nothing is cuter than cats

Yesterday, I discovered a new place to add to my list of "Tatiana's Ideal Volunteer Positions"- the SPCA.

Why?

All you have to do is pet cats!

Recently, I've felt a little bit superfluous. Witness my blood donating (which was accurate in this case too- witness all the scratches I recieved) and my library volunteering and my reading of classics- these might not world-shaking actions, but they're my contribution to society. I'd been thinking of volunteering more, and the SPCA is right near my school... so, I thought, why not?

Plus, I'm already a cat expert/future crazy cat lady, so I might as well share my expertise! This may seem like an idle boast but if you saw the number of cat books I read when I was little... (I even named all the cats on my posters. And cat pictures I saw in books. That is dedication.)

Regardless, when I showed up, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. At first I felt as thought I was cheating them (let's face it, as enjoyable as petting cats is, it's not the usual amount of work I associate with volunteering) but then I realised: it is my duty to help these cats NOT become like Darcy... aka: apt to run and hide from everyone, meowing constantly in a sad tone for no apparent reason, time-travelling aside. (This is a Serious Mission.)

...also they were just so cute and cuddly and omg how could anyone not want to play with them? (Kitten love!) I could literally feel my heart slowing down. (Which sounds vaguely corpselike... but I mean it in a good way.)  It was better than meditation! (Whenever I try to meditate I get distracted and usually start thinking about food. And then I make myself hungry and am even more distracted and just give up the entire endeavor.)

I can't even post photos because the cuteness quotient would be too overwhelming and I don't want your screen to explode

I did, however, feel sorry for the people who encountered me in my visit to the grocery store directly afterwards. I was so covered in fur that I could have been mistaken for a yeti... but don't worry, I tried to stay away from the produce. (People with cat allergies: I apologise.)

my cat is a time traveller

I used to think that my cat was just clueless, but I have recently realised that there is a method to her madness other than pure stupidity. (Sad confession: she now looks at us when we say 'stupid' or 'dumb' because she knows we are most likely talking to her. And purrs. I'm not sure who this reflects worse on...) It's clear: she must be a time traveller!

I came to this conclusion after observing her in her natural habitat (the kitchen, the living room, and the furry spot on my bed) for several mornings. Some days, she is affectionate... Too much so. In her haste to accost us, she often trips and runs into the door. (Like pet like owner...) This is probably because she has been away and misses us desperately.

Other days, she runs back and forth across the kitchen. Not just once: six or seven times in a row. (As you can imagine, this makes preparing food difficult and also provides an occasion for her to steal mango, arugula, and buns from our plates... snacks for her trip?) This is because she's trying to augment her speed enough to fly away... and when she subsequently disappears, she's not just in the darkest deepest corner under the bed: she's in another universe!

All this running also makes it puzzling that, some days, she seems plumper than others. While this could be ascribed to eating the houseplants, time travel seems a far more reasonable explanation. All those gravitational forces can't be good for a girl! (However, now that I think of it, neither can eating the plants. I think some of them are poisonous... which might also account for the brain damage...) 

Seriously. It all makes sense now. She's the perfect example of a mad scientist, right down to the crazy hair! (She's so absorbed in time travel that our other cat has to bathe her.)

Happy Friday, blog ninjas! What are your odd pet theories?

letters to the universe

Dear Death Cab for Cutie: omg I love you except you just make me want to cry and omg never again will I listen to you at the library because the tears are a tad embarassing...

Dear Spring: where are you? We have had one sunny day in the past month. ONE. And today it's hailing. Get over here soon before I decide to move to another warmer country! #notimpressed (Okay I'm not altogether sure why you would be perturbed by such a threat... but still. Be very scared.)

Dear Pakistani Tea: at least I have you to comfort me. You're cooking on the stove and I can smell you all the way upstairs... mmmm. If only I had a warm fire to cuddle by... or someone to cuddle with...

Dear Kitties: I guess I have you... except the two of you take up my entire bed. And have also covered it in fur. Thanks so much.

Also, why do you eat mango? Off my plate? Are you really a cat?

Good thing you're cute. Or I would toss you outside. (Okay no I don't want to go outside... maybe just lock you into the bathtub. No wait you like licking the bathtub... I give up)

Dear Charles Dickens: okay so you might be dead (but you live on in Doctor Who! so it's all good... I think my new life ambition is to be featured in Doctor Who. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF) but your books are amazing... plans for the day= made.

Dear The Fountainhead: you on the other hand I could do without. Although I admire your concepts... I could have done with some shorter speeches... (aka, ones less than five pages long) However I hear your brother-book Atlas Shrugged has one that is a full 30 000 words, so I should simply be grateful I escaped reading that... 

Seriously though. A character is a character. A philosophical concept is a philosophical concept. The two should not mix.

Happy Friday, blog ninjas!

sunny day confessions

It's actually gorgeous outside today, so this title isn't wishful thinking!

-It still feels bizarre to be blogging under my real name... but I like it.

-Even more bizarre? I am incapable of pronouncing my own name. I love hearing other people say it, but the way I say it just sounds stilted. (This makes introducing myself difficult...)

-Older ladies often tell me I'm gorgeous but I rarely hear this from people my own age. This confirms my suspicion that I was born in the wrong age.

-Even my mother has now accepted I will be a Crazy Cat Lady... just look at what she gave me for Valentine's Day!

(Hint: it wasn't the clothes... Also, apology for the slightly creepy smile, blame it on the awkward changeroom lighting!)

-The thought of prom is a bit dispiriting right now. Everyone's talking about their dresses, dates, etc, and all I can think is a) I have no idea where to look for my dress b) I'm probably going to be the only one without a date (in a graduating class of ten people, this is not an exaggeration) and c) what if, when I find my dress, it doesn't fit?


-This weekend is going to be a total Chocolate/Junk In General Overload... but whatever, it's so delicious and it's just one weekend, right? (Except it's three days instead of two... oh well, living in a chocolate buzz makes the extra calories worth it!) (Hm... maybe this is why I have no prom date? And why I worry about fitting into a dress? Shhhh)

-I'm scared of putting gas into the van by myself. I'm worried that, just as I put in the nozzle, someone will leap out and kidnap me.

-I'm addicted to this line of body products.

They all smell absolutely luscious- like candied fruit and dessert and everything nice- and I can't stop using them! (Thank you once again, Mum and Sephora.)

What do you have to confess?

winner, hopefully always

So... I won a giveaway! Of this gorgeous necklace! How exciting is that? (The answer is, through the roof!) It was held by the lovely Laura over at Blue Eyed Night Owl and featured a necklace from Khrystyna's beautiful shop. (If you want to win something this beautiful, head on over to her blog- she's having a giveaway now too!) I can't wait to wear it- a great way to jazz up my uniform for sure. 

On a slightly related note: did you know that... a lobster's blood is clear until it hits oxygen, then it becomes blue?

Nope. Me neither... but now we do! And there's your useless fact of the day.

Where does this come from, you may ask? Why did you need to look this up and share it with us?

Well. You might not have realised this (it doesn't really come up in my posts) but... I have an intensely competitive nature. Like, about everything. When I was younger, I used to say I had bigger feet than I really did because one of my friends had larger feet than I did and I wanted to 'beat' her... (Typing this makes it all seem incoherent and ridiculous, but it was A BIG DEAL for quite a while- see the pun?) I'd like to say that this tendency diminished through the years, but unfortunately it hasn't.

So, now that I am one of two students in my math class... IT IS ON. 

How does science come into this, you might ask? Well, he also happens to be in my chemistry class, and every single day, he comes up with random facts that are somehow also related to the lesson. He's like an encyclopedia... and it's driving me insane.  

(Kori and I now have conversations composed entirely of "Did you know?" A sample here:

"Did you know that this hot chocolate is hot?" 

"Did you know that James Bond has a cousin named Ionic?" 

and my personal favourite..."Did you know that my breasts can tell when it's raining?" Please tell me you catch the reference!) 

So does anyone know any fascinating science facts I could share?

Also, just cause...

Drinking this would simply be cruel...

...but not as cruel as this.

shoes and dresses and yoga, oh my!

Good morning dearest ninjas! (Now that I've typed it, that greeting seems a little presumptuous. It's morning now and here, but who am I to say that when you're reading this it'll be morning in your time zone? However, I can't think of anything better to say, so hopefully that's acceptable.) I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a week! I would like to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of exams and work: really, I haven't done anything noteworthy enough to blog about. Nor have I even thought anything interesting. (Sad. So sad.)

However, yesterday... I DROVE to go SHOPPING. (Yes. Caps lock definitely necessary.) The fact that I can drive myself places has yet to lose its thrill... although staring at the road for an hour was less than exciting.

However.. Urban Outfitters. LOVE. It's so self-consciously hipster (and there is no way I'll ever fit into that perception of cool... I have no interest in listening to Pink Floyd, nor am I able to wear beige clothes because I'm too pale. I'm not sure why that's a hipster thing, but all the hipster stores are filled with beige clothes and it's NOT FAIR) that it's almost clichéd... but it's lovely anyway. Just look at this dress! (So Great Gatsby. Sigh.)

Also, kitty ears! (Yes. Crazy cat lady alert... or should I say ear-lert? Hahaha!)

But really, what takes the prize (both for cute and crazy factor) are my new shoes. There is no way you can believe these to be anything less than the most darling creations on Earth. (Look at that wonderful sentence construction. My English teacher would be so impressed.)

Or... this sweater.

-insert photo here- 

It's bulky yet also colourful and fancy. It's the sort of thing I'll reach for when I feel lazy but also want to look good (so, most of my life). (And it's Desigual. LOVE.) Why is there not a real photo, you ask? Because tomorrow... I'm going to make another tea vlog. And I will wear it. And you will all be in awe of its beauty.

(Aka: I want you to watch my vlog, so I'm building suspense. Is it working?)


Following this delightful exercursion, I headed off to hot yoga with Erika. Have any of you ever done hot yoga? What did you think of it? Personally, I thought I might drown in a pool of sweat and humidity. Even just walking into the room made me wonder if I had been transported to the Sahara desert.

I hadn't realised just how tense I was. Every time the instructor mentioned 'loosening your shoulders' I realised I didn't really even have shoulders- more like a steel bar connecting one side to the other. (And don't even get me started on the back bends. Everyone's neck was pressed to the floor and I was just sitting there like... yeah, I can barely turn my head...) However, I definitely felt better after- just the thing to remedy an excess of exams.

...and when I say 'excess', that means I've done one.

I'm off to study for math- joy. Hope you're all having a lovely weekend too! I probably won't be posting much next week either, as exams continue and I work everyday afterwards... my glamourous life. Try not to miss me too much! (Actually, no. Miss me muchly, so that you'll continue needing to read my blog.)

this is not a great start to the weekend

DEFCON ONE! (Is that the worst, or the least? No matter, I think Defcon itself should be enough of a warning.) ALERT, ALERT! Something tragic has occured. Prepare yourself for heartbreaking news...

I can't find my cellphone cord.

I have literally just searched my room for about thirty minutes. (And it's really not that big. Picture a public bathroom in a gas station, and there you are... ok, maybe not quite, but almost!) During this search, I have come to several conclusions:

-Under my bed is REALLY dusty and I should sweep more.
-I have a lot of clothes, and I need either to get rid of some of them or get a bigger dresser. (The second option seems more valid...)
-Unplugging the cord from the charger was stupid. (I actually have no idea why I did this.)
- My cat probably stole it, and I will never find it again.
-Blackberry is evil. Why else would they make a plug-in that is a different size from the fifty other cords we have lying around our house?

Why the big deal, you ask? Are you shaking your head, thinking, "Wow, she's already an addict?" Actually, for once, this is not about texting. This is about the fact that I wanted to put this as my background:

Yes. Cute pictures are serious business.

EDIT: so it is now thirty seconds after I posted this... and I found my cord sitting on the kitchen table.

I have no idea how it got there.

Must have been the fairies...

coolness redux

...Ok, so I don't even know what 'redux' means. (Hopefully it's not something obscene.) It sounded like a word a cool person might use... so I thought I'd stick it in. (You know you're not cool when... haha) Before I get my post started, I have a little public service announcement:

Amber would just like to say that he is far cuter than Darcy will ever be and sweeter besides. (Also, that Barbies are delicious... but I would advise you not to test that out.) He wouldn't leave me alone until I posted this and took a picture of him... but now that my duties as 'his person' are finished, I can move on to today's and yesterday's photos! (As always, the list of photos can be found here.)

11- Handwriting

Cursive...

And normal writing. Was anyone curious to see my handwriting? I will confess, I'm curious to see yours. I feel like you can see a lot about someone's personality by the way they write... does anyone else feel the same? Looking at mine, what does it say about me? (Do I really want to know....?)

12- The last thing I bought

I'll let you in on a little secret. You know how my house has ghosts? Well, did I mention we also have faeries? Yep. And not the pretty, sparkly Tinkerbell ones. Nope. We have klepto faeries. Who are constantly stealing fashionable things... like sunglasses and earrings. (One earring out of a set, which leads me to believe that they're then using them as necklaces.)

The loss of earrings is annoying, but the loss of sunglasses is slightly tragic. (Wouldn't want to start squinting and ruin my gorgeous makeup, after all!) Therefore, yesterday I bought some new ones!

These are my glamourous, Audrey-Hepburn-esque ones... In this picture, they make me look like a bug. I swear they're nicer in real life! (Especially since I tried on over 50 pairs. Sunglasses are SERIOUS BUSINESS.)

And my cool-girl ones. (Hence the redux.) I love how huge they are! What kinds of sunglasses do you have?

darling diy- kitty skirt

I made my first DIY clothing project when I was about ten or so. It was the cutest little shrug, and I couldn't wait to wear it. As soon as I got home from my friends' house, I put it on with the hugest grin on my face. I thought I looked absolutely adorable!

However, other people had other ideas. Namely,my father.As soon as he saw me, he burst out laughing and said, "They're shirtless sleeves!"

I never wore that little shrug again.

All this to explain why I rarely do DIY clothing projects. (Now you know the secret trauma of my childhood.That and once being forced to drink an entire glass of milk-the horror!) However, when I saw this darling little kitty skirt over at Scathingly Brilliant, I knew I had to make it and show all of you wonderful readers how I decided to make it.

Materials: Black, white and red felt, a plain black skirt, a needle and thread, and two buttons. (Note that the colours of all of these things can be changed, depending on what colour you want your cat to be.)

Instructions: 
1. Cut out your cat ear shapes- 4 identical black triangles and 2 identical white ones- and stitch them together. (Or, you really hate sewing, you could use iron-on transfer sheets or a hot glue gun.)

2. Cut out your little nose shape from the red felt, attach it to the iron-on transfer fabric and iron it to your skirt! (Make sure not to attach it in a... suggestive area.)

3. Sew on the buttons, just above the nose. 

4. Sew on the ears. (I used a double seam so that they popped out even more.)

And... that's it! Here it is on the floor: 

I was worried that it would draw attention to my stomach, but the cut of the skirt actually makes it really flattering! Once again on me (just because it's so cute!):

What do you think? Would you wear a kitty skirt? 

Even better, it starts with a D- so I could join in on the Delicious and Dapper linkup over at Jenny Matlock's blog! Go and check out some more of the Dramatic and Dimpled posts!

cute little cats

Cats are just cute. It's a basic fact of life. So... when I saw this hoodie... I had to buy it. (Confession: I have wanted an animal ears hoodie for over a year. See: reasons why people think I am twelve.)

Also... watch this and tell me it isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen. Go on, I dare you.

Happy Wednesday! Hope this helped sustain you until the end of the week.

Oh, and I joined a wonderful linkup over at Jenny Matlock's blog! Go check it out here if you're interested, she posts plenty of Cute and Comforting posts!