Before the pandemic, I was religious about having my nails done. Every 10 days or so, for about 4 years I’d pop into Ivy Nails for fresh shellac. Today was the first time since March 2020 that got a mani-pedi. ?
I know salons have been open for a few weeks but I just wasn’t ready to sit inside and go through the process. But today I was home alone, work was good, the sun was shining, so I figured why not!
I ordered one of those pedicure tools with a blade from Amazon so my feet weren’t that bad but it was time to make them look better. It felt so nice to have my nails fresh again!
I got one hand pink and one hand orange but when I left, I realized they almost look exactly the same. Oh well!
Left a nice tip then biked around the neighbourhood a bit. It was so lovely out, here’s hoping these warm temps last a few more weeks.
Spent the whole weekend working on my room and WHOA what a job it was. On Saturday I had a bit of a meltdown once almost everything was outside on the roof, the thought of putting it back was overwhelming. Thankfully I stuck to it and am nearly done putting everything away, throwing out the carpet, and organizing my stuff. I also watched the entire season of MAID on Netflix, kinda sad but a good show.
In other news, I am SO happy with my plants. Saw a TikTok Plant Hack (PlantTok) about putting an aerial root from a monstera in a small glass jar to help them grow. It works! I’ve got two tiny glass jars on different plants and a bunch of new leaves sprouting. It took about 2 weeks to see new growth.
This monstera is the same large plant that I shared cuttings from in my post the other day.
I am yet to post anything on my own TikTok yet but I must say, I am loving all the plant hacks. Learned so much the last few weeks and look forward to growing more and more plants over the winter.
Sean and I went on a date for the first time in ages. We walked about 4km to and from Geary Ave to check out the Geary Art Crawl.
The whole area was alive with music, art, and eats. We sat in the grass to watch a performance by Seastill Music, Fezz from Occupied VR‘s latest project. The light and sounds were elevated by the train shaking the ground as it went by. There were some really rad light shows by Matt Mansion too, aka LED Daddy.
I’ve seen this tag a few times around the city, “you are not your mistakes”. I like it. The funny thing is, as I waited for someone else to take a photo of the sign, Sean pointed out that someone was in the alley…making a mistake? Haha. A dude stopped to take a wee and I wasn’t going to take a pic but it was just too perfect. See photo. ?
Woke up and decided today was the day to ditch the carpet. Had to take almost everything out of the room, move shelves to rip it up. Big job but I’m glad it’s almost done. Still have a section of carpet under the bed but I’ll do that another time.
I’m looking forward to reorganizing the space and maximizing the look of the concrete floor with some vintage rugs. The whole place is going to feel cleaner once we’re done. Thankfully it was REALLY NICE OUT so I could safely use the patio as storage.
Over the winter I plan to do a full ‘Marie Kondo’ like I did a couple of years ago and clean out everything in the house that doesn’t bring us joy. How the hell do we accumulate so many things?! There’s stuff everywhere!
I went to the media preview of Legends of Horror at Casa Loma tonight with some friends. SO FUN. I love spooky season. Was so stoked I wore my witch hat the whole night.
The experience takes just over an hour and it is AWESOME. There’s so much space at Casa Loma and Legends of Horror takes it all. You’ll find yourself winding down spooky stairs and wicked woods, then running through the castle basement and more, all the while being scared by creepy characters.
here are some details from legends of Horror about covid/entrance etc. Tickets are ~$40pp but if you haven’t had a lot of excitement lately, I say totally worth it. MI was at the media preview so I didna have to buy a ticket but I am considering going back with friends and buying tickets.
PARKING: Paid parking is available at George Brown College (south of Casa Loma off Macpherson Avenue). This parking is closest to the entrance at Walmer Rd. and Davenport Rd. There is limited paid parking onsite at Casa Loma, subject to availability.
A SAFE EXPERIENCE FOR ALL GUESTS
FACE MASKS/COVERINGS All persons (staff and guests) entering or remaining on the premises shall wear a mask or face covering which covers the nose, mouth and chin as required under City of Toronto by-law no.541-2020.
PHYSICAL DISTANCING Guests will be required to follow social/physical distancing guidelines carefully, maintaining 2 metres (6 feet) of space from others. Family members and others (a “family unit”) who live in the same household can be closer together.
GUEST SCREENING/CONTACT TRACING All guests are required to complete guest screening and contact tracing upon arrival. Contact information will be kept for 30 days for potential COVID-19 Contact Tracing.
PROOF OF VACCINATION Proof of vaccination is required to enter the Captain Morgan Lounge to drink/dine. Proof of vaccination is not required for the Legends of Horror experience itself.
Went to an event after work tonight with San Rafael, a brand by Aurora Cannabis. You might remember the San Rafel events I went to quite often when legalization was first introduced. Heaps of good memories with this brand so although I hardly go out anymore, I was keen to see what they’ve been up to.
I sat down at Mrs Robinson on College for a menu tasting of food & drinks curated to match the terpenes of their new strains. The food was delicious and the drinks too. My fav part was when I felt anxious and sat by myself, then the most lovely two people joined me, Luna & her friend. They made my night! We laughed a lot and it was kinda funny bc Luna and I were both wearing cute pastels, many rings, and both have tattoos. It’s like they knew to sit her beside me.
Met some really lovely ladies thanks to San Rafael! We all hung out on patio chairs after the event and had a great chat. Overall, super fun time. I shouldn’t be scared of going out, people are a-ok!
Had a relaxing weekend at home. We tore up a bunch of the carpet in my room and it’s mostly concrete floor now. I’m into it, looks cool. Have wanted to do this for a while and after we had a leak from the rain, it was time.
I’ve mentioned my love for propagating plants a few times and I am so proud of my latest creation! I have successfully propagated two different types of Monstera.
I took a few cuttings from my biggest plant, Monstera Deliciosa, the most common variety of monstera. I grew the cuttings in water for about 2 months and planted them in rich soil today. They’re flourishing!
The leaves seen here with the holes are Monstera Adansonii, a plant I picked up a few weeks ago from The Urban Gardener. This beautiful plant was healthy and primed for cuttings from the day I got her. I grew the cuttings in water + root hormone and they grew had 1″ roots in about 2 weeks.
I can’t wait to share these plant babies with friends and build my little jungle at home!
It’s been ages since I went out and tonight I went to a party in the neighbourhood. It was fun! A bunch of us got together at April’s then took an Uber over to Geary Ave. Ran into a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in ages. I’m still a little weird about going out but it’s really nice to see people and laugh together. Most of the night was outdoors which was good, hoping these warm temps hang on a few more weeks.
I know it’s been a little while and if anyone reads this in the order years later, they’ll never really understand. Living through a pandemic is weird, some days it’s like everything is normal and others, it’s like you don’t really what’s going on in the world.
I’ve mostly been updating in batches since August when I had a crazy week that threw me off my game. I’ve started using WordPress mobile again and forgot how convenient it is. I’ve been tracking the days since the pandemic started and even though I don’t always publish on a schedule, I keep notes and photos to remember the days.
I don’t like getting too behind, documenting this experience is important to me. I started blogging in 2005 as a way to keep more memories and I know that looking back on pandemic life is something I’ll want to do. There are so many things that happen in a day it’s hard to remember details, even a picture and a couple of words helps to bring back the memories of the moment. A picture truly is worth a thousand words!
