A Sunny Day In Saint John (GASP!)

Today is a cloudy day in Saint John, so I decided to post these photos I took on Tuesday to remind myself that it's not always cloudy and damp!

Walking up Germain St.

Plants AND old books for sale - yes please!

Backstreet Records (one of Stuart McLean's favorite record
stores), a scooter and a gallery, more please!

Greg and I are hoping to take in some of the free festivities that SJ offers for Canada Day. Tonight there are free shows on the boardwalk - Bedouin Sound Class and Hey Ocean are playing as well as a number of other bands.

We have also been told about a massive flea market that takes over King St. and Charlotte St. that goes down on Canada Day morning. Since all of the stores are closed people will need a place to spend their money I suppose.

I will no doubt take pictures and report back on these celebratory shenanigans!

Atlantic Canadian Adventures!

Over the span of a week I went from Fredericton, NB to Mill River PEI, to Sackville NS, to Deer Lake NL, back to Sackville/Halifax NS, to Miramichi NB and finally to Saint John NB.

Phew!

Although there is nothing exotic about Atlantic Canada, it does have a lot of scenic parts to it. I traveled by car, plane and train and managed to take a few pictures along the way.

I already posted about the PEI portion of my adventures, for Courtney and Melanie's wedding. But I forgot about pictures on my other camera of our camp site:

Our super muddy campsite!

Pretty old tractor (that still works!), used regularly at the
Provincial Park where we were camping

PEI: a small province with GIANT slugs!

Many, Many, Many more pictures (and a video!) after the jump:

A Post About Crackers

For a math class last term I presented a lesson plan that involved Goldfish crackers - I had to buy two different types for the activity.

I wanted to get these crazy coloured version, but they didn't seem to have them at the Superstore. I settled for "Pretzel" and "Pizza" flavoured.

My classmates appreciated it:

After all was said and done (and Andrew picked out all of the Pizza flavoured fish from the tub) I was left with crackers. I'm not one to be wasteful, so I've taken them around with me from NB to PEI to NS and then back to NB again.

Here I am chowing down on these salty and addictive fishes on the train to Miramichi:

The bag of crackers are now in Saint John, as am I. Just to keep you in the loop!

Summer DIY Fun

Now that I'm a well educated and unemployed individual I will no doubt have lots of time on my hands. Maybe that description fits you as well?

I found this cute DIY project, homemade bowls out of magazines. Who knew that your giant pile of old magazines could be turned into something useful?

Source

Here's the blog where you can find the instructions.

Ridiculous!

Britney Spears' new single (I Wanna Go) has been in my head for the last few days, it's so catchy but I must say I'm getting tired of every single pop song having obvious computer generated vocals. Can't people just get back to the singing?

Back to Britney, her new video is a mash up of inspired by all kinds of videos (Avril Lavigne, Michael Jackson, to name a few) but strangely enough has stolen a scene AND an actor from the film Half Baked.

Here is the scene from Half Baked (heads up - there are swears!!):



Not something you'd expect to see in a Britney video, but nevertheless, here it is:



The actor from Half Baked, is Guillermo Diaz. And as you can see from the video he saves the day for Britney.

So strange!

Last Day of School

Well at least my last day as a student (for awhile). I will hopefully have lots of last days of school in my *fingers crossed* employed future.

I was fortunate to attend the last class of the entire BEd program, hooray! Despite it being a 6 hour class on a Friday it was always a treat. For the last class our profs even brought us in a yummy chocolate cake and hilarious picture props to celebrate.

I'm posting those photos, but a few others from the last week of classes.

Yasmine and Katrina chalk it up with wonderful words
outside of BMH

The thoughtful thank you wall that Ashton made, thank you!

More pictures after the jump!

Summer Wedding #2

Another weekend, another wonderful wedding! This time Greg and I ventured to Mill River, PEI to party it up with friends Courtney and Melanie on their super exciting day.

Rather than forking over monies for a hotel room at the Rodd, we decided to rough it and camp in the Provincial Park just next to the hotel. Both fun and economical! The only downside was the rain and the SWARM of flies the next morning when putting our tent away.

The weekend was really fun and it was great to see friends we haven't in awhile.

Pre-wedding lunch at the Rodd

More wedding fun after the jump...

BEd. Graduation Dinner

Last week was sad and happy week, maybe even bittersweet. To celebrate the almost done-ness of our BEd. program us teachers threw a party. And like any end of the year party having to do with education there were pictures taken, this was like our second prom but only the 'just about teachers' were invited.

As this glorious event was a "Graduation Dinner" there was a delicious meal (really the BEST catered meal I can remember) followed by a long string of peer-voted awards. Since there are a ton of those photos they are in the next post.

So view on:

Group picture!

Lots more pictures after the jump!

The Golden Apple Awards

To celebrate the end of a wonderful year the BEd. Executive decided to organize a year end awards ceremony that was based 100% on peer voting. With the brainstorming genius of others I took the categories we came up with and created a poll, sent it out via email and classmates nominated each other for a variety of awards.

Some are heartfelt, others are silly but they were all a pleasure to be a part of. I diligently took a photo of each recipient with their certificate and of course, the (one) Golden Apple trophy.

Take a peak:

Early Bird Award, Most Punctual (Elementary)

Early Bird Award, Most Punctual (Secondary)

The rest of the award photos are after the jump, check em' out!

Summer Wedding #1

Happy Wedding Sarah and Dan!!

Greg and I happily attended the joyous union of Sarah and Dan a few weekends ago. Here are a few pictures of our adventures:

Wedding competition in the hotel?

Their program and flower center pieces - pretty!

More wedding fun after the jump

Innovative Ideas

The newest place to eat on wheels showed up in a parking lot near my apartment a little while back. I first thought that this was just a temporary place to park the truck, but since I've taken this photo I've seen people buying food from it.

Art?

Spied this on a building in downtown Fredericton, I have a feeling it's not intentional but it's pretty neat:

Pole Poster of The Day

A crafters market in Fredericton I missed but the poster was pretty great:

Fun Times in Fredericton

A little while back Greg and I took advantage of Fredericton's free outdoor concerts at Officers Square. You can download the summer schedule here.

The evening we stopped by was a blues filled evening, and it was also pretty cold. We stayed for a few bands and wished we could stay for more but the chilly air made our decision for us.

On the way home we stopped by Picaroons for a growler refill and couldn't help but try the Covered Bridge Lobster Chips we've heard a bit about. As a bag them smelled  a bit like seafood, but when you were eating them it wasn't overwhelming. I give it a thumbs up:

A Well Deserved Break

A few weekends ago, a wonderful classmate offered up his lake house for a weekend of relaxation. It came at a time in the semester where we really needed it - thank you Bill!

I thought I took more photos, but it turns out I just posed for many photos with other people's cameras. Here are a few photos from our weekend escape:

First time in a single kayak

Receiving solid instructions, teachers know how to explain

Pushing off!

SUCCESS!!

Carly & Brendan out for a paddle

A beautiful night on the water

Coming in to the shore

Yasmin our for a splash

This is what happens when large trees grow
along the side of a lake - roots EVERYWHERE!

Brave souls swimming (brrr!)

Tent city!

Sunset

Someone threw some kind of 'fire colour changing' packet
into the fire so it burned blue and green for a little while

Spinning fire, NBD

Fire lantern? Not sure what it was called,
but science led to this wonderful sight!

Amazing & Talented Friend!

I was leaving campus, about to bike home when I ran into a group of lovely classmates drawing for an Art class. It turns out that I was of suitable model caliber for a gesture drawing assignment and a very talented Alana put pencil to paper and 2 minutes later this happened:

Bravo Alana!

PS. Updates are coming from a fun-filled BEd weekend! I promise (Yasmin!)

Animated Animals

Thanks to Kirsta for sharing this on Facebook.

These 30 seconds put a smile on my face:



It also reminded me of Pingu (Noot Noot!):




Oh Pingu:

Dan Mangan in Fredericton

This show happened way back in April (during a busy internship), but given the awesomeness of the show it deserves a post.

Two excellent Canadian musicians on the
SAME poster - almost too much to handle.

Two bands opened for Dan Mangan, both were also awesome: The Crackling and Aidan Knight. I highly suggest checking them both out. Aidan Knight was a dash of incredible musician and a dollop of hilarious comedian. If he's ever in your town go see him!

At different parts of the show all three bands played together at some point. It was great to see that much collaboration between the openers and the headliners - it was like a big party.

To end the show Dan Mangan et. al headed to the centre of the room and led a group sing along. Here's the video that I took:

Musical Flashback

Blackstreet's No Diggity popped into my head today, I'm not sure what prompted it but I'm happy that it happened.

To refresh your memory:



I never got why they used a puppet, any insights?

Dinner

Now that I'm back in Fredericton and making dinners for myself...or rather making dinner in general (Greg was very good to me in Saint John) I'm visiting some dishes that Greg cooked up and trying my hand.

One tasty meal was Bean Burritos.

Source

I made them tonight and despite trying to cut the recipe down to make a reasonable amount I still managed to make enough to feed a small army.

They were tasty but I think I'm going to have to get creative with ways to incorporate them into all of my meals or it might spoil!

Interested in making them yourself? Here's the recipe.