memories from march
march madness one might say?
March was marvellous. I loved it. I felt light as a feather most of the time, and did so many fun things! I went on three big trips, and I am so excited to share them with you. I really want to immerse you in all of the fun things I got up to this month so bear with me for a rather long post!
Please excuse that this blog post is quite late. Until Friday evening, I was so caught up in work that I needed to spreadsheet out my life (I don’t recommend such a life path), but now I am finally free and able to use my time for much more fun things, like blogging again!
March Memories
Open Mic night
Pasta at Maya’s beforehand
So much stress over one little keyboard. Problem solved though!
Watched Zach juggle, eat, and spit out a lot of apples
Some sick, and very loud, heavy metal
The best riverdance mix I have ever seen
Ate A&W to celebrate the success of the evening afterwards while Troy’s van had its hazards on
Finally Facetimed Madi and heard about her happy little life in Scotland (and lowkey made sure she was coming back to Montreal for next fall…)
Anna and Craig performed Taylor Swift for me in the kitchen
Key takeaways: Anna kinda looks like Taylor and the dancing was very good
Burlington trip! Details to follow.
Spring break in Montreal!
Day in the Mile-End with Monica and friends including 5 dollar gnocchi, Cafe Olympico and a furry fox hat
Fancy cocktail night in fancy clothes, including Julien’s plum suit (If you’re reading this I am still upset we didn’t get a photo together!!!)
Julien and I climbed together
The first actual nice day that vaguely resembled spring
Moriah and Monica came over for hot chocolate and TV! It felt like we were in high school again in such a lovely way. To more TV!
Turbohaus with an intense dance circle
Julien and I hanging out on the green steps on campus and soaking up the sun
Japan festival with Alice to go see Kathy
Great cookies, great music, great experience overall!
MOC meeting by the statue and discussing this exact blog, and other blogs!
Meet Your Major with some lovely lovely friends
Alice brought over bagels and her grandma’s home-made orange jam, and we ate it with Kathy in my kitchen
St. Patrick's Day/Weekend
Watched Cooper run in the ginger run
Green beer
Julien and I sat on a bench and ate sweet treats because we were feeling too overwhelmed
SWING DANCING
I love swing dancing.
Moriah and I felt like little kids at a wedding, and also like we were in a retirement home
Monica’s delicious brunch – thank you for making it feel so homey!
Made up card game at McKibbins with Emma, Lexi and Romain
Watching lots of Modern Family with Julien
The Biodome for work with Maxine
The Biodome is weird, I don’t like the spaces the animals are in…I do like the racoons a lot though
Delightful cakes in the cafeteria
Samosas with Moriah
RFA certification
Very efficient grocery trip
S'mores and marshmallow lassos (Pictured below)
A lot a lot of secret Hitler
Watching the jammers jam (Jam in all senses of the word)
I now know a lot about safety in the wild
Tooney Tuesday with Julien and Mia
A lot of laughing!
Emma’s birthday
Such a good cake
So much time in the GIC with friends, giggling
Harry Potter rewatch marathons
Great drinks at Bar Susanne hehe
Cackling at Gerts with Julien
Quotes of the Month
“I need less fear but more pressure” - Sophie, on assignments
“You can be amused but also appreciate his communication skills” - Moriah, on someone texting me
Burlington!
Let’s talk about the important stuff first: I saw a Hawaii plate. I touched a Hawaii plate. I checked if it was REALLY a Hawaii plate. Let’s set the scene. We’re walking back from dinner, Julien and I are bickering a little bit. He goes, “Cecilia!” and gasps loudly. I am slightly confused, until I realize what he is pointing at. I scream, Julien screams, we jump up and down. Kathy, Monica and Sophia are confused, and confuzzled. I am screeching. I shed many tears. I never thought this would happen unless I went to Hawaii.
Meeting early, Tim Hortons for the road
Waiting in line at the border for literally ever
Lots of plans for what to do if they didn’t accept “The Dane”
Stopping at the Great Harvest Cafe for a delicious sandwich, dinner rolls and lots of chatter
Doing my favourite activity: Browsing little shops
Crow Bookstore being a favourite
Going to Ben and Jerry’s
Julien got…plain chocolate…
Being able to ask LOTS of questions to a student at University of Vermont
Farmers Market!
A lot of time at the OGX!
Fleece and green pants SECURED
The most delicious breakfast sandwich I have ever had at August First, followed by a delightful pumpkin loaf
Hike for the view
Except the view was entirely obstructed by fog
Touching water and skipping rocks
Beach is pictured above, it was surrounded by little bird houses in a million colours
The smoothest rocks I ever did touch
Our AirBnB had horses, goats AND a popcorn machine
A Trader Joe run, along with a final Chipotle run
Fancy dinner with much conversation about tipping culture
On our way home, the sun had just come out and we were waiting for Julien to grab something. I felt so warm, so full, so grateful. This feeling has really stuck with me. I exclaimed that I was so happy to be alive, that life felt so full, so wide. I really am so grateful for everyone on this trip and the experiences I get to have.There’s so much good now, and so much good to come.
Special shoutout to Sophia for driving the whole way!
Girls Trip and Climbing!
The prep.
Maya, covered in ropes.
Metroing with Kathy and being picked up by Maya, Monica and Cooper with her harmonica out
Super slippery hike
Tree climbing
Beaver spotting
Code name giggles
Be honest, do I look like a sand cat?
The most delicious burrito dinner
Running a very effective house clean-up
Finally getting to organise the bookshelf with all the National Geographics!!!
Surviving sleeping in the anatomy room
Watching Blaise put Moriah and Simone into harnesses to drive to where we were climbing
Turning back from the “10 minute hike” we were going on to get to the rock, and promptly returning because it was in fact, where we were going
Walking with Moriah and watching her turtle on the ground while valiantly protecting the Backgammon briefcase
Having the most delicious cold burrito of my life upon arrival
Mountain-side backgammon
Watching everyone be lizards in the sun, books out, asleep too
Almost losing Maya to the mountainside, and thankfully not
Maya and I are committing to being belay partners in the long term.
Stopping to get poutine on the way home after being just so hungry
Wavelength in the car!
A highlight: “Dying in a pretty nice nursing home” – My comment on what an 8 would look like on a scale showing “Ways to die.”
Experiences and Their Ratings
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
9/10: My favourite Harry Potter movie but movie-Ginny does just not live up to the books.
Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
7/10: A couple of key plot holes, but still such a good movie. It has gone down from what I originally thought I’d put which is upsetting, because it is my second favourite of all the movies.
Ontologies with Allie Ward
10/10: Thank you Monica for this lovely recommendation! I love learning about all the different topics, my favourite has been the Propology one, I think.
Carlsberg Beers
10/10: Especially in good company and when cold.
Getting RFA certified
8/10: Very intense, Steve Tripp was great though and I just felt like I was playing for a whole weekend.
Tree climbing
12/10: Why’d we ever stop that?
Excerpts of the Month
“May I a small house and a large garden have;
And a few friends,
And many books; both true.” - Abraham Cowley
“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to live the width of it as well.” - Diane Ackerman (Yes, this quote again. See my Rose.)
“Now I think life begins in March. January is just nostalgia and recollection. And February – it’s all about regaining consciousness.” - Not sure, Pinterest. Feels accurate.
Rose
Life has felt so wide. I have danced, I have laughed, I have climbed, I have loved. I am so excited to keep this up.
I got through a month I suspected would be very hard, and it wasn’t actually that hard. Time heals.
Thorn
I started this blog at a time where I was grieving pretty hard. Writing and creating, were very much outlets to avoid grief getting lodged in my throat. As I’ve grown and processed, I have become much less worried about staying distracted. I’ve been sitting with the various feelings as they arise, the good and the bad, instead of trying to push through them. It feels lovely to feel like more has been processed, but it feels strangely empty to no longer feel like writing comes as naturally to me. Writing about joy is somehow harder than writing about pain. Isn’t that silly?
I always wanted to be a writer, but how does one grapple with being a bad writer when they are happy, and a decent writer when they are sad?
It’s bittersweet to know that my creativity has decreased in direct correlation with growing around my grief, in direct correlation with feeling happier. It’s weird to know that I will undoubtedly feel grief very intensely many more times in my life, and that this might just make me a more committed writer. I certainly don’t want to be sad, but I do want to be a good writer. I'm trying really hard to stay as creative, as active, as when I was really deep in the Loss and the Sad.
I suppose this isn’t really a Thorn, but it is something I have noticed in myself and felt rather bummed out by.
Bud
Julien is moving in for a little bit in April!
Thank you always for reading along.
With love, cecilia.
Please tell me more about Anna and Craig's Taylor Swift performance. Did you know the songs they were singing???
You know Taylor Swift is not naturally a good dancer. You should give her some lessons so she can learn your moves for the next leg of the tour.