In A Nut Shell

THINGS I.....LOVE/ LIKE/ APPRECIATE:

-My sister (♥)
-My family (immediate and extended, close and less so)
-Mes amies! All of them!
-RUNNING! (especially @ dawn and dusk)
-Music! (rock, alternative, classical, indie, local, SOME hip hop/rap/country)
-Singing (!)
-Children
-Yoga
-Tea
-Popcorn
-Honesty
-Open mindedness
-Animals
-The song “What a Wonderful World” (Louis Armstrong version = all time favourite song EVER!)
-Cranking the radio when your favourite or a rare song is played
-When lyrics are printed in the c.d. booklet
-School/ learning
-McMaster (this may brand me as geek, but I've always known this, so I'm not offended)
-The books: East of Eden (Steinbeck); Tuesday's with Morrie (Albom); Life of Pi (Martel); Written on the Body (Winterson)
-Nature
-Sunshine
-Spring
-Autumn
-The Leafs
-The YMCA
-Parkview
-Laughing
-Homemade cards/ gifts
-Drives to anywhere or nowhere, especially when there are good tunes
-Good conversation
-Sarah Brightman, Muse, DMB
-People who are not fake
-Muskoka and everything about it
-Muskoka mornings
-Muskoka evenings/ nights
-Fishing with my dad in Muskoka
-Getting dressed up
-Staying in my p.j.’s all day
-Prince William, Ryan Gosling, and Paul Rudd
-Memories
-Nostaligic music on Sunday's (i.e. music from the 30's, 40's and early 50's)
-Black and White films and shows, particulairly Laurel and Hardy, The Honeymooners, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, etc...
-Snow
-Christmas time (music, lights, spirit...)
-The people I work with
-The people I go to school with
-People in my life who do not fall into the above two categories
-Photos of the past
-Cucumbers
-Strawberries
-Movie previews
- The free magazine you get at the theatre
-The relentless, painful, insatiable hunger for perfection
-Sounds:
* The violin!
* Acoustic guitar!
* The screechy sound made by sliding fingers on an acoustic strings
* An orchestra warming up (i.e. each instrument being tuned all at the same time)
* Live music
* Children’s laughter
* Skate blades on newly surfaced ice
* Song birds
* Rain on the cottage roof or on the lake
* Thunder
* My name following “And the winner is….”
* Trickling streams
* Crickets
* Loon call
* The crackle of a campfire
-Smells:
* Fresh flowers
* Flower shops
* Muskoka mornings
* Gasoline (sick, i know)
* After-rain smell
* Campfire smell (i guess thats smoke, ha)
* The smell of the Stoney Creek Co-op Preschool
* Channel No. 5 <3
* Gap Heaven
* Men’s deodorant
* New Car Smell
* Noxema
* Lilacs
-Feels/ Touch:
* Being warm
* Hugging
* Kissing
* Being told “I love you”
* The boom you feel in your chest at live rock concerts (do you understand what I mean by this?)
* The physical and emotional feeling of accomplishment and fatigue after a run
* Of making another person’s day (however big or small)
* The feeling of safety
-Sights:
* Smiles put on other people's faces
* Sunsets
* GST cheques and tax returns in my mailbox (even more once they get deposited... they always have perfect timing)
* Seeing the finish line

HATE/ DISLIKE/ DO NOT APPRECIATE:
-Capitalism
-Social inequality
-Global Warming (and people who think it is false)
-People who are fake, deceptive, manipulative, untrustworthy, etc, etc
-People who have a superiority complex
-People who do not take the time to try to understand other peoples’ lives and circumstances before passing judgment
-The relentless, painful, insatiable hunger for perfection : (
-The hours of 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
-Stress
-The word "hot" to describe a human being (people can be beautiful, handsome, stunning, cute, pretty, georgous, debonaire and a plethora of other adjectives... "hot" is a cop out from using your brain to describe what you REALLY see or feel for another person, and it makes people sound like pieces of beef... which is bad for your colon)
-Beef (and other assorted meats)
-Snow that is not enough to cancel school
-Wind, combined with rain and/ or snow
-Cowards
-Anyone who calls Britney Spears a "musician",an "artist", or "good". She's nothing other than RIDICULOUS!
-Lindsay Lohen and Paris Hilton. I just think they are unnecessary.
-CANCER
-Spitefulness
-Gum crackers
-Sedentary lifestyles
-Cold and being cold
-Doctors (or maybe just mine)
-Guys who do a set of weights for 6 minutes, and do a set of checking themselves out in the mirror for 15 minutes.
-The fact that beauty standards are significantly higher for females than for males
-The fact that there is no universal dental care plan in Canada
-The fact that McGuinty d-listed eye exams
-The government for its failure to identify a greater importance in the need for the funding of child care programs, eating disorder treatment, treatment of mental illnesses, and special needs resources and education
-The fact that kids, tweens, and teens dress like (sometimes better than) adults
-Narcissism
-Gluttony
-Closed mindedness
-Prevailing attitudes emphasizing sexism, heterosexism, ableism, ageism, racism, classism, ethnocentrism, etc…
-The myth of meritocracy
-Smog days
-Tuition costs
-Hidden fees, user fees, start-up fees, service fees, cancellation fees, ancillary fees...
-Insomnia (all too familiar with it : ( )
-Stop signs on every street corner
-Answering the question: "Where do you get your protein?". (SERIOUSLY! If I wasn't getting protein I'd be dead! DO I LOOK DEAD TO YOU?? COME ON!)

To be continued….