this is NABS

hello everyone and a happy royal wedding day!!! i tried to wake up at 4 am to watch the ceremony, but kate didn't even get there until 630, so i went back to sleep and woke up to watch the actual wedding. realized that i missed the vows so i went back to bed. it was a huge fail trying to watch it live, but thankfully by the time i woke up at a decent hour of 10, someone had already posted the videos so i got to see the majority of the ceremony. and can i just say, wow? she looked absolutely stunning in a dress by sarah burton of mcqueen. it was pretty lovely of kate to wear a mcqueen number, paying tribute to this amazing designer who took his own life last year. i also really loved how there were trees in westminster abbey. so gorg. although, the abbey is designed pretty strange, a lot of people who were at the wedding didn't even get to see it, they had to watch it on a screen. so random. ok one more thing about the wedding then i'll shut up.... the hats. <3. that's it.


yesterday was a whirlwind. i went to the pool down my street with my friend from school mina (@SpreadTheCheer) for an hour or so to swim some laps. got ready to go downtown, as we were volunteering that night at the NABS Spring Break themed fundraiser at This Is London. for those of you who don't know what NABS is, (www.nabs.org)

"The National Advertising Benevolent Society (NABS) is a dynamic support system for all Canadian professionals in the communications industry facing personal, career and family challenges due to illness, injury, unemployment or financial difficulties."


it is a great organization, definitely something we should all become a part of as we enter our careers.
first though, was a trip to fresh :) 


i got the baby buddha bowl on soba noodles: thai peanut sauce with marinated tofu cubes, tomato, cilantro, cucumber, bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, herbs & spices. HEAVEN! or should i say, enlightenment ha-ha. one change i made to this lovely dinner was instead of marinated tofu cubes, i substituted the crispy tofu cubes. i def recommend this little change. not that the marinated tofu isn't good, but the crispy tofu is just so frigging delicious! it tastes like fried chicken, and for us vegetarians, it is always cool when you get to eat something that tastes like meat, but isn't. whoo! i'm not going to lie, i do miss a good old chicken drumstick every now and again, so this fresh vegan alternative is just perfect!

we paid and dashed out the door and down the street to This Is London. our contact, Tim Lamch, communications planner at dentsu, greeted us and assigned us our volunteering duties. mina and i were on lei duty, selling them for two dollars with all proceeds going back to NABS. there was also a 50/50 draw, that a fellow CABA was doing. rachel kennedy, from second year rocked that job. 


people started coming at around 730, but the place was really busy by 830 or 9ish. after we sold all the leis, mina and i grabbed a roll of tickets and went around to sell them. this was actually really hard! imagine trying to sell drunk people raffle tickets while walking around a packed club. it was nuts. we ended up selling a ton though, and a guy won the raffle and was super stoked. after our volunteering duties, we were free to party it up, and the drink tickets kept coming. 

i'd never been to that bar before, and let me tell you, it is faaaaancy pants! the bathroom is bigger than my apartment and has a lady who turns the taps on for you and gives you hand lotion! whaaat! there was actually SO much food i couldn't even believe it. pizza, crackers and cheese, brownies, cakes, tarts, a candy bar and tons of drinks! we were waiting at the bar for drinks and this guy comes up and orders 4 shots of tequila. the bartender pours them, and he's like no no, i ordered 40 shots. 40 SHOTS OF TEQUILA! my god, ad people know how to party. it was wild. by the end of the night, people were breaking it down on the stage doing the worm and other crazy dance moves.

there was also a photobooth provided by transcontinental, which we took full advantage of! :)

basically it was an amaaaaazing night! if this is what ad parties are like all the time, i think i made the right career choice ;) thanks again to NABS for the opportunity to volunteer and i was happy to help out! everyone had an awesome time, and was successful in fundraising for this great cause. 

one more exciting thing... remember how i went to the next gen dinner series this week? well, my twitter pal tim (@timinyli) let me know that cp+b, whose table i had the privilege of sitting at, had created a specific job posting for those of us who had attended 

sooo, i'm thinking this sounds pretty rad, but i'm a little on the fence as to whether to apply or not. i'm not done school and my book needs some work... obv i fit all those criteria (went to the dinner, met sub, and want to work at CP+B CANADA!) lol but i just don't know if it's the right thing for me... yet. maybe i'll throw caution into the wind and give it a go, what's the worst that could happen? hmm, decisions. anyways i will keep everyone updated as to what i end up doing :) 

in the meantime, i'm going to get groceries, make a wicked dinner and learn some more songs on my ukulele! i've already learned i will follow you into the dark by death cab for cutie <3 love. 

tgif everyone!!! sorry for rambling... again. 

soph

listening: the good times are killing me - modest mouse

ahhh summer

although i can't exactly say the weather has been summery as of yet, it is indeed summer vacation. i'm done my third year of uni ... one year to go, i can't even believe it! i went home last thursday for the long weekend and had a great time seeing my family and friends. i met my new baby niece (well, my best friend's baby) madison. i haven't seen a baby in so long, i forgot how teeny tiny they are! so cute

proud auntie

stickin' her tongue out

maddy's little foot 

billy (her godfather) and i 

Other notable events that weekend: girls night on friday with all my friends from high school which was really fun! we all got together and just chatted like old times :) easter dinner with my family , and hanging out with one of my besties jess (www.jessicadeeks.com) we got ukuleles for our trip this summer, so she brought hers over and we jammed. learning how to play dog days are over! and then on sunday my friend nathalie came over and we watched a six part series on william and kate aaaaand the made for tv movie about them. i have to say, i was not into all that royal wedding crap before, but they really do have quite an interesting story and now i'm all about it! willz+kate 4ever <3

got back to t.o on monday night, just in time for gossip girl! tuesday was the next gen dinner at brassai. what an awesome night! i went with two of my friends from school Vanessa (@VmHeber) and Allison (@allisonemilyW) art director and account manager and we had a great time! Allison and i were sitting at the advertising table with subtej nijjar, the director of strategic planning at cp+b canada, and leslie ehm, founder of three training, who had run a workshop with us on thursday. it was awesome! sub, whose name he informed us, is jetbus spelled backwards (pretty cool haha), gave us a ton of insight into agency life, and told it like it was. i was one of two creatives at my table, the other being an AD. he told us that he doesn't believe in those titles anymore, everyone is an ideas person. i agree with that up until a point. yes we are all ideas people, but by no means can i go and write a sweet brief or comp up a layout the way an accounts person or art director could. hmm.. i feel like this could be a blog topic for future posts. anyways, i had a great time last night! it was hard to talk to the leaders of the tables because there were so many of us and so few of them! i ended up talking to a ton of students, which was really interesting and i'm glad i got to meet everyone :) 

today, i'm faced with an empty apartment (my roommate spending the summer in edmonton), a fridge with no food and lots of chores... what to do? watch the food network of course!!! not too much coming up, volunteering at the NABS (www.nabs.org) fundraiser tomorrow night at This Is London, you guys should check it out! some work to be done on my portfolio before may 26 ihai portfolio night, and starting work full time on may 24. other than that, hanging out and hopefully trying some new recipes and learning more song on my uke! if anyone is bored and wants to hang out or knows about cool stuff going on in the city, let me know! 

hope everyone's exams went well and that you're enjoying the first few days of freedom!

peace <3

soph

listening: lazy day - beach fossils

do you like to do it, yourself?

as school starts to wind down (two weeks to go yay!) we have fewer projects, and i just get in that mood where i want to do other things, and for once, i actually have the time! last night, me and the girls decided to go for a value village shopping date and a diy bracelets/crafts night. sooo grade 5, but whatever, i had a blast! we headed over to value village after school and starting searching. whenever i go thrifting, i always find myself drawn to big grandpa cardigans and pullovers like, literally the ugliest things ever. my mum always cringes when we go together at the things i buy. i decided that night, that since it is almost summer, i am going to limit myself to one sweater only. it was successful, and the sweater has short sleeves, so it's okay! i did really well, and even managed to find a supercute owl figurine for my friend allison :)

my one mission was to find the perfect pair of jeans to cut off into high waisted denim shorts. it took probably about 20 pairs in the changeroom, but i eventually found them. $4.99 and a pair of dull kitchen scissors later, i got me the coolest lil shorts in town.

so excited to wear them! summerrrr 

i also picked up a few cute blouses. one a white button up and one in cream... with shoulder pads ohh yeah! it has a cute little flower embroidery on it, very old ladyish. i'm in love.

sailor type top 

it's not very clear here, but there are little crystals on the sleeve detail

star buttons

 i can justify buying this sweater because it is short sleeved! ;)

probably one of the best finds of the night was a pair of sperry top sider boat shoes that vanessa found for me. at $7.99, they were the most expensive thing i bought but definitely one of my favourites! perfect for my summer job at the yacht club. they are already broken in and super comfy. ready to rock them with my rolled up cargo pants.. so preppy haha

the last thing i found at vv was an adorable skirt by kenziegirl. it is the perfect length, and the colours/pattern are gorgeous. perfect for a summer day

all in all, i spent about $45. pretty awesome considering buying those sperry's (which i wanted to buy a pair of anyways) new would have set me back at least that if not more.

after value village, we wanted to make some bracelets. i had brought some hemp, but we wanted the string to make friendship bracelets, so off to walmart we went. we got a huge pack of colours, as well as rawhide string and feathers to make these cool headpieces we saw on the blog PS I Made This.

i busted out the string and got to work on my bracelet, a four coloured ode to the great bob marley

most recent bracelet: green/red/yellow/black chevrons

this is how the headpiece turned out:

the string is still fairly stiff, so i need to figure something out so that it doesn't hang as awkwardly! i was thinking of making a whole bunch of these in the summer, in both double stranded and single versions, and selling them. maybe setting up an etsy store or something, we shall see! what do you guys think? would you buy one? i'm stoked to wear mine to the beach in the summer :)

so that was my awesome night. great hangouts with the girls and it was really nice to pursue another creative outlet rather than just writing. diy date = a smiling success!

i stayed at vanessas crafting until 130 in the morning! by the time i got to bed, it was 2am, only to get up 5 hours later to get ready to go downtown to Grip (@bigorangeslide)... which is a whole other post worth of information, which i will definitely write about tomorrow. 

hope everyone's friday night is great tgif! and school is almost done we can do it guys! 

peace

soph

listening: 1901 - phoenix