This weekend was spent…
Indulging in the arts
If you’ve been around for the last few years, you’ll undoubtedly know that Fringe Festival is the absolute highlight of my year. Hundreds of performers from across the globe flock to the city to put on nine days’ worth of entertainment – from noon until midnight every day you can have your pick of comedy, drama, musicals, improv, dance, even burlesque, and what’s usually one of the more desolate and dodgy areas of the city is filled with life, colour, creativity and culture. Lecture halls in universities, top floors of pubs, backstage areas of theatres and city streets themselves are turned into performance spaces, laughter and applause fill the air, and extravagant costumes, floating sundresses and musical instruments adorn the assortment of people spilling out of coffee shops and off of patios. Over the past week, I spent my time with good friends, laughing until my sides hurt, watching a secret torch-lit midnight cabaret, admiring brilliantly written scripts and breathtaking performances, and just soaking up every drop of the creative spirit which comes to visit just once per year for all too short a time. My pockets are empty, my houseguest has gone home, and another Fringe has come and gone, but I feel thoroughly satiated after a week of the arts – and totally inspired to write a show of my own!
Channelling my inner eight-year-old
This weekend I also had the opportunity to attend my first “Cake and Shake”. It’s exactly what it says on the tin – an annual party thrown by a friend revolving around the idea of eating lots of cakes, consuming lots of milkshakes, pulling out guitars and breaking into song. I think all grown-ups should have a cake and milkshake party at least once in their life – it was wildly fun (not to mention delicious), and with the encouragement of a wonderful group of people, I even got to conquer my fear of public singing!
Dreaming of winter
Yes, you read that correctly and no, I haven’t been replaced by one Raven Darkhölme –Winnipeg is indeed the coldest city in the world, with over half the year spent with temperatures plummeting well into the minus twenties and thirties, but with the recent heatwave, I’ve taken to daydreaming of all the things winter will bring. Snuggling in blanket forts watching movie marathons, decorating my new apartment for Christmas, braving the cold in nerdy Hallowe’en costumes on the bus, Comic Con, holiday movies, festive baking, cooking warm meals, walks down moonlit streets after a fresh, glittering snowfall, group Thanksgiving potlucks, excursions outside the city to see the Northern Lights, afternoons with hot chocolate, fairy lights and a big notebook… I absolutely adore summer, but lately I’ve found myself for the first time daydreaming of all the things to do while the weather outside is frightful. Always good to have something to look forward to. 🙂
What did you do this weekend?
Prose and Constellations 
OHHH funnn ! I spent my weekend doing a lot of things, meeting up with friends, drinking, laying by the pool, adventuring around town…. yesterday I did a half-day meditation retreat with some people in the community, then after—the highlight of my week—-I looked out the window by my bed at the beautiful sky, orange clouds at sunset, shadows of the leaves through the trees, dreaming….. of a wonderful future and the beauty that I crave to find in my adventures in the world. It was just a really wonderful moment where I soaked up a lot beauty.
Your weekend sounds fantastic!
What a fun weekend! Sadly mine wasn’t quite as exciting – though I did bake a batch of delicious cupcakes. Fringe Festival sounds like so much fun!
Ooh what kind? And yes it definitely was!
Nice to read a post about you having a great time and enjoying your life. Looks like life is back on track for the Em’ster, and glad of it! Though, shame on you for dreaming of winters to come, remember again, not that long ago about living in the present; enjoy the summer for what it brings good or ill (heat included) and winter will be around the corner before you know it 🙂
Very true… I felt I should chronicle the fact that I was dreaming of winter, just so I can look back in a few months’ time and remember all the good things about it!
Really I was joking! Seems it is in our nature to think of the future and our past. Who doesn’t like to snuggle by a warm fire with a good book, their cat, and their favourite hot beverage; not something you want to do in the middle of the hottest time of the year though, so something to look forward to. What is great, is that you have positive things about winter you like, despite living in the coldest city in the world! Keep up that positivity and the universe will bring positive things to you 🙂
Sounds like an excellent time! I’d love if we had something like that down here in Massachusetts. I spent my weekend at a three-day Hindu wedding! It was quite the treat!
Oh wow, I have ALWAYS wanted to go to a Hindu wedding! I bet it was just amazing!
As always, that sounds like so much fun! Every time you blog about this festival, I get insanely jealous. 😉 Hehe. I wish we would have something like that here! It sounds super wonderful. I am super happy summer is here at the moment, BUT I must admit you just described all the loveliest parts of winter. I do wish we would get a little bit of snow here, because I miss taking walks in the fresh snow! Great post 🙂
Thanks!! 🙂
Fringe Fesitval sounds amazing! I am slightly jealous! I still can’t believe you live somewhere that cold….. And your friend’s Cake and Milkshake party sounds really fun, what did you sing? Good for you! My weekend was OK. Just lots of soaking up the sun, went for a bike ride and caught up on reading. Must finish Harry Potter before seeing the movie!
As if you STILL haven’t finished it!! lol you really do have to before the movie though… I wish I’d read it again, because there were some things I had questions about after seeing it! I sang “Paperweight” by Joshua Radin & Schuyler Fisk… my friend sang the duet with me so I wasn’t totally alone!
Yay for the successes and funtimes…. I’m glad you have been so well looked after! I’m also glad you weren’t hijacked by Mystique!
I must call you someday and have a catch up!
That sounds fantastic! I would say Skype but I seem to have lost my webcam in the move 😦
Then what say you to a Skype talk on a Friday or Saturday night? No webcam needed, just you, me and our voices to stave off the cold, dark void that is time spent away from your presence?
Aww that would be amazing, but my microphone was built into the webcam! 😦
Easy fix Em-J. I have Skype credit and could use it to phone your actual phone. Smileytimes all round!
We’ve been having a little heat wave in the Maritimes too, Emily, but nothing like the folks out west! Hope your temps get more bearable soon!
A “Cake and Shake” party sounds like fun (anything involving cake has to be a good time!).
Wendy
Definitely 🙂
I’m so glad I’m not the only one that has been dreaming of winter lately. It’s so weird because for some reason I’m really anxious for Fall & Halloween to come already. I just love the holidays! I’m so done with Summer.
I don’t think I could ever be done with summer, but I can’t wait for Halloween!
Sounds like you got the Fringe you’ve been dreaming of! That’s fabulous 🙂 I’m not dreaming of winter, but I’m loving that it’s cooler and that there’s another whole year of possibilities so soon around the corner.
Sounds like a fantastic weekend! That cake and milkshake party sounds really fun. I’m not dreaming of winter just yet, because I know once it *is* winter, I’ll wish it were summer again.
Oh, I’m certain I will be too!
Between yours and the other Winnipeggers blogs I read, I really am going to have to come check out this Fringe Festival as well. We have been suffering through a horrible heatwave as well in the States, at one point 45 states were under dangerous heat watches, not fun. I spent my weekend working on new projects and attempting to stay cool.
Yikes! Our air conditioning in the office was.broken for the last few weeks and I think it got to 40 degrees C at one point or two!
oh geez, i want a smores pop tart right now. yep! I’m getting a smores pop tart!
Yes! Fringe was awesome! Only managed to catch one show due to work and life conflicts, but I love the feeling of downtown coming alive for a couple of weeks! I even had my first cake-ology cupcake! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it!
Oooh cake-ology! I love their little cake pops 🙂
First off, I love how excited you are in this post. I so wish I was able to attend Fringe Festival it sounds amazing. Cake and Shake huh, I’m more of a salt person, I could probably do a Dip and Sip – all you can eat dips and margaritas?! hehe
Love the little X-Men reference, mad props to you for tossing that in there. And I don’t know how you did it, but you may have made me nostalgic for winter again…nope, I just thought about scraping ice off of my windshield, it’s gone, lazy hammock days for me!
I am so suggesting Dip and Sip for the next one!! 🙂
I have been done with summer for quite some time. Unfortunately, however, these warm, or rather hot, temperatures here in Central Texas will keep sticking around for another few months – possibly until Christmas even. :S I went to the pool this weekend and soaked up some sun. We also ventured out for some much needed ice cream. Overall it was a pretty mellow weekend. 🙂
Sounds dreamy… I wish our summers lasted that long!
this post bought a tear to my eye.
it’s just so wonderfully beautiful and makes me want to embrace LIFE.
so thank-you
xxx
Awww thank you! 🙂
Fringe Festival sounds seriously awesome. We have Folk Fest by us. My friend’s family goes every year (there’s 8 of them, so it’s a party in and of itself), but I’ve never been and it’s focused on music versus arts in general. PS. I had no idea that Winnepeg was the coldest city. I don’t know why, I knew it was cold, but I thought it had to be somewhere in Russia or Antarctica that beat it out. Guess not. I now have even greater respect for you for hanging through some brutal winters. Is it hot there right now at least?
Sounds like a really great weekend! I wish mine was even a little bit as interesting – I just worked and did homework =-( So lame!
I hate to admit it, but I’m starting to get ready for winter as well. It’s been well over 100 these last few days and that’s just too damn hot. Throw in some humidity and it’s just unbearable. I’m ready for falling leaves and the crispness that the first freeze brings.
I LOVE winter! I always thought it was because I’m a winter baby, but the heat of summer just makes me butterflies-excited for Halloween, Christmas, New Years and the first crunch, crunch, crunch of white powdery snow under me feet. Even more aberrant- I am not a fan of spring; too slushy for moi.
Especially here! It’s so gross and brown and dreary. Thankfully it doesn’t last very long. Do you dress up at Halloween? 🙂
What a super fun weekend!! And while I don’t miss winter, I do think I’ve been jipped with what passes as a London summer – it’s meant to be midsummer now, except I’ve got more layers on than I’ve ever worn during a summer at home!
But you are in LONDON! I would wear anything if I got to spend a summer there 🙂
What an amazingly fun weekend! And now I’m craving cake… and milkshakes 😉 That photo of the girl in the snow reminds me of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
i don’t mind that winter is coming up soon, i love being cozy! but i am enjoying the summer as well. what the heck, i’m just enjoying life!