BILLY TALENT ROCKS MY SOCKS

They came, They played, They conquered. Yes, I am talking about the one and only Billy Talent. The fab foursome: Ben, John, Aaron and Ian made their way to the Air Canada Centre Sunday night along with Cancer Bats, Against Me and Alexisonfire. It was a long night, starting at 6:45pm with the Cancer Bats. I was actually kind of glad I had seats for this one, I don't think I could have lasted standing in the pit of teenagers for more than 4 hours!

What can I say about the Cancer Bats other than they are loud, noisy and could probably outdo anyone in a headbanging competition. They didn't seem to excite the audience, but maybe that's because half of them hadn't shown up yet. They did a good half hour set which included a cover of the Beastie Boys' "Sabatoge". And the crowd went wild.

Following the Bats were Against Me! The only non-Canadian band in this show's lineup. I have only heard a few tunes by these guys, but I must say they are quite catchy. "Stop" and "Thrash Unreal" are my two favourites. They have a catchy, folkish sound that kind of reminds me of Franz Ferdinand. Halfway through their set they actually brought on Aaron and Ian from Billy Talent to do a song. It was pretty neat to see live.

Once Alexisonfire came on stage, this was when the crowd started to really come in. People were standing in their seats waiting for these guys. I was shocked to see how different Dallas Green was looking. He seemed a little more rugged than usual and had shaggy long hair. They played a bunch of songs from Crisis and a few from their latest album as well. I love how this band can pull together the hardcore screamo punk with Green's mellow notes, it makes for a pretty wicked sound.

Billy Talent made their way on stage promptly at 9:30pm. This was the moment I had been waiting for. Even though I've seen them so many times live, I get excited everytime!! They really know how to put on a show! They played a lot of their old songs like The Ex, Line and Sinker, Try Honesty and a few of their new ones like White Sparrows, Rusted From the Rain and Saint Veronika. At one point in the show Ben had everyone in the audience whip out their cellphones and lighters....it was so cool, like being inside a galaxy of stars. My camera couldnt capture the essence of it all, you had to be there.

Ben went on for a bit about Canada winning the Olympic hockey gold medal game and waved his Crosby jersey high and proud. I love how these boys are from Mississauga and have come so far. Ben explained in the show how Billy Talent have been touring for 8 years now, but they have been a band for about 17. They are fighters who never gave up and look at them now. Such success stories make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Haha.

It felt like Talent's set was only 5 minutes long. I was having such a good time that I totally lost track of the time. By the time they came for their encore it was around 10:40. They performed Devil on My Shoulder and Red Flag. They always close with Red Flag I don't know why. But I like it!!

Great show all in all! In conclusion: Canadain Music Kicks Ass! (And Against Me! too!)

Operation: New Body!

Hellloooo friends! And Happy Spring!! Spring officially sprung this past Saturday March 20th at 1:32pm! Although, the whole weekend and today have felt more like dreary Fall. Hopefully by the end of the week we will be seeing more sunny skies and higher double digit temps. In the meantime, we can all start shopping for our new spring outfits because I know I did a lot of that this weekend! Shopping for new seasons is the best! Everything is fresh and exciting, especially spring and summer clothes. It's time to peel off those layers and show off that sexy skin. I know this year I am super motivated to become fit and toned with our upcoming trip to Vegas in May. This year I want to actually get into a small bikini without feeling like Shamu. Despite going to the gym everyday, I still maintain the same weight and shape. I don't think I am challenging myself enough and everything has become so routine. Over the past week or so I have been attending some more of the group exercise classes that Goodlife offers. I absolutely love them!! Not only do they push me out of my boring comfort level, they make me feel nice and sore in the morning (that means it's working!) Hopefully if I can pull off doing at least 3-4 of these classes a week, I will manage to tighten up a bit.

Of course, with weight loss the most important factor is diet. Now this is where I have the most trouble of all. Throughout the day I am fairly good, I eat small low-cal snacks throughout the day to keep me full, but once I am off work and into the house...all hell's kitchen breaks loose!! I become some type of animal that needs to feed off every piece of food in the house. It's like my body goes into a coma and inhales whatever it feels necessary. This must stop! To help monitor my eating habits and to keep me motivated to stay on track, I registered last week with the website Fit Day (http://www.fitday.com). It's actually a really good website where you enter in everything you eat in the day and it adds up the calories for you. There is also a pie chart that shows you what percentage of your daily food intake went to fat, carbs and protein. It's all very fascinating! There are loads of other features on the site like a journal and calendar. There is also an activity calculator where you enter in all the activities you do in a day and it shows how many calories you burn. I really like the site and I hope it can help me keep my eating in check.

Check out the site for yourself, you'd be surprised how many calories some foods are!!

Happy Healthy :) :)

Blonde Ambition

Good evening and Happy Friday to you all! TGIF!!

So winter is slowly coming to a close and the warm weather we have been having has been making us all yearning for Spring even more!!! To help welcome in the new season, I went to the hair salon today to dye my hair more blonde :) It looks super fab and I love it!

For some reason I have always had an attraction to blonde. Born a dark brunette, I never liked my dingy, depressing looking hair. I always wanted to be like a Barbie.

Maybe it's just me, but I think when I was a kid I was sort of brainwashed into thinking blonde was better. I mean, look at Barbie. She was the "It" girl. She got all the pink clothes, the cool car, the guy.....and what did her little brown haired friends get? Nothing! Just some BLUE clothes. They were the official sidekicks! I think the media always glorifies blondes, which I think I have subconsciously agreed that blondes do have more fun and are more attractive. And it starts with Barbie. But then you also look at other famous story book characters like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel...they all had the long beautiful blonde hair.

I once watched a show about being a blonde. They did a test with one lady who pretended that her car had broken down. She did this 3 times, each with different hair shades: blonde, brown and red. It was amazing to see how many men stopped to help her out when she was blonde compared to the other colours. I also saved this article from The Toronto Sun that was printed a while back called "Love is Colour Blonde". It basically describes the human's natural attraction to the lighter hue. We associate blonde with sweet, angelic feelings as opposed to the darker, more serious colours.

I too notice that when my hair is blonde I get treated very differently than when my hair is dark brown. When my hair is lighter, I feel like I get a lot more attention at bars and people are generally more nice to me, whereas when my hair is dark, people treat me more maturely. Perhaps it's just the way the colours make me feel and in turn that's the way I present myself. So when my hair is light, I feel happy and youthful and my personality maybe naturally goes more bubbbly. But when I am darker, I feel more quiet, deep and serious and therefore I look more unapproachable.

Hair Colour is such a funny thing. It can really change your personality and change the way people act towards you. And it's only natural. I mean, what would you think if you saw someone with blue hair? Do you think they would be big executives of a company? In a band? Or maybe an employee at Starbucks? It's really funny to think how such esthetics affect our impressions of others.

Welcome Beau!

He has finally arrived!! After a month from meeting him, he is now finally ours. For those of you who don't know who I am talking about...it's our new West Highland Terrier, Beau!! Coming home on Friday felt like Christmas. I arrived before my parents had brought him home. I anxiously texted my Dad demanding to know their ETA. Fortunately, it wasn't long before he was in the house and cuddling in my arms. I spent the whole weekend at home with him, cuddling him, feeding him and teaching him where to go to the bathroom. It was quite fun and I can honestly say I haven't felt so full of joy in quite a long time. Just holding him makes my heart melt. There is something about puppies that get me so emotional.

Watching him investigate the house and making himself comfortable made all of the family just a little bit closer. It's safe to say, Beau is the best thing that has happened to our family in awhile. I know Dad is simply smitten and Mom and Katrina secretly love him, even though they were reluctant to getting a new dog.

Beau had many visitors this weekend....I think altogether at least 10. He is very popular already. Now I am faced with a dilemma. I live with my grandparents, and have been for the past 6 years. I live here because it is closer for me to get to work everyday, and I *sort of* have my own independence. While I love being at home, everytime I go for a visit, I feel very bombarded and annoyed. It seems to me that my mother can't wrap her head around my being an adult. A grown woman who can fend for herself. I know she means well, but whenever I am at home she is almost TOO attentive and TOO motherly. It's a big clash and I just hate the way things are whenever I visit. I wish things were different. But now that Beau is here, I feel like I want to be at home with him. I've been toying with the idea of moving back home for the past month, and Mom is so excited she is getting my old room all redone. In theory it seems like such a good idea, but I know I will go crazy if I go back. I have some deep thinking to do. I really enjoy the relationship I have with my parents now; I don't want to ruin it by moving back home and cramping their style and vice versa.

This Boomerang Kid thing is tough I imagine for parents and their children everywhere! Once you have lived away from home for awhile, you grow into your own person, a mature adult with a mind of their own. But with parents, you will always be their baby, no matter what. SIGH! What's a young adult to do?! Here is a list of the pros and cons I have come up with for moving back home.

PROS

-getting home cooked meals for FREE

-seeing Beau everyday!

-coming home to a CLEANER house

-closer to my hometown friends

-andddd did I mention Beau?

CONS

-super far and expensive commute to work

-dealing with the overbearring parents

-no privacy (it's a bungalow)

-fighting over the internet with Dad

-far from my Toronto lifestyle

What to do!? What to do!?

Broken

Look into my eyes
and tell me I am the one
The one that can make you believe it's real
And we are the exception

The exception to these rules
That everyone seems to live by
Break them, take me
And tell me it's a joke

You'll never know
Just how much my heart beats
So hard until it breaks
Now look what you've done

I'm broken.

Condo Hunt: Phase 1

So the search for my new diggs is officially underway. I have been humming and hawing over the idea of getting my own place for a while now, but now it is for real! I am nervous/excited/anxious all at the same time. Finding a place to call home is not an easy task. Everything has to be perfect: location, price, space...and just the overall feel of it. Last weekend I went looking at new developments in and around the Toronto area. They were all very nice, however, nothing a first time homebuyer could really afford on their own. On Saturday I went to look at some resale condos which were near the Lakeshore and very adorable. One place we looked at, I absolutely fell in love with. It was a stacked townhouse bachelor condo in Liberty Village with a little patio in the front. When I walked in, I fell in love. Unfortunately there was already an offer on it, and my agent advised me that it would probably go for more than the asking price which I simply can not afford. I am determined to find another one in that pocket or at least something similar.

Of course, everyone is advising me to take my time and not to rush in, which I don't plan too, however, since I am only looking for a small bachelor for myself, I don't think I will have a hard time choosing. I guess my main concern in all this is not having enough money to support my lifestyle. Cutbacks in my spending are definately in order--blackberry bill must be cut in half, no more buying "stuff", no more eating out, and no more going out every weekend. It will be tough, but I see this as a challenge to myself and I think with a positive mindset and strict budget I can definately do it.

Originally I wanted a one bedroom condo, but it seems like now I can really only afford a bachelor. I don't mind having a bachelor because they are perfect for me and it's all I really need. It might be lonlely living on my own, so I think I might get a cat or fish just so I don't feel so alone. Even though I would rather have a dog, cats are lower maintenance and can be on their own for hours at a time. But we will see what happens.....

Right now I am watching the Maury Povich show....oh how I love holiday Mondays! Happy Family Day everyone!

Missing the Arts

If you were to describe yourself to someone who didn't know a thing about you, what kind of things would you say? Would you describe personality traits? Facial features? Ethnicity? Job? Talents? When someone asks you to describe yourself, what are the first things that come to mind? How are we defined and what makes us different than everyone else?

I have been pondering this question because lately, I don't even know who I am anymore. I mean, I know who I am inside, but I often wonder what others think of me or how to describe myself in one sentence or less. When I was younger I used to describe myself as a creative girl with a passion for dance. Nowadays, I don't even know what my passions are because I simply do not have anytime to persue them. I feel like passions and talents are what make us unique and give us a streak of definition.

Yesterday while taking a BodyFlow class at the gym, I felt I had improved a little bit on my flexibility and muscle which made me very excited. This made me think back to my teenage years as a dancer when doing splits, jumps and turns were second nature to me. I miss those days of being full of life and energy. Dance was what defined me. All my life I have had a creative flair. Art was always my favourite subject in grade school and I have been documenting my life in journals for just about almost all my life. I've always had the passion for the arts and being creative has always been a characteristic I love about myself. But these days, I feel like I am missing out. Like I should be making more time to release my built up creative energy.
I have been thinking of taking classes in either sculpting, painting or photography. Or something in the performing arts like singing lessons. Unfortunately lessons in any type of art are very expensive. Thankfully I have found some reasonably priced clay and paint classes through Vaughan Parks and Rec which I think I will sign up for.

So what will the new definition of me sound like? Probably a 20 something fun spirited girl with a creative flair and a love for the arts. Or something like that! Not that I am trying to reinvent myself, more like reconnecting with my inner strengths and passions, reconnecting with the younger Tasha.