Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Festival of Lights


Tonight we went to the Festival of Lights in Kensington.  This celebration marks the beginning of winter, and involves the age-old human tradition of setting fire to stuff and watching it burn.

Also, I finally bought a nice digital camera.  (It takes non-blurry pics too!  I just slowed it down so the fire would look cooler)




Friday, July 08, 2011

Monday, June 27, 2011

Weekend

On Friday evening we went grocery shopping, and then made milk tarts.

On Saturday I went to the gym. As usual, there were some totally crazy fitness type people there, including a guy doing some insane upside-down workout on the pull-up bar.

Afterwards, we made an apple pie and a strawberry-rhubarb pie, for an afternoon pie party in celebration of my 34th birthday.

On Sunday, we went to mass at Newman. That afternoon we did laundry and groceries.

And that's about it.

Monday, June 20, 2011

weekend

Remember when I updated this blog?

On Friday evening we went to the opening for Joy Broadbent's excellent show of new paintings. You should definitely see it if you can. Afterwards we went to 3 Speed with Laura, Christine and Josiah.

On Saturday we did a massive pile of laundry. The laundromat was more full of crazy people than normal. We also stopped by the library and Cold Stone Creamery while the laundry was doing its thing.

In the afternoon, Leah went to St John's to play music for a service. Afterwards, I met her, Andrew, and the Woods at the Landsdowne Cone, for more icecream. That evening, we went to No Frills, and then later we rented and watched the Justin Bieber documentary.

On Sunday morning, I biked to the AMC at Yonge and Dundas, to catch the weekend matinee ($6) of Xmen. That afternoon, we bought some groceries at the bulk store, and some plants at the Dufferin Mall garden centre, from a guy who looked like a biker/sound man.

That evening, we went to see Digable Planets at Dundas Square.

And that was the weekend.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Monday, May 16, 2011

weekend

Friday night - we went to Sanctuary to see the play, Wonderful.
Saturday - brunch with Dylan and Andrew. That afternoon/evening we went to Laura Wood's birthday party, which was fun.
Sunday - mass, laundry, rented a movie...

Friday, May 13, 2011

new painting

Check out this bad iPod cam pic of my new painting...

Monday, May 09, 2011

Monday

Here's the weekend update...

By Friday of last week I was totally exhausted. We had a busy week and I stayed up a little too late every night...
We went and rented the Godfather II, and stopped in at Freedom Clothing on the way, since they were having an opening of drawings and jewellery...

On Saturday, I met Dylan for brunch, and then did laundry in the afternoon. That evening we went for a walk, since the weather is finally getting better.

On Sunday morning, we went to FT, for a baby dedication service. Afterwards we went to Maggies for brunch with the Woods...

That afternoon, I went to the gym, and then that evening I spent 3 or 4 hours trying to get the !@$%$^%# XP 'antispyware' 2011 virus off of our laptop... I think I managed to get rid of it, but there might still be some stuff messed up with our registry as a result. Whoever makes this stuff, congratulations on making the world a worse place.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Crazy Week

This week has been a weird one - between the tornado in my once-upon-a-time home town, the death of Osama Bin Laden (and the terrifying and embarrassing rejoicing that ensued), the royal wedding spectacle, and now a minority of Canadians electing a Conservative majority (one day I will need to try to figure out how the Canadian parliamentary system works...)
And the whole long-form birth certificate thing, which looks embarrassingly like plain old fashioned racism...

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ringgold





Last night the town that my family lived in when we moved to the USA was hit by a tornado. That first video is shot by a guy I graduated highschool with (and the first other Trent I think I ever met).

The damage looks insane. Our old house has long been replaced by a car dealership, but the neighbours' house looks like it was totally destroyed in that overhead video footage.

A motel (I think it's the one my brother worked at in highschool) collapsed, and the strip of restaurants and gas stations off of the highway looks pretty devastated.




The images and video are surreal to see, and last night I kept checking facebook and reading peoples' status updates as they took shelter in basements and worried about family and friends.

Monday, April 25, 2011

easter weekend

The weekend was long and eventful.

On Thursday, I biked straight from work to Sonic Boom Records, where Ron Sexsmith was playing a few songs before his show in Toronto. I also found copies of the White Stripes record store day 7" reissues of their first two singles, which had just come in that day. After seeing Ron play, I went to the gym.

On Friday, we went to Lisa's for weekly morning coffee/artists' meeting. We also went to a Good Friday mass at Newman. That evening we went for a long walk through the annex and Yorkville.

On Saturday I went to the Golden Diner for weekly brunch/bible study. Afterwards, I went to the AGO and looked at their (very small and rather sad) collection of Emily Carr paintings (I recently read a biography and wanted to see some of her work), and at the Henry Moore collection. That evening we went to the Easter Vigil, and celebrated both Easter and Leah's initiation into the Catholic church.

On Sunday we walked to High Park and back, did some laundry, and then, that evening, we rented Raging Bull. Neither of us had seen it, and I am still trying to understand it (and also what about it is considered so great!). In a lot of ways, I found it difficult to relate to. The acting is great, and the filming technique is remarkable, but I found the plot less accessible than I expected...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Weekend?

It's Wednesday, so here's the weekend update...

On Friday night we went to Freedom Clothing for the opening of their art show, Characters. I have 4 drawings in the show, which you can check out for the rest of the month.

On Saturday, I went to the Golden Diner for brunch, and then for the rest of the weekend, I pretty much slept...

On Monday, I stayed home. I have been sort of sick, and I finally decided to take a day off. I lay around and read and watched DVDs.

Yesterday, I came back to work... which was fine, although I am still really, really tired.

Monday, April 04, 2011

Busy Weekend

On Friday night I took transit out to Ikea in Etobicoke, to pick up some picture frames. I have a few drawings that are going to be in a group show at the Freedom Clothing Collective store. When I got home we assembled the hanging clothes apparatus that was kindly donated to us by Christine, and it is the closest thing to a real wardrobe/closet that we have ever had...
On Saturday I went to meet Dylan and Andrew for brunch/bible study, and then to David and Jen's for a visit and to pick up our bicycles. Afterwards, I did some laundry, and then we went to Sonic Boom to see the Raveonettes play a few songs... (which was surprisingly underwhelming).
That night I framed pictures, and realized that one of my Ikea frames was missing the little package of hardware, which I had to steal from the old picture frame in the entry hallway.
On Sunday morning I went to the gym, and then Leah and I went to Sam James for coffee.
That afternoon I went down to the AGO to pick up our membership cards. I also went in to the museum for about an hour.
And then last night I worked on another drawing, which will be traded as my gallery-fee-in-kind...

Monday, March 28, 2011

weekend

Not too much to report from the weekend...
Did some laundry, went to the gym, started on tax forms, and finally saw Black Swan (which, by the way, did not quite live up to the hype...)

Monday, March 21, 2011

weekend

On Friday I went to pick up a camera that I am borrowing to photograph some drawings and paintings. Afterwards, Leah and I went to eat at the black horse pub.
On Saturday I met Dylan and Dan for weekly brunch and bible talk. I spent most of the afternoon photographing stuff with mild success. Jen's camera is great, but the lighting in our living room is far from ideal for taking pictures. That evening we went out for Nicaraguan food with the McGhees.
On Sunday, Leah and I went to Sam James for coffee. It was the first time in a long while, and appropriately coincided with the official (not actual) first day of Spring.
Afterwards, I went to the gym and Leah went to mass.
That afternoon we helped Christine move stuff into her new apartment. There were a lot of helpers, so it was relatively painless and fun. We also met some of her family, including a very cute neice and nephew.
Last night we watched most of Lisbon Story. We didn't make it to the end...

Monday, March 14, 2011

Busy

Hello everybody!
Here's what happened on the weekend.
On Friday night we (Your Heart) played a show at the Crown and Tiger, in the sketchy basement Tiger Bar. It was put on by a bunch of Ryerson students who are raising money to travel down to New Orleans, where they are planning to help with ongoing Katrina/oil spill recovery efforts. The crowd was YOUNG! and super into it, so it was fun.
On Saturday, I had my usual brunch with Dylan. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping, and then that evening we went to the Hub, to see Jessica Stuart play a small CMW show.
On Sunday we went to mass, and then went swimming in the AC pool. That night we stopped by Freechurch for the end of the service, and then went to the Woods' place for dinner.
The end.

Monday, March 07, 2011

weekend

Here's the weekend update (for all the die-hards and RSS feeders)

Friday night..? I think we did laundry on Friday night.
Saturday... I met Dylan for brunch. That evening we rented Let Me In, which is the American remake of Let the Right One In. I really liked the Swedish version, and had read good things about this remake. As it turns out, it is almost the EXACT same movie... which means it was good, but sort of strange.
On Sunday we went to church at the Meeting House. Leah had to go to a service for a school assignment. If you don't know about this place, it is the Toronto church that meets in in the Scotiabank movie theatre. The sermon is in HD (which I am told is better than non-HD sermons). It actually seemed like a pretty decent place (although it is weird to feel like you should be eating popcorn).
That afternoon I went to the gym at U of T. I am trying to make my 4 month alumni membership worthwhile, so I have to figure out a regular schedule of gym-going - which is weird for me.
Afterwards I did groceries, and worked on some drawing that evening.
That is all.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

consumer

In my opinion, The King's Speech is a good movie, and a fun one to watch.
Also, The Last Picture Show is maybe a better movie, although more depressing. Strangely, it reminded me of Saturday Night Fever.
And, I finally bought the Age of Adz album. I couldn't get into the Illinoise as much as a lot of people - we shall see how this one hits me...

Monday, February 14, 2011

who is the arcade fire?

This weekend...
On Friday night I went to feed D&J's lizard after work, and then we went to the Woods' for dinner.
On Saturday - I met Dylan for brunch, and then we did laundry in the afternoon. Fed the lizard again... and then we went to the El Mocambo for a Your Heart show. Turns out that Mike was sick, so we played without a drummer, which was not part of the plan, but went pretty well anyway.
On Sunday, Leah went to meet some people for class, and then had RCIA. I went to the Junction, and then stopped in at No Frills. Fed the lizard (I had to go and buy him some more worms, so first I stopped in to visit the strange reptile store people).

Monday, February 07, 2011

Weekend

Here's the weekend update...

Friday - laundry date
Saturday - I met Dylan for brunch. That afternoon we went to visit a friend from work and his family, which was fun. That night we had sushi and watched a movie with Christine and Josiah (Songs from the Second Floor... strange)
On Sunday we went to mass. Afterwards, Leah had to meet people for school. I rearranged some stuff in the living room, and then made dinner. That night I roamed around the Annex in the snow while L worked on a paper.

Monday, January 31, 2011

weekend

Friday - I went to the Interior Design Show after work. I was tired, so I wondered through the kitchens and bathrooms like a zombie. Afterwards, I met Leah at Regis for their CultureFest.

On Saturday, we went over to D&J's for breakfast. Becky Hubble was staying with them for the weekend, since she was in town for Come Up to My Room...
Later we went grocery shopping, and then that evening, we went to LL's birthday party.

On Sunday, we went to Ping Pong and bought a table for Leah to use as a desk. Afterwards, she had to meet some people to work on school stuff, so I went to Come Up to My Room, and to some galleries, and to Ideal Coffee.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Weekend

We got a lot done this weekend, although most of it felt like a struggle.
I managed to get the living room painted (1 coat on Saturday and 1 on Sunday), which is amazing. I was expecting to need 3 coats to cover the dark brown that we had previously used, but 2 looks great.
Also - we stopped in at a travel agent to book a trip to some beach-type resort during Leah's reading week. Turns out that such a trip during such a week costs roughly twice what we expected (oh, that's the price PER PERSON?!)... So if anybody has any clever ideas of places to go on the cheap to get away from the -20C weather, let me know...
Leah did tonnes of reading and writing while I painted.
Also, Starving Artist on Sunday was delicious, although frustratingly busy. We were poised to jump the larger groups waiting in line ahead of us, when a party of four decided to split into 2 parties of 2 and took up all the small tables... There was almost a waffle riot...

Monday, January 17, 2011