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!

current obsession: 02-02-08

have you heard about this new show called quarterlife? it's about a group of twenty-somethings and their relationships, career woes, and general angst. and it's sooooo good!

right now it's only available online in small 8-ish minute episodes but i think it's coming to nbc soon. although the short episodes are a little frustrating---you no sooner get into the show and it ends---at least for now you won't have to deal with annoying commercials like you will when it comes to tv land.

oh, and i think the reason why i *love* this show SO MUCH is that it's made by the people who did my so-called life! i mean really, need i say more?

have you heard about this?

i just found out about the bloggy giveaways carnival. if i wasn't so busy i would sit at my computer for hours on end and enter all 843 of these contests!!

Eeeeeeeee!!!

i was getting ready to head to bed and after doing one last email check, i decided to take a peek at etsy. well, i totally squealed with excitement when i saw that my 'russian doll necklace' was on the homepage!!! the sweet person at studio elan put together a russian doll-themed treasury.
here's a look at some of the other cute russian doll picks from the treasury collection:

now off to bed with nesting dolls dancing in my head.....

my new obsession

earlier this week i was feeling antsy about not having a book to read having just finished this one. i vaguely recalled hearing about book swapping sites so i did some googling and came up with bookmooch. i signed up right away and listed 9 books. within a few minutes of listing i already had people requesting two of them and by weeks end i had sent out four books to new homes!

last night i successfully mooched these two books! they should be arriving in my mail in the next few weeks! i can't wait...

the secret life of bees


a long way down


but i was craving more books still...ones i had on my bookmooch wishlist but was too impatient to wait for (currently there are no copies for mooching which means i could be waiting months or years for them to become available). so i got out the credit card and ordered a few from chapters.

craft inc.


love is a mix tape (ordered because i won't be able to renew my library copy and i read way too slowly to finish it in 2 weeks...so paul's reading the library one right now instead)


a spot of bother (by the same author of the book i just finished)


has anyone read any of these 5 books i'm waiting to be delivered? what are you reading right now?

today

today was a good mail day.
i got some soft grey legwarmers in the mail from my stepmom, nicole. they're original from back in the 80's...

and i also received the little otsu dayplanner i ordered a couple of weeks ago.

i love that you fill in the dates yourself. so since january is more than halfway over, i won't have any empty pages because i'll just start numbering from today's date.


today was a good library day.
i picked up 3 items i had holds on: a vegetarian cookbook ("enemy of the steak" heh heh), a novel ("love is a mix tape" by rob sheffield), and a dvd ("who killed the electric car"). the novel came at a good time. i'm about 15 pages away from finishing the book i'm reading now ...sooooooo goood! thanks michele!! xoxo


today was also a good freecycling day.
i picked up a great gold frame from a generous person on the toronto freecycle group. i'm collecting frames for our little wall of art in the studio/guest bedroom. i'm not sure if i'm going to keep this one gold (looks cool against the red wall in here) but i may paint it with a super shiny laquer in hot pink or turquoise. *by the way, i just put a postcard in there for the photo. i'm hoping to fill it with a cute print from etsy. maybe even one from my favourite artist on there.



and this weekend was a good crafting weekend.
i was successful in making my largest shrinky piece yet! very exciting! i've got a few possible ideas for this...

and here's a picture that gives you a better idea of just how big she is (4" tall) compared to my regular-sized pendants.


also bought a couple of cute new things this past weekend. i'll post about them later in the week.

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.

2008!

happy new year, everyone! hope you all had a fantastic & relaxing holiday whether celebrations of the season were involved or not. we had a great holiday break spent with family. now it's kind of quiet around here....

what better way to start the new year than with....CAR TROUBLES! ah yes, it's an ongoing struggle around this house. no sooner do we get something fixed and something else breaks. today the car crapped out on paul as he was coming home from practicing with his band. c.a.a. towed it but the really bad news is that our faithful mechanic is away in florida for a week. he's pretty much become like family to us and i just don't trust our car to anyone else. so if the estimate to fix it is too high this will be end of the volkswagon. a bit sooner than expected.......

in happier news, i've been doing some crafting just for fun. last night i pulled out my little red suitcase full of bits & bobs and put together this necklace:

(is that little wooden bird a religious symbol? for some reason i'm thinking it might be and i'm a bit concerned about that. can someone please let me know if it is.)

and made this brooch which has been swimming around in my head for ages!

(the pink isn't as bright as it looks in the photo....)

and tonight i finally worked up the courage to hack off the sleeves to this dagg & stacey sweater which i accidentally felted when i washed it last year. the body of the sweater is fine but the sleeves felted so tight that i couldn't bend my arms in it anymore.

and here's just a picture to show you how cute the back of it is....


so here's to a happy, crafty new year for all!!

snowed in

toronto got totally pummelled by a massive storm today. this is the view of our street taken this afternoon.

needless to say, it was the perfect excuse to stay inside, drink tea & hot chocolate, and take a mid-afternoon nap. we did, however, have to brave the elements to dig out the car so i could get to work tomorrow morning. i can't remember the last time i've seen so much snow!

and what blog post about a storm would be complete without a picture of noah looking cute with a snowy face!?

awwwww.....

thanks so much to kitchen for letting me know that my "i *heart* the 80's" charm bracelet was featured in this week's NOW magazine gift guide! woot woot! big hugs to sarah at the rage for always being such a huge supporter of my jewellery!

if you look closely at the page, you can see that my friend kim's amazing pillows also got a mention! yay!

(if you want a closer look so that you can read what it says, try clicking on the photo or head over here and scroll down.)

back again

i'm back from my crazy 11-day stint at the one of a kind show and happy to report the show went extremely well! there were some slow days but overall it turned out to be my best show yet! my mom was the most awesome ratgirl employee of all-time, holding down the fort at the show while i was off at my day job in the morning. somehow she managed to work 11-hour days for 11 straight days....incredible! the woman has definitely earned her title as ratgirl employee of the year!

i wish i had photos from the show to show everyone but unfortunately i totally blanked and didn't even think to bring the camera. which is really too bad because some of the booths were pretty awesome!

today i rewarded myself with a day off from work! i slept in until 10:00am, watched martha, had a long relaxing shower, spent lots of time cuddling with noah, started reading the latest bust magazine, had an afternoon nap, and ate a lot of chocolate! it was perfect!

thanks to all of my friends that stopped by to say hi! seeing a familiar face in a sea of thousands of strangers sure made my day!! and an extra big hug to paul for making such awesome meals for mom & i to take to the show and giving noah lots of attention when i wasn't around.

and now it's time to relax with a magazine before bed....

wardrobe remix (halloween style)

can you guess what i dressed up as today??


(click the photos for a bigger pic)

plaid top: thrifted
belt: gap (bought 17 years ago!)
jeans: h&m
socks: le chateau
oxford shoes: thrifted

~extras~
hair clips: dollarama
calculator watch: the bay
glasses (with added tape in the middle): the bay
pocket protector: a couple of pieces of sticky notes worked like a charm!
in pocket: pen, pencil, solar calculator

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

trying to...

...ease back into doing the wardrobe_remix thing again. it's been forever since i've participated. not sure how long i'll be able to keep it up since it takes me forever to do. i always have to take a bunch of pictures in hopes of getting one that's usable.

vintage dress: a local charity shop
longsleeve tee: h&m
tights: roots (from winners)
pleather oxford shoes: thrifted

~extras~
gold locket: a gift from my cousin
grey scarf: a piece of t-shirt fabric
calculator watch: casio (from the bay)
pleather bag: winners
pleather belt: urban planet

quite quiet

just peeking in to say i haven't been blogging much lately because there's just not much new or exciting to report. i'm still fighting a nasty chest infection but feeling more energetic which means i've been spending more time working in the studio. it's so funny...i often worry what will happen when i run out of ideas. but the last couple of weeks have been quite the opposite! i've got so many new ideas that i'm worrying i won't be able to get them all done in time for the show. i've also had to break down and ask paul to make me a few extra displays so i have somewhere to put the new stuff.

in other news:

* i made the yummiest roasted butternut squash & apple soup last night. it was like eating autumn in a bowl.

* i wish i had time to start a knitting project. i really want to make a cowl or the shopping tunic i posted about here.

* i've been enjoying baking cookies...made a batch of super spicy ginger & chocolate chip (so yum!) and also some (very meh) peanut butter cookies.

* i miss swimming. i can't wait to feel like myself again so i can get back to it.

* noah's hair is growing a bit shaggy and i swear he looks like a little teddy bear these days.

* only 2 more weeks left of the farmers' market. then back to (bland) grocery store produce. (sniff) besides, i'll really miss our farmer friends. they're always so nice to kim and me.

a little p.s.a.

hey there, ontarions...it's election day! get out there and vote!

and don't forget about the referendum... i know, the coverage of it has been sadly lacking. but it's a really critcial issue and if you're still in the dark, i strongly suggest you quickly read up on it before you head out to the polls.

of course, if you can't be bothered you can just take my word for it and vote in favour of this alternative (m.m.p) system. i think it has the potential for some really positive changes in how our provincial government works. (for example: parties will actually have to work together to get things done instead of the governing party having so much power---and in my book that could be a really good thing!)

that is all. :)

so excited!

elizabeth gilbert, the author of eat, pray, love is going to be on oprah tomorrow!

right now

i'm loving:

the amazing style of these 3 ladies over on wardrobe_remix:
bonboniaa

nemrespobjecodnedjelje

piksi_


speak to me bones and magnetic hill by land of talk, although the whole album is AMAZING!!!

pashupatina's beautiful sculptural necklaces



pretty much every painting by the black apple

this brilliant method of displaying a pez collection by one good bumblebee

and the shopping tunic from twinkle's big city knits
*****
happy thanksgiving, fellow canadians!
enjoy your long weekend...

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!