goat!

yesterday paul and i went on a day trip to stouffville, just outside of toronto. it was such a nice day! we started by going into the town of stouffville and wandering around the downtown area. we went into the latcham gallery and a great little thrift store where i finally found something i've been searching for forever (the glass jug top left). then we headed to applewood farm where we did some strawberry picking.


there were a few goats and sheep at the farm and i was so excited to be able to pet one and feed it some dandilion leaves. i wanted to stay there all day and hang out with the animals.


we ended the trip with lunch at a new-to-us restaurant called the graceful vegetarian which is located right behind the pacific mall. we had vegetarian dim sum and i loved every bit of it! my favourite was the (vegetarian) bbq pork steamed bun. mmmm...doughy goodness. (sorry, i was too hungry and impatient to take pics)

i did some gardening when we got home and then made a yummy (and super easy) dinner of faux tuna sandwiches with salad (using lettuce from our garden).

this is the tuna we buy at king's cafe in kensington market.

if you look in the bottom right hand corner it says "borax free". that worries me that the other kind we sometimes buy might be loaded with borax. who knew that was the secret ingredient to mock meat???? ;)


and for dessert....strawberries and whipped cream of course!

i had an itch to go thrifting on friday...it had been a few months since i'd gone and for some strange reason when i get an itch to go, i usually end up finding some good treasures. friday did not disappoint!

- 3 cute new scarves... one is even yves st. laurent and another is by vera with a sweet little print of carrots and peas. woot!
- a pretty luxurious rust coloured cable-knit scarf/shawl...holt renfrew brand. double woot!
- black skirt
- 2 issues of the sadly defunct "blueprint" magazine which i was too cheap to let myself buy when it was still around
- a white porceline dish for displaying my jewellery at shows (3 compartments, maybe for brooches and hairpins?)
- 2 retro oblong melmac-type dishes
- skinny belt
- a small wooden dish for storing my jewellery when i'm not wearing it
- and a happy apple!

here's a closer look:

peek inside my makeup bag

after reading about some of the toxic chemicals in cosmetics about a year ago, i've been trying to make some safer choices with the beauty products i buy. since i'm on a pretty strict budget, i didn't immediately throw away all of my "toxic" stuff...just started slowly replacing them with better choices once they were used up. since i've been doing this for about a year now, i realized that most of my daily products have been replaced. thought you might want to take a peek at what i'm using these days and maybe it will give you a starting point to make some safer choices for yourself.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

maybelline waterproof liquid eyeliner: not exactly "safe" but i refuse to give up my black eyeliner. this one isn't the worst of the bunch so i'm ok with it.

the body shop lip & cheek stain: i only use it on my cheeks and it's my "stranded on a desert island" product.

the body shop concealer pencil: a bit "dry" for using under the eyes. i'll probably replace it with a creamier product once it's gone

weleda everon lip balm: smells amazing!

the body shop loose powder: i had a hard time finding safer compact powder so i went with this. it's ok but i still prefer pressed powder.

the body shop aloe calming facial cleanser: i love this! i was a dedicated "cetaphil" user for about 10 years and it broke my heart to have to switch but for me, this is just as good.

the body shop aloe soothing day cream: love this too! paul even uses it. i even use it under my eyes without any problem. really gentle.

badger sunscreen, spf 30: this is a new addition within the past 3 weeks. the sun protection is great but it leaves the skin with a noticeable white cast. after it warms up a bit on the skin i can usually rub it in better so it doesn't show.

giovanni 50:50 balanced hair remoisturizer: good stuff

giovanni 50:50 balanced shampoo: takes awhile to get used to the fact that it doesn't foam up but that's because it doesn't have sodium lauryl sufate (not a great ingredient). it works well though.

kiss my face olive oil soap: we use it as a regular body soap in the shower. it costs next to nothing ($3) but literally lasts one whole month! it's like magic!

- still need to replace my deoderant with a better choice once it runs out.
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i'm certainly no expert in the area of cosmetics and toxic ingredients but here's a few tips i follow almost religiously now.

1. i've learned you can't just assume if a company has a few safer products everything in their line will be too. for example, you see above that i use some body shop products but unfortunately most of their line is pretty toxic according to the cosmetics database.

2. just because you can buy it in a health food store doesn't mean it's "safe". likewise, just because it's expensive as hell doesn't mean it's safe either. try researching those expensive department store brands or lines carried by sephora. it's kinda scary.

3. i avoid anything that has "fragrance" as one of the ingredients. unless the ingredients list essential oils , chances are the product has synthetic fragrance and that includes pthalates which are potentially unsafe. unfortunately you'll never see pthalates listed in the ingredients because it's considered a company's "trade secret" and they don't need to give that info up. evil!
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* and i should mention a couple of things in case anyone is wondering: one...i am definitely not getting paid to endorse any of these products (i should be so lucky!) nor do any of my friends/family members or i work for any of these companies. two....i've found all of these products using the incredibly useful cosmetics database resource (a non-profit organization called the environmental working group runs the website).

so funny but you probably already know about it

i know paul & i are little late to this party, but we just discovered the awesomeness that is "flight of the conchords". (be gentle on us...we don't have cable). here's the intro of the show just because it makes me so happy.

we rented the 1st disc of season one (has there only been one season so far?) and watched the whole thing (6 episodes) yesterday. omg, this show is hilarious! if you're like us and don't have cable you totally have to rent the dvd. we're looking forward to hopefully renting the 2nd disc this week.

*******
on a related note...is it just me, or does anyone else start singing the "sex and the city theme" every time you see that "hbo logo/static-y tv opening bit" that shows up at the beginning of every hbo tv show? i swear it's like an involuntary reaction everytime i see it.

isn't this necklace the best? (mary-jane shoe on one side, "sensible shoes" on the reverse) i've had my eye on it since last december when frederica (friend and maker of the necklace) and i had our booths next to each other at the ooak show. when i told her the name of my blog she couldn't believe the coincidence. i finally broke down and bought it for myself at her studio sale last weekend and have been wearing it ever since.

it also helped to remind me that this blog has been sitting woefully neglected for far too long.

i'm on summer vacation now (as of last thursday at noon). the last couple months at work were a bit stressful to say the least. i found out i was declared "surplus" which means there wouldn't be a teaching job for me at my current school come september. after two rounds of job searches, three positions turned down after cold feet about teaching kindergarten, and a week or so of being on pins & needles waiting to find out where i'd be placed, it turns out that i got a fantasic placement at a great school teaching (almost) exactly what i wanted! (yay!!!)

it was really sad leaving my old school though. i'd been there for 4 years so lots of tears!!!

before i left i had a little party for my knitting club girls. i baked cupcakes and brought in icing & a variety of candies for them to decorate with. they were a huge hit! i also made each one a little knitting necklace as a souvenir and hopefully will inspire them to keep up with their knitting.


on the last day of school i almost forgot to take a picture of my most favourite part of the building. this sign put a smile on my face everytime i saw it. the fact that it is hung in a school is, to me, pure irony!


ah, grammatically incorrect signage.....i'll miss you so.

yummy dinner #3

this was a great meal we had earlier in the week. i made these tofu & rice balls from the garden of vegan, another sarah kramer cookbook i use on a regular basis. these balls (tee hee) are extra yummy with mushroom gravy, which i just buy in a can and warm up quickly on the stove. a nice big salad with sunflower seeds was the perfect side.

yum.

my new favourite blog

i've been feeling a bit under-the-weather this week and i woke up today having completely lost my voice. catching up on this blog totally lifted my spirits though. it made me laugh out loud (well, not loud...more like a whisper i suppose) and at times i was crying from laughing so hard. maybe you'll like it too.

i especially loved the nordic catalog disaster

red bull: gives you nightmares

and by the time i was at that must be some distinctive nose i was crying from laughing so hard.

i so needed that today!

yummy dinner #2

tonight's dinner was from my most favourite of all my cookbooks, la dolce vegan by sarah kramer. i swear i use this book a minimum of 3 meals out of the 5 i cook during the week (paul's in charge of sat & sun dinners). this was my first attempt with this recipe and it was soooo yummy!

tonight i made butternut squash & lentil soup with ginger. we had it with fresh 9-grain rustic bread from brick bakery, drizzled with olive oil.
sadly, this photo does not do justice to the soup. it was such a flavourful and slightly spicy meal. the generous amount of fresh ginger really added a nice flavour.

rating: 10/10

yummy dinner #1

i've always been really inspired by bloggers that post delicious-looking meals they've made. one blog i miss dearly is dinner daily. i used to get lots of quick and interesting meal ideas from her.

anyhow, i'm going to give this a try myself mostly to have a record of meals i've made and enjoyed. i'm not sure how long this will last as i'm often in too much of a rush to start eating. running to find the camera (and working batteries) before digging in can be a bit of a hassle. but here goes attempt #1.

this is what we had for dinner tonight.
penne with chickpeas, baby spinach, and sundried tomatoes from quick fix vegetarian

it was so easy to make and turned out really yummy. basically it's just a quick sauce made from minced garlic, canned (diced) tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, chickpeas, a bag of baby spinach, and s&p . i sprinkled some sunflower seeds on top for some crunch.

the verdict: 9/10

happy earth day!

hope everyone's enjoying this sunshiney earth day!

i thought it would be fun to show you some of the earth-friendly goodies i've been crushing on over at etsy.

poppy bobbypins made with recycled vintage fabric by foundling


sweater dress made from repurposed sweaters by devilmademedoit

broken plate ring by the broken plate


messenger bag made from a men's suit jacket by rumah kampung


jounals made from old highschool yearbook pictures by christine renee


dog collars made from recycled ties by annie's sweatshop (we just bought this one for noah a couple of months ago)


also made with a repurposed tie, this "necklace" by sam's shop


pretty vintage slip embellished by bayou salvage


handwoven brooch made from grocery bags by frucci design


and i could really use these reusable bags for our frequent trips to bulk barn (handmade by kootsac)

if only i could plant a money tree for earth day.....

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...

junk mail revolution

i've started a one-woman junk mail revolution. i'm tired of getting heaps of unaddressed mail in our mailbox even though we clearly have a "No Junkmail or Flyers" sign on our box.

so i've started on my personal campaign to annoy the hell out of the people who send this stuff.

i'm collecting unaddressed mail that comes to our door and sticking it in those "postage paid when mailed in canada" envelopes...this one was conveniently included with a junk mail advertisement yesterday.

with just 2 days worth of mail, i've managed to stuff the envelope as full as i possibly could. i'm mailing it back to this company tomorrow and they can be flooded with junkmail for a change. and even better: they have to PAY to have it sent to them!


does this make me a bad person?

anyone want to join me?

p.s. it should also be noted that the company who will soon be receiving my junk mail package was outed as a bit of a scam by my hero, wendy mesley awhile back.

the fur was flying

the things we won't do for our fur kids.

we used to take noah to a groomer every 4 months or so. a really lovely woman who always did such a nice job. but here's the thing: noah is such a sensitive little guy that he would come back from the doggy salon acting freaky. at first it would last a few days but then it would start lasting 7 or 8 days before he got back to normal. it was really upsetting for all of us.

in the fall, we decided to cut his hair ourselves. yep, DIY baby! the doggy equivalent of putting a bowl on his head!

on sunday noah got a shampoo and haircut. the 3 of us were locked in the bathroom for 3 whole hours! but only one of us got lots of cookies.....


we cut off enough hair to make another dog!

and after it was all over:

now we have a clipped (and very happy) poochie!

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!

where i've been, what i've been doing...

since we last spoke, i've:
* baked banana loaf and brownies
* decided brown rice kicks white rice's ass
* added a bunch of stuff to my etsy shop
* tried to eat greens at least 3x a week
* completed term 2 report cards
* started visiting the amigurumi farm again
* and last friday, went to see margaret cho tape her interview for the hour!

carla got us tickets and it was soooo much fun! the funny thing is the studio was smaller than it looks on tv. george's interview with margaret cho was really funny! see for yourself...it's going to be on tv tonight!

all of my pictures turned out blurry like this one.

thanks again for the fun afternoon, carla!