Friday January 20th

Delayed post I know but somehow I keep forgetting to blog before bed. I'll remember sometime in the afternoon or early evening and think well I could blog right now but there might be some things I'd like to add into a post later on....and i forget.

I think the house has officially become loose leaf tea drinkers! D and I went to David's Tea (which conveniently is at the near by mall) and picked up our first batches! T tagged along as well but didn't buy anything. Coincidentally we bought 3 black teas, I bought Southern belle which has bits of dried peaches and yogurt drops in it. It smells deliciously sweet but not in an overtly juice like way. I think this tea would be delicious as an iced tea in the summer over some ice. I also bought cream of Earl grey which we haven't tried yet but the smell is just amazing. There are what looks like little dried purple petals in the tea and the sales person described it as vanilla earl grey tea. Yum! Thats another thing, the women helping us was so kind and when we said we were just looking to try something new she gave us the catalog and responded ' Just pick a couple that you would like to smell and we can go from there.' Great customer service and I'm already excited to go back.

I was looking through the catalog last night and have already found a bunch of teas that I would like to try! There are a bunch of black teas that I think would be tasty (the earl's garden, three wishes tea) but I think we want to try a white tea next (white tiger, secret weapon). Although all the flavours have tea that I want to try! The Green tea (sencha pear, some velvet morning) and the winter teas (apres ski, snow bunny, alpine punch). Sarah really wants to try the Jungle ju ju Herbal tea. Theres even a bunch of caffeine free ones that would be nice (kanpe, raspberry nectar, creme brule). I was even scrolling through Teaopia's website looking for interesting flavours; definitely becoming a tea fiend. I need to reel myself in though because I do want to make sure I actually drink the tea and don't just buy and buy and buy.

Forgot to mention but D bought the cheeky lychee tea which is light and refreshing like a lychee. Its quite tasty, as well as some agave nectar which we've been using as our sweetener. After the agave nectar I'd like to try yacon syrup; while agave is made from a plant source yacon is made from a root and is supposed to taste richer and more caramelized.

I also picked up my moccassin's yesterday! They are super warm inside but are a bit cheap looking. I know they were only $20 and I will still enjoy them (when the snow melts!) but I do wish they were of a bit better quality. I still have my $10% off coupon. I haven't decided if I will order the birks (or maybe the uggs). I guess i'll just wait and see. I'm definitely going to be spending quite a bit when I go home next weekend with the makeup and the tea things i want to buy (travel tea mug, tea pot, tea box, official tea cup) and that doesn't even count the ADORABLE winnie the pooh mug and tin box set I saw on the Indigo website. It is $9.99 and available at a Chapters near my parent's house. Its just perfection and I cannot wait to own it. Speaking of purchases I also bought the yes to carrots shampoo. It was on sale for $5.99 at shoppers and I have been curious about how it performed. I'm a bit more weary of organic shampoos since I think the RUSK one has made my hair much thinner but this was on sale and If I don't like it I can always give it to my sister or send it home.

Yeah definitely been going on a bit of a shopping spree lately, and it will be carrying through to next weekend when I'm at home. *Sigh* so much for saving money!

Thursday January 19th

So I guess I just celebrated my weekaverssary on my blog! I'm glad I've kept up with posts so far because I do feel like it is cathartic to just write about my thoughts and feelings and go over what happened throughout the day.

I've decided I want to become a tea drinker. Especially loose leaf tea. There are so many health benefits associated to caffeine and to regularly drinking tea and unlike coffee there aren't lattes, mochas and other high calorie european beverages to deter from the lifestyle change I am trying to lead. Whats nice about tea is that you just put it in water and maybe add some sweetener with sugar being the obvious choice but there are other options such as stevia, agave syrup or yacon syrup. D and I have decided to start our little tea exploration together. We want to get tea mugs that have the infuser attached as well as a little box to start our tea collection. We had summer breeze tea today (courtesy of C's tea collection) and it was delicious. I can see it being the perfect tea to use for iced tea.

I enjoy the taste of earl grey so I do want to try more black tea however just a quick scroll through the David's tea website (we have a shop at the mall!) and I already feel excited to start tasting my way through the different categories. Haven't picked up my moccassins yet, however I think I'm going to pick them up tomorrow after class. I just need to make sure I can get the bus route figured out now that everything has changed. Seriously, I didn't know it was possible but somehow the bus system got WORSE than before. You would think that instead of doing an entire re-haul an changing all the routes and stops you would just keep the same routes, make them more frequent and add buses to the newly accessible areas. But of course that would just be too easy.

Once again I have not been productive enough. I can see myself getting into the same routine I did last semester and I physically CANNOT let that happen. I have so much I need to get done in terms of readings, practice questions and just getting organized and on top of things in general. I did sign up for a chapter summary group for one of my classes so at least I know I will have something for that class. A bit of exciting news though, i found the pdf versions of 2 of my textbooks :) I was going to check if my Food Science other book was up but since I have already bought it I don't see the point. I'm surprised I didn't see if I could find a copy of my last book, guess I'll add that to my growing list of things to do.

On a random note we got so much snow here today! Considering we have pretty much had nothing all season, actually having snow and doing the first shovel of the year is crazy. Especially considering how a week ago it was beautiful spring like weather. I wore my Sorel's again today. They are feeling a bit better around my ankles but I don't think I would be comfortable wearing them without the bandaids or thicker socks. Actually I'm pretty sure my skin hasn't healed from the first 2 instances yet. In case I've failed to mention it before, it pains me to walk in my boots. Not because the size is too small (its actually pretty perfect and a tad big) but because the boots rub against the back of my ankle, so much so that I've bled through my socks twice in a row. I was talking to B about snowboots (since she had forgotten hers at home) and she mentioned that hers cut the backs of her ankles as well! Is this just a common occurrence with snowboots? I would imagine that such an obvious construction error wouldn't be fixed by now. I'm hoping to buy some nice thick socks and maybe some gauze bandages to wrap around my ankles. I love these boots and hope that one day I'll just be able to put them on and walk in the snow without having to worry about what socks I'm wearing or if I'll physically even be able to walk because of the pain.