Thursday, December 30, 2010

firework.


Happy New Year! I'm on a break until 2011, but no fear, I'll have lots of new posts coming up! More personal content, photos, entertainment ideas and a special new section about beauty - can't wait!

Have a safe and fun New Years and thank you so much to my readers for all your support, reading and advice to me this year. I couldn't be here without you and I'm so thankful for what I can do to help others.

See you in 2011!

xox Portia

PS soundtrack of new years: "Firework" by Katy Perry. Perfection.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

natale.

Joyeux Noël
Feliz Navidad
Buon Natale
Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

top10.

The top 10 things/events/people/whatever of the year lists have been released, you've probably seen a few newspapers and magazines proclaiming "Best Dressed" and "Song of the Year", etc. But in our own worlds, what are the top actions and events in our lives? We're all affected by similar things depending on where we are geographically, but there's also the personal things that have changed our lives, perhaps forever.

My girlfriends are my rocks. A few years ago when I moved to Kelowna, who would have thought I would meet such amazing people who know me inside and out? I moved to Toronto two years ago, and came back with the same - I can't imagine my life without these strong, interesting and fun women literally from coast to coast.

Looking back at this year, there were definitely some bumps for all of us. We fell in love, fell apart, got our hearts broken and unfortunately shut down others for not feeling the same about them. We always wanted what we couldn't get. Sometimes when we got what we thought we wanted, things didn't work out as perfectly as we had planned for them to be. Our schooling and education goals changed, we saw parts of world people only dream of, but still had time to hang out in familiar underground bars with friends. As each of our world's spun around us, we stepped out momentarily to reconnect and jump back in.

Mostly this year, I saw love really bloom. Although we plan to be the inceperible group of crazy women forever, we are growing up. Men, clothes and parties are going to come and go, but the winds are changing.

I know it's not totally correct, but I'm leaving the rest of this to Percy Bysshe Shelley. 2010 has been a roller coaster of a year, for better or worse. I'm still stuck on some things and have totally discarded others. It's been a big year of learning who I am as a person, and who I want to be.

Ode To The West Wind

I

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: 0 thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave,until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!



Tuesday, December 21, 2010

hatter.






















"There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself."-Ruth Stout

Monday, December 20, 2010

newsprint.


It's the most wonderful time of the year, and I'm tying my wee fingers off. I scored an internship with the Kelowna Daily Courier and after two days, wrote six articles. I have three more to write tomorrow, it's super snowy and everyone else is just hanging on Christmas break. Of course I want to just sleep in until noon, but I'm seeing slowly that this might be one of the cementing experiences in my life.

In the journalism program, it feels like we're always fighting with our schoolwork, our mental capacity, maybe competing against one another for that next article, that internship. But I never considered that things might really be like until I dove in. Day one, they hand me three stories plus another one because I'm the new girl. Oh, and those two, due by noon. Get the school district superindepdent on the phone and set up a photo for that other story.

That's all.

This feels good/weird writing this after all the administration/RAMSS crap, but thank you Ryerson journalism. I actually know a lot going in.

In the newsroom, I'm the only:

1. female
2. person under 45
3. student on winter holidays

And they trust me. I'm not going to let them down. There are some awesome stories to be written during the holidays. It might not be incredibly ground-breaking, but on day two, I am managing the Twitter and Facebook page (add it for Kelowna news updates)!

And that front page story on today's paper? Not too shabby.

Sure, I missed that gathering last night, but I think this might really be worth it. I guess the biggest thing I've learned so far - if you see an opportunity, just jump on it. You never know, it might speed away.