little bitty girl

Sigh!

There are definitely downfalls to working for oneself. The biggest one for me is doing bookeeping. It's just so tedius and boring and because I hate it, I usually put it off until the receipt box is completely full. Then, because I've been so slack, I cry over all these tiny receipts that have no shop names, dates etc because I can't remember what they were for.

I know, I bring it all upon myself.

The weird thing is that I am actually quite fascinated by numbers. Stef knows that my internal nerd loves to read about the mysteries of math theorems. I just don't like these numbers.

It doesn't help that it's so sunny out and I find myself looking longingly out the window.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing

The ongoing saga of the new diet.

Mindy, being a 12 year old cat is not into me trying to introduce new things to her. New food, new bed, new anything.

So, she's got pretty dirty back teeth since her previous owner (ahem! mybroinlaw) didn't bother to take care of her properly. But, she won't let me brush her teeth. So, I have to put some teeth dentrifice in her kibble occasionally. Stefan, (who has a mental allergy to cheese) is convinced that she too is allergic to cheese, one of the ingredients in her dentrifice.

Yesterday, I must have put a little too much dentrifice in her food because she had eaten everything other than the bottom bits with the powder. On top of it, she had thrown a piece of her raw food on top of her powdery kibble to show her displeasure. SHE IS SUCH A PRINCESS!

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Posted in Mindy-Lou

We were watching The Ten Commandments mini series over the Easter/Passover weekend. I didn't really watch it as I had already seen the 1956 version but I wanted Stefan to watch it because I think he should at least know some bible basics.

Halfway through, he started asking questions.

Stefan: So.....where is Jesus? I keep waiting for him to pop up.
Me: Jesus is after. Long after.
Stefan: Who is this Joseph guy they keep talking about?
Me: Technicolour dreamcoat...

5 minutes passed and he started listing the only Bible people he knew.

Stefan: Jacob and Esau?
Me: Before...
Stefan: Cain and Abel?
Me: They were the first children! Remember Adam and Eve? Look. Why don't you read the Bible from the beginning. It explains everything. Read until Exodus at least and you'll get caught up to this story.
Stefan: Is there a Coles Notes version?
Me: No, they have a children's bible with pictures.

Another 5 minutes.

Stefan: I'm still confused. Where is Jesus? Who was he with?
Me: John the Baptist.
Stefan: Hmph. Well, I'm Stefan the Sleepy and I am going to bed.

At least he's a cute heathen.

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Posted in Stefan

Dreary, dark, cold weekend. Mother Nature sure loves messing with my head. I've been working all weekend, hosting my very first sample sale. Needless to say the weather has not been helping much with the traffic, which is such a pity as there are some seriously good things at the sale. Although some brave souls have managed to come by and did score some goodies for Spring.

Luckily, Stefan, my patient partner in crime, has been working (without pay) with me and keeping me entertained with his shenanigans. I rewarded him with his favourite fast food, Swiss Chalet last night. I didn't actually buy it for him but I consented to have it also for dinner as I had previously had my mind set on sushi. What is the fascination with Swiss Chalet and Canadians? I don't quite understand it. It also is one of the first things my brother who lives in New York wants to have when he comes home.

Found this gorgeous new blog called Patternology. Her work is so deliciously organic and feminine. I really wish some days I paid more attention in art class so that I, too, could draw.

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Posted in Delectable Design

In the mornings, if we don't make the bed fast enough, this is what happens. If you should even attempt to try to lift her up and make the bed, she either gives you a sad, soulful, "Don't you love me?" or a scornful, "Do you know who I am?" look. It's hard not to succumb to Mindy's every wish.

As you all know, Mindy has a bit of a tubby-licious problem. I've talked about it, here, here and here. It's such a cause of concern for me especially since my dear friend Jen's last kitty died of diabetes. We're trying to do everything we can to avoid that problem.

So recently when Mags was over, she had talked about how her kitty Piper (who was Mindy's doppelganger) is half her size, with shiny coat and no dandruff bum (a problem with chubby kitties). I asked her what the secret was and Piper is on the raw food diet. Eager to try anything, I set off on my new quest to make Mindy lose weight.

The first night, Mindy just gave me this really scornful look and refused to eat anything. The second night, I tried to trick her by putting treats in her bowl, and she took her paw and took the treats out, left the food and gave me a "You have to do better than that" flick of her tail. The third night, I read that it was better to try and mix the food with her current wet food and she ate two little bites and left the food alone. The fourth night, she actually ate around her wet food and even took out chunks of the raw food with her mouth and dumped it on the floor.

I definitely needed to try something new. So last night, I mushed all her wet and raw food together and she actually ate 75% of the mixture! Oh the elation! I always thought Mindy had my sweet but bossy disposition, turns out she also inherited Stefan's stubborn and unwillingness to try new food attitude.

Looks like this is going to be a long road ahead.

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Posted in Mindy-Lou

OK, so this is may just a rumour or a dream or a hope but UK Vogue had this story on their site -

PRADA FOR H&M MIUCCIA PRADA for H & M? Oh please let it be true. The rumour that the Italian fashion house is to follow Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney's hugely successful collaborations with the Swedish store has surfaced again, but still they're saying nothing. "We don't know anything yet and we're not expecting to know for some months," a spokeswoman for H&M, which yesterday announced a 21 per cent rise in profits for the first fiscal quarter of 2006 to £134 million, said. Asked last year whether she would consider the idea of working with H&M, Miuccia told VOGUE.COM that she wasn't anti it. "I have talked about it as they did ask me," she said. "I think it is an interesting concept and I would love to work on an entire collection using inexpensive materials." Her only reservation is that she would be opposed to "the idea of copying the main collection straight out", stipulating that it should "be treated as a whole new collection". H&M's company’s design chief, Margareta van den Bosch, has indicated that Muiccia Prada is one of her favourite designers, and that she is keen to recruit a designer who can also do menswear (Have you seen Prada's star print men's shirts, Marg?). Fervent fashion followers caused chaos at the launch of Stella MacCartney's line at H & M's Oxford Circus flagship store last November, with crowds gathering outside in the early hours of the morning and fighting to get their hands on the fashion gold dust. The chance of an affordable piece of Prada will no doubt see the scenes repeated. (March 30 2006, AM)

Oh, please let it be true! The funny thing about this tip is that the hubby found it for me! How funny is that?

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Posted in Fashion Smashion

During the weekend, we got caught watching old skool The Newlywed Game on GSN. We decided to make one up of our own and Sebastien (the only single one in the room) was picked to choose questions and be the mediator. Here are some examples of the questions, our answers and my comments.

What is your biggest pet peeve about Stefan?
Me: His tardiness
Stefan: Hmm... there are so many! There's farting....and being weird about food. I am going to say she hates that I am not open about food.
I am not quite sure how he got this wrong since we were just arguing about this on the way to the cottage as he was late getting ready to leave!

If Karen could speak to anyone dead or alive, who would it be?
Me: Madonna
Stefan: Madonna
I know it sounds SO superficial! There are too many people in the world that I would love to talk to. But, I am a huge fan of Madonna and it seemed like the easy answer. Mags had answered Sting and Adrienne made us feel bad by picking Gandhi!

Who is the better driver?
Me: Me
Stefan: Me
HUH! He always like to point out the time when I was learning how to drive. That was then. I am WAY the better driver, no matter what he says.

What is the one piece of clothing that Stefan owns that you wish you could throw out?
Me: His stupid suede jacket from grade 10
Stefan: My suede jacket
I hate that stupid jacket. Stef keeps telling me it's going to come back in style and I tell him regardless of that, he's quite a bit bigger than he was at 15.

If Karen won $5000 in the lottery, what would be the first thing she would buy?
Me: An expensive handbag
Stefan: hmm.....well, if it's only $5000, I know she wouldn't give me any....I am going to say some sort of pricey handbag.
HE does know me, he really does!

Mags/Rich got the most points, us second and Kev/Adrienne last. The way the scoring worked out is actually kind of funny because all of us got together with our partners the same summer. But Mags and Rich have been married the longest and Kev and Adrienne are engaged to be married this Fall.

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Posted in Stefan

So, I have been wedding ring-less for the past couple of weeks. Before we left for our weddingmoon, I had noticed that one of the diamonds on my ring was set a little off from the rest. So now it's at the jeweller being fixed.

I never thought that it would affect me so much but it really has. I feel a little weird and lost without it. I keep seeing (or maybe in my head I am seeing this) women look at me as I hold the hands with this married man. They probably think I'm a complete floozy!

I can't wait to get my ring back.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing

There is nothing like a long weekend to totally rejuvenate the work weary soul.

Stefan and I went up to our friends Kevin and Adrienne's cottage this weekend with Mags and Rich. We were joined by a bunch of other family friends. It's not really a cottage as one would imagine a typical Ontario cottage to be. It's actually Kevin's grandad's farm from ages ago and the "cottage" is a fully functioning second home for his parents. So, there was no real "roughing" it so to speak. Regardless, we were so glad to be away from the bright lights and smog.

Good friends and food make for good times.

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Posted in Joy-Friends

Is graffiti art? We were having a lunch time discussion about it in school. Some people think it's defacing a property and some think that it's art.

I think it completely depends on where it is and what the context is. If it's some random tag on someone's beautiful home or store front, then it's definitely not cool. But if it's done in an area where the owner of the building is fine with it, graffiti can be a beautiful thing.

There is an alleyway near where I live that is filled with graffiti art and I love it. It takes up over 5 blocks and for me, it's an art gallery in a sense. It always changes and the colours are always so vibrant. I love that every summer, at a large parking lot near Graffiti Alley, a city group organizes a skateboarding and graffiti art showcase. It's a great way for people to understand the culture. I think it's important to have because it shows people that there are alternative ways to be creative.

I took this picture as part of my last installment of colour week. You can see the rest of the back alley gallery on my flickr account.

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Posted in Delectable Design

Been thinking about the whole phenomenon of MySpace and for me, I find that I have to go through so much STUFF to find the content that interests me. That in itself makes it hard for me to get into it. However, I did sign up for it because so many people I know are on it and I didn't think you could read stuff unless you signed up.

The weird thing is some people have 4 MySpace accounts and a Blogger/Blogspot type account too. How do people find the time to update them all? I am having a hard enough time keeping this one updated as it is.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing

It's such a gorgeous sunny day today and I am on my way to morning spin.

I was just thinking, looking ay everyone's gorgeous "days in colour" pictures how I wish I had gotten a digial SLR instead of my P&S.

Last year when I was debating what to get, I was insistent that I wanted a compact camera that I could tout around in my purse. Stefan really thought I should have gotten a digital SLR. He thought that since I'd been taking photography courses for fun and had been taking some gorgeous shots with a vintage manual SLR (a gift from my father-in-law), that it would make a more sensible choice. But no, I was insistent and I got my Canon SD700.

And don't get me wrong, I love my little Canon but we also already had Stefan's Canon SD450. We like our Canons, can't you tell?

But when we were in Jamaica, I wished that I had an SLR to take some interesting shots. Now looking around at some prints I did with my manual, I really, really wish I had one. Oh well, I guess it's time to save up.

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Posted in Stefan

I love the colour orange.

It reminds me of happy things and if joy was a colour, I would colour it orange.

I love the scent of orange peels, tangerines at Christmas time, sunsets, sunrise, fall, pumpkins. Freshly squeezed orange, clementine and tangerine juice, all mixed together with a bit of lemon is liquid sunshine to me.

Pictures -
Sunset view from our room when we were in Negril, Jamaica.
Orange books and a flower pin that I've never used but still love.
My "George Constanza" orange wallet --- It's busting out and I need a new one.
A condo going up near where we live.
My Christmas present from Stefan -- Eddie!
Fall foliage - taken the day after we got engaged.

Flickr orange pictures - Azerbaijan Roadtrip, Flower Cluster, Four Boxes, and Ledge.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing

I've been trying to get back into my reading groove and you know it's hard to figure out what you want to read. I go to the library and I try to pick out books that catch my eye in the different sections. It's rather overwhelming because sometimes there's so much choice and you can't always tell by the back flap. The book can sometimes look interesting and then it sucks.

Anyway, I realized that I had been neglecting male authors lately so I've been making a serious effort to consciously pick them up. You know, because it's important to get the opposite sex's point of view.

So this book, Man and Boy by Tony Parsons was my latest read. I don't want to generalize but the last five books that I've read by younger men have ALL dealt with the same subject.

Man is in relationship. Man goes through crisis. Man has one night stand. Woman leaves man. Man is lost without woman. Man needs to re-adjust to life. Woman is being impossible for not understanding his slip. Yada yada yada.

Boo-fucking-hoo. Cry me a river.

I know people cheat. It does happen. More than we think it does, so let's not lie to ourselves. It happens for many reasons. Everyone makes mistakes, I know that.

BUT, why is it such a popular topic for guys to write about? Is there no other intriguing life experience that they can talk about? I just want to know. Is this all they think about? It's just such a done storyline. It's like the cop out "I-need-to-create-tension" part of writing. And really, I don't feel sympathetic towards these characters. Cheating as an excuse to get out of a bad relationship is pathetic in my books. Be a man and just deal with it.

So, as I was reading this last night, I was also absolutely seething with rage. Stefan hates it when I read books with topics that bother me because I just get so upset. I started to ask him (I like to ask people, especially him, hypothetical questions -- it can be really fun) whether he would cheat and he just said, "Do I look stupid? Don't you know that I am afraid of you? I don't want my nuts chopped off and shoved down my throat."

I am glad he knows where we stand.

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Posted in Reviewing, Stefan

Yay! There was sun today and I was joyful.

I am really enjoying this exercise. What are the colours for next week? Anyone?

Pictures -
I love signs on walls!
A rusting vintage truck in the Distillery district.
Our dishes, the big bowls are for noodle soup.
Some of our cooking utensils.
Rocks in a flower bed.

Flickr black, whites and browns that I am digging - Open Close, Patty, patiently and Marbled White Pair.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing

I decided to join in the fun.

Green is actually one of my favourite colours. There is something so fresh and spring like about it. For the past year, I've been a little obsessed with wearing green and orange, prompting my girlfriend Marie to often ask whether I am more "Stem" or more "Pumpkin."

Pictures -
Mindy, with her green eyes on our green floral duvet cover that Aunty Marie bought.
I can't eat bananas unless they're a little green, is that weird?
Sauteed spinach with shalots -- yum!
Green apple dish washing detergent.

I wish there was more green in my world right now. We got snow today. Yes, snow in April. Welcome to Canada.

Some other green pictures on Flickr that caught my eye -- Mossy Macro, Cotton-Head, Sunshine Trees and One Year Ago.

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Posted in Much To Do About Nothing

Does anyone else watch Grey's Anatomy as much as I do?

It's always a happy Sunday in the Leyhane-Kang household when a new episode airs. Although I must say that I have not been as enamoured with it as of late. I am not really digging the story lines. I've never been a big fan of Meredith because she's such a sad character, always moping around. I think it's because I am not a big moper so I can't really relate to her. That, and the fact that she clearly has some eating disorder and that bothers me a lot. Izzy is being very self-absorbed but I love that the bone doctor so digs O'Malley because it's about time someone loves that kid. At least the music is still pretty groovy. Anyone else agree that they have a pretty cool playlist?

Anyway, the character that I relate to the most is Christina Yang, played by Sandra Oh. Not because of the obvious fact that she's Asian, although that helps too. I am definitely driven, ambitious and have a tendency to just blurt whatever is on my mind. No subject is ever taboo for me to talk about. I like to think that I have better people skills than she does however. I do know where to draw the line and how to be charming when I need to be.

Yesterday's episode was hilarious, especially when they showed her competitive side with Dr. Webber. When they played the first scene of her trying not to gloat at the fact that she was faster than Dr. Webber, Stefan just whipped around and looked at me and sputtered," That's SO YOU!"

And it really is. Stef and I are so competitive with each other. Despite the fact that he is better and faster than me in anything physical, I will always attempt to out-board, out-run or out-swim him. Board games can sometimes result in hours of sulking after.

Funny thing about Sandra Oh and me. I used to serve her drinks at the restaurant I worked at. This was back in the day when she used to live in Toronto and would have drinks with her fellow struggling actor friends, one of whom lived above the restaurant. She was always vibrant, funny and outrageous - very much like the characters she plays now. Needless to say, I've always had a soft spot for her ever since.

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Posted in Glued To The Tube

Stefan thinks that he should be nominated for early sainthood as this was our second weekend in a row, watching yet another version of Pride and Prejudice. I keep wondering why I love the movies and book so much.

I love Jane Austen's works. Her observations of human nature, familial love and respect are all things that I can relate to. I read all of her works annually. Yes, I am a re-reader, a habit that many of my friends cannot understand. I say a favourite book is like comfort blanket that you never want to let go. Plus, I've always found, depending on my mood, that I always get a different feel from a re-reading.

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Posted in Stefan