We talked about feelings :)

I don't get it when guys freak out, I really don't. For the longest time (measured in years), D wasn't ready for me to meet all his "people". And then all of the sudden, in the past month or so, I've finally been able to put faces to names, and he didn't act like it was a big deal. And then when I suggest we have dinner with a friend of mine? He gets all slippery, like, "Oh, you just have fun. Don't worry about me." What the eff? Does he not want to meet my people? Is he just nervous? Does he think that I don't really mean it, or that I just feel obligated to reciprocate? He's so important to me, and I'm dying for everyone to finally get to know him. Why won't he just go with it - why does he have to make it into a thing? Argh.

Opulence

noun
1 the opulence of the room luxuriousness, sumptuousness, lavishness,richness, luxury, luxuriance, splendor, magnificence, grandeur,splendidness; informal plushness, classiness, ritziness, poshness,swankiness. antonym simplicity, restraint.2 a display of opulence wealth, affluence, wealthiness, richness, riches,prosperity, money. antonym poverty.
Last week, I went on a trek of sorts up to the Westmount Lookout. If I only had one word to describe Summit Circle & its surrounding streets, it would be opulence. Once I get to editing the photos I took, I will post them & talk a bit more about my walk, but until then here's a teaser. 
Just North of Westmount Park I ran into another park (the name of which I'm drawing a blank). There were the most gorgeous flowers & I got a few good shots. Here are a few of my favourites. Not sure I even did them justice. 

Photo du jour

I got my hair cut today & I thought I'd share. I took some somewhat decent self portraits with my DSLR yesterday afterwards. My photography teacher always talked about making sure eyes don't look dead - catch light he called it. It took a few attempts, but my massive sliding door proved pretty useful for it.

She blow dried my hair out in loose waves & I so wish I had the skills to ever do it like this myself. I don't even wanna wash my hair because I know that I'll never be able to do it!

Alanna is full of plans & expectations.

The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth

One of my favourite things about summer in Calgary is the Stampede. I didn’t grow up in Calgary so I never found it lame or dorky. It was all new to me when we moved in 1995. Like snow & Chinooks, I fell in love with it.

Part of the draw of the Stampede is how completely ridiculous it is. For 10 days of the year, everyone pretends to be a cowboy. People don boots, jeans & cowboy hats instead of their usual suits to go to the office. There is a higher concentration of plaid than at any other time. & most offices find an excuse to throw a big party & spend the day drinking & socializing instead of actually working.

Arguably, one of the best things during Stampede though is the free pancake breakfasts that pop up in parking lots all over the city. There is one every morning in some community. People volunteer to make pancakes or hand out juice or plates or paint faces or lead ponies around. I’ve worked a few myself & the amount of people that show up is astounding. I guess it shouldn’t really be, seeing as it’s free. There’s usually a band & activities for kids & line dancing.

This year, I told Mom to find us one to go to the Saturday I was back. We headed out to Coventry Hills in our cowboy boots & Stampede gear & joined the masses in line for our free pancakes. Luckily it was a gorgeous day (unlike most of the rest of the summer in Alberta this year) so we enjoyed our pancakes on the curb in the parking lot.

Pancake breakfast is the very best way to start a long day of Stampeding, if you ask me.

deltiology

I don't exactly study them, but I suppose you could say I do collect them. I love Postcards & I have tons from all over the world - some that I've collected from my own travels & some that others have sent me. The back of my door of my room in Calgary is covered with them & I had begun a small collection in my room in my old apartment in Mtl.

This new place, however doesn't really have a bedroom door. & tacking them to my back door is entirely too tacky for my liking so I've come up with a better solution - the ugly glass topped table I have from the old place. It's perfect, especially seeing as I have no table cloth & the paint is peeling and chipping. On top of this, my awesome boyfriend sent me a postcard from pretty much every place he visited, so I have plenty of postcards to cover the whole thing. Ingenious! No?