shatter your illusions of love

photo cred

i wish i was here right now with no decisions to make

no shit to take

no smiles to fake.

i'm so done, it just gets exhausting.

i can't.

i won't.

you'll see.

breath in, breath out.

pick up the pieces and go home

there are so many things to say. 

i had the best time with a best friend. L came to visit. gosh i love that gal. there are tons of reasons but randomly the reason that is sticking with me right is she is so polite. and friendly! she will smile at people, straight in the face, always always says thank you and please. i've been so jaded to this toronto landscape of putting my head down and thinking i was being polite with small glimpses of eye contact and the occasion thanks. politeness is such a breeze of fresh air. 

news years reasolution - be more polite. 

remember how i only blogged the first 6 resolutions of 2011. i think i wrote out another 3 or 4. what ever happened to those? the publish button is just one small step but for some reason its the hardest. 

bam

back to the future

i found these cool shots by photographer irina werning. she takes a photo from when you were a kid and completely re-recreates the scene and mood. the project is called back to the future. its sort of like a life long before and after shot!

this is really cute and makes me wonder what photo I would try and recreate.

her website is here

i am trying to post pictures but they are completley out of order and this computer doesnt seem to have a copy paste? whats up with that.

okay so i just added the keyboard shortcut in the control panel and still no copypaste. blarf.

this is my brothers computer. i like it slash want my own. maybe for my birthday? maybbbbbbbbe just for fun?

i like new technology. i wouldn't say i am smart at it but ...i'm interested in it? i don't know. where is this even going? hahaha dave this is for you buddy. you know exactly where this came from.

alright so i should probably get out of the house today. but i also haven't had a 'day' alone in so so so so long. i have a love hate relationship with being alone. i like to control my exposure to people. when i lived alone i was in complete control of when i saw people, when i could just be naked, when i could binge on coffee and clean like a madwomen. thats another thing, i could control the mess. i am not a messy kinda girl. i like clean surfaces and limited dirt. i rarely ever even had dishes when i lived alone...i would just wash everything right when i finished with it.

wow aren't you glad your reading about how i like to do dishes? sorry. coffee talking.

i have some pictures for you but they are completely out of order so i can't publish it yet. its supposed to a pillow tutorial slash i sewed some squares together.

florence and the machine? i know i know i am late to the party. also crash kings? their whole cd is really good.

do people use msn anymore? hah why am i asking so many question this is a blog oh man. i ask a lotttttt of questions in real life. i just like to know!

i like to know little facts and wonder why people do certain things. analyze everything to the max. BUT WHY DID THEY DO THAT. i should be a detective.

tonight i am going out for ethiopian food. its sooooooo good. and you get to eat it with your hands, SO FUN. everything is a saucy yummy mixture and then its places on this bread type crepe almost and then you roll up the bread and dip it and spoon it into your mouth.

the end.

how to sew a pillow case

ola! so i wanted to try and use my sewing machine a little more in the '11 and this was project one. new pillow cases!

the fabric for these started out as a pillow case and a skirt from the gap. i liked the fabric print on both but the actual items were pretty useless to me on their own. I also like to collect prints that I like because usually its cheaper to get a 3$ skirt then to go to a fabric store and pick out a meter or two. also I think this is a great way to use items in your closet that you still love the fabric of but maybe they don't fit as great anymore or your over the style of.

step one is to pick out your fabrics and i also picked up these fugly pillows at a value village for maybe 3$ each. they were well made with thick upholstery fabric and still had plenty of life left in them.

i didn't get a very good picture of step 2 but you basically lay your pillow on top of the fabric and cut out around it. you want it to be a little larger then the pillow itself but if you give yourself about an inch around the edges that will be more then enough. no real measuring is involved just make sure to leave equal distance on each side.

lay your pieces right sides together (which means lay the sides that you want to be shown on the outside together) so your left with the two sides that will not be shown on the outside. line up the edges and pin together if your into that kinda thing.

sew those pieces together! leave about an inch to half an inch on the edges, depending on how much extra you gave when you cut them out.

when you start sewing it together you need to start at the edge of one of the corners and then sew towards that corner. once you get all the way around you should stop again just after the last corner, so your leaving one side almost not sewed. this will become your opening.

as you can see (and my mother will kill me hahah) i was too lazy to switch the bobbin thread and used two different colours. no problem! no one will see this anyway, your going to turn it all inside out.

so this picture below shows the opening that you need to leave on one side.

showing off my seams?

turn that shit inside out! push your corners out as much as you can, if you don't do it now the pillow won't do it and you'll be left with uneven corners.

with all your might get your pillow inside the turned out 'pocket'. now comes the most time consuming part. thread your needle and start whip stitching the shit of that opening.

well i'm pretty sure this is called a whip stitch. make sure to secure the thread at the start of the opening and the end. this thread is slightly more important to match because it will actually be seen but i didn't have white so c'est la vie.

and your done! throw those guys on the couch and take a nap. so easy!

xox

new necklace

so every once in a while we get around to listing some items on ebay around here. and then i pack it up in brown craft paper, usually add a bit of Japanese paper tape, and walk it down to the closest post office.

and every so often that item is something that i picked up specifically to flip on ebay and can usually make around 15-20%. but i'm not going to tell you what it is but it hasn't let me down once.

so every so often i have a bit of money in the pay pal that i can use and spend without (so much) guilt. (i'm not a spender. really. i buy lots of things between 1-5 dollars and everything else is a thought out, well researched, purchase. i'm not really into shopping malls either so it makes it easier)

anywhoooo i've been in the market for a new necklace lately. ever since my favorite one was lost on a wonderful day in paris, i have been looking for its replacement.

here are some that make the cut!

available at nobletownvintage $32.00

available at prairieoats $64.00

available at cagebreakbird $34.00

available at nobletownvintage $24.00

available at missashleylu $42.00

available at nobletownvintage $32.00

available at LuOwl for $50.00

available at nobletownvintage $24.00

available at threehorses on sale for $25.00

available at MireilleLagow $46.00

available at elephantine for $35.00

toronto design week - offsite

so by now i think everyone knows about the toronto design show that is happening this week.

but in case you were looking for something less mainstream to check out there is a whole toronto design offsite website dedicated to exhibits that are happening around the city.

i think this installation, come up to my room, at the gladstone hotel seems pretty neat. anyone in toronto want to go with me?

tomato chick pea soup with rosemary

so there is something that i must admit here. i love soup. it is honestly the best. they are all great, blended, chunky, spicy, brothy. i love to take them to work and heat them up with a bun or salad. winter begs you to bring out your soup pot and put it to good use.

this is one of the easiest more delicious recipes i have ever come across. seriously, so tasty with a base of creamy salty tomato and the fresh rosemary gives it depth and heartyness. and a breeze to make. literally the hardest part is opening so many cans. this recipe is made in the blender but if I had an immersion blender i would have used that and would be able to say this is a one pot meal.

i first read about this recipe on orangette. a fabulous recipe blog if you don't already salivate over all of her recipes.

yields about 6 servings.

ingredients:

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas

3 Tbs olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 3-inch sprigs fresh rosemary, needles removed from stem and finely chopped

2 cans diced tomatoes, one 28-ounce and one 14.5-ounce

A pinch of sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 cups vegetable stock (I used Imagine brand)

Drain the canned chickpeas in a colander, and rinse them well.

Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat, and add the garlic and rosemary. Cook for a minute or two, and then add the tomatoes, sugar, salt, a few grinds of pepper, roughly half of the chickpeas, and the stock. Bring to a boil over high heat; then reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes.

Remove the soup from the heat to purée. If using an immersion blender, purée the soup directly in the pot. Otherwise, wait a few minutes, until the soup cools; then purée it in batches in a blender or food processor and return it to the pot. Add the remaining chickpeas, and warm the soup over medium heat. Serve warm.

warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over med heat. add the garlic.

chop up the fresh rosemary. given the super low cost of the rest of the ingredients i would defiantly say don't skimp out and use dried rosemary. so much of the flavor is from this ingredient.

add the rosemary to the party in the pot.

next add the whole tomatoes

and some salt and pep

and the sugar. i had brown crystal sugar, i don't think it matters

rinse the chickpeas while the rest of the ingredients are simmering.

i didn't have any stock on hand so i used the crystal stuff that you add boiling water too. not my finest moment but just know if you use this stuff you probably won't need too much extra salt for seasoning.

add about half of the chickpeas to the pot

and the stock too. now simmer that for a while. maybe do some dishes or decided to pull out the blender for the next step only to realize the horrible waste of space in the cabinets above the fridge, so then you get a little distracted organizing that. you know, or maybe not.

take the soup off the heat for 5 or 10 minutes to let it cool slightly before putting it in the blender. be careful to only fill the blender slightly over halfway because the soup will expand and will still be extremely hot. also i seem to have misplaced the lid to mine so this make this step extra important.

blend all of the soup.

put it back in the pot and add the rest of the chickpeas. i warmed the soup back up because i wanted to add some extra seasoning, as you will see in the next step, but if you didn't want to add anything else the soup would be ready now.

after tasting it i decided to go with some extra rosemary and pepper. it was the first time making this recipe when i took the photos but i have made this soup many times since and always go heavy on the rosemary.

then its time to pack it up into mason jars and let it cool down some more. mason jars are the perfect thing to bring soup to work in. the perfect amount, no spilling, super easy to clean, plus pretty cute looking i think. sometimes i just heat the soup up in the glass jars and eat it just like that.

enjoy :)