highpark sakuras 2012

Today I moved my lazy ass to go to high park. This spring is weird, with a weather that is yoyoing between hot and cold. I first went to kariya garden-mississauga but it did not satisfied my craving for sakuras so off to high park I went:

 The past windy days made a lot of blossoms fell on the ground and it was nice, different from last year. It's beautiful to watch the falling petals, almost dreamy. The park was not that crowded as well since the weather network predicted it would rain and it was chilly. Although the cherry trees were in bloom, the surrounding nature was not out, which is weird since last year everything was more lush and green. Must be our chilly spring.

Most of the residents of high park were invisible but, I spotted the regulars: the white swan, the ducks and black bird red wings but no chipmunks/woodpecker/cardinal in view. Also saw some beautiful tiny vibrant blue birds (with a white breast) doing their shows over the water. I was on the verge of taking the picture of one of them but it flew away as people were walking by..meh..

I did notice the park had some damages not present last year, like man made hatchet marks on some trees and a few were surrounded by grill. I'm not sure if I noticed them before and it seemed the vegetation was more sparse from my first visit in 2005. Maybe it's because it's still early spring?? Anyway it was a nice break away from boring Mississauga.

I do envy people who live on the other bank of the river in highpark. The late afternoons must be an interesting show of birds. I do bet the houses are worth millions as well. I love bloor street though. It's charming.

I guess I'll find a way to go again in summer and spend the whole day there *IF* only it was not that far away *sigh*

Then I walked to jane subway station and spotted this cute scrapbook store:bizzy b's stamp and scrap and could not leave without getting my hands on some goodies: stencil, ink, alphabets and some sheets from graphic 45. They even offer art journal classes :( It sucks to live so far away from anything remotely cool.i can't believe there's no Curry's art store in Mississauga as well, unless you're willing to travel all the way down to Oakville! Meh...maybe it's time for some driving's lesson???

My next goals:

culham trail-12 km from erin park to meadowvale conservation area
scarborough buffs-the travel will surely kill me.

I am also done booking my trip to Montreal from the 29 May-2 June. Montreal here I come : montreal bagels, cheese, bread, vintage books, wine and stock up on french books. yay!!!

ooak

I went to One of a kind craft show on friday and it always brings me great pleasure to move from vendors to vendors. I do envy those people who are able to live off their crafts instead of being a coorporate slave. I do understand it's not easy to be a self entrepreneur yet I do wish I had the stamina and talent to do the same. long live handmade and local craft!

 I snatched a tea towel, bucket tote and ceramic plate my favorite Toronto etsy store : bookhou ; a large fabric bucket and tea towel from jenna rose, a few ceramics items from ericam (need to find her link), cool letter press card from flakes paperie and some unmounted rubberstamps. I had a great time although there were some sellers from the christmas show who were not there and I wanted to get some items from them.

 I am also in love w/ this seller: veinage.ca. Her bags are lovely in pictures and in person. Unfortunately I had no money w/ me-pay day is next week- so I could not grab her awesome bags :( they are made from recovered leather and wood. The craftmanship is really nice!!I hope she'll have some left from the show as she said she'll upload what is left on etsy. Else I can always try to grab some of her bags when I go to Montreal in May-June.I wanted to buy so many things but was short on funds :( I guess I have to save for December. L'atelier preybistere is another stop of mine in Montreal. They were at the show but I did not buy anything since I am going to Montreal. i can't wait to get my hands on some vintage books, bagels, bread and cheese from Montreal.

 I <3 vintage and this is what I'll decorate my house with. I love old houses with personality although they are probably more expensive to buy and maintain. When I listen to my relatives talk about their future condos, designer made please, marble counter and upgrade whatever the crap, I just disconnect myself. Sure I do love stainless steel appliances and marble counter (whatever) but I prefer a place of my own than have someone else imprint on it. A place where I can DIY and shape to my taste. I guess my dream house would be a mixture of vintage, rustic and cottage but minimalist as well: lots of light, white walls w/ colour accents and of course my collection of lavender plants and cactuses.

Appartment therapy has lovely samples of home deco by regular people for inspiration (ok it's true a lot of them are artist-ilustrators and even designers). we'll see what the future brings. I love old things because of their history and personality.

 I saw this survey somewhere: Why do you buy a TV? 20%-to watch tv shows, 80%-to have a background noise so that I feel less lonely. How true is that?

 This week my goal is to go to the ROM to see the Maya exhibit. Next goal: picasso at the ago and do the culham trail.I need to keep myself busy. I'm trying to get into visual journaling again. I did one page with mist inks, japanese papers, machine stitches and the word accept. I want to write the serenity prayer somewhere. will upload when the page is complete. I need more art in my life and a meaning..

PS Gibli studio movies are so dreamy..

this girl who asked me all these rude questions about my brother's wedding is getting on my nerves. next time i'll punch her. today i was telling her how my cousin is getting married to a muslim guy (my intention was to say i am going home) and for some reason she brought the subject back to me. she's so annoying with her do this and that. i'm not asking you for advice and stop making conclusions or judging. *roll eyes* ask your parents to find you a boy and mind your own business.

i need fresh air. i realized i no longer like what i am doing and some people just make work a drag. To spend 90% of my time there is killing me. it's no longer fun nor interesting as it used to be and management operations is becoming so bitchy. i spend every afternoon dozing because i'm exhausted.

i also came to the conclusion that 99% taxi drivers from all star taxi are frauds-or any taxi company that is. they always keep the change for themselves and one even had the guts to ask me how much i wanted back..hello??? i had everything from the driver who took the longest route on purpose to make more money and one who tried to convince me we called his company when it was not. they take it for granted that spare change is theirs and this is what irks me the most, just like people expecting you to tip them just because they serve you. I'm working on ways to have exact change from now one as some even keep> $1 for them. since when do taxis expect tip as well?

I do think tipping and spare change is being taken for granted in this country. I even had some cashiers bitching at a dim sum restaurant because they thought the tip was too low *snort* the service was bad and we still need to give them free money?? what crazy world is this becoming?

did pilates for 2 days and now my body hurts..*sigh*

ah gossips

After the initial surprise, shock and speculations, I came to the conclusion: who give a damn? Whatever you do or say people will always criticize or condemn.

However what I find scary is when many women get together only to bitch, rant and gossip. The worse? The same person who could be smiling and be super friendly with you infront of everyone, is whispering/making fun about you in your back. It's like a group of hens clucking together and women in groups can be so unforgiving. Seriously some days at work makes me think of high school and it does not bother me to be the last person in the know or not to know current news. as long as it's not related to my job, i don't really care.

I learned to stay away from some people after seeing how they were gossiping negatively about someone with whom they were supposed to be best buddies. Can't people talk about general matters? In general men tend to talk about general stuffs or work related while women it's always about them or somebody else they hate or dislike..women thrive in spitting their envy or jealousy of other people..no wonder medusa had a woman's face.

I was surprised and glad to hear one co-worker saying she liked talking to me because I don't ask her personal questions. I find it rude to go to someone i just met and ask questions like: are you married, you have how many kids, are you dating etc.. Maybe that's just me. you get these answers in conversations naturally when you get to know someone better because people will always mention their kids, husbands once the conversations start to flow.

I did not appreciate how for my brother's wedding, one girl wanted to know how much he paid for his wedding, if he paid my flight tkts etc..the same person asked me if i was dating when we first started speaking. often she tries to convince me that now is the time to be in a relationship, get married and have kids..?!?!?!?! helllo??

maybe I think differently and I'm more private than some who go and tell to whoever who want to listen to them on the floor about their bad relationship etc.. I do understand we all want attention, want to be liked and when you listen to people telling you about their personal life, it's like you're being a confident but at the end of the day, the whole floor knows it..and it's work..not your therapist office.

the day the management decides to fire you, do you think your so called best friend co-worker will come forward and defend you? do you think your manager with whom you're buddy buddy will come to apologize? no. what they do is; they let you pick up your stuffs and escort you to the door. period.

maybe i'm cynical .i learned to protect my back since high school from nasty people and to trust my intuition about people because often it hurts more than it is worth it. i'm not looking to be Miss popular nor be loved. I'm just looking for respect and be on neutral grounds. i mind my business.

it's just all too deja vu like when I was working at mcb: different countries, same people and same personalities.

people can be so draining with their emotional baggage...i would not mind running away..it's like deja vu from my mcb years... it hurts to listen to them over and over again like broken records

do not blame
expect nothing
do something