Today my school friend, Gina, made an observation: "You're like the only redhead who's hot. I know so many ugly redheads. But you're hot; I'd totally do you. Have you been done? You should totally go do, like, ten guys." And she walks away.

This gave me a ridiculous self esteem boost (until I saw the mirror in art class, of course). It was made even better by the fact that the new kid in my English class that I think is kind of cute, overheard the entire thing. He laughed with me and Sara and Laura over the crazy Gina.

Today's the university fair, so grade 12 students basically have the day off. I'm going to the fair tomorrow, so today I'm catching up on homework and housework.

It's also the Terry Fox Run today. My mum and I were standing at our kitchen window, chatting, when we suddenly hear drums. Kids start streaming past our house, holding signs and banners and balloons and kites. It was my old elementary school, out for the Terry Fox Run. And it was so precious! They were chanting and waving their signs everywhere and the kindergartners were all bundled up and the older kids were just having fun, pounding the hell out of the hand drums. It was amazing.

And the procession lasted a good five-ten minutes, I think the whole school was out. My neighbour stood outside, waiting for her little daughter in kindergarten to come by so she could take a picture. Her daughter was so excited, it was adorable!

I miss my old school.

Eid Mubarak!

Everytime I go to Imaan's I end up leaving with a bag full of amazing homemade food. Eid being this weekend meant I left with even more :)

Tomorrow's my bake day (once a week) and a long time ago I promised Imaan I'd bake a pie for her. So that's what I'm doing tomorrow: making a classic fall apple pie. Though I might throw some of my neighbour' s pears in with it. I forced Zooey outside today just to go buy apples with me :)

Another light coincidence: one of my favourite baking blogs, the Kitchen Sink Recipes, posted a classic apple pie recipe today!

You really can't go wrong with fresh baked apple pie, can you?



Let's just say its an Eid present for Imaan :)

Over the weekend we were told a whole cache of Aboriginal creation stories. One of which told of the origins of the poplar tree, and why the leaves are always moving, with or without wind.

I sit beside a window in my afternoon English class. And I daydream and stare out that window for half the class at an enormous tree. It's a big, beautiful poplar.

Coincidences like this make me so very happy.

This weekend will be the closest I've ever gotten to having a whirlwind adventure.

Zooey (with her strange and infinite connections) has gotten us into an overnight weekend Aboriginal camp at the Toronto Zoo.

Neither of us are Aboriginal. So we'll stick out like sore thumbs. Which is making us nervous. But it should be oodles of fun, and interesting too. Story telling by elders, sunrise ceremonies, and things like drum learning and plants in medicine.

We have to be there by 3 this afternoon. We heard about this last night. Talk about last minute.

The only thing I object to in the itinerary is having to take a walk in the Canada area of the zoo at 7 in the morning tomorrow. Canada is one gigantor hill. Giant hill and thats it. 7 in the morning? No thank you. But we'll do it.

I'm not a spontaneous person. Never have been, but quickly saying yes to things like this without thinking can be fun. Otherwise I overthink it, back out, and miss out on a once in a lifetime opportunity such as this one.

Plus we get to make smores! :D Last time my friends and I went camping the smores were an epic failure. Of monumental proportions.

So I've packed some sweaters, flashlights, bugspray, and books, and I'm ready for the weekend!

PS. Also packed sunscreen. I'll be the only one there that can sunburn. Even Zooey won't, she's half black.

So my friend, Keito, it was her birthday a few days ago. The pink jar is her present. It's like a DIY cookie mix and it's freakin awesome. I got the idea and labels from this post.

The first layer is flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. The next is cooking oats. The third is pink M&Ms for breast cancer month (which took forever to find), and the fourth is clearly chocolate chips. Then brown sugar, white sugar, and hidden by the fabric, pecans. There's a similar label on the back with baking instructions.



I made the second one for my sister, because she wanted the cowboy one for herself. We spent twenty minutes in Bulk Barn picking out the brown Smarties with the stupid scoop thing. Until an elderly employee walked by and told us to put a bag over our hands and use our fingers. Duh. Anyways, Smarties are bigger than M&Ms and I didn't pack the flour in enough in the cowboy one, so there was no room for pecans. Which worked out fine for Elizabeth, cause she doesn't like nutty cookies.

:)

Hills

"Ella and Jackson watched on as their friends traded little yellow weeds on the hill and blushed."

That's a little part of something I'm working on right now. It has fantasy, it has romance, it has adventure, it has hills. Something important to do with hills. Not sure what yet, but I will know soon.

One of the main characters, Ella, is flighty and fun loving. Her best friend and co-main character is Jackson, a more cautious kid who has anxiety problems.

Ella has a dog named Bonaparte, after the Italian king with epilepsy that conquered half of Europe and had some height issues. He wasn't too bad looking though. If I ever get a dog (which is highly unlikely, as I'm a cat person and not a huge fan of dogs) I'd like it to be like Bonaparte. Also, I really like German shepherds. Which Bonaparte is.

I finished my friend's present today and my sister, Elizabeth, liked it so much, she got me to make her one for herself and she's going to make one for her friend's birthday in two weeks. I'll do a little post about it tomorrow.

A couple days ago I went downtown with Imaan. Specifically to the police headquarters for her criminal background check for work, but they were closed for the weekend, so we're going back tomorrow. The trip wasn't a total bust though, BaskerFest was on (a street festival for epilepsy research), so we went through it, stopping to watch performers and browse booths full of jewellery and art, and then went on to the St Lawrence Market for some good local food.

Tomorrow should be fun.