I’ll have to dedicate this post to my friend Sarah because she loves sunflower fields and Chris and I stumbled upon one on our aimless road trip on Saturday. It was quite the pleasant surprise. Sunflower fields are hard to come by around here – I think this was a corn field the year before. The beautiful long weekend has come and gone and it was a seriously awesome one. We must have gone through three tanks of gas driving all over the Southwestern Ontario countryside. (I used to think that I was a half-rural, half-city girl but I’ve been erring more on the rural side as of late. The countryside is just amazing.) We’re back to the grind tomorrow but am very much looking forward to it. There are a ton of exciting projects in the funnel that I can’t wait to get my hands on.

On a final note, I am absolutely hooked on Orange is the New Black and just finished the first season with one of the most intense finales I’ve ever seen. The second season isn’t airing until 2014 and that just gives me anxiety. I can’t wait that long! It’s a fabulous show – check it out on Netflix.

When I was in the Netherlands, my favourite thing of all were the beautiful old windmills. They were everywhere. Like this. Absolutely GORGEOUS. I’m going to try to head out to Huron County in Bayfield this weekend to get to a Holland-inspired windmill right here in Ontario. Happy long weekend!

We’ve been blessed with a sun-shining Sunday after a rainy Saturday. It’s a gorgeous day out.

This photo was shot in Ocho Rios, when we cruised through what they considered to be the less fortunate neighbourhoods. The drive was quite beautiful anyhow. This was the neighbourhood from a distance and then we actually got up close and personal, into the mountain, through the little unpaved roads in between. And there we got a much closer view of the houses and village people.

We are hours away from The Package Tour concert! :) Excitement levels are on the rise.

Killed the accounting exam. I purchased my Managerial Finance textbook and am going to start reading in August. I’m in overachievement mode, which I tried to avoid so I don’t kill myself. But it seems that it can’t be avoided…

On another note, since I’m a free bird, it’s a good time to plug the Beatles’ Free as a Bird. :) I’ve been spending some time with them this evening. Is there anything better to sing along to than the Beatles? I think not.

It looks like this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to conquering my nemesis. I received a perfect score in my accounting case study assignment, with a class average of 72%. It almost brought a tear to my eye and I’m not sure that this will ever happen again. 100%s on significant tests and assignments don’t come around often, especially in these tougher courses. More importantly is the moral of the story: hard work always pays off. Never doubt it.

I’ve been MIA for a week – eek! I’ve been studying for exams. Financial Accounting is history after tomorrow night. I don’t think I’ve ever retained this much information in my head – between work and school, it’s not easy to remember everything. I’ll tell you – the memory is working pretty damn hard. I can’t wait to un-flex those brain muscles and press the EJECT ALL ACCOUNTING INFORMATION button the second I hear “pencils down, time is up”. I have no idea what the exam is going to be like but my studying is getting quite unproductive and lazy in these last hours. Crossing my fingers and hoping it all works out.

Cruise ships are so magnificent. (Except when they sink.)

I’ve finally purchased a cloud-based back-up / storage system for my photography via CrashPlan. Man, have you ever tried searching “best cloud storage service” on Google and see how many of them come up in the searches? It’s absolutely crazy. Every once in a while, you get to be that consumer who knows nothing about something she has to buy and have to choose among 10+ brands that all say they’re awesome. Next thing you know, you’ve been reading reviews for hours and are still completely undecided and then have to force yourself to make a damn decision. I’ve just gone through what Google and marketers have coined the Zero Moment of Truth, which I wrote about in a previous blog post. Majority of consumers now make their purchase decisions online, where all the research happens. Ten years ago, a greater percentage of purchase decisions were made in-stores.

Anyway, the reason I finally took the plunge is that every now and then, I have nightmares about losing all three of my external hard drives to a fire and bidding farewell to years and years of photography. The thought of it just makes me short of breath. I need something that combats the physical limitations of hard drives, so I chose the cloud as a secondary back-up. I hope it’s a safe and happy journey.

In the mean time, happy Saturday night! I’m getting into Sons of Anarchy.

In hindsight, there were so many ways I could have been so screwed yesterday and it seemed like I was always an inch away from my own thunderstorm horror story. But somehow, the sequence of events happened the way they did to keep me from that horror story and it was not by chance or coincidence. My amazing God watches over me. Let’s just say that I drove with a flat tire for a total of 4 hours and had no idea. With the heavy roaring rain coming down, I couldn’t have heard my tire pop even if I tried. Yet my car held up while others were stalled and stuck in floods. When I got home from school at around 11:30pm, I learned that the apartment’s underground parking had been flooded (of course). I figured I had to find road parking at that point because I was certain that the visitor’s lot would be full, given the situation and how late it was. But sure enough, as I drove around to the visitor’s lot, I found ONE open spot as if it were waiting for me. These were only two of many fortunate moments yesterday, telling me to count my blessings.

I don’t mean to go all spiritual, but sometimes, when you reflect and think about how badly things could have turned out due to forces that are out of your control and then have a look at how it all worked out perfectly and as painlessly as possible instead, you have to wonder… someone else has got to be looking out for you. Some would say it’s luck, but I’d say it’s my God.

We are near the end. Three more deliverables left to go: final Accounting case study, final Accounting exam, and final Organizational Behaviour paper. This is the last stretch and today, I’m treating myself with a study break. I did receive multiple Etsy orders yesterday, so processing them will still keep me busy for a few hours. No rest for the wicked. I’m waiting patiently for August when I get my life back for 4 weeks.

I’ve enrolled in my next two courses for the Fall: Managerial Finance and a foundational Management course: Skill for Leadership. That semester will arguably be busier than this semester and I can hardly imagine it. :(

Hope you guys are enjoying my beach series from Jamaica!