nothings gonna bring me down

It is 7.20 PM and I am sitting outside, wearing a hoodie and shorts, listening to the birds sing. I have literally been high on life for the last few days. The weather has been amazing and it has been so hard to sit inside in a classroom when I could be tanning outside. The temperature has been up to almost +30 C and I've even got a little bit of color on my forehead and legs. Last night we were still out on the deck at ten o'clock with Emma watching glee and looking up at the stars. I've been in the best mood since Sunday, and returning to school from March break on Monday seemed like nothing. I felt like skipping around the school singing and telling everyone how life is great and the weather is amazing.


Even though Sunday morning did not have a great beginning, after skyping with my mom life was smiling again. We had a great talk and I think we both felt very positive after it. I just can't help, but wonder how some people go through life being so negative and miserable. Life is way too short for that, so why waste it? Why do some people try to find the negative in everything instead of finding the silver lining even when things don't go as we planned? I do admit myself that sometimes I am too hard on myself and I don't believe in myself quite as much as I should, but I can honestly say that I always try to find the positive in the negative.


We had dance practice for our Thriller dance for the play on Monday and today we practiced a little for the opening and closing song, so pretty much the most important song. I have one line in it and I sing along with the chorus. I have a feeling that it will be a great play, even though we have had some troubles along the way.


Oh and I also signed myself up for the schools track team, or well I guess I could call it running team since we are only participating in running. Today our coach told us what distances we would be running and my mouth literally dropped. He told me I would be running 1500km and 3000km...
I have always liked short distances and that is what I am pretty good at, but long distances like that? No way. So I stuttered asking the coach if he was serious and all he could say was "Ben oui, I've seen you running before and I know you ca do it!" Am I really the only one who thinks that I am really screwed? Well I better start running a lot then. We already went for a jog around the lake today and I was so tired after it because y endurance has gone down a lot during the last 6 months.


I got some high lights and my bangs cut last week, but it wasn't really cut enough so I had a hair dresser come over to our house to cut my hair. To me it feels so short right now! (Even though it really isn't) I really like it though. It looks much more healthy and it feels much less heavier.


I am gonna make myself a cup of tea and just enjoy the good weather. Bye xoxo


P.S. I am sorry by the way I haven't really been taking pictures for the last couple of days.

Emma showing off her baby cousin.

bonne nuit

It is Friday night and I am off to bed soon even though I just laid on the floor for the last three hours while Emma drew all over my back with crayolas. In the start of the year we talked about how she loves to draw on people, and I find it so relaxing when someone draws on me, so we agreed that someday when we have time she will cover my back with drawings. Since it is March break we have had the time to do that, play board games with the family, watch movies in pjs, sleep in, work out, sit out on the deck in the sun and much more. Since pretty much everyone is out of town we haven't seen a lot of people, but I have still had a very relaxing march break! I am really not looking forward to Monday though. 


This was a quick post, because I am really tired and I want to go to sleep. I just wanted to share a couple pictures of my back to you guys.

I looove this :)

Anyway bonne nuit, je suis vraiment fatigue. Je t'aime!

beau printemps

Welcome Spring! Those pictures were taken this Sunday after coming back from the gym. We got home and I went to check how much snow had melted off the deck and the half close to the door was almost all dried up, not counting a couple little patches of snow (that actually worked really well to keep my glass of juice cold). I called out to Emma to come check it out and she got her ipod and came and sat next to me. So we listened to some summery music, including some of our new country favorites and sat there for over an hour. The sun was so warm and life felt wonderful. 


So I am gladly welcoming Spring. I've missed you sun ♥

Today we went to Timmins and I bought a few things I really needed, and a couple other things I didn't really need, but I decided to pamper myself. I bought myself some new black jeans, since my black jeans at the moment are looking pretty grey. I also bought some make-up stuff I needed, my perfume since it's almost running out, a pair of sweatpants and a really cute plaid shirt (yes mom, a kauluspaita), but it was really cheap so its all good. 

It has been really rainy today and everything  looks so dirty and depressing, but I am still positive because the snow is melting fast! Now fingers crossed that we don't get any more snow storms.

Tomorrows plans is to hit the gym, talk to Lexi on skype and then I don't know. This weekend is St. Patrick's day and Riley's birthday so hopefully it will be a fun weekend.

xoxo

bonnes vacances

Ah the relief! Finally all the major school stress is over. My presentations are done! My tests are done! There's a big weight lifted off my shoulders and I can finally breathe. I have been so weird for the last couple of weeks. I've kept on losing and forgetting things. I've been in a sort of haze. Next weeks March break is definitely well earned and I am definitely in need of it. 

Last weekend was like a mini holiday for me though. We went over to a cottage in the middle literally in the middle of nowhere. The cottage is our host-fathers sisters cottage and we drove there with snowmobiles, because there is no other way to get there. The trails were pretty rough and the ride was long, but it was all worth the effort. Like I have already mentioned before I am a total city person, but I love spending time out in the woods completely isolated from the rest of the world. The weather wasn't the best on Saturday so we spent a big part of the day inside, but that didn't matter. The camp was great and the company even better. In the afternoon the heating of the sauna began and I was jumping up the walls! Right before dinner we went to the sauna with Emma and I was in heaven. After the sauna we had dinner and not long after that we were back in there throwing some more water on the rocks. Only down side of cottages are the outhouses. I hate using them so even with the -24C weather I decided to just go outside, despite the others making fun of me and teasing me about it.

On Sunday we headed back to town and it was time to study. It was kind of a bummer and not the best way to end a great weekend, but oh well it had to be done. I had two tests last week and a deadline for a history presentation. Both of my tests went well, but my presentation was a bit rocky. I stumbled on words and stuttered pretty badly, but oh well. I've had a few other presentations before too that went better than the last one. 


Last week went by very slowly, but still it seemed like I barely had time to get everything done. Now I finally can just kick back and relax. Tonight we don't have big plans. We're having a couple friends over and we are just gonna relax.


Yesterday night we went to watch a hockey game where a team that consisted of old legends from the NHL team Montreal Canadians and I literally took 700 pictures of them. I was just snapping photos like crazy, so I have to sort them out now to find the good ones. 


After March break we have to start practicing for our musical. I have a small singing part, I'll be dancing in the Thriller dance and I have two lines in one scene. I am actually very pleased with my parts, because its not too much so I am not overwhelmed, but still I get to be a part of the play. Events like these are perfect, because Emma and I get to participate in them. It brings people closer and it makes me realize how the people in our school are like a big family. That is one of the advantages of a small school in a small community. Just yesterday I was reminded of this. We were watching the game and a lot of people from our school were there, including one of the most adorable little boy from 6th grade. I was snapping pictures and he just came right next to me and started talking to me with his cute little french accent. It made me really happy because it is sweet to see how you can pretty much talk to anyone in our school, without anyone thinking its weird. 


All I have planned for the coming week is a trip to Timmins, and just relaxing with the family and Riley. Now I finally also have time to go the gym. Oh tread-mill how I have missed you!

I forgot my pjs, but luckily I got these bad ass pjs to borrow!

Fishing gear with bacon!

This big boy was caught by my host father.

Our very own sleeping beauty.

The sauna <3

I did a little birdie photoshoot.

Supporting the Canadians.

 P.S.:
"Hello, this is Liisa's very handsome friend! He is maybe and possibly the best man this world has ever seen! He also happens to be Riley's BEST friend!! AANDD he moves like Jager! Translated in Finish: asdfjkhsadfsalkdjfhdf :D"


I started writing here in class yesterday and a friend of mine decided to leave a little message for you dear readers. 


xoxo

quand ca nous chante

What an awesome weekend full of music with an awesome bunch of people! I have literally lived on music the four days. Emma and I are watching all the videos and pictures right now and I am already getting shivers. Thursday after school we drove to Timmins to spend a weekend at a music festival called: "Quand ca nous chante". Bands or just groups of people from French schools all over Ontario were there to perform and so I spent hours and hours watching all kind of performances this weekend. There was rap, pop, heavy metal, rock, country, rock opera, you name it! 

I am not sure how many people there were in total, but if I had to guess I'd say over 300, and that is not counting the teachers that were with the students. The festival was organized at a school in Timmins and so I ended up sleeping on the floor of a gym for the first time. It actually wasn't too bad since we got to borrow a pretty comfortable air mattress, that really in the end turned out to be a double even though it looked like a single when it was empty. When we got to the gym with the girls from our school all the sides were filled with mattresses and bags so we decided to right in the middle of the gym. 

On Thursday we just had supper at the cafeteria and then we watched the opening concert of the festival. All three nights we had concerts with many different French Canadian artists and bands and they were all actually really good. I love the fact that we are getting to know French Canadian music, because I really knew none when I first got here. 

In the morning we had an early wake up call, 6.30 AM to be exact, to get ready for our show. We were the second school to perform out of many, many schools and that made me a little nervous. But afterwards I realized that it was the best time to perform, because after it all the stress was gone and we didn't have to worry about anything for the rest of the time. We performed five songs in total, all of them were French of course since the event was fully French. I sang "L'amour existe encore" by Celine Dion with one of my classmates. She had already sang this song before, so it was easy for her to teach me the lyrics and everything. The morning of the show I was literally all over the place. I couldn't focus on what people were saying, I was a little snappy and I really could not eat breakfast. And right before our turn to go on stage, while Riley was singing his song I was almost hyperventilating. It's strange though how it is easier to sing in front of 300 strangers than for example 30 people you know. It was amazing to sing together with such an amazing singer. I hope Sara gets discovered, because she really has a beautiful voice. The song went well and I felt so happy after it. Even though I made a small screw-up, it was still good.

On Saturday and Sunday we watched other schools perform and had an "Atelier". I don't know what to call it in English really, an activity I guess? It was called: "Théatre Musical" and we made a small scene using the song "In the jungle". For some reason we didn't feel like going to the activity at first and we almost ditched it, but I am glad we went because it ended up being lots of fun. We sang lots of "Awimbawes", danced waltz and acted a little bit too. It was cool to see that you can really build up a whole scene just around a simple song like that.

In the evening we went out to eat at East Side Mario's with our group and after the evenings concert we went into boys side of the gym to just jam for a while. One of my favorite things about the festival was the atmosphere at the school. Where ever you went in the school you were sure to see someone sing or play something. You would walk around the school and just see groups of people around someone playing the guitar just casually jamming and you could literally just go join a group and sing with them. The atmosphere was just generally so carefree. Saturday night we actually did that. Our group just joined another, and we just sang and played together. I have heard the saying that music brings people together and now I really got to experience it and it really is true. 

I had so much fun this weekend. We sang, we laughed (I cannot remember the last time I would have laughed so much and so hard) and we danced. This weekend was truly and unforgettable one. 

Tonight is the big night for many actors and actresses. Its the Oscars! I remember last years Oscar night.. We stayed up with Kat, Ville and Ad to watch the whole show, which was a lot of fun, but going to school after no sleep at all was torture. This time I don't have to stay up all night to watch them, but I also don't have the same people here with me to stay up with me. 

I am really not excited to go to school tomorrow and I have been procrastinating with my homework. I should really go do it now. Bye dear readers.

Sometimes watching all those performances can be a little tiring.

Backstage before the show.

Backstage after the show!

Casual pj performance.

Our "camp" spot.

I don't really know?

This is what I looked like most of the weekend. Laughing till it hurts.

Jam session.