They say, "home is where the heart is." Okay, who are "they" anyways? And why do "they" have to sound so cliché? Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, homes and hearts. It's been only a few weeks since I've officially become a full-fledged Torontonian and I can honestly say, I've never felt more at home.

Every time I'm downtown, looking at the CN Tower, or catching a train on the subway, it feels surreal to think that I'm actually here. But it's totally awesome. This weekend I decided I was going to explore my favourite area of Toronto: Yorkville. Everything you need to know about Yorkville is this, Yorkville is located within the area of Yonge and Bloor, two very large streets in the city. It's a very happenin' spot if you love to shop, dine, and feel generally metropolitan.

So while I was on my way to wine and dine with some of my family who live in the city, I decided to do the only thing a girl new to the city should do: roam.

I decided to hit up some of the shops on Yonge, and there are a lot! First off, I decided to charge my tank with a little Starbucks.

Usually I'd go for a Pumpkin Spice Latte, but today I decided to try the new Chocolate Chai Latte. Have any of you guys tried it? It's so freaking good! I think I may have a new fall fave (sorry PSL).

After I got my much needed java boost I started my quest to (window)shop. What I like about this area is that they have a mashup of different store, everything from Zara to Holt Renfrew. The strip can match anyones budget. I thought I could use a new pair of sunnies so I took my chances going into Aldo. I didn't end up finding a pair, but I did find a cute bow ring!

Another neat thing about the shops down here is that most of them allow dogs in the stores (as long as they're on a leash). One shopper brought her adorable standard poodle into the store, and he just sat and watched while she tried on shoes. It was really weird for me to see, but actually pretty cool.

If you go down some of the smaller streets off of Yonge, you'll find little shops that are unique and carry some pretty amazing one-of-a-kind stuff. Like a store that is literally called, The Cookbook store. Guess what they sell? I took a little look inside and they carry cookbooks for literally anything you'd want to cook! I know the internet has a lot of recipes, but nothing beats a good cookbook, right?

Most of the stores in Yorkville close at 6 on Saturdays, but the restaurants stay open pretty late. I got in a quite a bit of window shopping, but need to go back down to peruse the Bay and Bloor area of Yorkville (think Free People, and Anthropologie).

Hope you guys are having a fantastic weekend! I'm heading back home to visit my dad tomorrow, which I super excited about because I haven't seen him in two weeks and I miss him a lot!

I've had roommates before, some of which I had not known prior to moving in with them, and some I was actually very good friends with. My current roommate, who made the move the the big city with me is Jess. She is one of my closest friends, and until recently, I had no idea how funny she could actually be.

Jess & me in Florida a couple years ago.

Which brings me to this post. I'm thinking of having a themed post called, "Conversations with my roommate". Just quick little quips that have stuck out in my mind that week, or that months. I'm not sure how often I'll post them (it all really depends on how funny I find Jess, hah).

This all transpired when Jess said something last night while we were watching Rookie Blue that I just could not keep to myself:

Jess: What does rolling a fatty mean?
Me: It means to roll a joint.
J: Oh.
K: Why?
J: I only know the term as a nurse, which means to literally roll a fat person.

In case you didn't guess, Jess is a nursing student, and after she said that last remark I spent the next five minutes with my head between my legs trying to catch a breath in between cackles. It was completely random; I mean, why was she thinking about it? Who knows, but I had a good laugh, and I hope you guys did too!

Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago I went to a Toronto Blue Jays game for one of my friends' birthdays. I'd been to a Jays games before, but that was when I was 10, and this was the first time I've gone to one as an official Torontonian.

I had a lot of fun! I'm not much of a sports fan, but I really enjoyed being there with all of my friends (there were about 20 of us), and I got to eat a really delicious soft pretzel (probably the highlight of my day).

Anyways, here is an Instagram diary of the events.

My super pregnant friend Rach, we were celebrating her husband's birthday. Also I bought a Jays hat because I needed to celebrate my new Toronto citizenship.

Me and my friend Jess (also my new roomie!)

The bases were loaded!

All in all, as a non-sports fan, I had a really great time. We even won 4-2! Woo! What I liked about the game was that it was pretty cheap, being only twelve bucks to go, and that we were able to all talk and have a good time. I'd actually love to go again.

If you want to keep up with my adventures, follow me on Instagram and Twitter!

Okay, I have to post this because Jimmy Kimmel is a mastermind.

If you go on Tumblr, YouTube, or the internet at all you will find yourself lost amongst hundreds and hundreds of viral videos. These of course are videos that, whether it be the cuteness of a kitten, hilarious little kids, or, my personal favourites, "fail" videos, have become extremely popular and have reached millions upon millions of views.

If you haven't seen the video, it's of a girl attempting to twerk. If you don't know what twerking it, Google it, I'm not an encyclopedia of knowledge, folks. Anyways, she attempts to twerk and fails, quite epically landing on a class table conveniently set up with lit candles and a bottle of alcohol.

I have to say, when I saw this video a few weeks ago on Tumblr, I totally thought it was legit. I mean, I've seen worse on the internet, so it's totally believable that this chick lit herself on fire and decided to post it on YouTube.

Flash forward to last night's Jimmy Kimmel, and well, watch the video.

Jimmy Kimmel, the man I loved and trusted with his fantastic YouTube Challenges has pulled off one of the best pranks on the internet. I couldn't not blog about this because I love how he talks about social media and the effects it has. It's fascinating how viral videos become viral, or how things all of a sudden sky rocket to popularity.

Anyways, that's all I have to say about that. What do you guys think? Did you fall for it like I did, or were you calling balderdash the whole time?

I love autumn. It’s my favourite season. From the beautiful weather to the changing leaves, the fashion, and the food!

As you guys know, I love lists, so I wouldn’t start this beautiful season any other way than by listing my top 5 favourite things about the fall. So here we go.

1. Scarves.

I’m a big believer in the scarf during any season (even in the cool summer nights) but it’s more practical to wear cute scarves during the fall weather. They look cute, and keep your neck warm! I own way too many scarves for my own good, but I’m constantly adding to the collection.

2. Leaves (the candle)

Photo courtesy of Bath & Body Works

Every fall, Bath & Body Works released their fall season scents, including their ever popular scent, Leaves. It is by far my favourite scent which includes notes of red apples, cinnamon, and harvest berries. I could honestly eat this candle every time I burn it.

3. Leaves (the literal kind)

One of the things I love most about living in Canada is that we get to experience all of the perks of experiencing all four seasons. One of these perks includes seeing the leaves change colours into beautiful amber and crimson. Then once they’ve reached their full life expectancy, the leaves fall to the ground, leaving us kids at heart the joy of crunching down on them as we walk to work. Honestly. who doesn’t love that crunch?

4. Pumpkin Spice Latte

Photo courtesy of Starbucks

Starbucks is actually celebrating 10 years of the PSL. It’s by far my favourite drink (perhaps because it’s only for a limited time). I can barely go a week without having this delicious drink. Think if you could bottle a pumpkin pie and put it in a coffee cup, this would be it. If you haven’t tried it, go do it now.

5. Thanksgiving

Mon famile! A few of us went on a walk last Thanksgiving which turned into a photo-op

Here in Canada we have Thanksgiving in October, which I like. It helps break up the holidays so that you see family on a more regular basis. Of course, here in Canada we don’t have Thanksgiving’s “Black Friday” but I still love the holiday on account of all the tasty food and such. Of course, I do love my family, and love spending time with them (especially now that I live in another city).

There are so many other things I love about the fall, and I’d like to know what you guys love about autumn; and if you don’t particularly like the season, which season do you love?

The Scorch Trials: Where do I begin?

I first started reading this book in March (of 2012) when I was on vacation. I had finished The Maze Runner and absolutely loved it and was ready to dive into the next one, but I had a really hard time actually getting into it. I put it down and said to myself that I would read it again when I was “feelin’ it”. I started “feelin’ it” at the beginning of summer when I found out they were making the trilogy into a movie.

Here’s a little bit you should know about the book: it’s the second book in James Dashner’s The Maze Runner trilogy, which is a dystopian- esque series. If you haven’t read the first book, it’s about a boy, Thomas, who found himself waking up in an elevator having no memory of anything. He woke up inside this colony of sorts with other boys his age in what they’ve named “the Glade”. The Glade is surrounded by a maze that opens in the day and closes at night. During the day it’s safe to roam and investigate, but as soon as the gates close the the Glad, it’s a complete danger zone. Thomas finds himself stuck out in the maze after the gate closes and manages to survive the night. He’s also discovered that they were all sent there by an organization called WICKED. What the rest of the “Gladers” plan is to escape the maze with the help of Thomas. The Scorch Trials picks up after they have escaped the maze. Another note, a few days after Thomas arrives in the Glade, another person arrives, this time a girl. Her name is Theresa and she is the only girl in the Glade. Her and Thomas are also able to communicate telepathically. 

So I picked up The Scorch Trials again and made my best effort to finish the book. It took me another month to get into it again, I felt like it progressed really slowly. Unlike the first book, Thomas was constantly battling Grievers, and was developing relationships, which kept me interested, the first quarter of the book consisted in them wandering in the middle of the desert (they call it the Scorch). In this novel we pick up right where Thomas and the rest of the Gladers left off. They have escaped the maze and are now told by WICKED that they have been infected by a disease that will slowly turn them mad called the flare. They have  It wasn’t until the group found themselves meeting some friendly Cranks (people who were left outside the glade when the apocalypse happened, and are slowly going mad). We are introduced to Jorge and Brenda. It’s here that the book picks up. Thomas and the other Gladers make a deal with Jorge and Brenda that if they help them get to The Safe Haven, they will be able to receive the cure. 

From here on out Thomas runs into a lot of different obstacles and I had no trouble at all following this story line. There’s a bit of a love triangle that happens between Thomas, Theresa and Brenda, and I really enjoyed Thomas’s concern for Minho and the rest of the Gladers during a part of the book when they gang gets separated. Being the second book of a series, I was glad to see there was more character development, particularly with Thomas. At the beginning of the novel Thomas is still struggling with the Newt situation, and his feelings for Theresa.

I give this book:

Three and a half Leia’s. I have to say, that although the beginning of the novel was a pain to get through, and took me quite some time to be interested in, I did enjoy the character development, the fact that Dashner introduced only a few more core characters, and the action. By the end of the book I was already wanting to pick up the third book. 

When I started planning out my bedroom at my new apartment there was one thing I was very certain on: I wanted a desk that was a perfect twist of bohemian eclectic, modern, and vintage. I know, what a weird combination, right? This was my first real "DIY" and I was really nervous that I would end up spending way more money than is worth spending, and that I would screw the whole thing up.

First things first, I set out on a mission to find cheap desks. I scoured garage sales, almost every Goodwill in the GTA, perused through copious Kijiji ads and I even resulted in bombarding my friends and coworkers askin if they had any old sewing desks lying around (apparently no one does these days). Finally, after searching for what felt like forever, I found the perfect desk! I paid $40 for it, which I think is a great deal considering it's solid wood.

After I purchased the desk the next step was settling on a colour. I knew I wanted to paint the desk, but I didn't want to go for the typical painted white desk; I wanted something different, yet classy. Then I found "Dinner Mint" by Behr, which I got in a satin finish. It's a beautiful light mint green, almost white, but against my grey walls, you can really pick up the green hues. While I was at Home Depot buying paint, I also picked up hardware. This was the priciest thing I purchased for the reno, ringing in all 6 knobs at 7 bucks a pop, I spent a good 50 dollars on the hardware alone (and then another $16 on the paint).

I was very pleased with the outcome. I think next time I paint furniture though I'm going to go for an oil-based paint, because latex was really hard to use consistency-wide.

Here's the finished product:

Before

After

Total price of renovation: $106. Not bad at all. In fact most desks at IKEA are about $100 and they aren't solid wood, or custom.

I enjoyed the process so much I'm already planning my next DIY!