Canada Day Recap

04 July 2017

life toronto

Canada Day Recap

This past weekend, Canada celebrated its' 150th birthday! I still cannot believe how young we are! But, since 150th is a big milestone for Canada, I already had the mindset that I wanted to be out and about celebrating Canada!
Plus, I'm freaken patriotic to this great nation! 
So, of course, my sister and I decided to have a sister day and head downtown to watch the Toronto Blue Jays play against the Boston Red Socks. Spoiler alert: the Blue Jays lose; but, it was still great to spend the day with my sister and other patriotic Canadians int he stadium. 

*if you follow me on snapchat, you probably already saw a lot of my pictures/videos on there!* 
Since it was Canada Day, the Rogers Centre was doing some special by giving away free hats to the first 20,000 fans who checked in with their tickets. So, my sister and I (the literally the rest of Toronto) headed to the Rogers Centre as early as possible, even though the game would start at 1:00 pm.  We got to there around 10:15 am, and all the lines to every different gate were packed. 
Luckily, my dad got us boxed seat tickets, so the line up at our gate was almost non-existent! Like literally only 50 people were in front of us, which is not bad compared to the hundreds of people in the other lines! So, yay, we were getting these hats. 

And, we did! They were great quality snapbacks with a red maple leaf representing Canada! And, it felt great to be among the 20,000 fans with this limited edition hat. So, the waiting out the next couple of hours until the game started wasn't bad at all. In fact, waiting those 2 1/2 hours felt like nothing because my sister and I did a lot of scooping the area since we had no in and out privileges in the Luxury Suite area.

Yea that's right! Those boxed tickets I mentioned were in a Luxury Suite! So, my sister and I were not only early, but hardly anyone was in the building, and so it was extremely easy for us to roam around, and start eating some of the snacks the suite provided for us! 

And, our view was amazing. I didn't expect our box to have a blessed view of the field. The last time I came to a Jays game was when I was younger. And, we were in the regular stands. It was a fun experience, but this...  It was absolutely the perfect experience. 

Fans got super excited when they started to open the dome fo the Rogers Centre! It was absolutely perfect because at the time, it wasn't raining and the sun was shining. What a way to watch the game. 

But, on a day like today, I was happy I was sitting in the box hiding away from the sun. 4 hours in the sun?? My skin gets dark quickly, I would have been baked! 

I think my favourite part of this entire experience was during the opening of the game. We had 3 generations of military men (one who actually served in the WW2), to come and throw the first pitches. I thought it was absolutely perfect and beautiful to watch. Then, we had a bunch of military men and women mark onto the field and unfolded the Canadian flag. And, the stadium was singing with joy our national anthem. 

I loved everything about it! And, again, our seats had an amazing view. 

Like I said at the beginning of this post, we lost. But, hey. I enjoyed the experience, and it was fun being here with my sister. We haven't had a lot of sister time over the past couple of months/years... so, this was long overdue.

OHH, before I end off, I just want to say after years of using snapchat, I finally had some of my snaps make it to the Blue Jays vs. Red Socks snap story! Although, my second submitted snap had far fewer views than the other 2 snaps... Leads me to believe they deleted it -.-  Oh well, I still made it!

Enjoy the rest of your week to all my Canadian and American friends celebrating Canada Day and the 4th of July!  

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Aquarium Adventures

24 January 2017

life toronto

Aquarium Adventures

I've lived in Toronto my whole life, and I'm always discovering something new about my city.  When I heard that a Ripley's Aquarium was going to built in Toronto, I'll be honest, I wasn't excited about it at all. Call me weird, but I really don't have the need to spend money on tickets to see fish floating around. But, that place is constantly busy and filled with tourists. So, I was obviously not understanding the appeal.
My cousin's friend actually works there. And, employees actually get a certain amount of free tickets for the year, and she had 3 left over. She decided to give them to my cousin, who in turned gave them to me and my mom. And, we decided to hit the Aquarium.

Although we decided to go on a Thursday, I'm not exaggerating when I say it was packed. Firstly, there was a line not online inside but one forming outside of the location, circling around! And, that was just the line to buy your tickets.
Thank goodness we already had ours. But, finding the doors to enter the place without lining up for tickets was hard. We eventually found a door and surpass that line.  

I do have to say, the aquarium was actually beautiful. There were a lot of little fishes floating around. I saw a few sharks, stingrays, and a sea turtle. That was pretty cool as you only really see those guy in movies.

I took a few pictures! Take a look!

One thing I really like about this place was that there were different sections where you have the chance to touch some of these guys. I actually got to touch a stingray, and it was NOT how I expected. It was slimy  (I think that's really the best way to describe it).
But, it was definitely an experience.
Would I go there again? Probably not. Unless my little cousins would want me to take them. But, I definitely wouldn't be spending money on tickets. 
Have you gone to the Aquarium? How did you like it? Follow

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Snow... I Remember

11 February 2015

life toronto

Snow... I Remember

I live in a country where people assume we live in igloos. Yes, I am talking about Canada. So, of course we get more than our fair share of snow here. Nowadays, the snow is just vicious. Because of the wind and the drop in temperature, it freezes so quickly,  it hits you like little rocks... its just not a fun experience anymore. Personally, I don't like the negative that comes with the snow - the slow-moving traffic, all the car accidents causes traffic to be slower, the cold, icy-road conditions, etc. But, without snow, this wouldn't be Canada right?
There was a time I absolutely loved the snow.
I remember when I was little, the snow here was just absolutely beautiful! I remember we used to have the white fluffy kind of snow to! You wouldn't believe the amount of times I would try to make snowman's, but I wouldn't be able to because the snow was just soo soft. If I remember correctly, I remember always having that movie perfect white Christmas. There was just always snow from December - February.
Haha, I also remember being dressed in big thick coat, snow pants, boots, toque, mittens, everything possible. And, if I remember correctly, my style was no where perfect, lol. I don't remember it being so cold, but I was a kid, and I guess my attention was just at all the snow around me!
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Oh, this random story just popped into my head. So, I apologize if this part of my post sounds a bit off. When my sister and I were younger, we were so sassy to our parents, but with good intentions of course. There was this one time I guess my sister and parents didn't see eye to eye. And, my sister, keep in mind she was like 4 years old at the time, got up and started putting on her coat and boots. Everyone was asking her, "Where are you going?" and she responded with a sassy tone, "I'm running away!" I was sad, being 5 at the time, but I remember my dad laughing asking her, "Where are you going to go?", and she said bye and walked out. I was looking outside the window as my parents watched my sister from the porch. My sister went to the neighbours place, and sat on their porch for a good 5 minutes. It was funny to me...
Linking up with  Vashelle and Mia for Write it or Die Wednesdays!

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My Typical Snow Day In Toronto

03 February 2015

life toronto

My Typical Snow Day In Toronto

Yesterday, as most cities have experienced, Toronto had a snow storm. My interpretation of a snow storm can either be taken in a good way, or a bad way. And, it all depends on the cancellation of school due to the whether. However, before I get into that, I think it is important for me to tell you all about the mission my family endured when we had to drop my sister back to Hamilton (where she attends university).
I don't know what my sister said to convince my parent to drive her back, but somehow I was also dragged into this long travel, just to drop her off. On a good day, it would take around 40-45 minutes by highway to drop her off; if there was a bit of traffic, then I'd say 50 minutes the most to drop her back on campus. But, yesterday, was a completely different story.  Driving out of Toronto and passing through the cities, like Mississauga and Oakville, it was very apparent that it was snowing... But, as I kept driving, I noticed more and more snow being piled up on the highway.
I kid you not, it took us almost 2 hours just to drop my sister back onto campus! Like, it was so insane. And, in those 2 hours, my family and I saw at least 3 cars in a ditch, 5 cars being towed away with a tow truck, and 0 f*cks given about snow being on the highway. If I wasn't driving, and if the lighting outside was nice, I could have taken a picture of the beautiful white (almost light brown) snow that was accumulating on the roads before my eyes. It was just insane.
On the way back to Toronto was a different story. It took us about 1 hour and a half to get back home, and this time there were finally those big machine thingys that plow away at the snow and put salt on the ground. Anyways, as we were on the highway, I experienced a tag-team forming right in front of the cars. So, on a highway with 3 lanes, 7 blowing trucks and salt machines assembled a line blocking cars from passing them. Worst of all, they were driving slowly, so you already know us cars behind them were getting mad. IF you have me on snapchat, you probably would have seen a video I posted, or if you followed my personal twitter account, you would have seen a photo I uploaded. If not, look below! :)  

You can literally see the lights of the truck when they assembled their transformer line to ensure no car gets past them! 

Then, yesterday morning, it appeared that the snow storm I faced in Hamilton had come to my city! So, as I was already aware of the road conditions, I already made the decision to wake up few hours earlier just to be able to travel and get to school on time. Then, at exactly 6:05am, I received the most, and blessed text message ever! Then, I went on the twitter page to confirm to message...  

Yes, it was definitely the really a beautiful message to wake up to! I was so excited to not risk my life just to get to school, that I couldn't sleep. Then, I started going on other universities twitter pages, and found out that other schools weren't closing, and there were a lot of upset students! Students actually upset that school officials made the wrong decisions. Lol, to be quite honest, this is what a lot of schools and students go through when it is snowing more than usual outside. All students want is just a snow day and chance to stay warm instead of commenting in the cold, while, as other students claim, schools want to kept open to for financial reasons. I dunno...
Anyways, as excited as I was, it was not fun staying home as I had to help my parents get the car out of the snow. And, boy was there a lot of snow to shovel... 

So yeah... that's my typical snow day in Toronto. If you're currently experiencing a snow storm, make sure you guys drive safely! And, if you can, stay home instead of being out there in the cold and horrible traffic. Have a great day everyone, xo! 

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Welcome to Toronto

23 December 2013

life toronto

Welcome to Toronto

If you haven't already notice, I clearly failed this blogmas challenge although it is almost over... But I swear I have a legitimate reason.  If you haven't already heard, a huge part of Ontario, Canada (where I currently live) was hit with a really bad ice storm.  Yes... ICE storm.  As a result, around 300,000 homes lost their power and hot water. It sucks because my homes is included in this statistics.

I woke up unable to post anything and honestly hearing my mother's battery powered radio, the news claimed that it will most likely take around 72 hours before everyone can get their power back up and running efficiently.

My house is freezing cold, there is no hot water and outside is literally an ice rink.  It is honestly so crazy out here.  The worst part is, that trees are literally breaking apart because the ice that froze on the branches are so heavy... So there are literally broken trees everywhere either falling on top of cars or catching fire because of the electrical wires...

It is honestly so crazy, and it would be a Christmas miracle to have the entire power back up for the city... If you are wondering how I am finally blogging this early morning, it is because my cousins were fortunate enough to have their electricity, so we are crashing here to eat, shower and rest.  Thank goodness.

Here are some pictures of my day... The pictures honestly show a much prettier version of my day.

It's day's like today that really make you realize that our generation relies a lot of electricity and technology.  Something to definitely be thankful for as we shouldn't be taking this for granted.

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