#26 - Paint one abstract painting for fun

This project was, by far, the greatest one yet! With the assistance of my amazing art friend, T.B., she helped me pick out all of my art supplies and show me a few techniques.

A very long time ago, I remember going the Calgary Stampede and seeing this piece of art that was just amazing. The background color was black and the artist had used silver and gold aluminum to create his art piece. But, what I loved about it so much was that it was really rich in color. The gold was so deep, yet not tacky, and it blended well with the silver. The kicker was that he used crushed diamonds on this piece and wow - it was just amazingly gorgeous. That was my inspiration for this abstract piece. Granted, it's probably not the greatest piece of art, but for me, considering that I'm incredibly uncreative with no imagination, I'm pretty proud of my art. Now, I just need to figure out where to hang it!

xoxo,
Lady S.

#88 - Tell A Random Man That He Is Beautiful

I'm so thankful that this one is officially off my list. I don't even understand why I thought it would be a good idea in the first place! Something about "open up and don't be afraid to be vulnerable." To whomever gave me this advice, here's my advice about your advice: keep it to yourself!

Let's talk about how unsuccessful #88 was. Not only was the guy caught off guard and not entirely impressed, but I'm sure he was ready to kick me out of the pub. Why? Because the guy was the bouncer! I'm sure he thought that I had one too many drinks when really I was sober the entire time. Describing this situation as embarrassing is an understatement; mortified is better. Lesson learned: keep certain comments to myself.

And with that, #88 is gone for good. And so is my pride. ugh.

L.S.

#90 - Write A Letter To A Friend And Send It Via Snail Mail

You're probably thinking that this is a simple thing to do and who wouldn't think that. But have *you* ever spent the time to sit down with a pen and paper and write out a letter to your friend? And then remember to send the letter the next day? Why would you when you have facebook or email or text or bbm? And that's exactly why I put this on my 101 list, because it rarely ever happens!

There's something magical about receiving a personal letter in the mail. For me, it's knowing that somebody took the time to sit down, write their thoughts out, go to the post office, and lick that yucky-tasting stamp onto the envelope. People don't have extra time to waste nowadays, but knowing that somebody went out of their way to send you a letter - that's special for me! And so, I did exactly that - sit down and write a letter to Stephanie.

I think you should try it (whoever 'you' are.) And hey, the best thing your doing when writing that letter is knowing that soon enough you'll be making somebody's day.

Love,
Lady Sovereign

#76: Become More Acquainted With My Religious Views

Many of you know that I'm a Christian person: I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, and I believe in the Holy Spirit. However, I have never really identified myself with a particular religion. My parents say they are Pentecostal and I lean towards that, but I have a problem with identifying myself to one religion. Why? Because I don't believe that ONE religion has the answers. And so, I rely on my faith and my beliefs and in God to direct me to the "right" answers.

When I moved back to Calgary after Victoria, I spent a lot of time with my family and close friend Elda, and I got a chance to become acquainted with Christianity. The marvelous thing about my family and Elda is that they each hold a slightly different view on religion. They have many things in common, such a Jesus being the son of God, God the creator of this world, and the Bible as the book of answers. Of course, between all of us, we hold a different view on how this world was created. Please note, I'm not a creationist and I don't believe this world was created in 2011 years ago. Nope.

Being surrounded by them questioned my own views because I wanted to make sure that what I was believing was, in my view, correct. And to me, what I view is correct! I don't expect somebody else to come along and believe exactly in what I believe nor do I expect to believe in what they believe. I do, however, believe that we believe in many different things which seems correct to us. And I think that's the beauty of Christianity - we are all right and we are all wrong. But what matters is how we live our lives and how we respond to God when that time comes.

I can sit here today and say that 90% of the time I lead my life the way God wants me to. The other 10% I'm battling with (ex, expected to go to church every Sunday.) But my faith allows to me know that if I don't go to church every Sunday, I'm not going to be condemned; rather, I acknowledge God as much as I can every day and thank Him for my blessings. I don't need church to remind me of why I'm here, why God is here, and how I should live my life.

With all of that being said, I respect everyone's beliefs and everyone's faith. I know that conflict will always exist because of religion, but I find it ironic that God tells us to love one another, and yet we fight and kill over God. I will never fight and never kill because of God; instead I will love you and I will respect you because of God, and even if you don't believe in Him, He believes in you and loves you more because of it.

L.S.

#54 - Go a Week Without Wearing Make Up

Wearing make up is like wearing underwear: an essential. To go out to town without mascara or eyeliner takes a lot of courage, and not because I feel hideous without make up, but because I know I look better with it on, so why the hell would I leave the house knowing that I could look better?

I live by MAC. Plush Lash, Studio Fix, Mineralize Skinfinish - I have it all because it's amazing. So to put it aside for one week and go natural seemed impossible. Alas, I accomplished #54.

Let me explain how #54 was accomplished. Plain and simple, really: I got Bell's Palsy. For those that don't know, Bell's palsy temporarily paralyzes one or both sides of your face. In my case, it was my left side. It was discouraging to go out because I was self-conscious of how I appeared to other people. In all honesty, I didn't want people thinking that I had a permanently paralyzed face. As such, I avoided going out and opted to stay inside instead. Besides, I couldn't really drive because my eye couldn't blink, therefore causing my left eye to become very dry and me having to close my eyes for a period of time. This doesn't work to well on the road! So, since I had nowhere to go and nowhere to be, I stayed home and was make-up free for a week.

Now, for the gals that may be reading this, please note that going a week without mascara does wonders for your eyelashes. Mine were full and long and amaaaazing!

Now that the Bell's palsy is almost gone, I'm back to wearing make up because I'm back to going out. Would I do it again? Probably, since I liked how my skin felt and looked. But I hope that the next time I go without make up it's because I don't have Bell's palsy.

Love,
Lady S.

#19 - Read Five Books

I have *finally* accomplished #19 (which, in all honestly, I thought would take me forever to do because I was rebelling against reading after finishing school.) On the road trip, "Thin, Rich, Pretty" by Barb Harbison provided that entertainment that both myself and my friend needed.

I'll be completely honest - this book is definitely a chick book, and while it was entertaining and an easy read, it actually touched on issues that girls and women go through every day. The novel is centered on three girls: Lexi, Holly and Nicola. Lexi represents the "rich", coming from a wealthy background, but lacking the love from her family. Holly represents the "thin", battling her weight issues and depriving herself from food because of her boyfriend. Nicola represents "pretty", altering her face to fit into the Hollywood image. The book follows their lives and their struggles to feel like "normal" women and throughout the process learn invaluable lessons about themselves.

Wow - didn't that just sounds like an awesome synopsis?! Ha ha ha. Anyway, it's a good book and if you're looking for an easy read, this is definitely it!

Loves,
Lady S.

#3 Move to Toronto

It's official. On October 6, 2010, I arrived in Toronto with my 4 x 8 Uhaul trailer, my 2 cats and my friend Tara. After being on the road for 4 days, it was both nice yet surreal to have arrived.

The four days were .... long and boring and scary and long and fun and tiring and whatever else is involved in a four-day road trip. We drove through Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Each state has it's own unique (sometimes boring) scenery (with the exception of Indiana, because I truly don't remember driving through that state.) Chicago was, in a nutshell, the SCARIEST place to drive. Like, holy crap I wanted to poop my pants the entire time. We weren't even driving through rush hour and it was *still* scary. But, aside from Chicago, the trip was pretty chill. The cats, on the other hand.... well let's just say that at one point I wished that animal cruelty was okay (I know, that sounds bad, but YOU try being stuck in a car with 2 cats for four days and not want to ditch them at the side of the highway!)

It was weird driving up my bff's driveway and realizing that, indeed, I was finally in Toronto. I had always vocalized my desire to move to Toronto and my intentions to do so. But, I never thought that that day would arrive. And now, here I am, sitting in my bff's bro's living room in downtown Toronto writing this blog.

I still miss home. I think I always will. Victoria was... the worst and yet the best thing that ever happened in my life and I don't think that any other city will compare to Victoria. I'm happy to be in downtown, but I miss the simplicity that was Victoria. I miss my friends; I miss my best friend; I miss the ocean; I miss my roads; I miss my social life; I miss my home. I don't know if Toronto will feel like home, but I only pray that one day it will.

With all that being said, I hope and pray that this move is everything I need/want/expect from life. I hope a job is placed in my path, I hope that I meet amazing people and I hope that I continue to be happy.

Much love,
Lady S.