10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Note: I know this post is atleast 3 weeks late at this point, so I’ve compiled a list of 10 Things throughout  the two weeks following the last time I wrote this one(which is probably cheating) but hey, it’s my blog so I’m going to do it. I was too lazy to change all the wording to this post, so it’s all written in last week’s form (I forgot to actually post it last Friday)

I can’t believe I’ve already been writing these posts for 3 months (more or less), it’s crazy. I can officially cross off another number on my 101 Goals list. I don’t know if I’ll necessarily continue writing these after today, but maybe every once in a while I’ll do it, it’s rather inspiring and it’s a lot of fun when the 10 Things come easily. So here we go!

1. Last Friday I felt good enough about my finances to splurge a little on myself. I hadn’t bought anything new in AGES and I wanted to look good on Saturday for the huge show I was going to… So I bought myself a fake leather jacket, some patterned tights and two new tops. I know this sounds strange, but it felt great to spend some money. It’s so weird how just a few new things in your wardrobe can make everything seem wearable again. It was a great feeling.

2. Last Saturday morning was strangely nice. It was bittersweet, actually. I don’t think I mentioned it at all, but it was my grandmother’s burial. Although she passed away in January she couldn’t be buried until the grounds unfroze. Anyway it was really emotional and incredibly sad… but afterwards the 15 of us who drove up to the cemetery went to a restaurant to catch up. It was nice to be with family for a few hours, despite the bad terms of it.

3. The show last Saturday was beyond unbelievable. The whole night honestly deserves to be in here. I met some new really awesome people and I just had a good time dancing, laughing and staying out really late with friends.

we're a special bunch

4. Last Wednesday, May 12th, was Game 7 Habs vs. Pens… AND WE WON. I went over to Jared’s house with a huge group of people to watch the final game in round 2 of the playoffs. This is the furthest the Habs have made it in the playoffs since 1993, which is INSANE. I’m not the biggest hockey fan, but living in Montreal… everyone becomes on at this time in the season. It was the craziest thing, the last 10 seconds of the game. We all counted down and when it was over we all screamed like crazy. Then Jenia tackled me to the couch and nearly suffocated me… but you know, it was all in good times!

The gang right after we won Game 7

Note: Tonight the Habs are playing Game 4 in their series against the Flyers, and last game we won the first out of the three. Hopefully they can pull it off again tonight!!

5. On Friday, I worked the greatest shift at work; 7-2. It went by so fast. Then I met up with Agnes & James who came over & helped me figure out my schedule for school. I had my orientation on Wednesday before Game 7 which opened up my registration. I’m pretty nervous for this year because I made the decision to take all my Math classes that I missed out on in high school. I want to get a business degree & I need all the pre-reqs. I’m excited and happy that I finally made that decision because I feel really good about it. A Business degree is the perfect place to start, I just need to be really motivated to get through all the tough classes that I’m going to have.

6. After registering for school we all went out together and met up with Katlynne too. We went for dinner and then some shopping. It was nice to catch up with that gang.

7. Yesterday, my family went over to my Grandmother’s apartment to finish emptying out all the furniture. They picked me up from work & we all went out for a huge amazing early dinner at Baton Rouge & then we went to my house to unload the truck of all the stuff. It was nice, we all hung around and helped out and had a good time. I’m really sad that I’ll never step foot in my grandma’s apartment again, but so much of her is in my house now that it’s okay.

8. Over the last couple weeks Jenia, Jenn & I have been making a list of all the upcoming shows we want to go to. I’m super excited, this last summer before school is shaping up to be a good one. I have to be honest, I’m especially excited for Warped Tour on my birthday. I’ve never gone to a show on the DAY of my b-day, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun!

Warped always attracts thousands

9. This week is going to be my first fundraising event for my walk at the end of the summer for women’s cancers. On Thursday May 20th, Agnes & I will be hosting a dance at our old high school with all profits going straight to our cause. It should be fun, I’m just really hoping it all turns out well!

Note: This event happened this week and was VERY successful! I had a great time & met some really sweet kids along the way.

Agnes & I before the dance

10. I know this list is like 2 weeks late & it should really only be about the last couple weeks, but I can’t help myself right now, one of my all time FAVORITE bands- the band that introduced me to music but that broke up before I was old enough to go see them play- is getting back together for a reunion tour. Something Corporate. Toronto. August 7th. There’s no other place in the world I could think of being on that day. Holy hell I can’t believe it right now.

Note: I wrote number 10 last Friday, AS I found out about the concert. And now… I’m going! Jenia’s family moved their vacation a few days so that we could go. I’m SO EXCITED.

Have a good weekend!

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

1. Last Saturday I had this really huge awesome family/friends dinner at my brother’s place. He hosted a dinner party for friends and family that couldn’t make it down to Mexico for the wedding. It was a lot of fun and I met the cutest little boy. He was just under 2 years old and we became the best of friends.

2. I started receiving a few donations for my Walk to End Women’s Cancers this week. I couldn’t be happier! I really need/want to reach my goal of 2 thousand and every donation counts, so it’s meant a lot so far.

3. My work week could have been a lot worse then it actually was. I worked really long hours but I managed to keep really busy and it didn’t end up being so bad, as I thought that it might.

4. Speaking of work… My department went nearly 6 months without a manager at all. This week, I found out we don’t only have one… but two! One of the other managers at the store was switched and now works in Kids’. I think it’s kind of exciting. Plus, we had this really great productive 45 minute meeting this week together. We talked about a lot of the stuff that was going on and the things that aren’t going so well. I walked out of the meeting feeling good.

5. I don’t talk about my 101 goals very often, but I am still constantly thinking of them and slowly completing them. On Thursday, I completed another one:

10. Dye part of my hair purple

You can’t really tell in the picture, but all the underneath is vibrant purple.
I also cut my hair and really love it. Yay!

6. My mom bought this really REALLY cute purse and gave it to me. Well, I technically need to pay for it… soon-ish, but for now it kind of feels like a gift!

It’s very cute and summery… and bright yellow inside. I haven’t gotten a new purse in so long… It’s like a drug. Seriously.

7. I finished reading this really fantastic book called Tweak by  Nic Sheff. It’s a true story about the author, Nic, who relapses into a terrible drug habit after being sober for a year and a half. His life is a series of relapses and attempts at sobriety and he openly talks about his struggles throughout those really tough years. It was so real and a great read. I’d say it’s even better then A Million Little Pieces by James Frey simply because it’s got that reality aspect to it. Oh, and the author relapsed after releasing his book. I don’t know, the story really got me.

8. I have paid off a very significant amount of my debt and I’ve started saving money again. I can actually say, this week, that I feel OKAY about money… which is great. I’m on my way to crossing off another number on my 101 goals.

9. Today, Jenia invited me to go to to Cape Cod (well, near it) with her family in August for 10 days. I really think I can make it happen, and I’m  super excited about it!

10. This week I finally called University and set up my orientation and my English Exam. I couldn’t find the courage to do it because it was going to make the whole thing so real… but it really started to stress me out so I organized all of it and I’m feeling pretty good about the situation right now!

I’ve only got two more weeks of this feature to complete my 3 months for my 101 goals list… I’m debating continuing afterwards, but we’ll see. Thanks for reading!

Have a good weekend!

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Okay, this week was pretty boring. Seriously, I don’t think I can name 5 things that were good about this week… Because I literally spent the entire time at work and feeling sick… and coming home and going to bed. That might sound slightly pessimistic, and I could really try, but instead I’m going to pick 10 things from the last 2 weeks together because I wasn’t home last week to write this post- and last week has lots of really amazing things to remember.

1. Spending 6 straight days with some of my absolute best friends. I know that my post about my week on the road isn’t very far down, but it’s almost like I just came back from a vacation. I mean, I didn’t work for a whole week and I wasn’t home at all either. Oh, and I was having the time of my life with some of my favorite people. Definitely something that made me happy last week.

2. The first show on the tour, in 3Rivs made me happy in general. It was my first small show in a while… I miss intimate concerts like that. It was just us, some other fans, the bands, and the merch. It was also a good way to make new friends.

The 3 of us with one of the opening bands, Delta 20, who came over to US and asked us for a picture. Hah!

3. Dancing like nobody’s business with the girls while Hedley played Never Too Late at the Bell Center the following day. We were so in tune that show, first swaying, then bursting out into crazy awesome dance moves at the end. We’re too cool.

The four of us in Toronto waiting outside Sound Academy, October 2009

4. Having a moment with Faber on-stage in Drummondville the following night. He pointed & told the three of us that we we rocked. It was kind of awesome… and a girl filmed it front row so we’ve got a memory of it too!

About a minute into this video, Faber looks up and points to us & talks to us. <3

5. Making that 4th concert in a row work. Going to St-Hyacinthe on that last day was this huge confusing thing, but we ended up going and having a really good time. (But we missed one of our 1/3 that night, it wasn’t the same without her). It was just really nice to stay and talk after the show & not feel stressed about leaving or being awkward about being the last people there. We just were and it was fun.

Jenia wasn’t with us, but Lisa came along & we had a really good time! Aren’t we dangerous, taking pictures as Jenn drives…

6. Despite how Saturday night ended, it started out really amazing. I went out to 737 for a really good friends’ birthday and danced & hung out with a bunch of people that I don’t get to see nearly often enough. I was really happy that I got to spend atleast a few hours with the Birthday Girl who I really adore very much. <3

The birthday girl & I at dinner!

7. On Monday night, James & I ended up going out for coffee together. I actually haven’t hung out with him in a month or more…. and I used to see him atleast once a week, if not twice or even three times. It’s been really strange without him in my life these last few weeks because our schedules just haven’t been working out; but on Monday it felt like nothing changed. We sat with our coffees and talked, talked, talked… And I really missed doing that.

8. Tuesday I had my very first Conference Call at work. I sat in with two executives from HarperCollins Publishing… and it’s going to become a monthly thing. It’s really cool, we’re going to start organizing in-store contests & find ways to keep everyone up to date on everything HarperCollins. Oh, did I mention the free-books part of it!?

9. At some point this week I had a sit-down with my new manager and I REALLY like her. I’m really excited because my department hasn’t had any managment since October/November… and it’s really good to feel like we’re going to get back on track. Also, current management got shuffled around & we got a second manager to help out who I really like too. Work-wise, this should be a pretty good year, but management really needs to find a way to get their rules in order & make all employees happy.

10. Did you all read the guest post below? This week I had my very first blog-swap experience and it was a lot of fun! It’s a neat way to meet new people and to challenge your writing a bit. I’m hoping to do a bit more guest blogging in the future… It really was fun.

Have a good weekend!

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Oh snap! I completely forgot about this post this week. Luckily, it’s very early on Saturday and I haven’t actually gone to bed from Friday yet. Since I do try and make this a Friday post as much as possible.

Oh and happy 2 month anniversary to me, for doing this 10 Things! I can’t believe how FAST time is flying these days. Anyways, here we go!

1. So last week I cheated and posted my 10 Things on Thursday afternoon, because I would be gone all day Friday. So I’m going to use part of last week, this week! Last Thursday night/Friday day I got to finally spend time with Jenn & Jen (aka my other 2/3rds). I can’t tell you WHY the three of us get along so gosh darn well. We just do. Along with some much needed time with two of my fave people, we finally got to see The New Cities perform again. I don’t care what happens, I’ll always consider that band to be an important part of my life. Nothing can change that- they’ve done more than they know for me in the last two years. It’s crazy how much I’ve changed because of them (in a good way)… and each time I go to one of their shows & see how much THEY’VE changed in two years too, I get all emotional about it all over again!

Jenia & I in 2008 after a very eventful concert. Good times <3

Jenia, Jenn & I back in 2008

2. Last Sunday I had an amazing time out with Jenn & Jenia again, and a bunch of other new friends (Jenia’s boyfriend & his group of friends). We all had such a good time together at Fouf’s until the early hours of the morning. And I got married at the bar, so you know, that’s always an interesting thing to bring up in conversation!

3. I discovered some really awesome new shows this week. I really wanted to keep up my reading streak, but I just don’t know where time has gone. I was always somewhere, or time was just going too fast for me. I did end up watching almost the entire season of Cougar Town & Modern Family this week. Those shows made my week a little bit better.

4. I DOWNLOADED… wait for it- The first season of FELICITY. I’m so excited. SO. EXCITED. Keri Russell + Scott Foley + Scott Speedman + 90′s amazing TV = going to be amazing when I start watching it!

5. I thought this week was going to be really long and draggy, but it went by super fast! Why does this make it on my list of things that made me happy? Because next week is going to be so freaking AM-AZ-ING that I’m glad I could get this boring week out of the way.

6. Planning next weeks’ fun filled days with Jen + Jenia = SO EXCITING. I’m happy just thinking about how awesome next week is going to be.

Us 3 in 3rivs last week! And back again next week... I love our random roadtrips

7. Today + tomorrow (although kind of today? Saturday?) are the most beautiful days in the history of April as I know it. Today it climbed up to 25 degrees, and tomorrow it’s going to be hotter. It seriously feels like I should be celebrating my birthday, not the beginning of spring. (My birthday is in the middle of July…!) I LOVE summer. But this beautiful day really had me missing Mexico.

Mexico, Beach, Sun... I miss you!

8. Today (Friday) I went over to my brother’s for dinner with the family. It’s always really nice & it always makes my list of happy things of the week, when I get to see them. We sat outside, talked, laughed, played cards, ate lots of food… And I get to see them all again on Sunday for Easter!

9. Discussions for moving my room to the basement have come up again. I can’t wait to make it happen… My room is too SMALL for me. I want to feel like I have space and freedom… I’m so excited to move down there. Hopefully I can clean it up soon & make it mine!

10. I had a pretty good week at work, now that I think of it. Today was a lot of fun- I got to help set up an Easter event that’s going to be taking place Saturday afternoon. I also got to meet my new manager who starts on Monday. I was terrified because I’d heard crazy rumors about her… but she was SO sweet. So that made it a lot easier. Strangely enough, I also spoke to my old manager and remembered how much I miss her! Change is always tough especially because I got along so well with ex-manager, but I have a good feeling about it, for now!

Working in the Kids' Department is a hell of a lot of work. But it's 85% of the time worth it!

Have a good weekend!!

*Sorry for the number of times I said the word ‘week’ in this last post. I noticed afterwards and although it’s really bothering me, I’m way too tired to fix it & can’t think of other words to replace it. So whatever.*

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Okay, I think this post is going to be really hard to write. I don’t know if I did 10 things this week worth putting in this post. I’ll definitely try though. Let’s see how this goes.

1. Last Saturday I went to the Sugar Shack with my family & all their close friends. In total we were about 60 people, and it was totally amazing! I didn’t take any pictures because I was literally so emotional about seeing everyone from my Mexico trip that it didn’t even cross my MIND.I love everything about the Sugar Shack: the fact that it’s breakfast food all day, the yummy maple syrup on snow, the random dancing they have in the middle of the afternoon… It’s what March is all about here in Montreal!

2. On Monday after a really long day at work, I went downtown and met up with a bunch of friends for dinner. Then we all walked for an hour until we got to Sala Rossa & we watched some bands perform and overall just had a good time hanging out. Jenn, Jenia & I also had a really nice moment doing merch for Mackenzie 1st and we’re all really excited to be doing it again very, very soon at a way more awesome show.

3. Somewhere in my week I managed to finish the book I was reading- which trust me, was an accomplishment- and I practically finished a second one too! I like picking up the reading pace. I’ve got too many books to read and not enough time! I’m currently about to finish a really good book too, called the Ghost & the Goth. It’s this hilarious book about the super popular girl at school who ends up dying & a goth guy who sees dead people… and how they meet and help each other. It’s a hilarious and fun read.

4. The beautiful weather this week! Okay, so I haven’t enjoyed very much of it, but just today I went for a walk and it was absolutely gorgeous. Too bad it’s supposed to snow next week…

5. Last night I finally finished writing up all the proposals and contracts I had to do for the bands we want to hire for our benefit concert. It was a huge accomplishment for me because I never imagined that I would be able to understand all that lawyer lingo (aka the contracts)… but it’s really coming together (on paper now too!)… Now all we need are some bands to say they’re willing to play!

6. The new season of Celebrity Apprentice started up this week! WOO HOO! Cyndi Lauper is pretty much my new favorite person. I seriously LOVE that show. What a guilty pleasure of mine. I’m really not into reality TV at all but it’s really awesome to see all the money they raise.

7. Yesterday was my day off for the week and I had a really, really lazy day. By lazy, I mean I canceled my appointment with Trebas (and by cancel, I mean I didn’t show up) I know, super irresponsible of me. Why does this make me happy? Well it doesn’t really because I do want to go to the school… but I got tons of other stuff done from home (like LAUNDRY OMG CLEAN CLOTHES YAY!) I also really love spending days at home.

8. I also finally finished transcribing my BNL interview… I hate transcribing so I’m incredibly happy that’s done. Now all I have left to do is write the 2 thousand word article to go along with it, woo hoo!

9. Today I had an amazing day at work. It’s REALLY rare these days because I’m usually so freaking bored out of my mind. But today was really fun. I had a bunch of customers come in looking for me because they’d finished books I recommended and needed something else. I got to hang out with them and just talk about books for hours, it was fantastic. 8 hours never went by so fast!

10. My brother & my sister-in-law ended up coming over for dinner tonight, which was really fun. It’s been a long, LONG time since we had dinner just us and my mom and I’m always hysterical when dinner includes my brother and my mother at the same table. My family is a complete riot!

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I did it! I thought of 10 things! I’m quite proud of myself. That actually took me a while to think about. I really need to do more with my week that makes me happy. It shouldn’t be this hard to think of 10 things in one week!

I actually want to pick up a book called The Happiness Project at work, about this exact topic. The journey of a woman who wanted to find her happiness. Look it up. It looks amazing.

Have a good weekend!

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

I’m pretty much a whole day late on this post! But I’m still writing it. It’s still in the right week… Yesterday I just had the craziest day. Which I’m sure I’ll get to in this post as well. So here we go!

1. One of my goals on 101 in 1,001 is to choose a program for school and be happy with it. Apparently I’m now one of those people who can’t make up their minds’. So this week, I made an appointment at Trebas Institute downtown just so that I can go and see what it’s about and talk to the administrator about the courses and the program and, most importantly, the costs. I don’t know if I’ll end up changing my mind from doing my University degree, but in order to cross that off my 101 list I need to know that I looked at all my options and that I have a set path in front of me. I’m really happy I made that appointment, because that’s the first step.

Trebas Institute is one of the top school (but still really small) for music. The program I’m looking at is Music Business Administration. It just costs an arm, a leg and my soul.

2. Since my last post, which was early LAST Friday… I changed my hair up a little bit. It’s really subtle but it was really unlike me – I dyed all the bottom of my hair fire engine red. At first I really couldn’t get used to it (especially since I asked for purple)… but I’m slowly really starting to like it. It’s really different and that’s what I wanted!

3. On Tuesday, I was supposed to work 1:15 until 9:15. Instead, my work paid me until 4 to stay home and have a paperwork day. I have to admit it really cut that shift for me (in a good way) and gave me the chance to catch up on some stuff at home. It was pretty cool to get paid to stay home… I also feel like it shows they trusted me a lot to let me do that.

4. I decided this week that it was time to get back into my internship with Astral Media. I took a really long break from helping out because Mexico preparations were taking up my whole life. Then I just didn’t feel like it anymore. But I signed up for an event for this past Wednesday and it was a lot of fun. I don’t know what I’ll learn from this internship, but I know that I’ve met some really fun people so far and it’ll look really good on my CV… so why not?

5. This week was also the week to start buying all the concert tickets for upcoming shows. Mackenzie 1st, Faber Drive, The New Cities… shows are piling up and I couldn’t be happier. And road trips! My God I missed road tripping with my best friends.

4 out of the 5 of us girls in St. Leonard D’Aston. One of my favorite road trips from last year, hands down. Good times <3

6. On Wednesday I got to spend some lovely quality time with my awesome friend Agnes. It’s always nice when we find time to just hang out the two of us!

Agnes & I having a little photo shoot when we hung out together, before I left for Mexico!

7. Thursday was my Sister-In-Law’s birthday, so I headed over to her parents’ house with the rest of my family for an amazingly delicious dinner and some quality time with the fam. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to make time to see them.

I know this picture is outdated, but it’s our most recent family portrait! So here’s a little Christmas spirit in March

8. Oh, I completely forgot to mention that LAST WEEKEND… was amazing. I finally got to hang out with 4 of my favorite people & we lived downtown for a night… which was awesome. Cleaning, eating, drinking & more eating.

There’s one of us missing! But here we are at Beaver Lake, taking a break from cleaning

9. Yesterday was a crazy day and I was beyond exhausted by the time I got home at 11:30PM… but it was definitely worth it. After work Agnes, Jenia & I met up downtown to go see my Editor and another girl we work with at CONFRONT to start setting u the details for our Benefit Concert. There’s so much planning to do… But we’re all ready to make this happen and make it super successful. I’m BEYOND WORDS happy that this is working out so far.

10. Today would normally go into next week’s post, but I’ve just been so busy this week that #10 is coming out of this morning. Today… I slept in until 11:15AM. This is SUCH an accomplishment in my life. I’ve been waking up between 7 and 8 every day for a little while now and it’s so nice to wake up when I WANT TO & not when my alarm clock tells me to. I love sleep!

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The rest of my day today is going to be aaallll sorts of awesome. I’m going to the Sugar Shack with my family and everyone from Montreal who flew to Mexico with us. It’s going to be like a 25+ person reunion. I’m SO excited. I need to go get ready!

Oh, how I miss our delicious breakfasts in Mexico, when everyone used to meet up with each other! Here we are on the day of the wedding. Girls breakfast ONLY!