Canadian National Exhibition

Hello Lovelies!

School's only been here two weeks and I'm already looking forward to it being over. But, at the same time, I'm working my butt off so I can bump my average from 93.6% to 95%, because it means I get more scholarship money from the universities I'm looking at..

Anyways, that's completely besides the point of this post. I wanted to show you all some pictures from the CNE, a Canadian over-glorified fall fair that is actually a lot of fun. Enjoy.

I like this picture a whole bunch.

Mooo.

HE'S SO CUTE. I want one.

Film Camp

Hello Lovelies!!

If you remember, a few posts ago, I talked about my genius realization that I should go into film, as I love writing and working with a camera. Well, shortly after I posted that post, I signed up for film camp in Toronto and two weeks ago, I actually went. Le gasp! Sarah interacting with other humans! Le gasp!

It was such an amazing experience. I typically find it really hard to be with other humans for an extended period of time as I get really tired, but at the end of these eight hour days, I left the group of twenty six feeling energized and inspired. I got to work with amazing people and amazing equipment and it completely confirmed the fact that I should go into film.

Ten points to you if you can spot me.

Every day we did one or two little films and then attended workshops with guest professionals (one was the writer and producer of Orphan Black, another had shot music videos with Drake and was scheduled to film a movie with Donald Sutherland, another had just finished directing and writing her first full length movie, you get the gist).

We were split up on the first day into groups and in our little groups, we were to come up with an idea for a short film, write a script and then shoot and edit it. This was my group's movie. I got to write and direct some of it and act in a bunch of it as the main girl. Just a warning, my acting is not great. In fact, it's pretty terrible. The funny thing about this camp was that everyone was so much more comfortable behind the camera, so no one really wanted to act. Therefore, I was stuck with the job. I am not an actor. Don't judge. But enjoy. Because I really enjoyed making it.

It was an amazing experience and definitely one of the high lights of my year.

A Day in the City

Hello Lovelies!

My apologies for being almost completely inactive this month! I knew I was going to be but due to my laziness/forgetfulness/bad-blogger-ness, I didn't tell you. But I have returned with a slew of new pictures, post ideas and stories, ready to face the wonderful and somewhat dreaded autumn months.

This past month has been very, very full. So full that I had to take a bunch of time off work. So full that I think I've been home a total of six days this month. So full that I don't think it would all fit in one blog post. Today's post shall be dedicated to one of my excursions; a trip into Toronto with my family.

We visited Kensington Market first. I loved the atmosphere, so I took a bunch of pictures of the surroundings (read: tons of pictures of row houses because I may or may not be obsessed with them).

Seriously! How can you not love unique row houses! They're
so cute.

Then we walked through China town.

I've never been here nor will I, most likely. But it sounds
amazing.

I really like this picture. We were walking past all of these
pillars where people would put heir adverts and we
passed a few that were so covered in staples that you
could barely see the pillar anymore!

This guy was amazing. He would tell this truly cringe worthy
Dad-jokes to everyone walking by, as he washed the windows.
I asked if I could take a picture of him for my blog. He asked
if it would make him famous. I told him it probably wouldn't.
He said sure.

Om nom nom.

     After a day downtown, we went Laser tagging, which is probably the most amazing thing ever. We played the first game with a bunch of eight year olds and I placed seventh. The second game, there were a bunch of college aged guys, big guys who sized everyone up beforehand and were confident they could beat us all. I beat every single of them and placed third out of 32 players. There's something very satisfying about beating overconfident guys who are at least a foot taller than you.

Couldn't Have Been Better

Hello Lovelies,

Do you ever have one of those days that just goes so perfectly that you can't imagine how it could have gone any better? Last wednesday was one of those rare beautiful days. I'd been volunteering at a theatre camp for kids aged 8-13 the previous week and then that week from 9-4 every day, so my perfect day started with sleeping in until 10:30.

Around noon, my mum and I got on a bus to go down to Toronto, an agenda for the day in our minds. First, we'd look at where I'd be going to film camp/school in August, then look at my top University choice, Ryerson. After, we'd spend the afternoon walking around downtown Toronto, go out for dinner and then go to see Marianas Trench at Nathan Philips Square.

We started at this place called Honest Ed's because being the snowman I am, I needed sunscreen if I didn't want to resemble a tomato lobster at the end of the day. Two warehouses long and three floors tall, it was like a giant flea market/dollar store. The whole time we were in there I just thought, "I'm definitely coming back here when I need to go dorm/apartment shopping."

They had pictures of celebrities who'd visited this place
all over the walls.

After Honest Ed's, we subway-ed over to Ryerson to look at the campus, which I thought was pretty cool. We stopped for coffee in one of their little cafes.

One of the campus entrances is right on a main street in
Toronto, but when you walk in, it's like stepping
into a whole other world. 

Om nom.

The coffee shop we stopped at was connected
to the school I'm hoping to study at.

After we left Ryerson, we had most of the afternoon to just hang out, walk around and take in the city.

Pretty. ^^

And it just so happened that whilst walking down a wonderful, blessed street called Queen's street, I see two people casually eating sushi outside the restaurant. I pause. Gee, they look awfully familiar. My heart stops when I realize who they are. Mike and Ian from Marianas Trench. Sitting there, eating sushi. In the middle of the afternoon. Casually, as if they have no idea they are part of one of the coolest bands in the world.

"Mum, those guys are from Marianas Trench," I nudge her.

"What? Really? Where?" She begins to look around.

"Behind us."

"Do you want to go say hi and ask them for a picture?"

"Yeah."

Slowly and fairly nervously, I approach them. We meet them and talk for a few minutes. We talk about Pop 101, one of their songs that we love. They ask where we're from and we tell them. Miraculously, they actually know where it is. My town's pretty small. I ask for a picture and they oblige happily.

 And I shook wildly for the next hour as I tried to regain any sense of sanity still left in my brain. They were so nice!

Next, we went to have dinner at this place called Marche's, which is kind of like an indoor supermarket of restaurants. That's the only way I can think of to describe it.

I could have gone much more fancy with my food,
but I wasn't super hungry, as any appetite had disappeared
after meeting Mike and Ian.

Then we walked over to Nathan Philips Square to get standing space so the band didn't look like ants.

This is what the square looked like three hours before the concert.

Finally in our spots.

In the end, I was super happy with where we were and as you'll see in the pictures below, we were pretty close. I have like over 150 pictures, so it was pretty hard to narrow it down to nine. ;) They were incredible and I would definitely go to see them again. In fact, I am in October!

During Ever After.

Mike rocking out.

Josh's facial expressions were the best. I have a collection
of my favourites in my photo library.

The whole stage.

During the first couple of songs the hat, scarf and jacket
were lost.

Then a bra was generously donated by a screaming female
fan. Pants a little low there, Josh?

They stopped in the middle of the concert to do a
four part a cappella song, which was beautiful. They
got the crowd to be completely quiet and it was amazing.

Love this picture.

Yes Josh, reppin' the home
country.

It was such an incredible day. One of those days when you're just super happy to be alive and here on the planet. Ooh! And bonus, I didn't get sunburnt. Not even a little.

And we're set alight.

Hello Lovelies!

Last Saturday, I had the amazing privilege of seeing Ed Sheeran live, in person, in 3-D, in all of his talentedness. I will try to convey the amazingness in words, but I am sure that I won't do it justice.

My friend from Quebec, Kara (if you're reading this, hi Kara!), came down the night before so we could go to the concert together.

After driving halfway, getting on the subway, getting on a bus and then getting on the subway again, we finally reached the Air Canada Centre. We got inside, found our seats and began freaking out at how extremely close we were, only to have a security guard come over and tell us that our tickets were frauds. Yeah, we'd accidentally bought fraudulent tickets. You can imagine our horror and panic. But, maybe because the arena is used to this sort of thing, or maybe because we were all so pretty, or maybe because I live in Canada, they let us stay. We had to move about eight seats to the left in a section directly beside the stage. The view wasn't quite as good, but we were all just relieved we weren't going to be kicked out.

And then Ed Sheeran came on the stage and all our worries about tickets went out the window. He was so amazing. With one guitar, two microphones and a loop pedal, he could sound like an entire band. Not only was he an amazing singer and guitar player, but to have the creative instincts to be able to layer and loop and build up all the momentum? That's insane talent right there.

Here's some of the pictures I managed to get throughout the show. I'm really proud of the way they turned out!

Photograph. One of my favourite songs off of the
new album.

I really like this picture.

During Thinking Out Loud, my mummy giggled with
 happiness the whole time.

The lights and smoke made for a really cool effect during
Bloodstream. Bloodstream live was such an incredible
experience. Honestly, there are no words.

The lights during A Team.

He was literally this close at one point. The camera I was using
doesn't have that great of a zoom. 

Leading the crowd in harmonizing during Give Me Love.

He has the voice of angels and unicorns and chocolate
all mixed into one.

The lights at the end of the show.

And here's just a little taste of his incredible voice. Please excuse the girl directly behind me, she sang along for parts of it. :P But seriously. just listen to this; it's amazing. Even if you just listen to the first 30 seconds.

It was an amazing concert. If you ever have the chance to see him live, take it. It will be one of the best nights of your life.

(And as you can see, I've done a bit of blog renovating. I originally put up the boat picture, but then I saw this one and couldn't help myself. It's just so cute!)