Katie Leggitt

I'm listening to possibly the greatest tribute album of all time.  Just about the coolest people in the music industry got together and made a collection of Buddy Holly songs.  The Black Keys, Patti Smith, The Detroit Cobras and Lou Reed, to name a few.  Check out  http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/spinner#/1  to listen as you read this. I grew up loving Buddy Holly and was obsessed with the Ritchie Valens movie, La Bamba.  I always looked forward to seeing Buddy Holly on-screen because as a kid I thought it was the real guy.  Of time and space, I was not yet aware.  As an 8 year old, when I was able to compute death and biographies, I thought it was tragic that so many talented people died in the same plane crash. I used to lipsync to Chantilly Lace with a broomstick and a mirror when I was cleaning my room, as if that was the only song the Big Bopper ever came out with.  Needless to say it took me forever to clean my room, and it still does. Apparently there is a huge

I shucked corn in the Loblaws tonight.  I'm going to a potluck tomorrow and it occurred to me that corn on the cob pleases everyone so why not bring some?  Pretty easy to throw together too. Anyway, there I am, ripping off the green leaves and corn-hair, when I was hit with another memory from my childhood. My dad's dad lived in a historical house in Saint-Andrew's, Qc.  Poppa.  His kitchen always smelled like coffee.  Every once in a while I'll hear a pot brewing or smell something similar in the air and it will trigger memories of his kitchen.  The wallpaper, the breadbox, the cookie jar... He was a talker, Poppa was.  I was 12 when he died, so not old enough to take part in many of the conversations the adults had over said coffee.  But the smell of coffee and that kitchen are linked forever in my mind.  I still picture myself walking through the house when I'm having trouble sleeping or am missing Poppa.  The carpet that ran up the stairs, the perfume smel

I wonder if people, as adults, still ignore the people they have crushes on, just like in grade 5.  My first boyfriend and I, let's call him Matt, didn't even talk.   We decided to become boyfriend and girlfriend after his friend Robert asked me out for him.  I'm still not sure if we ever broke up.  We just didn't talk.  We had spent the weekend hanging out with neighborhood kids in Saint-Bruno, building a treehouse-fort in what I remember to be a big empty piece of land, and that Monday Robert asked me out.  For Matt.  I'm sure that space is covered in duplexes and model homes by now.  But there was one tree in an open area that we worked on.  I remember collecting debris with Matt while my heart was fluttering like nuts. Any excuse to follow him.  My stomach was a squishee machine and I'd blush when he looked at me and I'd laugh at all his jokes.  I've always been a mess when I like someone.  Thank God my acting skills compensate for the most part.   I

Was it DaVinci who was the only man capable of drawing a perfect circle by hand?  Even when I trace something, the line always changes when I have to re-angle my pencil.  It's difficult.  But the symbol, a circle, O, is whole, and lately I've been having moments where I feel a full circle has occurred. Recently I was sitting in a bar called Aux Verres Stérilisés (Sterilized Glasses), talking about love and pursuing your art to someone who I once read about in the newspaper.  Years ago I read that a man from out West had inherited a building downtown that he was converting into a theatre.  Wow, I thought, that's so cool.  Right away I was curious to know more about the transformation, but it wouldn't be until after cegep that I finally visited Theatre Ste-Catherine. Small and quaint, it's the perfect venue for anything art.  I love it, and it truly has become my home away from home.  My friends Alain and Mark took over the business side of things a year and a hal

Yesterday morning the first word out of my mouth was literally "F***."  I didn't feel like getting out of bed and certainly was not feeling energized to get to work.  But I did, a coffee in-tow, and made it there earlier than usual.  I've recently decided to socially sell myself over the internet.  I admit I am trying to promote this blog in order to reach a wider audience and see what happens.  Curiosity has always been a motivating factor in my life.  I signed up for a real Twitter page, under my real name, Katie Leggitt.  Hook that up if you like.  When I woke up yesterday and huffed the F-word as I was sitting up, the second motion I made was to reach for my laptop and tweet.  I don't even know what I'm doing really, but I tweeted my first word of the day, followed by "it's going to be a rough day," and even hashtagged #needvacation.  I'm not entirely sure what hashtags are for, but I'm just trying to keep up with the times, know wh

There comes a point in time where you just need to suck it up and do it already. Today I put on a Talent Show at my elementary school and it went super well.  I'm still high from the adrenaline rush and lack of calm, while I sit here eating the melon I brought for breakfast.  That just goes to show you how little free time I had today.  But that's okay, it comes with the territory. Originally I was concerned about trying to organize a Talent Show for a school of 800 students.  That's a lot of filtering. But in the end, it was magical.  With all the organization, anticipation, practicing, and subsequent stress related to it all, it felt good to finally brace the stage and go for it.  Crossing the threshold of preparation and taking action is so satisfying.  The moment that transition happens is not always clear, but it's a key point to focus on.  100% motivation lives in that spark, we just need to ignite it; that moment the capgun blows and you start the race.  Th

Sweets.  Sweetness.  Sweetie.  Sweetiepie.  Sweetpea.  Sweetheart.  Has the word "sweet" lost its meaning to you yet?  What a trick on the mind that is, when you write or read something enough times and it loses all sense.  I wonder if that's how people fall out of love with each other.  Too much, all at once, repitition, loss of interest.  If only it were that easy to fall out of love with sugar. Since cutting out refined sugars from my diet two weeks ago, I have a new appreciation for the natural sweetness in food.  I ate a carrot the other day and it tasted like it had been dipped in icing.  Bananas and strawberries taste like candy.  Mind you, they don't have the same satisfying crunch or chew that candy does, like my favorite, Swedish berries.  MMMM. I have a long history with sugar, and I'm about to reveal some pretty diabetic-inducing habits that once were a part of my life.  Things I'm not too proud of, but for the sake of story-telling, I'll tel

Here's to new music.  It's just what I need to pick me up out of the dumps. I'm on day 13 of my cleanse.  Technically I could stop tomorrow but I think I feel the need to continue on for one more week.  It takes roughly 21 days to change a habit, so I'm hopeful that I will continue to avoid dairy products.  I love that. "Hopeful."  As if it's out of my hands.  I can totally take control of this, and pursue a full-on vegan lifestyle.  A few times in the past week, I let it drop that I was vegan without the full background "Cleanse"  story, and I felt like such a liar.  Maybe that's where the angry vegan stems from; feeling the need to advertise their beliefs when it's not really necessary. In any case, I'll be mindful of my eating habits again this week, start my day with a glass of lemon-water, and eat some grains or fruit for breakfast.  I continue to avoid alcohol (my pregnant friend Tasha introduced me to Beck's 0.0, and it

The wheels are turning. I'm on my 9th day of a liver cleanse, where I've cut out dairy, wheat, sugar, alcohol and caffeine.  I'm sure if I wasn't already vegetarian, there'd be an elimination of meat too, I'm guessing red. The first few days I experienced a full-blown detox from coffee and sugar. I stayed strong and didn't surrender to the impulse to give up and give in.  I was tired, but positive.  Then a few days later, I noticed old emotions were surfacing, I started thinking about the past a lot for some odd reason. Much like my belief that when you do a cleanse, your body is able to now heal old wounds that your body wasn't healthy enough to take care of fully, I guess what's happening now is that I'm facing old emotional wounds that finally have space to heal.  I have built a pretty solid foundation in the past few months, feeling highly energized, positive and happy, so it felt like a real setback when my mood dipped this week. It&