Saturday, April 27, 2013

Reflection

Today has been a day of reflection. The past two weeks have been quite an emotional roller coaster on Tupper as Kinsey went home for a week between exams and Katie and Jeremy packed up Katie's things and said farewell to Tupper for good leaving me here alone to fend for myself ;) Then Kinsey came and went again, leaving me here for another week. But today, with the sun shining, after breakfast out with a good friend and a skype date with another good friend, I said "Enough moping Emily Anne-Marie! Today is the day that the Lord has made. Let us be glad and rejoice in it!" So, I put on some work out clothes, got out my ipod, turned on some worship tunes and went for a run for the first time in well...too long. I can not express how refreshing that time was. It was a time dedicated to reflection, rather than the kind of "reflection" (ahem, daydreaming) that happens when I'm trying to study and it was definitely what I needed. Here's what I came up with:  

In a nutshell, I am blessed. 

Not in a nutshell, I have:

- legs that can run up the Atwater hill
- lungs that breathe fresh air
- two roommates who I have countless wonderful memories with (and still a month and half of more memories with Kinsey) 
- three new roommates next year to create new memories with and a new part of the city to explore
- a beautiful city to live in (it's easy to forget this in the winter months!) 
- an amazing church family in Montreal and back home 
- a stocked fridge
- clean water to drink, to shower in, to wash dishes in... 
- a university education 
- a summer job 
- friends and family to go home to, to call on walks home from school, to spend hours with on Skype when I don't feel like studying anymore 
- a God who provides and loves unconditionally 

...need I say more? 

So, one more exam to go for me then it's Kinsey's turn to be alone on Tupper for a few days while I'm back home. Then I come back to Montreal to start working at the Motor Control Lab where I've been working all year doing my thesis and Kinsey starts her LSAT prep course and that's as far ahead as I can afford to think at the moment! 

There will be lots more to blog about when Kinsey and I are finally reunited so keep checking the blog!  Lots of Tupper news to be unveiled in the near future but for now, it's back to the books for me! 

Hope you all are finding time to reflect and that it's been as rewarding for you as it was for me. 

Love, 
Emily 








Thursday, April 18, 2013

Ben & Jerry

Not too long ago our friends Ben & Jerry were giving away free ice cream! Of course, us Tupper gals caught wind of this wonderful news and met up at the nearest store to campus. It was a wee bit chilly that day but that's no excuse to turn down a free yummy treat! We all enjoyed our cones, including our dear friend Paula who joined us and snapped this beauty shot: 



Thanks Ben & Jerry! 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Last Day

Tomorrow marks our last day of school. After exams Emily and I will be finished our third year and Katie will be graduating. This semester Katie and I took crime together (with our dear friend Catherine, hi girl!) and after our last class we felt it only fitting to take a picture on campus. Why we look so happy I'm not sure...Tears have already and will continue to be shed as our time in Montreal together is all too quickly coming to a close.


Spring Oasis

Last week I spent a day studying at the Westmount Library. Attached to the library is a beautiful greenhouse where the sun streams in and is soaked up by beautiful flowers. Also inside the greenhouse are fountains, ponds and places throughout for people to sit and enjoy. There were women with babies, couples, and students studying. I was lucky enough to be one of those students and it was lovely.





Saturday, April 13, 2013

Strange Combination

It was after dinner on a cold Montreal night. We (Kinsey and I) needed to eat our broccoli (otherwise it was going to rot, alone and forgotten in our fridge), but we had already committed to our magical maple drink.

Heaven in a mug

Heaven in a mug + broccoli
No matter. We just enjoyed both. :)

Thumbs up.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Story of an Empty Frame

In September when Kinsey brought a lovely photo frame for Tupper I volunteered to get pictures printed to fill it.

October passed.

November passed.

December passed.

...I had gotten used to seeing the stock images. Why fix something that ain't broke?!...

January passed.

...Then I began to sense the embarrassment mounting...

"What lovely four-identical-paintings-of-sailboats you have in your bathroom," our guests would comment.

February passed.

Then March happened.

With my moving out looming ever near, I was determined to get some nice pictures in our frame.

Indecisively, I printed out a bunch. Then played with arrangements on our couch.


Finally we settled with this - ta da!


Now we are no longer embarrassed.

The end.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

New Kid in Town


Last August my mom gifted me with an old coffee grinder, informing me it was on its last legs and so "I could just have it." Well. Every time I ground my morning beans I was certain it would be my last grind. The machine would sputter and fritz and occasionally refuse to work altogether. With a gentle shake and a massage of the button, however, I could always magically reinvigorate it. I faithfully enjoyed this sputter-shake-massage routine until one fateful morning last week when my coffee grinder let me know it had had enough. No matter what I tried I could not get it to restart. And I tried for nothing short of fifteen minutes. I had a midterm that afternoon and was des.per.ate. to get some caffeine in my veins after a late-night cram session. So I marched over to Canadian Tire and assessed my options. I settled on this spiffy Black and Decker model. 


Get phenomenal flavor and aroma from your coffee with a precision burr mill grinding system. With burr mill grinding, you get more uniform results while preserving the delicate natural oils of the beans – for a better cup of coffee. A grind selection dial lets you automatically adjust the texture of the grind – from a very fine grind for espresso to a coarse grind for Turkish coffee and percolator brewing.

My new Burr Mill Grinding System features...
  • Grind Selection Dial
  • Slip-Resistant Rubber Feet
  • Removable Grinding Container
  • Push-Button Control
  • Removable Grinding Assembly
  • Cord Storage
  • Cleaning Brush
  • 2-Year Limited Warranty
  • Lid Locking Security Feature

Sunday, April 7, 2013

International Pillow Fight Day

Today's post comes to you courtesy Lynn Moore at the Montreal Gazette. The girls of 1900 Tupper did not participate, though it seems it would have been an event in which we could have excelled. And with de-stressing benefits! Who knew.

---



MONTREAL — A prolonged frenzy of fighting erupted in Montreal’s Phillips Square on Saturday afternoon.

Strangers struck strangers repeatedly with wild abandon, often laughing manically as they did so.

No police presence. No arrests. No property damage.

It was a feathery fracas, a pillow fight and part of International Pillow Fight Day, which had feathers flying in cities and towns around the world.

“It’s fun,” John Fotheringham, a fight veteran with four of the annual events under his belt, said Saturday.

“It’s held outside on a spring day. It’s positive. And it has this energy bolstering feeling that is really good.”

About 125 people, many dressed in pyjamas, participated in the pillow fight, while about 250 people with cameras and smartphones recorded the event.

“It’s a really good form of de-stressing,” said Solene Troussé, a French national who recently arrived for a one-year stay in Montreal.

I’m fighting, but it is with the spirit of love,” she said.

The fight, which periodically generated plumes of feathers as pillows burst their seams, started at 3 p.m. It was still going strong an hour later.

The Montreal band Motel Raphael used the occasion to shoot a music video with a production team from Moving Mind Studio.

Singer Emily Skahan helped kick off the Montreal version of International Pillow Fight Day, an event largely organized ad hoc using social media.

This year’s fight included a DJ and participation by Kigurumi.ca, the folks who produce one-piece jammies that look like animal costumes.

Fight rules can be found on a website that advises would-be organizers not to seek permits from authorities.

The rules include:
  1. Soft pillows only.
  2. Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.
  3. Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras.
  4. Remove glasses beforehand.
  5. Wait until the signal to begin.