Valentine's Month - February

Ah, February in Canada, nothing says romance quite like the freezing cold air that makes my face hurt. Not to mention the lovely snow that recently got dropped on us is just ever so delightful in my soaking wet boots. I guess you could say though that this kind of weather is perfect for...cuddling though. ;)

Valentine's Day is just on the 15th, but just like every other major holiday it has become hugely commercialized, and preparation for the day of hearts and flowers begins even before they have played out every single version of our beloved holiday tunes on the radio. Remember the good old days where it was just boxing day? Then it turned into boxing week, and then boxing month which miraculously also stretched way past that - but anyway, I digress. This is going to be an interesting February I think, with the film adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey coming out on - you guessed it - Valentine's Day! I will admit I have read all three books along with the other 99% of the world's heterosexual female population. It doesn't surprise me that the book was and is so popular, I feel like it is becoming more widely acceptable for women to be comfortable with their sexuality. For us not to feel ashamed of ourselves and what we choose to do with our bodies. I laugh when I remember a conversation I had with my adopted grandmother and her absolute shock when I exclaimed that 'I would never marry a guy without sleeping with him first!' - that's like buying a car without test driving it! My mother raised me to feel comfortable with my own body and it makes me sad when I talk to some of my friends and learn that not only are they uncomfortable, but they are also ashamed!

But anyway, I feel a rant coming on and right now I want to talk about VALENTINE'S DAY!! yay woot woot and all that... Anyway, yes, I would say that 50 Shades of Grey was a lot like many romance novels, just a lot more blunt and descriptive. I like that it made openness of sexuality more main stream and I think it will be remembered in history for being a game changer but not as any real literary masterpiece. I mean let's be honest, it started as Twilight fan fiction... enough said. Needless to say that on my other blog Media Reviews by Oriona, although I will not be reviewing the book, I will however be reviewing the movie. I just have to, as a blogger hoping to make a name for myself I would be stupid not to review this movie! I might even make an effort to go on opening day, brave the crowds of hormone crazed ladies who are pining to finally see Christian Grey on the big screen.

For those of you actually celebrating Valentine's Day, have fun and try not to cave under the relentless pressure from the media to buy bigger and more expensive. It is just a day to celebrate love and show extra appreciation for that special someone.

I know that when I post this Valentine's Day is over and I hope you had a good one :)
~Oriona






Photo credits:

https://plumatinteroypapell.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/the-note-english/

Making Pretty Things

Hello there :)

So I hope you guys have been having a good year so far, I have been busy busy busy! Back in November, I went to stay with Scott's parents to help his mom look after his sister's kids while she went on vacation. That was a lot of fun, Janie and I make a really good team and the kids are so sweet and well behaved. After that, I went right from there to my mom's place to look after her while she recovered from surgery - it was nice to have a good long visit with her and my younger brother. While I was there I introduced her to 'Netflixing' and she binge-watched the entire Gilmore Girl series which of course when it was over she had a good long cry because "IT'S OVER!!! :'( " - I found it really funny because I guess I am mean like that.

A few of you may have noticed that I started another blog called Media Reviews by Oriona which is me reviewing books, movies, music, and anything else that I find interesting. Someone on youtube asked me to review his glass ornaments that he makes that are actually really beautiful and the process seems really cool so I am going to look into doing that for him.

the first week of January, my longest and best friend Abi came up from the states to visit which was awesome! She was a little dismayed with the weather, but she had a bit of a "DUH!" minute because, hello? Canada in January... But it was still lots of fun, we went shopping and exploring and saw an IMAX dome movie at the Ontario Science Centre which is like, the coolest place ever and awesomely not that far from where I live :)

Then there was job hunting, and job finding. I am really excited to start work next week! But I am also extremely excited to be re-starting my little craft business of Starchild Creations! (Previously known as Sacred Star Creations) I am starting with a Facebook page and hope to expand to etsy.com and craft shows and things like that. So far I am making Painted Gratitude Stones and Splash Paintings, but very soon I am going to be making those microwavable heating pads and probably some other stuff. I also started writing a new book which in the last week I have written the first two chapters. It is called 'The Darkness' (working title) and it is going to be a supernatural thriller based on a terrifying thing that happened to me when I was little. *scary music*

In May, mom, Stone and I are being flown down (courtesy of my AMAZING big brother) to the beautiful (and hot) state of Arizona to see him graduate and visit him and my sisters!! There is just so much going on right now and I am so incredibly happy and grateful for this wonderful life I live.

Wishing you happiness and love
~Oriona

Random Thoughts

I realize that I think some random things a lot so I have been jotting some of my thoughts down for the past while and decided to share them with you guys - enjoy!

Sept 20 
I see all these 'awesome pic/photography ideas' and all I can think is - do people actually just get together to take pictures that just make them look like they are having fun? Is that a fun activity? 'Omg now that we are done in the pool, let's go take pics of us throwing leaves around for fall!' Why don't people just go have fun and take spontaneous pictures of actually having fun? Is maintaining the appearance of a happy life more important than actually living it?

Sept 24
I wonder if I should just post my random thoughts on Tumblr- that's what everyone else does

What if I don't even realize I'm having random thoughts because it seems normal to me?

Sept 26
Do you ever see a person and think 'I could totally be friends with that person' - and you want to be friends with them but you're too shy to actually say anything

Usually when that happens I think they will miss judge me because I'm usually more comfortable around 'weird' people but I don't think my appearance always reflects that.

September 30
Laying sick in bed I realize how truly not good I'm feeling when I realize I'm laying here trying to figure out how folding chairs work.

By the way did I mention that I've had my phone for a year and only realized a week or so ago that the reason I couldn't hear anything was because my 'screen protector' - actually the packaging I just never took off - was covering the ear piece. - I feel like one of those really special kind of dumb people, like that person who doesn't know the sun is a star. fml.


October 4
Okay, so I enjoy a broad spectrum of entertainment everything from Oscar winning masterpieces to spongebob squarepants. And I'm like this with everything pretty much; music, books, my taste in fashion, my sense of humour, etc. and some people might say something like 'oh well this is stupid, I only listen to classic rock because it has soul and the music today sucks and has no soul - but I'm like 'hey, this is a pretty good song and it makes me happy to listen to it.' Why do people have to be so pretentious? I mean some people actually just refuse to like something BECAUSE it's so popular - what kind of system is that? Has the need to be unique forced people to become this crazy? How about liking stuff because YOU like it and leave everyone else out of it? Or vice versa?

October 8
I'm the type of person that would stretch with a drink in my hand and accidentally dump it on my head.

Little kids scare the crap out of me - especially 2 year olds - they just constantly run around doing stuff to get themselves hurt or they just tear stuff up and laugh like crazy little psychos

Went to go see Annabelle with my friend the other day and I was fine until she told me she hadn't been able to sleep because of nightmares - then last night I couldn't sleep because I kept seeing this sh** in my head:


So I smudged myself and my room and concentrated hard on my happy place!!


Last but not least, with my mom and brother coming this weekend, all I can think is:

Cleaning is the grown up 'never ending story' that is way overplayed and it sucks.


Goodnight!
~Oriona

Welcome Back :)

My Dear Reader, 

I want to wish you a good afternoon and apologize for not writing for a while. I have been trying to think of a good subject for my next post and to be honest, I just have too many things to write about and I am having trouble pinning one thing down! First I guess lets talk about summer! It's finally here, shining bright and beautiful! The warm weather always makes me think of travel, I just want to get in a car and drive. The warm weather also makes me feel reconnected with the Earth and my spirituality. Watching as the trees go from barren to leaves almost overnight is always so magical.

One of my other posts was going to be about Earth Day. I think I am still going to write it because the environment is a really big important thing that we, as a society, should really focus more on. I know a lot of us are 'aware' of what is happening with the environment, but not nearly enough of us - myself included - are active enough with doing something about it.  I think every day should be Earth Day and I am going to stop myself there before I start ranting, and will talk more about that in my Earth Day post.

Mother's Day is another post I have been working on, as I have said in previous entries, my mother is the top dog of my important people list. I mean, she gave me life so...that's kind of a big deal. I mean really her and my dad are hand in hand for that position, but for different reasons. So much of me came from what I learned from them, I have been told by a few people that I look exactly like both of my parents and on the inside I definitely feel both of my parents' influence on me as a person. But for my Mother's Day post I really wanted to celebrate and honour my mom because aside from the regular 'she's my mom and I love her' stuff, she is actually a really amazing person who has done a lot in her life that I feel needs to me given more credit. 

I also have another post that I am trying to solidify the idea, it has to do with the people I see every day. I want to talk about people, some days it feels like I hate everyone because of stress and crowds (especially when I am in a hurry) but when I take a second to calm down and let the world flow, I look around and see people as individuals, not just a faceless crowd of people. When I let myself see individual people, I feel love for them, I try to imagine the kind of people they are, where they are going, what their families are like. It strikes me that probably a good chunk of people on the train with me watch the same TV shows that I do, or listen to the same music, have read the same books. We aren't so different from each other, and everyone has a story.

Let me know if you have any other ideas for me to talk about, and let me know if you have a preference to a post you would like to see out first :)

AMR

~ Oriona

Spring Cleaning/I Think I Might Want to be a Comedian - The Starchild Diaries

Good Morning!

I know it's afternoon, but I always find that good morning is the most cheerful greeting of the day. :) Today I have decided to cast open my curtains, let in the sunshine, and do a bit of spring cleaning. I am currently listening to one of my nostalgic childhood albums my mom use to play during our Saturday morning cleanup - The Carpenters Gold: Greatest Hits album. Obviously since I'm cleaning, I can't just sit here and write all day so I'll be back periodically...though I will just be posting the whole thing at the end of the day so for you it will all be at once...oh well, see you in a bit!

12:53 - just finished sorting the laundry. Not so easy to do when your darling little furry friends keep jumping in the basket and knocking it over to play. T_T Next up, throwing the laundry in and then we sweep and mop! before I do that though, I think I shall have a little break for lunch, I'm thinking grilled zucchini and cheese sandwich :p

5:13 - Okay so I didn't mop, and my break was a little longer than expected (the sandwich was delish btw) but I am happy to say that our apartment is now very near spotless! I am losing my gusto however, cleaning can take it out of you, but I think my issue was more the whole hour or so that it turned into a dance party for one - which was super fun for me and probably traumatizing for our kitties. Haha :p And the saga continues...

6:27 - Alright, I'm done cleaning for the day. I have been distracted to the point where I am seriously considering getting into stand-up comedy. Now I did take a aptitude test one time in 9th grade and ONE of my options was stand up comedian. Today, after I was finished listening to the Carpenters and then a bit of the Beatles, I started to think about what I might say if I were indeed a stand up comedian.

Have you ever been alone, and you just start talking out loud to yourself? But you're not talking to yourself, you're talking to people that you know or imagine and it's kind of like you are rehearsing conversations that you know are probably not EVER going to happen. Like I can't tell you how many times I have been on the Ellen show...in my mind. I am always there for some random reason, like she saw one of my Youtube videos of me being actually really boring but talking about things I find important for about 15 minutes.

Today, I was imaging being on stage doing a stand-up routine and I was talking to my 'audience' about cleaning...just saying right now, I was terrible. Even my make believe audience - which was my bed filled with clean, folded laundry - was booing me off stage. However, I really think I could be a comedian because every time I am around people and we are talking, they laugh a lot! Either because of me or something I said. I have never really pictured myself as a funny person but I don't know, maybe I am.

What I like most about the idea is that I love to make people laugh, my parents both have(had) great senses of humour. I remember them telling me and my siblings so many stories and jokes that had us all in stitches! When my family would get together in Ajo, AZ for Christmas, we would all stay up late into the night just sitting around my Nana and Tata's table listening to our parents tell stories and jokes. My Aunt Rachel, I remember, was especially funny to me because she would be in the middle of telling a joke - in Spanish, which most of us didn't understand - and she would be laughing so hard, she would have tears streaming down her face and she would just be snorting and cackling - that good kind of - can't breathe - belly laugh, half way through the joke! So, we couldn't understand what she was saying anyway but she couldn't even make it through the telling of the joke because she was already laughing too hard and we would all be laughing just as hard, just because of her!

There is one story that my Dad use to tell and it was one of my favourites and I would like to share it with you now. Now I said in my first entry that my family use to travel around a lot. My Dad use to travel by himself sometimes because us kids had to go to school and Mom would stay with us etc. etc. And he use to go and do shows and Pow Wows to sell his books and the Native crafts we would make at home like Dream Catchers, Medicine Wheels, and other stuff. Anyway, one time he was at this Pow Wow and I guess he was friends with the guy who owned the property it was being held on. So anyway, he had to use the washroom so he asked someone where it was and they told him. But they warned my dad that the owner had a pet goose that hung around that area who was very ornery and VERY territorial so he should be cautious.

When my dad was walking up to the washroom building, out comes this big old goose charging towards him honking and flapping his wings. My poor dad panicked and his first instinct was to just reach out and thwack the big bird on his head. And the goose sorta um...sagged down and staggered away and Dad kind of panicked and felt bad, thinking he might have seriously hurt the thing. But he went into the washroom and when he came back out the goose was nowhere to be seen.

Later on, my dad and his friend(the owner) were walking together and chatting when they came to the area around the washrooms. Again, the goose comes charging out honking and flapping his wings - until he catches sight of my Dad. The goose stopped in his tracks, looked at them for a second and then turned his tail and ran! The guy was surprised and said, "well that was strange, he's never done that before!" And my Dad is all, "Yeah, weird..."  - and I always crack up at that story. Even now as I am writing it up to share with you, my dear reader (I've always wanted to say that), I am chuckling thinking of this big old goose stopping dead in his tracks with a shocked look on his face.

What I also love is how my parents use to make each other laugh. They both had infectious laughs that could make anyone join in even if you didn't know what you were laughing at. Anyway, I guess that is all for tonight(because it is now 9:40pm) I am going to wrap up this post because it is already much too long. But I hope you enjoyed it, thank you for sharing my day with me and I hope you have a wonderful evening :)

Salutations!

~ Oriona