Taking Photos, Irritating Friends

I have become quite the photograpeher lately, thanks to my dog. She is just so cute and quirky I can't help but take about three billion pictures of her. Of course that means that I have officially become one of those annoying people who send way too many photos of her loved ones (ie. dog) to anyone who has the misfortune of being on her email list.

Honestly, I hate it when my friends and family send me a gazillion photos of their new baby - who, by the way, resembles a red tomato in every single pic and from every single angle - so what on earth possesses me to continue sending pics of my Boston terrier baby to people on my email list whom I haven't seen in three years? Until I figuree out the answer, I will make this deal. I will stop sending photos of my Stella Bella when they stop sending email chain letters..GAWH! That is SOOO much more annoying than photos of my cutie pie...and slightly more annoying than 20 differnt pictures of your red tomato eating pureed string beans, but I digress.

Actually, I am taking a design course at George Brown right now and as a result my photography skills, and pics of my adorable puppy, are coming in handy. Of course this means that my file sharing is starting to get even more out of hand. Luckily I am being introduced to Driveway. Driveway allows me to file share up tp 500MB with just the right click of my mouse. And they jsut added a bunch of cool newstuff like widgets and whatnot. What a great (and fast) tool! Hopefully it will make my life a bit easier.

Pre Class Musings

I am sitting in class waiting for Quark to begin. My assignment that is due today is done so I am feeling good...at least I would be feeling good if I did not just scarf down a toasted veggie sandwich in what is probably a world record fast time...and then followed it up with a giant chocolate macadamia nut cookie...sigh.

Come to think of it, I really have gained a bit (a lot) of weight over this past year. And the holidays are coming. I always gain a few pounds over the holidays and I just don't think I can afford that extra weight gain this year.

So I am going to have to do something about my few extra pounds now. I am going to start researching my options and, if there is any interest, let you all know what diet I have decided to go with.

Oop, class has started.

My Impending Shopping Excursion

So after about eleventy billion posts, I am finally getting a weekend away. That is right, I am packing up the puppy dog, the boyfriend, the mother, and the ten year old brother and I am heading off to the fabulous and exotic location of Buffalo, New York....sigh.

So Buffalo in September is not quite what I had in mind but it can work. With the Canadian dollar dangerously hanging around the area of par, I am bound to get some good deals...or should I say deals I should be getting anyway because it is so pathetic that everything is still being marked up by 15% to account for our weaker dollar. BAH! But I digress....

The point is that the family and I are going to enjoy some nice, relaxing shopping therapy and then we are going to take Stella for a fun walk along the American side of the Falls. The view will be awesome and I can’t wait to see my furry baby’s reaction (yes I am referring to Stella, not the boyfriend.

I am going to go make the Hotel Reservations now and the first site I am visiting is HotelReservations.com. They are supposed to have some awesome deals on Hotel Reservations for destinations all over the world, hopefully including Buffalo. I have very simple hotel requirements, really. Cheap, clean, and completely dog friendly....and close to a giant mall. And not too far from the Falls. And non smoking. And Bright. Okay, maybe my requirements are a little more complicated than I thought but I am confident that HotelReservations.com can help.

So now that I know where I am going, how I am getting there, and where to book, I just need to figure out how I make the next two days not pass in an agonizingly slow manner. Should I twiddle my thumbs? Sudoku? Internet Solitaire? Oh, I know. I will get back to work! Gawh!

The Sultan's Tent on Front Street

Some friends and I went to the Sultan's Tent on Front street this weekend. Our dinner reservation was for 11pm, so it was a late dinner.

The food was very good but not fantastic, with the exception of the pistachio creme brulee, which was amazing. So many people told us that the food was incredible, maybe I just has my hopes up too high. The atmosphere and the show was sultry, exotic and memorable, and that is probably more important than the food. Especially considering that one person in our group was an out of towner.

Here are a couple pics of the belly dancer who danced for about four or five songs. She really was great, we were all thoroughly entertained.

This would be a great place for a date, but the setting also works well for a group.

Toronto Vegetarian Fair

Okay so this pretty late in being posted but here are a few more pics from the 2007 Toronto Vegetarian Fair.

Zen Garden has the most amazing vegetartian food. Even my meat & potatoes boyfriend is a huge fan. Definitely worth the drive to London if you weren't lucky enought to catch them at the fair.

Heart on Your Sleeve hand makes vegan shoes. I personally think that they are better quality and more stylish than a most leather shoes and shoes that are bound together with the aid of animal glue.

A small collection of their many shoes.

I can't wait for next year. Hopefully I will have my schedule clear enough to participate in 2008.

Lampshades and chocolate parties

After waking up early for the Withrow Market, which was crazy busy today, leaving that market to do a quick tour of the Brickworks Market, which was even crazier busy, and then heading to the Toronto FC match for a 4 hour shift, which was INSANE busy, I am officially wiped out. I was supposed to attend a chocolate party at the Carrot Common but it is simply not possible.

As tired as I am, though, I am never too tired to blog about lampshades! Could anyone be too tired to blog about lampshades, really? Even if you don't consider them to be a fun subject, you can't deny that lampshade! is a fun word.

Actually, we bought a really fun sort of starburst pattern chandelier for our bedroom. As soon we are done painting (or, you know, started for that matter) we will start picking out lamp bases and a lampshade or two to go on our newly built end tables. Yay!

Double Standard, Double Take

I found this funny cartoon on The Jokester. Poor Ethel, I am on her side.

I rememebr when I used to pose the argument that it is so unfair that hairy, out of shape men can walk all around all day around downtown half naked but ladies of equal or better propotions can't. Now I will be honest, it did not occur to me even once that the provincial government would rectify this unfair law by dismissing it and making it legal for women to go around topless. My sincere hope was that the government would instead, upon acknowledging the said unfairness, create a like law to stop overweight, hairy men from walking around the streets of Toronto unless fully and modestly clothed.

Nope, now we are stuck with both the Ethels and the husbands of the country walking around in (almost) all of their glory....although I will be honest and say I have yet to actually see a topless Ethel. Just some attention hungry 20-30 year olds.