Monday 31 March 2014

music monday - dreams (cover)

happy monday!

i just stumbled across this cover fleetwood mac's "dreams" by dana williams and leighton meester.
yes, blair waldorf.


i'm a big fan of the original and this cover definitely does it justice.
i've never heard of dana williams 'til now but love her voice.

:)
vanessa

ps. this reminds me, i never did learn how to pay guitar..

Thursday 27 March 2014

wedding shower shenanigans.

on sunday afternoon, i attended to a bridal shower held for my childhood friend, lisa.
the theme was "the great gastby" and all guests were encouraged to wear decorative headbands.
food was eaten, games were played, fun was had by all. 

i must admit, it was pretty surreal watching lisa-pizza in all her bride-to-be splendor.
it feels like yesterday that we were reading M magazine while listening to "aaron's party".
time surely does fly.

                                                    51 days 'til this miss becomes a mrs.
cray.

:)
vanessa

ps. i always get stuck being the bride in this blasted game.
they say it's because i'm small in stature...

our design lost, womp.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

nico goes grocery shopping :)

just some snapshots of this silly kid at the grocery store.
i just bought him these dinosaur rain boots and he insisted that he put them on that instant.
though there was no rain in the forecast, i obliged, haha.






<3

wise word wednesday - mistakes

i like to think of myself as someone who's carefree and somewhat spontaneous.
however, when it comes to life and life decisions, i could not be more methodical in nature.
every decision i make in life only occurs after hours and hours of thinking.
i've even been known to draw up a "pros/cons list"...or two.
why?
because i'm terrified of making the wrong choice aka. i am terrified of making mistakes.

well, while browsing online this morning, i came across a series of quotes that opened my eyes to the beauty of mistakes.
there were so many gems but i managed to narrow it down to my top 5:
 
now, this in no way means that i am going to start intentionally making mistakes in an effort to grow as a person.
but it definitely made me realize that it's how one handles the setbacks life often throws our way that speaks volumes.
to quote john wooden:
"if you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything.
i'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

happy wednesday!

:)
vanessa

ps. i was looking through my photo booth album and came across this gem.
i have no idea how nico got into my computer but how dare he be taking selfies at the age of 3.
this kid, lol.

Saturday 15 March 2014

imma touch the sky.


on friday night, i went out to skyzone toronto to celebrate a friends' birthday.
if you're not too familiar with the skyzone franchise, it's basically a giant warehouse filled with trampolines.

everyone is given these fluorescent orange pair of socks (with the most amount of grip) and sent on their way.
there were 4 different stations you could choose from - dodgeball, basketball, foam boxes and solo trampolines.

all in all, it was good fun but i'm definitely feeling it todayy - my body is sooooo sore.

:)
vanessa

ps. i was pretty impressed with my flip, i can't lie.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

california adventures - the end.

finally - the conclusion to my california adventures.
life has been pretty busy lately, hence the lack of posts...

in my last blog post, i forgot to mention that prior to horseback riding, avery and i took a walk along "billionaires beach".
i definitely saw some homes i could see myself living in but sadly the houses are just a little outside my price range *shifty eyes*
on wednesdy (february 19th),  avery and i had lunch at marmalade cafe at the malibu country mart.

mac and cheese with a side caesar salad...mmm

jenn had a test to study for, so avery and i were left to find our way to santa monica.
i must admit, i was little scared to drive as i've always heard horror stories about driving in LA and surrounding areas.
but it turns out driving in there is pretty painless and luckily, we didn't experience any traffic!

shot of the santa monica pier

we hung out at the pier, where we bumped into an old classmate from high school - the world is actually too small.
we then walked the boardwalk and shopped a little at the amazing santa monica place.

on thursday (february 20th), i had the genius idea of walking from jenn's place all the way to pepperdine's campus.
let's just say, the incline in malibu is something serious and i will never do that again!

later on that night we put on our fancies and had a delicious sushi dinner at nobu malibu.
i've heard a lot about this restaurant in the past (shoutout to the hills!) and it definitely lived up to the hype.
although, if you're not careful, you can easily end up spending a fortune.
we were so hungry/excited that we forgot to take photos of:
a) the food
b) ourselves

on friday night, which was sadly our last night in the 'bu, we went out with a bunch of jenn's classmates.
we ended up going to this place called "the bungalow" in santa monica and it is easily the best establishment i've been to thus far in my life.
decorated much like a beach house, some guy i met at "the bungalow" described it basically an adult house party.
the environment was very chill - couches, billiard tables, backyard patios - and everyone i met was extremely nice.

all in all, i had an amazing time in california and cannot wait to go back. 
especially since toronto just got dumped with 15cm of more snow.
*lesigh.

:)
vanessa


Tuesday 4 March 2014

horses and the hollywood hills

on tuesday (february 18th) avery, jenn and i headed down (up?) to sunset ranch to go horseback riding through the hollywood hills.
after signing the necessary waivers and a brief lesson from the foxy cowboy on duty, we were each assigned a horse.
the name of my horse was rah and i loved him.

riding through the hollywood hills was quite the experience.
the horses literally walk on the very edge of the cliff and i was certain rah and i were going to plunge to our deaths at any moment.
our faces the entire time...

halfway through our hour trek, we passed by the legendary hollywood sign.
sadly, we weren't able to really take any shots of ourselves in front of it due to logistics and other safety reasons.
however, saddle ranch was cleaver enough to build their own miniature sign where guests are free to take as many shots as they'd like.

if you are ever in the area, i would highly suggest paying sunset ranch a visit.
it's an interesting way to experience the beauty of hollywood without having to be smack dab in the madness.
you can also go up the hills on foot, if horses aren't your thang.

on our way home, we made a little pit stop at in-n-out to have some yummy eats.
i threw all caution to the wind and got the double-double cheeseburger.

so bad, yet soooo good.

did you know that bible verses are printed onto each in-n-out wrapper?
it was news to me!

but not before avery and i risked our lives trying to take a photo in front of the hollywood sign...


:)
vanessa

Monday 3 March 2014

music monday: 90's girl groups

i found this video the other day and haven't stopped playing it. 
the 90's was such a great era in music and it's great to see some of the best come together for this performance.
the majority of music today is going nowhere fast, so it's nice to reminisce on the "good 'ole days".
(so thankful my eldest sister and cousin had such great taste in music
how else would i have learned the lyrics to the entire "crazy sexy cool" album?)

 
alicia keys, swv, en vouge, tlc - bet awards 2008

:)
vanessa

ps. can i just take a moment and...
"when i look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child
that no matter where you're from, your dreams are valid. 
thank you."

 and in true j-law fashion...
better luck next year, katniss.

Saturday 1 March 2014

malibu adventures :)

(it's taking me forever to get all these posts up, lawd)

on monday (february 17th), avery and i decided to walk to the beach while we waited for jennifer to get out of class.
so we put on our walking shoes and started our trek down pacific coast highway.
 heisenberg?

i guess we were enjoying the sights and sounds so much that we completely missed the beach entrance.
it was early and we had hours to kill until jennifer was free to play, so we decided to just continue down PCH.
somewhere along our journey, we stumbled upon the maibu pier and a sign that read "fishing - $14".
being that the motto of this trip was "buy memories, not things:, we decided to take the pier up on their offer.
we left our id's and were given a rod, a bucket, a knife and some bait in the form of squid.
we gave it a solid effort but caught no fish.

after our little fishing endeavour, we decided to grab some lunch.
the cafe at the pier itself was closed, so we decided to eat at this italian ristorante (giovanni's) located right on PCH.
the eats were delicious and rejuvenated us enough to trek back up to jenn's house - we underestimated the steepness of the hill she lives on.

jenn arrived home a short while later and we headed up into malibu to have dinner at the malibu cafe.
(which is oddly enough located right beside 'the biggest loser' camp...)
i wish i had taken more pictures of this place as it was actually so stunning - everything was so rustic and ranch-like.
i could definitely see myself having a party or two there...you know, when i move to malibu.

i had the fried chicken, collard greens and mashed potatoes that were divine. 
so much so that i forgot to snap a photo.
after dinner, the three of us walked the premises for a bit and snapped some photos:


great times with great people :)
vanessa

ps. 
my eldest sister was missing all the fun, so jenn and i thought it would be best to send her this gem:

pps. i came across this photo today and it just warmed my heart:
lupita nyong'o embracing her mother at the independent spirit awards

all day tomorrow, i'm pretending i'm lupita.
i'm about to win an oscar y'all.