TORONTO GIRL CHRONICLES

In an effort to get immersed in the Caribbean culture and to prep for today's Caribana, my gal pals and I hit the Harbourfront Centre's Island Soul Festival on Friday evening. The event featured dancers, bands and amazingly delicious food. Everyone was having a great time! This makes me oh-so-excited for my first Caribana ever!!!

Island Soul is running until August 2nd (it's August already?!?). For a full schedule click here. Did I mention it was free?

Here are some of the pictures:

Jessi has an impressive list of accomplishments and after reading about her life I can see that she’s not afraid to take risks, speak her mind and work hard. Jessi is a role model for us Toronto Girls who are just getting started. So it is with a bit of selfish sadness that I report that Jessi tweeted that she’s moving to LA. Now I know what my bf felt when Chris Bosh left the Raptors. At the same time, how do you stop a star from growing? You can’t. Luckily, she will go on to do great things, and leading by example, she will encourage Toronto Girls to not only dream big but pursue our dreams fearlessly.

BEST OF LUCK JESSI!!!

For everything you need to know about living/loving/ making it in the city visit us at TorontoGirlChronicles.com. Check frequently because you don't want to miss out on anything :)

So I am sitting here, with a big project staring back at me, from the side. It’s just sitting there waiting for me to finish it, but I can think of one hundred other things that I would rather be doing. I look around one corner and I see that I need to do laundry, which reminds me: I need to buy some detergent and I might as well do groceries while I’m at it. Coincidentally I notice that I am rather hungry…I just don’t know where to start …I think I rather just sit here and blog about procrastinating.


Procrastination is one of the toughest habits to break. I usually procrastinate when I’m overwhelmed and don’t know how to tackle a task. Then time disappears and I have to rush that daunting task, and by rush I mean half-ass it. Then I am disappointed in myself for not giving it my best.

The only tip that has ever worked for me was given to me by the smartest man on the planet:



Also I find it useful to write a list and start ticking off things.
Having said that, I’m going to go and get started on that project. Right after I do laundry…just kidding.



What are your tips for breaking the procrastination habit?

My brother and I had lunch at a park last weekend. Afterwards, I set up a tent and proceeded to nap, as many sleepless nights in Toronto induce me to fall asleep everywhere else. I was about 10 minutes into my nap when a dog, a wet dog, came in the tent and started splashing all around! As you can imagine, I was not impressed. So I got out of the tent and asked the owners to control their dog. Okay, I might have yelled, but only because they were far away. To this my brother said: “Wow, Toronto people are so aggressive.” I knew he meant rude. He’s just too polite to say so.


I’ve always thought I was polite, so this came as a shock to me. Could my four years as a Toronto Girl have turned my small town sweetness into raw aggression? I started to reflect upon actions and the actions of Torontonians in general. For example, when a pregnant woman/elderly person needs a seat, do we offer it? When we’re driving and someone cuts us off, do we honk? When service at a restaurant takes a little bit too long, do we snap? In my opinion, we are polite. We are also assertive; if something is wrong we speak on it. Nothing wrong with that…but maybe I’m just too used to being rude to notice it. Maybe the norm in this city (as in every major city) is to be aggressive, and anything else is just plain wimpy. What do you think? Are we too rude/aggressive?

* mango - cut into bite sized chunks

* dried prunes (optional)

Here are a few pictures of the evening:

I had a lovely non-date date with an old high school buddy yesterday. We chilled over a cup of iced tea and talked about work, life and girls. The girls’ topic is where it gets interesting for me, as I love to get the male perspective on these sorts of things. Carlo is a really great guy, yet single but no girl will mingle… fast forward to a conversation with my girl friends, where it was clearly stated that there is a shortage of good men in the city of Toronto. Is this actually true, or are we just too picky?

I have dated my share of interesting personalities, so I can tell you that it is true, they are out there (the bad boys). At the same time I can also tell I’ve seen my friends fall in love with some good men, so I know they are also out there. I think the problem lies in our perspective. We have all these long lists of things we want in a man, but we need to learn how to differentiate the wants from the needs. You want someone that is 6ft tall, rich and listens to classic rock, and quickly disregard any guy that does not fit the profile. Well those are things that you want. What about the things that you need? Like a man that is thoughtful, supportive, kind, makes you laugh, is hard working (a hard working man will eventually be rich according to my mom) … I could go on. You get the point.

Obviously you need someone that you have crazy chemistry with, but if you give yourself the chance to get to know someone you might be surprised at the chemistry that develops. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but I’ve always believed that good men are worth giving the benefit of the doubt.

Oh! and just a little video to make you smile on a Thursday afternoon….


What are your wants? What are your needs? Am I totally deluded?

I received a message today,  it was more like a rant about someone not liking their job. I think it would be safe to say that 80% of us do not love our jobs (this is so sad!). Maybe we are on our way to something greater, or on our way to realizing we made a great mistake. (I am speaking with no one in mind) Whatever the case, reality is you have to keep your cool until you find something you love.


I’ve come up with a list of things that you could do to help you cope:

1) Look for other jobs, send resumes, talk to people. Be proactive.

2) Realize that things could be much worse, at least you have a job.

3) Make a list of skills that you can learn/develop at your job.

4) Enjoy the perks (water cooler =fresh cold water! Yay! joking).

5) Get busy. Just finish whatever you need to get done.

6) Find a hobby or something to look forward to.

7) Never lose sight of your goals!

I once read a quote, and though it was the cheesiest ever, it happens to be very true:



Do you have any other tips for coping?

There are many things that scare me, but if there’s something that I have learned in these past years, is that those things that scare me the most hold the biggest rewards. Maybe life is like investments, after all, the bigger the risk, the bigger the dividends. Or better yet, life is like a dance show. The bigger the audience, the bigger the pressure.


You work hard, you prepare as much as you can and when the opportunity to perform arises, you have a choice: Do you step in, or do you dare not touch the stage? You’re behind that curtain, ready to take that big leap of faith. You feel as though your heart could not possibly beat any faster. Then again, if you don’t feel those palpitations, is it really worth it? So you go, take a deep breath and step into the spotlight. You know that everything you need for that moment you have already learnt. Life happens when you’re ready to let it happen. Everything happens for a reason. You might give the performance of a life time, or you might not...but you will never know until you defeat your fears and start dancing.