Dice & Dishes

More and more of our spare time these days seems to be dedicated to playing games.  German board games to be specific.  On top of regular Sunday night get-togethers, we’ve been known to have a few friends over spur of the moment for a few rounds of Dr. Pepper and some some serious play.  Such was the case on Saturday night.

boardgamegeek.com gives Settlers of Catan a 7.53 (which is actually a pretty good score).  More importantly than any score, it should be noted that we have good good friends, this is probably the thing that I will miss most about Toronto if we move.

I also wanted to take a moment to celebrate a local Toronto business, William Ashley China.  Visiting William Ashley is like visiting Candy Land.  It is a place where beautiful dishes line the walls and table after table of the most magnificent settings extend for as far as the eye can see.  We received nothing but the best service when we registered there last winter and yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with them to ‘reconcile’ our purchases.  It was, as always, delightful.  Here is a sneak peek of our place setting.

Pretty, eh?  We couldn’t be happier.

Au revoir,
k*

Treasure Toronto || Walks Through High Park

I want to apologize to my one follower, Jessi Linn, for having neglected my blog these last six months.  Surprise, surprise, the wedding took more of me than I thought it would.  It was perfect, and many many pictures will follow when things get a little calmer around here.  With the blessed event only three or so weeks behind us, things are changing quickly.  Most surprisingly, there is a possibility that my husband and I will be moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba in the near future.  Nothing is for certain but the possibility is definitely out there.  In preparation for this, I’m going to try to capture a few of things I love about Toronto.  Toronto is an amazing, amazing city and I don’t take as much advantage of it as I should (there are a lot of ‘maybe next weekend, I’m tireds’ around here).  So, today, a nice leisurely walk through High Park.

Perhaps not the best picture but I couldn’t have been happier when this friendly gang of about twenty or so goth-punks came and set up their picnic near to ours.  I grabbed a picture of them chatting with one another about how loud they could play their eerie music without disturbing any of the families playing in the area.  I love this about Toronto!  Everyone has a place.

Au revoir,
k*

Blessings … #3:Girl Brunch

Once a month, I drag my sorry but out of bed and out the door before 10am on Sunday morning.  Weekend mornings are very precious to me …  I love sleeping in as long as possible, wandering around the house in my pyjamas for as long as possible, and generally answering to no one for as long as possible (usually until 5pm when I manage to get myself down to church).  But there is one reason, and one reason only, that would prompt me to break the cycle and get rolling on a Sunday morning and that thing is Girl Brunch.  Girl Brunch is a sacred time where, over eggs and muffins, four of my closest friends and I share everything from the colour of our underwear that day to our deepest and darkest fears to the source of our hope and inspiration to that funny story about our partner and the breakdancing to the art project that’s got us all fired up that week.  We talk.  And, we laugh.  We laugh a lot.  We met ages ago while working on a peice of theatre based on some poetry my father had written and we’ve been doing brunch off and on for a few years now.  I often picture us meeting around the table as little old ladies years and years from now.  I dearly hope this vision proves prophetic.

Today’s brunch was particularly charming as our lovely faux-French-Canadian hostess dubbed her apartment the ‘Cabane a secure’ or the ‘Sugar Shack.’  The theme was maple syrup and there was lot’s of it …

After brunch I wandered through Christie Pitts park which is near my house and basked in the sunlight.  It’s probably still a little too cold and windy to declare that ‘spring is here’ but, with the sun beaming like it was today, I know that we’re close.  In order to prove this point, I threw my stuff on a nearby bench and attempted to plow through the last few chapters of the Time Traveller’s Wife for Book Club which is this week …

Now it’s time to clean my apartment because my lovely cousin is coming to town this Thursday!

What I’m listening to +++ Ongiara by Great Lake Swimmers +++ and liking.

Au revior,
k*

Two

I just found this card that Tim gave to me last summer when we celebrated our two year anniversary.  I am a lucky girl …

Happiness.

Au revoir,
k*

Wedding > Scrapbook

When I announced to my friends that Tim and I were engaged, what felt like douzens of recently married girlfriends showed up at my house with warm congratulations and wedding magazines … stacks and stacks of wedding magazines … some they had purchased, some they had inherited, and all of which they were ready to pass along to me.  Although grateful for their love and support, I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by these ‘helpful’ publications.  Not only did they occupy most of my kitchen, they took up quite a lot of my head-space and served to, well, stress me right out.  In an effort to free myself from the strain, I decided to flip through them all, pull out anything that seemed remotely interesting, beautiful, useful and throw it all into a scrapbook for future consideration.  This has actually turned out to be quite therapeutic and I am so very pleased with the results …

It’s sure to make a lovely keepsake.  Thank you to my generous girlfriends for inspiring this creative activity.

Au revoir,
k*

The Great Purge

Every time I get a photo in the mail, I throw it up on the fridge.  For a long time, I thought these postcards were cheesy and silly but, after a few years up there, I’ve had something of a change of heart.  Although probably still not my thing, I’ve learned to love the sweet and simple reminders of my friends of loved ones.  So much, in fact, that I let these delightful photos overthrow the fridge.  From top to bottom, every inch was covered with smiling kids, holiday greetings, and wedding thank-yous.  Tim, who does the bulk of the cooking around my place and therefore has to deal with the five or so pictures and magnets that inevitably fall off when the fridge door closes, threatened to throw them all away if I didn’t clean things up a bit.  And, so, the great purge!  Here is what remains,  a meager tribute …

But rest assured that I plan to add.  Abundantly.

Au revoir,
k*

Wedding > Bridesmaid Dresses Part II

We’ve been to Buffalo and back and in and out and in and out of changerooms but it was all well worth it because I am pleased to report that I have found the bridesmaid dresses, thanks to my wonderful maid-of-honour.  I’m going to wait until after the big day to post pictures but in the meantime I would like to share a few pieces of the process.

From the Tim Horton’s in booming Tonawanda …

The great disappointment …

A lovely friend who’s agreed to do the alterations …

We are definitely getting there.

Au revoir,
k*

Starting*

A ‘congratulations’ card for my sister-in-law who is rocking a new job.  It’s a small start but creative none-the-less.

Au revoir,
k*

Wedding > Bridesmaid Dresses

I was sort-of hoping for a bridesmaid dress miracle this weekend when Tim’s sister and I hit the streets looking for the perfect thing.  I’ve been putting it off for a while now because I know it’s going to be hard to find something that I like, that everyone else likes, that has a vintage tie-in, that is affordable, and that isn’t from a bridesmaid dress store (something about authentic bridesmaids dresses annoys me).  I knew the chances of our just finding ‘it’ this weekend were slim, but I was hopeful nonetheless.  Alas, no direct hits.

There were bits and peices that I liked but nothing blew me over.  There is one dress that I found on the internet that makes me really happy but for some reason it’s not avalable on line and the closest store is in Buffalo.  Maybe I can convince my maid of honour to take a roadtrip down there with me and check it out?!

Au revoir,
*k

Wedding > Invitation Bliss

Well friends, it’s been a long week.  Because this blog is designed to encourage ‘glass half full’  thinking, I won’t spend any time elaborating on how the people at the invitation store sold us envelopes that were too small for our invitations or the fact that the postal worker I was dealing with insisted that it would cost $1.18 to send each invitation when it has since been confirmed that 52 cents or whatever it is these days would have sufficed.  No, no.  Instead, I will share with you my absolute delight at having finished the whole invitation process.  I am delighted!  So delighted that I decided to personally deliver the very first one to my good friend Courtney.  She was kind enough to hear the whole story over a glass of wine and, so, the rest of you will be spared.

I feel like the wedding is really happening now and I couldn’t be more excited!  Special thanks to my dad for his guiding hand through the weekend crises.

Au revoir,
k*