all that glitters is not G O L D

Hello Beauties, 

Thursday is one of my most favourite days of the week - I think it peaks the anticipation for the weekend. I have always said - Thursday, I anticipate Friday and the weekend that it precedes; however, by the time friday actually rolls around - I AM DONE. Like, do not speak to me on a Friday afternoon because 9 out of 10 I will punch you in the face. Okay, perhaps a bit of an exaggeration as I actually can't swing a punch to save my life... but you get the gist. Anyways - today is indeed Thursday and thereby I am happy. 

I have not been writing as much as I would like to in posts, and while the personal style posts are great - I have so many thoughts I wish to voice. So this post is dedicated to just that - t h o u g h t s. 

Last Saturday I attended an event at the Ottawa Convention Centre - 613 Night Market hosted by Prive  - and if you are from Ottawa and have not heard of it, well you are living under a rock; and I admonish you to come from under it... It was a seamlessly organized event where local vendor and restauranteurs had the opportunity to showcase their artistry. There was everything from handmade jewelry to gluten free cookies. Being the food enthusiast that I am - naturally, I went for the food. 

[I am going to apologize right now for the lack of photos I took in the interest of taking in the evening]  First I sampled a coconut curry shrimp dish over jasmine rice. Then it was off to Auntie Thelma's for my very first jerked tofu tart! [not entirely sure what it is with me an jerked tofu these days! I just had jerked tofu tacos at SIDEDOOR contemporary kitchen] It was not bad actually. Next we popped over to a local caterer for a shrimp and salmon cake - it was quite nice and the appeal was the no filler added factor. I also sampled a few pieces of cold, yet yummy sushi pizza from KINKI - an Asian Fusion restaurant in the Byward Market [Ottawa]. I have heard about it - but never been - I am definitely excited to make them a pitstop on my informal Ottawa Foodie Tour. [Speaking of which I tried a couple great places in Westboro last week - post to come!] After trying out KINKI my sweet tooth was beginning to kick in and it was time for a cupcake from The Button and the Bee. I tried a matcha green tea cupcake and it was incredible! So moist and flavourful - one of my favourite cupcakes in Ottawa by far! 

So that pretty much summed up the food tour! It was a great evening with friends and food. Fortunately the night did not end there. As we were leaving the Convention Centre I persuaded my friends to take some photos for me - for the blog of course.  Turns out they were really bad photographers so what I got was photos of my laughing hysterically at their antics. Really, I wouldn't have it any other way. After as we sat chatting we discussed how much things have changed over the past decade - everything from kids cartoons and toys to the presence of social media in our society. Of course the pressing social media concerns led to deeper discussion on its implications on our society. 

We spoke to the notion that social media has given young people a great platform - which is proving to be quite dangerous. With examples like Kylie Jenner and Sophia Ritchie - young people are forced out of innocence in efforts to keep up with the grown and independent template of the 2014 teen. Now, I am not saying such examples are solely to blame for this - as teenagers have been losing their innocence or so to speak for as long as I have been alive; but it is important to recognize and address the various factors that attribute to this loss of innocence. Now because these - kids really, think they are grown they begin to act like they are grown and beyond that - expect you to now treat them like they are grown. So while the little buggers are clever - they're not the wisest set, and rightly so - they have only been on the planet for 13-19 years! That's my biggest issue with the teenager and social media equation - they feel as though they know more than they actually do. With sensationalized posts, tweets and instagrams all of them with a hundred likes and follows - everyone tells them they actually do know a thing or two. Again, I am not suggesting that we put tape on the mouths of teenagers and rip it off for the 20th birthday - because voicing their opinions is much apart of development but where is the sense of humility? If we know it all - can do it all - and can be it all - what do we need? Further, who do we need? 

Now this goes out to all of us social media users both young and... painfully old. I think it touches younger folk more however - as they find themselves on a journey toward self-actualization. We have begun to use social media as a mask - only showcasing the very best in our lives. While I understand the inclination to share things that excite us - I feel like many glorify their lives through posts when the reality is quite the contrary. Captions are great - they give us the opportunity to contextualize our photos - the trouble is we can come up with any caption we so choose. I have seen examples where people post photos practically skipping in the streets and making overly done declarations supposed camaraderie and I have also been in the same room with those same people - and have observed that they have no idea how to communicate with each other. But I never would have seen that through social media - I only saw the glam. So what's the issue? You are there scrolling through and see glam-glam-glam-glam and begin to question what you are doing with your life. Why aren't I married? Where's my new car? Why don't I have this - that and the third. We have been consumed by g l a m.  So I am writing this post to remind someone that - all that glitters is not gold -  

Not everything people put out is a great as it would appear and at best - it's only a small capture of a life. At the end of the day - enjoy your life - the life that you've been given. Don't get caught up with everyone's gold-plated life. 

Live your own life - because it is golden.