This Is A Damn Cold City

...Not. It's actually grossly warm and humid. I swear, I need to relocate to somewhere cold like Russia or Iceland where I can comfortably wear cardigans, jeans and flats/boots all year round. Today is a classic example of how great I am at procrastination. I have to read a book by Tuesday for English class that I'm nowhere near finishing (yikes!). 

For some weird reason, I want to go to a live show/an open mic night and just listen to music and chill with a drink. Live music is always at least 10 times better than pre-recorded music.  I just wish Ottawa wasn't a city of secrets hiding all of the cool venues for live shows/open mics. Anyways, here's a cute hairstyle I want to take a stab at sometime soon. I think it's called a waterfall braid. Maybe today?

DIY // Bistro Chairs

This past weekend I decided that I wanted to switch things up with my Tarno bistro set from IKEA. I was kind of bored with the dull brown colour and wanted something more eye catching and bright for summer. So I walked on over to Home Hardware and looked over the paint colours for about 15 minutes before deciding on a minty blue colour. I was looking for a colour that matched Tiffany & Co. and I think I picked out the right one! I'm so happy with the end result and I can't wait to be able to hang out on my balcony in the warm weather!  The colour is called "Whisper" :) 

Summer Nails

So I'm pretty sure I have a nail polish addiction. Every time I walk into a store I glide over to the nail polish section and swoon over all of the adorable colours. The other day there was a sale on all of the Sally Hanson Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Colour and I picked up four bottles...eeep! Luckily after reading through a beauty article over at Glamour, I unknowingly picked out the hottest colours for spring and summer (bright blue, yellow and orange as well as a nude vanilla colour). Here are a few nail polish ideas that are going to keep me inspired throughout the warm months.

Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty via Glamour Beauty

Tulip Festival

Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to see the Tulip Festival in Ottawa for the first time. I've lived here for 4 years and I've never seen the beautiful tulips! They had the most amazing selection of tulips in the gardens by the waterfront and there were so many people there snapping pictures of all the colourful flowers. Take a peek at some of the pictures I grabbed while I was there.

These tulips remind me of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland!

Gorgeous houses like this one lined the area where all the tulips were. Dream house!

And lastly, there was this amazing street artist in the Byward Market working on this lovely drawing. It was so impressive! The market was bustling with visiting tourists. 

Flirting With Technology

Ever since getting my Sony Touch E-Reader for Christmas, I've always kept it in my purse while on long bus rides when just an iPod isn't enough.  The best part of my E-Reader is that other than being able to carry hundreds of books with you, I've also found it fun to doodle on and listen to music on. 

I was reading an article on Marie Claire recently and they were discussing how to use E-Readers/iPad's/Kindles/Kobo's for flirting purposes and starting up conversations. Apparently it's really popular in garnering public attention by people who are on the fence of books vs. e-readers. It's very clever apparently. Do you like your device? What're you reading? What kind of books do you read? Do you like paper or e-books? What's that, you like reading a book to relax after a long day of work? What kind of work do you do? BAM! So smart, right? I guess I should start toting around my E-Reader around more often :)

Everyday Waves

I found this lovely hair tutorial online and I love the result. This video makes me want to purchase a large barrel curling iron to make these everyday waves. I have the Conair Infinity You Curl which is amazing and easy to use, but a large barrel curling iron appears to create longer waves for a more casual look. Take a peek at the video below.

Necklace Love

How gorgeous is this letterpress necklace? It's from GwenDelicious' Etsy store, its so adorable! Too bad there's only one R necklace left :(

Son of a Gun

Surprise! I decided to switch things up here on the ol' blog and update my header and border. I like the end result, I was going for something minimal like one of my favourite daily reads Black Eiffel. Hopefully this will inspire me to update more because I've been so terrible at this lately. Summer classes are in full speed and I'm somehow behind already...mhmm! Anyways, I thought I'd share one of my favourite songs to listen to lately "Son of a Gun" by Oh Land. It's the perfect spring song to listen to. I'm thinking of doing a weekly music post showcasing some of my favourite songs to listen to. What do you think?

Objectified

I really want to see this documentary, it looks so interesting! It's made by the creator of Helvetica. This should be interesting! Check out the trailer below:

Films

A few of us saw Water For Elephants the other night and it was amazing! It definitely did the novel justice, although there were a few things that weren't the same as it was presented in the novel. After the movie we got to talking about our top 10 favourite films and we each decided to post about our favourite ones. Check my list out below:

1. The Hours- I watched this film for the first time in my Music in the Movies class and immediately captured my attention. It's so ethereal and engaging seeing Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore in their roles. I also find it interesting how each of the eras are placed against each other and how the music connects them so they can co-exist on screen with one another.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- This film is by far one of my favourites that I can never tire of. I love the dialogue and how it's raw and flawed with awkward breaks, overlaps and pauses. The unique plot line is also pretty tricky to follow but I find that each time I watch it, I find something new that I hadn't noticed before.

3. Big Fish- This film holds a special place in my heart. It's one of those films that is out of the ordinary but the storyline and the characters are so unique and lovable. I love the scene in the circus where time stops and Ed Bloom walks through the performers and the flying popcorn.

4. The Shawshank Redemption- I could watch this movie over and over again and never get tired of it. I love Morgan Freeman's golden voice and how he narrates the film to reinforce the theme of holding onto hope even in the most dark of places.

5. Blindness- I studied this film in depth in one of my film classes and the dialogue and the cinematography are perfect.  It's one of those films that made me feel very uncomfortable at first, because it was so raw and realistic but after watching it a few times I have a growing appreciation for the style and how the blindness affected each of the characters.

6. Shutter Island- When this film first came out I thought it was going to be a mediocre quality thriller film attempting to throw off the audience, but after giving in and seeing it, I was blown away. It was so good! The mise-en-scene, cinematography and the music fit perfectly with the style of the film. Not knowing what was supposed to be reality threw me off course.

7. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events- I absolutely adore the music in this film, its so good. So many amazing and legendary actors were a part of this film, including Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Jude Law, and Dustin Hoffman.  Jim Carrey did an excellent job playing the goon Count Olaf, this role was right up his alley.

8. Life is Beautiful- This film is absolutely heart-wrenching, definitely not for the faint of heart. I first saw this film in my Italian Cinema class and everyone in the class was pretty much in tears by the end. This film is a masterpiece, watch it if you haven't already.

9. The Holiday- This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine, I get so excited for the Christmas holidays when I can watch it again! Wouldn't you just love to spend Christmas in the UK and fall in love with Jude Law? Swoon.

10. Water for Elephants- I started reading the novel a few months ago before it was announced that the book was being turned into a film. I was a little hesitant at first when I heard the casting choices but after seeing the film, it completely changed my mind! I would recommend that people start reading the novel, because it was amazing. A must read!