Food Log | Dec 21, 2006

breakfast:

• 1 avocado*
• 4 corn tortillas
• minty green tea
• coffee
  

lunch:

• 1 can of Primo lentil soup
  

snack:

• sadly, I had 2 pieces of Wonder bread with peanut butter. The felt ill.
  

dinner:

• Yoga soup!
  

*organic

I feel so dirty.

This morning on the way to work, I popped into Loblaw's to pick up props for a photoshoot we're doing today: white Wonder bread and a jar of Kraft peanut butter.

We needed the perfectly shaped slice of bread (white) and peanut butter with lots of hydrogentated oil that spreads smoothly for a peanut butter toast shot.

I feel as though I need to do penance. At least the pb is the lower fat kind...

Food Log | Dec 20, 2006

So, I've slacked with this for over a week. Meh.

breakfast:

• 3/4 cup of large old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup light vanilla Natura soymilk (poured over the oats, eaten at work, uncooked)
  
• 2 tbsp ground flax, Bob's Red Mill
• Tetley jasmine green tea
• coffee at work
  

lunch:

• 4 yellow corn tortillas*
• 1 avocado*
• 1 tomato, locally grown
  

snack:

• 1 large Alternative Baking Company Oatmeal Raisin cookie (see swap post)
• coffee
  

dinner:

• 1 Amy's bean burrito
• salad of lettuce, radishes, carrots, green pepper, hemp seeds, walnuts, Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing
• 3 glasses of red wine

snack

• handful of tortilla chips
  

vitamins

• B6, B12, Folic Acid
  

*organic

Loot!!

I got 2 swap packages in the mail today! Holy moly!

First, I'd like to thank Robyn for such a wonderful Vegan Pal package! I could barely keep myself from ripping into the box on the way home from the post office :) When I opened the box, I found:

• 3 awesomely large crocheted bags that will be perfect for shopping!

• an adorable teesny green and blue knit pouch (I LOVE green and blue together)

• a set of stitch holders

• size 3 DPNS (!!)

• 2 balls of Cascade Fixation yarn

• 4 pins: 2 "I [heart] Vegans", 1 ReBelle, 1 Knit Grrl (I LOVE pins!)

• 2 packages of vegan jello (oh, it's been so long...)

• and a very nice little letter

and this is Tetley and Pekoe checkin' out my swag



Thank you so, so much Robyn!

The second package came to me at work and I wasted no time ripping into it and poking around. This was from a Vegan Represent Holiday Swap and I got spoiled rotten!

Pekoe is checking out:

• some incredibly smelling soap

• an issue Bead Style (My FAV beading magazine! And I don't have this one!)

• chocolate pudding

• 2 cookies - oatmeal and raisin, and peanut butter (favs, again!)

• a choco blondie

• some Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing

• Maple Crunch Granola

• a note pad that says "Smart Women Put it in Writing"

• Vanilla hemp lip balm

AND

• 2 bags of gorgeous, gorgeous beads!

Thank you so much, Kathy - I barely know what to break into first!

Silly spam.

Lately, I've been getting tonnes o'spam to my personal email account - usually with attached gifs touting the wonders of this stock or that stock, along with nonsensical text. Sometimes I amuse myself by reading the text as if it is a real email from someone. This is the most recent one that somehow got through my aggressive junk mail filter:


Better the devil you know than the devil you don't Why have a dog and bark yourself? Common sense ain't common Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it

[gif inserted here]

It was probably a waste of time anyway Little things please little minds Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today (from Alice in Wonderland) If wishes were horses, pigs would fly
Two's company, three's a crowd He that lives too fast, goes to his grave too soon While the cat is away, the mice will play
Little things please little minds You can't teach an old dog new tricks Health is better than wealth The way to a man's heart is through his stomach (attributed to Ania Ras, Poland)
There's no arguing with the barrel of a gun Where there's a will there's a way Don't put the cart before the horse He who laughs last laughs best
Never, Never allow anyone to persuade you to suspend your common sense He who laughs last laughs longest He's all hat and no cattle If you can't join them, beat them
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime Cobbler, stick to thy last Possible Interpretation: All style and no substance It takes all sorts to make a world
Alternate Version: the ironic thing about life is that you never get out alive Thats the straw that broke the camels back This was a referance to the high wages paid to garbage collectors at one time Power attracts the corruptible -from Dune series, Frank Herbert
Grow where you are planted Alternate: If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried Kill two birds with one stone Barking dogs seldom bite
Never shove your Granny when she's shaving Nothing succeeds like success You can take a horse to water, but a pencil must lead Money is honey and the richman jocks is always funny Money talks You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours
Two's company, three's a crowd He that lives too fast, goes to his grave too soon While the cat is away, the mice will play


Sounds like "Gino McCann" is trying to tell me something serious. I wonder what it is. Really, I just wish he would use proper punctuaction.

Inspiration of the day

Lately, I've been having a serious love affair with chandeliers. The shape of spiralling, curling, ornate designs sometimes leave my heart pounding and my lungs breathless. Here are some of images I've bookmarked recently..







The sad thing is that my own chandelier is the cheap looking brass kind, which the superintendant seems really happy with. Oh well. One day I will own my own really gorgeous chandelier and it will be ornate as heck!

Holy frustrating

So, I've noticed things have been quiet around here for a little bit, comment-wise. You know what I just discovered? The new Blogger Beta doesn't work with technorati or bloglines! So, the people who use those to read blog feeds do not know that my site has been updated. How annoying is that?!

I've sent an email to bloglines, but I'm sure they're aware of the problem.

grr. Anyone know how I can switch back to pre-Beta?!

Stress-free goodness

As of last night, I need only to pick up one more Christmas gift to complete my holiday shopping. YAY!

This year, I actually started picking things up and planning gifts in the summer so that I could have an easy going December. Well, I only really have the boy, my mom, my sister and my Grammie and Dave (aka my grandfather), so the list isn't very long. Plus my 2 VRF swappies. Since the boy gave me my supah dupah awesome tablet for my birthday AND Christmas, I thought it only proper that I give him his Christmas gift early, too. So, we went out shopping and got him the fantabulous camera bag he wanted and a couple of lens hoods for his new pro camera. Now he's got the goods and just has to start taking more pictures. Ahem.

In other news, CUTENESS!


I found these doing a stock photo image search and HAD to snag a copy. I don't think posting them here violates any sort of agreement since I'm not making money offa them, nor am I distrubuting them. They're just comp images anyhoo. But LOOKIE HOW CUTE!

Happy Birthday, Bob!

Today I am sharing my birthday with a fellow animal lover and a cultural icon.

Happy 83rd Birthday, Bob Barker! :)

I did some sniffing around the internets to bring you some information on the beloved game show host:

Born: Robert William Barker on 12 December 1923

Birthplace: Darrington, Washington
Best known as: The host of TV's The Price Is Right

• He met with congressmen in Washington to try to get elephants banned from circuses and traveling shows.
  
  
• He became a vegetarian in 1979 when he started to promote animal rights after being named the national spokesman for "Be Kind to Animals Week" which culminated in May 1980. He also forbids any fur prizes and animal-tested products and/or prizes from being on The Price Is Right and also does not allow the rerunning of past episodes where those products were offered on the show (except the original Bill Cullen-hosted version, which Barker had no involvement with).
  
  
• He was formerly a host of the Miss USA/Universe Pageants (1967-1987) but stepped down in 1987 when his request for the removal of fur prizes was declined.
  
  
• Dian Parkinson, a prize model for the show from 1975 to 1993, filed an $8 million lawsuit against Barker for sexual harassment. Barker admitted that he had sexual relations with Parkinson but stated the "hanky panky" (Barker's words) between them was consensual. Parkinson gave up her legal fight with Barker in 1995.
  
  
• Barker and Syd Vinnedge, a senior executive with FremantleMedia (formerly Pearson Television) presented $500,000 to the Harvard Law School to fund courses on animal rights law.
  
  
• Has a black belt in karate.
  
  
• Won an MTV Movie Award for his fight scene with Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore, during which he uttered the immortal line, "Now you've had enough... bitch."
  
  
• On October 15, 1987, he renounced hair dye and allowed his hair to go gray.
  
  
• On October 31, 2006, he announced his retirement as host of "The Price Is Right," effective in June, 2007
  
  
• At the end of every episode of The Price is Right which he hosts he says "Help control the pet population. Have your pat spayed or neutered" and very often follows that up with a casual salute and a "Good-bye everybody."

Some quotes from Bob:

"Don't go to them, do not go to movies in which there are animals, because if you do, you are subsidizing animal cruelty."

"I'm a vegetarian - I think there's a strong possibility, had I not become a vegetarian, I would not be working now. I became a vegetarian about 25 years ago, and I did it out of concern for animals. But I immediately began having more energy and feeling better."

"You cannot accept that . . . when you see animals in pictures, you are putting them at risk."

"The only place you see that is at zoos and circuses. When they are under such emotional stress they begin to sway"
(Bob said about a few elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo who are under emotional stress and sway back and fourth for hours at a time).

Food log | December 12, 2006

breakfast:

• Birthday Bran Buds with walnuts and ground flax and light vanilla s'milk
• 2 mocha Birthday cookies and 1 pb* choco Birthday cookie
• 2 coffees (at home* and at work)
  

lunch:

• Birthday Lick's Nature Burger with ketchup, dijon, onions, hot peppers, pickles
  
• Birthday fries
  

snack:

• Birthday raw celery, carrots* and broccoli dipped in Birthday hummus (mostly*)
  

dinner:

• tbd
  

*organic

Books, booze, Buddha and balls

My actual birthday is December 12th (1:30 pm, I believe) but this past Saturday was my birthday party...

That's right, baby! I got BOOKS!

And booze!

And a Buddha Bank!

And a ball!


And crazy friends...

You can see more in my "Holy crap, I'm 34" flickr set :)

Food log | December 11, 2006

breakfast:

• 4 Kavli cripsbreads
  
• 4 slices of veg pâté
  
• coffee (at home*)

lunch:

• 1 avocado*
  
• 1.5 cups of potato-edamame samosa-style filling
  
• 1 large flax flour tortilla to wrap up the filling
  
• water
• (now I'm stuffed)
  

snack:

• 1 ginger and 1 peanut butter choco chip cookie
  

dinner:

• Curry Pad Thai
• 1 beer
  

vitamins:

• B12, B6, B9, iron, calcium

*organic

Food log | December 9, 2006

breakfast:

• coffee*
  

lunch:

• 1.5 cups whole wheat fettucine
• 1.5 cups tomato sauce with sundried tomatoes and red pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground flax
  
• club soda and lemon juice
  

snack:

• nibbles on party food as it's being prepared
  

dinner:

• tbd
  

vitamins:

• (not yet taken) B12, B6, B9, iron, calcium

*organic

Well that explains it.

Ontario 'robbed' of sun, records gloomiest fall in 29 years

If you were down in a funk this fall, you shouldn't be surprised, Environment Canada says. In the three-month stretch from September to November, Ontario recorded its gloomiest fall in 29 years, with a total of just 343 hours of sunlight instead of an average figure of 475 hours.

"We were robbed of about 130 hours of sunshine we would normally get in that period, so I can understand why people who suffer seasonal disorders would have been depressed," Environment Canada's senior climatologist Dave Phillips said. "They would have had a miserable season, and the fall really should be a glorious time."

This year was the third gloomiest fall since Toronto began recording the amount of sunshine back in 1957, edged out by a dismal 323 hours in the fall of 1977 and the gloomiest ever - 312 hours in 1970. The lack of sunshine was due mostly to wet weather from September to November, Phillips said. Areas around southern Ontario and Toronto received 270 mm of rain compared with the average of 211 mm.

"In fact, 60 per cent of the days in that 91-day period [September to November] were wet as opposed to dry days, and that's really like hand in glove - you get less sunshine, and that's because hey, you're getting a little drizzle here, more rain there," Phillips said. September logged 131 hours of sunlight compared with the normal 208 hours, October logged 140 hours instead of 173, and November had just 71 hours of sunshine during a month that normally delivers 94 hours.

"It's been so depressing that people are almost waiting for the winter to come, because at least in the winter when it's cold, at least it's sunny," Phillips said. But he also reminded people they won't be able to have it both ways in winter. "You can't have it warm and sunny, so you'll have to pick your poison," he said.

sorry, Carla. I know I'm supposed to be staying away from the news...!

I *am* loved

No, not because I got an awesome early birthday present. That cost a lot. And, for the record, it's also a Christmas gift. But I *am* loved because of why I got such an awesome gift.

Last week I felt bummed out about my artistic abilities. To be honest, I felt a wee bit threatened by the new people at work. As much as I look forward to the creative shift in our work, I started to get nervous that maybe these new people would be way more talented and my stuff would end up just being mediochre. Whether this is reality or not, I know my worry stems from a lack of confidence. I barely draw anymore and find it hard to work in a night of figure drawing like I used to. I'm sure OCAD still has drop-in classes but I haven't made an effort to seek them out. I have these ideas in my head of creative things I want to work on - photo collages mostly - but get worried that I'll suck. Anyhoo, I told my worries to the boy. And as a means of encouragement, he bought me something I've been wanting for a while.

A drawing tablet! Squee!

Now I can do really cool digital painting and drawing and other neato stuff. Like this:



I am so looking forward to spending time playing and painting and drawing and discovering a new creative outlet. PLUS using a stylus requires different muscles and movements, which means less aggravating to my developing CTS. Hooray!

I love my new tablet that was given as a way of encouraging me to develop my skills and creativity and be happy. Thanks, boy *mwah*

Food log | December 8, 2006

breakfast:

• 3/4 cup of Bran Buds
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 2 tbsp ground flax*
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk*
• coffee (@home*)
  

lunch:

• 1.5 cup of chickpeas*
• 1 cup leftover sloppy joe stuff
  

snack:

• small handful of chocolate chips
• small tastes of various party foods as they cooked
  

dinner:

• 1/2 Amy's roasted vegetable cheeseless pizza
• 3 Kavli crackers
• 1/3 block of veg pâté
• 2 mixed drinks (1 rum, 1 crown royal) with club soda and grapefruit juice
  

vitamins:

• B12, B6, B9, iron, calcium

water:

• 1 0.6 litre SIGG bottle

*organic

Greedy gifty goodness

note: apparently this is the last atom feed for my blog. if you're subscribed to this feed in bloglines or technorati or some other way, please resubscribe to the rss feed to get updates.

Is it selfish and greedy to make one of my good things for today my birthday gift finally arriving? The boy ordered it last week and has had so much trouble with UPS that its arrival half an hour ago caused us both to breathe a sigh of relief. The really goodness part - he seems eager to give it to me tonight! Whee! Okay, so my birthday is 5 days away... but who am I to deny him the enjoyment of giving me a gift he is excited to give me?

And is it selfish and greedy to make this my only good thing for today? :)

...

Food Log | December 7th 2006

breakfast:

• 3/4 cup of Bran Buds
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 2 tbsp ground flax*
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk*
• 1 banana*
• coffee (@home*)
  

lunch:

• 1 cup of chickpeas*
• 1/4 cup shelled edamame*
• 1/2 cup bulgar, soaked in water
• 1 roma tomato

snack:

• 1 Ambrosia apple*
• small handful raw sunflower seeds*
  

dinner:

• 1 ace bakery foccacia bun
• 1.5 cups sloppy joe stuff (crushed tomatoes, TVP, mushrooms, green pepper, garlic)
• oven potato fries .5 baked sweet potato, .5 baked yukon gold
  
• mixed drink - dark rum, grapefruit juice, club soda
  

vitamins:

• B12, B6, B9, iron, calcium

daily exercise:

• I try to take the stairs or walk up the escalator during my commute, which works out to be, roughly, about 100 steps daily.

water:

• 1 0.6 litre SIGG bottle

*organic

Indulgent goodnesses

• Have you seen this stuff? VitaSoy Peppermint Chocolate soymilk? Holy crap. This stuff is good. My local "natural food" store has it on sale and I bought 2 right away - and I'll probably pick up a couple more this week to keep in the cupboard. If there's a better flavour combination than mint and chocolate, I don't know what it is.
  
  Well, garlic and peanut butter is pretty good...
  

• The boy and I have been getting crazy over Dexter. This is one of those shows that I wish I'd waited to watch when they're all on DVD because when each episode ends I. Want. More. Just like with Six Feet Under. And I'm sure Michael C. Hall gets endless questions about SFU and Dexter having similarities.
  
  It has to be said that this show is not for the faint of heart - there's gore, for sure - but the acting and storylines are addictive. Isn't that right, Trudi? :)

...

Food log - December 6, 2006

I'm trying to keep track of what I eat daily - for both weight loss and health reasons. This'll probably just be interesting to me, but it seems like the best place to maintain my log.

b: 1.5 cups of cold potato garlic soup with mushrooms and baby spinach, 2 tbsp ground flax, 2 coffees

l: 1.5 cups of of chickpeas, 1 cup of leftover brown rice made with mushroom stock

sn: 2 Ryvita crispbreads with 1.5 tbsp of natural peanut butter, coffee

d: 1 bowl of udon noodles, stir-fried broccoli, carrots, ginger, garlic, baked tofu (about 6 thin slices cooked in soy sauce, lime juice and garlic powder), peanut sauce

Goodness for the season

For the first time in 3 years, my home is decorated for Christmas. It's not done up too much, but just enough to add a wee bit of cheer. I bought a set of decorative balls (tee hee!) at evil Urban Outfitters on Saturday and put them up that night. Our only other 2 decorations so far are a plastic Charlie Brown Pathetic Tree, complete with a Linus blankie, and a Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer wind-up music thingy. The plan is to go out and get some energy-efficient and super festive LED lights, and to make a bristol board tree to stick to the wall :)

Christmas spirit, here I come!

Hey - I just realised that I missed BOTH my Blogiversary and my milestone 100th post. In fact, I've over 170 posts. Ah well. Happy belated Blogiversary and 100th post to me.

Skating and historical goodness

• Kensington Market named national historic site: It's about time that Toronto officials took pride in our history instead of tearing it down to put up a condo. "Downtown Toronto's popular Kensington Market has joined the ranks of national historic sites." read more!
  

• Ice skating: the boy, Claire and I took a trip down to Harbourfront to skate for the first time this year. I've discovered that my skates are way too big (I'm a size 7.5... why are my skates a size 9??) which means I get to buy a new pair! Wheee! I'm going to get a pair of men's skates finally - the picks on women's skates are pure death. Of course, they did cause a pretty funny stumble I did yesterday - arms flayling, legs struggling to gain control - which lasted a few seconds. And I didn't even end up falling. Though I wish I had it on video.

Thankfully, I kept my spit to myself

It's really scary when this happens.

But it's even scarier having to tell your friend that you were a patron of the bar that night, and you've since held her 1 month old baby. The possibility of being sick is so low that I didn't even go for the vaccine, but it's not something you can not tell people you've been in contact with. Even exhausted new moms.

pinkvegan recently asked the best question:
Why have they not listed the other places he had been while he was sick?