After rearranging a bunch of furniture, and getting rid of a REALLY ugly dresser that we were using as linen storage, I was feeling peckish and decided on peanut butter and banana on a few crackers.

What a relaxing day today is! It's sunny and windy, but a little chilly. I sat outside for a bit, but it was just too cold to really enjoy it.

For dinner I had pasta with tomato sauce, cheese on top and a slice of toast with butter. Does anyone else love the taste of buttered toast with pasta?

I'm feeling inspired to make my oatmeal more interesting so tomorrow I might ride my bike over to Akhavan for some yummy snacks and sour cherries.

We headed to Ikea to pick up a dresser for the living room to put our *new* tv on. I just spent 2 hours putting it together and already scratched it. Let this be the record: I am never shopping at Ikea again.

Lunch was leftover grilled vegetable salad from yesterday, bbq chicken and another glass of icy lemony water and then an iced coffee (not pictured).

I woke up at about 7:30 this morning and stayed in bed for about 20 minutes before I decided I'd better get started on Day 1 of becoming Kath. I did the first 30 minutes of the Basic Flow on my Yoga Shakti DVD then checked my blog feed. Dana's already posted, and what a post! She's really captured Kath. I felt inspired to get going even more so I swept and mopped the living room, hall, bathroom and dining room. Hearing all the noise, Mark asked what was going on and then wanted to know why I didn't turn this into Michelle Eats and do it all the time. Which is when I told him to go back to sleep or I'd punch him in the face; I think I was channeling Sylvana there more than Kath. 

Feeling incredulous that I was so productive without even my first cup of coffee, I got started on breakfast.

I'd put a banana in the freezer last night, intending to make smoothies this morning.

The mix for two servings:

- 1 banana

- 1/2 cup raspberries

- 2 tbsp hemp protein

- 1 1/2 cups of soy milk

Plus a coffee (no half decaf here my friend), whole-wheat toast with peanut butter and jam and a glass of cool lemony water. Now, Mark and I will actually clean the kitchen before we head out for the day instead of leaving it until....ooooh, sometime next week. Ciao!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery I guess

Due to our current, unhealthy one might say, obsession with a certain blog, Dana and I have decided to live for a week as said blog's writer. Her constant optimism, immaculate home, cute bowls and tiny bites of baked goods are starting to wear us down so instead of turning bitter, we'll walk a few miles in her shoes and see if our homes too can be without clutter, if our oatmeal can be as filling, if it's really possible to do an easy 20 minutes on the elliptical at 5am.

The guidelines are as follows:

1. no junk food for a week (or just little bites)

2. lots of good food, especially raw food

3. clean our houses and keep them clean

4. 1/2 hour min of exercise every day

5. blog about the food we eat every day

6. use place mats and buy fresh flowers

While that may seem like a mish-mash of rules, we think we've captured the true Kath-ness of Kath. We think living as Kath for a week will make us as upbeat as she is. 

In this spirit, I have downloaded a trial version of Post-it Digital to keep track of my to-do lists and have I ever got lots to do!

Tonight:

- relax

Tomorrow:

- wake up at 6am to do yoga

- sweep and mop the whole apartment

- quick trip to Ikea to buy a dresser

- 30 minutes on the elliptical

- throw away all the clutter

Last year, Mark, his brother David and I biked the Tour de l'Ile, a 50km bike ride with about 30 000 people, for the first time and we couldn't have picked a worse year to do it. The weather was awful! WET WET WET. The first hour was grey, but cool enough that the ride was enjoyable, but then it started raining and didn't stop. It was miserable, but we biked the whole thing and I got to see parts of Montreal that I'd never seen before. I also got more wet than I ever have before.

This year the Tour de l'Ile is celebrating its 25th year and we plan to bike it again! I'm especially excited to see that the route is a different one than last year. This year's route is one familiar to me as big parts of it run West along the canal and then back East along the river. Can't wait!

Something I have been keeping track of in a paper journal, but not in this blog are Mark and my "10 Great Dates". Now, listen here:

Mark's very generous and thoughtful mother put together a huge box of individually wrapped gifts, each relating to a great date from the book "10 Great Dates Before You Say I Do"*. The idea is to read each date's chapter, do the exercises as homework, open the accompanying gift and discuss the chapter's theme during a date. 

I would never have thought I would take part in something like this, but when someone is thoughtful enough to put such a wonderful package together just for us, I can't resist.

And so, on to Date #1:

On Easter Sunday Eve, we cracked open the book and read the first chapter: Sharing Hopes, Dreams and Expectations. The exercise was to rate from 1 to 5, eight important areas to a couple: commitment and security, companionship and friendship, sexuality and sensuality, affection and tenderness, encouragement, intellectual closeness, mutual activity and building a family. The next day,  we went to the Eggspectation** in the Old Port for breakfast and discussed. 

After having been together for a little over 6 years and having lived together for about 4, we have already shared our hopes and dreams many, many times. However, we've never explicitly (ok, maybe during a few fights over the years) discussed our expectations of each other and it was insightful to focus on this part of the date. The gift Mark's mother chose for Date #1 was a journal and pen, both of which we decided to use to keep track of each date, i.e. write a few notes, attach the homework and where the date took place. I think it'll be funny to look back on this journal in 15 or 20 years and see what we thought of our relationship just 6 years in.

Stay tuned for Date #2!

*For the record, Mark and I are not about to  say I do. 

** Man oh  man has Eggspectation ever gone downhill! That's my last visit for sure!

After everything that I've been doing since I last posted (Freaky Friday, March Break, Easter, The Class, Miroir Noir screening that I barely attended, 9 weeks left in the school year! + M. Ward show to look forward to!) two really funny things stick out.

1. HAPPY EASTER GUS! What a hat! Apparently this is normal in Australia. Email me, I'll show you the videos.

2. I got a parcel notice addressed to Willow Paquette! The lady at the post office had a laugh about that. She didn't even question me when I told her Willow is my cat, even though I had to show her picture I.D. to get the parcel that was addressed to me (an Etsy treat). Willow's enjoying her Feline Greenies Dental Treats as I type.

There's a party in my house and it's only 6:30 Wednesday night. Sheesh. Someone's making salad, someone's playing upright bass, someone's waiting for pizza, a few other people are loitering and Willow's sticking close to me.

This past weekend I had two great friends visit me from far away. With one, I did the ultimate Montreal bagel taste test and had a Fairmount bagel, walked a few blocks and had a St Viateur bagel. I'll say that Fairmount had a line out the door, but St Viateur sold individual-sized cream cheeses. Guess which bagel won (in both my and my friend's opinion)?

Then we had drinks at Dieu du Ciel where we monopolized Bruno the bartender: he is 31, is in police school, used to be a chef and spends all his time studying. 

Then we all went to Gibby's in the old port where I dined on shrimp cocktail! lobster tail! veal! wine! cosmopolitans! and had our picture taken by Mona, our waitress.

Then we all went back to the W Hotel which is OVERRATED! I'd never been inside and was excited to see what all the hype was about. While the outside looks like a mental hospital, the inside looks like someone wondered, "How many totally awesome neon light and water installations can I fit in one mental hospital?" and then fit as many awful neon light and water installations in it. 

Then I went home.

About my last post, Margaret commented, "okay, not to be the voice of doom and gloom here, but I heard the other day that historically, Montreal gets 23% of its annual snowfall in March, and March is only half over. I'm just saying...enjoy the moment." BUT I DON'T BELIEVE IT! 

Do you do an annual spring cleaning? I love spring cleaning but haven't felt the tug of the garbage bags strongly enough yet. I love throwing stuff out (or donating or recycling, etc).

Some more M. Ward...

The weather is GORGEOUS! I pulled the plastic off one of my living room windows and opened the window wide to let in some much-needed fresh air!

What a beautiful day today! I didn't find myself at the Expo Manger Santé this weekend like I thought I would, but rather waiting for Mark to come home and then off to dinner at my brother's house where we had a delicious dinner made exquisite with homemade coconut ice cream topped with spiced rum fresh off my sister-in-law's cruise in the Caribbean. Delicious!

Today we took advantage of the sun and walked to one our favourite breakfast places, and I just dined on some of Mark's best pizza yet.

I have just discovered TED and I think I'm one of the last to do so. Everyone keeps posting links to TED talks on Facebook and I finally clicked on one to see what it was all about. If you have 20 minutes to spare, go to TED and learn something!

...and how can a man like me remain in the light...

The second love of my life is coming to Montreal! Oh M Ward! I can't wait!

I need to get back on the blogging bandwagon here! After finding out that my cousin reads (how nice!) I feel I should be more diligent!

I just polished off a piece of toast with peanut butter and it was sadly disappointing. Why? Because I'm back to the same old-same old PC Just Peanuts stuff instead of the delicious (DELICIOUS) Trader Joe's peanut butter my parents brought back from the U.S. Man oh man, if you get a chance to buy Trader Joe's peanut butter, do it. It'll change you.

Yes, my parents are back from Australia and can't stop talking about how wonderfully warm and beautiful it is. They are in LOVE with Sydney and I'm in love with the macadamia nuts, Cadbury's milk chocolate and, although not from Australia, the above mentioned Trader Joe's peanut butter - all of which are gone, gone, gone.

This weekend, the Expo Manger Santé is happening in Montreal - maybe I'll find some nice peanut butter there. Until then, I hope you enjoy your glass of scotch after work tonight as much as I will!

Lately, I've been lamenting the lack of variety in food available in Canada. Maybe it's because I shop at Loblaws too much. But one does get tired of having a choice between Liberte and Sugar-and-Chemical-Laden yogurt. Until I found the brand Damafro at Segals.

Ah, there was a time I lived in Plateau and could walk to Segals - that bastion of CHEAP groceries and weird brands. I went there the other day at Mark's insistence, and he's never even lived in the Plateau. I found 3 individually sized Damafro (never even heard of Damafro, perfect!) yogurts with real sugar, real fruit and real yogurt for 1$.

My public service announcement to you is: buy your yogurt at Akhavan's. They have this kind of deli counter with too many kinds of fresh yogurt, it's to die for. Damafro's consistency is like something so disgusting, I won't even type it here because my mother reads this blog and I don't want to offend.

I am feeling more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning than many a morning before. I have the popular children's song "Sally the Camel" in my head and timed my morning shower to the length of the song.

Mark made almond milk last night and I added some to my coffee - delish! I should have taken pictures, he was pretty chuffed!

Have you ever had an Irish Moss? It's the best drink ever and make of the weirdest stuff ever, including at least a half a pound of Irish Moss, a seaweed from the Atlantic Ocean.

Not only is Irish Moss (the drink) deliciously sweet and creamy, it's a popular aphrodisiac!

Check out your local Jamaican grocery and buy some now!

Or make your own. I'm pretty sure they do at Bon Appetit Des Caraibes and they're right on Notre Dame at Atwater, go!!

Happy Candlemas!

According to a book I have here at home, Candlemas (February 2nd) is the day to take stock of your candle inventory and add more if you feel you're missing some to take you through the rest of the dark winter. I can't find anything online to support this however. I did manage, sadly, to find one candlestick holder with a rather pathetic green stub of a candle and a single tea light. If there's to be any romance in this house on Valentine's Day, I'll definitely have to stock up.

(Ignore the ugly window trim, it's Mark's paint-stripping project.)

I also found this little poem:

If Candlemas day be fair and bright,

Winter will have another fight.

If Candlemas day brings cloud and rain,

Winter won't come again.

Unfortunately, today is BEAUTIFUL: sunny and mild.

I also found out that in France, Candlemas is celebrated with crêpes, eaten only after 8pm. If you can flip a crêpe while holding a coin in the other hand, you're assured prosperity throughout the coming year. I'm giving that a try tonight.

Today is also Groundhog Day and I guess North America's groundhogs all saw their shadows and so we'll have a "long" winter; 6 more weeks. But aren't we going to have at least 8 more anyway?

I'm watching Bill Murray in Groundhog Day to commemorate today and realize it's a lot more heartbreaking and warming than I remember. Well worth a watch if it's been a while since you've seen it.

Happy Candlemas!

Truth be told, there are quite a few blog posts awaiting posting. I write many posts and save them, without ever posting them. Not *that* many people read this blog, so I guess I shouldn't care *so* much, but I often wonder why I even have a blog and what direction it should take. Should it be merely about my personal life? Should I write about current events that peak my interest? Should I blog about pop culture? Music? Clothes? All of the above? Do I even *need* a direction?

Buoyed and inspired by Kath's Tribute to Oatmeal (have you ever seen anything like that?), I've decided to take a photo of my breakfast every single morning. Stay tuned!

Blue Imelda

Have I already posted this? Is not, it's time I did and if so, well it's worth posting again.

Final Fantasy's Blue Imelda

An SNL digital short

I wasn't Doogie Howser's biggest fan by a long shot, but the theme song is so great. When I saw this on SNL last weekend, I knew I had to post it here to share with all of you. I especially love the MPC and synth guys at 1:16. Beware: if you watch this video, you'll have the song in your head all day.

An Italian Playlist

Are there songs that when you hear them can only ever take you back in time to when you first heard them or when you listened to them a lot? For me, listening to Ratatat's Classics album takes me back to the beginning of 2007 and the 1km walk from the bus stop at St Jean and Autoroute 20 to Ecole Primaire Pointe-Claire during an internship I did there. I listened to that album over and over during that walk and I can't listen to it now without feeling the same emotions I felt walking to that school every day: excitement, stress, impatience.

I recently uploaded hundreds of songs to my iTunes including Andre 3000's Speakerboxxx and when I listen to it I'm taken back to my daily walk along the beach in Scalea, Italy 2003 - 2004. It's a funny feeling to not be able to listen to it without feeling the pebbly sand under my feet and the salty scent of the Mediterranean. So, here is your very own 2003-04 Italian Playlist:

Andre 3000 - Speakerboxxx
My Morning Jacket - At Dawn
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Bonnie 'Prince' Billie - Bonnie 'Prince' Billie sings Greatest Palace Music
The Beatles - The White Album
Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Vincent Gallo - Recordings of Music for Film
Smog - Red Apple Falls
Mirah - Advisory Committee (produced in part by Phil Elvrum - awesome album!!!)
Dntel - Life is Full of Possibilities

Here is a video edesade made for Bonnie 'Prince' Billie's New Partner which also happens to be one of the first songs Mark ever sang to me:

The other day Mark spent some time with his friend who told him of his dream to move to Killaloe, near Algonquin Park, with his wife to live among the hippies and run a second-hand store of sorts. This got us talking about dreams and while Mark's are pretty vague yet lofty, mine are very specific and perfectly achievable. I keep them specific and achievable so that I can be assured of continually being appreciative and satisfied with the work I put into achieving them.

For example, I recently came upon an a journal I had forgotten I started where I wrote of two dreams: to have a sofa comfortable enough to take a nap on and to live somewhere with a nice view of a body of water. Now, if you'd spent as many years in your 20s being a student as I had, you'd understand the unattainability of having a nice sofa. While Salvation Army has many many affordable sofas, I can assure you, those that I've bought have been far from the kind I'd want to spend a couple of hours on on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Now, though, I have a lovely sofa that I spend many hours on reading, listening to music, watching movies and napping. This sofa that I thought was so far out of my reach is finally in my living room! Dream attained!

It was timely that Mark was just talking about dreams to his friend, because a blog I find so interesting for many reasons I might get into another time, mentioned Randy Pausch and two of his lectures, one about achieving childhood dreams and another about time management. If you shed a couple of tears watching this, you'll almost definitely shed a few watching the lecture about childhood dreams. It's not that it's a tear-jerker, but Randy had cancer and died just months later. The lecture is not about his death or cancer though, and I think it's an important lecture to listen to and watch if only to light a fire under your own dreams. Each lecture is over an hour long, but worth watching because as he says, if you're not spending time reaching your dreams, what are you spending your time doing?

Today is November 23rd and it's also Saint-Catherine's Day! I don't know about children who grew up in Quebec, but growing up in Northern Ontario (at least those in French and French Immersion schools) meant November 23rd was dedicated to making "tire" and wrapping up little pieces of it wax paper to take home, forget on the "rad" and then scrape off the next day. Sure, it's delicious, but what kid doesn't leave sticky sugary on hot surfaces because naturally they already ate a ton of it at school?


The maple stuff we dip a popsicle stick in and roll through the snow at a cabane a sucre is called "tire" in French and the stuff we made out of sugar and molasses on Saint-Catherine's day was also called "tire" even though it's referred to as "toffee" in English. It's not really toffee at all - it's really molasses and sugar. We were told that Catherine was a teacher who made the "tire" in order to lure little First Nations kids into her school so she could teach them.


Maison Saint-Gabriel, which happens to be just around the corner from my house, is the farmhouse/cottage where some of the first young single women from France lived and learned to housekeep, take care of animals and grow vegetables under the guidance of Sainte Marguerite Bourgeoys.


While Maison Saint-Gabriel's website mentions "tire", it doesn't say how it's connected to Catherine, rather it explains how she is the patron saint of young girls and unmarried young women. The Maison Saint-Gabriel is inviting all Catherinettes (women over 25 who are not yet married) to take part in the Sainte-Catherine day festivities today - sounds like personal invitation to me!




edit: St Catherine's Day is not on November 23rd, it's on November 25th! Thanks to Anonymous.

What the world needs now

Wow! Friday night I found myself with two great friends at Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste...

...watching Burt Bacharach! I can't say enough great things about this show. The sound was incredible, the church is beautiful. He came on stage and started playing the piano for about 15 seconds, it was just him and the piano, and then he and the whole band launched into the chorus of "What the World Needs Now" - the sound was so huge and so perfect! What an experience! The rest of the show was great, great, great. Burt and the band played lots of medleys of his hits, he talked to the crowd a bit about studying at McGill and working with lots of great singers. His encore was really long - it seemed like neither he nor the crowd wanted him to leave the stage.

Look what happened at my school today!

Where to start...

Sigur Ros finally made it to Montreal again and I went to see them at the Quais of the Old Port. It was a beautiful mild evening with no rain - perfect for such a show. I got to go backstage too, but I didn't talk to the band. Cool! They were busy speaking Icelandic and playing some kind of wrestling game with the opening band. Here's my pass:

Here's me looking awesome during the show:

And here's the confetti that exploded from the stage at the end of the last song, which was Gobledigook!!! Click the link and watch the video. It's so scandalous that it was removed from youtube.com which is why I can't post it directly here. But I'm sure my readership is mature enough to handle it, hee hee!

The next big thing coming up is Pop Montreal. Hopefully I'll get to see Great Lake Swimmers, Akron Family and Hooded Fang. I'm told my connections aren't good enough to get me into Ratatat's already sold-out show, boooo!

Finally, after a couple of weeks of practice, Willow has managed to make it to the top of this door frame. She gets there by scaling the thin wooden frame around the glass of the door.

And now I'm off to catch the season premiere of Desperate Housewives!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today I am 31 years old; I can't believe it.

Every year, I try to get in as many birthday cakes as possible. So far I had one during my housewarming a few weeks ago, another today at a restaurant and a third tonight just between me and Mark. And, there is another one on it's way next weekend. Yahoo!

Mark and I decided to climb Mont St. Hilaire this afternoon. It was a lovely hike and an activity I love though don't do nearly as much as I could. Now that I'm working just 4 days a week, it's probably time to join the YMCA hiking club, whose website I visit seasonally but then I don't act on my desire to join. It's time!

Brown paper packages tied up with string

The best thing about Saturday morning is that my most pressing decision is whether to hold the newspaper in my hands and place my coffee on the table or hold my coffee in my hands and place the newspaper on the table.

More stay-cation news: I got my hair cut yesterday and it looks like a perfect little helmet. I love it. I also put together a kitter-litter box hiding contraption from a tip I found at Ikea-hacker. Pictures of both to follow soon.

After some hemming and hawing, we've decided to spend the next week or so on a stay-cation. Here are some photos from the first few adventures...

We went to Nocochi for coffee and cookies:


Followed by the Yves Saint Laurent restrospective:

Then the Old Port to relax in the sun:

Today we'll relax at home with Willow:

And do some laundry...

Well I finally made it to a viewing of the fireworks, with only two more displays to go. We had a couple of false starts in getting out the door:

"I'm too tired."
"It's going to rain."

And then when we were actually on our bikes:

"It's too cold, let's go back for sweaters."

And then when we had our sweaters and were walking out the door:

"I'm too tired."

We made it though and good thing we did. Summer is almost over and it feels like it never really started. The rain, the overcast skies and the chilly nights are making for a glum time this year.

Mark and I are fully moved into our new apartment and compared to our previous homes, it feels huge! Sometimes, we don't even know where to find each other in here.

And now I'm going to enjoy Ratatat's new album on my sofa.

Bon Voyage Mateys!

I haven't updated in so long, and yet so much has happened! I guess that's what happens when you graduate with distinction.

First of all, I've moved into a new apartment. When I first lived in Montreal, I shared a bedroom with the friend I came here with (which resulted in a serious breakdown in our friendship), then moved into a tiny room with no windows and no door with Mark. We moved out of that room into a surprisingly spacious yet not surprisingly moldy basement apartment downtown. That lasted a month. Treat of all treats, we moved into an apartment.....above ground! And then (could it get any better??) we moved into an apartment 3 floors above ground with TWO bedrooms and a balcony! We keep feeling so blessed as we move up in the world of Montreal apartments. We are easy to please I suppose. Finally, we have moved into a THREE (kind of) bedroom apartment with TWO balconies, a FIREPLACE and a DINING ROOM!! When I count out the rooms like this, it sounds so great, but in fact all of this extra space is kind of in the wrong places. If only the dining room were a bit smaller and the bathroom significantly bigger. As in...wouldn't it be nice to be able to fit the kitty litter box in the bathroom? Yes, it's that small. So far, I've found these solutions. If anyone has encountered anything better for kitty litter housing, please contact me!

Again, if only the living room were slightly smaller and the kitchen had more than 2 feet of counter space. We have managed to create more counter space, but still...

I also spent some time at Mark's aunt's cottage near Matachewan. Matachewan! What's that? For you Ontarioans, it's not that far from Timmins. And for you Quebecois, it's as far North as Val D'Or, about 200km West. We drove through Quebec to get there and stayed at Auberge Orpailleur in Val D'Or, which happens to be a lovely place to stay, run by a French couple who immigrated to Quebec about 7 years ago. They are selling the auberge and returning to France. So far only other French families have shown interest. Imagine immigrating from France to Val D'Or!

The cottage in Matachewan was absolutely perfect. We spent all our time sauna-ing, swimming, eating, singing, playing games, boating, talking and laughing.

My sister is moving to Australia. Yahoo! And booo! at the same time. I'm excited for her, but so sad to see her go! Her blog is not really happening just yet, but stay tuned and visit often for her updates!

I am also taking a French class at the YMCA and the teacher is hilarious which makes spending two beautiful summer evenigns a week in her class more than bearable. She taught us an expression that fits my apartment perfectly at the moment: mon immeuble est sens dessus dessous!

As you can see, this year's TESL graduates did not even fill one row!

I'm back from Turkey. Here are just a few photos from the many that I took. It was one of the best trips I've ever taken:

This is a photo of my nephew from last Christmas, I just thought it would give you a chuckle.

Today I'm biking the Tour de l'Ile (I think and hope), the weather isn't looking very good.

What kind of blog do you have?

I've noticed lately that I read three types of blogs: those listing the things the writer own and loves, those listing the things the writers wants to buy along with pictures and links to the online stores where they will buy them, and those listing ways the writer intends to get rid of their stuff and prevent themselves from buying more. Along with all of those types of blog entries is the usual stuff about trips taken, parties attended, maybe a few recipes thrown in, but ultimately, in personal blogs, it's easy to surmise how much of a consumer a blogger is.

So I've added a handy little poll on the left there to find out what YOU'RE blog is like.

What a show!

The Stars of the Lid show was fantastic! It was in smallish room where drinking and smoking weren't allowed. This means two things: clear, clean air and fewer people walking in and out to get drinks. The room was carpeted so I sat on the floor.


There were two violinists, one cellist and two guitarists/effects guys. The sound was incredible; not too loud. I slept soundly without ringing in my ears: also a rare event. During the show, I closed my eyes and let myself get taken away with the music; something that doesn't happen often for me. If more shows were seated, I think this could happen for more people. I had wanted the same experience when I saw Do Make Say Think at Le National but it wasn't seated and standing around in a smoky room on crushed beer bottles really takes away from it all.

Stars of the Lid - Sons and Daughters of Quiet Minds

If you can believe it, tomorrow is the last day of my last internship of my last year of my last undergraduate degree ever! I shall celebrate by attending the Stars of the Lid show taking place a the very neat Masonic Memorial Temple downtown. How many people do you know who've been inside a real Masonic Temple? I am perhaps and the only person you know who, by tomorrow night, will have been inside TWO of them (I think).

I have just taken a few photos of my cat whom you haven't seen much of since I brought her home in late December. These are just practice photos, however, for my upcoming trip to Turkey. I need to learn to use this camera before May 14th!

I finally had a listen to M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel's new album, Volume One. I had avoided it for some time, actually feeling jealous that M. Ward should even be dating Deschanel (ridiculous I know, but I'm making up for a lack of celebrity-worship felt in my teenage years). Obviously, it's a great album. Everything M. Ward touches is lovely and Deschanel's voice is beautiful.

Around town

It was a sad night recently when I accidentally spilled Coke Diète on the keyboard of my laptop. Don't ask why I was drinking that stuff in the first place. :(

And so my internet access has been limited lately, what with no computer to use.

Further to my post about the Apartment Therapy 8-Week Home Cure (which I've abandoned by the way), I was wondering if anyone else is addicted to such systems of living. Before I quit the Home Cure, I was involved quite a few: the Apartment Therapy 8-Week Home Cure, the 13-Week Walk/Run Program and the 12-day Wild Rose De-tox to name a few. Does anybody else get hooked on these lifestyle programs?

Also, why does every spell-check want to change "internet" to "Internet"? Is the world wide web, like God, only respectfully spoken of with a capital I?

Notes...

I haven't updated in so long. How many blogs have that exact line at the beginning of at least one post?

Easter found me mostly in my pajamas with a quick trip to Ottawa for a Mexican themed dinner, homemade Beaver Tails, an annotated list of the contents of a church, the meeting of girlfriends and lots of sunshine.

March is the ending one of practicum, the beginning of another. 5.5 weeks to go and I'm done!

I'll leave you with one of my favourite songs:

Apartment Therapy Spring Cure 2008

I have finally decided to join the 2008 Apartment Therapy Spring Cure! Every year I hem and haw about joining and then don't. But as you may remember, 2008 is the year of firsts!

The Apartment Therapy Cure is an annual event where people join together to make their homes more beautiful, comfortable and livable. The investment can be either financially intensive, labour-intensive or both. It lasts 8 weeks, each of which will be outlined on the website and in the book, which I'll be borrowing from the library when I get home tonight because...

"This Week's Assignment: Get your hands on a copy of the book and read through page 69. This gives you all the ground work and gets you started with the interview and short quiz on the health of your home."

While Mark is on the campaign trail, I'm stuck in snowy Montreal marking primary school assignments and planning a trip to Turkey! Yes, this May I will spend 12 luxurious days and nights in Turkey with my mom and aunt! I will see and do lots of interesting things, but right now, what I'm most excited for is the Hamam, the Turkish bath experience. One of the best experiences I took away from Iceland is the pool/bathing culture.

There is just nothing like soaking in an outdoor heated (HOT!) pool full of sulphur and silica to put the mind and the muscles at ease.

According to my research, the traditional Hamam is a thing of the past, but you can still go to indoor pools and experience a hot sauna, a soak in a hot tub, an exfoliating scrub by an "attendant" and finally a massage. I know for some people this sounds like too intimate, but I love a hot soak or a steam bath and a sounds like heaven. In fact, I think I'll go take a nice hot bath right now...!

We're in stitches!

Willow's back from the vet! She hated the Elizabethan Collar on the first day; she went crazy, constantly backing up to get it off. Now, when I put it on, even if it's loose enough for her to take off herself, she just accepts it. How pathetic! Her little would is sewn up with real thread (unlike my other cat's stitchless suturing) and she can't help but lick and pull at the stitches when I take the collar off.

When I dropped her off at the vet, there was a middle-aged couple dropping off an even minnier cat to be spayed. The husband was holding the little cat in his arms, giving it little kisses once in awhile. What is it about little animals that makes otherwise tough folks go gaga? I wish I had a picture of that man and his new cat. He looked like the type who spent his weekends chopping wood and ice fishing.

Today is the last day before March Break! I might finally actually go cross-country skiing. Any tips on waxing skis? All the instructions I find online are over my head. I thought it was so much simpler!

I haven't yet written about the wonderful Valentine's Day I had last February 14th. February 15th was the date of my first teaching evaluation by my university supervisor and I was feeling anxious. On February 14th, I stayed at school late to plan my lesson for the next day, which was a good way to get it done without distraction, but I do not advise anyone to take the 211 East after 5pm. It. Takes. A. Long. Time.

Anyway, Mark and I usually don't do much for Valentine's Day, but this year I put in a few requests: flowers, lasagna, Caesar salad, a bottle of wine and a chick flick. I hadn't anticipated the long bus ride that day, so when I finally made it home, I was feeling pretty depressed that I hadn't seen much daylight that day, but so so so pleased to see that Mark had fulfilled my requests and then some!

Behold, the lasagna recipe:
And the Caesar salad dressing recipe, the most delicious I've ever had:


Which came from this book:

This cookbook also contains the recipe for Mark's Monday Night Bean Burrito Madness wraps. Yes, he makes them by hand and yes, Monday night is bean burrito night at my house. You're welcome to join us!

For desert, chocolate fondue and by far Cameron Diaz's finest film, "The Sweetest Thing".

Is it 1984?

According to the Montreal Gazette, Quebec's language police have ordered McKibbons Pub, the site of many after-work, after-exam and after-shopping drinks, to take down antique advertising posters from the inside of the pub. The advertising in question is for Guiness, Palethorpes Pork Pies, and St. James Gate Dublin and is all in English (durr, it's an Irish pub) and as such does not allow for French to be the dominant language inside the pub. Yikes! I wonder who will win this one. I wonder if the language police feel as stupid as we all think they are for doing things like this.

It's cold!

This week is "Teacher Appreciation Week". How are you appreciating your teacher?

In the school where I am working right now, apples are being put in teachers' mailboxes, 6th graders with overhead projector carts are wheeling around offering brioches, coffee and hot chocolate and on Thursday a group of parents is making a huge lunch for everyone.

Lachine Canal ...

or Jökulsárlón?