1. Tea!
A few years ago, I made a somewhat official switch from coffee to tea. Not because I no longer enjoyed coffee, but mostly out of necessity. But tea became my new warm drink of choice! I discovered shortly that it would also become the most soothing, comforting, warming drink too! Now I'm thinking back to when I was a teenager, I remember having aspirations to open a Tea House then, too... So I must've liked tea in high school too, I just don't remember drinking that much of it. Certainly when I was little I drank a lot of tea. My parents would make us Earl Grey and I would drink it in actual little teacups with saucers... I can't imagine that much caffeine being good for a nine year old, but whatever... Now that I'm older, I love all tea. I have a huge collection of bagged tea, loose leaf and accessories.
Recently, over breakfast at the Naam, I was having a little pot of tea, and along with speaking about tea, we somehow were talking about the little birds that would periodically find their way into the heated outdoor patio. We were saying how intense the heat lamps look and how we sincerely hoped no little birds ever flew into them. And I said, "because then they would have some bird casualties!". Then Carla got this bright-eyed look on her face and said "Casualty! but CasualTEA! the name of a tea house we should start!"
The bottom half of my You Complete!
Doesn't this look delicious? 
The Libre glass tea tumbler. 
I DO love tea!For one of my design projects, I have to make a mock website with 4 pages - home plus three subsequent ones... I think I may make it an actual, live website though. I need the practise. Anyway, I've chosen to take CasualTEA and turn it into a mock tea shop! That's what the top photo is for. I took my "You Complete!" and took photos of it from all different angles, to be later photoshopped into some sort of background or banner.
2. Christmas!
I can't make a "things that make me happy" post a few weeks before Christmas without actually mentioning Christmas. I've always loved Christmas, since I was little. It's just so... magical. And that love hasn't waned since that time. It's not so much the presents I love, I mean, I do like that part, but I more enjoy the spirit of Christmas. The feeling and the traditions, the music and decorations, the food! The music & movies I watch every year, the baking, the foods we make before Christmas, after Christmas and of course on Christmas! How my mom always decorates for Christmas right at the beginning of December and get a tree a week before - and since she bought this house, and has such high ceilings, she always buys huge trees! Now, Blake and I have started our own Holiday traditions. Next weekend we're going to buy our tree, and it'll be the third year we go to this tree lot, run by the Lions Club at Fraser and 41st. They have all sized trees, and all different types! Both of the last years it happened to be snowing while we went, too.
Tree-topper Angel that sits on my desk.
Yoshi chillin' with the Christmas mice. 
Little Laura mitten Shanna made me. 
Mine and Blake's Shortbread cookies, Christmas 2009 3. La Neige!
We all know that I love snow and that Genine hates snow. This is nothing new. I feel little elaboration is necessary here, as I've talked about snow a lot recently... And posted many snow pictures a few posts ago! I just felt it was worth mentioning! Because... J'adore la neige!
4. Kitties! - Well, animals in general.
I absolutely love animals. I've always liked animals, even though I didn't grow up with many pets. I sort of had a pet - Grosnounour. He was my grandma's, but because I spent so much time there before and after school, I felt he was also my cat. He was big and lazy and so sweet and gentle! He died when I was 12, I still miss him! Anyway, ever since I've been wanting a kitty, I've been loving animals more and more... I'm pretty sure I have Kitty Fever! I'm also sure that actually having will make me even more happy about kitties!
Blake and I might be moving to a new apartment in February - a place that allows kitties! Blake love kitties just as much, if not more, than me.
I have a folder on my computer called "cats from the internet" and it is all pictures of well, cats from the internet! The cutest, funniest kitties that I saw either on reddit, or lolcats, or wherever!
Dobby Kitteh.
I intensely want all of them. 
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww. 
Lobster Kitteh. 5. FOOD!
Why of course food would be one of the my favourite things! It always has! I've made it somewhat my goal now to create recipes of good foods and take beautiful photos. I don't always like food... mostly because it doesn't always like me... Quite often, food hates me with a fiery vengeance... So that's when I take a break from it and drink Ensure! But when food is nice, I love it.
Carla and I, however, have kind of evolved together since high school in terms of food... we used to eat ridiculously large meals, not knowing when to stop, until it made us sick. Nachos, pasta, garlic bread, pizza, with beer, wine, rum! Now, we are on a mission to eat better. But we still love food. We're just trying to appreciate good foods as much as the bad ones!
I would post pictures of all the foods I've taken photos of... but I have tons of photos in other posts, and will have more in the future.
6. New Media Design & Web Development, Photography & my Nikon!
I love my new program. It makes me so happy. I'm so excited about it! I love going to class in the morning (for the most part!), I actually enjoy doing homework, and networking with my classmates and getting to know them. I love where this program is taking me. In less than a year, I will be a full fledged Web Designer. Apparently, according to the instructors, we will even be experts in the field! Crazy! I've ever learned enough to create a pretty basic but very modern and nice website. Actually, I have to buy myself a Domain before Tuesday, and by the end of the term (in mid-January) I will have a website!
Me, my Nikon and my new sweet hat! 7. Finally, my friends!
My friends and Blake make me happy. They keep me sane. This is pretty much the cheesiest part of the post, but I can't deny its truthfulness! I'm so happy to be living with Blake, and I'm grateful for people like Carla, Genine, Karmyn and Alexis. It's unfortunate, though because Genine is far, far away! Aren't you, dude? I haven't seen you in over 6 months now! Alexis, too, is even further away, spending half a year or so in Europe. She's off studying French in France, and then she'll be traveling to Spain, southern France, and Eastern Europe. Karmyn is insanely busy with schoolwork, too, plus she's in Nanaimo and I only get to see her for dinner or tea once in a while. Carla is the only one I get to see regularly and even she is often busy! Well, we both are... busy with work and school, living in Langley and Vancouver!
Left-to-Right: Genine, Karmyn, Laura and Carla
Left-to-Right: Laura, Erika, Karmyn and Trevor 
Blake and myself
aww you make me happy too, dude! Actually, so does tea and kitties... and food! I should write a list/post like this. But it would probably be best not to do it during work hours.
ReplyDeleteHaha be a rebel Genine and write that blog post! Funny how we are both commenting this during work hours :P. Loved this post Laura...and you know I love cheese whether it's literal or figurative haha. We need to go out and take pics this week. I was thinking you need some of you and your violin...we should go busking and I can do a jig around you and wave a sign that mentions it's for donation :). Crazy idea but if you're up for it I'd do it.
ReplyDelete