Please and thank you.

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Baby you the whole package plus you pay your taxes.

My favourites...

Shop at Ruche.

"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:

Metallic lucite.

I'm struggling with sleep again. I kid you not, for years I have been telling the dogre that I view his abilities to fall asleep immediately, anywhere, as the most enviable super power (well, maybe next to the power to conjure up food on whim, and puppies...and money). So, I've been going to bed later and later until I finally just didn't sleep at all. And let me tell you, my body is not feeling as fresh as it did when I pulled all-nighters in my highschool years. I feel like a zombie. The good that came out of a sleepless night was that I finished an assignment. It's ridiculous but I'm nearing the end of both courses again. Here's the shoe I used—I tickled my own fancy and added a floral pattern on it!

Since I was still up, I worked on the mother's day cards.Roughly traced and re-coloured a cute design I saw over at Rifle Paper Co. But never-you-mind that. Let's dive in to the pretty things we scored over the weekend!

The dogre and finn's friend held a launch party for her newly opened and fantastical shop, Tabula Rasa, of all things beautiful—old, new, and reworked. It was jam packed and us dogre household didn't fail to bring on the socially awkward. Actually, let's backtrack. Before we headed to the shop, we went to one of our happy places, DT Bistro, where I ran into a former coworker. So how awkward am I? Well, look:

  Tyler: What's up?!

     Me: Good.

Good! In any case, it was good running into him, which is rare for me to say, because I'm that person who will cross to the other side of the street and study my shoes rather than make banal chitchat and niceties with you. The dogre is going to harass me now—he was already huffy when he learned that he models. Back to the launch party, it was retardedly packed and all I wanted to do was thrift through the goods! I'd say a fair portion of the items are in a similar price range as Aritzia ($35 tees) while the rest is more attainable for the likes of me. Case in point, voila ici (I wonder if you're tired of this yet), my new twenty dollar purse!

Awesome. So many compartments. We also met the dogre's twin, in mannequin form.

What else, what else...We were suppose to watch How to Train Your Dragon but couldn't part with the fifteen buckaroos each per tickets. So, naturally, I went and spent ninety dollars at Pottery Barn. Very sensible, I am. Don't judge me! It's all part of sprucing the new casa up for when we resell it, you see...Cute LED lanterns, an antique bar tray, and a floral accent place mat for laptopping in bed (the dogre constantly scorned me for overheating it).

I'm envisioning a hearty mix of stripped wood, metal, and lucite pieces. For example, a lucite coffee table, yes please! Eh? You can do one better and offer me a trunk? Please and thank you.

More neat stuff (yes, neat) at Lonny, an online magazine.

The management company is showing our apartment to potential renters and it's such a nuisance. But the place has never looked so pristine. This afternoon, a guy came to check it out with four friends. And I have to say, I was sweaty. Not because they were hot, but because it was a gang of gays (is that offensive at all? hope not. I just love alliteration, as you're well aware) and after some exposure to stereotypical gay men (former coworkers) I've become sensitive to how "observant" they are. I was very nervous about how they felt of my decorating choices and meekly answered any and all questions they threw my way. I would have fed, bathed, and tucked them into bed if they so commanded it. I was in a room full of Anitas, really (inside joke. don't even).

Links, links links (easier than uploading images):

Cool personalized clear tray. Oh so nice.

And bags.

The most beautiful (and expensive) toaster I can only dream of having.

Half the price of this wonderful Burberry utility jacket here.

Hideousness over at j.crew (I can't believe such words came out of my mouth fingers) .

But this chambray shirt encourages me look the other way:

A sweet bracelet.

A cool but overpriced leather bike frame bag.

An illustrator mesh tool god.

A dream.

A great new (to me) inspiration blog.

Lollipops we will (yes, dogre, yes) soon order.

A collaboration of note design studio and abici results in enviable bikes:

And lastly, Rocky hangs with the likes of Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, and leggy ladies.

Or not...

Animals and Itty bitties.

At the top of our summer activities list, along with decor shopping, cycling, and gelato-ing, is a trip to the zoo. Our last visit was eight hours long and by the end of the day, I was nursing a major headache and sore feet... I'm excited to return! Can't forget trips to the "beach" either. I have a couple of swimsuits but would graciously accept your offer to a shopping spree. Net-a-porter's been taunting me since December! And I haven't been resisting the looksies...

Scrotation marks! / Zara photoburst. And then some.

I think my fashion style screams clean basics with the occasional whimsy/quirk. It's also been called a cross between granny and French style (according to my seastar and the dogre). Comfort is essential to me. Along with not standing out...Which is why I gravitate towards cardigans, loose tees, and skinny jeans in grays, blacks, whites, and navy blues. When I'm feeling playful, I'll bust out floral prints and pops of colour. I've never really cared what the current trend was, picking up pieces that I liked and disregarding the rest, combining things that maybe would lift eyebrows, but mostly be ignored as uninteresting! When I picked up my new pair of high waisted, pleated trousers, I hemmed and hawed, foreseeing all the intense teasing I'd receive from friends and family. But, they looked so classic and fitted my ill proportioned legs to hip ratio of a body. Yes, I'm wearing two different shoes up there! I try on new purchases with the old because if it doesn't match at least a handful of things in my closet, it goes back to the shop. I had almost given up on Zara, actually. Everything on the racks looked fantastic but 'twas a different story on me body. More from Zara (such amazing prices—like twelve buckaroos for the skirt and tee). Sco-ore for me!:

The dogre and I have big news. We're going vegan. No, that's a lie. We're going strictly organic. That's not true either...What we've actually decided on is a conscious effort to go as organic and local as possible. Hoping to minimize consumption of preservatives and place an emphasis on fresh ingredients. And most importantly, we're watching our portions. Sort of. Over the weekend and for the father-in-law's birthday celebrations, we checked out Glow Grill at Don Mills and Lawrence. I was hesitant since the restaurant focuses on health and well being but everything was super delicious! Not that any of the fish dishes were sampled by moi... But I hear they were good too. Yumm—one step forward for us!

And five steps back because we also gorged on endless Korean table cooking of jumuluk meat, ssamjang, and sangchew on Monday evening with my mum. At least we had just as much greens? As for tonight, 'twas taco night in our casa. So good! So fresh! I wish every Wednesday was taco night but alas, it's probably too high in salt for such a dream to come true.

Random food photoburst. Including When Panda Mugs Attack (no, but that is the very mug that cut my toesies! tui, tui.)

I like my grilled cheese sandwiches lightly coated in unsalted butter, sprinkled with onion and chili powder, and oozing with sharp cheddar cheese! And, of course, a squirt of ketchup on the side. Try it! I sound especially frivolous and self-important tonight. Oh well, this will come in handy when I become a super fancy personal fashion advisor/food artist-photographer/book cover designer/interior decorator. Eh? And you're still planning on getting me that Leica you promised? Please and thank you!

NOTE: the beautiful trousers were returned. I was too consumed with financial guilt. Should have returned the sunglasses too but forgot. And now I don't want to go back because seeing on the receipt that I had already made one return may raise eyebrows and I don't want to be "that person." Le sigh.