Life Archives - Page 25 of 50

What I Wore This Week

March 20, 2017Sara 4 Comments

It was Comicon weekend and I promised myself I would take lots of photos, but once again that didn’t work out. It is so crazy busy and congested in there that it is really hard to stop and take a picture of anything. I was more concerned with not losing a kid in the crowd so I only took a couple and a video of the super cool Dalek Robots they always have there.

Merle loves pictures and always smiles when asked, Roo on the other hand hates pictures and tries to give me the weirdest or creepiest smile she can come up with :/

It took us an hour and a half to get from where we live to the Toronto Convention Centre. An hour and a half. The drive should have taken 15 minutes (there was an accident, but a completely minor one so I have no idea how it messed with the traffic so badly). Then of course the downtown parking lot guys rip you off because they know you have no other choice so we had to pay $30 to park :/ I miss living close to the Yonge St subway line, it was so convenient and so much cheaper to do things downtown. It would be nice to live right down there but then I look at the cost of the real estate and wonder how anyone can actually afford to live there. What average person can afford to pay over a million for a home that needs work? Seriously, it makes me sick thinking about it. And if you can squeak by paying mortgage that large, why would you ever want to work to make enough to just cover your mortgage? I would rather spend money on life experiences than for a house just so I can say I bought a house. You know what I mean?

Tom and Roo went one way at Comicon and Merle and I ended up going another (not really a voluntary separation. Merle and I got stuck in a crowd and had to go with the flow). It’s funny though because I knew they would buy all kinds of things without me there to kibosh it and lo and behold they walk up to us with hands full of bags, and all Merle got was brain freeze from an Icee drink. Poor kid got screwed when she stuck with me 😉

Never fear, she ended up getting a Living Dead Doll for her Collection. They had one she had never seen before who was yellow, so she was thrilled. Tom and Roo ended up getting me the collection of The Golden Girls Funko Pops. I love the Golden Girls.

I’m a Sophia (but I definitely have some sarcastic Dorothy), which Golden Girl are you?

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What I Wore This Week

March 14, 2017Sara Leave a Comment

I should learn not to open my big mouth because after I said we probably weren’t going to get anymore snow, it snowed that night. Not much, but the temperature dropped to the coldest it’s been all season and we have a major snowstorm warning for the today :/ I really should know better by now. They don’t say “March, in like a lion out a like a lamb” for no reason. At least I’ll be able to wear my Sorels the I found second-hand. I think I have only worn them twice this winter.

It always seems like I am saying this, but Comicon is coming up this weekend. It alternates between Fanexpo in September and Comicon in March every year, but they always seem to be pretty much the same thing held in the same venue. As per her tradition Merle wants to be a Weeping Angel again. She was going to be Beetlejuice but then remembered that it gets hot in the venue and her weeping angel costume is sleeveless. Since her dress I made her was almost too short last time we had to go to Value Village to find a men’s t-shirt in a matching grey so I can sew on a strip around the bottom too lengthen it. Roo is probably just going to be a Ravenclaw student again. She wanted to switch to Hufflepuff (Fantastic Beasts changed her allegiance) but I couldn’t find a robe this close to Comicon. Hufflepuff isn’t as easy to find as Gryffindor so she was out of luck (that’s what she gets for waiting for the week before to tell me).

I’m glad this week pretty laid back until the weekend. We can chill at home and weather the storm, and catch up on some projects and schools work. I want to purge Merle’s closet and Roo’s converse. So.Many.Shoes. She’s like the Imelda Marcos of sneakers. Well, not even close but it sure as hell feels like it when I look in her closet. I want to try to bring Merle’s closet back down to a capsule-like wardrobe. She wears maybe 1/8 of what she has so I’m hoping to get rid of at least 60% of her things. Hopefully. I’m sure she’ll have something to say about it though. Wish me luck.

Any end of season winter storms where you are?

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Heaphones with Sudio Sweden

March 13, 2017Sara Leave a Comment

I have mentioned many times that the four of us live in a 650 Square foot condo. This means they we are all constantly in each other’s business. If you are watching Youtube videos on Minecraft tips, I feel like I am watching Youtube videos on Minecraft tips. For this very reason we have all started wearing headphones when we are watching something that others don’t want to. Since we do not have cable our tv viewing is through Netflix, Youtube, and online. The girls each got a set of headphones for Christmas to use with their iPads last year, Tom has a set that he uses from his music, and I had none. Any that I did have, someone took because they couldn’t find theirs. I don’t even have the ear buds that came with my iPhone anymore.

This is where Sudio Sweden comes in. They offered to send me a pair of their Sudio Vasa Blå wireless earphones to try out in one of their four colours: White and Rose Gold, Black and Rose Gold, Pink and Gold, or Blue and Gold. This was perfect because my desktop (which is my main computer) has a broken headphone jack (I think a kid poked something in it that they shouldn’t have), which makes both my blogging, and French lessons hard to do with all the noise disruptions that surround me. They allow me to be able to put my iPhone off to the side while working out at home so I no longer have to keep it on my body, (which is something that struggle with for some reason). I have also been carrying them in my purse when we leave the house because you never know when you are going to need headphones, and their lightness and carrying case makes sliding them in to any purse a simple task.

These headphones offer:

Up to 8 hours of continuous playtime
Compatible with all bluetooth devices
Built-in microphone & 3-button remote
Exclusive leather carrying case

Sudio Sweden always offers tax-free purchases and fast and free worldwide delivery.

The model shown above is the Vasa Blå, black and rose gold. They come with 4 pairs of extra sleeves, owner’s manual + Quality Assurance Card, leather carrying case, a metal clip, and a charging cable. The earphones easily fit into the carrying case which is small enough to slide into any regular bag or travel bag that you might have.

For someone who usually uses inexpensive dollar store earbuds, these opened my eyes to the huge difference in quality. I am so pleased by these earphones that I am looking at getting their Regent over the ear model next for a variety.

You can use the code livelovesara to get 15% off earphones from Sudio Sweden.

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What I Wore This Week

March 6, 2017Sara Leave a Comment

It came back, the bloody cold came back not that I am surprised. But since it has been so warm then to drop to -21°C was a complete shock to the system. I really wanted to hibernate this weekend until it passed again. I had to turn my heat back on because I had it turned down really low (living in a condo sandwiched between units keeps it relatively warm in here), and It was still 71°F without the heat on. This is why I sleep with my windows open in the winter, otherwise I would feel like I was suffocating. Our last apartment was crazy hot without any heat all. It had windows all along the wall to every room (except the kitchen) continuously for the entire length of the apartment. It received the sun the entire day, and was so warm we dressed like we lived in a tropical destination the entire winter without turning the heat on once. Thank god for room darkening curtains.

Merle and I went out putzing around early last week looking for a swimsuit for Roo. While we were in H&M (where I found her a cute swimsuit for $14.99) I saw a pair of jeans that caught my eye (as seen in the 3rd photo above). I tried them on and liked them although they are different from what I usually wear. They are a relaxed fit, button fly, with a cropped hem, so I debated getting them. I ended up buying them but when I got them home and tried them on with a variety of pieces I didn’t feel the love as much, so I set them aside to return.

I hate returning things and there would have been a time that I talked myself in to keeping them just to avoid having to return them. Which probably explains why my closet got so filled with things that I never really wore over the years. I’ve changed my mindset over the last little while and realized that it’s not that big a deal to return things. It is irresponsible to keep something that you are not 100% happy with, when that money can be used for something else or saved. I returned them Saturday and then found a perfect pair in Zara that I actually love and a style that have been looking for (in my price range). These checked all the boxes:

the perfect worn shade of blue
distressed
a boyfriend cut (but slim so they aren’t huge)
hit just above the ankle
look casual and slouchy when you cuff the ankle.
Look good with almost everything I own (this is a big one)

These will be some awesome jeans when the damn weather warms up again. Next thing to cross of my list are sandals and a versatile summer dress.

Do you have a spring/summer clothing list you are trying to fulfill?

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What I Wore This Week

February 27, 2017Sara Leave a Comment

You know how you something small can trigger a memory? Regardless of how drunk you were and how fuzzy the memory is? Well, Tom was watching something the other day and then Without Me by Eminem came on and instant memory triggered. I kind of instantaneously cringed at the computer as the memory and the feelings hit. It transported me back to college 2002, drinking in a bar. This is actually one of my embarrassing moments. I’ve done a lot of stupid shit over the years, so in the grand scheme of embarrassment this doesn’t rank high. At that moment it was pretty embarrassing though, but hilarious to every one else I was with.

We used to live in a college town, so there were a lot of bars for the size of the city and each one catered to the college crowds. Each night of the week different bars would have different things going on to try and attract customers so we did a lot of bar hopping during that time to take advantage of what they were offering. One bar that I actually didn’t like very much had cheap pitcher nights on Friday from 9-midnight (which I did like). We would all go over to a friend’s house, crack open a bottle of wine while we got ready and then roll on down to the bar for pitchers. At midnight we would then go to the bar we loved and stay there until close.

So one Friday at several minutes to midnight we thought we would try to order one more pitcher before the prices went back up. In hindsight we should have skipped it because none of us needed any more. We were taking turns paying for the rounds, and it was my turn. I hate ordering shit to begin with but that tied with drunkenness made me nervous. I was told to ask if the pitchers were still cheap before ordering because we didn’t want to waste money if not. So while I was waiting for my turn with the bartender I was chanting in my head “are your pitchers still cheap?” over and over so I wouldn’t forget. Kind of like how you rehearse before ordering pizza or making an appointment (anyone else do that?). At that moment the above Eminem song came on and I looked over at my friend who was knew every word and she was pointing at me and singing. I blame her for distracting me from my mission so when the bartender came up and asked what he could get me, I responded “are your chippers still peach?” I didn’t give him time to say anything, I just closed my eyes, shook my head in self disgust and shame-walked back to my table.

And that is how my embarrassing moment got connected to the Eminem song. I think my actual top embarrassing moments were when I fell down the stairs of the college bus on to my ass, and when the bus doors closed on my leg when I was getting off and I had to hop while it started to drive away and I was banging on the door and passengers were yelling for him to stop. (That one was actually really dangerous but since I survived unscathed it reverted back to embarrassing).

Do you have any songs that trigger an embarrassing moment?

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Ancestry DNA Results

February 21, 2017Sara 4 Comments

After about 2.5 months from the date of ordering to now, I finally got my Ancestry DNA results. While I am not a patient person to begin with, it was my fault in hindsight. I took advantage of the Black Friday sale and placed my order along with a huge amount of other people. This tied with it being given as gifts for Christmas made a huge influx of DNA samples arriving at the lab at the same time which caused longer than normal wait times. If I was to do it again I would choose a time that did not revolve around a big sale period or Christmas.

In this post I detailed the steps from receiving the sample kit to mailing it off. It was really quite easy if you follow the steps. Just don’t pull a Sara and keep forgetting you are not allowed to eat/drink a certain amount of time before providing the sample. I had to restart my timer three times.

I got the email telling me results were ready while I was just opening my eyes the other morning. I always check my emails before I get out of bed but when I saw that my results were in I flew out of bed and started my computer.

And my results were……drumroll please…….

To be honest I had no idea what to expect going in. You hear your parents talking about things over the years so you kind of cobble together some ideas. My dad being adopted left one side of my family blank although we knew his last name before adoption was Abrahamson. This made us believe that there might have been some Scandinavian in there but as you can see Scandinavian is only a small percentage. What I’m truly shocked about is the high percentage of Great Britain, tied with the Irish (I had no idea that I had even a bit of Irish so this was a pleasant surprise) that equates to over 68% of my genetics. It’s pretty crazy that most of my ancestry seems to come from those two neighbouring islands.

When you click on your results you can see each segment in more detail. Each genetic breakdown is shown on the map with different circles radiating out from the strongest point of your genes. The Great Britain gene seems to stretch out to cover Denmark as well which makes sense since my maternal Grandpa’s family seem to come from that area (still trying to figure all this out). I also seem to have a significant portion of Eastern European that doesn’t pinpoint an exact location, which is probably because of all the shifting of borders, countries, and people over the last 2000 years. Because yes, this genetic study goes back as far as 2000 years. I’m currently taking advantage of my 2 weeks free on Ancestry trying to decided if I want to get a membership. I discovered a lot of information on my maternal Grandfather’s side last night to add to my family tree (I thin kI have found ancestors all the way back to 1474 so far) , tonight I am going to try my maternal grandmother. Women aren’t as easy to search as men (unless they were a big part of history, but even sometimes) since they were generally considered property to be passed from father to husband so the searching is a lot more difficult to find records for.

When you do the DNA the site immediately begins to update you on all the genetically connected people that have also taken the test (it also updates every time a new connection arrives in the lab). They range from close family, all the way to 8-10th cousins (which are not as easy to find connections and prove you are related). I have 93 people who are listed as 4th cousins or closer so far. One of those connections is for a second cousin, which was shocking to me and through my quick and poor investigative searching I believe that this person may be from my dad’s unknown side. This is very exciting for me as well as him to finally have some information. I am looking forward to see how much I can dive into this.

I think one of the most interesting parts is that while I knew I was European, I didn’t realize that I was almost genetically full blood European. 99% to be exact with 1% to break that up from the Caucasus. So much history comes from this area like the Trojan War (Homer’s Illiad), The Battle of Thermopylae with Xerxes, Constantinople, the Crusades. The history lover in me wonders if that 1% possibly came from some big historical event that I have read about. I’ll probably never know, but it is fun to think about.

Have you ever had any success using Ancestry to find out your family history? How far back were you able to go?

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