Happy 30th BrandyShaws!

Ok- I've been terribly lax on my blogging and nothing shows it more than the first sentence... but I'm feeling mostly normal and not like a big ball of sleepy so I can continue on.

Aprox 17 days ago my best friend Brandy Shaw arrived at 2.39pm on a wednesday afternoon. Needless to say I was pretty giddy to see her. It had been just under a year since we last got to spend some time together and quite a while before that where we got to spend with just us and no other hanger-ons, boyfriends, etc.

I had a mild panic at the last second on the the ride out to Pearson that I had got the time wrong and she wasn't arriving that day or had arrived and was wandering terminal three aimlessly or that I would be sitting there for several hours. But after only say half an hour of waiting there she was! A vision! The west coast and my oldest friend here in Toronto!!

We made it back to my place without incident and spent a quiet evening in, ordered Indian from a very good place nearby that delivers (this is key...) and just generally got caught up. Although we pretty much talk everyday so we are on the up and up with each other but it's so nice to do it in person and be able to reach over and poke the person.

Brandy looks great, she is one of those people who radiates a sort of ethereal glow at all times. I know the has been experiencing the end of twenties quasi-meltdown we all go through but she has done it in a very calm and accepting way. *Well to my and the eyes of the world- she could be a mess underneath but it doesn't show. I felt giddy and calmed just being around her. It is so great to be with someone who gets pretty much every single obscure reference and silly joke you have ever thought of and then continues on with it and makes more.

We awoke the next morning (yes morning.... something I don't do generally if I don't have to- but special circumstances mean special waking up times.. that and I don't think I'd be allowed to sleep all day). And after a quick breakfast headed downtown for some shopping! It was a beautiful day here that day. The sky was so blue and it was WARM. Warmer than either of us had anticipated, we are both fall gals and love to pull on a nice cozy sweater, wrap ourselves in a big fluffy scarf (with matching hot bag of course) and set off. So while the sun "looked" nice, the heat wasn't super complimentary to our outfits....

We made our way to St. George and walked past the ROM and down Bloor a ways. Brandy is very talented and interested in the culinary arts, specifically baking, so I thought it my duty to introduce her to Williams Sonoma, THE fancy cookware shop. It was like my mum in a craft store or Florie in a fabric shop or me in a bookstore.. we sort of got lost in there for a while.
Then we hit Yorkville Winners, where I think we both could have happily spent all of our budget in a matter of half an hour. Showing a small modicum of restraint we both only made a couple of purchases and moved on.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful shopping wise, B wanted to have a look at H&M and the first store we went into was very hipster I'm 17 looking- not quite our style, but we hit the Eaton Centre H&M and it had some nicer grown up clothes that we tried on. Although this "new" style of the sort of 60s mod parachute dresses/shirts really don't work all that well on those who are advanced in the chesticular areas so we didn't purchase and moved on.

Most of our evenings were spent at home making a nice dinner and then just hanging out watching a movie or talking. That for me was the most wonderful part of her visit. It is not often I have a friend over in the evenings (and in typing that I can't even think of a time at all) where we just relax and do nothing.


The Adventures will continue in part 2....
We had many adventures out and about in the city and I think we covered a fair bit of ground. We made it to Kensington market, which I always love and I know Brandy did too, it's a funky part of town

Nuit Blanche and Autumnal Awesomeness

I haven't be upkeeping my blog as much as I ought to I suppose- I know this because my one faithful reader tells me so (hi mum!). Sooo here goes: there isn't too much to tell you really. I have been working a lot lately. I know it's good for me and all that malarky, but there is something in my genetic make up that balks at long hours of work. A friends mother once said to me "some people were born to work, but you have the body for leisure" and I tend to agree. However since leisure and pleasure all seem to be interdependent on an honest days work (damn protestant work ethic) I like to think of it as getting all that working in now so soon I can become a lady of leisure- my true calling in life.

So that pretty much sums up my working week, wake up, get dressed, go to work, come home, get undressed and go to sleep. Rinse and repeat. It is making me a bit grumpy and tired, but I think once I get used to it it will be ok. And on the upside of anger- I can't really spend any money!

Generally the weeks mean Saturday is a write off which saddens me a little as Saturday's are my most favourite day of the week. A day of complete and utter freedom the mania of Friday nights has settled down and the pervasive melancholy of a Sunday evening hasn't hit yet. It's all you and the world is your oyster. (although I'm not much of one for oysters and if the world was an oyster I would really not be that enthused or impressed but, irregardless- ya ya I KNOW it's not irregardless...) Yesterday's Saturday was spent in a quasi vegetative state I read some, FINALLY FINALLY taught myself how to cast on so I can start knitting some squares- those and scarves are my forte. I watched a few movies and tidied my house up. Things tend to get out of hand during the week. Another reason I am grateful for living on my own. If I had roommates they would be pissed off at my slovenly behaviour. But it's just me! And I can certainly be pissed off at myself but it's so much easier to justify and accept.

Last weekend was quite quite fun! And most likely the reason for my tired and grumpy behaviour this week. Apologies all round to those who have borne the brunt of it. Except for you who deserved it... you know who you are.

I progress on my digression... So last weekend was Nuit Blanche, which is en français for "white night" or "all nighter", this being an annual festival of contemporary art which is really quite neat. It is city wide from 7pm to 7am and generally very fabulous. I loved it, this is the reason why I love big cities, culture! Nevermind we didn't come up with the idea but "borrowed" it from Paris- who cares. What is contemporary art if not the borrowing and regeneration of ideas to sell as your own? That actually reminds me of a wonderful quote I read in high school "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal" ~T.S. Eliot.

A few friends of mine gathered at my place for some snacks and wine and coffee, we then headed out to our first stop Bay/Yorkville in Zone A. There are three zones in this event and I would just love to meet some people who managed to make it to all the big events in all the zones. There is so much, it was overwhelming a little bit. We were all keen to check out the one exhibit called Ghosts created by a woman from Cortez Island actually, located beneath the Bay subway- but the line was way too long. From my father I have inherited several things top among them are my dislike of waiting in long lines, getting very uptight about the thought of being late, and an obsession with clean carpets.

We stopped in a couple of galleries along the way and looked at some out door installations. On a night like Nuit Blanche it is so wonderful to see the city wrapped in art. You begin to look at everything in a different way, could this be an art installation? Is this art? It's sort of how I like to look at the world on an everyday basis. I believe everything is art and therefore wonderful. And I think on nights like NB, a person who doesn't look at life as art starts to open up to that possibility.

What I love most about contemporary art is the discourse of the artist. Particularly installation art- it is about the artists conception of reality in that fleeting moment. It isn't about their mastery of colour or their years of learning, it is about inviting you into their private thoughts.

On top of all the art there are the people, it was so wild to see thousands of people roaming the streets until the wee hours of the morning. And even better to be part of it. Some people were dressed up beyond measure for the evening. Mostly in Yorkville, where you can note that even the litter is pretentious (starbucks cups lined any surface). Our crew was a little smarter than that all wearing sensible shoes and warm clothing although there wasn't much of a need for the warm clothing. The weather was very mild and only started to get a little chilly as we made our way back to Bloor St to catch the night bus home.

My friend Bhavna stayed over and we made it home by about 6am, we were a bit too giddy to sleep so ended up chatting until it was very light out.

(Picture of ET/Yoda installation, I think my favourite)

So that was that weekend, the Sunday I met up with a friend and walked around until I made it home and lapsed into a tiredness coma.

The weather is changing here now that is is really fall, although it hasn't cooled yet. This week was really warm and I'm enjoying the last vestiges of summer, although I have unpacked my winter wear and would really like to start wearing my sweaters!!

In other LARGER news, my friend BrandyShaw is coming to visit in just THREE SLEEPS. I am soooo soooo beyond giddy! She is coming to Tdot for her thirtieth birthday and we are going to have so much fun exploring the city and hanging out and such. I've got plans and they are big and exciting!

There you have it, a blog update. As requested by mother.... who will always be my adoring fan and I hers. If I suck up enough they might even bring me back pressies from Mexico, I like silver! Just kidding... the best present I could get is if they came back here to visit. Especially my dad. I really miss my dad. But getting him on a plane to head somewhere that isn't tropical is going to be damn hard. Hurry up global warming already...

Ok so it's almost 4 and I haven't left the house or my pjs. And the really big question is do I?

TTFN.