There is a light and it never goes out...

A very nice bicycle shop.

 ADELINE ADELINE.

Mouse and Papabubble

There's nothing better than snail mail from friends...Unless it's a snail package. Or better yet, a snail package full of candy! Deliciously hand-crafted soda filled candies and a lollipop as large as my face arrived by courier, courtesy of mon friend, monsieur paille-baie. If I won the lottery, I'd have a guy who traveled around the world solely to mail me sweetly packaged confectioneries! Rocky, who is usually a wonderful and compliant model, was all mopes and glares and refused to partake in my artistic visions.

Models—they have their good days and bad days. Sometimes, it's magic. And other times, visual diarrhea. Go on Papabubble's website to see hard candies do their thing and strut their stuff, leaving Rocky in their tasty candy dust.

Yet another reason to visit Barcelona.

She like laugh at that and a gone a Canada.

We had a pretty fantastic Saturday! Woke up all relaxed, mid-morning and lounged before heading out for some furniture shopping. Voila ici.

Yes, the tulip knockoff. And did you know they serve beer at Ikea? Something about drinking in a family friendly place like Ikea seemed badass so I felt compelled to order a bottle with my meal. Because, I mean, I am badass, so I need to do my part, you know? Next up, rugs, wall decor, new lighting for the den (above the dining table), and furniture for our gaaarden.

We're quite pleased with how everything is coming together but I have to admit that it all feels a bit too modern and sleek. In contrast, my inspiration folder is full of images that exude a non-fussy, airy, rustic farmhouse-esque/lovingly distressed feel. I'm itching to make this place more homely but need to remind myself that we're intentionally creating a space that will attract future buyers. But I'm not complaining. This isn't a complaint! I do really love each piece—but we're careful to acquire versatile items that can be used differently at another place and time.

SIDE NOTE: planning for the wedding, the ceremony, and moving into our first home all felt very natural to us. but buying a full bed set really got to me and it was as if I only now realized that I was married, had a husband, and was in this specific stage in life! and today, shopping for dining tables, was another reminder. more importantly, as we stuffed our faces with meatballs and mashed potatoes and chatted about the people in the playground just outside (we love people watching and making snarky comments), it happened; our first discussion about kids without it dripping in repulsion and feelings of anxiety/nausea. still prefaced with ifs and one thousand percent certainty that if we ever decided to procreate, it wouldn't be for at least another four or five years, but something was definitely different. and it unnerved us. It's giving me hives just typing about it right now. Have you read We Need To Talk About Kevin? Don't; if you're on the fence about children, don't! Let's change topics. We also visited Sheridan Nurseries and started up a mini garden on our balcony. Sweet million tomatoes and chives, mon friends! 

Hmm, I wonder if the secret ingredient to the fertilizer is sewage sludge. Dun, dun, dun!

Our lack of proper tools (the basics, really. pliers!) resulted in a lengthy but rewarding bike ride to Home Depot. Rewarding because I got to eat at Harvey's and Mad Italian Gelato Bar (pistachio and hazelnut). Leave me be, there were a lot of slight, barely-there inclines hills and I needed the energy! I had to mask my eyes because they looked all sneaky. But never-you-mind that, pay attention to my legs; they look so long! But, so does my torso. I'm what you call a flip phone body.

We finally celebrated Rocky's sixth birthday (two weeks late). Got him a peanut butter cookie bigger than his face!

Picture perfect memories scattered all around the floor.

Came up with a list of things that I'll miss about our shoebox home:

1. The "unlimited" supply of utilities (goodbye random cooking/baking spritz and running water...hello candles! I exaggerate. hehe. sort of)

2. Sitting in the bedroom and still being able to look at and chat with the dogre when he's all the way across the house, in the kitchen. though...he claims to not hear me at times, which I think is a lie!

3. Access around the downtown core by foot. Public transportation!? Nooooooo!

4. Saying goodbye to our first home together as husband and wife.

But...I honestly won't miss it all that much. Excited to move! Countdown: 3 days! Keys in hands in: 2! TWO! Come Friday, I'm going to run in and be the first to use the toilet! Already wanting to change the lighting fixtures above our kitchen island to this pendant but it's likely too "heavy" for the space. Poo-poo.

I don't remember if I mentioned this before but Rocky gets very anxious if he sees luggage and cardboard boxes around the house. It's probably because every time they're out, somebody disappears for a long time (i.e. when I spent the summers in Korea or when my brother moved to Vancouver). When we packed up for our honeymoon, he spent every night in our open suitcase, just in case. Now he's doing the same with our moving boxes and luggage pieces. He's also extra grumpy. And no, it's not because I forced him to wear a toupée! By the by, you know you're looney when you think time is well spent touching up the whites of your dog's eyes in Photoshop. And it is!

Also, the super crafty Heidi Kenny creates the cutest things and provided a free printable dirty dozen cheat sheet, available here on her site. Dirty dozen being the fruits and vegetables that the USDA advises you always buy organic because they carry the highest levels of pesticide residues even after washing them. And then there are the items that are okay to buy non-organic. Finally, a visit to my blog has been resourceful to you! Goody.

I'll be without internet access until Sunday morning! Will be suffering serious internet and tv show withdrawal, I'm sure. Bye for now. Remember to hydrate yourself after shedding all those tears for me. In the mean time, how about a warm, feel-good documentary? I lied. Learn about why you should be asking your local farmers or produce sources what they put in their crops. This video may deter you from eating your fruits and vegetables! We live our days unaware that what we so casually flush away is turned to sewage sludge, full of metals, human waste, chemicals, solvents, tampons, condoms, et cetera, and spread onto our lawns, farm lands, and waters...consequently returned back for consumption! If you're only interested in Canada, start at the 18 minute mark.

Is my conscience required to stay?

So I scheduled the whole weekend to tackle my assignments, knowing it'd be time consuming (resume revamping, writing about strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities, a bio, character sketch, and an elevator pitch!) and naturally, I decided cooking and baking was a more pressing matter. Honestly, the best times to invite yourself over is when I'm avoiding something (which is often. and most likely assignments).

So what churned out of my kitchen over the weekend? Roasted sweet potato wedges,banana bread with cream cheese icing (my favourite so far), and some comfort food. No, not cut up hotdogs with ketchup! Much more sophisticated than that, thank you very much. Good ol' hamburger beef chunks marinated in Diana bbq and hot wing sauce. The sophisticated part being the caramelized onions. Heehee- And don't you dare judge me! I know you'll bring up my previous post about eating healthy, but clearly, you can see the huge bowl of salad that accompanied the beef! Clearly. I think I'm being extra beastly with my meat intake these days because I suspect major changes to come after reading Foer's Eating Animals. It honestly scares me to think that I will potentially quit not just meat, but also dairy products. But we'll see; I might be giving myself more credit and willpower than I'll actually be able to exercise. But back to the banana bread. The recipe I tried in the past was good but very dense. This one is more of a coffee/tea type of bread and it's round and shorter so there's more crunchy crusts to go around!

We've also had Korean lettuce-meat-wrap two nights in a row. This restaurant at Warden and Lawrence called Makkal Chon is affordable, the portions are generous, and just look at the vegetable variety! I love soft cabbage.

Went on a second mini antique road trip with Jules and it sucked! Since I know that nobody from Hamilton reads this blog, I'll just come out and say it—I didn't much like it there! However, we drove through a neighbourhood that's similar to our fancy schmancy Bridlepath 'hood, but with more character and beauty. Will post photos up another time...along with the promised pictures from the first trip.

The dogre and I also had a heated argument (one sided...me) when we got back. Basically, the property manager of this unit finally (I lost count of the number of viewings, mostly because they started doing open house!) scored a future tenant but then emailed the dogre late at night to tell us that they would be coming in the next morning to take measurements of the place. Well, I'm almost certain this is illegal. They had the right to do showings to acquire tenants and they have access to enter for maintenance/fix-ups; but they definitely can't just stroll in during our time, for which we paid for, to allow the upcoming tenant to take measurements! So I took issue with how it was legally wrong, and at the very least inconsiderately last minute, but I also took issue with the fact that the dogre was quick to bend over and take it. Especially when it was inconveniencing me as he wouldn't be home. I got into a whole schpew about principles and him not considering my viewpoints and our general lack of assertiveness with these kinds of things. It all boiled down to selecting the road with the least hiccups and ass-paining, as well as not wanting to add another item on his plate (which I wholeheartedly admitted was large and I've been trying to ease). Why am I telling you this? No clue...Just making conversation, you know? Geez. Maybe I'm documenting this to remind ourselves to be better to our own tenants, should we decide to go down that route. Or, maybe it's because I'm such a gossip that I've even resorted to airing out our own "dirty laundry" to friends and strangers alike. But most likely, it's to use as ammunition for a future spat! Hehe. Who knows. In any case, you're here reading it, so you're no better!

Oh, and I wasn't completely unproductive over the weekend—my resume now (barely) fits onto one page! Hoorah- It's actually very intimidating to draft a resume as an aspiring Graphic Designer...Have you seen samples!? Look here. And here.

By the by, most of my titles are pulled from songs. This one, which I really like, is from Baby Now by Nichole Alden, used here:

"Why is this happening to me!?"

So I may become the next Youtube sensation, found under the search "girl craps her pants at major intersection of Yonge and Bloor". Backtrack; I'm having the root canal procedure (along with prep work and temporary crowning on two teeth. costing about $3500) on Friday morning. This means I'll be heavily sedated from Thursday night onwards to ease my anxiety—I'll even be wheelchaired home (I'm a dentophobe so we're going all out and sparing no expenses, as I've opted for the fancifully titled "conscious sedation". believe-you-me, I need this! I've experienced multiple wisdom teeth/root canal procedures gone wrong while fully alert. I clenched my fists, crossed my legs and toes, and had to control myself from shrieking or crying). Enter, potential Youtube fame. I've never been on mood altering medication before and fear the worst behaviour possible...Maybe I'll call the dogre by the name of an old flame, or maybe I'll crap my pants. Or, maybe I'll crap my pants and then ask the dogre, addressing him by the wrong name, to clean me up. Of course, he wouldn't be so cruel to post that up on the internet...But, we're definitely interested in videotaping the aftereffects, as we predict it'll be memorable (and also? we've only used our fancy camcorder three times and we're feeling guilty)! Onto happier things. Like, looking at a photo of the new place!

We had to wear hard hats and steel toed boots for the inspection. Unfortunately, I wore mocs that day and had to stick my bare feet into foreign boots...Disgusting.

The dogre's eldest sister, who was a shopaholic and worked at Aritzia (a dangerous combination), moved to Vancouver last year and returned for a week to attend a wedding. Why do you care? Because, mon friend, after she packed up to return, she then let finn and I raid her leftovers! I'm the happy owner of pre-loved Aritzia pieces (including beautifully gray $200+ jeans), belts, and jewelry. Le sigh. What else, what else...

We changed vets. Our previous vet was incompetent. Example: Rocky chews and licks his paws a lot, which can indicate allergies. We took him and paid $80 for them to do some allergy test but never received a followup. Later, we asked what the results were and the jerk claimed we had never done such a test! Our first impression of the new vet was all sorts of positive. All staff members were professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. They were straightforward with costs and concerns, addressing all of our questions and showing a genuine interest in Rocky. It was very apparent that they were animal lovers! We'll be taking Mia in for a checkup after the move. Oh, and Rocky is a healthy, healthy boy! Next, food.

Miga, a Korean BBQ house, is fairly new and on the pricier side (targeted towards non-Koreans, we think). But, the quality makes up for the the higher price! My belly sang a sweet, sweet love song to my tastebuds all night long. New recipe of the week:

My first attempt at a lemon poppy seed loaf. A success story, really! Recipe here.

For Mother's Day festivities, we had burgers with the cousins, sans the dogre's mom. We had Greek with my mom but it was less impressive so no photo proof here.

This is what happens when the dogre works an evening shift. Random, lonesome dinners consisting of leftovers straight out of the tupperware or a bowl of cubed apples and feta cheese, drizzled in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. In bed. In front of the laptop or book. Tasty, but sad.

As revenge, the dogre has been appointed the role of Box Hunter. Where there are poo-stinky cardboard boxes, there is the dogre! Seastar and Mr. L play x-rated Monopoly.

Looking forward to a mini road trip with my cousin. We'll be checking out antique shops in the countryside. Will post any good finds we score. Hopefully, will not post while medicated and write regrettable things. I've already asked the dogre to hide away phones and computers. Side note, Vampire Diaries is juicier than ever! Cannot wait for the season finale (this Thursday). No more shame! Just pure enjoyment.

I shall leave you with something that made the inner typography lover in me giggle, years before I had chosen such a path. The Font Conference:

Ha! Take that my fat metal friend!

a few years ago the dogre and I were at Ikea (he has bravely suffered through many Ikea trips; I was an addict. and it was my special mission to come up with reasons why I needed a lazy susan, extra duvet covers, cookie cutters, etc). we were in the parking lot when I saw an unattended dog in a car and the weather, let me tell you friend, wasn't good (to be honest, it's hazy to me now whether it was winter or summer...but never-you-mind)! I was furious. I'm one of those people whose heart dies a little everytime a WWF or WSPA bitty airs. moreso than when, say, ...no, I won't finish that sentence lest you non-animal lovers cruelly judge me. okay, back to the situation. I was so upset that I...left a warning note, of sorts. and guess what I wrote? 

next time,  I'll call the human society. 

yes, human! why, oh why, did I miss the e!? I only realized when it was too late...pathetic. but true. and that, mon friend, is one of very few stories that I'm "privileged" to share with you—a story of the brevity of the dogress and her never ending journey to seek justice and protection of all four-legged friends. actually, that would be the one and only story. 

on a related note, my highly academically acheived friend, jeudi, once said, and I quote,

fists of furry.

heehee, hilarious.

I'm inadequate.

We finally have...a POSTAL CODE! Exciting. Oh, post title explanation: Rocky thinks I'm inadequate. Apparently, my commitment to eye crusties wiping is so appallingly lacking that he's learned to wipe them himself. Like a Shiba Inu...

Also, are you aware of his disability? Yes, his tongue is too big and long for his mouth. All you snooty canines of this world really shouldn't take eating so casually for granted!

I love how the Brits call their apartments, flats and their backyards, gardens. I'm going to relentlessly call our itty bitty balcony the gaaarden until you do so as well!

{apartmenttherapy.com}

By the way, if you aren't following The Selby, well, start already! You get to peek inside the fascinating homes of creative individuals.

And check out Present and Correct if you're as big of a stationery fanatic as moi.

Cute cake stands, yes? More pretty things (milkjugs, vases, dishes, etc) here.

{ohjoy.blogs.com}

For $40US, you can fancify your bikes with awesome wooden fenders!

 

From the Montreal etsy shop, red tail fender.

Lastly, you might be tired of my city poster gushing but A Cup of Jo brought new ones to my attention and seeing as how it's my blog and all, well here they are:

 

Originally found here.

I suppose it's time to study for my test now...which is in less than two hours!