Hunting.

Tuesday night we started the apartment hunt. Well we started a few weeks ago, we looked online at places to live in Chatham and then with a sudden and quick change of events we started looking online in the Richmond Hill/Vaughn area.

The process is stressful. The thought of again drastically increasing our rent is stressful and the idea that I do not have a job during all of this is again stressful. I hate the feeling of being in transition. I want to work, but I want a job that means something. I also hate waiting to hear back. Life would be a lot easier if I knew that Brent would have the full time position in Richmond Hill. It would be easier also if he knew he wasn't going to get it and that we both were successful at the library in Chatham. But who knows. Apparently life is not supposed to be easy. *Shock!*

So the hunt began. I picked Brent up from work and in the course of 2 hours we visited 5 3 apartments. The first was out of budget when you added on all the extras, like parking and internet, the second we didn't hate, and the third we loved, kind of.

The issues we have come across are numberous. First, I am not working, I feel like I have no job prospects in the area despite my searching. I think I am going to try for retail, I would enjoy a non comission based retail at a store I actually like. But to find a job I need to know where we will be living to know where I can apply. (but all of that is besides the point). Without a job, it seams like no one will let us rent. I do not have a letter of employment. This is bad. Second, when looking at apartments I knew I had heard of the area Jane and Finch. I could not figure out why. I googled it and turns out its the area with the highest level of gang crime in Canada. No way we are living there.

So again we are searching for apartment prospects. We are searching, we are finding, but no one seems to want to call us back. I am starting to get depressed. I am frustrated because we are looking for yet another apartment in an area I do not want to live. I want to be home. I want to be in Chatham, or well anywhere other than Toronto. I hate Toronto.

We are still searching. Searching for jobs and searching for a place to live. The countdown is now at 8 days to figure out EVERYTHING!!!

Sorry, I am stressed. I just hope that in the next few days I can write an update that says everything will work out. Everything always works out. I just need to have faith. So join me in prayer. We need to figure out life.

Joe.

So I am picky when it comes to makeup. I hate trying new things and being disappointed. Makeup is not cheap, you cannot try every brand of eyeliner before deciding. I got spoiled a few years ago at Christmas and received numerous Shoppers Drug Mart gift cards. They went to a brand new makeup collection. I went with smashbox after doing a lot of research and LOVED it! Now however, without the gift cards, the cost is too much and I need pretty much new everything.

I am not one who goes by the every six month rule, I have a tendency of waiting till its gone, I know its bad. Lately my eyes have been itchy when I wear my make up so I figured it was time for new stuff.
I had heard good things about the Joe Fresh line. The marketing was nice and I LOVE the packaging and design. Not to mention the colours are great. So I figured I would give it a try.

I bought what I was in desperate need of, mascara and eye liner. Then I splurged and got some lip stick. I went with the lash define mascara, the gel eye liner and a rose coloured matte lip gloss.

On first try, I loved the mascara, it does exactly as it says, it separates and gets on every lash. The lipstick I am not sure is my colour, and I think due to my lips being dry is a bit flaky, but the colour and matte-ness of it is fantastic. The eye liner is another story. I wanted to get the liquid liner, but as my research told me, it is hard to find in stock, which was the case. Instead I went with what I have come to love in the smashbox version, a gel eyeliner which you then put on with a brush. At first try it went on thick and has some chunks. More attempts are required to see if this changes, if not, it is garbage.

The prices are also great, the lipstick was $6, the eyeliner $6 and the mascara was $8. Then to top it off there was a $3 off coupon when you spend $12 or more. These prices when shopping around were typically $2 less then low end brands like Covergirl and Revlon and about $10 or more less then the brands such as Clinique and Smashbox.

So after a number of uses I have come to some conclusions. I LOVE the mascara and would definitely get it again. It goes on exactly like I wanted and lasts all day in all types of conditions. The eye liner, I will use but an not a huge fan of. You can certainly tell a difference with this compared to the smashbox type I am used to. The lipstick with nice lips is wonderful I have come to wearing it most days.

In addition I bought some Joe Fresh nail polish. It was the exact colour I was searching for, a dark charcoal and again the price was right one for 4$ or 3 for 10$. I am used to using either OPI or Essie, so my standards are relatively high and other then being a fantastic colour and only requiring two coats, the nail polish does not have much going for it in my opinion. The brush is nubby (short and thick), and it chips pretty much the day it goes on. I feel like that could be alleviated with a good top coat, but I don't like to do that.

So overall, I guess it is hit and miss with Joe products, however for the price compared to top of the line options, I do believe that it is worth trying them out.

Done.

Friday I finished work. Not by choice as I had previously mentioned, but by end of contract. It was sad saying goodbye, leaving a job I loved and people I loved working with. Exciting things are happening in the Hartford house however.

Brent is currently working in Toronto, well Woodbridge, I think. He is doing a freelance position until possibly December with them. Brent is also waiting to hear back from a job at both the library in Chatham, and also a full time, permanent position (words I feel I may never hear) with a large scale printing company in Richmond Hill. It was exciting because his test project for the company was for Hermes (yes Birken!!) I was a little excited. I am also waiting to hear back from the library position. So we really do not know what the future holds.

As we wait, we have two weeks left in our apartment. We have been looking online at places to live in the Richmond Hill/Vaughn area. This week we will look in person and make some decisions. We are considering living apart if that is where the jobs lead us. We know it will be hard, but we have decided that we really just need to do what it takes in order to get the end result outcome we would like.

We figured if we put in our hard work and time now, live in places that we do not want to, and at jobs a little less then ideal, maybe our paths will lead us to what we really want.

But anyways, my final week or work was filled with the stress of finishing a lot of final projects, the sadness of leaving, and a fun day of walking some escarpment trails and enjoying time with people that over the past five months have really become my second family.

These are some pictures of the wonderful view. And since I no longer work for CVC, I can now admit, that I think I love Halton Conservation areas. Check them out if you have time, stunning views!

The Toronto skyline. You can see the CN Tower.

Zucchini.

Last night after dinner Brent and I were craving something sweet. We wanted desert and there was nothing. So I decided to attempt to make zucchini bread. It was SO easy and turned out SO good that we will most certainly be eating a lot more zucchini bread in our house. 

This is the recipe, and then there are the alterations I made to it. I plan to try again with some more slight alterations. 

Ingredients:
- 2 cups shredded raw zucchini 
- 3 eggs
- 1 3/4 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil 1 and about a 1/2 cup applesauce 
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
-2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup chopped walnuts 3/4 ish cups raisons 


Preparation:

Put zucchini in strainer and press or squeeze with hands Put zucchini in towel and squeeze to get some of the excess liquid out. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, sugar, and oil applesauce together. Stir in the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and walnuts raisons , mixing just until all ingredients are combined. Add drained zucchini. Mix well. Pour into 2  4 greased and floured 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch mini  loaf pans. Sprinkle top with brown sugar (I did just a little thinking it would be good, next time I will add a little more, because it was GREAT!) Bake for 55 to 60 minutes until they look done at 350°, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out with very little or no crumbs clinging to it.

It made four but we had already started eating one when I remembered to take a picture. It was awesome! 

Travel.

I say I have a passion for travel, but I have never really done much of it. I crave it. I want to see the world and experience things. I want the life experiences that I can look back on and be excited about. The hard part about it though, I am cheap. I hate to spend money and I am quickly coming to the realization that travel costs. And travel for two, costs more.

My desire to travel the world became a full fledged passion when I took a first year Art History course in second year university. It was exciting and interesting and I was in love. The prof would always share random tidbits of travel information, like the MacDonald's down the road from the Pantheon has air conditioning and that when looking at the coliseum watch your bag cause its pick pocket capital of the world. This all just made me want to go more, made me want to be the seasoned traveller with information to share such as this.

I am an excellent planner. In most cases I over plan and then have a habit to stress when it doesn't go as planned, but that is besides the point. I have planned four trips to Europe so far, each one more detailed. I have found out places to stay, eat and what to see along the way. I want to go. I have also planned a road trip out west, and one to Florida. I have never taken any of these trips, but if I had the chance I would be ready.

Currently our imaginations have taken us to desire a trip to Montreal. So planning mode has commenced. We had a date set and I had planned most everything from what to see each day, where to stay and what restaurants we must hit up. However, then life got a hold of us and we may be postponing, again. O and did I mention this is the third time I planned Montreal as well. The first was in third year university when myself and some housemates were supposed to go but due to exams and life we decided against it. The second time was for our honeymoon, but after finding out I go zero time off work and if I took it I would lose my job resulted in us not going anywhere and now for the third time. We had hoped to go at the end of the month right after my contract was done and go for a few days including stopping into Ottawa to visits some friends. We are second guessing this due to suddenly moving.

So travel again is taking a back seat to life. I feel like traveling should be life, but we still have plans. The hopes are that if one, or both of us get the library job and then if only one the other gets something else we will go to Europe at the beginning of April (although I feel like Europe in the fall would be fantastic). So fingers crossed that it can all work out. So instead of Montreal at the end of the month we will be frantically job searching, packing and moving and trying to figure out life. But who knows we just may also end up in Montreal.



Taken on my only real traveling experience - reading week project to the Olympics in Vancouver. I then stayed a few extra days with family and took in some events and the local sites. I fell in love.



Also taken in Vancouver. My first mountain, and for a geography student this was a huge deal!