What I got - full stock of thoughts and dreams that scatter

 

{photo credit: apartmenttherapy.com}

This is pure awesomeness! A collection of 100 postcards, each featuring a different and iconic Penguin book jacket! Here or here. Must consult with the dogre! Exclamations galore! Woo-wee!

We're four short of a bushel! / WALL ART

I've been tracing my mouse path (found at doorsixteen.com) and saving the images every 24 hours or so in hopes that I can somehow develop + frame them for our new home. Some other wall art that I'm eyeing:

 

 

{Aveyfish Monger is here, Venn diagram here, and city map is from here.}

How cool is the city map poster?! And they'll soon have a Toronto map! Signed myself up on the email notification list, I did. While on the subject of maps, downloaded some historical ones from mapsorama.com, which I also hope to use in the new casa:

{Toronto 1894; Versailles 1866; the world 1596; 1581; 1628; cannibalism 1893}

I can't fall asleep these days because I'm assaulted with thoughts of paint colours, magnetic chalkboard walls, bed frames, throws, rugs, the fulton desk (the colour of the wood is amazing!), et cetera. Tentative move-in date: May 31st, 2010!

Let's distract ourselves, shall we? No, not by being productive and doing homework. How about one of my favourite Friends moments?

"hair dryer, no no no. shampoo and conditioners, uh, yes yes yes!"

Billet-doux from my mari / My favourite shop in the city

VEGGIE VALENTINE

You may not carrot all for me

The way I care for you.

You may turnip your nose

When I plead with you.

But if your heart should beet with mine

Forever lettuce hope

There is no reason in the world

Why we two cantaloupe.

.

Received the cutest v day card

And invisible love note from the dogre yesterday

En route to a secret destination, we had a late brunch at a random spot: Caffe Doria (1094 Yonge). Cold organic fruit juices and very tasty sandwiches (turkey on marble rye with brie, arugula, apple, turkey slices, and cranberry mayonnaise sauce; baguette with goat cheese, grilled zucchini, eggplant, roasted red peppers, and glazed onions). Prices reflected its fancy Rosedale neighbourhood location. There was also a snooty older gentleman seated next to us, who stared at me from time to time. I guess my giddy attitude and frequent photo snapping behaviour didn't jive well with his prim and proper brunch experience?

 

 

So the surprise shop, which the dogre was super confident that I would love, was the Drake Hotel General Store. I FELL IN LOVE! Very similar to my favourite shop in Paris. I was permitted to leave with just one purchase and had a difficult time selecting as there are a gajillion awesome items. I decided on the Maple Syrup tin candle, above, which has made the whole place smell wonderful, eh?! (click images to enlarge)

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

  

  

  

 

As for the fondue party, it was canceled for some Lunar calendar new year's rice cake soup.

billet-doux \ bil-ay-DOO \, noun: A love letter or note.

(February 14th, 2010 word of the day, from dictionary.com)

UPDATE: Woah, this shop has the Bensimon sneakers I had been coveting and Dongwon chamchee (tuna)?! Best store EVER!

Beauty and The Dogre

Last year tomorrow the dogre got down on one knee and proposed. On Valentine's day. Not surprising, considering he orders cheques decorated with butterflies and dewy leaves. HIS PLAN: a surprise road trip outside of the city to a beautifully scenic spot by the waters, dotted with wind turbines*, and a sunset proposal. THE PROPOSAL STORY: an anxious race against time after making a wrong turn, and a pitch black proposal in a unknown location. There, surrounded by what looked like a graveyard of abandoned construction material, after a long pee session behind some rubbish (my bladder was so full!), and while I was distracted by some unexpected guests (I was afraid they were going to yell at us for trespassing or kill us for witnessing an illegal transaction) the dogre dipped a knee into the wet snow. As I would soon be crowned lady dogress, I appropriately exhaled "woooooooooooooooooooooow"  and we shared a teeth chattering, blue-lipped kiss. After a brief gaze at the wind turbines (we think) we headed back to the city, fine dining on whoppers and fries en route and clinking our paper cups of cola. And that, friends, is a true romantical story. Dogre style. I wouldn't change a single thing (unless we were really stretching our imaginations and could relocate the proposal to a French Polynesian island).

*I get googly eyes over windmills + turbines and enjoy field trips out to wind farms! I think they look magical. See below for proof of my fascination

 

  

  

  

rocky joins us on our adventures:

  

reenacting the hulk movie hitchhiking scene (I hummed the music) on the edge of the road, facing the grass, because, you know, cars drive next to the roads:

  

2009.02.14: