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22 Before 22: Run a Race

Before..

This is a great example of why I set goals for myself.

I’m a person who likes my routines. I am not super fond of changes to my routines, or disruptions in my life. These things are inevitable, of course, and I deal with them as they come, but I sometimes think I’d be quite content to just have my steady, reliable schedule to follow. At the same time though, I have lots of dreams and plans and things I want to accomplish! I have lots of fun activities in mind that I hope to one day do. I don’t want to miss out on anything, and I want to experience my life to the fullest. Conundrum.

That’s where goals come in. They remind me of all the fun things I hope to do, and motivate me to disrupt my regular patterns in ways that ultimately make me very happy. Yes, sometimes I grumble, or am annoyed by the hassle that these activities bring, but in the end I am always so excited that I signed myself up and followed through. For Diner en Blanc, the annoyances were things like running countless errands in order to collect all the white materials we needed. For The Colour Run, my major grumble was having to wake up at 6:30AM to do it! (and don’t worry, every time I caught myself getting annoyed about that, I just thought “get over yourself, Stephanie!”) I was also a little stressed about keeping up with my friends, and sometimes cursed myself (usually while on a run) for having initiated the registration of this event with my friends.

In the end, though, it was wonderful. I got to spend time with friends I don’t see nearly often enough, and we spent the whole 5K gossiping and catching up. Because I participated, I ran my first “race” since high school. I laughed and laughed and laughed, especially at the DIY colour powder station where we practically rolled around on the ground and put orange handprints on each other’s faces. They played music, everyone was smiling, we were running right by the water for most of it, and it was the most beautiful fall day. Even taking the metro home, full of coloured people, was fun and special.

They say that you can buy happiness if you buy experiences instead of stuff. I tend to agree. This past year I’ve bought myself a few really wonderful experiences (this race, Diner en Blanc, tickets to Wicked) and they have been so rewarding. The memories are really special, and I feel like I bonded with my friends through them. As I’m pondering my goals for next year, I think I’m going to try to more actively incorporate that idea of buying experiences into my life.

If you ever get the chance to do The Colour Run (or one of the similar races), I recommend it! It’s a great way to get used to a busy, hectic race environment with lots of people, but it’s also fun and laid back, not really a high pressure situation. Plus it’s awesome to run through clouds of coloured powder (doesn’t affect your lungs as you might think) and end up looking like a rainbow.

PS. I didn’t take these photos (because I was running!). So thanks, V, for being our personal photographer! And thanks to Amanda for letting me use them. 

Life List: Attend a Diner en Blanc Event

This item is a very recent addition to my life list, and that’s mainly because I only discovered what Diner en Blanc was at the beginning of this summer. Pretty much as soon as I stumbled onto the website, however I knew I needed to join one, at some point in my life. Hence, life list.

Diner en Blanc is, at its core, a fancy picnic that takes place all over the world. Guests provide their own food, alcohol, table, chairs, tablecloth, plates and cutlery – everything must be white, except food of course! The location of the event is kept secret up until you arrive, and to get to it you must meet up with a leader (who you choose when you register) who takes you to the final destination.

There is a huge amount of whimsy and excitement to an event like this. Nobody knows where they’re going, but everyone looks unified and happy in their white outfits. Everyone has packed a beautiful dinner with some wine, has picked out table settings and candles, but nobody can get too uppity because there is no VIP treatment! Everyone has to lug in their things, wait in line to be told where to set up the table, put their table and chairs together and get everything organized to eat. It’s a great equalizer.

And it’s beautiful. Just stunning. As soon as I saw photos on the website, I knew I had to be a part of Diner en Blanc, it is just so gorgeous, and looked terrifically fun, too. It’s such a summer event, everyone in white summery clothes, eating light food like bruschetta and nuts, drinking wine. And there’s something so awe-some about the fact that against all odds, over four thousand people came together, all obeying the same rules, all waiting patiently to get their table set up, all wearing white. It just makes you smile, that all these strangers can work together so well.

After everyone is set up, everyone waves white napkins in the air to signal dinner. During dinner, they pass out balloons, to tie to the backs of your chair. After dinner, they pass out sparklers, and all at once everyone lights their sparklers and waves them and it lights up the entire square and everyone looks beautiful, and you release your balloon into the sky, and it’s just all very breathtaking. And then it’s time for dancing! They provided an awesome DJ, and everyone danced outside until it was time to go home.

If you ever get the chance to attend a Diner en Blanc event, I would thoroughly suggest doing it. Yes, it ended up being a lot of work (and costing more than I expected) to get the right sized table, food, white clothes – but it was all completely worth it. 100%.

Oh, and in case you were wondering – the event this year was held at Place des Arts, an outdoor area in our downtown. We were slightly bummed at first, because Place des Arts was our meetup point with our leader! We had been sure that after meeting him, he would be taking us somewhere in the city we’d never been, but instead everyone in Montreal came to us. Oh well! It was still a ton of fun. And fun to answer all the questions from people not part of the event about what was going on!

I leave you with this blurry, but somehow perfect photo I took from the dance floor. Such a beautiful and fun night.  xo.

Read This Book: Cemetery of Forgotten Books Series

It’s impossible to deny that I’m a total nerd when it comes to books. My whole family adores reading (save one sister who hates it, and who we regard as an anomaly – just kidding, love you sis!) so this love has been instilled in me since I was young. My dad used to take me to the library every week, telling me it was library policy that I could only take out ten books at a time. I would spend the better part of an hour hemming and hawing, stalking the shelves, sitting cross-legged on the floor, sometimes trying to decide between one book or another. I know right? I would go back in time and tell myself: “Lighten up, kid. You’ll be back next week.”

Wanna hear the kicker? So the summer after first year (of UNIVERSITY, that is), I accidentally tried to take out 11 books/magazines. And…nothing happened. I sort of recounted and looked at the lady, before asking whether I had to put something back. And guess what? The policy has always been 50 items at a time. The first time my dad heard how angry I was to be duped my whole life, I’m pretty sure he laughed so hard he cried. I think it’s pretty funny too…now.

The point is, I love books, I love to read. Please note: I never ever once finished all ten in the 1-2 weeks I had them out. I just loved seeing a big stack and being able to choose one from many. Maybe I’m a little greedy when it comes to books. Scratch that, I’m totally greedy. My dad was just trying to keep that greed in check, and who can blame him, really?

So that’s probably why I worked at a bookstore in high school: the discounts made it easier for my book greed to thrive. Another perk – I was surrounded by people with amazing taste in books. Some of the best books I’ve ever read were recommended to me by coworkers, including the series I’m telling you about today.

When Shadow of the Wind hit our little Chapters, I think it had accumulated four different Staff Picks stickers by the end of the month. And I did not work with people who like mediocre books, they have impeccable taste. Remember the book preview that I stumbled onto? She introduced The Night Circus by saying “this is the best book I’ve read since Shadow of the Wind” which made all us book-o-philes gasp and sprint for the nearest display.

The books are written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and translated from Spanish. There is a preface in the third book which informs the reader that although some characters and locations are woven into all three books, they needn’t be read in order. This was a wash of relief for me when I began The Prisoner of Heaven, because it had been so long since I’d read books 1 or 2. I’m now planning on starting the series again from the beginning!

You can tell while you’re reading them that they’re books created for people who are passionate about books. They’re almost like nods to the folks who love whiling away hours in bookstores, libraries and armchairs, reading reading reading. There is not only a prominent (magical, wonderful, amazing) library in each book, but also a beautiful, quaint bookstore, characters who love to read, and characters who love to write. It’s almost like the author is extending a warm hug to any kindred spirits of his.

The books are all different, but they all revolve around books and writing, they all have some dark (“gothic” as the book flaps tend to say) themes, and they’re all quite excellent. They come highly recommended by me and (going out on a limb here) the entire fiction department at my old store. And the Random House book representative. And if that’s not enough recommendation for you, then I’m sorry, I tried.

I hope you give them a try and truly enjoy! I’ve collected my copies one by one over the years, all gifts from my Dad. What can I say? He owes me.

Cinnamon Buns

In order to prepare fully to write this post, it was necessary for me to eat yet another of the buns in question, smothered with cream cheese frosting. Necessary. For research purposes, you understand? A necessary evil that comes with blogging about food. Such is the life of hardships that I lead. (Not.)

I have enjoyed every second of the creation (and subsequent consumption) of these buns. They re-affirmed the fact that, apparently, I actually love working with yeast/kneading dough? I love it. For a potluck over the weekend, I made another loaf of X bread, which turned out better than the first time and was a giant hit. I love that I had the skills to do that. Soon, I’m hoping to set a bread-baking goal that is a little loftier than 4 loaves! I’ve conquered my fear of yeast, now I just need to practice.

The dough for these buns is sweet, stretchy, and very fun to work with. The icing is amazing, perfect, delicious, incredible. Make these, and your house will smell like a Cinnabon. Your friends will love you when you bring them a hot one on a paper towel. You’ll make new friends if you wrap one up in tinfoil for their roadtrip home (Hi Adam!). You’ll feel like Martha Stewart when you bring a plate over to someone’s house. You’ll feel like you’re building a home that smells like cinnamon. These are all awesome feelings.

Welcome to my crazy crazy kitchen life.

So who what where when how?

Who: Sweetapolita’s recipe is perfection. Very easy to follow, clear, and gets great results.

What: Cinnabon-Style Gourmet Cinnamon Buns

Where: HERE.

When: NOW.  

How: It’s simple! Make the dough, let it rise. Roll it out. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Roll up, slice, let rise again. Bake. Make the icing, eat only a small amount of it, GLAZE. Eat. Sigh of contentment.

Chow time? Chow time. Happy nomming.

By the way: this is the fourth and last bread for my 2012 bread goal! I’m so excited. But who knows? Maybe I’ll tackle a few more. See the rest of the breads here.

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