Hooray!

My Sis and W. got engaged a few weeks ago! We had a celebratory/Easter dinner.

Today is Sister's birthday! Wishing her a very happy one!

Cake from Dufflet.

Holidaying and Celebrating

Toes that match a Christmas cactus! How does the plant know exactly when to bloom?

I was well behaved and didn't buy a thing on Boxing Day. Roamed around in the mobs of people with the family and J.Mo too. Other than that, I have spent the past few days chilling out at my parents' place, eating treats, watching movies and painting toes.

Today is my Grandmother's 97th birthday! Pretty amazing! We had a nice celebration! Mmm... I am still savouring the delicious lobster.

Dinner under the trees

Last night I caught up with my dear friend E. at our usual dinner spot, Terroni on Queen. I love these warm evenings that have nary a hint of chill in the air. Perfect evenings for dining al fresco!

E. and I met back in the day when she joined our school in Grade 13. We bonded over lots of 18 year old laughter and maybe a wee bit of shopping and a few cheeseburgers. Our birthdays are one day apart, E. being one day older than me, and so we went out for a belated celebration.

We both made cards using Japanese masking tape! (These are cuter without smudges over E.'s name!) She gave me a super cute mani kit to complement my new polishes! How thoughtful! Looking forward to meeting up again soon!

Obsessed with Diana

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My Sister got me the Diana F+ Aviator camera for my birthday. It's not the same colours as the model above, but is just as cute... or in fact cuter! A toy camera is something that I have wanted for a while, but would never buy for myself! So, now I am obsessed with finding out more about the camera and whether I should use 120 film or convert it to accommodate 35mm or exchange the camera for the Diana Mini that uses 35mm... Any suggestions? Any way about it, I'm excited to take pictures the old fashioned way!

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Yesterday

Yesterday was my birthday. I was trying to avoid it, but have nice friends that would not let me! A. treated me to brunch where I feasted on fried chicken and waffles at the Drake. Yup, that's right! It turns out that fried chicken and waffles are quite tasty!
Then she baked some delicious cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing loaded with delightfully super tacky sprinkles.
In the evening we gathered a group of super friends and my Sister at The Emmet Ray! We enjoyed a fun evening filled with good company, savoury eats and good times. I had a great day! Thanks to everyone for coming through despite last minute planning... and for being too kind!

Holiday 2009 and Grandma's 96th Birthday

Hope everyone enjoyed a nice holiday. We spent Christmas Eve feasting at L. and J.'s in Burlington, Christmas day feasting at my parents' place and then the past two days feasting in restaurants while shopping like maniacs. Not as many deals to be had as other years, but I did manage to cover a lot of ground and pick up a couple things. My Mom got me this yummy Foley + Corrina City Tote on super sale at Specchio for a Christmas present. I can't seem to have enough handbags and shoes. Tomorrow I need to do a purge in the closet so I don't feel so bad!

I went nuts with raffia and kraft paper bags this year, but I did wrap a couple boxes in proper wrapping paper.

Here are a couple nice trees spotted around town. Above is a tree of lights in Cumberland Park in the heart of Yorkville and below is the shimmering Swarovski crystal tree at the Eaton Centre.

Today is our Grandmother's 96th birthday! Here I am with cute Gran just before the dinner celebration and before my camera battery gave out. I'll have to wait for everyone else's photos with more family. She's wearing a faux pearl and Swarovski crystal necklace that I made her. It goes with a matching ring and bracelet. It seems a lot of her jewels have gone missing at her retirement home, so she needed some new gems! The necklace looked lovely with her new sweater from Aunt I.!

Another year older...

This is a bit late, but I wanted to thank my dear friends and fam for all the well wishes when I turned yet another year older a few days ago.  I am now firmly planted in my mid-30's...  and I have no idea how it crept up on me so quickly! 

I received some really nice books from my sister.  One was Lena Corwin's "Printing by Hand" and the other was a book called "Softies" by Therese Laskey.  I'm looking forward to reading these.

Aunt L. gave me these fabulous vintage finds.  Pictured above is the most amazing beach bag I have ever seen and two perfect FireKing jadeite bowls.

On my birthday, I went on a cross-border shopping/road trip to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, NY with S. and A.  We had a great day roaming around looking for deals.  Here is a picture of an entire cabinet of skunks of all sorts that we found at a thrift shop.  I could not resist snapping a photo!