It's beginning to look a lot like... Christmas?

My coffee cup, which appeared in my office this summer. I liked it so I took it.

My deck this morning.

 People have begun mentioning Christmas shopping, winter coats are in stores and the first snow has/is falling. Winter is nearly upon us.

Yeah for mittens, socks, tea, hot chocolate, blankets, scarfs, knit sweaters, Christmas music, trees, fresh snow, coziness and snow days.

Neigh for bulky coats, -15 degrees (C) temperatures at the bus stop, shoveling, snow banks, bulky boots, slush, ice, getting out of bed in the cold, February, winter weight, and inconvenient blizzards.

I find myself being excited about winter this year and I don't really know why. I want nice, flaky snow. I want to wear my growing second hand sweater collection. I want to curl up under a blanket and watch movies. Usually I have more an attitude of disdain of cold temperatures.

What do you guys like/dislike about winter?
Love,
-J-

Halloween decorations, anyone?

Oh, how I love my nerdy family. My brother made this and brought to a contest at school. He didn't win anything, but still deserves honorable mention.

I have costume, from the 'Bed and Bath' section of Value Village, but I have to make a few adjustments. I walked past it and it was just too good an opportunity to miss.

Love, -J-

This post is unrelated Tuesday.

Today, I colored three coloring sheets with crayons.

I drank coffee for the first time in a week.

People kept touching my hair for some reason.

Guitar lessons started back up and realized that my guitar strings are rusty.

I witnessed a formerly homeschooled kid, Kaelen, try to open a combination lock for the first time. She then had to be taught by Moriah, who had to learn the same skill last year.   

I need to make my costume for Halloween. I can't decide between a bedsheet ghost or a swallow carrying a coconut (a Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference). Decisions, decisions.

My life is so entertaining, especially on Tuesdays.*sarcasm*
Love,
-J-

A breath of crazy fresh air.

 Today there wasn't school.

So what is there to do but sleep until 11am, then head off to the library with a bunch of fellow IB kids and research an essay on Louis XIV?

In all honesty, in the two and a half hours we were at the library, we didn't get much done in the way of research. Foolish webcam pictures were taken, revenge was sought through hijacking each others facebook accounts, and hysterical laughter occurred.

It was a good time, being a little crazy, and a lot of comic relief from the seriousness and stress of life.

It's funny how in my life, "getting a little crazy" occurs in a library. And I'm happy with it that way.

Then there was Chinese food, chocolate on sale at Lawton's and taking a bus to youth group.

Today was just a good day. I needed today.
Love,
-J-

"Le Vie Boheme"- Rent Soundtrack

My gosh, I love Rent. *warning: slightly rowdy song*

"He keeps coming back, like peanut butter herpes."

Irving Nature Park on Saturday.

Nifty tree roots and moss.

A rusty car off one of the trails at the park. It was adorable, in a sort of forgotten and forlorn way.

Yesterday, I met this cute little kid at church. He looked around four years old and he was wearing a striped cardigan, rolled up jeans and little velcro Toms. I asked him what his name was and he replied,"I'm Oasis."

No word of a lie, guys.

The abundance of hipster couples at the Vineyard are spreading concentrated doses of 'hipster' on to their children. It gets comical. I <3 Christian hipsters and their children.
Love,
-J-
(completely unrelated title courtesy of Moriah and I's conversation on Saturday.)

School dances and the pros of avoiding them.

There has been an insane amount of debating in my classes this year. It's growing on me.

Tonight, my school is having a dance. I will not be attending. Reasons I have used to defend this:

• Dances are:
• loud.
• trashy.
• ridiculous.
• I feel out of place because I am:
• socially awkward.
• wearing a decent amount of clothing.
• clean and sober.

 I'm way too classy for that.

And Alex was way too keen on trying to convince me to go. *awkward boy still hasn't given up after a year* My friends have begun to use his name as a syndrome for those who refuse to give up on something hopeless.

Anyway, I'm doing something about 1000x more productive than going to a school dance... hanging out with Sam, making brownies and watching a musical. YEAH.
Love,
-J-

Moments of this week.

 Amusing moments: 

1. Spending time in the IB hangout room (where IB kids retreat from the world because, to quote Tech Crew Alpha,"There are too many uncontrolled variables.") 

2. Watching Brittany causally write with her feet in History class.

Awesome moment: Going with Moriah to Value Village, a thrift place, to find a birthday present for Noah. We made Allan try on about a dozen dorky sweaters to figure out if they would fit Noah. For myself, I bought three fairly awesome sweaters and a bag for a total of $23. The kind of shopping I can afford at this point in my life.

 Awkward moment:  Learning just how far down choir dresses zip when Brittany asked me to unzip the one she was trying on. Way too far.

Color moment: I ate a cupcake on Friday at lunch that had hot pink icing. It stained my hands so much that even after washing them four times, they were still noticeably pink.

Educational moment:

In English class, a presentation was done on the poem "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell, and someone summed up the main idea as being,"Get laid while you're young and hot." And it totally being true. What morals English class and metaphysical poetry is teaching me.

Fashion moment: Socks and 'stocks. The shoe choice of champions. These have been gracing my feet far too often lately.

 Low moment: Scoring a 32% on a math test. Using my low moment for good moment: Making people feel better about their test marks by proclaiming my mark. 

Musical moments: 

1. Singing Hakuna Matata in French class with Raj.

2. Listening to CBC every evening to hear jazz. I'm hooked on jazz, guys.

Sketchy moment: After dark, with Vineyard youth, walking around King's Square (sketchiest place in the city) with pitchers of ice tea, asking random people if they wanted any. This went down:

 Me: "Sir, would you like a glass of iced tea?"

Guy: "Is there LSD in it?"

Me: "Uh, no."

Guy: "Then I don't want any." *rides away on bike*

That's the sort of crowd that hangs out there. And we were creeping even them out. 

Social moment: A bunch of use hung out with Noah last night for his kind of birthday party. We had a bonfire.

 Tasty moment: Went to the Fredericton farmer's market this morning and got a piece of baliey's cheesecake. It was fantastic. 

That list is in alphabetical order. OH. 

Love,

-J-