The best week of 2011

Yep - it's here.  The best week of 2011.  Last year, the big attraction was Air Jaws filmed in HD, where Chris Fallows filmed great white sharks launching themselves out of the water to catch seals.  I'm greatly looking forward to what this year brings.  One of my biggest (and most ridiculous) fears is being bitten by a shark while swimming.  I know, it's pretty irrational considering how often I swim in the ocean.  Do you ever get that creepy feeling down your spine when you're treading water in the ocean in murky water where you can't see beneath the surface?  All of that being said, I do like watching these sharks in their natural habitat and would definitely consider cage diving with sharks if I ever got the chance.

Discovery Channel does a really great job of marketing the heck out of Shark Week, including decking out its headquarters buliding in Maryland with a gigantic shark (via Fubiz).

Recent read #23 and #24

I had heard of A Game of Thrones because of the HBO tv series (starring Boromir from LOTR) but hadn't known it was a set of novels.  The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin has been receiving a good amount of publicity as the latest novel in the series was just released a few weeks ago, the first in six years or something like that.  I started A Game of Thrones not knowing the premise - it is a Tolkien type fantasy genre but more like Guy Gavriel Kay in my opinion.  The story follows the nation of Westeros and, mainly, the Stark family: Catelyn, Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Rickon and Jon.  The book is set up with each chapter being told by a different character in the novel.  After reading the first novel, I bought the set of four and haven't stopped reading since.  I finished A Clash of Kings last week and am currently working on the third one.  It has been difficult to pull me away from these novels and the fact that each one of these is 1,000 pages has made me poor company the last few weeks as I've been working on each of them.  I'm already dreading the day when I finish the series and have to wait six years for the next novel to be released but until then, I'll be enjoying the entertainment these books provide and the great and classic storytelling of Mr. Martin.

Any of you all who have read these books, who is your favourite character and why?

Reward thyself

Sometimes, you just need an additional push to get you through the day.  Maybe it's a pat on the back for a job well done or a simple "thank you" for holding the elevator for someone.  Or maybe... it's the gift that you give yourself.  You know what I'm talking about.  The small gifts that you buy yourself when you need a little pick me up to keep you going.  Or not so small gifts.  I wish I lived in California because I would order myself these mini bundts, filled with buttercream frosting from Immaculate Confections.  I'm sure that Frenchie would enjoy their Chocolate Orange Grand Marnier Cheesecake a little TOO much.

Or you could simply make yourself an Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n' Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar by Kevin and Amanda.  Yes, you did just hear me right.  To do it justice, you're really going to have to click on the link and look at the beautimous pictures that they took of their creation.  Isn't that possibly the most gorgeous things that you've ever seen?  And they were good (or evil) enough to include a recipe as well.  So you too can clog your arteries in one fell swoop!



Is there anything that you give yourself for getting through (half) the week?  Sometimes we all just need a tiny bit of motivation.

I need a cuppa tea

Frenchie and I went to my parents' house this weekend and while we were en route, Frenchie started to feel something awful.  And, I tell you, when that boy feels terrible - everyone in his vicinity will know.  He suspected a bug, caught from a sick co-worker, and sure enough, he was out of commission for most of Saturday afternoon.  My parents threw a big dinner party on Saturday evening so he hauled himself out of bed in order to meet, greet and infect the guests.  My parents dosed him up with natural remedies the best they could but when we got back home on Sunday, he started to feel worse.  So poor Frenchie hopped home early from work today and is now in the sick position that you all know very well I'm sure.  Sprawled out on the bed with a giant box of tissues next to him and balled up tissue flowers littered all around him.  I've literally just gotten home from another lovely 17-hour day in the office and have only been able to ask him - how are you feeling? before he's zonked right out again.

Speaking of the long work day, I missed an important dinner with one of my favourite couples of all time when they announced that they are expecting!  A baby even!  They emailed me the sonogram and I called them from the office to wish them congratulations and toast them with cups of water.  More on baby stuff later but I am excited and anxious for them and their family.  And looking forward to doing a lot of baby shopping (as in buying stuff for the baby, not shopping for babies).

But for now, I am soaking in some quiet time before I have to pass out and do it all over again tomorrow.  Peaceful quiet and calm and a nice cup of tea to go along with it.  Laced with lots of alcohol.

The house on Oxford Street

Its been awhile since I've done a "Home" post and I've seen this house on the market here in town for a few months now.  It was originally built in the 1980s and is located in the historic Heights District.  This "Oxford Street House," as I'm calling it, has quite a few unique features, one of which is "Oxford Hall" or the multi-purpose building that it has in its backyard.  I can see this home being used by an artististic couple or young professionals who would appreciate a quirky old building.  The price has been dropped a few times because it has a unique set up but there are a lot of good bones to work with.

Grand porch in the front, which will be perfect for handing out Halloween candy to trick o' treaters in the fall

Front entrance hall, which has doorways to the three bedrooms located downstairs



The hall leads to the bright living room - I am already a big fan of the bookcases everywhere



The kitchen has a slightly industrial feel with the doorless cabinets but I rather like it



I like the dark accent wall by the breakfast area

One of the three simple bedrooms downstairs - notice the different wood floors from the rest of the downstairs living area

Upstairs "work" space with the fourth bedroom

Oxford Hall - you could hold some crazy large parties out in this building, which has its own half bath

Things I don't want... online edition

J. Crew typically pulls it out in grand fashion and has some classic yet modern looking items in its collection.  I can easily load up my online shopping cart with clothes and accessories and spend enough money there and at Madewell to boost their quarterly earnings.  Both retailers have a cultlike online following with blogs devoted just to the store and its merchandise.

However, this series below does not hit upon their "high" points.  The leather pleated pants actually are not plastic (if you can believe it) and are a new seasonal item for the fall.  They look even worse from behind (see jcrew.com).  And about the green and pink rhinestone feather belt, I'm having a hard time imagining where that would fit into anyone's wardrobe.  I actually thought it was a headband at first until I realized that wouldn't make sense either.  The pink tweed and khaki jacket on the bottom row as well as the cupcake bottom skirt don't do anyone's figure any favors, even the professional model.  That skirt makes her bottom look three times as large as I'm sure it really is.  And the kicker is all of these items are over $100 each - after the sale price!

I got a good chuckle out of all of these at 1 am last night while waiting for some work stuff to come through.  What is the ugliest thing that you've seen come across from a big retailer recently?

Recent read #22: Throne of Fire

It may seem as though I have hit a YA streak with the last two novels that I've posted about - I swear to you it's just timing of these posts.  I do read "adult" books intermittently as well.  Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan is the second in the Kane Chronicles series, which I believe is his weakest series.  He is the infamous Texan writer (he's a San Antonio native) who created the Lightening Thief series.  The Kane Chronicles follow the life of pre-teens / teenages Sadie and Carter as they discover that they descend from the pharoahs and possess magical Egyptian powers.  Then they have to go off and rescue their dad from the Egyptian gods and thus the series begins.  Perhaps this is part of growing up but I don't remember being quite the obnoxious teenager that Rick's characters always are or suffering through quite as dramatic of a love life as Rick's characters do.  I suppose that's what makes it YA though.  Regardless, if you want a quick snap up easy read, check out Rick Riordan's other series and then continue on to The Lost Hero, which I think is his best work yet.  This is no "Harry Potter" for all you HP heads out there, but the man has stumbled upon a winning formula for YA that he follows in all of his series but less blatantly in The Lost Hero.

Recent read #21: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I downloaded Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children before boarding a late night flight back home because the description was so interesting and the cover was so eerie.  I did not know it was a YA novel until I had gotten deeper into the story.  The main character Jacob is a disliked young man who grows up in a well-to-do family hearing wild adventure stories from his grandfather.  When said grandfather is killed by the "monster" who he references in these fantastical tales, Jacob decides that he will go and seek out the truth behind his grandfather's stories and in doing so, sets out on a grand adventure.  Jacob discovers that his grandfather grew up in a sort of orphanage, housing and protecting children of bizarre talents.  When the monsters follow him to the orphanage, he must make a decision that will change his life forever.  I may ruin it a teeny tiny bit here by telling you that this novel is the first in a series.  I was enthralled and honestly a little creeped out as I sat on the darkened plane.  The author has inserted throughout the book black and white old photographs of the "peculiar" children in their never smiling, awkward poses.  This series promises to be different, freaky and highly entertaining for those wanting an interesting adventure story.  And apparently 20th Century Fox has already closed on the rights for the screenplay so read it soon before a shoddy movie gets made out of it.

Have you been carded lately?

Sabrena just opened up her etsy shop, Dear Lola Letterpress, today and I happened to stumble upon it.   I'm sure I'll be placing my orders soon and below are some of my faves.  The muted simple colours and graceful design are just my kind of style.  Happy Friday!

Self restraining order

Tuesday is a big sale day in intranets land.  I'm not sure as to the reason why but today, j.crew started its additional 30% off sale "final" sale and anthropologie.com did its weekly "purge our cute inventory for less absurd of a price" sale.  And lastly, the shoes that I have been drooling over for the last few months went on a "pre-fall" sale, which is to say a slight discount, particularly after adding tax.  Truly, some retailer must be tracking my internet browser history and loading mad cookies on to my computer.

Ever since I became an online shopping addict (which coincidentally was at the same time I started working and my butt never left the office chair), I have had a difficult time paying full price for things.  However, that does not preclude me from spending a bunch of moneys on discounted items that I do not need.  You can say it has become a favourite pastime of mine.

Today could have easily become that day where I spent an unnecessary amount of moneys on items that would not be crucial to my next two months survival.  I could have bought that flashy gold bracelet with the fancy amber jewels.  I could have bought that navy blue wool skirt, of which I already have the same one in black.  I could have even bought those cute, round toe, camel patent shoes.  Or the multi-colour flowery dishtowel.  And on and on and on.  But I didn't.  Why?

Because, I am a grown up person and I have self-restraint.  I can budget and make rational decisions about what I do and do not need.  I am not a typical American consumer who swipes his/her credit cards at every object with a price tag and even those without.  I will not overload my closet (and Frenchie's) with clothes that I will wear once and I will save for my next vacation or for retirement. 

Or it's simply because things got busy at work and I didn't have enough time to place my order before all the items I wanted sold out.  Speaking of which, I'll restrain myself and save for this next purchase:

38mm Black IP Skywatch

It's on like donkey kong

That is the Super Mario character that my co-workers think best characterizes my personality and style.  Donkey Kong - the barrel hurtling, princess stealing big hairy ape.  Not cute Toad or squeezable Yoshi with his retractable tongue.  Not even clever, Italian Mario or Luigi.  DK.  As a result, I have a Donkey Kong figurine in my cube, facing off my neighbor Mario.  Which got me thinking and searching for plastic figurines on the intraweb and, lo and behold, I discovered an entire subculture of little plastic vinyl people.  Some of the guys were pretty adorkable - I could easily see myself spending over $50 on little plastic toys.

Tokidoki Unicorno

Bastardino (Yes that's really his name!)

Evil labbit by KidRobot

NBA Collector Series - They have a Dirk.  Too bad it's a blind box or else I would get my sister one

Mozzarella - head of The Moofia

O-No Green Sushi set

The CEO of Nike Mark Parker has a design background and his office is just littered with illustrations, shoes and of course, toys.  Personally, I would probably find it distracting, and not inspirational, to work in a space with so many different things to catch my eye.  And the office cleaning crew probably draws straws on who has to go in there to dust.  Pictures below are from http://www.solecollector.com/.

Do you have any items you collect and display proudly on your desk at work?  Or do you think that toys / collectibles / figurines are for kids?

One word: GOOLLLLLLLLLLL!

Have you been watching the Women's World Cup this summer?  Silly question, I know some of you might say, but I have not.  Until this past weekend.  I don't regularly watch soccer and I very rarely watch women's sports at all.  It's not because I have anything against women in sports, actually the complete opposite of that.  It's just not as widely televised as men's professional sports and when it's on, it's during the middle of the workday or the replay at midnight.  I also like sports like basketball and football better - games that can end in a draw at the end can be so unrewarding. 

But this weekend, I watched.  I watched the underdog Japanese team trounce on Germany, one of the cup's favourites to win as well as the host country's team, and Japan's solid goalie shut out every attempt that the German women made.  And I watched the US women overcome terrible officiating on two crucial plays against the technically solid Brazilian team, playing down a player for half the game, score a header in the last possible minutes to then win it in penalty kicks.  I think Frenchie and I might have scared his neighbors with all the yelling and screaming at around noon on Sunday.

This is an American team at it's finest.  If you think soccer or even women's soccer is boring, you've got to catch the game highlights.  Cheer for the US women as they play against France in Wednesday morning in the semifinals.

Recent read #19 - 20

One quite obvious tip I have for those of you who are eagerly awaiting new books to come out this summer is to check out the authors' previous works.  In reading about the hoopla behind Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took My Dog, I picked up her first novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum.  As it was released in 1997, I was able to find used, cheap versions online and could also get a sense of whether or not I would enjoy her writing style.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum is the story of the life of Ruby Lennox, from conception by her playboy father and perpetually unhappy mother, and examines the dynamics of her family.  She grows up in 1950's England with two older sisters, above the petshop that her family owns.  The novel examines the honest and sometimes dark feelings that family members have toward one another - the resent of the mother toward her children and the life of a housewife, the jealousy of a child toward a sibling.  In addition, there are flashbacks of Ruby's ancestors that slowly unravel the family history for the reader, although the flashbacks are only the appetizers and side dishes to the main course of Ruby's life. 

I enjoy buying books.  I like new books, used books, ex-library books, books that have fallen apart and need to be rubber-banded or taped back together again.  I also enjoy e-books for one simple reason.  When I travel, I spend 90% of my time on a plane and in the airport terminal reading.  More often than not, I will finish one and spend the next 30 minutes browsing the airport bookstores for something interesting that will last the return flight home.  With an e-book, particularly an e-book bookstore, I have my wishlist tagged and can download the next book I want in the matter of seconds.  Sometimes, the books on my wishlist are not "airplane reading material" (I'll explain that at a later date) and that is how I found The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Shaffert. 

What a delightful little book it turned out to be.  What caught me was the online dustjacket - the main character of the story is Essie Myles, an 83-year old obituary writer.  Essie, or "S" by her great-granddaughter, is old, ancient even, and lives in a small town where she pens the obituary section for the local newspaper.  She is a spunky and lively character and refuses to believe that old age means provides one with any dignity or rest.  The events of the small town drive its characters into different adventures and side plots.  However mainly the book for me developed and presented the character of someone who is old but refuses to abide by her age.  If I am lucky enough to reach the ripe old age of 83, I wish to have the energy and attitude of Essie.

Truly, I cannot stay awake anymore

Gods, sleep!

It takes me two shots of espresso to make it through the morning and the afternoons and evening are just a disaster.  Just take me to bed.

Sir Tommy Bahama has a restaurant?!

A few weeks ago, Frenchie and I went to go visit our friends who had moved out to the 'burbs.  Correction, they moved from the 'burbs to the outer 'burbs.  To the might-as-well-be-in-the-next-major-city 'burbs.  And that's saying a lot, living in Texas.  In any case, the city that they moved to is approximately 45 minutes to an hour from the City and has built out its own little microcosm of shopping centers, bars and restaurants.  We stopped by their beautiful GINORMOUS custom built home and then headed out to dinner.  And imagine, to my surprise, when we pulled up at this place.  Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar and Clothier!

I could not believe it - Sir Tommy Bahama is a restauranteur as well???  I was even more amazed when we walked through the racks of tropical clothing and into a full size, full service bar, complete with old man musician on a stage in the corner, crooning oldies.  We literally brought the average age of the patrons at that establishment down 20 - 30 years.  Through the dark, wood paneled bar (I swear there was a large plastic marlin hanging from a wall somewhere) was the rest of the restaurant, which was decorated and furnished in typical Floridian fashion.  The restaurant menu was, unsurprisingly, focused on seafood made to seem more exotic with the addition of fruit and coconut.  The drink menu had a surprisingly large selection of cocktails as well and they made a pretty mean mai tai.  Our party ordered an appetizer tower, several different fish and crab cake dishes and some seafood pasta dishes.  Overall, no one has any complaints about the food or drinks, however the price point of the plates and cocktails were that of a non-chain, higher end dining establishment in the City.  And those places don't close at 10 pm either. 

We made our trek back home later that night, which got us back at around 1 am, and silently, during the car ride, I gave thanks for living in the City.