To and fro, stop and go.

I know I mentioned commuting in my last post, but I thought I would bring up how I survive my hour or more trip to and from work. (Props to anyone who recognizes where this blog title is from). I'm starting to get the hang of all the different ways I can get home be it bus/subway/streetcar combo or streetcar/walking or streetcar/Go train/streetcar. Either route I take, it's far.

A Big Ol' Bag as I call it is a must, I find most purse-totes aren't big enough for me. I can't fit a sweater and my lunch-kit in those so no matter how pretty they are, I can't make them work. Lo and Son's OG bag is my dream commuting bag, but it doesn't fit my intern budget.  So while my bag isn't the same my essentials still are.

Listen: iPod so I don't fill up my iPhone with too much clutter or drain my battery.

Jot: Agenda and notebook, to know what day it is and keep track of my thoughts.

Clean: Bath and Bodywork's yummy smelling hand sanitizers.

Rain: A collapsable umbrella and I've been lusting over this cute poncho from ASOS.

Charge: A portable battery charger

Munch: I love Luna bars. Great flavours and yummy ingredients.

Sip: Vapur water bottles are my favourite, I've misplaced mine in the move and keep forgetting to grab a new one. They're easy to clean and can roll up so they can fit in any tiny space in your bag.

Step: This is more for winter I don't carry these all the time, but a great pair of scrunch up flats help

Commuting Essentials by northerndelight featuring cotton kitchen towels

ASOS cape coat, 23 CAD / Old navy flat, 30 CAD / Lightweight Overnight Travel Bag, Laptop Tote, Gym Bag - Lo & Sons, 325 CAD / Tech accessory, 33 CAD / Orla kiely umbrella, 50 CAD / Eos lip treatment, 12 CAD / Body cleanser, 5.49 CAD / Eos body moisturizer / Kate spade home decor, 33 CAD / Cotton kitchen towel / Clif Bar White Chocolate Macadamia Luna Bar, 1.64 CAD / APPLE iPod nano 16 GB blue (7th generation), 185 CAD

5 Lessons From an Intern

What a summer. To all of you who intern/blog/manage a portfolio/do laundry/be a regular human being all at the same time, I don't know how you manage it. I just finished two months at my internship and my contract has been extended until the end of October. Here's what I've learned so far:

1. Keep Going

Some people are going to get internships immediately. They might have better connections, someone from an agency (or anywhere) might have liked their shoes and gave out their card. Someone will have a better portfolio than you. Accept it. Keep writing. Keep applying. My routine (while not glamorous) was getting up at 6 AM when Peter would get up, sitting on my couch without pants and sending out dozens of resumes. Then go write some more.

At the most give yourself a day to feel like shit. I ate a box of Oreos and watched a whole lot of Gilmore Girls. Next day: no pants, 6 AM, more emails. Just keep going. 

2. Say Yes! 

This is something Tina Fey praises. She's a genius, always listen to Tina Fey.  "Can you be here for an interview in an hour" Even if you live two hours away, say yes, make it work. Take an interview for a travel company when you have 0 background in the industry? Say yes (but do some research). 

Want to work on the patio? Yes. 

 Say yes when anyone asks you to help with a project. Say yes to staying late, to after-work drinks, to a free-hair cut at the office (well that one's easy), to learn about what other departments do. It shows that you're eager and not afraid of hard work or making connections. 

3.  Don't Fake It. 

I will never be a trendy urbanite or a mommy blogger. I won't wander the city trying to find the best hyper-vegan quinoa salad. I am not a gym person. I like books. I love to bake things with butter and lots of sugar. On a bad day all I want is a kitten. Some people will hate you right off the bat and not hire you because of it. Some people will love you (especially when you bring in homemade brownies) and hire you because of it.

Smore's Cookies for a co-workers last day

 In a group interview of 12 candidates from the travel industry and myself, I wound up getting the job. Tina Fey says to hire people you wouldn't mind being stuck in a room with at 3 AM and I think that's what happened with me. 

4.  Get a Big Ol' Bag. 

As an intern, you need to pack a lunch unless they're paying you a ton of money. You need an agenda, headphones, a phone charger, a travel mug, your regular purse contents and probably layers for the office. Go for a backpack if you wish. As a constant skirt wearer this isn't practical for me, so a big tote works better. 

5. Don't Expect the World Handed to You. 

I've noticed a lot of my peers got internships and expected a job immediately. For some this was true, for most...not so much. Be grateful for the opportunity and the chance to learn, all-in-all an internship will never hurt your career. If I don't get a full-time contract from my internship that's okay, I'm grateful for my experience and made a wonderful friend. Plus I got a free hair cut, how can you complain about that? 

Mid-day Sleepover

How awesome were sleepovers when you were a kid? I remember how excited you'd be all week about the thought of hanging out with your friends outside of school, watching movies, playing games and eating junk.

Now that we're done classes a few of my friends and I are trying to put in the effort to stay close. While we all had engagements to keep in the evening I thought it'd be fun to have a "sleepover" in the afternoon. I filled up the air mattress and threw it in front of the tv and got some goodies.

Lost of childhood snacks. Dunkaroos and pop tarts.

Ashley brought these lovely ombre gum ball cupcakes

Lots of girly movies.

Even though as we get older we may not have time for full-on sleepovers it doesn't mean you can keep the fun, besides who slept at those things anyway? 

We've got us some Toronto Comicon first-timers over here!

I'm not going to pretend that we had planned to go to Comicon at all. Mostly because we didn't know it was even happening until Saturday morning. While debating about how to spend our day Peter went online and ordered me to get ready fast. While we had an amazing time considering how last minute our day was I learned a few things I though fellow first-timers may find useful.

Billy Boyd way back there

1. Plan what you want to see.
I missed a few things I would have liked to do just from us not planning ahead. I didn't know the celebrity meeting dynamic and when I realized what I wanted it was too late (signed head shots for most guests were $45, but you can get a photo with the celebs themselves at specific times and go back and get them signed for a bit extra). Figure out what scheduled events you want to do ahead of time, don't just wing it or you'll miss out.

2. Advanced Tickets are your friend.
We got in line just after noon and were told that the event was at capacity and no more tickets would be sold for at least another hour. Luckily the wait only took about 35 minutes but there were some people who didn't stick around. The lines were quite long but advanced ticket holders got to breeze through quickly.

3. Hit the ATM before you get there.
Line-ups for the ATM we're almost as long as the line to get in. Most vendors and autographs only take cash (some did take debit and credit but not a lot that we saw).

4. Wait in-line early.
We asked a few volunteers about this and they weren't very informative unfortunately, very nice people though. We lined up for the Q&A with Sean Astin and Billy Boyd about 15 minutes early and they were at capacity right we got to the front  of the line. We missed the photo-op with Eliza Dushku because we were in line and we missed the Q&A because we were too far back. Lesson learned.

5. Pack a great lunch.
The food was really disappointing. Small portions for big prices. We got two fish tacos the size of coasters for over $10 bucks. Splitting a whole pizza seemed to the the most common order but I saw lots of people who had packed great lunches. Smart cookies.

One thing I noticed from my background in undergarment sales was how many women were wearing the wrong panties and bras with their amazing costumes (and holy what an amount of work they must have put into those!!! stellar) . LADIES-NUDE PANTIES UNDER WHITE JUMPSUITS....there's something I never thought I'd say. Garment tape is your friend.
I think next year I might make up a bra fitting superhero and walk around giving out pamphlets. The Boobinator? The double-boob defender? Name still pending.

Valentines Treats

To make up for hogging the brownies I made for the class (sorry guys!) I thought I'd bring them some treats for Valentines.

The brownie recipe I used can be found here I don't really follow the specific chocolate instructions, I use semi-sweet chocolate chips for both the brownies and the ganache and they turn out lovely. I didn't do ganache for the brownies for my class because they'd be harder to pile in a container, so instead I added pink and red smarties.

PS: I'm a messy baker, and the batter is amazingggg. 

Making the ganache for the batch I made for Peter

Yumm. 

Discovered little spots

It's so nice to be home after a busy few days up North. Wednesday night we celebrated my return by going out for a nice dinner in our area of the city to Ember Hot Stove & Social House. It's been open for just over a week now and we kept walking by looking at the pretty decor getting excited for a new place to go.

Ember sour martini. 

We were super pleased with our experience, amazing food, great service and warm atmosphere. Restaurants in this area seem to open and close rather quickly, we're definitely hoping this one sticks around. Though it's a bit pricey for our student budget to go frequently we're planning on talking it up lots.

Lobster mac & cheese.

What a week!

Oh geez, this weekend was needed, and thank goodness for reading week! Lots of nights up doing coursework past 3 AM, pacing and thinking up taglines, designing Facebook pages. However in the program I'm in it would be insane to try and go away on reading week like normal students. There is just so much work to do to try and get our portfolios up to a standard where they're worth showing off. But because I'm a rebel like that we came back to North Bay for a bit before I visit my parents. Then I will go back to the city, plop myself at my desk and write for 4 straight days. Kinda. While this week was insanely stressful there were some upsides.

My books came in! A cute little agenda to help me stay organized, some copywriter essential reads and Kate Spade, just because. 

I found some great inspiration for this on Pinterest. Making a daily checklist that suits your life.

Mine includes what to read, to blog, to cook, clean, and check online. I'm going to print 40 or so at Staples and see if they work for me.

We picked up this little humidifier from the Umbra store last weekend. It's hard to see but water vapour puffs out the chimney. We didn't have a water bottle handy so we just used a ginger ale bottle but it still puffs away. We've named it lil' putt-putt. 

I'm trying to learn how to play Magic cards. I can't wrap my head around all the rules. And I get distracted by the illustrations. Does anyone have any tips for how to make learning easier?

Hope you all had a lovely Valentines! I'll post about our little love notes tomorrow. 

Our kinda frugal Valentines

I have always loved Valentines day. My mum and I would bake cupcakes and treats every year to bring to my class and decorate them with pretty pink frosting. I'd get to pick out my cards to give out to the class sometimes Strawberry Shortcake, then Disney princesses, Muppets, then Harry Potter the next 6 years. 

I've always gone a little overboard since I started dating Peter. My love of romantic gifts, shopping and working in a lingerie store were a match made in sparkly, chocolate coated, rose petal strewn heaven. Last year we celebrated in Cuba so that's kind of hard to top.

After some thought we decided we were going to not exchange gifts this year. Instead we created our little love notes. We started on the February 1st, the rule is you have to put at least one note in a day leading up to Valentines. Our notes can be silly, romantic or thankful, we just have to write something we love about each other. 

We're going back to North Bay for Valentines where we'll have dinner at our favourite pizza place and split a Greek Salad and Pesto pizza. Then we'll come home and dump out the vase and read our notes. I've put in two today already. Peter thinks we might run out of paper. What are your plans for Valentines?

Only made from things I found around the house...I used Crayola scented markers for the hearts so there's a little bit of public school nostalgia. 

Soup Kick

All I have to share lately is recipes because my life has been consumed by the hell that is second semester. I find while I love to cook I tend to use it as a distraction from homework. I get home from classes after 6, by the time I'm done cooking and eating it's after 7 and then I just don't get as much accomplished as I should. 

I've been using our crockpot a lot lately and making soups so I don't get too off track. Soups are amazing you just cut things, throw them in a pot and if I get distracted trying to understand Adobe Illustrator and forget about dinner it just ends up simmering longer and tasting better. Not too shabby

Here's a Minestrone inspired Recipe I made last week. So easy and tasted amazing. 

Minestrone (ish) Soup

Fills one large pot, we got about 10 bowls I'd think from it. 

2 cans of whole tomatoes (diced would probably work too but keep the liquid)

1 box of chicken broth (32 ounce)

4 carrots

4 celery

1 large onion

1 diced white potato

1 teaspoon of garlic

1 cup of chopped spinach

1 can of rinsed white beans

1 cup of small shells

2 bay leaves

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Cut veggies, coat bottom of the pot with olive oil and heat on medium-high until veggies are starting to look clear and get a slight bit of colour.  Pour in the tomatoes and crush a bit with a wooden spoon to break them down a little more, add chicken broth. Give the big heavy pile of veggies a stir and add your seasonings. 

I added the beans after the soup had been boiling for about a half hour. Go about your business. When you test your veggies and they're softened add your spinach and shells. 

Once pasta is cooked scoop into bowls and top with parmesan. Crusty bread would have been great too. 

Tip: I would leave out the shells next time, the soup had enough to it without them and they absorbed a lot of the amazing broth. Or i'd boil them separately and then throw them in. 

Now back to the homework. Anyone else feeling swamped lately? 

Discovered Little Spots

We do our best to explore new places every weekend, that was part of why I quit my retail job so I'd have time to actually live in the city rather than just commute through it once and while. I thought it might be neat to share some of the interesting places we've stumbled across since we moved here.

Last night we tried The Clubhouse Sandwich Shop on Spadina. Recommended by a family member who goes to University of Toronto we thought it sounded worth a trip for dinner. It's a cute and bright spot with several different kinds of sandwiches. I tried the fish sandwich and Peter had the marinated grilled pork chop. Both were enormous on big fresh fluffy buns and were extremely delicious. We got the fries which were huge as well with great flavour and a nice balance of crunchy outsides and soft on the inside. 

We tried the fancy sodas they had in the cooler by Dry Soda Co. in Rhubarb and Vanilla Bean. Also awesome, definitely need some of this in my fridge I can see it making amazing cocktails. All across a great meal, definitely hoping we go back soon the turkey sandwich was my second choice and if it's anything like yesterday's meal my mouth is watering already. 

Also can I just note for a moment thanks for 4 packets of ketchup guys! Don't you hate it when people give you two for a massive amount of fries? The worst. 

Blurry but glowing. Love it when the CN tower has blue lights. I've never been up there but it's definitely on the list.  

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is one of those recipes no matter how hard you try, or much you tweak it to your own personal tastes, it always seems to turn-out amazing. Some of you have sent along some ingredient switches that have worked out wonderfully including whole-wheat flour, brown-rice flour walnuts, and maple syrup.

I'm always throwing over-ripe bananas into a freezer bag so I can make these quickly on a Sunday night.  Let me know if you invent any new combinations that turned out great!

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 Ripe Gross Mushy Bananas 

1/3 of a cup of melted butter

3/4 of a cup of sugar (sometimes I'll reduce this a bit if I have really ripe bananas)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour 

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease your muffin tins (Tip: I've used liners with this recipe before but because the muffins are so moist they tend to just stick and make a mess).

Now the fun bit. Peel your bananas and throw them in a big bowl with the melted butter and smash it all together with a fork. Keep blending until there's no big chunks of banana left and the mixture is creamy and smooth.

Add the sugar, egg and vanilla and mix just until combined. Add salt and baking soda and stir. Pour in flour and mix. The mix doesn't have to be perfectly blended,  just try and get rid of all the flecks of flour. Dump in chocolate chips (I say one cup but I really just dump in half the bag) mix them around a bit so every bite has some chocolatey goodness.

Divide into muffin tins. Bake until cake tester or toothpick pulls out cleanly (For me usually 20 minutes for regular muffins, big tins or mini loaves about 30 mins)

Hurray it's Thursday

I know most people can't wait for Fridays but I really love Thursdays. Well Thursday morning's I have 8 AM class so not that part but the evening part is lovely. I find living in a cramped space with your significant other can be romantic, enlightening and entertaining but you can also feel like you lose your own space sometimes.
Thursday nights Peter has a game night with some old friends so Thursday nights provide a much needed homework break and my recipe for relaxation.
Thursday Night Me Time
1. Awesome book. Currently reading A Dance with Dragons the 5th of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series.
2. Bath and Body works candle. Currently burning Red Velvet.
3. Bubble Bath. Featuring The Body Shop's Raspberry Shower Gel as bubble bath and Bath and Body Works True Blue Refreshing Citrus Body Scrub.
4. Cocktail (optional)-Long Island Ice Tea has been my go-to lately. (Yep in a Game of Thrones glass because that's how I roll)

So here's to me time, and you time. Cheers!

Twinkle Lights Trauma

I love Pinterest but it tends to make some projects look a lot easier then they are. We've been working on small projects around our apartment to try and make the place look cozier since we won't be painting. We got this nice canopy at Bed Bath and Beyond for our room.

We wanted to make the room a bit more romantic and I found lots of Pinterest inspiration.

After taking advantage of the after Christmas light sales after Boxing Day we gathered supplies to try.

It turned out really cute, for a while.

 Then they looked like this.

Just a heads up for anyone wanting to try this, read the instructions on the hooks and don't put weight on them right away. I found no matter what I've tried the cord hooks aren't strong enough. We've had to use the medium weight 3M hooks. Also lights are picky and get tangled in the netting if they even touch a little, so be patient with snags. We've woken up two nights in a row from the sound of lights scratching down the wall around 4 AM. We'll see if I can figure this out. 

Winter Chill

I think I along with most of the population under this lovely storm am feeling literally under the weather. I've been fighting a cold since I started back at classes this week and nothing's worse than getting back to the grind with a stuffy nose and a fever.

My boyfriend's parents got us some nice pots for Christmas so I thought I'd try my hand at making some homemade chicken soup. It turned out so nicely I thought I'd share my experiment. I based it on this recipe but doubled up all the veggies and added about  a cup and a half of shell noodles at the end.

Because I let the soup simmer for so long after adding back in fresh veggies and the shredded chicken I found I didn't need the bouillon.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 small chicken
4 carrots
4 onions
6 celery stalks
water
salt and pepper
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp basil

I really wanted my soup to have some sinus clearing punch, hence the chill flakes and extra onions.
I cut two carrots, two onions and two celery stalks in half and placed them in the bottom of my pot. Threw in the chicken then covered with water and added some salt and pepper. Then I simmered on medium-high heat until the meat was cooked and started to come apart (this took about 2 hours for me).

Then I strained the broth, threw it back into the pot and shredded the chicken with some forks. I added 2 chopped carrots, 4 celery stalks and 2 onions into the broth with the shredded chicken and went to class leaving the soup on the lowest heat possible. I came back added more salt and pepper, the chilli flakes and basil and brought back up the heat until veggies were soft. Near the very end I threw in the pasta which also helped thicken the broth.

I think the only thing I would do differently next time is maybe add some grated ginger. But otherwise it was the perfect thing for a cold winter night and the sniffles.