catching up

good news...the painting in the studio is almost done! we just have to finish the trim on a couple of walls today. i will have the "after" pictures in a few days when we get the pictures up on the wall.

after endless days painting last week in crazy humidity (and sadly, in the hottest room in the house!), i decided to get away on thursday to go to my mom's for a break. i found out my step-sister, lana was there with her new baby, aaron. i hadn't seen him yet so i drove up thursday afternoon to meet him. what a sweetie-pie! here he is with his mommy and daddy.


for any soon-to-be-moms out there, i have to tell you about this dvd that lana & brian have. it claims that babies have a calming reflex and by doing a few key things to activate this reflex, you can stop your baby from crying! i was really skeptical but it totally works (unless the baby is hungry, needs to be changed, etc). i think this video should be given out to every new mom before she leaves the hospital!

on saturday, paul & i went to a festival called "taste of the danforth". the danforth is a neighbourhood in toronto that is known as "greek town". there are lots of yummy restaurants in the area and this weekend the street is closed to traffic and all the restaurants have tents set up where people can buy a few select dishes from each restaurant. there wasn't a lot of vegetarian choices at the greek tents so we headed to the thai restaurant tent and got a massive amount of food (tons of fried rice, noodles, & 2 spring rolls) for $5! so cheap and soooo yummy!


after chowing down, we went over to hangman gallery on queen st. east for the opening of the "wet paint" exhibition. the idea behind this show is that artists can submit a recent painting (hence, "wet paint") to be shown in the group exhibit. paul submitted a painting he did recently of our noah.
it's hard to see in this picture, but it's the big red painting that someone is looking at on the left.


and in knitting news, i finally learned how to sew up my slipper last night. i've been putting it off because i've never really had to sew up a knitted piece before and i was afraid. i gave it a shot last night while we watched the woody harrelson doc "go further" (it was pretty good). i think i did ok with the slipper too.

i knit it using almost a skein of lamb's pride wool (double stranded). i made it huge because i want to throw it in the washing machine and felt it. with any luck it will fit like cinderella's glass slipper after a nice bath in some scalding hot water.

home improvements

after wanting to do this for months, i finally got around to cleaning out my closet yesterday. i just couldn't stand it a minute longer. i'm sure my blood pressure rose everytime i had to find something in there. every hanger had at least 3 things on it and most of those clothes i either hated or didn't fit any longer.

closet before


closet after


i still have to go through my drawers and i know there's a bunch of stuff in there that needs to go too. but so far i've started filling up two bags worth of clothes (one for consignment stores or even ebay if i can find time to list stuff) and the other bag is headed to goodwill.


in other home improvement news...
my computer will be out of commission until tuesday or wednesday because we're finally going to begin painting the studio today. ever since we moved in last july we've been staring at the ugliest walls up here. i'm kind of embarrassed to show them actually. oh, what the hell. maybe it'll make the "after" even more exciting!

ugly studio wall #1 (before)

you can see where the woman who lived here before us just painted around her shelves. lovely!

ugly studio wall #2 (before)

she also made the unfortunate decision to put rust and orange walls together.

stay tuned for the "after".

thrifting on the east side

this afternoon i stopped in at a thrift store i've been eyeing for a couple of years now but have never been to. it's a bit out of the way and in a sketchy neighbourhood but i decided to give it a shot. i am quite happy with what i scored for a mere $4.50!


i am in love with these red slingback flats! not only are they in perfect condition (the soles look like they haven't even been worn) but they are straight from the 80's! the label is proof...they're from a long-gone shoestore chain called "aggies"! (i have fond memories of shopping there for the pointiest shoe i could find as a teen in the 80's.)

i also picked up some lovely vintage yarn that just looked so ice-creamy together i felt inspired to make something cheery and bright. some of this yarn has the original label with an old 25-cent price tag from "eatons" (another now-defunct canadian store). and i don't know if you can read the label in that picture, but it says 100% unknown fibres! hahaha i love that! does that mean that they aren't sure but there could be some cashmere in there?? actually, it probably means it's terribly flammable and i probably shouldn't use it to knit up a pair of oven mitts.

what i knit at the cottage

i got a bit of knitting in at the cottage last week. i've been wanting to try the H2O (2 hours and it's over) hat pattern at chicknits forever and finally broke down and used some of the light pink patons upcountry i've been hoarding ever since i learned it was discontinued. (as a sidenote, am i the only person who saves their favourite craft materials for the perfect project and then never actually get around to using them? i do this with yarn, buttons, beads, ribbon, paper....save, save, save... i'm trying to get over this.)

because i'm a bit of a rebel and never actually do a gauge swatch (i know, i know...), my first version of the hat ended up being HUGE!! it was even too big for paul.


so i modified it a bit (changed the pattern on the brim and made it many rows shorter) and my second attempt finally fits my little pinhead. yay!


now if i can just figure out the $&^)@! one-skein-wonder pattern. i'm about to frog my 2nd attempt at it but i refuse to let it get the best of me!

1st anniversary

one year ago today i married the boy of my dreams!

thanks for making me the happiest girl in the whole wide world, paulie! i love you more than anything...

cottage

well, i'm back from our fantastic holiday at the cottage. what an amazing vacation! we spent our days swimming in the lake, canoeing, reading, playing with noah, knitting, not to mention enjoying sunshine, warm temperatures and absolutely no humidity! it was pure bliss!

we didn't know how noah would like the cottage but were pleasantly surprised to see he is quite a nature dog! he absolutley loved canoeing.


and after a couple of days, we finally taught him to swim! (the people in the cottage next to ours were as excited as we were...they cheered for noah when he finally swam for the first time)


he also ran around like crazy! he just loved sniffing everything that nature had to offer. he even made friends with another neighbour's dog, boots.


our friends, frederica and jim came to the cottage on monday night and stayed with us until thursday morning.

we has such a blast with them! we relaxed at the lake all day, then had cocktails each day at 4 pm. on tuesday night fred made us all a delicious dinner of mushroom quesadillas, homemade guacamole, mexican rice, and asparagus.


on wednesday night, paul and i were in charge of dinner. we made wild rice & quinoa salad with grilled tofu.


after dinner one night we went boating. fred & jim took the paddleboat (with their dog, maxine) and paul & i took noah in the canoe. i've never seen a lake so still in my life...the water was just like glass! the puffy pink clouds from the sunset reflected on the lake. i wish i had a picture but i was afraid if the canoe tipped we'd lose the camera! on our evening cruise around the lake we got so close to a loon and her baby that we could see her bill move as she sang her warning call. it was surreal. and further down the lake we saw a beaver swimming around. when he sensed we were there, he dove under the water and made a huge splash with his big tail.

it was an incredible trip but it's good to be home too. as lovely as it was to be around nature and be able to swim everyday, we are city folk at heart. and damn, that shower today felt gooooood!

ps. if you want to see more pictures from our trip to the cottage, just click on any of the pictures to get to my flickr.com page with all the photos i've uploaded.

before the oven heats up

in an attempt to avoid the oven that is the studio, i am blogging at 8 am before the room heats up from the afternoon sun. the last few days have been almost unbearable in here, so i've been spending as little time as possible at the computer.

but i'm not going to complain about the weather because tomorrow we leave for the cottage! all i can think about is swimming in the lake!! but with that comes a nasty job...this morning i need to subject myself to the hell that is bathing suit shopping. (the horror!) i've put it off far too long.

***
in other news, my etsy shop will be up and running shortly after i come back. i figured there wasn't much point in putting stuff up until i was back from vacation, just in case i sold something. i'm so excited to get it started though!

i will be at the cottage until next friday (the 22nd), so i won't be able to write until then. hope everyone has a great week! (i don't know how i'm going to make it without reading all of your lovely journals everyday!)

noah's turn

if you've been reading for awhile now, you might know how obsessed i am with "before" and "after"s. well, nothing and nobody is safe in this house. that includes the dog. today is noah's turn! poor baby needed a haircut for summer.
here is his before (looking very teddybear-like)


and his after (looking more lamb-like)


the after picture made me LAUGH OUT LOUD! i'm noticing a bit of an overbite in his recent photos.

first week of summer vacation

my first week of vacation has been great! i've been trying really hard to get out of bed early and get lots of stuff done so that i make the most of my time off and so far it has been working out well. i'm getting back into the routine of taking noah to the dog park everyday for a little run around, spending more time in the studio, and getting ratgirl business stuff done. last night i was up until 2:30 am working on gettting my etsy.com shop up and running. i still have a bunch of things to do (uh, like upload some stuff for people to buy) but i got the registration stuff done. trust me, that's a big step for a habitual procrastinator like me. i'm hoping to get a lot of work done on it this weekend. but for now you can take a peek at what i've got done here. (check out that banner...i did that on photoshop last night!!) WOOT!

i also started on my one skein wonder last night. i hit a stumbling block a couple of days ago because i got the wrong length of circulars. i exchanged them yesterday afternoon and worked for about an hour last night. i was a little frantic though because when i actually looked at the pattern, i realized i didn't know how to do most of the skills required! luckily, a quick trip over to stitchguide taught me how to k1fb with the handy-dandy videos they have there. (i think i watched the video about 8 times with needles in hand, before i knew what i was doing.)

anyhow, here's how much i got done last night

i'm excited to work on it some more today, but i'm a little concerned that i have NO CLUE what is meant by "pick up stitches". i guess i'll cross that bridge when i get to it...

we watched a fantastic documentary last night called a touch of greatness. it's about a teacher from the 1950's and 1960's who made learning exciting for his elementary students primarily through his teaching of shakespere. it was just amazing!! paul and i both work with kids in our day jobs, so lately we've been all about these documentaries about inspiring teachers. a couple of weeks ago we watched etre et avoir, which is another documentary about a great teacher. both of these were such inspiring stories. highly recommended, even if you aren't a teacher.

i can't wait to go to the toronto outdoor art exhibition this weekend! it's a massive (free) art show in the square at city hall. every year paul and i come away from it so inspired! our friend, frederica will be there again, so we're going to visit her and look around. if you're in the city, you really should go!

have a fabulous weekend, everybody!
xo krissy

i want to be in the club

the one skein wonder club, that is! a couple of nights ago i couldn't take it any longer. after seeing so many cute versions of this pattern on a schmillion blogs, i broke down and ordered the pattern. today i went to a new yarn store in the beaches called the naked sheep and bought my supplies.

i decided to go with somewhat less expensive yarn for my first go, since i'm not sure how well it will turn out. i chose 2 balls of ggh samoa in emerald green. i've been a bit obsessed with this colour for the last few months and decided to finally break down and buy something in that shade.

i'm so excited to start! i need a few stitch markers so i'm going to whip those up now and then get started.

i also got six dvds from the library today (ack! they all came at once!) so i have plenty to watch while i knit.

wheeeee!

p.s. you can check out other cool versions of this pattern here, here, and here.

krissy conquers photoshop (well, sorta)

tonight i finally got around to emailing the folks on my mailing list to tell them about the new store that is selling my jewellery (the rage). instead of sending out a dull looking text email, i fancied it up in photoshop.

lookie!


i did it all by myself except my little ratgirl logo, which paul had to re-do on a white background for me.

and after he went to bed, i put together some pictures to send along with the announcement, just in case some people who signed up for my list a couple of years ago forget who i am.

you might need to click on the picture to see


now maybe i can learn to photoshop out those dark circles under my eyes...

bloggy blog backlog!

as a result of my um...irregularity in posting during the month of june, i now have so many pictures of things that i did or saw last month that it's clogging up my hard drive. so i hope you won't mind if i share some cool stuff that happened awhile back.

one of the neatest things i did in june was take a tour of the gladstone hotel during their open house. the gladstone is a really old hotel in toronto that was in pretty rough shape apparently, up until a couple of years ago. i guess the owners never really bothered to take care of it. but recently the place was cleaned up and given a new lease on life. one of the things that the new owners did was commission local artists to design and decorate a guest room upstairs. i took a million pictures but here are just a few from the tour.

one hotel room had a jigsaw puzzle theme.
this puzzle art was really long...almost the entire length of the wall.


circular puzzles were set into the headboard and used as art pieces above the bed as well.


another room had vintage photos and advertisements used as "wallpaper" and then stained pink.


and my favourite room had a 1980's teen idol theme to it! posters from tiger beat covered the walls. all the ralph machio, matt dillon, and c. thomas howell you can handle! (leif garrett was missing though)
the funky vintage wallpaper in the closet


check out the cute chenille bedspread!


and a close up of the heartthrobs...sigh....

(click the picture to enlarge)

look closely and you will find kristy mcnicholl! and unicorns!
now, wasn't that worth the wait?!?

jewellery swap

looks like robin received the jewellery i made her for our first swap so now i can safely post the crafting i've been doing lately without fear of her seeing it.

here is a picture of necklace #1. looks like robin and i both chose pink & green as a colour combination for our necklaces.


you can click on the close-up below to see a bit of an explanation of where some of the beads and buttons came from



necklace #2


again, you can click the picture below for a close up of the red beads (the chunky coral bead came from my sweet cousin chelebele on her trip to europe...not sure if it came from spain or one of her other destinations. she brought beads back from almost every country she visited!!) the rest are wood and glass beads from my local bead store


the turquoise and red necklace looks much better on. you can see robin modelling it over here.


i also made her a cuff bracelet from some wood beads



while i was trying out some designs for robin's pieces i came up with this necklace. i liked it enough to keep for myself, but not enough to give as a gift. i think it has potential though.
(please ignore the big glue smudge on the desk.)


i'm so glad you like everything, robin! yay for swaps and double yay for bloggy friends!

mailbox goodness

yesterday i got some great stuff in the mail! in addition to the usual bills and junk mail flyers, i actually got some fun stuff. robin and i decided awhile back to do a jewellery swap and yesterday i got her package in the mail. not only did she send me a pretty necklace with colours that i love (pink and green), but she also included a ball of pretty pink hand-dyed koolaid wool. i can't believe how soft it is. i'm trying to think of the perfect project to knit with it. (any suggestions?) she also sent along a cute little lamby-shaped soap. hee hee. such fun stuff! thanks so much, robin! (i hope you get your parcel sooooon.)



i also got a box of pretty shells from my dad and nicole that they bought during their trip to vancouver. i just realized i forgot to take a picture though. but trust me, they are pretty. they look like this and one of them is pink! thanks dad & nicole!

sunday afternoon rock show

the indie rock music gods must have been on my side yesterday. julie doiron, my most favourite-ist singer ever, was playing a free show at a local music store yesterday afternoon. and even though i left the house terribly late and was worried i wouldn't even get in the door, i managed to score a spot to sit front and centre.


it was an amazing surprise to see that mike of snailhouse also showed up to play at the in-store. i went to see julie and didn't realize he'd be there. he is such an amazing singer and writes the lovliest songs. i kid you not, i actually got goosebumps when he sang. GOOSEBUMPS!....in 40 degree (celsius) weather! i listened to a bit of his new cd at the listening station and it sounds incredible.


julie and mike sang backup and played during each other's songs. their voices are so pretty together.


if you haven't heard of either of these artists, you can hear julie play some live stuff here. you can also listen to a few selected snailhouse tracks here and here. i think you'll like it...

slacking off

forgive me everyone, for i have sinned. it's been 6 whole days since my last bloggy entry...

i guess that's to be expected now that summer is in full effect. the weather has heated up and all i want to do is get out of the house and do stuff. anything and everything. i'm hoping once school is out (4 days and counting) i'll have a bit of extra time to post with more regularity.

these past few days have been busy and fun. on thursday night we broke out of the weeknight routine and met up with andrew and sabine at the beaver cafe for dinner. the beaver is a great little restaurant in parkdale. we sat out on the patio and chatted over some very yummy food and iced tea with little umbrella garnishes. then we all headed over to gallery 1313 to see the installations for the parkette exhibition, including karina's.

last night we went to a housewarming party of fellow east-enders, sheri and mardi. they are a couple of local artists who make really amazing resin jewellery. (note to mom: they made the necklace paul gave you for christmas a couple of years ago).
here's an example of what they make.

it was so exciting to see their home studio. it's way bigger (and more organized) than ours. i got some great storage ideas for my own little workspace though. anyhow, it was a wonderful surprise to walk into the party and see our friend, tim! paul had just run into him earlier that night and came home saying "i saw tim tonight in our 'hood. he must know someone in the east end." an hour later he was at the door at sherri and mardi's. too funny.

after the party, it was a beautiful night so we took noah for a late-night walk up and down our street. we met a really nice couple who live up the street and ended up talking to them for about 45 minutes. turns out we have a lot in common. it was so nice to meet some cool people on our street because sometimes we get annoyed by the sketchy folks who seem to take over our neighbourhood at times.

finally, i got a much-needed haircut this week. in my obsession with before and afters, i took these photos.



paul says he can't see a difference! how can that possibly be? look at that ratty hair in the before picture! ugh.

happy father's day

since i introduced everyone to my mom on mother's day, it seems only fitting that i introduce you to my dad today.

everyone, this is dad.


here are a few things you should know about ed...

* he's a big joker and loves making people laugh
* when it comes to fixing things around the house, he knows better than to try it himself. (but he's awesome at calling a professional to do it)
* he started out as a dj at the local radio station and one of my earliest memories is of my mom saying, "who's that on the radio?" and me exclaiming "daddy!!"
* he likes to sing really loud. sometimes he even gets a few of the words right
* even though we butt heads politically sometimes, he's not nearly as conservative as he used to be
* without a doubt, he's the hardest worker i know. he puts 150% into everything he does
* he's not just a great dad but an incredible friend

happy father's day, dad! i love you!

my new favourite

oh my god, i can't get enough of threadbared.com. a couple of very funny women have put together a blog that pokes fun at the illustrations on vintage sewing patterns or craft book covers. i wish i could link you directly to some of my favourite entries but unfortunately every page has the same url. so just trust me on this.

start off by checking out the entry from monday called "Early 70s Precursor To The Evil That Is Anne Geddes". (if you don't know who anne geddes is, look here first.) and i almost split a gut going through the "craft" catagory archives when i first discovered the website awhile back.

hope you enjoy!
xo krissy

woot!

i really wanted to go to the church of craft meet, dude show, and the bata shoe museum today but i had to stay home and work on report cards. (pout)

but now i'm doing a happy dance because i'm DONE!! reports are done, spellchecked, saved to disk and ready to hand in tomorrow! and it's still light outside!

WOOT WOOT!

summer just (unoffically) began 10 minutes ago.

the latest in doggy couture

last weekend at woofstock, paul bought noah the cutest little deconstructed t-shirts for winter!

grrr...i'm a badass! look, i'm wearing a skull on my shirt.


and every little boy needs a shirt with race cars on it (even though you can't really see them in the picture)


and yay, they make cute stuff for humans, too! (i'm eyeing the kate, juliet, and princess shirts and lolita skirt)

p.s. coincidentally, nadia also took pictures of her adorable doggies modelling shirts this week. so cute!!

lock up your petunias

yesterday after my little shoe shopping spree, i stopped into home depot to get some gardening gloves. yes, my very first pair of gardening gloves.

they have tomatoes on them. wheee!


i also found some little plant cutters (don't laugh...i have no idea what they are called.) up until now we've been using some dollar store scissors to cut back our plants and bushes. now not only do i have tomato-print gloves but i have...cutters!

here i am pretending to hack away at the one houseplant we've managed to keep alive. poor little thing.

little miss sensible shoes finally writes about...SHOES!

my family has bemoaned the fact that the name of this blog doesn't exactly fit with the content. more than one person has said, "how come you never write about shoes?". so this is for you, people.

today is about day #5 or 6 or i don't know, of stinkin' hot, sweaty, HOT weather. don't get me wrong...i'm so not complaining. i'll take this any day over snow and slush! but my feet could not take another minute in my high tops.

you would think that a girl who names her blog, "i *heart* sensible shoes" would be a shoe fiend. an addict! but i'm not. i like shoes, but frankly my list of requirements that make shoes sensible (to me) makes shoe shopping a bit of a chore. so i basically live in these maryjanes or more often than not, these chucks.

both are way too hot for this weather.

so i went straight to my local payless and tried on about 6 pairs of shoes that would not require socks and/or would finally let my toesies breathe.

i brought home these:


and these:


they fit almost all of the necessary requirements.
*no leather? (check!)
*affordable? (check!)
*comfortable? (check!)
*cute? (the jury's still out on that one)

the thing is i don't think the blue espedrilles will go with anything in my closet. but i do think they're kinda cute even though they are a little twee for my style.

the black ones are a little too preppy, i think. but they are soooo comfy! and again, totally don't fit my style. even less so than pair #1. but at least they're black and if not style-wise, at least colourwise they will go with more stuff.

gah! please feel free to express your thoughts and opinions on this very pressing issue.

the rage!

last night was the grand opening party for a new clothing/accessory store called the rage. it is a very cool new place in kensington market in toronto. (you might remember few weeks ago i mentioned that i was getting an order ready for it.) sarah, the owner, held a big party ~with lots of candy~ last night and the tiny little store was packed with people! so many people showed up that the party spilled out onto the sidewalk

my favourite thing about the rage is that sarah has hand-picked really new, unknown local designers to feature their stuff in her store. i haven't seen anything like the stock she has anywhere else in the city.

here are a few pictures from last night.




last night was party-time, today is report-card-writing time. blech. it's too nice outside to be stuck in front of a computer all day. :(

killer tomatoes and the northern lights

i'm sure i'm not the only person who gets like this, but for the past few months i feel like i've been in a food rut. it's like we always end up making the same dinners week after week just because they're easy. so last night i got the idea to try and replicate the two most delicious sandwiches i've ever tasted. the killer tomato and the northern lights, both from cafe santropol in montreal.

so if you are like me and need to try something new for dinner (but scream and run the other way if there are too many ingredients) you should give these a try. (except if you're not into dairy)

killer tomato
chop up a whole bunch of sundried tomatoes. mix with really soft cream cheese (like the "western" brand). if you feel like it, cut up some fresh tomato slices. slice some yummy and sorta fancy bread, like the stuff from a bakery. spread the cream cheese/sundried tomato mixture on the bread. top with fresh tomatoes. inhale!
*this is also good with some chopped pecans thrown in, although they don't do that at santropol.

northern lights
chop up or slice green olives (with pimentos). mix with soft cream cheese. throw in a small handful of chopped pecans and mix. spread cream cheese/olive/pecan mixture onto some fresh bakery-style bread. enjoy!

if you ever go to montreal, you have to go to cafe santropol. not only are the sandwiches out of this world, but the patio is a little oasis...full of plants, lush trees and the odd squirrel running about.

sucking up the food and atmosphere on their patio.