I’m finally getting to these two tags! Yaaaaay! Thank you Adriana Gabrielle @ The Librarian Files and Liz Brooks @ Out of Coffee Out of Mind for tagging me in the Tag of Happiness. Liz also tagged me in the One Lovely Blog Award, but seeing as I already did that one a while back I’m going to skip it since it’s kind of similar to the Dragon’s Loyalty Award. Thank you Sara Letourneau for tagging me in that one. ^ ^ As promised I’m going to tell you guys about my trip in Canada in this tag! Whoop whoop! I’m going to be discussing my experiences in Canada and some big differences with the USA and Canada.
Let’s get to it!
Some songs that make you happy –
1.) Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men – This is my favorite song on the planet. I’ve learned it on the piano and every time I hear it I feel inspired to be brave and elated by the fantasy world portrayed in the song.
2.) Fireflies by Owl City – This song got me into technopop. It still makes me happy and want to dance every time I hear it. I’m a total night owl, so this song fits me so well.
3.) Krone from the Guilty Crown Soundtrack – This song comes from my favorite anime ever. I have broken down in sobs listening to the beauty of this song. It’s just so supremely epic and emotional.
4.) Crystals by Of Monsters and Men – I cried at the first listen of this song. Literal tears. It’s such a neat song of reflection and forgiveness. I love it so much!
5.) Peace from the Avatar: The Last Airbender Soundtrack – It’s just … so … gorgeous.
Some books that make you happy –
1.) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien – I grew up on these books. They’re such a huge part of my life. I love these books and movies so much I made a whole post about them.
2.) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis – Another series I grew up on. It’s one of the books that inspired me to write.
3.) The Jevin Banks series by Steven James – These books tackle so much cool theology. I adore them.
4.) Curio by Evangeline Denmark – STEAMPUNK!
5.) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – These books have such a mix of happy and sad, but I love them.
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| What I have to tell myself when I’m fangirling over these. |
Some movies that make you happy –
1.) Howl’s Moving Castle – I didn’t realize just how much I loved this movie until I just recently watched it with my best friend. It’s such a cute movie.
2.) Ever After – I love this retelling of Cinderella. ^ ^ It’s my favorite, so much so I wrote a post about it.
3.) Thor – He’s my favorite Avenger. ‘Nuff said.
4.) The Avengers: Age of Ultron – I love the depth this movie went into with the characters and Ultron was such a wicked bad guy.
5.) How to Train Your Dragon – Toothless just toothless.
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| Super Cleaner! |
Some shows that make you happy –
1.) Castle – He’s my writer spirit animal.
2.) RWBY – It’s also a gun. 😉
3.) Avatar: The Last Airbender – Kung Fu bending. Yasssss!
4.) Fruits Basket – This show makes me cry and laugh at the same time.
5.) Arrow – I love Felicity so much.
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| Gosh I love him so much. XD |
Some foods that make you happy –
1.) Steak – Ribeye juicy steak makes me one of the happiest people in the world. I will stop talking to the person across from me just so I can enjoy the beautiful meat that is steak.
2.) Ham – My second favorite meat on the planet is ham, especially roast ham. I will devour it in ecstasy.
3.) Tea – I drink tea when I’m happy, sad, writing, sick … Tea solves all problems. Okay? OKAY?!
4.) Longans – This is a special kind of fruit I used to get from my uncle in Miami. I thought I’d never eat it again since it’s not a commonly sold fruit then I found it one day in Buford Market (it sells foods from around the world) and I was so overjoyed. I’ve also found them at Hmart and they make me so happy.
5.) Pumpkin Seeds – Every fall I carve pumpkins and toast the seeds and they taste amaaaaaziiiiing.
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| Longans are little balls of joy and happiness. |
Some words that make you happy –
1.) Empyreal – I just recently had this word for Wonderful Word Wednesdays and it’s such a cool looking word!
adjective
1. pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients.
2. pertaining to the sky; celestial:
empyreal blue.
3. formed of pure fire or light: empyreal radiance.
2.) Cacophonous – This word has been a favorite for years. I love saying it out loud and you’ll find it in my writing occasionally. 😉
adjective
1. having a harsh or discordant sound.
3.) Tintinnabulation – I heard this word first in “The Raven.” I’ve rarely been able to use it, but it’s so fun to say.
noun
1. the ringing or sound of bells.
4.) Rime – I’ve always loved this word since the first time I’ve heard it. It’s such a cool word!
noun
1. Also called rime ice. an opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles, caused by the rapid freezing of supercooled water droplets on impact with an object.
Compare frost (def 3), glaze (def 17).
verb (used with object), rimed, riming.
2. to cover with rime or hoarfrost.
5.) Gossamer – This word has so many uses!
noun
1. a fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in autumn.
2. a thread or a web of this substance.
3. an extremely delicate variety of gauze, used especially for veils.
4. any thin, light fabric.
5. something extremely light, flimsy, or delicate.
6. a thin, waterproof outer garment, especially for women.
adjective
7. Also, gossamery [gos-uh-muh-ree] (Show IPA), gossamered. of or like gossamer; thin and light.
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| You thought an Elsa gif would be here didn’t you? |
Some scents that make you happy –
1.) Leather – I loooooooooooove the scents of leather. When I got leather bag for Christmas I couldn’t stop smelling it. I still just inhale the glorious scents of leather on occasion. Did I say that out loud?
2.) Baking Earl Grey Cookies – I have this fantastic recipe for chocolate earl grey cookies. They are some of the best cookies that have ever graced my taste buds and they smell like heaven while baking.
3.) Garlic and Onions Cooking in Olive Oil – Can you tell I like to cook yet? The smell of these three substances is such a fantastic combination and it’s a base for many of the dishes I make.
4.) Spring Flowers – I love the sweet smell of cherry blossoms, Bradford pears, roses, and other flowers during the cool months of the early spring.
5.) Old Books – I will often just open an old book just to smell the inside.
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| I especially love sakura blossoms. |
Some random things that make you happy –
1.) Seeing Movies at Early Showings – I absolutely love going to movies at this time. This is when the movie goers are pumped to see this film. You are surrounded by fans! It’s so coooool! You get a convention feel going on.
2.) Griffins – These are some of my favorite mythical beasts and I don’t see them too much in books. I love them. *hugs griffin*
3.) Snow – I live in Georgia and only once in a blue moon do we get snow (more often the past few years but still …) so any time we actually get some and the world is covered in pristine white I’m like a kid in a candy shop.
4.) Anime – I. Love. Anime. Anime is amazing and deep and funny and beautifully animated (2D animation for the win!) and it’s just awesome. I’ve written a bunch of posts about it because I love it so much.
5.) King’s Quest PC Game Series – This is an old series of games I grew up with that I absolutely love. Nostalgia blast any time I think of them. They helped inspire me to write. ^ ^
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| Isn’t he epic?! |
Fact 1.) Language – Canadians definitely have an accent, but it varies per person. Cassia for example has a light accent and only certain words are pronounced differently. On the other hand her parents’ accents are pretty strong. Canadians tend to pronounce their vowels longer for example “pasta” is typically pronounced by an American as “pah-stah” while Canadians pronounce it “paa-staa.” Italian is pronounced “Eye-Talian” as opposed to “Ih-talian.” Semi Truck is pronounced “sem-ee” as opposed to “sem-eye.” The about/out thing is definitely true, but if varies on how strongly it’s said.
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| Washrooms |
A lot of people know that Canadians “eh” or “hey.” They use it like an American says “Right?” or “Okay?” For example: “You’re thinking of going to the waterpark, eh?” or “That’s pretty cool, hey?”
Also, Canadians call objects different things than Americans. They call soda “pop,” beanies and “toques” (pronounced Took like Peregrine Took), tennis shoes or cleats “runners,” and bathrooms are “washrooms.” They measure their roads in kilometers instead of miles and use Celsius and they said “Maximum” instead of Speed Limit on their road signs.
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| Canada Dry with French on it! |
Also while at least in my area of the USA (Georgia), the alternative language is Spanish. In Alberta, Canada, it’s French. You’ll over see French on the flipside of food packages or next to the English on signs. I overheard a lot of Russian, French, and Scandinavian languages while doing many touristy attractions such as the Tellus Museum.
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| A giant Rubik’s Cube at Tellus Museum! |
Fact 2.) Currency – Though Canadian moneys are called dollars like the States, the money looks and works differently. Canadian money is actually now made of plastic. There are few cloth/paper bills floating around, but they’re less common. Their money sports the Queen or prime minister as opposed to our presidents. Their $100 bills are gold, $50 bills are red, $20 bills are green, $10 bills are purple, and $5 are blue. Toonies or two dollars and loonies or one dollars are coins. Then they have 25 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents coins. They don’t have pennies anymore and they always round the totals to the nearest five.
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| Canadian monies! |
Fact 3.) Food – The food here is pretty similar to the States. They have some different things than us like Cassia’s family uses Beccel (pronounced “Bay-sehl”) aka margarine instead of butter usually and this really tasty tea made with a powder like lemonade.
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| Jugo Juice! |
They have many of our chain restaurants like KFC, Taco Bell, Starbucks, and DQ, then they have their own ones like Panago (a really good pizza place), Jugo Juice (smoothie/wrap place) and the all famous Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons is a cafe/eatery that is Canadian-based. They’re everywhere, even more than McDonald’s in the states. There will be three within a mile and they’re all packed. It’s crazy.
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| Tim Horton’s next to a Wendy’s |
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| My first Tim Horton’s! |
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| Dairy Queen! |
Fact 4.) Environment – I came during an abnormally hot winter, but still it’s normally much colder here than most parts of the States. The temperatures in Alberta can reach -4o. The coldest I’ve experienced is 19, which I’ve experienced before in Georgia. Because of the cold weather there are a lot more coniferous trees here such as furs and spruces as well as different deciduous trees such as Mountain Ash. There are also a lot of mountains and prairies here.
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| Cassia took these fantastic pics of me at Elk Island Provincial Reserve |
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| The birch forest is so gorgeous. |
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| I’m standing in a frozen marsh here. |
The wildlife is different here. They have moose. I haven’t seen one, but I have seen the tracks and they’re HUGE! They’re as big as my face! Elk, magpies, prairie dogs, and muskrats.
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| This is a pic of a gigantic moosetrack! |
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| Mountain Ash |
Fact 5.) Laws – Several of the laws here are different like you have to slow down if a policeman has pulled someone over on the road, you’ll be fined if you don’t recycle, citizens can’t carry guns (which I don’t agree with, but that’s a can of worms I won’t open. *puts can opener behind my back), and also pepper spray is considered a dangerous weapon. I sorta almost got in biiiiiig trouble with customs because I brought pepper spray over. I live in Atlanta. I like being protected. XD
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| We wouldn’t break any laws … |
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| we’re too innocent. |
Fact 6.) Stores – Canada has a lot of stores that the United States has such as Claire’s, Walmart, Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle, Michael’s, PetSmart, and H&M. But they also have Roots (which is like a Canadian Abercrombie and Fitch), David’s Tea (It’s like Teavana, but not as expensive), Chapters (It’s like Barnes and Noble but with more home goods), Lush (This totally rad soap store that I found out has stores in Atlanta, but it’s originally from Canada), and Hudson’s Bay (This is the oldest incorporated company in the world. It’s like a JCPenny or Macy’s).
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| Legos of Cassia, Cassidy, and I’s characters! Mor from Red Hood is on the right. 😉 |
Fact 7.) Kinder Eggs & Nathan Fillion – These are two of my favorite Canadian things (besides Cassia of course). Kinder Eggs are banned in the United States, because they formally had tiny parts that were choking hazards, but they’re AMAZING! They’re these chocolate and cream eggs with toys inside! I got a kitty that goes into a basket, a spinning top, a dragon, and, my personal favorite, a little monster that has stegosaurus spikes that are crayons! I call it Crayomonster.
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| Kinder eggs! |
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| Kinder eggs! |
And now to Nathan Fillion. I’ve mentioned before … a few times that Nathan Fillion is one of my favorite actors. Cassia’s dad happens to have been friends with Nathan Fillion in college AND I ACTUALLY WENT TO HER DAD’S HOUSE WHERE NATHAN’S WROTE HIS NAME ON A BENCH IN THE GARAGE! And I went skiing ten minutes away from where he used to live and I walked on Whyte Ave which was a ten minute walk from the UVA where he went to school. I had too many fangirling moments over this. If I ever meet Nathan Fillion (which I plan to do before I die), I’m going to show him this picture.
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| This says “Steve as a babe running from bath time. See ya, Steve! Nathan Fillion” |
The Nominees:
If you’ve already done both of these takes more power to you, but if you haven’t you’re welcome to take from either of these tags or not at all. Whatever you want to do, just know I’m thinking about you. XD
1.) Emily @ Camo & Pearls
2.) Alison @ Alison’s Wonderland Recipes
3.) Cassia @ Dimensions in my Universe
4.) Lily @ Lily’s Notes in the Margins
5.) Bethany @ Forgotten Featherpen
See what Canada is like from the perspective of a Canadian coming on the second Saturday of next month! And that’s it! *goes back to being snuggly near the fire against the cold winter of Canada*
