Avenue 23

Welcome Back

June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Lifestyle, Travel

After a 3 month hiatus, I am officially back!

So, where was I for the past 3 months? I was working. I overwhelmed myself with too many shifts in order to pay for my trip to Europe and had no time for anything except for eating and sleeping. It was a painful couple of months!

Then I went to Europe! I was gone for 6 weeks and if you remember my previous post, then you would see that we went everywhere and did everything! I had the most amazing time and came back with a lot of things crossed off my bucket list. However now, I’ve added even more things to my list!

I have so many things to tell you! So many tips and tricks, and places to visit! I’m so excited to share everything with you! If you follow me on Instagram, thanks for keeping up to date with all my stories and pictures from my trip! (If you don’t you, you can check some of the pictures out at Avenue23blog). I also have some more personal and lifestyle posts lined up as well!

Thanks for standing by, it feels good to be back!

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***

March 19, 2018March 19, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Media

Hey Guys,

I’m coming back with another book review for you! Ok, this book is amazing and I’m going to go ahead and give it 5 stars right now! It’s like you don’t even need to read the review now… but seriously give it a read if you have time! It’s called the Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.

Alright this book has actually changed my mentality and how I look at things now that I’ve finished it! Mark Manson brings up some super important points in the funniest way! It’s like he addresses this big problem that relates to you and it’s kind of life changing, but you’re also laughing because it’s funny? You’re like oh this is hilarious and is also me and why am I like this?! I would probably starting crying if he wasn’t making me laugh!

Anyways, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am part of the group of people that just cares about the small things in life too much! I care about other people’s fights at work, I care about if some stranger yells at me, I care if someone is driving too close to my car, I care about all of these trivial things that don’t matter and shouldn’t be wasting my time on. So now, I’ve started to say F*ck it. It’s not worth my time to care about all of this. If someone doesn’t do their job at work, and leaves me with all this work, I say F*ck it and do my job. If some stranger yells at me (which actually has happened recently), I say F*ck it. None of these problems are in my control. I can’t control how other people react and what they do. I just do what I can and change what I can change, while also not getting worked up about the small things. Whose to say why that stranger yelled at me! I don’t know his story. Maybe he heard bad news about something, maybe he got fired from a job, maybe he hates his job and feels trapped. What I learned from Mark Manson is that sometimes people treat you a certain way because of their own insecurities and that’s what I think about now.

He also helped me with my future. As you heard in recent posts, I want to go to school to be a prop builder for theater productions and for movies eventually. All I’ve heard from people is how much money I’m going to lose going to school and how much I’m going to be poor forever. I shouldn’t bother me, but it creates this fear in you that you didn’t have before! What if nothing comes from it, what if I suck at it, etc. Well how will I ever know if I don’t try! I have this fear of failure, but you could fail at anything in life. You’re always going to have cons to any job you do. However, if the pros outweigh the cons and the struggles are worth it to you, then it’s worth trying! If you can’t except the challenges, then that experience is not worth it for you. Once I read this book, that anxious fear left me, because he’s right. We’ll always have problems, we just have to accept them and embrace them.

Mark Manson talks about a lot of different things like this. He talks about having strong values and gives examples of a weak value of trying to be the most popular at a party or on social media. This is something you can’t control. You can’t force other people to like you and how they feel at a party. And I get this way! Especially now with Instagram’s new algorithm! It sucks to not have people be able to see my pictures, but why is this one of my values at all?

The book is amazing and will make you thing back on your own life and what you can change. It talks about putting yourself out there into the world to get what you want. He talks about feeling emotions, having good values, and losing this sense of entitlement that people sometimes get. He talks about being afraid of success and working hard! I love that he brings up Buddha and talks about accepting that you’re bad at something in order to let yourself go to succeed

His book made me view my life differently. I actually took notes and am trying to practice what he preached!

Thanks for the good book Mark Manson!

Now I’m onto What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.

Europe 2018

March 8, 2018March 8, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Travel

Hey Everyone:

I know I have been talking a lot about going to Europe and haven’t really informed you about the trip and where we are going! There’s only 54 days until we go and I am super stressed about making payments and Saving enough money for bills when I’m gone, etc! But after next week’s payday, I’ll have it paid off for the most part and I’ll be ready to go! Super excited!

So, my best friend and I are going for a month and half to Europe! We’ll be travelling all over the place! I have been waiting for my chance to go on a Europe trip FOR YEARS! My biggest regret is that I never went after high school, but then again I probably wouldn’t have a degree. So I’m going now!

We are not going with a travel group. There’s just too many places we wanted to hit and I wanted to stop and time out places on what we wanted instead. Nothing against travel groups, it’s just how we planned it!

In no particular order, this is where we’re going:

1. Germany 🇩🇪- We’re hitting three stops in this beautiful country! We have a day to go see Neanderthals in Dusseldorf, and some ancient forums. Next up will be a week in Berlin, and a week in Munich after that! We have so many museums and castles lined up! I’m so freaking excited! Germany has been fun to plan! I love history, so I’m looking forward to it! Also, Germany is actually a good place to travel cost wise too! I’m finding a lot of the museums are cheap or free even depending on what you’re seeing!

2. France 🇫🇷- There’s a lot we’re looking forward to seeing in France, and so we have 3 stops on our journey! We will be stopping in Lyon for three days! We are just going to hang out and maybe do some wine tasting (I’m not the biggest fan of wine, so a lot of people who know me are probably rolling their eyes at me right now!), and I’m excited to hit up the beaches in Nice! I’m extremely excited for Nice. It looks beautiful and also there is more archaeology there (hope my friend doesn’t mind!). If you’re wondering what’s their for archaeology- homo ergaster. Anyways, next up on the trip is Paris for a week! Of course! I’ve been wanting to go to Paris, since forever! Once again, we have a ton of museums and beautiful places lined up!

3. United Kingdom 🇬🇧- We’re only making one stop here, and of course it’s London. That’s right my UK friends! I will be there for a week! We plan on doing a day trip out to some cool sites like Stonehenge (this took a lot of convince for my friend- she will probably laugh when she reads this!), Westminster Abby, and Bathe! We also have a few stops we plan on making!

These are the big places on our trip! It’s the places we’re spending the longest amount of time at! We are also briefly spending time in a few other places too!

4. Netherlands 🇳🇱- We are spending a couple days in Amsterdam! I’m excited to just hang out and do a couple museums, but really just experience the place!

5. Italy 🇮🇹- Milan! Italy I have missed you! We’re only there for a day or so, but whatever! I’ll take it! Pizza and cappuccinos here I come!

6. Austria 🇦🇹- We have planned to stop in Salzburg for a couple days, because we both need to feel like we’re in the Sound of Music! But also, this is such a beautiful place! I’m excited to go there and relax.

7. Switzerland 🇨🇭- Zurich! I have been through Switzerland three times now and never been able to stop! It’s a beautiful place and I know we’ll need a day off of museums and travelling so Zurich is a great place to stay for a day! it is expensive, but I think the fresh air and the views are worth it to go and relax! No pressure to do anything at all!

That’s it! It’s a lot of places, but so worth it! The thing about going to Europe is that you feel like you can add a lot into your trip and you never want to stop adding places! I think we’re hitting a few key places that we both have wanted to see and I can’ t wait!

I’ll keep you posted on the trip and with a few dos and don’ts as well for travelling! Let me know if there’s anything you want me to try out!

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

February 28, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Media

Hey Guys!

I’m coming back at you with more books I have read! So I said last time that I was starting the book Strange Weather by Joe Hill. Well I am finished it and i have a lot of feelings!

Strange weather has four short stories in it, so it was hard for me to rate on Goodreads, because I loved some and some I was feeling rather “meh” about!

The first story is called Snapshot. This is about a young boy who runs into a very creepy guy, he names the Phoenician. When he gets ahold of the camera, he finds out that with each picture, it erases a memory of the person you’re taking a picture of. It’s an intense and interesting story that I absolutely loved. It was such a cool and unique idea! If I could rate all the stories from 1-4 on which one I loved most, this one would fall into second place.

The next story is called Loaded. I love this one. It’s my favourite out of all of them. It’s such a chilling story and hits too close to home. Basically, a security worker at the mall becomes a hero after a mass shooting. However, when a reporter begins to figure out the real story, his love of guns and sanity comes into question.

The third story, Aloft. Is about a man who goes parachuting with a girl he’s in love with. When their plane forces them to jump put early, he hits a floor of clouds and is stuck their with no way to get down. He begins to realize that almost everything his mind imagines, is created by the clouds around him. The story switches to his past and his present issue of being stuck on a cloud. Out of all the stories, this one was my least favourite, but I still enjoyed it!

Last story, was called Rain. This one I rated third, but it might even be tied with the second one! It was an interesting story about a crystal rain falling on people in Colorado! The crystals fell like nails, killing anyone who was left out in the rain. A young girl lost her girlfriend and began the walk to tell her family what happened. Along the way she runs into all kinds of chaos and trouble from people confused about the rain and even discovers the source of the rain in the end.

Overall, I gave this story three stars! Like I said, it was hard to rate it, because I felt so different about every story! I also based my review on Joe Hill’s last book few books. I loved Fireman so much, that this one was only three stars compared to this one!

My next read will be: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

Graduated

February 26, 2018March 8, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Lifestyle

Hey Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well! I have been working like crazy lately to be able to afford my latest trip to Europe (which I will talk about more in future posts!)! So I am trying to take as many shifts as possible! So far so good on the savings front!

I wanted to talk a bit about my degree! I get questioned a lot about it, and people are always so confused if I graduated or not, because I currently don’t work a job that has to do with my degree!

Yes- I did graduate last summer! It was an amazing feeling! After 4- 5 years of feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, I have finally graduated and realized that it was all worth the stress! I have an arts degree with a major in anthropology and a minor in psychology. I didn’t love my minor, I just had a lot of credits in that field already, so I went that route.

My whole university career was a mess of confusion and me trying to decide what I wanted. Originally, I was in school to be a teacher, and I had a great fear of speaking in public. People told me all the time “You’ll get over it eventually”, but I dropped out of the program anyways. I could’ve gotten over that fear, but I didn’t want to deal with the process of getting over it because the end result was not something I really wanted in the end! So, I was stumped. I was Iike what do I do now? I thought I had everything figured out, but in the end I didn’t, so I was confused and anxious trying to decide. I finally went to the school councillor and her biggest piece of advice was to just finish my degree. I left and was like what the f*ck lady! Why can’t you just tell me what I want to do?!

Finally, I chose a bunch of classes at random being like, everyone else is taking these classes maybe I should too. So, I picked out some that fit into my degree, and picked out some science ones because people in school try to make it seem like an arts degree is absolutely useless. It’s like they pressure you with their judgement, and honestly, I believed they were right! It was my brother who finally told me to take a class, he had loved. That class turned into biological anthropology and was the best class i had ever taken. I fell in love with anthropology right there. I decided right there that my major would be anthropology, and my minor psychology. I actually really did not like Psych at all. Everyone will tell you it’s their favourite course and they all graduate with that major, but before you take it, test out some other classes! In my experience, psychology wasn’t what I thought it would be and was super boring. It stayed as my minor because I had take enough classes that I had enough credits to graduate with it as a minor.

Even though I loved anthropology so much, I still was trying to decide on an “actual degree”. Meaning- I was looking for a degree with a guaranteed job at the end. I actually clung onto the idea of nursing being the one I needed to get into. I tried many times to get in, and just couldn’t. I decided on an after degree in it instead and worked on the rest of my art degree. If we’re being honest, I wanted to be a nurse, because everyone was doing it. I just wanted to graduate and have a job and money and never have to worry ever. So, I got a job at the hospital thinking that it would give me the experience I needed to get a job at the end. Here’s what happened: I got the job, went into work, and realized nursing is a disgusting job and super hard career choice! I mean I should have known- my mom is a nurse! Wow, the workload, the amount of butts you have to clean, the people you deal with, how they’re treated by doctors, how nurses treat each other- just wow. A lot of people take nursing today without working in a hospital previously, and making the same decisions I did, and realize the SAME thing! They end up quitting or being stuck in a job they hate. This does not have to be you- you’re not stuck and it’s ok to quit if you don’t like it no matter what it is you’re taking. (Also nothing against nurses at all, you guys are amazing for what you do! I just found that it wasn’t for me!) Also, I recommend getting experience before hand, in the end it’ll benefit you if you do love it and are trying to get a job! For teaching, I volunteered at a school and realized I hated it, for nursing I picked up a hospital job. Anyways, I was still like, it’s ok I’ll eventually get onto a GOOD unit and that’ll change EVERYTHING. Ya Erin, ok.

And then I went to Italy. I had been debating on being in biological anthropology for a while and possibly getting a masters in osteology (the study of human remains). To do this, would mean that I would have to live elsewhere. Canada is just to new of a country to have the archaeology I wanted to do. Just as a side note: Anthropology is the study of humans. Plain and simple! It then starts splitting off into different areas: cultural anthropology is the study and recording of present day cultures and that can go into some cool fields. There’s Linguistics the study of languages, also very cool! Some people in this field end up recording dying languages before they run out of speakers! There’s many directions to get into in this field. There’s archaeology- which focuses more on prehistory and cultural change over time (aka Indiana Jones). Finally, there’s biological anthropology- my favourite- which studies more evolution and variation. As you can see, there is no mention of dinosaurs. Yup, that is palaeontology. I’s hard for people to wrap their brains around this. They see digging for both and think they are connected, but they are not.

So, as you can see, I was seriously debating my options. Nursing meant living near family, biological anthropology meant moving. Kathleen and I decided to go to Italy to see if we liked any field of anthropology. We ended up not even doing biological anthropology at all, and ended up doing lab work in an archaeological field. Italian archaeologists, had dug up pottery from one of the bath houses in Pompeii, and the job we signed up to do was to clean, and organize pottery! I’ll talk more about this in future posts because I could talk for years about this! My main point is, is I went to Italy and archaeology won out instantly. The idea of nursing seemed ridiculous and I couldn’t believe I was going to try to make a job I didn’t like work for me.

Last summer, I finished my anthropology degree and I am so thrilled to have done it. Now I love my degree more than anything. I still have one problem. It’s so hard to use this degree in Canada in this field. Now that I have a degree, there are tons of jobs I can get, especially government positions, but none of those appeal to me. I was stuck again. What can I do in Canada? Moving to Europe is too much for me right now, but what could I do here! So, my mom bought me a plane ticket to Vancouver to visit my cousin right after I graduated. I worked with her making props for theatre productions, movies, and TV shows, and fell in love again with another job.

I’m happy to say that I plan on moving to Calgary in September to go to school for theatre production, and then to Banff after that. It’s been a long road to find what I love, but I want to thank everyone along the way for the advice, for letting me volunteer and help out, giving me opportunities to help me find what I love to do. I may never make any money from doing this, but to me, finding something challenging and that I love doing is far more important in all respects. And if I fail, I still have an awesome degree to help me out!

So, you can expect me to be challenging myself and doing prop work, and when I’m not doing that, I’ll be doing some archaeological work around the world! Two jobs that I’m so passionate about, can do anywhere ( I would like to live in London someday, just no one to move with yet), and will love doing for the rest of my life.

My take home message is this: volunteer when you can to learn about the job you want! What are your interests? Start networking with people and learn the pros and cons of the job. There will be cons with every job, but are they worth it to you? If you can get through them, that job is for you! And don’t be afraid to put yourself out there! Just do it. People will tell you all “ You won’t make any money, You don’t have benefits, you’ll never get a job with an arts degree.” Here’s the reality. It’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be worth it. Money isn’t everything, do what you love and work hard at it. An arts degree can get you to a lot of places. You can get government positions for just having a degree. No matter what degree you have, school is worth it and the fact that you accomplished getting a degree is amazing!!! Good for you! I have been trying to convince myself out of going to school again all year. But I’m finally realizing that I can’t listen to others, I have to do what makes me happy, so that’s what I’m going to do!

The Snowman

February 8, 2018February 8, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Media

The Snowman

Hey Everyone!

I recently finished my book and thought I would do do a review on it! This book is by a Norwegian writer named Jo Nesbo! His books tend to be on the creepy side, and I’ve loved reading his books in the past! The Snowman was just as creepy.

I want to make one thing very clear- it’s not about a killer snowman! Everyone has been asking me this and I honestly picked it up thinking the same, but no there is no murdering snowman. Instead, there is a more realistic story.

The main character, Harry Hole (I’m so immature, I laughed for so long) is a detective who is in charge of the case of a missing woman. The only thing left is her scarf wrapped around a snowman outside one of the windows at her home. The case takes some twists and turns that makes it difficult to predict the ending. I won’t say anymore, because it might give away the ending!

I have something just to note here before concluding! This is the seventh book of the series. I picked it up, read it, and entered it into Goodreads! When I did this, it came up as the seventh book for this detective! I had no idea! Now looking back there is a few things that makes you realize it’s a sequel, but if you don’t want to read the first six that’s fine. You really don’t have to! He does a summary of the important things that catches you u tp speed! I would say that the end of this books gives hints for the next book which is really no big deal- maybe you’ll be sucked into reading the rest!

I actually really enjoyed this book! I only wanted to read it because of the Snowman concept, but it was one of the better mystery books I’ve read recently! Like I said, the story was hard to predict, I liked the main character, it was very gory at parts which made it intense! It also freaked me out because it snowed insanely in Canada during the creepy parts and I was like I’m going to die if I see a snowman outside my window!

I gave this story 4 stars on Goodreads: ⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

And now I’m onto the next book: Strange Weather written by Joe Hill!

25

February 8, 2018February 8, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Lifestyle

Hey Guys!

I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday today! 🎂

I’m officially 25 today! Yikes, I’m halfway to 50! Scary thought, and a good reminder that life is short! That being said, I did have some anxiety today thinking that! It’s like you blink and it’s already 2018 and you’re 25! It’s a crazy feeling that’s for sure.

Today, I was feeling anxious because I’m 25 and feel very behind from where a lot of people my age are at! It seems like everyone my age is in a serious relationship/ engaged/ married with their futures already planned out, and that is just not where I’m at! But, now that I’ve had time to think about it, I realize I’ve been anxious for no reason. There is no age where it says you have to be at a certain place, and you definitely cannot compare yourself to others. Everyone’s different and you don’t know their whole story. You’re only seeing the parts of their lives that make you feel bad or anxious. You are putting pressure on yourself because maybe that’s the part of your life where you aren’t confident in.

For me, I had to self reflect and take a step back and recognize how far I’ve come, where I’m at and what I want. Remind yourself of the positives in your life and if you need to, recite it as obsessively as Aria with her kill list in Game of Thrones- two very different lists mind you. Today, I think back to my degree and the work I put in to get it. I think about the places I’ve travelled to, and different goals I’ve achieved when I thought that I never would! I also think about the failures, but not as negatively now. I realize that my failed relationships, didn’t work out for a reason and they helped to teach me what kind of a person I’m looking for. With each failure, I’ve grown and learned a valuable lesson that have impacted and shaped my opinions and views about my life! Today, I thought about my life and where I’m currently at. I may dislike my job and my current relationship situation- but I’m healthy, happy, and ready to set some future goals! At 25, I can say I know what I want and this is the year of me putting myself out there and taking action!

Everyone is different. Some people knew way before me what they wanted, and some are like me- just awakening. I should not feel bad for it, and I don’t now. I stayed single to figure out who I am and where I want to go without the influence of someone else. At least now I know if I meet a guy, I will have the same goals and won’t change myself to appease a guy (I find, I change myself for a guy to make it work). It was just something I needed to do. It’s why I also took a year off to work, so I could figure out my next path.

So, I could panic about my age and getting older, but instead I think it’s more important to celebrate my life right now, and I’m excited for my future! I’ve done so much and come so far, and at the end of the day, age doesn’t matter unless you’re 17 ( in Alberta), 18, or 21 and cannot wait to come of age to go to the bar

3 Days in Florence

February 6, 2018February 6, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Travel

Hey Guys!

Hope you are doing well! I have a great travel post to take your mind off work and any bad weather!

A couple of years ago, Kathleen and I went on a trip to Italy to pursue our archaeological dreams! We worked in Pompeii, Italy during the week, but weekends were for us to explore! Our second weekend there, we decided on Florence! Best decision ever. Like I said, we would work Monday thru Friday so a lot of our travelling had to wait until after a work day! SO, really we just had an evening, Saturday, and Sunday to do all of our sight seeing! I know it’s a really short time, but try not to overbook your trip with too many museums! You probably want to see a lot, but you can always go back. It’s ok, just remember it’s your trip and take some time to relax!

I know this is hard to do, so try thinking of it as this: there are two kinds of places you visit. Some cities are experience cities, and some are heavy sightseeing places. The experience places are very much like visiting Florence. It’s walking around, looking at a couple sights, but more so just experiencing the city and the people in the city! It’s going for wine and doing some fine dining, walking around the city looking at beautiful artworks, etc. Other cities are like Rome (which I will talk about in another post)! It’s more sightseeing and touring around! These kinds of places you load up with tours and museums. Remember two things when you visit these places: don’t overbook like I said before, and really research museums as well! Only go to museums you want to visit- don’t go because you have to go or everyone else is. I promise you will have a much better time. Definitely do your research!

Anyways, back to Florence! This is how our weekend went!

Evening #1:

We didn’t have time to go and see anything, because it was so late, so we went for a night walk instead and checked into our Air bnb. Our place was so adorable. It was like real city living in a big city, where we had to walk up six flights of stairs and everything in an apartment is tiny? I LOVED it! You could look out the window into a small courtyard or see your neighbors in the apartments across from you. I recommend going for a walk around. We went to a chip place and ate (seriously go to the chip restaurants- aka fries with very good dips). We walked by some pretty great places- such as the duomo, saw some modern artwork, and learned a valuable lesson: in Italy everything closes around 10:00! Yes they eat supper late, but that’s it! No friday night parties, etc! They days they stay out late are Sundays- so weird right?

Florence is full of art- from ancient Roman art to modern! If you walk around, you’ll see lots of beautiful modern graffiti! It’s so amazing to see how art has changed from ancient to modern times!The blocks are very cool too. They’re so narrow and lovely ranging from old to new!

Day #2:

We woke up and went for a morning walk to eat our way through gelato- I had chocolate with chili flakes! I was in heaven! It was cold, hot, like eating cinnamon gum or something! It wasn’t overfly spicy and the chocolate was amazing!

Anyways, we met up with some of our roommates on the Ponte Vecchio bridge! It’s a famous, medieval bridge with tons of shops built on it! Most of them are jewelry stores, and there’s tons of like gelato places and little tourist shops around the area. So hang out! Do some shopping and please drinks all the wine and eat all the pizza!

The only other site we did that day, was walk through the Uffizi Gallery! This is a massive art museum- I’m not joking, it’s huge. Expect to take a least half a day to walk through it. So there’s two things I recommend- buy tickets in advance if you can, and bring proof that you’re a student if you are one. So for the tickets, it’s better to buy them in advance because you will be standing in a long line if not. It doesn’t have to be crazy in advance, you could do it before you leave or you could do it the day before in your hotel. But it reserves your spot for you. Also, if you are an archaeologist or an architect, you get a discount to any museum in Italy, so BRING PROOF. If you’re a student you get a discount- so again bring proof! You can get international student ids from here: https://isiccanada.ca/ . If you don’t live in Canada, no sweat, I think you can just look up international student card and it will come up for your country. My British friends- I’m so sorry about Brexit, but you can do the same and get a discount! So these two things could help you out to reserve a spot and get a discount! Do this for ANY country! There are some sights you HAVE to book in advance, like the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

The Uffizi Gallery is awesome, but a ton of art work. They have a few major pieces that you might recognize such as, The Birth of Venus, Botticelli. This is their most famous piece and it is very cool to see! The other Botticelli artwork I actually love way more than The Birth of Venus, but still very cool to say that I’ve seen that! Another piece, called Madonna with a long neck by Parmigianino- you will be able to say you have seen hundreds of Madonna and child artwork and Saint Peter the Baptist. It is cool to see how the style has changed over time! There’s also artwork like Judith Beheading Holoferines by Artemisia Gentileschi ( I remember thinking this was gruesome when I saw it- I wasn’t expecting that!), and Annunciation with Saint margaret and Saint Ansanus by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi- this was taken out of a chapel. Very cool.

If you’re finding you’re not really into artwork that much, but still want to see something but be there for less time, than go to the Accademia Gallery. This is where the statue of David is! I did not go so I have less information about this museum! My roommates and I split up at this point, some of us went to a different museum and the rest wanted to see artwork! The Bargello is where more of Michelangelo’s artwork is kept. If you are like me and want to spend the last day elsewhere, and still want to see some artwork, don’t fret! The fake statue of David is beside the Uffizi Gallery and in front of Palazzo Vecchio. I can now say I went all the way to Florence to see Fake David.

The rest of this evening was spent walking around, eating amazing food, and drinking tons of wine. Seriously amazing! There are tons of cool little shops you can go through and then some brand name, and expensive stores. I found a guy outside the cathedral who was painting with watercolors and bought a mini painting of the cathedral. It was beautiful and I lost it! This was my biggest heartbreak, I believe.

When you’re walking around, everything is close together, so you should see all the big sites! I think one other thing to note is the Florence Cathedral from the 1200s. It’s a medieval building that is basically in the center of Florence. Connected is a bapistery and further down and inside the Santa Croce is Michelangelo and Galileo’s tombs which I will be going back to, to see! Seriously. RESEARCH. I missed this little bit of info when I was deciding what to do and so regret not seeing the tombs while i was there! Oh well, looks like I’ll be heading back! There’s also some crazy fountains to see- like the Fountain of Neptune (Poseidon for the Greeks) and there is also a really cool library by the duomo! Also they have a Lindor chocolate store around the duomo (sorry, duomo is Italian for church if you’re like what the heck is she talking about) so walk around and find it and eat/ buy ALL the chocolate! No regrets!

Day #3: The Last Day

Like I said earlier, we separated from our friends, because I didn’t want to see more artwork. I would have, but on our walk by the river, we saw the Galileo museum and IT WAS A MUST SEE! This museum is cheap to go see and well setup. It’s not really busy because I feel like people overlook it to go see artwork. I don’t think I would have known about it if we hadn’t walked by it! It has all of Galileo’s works and inventions. There’s some other inventions by other scientists, but it’s heavily Galileo! Once again, it’s so cool to see how science has changed throughout time too! Here I thought I was in a heavy art area, but there was also a little touch of science to explore as well! The museum has different areas of science, because sometimes scientists didn’t stick to one area like they do now! There is a ton of space research, some biology. Galielo researched about speed, velocity and could be considered an engineer for some of his different designs and tests, as well as a physicist, and philosopher! If you go there, you can see his fingers in a glass jar and some teeth.

I think after this, we just went for some Eggs Florentine (one girl had wanted to come to Florence to eat eggs Florentine, which is not a thing and is actually hard to find where they make this- who knew?!), and we took the train back home!

So I hope this helps you decide what to see and how to spend your time when you travel! Travelling is something I’m very passionate about, so share your experiences with me and give me some suggestions on what I should see!

Women & Power- Mary Beard

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Media

Hey Everyone!

I recently just finished a new book! It’s called Women and Power by Mary Beard! Mary Beard is a well respected classics professor and is the author of SPQR. I hate to admit this, but I bought SPQR and have not even started it yet! My brother borrowed it from me and also hasn’t read it yet- whoops! I keep buying books and not reading them because I take out so many library books and have to finish those before I have to take them back! It’s a vicious cycle of having too many books!

Anyways, this is the first Mary Beard book I have read, and it was a very good read! If you want to learn about women’s rights, especially now after the women’s march and times up, this is a great book to read! It’s very short, only like 100 pages and talks about the mistreatment of women from ancient times to current. She talks about the misogynists and the attacks against women throughout time. It’s a short, modern, feminist book that will leave you wanting to underline everything she says. So much of it is so true, you just want to express it to everyone! I kept putting the book down and telling my mom about all these different parts that I could relate to or that made me shiver because it just made sense!

I do believe that this book is important to read. It’s important to learn and understand so we can make our society a more peaceful, and equal one. Always read! Keep Learning! Adjust your perspective, and try to understand other’s views without shutting them down! When you do this, you can compare the arguments and make yours stronger, or you may learn something new you hadn’t even considered! It’ll make you more open minded and more understanding. I learned a lot with this book, but I still have further to go, so this will not be the last feminist book I read.

I rated it 5 stars on goodreads!

My next book is drastically different and is called The Snowman! I’ll let you know my ratings next time! 🙂

Rainbow Hair Care

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018 by Avenue 23, posted in Beauty, Uncategorized

Hey Everyone!

So, as some of you may know- if you follow our instagram, which is @avenue23blog– I changed my hair a little drastically! I went from a silver, blonde to a rainbow ombre! The top of my head is still blonde, because lets be real, I love blonde too much to just get rid of! Then it fades into nice rainbow colours!

Today, I wanted to talk a bit of how I take care of my hair! As some of you may know already, the bright, fun, colours tend to fade super fast. So my hair care routine is an attempt to keep the colour in as long as possible!

My hairdresser/ best friend Melanie (her handle on instagram is @watermelonyhair, her page is SO fun to look at! Give it a look through!), told me after my hair was done to ONLY wash my hair in cold water and to wait 72 hours after my hair being dyed to wash it. So there’s a couple rules from a professional to maintain your new, beautiful hair!

To take this a little further, I have a couple more recommendations to help out!

First, before I go to bed- every second night- I put a hair mask in the ends of my hair! Currently, I use Kevin Murray, recommended to me by Melanie! I comb it through and braid it!

The next morning, I leave my hair in a braid and shampoo the top of my head, then I put conditioner through (this can all be done under a tap, if it’s easier). Then finally, under the tap and in very cold water, I wash the conditioner out of my hair with the braid still in. There’s about three different shampoos and conditioners I tend to rotate between! One is the Moroccan Oil shampoo and conditioner– smells AMAZING! Kevin Murphy is another I used- specifically the Blonde Angel Wash for my blonde hair. Last one I use is the Kardashian brand shampoo and conditioner. This one is a little more affordable- you get way more for what you’re paying!

I will say that I pay a little more for my shampoo and conditioner because I pay so much for my hair! A store bought shampoo and conditioner will strip the colour out of your hair. Also, with a good brand, I find that I don’t have to use so much! My hair is hydrated and healthy after too! I bleach my hair a lot to get the colours I want, so it’s important for me to use a product that is more hydrating. If you didn’t want to spend as much on both, then I recommend splurging on your conditioner at least!

I take the braid out finally, and brush it (my hair needs to be dried before a good combing! It knots super easily!). For a detangler, I buy Lush’s Sunny Day. I always get compliments on my hair smelling amazing- it’s a combination of honey and lemon juice! What I love about it, is that it’s also an anti- static hair spray for my constantly dry, and staticy hair! Also, just a side note- I have pretty fine hair, and I find it

So, that’s basically my routine! I blow dry my hair and comb it out instead of brushing so it’s less knotted up! I hope this helps you! Let me know about your hair care in the comments below!