word(s)

2011-04-19T21:23:00.002-04:00

I think I'm moving this shit on over to tumblr.

If anyone reads this, you can now find me at:

good-great.tumblr.com

2011-04-18T23:07:00.003-04:00

FINALLY! My computer understands that I am Canadian and that "colour", "neighbour", "favour", etc. ARE ALL CORRECT!

2011-04-18T17:21:00.000-04:00

I am wondering your opinion on straight girls making out for attention. My friends and I get into heated debates about this not only from a feminist standpoint but from a LGBT standpoint, too. I'm on the side that unless you actually enjoying eating pussy you shouldn't pretend just to get a guy into bed. Am I being a total stick in the mud and should leave these attention seekers alone, or do I have ground to stand on?

This kind of behavior has become rampant in the past few years, and it's really kind of gross. By reducing lesbian sexuality to a cheap seduction tactic, the equivalent of tying a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue, girls who act this way are undermining the legitimacy of real queer women's relationships. Not only that, but co-opting someone else's identity because you think it will make you more interesting—when you've never had to deal with the hardships that come with actually living that identity — just makes you look selfish and shallow. Queer chicks everywhere would like straight chicks to kindly knock it off already. That is, unless you are really hot, and you want to make out with us.

from "Ask a Queer Chick" at thehairpin.com

2011-04-18T09:49:00.002-04:00

Last night, yelled out of a car window of a parked car: "Hey baby, do you like stuff?! ... I like stuff! ... OK, If you like stuff keep on walking"

2011-04-17T12:39:00.004-04:00

When I was 18 I decided it was time to move out. I got accepted to OCAD and decided that living in Toronto was much better than commuting from Brampton everyday (I remember telling my parents that living in a big city would inspire me creatively and "feed my soul"...shut up, I was going through my weirdo hippie phase), so I packed up all my shit and left.

Looking for a new place to live is always an interesting/frustrating/terrifying adventure. Getting your hopes up about an apartment, viewing it and consequently realizing it is not as nice as you had hoped is always a crushing blow to the old hopes and dreams.

When I first moved to Toronto I lived with a childhood friend and the two of us took weekends off to apartment hunt in the city. Last night, I was thinking about the whole ordeal (which ultimately ended up in me living in a cubicle for 9 months, more on that later) and I remembered this one truly awful apartment we saw that summer.

The apartment in question was located in a high-rise right near (in?) Grange Park, which is about a 30 second walk to OCAD. The unit itself was on the 18th floor, or something, it was pretty high up and the view was amazing.

However, everything else about the place was absolutely disgusting. The fridge and freezer were still full of rotten food, there were food encrusted take-out containers everywhere and I'm pretty sure I saw a few roaches that someone had successfully smashed and left behind as trophies. The two bedrooms were beside each other, one was painted black, the other painted bright red and the strangest "feature" of the whole apartment were the two, eye-level holes that had been punch through the wall the two bedrooms shared. Nathan stood in the black bedroom, I stood in the red bedroom and we both took turns spying at each other through the eye holes. Nasty.

Oh, and there was paint peeling from the ceiling.

We left that place and ended up living across the street from OCAD sharing a one bedroom apartment that cost $1250/month in rent. He got the bedroom and I constructed a room for myself in the living room area. My walls were 5 feet tall, fabric covered cubicle walls and my door was a scarf. Before moving out I had some friends over and by the end of the night we had destroyed the cubicle and trashed the place (see above photo).

Timber Timbre - Bad Ritual

2011-04-16T11:50:00.000-04:00

Boring, sorry (deal with it)

2011-04-15T22:51:00.003-04:00

Bread Blowout

2011-04-15T22:27:00.003-04:00

This is the best loaf of bread I have ever baked. My sourdough experience was a complete disaster which ended up with me leaving my starter behind in Toronto (R.I.P)

Since that debacle I began using a different recipe and my loaves kept coming out of the oven all deformed and weird.

The Silpat mat may have helped matters although, I've given up on baking fresh bread for the time being (because I'm lazy).

Toronto Walk

2011-04-15T22:17:00.003-04:00

When I was back in Toronto a couple of weeks ago I decided to walk home from a doctor's appointment in the East End to my house in the West End. I walked through a ton of different neighbourhoods and ended up on my couch, exhausted, sweaty and kind of hungry.

I documented this with one photograph.

Ice Cream: Round One

2011-04-15T22:09:00.004-04:00

As mentioned in an earlier post, I bought myself a fancy new ice cream maker a few weeks ago. The other day I decided to try to make one of my favourite flavours, lavender.

After multiple attempts at achieving something delicious I decided to read the instructions for the machine, only to discover that I had done just about everything wrong.

What I ended up with resembles lavender ice cream (although it has crunchy ice crystals in it) and it kind of tastes awful.

Regardless, I will eat all of it and then try out this recipe I found in last month's issue of Bon Appétit. (Side note: I always think "Bon Ape Tit", ugh)

2011-04-15T20:53:00.003-04:00

Spring kind of showed up. Crocuses are some of my favourite flowers and, because you asked (well not really) my other favourites are as follows: peonies, apple blossoms, trilliums, wake robins, lilly of the valley, lady slippers, magnolias, poppies and ranunculus.

2011-04-03T20:57:00.002-04:00

[heard] right now PJ Harvey. It's been too long.

[saw] Thomas Hirschhorn's Das Auge

[watched] every episode of Being Erica (yes)

[read] James Joyce's The Dead, just lovely

[started] applying for jobs

[finished] my last paper! (aside from my thesis that is)

[drank] drinking a bottle of red Spanish wine, it is not god but it does the trick

[ate] I plan on eating a $2 slice of pizza from a dive bar on Monroe Ave. I spotted this pizza last night while out for a couple pints and I am going to go back there and fill myself full of $2 pizza slices.

[planned] doctor's appointments, moving arrangements, thesis presentations, etc.

[acquired] an awesome photographic ID badge form the 1920s at an antique market

[fancied] i want to play the autoharp ... this could be a post-grad school endeavor. for when i don't have a job and spend my days in High Park drinking beer, reading trashy magazines and playing my autoharp for spare change.

2011-03-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

At Library Archives Canada

"We created it, let's take it over"

2011-03-24T15:48:00.002-04:00

I fucking love Patti Smith.

2011-03-23T00:41:00.002-04:00

acute insomnia + vertigo = my life

2011-03-22T20:16:00.000-04:00

Lame video, amazing song...

2011-03-22T19:38:00.000-04:00

2011-03-18T20:29:00.001-04:00

The Hairpin is my new favourite website.

Seriously, it's like they are writing right from my brain.

They told me to buy this ice cream maker, so I did.

(I'm not a total weirdo, I've wanted one forever and it was $40! Get ready thighs, you hav no idea how much ice cream I'm about to force down my throat)

2011-03-17T08:18:00.003-04:00

A Confession.

Living in a shit-hole like Rochester has made me miss Toronto so badly that I tear up at any or all of the following:

- Matt Galloway's 'Metro Morning' on CBC online radio

- Thinking of walking through High Park now that the weather has turned

- Most Toronto references on 'Being Erica' (a show I can't stop watching)

- Realizing things that I'm missing in the city (Justin's birthday, St Patrick's Day, etc.)

Toronto is a city that I love and hate. When I'm back I can't help but notice that air smells awful and most of the people I encounter are so rude. Then I get back here, to Rochester, and remember that all the ways I hate Toronto are kind of what I like about it. It's a big, stinking, rude city but I love the shit out of it.

2011-03-16T21:15:00.003-04:00

Today, I texted Kyle asking him what he was having for dinner and he responded with "borgjobs bodadods and bruzzle zbrouds"

The fact that I understood him (porkchops, potatoes and brussles sprouts) made me feel like this long-distance relationship thing might just work out.

i forgot about this song, i just listened to it 4 times

2011-03-14T19:14:00.003-04:00

he's a plough man and he digs the dirt, honey
dug a hole with a silver spade, cooked a possum in the pouring rain

2011-03-14T18:55:00.001-04:00

2011-03-12T20:50:00.001-05:00

love love love

2011-03-12T16:25:00.001-05:00

2011-03-12T16:21:00.003-05:00

One paper down, 2 more to go.

2011-03-11T17:17:00.002-05:00

These yellow flowers apparently = spring.

I sure hope so.

2011-03-10T15:51:00.005-05:00

Antiemetic

Dyspnea

Intravenous

Biopsy

Remission

I've been thinking a lot about this work as of late and yesterday I attended an artist talk where the photographer Andrea Stultiens discussed her body of work Intensive Care that reminded me of decisions I made while working on my thesis. Her work is wonderful, well executed and thoughtful, and she has kind of inspired me to dust off the old Bronica and get back into the whole "making pictures" thing. The photos above are all 20 inches tall by varying lengths (between 50 - 75 inches long). Needless to say, posting them up here doesn't do the work much justice.

2011-03-06T11:35:00.001-05:00

I just found the file where all my old scans exist (I'm talking middle school, high school, art school on on...)

Get ready.

best. news. ever.

2011-03-04T16:23:00.002-05:00

2011-03-04T10:23:00.001-05:00

I saw this t-shirt on Raising Hope.

I want it and have had no luck in trying to find out where it came from.

woods

2011-03-04T10:19:00.001-05:00

My current jam, "Blood Dries Darker" Woods.

30 pictures of something good

2011-02-22T08:58:00.035-05:00

I saw this on Sandra Juto's blog and although it's a little too sentimental for me it allows me to post a shit ton of my own pictures.
Here goes:

1/ Someone I spend a lot of time with:

2/ A picture of myself:

3/ My family:

4/ A picture of something that makes me happy:

5/ An old picture of myself:

6/ A picture of my brother:

7/ A picture I've never posted before:

8/ A person that I miss:

9/ A photo of my Mum:

10/ A picture from my favourite place:

11/ The last trip I went on:

12/ A picture from my everyday life:

13/ A picture from a place I love:

14/ A picture that reminds me of old times:

15/ Old friends:

16/ A place I miss:

17/ An unusual picture:

18/ A picture from my spare time:

19/ One of my favourite pictures:

20/ A picture of people that are closest to me:

21/ A person who's always there for me:

22/ A picture from a time I miss:

23/ Last summer:

24/ A picture that makes me happy:

25/ A person who always makes me laugh:

26/ People I always have fun with:

27/ A picture that makes me laugh:

28/ A crazy moment:

29/ Something gross:

30/ Someone I love:

i seriously have to stop procrastinating

2011-02-21T19:29:00.001-05:00

2011-02-20T23:01:00.005-05:00

The Order

The Dryden Theatre (at GEH) screened Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle this past weekend and I just got home from watching the last 2 films. During my second year at OCAD I found The Order for rent at Queen Video but was never brave enough to rent it/thought it best to see all the films in sequence.

When I found out all 5 were going to be screened this weekend I postponed my trip back to Toronto to stay here in Rochester (or as it was put this evening "the mole on the asshole of the world").

Myself and two others made it through all the films (liquor and homemade snack bags were essential). The footage, costumes and Barney's attention to detail are all stunning. After watching the Art 21 episode with Barney filming a scene in Cremaster 3, the one with the zombie horses, I thought he was a total jerk and dismissed him as some contemporary art asshole.

I was wrong, sorry.

My mind has been officially blown, period.

2011-02-20T21:47:00.001-05:00

Robin Sighting

2011-02-19T10:47:00.001-05:00

2011-02-19T10:37:00.007-05:00

It's been too long.

A couple girls from my program and myself have started a blog here.

Sometimes it's just easier to post a few stupid pictures without an explanation and call it a day.

I've been spending lots of time on my own the past few days listening to Marnie Stern nice and loud, knitting a cowl scarf for myself, drinking tea and watching bad TV on Hulu.

The Dryden Theatre (at GEH) is playing the Cremaster Cycle over this weekend and I went to see 1 & 2 yesterday....fucking weird. I'm committed to watch the other 3 tonight and tomorrow night. I am going to have weird dreams after watching them all.

I just noticed that the Google search page is dedicated to Brancusi today, sweet.

2011-01-19T10:22:00.002-05:00

Transsexual model Lea T. and Kate Moss on the upcoming cover of Lovemagazine's "Adrogyny Issue"

Found here.

2011-01-19T10:12:00.003-05:00

I made myself a hat the other day.

I love it.

Find it here.

2011-01-18T19:41:00.002-05:00

The class of 1853, University of Rochester found here

Today I began work on my thesis project involving the University of Rochester class yearbooks (which date back to 1858) and today I started the task of flipping through every single one of them. In about 4 hours I made it through 1858-1877, not bad progress.

Here are a few things I read that seemed kind of interesting/funny.

From the section "Other Universities" in the 1869 class yearbook:

"Three thousand duels were fought by students in the German Universities last year, and 'twasn't a very good year for duels, either. Nobody hurt."

and in the 1859 yearbook, in the section "Another Year" I found this gem:

"During this year, the subject of Women's Rights has received an unusual degree of attention from our Faculty. The sad result, it is almost sickening to relate. The last citadel of bachelordom has been stormed and taken, and its hitherto unconquerable defenders have been carried off captive. The Greek has become a slave to a woman, and the FOWLER has been snared in its own net; so that celibacy has no longer a learned advocate among us."

an opportunity for me to teach the world

2011-01-18T10:51:00.003-05:00

Exhibit A: I got horribly sick from these oysters, on the plane home from Seattle...during landing

In the past month or so I've come to realize that some of the dumbest shit happens to me. Not interesting stuff but mainly really boring and mostly irritating things that is either common knowledge to other people or strange things that no one else seems to understand...until they happen to me.

What the hell am I talking about? Here's an example: one thing I learned after moving to America was that post-dated cheques don't exist in this country. How did I find this out? My landlord deposited my January rent cheque (post-dated January 15th) on December 30th and when it bounced he refused to pay the $30 insufficient funds charge from my bank. Apparently you can date a cheque for February 38th, 2240 and if you sign it, it's legal tender in America.

Exciting, right?

Last night I sent a friend of mine an e-mail about another stupid thing that I am in the process of figuring out and she reiterated my feelings of "why the hell does this shit always happen to me?!" with her line "... your bedding story totally cracked me up. sorry about laughing, but damn that is funny. I feel like that is an only you kinda thing."

So, in the spirit of this kind of junk happening to me repeatedly with no end in sight I have decided to start posting about this kind of crap so perhaps someone can gain from my mistakes/misfortunes.

Sigh.

2011-01-18T10:39:00.002-05:00

The lovely and talented Zoë Jaremus photographed myself and my roomate last fall. Here we are standing under a willow tree hoping there are no ticks in that pile of leave (there was not). See more of Zoë's work here.

Scarf

2011-01-15T13:02:00.003-05:00

I made this scarf for a friend in two days! It's pretty nice but I have plans to make one for myself using a different pattern so we shall see how it compares. I told her I'd mail it to her next week but it might get "lost" in the mail and just end up in my dresser drawer....

2011-01-15T12:47:00.003-05:00

I'm feeling a little homesick as I slowly come to terms with the fact that I'm stuck in Rochester for at least the next 4 months. No big deal, just missing a few things from home. This morning has been full of yoga, coffee, empanadas and the farmer's market. This afternoon will consist of more coffee, TMS searches, crochet work and watching Hulu.

[heard] "Autumn Almanac" by The Kinks

[watched] the last three seasons of Peep Show, hilarity.

[read] A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Beautiful, sad, funny, a little self indulgent but a solid 8/10.

[started] a cowl scarf for zoe.

[finished] a cowl scarf for zoe.

[drank] trying to drink enough water everyday, this is hard to do when coffee and beer are abundant

[ate] a cheesy, delicious and most likely bad-for-me empanada at the market this morning

[planned] the baking of a parsnip spice cake for tomorrow's Fibre Rat.

[acquired] US #17, 32 inch circular bamboo knitting needles.

[fancied] a ton of shit at the mall yesterday (sad but true). Anthropologie is crack for women.

2011-01-13T11:15:00.003-05:00

Alright, back in Rochester where it seems to snow all the time. We've got at least a foot and a half of snow in the last 2 days, maybe more. To be honest, I'm miserable here but I'm attempting to ward away my melancholy with knitting/crochet projects, cooking, baking, watching TV on Hulu (the best thing about America) and working on some sort of thesis.

For Christmas I received the bon appétit Desserts cookbook and I have some serious plans to bake a parsnip spice cake, make some puddings and whip up a loaf of cinnamon buns. I've also got about 3 knitting projects on the go right now which should definitely eat up some time.

And now for a tasty anecdote. The other day I visited my local Wegman's grocery store (which is always a nightmare, the aisles are super tiny and it seems like there are always too many people wandering about) where I decided to pick up a good ol' six-pack of Brooklyn Lager. At the cash the 60-something year old cashier was having trouble with my Ontario driver's license so asked her manager to take a look. My license card is expired but it has a government sticker on it declaring it as a legit ID card. I've also renewed my license and had my receipt and renew forms on me. Still, the 13 year-old manager didn't like/didn't understand what was going on so he refused to sell me beer. Seriously, I had to be twice this kid's age so I tried to explain it to him but he still didn't get it so I asked to speak to his manager hoping I would talk to someone more my age. Not so, some girl showed up a few minutes later who had to be at most 20 and she continued to deny me my beer. My bitter resentment towards this place deepens. But, at least I don't work in a grocery store, right?

pardon me

2011-01-08T10:18:00.002-05:00

I'm returning to Rochester on Monday and really don't feel like doing anything until then. It's only quarter after 10 in the morning but today kind of already feels like a write off. I'm going to go do some reading, drink some tea and think about what I will post here later.

2010-12-09T12:23:00.001-05:00

I get to go home tomorrow for a month over winter break. First, there are papers to get done and this is the music I'm going on right about now.

I need to finish more books

2010-11-29T19:19:00.003-05:00

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (all)

5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman (all)

10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch – George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens

24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (all)

26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis

34 Emma – Jane Austen

35 Persuasion – Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere

39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50 Atonement – Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel

52 Dune – Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

72 Dracula – Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses – James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal – Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession – AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94 Watership Down – Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

bold = read
italics = started but never finished

knobs and such

2010-11-22T18:40:00.002-05:00

I am all about colour wheels these days. I saw these little drawer knobs at Anthropologie a couple of weeks ago and if I had any need for some knobs I would have bought up the lot of them. I guess I would also have to have a few dollars in my pockets as they are not cheap.

Hairdid

2010-11-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

This happened awhile ago, I forgot to share.

2010-11-22T10:30:00.002-05:00

19th Century hipsters, as promised. Recto and verso of a stereocard made by a NYC photographer in the late 1800s. I had to have it.

2010-11-20T10:17:00.007-05:00

image from Magic Pony website

Sometimes I wake up in the morning with the most random thought on my mind. This morning it was "those poppy pins made by Julie Moon". After a little poking around online I found her poppy earrings in the Magic Pony Shop along with some other great finds.

Trillium pin by Julie Moon

Colour Wheel Necklace by Yellow Owl Workshop

Air & Water pendant by Yellow Owl Workshop

1920s Cigarette Pendant Necklaces by Erica Weiner

Terrarium Necklace by Erica Weiner

Infinity ring by Erica Weiner

Herkimer Diamond ring by Erica Weiner

Imagined Memory Locket Necklace by Erica Weiner

Lucky 1892 Altered Penny Necklace by Erica Weiner

Mnemosyne Necklace by Erica Weiner

Antique Enamel Mourning Locket by Erica Weiner

2010-11-19T17:08:00.003-05:00

If you know anything about me, you know that I enjoy gin. Recently, I have come to terms with that fact that I will not be going on our class trip to France this year. So, instead of spending the $5000+ to fly across the ocean (which is totally worth it, I know) I will put some of my money towards a collection of gin and other liquors I fancy. I started it off this evening with the purchase of Bluecoat American Dry Gin, a tickle too patriotic for my tastes but hopefully this stuff tastes delicious. Other things I have my eye on include:

Root Organic Liquor
Snap Organic Liquor
Red Lillet
Pimms
Aviation Gin
Blackwoods Small Batch Gin
Bols Genever Gin
Cadenhead Old Raj Gin
Crop Famer's Organic Gin
Death's Door Gin
Right Swedish Gin

good news, finally

2010-11-19T13:02:00.003-05:00

Things have been a little shitty the past few weeks, after Thanksgiving my Dad told me that he would be going in for surgery to remove a tumor in his bladder. The surgery went down yesterday and it looks like everything is going to be okay. I think everyone was quite worried but everything should be fine from here on out and I'm extremely grateful and relieved. This weekend I'm going to write up some papers that are due next week, bake some bread and some shortbread cookies, have a celebratory drink and finish reading a novel I picked up last week.
Too much fun.
I am listening to and loving this song (it's a horrible video, I apologize).

Mt Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY.

2010-11-11T15:54:00.002-05:00

2010-11-10T21:01:00.003-05:00

I might have found my thesis topic today, I'm not saying anything more because I don't want to jinx it.
I'm crossing my fingers.
I'm going back to Toronto this weekend to see some friends, drink some coffee and spend time wandering around the city to get my fill.
A friend is coming to visit me tomorrow and we are going to visit the library, drink some dranks, take some photos and catch up in general.

[heard] sigh, an old favorite (NSFW)

[watched] Tina Fey answering a few questions on the occasion of her Mark Twain Award for Comedy (P.S. I love her)

[read] a lot about photographs on gravestones. I even found a publication called "Markers" that is devoted to the research of cemeteries and headstones. I also discovered The Graveyard Rabbits.

[started] writing a big(ish) paper for my History of Photo II class. No big deal. Nothing interesting.

[finished] sending out some mail and sorting out my shitty banking situation

[drank] a fine pint of Guinness

[ate] Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream, it was well deserved

[planned] my make-believe winter vacation to costa rica, this will not be happening this year but it killed some time in class one morning

[acquired] a super, awesome stereocard. I will scan it and post it up, priceless.

[fancied] so many books! I'm considering writing out a Christmas list for my parents so I can optimize my book collection this year.

M-word

2010-11-07T07:41:00.006-05:00

I found this on the 100 Layer Cake blog and saved in a secret file on my computer for future reference, if needed. I don't have the photographer's name to credit but I love the wedding dress

I'm still on the fence as far as my feelings towards marriage are concerned but it seems that as I get older the idea appeals to me more and more. My parents have been together for over 25 years (it turns out they are celebrating their wedding anniversary today!) and they seem to like each other still. This summer I found a small notebook with a few "to do" lists my Mum had left for my Dad in his truck before he went up north as she wouldn't be there until after midnight. The first list was of things to buy from the grocery store, the second list was things she needed from the boat to go to the cottage and the third page in the book was a note that read "Thank you! I love you, you big stupid head". It was a nice find, kind of warmed up my heart a little.

A friend of mine just announced that her and her long-time boyfriend are engaged and that also warmed up the old heart. I think marriage was something I decided to reject "as an institution" early in my undergrad, perhaps I felt it appropriate to do so as I had just discovered feminism on a larger scale, became an "artist" etc. But now marriage seems like it could be an okay idea, mostly just because I'd get to host an awesome party that may or may not be held in a barn.

My feeling towards having children however, has not wavered and probably won't any time soon. Children and I do not mix and the thought of having to deal with a screaming thing that craps a lot is absolutely horrifying. Also, that screaming, crapping thing has to come out of you first....really not looking forward to that. I'd rather spend my time and money on European vacations, a great book collection, good food and drink, and the hundreds of cats I'll eventually have when I'm old.

Here are a couple great wedding blogs that I love. I seriously think they are the reason my mind has been changed on the whole wedding thing.

100 Layer Cake

Once Wed

Glorious

2010-11-06T12:59:00.004-04:00

From 1896, the Lumière silent film of the serpentine dance which was invented for the stage by Loïe Fuller. This dance was huge in France at the time and on stage the dancer's garments would achieve colour transformations with the use of projected stage lights. In this film each frame was hand tinted to get a similar affect on the original black and white film, this being one of the best examples of hand tinting for it's time.

Turning that shit around

2010-11-05T18:04:00.006-04:00

School is kind of sucking right now and I think the majority of my classmates would agree with me on this one. We have to come up with out thesis topics and it seems like anyone who can help us with this is on vacation. It's too much to get into as far as how this program works but we basically go to school at a museum and rely on people like the head archivist, librarian, curators and other staff to help us access the collection in order for us to understand what there is available to us to do work on and what needs to be done within the collection, however, all of these people are on vacation and it seems like no one can help us right now.

I'm also really trying to like Rochester but it just hasn't charmed me yet. Coming from a big city I was happy to live in a smaller, slower-paced place but it is actually quite boring, not to mention cold, dreary and everything is too far to walk to.

So, in the theme of "being positive" (please refer to my previous post) I have decided to quit complaining and focus on some good things. I'm going to take the initiative and do some pre-thesis research, do a little personal research as well, mail away some packages and letters, cook and bake, and try a few new cocktails.

If I have to live in this crappy place I am going to my hardest to make the best of it.

Also, this:

[heard] Deerhunter - "Nothing Ever Happened" from the album Microcastle

[watched] thinking of going to see a screening of "Metropolis" tonight at GEH. I'm not sure if I can sit still for 3 hours though

[read] checking out the U of Rochester library this weekend and perhaps I'll purchase a few books online as well

[started] sourdough starter, it's living on top of my stove right now. I hope to bake a loaf from it this weekend

[finished] my granny square crochet blanket! (pictures to come)

[drank] Pimm's no. 1 cup and this will be tested out tonight, tres exciting

[ate] found my new favorite lunch place in the West End of Toronto, Zocalo is fabulous. I went there two days in a row when I was home last weekend

[hated] nope, I refuse to be negative right now!

[pondered] thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis thesis

[planned] baking a cake for Chantal's birthday

[forgot] how amazing the fall can be when the sun is out and the leaves are all over the ground

[found] a 35mm Canon point and shoot camera, I just finished my first roll of film

[purchased] a real, honest-to-goodness winter parka. I have a responsible adult winter jacket now

[fancied] all of these

2010-11-05T17:44:00.003-04:00

Blood types have always been somewhat fascinating to me, the fact that our cells can be classified into different groups and are either compatible with each, or not, made me wonder for a long time which group I was part of. A few years ago I went to my doctor for a routine blood test to make sure my iron and folic acid was alright and I decided to throw in an HIV screening as well. I asked the doctor if it was possible to find out what blood type I was just for the hell of it and he ticked off a box on the laboratory requisition form and told me to come back in a few weeks.

Now, I was quite certain that HIV was not something I had to be worried about at that time but I'm sure that everybody has a little anxiety when they are getting tested for HIV as it is such a life-altering and frightening diagnosis.

A few weeks later I was back at my doctor's who had the test results waiting for me. He walked into the exam room looking rather somber and started telling me something along the lines of "Andrea, life is hard and there are moments when things don't really make sense or can seem hopeless and awful". At this point I was shitting my pants, afraid that he had bad news for me that I was, in fact, HIV positive, riddled with cancer or terminally ill with some untreatable disease. He paused for a brief second and then went on to say "So when life is hard I always want you to remember your blood type, and be positive".

As it turns out my blood type is B+ and HIV free.

Needless to say I found a new family doctor.

Dirty Crush

2010-10-21T10:51:00.004-04:00

"Dirty Crush" is something a co-worker of mine came up with years ago and it's premise is pretty simple. List off your dirty celebrity crushes, done. Whenever I'm in a group of ladies for an extended period of time the conversation naturally drifts towards "Dirty Crush" themed topics and I always ask for everyone's dirty crushes. A young Chevy Chase and Snoop Dogg are my two selections, for obvious reasons.

I was once working with a girl who couldn't figure out who her dirty crush was and the next day she came into work and proudly stated for us that she had realized who she's been dirty crushing on, Rob Schneider. GAME OVER.

Pure garbage

2010-10-20T21:45:00.004-04:00

So let's talk about things that aren't fun, mostly identity theft, which is something I've been trying to sort out myself for the last 2 days. Long story short, something weird is happening and someone used my personal information to do some weird shit. All my banking stuff is safe so far and I've taken all the correct measures to ensure that everything will continue to be okay (including calling the cops...more on that in a bit) and hopefully this is the end of a relatively minor inconvenience. Right now I'm drinking some gin (which I infused with lavender flowers just to class it up) and soda just because I think I deserve it after everything I've been through today.

And now for the mean cop. Not to get into too much detail but basically something really strange happened that implies some sort of use of my identity and when I learned about it I obviously tried to get to the bottom of everything. The end result was that I should contact my banks to make sure everything was okay and call my local police department to file an incident report and so I did both. I spoke to a few really nice ladies at the police station who seemed concerned and pointed me in the right direction as far as contacting the right agencies to make sure my identity was safe. After doing so I was instructed to call them back and then speak with an officer. When said officer called me back he talked to me like I was a complete idiot and made it seem like I was wasting his time. Because this incident happened in Canada and I'm living in the States right now he had to ask his sergeant (who, he informed me for whatever reason, is a woman) if he could take my report over the phone. Apparently I was supposed to be grateful or something. Anyway, it was a frustrating half an hour and when I used the term "liability" he seemed to realize that I have a brain and stopped talking to me like a 2-year old. Maybe it's a police officer thing where they talk to everyone like idiots, but it really made me mad and it made me feel this big.

Then I cracked open the gin and everything feels a little better.

Feeding myself

2010-10-18T09:56:00.007-04:00

some photos from the farmer's market, unfortunately sold out of "pussy" incense

America is a strange and fabulous place. Everything on ebay is cheaper here and beer costs less but you find weird shit in the grocery store and see some pretty messed up stuff in general (eg. horribly impoverished neighborhoods the likes of which I've never experienced in Canada). But the people here are usually friendly and you can shoot a gun whenever you want so it all evens out; I will be going to a shooting range eventually and there will be many photos up in here. When I went to get my haircut a guy at the salon asked me where I was from and then continued to ask if I had shot off a gun yet and where I got my glasses from.

This past week I've been cooking and baking like crazy and I'm actually able to make dinners for myself that don't completely disgust me. I've always been a proud baker but cooking has never been my forté. In the last week I've made:
- Kale chips
- Sunchoke and potato soup
- Lavender infused gin
- Baked ziti
- English muffins (from scratch)

OK, maybe that not a ton of stuff but I have big plans to bake a pumpkin pie (not using canned pumpkin) and pickle some shiitake mushrooms. But first, the season finale of Mad Men.

there is so much crap on the internet

2010-10-18T09:53:00.002-04:00

this image kind of made my day yesterday, from julia segal

Donate that shit!

2010-10-17T11:23:00.002-04:00

All through middle school, high school and for the first few years of my undergrad I had really short hair that I dyed a whole bunch of weird colours and cut by myself over the bathroom sink. After discovering free haircuts at Aveda Salon in Toronto I decided to try it out and got the worst haircut ever, seriously I had a crew cut when I walked out of there. After that I cut my hair on my own a few more times and then decided to just grow it out and see how long hair would treat me. It was almost down to my waist last week when I hacked it all off, braided it and threw it in an envelope to go to a children's charity that makes wigs for kids with cancer. Now I can put on my purse without getting my hair caught in the strap, showers take a lot less time, water and shampoo, and I don't wake up in the middle of the night with my hair wrapped around my neck (I think that was my hair's way of telling me it was time to let it go). It's one of the best things I've ever done because it made me feel good mentally and physically and hopefully some kid going through chemo can have an awesome wig made and feel a little bit better about themselves too.

Finger Lakes

2010-10-16T19:13:00.005-04:00

creepy/amazing taxidermy display

aviary

Seneca Lake

8-sided house

animal grave

this is in someone's backyard

imagine having in your backyard

weird...

crappy weather + bug soup

2010-10-03T14:29:00.004-04:00

eff

Going out for sushi in Rochester tonight, this should be interesting. Right now I'm attempting to write a paper that is due at 4pm tomorrow but I've resorted to looking up winter coats online. I think I'm going to go with this North Face jacket although I'm not convinced it's a great choice for a winter coat.

Is blue a good idea? Should I got with good ol' black? So many questions and absolutely NO paper writing getting done! I told myself I'd buy a Canada Goose jacket this year but I think I'll have to put that purchase off until I am actually getting paid instead of living off student loans, scholarships and whatever cash I can scrape together. On that note, I posted things on my etsy again. I'm sure I mentioned this in my last post and I really need to find some more stuff to put up there. Maybe I'll hit up the antique shop tomorrow after I hand in this paper...

On to another topic of interest. I made soup last night (Thai Chicken and Vegetable Soup to be exact) it was delicious and I ate 2 bowls last night and just heated up the rest for lunch to find a whole bunch of bugs floating around in it. They must have been in my broccoli or something, even though I washed it. I tried to pick the majority of those bad boys out but I was afraid to eat more so I just ended up trashing the rest of the soup. I ate all the chicken though, can't let that stuff go to waste! Hopefully sushi tonight will have less bugs involved.

the illness

2010-10-01T21:42:00.005-04:00

There's a cold going around and I have caught it. It's Friday night and I'm sitting in front of my computer, not doing homework like I should and eating cough drops like crazy. I feel like hell/garbage. Not a good time.

It rained all day yesterday but it stopped just as the sun was setting so the sky was all pink and I caught the tail end of a rainbow. There seems to be rainbows following me around these days as I hadn't seen one in years before this summer.

America, you have nice stamps.

I also posted a few things on etsy. You can check me out at here, I will be adding things to it eventually.

Jacob Riis Lantern Slide

2010-09-29T22:30:00.004-04:00

Lantern slide I bought off ebay last year for $8

The other day, a classmate of mine told me that a lantern slide I had purchased and used in a class presentation last year was made from a Jacob Riis image. My lantern slide is definitely a reproduction of the Riis image, but it's still pretty cool in my collection.

Cobbs Hill

2010-09-29T22:07:00.003-04:00

Some weird ass mushrooms, I was convinced they were edible but no one would try them

View from the top

We went for a walk today around Cobbs Hill in good ol' Rochester. I wasn't wearing my glasses so I could barely see anything which is a dangerous way to play frisbee. Regardless, I took along my camera and took a few boring pictures so I could look at them later on my computer screen to see what I missed. Here!

cleanse details I promised never to disclose, tough

2010-09-29T21:53:00.004-04:00

This one's for the nerds

Getting up early is getting easier it seems. I started a 2-week cleanse last week and I promised everyone I know that I wouldn't talk about it, but I didn't make any promises about typing the juicy details. The deal is this, no cow dairy, no gluten, no sugars (of any kind, honey and agave included), no caffeine, no alcohol, etc. This sort of thing never really appeals to me but I figured I'd give it a shot to see if I could do it. It's been exactly a week today and I must admit, I'm kinda proud of myself. I have more energy, I lost a little weight (not that I wanted to but I was feeling kinda gross after pigging out all summer).

I'm also one of those people that has a hard time believing any vegan that tells me some dessert without sugar or butter in it actually tastes good, I just assume they are fooling themselves and don't know good food. That being said, for dinner last night I made spaghetti sauce and had it with corn pasta and that shit is actually tasty. Also, rice bread = pretty awesome. When it's toasted it tastes kinda like cornbread. Tonight I made myself french lentils with pork chops and I actually went back for seconds which is something that never happens when I cook for myself. Let me just clarify that I am no convert, as soon as the two weeks are done I'm drinking a bottle of gin and eating an ice cream cone. Simultaneously.

2010-09-24T00:52:00.004-04:00

It's been awhile and things have been busy this last week (I almost wrote "things have been busty" which is definitely not true!) I'm catching a ride back to Toronto tomorrow so I can go home for the weekend and I have some stuff to put up on etsy to see if anyone wants to buy my stuff. This seems like such a huge ordeal at this point so I have to consciously make a date to do this. There is a few antique shops here in Rochester and one of them is extremely reasonable so I might have to post some vintage finds on etsy. There are very few interesting photos for me to post at this time but I will be taking part in a field trip in a few weeks so I'll be sure to throw some photos up.

[heard] Alela Diane "White as Diamonds"

[watched] oooh, I still have to watch new episodes of Modern Family and 30 Rock!

[read] articles for class, nothing exciting

[finished] making Fennel and Patty Pan Soup

[drank] a whole lot of water

[ate] i started a 2 week detox cleanse yesterday, no cow dairy, no gluten, no oranges, peanut butter, caffeine or alcohol

[hated] going to bed early and not being able to get up

[pondered] all things photographic

[planned] entered school schedule into my new moleskeine , tres exciting

[forgot] that school involves homework and essays

[found] cheap antique shops and KFC double downs

[purchased] lots and lots of books

[fancied] Lululemon Effortless Hoodie

[clicked] stories from the oldest man in the world

2010-09-20T14:16:00.001-04:00

2010-09-16T20:21:00.001-04:00

"As long as memory exists that's how long everything connected to life will live"
- Ilya Kabakov from "The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away"

Susan Sontag

2010-09-16T20:15:00.000-04:00

images via google images

Ice Cream Situations

2010-09-15T09:18:00.003-04:00

I have taken very few pictures in the last week and I hope to remedy this soon and have a few to post up here ASAP. I've caught a ride back to Toronto this weekend so I'm super pumped to see a few shows on Queen street and drink some decent coffees. I have also done very little baking since coming to Rochester and I hope to fix that problem in the coming weeks. I've had my eye on Momofuku's "Crack Pie" for quite awhile but the name implies it's deliciousness and I don't want to eat a whole pie. Perhaps I will organize some sort of dinner party at my place so I can share the calories of my baked goods with other people.

One thing I truly love about the States so far is the price of ice cream. Pints of Ben and Jerry's cost $2.99! I can afford to have ice cream for dinner at that price. I bought my first pint last night at the grocery store but I played it safe and opted for "Half Baked" frozen yogurt. Now I can just eat more without feeling so disgusting.

DOUBLE RAINBOW!

2010-09-14T10:22:00.006-04:00

To my right....

and to my left

The weekend before I packed up a truck to cross the border I spent some time with my parents and my boyfriend up north. The weather that weekend was rainy and cold and the wind was so bad that the power went out for most of the day on Saturday. We built a fire and all was fine, I like the cottage much better when the TV isn't on in the background.

After some pretty intense wind and rain the sky cleared up a little bit and there were rainbows all around. Kyle and a few others were out on the boat to pick my Mum up at the marina and they came back to the cottage saying there were double and triple rainbows all over the sky. There was also one point where they were "inside" a rainbow. From what I understand there was a full rainbow across the water that began and ended in the lake and continued through the water and under the boat. I'm having a hard time picturing this in my head but it sounds incredible and I'm ashamed to admit that I napped on the couch instead of going out on that boat ride! I did some awesome skies and a partial double rainbow that I took about 100 photographs of.

Once again, left...

and right

A strange little bird we found

America

2010-09-14T00:38:00.007-04:00

My attempt to pack all my clothes

Finally, the internet has been hooked up at my new place in Rochester and I am back in business! I moved here exactly a week ago and have been living without the internet and without much else to do other then set up my new place, read and go for walks. America is a weird and wonderful place. I expected Rochester to be a small town with a small town mentality but everyone here is really friendly and there are a lot of college students so there is lots to do and see. Granted, not as much fun and exciting stuff as a city like Toronto but I'm here for school, not to spend money and go out for fancy dinners. One of the best things I've discovered so far about Rochester is their Sunday farmer's market. I got a whole bunch of stuff there this weekend for next to nothing.

- 4 organic heirloom tomatoes for $1
- a few bunches of locally grown green concord grapes for $1
- a whole bunch of patty pans for $1
- 2 vanilla beans for $3
- boqueorones in oil for $6 (not a great deal, I will admit)
- 2 pints of figs for $1
- 8 cobs of corn for $1

I was overwhelmed by how cheap it all was and now I don't know what to do with it all. I'm thinking of making a patty pan and fennel soup and possibly some sort of fig compote or tart so nothing goes to waste.

My roomate and I are living in this nice little coach house that has lots of windows, beautiful hardwood floors and so much space we don't know what to do with it all. I brought some leftover paint from my Toronto apartment with intentions of painting my bedroom but when I got here it turns out my bedroom is the exact same colour I have in my paint can! Strange. I'm hoping to make it home to Toronto this weekend so I can pick up a few things to decorate my room with, it's a little bare right now. I also need some more grey wool from Romni so I can finish up my granny square blanket and grab some delicious coffee beans from The Common.

Living in Rochester has it's perks (i.e. saving some money on groceries and beer) but I miss the variety of things to do in Toronto (i.e. good coffee and amazing yarn shops).

2010-09-01T09:08:00.002-04:00

The perfect desk for me, found in the garbage complete with shiny cat stickers and a drawing of a princess left behind in a drawer.

Things have been insane and as per usual I have decided to procrastinate instead of sort out important details like packing up to move to another country next week. I haven't even started packing yet and I have 2 days left! It should be a pretty easy move and it really isn't too far away but I need to get cracking on this business and throw a few things into a box or two.

Let's try this,

[heard] Animal Collective "Feels"

[watched] the latest episodes of True Blood and Mad Men

[read] almost finished 'Tropic of Cancer' by Henry Miller

[finished] 50+ squares for my granny square quilt, no I just need to figure out to stitch them all together

[drank] dark and stormy, with homemade ginger beer

[ate] not enough this week

[hated] Ryerson University's lack of organization when it comes to issuing financial aid, the worst 3 hours of my week so far.

[pondered] finances, etc.

[planned] moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving

[forgot] to pack for said move

[found] Beckwith Island in Georgian Bay, clear blue-green water and perfect swimming

[purchased] -

[fancied] -

[clicked] 100 top music videos of the 1990s at pitchfork.com

2010-08-26T19:23:00.001-04:00

I like lavender

2010-08-21T23:38:00.005-04:00

I like it so much that a few weeks ago Kyle and I went on a late night walk, scissors in hand, and harvested some lavender ourselves from other people's front lawns. We figured that we'd just take a bit from everywhere to get a good variety of lavender but also so that we wouldn't take too much from one place. Regardless, we used our stolen lavender to make an infused simple syrup which then traveled up north with us to a friend's cottage where it made fast friends with a bottle of gin and some soda water. I also planted some of the seeds that were left over and noticed that they have just begun to sprout. Soon we won't need to "utilize" other people's plants.

Lavender Syrup
1/2 cup fresh lavender flowers
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups organic sugar

1. Place the water and sugar in a saucepan and heat over low heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil for about 15 minutes or until a light syrup develops.

2. Take off the heat and add the lavender to the syrup. After a quick stir, cover the saucepan and let it sit out overnight.

3. Strain through a fine sieve into containers and store in the fridge.

cupcake blowout

2010-08-20T18:17:00.003-04:00

Thanks Amanda for this awesome link!

I've been busy....kind of

2010-08-20T17:18:00.007-04:00

It's been a few days! Things have been relatively busy (and cluttered) up in here but I've been able to clean up a bit and settle in to some good old fashioned computering (or "blogging" if you will). I've been sorting things out with my student loans and American visa come September and it seems as if everything is in order. Now it's just a matter of crossing the border and settling down on the other side of said border.

In other extremely exciting news, I've finished all the granny squares (well granny hexagons) for the blanket I'm making. I'm just in the process of threading in all the yarn ends and then I'll have to crochet everything together with the grey yarn I've chosen. This isn't a great picture but I took it late at night on my living room floor just as a reference for when it's time to put everything all together.

Found this book at a thrift shop a few days ago for only $4. After spending time with a friend working on her master's in urban planning who referred to this book as her bible I figured it was worth the money to check it out. Due to the 4 other books I have on the go right now I only got through the first few pages of the introduction while walking home but I'm looking forward to devoting all of my book-reading attention to this in the near future.

I've also set up my etsy shop here. You might notice that it's completely empty but I intend to post a few things this week. I'm having a hard time with the quality of my images owing to my crappy digital camera. Yes, I went to school for photography. But everything should be up and running by the end of the week, fingers crossed.

Let's talk about Tastevins

2010-08-13T00:35:00.004-04:00

One of the books I have been attempting to get through this summer is "The Wine Bible"by Karen MacNeil. Last night I read a chapter on wine tasting and there was a brief mention in the text about tastevins which are small, shallow silver cups used to judge the quality and characters of a wine in dimly lit cellars. These little cups intrigued me so i did some research and found out that tastevins came into popularity around 1680 in France where wealthy people would have them made by silversmiths, engraved with their names and then carry them around in their pockets. Although not often used today some sommeliers and hardcore Burgundy enthusiasts still wear tastevins on a ribbon or chain around their necks as a throwback to it's traditional purpose.

These cups are usually made of silver and are almost like shallow teacups with convex bottoms. Available light in a dim wine cellar would reflect off the surface of the silver inside the cup and shine through the wine held within to be judged for it's colour and clarity.

Because wine was often sold and stored in barrels until the 1800s it was necessary to use tastevins instead of lugging a barrel of wine into better light and then pouring some off into a wine glass.

I want one.

image from www.alhambraantiques.com

Make me rich interweb

2010-08-13T00:24:00.002-04:00

Times are hard, life ain't cheap, so I've decided to sell some shit on the internet! I've been throwing around some ideas as to what I should offer and have come up with a random assortment of things that other people might enjoy (mostly because I enjoy said things). I hope to start up an etsy shop tomorrow and post a few things here and then the cash will start rolling in....or not.

Hopefully making things/finding great vintage stuff to sell to other people will keep me occupied as I've spent the last 2 days sitting in front of my computer crocheting my granny squares and watching episodes of True Blood and Breaking Bad. It might sound a little less pathetic if I mention that I've been ill this week with bronchitis and internet television has been my medicine.

2010-08-10T13:28:00.003-04:00

Spotted while sipping pink cider at le cagibi in Montreal

GMC @ CCA

2010-08-09T23:06:00.007-04:00

From the Gordon-Matta Clark archive at the CCA, I love it.

CCA continued...

2010-08-09T22:35:00.007-04:00

There are so many photos from my time in Montreal and my internship at the CCA that I have yet to share/won't be able to use in my school presentation this fall. Lucky you, I've decided to post a whole bunch here!

Sidenote: Right now I am listening to an old Smashing Pumpkins album that used to be a staple for me in the 8th and 9th grade. It makes me smile (and feel a little old) uploading these photos while reflecting upon those angst filled years. Le sigh.

Daguerreotype of an unidentified architect at his desk

Inscription on the verso of a daguerreotype

American Confederate soldiers

Verso of a James Beard daguerreotype

Le cottage

2010-08-09T14:21:00.006-04:00

Just got back from a weekend up north with some friends. Swimming in a lake never gets old. My clothes and towels from the weekend smell like a campfire and I've lost my voice completely. I took most of my photos with my 35mm which I have yet to develop.

Air conditionnningg

2010-08-05T14:54:00.005-04:00

It is sweltering outside but thanks to our new-fangled air conditioning I am only sweating a small amount right now. Tomorrow night I'm leaving to go up north to a friend's cottage I haven't visited in about 5 years. I'm going to wear my bathing suit in the car and jump into the lake upon arrival. I can't wait for corn on the cob, canoe rides, roasted marshmallows, hearty laughter, acting like children and waking up on the lake. This city makes it hard to breathe sometimes (literally and figuratively).

Granny

2010-07-31T11:34:00.007-04:00

I've been working on a crocheted granny square quilt for about a year and it has been coming along very, very slowly. Most of the squares I made were complete crap with the exception of this one...

So I decided on a new granny square pattern that is a bit easier (considering this is my first crochet project) and the squares are a bit bigger too. So I tore up all my bad squares from the first quilt, which is something Kyle always cringes at.

"You made about 1000 loops with a little hook and now you're tearing up all your work?"

Ummm, yes.

So this is my new pattern.

And my new granny squares. Now I have about 150 more to make.

Georgian Bay

2010-07-31T11:25:00.007-04:00

Toronto < Rochester

2010-07-31T11:10:00.004-04:00

Last week I went Rochester with my Mum and Aunt Shirley in the hopes of finding a nice place to live for school this fall. After a long day of driving and looking at crappy places I decided to take the first place we saw which is a little coach house around the corner from the GEH. I've signed the lease and paid first and last so now it's just a matter of getting my visa sorted and I will be on my way to the States to live as an American for a year. After spending the better part of a day in Rochester it seems as though it isn't the small town I thought it would be, there are cafes and pubs and tons of younger people wandering around (in a good way). To be honest, I'm kind of excited to get out of a big city for awhile. I've come to realize that Torontonians are kind of self-righteous jerks and the fact that this city has been stinking like garbage for the past month (more stinking than usual) has not made me feel better about living here.

I can't get over this

2010-07-19T11:46:00.002-04:00

2010-07-19T11:29:00.004-04:00

"We're clocks, Abelard. Nothing more."

pg. 236

St Lawrence Market Find

2010-07-14T18:03:00.002-04:00

Baking and making

2010-07-14T17:51:00.004-04:00

I've been busy and despite the heat wave we had last week I have done a lot of baking. Since the last post I have:

- made butter from whipping cream (in my kitchenaid, easy stuff)
- baked sour cherry coffee cake
- preserved green beans
- baked zucchini bread
- baked a cherry pie
- roasted a whole chicken
- made a few batches of plum preserve

I tried to document all of this but decided to snack instead.

Guess what? It's hot.

2010-07-08T15:42:00.006-04:00

My apartment is a sauna which didn't really stop me from baking a cherry pie the other night. This was not the smartest move but I felt pressured to take advantage of the sour cherries that are now in season and popping up at markets all along Roncesvalles. The pie is pretty good and well worth the oven being on at 425 degrees for 45 minutes. The heat is so nasty that I've given up on trying to be remotely fashionable or presentable in public and I will soon venture out onto the streets wearing cut offs and a t-shirt I purchased in high school that has the exclamation "CLOWNS!" printed on the front. It's not a classy day, not at all.

The aforementioned shirt in all it's glory. Go easy on me, we had just been camping for 3 days and the campground showers were infested with earwigs.

Happy Cat

2010-07-07T12:29:00.003-04:00

I woke up yesterday to find that my cat had left a happy face in her food bowl.
Strange.

Gloria Stuart, I'm Sorry

2010-07-06T20:57:00.007-04:00

During a game of Trivial Pursuit (the 90's Edition) a question came up in which the answer was the name of the actress who played the old lady in Titanic. My extremely classy answer was "that old bitch", which I blame solely on the wine and whiskey I had consumed that evening. Turns out that old bitch's name is Gloria Stuart and she just turned 100, pretty impressive stuff. It also appears that she was a total babe back in the day. So in an attempt to make up for calling this seemingly nice old lady an "old bitch" I thought I would throw up some pictures of her as a way of apologizing, or something. She was a babe and these pictures are great, end of story.