CaCee & Donald // A Buzz on Vimeo.

Not sure if I should ever bother getting married because my wedding would never be as much fun as this. And yep, I guess Donald Faison is as fun in real life as he seems on screen. Glorious cameos by Jessica Simpson and Zach Braff of course. 

LONG (BACHELORETTE) WEEKEND: NIAGARA ON THE LAKE

  

 

My beautiful friend Megan had the best kind of bachelorette weekend at a picturesque lake house in Niagara. We felt like we were a world away from the city—or at least in the Hamptons or something. 

There were no tacky plastic penis straws and no embarrassing scavenger hunt bar games. Instead, we went on morning runs under the cherry blossoms, biked (maybe a bit too strenuously) between the wineries, drank spritzers in the sun and made lots of lovely new friends. It was the perfect way to spend the Victoria Day long weekend. 

SHE SAYS: SAYING THANKS

Card by Rifle Paper Co. 

There’s a fine art to accepting a compliment graciously. Most people have a tendency to offer up self-deprecating responses rather than acknowledging positive feedback.

Here are a few actual examples that I’ve overheard in real life:

“Your new haircut looks fantastic.”
“Seriously? You don’t think it’s too short? It’s definitely too short; I look like a boy.”

“I love your new dress.” 

“Oh, I just found it on a rack at Value Village. I swear I only paid $5.99 for it.”

“Congratulations on finishing med school!”

“Thanks but I have no idea how I pulled that off. I’ll probably accidentally sever off an arm or stitch someone’s mouth shut in, like, the first week.”

Now there’s nothing wrong with a little modesty, but it can be problematic when we’re constantly deflecting flattery rather than recognizing our own hard work.

In my experience, it seems that women are far more likely than men to rebuff positive attention with a dismissive hand wave or a reciprocal “no you’re so great” comment. We’ve been socialized to value lady-like decorum over boastfulness and as a result, we have a hard time owning up to our talents and achievements.

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DATE A BOY WHO TRAVELS

Found this piece by Lena Desmond on Thought Catalog and loved it so so much...I've posted a few excerpts below. The photo above is mine from a trip through Burma with the ultimate boy who travels, my father. 

Date a boy who treasures experience over toys, a hand-woven bracelet over a Rolex. Date the boy who scoffs when he hears the words, “vacation”, “all-inclusive”, or “resort”. Date a boy who travels because he’s not blinded by a single goal but enlivened by many.

....

Date the boy who talks of distant places and whose hands have explored the stone relics of ancient civilizations and whose mind has imagined those hands carving, chiseling, painting the wonders of the world. And when he talks, it’s as if he’s reliving it with you. 

...

Don’t hold onto this boy. Let this boy go and go with him. If you haven’t travelled, he will open your eyes to a world beyond the news and popular perception. He will open your dreams to possibility and reality. He will calm your nerves when you’re about to miss a flight or when your rental blows a flat, because he knows the journey is the adventure. 

SHE SAYS: ALLERGEEEEZ

Tulips in bloom in Ottawa earlier this month 

From the cherry blossom trees lining the streets of Vancouver to Ottawa’s brightly coloured tulips, the country is truly in bloom. Unfortunately for some of us, the pleasures of springtime are obstructed from view as we spend most of the season with our faces buried in a handful of tissue.

Seasonal allergies aren’t exactly a high-profile disease; there’s no colourful ribbon campaign for hay fever and no celebrity spokesperson to offer tips on overcoming itching, watering eyes. Telling someone you have allergies usually garners the same amount of sympathy as mentioning you have a nasty paper cut.

And yet, for a few weeks of the year allergies are so much more than a minor annoyance — they are a totally life-ruining experience.

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MOTHER'S DAY

Only the best things for my gorgeous animal-print loving Mum on Mother's Day. Decadent cake, Rifle Paper Co. card and lots and lots of floral from the inaugural Toronto Flower Market. My brother and I also bought her three new fish for her pond because every amazing mother deserves some scaly new friends on her special day. 

LATELY

 

Spring finally showed up. Which means I want to subsist entirely on patio pizza and Prosecco, Bellwoods beers in the park and soft serve ice cream -- in a cone or in an Americano float from Tampered Press.  

I visited the cherry blossom trees in High Park for the first time ever. It was beautiful and also strange to see so many people descend on the park to photograph themselves/each other among the blossoms. Personally, I think Jen's front yard magnolia tree (which bloomed for approximately 10 seconds) rivaled all the High Park hype. 

I also finally ran my second half marathon. After training all through the winter the run happened to fall on a blisteringly hot Sunday morning. Somehow, I managed to wind my way from Yonge and Sheppard to Ontario place without passing out from heat stroke. I finished in 2:06 - a solid nine minutes faster than my goal and 13 minutes faster than my previous time. We celebrated with our fantastic cheering squad by drinking so many mimosas at the Lakeview.  My legs are now on strike.