rbc bluesfest experience

A couple of weeks ago I attended my 1st RBC Ottawa Bluesfest! The festival is over a period of 10 days. My friend and I decided on 3 day bracelet. We chose to see bands on the 4th, 8th, and 9th of July!

On the first day, we were really only going to see Journey. I arrived earlier than she did, so I got to eat a delicious dinner with my parents from the Hintonburger stand while listening to Silkken Laumann (the band not the rower, I know, confusing).

Later I met up with my friend and her mom and watched Darius Rucker for a while. He was a good performer, but definitely not our music taste.  Soon it was time for Journey who were awesome! My favourite performance was probably Lights or Separate Ways. Arnel Pineda sounded great and my friend and I thought he was cute. Little did we know that he is 46!!?! He looks way younger than his age, good on him.

On the 8th we saw Tokyo Police Club, Styx, Queens of the Stone Age, Foreigner and Jake Bugg. Unfortunately it rained for about 2hrs and shows were delayed (damn lightning!) I was not thinking and did not bring rainboots on the trip :( My friend and I huddled under one umbrella and wore ponchos over our coats. Not a fun experience. I really enjoyed Tokyo Police Club though!

It stopped raining for Foreigner and Jake Bugg which was greatly appreciated. Thank you Mother Nature! Kelly Hansen was an awesome performer. Even got to see Mick Jones, the original founder of Foreigner! We stayed for half of their set and left to see Jake Bugg after that. We fangirled a bit when we first saw him up on stage. I would love to see Jake Bugg again in concert. He is an amazing singer.

The headliner for our final day at Bluesfest was The Killers! Yes. I’ve religiously listened to Hot Fuss and Battle Born so I was naturally super excited for them. And of course, Brandon Flowers. The first act on was Tyler, the Creator. My friend is a fan of him, so we went to watch his set. His fans are pretty crazy and I was smushed up against the person in front and behind me for half the time (everyone wants to get to the front!) Although he songs are really vulgar, I thought he was a great performer and was fun to watch!

After him we walked around Lebreton Flats. It is a nice outside venue and it is not overwhelming at all (unlike Osheaga!) We went back for some fries at Hintonburger and went to the merch tent to buy some Killers shirts. Lining up an hour and a half before before The Killers was somewhat rewarding. There was a group of pushy people, but we met some siblings from Italy which was really cool. The crowd was really loud which I enjoyed! Brandon did a lot of call and answer in their songs. I was happy that they played The Way it Was, which is one of my favourites off Battle Born.

 

Hope I can attend Bluesfest again next year, or even be a volunteer. A really chill festival! Now one week until Osheaga!

 

music festival essentials

Summer is here and festival season is well under way. I’ve only been to one festival before, but am planning to attend two this summer! Here are some of my festival essentials I will be bringing along.

 

– cross body purse

You won’t want to be holding anything while enjoying your time at a festival. A cross body purse is easy to sling over your shoulder and keep your necessities in for a long day.

– rain jacket/poncho

If there is rain in the forecast, I suggest bringing along a light jacket. Fold up ponchos are easy to store in purses. You always want to be prepared for any type of weather!

– water bottle

Probably the most important thing to bring with you. It’s summer and you’ll want to stay hydrated. Most festivals suggest bringing an empty water bottle, since most have  free fill-up stations and want to avoid festival-goers from sneaking in alcohol! I suggest finding one that you can hook onto your purse for a hands free experience.

– snacks!

If you’re not looking to spend too much money on food and are mostly staying in the pit all day, bringing some snacks is always a good idea!

– hair ties

It’s summer and you’ll be surrounded by tens of thousands of people singing and dancing around you! Things will get hot. It’s always good to wear a couple of hair ties on your wrist in case you want to pull your hair up.

– camera

I don’t know about you, but I love to photograph some of the best moments of the summer. You don’t necessarily have to bring a camera, but get the camera app ready to shoot on your phone!

– gum

If you run out of water/snacks and aren’t planning to leave the pit, a pack a gum is always good to have.

– sunblock

Sun rays are lethal! Lather up before going to prevent painful sunburns on the first day of the festival.

– lip balm

Your lips might get dry from singing and summer, so I suggest bringing a lip balm along.

 

march music favourites

After the Disco – Broken Bells

Crystallized – Young the Giant

Come a Little Closer – Cage the Elephant

Coming of Age – Foster the People

Are You What You Want to Be – Foster the People

Book of Revelation – The Drums

Middle of Nowhere – Hot Hot Heat

Carry Me – Bombay Bicycle Club

Arabella – Arctic Monkeys

Spring – Two Door Cinema Club

long time no blog post

So I have taken quite a hiatus from blogging, but I am back now! Second semester of school has been pretty easy going, so I will be trying to post as frequently as I can. Thanks to everyone who’s stayed around even though I haven’t posted in forever!

more favourites of 2013

My non-beauty favourites of 2013!

Music:

– Jake Bugg

I first found out about him from the lineup at the Osheaga festival. After I listened a lot to his first album and fell in love. He has a different voice and I liked almost every song on his first album. With his second one out now, I’m liking his sound a lot.

– Arctic Monkeys

 I can’t express how much I love their music. AM being released last September was awesome.

– Lorde

A fairly new artist, but I love every song of hers. I appreciate her song-writing.

– Tegan and Sara

I really only started listening to them when they released their 6th album, but I really liked Heartthrob. I still like their new sound even if it is a bit more pop.

– Two Door Cinema Club

I absolutely LOVED Two Door last year. It might’ve been unhealthy. I loved Beacon and Something Good Can Work is my most played song on my iPod. I was so happy when I got to see them at Osheaga.

– One Direction

I’d like to say it’s a guilty pleasure? I don’t really listen to pop stuff anymore, but I like 1D. Was lucky to go to the Take Me Home tour last summer :)

TV & Movies

So, sci-fi and dystopian stuff is kinda my thing…

– Orphan Black (TV)

My friend told me about this show and thank goodness he did. Such an addictive series, on the first episode I was hooked. Even better that it is a sci-fi series set in Toronto, filmed in Toronto. Thank you BBC America. Also, Tatiana Maslany is one hell of an actress.

– Sherlock (TV)

This show. THIS SHOW. I can’t quite remember if I watched this in late 2012 or early 2013, but I’ll include it in here anyway. I could go on forever about this show, but honestly, who would bother to read it? Just watch it. All the hype you’ve heard about, it’s worth it. Amazingly written with amazing acting.

– Rookie Blue (TV)

HAIL ROOKIE BLUE! ALL HAIL ROOKIE BLUE! Another Canadian show worth watching. From the trailers and stuff from this show, it looks mediocre, but I really like it. It’s an exciting police drama and I was quite impressed by the acting. I <3 Nick!

– Star Trek: Into Darkness

…Zach Quinto, Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch. That is all.

– Thor: The Dark World

This was sooooo much better than the first in my opinion. A lot of humour in it too which I liked. Also….TOM HIDDLESTON. Also…I need Thor 3 now.

– The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Ohmygoodness. I was so impressed with this adaptation. I think it may be the best book adaptation I have ever seen. Enough said.

– Warm Bodies

This movie surprised me. I was drawn to it from the trailer, but the movie played out differently from it in my opinion. I loved the humour in it. And Nicholas Hoult – hello!

I love action movies. I will always be in the mood to watch one. 

Books

Regretfully, I haven’t read many books last year. But I must add that many of the ones that I did disappointed me. Here are a couple exceptions:

– The Great Gatsby

A classic. Decided to read it when I heard about the movie coming out. I admit it was quite slow at the beginning, but the book surprised me. The ending and just some of the events in the book I wasn’t expecting at all. Definitely give this book a read.

– The Fault in Our Stars

Yes. Just yes. John Green hit this one home. A terribly wonderful love story. That’s all I’m going to say if you haven’t read it yet!

 

SOOOO…that’s it! Doesn’t seem like much, but this took me a while to write:) Xmas haul soon, I promise.

beauty favourites of 2013

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a loooong time – a month almost. Oops. Went on a bit of a hiatus. With 4 difficult courses this semester, I was stuck one week with a couple tests and projects due. I’ll definitely be posting more in February after exams. Now onto my favourites of 2013!

Spectro AcneCare Deep Pore Vanishing Lotion: My holy grail product. My acne used to be very frequent in my T-zone, but ever since I started using this, it has not been a problem. Very effective and has been the best spot treatment I’ve used.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Rosé: Absolutely love this. Finished a full size of it. It smells great and gives a nice sheer colour. Also quite moisturizing. Hope to try out some other colours soon.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie: Never used to be a big lip colour person, but after using this product I was impressed. It has been the hype for a while and I can see why. Beautiful shade. Really want one in the watermelon colour!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain: Has a nice mint smell and this colour is not too overpowering. Does leave a bit of a stain, but not like lipstick would over time which I like.

Essie Nail Polish in Bikini so Teeny: This colour is my favourite. I have never seen anything like it in other brands. Don’t know what else to say – just love the colour.

Benefit They’re Real Mascara: Was given this from my aunt (I think it was because she didn’t like that it wasn’t waterproof). I like to layer this with my other favourite mascara for a waterproof coat and extra length. This is definitely a great mascara like everyone says.

L’oreal Telescopic Shocking Extensions Mascara: The mascara I use in tandem with the Benefit one. This definitely adds length and I like how the brush is not too thick (the big brushed mascaras don’t get all my short Asian lashes!)Forgot to include this in the first picture, but here’s my last favourite.

EOS Lip Balm in Sweet Mint: Finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and try one of these when they were on sale in the summer and I don’t regret it! I love them. I have one other in Summer Fruit, but this flavour is definitely my favourite. The mint gives a slight tingle like a Blistex but without being fully medicated.

Thanks for reading. I’ll definitely be posting a few more times before exam time so stay tuned :)

fall/winter collective haul

Finally, here is my haul I promised a couple weeks ago! The skirt, tshirt and dress are from my Toronto trip.

Mustard T – H&M $12

Ruffled Socks – Forever 21 $1.99 on sale

Burgundy Skirt – Brandy Melville $32

Always wanted a pair of socks like these – glad I got them on a deal instead of originally $5.80!

I was looking for a skirt in this colour and I like the sueded feel of this one.

Got this dress for my winter formal dance! From Dynamite, for $39.90. Got a discount though because I’m a Virgin Mobile member – gotta love deals.

Red Infinity Scarf – Giant Tiger $9

Definitely going to wear these two together.

Burgundy cardigan – Dynamite $17 on sale

Possibly obsessed with burgundy for fall/winter. Got this a while back, but never put it  in a post.

My new winter toque! Got it before seeing the game – thanks Dad.

In my dress

Hope you enjoyed my long overdue haul!

my weekend in toronto

I was in TO last weekend with my dad. We took in a Leafs game and did some shopping! We headed down last Friday. Here’s some pics from the weekend.

Yorkdale Shopping Centre – the ceiling decorations were so pretty! Thanks to my aunt for taking us.

Aunt made me try on a bajillion different coats (some crazy ones too), but I liked this one a lot from Zara.

We spent quite a while in Yorkdale since I was looking for a  dress for a winter formal dance coming up at school. After lunch my aunt and I left my dad and uncle to shop. I was excited to go to Brandy Melville which I don’t have anywhere near me. I found a cute suede-feel burgundy skirt for $30. I like a lot of Brandy’s clothes, but it depends what store you go into. I also think some of the stuff is overpriced, so I try to hold back.

I ended up finding a pretty dress at Dynamite which you will see soon! It’s not too formal that I can’t wear it again, which I like.

Later in the day my dad and I settled into our hotel and then headed to the Real Sports store before dinner. It was super busy in there since it was game night. There were so many Leafs merch I wanted, but it was SO overpriced. A t-shirt for $45? I don’t think so. I finally decided on a warm Leafs toque with a cute pompom on it :)

At the ACC!

A guy proposed to his girlfriend in the row in front of us – look at Carlton the bear…so cute.

It was impossible to walk around during the intermissions, but we managed to make to another corner of the arena and I managed to take this pic :)

Leafs won 4-2 :) It was awesome to see the players in the flesh.

We stayed until mid-Sunday and then endured a rainy 4-ish hour ride home. I do not enjoy driving to TO!

*Check back soon for a collective haul if you want to see what I got in Toronto*

sweater weather tag

Saw this tag video on YouTube going around so I decided to give it a go. There were quite a few variations of questions, so I just chose the ones I liked the most!

1. Favourite candle scent?

I don’t personally own any candles (yet), but I have smelled some of the Bath & Body Works winter collection and I do like Marshmallow Fireside!

2. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?

Hot chocolate, hands down. Whenever I need something sweet and when I’m cold from walking home from the bus stop, hot chocolate is there for me.

3. What’s the best fall memory you have?

Hmm…this is a hard one. Probably watching my dad carve pumpkins as a kid or walking in the trails with my family and admiring the colour of the leaves.

4. Which makeup trend do you prefer – dark lips or winged eyeliner?

Dark lips!

5. Favourite Thanksgiving food?

Stuffing all the way.

6. Hats or scarves?

Scarves, definitely!

7. Most worn sweater?

Probably my camo hoodie I got ages ago from somewhere in Montreal or my Zara basic black cardigan.

8. Must-have fall nail polish?

Anything plum-y or berry coloured. (Revlon: Plum Attraction)

9. What is fall weather like where you live?

Well, first it starts out at a nice temperature – around 5-15 degrees Celcius. Later on in November though it’s usually 5 or below…brr! All the more reason to layer.

10. What song gets you in the fall spirit?

Even If by Lewis Watson, Slide by Jake Bugg, or Changing of the Seasons (I’d say it’s an appropriate song title!)  by Two Door Cinema Club. (Sorry I couldn’t choose one)

a few fall outfits

Top: Aerie

Skirt: Hart

Necklace: Tiffany

Cardigan: Dynamite

Button up: A&F

Pants: Forever 21

Top: H&M

Shorts (yes they are actually shorts but look like a skirt!) : Uniqlo

Scarf: Zellers

Bracelet: Thomas Sabo

My charm bracelet up close.

Hope you enjoyed my outfits!