#free wine

[xen-void]

Handing Out wine

ANYONE WANT SOME WINE I GOT PLENTY FOR ALL TUMBLR

[nowlander]

Okay I'm totally on board but how do I find small artists' exhibits? Is there a website that a lot of artists use to advertise them or anything like that?(my closest big city is Atlanta, if that helps)

Thank you!

There must be hundreds of galleries in atlanta, you only have to follow them in facebook.

It doesn't really neen to be a big city, though, I bet your town has small galleries too, you can search in google but I think facebook is best because you can follow them there

^ here I searched for "art gallery" and filtered for results only in Atlanta.

^ here I searched exactly for "art gallery atlanta".

You can do the same with your hometown, I bet a few will show up ;)

[sockdreams]

Calling all Portland Dreamers!

Join us Tuesday for a special Mardi Gras party!

♥ Sabrina

[streamacademe]

Week 61, Day 419.

As I didn’t get a chance to write a proper post last week, this will be a long one. After a week in downtown Toronto, we have swapped the glass city for a location more suited to our interests, Hunstville, which is surrounded by lakes and forest (like most of Canada to be honest). This also means that I now have internet!

Photo: Our glass city view from out hotel room I think the easiest way for me to structure the vast amount of information in this post is to write it in order of events, like the diary that this blog is. Before Canada During the week before Canada, I had a long meeting with all of my supervisors where we discussed my next steps with the project, both in the short and the long term. To summarise, I felt extremely overwhelmed by the prospect of the amount of work that I have ahead of me. If I could choose one word to describe what the next 2/3 years will be like, it would be challenging. However, a smooth sea has never made a skilled sailor, so bring it on. My colleague and I have also resolved our differences, but nevertheless I am wary of them now, and learned a lot from that unpleasant situation. First couple of days in Toronto After a 16 hour commute across the pond I made sure we had a couple of days to ourselves before the conference in order to overcome the jet lag and to have an opportunity to explore Toronto. My first impression of the city was that it looks like it should be in a perpetual state of fall; a season that fits it perfectly. I am someone who dislikes big cities, gets overwhelmed by them, and struggles to fit in, which is bizarre considering I was born in Moscow, and then lived in London. However, Toronto felt more welcoming than most big cities I’ve been to. I did find it weird that all of the alcohol is sold in specific stores, unlike the UK, where you can find it in every possible grocery store with a licence. I also struggled with the lack of black tea and milk available, I mean, I had to ask for a kettle for our hotel room because all we had was a coffee maker and cream. What’s worse, I couldn’t find any ‘Breakfast’ tea anywhere, it was all ‘Earl Grey’ or ‘Orange Pekoe’. Now, my uncultured and ignorant self complained for a week about this set of circumstances, until yesterday, when upon leaving Toronto I ordered an ‘Orange Pekoe’ tea in order to discover what the hype is all about with what I though was orange-flavoured tea... it turns out ‘Orange Pekoe’ is a term used to describe the highest grade of black tea. Needless to say, I felt like an idiot, but decided to treat this situation as a life lesson to not be so impulsive, impatient, and ignorant. ☕ Apart from my dilemma with tea, we did have a wonderful time exploring. On the first day, we went to the Royal Ontario Museum, which had the most incredible collection of gemstones, amongst other cool stuff. We also tried our first proper Canadian grilled cheese sandwich there, and a pumpkin tart, so that was a good day. The following day we took a long walk up to Casa Loma, a beautiful castle-like residential home built by Sir Henry Pellatt in 1914. As beautiful and majestic as the castle was, it was Sir Henry Pellat’s story that was the stand out feature. The man was one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world; he brought electrical street lighting, electric hydropower from Niagara Falls, and tram lines to Toronto! He was also a charitable, decent, and entertaining man who tried to do good by everyone. His wife, Lady Mary Pellat, was also a gem, having been the first Chief Commissioner of the Girl Guides of Canada who raised the number of girl guides to 17,000 by the end of her term! The incredible couple lived in Casa Loma for just under 10 years before Henry Pellat became bankrupt due to some failed business plans, amongst other factors. His way of life and his person moved me, and I now consider him one of my biggest idols. 🌟

Photo: Sir Henry Pellat, absolute fave. Source: Google. 

That was all the touring I had time to do before the conference...

Conference

The AWWA WQTC conference began on Monday the 12th and finished on the 15th; 3 days brimmed with information, discussion, networking, and science! Amongst the talks, I also attended some annual committee meetings, which provided an insight into the grind behind the research. I won’t go into detail about all of the talks, meetings, poster sessions, and networking events I attended as there are around 35! I’d like to point out that I didn’t have a single can of red bull to help me through! Overall, the conference was brilliant and I learned plenty. The next WQTC conference will take place at the start of November 2019 in Dallas, Texas. Submissions for abstracts are due by the end of February, and I am using this as a motivator to work hard to make sure I submit something by then as I really want to present at the next one.  I am extremely grateful to my supervisors and my university for the incredible opportunity I had to go to Toronto and attend such a large-scale event! This was the kick up the arse I needed to re-ignite my passion for my project, and feel like I’m on the right track. I fully intend to work hard to stay on course!  Another bonus of the conference was free wine and soft Legionella toys! (see below).

After the conference As the conference came to an end, so did my energy reserves. Luckily, we had another couple of nights at the Sheraton to rest before hitting the road! The hotel also had a brilliant outside heated swimming pool, which was utilised heavily by my partner and myself; it’s so cool (literally) and relaxing swimming at night under the snow!  ❄ As if I hadn’t had enough of water, the following day we drove to Niagara to see the falls; an experience I’ll never forget. It’s hard to describe the beauty of this landscape, so I’ve included a Christmassy photo of the adjacent Horseshoe falls instead (see below). Also, for those who don’t know, Canada has black squirrels! THAT’S RIGHT. They’re awesome. 

Toronto treated us kindly and lavished us with entertainment and food (for a price of course). On the note of food, I would recommend The Keg steakhouse, and especially ‘John & Sons Oyster Bar’, which served the most incredible seafood! Sushi places are also abundant across the city and are very affordable in comparison to the UK. 

Anyway, the city life suits some, but by the end of the week, my partner and I were craving quiet, nature, and home cooked food, and as mentioned at the start of the post we are now in Huntsville doing just that.  I intend to do some work while we’re here, but won’t be going overboard as opportunities like these don’t come often and I’d prefer to live in the moment. Have an awesome week, I’ll be checking in this time next week from the UK. A personal recommendation: spend less time online, having internet for an average of 30 minutes a day last week was liberating, and made me appreciate more than I could have done sitting on the web. 

Below, is a photo of the view from our condominium. 

[assrtdj]

tonight i went to an exhibition opening in a gallery where my friend works. i enjoyed listening to the artist speak.... ofc later i said something stupid like “art blogs are like galleries” we only look at art posts for like 30 seconds tops then scroll on. we don’t really take the time to appreciate all the hard work the artist put into it. that's why when you buy art and hang it on the wall you appreciate it more, because the longer you have it in your room, the more you look at it, and the more you look at it, the more details you discover.  

[sleepsociety]

Feels so good to be done with university

[chuuyasuggestions]

I have a wine bottle? Want it? I don't drink this thing usually, so you have it.

Mark? Are you being nice to me? Oh god what’s happening, did you hit your head? Are you dying? MARK, DON’T GO INTO THE LIGHT!!!

[longlivetv]

Guys.

My haircut place has free wine. I do t know whether to be ecstatic or in mourning for all the free wine I didn't get because I didn't know it was a thing.