Black Friday Craze

   I set my alarm at 5:00am thinking I would be ready to head out to Toronto's Eaton's Centre mall by 6:00am. I ended up snoozing my alarm until 6:00am. I ran out of the house before 7:00am as soon as I could. I almost went on the wrong subway line in my rush, twice. My bad.

   I got to Eaton's past 7am. On a memo pad on my phone I made a list of all the stores I went to in the order I went to them. I went to H&M first and then Bluenotes. I didn't find anything to my liking in either stores but I figured it was because I knew I'd get all of my shopping done at Forever 21. After Bluenotes I went to the food court to purchase a Caesar wrap and a drink. Then I headed to Forever 21 and decided to drink my drink then eat afterwards, to motivate me to not take too long. 

   I ended up staying long of course, almost two hours. I bought two dresses (I tried on five dresses), a cute pink kitty sweater for my little sister, a winter hat (lost mine in one of my previous trips to Waterloo), and makeup tools. While I was looking at dresses a lady asked which colour of the dress looked better, I told her both looked pretty good but if I wanted to make sure I would try them on first. Then she said thanks and that she was going to try them on in the change room and I said I would as well since I was eyeing the same dresses as her. 

Four of the five dresses I tried on

   I was fortunate to get a scratch card, which was their Black Friday deal going on at the time. I was able to get 15% off of all purchases because of it. While I was in line a lady behind me saw me with my scratch card and asked me where I got it. I told her I got it earlier. Then a lady in line in front of me told the lady that apparently it was given to the first 600 people who came to the store that day. After Forever 21 I took a rest and finally ate my Caesar wrap. 

Caesar wrap from "Extreme Pita"

   After that I decided that I was done purchasing items for the day. But then...I went upstairs and saw that Sephora was packed and I wanted to check out what was going on. I ended up getting suckered into purchasing a brow pencil which wasn't even a part of the Black Friday sale going on. A worker at Sephora named Mrin tested out a product on me and showed me how to properly apply it. This is the second time I've had a makeup tutorial trial there. The brow pencil I got was the "Instant Brow Pencil" by Benefit in medium brown. 

   I almost forgot to mention that I went Black Friday shopping alone. Which was actually more convenient for me because whenever I am accompanied by friends they would whine about how slow I am with making decisions. I did invite my girl friend from college, Scout, and she said she would've joined me but she had work. The rest of the close friends I've made in college are guys so I figured they wouldn't be interested in joining me. By the time I was done, which was before noon, Nicole (roomie/family friend) said she had a half day of school and was going to Eaton's for some Black Friday shopping as well. So we met up at the Indigo bookstore and I showed her to the stores I went to and other stores I wanted to check out but couldn't since I was done shopping for myself for the day. 

   Nicole and I went to Aeropostal, Garage, Bluenotes, then I got mango bubble tea at Freshly Squeezed, Forever 21, and Smart Set. Then we went to a bunch of body care stores such as The Body Shop, Bath and Body Works and the Face Shop. Then we went to H&M. Nicole purchased items at Bluenotes and H&M. I didn't purchase anymore than I already had earlier in the day. By the time Nicole and I left, which was around 2pm, the mall was swarming with more people than I've ever seen before at a mall. 

To no surprise Eaton's has their festive decorations already up 

   When Nicole and I got home we ate a late lunch then we both took a nap. Anthony (her brother, family friend) ended up showing up and waking us up from our naps. Which annoyed Nicole and I the same amount as when he woke us up last Wednesday. Later on my godfather, and Anthony and Nicole's uncle, Arnold came by so we set up the karaoke and we all sang some songs. Wesley, my godfather Arnold's son showed up shortly after he did. We karaoke'd until 10pm which is why this blog post is going to be posted later than I wanted to. 

   Anyways, some of my family is coming over tomorrow, and they're bringing along my two friends from Guelph. We're going to go skating at an event hosted by my college's own campus, Centennial College's Story Arts Centre. Anthony also said he may tag along. I joked that I'd un-invite him if he does anything embarrassing, which he probably will knowing him (hey see I did mention you in my blog like you asked). 

Until then, Fatima 

Night Changes

   I moved Sunday, November 9th to an apartment in the Sherbourne area with a family friend, Lola (Grandma) Linda. For those who don't live in Toronto or won't bother searching up where that is, it's practically downtown Toronto. I used to commute 35-45 minutes away from Pape (subway station where my school is located near) and now I live 15-25 minutes away.

   The sudden move that my parents helped me with, was so it was more convenient for me to get around. Especially now that the weather seems to be getting only more colder. So I'm no longer living in Scarborough, now I'm in "Cabbage Town" which is what they call the place where I live near. There's a nice view of the city from Lola Linda's back terrace.

Nice view of the center of Toronto

   Although it was nice living in Scarborough for the first two months of college. I had a pleasant time and they were nothing but patient and kind with me. Big thanks to Ninang Precy, Ninong Felix, Kuya Kevin, and to Katie of course. Katie thanks for sharing your room with me. Also it's was always fun watching The Walking Dead with all of you. Now I've got to watch it alone on my laptop.

   Bringing you back to speed again, now I room with Lola Linda's 15 year old granddaughter Nicole. She lives with her as well. Nicole is a Grade 10 student in high school. Her 19 year old brother, Anthony, lives at their Dad's place only two blocks away. Which is probably why he comes over almost every other day. Whenever he does come over we would competitively play "Just Dance" on the Wii all together. Anthony is a first year college student like me but he goes to George Brown college. He goes to George Brown at the Spadina campus for a Computer Systems Technology program. Almost forgot to add in that I haven't seen them both in 10 years. The last time I saw them I was eight, Anthony was nine, and Nicole was just five years old. We lost contact with them for a little while. Anthony and I would chat sometimes on Facebook but not much.

Anthony and Nicole with Suzie the puppy

   You see the puppy with Anthony and Nicole in the pictures above? Well that's one of Tita Eunice's six puppies that she owns. She lives on the 3rd floor of the apartment I live in and is friend's with Lola Linda. She visits almost every day with either just Tina (the Mom), one of the puppies, or all of the puppies. One of the puppies, Suzie, I have a soft spot for because she falls asleep on me whenever she visits. She's also the youngest of the bunch.

Pretty sure I snapchatted most of these pictures

   It's been 20 or so days since I've updated but it's because I've been and still am swamped with college papers and assignments. Just trying not to get screwed over by the amount of work I still have to do before the holidays. But I also need to take breaks sometimes. As Anthony so frequently said today to convince me to go to the movie's with him and Nicole. I got an email saying Wednesday's afternoon's class is canceled so my class will be able to work on our assignment during that time from home. So I decided to join Anthony and Nicole.

Walking to movie theatre

   We saw part one of the third installment of The Hunger Games, Mockingjay, at a local movie theater which has $5 movie deals every Tuesday which is also why we went. We just walked 25 minutes to get to it. They were sold out by the time we got there so Anthony had this plan of buying a ticket for another movie and sneaking in to see Mockingjay. The plan worked and there was still seats left for others, so much for sold out. A little boy sitting beside me passed out though, don't think he found Mockingjay as exciting as I did.

Front of Rainbow Cinema Market Square

   After the movie Anthony and Nicole wanted to eat dinner so we went to McDonald's. I didn't want to eat anything because I wasn't hungry and I told them that...they still ordered me poutine. Which was sweet of them to do. The other night was the American Music Awards show and Nicole and I watched it together. Anthony watched it at his Dad's but he messaged us during it. One Direction performed "Night Changes" at the awards show. They also released the music video for "Night Changes" just the other day. Which as you can see is also the title of my blog. Anthony downloaded One Direction's new album "Four" for me and I'm currently listening to it while finally taking some time to blog again. 

   It may be awhile again until I can blog again, we'll see how it goes with school. Oh right I was going to attach some deep meaning into my title but I've already said it's a title to a One Direction song. There has been a lot of changes in my life though and many more to come. I'll try to update this blog whenever I can. I do miss reading and writing just for fun these days. 

Until then, Fatima

TTC Delay, Classes Canceled, Shopping

   The TTC (Toronto Transit Commision) was delayed this morning. I left the house before 8am. And I got to my school at around 9:30am...When usually it would only take 40 minutes to get to class. There was a problem going Westbound from Kennedy subway station to Broadview subway station. To get from one station to the next took about 15-25 minutes. We didn't have connection down there, hence underground subway, but at the stations where we were above ground there was people making calls to their employers or loved one's saying that they were going to be late meeting up with them due to the delay.

   Like I said I got to school around 9:30am. Which was technically an hour late for class. If there was class! There wasn't class. I thought there would be a morning class at least, I suppose I should have checked my college email first. The 5 people who was there, including me, shortly left after we found out that it was a free period. Our class in the afternoon was also canceled (free work period time as well) so there was no point in staying at school the rest of the day. Scout usually has to go home to Richmond hill (outside Toronto) around 4pm with her Mom, so she had a couple hours to kill.

   After eating breakfast at school we decided to head out to Eaton Center mall so I could go dress hunting, it's for a semi formal Waterloo school dance that I'm attending, not this Friday but the next Friday. My friend Dyan invited me to it. She's also missing a concert she planned on going to for it because she already said we'd be going to the dance, thanks girl.

Scout and I sitting in front of the fountain area

   Scout and I checked out Bluenotes, Garage, American Eagle, Dynamite, H&M, and Forever 21 for dresses. I ended up buying a black dress from Forever 21 for just $12, the total was about $14 plus tax. It was a good deal and I was fortunate to have found it because it was the last one I saw, and it was my size (small). At first I didn't want to bother trying it on, it looked a little out of my comfort zone, but Scout convinced me. She said that I was looking for a slim fitting dress anyways. I had stated that I usually purchased dresses that are frilly and have a skirt type bottom to it and that I wanted to stray away from buying dresses that look the same.

Will post up a picture of my dress when the day comes to wear it

   After I got my dress we just browsed around Eaton's a little more. We went to Shoppers, The Body Shop, and Bath & Body Works. We had a great time by smelling everything because we were trying on all kinds of sample perfumes and lotions. It was pretty funny because by the end of it our hands and arms smelled quite lovely. Then Scout went back to Bluenotes to buy a cute Disney themed "Hakuna Matata" graphic tee she was eyeing earlier. She also bought a necklace from Claire's and cool looking scrunchies from Ardene. We also went into the Indigo book store which already had a Christmas theme going on, same as many of the other stores we went into.

I can't wait for Christmas

Until then, Fatima