Back to the Basics

It's Terrible Tuesday. The morning starts in a daze. You feel like you're hungover but you weren't drinking. You scream at your body to keep moving against its will. You almost fall asleep (and fall down) trying to dress up.

Usually this bout of anxiety is completely unwarranted and the day is never as bad as I make it out to be. But Tuesdays. Oh boy! Tuesdays by far top up any horrifying premonition I come up with in the morning.

Today was no exception. I do understand that its really not fair bitching out about my bad days to you. I'm sure you have bigger fish to fry (mmmm..fish). Lately, a lot of people have retorted "Well, I'm sure its not that bad. Remember Karen, you're lucky to have a job".

That's true. I'm lucky to have a job.

I won't bitch or moan about having a bad day. I'll leave that to those who have jobs where they: a) are treated like shit by their clients b) deal with shit from their co-workers and c) feel like shit at the end of the day after going through all that.

God knows they need to air out their grievances with life a hell of a lot more than I do. Remember though, they are lucky to have a job.

But its funny how God finds way to calm your soul with things that don't necessarily involve someone else's kind listening ear. It involves your own. On days like today, I feel like nothing can change how bad I feel. But I forget about things that can make it better. I read through my previous post on this blog and I seemed to have forgotten the basic S's of bandaging a bad day: Starbucks, Sexy Singers and Sleep.

Phase One: On my way from work, I stopped by the Starbucks around the corner and a got myself a latte. Another S thats good for bad days is sunshine and we've had a lot of that to go around. The latte was an instant quick fix and I wondered why I stopped my Starbucks rituals. To save it for days like this, Karen.

Phase Two: I got home and tried of think of something to listen to instead of making someone else listen to me. And I knew in a instant what it was. I went on YouTube. They say its good to be in love. It brightens up your day and puts a smile on your face, makes your burden lighter and all those other stupid cliches.

What can I say? I'm in love with Jamie Cullum. Only he could write a song that is a completely accurate description of how I feel. I think maybe the best way to calm down from your problems is to hear someone else have the same problem. I have come to this realisation that bad days don't have a cure. Maybe, sometimes you can't even make them better. You just let it go and hope the next day, you're not going to come home and make your poor blogosphere readers read another weepy post about your day.

And that leads me to Phase Three. My favorite part of this three part Bad Day Emergency Kit. Yes, folks...Its 7:36pm and I'm going to turn in for the night. The thought of curling in my bed right now almost makes this whole day worth it.

Before I leave though, I would like to remind you that the new blog is fully up and running. It is called Tout Toronto and if you're looking for something a little more happier to read tonight, check it out. Here's the link:

http://www.touttoronto.blogspot.com/

Ch Ch Ch Changes...

I'm sitting in an artsy little cafe on Queen Street with a piece of cheesecake and a green tea doing a crossword puzzle. I feel relaxed and happy. There is a jazz band playing composed of the typical Torontonian starving artists and the cello mixed with the soft cafe conversations sound better than any of the music on my iPod. Work is far far away and seems like its something I did in a past lifetime. Right now, nothing else exists. Except of course, this delicious slice of cake, my steamy green tea, my crossword and the most peaceful feeling of complete contentment.

Just a few hours(read: weeks) before this moment, I felt like I was at the end of my rope. It amazed me how much spending just so much so as an hour in the city made me feel like none of my problems were as big as I made them out to be.

In light of this, I realised something. It was here in this busy, bustling concrete jungle that I came for peace and inspiration...ironically enough. The city was what made me pull out all the cliches in the book about being inspired. And after 6 years, I still knew very little about it.

So I'm going to make this short, sweet and simple. I have one year from now until July 22nd, 2011 before my work visa expires. After this date, I have to leave Toronto and all of the friends and memories I've made here over the past 6 years. I have decided that for the next year, I am going to make a serious effort to explore my inspirational happy place. Every weekend, I will leave all the worries and frustrations of work, immigration and the future in my kooky little appartment to go in search of the delightful little cafes, bistros, bakeries, bars, pubs, restaurants, concerts and cultural events that Toronto is so famous for. I will make this last year count.

And to document this year, I have decided to start up another blog which I'm really hoping will inspire my Toronto friends to join me and my non-Toronto friends to come visit! This current blog "Flats and a Starbucks Coffee" will still be there, although I'm not sure how often I will be updating it. Lets face it, bitching about work is getting a little old. The new blog should be up and running hopefully by next week.

Just so you know though, I don't want to leave Canada. So I'm in the process of getting a lawyer so I can stay here for hopefully a lot longer than the one year I have left.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my posts and for all your comments and encouragment for this blog. I'm not closing it at all but I do hope you check out the new blog when it goes up.

I love you all,

Karen

Bed Linens

New bed linens! What do you think? I don't know what look I was going for. I have bed linen ADD. Clearly.

Hello Innocence

Lately, I've been suffering from a complete lack of will to write. This can be sufficiently illustrated by the fact that I have not made a single post for the last 2 weeks. The reason for this albeit a pretty bad one is that I keep getting started on a post and then get sidetracked by YouTube videos, Facebook photos, a large jar of peanut butter, a certain TV show called Community and other fairly effective modes of procrastination.

But although I have not been writing lately, there are always things in my life that warrant some blog-worthy typeage. Lately, I've been discovering and uncovering some of life's little pleasures that I have been taken for granted too long. And so to break this spell of the uninspired-inspired blogging hiatus, I have complied these little gems for you to satisfy your recent lack of having some quality blog reading material. And you know the drill folks. Everything has a list in Karen's world. Especially things like:

-Waking up on Saturday morning and realising a second later you don't need to wake up.

-Reaching your bus stop just in time to see the infamous 77 pull into the bus loop.

-Looking up at the clock at work (or class) after a particularly long and trying day and finding out that you only have 7 minutes more to go.

-Finding a tooney in your fall jacket from that time you went to a club last fall and couldn't find change for coat check.

-Eating peanut butter with a large spoon. And then drinking a hot cup of tea that not only makes you feel like a million bucks but also melts all the peanut butter stuck in your teeth.

-Doing a crossword where you get all the right answers over a cafe mocha and a slice of cherry cheese cake.

-Laughing hard with friends over a free McDonalds coffee at 2am.

-Going on a retreat, spending time with good friends (God's a friend too) and really knowing for the first time in your life that without a doubt, there is a God.

-Surprising someone with their favorite candy

-Falling into a pile of warm, freshly washed, Downy smelling laundry.

-Finding a Christmas card from your high school best friend buried and forgotten in a show box

-Finding the perfect pair of jeans on sale

-Twenty-second hugs

-Going to a concert that unexpectedly blows all your expectations out of the water and leaves you on a high for weeks.

-Seveteen degrees in Toronto. Weather so nice, you feel like you could single handedly change the world and move a mountain at the same time.

- Strutting down Yonge Street to the song "All over it" by Jamie Cullum and realising that you could care less about how idiotic you look.

-Taking a hot shower and then slipping into cold sheets.

-The first bite of freshly baked garlic bread.

-Wearing a skirt for the first time after a long cold winter.

-Ironing socks and then slipping your feet into them on a cold winter's day.

-Getting indoors to a warm room after walking for 20 minutes in the freezing cold.

-Sharing inside jokes with old friends from years ago and finding it funnier now then you ever did back then.

-Microwaving two-bite brownies to almost a melting point and then eating them with cold vanilla icecream.

-Finding that warm spot in your bed after having to wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night

-The smell of barbeque smoke on your clothes and hair

-The moment of recollecting a thought that has been annoyingly dancing at the tip of your tongue but refuses to come out.

-The gift of your five senses.

-Telling a joke with a well-delievered punchline.

-Discovering little unknown hideouts in downtown Toronto.

-Finding your keys when you're in a hurry.

-Smiling back at a cute stranger on the subway.

-That moment when you are finally able to really appreciate all of the little things.

And with that I will now leave you with two things: One is a challenge to make your own list of things that make your day slightly more bearable...dare I say enjoyable. And the other is to find a song that makes you strut down the street like a fool without a care of what a fool you look like to normal people.

I will let you borrow mine until you find your own.

Just so you know, its a whole more fun if you can pretend like you're being followed by that whole orchestra of backup singers and violinists while strutting.

Also, if you know what's good for you, you will watch this video from begining to end.

Karen vs. the Universe

It's been a while since my everyday fly ride, the ghettofabulous YRT 77 has entertained me (and the rest of the world) with life's delightful epiphanies. Today was when one of those hit me in the eye...and in my seat. My thesis in question: Against all protest, Karen is finally a certified freak magnet.
Before all you ladies (and some gentlemen) roll your eyes at me with that "Welcome to the club, sweetie" look on your face, allow me to explain how I'm different from the rest of all y'all freak magnets out there.

You see, most pretty girls have an overattractive magnetic pole. This results in attracting the cream of society's imbiciles and nimrods. I on the other hand, one-up that by having an over-repellent pole that repels the cutes and an over-attractive pole that attracts the brutes. God was generous with me when he was dishing out the poles.

My case in point: The Seat Dilemma of the 77

My daily 6:55am bus has a pretty air tight seating arrangement. I sit in the second last row on the right. Other useless characters in this story include 200lbs construction man and his 95lbs construction friend. Mr. 400lbs Jellyfish man is another worthy mention and of course about 25 four-foot tall Philipino ladies who dominate the front of the bus.

This story however, will revolve around 3 characters. Cutie McCute, Raj McRat and yours truly.

Cutie McCute: Cutie gets on the bus about 10 stops from me. I think he's currently dating a medium-sized Timmy's cup and a freebee Metro newspaper. Against my wishes, McCutes NEVER gets a seat next to me.

Raj McRat: McRat is the 3-time winner of the "World's Most Annoying person in the World" award and he believes that since him and I both ride the 77, we are instant BFFs. This severly skewed notion has resulted in my new BFF following me around while I get coffee, questioning my method of payment for my coffee and cornering me into my seat. This year, he's trying to take his accolades to the next level by aiming for the Guiness Book for the "most annoying person". Also, his name isn't Raj. I couldn't care less what it is.

So here's what happens:

I had long since given up on trying to negotiate with the universe so as to have McCutes sitting next to me instead of The Rat. I even tried to cut a deal where I would never sit with Cutiepie if that meant I would never sit with Ratty Rat. Nobody up there was listening.

Today, I decided I had enough of the Rat ruining probably the only good thing about my morning. So I sat down in my seat, plopped my huge clunker handbag on the seat next to me and vowed to be Super Bitch if that FOOL came sniffing around. Rat came by and stopped for 3 seconds by my seat waiting for me to take my bag off the seat. I pretended to be very interested in my bus pass. And then the most amazing thing happened. He walked away! It was just that easy! Why had I not tried this before?

I was basking in the relish of a ratless morning when I realised I have an empty seat next to me. The bus was deliciously close to Cutie's stop and I had an empty seat. My brain made up a happy song in my head about empty seats and baby faced Tim Hortons coffee drinkers and rainbows and blue bells and no rats in sight. The bus stops and Cutie gets in. He spots the empty seat and makes his way towards the gold. I hold my breath.

Author's Note: This is the exciting life I lead. Working girl in her early twenties having her day made by the mere thought at not having to deal with boneheads.

Still holding my breath. So close.

And then it happens. The universe poops on my parade.

That stupid nincompoop FOOL (Raj) comes out of nowhere, almost bumps into cutiepie, PICKS UP MY BAG from the seat, flings it on my lap, and sits himself down in the seat that had Cutie's name all over it.

"Hi! How you are doing today??", he grins. Yes, how you are doing. Not, how are you doing.

I am in shock and disbelief as I helplessly watch cutiepie do a 180 and stand in the middle of the bus waiting for a seat.

The only response I give Rat is a scowl. Why is it that I can never catch a break!?

Moral of the Story:

Karen is a freak magnet of colossal proportions and the universe is just a big fat cockblocker. Universe= 1, Karen= -5.

Fail.

THE END.

Our home-made patriot land

There's my Olympic 2010 blog contribution for you. I did sing along with those Wonderbread cuties when I first saw this. It disturbs me a little that I know the Canadian National Anthem a little better than I know my own country's.

But I'm over it.

- Proudest non-Canadian.

Picture of the Week

Today I decided to take a 30 minute walk in the snow to work. Jus cuz.


<--------And here's what I found on my way.


Does anyone else out there think these three lines describe this no-good season brilliantly?


Well done, expedia.

Someplace to call my own

The bedroom is finally done.

This was the most fun weekend of organising, re-organizing and shopping for cool things to make my little abode a cutesy getaway. These pictures have crappy lighting. I swear it looks better than this. What do you think?

My little reading corner.

Le fireplace and the vanity.

My shelves and workspace. Yes, I have 3 clocks. This is a result of making international calls at ungodly hours of the night. I like to keep track of time.

The bed.

And that's what I did this weekend.

Red wine and Ambien

I went in to work on Family Day today. And as expected, most of the senior citizen patient clientele asked me how my weekend went hoping for a nice, juicy Valentine's day story of how I spent the weekend away with my fabulously rich and gorgeous new boyfriend.

If you are curious too, which I'm pretty sure you're not, lets just put it this way:

I did NOT spend Valentine's day "filling up my day with Coldplay songs and that movie called The Notebook...and 500 days of Summer".

In short, I had one of those weekends that leave you feeling like you're walking on a cloud for the rest of the week. Okay, maybe just for the Monday...but I'll take it.

Here's a little photo show:

Morning:

I went to visit an old Friend.

Afternoon:
Lunch with Ms. Vogue at La Vecchia. Rizzoto and a glass of Valpolicella. La Vecchia claimed to have the best tiramisu in the City of Toronto. Bold statement for a cutesy little Italian restuarant.

The tiramisu was hoovered up in a total of 15.3 seconds. It could have been done in 5 but it would have been a terrible crime not to taste it before inhaling it.

I had the best tiramisu in the city of Toronto and the classiest date to date.

Evening AND Night:
"And this is not to say,

There'll never come a day,

I'll take my chances and start again.

And when I look behind, on all my younger times,

I'll have to thank the wrongs that led me to a love so strong"

Nothing like listening to my everyday commute companion LIVE!

ALL DAY:
And no good day in life can ever be complete without joyness in a cup.

I'd like to see you top that!

All the Single Ladies!

My boss came in to work yesterday morning laughing, which I'm always relieved to see (maybe today is not the day I'll get fired after all! ). I obviously had to ask her what was so funny. Here's how the conversation went:

Boss Lady walks in laughing.

Karen: "Why are you laughing, boss lady?"
My boss: "Well today I was dropping the kids off to school when all of a sudden, one of boys busts out singing "all the single ladies! all the single ladies!...put your hands up!"

My boss has twin boys, 6 years old. She firmly tells him that its a little inappropriate for a 6-year- old boy to be singing "all the single ladies! all the single ladies...put your hands up!"

Boss Lady's son: "What's a single lady anyway, mommy?"
My boss: "Karen."

I had to laugh too.

Happy Valentine's Weekend, everyone!