Bits & Pieces | Stopping To Smell The Roses

hello blogger, internet,

Sometimes life isn't always roses and rainbows. Sometimes is actually pretty rough and it stinks. Life is messy, it gets stressful, and sometimes it can be extremely overwhelming. It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of work, school, and commitments that we become too busy to take a deep breath and relax. We forget to take in the little moments and just be.

I admit, I am one hundred percent guilty of this. The past semester has been anything but easy and stress free. I get so focused on class and studying and papers and assignments that it can, at times, consume me. And it is exhausting! Who wants that? Not me, that's for sure.

The other day I was walking my horse up to the barn. It was cold. Very cold. In the minuses cold. The ground was frozen and the air was dry and crisp. A light breeze was dancing in the air, brushing my cheeks with its chilling touch. I felt the angst to rush in to the barn to tack up and get on with my ride when something abruptly stopped me in my tracks. It was a foreign yet familiar scent. I breathed it in deeper and a calming rush flooded through my body. I closed my eyes lingering on the scent. Finally the knowing dawned on me.

Backpacking Adventures | Fraser Island, Australia

hello blogger, internet,

The next stop on this adventure down under was a crazy one. A real once in a life time experience and one I will never forget. Fraser Island, located on the Gold Coast of Australia, is a sand island. Yep. The entire island is only sand. It's covered in vegetation, streams and lakes. The roads are all sand. The plumbing and electricity are none existent. Seriously. There's not even outhouses. Wild, I know. The five of us signed up to do a little camping trip there with a touring company (the only way you can go to Fraser Island as a tourist is with a guide). The entire three day trip was all off-roading (sort of, there were roads but they're deep sand so it's basically off-roading style), driving on the beach, swimming in fresh water lakes, making meals on little camp stoves, and making new friends.

The pictures will speak for themselves. But what they won't tell you is how much fun we had. It was incredible. The driving on sand roads and on the beach was an adventure in itself and an insane amount of fun. The ocean is heavily inhabited by sharks so there was no swimming there but the fresh water lakes made up for it completely. The water is infused with natural minerals that come from the pure silicon sand and is extremely good for your skin. Little fish that live in the lake will even take off dead skin if you're still enough. We met some of the funnest people that you could ever imagine travelling with, and what's really cool is two years after the trip me and my friend ran into one of the guys in London. Small world crazy on the other side of the world stuff! Three days isn't a long time but curtesy of an awesome tour company we packed in a ton of memories.

If you ever get the chance to go to the Gold Coast region of Australia, Fraser Island is a must see! I think these photos will show you why...

-m.o

Backpacking Adventures | Australia Zoo

hello blogger, internet,

Back in elementary school when kids were rushing home to watch Teletoons and Ytv, I was rushing home to watch the Crocodile Hunter. So as you can imagine, Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo was at the top of my 'Must See' list when planning this trip to Australia. Already a few years after his passing, Steve's legacy was evident throughout the entire park. As an animal lover I was fascinated to see the work they continue to do in order to preserve the Australian wildlife. It was a really neat place and I loved the opportunity to experience something I had loved as a child. We got to pet Koala bears, spoon with Kangaroos (well I didn't but the boys tried, pretty sure they got bit by the Kangaroos), and see the crocs be fed.

Crikey!

-m.o

Backpacking Adventures | Byron Bay, Australia

hello blogger, internet,

Next stop on my Australian adventure was the town of Byron Bay. The five us bought two tents to share (Don't worry there was a girl tent and a boy tent) and we slept in the backyard of these kind people's vacation home that was across the street from the beach! It was incredible! We did a little hiking and a lot of walking (we walked on the sand for an hour and half with our backpacks from our "campsite" to the greyhound station), but mostly just had fun swimming, jumping in the waves and burying the boys in the sand. It was five utterly fantastic days of showering outside with lizards, playing cards by candle light, experiencing life without electricity and enjoying the incredible scenery.

An incredible once in a life time opportunity.

-m.o

The view from our "campsite"
Kind of incredible....

My Monday Music | Directioners Anonymous

hello blogger, internet,

"My name is Maren"
"I am 22 years old"
"And I'm a directioner"
"Hi Maren" chime the voices in the circle simultaneously at my first ever Directioners Anonymous meeting.

I kid of course, in what is most likely a failed attempt to alleviate the death glares beating down my neck. But fine, I won't lie. Last year while watching X Factor USA with my friends, these five boys sang this adorable little tune about embracing girl's various insecurities, and as someone who works with youth I thought it was cute and relevant. I asked my friends who these young bucks were only to receive shocked expressions in return. This was my introduction to the UK boy band sensation One Direction. My friends got me to listen to a couple of their other songs and yes, I got hooked by the uppidy beats and catchy lyrics, alright? I am not ashamed to admit that. The fact that I was able to tolerate them shocked me considering the bands I typically listen to range from The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons to The Script and Imagine Dragons. Pop isn't really my scene. But nonetheless here we are and I am reviewing One Direction's latest album "Midnight Memories".

In the past I have found that, with the exception to their songs written by Ed Sheeran, although their songs are catchy, lyrically they lack depth. And again although they are catchy the sound isn't actually much of my liking, again with the exception to their songs written by Ed Sheeran. But with today's release of Midnight Memories I feel like some songs are moving towards a more mature sound, which I appreciate. There are less songs on this album with the distracting beats that cloud the fact that the 5 bands members are actually talented singers. I think perhaps that is their problem, a lot of their pop songs don't showcase the fact that they can sing and their lyrics are a little cheesy for the older demographic. But the talent is there.

So without further adieu, I give you my picks from from Midnight Memories...
(oh dear... excuse the videos... but kudos to the die hard fans that put these together so quickly)

-m.o

Backpacking Adventures | Coffs Harbour, Australia

hello blogger, internet,

Next stop on my Australian backpacking adventure: Coffs Harbour. An itty bitty little town where we spent the day exploring on bikes and in canoes.

-m.o

Backpacking Adventures | Sydney, Australia

hello blogger, internet,

I mentioned in my first blog that I wanted to use this blog as an opportunity to go through all my photos and document my travels. Well today is the first day of me doing that! I went through all my photos from when I went to South America back when I was on my tumblr blog and today I am starting with my next trip!

The year following my graduation I decided I wanted to go backpacking around Australia and New Zealand. I invited my best friend to accompany me and we decided to leave in September 2010 for three months. After we decided this, her brother decided to come. And then my other friend decided to come. And then his brother decided to come. Yes. 5 of us were going to spend 11 weeks together, backpacking through Australia and New Zealand. And so, September 6, 2010 we embarked on the trip of a lifetime.

First Stop: Sydney Australia

Unfortunately this particular post will be a little weak in content as I didn't take many photos in Sydney (WHAT! Crazy, I know) but I have an excuse. I was having WAY to much fun to be bothered with photo taking. We were very blessed to be able to stay with an amazing family that openly welcomed us into their home. They must be saints or something to have been willing to take in 5 Canadians they didn't know. I will forever be grateful for their generosity and hospitality. As someone who had never been away from home for longer than two weeks, being gone for 11 weeks was a big deal. The time spent at YVR before our departure was a tearful one. But onward I went and my oh my! What a time I had!

Sydney, Australia is a remarkably beautiful city and of all the cities I have been to, there are only 3 cities outside Canada I would be willing to live in. Sydney is one of them. It is a massive city and there are an endless amount of beaches you can go to. Everywhere you go is incredibly beautiful. I can't wait to go back one day!

-m.o

My Monday Music | You Go Girl

hello blogger, internet,

Guuuuurrrrrrrlss, it's time to get up, put on your big girl panties, hold your head up high, strut your stuff cause YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! I believe that it is agreed worldwide that Mondays suck. Waking up early and imagining the week looming ahead can seem dreadful at times. So this week 'My Monday Music' includes 5 songs that will make you feel like you can take on this Monday with force.

You go girl.

-m.o

Bits & Pieces | Relationships & Communication

hello blogger, internet,

Relationships are hard.

They take trust, honesty, respect, compromise and communication. Many relationships last a long time. And sometimes, over time we get so caught up in the monotonous and routine dynamics of a relationship that communication can break down without us even noticing.

When communication breaks down it means that it is time for a change. To rebuild communication we need to adapt, revise, rethink, alter, or enhance our old ways in order to move forward and reestablish effective communication.

Communication is essential to all our interactions. Whether it be through verbal conversation, text messages, body language, emails, or gestures; we need effective communication in our daily lives. But sometimes when we are communicating our signals get mixed up, our words get misinterpreted. Even with those we have been in relationships with for a long time.

Spelling Test

hello blogger, internet,

I have a confession to make.

I can't spell.

Which is an understatement. I can't spell nor can I comprehend proper grammar. It has actually become a bit of an issue. I will be 23 years old in a couple months and to this very day my dad still has to proof read and edit every single university assignment I have. Every time I pass him a paper he rolls his eyes and then has ask me multiple questions every paragraph trying to figure out what I was trying to say. He laughs at me and I think it all makes sense. Most of the time even spell check can't help me.

Why am I writing about this? Well, because if you plan on following along with my blog (which I hope you do) you may have to bare with me when it comes to spelling and grammar. Honestly, I actually proof read everything I write multiple times, I just can't get it though. So this is my apology in advance to all of the members of the grammar police squad that will cringe at moments because of me. I am seriously trying to get better at this. Hopefully writing more will help!

Happy Wednesday!

-m.o

My Monday Music | What's On Repeat

hello blogger, internet,

this morning while driving I contemplated what I was going to blog about next. While I am driving I always listen to music and lately there has been a few songs I have on repeat because I think they are just so good. And then I thought to myself, maybe people would like to hear some music that has just come out. You may have heard some already but maybe you haven't. I love music in general but I really, really, really, like finding new music that I can get hooked on. After pondering this idea in my car I decided to share some of the songs I'm currently playing on repeat and seeing as it's Monday who doesn't want some new tunes to spark the beginning of the week? And then! I realized it was not Monday. It is Tuesday. Holidays... They throw me off. But regardless I am sharing with you My Monday Music. Maybe I will make this a thing?

Without further adieu, here are my current jams...

my first blog | take two

hello blogger, internet

So only two weeks into my blogging experience and I am already rather frazzled. And as you can tell, I have already started a second blog as a result. I had originally chosen tumblr over blogspot and wordpress because of its focus on photos. But, after two weeks I decided I didn't like using if for blogging. I was able to find some cool accounts that posted some pretty fantastic photography but for the most part is was just a lot of people reblogging other peoples stuff. Which is fine, but I am more interested in seeing people's original content. And as far as finding things to read, tumblr really wasn't the place for that. The formatting tumblr uses for writing is extremely basic and I prefer the way blogspot displays images in blogs over the way tumblr does. But I really like tumblr for posting individual photos.

I am still going to keep my tumblr blog active, but it will just be to share the odd photos. I got a lot more feedback than I had ever anticipated, so thank you to everyone that was so positive and encouraging! I also accumulated some followers on tumblr and I want to continue to develop connections.

As for what this blog will be, I am still not entirely sure. I am still in the process of discovering my "blogger identity" but I am having a bit of fun trying to figure it out. My original plan was to use blogging as a platform to force myself to develop my photography skills and branch out on my writing. And this is still the case. Although it is proving to be much more difficult than anticipated!

Life often gets crazy and between school, work, homework, and barn life it can be very difficult to find the time to do something like photography. But I really wan to challenge myself to do more with it, so my goal is to at least once or twice a week pick up my camera and go out and take pictures of something, anything that inspires me or that I just simply find beautiful. The writing part of blogging is going to be more difficult I think. Trying to find things to write about seems easy but when you put the keyboard in front of you it suddenly all seems foggy. Possible writers block? Perhaps. But honestly I think it has more to do with not know what people want to read. Unfortunately being a full time student and working part time, my life isn't that exciting and nobody wants to read about someone studying or writing papers! Hopefully over time I will find things to write about and I am open to suggestions!

Before closing this entry, I want to pay some attention to today's holiday. For anyone that knows me I am, extremely, extremely proud to be a Canadian. Remembrance Day is a day where we all can be reminded of how blessed we are to live in a country where we have freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to be who we are. I am so extremely grateful to every single person who has played and does play a role in our freedom. And what better way to spend Remembrance than to spend it with those you are blessed with. Not often are there days where every member of my family has a clear schedule but today was one of those wonderful days.

After I slept in and took my horse for a ride, I got to spend the afternoon with my parents, sister and brother-in-law, and adorable nephew and their dog at the pond. Although there was a chill crispness in the air, the sun was shining, the clouds were dry and it was a beautiful day! There's nothing I love more than being with my family and being with them outside in the sun is an added bonus. And another bonus, this day provided me with the opportunity to have some up to date photos taken of myself and my family, curtesy of my lovely sister (photo above). Oh how I love sun flares and natural lighting!

I feel so blessed to live in a place where people care enough to fight for my freedom so I am able to have amazing days like this to spend with the people I love.

-m.o

ps. I would really really really appreciate anyone that would comment telling me some awesome blogs to follow. I'm still super new to this and I've found some amazing photography ones but would love to read some with more written, original content. I like reading pretty much anything but horsey things are always loved, stuff about gluten free, dairy free, egg free lifestyles would be extremely helpful, and seeing's my studies are focused around mental health, human rights, social change, etc stuff like that would also be cool to read about. Thanks!