(Sporadic) Updates

After Amsterdam, I spent two days in Brussels, and I really loved it! At this point, I was also feeling better, and the weather got warmer, so that definitely coloured my experience in a more positive way. The city is pretty small, and I covered a lot of ground. I wish I had stayed a little longer to visit some of the other Belgian cities (Antwerp especially!), but there's always next time! At this point of my trip, the film in my camera was the trusty Fujifilm 135 Colour, so the images turned out very vibrant. My favourite stops were …

I just got back from a solo trip to Amsterdam and Brussels. I caught a cold the day before leaving (literally as I was biking home along the waterfront, I felt it happen!) so I didn't do nearly as many things as I had planned, but I still had a good time and even biked amongst the tulip fields. The film I had for the Amsterdam portion was Harman Phoenix 200, which I also used in Japan. I think I came to the conclusion that I'm just not a fan of it, though. It feels a little too much like …

In February, I did a quick trip to Guatemala with my sister. We wanted to go away because February in Canada historically sucks!! So when Anna found a good deal on a 5-day trip, we pounced on it. It's a beautiful and complex place: the centre of Mayan Civilization, the site of brutal Spanish colonialism, a biodiverse and geological paradise, Mayan and Catholic traditions existing in tandem, the acceleration of modern life alongside indigenous traditions spanning centuries. It's a place that I keep reflecting on after visiting. I don't have anything poignant to say except that colonialism remains a brutal …

Once again, I'm shocked that time keeps moving! I feel like we just entered 2026, but somehow it's already April?! Truthfully, I have been in a really weird existential space since the start of the year, but I guess that comes with aging. At the end of December and January, I was dealing with Luna's kidney failure diagnosis. It kind of came out of nowhere, and I didn't have enough answers to understand what the future means for her, so there were a lot of vet visits and tests. One of the ways to manage kidney failure is through diet, …

The days are long, but the years are short, as they say! I initially felt like I maybe didn't accomplish much this year, but looking back, that's not true at all. I sometimes get stuck in that 2010s girl boss (blegh) way of thinking that the only meaningful accomplishments are related to work, but the last few years I've been writing down what I do every day, and it's been a good way to rehab that way of thinking. So, this is just a record of what I did this year, what movies I loved, what books I enjoyed and …

In September my sister and I finally went on our trip to Tokyo. For context, we were initially suppoused to go April 202, but of course the pandemic halted that plan. For the past 5 years we tried to re-book a few times but various life things kept getting in the way, so I was determined that this year would be the year. We were only able to go to Tokyo for a week, but we still had an incredible time. We both came back and have already started talking about what we want to do the next time we …

In June, my sister and I took our dad on a belated birthday trip. Two years ago he turned 60 and our gift to him was to take him on a trip anywhere he wanted to go. It took awhile to plan, but he ended up chosing Scotland. We went for a week, rented the car and explored the highlands. We started off in Glasgow, drove through the highlands to Inverness and ended up in Edinburgh. Along the way to Inverness, we did many pit stops including doing a boat tour on Loch Lochmond and stoppig on the side of …

In May I went to Barcelona with my friend Rachelle. The main point of the trip was to attend the OFFF Conference, which happens every year at the Disseny Hub Barcelona. The other reason was to just be in a really cool city, eating a lot of tasty food and hanging out with my good friend. I brought my Pentax and my little Ektar camera. I still have a roll somewhere that needs to be developed from this trip, but I did end up with some nice shots of a memorable trip. As usual my Pentax created some interesting light …

Somehow, and I knew this would happen, summer flew by and I forgot to post any updates. I think that's a good thing though. This summer I was able to take a mini sabbatical from work and spent June, July and most of August catching up on life things and working on some mini projects that I had floating around in my head. One fun thing I did was I designed and produced my own custom matchbooks 🔥 Basically, they are very expensive business cards, but I love seeing people's reactions when I give them one. I also travelled A …

February and March feel like a blur, which is maybe why I'm writing this in mid-April! February kicked off with some Winterlicious dinners. This year, I checked out Mother Tongue, Nuna, and Lulu Bar. Nuna, which serves Peruvian food, was the stand-out for me. Every dish we ate there was interesting and special and I haven't shut up about it since. I also finally went to Porzia's, which is known for its lasagna. I generally feel like most Italian spots are charging an arm and a leg for simple Italian dishes, but this place is not one of them. I …