Monday, December 20, 2010
Uncle Mike & Aunt Sunny! :D
Baby Alex James Wagar, born Monday, December 20th, 2010, at 12:44am weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
T'was the week before Christmas
OK, I know I've been MIA again. But I blame the cold weather. And to be fair, it hasn't been as big a gap between posts as last time. Besides, who's keeping track anyway...
Apparently I've left myself little point-form notes (of course) on bits of news to share for when I finally do sit down to write another post, so I'm gonna use them as headings to help you skim through as you wish. Here we go, as best as I can [be bothered to] remember:
Halloween
I suppose the end of October was when I sort of left you hanging. At that point, I had just left my personal assistant job and was spending most of my time browsing through job postings on Workopolis when we thought we might as well dig up the old Halloween costumes in the storage room and go be social.
We hit up a house party first hosted by one of Mike's colleagues before heading downtown to meet up with Candice for some tasty Vietnamese Pho in Chinatown.
Here we are as Doctor Mike and Nurse Sunny (OK, I'll admit, not particularly creative, but I wasn't about to go out and spend money on new costumes).
Andrew, the guy with the awesome shirt, Ritchie
I met Andrew when I was 15 while we were both on exchange in Alsace. He made me my first mixed tape and is one the most wonderfully weird people I know. Andrew was in town for his buddy's wedding and hung out with us for a night -- we had a couple of beers, went out for all-you-can-eat sushi across the street and had a great time. The last time we'd seen Andrew was in the summer of 2004 in Halifax during our road trip out to the east coast and I really hope it won't be another 6 years before we get together again! Here's a picture of Mike & Andrew being silly.
My new job
Given that this was my second bout of voluntary unemployment within 6 months, I knew I couldn't faff around and put off the job hunt like last time. So, while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with myself, I thought back to all the different jobs I've had and realized that the one that had made me the happiest was working part-time at the Flower Market in Kingston while going to school. Lucky for me my awesome friend Shannon put me in touch with a gorgeous boutique flower shop called Pistil Flowers and I ended up with a job doing something I absolutely love: being on my feet, working with my hands and playing with flowers all day.
The people at Pistil are just my kind of people (quite literally, since half of them are Asian!) and I'm having so much fun and learning to make the prettiest things. Another bonus: since the shop is in the heart of the Financial District, the majority of our clientele are 9 to 5 business people, which means I don't have to work evenings/weekends!
OK, no, I haven't exactly figured out what I ultimately want to do with my life, but I've decided that I can put that on hold for a while longer... it's all part of the journey! At the moment, I am happy :o)
Thanksgiving weekend at the cottage
We went back to Kingston for the long weekend and spent Thanksgiving at the cottage with all of Mike's family which was lovely. We had a great fire going and a glorious feast.
It was also Mike's parents' 40th wedding anniversary so we had planned a little surprise for them (cake, balloons, and a photobook of their 40 years together) which went over very well. Here's a picture of Cathy & Allan cutting their anniversary cake.
Quality time with Cousin Jack
The last time I saw my cousin Jack was in 1995 when we stayed over at their house in Vancouver en route to Kingston as brand new Canadian immigrants. Jack was 6 years old then. Now he's 21 and it was a difficult concept for me to grasp. He's doing a co-op term at IBM in Markham through his engineering program at UBC this fall so we've been able to catch up a bit (by this I mean me asking a million questions and him coping with that).
We gave Jack a tour of Kingston (Queen's, Fort Henry, City Hall and the waterfront) and took him to the cottage with us which he seemed to enjoy. We're gonna see him again Thursday night for all-you-can-eat hot pot up the street before he returns to the mild winters he's accustomed to on the west coast. (mmmmm, hot pot.)
Ottawa Trip
It had probably been more than six years since we were in Ottawa last and we'd been meaning to go visit Mike's sister Steph who'd just moved in to a new apartment with her boyfriend Michel (yes, it is rather confusing to have two Mike's in the family, but Michel's cool, we like him).
We were given free tickets to the Sens vs. Canucks game on Remembrance Day by Mike's awesome friend Joe so we decided to make a long weekend out of it and check out our capital.
It was a bit cold but the sun was shining beautifully. We cycled along the canal from Steph & Michel's all the way downtown to parliament and it was so lovely. We had really missed the whole cycling-along-a-river bit in Oxford and this convinced us that we really want to eventually end up living somewhere where we can go cycling along a river, though I suppose an ocean would do too! ;)
We took the free tour of the Parliament and saw where the government does its thing. Then we had lunch in Byward Market and went to the National Gallery which is definitely one of our favourite museums of all time. The gallery, designed by Moshe Safdie, has amazing spaces filled with light including two gorgeous interior court yards. We also enjoyed the use of bold colours in the galleries which really added to the mood of each exhibit. It's funny that we visit museums more for their architecture and interior design than the art... although in this case we did quite like the Group of Seven collection, especially the Canadian-ness of paintings of trees and lakes and snowy scenes. :o)
Jamie Oliver
Mom and I went to see Jamie Oliver at the taping of the "Steven & Chris Show" at the CBC studio. Yvonne adores Jamie and gave me a bouquet all made up of "foodstuffs" (kale, beans, berries) to give to him. Jamie made "huevos rancheros" (Mexican scrambled eggs) and told stories about his family -- he was so cute. I even got a few seconds of cheek time when I handed him the flowers, hehehe. (Funny we used to think the British accent was "posh" before we lived in England. I do miss the accents, even the chavvy ones.)
Terrible cough
Mike caught a cold and as per usual, passed it to me just as he was starting to get better. It had been a while since I'd had a proper cold -- the kind that really knocked you out. Well, this one was no fun. I had the worse cough ever -- the phlegmy, chest-hurting, lung-collapsing kind. For a week and a half ish, I couldn't sleep because I would wake up coughing in the middle of the night. People on the subway looked at me as if I had SARS. It was awful. The cough's finally gone away now but I am left with a super sore ribcage. Mike had a similar thing last year after he developed a case of pericarditis (inflammation of the muscles around the heart) from a bad chest cold and we had to hit up the ER a couple of times. So I guess what mine is is the tissues around my ribs are swollen from all the hard coughing and they're rubbing against my ribs and hurting me. It sucks. Oh and just before this I had sprained my left wrist somehow and had to wear a support. I'm normally pretty healthy but I've felt totally gimpy these past couple of months. As soon as I get back to operating at 100%, I am going to go out for a run. OK, maybe not outside out, it's far too cold for that.
Baby Alex James Wagar
The whole family is sooo excited for the imminent arrival of Baby Alex James Wagar, our little tiny nephew and the first baby in the Wagar clan.
Karina is technically due on Boxing Day but I think she's about ready to have him come out anytime now. We are sitting at the edge of our seats waiting for the phone call to take us to the hospital where we can sit on the edge of our seats some more waiting to hold a newborn little one. It never ceases to amaze me that a minuscule human creature can be growing inside someone's belly... Seems so kangaroo-like. I love it.
Here's a beautiful picture of Derek & Karina, the happy parents-to-be.
Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District
I love Christmas markets. I still remember the ones in the cute little villages all over Alsace: mulled wine, wooden huts selling crafts and homemade treats, carol singers, strings of Christmas lights lining the cobbled streets... To quote from the Sound of Music, "these are a few of my favourite things" and they certainly put me in a festive mood ten times more than walking through a crammed shopping mall listening to "Jingle Bells" with sales signs shoved in my face.
This was the first year that they'd run a European-style Christmas market in Toronto and it was held at the Distillery District. We went on opening night since I scored free tickets for one-litre beer steins at the Sleeman's reception--I had 1L, Mike had 5L and proceeded to puke on the subway home, hahaha, although to be fair he also hadn't had anything to eat because the lineup for the Oktoberfest sausages was humongous--then went back again during the day with Derek & Karina (hence the two photos below where we are wearing different outfits). It was lovely, actually, except it's a bit harder to enjoy mulled wine while sitting outside in the bitter cold within the confines of an alcohol-licensed area. But they did the best they could and set up fire pits and outdoor lounges and we had a nice time complaining about how cold it has been lately and how much colder it's about to get.
Apparently I've left myself little point-form notes (of course) on bits of news to share for when I finally do sit down to write another post, so I'm gonna use them as headings to help you skim through as you wish. Here we go, as best as I can [be bothered to] remember:
Halloween
I suppose the end of October was when I sort of left you hanging. At that point, I had just left my personal assistant job and was spending most of my time browsing through job postings on Workopolis when we thought we might as well dig up the old Halloween costumes in the storage room and go be social.
We hit up a house party first hosted by one of Mike's colleagues before heading downtown to meet up with Candice for some tasty Vietnamese Pho in Chinatown.
Here we are as Doctor Mike and Nurse Sunny (OK, I'll admit, not particularly creative, but I wasn't about to go out and spend money on new costumes).
I met Andrew when I was 15 while we were both on exchange in Alsace. He made me my first mixed tape and is one the most wonderfully weird people I know. Andrew was in town for his buddy's wedding and hung out with us for a night -- we had a couple of beers, went out for all-you-can-eat sushi across the street and had a great time. The last time we'd seen Andrew was in the summer of 2004 in Halifax during our road trip out to the east coast and I really hope it won't be another 6 years before we get together again! Here's a picture of Mike & Andrew being silly.
My new jobGiven that this was my second bout of voluntary unemployment within 6 months, I knew I couldn't faff around and put off the job hunt like last time. So, while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with myself, I thought back to all the different jobs I've had and realized that the one that had made me the happiest was working part-time at the Flower Market in Kingston while going to school. Lucky for me my awesome friend Shannon put me in touch with a gorgeous boutique flower shop called Pistil Flowers and I ended up with a job doing something I absolutely love: being on my feet, working with my hands and playing with flowers all day.
The people at Pistil are just my kind of people (quite literally, since half of them are Asian!) and I'm having so much fun and learning to make the prettiest things. Another bonus: since the shop is in the heart of the Financial District, the majority of our clientele are 9 to 5 business people, which means I don't have to work evenings/weekends!
OK, no, I haven't exactly figured out what I ultimately want to do with my life, but I've decided that I can put that on hold for a while longer... it's all part of the journey! At the moment, I am happy :o)
We went back to Kingston for the long weekend and spent Thanksgiving at the cottage with all of Mike's family which was lovely. We had a great fire going and a glorious feast.
It was also Mike's parents' 40th wedding anniversary so we had planned a little surprise for them (cake, balloons, and a photobook of their 40 years together) which went over very well. Here's a picture of Cathy & Allan cutting their anniversary cake.
Quality time with Cousin JackThe last time I saw my cousin Jack was in 1995 when we stayed over at their house in Vancouver en route to Kingston as brand new Canadian immigrants. Jack was 6 years old then. Now he's 21 and it was a difficult concept for me to grasp. He's doing a co-op term at IBM in Markham through his engineering program at UBC this fall so we've been able to catch up a bit (by this I mean me asking a million questions and him coping with that).
We gave Jack a tour of Kingston (Queen's, Fort Henry, City Hall and the waterfront) and took him to the cottage with us which he seemed to enjoy. We're gonna see him again Thursday night for all-you-can-eat hot pot up the street before he returns to the mild winters he's accustomed to on the west coast. (mmmmm, hot pot.)
Ottawa TripIt had probably been more than six years since we were in Ottawa last and we'd been meaning to go visit Mike's sister Steph who'd just moved in to a new apartment with her boyfriend Michel (yes, it is rather confusing to have two Mike's in the family, but Michel's cool, we like him).
We were given free tickets to the Sens vs. Canucks game on Remembrance Day by Mike's awesome friend Joe so we decided to make a long weekend out of it and check out our capital.
It was a bit cold but the sun was shining beautifully. We cycled along the canal from Steph & Michel's all the way downtown to parliament and it was so lovely. We had really missed the whole cycling-along-a-river bit in Oxford and this convinced us that we really want to eventually end up living somewhere where we can go cycling along a river, though I suppose an ocean would do too! ;)We took the free tour of the Parliament and saw where the government does its thing. Then we had lunch in Byward Market and went to the National Gallery which is definitely one of our favourite museums of all time. The gallery, designed by Moshe Safdie, has amazing spaces filled with light including two gorgeous interior court yards. We also enjoyed the use of bold colours in the galleries which really added to the mood of each exhibit. It's funny that we visit museums more for their architecture and interior design than the art... although in this case we did quite like the Group of Seven collection, especially the Canadian-ness of paintings of trees and lakes and snowy scenes. :o)
Mom and I went to see Jamie Oliver at the taping of the "Steven & Chris Show" at the CBC studio. Yvonne adores Jamie and gave me a bouquet all made up of "foodstuffs" (kale, beans, berries) to give to him. Jamie made "huevos rancheros" (Mexican scrambled eggs) and told stories about his family -- he was so cute. I even got a few seconds of cheek time when I handed him the flowers, hehehe. (Funny we used to think the British accent was "posh" before we lived in England. I do miss the accents, even the chavvy ones.)
Terrible cough
Mike caught a cold and as per usual, passed it to me just as he was starting to get better. It had been a while since I'd had a proper cold -- the kind that really knocked you out. Well, this one was no fun. I had the worse cough ever -- the phlegmy, chest-hurting, lung-collapsing kind. For a week and a half ish, I couldn't sleep because I would wake up coughing in the middle of the night. People on the subway looked at me as if I had SARS. It was awful. The cough's finally gone away now but I am left with a super sore ribcage. Mike had a similar thing last year after he developed a case of pericarditis (inflammation of the muscles around the heart) from a bad chest cold and we had to hit up the ER a couple of times. So I guess what mine is is the tissues around my ribs are swollen from all the hard coughing and they're rubbing against my ribs and hurting me. It sucks. Oh and just before this I had sprained my left wrist somehow and had to wear a support. I'm normally pretty healthy but I've felt totally gimpy these past couple of months. As soon as I get back to operating at 100%, I am going to go out for a run. OK, maybe not outside out, it's far too cold for that.
Baby Alex James WagarThe whole family is sooo excited for the imminent arrival of Baby Alex James Wagar, our little tiny nephew and the first baby in the Wagar clan.
Karina is technically due on Boxing Day but I think she's about ready to have him come out anytime now. We are sitting at the edge of our seats waiting for the phone call to take us to the hospital where we can sit on the edge of our seats some more waiting to hold a newborn little one. It never ceases to amaze me that a minuscule human creature can be growing inside someone's belly... Seems so kangaroo-like. I love it.
Here's a beautiful picture of Derek & Karina, the happy parents-to-be.
Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District
I love Christmas markets. I still remember the ones in the cute little villages all over Alsace: mulled wine, wooden huts selling crafts and homemade treats, carol singers, strings of Christmas lights lining the cobbled streets... To quote from the Sound of Music, "these are a few of my favourite things" and they certainly put me in a festive mood ten times more than walking through a crammed shopping mall listening to "Jingle Bells" with sales signs shoved in my face.
This was the first year that they'd run a European-style Christmas market in Toronto and it was held at the Distillery District. We went on opening night since I scored free tickets for one-litre beer steins at the Sleeman's reception--I had 1L, Mike had 5L and proceeded to puke on the subway home, hahaha, although to be fair he also hadn't had anything to eat because the lineup for the Oktoberfest sausages was humongous--then went back again during the day with Derek & Karina (hence the two photos below where we are wearing different outfits). It was lovely, actually, except it's a bit harder to enjoy mulled wine while sitting outside in the bitter cold within the confines of an alcohol-licensed area. But they did the best they could and set up fire pits and outdoor lounges and we had a nice time complaining about how cold it has been lately and how much colder it's about to get.
And that brings us up to date so I suppose I should wrap it up here. I can't believe it is Christmas next week. I keep remembering that that was the case then keep forgetting it immediately after. I was supposed to finish up the rest of my Christmas cards and post them out tomorrow but somehow I started writing this instead and now that it's two hours later, I think I will just go to bed. Next year I'll get the Christmas cards out way ahead of time. For sure. Maybe.
In the meantime, I wish all of you a very merry Christmas with everyone you love, and a wonderfully happy new year filled with lots and lots of good things! :o)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Next week is November
How is it November already?
Time's been flying and I've seriously been neglecting this blog and the rest of my personal correspondence for the past few months. To get you up to speed, not a whole lot of exciting things has happened apart from working, spending time with family at the cottage and in Kingston, and just generally hanging out.
Oh right, there was the half marathon. 21 kilometres, 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 42 seconds later, we were completely broken and sore everywhere, but we did it! We ran a half marathon! It was a beautiful morning and a lovely crowd and though it wasn't a stroll in the park, it felt GREAT to finish the race.
After five months of training, it's really quite weird not having this obligation in the back of my mind to have to go out and run, and schedule everything else around running. I'm still not one of those people who loves to run and gets this high off the adrenaline, but I do kind of like switching off and just being outside by myself for a little bit so I am going to keep running at least once or twice a week, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that I'm going to sign up for a full marathon anytime soon (or anytime ever)!
And lastly, after three months working as a personal assistant at a high-end interior design company, I have decided to get back on the job hunt. I would really love to make things and actually do things with my hands (like cards and photo albums or just putting stuff together rather than sit in front of a computer all day) so I'm looking into places like stationery designers, picture research/visual display/event planning/branding companies, magazines, publishers, TV stations, arts/media type things. Pretty scattered, I know, but that's my quarter-life crisis for you!
I am a bright & happy person who works hard at everything and is good at a lot of things (haha, that sounds vague, but if you know me, you know that that pretty much does sum it up!) so hopefully I'll find something soon! In the meantime, if any of you Toronto people come across anything or hear about people who are hiring right now, please do drop me a line, I'd really appreciate it!
Time's been flying and I've seriously been neglecting this blog and the rest of my personal correspondence for the past few months. To get you up to speed, not a whole lot of exciting things has happened apart from working, spending time with family at the cottage and in Kingston, and just generally hanging out.
Oh right, there was the half marathon. 21 kilometres, 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 42 seconds later, we were completely broken and sore everywhere, but we did it! We ran a half marathon! It was a beautiful morning and a lovely crowd and though it wasn't a stroll in the park, it felt GREAT to finish the race.After five months of training, it's really quite weird not having this obligation in the back of my mind to have to go out and run, and schedule everything else around running. I'm still not one of those people who loves to run and gets this high off the adrenaline, but I do kind of like switching off and just being outside by myself for a little bit so I am going to keep running at least once or twice a week, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that I'm going to sign up for a full marathon anytime soon (or anytime ever)!
And lastly, after three months working as a personal assistant at a high-end interior design company, I have decided to get back on the job hunt. I would really love to make things and actually do things with my hands (like cards and photo albums or just putting stuff together rather than sit in front of a computer all day) so I'm looking into places like stationery designers, picture research/visual display/event planning/branding companies, magazines, publishers, TV stations, arts/media type things. Pretty scattered, I know, but that's my quarter-life crisis for you!
I am a bright & happy person who works hard at everything and is good at a lot of things (haha, that sounds vague, but if you know me, you know that that pretty much does sum it up!) so hopefully I'll find something soon! In the meantime, if any of you Toronto people come across anything or hear about people who are hiring right now, please do drop me a line, I'd really appreciate it!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Our 3-Year Anniversary
Today is our 3-year anniversary. We don't really do much with our wedding anniversary -- Mike said that I only get to pick one anniversary to celebrate and I prefer to do the "original" one of when we first started going out rather than the wedding one.
Still, I don't think I've ever posted photos of the wedding anywhere (except for on sunnyandmike.com but that hasn't been around for a few years now), so to mark the occasion, here are some of my favourites from when we got married 3 years ago today:
Still, I don't think I've ever posted photos of the wedding anywhere (except for on sunnyandmike.com but that hasn't been around for a few years now), so to mark the occasion, here are some of my favourites from when we got married 3 years ago today:
The month of August
Looks like I haven't touched the blog in exactly one month. Well, let's see, here's a brief summary and a selection of photos of what we've been up to since the last posting:
I finally felt better after a bit of a nap, another shower, and a bit of sitting around in air conditioning. But I'm still struggling with finding enough time in a day to get everything done -- the ironing's been sitting there for ages, my inbox is about to explode, I haven't balanced our budget in several weeks, laundry, dishes, Charlie's litter, tax audit, library books, movies, sleeping 8hrs a night, and so on -- this working full-time business certainly gets in the way of everything else, doesn't it?
- spent a whole week at the cottage (most of the family were there, Kyle & Masa visited for the long weekend, Fred came in the middle of the week from Ottawa, it rained a bit but I like it when it rains there because then you feel totally OK to bum around and do nothing and relaxed, it was pretty great, oh except my cell phone decided to go for a swim in the lake and as a result, is no longer functioning);
- went to see Roger Federer play tennis at Rogers Cup one sunny beautiful evening;
- spent an entire afternoon at the Toronto Zoo (very hot);
- went to see the Great Big Sea concert at the amphitheatre with Derek & Karina;
- went to see "Eat, Pray, Love" (and now want to read the book but haven't got time);
- had a lovely lunch and stroll around in the Distillery District with new friends;
- hung out with Leslie & Kyle;
- worked on the September edition of the newsletter for the condo;
I finally felt better after a bit of a nap, another shower, and a bit of sitting around in air conditioning. But I'm still struggling with finding enough time in a day to get everything done -- the ironing's been sitting there for ages, my inbox is about to explode, I haven't balanced our budget in several weeks, laundry, dishes, Charlie's litter, tax audit, library books, movies, sleeping 8hrs a night, and so on -- this working full-time business certainly gets in the way of everything else, doesn't it?
Friday, July 30, 2010
Browser display issues...
OK I really don't have time for this right now. It's nearly 2am and I still have to shower and wrap up my Chinese translation for the August newsletter, and get up tomorrow morning at 6:30am.
But for some reason or other, I decided to open our blog in IE8 (I've never done this til now and I blame my HL days for checking how things display in different browsers to different viewers) and of course the spacing was all messed up. 45 minutes later of fiddling with this and that, it still is all messed up.
Sometimes I really wish I wasn't so anal about such tiny little things. But I am.
Seriously though, I have to go to bed by 3am or I'm going to feel sick. So you know what, I'm just gonna wrap up my rant here and let that be my resolve. I will just pretend that there is no weird spacing and that all the photos and text are aligned properly on whichever browser you use, and make my peace with that. I can do that.
P.S. If you are a true friend and cared for my mental well-being, you would use Firefox 3.6.8.
But for some reason or other, I decided to open our blog in IE8 (I've never done this til now and I blame my HL days for checking how things display in different browsers to different viewers) and of course the spacing was all messed up. 45 minutes later of fiddling with this and that, it still is all messed up.
Sometimes I really wish I wasn't so anal about such tiny little things. But I am.
Seriously though, I have to go to bed by 3am or I'm going to feel sick. So you know what, I'm just gonna wrap up my rant here and let that be my resolve. I will just pretend that there is no weird spacing and that all the photos and text are aligned properly on whichever browser you use, and make my peace with that. I can do that.
P.S. If you are a true friend and cared for my mental well-being, you would use Firefox 3.6.8.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Two Weeks Until Cottage Vacation!!
It's been forever since we've spent a good chunk of time at the cottage and it's gonna be great. I want to go treasure hunting in the crazy mess that is Rideau Antiques, go to Westport for a portside lunch, maybe do a day trip to Ottawa to stroll through Byward Market and see the National Gallery, but mostly I just want to hang out at the cottage, go swimming, and do a whole lot of lounging around in and out of the sun with a cold drink in my hand and plenty of snacks near by. I can't wait, it's going to be awesome! :o)
We're gonna be spending a whole week there starting on the August long weekend. Kyle & Masa are going to come along too for the first half which is awesome because Kyle hasn't been there in years and this is going to be Masa's first visit.
Unfortunately, I am going to have to work really hard on the job hunt these next two weeks to earn my cottage vacation, so this is going to be the last post for a while. Bye for now and enjoy the last couple of weeks of July! :o)
Toronto Public Library
I love libraries, it's the inner geek in me--ok, some people might argue the term "inner"--but libraries are cool, seriously! Shelves and shelves of beautiful books, all properly categorized and alphabetized? Come on, as if you wouldn't want to spend a whole day there and just wonder (ok, some people might not want to).
The Toronto Public Library is the best library we've ever used. With 99 branches in the GTA, it is the largest library system in North America. We're about a 10 minute walk away from the North York Central Library, which has six floors and is the second largest library in the city next to the Toronto Reference Library.
My two favourite things about the Toronto library system:
1. They have a vast collection of DVDs including films, TV series, and documentaries. I've borrowed loads of movies--many of which were brand new releases--and have even see a few Blu-Rays lying around. Why go to Blockbuster and pay $6.95 per rental when you can get it for free from the library down the street?!
2. You can go online and request for any item from the entire library collection to be delivered to your local branch from wherever it currently is. They will even e-mail you to let you know when it's ready for pick up.
I'm currently flipping through the beautiful Decorating with Flowers by Paula Pryke, fresh off the press and a new addition to the 2010 collection. Next up on my reading list: The Bro Code by Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn (from the hilarious TV series, How I Met Your Mother), 500 Ideas for Small Spaces by Kimberley Seldon, and a bit later, New Resume New Career (*wink*). We've also got both Part 1 and Part 2 of Che with Benicio del Toro sitting by the DVD player.
To clarify, I'm not affiliated with the TPL in any way apart from being a happy user so this isn't a secret government campaign for literacy or anything--I don't even really read that much--I just think libraries are great. So, why not make a trip to your local library sometime, walk around, and maybe even check out a book or two? You never know what you (and your inner geek) might find! ;o)
The Toronto Public Library is the best library we've ever used. With 99 branches in the GTA, it is the largest library system in North America. We're about a 10 minute walk away from the North York Central Library, which has six floors and is the second largest library in the city next to the Toronto Reference Library.
My two favourite things about the Toronto library system:1. They have a vast collection of DVDs including films, TV series, and documentaries. I've borrowed loads of movies--many of which were brand new releases--and have even see a few Blu-Rays lying around. Why go to Blockbuster and pay $6.95 per rental when you can get it for free from the library down the street?!
2. You can go online and request for any item from the entire library collection to be delivered to your local branch from wherever it currently is. They will even e-mail you to let you know when it's ready for pick up.
I'm currently flipping through the beautiful Decorating with Flowers by Paula Pryke, fresh off the press and a new addition to the 2010 collection. Next up on my reading list: The Bro Code by Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn (from the hilarious TV series, How I Met Your Mother), 500 Ideas for Small Spaces by Kimberley Seldon, and a bit later, New Resume New Career (*wink*). We've also got both Part 1 and Part 2 of Che with Benicio del Toro sitting by the DVD player.To clarify, I'm not affiliated with the TPL in any way apart from being a happy user so this isn't a secret government campaign for literacy or anything--I don't even really read that much--I just think libraries are great. So, why not make a trip to your local library sometime, walk around, and maybe even check out a book or two? You never know what you (and your inner geek) might find! ;o)
Diagonal Road
Last night we went out for our longest run yet -- 12km. My knees were completely messed up towards the end and the thought of running 14, 16, 18, and eventually 21km in the coming weeks made me feel ill. Thank god for our destination bubble tea which was the only thing that kept me going during the last couple of kilometres.
There is one street that always amuses me and takes my mind off the run for a couple of minutes: "Diagonal Road". It is a slanty street in the residential areas we run through and I asked Mike whether he thinks it's actually a diagonal (def. a straight line connecting any two vertices of a polygon that are not adjacent); lo and behold, it is.
How funny is that? Hehehe. (ok, maybe I'm simple)
There is one street that always amuses me and takes my mind off the run for a couple of minutes: "Diagonal Road". It is a slanty street in the residential areas we run through and I asked Mike whether he thinks it's actually a diagonal (def. a straight line connecting any two vertices of a polygon that are not adjacent); lo and behold, it is.How funny is that? Hehehe. (ok, maybe I'm simple)
Friday, July 16, 2010
Playing with Flowers
Although every once in a while, I don't mind a stem of really nicely made artificial orchids. I happened upon these gorgeous pistachio green cymbidium orchids on sale for $19 at a local florist the other day so I grabbed them and made this pretty arrangement with variegated pitt and salal, a couple of branches and some lovely river pebbles (the remains of the centrepiece from Bev's wedding a couple of weeks ago).
Now I won't have to worry about replacing the flowers on the dining room table for a while! (Besides, I probably shouldn't really be splurging on flowers until I find a job anyway...)
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