T.dot is one awesome city

It feels like I am starting to enjoy my city to the fullest for the first time!
Until now, I was more of a night owl exploring the hottest night clubs, but this year I am acting a bit more my age (did I just say that) and actually venturing out during the day.

As many of you were aware there was a little thing going on called world cup...and Toronto had a pretty awesome street party to celebrate the 3rd place and finals games.



I made it to the party in time to see Alex Cuba perform and do a little salsa two step on the streets.



After this we headed down gallery and old appliances stores filled Queen West



to find the Sneak Peek Exhibition at the Gladstone hotel showcasing the work of the KeyHole Session Artists



After we had enough of the sometimes tasteful sometimes not nudes we headed back on the search of food.
Found the very interesting and very full Unmarked restaurant that may also be called nude (that remains unknown at the moment)


but decided to eat somewhere more in our price range. Summerlicous is on and there are awesome priced meals there but we were not in the mood for a 4 course meal.

For more pictures head over to my Flickr

This weekend is off to
Rib Fest
Midnight Volleyball
Brazil Fest
International Jazz festival at the Beaches
and perhaps Salsa on St. Clair

Adventures in food

There is something about breakfast food that leaves me... well speechless!!!

So here we go a wordless post about my recent English style breakfast ;)











Yes this is how much coffee I put in one cup of coffee....

And before you ask, these were 4 different meals for 4 different people.

It's NYE you have to be shiny!!!

What better excuse than NYE to wear a disco ball outfit and play up my make up.
I am absolutely addicted now to experimenting with all of the make up and different colours and such out there, gone are the days of pink eyeshadow and a dash of black eyeliner.

Time to have some fun!!!










Incredibly smooth skin thanks to Revlon's Beyond Natural Smoothing Primer and liquid foundation. The primer is incredible and just perfect for a night when you know you will be photographed a LOT.

Eyes:
Colorstay Eye shadow quad in Berry Bloom
Avon Big Color eye pencil in Lightening
The shiny blue eyeliner - Annabelle Glitterama liquid eyeliner in Celestial Sky

The only thing I regret is picking up an old mascara as I couldn't find my good bottle.

Now how do I make it so that the pictures are more true to color? The actual make up was really vivid.

Waiting for Santa!

Remember how last year's Christmas tree tricked me and instead of it being 5ft it was as tall as my ceiling



Well this year, I knew that
a) if a tree is taller than me it is not 5ft and
b) if it spans from the back to the front of the car than it definitely is not 5ft tall



A little bit more my size and that much easier to sneak in and later out the apartment building ;)

and this is what happens when you play with the ornaments for too long

Happy Halloween!!!!

Somehow I went from planning to be a pirate for a year.... to maybe Batman (yes I realize I am a girl and still BatMAN) to a hastily put together fairy. And after a lot of great anticipation I felt extremely tired yesterday and the night almost didn't happen.
But it did and I had the perfect excuse to play with my make up ....

In cooking news...

I don't know how I caught the cooking bug, but I have and I am not sure that I want to shake it.
I think it is the new job. My coworkers love to share their food at lunch and are always bringing in new things and so I had to follow suit.
I started out with the simplest and most yummy Banana Bread



Lex's Banana Bread (named after my coworker's wife, whose recipe this is)

1/2 cup of creamed butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3 very ripe bananas
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Cream the butter and add the sugar, egg, banana and milk together. Blend well. Add all dry ingredients together then add to the wet mixture. Should fit into a 9 inch, greased baking dish.
Bake at 350F for 35 to 40 mins. Simple I told you!

Apart from desserts, I have also ventured into my favourite mama recipes too.



Moussaka

and finally today I made Thanksgiving dinner for my sister and friends.



and the BIRD!!!

In reading news...

Class is fast approaching again, my first assignment is due on Oct 9th.
In a race against time I am trying to read as many books before I hit the study books again. Once it starts I won't be able to come up for air until next June.

In the last month, I finished the 5th installment of Stephen King's Dark Tower series (I have been reading the series on and off for the past 5 years).



Interestingly enough this book mentioned a devise called a seeker and a little wizard by the name of Harry Potter. Yes Stephen King manages to bring in all kinds off strange things in his books, usually it is characters from his other stories.
So guess the title of the next book that I read...



A while back I decided to give in and read the Harry Potter books. I had never read them or watched the movies, so I decided to catch up with the world. One of my new coworkers handed me the first book in the series the morning after I finished the King book. Coincidence? Or in the words of King "ka" ;)

I finished Harry Potter in one breath, well a week. Now I must watch the first movie and see the visuals.
Next on my reading list is


I usually let some time pass between the Dark tower books but as I told you I am in a race against time.

After this I want to read



Finish the dark tower series and Harry Potter. I don't think I will get pass the the above book in time though, but we will see...

My first Tandem skydive

All suited up and saying "Goodbye, Land"




Seconds before the jump. My face was completely squished by the goggles. Very uncomfortable feeling.



In the air two thumbs up! over 10,000ft in the air!!!



Checking my altitude, about to pull the cord of my parachute. The wind is so strong your face is plastered to the back of your head. Look at the flesh of my poor cheeks!



The shoot opens and we fly back.



Back on the ground. This shot is super cool, maybe Top Gun just missing the fighter jet ;)

A day off looking back to another day off...

In a last minute decision yesterday I decided to take today off. I had a very stressful week both professionally and personally and I just needed to sleep in and recharge my batteries. Perhaps you can call this a mental health day ;)
Two weeks ago I had the Monday off, instead of Canada day. You see working in finance means that you close the books and not take a day off even if it is a national holiday. Anyway, Amy and I traveled, got lost, and eventually found our way to Blue mountain for a overnight little get away.
We were a bit confused to walk around the Blue Mountain village wondering what people do at night there. Well I thought this is when you get your sweater, sit on the cool chairs and talk the night away. We are used to always search for entertainment and some kind of stimulus that not doing anything is a foreign concept.
My new promise to myself is to try to find the calm and peace in a Friday night in, just me, myself and the cat. Stop rushing and always pushing forward, looking constantly for more and wanting more. I will learn how to be thankful for all that I have, all that I have achieved and be at peace with myself.



Blue Mountain village in the Summer



The village and I



Step 1 taking a moment!

What is in a goal...

Are we supposed to have a very specific plan in life?
One that specifies accomplishments and deadlines?
A friend of mine just had her baby and it comes exactly at the age she planned to have it at and around the birth date she had picked out for it.
Is that too much?
I don't have a plan, I don't have a set goal of where I want to be and at what specific age. The only thing I plan on planning for is retirement since it involves monthly savings starting now and a little investment will get you a long way if you plan right. But when it comes to being married by this age, having a child by this age and basically mapping out my life I haven't done that. I don't intent to do it either, but does that set me back?
Is marriage an accomplishment, a milestone that would make me into me or is living my life and trying to think outside the box a better description of myself? Am I falling behind because I am 25, single and with no intention to settle? I am starting to move forward in my career and I consider that an accomplishment. Developing the way I see the world and how I think through experiences and education are a better definition of who I am than anything else. I don't understand how some people see being single as a set back, and all that I strive for should be to meet a man. To be honest I want to meet the man, but just not a man in order to meet some deadline set out by society and meeting him will be an extension of who I already am not my entire being.

Update

Really if you would like a quick and up to date account on what I am up to visit my little Twitter page ;)

I have been incredibly busy with everything else including dreaming of working on art work but actually creating.
I recently managed to get out the ink and turn out a new Lino and woodblock print



"Dreaming in Green"

Now I have a big Case exam on May 14th, and instead of studying I have been sitting around and simply shooting myself in the foot, since this is a career defining exam.
Good job me, now I wish I can find some motivation & concentration.
I hope to get out of work by 4pm tomorrow, and spend 2 hours studying at a coffee shop prior to picking up my Little Brother for our weekly 2 hour activity. I think I forgot to mention, that I am volunteering as a Big Sister & it has been challenging.

Summer is here....

well perhaps for just one day, but I took full advantage of the sunshine and headed for the Beaches in Toronto

I discovered the boardwalk and beach last year for the first time at the end of the summer and this year I will be there every weekend. Just a weekend beach bum ;)
I can't believe I didn't know how wonderful it is there all of these years.


I even enjoyed my first Ice Low Fat Light Ice Latte of the season ;)

I decided to go by the water and look for sea glass. Lately I have been looking at wornderful jewlery made out of sea glass and thought if I would be lucky enough to find a piece... well



I am going to wire wrap some of the bigger pieces and perhaps get my hands on a drill...
Anybody worked with sea glass before? Ideas...
I may put some in the shop as supplies...

Sometimes...

Ever think really hard about someone and they end up calling you the next day? Just out the blue, someone perhaps you didn't think you would ever see again...

Anyways, this was a weekend filled with moments, for lack of better way to describe it.

Saturday night I celebrated my best girl's birthday with a night of dancing. I was a bit of a 5th wheel since it was two couples and me but hey I tend to have fun no matter what.
I made her this little necklace as a present


I really like this shot of it



I also had one more shell bead and made a similar necklace for the Shop!




Sea and Sky necklace

Goodbye winter

The grey blahs of winter are almost over, I see the sun outside that is actually starting to hurt the eyes instead of it struggling to show behind the grey haze of clouds and coldness.


My little trip to Ottawa last weekend, left me smiling as I climbed on the last little pile of snow ;)

I am excited for the long warm days when working late won't matter because the sun will still be out at 9pm. I can't wait to feel the warm from the sun as it gently (I say gently because I will be wearing 30spf sunscreen) tans my skin.

Summer is coming!!!!

Tourist for the Day

An event I discovered last year in my little city of Toronto is Winterlicious . Great, out of my price range, restaurants have set menus for a lot lower price. Today I had lunch at the top of the CN tower, something that I really really wanted to do. Now this is not the famous spinning 360 restaurant, but the Horizons restaurant , still 100% worth it.
Just check out this view from our table:




and the menu was pretty good for $15 and $10 to get up there
I started with Smoked Salmon Salad

Followed by a Chicken Pot Pie



and a Sour Cream Ice cream and Apple crumble



and if you are up there you have to go on the glass floor of the CN tower and sit on it like all of the tourists :)



Actually most people are scared of the glass floor. It does feel a little weird at first but really nothing freaky about it. And really I am a tourist in my own city as I hardly ever visit the attractions. This is only the second time I have been up there.