The Joy Formidable

Last night, Jake and I saw The Joy Formidable at The Phoenix here in Toronto. The Joy Formidable is a Welsh alternative rock band. And do they put on a show! The three of them put on quite the show.

I am now a huge fan of The Joy Formidable. Lead singer Ritzy is so adorable and petite then she just rips her guitar. There were moments when I thought he bassist Rhydian was going to tear apart the stage (and during the last song, he threw his guitar and crowd surfed then moshed at the front for a few counts of 8!) and drummer Matthew was spectacular to watch.  

This was absolutely worth the $18.50 I paid for the tickets. 

Pre-Spring Clean.

I feel like I'm coming out of a Christmas-coma. Jake and I were away from December 18th till January 4th and it felt like an eternity. But today is my first day back at work and I need to pull myself together. 

It's like pre-Spring cleaning.

I just cleared all the Christmas out of the apartment, aired it out and now it's time to embrace 2013 and get a move on!

I'll be back up and running soon, I need to gather myself, say good bye to 2012 and move on.

Thanks for staying tune!

Toronto waterfront.

On the Danforth.

This week in Toronto is a rainy one. Not that I mind too much, I get to enjoy jeans and light hoodies, finally. 

New scarf that my mom got me for my birthday.

I'm heading to the Taste of the Danforth. It's a Greek street festival here in TO. Going to try some yummy things and see some fun people.

Tomorrow we bought the cheap seats to see the Blue Jays play with Yankees. I think I'll wear the Yankee jersey I somehow acquired while I was in New Haven. Show a little bit of America pride!

Secretly, the rain inspires me to make some tea, turn on some jazz and dig my sketch book out from the boxes I have yet to unpack. Not that I am any sort of good at drawing, but I pretend.

Come on, Canada, lets be real.

So Jacob and I have been in Toronto almost three weeks now. While it feels like forever already there is one thing we keep noticing that's quite different up here. 

The beer.

Craft Beer.

So far, Jacob has been appalled by the beer here. He continues to order IPA's that don't taste like IPA's. He's been horrified. Me? Honestly, I'm totes cool with light beer. I don't really enjoy extremely hoppy beer so Canadian beer and I have been getting along great.

We were in LCBO, which is Canadian for liquor store, and looking at beer. They were mostly pilsners or lagers. Jake wanted something rich, flavorful and hops filled. Eventually he located a warm 6 pack of Hoptical Illusion and we waltzed home, me cradling my lager while he mumbles about IPA's. 

We got to chatting on the walk home about why he hasn't been able to find any beers he likes so far. We thought maybe the hops crops here aren't as abundant in Canada as they are in the States. Maybe it's too cold? Maybe they don't know any better? Maybe we're just stuck in a country where beer is light? (which again, I do not mind)

But after a bit of reading, I am sad to announce to Jacob but we are wrong. Canadian's love their beer, thinking it almost superior to American beer (to which I laugh). They pride in hops and craft beers here, however, they do prefer the lighter, lager taste.

So my conclusion? I will set off on a beer adventure! I will venture out, obvio with Jacob, to discover the best beers in Canada! We will find Jacob his IPA if it takes a whole year of drinking!

If you are from Canada or know Canadian beers, do you have any suggestions?? I couldn't honestly tell you what ones we've tried because they all have weird a$$ names and there's a lot of French involved...

Stepping Back In: DC

Happy Monday everyone!!

It's a great Monday for me because for the first

time in a long time, I am not opening the bar!

I'm sorry but there's nothing worse then a Monday at a bar.

I thought I'd step back into reality for a little while

and share some high lights from my weekend in DC!

Crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge. 

We arrived in DC about 9pm on Friday night.

After catching up a bit with friends, we headed to a bar

called the H Street Country Club.

As we got off the Metro and into a cab, DC was hit by

the most intense thunderstorm.

As we drove, street signs were being torn off poles.

Scaffolding was flying through the air like paper.

Trees were being thrown around like dolls and we watched

many power outages.

But we made it to the bar!

This picture is of my friend Lizzie and I after out 4 second run from

the cab to the bar.

It was raining THAT hard.

Playing mini golf at the bar.

One of the holes was themed Zombie Presidents!

I <3 Teddy :)

Saturday, as my friends slept in, I got up and navigated my way to

Open City in DC to meet up with Brandi from Not Your Average Ordinary.

It was probably one of the best ideas of my life.

i'm at a cross roads and really needed to meet with a fellow blogger,

and not just any blogger!

I feel like Brandi and I really connected on different levels.

Go check her out!!

This is a picture of just one of the horrendously long

escalators taking me to the Metro platform.

Wanna hear the worst thing ever?

When I was on my way to meet Brandi, 

I had to CLIMB one of these bad boys....

I was slightly hung over...

and I was about 90 degrees.

No. Bueno.

The rest of Saturday was spent seeking refuge at the Smithsonian's 

Natural History Museum.

It was amazing!

I can't believe how many museums there ARE there!

While I could spend weeks wandering around,

I wasn't feeling it too much on Saturday.

It was hot, I was dehydrated and really tired.

I so not used to staying up late.

After a late lunch at a local Irish pub and a short nap

watching Ocean's 12, we headed to the east side of DC to see

Gareth Emery at Club Fur.

Man. It was probably one of the most amazing shows I've seen.

This is my life.

And I love it so.

After sleeping till 11:30, we pulled ourselves together

and braved the heat again to refuel.

We went to a little place called Blue 44,

and every single time someone said "Blue 44" 

all I wanted to say was "HIKE!"

or whatever they say in football...

I had Eastern Eggs Benedict which was a normal benedict

with a crab cake and fresh tomato.

It was incredible. And reasonably priced!!

We spent the rest of the day eating FroYo by the Zoo and watching America's Funniest Home Videos.

Jake and I braved the long 6 hour drive home and had a realy great time.

Sadly, this morning I had the hardest time getting up.

I really need to stop being so adventurous. 

It's exhausting.

9 days till TORONTO!

One Downfall of A Weekend Off....

So I've been away...

Jacob and I needed a nice weekend away so we planned this whole thing in New York over the weekend.

It was such a great weekend too.

Here's an image to sum it all up for you:

I have to work today but tomorrow I'll be catching up on my weekend, my belated hair tutorial and some more of the 30 Day Challenge!!

Until then, I'm curling back up with the iPad in bed to wait out this thunder storm and do some reading before work.

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend?!

Family Ties

Aaaaaand I'm back!

As I've mentioned, family was in town the past few days 

and I honestly feel like I've been gone for years...

So on that note, lets recap a wonderful weekend!

(This is my attempt to keep my weekend going for just a few seconds longer!)

Coconut Latte.

PeelsNYC. Best. Brunch, Ever.

Jacob in 50 years.

My fave ever.

I love food. 

Gobblecado.

Subway.

Taproom # 307

Fried pickles and wings. <3

Oh New York. You're so beautiful.

Beer Tasting!

Coaster. 

Water rides WHILE it's raining...true Oregonians! 

Wheel.

My greatest fear.

We did so much this past weekend!

I'm pretty sure we ate our weight in fried food

and beer BUT it was such a great time!

And a huge milestone for me!

I rode my FIRST EVER roller coaster!

My whole like I told people I was scared of them

when secretly I'd never actually ridden one!

So we went to Lake Compounce and I rode this:

Okay, I swear it was scarier then it looks here.

It's the oldest coaster on the East Coast...or something!

It had a 115 foot drop that almost 

made my heart stop.

I had my eyes closed the entire time.

Screamed a lot.

And clung to Jake's arm like

white on rice!

It was an excellent weekend and it was a much needed

vacation from life.

Now it's time to focus on the future!

Job hunting!

Apartment searching!

Toronto!

Here we come!

Weekend Catch Up!

It has been such a whirlwind lately.

But I've been making a lot of progress, too!

Lets play a little catch up then I'll fill you in

on my agenda for the next few weeks!

This past weekend was Jacob's birthday.

I surprised him with a trip back to Ohio to visit all his

friends and to see a music show!

Here are a few Instagrams from the weekend!

Sake Cosmo at Birthday Sushi.

Yummy!

Crowd Surf.

Concert: Mac Miller and Skrillex.

Waffle House.

1950's Jacob.

Our Breakfast.

Thursday Dinner.

Ain't he cute!?

Leaving Roosevelt Friday.

It was such a great weekend. 

So many good times with great people!

I didn't want to leave!!

Now we're getting back to real life and planning our next big move to Toronto!

I'm so excited but so scared that I won't find a job! Eek!

Positive thoughts, right??

On another note, I'm really excited for all the things I have planned for the rest of the month!

I've taken to planning out my posts, it helps me stay on task and organized :)

Plus, since I'm a list freak...

The end of the month launches my new series that I like to call:

Dinner With Alicew.

In this series, I'll take time to research, explore and attempt to make a different cultural food each month.

The purpose you ask?

To better understand why those people eat what they eat.

What physical attribute allowed them to eat certain spices and not others.

What historical events happened that changed their food systems.

And so on.

It all happened because I was eating Indian food and was wondering why Indian foods are a lot of spices and sauces.

Each post will have three parts:

1. History on the culture.

2. Eating Out: eating the foods professionally made.

3. Homemade: attempting to make a dish at home.

I'm pretty excited about it :)

Other upcoming posts include:

Big Hair Day.

What I'm Reading: Blogs.

Weird Movies.

My Fave Bike Accessories.

And more!

Let me know if there's something you'd like to see,

or a culture who's food you'd like to know more about,

and I'll add it to my calender!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Weekend!

Oh my!

This weekend has been so amazing!

My cousin is still visiting and yesterday we went into the city.

 I'll tell you a secret....

....I'm obsessed with How I Met Your Mother...

..and so is my cousin!

So yesterday we went at find the bar that MacClaren's Pub!

It was so awesome!

Honestly it looked nothing like MacClaren's BUT it was still cool!

Here are some pics from out afternoon!

Tick Tock.

This place was beautiful!

Jon at Liffey's: Friday.

Buuuur.

Yum!

Dirty Church.

Cherry. Beautiful!

Love the color.

I <3 beer.

McGee's! AKA MacClaren's!

My friends :)

Turkey burger...so good!

Jon and his nachos!

Love of my LIFE!

Cousin.

Subway.

Breakfast!

How has your weekend been???