Lamrou Life

June Reading List

By lamrou - June 30, 2018

Another month means a whole new stack of books to go through; I blasted through my stack for may except one book because I wasn’t interested in it & another that I was reading bits & pieces of it every now & then.

My new stack this month was a lot of different books that are not my usual mystery/thriller, even though those ones are amazing, I just wanted to try something new.

In the beginning of this month I read a legal thriller & fell in love & got two more books by him. It was literally the most captivating & detailed book without being too much & boring. Thanks to my co worker for lending me the book I’ve now discovered John Grisham, an author I’m in love with & probably going to read all his books.

I’m trying to read a lot of memoirs & self help type of books for some motivation to being productive in life & chasing all my hopes & dreams in this world because the last one I read was pretty amazing & has me tryina accomplish being things in life.

So my books for this month were:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - an AMAZING book all about slavery, generations that went through it & how it started in Africa & came to America & all the things you might not have known. Cause I thought I knew the basics of slavery but I didn’t & a lot of things make sense to me know including how these older generations be acting about certain things.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - this books was written pretty interestingly & took me a bout 2 months to read it (I would read a few pages every now & then) but I still found it pretty inspiring. I found a few people didn’t but I see why they could have felt that one but I feel a lot of what she says & there are these amazing little tips she has at doing little things to make t to your big goals as well as some things you need to realize in life. I think I’d go back to the certain pages that made me believe I myself & wanna do more & probably leave sticky notes on the pages; I feel like it’s a book to use throughout life & reference back to it whenever.

The Rainmaker by John Grisham - this is the lawyer book that I fell in love with & now I wanna find an interesting case & watch it from start to end. The way it’s written is filled with details & setting the scenery & developing characters but not too much that the book gets boring but just enough that gets you visualizing the story. I think it’s a pretty aspiring story especially for students who think what the hell so I do now but I don’t know what else to say other than it’s a must read book.

The Runaway Jury By John Grisham - after reading the rainmaker I had to check out some more & this is another one my coworker lent me. In the beginning it took me a bit to get through the first few chapters because I was half reading it at work & was not really in reading moods but when I got over the hump & started the book I was into it until the end.

Kill or Be Killed Bookshots by James Patterson - so James has these bookshots which are basically 3 stories in one book. James never dissapoints & everything I've read by him is amazing so any Patterson book will have you on an adventure.

I wanted to read a lot more books but even these were a lot for me because I’ve just been busy & it’s harder to not get distracted while reading especially reading at work. I’m gonna try to put aside some reading time during the week for next month so I can get through my books better.

I also have been checking out used book stores so I may add them into this haul or into next month’s. Once I check out a good amount of used book stores I’ll do reviews on each of them & give them ratings by whatever my criteria is. My library has been growing & I’m loving it but now I need to find space to put all of it.

This month I forgot & wasn’t able to pre-post about my books for the month but was wondering if I should do them before & then recap them in my mo they reflections or just post them at the end of the month with little recaps? Let me know.

happy reading

xoxo

lamrou

0 Comments

fitness

City of Om

By lamrou - June 10, 2018

So it’s been about a week since City of Om (lowkey been waiting for them to post their pictures before I posted this post but I’ll add them in later). This was the third year of the festival; I missed it last year but made it the first year, check out that post here.

From the first year to this year they have grown so big to have many new & different sponsors & vendors. They also are bringing all kinds of studios; yoga, fitness, barre, etc for all the attendees to discover local spots they might not have known about & most of them give out free class passes which is amazing. I ended up getting the VIP Yogi pass which was a bit more than the regular pass & got you pre registration for certain classes & a picture with the photographer.

The day started at 8am & finished at 7pm but I definitely was not there for it all cause that’s wild. I had work so I showed up around 11am & stayed until about 4pm. I didn’t get to go to as many classes I wanted because a lot of them overlapped & the cool black light classes were all full but I still got to attend 2 classes & visited almost every booth.

cute little jams from Yoga Attic

My first class was Goddess Yoga at 12pm at the great lawn & can I say I don’t think anyone could have taught that class better than Michelle. I left hella liberated after that class. She had us doing some crazy sounds & being all loose & feeling comfortable with whatever we are doing and not worried about people but just doing what’s right for us and our bodies. I think I’ll be going to another Goddess Yoga class after that.

My next class was #bodiesbyphil at 1:30 at the great lawn as well. I’ve done his classes before but it’s beeeeeen a while since & the way I died AND there wasn’t even any weights (my legs were dead for like 3 days later). I came for yoga & got a helluva workout instead which I wasn’t mad about.

got my friend a free pass so she can check it out

After those classes thou I just went on a hunt for food & checked out the booths. I wasn’t really feeling anything at the booths so I looked for like a snack & got a chia pudding. Lemme tell you it was weird as hell and I ate half only because they had fruit on top but I’m not cancelling them out maybe I’ll try it again & see how I feel. I think I ended up going home to eat something.

I was gonna check out a 5pm class but after heading to The Movement’s booth where they were doing some manual therapy & active release therapy treatments (the line was long but it was definetly worth it, it was kinda of like physio but so much more adjusted & pain relief. After visiting their booth I decided it was time to go home I was already hella tired & couldn't wait till the 5pm class.

Overall it was great & I can’t wait to get back into yoga so I can do all these advanced poses & be able to call myself a true yogi. I also ended up signing up for the Lolë White Tour when I saw the girls from Lolë at their tent & they told me there was only a few tickets left (I got a ticket for $23 with a mat & goodies, what a steal). I’m excited for it cause it looks amazing with everyone in all white on yellow mats. To more yoga & being zen.

till next year City of Om

namaste

lamrou

0 Comments

reading

May Reading List

By lamrou - May 08, 2018

I love when you read one good book & then it puts you into the mood to want to read again. I currently have a good stack of pretty good books to read so I'm excited to get back into it & divulge into all these different worlds these authors create. My goal is to give myself a list of books to read per month & whatever I don't get through to push it with next month's list of books. Also if y'all don't follow me on Instagram do so because as soon as i'm done my book is when I give my two cents about the book on my story.

I currently have a pretty hefty list of books & keep buying more but i'm pretty confident I can read some of them in about a day or two especially if they are captivating. So having like 7 books to read shouldn't be too much for me. One book however I will be reading all month; it's an inspirational book that needs time for me to process the information & learn from it.

So the books I currently have to read are:

Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert (gonna read this slowly all month)
Lie to Me - J.T. Ellison (random book & new author that I chose at Chapters)
Fool Me Once - Harlan Coben (one of my fav authors; read almost all of his books)
Invisible - James Patterson (fav author that has sooo many books I need to read)
The Dark Half - Stephen King (always wanted to read his books so starting with this)
The Tourist - Olen Steinhauer (from my last book haul & a little slow but gonna push through)

These are the ones I plan to hopefully get through this month. While I'm reading these books I shall also be picking up new books for next month. I will try to check out some used book stores too because they have some pretty sweet gems there as well as finding books there is an adventure of its own; in a crowded book store looking at many different types of books. It helps that Ottawa has some pretty cool ones too.

Also if y'all have any recommendations of different genres send them my way because I love mystery/thriller books but I also want to read different ones too. I think I may also create a Good Reads account to document which books I've read & my thoughts on em.

update: pre posting this book I ended up getting through Invisible & Lie to Me and holy shit was it a thriller & not what I expected at all especially in the end. It was pretty wild & I may be reading more books by J.T. Ellison.

happy reading

xoxo

lamrou

0 Comments

ottawa

Spring, Where Are You?

By lamrou - April 20, 2018

0 Comments

music

Daughtry

By lamrou - April 20, 2018

How do I even start this post? This has been 11 years in the coming; I’ve been listening to them since high school & missed seeing them soo many times over the years so I’m glad this finally was possible. Just imagine getting cheap tickets ($32), making it to the venue early to make sure you're in the front right by the barricade and just standing there & watching your all time favourite band playing in front of you, it’s surreal as fuck. I was in awe like is this real life am I finally seeing them & in the front row like what? I was mid tears majority of the set; tears of happiness of course.

So the show was in Niagara Falls the American side, on a Tuesday; it was a mission but I could not be stopped. I worked Tuesday morning, drove down to the show, slept in an Airbnb in Hamilton that evening, hung out in Toronto on Wednesday & then drove back home to be at work for Thursday. Hella tired after all that but for my favs I could not miss this chance especially when they are usually far in the states that would need a flight to make it out to.

Sinclair opened up for them & they were pretty amazing; colour coordinated shirts, making beats with their mouths like beat boxing & shit. They had some jammin songs too I need to listen to again. They were a different opener than Daughtry’s sound but an amazing trio, so cool to see them getting out there like that.

Daughtry’s set up was amazing with all the lights & how the band is all in front except the drummer whose hidden. Lemme show you how I mean; look behind the guys to see the big cubes that were lit up throughout the show:

The whole show I was struggling with enjoying the moment for what it was & taking pictures & videos to rewatch so I don’t have as many pictures as I would’ve liked but I got some good ones.

All the songs they played I knew basically all the words to except the two new ones they did & the mini covers. I was jamming to them all. I’d take some pictures & vids and then I’d put my phone away and just sing along. I think Chris saw me once & smiled but majority of the time Josh would notice me singing & sing along or smile at me. Then when Chris was going to the ends of each side of the stage & everyone had their hands like they wanted him to touch their hands. When he came to my side I was just staring at him like your in front of me right now AND THEN he reaches out for my hand which I instantly give to him & he’s holding my hand & singing then comes to high five and hold other people's hands near me. I was like shiittt & of course my phone was in my pocket but fuck it I don’t need the proof. He even came back again asked for my hand and held it as he jumped from the stage to the platform in front of me & everyone flocked to my section. I got this picture thou ahaha

Daughtry sound amazing live & his hearing that raspy voice that makes him different live was amazing. All I’m thinking is I’m not listening to a CD or iTunes, this is real life them standing in front of me singing. It was amazing. The new songs they played were apart of their new album coming out within the next few months & new album means another tour. Next time they go on tour ima make sure I get my vip in advance and not wait too long again because after seeing them now I need to see meet them & just tell them what their music is to me. Now every time I listen to their songs I just picture them live cause I can say I’ve seen them now.

Now that I’ve seen my top 2 & experiences an amazing concert from Daughtry & Linkin Park (my other #1), who am I gonna make my next priority? It has to be someone I jam to like crazy & would die to see them live. I have no idea but shall do some music listening & see.

Who are people you would die to see in concert or amazing concerts you’ve seen? Lemme know in the comments.

till next time

xoxo

lamrou

0 Comments

music

Selective Hearing Tour

By lamrou - April 08, 2018

Second concert of the year has been a success & the reason why ima be having some new music to jam to. I went to go see Our Last Night on their headlining tour for their new album, Selective Hearing. I was hella fortunate enough to see I the Mighty who I haven't seen in 3 years & was introduced to Jule Vera & Don Broco.

I drove down to Montreal & got some quick cheap food at Cinko where we always end up pre concerts in Mtl. When we showed up at the venue there was quite a line but we ended up getting like third row ish & all the people infront of us were short so we had a clear view of the stage.

Jule Vera opened up the show & I know I said last concert I will listen to openers but I completely forgot about this show until it was like two days before. they were AH-MAZING. I'm actually kicking myself for not getting a picture with them or talking to them; I did tell them were amazing though. I have downloaded their album & been listening to them. Her voice is so soft & perfect when she sings & the drummer......looooool. He had feet up on the drum set when he's taking a break & I have never been more mesmerized by a drummer but mans was entertaining af & living his best life playing those drums. Everyone on stage was jamming out in their way with their own instruments; I was absolutely loving their set even though I didn't know any of their songs. I was even sad when they ended but best believe ima find out next time I can see them.

Don Broco we listened to a bit on they way so I kinda knew what to expect & was vibing with already. They were wild & even though a good amount of people didn't know them, they were so hype, jumping around & jamming with them. they are a British band & I believe this was there first time in Canada so i'm glad they are building a fan base here so they can be back again; I found out they are playing Warped Tour which means I can jam with them then. They are also such nice chill guys too; we hung out with them at their merch table after the show. I have downloaded their latest & new album & been jamming to it.

I The Mighty was up next & a band I've been wanting to see since the show in NYC where I knew one song. Not gonna lie though I was kinda dissapointed because the crowd was pretty lame which made it not hype as I thought is was gonna be. It also didn't help that their sound was kinda off at points; I'd be jamming and then forget the words & can't keep up because I can't hear them. At least I still got to see them & hope the next show is better though.

Then last but not least & the main band we all came to see, Our Last Night. These boys dropped a new album called Selective Hearing & has to do a tour for it. Last time I saw them was at there Face to Face Tour with HLH 2 years ago when Common Hround was just a new single. The show is amazing as always because they know how to go crazy & their crowds keep getting bigger & livelier which is wild but it exudes this energy & samness that I love at concerts. Didn’t really get to talk to the guys this time but there will be more shows plus we were getting to the know the British boys, Don Broco.