Friday, May 30, 2008

Wee Me!

I have yet to post a real life picture of myself on my blog.

But this is what I'd look like....if I were a cartoon. :D

(courtesy of WeeWorld)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Blah Blah Blah

Cell phones are convenient and can be fun. But I actually don't use mine all that much. I rarely have lengthy conversions on it. But in the interest of trimming my expenses, having both a land line AND a cell phone doesn't seem very frugal.

My issue is, if I ONLY have a cell phone, longer conversations tend to be annoying. Holding that tiny phone to my ear for more than a couple of minutes is uncomfortable.

Then I came across this...


Bluetooth Retro Handset

Yeah, it looks a little silly (especially if I were to take it outdoors), but it sure would solve my issue with talking on my cell for longer periods of time while I'm at home.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Indiana Jones - the reviews are in


My brother saw the movie first, and his review - "It sucked!" (Yes, he tends to be succinct)

After further prodding, he admitted to exaggerating a lot. What he really meant was that, in comparison to the first three, it just wasn't the same, and didn't add much to the series.

For those who haven't seen it, I won't get into further detail but I would have to agree with the points he made (but I won't say it sucked). It was a good movie, just not a great movie.

Shia LaBeouf was great as Mutt, and I could see him taking the series on if they decide to continue.

Harrison Ford was....as always....awesome.

I still have a crush on Han Solo....so really there's not much he do that I wouldn't like.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Let's go to the movies!

One of the (only) benefits of being an alumni of my university is the odd invitation to a fun event. Tonight is a free screening of the new Indiana Jones movies.


I've heard mixed reviews...so I'm going in with low expectations. Besides...how bad could it be? Its Harrison Ford. Its Indiana Jones.

And more importantly...I get free popcorn and a drink. :D

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Run away to the Circus (festival)!

This post is about a week late...but better late than never.

Our long weekend (for Victoria Day) was cursed with bad weather. Cold weather, rain, and clouds...blech. But instead of sitting home complaining about it, we headed out to the Toronto Circus Festival down at Harbourfront.

It turns out the festival was a part of a kids event, but we had lots of fun anyway.





The performers were amazing! Oh to have those abs!
__________



The Laurentian Funhouse was a maze where you could draw or write
on the walls as you tried to find your way out.
__________



Harbourfront is full of art galleries and workshops.
I couldn't resist taking a picture of glass making and textile studios.
I'd like to try both eventually.
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The rest of the pictures I took that day can be found in my Flickr photostream.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

And the winner is....

I'm not really a super huge fan of American Idol. I can usually take it or leave it. But...I am usually curious about the finale and want to know who wins.

I watched it enough this season to know that I really liked David Cook.

It wasn't looking too good for him the night before with even Simon saying that it was a lock for the other David to win. When I watched briefly last night, Simon backtracked and said it wasn't as close as he initially thought.


Good thing Simon, because in the end, I think the better David won.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I often read my horoscope, but take each one with a grain of salt.
But given what life has been like for the past few months, I'm hoping todays is dead on.

Pisces (Feb. 20 — March 20)
When a movie nears the end, it becomes apparent with the build-up to and nervous anticipation of the climax. Likewise, The crescendo of activity that's been building up in your world has reached its culmination. And with it comes a promise of deliverance.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Long weekend = long post

Rain be damned! A friend (T) and I headed out despite the miserable weather. Queen West was the destination. I wanted to finally check out The Workroom, and she had never been to Arton Beads.

We got to The Workroom.....closed. Damn.

We got to Arton Beads.....closed. Double damn.

I guess we really should have called ahead considering it was the long weekend. The Workroom is normally open on Sundays, but Arton is not.

I did press my nose against the glass at The Workroom to oooh and ahhh at the fabric all neatly lined up on the shelves. It was exciting just to see the button maker sitting on a work table. (Isn't that exciting for everyone?!)

Well, the day didn't work out *quite* like we planned, but the whole point was to really get out of the house. And that we did.

Once back at T's place we decided to get our craft on.

She always has a fresh supply of IKEA pine MALMA mirrors on hand, so we busted out the paint, markers, scrapbook paper and punches and went at it.


The supplies.
__________

T's mirror - in progress.
__________

My mirror - in progress.
__________


T's mirror - almost done.
__________

My mirror - almost done.
__________


Our supervisor - Wynnie.
(She may look quite interested in our work in this pic...but in reality,
she wanted the mini chocolate cupcake T was about to bite into.)

_________

After all that work we got tired, hungry, watched the fireworks going on over at Wonderland and ate yummy sushi for our late late dinner. In the process, I forgot to take pics of the mirrors once they were completely done.

Speaking about my own work... I was a little heavy handed on the mod podge and needed a few more layers of paint to really hide the wood grain. But overall, I'm happy with the final result.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Free!

Its the Victoria Day long weekend here and of course that means looking for something to do. Though I plan to spend today searching for my clean apartment (I know its here somewhere), I'll still have two more FULL days for fun activities.

And the one thing that makes any activity more fun is when its free!

Here's a couple of the free events going on in Toronto this weekend.

Toronto International Circus Festival
May 17 - 19 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

__________

Fireworks at Ashbridges Bay
May 18 9:45pm

__________

and since its expected to be rainy most of the weekend....

there's always window shopping at the Eaton's Centre.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Etsy Love II

I added a few more favorites to my profile over at Etsy. I thought you'd like to check them out as well.

Enjoy!
__________


Do you have any Etsy recommendations?

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Weather Wear

Today it's supposed to be a low of 7 degrees and a high of 18 degrees (that's 44 degrees and 64 degrees for you Americans ;) ).

My question is...how do you dress for weather with such a huge change in temperature from morning to afternoon?

Its not quite cold enough for a winter jacket.


But wearing a summer top...

under a knit sweater.....

makes it pretty chilly in the morning. Which is exactly what I wore today. Brrrrr.

But by the time I leave work, I'll be quite comfortable.

Oh well...I guess I should be grateful I don't need the winter jacket anymore.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

WIP: Embroidered quilted pillow

Ever since I got the Stitch-It Kit I've wanted to do more embroidery. The possibilities are really endless, and as it turns out, I'm pretty good at it.

In an effort to spend less, I decided I was going to only use the supplies I had on hand (which is quite easy when you don't really have the money on hand - ha ha!).

I wanted to make something for a friends daughter and the embroidery part of it went well (if I do say so myself),


but I'm not loving the fabric.



I always feel differently about a project once its completed anyway, so I'm trying to just quiet my doubts and finish it.

The plan is to tackle it this weekend.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Need = no. Want = yes.

I have these dishes.

When I got them, I loooooved them.
Actually I still do, they're a really great red.

But with the warmer weather, I want something lighter. And one downside...the dinner plates are SO big, they don't fit in my kitchen cabinets.

I thought about all white....but that's too boring for me.

Then I saw these in a commercial....

and these....

these...


and these.

The commercial swears you can drop them and they won't break. Sadly this is a feature I need.

They are all by Corelle...but there's SO many great patterns out there it'll be a tough decision.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mothers Day

- Me and Mom 1976 -

You showed me,
when I was young just how to grow.
You showed me,
everything that I should know.
You showed me,
just how to walk without your hands .
'Cause, mom, you always were the perfect fan.

- lyrics from The Perfect Fan by the Backstreet Boys

Saturday, May 10, 2008

I'm good enough, and crafty enough and doggone it....umm...maybe not?!

The baby shower today was a lot of fun. The food was good, the activities were fun and the mom-to-be seemed to really enjoy herself.


- every guest was given a potted flower as a thank you -

The crocheted afghan didn't get done in time, so I gave her a quilt I made (and forgot to take a picture of). She loved it, and so did all of her guests. There was comment after comment of how lovely it was, and how talented I was.

Honestly....I was embarrassed.

Its hard to explain, but I guess somewhere in my head I just assumed this was something a lot of people could do....something a lot of people enjoy doing. I guess I was wrong.

Online, I read crafty blogs on a daily basis, and am in awe at how creative and talented people are. Just look at Etsy, its FULL of talented artisans. So because MY world is full of people who like to do what I do, I didn't realize how unique the bunch of us really are (and how cool that is). So yesterday was truly the first time I realized that I do something that's pretty special and unique. I realized I shouldn't be embarrassed at all, but proud of the talents I have and the skills I've acquired.

Why is it so hard to acknowledge something great about yourself, but so easy to provide praise for someone else's work? I am so critical of my own work its often agonizing to give away something I've made because I never think its good enough.

Anyone else feel that way sometimes?

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Workroom

Fellow crafty blogger Johanna kindly commented on my previous post about making an Amy Butler Quilt. She recommended The Workroom on Queen West that carries designer fabric (at much more affordable prices).


After looking through the website, I'm in complete awe.

They offer classes.

They have a workroom with lots of fun crafty equipment (which you can pay by the hour to use).

and....

they have a shop!!





The website has dozens pictures showing what they carry and I can already feel my wallet getting lighter and lighter.

Thanks for the tip Johanna! I can't wait to see it all in person.

(all photos from The Workroom Flickr stream)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

My cozy kitchen

Other than some minor storage complaints, my apartment is just the right size for me.

Actually...that's not true, I'd love some more counter space in the kitchen.
(Thankfully there is the cute little Ikea kitchen cart to help with that problem.)


But since renovations aren't possible in a rental, I did what I could do make things a little more esthetically pleasing.

The entire apartment was a horrible builders beige. With no windows in the kitchen and white appliances, white cabinets seemed to be the way to go.

But once everything was painted, it was a bit TOO white.
A back splash project was definitely in order.


Then on a summer walk on Queen West, I fell in love with some Japanese paper from The Paper Place.


After cutting the paper in 1ft x 1ft sqaures, I took them to a copy place to be laminated.
Then with some double sided tape, I attached them to the back splash.



The results were just what I was hoping for!

Now if only I could figure out what to do with the horrible floor....

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Oh to be 13 again :)

Cause we were feelin young love
And we couldn’t get enough
Baby I could reminisce forever

Listen to the new single here.