saturday morning.

this is how i love 

starting my weekend mornings.

cup of coffee

and pretty pictures.

the new Rue magazine

i couldn't link other pictures,

so you must go see!

colors, textures, shapes

i love looking at design magazines.

the problem is,

i cut out all the ideas

post them on my inspiration board

and that's where they stay!

which is your favorite?

alli

http://freeasabullfroghopwhereyouplease.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.annesage.com/blog/2010/08/at-last-the-first-sneak-peak-of-rue-magazine.html

the scent of a memory.

coucou!

on my morning metro walk

bundled up in my trench coat,
(i love fall!)

vintage red scarf tied around my neck,

and brown boots hugging my ankles

i started to contemplate something.

turning the street corner,

i caught a whiff of a mens cologne,

and i was instantly transported back to october 2000.

walking down the hallways of marian high school

trying to find a place in the crowd

but not wanting to get too comfortable

our family was right on the brink of a big move

i've encountered that smell several times since then

a mix of cologne and aftershave 

it reminds me of anticipation and uncertainty

make believe confidence and new beginnings.

smells have a way of attaching themselves to things.

the first one i remember
in nantes, france

was butter.

huge, sweet clouds of butter that seemed to permeate the town

...or at least the street i lived on,

a patisserie somewhere close by.

years afterwards,
it always makes me think of early mornings,
walking to class, hopping on the tram.
ipod in ears, parapluie above my head, french books in tow.

a step out of the apartment 

onto a new street.

the smell of paris to me

is a combination of many things.

you'll laugh when you hear

that i have been searching for a certain perfume for years.

years.

it's the one i smell on parisian city streets
a sweet flowery feminine smell.
there's a elegance and nonchalance to the perfume
all swirled into one.

and don't think i haven't searched for it.
i've spritzed countless perfumes on my wrists
and sometimes even think i've got it
but then later, it's just not quite right.

en fait, maybe it's the elusiveness
that makes this perfume
one of my favorite scents.

all this was part of the
metro morning walk
and the wonder,
what does montreal smell like?
what will make me think of this time in my life,
years later?

do you ever wonder about that?
what are the most powerful smells in your life?

happy weekend!

alli

photo

positive in the negative.

hello there.

i've been having a bumpy sort of week.

does that ever happen to you?

things just sort of don't feel right

i'm sure everything will work itself out

it always does, n'est-ce pas? 

in the meantime i've decided to look at the positive.

crisp fall weather means

tall boots, flannel shirts, and trench coats

tights, scarves, and leg warmers 

and pretty dresses

cupofjo

this weekend i'm traveling to a new city to see something i love

EAA fly in in ottawa

the wonderful crafty blog i stumbled upon this morning

ruffles and stuff

with oodles of crafts and design ideas i want to copy asap

next sewing challenge: making that tank top right there

and i think following her instructions 

might even be possible for those who don't sew

ie moi

what cheers you off during an off week?

alli 

silence. constructive or crippling?

this blog is quickly turning into 

a recap of

the chronicle of higher education...

but sometimes i can't help but share 

interesting things i find over there.

like this

one of the first ever articles i've encountered

that praises silence in the classroom.

not the communist sort of 

take-everything-as-is

and don't express-your-own-opinion

sort of silence

but the kind i am more familiar with-

silently listening and reflecting 

in the classroom

forming my own opinions

but only rarely sharing them.

i don't entirely endorse remaining silent in the classroom

it's something i struggled with throughout my school career.

only in my last years of undergrad and now the first year of my masters

am i making a big effort to break my habits.

in fact, 

my experience as an english teacher in france,

made me look at my own classroom habits

in a new way.

i can see the value of participating in the classroom,

what it can add for students and teachers alike.

even so, 

i felt like the author was talking about me 

in the article

and in a different way, from my report cards which constantly read

'she needs to talk more in class'

even though now I can see, that i agree with those teachers and their comments

i just was in the middle of figuring out how to find my voice.

what about you?

do you/did you have an active voice in the classroom?

silence.

is it constructive or crippling?

alli

photo.

life learning.

today i did something intriguing

and i couldn't wait to share it here.

i was asked by a teacher,

to map out

my learning journey.

to write everything that i thought

contributed to the learning 

i've done throughout my life.

my first entries read very much like a resume.

a very complete one, that is.

montessori preschool (i inserted three states here)

montessori kindergarten-eighth grade

high school

university

masters

in between, i thought of educational experiences 

outside of the classroom

(the class is called nonformal learning...)

so i threw in gymnastics, flute lessons, and volleyball

ignoring the month and a half of pathetic basketball playing...

navigating the london tube map with my sister

our first trip out of the country

in high school, i added chorus, singing lessons, travel volleyball

weeks in europe, pruning independence

flying lessons.

then i started to think about all the times

learning wasn't the goal so much at the time.

stocking food shelves at the homeless shelter in 8th grade

tutoring middle school algebra

handling classes full of rowdy french middle schoolers.

a list at the bottom of the page

was for learning experiences 

important, but less tangible

going to my first funeral

being a best friend

a big sister, a family member

being in committed relationships

being alone

times when i learned

not always willingly.

how much clearer i can see the learning now

that went on years ago.

have you ever sat down 

and mapped your learning journey?

i think you'd be surprised

as to suddenly what seems most important.

what shaped you the most.

what you didn't realize at the time.

and the endless learning going on everyday.

just some thoughts.

as you can see, i'm deep in thought and theories over here :)

a+

alli

market day.

market goodies. 

peaches, potatoes, baguettes, bananas

lettuce, onions, garlic, cherry tomatoes

eggplant, sausage, and wine!

peach cobbler for dinner

and roasted potatoes and eggplant on the menu sometime soon

the wine was from romania....

a long way from Quebec, I know

I'm realizing now

that I was incredibly and irreversibly spoiled

by french wine, cheese, bread and yogurt.

besides the lack of variety,

the price tags are enough to make you faint.

or simply change your eating habits i guess.

but are few things i like better

than taking a saturday morning stroll

to load up a bag with fresh

farmer's market goodies.

thankfully that's similar in most cultures :)

today we took a hike up 

le mont royal

pronounced in french exactly like montreal

it's the city's namesake after all

the 'mountain' in the middle of the city

my french chicago!

we went with a new friend i made,

an american named ali.

we bonded on the fact that we spell our name the same,

allison,

childhood gymnastics memories,

and cross country road trip stories.

and the adorableness of her dog, luna.

a great pyrenees, who was certainly the star today during our walk.

we actually had a group of (spanish?) tourists

ask to take a picture with luna.

without ali in the picture?

luna seemed pretty used to the attention!

tomorrow, to celebrate labor day,

we're heading to a mont orford,

our second national park in quebec.

how are you spending the holiday weekend?

winding down the summer with a campfire and barbeque?

picnic in the park?

catching up with grad school reading? (i will be!)

a+

alli

friday night inspiration.

hope everyone has a fabulous weekend in store.

it's finally going to cool down around here,

but unfortunately that means some rain first.

maybe i'll be brave enough to debut my 

blue and white polka dot rain boots

to find some fresh fruits and veggies at the market

(note to self: find and purchase umbrella)

then if the sun comes out on monday, 

i think we'll skip over to another national park

photos to come, i'm sure!

a+

alli

photo via make under my life

dressing for success. and 90 degree humid city weather.

i have to admit, 

that one of the things 

that did not come into my mind

when packing for montreal

was heat. 

now, in the midst of one of the hottest weeks in the summer,

relying daily on public transportation,

while trying to avoid blisters and throbbing feet,

i find it a bit more challenging to get dressed in the morning

and then there's the ever open question 

what does one wear to graduate school?

a suit and heels?

too much

shorts and tshirt?

too little

for the moment, i don't mind erring on the side of overdressed

dresses and skirts have been the go to so far

although surrounded by newbie undergrads tends to leave me feeling 

realllly dressed up at times. 

oooh undergrads. 

there, i said it.

on a related note,

i've recently discovered 

the chronicle of higher education

an intriguing mix of blogs, articles, and reviews

covering everything from nitty gritty statistics

to opinion pieces and forums

this morning i was pointed to an article about teachers and fashion entitled, 

"Professors: Hot at Their Own Risk"

it talks about how you dress in the classroom 

shapes your credibility in the workplace.

nothing new there.

it goes on to explain that in academia 

there is a reverse correlation between looks and success,

the opposite to what we find in the business world.

someone working in a Fortune 500 company

is more likely to be promoted

if they are considered 'good looking'

(i'm not agreeing with this, i'm just stating the general opinion in the article)

whereas as a faculty department member

the 'better looking' you are

the less credible you are.

"If you look as if you spend more time in the beauty parlor than in the library, that's going to be a problem."

intriguing.

do you buy into it?  or do you think 

that kind of discrimination and judgment

is not relevant 

in the workplace?

thoughts please!

a+

alli