The Greatest Break

Today I woke up and couldn't believe I was back in my townhouse in Mississauga. The past week just flew by and now, unfortunately, I must get back to reality.

On Saturday, Emma, Brenda and I flew to the Dominican Republic and met up with 11 family members. On Sunday, our two cousins met up with everyone, making a total number of 15. We got to re-meet four family members from Germany, which was amazing considering we hadn't seen them in probably 11 years!

On Monday, the first full day with all of us together, the adults had booked a sunset cruise, where we went on a party boat around the ocean. We boated by a shipwreck, and the dolphin and shark tanks, and then stopped for some snorkelling. After that, we went to a little cove where we could wade in the clear water. The theme of our trip was "Funstorm," a term we used for a much smaller family gathering in the summer. Last term, I had silkscreened everyone on the trip a shirt with a Funstorm logo I made, and we gave them out to everyone on the boat ride back.

On Tuesday we booked a parasailing excursion for all who wanted to go. It was really terrifying but so much fun all at the same time! When Emma and I went, we were able to get an amazing view of the beach and the island.

On Wednesday morning, my dad took my cousin James and I sailing on a catamaran. We were actually able to 'surf' on the waves and go really fast! It was so much fun. In the afternoon, a bunch of us walked along the beach to a local market for some shopping.

Thursday was a sad day because that meant my parents, aunt and uncle and German relatives had to leave. This meant that there were only five of us left — Emma, Brenda, Eric, James and myself. It was nice to have some time alone, but it made it a lot easier to leave on Saturday.

Between boat tours, parasailing, and shopping, you could find us sleeping on the beach, swimming, tanning, eating and laughing.

It was hands down the greatest vacation I've ever been on.

Almost

It's been a crazy week!

On the weekend, I participated in my school's 11th Annual Arts Festival. I showed four of my artistic works from over the years in Photography, Print Media and Sculpture—my paper phone casts are below. I took pictures for the Arts Fest posters, and I was asked to take more pictures at the event. It was really fun, and great event photography experience! I was also able to meet and discuss my work with a really nice man who considered my photography pieces two of his three favourites in the show. It was so encouraging to know that I can reach people I don't even know through my work.

On Monday, a bunch of my friends and I went to the Mandarin to celebrate our friend Siobhan's birthday. It was really nice to get out of the house and have a good visit. Other than that, the rest of the weekend was spent working on homework and trying to relax in between. I had a research paper for my Consumer Culture class and a Midterm in my Art Since 1945 class to study for on Wednesday. I also have things due after reading week which I want to get a head start on.

Wednesday afternoon, Paul visited me after my midterm for a quick "Valentine's" visit before I leave for vacation. We went out for sushi at our new favourite place in Mississauga. It was such a nice surprise to see him :)

I can't believe reading week is so soon! Emma, Brenda (Emma's friend), and I are flying down to the Dominican Republic on Saturday to meet up with a whole bunch of our family on my mom's side. I have been packing here and there throughout the week, but I don't think the fact that it's happening so soon has hit me quite yet. I'm still in school mode right now. I'll be taking my DSLR camera on the trip and am so excited for the picture opportunities that will be there!

I also received my 200th iStock download today! I can't believe it's already 200, considering my 100th download was only in September. Once I have 250 downloads, I can become an exclusive contributor to iStock, which is very exciting. This is download #200:

Hopefully you are all doing well, and I can't wait to share my pictures with you when I get back!

Winterlicious Weekend

This weekend was a good one. Paul came to visit me on Friday, and we went to the mall for a bit to pick up a few things and watched a movie. Then, on Saturday, we went to Toronto with our good friends Chelsey and James. We had reservations at Quinn's Steakhouse for a Winterlicious meal. It was delicious, but not very wintery out that day. Paul and I went to dinner for Winterlicious last year, and this year we decided to keep the tradition going.

On Sunday, Paul and I went to Snake Falls in Flamborough to take some pictures, and while walking to the falls, we crossed an awesome wooden bridge with train tracks running across them. I got lots of great pictures for both iStock and my photography blog which I'm really excited about.

After that, we went to Chelsey and James' place for a Superbowl party. I'm not much of a football fan, but I learned a lot about the sport and had fun talking and eating all the delicious treats!

Life.

Here I am again! I feel like I finally have some time to wind down and write a little. Lately, I've been so busy either doing work or being out of town, that I can't believe my last big post was half a month ago. I always feel like these seemingly long months will be filled with so much time to get everything I need to done, but they go by way too fast!

On January 20th, I had a job interview in Toronto for a summer position which would involve marketing and maintaining their social media sites. The interview went well, but I'm not convinced it's the right job for me, and based on what the company was looking for, I was a little under-qualified. On Saturday, my parents and their friends stopped by on their way home from the International Boat Show and we were able to have some yummy Japanese food. Other than that, I had a pretty relaxing weekend. I also received my second cheque from iStock, which was very exciting!

This past weekend, I went to Emma's place in Waterloo. It's always fun to spend time with her. We made a delicious dinner and "cookies'n'cream" chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Delicious. We watched a couple movies and of course, consumed many calories.

Later that night I had a sudden onset of some kind of stomach virus, which was not fun at all. Thankfully, Emma and I were able to take it easy on Sunday before I journeyed home— we actually slept most of the day because I kept us up so late.

I am back now, and have had a crazy few day completing assignments and projects despite my poor health. I am feeling much better today, and am looking forward to a great weekend with some friends. It is my intention to be able to blog about the weekend after the fact, so I will hopefully be able to fill you all in once it is done.

Hopefully you have all been well :)

Mosaic!

Over the past two weeks, my Past and Present Techniques class revisited our large mosaic from last term. We assembled each person's separate sections together and revealed it last week. It was so amazing to see it all complete, because each one of us put a lot of effort into it. Here is a low quality picture of the completed piece:

Can you spot my section without looking through my past blogs? 

Today, a bunch of my classmates went downtown Toronto to install it at King Edward Public School, along with a plaque with all of our names. I saw this picture on Facebook of a little girl hugging one of the fish after the installation — so cute! It's so heart warming to know our mosaic is already being appreciated :)