strange history

Oh, friends! Oh! It is so very lovely to be back in this wonderful seaside city. Don't get me wrong, I adored being in Stephenville, and I had a little cry after my dad dropped me off at the airport (made worse because I was clutching my newly acquired Fozzie Bear stuffy, so I probably did look like a big baby), but being back here makes me feel really, really HOME. 

I had some brief and wonderful visits with good friends yesterday, and spent the evening snuggling and giggling with Dave, and had the best sleep of my life. I woke up bright and early, without a stuffy nose or puppies crawling on my face, so I feel very happy indeed. Now its coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich before I start my Russian History class! Excitement! 

Also, this evening I have a job interview with Marie's Mini Mart. The lady there sounds incredibly sweet and awesome, and I can't believe she actually waited until I got back from a 5 day vacation to interview me. I hope this means she'll give me a job! My fingers are crossed. Tomorrow, I'll be getting my jazz finished up for my Eastern College application, so I am hoping by Thursday morning that I'll more or less have the rest of my year figured out. Its a comforting change.

I have this strange and terrible habit of going back in time when I'm in Stephenville. Mine and Dave's anniversary is coming up in a few days (7 years, what the fuck), and I was thinking back on our relationship and found myself perusing Gmail for hours and reading the 100+ emails (which, by the way, isn't even an exaggeration) we sent each during our hopefully last 6-7 month breakup. And you know what? It wasn't even depressing. It didn't make me angry. It just filled me with gratitude and hope and reminded me of how intensely loved I am. Some of them were hilarious, others were like tender lovesick poems. We are the strangest people. I feel very lucky, though.

Now, I am off to shower, friends! I wish you all a good day, and I hope I see all of you soon. And also, now that I am bathing suit equipped I'd really love a pool date soon if anybody would love it. Let me know!

XO

this place has gone to the dogs

The family cabin itself! Formerly known by its business title of Heatherton Lodge.

 

My West Coast vacation is slowly drawing to a close. I just returned from the family cabin, where I've spent the last two days. It was so very nice to be back out there after so long! Everything was exactly the same.

This cluster of trees used to be much thicker, and my siblings and I used to play in the center. It had the very unoriginal name of "the tree house".

Yesterday evening, my dad cracked and bought me a salmon license, despite the fact that I was only going to be in town for another day. One of his friends owns a hay farm, and a very nice and usually plentiful part of the Crabbe's River is on the other side of it, so we went fishing down there. It was pretty gorgeous. The farmers were hauling the hay which was pretty delightful to witness - the bales were gigantic! They also had very pretty clover fields. I found Gerard a giant lump of what I think is pink quartz on the riverbank, and I flyfished for about 2 hours straight with my daddy. Neither of us caught anything, but it was nice to have some daddy/daughter time.

The driveway! 

 

Seeing Myron and Kathy was delightful as well - Myron is a chef, and Kathy is an RN so we had lots of awesome chats about both fields of work, and they were pretty delighted with how much I've grown up. They're pretty much like my American grandparents, I've known them since I was a baby. Friday night we had a pretty typical Skinner family party, at which the number of dogs actually outnumbered the people for awhile (our three dogs, my mom's puppy, and Myron and Kathy's three pure bred English Springer Spaniels.) We were all pretty tipsy.

Some very tipsy adults snacking out. You can't see my mom's face, but I think she wanted it that way.

It was a great trip, but I am pretty excited to get back into the city. I miss my friends, I miss my apartment, I miss my boy. Tomorrow friends! Tomorrow!



 XO

secret life

I'm back in my hometown of Stephenville, and for the first time its actually easy and not a bit strange being home. I'm one of those people who is usually filled with a sickening feeling of dread the second I get into town, and I was surprised this time to just feel very relaxed and very relieved. My days thus far have consisted of delicious BBQ, snuggling four dogs and one cat to death, and hanging out with my parents and my sister's fiancee. Nothing extravagant, just comfortable and relaxing. Exactly what I wanted. Tomorrow, we are off to the cabin for some trout fishing and, well, more BBQ. And quite possibly quite a few drinks and even more laughs.

Also, since I've been out here I've acquired two items that make my life that much happier. The first is a one-piece bathing suit thats actually cute, something I've been looking for all summer. And it was 10 fucking dollars. Wal-Mart, I love you. Mind you, its still a bit busty, but I'd have to swim in a potato bag to hide my chest really.

The second was a gift from my future brother-in-law - a stuffed Fozzy Bear! You know, the Muppets character? I am always gushing about how much I love the Muppets, and he came home from the store with it for me today. Sister, you could not be marrying a sweeter man.

Now I'm off to watch some "House". I've started rewatching the series again. Its the only medical drama I've ever loved! Also, another of the joys of being home? Its the only place I can smoke inside! Which is ironic, since its my dad's house. 'tis why reading & smoking is one of my favorite things ever - I used to do so while curled up in bed. Sigh.

How's the East Coast? How are your lives?

XO

west siiide

The last few weeks, I've had the strongest desire ever to be on the West Coast, for so many reasons. The salmon season is open, which means cabin season for the Skinners... I've pretty much spent 3/4 of every summer since I was a baby at my cabin. And its a place I adore, for so many reasons.

It functions as my dad's hunting lodge in the autumn (a family business thats been ongoing for two generations), and its been a dream of mine to have a party out there since I was a little kid. There are 3 bedrooms, each with 2 beds apiece, the comfiest couch ever, and a fold-out bed. Also, acres of fields behind it to pitch tents on!

Heatherton and Robinson's and the surrounding area are just lovely in general. Its like maybe 5 or 6 little communities, all along one road. Lots of farmland and marshes and rivers pouring out into the ocean.

Somebody in my family owns this plot of land, I don't even remember who. Does it not look like one of those COME VISIT NEWFOUNDLAND ads?

This is the mouth of the Robinson's river, down below my Nanny Delaney's cabin (which I'm sure I'll also be visiting!) This is where my daddy and I usually go sea trout fishing, and man are they tasty!

In less than 24 hours, I'll be home. I am excited to get out of the city and into the countryside for awhile, to just surround myself with beauty and family and tranquility. I'll probably be heading to the cabin on the weekend, as my father is going halibut fishing for two days the day I get out there (this trip was very spontaneous, and halibut is delicious so I'm not upset). But that just means hanging out with my momma, getting fed delicious food, and loving on my dogs, as well as my mom's new puppy, Bailey, who I am in love with already.

EXCITEMENT <3



XO

a bookgasm, but the kinky sort

I'm just biding my time at the library before class, and I've found some pretty lovely creations on the internet. I know Sarah Smith will like this. This is basically just for her, as she is a great lover of taking old books manipulating them into beautiful creations. You should see the Scrapbook she made for me last Christmas! Its been almost 7 months and I still can't stop looking at it. I first found something similar to this in poetry form on Stumble Upon (<3) the other day, and I was pretty entranced. In trying to find the same site again, I found THESE gorgeous creations by a lady named Karen Hatzigeorgiou! You are so fun, madam! Its poetry and art and craft loveliness all wrapped into one! I will post the text for each underneath, as you can't really read them in the images. Look at her website, its gorgeous!

Is it control
over my own mind
so contantly
on the verge
of calling up
peculiar dreads,
apprenhensions,
fears, loathings, pain
or doubt?

I live an imaginative life.
I lavish energy on plans
of minor importance
and build castles in the air
from moment to moment
my secret soul
puts itself in sympathy with
the whole creative tide.
Is not this a thing worthy?

Sew a
thousand
golden threads
over
her
dusty
world

Oh my god, AMAZING. Sometimes I love the internet, especially when it tosses gorgeousness such as this my way. Now it is time for sweet pre-chemistry cigarettes. MY LAST CLASS EVER YAY.

XO

and i feel nothing, not brave.

Jenny Lewis, you are the absolute foxiest of all the ginger foxes to ever roam the Earth. Rilo Kiley make me smile. I can't get this song out of my head today, for some reason.

Its a strange time in life. I have exams coming up, and that inevitable sandstorm of due dates that I usually try to shrug off until the last minute. Well, not this semester. I've been studying as though my life depended on it, and I've already started on several of my essays. Its not all bad, I guess. Its all half-interesting stuff which saves my brain. I have to write an essay on the ethics of organ donation. An assignment for anthropology, in which I basically have to spend 5 days watching people go about their daily lives and take in the sights of city, record it in a journal, then write a 1000 page paper on my experiences (drawing on the rules of fieldwork and anthropological concepts, naturally). And an essay on "1984" and its use of propaganda and fear as political tools. All in all, definitely could be worse! Its all pretty fun, really.

Russian History is a looming cloud, I start June 26th. And my textbook is $114? Vomit. I want the postal strike to end so I can order a second-hand copy online.

In light of recent events, I feel pretty blessed for all my friends. They're pretty and fun and silly, and make me laugh ever so much. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. And at the end of the day, I get to come home and be safe and warm in a underground little blue cave with the dorkiest peanut butter gorging sweetheart a girl could ever want. I'm a lucky one. I wish people could take the little things in life and just feel grateful. I was reading a quote the other day that said something along the lines of, if you threw all your problems in a pile, then looked at the problem's of others, you'd be snatching yours back in an awful hurry. Which I think is true. Nothing is ever bad as it seems. You just have to look around you at all the beauty of life.

Well, its back to the grind for me. My apartment smells like bread and coffee, its pleasurable. What's your favorite smell, friends?

XO

particle physics and cookie cutters

Tonight I went to a lecture on the large hadron collider given by Dr. Rolf Heuer, who is the director of CERN, and man was it ever... confusing! Adorable! Confusing! He's super funny and German, and made the stuff about as comprehensible as it can be to a small-minded person such as myself. Shit is way too complex for me to get my head around. As I was saying to Gerard, I like life sciences like biology because they get to the cellular level and pretty much stay there. And I am fine with that.

I am currently job hunting, and its going to be pretty funny to see what my summer career will be. Tutor for disabled children? Home care worker? Barista? Meat cutter? I have applied for pretty much everything, and am so desperate that I will pretty much take anything. Even cutting meat. I just want to pay my rent and live comfortably for the summer.

My chemistry final is rolling around soon, and I am having a hard time resigning myself to the fact that I probably shouldn't leave my house until after its over. However, my lovely Daniel's birthday is this weekend so I can't reasonably barricade myself... if he is reading this, he must sacrifice either weekday Sierra or weekend Sierra! The choice is yours, muffin! I promise you all a smiley happy Sierra at the end of it after all the stress and work I've been doing.

After chemistry is over, I have a political science midterm, and two essays due in the same week. Sigh. At least its better than doing page upon page of enthalpy equations and trying to remember what makes a precipitate and what doesn't. I'd rather write essays, really. I can write a good essay in my sleep.

In other exciting news... my mom has told me recently that shes bestowing upon me her cookie cutter collection. If you knew my fascination with these sacred items as a child, you'd be excited for me. You should be anyway. She has at least a hundred, for every holiday under the sun, and when I was little I used to have so much fun picking out shapes for her to use. I can't even remember them all now, but I can guarantee you'll all be getting silly shaped homemade sugar cookies from me for a very long time after I acquire them.

Anyways, bedtime for me!

XO

make up your mind

So I passed my entrance exam for Eastern College, though calling it an "exam" makes it sound much more threatening than it really was... 30 multiple choice questions on basic English comprehension, and math stuff that included questions such as "What is 50% of 20?". Seriously? It was more fun than stressful. So after I get my criminal record check completed, I'm in! Hooray! Now to get on that.

Tonight I am having an epic study party of one. My second chemistry exam is tomorrow, so I be all like EEK because the thought of that frightens me deeply. I am comforted by the fact that afterwards I can just come home and sleep til Monday if I so wish it.

This weekend, I have epic plans - for doing NOTHING. Seriously, such a stressful week, I just want to sit on my couch in my pink plaid pajamas with movies I've watched 1000 times and catch up on work, and drink copious amounts of tea. So if you want my love, I'll be in my little blue underground haven! Come find me!


XO

songs i can't out of my head

Allan Ford, being the darling he is, has pimped out my iPod to epic proportions. I haven't downloaded music is yeons and I was getting pretty tired of everything on it, to the extent that I could pretty much guess which song was going on next when I had it on "shuffle". It was in serious need of an extensive makeover. Now I get to wander the streets to SO much beautiful music - new albums by bands I love (like Fleet Foxes and the Strokes~), and amazing music by artists I've never listened to before (like Coeur de Pirate, and Bedouin Soundclash). Thank you, Allan, for this marvellous gift.
In the spirit of new music, I have many songs I cannot get out of my head. Here are three that have been looping in and out of my brain the last few days.

Especially pleased with Architecture in Helsinki - SUCH FUN SUMMER MUSIC. Although it doesn't feel at all like summer right now, as its been raining pretty much my entire life and its so foggy I don't know where I am half the time. Sigh. Sun, what did we do to offend you? Please come back.



XO

the unbearable lightness of being

This weekend, my beautiful friend Sarah lopped off all my hair! Daniel took this gorgeous photo of it, and I just had to share. He has the best camera phone (the best phone, really) of all time, and he takes some marvelous photos with it. Thank you Sarah for your amazing skills! Thank you Amki for holding my hand and giggling with me through our mutual transformation! Thank you friends for being so awesome and making my Friday a dream!

I'm already reaping the numerous benefits of short hair. Its not a tangled mess when I wake up in the morning! I have to use a dime sized amount of shampoo! I don't need conditioner! It takes 2 seconds to style! I will never beg my mom to grow out her curlies again, nor question why so many damn soccer moms have short hair. Its cute and fun and simple to live with. Hence, I am in LOVE. Goodbye long mess of difficulty, hello sweetness.

This Friday was surely a dream - walks in the sunshine, drinking delicious wine, having lots of girl time, lightsabers, numerous cigarettes, and a beer funnel full of sweet drenching love. My friends are awesome. Seriously.

Now I am settling down to a lazy Sunday of studying chemistry and anthropology, reading about health care, and wishing for coffee like nobody's business. I have two midterms this week, in anthro and chem, and an assignment due and all kinds of other stuff to be at. I've been sliding off the ball lately in terms of academicness, needs to scooch my way back up there! GPA, I shall lift you to the heavens!

G'day, sweethearts.

XO

stop the madness

I came home from school last night oh so sleepy. I figured hey, I'll just lie down and rest my eyes a moment, then I'll get up and make myself some supper and study and maybe pop in a movie. Instead I woke up 9 hours later when my boyfriend got home from Mullock St. Sigh. But getting up at 2am to study and watch the dawn march in was pretty lovely too. I could hear my upstairs neighbors swishing around upstairs at 4am, so apparently they're as insane as me.

Tonight I have class until 9:30pm, and like every Thursday the thought of being at MUN that late rips my heart into little pieces. All I want to do when I get home that late is sleep, eat, or laze. Especially laze.

I am not allowing myself much fun this weekend. I have two midterms next week, and an assignment due on Friday, so I am going to limit my fun to something cozy and sober and nice. All my friends seem to be attending a party on Friday night as far as I'm aware, so I was thinking bbq and crafts with whoever is not going. SARAH I'M LOOKING AT YOU WITH YEARNING. ABSOLUTE YEARNING.

Apparently Canada Post is talking of striking, and this saddens me because I have important letters and forms drifting towards me in the mail as we speak. So I sure hope they don't, because this will sadden me on a deep level. Life, you are funny.

Rant rant. Snore.

XO

broken banana

Last night I spent a lovely time with friends at Mullock 'til 2am. Boy, was it fun! We broke out the instruments very briefly and got out Lora's art supplies and made some pretty creations. It was a good time. And Joey is home, so how could times ever be bad?

I am pretty much walking on sunshine this week, if I may use such a lame term of phrase. I got 3 epic Chemistry marks back on Monday - 77% on my assignment, 92% on my last lab and 83% on my dreaded final! 20% higher than than the class average and 33% higher than when I wrote the exam for the same chapters my first time doing chemistry, so I am pretty pleased.

Also, last night I had an interview with the admissions advisor at Eastern College about their PCA (personal care attendant) program. As some of you may know, I got rejected from the Centre for Nursing Studies, so I've been hauling my brain like putty trying to find something to do with my life. I could reapply, or apply to the bachelor of nursing program, or a dozen other things - but most of these things would require me to wait a year to apply. I needed something to do NOW. So I went down and talked to admissions missus, who was the SWEETEST WOMAN EVER, and she pretty much said that if I get all kinds of immunization, a criminal record check, and pass a simple English/math comprehension test I can start the 24-week PCA program on September 26th. HUZZAH! I have direction again! I'll be 1/3 of a nurse! My heart, she explodes.

This and other reasons Sierra is the happiest little bee ever. Its been a good week. I can only imagine what horrors the weekend has in store for me, because what goes up must come down I suppose. But I'll enjoy being high on life while this lasts. Because it feels so fucking good.

YAY.

Tell me how you're all doing, my sweet darlings!


XO