I finally got mailed some teensy tiny shoes last week, so I did a little photoshoot to celebrate.
So here’s my Sofia, in a little vintage traveling outfit, modeling inside my antique suitcase (I think it’s wishful thinking - we’d both really like to go on vacation).
(Click through the photo for more on Flickr.)
I have been having a good little time recently.
I signed up for a MySpace, finally, after avoiding it for like, ever.
Someone finally convinced me that it’s not completely evil, and that I could find a lot of cool new bands (which so far I have) and maybe even get a few illustrating gigs (which so far I have too - although not directly by being on MySpace - but by networking on the internet in general).
And so far I…
Actually enjoy it! Wow. I never thought I’d say that.
Now I have a MySpace, a Flickr, a LiveJournal and a blog.
How lame is that?
Yesterday I had a wonderful day with my sister.
We sat around and chatted and played with the kittens and watched Canada’s Next Top Model (It’s totally between crazy Cici and sweet Ylania) and movies (a Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman retrospective) and made healthy, spicy Jamaican food
We had ginger beer, rice and peas (which actually means rice and kidney beans with coconut milk), and vegetable coconut curry roti - like we grew up with living in Rexdale.
Then this morning I made her tropical fruit salad, and pita stuffed with blue cheese, smoked chicken and salad.
Then I sent her home with my umbrella.
I am a good sister.
I was out with friends, scouring the suburbs in search of a specific sample sale (that ended up being hidden away in a corporate office up a flight of stairs) when I stumbled upon a Goodwill.
And what a Goodwill it was!
I still say they are far superior to either Value Villages or Sally Anns.
I was about to give up hope, when I noticed a (mostly empty) rack that had a few interesting boxes lying on it.
One of them looked like this:
So (very intrigued at this point) I cracked it open, and found…
This marvellous, little, portable typewriter! For only ten bucks!
I love mechanical things. I have wanted a typewriter for soooooo long (mostly just for decorative reasons, but also maybe for the occasional art project). I have been looking for one in a sweet pastel, but for ten bucks, I didn’t really care that it was greige.
It works too! It even came with the original manual! I just need a new ribbon (which is looking like it will be more expensive than the thing was in the first place).
If you click through the pictures you’ll find more pictures on Flickr because, well, she’s a sexy girl.
Just tell me she isn’t hot.
Now in our sixth month of Liam’s lack of employment adventure, Liam has finally found some jobs.
Sorta.
They are not really technically jobs, since they do not actually pay money (actually I think that technically makes them not really jobs at all).
Supposedly they are the kind of intern positions that will probably lead to future actual employment, or connections to available future employment possibilities (although, it’s not like we haven’t heard that before).
But we are still pretty grateful for them. Or I am any-ways.
Yay! Boy outta the house! No more distracting me with Super Mario Brothers, fattening meals and Battlestar Galactica message boards!
Seriously though, we are very happy. It is hard to get opportunities anywhere in the media business these days, especially in Toronto on top of the dumb luck we have been having.
I’ve been thinking I should get down to some serious cookie baking to thank those of you who have helped out in one way or another the past few months.
To celebrate, my Mother took us out to the Spaghetti Factory (which I crave every now and again), because we still can not afford to take ourselves out, because we still do not have an income.
But I had mizithra cheese and spumoni ice cream (with no icky, gross, candied fruit). I would call that celebratory.
I think I am consciously taking a break from drawing because I know if I don’t I will blow out pretty quick in school - but I should really get back to it so I don’t get too rusty.
Instead I foiled my dollies eyes yesterday. They look all pretty and sparkely now. But I burnt myself on the glue stick.
Still, it was a remarkably simple and cheap transformation: 2 bucks for glue-sticks at Walmart, 2 bucks for foiling papers at the Paper Place. Remarkable, when the dolls themselves ain’t cheap.
Which brings me to the fact that I’ve been oogling dollies again. I think I want an I love you, it’s true. At least she’s not tooooo very expensive. Maybe I’ll find a deal on Ebay someday.
Sigh.
We also saw Brick which was pretty… hmmm… what’s the right word… engaging? I would say entertaining - it was - but it was no shallow summer blockbuster. It was very involving. You have to pay attention to everything that’s going on. If you like film noir, or David Mamet or Memento, it’s probably up your alley.
We also rented Brazil, which I would say some of the same things about - except for it moved pretty slow instead of very fast. But I’m more than ok with that (I’m no MTV generation, short attention span girl - despite my ADD). Man I’m glad they didn’t cast DeNiro in Micheal Palin’s role. That would have been a disaster.
Wow. I just got an email about orientation, and when classes will start and it suddenly hit me that:
I’m going back to school this fall.
Weeeeeeiiiirrd.
I was just starting to feel like an adult or something. Got school right out of my system.
Buying couches and kittens and cupcakes and vacuuming…
The prospect of notebooks and chalkboards and pencils and orientations and barbecues is just plain strange to me.
Ugh.
Getting new supplies and a backpack and new jeans and sneakers, choosing the perfect first day outfit, making friends, meeting professors, doing homework, completing assignments.
Wow. It’s daunting.
I dare anyone to take a walk in the nearest park, and then get a an ice cream (a drumstick or a creamsicle of course) from the nearest corner shop and not feel summery and reminded of their childhood.
We made cupcakes!
They turned out well - and yummy too!
What’s my secret? A box. Cake is not something you should actually make from scratch when Betty Crocker has been doing it better for longer, and sticks the results in a convenient ninety-nine-cent package.
On the other hand my icing is pretty special. I think icing is NOT something that should come pre-packaged. It tastes too weird. Like burnt sugar and paint. Especially the intensely coloured stuff.
Besides, my icing is so easy:
1 brick of cream cheese
one cup of icing sugar
a teaspoon of vanilla extract
a few drops of the food colouring of your choice
(I recommend the new neon coloured food colouring. It is amazing)
Toss everything in a mixer or a blender, and blend till smooth. If it’s a bit thick, add some warm water. If you like it sweeter, add more sugar.
The end result is creamy, gooey, rich, moist icing. It may not be low-fat, but it’s a million times better than that stuff that comes in the jar. Remember to keep your cupcakes refrigerated though. Cream cheese is not exactly meant to sit out on the counter for days at a time.
Even the kitty likes them!
(naughty girl…)
