Happy Wednesday y'all. I have finished my summer job & am trying to make the most of whatever summer I have left; which means swimming for days because that is all I want to do. I have yet to go to a water park or a nice beach but I hope I can before Sept arrives.

I have just been going on food adventures & showing my cousins from out of town around as well as my friends who live here, exploring our own city. A new restaurant opened so i've been frequenting there, I went two days in a row & want to be there everyday but I can't already be obsessed with it because I will hate it later. However, it's hard to not get too obsessed considering its $4.95 a plate all day everyday which is like the best type of restaurant to exist. It's definitely going to be my go to place; El Furniture Warehouse, check it out. My other favourite restaurant would have to be Tomo, the best sushi place i've found so far in Ottawa. I took my cousins from Halifax there & they absolutely loved it just like everyone else i've brought there.



Last Monday, i did a pretty ballsy thing and left some of my hair out & rocked that au naturel look. My hair is pretty heat damaged so about 5 minutes after I get out of the shower, my hair looks like it's been blow dried when I haven't even touched it. So what I did was I tied up the top half of my hair in a bun and left the bottom half out. I put some product in it but water was the only thing keeping it curly & nice. It was VERY out of my comfort zone but I braved it & let it be what it was. Next step is to ask my hair dresser good products I can use to leave it out & curly.




Last week was the last week of my summer job so now that i have free time it's like what to do but knowing myself i'll find something to do. On Friday I went over to my friend's house after work & we just sat in her backyard stuffing our face with food & chilling by the bonfire they has set up. It was a nice chill way to end the night.

Sunday I met up with some work friends & we just went on an adventure to the Prince of Wales Bridge & Westboro Beach where I wished I had gone swimming because it was 31 degrees celsius but I had no bathing suit with me. It's been ridiculously hot this past few days & I'm hoping to go swimming at least once during this time of crazy heat wave.

This year's Vans Warped Tour was a mission & an iffy on if I was going to go. When they started releasing the list of people that was set to come, I realized I didn't know a single band that was coming. So I did what I do best & started to learn some new music & find some new bands to fall in love with; last year's Warped Tour was amazing so I told myself that it would have to be a tradition & I had to go every year now.

I was going through the list of people I wanted to check out by how they looked in their pictures & I discovered two bands, Hands Like Houses & Our Last Night before I decided that takes too much time & listening to their Spotify playlist would be so much easier. From their I discovered Salves, The Amity Affliction, Emarosa & Splitbreed. As luck would have it Hands Like Houses was playing a show before Warped in Montreal & we all know how much I love to go down to Montreal to see shows & the ticket was pretty cheap so I sure as hell went.

HLH was opening for Silverstein, who I've never heard off but learned they were pretty awesome, so they had a short set but it was still pretty awesome. The thing I love the best about small shows & small venues is that you have a good chance of getting to meet the band after since they are all just hanging out. Well I met Hands Like Houses & they were all some pretty cool people & got a picture with them all. They asked my friend & I if we were going to Warped & we let them know we would be there in the front so they should expect us. How awesome was it though when we showed up at Warped & they had actually remembered us; I am pretty wild when I'm in my element so who can not forget that crazy girl ahaha but it was a good feeling. We showed up at the tent & Alex gave us a hug & said what's up & during their set Matty P noticed us & pointed us out & then gave us a hug & said whats up when we saw him at their tent after. It was like cool these people remember us & they are just these humble people who love making music & have a good time doing so. They are also coming out with a new album too so that means a new tour & a chance to see them again :D

Now on to Warped Tour itself ahaha. It was bigger & better in Toronto. Montreal was a good chance to warm us up to what Warped can be & from the pictures I've seen, the shows in America are 10x crazier & bigger so I would love to go see a show there sometime. It was pouring rain but it didn't matter, we were a group of people hear to hear some good music & have a good time. One thing I love so much about Warped is that it's not like any other concert you go to. It's like a place where we are all people. There is no sense that the artists are higher than everyone else, we are all just people hanging out & jamming together just some of us are the ones playing the music & the others are just enjoying it. Like you'll watch a band performing their set & then they are just walking around the grounds or hanging out at their tent & you can just go hang out with them or say whats up as they walk past you. There's obviously security but they aren't being escorted at all times & being watched.

I made it to the venue at 1pm which was good because gates opened at 12pm & I didn't have to deal with waiting in line forever. Once I met up with my friends we went to go see our first show, PVRIS who played at 1:55pm. The whole day it was pouring rain, then drizzling, then cleared up & then all over again until it cleared up completely at the end of the day. For PVRIS show we didn't stay long, the crowd was ridiculously crowded & I was not into it quite yet plus Our Last Night was playing soon so I left their set early to go see OLN.


OLN played at 2:20pm & we didn't have the ideal spot but I could still see them & they were amazing. Once they were done, they were doing signing at their table but we decided to come back later because the line was too long & Hands Like Houses was playing soon.



HLH got on at 3:05 & as promised we got up as close as we possibly could get. We had a great view of Alex & Matty saw us too when we got in the zone (that is how he noticed us the first time too). They also played a new song, New Romantics which I absolutely love & need on my iPod but it hasn't been released yet; the new album has to be released soon.


After HLH, the last band left that I wanted to see was The Amity Affliction at 3:40pm, craziest show ever. From the first song, Pittsburgh, the crowd was beyond wild, jumping, crowd surfing & starting mosh pits. Joel noticed & told the crowd to make a bigger mosh pit & go crazy. I totally got into their songs & was singing like a mad person even as people watched me, but I had fun so I didn't care. After that show I was done for the day & saw who I wanted to see. My friends however wanted to see some more people so after we got some food we checked out some bands & their tents and then went to go see who my friend's wanted to see.

The first band my friends wanted to see was Set it Off which were playing at 7:15pm. We went to the  stage they were playing at & I was gonna stay for a bit & then maybe check out another band, but after the first two songs I fell in love & decided that I wanted to see the rest of their set. Once their set was done they did signings at their tent which I went to & got to meet the band. After that we ended our day watching Born Cages which was a good show to wind down the day. We left Warped Tour around 9pm & was ready to go home.

Heeeey heeeey it's the last month of summer & almost back to school time. I won't be going back to school till January so I'm not as sad but that means the heat will be gone soon & the chilly fall season will be here soon; gotta do all summer things before it's all over. Anyways fall season means my birthday so it's not to sad & hopefully this year my birthday will be a crazy adventure.

This past week was one of the craziest week ever because of my madre's wedding that took place on Saturday. I was going crazy having people call & summon me left & right all day long. At the end of the day though it was all worth it seeing my mom happy & just dancing on the dance floor with all the people that helped make everything happen & the closet thing to family I have. Everything was beautiful & a great reason to get my hair done, buy a nice pretty dress & dance like no one's watching.

Besides getting ready for the weekend I have been just hanging out & enjoying summer; I went swimming for the first time in a long time. I didn't get to swim long because I had to leave for an emergency but I have bought myself a bikini (i've been bathing suit less for a while) & am ready to hit up the waterparks & go swimming at my friend's or anywhere everyday.

I have been listening a ton of music lately & have a ton of favs for the past couple of weeks. I was shown some & discovered some myself & cannot stop listening to all of them. Our Last Night's new album, Younger Dreams, & Set it Off's album, Duality have been on replay in my car since Warped Tour. Someone showed me August Alsina & his albums are on replay on my phones as well as LAVU. These have been my jams & I don't think I'm going to be getting sick of their voices anytime soon. My FAVOURITE TRACKS for the past few weeks is The Other by LAVU, The Haunting & Why Worry by Set it Off & Home & A World Divided by Our Last Night.

My OBSESSION of the week would have to be my Polaroid Instax Mini 8. I have been wanting to just capture all moments on Polaroid but still have to make sure they are perfect because film is pricey. This summer has been all about polaroids & I hope to have a great collection that represents the summer with all the different pictures & borders.

Anyways that is all for this week & tell me what are your plans for the rest of your summer?

xoxo

That all may sound confusing but my point is timing may or may not always go in your favour but don't ever take it for granted. If it doesn't work out one day, it's meant to work out another day. Timing is absolutely everything & beyond amazing when it works out in your favour.

We headed out Thursday evening after we were all done work & had our stuff all packed & made it to Toronto around 10pm & settled in for the night. Friday morning we were up early & headed out to Eid prayer to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Once the prayer was over, we headed home (as in where we were staying in Toronto) where I changed, bought a sweater from the Eaton Centre (it was pouring rain & I had just straightened my hair the night before) & got on a street car to head over to Warped Tour at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. Warped Tour was amazing & I have reliving it; I can't wait for next year.

This time in Toronto we wanted to do things we didn't get to do before so we headed to Niagara Falls on Saturday. It was an hour & a half maybe drive but we made it there in 2 hours because of the traffic (everyone had the same idea as us). It was a pretty site but hot as hell; it was 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). we didn't ride the the boat into the water so we couldn't cool down that way. We just kind of checked out the Falls, took some pictures & then headed back to Toronto. On the way to Niagara, Niagara Parkway we stopped by the big clock & where you could ride the trolley if you wanted to; the view was so pretty & the water so green. After that lovely view & a ton of pictures later, we headed back to Toronto where we went to check out the CN Tower.

The CN Tower was just a nice view but I would have rather done the Edge Walk, next time I'm in Toronto. Also I would have loved to seen the view from the SkyPod & go on a less busy day (if there even is such a thing). Our next & last day we had to make sure to do everything that we wanted to do before our next visit which may or may not be next month.


Some childhood friends of mine & I went our for brunch at a place I searched up that looked interesting called Starving Artist. It was basically everything waffles so perfect for people who love waffles; they had posters everywhere that said I love waffles everywhere. I got a waffle benny which basically is eggs benedict on mini waffles instead of english muffins. The blessed part of it all was that they had vegan waffles (i can't have dairy) which were bomb af; they tasted like banana bread. I also subbed my other waffle or a potato waffle mainly because I love having potatoes with my breakfast.


Spent the rest of Sunday just wandering around downtown Toronto; we bussed down to Queen St & checked some stores out, went to city hall where they had the big Toronto sign for the Pan Am Games, & back to Yonge & Dundas Square. We got a bit hungry after so we stopped for a quick sushi lunch & by that time my mom had called me to come get my stuff & pack the car up. It was a good weekend & we left back without my mom's uncle & his wife but they live elsewhere so that means another vacay to go visit them. We hit the road around 6pm & got in at 11pm. It was a long 5 hour drive that I did with no stops; I felt pretty accomplished.
Toronto is looking to be my second home & I know that I will probably be gong there more often now. I'll most definitely be hitting it up before the summer is over & more trips in the future because I may be moving out there after I finish school. Maybe though who knows I change my mind every so often. Toronto is a pretty cool city to live in.







xoxo

Yesterday was the 148th birthday of this beloved country. Me and a couple friends met up & lit some fireworks around my neighbourhood & at the beach. I got a big red blister from trying to catch a flame on the lighter but it was totally worth it & we had a blast. Hope all Canadians had a great day even though the weather sucked in Ottawa, it was pouring rain. It still was fun & I'm sure downtown was bumping. Happy Canada Day!