and just like that, the weekend's over

i was feeling a bit sluggish today, but i knew paul & i should really jet off to the west end because the best art supply store in the city (in my opinion) was having a massive sale. we stopped for coffee along the way and after a dose of a mocha latte, suddenly i was feeling a whole lot perkier! funny what a little caffeine can do. hey...this WAS going to be a good day afterall!!

after a shopping spree for both of us at woolfits (and meeting mr. woolfit himself...such a nice guy) we munched down on a veggie dog & perrier (they were having a free bbq outside of the store) and headed back home.

but sparked by my caffeine surge, i actually had the energy to hit cabbagetown to check out the artsy & crafty action. there was some cute stuff. i fell in love with some beautiful handmade quilts...they were absolutely gorgeous! i also came *this* close to buying something from susan harris. i can't get enough of her beautifully made clothing. but my rational side got the better of me and it was not in the cards today.

i visited with frederica for awhile. she makes such great silkscreened shirts and lino prints. c'mon, how can you not fall in love with her "cinderslut" and "little red riding whore" prints!?



these purses totally caught my attention with the great big wood button on the front. so cute! and it turns out the designer, becky, is super nice too.

she also makes lovely wide fabric belts and these adorable bum warmers! hee hee

i was so happy to see france from molly and june at the show. she makes the most beautiful, high quality couture coats for dogs.


every year the cabbagetown community also holds a massive neighbourhood-wide yard sale. i had fun browsing around there too.


and just like that, the weekend's over. i'm pretty tired now. i can already tell it's going to be one of those nights when the bed just feels soooooo good!!!

the weekend of too many choices

this is my absolute favourite weekend of the year in toronto. each year the same festivals fall on this exact same weekend and there's just so much going on that the city is a buzz of excitement. there's tiff, the cabbagetown craft show in riverdale park, the junction arts festival, and my most favourite of all, the vegetarian food fair at harbourfront.

every year we head to the veggie food fair just an hour or so before dinner so that we have time to walk around a bit before making the most difficult choice of the day...where to buy our dinner. oh my gosh...such a tough decision! the amount of mock meat at this event is overwhelming!

this year i chose faux turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes. so yummy but doesn't make for the most lovely of pictures. sorry 'bout that. can i just tell you how guilty i felt eating this meal that didn't even contain one vegetable! (i have a hard time thinking of mashed potatoes smothered in gravy as a vegetable...)

paul got curried "chicken" and faux lamb curry with a bunch of other stuff. he said the "lamb" was pretty disappointing but the "chicken" was really good.

we both got vegan green tea ice-cream for dessert.

lots of cute poochies at the fair too. i had to take a picture of this sweet one (named lizzie) who was totally channelling her inner carrie bradshaw!


hoping to make it to cabbagetown tomorrow for a quick look around and to visit my friend frederica.

is the tornado over yet?

i love that noah looks completely bored despite the fact that we're all sitting in the dingy basement...a part of the house he has never even seen before...in order to avoid tornadoes that may or may not have been touching down around toronto.

as for me, i was completely unaware of the fact that toronto was even under a tornado warning until i got home around 6:30 from running errands all afternoon. paul was making dinner but it had to wait while we all headed down to the basement to camp out until the skies cleared. we weren't going to, but the weather people on the radio were advising it and since we're paranoid about the giant tree hanging precariously over our house in the best of weather, we thought better safe than sorry.

the sky got really dark right before the rain started to come down in sheets. i took a picture of the backyard because i couldn't believe how dark it got but i'm not sure if you can tell from this photo.

anyway, we're all safe and sound. eventually we came back upstairs and ate our dinner. and wouldn't you know, we never did get to meet glenda afterall.

our date with david sedaris

on thursday night, carla and i went to see david sedaris at the indigo at bay and bloor. he was making an appearance there to promote his new book. carla and i got there at just the right time (an hour before it started) because we ended up with a pretty good spot where we could see him quite clearly. we're pretty sure the guy who introduced him said that there were 800 people there!


he read a story from "when you are engulfed in flames" plus a bit from a new book he's working on. then he read a bunch of really funny entries from his diary. the last part was left for q & a, which i really enjoyed because he ended up telling a few stories to answer each question. so instead of a short 1-minute answer, i swear each answer ended up being almost 10 minutes long and thoroughly entertaining!

he's so naturally funny and witty, carla and i left feeling like we just really wanted to spend an evening at the movies, maybe dinner too, with david and his boyfriend hugh.

*****
ps. if you want to hear a great interview with david sedaris from the same day, you can go here and right-click on the podcast for thursday, july 10th. his interview begins about 1/3 of the way through (after william h. macy).

weekend in the city

oh my goodness...the weather here was AMAZING this weekend! this afternoon paul and i went on a field trip to allen gardens to look at all of the beautiful flowers and plants. it was my very first visit and it did not disappoint!

looking up at the beautiful glass roof from inside the main greenhouse


there were beautiful tropical flowers tucked into every corner of the greenhouses






i especially loved the cactus & succulent greenhouse



there was even a cute doggy hanging out inside

this place was so much fun and (surprisingly) absolutely free! highly recommended if you haven't been before.

more of my pictures from today are over at flickr...

friday night at the rom

paul and i wanted to start our weekend by going out on the town. we were excited to see the movie smart people, but after reading many baaaad reviews, paul suggested we check out the ROM instead. we've been wanting to see the crystal since it opened and with half-off admission on friday evening, it was a perfect opportunity!

paul in front of the museum

the new wing of the museum is really beautiful! it's much more light and airy now. i especially loved that they kept parts of the old brick facade where the old and new wings met. a really lovely touch!

we saw the darwin exhibit which was really huge...give yourself a couple of hours to go through it if you decide to check it out. there's a lot of great information to read alongside the displays.

and after that we still had a bit of time to visit the ancient greek and roman displays. we were in awe of the artistic and detailed coins and spent a lot of time "oohing" and "ahhing" over them. i totally fell in love with the greek jewellery. here's a terrible picture of some beautiful gold earrings with bird charms.

i also loved the sculptures.


sometimes it's nice to be a tourist in your own city!

wardrobe_remix 03-01-2008

black hat: handknit by me
black hoody: h&m
pashmina scarf: threads
sundress: thrifted
longsleeve tee: h&m
argyle tights: hand-me-downs from my mom
green socks: gift from my dad + stepmom
red legwarmers: i just cut the sleeves from a felted sweater
black rainboots: thrifted on friday!

*********
what a nice start to march.
so far saturday has involved:
*yummy breakfast at home with the globe
*a pot of honeyed and soymilky tea
*catching up on some blogs
*a mocha latte and knitting at a coffee shop with paul
*browsing through the pretty wool at purple purl
*enjoying the art at parts gallery
*listening to the microphones (thanks again for reminding me about them, in yr fshn)

looking forward to spending the night at my studio desk. finally feeling a burst of energy to create!

"year of the rat" opening

last thursday night was the opening of the year of the rat exhibit at PROOF gallery. it was a fun night! lots of really great prints by 100 or so artists from around the world. lots of very interesting interpretations of the whole "rat" concept too.

i really liked this little handmade book by carolyn eady. she said she was thinking about the michelangelo painting in the sistine chapel when she made it.


and it was nice to run into akemi who paul and i haven't seen in ages. i loved her print but unfortunately my camera didn't do it justice.


here's a wee peek at a couple of the brooches i made for the show.

ratgirl at PROOF gallery!

something incredibly exciting has happened.

while i was at the one of a kind show in november, a lovely woman named sheila approached me about taking part in the "year of the rat" exhibition at her gallery at the distillery. i was so flattered but a tiny bit nervous...i've never done anything for a gallery before!

well, this thursday evening is the opening of the "year of the rat" show at PROOF gallery! i'm soooooo excited! i've made many rat-themed pieces of jewellery especially for this show.

here's the invite

and the info
Year of the Rat
Opening: Thursday, Feb. 7th
5:00 - 9:00pm
Proof Gallery, Distillery District
Toronto
www.proofstudiogallery.com for map of the Distillery

come take a peek if you get a chance!

the car died 2 weeks ago and i've been taking the ttc to work everyday since. it takes 1.5 hrs each way but i've been finding ways to amuse myself.

on the mend with a very picture-heavy post

i've been mostly absent from blogland this week because i've been home sick with the flu which annoyingly morphed into a chest infection. (cue parental concern and phonecalls to make sure i'm ok.) but i've got me some good monster-sized antibiotics to munch on and i'm officially on the mend. (so no need to panic, ok mom & dad?).

this is kind of old news now but i still want to share. paul & i were two of the thousands who attended nuit blanche last saturday eve. nuit blanche is an incredible (free!) event showcasing hundreds of installations of contemporary art around the downtown core of toronto. the most exciting part is that it is an all-night show...it starts at 7:00 saturday night and lasts until 7:00 sunday morning! it has without a doubt become my most favourite event in this city. days before paul & i print out the maps of the 3 zones and meticulously plan out all of the installations that are "must-sees". then we look forward to walking around and being surprised by what other ones we stumble upon. here are some photos from last saturday:

a giant inflatable locust


this building appeared to be filling up with water! with giant lobsters and fish inhabiting inside!


the crafty gal in me fell in love with this building covered in pink quilted fabric, crocheted doilies and 3 massive buttons sewn on the top!

people are about to be horrified when they watch the person in the video scoop water from the canal and mix it into the martini.


the knit cafe was having a fun pom-pom making party and exchange.


this woman bravely agreed to have the contents of her home moved onto the sidewalk for public display. i was incredibly concerned someone was going to walk off with some of her knitting needles or real simple magazines.


re-creation of the last supper complete with audience participation, beans & bread, serene-looking sky digitally displayed behind the table, and an audio track of chirping birds!


slow-dancing with a teacher (random people were asked to "slow dance" with a teacher behind velvet ropes)

i even spotted jian ghomeshi dancing with a teacher!

oh my...a massive disaster in the middle of the university of toronto campus!


and a funny japanese video installation about falling in love.


whew...we saw a lot considering we were only out from 8:00pm until 2:00am. and the crazy thing is that we saw even more than what i've shown you...

needless to say, sunday was filled with naps!