The Weekender - A Home from Home

This past weekend I went to a lovely city called Toronto. Toronto is one of my favourite cities. There's always plenty of activities to do, and it truly embraces the culture of the world. You see a different form of art everywhere you look and after all these years of visiting this city, I still never get bored of it. Each journey is new and today I would like to share my most recent visit.

My first day of the trip was on Friday. Technically not the weekend, but I wanted to spend a full three days there. I was there to visit one of my best friends and it was truly a blast. I flew to Toronto early in the morning and was exhausted, but it was well worth it. When I got there, I dropped off my luggage and decided it was time to shop. And truth be told, we did a lot of that. I stayed on campus with my friend, and the view was gorgeous. I really wish I had that view where I live (but maybe it will happen someday soon). Before shopping, we decided that I should walk around the campus a little bit. After all, University of Toronto is stunning.

A beautiful view from my friend's room!

The Hidden Tree

On our way to more adventures

Having a chat with my bud!

A part of Victoria College
These beautiful colours can really capture one's eye.

 As I said before, we did a lot of shopping! I had the chance to shop in the Eaton Centre, all down Queen Street West, Yonge Street and Bloor Street! I had so much fun! I did not buy as much as I expected, but I am quite happy with my purchases! Here are a couple of photographs that I took while shopping in the Eaton Centre! The Christmas lights were stunning and I was officially brought into the Christmas mood!

A three-story-tall Christmas Tree. Absolutely gorgeous!

These reindeer were everywhere! As you can see, they were quite large...

After shopping, I also went on an adventure in the nightlife of the city. Again, Christmas was everywhere. I love the effort that city workers make to imp rose the overall view of Toronto! It allows it to be so much more mesmerizing. It ties both Christmas spirit and family and friends together. It is just breath-taking!

A secret park near Bay Street Subway Station.
 Can you tell I love Christmas trees?

Indigo Christmas tree!

Bloor Street lights? Yes please!

And finally.... the food. I am never disappointed when I go to any restaurant because there is always a large amount of selection to choose from! I decided to pick a couple of favourites (Fickle and The Loving Hut) and a few new places to eat such as The Pickle Barrel!

The neatest Thai restaurant on Yonge Street! Delicious food and great prices!
If you are in the area, I would STRONGLY suggest to check it out!
Fickle

Casually sitting behind a MASSIVE chocolate milkshake!
Might I add it was delicious?
The Pickle Barrel

At my favourite organic restaurant
in the Queen Street area!
The Loving Hut

And last but certainly not least I spent the majority of my time on Sunday at the Christmas Parade! It was so much fun and very interesting to observe the huge variety of floats and costumes! Believe it or not, the parade was about two and a half hours long! I was there about one hour early to get a good spot and it was quite fun to spend the time waiting with my friend! We had good laughs and good chats. At the end of the day I wanted to spend my last hour on Bloor Street admiring the Christmas lights on the street. I'm still mesmerized and can't wait to visit again!

Waiting for the Parade to begin, admiring the fall leaves
and beautiful weather we had!

Me and Tim Hortons work well together.
It was the perfect touch while waiting outside!

As I said before, they had many interesting floats passing by! One of my favourites in particular was the One Direction one! It was so much fun as they were playing their music. (And I secretly wished they would pop out of no where.....)

After the two and a half hours of watching the parade, we finally saw Santa!
I am definitely still a child at heart.

So as you can see, this post was quite picture-heavy. I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit this city and my friend. I hope to go back soon! There are so many different and unique things to do in a city so large. I enjoyed myself down there and it was a good break from the reality of university. It's definitely worth treating yourself to a small trip if you have the opportunity to do so.

Much love,

JessicaLynn

Music Monday - Sam Garrett

I have had an immense passion for music for as long as I can remember. Around the age of five, I began playing piano. I did not compete, nor was I pushed by my parents to practice every single day of the year. When I was younger, I just enjoyed creating my own little pieces, and playing pieces that were given to me. That lasted about fourteen years. I absolutely loved it and I feel that maybe one day I will get back into it. I sadly stopped this year due to school, but I have hopes to someday go back to it. I have also played the flute for seven years, and guitar for four years. Both piano and flute were learned through private lessons, and guitar was just a stringed instrument that I loved the sound of. Believe it or not, I taught myself.

This is the reason that I am creating a "Music Monday" post today. During my musician years to this present day, I have always been on the search for new artists or ones that aren't so mainstream. I appreciate many different genres of music, and listen to them based on my mood for the day, based on the weather or based on the upcoming holiday *cough cough - CHRISTMAS*. My iPod is filled with as many different songs as possible and I am still on the hunt for more.

Today I have felt more calm and collective; my excuse is that it's Monday. I was one the search for something that is relaxing, and perhaps more of an acoustic tune. Thanks to a lovely YouTuber called Ben Brown (an awesome daily vlogger) who is friends with this artist and who also featured one of his songs in his vlogs, I have found someone called Sam Garret. I have never heard of him before and the moment I heard his voice, I was captured.

This man seriously has the voice of an angel. He is unique and definitely can change octaves like there is no tomorrow.  He deserves a lot more credit and I have hopes that he becomes very successful in life. It is so nice to hear a change in the music I've been listening to lately, and I was speechless at the talent presented! It was perfect for my mood today and every song of his is on repeat.

Here is one of my favourite songs from his YouTube channel! These lyrics also have such deep meaning - which makes everything even better.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I'm hoping to do more Music Mondays or such things similar! Let me know what you think!

P.S. He also has an EP out on iTunes that I just bought; it's called Be Easy.
P.P.S. Check out Ben Brown on YouTube if you are up for an adventure in England and even more places around the world! I love watching daily vlogs because it gives me so much more perspective on the world!

Much love,
JessicaLynn