Today

Today. Today was a day for grown ups. That's me. Nowadays.

I woke up, showered, then left the house to catch the 501 to work. Texting with my boss about meeting on the way there, while drinking tea. When I got to work, I read throigh my emails, looked at my to-do list and checked my bank account. Uh-oh. House insurance payment didn't go through. Emailed banker to reverse charges that caused the bounce, called D and insurance broker. Banker reversed the charges= problem solved. Leave office in a cab for a meeting, passing the shanty town of teenagers on the sidewalks waiting for wristbands for the MMVA's and their chance to see Lady Gaga.

Grab lunch with boss and her equally as impressive mother, then drive to Markham for client meeting. Meeting with out client who is full of potential but having trouble getting off the ground. Make recommendation, have some laughs, leave. Drive back to the office in terrible traffic, even at at 2pm, grab lunch and catch up on emails again.

Talk co-worker down from the panic attack she's having, write fact sheet for a product launch, leave office at 6:30. Talk to my mother all the way home about family and life.

Get off the phone and clean the bathtub. Start dinner, text with D about the pleasure of hearing little kids playing outside. Stir the meal I'm making and think about how grown up I feel today. Can't believe John Tesh is talking about how Facebook and other social networks are often the catalyst for cheating. How is that news?

Did I mention I'm 22 weeks pregnant?

It's All Ours

Yep. We bought a house. A really big house and it's allll ours! This is the Google street view of it...looking forward to summer! I have some pictures and stories about the house coming soon...

February's Theme

This print perfectly captures the theme of our month. Big changes are happening!

(via Cup of Jo)

Storm!

So, if you live in Toronto, you've likely hear about the massive storm headed our way. If you haven't heard, I'm very surprised and hey, you should probably buy some boots within the next few hours. Just a tip from me to you.

Anyway, all kinds of neat satellite images are showing up right now that show the storm closing in on Southern Ontario. It would seem that our friends to the Northwest are getting it pretty bad.

Here are my two favourites. The first is courtesy of the NOAA:

And the second is from Weather Underground:

Stay warm and safe, friends!

Lady in Blue

My sister's boyfriend, Jeff, is a very talented artist and he's started practicing portraits, since he doesn't often draw them. This lady in blue is my sister and I can definitely see her in this drawing. It also reminds me of Joni Michell's, Blue.

I think there's something romantic about having your portrait drawn, don't you?

Keep it up, Jeff!

Hiss & Crunch

The hiss of gas meters feeding furnaces. The crunch of snow, underfoot, when it's oh-so cold out.

The sounds of winter.

(Photo: New Year's Day, 2008)

Apartment Hunting

I'm currently in the process of finding a little corner of the world for D and I to share and while it's exciting, the process of apartment hunting can be somewhat discouraging at times. For example, we found our dream apartment as soon as we starting looking, only to have the people who saw it first decide that it was their dream apartment too. Now, every apartment we see will be compared to the unobtainable apartment...so the search continues.

Anyway, this got me thinking about the very first apartment I ever had and the list that Kirsty (then residence mate)and I made describing our dream apartment together. Here are some of the things on that list:

- lots of pillows (no clue)
- portraits of women we admired (Frida, Joni, Patti)
- paint and the tools to paint with
- typewriters
- first editions of our favourite books (Demian, Little Women)

Basically it was a list of things we wanted. Now, being a little older and wiser than I was at 19, I think more about the actual building I want to live in and the furnishings. Though I still love that creativity to was central to my and Kirsty's dream apartment and I know that it will be an important element of my future dream house. Here are some of my current "must haves:"

- hardwood floors
- a working fireplace
- minimum 2 bedrooms (for now...)
- space for guests (it's going to have to be a big house)
- lots of light
- warm!
- a spacious kitchen
- closet space
- nice old touches (the moldings, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, etc.)
- some yard space for a garden
- a porch
- character

Oh, how the list has changed! It would be wonderful if we could find all of the things above in our new apartment; if not, I know that we'll find them in our dream home one day soon. And we will dance in the living room.

(Photo: view from my bedroom in apartment #2, 2005.)