around the web today

Hello! Not much new to say but I've sure been wasting time on the internet today. SLASH applying to jobs! 

don't worry, I'm getting paid for this. suckaaaas

here was some cool stuff that I came across today :)

neat notebook collection from field notes. Every season they produce a new selection of limited edition books. 

if you love stop motion there is a cool video below. 

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awful t shirts for girls inspired the Kate Moss quote. this actually makes me sick. 

from here

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beautiful newlyweds on the day New York City recognized same sex marriages as equal. click here to read their stories. A wonderful, long awaited, step in the right direction. 

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This other thing etsy shop

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a cool design website to look for inspiration on - designspiration

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Elsie on A beautiful mess had a great round up of Mad Men pictures. 

thats all folks! hope this gives you some procrastination material. 

xox

I am in love with this DIY tutorial for billy button flowers from Hooray Design. They don't need water, or sunlight, and never die. PERFECT! 

she rules her life like a bird in flight

today i woke up and thought it was thursday.

just kidding its only wednesday! fudge.

i have come to an agreement with myself. I will be looking for a new job. there are many reasons for this, mostly professional, although some are personal. I want a job where I can use my creativity. walk away and feel like I created something that didn't exist before. its the something from nothing concept.

I want a job downtown. convenience yes, but also because when i have to take the ttc, walk the streets, take different routes, i get to experience more of this city. behind the wheel is not how i love toronto. walking is how i find out there is a davids tea just down the street from my house(!!) and that i like roast beef sandwiches. driving brings me to shop at places like walmart and box stores because of their expansive parking lots.

it will be different. I have worked here for one year and 7ish months. this place has been good to me.

but. its not the long term goal.

and if you know anything by now its that i'm slightly addicted to life change. big changes. if things are not working for me I am almost irrational in getting rid of them or changing how i deal with the situation. i am NOT a complacent person.

its the reason i have lived in 8 different places in 5 years. the reason my boyfriend of 6 years is now a great friend and trusted adviser. the reason i am balls to the walls busy almost everyday.

so in an effort to not be all talk and no action i will revisit the summer goals. 


Summer Goals!


buy a one piece black bathing suit (scored for $24 thank you joe fresh)
-learn to slalom ski  - long weekend this weekend, I will be taking this goal seriously!
-grow a vegetable garden   the major players this year are basil, rosemary, oregano and the pepper plant is loving life. tomato plants haven't produced anything but white flowers yet and the sunflower never quite recovered from the week I went to BC and brother ian forgot that plants need water
-buy a record player - Done!
-bbq as much as possible - Always!
-get the heck out of the city - yes yes and yes. i have been up to the cottage this summer more then any other summer before. I am so lucky to have a cottage just over an hour from my downtown apartment, and i am fully making good use of it. 
-buy a beautiful bicycle with a large basket  need to do this!
-launch two birds eatery with my best friend turned baker now business woman   -I could semi cross this out as we've done a lot so far! the eatery still hasn't officially opened its doors but almost all of the graphic design has been completed and things are certainly under way. 
-tan a millions tans not finished tanning by any means but i've certainly got a good base
-decorate my new apartment if you know me you know this is NEVER finished but I do think i've made huge progress since moving day when i looked around and panicked about how little furniture i had. i do think that the housewarming kicked my butt into gear about hanging the last pictures and buying the last few things on craigslist. 
-sangria. copious amounts of it. white wine sangria, red wine sangria, sangria party at my place I did it! I TRIPPLED a sangria recipe for the housewarming and a friend who doesn't like red wine or brandy was gulping this stuff up. Success!
-go camping. maybe quebec. whos in? need to organize this slash how about everyone just comes to my cottage for a weekend + thursday and friday???
-various fitness and health goals like eating less crap and more pure ingredients, start going to pilates, and possibly yoga again, drink so much water. take my multi vitamins drink my vital greens. sleep more, coffee less, focus more. well I certainly haven't been setting any new fitness records but I DID have my first Pilates class last night and have a one week unlimited pass that i will be taking full advantage of. once i figure out what classes i enjoy i plan on signing up for two classes a week. 
my eating has been healthy and i am addicted to this garden salad the grocery store close to my work makes. this means that instead of harveys drive through i am eating salads and soup at lunch. big improvement! plus drinking tons of water. new favorite drink - water with cucumber slices! sooooo refreshing
sleep is on track, but i may need to invest in a white noise machine, the street noise is very loud in the mornings. why do they do garbage collection at 6am?! and the school across the street from me has one of those big box garbage containers that the truck flips over and empties every morning at 6:30. gahhahaHA annoying!  
trying to cook dinner or at least eat something at home, its going well. the bbq is a saving grace in this heat. 


so all in all, i think i am on track! 


looking forward to this long week, too bad it isn't really thursday. :(


ps. these pictures were taking with my film camera while in BC

apartment tour

this post is extremely picture heavy! get ready for a tour of the new apartment. :)

kitchen:

this door leads out to the fire escape and the rooftop patio

note the dishwasher!!!!

the living room. not sure why i didn't open the blinds for the picture but I have full size windows that open at the bottom and look out onto the street. 

coffee table was a craigslist purchase last weekend, couch was also from craiglist a while ago (one of the few pieces of furniture that made the move with me) the art above the couch was from an auction and the rug was from a thrift store. i love how thick it is and how it looks it has this pebbled beach look to it. 

the four photos below are water colours my grandmother bought in paris and gave to me when i went to paris last year. I just got them back from the framers (custom frames) and i think they look great!

the welcome banner was for the housewarming party we had this weekend. 

these shelves were a craigslist buy. $75 for the whole thing. what a steal! note the record player bottom left! YES!

front door, hallway to my bedroom, angry brother

some of my favorite things on these shelves are my russel wright gray platter that my uncle bought me (above) and the blue vintage fan print that jay bought me. (below)

bathroom is nothing special but i do love the vintage tile. and my new shower curtain from ikea. 

vintage wire basket to hold magazines and crosswords. 

my bedroom! again with the closed windows :( but i have a huge closet with mirrored doors and a plan to get rid of my dresser and turn that nook into a desk area. 

there is also a smaller closet when you first enter my room that I have used for linens and bathroom storage. 

old house equals lots of big closets. this on is in the front hall. 

ians room!

and this ends the tour! not bad for not even two months living there. 

next i will show you the patio because really, thats what sold me on the place! the layout is super functional for ian and I. my bedroom is on one side of the living room (by the front door and the washroom) and ians room is off of the kitchen on the other side of the house. this means more privacy and we can have slightly different sleep schedules. the bright windows are awesome and i'm mad that i didn't open them before taking these pictures. its just been so smoking hot in toronto this past week that we had all the windows shut and the blinds down and ran the AC. 

xox

ninglish

connections.

this is a big thing for me right now. i want to make connections, meet people, new people, build stronger bonds with my friends. hah first time i wrote that it said bongs. build stronger bongs with my friends. pot head on DIY show.



so yes connections. I feel like I get into ruts about things. music. food. etc etc and i feel like its been a while since I made a new friend. wow that sounds lame. but really, a friend who i met without the introduction of another friend,  so then its really just stealing a friend, but an honest to goodness, i met this person in the street and we connected friend. does this even happen? hah. maybe i am setting my standards too high. i would like to meet a friend who shares simple interests. cooking. thrifting. design. experiencing life.

where does one find a new friend?

i was speaking to a friend about how dogs are great for meeting people. granted they are usually other people with dogs that your meeting, but at least there is a great conversation starter. if you have a dog at the park you can pretty much go up and talk with any other person who your dog is playing with.

i said this to my friend the other day and we happened to be sitting on a park bench and not 2 minutes later this semi-cute guy came by with a golden lab and bam, he starts the conversation off about his dog.

bah. dating.

not me. not now.

keeping my shit together right now requires a lot of alone time. i cant even think about going out and potentially needed to give up more time to another person.

hah i guess that may be why my campaign for new friends is failing miserably haha.

this weekend i went up to my cottage. and no one was there! that neeeeeever happens. it was so peaceful. so calm, so relaxed. i wish our beach/dock was more private or I would have gotten rid of these tan lines once and for all but yeah there was children playing around so tan lines it is.



its when I am alone that I feel like I can connect with whats important to me. I can focus on letting my stress go, making sure I drink enough water and simple pleasures like painting my nails.

our house seems to have a lot of drop ins. which is FINE. and i like it. and i am an Italian grandmother always trying to feed people but then I have a day of alone time and don't get too inside my head and i feel rested. i feel grounded again. this is why my home is SO important to me. I need a place I can retreat to, live comfortably in, sit without interruption.

I like that 50% of this post was about making new friends and 50% was about how much I love alone time and don't have time for more people in my life. CONUNDRUM.

heatwave humming in a house of cards

wow.

the internetttttttttttt.

blogger draft changed. it actually looks great now. its clean and white and doesn't look like a 1998 town of lindsay website.

town of lindsay wikipedia highlights include:

Through direction from the Hockey Hall of Fame the history of the world's oldest stick was traced through the Lindsay Public Archives to verify the stick was carved between 1852 and 1856 by Alexander Rutherford Sr. of Fenelon Township near Lindsay. This stick sold for $2.2 million dollars at an auction.


Notable Residents: Joey Lawrence (photographer), commercial photographer behind the infamous Twilight movie posters.


Wow. at least there is a wikipedia page.

so vancouver yes?

there is more. mannnnny more. I took two rolls of film so those better turn out.

these days I constantly feel busy. like there are never enough hours in the day. its draining. its hard to keep going at this pace.

there are a lot of things i am not good at that are new challenges in my life. car maintenance. drilling holes in drywall. knowing how to hook up audio equipment. carrying heavy things.

its not bad its just different.

story of my life hah.

tonight i made a quinoa salad. amazballs. we've been using the bbq a lot. too hot to cook inside mostly and bonus is that ian will take over the actual grilling part so its more fair. because i do all of the food buying and making. but im not complaining. i enjoy cooking. and i know i wont do it just for myself. we've got a nice rotation of friends that come by in the evenings to hang out and im the italian grandmother who is constantly trying to feed people and won't take no for an answer.

I realize that i started talking about the salad i made and then randomly started talking about the bbq so for clarification i did not make the salad on the bbq.

i realize that i started talking about a salad and now i need to go to sleep.

wow. can i even tell you how beautiful this place is? probably not.

the birds live in the most beautiful little town nestled right between the mountains. perfection.

i am sitting here, drinking an iced mocha with baileys, waiting for illustrator CS5 to install, my stomach full of poached eggs and chilli with a sleeping dog at my feet. it doesn't get much better then this.

i need to remember to do this more. get away, get out. remember why your best friends are really the best people in the whole world. laugh about laughing. eat wild raspberries. brainstorm.

pictures to come. xox

hi and bye

hello!

so things have been a little dry around here.

my computer died. my work got crazy. my life in general has been pretty friggen nutso.

but!

things are looking up.

new computer yesterday. leaving on jet plane tonight. gettin the heck outa here!

I will bring my camera. my appetite. my adventure.

its been a long time in the making, and yet, i feel like it was yesterday i found out I was going.

vancouver. leanne. two birds eatery.

LETS DO THIS

coffee land is an understatment

ola!

well.

well well well.

I MOVED. we have arrived. the new place is beautiful. it is calm, peaceful, spacious. there is outdoor space and  leafy streets to explore. there are friendly neighbors and big windows in every room. AND A DISHWASHER.

so please excuse my lack of blogging.

or feel free to blame it on rogers, who strike 1. sent out a technician with the wrong modem. strike 2. canceled 20 minutes AFTER they were supposed to arrive because of the 'threat of bad weather'.

they will install it tonight or I will be going cray cray on someone.

LIFE WITHOUT INTERNET?! no.

just no.

we moved in. I needed to buy beer for the movers. google maps? nope. just had to drive and drive until i found one. where is the nearest place to get keys cut on a sunday? don't know! just drive around! ridiculous.

at least i have internet at work. my brothers probably climbing the walls at home.

so needless to say, cable is filling a gap that i didn't know existed. the bachelorette? I could get into this.

cute storefront down the street from me - taken with an iphone

so. blackberrys take shit pictures. can i get an iphone for work? this blog would be a million more pictures if my phone could take decent pics. 

retarded store front stretched out stupid - taken with my blackberry

SEE???

whatsssss up with that?!

left justification. back. 

so yeah. and i can barely carry the essentials with me everywhere i go, so adding a camera to the mix is just not going to happen. just not. 

who wants to buy me an iphone?!!!! 

or maybe i could be one of those people who has a work phone and a personal phone. guess which one I would never have to use? plus really if i am carrying something else around with me all the time I might as well get an actual camera. sorry this is just me thinking out loud and typing it out. 

COFFEE TIME? yep. 

we have one of those individual coffee cup brewer things at work. 

germane chocolate cake coffee? winter carnival coffee? cinnamon pastry coffee? YES. winter carnival makes my office smell like christmas. 

okay. work to do. 

wait. one inspirational poster. 

found on marta writes. original image source via la dolce vita

this post is brought to you by winter carnival coffee land and too much sunshine

what does this mean to you?

possible options:

a)they are going to drill through the walls and try and throw hard hats into the hole

b) they are going to wear ghost busters suits and climb into the top of the elevators and wait for unsuspecting tenants to scare the crap out of 

c) they are going to be holding microsoft paint photo shopping lessons

d) they are hoping more then one elevator will be functioning properly at the same time (there are four total)

e) what do you think?

 ps. these are framed and then attached to the walls in the elevator with velcro. i tried to show the scale of the tiny little framed pictures and the non-symmetrical way they were hung. idiots.